Confronting the Darkness (Rich and Bri)

[Briony Romain]

Briony chuckled to herself, she was almost ready to transfer her fractured part of her soul into the vessel she had prepared to harbour it, it was something that nobody would suspect, let alone her husband, and she had it moved from her home in Philosophers Close to be with her here at Hogwarts, passing it off as some sentimental bullshit that she really didn't mean, she just needed it close so she could work on the spells to link her and it together.

Now all she needed to do was to channel part of her soul into the instrument and she had thought that she had found a way in which to do that, Briony just needed time, and a large surge of magical power to help her make this horcrux, of which she had plenty of. She had hoped to complete the bond before her husband was due back, but she merely resorted to playing a rather dark and sinister melody on the piano when she saw she would not have time.

Baby Raven, as much as she loathed to take care of her, was in bed and asleep, she knew that her aversion to children was something Richard picked up on more than anything, and Briony had worked hard to perfect her grumpy yet compliant reaction to being asked to take care of the little one. Smirking, her eyes closed, and she lost herself in the melody, excited for what was to come in the future.

[Richard Romain]

Richard was resolved. It would end tonight. Tonight he would fight against the wishes of his suddenly darker wife and he would do what was right. He would do what he wanted to do; he would save Briony from her own darkness. He heard the piano even as he ascended the stairs to the headmistress' office, narrowing his eyes slightly at the sound.

When he reached the heavy wooden door he found it locked and warded.

With a crack the wall around the door broke, sending the door and a few inches of wall all around it, crashing into the office on the floor. Richard stepped into the room, not putting his wand away but not pointing it at his wife just yet,

"We need to talk meine leibling." he told her firmly, his tone strong and steady, "About what's been happening to you and how it's going to stop. Now."

[Briony Romain]

Briony raised her eyebrow as her husband decided to blow the wall up, with a frown she still sat at her piano, not stopping her playing, after all it was relaxing and she wanted to continue it as long as she could, it helped her to think, and her husband being here certainly put a stop to her plans fruition.

Seeing his wand still out, Briony's eyes flashed, he best not try to harm her, or she would fight back and she would not stop until he knew that she was someone who even he shouldn't mess with. Closing her eyes again, Briony continued playing.

"You know the door was open right?" she asked with a smirk on her lips "If you want to talk, then talk, but it is my choice to be the way that I am Richard, not yours."

Briony smirked a little wider and she opened her eyes, them dancing with glee as she knew this situation was likely to get explosive the more they talked about it; "So, what is is you wanted to talk about?"

[Richard Romain]

Richard saw the dangerous gleam in Briony's eyes when her eyes focused on his wand. She looked almost like she wanted him to start a fight, as if she was looking for an excuse. Whatever had happened to Briony had changed her so very much. It was like she wasn't even his wife anymore.

"Yes well you know me, I like to make an entrance." he quiped without any real humour. Gone was the jokey and easy going Richard. This was the Richard that Leon and Luther remembered. The one who would turn your blood to acid just to get you to talk, "Had to grab your attention somehow."

He cast a silencing spell, making the piano fall completely silent. Richard wasn't in the mood for music right now. His eyes narrowed,

"Bullshit." he hissed, "My wife would never do the things that you seem to think are acceptable. And it all started after you got hit by that one spell. I'm going to ask you nicely once. Come with me and we'll get it looked at, get you back to normal."

[Briony Romain]

Briony blinked and she felt herself getting more annoyed at Richard it was like he had fallen out of love with her, like he couldn't love the person who she was now, and that didn't sit well with her at all, standing up once he silenced the piano, Briony wandered over to her desk and sat on the wood of the table.

"You could have just tapped me on the shoulder, no need to be so fucking violent towards the woman you love Richard." she quipped back, her pacience long gone with the man in front of her, really he thought that it would be so easy.

The hurt conflicted with Briony's anger and she merely sat on her desk, looking at Richard, the shadows gathering around her as she felt herself growing more and more emotionally unstable. This wasn't the Richard that she had known either.

"Ask me nicely? What do you intend to do?" she snarled "I'm not some sort of monster I'm your wife, come on, attack me, show me how you're going to force me into doing something against my will, sink that low and become a wife beater, go on." she growled angrily.

[Richard Romain]

Richard still loved Briony with all of his heart and he knew that he always would. That was why he was here after all. He wanted her to stop changing into something that much darker than she had been before because he was convinced that it wasn't her. It wasn't her doing and it was all to do with the spell that had hit her a few months ago,

"The darker things in life seem to be all that you care about right now Briony." he shot right back with a frown, "Don't make this my fault because it isn't. I'm not the one who's 'bedtime reading' has turned from novels to dark soul magic."

He dropped a book onto her desk, one that she had tried to hide from him. One that detailed how to make a horcrux, or several. They both knew what would be in the book though. This wasn't the Briony he'd met in the cave all those years ago, it was almost like she was possessed,

"I'm not going to attack you Briony. My wand is out because as you are now, so quick to anger and darkness, I think I will need to protect myself when I force you to look at some hard truths." he told her firmly, "You've been looking into horcruxes Briony. The darkest of magics. You would never normally do this so why do it now?"

[Briony Romain]

Briony's upper lip snarled upwards and she knew that Richard had found the book as soon as he spoke, there was nothing that she could do but tell him the truth, she was inclined to do that even though she had changed so much from then until now.

"Your little pet projects haven't always been the lightest rays of sunshine have they Richard?" she shot back with a snarl "What business is it of yours what I choose to do independant of our own relationship?"

Briony's inside clenched and the meeker Briony attempted to take over, she didn;t want to hurt her husband, but at the moment, this version of Briony had something else on her mind. When Richard stated the obvious, Briony glared at the man in front of her and took a step towards him.

"Why? Because I choose to. I don't like the idea of death. We have a stone why not a horcrux? It's not like we haven't killed countless of times, it's not like our souls aren't already split into thousands of pieces, I'm just lifting one out for the time being." she smirked, flipping her ebony hair from her eyes "Now lets stop this silly fighting."

[Richard Romain]

Richard knew that Briony knew she had been caught out but what he hated was that whereas before she might have tried to deny it, to save his feelings, now she just accepted it. Admitted to it. He was sadden by this. It was like the woman he'd fallen in love with had decided that she was going to be completely different, infinately darker,

"I've never done something like this though Briony." he sighed and sat down on the edge of the desk. He placed his wand on the desk too, not even looking at it, "It's my business because I love you and this... this whole thing concerns me. It frigthens me Briony. You've changed so much, it's not normal."

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair silently. She had her heart in the right place, living for longer with the people you loved, but her methods... were too dark for him to agree with,

"Briony you don't even need to do this... with the stone we'll live forever anyway after all." he tried to reason with her before smiling slightly, "As tempting as that offer is, I think we need to have this conversation. It's a bit overdue."

[Briony Romain]

Briony blinked a little bit, she felt more of her old and rather compassionate self coming to the fore, fighting against the darkness that was inside of her, she hated seeing her husband hurt, she wanted him to be happy, to be pleased with her, and she hoped that this spell would be broken, sooner rather than later. Her eyes sent out an almost silent plea to her husband to understand.

Struggling to speak, Briony's expression softened and she held herself and looked like the way she used to before this spell had taken a hold of her, it was using a lot of her mental strength to break through even for this long, but if it gave Richard hope.

"Well maybe I wanted to do something of a project for myself as well Richard, although it might not be the most light of things, it is something that has interested me for a long time." she snapped back at him, her more dominant self taking over once more.

Moving closer to Richard Briony looked at him warily, and she spoke once more; "We are not going to change each others minds on the subject Richard, why bother talking about it when the end outcome is not going to be shifted."

[Richard Romain]

Richard noticed the shift in Briony, even if it was only for a few moments. For a few moments she was the same woman she had been before the spell. For a few, oh so brief, moments she wasn't the woman's who's darkness caused him to lose sleep at night. No, she was the woman who could put him to sleep with a mere gentle word.

There was hope, it told him. The moment told him that the spell wasn't as strong as it seemed, that Briony could still fight through it and that there had to be a way to beat it. He reached out and held her hand while her expression was still softer,

"You can do it Briony..." he whispered quietly, "Fight on through Briony, I know you can do it... come back to me meine liebling..."

And then she was her darker, sharper, self again and he let go of her hands. This version of his wife didn't want to hold his hand,

"I understand it as an interest Briony... but going through with it? Are you trying to be labelled a Dark Lady?" he asked her quietly before sighing a little bit, sadly, "I thought that you would be willing to listen to your husband. To his fears and concerns."

[Briony Romain]

Briony knew now that her husband knew that she was still in there, she couldn't help but relapse into her darker self, it had taken so much of her energy and she wasnt sure that if her consciousness wained completely that she would ever regain it again. She just didn't know what this spell was!

Once again she tried to fight through the spell and she shoved her other half down for the longest time she had ever managed to, and she swiftly embraced her husband, gave him one swift kiss and whispered;

"Please...Richard, just do what you have to, stop this." Briony asked, softly, before her eyes darkened and she ripped herself away from Richard with a scowl at the man in front of her, she almost felt the anger boiling and pulsating around her.

"STOP making her DO THAT!" she commanded, her voice loud and defiant "I have listened, I just do not choose to divert from my chosen desire because of your fears and concerns, my desires are greater than those. Just like when you lock yourself away for days to complete a project, does your wife like that? No. But you do it anyway."

[Richard Romain]

Richard knew that the meeker, the real, version of his wife was fighting against this stronger and darker version of herself and that was enough to give him both strength and conviction. She was fighting against this darker version of herself so he had to do whatever it took to support her, whatever it took to give her control over the darker self.

However the kiss that she gave him, along with the embrace, was enough to surprise Richard. Was Briony really reacting this much just because he was here, believing in her? He liked to think so. His resolve hardened and he nodded,

"Don't worry meine leibe... I'll stop her." he promised his real wife just as she was dragged back under and held there by her darker half. He smirked, "Your other half is strong isn't she? Darker doesn't mean stronger."

Richard scowled lightly, "That's not even in the same ballpark and you know it. You're on about tearing your soul apart. My failing is focusing too hard on a project. The evils seem outbalanced there."

[Briony Romain]

Briony was glad under the control of the other dark version of herself, she was glad that her husband was going to help her, she really did believe in him and she hoped that he was going to be able to stop this spell, this infection, whatever THIS was. Briony wanted to be back to how she was, she didn't want to destroy herself.

Growling, her darker half didn't take well to being called weak, it was something that she hated, being called inferior in any way, even to herself. Stepping even further back from Richard she shook her head with a smirk on her lips.

"We are both strong, just think of what we could do if we actually worked together on attaining a goal, maybe, on attaining the destruction of a certain nation." she whispered, giving Richard a coy wink and letting him onto some of the plans that she had.

With a little dark chuckle Briony shrugged her shoulders; "The premise is the same no matter how the degrees of it vary, you just don't want to admit it. So, if this is all you wanted, then this conversation is over Richard."

[Richard Romain]

Richard had to admit that the destruction of Germany would have been very appealing to him not too long ago but right now it didn't matter. Nothing mattered to him right now. The only thing that mattered was that his wife, the real Briony, needed help to fight her way out and he was going to give her all the help he could. He chuckled a little bit, a hollow sound,

"Behind the times are we? The war is coming to an end Briony." he told her with a small smirk, "And besides, my wife's health is much more important than any war or any country."

Richard paused for a moment before chuckling slightly. He shook his head a little bit as a smirk slowly began to grew wider and wider on his face,

"You know for someone with very poor conversational skills..." he smirked, "You give the best ideas. Well... best for me and the real Briony anyway."

[Briony Romain]

Briony raised her eyebrow and she unsilenced the piano, she wanted to play some more before she retired to bed, and she closed her eyes letting her fingers dance over the keys in that same dark melody as before, it made her relax and she barely noticed Richards small dig at her. Not that she minded.

"Thats wonderful Richard, now excuse me while I listen to a far more pleasing sound than whatever your ideas might be." she smirked as she played, not opening her eyes or even looking at her husband as she decended into the music once more.

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