(Honeydukes) Answers, Now!

[Bradyn Reed]

Bradyn sighed and walked through Hogsmeade. He didn't have his school robes, but instead he had his regular robes on and a pair of jeans. This way he could blend in better and hopefully not be recognized. He had been thinking about this for ages since the night with Fay in the forest, and he decided that this was for the best. His hand hesitated on the handle of the door to Honeydukes before he finally pushed it open and walked in.

When he usually would have smiled and inhaled the wonderful smell of candy, today he just frowned and walked straight to the counter, looking around for the one person he wanted to see. Figuring that she must be in the basement or her apartment upstairs, he sighed and rang the little bell by the cash register. After this was done, he leaned against the counter. Now was the moment where all the thoughts of whether or not this was okay hit him and he couldn't really force them away. Last time he'd tried this, Fay had found out and she had been really mad. But this situation was wholly different and he just couldn't possibly imagine her reaction.

Sighing softly, he pushed the thoughts away. He wasn't doing this for Fay, afterall, he was doing this for himself. Bray still hadn't decided on whether or not he would help Fay train people against veelas, or how he would do this. That's why he was here. For answers, he wanted to find things out straight from the horses mouth. Bray had even planned how he would get information out of Mrs. Locke, since he knew how much Veelas liked to be complemented. He chuckled at the thought, and realized how much of an odd veela Felicity really was.

[Christi Locke]

Christi grunted as she heaved another box up into the attic. It was a slow day today, but that was probably because most of the students had already come to get their candy in the morning and otherwise vanished throughout the day. Wasn't like she minded though, gave her time to finish up a few things.

Rissy heaved the last box into the attic and pulled the door shut. She moved some of her hair from her face, and perked up when she heard the bell on the counter. A grin flashed across her face as she came bouncing into the room, with her charm off for once. "Good evening can I help-" Christi cut off and tilted her head slightly to the side. Bradyn Reed? Now what was this boy doing here? And without her Fay-Fay as well.

Christi walked over and slid behind the counter. She plopped down on the seat behind it and placed her elbows on the counter. "Evening Bradyn, come here for some more chocolate?" Her grin widened and she gestured to the section where the chocolate was found. "New stuff just came in."

[Bradyn Reed]

Bradyn continued to lean against the counter and wait for Miss Locke. While he waited, his eyes looked around him at all the assorted candies. It took a lot of his effort to keep himself serious and not buy any. He wasn't here for candy this time.. well, maybe he could pick some up on his way out. When he heard a thump coming from upstairs, he figured that she was coming. Sure enough, the blonde bimbo was soon behind the counter gawking at her.

Bray politely returned her smile. "As tempting as that sounds, Miss Locke, I actually have something far more serious that I'm here for." He frowned and peeled his eyes forcefully away from the treats. "Since it's not to busy right now, I was wondering if we could talk in a bit more privacy?" When he said this, he was dead serious and there was no way the woman could take it as something other than a serious discussion that needed to take place. Hopefully she wouldn't take it that something bad happened though, because that hasn't happened.. yet.

[Christi Locke]

Christi leaned back against her chair and drummed her finger softly against the counter. "Shame, haven't gotten many customers." She flipped her head down for a moment and pulled up her hair into a ponytail. If no one else was coming, she didn't have to make a huge effort to look nice.

"Privacy? Sure, wait there for a sec." Rissy walked back over to the door and pulled her wand out of the apron she was wearing. She flicked the wand, and the sign that blinked 'open' on the door, quickly switched to 'closed'. She placed her wand back in her apron and nodded slightly.

"Follow me." Christi Locke walked back Bradyn and walked back to the end of the shop. She felt around the wall for a moment, then grinned. "Here it is." Rissy tapped the wall and part of the wall swung open. "Owners had it installed for me when I was on breaks. Nice people." She walked down into the room.

It was rather open, surprising since the doorway was so small. There was a sofa pushed on the far end of one of the walls and a few chairs seated next to it. She walked over and plopped herself down on one of the chairs. "Private enough for you?" The door swung close again.

[Bradyn Reed]

Bradyn watched her quickly close the shop and silently thanked her for not freaking out or taking this the wrong way. Obviously, Miss Locke could be serious too when it was necessary. Following her silently into what he expected to be a closet, he was surprised that it was a rather large sitting room. "Ah, seems the Honeydukes are excellent at magic as well as making sweets." He said politely as he sat down on the couch across from Christi. "Yes, thanks again for talking with me. I really appreciate it." He smiled at her, deciding to start out polite to she would feel obligated to answer his questions.

He paused for a moment, going over his mental list of questions and debating how he should start this. He didn't want to just flat out ask questions, not yet anyway, and he wondered if he could tempt answers indirectly out of her first. Bray bit his lower lip in thought as he reformulated his plan. Christi's selflessness wasn't what he had been expecting, and he decided that maybe he would just go more bluntly. "Um, Miss Locke, Felicity told me that you had told her a story as a child. A story about veelas and half humans, I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about it?"

[Christi Locke]

Christi nodded slightly, and grinned again. "I picked out the furnature, it's nice isn't it?" She patted the chair she was sitting on. Bradyn seemed to be thinking about something to say, from what she could tell, so she just waited. Her fingers tapped lightly again the arm of the chair.

"That's it then? Oh dear I thought there was something wrong with Felicity." Her grin returned as she leaned forward slightly in her seat. "Ah yes, she was quite fond of that story when she was younger."

Rissy twirled a lock of hair around her finger, then began. "Well, I didn't attend Hogwarts in my younger years, I actually went to Beauxbatons. I came to Hogwarts one year for one of my classes. It was a fieldtrip of sorts." She shrugged slightly. "My friends and I all dared each other to go out into the forest, and being the dangerous young girls we were, we all agreed." Rissy frowned slightly, and her eyebrows knit together. "We ended up getting lost after a while. One of my friends just screamed and screamed, hoping someone would come." Her eyes widened slightly as she continued the story. "A centaur had heard her screams and came running to where we were."

Christi stared unseeingly at one of the walls, seeming to relive the experience. "We were all scared, so I tried to charm the creature. I asked him not to hurt us, and to tell us how to get out. And so he did." She switched her gaze back to Bradyn then. "Pointed us to the way out of the forest and waited until we were out before he ran off. My friends all swore that my charm must've worked on him." Rissy leaned back in her chair and sighed lightly. "I'm surprised Felicity hasn't told you the story."

[Bradyn Reed]

Bradyn nodded a bit at her comments on the furniture of the room, as to not be rude even though he didn't really care at all. "Oh no, sorry to scare you like that. Fay's the same as ever, so nothing unusual is wrong with her." He laughed a bit. Bray wouldn't say that there was nothing wrong with her, since that would of course be a lie.

When she decided to tell him the full story, he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and his head resting in his hands. Bray had to bite his lip not to make a shocked comment about her going to a wizarding school at all and continued to listen. He was a little shocked that the story was more of a personal story of Miss Locke's life, as he had been expecting it to be some legend that the veelas passed down to each other. But having the story actually coming from the horse's mouth put it in a different light.

"Do you yourself believe that you can... charm half-humans?" He asked quietly, staring at Christi. Bray didn't really plan to tell Fay's mom about her plans for doing this, but he might end up breaking her trust any way.

[Christi Locke]

Christi shrugged lightly and started to twirl her hair again. "I think if the situation arises, then perhaps. I certainly think something happened in the forest that day, because centaurs are not always so tame." She leaned back in the chair, and pulled some hair behind her ear. "I think that any creature can be charmed one way or another." Seems Felicity had rubbed off on her mother, if not only slightly.

"But this is such a serious subject, don't you want to talk of something more interesting? Like, perhaps, how little Felicity is doing in school?" Rissy leaned forward again, eager now. "She told me that a few new things happened, but wouldn't tell me anything else." Her lower lip jutted out in a pout. "Felicity said something about a boy too, but she wouldn't tell me anymore. You're her friend, do you know anything?" Same old Christi, always eager to butt into her daughter's life.

[Bradyn Reed]

"Quite true, I don't think a centaur would help humans so easily otherwise.." He said, thinking a little more about it. Maybe it was possible that half-humans could be charmed, but that didn't mean Bray thought Fay should go out and charm some giants and centaurs 'for the greater good'.

Bray sighed. He knew it was only a matter of time before the serious Christi disappeared and the veela one returned, but he didn't expect it to be so fast. "Yes, it is quite serious.. but there are times for seriousness in between times of fun, you know? There's something I might have to do, and I don't want to make a decision before I really know what's going on." He smiled rather sadly. It was business that he didn't want to have to think about in the first place, but here he was trying to figure it out with her mom.

"Wait, what? A boy?!" He said, looking rather shocked and heard. "She hasn't breathed a word of that to me." Bray frowned in disappointment. What secret could Fay possibly tell her mom before her best mate?

[Christi Locke]

"Well that sounds dreadfully boring and serious. Good luck with it then Bradyn." Christi grinned. She wasn't really one who stuck her nose into random people's business, unless it concerned her daughter. Otherwise, she mostly cared about herself.

"Yep. She sent a letter about a week ago. Said something about a fued or something. And then she mentioned something about flying lessons for someone. I was wondering if you knew anything about it because I didn't recognize the boy's name." Rissy shrugged again. "But it could just be another one of her friends. She needs to stop hanging out with guys already and actually get some girl friends. She's hardly a very good girl at all. Not even wanting me to buy her one of those cute dresses." Christi pouted again.

[Bradyn Reed]

Bradyn nodded a bit. "In a way, it's actually quite action-packed. Surprisng, I know. But I'll probably end up doing it anyway, since Felicity's my friend and I have to be there for her, right?" He sighed and rubbed his temples a bit. This was definitely getting off topic and soon he would have to get it back to the subject of veelas. Somehow.

He raised an eyebrow at Christi. Fay was tutoring someone in quidditch? And she didn't tell him about it? This was definitely upsetting, but since Miss Locke accidentally slipped this to him, he wouldn't be able to confront Felicity about it. But who says Bray couldn't confront the person and give him a friendly warning? "A name? Perhaps I could recognize it if you told me. Then I would definitely tell you all I knew about this person Fay's so.. close with." He said, smiling. Oh, now he was just being sadistic for information. Why did he care so much, anyway? It's not like he was her boyfriend, probably just another friend.

[Christi Locke]

When Bradyn mentioned Felicity's name, her interest perked. "Felicity? How does your descision effect her?" She raised an eyebrow slightly and crossed her arms. If this was about her daughter, she had to know.

"I have the letter here somewhere. Can't remember the lad's name." Rissy was muttering to herself by now, while searching through the apron pockets. "Ah, here it is." She flipped the letter open and squinted at it. "Scott Brooks it is." Christi nodded and folded the letter again. "She said she couldn't see me this weekend because something was going on with her friends, so she sent the letter."

[Bradyn Reed]

Bradyn sighed. Of course, when it was all good and clear and Miss Locke wasn't interested in his business, he just had to ruin it and spill the beans about it being all about Felicity. "I guess I'll have to explain it to you now won't I?" Bray said with a sigh, and started debating how he would put it into words. He barely understood it himself, so this would be no easy task.

Bray frowned. "Scott Brooks.." He repeated, not quite familiar with the name besides him being an older Gryffindor. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his wand before quickly rolling up his sleeve. Pointing his wand at his forearm, he lightly wrote the name on it so he wouldn't forget. He'd probably ask Maxi about him later, since Maxi was the only Gryffindor he really knew he could trust. Eventually, he'd track down the lad and see what was going on. Talking directly to Felicity would be ten times more effective, but then she would find out about his talk with her mom. That would be, in essence, extremely bad.

By now he had formulated not only his plan to figure out who this guy was, but also how to explain this to Christi. "Well, there are bits that are not just dealing with Felicity and those parts are not mine to tell. We'll just call these 'the organization'." He said, referring to the Guild. Bray may be breaking his trust with Fay, but there was no way he was stupid enough to do it with the whole guild. Especially to someone who had such loose lips. "Fay thinks that to keep the members of the organization safe.. she'll have to use her special talents to charm our enemies. And I think this is horribly dangerous, something that she should in no circumstance do.

"But she asked me to help train the organization against her special powers." He said, rubbing his temples at how horribly cryptic this sounded. "Since according to her, I'm the only person who can resist a veela's charm. But I don't know how I do it, or if it's even possible that I do." He groaned a little in frustration. Bray now understood why it was so confusing to himself, because when you actually put it out there it sounded rather crazy.

[Christi Locke]

Christi sat back and waited for Bradyn to tell her about, well, whatever was troubling him. She created thousands of situations in her mind, all of them usually ending in Felicity getting extremely hurt or something like that. She tended to overreact just slightly when things like this came around.

Rissy furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to understand what Bradyn was saying. Organization? Felicity never told her about this. And, if Felicity wanted to keep everyone safe from something, wouldn't that mean she was putting herself in danger?

She stood and quickly took off her robe. Rissy tucked her wand behind her ear and walked to the corner of the room to go snatch up her jacket. If her Felicity was going to go do something dangerous, Christi was going to have to stop it.

"My Felicity isn't doing anything more there then. The term should be over soon, she won't be missing much."

[Bradyn Reed]

Bradyn sighed a bit, wondering if his plan to explain it really went right. Saying it aloud seemed to confuse him more, and usually that's not how things worked when explaining it to people. Looking down at his hand he traced shapes on his jeans in thought. Only when he heard Miss Locke's rustling did he look up.

His eyes widened at what he said and he jumped up off the couch. "No, Miss Locke! You don't understand!" He shouted, going over to where she was and grabbing her arm before it reached the jacket. "I won't let anything happen to her, I won't! She's my best friend, I wouldn't let her get hurt over something like this." His voice lowered from it's shout and tear seemed to be forming around his eyes. No, this couldn't be happening. She wouldn't take his closest friend away over his mistake of telling her, she wouldn't!