Humbling

Part One

Bronwyn pulled a band around her ponytail as she hurried into the Great Hall and collapsed beside her best friend on the long bench. She turned, sliding her legs under the table and grabbing for a biscuit and a few pieces of bacon before leaning close to Caitlyn. "Did I miss anything important, Cait?" The other girl shook her head as she swallowed.

"Just people laughing at Loony," the other girl whispered. "I'm not sure why, I missed that part. I think she might have tripped or something. You know her, in her own world."

"Always."

"What took you so long, Wynnie?"

"Just couldn't seem to get going this morning. I'm exhausted - I was up incredibly bloody too late last night trying to finish my own Arithmancy homework, seeing as I have to tutor two third years in it tonight. Spare me..." she said, rolling her eyes. Caitlyn looked somewhat sympathetic and shrugged at her.

"Tough break. You know, you could say no once in awhile. You might want to try it in front of a mirror sometime. It helps," Caitlyn offered with a shrug and Bronwyn just laughed, throwing Cait the harshest glare she could manage. "Just a suggestion," Caitlyn mumbled as innocently as possible.

Bronwyn stretched again, then reached for some pancakes. "Hey, Malfoy," she called down the table. "Pass the strawberries this way, please." There was no response from him, so Bronwyn shrugged. "Theodore, do me a favor..." She stopped and smiled as he slid the bowl to her. "Thank you, love," she said before heaping strawberries onto her pancakes and turning to her best friend. "What's with Mr. Happy-go-lucky down there?" she asked, nodding her head towards the end of the table where a tall boy with pale blonde hair scowled into his pancakes.

"Oh, you missed the little prince getting shot down - twice. It was wonderful." Bronwyn laughed slightly as she poured some orange juice into her goblet.

"Twice? Who had the guts to do that?"

"Pansy and Millie. Apparently they already have dates to the ball." Caitlyn shrugged again. "I think with the Wonder Twins. Theodore said Crabbe and Goyle asked those girls because they didn't think anyone else would go with them. Not that I'm surprised, who would want to go with them? But hey, I think it'll be fun. You and I are gonna have fun no matter what we do, we always do when we do things together." Bronwyn 'hmmm'ed in response, staring intently at the table. "Wait a second...you are going to the ball on Saturday, right?" Caitlyn asked, her fork mid-air, staring at her best friend. Bronwyn just kept her eyes on her plate and tore off a piece of biscuit. "Wynnie?"

The brunette shrugged at the table. "I hadn't really thought about it," she mumbled into her plate. Then, as quickly as she had come into the Hall, she grabbed her bag and the food left on her plate and pulled her legs out from the table. "I have to go see Professor Flitwick before class. I'll see you in Charms, Cait." The girl hurried away, leaving her best friend staring at the door. Caitlyn shrugged.

"Yeah. See you."

*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*

"Bloody hell!" Draco mumbled as he threw his bag to the floor and himself into his chair in front of the fire. "Those girls already have dates?" Theodore and Blaise took the chairs on either side, shrugging.

"Well, you kind of waited until the last minute, Malfoy. What did you expect, for them both to hold out in hopes that you would ask them? They are girls. They don't want to be going to the ball alone, probably even more than you don't want to go alone. I mean, they settled for thugs like Crabbe and Goyle, their standards must be pretty low," Blaise stated rather matter of factually.

"Sorry, mate, but you have to admit...you did wait until the last bloody possible second. The ball is in two days," Theodore said as he stretched his legs over the side of the chair.

"Who are you taking?"

"Cait. I think she would personally see to it that I never had children if I even thought of taking anyone else." Theodore rolled his eyes.

"You are on the shortest leash I have ever seen, Nott..." Blaise shook his head and shuddered. "Daphne," he stated as he turned back to Draco. "She's better than Pansy or Bullstrode. Much more complacent."

"He means easier to control."

"What ever you say, Nott. At least she doesn't have me whipped."

"I am not whipped," Theodore growled deeply. Blaise threw back his head in laughter.

"You? Not whipped? That's the funniest thing I've heard since - "

"Merlin's beard would you two bloody shut up? You two are even worse than the lug heads," Draco hissed, rolling his eyes. Theodore glared evenly at Blaise, who just laughed and shook his head.

"Well, Malfoy? What are you going to do?"

"I need to find someone suitable that does not yet have a date."

"Yeah, that's not going to be the challenge of the century. There are what, four females in this castle you find suitable? And all of them have dates already."

"You could always ask the Mudblood or the Weaslette," Blaise offered with a laugh, catching a glare from his friend. "I know, I know; you would rather kiss a dementor. I've heard it all before. But you have to admit, the pool is dwindling; I am not sure there are any better candidates left."

"Come to think of it, I don't think Bronwyn has a date. Caitlyn mentioned something about it at breakfast, I think." Theodore shrugged. "I could ask her about it."

"Bronwyn? Bronwyn Zoruman? Wouldn't my mother bloody love that," Draco sighed, hitting his head on the back of the chair. "I can hear it now. 'See Lucius? It's just like I said. Sairose's little girl and our Draco. Are they not adorable?'" He flicked his wand and a vase on the mantle shattered. "I'm sure that would just make her year."

"Malfoy, we are running out of suggestions here. Bronwyn's the only one I know for sure doesn't have a date. There is a possibility that Granger and the Weasley girl have dates. Not likely, but possible. You wouldn't want to be turned down again today, would you?"

"No thank you, Nott. I think twice in front of the whole school in one day is plenty for me."

"Actually, it was twice in the span of fifteen minutes." Draco glared at him and Theodore just shrugged. "Just thought I'd set the record straight."

"I don't know why I hang around you two." Draco scowled and stalked out of the common room, back into the hallways of the school. Theodore shrugged at Blaise, who just chuckled under his breath.

"Malfoy. It's always something when he's involved..." Theodore nodded in agreement and the two scattered to their schoolwork.

*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*

"So...I heard you don't have a date for Saturday," a cocky drawl settled on her ears and her nerves bristled slightly. Bronwyn did not look up from the table and continued to gather her Arithmancy books and notes from the tutoring session she had just finished.

"Can I help you, Draco?" she asked coldly. He slid into the chair beside her.

"I don't think you could ever possibly help me. But I believe I may be able to offer you a proposal that would be rather beneficial to you." He stretched and leaned his chair back on its hind legs.

"A proposal? What is this, Malfoy? A business meeting?" Bronwyn laughed and earned a harsh glare from Madame Pince. "Sorry..." she whispered, gathering the last of her things and pulling her bag to her shoulder. She headed out of the library, the tall boy close at her heels.

"More like a business arrangement."

"Business arrangement? I have no earthly idea what you could possibly be babbling about, but as it is not sounding like anything I would be remotely interested in agreeing to, I have a somewhere else I need to be." Draco grabbed her arm and stopped her, pulling Bronwyn into an empty classroom. She leveled her eyes on him. "What do you want, Malfoy?"

"You don't have a date to the ball on Saturday. I don't -- " Draco cut himself off and Bronwyn could see him backtrack himself. "I would be willing to take you."

"Willing? You would lower yourself to going to a school function with me just so that I don't have to be alone? That's so sweet of you Draco," Bronwyn gushed in a heavily sugar coated voice, but there was not a single hint of a smile. "And so unlike you. Besides, what in Merlin's name would make you think I would want to go to the bloody ball anyway? Especially with the likes of you?" Draco laughed as Bronwyn turned on her heel, heading towards the door.

"Because though I may not like you, I know you, Bronwyn, and you wouldn't want to be the only one in the school not at the ball. Even Mudbloods have dates and I know you can't stand the thought of them being at the ball if you are not there. And because I have nothing better to do and I think the 'party' will be a bloody riot and I would hate to have to miss it."

"Draco Malfoy, do you honestly think you know me so well that you can presume to know what I think? You haven't said so much as a 'hello' to me since you hit puberty and noticed that Tracey and Daphne and your little groupies had breasts. Why don't you go bother one of them?"

"Bronwyn, dear, I have no idea what you could possibly be talking about." Draco grinned widely and Bronwyn just rolled her eyes, hiking her bag onto her shoulder and resituating the books in her arms.

"Tracey. Pansy. Millicent," Bronwyn hissed. "Go bother them for a date and leave me alone. Unless..." A glimmer of recognition crept across Bronwyn's eyes and a smile tugged at her lips as Draco's eyes clouded over. "They already have dates, don't they?" Draco said nothing in response. "Ah, so I do have it right. I assumed as much, considering that you are here with some lame excuse and horribly veiled attempt to get me to go to the ball with you just so that you won't have to show up somewhere alone and admit that you aren't as wonderful as you think you are." Bronwyn laughed harshly. "You are just like your father, Draco, expecting people to worship you and cater to your every whim. Well guess what. I won't." Bronwyn shook her head and turned away from him, stalking towards the door and throwing it open. She stopped and turned back, leveling her glare with Draco's.

"I would rather not go to any ball ever again and be alone for the rest of my life than go anywhere in public with you." Bronwyn turned on her heel and hurried down the hallway, leaving Draco alone in the empty classroom, stunned. He had just been turned down by a girl, not because she already had a date, but because she didn't want to go anywhere with him. He decided right there that he wasn't going to let this rest until he showed up Saturday night with her on his arm.

*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*

"You did what?!" There was a small cry from one of the beds across the room as the curtain was yanked back and two pairs of slitted eyes glared at her harshly. Bronwyn was sure that if eyes could possibly shoot daggers, she would have been dead by now. She rolled her eyes and leaned back against her headboard.

"I said, I turned Draco down for the ball. It is not a big deal, Millie," she said as Millicent Bullstrode gaped at her as if she wanted to say something. "You two both turned him down as well, in case you forgot."

"Only because we already had dates!" Pansy Parkinson snapped at her and Bronwyn laughed, shaking her head.

"Desperate," she said under her breath to Caitlyn, who sat beside her.

Pansy and Millicent both glared continuously at Bronwyn. "Humph," they huffed as they pulled the curtains on Pansy's bed closed again. Bronwyn closed her own curtains and turned to look at her best friend, who had been intently studying her for the past five minutes. "Well?"

"Why did you turn him down, Wynnie?" Caitlyn asked. "You don't have a date. He doesn't have a date. Don't you want to go to the ball?"

"He's a pompous stuck up asshole who doesn't deserve the time of day from any girl in this school, Cait. I would rather not go to the ball than go with someone like that." She shrugged and pulled her cat into her lap. "Besides, you told me to start saying no to things." Caitlyn rolled her eyes.

"Wynnie, you know that was not what I meant. You used to be friends - " Bronwyn cut her best friend off by raising her hand and shaking her head.

"Not anymore, Cait." Bronwyn paused, biting her lower lip. "He's changed. And he obviously doesn't want to be friends with me, seeing as the only time he has spoken to me since we were twelve is the one time he is so desperate to not seem alone that he is willing to lower himself to asking me a ball. I do not like being an object or a last resort. I'm a person. And I used to be his friend. I'm not sure what happened," she said quietly and turned, laying her head on the pillow. Caitlyn sighed and shook her head.

"Fine, Bronwyn. Have it your way. Stay in the house alone on Saturday and make yourself miserable. Yeah, that is a bloody wonderful idea." She rolled her eyes as she climbed off the bed and Bronwyn heard her close the door behind her as she left the room, Bronwyn's cat traipsing behind her. Bronwyn assumed she was going to the common room or somewhere to find Theodore.

Bronwyn huffed into her pillow and turned over, staring at the canopy above her. Why was everyone making such a big deal out of this stupid ball anyway? So Dumbledore had decided they needed some fun and wanted to throw them a party. Who cares? Valentine's Day was a stupid holiday anyway.

'Yeah, Bronwyn, keep telling yourself that and maybe you'll believe it,' she thought to herself. She threw back the curtains and left the room, striding down the stairs to the common room. She hurried past the clustered groups and out the portrait into the school hallways. 'I just need some fresh air,' she told herself, 'then it will all be better. Fresh air will fix everything.' She hurried towards the main doors and out towards the grounds.

*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*

Draco huddled in his chair in the corner pondering where he should go from here. He was not surrounded by his usually circle of lackeys, as Crabbe and Goyle had been avoiding him since the girls had turned him down and Theodore and Blaise had both found it remarkably hilarious that Bronwyn had turned him down. Tracey Davies, a sixth year Slytherin witch, had been wandering by the empty classroom as Bronwyn left and had caught a bit of the conversation, namely the end of it, and had taken it upon herself to rush back to the house and inform everyone she saw there and on the way that "Bronwyn Zoruman just rejected Draco! Oh, it was vicious!" It was the gossip of the house and apparently a highly amusing story that needed to be retold in one way or another every five minutes, to the displeasure of Draco and the great amusement of all of his friends.

Draco was very tempted to go after Bronwyn and tell her that no one, no one, insults or rejects a Malfoy that way, but he know that was just what she expected and he refused to give her the satisfaction of being right about him in any way, shape, form, or fashion. Besides, the moment she had said that to him, Draco had become determined that she would be going to the dance with him. He just had to figure out how to make it happen.

People were clustered around the room, talking and laughing away like always. He heard someone on the stairs from the girls' dormitory and saw Bronwyn hurry through the room without looking around and seemingly without noticing the silence that greeted her and followed her out of the room. Draco stood up and slipped out of the room behind her, following her down the hallway. He realized she was going outside and took a short cut that led him out the back way and allowed him to reach the lake's shore before she descended the front steps. He sat against the tree, in the shadows, and waited for her to approach.

*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*

Bronwyn hurried down the front steps and then slowed her pace slightly and she wandered across the snow-covered lawn towards the lake. It had always calmed her, though she was never sure why, even on this dark night, when the sky and the faint stars reflected in the smooth, icy surface. She stopped a few yards away from the tree that so many students used for shade during the bright days spent studying and just lounging outside. She lowered herself to a large rock and pulled her knees to her chest, staring across the lake and into the trees.

"It seems that great minds think alike." A familiar voice met her ears from the shadows and Bronwyn closed her eyes, trying to stop a low hiss from escaping her teeth.

"Will you ever give me a moment of peace, Malfoy? Or are you intent on stalking me?" she snapped, never averting her eyes from the ice in front of her. She could hear him just beyond the shadows; out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of his hair as he stepped towards her. She wrapped her arms around her knees.

"Now where in the world would you get the idea that I am stalking you?" he drawled.

"Well, you seem to show up in odd places where I am. First, the library (which you are never in of your own free will) to harass me, now out here on an awfully cold night when no one else seems to have the guts to brave the weather."

"I seem to remember being here before you showed up."

"Yes, and I'm not sure how that works considering that I know I saw that greasy white hair of yours lurking in the corner of the common room on my way up here." Draco clicked his tongue at her as he stopped, steps away from her, casting shadows over her small frame.

"Tsk, tsk, little Brownie. We are the observant one, aren't we?" Bronwyn growled low in her throat.

"If you call me that again, Malfoy, I swear..."

"Swear what, Zoruman? What could you possibly do to me?" he said with a laugh, lowering himself beside her.

"There is not a curse invented yet that is bad enough for you, Draco Malfoy."

"Now, now. Such hostility from one so young."

"Draco, would you stop pretending and just tell me what you want so that I can say no and make you leave me bloody alone already?" Bronwyn finally leveled her gaze on him instead of the ice.

"I want you to go to the ball with me Saturday night."

"You already said that. And I already said no. Or can you not get that word through your thick skull? What part of it do you not understand?"

"Oh, I understand what it means. I just don't think you actually mean that."

"What in Merlin's name would make you possibly think that you know better than I do what I think and mean, Draco? Do you have some special capability that lets you read my mind incorrectly or something?"

"No, I just know you."

"No, Draco, you don't. You used to know me. You knew me when I was younger. You probably could have even claimed to have 'known' me that well when we were twelve. But seeing as you have not said a bloody word to me in five years and seeing how much everything has changed since then you cannot claim that you know me any more than a stranger can."

"You couldn't have changed that much, Bronwyn."

"I have Draco. And so have you apparently. You weren't always this much of a bloody prick. Now, if you would be so kind, accept the fact that I am saying no and leave me alone." Bronwyn stood up and stalked away towards the castle before Draco could say anything in response. He stood up and started after her.

"Brown....Bronwyn! Please wait!" Draco called before he realized what was leaving his mouth. Against her better judgment, Bronwyn stopped on the bottom step and turned to him.

"Please? Since when is that word a part of any Malfoy's vocabulary?" she snapped at him.

"Since I've been lowered to having to beg a friend to go somewhere with me because I have no other options."

"Well, at least you are admitting I am a last resort. But Malfoy, I am not a friend." Bronwyn turned to start up the stairway. Once again, the familiar drawl stopped her.

"Why do you hate me, Bronwyn?" Bronwyn rolled her eyes and turned back to him.

"Because you are an arrogant bloody prick. Because you called me your best friend for eight years and then abandoned me the second you thought it was not in your best interest in trying to be 'popular' to be seen with me. Because you waltz back here after five years of nothing, not a note, not a letter, not even a 'hello' in the halls and expect me to fall at your feet just because you are Draco Malfoy. Because I think you need to be informed that you are not the end all and be all of this school. There are other people here, you know; people with feelings and you step all over them without thinking twice. I may not like them all, but I don't trample them like that." Bronwyn took a breath quickly, but kept plowing through; she was afraid that if she stopped now, she could never get it all out. "Because you expect everyone to worship you just because you are Draco, no matter how horrible you are to them. Because you are exactly like your father and you will probably end up even worse than him. Because one of these days you are going to break and you are going to fall and you are going to try and take everyone around you down with you - you have already started. And I will do anything I can to keep that from happening, even if it means losing you. I will save them before I think twice about you. But mainly, Draco, I don't like you because I think you need to be humbled." Bronwyn tried to steady her voice as it began shaking. There were so many things she had imagined saying to him and she couldn't get a single one of them to come out. She fought the tears as a lump began to form in her throat and she willed herself not to cry.

"That sure is a lot of reasons," Draco mumbled quietly, sinking to a seat on the stairs. Bronwyn sighed.

"Is that what you wanted to know? Do you want to know anything else?" she asked, her hand on the front doors.

"No, I think I have had enough stomping on my ego for one day, thank you," he said to the ground without looking up at her.

Bronwyn stared at him for a moment. Now that she had actually said it all, she thought she might have been rather harsh on him. 'But he deserved it,' a small voice told her. 'After the way he has treated you and everyone else these past five years. You only gave him what was coming to him one of these days anyway.' Bronwyn shook her head to try and rid herself of the voice. She opened the door and started into the castle.

"You probably shouldn't stay out too long, Draco. It's awfully cold outside," she said quietly before she hurried across the main foyer, hearing the front door close loudly behind her.

*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*

Draco sat on the front steps for quite a long time, until his hands finally told him it was time for him to head back inside by all but freezing to the point where he could barely move his fingers. He cupped his hands and blew warm air into them, rubbing them together in an effort to try and revive them. No one had ever said anything like that to him before (as least not anyone who mattered at all). He wasn't quite sure how to take it.

'How dare she talk to me like that,' he fumed to himself. 'Where does she come off saying and assuming those things? She doesn't know me at all. She is wrong about me and she is going to pay for it!'

He hurried to the dungeon so as not to run into Filch or Mrs. Norris (or any other teacher that might decide he needed detention, as he was out of the house a good deal after curfew). He reached the dungeon and absently gave the password climbing into the room and collapsing automatically into his usual chair before the fire. The common room had cleared of students and he just stared at the flames before him, pondering.

"I take it you did not take my advice and come in before you froze to death," a voice from the opposite corner said quietly. Draco stiffened.

"I wasn't ready to bloody come back in yet," he growled slightly. He heard her footsteps as she crossed the room. She held something in front of him and stared at the flames.

"Drink it," Bronwyn said as he eyed it warily. "It will make you feel better. I promise that I did not poison it. If I were going to kill you, I would choose a much more original means of doing it."

Draco took the mug she handed him and drank the entire contents. He suddenly felt warmed from the inside and he could feel his hands and feet again. He handed the mug back to her. Bronwyn flicked her wand and the mug disappeared. She sat in the chair to one side of him, staring into the flames of the fire in front of them. Draco stared at her and all his anger started fuming again. He glared into the fire.

"Who do you think you are, talking to me like that?" he snapped and Bronwyn stared at him blankly. "You, with your 'better than thou' and holy attitude. You walk around here like you are the queen or something, expecting everyone to bow down to you. You, of all people, cannot claim that I am...that. Look at you! Why don't you reflect on yourself once in awhile? You aren't 'Little Miss Perfect', you know. You are no better than anyone else - and I think you know that. You just don't want to have to admit it. And that's why you hate me. Because I am better than you and it pisses you off." Draco leveled his glare on Bronwyn, searching for some kind of reaction.

Bronwyn started laughing. She threw her head back and just laughed at him which, given the look his face took, was not exactly the response that Draco was hoping for or expecting. He scowled harder and sank back into his chair. "Are you that desperate to think that I am wrong? Fine. Believe whatever it is you want to believe. And do you know what? Out there, when I saw how much that appeared to have affected you, I thought I might be wrong. Maybe I was wrong about you and you are not as much of an arrogant jerk as you play yourself off to be. Maybe there was a decent human being lurking under that gelled hair and cocky smile just trying to get out. But it looks like I was right after all. Thank you for proving that to me, Malfoy." Bronwyn stood up quickly and turned away, starting across the room towards the stairs to her dormitory.

"You always have to have the last word, don't you Zoruman?" Draco snapped, jumping to his feet and following her quickly across the room. "Can't stand to let someone else one up you in a fight?"

"This is not a fight, Draco. Because for it to be a fight, I would have to care."

"Look, Brownie - " Draco started, but Bronwyn cut him off.

"Look, I shouldn't have said what I said out there, but I did and that's over now. I've said my piece and you've said yours, it is obvious that we hate each other and that's not going to change, so let's just leave it at that and go on with our lives the way they were," she said softly to the wall, her back to Draco.

"I asked out there," Draco hissed at her back, taking deep breaths. She wondered if he was trying to save energy and make her angry with him again or if he was trying to calm down.

"I know..." she trailed off. She sighed, taking a deep breath. She spoke quickly, so as to get everything out at once. "It's just that I've had five years to mull over all the things that I don't like about you and all the reasons I should and do bloody hate you. I should have just picked one instead of letting them all come out."

"So that's all the reasons, then?" Draco snapped.

"Well...no. There's more, but those are the ones that popped into my mind first," Bronwyn mumbled.

"I see." The two stood in silence, motionless, for a few moments. Draco tried to remain mad and upset at her, but there was a small voice tugging at his mind. He tried to shake it off. There was something about the way she stood, her eyes staring at the floor. For some reason, he knew it was his fault. And a small voice in his head told him to fix it.

Bronwyn just closed her eyes. She was tired. She was exhausted. She was sick of fighting this fight with him and she was sick of the energy it took to hate him actively. She shook her head. She turned back to him and stared at him for a moment. He was trying to hide pain behind his eyes and the scowl. But she could still see it. She had hurt him. She sighed again and brushed at the tears that threatened her eyes.

"Well...I guess I'll leave you now. I should go try and get some sleep. You probably should too," Bronwyn said quietly, turning away from him as she started to climb the stairs.

"Bronwyn - " Draco started, his voice breaking slightly, but Bronwyn cut him off.

"Don't say it, Draco. I know you don't mean it and I do not want to hear it unless I can believe it and, coming from you, I cannot believe that."

"How do you know what I was going to say?" Draco tried to tease, but there was still an edge to his voice.

"Because, Draco, as much as I don't want to admit it and as much as you ignore it, I do know you," Bronwyn offered simply with a shrug and continued up the stairway, leaving Draco in the empty common room before the happily crackling fire.

*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*