Unopened Letters

[Braeden]

Braeden swaggered into the Great Hall with his broom slung over his shoulder. Placing it on the already fully laden table he seated himself at the end of the Ravenclaw table. Pulling his legs up onto the bench, taking up as much space as was humanly possible for the tall but slight boy, he checked his broom was safe. Upon finding it in perfect condition, as always, he ran his hand back through his slightly greasy, shoulder length black hair with a self-interested smile.

He raised an eyebrow at the lunch laid in front of him. Substandard, as was everything in this school as far as he was concerned. Sighing Braed looked around for someone with slightly more intelligence than his meal to converse with. There seemed to be no one, not a real pity; he was more than content with his own company.

He took an unopened stack of letters from his pocket and began reading the backs.
Love Imogene
Love Cassia
Love ...

The list of female names continued. Almost every girl from his grade and other from Beauxbatons mailed him frequently. Being rather good-looking, at which he had no trouble in pointing out, and rather popular at his old school, he had to “suffer” girl throwing themselves at him. He mostly ignored them, only picking girls he couldn’t have and losing interest in them when he could.

He picked up two other letter, From Lucien. His best friend and partner in crime. Undoubtedly the letter contained a detailed account of the punishments Braed quite skilfully avoid in his change of school. A rare smile crossed his face, but vanished as soon as he saw the next envelope. The DeHerez family crest burnt into the paper, he knew full well who this was from, Love Mother and Father.

He tossed it carelessly into the air and whipped out his wand at lightening speed, ”Incendio,” he spat and the flying letter burst into flames. How dare they?! He fell back in his chair admiring his little falling fire appreciatively.


ooc: Invite only, sorry dears

[Branden]

A large black bird with splashes of bright yellow on its neck and tail feathers flew threw the Great hall and snatched the largest remnant of parchment from the air, heading straight for Braeden's face.

At the last possible second, the bird veered to the right and flew back to the doorway to alight on the shoulder of a tall, dark haired boy standing unobtrusively in the corner.

Branden reached up and gave Bryn an affectionate scratch, removing the scrap of parchment from her claws and glancing over it before lifting his gaze to stare piercingly at the boy across the hall.

-ve Mother and Father.

Branden strode casually across the hall, smiling at one or two people who complimented the cockatoo on his shoulder, until he reached the boy. He was tall, but not quite matching up to Branden's 6'4 frame. His hair was dark, too, but longer, and with an oily sheen.

Branden flicked his hair out of his eyes and grinned at the strange boy. Might as well be polite.

"I believe this is yours?" he said, holding out the parchment scrap.

[Braeden]

He looked slowly up the boy, then down to his feet and up again, not bothering to glance at the impressive native Australian bird. As he took in the boy he smirked conceitedly. That is, until he saw the scarp in the boys hand.

“I believe I disposed of it, thus destroying my rights to it,” He mused disinterestedly, might as well be impolite. “Keep it,” His voice almost a snarl with his ending words. When someone quite obviously disposes of letters in such a matter, it sort of speaks for itself that the owner didn’t want it back. Braeden looked away for a moment, staring off at a noisy group of screeching girls. He paused for a moment, the boy hadn’t moved.

”Can I help you?” He sneered sarcastically, bu then noticed the boy was in the same house as himself and probably just wished to eat. Sighing he moved a little, creating just enough space for Braden to sit resuming staring at his inedible lunch in disgust.

[Branden]

Branden was momentarily taken aback by the boy's cynicism, but recovered quickly and shrugged, sliding easily onto the bench in front of him. He wasn't hungry, but there was other things he could do with food. Bryn needed a workout, anyway.

He scanned the table, and carefully selected a small cheese cube, weighing it in his hand and holding it up for Bryn to inspect. He glanced across the hall, located an empty space of floor and muttered something to Bryn.

Taking aim, he lobbed the cheese high into the air, arcing across the hall. Bryn's sharp eyes followed the yellow cube, her claws tensing on Branden's shoulder. The cube reached the pinnacle of its arc and began the downward plunge. Still Bryn didn't move, her dark eyes watching the falling object intently. The cube fell further, faster, and when it was less than six feet from the ground Branden muttered to the bird on his shoulder and she took off, launching across the Great Hall, wings back, flying less than a foot above the ground, flapping her jet-black wings only once before snatching the cube out of the air, inches above the ground, and rising, turning to flutter back and sit sedately on Branden's shoulder.

He scratched Bryn's neck affectionately, muttering softly to her and gently removing the cheese cube from her beak, pulling some small red berries from a bag in his pocket and offering them to her, muttering softly, oblivious to the stares of people around him.

[Braeden]

Braeden couldn’t lie to himself, the bird was impressive, but he could lie to the boy. Opening the letter from Lucien and pretending to read it, he began to speak disinterestedly, “Lovely bird mon ami, I bet it helps bring in all the ladies,” He smirked, looking up to the group of girls who had stopped screaming and were now whispering to each other staring and pointing at the two boys and the bird.

Braeden sighed, like dogs begging for food, to throw them a morsel of of food would only stir them up more. He made eye contact with an exceptionally beautiful, yet stupid looking blonde. With a simple flick of his eyebrow apparently conveyed a suggestive message. The girl screeched with delight turning back to her friends and began whispering frantically. Braeden shook his head with disgust, “Pathetic really.”<br>
He again pretended to looked back of his letter, but looking just over the top of it, he quickly scanned the Griffyndor table, search for the Prefect he had grown to love to hate. Falling it he looked back at the boy sighing. “Braeden,” He introduced himself simply and despondently.

[Branden]

Branden grinned at the other boy. He was slightly put off by Braeden's arrogant and somewhat sexist displays, but pleased at the compliment to Bryn, who still sat sedately on his shoulder. For now he could ignore the snide remark... even though it cut a little close after the evening in the Owlery.

Branden reached up to give Bryn an affectionate scratch. "Yeah, she's wonderful. Most birds are, though... it's remarkable the way they can understand you," he commented thoughtfully. "I've always liked birds."

He looked back to Braeden, offering his hand. "Branden McArthur." In this instance, he refrained from saying 'pleased to meet you'. He wasn't sure he was, yet.

"Do you have a bird?" he asked, eyeing the other thoughtfully.

[Braeden]

“DeHerez.”<br>
The boy nodded once, curtly. “I have a song thrush back home, My parents just sent me a letter with un nouvelle hibou... ah, a new owl,” He corrected himself quickly. Though he spoke english without even a trace accent, it was so still simple to slip back to the language of his home and old school.

“That would be the remnants of the letter,” The boy finished darkly, almost threateningly. He was slightly perturbed that the boy wasn’t up seated by such an insult, most would have made a feeble attempt on his life already, but that would be why he carried he wand so well. He was quick to draw.

“Your accent,” Braeden mused, it wasn’t English but an English speaking country, didn’t seem quite American and definitely not Canadian. Braeden had travelled a lot due to his families wealth. “Where is it from?”

[Branden]

Branden grinned at the other boy's confusion, fishing some more berries out of his pocket and holding them in the palm of his hand for Bryn.

"It's Australian," he explained. "I was born and raised there, but both my parents wanted me to go abroad to finish schooling, and I was only too happy to leave for a while." He gave Bryn another scratch, staring down at the table. "They both wanted me to come here, so I did." He smiled back up at Braeden, and then looked down at the table again. "First time they agreed in years," he muttered.

He looked over at the other boy, apparently thoughtful. "What about your parents? Where did you grow up?" Branden had noticed the flash of anger in the boy's eyes when talking about his parents before. He didn't normally take pleasure in baiting people, but this boy was insolent, and Branden wasn't in the best of moods, despite his almost constant smile. The mask was important.

It would be interesting to see how far this boy could be pushed before he snapped.

[Braeden]

Braeden didn't loose his cool often, insults just ran off him as he retorted flawlessly. "I am from Lourdes en France. It is near the Pyrenees in the south," The boy sighed as he recounted it his voice even more disinterestedly then before. He took a deep breath and recited as if reading from a book, "The DeHerez family is one of the most promenent pureblooded families in the world today. My family has inhibited Le chateau de vue d'aigle for over a thousand years. I have seer blood in both sides of my parentage, I also posess the seccond sight. My father has inhertied a large fortune from his family and thus doesn't work and my mother is a overly friendly lady who married my father for his money... Blah blah blah..." He droned flatly.

The boy offered a snide smile to the boy, he had caught what the boy had muttered under his breath, "I take it your parents get onwell, it must have something to do with having you as a son."

ooc:Sorry, my computers dieing so it is bad:P

[Branden]

Branden had started to smile when the boy was talking so cynically about his own family, but at his remark concerning Branden's parents the smile froze.

He turned to look straight at Braeden, locking eyes, measuring him up. When he spoke, it was in low, calm voice with the edge of sharpened steel.

"Don't talk about my parents."

His gaze flicked across the boy, the cheerful glint gone from his eyes. For a moment he tensed, as if about to make a sudden move. Then he turned on his heel and strode toward the door, turning his back on the DeHerez boy without another word.

[Braeden]

“So the little mudblood was abandoned by his parents then?” He said, his tone conceited and scathing. Braeden had a nasty habit of pushing people until they snapped. At Beauxbatons he did as such often, but with the amount of ‘friends’ he had, he was always protected from direct physical violence. Magically and mentally the boy could protect himself perfectly, but because of his slight frame, physically he wasn’t so talented.

“All they left you with is a little birdie, poor baby,” Braeden said mockingly, shaking his head and turning the majority of his attention back to the table, yet still watching Branden out of the corner of his eye to observe his reaction. "I saw you with the elf-girl mudblood, pity see isn't interested in you in the slightest. With the contamination in both of your bloods, it could be spectacular."

[Branden]

Halfway across the hall, Branden froze at the repeated mention of his parents.

Mudblood…

It had been a while since he’d been called that. The insult brought old memories to the surface, past pain mixing with fresh in a turmoil of emotion. He glanced back over his shoulder. He had a clear path to Braeden. With the boy’s arrogance, he could probably get in a good blow before the pompous git could react…<br>
No. The Great Hall wasn’t the place for a brawl. He took a breath, and turned back toward the doors.

Then he heard the remark about Branwen.

Branden pivoted on his heel and sprinted the length of the hall, covering the distance to Braeden in less than a second. His hand closed around the boy’s throat and he pushed him back, against the table, thrusting his face forward to be inches from the boy’s eyes.

“Don’t… ever… insult her again.” His voice was little more than a low growl, cold and threatening. He locked gazes with the boy, searching, trying to see something beyond the arrogance and failing.

“She’s ten times the person you could ever be,” he whispered. And with that he thrust the boy against the table, turned and stalked out toward the doors.

[Braeden]

Braed rubbed his throat slowly, an amused look chiselled into his face. The boy had been too easy, but he didn’t like his attitude. He raised his wand quickly, ”Diffugio,” He said with a snap of his wrist. Branden’s belongings flew out of his hands and he himself was catapulted into the wall next to the door.

Braeden walked slowly up to the boy, “Just a note of reference for future friendship. I prefer not to be touched.” With an almost friendly smile, Braed patted the boy on the shoulder and exited the door, off towards the lake.

[Branden]

Pain.

Branden slid slowly down the wall and fell backward, cracking his head against the stone floor. His nose was bloodied, his eye flickering open and closed.

When he felt Braeden's hand on his shoulder, he wanted nothing more than to make the boy suffer, but he couldn't lift a finger.

He groaned feebly as Bryn circled overhead and landed on a rafter, cawing down at him. He tried to tell her it was alright, but he couldn't get the words out.

He'd hit wall harder than he would have thought possible from a student curse. That boy shouldn't be able to do that... he felt his thoughts becoming fuzzy, and tried to concentrate, but he couldn't keep himself from falling in to the soft black abyss of unconsciousness.

[Vivian Pryce]

Vivian knew that Braeden was bad news, and thus hadn't said anything to him before. She'd bit her tongue to stop herself from commenting when Branden began talking to him, and in the pit of her stomach she had a feeling that something was going to happen.

The whole conversation that took place between the boys made her wince secretly, but she hid it behind her hair, eating silently down at the end of the table. She'd been left alone in relative silence today, especially since many of the students had gone home for the summer.

Oh god, this was not good. With a simple curse the arrogant boy had sent poor Branden flying. She could tell as soon as he hit the wall that he was hurt bad, and despite her fear of drawing attention to herself, she couldn't stop from jumping up and helping him.

Her blue eyes lit up with even more concern as she saw him go limp, but she could tell by the steady rise and fall of his chest that he was still very much alive. Viv didn't doubt that he'd wake up sore though, and probably with a massive headache.

Before she could draw any more attention to the two of them, she cast a body bind and then a levitating charm on him, making sure that he wouldn't move and injure himself further if he woke to find himself no longer on the ground. Her own spells were powerful, and she managed to keep the boy from hitting the ground the entire way to the hospital wing.

She hoped she wouldn't have hurt his pride with her own abrupt departure for the hospital wing, not even waiting to see if he would wake, even while she levitated him there. In the bind she wouldn't be able to tell if he'd woken up until she took it off of him.