Harry Potter RP

Shaun cringed. He clearly wasn't getting through to Matt.

He stood up and tapped Lori on the shoulder.

"You and I need to talk," Shaun said. "Meet me in the Transfiguration Courtyard in an hour."

Audrey frowned when she saw Shaun in a huff. After he left she watched Lori. "What happened when I was out?"

"Hey there," Lori said with a smile. She gestured down to the little furball next to Audrey. "Little guy was next to you hurt as well. I figured I should bring him back as well since you like animals and all." She paused again and gestured to the neck brace.

"Madam Pomfrey did the best she could, but sprains in that area a bit more tricky. Best course of medicine is the muggle one. You'll be in that for a few days."

Suddenly she felt a finger tap her shoulder. She turned, expecting Madam Pomfrey, but instead saw Shaun glaring at her. She blinked in surprise. This was new.

"You and I need to talk," Shaun said. "Meet me in the Transfiguration Courtyard in an hour." Lori watched Shaun walk out the door. She turned to Matt to see he was in delirious ramblings again. Lori prayed Shaun wasn't blaming her for that.

"What happened when I was out?"

Lori turned back to Audrey and laughed a bit.

"Well when Matt cursed you, I beat him up," she told him. "Gave him a broken nose a black eye among other things. Also told him I hated him. He's sorry for cursing you by the way." She leaned back and looked at the ceiling.

"Shaun hates me now though," she gestured to Matt rambling. "Matt wants to kill himself because he hurt you and he doesn't think he should live. Thinks he's a monster. I told him he was a hot-headed idiot, not a monster." Lori folded her arms. "Though Shaun calling me out like some sort of duel I couldn't tell you. Probably thinks I'm to blame for Matt's mental state."

OoC: Shaun doesn't want to duel, he wants to talk.

As Audrey processed the information her brows furrowed. "Why would you attack him? Why not help me?" She gave Lori a concerned look - she did not want to think of her friend as a "shoot first, ask questions later" kind of gal.

Lori looked down and sighed.

"I saw you hit the ground hard," she explained. "And I sort of snapped." She paused a bit and furrowed her brows.

"All I was thinking was that I couldn't protect anyone. And when Matt cursed you when you were defenseless," she gestured vaguely before groaning. "When I was a kid, I was almost killed. My dad is a cop and he puts away a lot of people. One of those people was a crackhead who got out of jail. He came to our house to kill my dad. Instead he found me and decided I was even better. If my brother wasn't home, that man would have killed me. I couldn't even protect myself that day, and I hated it. I hated it I couldn't even defend myself when all I want to do is defend others."

Lori groaned and put her head in her hand.

"All I could think of was the same thing was happening to you. That it was happening all over again. And I just snapped. His face was in my head."

Audrey looked down at her hands as she tried to think of what to do. Lori's reason was . . . understandable. She didn't like the outcome, but she knew how traumatic experiences could affect future behavior. Like a cat being brushed the wrong way - eventually the cat will attack anyone who dares touch him. It's a trigger.

She crawled across her bed and hugged Lori as hard as she could. When they let go she punched Lori in the arm. "Next time something like this happens you help me first! Got it?" As Lori nodded, Audrey smiled. "I doubt you would go to someone for help, but please talk to me later. It's not good to keep something this terrible bottled up. Something like this happens!" She motioned around the room in a wild gesture.

Lori scratched her head sheepishly.

"I'm sorry Audrey," she apologized. "And I'll tell you next time. And hopefully I won't fly off the handle next time. I'm taking anger management classes." Lori made a face. "I didn't even know Hogwarts had them." Looking at the clock, Lori realized she had to meet Shaun in 15 minutes.

"I'll be back a bit later with food," she promised as she stood up. "I need to meet with Shaun for whatever reason now." She waved and jogged out of the hospital room.

She walked into the Transfiguration Courtyard; Shaun's back was turned to her. She sighed and stepped on to the grass. Might as well get this over with.

"You wanted to see me?" She asked.

After Lori left Audrey looked over at Matt who still looked frantic even in his quiet state. She hobbled over to him and stood above him, waiting for him to acknowledge she was there.

Matt saw Audrey, and his whole body began trembling. Suddenly, he started thrashing, trying frantically to get away. Anywhere but there. Once he realized it was useless, he finally turned to face her. He couldn't look her in the eye, though. Avoiding eye contact, he whispered, "Do you...hate me?"

OoC: Shouldn't all four houses have lost fifty points? In which case, is there even a point in taking away points at all?

BiC: Shaun turned around and saw Lori. "I want to know why you treat Matt the way you do. At first it was a joke. That's understandable. He didn't mean to do anything to Audrey, and I'm sure she'll find it in her heart to forgive him. I guess what I mean to say is what's your problem with Matt?"

Lori looked at him confused.

"What do you mean treat Matt the way I do? I really don't bother him unless he bothers me first," she told him. She narrowed her eyes, looking at him suspiciously. "Do you honestly think I pick fights with him on purpose? That I go off and start things. What kind of person do you take me for? Have you ever seen me go up and start something with Matt ever! With anybody?!" Lori asked throwing her arm out, kind of upset. No, completely upset. She wasn't some god damn delinquent who started fights. She would finish them however.

"And as for that incident in the forest, I told Audrey this already, but I was almost killed when I was a kid, OK! And Matt was doing the exact same thing as that guy who nearly killed me!" She gestured to a light scar under her right eye. "The guy who did this broke into my house and held a defenseless six year old girl at knife point. If my brother wasn't home, I wouldn't even be here. And when Matt attacked Audrey, he was doing the exact same thing! He attacked someone defenseless! How am I supposed to react to that Shaun?! That the exact same thing that happened to me is happening to my friend right in front of my eyes and I can't do anything to protect anybody!"

OoC: I would say a different amount. Lori and Matt fought each other and caused harm to another student, where as Shaun and Audrey were only in the Forbidden Forest.

Audrey left out a harsh sigh. “You are right, I do hate you. You're stubborn and hot-headed; always have to do everything and always have to excel at everything. The most annoying thing about you, though, is the fact you give up so easily. Rather than try to understand the problem and work through it, you shove your frustration inside where it boils into a temperamental mess. Instead of going crazy, why don't you put that energy to work? You can get to the root of the problem and try to solve it.”

She shook her head and bit her lip. Honestly she didn't know if this was going to make him feel worse or better, but the truth needed to be said. “Just because I hate you doesn't mean there isn't a chance to change things. I do think there is a chance we can get along – maybe even be friends. You just need to be willing to work with me. If you really are willing, then you can start by stopping all this suicide nonsense. I hate unnecessary violence and this is unnecessary violence.”

She studied Matt to see if anything she said got through to him. “Agreed?”

"Those are two entirely different things!" Shaun shouted. "That man came to your house and tried killing you! Matt accidentally fired a non-lethal curse at Audrey! What you did to Matt wasn't honorable! It was disgraceful!"

Matt was silent for a long time. Finally, he whispered, "I...I agree. There's...there's a good explanation for all of this. Remind me to tell you...later, OK? Right now, I need to sleep this off..."

After thinking for a moment, he said, "I'm...I'm sorry I hurt you. I hope you know I never meant to. I tried to stop the spell..."

Audrey nodded. "I know. If I didn't, I would never be willing to forgive you." She gave a small smile before hobbling back to her bed. Her whole body ached and her mind was racing, but at least things were promising to get better.

She began to hum a soft lullaby for her fidgeting bed companion - eventually drifting off to sleep herself.

Albert could only stare blankly at the wall of the corridor as he thought over what had happened. While he and Cassandra had walked around in some smelly corridors and had an encounter with a foul mouthed ghoul, Matt and Lori had attacked each other in the forest and now Matt was in the Hospital! What sort of friend was he?

As he sat there, he decided to go see Audrey and Matt. He'd already talked with Lori, and even though he wasn't sure how he felt about what she did, he did understand why she did it. But he needed to do something. His friends were tearing themselves apart, and he couldn't let that happen. He'd already lost enough friends.

Walking into the Hospital Wing, he saw that Matt was asleep, or at least trying to look like he was. Audrey had drifted off herself. Sitting down between the two Hospital beds, he waited for either of them to wake up. He was not leaving until he found out what was going on.

"That wasn't how I saw it!" Lori roared. "Audrey was just standing there doing nothing and he shoots a bloody spell at her! What did Audrey do to deserve that?! She's in a bloody neck-brace Shaun."

Lori growled, tightening her fists against her hands.

"Look, I wasn't saying what I did was honorable. But I didn't think it was disgraceful either," she told him. "I'm not asking you for your forgiveness. I'm not asking you to understand, because apparently you can't. You were the one who asked. I'm just answering. And I realize you hate me, and that's fine too." She breathed out and turned her back.

"If that's all you wanted to talk about, I'm going to leave," she said. "Just to let you know this world isn't pained in black and white Shaun. It's varying shades of grey. Remember that."

Audrey opened her eyes to the guest. "Um. Hello. Uh, Matt may be out for a while. If you come back tomorrow he should be more awake!" She didn't know Al well enough so she was sure he was looking to speak with Matt.

Albert turned to Audrey and shrugged. "I'm just here for answers. Me and Matt are kind of on shaky ground already, and I sort of want to figure out what happened last night." Looking at the neck brace around her neck, Al grimaced. "What the hell did he do to you?"