Time to Talk

B

Bruin Dumbledez

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Wand
Ebony Wand 15" - Dragon's Heartstring Core
As Bruin exited the Muggle Studies classroom, he noticed that Sophia was just packing up her stuff as well. "Hey Sophia. What's new? Haven't really had a chance to talk to you since we got back.", Bruin stated, wondering if she was inclined to talk today. She certainly seemed a little more animated than usual, having just had a chance to learn about telephones in Muggle Studies.
 
Sophia had packed up and headed out not long after Bruin. She was a bit surprised to find Bruin in the corridor, speaking to her. "Oh, hello Bruin. Uh...nothing is really new, I suppose..." Sophia had not spoken with anyone about what had happened over the summer, and began to wonder if she should maybe talk to Bruin about it. He had always been understanding, but, what would he think about it all?

"What is new with you?" Sophia finally asked, trying not to seem odd.
 
Bruin considered the question and realized that nothing, absolutely nothing was new. He had spent a quiet and uneventful summer and had returned to school with the same attitude and activities as always. "Pretty much nothing. School work, quidditch and helping the first years at Gladrags, like always.", he said, sounding positively bored with what had become of his youth.

"Summer was pretty quiet without you around...", he said, realizing how much more enjoyable it had been to have a friend from school accompany him home. "How about you? How'd things work out with your dad? I know you were a little worried about that before we left..."
 
Sophia was quite surprised and a bit flattered when Bruin said his summer was quiet without her around. However when he asked about her father and her summer and stopped, biting her lower lip and staring worriedly at Bruin.

"Bruin, I think we should speak somewhere more private, if we are going to talk about that," she said softly, hoping Bruin would take this the wrong way. Sophia just did not want the school to hear about her summer.
 
"Oh, okay...", Bruin replied, wondering what all the cloak and dagger stuff meant. He knew that Ford hadn't accompanied Sophia on the holidays as expected, but didn't realize that anything particularly noteworthy had happened.

"Would you like to talk in here?", he said, gesturing to an unoccupied classroom. Bruin couldn't help but admit that he was curious where all this might lead.
 
"Yes, I think that will do," Sophia said softly and walked to the door Bruin had gestured to. Walking in and stopped and looked around, inspecting the dusty old room. I suppose no one will hear. What was the incantation for that muffling charm?

Sophia turned to Bruin, a perplexed look on her face. "Do you know of a muffling charm? I know I have heard it incanted but I cannot recall the incantation."
 
Bruin followed Sophia into the classroom and then listened to her question about a muffling charm. He had read a whole bunch of charms in his copy of Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charms, but the only thing that immediately came to mind was Quietus which he was pretty sure simply brought a sound's volume down or countered Sonorus or something like that.

"To be honest, I can't recall coming across a charm like that, but we could close the door and I could put my Sneak-o-Scope near it to warn us if anyone comes by.", Bruin offered as he reached into his bag. "Oh, and don't ask me why I am carrying around a Sneak-o-Scope. It's too hard to explain.", he said with a smile as he closed the door and lowered the Sneak-o-Scope into position.
 
Sophia was a bit perplexed as to why Bruin was carrying a Sneak-o-Scope, but decided not to ask as Bruin requested. "I suppose that is good enough." Removing her messenger bag and setting it on the floor Sophia sat down in a chair. Where to begin? she pondered, not really sure what to say.

"So, I did not end up spending the summer with my father," Sophia finally said in a soft, unsure voice. She wanted to talk to Bruin bout her summer, but was unsure as to how to say what she was thinking and feeling. Sharing was still a new concept to Sophia.
 
Bruin grabbed a seat opposite Sophia and sat down. "Yeah, I kind of got the impression from Ford that your summer plans didn't exactly go the way you had expected them to...", Bruin replied, wondering a little why she was being so secretive though.

"But if you weren't here and weren't with your dad, where did you spend the summer break?", he asked, curious to know what was really going on with Sophia.
 
"No, things did not go as planned. I stayed with my grandfather," Sophia stated, feeling quite odd about using the term to describe Valcan. "Well, I mean, I do not really know if you can call him that. He is the man who raised my father, but biologically speaking he is my great uncle. In fact, he is Estrella's grandfather..." Sophia's soft voice trailed off as she waited to see what Bruin would have to say about this.
 
Bruin listened as Sophia began to explain about her summer, finding himself becoming more confused as opposed to less the more that Sophia shared. "So, uh, does that mean your dad was raised with one of Estrella's parents? And how did you end up with your Great Uncle or Grandfather or whatever anyways? Did your dad take you there and leave you or something?", Bruin hoped that he hadn't asked too many questions, but there were so many running around in his head that it was inevitable that a few would escape.
 
"I do not know what to call him myself. His name is Valcan Drage and he is Estrella's father's father. He was my father's mother's older brother." Sophia paused, realizing this did not make much sense and decided to just leave it at that and move on.

"Anyway, no, my father did not take me to Valcan's. I ran away from my father when he began to feed my lies about my mother. He did not follow me and I went to the Leaky Cauldron. The barkeep there..." Sophia's voice trailed off once more and she looked down at the floor. She had not yet told anyone what had happened at the Leaky Cauldron, and she was not really sure how to say it.
 
Bruin's head was now swimming in his attempt to understand Sophia's complex family situation, but decided that he would just feign understanding a move on. He shook his head slowly as she spoke about her father lying to her about her mother, completely unable to understand how such a thing could happen.

Sophia stopped speaking quite abruptly as the discussion turned to the Leaky Cauldron, a place that he had only vaguely heard of, but never visited. He thought he recalled hearing something about it burning down and began to wonder whether Sophia had lost control of her emotions and burned it down. "You didn't...you didn't burn it down, did you?", he asked quietly, but not in an accusatory tone.
 
"What?" Sophia asked with a hint of defensiveness as she looked back up at Bruin. "No, I did not burn it down." She calmed down, realizing he was not accusing her and frowned. "I was not angry when I was there, but rather afraid."
 
Bruin was sorry for having said what he had about setting the bar on fire. He knew how much it bothered Sophia to speak about her fire-related power. "Sorry...", he muttered, but then regained his composure, determined to handle the rest of the conversation with more tact.

"What, what were you afraid of?", he asked simply, understanding that the Leaky Cauldron wasn't the nicest of establishments.
 
Sophia bit her lower lip, trying to figure out what to say, how to say it. How could she tell Bruin what had happened? Letting out a sigh Sophia released and lip and began. "The barkeep. He, he seemed nice at first. But then he was almost too nice. He did not want me to leave, and he kept me there..."

Sophia looked down at the floor again, tears welling up in her eyes. She was not sure why but the events at the Leaky Cauldron had had a very profound affect on her, making her now second guess herself among other things.
 
Bruin couldn't help but notice how upset Sophia seemed to be and he tried to offer a reassuring smile. Too nice? ...kept me there? Sophia's words were not making sense and he wondered how a barkeep could hold someone against their will.

Instinctively, Bruin reached his hand across the desk to offer comfort, but he stopped short of touching Sophia and it fell rather clumsily to the table between them. "It's okay...it's over now...", he said quietly, but getting the sense from Sophia's reaction that it was anything but over for her.
 
Sophia looked back up at Bruin, her face drained of all color. "He kissed me Bruin. He hold me in his arms so I couldn't move and kissed me. I felt so helpless." The tears that had been welling up in her eyes began to trickle down her cheeks and she looked back at the floor, feeling worse than ever.
 
Bruin was stunned by Sophia's words. He sat there in silence, visions of some perverted old man holding Sophia against her will and kissing her. A strange anger welled up within in him and he had to resist the urge to get up and head off in search of the man himself right then. Bruin looked at Sophia, noticing several glistening marks on the otherwise dusty floor that revealed where fresh tears had fell.

Bruin stood up and walked over to Sophia and rested his hand on her shoulder. "Hey...hey...it's okay, that guy won't ever hurt you again....I promise.", he said with quiet confidence. A thousand thoughts flooded Bruin at once, the most prominent of them being a strong desire to find out what happened to the bartender and the Leaky Cauldron.
 
Sophia looked up at the warmness she felt on her shoulder, smiling weakly at Bruin. "Bruin, he was not an entirely random guy. I did not know it until he took me to Drage Herrogard, but, he is related to Athene." She was still not entirely sure what that relation meant, but she knew she did not like it.
 
"Athene? Athene who? Do you mean that snotty little second year?", Bruin asked, uncertain if that's whom she meant. "I've only met that girl once or twice, but let's just say it doesn't surprise me that the creep from the bar is related to her."

Bruin had no idea what this all meant. Is everybody here related to someone else?, he began to wonder to himself.
 
Sophia could not help but chuckle at Bruin's description of Athene. "Yes, that's her. He seemed a bit old to be her brother, but definitely too young to be her father. Perhaps her uncle? All I know is his last name is Perthro, and he was not surprised when he found out I have heard the name before."

The tears had stopped falling and Sophia seemed to be cheering up a bit. Yes her summer had been bad, but at least she was here now, with Bruin and everyone else.
 
Bruin was glad to see that Sophia was regaining her composure a little, but was now very curious about what had happened next, although he didn't know if he should push the issue and risk bringing other upsetting memories back into her consciousness.

"So, uh, then what happened?", he said tentatively.
 
Sophia let out a long sigh. "He took me up to one of the rooms..." she began shakily, remembering it as if it were yesterday. "Then he took my wand...and then disappared with me to Drage Herrogard where my father was waiting for me.

"It all has to be connected, it just does. Vacan acts as if he is nice, but I know he is in league with my father Bruin. It's like no matter where I go he's there." The tears began to well up in her eyes again and Sophia looked at the floor in shame. She could not fathom why she was so upset, but she felt completely and utterly helpless for some reason.
 
Bruin didn't like to see Sophia so upset, but felt relatively useless knowing so little about the situation. "Yeah, it does seem strange the way things seem to happen to you, especially when your dad's involved. So, what was this Drage Herrogarden-place-thingy like?", Bruin asked, hoping that his latest question didn't set off more waterworks.
 
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