I Like To Duel It Duel It! (Bri and Dick)

Richard shrugged a little, smiling softly,

"I would never ask you to change Briony..." he chuckled and kissed her lightly, "I love all of you, your very minor faults included."

He frowned a little as he thought about what he was going to ask. Sighing a little, he scratched the back of his head,

"Alright then..." he paused, "How did you get to be the duelling instructor at the school?"

Briony smiled a little and she thought back to the day that she was first applying for the job of Duelling Professor, she thought it was just a bit of luck really it was nothing to do with her actually applying for the job she was just kind of approached in a pub one day by this total stranger later on she had learnt he was Hades and he offered her a job based on her experience with duelling. She chuckled, it was all a little baffling really when she thought about it.

"Hades approached me in a country pub one night and he asked me if I would apply for the position because he had heard about my superior duelling skills or something like that. Anyway the next day I was filling in the paperwork and there must have been something about me he liked because he made me deputy headmistress too."

Briony rubbed the back of her head, she too had been wondering about why he had chosen her when there must have been better teachers there.

"Truth or dare?"

Richard frowned a little at the mention of Hades. The man really didn't sit right with him, to say the least. He nodded slowly,

"You don't say?" he commented, his muscles now tense. From what he knew about Hades, the man must have an angle. He was a Malfoy, they always had an angle. He shook his head lightly and forced a smile,

"I'll take... truth."

Briony smiled delicately and turned herself around to sit in Richard's lap so she could see his face, she was a little amused by his reaction to what she had said about Hades, she wondered if the two of them had a past together or if it was because he could have done something to her in the pub, sighing she thought of a truth to ask him and decided to ask him exactly what was on her mind.

"Tell me, what is your problem with Hades."

Briony pulled her tongue and ran her hands over his chest muscles, tracing them lightly and with a small smile on her face she waited to see what his answer would be. Hoping he wouldn't try and tell her there was no problem.

"Don't tell me there isn't I felt your muscles tense."

Richard frowned a little before breathing out a long sigh,

"In a word... everything." he scowled lightly, "He's almost everything I dislike in a person. He's arrogant. He's a spoilt rich boy. He has no concerns about killing me, life means nothing to him. And..."

He felt a growl build up in the back of his throat,

"His eyes hold the same glint that my fathers' eyes did." he looked into the fire to avoid directing his frustration at Briony, "He's an excessive user of the Dark Arts. You see it in his eyes. He uses the Dark Arts whenever possible... and he's hooked on them."

He shook his head and took a deep breath,

"But I can ignore all of that... so long as he doesn't give me any more reasons to dislike him." he forced another smile, "Truth or Dare Bri?"

Briony took in all the information that she was presented with from Richard's confession, she understood a bit more why he didn't like Hades but she did, she thought he was an intelligent man and she didn't object to having a bit of money around to spend on her should she wish it. Grinning slightly she presumed she best choose dare this time so she didn't seem like a total wimp choosing truth all the time.

"Dare please Richard."

She smiled gently and continued to trace his muscles through his shirt, it was relaxing her as well as having her hair played with.

Richard sighed a little bit, releasing the tension in his muscles with that one breath,

"Sorry about the mini-rant... pet-hates are hard to shake." he told her with a weak smile before he ran a hand through his hair in thought. He shrugged, "Easy one. Down five shots of fire whiskey in less than thirty seconds."

"Ugh, why do you do this to me?"

Briony groaned, she hated drinking challenges she lost most of the time because she always liked to take her time when she was drinking. Pouting at Richard she summoned some of her firewhiskey from a decanter across the hall and poured it into five glasses, lining them up in a row. She narrowed her eyes and concentrated on the glasses alone.

"Alright, I'm ready."

Quickly she picked up one glass and chucked it back, the harsh alcohol burning the back of her throat and tongue as she drank it, slamming the glass down she demolished the second third and fourth shot as quickly as she could. She paused a little and her head spinning she picked up the last shot, drank it, and promptly keeled over to one side unconscious.

Richard smiled a little, catching Briony cleanly as she fell. With great care, he laid her out on the couch before he began to root around in his pockets. After a few seconds, he smiled and withdrew a shrunken vial of potion. He enlarged it again before pointing his wand at Briony,

"Ennervate." he called out calmly, reviving her. He put his wand away and brought the potion up for her inspection, "This is a sobering potion Briony... I would like you to drink it."

Briony groaned a little and her head span around, she felt like she was going to throw up for a moment but then the dizziness cleared a little and Briony was able to sit up without keeling over. She looked suspiciously at the bottle that he held out to her and with a raised eyebrow she pushed it away lightly.

Standing up and wobbling a bit Briony smiled, winked a little at Richard and walked out of the living room, through the kitchen and out into the garden where she did what she was planning to do this morning. Taking a running jump she ended up splashing into the water of the deep fountain and swimming around in it for a bit. The water was shockingly cold but it was nice, it woke her up a bit.

Richard followed Briony through the house with a small smile as he watched to make sure that she didn't fall over anything in her drunken state. His smile turned into a grin when he watched her take a running jump into the fountain and begin to swim around. He shook his head and sat down on the edge of the fountain,

"And I didn't even have to dare you to do it..." he commented with a chuckle.