Dark comes to Light (Raven / Poppy)

Bryant stared at her, unsmiling as she walked into the room; there were so many things he wanted to say to her in this moment, but none of the words came out… All he could feel was his heart shattering into a million pieces, and then those pieces shattering into a million more. She told him that she didn’t expect him to be awake, which was convenient because Bryant hadn’t expected her to bathe with another man, or well… boy. She reached her hand out for him, but Bryant stayed statue still, unmoving as he looked at her; her hair was still wet, which was the final confirmation that Bryant needed and he finally dropped his gaze. “Why should I go to bed with you, Raven?” his voice was soft and defeated. He knew that she would know something was up because he never referred to her as Raven, he hadn’t called her by her actual name in over a year. Bryant looked up at her, the tears welling up in his eyes; “Did Malfoy not want to go to bed with you too?” he added as the first of the tears began to flow.

Bryant stood up and paced around so he was behind the chair, he just stared at Raven who was standing there as if nothing was wrong, as if she hadn’t done anything. She had never expected him to find out about her infidelities, but she had forgotten that the paintings in this school loved gossip, even more than she did. “So, what’s your excuse this time? Trying to get the big scoop?” Bryant’s pain was evident and clear in his voice as he just gawked at Raven, waiting for some response from her.

Bryant could feel the heartbreak turning into anger, not just anger; rage. “Yes, Raven. Malfoy. You know the seventeen year old BOY you were just bathing with!” Bryant yelled at her, for what he was sure was the first time in their relationship. He almost started to feel bad about it until Raven had to add another snide comment about inviting Malfoy into bed with them, and that was the final straw. How dare she joke about inviting someone into their bed? Bryant stood up because sitting was no longer an option; he was pretty sure that he’d never been so angry in his entire life, he wanted to lash out at Raven, to hurt her, to make her feel the pain that he was feeling. Bryant, of course, could and would never hit a woman, that was just completely out of the question; paced so that the chair was between him and Raven, unsure if he just wanted the distance or if he felt the need to keep something between them to keep her safe.

He was still seething, trying to figure out what to do or say to her, and that’s when she made her next brilliant comment to him about needing to get her job done somehow. Bryant grabbed the wooden chair he’d been sitting in, picked it up and hurled it against the nearest wall; watching as it broke apart into pieces. “BY CHEATING ON ME?!” Bryant roared at her; was she so dense as to think that he didn’t know about everything else? Did she really think that her rendezvouses with all of those men wouldn’t get back to him? “YES. This time. Are you really so stupid as to think that all of those men keep their lips sealed after you go spilling all of their secrets?” Bryant was seeing red, he was blind with anger; he could barely control himself as he reached for the type writer on the desk and threw it against the opposite wall. He hated that thing, it was the cause of all of this. Raven’s stupid bloody rantings. “But, I let all of that go; told myself it was just rumors and that people were just jealous because I had Raven Monroe…” Bryant grabbed one edge of the desk this time and flipped it over; watching as everything that was on it flipped over onto the ground, listening as the picture frames shattered. “Well, at least I thought I had Raven Monroe…” The realization hit Bryant like a brick wall that he had been nothing more than a pay check for her, Bryant Xavier had been her cash cow. “You’d better ask for a raise to help support your lavish lifestyle that you’ve grown accustom to… Or well, wait; maybe the Malfoys will be willing to take you in.” Bryant snapped at her with an icy tone.

Bryant wanted to smack her hand away, he didn’t want her to touch him; “No. I’m not going to bed with you, and quite frankly, there’s nothing to talk about in the morning either, other than when you’re going to get your sh.it out of my apartment!” Bryant snapped back at her invitation to go to bed. Bryant wanted to kick her out of his room right now, but it went against everything in him to do so; that and he felt as in the room was closing in on him, he felt claustrophobic in here; he needed to get out.

So get out he did.

Still in his pajamas, and still without a shirt on, Bryant walked past Raven Monroe and straight out of the room that they had been sharing; he couldn’t stand the sight of her anymore and he needed to be free. He power walked down the hallway, unsure of where he was going exactly, he could probably still get into the Ravenclaw common room; but sleeping on the couch in the common room would be highly embarrassing. Bryant tried to come up with other places for him to go, when it struck him. The room of requirement. It would turn into anything he required, and right now, he required a bedroom. Bryant turned on his bare heel, as he hadn’t put on slippers either, and began to walk towards the room of requirement. But as he past the old lady that guarded the prefects bathroom, she stopped him; “Oh my! Bryant! Please don’t be angry with me, I was just concerned.” the painting wailed at him.

“I’m not upset with you, Gretchen.” Bryant replied, his tone still angry. “I just need a place to stay, because I can’t stay there with Ra…” he stopped himself, he couldn’t say her name, not now, not without breaking down. “With… her.”

“Oh! Well that is most understandable Bryant, why not stay with your dearest Poppy? You two have always been so adorable and close.”

Poppy? Was Gretchen going senile on him? Could paintings do that? “Gretchen… are you losing your mind? Poppy graduated years ago, the same year that I did. She’s not her.” Bryant stared at the painting dumbfounded.

The painting giggled and covered her mouth, “Oh, my sincerest apologies Bryant, I’m not giggling at your expense. It’s that me and Iris… you know, the wonderfully nice lady from the astronomy tower. We were just discussing this two evenings ago during our bridge game with Delores, from Hufflepuff; and Saint Thomas, from the headmaster’s office…” Bryant had forgotten how long winded Gretchen could be and he really wasn’t in the mood for it right now, he wished she just get on with her point so he could leave, “…You see Iris said that you didn’t know and I insisted that you must! Oh my! I just need to tell Iris…” Gretchen started to leave her painting before Bryant stopped her, “I don’t know what Gretchen!” Bryant exclaimed trying to figure out what in the hell she was talking about.

“That Poppy is here at Hogwarts, of course!” Gretchen almost laughed as she told him, “She’s our new healer, but I must go share this with Iris. Farewell.” Gretchen quickly disappeared as Bryant stood there dumbfounded, how could Poppy be here and him not know about it? Granted, they hadn’t spoken in year, but he was sure that he’d at least have known that she was here. Bryant quickly turned the other direction, practically breaking into a run as he walked as fast as he could to the hospital wing.

Bryant took a deep breath as he past the actual wing and made his way around the corner to the actual healer’s chambers. He took a deep breath and knocked twice, unsure as to whether or not he actually wanted the painting to be right again.

Bryant felt his heart stop as Madam Pomfrey opened the door, she was just as gorgeous now as she had been seven years ago. He knew that she had asked him a question, but his words had left him and he just stood their mindlessly staring at her. “I…” was all that he had been able to get out. He wanted to find the words to apologize to her for everything, but he knew that anything he said would probably just complicate the situation more and make things worse than they already were. The fact that she had called him Mr. Xavier in place of Bryant, or Bry had cut him deep and he felt himself physically wince at the sharpness of her tongue.

The silence between the two of them weighed down on Bryant like a ton of bricks; he searched his soul for the words to say but none came to him as he simply stood in her doorway, barefoot in pajamas. He dropped his head and was just about to turn away when Poppy invited him to come in, he looked up at her with a confused look, but gladly walked in. He looked around the small room, shocked that Hogwarts hadn’t given their healer nicer quarters, but way too afraid to say anything to her about them. After all, his standard of living had been the reason she hadn’t spoken to him in nearly seven years.

Bryant watched as she prepared the tea, still speechless; it wasn’t until she handed him the tea that he finally was able to speak. “I didn’t know you were here…” he whispered softly to her, “The owls… I sent you countless owls… My owls know how to get to Hogwarts… You received them, didn’t you?” He asked he slightly upset. All of these years, Bryant had been holding onto the hope that his owls hadn’t been able to find her and that’s why he had never heard back from her; but alas, he now knew that she had received them and just ignored him all this time. “Perhaps coming here tonight was a mistake…” Bryant whispered softly as he sat down the tea on her dresser, “I’ll find someplace else to stay tonight then.”

Bryant let out a small sigh, the fact that she had been here this entire time was earth shattering to him; “I don’t know where you could have been… considering that you never responded to any of my owls.” Bryant whispered softly. Bryant watched as she put the mug down on the table, he took note of the fact that she still wouldn’t look at him; which was frustrating to Bryant, he wanted to reach over and force her to look at him. But Bryant’s hands stayed put by his sides as continued to fiddled with her own tea bag.

Bryant stared at the high top, but didn’t sit down, he just simply looked at it; wondering why he should sit down. Why would Poppy want him to sit down now? After the seven years of letters that he’d sent her… begging her for forgiveness, she wanted his company now? Why? “So, you just simply chose to ignore them?” Bryant asked, his voice having a little more edge to it than he had wanted. Bryant was bitter and hurt; Didn’t Poppy realize what she was doing to him? What she had put him through the past seven years? Bryant just simply stared at his tea, and then at the chair and then finally to Poppy, who had still not looked at him since the moment she opened the door. “No thank you, with all respect; I think I’d rather stand.” She confessed to being at St Mungo’s for a stint as well, which almost hurt worse than her being here at Hogwarts. She had been just blocks away from him for a period of time and had ignored his OWLs even then, when he had begged pleaded with her to forgive him. “You were that close to me?” his voice had lost any edge and now simply sounded like the defeated man that he was.

Bryant froze instantly as Poppy placed her hand on his chest, her eyes found his and he could almost feel himself melting; he felt as if they were going back to their seventh year together. He felt as if it was another one of their sleepless nights that they would spend together preparing Bryant for the upcoming challenge, her eyes were just as soft and caring now as they had been on those nights. Her voice… her voice was different however; it wasn’t soft, it was stern, not harsh… but stern. She wasn’t asking him to stay, she was telling Bryant to stay. He assumed that this was the voice she would use with her students when she was trying to get them to stay put or take their medicine. “I’m upset about a lot of things, Madam Pomfrey.” He used her official title in retort to her ‘Mr. Xavier’ comment that she had made earlier. She took a step back and Bryant had to fight the urge to take one forward, he watched as she studied him and wondered what was going through her mind, what was going through her head. His eyes traveled over Poppy, her face was almost exactly as he remembered it; soft and delicate, but it was missing her smile. Poppy’s smile was the thing that he remembered about her most, it was so warm and inviting; it was Bryant’s favorite part of her in fact, and seeing her without it was heartbreaking to him. Bryant wanted to continue and just walk out, but there was some unspoken pull on him, telling him to simply sit down and talk to Poppy. He let out a long, slow breath and then shook his head; “I don’t want to inconvenience you, and I’ve already been rude enough by waking you in the middle of the night.” Bryant continued to explain why he should leave, but still felt his feet firmly planted to Poppy’s floor.

Bryant bit his lip as she talked about graduation, it had been a terrible time for him; sure when it was actually going on Bryant had thought it was the greatest thing ever, but now looking back… Bryant shuttered as the memories reappeared through his mind as if it was a pensive. He could vividly remember the look on Poppy’s face as she told him she never wanted to speak to him again. “I wasn’t aware that you telling me that you never wanted me to speak to you again, was a mutual agreement.” Bryant replied softly, his voice sounding like a man that had been defeated. Bryant had tried to reach out to her, and had thought that maybe all of the letters he’d sent her would help her see how much he’d changed; obviously it hadn’t. “I can imagine it’s quite busy there; I’ve ventured there a couple times myself.” Bryant had gone through a self-destructive phase a year or two after graduation; he’d picked fights with the biggest and the badest wizards he could find. Bryant had gotten in more than a couple duels with Auror’s before Minister Bagnold finally stepped in and said something to him. Bryant was surprised that he hadn’t seen Poppy at St. Mungos; granted he hadn’t been looking for her, but perhaps she had seen him and just chose to ignore him. Leave you to die. his mind told him, and instantly his face dropped thinking that he might be correct.

Bryant watched as she prepared him the lounge as a bed for him, he chuckled softly and shook his head. “I haven’t changed poppy. I still don’t sleep, so you really do not need to go to the trouble of preparing a bed for me.” Bryant had always had a hard time sleeping, in fact he couldn’t remember the last time he got a full night’s sleep. Typically he would just get up and start on work, or go for a run; it all depended on the situation and whether or not he was with Raven.

Bryant shifted uncomfortably as Poppy sat down and asked about what was wrong with him; it felt natural for him to just tell her, but this was the woman that had been ignoring him for the past seven years. “Let’s hear it?” He asked, his voice clearly showing his annoyance, “You’ve ignored me for the past seven years… after I begged and pleaded for forgiveness; and you expect us to be able to go back as if it was the day before graduation?” Bryant knew he had messed up, but he didn’t feel like he deserved to be ignored and shunned for seven years. “I’ve said I was sorry, Poppy. I’ve tried to make this right and you never wrote me back; Did you even read them Poppy?” Bryant asked, his voice losing its edge with every word as it cracked more and more; Bryant was on the verge of a complete and total emotional breakdown, he was just trying to hold together whatever pieces he had left of his sanity.

Bryant watched as she pressed her palms into her temples, he wanted to reach out and rub them for her like he used to when she got overly stressed about a paper, or an upcoming test. But Bryant’s feet remained planted where he stood, too afraid to reach out to her, too afraid that his actions had truly destroyed their friendship permanently. “Uh… yes. They checked me.” Bryant said softly, trying to avoid any questions regarding his medical past, knowing that Poppy would not approve of the things that he had done. She would tell him that he was reckless, and he wasn’t thinking reasonably; which if Bryant were to stop and think reasonably, he would be forced to agree with her.

Bryant watched as she reached out for him; every fiber of his being told him to reach out and take her hand, but for some reason once again his feet remained planted where he stood. He looked into her eyes and instantly he knew of the night that she was talking about, it was the best night of Bryant’s entire life; Bryant had actually slept even if it had been on the hard ground. It had been Poppy’s presence that had been relaxing for him; Bryant wanted nothing more than to go back to that night, he would live in a pensive if he could just relive that moment, over and over again. “In that case, I still wouldn’t be able to sleep on the couch.” Bryant said softly as he looked over to the bed, the only way he would be able to sleep tonight would be cuddled up with Poppy in her bed.

Bryant finally reached out to take Poppy’s hand just as she dropped her hand. His eyes followed it to its resting place on her knee; his hand aching to reach out and grab it, but his feet were still planted, unwilling to move despite the fact that every part of his soul wanted him to run to her side and hold her. He wanted to tell her how badly he’s missed her, and how badly he needs her back in his life. How he’s stared at her picture every day since the day they graduated; even when he had been with Raven, he told her it was his memory from winning the Wizard’s cup when in all reality it was the last picture the two of them had together. But there were no words that he could say, no action that he could do that would be able to prove that to her. Bryant had tried, he’d written her countless letters and she hadn’t even bothered to read them.

Bryant’s breath got caught in his throat as she rose from the sofa and wrapped her arms around his neck; Bryant instinctively wrapped his arms around Poppy’s waist and pulled her tight against his chest, resting his head into the base of her neck. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you, Poppy. Not a day has gone by when I haven’t thought about you. Not a single day.” Bryant pulled back slightly before kissing Poppy’s forehead and resting his head on top of hers. “I’ve needed you. I needed my best friend to get me through.”