A New Start (Bri and Cobie)

Briony took a deep breath, it was a short walk from her office in the common room to the potions classroom and she was kind of glad that it was, she could have convinced herself not to come if it had been a longer distance away. Briony didn't want to say it but she was nervous. She didn't know why either. Her confidence had been knocked roughly since yesterday.

She raised her hand and knocked lightly on the door, Briony had a feeling that Cobalt would know that it was her without her even speaking or seeing her. It was a weird gift of his.

Cobalt had been messing around with one of his contact poisons, inside a slowly bubbling cauldron, when the knock came at the door. Lifted his head away from the fumes of the poison, he sniffed the air and his face fell a little. It was Briony. And the last time he'd seen Briony he'd been looking at her pained and panicked face through the scope of his rifle as he gunned down her husband-to-be.

Shaking his head to bring out the sunny mask he wore around most people, he waved his wand and the door swung open,

"Hello Briony!" he greeted her warmly, deciding that ribbing her about being a Princess was not the way to go. He noted the red rings under her eyes with a rare pang of guilt. Burying the emotion deep down he let his face fall a little and he sighed tiredly, "It's about Richard isn't it?"

Placing the poison in a statis charm, he moved over to her to rest a reassuring hand on her shoulder,

"I'm terribly sorry for your loss Briony." he looked away slightly, "Anyone could see that the two of you were very happy together."

Briony smiled as he opened the door for her she walked into the office and looked carefully into the cauldron, she shrugged a little and stood awkwardly away from Cobalt leaning against the wall. She knew she must have looked awful, but she didn't care. Briony hung her head and bit her lip a little.

"You already knew...I...I was just coming to see if you did know or not...I couldn't have you not knowing. I don't know what your relationship was with Rich but, you deserved to know."

She smiled sadly and moved a strand of hair from in front of her eyes, she was hugging her tummy with folded arms.

"I was wondering...you know because you knew Rich so well..."

Using the past tense sent a shiver down her spine but she continued.

"I know it sounds stupid but, do you have any stories you could tell me about him. I'm trying to get as much information as I can about him, because, in a way, it's like I'm talking to him and finding it out from him..."

She smiled again.

"Stupid I know."

Cobalt's heart lurched a little and he felt another wave of guilt wash over him. This was new territory for him, he'd never cared about someone he'd killed before but he had cared about Richard. He smiled weakly at her and gestured to the two armchairs in front of the fireplace,

"Well I have some stories... take a seat." he wandered over to the side where he began to make tea, "I trust some tea won't go amiss?"

As he was making up two cups of tea, he stared wistfully down into the light brown liquid,

"What do you know already about the time the two of us spent together Briony?" he smiled faintly, "I imagine he told you somethings."

Briony smiled again and took a seat in the opposite armchair to Cobalt, she looked intently into his eyes and waited for him to begin speaking she would have done anything for him to just sit there all night and speak to her of Cobalt. Briony curled up in the armchair resting her head on the arm.

"Actually, and this might surprise you Cobalt, we didn't really talk about you much. He just mentioned that he knew you and that he didn't want me to hang around you when I didn't have to. He told me the story about Annie though, when you shot his knees out."

Briony smiled and stuck her tongue out weakly at Cobalt, she closed her eyes for a moment and a flash of Richard's smile played across her face once more and quickly she opened them again.

"We both thought you were a bit of an ass."

She joked.

Cobalt laughed a little as he sank down in the armchair, setting the two cups of tea on the small table between them. He shook his head while looking thoughtful,

"I guess I am a bit of an ass." he conceeded before raising an eyebrow at his own thoughts, "After all... I did kind of shoot his knees out for breaking a stupid streak. Of course, on the other hand I'd killed everyone else who'd even tried to do that. I let Richard live and it cost me I'll tell you. People thought I was going soft. I killed thirty three different up-and-coming assassins because they thought they could take my position."

He leanted back in his seat with a sigh,

"I'm not proud of that day." he rubbed tiredly at his eyes, "It marked the end of a very good relationship."

Smiling, he looked back up at Briony,

"I offered to take him as my apprentice... did you know that?" he looked away, "He was the only one I trusted enough to train at the time."

Briony reached her hand out and shakily took the cup of tea looking into it warily before she decided to throw caution to the wind and just drink it, she didn't have much left to live for anyway even if it was laced. She sighed happily and took another sip.

"A cup of tea heals all."

Briony grinned lightly, sitting with her knees up and resting her chin on the tops of her knees. She titled her head and smiled at Cobalt.

"Really? Is that why both of you can do that weird nose smelly thing?"

Briony smiled and took another sip of tea while it was still hot, she placed it back down on the table and fiddled with her ring, she hadn't taken it off and she wouldn't not until she knew he was dead for sure.

Cobalt pretended to huff,

"Hey! I find that offensive!" he snorted, "That 'weird nose smelly thing' is an invaluable tool!"

He smirked a little and took a sip of his own tea. His smile falling a little, he nodded,

"Yeah... I gave him the nose thing." he replied quietly, looking away slightly, "I taught him how to fight with knives. I taught him how to pick a pocket without getting caught. He taught me how to speak German, Russian and Spanish. He taught me how to make sand into glass."

Slowly his smile grew,

"We weren't really Master and Apprentice..." he shook his head slightly, "There was a time when we were more like brothers. We gave and we took from each other equally. That German bugger weaselled his way under my skin until I couldn't help but care for him."

He chuckled a little,

"You might know a bit about that."

Briony giggled a little, she listened to the story and smiled gently, it sounded so much like Richard to make someone feel again and to bring out the best in them, after all, that's what he had done with her. Briony took another sip of her tea and looked at Cobalt over the top of her mug.

"It sounds like you really got on well...I know I'm probably going to regret saying this but...was the hit really worth loosing such a precious relationship?"

Briony smiled a little hoping that Cobalt wouldn't get mad at her, not like she would do anything but apologize profusely.

"I do know a bit yes. You know where I met Rich? A cave. I was just sitting there reading and there he was, popped out of no where from a..."

Briony's voice trailed off a little bit ad she coughed.

"In a matter of hours I'd invited him back to my house and was cooking him freaking lasagne...don't get me wrong it scared me like hell, why was I acting like this to a complete stranger. But, he intruged me. I didn't want to let him go..."

Cobalt paused for a second before sighing a little,

"Briony... it was a hard decision for me to make." he looked away, "To normal, emotionally and socially stable, people it seems stupid. It couldn't possibly be worth it. But... as an assassin it was stupid because I didn't kill him. At that time Richard had managed to bring me back out from my work but... well old habits die hard. I'd worked hard to be the best assassin I could be Briony, it was my life's work and it was the only thing I was good at! I acted the way I did because I couldn't let him live but I also couldn't bring myself to kill him."

He smiled faintly,

"Sounds like Richie." he smirked, "Always did know how to make an entrance. I tell you... there was this one time where he was supposed to decompose a vault door with whatever weird transfiguration he does. But instead of making it turn to sand or something, he apparates away before apparating back in with a moving car. The car slammed into the door and broke through it. I still have no idea how he did it."

Grinning now, he ran his fingers through his hair,

"But try and guess how I met him... it's rather typical of him to be fair."

Briony nodded a little, it made sense when Cobalt explained it like that but still she wasn't sure what had possessed him to shoot through a little girl...Briony froze and groaned lightly placing her head in her hands. What on Earth was she going to tell Annie? Would she tell her that Rich was missing? Or should she tell her the truth...that he was dead?

"Sorry...just remembered something. Honestly my heads just gone out the window today."

She chuckled lightly, listening to the story that Cobalt was telling her, Briony smiled widely at him and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Cool, yet, kind of arrogant, yep, that's Rich for you."

Thinking a moment Briony furrowed her brow and thought, well she had met him via portkey but something told her that he probably just met Cobalt normally or something like that.

"Hmm...did he get into a fight with you or something? Or maybe, in a cave..."

He waved it off with a small, understanding, smile,

"I can see why it would do that." he told her dryly before smiling a little more, "Yeah Richie always did have more flair than me. Hell before I met him I never took credit for my jobs. He was the one who taught me that to be the best you had to visibly be the best."

Cobalt sighed a little and leant back to look up at the ceiling,

"He was thrown through a window of a bar I was in. Sailed halfway across the room to land on the bar right in front of me. Broke my glass too." he grinned, "And then he just sits up, dusts off the glass shards and appologises for ruining my drink. Just as he's about to order me a new one the person who threw him through the window, a scary old bugger of a mercenary called Cryont, comes barging in and throwing killing curses at him."

He laughed a little,

"Long story short, Richard took part of my old drinks glass and cut the guy's throat out with it." he smiled faintly, "And I knew he was the one person good enough to be my apprentice."

He smirked again,

"Of course that was before I met my Soft-Soft."

Briony listened with rapt attention while Cobalt told her the story of how he and Richard had met, it did sound something like what Richard would do, he was that kind of a person to think about others even when he himself was in danger. She gripped her cup tightly so that he knuckles turned white.

"That sound's like Rich alright, always thinking of the other person rather than himself, and, he liked to do things the messy way..."

Briony smiled gently and circled her finger around the cup, so, Cobalt measured his apprentices by violence hm? Her ears perked up when she heard him talking about another apprentice, she grinned at the nickname that he had given them.

"Soft Soft? Who's that then? It almost sounds like you're getting attatched to them already."

Cobalt sighed a little and smiled only faintly as he looked down in the fire,

"Richard was suited to be my apprentice because he didn't enjoy it." he smiled at her, "Too many people call themselves 'assassins' when they're just thugs who enjoy killing. Richard... when he killed the man he looked so sad. Richard was one of those rare people who was good at killing but took absolutely no enjoyment from it. And that made him a good man."

He chuckled lightly,

"Soft-Soft... well she reminds me of me when I was her age. All naive and vulnerable... sure she's been through some stuff but she wants to be stronger. And apparently I'm the level of strength she wants to obtain." he ran his fingers through his hair, "I'm surprised she hasn't told you she's my apprentice. I didn't expressly forbid it but on the other hand I'm glad she didn't. My apprentice is Charlotte Matthews, one of your slytherins."

Briony nodded, now everything began to make sense to her, it made sense that in order to be one of the best assassins in the country maybe even the world that you would have to detach themselves from any emotions. Briony wished that she could do that sometimes, but she presumed that it would be easier now she only had one thing left to care for.

"I see..."

She was a little shocked when Cobalt told her who the apprentice was that he had picked up, Briony didn't think that Charlotte had it in her, obviously she was wrong. Smiling gently and finishing her cup of tea Briony placed the empty mug down on the small table.

"Take good care of her, but, from the sound of it you're going all paternal on her anyway."

Briony said with a wink.

Cobalt chuckled a little before deciding that it was time to swap the tea for something a little more suited to drowning sorrows. He waved his wand and two glasses appeared on the table,

"I trust you won't mind if we switch to something more suited to grieving?" he asked her with a faint smile as a bottle of red wine appeared in his hands, "I can't stand tea."

He sighed a little as he filled his own glass and then Briony's,

"That little girl reminds me so much of myself when I was her age." he shrugged a little, "Which is why I was all for her not being my apprentice. But those big puggy-dog eyes... hell I can't say no to that face. And she wanted to protect herself so this is the way I've chosen to teach her."

Briony nodded lightly at Cobalt's decision to break out the big guns in terms of the drink, she was going to need some comfort that couldn't come from the staple English tea. Gently she took the cup that he offered her and gently sipped from it, letting the warm burn of the alcohol soothe her throat as it crept down it.

"I don't mind one jot, will probably help calm me down a little bit too."

Briony smiled gently and looked art Cobalt over the top of her glass.

"It's kind of cute, the way you're all rough but you can be swayed buy a little girls puppy dog eyes...not so bad after all are you Cobalt? Not so much of an ass after all hmmm?"

Cobalt nodded a little, tasting the wine slowly himself. He smiled a little more at the taste,

"And it is a fine Italian wine." he sniffed lightly at the drink, "One good thing about having a super-powered nose... you can almost taste things."

He laughed a little,

"Briony... there's not a man on earth who can't be persuaded by the puppy dog eyes." he told her with mock seriousness, "It's what makes little girls a murderer's worst nightmare."

Smirking, he shook his head,

"Oh no, I'm still an ass to most people. Just not widows and children. I still have a soul you know." he commented dryly.

Briony raised her eyebrow and moved the glass towards her nose, she couldn't really smell anything but wine, then again, she had always been rubbish at things like this, declaring it smelt of coffee while in a coffee house, things like that. It definately wasn't a strong point.

"Breaking out the big guns for me? I do feel honoured." Briony grinned cheekily

Listening to the way that Cobalt talked about Charlotte she couldn't help but grin, the one person she assumed would never take on a fatherly role had done, and it made her a little hopeful for miracles.

"I know you do...otherwise you would have turfed me out your office a long time ago...I just wanted to say something else, I'm sorry, for the way I acted to you in the meeting a while back. I don't know why I acted like that...and you're not as bad as I thought you were, so, forgive me?"

Cobalt chuckled a little,

"Well if it wasn't you Briony I would have insisted on something stronger." he rubbed at his eyes as his small smile fell away, "If it were up to me I wouldn't be sober right now... hell, if it were up to me I would be passed out by now."

He shook his head a little,

"You don't need to ever ask for me to forgive you Briony. Ever." he fumbled around inside his jacket for a cigarette. Upon realising that he didn't have anymore on him, he sighed a little and finished his glass of wine in one gulp, "Briony... what you saw at the meeting was a persona I wear from time to time. It is designed to annoy people to test the limits of their patience. It's my fault."

Closing his eyes, a single tear slid out,

"It's my fault..."

Briony looked down at the floor and bit her lip, she hadn't known that Cobalt was this sensitive, heck, she didn't even think a couple of weeks ago that it would be possible for him to like anyone, or feel any emotion bar happiness at showing people up. She lifted her chin to look at him in the eyes and Briony smiled weakly, trying to reassure him, Cobalt seemed so sweet...

"Hey...It was both our faults Cobalt, you got under my skin sure, but I shouldn't have acted the way that I did. It was wrong of me yes?"

Briony smiled gently and moved over to Cobalt placing a comforting hand on his shoulder and she wiped the small tear away from his eye.

"It's not your fault, don't be thinking that, it's whoever did this to him's fault. I swear. If he was in front of me I wouldn't even touch him, I'd just want to ask one question, why would he do it? For money?"

She shook her head lightly and sat back down on her chair, taking a swing of wine.

"We'll deal with it together right?"

He chuckled weakly,

"If that's the only way you'll let me shift some of the blame onto me then sure." he muttered as he looked away a little, "But you did exactly what I thought you'd do. You reacted how I wanted you to react."

For some reason, her gentle comfort was pushing him further into the depression he'd been aware that he'd been falling into for a long time. He sniffed a little and looked up at her fleetingly,

"If they did it for money..." he shook his head, "Take it from someone who knows Briony, killing someone you don't know for money is easy. If they knew him... if they were close to him... well then that would tear them apart."

He closed his eyes tightly,

"I don't... I don't..." he stopped when he realised that he was choking up. He shook his head and held it in his hands, "I just... I just wish he wasn't... I just wish that I'd been a better friend..."

Briony looked at Cobalt, slightly confused, she was unsure of how he was reacting, when he had spoken of Richard it sounded like he hadn't cared about him at all, like he hated him even but now it looked like he was a broken man, just like she was broken. Briony reached up and hand and cupped Cobalt's cheek in it, making him look her in the eyes.

"There is nothing you could have done Cobalt, I couldn't even do anything and I was there, I...I...I'm just so useless...I could have saved him. I could of. Now he's gone..."

She set about to make Cobalt feel better but instead probably made him feel worse, Briony smiled gently at him again and hesitantly extended her arms around him in a hug, patting his back gently.

"We all have regrets Cobalt. This will just be one of yours."

He shuddered as he tried to hold back a sob. Of course there was something he could have done! All he had to do was miss when he fired! Or not fired the gun at all! Not taken the contract from Hades!

He shook his head a little,

"Of course there was something I could have done..." he whispered as he clenched his eyes shut tightly, "I could have been a better friend... I could have known about it... I would have been able to stop it!"

Sitting back up in her light hug he stared over her shoulder into the distance,

"Briony... I have no regrets." he told her in a wistful tone, "I have killed literally thousands of people over the years and yet I regret killing only one of them. This... Richard's death... that is a regret equalled only by that one kill I regret. It is one I shall carry to my grave and something I am wholely unprepared for."

Briony moved away from Cobalt and sat back in her chair, thinking that it might be better if she gave him some sort of space, it was then that he hand flew to her neck and she grinned lightly, her fingers pulling down her collar and tracing around the love bites he had given her not a day before.

"I guess I get to keep him with me a little longer then hmm."

She mused to herself.

"Cobalt, then, I guess we shall have to grieve together, I don't know what I'm doing here...but I'm guessing since we don't have a body, we can't have a funeral...but he deserves one."

Briony placed her head in her hands at the thought of having to arrange something like that, it would be the end of her, she just couldn't think about it now.

"He deserves the best money could buy, but, he wouldn't want that, just something quiet, maybe, maybe at the cave where we first met, or at my house...I don't know."

She cried.