Don't Talk About It (Charlotte)

[Mirren Fey]

It was a rather chilly fall day to just be wearing a light leather jacket, but Mirren wasn't planning on spending much time outside. Her trips outside would be short and brief and hopefully painless, while her stays inside would be long and drawn out. She was going to spend as much time as she could in Hogsmead today, generally doing nothing when she could be attempting to make a dent in the loads of homework the teachers had already assigned. But the castle was already starting to suffocate her and those god-awful robes they had to wear all the time were already making her skin crawl in her eagerness to get them off. It was a blessing to her when the weekend rolled around and she could escape into the small town of Hogsmead for a few hours, get some fresh air and wear normal clothes.

Some wondered why a pure blood witch from a strong line would want to be out of Hogwarts so badly when most wanted to be there just as bad and would kill to have her linage. But the answer for Mirren was simple: she didn't want to be a witch. She'd never dreamt about having magical powers. Her dreams since the age of six had been filled with stages, bright lights, music, and costumes. The dream of becoming a professional dancer and going to Julliard in New York had consumed her from a young age, even after she'd found out she was a pure blood witch. There were few things she liked about being a witch. Mostly, it was just a hindrance to her achieving her real dream. She was at Hogwarts simply because it was expected of her because she hadn't succeeded in hiding her powers from her grandparents, whom had raised her. She was just scraping by with average grades, dreaming of the day she would graduate from the stone prison and be free to do what she wished.

Not that she had ever voiced those wishes to any of peers, not even those in her own house, in all the years she'd been attending Hogwarts. It would be considered blasphemy to most and at the very least, really strange to the rest. So she coped throughout the school year, more excited than most to be out for summer so she could dance seven hours a day, uninterrupted.

Pulling her brown leather jacket tighter around her, she quickened her steps, heading straight for the Three Broomsticks. She'd been pretty much everywhere else and despite keeping her trips outside brief, she was chilled to her bones. A strong wind whipped through the streets, cutting through the fabric of her jeans and jacket, making her shiver. She desperately needed something warm to drink, and this was the place to get it.

Pushing open the doors to the small pub, Mirren took only a moment to relish the sudden warmth before she made her way to the nearest table. No back tables for her. She'd learned her lesson when she'd picked a secluded back table for herself and a creepy man had followed her back there, trying to get her to go somewhere with him. Though she'd refused, she'd felt his presence for the last few hours she'd been in town that day, had the feeling he was still following her, and it had thoroughly creeped her out. Since, she'd taken to grabbing tables in the middle of the place or nearest to the most crowded area. If worse came to worse, she could blend in with the crowd. Blending was what she did best, after all.

When the tired looking waitress came to take her order, she ordered a steaming mug of butter beer then sat back in her chair to wait, letting her inquisitive blue gaze roam over the worn down place and its equally worn residents. If the customers there weren't drunks, they were unsuccessful businessmen, trying to con unsuspecting people into their services, or they were other students from school. Some she recognized, others she didn't, either way, she made no move to go over to any of the small groups or pairs clustered about the room.

Even in her five, almost six years of being at the school, Mirren had made no really close friends. There were a few she hung out with most of the time, but none of them really knew her though they'd made countless efforts to get her to spill about her life before giving up finally and leaving her be. It took Mirren a long time to warm up to people and trust them, and so far, no one had proven themselves worthy of that kind of time and attention, nor had they shown that much interest in her. She made it her goal every school year to remain as under the radar as possible, and so far, she'd succeeded. There were few outside of her house that even knew her name, though they vaguely recognized her face. It wasn't that she wasn't pretty or friendly, it was just that when people came up to her, she made no effort to leave a lasting impression or try to make them like her and stick around longer. Conversations with Mirren were brief, if not a little cold, sometimes with her cracking a rather dry, sarcastic remark that others didn’t know whether to laugh at or if she was serious, and most considered her to be cold, aloof and stuck up because of it, though that couldn't be further from the truth.

Mirren simply just didn't want to create any lasting bonds with people from her school because she knew she would never be making an effort to stay involved in the wizarding world once she graduated from Hogwarts. As soon as possible, she was off to New York to chase her dream of a professional dance career, and it would be hard enough to leave her grandparents, let alone any close friends she'd made.

As she started to warm up some, the heat from the small pub chasing away the chill in her bones, she slipped off her jacket and hung it on the back of her chair. Fishing her phone out of her bag, she leaned forward onto the table, flipping her ridiculously long brown hair over her shoulders as she rested on her elbows, proceeding to fiddle with her phone, trying to look busy so, hopefully, no one would try to come up to her. Hogsmead trips were her "me time" where she didn't have to pretend to be interested in magic or try so hard to keep a distance from people. She wasn't interested in adding another person into the equation at the moment.

WORDS! 1122
OUTFIT! HERE
TAGS! Charlotte Bryson
NOTES! Eh, she's not in the friendliest of moods xD
INSPIRATION! The Wanted radio on Pandora
CREDITS! Template Byarro @ Caution!
LYRICS! Colorado Sunrise by 3OH!3

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[Charlotte Bryson]

Once Charlotte got an idea into her head, it was impossible for her to concentrate on anything besides that. It was a blessing and a curse, as most people who knew her could say. While it made her driven and ambitious, it also made her stubborn and often downright impossible. It was the same thing with all other aspects of her life, such as friendship and dating. Charlie appeared to be cold and condescending, because she didn't care to make nonsense relationships. Being friendly, she found, was nothing but a waste of time. Too often friends came and went, and she was looking for something more long term. Boys were another train wreck. Charlotte was way too intimidating for them, which was fine, because she wasn't entirely concerned about them anyways.

Acquaintances were useful, and Charlotte was sure to have them- especially well off ones. It was always nice to have a few exceptionally large Slytherin's, for this or that. However, being friendly had never been Charlotte's thing. Once people proved themselves useful, or worthy, she simply kept them around. It wasn't that she held a prejudice to the people in other houses, she'd befriend anyone- as long as they were what she needed. Granted, all of that made her sound like some one without a soul, someone who used people, which was not entirely true. After deciding to keep someone around, Charlie was fiercely loyal and would do anything for those she cared about. They just didn't come around that often, so there were few examples to show.

Among the short list of people Charlotte cared about was Mirren Fey. The girl was also a Ravenclaw, and was in the same year as Charlotte. Though quiet and possibly a bit cold, Charlie was drawn to her instantly. Their attitude towards strangers was similar, and Charlie decided they were going to be friends. Getting the girl to go along with her plan was a bit more of a challenge.Mirren may not have cared for her at first, but Charlie was insistent. Eventually, Charlie wore her down, and they'd been best friends ever since. For reasons she didn't understand, Mirren had always been vague about her future plans, and why she chose not to associate with other students. Not that it mattered to Charlotte, she had her friend, and that's what counted.

Hogwarts got cold rather quickly, once the school term started. It was only early fall when the leaves changed, and the temperatures dropped. Charlotte didn't particularly mind, partly because she enjoyed the cold, and partly because it meant she was just that much closer to going home for the holidays. One especially chilly weekend, the students were released from the castle for a nice day in Hogsmead. Although excited by the opportunity to go out for a while, Charlie almost skipped on the field trip because of the massive stack of homework she had waiting for her. It was still early on in the term, yet the teachers were apparently trying to bury their students in papers. However, Charlotte spent most of her free time in the library, and figured she deserved a treat.

What she did not expect, though, was for it to be very cold. After about an hour, (she left late, justifying that she could go if she got some work done.)she was tired and cold, and ready to go back. Hogsmead could only entertain one for so long, and she'd been almost everywhere. With a wistful glance, she looked back at the castle. Even from a distance, she could see the lights from the Great Hall. She loved Hogwarts, and considered it to be home, but she was sad to go back. It was nice to have a break from the homework and idiotic students. Well, not yet, she decided and began the trek from the outskirts in town to the Three Broomsticks.

She pulled open the heavy wooden door and stepped inside. The warmth and smell of alcohol instantly hit her senses, and she automatically felt better. The pub was relatively crowded, and not many seats were open. Maybe she would join someone from school. Lots of Hogwarts students had taken refuge in the tavern, away from the biting chill. However, as she scanned the room, there weren't many people she knew- and even fewer that she liked. Her eyes landed on Mirren, sitting all by herself. Charlie pursed her lips and began walking through the pub. Mirren was toying with a muggle cell phone, and looked like she didn't want to be disturbed. Well, too bad, Charlotte thought.

After she arrived at the table, she raised an eyebrow at her best friend and smiled slightly. "Hey, Stranger. Mind if i sit down?" Charlie asked. The question was rhetorical, obviously, because she sat down before even finishing the sentence. She waved to get the attention of a waitress who was serving a table not too far away, and ordered herself a butterbeer. She shook off her coat before refocusing her attention on Mirren, "Why are you sitting here all alone?" Charlotte never did well with subtlety.

Knowing Mirren, the girl probably wanted to be left alone. However, Charlie wasn't about to sit with people she didn't know- or by herself, for that matter. Besides, there's no fun in sitting by yourself, right?

count : 888 tags : Mirren Fey
noted : Sorry this is a bit shorter than yours, it'll get better, i promise.
credited : KBIRD of caution 2.0

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[Mirren Fey]

Mirren was a girl that lived by very strict rules. She had rules for everything. Keep friends limited. No fast food. Nothing but water after 10:30 p.m. Never get attached to things. And there were several more. But, there were some that would say rules are meant to be broken, and of course, Mirren's rules had some exceptions, one of which that had just walked in the door.

Charlotte Bryson was perhaps the only exception to her rule of don't get too close to kids from school. But it wasn't by choice, not really. The girl had just simply decided that they were going to be friends one day, and she'd be damned if it wasn't going to happen, because that was the way she was. At first, Mirren hadn't really liked her. She'd found her too in your face and slightly obnoxious and maybe even a little annoying because of it. But the blonde just would not give up on her, no matter how hard Mirren tried to make her. Eventually, Charlie started to grow on the distant teen and at the first sign of Mirren's armor starting to crack, Charlotte had just wormed her way in further. It wasn't long after that the two girls (who turned out to be very similar despite outward appearances and first impressions) became best friends, much to the surprise of fellow housemates and classmates.

Despite herself, Mirren found that she actually cared about Charlie. It took her a long time to figure this out though, even months after others were already considering them inseparable, because that’s just the way Mirren is. Somehow, Charlie had earned the flighty girl's trust and loyalty without Mirren even realizing it. It scared her a little, because she knew she was just going to end up leaving her at the end of next year, but then she thought, what the hell. What were the chances of them remaining friends after school, anyway? Besides, it was nice to be friends with someone like Charlie, who didn't take any crap from anyone and everyone really preferred not to mess with. Charlie had as much of reputation of being a stuck up bitch as Mirren did, Charlie was just more vocal about it and about things in general. Where Mirren was quiet and considered cold and aloof, Charlie was loud and considered a snarky bitch. To the outside looking in, they couldn't be more different, but in all reality, they were more alike than not.

Both girls were highly intelligent and there had been more than one occasion where they'd matched wits, usually ending in stalemates, but both thinking they'd won. They both had generally the same views on the world and their classmates (their general consensus was that both had their moments, but those moments were few and far in between and not worth messing with the rest of the time). They both took a long time to warm up to new people and once you had their trust, it was for life. It was a comfort to Mirren, knowing that about her best friend. She knew that she wasn't just going to get tossed to the side if Charlie found something better, and it was definitely nice to have a friend like that. Loyalty and trust were number one in Mirren's book, though few would ever prove those traits to her, let alone earn them back.

So, because she knew Charlie so well, she knew there was going to be no chance of avoiding the girl, even if she wanted to. Besides, if someone was going to have to interrupt her "me time" she'd rather it be Charlie than some ignorant asshole that was coming up to her on a dare from his equally ignorant group of friends to see if he could get her to crack a smile or piss her off, whichever happened first. Mirren took only seconds to assess this, then was back to fiddling with her phone, a present from her grandparents so she could stay in touch with the muggles she knew since they wouldn't know what to do if Mirren's small, black and brown owl named Pip came flying up to them and dropped a wax sealed letter on their head.

She didn't even spare another glance up when she heard her friend sit down, not deigning to answer her obviously rhetorical question. Finishing up what she was pretending to do on her phone, Mirren leaned down to slip it back in her bag before sitting back up just as the waitress set down her mug of butter beer then went to get Charlie's. Pulling a hairband off her slim wrist, she combed her extremely long, thick hair back into a ponytail and twisted the elastic band around it to get it off her neck and out of her face. She was tired of it getting in the way, but her dance instructors wouldn't let her cut it.

"Why are you sitting here all alone?"

Her best friend was nothing if but blunt and to the point. Mirren responded to that question with a blank look then spoke dryly, "Because I have so many friends I just couldn't choose who to sit with, so instead of offending one group or the other, I decided to sit all alone. Isn't that the diplomatic thing to do?" She knew Charlie wouldn't be offended by her sarcastic comment and would likely respond with one back.

WORDS! 910
OUTFIT! HERE
TAGS! Charlotte Bryson
NOTES! That's all right! As long as posts give me something to work with, I'm okay with any length, really. =)
INSPIRATION! The Wanted radio on Pandora
CREDITS! Template Byarro @ Caution!
LYRICS! Colorado Sunrise by 3OH!3

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[Charlotte Bryson]

As a child, Charlotte hadn't been fond of change. As much as she loved to beg for newer, prettier toys, she would always revert back to the ones she already had. One of her mother's friends said it was just a phase, a fear of the future that would eventually pass. It didn't. In her not-so-humble opinion, it was always better to trust what you knew than blindly stumble into things. With age, it did get better. Charlotte eventually learned to not to cry every time her mother hired a new maid, or they remodeled a room. Maybe it was a desperate need to be in control, or maybe it was simply because Charlie had been so damn loyal her entire life.

Also, as a child (and as a teenager, as well) Charlotte had a healthy appreciation for breaking rules. Most of the time, she craved structure and order, as well as routines. However, there were some rules, she found, were meant to be broken. Mostly, the rules she broke were based upon principle, the ones instated by teachers she didn't like, or the ones she just found to be stupid. The most common reason for Charlotte blatantly disregarding orders, though, was when someone told her directly not to do something. As previously stated, once Charlie got an idea into her head, it stuck, and she would stick with it if just for the sake of being stubborn. Even if an idea had never even occurred to her before, once told not to do it, it became fair game. It was like the Garden of Eden, forever longing the forbidden fruit. Not to say that she enjoyed causing trouble, but if given the opportunity, a snake would be a snake, a bear would be a bear, and Charlotte would be Charlotte.

When someone like Mirren, who had such strict rules for herself, met someone like Charlie- well, it was like handing a pyromaniac a box of matches. Of course they got along, and Mirren accepted the girl, Charlotte wouldn't have had it go any other way. The fact that they were incredibly similar was just an added bonus. If they hadn't, and were actually very different, then at least Charlotte could have considered it another challenge accomplished. But they were, and their views on loyalty were, thankfully, very much the same. Of all the friends Charlie had, Mirren was the one she was least afraid to fight with,(not that they often did) because at the end of the day they would always make up. Mirren would never replace her with some snobby seventh year with more cleavage than brains, like some of her housemates, and vice a versa. Friendship like that was very hard to find, especially in teenage girls that changed their minds as often as their clothes, and Charlotte was very lucky to have it.


It was because of this that Charlotte did not feel any guilt about bursting Mirren's serene little bubble. Besides, there had been a large group of males who were drinking fire whiskey and pointing to Mirren from across the bar, muttering words like "dare" and "hot". It probably would have been a matter of minutes before they approached her, the idiots.


Mirren barely glanced up at Charlotte before going back to playing with that muggle device. A cell phone, Mirren had called it. Though Charlie understood the premise of 'muggles don't handle owls very well', she still thought animals were a better way to deliver mail. Plus, they were cuter. But Mirren used the boxy looking thing to contact her grand parents, whom she loved very much, so Charlie decided it would be best not to bring it up too often. The idea of having the phone out was to come off as busy, presumably, but in the wizarding world, it probably wasn't that effective. More than likely it would have drawn attention from some muggle loving wizard than deflect it. And it was still not as cute as an owl. Before Charlie could present this theory to her friend, the phone had been put away, and was out of sight. Good enough, Charlie decided.


A waitress different from the one whom had taken Charlie's order brought back a steaming butterbeer to the table. The smell filled Charlie's senses, and she almost stuck her arm out to grab it before realizing it didn't belong to her. The waitress told her that she'd be right back with Charlie's, and the blonde smiled in response, offering a short nod.

Mirren looked at Charlie with an almost bored expression, and said flatly, "Because I have so many friends I just couldn't choose who to sit with, so instead of offending one group or the other, I decided to sit all alone. Isn't that the diplomatic thing to do?." Some people would have been offended by how plainly sarcastic the comment had been, but Charlotte was certainly not some people. Mirren's sarcasm was perhaps Charlie's favorite thing about her. Offering up an equally expressionless face, the blonde retorted, "Very diplomatic, indeed. I almost had the same struggle, all of my dear friends spread out. When I saw you, though, I thought I just might have to offend a few people." With a small smile, she leaned in closer and dropped her voice to a mock whisper. "Hopefully no one is too angry with me." She looked around the crowded room, and gave a satisfied nod. "I think we're in the clear," she said with a chuckle.

Once more, the waitress returned to their table to hand Charlie a large mug. She thanked the waitress, and took a sip of her drink. Once fully warmed up from the weather, she returned her eyes to her friend's. "How was your 'me' day? Did you enjoy a break from the castle?" Charlie asked, completely serious. "It was so nice to be outside, in normal clothes, until it got so cold." With a wistful sigh, she took another sip of her drink. "All too soon it'll be snowing!"

count : 1007 tags : Mirren Fey
noted : Haha i love their sarcasm.
credited : KBIRD of caution 2.0

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