Closed By Your Side

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley felt different, returning to Hogwarts this year. She felt... clearer, somehow. Home had been miserable, as usual, but coming back to school, Harley felt like the anger and hurt of the last year... the last few years, really, was washing away. More than ever, she wanted a quiet year. Time with her friends, working on things they cared about. No more worries about girls, or enemies, or any of that. Harley didn't think she had ever felt sick of fighting before, but she definitely felt it now. And so it was a relief to come back to something comfortably familiar, sitting side by side with Hayley, sketchbooks in hand as they looked out over the lake. This was where Harley belonged, really. Just enjoying a quiet moment, with one of her favourite people. Glancing over at what Hayley was drawing, Harley gave her best friend a grin. "Nice."

 

[Hayley Elridge]

This holidays had been hard for Hayley. The end of the last school year had been horrible, the blow of her break up with Lizzie immediately before the stress of exams; she'd taken all holidays to recover, and if she was honest with herself, she still wasn't over it. Now, more than anything, she wanted to relax. Spend some time with her friends, focus on the good things in her life. Ignore the pain until it went away. This time with Harley, down by the lakeside in their favourite spot, was perfect for that. Her friend's presence by her side was comforting, reassuring, as was the feel of her pencil in her hand moving smoothly over the paper. Hayley's drawings over the holidays had been jagged, violent ones full of hurt and anger. She'd thrown most of them away. She hadn't let go of her anger; she could never do that, not when there was so much wrong in the world, but she needed to focus on something else for now. Thus, for a change, she was drawing from life, sketching out the quiet scene in front of them: the gentle curve of the lake shore, the tangle of trees beyond. She smiled back at Harley. "Thanks. I was thinking of putting something cool out in the lake. Tentacles, maybe, or a pirate ship. What do you think?"

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley didn't remember the last time she had seen Hayley draw something so calm, but it was a beautiful drawing, and Harley hoped it meant her friend was beginning to heal from the pain she had been through in the last few months. Both of them had suffered messy breakups in the last year, but Harley had been doing her best to move past the hurt and it was reassuring to see that Hayley was trying to do the same. "Nice." She repeated, considering the options Hayley had offered. "A pirate ship." She said after a moment. "And draw all of us on the ship as pirates." This was the kind of thing Harley had been missing recently. Just hanging out with her friends, being silly and cool. She had forgotten, with all the relationship drama going on, how good it felt to be around people she could just relax with, the people she loved the most.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley grinned at her friend's suggestion; this was exactly the sort of thing she'd hoped Harley might say, completing her unfinished idea and adding something awesome to it. "Oh, hell yes." Hayley didn't really know how to draw a ship, but she saw no reason to let that stop her. She would definitely produce something cool, whatever. She lapsed into silence as she began to sketch the rough lines of the ship into the drawing, relaxing in Harley's companionship. She had needed this. And it looked as though Harley had too; they'd both been hurt late last year, they both needed time to heal. Hayley was glad to be here for her friend, grateful that they had each other for mutual support. Her pirate ship beginning to take shape, Hayley peered over at Harley's page. "Ooh, that's real cool, too."

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley met Hayley's grin with one of her own, pleased that her friend had liked her suggestion. This was her favourite thing about creating with Hayley. Their ideas just seemed to go together, two matched puzzle pieces when it came to creative work. As Hayley looked down to return to her drawing Harley found her gaze lingering a moment longer, quickly tearing her eyes away as she realised how long she had been staring at her friend. She returned her attention to her own drawing, adding more detail to the shading. Harley had picked a tree hanging slightly over the lake's edge to focus her drawing on, trying to capture as much detail as she could. When Hayley complimented her work, Harley looked up, laughing awkwardly. "Thanks. Just trying to do more drawing from life recently, you know. Gotta practice realism sometimes."

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley nodded. She and Harley always seemed to be on the same wavelength. They were perfect for each other. But she didn’t want to think about that - not now. They were both recovering from bad breakups. When she was over Lizzie, and Harley was over Odette . . . maybe then she could build up the courage to talk about her true feelings. For now, she was more than content just to hang out, to enjoy each other’s company. "Yeah, same," she agreed. "Good to get some technique practice in." She looked up and met Harley's eye, painfully aware of how close their faces were before her eyes dropped back to her friend's drawing. "I like the way those branches are shaping up." Hayley returned to her own page, sketching some messy lines in to represent rigging. The ship wouldn't be very realistic compared to the rest of her drawing, but that was fine. It would make it more interesting, anyway.

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley nodded at Hayley's comment about technique. Harley had been letting hers slip recently, doing more abstract art than studies, and she could feel it in her hands every time she tried to paint. She would notice perspective mistakes, or unintentionally shaky lines, little mistakes that she really needed to work on. Coming back to realism and doing studies for a while would hopefully help her work on that. When Hayley met her eye, Harley thought she saw something unreadable but unusual in her friend's expression, but she didn't dwell on it, looking down at the part of her drawing Hayley had indicated. "Thanks." Harley smiled, and returned to work as Hayley turned her attention back to her own picture. Harley really valued this quiet comfort. It was her favourite thing about hanging out one on one with Hayley, and thinking back, moments like this had been Harley's favourite part of dating Odette as well. If those moments hadn't come with all the baggage of Harley and Odette's past, she felt like the relationship could have lasted. It was too late to dwell on though, and Harley chose to just enjoy feeling comfortable and connected with Hayley as they sketched.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley turned her attention back to her drawing, and allowed the conversation to lapse into silence for a time. It was good, to be able to just . . . chill. Between them, silence wasn't awkward, or dull, it was just comfortable. Hayley valued that, the ability to simply hang out. The girl gang as a whole group was wonderful, but they were so energetic together, and Hayley needed the quiet sometimes. Harley and Ainsley were the only people she could do that with - and Ainsley was leaving next year, and Hayley wasn't ready to think about that. Her pirate ship took shape and gained detail, not really to scale with the rest of the picture, but never mind. She sketched in the small figures of the girl gang on the deck: Rose waving, Rory brandishing a sword, Harley looking through a telescope at the stern. Stern was the right word for the front of a boat, right? Hayley didn't really care. "We're going to be seventh years next year," she said, reflectively. "That's so weird. How does time work?"

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Falling into comfortable silence with Hayley, Harley was content to listen to the cries of birds and the scraping of pencils as she continued her sketch, filling out the detail of her tree's bark with soft, gentle shading. This peace was something Harley had been craving for a long time, and it was a relief to finally feel it. When Hayley spoke again Harley glanced over at her, before groaning and shaking her head, looking away. "Don't remind me. We're getting so old. I can't believe we've been here so long." Harley sighed, running a hand through her hair to push it out of her face. "I can't wait to get out of here. Get a place of our own, finally not have anyone telling us what to do. That's the life."

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley chuckled at Harley's reaction, glancing up just in time to see the shake of her head. "So old," she teased. "You're so old, you're nearly seventeen." She grinned to show she was joking, although the passage of time honestly did alarm her. "Oh, I know. This place sucks so bad, soon we'll be free." Free to do what, Hayley didn't know, but she had long been frustrated by the restrictions of life at Hogwarts, the teenage dramas and high emotions, being forcibly separated from her friends by the evils of the house system. And that wasn't even mentioning lessons. Besides, Hayley's revolutionary ideas hadn't found any traction at school; all the so-called supporters that had emerged at that disastrous meeting had deserted her - except Harley, but Harley was her friend anyway. "Living together would be so great. The girl gang flat, no adults allowed, finally make up for all that time I've been stuck in stupid Slytherin." The gang had talked about the concept a little, not really in concrete terms, but with graduation looming closer Hayley had no doubt they'd do it.

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out. "Whatever, you'll be seventeen soon too, shut up." She grinned. "Point is, we're old. Adults, jeez." Harley sighed, looking down over her sketch. Thinking about adulthood was a mixed bag. Harley longed to be free of school and its restrictions, but trying to figure out what to do with her life next was no easy feat. Hayley moved on though, to living situations, and Harley grinned, nodding in agreement. "Yeah! It'll be awesome." She said cheerfully. That, at least, was part of the future to look forward to for sure. Harley couldn't wait to live with all her best friends, with no teachers and no rules. Whatever they wound up doing for careers, flatting together was going to be amazing.