Oh, It's You

[Aurora Night]

It was kind of strange to be back at Hogwarts and enjoying it. Even though Rory had spent three months away from the castle, now that she had returned it was almost as if she had never left. Except that there were a lot of scrawny first years hanging around. Seeing people younger than herself was slightly odd, but to be honest she was mostly excited for them. She wondered which ones would run off into the forest the first chance they got, and which ones would be getting caught exploring the castle tonight. She grinned to herself, realising the answer to her question was most likely: Gryffindors, all. They'd come in so far behind the rest of the houses in points last year that it had truly been laughable, and it had been funny to see some of the more serious members of the house disappointed by this. Rory couldn't have cared less, losing points usually meant that you were having fun.

Turning down another corridor on her way to head outside, Rory wondered what would be in store for her this year. Hopefully she would see as little of Odette Harper as she had to. She'd actually almost forgotten about the other girl over the holidays, but seeing her at the Slytherin table during the Sorting Ceremony had brought all of her dislike rushing back. It had lessened, certainly, but she reckoned that it wouldn't go away completely until she and Harley had somehow managed to get back at her. However, she was leaving the devising of that particular plan up to Harley, content with just ignoring or glaring at Odette for now, whatever the situation called for. Annoyed that she had been thinking about this for far longer than she should have been, Rory shook herself rather violently as she walked in an attempt to clear the thoughts from her mind. It was while she was swinging the hair back out of her eyes that she felt herself bump into someone, and she was already turning around with "Oops, sorry -" halfway out of her mouth when she realised who she had bumped into. Speaking of distinctive blonde hair...

 

[Margo Ellis]

Margo couldn't wrap her head around it. She'd been as loyal as a friend could be, never once wavering from Odette's side even when the Slytherin had landed them both in deep trouble, and yet still she'd decided to add Beaubelle to their 'gang.' Wasn't Margo enough? All of their hard work over the year to be cool and popular was going to be erased in the blink of an eye. Sure, it was nice of Odette to take another girl under her wing, but truth be told, Margo didn't care, because she was jealous. Odette was her best friend, and she saw no reason why she ought to share.

Having left the girls at the breakfast table Margo skulked off on a walk, taking the long route back to her common room. If only she'd had some other friends of her own, maybe she wouldn't have minded sharing Odette. But of course, nobody really liked her. The drawback about hanging around with the meanest bully in the school was that nobody approached her for anything - not even to say hello, or to invite her to eat with them. Actually, it was quite lonely; but by now the damage had been done, and Margo wasn't sure it could ever be repaired. She sighed, looking down at her polished shoes as she walked. It was funny how she almost missed being the bullied one. Not that she wanted anybody to remind her that her hair looked like a bird's nest, or that her legs looked like twigs, but at least when she'd been on the receiving end of the words she hadn't had to feel guilty about them.

From this thought Margo was recalled suddenly as she collided straight into another student. Her first instinct was to say sorry; her second was to make some snide remark about paying attention while walking. But before she could act on either, she stepped back, her shoulders tensing as she realised who she'd bumped into. Rory had been really frightening when she'd yelled at Margo last year, but the Ravenclaw knew she'd deserved it. What she and Odette had done to Harley was unforgivable. Thinking that Rory might be about to chastise her again, Margo took a defensive stance, putting one hand on her hip. "Maybe you should... look where you're going... brainless," she tried, imitating what she imagined Odette might say. But the moment it had left her mouth there was guilt in her eye, and she visibly shrank on the spot.

 

[Aurora Night]

For a moment, all Rory could do was stare at the other girl in shock. Until she burst out laughing. "Brainless? I guess a Ravenclaw would think that was a pretty good insult." She took in Margo's posture with amusement as well. "Has Odette been teaching you that? She's not doing too good." Her words might have sounded cutting, if Rory had intended them to be that way, but instead it was just... funny. She hadn't expected Margo to respond in such a surprsing way, and she was almost impressed with her for doing so. Granted, it was still a pretty feeble attempt at assertiveness in Rory's experience, but this was definitely a step-up from the shrinking mouse-like behaviour she had exhibited last time.

Last time. Margo had started crying last time, Rory suddenly remembered. That was a bit uncomfortable to think about. She hadn't even felt that good about it at the time. Scratching at the side of her neck for a moment she ended up exhaling a little self-consciously. "Look, I guess I should say sorry for yelling at you. About... you know. Not - " Rory held up a finger, " - that I'm apologising for why I was yelling at you because honestly, you know you were an idiot." She supposed you shouldn't insult people while you were trying to apologise to them, but she'd already said it now and so just rolled with it. "But I was kinda harsh about it and I didn't mean to make you cry." The self-consciousness was... odd. Like little scoops were being taken out of her sides. She tried to push the feeling away and settle her face into a sort of friendly-ish seriousness. "There. You better remember that, you won't catch me saying it again."

 

[Margo Ellis]

Margo bit her lip. Wasn't brainless a good insult? Her heart practically stopped in her chest as Rory mentioned Odette - as if somehow she telepathically knew the Slytherin had been teaching her how to behave. She hadn't really thought it was so obvious, and that Aurora could read her like an open book was a little concerning to think about. Then again, the last time they'd exchanged more than a few words, Margo had burst into tears, so perhaps it wasn't a great stretch of the imagination to assume Odette had had some influence on her new (apparently feeble) attitude.

Feeling her cheeks heat up, Margo looked away, by long experience bracing herself for the onslaught of laughter and insults. It didn't come. So surprised was she to receive an apology that she met eyes with Rory again, blinking nervously. Did... she really mean it? Margo didn't think she deserved an apology at all. If anything, she ought to have been apologising to Aurora - or even better, Harley. But nonetheless Margo felt a small weight lift from her shoulders; the Gryffindor might not have forgiven her her stupidity, but she was sorry she'd made Margo cry, and that made her the first. Margo looked away again, nodding acknowledgement. More than anything she wanted to apologise back - to say that she would never have posted those flyers if she'd known how upset Harley would be - but the words were stuck in her throat. If she said she was sorry, she would be betraying Odette, and the reputation she'd earned thus far would be snatched away in the blink of an eye. And if she didn't have Odette, who else would be her friend? Nobody was who, and Margo couldn't bring herself to do it. Besides, Odette needed her; she'd said so herself. So rather than speak up the Ravenclaw pressed her lips together and hoped with all her might that Aurora would take her silence as indication of remorse.

 

[Aurora Night]

Thankfully, the more Rory watched Margo's reaction to her apology the more her own awkwardness began to fade away. The other girl clearly seemed to be vastly more familiar with the feeling, and Rory was grateful to find herself acting more like her normal self in response. She had kind of expected Margo to say something after she had nodded, but as the seconds stretched on Rory just kept on staring, waiting for some sort of further reply. Finally with a puzzled expression she said, "That's it? You were just trying to insult me a minute ago and now you don't have anything to say?" She paused, before suggesting cheerfully, "What about like, you don't need my apology, or... you only cried to try and manipulate me to your side?" Rory wasn't really sure why she was trying to help Margo think of cutting things to say, other than the fact that she was beginning to think that the other girl would never have done so on her own. Maybe there was some hope for her yet, despite her blunder of trusting Odette, Rory thought. All signs seemed to indicate that Margo would probably never do anything that could really make Rory dislike her, and imagining her trying to do so was vaguely amusing.

 

[Margo Ellis]

Margo continued to stare hard at the corridor wall, hoping the heat behind her cheeks wasn't visible. She hadn't really wanted to insult Aurora in the first place. Why would she want to do so again? But when the Gryffindor started suggesting Margo ripostes, she finally had something to say. "That's not... I didn't..." she stammered, so close to spilling everything that she had to give herself a swift mental kick to close her mouth again. "That wasn't what I was trying to do." What had she been trying to do? Make Rory think she wasn't somebody who could be messed with, perhaps. Make certain that nobody would ever again purposely bump into her, or call her Medusa, or trip her up, or steal her things. She couldn't go back to that. "I don't know why you even care," she snapped. "You've got lots of friends. Why don't you just leave me and Odette alone?"

 

[Aurora Night]

Rory had been joking about the faux insults against herself, so she was surprised when Margo responded in a far more biting tone than she had expected. "Whoa," she said, raising both hands in a surrendering motion, "is that how you treat everyone who tries to talk to you?" She was beginning to wonder if it was only Gryffindors that she could make jokes around without someone getting so weirdly serious all the time - the evidence so far seemed to be telling her 'no.' "I mean, I get that you think Odette is great for some really messed up reason, but it wouldn't kill you to be friendly to someone else for a change." Rory paused, lowering her hands. "I wasn't actually looking for you to apologise for last year, you know, but now that I have thanks for making me feel like it was worth my time," she finished a little sarcastically. Perhaps she'd been wrong before - maybe Odette was getting to Margo more than she had previously thought.

 

[Margo Ellis]

Margo's jaw dropped. "Odette is great," she said suddenly, an anger rising in her from nowhere. "She's the kindest person I know. She only ever did mean things to Harley because Harley was mean her first. It's not my fault you can't see that for yourself." Margo folded her arms across her chest. "Didn't you see the rose she sent Odette? It was horrible." Actually, Margo hadn't seen the rose herself, but she was taking Odette's word for it. "I don't want your stupid apology, anyway. I don't even want to see your stupid face ever again!" Thrusting her nose dramatically into the air, Margo stormed off, not stopping until she'd reached her dormitory in the towers and thrown herself into bed. It wasn't fair! People were always so rude about Odette, but they never considered that their friends might have been the real bully. But then... Rory's apology had seemed so genuine. Urgh! Why couldn't everybody just get along? And why did Margo have to be stuck in the middle of it all?

 

[Aurora Night]

Rory snorted at the other girls continued defence of Odette. Kindest? Yeah right. Margo clearly didn't know that many people. "Yeah, well maybe Harley did do something first, but she's never said anything, and you can bet she would of if she had." She felt confident saying this because her friend never seemed reluctant to tell her about the things she had done to Odette - Rory had even been there when Harley had come up with the note to go with that rose. She almost laughed now thinking of it. "Come on, you can't tell me Odette really thought someone was in love with her, we were all like, eleven back then." Rory had only been twelve for about three months, but there was already a very distinct difference in her mind between the two ages. It seemed Margo had nothing to say to that, though, because she just yelled angrily at Rory and then stormed away. Unable to help herself, Rory raised her voice to call after the disappearing girl, "That was a good one - and it wasn't even one of my suggestions!" Once Margo had left her sight, however, Rory fell silent, finding herself slightly annoyed at the other girl. She still couldn't seem to muster any real dislike for Margo, even while she continued live firmly in Odette-worship land with no visible signs of leaving. It was this, much more than Margo's rejection of her apology, that bothered Rory the most.