Of Silver and Green

Ch. 04 Of Foxes and Owls

Which is how Draco Malfoy found himself in the Slytherin fifth-year girls' dormitory. "Sit there," Brynne told him, pointing to an empty space on the floor next to her bed.

"On the floor?" he asked, shocked.

"Yes," she replied, more than a little exasperation finding its way into her voice.

"OK then." Draco wondered why he was so eager to please this girl.

Brynne kneeled next to her bed, and peered beneath it. She reached under and pulled out a large wicker basket. To Draco's surprise, she put her face to it and began to make a purring sound from deep within her throat.

"What are you doing? Can you communicate with foxes as well?"

"No," she said laughing. "Or at least, not in the same way I can talk to snakes. I was telling Aidynn it was me, but not in his language. He can recognize the sound of my voice. If I hadn't done that and had just opened the basket, he may have gotten a bit nippy without realizing who it was." They could now hear excited-sounding yips coming from inside the basket. She carefully unlatched it, and as soon as the lid was opened, a small ball of fur launched itself in her direction. She caught it in her arms easily, and it began to attack her face with licks. Brynne giggled.

Draco was charmed by the affection this girl bestowed upon her familiars. He hadn't realized that Slytherins were allowed to display affection.

When the little fox stopped licking Brynne, it realized they were not alone in the room. Noticing Draco, it jumped out of Brynne's arms and warily approached him. Aidynn stopped every few steps to sniff the air as he approached this stranger.

Brynne, breath caught in her throat, eagerly awaited Aidynn's reaction to Draco Malfoy. Aidynn inched closer and closer, and when he reached the place in front of where Draco was sitting, he took a deep long sniff and released it in a deep sigh. Then, with no warning, Aidynn leapt at Draco, and appeared to be quite intent upon removing Draco's face with his tongue.

Draco was enjoying this, but he couldn't let Brynne know. He made a show of pretending to try to pull the little fox off, hoping she wouldn't intervene. And she didn't. Draco looked up and realized she was too busy looking completely shocked to "help" him. "What's the matter?" he asked.

Brynne tried to clear her head. No guy did this to her. And what was wrong with her familiars? They were acting so weird. Yes, she had read the book, but still, she hadn't been expecting it to be right. They didn't like anyone but her. But here was Draco, sitting on the floor of her room, with Mordechai draped lazily across his shoulders and Aidynn lavishing him with the only kind of affection he knew how to provide. Brynne allowed herself a small smile. Draco was loving it, she could tell. He was acting as though he were trying to escape, but not very well. A thought occurred to her. "Can I meet your familiar?" she asked, completely ignoring Draco's prior question.

"Um, sure," he replied, making a move to give Aidynn and Mordechai back.

"That's OK, they seem to be enjoying your attentions. They can come with us." With that Brynne walked out of the room and stood just outside the door, waiting for him to lead her to his room. Draco stepped out the door, Mordechai still on his shoulders, Aidynn bouncing around his feet.

"Follow me," he told her, leading her to his private room just down the hall. The Slytherin Quidditch Captain got his own room, and it was decorated quite lavishly as well, according to Draco's taste. In a large gilded cage in the corner of the room sat his eagle owl. It was about a foot tall, its golden plumage shining as it turned to look at the newcomers. Its amber eyes lit up and it fluffed its ear tufts when it saw Draco.

Draco started to approach the cage, but then thought better of it when he felt Mordechai shift on his shoulders. "Maybe you should just go over there. But I'm not sure it's a good idea to let him out. I don't know how he'll react to you, or Mordechai and Aidynn."

Brynne strode purposefully up to the cage. The owl didn't seem in the least surprised. Then, as Draco watched in wonder, she unlatched the door of the cage and reached her arm inside. The owl perched easily on her wrist, and she removed it. The owl seemed quite calm, and inched its way up her arm to sit on her shoulder. Then, to Draco's utter amazement, his owl nuzzled Brynne's neck. His owl had never even shown him any affection, but then, Draco reflected, he really wasn't all that affectionate to the owl either. But in any case, this girl was special. He silently cursed. 'No!' he screamed to himself. 'You are not allowed to think such things! Stop right this instant!' But she was so stunning... 'Hey, what did I tell you?'

Draco's inner conflict lasted several minutes. Finally, his more stoic side won. Or so he thought...

Brynne was scratching under the owl's chin when she heard a weird squeaking sound. "What's that?" she asked Draco, who had a foul expression on his face. However, as soon as he heard her voice, he looked instantly more pleased.

"Hmmm?" he asked, looking up as if noticing her for the first time.

"That sound," she replied as it happened again. "What is it?"

"Oh!" he exclaimed, hearing it for the first time. "That's just my ferret. Would you like to meet her?"

"I didn't know you had a ferret. And do you not name your familiars?" she inquired.

"No one knows I have a ferret. They would think it was too funny considering the exceedingly traumatic event I endured last year. And as to naming my familiars, between you and me, I believe showing any sort of emotional attachment is a weakness that can be exploited. Giving something a name would be a way of showing attachment."

Draco looked so sad when he said this. Brynne was finally getting a look at the real Draco Malfoy, and she like what she saw. He was really a scared, insecure, vulnerable person on the inside. She needed to protect him, from people who would hurt him or his pride, yes, but mostly from himself. She put the owl gently in its cage and glided over to Draco. She was compelled to hug him, to hold him, and before he could protest, Brynne had her arms wrapped around his neck (after carefully repositioning Mordechai) with her head rested on his chest.

All his culture and upbringing were doing him no good whatsoever. Draco Malfoy was clueless. He had a girl hanging from his neck and he hadn't even the presence of mind to hold her for a full five minutes. He then wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed her to him, shuddering slightly at the closeness of the moment. His lips lightly grazed her forehead unconsciously. He realized that this was going to be bad for his image. He was even more surprised when he realized he didn't care.

"Shadow," she whispered.

"What?" he asked quietly, pulling back to examine her face.

"Your ferret. Name her shadow."

Draco laughed, a sound that began deep in his chest and traveled up and out from there. It was much different from his typical arrogant laugh, more sincere...but with something else that Brynne didn't recognize in his voice.

"What?" Brynne asked, sounding hurt. "You don't like my name?"

"You'll understand when you see her." Draco moved away from her to pull the blanket from the cage beside that of his owl. Brynne found herself staring at a ferret with fur the colour of Draco's hair. She was a glorious animal, and extremely animate as well. As soon as the cage had been uncovered, she had begun pacing to and fro in front of the door, waiting impatiently to be released.

"May I?" asked Brynne.

"Careful," he said affirmatively. "This one's feisty."

"We should get along just fine," Brynne smirked in response. Brynne approached the cage and opened the door slowly. "Shadow?" she inquired to the ferret. Shadow squeaked excitedly and bounded out the door and up to Brynne's shoulder in two swift leaps. Brynne couldn't have felt more turmoil in her heart if she had actively tried. She was completely overjoyed at the evidence of her connection with Draco, but on the other hand absolutely terrified of what Aydrian would do to them when he found out.