A Change Of Heart (Vlad and Dmitra)

Vladimir had decided to do something that he rarely ever did any more, and that was to sit in the common room, after all he had been so used to having the boys dorm to himself that he merely stayed up there and used that area, but he thought that in the interest of making friends he would stay down here for a while.

The only problem was...that the common room was empty. He could literally imagine tumbleweeds rolling across the floor as he sat by the fire, curled up on the large wingback chair.

Not really knowing if anyone was going to come into the common room Vlad opened his book and began to read, trying to learn as much as he could on his own about the topic that he was the most passionate about, dragons.

Dmitra walked, cold, unseeing, through the hallways of the Durmstrang Institute. A whirlwind of thoughts and memories span in her head, as she walked dizzily, her feet making their way towards the Muhe common room by themselves. She was walking, faster and faster, when suddenly she tripped over her laces and crashed to the cold, cemented floor.

That triggered something in Dmitra. The cold façade which she had maintained for so long before her mother seemed to crack, and Dmitra felt hot tears slowly make their way down her face. She had received the news about her father dying who had raised her for all her life, and then she had argued against her mother who she had never met in all of her life and now who was apparently going to be taking care of her, and she had weathered it all without sobbing, without breaking down. But not any more.

Dmitra got to her feet and ran, everything around her a blur. She wrenched open the door of her common room and sank down to her knees, shaking uncontrollably, rasping sobs breaking out from her chest. She didn’t care who might be watching her, all she cared about now was that her father had left her and now she was alone. All alone.

Vladimir jumped as the door to the common room was slammed open and he looked at the person who had now apparently fallen onto the floor, they sounded like they were either crying or having some sort of asthma attack, neither was a very good thing to be experiencing so he closed his book to see if he could help whoever it was.

Shocked to see that it was Dmitra, the girl he had spoken to and had not really gotten off on the right foot with, who he had certiainly never expected to have a break down in the middle of the Muhe common room, kneeling on the floor and crying her eyes out.

Unsure of what really to do, Vlad whistled to himself; "Well f*ck me." he whispered, before kneeling down by Dmitra and gently placing a hand on her shoulder;

"Hey, hey, come on let's get you up off the floor." he said, trying to help Dmitra to at least a proper seat.

Dmitra could hardly realize that someone had walked up to her, until the person in question placed his/her hand lightly on her shoulder. Hiccuping slightly, Dmitra allowed the person to pull her up from the ground, and they slowly made their way to the common room couch. Still with a blurred vision, Dmitra looked up at the person helping her/ witnessing her humiliation, and realized it was Vladimir.

Some part of Dmitra that was still normal, was yelling at her for displaying weakness in front of a guy, specially one whom she had just insulted days ago. But the present Dmitra couldn't care less, and she flashed Vladimir a weak smile, "Thank you."

Dmitra immediately averted her eyes and began wiping her tears quickly, she was feeling conscious about her red eyes and hiccups that were still coming despite her best efforts to the contrary, "You must be thinking 'what an idiotic girl I've met' inside your head, aren't you? I threatened to murder you with my sword back in the arena, and here I am, sobbing my heart out." Dmitra gave a weak, embarassed laugh.

Vladimir smiled lightly when Dmitra managed to make her way towards a seat and she looked like she was trying to get herself under control, he did not know what to do with a crying girl so he was just going to wing everything that he said from now on, hopefully he would not make the situation, any worse than it already was.

Reaching in his pockets he pulled out a crumpled packet of muggle tissues and handed it to her with a little bit of a sheepish grin on his lips; "Don't ask why I have them, I don't know myself."

Shaking his head with a small smile on his lips when Dmitra told him that he must think that she was an idiot, he didn't think that he just thought that she was what she was, which was a teenage girl, things happened like this and he knew his emotions changed a lot as well.

"Nah I don't think that at all, I think that something real bad must have happened though to make you this upset, I'm not going to ask you what it is, it's none of my business but...you probably need to let it all out and...all that stuff."

Dmitra accepted the tissues with gratitude. "Thank you." She'd rather not walk around with tear tracks on her face and a running nose. Wiping her tears, she took a deep breath to calm herself. No more crying, her father would hate it if he was here right now.

Glancing at Vladimir who was looking distinctly uncomfortable, Dmitra couldn't suppress a small chuckle. It was so obvious that he felt duty-bound to comfort her, but had not the least idea how to go about it. "You can go if you feel uncomfortable you know."

Then when he, in a roundabout way, asked her what was wrong, Dmitra's smile dimmed slightly. "You're right, Sharing your pain does decrease it. " Then in a voice which Dmitra tried her best to keep steady, "I've just received news that...... My father.......he....."Dmitra breathed deeply again."My father is dead."

Vladimir smiled gently and he shook his head when Dmitra said that he could leave if he felt uncomfortable, he did feel uncomfortable that was true but he didn't want to seem like a prat and leave her when she was upset, he didn't think that he would be able to live with himself if he did.

"No it's okay I think that I need to stay and make sure you're alright, I just, I can't remember how to deal with girls when they're upset so...I might be a little bit bad at it." he said with a grin on his face.

Knowing immediately from the tears that this would be something bad, Vladimir waited to hear what it is that happened, and it was something that he wasn't quite prepared for when she told him, even if it was something that he had considered had happened.

"Oh I see." he said, bowing his head "What happened?" Vladimir asked in a kind voice, trying to gently coax Dmitra into letting her true feelings out about what happened.

"Apparently, some people were after my father and he was captured and tortured and...." Dmitra's voice broke off for a second. "....And he refused to give in and they..they killed him." Taking a shuddering breath, Dmitra bit her lip hard, absolutely refusing to let out tears that were threatening to leak out. She was stronger than this.

Then Dmitra glanced at Vladimir's kind smile, "This feels so wierd, you know. I was insulting you so much that day, and here you're trying to help me out. Thanks. I appreciate it."

Then in an attempt to change the topic, "By the way, I thought you'd say something like 'I don't know how to comfort upset girls'. What do you mean by 'I don't remember'?"

To say Vlad was surprised was a bit of an understatement. Being killed was one thing, accidents and terrible events happened all the time after all. It could even had been a tragic mugging gone wrong or something. But to be kidnapped, tortured and killed? Now that was something he had no idea how to approach,

"Jesus..." he whispered despite himself before slowly taking one of her hands in his own, "I am so sorry for your loss Dmitra... that should never happen to anyone..."

Vlad smiled a little bit and waved off her concern, "Lots of people seem to get to know me that way. Don't worry about it."

When she asked him what he meant by he didn't remember how to comfort upset girls he suddenly felt a little bit uncomfortable,

"It's... complicated." he told her with a small smile, "Suffice to say... I forgot some things. Rather a lot of things. Somehow."

If Dmitra had been in her normal self, she would have probably snatched her hand away, but now, even that small human contact comforted her. She squeezed his hand lightly, "Thanks Vlad. I know that it sounds...." Dmitra breathed deeply, "horrible, and it is, but I'm happy that someone cares. Anyone at all." And at that, Dmitra sighed slightly. She couldn't deny that was feeling completely, utterly lonely.

Then her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion, "Complicated? Forgot a lot of things somehow? Vlad, that sounds a lot like......memory loss. You haven't got amnesia, have you?" In fact, now that Dmitra thought about it, she didn't remember Vladimir mentioning anything, anything at all before about his background. Family, friends, nothing. It was strange how she hadn't noticed it before.

Now, Vladimir felt bad about the ay that he had treated Dmitra when he had first met her, they had not gotten off to the best start and he hoped that he might be able to change that now. It seemed that it might be something that could happen.

"Well I think that most people would care if you told them, but if they would really genuinely care is something different, I do really care, despite our last meeting, you're the closest thing to a friend I have." he smirked

Vladimir ran his hands through his hair and he thought that it really was not the time to be discussing his own problems, however he didn't want to ignore the question that Dmitra asked him, maybe he could help her take her mind off her problems, by telling her his own.

"The first thing I remember is being dragged from the Durmstrang Lake after being attacked by a mermaid, I don't remember my family, my friends, anything at all apart from the basics like reading and writing and stuff...I don't know what it's like to know that your family has died, but I know what it feels like to be alone."

"Thanks." Dmitra made a mental note to count the number of times she said thanks in this one meeting. "I think you're the closest thing I have for a friend too. Don't let it get to your head though." Dmitra added on the semblance of a joking manner, she wished to divert her thoughts from her father, because brooding would only lead to more sorrow and pain.

Dmitra then let out a whoosh of air, "Whoa. You don't remember anything?" This was more serious than she had initially thought. "I'm really sorry. No friends or family, that must be a lonely existence." Then with a faint smile. "Two lonely people finding their solace on one another. How ironic."

Vladimir smiled gently and nodded his head as if to say that it was no problem, she seemed to be thankful for just having him there, anyone there really when she was upset, being upset on your own was horrible, he'd experienced it a lot after all.

"I promise I won't let it get to my head as long as you don't let it get to yours, I'm mean it's hard considering it's me here but,I know you'll try your best." he smirked a little

Nodding his head again Vlad took a sharp breath in and he agreed with Dmitra, it was a lonely existence, but at least he had a friend to help him through it now, it was nice to be able to have someone there for him, as a friend.

"I don't remember a thing, but I'm trying to trace them through my tattoo, hopefully that'll give me a clue at least. I think that it's quite apt really, in the end, we both have an idea how the other feels."

"Of course, I could probably faint at the prospect of having the great Vladimir Wazowski as my friend." Dmitra smirked back, feeling strangely relieved to relapse into the comfortable teasing tones. It helped to distract her attention from the problems she was facing in a remarkable way. "I meant what I said though. Prat or not, you are my friend and you'd better better be honored by that fact coz I don't make friends that easily. Especially those of the male gender."

Then Dmitra sighed, not in sympathy but in empathy, not pitying Vlad for his amnesia, instead imagining what it must feel like, and appreciating the fact that she wasn't the only one in the world with problems. "Not a thing? That must be pretty frustrating at times." Then Dmitra asked in a slightly more curious tone, "Tattoo? What tattoo?"

Vladimir smirked a little bit, and when Dmitra actually told him that he was considered one of her friends, he felt himself having a little happy moment, it was one of the best moments that he had here at Durmstrang, apart from when Lucian had blown half of the classroom up using Dragon fist.

"I am honoured." he said with a playful smirk "But seriously it is nice to have someone to call a friend, no matter how teasing we might be to each other, I don't normally mean most of the things I say." he grinned gently.

When he was asked about his tattoo Vladimir grinned widely and shook his head;

"It would involve me having to take my shirt off so, I don't really think that you want to see that at this moment in time." he smirked.

Dmitra smiled back roguishly, she was still feeling emotional and raw, but Vlad’s company seemed to make it all better, “I don’t normally mean most of the things I say either, and that includes all the times I’ve insulted you in the past, directly or indirectly. So sorry for that.” Then she added in an equally playful tone, “Except for the time when I called you irritating. I meant that from the deepest, darkest bottom of my heart.”

“Taking your shirt off? No, I don’t think that’s a sight my poor eyes would be able to bear.” Dmitra said dramatically. “But seriously though, what kind of tattoo is it? Is it magical?”

Vladmir couldn't help but chuckle when Dmitra told him that she didn't mean all the insults that she had said to him, he didn't mean all the ones that he had said to her either, but of course she knew that already, of course, when she told him that he was still irritated, Vladimir smirked lightly.

"Ah well, I can't argue with that now can I?" he asked with a small grin on his lips, that would only be described as roguish "Everyone's irritating sometimes, we just can't help it."

When Dmitra asked more about his tattoo, Vladimir smiled gently and he decided that he would explain the tattoo that he had to her; "Well I have a large black dragon that takes up all of my back, sometimes it moves and stuff but I don't know why, that's what I hope to find out."

"Everyone's irritating, but some people tend to be more than others." Dmitra lay her head on the sofa back. "And I think that both of us are included in the category of those 'some people.'"

Then Dmitra raised an eyebrow, "A dragon tattoo? A moving one? That sounds....interesting, for the lack of a better word. And you have no idea how you got it?" Dmitra mused to herself. Vladimir's story just got stranger and stranger. When she had first met him, he was just a random boy who got on her nerves a lot. She had pictured him to be a typical teenage guy, smart-talking, spoilt at home yada yada yada. But here the story was emerging out to be quite different.

Vladimir smirked a little bit, it was true that he came across as very arrogant and rather up himself to tell the truth but he hoped that he could try and control that side of him and make himself more...easy to get along with, maybe that was one of the reason that he had little to no friends.

"Well it's good that you can admit that about yourself Dmitra." he teased gently "But I can't deny that I am more than a little bit annoying, I am trying to get better at not doing that so much now."

Nodding his head, Vladimir smiled gently with a soft chuckle escaping his lips, he was glad that someone managed to find his situation interesting, maybe even cool. He however hated not knowing where he came from and why he had this tattoo.

"Nope I have no idea how I got it, I managed to track down the two places that do these magical tattoos but I've not had chance to go there yet."