Of Silver and Green

Ch. 22 Making Amends

Brynne didn't make it to any of her Monday classes, but she absolutely couldn't bear the thought of missing any more, so Tuesday morning she dragged herself out of bed in time for breakfast.

She was expecting a melee when she first entered the Great Hall, and was quite nervous about it, but what she received was rather anti-climactic. When she entered the large dining room, several heads perked up curiously, but no one asked her anything, or even spoke to her at all. She went over to the Ravenclaw table, where Blair sat staring at her, worry twisting her delicate features.

She sat down across for Blair and, before either girl could speak, a house-elf appeared. Since all Brynne had eaten yesterday was some chocolate frogs, she was so ravenous she ordered food enough to feed several people. They waited in silence for Brynne's food to arrive, and when it did, and Brynne began eating without a word, Blair exploded.

"What's going on, Brynne?" she exclaimed, ignoring their surroundings and the shocked looks she was receiving. "You missed class yesterday, and you never miss class! Not only that, but I hear rumours of Draco and Harry Potter fighting, which, in and of itself is not unusual, but that your name was involved. Blaise and Draco aren't speaking to one another, and Blaise won't tell me why. Draco isn't talking to anyone, and I haven't seen you since Sunday at dinner. What the hell is going on, Brynne?" she screeched.

Brynne's mouth fell open. She had had no idea that the situation had gotten so out of control, and she had never heard Blair curse. "I'll tell you," she whispered, "but after I've eaten. I only had some chocolate frogs yesterday, and I'm famished." Blair nodded, infinitely more composed than she had been but a few minutes ago.

Brynne finished her food quickly, despite how much she had ordered. "We have fifteen minutes before our classes start. Follow me," she told Blair.

Blair gave her a funny look. "Why can't we just talk here?"

"They're watching us," Brynne answered nervously in a hushed voice, glancing around. And indeed, all the eyes in the room were fixed on them. Brynne felt the familiar green eyes trained on her and flinched, not willing to turn and check. After the horrible things she'd said to Harry, she would be immensely surprised if he ever spoke to her again.

Blair saw the anxious look on her friend's face and sighed. "Ok, let's go." Brynne pulled her out of the room and out of sight behind a large suit of armor beside the mahogany doors.

Brynne proceeded to tell Blair a slightly abridged version of the truth, carefully leaving out any references to animagi or the training thereof. As she told the story, she remembered that in her hysterics Sunday night, she had told Professor Snape everything. Funny how it hadn't registered at the time. She hoped Snape would keep her secret. She fancied he would like having one up on McGonagall.

Blair's eyes widened at the end of the story when Brynne told her what she had said to Harry. "And I didn't even mean it," she finished miserably. "He's going to hate me forever now. Him and Draco..." At this Blair began to laugh. Brynne looked up sharply, a hurt look on her face. "What's that for?"

"If you think that Harry Potter is going to hate you forever, then I'd have to say you've got another thing coming. Did you even see how he was looking at you this morning?" Brynne shook her head. She'd been afraid to look. "Well, for your information, he was staring at you the whole time with the most depressed look ever on his face. And if I'm not mistaken, here he comes," Blair cried, shoving Brynne straight into the arms of a startled Harry Potter.

"Sorry," she mumbled, eyes lowered, trying to escape as quickly as possible.

"It's ok. I know you didn't mean it," he replied, voice full of meaning. He lifted her chin gently so she was meeting his gaze. "You didn't, did you?"

"No," she said tearfully, hugging him. She looked into his face. "Is that a bruise?" she asked touching his cheek gently.

He winced. "Yeah," he replied. "But I like to think I gave better than I received," he said dryly. "You must have heard about the row Draco and I got into yesterday. I was trying to tell him the truth, but he just got mad. Already being so pale made the bruises stand out more," he said apologetically.

"It's ok," Brynne responded softly. "I know you wouldn't do something like that unless there was no other choice. Thank you for defending me."

"No problem. Really," he said, leveling eyes with her.

"Anyways, I've got to get my stuff for Defense Against the Dark Arts. I can't afford to skip any more classes," she said. "I'll talk to you in Herbology. 'Bye!" she called as she ran towards the dungeons.

She collected her things quickly and left, heading up to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. She was moving so quickly, Brynne nearly collided with Professor Snape on the stairs leading out of the dungeons.

"I can see you haven't learned from your mistakes, Brynne," he said, grasping her shoulder firmly to steady her.

"Yes, Professor," she replied, reddening slightly.

"I took the liberty of informing Hagrid and Professor Vector that you had an acceptable excuse for your absence yesterday. Mr. Zabini has your assignments for those classes, I believe."

"Professor, what about the assignment for your class?" asked Brynne.

"I'm afraid that, due to forces outside my control," he scowled, "there was no assignment. I must admit however, that your Mr. Potter behaved quite admirably. Just like a Gryffindor would be expected to act," he said distastefully.

"Yes, I know," Brynne replied with a smile. "There is one other thing though."

"Hmmm?"

"I'm not going to be punished for being an unregistered animagus, am I?" she whispered nervously.

"No. Not by me at any rate. And I'm not going to tell anyone about it either, if that's what you're worried about," Snape replied. "Now run along," he commanded. "You're late."

~~~***~~~

The only seats left when Brynne arrived at Defense Against the Dark Arts, ten minutes late, were one beside Draco and another with Blaise. She opted for Blaise, knowing she had to get her assignments anyways, and she wanted him to know the truth. She desperately wanted Draco to know the truth as well, but she knew he wasn't ready to hear it.

"Can I sit here, Blaise?" she asked quietly.

"Sure," he answered emotionlessly.

"Blaise," she said, sitting down, "what's wrong?"

"I don't even know," he sighed. "That's the problem. Draco won't tell me anything. All I know is from what Potter shouted at him when the two of them fought. I really wanted Draco to be able to trust me enough to tell me, but since he obviously doesn't, could you please tell me?"

"I don't think trust has anything to do with it. It's probably too painful for him to talk about," Brynne replied. "He found out Sunday night that I'm friends with Harry Potter and that we've been studying in the library together every night for nearly a week. It came as quite a shock to him and he assumed something was going on. Nothing was of course; I would never do that to Draco. He wouldn't listen though, when I tried to explain."

"He wouldn't listen yesterday when Potter tried to explain, either. What he was saying actually makes sense now. Anyways, Draco didn't want to hear it, and tried to knock him out. Potter didn't want to fight, but ended up beating Draco soundly."

At this point, Brynne took a good look at Draco. His face, normally pale and unblemished, had a large purple bruise on his right cheek, just below his eye. His lower lip was rather puffy and swollen as well. She couldn't see much of his left side from this angle, but it appeared to her that his left eye was blackened. He looked absolutely miserable, like he had crawled out of bed and come straight to class. Judging from his hair and robes, he had done just that.

"The weird thing was that Snape hardly punished Potter at all," Blaise broke in thoughtfully. Brynne hid a smile. "I have just one question," he said. "I thought you and Draco had been doing a top-secret something-or-other every night. What was he doing that he didn't notice you'd gone?"

"He knew I was at the library," Brynne began hesitantly. Should she tell Blaise? It was as good a time as any. "He was meditating," she continued in a whisper. "I was trained as an animagus by my parents. I'm unregistered. Draco found out and wanted me to train him. Do you understand now why we had to keep it such a big secret?"

Blaise nodded. "And here I thought you two were snogging that whole time."

Brynne reddened, but ignored his comment. "I told Blair everything except the part about the animagus training. I would prefer if, when you talk to her, you didn't mention it. And talk to her! She thinks you're mad at her!"

"Well, I'm hardly mad at her. I just couldn't answer any of her questions."

"Well, just talk to her soon. I know she'd appreciate it. I have to ask you your opinion on something," she said, growing serious. "What is your opinion of me and Potter being friends?"

"I really couldn't care less. What I would like to know is why you didn't tell Draco. You knew he was going to be upset, but I am almost certain he would have been more understanding if you had told him instead of him finding out the way he did."

Brynne sighed. "I really don't know why I didn't tell him. I think that I was afraid that he would hate me, or make me choose. I would have chosen him, but I didn't want to have to choose between them. It was really rather stupid of me, I know. Now he's made the choice for me, and not the one I would've made."

"I don't think he wanted to do it. I've seen the pain in his eyes," Blaise replied. "I think maybe he saw it as his only option. Now that you and Potter are out in the open with your friendship, Draco will realize that's all it is and may change his mind. I can't help being slightly disappointed in your lack of faith, though. But I'm sure he'll come around, just give him time."

"I hope you're right," she replied softly, letting her gaze drift back to Draco. She saw him avert his eyes quickly, realizing he had been watching her and Blaise. She could wait. She didn't particularly like being away from him this long, but if he needed time, she would give it to him. She wasn't, however, going to stop protecting him.