Come Around

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley had butterflies in her tummy. She vastly preferred how they had done things last year. Vastly. Everyone going over to Rose's house had been ideal. They had all had fun, and Harley didn't have to be around her family for part of the holiday. This year Harley's dad had suggested she invite a friend over instead, and Harley's desperation to see her friends was warring with her dread of her friends meeting her parents. Hayley was going to be here any second though, and Harley had everything ready for a fun sleepover... she hoped. As long as her parents stayed as far away as possible.

The second the doorbell rang Harley was on her feet, rushing towards it. "I'll get it!" She yelled excitedly, tearing down the hallway. It wasn't until she encountered the reality of Hayley being here that Harley realised just how desperately she missed her friends. Flinging the door open, Harley immediately caught Hayley in a tight hug. "HAYLEEEEEEEEEEY! I missed you so muuuuch!" Letting her friend go, Harley quickly picked up Hayley's bag. "Come on in, I'll show you my room, we've got a mattress set up for you and stuff." She smiled, leading the way into the house.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

It was always an immense relief to Hayley to go home for the holidays, to spend time with her mum and talk through all that had happened in a way that just couldn't be done through letters. The only thing she really missed about Hogwarts was her friends, so she had leapt at the chance to see Harley during the holidays, despite the distance. Still, Harley's anxiety at the thought of inviting her home hadn't been lost on Hayley. She knew not everyone had such a good relationship with their parents as she did with her mum, and she knew how difficult her best friend's home life was. Honestly, she didn't want to meet Harley's parents. She didn't think she could trust herself to be civil to them given what Harley had told her about how they'd treated Jason.

Thus it was with a little inherited nervousness that Hayley rang the doorbell. but it was Harley who opened it, with all her customary enthusiasm, and a great burst of emotion swelled in Hayley's chest. She dropped her bag and enthusiastically returned her friend's embrace. "HAAAAARLEEEY! Oh my gosh I've missed you too! And look at your hair! You dyed it my favourite colour, just for me!" she teased. "I love it!" Technically there were only parts of Harley's brightly coloured hair that were Hayley's preferred shade of teal, but it was most certainly an excellent hair colour all round. Hayley grinned and followed her inside.

 

[Zoe Westwick]

The last few years had felt strange to Zoe, with Jacob home all the time and Harley only visiting on school holidays. Only seeing her older sister for short bursts had pulled them apart a little, and even though they were at school all the time now, Zoe definitely felt that she and Harley weren't as close as they used to be. Part of that was clearly evidenced by the fact that Harley hadn't actually introduced Zoe to a single one of her school friends the whole year. She had showed Zoe around the castle a little, and they caught up every so often, but it didn't feel like when they were at primary school together, and Harley was always nearby to stand up for her.

The friends part, at least, was about to change though. Zoe knew that Harley had invited one of her friends around for a holiday visit, and this was Zoe's chance to finally meet her. Peeking out of the kitchen as she heard Harley answering the doorbell, Zoe watched from a distance as Harley and her friend greeted each other enthusiastically. The friend seemed a little intimidating, dressed all punk, but Harley was the same, and she wasn't actually scary at all. Determined not to be left out again, Zoe made her way over to the others, hands clasped behind her back. "Hi. I'm Zoe." She said, looking up at the older girl.

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley laughed in delight, waving her head around to show off her hair. "You like it? A friend I used to go to primary school with gave me the dye for a late birthday present, I love it! Mum was mad, but I've wanted coloured hair forever, and she can't really do anything about it now." Grinning, Harley tucked one of her locks behind her ear and hefted Hayley's bag. "C'mon, my room's upsta-"

She was interrupted as she turned around by Zoe standing directly in front of them. It only just now occurred to her that she had been so distracted last year that she never actually properly introduced her little sister to any of her friends. It was strange, Zoe being in a different house. It made it too easy to forget that she was at Hogwarts at all. They were here now though, and Harley smiled at her introduction. "Oh yeah, Hayley, this is my little sister, Zoe. She's in Ravenclaw. Zoe, this is my best friend Hayley."

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley laughed along with Harley as she flicked her hair around. "It's great!" she said. Hayley wasn't surprised that Harley's mum had been mad, but it gave her a little flash of anger on her friend's behalf. If Hayley had wanted to dye her hair, her mum would probably have helped. It just wasn't fair. As if they didn't have enough to deal with at school without having horrible parents as well. Hayley was curious about the friend from primary school - Hayley hadn't really managed to keep in touch with her old friends - and was about to ask about her when a younger girl appeared.

Her quirky, brightly coloured clothes were about as far from anything Harley would wear as Hayley could imagine, but she could discern something of a family resemblance between them. She was about to greet the girl when Harley mentioned she was in Ravenclaw, and Hayley turned to Harley with her mouth open. "Harley Tsuji. Are you telling me that your sister has been at our school for an entire year and you never introduced her to me? This is outrageous." Her anger was, of course, only a mockery, and she made that clear enough that Harley and her sister would both pick up on it. Her surprise, though, was very real. Harley had talked to Hayley about her sister a little, of course, but she hadn't even realised that she was at Hogwarts already. Hayley turned to Zoe and bowed exaggeratedly. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Zoe, despite your sister's rudeness at not introducing us earlier." Beneath that reaction, glowing softly, was the fact that Harley had introduced her as 'my best friend'. Hayley had been calling Harley her best friend almost since they met, but Harley had never used the term about her before. That little phrase meant more to Hayley than she could articulate, even to herself, so she just basked in the warmth of it.

 

[Zoe Westwick]

Zoe giggled a little, watching Harley's friend tease her. Harley was always so serious and angry at home but she always seemed to be having so much fun when she was out with friends, even back when they had been at primary school together. It was nice to see the fun sister who played with her when mum and dad weren't around interacting with other people. "It's nice to meet you too." Zoe said happily, bowing back to Hayley. "Are you in Gryffindor too? I've never seen you in my common room before." Zoe knew Harley had friends from other houses, but most of her group seemed to be Gryffindors whenever Zoe saw them around at meals.

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley beamed and flicked her hair back again, pleased that Hayley liked it. She had had it magically lengthened too, and was still getting used to having so much hair to throw about. When Hayley teased her about Zoe, Harley stuck her tongue out. "I was busy! I wanted her to keep out of trouble, and we're not exactly the best influences in that department." She laughed, then paused for a moment. "What I mean, Zoe, is that Hayley and I have never broken a school rule, ever. Professors keep stopping us just to tell us we're being too good, and they'd really appreciate if we broke some rules. But we never, ever have, ever. The headmistress is gonna have to give us a really huge medal for least rules ever broken." Harley grinned. Harley's rulebreaking wasn't any secret from her younger sister, but their parents reaction if they heard Harley even allude to breaking rules in front of Zoe would be unbearable, and Harley wanted this sleepover to be fun.

Harley couldn't help actually laughing when Hayley bowed to Zoe in greeting. "Oh boy, my dad's gonna love you." She laughed, then grabbed Hayley's wrist gently. "Come on, let's go up to my room. Zoe, you can come too, if you want."

 

[Hayley Elridge]

"No," Hayley replied to Zoe, "unfortunately I'm in Slytherin." She didn't want to dwell on that, not today when she was supposed to be having a good time. Zoe would already know by now why being a Slytherin was unfortunate, and hopefully Hayley's description of it as such would be enough to indicate she wasn't one of those Slytherins without further discussion. Fortunately, Harley was already moving on with the conversation, and Hayley giggled at her exaggerated report of how good they were (not) being. "Oh, yeah, there are just a ridiculous amount of rules we haven't broken," she agreed. They'd have to repeat this to the rest of the girl gang later, Rory would love it.

Hayley's smile widened into a huge grin as Harley grabbed her wrist. She let her lead the way up the stairs, calling back to Zoe over her shoulder. "Yeah, come on up, Zoe. We can bore you with stories of all the rules we haven't broken." Now she'd met her, Hayley was very curious about Zoe. And there would be heaps of time to spend alone with Harley later.