i trust you solo

Keen Eye / Lovely Creature / Healing Sage / Calming Presence / Animagus / Nonverbal Magic / Apparition
✧interacting with dnpcs / Apr 9th, 2025 ✧
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"I wish we could just cast spells and we didn't have to study them."

Rose sighed, leaning back in her chair. The two spoke in quiet murmurs to each other, barely disturbing the quiet of the library. "Me, too."

Katerina looked up at her, a twinkle of laughter in her eye. "You liar," she teased. "You love studying."

Rose smiled, slightly bashful. "Yeah, I do," she admitted. "It's a lot less pressure to just write down what you know in an exam than actually perform it."

Katerina shrugged. "I'd rather just do it. I'm good at the spells. I don't care about etymology or whatever."

"I get that. It would be a whole lot easier if we didn't have to memorize all this stuff. And it is inconvenient that we still have to do homework when all the schools are here for the ball."

Katerina Kerr had long, dark brown hair, almost black. Naturally, it was straight, but she usually curled it herself, liking the volume that the faux blowout from heatless curls provided. Rose always wondered if it was uncomfortable sleeping like that, but Katerina said it was worth it. Her skin was light and smooth, as if she didn't even know was acne was, and her eyes were almond-shaped and blue.

The two girls were studying in the library, but every once in a while Katerina would bring something up, clearly preferring to talk with her friend rather than read the textbook in front of her.

"Excuse me?"

Rose and Katerina were pulled out of their conversation by a familiar face. The Durmstrang boy she had run into a couple of days ago. His cheeks flushed as their eyes fixed on him. "Um... I'm sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to apologize for how blunt I was the other day," he said in Rose's direction. The two girls were quiet, Katerina oblivious to what he was talking about and Rose surprised he was talking to her in her human form. "I was just caught off guard by your friendliness, that was all. And I'm sorry."

Rose shook her head. "Please, don't worry about it. I'm sorry if I startled you."

He smiled. "No need to apologize. Just... wanted to say that. Have a good day."

And before she could say anything else, he was off. "Oh, Merlin," Rose murmured, watching him leave the library.

"What?"

Rose turned her gaze back to her friend. "I kind of... lied to him."

Katerina sighed. "You're going to have to give me more than that, Rose."

"Well, I didn't really. After I tried to talk to him and he ran away-"

"He ran?"

"Well, he didn't run," Rose laughed. "But he did make some kind of excuse and walk away fast. Anyway- I shifted and went after him as a cat and he talked to me, not knowing that I was... me."

Katerina furrowed her brow at Rose. "And that's bad because...?"

"He didn't know it was me," she said again, her friend clearly not grasping her moral dilemma. "It was dishonest and-"

"Oh, please. He didn't tell you grand secrets, did he?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Then it's fine. Don't worry about it."

Rose shut her mouth, not wanting to argue any more with Katerina. She looked down at the textbook again. "Look," Katerina said. "If you really feel bad about it, just tell him. I'm sure he'll understand, and you'll feel better."

The redhead paused. "Maybe I will."

Katerina smirked, putting her chin in her hands. "He's cute," she said after a moment.

Rose tried to glare up at her, but couldn't help but smile a little. "He is."

"Did I detect an accent?"

"It sounds German to me," Rose said, looking over the spell page again.

Katerina's eyebrows furrowed, and she crossed her arms. "Where do German students even go? I guess Durmstrang would be closest?"

"That's what I thought, too."

"Maybe you should ask him when you tell him about your disgusting dishonest actions," Katerina suggested, a glint in her blue eyes.

"You're terrible," Rose said, rolling her eyes. "Weren't you a transfer student?"

Katerina's eyebrows raised. "I was. I'm surprised you remember that."

Rose looked up at her, confused. "Of course I remember. It's how we met." Rose remembered the look on Katerina's face all those years ago on the first day, overwhelmed completely at this new school. When told to pick partners for a project, Rose had gone up to her. She remembered being surprised at her British accent, because someone had told her she was a transfer student. Rose's accent from growing up with her American mum had faded over the time she'd spent at Hogwarts, but she was never trying to hide it like Katerina was, so desperate to fit in. They'd both grown a lot in the years since then, but Rose remembered it like it was yesterday, and didn't know why Katerina would think she'd forget. "I helped you in potions class."

"But I don't remember telling you that."

"You didn't have to, Katerina. Kids talk. I don't think I ever asked you why, though."

"Um..." Katerina looked to the side, too quickly. Rose thought about retracting her statement, saying that they didn't have to talk about it, but Katerina spoke again after a short pause. "I don't usually talk about it. My mom died a few years ago, and ever since then, my dad has been... crazy. I moved out with him to live with my aunt here in the UK. My dad has a summer home here, and one day, I just... left. I asked my aunt not to tell him, but it's been... good to have him out of my life."

"So he doesn't... know where you are?" Rose asked, surprised.

Katerina shrugged, but her actions and words had become slightly robotic. Almost practiced. Like there was emotion behind all this she was refusing to tell Rose. "I guess not. He knows that I ran away, but I doubt he's looking for me. My father and I were never really close."

Rose shook her head. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

"No, it's okay," Katerina said, looking back to her friend from the window. "I trust you."

The redhead smiled, softly. "Thanks."

The two girls turned back to their textbooks, and the library was quiet once more.