Briana had said good-bye to Draco, who did the same then commented on how wonderful their first day back together had been. She smiled brightly and agreed with him, then left Malfoy Manor to return to her own home.
It was half-past eight when she entered her home to find seemingly nobody else inside. One of the house elves approached her with a slightly worried look on it's face, "Raina thought Miss Brightsman was eating at the Malfoy's, miss. Master and Mistress Brightsman have already eaten and are still working, miss. Are you hungry, miss?"
"I'll just eat something small, please, Raina."
"Yes, right away, miss. Raina will set a place in the kitchen."
Briana wandered aimlessly around her house. She was still getting used to living in it again. A few minutes later, she walked over into their large kitchen and ate a small portion of spaghetti and meatballs.
She ate her meal in silence and looked out the window. It was growing dark already, although it was still warm outdoors, since it's Summer. When Briana was done with her food, she walked up the large stairs to get ready to go out to that club Draco had told her about. She was still a bit bummed that he couldn't come with her, but she might as well make new friends anyway.
After putting on one of her favorite (and most revealing) club dresses, she let her hair fall around her shoulders. The teenager re-applied some more mascara, put on her shoes, then walked down the stairs.
Raina ran up to her once she reached the bottom,
"Where is Miss Brightsman going, miss?"
"Tell my parents that I'm going out for a while and shouldn't expect me home until a bit after midnight."
"Raina doesn't think Master and Mistress will like Miss Brightsman going out in the dark all alone, miss."
"Oh, no, it's okay. Draco is going with me, so I won't be alone," she lied flawlessly.
"Alright then. I will tell Mistress and Master right away. Be safe, miss."
"I will. Don't worry. Goodbye now."
She left the house and began the short walk there. Draco was correct; the walk was about 12 minutes long.
After walking for several blocks in the direction of tons of lights and noise, Briana laid eyes on a bright, flashing sign that saidAparecium. It was dark inside, popular music blared into the night and two security guards stood at the front, clutching their wands tightly at their sides.
She walked up to the door where the guards let her enter, then she was asked to give her name and hold out her hand. They waved a wand over her outstretched hand and a glowing, cursive "A" appeared there.
"If you need to re-enter, just show them this and you'll be good to go. Only lasts until the end of the night though, so," some staff member explained the process to her.
Briana walked still further and someone took her coat and purse, stowing it away into a locker, handing her a small key to keep. She took a few more steps forward and actually entered the actual club.
There was a bar and pool tables to the left and the dance floor in the middle with the bathrooms and exit to the right. There were colored lights all around the dance floor while the pool tables and bar was dimly lit, and the bathrooms and exit were illuminated by black lights.
Apareciumwas packed, people were everywhere and having a good time. Her best friend was right-this club was perfect.
After smiling to herself for a moment, Briana walked straight to the bar and got a bottle of firewhiskey. She took a sip and sat down, watching all the people for a moment, wondering what she should do first.
Blaise Zabini, Chuck Solomon and Alexander Whittaker were all playing pool in their favorite club,Aparecium.The three of them were best friends, but there were four of them; it was just a shame that the fourth friend of the group, Draco Malfoy, was unable to come with them this time around.
Anyway, Chuck was winning brilliantly at the game of pool, even though Alexander and Blaise were both on team against him.
Chuck aimed for the eight ball and knocked it in, beating the two of them in their first round of the night, "Looks like I win, again. We should bet on these things, I could get tons of galleons from-"
"Woah, woah, woah, hot chick at 6 o'clock!", Blaise nodded across the club at a fair-skinned girl in a short tight dress that hugged her curves sitting at the bar.
Her dark brown hair fell past her shoulders as she stared around the room.
Alexander leaned on his cue stick, staring at her, "I swear we will hate ourselves for the rest of our lives if one of us doesn't talk to her."
Chuck smirked at him, "You go talk to her, Alex. You know you want to!"
Blaise joined in, "Yeah, you're always bragging about how you got the moves!"
"Fine", he sighed and gave in, standing up. His friends applauded him, mockingly.
Alexander grabbed his single malt whiskey and almost started walking over there, but Blaise held him back, "On second thought, wait until she gets over here. She's walking this way."
He looked up and indeed, the attractive female was making her way over to the pool tables where they stood.
"Maybe when she gets over here you can use one of your great and guaranteed pick-up lines, Blaise", Alexander joked.
"Challenge accepted! You're too much of a chicken to talk to her, aren't you mate?"
"You're hilarious, Zabini. I just think you stand a better chance, since you're so 'dark and mysterious'," Alexander mimicked some 4th years that were constantly talking about Blaise at Hogwarts.
"Cool it, mates. Here she comes anyway."
The girl came over and walked right past them, all three of them looking her over and liking what they saw. About two seconds after she passed, Blaise walked after her, calling, "Hey, miss! I believe you just dropped something back there."
She stopped, turned around and looked around, then looked at him, "Really? What do you think it was?"
He walked closer to her, smirking, "My jaw."
A few feet away, Chuck and Alexander smirked, trying to keep their laughter to themselves. The girl smiled sweetly and replied, "I think you lost something back there as well."
He lightly put his hands on her hips, "And what was that?"
"Your chance with me," she smirked at him, then turned to keep walking.
Blaise's friends howled with laughter in the corner as Blaise stood with his mouth slightly ajar. He wasn't going to look like an idiot in front of his friends. He caught up with the girl and tried to gain her attention again, "Hey, miss, I wasn't trying to be disrespectful. My mates over there sort of made me use a pick-up line to start talking to you."
She turned around and smiled at him, "I had a feeling, seeing them laugh over there. I didn't really mind, I just thought you were some idiotic, egotistical douche bag."
"Nah, that's not me at all. Just sometimes. I hope, anyway. Here, let me try again. I'll go stand over there, and you casually walk by me, alright?"
The girl laughed, "Alrighty then."
She walked past Blaise with a smile on her face and he touched her wrist, "Hey, where are you heading to?" He was good at pretending this was their first time talking.
"Nowhere in particular, just walking aimlessly around."
"Well you should come play some pool with some mates of mine and I."
"Sounds lovely", she smiled widely.
He smiled slightly and took her wrist, "You have a stunning smile, you know. My name's Blaise Zabini, by the way."
"Thank you! I'm Briana."
He nodded as he led her back over to the other side of the pool room where Alexander and Chuck had been watching from afar, somewhat confused.
Briana and Blaise approached the two of them, who both looked Briana over, happily, "Guys, this is Briana. Briana, the one on the left is Charles, but no single living person calls him that. Everyone calls him Chuck. The one on the right is Alexander, but we call him Alex, never Al. Two of my best mates."
"Lovely to meet you," she smiled politely and shook their hands.
"The pleasure's all mine," Chuck took her hand and kissed it, which she giggled at, but Alex and Blaise rolled their eyes.
Briana waited for Alex to say something to her, but he simply smiled shyly and busied himself with rolling his shirt sleeves back up.
"You play pool? I'll warn you, I beat everyone I play against, but I may go easy on you," Chuck started racking the pool balls together in the triangle.
"It's been a while, but I don't think you'll need to go easy on me."
"Looks like you've got a challenger, mate," Blaise smirked. "Teams?"
"How about you and I against Alex and miss Briana," Chuck suggested.
"Why can't I be on her team?", Blaise complained.
"Shut up and deal with it, man," Alexander spoke for the first time in front of Briana. She smiled at him.
They started the game and played for a good forty minutes before Blaise and Chuck beat Alex and Briana.
"I never lose!", Chuck cheered, high-fiving his team-mate.
"You can't deny it was an extremely close game, though!", Briana commented.
"That's true, I must give you props for that."
"I'm out of firewhiskey," Blaise complained. "Alex, be a good mate and get me some more?"
"I'll go with you, I'm all out as well."
"Okay."
Together, the pair of them wove through the crowded club and up to the bar. Alex ordered two firewhiskeys, one for Blaise, one for Briana, and two single malt whiskeys for himself and Chuck.
"You drink single malt whiskeys? That stuff's pretty strong."
Alex shrugged, "You get used to it when you drink it as much as I do."
They met back up with the others who were sitting at a table in the pool room, all of them sipping on their drinks, making small talk. At one point, a song that Briana couldn't resist dancing to came on and her body wouldn't allow her to stay seated, "Somebody! Dance with me on the dance floor this very second!"
Blaise stood up, not missing a beat, and she hastily pulled him to the dance floor where all the other people were dancing and grinding on each other. They started out dancing just normally, side-by-side, but as the song played, more and more people showed up and the dance floor was even more tightly packed than before, forcing them to dance closer and closer.
After a moment, Briana gave in, "Ah, fuck it! I'm just gonna grind on you now!"
She was a little tipsy, but not completely drunk. Blaise was falling in love with the way she was dancing on him, and after two more songs, he was completely turned on. Slightly drunk, he whispered in her ear, "Briana, just marry me already."
"Don't be silly, I hardly know you!", she giggled and pulled away from him and off the dance floor, much to Blaise's disappointment. But he just went up to another girl and immediately started dancing with her instead.
Briana sat down at the table where Alex and Chuck still resided and finished the rest of her third firwhiskey of the night.
"I don't think you should drink anymore..." Alex warned her.
"Don't worry, I'm not drunk. I'm just a little bit tipsy. I'm not going to get drunk either. That would make a horrible first impression."
"Right you are," Alex smiled.
"Hey, I just realized... Are you from out of town, because I've never seen you around before?", Chuck asked her.
"Yeah, I just moved back here. I used to live here when I was young, but moved away for a while. But now I'm back!"
"Well welcome back home, my dear."
Briana smiled, "I like you guys."
"Why's that?", Chuck smiled at her.
"I don't know. Just cause you guys are you. I kind of feel like I've been friends with you for a long time, even though I just met you guys."
"Trust me, I would remember being friends with someone like you."
"I don't know, it's just that most of the fellows in here I get a bad vibe off of and wouldn't trust them at all, but for some reason I just feel safe around you guys and know you won't harm me. Wait, I'm right about that, right?"
"Extactly right! See, we party, we drink, we get laid, but we don't harm others. Unless it's a guy who's being a git or deserves it. None of us have ever harmed a girl in any way. And I believe the only time any of us have ever hurt another male was if they deserved it, like I said. So yes, you're in good hands," Chuck gave a speech, during which Alex nodded several times.
"Well I'm very glad to hear that! Do you think-"
"Hey, will you come dance with me, lovely?", some random girl, who looked about their age, cut Briana off, asking her to dance.
"With me?", Briana asked her.
"Of course you, silly. You're extremely sexy, just like me. Now come on," this girl was drunk, but not bad-looking, and Briana has had experience with other girls before. She's not a lesbian of course, she just does things with girls for fun, once in a while.
So she got up and went to the dance floor with the girl, who asked her, "Do you have a name, by the waaayy?"
"I'm Briana, honey," she answered.
"Briana... I love it! Okay, my name's Kaylee, with a K."
"Brilliant. Now let's dance the night away, Kaylee."
And they did. They received lots of attention from some of the boys that were around and the two of them were just having fun. While they were on the dance floor, Draco Malfoy entered the club, got a single malt whiskey, and looked around his favorite club. He had finished his work sooner than he thought, then decided to come to his favorite club, where he knew Briana would be. To his surprise, he was able to locate his mates, Alex and Chuck, first.
He walked over to their table and sat down.
"Malfoy! Wasn't expecting to see you here tonight," Chuck greeted him.
"Neither was I! Got finished early, so thought I'd drop by and check on certain people."
"What certain people? You mean us?", Alex asked him.
"No, not you guys. You know my best friend who recently moved back? Well, she's here. Wanted to make sure she's okay."
"Wait a minute, your best friend's a girl?!", Chuck asked surprised.
"Yes? Didn't I tell you that?"
"No! I always assumed it was some bloke, you know. Well where is she?!", Chuck wanted to meet her right away.
"I don't know, I've tried to spot her, but there's so many people, you know.."
Alex had a feeling he knew who Draco's best friend was, "Is her name Briana?"
"Um, yes, it is. Why? Have you met her?"
"No way! Dude, that Briana chick is your best friend?! She's been hanging with us like, all night!", Chuck was mind-blown at this point.
"Really?! See, she has great taste in company. Wait, where is she now then?"
"She's been dancing with that Kaylee girl from school for the past 10 minutes," Alex pointed.
"Merlin's beard, what is she wearing?"
"Why? Do you not approve?"
"No, I greatly approve, it's notthat looks... wonderful. I'm just not used to seeing her in anything like that."
"Well get used to it, because here she comes," Chuck smirked happily.
After dancing for a while, Briana brought Kaylee back to the table she was sitting at before. She was surprised to see the white-blonde hair of her best friend sitting there with her two new friends. She gave him a hug then sat down, "Draco, what are you doing here?!"
"Mother's work was easier than I imagined, so here I am. You're not drunk are you?"
"Don't be bonkers, my two good friends here have been taking good care of me," she motioned to Chuck and Alex.
"They better have! Other than you, these two are my best mates, you know."
"Honestly?! This is a small world.. Blaise too? I don't know where he's gone off to, but he's the one I met first."
"Yes, I told you about Blaise, remember?"
"You know I'm not very good with names the first time around, but I knew I'd heard his name before..."
Kaylee couldn't contain herself any longer, "Brriiiaaaannnaaaaa, stop talking and kiss me again!"
Briana smirked at the still, legitimately drunk girl,"Come here then, you."
Then, much to the three boys surprise, (though the most surprised was Draco) Kaylee sat on Briana's lap, and the two of them began making out. Now, don't get the wrong impression. Briana Brightsman is not a lesbian. She's not even bisexual. She just sometimes has fun with people the same sex as her. It wasn't all that big of a deal to her.
Draco, Chuck and Alex all watched intently with growing interest, although in the back of all their minds, there was a part of them that said to look away. They all chose to ignore it. A few minutes later, Kaylee smiled and simply walked away, never to be seen again that night.
Briana turned back to the table with her eyes cast down, and took the last sip of her firewhiskey. When she finally looked back up at the three boys across from her, Chuck smirked at her, Alex looked down at his hands and Draco gave her a look she couldn't quite decode.
"Do you always do that?", Chuck asked her.
"Not always, just everyone once in a long while for fun."
"Well be sure to invite me when it happens again okay?"
When he said that, Draco smacked the back of his head.
Briana smiled, but rolled her eyes, "So anyways, do you guys all go to Hogwarts?"
Alex nodded, "Yeah, every one of us. All about to be 6th year Slytherins."
"So is that Kaylee girl you were sucking face with," Draco commented.
"Oh, well good to know I'll have plenty of friends before I even start the term."
"Not like you couldn't make lots of friends quickly anyway. But we have to tell you about all the people to stay away from," Chuck said.
"Oh yeah? Like who?"
"All the Hufflepuffs. Basically all the Gryffindors, with the exception of maybe one or two. Feel free to hang with almost any Ravenclaw, but remember that your main priority is Slytherin, okay?", Chuck explained.
"But mostly we should warn you to stay away from the bad males of Hogwarts. You know, like the kind who'll rape pretty girls like you, or break your heart, or your bones," Draco added.
Briana's eyes widened, "There's really people that bad at your school? That's terrible!"
"Precisely. See, there are boys who get around and do stuff like the bad males of Hogwarts, and there's the boys who get around but are completely respectable, like us!", beamed Chuck.
"Sounds like I've made the right friends! And if you're all friends of Draco's then you can't be bad. Orthatbad, anyways."
Briana started engaging in a conversation with Chuck and Alex about the teachers at Hogwarts and such while Draco noticed a group of boys from Beauxbatons constantly looking over at Briana. He tried to give them a look to warn them not to come over to them, but the Beauxbatons boys never looked at him; only at Briana.
He'd hoped they wouldn't bother to walk across the room and to their table, but his hopes were turned to dust as they grabbed their own drinks and began to walk across the room, never taking their eyes off of Briana.
There's no way this will turn out well.