No good deed goes unpunished [Brynn]

As the healer beside her bed rattled away about her progress (or lack thereof, as Brietta assumed), the Slytherin found her thoughts drifting away. It was, to the date, exactly one month since the horrific events at the beginning of term that had changed Brietta's life forever. She wondered if Anna was okay, or if she was even still alive. Despite the fact that her parents had visited her often, Annika never accompanied them and they themselves had not had given her any news as to her whereabouts. To her knowledge, Brietta hadn't seen her sister since she pushed her towards the adult in the flaming common room. Raising her hand to twist her hair, the ginger pondered on the fact that she didn't remember much from that fateful night and that what she did remember she dearly wished to forget.

Shuffling herself so that she sat a little higher in her bed, Brietta's thoughts began to replay what happened when the witch first woke up in St. Mungo's. She had felt weak, the room seemed to have been spinning, something she later knew was down to blood loss. She had looked down across the bed and her eyes had settled on her wand hand. Brietta shuddered as she remembered how much she had wished what happened next to be merely a nightmare. Her hand, though usually pale, was white in colour and obviously rubbery in texture and bones were very much visible and the entire hand was shrivelled in it's appearance. Normally, Bri could have concealed the majority of what she felt inside but on that day she had just been too weak to pull a mask over her emotions. She remembered her piercing screams that had seemed to resonate around the room as she wailed hysterically when she couldn't move her hand. She remembered thinking her screams had sounded odd and the gut-wrenching fear that she had felt when she had raised her good hand to feel her face only to discover the same rubbery white skin sealing the majority of the left side of her mouth, which only made her hysterics worse. She remembered it had taken five healers to stop her howling in both physical and emotional pain.

Since then, she'd been angry. She didn't know who she was angry at but there was always an overwhelming sense of frustration that threatened to cloud the Slytherin witch's judgement. She couldn't do half of the things that she used to be able to, and suddenly being unable to do even the simplest of tasks was infuriating to the young witch. She'd been practicing working with her non-dominant hand to perform simple spells but nothing was really working. Bri knew it didn't help much that she was mumbling her spells but though she had been working steadily on speech therapy, she felt she wasn't progressing very far at all. Even so, Brietta was resolved in her decision that she didn't regret what she had done. She would have given up everything to save Annika's life in a heartbeat. And though she had almost made good on that promise and didn't even know if her efforts had been successful, she regretted nothing.

The healer appeared to have almost finished her endless tirade and leaned in towards the twelve year old who, instinctively, leaned closer so that she could some sort of relief from the discomfort around her mouth. The cream applied was cool, soothing and had actually helped with appearance of the burnt tissue dramatically over the course of the month. Lifting what she could of her right arm up, the healer began applying the cream over her hand and lower arm. It was still a little unnerving to Brietta, that she couldn't feel that she was being touched at all but she gradually got more used to it. Suddenly, the healer held up a piece of smooth cloth in front of Brietta's face. The Slytherin, realising what it was, broke into a disturbingly crooked smile and she felt the happiest that she had been since the morning of the 1st September. She raised her right arm up again, excited to have finally been granted to wear something that she had desperately wanted since she had first woken up in St. Mungo's. The soft glove was gradually eased onto her arm, covering the majority of the damage and she sighed in relief that she (and most importantly other people) didn't have to look at her disconcerting hand as much.

The ginger muttered her thanks to the healer and with that the healer disappeared. Their session was finished for the day. Moving her tongue around in her mouth, the Toft realised she was thirsty after trying to talk for hours. She looked towards her bedside table and found she couldn't reach the elusive glass of water sat there, mocking her. Brietta proceeded to search for her wand, which she found stashed under her pillow (she was too suspicious someone would steal it) and tried to ignore how uncomfortable it felt in her left hand as she endeavoured to levitate the glass over to her with a valiant attempt of wingardium leviosa, though it came out as "Winarniunm eviosma". She watched with eyes full of hope as the glass began to lift up off the table but her hopes were quickly dashed as it soon hurtled towards the floor spilling the water everywhere, and the glass bouncing off the floor with a clang. Frustrated at how useless she now was, Brietta sniffled in despair as a single tear rolled down her cheek.

In her month at St. Mungo's, Brynn's appearance had changed a lot. In addition to the many scars resulting from her various burns and cuts, her eyes had taken on a haunted look and dark circles had formed beneath them. She'd become even more thin than she already had been and her skin had taken on a sallow complexion. Despite her obvious physical changes, the biggest changes were where no one could see them - on the inside. The horrors of the night had taken their toll on the child, filling her days with terrible memories. Sleep gave her no rest either, with vivid nightmares of the fire and people she knew dropping like flies around her. It didn't help that she did not know whether or not her friends or sister had made it out of there alive. At first she'd been hopeful, but as time went on and no news was heard, that hope had faded away and she was positive that at least one of them was dead.

Her saving grace was her therapy. While it was extremely uncomfortable and not enjoyable in the least, it kept her occupied, and at least she was able to walk again. Sure she needed orthotics and could only do it for short periods of time before getting tired, walking was walking and it was much better than she'd been doing before.

And yet, despite the care and assistance she'd received, Brynn found herself hating the hospital. First of all, it was too clean. Everything was pristine and smelled funny and the healers were so strict. Admittedly, it was mostly her fault, the moment that she had her splints taken off she'd tried to get up and walk, however, she hadn't made it very far before collapsing. Unfortunately, there hadn't been any healers around to help and she'd been too weak to pull herself into bed so she'd just laid there for a bit, contemplating the terrible choices she'd made in her life. Of course, a healer had come by pretty quickly and placed her back in her bed, but he had then proceeded to give her a lecture about the healing process. Ever since then, the other healers had been considerably more firm. "Don't unwrap your bandages. Keep your legs up. Don't get up and walk right now. Don't use your bandaged legs as a table for writing. Don't spill ink on your bandages, you'll get an infection. Apply this salve six times a day. Don't poke your injuries. If you are allowed to get up, put your orthotics on first. Blah blah blah!" Don't do this, don't do that, do this at this specific time, it was killing her, and the ginger was practically dying from boredom.

Not a single soul had come to visit her (though this was entirely her own fault) and while there were other students from Hogwarts on either side of her, she hadn't really spoken to them either. Oh yes, she'd seen them plenty, watching their healing and progress in her gigantic amounts of free time, but she'd been very hesitant to actually talk to them - especially Brietta. While Brynn and her dorm mate hadn't exactly been close in their past year at Hogwarts, Brynn actually sort of liked the other girl and sympathized with her. Annika wasn't with them either, and Brynn doubted whether there had been any news concerning Brietta's twin For now, neither of them knew the fate of their sister.

Brynn knew that she should break the silence between them, and just say something, but what to say? What was even an appropriate subject? She had no idea, but maybe she would say something when Brietta's healer left. Maybe. Brynn was already done with her therapy for the day (meaning the healer/therapist had gotten irritated at her supreme stubbornness and sent her away) but she almost wished that she was still there. While Brynn did not have to watch the healer apply the odd cream to her year mate's face and arm, the ginger literally had nothing else to do, but was beginning to feel a bit awkward. It almost seemed like she was violating Brietta's privacy, yet she could not force herself to look away.

After putting on some weird glove, the healer finally left. But Brynn could not say anything. She must have looked very strange, just staring at the other girl, but no matter how hard she tried she could not think of a think to say. Then Brietta tried to do a spell. Brynn wasn't quite sure what spell her fellow Slytherin was trying to perform, but it seemed to be a levitation spell. Brynn's mouth formed into an o as the glass crashed on the floor. Brietta seemed sad, and the nice thing would be to help her. Brynn glanced to where her braces were. Technically, she was supposed to wear them whenever she walked, but they took a while to put on. Well . . . she could skip them just this once. The ginger rolled out of her bed and snatched the cup up, wincing when her feet hit the ground. "Don't tell the healers I'm not wearing those." she pointed, only half joking, "I'll go fill this up and be right back."

Well, right back was probably an exaggeration since she only had one speed - hobble - but she would be back soon enough. With her crutches, walking around was a lot easier, and she managed to get the cup filled up pretty easily. Hobbling back with a full cup? That was much more challenging. By the time she got back, the cup was only half full, but that was much better than Brynn had expected. She was just glad she hadn't spilled the entire thing. "Sorry it isn't quite full," she said, holding the cup out so Brietta could take it, "I kind of spilled it when I was walking. I can go get you some more though, if you'd like I mean." Brynn wasn't quite sure what Brietta would say, but she really hoped that the other girl wouldn't be mad at her. After all, she'd only been trying to help.

Brietta's wand fell from her hand and landed on the bed with a quiet thud. The witch's hand was shaking violently with utter frustration at not being able to do something that she had mastered so well the previous year. She was having issues accepting that she had to use her left hand for everything now, even tasks which required two hands! How was she supposed to do well in classes now? She'd never be able to maintain her grades as they'd been previously. And of course her difficulty casting spells was also partly due to her speaking issues, but what about writing notes in classes? She couldn't write with her left hand at all! How was she meant to eat like a civilised person? There was so much that she had to relearn in such a short space of time. She'd be stuck in a fruitless attempt of playing catchup with yearmates, who'd all be progressing and becoming better than she was. Fate was so cruel! Tears continued to roll down her cheeks as Brietta worried about another issue. She'd made such a mess on the floor, there was water everywhere! What if a healer came back in and told her off for making a mess? Would they punish her?

A sudden noise coming from her yearmate Brynn's bed caused the Slytherin to be pulled out of her thoughts and her head jerked sharply in the direction that the noise came from. The Toft was expecting to find her dorm mate laughing at her but was surprised instead to see the fellow Slytherin getting out of bed. The Caines girl never seemed one for rules which was clearly evidenced earlier in their stay in St. Mungo's and she seemed far too much a 'rebel without a cause' for Brietta's liking but why was Brynn bothering to break the rules just to pick up her cup?

As Brynn spoke to her and then hobbled away Brietta just sat there, dumbfounded with a shocked look on her face. The two girls had hardly spoken a word to each other the whole month they had been there together, despite being next to each other, so why was Brynn filling up her cup for her? It was an awfully nice thing to do and it seemed uncharacteristic for the ginger witch to do such a thing. Where was the hidden agenda? What was the agenda? What would it cost for Brietta this time to respond in the manner she was supposed to? Thinking better of being a victim of an unknown agenda, the Slytherin tried to protest "But...but..." however Brynn seemed too far away to hear her mumbles or was choosing to ignore them (Bri couldn't tell which was true). The twelve year old was majorly confused. Why was Brynn putting strain on her legs which could interrupt the healing process (again) when she was perfectly capable of walking herself? The ginger was touched and very grateful, since her throat felt like the Sahara desert, but she was still wary and suspicious of her odd dorm mate.

Brynn was taking her sweet time which meant, fortunately, that Brietta had time to wipe her eyes since she wasn't going to allow herself to be weak in front of this crazy friend? Acquaintance? What were they?! The ginger tried to think of something she could say as well and kept a watchful eye out for healers. Brietta didn't want Brynn to get in trouble because of her, especially if it meant that Brynn would blame it on her, because then she would get in trouble. Watching Brynn struggle along with the cup which was spilling plentiful amounts of water was rather amusing and the Slytherin cracked a tiny smirk. She hadn't been so well entertained in weeks!

As Brynn held out the cup for her to take, Bri felt the colour rising to cheeks with embarrassment as she gently took the cup, looking down at its contents and not daring at all to look at Brynn. She quickly lifted the cup up to her lips and took a poorly judged sip, as she hadn't successfully accounted for the smaller gap and so had spilled some down her. Oh no! She'd yet to say anything! She had to say something! But her dorm mate would surely laugh at her. Brietta licked her lips as she reasoned that Brynn had surely heard that her conversation skills were less than stellar at the moment and hadn't laughed at her yet and therefore had no reason to now. Okay. I can do this.
"S'okay zas idis. Than ou Byn, you ninn't ave do. I ..." Brietta paused as she spotted a flash of neon green from the corner of the room, a healer! With eyes wide, the Slytherin exclaimed "Ick Byn, 'ealer umming!" Worried that Brynn probably couldn't really understand her, especially on that last part, Brietta tried to accentuate her point by quickly placing her cup down on the bed between her knees, pointing at the corner of the room and waving her hand towards Brynn's bed shooing her away. Hopefully she got the message, she really didn't want either of them to be told off!

As she stumbled out of the room, Brynn could her Brietta's protests. Ha! It was so like her! She was probably confused Brynn thought, after all, never before had she done anything even remotely nice to Brietta. The ginger cracked a smile just thinking of the probable analysis of the situation she knew her year mate was performing.

The sight of Brietta's expression caused her.own to darken "You know" she said, glaring over at the other girl "I don't have to be doing this Bri. Do you mind If I call you that? Well too bad, I'm going to regardless. Anyway, the water is for you, remember? Do you know how easy it would be for me to drop it? Then you'd have to get your own water! So I wouldn't laugh at my walking if I were you." Though it was all too easy to make the threat, Brynn was not at all intending to spill what was left of the water. That would just be mean, not to mention a waste of her own already limited energy.

Though she wanted to laugh and poke fun at her year mate's poor attempt at drinking, she refrained, merely raising an eyebrow instead. Not yet. She reminded herself. No, she didn't want to fight right now. That could come later. In only a few seconds, Brynn's expression went from a raised eyebrow to full on confusion as she tried to decipher what Brietta was saying. The ginger figured it was some sort of thank you and dragged her bandaged foot around in the mess of water Brietta had made earlier in an attempt to clean it up. Technically, her bandaged weren't supposed to get wet, but they were being changed tomorrow anyway, and the cold wetness was soothing.

Huh? Brynn was at a loss. Why had she paused? And why was she waving at the bed? Oh. Oh no! A healer was coming! Immediately Brynn twirled around threw her crutches against the wall before jumping into her bed. Unfortunately, that was a mistake. The impact of her legs hitting the mattress shot a wave of pain throughout her body and she barely held back a cry. There wasn't time to sit in pain! Even as tears began to well, the ginger laid back and grabbed her blankets. And just in time too!

No sooner had Brynn pulled her covers up than a green clad healer entered the room. As the healer's eyes narrowed at the sight of the puddles all over the floor, teary eyed Brynn tried to look as innocent as possible. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to fool the healer, who walked right up to her bed with a severe look on her face "Miss Caines, were you out of bed again? You know you aren't supposed to get up without instruction." Brynn didn't even miss a beat "Of course I wasn't out of bed, I promise! I learned my lesson last time, trust me. And besides, she can vouch for me." she lied, pointing to Brietta. While she wasn't positive that Brietta would actually confirm her 'innocence' she was fairly confident that the other girl wouldn't rat her out and risk being labelled as an accomplice.

When the healer finally left, Brynn counted to ten before sitting up and swinging her legs off the side of her bed. "Well we got rid of her." she said with a mischievous smile, "Oh it feels so good to actually talk to someone after all this time of only talking to the healers. It gets boring you know, with all the medical talk all the time, 'oh, don't forget to drink your potions and keep your legs elevated.'" she continued, pitching her voice higher in a mocking tone before giving Brietta a smirk "But then again, you can't really do much talking, can you? We need to figure something out to fix that now, don't we? Because the whole . . . well, whatever it is you're doing now isn't working, I can't exactly understand you." After a small pause she gave a laugh "You probably think I'm being cruel. After all, none of this was either of our faults, but you must believe that I'm trying to help you this once. See, the irony of the situation is, we each have what the other needs. You have perfectly functional legs that are good and healthy, I have use of both my arms, not to mention my mouth. I think you can see where I'm going with this, can't you?"

She didn't quite know how Brietta was going to react, and she didn't even know that she'd be able to understand it, but Brynn smirked at the other girl, waiting for her reply.

The Slytherin was easily startled by Brynn's darker look and subsequent glare, and her eyes widen in response.  Oh. Well, now she felt like she was an absolutely awful person. Brietta hadn't even thought about the fact that Brynn might be looking at her. The ginger looked down at her hands, fiddling with her glove guiltily before Brynn had even began to address the issue. Brietta's eyes flicked back up towards her dorm mate and narrowed slightly as Brynn shortened her name. Merlin, how Brietta hated nicknames! However, she had read that nicknames were supposed to be a sign of affection. Did that mean that the fellow Slytherin actually liked her? Not wanting to discourage any means of affection that the strange witch before her had, Brietta kept her mouth shut, allowing it for almost the first time in her life. Brynn was clearly annoyed at her, and Brietta frowned again as she realised she had every right to be. That, of course, made her feel even worse about it. The Toft never apologised for anything however, and she tried to brush it off with a snide remark. "I... I nin't ean it at way." She didn't know why she was even bothering with that. Brynn probably couldn't even understand her. Brietta knew that she certainly couldn't and she was the one actually saying it!

After Brietta thanked Brynn for the water, she waited patiently for a nice and simple 'you're welcome' but no such words came out of Brynn's mouth. In fact, no words came out of her mouth at all, and the Slytherin was met only with a raised eyebrow and a deep look of confusion. Great. She knew it. She utterly knew this would happen. Brynn couldn't blooming understand her. Merlin's beard! Why me? Why me?! Brietta's hopeful look melted to a look of complete disappointment and her free hand ran over her face in frustration. Clearly, the so-called speech therapy wasn't helping much. Granted, she was a lot more understandable than she had been a month ago, but Brietta wanted full on conversations where she could be entirely understood. Was that so difficult to ask for? It was one thing making out sounds (which Brietta thought she was improving on) but it was a different thing entirely to actually converse with someone and put those sounds together.

The ginger's panicked expression as the healer came closer ebbed away and Bri smiled lightly in satisfaction as Brynn finally understood. She watched her dorm mate with pity and concern as it clearly put the witch in discomfort to clamber into bed at such short notice. As the healer came towards their beds, Brietta quickly played the part of the innocent, taking a few calm sips of her water, a sly smile cleverly hidden by her cup as the healer went straight to attack Brynn. That's what you get for not following rules. And getting caught. Brietta immediately picked up on the suspicious healer's look towards the puddle of water. She took another sip as she tried to formulate a plausible story. She didn't want to be snitched on for something she didn't do. As Brynn pointed at her, Brietta was surprised that she hadn't been blamed and so her little lie completely fell apart. She quickly nodded her head towards the healer, desperately hoping she'd come up with something to say in the mean time. Sometimes, Brietta knew, the best thing was to stick to the truth as far as possible. So, that was what she would do. "It's drue! See wasn. Uh... The wader on the foor's m'faul. I spild i ryin' a get some. I'm eally sury." Anyone knowing Brietta well enough would have known by that point that she was completely lying. She never said sorry. To complete the look, the Slytherin witch had even hung her head low.

As soon as the healer moved away, Brietta placed her cup back down between her knees, looked over at Brynn and smiled lightly. They had done it! Brynn stated exactly that, with a mischievous smile and Brietta returned it with a sly (if not, somewhat distorted) smile of her own. Brietta laughed at Brynn's comment lightly. She couldn't agree more. It had been very lonely at St. Mungo's, even with her parents visiting her. But they never told her anything she wished to hear. And the healers were just a pain in the neck. The ginger laughed again, much louder this time, at Brynn's mocking impression of the healers. It sounded just like them! Brietta was sudden;y taken aback by what Brynn said next and her face fell from a cheerful laugh to a dejected frown. Her new speaking issues were a particularly touchy subject for her, even worse than the whole hand issue. At least she had another of them. Of course, Brynn had to go and hit the sensitive spot. At the strange offer of help, Brietta merely grimaced in response. Any and all help in communication would be greatly appreciated. That was what she wanted to say but evidently Brynn wouldn't understand half of it. Brietta had already considered a lot of other options in her free time, and she was out of ideas. Writing was currently out of the window, though she was working on that. She had wondered if perhaps a spell would help but then of course the non-dominant hand problem cropped up again. The same issue applied for learning sign language becuase you needed both hands. Plus, no one else would probably know it. The ginger was now stuck.

Obviously Brietta knew that it wasn't either of their faults, but Brynn always had a proclivity for stating the obvious. At any other time, Brietta would not hesitate to retort a sarcastic comment pulling Brynn up on it. But this was not the time, place or situation and the Slytherin respected that. Bri raised an eyebrow as her house mate suggested that she was being cruel. Brietta certainly didn't think she was, so why would Brynn? Still, as Brynn's little speech played out Brietta had a feeling where it was going. As soon as the words had come out of the fellow Slytherin's mouth, Brietta smirked in satisfaction. Bingo! I knew it! Brynn was suggesting a sort of symbiotic partnership. It was effective and of mutual benefit. Both got what the other wanted. Brietta personally thought she had the better end of the deal that was being laid on the table, so how could she refuse? She liked this idea very much. Slowing her words down, so that she was pronunciation the different sounds as much as could, Brietta acknowledged the proposal. " I can. An I ike it. I scatch or back, you scatch mine kin'a thin. I elp you an you elp me."

Smirking lightly, Brietta reached over to her bedside table to place her now empty cup down. Then she removed her covers, swung her legs over and slide down onto the floor, smiling contently as the cool floor drew heat away from her feet. Brietta shuffled over to Brynn's bed hopping onto it to sit beside her now 'partner'. "Thans, by uh way. Iss siduadion sucks... or oth of us. So. Anythin' I can elp ou ith?"

Using all her powers of concentration, Brynn was able to mostly understand what Brietta was saying, and she was grateful that the other girl hadn't gone around and tattled on her. The thing that made Brynn really happy though, was what she said at the end and she couldn't help but smirk at it. It was quite funny to hear her say the word sorry, especially since this was the girl who, in their first year, said that apologies were for the weak willed. It was something she hadn't forgotten, and she made a mental note to tease the other girl about it later, even though she was fully aware that it was part of an act.

And then Brietta came and sat on her bed. Oh no, uh uh, Brynn did not do close proximity, and especially not with people she didn't yet trust. In truth, she wanted to retreat onto Brietta's bed, but felt that that would be rude. After all, if they were going to help each other, Brynn had to learn to trust, she had to put some effort in it. So she didn't move. She did, however, squirm and fidgit a bit, but concerning the alternative she felt she'd done rather well. It took her a minute to decipher what the other girl was saying, but when it finally clicked all Brynn could do was blink at Brietta for a few moments. With her hand issues and not being understandable, the other girl was clearly in need of more help, or at least more immediate help, and yet she was asking about Brynn's needs. The ginger just didn't get it.

"Er . . .you're welcome I guess." She began, still a bit confused, "I mean, eventually I'd like to get rid of some of that crap." The ginger continued, pointing to her small collection of orthodics and braces, "But apparently I'm stuck with them for a while, especially while we're here. Maybe at Beauxbatons you could help me get around though? Heaven forbid they have a lot of stairs there. Other than that though, I think I'm go-" Brynn froze as she suddenly remembered the other thing she needed - clothes. "Um, actually, there is something I need help with. Do you have any, I mean, would you happen to, um, could I borrow some clothes maybe?" Her face began to turn a bright red color as she reached under her pillow to retrieve what few things she had. "They kinda threw my old clothes away, since they were burned and all, and all I managed to grab from our dorm was my journal and wand. I know I could ask my parents for more things, and I probably should have by now, but I just can't."

As she showed off her meager possessions, Brynn found that she couldn't look her year mate in the eye. "I was supposed to send them an owl a while ago, telling them that I was okay and needed some things, but I didn't. I wrote some random thing and sent it to the house I was born in." Though she could have said more, she refrained, feeling as though she'd given away too much about herself already. Hopefully Brietta would be willing to help her out, otherwise she'd have to resort to stealing. Or she could just live in her hospital gown.

As soon as Brietta sat down next to Brynn on the bed, the ginger immediately noticed the fellow Slytherin squirm a little and realising what she had done, Bri shifted herself to the edge of Brynn's bed to put some respectful distance between them, in the guise of readjusting her position. She didn't want to impose on the other witch, especially when she was wary of Brynn. Was she making an error in judgement by allowing herself to get so close to a person who had flung a snake at her sister previously? Probably. But Brynn had captured her curiosity and the Toft had already vowed to herself that she would find out what made Brynn tick, so she decided the risk was worth it.

The twelve-year-old waited patiently for a reply from Brynn and for a while it seemed as though she wasn't getting one. Could she still not understand her? And I tried so hard too! She was determined to get her message across, however, and the Slytherin witch was about to try again when Brynn finally replied. As she listened, Brietta let out a sigh of relief and even smiled at the 'you're welcome' she had gotten in reply. They were making progress! Granted, the manner was nonchalant but it was said nonetheless and it made the Toft happy. Brietta turned to look at her housemate's braces as Brynn pointed at them and she weakly huffed in amusement and nodded in response. Unfortunately, she couldn't be of much help getting rid of them. Only time could help with that. In honesty, Brietta only offered help to Brynn to appear to keep up her end of the bargain since she didn't believe there was anything that she could offer, except for helping Brynn get around. Bri was fine with that, she wouldn't really know anyone else at Beauxbatons anyway, and it'd give her a chance to try and get more information out of Brynn so that she could piece her together. For some reason, Brietta had been drawn to Brynn and they'd be put into all sorts of situations together. Brietta didn't believe it to be a coincidence. Besides, without her twin beside her, her greatest fear was hanging over her like a cloud of doom; she was terrified of being left alone.

Brietta's face contorted in confusion as Brynn stated a request that Brietta had not expected. Clothes? Well, um, what? Brietta hadn't saved much from the fire, but she had a fair few things stuffed in her bag that she had grabbed. She had, however, lost her diary and the Slytherin's eyes glinted as soon as she saw Brynn's journal in tact. She longed to see what was in that book, what a treasure trove of juicy info would be in there?!  Still, back to the current request being asked. Bri's parents had brought her some new things to replace her lost items and mended some other items of clothing that she had saved from the fire, some new clothes were actually hand-me-downs from her mother, but Brietta wasn't in a position to complain. Most of her clothes had already been packed ready for her departure from St. Mungo's to France, but even though she was limited for clothing at that current moment, she had more than enough to share once there were actually at Beauxbatons.

Brietta opened her mouth to reply but only a quiet "Well..." came out. She had suddenly thought of something that made her hesitant to accept. Whenever they were out of uniform, Bri had only ever seen Brynn in muggle clothing, which made sense of course... but the Toft only really had wizarding clothing. What if Brynn didn't like it? Or what if she didn't like the colours? She knew she had a very limited wardrobe; the only colours she wore were green, black or red. What if Brynn didn't like those colours? Would she mock her dressing style now that she was the one who had to wear it? She hurriedly hopped off Brynn's bed and headed towards her bag, rummaging around trying to find her clothes. She only found 1 item of clothing she was willing to lend, without fear of judgement; a simple light green dress with an attached robe. It was similar to muggle clothing at least. Brietta made a mental note to ask her mother to pack all of her muggle clothes. Maybe Brynn would find a better use for them than she would. Leaving the dress in her bag, she moved back towards Brynn's bed but stood rigidly beside it instead of sitting back down.

She wanted to question why her housemate hadn't told her parents but thought it better not to ask. Perhaps that'd be a little too intrusive. Still, she could surely worm some information out? "I... assume you don' ive in the ame ouse you were orn in?" Brietta spat her words out as best as she could, whilst shaking her head slightly. Brynn really was an oddball. Still, Brietta hadn't given a formal response to the question being asked of her, and the witch decided it was probably a good idea to do just that sooner rather than later. "Course, you can ave sum stuff. I don' ave uch with me righ' ow, buh at-" she paused, trying desperately to get the correct pronunciation for the following word, "-Bea-ux-bat-ons, you can are with me." Brietta hesitated, still having the nagging worry of what Brynn would think at the back of her mind. "I don' ave uch uggle othes ough..." She tried to smile at Brynn, before moving away again to pull out the dress she had picked out before. She placed it in front of Brynn before she muttered "You can ave is for ow. It sould fit."

Brynn did not like the way Brietta looked at her precious journal. There was a gleam in her eye that said she would just love to see what was in it. Slowly, she slid the book back under her pillow and made a mental note to change its hiding place. There was far too much information about herself in the book, and she did not want to find out what Brietta would do if she discovered all her secrets.

Brynn felt an odd sense of pride as Brietta processed her request. She seemed taken aback by it, and honestly, the ginger could understand why. It was a very strange request after all. If fact, she'd almost expected her to say no, so it came as a small shock when the other girl hopped off her bed and started looking in her bag. Brynn was a bit disappointed however, when Brietta returned empty handed, and thought it odd that she didn't sit back down. Had something happened when she was looking for something?

The ginger eyed her year mate suspiciously. What was she getting at? Brynn debated how much information to give away, or if she should ignore the question altogether. It didn't seem like it would be giving away too much though, "No. No, I don't." She nearly added 'I've moved lot actually' but though that it would be too much. Brietta didn't need to know that, no one did.

"Thanks, I don't know when I'll talk to my parents again and I haven't any money." In all truth, she wasn't sure she ever wanted to talk to her parents again. While she figured she wouldn't be that lucky, at least she would have Eillyn with her, and she could do most of the talking. Eillyn had always liked their parents more than Brynn had, and vice versa. If it was up to the older sister however, they would never be going back. Like the melodramatic child she was, Brynn wanted to run away somehow, but she wasn't sure how to even go about it. Never mind that though, she could formulate escape plans later, as for now, she really needed to focus on what Brietta was saying. Though it was getting easier the longer they talked, it still required concentration on Brynn's part. Huh? Now Brynn was very confused. She’d already figured that her year mate would only have wizard clothing, she wasn't that stupid! But why did the other Slytherin seem almost . . . apologetic about it? It just didn't make sense, but Brynn found it slightly amusing. Did Brietta actually care about what she thought? Well, this was an interesting development.

"So?" She said, holding back a smile, "Like I care about that, I am a witch after all." The garment placed before her was certainly a change from what she usually wore, but hey it was something, so she couldn't complain. She did feel like she should say something though, if only to help her year mate feel better about it. "Oh, I like it a lot." she only half lied, "It's very pretty." There, that should be good enough, right? Well at least she'd refrained from saying anything insulting. It really wasn't all that bad though, it was just . . . different. Though she supposed that if she truly wanted to leave the muggle world behind (and she did intend to do so, eventually) she would have to get used to their clothing.

"But anyways," she said, wishing to move forward "you obviously need a lot more help than I do. Luckily for you, I might have some ideas." Brynn gave the other girl a sly smile "The question is, what do you want to try first? Communication options, or arm stuff?" She'd had a few ideas before, but in the short time that they'd been talking, she'd already come up with a few more schemes. Of course, some of them were untested (okay, nearly all of them were), but that was just a small detail. And hey, at least one or two of them had to be somewhat useful! And if not, she would come up with something else. They were a team now, and even if their alliance was somewhat shaky, Brynn would uphold her end of the bargain. Besides, it would be nice to have someone she knew at the weird French school. Now it was just a test to see if Brietta would be willing to try some of her crazy schemes.

"Oh." Brietta muttered disappointedly. She had hoped that Brynn would have said more, giving her something more to go one but apparently not. Still, at least the Slytherin now knew that the other witch had moved at some point in her life and that she likely didn't have a good relationship with her parents, if Brynn deliberately sent the owl to a place she knew her parents wouldn't be. It wasn't much new information but the halfblood figured it was a start and the Toft was determined that she'd weasel more stuff out of the Caines girl eventually.

Brietta's mouth formed an 'o' in surprise. Was Brynn really thanking her? The ginger witch beamed, her spirits raised by the new partnership that was forming. "You're 'elcome!" Brynn has no money?! The Slytherin stepped back, shocked at the new piece of information. She didn't think any parent could be so cruel to their child, unless... "Your 'arents really dunno you're 'ere? You aven't said 'nythin' to 'em?!" She exclaimed. The Toft couldn't believe someone would have such a poor relationship with their parents that they wouldn't even tell them what had happened to them and that they were okay. There was no way Brietta could ever treat her parents like that! She loved them very much and she knew that they loved her and Anna in return. She'd seen the devastation in their eyes once they found out the extensiveness of her injuries, but it was obvious that they weren't devasted for themselves, they were upset for her and in a weird way it made her feel wanted. To know that they still loved despite what had happened to her. The English witch was sure that Brynn's parents would react the same way if they were allowed to see her. Surely, they weren't as horrible as Brynn obviously believed them to be?

Her housemate stated she didn't mind the fact that her clothes weren't muggle clothes and Brietta caught herself sagging in relief. On one hand, she was pleased that Brynn wouldn't care about her wizarding attire but on the other hand, she was also annoyed at herself for being so easily affected by Brynn's opinion. Why should I care what she thinks? Even so, when Brynn claimed to like the dress she had been given, Brietta's heart swelled, flattered by her housemate's approval. "'Eally? Oh, I'm 'ad!"

Brietta raised her eyebrow as Brynn suggested she had some ideas. She wasn't too sure what crazy stuff this wacky girl would come up and she wondered whether anything she suggested would actually be useful or if she'd just suggest all the stuff that Brietta had already thought of. Still, two heads were said to be better than one. Asking for help on communication was the more logical choice because then it could potentially help with eating and drinking too, since they all required using the mouth and she still had one fully functional arm which she was working with by herself to improve the dexterity of. She really did need to be able to communicate though, especially if she'd have to be speaking a non-native language for a while. "Umm... I tink hat seaking is more of a piorty righ' ow." Hopefully, Brynn actually had some useful suggestions otherwise she was doomed.