Search:

SIYE Time:8:01 on 29th March 2024
SIYE Login: no


Paintball Wizard
By cackling stump

- Text Size +

Category: Alternate Universe
Characters:All
Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Romance, Tragedy
Warnings: Death
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 319
Summary: The life of a typical American teenager (okay, maybe not so typical) is shaken by tragedy. Then he discovers a new world awaiting him, filled with new people, new struggles, and, perhaps, new love.
Hitcount: Story Total: 256038; Chapter Total: 6100
Awards: View Trophy Room




Author's Notes:
Thanks to Arnel who has offered to be the beta for the rest of this story. I really appreciate all the help she is giving to improve my writing.




ChapterPrinter
StoryPrinter


Confessions

When Brook got back to the castle, it was dinner time and as he entered the Great Hall, the first person he saw was Dean sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table. “Hey, mate!” he said as he waved at Brook. “How was your first trip to Hogsmeade?”

Gripped in guilt for what he had just done, Brook answered, “Okay, I guess.”

“Where’s Ginny? I figured she’d be with you.”

“I’m sure she’ll be along soon.” Brook looked back nervously, in case she was there. After a pause, he said, “You know, we had a big lunch and I’m pretty tired; I think I’ll skip dinner and take a nap. See you later, Dean.” He turned quickly and headed back to his dorm. There he lay down in his bed, staring at the canopy. Now what? How can I face her after doing that? How can I face Dean? Or Ron? I wouldn’t be surprised if they all want me out of this room when they learn what I did. Maybe Dumbledore can move me down into the 6th years’ dorm. You are such a weakling, Pelton! Can’t control yourself at all! You need to get it through your head that she is taken! Stop thinking of her that way.

But as much he tried, the memories of that kiss kept coming back to him.

After a short while, Ron came up and dragged him down to the common room to play chess. Fortunately, Ginny didn’t seem to be there, but his eyes were pulled to the portrait holeevery time it opened with an odd mixture of dread and anticipation that it might be her. He also occasionally glanced over at Dean, who was playing Exploding Snap on the other side of the room with Seamus.

“Hey, Brook, pay attention. You normally give me more of a challenge than this. Where’s your mind tonight?”

“I don’t know, Ron. Maybe just a little tired from Hogsmeade.”

“Where did you get to? We never saw you or Ginny after lunch.”

Brook’s palms started sweating as he tried to come up with an answer. “Oh, we just sat on a hill looking over the town and talked,” hoping it sounded innocent.

“Don’t let Dean know she took you there. That’s where they normally go when they want to be alone, if you know what I mean.” Brook went pale, which Ron noticed and chuckled. “I’m just teasing you, mate. Dean may get all hot under the collar at times, but he trusts Ginny and he trusts you.”

He shouldn’t, thought Harry, making himself feel even guiltier. He started sweating a little and Ron asked, “You okay, mate? You’re looking a little peaky. Do you need to go see Madam Pomfrey?”

“No, but I think I will turn in early. Maybe I need some rest. See you in the morning, Ron.” As he walked to the door to the boys’ dorm, the portrait opened again, and this time it was Ginny. He couldn’t help looking at her and their eyes met for a second before she turned toward Dean and sat next to him on the couch. His last view before closing the door was Ginny whispering something in Dean’s ear. He felt like he had been hit in the gut as he walked up the stairs.

Over the next few days, Brook became very adept at avoiding Ginny. He traded one obsession for another, from ‘Chasing Miss Weasley’ to ‘Evading Miss Weasley.’ All the knowledge he had gained while basically stalking her came in handy. He knew when she would eat her meals, which corridors she would walk between classes, when she would study in the library, and when she would likely be in the common room. He would get up and eat an early breakfast, knowing that she usually just grabbed some toast and juice at the last minute before class. He ate a huge breakfast so that he could skip lunch, using the excuse with his classmates that he needed to study more. He then would either show up at the very end of dinner and imitate Ron, shovelling the food in quickly, or nick something from the elves in the kitchens after dinner was over.

He couldn’t totally avoid her, since they had DA and Transfiguration together, but he did his best. For Transfiguration he hid under his Invisibility Cloak just outside the door until she went in and then sat down at the last minute by Luna. His efforts to avoid her were helped by the fact that Ginny wasn’t in the common room nearly as often as she normally was.

Dean was harder to avoid since he was in both of Brook’s other classes and, of course, in his dorm room, but fortunately Dean was gone from the common room almost every evening that week. When he came back to the common room in the evenings, he had a wide grin on his face. Probably off with Ginny somewhere, thought Brook. But that idea actually made things worse, as he began to picture what they could be doing, wishing that it was he that she was with. One night after midnight Brook was coming back from the loo when he bumped into Dean, who was trying to sneak into the dorm undetected. In the moonlight coming in the window, Brook could see that Dean’s shirt was rumpled and untucked and the buttons were not in the correct holes. Brook felt a growl building inside him and felt like he wanted to tear Dean apart for what he was doing with Ginny. He took a few deep breaths and got into his bed, but couldn’t go back to sleep.

That wasn’t the only night that he lost sleep, his dreams filled with replays of their kiss and what more kissing could lead to. He couldn’t get the wonderful sensations he had experienced out of his mind, day or night. He would wake up several times per night, whispering her name. He mentally thanked Professor Flitwick again for teaching him the Silencing Charm. One night, after a few hours staring at the canopy over his bed trying to get her out of his mind, he gave up, deciding to go to the kitchens to get some hot milk to see if that would help him sleep. He grabbed his Invisibility Cloak and quietly left the dorm. As he tiptoed through the common room under his Cloak, he noticed someone sleeping on a couch. He looked closer and realized it was Ginny. He looked longingly at her, thinking about how beautiful she was. But just before he turned to leave, her face changed from peaceful to fretful and she started tossing in her sleep, mumbling something that sounded like, “No, Tom, no!” He was drawn to her and, before he knew what he was doing, he had reached his hand out and was brushing her cheek, whispering, “Shh, Ginny, shh. It’s just a dream; go back to sleep.” Almost as soon as he touched her, she calmed down and settled back into a serene slumber. He rose, feeling better himself, and decided to pass on the warm milk and go back to his dorm.

Several nights later, after an especially passionate dream snogging session, he woke with a racing heart. There is no way that I’m going to be able to go back to sleep after that! he thought, exasperated. He considered a cold shower, but figured that would wake up his dorm mates and they might start asking some suspicious questions which he really wanted to avoid. So, he decided to go down to the common room with a copy of Hogwarts: A History, figuring that would probably distract him and help him get back to sleep.

As he sat on the couch, he found he couldn’t concentrate on the book at all. All he could see was her beautiful eyes looking up at him as he leaned down to kiss her lips. He slammed the book closed in frustration and ran his hands through his hair as he stared at the fire.

“Don’t let Hermione see you abusing your book like that; that happens to be her favourite.” Brook startled at the voice and looked up and saw Ginny walking toward him with a smirk as she sat down on the couch next to him. “Another nightmare?” she asked.

“Not this time. Just couldn’t sleep,” he said, staring at his hands in his lap so he wouldn’t have look at her.

“Want to talk about what’s keeping you up?”

“You’re the last person I would talk to about this,” he muttered, but as he looked at her hurt face, he could tell she had heard him anyway. He stood up and said, “Good night, Ginny; I’m going up.”

“Wait, Brook,” she said as she placed a hand on his arm. “I really do want to talk.”

He shivered at her touch, but then pulled his arm away. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?”

He hesitated, looking down at his feet, before saying quietly, “I don’t trust myself to be alone with you.”

“That’s what I want to talk to you about. Please?” She placed a finger underneath his chin, forcing him to look her in the face. “Please?” she repeated, biting her lower lip.

He nodded, afraid of saying anything. She took his hand and pulled him down to sit down next to her, their knees almost touching. He kept his eyes down to avoid looking her in the face, but his eyes were drawn to the hem of her nightgown again, just above her knees, but he decided that looking at her face was probably safer than where his thoughts would go staring at her thighs.

“Brook, I know you’ve been avoiding me since Saturday.” Brook opened his mouth to protest, but before he could say anything, she stopped him. “Don’t deny it. I’ve hardly seen you the last few days. Have you even been eating? You’re never in the Great Hall during meals.”

“I’ve been eating a big breakfast, but leaving before you get up, skipping lunch, and catching something from the house-elves after dinner,” he admitted. “I thought it would help to not be around you. That way I wouldn’t think about you constantly.”

“Has it helped?”

Brook thought for a moment. “No. If anything, it’s worse. I’m sorry, Ginny, but I can’t stop thinking about you, how I forced myself on you, how I betrayed Dean and Ron. I really messed up this time and I don’t know what to do about it.” He dropped his face into his hands and closed his eyes, not wanting to look her in the face any more.

“Brook, look at me.” When he didn’t respond, she took his hands in hers and said more forcefully, “Look at me.” When he looked up into her eyes again, she started, “Brook, I want you to listen to me. And please don’t interrupt, before I lose my nerve. You know that Dean and I have been going out for over a year now. We have a good relationship; we enjoy spending time together and he makes me laugh. But there is something missing. There is no passion. I love him, and I think he loves me too, but not romantically. Our relationship is comfortable, and I think that’s why we’ve stayed together for so long. But with you it’s different. My heart skips a beat when you smile at me, my stomach flutters in anticipation when I know that I am going to see you and when you stare at me." She smiled at him as he felt his face grow hot. "Yes, I do notice when you stare at me. You’re not very subtle sometimes. Anyway, when you stare at me, it’s almost like I can feel your presence around me, like you’re almost touching me. I have never been more thrilled than when Dean got that detention on Saturday; I so much wanted to spend the day with you. Alone with you. Luna must have sensed it which is why she left after lunch. That afternoon talking to you was wonderful; yes, I felt comfortable with you, but a different comfortable than with Dean. There was something else, like an energy flowing through me. And when we kissed. -- Oh, and don’t you say ever again that you forced yourself on me.-- I wanted it just as much as you did. I kissed you back, didn’t I? But the feeling when we kissed was unlike any I’ve ever felt. And then you ran off, saying it was all a mistake. I almost ran after you, but I didn’t know what to think; I was so confused. So, I walked back to the castle slowly and did a lot of thinking. I realized at that moment what my relationship with Dean was missing. I didn’t know what to call it, I still don’t, but whatever it is that Dean and I don’t have, I now know that you and I do have it. You turned on a switch inside me and I’ve been different ever since. But despair hit my heart when I thought about your reaction to our kiss. I would think about your words; you said it was a mistake. What did you mean by that? Did you feel the same way about me? Or did you feel nothing and you regretted kissing me? I thought you were attracted to me, but did our kiss turn you off? Or was it a mistake because of my relationship with Dean? How did you feel about a girl who would kiss a boy when she already had a boyfriend? Did you think I was a slag? Could you ever trust me, knowing I was unfaithful to Dean? Those are the thoughts that have been keeping me up at night. I’ve come down here every night, hoping that you would be here. You see, I decided then and there that I had to end it with Dean and convince you to give me a chance. I had to hope that you felt the same way I feel about you, that the kiss meant something to you too.”

Brook met her eyes, hoping against hope that what she'd just said was true. “So, why haven’t you broken up with him yet?” he asked, still a bit bewildered.

She looked at him in confusion. “But I did, that very night.”

Brook started to get a little angry at her deception. “And you’ve still been snogging him every night? I’ve seen his grin every night when he returns to the common room and I caught him night before last sneaking into the dorm after midnight, his clothes all rumpled,” he said accusingly.

Ginny started laughing, causing Brook to be the one baffled this time. “Dean wasn’t snogging me. He was with Padma. You see, when I revealed to Dean how I was feeling, how I felt we had stayed together because we were comfortable and that something was missing, he agreed. I told him about what had happened between us and he admitted something similar had occurred with him and Padma. Padma had also been in detention with Slughorn Saturday and they got to talking afterwards. One thing led to another and they kissed that afternoon as well. And he said he felt something different when he kissed her. That’s where he has been off to all week; I’m guessing that they are trying out every broom cupboard they can find.”

“Oh." Brook stared at the floor, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Sorry. I guess I shouldn’t have assumed he was with you.”

“No, you shouldn’t have, but I guess I can see how you would jump to that conclusion. So, Brook, it’s now back in your corner. Why did you say our kiss was a mistake? Was it because of my relationship with Dean or was it because of your lack of feelings for me? Put me out of my misery, please? I need to know either way.”

Brook looked into her eyes that were pleading to him and he melted all over again. He took her face in his hands and lightly kissed her. This time she responded instantaneously, and he was lost in her, pulling her to him and deepening the kiss. When they stopped for air, he held her close, his face in the crook of her neck, and he panted, “I’ve wanted to do that again all week.”

When his breathing slowed down, he pulled back, and said, “I owe you a proper answer to your question.”

“Oh, I think have all the answer I need,” smiled Ginny breathlessly.

“No, it’s my turn to be honest. I have never felt a kiss like that either, and I’ve never felt for a girl what I feel for you.” He stopped and looked in her eyes again. “I can’t take my eyes off of you. I’m constantly thinking about you. When you touch me, I get all tingly. And that night we fell asleep on the couch, it just felt right, like I’ve been looking for something all my life and I had finally found it. When I see you with Dean, it felt like an icy spike in my chest; other times it was like a monster was growling inside me, wanting to tear him apart limb from limb just for putting his arm around you. You don’t know how tough these last few weeks have been since I realized what I felt for you.” He almost told her about the dreams, but stopped before he revealed that; I don’t want to scare her off just yet. “And then we kissed, and that’s all that I could think of, the feel of your lips, the sensation of drowning in your beautiful brown eyes. Of course, those feelings were quickly followed by guilt about what I had done. So, yes, when I said it was a mistake, it was because it was wrong of me to kiss my roommate’s girlfriend. But even though it was a mistake, I don’t regret kissing you. I can’t regret something that made me feel like that. But I was sure that it was going to be my only chance. I’m hoping now that I’ll get more chances. Will you be my girlfriend?”

“Yes,” she replied before kissing him again. After a few more minutes, she snuggled up to him and they fell asleep on the couch again. As the fire gradually faded, the common room was filled with an eerie glow that was centred on that couch, but there was no one to notice it.

Reviews 319
ChapterPrinter
StoryPrinter




../back
‘! Go To Top ‘!

Sink Into Your Eyes is hosted by Grey Media Internet Services. HARRY POTTER, characters, names and related characters are trademarks of Warner Bros. TM & © 2001-2006. Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R. Note the opinions on this site are those made by the owners. All stories(fanfiction) are owned by the author and are subject to copyright law under transformative use. Authors on this site take no compensation for their works. This site © 2003-2006 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Special thanks to: Aredhel, Kaz, Michelle, and Jeco for all the hard work on SIYE 1.0 and to Marta for the wonderful artwork.
Featured Artwork © 2003-2006 by Yethro.
Design and code © 2006 by SteveD3(AdminQ)
Additional coding © 2008 by melkior and Bear