Fried Fiend

[Aurora Night]

At the start of the school year Rory had practically been dragged kicking and screaming to the Hogwarts Express to begin her magical education. Coming back for the second semester, however, had been an entirely different story, even if she still held the exact same ambivalence towards her classes. Seeing her family over the holidays had been fun, but it made her realise just how much freedom she actually had at school, and how much she'd come to value the time she spent with her friends there. With that in mind, Rory had succeeded in dragging Harley down to the lakefront with her as soon as possible to spend some time together out in the sunshine. Enjoying the warmth of the sun on her skin, Rory had been busy throwing stones in the lake as she had chatted away to her friend about anything and everything, and as she looked further along the edge of the water for more stones, she suddenly caught sight of something, or rather someone, that had her momentarily frowning.

Straightening up, Rory turned back towards Harley and put her hands on her hips. "Did I ever tell you about the Odette spy I chased off last semester?" She probably hadn't, truth be told - she knew she was very easily distracted. Therefore, without waiting for her friend to answer, she charged ahead. "She's probably the most annoying and stupid person I've ever met. She comes up to me, right, all like, hello, nice to meet you, and I can tell she's a Slytherin from her robes, obviously, so I make a joke about it." Just thinking about her meeting with Hayley still made a wave of annoyance wash over Rory. "Because, you know, I wanted to know if she was one of Odette's little wannabes. And this girl immediately blows up at me calling me a prejudiced idiot!" Rory snorted to punctuate the lunacy of such an accusation. "But she was clearly on some little mission to spy for Odette, trying to make friends with us, and she was just so bad at it, she kept trying to deny what she was doing and pretend she hated Odette too." Winding down from her little tirade, Rory took a breath and then snorted again, this time in amusement. "It was really pathetic, but I sent her packing believe me."

 

[Harley Tsuji]

The months that had passed since she arrived at Hogwarts had been enough to somewhat clear Harley's mind of just what it was like living with her parents, but just a couple of weeks back at home was more than enough to bring all of that rushing back all at once. Their demands to know everything she had learned and done, the gushing and gushing of undeserved pride while Harley had to watch her brother and sister ignored in the background, it was more than enough to have her longing to return to the relative peace and freedom of school. The sullenness and seething anger Harley usually carried at home had followed her to school this time though, and she had been finding it difficult to focus on anything.

So, an opportunity to spend time outside, away from teachers and classrooms, just having fun with a friend, was more than enticing to Harley. She brought a sketchbook and some pencils, and as they headed outside tried to shake off the gloom swirling around her mind and enjoy the sunlight, but it just wasn't shaking. She settled down on the lakeside as Rory threw stones, doodling idly as they chatted. The splash of stones and the scratch of pencil and the warmth of the sunlight were soothing and Harley finally felt some of her worries melting off, relaxing until something Rory said caught her attention, head snapping up to attention at once.

"Seriously? A spy?" She asked, gobsmacked, and listened in awe as Rory described the encounter. "Oh my god! That's so sad, she sent someone to SPY on you? And she was THAT bad at it?!" Harley laughed, stretching her legs out. "Oh my god! This is hilarious!"

 

[Aurora Night]

Rory grinned, glad to hear Harley laughing. "I know, right? I bet Odette was furious at her for failing. I would have loved to have seen that." It would serve both of them right, to be honest - Rory had no sympathy for bullies or people making ignorant accusations based on what was clearly a joke. And with no indication from either Odette or Hayley of an attempt to right their respective situations, Rory knew she'd be holding these grudges for a long time. The prospect filled her with a sort of grim satisfaction. Normally, she would have gotten over her argument with Hayley as soon as her anger had calmed and forgotten all about the other girl - but her connection with Odette kept Rory replaying the argument in her head more than she would have liked.

The holidays had in no way managed to dampen the feeling of disgust she got whenever she saw Odette. It was almost even worse now, because pretty much everyone was acting as if the flyers had never happened. Rory didn't like to bring them up in front of Harley, but she still glared daggers at anyone who continued to give her friend funny looks behind her back. With this in mind, Rory glanced along the lakefront again to make sure Hayley was still there, wanting to point her out so Harley could put a face to the pathetic image of a spy she was picturing in her head. "Look, that's her over there," she said, raising her arm and turning to grin at her friend.

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley's laughter died on her tongue as she followed Rory's indication along the lakefront, almost unable to believe who Rory meant. "What?!" She breathed. "Are you kidding? That's Hayley! She's my friend, she hates Odette! She was there right after I found the fliers, she was so mad! She has to share a room with Odette but she can't stand her, what did you say to her!?" Harley looked at Rory disbelievingly, horrified by the thought of her two friends fighting. Both had been so supportive and kind and amazing, the thought of them hating each other was terrible.

 

[Aurora Night]

Rory felt the grin slip from her face, and her arm dropped, coming to rest uneasily at her side. "What? But I - I..." She looked back and forth between Hayley and Harley, feeling a slight edge of worry overtake her. It almost reminded her of their conversation in the Forbidden Forest right back at the start of the year, and once again Rory knew she believed Harley was telling what she believed to be the truth - but she was also so sure that her own opinion of Hayley hadn't been wrong (although supposed friends or not, Rory knew she was going to have to come up with something else to call them both, the similarity of their names in close proximity was going to get annoying fast).

For a moment she started unblinkingly at Harley, unable to think of something to say, before turning on the spot and marching off towards Hayley. Maybe Hayley had already succeeded in her plan to infiltrate them for Odette? Rory knew she was grasping at straws, but she really really didn't want to end up being wrong about this - even though she already had the sinking suspicion that she totally and completely was. And if she had screwed up as badly as she was beginning to think she had, she had absolutely no idea what she could do to fix it. Hayley she didn't really care so much about, but she really didn't like the idea that she might have somehow made things harder for Harley. As she got nearer to the target of her impromptu march, she desperately yelled out the first thing that came to mind in her panicked brain. "Hey, Hayley! Are you absolutely sure you're not spying for Odette?"

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley sat peacefully in her favourite spot by the lake, with her sketchbook resting on her knees. It had been a wonderful relief to go home over the holidays, to spend some time with her mum and get the quiet she had sorely missed during first semester. Being an only child, Hayley had never been required to share her space with so many other people all the time, so she had really missed being home. Now, by the lake alone with her sketchbook, she was trying to recapture some of that serenity. It had been good, too, to talk over with Mum the nasty, petty things that had been going on last semester. They'd exchanged letters during the semester, of course, but that wasn't the same as a conversation. Hayley thought that now she had some ideas for how to deal with the pureblood supremacists and the idiots who thought all Slytherins were evil.

Speaking of which . . . Hayley was so immersed in her drawing, an intricately detailed rose with beautiful petals and huge sharp thorns, that she didn't notice Rory's approach until the idiot yelled at her. Hayley looked up abruptly. Oh, no, why did she have to deal with this now? Wait, was that Harley sitting a short distance away? Had she really not noticed her best friend? What was going on here? Hayley was flustered and confused, but luckily she had the perfect response to Rory's question, and the wit to deliver it as though she knew what she was talking about. Hayley flipped back through her sketchbook, and opened it to reveal a detailed drawing of Odette Harper with devil horns and a snake tongue flickering from her lips. She thrust the open book towards Rory and smiled smugly. "Does this answer your question?"

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley was temporarily frozen by the realisation that her two closest friends had been fighting, without her even knowing about it. Envisionings of what their fight could have been like flashing through her mind, it took her a long moment to even realise Rory had started approaching Hayley. By the time Harley's thoughts caught up to the reality around her, Rory had already confronted Hayley, and the possibilities terrified her. How could they have gotten such terrible impressions of each other, what would Harley even do if she was forced to choose between two amazing friends?

Abandoning her own sketchbook on the floor and hurrying after Rory, Harley joined them just in time to see Hayley presenting the page from her drawings. Desperate relief flooded through Harley, surely Rory had to pay attention to this? "See?!" She said insistently, pointing to the drawing too. "Rory, Hayley hates Odette too, she's my friend! She wouldn't ever do anything to help Odette!"

 

[Aurora Night]

Rory stared at the drawing in Hayley's sketchbook with growing horror. Firstly, because she was just so impressed by it. She recognised Odette immediately, and as she took in all the little details of the drawing Rory suddenly felt the unwelcome urge to ask if she could take it to put on the wall in their dormitory. She quickly shook off that idea though, Hayley already looked way too smug and she didn't want to inflate the girl's ego even more. So she could draw, so what? It didn't change the fact that she was an idiot and had been completely wrong about everything during their previous argument. Rory was about to spout off some sort of scathing retort when she suddenly heard Harley rushing up behind her, and then the whole situation went from bad to infintely worse because for some reason she was actually defending Hayley.

Shocked, Rory was momentarily speechless before she regained her momentum."That doesn't prove anything! She's probably drawn that to keep up her little charade!" Which, of course, that must've been what happened. That made sense. But it was really bad that Harley had been taken in so easily by Hayley's lies - Rory couldn't understand how it could have happened. Unless... Normally she would have ignored the uncomfortable whispering voice in the back of her head, but the fact that Harley was involved this time gave her enough pause to consider listening to it. If she and Hayley really were friends... if Rory had been wrong... except she couldn't have been! It was kind of killing her to doubt one of her best friends, but she knew that if she could just get Hayley to crack and admit she was lying, Harley would be able to see that Rory was trying to help her. She had to see. Brandishing her arm at the girl still sitting on the ground, Rory turned to address her friend. "Have you forgotten the part where she called me prejudiced? If she's going to try and make such stupid and wrong - " she glared at Hayley before turning her attention back to Harley " - accusations, why should I believe anything else she says?"

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley scoffed. "You think I'd put this much effort into drawing something just to lie to you? Please. You're not worth a scribble." Hayley smirked, glancing up at Harley to see if she was as impressed by her comeback as Hayley was proud of having thought of it so readily (and accurately), but her friend looked aghast. Surely she wasn't actually taking this idiot seriously? But it seemed she was. Interesting. The idea that Rory was a good enough friend of Harley's that she cared about the result of this petty little argument was not one that had occurred to Hayley before. She supposed she would have to defend herself against Rory's accusations again, then. Hayley closed her sketchbook and put it down on the grass beside her. This was not how she had anticipated her first meeting with her best friend of the semester would go.

"Okay. Let me explain this in words of one syllable so you'll understand. So far in my time at this school I've experienced a ton of prejudice. I'm a Slytherin. Gryffindors like you hate that. I'm a Muggleborn. Slytherins like Odette hate that." Hayley kept her tone slow and measured. She wouldn't start ranting this time; for Harley's sake, she would make Rory understand. As far as she knew Odette wasn't actually that worried about blood status, in her twisted quest to get everyone on her good side, but it was the quickest way she could think of to push Rory's buttons. Besides, it didn't seem an unreasonable assumption that Odette might be prejudiced, underneath her manipulative facade. "Harley is the first decent person I've met in this shithole. Odette is one of the worst. I tell you this so you can see that there is no way on Earth I'd side with Odette against Harley on anything, and maybe you can realise that when people start making generalisations about 'all Slytherins', I get just a little suspicious." Okay, so maybe she'd been a bit too sarcastic towards the end there, but hopefully she'd laid out enough of a logical argument that Rory would see her point. If the fool was even listening.

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley watched her friends bicker, horrified. It was clear from the sincerity of their anger that they genuinely believed everything they were saying about each other, clearly things had gone horribly between them some time in the past, and Harley couldn't see how to get them to reconcile. "Stop it!" She snapped, looking between them worriedly. "Hayley, Rory doesn't hate Slytherins, it's just easy to be suspicious of someone who shares a room with Odette every single day! If you weren't so cool you'd have been such an easy target for her! And Rory, Hayley's not a spy! I promise! She was with me right after I found Odette's flyers, she's never done anything but stand up for me and put Odette down! Besides, Odette's ego would never let her have a henchperson who said mean things about her, she wants everyone to say she's perfect all the time. She wouldn't let one of her lackeys even pretend to hate her in case someone listened to them, she only ever wants to look perfect! Odette wouldn't do that, she's not smart or secure enough, especially since everyone here just knows her as the girl who put up those flyers. Right now all she wants to do is look as perfect and innocent as possible so people forget what she did and like her. Having one of her roommates running around calling her awful isn't gonna help that, even if it was to get her information." Harley trailed off, glancing between the two of them. If Rory didn't believe her after this, she had no idea how to get her best friends to reconcile, and the thought of choosing between them was beyond horrifying.

 

[Aurora Night]

Rory found herself infuriated by Hayley's measured and cool response. At least when she was yelling it made them feel somewhat equal, but the way the other girl was talking to her now just made her feel stupid, and like Hayley thought she was somehow better than her. It took all of Rory's control not to snipe at the little things Hayley said, like ''experienced' actually has more than one syllable, just so you know.' But it was the look on Harley's face that stopped her. Really, it was the moment when her friend had first become horrified to hear that it was Hayley that Rory had been fighting with that she truly knew she had been wrong. It was why she hadn't wanted to admit it. Knowing that her misguided actions might have caused problems for Harley - was causing a problem for her right now - scared her. How was she supposed to fix it, especially when it looked like she'd have to apologise to Hayley to do so? That didn't sound appealing at all.

Although Rory was glad to hear Harley defending her suspicion of the other girl, the moment of relief was short-lived as her friend continued to point out the flaws in that suspicion. Listening to Harley spell out her logic, Rory felt the last of her argument slip away. Pure stubbornness had helped her refuse to listen to any of Hayley's logic, but Harley had known Odette even before Hogwarts, and her friend's description fit perfectly with what Rory already knew of the Slytherin sneak. Fixing her gaze on the ground to hide the embarrassment she could feel creeping over her face, she rubbed at her arm and said quietly, "You're right, Harley. I didn't think of that." Damned if she would apologise to Hayley though, she thought, scowling at the ground. She wasn't about to give her the satisfaction, particularly as she was sure the other girl would be crowing that Rory had finally admitted to being wrong.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley would have laughed if this situation hadn't turned out so unexpectedly serious; Harley's characterisation of Odette was funny, flawlessly accurate, and rendered Rory's stubborn suspicion ridiculous in an instant. Hayley wished she'd thought to say something like that when she had first argued with Rory - but then it would have been a wasted insight, as Rory was too entrenched in her position to listen to anything Hayley said. "Thanks, Harley," Hayley said, biting back a sarcastic comment. For her friend's sake, she wouldn't jeopardise the possibility of a truce with Rory, however fragile. Besides, although arguing with her had been somewhat cathartic, Hayley really didn't need more enemies.

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley sighed, relief flooding through her as she saw her friends relent and agree with what she had said. Maybe she would be able to salvage this after all, maybe the two of them could even make up and be friends. Softening her expression, Harley smiled encouragingly at Rory first. "Rory, Hayley's like the best artist ever, she's super cool, and she stood up for me after the flyers, just like you did. Hayley, Rory's basically the most fun person in the world, we went exploring the forest and got chased around by teachers, it... well, the teacher part sucked, but it was still super cool exploring until then. You're both awesome super cool people and this was just a misunderstanding, can we leave it in the past and all be friends?" Hope crept into Harley's tone towards the end as she looked between her two best friends imploringly. She was really sure if they just got to know each other they'd be amazing friends too, and she didn't want to be caught in the middle of any lingering fighting or awkwardness.

 

[Aurora Night]

Listening to her friend praise Hayley, Rory tried to wrestle back a scowl. It felt odd, as she'd never really bothered doing that before. Glancing back at Hayley's sketchpad where the drawing of Odette could still be seen, she had to admit that the girl was pretty good at drawing. And Harley seemed to legitimately think she was a great person... this was so annoying. It was pretty clear that Harley would prefer them all to be friends, and even though Rory would normally want to do that, it was Hayley. The girl had called her prejudiced, and after everything she'd heard her mother and other family members say about those sorts of people she didn't really feel inclined to let the insult slide.

Then again... she didn't feel prepared to apologise about calling Hayley a spy either, and just insinuating that someone thought there was something worthy to be seen in Odette was pretty insulting in itself. Perhaps she could just pretend to get along with Hayley, for Harley's sake. Hayley. Harley. Ugh, there had to be something easier than almost tripping over these names all the time. Her decision made, Rory nodded at Harley a little stiffly and then turned to look Hayley in the eyes properly. "Hey, I'm Rory and I'm stubborn and usually say whatever I'm thinking. But what you don't know is that I actually think that drawing of Odette is pretty cool, and I kind of want to hang it on our dormitory wall." She paused. "Although maybe I'd have to have two, cause I'd eventually end up wanting to throw things at it." If that wasn't a good enough attempt at starting a friendship from a position of former rivalry, she didn't really know what else would cut it.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley felt a pang of jealousy when Harley mentioned that she and Rory had been exploring in the forest. Hayley had meant to check it out, but in the chaos of finding her way around a new school she hadn't got around to it. In act, much to her shame, Hayley hadn't broken any rules so far this year. That would definitely have to change, and it sounded like hanging out with Harley more (even if it did have to be with Rory too) would give her more opportunity to do so. It would certainly be good to have more friends. Then again, this was Rory. The girl had accused her of being a spy for Odette, just because she was a Slytherin, and after all the prejudice she'd experienced already she didn't really feel inclined to let the insult slide.

Then again, it seemed that Harley really did see something in Rory, even if all Hayley had seen so far was idiocy. Hayley supposed that they were all so angry at Odette it could be viewed as a sort of hysteria. Perhaps she could just pretend to get along with Rory, for Harley's sake. Her decision made, Hayley suppressed a sigh and stood up to look Rory in the eye and accept her odd, stiff introduction. She supposed that meant she should say something similar in return. And not make sarcastic reactions like 'you're stubborn? really? I hadn't noticed.' "Hi, I'm Hayley and I'm sarcastic and angry and I like to draw stuff." Hayley paused, reluctant to admit how flattered she was at the idea of Rory hanging her picture up in their dormitory. She could never get away with that in the Slytherin dorm, however much she might want to. "Well, you can't have the original, but . . . there must be a magic way of copying stuff, right?" Why couldn't this school just have photocopiers like a normal one? However cool magic was (very cool), Hayley missed technology. She supposed, grudgingly, that maybe she could get along with Rory after all. For Harley.