hey little songbird [brietta]

The appeal of Hogsmeade visits had worn off for Roderick ages ago. There was really only one thing to do in town - spend money. Sure, it was nice to get out of the castle once in a while, especially in the winter when everyone was going a little stir crazy. But for Roderick, it had always been hard to enjoy these outings. Watching other people come out of Honeydukes with boxes of sweets he couldn't afford once a month was not his idea of a good time.

This year was a bit different. He had saved up a little bit of cash from work in the summer months, not much, but enough to get one drink with the lads every so often and to still have spare coins for emergency purchases. In a little leather notebook back in his dorm, Roderick had carefully budgeted his savings to get him through all Hogsmeade weekends until graduation.

So when Trutch and Newton had begun to give him grief for not stepping out with Brietta Toft properly, Roderick didn't have the easy out of money.

The whole situation with Toft had been a surprise. Roderick was not a stranger to love, exactly - he just hadn't known what to do when the fourth year girl had suddenly professed her (apparently strong, apparently long-standing) crush to him during passing period earlier that year. She was fit enough, a halfblood but her mum was a Curse Breaker, that was status, and Roderick just... hadn't turned her down. Their relationship was very passive - not much had changed in his routine other than studying with her instead of alone sometimes. Trutch and Newton recently had been mocking him for the "frigidness" of their relationship, implying other, nastier things. It became a moral imperative to prove them wrong.

So here he was, Brietta walking next to him in the snow as they came into Hogsmeade. Roderick pulled his scarf down just a smidge, so she could hear him over the wind and cheers of other students. "Aight, where'd you like to go? I reckon Three Broomsticks has room for two."


@Brietta Toft  awkward date time hell yeah

Brietta finally had something special that her sister didn't. A boyfriend. Anna was often leaving her behind in the department of nice things, like having lots of friends, or having two working hands, and not having a scarred mouth that people still stared at. Merlin, it bothered Brietta to death. It angered her even more when it seemed obvious that people thought she wouldn't notice them staring at the very thing that she, herself, spent hours upon hours glaring at in the mirror, hoping her disdain for it would make it disappear. She was self-conscious about it enough without others pointing it out.

The Slytherin witch honestly thought that she and Roderick were an ideal, nay, perfect fit. He was handsome for sure, there was no doubting that... but he was a bit rough around the edges. Brietta liked it. It made her feel like she didn't need to hold herself up to impeccably high standards with him around. In fact, she didn't feel like there was a pressure for any standards at all. She could just be herself, for once. A lot of the few friends she had seemed insistent on warning her about him, claiming he wasn't nice and that she'd get inevitably hurt or that he'd be a bad influence on her. Brietta continued to roll her eyes and ignore them, for they were clearly just jealous. How nice it was, to be on the receiving end of envy for once.

When Roderick had first offered to take her to Hogsmeade, her heart fluttered like crazy. The invitation, nor the sensation and emotion it caused, were common and Brietta knew she'd be a fool not to clear her schedule and accept. She enjoyed spending any time she could with him, seeming as that was basically all the couple did. The affection in the relationship was incredibly lacking, and this didn't bother the teen at all, but she did like the attention. She had wished for this to happen for a while. This was like, a proper date. She'd never had one before.

The tiny witch had to walk quickly in order to keep up with her much taller partner, but even the exercise wasn't enough to warm her up. Her gloves seemed common place and normal for once, and her scarf was cleverly positioned to hide her scarred mouth. Brietta smirked under her scarf. Turning her head up at him as he started speaking to her, Brietta's sharp eyes softened a smidge as a gentle smile tugged at her lips. Roderick at least made sensible suggestions. Somehow, the Slytherin often ended up at Sugar & Spice or other flowery places. The Three Broomsticks was a place she always wanted to go to, but in an effort to keep the few friends she had, she never really got to go there.

"Sounds good to me!" She replied quickly and enthusiastically. "Doubt it'll be busy," she added, "the couples'll be all cosy-ing up at that tea shop. Saves the fireplace for us, though. " Brietta couldn't help but roll her eyes and sneer a little to highlight her point.

Rod let one corner of his mouth twitch upwards. Brietta somehow didn't nauseate him with her eagerness. She was one of very few who didn't. Just her and Archie, actually, now that he thought about it. She wasn't pampered, wasn't putting on an affect or a show. There was a sharpness to her words.

Brietta had lived through some hell, and so had Roderick. It made her infinitely easier to respect. Even if she was, like, fourteen. It was only three years. They had both lived lifetimes in their time at Hogwarts, it might as well not matter.

He nodded at her tea shop comment. Good. Broomsticks had been awfully crowded lately, but he wasn't the only one to suddenly have a girlfriend for the holiday season. Apparently Madam Puddifoot or whatever her face was doing a gingerbread promotion. He was glad to skip on that.

"Right, then," he said, hesistated for a split second. He was fairly certain he could hear Newton and Trutch crunching the snow in an alleyway nearby and snickering. Assholes. "Come on," he said, offering Brietta his arm to hold. Didn't seem right to reach for her hand. Plus she felt some kind of way about her scars. Roderick didn't really mind, wasn't like he was looking at her hands that often. And her lip scar was kind of cool, if you looked at it from the right lens.

They walked into the bar and snagged a couch by the fireplace. "Butterbeer?" Roderick asked Brietta as they sat down. "I'll go grab two."

He offered her his arm, and Brietta blinked a few times before snaking her hand up to the crook of his elbow. "Thank you," she offered, flattered and rather surprised at his consideration. He could have just grabbed her hand, as was customary for normal boyfriend and girlfriend to do, but he didn't, and it meant more to the young witch than either he or she probably realised.

Hand holding had become a very unpleasant sensation since that bloody fire, and it made her skin crawl when she could only feel half of someone's hand, making it feel more like a bug was on her hand than a person. Whether Rod actually knew this or not didn't really matter, as Brietta was already glancing up at him with sparkling eyes, her adoring smile hidden under her scarf. Sometimes, she just didn't understand his bad reputation. With her, Roderick had always been such a considerate, genuine gentleman.

Her sigh of relief as they entered a relatively empty Three Broomsticks was more than audible, and seeing the couch by the fireplace was free, she was glad that Rod had the sense to make a beeline for it. After all, Brietta was very eager to warm up. Just as she was settling into the seat, Roderick offered to get a butterbeer for them both. Awkwardly removing the scarf that was no longer needed, Brietta suddenly became very conscious of her lip scar. "I'd love one, thanks." She eventually replied, using her free hand to try and slightly cover it. Why she was doing this, she wasn't sure... Rod had seen it often enough and clearly didn't seem to care and there weren't enough people in the pub to really notice either.

While she waited, Brietta had the opportunity to remove some of her extra layers which the warmth of the fire made redundant. Her coat was the first to be removed, followed by the first pair of gloves. She hesitantly looked round before removing only the left hand glove of the second pair before looking around more closely at the pub. It was a little worse for wear but in an endearing, cosy way. The Slytherin witch liked it a lot. "I've never actually been here before, you know." Brietta began, as Rod started to re-approach the couch. "It's way better than that stupid little critter cafe that they keep forcing me to go to, don't you think?"