unanswered questions | brody

[yvonne rae de snaijer]

━ callin' it quits now, baby, i'm a wreck━

9th january 2028

THE NEW TERM HAD BARELY begun and Yvonne De Snaijer was already anxious about something. Multiple things. In old Hogwarts terminology, the Slytherin was now a seventh year. Of course following the changes made to Hogwarts and now being a part of the L.I.F.E schooling..it meant she was a second year in NEWT studies. A little confusing when it was first explained to the De Snaijer but she made it work along the way. Regardless, this meant the anxiety of exams and studying overall had finally caught up to her. Since her change in behaviour, Yvonne had become a decent/great student, but that didn't mean things couldn't do a sudden 360 like they had done once.

Alongside this, she felt some..kind of stress from whatever type of relationship she had going on with Gideon Ollivander, and the lack of relationship she held with Brody. Since coming back, Yvonne's crush for Gideon only grew, but the guilt she held due to an old crush on Brody also grew. So from mid-2027 she did everything she could do to avoid him. Of course, it was challenging, considering the two would share classes and whatnot, but it didn't make any sense to her as to why Brody would transfer to L.I.F.E also. His life had been in the States, as well as his parents.

So why come back?

| brody christopher dubois |

hopefully this works!

[brody christopher dubois]

January 9, 2028

Brody knew well enough to know that going back to Hogwarts to take his NEWTs would be difficult on an academic level, but it was the personal side of things that had been more of a challenge for him. He had come back to Hogwarts for Yvonne De Snaijer, yet it had become rarer and rarer for them to have so much as a conversation with one another. It wasn't that the size of LIFE had kept them apart; they were still in the same year, and Brody lived in the dormitories at LIFE rather than living elsewhere and incurring unnecessary expenses for his parents to have to pay from across the ocean.

On top of that, Brody only had a few short months to make sure that his coming back to Hogwarts hadn't been for nothing. He needed to explain to Yvonne how he felt about her before he lost his chance forever. There was no guarantee that their paths would cross ever again after their NEWTs were done, and he wasn't going to bank on a continuing lucky streak.

Trying to figure out how to make that happen, though, was more of a challenge than his studies, and it wasn't actually on his mind as he stepped outside into one of the many courtyards on the Hogwarts grounds on a brisk January day.

yvonne rae de snaijer

[yvonne rae de snaijer]

━ callin' it quits now, baby, i'm a wreck━

SPENDING THE MORNING IN CLASSES, Yvonne decided to spend her short breaks in the afternoon in the courtyard. She enjoyed the open space and truthfully, people watching. Over the course of the last few months the De Snaijer became more curious with others affairs, even if it was in a passing moment. That and also, the other side of her thoughts were clouded with a certain..someone.

But as that someone wasn’t present due to their own busy schedule at LIFE, Yvonne had concluded she would spend her break alone, thinking and reflecting over things. That was..until she saw Brady. “Shit!” She said, a little too loudly, trying to find a place to hide herself so he wouldn’t notice her. Avoiding someone that you share classes with as well as would see on the corridors near the dormitory was harder than one could ever imagine.

| brody christopher dubois |

[brody christopher dubois]

January 9, 2028

The problem with knowing someone for so many years was that it was impossible not to recognize their voice. That was especially true when their accent was more discernible when compared to the majority of the others around them. For Brody, that situation applied completely to Yvonne De Snaijer, even when what she was saying was an expletive, and even when said expletive was probably directed towards him.

Naturally, Brody was left in a sticky situation upon hearing that that was Yvonne's reaction to him anymore. He had to wonder what happened to the girl who had slow-danced with him at the Windsors' Christmas party and the hope that he had felt then for the future of their relationship. It had seemed as though there really was a chance that they might reach beyond the point of being "just friends".

All Brody could do was hope that it was a misunderstanding and that maybe Yvonne had stubbed her toe on a rock, leading her to curse out loud. That was a better thought than running back inside and being forced to pretend that it hadn't been because of a girl. Trying to convince himself that he could still have a conversation with Yvonne without having it turn into a total disaster, he figured that he would approach from a distance and take it from there.

"Hey, Yvonne," he called out. If she chose to pretend not to hear him, then that would be that, he guessed. The least he could do was say hello, though. From there? Well, that all hinged on Yvonne's reaction.

yvonne rae de snaijer

[yvonne rae de snaijer]

━ callin' it quits now, baby, i'm a wreck━

KNOWING THAT SHE WAS A tad too loud in an open area no less, Yvonne knew she was forced to confront what she had been avoiding the whole time. Waiting for him to eventually call out to her, the De Snaijer's eyes closed as she heard her name being called. Taking a few breaths, she slowly turned in the direction of the voice, rubbing at her knee to feign that she had hurt herself.

"Hey..! Brody hey!" Laughing off the awkwardness, the De Snaijer kept awkwardly rubbing at her knee. "Sorry, I..literally hit my knee a few seconds ago..it's not bruised luckily but just one of those..you know." Deciding to somewhat close the distance between them, Yvonne stood a little closer. She noticed a few small differences in him, given that they were still growing no less. "Feels like it's been..a while since I've seen you."

| brody christopher dubois |

[brody christopher dubois]

January 9, 2028

Brody noticed Yvonne rubbing her knee as she turned in his direction. Even though he hadn't seen anything wrong with it before that moment, it would be a lie to say that he wasn't worried about it and her. Maybe she had stepped wrong and sprained it. That was easy enough to do; the school's grounds weren't entirely flat.

Yvonne greeted him and said his name for the first time in a long time. It felt nice to hear it, especially because she didn't sound angry with him for anything. She kept rubbing her knee, however, and then apologized, saying that she had hit it only a few seconds before. Brody couldn't recall that, but he wasn't going to say anything and look like a jerk for accusing her of faking a minor knee injury. According to her, it wasn't bruised anyway, so it wasn't anything that he needed to make a big deal over.

She came closer to him. As much as he wanted to, Brody didn't move closer. He didn't want to be intimidating.

"Feels like it's been… a while since I've seen you."

They were starting to feel like strangers, but Brody appreciated that Yvonne actually responded to him. "Yeah," he agreed. "It's… been a while." He thought that it sounded as though they had been on different continents again, but they hadn't. "Do you, uh, want some ice for your knee?" That was a great choice, Brody immediately thought. It was January. There was ice in abundance. And he was an idiot.

yvonne rae de snaijer

[yvonne rae de snaijer]

━ callin' it quits now, baby, i'm a wreck━

YVONNE WAS ONCE A PRO at lying, and now standing across from the boy she once called her best friend - a boy she felt herself having a crush on - she couldn't help but feel guilt for her shitty lies. It was her fault really, for not keeping in touch, nor being honest about her feelings, the split emotions for both Brody and Gideon, but it didn't matter now, did it?

Smiling small as he began to speak, the De Snaijer couldn't help but realise he was probably feeling just as awkward as her. "No!..No..It's already cold out anyway, it'll feel better eventually."

| brody christopher dubois |

[brody christopher dubois]

January 9, 2028

No, Yvonne told Brody, as he was beginning to suspect; she didn't need ice. "It's already cold out anyway," she added, "it'll feel better eventually."

"Yeah," Brody agreed, feeling rather stupid. It was already cold outside. His being there was sort of redundant, wasn't it? If he couldn't help her out, then what was he good for? Yvonne already had her relationship with Gideon, so maybe it was time for him to move on.

Moving on physically would have to wait, though, because he couldn't just dash away from his conversation with Yvonne like that. Brody knew he wasn't as polished as some of the posh guys at Hogwarts, but that shouldn't have mattered. Picking up where they had left off other than addressing her knee injury, Brody paused for a second and then spoke, "So, uh, besides your knee… How have you been?"

yvonne rae de snaijer

[yvonne rae de snaijer]

━ callin' it quits now, baby, i'm a wreck━

GULPING A LITTLE QUIETLY, YVONNE thought of her answer for a moment before looking up at Brody. It wasn't a difficult question to answer - a simple 'how are you, how have you been', a question the De Snaijer was able to answer on a regular day. Except in this particular moment she had no idea how to answer.

Things were fine in her life, minus the problems at home and her problems with her feelings for both Gideon and Brody. But explaining all of that was more of a struggle than just..answering. "Um..fine!" She finally responded, looking away once more. "How about you?..Are you ready for your exams yet?" They had months until the actual start of their exams, but talking about school was always an easy way out of things.

| brody christopher dubois |

[brody christopher dubois]

January 9, 2028

"Um… fine!"

Yvonne's answer wasn't particularly convincing to Brody, but who was he to probe further anymore? Even though she looked away from him as if trying to avoid giving him a real response, he had to accept what she had given him, which was more than he had said in a real conversation with her in a long time. They might as well have been those two little kids at Ilvermorny waiting for their turns on the Gordian Knot, though.

"How about you? …Are you ready for your exams yet?"

"Yeah, more or less?" Their exams were creeping up on them, but Brody wasn't overly worried about them in spite of their notorious difficulty. "I'm not planning to stay at LIFE after I do my NEWTs," he explained, "so it's more important for me to pass than anything." He wasn't looking at advancing his education in any highly competitive direction. "I'll probably just work for a bit, see what my options are over here, and then go back to Maine." Voicing that aloud, especially to Yvonne, made Brody feel like he'd just walked into poison ivy. What had happened to having years before their futures were set in stone? "Are you thinking of going back to Iowa, or…?"

yvonne rae de snaijer

[yvonne rae de snaijer]

━ callin' it quits now, baby, i'm a wreck━

YVONNE KNEW SHE WAS BEING incredibly obvious with how she was acting and feeling. The guilt of avoiding Brody was clear as day, and the embarrassment and shame of it all was slapped across her expression also. Sure, she had lightened up over the years, starting a clean state from what was shamed - being named a bully consistently - but this was..a little far.

Nodding at Brody's answer, Yvonne felt herself awkwardly change legs that she put most of her strength on. She simply didn't know what else to say. "Oh..You're not?" She questioned, looking up at him as he admitted and went on. "Back to Maine?...Like you..and your whole family?" She had expected it of course, Ilvermorny was back up and running and life in America was almost the same like the UK. Except Yvonne didn't have the option to 'go back home' anymore.

Feeling a small smile crack at her lips as she shook her head at his question, Yvonne looked up at Brody again, eyes darkened. "Back to Iowa? Did we just forget the years I've spent here? Moving early because my parents are dead and my only line of someone who could legally look after me refuses to move back to America?" She paused then, taking in a quick breath. "There's..nothing for me there now..Not even the memories are worth it.."

| brody christopher dubois |