Unfriendly Warning, part II

[Odette Madison]

Odette smoothed down the parchment as she put up the last of her flyers on the castle wall. It looked good, so good. No one would be able to miss it. Everyone would know just how much of a little criminal the horrible Harley Tsuji was, and everyone would be talking about her. Even the older students would know her name, and what she was associated with. It didn't matter that it wasn't entirely true. Or even mostly untrue. Everyone would know the rumor and if she knew people, she knew they didn't care that much about the actual truth.

She smiled in satisfaction as she admired her handiwork. It had been a lot of work and she had been glad to have Margo's help. The other girl had been hesitant, but her story about how much of a horrible bully Harley had been to her had convinced her quickly enough. It helped that Odette had implied Margo would definitely be a target if they didn't knock the Gryffindor down a peg quickly.

She sighed and looked down at the few flyers she was still holding. Maybe she should just throw these away, keeping them would be stupid. The lake may be a good place for them.

[x]

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Sketchbook under her arm, Harley was looking forward to some time away from classes at last. She was planning to head down to the lake to draw, and decided to take a detour into enemy territory to see if Hayley wanted to join her again. It was nice to have a drawing buddy, and Hayley had been fun to talk to. Harley was so distracted by thoughts of a nice, pleasant day outside that she didn't even notice the flyers lining the walls until she was all the way down to the dungeon.

Harley didn't know whether to bother looking, assuming they were just a useless announcement from the school. There were so many though, it had to be important, and eventually Harley actually turned her attention to one, freezing when she saw her own face, with WARNING written in big red letters. Harley felt like her heart stopped as she read the horrible, hateful lies that were plastered all over the school, accusing her of crimes she had never committed in front of everyone. She could feel all her friends falling away like nothing, could see the teachers who already didn't like her because of much more minor incidents refusing to believe her and labelling her a criminal. Her whole life was over, she'd never be able to feel safe at this school again.

And Harley knew exactly who was to blame. Tears of rage and frustration and humiliation welling in her eyes, Harley tore the hateful poster off the wall and stormed down the corridor, unsurprised when she found Odette at the heart of this all, flyers in hand. At least she wouldn't be able to play innocent and pretend it wasn't her, but Harley knew the cost to her reputation would be beyond recovery.

"YOU LIAR!" Harley screamed, charging towards Odette, a few angry tears escaping her eyes. "YOU STUCK UP, ARROGANT, MANIPULATIVE LITTLE LIAR! YOU'RE CALLING ME A BULLY?! THIS IS THE MEANEST THING ANYONE'S EVER DONE, EVER! I NEVER STOLE ANYTHING, I NEVER HURT ANYONE'S PETS, I NEVER BULLIED ANYONE, ALL I'VE EVER DONE IS TELL PEOPLE YOU'RE HORRIBLE, AND YOU JUST KEEP DOING HORRIBLE THINGS!" Harley's throat was already rough from screaming, heart racing and tears running down her cheeks. "I HATE YOU!"

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette's satisfied, confident smile fell away as she heard a familiar voice screaming at her in anger. This had to be some of the worst possible luck, of all people in the school to catch her with these, it had to be Harley herself? The other girl looked really upset, tears streaming down her face. It made Odette pause for just a second, she hadn't expected that outcome. Nothing she had ever done or said had ever rattled Harley, and now she finally seemed to have done it.

This should feel better than it does. A small part of her whispered.

But if there was one thing Odette could do, it was act. So instead of showing her disquiet and small flicker of what could only be guilt, she put on her most confident, cocky smile. She tossed her hair back, unfazed even as the other girl screamed at her in anger. Her face was a mask and she didn't need to show how she really felt. All she needed Harley to know who was boss. Then she could leave her alone. That's all this was, a lesson.

"The feeling is mutual." She said coolly when Harley was done, though she herself heard just the slightest waver in her voice. She hoped Harley didn't. "I told you I would get you back for what you wrote about me. You don't mess with me, Harley, I hope you learned that now." Her eyes narrowed at the other girl. "And you can't prove it was me. Who will believe a word out of your mouth after this?" She smiled sweetly. "Just admit defeat."

 

[Monty Pendleton]

It was no secret that the ingredients of the Wolfsbane potion were costly; many of those werewolves not fortunate enough to be of school age were often forced to go without, simply because their circumstance meant they couldn't afford it. It was, therefore, quite a miracle that Professor King was able to supply Monty with sufficient aconite to brew potions not for one student werewolf, but two or three. It was also quite horrifying when Monty made some terrible brewing mistake that rendered the potion completely ineffective, which, whilst fortunately an uncommon occurrence, did tend to happen when sudden screams from outside in the corridor caused his hand to jump.

He waved his wand at the cauldron, robes flurrying at his ankles as he sprinted out of his office, through his classroom, and into the sconce-lit dungeon passage. The screaming hadn't stopped, and now he could distinguish from the sonorous echoes particular words - words that alarmed him terribly. His heart doing hurdles, he swept in the direction of the voices, stopping only when a flyer pinned to the wall caught his eye. A little way further down there was another, and another; how had he missed them before? He swanned over the text, a frown burying itself in his forehead. This was vile, appalling. Even were it true, the professor's blood would have boiled. He tore the despicable thing from the wall and screwed it up as he continued onward, knowing full well the damage had already been done. He rounded the corner, and came to an abrupt halt. Harley, the girl slandered on the flyer, was in absolute tears, whilst stood coolly before her, several flyers still in hand, was Odette Harper. It did not take a genius to fit the pieces together.

"You. Just what do you suppose you're playing at?" he said to the latter, holding up the fist with the crumpled flyer inside it. "Do you think this is funny? Victimising your classmates by spreading vicious lies? It was you, I presume? Get out, NOW. And go straight to Professor Styx's office. I'll be right behind you." Monty turned to the Gryffindor, his face losing a fraction of its anger, and more gently he said, "Harley, try not to worry, we'll sort this out. Can you find Professor Kingsley and tell her what's happened? I'll be there as soon as I can." It was impossible to tell how many of these flyers had been put up, but Monty had a bad feeling the dungeons hadn't been Odette's first stop.

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Of course Odette wasn't phased. Of course she didn't even care what she had just done to Harley. Ruining someone's whole life was just a joke to Odette, just a way to pass the time. She had bullied kids at their old school in similar ways, Harley had seen it, but it had never been on this scale before, and nothing she had done had ever hit Harley as hard as this. The fliers were going to ruin everything. A horrifying part of Harley couldn't help but wonder if she would be kicked out of school. Surely teachers wouldn't let someone they thought was a thief stay.

Before Harley could respond to Odette's smarmy nonsense, another voice distracted Harley, and she tensed up. A teacher. This was it. She was gonna be expelled, go to jail, be disowned by her family... it was all over. Harley turned around, flinching at the sight of the flyer clutched in his hand, but... when she looked, and as he continued, she could tell the teacher wasn't talking to her. He was talking to Odette, telling her off for the flyers. Harley couldn't remember a teacher ever seeing through Odette before, it didn't feel like it was really happening. She watched the teacher telling Odette off in awe, then jumped, startled, when he turned to her with a softer tone. Harley had been blamed on sight by teachers so many times (admittedly usually for things she was doing herself) that she didn't know quite how to handle a teacher taking her side. Harley nodded vaguely and took a step back but didn't move properly... she doubted the head of house would be quite so understanding, and she wanted to make sure that Odette getting punished was really what was happening.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley was leaving the Slytherin common room on her way to class when she discovered the flyers. She read the first one she came to with an increasing feeling of unease. Though they hadn't interacted often, she already thought of Harley as a good friend, and was alarmed to hear such allegations made against her. Was it true? Had she misjudged the Gryffindor? Harley had seemed angry, but who couldn't be in an environment where prejudice was so commonplace? Hayley couldn't really believe that she would do such horrible things as the flyer suggested. And even if she had, it seemed unnecessarily cruel to post something like this, where the whole school could see. Surely if a real theft had been committed, the victim would go to the teachers, not do something like this. No, this was deliberate slander, and based on what Harley had said, Hayley had a feeling she knew the culprit.

Her suspicion was confirmed when she rounded a corner and saw Odette Harper storming away from Harley and a teacher Hayley didn't know. Yes, this had seemed like something Odette might do. Hayley was relieved that a teacher seemed to have caught her at it . . . Of course, even so, the damage had been done. At least none of the authorities would believe Harley was to blame. As Hayley came nearer, she noticed that her friend was crying. Her anger grew. How dare Odette do this? Ignoring the professor, Hayley ran to Harley and hugged her impulsively. "Are you all right?"

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette only had a few moments to enjoy her victory, as hollow as her enjoyment ended up being. Before either she or Harley could say anything more, they were interrupted by a teacher. Odette felt her heart sink, she hadn't had time to get rid of the evidence or anything! And he looked angry, very angry.

Before she could say anything to defend herself, he was yelling at her, accusing her of spreading lies. She had thought of the possibility that she may be caught, but she hadn't expected the professor to do so to be this angry. It wasn't like she was hurting Harley, she was just giving the school a fair warning. As far as this professor knew, it might be true! How could he decide it was all a lie without even knowing her or Harley? "I'm not spreading lies, sir." Odette said, making her eyes big and wishing she knew how to cry on command. "It's really true, and I'm just trying to warn everyone before she tricks them!" She didn't want to go to Professor Styx's office, he was her head of house and he was all sorts of scary. She swallowed, wondering if she was going to get into tons of trouble for this. They wouldn't... kick her out, right?

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Monty was glad for the girl who appeared suddenly and rushed to Harley's side; he wasn't completely convinced the Gryffindor would follow his instruction, and whilst he couldn't blame her, he didn't feel leaving her alone was particularly sensible, either. But now she had support, and Professor Pendleton could turn his attention back to real problem. He listened to Odette claim the rumours were true, his stance unwavering. "I couldn't care less if it were," he said. "We do not tolerate bullying in this school. How would you feel if it were your face on these flyers, hm? Now come on, before I start deducting house points for your insolence." Monty started off in the direction of Professor Styx's office, expecting Odette to follow.

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette now recognized the girl with Harley, she was in her house and in her dorm. Just great, now there was someone on Harley's side in Odette's own bedroom and she knew about all this too. This just couldn't get any worse.

She sighed and looked down at the professor's words. It wouldn't do her any good to defend herself more, so instead she followed him dutifully, glancing back at Harley once.

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley didn't even notice Hayley approaching until the girl was hugging her, the sudden feeling of arms around her making Harley tense up out of fear. Oh god. Hayley had seen one of the notes. People knew, people were already seeing them, it was too late... whatever happened, whatever this teacher did, Harley's reputation was still irreversibly ruined. Struggling out of Hayley's arms, Harley glared at Odette, still spitting lies, trying to sell the flyers as truth. "They ARE lies!" Harley yelled, a fresh rush of tears making their embarrassing way down her face. "You're a HORRIBLE LIAR and you RUINED MY LIFE!"

With her final shriek, Harley couldn't stand any of this. She didn't care if the teacher believed her or not, she didn't care if Hayley believed her or not, they all knew, people all over the school knew, and it was too late to change any of this. Harley needed to escape, she needed to hide. She turned and ran away, bolting up the stairs and out of the stupid horrible dungeons, head down to hide her face, and to keep from seeing the sea of posters she knew were littering the whole school with their ugliness. She ran and ran until she could hide, throwing herself under the blankets when she finally made it up to her room, where she was free to curl up safe and hidden, and cry her weary eyes out.