Disclaimer: OK, you really should know by now that nothing but Bryn belongs to me.
Chapter 12 - The Project: After the mysteries of the holidays, it was almost a relief for Bryn to return to classes. But her first D.A.D.A. class caused new problems. Tonks had planned a new project for them, and they had to work in pairs. Not only that, but they couldn't pick their partners. Instead, Tonks would do a spell on her copy of the classlist that would randomly pair up names. Harry wound up working with Lisa Turpin, Hermione with Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Ron with Hannah Abbott. As for Bryn, she waited and then Tonks said, "Ambryn Sayre and Blaise Zabini." Bryn glanced over at the olive-skinned Slytherin boy, who glared back at her. Great, thought Bryn. My partner hates me.
After the class, Bryn caught up with Zabini as he was leaving. "What, Sayre?" he asked in a bored tone.
"Meet me in the library after classes today." He looked like he was about to reufse, so she added, "Look. The sooner we get to work, the sooner we're done. Got it?" He scowled but nodded.
After classes, Bryn went to the library. She sat at a table and waited for Zabini. About 5 minutes later, he showed up. "So," he said, "What are we picking?" The project was to pick a Dark spell or potion and give an oral report on it, its uses, its origins, the penalties for using it - basically anything you could find, Tonks wanted.
"I thought we could do an Unforgivable, Imperius maybe," Bryn replied. Zabini shook his head.
"No, we should do the Inferu Curse. " he told her. "You know, the one Dark wizards use to make Inferi." Bryn eyed him for a second before shrugging.
"OK, sure," she told him.
Bryn and Zabini spent most of the next two weeks digging up everything they could on the Inferu Curse and on Inferi themselves. One day, they were in the Restricted Section when a book Bryn pulled out suddenly clamped onto her arm and refused to let go. Trying to get it off, she overbalanced and crashed into Zabini, sending them both to the ground. Luckily, Madam Pince was so busy shouting at a group of second-years that she didn't hear the bang.
Together she and Zabini got the book off her arm. Bryn said, "Thanks," and Zabini shrugged. Then he started chuckling. Bryn scowled. "What?" she demanded. He shook his head.
"Sorry," he said, "but you looked pretty funny, trying to pry that thing off." She scowled harder, and then smirked slowly.
"Yeah, well, you looked pretty amusing yourself when you leapt back in horror once we got the thing off, so it wouldn't jump on you." She laughed softly and he rolled his eyes.
"Let's get back to work," he said, and stood up, brushing off his robes. To Bryn's surprise, he offered a hand to help her up. She took it and stood too.
Their report wound up being the best of the class. Ron said it was because they spent way too much time on it, and Hermione added that Bryn and Zabini had been in the library more often than even she and Justin. Bryn really hadn't noticed and said so. The others didn't answer, and the whole thing was ignored after that. But occasionally, Bryn wondered about it. Had they really spent more time than they needed on that project? And if so, why? It's not like either of them were grades-obsessed, but after the book incident, working with Zabini had almost been fun. She'd liked it and had a feeling he had too. She tried not to dwell on it; she had enough to think about as it was.
A/N: Tell me what you think!