[Dungeons] Trickery gone Wrong (Cairo)

[Bryn Kennedy]

He was crouched behind a statue of armour, looking at his invisble trap with awe. He must admit he certainly outdone himself this time. Too bad Brooke was being a total thorn in his side right now and couldnt be here to share in the wonderments of this trick. Letting out a sigh, he had been crouched down here for a good long while in these dungeons, behind this armour, the smell of the musty air was filling his nose and making him gag somewhat. Though, it seemed when he wanted Slytherins to be around, they never were, though when he didnt there were hoardes of them. His hood on his robe was pulled over his head, trying to blend in with the blackness behind the armour, it would certainly be difficult to spot him.

Click.

The sound of the trap was triggered, the next thing that happened was the invisible rope became visable once more, wrapping itself firmly around the persons leg and dangling them upside down. He had made sure the rope could not be cut, and the only way out of it was if Bryn let you out. Another neat addition to this trick was, as soon as the rope caught you, one its ends, holding a permanent marker would begin to draw stupid doodles on your face. Glasses, mustashes, writing that says something like, 'I secretly love Harry Potter and want his babies.' Bryn was proud of his trap, thinking it was one of the best he'd ever come up with. Well he would have been, if it had been any other Slytherin, but the one caught in the trap. The downside of the marker now, was that it was magic proof, and couldnt be taken off by magic, even Bryn wouldnt be able to de-vandelise you.

"No!" Bryn yelled, jumping out from behind the armour and knocking it over, causing a huge bang, to which no doubt other Slytherins had heard. "You werent supposed to get caught in there! It was meant for anyone but you!" Bryn called, trying to get to the rope to let her down, however, it seemed the plan had gone wrong, and now the ropes had launched an attack, even to the creator. The rope lunged at Bryn, striking him in the side of the head and sending him falling to the wall, now the rope that had hold of Cairo was flinging her about. He had to get her down somehow, but the rope was magic proof. How could he do it? "I'll get you down!" He told her, running forward to the rope, only to be flung back. "The Whomping Willow Rope Version." He said to himself disgustedly as a bit of blood trickled down his face from the second rope attack. Only a little bit however. As the rope came for him again, Bryn stuck his arm out, the rope wrapped around his arm and once he had a grip on it, the rope stopped being so offensive. Keeping hold of the rope, he walked over to where Cairo was and untied it, catching her in his arms when the rope let her fall. "Im so sorry." Bryn said to her, "I honestly didnt mean for you to get caught in it."

[Cairo Blackwell]

Well she sure seemed to be having an interesting week. Cairo hadn't snapped once, not once, but resolved to contain the anger and the hurt within herself until she exploded away from everyone. During the few days of classes before the weekend she had been magically strapped to a house-elf, beaten with an enchanted broom, strangled by a hexed suit of armor, then blown up her cauldron in Potions class by a dirty trick against her. The icing on the cake however was when she got herself suddenly assaulted by a stretch of rope, before getting dangled upside-down and written on. She had just left the Great Hall after writing an essay apologising for the damage to the room when her cauldron exploded and the acidic mixture inside shot at everyone in its explosive glory. Though it wasn't her fault she received the blame anyway, but what else was knew? Cairo was definitely not having the best week, and the only person she wanted to talk to at the moment was Bryn but she hadn't seen him around--until now, when he was shouting at her while she was being flailed about as a marker attacked her face. Crying out and trying to shield her face the Slytherin was overwhelmed with, one, nausea, and two, hurt. Well at the moment all she felt was a numb, hollow feeling boiling in her gut. As she was released and caught she stumbled away from him, lips parted but unable to speak. Her gray eyes were wide with pained surprise, and after a moment silence settled in the hallway.

"I.. I.." She murmured numbly, biting her lip. Lifting her palms up and staring at the smudged black on her fingers she imagined what horrible profanities must be written all over her face, and tears beaded in her eyes. "How could you?" Cairo whispered, her vision blurring. She looked absolutely ridiculous, didn't she? A sick feeling welled up in her stomach and she pressed a hand against her tummy to calm it. She knew this was what he did, and she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, so she prepared herself to forgive him when loud laughter echoed through the hallway. "My, Kennedy, you didn't say it would be this funny!" A tall, dark-haired girl laughed maliciously, echoed by a group of older students that had been informed prior and come to witness the hilarity unfold. Murmurings of "What a freak." and "Love Potter do you?" started up, and she could barely see anymore. "How could you?" She sobbed, completely humiliated. Now everyone knew about it. Why had she even come back here? Nothing changed, nothing was different. Her only friend had completely and publicly embarrassed her.

Covering her face with her hands she rubbed the tears away, whirling around and dashing off down the hallway. She was headed in the direction of the Slytherin common room; he couldn't reach her in there. Remembering suddenly that the common room wasn't exactly a safe haven either she veered to the right, throwing open a door and locking herself inside. It was an old classroom by the looks of it, a little dusty but in fair condition. Choking back a sob Cairo sank to her knees, covering her face with her hands again.

[Bryn Kennedy]

Bryn felt awful. He couldnt even look Cairo in the eye, his arms lay limply by his side as he stared at the floor. He knew if he looked at her, he would see that awful hurt feeling that he saw so often in her eyes, but this time, it would be because of him, and he knew, because he pulled this trick, there would also be betrayal etched in her eyes too. He couldnt even force himself to look at her, hearing her speak, her voice was low and he could hear the string of tears threatening to burst from her eyes. He had humiliated her, whether intentional or not, he had still done it. He knew she knew that Bryn played tricks on Slytherins, but he had always assured her she would be safe from them. Telling her of the trick, and where it was to be placed, like he usually did, had completley slipped his mind this time, since it was such a brilliant one. Hearing the group of Gryffindor's behind him who he had told about the trick come behind him, this only made him feel ten times worse since now, others were around to see the humilation of Cairo Blackwell. The dark haired girl came next to him and clapped her arm around his shoulder, ruffling his hair with the other one she said, "And to pick on the one person even Slytherins pick on too, brilliant since she's such a pathetic waste of space, not belonging anywhere." He didnt say anything else, but the dark haired girl answered her first 'how could you' "Because its Bryn Kennedy, dear" She said, "He can get away with it, and its funny for the rest of us."

Before Bryn could defend himself and explain himself, Cairo dashed off. Turning to Klair, the dark haired girl who was laughing, along with the other Gryffindors, he violently thrust her arm from around his shoulders. This had gone horribly worse, and what was worse than that was due to these peoples taunts, Cairo probably thought he had meant it for her. "Idiots!" Bryn's welsh accent thick tinted with anger, "This was not meant for her." Klair looked at him a puzzled expression was on her face, "She's a Slytherin, Bryn, course it was." Walking upto Klair, he looked down at her, guilt was still written on his face as he shook his head, "By house, yes, by personality no!" Looking at the other Gryffindors he added, "You know nothing about her, dont even think about telling anyone about this or you may find traps will be laid for you." Bryn was known as a Slytherin hater, and he was true by that, of course, Cairo was a special exception and he felt as though he needed to protect her, not humiliate her. He was the only person she trusted, her only friend, and that had not been an easy thing to gain and now, it was looking as though Bryn had thrown it all away by sheer accident. He only hoped he could find her intime, before anyone else did.

Rushing through the dungeons, he smacked into a Slytherin which was not Cairo, "I've just seen that idiot Blackwell run past here," He said, seemingly unaware that Bryn was a Gryffindor, "Ink all over her face! I guess her name Blackwell now suits her-hey!" Bryn looked at the guy and gave a smile, "Your on our turf why dont you--" Bryn pulled his wand out and stuck it to the boys throat, "Dont think about threatening me im really not in the mood right now. You will tell me where Cairo went or you'll have Ink on your face too." The Slytherin pointed down another corridor, give them one thing, they were helpful though most were not very brave. Rushing down the corridor once more, Bryn completley ignoring the taunts from the Slytherin behind him, Very big of you to taunt when im far away from you. He thought, once he reached the end he came to a door, twisting the knob he realised it was locked. Hearing soft sobs from inside, he realised Cairo must be in here, knocking on, he leant against the door and let out a sigh. "Cairo..." He said softly, "Im really sorry, it honestly was not meant for you." Realising he was repeating himself he let out another sigh, he couldnt do much more than apologize, "Please, talk to me. I didnt mean to do that to you, I would never humiliate you, you know that." Knocking on it lightly once more he said again in vain hope, "Cairo, please, I'm sorry." Brooke would love this, seeing her brother apologizing to a Slytherin, to Cairo. It would give her more ammunition to tease Bryn, but in all honesty, he didnt care right now about Brooke, his priority was Cairo.

[Cairo Blackwell]

It wasn't long before Bryn discovered her hiding spot, she was sure of it, and as he tested the knob a sharp intake of breath caught in her throat. I would never humiliate you.. He tried to reassure her, but his words fell on deaf ears. Everything she knew was a lie, everything she believed with her heart. Bryn, the brilliant conspirator, her friend, had just delivered the worst blow to her gut in all her years at this school. What made everything worse was that he was her friend. What happened before by the other Snakes was nothing compared to this. "You just did!" She tried to hiss back, but it came out broken and defeated. Rubbing furiously at her face but finding that the ink wasn't coming off she pounded her fist against the door, refusing to unlock it. "How do I get this off?" She whispered, knowing full well he could hear. Knowing him he probably bewitched it or something so that it couldn't be removed by water or magic. It would take forever for it to wash off, and in the meantime all she could do was cover her face in makeup or just hide away until it came off.

By the time she received her answer Cairo had already crawled up feebly on the floor, hugging her sweater to her chest. She honestly felt like throwing up, with the weight of the pain and betrayal hovering around her and pressing on her shoulders. "Bryn, just go away.." She murmured weakly, closing her eyes and making a "pillow" of sorts with her own arm. She was tired of hearing his voice-- well that wasn't true, she couldn't get enough of it for some reason but today she just felt defeated. She knew he wouldn't leave until she either forgave him or let him in. Silently standing up with only the sound of shifting clothing to give him a hint the Slytherin whipped out her wand, pointing it at the window and it flew open with a BANG. Running for it now she boosted herself up on a chair and squeezed out. It was a dungeon window after all, not a wide one, but at least it went outside, considering where they were.

Wiping a wet streak of blackish tears on her sleeve she hid her face as she ran back into the school, ducking behind the portrait of a spanish francisca and slipping through the tunnels that led to Hogsmeade and bursting out into the Gladrags Wizardwear store. Apologising profusely to the shopkeeper she tore out, slipping behind one of the shops and poking through the bushes until she made it home. Thank god she lived close to the school, it would have taken hours for her to get back. "Mom." Cairo sobbed, opening the door with her key and repeating the word once she got inside.