RAVENCLAW! (Open)

Briony smiled softly at Vincent as he lay in her lap, it didn't matter to her about her tough appearance now, she had upset him and she wanted to make up for it, so she kept stroking his hair.

"You take as long as you need Vincent."

Stroking his cheek with her thumb Briony tried to calm him down and vowed never to being Richard around when Vincent and her were together, the boy was only eleven and it wasn't fair to him.

"Your my apprentice, if you still wish to be and I never will harm you like this again, I promise you."

She hoped beyond hope that because of her husband's stupid actions that she wouldn't lose her only chance at a decent apprentice and to be honest to herself, she wanted the bond that an apprenticship could bring.

Ingrid caught the look between the two professors and she bit her lip, things were all getting a little bit tense around here and she focused on her knees for a minute but when she saw Richard, almost desperate for a hug Ingrid took his hand.

She felt his magic run through her and she blushed slightly, she still wasn't really used to people touching her.

"I have been doing vell zank you Richard, my grandpapa has been training me some more and I am much better now!"

Ingrid smiled widely and took out a picture of her grandad, it is of both of them from the waist up, her grandpapa in his Military outfit and her in her denim dungarees. It was a few weeks ago.

"I vould love to come and see you, maybe you can help me with my transfiguration homework and such."

Richard was beginning to resent obviously being put in the dog house for something that hadn't been his idea in the least. Briony had taken him into the compartment to meet the boy and she'd obviously known about his crush. If it was anyone's fault it was Briony's to be fair. But he was going to be taking the blame for this no matter what he did or who's fault it was. Sighing a little he smiled at Ingrid a little as she showed him a picture of her grandad,

"He looks like a good man." he told her and smiled a little more as she accepted his offer, "Thats great. I'll be glad to see you. Now I think I have some duties to attend to..."

He trailed off when something in his pocket grew warm. Frowning, he took out the small mirror and held it up to see it,

"Annie, what's wrong baby?" he asked, concerned for his daughter's well being, "Are you alright?"

Annie had obviously been crying and still had tears falling from her eyes. She sniffed,

"I had a nightmare daddy..." she sniffed a little, "Can you and mummy come and help me? I want a hug..."

Richard glanced at Briony and Vincent,

"I'll be there soon babe." he told her daughter quietly, "Mummy will join us when she can. She's a very important witch after all."

The mirror connection was cut and Richard frowned a little. To him it was a choice between his duties as a teacher and his duties as a father. He nodded to Briony,

"I'll go to her now." he told her quietly, "You've got duties and responsibilties here. It was nice to meet you Vincent."

Briony looked at Richard and she could tell that he was angry at her, but to tell the truth she really didn't care right now, she was doing all that she could in order to stop herself slapping him across the face for being so arrogant about what was happening, as if it was her fault, when actually, it was Vincent who had asked to meet him.

Seeing him take a call from Annie made Briony angry even more and she didn't even speak to him as he told her that he was going to comfort whatever was wrong with Annie, that he hadn't even told her about, and she couldn't hear properly from the mirror all the way over there. It always made her jealous, Annie only interacted with her when she gave her things, and she was closer to Richard by far...

As soon as he had gone Briony growled loudly and got up from having Vincent's head on her lap to pace up and down the carriage angrily, reaching into her trouser pocket and pulling out a cigarette lighting it and dragging on it softly, still angry she almost wanted to punch through the wall but there were students here.

Instead the shadows angrily, and very visably curled around her and she could only mutter out certain words:

"Idiot...what a moron...I finally had a good apprentice...f*cks sake!"

His head fell to the seat as briony moved, he was knocked out of the trance he was in. He put the doll down as if it were a spider, he gasped and stood running into briony.
"stop! Stop it!" He yelled, he turned to ingrid and said "your doll, could you turn it back to wood, please?" He spun round to Richard and with a sombre voice continued
"i'm sorry for not controlling myself, I am better than this and shouldnt have been so bloody rude" he hoped he understood,
Flicking around to briony he said
"thank you for my apprenticeship, I'm sorry for making you feel bad" he then hugged her dodging her flailing cigarette

Briony looked at Vincent as he hugged her around her waist and she gasped softly, getting snapped out of her anger for a moment and looked at him with a kind gaze, letting her cigarette suspend in mid air while she returned his hug.

"It's not you Vincent, I'm sorry to get upset around you, I'm just...not very stable emotionally right now."

Smiling softly at him Briony kissed his forehead, hoping that Vincent could fill the void in her heart her daughter had left, if he didn't, she didn't know what she would do.

"You need not apologise to him."

Briony spat with a look that could kill after her husband.

"You guys okay? Need some memory charms to remove that from your memory?" she laughed

"ingrid for some reason your doll had a mental affect on me, its gorgeous but wood is fine thanks" he said with an apologetic smile

Ingrid smiled knowlingly at Vincent and she nodded, taking the doll up and feeling its warmth Ingrid waved her hands over it and it returned back to normal, just a simple smooth wooden doll.

"There you go."

She said shyly, handing it back.

He watched as Ingrid changed the doll, he received it gratifyingly and said "Thank you Ingrid, I'm sorry if I offended you" he looked into the unmoving eyes of the doll and didn't feel at all entranced. He smiled at Ingrid conveying his happiness
Now, calm he turned to Briony once more and with a raised eyebrow he questioned "Is there something your hiding from me master?" gesturing to where the shadows had gathered, he looked deep in her eyes, he hoped she didn't lie, she wouldn't....



Would she?

Briony looked up at Vincent and her eyes flashed with the anger that wasn't properly dispelled yet and she thought about the sheer cheek of him asking if she was hiding anything from him.

He was her apprentice, he only had to ask. But he hadn't. Hence why she hadnt told him.

"It's not good practice to go telling your gifts around to people, they'll come up with ways to defend against it."

Shaking her head Briony didn't even concentrate and a flock of shadows flew around her, then covered her from sight, dispelling them, Briony kept a few back and reached across to the bag of sweets and selected one.

"I am a shadow bender, and I can also control the composite of human blood."

Vincent's jaw dropped to the floor, he stood in astonishment then bursting into happiness and hysterics
"That's freaking amazing, that kicks ass! Holy crap, that rocks!" he was so blown away!
he couldn't believe it, that was so amazing, he hugged her and whispered
"I'm so glad your my master"

Briony looked at Vincent and was a little shocked considering the mood he was in before but she was glad that he seemed happier now. Leaning forwards Briony couldn't help but feel proud at her abilities, they were second to none.

"You think so? I'm glad, after all it's what I use in fights mostly, but is also great for shadow puppets."

Briony concentrated and made a shadow butterfly appear on the wall, then it split into hundreds of little butterflies and she watches them fly away off the edge of the carriage wall and back into shadow.

"Awwwwww well, I'm glad to have you as my apprentice, you know, I had two before, and they were both useless."

He was so happy, he had such a talented teacher, he watched the butterflies appear, split and disperse
"You had two? Wow! Well I will try to the best of my abilities to make you proud and be happy that you chose me" he did the noble thing and bowed, his way of showing true respect.

Briony grinned and she shook her head as Vincent seemed to think that she was some sort of Goddess because she had had two students wanting to be her apprentices last year or maybe the year prior.

"They didn't even turn up to our first meeting, so if you turn up, I'll already know you're serious about this."

Inclining her head at the bow Briony smirked:

"So respectful, good boy..."

He grinned and sat down next to Ingrid and looked up at Briony, he grimaced slightly inside his mind. She smokes. He let it out of his mind and laughed he didn't know why but I guess he was happy
"Thank you, professor,"