Making Amends

[Katalina Harker]

With the large amount of time that Kat had been spending by herself while avoiding the Great Hall she'd had ample amount of time to think about the last few months since she'd returned to school. While the majority of her memories were happy she had a few that were less than pleasant and one in particular stuck out in her mind more and more over the last few days. For some reason she found herself guilt ridden for more than one reason. First, what had happened that day had caused her to hurt someone that she had cared for. Second, lately she'd found herself glancing around in classes to catch a glimpse of Chace which made her feel guilty because she was definitely head over heels for Sumner and knew that he felt the same way about her.

Being a Saturday afternoon Kat didn't have much to do especially since there was no quidditch practice for Gryffindor today so she took a walk out to the cliffs. It was a beautiful Spring day with a nice light breeze. Sitting down near the edge Kat took out a piece of parchment and her quill and penned a note, hoping desperately to make amends with someone she missed very much, but couldn't admit it to anyone.

Chace,

Meet me at the cliffs. If you don't show the I understand.

Kat

Folding it up, Kat attached it to the leg of one of her own owl who had just dropped off a letter from home, saying to it, "Chace." She put her letter from her mum in her bag and sat staring out over the vastness that was New Zealand.

 

[Chace Harker]

Chace was once more moping about the Gardens when an owl unexpectedly dive-bombed him. He held up his arms to defend himself from the blasted bird, expecting to be stabbed with its beak. To his surprise, it dropped a letter on him, and then flew off. Groaning in disgust, he knelt to the ground to pick it up. This is why I hate animals.

After digging his finger within the fold of the envelope, he tore it open, the edges of the paper jagged and torn. He thought that letter openers were a waste of time. He froze as he read the contents of the letter. The Slytherin boy had finally started to recover from a wound of his past, now it had been torn open anew.

He jammed the letter into his pocket, crumpled up rather gracelessly. Contemplating whether or not to even go where Kat had requested, Chace finally found the incentive to go. Not so deep down, he had many feelings for the Gryffindor girl. He was going to take precaution of course. If her boyfriend were there, he would turn right the hell around.

Making his way up the cliff, he finally found Kat. She was by herself, and he wasn't sure whether to be relieved or not. His gaze downcast, he simply stated, "Hey." He had been beaten down, and he had accepted that a long time ago. He wasn't going to waste time on smiles and friendly formalities if they were just going to hurt him in the end.

 

[Katalina Harker]

Kat was sitting contently watching the clouds float by, but she was nervous as well. Her mind and her body were becoming increasingly more tired and weak with each passing day though she had herself convinced that she was still getting over a nasty cold and that was the reason for it. A familiar voice rang in her ears and her heart instantly hit the pit of her stomach, sending a nauseous feeling throughout her. Kat looked up at Chace, regret in her eyes for how things had last ended with them. "Hi. Thanks for meeting me," she said weakly, trying to force a smile.

 

[Chace Harker]

Chace's hands were jammed into his pockets as Kat spoke to him. His fist was curled around the letter she had given him. He still had strong feelings for Kat, but he would rather they were suppressed. The Slytherin boy was half surprised that she wasn't telling him to eat excrement right now.

But Kat wasn't like that, and if she had wanted to actually talk to him, she probably had something important to say. "So, what did you want me to come up here for?" he inquired. Maybe she wanted something back? Although he couldn't imagine what, they hadn't really given much to each other as far as gifts were concerned. I probably could have been more considerate that way. There were a lot of things that he could have done differently- not kissing Andy was one thing- and he knew that there had been the potential for something that was now gone.

 

[Katalina Harker]

Kat winced at how he got right to the point of it. Seemed like he wasn't going to sit so instead Kat stood and walked over to where he was standing. This wasn't going to be easy, but it was something that needed to be done for her own piece of mind. If he told her to stuff it then at least she'd tried, but if she was being honest that would absolutely break her heart.

Sighing heavily and swallowing back the lump that had formed in her throat Kat said meekly, "I...I ju...I'm sorry. For everything." She looked up at him, her blue eyes had lost most of their sparkle from being so weak and tired. "I just needed you to know that. I never meant for things to turn out the way they did. I miss you," she said honestly, though she felt slightly guilty because Sumner had no clue she was doing this.

 

[Chace Harker]

Chace felt bad when he saw Kat wince, but there was no taking his words back. He wanted her to spit out what she had to say, and he also wanted an excuse to stay with her as long as he could. The Slytherin's emerald eyes wandered up to Kat's blue ones. Swallowing hard, he took in what she had to say. An apology was the last thing he had been expecting.

"I- I'm sorry too. I've really been an *******, and you don't deserve it." He didn't bring up Andy, because that incident was all water under the bridge now. His voice was sincere, for once. "I miss you, too. A lot."

 

[Katalina Harker]

Kat played with the heart charm on her bracelet and a mixture of emotions flooded her tired body. She'd come to realize that she loved Sumner with every fiber of her being...it was her first true love, but she also cared for Chace. That was why she was here today, making her amends with him.

"I guess we both kinda have been," she said with a weak chuckle. Kat walked over to where he was standing and wrapped her arms around him. She really had missed him, but the old feelings that Kat had had for him resolved a while ago. Now all she wanted was for them to start over as friends. Deep down she wished for him and Sumner get on fairly well, but even she knew that was a far cry from happening.

 

[Chace Harker]

To say that Chace was surprised would be a very severe understatement. His jaw had dropped in shock. The Slytherin wrapped his arms around the Gryffindor girl, holding her embrace for a long enough while before pulling back. He would have rather held her embrace all day, but well, she had someone else. Chace would rather not be spotlighted in that stupid magazine again.

Chace's chronic frown evolved into the first genuine smile he had flashed at someone in months. "Truce?" he said lightly, a chuckle in his voice. Things wouldn't be the same, but hopefully they would be on the road to being okay.

 

[Katalina Harker]

"Truce," Kat said sighing heavily, glad that she finally did this. Now the only thing she was going to figure out was how to tell Sumner that she and Chace were on speaking terms now, but she'd cross that bridge when she got to it...if she ever got to it, though she knew she'd have to eventually.

Kat looked at her watch and groaned. She had promised to meet Andy and Kiera so that they could go over some chaser plays for the upcoming quidditch season. "I'd probably better get going. I've got to meet my roommates down at the pitch in a bit," she said wanting to stay a little bit longer, but knowing that she really had to meet up with her friends soon. "I'll see you in class?" It was posed more as a question especially since she knew Chace hadn't been in classes for the last few weeks.

 

[Chace Harker]

Chace continued to smile as Kat agreed to a truce. He hoped that they could be friends again, though with that Sumner git around that would probably be near impossible. Hopefully, the two would break up one day. He wasn't going to chastise himself for thinking in such a way either- he was a Slytherin, and would have to embrace the fact every once in a while.

His grin shrunk in size as Kat groaned and said that she had to be elsewhere. He could be up here all day and talk with the Gryffindor girl, that was no lie. Trying to conceal his disappointment, he said, "Well- have fun." Picking up his grin, he added, "Classes?" Chace knew that he had to get his backside in gear if he didn't want to be homeschooled again. "I'll think about it."

 

[Katalina Harker]

Kat could see the disappointment on his face, but was glad to see his grin return when he said he'd think about attending classes. "I'd better see you there. You'd hate to have to repeat OWLs again," she joked with the Slytherin boy. With that she turned and headed off in the direction of the quidditch pitch, but before she was completely out of sight she turned and looked over her shoulder at Chace and grinned, glad to have her friend back, but knowing how difficult of a friendship it was going to be.