with time, i'll heal | brody

[yvonne rae de snaijer]

let's get lost.

30TH DECEMBER 2024

The days that passed seemed to be a blur for Yvonne De Snaijer, complicated to explain and even grasp upon. It was stupid of her, to jump in so recklessly amongst adults that had some kind of clue what she was doing. The Slytherin girl had barely been in school herself, a mere four years filled with information that had barely sunken in yet. She didn’t know how to do complicated Charms, create potions that would benefit her…At least not yet anyway. She had barely even settled into Hogwarts before things as a whole started to change. First came the death of her parents, and the move with her siblings to live with her Grandmother, a woman she barely even knew. Then, came all of the other Ilvermorny students, the vandalism and eventually the destruction of the school bringing back familiar faces. It was nice at first, being reunited with them — but then she remembered the sour tongue she had developed.

It was harder now, being the same kind and warm-hearted teen when all you seemed to do now was pick on others. Delilah had been an influence in that area, same with Bianca, creating a new form of herself. But here she laid, in the infirmary of Hogwarts, her forehead filled with sweat. It was natural to do so, considering she was still recovering. The event itself felt like a blur, first came her bravery, then the attack from the dragon itself and that’s when things went black. By the time she woke up, Yvonne was propped up against the wall of a damaged building, her left leg burnt to a crisp, or so it seemed while a girl hovered over her until an another adult came. She didn’t know…What happened next. One supposedly had a healing touch, the other somewhat of a pain absorption.

Now, with the days moving, she slipped in and out of consciousness on the infirmary bed — the leg that was burnt had been reduced to a simple scar, but the De Snaijer was ordered to still remain in the school’s Hospital wing for careful examination. From what the young teen remembered, she had no clue if walking was affected just of yet but every time she woke, the reminder of her thigh brought some kind of tears to her eyes and with her awake completely now, she silently sobbed away in her bed, her hand hesitantly reaching out for the scar.

brody christopher dubois & hopefully this works!

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[brody christopher dubois]

It had been about two days since dragons had descended upon Hogsmeade, and—even without the news about Azkaban's having been destroyed—Brody was trying his best to keep himself together. Yvonne had tried to help with the dragon situation, her left leg had gotten burnt pretty badly because of it, and she had been recovering in the Hospital Wing since. He could have told her that trying to fight off dragons was a bad idea. Even just defending oneself took skill that most adults didn't even have, unless they had significant preparation or were trained dragonologists. He hadn't been in the village at the time to caution Yvonne against that, though.

If he had, maybe Yvonne wouldn't have been hurt, Brody thought to himself. It hurt him to see her stuck in the hospital bed. He knew that the nurses needed to keep her there to assess the damage that had been done, even if the burns were almost healed. Each time that he had stopped by to see how Yvonne was doing, she hadn't been doing too well. Inevitably, he would get shooed from the room, and the nurses were probably getting tired of his coming back every few hours to check up on her.

Expecting that he would be asked to leave again as he walked into the Hospital Wing to see the Slytherin, he wasn't met with any scolding. Instead, he kept walking until he reached Yvonne's bed, frowning immediately at the sight of her tears.

"Vonni," Brody breathed out, though the relief that he had in knowing that she was awake was eclipsed by her sadness. He couldn't tell her what to feel or that it was going to be okay, because even he wasn't sure about that. "Oh…" He moved from the foot of her bed to the side of it, watching as she reached towards her leg. "Does it still hurt?" he asked her, his voice quiet.

yvonne rae de snaijer

[yvonne rae de snaijer]

let's get lost.

IT WAS STUPID of her to even try and be brave. No one asked a fourteen year old to step up alongside the adults in an attempt to protect people the De Snaijer was sure didn’t truly care about. Where had the sudden urge of confidence even appear from? The recovery phase for Yvonne wasn’t entirely painful, especially since she slipped in and out of consciousness, but when she awoke this time, tears pouring down her face, she didn’t expect Brody’s arrival. She was sure nobody else had visited her, especially since her siblings returned home for the Winter break, but Brody’s company was always welcomed, even if Yvonne didn’t make it aware out loud.

She felt the side of her hospital bed press down once Brody arrived, the sound of her nickname leaving his lips. Instantly she looked away, not exactly wanting him to see her cry. The hand that reached out for her leg moved, wiping at the stray tears that left her eyes. ”Of course it still hurts.” She spat, even though she didn’t exactly mean to. Her emotions were all over the place and the event reminded her of when her parents died. She was exactly the same back then, she even refused to sympathise with her sister.

The burning pain wasn’t exactly all there anymore, instead a stinging reminder of where her skin used to reside was all she felt. ”I want to leave. And go back to the dorms.” She told him bluntly. ”Surely I don’t need to be inside here any longer.” Being refused each time to return to where you felt most comfortable made you feel caged, like an animal. ”Why are you even here? I thought you were returning home this Christmas?”

brody christopher dubois & sorry for the wait!

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[brody christopher dubois]

Brody didn't think that Yvonne was angry with him as she told him that of course it still hurt. He was sure that she was just in pain and frustrated with the circumstances, so he couldn't take it personally. He didn't think that she was weak for crying or wrong for being angry. He probably would have been, too, he thought, if he were in her position.

"I want to leave. And go back to the dorms," Yvonne said to him. "Surely I don’t need to be inside here any longer."

While he wasn't a Healer, Brody hoped that she wouldn't have to stay in the Hospital Wing for much longer. He didn't know what the nurses were waiting to see before they would let her go back to her dormitory, but they must have had their reasons, too. It didn't make it any less of an annoyance, he imagined, to be virtually trapped in bed, in pain, and without much in terms of entertainment, though.

"Why are you even here?"

Just as he was about to start in with something about why wouldn't he be there, Brody realized as he heard Yvonne's next question that that wasn't what she had meant.

"I thought you were returning home this Christmas?"

Suddenly, he felt something gnawing at his insides. Had word not gotten back to her in Slytherin that he and his brothers were still at school, too? "Yeah," he answered her, his voice shaking at the thought that she hadn't known all this time. "We… decided to stay here." He paused, not sure if he could just play it off as though it was a casual thing. "I-I thought you knew we'd stayed back… I've, uh, been in here to check on you every few hours ever since I found out, but the nurses—they kept making me leave before I could even see you… You… got my Christmas present for you, though, right?" Since he couldn't get into the Slytherin Common Room to put it under the tree, he had given it to his owl, Hoot, and instructed him to find her. It wasn't anything too special—just a snow globe that he'd found in Hogsmeade—but he hoped that she had received it.

yvonne rae de snaijer

[yvonne rae de snaijer]

let's get lost.

EMOTIONS WEREN’T YVONNE’S strongest area to express. Especially around Brody and even her own siblings. Yvette tried her hardest to break through as the years went on, and even after their parents died, she felt it was the best of times to distance herself from her close-knit family. The De Snaijer wasn’t sure if her family had been told of her injury, or if they had any intention to contact her, but Brody’s presence was better than nothing. Not that she would admit it just yet. Eyes widened slightly at the revelation, Brody and his brothers never stayed. They always went home. But his next few words left to tears stinging her eyes yet again.

”You have?” She croaked, her voice breaking as she used her hands to hold herself up. ”You got me a Christmas Present?” She wondered how he did so, especially now they didn’t share a House in Hogwarts, but the thought of it was appreciated. Yvonne avoided staying within her Common Room as the Christmas days passed by, always finding an opportunity to attend Hogsmeade alongside the Professors and other students. And by the time she arrived home most days, she was too tired to do anything else but sleep.

”T-Thank you.” She murmured, looking to the side to avoid his gaze. ”I’ll…Try to look for it when they let me out of here.” And she was hoping it would be sometime soon. ”Could…Could you get a nurse? It stings but I’m sure I can…Walk on it.” Just to prove it, the De Snaijer pushed herself closer to the edge of the bed, moving her legs slowly so her bare feet touched the cold floor. The scar was more visible now, easier to shape and see its length. She winced at the sight of it and continue to push herself up. Her right leg was strong, holding the weight while her scarred left trembled.

brody christopher dubois & sorry for the wait!

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[brody christopher dubois]

"You have? You got me a Christmas present?" Yvonne asked him as she propped herself up in her hospital bed.

"Yeah, I did," Brody nodded in response to Yvonne's disbelief. Of course he had bought her a present, he thought to himself. Why wouldn't he have gotten her something? It wasn't as though he had forgotten about Yvonne just because they weren't in the same House. That year's might have been a bit more sentimental, true, but even so…

Yvonne thanked him but looked away from his direction, telling him that she would look for the present once she got out of the Hospital Wing.

"Hoot was supposed to bring it to you," he informed her. "Maybe he just put it somewhere weird," he considered. It wouldn't have been like his owl to do that, but Hoot also wasn't as familiar with Hogwarts as he was with Ilvermorny. Maybe it was the fact that the Slytherin Common Room was in the dungeons and positioned below the lake? If someone hadn't let Hoot in—or if he hadn't flown in after someone—maybe it hadn't reached the common room after all. "I'll ask him what he did with it," Brody assured her with a slight laugh. He especially didn't mind being able to communicate with owls in ways that even most other witches and wizards couldn't; it made it much easier than wandering around and searching, or attempting to summon, Yvonne's present back for her. "In the meantime, it's a box with red, kind of foil-type, wrapping paper…"

"Could… Could you get a nurse?" Yvonne asked. She mentioned that her injury still stung, but she was sure that she could walk on it.

"Yeah, of course," he smiled, stepping away from her bedside long enough to get one of the nurses. It took him a moment to catch one when they weren't in the middle of something, but he turned back around with one of the nurses' attentions grabbed to see that Yvonne had already moved herself off of the bed and to her feet.

Seeing that she was a little unsteady on her left side still, Brody rushed over to spot her. He didn't feel the need to grab her—not unless she started to fall—but he waited, ready, in case she needed the support to keep her balance. "You got it?" he asked, holding his arm out on Yvonne's left in case she felt the need to grab onto him. "I'm right here if you need a hand."

yvonne rae de snaijer

[yvonne rae de snaijer]

let's get lost.

DISBELIEF WAS THE only thing Yvonne could rely on throughout her life. Especially after her parents died, the De Snaijer found difficulty in understanding things, seeing the light in something dark or even looking easily upon pretty things. She wanted to thank Brody, pull him into her embrace and sob into his shoulder, the same way she would do so when all of her problems relied on abandonment - the same she felt when Yvette had the time of her life with her new friends, and the elder twin...was rather alone. Instead her lips thinned out, a tear trickling down her cheek. It was unclear whether or not the tear reflected the pain she felt or the...secret happiness she had, knowing that someone cared about her. From what Yvonne remembered, she hadn't seen Brody's pet since the last time the two spent some time together. And even that was a long time ago. "It's okay." She breathed, her hand waving in front of her at the thought of him rambling on to his owl. Wondering where the gift he sent off under Hoot's watch. It didn't matter to Yvonne, the thought was more considerate then having the actual item.

At his description of the box, the corners of Yvonne's lips quivered, trying to force a smile but she gave up once he stepped away, searching for the Nurses she requested to see. The De Snaijer simply wanted to get out of the hospital wing - walk with her damaged leg and have some kind of reason to wear skirts with no tights. Or maybe tights upon one leg and none on the other. A new fashion statement. Considering the De Snaijer began to shuffle in Brody's absence, she wasn't expecting him to help nor hold out his arm. Why was he helping her? She didn't deserve it. Yvonne's left hand reached out, grabbing onto his arm for support as she slowly rose. "Thanks." She murmured, watching as one Nurse shuffled over to the two of them.

Somewhere in Yvonne's gut, she could feel the Nurse's upcoming words, words of worry and observation, one that would tell her she couldn't exactly leave yet because of the tests they had to run and the serums they wanted to perform, the same things she had heard before. Though before Yvonne could even speak, her wish had been granted. She was able to go, as long as she took things easy, to step easy wherever she walked and to hopefully go places with a friend. The Nurse looked down at Brody, before smiling at the two of them, a soft mention of "How sweet it is, to have your boyfriend help you out." Yvonne knew there and then if she had been drinking, liquid would have been spat out into the woman's face, and eventually all over the floor. "H-He's not my boyfriend." She muttered with a frown. Yvonne was simply too young for love, to angry for it. "But thank you...We'll go now..."

brody christopher dubois & sorry for the wait!

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[brody christopher dubois]

“It’s okay,” Yvonne reassured him. Brody noticed that there was still a tear falling down her cheek, but he didn’t mention anything about it. It wasn’t really important, anyway; he had told her about the box, and she had wanted him to get one of the nurses, which he had.

Yvonne used him for a bit of stability, though she was steadier on her feet than he expected that she would be. As the nurse walked over towards them, however, he began to worry that they were both going to get scolded—Yvonne for getting up and attempting to walk, and he for trying to help her in doing that. Instead, Brody couldn’t believe it: Yvonne was actually free to leave the Hospital Wing.

It was a relief, but it wasn’t enough to keep Brody from looking down at the floor as the nurse referred to him as Yvonne’s boyfriend. They weren’t exactly to that point yet, not that he would have minded if they were.

"H-He's not my boyfriend,” he heard Yvonne correct the nurse. “But thank you… We'll go now…”

Brody swallowed and looked back up, eyes moving between Yvonne and the nurse who had discharged her. “That’s… That’s great, Vonni,” he said of the news that Yvonne was free to go, smiling again for her sake. “I can, uh, walk you to your common room,” he offered, “if you want me to?” It would probably take them a little while longer to reach the dungeons than it would have otherwise, but Brody had no other plans for the day and didn’t mind catching up.

yvonne rae de snaijer

[yvonne rae de snaijer]

let's get lost.

WIPING HER CHEEK AS the two of them spoke, watching as the nurse walked off, after informing the De Snaijer she was actually free to go. With a sniffle, she continued to hold onto Brody for support, gripping his arm rather tightly. She already knew how easily the now-Hufflepuff bruised when it came to his body, considering how easy for him it was to flush red, or how sensitive he was whenever Yvonne would flick at his fingers or forehead. When he was irritable that was. She felt bad deep down, considering he never gave up on her, no matter how mean she was to him. It was odd knowing that he stuck around, despite all of that. The corners of her own lips twitched, trying to form a smile before she gave up, thinning out evenly while she nodded.

”I’d like that.” She muttered to him, green eyes trailing from the floor up at her taller friend, only now realising how tall he truly was for his age. ”Don’t let me fall. Or I’ll kick you in the shins.” It wasn’t a threat she wasn’t afraid of fulfilling, even if it meant she would suffer a few hours in detention — if she was caught of course — but with the state of her left leg and her bravery against the dragons proving some point that there was a different side to the Slytherin girl, she was sure the Professors would let her off one way or another.

brody christopher dubois

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[brody christopher dubois]

Brody was glad to hear that Yvonne didn’t mind if he walked her back to her common room. He wasn’t too keen, however, on the idea of being kicked in the shins, though he admittedly found it humorous. He wouldn’t have put it past Yvonne to try—even one-legged—to injure him. “If you hurt me, you won’t have anybody to help you balance,” he reminded her teasingly. She could have found someone else, he supposed, even so. (Actually, knowing Yvonne, it was more likely that she would have crawled her way back to the dungeons under those circumstances; she was stubborn that way.)

More seriously after the comment about the possibility that he could get kicked in the shins, Brody smiled. “We’ll take it slowly, okay?” he reassured Yvonne. He wasn’t going to let her fall, and it would have hurt him more than it would have hurt her, he thought, if he were to allow that to happen. He wasn’t going to. Yvonne meant more to him than he had ever actually told her, but right after she had denied their being boyfriend and girlfriend did not seem like the right time for that.

Still, he felt the need to crush any lingering doubts in her mind “I’m not gonna let you fall, Vonni,” he promised her, making sure that he was able to support her as much as he could. Brody knew full well that he wasn’t made of muscle, exactly, but he wasn’t as scrawny as he had once been, either. He was finally getting taller, which he couldn’t say that he minded at all. “Just go at whatever speed is comfortable for you.” He started off out of the Hospital Wing slowly, just to be safe. Provided that there was no shin-kicking, he would have no problem matching her pace.

yvonne rae de snaijer

[yvonne rae de snaijer]

let's get lost.

AS MUCH AS SHE wanted to prove she was capable of walking completely and utterly fine by herself, relying on Brody was the only truth she could force herself to agree with for the day. She could never understand why he put up with her, especially since Yvonne was always mean to him, beside the term of context. With her threat being responded with a simple tease, she found herself shrugging. ”I’d still kick you in the shin.” She repeated, the scowl look on her face softening. ”Or even use the walls for support…Maybe I’d crawl…” The latter would only show Yvonne’s desperation to prove her independence, but having the Dubois here was…satisfactory for now.

Dark eyes lost themselves in Brody’s smile momentarily, leading to the Slytherin clearing her throat, shaking her head as she turned it elsewhere. ”Slow is…Great.” She muttered sarcastically. It wasn’t exactly the pace she wanted and while magic proved it couldn’t do more than it had done to speed up her healing, maybe pain was what she needed. Pain wasn’t always a bad thing in common injuries or aspects, something that Delilah had taught her, especially when Yvonne learned to write with both hands. ”Stop sounding like a parrot.” She snapped, eyes flickering to the ground after she did so. The grip she held on him loosened, her fingers spreading across the wall closest to her. She understood he was…potentially worried for her, but she didn’t need his constant reassuring words. Silence was sometimes enough too.

The steps the two of them had taken only made Yvonne more angry, as she soon came to realise how slow she was going. ”Do you think we could up the speed a bit?” She asked in suggestion, already doing so. The pain from the scar only grew to be agonising the more pressure she put onto her leg and while the De Snaijer avoided showing many kinds of emotions on her face, the grimace that crossed was hard to hide.

brody christopher dubois

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[brody christopher dubois]

Yvonne asserted that she'd still find a way to kick him in the shin, if it came to it. She'd use the wall for support, she claimed, or maybe she'd crawl. Brody knew that she was mostly only teasing him back, though. "Okay, good point," he conceded, chuckling. If not him, she had inanimate objects that she could rely on to get her back to the school's dungeons, provided that the stairs didn't do anything weird while she was trying to use them.

Still, the Slytherin said—a little unenthusiastically—that slow was great… until she scolded him for sounding like a parrot by promising her that she wouldn't fall. Brody knew what she meant, and he watched as she began to use the wall rather than him to keep her steady.

"Do you think we could up the speed a bit?" she asked him, though the pained expression upon her face suggested otherwise.

"You sure?" Brody checked with her. He knew, though, that she would have said that it was fine just to seem as though she wasn't bothered by the pain. "…You know I'm really not gonna judge you, right?" he hesitated, not wanting her to think that he was being a "parrot" again. She was injured. Anyone who had a problem with that probably had problems of their own to work out, he thought.

yvonne rae de snaijer

[yvonne rae de snaijer]

let's get lost.

INSTEAD OF LAUGHING WITH HIM, the corners of the De Snaijer’s lips tugged into the smallest smile, one that was still reserved enough to conceal emotion but just enough for the jokes at hand. Nothing would stop Yvonne from achieving what she wanted. And if that day she wanted to kick Brody in the shin, even with her bad leg, she would find a possible way to kick him in the shin. He looked down with worry in his eyes once the request left her lips, but Yvonne knew what she wanted.

”Don’t question it.” She said, snapping at him again. She blew out a sigh of frustration, holding further onto the slippery sides of the wall instead of relying on him, but his next words threw Yvonne over the edge. ”I don’t care if you’ll judge me or not! Stop treating me like I’m a cripple! Yes I got burned, yes I cried like an absolute idiot, but I can still walk, run and do everything a lot better than you can. So let’s fucking move faster.”

brody christopher dubois

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[brody christopher dubois]

Yvonne began to curse at him and yell at him for treating her as though she were a "cripple", which wasn't the case at all. He just didn't want to see her in any more pain, and he especially didn't want to be the cause of it. He didn't think of her any differently just because she did something that she probably shouldn't have done and had gotten burned. It also took guts for anyone—especially a fourth-year—to even try to help in a situation like that.

"Vonni…" Brody began with a sigh, trying not to get angry with her as he began to go at a more natural pace. He didn't think that anger was going to help anything. "I'm sorry if it seems like I've been treating you any different," he apologized. "I know that a lot of people have been… saying things about you, but that's not me. Okay?" He had spent so much time trying to convince people that Yvonne wasn't the mean girl they kept believing her to be, and he never seemed to get anywhere with it.

Continuing in silence for a little while, he thought of some way to explain himself. "I know you're better than me at just about everything," he smiled, going a little red. Yvonne had always tried to best him, and—nine times out of ten—she was successful. "And, I mean… I think it's kinda cool that you could kick my butt any day of the week. But I just… I don't want to hurt you."

yvonne rae de snaijer

[yvonne rae de snaijer]

let's get lost.

CURSING AND YELLING SEEMED TO be the only way Yvonne could get anyones attention aside from Yvette. Yvette was too precious to yell at, and most definitely didn’t deserve it. But when she was being treated like a cripple, something she knew she wouldn’t become from a stupid burn on her leg, being mean was her only resort. Even hearing her nickname at a time like now riled up the Slytherin. She didn’t want to hear a sympathy speech, or some sort of apology. She just wanted to walk in silence. But Brody’s next words already put her wish out of question. ”I don’t care what they’ve said.” She said, finally stopping in her spot, holding onto the sides of the wall a little tighter. ”You want the truth Brody? They’re right.” She paused, shaky laughter falling out of her lips.

”I did hurt that second year, and drove that first year Ilvermorny transfer into tears. I’ve stolen happiness from them the same way I had mine robbed. And you know what? I enjoyed it. So I don’t need you to convince anyone or try to save my name.” It was her first confession, the unsure smile on her lips holding up steady as if she sounded and looked like a villain. Delilah and Bianca had taught her well. ”You couldn’t hurt me the same way the next person could try. I would just hurt you first.” And with that, Yvonne continued on, trying to move at a faster pace as she held onto the wall for support, not caring if Brody would eventually catch up to her or not.

brody christopher dubois & maybe one response each before we end it there?

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