Missing Something? ((Bronsen))

[Jack Reid]

Jack walked slowly through the halls of Hogwarts, searching for his wand. It was an Irish Phoenix-tail wand, and it was one that he had had for a long time. No, it wasn’t from his parents, but it had been one that he had found at Ollivanders, the shop nearest to the castle. His father had been with him when he got it, and it had been his first wand. But since his father had starting cheating on his mother (the betrayer of the family, Jack secretly called him), Jack had given up on his father’s love and care, and along with that, the wand only brought bad memories. He had thought many times of getting rid of it and finding another one from Ollivanders, but something kept him from doing so. Now he had lost it in a scuffle of people, students changing classes and what not. Jack wasn’t completely lost without his wand, because he knew that he could just simply go out and get another one, and it would be one that didn’t have as much stupid sentimental value as the current one.

Jack turned a corner, as people he didn’t know walked past him without so much as a glance. As a Slytherin, he tended to hate those who didn’t have pure blood in them, and he was sure, by the looks of them, they weren’t. Half breeds didn’t belong in this school, and he was a firm believer and defender of that. His brothers, August and Bronsen, would likely say otherwise, as they were easier on people of different blood and house, but his past had screwed him over one too many times. Yes, he got along better with August, but Bronsen was just too young. He was still a simple boy, and hadn’t had to deal with all the rejection like he had from Mom and Dad. In fact, his youngest brother would likely be looking for him right now, seeing as Jack was supposed to be helping him with something. He couldn’t remember the arrangement they had made the previous day, but he was sure that Bronsen would remember.

Jack was almost at the end of the one hall when he heard something. He whirled around, instinctively reaching for his wand, but then realized it wasn’t there. He searched the hall behind him, but to no avail. There was no one coming, nor going. What had he heard then? He couldn’t be sure. Probably one of the stupid ghosts flying around the castle trying to freak him out. They enjoyed doing that, from time to time. He turned back around, ready to venture down the next hall. He began to walk, still looking behind him, when he ran right into someone much shorter than he was. Jack caught his balance, looking to see who he had plowed into.

[Bronsen Reid R1]

Being small was never good whenever the books you had to carry for classes seemed to weigh more than you when their weights were all combined together. It didn't help that Bronsen always carried at least one book with him as well that was on the topic of wands or wand-making. For that reason, his books weighed him down as he carried them in his bag through the quiet halls of the castle. Classes were done for the day, and he was going to go back to his room to begin the night's work that he needed to get done. The earlier he got his homework done, the more time he would have to read through his latest book which included descriptions of all the possible wand cores that could be used from dragons. There was a special section that talked about the Black Hebriden, and Bronsen was looking forward to learning more about the breed of dragon that produced the core of his own wand.

As he walked, he couldn't help but almost instantly spot a stray wand lying in the middle of the hall. It was like Bronsen was attracted to wands or anything that had to do with them. It was ironic, perhaps fate, that someone who loved wands so much would simply find this seemingly lost wand lying in the middle of an abandoned hall. With no hesitation, Bronsen knelt down, the weigh of the books shifting heavily on his back as he took the wand carefully in his fingers. Almost instantly, he recognized the wand. It was Jack's. How much more ironic was that? And why though would Jack's wand be laying in the middle of the empty corridor? Bronsen shook his head, a bit disappointed that Jack would not take better care of his wand. Of course, nobody, or at least not many people, could understand the odd obsession that Bronsen had with wands.

Putting Jack's wand in his pocket for now (he would have to try to find him later to return it), Bronsen stood and turned the corner on his way to the Ravenclaw tower whenever he ran face first into a much larger person. Startled, he looked up to see none other than Jack himself. Apparently he was retracing his steps to look for his wand. "Searching for this?" Bronsen said, pulling the wand from his pocket and holding it up for Jack to see. "I knew it was yours when I found it. I'd recognize your wand any day." The truth was, Bronsen would probably be able to recognize any wand that he had seen before on at lease a few occasions, and Jack's was one that he saw quite often when they were at home. "You really should take better care..." he started, and then decided it was probably not worth his breath to finish. The day Jack listened to him give advice would be the day that Professor Snape decided to smile for once and actually treat the students with kindness: it simply wasn't going to happen.

Bronsen stood there in front of his older brother for a second as silence surrounded them. He often wondered why Jack seemed to hate him so much. From what he gathered though and from what August tried explaining to him, he was told that it wasn't his fault. If that was the case though, then why couldn't Jack just get over the fact that he and their parents didn't seem to get along. Bronsen never asked for special treatment or anything. Plus, it was really just their mother that seemed to treat him better, and that was only after the accident. Bronsen was the only one to spend time with her while Jack and August were at Hogwarts and their father was at work. Despite though the known fact that Jack only seemed to barely tolerate both August and Bronsen, Bronsen still did his best to keep his head up and treat Jack with the kindness that he remembered them all sharing as brothers during their younger years. "You know, if you want, I could polish your wand for you. And, I could fix some of the scratches and nicks. You might find that you have better control and capabilities when you use it then," Bronsen said looking up at Jack. He felt so small when standing next to Jack. In size and stature, Jack reminded Bronsen so much of their father. He knew though that Jack would hate it if he ever told him that. Failing to smile, as Bronsen rarely smiled, he stood and wondered if Jack would brush him off like usual, shoot some snarkey comment, or perhaps actually treat him like a human being, or better yet, his brother.

[Jack Reid]

Jack looked down at the smaller student that he had accidentally plowed into, and studied his face. Within less than a second, he recognized the boy as his younger brother Bronsen. The puny child of the family. Jack was disgusted with him. He acted like he knew everything about the family, when in reality, he didn’t know even close to anything that Jack went through every time they went home. That was why he stayed at Hogwarts over the Holidays. It was too much of a hassle to go home just to fight with his parents and come back. Why did Bronsen seem to think he knew so much more than Jack did? It was so frustrating to have a first year think he could be more schooled in life and reality than a sixth year. Bronsen barely even knew the first thing about even being in this school. It would take him years before he got even close to an understanding age.

The boy pulled out Jack’s missing wand, and he ripped it out of Bronsen’s hand before he could even get a word out. “Well thanks, brother,” he said sarcastically. “I likely would have found it in the next few minutes, but you did my work for me. It seems you’re good for something around here.” Deep in Jack’s heart, he loved his brother. But that wasn’t ever something that Bronsen should ever know. After all, Jack hadn’t gotten much of the family’s love in the past years that he had been at Hogwarts. Bronsen began to say about Jack should be taking more care of what he had, but that was the wrong thing to say, and Bronsen seemed to realize it as he said it, because he never finished the sentence, on his own. “I take care of my things. I misplaced my wand today. Get off my back, Bronsen,” he said coldly. It didn’t matter if he loved him. Even so, he couldn’t show his brother love. It wasn’t something Jack showed in public. Juliet was different, and he didn’t love her. At least not yet.

Bronsen then began to go on about how he could improve Jack’s wand, but he seemed to be forgetting how little Jack cared. “Bronsen, if I wanted you to do that, don’t you think I would have had you do it already? I can just as easily go down to Ollivanders and buy a new one. That way, it doesn’t have some stupid value to Mum and Dad of something they used when they were here. I’m getting sick of it as it is. Honestly, with how smart you claim to be, you barely use that head of yours. Use it for something useful, like doing my homework for me.” What the hell was Bronsen thinking, trying to go all buddy-buddy all of a sudden on Jack? It was a pathetic cry for acceptance, and Jack would never give the mere child the satisfaction.

[Bronsen Reid R1]

As always, it didn't matter that Bronsen had done Jack a favour and even offered to do more for him. Jack still used the same tone of voice with him that Bronsen had slowly learned to get used to. He wasn't even sure why he kept his hopes up by this point. It seemed obvious that Jack wouldn't change his ways. Not now. Not ever. Something inside of Bronsen kept telling him that Jack would change someday though. When that day would ever come, he didn't know.

Doing well to hide the sense of dejection that seemed to be smothering Bronsen as he stood in the intimidating shadow of his older brother, Bronsen tried his best to bite his tongue when Jack rambled off nonsense about Ollivander's and then having Bronsen do his homework for him. It didn't help to try to hold in what he was thinking, and though Bronsen was typically a quiet boy, he seemed to have a habit of speaking his mind to both of his brothers. The only problem with that was that Jack quite often hated to hear what Bronsen had to say, regardless of whether or not he was right. "Buying yourself another wand at Ollivander's isn't going to do you any good. Don't you know that wands aren't the type of things that you can just go through one after another as you get tired of them. They are each unique, and each possesses a special power that only the owner can quite often summon. You should keep your wand, get used to it, learn how to use it. Buying a new one is quite silly when there is nothing wrong with this one." His words could have easily been taken as commanding or arrogant, but they were far from that. When it came to wands, Bronsen simply enjoyed trying to enrich others with the plethora of knowledge that he had gained over his few years of studying. When it came to Jack though, Bronsen might as well have been talking to a wall- a mean and nasty wall at that... one that would only ridicule him in return.

The homework comment made Bronsen want to fight back, but he knew a verbal spar with Jack could only end badly. Jack was relentless and downright cruel when it came to his family. The bitterness that he seemed to develop over his childhood and hold until this day had poisoned his entire being. Bronsen often didn't even know how to react around Jack. He was his brother, but Jack seemed to act like anything but a brother. That's why, for Bronsen, he tried to stay away whenever he could. And when he did have an encounter with Jack, he did his best to keep any snarky comments under wraps. He still couldn't help but wonder what he had done to make Jack so bitter at him. Why couldn't Jack see that Bronsen and August had both had the same childhood as Jack had. Neither of the younger Reids were ever treated any different. If anything, it was Jacks own bitterness and paranoia that seemed to make his parents treat him differently. It was a shoe that Jack had been having to wear as a result of his own actions. Even Bronsen, at the age of only eleven, had been able to figure that one out. There was no use telling Jack that though.

"I need to go do some of my own homework," Bronsen finally muttered in a quiet voice. He figured that the best thing he could do would be to walk away. Fighting with Jack was like playing with a dung bomb. Bronsen knew he just needed to stop before it got even worse. August wasn't there to mediate, and even if he had been there, there would have likely been little he could do anyways. Jack was in as bad a mood as ever, or at least he was showing that he was.

[Jack Reid]

Jack could see that his youngest brother was getting squeamish, and he smirked. It was the same every time they ran into each other. Bronsen would end up crying, and it showed an extreme lack of self-control on the boy’s part. As soon as Jack was done spouting off his steam at him, Bronsen talked about how foolish it was to buy a new wand right now. He mentioned how the wand was fine the way it was, and Jack laughed. “Then why did you say you could clean it up for me? And plus, it’s not like we’re dirt poor. Mum and Dad have enough money to afford a simple wand. Besides, I already know how to use this one, I don’t need to learn anymore than I already know. Don’t think you’re so smart about wands, you barely know anything. You’re just a kid.” He knew he was being a bit harsh, but it was just Jack’s way. Bronsen knew this, as well. They couldn’t stand each other, and August was usually the mediator between the two. Jack really wasn’t fond of either of them, yet he knew they were his brothers and he had to treat them with a bit of respect. At least August made sense and did his best, for the most part. Bronsen on the other hand…

Jack cursed in his mind. What went through that little brain of Bronsen’s? Jack could tell the boy was keeping his comments to himself. He wished that he would just blow up at him sometime, so that he could cuss him out too, and they’d have an all out fight. It was something he had been itching for, for a while. But he knew that the kid would never do it. The boy was too timid. He was naïve too. Jack had been through so much with his parents, and they had basically shipped him off to Hogwarts and kept his brothers around to pamper and take care of. Then August had come to Hogwarts, and maybe for a little while Jack and August had gotten along. But then Bronsen had to show up, and ruin it all. He had a way of doing that: ruining people’s lives. Like Jack’s. After all the stuff with Mum, and Bronsen getting so much time with her before she had gone crazy, he was so upset. He just wanted to blow up at the kid, but he knew that wouldn’t do any good. Of course, most of their conversations, including this one, ended with Bronsen getting upset and crying, leaving Jack with an accomplished sense of control. Jack loved that feeling, and maybe it was the reason he verbally abused Bronsen every time he saw them. He needed a feeling of control, after he had been abandoned by his own parents.

Bronsen quickly perked up and made an excuse about his homework, quietly. He quickly turned to walk away, and Jack knew he wasn’t done with him. He still needed his quotient of control for the day. “Where do you think you’re going?” Jack reached out and grabbed the boy by the collar on his robes. He had a big fistful of robe in his hand, and pulled the kid really close. “I’m not done with you yet,” Jack whispered in his brother’s ear. He leaned into Bronsen’s face, so that his nose was just two inches from his younger brother’s. “What makes you think you’re so much better than I am? What makes you think…” Jack glared harder at the boy, “that you know so much more than a sixth year at Hogwarts? You may know a ton about wands and such, but you know nothing about this school and how it’s run. Bloody Ravenclaw, too. You’d never make it as a Slytherin either. You’re too much of a child.” Jack looked down at his wand, and thought quickly. Perhaps the boy could be of a bit of use, after all. He let go of his brother’s robe, also noticing that a few students were coming. “Alright. You’re off the hook with my homework this time. But clean up my wand, do whatever you said you could do with it. I expect it back tomorrow at lunch, or else you’ll be buying me a new one, no matter how expensive it is. Deal? Oh wait, you don’t have a choice.” Jack snickered, tossing his wand at the boy. "What homework do you have, anyway? More studying about wands?" Jack rolled his eyes, knowing that was probably it.

[Bronsen Reid R1]

"I never said it was broken," Bronsen said in reply to Jack's sarcastic remark. It was the only reply he could get out to even try to counter everything Jack was saying. Sometimes, talking with Jack was like a struggle to take a breath. He was smothering, unyielding, and for Bronsen, it was hard to stand there and take it. But he did. He stood with his head hung low as he let Jack's spiteful words wash over him. Bronsen stood through each one until he had endured enough. When he tried to leave though, Jack's strong hand grabbed his collar and prevented him from going anywhere. Soon, Bronsen felt Jack's hot breath in his ear, a hiss of a voice whispered snide commands and jabbing criticism. The collar of Bronsen's shirt was tight against his neck, and now he literally was having a hard time taking in a breath of air.

The reason behind Jack's actions were never known, and so Bronsen didn't try to come up with a reason. He had spent too much time in his life by this point, trying to figure out a reason for why Jack acted the way he did. There had to be a reason. There was a reason for everything. Whether it was science, or magic, or someone's actions, there could always be a reason. Getting to the root of the reason wasn't easy, but that's what made learning fun. When it came to Jack though, Bronsen had learned to accept the fact that there was no reason. Still, even after telling himself over and over again that there wasn't a reason, his heart never stopped believing that there was a reason. Someday, somehow, the reason would be discovered. But for now, Bronsen would have to continue to accept Jack for who he was, trying his best never to act the same way Jack acted in return.

"I... I am a child," Bronsen practically coughed out the words. "And y-you're choking me..." He knew that the words were likely uttered in vain, but he really was starting to not be able to breath for how tight Jack was holding the robes against his neck. Then, as if Bronsen were a mere house elf, Jack threw his wand to Bronsen and ordered him to clean it up and have it returned by the next day. It caught Bronsen off guard, mainly because he wondered why Jack would want to go more than an hour or so without his wand. Wouldn't he need it for class? Bronsen didn't dare raise any questions though. He was just happy to be able to breath and get away from his crazed older brother. Without another word, Bronsen scurried off as quickly as he could, Jack's wand in one hand, and his own belongings in the other.