Delia, Can you keep a secret? [Cordelia]

[BRODERICK LENNOX MCLAGGEN]

What would I give to live where you are?
What would I pay to stay here beside you?

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Broderick had spent his whole time at Hogwarts having the lovely ladies fawn all over him. Which was fine, they were lovely girls, funny and smart, and he couldn't be happier, if they were just his friends. But the problem was that they weren't just his friends. They wanted to hold hands with him and... kiss him. Lovely girls, but when he kissed them, he tasted strawberry chapstick and soft skin and itty bitty lips, and absolutely no passion, no matter how hard a girl tried. And when he went to bed every night, he imagined the rough, passionate kissing of the last boy that he had kissed, and it made him bite his lips and wish he had that boy with him now. He spent the last six years at Hogwarts pretending to like girls for the sake of his sister and his parents, and the friends around him, shallow as they were, but at night, he would sneak off with one boy or another and have the time of his life. They wouldn't make eye contact for like a week afterwards, but in the back of both of their minds, they were thinking about the mind blowing sex they had earlier that week.

Then, of course, lovely Cordelia came along. She was so sweet, and she had a gorgeous personality. She was polite, calm, cute, and smart. She had a fun personality and yet she could still be serious. She was a wonderful person to just sit and talk to about life in general. But kissing Cordelia was awful. Not because Cordelia was an awful kisser, but because every time he kissed Cordelia he felt like a liar, and it just made him feel awful in general. Then Cordelia wanted to take it to the next step, something he had avoided doing with any other girl, either by not being committed enough for them, or ending it at the right time, but he didn't want to end it with Delia; he liked having her around as a friend. One time though, they were starting to get a little more intimate than Brody was comfortable with, and Brody pushed Delia away, saying that he didn't feel comfortable with that, and he wasn't ready to go to the next step. They fought and eventually Cordelia was the first person to ever put all of the pieces together. She accused him of being homosexual and Brody blew her off of course, saying that he liked girls and he reached over to her and pulled her close, grabbing her boobs, but as he looked down at her, trying to prove himself, she saw right past him and his phony act. She pulled herself away and left the room.

Brody had been worried about her for about a week now. He knew that girls gossiped, and once the gossip got around, he was afraid it would get back to the guys. Not one guy had ever felt alright about living in the same dormitory as a homosexual, not from Brody's eyes. Brody would never be seen the same way ever again. Sure, he would finally be able to date a person with the right kind of equipment for Brody, but he would be ridiculed and his father would never forgive him for this. Brody was supposed to like females, and he tried really hard to like females. He was more trying to prove it to himself that he liked the feeling of Cordelia's breasts last week, than proving it to her, but he felt nothing but skin and cellulose. He had started avoiding seeing Cordelia or any of her friends. He saw her once a day or so ago, and after they met glances for a moment, Brody nearly ran the other direction. Brody wanted Cordelia to forget all about it, and all about him and his problems.

What would I do to see you smiling at me?

[CORDELIA ANAIS WOOD]

Cordelia slouched in a chair in the Hufflepuff common room, staring at nothing in particular. Her eyes were unfocused and nobody bothered to come over thankfully. Cordelia would've blown them off knowing she wouldn't be able to do anything else besides think of that moment. She kept replaying it in her head that night she was with Brody. He was her new fling and once called him her boyfriend to her best friend. It hadn't been that long since they'd been seeing each other and she wasn't sure if boyfriend was the right word to use up to that point. Boyfriend were for those who had been together for more than a month. Cordelia was a little upset since she really liked this guy. Well, she had anyways. Now she was just confused as to why didn't to get down and dirty. Cordelia was a well informed girl about the people in her grade and houses and knew that a Slytherin male did not turn down a nice shagging. Cordelia would know: she was that girl just last year who got to third base with a lot of horny males.

Replaying it in her mind again, she saw herself in the empty classroom making out with Brody. Cordelia wasn't just one for kissing and began to pull her shirt off to reveal her nude colored bra. She was a B cup so the bra had a bit of padding for extra cleavage. As soon as she took his shirt off ( which revealed awesome abs and rockin' muscles ), Brody began to retreat from the kisses. Cordelia was bewildered at this. No guy denied some boob action. None of them! Guys were typically thinking about naked women constantly since they thought with their penis instead of their head. Well, for the most part they did. It was rude of Cordelia, but she blurted out she thought he must be gay then. If he didn't like the boobs, then he must obviously like something else besides a woman's body. Of course he denied it. Cordelia would too if she was in his position. She practically accused him in a disgusted way. She was just upset. She was confused. After he walked out, leaving her behind, Cordelia had gone to the Kitchens to eat on it. She also slept on it as well, trying to toss it over in her brain.

A week had passed and Cordelia sat in the same spot during her many off hours or walked the empty corridors to try to find the best way to approach him. She liked Brody too much to leave them hanging. She wasn't one for broken ties between people she generally appreciated. Sighing, Cordelia stood up. She didn't notice the people staring at her, surprised that she even moved. She needed to find him soon and talk to him. She knew that guys didn't like confrontation, but Cordelia wasn't going to let this go since she knew it would eat at her for quite some time. Where to look was the question. She could ask around, but that might be a risky idea. Someone might tell Brody that she was looking for him and then hide in the Slytherin Common Room. She wanted to do this today and not have to wait for him to come out of the snake pit. Outside was her first choice. There weren't so many places that one could be outside as there were on the inside of the castle. The entrance to the castle wasn't that far thankfully and within five - ten minutes, Cordelia stood just outside the large doors. Her moccasins slapped against the stone steps and with a stroke of luck, Cordelia saw Brody. She raised her arms in the air while looking up to the sky, thanking whomever that she found him right away.

Calming down, Cordelia tried to remain calm and not be abrasive. He was sitting on a bench, minding his own business. She felt bad since she knew that this may not be a pretty conversation. Maybe she could get him to go somewhere on the grounds where people won't be able to overhear them. She really didn't want any rumors going around and she knew how fast rumors spread in this school. It was seriously a terrible problem the students needed to fix. But then again, people needed to be entertained somehow, Cordelia thought cynically. Sitting down next to him, Cordelia began to pick at her fingernails in her lap. She looked over to him once and smiled. "We need to talk..." Cordelia explained. She wanted to smile at the irony of the situation. That phrase was often used to break up with someone, but this was quite the opposite. They weren't really a couple to begin with and Cordelia was trying to mend the situation, not break it off.

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[BRODERICK LENNOX MCLAGGEN]

What would I give to live where you are?
What would I pay to stay here beside you?

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Cordelia walked up and sat next to him on his quiet bench and Brody was brought out of his little world for a moment to see her sitting there and he immediately wanted to get up and walk away. The fight or flight instinct was kicking in in the back of his brain and he didn't want to have to deal with that. He wanted to just hide, because it had been what he had been doing for about 4 years now and it suited him well. He learned early on what kind of equipment he liked and he hadn't strayed ever since, no matter how hard he tried to hide it or cover it up. He looked down at Cordelia, who didn't say anything at first, just picking at her fingernails. It made him look down at his own, which were pretty well groomed.

Cordelia was a perfectly beautiful girl. She had long, blonde hair, and lovely skin. She had pretty curves and she was warm and funny and bright. He looked over at her and wondered how he couldn't feel any connection to her deeper than an appreciation for a beautiful girl with a bright personality. He wanted to stare at her, as if looking at her long enough might change his mind, but he knew when he went to bed tonight, he would be dreaming of a short boy with a cropped hair cut and rock hard abs underneath his shirt, not this girl with breasts and I'm sure a fantastic lover.

"We need to talk..."

[/color] She finally said. Brody looked at her, and then at the ground. Reaching up to rub his neck anxiously, he started mumbling. When he was nervous, he usually started stuttering and mumbling, which was so different from his suave facade. "I don't k-know what there is to t-talk about..."[/color] He sighed, blowing air out. He then started to make shit up. "Y-you just weren't the right girl for m-me... I-I'll find someone."[/color] He said. He finally looked up with sad, pleading eyes at Cordelia, as if mentally telling her how desperate he was to find a girlfriend to prove himself wrong. He didn't want to be the shame of his father or different from other guys. He just wanted to be normal. He didn't want to be treated differently, but he knew somewhere deep down that no girl was going to be the right girl for him.
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What would I do to see you smiling at me?

[CORDELIA ANAIS WOOD]

The silence felt like forever. Cordelia didn't mind silence between two people, but this kind of silence was terrifying. She didn't want to look him in the eye because she was a bit scared as to what she might find out today, or not find out today. So far he hadn't stormed off, which Cordelia was thankful for. He owed her an explanation and she also felt hurt. She thought that Brody was going to be that nice guy she was going to last with. Yet another boy slipping through her fingers. Finally, she looked over to him and saw that his hand was rubbing his neck anxiously. She's seen him do that a couple of other time as well when he was uncomfortable, so she wasn't surprised when she saw him with his hand on his neck. Then he began to stutter. Cordelia sighed and closed her eyes. They weren't going to get anywhere unless she put the pants on and took control of the situation. She just needed to get it out and make Brody suffer as little as possible.

When she opened her eyes again, Cordelia saw those pleading eyes stare at her. Her heart melted a little bit from how hot he looked right now and from the fact that they were actually having this conversation. Turning towards him, Cordelia took his hand and stare him in the eye. If she was confident about this, maybe he would feel so anxious and shy about where this might go. "Brody, I may be a Hufflepuff, but I'm not dumb. You aren't fooling me." Cordelia started out, trying to get him to see that Cordelia could pick up on everybody's radar. She wasn't the typical Hufflepuff. She was the girl that just wasn't brave enough, smart enough, or cunning enough to be stereotyped. Cordelia was a Hufflepuff because she was truly unique in that she herself didn't know exactly where she belonged. Hufflepuffs were supposed to be the pushover, nice kids, but Cordelia never associated herself with that. Now that she was sixteen, almost seventeen, Cordelia knew that she was a secret keeper. She valued keeping secrets because when someone told her a secret, it meant that they trusted her to keep it. Cordelia sighed again and looked down to the hand she held. "As a friend and secret keeper, you can tell me anything. Cordelia said as she looked up to meet his eyes again.

If he didn't believe her still, Cordelia wasn't sure what to do next. Her shoulders slumped a bit. Should she pinky promise? It seemed childish, but an Unbreakable Vow seemed a bit extreme too. She held up her pinky finger and gave him the look she gave everybody when she tried to guilt them into listening to her. She titled her head to the side a bit so she had to look up through her eyelashes a bit and pouted her lips ever so slightly. "I never go back on my pinky promises." Cordelia said and a smile slowly grew on her lips.

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