A/N: Good morning, afternoon, evening, whatever time it is as you read this. Another chapter is up, I'm proud of myself for getting things done as quickly as I have been. Thought I'd throw in a random fact, which I found out eating at an Italian restaurant last night: Firenze, whom everyone who's reading this should know, and if you don't he's a centaur/teacher in Harry Potter, is named after a town in Italy. Happy reading!
Drink up beautiful.
I spiked your cup with angst and a heart attack,
'cause I've got so much trapped
It's all because of you.
So I figured you might like some back.
And when I see her
I'll tell her what's been on my mind
all these sleepless nights.
She'll recite her excuses
Put my tail between these legs of mine
like I do all the time.
I can't live my life
knowing you'll be in his arms each time I blink my eyes.
Know what goes on behind my back every night,
afraid I'll never leave,
afraid I'll never know what's good for me.
And now you say that,
you say you love me.
Well I may have your heart,
he has your body.
And now you swear that you're being honest,
but you're not honest,
and you never could be.
And when I see her
I'll tell her what's been on my mind
all these sleepless nights.
She'll recite her excuses
Put my tail between these legs of mine
like I do all the time.
-Bayside. Song: Don't call me peanut
Blue Roses.
Chapter seven: Another painful moment without you.
Skye awoke the next morning, splayed out on a couch in the common room. She saw Cedric asleep on a chair beside her. She smiled, stood up, and headed upstairs to her dormitories.
Once she had dressed and decided her hair color (she, after much struggling, managed to have it shoulder-length and a copper color), she went back down into the common room. She woke up Cedric, and they headed down to breakfast together.
"Where's Brayden?" Cedric asked, when they had arrived at their table.
Skye shrugged. "He might be sleeping or something. He had a pretty rough night last night; we shouldn't bother him today."
Cedric nodded, and took some pancakes for himself as the morning post owls arrived. Skye usually found this as a quite monotonous occasion; she had yet to receive mail. She began serving herself with potatoes, when a school owl collided with her orange juice and dropped an envelope onto her plate.
Skye picked up the envelope, and examined it. There was long, slanted writing on the front which simply said 'Skye'. She opened the envelope, and a letter fell out.
Good morning Skye,
I hope you are well. You will begin your private Potions lessons with Professor Snape tonight, 6 o' clock. If you have any inquiries with this, don't be afraid to call upon me.
Sincerely yours,
Professor Dumbledore
Cedric had read the letter over Skye's shoulder. "Private Potions lessons?"
"Yes," Skye scowled. "Professor Dumbledore said it would be best. I don't see how it could be; I believe it will just make things worse, but as he wishes..."
The two of them continued their day as usual. They began Levitation charms in Charms class, and Cedric managed to levitate a rock, best in class. They also had History of Magic (which Skye fell asleep in), Herbology and Astronomy.
At five thirty, after a delicious supper, Skye bade goodbye to Cedric, packed her things and headed to the dungeon. She arrived there at quarter to, figuring it was better to be early as opposed to late, sat down, and put her scales, cauldron and book on the desk. She opened the book and reclined in her chair, reading about a Shrinking Solution.
Professor Snape walked in thirty minutes later, looking agitated.
"You're late," Skye said calmly.
"I was brewing a potion for your inept friend."
Skye tried not to show curiosity, about who her apparent 'inept friend' was and what potion was being brewed for him or her, and simply turned another page in her textbook.
There was an awkward silence, before Skye asked, "who's the potion for?"
Snape cracked an evil smile. "Your savior, Brayden."
"What's the potion?" Skye tried to seem calm, but if Snape was making a potion for Brayden, it couldn't have been good news.
"Something to soothe his pain."
"Something for heartbreak?" Skye seemed relieved at the thought, knowing he could probably do with that.
"No, not that, silly girl," Snape said. "He was attacked last night. Cruciatus curse. He hit his head off the wall so hard if it hadn't been for me finding him, I wouldn't have been late for this session. Now, can we get on with it?"
Skye stared at him, a shocked look on her face. Snape? Help a Hufflepuff? It wasn't possible...
"Yesterday in class, we began antidotes. Read pages 104 to 114, and we will brew an antidote to headaches."
Skye began reading, and occasionally would daze off, staring out the window. She received a painful smack upside the head from a textbook every time she did this.
Is Brayden ok? she thought. Can I visit him? Why DID Snape save him, and why is he being so kind to me? Something isn't right here, no something isn't right...
She began to drift off again, and Snape smacked her desk.
"Enough reading!" he decided, slamming the textbook closed on Skye's finger. He took his wand and flicked towards the board, where a list of ingredients and steps for making an antidote flashed on it. "You have twenty minutes to complete it. Go."
Snape sat back down at his desk, and Skye shuffled over to the ingredients cupboard, making the antidote quickly and silently. When her twenty minutes was up, and her potion had turned a light blue, she put it in a small vial and handed it to Professor Snape at the front of the classroom. He looked it over quickly.
"Unsatisfactory," he said. "Zero. Please clean up your things, I'll see you in two days."
And with that, Snape left, leaving Skye astonished, angry and confused.
- - -
Cedric sat in the hospital wing beside Brayden's sleeping form. He was fiddling with his thumbs, and battling sleep. Brayden would often shift in his sleep, causing Cedric to jump up, but he would then continue sleeping, and Cedric would sit back down.
Who could've done something like this? he thought, remembering being told Brayden had been attacked. Who would hurt someone innocent like Brayden?
He took his knuckles and dug them deep into his eyes, causing him to see spots. He saw Brayden lying there, fast asleep, the moon casting light on him, causing him to look more innocent then ever, despite his black eye and bandages wrapped around his head. Who would be crazy enough to hurt his brother, his good-natured brother, his fun brother, his loving brother?
He shot out of his train of thought when Skye entered, softly pulling a chair up beside Cedric.
"Oh...Cedric..." she said, breaking into tears.
Cedric tried to hold back tears of his own. Every time he had seen her, he had asked Madam Pomfrey how Brayden was going to be; every time, she would just shake her head and shuffle off.
Cedric sniffled. "It's not right," he said. "It's not right. We have to catch who did this...if Brayden is ok. He apparently hit his head quite hard..."
Skye nodded. "Let's just stay with him for now, and support him." Skye then rested her head on Cedric's shoulder, and his head rested on top of hers. Cedric then reached over, closed his eyes and kissed Skye gently. She looked up at him, and saw he was looking off into the distance. She smiled, and drifted off into sleep.
- - -
"Cedric? Skye?" Brayden rubbed his forehead, and looked at his watch. It read '8:30'.
"Ced? Skye?" Skye opened her eyes, and looked over at Brayden. She jumped up.
"You're ok!" she cried, hugging him.
Brayden smiled, and Cedric awoke, stretching his arms. "Of course I am," Brayden said. "A little hit in the head isn't going to bring me down!"
"That's g...g...great..." Cedric said, yawning. "What time is it?"
"Time for you two to get to class!" Brayden scorned, smiling. "Come back to visit me soon though, ok?"
Skye nodded, hugged Brayden again quickly, and headed out the door, Cedric at her heels.
Once they had left, Brayden's smile faded, and he rolled over onto his hands. There were flowers on his bedside table, courtesy of Professor Sprout. He rolled back over. Yes, he was happy to be ok; but so many other things were bothering him. His last night had been a rough one. He knew he should tell someone about Travis, but something wasn't right, something didn't fit into the puzzle...Brayden rolled over again.
And Lynelle. How could she do this? Brayden almost cried at the thought of her kissing that complete idiot Charlie Weasley (A/N: No, I'm not a Charlie hater, but I didn't think Davies was old enough to play the part, and Charlie was the first person on my mind). What had he done wrong? Must be something...
He rolled over again. And again. And again. Visions of the night rolling through his head like a movie. He was drifting off to sleep when he the door open.
"Brayden? Are you ok?"
It was Lynelle. Brayden closed his eyes, feinting sleep.
"Brayden? I've come to talk to you. I know you're faking it. Just hear me out."
"No," Brayden mumbled.
"What I did, it was..."
"I don't care," Brayden said. "I don't want to hear your excuses. Just go."
"...it was because you've been around Skye so much! It seems like you like her more than me!"
"Lynelle, until recently, I never liked anyone more than you. You went and broke my heart. How could you do that?"
"I didn't want to get hurt!" Lynelle cried. "I thought you were going to cheat on me, so I did it so I wouldn't get hurt."
"You selfish cow," Brayden said, sitting up. "You selfish, selfish, little BITCH! LEAVE! NOW!"
Lynelle slowly stood up.
"I'm done with you, Lynelle. I don't want to ever acknowledge your existence again. Just leave, please. I don't want any more pain."
Lynelle pulled a box of Chocolate Frogs from her pocket. Brayden's favorite. She then stood up, and walked out. "Get well soon," she muttered. "Maybe that bump on the head will bring you back to your senses."
Brayden picked up the box of chocolates and threw it at her. "GET OUT!"
Lynelle ran off, crying.
Brayden lied back down, and rolled over.
- - -
A/N: Whoo! More drama! Love it, or hate it? This was a bit of a slow chapter, but things will pick up soon, I promise you that! Read and review and most importantly, enjoy!