The Note (Briony/Invitation)

by **Lolly Hart** Sun Mar 04, 2012 7:58 pm

Lolly slipped quietly into the Headmistress's office, ready to start tidying up the place, as was her job. She went about as normal, sweeping, stacking, and making sure the portraits were straight and dusted. The strange instruments and gizmos Briony had whirred about in their places, and Lolly took a short moment to admire them before continuing on.

At last she finished, and a weight in her top pocket reminded her of the real reason she had come here tonight. Walking quietly to the dark wood desk, Lolly slipped the small envelope addressed to the Headmistress out of her pocket. She observed it a second, thinking of what was written inside. Dropping it on the desk like it was on fire, she rushed out of the room, leaving the unsigned request waiting to be opened.

Stop the fight.

That was all it said, written in Lolly's drifty handwriting. She hoped the warning would mean something to Briony. The woman was smart, and so Lolly hoped that she would get the hint - that the creatures of the world were fed up with the fighting and wished it to an end.

by **Briony Romain** Mon Mar 05, 2012 12:27 am

Briony wandered into her office, she knew that someone had been in there tidying, most likely Lolly and as usual some of her things were moved and she had no idea where they were anymore but she couldn't bare to correct her or stop her cleaning.

Seeing a note, in Lolly's handwriting, Briony read it with interest, but then her brow furrowed and she all but threw it away.

How aggravating could the nymph be?! Briony had rescued her, given her a job, and now she was giving her orders on what she should do about this war, which she didn't want to be a part in in the first place. It was almost as if she thought she wanted this war!

Summoning Lolly to her office Briony stood up and paced.

by **Lolly Hart** Mon Mar 05, 2012 7:09 pm

Lolly stepped carefully back inside Briony's room, a little nervous. She hoped she wasn't in trouble, but she could already sense that perhaps she might be. Briony was brimming with exasperation.

"Briony?" she said meekly, hoping this wouldn't be the fuse to Briony's temper bomb. "You called for me?"

Lolly noticed that her letter lay open on the desk, and she waited for the explosion. Even though Lolly was only doing as Benedict had asked her... maybe she'd gone about it the wrong way?

by **Briony Romain** Mon Mar 05, 2012 7:46 pm

Briony heard Lolly enter the room and she turned to look at the nymph with cold eyes, pointing her finger at the note, Briony had to summon up the energy not to snap at the poor thing and keep her cool for a little while longer.

"What, pray tell, is the meaning of this note that I presume you left for me?" she asked.

Looking dead into Lolly's eyes Briony bid her to come closer so that she wouldn't have to move over to her, she might find this threatening if she did and Briony didn't want that.

"Because, I believe that this, is something that is just not needed in the slightest and it's confusing me, so if you will please explain."

by **Lolly Hart** Mon Mar 05, 2012 10:28 pm

Lolly stared right back into Briony's cold eyes, trying her best not to look away. "It's not my fault," she said sinisterly. "They needed me to give it to you. He asked me to, I couldn't say no..."

She nervously fidgeted with the hem of her dress, finally looking away and down at the floor; Briony's confusion was deep and penetrating and it took an awful lot of Lolly's effort to control it in her head.

Lolly had no intention of giving anything away, no matter how much Briony pried. She wasn't going to give up on the creatures that easily, how shameful of her would that be? But she also terribly wanted Briony to know what was going on - she had a right, after all.

Lolly was torn between her loyalty to Briony and Hogwarts, and her loyalty to Benedict and the creatures. She was treading a fine line between the both of them and she was starting to lose her balance.

by **Briony Romain** Tue Mar 06, 2012 12:14 am

Briony raised her eyebrow and looked at Lolly square in the eyes, she had said 'they' and immediately she felt a deep sense of hurt rip through her, if this girl had betrayed her after such an act of kindness by Briony, there was no point in trying to be kind any longer.

"Who are they Lolly, the they you're talking about, obviously they are a load of cowards they can't come here and speak for themselves so they have done themselves a disservice already."

Sighing she stepped closer to Lolly and looked her straight in the eyes, it was something she didn't want to think about, but, there was always that doubt in her mind:

"If you are working for an enemy of this school I have no qualms in kicking you off the premises and taking your memories away, do you understand? I will be betrayed so utterly by this if it is indeed that."

by **Lolly Hart** Tue Mar 06, 2012 11:57 am

Anger and hurt tore through Lolly. "Don't call them that! They're not cowards!" She'd stepped closer to Briony and was close enough to feel her warm breath on her face. "They're not enemies, but they're not on your side either. I'm not going to say who they are because that ... would be dishonourable. You'll find out when he wants you to know."

Lolly swallowed through the big lump in her throat. "I'm not betraying you, Briony. You know I would never do that, I owe you too much. I would hate myself if I did. In the same way I would probably kill myself if I were to betray the others." Feeling weak in the knees, Lolly turned around and sat on the ground, stomach churning. She hugged her knees to her chest.

"He told me not to tell you everything just yet. Believe me, I would have told you every last scrap by now. But I'm under orders not to spill too much." She glanced up at the Headmistress. She could sense that Briony wanted to know a lot more. "I'll answer as many of your questions as I can, within reason. Fire away."

by **Briony Romain** Tue Mar 06, 2012 7:53 pm

Briony almost backhanded the girl in front of her when she addressed her in such a manner and she stepped forward until they were merely inches apart, in her anger the shadows that she controlled began to swim around her in flicks and twirls, occassionally brushing against Lolly's face.

"I will NOT be spoken to in such a manner! Not by someone who is trying to get me to entertain an idea that they themselves can't work up the courage to bring to me themselves!"

Growling Briony turned and began to pace to try and get rid of some of the anger that was boiling around her veins, it would do no good to be angry at Lolly although she could not help it.

"Well being betrayed is what I feel like it is Lolly. I can't trust you any longer if you are working for someone and can't even tell me who it is, you will have to leave this castle as I cannot guarentee the saftey of my students any longer with you here." Briony said in a frustrated whisper.

Looking at Lolly, Briony shrugged her shoulders:

"Don't tell me then. I will hold up the school, and ask every single student, and teacher, to tell me what is going on, then I'll get Richard and Cobalt to smell out the person in charge of this 'operation' and believe me he will be found whether you want him to or not."

by **Lolly Hart** Tue Mar 06, 2012 11:14 pm

She stood up again, frightened of the swirling shadows and the roils of rage coming from Briony. Tears welled in Lolly's eyes. "It's not like a student would know! You may as well ask the people in the forest instead."

"I'm not doing anything to harm anyone!" Now the tears were sliding down her face. She couldn't stop them if she tried. Lolly didn't want to leave Hogwarts!

This was harder than she thought it was. Oh, how Lolly wished she'd gotten Benedict to write the note instead. She tried to explain it, but the words wouldn't come out of her mouth, leaving her standing there, opening and closing her mouth a few times. She covered her face with her hands, and went to make for the door.

She should have just died that day, instead of letting the Romains take her in. She wasn't worth it. She never had been. It was all her fault everyone was dead anyway. Swinging open the door, Lolly stepped outside.

by **Briony Romain** Wed Mar 07, 2012 7:31 pm

Briony could see that her anger had gotten the better of her again and she hung her head trying to calm herself down, but something that Lolly said made her ears prick up and she felt a cold sense of dread beginning to seep through her.

"The forest? The only people in the forest are the creatures, do you mean to tell me that you have wrote this on behalf of the creatures?" she said, calmly, trying to mask the anger inside.

When Lolly began to cry, Briony sighed again, as if she needed a side order of guilt with the stress that had been just dumped upon her, stopping being so annoyed, Briony attempted to smile.

"Lolly, Lolly please stop crying I'm sorry if I frightened you, I'm just under a lot of stress lately and I don't need this as well."

Moving out of the door to try and catch Lolly Briony said quietly:

"It hurts me the way people think I desire fighting, nobody takes into account what I had lost from this war."

by **Lolly Hart** Wed Mar 07, 2012 8:23 pm

Briony had figured it out and the alarm bells started ringing in Lolly's head. She'd said too much. But it couldn't be helped. Scrubbing at her cheeks, Lolly turned around to face Briony. Not only could she feel the stress, she could finally see it written all over the woman's face.

"I'm sorry. I just felt it was the only thing I could do... I didn't realise what would happen..." She sighed softly, breathing deeply and trying not to start bawling again. Lolly couldn't really do magic of her own, save her empathy. Sometimes she felt utterly useless.

Lolly was surprised when Briony mentioned the losses the war had caused her. She felt very shameful now. She glanced into Briony's eyes. "Nobody really knows about your losses Briony, except for your husband and those you keep close by your side. I don't even know the full extent of who and what you've lost. I doubt it's any of my business though..." she trailed off, not wanting to push it any further, that would be for some other time. "I'm really sorry."

"I think possibly that's why they all expect you to focus on them, their losses, their perspective of the war. They don't realise you have your own," she said quietly, eyes downcast.

by **Briony Romain** Wed Mar 07, 2012 8:41 pm

Briony smiled lightly, she could never bring it upon herself to stay mad at Lolly for too long, after all, she was almost like one of the student's herself only Briony cared for her more, knowing her past and what had happened when she had found her.

"Don't worry about it, the person in charge if they want to talk to me should come and talk themselves, not send you to do it for them..." she said with a small frown on her face.

The words that Lolly spoke were the truth, she knew nothing of her losses because she did not speak of them often, and Briony knew that one day she would tell Lolly, but not now, another time. Now she had more pressing business to attend to.

"One day Lolly you will know, when I am in a fit state to talk of them, you shall know."

Briony tilted Lolly's chin up so that she wouldn't be looking at the floor:

"Don't be sorry, how can you appreciate anothers loss if you are not aware it exists, I am not however I may seem a fan of war and destruction, it is however, almost all I am good at doing."

Sighing slightly, Briony leant against the wall:

"Now, tell me, what do they want? I can't do anything if they don't tell me what they want."

by **Lolly Hart** Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:52 pm

Lolly was grateful that Briony had calmed down some more. Taking another deep breath, she wiped the last of her tears from her cheeks and smiled softly up at the Headmistress.

"All the creatures are sick of the war. A lot of them are from both sides, you see, and all of them have been affected by it somehow. And... well, they don't want to have to live like this anymore. The leader of the new little 'cause', he asked the creatures near the schools to try and contact the Heads. So I did. He wanted us to talk you into stopping the fight. He made it sound so easy..." Lolly sighed. "But it's not. It's really not at all."

Lolly wished with all her might that it was that easy to stop a war. She thought maybe Benedict had the wrong idea of it. "He doesn't want to do any fighting though. That's the last resort, he says. I agree, how can violence solve violence? But it's hard to talk people out of an age-old war. It's extremely hard," Lolly shook her her head in dismay.

by **Briony Romain** Wed Mar 07, 2012 10:58 pm

Briony sighed softly, so now the creatures were against them, and she found it more than a little stab in the back, but tried not to get angry again, that was a thing to do another time, away from Lolly and preferably beating the crap out of a German soldier.

"Well then the leader of this cause is spineless, think of him sending you to come and talk to me! Possibly having to break my trust to do so, I do not think highly of this man...and I have not even met him, this is not a good sign."

Sighing once more Briony pinched the bridge of her nose and decided that now was the time to tell her true feelings on this war.

"I will not lie and say that sometimes I don't think that the war is needed, because sometimes it is, but there are personal reasons I myself cannot fix as to why people continue this hate, myself being one of them."

Placing a hand on Lolly's shoulder, Briony almost needed to steady herself emotionally and she took a deep breath, she had never behaved as such to anybody but her husband and her grandmother.

"I'm tired Lolly." she said simply, but the depth of emotion in her voice was amazing, Briony blinked away a few tears and coughed "I am tired in my bones of all of this, and I don't need this new threat."

by **Lolly Hart** Thu Mar 08, 2012 10:24 pm

Sympathy washed over Lolly. There was no way she could understand to the lengths Briony had been out and around and in and under and behind about this war. She saw the tears before the Headmistress blinked them away, and found she gave in to the impulse to hug her. Lolly threw her arms around Briony, not wanting to see her so stressed and upset like this. The emotion was seeping out like a boiled pot ready to burst with the pressure of keeping everything in.

Stepping back, Lolly's eyes flickered over the woman's face. She certainly did look tired of everything, deep down. "Do you need something to eat or drink? You almost look like you're about to shatter." Lolly started to worry. Should she leave so Briony could get some rest? She would happily grab anything Briony wanted to eat or drink as fast as possible.

by **Briony Romain** Fri Mar 09, 2012 7:28 pm

Briony was a little shocked to recieve the hug from Lolly but it wasn't unwelcome, she gently wrapped her arms around the nymph in return and smiled lightly, before another wave of worry crashed over her and it was gone in an instant.

Shaking her head Briony let go of Lolly and continued to slump against the wall, thinking about what she needed, and what she needed was to keep this secret from Richard for now, he would only worry.

"No, I don't want anything, it would only make me sick anyway, and the only thing I would drink would be alcohol and that's not likely to help."

Fumbling in her pockets Briony got out a cigarette and a lighter, flicking it so the flame appeared she lit the cigarette and took a deep drag, feeling a little calmer.

"What do they plan to do? I suspect that the so called leader will be looking to talk to me at some point?"

by **Lolly Hart** Fri Mar 09, 2012 7:54 pm

Lolly watched as Briony lit a cigarette. She'd never been much of a fan of smoking, but really, if it made Briony feel better then she was fine with it, because when Briony was unhappy the force of it was so strong that it penetrated all of Lolly's defences and cast her slightly in the same position as the Headmistress.

She nodded. "I think so. He said he wants to talk with you... when you know a bit more about it. But that doesn't make a lot of sense... I'm thinking now he should have come and talked with you in the first place." Lolly firmly believed that right now, the creatures were not a threat. But if it came that they had to fight, she was worried that it would be a big one. She really, really hoped they wouldn't have to fight.

by **Briony Romain** Sat Mar 10, 2012 12:19 am

Briony nodded her head, she knew a lot of people Lolly included didn't like her smoking but there was little else that would calm her down enough to think straight while she was like this, it was a little hurtful that was true that things had gotten so bad with her addiction but she didn't care.

"How can I know more about it if he doesn't come and talk to me in the first place? This man, no offense, sounds like an idiot." sighing and pinching the bridge of her nose Briony leant her head against the stone and looked up to the ceiling.

"I would like you to do something for me Lolly, I don't want to make you seem like an owl, or make you pick sides, but if you saw the leader, could you tell him how I feel about this? Please."

by **Lolly Hart** Sun Mar 11, 2012 6:36 pm

Lolly knew these responsibilities were probably going to be the death of her, but she didn't care. "Of course I can, Briony. I'll talk to him the next time I see him." It was unfair to think Lolly wouldn't do such a simple thing for the woman who saved her life.

She smiled a little bit. "You look tired, Briony. Go get some sleep, we could talk more later. My shift is over now too, so I guess we both have to get up early," Lolly said, noticing the bags under the Headmistress's dark eyes.

by **Briony Romain** Sun Mar 11, 2012 7:02 pm

Briony gave Lolly a light smile and she nodded her head, conceeding defeat for tonight even though she probably wouldn't sleep tomorrow at all, but, the idea of teaching the first years tomorrow made her groan and consider a sleeping potion.

"You're right Lolly. We both need our sleep for tomorrow if you wish we can talk sometime tomorrow about things, not necessarily this but...just general talking..."

Frowning lightly, Briony was asking in a way only Briony could to talk again just as friends tomorrow. Of course she could never phrase matters about that quite right.

"Right..." she sighed, pushing herself off the wall "I'm going to bed."

by **Lolly Hart** Mon Mar 12, 2012 11:32 am

Lolly smiled. "Good night, Briony," she watched as the headmistress retreated into her quarters. She determined that they certainly could talk tomorrow as friends; she'd picked that up, even if the Headmistress had trouble phrasing it perfectly. Lolly giggled lightly.

She turned around and made her way back down the twisting flight of stairs. Yawning, she left to go back to her own bed, which was seeming very, very inviting right now.

by **Briony Romain** Mon Mar 12, 2012 7:15 pm

Briony smiled lightly as she looked between the mountain of work that she had on her desk, and her bed which had Richard in it, sighing softly she vowed that she would stay up for just an hour more to get the stack of lesson reviews out of the way.

Which turned into a further two hours thinking about what had just happened between her and Lolly, eventually at around three am she crawled into bed beside Richard, and slept.