Chapter Ten
Tick Tock

A few weeks had passed, weeks of which had Bronwyn trying to juggle everything, a task of which she was significantly struggling at. She had yet to adjust to the new provisions put in place for her Dyslexia. She could barely keep on top of her school work, the classes were slipping away from her she was behind in every class. Her homework was left half heartedly finished, her classwork was mediocre at best. Her prefect duties, well she was already known as being lax and if a student was caught out of bed past curfew on her rounds she was the most likely to let someone off. Her emotional state, well that was as good as it had been recently. It hadn't got exactly worse, she couldn't say that. It hadn't miraculously got better either. She felt as though she lived in a constant world of self hatred and despise of everything but not at the same time. She tried to find new things she could enjoy, reattempt her old hobbies. But the beloved chess set she owned, it had yet to even be unpacked from her trunk. Left there, in somewhat safety, as she couldn't dare look at it or think about it anymore. It reminded her of a joyous happier version of herself. A version she felt had been lost many months ago. 

She felt as though she was losing touch with everyone. Harry had yet to really even talk to her, he still seemed overly upset about one of their many arguments at the end of the summer holidays. She would only catch him looking almost longingly over at her on occasion, before instantly turning away and sending her what could have been considered a snide look. He kept looks up in public, sitting beside her at dinner and in class but little to no conversation would pass between them. Her relationship with Ginny was becoming more and more fractured. The younger sister having successfully obtained a place on the Quidditch team after having trialled for the position on the first week. Something that the pair had once talked about doing together when the position finally came up. Something they obviously were not doing as Bronwyn had lost all love of the sport she used to hold so dearly. And ever since her younger sister had this grudge, one she knew would not go away soon. Ginny took after their mother in that way, finding that she could hold something against someone for a while being rather stubborn about it all. The rest of the students in her house had also noticed something was different with Bronwyn this year, they had noticed her much more reserved personality, the lack of jokes and laughter and seemed almost scared of the new version of her. It was ridiculous but she could understand she was sure if she had seen a complete 180 of a personality as developed as hers then she too would be a little be weirded out by it all. They just didn't need to make it so publicly known. 

The only people who really didn't seem that bothered by the version of herself she was becoming were her older brothers, Hermione her most loyal best friend and for some reason Blaise Zabini. The boy she was supposed to hate but just couldn't bring herself to do so. Their twice weekly tutoring sessions had begun to become something she genuinely looked forwards to. There was just something about the boy which made her feel comfortable. He never seemed to judge her, or her lack of general magical talent or knowledge. Rather he just seemed to want to help her build herself up. And he brought around that sense of comfort she didn't realise she could really find in another person. Sure she felt comfort around her family. Hermione was the person she was probably closest to in the entire world, the older girl always made her feel safe and loved and trusted. But there was something different about the way Blaise made her feel, something she couldn't put her finger on. But whatever it was, it was driving her to spend more time with him, to get to know him better. And that was something she was no longer so strongly against. She knew his morals and ideas were not ideal, they were pretty horrible, but people can change she knew that. And maybe time would tell and she would be able to maybe show him that what good could be out there. Her brain already was trying to convince her to plan their future out. 

This feeling, this excitement, this final feeling of almost being herself was what drove her to be early to the library for the study session that evening. She took a seat at the normal desk they had been using, which was luckily still empty, unsure of what to do considering she was 10 or so minutes early. If she was being honest she had never been inside the library on her own, she never really had a need to. Bronwyn was a barely passing kind of student, who until this last summer had no drive to even do well in class or change anything. And now, as she watched students younger than her who were much more organised and able to find their way around the vast number of bookshelves she wondered if she was missing out. Maybe there was some sort of magic to the place. But she didn't want to focus too much, otherwise the slightly happier mood she was in would be tarnished. Rather she moved to take out her notebook and the book they had been working on. Finally happy that it seemed as though they were close to finishing the first year book. As it turned out that Bronwyn had a better grasp on some of the spells than she had originally thought to have had. 

Bronwyn lent forwards in her chair resting both of her elbows upon the desk. This was the latest they had organised a study session until this point and it was 8pm at night. Yet Bronwyn had not been sleeping the last few days, in fact she was unsure she had slept for the last five days on a row. Other than the small half an hour nap here and there she had been unable to sleep. Her brain had not allowed her any point to rest and she was really starting to feel the effects of so many hours without sleep. But she couldn't find a way to fix it, and there was no way she was missing this session just because she was a little bit tired. Therefore, she rested her head upon her right palm and gently closed her eyes. Hoping to just get a little relief from all the lamps and lights of which surrounded her. 

Blaise remaining as punctual as normal arrived a few minutes early for the 8pm start of the tutoring session. He was aware Bronwyn was often a few minutes late and therefore he would have enough time to unpack and get everything set up. However, he was surprised to find someone sat at the usual desk, and started to look around for another one he could use. Yet there was not one that was in such a nice area or was set up in the same way. This meant he had the full intent to ask the person, who was very clearly asleep at the desk, to move so he could make actual use of the table. Yet it would not be until he was much closer that he realised just who the other person was. That Bronwyn had beat him there that evening and, in the most likely situation had only been there a very short time before his arrival, had fallen asleep waiting. And part of him didn't want to wake her. He wanted to leave her to rest when it was clear she needed it. He had after all seen the dark circles under her eyes developing over the previous couple of days. So he took his time unpacking his belongings and tried to be as careful as possible when sitting down as to not jolt her awake. Blaise pondered for a little while as to how best to gently wake her, he did not mind if she was too tired to study that evening happy to rearrange. But he didn't want to startle her and nor did he want to make her feel bad for being tired. He wanted her to rest. But he also wanted to spend a little more time around her. For everything Bronwyn was, it was something that kept calling him back for more. She had become more of a fascination the more he got to know of her. And though she still kept him at an arms length away, every slither of information he clung onto. Writing a biography of everything she was. 

Settling on just placing his hand upon her left arm, knowing if he intended to be as traditional as he knew she would be more interested in, that this was the most appropriate. Placing his hand as lightly as possible, he was able to tell just how thin the fabric of her school jumper was, instantly taking note of just how cold she must have been. That it was a well worn jumper, one that was surely not originally hers a hand me down if the faded colouring and material were a give away. And something inside of him screamed that she deserved so much better than that. That she deserved the best quality, she deserved to be like the other girls in her house which played with the uniform and used the red and gold colours much more. He wanted to spoil her and make her realise just how much she deserved. But before he could get further into the thoughts of which were taking over he felt as she jumped in a delayed response to his touch. Her head snapped up from where it had been resting upon her right hand and she turned quickly to look at him. He saw the initial fright in her expression before it was quickly gone the second she had noticed it was him. 

"I'm sorry I didn't believe I could have fallen asleep so fast."

"If you're too tired to do anything tonight Heiress Weasley we can look at doing some this weekend instead." Blaise offered watching as her expression seemed to fall at these words and he wondered if she too was looking forward to these sessions like he was. 

"No it's okay." Bronwyn was quick to rush out a response turning her body fully to face him. "I can do a little while we're so close to the end of this first book I don't want to lose progress." Bronwyn continued on finding that her excuse was a rather good one. 

"How about I read it out this evening then, that way if you're already feeling tired we don't over exhaust you." Blaise offered having noted that she seemed to prefer him reading it to her than reading it herself. Even if she had been given a film to use and been taught the spell to temporarily change the colour of the book pages. 

"I'd really like that. Thank you Blaise." It was the first time she had said his name, and he would be lying to say that he didn't really like the way it sounded. And as he read to her, he watched as her head went to rest upon her left knee which she had pulled up into a more comfortable sitting position, not that he could understand. Her gaze was stuck upon him almost as she was trying her hardest to absorb every word he spoke to her. And he watched as she shifted one more her hand once again on her hand, before her eyes begin to close. Half an hour later her head would move from its resting place falling down and over to where it was mainly resting against her left shoulder but partially resting against his arm. Blaise had not wanted to wake her a second time and was content remaining there until they were kicked out at closing time. She needed the sleep that much was true and he wasn't going to be a hindering factor to that. 

It would be ten minutes prior to the library closing time when he caught a familiar looking figure approaching them. The brown curls and bright red tie were the indicating factors to confirm that it was indeed Hermione Granger approaching them. The older teenager immediately looking at her best friend in concern. Before floating her eyes between the pair of them at the desk. She chose to approach Blaise.

"She's sleeping huh?" Hermione's voice was nothing much above a whisper trying her hardest to not wake the ginger. 

"Fell asleep about half an hour into the session. Looks like she needed it."

"Bronwyn she's been struggling for a while. I don't think she's slept this week. I didn't think she really felt comfortable in the dorm. Looks like she found somewhere she felt comfortable though." Hermione's words would continue to linger on his mind for the oncoming days. Because if Bronwyn had found something of comfort in him, he realised they might both be heading down the same spiral path and he now had to work out what his next steps were. He became a pawn in his own game of chess.