Humbling

Part Two

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear on the crisp grounds covered with a fresh blanket of white snow. It was Valentine's Day and most of the school was excited and babbling incessantly about the ball that night - especially the girls. Bronwyn just rolled her eyes and stared at her breakfast, trying to choke down some food before the rest of the girls at her table made her sick. Even Caitlyn, sitting beside her, was joining in the uncharacteristically excited giggles and whispers. Bronwyn rolled her eyes and leaned closer to her plate.

"They sound like a gaggle of geese or something," a soft voice whispered over her shoulder. Bronwyn looked up and saw Draco sliding into the seat beside her that Blaise had vacated moments before. She rolled her eyes and went back to her food with nothing more than a glance in his direction and no sound to acknowledge him. She had managed to avoid him all of Friday and had been hoping for the same success on this day.

"Bronwyn, you can't ignore me for the bloody rest of time. So here, I'll make a deal with you. You go with me tonight - eh eh, let me finish," he said as Bronwyn opened her mouth to protest. "You go with me tonight," he continued, "and I promise that if I do anything to make you mad or annoyed or uncomfortable, that you can leave right then and there. I promise to be on my best behavior, but this way, we both get to go and neither of us has to go alone. Everyone wins." Bronwyn glared at him evenly and then turned her attention back to her food. "Come on, Bronwyn. Just go to the ball with me tonight."

Bronwyn sighed at the table and closed her eyes. She remembered the feeling from a few nights ago, how purely tired and exhausted she had been and still was. She was tired of fighting. She was exhausted from the effort it took to actively hate and avoid Draco Malfoy.

"If I go to the ball with you will you promise to leave me alone when it is over and stop bothering me? will you promise to just let me be?" she sighed.

"Promise."

"Alright. I'll go, though I am going against what everything my head is screaming at me right now. But I will leave you at the first sign of anything I don't like." She turned and glared at him. "I promise you."

Draco smiled at her. "It's settled then. I'll meet you in the common room at 6:45." He grinned and then slipped out of the seat and moved to another part of the table.

"Wynnie?" Caitlyn leaned over to her, trying to appear innocent as she apparently took a break from her giggling with the other girls. She seemed to notice Bronwyn's scowl. "Was that what I think it was? It our little Bronwyn going to the Valentine's Day ball with Draco Malfoy?" A smiled tugged at her lips.

"You breathe a word of this to anyone and I swear you will die a horrible, horrible death. I will personally be sure of it," Bronwyn hissed and Caitlyn just laughed at her.

"Alright, Wynnie, have it your way. But you do realize that people will notice when you come into the ball with him. You can't hide from the school all night long."

"Maybe I can just transfigure myself invisible. I've heard that it is possible."

"I've also heard it is extremely hard and much beyond your level. I think you will have to come up with a better plan than that, dear." Caitlyn laughed as Bronwyn stood and hurried out of the Great Hall, attempting to get away and hide in case word got out that she was going to the ball with Draco Malfoy.

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

"Come on, Wynnie. You will have fun. You know you will. Besides - I'll be there. Just in case he does decide to be a bloody prat."

"I just wish I'd kept with what I was thinking and just refused," Bronwyn sighed, falling back on her bed and staring up at the green canopy.

"And then you would have stayed holed up here all night and what fun would that be?" Cait grinned, pulling her back up and handing her the dress robes Daphne had just retrieved from Bronwyn's trunk. "Now put those on and march your little butt down those stairs," Cait said, laughing, as she pushed a grumbling Bronwyn towards the door. Bronwyn sighed with a realization that her best friend was not going to let her out of this one and slid into the robes, running her fingers through her hair. Cait handed her a small pot of lip gloss.

"Just put little bit of this on and you should be fine," Cait said as she pulled part of Bronwyn's hair back with a small comb. Bronwyn sighed but obeyed, then turned to look at the three other girls in the room.

"Well?" she asked cautiously.

Tracey smiled at her. "You look wonderful, Bronwyn."

"You realize I hate you, right? I have spent the last two hours getting ready to go to this ball with Blaise. You just got ready in two minutes," Daphne muttered with exasperation as she tried desperately to glare at Bronwyn through a smile.

"So I guess that means I look okay then," Bronwyn managed a weak smile.

"You look wonderful. Now go. You don't want to keep him waiting." Cait smiled as she, Tracey, and Daphne collectively hurried Bronwyn out the door and towards the common room.

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

"What in the world could possible be taking them so bloody long? It's not that hard to get dressed." Blaise rolled his eyes. Theodore laughed at him.

"They're girls, Zabini. You never ask questions like that about them. They have no logic. They take 5 minutes on an exam and 5 hours on their hair," Theodore mumbled as he glanced upward and Blaise just shrugged at him.

"Well, they need to be ready. They are all already five minutes late. Malfoy, did she actually finally end up saying yes?" Blaise raised his eyebrows at his friend.

"Of course he did, dimwit. What did you expect?"

"I expected her to put up more of a fight. It would have been much more amusing to watch than another little groupie giving into your 'charms'. She apparently doesn't have near as much conviction in her as I thought she did," Theodore mused as the girls appeared at the top of the stairs and each of the three boys got quiet.

There was an awkward silence as Caitlyn, Bronwyn, and Daphne descended the stairs, Tracey just behind them. Tracey hurried straight out the common room door, on her way to meet her Ravenclaw date in the main foyer. The other three couple just stood for a moment, looking at each other blankly.

Theodore grinned at his girlfriend and broke the silence. "You look good, girls. Come on, we should head to the Great Hall. We wouldn't want to be late, would we?" he said with a laugh and took Cait's hand, pulling her towards the door. Blaise and Draco each cleared their throats and they turned to follow Theodore, the two girls just behind them.

Blaise and Daphne hurried up towards Cait and Theodore, but Draco pulled Bronwyn back slightly as she tried to join them. "You look nice tonight."

"Thank you, but you don't have to lay it on thick for me. I know this is just a convenience thing and that there is nothing there and nothing will happen. I have no misconceptions about this night at all. Don't worry," she said quietly, then hurried to where her friends walked a few paces ahead.

Draco watched her as his lips pulled into a slight scowl. He was trying. 'Maybe you deserved that,' he thought to himself quickly. 'You haven't been the nicest guy to her. She is somewhat right...' Draco shook his head and quickened his step to catch up with the rest. As he fell into step beside them, something occurred to him. 'Fight....conviction....' "HEY!" he said loudly, throwing a light punch at Theodore and catching his arm. The boys started laughing as the girls just stared at them blankly.

"Boys.... I don't think we will ever understand them," Daphne said lightly and shook her head.

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

The Great Hall was decorated very brightly with twinkling lights and ribbons of pink, red, and white that floated above the students, grouped in all corners and around the Great Hall. The teachers all stood where there was usually the Head table, smiling (some genuinely, some forcefully) at the students before them. The Hall was filled with joyful chatter and laughter that halted as Dumbledore cleared his throat and all eyes turned his way.

"Thank you all for humoring an old man. I suspect my abrupt decision to have this Valentine's Day ball was disturbing to some of you," he said with a pointed look at Snape and McGonagall, "but I assure you I have learned there is wisdom in indulging occasional whims." There was laughter scattered about the room and a small smattering of applause. "Now - enjoy being young and have fun!" the older man called with a laugh as a band appeared at one end of the room and started to play. The groups dispersed rather quickly and dissolved into a mass of dancing students, laughing and talking as they moved with the band.

Caitlyn and Daphne pulled their grumbling dates into the middle of the hall with the rest of the school. Bronwyn settled into a chair at one of the tables that skirted the edge of the "dance floor" and Draco sat rather uncomfortably nearby. Bronwyn laughed at her friends, and even harder at their dates trying to dance along.

"So you don't dance?" Draco asked her. Bronwyn rolled her eyes slightly.

"Not exactly. Just don't feel like dancing right now," she said quietly. Draco 'hmmm'ed in agreement and leaned back. The two were once again plunged into silence.

"Wynnie! Draco! Come join us; it's fun!" Tracey called from the floor where she was dancing with her date. Bronwyn shook her head.

"It is far better to watch you make fools of yourselves that to be out there with you!" Bronwyn called with a laugh. Tracey just grinned and shrugged, turning back to her guy.

After another few moments of silence, the band started a new song that was slower. The couples on the floor all pulled together. "You can't hide from this one." Cait grinned at the two from close to their table. "This is what you came for." Draco and Bronwyn looked at each other and then at the couples again.

"What do you say to going for a walk?" Draco asked quickly.

"I say that sounds like a wonderful idea," Bronwyn replied as she stood and they hurried out into the small garden beside the castle. The music was muted, but floated out the open doors. Lights twinkled in the shrubs and trees and Bronwyn knew that, on closer inspection, they would turn out to be fairies or something of the sort. She scuffed her feet and stared at the path in front of them, walking slowly along the cobblestones.

Draco stepped slowly along the path, his mind running like crazy. He had never really been at a loss for words with anyone, especially not a female or a friend, but here he was, completely silent when he should at least be talking about something. "Mother said to tell you 'Hello' and that you should come visit us soon," he said and immediately closed his eyes and gulped, wishing he could be gulping down what had been the first thing to jump into his mind. 'Stupid,' he thought to himself.

"How would your mother know you would be talking to me? Does she not know we haven't spoken in five years? Has she not noticed that I suddenly apparently disappeared from the planet?" Draco stared at his feet.

"Apparently someone sent her an owl and told her that we were going to the ball together. But seeing as I got her owl before you actually agreed, I believe someone did so a bit prematurely."

"Well, I guess it is lucky for you that I agreed then, hmm?" Bronwyn smiled weakly.

"I guess so," Draco responded quietly and the two were dropped into silence once again.

Bronwyn rounded a slight curve in the path and they came upon a small fountain with benches surrounding it. Bronwyn lowered herself to one of the stone benches and Draco sat beside her. She stared into the flowing water and glanced around. The bushes and ground off the path were still covered in glistening white snow. She knew the lake was still frozen, and yet the fountain still sprayed a small waterfall joyfully. She smiled into the blue green water.

"There, at least you are smiling. I guess that's a start...unless you are laughing at some private joke about me. I am not sure I can allow that." Draco tried to tease her playfully and Bronwyn shook her head with a slight laugh.

"No, I am not laughing at you. I was just thinking how pretty the fountain is. You are paranoid, Draco Malfoy."

"I am not paranoid; I am just cautious."

"No, I believe the word is conceited. You always think that everyone is thinking about you in one way or another, whether it is good or bad. Do you think that of people you have never met? Walking in Diagon Alley, do you just assume that everyone is noticing and remarking about you in their heads?" Draco's ears tipped pink as he blushed slightly and shook his head.

"I don't always think people are thinking about me," he mumbled to the ground. Bronwyn just smiled at him.

"I'm sorry, Draco. I have just spent so long actively hating you. Old habits can be bloody difficult to break."

"You think this is easy for me? Trying not to offend anyone or do anything that I think might possibly annoy you? I don't want you to go running out of here."

"You just don't want to be seen alone."

"Well, maybe that is true. I don't know. But I know that I do not want you to leave and that means that I have to bite my tongue and catch my words and rethink everything I am going to say before I say it. That really puts a damper on my spontaneous wit." Draco grinned slightly and Bronwyn laughed at him.

"So is that what you call it? Spontaneous wit? I thought it was just being downright mean. I guess you learn something new every day, hmm?"

"Guess so. So you learned something new; return the favor, Bronwyn - teach me something. Tell me something I don't know," Draco drawled as he crossed his arms and leaned back slightly.

"Something you don't know? My goodness, are you saying that Draco Malfoy does not know everything? Are you admitting that there are things you don't know?" Bronwyn mused playfully, her eyes wide with shock, but a smile pulling at the corners of her lips. Draco shrugged through his trademark cocky smile. "Okay, so you are neither confirming nor denying that there are things in this world you do not know. I can accept that," Bronwyn said with a laugh. "Hmmm, something Draco Malfoy does not know..." Bronwyn bit down on her bottom lip as she thought for a moment. "There are other people in the world of consequence other than you, your family, and your friends?"

"Well, I presume that I can concede to that. But I could claim that, in all honesty, I did know that already and it is not anything new," Draco chided. Bronwyn lifted one eyebrow and just stared at him. "Alright, alright. I will claim that you taught me something new and that there are 'other people of consequence' in the world other than my family and friends. I just have not met them yet." He grinned at her. Bronwyn's smile faded and her eyes dropped. Draco startled and reached for Bronwyn's shoulder. "Bronwyn...what's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Not even me?" she said in a very small voice, fighting desperately to keep the threatening smile from her lips and her eyes. Draco laughed at her.

"I refuse to even acknowledge that comment with a response, Brownie," Draco said as he continued to laugh and shook his head. Bronwyn smiled at him and pushed him with her shoulder.

"See, Draco? Is being a decent person really that hard?" Draco glared at her playfully.

"Again, I am not going to respond to that question."

"Alright fine. Don't answer if you don't want to. But you are still smiling. And you are having fun. You are here with someone you hate and you are having fun," Bronwyn said, more to herself than to him as it dawned on her that she really was enjoying herself. She shook her head quickly.

"Who said I hate you?" Bronwyn was caught slightly off guard by his easy drawl but tried to regain her composure quickly.

"Well, um, let us go over this again. You have not spoken to me for five years, you tell me that I am a queen and expect everyone to bow to me, you call a number of things, and you expect me to not assume that you hate me? That's an interesting way to show me that you don't."

Draco shrugged slightly. "So I'm not that good at handling rejection and people telling why I'm a horrible person. Sorry."

"And the ignoring me for five years?"

"No one's bloody perfect?" Bronwyn just laughed and shook her head.

"I guess I really can't fight with that, can I?" Draco smiled widely and shook his head. "That does not mean that I think it is okay. It just means I can't disagree with you on that comment."

"Point taken." Draco laughed and silence fell between them again. But it was different - neither teen felt hurried to fill the empty air between them. The silence was not one of nervousness but one of comfort with one another. Bronwyn shook her head as the thought crossed her mind. This was Draco, the biggest prick at Hogwarts. She couldn't be comfortable with him. She hated him! She shook her head again, once, twice, in quick succession.

"Arguing with ourselves, Brownie?" Draco teased, noticing her shaking her head periodically.

Bronwyn shrugged. "I...I was just thinking. And disagreeing with myself."

"Yes, I do that. Quite often I find myself openly voicing opinions that disagree with my thoughts. Really." Draco laughed. "Bronwyn, your thoughts tend to know what's right. They usually have it pretty well figured out."

"They can be wrong."

"They can, yes, but they are often not." Bronwyn humphed and shrugged, raising one eyebrow.

"They can change. You don't even know what I was thinking. Maybe it is a good thing I'm disagreeing with myself."

"If you are thinking anything near what I am thinking, I would rather you didn't."

"Think that way or disagree with myself?"

"Disagree," Draco said quietly and just smiled at her. Bronwyn blushed slightly and tried to smile back, fighting the thoughts racing across her eyes as fast as they could.

A noise on the path startled them both and they jumped, caught, to opposite ends of the bench. Three tall figures and a shorter one appeared in the shadow of the castle and Bronwyn heard a familiar laugh dance to her ears.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't little Malfoy...I see dear Daddy made front page news this morning," Michael Corner chided. Bronwyn put a hand on Draco's arm and she could feel him go tense beneath it. He clenched his teeth and tried to shrug her off but she refused to let go.

"He and his little follower Death Eaters were hiding out as Muggle pets in a Pet Shoppe, weren't they Loony?" Terry grinned maliciously and Draco tried very hard to breathe normally.

"Seems that daddy has been sold," Luna offered, completely wide eyed, innocent and oblivious to what those words would and could mean. Bronwyn glared at her. She seemed nonchalant - maybe she didn't realize what this would mean to Draco, but Bronwyn knew. Bronwyn knew how close he was to both his parents - even now, probably even more so now than when she had known him. She gripped tighter and shook her head at Draco.

"Ignore them," she whispered.

"Poor little bouncing ferret - it seems your family has a thing for being animals." Anthony Goldstein grinned and Draco shot to his feet, going straight for the three boys. Bronwyn caught him by both arms and held him.

"You can't talk about my father that way, you filthy trash!" Draco hissed, his breathing ragged as he tried to maintain his calm. Bronwyn stepped between him and the boys.

"Draco, ignore them. They aren't worth getting in trouble over," she whispered to him and pushed his hair out of his face.

"Yeah, Malfoy. Don't fight us if you're too scared. All you Death Eaters are the same - too scared to fight, talking bigger than you are. You are all just scared little babies," Terry taunted. Bronwyn turned on them and glared harshly at all three of them.

"Get out," she hissed. The three boys just stared at her with cocky, smug smiles on their faces and their eyebrows cocked with curiosity. "Get out of here before I bloody curse you all until your mothers won't be able to identify your bodies when your dead," she said lowly, her voice never wavering or going up in pitch. She looked serious and as she reached for her wand, each of the three boys turned and ran. Luna Lovegood stood before her, alone, unwavering, and apparently not scared.

"You're Bronwyn Zoruman, aren't you?" she asked. Bronwyn tried to breathe normally, trying to get the blood that had rushed to her face to drain slowly.

"Yes."

"I saw your brother's name and picture on one of my father's lists. I knew I knew you from somewhere." The girl shrugged and turned, heading back towards the castle. Bronwyn closed her eyes, forcing herself to breath, and sank to her knees on the ground. Tears pulled at the corner of her eyes and she brushed them away impatiently.

"Bronwyn?" The familiar drawl fell on her ears and she looked up to find Draco sitting on the bench just beside her. He held out his hand to her and she took it, standing up and sitting beside him. She stared at her hands and at the ground in front of her. "Brownie? What was that about?" he asked quietly.

"They...they can't say that," she whispered.

"Say what? That the followers are scared or cowardly?" Bronwyn nodded. "Why do you care? You hate them all anyway."

"I don't hate them," she said shakily, as she was still trying to control her tears and her breathing. "I'm just scared."

"Of what?"

"For Tyrone," she whispered, trying to hide her face behind her hair. She couldn't stop the tears but she would be damned if she let Draco see her cry. She was fine. She just needed a little time to calm down. She just hadn't been expecting to fight that fight tonight and had temporarily let her guard down. She knew better than to do that.

"Tyrone? Tyrone..." Draco said the name quietly, searching his mind for who it might be. Then, suddenly, it dawned on him. "Tyrone? Your brother?" Bronwyn nodded. "Ty is a Death Eater?" Draco whispered, keeping his voice down for fear of other lurkers in the bushes around them.

"You can't tell anyone, Draco. I worry about him enough as it is. If anyone knew, he would be killed. Or worse."

"But I thought Ty worked for the International Ministry....oh..." Draco trailed off as Bronwyn looked at him with pleading eyes.

"Promise me, Draco."

"Why would you think I would tell any one that Ty is a follower?"

"Because it would be a good way to get back at me for whatever it is you hate me for," Bronwyn mumbled.

"Bron...Brownie, I don't hate you. I never have. So would you please stop harping on something that is categorically untrue?" He lifted her chin with one hand and smiled at her. Bronwyn laughed slightly at him through her tears.

"You always have to prove me wrong, don't you? What is this, a hobby of yours?"

"More like a game. I get a point for every fact and ten for every opinion that you say that I prove wrong." Draco grinned as Bronwyn couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "There. You're smiling."

She grinned at him half heartedly as Draco pushed her hair out of her face, wiping her cheeks free of the sheen of tears. "So I am."

"You know what, Brownie? I was wrong. And I'm sorry."

"Sorry? You're a Malfoy. You're never sorry." She laughed slightly, grinning at him until she caught his eyes. She could tell he was not joking with her. Her smile faded and she just watched him for a moment.

"I called you a queen and told you that you thought you were Little Miss Perfect but that you weren't any better than anyone else. I was wrong. Well, half wrong. You aren't 'Little Miss Perfect' - no one is perfect - not even me. But you are better. You are better than Corner and Boot and Goldstein over there. You are better than a lot of people think you are. You are a good person. You care about people," he mumbled with a smirk.

"Yeah. And it hurts when someone you care about leaves you behind." Draco stared at his feet for a moment then grinned up at her sheepishly.

"Can I claim temporary insanity?"

"For five years?"

"Okay, then I blame the Imperius Curse. Yeah, that's it. I was under an Imperius Curse." Bronwyn laughed and shoved him with her shoulder.

"How about we just call a truce and start over?" she offered and Draco grinned.

"I like that idea." He smirked and nodded towards the Great Hall. "Come on. We should get back into the ball before people start coming up with rumors. We wouldn't want it to get out that we actually like each other, now would we?" He grinned.

"I don't know," she mused as she took the hand he offered and stood up. "It might not be so bad."

"Alright then, little Brownie, we'll just let them talk." Draco laughed and leaned over to kiss her forehead. Bronwyn reached up on her toes and kissed his cheek then leaned against him as he threw an arm around her shoulder. They walked slowly along the path back towards the beckoning lights and sounds of the Great Hall.