Born to Run -- Brandon

[Irina Rose Krum]

Well this week had been....Irina didn't know how to describe it really.  First, Dan had left to go back to Durmstrang, which had crushed her.  But without a moment to turn around, Ripley had fallen from a hundred feet from her broomstick and was currently in a coma.  Irina knew it wasn't exactly healthy to compartmentalize her emotions, but she felt she couldn't be thinking of herself while her sister lay comatose in the Hospital Wing.  She'd told Ripley's head of House Professor Stephanidis what had happened, and she had written to the Krum parents.  They were the ones sitting with Ripley now; her sister had been out cold for forty-eight hours, and Irina had barely left her side since the accident.  She knew she had to get out of her head, and she could do that by running.

After popping up to the Gryffindor Tower to change into running clothes, Irina set off on a quick pace as soon as she stepped off the stone steps.  She deliberately tried to avoid the Durmstrang ship; she didn't want to deal with that right now.  But it was unavoidable it seemed, as somehow her feet took her to pass the ship.  Feeling her eyes stinging, Irina bent her head down a little and picked up the pace to a sprint.  She relied on her knowledge of the running trails to guide her, but was not expecting someone else on the path coming towards her, who she ran straight into.  "Oof," she bounced back and fell down hard on her bottom.  "Sorry, I was in my own head," she muttered quickly, taking a small breath before looking up to see who she had run into.


@brandon

[Deleted]

Brandon wasn't normally one for running. Sure, he was healthy and enjoyed spending time outside, but he didn't run to clear his head or anything. When he needed to clear his head, he went to his music. It had always worked before. Well, until now, that was. Now he couldn't seem to find his muse, his motivation to play and he knew exactly why. Callisto was gone. She disappeared, stopped talking to him and he didn't know what was going on. Did he do something to offend her that he didn't know about? Was she hiding from him or something? He tried to stop thinking about it, but he couldn't and it was blocking his music. 

Thus the fact that he was out for a walk. He wasn't running or really even paying attention to what was going on around him, which made what happened next partly his fault. He ran straight into someone, who fell down. She was already apologizing and Brandon recognized her as Irina Krum. They'd been in the same year together when he went to Hogwarts. "So was I. Sorry about that, Irina, I should pay more attention to where I'm going," he said, extending a hand to try and help her up.

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

As Irina focused on who she had actually run into, she realizing it was Brandon Fisher, her old schoolmate who had transferred to Durmstrang last year. “Seems like there’s a lot of that going around these days,” she said half-jokingly, accepting his hand to hoist herself up. “But really, I should be focused on straight ahead instead of on the ground,” she added with a small smile. She assumed part of the reason she focused on the ground this time was the last time she ran through the woods she tripped over a root and badly injured her ankle. She studied his face for a moment; something was a bit….off it seemed. Perhaps January was just a down month in general for everyone, unless your name was Lily Potter of course. “How are you? If you’ll forgive me for saying you look a bit...well, downtrodden?” she asked him finally. She didn’t actually expect him to tell her much, but Irina’s curiosity usually ended up trumping the whole ‘staying quiet’ ordeal. Besides, Brandon from her memory was usually an upbeat, happy sort of guy and today he just seemed a bit...off, she thought.

@brandon

[Deleted]

Brandon was glad when Irina let him help her up. He didn't understand why so many people felt like they couldn't accept help from others. Helping one another was a part of life- from his point of view- and he liked being able to help everyone around him. He laughed, "Well there are worse things to go around than running into people. Really, don't worry about it. It takes two people not looking in order for things like that to happen." He didn't want her to feel guilty about a mistake. Especially one as silly as running into a friend, rather literally. He shrugged when she asked how he was. "I'm alright. Got the winter blues," he gave as an explanation. He didn't know how people would respond to him being interested in a ministry worker, so he decided to keep that to himself. "How about you? Are you all right?" 

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina let out a soft laugh as Brandon told her it took two people to run into each other, which she supposed was true in a way.  "Alright, alright.  I take back my apology then," she said, the faintest tone of teasing in her voice.  She tucked a stray strand of hair back behind her ear, listening to him talk about the winter blues.  Boy, did she know exactly how he feel right at that very moment.  "I think there's a lot of that going around," she said softly, tucking her hands into her sweatshirt pockets.  Then the inevitable question; how was she doing?  How was Irina Krum doing was the question of the month.  "I'm...." she started, then shrugged.  "I don't really know anymore if I can be honest.  When Dan left to go back to Durmstrang that hit pretty hard.  But now my sisters in a coma so....in a way it's providing a distraction," she finally spilled, then realized how it sounded.  "The nurse thinks that she's going to pull through, but she fell from her broom during practice," she explained, bouncing on her toes a little.


@brandon

[Deleted]

Brandon smirked when she said she took back her apology. "Good," he teased back. Then she started talking about Dan and her sister and Brandon just listened. He knew about Dan leaving, of course, but he hadn't heard a thing about her sister. "Which sister?" he asked after a few seconds. "Is there anything I can do to help?" He doubted it, but Brandon hated standing by and letting other people deal with problems. "You need someone to talk to?" 

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina had to admit, she was momentarily silenced by Brandons' questions. Not because they were difficult questions; on the contrary they were quite easy to answer. But after this tumultuous month, it was almost strange to have someone just ask if she needed someone to talk to. Not cry to; she had done that with Anna already. Not be distracted by; climbing rooftops with Lily Potter had provided ample adrenaline rushes for that.  It was strange; such a simple request was so resonating with her.  "Ripley - she was practicing on her own and let out a stray Bludger which hit her," she explained to him, realizing he had asked which sister had been inflicted with the coma.  "Tania the youngest is the Beater of our family; if she had been there then....maybe this wouldn't have happened," she told him, admitting out loud what she was thinking on the inside.  She'd share this with Ripley when she woke up but it felt nice to tell someone else.  "And yes, someone to talk to would be nice," she relented, then held up both hands.  "But, if we can talk about anything but my personal issues, I would be so appreciative.  Like music, or..Merlin anything else, it would be a nice change of pace," she said, laughing a little.  Sometimes she felt like all she was doing was imposing on her friends with her relationship or familial problems.  It would be nice to talk to someone about anything but.


@brandon

[Deleted]

Brandon frowned when Irina described what happened to her sister. That sounded terrible. Well, Quidditch had never been a favorite thing of his, he preferred his music (of course), but the injuries that came from the game often caused him to cringe. Then she said she'd like someone to talk to and he smiled. Then laughed. "Well, I can talk to you about whatever you want ... even things not about you. We just have to think of a subject ..." he hesitated for a minute. "Or we could talk while we make our way up to the castle and then play some music." Unless she didn't want to. "But if you're not in the mood, I could play for you ... or we could do something else. Whatever you want." He paused, wanting to give her a second to think. He didn't want her to feel pushed into doing something.

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina smiled as Brandon suggested talking as they walked back up to the castle to go play music. Or perhaps just listen; Irina wasn't entirely sure her fingers would play the keys of her flute properly just now.  But there was a good distance between the castle and where they were standing, so she didn't have to make that decision just yet.  "Walk and talk to the castle sounds like a great idea," she agreed, turning so that she was side by side with the Durmstrang boy as they began to walk back up to the castle.  "I can't promise my flute playing will be entirely up to par today; I've been rather sidetracked...well, ever since our last playing session in December, I just haven't had any time to practice since then," she admitted, laughing sheepishly as she tucked her hands under her arms to keep them warm.  

"I remember when I got it though, my current flute.  My...well his sister Louisa was with me, she was always the nurturing one when it came to music.  I had gotten some money from my grandparents for my birthday, and I wanted a flute.  Unfortunately, my mother wanted me to buy a new broomstick with it.  Luckily we were able to talk her down eventually, and Lou took me to pick out the perfect flute," she told him, smiling fondly at the memory of the day.  They walked up the gently sloping grounds towards the entrance of the castle, and Irina glanced over at Brandon.  "How did you get your start in music?" she asked him curiously.


@brandon

[Deleted]

Brandon smiled when she agreed to walk with him. He wasn't much into doing a lot at the moment but waking and talking was fine. Then she said her flute playing might not be as good and Brandon laughed. "I'm sure you'll do great at the flute, but if you don't want to play I won't make you," of course. Brandon wasn't one to force anyone to do anything.

He smiled as she told her story about how she first started playing the flute. Then she asked his story and Brandon shrugged. "There was always a piano in my house growing up and I was always fascinated by it. When I was little, I was told to leave it alone, but one day I was alone and got on the bench and started playing with it. My mother loved my playing so much she started me with lessons. From there, things progressed naturally, but lessons weren't ever difficult for me. Playing came naturally.

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina just smiled when he said he was sure her playing would be fine. She suppoosed they would see when they got back up to the castle, but she was getting the motivation to want to play again. It was a nice feeling to have back at least. "Well I'm glad to know I am not the only rebel out there," she laughed teasingly as he told her his story of how he got into playing the piano. "My dad likes to hear me play, or at least he's the one who makes time with it. For the most part my mum was a bit more preoccupied with the whole 'Irina doesn't want to play Quidditch' debacle to notice my other interests in hobbies," she admitted, shrugging slightly.  It used to bother her, and sometimes her mothers' passive aggressive comments still did get to her.  Lately though, she was pretty sure her dad had spoken with her mother at lenght; Irina was a seventh year now, and dead set on her career path as a Cursebreaker.  She had enrolled in all the correct NEWT Courses, and was already corresponding with one of the younger Cursebreakers at Gringotts; it was almost a completely done deal.  Besides, Rina was alarmingly too competitive to play on her house team; professional Quidditch wouldn't be a good fit either.  "So are you going to become a famous musician then when you graduate?  Have all the fan girls rummaging through your rubbish bins, writing you love letters and such?" she asked, the teasing grin back on her face.


@brandon

[Deleted]

Brandon laughed at Irina's comment, "Well I'm not really sure if that counts as me being a rebel. It was mostly just childhood curiosity. And the music calling to me," he laughed again, sure he sounded ridiculous. Way to make a good impression, Brandon, he thought to himself. Not that he was trying to make a good impression ... exactly. He nodded when she commented about her dad liking to listen to her play but her mom not. He didn't necessarily understand it because his parents always supported him, but he could imagine how hard that would be. "I don't know about all that," he said when she commented about him becoming famous and having crazed fans when he graduated. "I want to play music for sure. Zander Lloyd and I have talked about starting a band up, so I'm hoping that actually happens. It would be fun to work with him. We both ... get music the same way ..." he trailed off for a moment, thinking and then pulled his attention back to Irina. "Sorry. What do you want to do when you graduate?"

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina smiled as Brandon called his rebelling curiosity.  "It's not a bad thing to be curious," she reasoned.  Of course, sometimes it didn't go all that well.  Irina had been curious about what was in the cave outside her grandparents home in Bulgaria, and that curiosity had gotten her tumbling down a ledge and pierced her side with a rock.  Instinctively, Irina's hand grazed the side where the scar on her stomach still was visible.  It didn't hurt anymore, but she would never forget it was there.  "I wouldn't be such an avid tree climber if I wasn't curious what was at the top," she offered, laughing a little.  That was a pretty big thing she had done over the past seven years, learning how to climb trees.  It had come up after her cave accident; she had realized that climbing outside was better than inside.

Irina's smile widened as Brandon went on to talk more about a potential musical career.  "Zander Lloyd?  I remember him a bit, he was a Hufflepuff but graduated last year," she said, then her smile faded a little as she remembered the bigger reason why she recognized the name.  "His...his girlfriend was one of the ones that didn't make it after the kidnappings," she remembered softly, looking away for a moment.  He apologized for getting lost in his own thoughts, and Irina smiled, shaking her head.  "That's perfectly alright; we all get a little lost sometimes," she reasoned as they walked up the stone steps towards the castle doors.  "I am hoping to be a Cursebreaker for Gringotts.  I'm a bit of a history nut and have always wanted to travel, and I need a way to get out all the energy I have.  It was the best combination of the majority of my interests.  Except music, but who knows perhaps there's a cursed harp out there somewhere."  Irina stopped talking, and laughed a little sheepishly.  "Sorry..rambling a bit," she said with a slight shrug.  She reached out and opened the front doors to the Entrance Hall.  "So you mentioned last time that you played guitar and piano, but also some other instruments.  Which other ones?" she asked him curiously.


@brandon

[Deleted]

Brandon cocked an eyebrow and smiled at her good-naturedly, "I'm not all too convinced you believe that," he told her in a teasing tone. But really, something about the way she said that made Brandon wonder if she really meant it or if she was just saying it to be nice. He didn't see curiosity as a bad thing. 

Brandon smiled when Irina mentioned that she knew Zander, telling him what house he was in, then it disappeared when she mentioned Braelynn. "Yeah, that's the one," he confirmed, not wanting to be rude. Then she started talking again and Brandon focused on what she was saying, trying to distract himself from how sad his close friend was. Zander did a pretty good job hiding it, but Brandon still felt bad for him. "Don't worry about it. I asked the question," he told her with a smile. Honestly, Brandon liked the fact that she wasn't quiet. It was nice to have someone around who could pull him from his thoughts. He gave a short laugh. "All of them," he paused to look at her face. "You know how some people have affinities with animals? I think I have one with music. I pick up an instrument and just ... know how to play it." Sure, that didn't make any sense, but it was true and Brandon loved it.

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina let out a chuckle; she had been thinking about her accident and evidently, that was in her tone of voice. “When I was about six, my curiosity took me into a cave by my house. I slipped and fell on a sharp rock that sort of embedded itself into my stomach. My dad had noticed I was missing but it was another hour before he found me. So in that particular case, curiosity wasn’t the best idea,” she told him, her hand automatically resting on the side of her stomach where the scar still was. She shrugged a little. “I got scared because of the cloud of bats that flew at me, which is why I tripped and fell. So naturally now that’s my biggest fear,” she admitted with a small grin.

Irina’s grin turned into a smirk as Brandon described himself as someone who could play ALL instruments he picked up. “Care to put that to the test?” she asked, the challenge evident in her voice. She gestured for him to follow her as they entered the castle and made their way up several flights of stairs. She held her hand out in front of him. “Wait here,” she said, taking a step forward and closing her eyes. She walked in front of the wall space in front of her three times, all the while thinking of what she wanted to appear. As she finished the third crossing, she opened her eyes and grinned at the door that had materialized in front of. “After you,” she told him, bowing slightly. Walking in, Irina saw that the Room of Requirement had indeed gone above and beyond what she had thought; dozens of instruments lay in their cases in the circular room with a piano in the center. “I already know you can play guitar and piano so let’s start with something else,” she said, decidedly picking up the case holding a trumpet and handing it to him. “Whenever you’re ready,” she said, placing her hands on her hips and looking at him.

@brandon