Irrational? ((Brantley))

[Sapphire Phoenix R7]

It was hard to forget things that went on right in front of you, Sapphire mused as she rolled up the foot of parchment which comprised a certain History of Magic essay. She'd been feeling troubled ever since Brantley had stormed up to her best friend and caused the usually well-measured girl to hurry off after him. Sapphire had left them for a while, and then followed to disperse the crowd that had gathered round a door claiming that some extremely angry guy had just gone in there, dragging a girl with him. Well yes, so he might have done, but what was it to them? was what Sapphire had pointed out to such busybodies in rather sharp terms; it really had nothing to do with them. Then she'd gone on her way herself. She hadn't been able to forget the venom in Brantley's voice, though, nor the uncontrolled rage she'd caught festering in his eyes with just one glance up from proof-reading the essay that she was now tying a piece of string around. It was string that she'd used to have for Herbology, but she'd started employing it in other capacities now that the need for it in lessons had been negated.

Sapphire was sitting at table in the Student Lounge at the moment. It was one of her free periods, so she could easily get plenty of free space to herself in which to brood. Sapphire didn't understand what someone as mild as Jasmine could have done to prompt such fury. She'd known that Jazz had been spending some time with Brantley (someone who she'd never talked to that much herself), but she hadn't pressed for details. She wasn't the kind of person that felt the need to tease other people about their budding relationships just for the sake of it. Sapphire hadn't failed to notice how silently dejected Jazz had been in the past weeks, though. Sharing a dormitory with her and having got to know her quite well over the years they'd been friends, it was easy to tell when she was showing the signs of sadness even quite unconsciously.

It was for this reason that her curiosity, and to a less degree her concern, drove her to disregard her usual reservedness to initiating random conversations when she realised that Brantley was in fact sitting at another table not all that far away. She'd been so preoccupied previously that she honestly couldn't tell whether he'd been there the entire time, or had entered at some point while she'd been pondering the meaning of life, the universe and everything, but that hardly mattered - he was still here now. Sapphire slotted the roll of parchment into a space between the textbooks and notebooks that currently filled much of her bag. She'd brought quite a lot of homework in here to get it polished off. And some extra reading. Everything back in her pencilcase save for one quill which she had just set about trimming back into neatness, Sapphire relocated herself to the table where Brantley was sitting. She stared at him for a moment as she thought of all the different things that had puzzled her in the past few days, although it seemed more as though she was sizing him up, so that most normal people would ask "What?" exactly she meant by looking at them like that. Knowing that she couldn't keep unexplained company indefinitely, Sapphire took the initiative and started with a simple question: "What did the Sorting Hat say when it put you in Ravenclaw?"

[Brantley Chapman R7]

Brantley had (after two weeks of neglecting his studies) decided to at least get caught up enough so he wasn’t getting D’s in every class. Of course, it was a bit easier to concentrate now that he wasn’t full of rage or pain. He was just content, and it was easier to write about moonstones for Snape’s class, and it was easier to practice turning things into Portkeys. At the moment, he was scavenging through books and taking notes so he could continue with his essay. Snape always had it in for anyone who wasn’t in Slytherin, and Brantley had been doing well enough in his class (E’s all year round), but there were times that Brantley had to get a little extra help with the essays. Books were useful sources when it came to a little help for essays or whatnot. He read enough to be able to write an essay without books around him, but he had fallen behind recently because of what had gone on with Jasmine and now he was struggling to get back on track. Brantley ended his sentence and then dipped his quill back into the ink so he could continue his essay. It was nearly finished, already two feet of scroll. Brantley knew that wouldn’t be nearly enough for Snape, two feet was merely a sentence for the Potions master.

After about ten minutes, Brantley reread his essay and then rolled it up and tied it with a simple spell that made a string appear. He stowed the essay away and closed his Potions book before pushing it away and pulling his Herbology book toward him. His eyes danced across the page as he read about Venomous Tentacula. It wasn’t particularly interesting, but he had to read it and he figured it could be worse. He could have History of Magic homework to do, but he had already gotten that out of the way because he knew it would be the most boring assignment out of his homework. He had been right. Brantley ran his fingers through his hair which had gained its colour and life back and wasn’t so stringy now. He even had a bit of happiness in his eyes, but still not nearly as much as he had before his outburst. His eyes read over the last sentence about Venomous Tentacula and he then closed his book to put it away in his bag. With that, and feeling quite relieved that he had gotten most homework out of the way, Brantley pulled out his book and opened to the page he had left off on.

It was no sooner that he had begun reading that Brantley was aware of someone standing in front of him. He lifted his gaze, reluctantly, from his book and met eyes with that someone. The someone was Sapphire Phoenix, one of Jasmine’s best friends. He waited for her to speak, for he had been approached by her, and when she did it was of a question that he hadn’t been expecting. Brantley looked at her questioningly and then closed his book, his thumb in place of where he had stopped reading. “Well, it really didn’t say much. It’s not particularly psychic and it only sees what we are and who we are at that time. I believe he saw my intelligence and placed me here like most Ravenclaws. There are a few exceptions to that characteristic, though, aren’t there?” Brantley leaned back in his chair, his face stoic. “Why? Do you feel I would be best suited in Slytherin?”

[Sapphire Phoenix R7]

It didn't take a study of character to pick up Brantley's hesistance before he acknowledged her presence. Sapphire shifted her weight onto her other foot, the only sign she gave that she wasn't quite comfortable. She was more confident than to experience any other troubles though; it was actually just a way of transferring her inner tensions. Sapphire didn't want to mess things up for her friend. She didn't have too much chance of doing that, as her purpose wasn't to sort them out. That was when you started messing them up the most. Interference was futile. She didn't want to interfere. That said, she wasn't sure what she was doing here anyway. Did she have a purpose? It had just felt like the thing to do, so she'd done it. Sapphire never premeditated her actions much. And now she was trying to work those already carried out too much. That was something she didn't do either; there wasn't much point other than making sure you didn't do something again.

For all her reviewing herself, Sapphire didn't miss the look that Brantley gave her. What had he been expecting her to do? she wondered. He didn't really know her, so it would be foolish of him to presume anything at all initially. It might be natural though, who could help but assume something or other about people? No one would start talking at all if they didn't assume that they stood a chance of a response. Sapphire sat down just before he began speaking, her head slightly bowed as she listened to his words. She'd asked him the question, so the answer was important to her and she paid it careful attention. She looked up again as he asked her opinion. "Well, no. Yes. It depends on how you'd define 'intelligence'. Everyone in Ravenclaw has the potential to make themselves really clever or knowledgeable - although everyone in the world can make themselves knowledgeable about something or other - they are able to think, it doesn't matter whether or not they actually do think in that they still can if they want to. So it depends on whether you consider intelligence to be potential or fulfilment of that potential. I think it's more the potential to think - it might be more intelligent not to on occasion. You can overthink things." Like I just overthought that, she thought to herself as she smiled at herself a little bit.

She looked at him in startled surprise as he asked whether she thought he would be best suited to Slytherin. "No, actually, that's not what I was thinking," she said, her honesty evident in her tone. "Many Slytherins are very good at surpressing their feelings - to the point where they might be even scared of showing them - and I dunno, no I do know, I don't think you do normally do that. If I had to put you somewhere else, it'd probably be Gryffindor. You're... bold with expressing your opinions." She looked up at him, wondering whether it was obvious what she was thinking about and whether his own thoughts would fall on the same occasion. "It's just as well that I don't have to resort you," she added quietly. Sapphire's gaze fell on Brantley's obscured thumb that was wedged between the pages of his book, and picking up one of the leftover bits from the quill she'd just trimmed she transfigured a piece of scrap feather into a larger, makeshift brown leather bookmark. It was a bit lighter than it should have been as she picked it up and slid it into the book from her side of the table. "It'll change back to fluff in a couple of hours, so don't lose your page." she warned him briefly, showing her everyday personality more than her thoughtful one that had been prevalent just before.

[Brantley Chapman R7]

Brantley watched Sapphire take a seat across from him, his telescope eyes never leaving her. She was Jasmine’s best friend, or one of them, and that was all that it took for Brant to hang on every word she said. What was important to Jasmine, meant it was important to him to a point of paying attention. Not that he would normally zone out when someone was holding a conversation with him, even one that seemed to be going nowhere or going somewhere too deep he couldn’t even think about it. Her answer to his first question, made Brantley raise an eyebrow in confusion. Then he shrugged, as he slowly understood what she was saying; “I guess so, but there are certain degrees of intelligence. I, for instance, am intelligent when it comes to books and studies. When it comes to romance, love, and all the things I pride myself on; I know nothing about it and am denser than a rock.” He chewed this over in his mind, thinking about how true that statement really was. He went around, telling people that love was this tremendous thing when he couldn’t manage to keep the one person he loved in his life. He just made mess ups left, right, and center. Apparently that was evident to more people besides himself. Brantley waited for Sapphire’s next reply to his second question. This was the answer he was most interested in, and he found himself silently pleased when she said no. His pleasure dissipated, however, when she said that Slytherins were very good at suppressing their feelings, something that he was evidently not good at.

He was about to reply to her statement, when she turned a feather into a leather bookmark and placed it in his book. “Thanks,” Brantley glanced at the page number to commit it to memory before closing the book and setting it on the table in front of him. There was a pause between them before Brantley reached up over his head and stretched, placing his hands behind his neck to support it as it was lolling to the side. “You’re wrong,” he said outright, “as much as that sounds like you’re right, you’re not. I’m not bold in presenting my opinion to anyone, in fact, I rather like to keep my opinions to myself because a lot of them will only cause conflict.” Brantley shrugged as he locked Sapphire’s gaze with his, not breaking the eye contact. “I never use to have problems keeping my anger in check, but I suppose anger and pain together was too strong a concoction for me to avoid. I ended up blaming Jasmine, throwing things, screaming at her, and saying some awful things that I shouldn’t have, I’ll admit it. There is, however, an explanation to my otherwise uncharacteristic actions and while I understand you care about Jasmine, I’m not sure you have any right to hear them.

“Perhaps, then, you don’t care enough to want to hear the explanations and if that were the case, you wouldn’t have approached me.” Brantley dropped his hands from behind his neck and leaned forward in his seat so his arms were crossed on the table that separated him from Sapphire. Or Sapphire from him, whichever way you chose to see it. “I know you care about Jasmine, a lot. I do, too. She’s everything to me, and I would die before I did anything to physically harm her. My words hurt her, I know this, and I regret saying them – but it’s in the past and there isn’t anything I can do except apologize to her.”