"You did what?!" there was a small cry from one of the beds across the room
as the curtain was yanked back and two pairs of slitted eyes glared at her
harshly. Bronwyn was sure that if eyes could possibly shoot daggers, she
would have been dead by now. She rolled her eyes and leaned back against
her headboard.
"I said, I turned Draco down for the ball. It is not a big deal, Millie," she said Millicent Bullstrode gaped at her as if she wanted to say something. "You two both turned him down as well, in case you forgot."
"Only because we already had dates!" Pansy Parkinson snapped at her and Bronwyn laughed, shaking her head.
"Desperate," she said under her breath to Caitlyn, who say beside her.
Pansy and Millicent both glared continuously at Bronwyn. "Humph," they huffed as they pulled the curtains on Pansy's bed closed again. Bronwyn closed her own curtains and turned to look at her best friend, who had been intently studying her for the past five minutes. "Well?"
"Why did you turn him down, Wynnie?" Caitlyn asked. "You don't have a date. He doesn't have a date. Don't you want to go to the ball?"
"He's a pompous stuck up asshole who doesn't deserve the time of day from any girl in this school, Cait. I would rather not go to the ball than go with someone like that. Besides, you told me to start saying no to things," she shrugged and pulled her cat into her lap. Caitlyn rolled her eyes.
"Wynnie, you know that was not what I meant. You used to be friends – " Bronwyn cut her best friend off by raising her hand and shaking her head.
"Not anymore, Cait," Bronwyn paused, biting her lower lip. "He's changed. And he obviously doesn't want to be friends with me, seeing as the only time he has spoken to me since we were twelve is the one time he is so desperate to not seem alone that he is willing to lower himself to asking me a ball. I do not like being an object or a last resort. I'm a person. And I used to be his friend. I'm not sure what happened," she said quietly and turned, laying her head on the pillow. Caitlyn sighed and shook her head.
"Fine, Bronwyn. Have it your way. Stay in the house alone on Saturday and make yourself miserable. Yeah, that is a bloody wonderful idea," she rolled her eyes and she climbed off the bed and Bronwyn heard her close the door behind her as she left the room, Bronwyn's cat traipsing behind her. Bronwyn assumed she was going to the common room or somewhere to find Theodore.
Bronwyn huffed into her pillow and turned over, staring at the canopy above her. Why was everyone making such a big deal out of this stupid ball anyway? So Dumbledore had decided they needed some fun and wanted to throw them a party. Who cares? Valentine's Day was a stupid holiday anyway.
'Yeah, Bronwyn, keep telling yourself that and maybe you'll believe it,' she thought to herself. She threw back the curtains and left the room, striding down the stairs to the common room. She hurried past the clustered groups and out the portrait into the school hallways. 'I just need some fresh air,' she told herself, 'then it will all be better. Fresh air will fix everything.' She hurried towards the main doors and out towards the grounds.
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Draco huddled in his chair in the corner pondering where he should go from here. He was not surrounded by his usually circle of lackeys, as Crabbe and Goyle had been avoiding him since the girls had turned him down and Theodore and Blaise had both found it remarkably hilarious that Bronwyn had turned him down. Tracey Davies, a sixth year Slytherin witch, had been wandering by the empty classroom as Bronwyn left and had caught a bit of the conversation, namely the end of it, and had taken it upon herself to rush back to the house and inform everyone she saw there and on the way that "Bronwyn Zoruman just rejected Draco! Oh, it was vicious!" It was the gossip of the house and apparently a highly amusing story that needed to be retold in one way or another every five minutes, to the displeasure of Draco and the great amusement of all of his friends.
Draco was very tempted to go after Bronwyn and tell her that no one, no one, insults or rejects a Malfoy that way, but he know that was just what she expected and he refused to give her the satisfaction of being right about him in any way, shape, form, or fashion. Besides, the moment she had said that to him, Draco had become determined that she would be going to the dance with him. He just had to figure out how to make it happen.
People were clustered around the room, talking and laughing away like always. He heard someone on the stairs from the girls' dormitory and saw Bronwyn hurry through the room without looking around and seemingly without noticing the silence that greeted her and followed her out of the room. Draco stood up and slipped out of the room behind her, following her down the hallway. He realized she was going outside and took a short cut that led him out the back way and allowed him to reach the lake's shore before she descended the front steps. He sat against the tree, in the shadows, and waited for her to approach.
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Bronwyn hurried down the front steps and then slowed her pace slightly and she wandered across the snow covered lawn towards the lake. It had always calmed her, though she was never sure why, even on this dark night, when the sky and the faint stars reflected in the smooth, icy surface. She stopped a few yards away from the tree that so many students used for shade during the bright days spent studying and just lounging outside. She lowered herself to a large rock and pulled her knees to her chest, staring across the lake and into the trees.
"It seems that great minds think alike," a familiar voice met her ears from the shadows and Bronwyn closed her eyes, trying to stop a low hiss from escaping her teeth.
"Will you ever give me a moment of peace, Malfoy? Or are you intent on stalking me?" she snapped, never averting her eyes from the water in front of her. She could hear him just beyond the shadows; out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of his hair as he stepped towards her. She wrapped her arms around her knees.
"Now where in the world would you get the idea that I am stalking you?" he drawled.
"Well, you seem to show up in odd places where I am. First, the library, which you are never in of your own free will, to harass me, now out here on an awfully cold night when no one else seems to have the guts to brave the weather."
"I seem to remember being here before you showed up."
"Yes, and I'm not sure how that works considering that I know I saw that greasy white hair of yours lurking in the corner of the common room on my way up here." Draco clicked his tongue at her as he stopped, steps away from her, casting shadows over her small frame.
"Tsk, tsk, little Brownie. We are the observant one, aren't we?" Bronwyn growled low in her throat.
"If you call me that again, Malfoy, I swear..."
"Swear what, Zoruman? What could you possibly do to me?" he laughed, lowering himself beside her.
"There is not a curse invented yet that is bad enough for you, Draco Malfoy."
"Now, now. Such hostility from one so young."
"Draco, would you stop pretending and just tell me what you want so that I can say no and make you leave me bloody alone already?" Bronwyn finally leveled her gaze on him instead of the ice.
"I want you to go to the dance with me Saturday night."
"You already said that. And I already said no. Or can you not get that word through your thick skull? What part of it do you not understand?"
"Oh, I understand what it means. I just don't think you actually mean that."
"What in Merlin's name would make you possibly think that you know better than I do what I think and mean, Draco? Do you have some special capability that lets you read my mind incorrectly or something?"
"No, I just know you."
"No, Draco, you don't. You used to know me. You knew me when I was younger. You probably could have even claimed to have 'known' me that well when we were twelve. But seeing as you have not said a bloody word to me in five years and seeing how much everything had changed since then you cannot claim that you know me any more than a stranger can."
"You couldn't have changed that much, Bronwyn."
"I have Draco. And so have you apparently. You weren't always this much of a bloody prick. Now, if you would be so kind, accept the fact that I am saying no and leave me alone." Bronwyn stood up and stalked away towards the castle before Draco could say anything in response. He stood up and started after her.
"Brown....Bronwyn! Please wait!" Draco called before he realized what was leaving his mouth. Against her better judgment, Bronwyn stopped on the bottom step and turned to him.
"Please? Since when is that word a part of any Malfoy's vocabulary?" she sneered at him.
"Since I've been lowered to having to beg a friend to go somewhere with me because I have no other options."
"Well, at least you are admitting I am a last resort. But Malfoy, I am not a friend." Bronwyn turned to start up the stairway. Once again, the familiar drawl stopped her.
"Why do you hate me, Bronwyn?" Bronwyn rolled her eyes and turned back to him.
"Because you are an arrogant bloody prick. Because you called me your best friend for eight years and then abandoned me the second you thought it was not in your best interest in trying to be 'popular' to be seen with me. Because you waltz back here after five years of nothing, not a note, not a letter, not even a 'hello' in the halls and expect me to fall at your feet just because you are Draco Malfoy. Because I think you need to be informed that you are not the end all and be all of this school. There are other people here, you know; people with feelings and you step all over them without thinking twice. I may not like them all, but I don't trample them like that." Bronwyn took a breath quickly, but kept plowing through; she was afraid that if she stopped now, she could never get it all out. "Because you expect everyone to worship you just because you are Draco, no matter how horrible you are to them. Because you are exactly like your father and you will probably end up even worse than him. Because one of these days you are going to break and you are going to fall and you are going to try and take everyone around you down with you – you have already started. And I will do anything I can to keep that from happening, even if it means losing you. I will save them before I think twice about you. But mainly, Draco, I don't like you because I think you need to be humbled," Bronwyn tried to steady her voice as it began shaking. There were so many things she had imagined saying to him and she couldn't get a single one of them to come out. She fought the tears as a lump began to form in her throat and she willed herself not to cry.
"That sure is a lot of reasons," Draco mumbled quietly, sinking to a seat on the stairs. Bronwyn sighed.
"Is that what you wanted to know? Do you want to know anything else?" she asked, her hand on the front doors.
"No, I think I have had enough stomping on my ego for one day, thank you," he said to the ground without looking up at her.
Bronwyn stared at him for a moment. Now that she had actually said it all, she thought she might have been rather harsh on him. 'But he deserved it,' a small voice told her. 'After the way he has treated you and everyone else these past five years. You only gave him what was coming to him one of these days anyway.' Bronwyn shook her head to try and rid herself of the voice. She opened the door and started into the castle.
"You probably shouldn't stay out too long, Draco. It's awfully cold outside," she said quietly before she hurried across the main foyer, hearing the front door close loudly behind her.
"I said, I turned Draco down for the ball. It is not a big deal, Millie," she said Millicent Bullstrode gaped at her as if she wanted to say something. "You two both turned him down as well, in case you forgot."
"Only because we already had dates!" Pansy Parkinson snapped at her and Bronwyn laughed, shaking her head.
"Desperate," she said under her breath to Caitlyn, who say beside her.
Pansy and Millicent both glared continuously at Bronwyn. "Humph," they huffed as they pulled the curtains on Pansy's bed closed again. Bronwyn closed her own curtains and turned to look at her best friend, who had been intently studying her for the past five minutes. "Well?"
"Why did you turn him down, Wynnie?" Caitlyn asked. "You don't have a date. He doesn't have a date. Don't you want to go to the ball?"
"He's a pompous stuck up asshole who doesn't deserve the time of day from any girl in this school, Cait. I would rather not go to the ball than go with someone like that. Besides, you told me to start saying no to things," she shrugged and pulled her cat into her lap. Caitlyn rolled her eyes.
"Wynnie, you know that was not what I meant. You used to be friends – " Bronwyn cut her best friend off by raising her hand and shaking her head.
"Not anymore, Cait," Bronwyn paused, biting her lower lip. "He's changed. And he obviously doesn't want to be friends with me, seeing as the only time he has spoken to me since we were twelve is the one time he is so desperate to not seem alone that he is willing to lower himself to asking me a ball. I do not like being an object or a last resort. I'm a person. And I used to be his friend. I'm not sure what happened," she said quietly and turned, laying her head on the pillow. Caitlyn sighed and shook her head.
"Fine, Bronwyn. Have it your way. Stay in the house alone on Saturday and make yourself miserable. Yeah, that is a bloody wonderful idea," she rolled her eyes and she climbed off the bed and Bronwyn heard her close the door behind her as she left the room, Bronwyn's cat traipsing behind her. Bronwyn assumed she was going to the common room or somewhere to find Theodore.
Bronwyn huffed into her pillow and turned over, staring at the canopy above her. Why was everyone making such a big deal out of this stupid ball anyway? So Dumbledore had decided they needed some fun and wanted to throw them a party. Who cares? Valentine's Day was a stupid holiday anyway.
'Yeah, Bronwyn, keep telling yourself that and maybe you'll believe it,' she thought to herself. She threw back the curtains and left the room, striding down the stairs to the common room. She hurried past the clustered groups and out the portrait into the school hallways. 'I just need some fresh air,' she told herself, 'then it will all be better. Fresh air will fix everything.' She hurried towards the main doors and out towards the grounds.
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Draco huddled in his chair in the corner pondering where he should go from here. He was not surrounded by his usually circle of lackeys, as Crabbe and Goyle had been avoiding him since the girls had turned him down and Theodore and Blaise had both found it remarkably hilarious that Bronwyn had turned him down. Tracey Davies, a sixth year Slytherin witch, had been wandering by the empty classroom as Bronwyn left and had caught a bit of the conversation, namely the end of it, and had taken it upon herself to rush back to the house and inform everyone she saw there and on the way that "Bronwyn Zoruman just rejected Draco! Oh, it was vicious!" It was the gossip of the house and apparently a highly amusing story that needed to be retold in one way or another every five minutes, to the displeasure of Draco and the great amusement of all of his friends.
Draco was very tempted to go after Bronwyn and tell her that no one, no one, insults or rejects a Malfoy that way, but he know that was just what she expected and he refused to give her the satisfaction of being right about him in any way, shape, form, or fashion. Besides, the moment she had said that to him, Draco had become determined that she would be going to the dance with him. He just had to figure out how to make it happen.
People were clustered around the room, talking and laughing away like always. He heard someone on the stairs from the girls' dormitory and saw Bronwyn hurry through the room without looking around and seemingly without noticing the silence that greeted her and followed her out of the room. Draco stood up and slipped out of the room behind her, following her down the hallway. He realized she was going outside and took a short cut that led him out the back way and allowed him to reach the lake's shore before she descended the front steps. He sat against the tree, in the shadows, and waited for her to approach.
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Bronwyn hurried down the front steps and then slowed her pace slightly and she wandered across the snow covered lawn towards the lake. It had always calmed her, though she was never sure why, even on this dark night, when the sky and the faint stars reflected in the smooth, icy surface. She stopped a few yards away from the tree that so many students used for shade during the bright days spent studying and just lounging outside. She lowered herself to a large rock and pulled her knees to her chest, staring across the lake and into the trees.
"It seems that great minds think alike," a familiar voice met her ears from the shadows and Bronwyn closed her eyes, trying to stop a low hiss from escaping her teeth.
"Will you ever give me a moment of peace, Malfoy? Or are you intent on stalking me?" she snapped, never averting her eyes from the water in front of her. She could hear him just beyond the shadows; out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of his hair as he stepped towards her. She wrapped her arms around her knees.
"Now where in the world would you get the idea that I am stalking you?" he drawled.
"Well, you seem to show up in odd places where I am. First, the library, which you are never in of your own free will, to harass me, now out here on an awfully cold night when no one else seems to have the guts to brave the weather."
"I seem to remember being here before you showed up."
"Yes, and I'm not sure how that works considering that I know I saw that greasy white hair of yours lurking in the corner of the common room on my way up here." Draco clicked his tongue at her as he stopped, steps away from her, casting shadows over her small frame.
"Tsk, tsk, little Brownie. We are the observant one, aren't we?" Bronwyn growled low in her throat.
"If you call me that again, Malfoy, I swear..."
"Swear what, Zoruman? What could you possibly do to me?" he laughed, lowering himself beside her.
"There is not a curse invented yet that is bad enough for you, Draco Malfoy."
"Now, now. Such hostility from one so young."
"Draco, would you stop pretending and just tell me what you want so that I can say no and make you leave me bloody alone already?" Bronwyn finally leveled her gaze on him instead of the ice.
"I want you to go to the dance with me Saturday night."
"You already said that. And I already said no. Or can you not get that word through your thick skull? What part of it do you not understand?"
"Oh, I understand what it means. I just don't think you actually mean that."
"What in Merlin's name would make you possibly think that you know better than I do what I think and mean, Draco? Do you have some special capability that lets you read my mind incorrectly or something?"
"No, I just know you."
"No, Draco, you don't. You used to know me. You knew me when I was younger. You probably could have even claimed to have 'known' me that well when we were twelve. But seeing as you have not said a bloody word to me in five years and seeing how much everything had changed since then you cannot claim that you know me any more than a stranger can."
"You couldn't have changed that much, Bronwyn."
"I have Draco. And so have you apparently. You weren't always this much of a bloody prick. Now, if you would be so kind, accept the fact that I am saying no and leave me alone." Bronwyn stood up and stalked away towards the castle before Draco could say anything in response. He stood up and started after her.
"Brown....Bronwyn! Please wait!" Draco called before he realized what was leaving his mouth. Against her better judgment, Bronwyn stopped on the bottom step and turned to him.
"Please? Since when is that word a part of any Malfoy's vocabulary?" she sneered at him.
"Since I've been lowered to having to beg a friend to go somewhere with me because I have no other options."
"Well, at least you are admitting I am a last resort. But Malfoy, I am not a friend." Bronwyn turned to start up the stairway. Once again, the familiar drawl stopped her.
"Why do you hate me, Bronwyn?" Bronwyn rolled her eyes and turned back to him.
"Because you are an arrogant bloody prick. Because you called me your best friend for eight years and then abandoned me the second you thought it was not in your best interest in trying to be 'popular' to be seen with me. Because you waltz back here after five years of nothing, not a note, not a letter, not even a 'hello' in the halls and expect me to fall at your feet just because you are Draco Malfoy. Because I think you need to be informed that you are not the end all and be all of this school. There are other people here, you know; people with feelings and you step all over them without thinking twice. I may not like them all, but I don't trample them like that." Bronwyn took a breath quickly, but kept plowing through; she was afraid that if she stopped now, she could never get it all out. "Because you expect everyone to worship you just because you are Draco, no matter how horrible you are to them. Because you are exactly like your father and you will probably end up even worse than him. Because one of these days you are going to break and you are going to fall and you are going to try and take everyone around you down with you – you have already started. And I will do anything I can to keep that from happening, even if it means losing you. I will save them before I think twice about you. But mainly, Draco, I don't like you because I think you need to be humbled," Bronwyn tried to steady her voice as it began shaking. There were so many things she had imagined saying to him and she couldn't get a single one of them to come out. She fought the tears as a lump began to form in her throat and she willed herself not to cry.
"That sure is a lot of reasons," Draco mumbled quietly, sinking to a seat on the stairs. Bronwyn sighed.
"Is that what you wanted to know? Do you want to know anything else?" she asked, her hand on the front doors.
"No, I think I have had enough stomping on my ego for one day, thank you," he said to the ground without looking up at her.
Bronwyn stared at him for a moment. Now that she had actually said it all, she thought she might have been rather harsh on him. 'But he deserved it,' a small voice told her. 'After the way he has treated you and everyone else these past five years. You only gave him what was coming to him one of these days anyway.' Bronwyn shook her head to try and rid herself of the voice. She opened the door and started into the castle.
"You probably shouldn't stay out too long, Draco. It's awfully cold outside," she said quietly before she hurried across the main foyer, hearing the front door close loudly behind her.