Not Much For Danger, Bran and Remy

[CIARA SAORISE MCLAUGHLIN]

i hope you're happy,

She knew she wasn't the sort of person one would really expect to find at a political protest. Ciara didn't care about politics, really- not so long as she and her family were safe, anyway. The thing was, this particularly legislature was going to hurt people. People precisely like her. She was a muggleborn. While it was easy enough to feel safe inside Hogwarts, she only had a year and a half or so left in the comfort and safety of the school. If she wanted to make a life for herself in the Wizarding community, which she did, this law really needed to not pass. Perhaps she didn't really want a higher level ministry position- but the idea of not being allowed one because of her birth was horrifying. And what other law could follow after that? And one day, she figured she'd have kids- and they'd be half blood. While half bloods got better treatment than muggleborns, she was already seething at the idea of them being restricted like that. And the whole registry of muggleborns and limitations on them at Hogwarts- what if they decided she was one too many and shipped her back to the Highlands?

So for once she actually cared quite a bit about this big, annoying political mess and had actually wanted to go to a protest. The fact that she had someone with her that she quite liked encouraged her more. Well, not liked. She liked several people well enough, but wouldn't be willing to go to a protest or something with them. Even more than liked- she loved her sister, but wouldn't have been there just to hang around Brogan. If they went, she'd spent the entire time convincing her sister to stay out of trouble. Really, she would have just convinced her it was best to stay at the castle where there was much less trouble to be gotten into. She realized she didn't know quite what her sister's plans were, which disturbed her. But she had to be fine, Ciara would know if otherwise. She had the passing thought that thoughts of her sister would have to break through the mild obsessing over Bran. She wasn't dwelling on that, though.

She had spent quite a bit of time getting ready. Some would probably say that she was completely missing the point and didn't know what she was getting herself into. If that was true, she was perfectly unaware. She was more wondering if Bran would like that she'd just dyed her hair blonde. She had said it was just for the sake of a change, but weren't guys supposed to like blondes better? It was different than her normal red, anyway. Yes, she was well aware that it was silly- but Ciara didn't get crushes often. This was apparently just her time. That was what was on her mind as the two of them walked from where the portkey had deposited them to the main square the protest was in.

TAG: Bran (Jenn!) and Remy (Jamey!)   WORDS: 510   NOTES: I don't really have anything? You don't have to use a silly template if you don't want to?

THANKS AMZ-X- @ CAUTION.

[BRANDEN DEVAN DONOVAN]

It was a mess. He knew it was a mess. He didn’t much like it, he would gladly protest and fight for what he thought was right. He had been furious when he’d found out, as had a lot of other people been. There had been screaming in the Gryffindor common room; girls had been crying, boys had been steaming – Lily had been livid and it had been pretty unanimous that this had to be the worst idea in the world. This legislation was, to put it nicely, a very stupid idea. Bran had, of course, used cruder words, words that no one should really hear from someone as soft-spoken as Branden Donovan. He had been cursing in Gaelic so that no one in the common room could understand – at least he still had some manners? – and had continued out the door without much thought to the fact that there actually were people in the castle who spoke Gaelic. One of the professors, passing him in the hall, stopped him and told him in a smooth and velvety Gaelic that maybe he best put a cork in it. It had stopped Bran; defused some of the anger and disappointment. He’d felt better when he heard about the protests. And it seemed like most everyone was going. However, he wouldn’t have been so concerned about that if “everyone” hadn’t included Ciara.

He was very aware of her; he had been for some time now. He had a small, constant reminder in the back of his head at all times. He smiled at her in the Great Hall during dinner and lunch, even at breakfast when he was less than happy to be out of bed she managed to make him smile from across the room. They had been spending more time together than he would have thought when he first met her in the Entrance Hall. He was actually happy to be spending time with her, unlike most girls she didn’t seem to fuss over little things, turn one word into something else completely and he was so grateful for actually not having to look for hidden meanings in everything she said. They talked freely; he could tell her what he missed about being home, and she could tell him the same. They had grown up not that far from each other as he had first though, but their living conditions had been very different, he quickly learned. He knew she didn’t mind the cold, but still, he wanted to keep her warm. What that meant, he had no idea, and he didn’t think too much of it, as it were.

What he was thinking about, over and over, was that she looked beautiful. She always did. Not that he was about to tell her that… His hand kept brushing the back of her hand, and he glanced over at her, smiling a little as they walked together in easy silence. He turned his head, and looked at her properly. The hair was a change he would have to get used to, and it made his nickname for her (rudah) moot. She wasn’t red anymore, but he had no desire to start calling her blonde – it actually made him want to scrunch his nose, the mere thought of it. No, he was going to stick to rudah and that was that. ”You nervous?” he asked, looking down to see the back of his hand brush against hers – this time accidentally on purpose. He didn’t know where the words had come from, because he had been about to ask her why she had dyed her hair… he’d have to remember to ask later.

[CIARA SAORISE MCLAUGHLIN]

i hope you're happy,

Despite her relative ambition, she was apprehensive. There was a reason that the vast majority of the time, Ciara just kept her head down and avoided involving herself in conflict. The logic had always been 'they can get themselves killed, that's up to them, but it won't effect me'. This time, she realized that if she just kept her head down, it very well could dangerously effect her. What did it matter if neither her mother nor her father were wizards? She clearly had it somewhere down the line, and if the purebloods were so intent on no one marrying into the wizard community, the inbreeding would be even worse than it was- which was just disgusting. Maybe she wasn't the most talented witch ever, but she was still a witch and would not just quietly allow herself to be stripped of her rights. She wasn't about to take something like that sitting down. She wanted to make a life for herself in the Wizarding community and had no intention to just quietly go back to the Highlands and live like a muggle for the rest of her life.

She was happy to be there with Bran- she got along with him well. It wasn't something she could say for most people- she guessed it was how straight forward they both were. He reminded her of home in a good way- it was comfortable and freeing. But not quite in the 'old sweater' sort of way that was boring and unappealing. No, while Bran was warm and comfortable to be around, she had more... exciting feelings about him. No, she didn't quite know what that meant, but it was pleasant. She told herself to stop obsessing- for once, though, she was obsessing in a good way. She hadn't really spoken to Brogan about what she could admit was a crush. She didn't know why- she guessed because she didn't want her sister to not approve or tell her she was making a mistake.

She felt his hand brush against the back of hers. She was considering reaching for it and taking it, but was that too forward? She didn't want to make it weird between them. Sure, he seemed to care for her, too, but what if she was all wrong? She didn't deal with awkward very well. "N-no," she said, stuttering a little- she wished that had gone away. While Peter hadn't left any physical marks on her, he'd robbed her of her self assurance and the little stutter she'd developed hadn't gone away, especially not when in a remotely stressful situation. "OK, maybe a little. You?" she asked, looking over at him.

TAG: Bran (Jenn!) and Remy (Jamey!)   WORDS: 444   NOTES: N/A

THANKS AMZ-X- @ CAUTION.

[BRANDEN DEVAN DONOVAN]

He honestly had no idea how the law was going to effect him. His father was pureblooded and his mother had some muddled in something somewhere – he really just didn’t care about his own genetics enough, which was probably why he couldn’t care less when it came other other people. He knew Ciara was muggle born, and that was probably one of things that made him so apprehensive about taking her to the protest. He didn’t want her to get hurt, he didn’t want something to happen to her – and if his strong protective instinct wasn’t enough, the idea of Brogan kicking his ass because he let something happen to her sister was enough for him to want to be on his toes. He didn’t know it at the time, but that was the most poorly executed excuse he would ever tell himself.

He looked over at her as he caught the slight stutter in her voice, and he could feel the crease between his eyebrows, telling himself more than her (probably) that he was concerned. He wanted to tell her everything was going to be okay, that he was there and he wouldn’t let anything happen to her. But he was pretty sure she wouldn’t be thrilled about that; they barely knew each other. Even if she reminded him a lot of the good things about home and life, even if she made him feel all… all… fluttery, which was still new and so scary, he didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable or, whatever else might happen if he said all of the things running through his head. Thankfully he wasn’t much for words – though around Ciara that was a moot point, because he babbled a lot around her. ”Yeah, I think so. I mean…” He wasn’t about to tell her he was worried more about her than about himself, but he was nervous. Very nervous. And only half of it had to do with the protest – the other half was how her hand kept brushing against hit. ”I’ve never really been to a protest before, so I don’t know what to expect,” he said, shrugging a little.

As her hand, yet again, brushed against the backside of his, he fought his nerves and actually did take hers; it could be seen as a comforting gesture and he could probably pass it off as such. ”I’ll be right here though, so just stick to me,” he offered, and then quickly added ”-if you want to.” He reassuringly squeezed her hand, and the more they walked, the louder the surrounding world got. He flinched as he realized how close the noise was, and with a glance at Ciara, he held her hand a little tighter. ”Sounds like we’re not far…”

[CIARA SAORISE MCLAUGHLIN]

She could tell he was nervous, but didn't pick up on the fact that it had something to do with her, not just the protest. ”I don't quite know what we're getting into, either,” she said with a slightly awkward smile. ”But what's the worst thing that could happen? We're not looking for a fight...” but she trailed off in the end, uncomfortably. Just because she had every intention of attending a peaceful protest didn't mean that everyone else had the same ideas. Especially not those on the other side. They were already willing to hurt people with laws, why not physically? She didn't understand it. She knew some thought she was mean- probably rightfully so. She'd verbally tease if she was confronted. However she knew where the limit was and when to walk away. And more importantly than that, she didn't lash out at an entire group of people just for something like their birth or their family. She disliked plenty of people, but no groups. There were plenty of better reasons than birth. Unfortunately, some people didn't feel the same way and were prejudiced against her due to her birth.

Her nerves were getting to her, even as she tried to appear confident and calm. Or at least some sort of stable. Feeling Bran take her hand helped, although she wasn't sure if it was just the security he provided or the fact that it took her brain away from the protest and back to just them. And her brain wasn't thinking about the fact that she was a muggleborn or the laws or the hateful people they were sure to encounter, but instead thinking about the very normal sixteen year old girl thought of the fact that the boy she liked was holding her hand. ”I know,” she said, a little quietly when he said that he'd be there. ”I'm not going to go anywhere else,” she assured them both.

As they walked and got closer, the noise grew. Subconsciously, she found herself standing closer to Bran's side, for security's sake. ”No, I'd say we're not,” she said. She was very much considering just saying that they should perhaps forget it and go somewhere else- back to the castle or something. However she also knew that she would be angry with herself if she let fear get to her. This was about her own rights- she'd barely have any room to complain of them being taken away if she didn't do anything about it herself. She might have been skittish, but she wasn't a coward. ”Let's do it,” she said, just trying to make sure her voice stayed steady. ”It's why we're here.”

((sorry this took a bit, dear!))

[REMY BARNABE BODINE]

The air today had so much promise in it. The Muggleborn restriction laws were working their way through the Ministry. Soon all the little Muggleborn so-called “witches and wizards” would have to register themselves with the Ministry. That way everyone would know who was a true wizard and who was just faking it on a little magical power that happened to be able to manifest itself through the aid of a wand. They would also have limited access to formal schooling itself with only a certain number being admitted, though realistically it should be no students at all. They just took away attention from those who actually should be receiving the schooling. Besides, the less training, the better. Maybe it would squish out any magical blood and revert them back to the state of being complete Muggles.

Remy lingered around the outer edges of the big gathering. He would get far too much attention in the midst of the whole thing, since he tended to tower over everyone. Besides, if he got close people might make the grave error of saying that he was there to fit to have the laws repealed. Nothing could be further from the truth. The whole reason he was even here was because the Dark Lord wanted some Death Eaters around the protest to see how things were going. If they happened to bully someone into going home, well that was just a cherry on the top. Personally Remy wanted to cause a little mayhem. A flaming dumpster here, a shattered window there, anything to stir things up and show them that the Death Eaters and pureblood supporters were serious about what was going on.

But instead they were told to keep things relatively peaceful. Remy didn’t know how long he would be able to keep that up. He already wanted to bash in a head or two, mainly to the obnoxious pair of wizards nearby. He tugged mindlessly at the end of his cardigan. They had to try to dress in order to blend in with everyone. It wouldn’t do very well if the Death Eaters were roaming around in their full black robes with the masks on their faces. It would definitely cause an uproar, and not the good kind. Besides, as soon as trouble broke out they would be the first ones targeted by the Aurors. Better to be able to blend in with the rest of the mass so they wouldn’t get a one way ticket to Azkaban.

Remy was shocked to see just how many school age children were here. Shouldn’t they be off learning and leave politics to the grown-ups? No doubt all of them were Muggleborns who thought it was an utter travesty that they were probably going to get kicked out of school the minute that the law passed. Who would have thought children would actually be fighting to stay in school? Most of them were of no interest to him. That is until he saw a boy and a girl heading his direction, holding hands. He was getting bored, why not have a little fun? He walked towards them and blocked their path, crossing his arms. “Well well well, what do we have here? A happy little lovey couple coming to protest ze laws? How cute. Why don’t you all go running home to zat castle and leave the politics to ze grown-ups?” That would have been sufficient, but wouldn’t be enough to actually get their blood stirring. After all, a confrontation was what Remy wanted. “So tell me. Which one of you is ze Mudblood? No wait; don’t tell me, it’ll be more fun to guess.” Remy brought his hand to his chin and looked at the two of them, his eyes darting back and forth. “I’m going to guess ze girl. I rather like zis guessing game. Let’s guess a little more, no? Let’s see. You were too scared to come and fight for your rights alone, so you dragged your boyfriend along. Is zat about right?”

[BRANDEN DEVAN DONOVAN]

He smiled at her, as she wondered aloud what the worst the could happen could be; he didn’t really want to answer that. He was very aware of the fact that things might go south pretty quick. They were two kids with less than pure blood, and the idea of something happening to her made his chest tighten a little too much for comfort. Her awkward smile aside, she looked beautiful and it would be a shame to see her shoes and dress get ruined, just because of a fight that wasn’t really hers to have. She shouldn’t have to fight for anything. ”I’m sure we’ll be fine,” he said, not exactly lying. He had every intention of keeping her out of trouble, which meant he had to stay out of trouble as well. At any cost.

Her hand felt a little small in his, but it felt pretty damn right all the same. He couldn’t help but want to take her other hand, but stopped himself from stopping them short in their tracks. It was a little unfortunate that the first time he felt he could be this… close, to her, was right before they entered the proverbial lion’s den. He smiled at her, her voice a little on the quiet side; but they were the same that way. She almost promise to stay by his side; it was as close as she was going to get he knew. Staying with him – it sounded really good in his ears. Which was probably why he felt so sure he could keep her safe.

The noise bothered him; really bothered him. But what bothered him more, and he didn’t clue Ciara in on it, not yet, was the person who seemed to be watching them. It made the skin on his arms and the back of his neck crawl; he hated when people stared at him, and what more, he really didn’t like the fact that this person was eyeing Ciara. He could tell the guy was tall-ish – Bran was pretty tall himself, but Ci weren’t. His heart did a double take as she said “let’s do this”. He had a bad feeling, but it was too late. Much, much too late he realized, as the person who’d been watching them strolled up to them, and blocked their path. He squeezed Ciara’s hand in warning, pulling her a little closer to his side; this guy wasn’t with the Order. There was a look in his eyes, a look Bran had never seen before, and one he would have preferred to not see for some years yet.

”Yeah, we’ve been leaving politics to the grown-ups for long enough, seeing as they want to kick people out of school,” Bran said defiantly. He knew better; he should have just taken Ciara and turned around. Maybe gone around to find another way to get to the protests… But no. The anger at the stupidity of adults and politicians were getting the better of him, and it was starting to show as the guy in front of him started playing “guess the mudblood” – which pissed him off to no end. He took a protective step in front of Ciara, meeting the guys eyes dead on as he bit off ”You leave her the hell alone.” He pulled her behind him; there was no way this guy was going to as much as lay a hand on her. ”We’re just here to see what happens at these things – it doesn’t affect either of us.” White lies were all good and well, but the knot in his stomach wouldn’t loosen. Brogan would kill him if Ci got injured; and he’d let her, without as much as a word in defence.

[CIARA SAORISE MCLAUGHLIN]

Despite her attempts at faked bravado, when someone approached, she took a half step back. She could feel Bran squeeze her hand and it was comforting. She knew this was exactly what they had been walking toward. Not everyone there would be students and other reasonable people fighting a ridiculous law. There would be people on the other side there as well. There had to be people on the other side, otherwise the stupid law wouldn't have been come up with in the first place. But Ciara had been expecting be able to wait until they were in the thick of things, surrounded by peers on their own side before any confrontation came up. She let Bran pull her toward him, half wanting to hide behind him, nervously. She felt safer with him.

She knew it was silly, but for a second she was just as struck by the man calling Bran her boyfriend as she was the rest of his words and the inherent danger. She knew it should have been the very last concern she had, but part of her found herself watching Bran to see if the words had gotten any sort of reaction out of him, but all she could see was the reaction to the rest. She knew that was much, much more important but the phrasing still made her stomach twist around. Which was saying something considering it was already in one massive, nervous, knot. She wanted to speak up, normally she was so good with words to stick up for herself, but that had all been lost a few weeks before. Then all she could really do was try and keep her spine straight and try and squeeze Bran's hand for reassurance. She wasn't sure if it was for her own sake or his.

The word 'mudblood' stung. She threw her shoulders back defiantly. She knew words couldn't hurt her but it still sort of bothered her that an entire group of people thought she was less of a witch because her parents weren't wizards. She clearly had some sort of magical relative in her genes somewhere, and she was a capable witch. The reference to her being dirty due to her birth made her feel even worse but she didn't want to show it. Luckily she didn't, because just a second later Bran said that the laws didn't effect either of them. They both knew it could get ugly if the Deatheater knew for sure that she was muggleborn. However she also knew that even if he believed that she was either pure or halfblooded, or whatever would have satisfied him, there was still danger there. "No one dragged anyone," she finally spoke up after silence, finding her voice. "Just because it doesn't effect either of us doesn't mean we don't have the sense to stick up for people who are being hurt even though they did nothing wrong." Apparently dying her hair hadn't erased the temper that went with being a redhead- but after how rough the preceeding weeks had been, part of her just wanted to stick up for herself. Even if that was possibly a mistake.

[REMY BARNABE BODINE]

Remy raised his eyebrows in amusement. Perhaps he would see a bit of action today after all and wouldn’t be reduced to lurking around and shooting intimidating looks at people who got a little too close to him. But it looked like this little boy was going to grow a bit of a spine and try to stand up to him. Remy was looking forward to this. Of course he was trying to intimidate them as much as possible. He assumed that they would simply shriek and terror and run away from the big strong man that decided to confront them. They were school children after all. But he was glad that this one at least wanted to stick up for himself. Then Remy would feel less guilty about inflicting pain on him. That is, if Remy actually was capable of feeling guilt for his actions.

Still, the boy should have known a bit better. After all, he was still in school. Forget being wet behind the ears, he wasn’t even out of the bath yet. What chance did he have standing up to a full-grown wizard? A wizard who was the cause of many deaths and even more instances of torturing. A wizard who wouldn’t even think twice about pulling out his wand right now and simply offing both of them. “You’ve got a lot of nerve, talking to me like zat. Besides, what good would children like you be to ze government? All you care about is who hung up with whom. I think zat things are going just fine with ze school. Don’t worry what ze grown-ups are doing.” That was the thing with children; they always felt like they could do thinks much better than adults. Yet they would always make things worse in the end due to their lack of maturity and knowledge of how things worked.

He became even more amused when the boy took a step in front of the girl, a clear act of protection. Perhaps they were an item after all. Or maybe he was just trying to make sure that he got the brunt of any attack. Remy was contemplating trying to instill a little fear in them through some magic, but wouldn’t be able to get away with anything too severe. There were far too many witnesses, and he doubted that either of them would follow him into a more secluded spot. He smirked. “Well, looks like I guessed right. Ze girl is ze one with ze filthy blood. Such a shame.” Maybe they were here to watch, but Remy doubted it. Why travel all this way and risk getting hurt to simply look at a protest? There was no real point behind it unless one of them was a Mudblood and was sad because they were finally about to put in their place.

Remy shot the girl a glare. He expected her to be quiet during this entire thing. After all, that was the proper thing for a woman to do. Keep her mouth shut and maintaining a submissive role. “Listen, nana, why don’t you stand back there and keep zat little mouth of yours shut? Ze men are talking, and quite frankly I don’t give a damn about your opinion.” Yet Remy couldn’t let her comment go by without some comment. Didn’t do anything wrong? Of course they did something wrong. They were born. “I can tell you exactly what zey did wrong. Zey went to your little school and are taking ze focus away from those who deserve it. You know ze ones who are real witches and wizards with their pureblood.” His brows furrowed further, making his face even more serious while glaring at her. He wished it would make her scared and she would actually shut her trap.

As he stood there, he heard the noises behind him starting to grow louder. Perhaps the protest was actually starting to hit a peak. Then he would be able to head into the thick of stuff and really raise a bit of hell. It would be much easier. In the dense parts no one would notice it was him who say shoved someone roughly from behind or threw an elbow. But there was no way he was going to let some easy prey go like that. It wouldn’t be as fun as going at it with someone who would actually serve as a bit of a threat, but scaring children was much better. “Well, as it so happens, I think ze laws are a brilliant idea. So what are you going to do about it? Strike me? Pull out your little wand and try to cast a spell on me? Go ahead. I won’t stop you.” Remy uncrossed his arms and widened his stance, making his body more open. He prayed they would act up and do something. Then he would be completely justified in striking back. For a bit of good measure (and to get some more fear) Remy rolled the sleeves of his cardigan up slightly. He didn’t completely reveal his Dark Mark, but enough of it so that they would know where his loyalties lied. Let the fun begin.