When the Gossip Hits the Fan

[Katalina Harker]

After exiting the Great Hall Kat didn't know where to go. Her wand was still clenched tightly in her right hand and all she wanted to do was desperately curse something. She was beyond pissed. Who in the ruddy name of Merlin thought that they had the right to spread everyone's business to the entire school? And what was worse for her was the the same person stooped so low as to dredge up the one event in the past that she could have kept dead and buried forever.

Not really in the mood for serving a number of detentions for hexing any unsuspecting first years that happened to pass by, Kat decided to head down to the dungeons to the dueling chamber. At least there she could curse the crap out of the practice dummies and not get into too much trouble for it. She was still in her pyjamas and the thought had crossed her mind to go up and change, but her head was reeling way too much at the moment to even consider that as an option. She had to let off some steam and she had to do it fast before she truly exploded.

Finally she reached the giant room, a little breathless from her hurried pace. Gotta lay off the pudding Kat, you're out of shape she thought as she slowly walked in and closed the door behind her. She walked to the center of the room raised her wand and shouted, "REDUCTO!" One of the test dummies blasted into a mere pile of rubbish. She quickly peeled off her hoodie sweatshirt and stood there in her white tank top and jammy pants, wand still clenched tightly.

"EVERTE STATUM!" A dummie was sent flying across the room and busted up against the wall. Kat cast Reducto three more times on three practice dummies, causing them all to explode on contact a few stray pieces of wood ricocheting and causing little knicks on her forearms and a nice little gash across her left cheek, the tears she was spilling now causing the open wound to burn, but she merely wiped her face and kept right on cursing and jinxing the poor defenseless wooden targets.

After about fifteen minutes, Kat was exhausted. She sat on the floor still crying, sweating profusely and her damp hair hanging in a matted curly mess around her face. Who could write something so hurtful? Why would they do something like that? she thought as she pulled her knees up to her chest and sobbed openly. What was so bad was that reading the article had actually made her feel bad for what had happened to Chace. Why should she feel so sorry for him? He'd deserved it all...right?

 

[Estrella Drage]

Estrella had waited for the fire she had started at the Ravenclaw table to die out before she had left the Great Hall. Her displeasure was written all over her strained features. She had broken up with Jaken to think about some things, and hadn't really told anyone. Now, some prig had decided to let the whole school know. It would be a lie to say that Estrella didn't want to hurt whoever had published the complete trash. She was sure that the article about herself and Jaken and the rest of them were just a bunch of fabrications. Honestly, the Quibbler was more credible than the new school magazine.

Particularly incensed, Estrella decided to turn to the Dungeons. She had managed to catch two Slytherins dueling last time- maybe today she would get lucky again? Merlin knew that she was in the mood to dish out some nasty detentions. Unfortunately the halls were devoid of any troublemakers. Since there wasn't a single soul she could unleash her rage on, she might as well blow off some steam in the dueling chamber. A dummy would work nicely as a substitute. She might even have the opportunity to rip apart an entire army of dummies today.

The Head Girl wasn't expecting anyone to be in the Dueling Chamber at this time of day. She stopped in her tracks as she realized that wasn't in the place alone. Katalina Vanderhol had plopped herself on the chamber floor, and was continuing to bawl her eyes out. Estrella wondered if the 'Durmstrang boys' title that she had seen had anything to do with Kat. From how vicious the article about herself and Jaken had seemed, she wouldn't be surprised. There were probably going to be a lot of frustrated people in the halls of Hogwarts New Zealand as long as that filthy magazine was in their near reach.

Estrella's own anger dissipated as she stepped carefully over to Kat, and took a seat on the floor across from her. She folded her legs 'indian' style and looked at the girl. "If you want to vent, I'm all ears," was all that she said. Kat obviously needed someone to support her right now, and since Estrella was in her immediate vicinity she felt that it was the right thing to do.

 

[Katalina Harker]

Kat nearly jumped out of her skin when she realized that someone else was in with her in the dueling chamber. When she looked up and saw that it was Estrella she swallowed back the lump that had formed in her throat and then looked around at the mess she'd made. Still breathing heavily and now feeling very tired and worn out she looked at the Head Girl and replied in a hushed tone, "I could say the same for you." What had been printed about Jaken and Estrella was just as hurtful if not more so than what had been said about herself. She shook her head and wiped her face, cringing slightly as her hand ran over the gash on her cheek. "Wh...who could do something so horrible? Why would anyone be so deliberately hurtful? None of this makes any sense. I can't think of any common enemies that we share Estrella so who on earth could target the two of us?" So many questions that she wanted answered and one way or another she'd have them answered.

 

[Estrella Drage]

Estrella's lips twisted into a malicious smirk. "I want to bash someone's head to a bloody pulp more than anything," she admitted, "Too bad whoever wrote that rag didn't have the cojones to add their name." The amusement slipped like melted butter from her face, leaving behind a serious mask. In her immediate rage she had completely neglected to think about who. Kat was right. She couldn't think of anyone who would do something so completely low. Any person who even had the idea of publishing such a thing had to be as filthy as gum trodden under a muddy shoe.

"I honestly don't know. Whoever they are, they know how to exaggerate. I think the Quibbler deserves an award of credibility after that piece of sh1t." She hadn't read the article on Kat but she was sure that it was equally as horrible as the one she had been featured in, if not worse. Surprisingly, Estrella had kept a cool head about it- at least in front of everyone else.

 

[Katalina Harker]

Kat snorted when the older girl said something about bashing in some heads. Maybe those Ravenclaws are rougher than they let on to be she thought with a smirk forming on her tear streaked face. Maybe when the time came, Estrella and Kat could exact some kind of revenge on whoever it was who had started the piece of crap that was known as the 'Gossip Magazine'. It wasn't even all that snappy a title when you really thought about it.

"At least the Quibbler has some interesting and even entertaining reads at times. This was just malicious...though..." Kat trailed off. She wasn't sure how much of the article about Jaken and Estrella was true, but for the most part, with the exception of a few twisted details, every shred of the one about herself was fact which made Kat's stomach turn slightly. Was she really as cold-hearted as it had perceived her? Surely she wasn't, but now she had some serious lingering doubts.

Looking at the Head Girl, Kat sighed heavily and asked, "How much of yours was factual information?"

 

[Estrella Drage]

Estrella raked her fingers through her hair as Kat spoke. She didn't need that horrendous magazine printing anything else about her- even if it was just her appearance. The Ravenclaw was going to keep her eyes peeled now. The person who had written that magazine could be anyone- though she couldn't imagine anyone she was close to would do such a thing. Would they? Her stomach churning, she decided to try and keep her mind off of that subject for the moment.

"Yeah- to be honest I didn't get past the first article," the girl replied, "So I don't know what else was written. My copy of the magazine is now in its rightful state- a pile of ash." She would dearly have liked to set everyone else's copy on fire, but then she would most certainly be under the mercy of the quill.

Estrella tugged at her sleeves uncomfortably as Kat asked her what was true. That was the problem- a lot of it was fact, if exaggerated. Who in the world could know this much? A chill coursed through Estrella as she realized that the school was probably leaking with little spies. Birdies were telling stories; birdies that seemed to want to have their beaks snapped off.

"To be honest, a lot of it," she finally murmured. After a few moments of silence she added, "He didn't ask me to marry him. That never even came up. And I honestly don't know what I would have done if he had." She glared at the dummies that Kat had mutilated as if they were spying on herself and Kat. Stinging more than her suspiciousness was now her uncertainty.

"I'd ask if yours was true, but like I said, I never read it. I don't want to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing me freak out."

 

[Katalina Harker]

Kat buried her face in her arms and tried taking a few deep breaths in and out through her nose. She felt sick, angry, and hurt all at the same time. The person who had written that obscenity had better pray to Merlin that she never found out it was them because she had a good notion to ring their scrawny little neck.

"I ripped mine apart...though I think some of these mannequins had it worse than the magazine did," she said with a smirk as she looked around at the mess she'd made. She'd clean it up eventually, but didn't much feel like it as she was drained of energy. Kat flinched slightly when Estrella said that the majority of her's was true, but somewhere deep down she felt a slight twinge of relief as well...knowing that her story wasn't the only one that was factual.

"Too late for me. I freaked out in front of the entire bloody student body I think," she thought for a moment and then continued, "Bad part is that mine was true...well for the most part, some parts of it were twisted around. The thing is that now people are probably going to think I'm some sort of cold-hearted trollop when that's not even the case at all." Kat repeated what the article had said to the Head Girl, thinking the whole time about how people were going to react to her now. She was hoping that her friends wouldn't think poorly of her, though she knew the ones who knew the whole story would be behind her one hundred percent.

 

[Estrella Drage]

Estrella couldn't help a giggle as Kat motioned to the dummies about her. "Well, better them than one of the students, right?" In a way, it was amusing to see so many dummies splayed all over the floor and torn apart. "And seeing as you got some practice with spells, I'd say you got to kill two birds with one stone!" Seeing how upset Kat was made Estrella want to cheer her up in some way, putting aside the fact that she had never been the nurturing type.

Listening intently to what Kat had to say, her eyes narrowing. "Well, I don't think any less of you for it. It sounds like that article made you out to be- well, I don't think it's true." She gave the Gryffindor an encouraging smile. Kat had never come off as some sort of ho, to put it in bad terms. "I think anyone with their head screwed on right is going to dismiss that magazine as the pile of sh1t it really is." Despite her reassurances the magazine still nibbled at her insides, as if she had crunched it up and ate it instead of set it on fire. She was dreading the next issue already.

 

[Katalina Harker]

Kat cracked a weak smile and said, "Honestly I think the students were lucky because if one of them had crossed me the wrong way I'd probably have ended up stunning them and then stringing them up by their toenails." The Head Girl did have a good point though...at least she got to blow off some steam and practice a few spells in the process. At least that might help in the slightest for OWLs.

She flinched when Estrella nearly called her...well whatever it was she had been going to say. Nodding slightly, she wondered if anyone in the castle would truly dismiss that gossip column. Surely there were going to be people who would be asking questions about what of it was true and what wasn't. Kat tried to think about how Estrella would handle the annoying rounds of questions that were sure to fly her way about the so-called 'engagement' and in turn she tried to prepare herself for any questions that were to fly her way. She shuddered at the thought of having to explain herself to anyone, but if it came down to it then she would.

With a passing look around the room, Kat slowly stood up. Now that she'd rested for a bit the dungeon air was getting quite chilly. She pulled her hoodie back on over her pyjamas and wrapped her arms around her midsection. "Guess I better get most of this cleaned up and fix what I'm able to salvage. This should be interesting." Kat walked over to the few dummies that had been shattered against the wall and cast 'Reparo' on them, fixing every one back to it's original state. She smiled a slight bit as she fixed a few others until eventually the room was back the way she'd found it.

Sighing heavily and feeling very tired she looked at the older Ravenclaw girl. "I should probably head up and shower and change for class." Ah hell, who am I kidding...I'm not going to any classes today she thought with a scowl etched upon her face. "I'm sure that the professors know about this by now. Do you think they are going to want to talk to us?" Kat really hoped not. It was bad enough that they would be getting odd looks and questions from their friends and peers, but to have it from the professors too would be just plain humiliating.