Of Silver and Green

Ch. 10 The Not-So-Rude Awakening

Brynne woke up early as usual. Despite being unconscious for five hours, she had found herself exhausted last night and had collapsed on her bed without even changing into her pajamas.

'Oh well,' she thought to herself, slipping out of her wrinkled clothes and into a towel. She then proceeded to the large bathroom she shared with her four roommates. She took a brief shower and then found a clean uniform and put it on quickly, wrapping her long, wet hair in the soft green of her towel like a turban. She happily noted that none of her roommates was awake yet. They almost never were this early, though.

She flipped her hair over and removed the towel, rubbing her head with it to dry her hair. The time she spent fixing her hair was questionably the most relaxing part of her day. She picked up her brush and began to run it through her smouldering red strands. She didn't care how long it took to detangle this way; she preferred this method to charming it. Once she finished brushing, she divided her hair into three parts and began to weave them into a braid, her fingers swiftly and deftly working through the strands. That finished, she pulled on her shoes and made her way to the Great Hall for breakfast.

She was glad hardly anyone ever went to breakfast. The tables weren't segregated into houses this early in the morning. Her eyes searched the room until they spotted Blair, sitting at the end of the Ravenclaw table alone. She made her way to the other end of the hall and plopped into the seat across from Blair. "'Morning," she greeted the other girl cheerfully.

"Good morning," came the answer.

"I haven't had a chance to read your essay yet. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow last night."

"That's alright," Blair responded. "It's not due until tomorrow. But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about, and you know it!"

Brynne grinned. Of course she knew, she could read Blair like a book. She decided to bait her friend some more. "Quite right. So what was it again you wanted to discuss?"

Blair's blue eyes glittered. "Don't you play the fool. You're not dealing with a Hufflepuff! I want to know what's going on with you and Malfoy! And what happened to Aydrian?!"

Brynne smiled. This was just the reaction she had been expecting. No one had known how miserable she had been with Aydrian, so of course it had come as a complete shock. "This may come as a surprise, but I wasn't happy with Aydrian. He didn't love me; I was just a possession to him. Draco has shown me how special I am, in his own little way. He has revealed to me the person he is afraid to show everyone else he is. I really care about him, and I get the sense that he cares about me as well."

Blair gazed at Brynne over her pancakes. "That makes sense. I wasn't expecting for that to make sense. But it made sense," she answered haltingly.

Brynne lifted her mocha to her lips. She was glad Blair was taking this so well. Her friend had a tendency to be melodramatic. She had been expecting Blair to burst into tears and sob that she and Aydrian had been such a great couple. She took the opportunity that the silence afforded to pull out Blair's essay from her robes to begin reading it over. Blair simply continued looking over her Herbology notes. They continued in silence for a while until a thought occurred to Blair.

"Are you going to tell him?"

"Tell him what?"

"About Bry."

"Hmmm...I'm not sure. Maybe I'll wait and see how long it takes for him to figure it out," Brynne answered, a smirk on her lips.

"But you may not want to wait too long to tell him if he doesn't figure it out for himself. It may come as a betrayal of sorts."

Blair was right, of course. Brynne could see it. She drained the rest of her coffee and then stood up. "Here's your paper," she said, handing it over. "It's fine. You're definitely getting better. Now I've got to go prepare for Transfiguration. It starts in a half-hour. I'll see you later!"

"'Bye!" Blair called after her.

Brynne made her way back to the common room quickly so she could gather her books for McGonagall's class. Brynne didn't particularly like Professor McGonagall, but she was an animagus. Brynne had to respect an animagus, personal feelings aside.

As she climbed the stairs to the rooms, an evil thought occurred to her. She stood outside Draco's room, listening with her ear pressed to the door. Nothing. She tried the knob. It was unlocked, to her delight, and opened noiselessly to reveal a sleeping Draco. She frowned in thought. 'What was it they said about sleeping dragons?' She couldn't remember.

She entered the room, closing the door behind her. Not bothering to be quiet, she walked over to his bed. Nothing short of being shaken violently would wake him up. 'Except...' she thought to herself as she climbed on the bed beside him. Then she threw her leg over him and straddled his stomach, nestling her head in his neck. He didn't even stir. So Brynne decided to opt for more drastic measures. Lifting her head slightly, she took his earlobe in her teeth and began to nibble.

Draco frowned, then opening one of his eyes a fraction, began to smirk. "You couldn't even wait until I woke up? Want me that badly? Well then, I guess I can't hold that against you."

Brynne stifled a giggle. "That might have sounded a bit more convincing had you not been lying in yesterday's rumpled clothes with you hair sticking up every which way." She looked thoughtful. "Actually, I think I like you with bedhead. Yes, I've decided. Very sexy. It is my decree that thou shalt go to all thy classes just as thou are!" she crowed, her eyes sparkling devilishly.

Draco narrowed his eyes. "Don't even entertain that thought! There is no way in hell I would ever leave my room looking like this, let alone allow those bloody Gryffindors see me! And we share most of our classes with them!" It was obvious that Brynne was fantasizing their reaction. "Stop daydreaming! There's no way it will ever happen. No way! Are you even listening? Those Gryffindors have seen me fall on my ass, they've seen me bounced around as a ferret, they-they've seen my absolute devotion to you, but never will I ever let them see me unkempt and in disarray!" he finished, shrill and out-of-breath. When he returned his gaze to her, he noticed the demonic gleam had vanished from her eyes, replaced with, well, with something else completely.

Brynne had not been paying attention to his rant, until he had mentioned the ferret incident with Mad-Eye Moody. But then his next words had shocked her to her core. She had known he cared for her; it was quite obvious. But she had never expected for him to come out and say it to her openly. And yet he had. But it seemed as though he hadn't even noticed what he had said. All she could do was stare in wonder.

When Draco finally returned her gaze, she lowered her head, as if to kiss him. Draco closed his exquisite silver eyes, waiting for the soft brush of her lips, but it never came. Instead, he felt her moving on top of him, pulling him closer, wrapping every possible limb around him and cuddling her face in his hair. He could feel her breathe and hear her heartbeat. He wrapped his arms around her, crushing her to him.

Brynne felt his arms tighten around her protectively and she smiled as she inhaled the peppermint scent of his hair. As she breathed in the heady aroma, she came back to reality with a jolt. McGonagall's class! In less than twenty minutes! And it took fifteen to get there! Frantic, she tried to struggle from his grasp. Unfortunately, she was locked in his embrace and was going to be late for a class for the first time ever!

She hadn't wanted to do this. She wasn't registered, so technically it was illegal. If Draco said anything to anyone (not that she thought he would), she could be in a lot of trouble. How ironic that she was going to do it in order to make it to Transfiguration...