Keep holding on;; Braden

[honey belle zeller]

The air was cold tonight and Honey was glad that she'd wrapped up in her scarf, gloves, coat and woolly bobble hat. After all she was going to be spending the majority of the night outside and the last thing she wanted was to catch a cold. Wrapping her arms around herself, Honey continued her way down to the old caretakers hut where she'd asked Braden to meet her. Honey hadn't really spent much time with Braden before, apart from in the Professors lounge and the Great Hall. She'd had a few conversations with him over e-message, which was how they'd arranged to meet tonight. Honey had felt a little bad for saying that she couldn't go to the Halloween party when she'd originally mentioned that she'd go. So, to make it up to Braden, though he probably wasn't all that bothered she couldn't go, she'd asked if he wanted to come help her tonight.

Normally, Honey didn't bring anyone along to help out with what she was doing tonight. The situation was delicate and she didn't want lots of people to know what it was that she was up to. But Braden knowing was okay, he was a professor after all and Honey thought it would be nice to have someone with her when she went into the Forbidden Forest. It had started getting dark earlier now and the Forest wasn't the safest of places to be. Slowing to a halt at the caretakers hut, Honey placed the large brown sack she'd brought with her to the ground and bent down so that she could go through it's contents. It took less than a second to find the lantern she'd packed away and only two seconds more to pull it out and light it so that a soft orange glow emitted from it's center. Now all there was to do, was wait for Braden.

[braden royce barbary]

In all honesty, Braden wasn't too bothered by the fact that he was now not going to the Halloween party. He usually went every year, but recently it hadn't really been his thing. Just hanging out in his own room or going out to the bar was a lot more his style now. However, he wasn't going to be doing either of those things tonight. Tonight, he wasn't even sure what he would be doing. Really, all he knew was that he was going somewhere to do something with Honey and that was alright with him. She wasn't the kind of person he usually hung out with, but the few conversations that they'd had weren't so bad and he had come to generally enjoy being around the girl. Hopefully tonight would be more of the same and whatever they did would kick the ass of showing up to that Halloween party with a bunch of people that clearly didn't like him.

He wasn't entirely sure what to wear, but since they were headed outside, Braden dressed warm. If they were staying outside, he'd definitely appreciate that later. Grabbing all of his keys, as well as the lantern that Honey had asked for, Braden took off from his room and out to the grounds of the castle. It didn't take him too long to reach the caretaker's hut, a place he was quite familiar with, and he was glad to see that Honey was already there and waiting. Raising a hand in greeting, he set the lantern down at his feet to help light the area. "Hey," he said, nodding his head a bit as he spoke. He wasn't a big talker, so that was about as in depth as any greeting ever went for Braden. It got the job done though and it looked like they were going to be off soon to do something, so clearly wasting time there talking would be silly.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[honey belle zeller]

It wasn't long after Honey arrived at the old caretakers hut that Braden joined her, wrapped up warm carrying the lantern she'd asked him to bring. "Hi" she returned his greeting with her usual warm smile, glad that he'd shown up. Honey hadn't been entirely sure if he would or not but she didn't think Braden was the sort to leave someone waiting around without at least telling them he wasn't coming. At least, she didn't get that sort of impression from him. "Ready?" she asked, bending to swing up the brown sack onto her shoulder.

The old caretakers hut sat just outside the forbidden forest, so it took only moments for them to break into the trees and then only a couple of minutes more to reach their destination. "Okay, we're here!" Honey chirped quietly, slowing to a halt in the middle of a large clearing. It was dark and eerily quiet. It seemed like the area was void of any forms of life besides herself and Braden but Honey knew better. Placing down her brown sack but keeping a tight hold on her lantern, she wandered into the middle of the clearing and began to whistle a tune.

The eery silence continued when Honey's whistle died off until a rustle of leaves to the right caught her attention. Turning with her lantern in hand, Honey quickly glanced to Braden and gave him an almost excited smile but silently told him to stay put with her free hand. The rustle came again and then slowly, a brilliant white creature broke through into the clearing to join them. Honey's smile was much wider now, full of warmth and adoration. "Hey Orion" she greeted, giggling when the fawn galloped over to nuzzle his face into her cheek. "Braden this is Orion, Orion this is Braden." Honey indicated to each of them in turn and slowly led Orion towards Braden so that they could get a better look at each other.

"As you can see, Orion is a foal unicorn." Honey explained, the excitement in her voice evident and rubbed her hand across the young unicorns neck. There was a silent moment in which Orion sized Braden up before he eventually bowed his head as if in greeting. Honey's face lit up with a smile and she giggled when Orion attempted to lick at her face. "He likes you." she beamed, glad that Orion had accepted Braden. It would have been bad if he hadn't, Orion might have bolted and Honey might have lost him for good. It had been a big risk to take but for some reason she couldn't quite explain, she'd known that, that wouldn't have happened.

[braden royce barbary]

Acknowledging her greeting with a quick nod of his head, Braden looked around at the things in front of her, curious as to what, exactly, they would be doing that night. He probably should have asked her before just showing up and hoping they weren't doing something stupid, but to be honest he hadn't quite cared. He was really just happy to get out of the castle with someone else for awhile. Grunting in response to her question, Braden quickly moved to correct himself by actually responding with real words for once. "Uh, yeah, let's go than," he nodded, attempting to be at least slightly more civilized than he used to be. Which, really, wasn't all that hard to accomplish.

Though he moved to help Honey with the bag that she had thrown over her shoulder, it was fairly obvious that she had a handle on things, so Braden stood back and simply followed along to wherever they were headed. Not at all bothered by the idea of heading into the forest, Braden didn't hesitate in the slightest as they pushed through the mass of trees and into the dark abyss. He'd been in there plenty of times before on his own accord for the job, so it seemed fairly natural for him to just pick up and head into the forest without even a second thought. Stopping in the clearing when they reached it, Braden looked around for some special something that she may have brought him there for. However, as far as he could see there wasn't much of anything.

Hearing a distinct whistle coming from Honey, Braden's attention moved back to the girl. Raising an eyebrow in question, he nodded lightly when she motioned for him to say right where he was. An odd request, but he was sure that she had a good reason for it, else she wouldn't have told him to not move. Fidgeting slightly when he heard a rustling in the bushes, it took quite a bit of restraint for Braden not to jump forward and see what the hell it was. Usually when things were moving around in the forest, it was a good time to get out your wand and prepare to fight like hell, but Honey seemed to be convinced that it was safe and Braden, for whatever reason, trusted her.

When the young unicorn foal came into view, Braden's eyes brightened with surprise. That was the last thing that he had expected to see, considering how rare it was that you stumbled upon one. Honey, however, was quite acquainted with the creature and Braden was most definitely impressed by that fact. A bit of a smile appeared on his face when the foal bowed down, allowing Braden to rub at his head for a moment before backing away again. Braden didn't want to scare the thing, so he was being quite careful with his movements. "That's kind of incredible. How'd you find this guy?" he asked, looking over at Honey with a genuine interest. Braden absolutely adored animals and even had a dog of his own, so seeing a unicorn foal was definitely quite the experience for the boy.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[honey belle zeller]

All in all Honey couldn't have hoped for a better outcome. Orion had welcomed Braden with little hesitation and Braden seemed to be in awe of unicorn, which was good too. Honey would have felt a little stupid for dragging Braden out here for him to turn around and not care at all about seeing a unicorn. "I found him." Honey answered in short, brushing her hand across his neck again. "It was in my last year at hogwarts. I used to come out here, to this very spot. I kind of like it here, it's peaceful." she explained, shrugging her shoulders. "One day I came out to eat my lunch and that's when I found this guy. He was injured." a frown marred her features as she remembered the day she'd come across Orion and his mother. "He wasn't alone. But I.. I couldn't save his mother. It was too late." she bit her lower lip and let out a low sigh. "I don't know what happened to them." she glanced at Braden and then to Orion who had lowered his head as if he too could remember that day.

"But since I healed Orion, I've been coming out here ever since. I used to come every night, because I didn't want him to be alone. But now I come every couple of nights, to keep him company." she gave Braden a sheepish smile and then hurried over to the brown sack she'd discarded. "Which is why we're here now." she chirped, returning to her bright self. Picking up her lantern and sack, Honey hurried back over, tripping on an uprooted tree branch along the way. She stumbled, losing her footing completely but regaining it in the very last second. "Aha, silly me.." she gave a strangled giggle, feeling like a complete moron. Orion snorted as if he was having a laugh at her small stumble and she glared at him playfully, before regaining her composure and moving to join Braden.

Once she'd placed the lantern on the floor, Honey began to unpack her brown sack. First she pulled out a small furry peach and then tossed up into the air for Orion to catch. "He loves peaches." she explained to Braden whilst pulling out a woolen picnic blanket. She went to work as Orion munced away at his peach. First she placed the blanket down and then removed the bag of peaches before she removed a large flask filled with hot chocolate, some juice, (in case Braden didn't like hot chocolate) and a small basket filled with food. Sandwiches, pumpkin pasties and a variety of sweets from Honeydukes. "Ah.. I thought you might be hungry, so I made extra." she explained and then added. "I usually eat with Orion out here" Just in case Braden thought she some weirdo who had lured him out into the middle of the forest for a late night picnic date.

[braden royce barbary]

Braden was more than a bit surprised to hear that, even as a younger kid, Honey had been coming back into the depths of the forest. Sure, if you knew what you were doing than it could be relatively safe, but as a younger student it was highly unlikely you could defend yourself against many of the creatures that inhabited the place. Braden listened as Honey spoke, lightly scratching the unicorn's neck as he did so. "That's pretty cool," he said simply, definitely impressed by the woman. He knew that she had been a Hufflepuff and as a general stereotype he assumed that they were all kind of lame, but she was pretty cool for a Hufflepuff. "I guess you're kind of like his mum now than, huh?" he asked. It wasn't exactly the most heartwarming of stories and also gave rise to the question of what, exactly, had been attacking the unicorns. It was partly his job to be sure that things like that didn't happen, but he really had no idea what he could do to look into that.

The fact that, despite the dangers, Honey was out there nearly every night was definitely impressive to Braden. Though, he was easily impressed by almost any show of badassery. Letting his hand drop from the young unicorn, Braden paced backwards sightly to let the creature move about freely. "This beats going to that party thing, for sure. I don't think anyone wanted me there anyways," he commented with a shrug as Honey started to move about. Hearing the rustle of the roots as Honey fell forward, Braden made a quick start to move over and help her, stopping in his tracks when she caught herself before completely face planting. "You alright there," he asked, walking over by her anyways, just in case another root caught her foot. Sometimes Braden was convinced that the forest was alive and that the trees were out to get them, since he'd had his fair share of bumps and bruises from falls out there.

Hanging back as she started to unpack the various things she brought, he watched with a bit of a smile. It brought a chuckle when he saw Orion eating the peach that Honey had tossed to him, since it was pretty damn cute. Of course, Braden would never use the word cute where anyone could hear him, so he settled for something more manly sounding. "Watching him eat is pretty cool," he nodded, figuring that sounded normal enough for a guy to say. Seeing more food come out of the bag, Bray's eyes lit up excitedly. Food was one of his favorite things and anyone that offered him food was alright by him. "I'm always hungry," he admitted with a sheepish shrug. Seating himself down on the blanket, he sat to wait for Honey to start before he started to devour any of the food. He didn't want to seem like a total caveman yet.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[honey belle zeller]

A smile arose on Honey's face when Braden said that she was now kind of Orions mother. She hadn't thought about it before but she supposed that she was like a mother to the young unicorn. She liked the thought of Orion being a part of her family, even if he was a unicorn, it warmed her heart a little.

Any worry Honey might have felt about Braden thinking this whole thing was kind of stupid vanished when he commented that being here was better than being at the Halloween party. She wasn't sure if he was saying it to be polite or if he actually didn't mind being out in the middle of the forest at night. But Honey didn't think he was the type to stick around if he didn't want to be some place, so she took the comment as genuine. When Braden commented that he was always hungry, Honey chuckled a little. "That's good then because I think I may have brought a little too much." a sheepish grin tugged at her lips as she surveyed the picnic spread. Oh well. "Help yourself." she said before she unwrapped a cheese sandwich, took a half and began to eat.

"You can feed him if you want." Honey said after she'd swallowed her mouthful and nodded towards the bag of peaches. She wasn't sure if Braden would want to or not but she thought that it might help Orion warm to him more, although the unicorn had already warmed to the caretaker quite fast.

[braden royce barbary]

Braden didn't really think that there was such a thing as "too much" when it came to food. Honestly, he could eat all day and probably could still find room to stuff more food in his stomach. If he didn't have a job that required him to put forth effort at times, he probably would have been extremely fat. As soon as Honey started to eat, Braden happily took a sandwich for himself and started to scarf it down. Typically it wouldn't have taken more than a minute or two for him to down a sandwich, but since he was with Honey he was attempting to be more civilized and actually take his time eating it. It wasn't often that Braden put forth so much effort, so he rather hoped that she appreciated his lack of cavemanesque actions.

Munching on the sandwich, Braden also grabbed a bag of chips to start eating those as well. "This is good, thanks," he commented with a nod, waiting until he had finished chewing before he spoke. Pretty much anyone that would make him food was alright in Braden's opinion, so the fact that she had made so much food made Honey even that much better. Picking up one of the peaches at her approval, Braden held it out towards the unicorn, waiting until the creature had chomped down to take it before lowering his hand. The unicorns lips tickled at his hand slightly and Braden chuckled as the peach was taken from him. "Are there lots of unicorns out here?" he asked, not really sure what sort of creatures were out there or how many of them there were. He dealt with problems, but he didn't really get the chance to really learn much about what went on in the forest.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[honey belle zeller]

Honey was glad that she'd invited Braden out with her tonight. It beat having to spend another night alone with just Orion for company. She didn't mind it being just the two of them so much, but she'd be lying if she said that she didn't get scared from time to time. On a couple of occasions, she'd even cast protective spells to keep any unwanted creatures away. Most of the time the creatures of the forest went about their own business but she'd had enough close brushes to be extra cautious. So having Braden here with her was a definite plus, he wasn't bad company and Orion had taken to him surprisingly well.

Finishing off the first half of her sandwich, Honey slid her gaze casually towards Braden, secretly checking to see if he was enjoying the food. He'd already polished off one sanswich and was now digging his way through a bag of crisps so she took that as a good sign. Picking up a pumpkin pasty, she took a small bite and chewed it slowly as she mulled over Braden's question. Hm.. If there are, I haven't seen them." To be honest, Honey thought she was lucky enough to have found Orion and his mother. They're pretty rare though, so i guess it's not too unusual that i haven't spotted any more." She shrugged her shoulders lightly and glanced at Orion who had settled himself down besides Braden. Honey smiled, a little bemused. I think he likes having another male around." she explained with a grin and then cocked her head to the side thoughtfully, as if something had just occured to her. "You know, i think this is the first time we've ever had an actual conversation face to face."

[braden royce barbary]

Although this hadn't been the evening that Braden was expecting, he was actually quite enjoying himself. Honey wasn't so bad and definitely not as quiet as he first assumed, the forest was just the right amount of creepy, and to top it all off he was being fed. All in all, it was a good evening and it beat having to go get dressed up to go to a party that he didn't even want to attend. Continuing to snack on the chips, he looked back over at Honey with a small smile. He nodded briefly as she answered his question, not at all surprised by it. In all the time that he spent around the area, he hadn't seen a single one. Of course, he had thought it partially was because most animals probably would rather avoid him, since he was typically quite grumpy when he was working. He could argue the fact that they'd be more likely to investigate Honey than himself, at least.

Shifting over slightly when Orion settled down on the ground beside him, Braden moved his arm to rest across the back of the small unicorn. The unicorn was warm and it was a bit nippy out, so it made for a comfortable position. "Yeah, he's just impressed by my studly figure, I bet," he nodded with a chuckle. To that, Orion had nothing more to say than a snort. Thinking on it, Braden was pretty sure that she was right. Though he had seen her around once in awhile, he didn't think that he'd ever actually bothered to talk to her in person. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Interesting way to start out our friendship or whatever," he shrugged. He wasn't sure if Honey considered them friends or what, but Braden would count her in his list of friends, definitely.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[honey belle zeller]

Honey couldn't help but giggle at Braden's comment and she looked from him to Orion and back again. "Oh sure." she teased before moving on to finish of the other half of her sandwich. A warm smile tugged at her lips and she nodded her head in agreement with what the male had just said. "Yeah, I guess it is." she looked across to Orion and lightly chewed at her lower lip, trying to rid the goofy smile from her face. To think that less than an hour ago, Honey hadn't known what Braden would think of being brought out into the middle of the woods at night and now they were forming a friendship. It was nice. Honey loved having friends,she'd always been a people person. So making a new friend was something she was always happy to do.

Leaning over to grab a peach, Honey tossed it up into the air, just light enough that it sailed up and then down in a small arch towards Orion, who lifted his head to catch the treat. "What's your patronous?" she asked suddenly and looked back to Braden. It might have been a strange question to be asking but Honey genuienly wanted to know. Partly out of curiousity and partly because looking at Orion was making her think of how she sometimes wished she was an animal. Free and wild, with no worries but having to feed yourself. This in turn lead her to think about how she wasn't an animagus and that the only thing that represented her animal was her patronous. "Mine's a lamb. They say that the patronous represents a part of us. A part of our conscience. Do you think that's true?" she mused and then blushed a little when she realized that Braden probably thought she was weird for asking such a strange and unusal question out of the blue.

[braden royce barbary]

For Braden, at least, it was kind of weird to think that he was actually making a friend right now. He wasn't exactly the most outgoing and sociable kind of guy and most of his "friends" consisted of people that played Call of Duty with him from the far corners of the world, so it was a nice change to be just hanging out and doing something different. "It's cool though," he added with another shrug. Though he was comfortable enough as he was, he still wasn't very great with his conversational skills. It was just something that hadn't developed much in Braden, perhaps because he spent too much of his time holed up in his room and playing video games. Give him a headset and a war to win and he could be a total chatterbox, but outside of that, not so much.

Watching as Orion grabbed up the next peach that was thrown his way, Braden chuckled a little before looking back up at Honey. His patronus, not something he'd made since a few years back in school. "Ah, it's a black bear. Not sure how that represents me, but yah," he shrugged. He'd always heard that the patronus was supposed to match the person, which for the most part he could see.He definitely could picture Honey as a lamb, from the little that he knew of her. "I think yours works for you. Lamb's are like, little and soft and stuff," he added, frowning at the end when he realized that he was definitely not explaining himself very well there and probably sounded kind of stupid. He often ended up coming across as rather slow-witted, though he really wasn't.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[honey belle zeller]

Honey flashed Braden a wide grin, happy that he thought it was cool that they were becoming friends. Although Honey liked to think she had a lot of people she could call friends, the truth was, she didn't have many professor friends. So it was nice to be forming one with Braden, although she wasn't entirely sure he could be classed as a professor. He was still an important person up at the school so she classed it as the same thing.

"A bear?" she repeated, a hint of awe and suprise mixed in with her soft voice. She didn't know much about bears but knew that they were intelligent and very strong and powerful animals. Now that she looked at Braden, he sort of came across that way. Strong, not in an overly confident way but in a quiet way that told her he was very sure of himself as a person, that he was probably quite clever too. Braden Barbary was a bit of a mystery and Honey couldn't help but feel glad that she knew his patronous. She felt as though she knew a secret piece of the quiet caretaker who kept to himself. It was stupid because he'd probably tell anyone who asked him, what his patronous was, but it still made her a little happy.

"Little and soft, hm?" she repeated, amused. Although she didn't exactly want to admit that she was little and soft, because that would make her seem weak, she couldn't help but agree. "I think I know what you mean." she said when he looked as though he might have said something stupid. After all, most people described her that way. Warm and gentle. That was just the same as little and soft, she guessed.

Grabbing the flask of hot chocolate, Honey poured herself a cup and offered some to Braden, placing it down within his reach so that he could help himself if he wanted any. "You have a younger sister, don't you? Harley I think?" Honey remembered her from class and had only just pieced together that they could be related. "She's a good student. Very.. lively." she grinned and took a sip from her hot chocolate.

[braden royce barbary]

Braden shrugged a bit, not sure what to make of his patronus. He wasn't exactly an expert on animals, so he really just knew that bears were kind of big and intimidating. He supposed that was a good enough explanation as to why his patronus might be a bear, so he'd never really thought about it after that. There was probably a lot more to the story, which might be interesting to find out. A person's patronus was said to tell a lot about their true character, after all. Though, perhaps Braden didn't want to delve into that, since it could in the end just tell him a ton of bad things about himself. Best to just leave it as it was. "I guess bears are cool or whatever," he said, leaving the matter at that. Honey could make of it what she wanted, since she probably was far more knowledgeable about bears than he was.

Glancing down at the ground sheepishly when she repeated what he had said, Braden was glad to note that she didn't sound offended by what he said. Little and soft certainly wasn't a bad thing, as far as he was concerned. "Yeah, it's uh, it works for you," he nodded. Though he hadn't known Honey for long and only had talked to her a few times, he felt like he had at least a grasp of who she was. She was nicer than pretty much anyone he'd met, well, ever, and she just seemed really innocent. He kind of felt like his presence was corrupting her just by sitting there talking. It was a ridiculous thought, but he didn't think he was the kind of person that someone like Honey should be around. However, they were somehow managing to get along fine, so he wasn't going to protest the matter too much.

Giving her a gracious nod, he took one of the cups and poured himself a mug of hot chocolate as well. It was a fairly chilly night, so the drink felt good as it slid down his throat and proceeded to warm his entire body. "Yeah, Harley. She's ah, definitely lively. I'm sorry if she causes you any trouble in class or whatever," he commented with a bit of a chuckle. He knew Harley could be a bit much to handle, but she was definitely the sibling that he got along with best. They were a lot alike in some ways, even though they were entirely different in others. "Do you like your job teaching here? Seems like it'd be a lot of work," he asked. He could never had become a professor himself, since that just wasn't his thing. He liked manual work that kept him busy and didn't require too much thinking.

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[honey belle zeller]

Honey nodded along with Bradens shrug. She, herself, thought bears were a little more than cool but she didn't come across overly geeky about that. Just because she was animal crazy didn't mean that Braden cared to listen to her rant on about just why bears are more than 'cool'. A knowing grin pulled at her lips when Braden began to talk about his little sister. "Oh no, not at all." Honey waved off the apology. Sure the youngest Barbary could be quite rowdy, but so could alot of the other students, when they wanted to be. That was just teenagers for you.

"I love my job." Honey said with a shy smile, not many people admitted to liking their jobs but Honey genuinely did. "It's most definitely hard work." she chuckled and then shrugged her shoulders. "But I wouldn't change it for the world." she glanced down at the hot chocolate in her hands and chewed on her lower lip. "You think I'm a dork now, don't you?" she gave him a smile, to show that she didn't mind if he did think she was kind of strange for liking her job so much, and quickly went on. "How about you? Do you like your job?" she asked, rolling another peach over to Orion. "You must have a lot to do, taking care of the castle and all." It must have been tiring, Honey thought, having to run around the castle, keeping it in good condition, cleaning up after the children.