No Apologies, No Prisoners....

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Bruin Dumbledez

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Wand
Ebony Wand 15" - Dragon's Heartstring Core
Bruin awoke much earlier than usual on this Saturday morning and after lying in bed and staring at the ceiling for a few moments it was evident that sleep would not be reclaiming him. He had intended on heading down to the Quidditch Pitch today for the first time in weeks and after a glance out the window revealed a sunny morning, he decided that he might as well get an early start. If all went well, he would be getting the Pride organized and leading them to the Quidditch Cup before the end of the year...that is if any of the other houses showed the courage to face them.

Bruin dressed quickly and grabbed his Quidditch gear. The morning air had a chill to it and there was a thin mist rising off of the lake. On another day Bruin may have been content to stop and admire the scene, but he had been feeling a little on edge lately and today his focus was on Quidditch. When he arrived at the pitch, Bruin was pleased to see that it was empty and he wouldn't have to deal with any other students. It seemed that the majority of the student body was still harbouring some resentment towards him and the others involved in Njord's fake death despite the fact that it had been done with the intent of improving the school for everyone.

After a few minutes of flying, Bruin decided that it was time for him to brush up on his Beater skills. He opened his Quidditch Trunk and released one of the bludgers, that promptly shot skyward and began aimlessly circling the pitch looking for a moving target. Bruin grabbed one of the bats from the trunk and launched himself into the sky intent on tracking the bludger as opposed to waiting for it to take aim at him. This is how Bruin would approach everything from now on...head on.

As Bruin closed the distance between himself and the bludger he began to think about a potential target for his first strike, but as he cocked his arm he was overtaken by a strong desire to simply unleash an odd fury that had built up within him. There was no finesse in his swing and he struck the bludger savagely, although he wasn't able to admire its flight as the bat shattered within Bruin's hand. Bruin cast the remaining shards aside and turned towards the trunk, hoping to locate a replacement bat before the bludger returned for a second pass.
 
Andromeda had spent more time lately on the pitch than was probably necessary considering she was no longer on the team. But it helped her stay out of peoples way, she was fuming big time still over the awful prank that had been pulled on the entire student body. She had lost count the amount of times she had gone to the boys dorm to have it out with Bruin but knowing that talking through the anger in her never helped, she would most likely just have swatted him one and she had too much respect for Bruin to face him off like that. It was the same with her room mate Cyndi, Andy had been avoiding her like the plague only showing up at their dorm when it was time for bed and always pretending to be asleep so she wouldn't have to deal with her either.

Andy was afraid at how far her temper would take her. She had lost her father and her grandfather and had been convinced she had lost a friend too, the pain she had experienced had reopened old wounds and she had grieved hard. Now her body seemed to be consumed by an exorbitant amount of rage and the only way she knew to deflect it was by flying. Getting herself out of peoples way and letting the sky take the burden of her frustration. As she swung her broom from side to side on entering the pitch a deep groan escaped her.

Bruin was flying about, whacking a bludger. She saw how the bat smashed and wondered just what he had to be so mad at, when he was partly to blame for her and half the school being out of sorts. She let her gaze follow the bludger that was ducking and swerving through the hoops on the north end of the pitch and without thinking Andy pulled out her wand and using the hovering charm attempted to redirect its flight path, so that it was once more flying at Bruin. It took a lot of concentration but the bludger eventually swung about and headed directly for him.

Andromeda at this point straddled her broom and flew up to the south end of the pitch, circling the hoops to see just what would happen. Would he deflect it in time? Part of her hoped he would while another part of her hoped it would knock some sense into him.
 
Bruin knew that it was never a good idea to turn his back on a bludger, but felt that he had delivered a strong enough blow that he would have ample time to retrieve a new bat from the trunk before he was in any real danger. He dismounted and flipped open the trunk, but something told him that he was being a little too casual and he turned in time to see that the bludger, apparently somewhat upset by being treated so harshly with his last strike, was closing quickly for some payback.

Bruin realized that he didn't have enough time to arm himself and chose instead to dive behind the trunk which took the brunt of the impact as the bludger glanced off the lid, narrowly missing leaving a distinct impression upon his ribcage. Bruin watched as the bludger began to slow and arc back for another pass and reached for his wand to gain control of it before it did any serious damage to him. Unfortunately for Bruin, rising early had changed his morning routine just enough for him to have left it tucked snugly under his pillow back in his dorm room.

Pausing momentarily to curse his stupidity, Bruin began weighing his options quickly. He mounted his broom and decided that he might try and capture the bludger with his hands and bring it under control that way. Foolish? Perhaps, but he didn't know what else to do. Bruin steered his Scarlet Streak out in a wide arc and brought himself in behind it, knowing that while fast and powerful that the bludger could not change direction quickly, at least not on its own. He pulled up close to the bludger and attempted to match its speed as it surged around the pitch and then took one hand off of the broom and attempted to draw the bludger towards him. The bludger resisted his attempt to be brought under control in this manner and the end result was that Bruin was almost pulled from his broom as he hurtled some 40 feet above the ground. This wasn't going to work and he peeled off, deciding that he might have to lure it down to the lake if it continued to pursue him.
 
Andromeda watched the proceedings not with delight of any kind but with a blind kind of fury. Bruin hadn't seen her yet which she really didn't care less about, she saw him dodge quickly behind the chest and the bludger careen into it.
"Lucky" she swore, the initial edge wearing off her temper now as she could just make out the damage that was done to the lid. Did she really want this? Bruin had always been there for her, had listened to her patiently countless times. Had not judged her on being a werewolf, had actually been very supportive. Was she now going to throw their friendship away on the huge grudge she carried. She didn't want to but she had been sorely tested. Her patience was unbearably thin. Perhaps to just let the bludger give him a bit of a chase, to let him know that messing with peoples feelings, their emotions, messing with their heads had consequences as well. It really was one thing to attempt to teach the pranksters a thing or two, but there had been no reason to teach everyone else.

She wondered why he didn't deflect it with his wand and watched as he climbed on his broom and appeared to be giving the bludger a run for its money.
"Bruin what in the world are you doing?" she muttered as she swung herself about with her own broom to see Bruin attempting to catch the bludger. Andromeda had known fear for herself countless times but had very rarely had reason to feel it for any of her friends, but as she saw Bruin lean across in his attempt to grasp the damn ball and in the process almost being pulled from his own broom Andromeda shook aside the anger.

If he had killed himself would she feel any better for the prank they had pulled with Njord. No, of course not she would feel immense guilt for the rest of her life and as angry as she still was she was not willing to feel that amount of guilt friend or not. Tilting her broom to bring it down about five feet from the ground Andromeda whipped out her wand again and blasted the hovering charm at the bludger, it really did have a mind of its own and the magic that charmed the ball was pretty strong. She didn't know how much longer she could hold it.

"Would you just get the damn thing fast, I can't hold it much longer" she shouted to Bruin, he would have to deal with a piece of her mind instead. Wounding him or killing him just wasn't an option, no matter how it might appease a little of her anger.
 
Bruin was so focused on the bludger that he still didn't really register that Andy had joined him on the pitch until she slowed the bludger and yelled at him. Finally, getting what she meant he flew over and grasped the bludger tightly and then returned it to the damaged trunk where he tethered it and closed the lid, noting that it fought him every foot of the way. He sat on the lid of the trunk and tried to catch his breath, watching Andy warily as he did so.

Bruin hadn't spoke to her since the now infamous memorial service for Njord and he had gotten the distinct impression that she had been none too pleased about what they had done. "Thanks Andy!" He called out to her. "Pretty stupid of me to come down to the pitch without my wand, eh?"
 
Once Bruin had secured the bludger Andy felt as if a time bomb were slowly ticking off inside of her. He sat on the trunk after getting it inside and attempted to regain his breath. He foolishly thanked her and she found out just why he hadn't used his wand earlier. Andy lowered her broom even more until she could land it safely. As she walked the hundred or so yards towards him something overcame her. She would probably regret it for the rest of her life but right now she wasn't even thinking. She took her wand out and pointed it directly at Bruin.

"Now why in the world would you thank me when it was me who sent it at you in the first place?" her tone was abrupt and had an edge to it that she had never used before. She was ticked off beyond words now and it needed some sort of release and fast.

She wasn't even sure if this would work and quite frankly she didn't care one tot. If he wanted to mess with her head then he would find out just exactly what kind of consequences there were. She muttered with as much fury that was building within her and screaming to be released, 'Planerio'.
 
Bruin watched as Andy landed and then began marching towards him. There was something about her body language that suggested he had better watch himself, but nothing could have prepared him for the edge to her words and worse, when she leveled her wand at him. He rose up and put his hands up in front of him instinctively, as if the palms of his hands could somehow deflect her spell.

The funny thing was that it seemed to work. Bruin felt an odd energy envelop him and then the Quidditch trunk that he had just been sitting on rose into the air, knocking him in the back of the head as it did so. "Holy crap Andy! What're you doing?" Bruin exclaimed as he rubbed the back of his head with his right hand while continuing to hold his left up in front of him like some lame stop sign. Apparently Planerio only worked on inanimate objects, Bruin just hoped that he soon wasn't one.
 
Andy was incensed that her spell didn't work, maybe if she had paid more attention in class she would have realised it didn't work on people. That wasn't here nor there though at least the lid had struck him and she hoped it damn well hurt.

"What does it look like I'm doing Bruin? I'm showing you what cause and effect is like. Action reaction. The consequences of your actions, you didn't think you were going to get off scot free. The great Bruin Dumbledez in not untouchable with or without a wand. You can't go messing around with peoples heads and their emotions, you're not God!" she lifted her wand again and as much as she'd like to stupefy his ass she also knew that she didn't want to hurt him drastically either.

She had learnt the odd spell when at Durmstrang and though she hadn't much of a chance to practise them she knew how to perform them. Though the jinxes and hexes were all only taught in second year here in theory back in Durmstrang they actually taught the practical side of the spell, the enforcement of the spell. The bat-bogey hex came to mind and saying the incantation loud and clear she made the appropriate wand movement and finished with a flourish of her wand pointing once again at Bruin.
 
Bruin had been hit by the odd jinx in his day, but he had always had the opportunity to at least defend himself. He knew that Andy had been upset by the whole thing with Njord, but he had no idea that she would take things this seriously. She looked almost demonic as she spat her words at him. Her final words about him not being God had the same effect as a stunning spell and he stood there utterly defenseless as she hurled a Bat Bogey Hex at him.

Great gobs of goo began to pour forth from his nose and he bent double so that the mess would drip onto the ground in front of him. Her words had stung, but he noticed the irony in them and began to get angry. Here she was accusing him of messing with people's head and yet she didn't have the decency to even let him explain. He tore off his sweatshirt and began to wipe the remnants of snot from his face as the flow began to ease up. He threw the sweatshirt on the ground between them, rose to a standing position and then glared down into her eyes, feeling like a Grizzly Bear with a rather annoying thorn stuck in its paw.

"Are you done yet? Or are you going to play judge, jury and executioner?" Bruin shot back at her, surprisingly hostile for someone with no means of defending himself.
 
Andy was tall enough at 5'4" and yet Bruin seemed to just tower over her. She watched as gunk flowed from his nose and had to desperately try to suppress a laugh. Normally this would be something funny to joke about but not now, she watched as he tore off his sweater and began to wipe his face. He looked thunderous and rightly pissed off with her. Well good! She was just as mad and at least matching anger for anger she could cope with, matching anger with passiveness she found damn right annoying.
Andy glared right back at him, what in the world could he possibly do besides drown her in a tide of essays and detention for the duration of her time at Hogwarts. She pointed her wand at his chest, pronoucing every word clearly so he was in no mistake about how she felt.

"I'm not done by a long shot Bruin Dumbledez and don't you dare throw that judge and jury crap at me when that is exactly what you, Estrella, Njord and whoever else were involved were doing. How bloody well dare you" she fumed, her amber eyes were almost glowing as if they were on fire, her temper had reached boiling point as her mind raced to think of another jinx or hex that would put him in his place.
 
"Crap, is it??? You've got no idea what you're even talking about!" Bruin stammered back at her between breaths. "I'm not saying what we did was right, but if those pranks continued someone was going to get hurt, maybe killed and who do you think was going to be feeling guilty then? Me!!! I'm sixteen years old and I've got a bunch of kids running around destroying the school around me, beating the crap out of each other, playing with spells and sh1t they don't even understand, running into the forest without a second thought..." Bruin realized too late that he'd just revealed one of the things that had spurred this whole thing on, he didn't want to see someone else that he cared about get hurt like Andy had.

Bruin's voice lowered and he turned his back, knowing that he couldn't look at Andy now. "And then everybody looks at me like I'm supposed to know how to solve all of their problems. So...so what... nobody was listening to us... not when we talked, not when tried to give out detentions... nobody seemed to care, maybe now they do... and if some people got hurt in the process, well, that's just a price that had to be paid..."

Bruin turned and faced Andy again and spread his arms to either side. "If hurting me is going to make you feel better than go ahead... I really don't give a sh1t at this point... do your worst! Take down the GREAT Bruin Dumbledez! I'm sure it'll make you real popular with all of the stupid kids at this school..."
 
The wind had completely been taken out of her sails, she looked at the boy she had idolized since her first year and shook her head slowly.
"I'm glad you've admitted that what you and the rest of them did wasn't right and sure kids were going ballistic around the school but kids go ballistic everywhere even in muggle schools Bruin. But those in authority should know better than to behave just as stupidly... without a second thought like you said" she knew exactly who he was referring to there and she coloured slightly, way to go throwing that one in my face.

"This is a magic school and you and Professor King and Rambolt, the others involved know a hell of a lot more magic than a bunch of first years. You all should have come down hard and heavy on them and I stress them. Damn it Bruin there are those of us in the school who've lost people close to us. You don't mess with the dead and you certainly don't go around pretending that someone we care about has died. That is sick beyond words" she was getting frustrated again, she had tried time and again to see it from their point of view but never could. What they had done was wrong and there was no excuse, no matter what they said to justify it. Nothing ever could. The end just didn't justify the means.

She was hurt that he would think she was trying to score points, trying to be poplar. If she had wanted that she would have tackled him in one of the corridors for all to see not here with no one around them.
"If I had seriously wanted to hurt you Bruin I wouldn't have used a stupid bogey hex, I would have used something altogether stronger. I was mad as hell, I'm still mad as hell at you. I trusted you. The others don't matter so much but you, Professor King and Rambolt are three ..." she was going to say grown ups but she didn't think of Bruin as a grown up, though she always thought of him as her prefect and this year head boy, "people who I trusted, who others trusted explicitedly. You ... " her voice fell an octave, she lowered her hands to her side the fight just about gone out of her now, "You let me down."
 
There was truth in each and every last one of Andy's words and it killed Bruin to think that he had let her down. He knew he should apologize, but there would be no such apologies today, maybe not ever. Bruin was tired of being perfect...tired of being the one that everyone expected to always do the right thing... tired of the pressure of being asked to grow up before he was ready. If Andy wanted to be mad at him, so be it! He was a 16 year old boy with the life experiences and emotional range of a common ground squirrel. How the hell was he supposed to know how deeply affected everyone was going to be?

"Yeah, I guess I did..." He said simply and picked up his broom. "Maybe you shouldn't put me so high up next time..." Bruin muttered to himself as he launched off, unsure whether or not she heard his words or even cared.
 
Andy heard him and watched him take off on his broom. She stood there watching him for a moment. Did she think too highly of him? Did she have him so unbelievably perched on a pedestal that not even she could touch him? She had probably relied on the 'big brother' image he exuded too much, especially as she had never had one. Was it fair of her to dump all her anger for the Njord hoax on Bruin, no it wasn't. She had been feeling hurt and angry and tired from it all and he had simply been there.

Like so many other times, but those times it had been her pouring her heart out and him listening. He really did get dumped on too much and she had done it way too often, he was only a bit older than her. So why did she think he had all the answers? Because he wore a prefects badge, a headboy badge? That just wasn't a good enough reason anymore. She didn't know whose idea it had been to play the hoax on the school but she had taken it out solely on Bruin when she should have gone straight to King and Rambolt to air her grievences. Maybe that is what she would do it would certainly make more sense than to go blasting hexes and jinxes at Bruin again. Though she did think Njord deserved a few headed his way and they wouldn't be simple bogey hexes either.

She straddled her own broom and put her wand away, kicking off she flew after him.
"Considering I'm not the one who put you up this high... can we start again?" she lifted a hand in the air, "see no wand".
Andy smiled at him, she sure as hell wasn't apologising either but kind of felt that with Bruin she wouldn't really need to.
 
Bruin didn't look back, simply flying away from the pitch and out towards the lake. He hadn't gotten far when Andy pulled up alongside of him and offered what appeared to be a truce. Can we start what again? A conversation? An argument? A friendship? All of the above? Either way, Bruin was in no position to deny this olive branch. "Sure..." He replied simply. "I'm heading over to the lake to clean up first though!" He added with a shake of his head, not enjoying the remnants of the Bat Bogey Hex at all.
 
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