Whoever said Life was Fair...

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

Andy walked away from the school towards the forest. Herself and Bruin had been up for hours the night before talking and talking about where they were heading. They both cared so much for one another but their timing was simply all wrong. She knew without a doubt that he was the one for her and he felt the same, that much they had reassured each other about constantly in the common room when everyone else had gone to bed. The problem was Andromeda had still three more years of school left to do and Bruin needed to head back to Canada and travel the world like he had always planned before settling on his career path. The past few months had been wonderful, almost dreamlike in their perfection but somehow Andy always knew it would have to come to an end. Nothing good in her life lasted for very long.

She wiped the tears away, they may have come to a mutual understanding to go their separate ways but that didn't mean for one second that she was happy about it. Her heart felt like crumbling, her pillow had been soaked completely with her tears and even now her eyes looked red, puffy and bloodshot. Heading into the forest seemed like the best refuge yet, she needed to be away from the school and the other students. They would still be friends, they would still chat and meet up before the school term ended and they would write to one another after graduation. Andy had agreed with everything, what other choice had she in the matter?

Not going too deep inside, Andy found one of the larger trees and sank down at its base. Her legs bunched up and her arms about them. She rested her forehead on her knees and allowed the tears to fall again. There was no way she was letting Bruin see that the decision they had come to was tearing her apart. Somehow she knew it was doing the same to him but it had to be done. They were the right people, just the wrong timing. Andy sobbed gently wishing for once life would stop flinging lemons at her.

 

[Brian Getathorn XIX]

Brian stepped out of the castle for a bit of fresh air, studying in the library was definately not fun and with Athena still missing Brian had a hopefull thought that he may be able to see her fly across the sky with a few dozen letters in hand. Brian had been using the school Owls to send messages back home and had even decided to lie to his parents and tell them that he'd lent her to a friend or that she was on hiatus for flying soo much. Brian wondered what had happened to his owl and hoped everyday that she would be alright. Brian had recently recieved news that this summer he was going to some strange prep summer school that would be used to teach him the fundementals to legal studies. Brian really didn't want to go but knew that his parent's mind was made up and there was nothing he would be able to do to change it.

It really was times like these that he missed talking with Andromeda, she always seemed to know the practical way to something. Brian was the first to admit that he didn't have many friends that he actually talked with but knew that the friends he had were very dear to him. There were many times Brian had regretted pushing Andromeda away last year but something inside him said that it had been the right thing. Brian however wondered if that voice was right or if it had cost him a terrible price. Brian looked up at the sky as if expecting to see the flutter of wings as an owl came nearer but found to his disapointment nothing. As Brian looked downwards he saw something that definately wasn't right, Andromeda was heading into the forest looking upset. At first Brian's initial reaction was not to care however Brian knew deep down inside that he didn't want to be held responsible for Andromeda getting hurt in the forest....again....

Brian decided that it wouldn't hurt to investigate as he followed Andromeda who was definately a good distance ahead of him. As Brian walked closer into the forest Brian distinctively heard the sounds of someone crying. Brian saw that it was Andy and for the first time Brian had actually seen her cry. Brian wondered if that was true as he thought about the times he'd seen her upset... but realised that nothing he'd seen had been like this. The only thing that would've came close would've been when she had told him that she was a werewolf. That had been something Brian knew Andromeda felt strongly about and the thing that Brian had used to severe all ties to her. Brian knew that Andromeda had tons of friends and had to wonder what she was crying about as he got closer feeling bad for the person that had been one of his best friends last year.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

Hearing the sound of footsteps approaching Andy looked up quickly, almost expecting a centaur to be standing there. She didn't wipe her face clean as she saw that it was Brian. Instead she simply stood up and turned her back on him.
"I don't want to fight with you" her voice felt flat and sounded pained, troubled as if her heart simply wasn't in it, "I'm not in the mood for arguing ok".

And she wasn't, that seemed to be the only thing herself and Brian had done in the last days of their friendship and not for the first time Andromeda made a comparison between him and Bruin. The fact that herself and Bruin were no longer dating didn't detract from any of his amazing qualities. He had never admonished her as severely or as unfairly as Brian had done, Bruin knew when she needed some one to simply be there for her or when she needed someone's advice or shoulder to lean on. Brian had never offered her his shoulder once, always pushing her to be stronger than what she could be or wanted to be.

Her tears still flowed freely and Andy began to walk away into the forest, wanting just to be able to wallow in her sadness for even a moment. Brian in her view simply wouldn't understand that... how could he? He had only ever been in one relationship and that was with Zuka. The two madly in love and going stronger than ever. Andy begrudged him that, she felt horrible for it but couldn't help herself. Just when she thought she would have Bruin for the duration... she lost him. 'Being Friends' sucked big time but it was a choice she had agreed to, like the choice that Brian had made for the two of them... whereby they wouldn't even be friends. So why he was here now, she didn't know unless of course it was to gloat and he was so very good at gloating.

 

[Brian Getathorn XIX]

"I'm not here to argue" Brian said a bit stunned and shocked that she would instantly come to that conclusion about him. It wasn't like all the fights had been his fault or that he went looking for them. They just seemed to happened between Brian and Andromeda. Brian wondered if perhaps he should leave then, since it seemed obvious that Andromeda didn't want him around, yet she hadn't said that. Brian wondered if Andromeda secretely wanted him to stay with her, as he took a step forwards trying to think about what he wanted to say. Brian had never really been as sympathetic towards Andromeda as he had always been with Zazuka, call it biased or whatever but Brian had always seemed to see an innerstrength inside Andromeda that he never saw in Zazuka.

Yet as time passed on he began to see just how strong Zazuka was and how fragile Andromeda had always been. Brian had constantly been annoyed by the games girls seemed to play, why couldn't they just act normal like guys. Brian took a deep breath still not sure what he wanted to say or how he wanted to say it, however he could feel his palms getting a bit sweaty even though it was rather cold. Brian truly hated the sweaty palm feeling because it was a sign that he was feeling nervous and he didn't want to be nervous right now. Not when he was trying to have a talk with Andromeda or at least watch her as she cried about something Brian probably wouldn't be able to relate too. Andromeda had always been the queen of those types of dilema's that she would then use against Brian for not understanding.

"I'm sorry" Brian said finally "for everything..." He added looking not at Andromeda but more to the trees that were in front of her, Brian knew that Andromeda would never apologize and so he decided to do it. She seemed like she needed some type of break and while Zazuka did managed to keep Brian informed whether he wanted to know or not, Brian could tell that Andromeda really had been having a tough time lately. Brian wondered if this was something that certain people attract or if it was a magical thing... Brian's parents seemed to be doing fine and he didn't have any other relatives. Besides having to go to a stupid summer school, home life was as simple as school life. Brian couldn't help but wonder why Andromeda's had to be so complicated when his was so simplistic.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

Andy stopped dead in her tracks at his next words. Brian not here to argue? Lifting the back of her hand to wipe the residue of tears from her cheeks she turned to look at him. The slightest smile traced her mouth before she turned to lean against a tree. Wrapping her arms around herself as if she were once again attempting to hold herself together, Andy turned to look at him again as he spoke once more. Grateful for the tree she was now leaning on, Andy knew she would probably have fallen over completely at Brians apology. She was ready with a quick and smart answer but stopped herself. There had been enough of that between them, if he was trying to make amends she knew better than anyone, that everyone deserved a second chance.

Her amber eyes still glistened with tears as she looked down at her fingers that were now tearing at a leaf.
"I'm sorry too" still her voice was flat and lifeless, she sighed and leaned her head back against the tree trunk.
"When did everything get so messed up?" she dropped the leaf and pushed some hair behind her ear before stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jeans.

"All I ever wanted was a normal fun somewhat adventurous life. Is that really too much to ask for?" it seemed it was, there had been nothing fun about her life since she started at Hogwarts well except the friends she had made and quidditch and she knew she would never trade any of them for a sane normal life now and yet, she craved it dearly. To just go a month without any drama, without any person she cared about falling ill or dying or some other ridiculous sensationalist story becoming attached to her. She wanted to understand why she wasn't entitled to the 'love' that others seemed to be able to find and hold on to. Andy was only 15, in a few short months she would be 16 and she could safely say hand on heart, that life sucked. She had honestly thought herself and Bruin were the forever couple, how wrong was she?

 

[Brian Getathorn XIX]

"I've been wondering the answer to that question for about four years now" Brian said a bit more casually as he took a few steps forwards. It was kinda strange talking with Andromeda and Brian had to wonder if this was part of some devious plot that would end up with him being buried in the forest, however he wasn't going to do anything that would cause something like that. "I guess Magic really can't solve everything" Brian said a bit more matter of factly as he looked up at the sky. It didn't do him any good as he could only see nothing but trees however he still hoped that he would see something that resembled a bird, more specifically an owl. "Great job during the match, you guys really gave Ravenclaw a run for our money" Brian said wondering if something else might be able to cheer Andromeda up.

Brian for some reason didn't want to spill his guts out to her right now and he figured that she probably was going to feel the same. He couldn't even say if they were friends again or if they were just having some strange temporary truce that would eventually go back to them not talking to each other. Brian couldn't help but feel a bit of irony over the whole past year that he'd spent with Zazuka. She had tried to get the two to talk with each other and yet both had remained stubborned in the absolute thought of not doing so. Here they were in the forest where so much seemed to have happened without Zazuka having solved what had happened between the two. Brian knew that it had been his fault for tearing up the friendship and perhaps he felt a bit of closure knowing that it was he who had started the plan that would put it back together, one peice at a time.

Brian felt a bit of wind and decided to zip up his jacket a bit more. The next Quidditch Match would soon be approaching and Ravenclaw was going to need their Seeker in top shape if they were going to beat Hufflepuff and win the Cup for themselves. Looking at Andromeda, Brian wanted to smile but decided that it was perhaps not the right moment for such things. Andromeda had came to the forest upset about something and Brian knew that it would bother him for the rest of his life if he didn't simply ask. "Andromeda, do you want to talk about..." Brian felt his words trail off as though he might be heading down a road he didn't really want to travel, perhaps it was more of taking Andromeda down a road that she might not want to travel that bugged Brian more at this point. Hogwarts seemed to change just like they did and even though they were learning more magic it didn't really seem to help them with the problems they were facing in life.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

She couldn't help but give a lopsided smile at his reply to her. Inhaling deeply she pushed herself gently off the tree to stand alone without it. It felt most of the time as if she were forever standing alone, she knew she had her friends but they all couldn't be there for her whenever she needed them. No matter how often they told her otherwise. Andromeda knew that Bruin had always had issues about the animagus form he had of the bear, that he had compared himself to this form time and again until they had finally begun dating. Would he do so again now? She shook her head, all her thoughts were consumed by him no matter how hard she tried not to have things this way.

"Thanks Brian" it felt strange saying his name now, there was no animosity behind it. She was not riled to anger or anything and it felt good, "you did really good out there yourself. Actually bloody brilliant. Great catch".
She knew on the day she had merely acknowledged this in passing as she had moved on to shake the hands of the other Ravenclaws and felt bad about it now. Her head hung down a bit in shame, embarrassed by her own behavior towards him for the past year. He may have started their feud but she had carried it on like a trooper.

Removing her hands from her pockets she clasped them behind her back as if unsure what she was to do now. At his question she looked up at him startled, he was now closer in proximity and she wondered how she had not paid attention to his moving.
"To talk about why I'm in a forbidden forest crying my eyes out?" she gave a slight smile and shook her head as she felt fresh tears prick behind her eyes, "I am cursed Brian and nothing anyone can say or do changes that fact."

 

[Claphore]

Claphone galloped wildly about the forest, in search of anything to release his pent up anger and frustration out on. Stopping for the briefest of moments the scent asailed his sences and he reared up instantly. The She-Wolf had returned. Turning about and galloping furiously in her direction, Claphore leapt over the large brambles that blocked her from him. He stood furiously pawing the ground infront of her. Moving closer. He knew there was a human boy there too but ignored him.

"YOU WERE NOT TO RETURN! STINKING UP MY HOME WITH YOUR INFERNAL SMELL!" he bellowed, whipping out his broadsword and swinging it down so that it was pointing directly at her.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

Andy turned at the sound of hooves and watched in dawning horror as the centaur called Claphore jumped his way to where they were. Within moments he was pulling out his sword and brandishing it at her. As if she wasn't going through enough crap already, Andy attempted to pull out her wand but only succeeded in slipping on some moss and falling down infront of the blasted centaur. Her heart was hammering loudly and for once any bravery she felt compelled to initiate flew from her. It was almost as if she were quite prepared to accept whatever fate had in store for her, why fight it any longer.

 

[Brian Getathorn XIX]

Brian was about to answer Andromeda when they were rudely interrupted by one of the Forest's rude Horse People bellowing something about a smell. Brian was angry that the Centaur would say that they smell but was incredibly surprised to see Andromeda drop her wand. Brian was just as quick as Andromeda in pulling out his wand as he pointed his wand at the creature. "Watch what you say!" Brian said angrilly looking at the Centaur's sword. "Where not even that deep in the forest!" Brian said angrilly, he really didn't enjoy Centaurs as he quickly thought about something that would help Andromeda and himself out of this situation. "Expelliamus!" Brian shouted pointing his wand at the Centaur's sword hoping that he would be able to knock it away long enough for Andromeda to get her wand and help him out.

 

[Claphore]

Smiling as the She-Wolf fell down Claphore was about to rear up and stomp on the filthy creature when the human boy shouted at him. With magic at hand the boy managed to fling the sword from his hand and send it reeling backwards where Claphore had come from. He turned furiously at the boy. His hooves stomping on the ground.

"So the stupid human fancies himself some dog does he?" Claphore snarled at him, looking down at the beast on the ground, "You would do good to stay down there."

The boy still had his wand out and Claphore knew that he would not be able to reach for his bow and arrow in time, no matter how fast he was.
"Have your little puppy then."
He hated running from any fight, was not known for any acts of cowarliness at all but he knew that he was not strong enough on his own against any magic. Claphore turned briskly and with a backward kick at the creature, he leapt back over the bush and finding his sword galloped on wards once more cursing and swearing about humans and their pets.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

It all seemed to happen so fast. First she had slipped and the centaur moved closer. Brian stepped forward and blasted the sword from the centaurs hands. Andy could only watch in amazement, still prone on the ground when Claphore made the disgusting quip about her being a dog. He turned to leave but before doing so left with a parting kick. Andy clutched her arm, which also happened to be the one she had broken in her first quidditch game and also happened to be the one attached to her bad shoulder, which had gotten worse every since the dual herself and Brian had at the cliffs.

Attempting to stand up, she found it difficult on the moss but slowly managed to. She leaned against the tree once more, only comprehending now that she had not bothered to fight. When had she ever not tried to fight? She looked down at the ground where her wand lay and could only stare at it, as tears slowly slid down her face. She was a mess, not because of her appearance but because of what her life had come to.

 

[Brian Getathorn XIX]

Brian looked as the Centaur ran off "Yeah, good riddance!" Brian shoted after him glad to see that the Centaur knew when he was beaten. Brian looked over towards Andromeda seeing her trying to get to her feet. Running towards her he picked up her wand and began trying to assist her to her feet. "Are you okay?" Brian asked as he handed her wand out for her to take. Brian could guess why the Centaurs wouldn't exaclty want Andromeda around but to physically threaten her was something even he couldn't believe "stupid horses" Brian muttered wondering why the ministry didn't get rid of them if they were so wild. Brian looked at Andromeda "It's okay, he's gone now" Brian said as he quickly added "everythings going to be alright now" Brian wished that would be true with all his might, however at Hogwarts he wondered if such a statement was actually true.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

Andy shrugged and looked tear streaked face stricken to Brian. He handed her the wand and attempted to help her.
"I don't think I'll ever be 'ok' do you?" she looked down at the wand in her hand and blinked back the rest of the tears. She had only come in here to have a good old girly wallow about Bruin and now she felt nothing short of a basket case.
"Thanks" she held up her wand a little indicating that was why she thanked him, she lifted a hand to wipe her eyes before exhaling air she felt was going stale in her lungs. Leaning back against the tree trunk she looked in the direction of where the centaur had gone before looking back at Brian.

"Thanks for not jumping to the 'dog' quip either" she put her wand away and felt the second wand in her pocket as well. No wonder she had trouble getting one out. She should just have pulled out both of them and blasted the centaur but there was simply no fight in her today.
Andy couldn't help but look into the brown eyes of the boy who used to be her bestfriend, so much had changed between them, they had grown so very far apart.
"Things haven't been alright for a very long time Brian".

 

[Brian Getathorn XIX]

"No, I guess they haven't" Brian said seriously as he looked at the ground slightly. The day's without Andromeda had been quiet but not the type of quiet he had wanted. Zazuka was great but there was definately a difference in what he could do with her and what he use to do with Andromeda, yeah they had fought constantly but some of the things they did had been more then exciting and Brian knew that hanging out with Andromeda would always end up being something wild and crazy that you could tell your children about decades from now. Brian looked at her with the same seriousness as he held before and smiled "But that's where time is on our side, we can just move forwards and see if it get's better" Brian said wondering if Andromeda would understand what he meant. The air was cold and Brian had to look up at the sky once more just to see if time would bring Athena back, still however there was nothing that could be seen from beyond the trees.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

Andy inhaled deeply, gathering herself together. If Bruin were to see her now he would be devastated that the decision they had come to had led her to feeling like this and resulting in being helpless. She could just about understand why Brian had pushed her all those times to not wallow in any form of weakness but to call constantly on the strength she seemed to have in storage. She called on it now as she moved away from the tree and stood infront of him, Andy held out her hand with a lopsided smile.

"If time is really on our side, if we can really move forward then can we be friends again?" she would never tell him how much she had missed his friendship, how she had learned to get on without him as if he had never existed as that had been the only way for her to deal with his absence from her life. Andy waited to see if he would accept her hand, felt almost foolish for taking the step she always felt he should take but he had practically saved her life.

 

[Brian Getathorn XIX]

Brian didn't know what he was going to say, he wasn't even sure about what he wanted to say. Andromeda was in a bad place and Brian knew that he was feeling a bit of that place as well. Brian didn't know what it felt like to be a werewolf, he also didn't know what it felt like to have you parents ship you away to some nightmare school. Brian didn't even know what it felt like to have unrequited love. Brian had always lived in some magical bubble that seemed to repel all of these things and yet for years he had expected Andromeda to show strength that he had never been tested on. Brian felt bad about that, he also felt bad about what he had said to her the last time they were friends.

Brian knew that if he was ever going to move forwards he would need to address that part of their past. He didn't exactly know how she would take it but knew that he had to say it if he was ever going to be friends with Andromeda again. Brian took her hand and looked at her with what he could only know as his most guilty expression. "Andromeda, I'm sorry for what I said" Brian said feeling as though two dozen spotlights had just caught him stealing the snitch from the cookie jar. "I didn't really mean any of it" Brian said a bit low as he looked at her. "Your brilliant and honestly, I think the world of you!" Brian said as he couldn't help but smile at how stupid the last comment he had just made. Brian could only hope that Andromeda would accept his apology though.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

Andy half expected him to laugh at her outstretched hand so she was almost taken aback when he accepted it. It was even more startling when he apologized to her. Andromeda could only look at him, willing her eyes not to well up again. Now surely wasn't the time to start crying again. He had just about saved her life from the crazy centaur, they were going to be friends again so why did she seriously feel as if she wanted to cry her eyes out? Afraid to speak incase she made a fool of herself, Andy did the only other thing she could. She moved a step forward and hugged him. It felt awkward to her and she released him after a few moments but it was enough time for her to compose herself to speak.

"I'm sorry too, I should have tried to bridge the gap along time ago instead of letting the really good friendship we had drift like that" she didn't know how to respond to his thinking she was brilliant and thought the world of her. Only last year this would have sent her over the moon but she was older and had been through so much. She didn't know what sort of feelings she had for him anymore, she knew she wanted them to be friends again but trusting him and believing in him as she had once done explicitedly would not come so easy now. Any trust she had once placed in him had been destroyed by his treatment of her but she hoped that with time he would earn all of this back.

"Zuka will be glad we're friends again" she wanted to keep it now as light as she could, "Maybe it's just me but... I feel as if we're just becoming friends properly now." It was hard to explain and she didn't know if she ever could but the friendship they had before was so childish and full of squabbling and crazy feelings. They were older and more mature now and hopefully their renewed friendship would exhibit that.