Us Time ((Brantley))

[Jasmine Anderson]

Jasmine hummed quietly as her quill scratched silently across the parchment. Her legs were stretched out across the floor, her feet rolling in small circles to keep from falling numb. A small notebook lay open on the bed, Jasmine’s head leaning against the side of the mattress as she wrote. The rest of the girls were adding last minute details to their outfit, discussing plans for the night ahead. Jasmine paid no attention to them, her mind elsewhere at the moment. She needed to finish her essay for Potions before leaving to patrol the first shift of the Bonfire. Hearing even louder voices outside the room, Jasmine looked up, her hazel eyes gazing at the door. Were people already starting to head outside? Tilting her head to the clock, Jasmine felt a wave of relief flow through her. She had first patrol duties of the Bonfire night, which meant she still had almost thirty minutes before she needed to get outside. Ignoring the consist gossiping around her Jasmine quickly ended. Pushing the notebook aside, Jasmine grabbed the towel at the end of the bed. She ruffled her hair slightly with it first, before setting it nicely on the trunk. Next, Jasmine took her wand reciting a drying charm. Her hair dried is black, silk waves past her shoulders. Opening the closet at the end of the room, Jasmine took out her white turtle neck, tearing her heavy winter coat off the hanger soon after. Pulling her head through the top of the shirt, she pulled it down past her hip, smoothing out her jeans. Slipping her arms through the sleeves of the jacket, Jasmine wiggled her feet into a pair of warm boot and then was off.

Fixing the collar of the turtle neck while bounding down the stairs, she stopped looking around for Brantley. He knew that she had to patrol the first couple hours of the night and was going to meet her later. Spotting him at his usual table in the corner of the common room, Jasmine grinned as she partially ran over to his side. “Hey honey,” she began, tugging a pair of white gloves from her pocket, Jasmine pulled them on her fingers. Looking at her boyfriend in the eyes, she smiled before looking around the table. There were a couple books set to the side, only one open, but a parchment out in the open that looked like a letter. “You’re going to meet me later tonight?” Jasmine asked after a few moments of silence, deciding against reading what was scribbled on the paper. It could either be good news, or bad news. Preferably Jasmine would be all happy with good news about Melina, but she knew that Brantley’s mother hadn’t been doing so well lately. Sighing, Jasmine ran her fingers through his dark hair, a small smile curling on her lips. She loved the feel of his hair between her fingers. Plus, it was one of her ways she soothed him. It was hard to tell what Brantley felt most of the time. Even though Brantley was bipolar, he mastered hiding his feelings. Jasmine didn’t mind that part of him, as long as he wouldn’t scream at her like he did after the Valentines Day Ball. Snapping out of her thoughts, Jasmine dropped a quick kiss on his cheek before following the crowd outside.

Being Head Girl wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. She had higher status than a Prefect, but she still needed to patrol the corridors at night, and during major events. Luckily, there wasn’t anybody causing too much trouble. There was a group of fourth year Slytherins picking on a little first year Gryffindor. Jasmine knew how to break that up, so nothing go to far out of hand. Stuffing her hands into her pocket, Jasmine looked around the grounds at all the students. Most of groups were curling in front of the fire, cooking marshmallows. Another group was off playing catch with a quaffle. Noticing another prefect come outside from the castle, Jasmine grinned as her time was up. Heading toward one of the fires, she stopped in front of the light looking for Brantley. He had to be here, it wasn’t like him to be late. Spotting him from a distance, Jasmine shuffled her way toward him stopping. Grinning, she then stuffed her hands into his own coat pockets, closing the gap between them. “Do you want to get a warm drink and then make smors? The food has been tempting all night.” Nodding Jasmine wiggled her fingers slowly in his pocket looking off at the refreshment table.

[Brantley Chapman R7]

If it was one thing Brantley Chapman loved, it was the fact that Jasmine and him weren't inseparable but they did have the uncanny ability of floating toward each other when they had been away for a certain amount of hours. Tonight was the night of the bonfire and Brantley was aware that Jasmine had Head Girl duties to do, which was perfectly alright with him. He knew that toward the end of the night she'd be in his arms and they'd probably just sit beside the fire and talk as they often did. What they would talk about was always debatable, but Brantley knew that he had to tell her tonight. He had to tell her what was in the letter. He would much rather have kept it from her because he knew she would cry. He had cried. He couldn't cry anymore, but that didn't mean he hadn’t cried before when he had first read the letter. Brantley bowed his head and closed his telescope eyes as he crossed his arms and let the wind blow at him. His coat snapped around him and the wind rushed past his ears, leaving that sound that annoyed most people but soothed him to dangle in his eardrums and reverberate throughout his mind. He was standing outside beside one of the smaller bonfires, not close enough to get burnt but not too far away to not feel the heat at all. He wasn't paying much attention to the cold or the heat or the area around him. His mind was elsewhere.

It wasn't much of a surprise, then, when Jasmine walked up to him and surprised him by slipping her hands into his coat pockets. A smile lit up his face and he laced their fingers, pulling her closer to him as she spoke of getting something to eat and drink. He didn't want to move just yet, so instead of answering her immediately, he kissed her forehead and took his hands from his coat pockets, leaving hers in there, and then wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight to him. He loved just holding her in his arms, especially when he felt like he was cracking in two. After a moment or so, Brantley kissed the side of her head and whispered against her hair, "Let's go get some hot chocolate and make some smores." He didn't mention that he had something to tell her, because he figured he would let them enjoy the evening a bit before he broke the night and made it melancholy. He brought Jasmine's hand from one of his pockets and kissed it before placing it back in his pocket, his fingers laced with hers again, and lead the way toward the refreshment table. They walked in silence, which wasn't unusual for them, until they reached the table; in which case Brantley smiled over at Jasmine softly, "You assign detention to any future Mini Big Bads tonight, Mademoiselle?" He chuckled at his own joke. Jasmine didn't really ever deal with terrible students, but there was the rare occasion of finding a Slytherin who thought they would rule the wizarding world one day; starting with making some Hufflepuff's life hell.

When they had gathered two big mugs full of hot chocolate and Brantley held the smore ingredients in his right hand, he led the way over to a plaid blanket that he had laid out only ten or so minutes before. He set down his hot chocolate and then took hers from her and set it beside his before helping her to sit down beside him. He then laid out the smore ingredients and pulled out his wand. Brantley never liked using magic for simple tasks, but he knew he could spare it for the night – so, with this thought, he levitated a marshmallow to the edge of the fire and rotated it until it was brown, at which point he brought it back and set it on a graham cracker and added a piece of chocolate to it. He placed the second half of the graham cracker over top and then handed it to Jasmine with a smile, "You know," he told her as she took it and he moved to sit close enough to her so she could lean against him and he could have his arm around her, "I really do enjoy these events. They're quite relaxing."

[Jasmine Anderson]

Jasmine watched the group of girls throwing marshmallows at each other half tempted to tell them to stop. Noticing a professor jump into the action, Jasmine sighed with relief. She was getting better at being a prefect, but she still had those soft spots, which were hard to overcome. Feeling Brantley’s hand wrap around her, she sighed, letting her head rest against the crook of his neck. Her hazel eyes closed slowly as she drawled in a deep breath. The spicy smell of cinnamon greeted the inside of her nostrils, a relaxing sensation washing over her. It was amazing what Brantley could do. With just one simple movement he could either leave her breathless, or completely giddy off of happiness. He held so much power in his actions, but did he know that? Smiling against the material of Brantley’s jacket as he kissed the side of her head she leaned back watching him. He had taken one her hand out of his pocket, his soft lips brushing against her skin. A shiver of Goosebumps rushed up her spine, a smile forming on the corners of her lips. Following closely next to him, Jasmine’s eyes were fixed on the table in the distance. Once they reach the front of the table, she took her hands out of his pockets. When he asked about assigning any detention, Jasmine looked down to the ground. “You know I’m not the best prefect, Brantley. It takes all my will power to deduct points or even assign a detention…” she began collecting two cups full of warm liquid. “Why can’t I ever be mean for one second?” Jasmine asked looking at her boyfriend in the eye with a questioning glint. “That doesn’t include when I become an emotional wreck and take it out on you.”

Smiling teasingly at her last comment, Jasmine followed Brantley as he led the way. There was a blanket laid out in front of one of the empty fires, which meant that he had already been outside before her patrol shift ended. Taking a seat on the blanket, watching as Brantley sat down next. He took out his wand levitating one of the marshmallows above the fire. It didn’t take long when Brantley handed her the completed smore, wrapping his arm around her. Taking the cracker from his hands, she took a small bite, making sure nothing spilled out over the edges. Jasmine chewed and nodded as Brantley rambled on about events being relaxing. Swallowing, she broke the smore in half. “I agree….though I do have some slight awful news about the Winter Ball coming up,” she began staring at the torn pieces. Balls weren’t exactly Jasmine’s forte, especially since last year’s fiasco on Valentines Day. It wasn’t that she was afraid of Brantley, not even close, but it just wasn’t something that she wanted to go to Sighing, Jasmine gazed back into Brantley’s eyes. “I think we should skip the ball this year….unless you were looking forward to going to our last ball….” Jasmine didn’t know if Brantley wanted to attend or not. He was flexible with what over, but there were some seventh years that felt obligated to go to their last ball at Hogwarts. Jasmine, however, wasn’t that kind of person. Even though dressing up in costumes sounded fun.

Leaning in closer to Brantley, Jasmine fed him the second half of the smore, stuffing the other in her mouth. Chewing silently, she stared into the fire, tempted to make another smore. “You know what else I’ve been thinking?” she asked resting the side of her head on top of his shoulder. “I’ve been talking to Madam Promfrey about applications to St. Mungos for healing….” She whispered softly her hand slowly sliding to Brantley’s hand that was resting on her side. Her fingers traced small circles into his smooth skin as she looked over at him. Brantley knew that Jasmine wanted to be a healer, but she never really had talked about in depth with him. “She says I could send my application at the end of the school term.”