It was mid October, and the first Quidditch practice for the Slytherin team came around. Draco had been given the position of Quidditch Slytherin Captain, but upon receiving his mission from Voldemort, he had to pass the position on to Blaise who understandably and quite happily took on the role. The sky was dark and it was raining again, yet Briana, Kaylee and Letha went to watch them practice anyway.
Just as Draco had began to miss several of his classes, he was absent for their first Quidditch practice. As soon as the entire team had made it to the Pitch, Blaise wasted no time in putting them to work as they ran drills, while he constantly yelled at them and blew his whistle.
"It's incredible how scary one can be when they're suddenly a Quidditch Captain," Kaylee commented, making a face.
"Can you imagine how much worse Draco would have been, though?", Briana said.
"Ugh, I don't even want to think about it," Letha shook her head.
"I'm glad he declined," admitted Kaylee. "This would have made him worse than he already seems, he's been acting so stressed out lately."
"I know, it's kind of making me nervous," Briana agreed.
"Really though, ever since you two became an item he's gotten so much better," Letha said with a smile on her face. "All the Gryffindor's and Ravenclaw's talk about how much happier we are because he's just... a better person."
"You hear that, lassie?", Kaylee spoke in an Irish accent for whatever reason. "Ya been helpin' out the entire castle, ya have."
"Oh, I really do try my best for the children," Briana flipped her hair over her shoulder dramatically and batted her lashes and the three of them burst into raucous laughter before Blaise blew his whistle at them.
"Shut your traps, ladies!", he yelled at them from up high on his broomstick.
"Oh just go back to your play time, Blaisey," Kaylee waved him off dismissively. "I tell you, amazing how he can recover so brilliantly after that cold he had."
"It's all in the potion-making," Letha winked at them proudly.
"You make potions?", Briana asked her incredulously.
"Of course! It's practically my favorite thing to do."
Kaylee shook her head, "Damn you brilliant Ravenclaws, always got to be brighter than the rest of us."
"But nobody's brighter than Briana BRIGHTsman!", Briana attempted and failed at a joke as she grinned broadly at her friends, expecting some sort of reaction.
They stared blankly back at her.
"No?", she asked, making a pouting face.
"No," Letha confirmed, shaking her head and placing a hand on Briana's shoulder meaningfully.
"See, this is why you let Chuck and I make the jokes, lovely," Kaylee patted her friend's knee as the rain fell harder and the three girls called it quits, running back to the castle, though Blaise was too stubborn to end the team's practice quite yet.
They had made it back to the common room where the three of them dried off and warmed up in Briana and Kaylee's dormitory. Letha stole a bit of both of their clothes before the three of them decided collectively to go to the Library. On their way there, Briana mentioned to them about how she and Draco had convinced Alex to ask Bridget to the dance and as she expected, Kaylee and Letha were both extremely excited to meet the girl as well.
After climbing multiple pairs of moving staircases (which Letha noted that she hated, having lost a few books because of them) the girls finally made it to the third floor. At the top of the stairs, they were about to turn to walk down the short corridor, but Kaylee had stopped abruptly, causing Letha and Briana to lightly run into her.
"What are you doing?", Briana asked her curiously.
"Look," Kaylee nodded in the direction opposite of which the Library was.
Briana and Letha followed her gaze to see that it was Draco. He had just come from an upper staircase and was now pacing in a corridor, his face looking incredibly irritated and angry. They were barely able to hear him swearing under his breath as he continued to walk back and forth.
"What's gotten into him lately? He's so off these days," Letha wondered aloud.
"It's just family stuff," Briana lied, feeling a little guilty about it.
"Well one thing's for sure, I am avoiding any contact with him while he's in that mood," Kaylee said, slowly advancing to the Library as if to prove her point.
"Go work your magic, Briana," Letha nudged her, walking slowly away with Kaylee.
"Alright, I'll talk to you guys later," Briana said to them quietly before walking towards her boyfriend as Kaylee and Letha didn't hesitate to run straight into the Library.
Briana held the few books she had to her chest as she slowly made her way to the corridor where Draco was still pacing angrily. She stopped near one of the stain-glass windows that showed a couple of wizards playing Quidditch, as rain poured down on it from the outside. She watched him pace and murmur to himself angrily for a few seconds before he realized she was there.
He stopped walking for a minute and looked at her. "Hi," was all he said before he continued in the same fashion as before,
"What's going on?", she asked quietly, reminding herself to stay calm and collected. She knew just how to handle him in these sort of situations.
"I'm just incredibly stressed at the moment."
"I figured that much," she mumbled honestly as he shot her a short glare.
"I've got my first plan ready to be set in motion, and I'm just sort of freaking out. It might not work, you know! It's... it's just stressful!", he had finally stopped pacing and was now leaning his back on one of the stone walls, running a hand through his hair.
"Well calm down, it's going to be alright," she assured him as she took one of his hands and began to lead him away.
They ventured up three more staircases until Briana found a tower with absolutely nothing in it but a few lamps that dimly lit the room. The sun was almost setting already, even though it was merely four o'clock in the afternoon. Winter was surely coming along. Once there, Briana set down her books and took a seat where she could see a large amount of the school grounds below them. She motioned for her blonde companion to join her, which he did, dragging his feet the way there. He was still not in the greatest of moods.
Once they had settled a bit, she took one of his hands in both of hers and told him to explain to her what his plan was. He continued on to tell her all about how he had obtained the Cursed Necklace from Borgin (he also had to explain to her how it worked and what it did) then told her how during the Hogsmeade trip this weekend he would use the Imperius curse on Madam Rosmerta, who would use the same curse on Katie Bell who would deliver the Cursed Necklace to Dumbledore. The only one who was to touch the actual necklace was Dumbledore, who would die upon simply grazing a finger on its surface. Everyone else who ever possessed the necklace, including Draco himself, would be holding it in its packaging.
Briana thought the whole thing sounded terrible, considering it was a plot to assassinate their headmaster. But as far as scheming goes, it wasn't too shabby of an idea; therefore, she commended Draco on his heavy thinking. He voiced his concerns on how it could go wrong, or how he might not be able to bring himself to use the Imperius curse so easily, but in the end, Briana had convinced him to try to think of only the positives. And even if this plan didn't work out, he still had several more months. It was Thursday, and the Hogsmeade trip was to take place on Saturday, in a sort of pre-mature and miniature celebration of Halloween.
The two of them had sat in silence for a few minutes then, Briana sitting and Draco laying with his head resting contently in her lap. He closed his eyes peacefully as she played with and pet his hair, because she knew ho deeply he enjoyed that. Then a separate thought struck her as she stared out at the muddy grass of the school's grounds.
"Draco?", she asked in a low, serene volume.
"Hmm," it was barely a reply, he was finally so calm and relieved of his previous worries.
"I was just thinking..."
"Thinking...?"
"Well you know I've got to go home tomorrow, just for the day. For my dance photos, of course."
"Mm hmm," he hummed, his eyes still shut.
"You should come with me. You know why?"
"Why?"
"Because I've just realized that we haven't told our parents about us. Er, I haven't anyway," she stated.
He opened his eyes and looked up at her, "I didn't even think about that. Alright, in that case, I shall come."
She smiled and continued to stroke his white-blonde hair, "What do you think their reactions will be?"
"They will have either seen this coming and not be surprised at all, or they will have never guessed this would happen and be completely taken by surprise."
Briana laughed because it was so true, "Seems pretty accurate to me."
"I imagine my mother will be pleased as punch though; she loves you so much," Draco added.
"Really?"
He nodded, "She may be even more excited than Kaylee and Letha were."
Briana chuckled at the thought before another peaceful silence set among them, and the sky only grew darker, the sun setting. A few minutes later, Briana decided the two of them ought to make their way to the Hall for dinner.
On the way there, Draco told Briana that the first thing he would do was his "jewelry plan" as they referred to it as, and that as soon as he was finished with that, the two of them would spend the entire rest of the day together in the Hogsmeade Village. They also saw the Slytherin Quidditch team making their way into the castle after an extremely tiring, wet, muddy, and extensive practice. Alex and Chuck were covered entirely in rain, dirt and mud, and when they saw Briana and Draco in the corridor ahead of them, they ran toward them at stop speed.
Draco was too quick though and barely jumped out of range, but the two boys had engulfed Briana in a tight, disgusting and soaking hug. They said things like "oh, we love you Briana" and "you're such a good friend", while her face was contorted in discomfort and disgust. They finally let her go, her sweater wet and slightly muddy as they laughed and ran away with the rest of their team. Draco had laughed at her too, and she had to join in before being sure to give her boyfriend a hug too. Sharing is caring, she told him slyly as they entered the Great Hall, both of them displaying small mud stains on their sweaters.
The next morning, Briana didn't do much with her appearance, knowing that once she arrived to the studio to get her photos taken, they would doll her up anyway. She took a shower and got dressed in something warm and comfortable, glancing out the window to see it dark, grey and barely raining as usual.
Walking down the stairs to the Common Room, she was the only one awake again so she took to the couch to read a book as she waited for someone - anyone, really - to get up. Flipping the pages slowly as she read, a good twenty minutes went by before any of her House mates appeared from one of the staircases. Two of them came down together at once: Ethan Bentley and a good friend of his named Derek. Briana pretended not to notice them and hid her face in her book as they walked through the common room without paying her a single glance.
She gave a small sigh of relief and lowered her book back down as Blaise and Draco finally joined her.
"Finally!", she exclaimed, jumping up when she saw them. "I'm abnormally hungry today, and I feel like I've been waiting for hours."
"Well I'm sorry that you have to wake up so damn early every morning," Blaise sent her of face of mock concern.
"Oh shut up, let's go eat already," she pulled a face before grabbing their arms and rushing towards the Hall.
Once there, she immediately began eating the first thing she saw as Draco and Blaise shared a look of amusement.
"So," Blaise began. "Draco tells me you two are ditching school today."
"It's not considered ditching if the Headmaster gave us permission to leave for the day," Draco retorted.
"Touche."
"Why would it matter, anyway?", Briana asked Blaise.
"It doesn't, I was just curious... How long is your little photo shoot supposed to last?"
"Maybe a bit more than an hour total."
"So why are you going to be gone all day?", he sent them a suggestive look.
"Shut up, Blaise," Briana gave him a look or her own.
"Just a question!"
"Well if you want to know," Draco said. "We're actually telling our parents. Because, you know. We haven't told them yet."
"Ah, I see," Blaise nodded for a minute before sending Briana another suggestive look just to bother her, which he did successfully as she threw a strawberry at his head.
Throughout Breakfast, the rest of their friends showed up on their own schedules as they usually did, all eight of them eating Breakfast together. (Letha practically joined them at the Slytherin table for every meal.) Classes began to start though, and Briana and Draco bid goodbye to their friends as the two of them made their way to Dumbledore's office where the would use Floo Powder in order to apparate back to Wiltshire, where both Malfoy and Brightsman Manor resided.