Not Quite Sorry, but Close

[Odette Madison]

Odette was hardly focused on the fact that she was now a third year, the recent family drama was occupying her mind a lot more than she wanted it to and there was something else as well. Over the winter break, her mind had kept flashing back to the moment she had insulted Harley's brother. It wasn't that she felt bad exactly, but it had made Harley so incredibly angry... and she knew deep in her heart that she had gone too far. It was't like suddenly gaining a brother herself made her see it differently or anything, she had known it was wrong even as she was saying it. But at that time nothing had felt more important than getting under Harley's skin. There was something about the other girl that just made her want to get some sort of reaction out of her, and what she was about to do now pained her even though she had a second purpose for it.

She scanned the entrance hall, hoping to catch sight of the girl she sometimes mentally referred to as her nemesis, as silly and childish as that seemed. When she finally spotted her she did a double take, her hair was different. It was no longer the messy multi-colored mop she had grown to associate with the girl. She raised her eyebrows slightly. This was a definite improvement. Glad to see Rory or the other minions Harley kept around weren't currently trailing behind the other girl at this moment, Odette approached her. "Harley." She said, running a hand through her hair. "Look, no tricks or whatever. Can I talk to you for a second?" She kept her distance in case the other girl thought punching her again was a good idea.

 

[Harley Tsuji]

It was a relief, to be back at Hogwarts. Harley hated that the price for spending time with her siblings was spending time with her parents, but it had been good at least to see Jason for a little while. And now Zoe had joined her at Hogwarts. It would be strange seeing her baby sister around the school, but certainly not unwelcome. She would have to be sure to warn Zoe about the less pleasant elements around the school.

And even thinking of the devil seemed to summon her. Harley scowled as she saw Odette approaching, folding her arms angrily. Of course, Harley's relief at being back at school would have to be trampled. Why would the universe let her have a good day, when it could so easily throw Odette right at her. Harley glared at the other girl, leaning closer threateningly. "What's this about, you angling for another black eye?" She snapped, lifting her chin threateningly.

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette rolled her eyes and folded her own arms, leave it to Harley to turn everything violent. Odette tilted her head slightly, she had started to become stronger from Quidditch training and felt like she might be able to take her if it came down to that. But that wasn't the plan for today, quite the opposite in fact.

"No, you idiot. Can you listen instead of attack for one second?" She snapped. "I wanted to ... wanted to..." She paused, thinking of how to word this. "Say that what I said about your brother last year was messed up, alright? It's not like I believe that kind of stuff. Just wanted to piss you off, that's all." She spit her words out, feeling weird about almost apologizing to this girl of all people. "But you did punch me in the face so we're even now." She added.

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley narrowed her eyes slightly, glaring at Odette as she listened. Though Harley didn't let her expression change, what Odette said actually surprised her. It wasn't an apology, but it was about as close as Odette was likely to get without any pressure. "I'll decide if we're even, thanks." Harley snapped. "You sure did seem like you believed that stuff. People don't need more of that s**t in the world." She flicked her fringe out of her eyes, glaring at Odette. "Keep that crap about squibs and muggleborns out of your mouth and stay away from Zoe, and we're even." She said firmly, not breaking eye contact with Odette. "Say anything else, and I'll personally make sure you have a nice trip to the hospital wing." Sure, it did feel like Odette was genuinely sorry, something that surprised Harley, but she wasn't going to let the other girl off easy, or she'd be leaving the door open for her to pull the exact same crap in the future, and if Odette said anything about Jason in front of Zoe it'd probably scar the girl for life, something Harley wasn't going to let happen to her little sister.

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette snorted. "It's called acting." She told Harley with another roll of her eyes. "Please, Harley, you flatter me but you don't really think I care that much about your brother or family at all, right?" She checked her nails. "I just wanted to set the record straight, I hate you, not muggleborns or squibs. Believe me, I prefer to judge people on things they have control over." She glanced at Harley's clothes. "Like choice of outfit." She added with a slight sneer. She felt vulnerable from her (not quite) apology, so she had to get an insult in while she still could. She couldn't have Harley think she grew soft. Still, the girl was silly to worry about Odette going near her sister. "Chill, Harley, why would I go to your sister? I have nothing to do with her." The girl had always seemed sort of odd to Odette, and she had no interest in approaching her.

She paused, knowing she had to get to the heart of the matter now. "So while we're even, that letter..." She hated even saying it. "Just tell me it was a stupid prank if that's what it was." She looked at the Gryffindor, hoping she looked less anxious than she felt.

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley rolled her eyes. "It's caaAAaalled AC-ting, it's my the-AH-trical tradition to pretend to be a bigot, that's all." She said in a mock-snobby tone. It was no excuse, and Odette knew it, but Harley was starting to believe she didn't believe that stuff. "Look, acting or not, just saying that s**t has consequences. Next time, keep your mouth shut." She rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore Odette's weak stab at her outfit, but the girl's next remark actually caused her to let out a bark of laughter. "Like you had nothing to do with Jason until you brought him up?!" She snapped. "I know what you're like. Don't you or your minions go anywhere near Zoe."

Odette's next question didn't come as much of a surprise. Of course Odette wanted something out of this apology - there was no chance she would do something like this just because it was the right thing to do. Trying to remember their initial plans to be respectful about the letter, Harley sighed and shook her head. "That's going way too far for a prank. Look, that guy gave it to Rory because he's like, dating her cousin or something. He didn't know about our issues. We read the letter because we thought it would be funny, but we didn't want to joke around with something like that. We were just gonna pretend we hadn't seen it and deliver it like normal until you opened your mouth."

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette had forgotten for a second how insufferable Harley could be, but as the girl copied her and spit her own words back at her she wanted to strangle the Gryffindor. She glared at her. "Don't be an idiot." She snapped. "You act like you're better than this, but you literally throw every bit of ammunition you have against me in my face too. You're no better than me, Harley, don't pretend that you are." She glared at the girl, reminded all over again why she hated Harley so much. "I don't care about your silly little sister, Harley. I have my own life, and better things to do than stalk first years." She snapped.

Harley's news about the letter wasn't really unexpected anymore, but it still came as a blow. She had to work hard to mask her emotions, and even then her lip trembled the slightest bit before she covered her mouth and pretended to cough to hide it. "Right." She said shakily. "See what I meant about every bit of ammunition?" She gave Harley a cold look. "If you ever read my private mail again or pry into my personal life like this, it won't be me who leaves with a black eye. Do you understand?" She was serious about this, she hated nothing more than having her deepest secrets exposed. Especially to Harley. It still made her very upset to think her biggest enemies had known this before she had.

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley snorted with laughter. "You'd never have a single problem from me if you actually acted like a decent human being, ever. All I am is consequences for your own sh*tty actions." She said bluntly, folding her arms. "Quit being a nasty bully, and you'll never hear from me again." She raised an eyebrow challengingly. There was no chance of Odette actually listening, of course, but it was near-laughable to Harley to hear Odette blaming her for their back-and-forth through the years.

It had almost been too quick to see, but there was no way Harley had imagined Odette's lip wobbling. She was really, genuinely affected by all this. A small, sympathetic part of Harley almost, almost regretted what she had done, but Odette's words about Jason still echoed through her head. "Hey, we weren't going to say anything about it, I told you." She said, her tone softened and less accusatory than it usually would be. "I know it's serious stuff. If you hadn't brought Jason into it you'd never even know we knew. We wouldn't stoop that low, and we... we're sorry for prying. It wasn't cool, and we wouldn't do it again." Harley raised an eyebrow, shifting her weight onto one leg and tilting her head. "Hey, since I said the S word first, mind giving me an actual apology for Jason?"

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette laughed harshly. "Right, of course Harley." She said skeptically. "You've already made up your mind about me. No matter what I do now, you'll always think of me as the same horrible person." She tossed her hair. "Now it just so happens that you are right in my case, but don't act like you and your stupid group of friends will ever change your minds about someone once you've decided you don't like them." She knew better than to think any change in her behavior would actually matter. The Gryffindor girls and Hayley would never accept her or treat her well, not that she would either. "You're just as bad as I am, only you are in denial about it." She sneered. "Did I ever thank you for that lovely rose you sent me?"

Odette sighed. "It's easy to claim now that you weren't going to say anything about it, but I'm sure you guys had a fun little debate about whether or not you should... I don't know, blackmail me or something. I just hate that your stupid group knew this at all, it's not right." She snapped. "How would you feel if I knew something about you before you did yourself?" The worst part was that she wasn't sure how she would handle delicate information about Harley. Would she have stooped low enough to rub it in her face? She might have, and it was a sobering thought. She sighed. "Fine I'm sorry too." She snapped. "As far as I know, your brother is alright. In fact, the only reason to feel bad for him is for being related to you." She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, are we done here?"

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley snorted. "What rose?" She fell silent for a long moment, trying to remember what Odette could be talking about, before bursting out laughing. "What?! Are you really still pissy about that? It was two years ago, remember, right around the time you were calling me a thief in front of the whole school. I think you can live with a little nasty note." She scowled, eyeing Odette. It was surprising that the rose was still so fresh in her mind, Harley had barely thought about it since first year. The fact that it had apparently stung more than she expected was an extra little satisfaction alongside the memory of how Odette had humiliated her that year.

Harley sighed. "No, we had a debate about whether to read it or not, and I'll own up to being on the wrong side of that one. As soon as we read it we knew we shouldn't have. We're not monsters, we know it wasn't right. It's not our business, we won't have anything else to do with it, and as far as we're concerned, it never happened. The issue's closed." She nodded slowly, surprised and relieved to actually hear an apology from Odette. This was really a conversation of firsts. Enough to overlook the dig Odette immediately couched it in. "Thanks. Yeah, we're done. Just... actually think about that advice about being a good person, aye?"

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette scowled when Harley hardly even remembered, but she rolled her eyes dismissively. "I'm not pissy about it." She said slowly. "I'm just saying you aren't much better than me with an example that happened to pop into my mind. At least I'm honest, you're so... so hypocritical." She eyed Harley. "It must be quite an easy life, always able to point at others and blame them for your issues and your problems without ever looking at your own behavior. You're more like me than you think, you just think because you dress differently and spray paint on things you're not a mean girl, but you are." She set her jaw. "And you don't get to decide when the issue is closed when it's about my family, Harley." She laughed. "And don't YOU tell me about being a good person. You and your friends are just as bad as I am, get off your f***ing high horse and leave me alone." She didn't normally curse but now she couldn't help it as she glared at Harley before turning away to end the conversation. This had been a stupid idea. She still felt like she should have said something about her comments about Harley's brother, but to be lectured by her of all people about being a good person was pissing her off. "I stand by what I said about your brother." She added coolly, not looking at her. "But don't lecture me again, there is nothing I need your advice on."