Questionable Plans

[Matthew Harper]

Matthew was nervous about a lot of things in his life right now. He was back at the school he'd been attending for the past year, the one where he didn't really know a lot of people, and he had just had one of the strangest holidays of his life. His moment with Leah just wouldn't leave his head, and he wondered if he had royally messed up by kissing her.

It wouldn't do him any good to linger on that for too long, though. Especially with other matters at hand. He had promised himself he would finally talk to his sister after the holidays. He couldn't spend two semesters chickening out. But he didn't just want to walk up to her and drop a bomb on her. So he had thought of a plan. He was sure it wasn't the best plan, and he had originally planned to ask Leah's opinion on it during his stay with her family over the holidays, but things had gone differently. His plan was simple: write Odette a letter. That way she wouldn't be confronted by him immediately, and had some time to get used to the idea. At least, in theory. He was a bit worried that she would dismiss it as a prank, or find the idea so weird she would avoid him.

Unfortunately, it wasn't as simple in his head as just handing it over to her. The letter idea wasn't just for Odette's sake, but for his as well. If she reacted badly, he didn't really want to see it. Maybe it was cowardly, but he felt like it would be best for both of them if Odette could digest the news on her own and then seek him out herself. A part of him wondered if this wasn't just more avoidance, just as he had been avoiding her for the first part of the year, but a larger part of him was convinced this wasn't a bad idea. He just needed someone else to give the letter to her. Someone he could trust not to read it beforehand but also someone she might feel more comfortable around. He only knew one person in her year, and she wasn't the most comforting choice. If he was honest, he really wanted to avoid Rory after what happened over the holidays, but she was the only person he knew that might be able to do this for him. Unless you man up and just do it yourself a voice in his head whispered. He grimaced, it did seem like he was complicating things more than was necessary. But at the same time, this was a complicated situation. He really wondered what Leah would have said about all this.

He spotted the familiar red hair and sighed before heading over. "Rory, hey." He told her. "Look, I know you want to tease me and I promise you can later. But right now I have a serious question for you, alright?" The folded letter burned in his pocket, and he took it out mostly so he had something to do with his hands, Odette's name was on it and he wondered if Rory even knew her. He hoped so. "I have an important letter for someone in your year, do you think you could get it to her for me? It's really important." He tried his best to convey the gravity of the situation in his voice, hoping the younger girl would take him seriously. Even now, a part of him felt like he was being cowardly.

 

[Aurora Night]

Rory was busy with very important things today, such as ignoring her textbooks and any work that she already had to be doing for classes. It was going quite well, she thought, and she was in the middle of trying to calculate how long it had been since she'd last remembered what exactly it was that she was avoiding, when she heard someone trying to get her attention. As Rory looked up to see who it was, she was hardly even aware of the smug, knowing look that immediately plastered itself across her face. She really wanted to say something along the lines of teasing him about Leah - her cousin was back in America now, but Matthew was standing right there! That in itself showed that he was practically begging to be made fun of. Annoyingly though, she wasn't able to get even a single word out before the older boy was fending her off. Rory didn't think that was very fair, she should be allowed to get in at least one jibe - she would definitely hold him to his promise later, she decided.

However, as Matthew explained why he had sought her out, Rory's good mood began to take a backseat. What he was asking was a bit weird, really, and she was sort of confused as to why she even needed to be involved. Couldn't he just... talk to whoever it was? And who could it be anyway? Most of the older students typically didn't even bother with anyone in the lower years. Eyeing Matthew curiously, she noted that he looked pretty serious about all of this. He even sounded serious, which was the other reason this whole situation was so strange. Normally he was pretty content to make terrible jokes and leave it at that, in Rory's experience. "A letter?" she asked, confusion clear in her tone. "Um... sure? Why though?" She didn't at all mind helping (especially because he was basically Leah's boyfriend now, she sniggered inwardly), but she definitely wanted to know more about this mysterious letter she was supposed to deliver.

 

[Matthew Harper]

Matthew was honestly shocked that Rory didn't just ignore his request not to tease him. He had expected the girl to launch into it at once. Had Leah said something? Maybe she had told Rory that she wasn't interested in Matthew at all, and now Rory felt bad for him. He wanted to ask, but he couldn't focus on that right now. He had other things to worry about first. He couldn't let himself get distracted.

He should have anticipated her questions, and honestly, he wanted to explain. But not yet, not before she had delivered it. He wanted his letter to speak for itself. "Let's make a deal. I'll tell you the whole story afterwards and I'll buy you a chocolate bar at the next brightstone weekend for your trouble." He paused. "How does that sound?" It felt a little too much like bribing, but he needed this to happen. "It's for a girl in your year. She's in Slytherin, her name is Odette. Do you know her?" The whole plan sort of hinged on that, but if Matthew knew most of his classmates after a few months, surely Rory knew her from being in the same year with her for nearly two years. "You just have to hand it to her, that's it." He still wondered if it wasn't smarter to do it himself, but he had convinced himself that this was the right action. He couldn't really go back now.

 

[Aurora Night]

Even if Rory hadn't already agreed to help Matthew with his weird letter thing, she definitely would have been hooked into doing it at his mention of buying her chocolate. "Okay yes, done!" she said immediately. She was totally pumped to do this, right now even - that was until she suddenly realised just who Matthew expected her to give the letter to. For a moment she was too surprised to say anything, gaping at the older boy as he finished explaining the favour. He spoke as if she, Rory Night, handing Odette, Odette of all people, a letter was the easiest thing on the planet - rather than an event that could likely result in blowing the whole castle up. Didn't Matthew know anything about what had happened between them last year? Well, probably not, she grudgingly realised. What had seemed like such an all-encompassing drama to the people in her year probably hadn't even been a blip on the rest of school's radar, unfortunately. Not to mention the fact that Matthew hadn't even been at Hogwarts last year.

Still, what on earth did he want to talk to Odette for? Rory could almost feel the scowl forming across her face at the very thought of even having to go and find the other girl... willingly. She was almost about to take the whole thing back and tell Matthew to go and find some dumb Slytherin to give Odette the letter, if it wasn't for the small part of her that was remembering how the older boy had acted as if asking this was life or death. And she'd already said she would do it... And she could almost feel Leah's disappointment with her if she didn't... "Okay, just hand it over already," Rory said, sticking out her arm kind of grumpily. Her complete drop in enthusiasm was probably pretty noticeable, but why wouldn't it be at the thought of having to talk properly to Odette for the first time in a year? The last time they'd done so had somehow morphed into one of the most out-of-control arguments of her life.

 

[Matthew Harper]

Matthew wondered how badly it reflected on him that he was bribing a twelve year old girl with chocolate. He hoped Leah wouldn't find out about this from her. He was too distracted to notice her surprise at the name, and ruffled her hair. "Thanks kid, here you go." He handed her the note, wondering again if this was the right idea. Surely it would be fine. He noticed she seemed sort of down about it, but maybe that was just the idea of actually having to deliver it to get her chocolate. "I'll see you around, thanks again." He hesitated for another moment before waving and leaving her to her new task.

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Hanging out with Rose, Harley had lucked into running in to Hayley as they were coming back in to get out of a sudden shower of rain, and the afternoon was just about perfect. Two out of three best friends located, and plenty of shenanigans to get up to. Rory hadn't been in the common room when she and Rose left, so Harley felt it was only fair to check the student lounge, just in case, before making any fun adventure plans without her. Things between Rory and Hayley were still a little tenuous, and she wanted to make sure neither felt like she was favouring them over the other. And what could be better than a gang of ultimate best friends having fun on a rainy day? Nothing.

Harley whooped in triumph as she spotted familiar red hair as soon as they entered the common room, rushing over and pouncing Rory with a hug from behind her chair. "HEY!" She yelled happily, before letting her go. "We were looking for you, it's rainy and sucks outside, wanna find something awesome to do indoors?"

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose trailed after Harley and Hayley while they were looking for Rory. She was sort of lost in thought, trying to think of a fun adventure they could all do inside. She was pulled out of her thoughts when Harley's whoop indicated that she had spotted Rory. She waved. "Hi Rory! Are you studying?" It was unlikely, but who knew what she was doing? Rose looked at the paper in her hands, leaning in curiously. "Are these notes?" She frowned. "Wait, no. Why is Odette's name on here?" She gasped and clapped her hands."Is it a revenge plan?" She wasn't sure how much she liked the back and forth of being mean to each other, but she did enjoy hearing the fun plans they made up. Most of them they would never be able to do, but she enjoyed the speculation. In her enthusiasm she pulled it out of Rory's grasp, though she didn't open it yet.

 

[Aurora Night]

Rory wriggled her shoulders under the onslaught of Matthew ruffling her hair, and proceeded to send a glare after him as he left the room. Her thoughts soon returned to the letter in her hands, however, and she frowned down at the six letters scribbled out on the envelope. Maybe she could just get an owl to deliver it? (Why hadn't Matthew just done that in the first place and spared her the anguish? Had he already tried that? Had the bird gotten too close and fallen to the ground dead, petrified by Odette's evil glare?). Or maybe Rory could just throw it at her during the next class they shared, which was... Defence. No, throwing something during one of Styx's classes would be sure to have her murdered on the spot, so that couldn't be an option. Rory huffed. Why had Matthew asked her to do something so difficult?

She was so preoccupied with the problem that she didn't immediately look up at hearing a loud whoop behind her, and as such was caught a little off guard at being attack-hugged from behind. "Wha - oh Harley, hey." Rory absent-mindedly reached up a hand to pat at her friend's arm, still frowning at the letter she was holding. If Harley noticed her less than enthusiastic response she didn't show it, and she definitely didn't seem to have noticed the metaphorical bomb Rory was holding, judging by her speech. Looking up, Rory could see that Rose and Hayley were also here, and she was about to stuff the letter away in her pocket to worry about later when Rose pried it from her hands. "Not unless she's the one that manufactured a revenge plan against me," Rory grumbled in response to her friend's last question. "It's just some stupid letter I have to give her from my cousin's weird boyfriend." Truthfully, she didn't know what was going on between Matthew and Leah, but in Rory's mind, they'd kissed and so it was pretty much official now. "Which makes no sense, but he's going to give me a chocolate bar for doing it," she shrugged, before something occurred to her. "Because it's Odette I should get two chocolate bars. I should get a whole truck."

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley hurried to follow Harley, not entirely sure where they were going but keen to hang out with her friends. It had been quite a stroke of luck to meet them - the group really needed to organise getting together more, she mused. It was all very well for the other three, being in the same house, but she was so isolated in Slytherin. She should really follow up on Rose's idea of seeing if it was possible to change house.

Ah, Rory, that's what they had been looking for. Hayley grinned to see Harley jump on her from behind. "Hi, Rory." She peered over Rose's shoulder (well, around it, technically, being short was so annoying) at the letter. "What's your cousin's boyfriend got to do with Odette?" she wondered aloud. "Is he evil too? Surely a relative of yours would have better taste."

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley rested her chin on Rory's shoulder happily as she watched her friends greeting each other, already feeling great about today. She had been yearning for some good friend-time ever since they all got back to school, and today seemed to be shaping up to be just what she needed. Her ears perked up as the conversation turned to Odette and she finally let go of Rory to look over at the letter in Rose's hands curiously. "Woah..." She said, cogs beginning to turn in her head.

"Hold up!" Harley said, quickly plucking the letter from Rose's grasp and waving it between two fingers teasingly. "Now, listen. What I'm about to propose is technically uncool. BUT. When considering my plan, remember that this is Odette we're talking about, and she would do way worse to any of us without a second thought." She said confidently, shifting her weight back and forth, the enticing letter dangling from her pinched fingers as she spoke. "What I'm saying is, we absolutely have to read this letter right now. What if like, his dad is Odette's doctor and she's got secret nits or something embarrassing like that? We have to know." Harley's grin wouldn't have been out of place on the cheshire cat as she looked between her friends excitedly, the morsel of tempting, tempting teasing material hanging between her fingers.

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose frowned. The story was odd. "Okay, how does your cousin's boyfriend know her? Why is he weird?" She wasn't sure which was a more important question. "Why would he give you chocolate? Do you think I could get some?" She was confused by this, and it didn't seem like she was the only one. Surely anyone that was dating Rory's cousin would be nicer than Odette.

Harley took the letter from her though Rose didn't really fight her on it. She listened to her plan but hesitated. "Are you sure, Harley?" She asked glancing between her and Rory. "It might be something serious. What if it IS from a doctor and it's something serious?" She bit her lip, she knew Odette was mean but did they have to be mean as well?

 

[Aurora Night]

Rory shrugged in response to Rose and Hayley's questions. "I don't know how he knows her, that's why it's weird. Wouldn't you want to eat chocolate after putting up with this though?" If it had just been anyone but Odette. She watched the letter make its way from Rose to Harley, and her eyes widened at hearing the latter's plan. She could tell that Harley and Hayley (ugh, those names!) definitely wanted to open the letter, and Rory would be lying if she said she wasn't tempted. Rose, however annoyingly, did have a point though. Screwing her face up as she internally debated with herself, Rory suddenly remembered something. "Well... Matthew said he'd tell me what it was about afterwards anyway, so... I don't really see how reading it now would change anything, right?" She looked back and forth between each of her friends.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley frowned. "Yep, can confirm, that's weird. And I agree you deserve chocolate for dealing with it - why did you agree to deal with it, by the way? Oh, yeah, chocolate, of course." She answered her own question, but more questions were already swarming in her head. What did Rory's cousin's boyfriend (this was going to get confusing if they talked about him much longer, maybe she should ask his name) have to do with Odette? Why had he asked Rory, of all people, to deliver a missive to her?

This buildup of curiosity made Hayley immediately amenable to Harley's proposition. She shared her friend's mischievous smile. "Come on Rose, don't be a spoilsport. This is a fantastic idea. If we can get anything over Odette we should take any opportunity to do so." Hayley never felt entirely comfortable sharing a dormitory with the snake; a little light blackmail material could change the odds in her favour. Not that she'd do anything with it, of course. That would make her as bad as Odette. "And if this guy was going to tell you anyway, it can't be anything too awful, right?"

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley laughed. "Chocolate's a pretty good reason to do just about anything. Even if it involves talking to Odette." She had to admit, she'd probably have a whole conversation with the snake if it meant she got to have some chocolate. Besides, there'd always be time to make fun of Odette after the chocolate was gone. A perfect situation, really.

Rose's disagreement was a bit of a disappointment, but Rory saying the boy was gonna tell her what was in the letter anyway backed up Harley's plans, and Hayley's agreement clinched it. "Yeah, if we're gonna know anyway it can't be that bad." She said reassuringly to Rose. "It's no big deal, and you know she wouldn't blink before doing the same to any of us. We may as well have the upper hand for once." Mind made up, Harley opened the envelope and began reading the letter out to her friends.

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose bit her lip. The others were starting to convince her, even though deep down she couldn't help imagining a different group of girls reading her mail. Still, if that boy was going to tell Rory anyway, there wasn't much harm in it, was there? She also didn't want the others to see her as a spoilsport, especially Hayley who was so cool. Harley said Odette would do the same to them, and Rose felt like that was sort of a weak argument but she already knew she wasn't going to win this. Besides, she was really curious too. "Okay, fine." She said, nodding. She looked over Harley's shoulder as she read out loud, reading along with her.

Odette,

I'm so sorry for everything I'm about to say. I know this is going to be a lot of news coming at you at once, which is why I put in in a letter so you can process it in your own time. You don't know me, my name is Matthew Harper, and I'm your brother. Well, your half-brother.

My Our father had documents in his office that led me to finding you. I had no idea he had a child with someone other than my mother (who he's still married to) and I couldn't believe that I had another sister. I don't have the best relationship with him, but I still find it hard to believe he hid your existence from me, my our sister and my mother.

I came to New Zealand to find you, I know you must have a ton of questions but I can answer them all. Can we meet in the courtyard in a week? It'll give you some time to think about it. If you'd rather do something else, I'll be at the Hufflepuff table during meals, just ask for Matthew. There's people that know me.

I'm so sorry for how jumbled this letter is, it's very hard to decide how much information to put in this. I didn't want to overwhelm you by just dumping it all on you in a conversation, especially since I'm a stranger to you. Just know that you're not alone, I'm here for you whenever you need me. I'm just sorry for not coming sooner.

-

Matthew Harper

Rose covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes wide as she looked between the faces of the other girls. Was this real? How could something this big end up in their hands? She never felt like more of a kid, she just wasn't ready to be responsible for information like this.

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Looking back, Harley didn't know what she had expected the letter to be, but it certainly wasn't anything like that. She had thought this would be funny and embarrassing, but the content of the letter was much more serious and important than she had considered. Once she had started reading it felt like autopilot, and as soon as she was finished, Harley silently folded the letter up and put it back in its envelope. She didn't know anything about Odette's family, but this... was serious, and sounded awful. "Okay." She said slowly, thinking. "I'll be the first to admit that that was going too far, and I'm sorry." Thinking quickly, she only saw one way to handle this that wouldn't make them terrible people. "Let's all... agree that we never heard that, and Rory can deliver the letter like normal, like nothing happened, because nothing did happen. Agreed?"

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley listened in stunned silence as Harley read the letter out. This was big. This was much more significant than she could have expected. She understood now why Rory's cousin's boyfriend (Matthew, the letter said his name was Matthew) had wanted to give Odette a letter, even if giving it to Rory had been a terrible idea. "Holy sh*t," she murmured. Poor boy. He clearly had no idea what a horrible person Odette was. He was trying to be so nice to her. What a terrible shock it would be when they met . . . or perhaps it wouldn't. Odette was nothing if not manipulative, and Hayley was sure that she would pretend to be the most perfect sister Matthew could dream of. "Yeah, that sounds like a good plan, but . . . Maybe we should warn him? Not in a way that suggests we've read the letter or anything, but Odette is dangerous and devious and she could mess him up real bad if he doesn't know."

 

[Aurora Night]

Although Rory had been kind of interested to know what Matthew's letter had said, by the time Harley finished reading it out she was beginning to feel like maybe... maybe she'd made the wrong decision. As bad enough as it was to suddenly find out that Matthew and Odette were actually related - which made so sense to her at all, Matthew was American, he even had that funny accent to prove it - she was also beginning to realise just what the older boy had asked of her. No wonder he had seemed so serious when they had been talking before. Why hadn't they just listened to Rose? Now, not only would Rory have to hand over this letter to Odette and pretend that she had no idea what it was about, but she would also have to pretend like it was all new to her when Matthew eventually 'explained' the situation later as well. She was no good at pretending and they'd both probably be super mad that she looked at it... and let her friends look at it too.

"I think we all need chocolate right now," said Rory, slumping back in her seat. Glancing up at her friends, she was actually beginning to... worry, slightly, about what they would now do with the information. It was with great relief that she heard Harley say they should all do nothing. They could... they could fix this, yes. No damage had been done, really, especially since it was Harley who wanted them to pretend they hadn't seen it. Even Hayley agreed, and they were the two who were the most actively intense in their dislike for Odette. Rory was grateful she had such good friends, or this situation might have turned out very bad indeed. Although... "He'll probably know we read it though, Hayley, cause I never said anything about Odette being terrible to begin with." Rory's face scrunched up. "I mean, maybe it could work but... we shouldn't have read it, and for some dumb reason he actually trusted me to send this so... I don't really want to lie to him about it." Any more than she would have to, at least. She was already feeling bad enough about that.

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose was filled with horror at what they had done, and she was glad to see Harley seemed to agree. It was too important to be in their hands, too big. And most of all: none of their business. Hayley's comment rubbed her the wrong way, and her annoyance at not being listened to earlier as well as being called a spoilsport when what she had suggested had been the right thing made her snap. "No. We should definitely not "warn" him." She said sharply. "We've already meddled into her private family business enough, and you can't turn siblings against each other! That's something special even if it is Odette." Rose was taking charge of the situation. She took the letter from Harley and folded it up the way it had been with Odette's name on top. The round handwriting seemed to taunt her, reminding her that this boy had trusted Rory to deliver it. She swallowed and held it out to her redheaded friend. "Okay, you are going to deliver this as planned. Someone should go with you, but not all of us." She said firmly. "Odette could feel ambushed, and you should make sure to leave as soon as she gets it so she doesn't read it in front of you." She crossed her arms after Rory took the note. "It might be best if Hayley stays out of it." She said with a glance at their Slytherin friend. She wasn't angry with the girl, but had found her comments to be in poor taste. This went so much deeper than a rivalry between them and Odette. She could only imagine how it would feel it if was the other way around. "Since they share a dorm, it might feel weird." She added as a reason, though it wasn't really that convincing, she knew.