What Really Happened? PV Katrina Walker Fin

Today had started out like any other. Boomerang woke her up with a loud meow before trotting off to cause mischief somewhere else. Katrina pulled on her robes and waited around the Common Room for breakfast to come around. She drew for a bit, ending up with something that looked like a dragon. Her sleep was restless and she had woken up a few times with nightmares. Nothing out of the ordinary, but it was enough to start the day with Katrina in a foul mood.

But then something caught her attention, people were talking about a fight? Beckett had gone to the Hospital Wing for something. Hearing Beckett have a taste of her own medicine had Katrina listening intently to what a couple Gryffindors were gossiping about. "It was Bridget,"

Mrs. Snob, more commonly known as Anastasia Beckett, was the only person Katrina hated. It had all started a month ago when Katrina had come into the Study Rooms after struggling to find somewhere to be alone. Mrs. Snob had been there and had been a heartless monster, threatening to tear up the letter that was Katrina's last connection to her parents. It was month later, Katrina had finally the opportunity to get back at Beckett. It was April Fools, an American holiday that her family used to partake in. Katrin had planned to cast the dancing spell on Beckett and run away, getting what she considered revenge. Well, lets just say that that spell and every one after that failed and Katrina had ended up unconscious for a while due to a duel gone wrong. Bridget had found her and helped her to the Hospital Wing.

Bridget was honestly the only person in the entire school that Katrina would consider her friend. They had been through a bit together and both had seen one another through tough times. Each time they were together ended in some sort of adventure, but they had forged a friendship of steel through it all. However, Katrina hadn't expected her to go off her rocker and duel Beckett to 'get back' at her.

Most people would feel pleased that their friend stood up for them. Others would feel honored that someone would get revenge for a wrongdoing. Katrina didn't feel anything like that. Not only was Katrina tired-- she was also annoyed that Bridget put herself in harms way for her, Katrina didn't need defending, she was perfectly fine without help.

Katrina slinked into breakfast early in a whirlwind of confused emotions. The second year just needed some time to cool down and think and figure out exactly what happened, then she would seek out Bridget and make sure she was alright. Not many people go head to head with Beckett and make it out okay.

Her plans got disregarded the moment that Katrina spotted Bridget. Suddenly, the roar of emotions she had planned on sorting through surged up and she was storming over to Bridget. Sure, I got myself in plenty of trouble a few days ago, but that doesn't mean you have to go head to head with Beckett Katrina hardly kept herself from saying that. She valued Bridget's relationship, but she also knew that coming outright with accusations wouldn't get her anything. I didn't need help! And you could have gotten yourself hurt, or unconscious, or dead! I don't even know Beckett's limits! For some odd reason, it felt really good to think those things, it was far better that saying them out loud. Katrina knew that she shouldn't loose her temper. Nothing was ever good when she lost her temper.

Instead, Katrina calmed herself before closing the distance between Bridget and her. A few deep breaths and a moment of closing her eyes and she was calm enough to keep her cool. "Bridget," Katrina started, unsure what exactly to say, "I heard-- Did you-- What happened yesterday?" Hearing herself stutter annoyed Katrina immensely, however, she was glad that what came out of her mouth wasn't nearly as heated as what was going on in her head.

@Katrina Walker

The sound of heavy, rushed footsteps caught her attention. Setting her toast down and turning her head to get a look at what it was, she noticed two things. First, the person was coming at her. Second, that person was Katrina, and she looked rather frustrated.

The Slytherin sighed to herself. What now? She really didn't want to deal with this yet. Still, she would need to face Katrina sooner or later, she just hadn't planned on doing it quite so soon. Bridget hadn't had any time to gather her thoughts, figure out how best to bring this up, but she could tell by what Katrina said this was going to be addressed now.

How did she know? At least, Bridget assumed Katrina was referencing her and Anastasia's fight as there really wasn't anything else she could be talking about. The Gryffindor probably wasn't looking for an account of how she'd written her Transfiguration essay. But... it hadn't even been a whole day yet. She wasn't sure how the rumors had gotten out or how they'd spread that fast, but the fact they knew she was a part of it wasn't great. The professors probably wouldn't give them detention from whisperings alone, sure, yet it would at least result in them asking them about it. And then Anastasia would tell on her. Oh well, she was pretty resigned to her imminent detention. Besides, she'd known about Anastasia setting people on fire, so perhaps people kept close tabs on all the fights she got into. Or maybe Gryffindors were just huge gossips.

Either way, Katrina somehow knew about the fight. She had to admit, it hurt a bit that her friend was just assuming those rumors were true. Yes, she was more or less asking for confirmation of said rumors, but still. The Slytherin frowned, swinging her legs over so she could face the other girl. She had to grit her teeth to keep herself from wincing at the pain, but she wasn't going to give Katrina more reasons to be annoyed and worried. "I could ask you the same thing. Not about yesterday. But your fight with Anastasia, when I found you in that hallway... what really happened? She said you started it, but obviously I wasn't just going to believe her. I want to hear it from you."

The mention of talking to Anastasia pretty much confirmed the rumors, but she had no intention of keeping the truth from her friend. She'd initiated a fight with Anastasia for her sake, and in all technicalities, Anastasia had been the one to cast first. Bridget had simply said something the other girl had apparently taken offense to. Eyebrow slightly raised, she watched Katrina's expression. She would share the truth, but Katrina had to do the same.

Katrina couldn't tell exactly why she was so frustrated. It was only as Bridget turned that she realized that rumors weren't always true. What if she was all annoyed for nothing? What if there was another Bridget? She hadn't really hung around long enough to figure out exactly what happened. After all, weren't there a few untrue rumors about herself floating around?

Bridget smoothly turned the focus back to Katrina without answering her question. Beckett had said that Katrina had started it to Bridget. That was true, but Katrina hadn't meant for it to escalate to a full blown duel. Katrina was strong enough to take care of herself, she didn't want anyone else to have to worry about her, but now Bridget was going to. Now the question was, how much was she going to tell?

Katrina hesitated a moment before answering, "Firstly, you didn't answer my question, and I should wait to hear your answer but there is no point in us both stalling," Katrina paused before mumbling, "I didn't mean that to come out like that,"

"I guess I should have told you before... I mean, about the whole story," Katrina took a breath, "It was April Fools, you know, the holiday where people prank each other and run away yelling 'April Fools'. It was my plan to get back at Beckett, cast the dancing feet spell at her and run away, having what I considered revenge," A touch of a blush rose to Katrina's cheeks as she realized how childish her intent had been.

"My spell missed her. She, of course, decided to Flippindo me... into the brick wall. I tried to defend myself with another spell, but that one didn't cast or miss, I can't remember which. As did the next handful. All the while, Beckett's spells hit perfectly," Katrina was failing at being calm about it all, again feeling the upset that Bridget had gone up against the great spellcaster.

"Enough about me. Tell me the whole story with you and Beckett. What happened?" Katrina deflected the conversation back to Bridget, thoroughly embarrassed with her failure of a duel. It was time she got real answers.

@Katrina Walker

Katrina called her out on directing the questioning back at her. Bridget's mouth pressed into a thin line, but she interjected before Katrina got to her own confession. "I did fight Beckett." The comment was terse, but in the Slytherin's opinion, there was no reason to waste words. That was the truth, and sharing the truth was all that mattered at the moment. She would acknowledge that lying and down-playing things were necessary in certain situations, but not this one. Dishonesty would only hurt their friendship, their hard-earned trust in each other.

Katrina seemed to realize this too, sharing her side of things in a bit more detail. Granted, she needed to use more than four words to describe what had truly happened. So Anastasia Beckett had been telling the truth, or at least the truth as far as she knew it. While she didn't show it, Bridget was disappointed. In Katrina for starting all of this. In herself for attacking someone who hadn't really deserved it. Sure, Anastasia was far from saintly after all the students she'd set on fire, but Bridget didn't care to get back at her for crimes committed against some random students. She protected her own, in this case Katrina, but it looked like she'd been mistaken.

"Why did you need revenge?" Clearly this whole thing went further back than Anastasia and Katrina's fight. She didn't comment on her friend's spell-casting failures, nor did she point out that even just casting Tarantallegra was breaking school rules. She'd done plenty of rule-breaking herself yesterday. But while Katrina had detailed the happenings of that particular day, she hadn't mentioned what had lead to it.

"What do you want, a play by play?" The Slytherin was careful not to shout--she didn't need to draw people's attention--but the words came out as somewhat of a hiss, more annoyed than she'd intended. She supposed she just wanted to forget about the fight, not describe it. "I've never been so mad as I was when I saw what she did to you and I wasn't just going to let someone get away with hurting my friend. So I tracked her down and we duelled. Anyways, as far as statistics go, I rather dominated. She only landed one spell, I'm not sure how many I did, but it was more than that." She wasn't sure what she expected to feel when she said she'd pretty much won. Proud, maybe, if only in her spell-casting abilities? Instead she just felt bad. Because she'd hit Anastasia Beckett with spells almost until she dropped, unconscious, for a reason that, noble as it should have been, was skewed.

Bridget seemed just as peeved as Katrina was. It was tough, Katrina was sure that both of them could feel the tension. It was thankfully clear that their friendship was still so steady that this couldn't break it. It was the first time that Katrina had made a mistake with a friend and their relationship had actually survived it. This realization cooled Katrina's nerves a bit.

Bridget asked why she needed revenge and Katrina bit her lip, hesitating for a moment. How could she put her and Beckett's first interaction in words that didn't make her seem as weak and emotional as she had been. Truth. Truth. Truth. Her mind was telling her clearly that in this situation, the truth was the best option. It didn't matter if Bridget thought she was weak because she was her friend and true friends were able to look past things like that.

"It was a day after my parent's death anniversary. If that is an actual thing. Anyway, I went into the Study Rooms expecting it to be empty as always with the letter of my parent's death. Beckett was in there, not that I saw and made some comments about me. I-- being the stupidly stubborn Gryffindor I am, stayed, expecting her to leave and me to have the room to myself. Well, she snatched the letter just as I had made my mind up to leave. She threatened to burn the letter and I had enough and snatched the letter and stormed out," It sounded so petty, so childish. Bridget had dueled Beckett because Katrina had been worked up over a petty argument. "It sounds silly... but that letter was all I had left of my parents. I didn't expect everything to go so wrong. And certainly hadn't realized my only friend would try to get back at her for my insecurities," Katrina realized that she had said 'only friend' out loud. It was true, but it wasn't something Katrina was ready yet to admit.

Bridget explained what had happened between her and Beckett and Katrina quietly listened. She still wasn't sure what to think. It sounded like Bridget hadn't gotten too hurt, but Katrina still worried about what happened.

@Katrina Walker

Katrina's bit lip and moment of hesitation pointed towards her not wanting to share. She supposed they were both trying to figure out how much to say--even if Bridget didn't need a pause to gather her thoughts, she still wasn't going into a whole lot of detail. Take her burn, for example: she had no intention to bring it up unless it was unavoidable. Katrina didn't seem merely so miffed now as she did when she'd come over, but she had the feeling her friend wouldn't be too thrilled to hear she'd gotten hurt.

Bridget pressed her lips together as Katrina told her how the rivalry had started. The Gryffindor looked rather embarrassed, but to Bridget, it made the fight seem a little more justified. As small of an offense as it was, she was sure that letter meant a lot to Katrina. Even if Bridget wasn't particularly sentimental didn't mean Katrina wasn't, and she imagined anyone would hold on to the last physical memory of their deceased loved ones.

It wasn't the best of excuses for what had transpired in the corridors--a threat didn't really warrant breaking rules so blatantly--but at least she finally knew the truth. In a school where it felt like she was constantly grasping for any answers she could get and only managing to obtain small pieces that only gave her more questions, it was nice to set things straight. Granted, she might not know the whole story yet, but she had no intention of waltzing up to Anastasia Beckett again and questioning her. The only way she could picture that going was with the other girl trying to set her on fire again.

Katrina didn't push her for more information, so Bridget didn't offer any up. She'd given the basics and really didn't want to describe it in detail. So... were they done? She wasn't sure. For the time being, though, she might as well finish her breakfast so she could succeed in her mission to evade Anastasia this morning. Reaching back to pick up her toast, she was unable to stifle a gasp as pain shot across her burn. Her light brown eyes darted to Katrina; it was unlikely the expression of discomfort had gone unnoticed. So much for keeping the burn a secret.

Katrina felt the conversation dry and debated returning to the table. She was just about to leave with a word of apology when Bridget picked up her toast and stifled a gasp of pain.

"Bridget! You're hurt!" Katrina burst out, clear concern in her voice. She hadn't expected Bridget to have anything really lasting, or at least she had hoped. But now that she knew, Katrina was full healer mode, "You didn't tell me you were hurt. Burn, isn't it? Beckett's signature mark," Katrina almost growled the words, debating storming over and dueling Beckett again. Nothing good would come of it, but she was furious with Beckett for hurting her friend.

"I'm guessing you didn't go to the Hospital Wing. Did you at least wash it off or put aloe vera on it?" As long as it wasn't a third degree burn, aloe vera was the best way to go. Katrina's mind spun around a treatment for burns. Katrina's protective nature rose up in her, it was different when her friend was in pain.

"How bad is it?" Katrina asked gently, far less accusingly than her last comments. She knew that her concern was likely annoying, but she didn't care. Bridget got hurt because of her childishness and miscommunication. That wasn't something she was going to let slide.

@Katrina Walker

Katrina definitely noticed. This was why she hadn't brought it up: Katrina freaked out. Was her worry justified? Well, maybe. But it didn't help. It didn't change what had happened. If anything, it just drew more attention and made this an even bigger deal. At least the Great Hall was mostly empty this early in the morning, but people were still looking. Hopefully there weren't any Prefects around, since she really didn't need to earn herself a detention for what had happened yesterday right now.

"I'm fine." That wasn't really true at the moment, but she would be. After all, she'd dealt with worse; the only difference was she usually would be patched up by now. "Could you lower your voice? And yes, it's a burn." Fire-Making Spells, even the more powerful variant, didn't tend to be this bad, but Anastasia's last spell certainly made up for all her failed ones before. But Katrina didn't have to know that.

"I used burn healing paste. And it's really not that bad, it just needs a little time to heal." Annoyance bled into her tone. Yes, she understood why Katrina was so worried, and if the roles were reversed, Bridget would probably be doing something similar. But this was far from a good place to be having this conversation. Rumors were already spreading, so this would only add fuel to the flames. Proof to what could have previously been easily dismissed as a bunch of nonsense.

And beyond just this being a bad place, there was something Bridget needed to address before they started this cycle all over again. Grabbing Katrina by the sleeve of her robe, the Slytherin pulled her in closer, their faces inches apart, so she wouldn't have to speak above a whisper. Making their conversation look secret would probably just draw more attention, but she needed to make sure she got her point across. "Promise me you won't go looking for Beckett, that you won't get into another fight with her. Not for me, not for anything else. She is not worth your time. We're even now, okay? There's no need to perpetuate this conflict any longer."

Bridget said she was fine, but Katrina didn't believe it. From what she knew, Bridget probably had a rather high pain tolerance. And it had been overnight so if she hadn't cleaned or addressed it, it could be infected and there was a chance that-- Katrina's internal rant halted.

Bridget asked her to lower her voice and Katrina nearly growled. Instead, she lowered her voice and said, "You. Are. Hurt. I am allowed to freak out. Besides, no one is really looking," As Katrina said this she looked around and saw that a few people were looking. A hint of a blush of embarrassment heated her cheeks. She bit her lip from exploding into another outburst.

Bridget said she had used Burn Healing Paste on it. Katrina nodded reluctantly, immensely glad that she thought to use that. Katrina didn't know how potent it was or how well it worked, but magical healing was a lot better than normal. If it wasn't healed by now, that meant the burn was indeed worse than Bridget was letting on.

Katrina's emotions ran high. Because of her stupid rash behavior. Her only friend-- a rather calm person too, decided to duel somebody. And to top it off she got hurt. She felt tears sting the back of her eyes. She wasn't going to cry, she was going to storm over and punch Beckett in the face. How dare she hurt her friend.

Bridget clued in on the rage and grabbed the sleeve of Katrina's robe. Bridget was begging-- no, telling her not to fight Beckett. To not let their mini fuel continue. Let it fizzle out and go away. Katrina looked over at the lion table, glancing for Beckett's smug face. Could she even let it end? Yes, she could, but would she? Katrina looked back to Bridget, "Fine. I won't go looking for her. But if Beckett threatens you or me, I can't promise I won't defend myself. I'm not going to let her walk all over me, I may not have much dignity, but that little I do have, I'd like to keep," The last sentence was even quieter.

Were they done now? Was there more that Bridget would let her do for the burn? Or should she just return to the table?