Red and Blue Fire

[Phoebe Holland]

Out of Character:

Topic has been edited and is now set in y30

The first semester of Phoebe's last year had ended with a bang. Or rather, with the sizzle of acid clouds burning her skin. It hadn't been what she had been planning for, obviously, but one setback should never stop someone from continuing their plans. She knew that she couldn't attempt the same thing again in her third year. Convincing Veronica to brew another potion with her was impossible now, but surely there were other things the two of them could do now that her friend was feeling better.

She was trying to find her friend while reading through her notes, which meant that she was navigating the corridors with her nose buried in a notebook she used to write her ideas down. The problem was that whenever she had an idea, Phoebe pretty much assumed she would remember it. Which meant she didn't often bother to write down more than a few key-words. Unfortunately, those random words made a lot less sense after months or even years had passed. It was frustrating, she needed to do something. Something successful to make up for the failure of their potion brewing. Phoebe hated looking stupid, and in the case of the potion last year she hadn't just looked it. She had actually done something like a failure. So she needed to do something genius to balance it out this year.

All in all, she had done a good job weaving through the others in the corridors while reading. But it was bound to go wrong at some point. Trying to puzzle out whether the word she had written down was 'worm' or 'worn', she was squinting at the page. Neither word made much sence, and she was just considering the possiblity that the 'w' was actually a hastily scrawled 'm', when she ran headfirst into someone else. She cursed and dropped her notebook, rubbing her forehead after the collision. Thankfully she hadn't been walking very fast, but it stll didn't feel very nice. She was ready to apologize to whoever it was, when she finally realized the person she had bumped into was Rory. The redheaded girl that Rose was following around all the time. Phoebe wasn't stupid, she knew her annoyance with Rose's friends wasn't rational or healthy, but couldn't help it. Coupled with the general annoyance she was feeling right now all Phoebe could really do in this situation was sneer. "Oh. It's you." She said, not bothering to hide the plain dislike in her voice. She glanced at the notebook on the floor. "At least I had an excuse not to see where I was going. You could have seen me coming and avoided me. You know."

 

[Aurora Night]

Rory had been having a great day so far. She had managed to inhale a whole plate of breakfast sausages this morning, nab the best sofa in the common room to lounge about in, had successfully managed to levitate a stack of her textbooks two feet from their initial position on the coffee table, and then had chucked all of her study materials back onto her bed from the entrance to the dorm when she thought she would go pay Sophia a visit instead of doing her homework. It had all been perfect, and it meant that Rory was practically bouncing along the corridors as she travelled from her own common room to the Hufflepuff variation. Rory had never had any friends from Hufflepuff, so she'd never known where the house entrance even was before Sophia had been sorted there. It was like a whole new area of the school had been opened up for her, and Rory almost wished she would be able to convince Sophia to smuggle her in for a look. Her sister was a goody two shoes, though, and so Rory knew it would never happen. Not unless she managed to bolt past her sister at the last minute...

Deep in thought, Rory didn't realise she had run straight into someone until she suddenly felt the heavy impact of another body colliding with her own. A rather graceless 'oof' escaped her lips, and she automatically reached out her hands to steady the person in front of her. She could see who it was now - it was Phoebe, one of Rose's train of sisters. Rory's mouth stretched into a grin of delight. This was the grumpy nerd one who had gotten further towards blowing up a cauldron than Rory ever had - it made her kind of jealous. "Yup, it's me!" she replied to the other girl with delight, already planning to ask the younger girl a dozen questions about what nerdy trouble she was going to get up to next. Letting go of Phoebe's shoulders, she bent down to pick up the notebook the girl had dropped and held it out for the other girl to take. "Yeah, I suppose, but I didn't so - sorry." Rory grinned, expecting the collision to be no big deal - they knew each other after all, that just made it something to laugh about. "So, are you going to try any more black market potion making this year? Or have you got your sights set on something bigger? Actually blow something up this time?" It was mostly a joke, but Rory wouldn't pass up the chance to pick the other girl's brain for fun things to do - it turned out there was a little bit of a rule breaking streak in Phoebe, the same as there was in Rose, which kind of made the younger girl more likeable.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

Phoebe eyed the redheaded girl in front of her, trying to analyse her response. She seemed to catch the annoyance in Phoebe's tone, which only managed to annoy her more. Could she not read social cues and see Phoebe wasn't waiting to be friends with her? "Watch out next time." She snapped. "Some people have important things to do." She picked up her notebook from the floor and pointedly dusted it off. Rory's next comment made her flush with embarrassment, as she hated the idea of rose and her friends laughing at her failure with the potion. "I don't need your commentary. You don't even know what happened." She snapped at the girl. "Even a year behind, I'm sure I can brew a better potion than you can. And the next time I blow something up I might have to make sure you're nearby." She spat, her temper getting the better of her. "I don't know why Rose has made such a stupid friend like you, but I'm not in the mood." She said pointedly. It wasn't all that nice of her, she knew, but she had an irrational dislike for any of Rose's friends. Especially when they were making fun of her.

 

[Aurora Night]

Rory was still grinning as Phoebe made her first little response. "Ooooh," she intoned in a slightly mocking manner at the younger girl's claim of important things to do. It amused Rory that she was always trying to act like she was above having fun, or even just laughing once in a while - especially with Rose for a sister. She'd been like this ever since Rory had first seen her at that sleepover party years ago, and she had definitely never seen the side of Phoebe that Rose seemed so enamoured with. That particular point was brought home the longer the other girl kept talking. Most of it bounced off Rory - she knew she wasn't too great at potions, the wonder-child was probably right about that one - but she did feel her forehead crease in annoyance as soon as Rose was mentioned. "What, so you're calling your own sister stupid because she friends with someone like me? Maybe she just doesn't like spending time with bratty little sisters who think they're better than everyone else." She probably shouldn't be picking a fight with Phoebe like this, seeing as she was Rose's sister... but it was because of exactly that that Rory was now getting kind of mad. Rose thought Phoebe was great, but if the younger girl was willing to treat her friend so derisively, especially when Rose loved her so much... well. Rory just couldn't help herself.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

Phoebe scoffed as Rory mocked her claim of having important things to do. Of course the older girl didn't know how to take things seriously, and that was exactly what Phoebe didn't like about her. Rory was annoying her greatly, as she was loud and obnoxious. Part of Phoebe knew that her dislike of Rose's friends was a bit irrational, as she felt like they had taken her sister away from her when it wasn't anybody's fault that Rose just happened to be born in August, causing her to go to Hogwarts a year earlier. And Rose made friends easily, she always had. "I don't know why anyone bothers speaking with you if you're this bad at hearing what's being said." She said haughtily. "I never called Rose stupid, she isn't. I called you stupid. She's just nice, sometimes too nice. If she had the chance, she would take in all sorts of stray animals too." She said, giving her a look that clearly indicated that stray animals would be preferable. "So are you done standing in my way and talking about my sister like you actually know her better than me?" She asked, rolling her eyes.

 

[Aurora Night]

Listening to the younger girl speak, Rory was struggling to find anything about Phoebe that Rose could possibly like about her. "Calling me stupid is calling Rose stupid, dummy." she growled, although she certainly hadn't meant to show that she was getting that worked up about it. "We chose to be friends with each other, you're just stuck together because you're sisters." She felt bad to think it, but Rory knew without a doubt that she would probably have never bothered even talking to Sophia if they hadn't been born to the same parents and had to share a bedroom wall for forever. Phoebe definitely seemed like the worst sister to have though. "No actually," she retorted, placing her hands on her hips. "Tell me, who's spent more time with Rose over the last few years? Not you." Rory snorted derisively. "Pretty sure that even once you got here you were avoiding her all the time. Anyone could tell it was making her sad." Not that Rose had ever broken down in tears about it, or anything, but Rory hoped it would at least make Phoebe feel bad. As well as tear down the little superiority act the other girl seemed so keen on throwing, which was really starting to bug her.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

Phoebe frowned and stepped closer to the older girl, annoyed and angered by her words. "Don't call me dumb. I'm smarter than you in every way." She snapped, glaring at her. "And stop putting words in my mouth, Rose isn't stupid but you clearly are. As you can't even understand what I'm saying to you." She scoffed at the idea that a chosen friendship was stronger than being sisters, rolling her eyes. "Right, and when you guys graduate you'll drift apart while she'll always be my sister. And what does more time really mean anyway?" She challenged, looking Rory in the eye. "You sleep in the same room as her and you share classes, do you want a medal now?" Her words about Rose being sad Phoebe had avoided her stung a little, but she didn't show it. She raised an eyebrow. "We don't need to spend every moment together to be close. Maybe that's something you could learn from." She said dryly. "Or is it that you'll forget what your friends look like unless you're glued to them? Maybe that's what made Rose sad." A small laugh escaped her and she shook her head with an amused smile. "I don't think I need to waste more time talking to you, you just keep proving my point."