Friend or Foe?

[Margo Ellis]

Margo kept trying to tell herself she was happy for Odette, but the more convincing she did, the less convinced she became. None of it made any sense - not her feelings, not Odette and Harley getting together, not anything. After three days mulling everything over, the only thing Margo was convinced of was that Harley was trying to trick Odette. Yes - that explained why Margo was so angry. She was worried! Love could do funny things to people's good judgement; Odette had been blinded, hoodwinked somehow into believing that Harley really cared about her. Well, Margo couldn't let that happen. At the very least, she had to talk to Harley. Maybe things would be clearer once Margo discovered what the Gryffindor was really up to.

Her chance came that afternoon, when she spotted Harley sitting down by the lake, slightly hunched over something. Drawing herself upright, Margo began to march across the grass; but her resolve weakened with every step, until, as she reached Harley's side, she had shrunk back to her usual, mousy demeanour. It was too late to turn back. "Harley?" she said, the shake in her voice audible. "I want to talk to you about Odette."

 

[Harley Tsuji]

It was still cold, but Harley had piled on enough layers under her leather jacket to feel comfortable by the lake. It had been a long time since she had just sat down and drawn in her sketchbook, and she felt the urge to get in some nature practice. The lake was beautiful in the cold, with leafless trees lining its edges, and Harley wanted to capture this moment. She was doing a few preliminary sketches of the trees shapes before busting out the paints, focusing on trying to get the branches to look as gnarled as she wanted them. It was relaxing, to just focus on the actual properties of a drawing, rather than paint it as fast as she could before anyone caught her.

Harley was absorbed in her project, nose inches from her sketchbook as she squinted to make sure she was getting the bark texture just right, when she heard her own name. Startled, she looked up to see one of Odette's former lackeys. She remembered this one from the poster debacle, but didn't think she had ever learned the girl's name. "Oh..." She said awkwardly, giving an uncomfortable shrug. The girl seemed nervous, and it made Harley wonder what she wanted. Had she seen Harley and Odette being friendly at the party or something? "Uh, what's up?" She asked, hoping she wasn't in for a fight with Odette's lackey.

 

[Margo Ellis]

Margo was almost willing Harley to tell her to go away, so that she wouldn't have to talk to her about this. It would have been uncomfortable enough if they'd been friends, but they'd never spoken, and Margo was sure Harley thought awful things about her. She had every right and reason to. Margo had been awful when she'd helped Odette write those posters.

But Harley didn't tell Margo to go away. Not wanting to tower over the Gryffindor, Margo sat down on the grass, a reasonable distance between them. She plucked a blade of grass and began to twirl it between her forefinger and thumb, several locks of blonde hair coming loose from behind her ear and tumbling down her cheek. "She told me about... you two," Margo said. "You know - being together. Kissing. Whatever." She looked up, searching Harley. Then she sighed. "Odette's my best friend. And I'm not saying you would hurt her - I'm sure you're really, really nice, actually - but I have to know, because I'm going to go crazy if I don't. Do you... do you really care about her?"

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley didn't really know what to expect from Odette's lackey, but it certainly wasn't this. Odette had told her? It didn't bother Harley that Odette had talked to someone, she had done the same immediately with Hayley, but she wouldn't have expected Odette to trust anyone enough to tell them. Maybe... Odette would want to start telling more people about them. The thought... wasn't horrible. Harley was distracted, and it took her a moment to really process what the other girl was saying. She laughed awkwardly. How could she even answer that. "I... look, of course I do..." She said slowly, looking out over the water. "I've known Odette most of my life. Even when we were kids and fighting over dumb sh*t all I really wanted was... for her to be happy, and be nice to people. I care about her a lot, she's... really important to me." It was a sentiment Harley had never really voiced out loud, most of her conversations with Odette focused on silliness and teasing, neither of them really daring to face their feelings. Harley didn't want to be the first to break that dynamic and she looked over at the other girl quickly, nerves clear on her face. "You, uh... you aren't gonna tell her any of this, right?"

 

[Margo Ellis]

Harley was telling Margo what she wanted to hear - so why didn't she feel any better? It was almost as if she'd hoped the Gryffindor would say no, so that she could justify telling Odette to split up with her. What a horrible thought! Margo blushed at her own unkindness. Harley really liked Odette. What right did she have to feel bitter about it? The Ravenclaw looked up, surprised Harley had to ask. Then again, it wasn't as if the two girls knew one another. "Of course not," she said. "Although... Odette would probably like it if you did." How many people had ever told Odette how important she was? Not even Margo, as far as she could remember. Maybe Harley was good for her. Maybe Margo was just overreacting. She looked down at her lap. "I'm sorry I helped Odette with those posters, by the way. I always wanted to say sorry, but I didn't think you'd believe me. I know it was ages ago, but I still feel bad. You're actually really cool." She looked up at Harley and smiled. "I'm glad Odette has you."

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley still didn't know what to think about Odette's lackey. The girl seemed genuine, but part of her wasn't entirely ready to be trusting. Hopefully her slip of genuine feelings wouldn't come back to bite her. She smiled, relaxing a little when the girl said she wouldn't tell, though she tensed again quickly. "I dunno..." She said awkwardly, looking away. "We're not... we don't really talk like that so much, y'know?" Harley didn't know how Odette would react if she brought up the topic of... feelings, of being... serious about this. They were just having fun hanging out. Would it ruin things if Harley wanted more? Better not to bring it up. She was surprised to hear the girl's apology, nodding quietly. "Oh, thanks." She said with a surprised smile. "It's fine. It was ages ago, we all did dumb stuff in first year. I think people have forgotten by now, nobody's called me a thief for years." Although most people had been understanding, the fallout from those posters still stung a bit to think about. "Hey, uh, I'm sorry, this is really embarrassing but I don't actually know your name. I really should, you've been, like, Odette's best friend for ages, I'm just really crap at like, paying attention to stuff." After talking with her a bit, Harley regretted thinking of the girl as Odette's lackey a bit. She was obviously a good friend, the kind Odette needed more of.

 

[Margo Ellis]

Margo understood. She didn't really talk about her feelings, either. Maybe that was what had gotten her into this mess. She smiled, relieved Harley had forgiven her for those horrible posters. Even at the time she'd known putting them up was wrong, but she'd wanted to impress Odette, to get her on her side so that she wouldn't be bullied again herself. Had she become the bully? No - it was in the past now, and she'd changed. She still loved Odette, but she didn't need her for protection any more. And wanting to be her friend felt a lot nicer than needing it. Margo's mouth opened. "O-oh," she said, a bit disheartened that Harley didn't even know her name. How many classes had they shared? She forced a smile. "It's Margo. No - it's okay! I mean, I guess it would be nice if she'd talked about me, but it's okay. We kind of fell out for a bit, so I understand." Margo plucked another blade of grass, starting to feel awkward. She'd heard all she needed to hear, and even managed to apologise, but they certainly weren't friends, and hanging around was probably going to make them both uncomfortable. "Look, I should probably go," she said, standing up and brushing the grass from her skirt. "Thanks, Harley." With a smile - genuine, this time - she turned to head back toward the castle.

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley could tell immediately from Margo's reaction that she had offended the girl and her heart sank. It was nice to make peace with Odette and her friends after so long, she didn't want to get right back onto the wrong foot. "Right, of course. Sorry, I know she's talked about you, I'm literally just dumb with names. I'll remember now. Margo." Harley said quickly, committing the girl's name to memory. She was disappointed when Margo got up to leave, but she supposed she wouldn't really have had anything else to say if she stayed. "Right... hey, it was nice to talk." She smiled back, giving Margo a quick wave. Hopefully that was another bridge built.