Chapter 14

Friendship

October 7th, 2013

When Tyriana returned from Quidditch practice one afternoon, she was quite surprised to see several Slytherin boys in the common room with Hawkins. Since the inciting incident with Zannah, Hawkins had rarely had anyone over and had instead gone to the Slytherin dormitories when he wanted to hang out with his friends. She had heard him shagging a girl or two that he'd smuggled in when he thought she wasn't paying attention but, other than that, he seemed like a bit of a loner. He spent more time in their suite than she did, and most of that was spent studying.

Of course, he had Quidditch practice but the Slytherins didn't seem to be training as much as the Gryffindors. When she'd mentioned this, he'd chuckled and said, "I'm surprised you're not worried about reaching a point of diminishing returns. Your team must be tired and stressed." Tyriana had brushed this off with a snarky comeback but she had scaled back the Gryffindor team's practices shortly thereafter.

Her mind snapped back to the present when Hawkins said, "Ah, Tyriana, we were thinking you'd be back right about now. Say, why don't you change out of those ugly Gryffindor Quidditch robes and joined us for a few?"

She eyed his four Slytherin friends wearily. She recognized a few but had never talked to any of them before.

"Don't worry, they're friendly," he said, correctly reading her apprehension.

"Uh… alright, then." Tyriana took her time changing, not wanting to leave the sanctuary of her room and sit with the Slytherin boys. Finally, she figured that she couldn't stall any more. She summoned her Gryffindor courage and stepped out of her room, the noise of her door opening attracting all five guys' attention.

"Much better," Hawkins said, referring no doubt to her outfit. Nodding to one of his friends who was sitting in the other armchair, he said, "Finley, would you mind giving her your seat?"

Tyriana was a bit surprised when the Slytherin boy did as Hawkins had asked without any indication of displeasure. "Thanks," she said, her voice a bit softer than she would have preferred. She couldn't recall the last time a Slytherin had been so chivalrous to her.

"I think introductions are in order," Hawkins said, proceeding to introduce her to Riley, Aiden, Jensen, and Finley. She was genuinely astonished by how polite they were.

"You're seeing an unusual side of Tyriana, today," he told his friends. "She's being so shy… I swear a lioness slumbers somewhere inside her."

The boys laughed. Tyriana worried that they were going to tease her, but that was not what happened next.

"I may not be a fan of how many points you've taken from Slytherin," Aiden prefaced, "But I love what you did to Zannah and her friends last month. From what I hear, it was quite amazing."

"You don't like her either?" Tyriana ventured cautiously. The last thing she wanted was to offend somebody. The way she saw it, the less she angered them the better. She might just escape this conversation alive and in one piece.

Riley laughed. "No one likes Zannah. No one."

"Except the goons she calls friends," Finley pointed out, "But the Turnbull sisters are so stupid that I don't think they even understand what a proper friend is."

Tyriana chuckled in spite of herself. "The Turnbulls? They certainly charged at me like bulls, although they couldn't seem to turn. Brains definitely weren't their strongest suit."

"You kicked their asses," said Riley.

"Tyriana's one badass girl," Hawkins replied.

"You can see it on her face," Jensen said.

Tyriana blushed a bit. "Thank you."

There was a brief pause. Hawkins made eye contact with her. "Tyriana, tell us about Muggles."

She stiffened.

His keen eyes spotted her reaction. "Relax, Tyriana. We're not going to make fun of you. Believe me; Aiden, Finley, Riley and Jensen are the nicest Slytherins you'll ever meet. We're asking for a good reason. You see, we've been talking about trying to create a new identity for our house for some time, one that's much more accepting, less prejudiced, and has a positive impact on both the wizarding and Muggle world. In other words, an interpretation of Slytherin's values that isn't skewed in the direction of the Dark Arts."

"We feel that, to achieve that goal, we should make sure to look at both worlds from numerous perspectives to broaden our understanding of them," Finley concluded He was now leaning against the wall by the fireplace.

Tyriana knew her mouth was hanging open. "Um… did you guys literally come here just to interview me?"

"No," Hawkins said, "This is an official planning session for a Society we're planning on starting but we thought it couldn't hurt, while you're here."

"Well, if you want to know about Muggles then I suggest you take Muggle Studies."

"We have," Riley said. "But that class is from the wizarding perspective. We want to understand the Muggle perspective on both worlds."

Judging by the boys' expressions and body language, they were entirely serious. They actually wanted to hear from her. "What do you want to know?" she asked tentatively.

They chatted about all sorts of things, from how Muggles used technology to improve their lives to how some relied on religion to explain the unknown while others placed their faith in science and even more negotiated a balance. This seemed to fascinate them, and Tyriana could understand why. As purebloods, they'd been raised in a world of magic without religion, science or technology. Her world outside of Hogwarts was as foreign to them as the castle had been to her when she had first arrived. She found herself enjoying this conversation more than she'd expected; trying to explain the way that Muggles lived and thought so that they could understand and form meaningful connections was unexpectedly stimulating. Hawkins had been right, his friends were indeed quite nice and they respected her heritage. She liked them a lot more than she cared to admit. In their quest to craft a new Slytherin identity they did not deny that the history of Slytherin's platform and rhetoric did not share their views. She appreciated that they didn't shy away from the truth and were making distinct efforts to distinguish themselves from the past.

An hour later, Tyriana found herself sitting in the Great Hall eating dinner with her friends. She had a lot to think about. Of course, her friends wouldn't let her brood silently for long.

"Hey, Tyriana, what's going on?" Siobhan asked.

"I'm trying to process what happened with Julian today," she admitted.

Her friends exchanged glances, knowing very well that it was rare for her to use his first name. "Mind telling us what it is this time?" Delaney asked.

Prioritizing Brielle and Siobhan's advice over Julian's privacy, she told them everything that she could remember about him that seemed relevant.

"So he's nice, smart and attractive," Alara mused.

"Shut up!" Brielle and Siobhan exclaimed simultaneously.

"She's got a point," Delaney said, to no one's surprise.

"Can't you see that Julian being attractive is the least of my concerns right now?" Tyriana growled.

"So you admit that he's attractive?" Alara seemed way too excited by her own observation.

Tyriana groaned. "I guess. Can we move on to the issue a hand?" Seeing that neither Alara nor Delaney had any intention of doing so, she ignored them until they gave up and, in the meantime, focused all of her attention on Siobhan and Brielle.

"Tyriana, I think Julian's not the bad guy you're trying to convince yourself that he is." said the latter.

Siobhan joined in. "I understand that he's said some hurtful things in the past but he's so clearly a different person now. It's time to forget all of that. I never thought I'd say this but you should give him a second chance."

"I know, but… Slytherin."

Brielle groaned in exasperation. "You said it yourself; he's grown into more of a Ravenclaw. Tyriana, I honestly think there's an opportunity here for you."

Tyriana sighed and stood up from the table. "I understand where you are coming from and all but I can't afford to take that opportunity. Not right now." With that, she left.

Tyriana was sitting on the couch, doing homework, when Hawkins returned from dinner.

"See? That wasn't so bad, huh?" he asked, throwing himself into his armchair.

"Not really," she admitted, putting her homework aside. "Your friends are nice and I like where their heads are at."

He grinned. "You see? I don't surround myself with total assholes. There are decent Slytherins to be found if you know how to see under the mask they're wearing."

She raised her eyebrows, feeling like there was more significance to that than he was letting on. She let it slide for now. "I understand that there are tolerable Slytherins out there. I just can't afford to look at you and your friends that way. You may not understand this, but I need to beat Slytherin. This is my last chance." She set her jaw.

His eyes seemed to penetrate her soul. "Oh, I think I understand quite well. You feel that you need to frame me as an opponent in order to succeed. You're worried that, should you and I become friends, your resolve will weaken and you'll fail. It frightens you."

Tyriana nodded slowly. He'd read her perfectly again.

"That's ridiculous, Tyriana. You think that accepting me as a friend is going to make you care so much about me that you won't be able to win a Quidditch match? Quidditch is what you've practically dedicated your life to at this point. Knowing you, you're never going to give up until you achieve that goal. Why would a simple friendship affect you so deeply?"

She shook her head. "I don't know."

He sighed. "There's more to life than winning, Tyriana. Even if you and I never become friends you need to find something else to care about. Think about it this way: what if you do fail? Your whole life would be ruined if Gryffindor didn't win, wouldn't it? Besides, whether Gryffindor wins or loses, you'll need a new purpose when the season is over or else. You should start looking for other things to invest time and energy in. Trust me, your Quidditch performance won't suffer if you care about more than one thing."

She chuckled to herself. "You know what's really sad?"

"What?"

"You're talking about caring about things other than Quidditch and I'm over here thinking, 'that's great and all but there's still a small chance that Hawkins is only being nice to me so that he can get in my head and ruin my Quidditch season.' Pathetic, huh?"

He put his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking with what she thought was silent laughter. "Merlin's beard! You're almost hopeless."

"Almost," she repeated.

"Are you literally so dense that you haven't learned one thing about me over the past five weeks?"

She avoided the question. "I...You… You actually think I can be your friend?" it was her turn to stare deep into his eyes, searching for the truth.

"Of course. You have my vote of confidence." His eyes were earnest.

"You know how much that means to me."

"Hopefully more than nothing."

"More than nothing," she repeated. "I suppose so."

"Now, don't get me wrong," he said, leaning forward. "I love your determination to succeed at everything you put your mind to but sometimes you can be a little too single-minded."

She chuckled. "That's me in a nutshell."

Julian grinned. "It is." There was a pause, during which his expression turned serious. "I'm worried about you, Tyriana. You've dedicated your whole life to one thing and, if you fail, I'm not sure that you're going to be able to cope with it."

Deep down, Tyriana knew that he was right. She was deathly afraid of failing because she knew just how thoroughly she'd be destroyed. She'd be hollow and purposeless.

"I think you'd be wise to find a few other things that give your life meaning," he continued. "That way you always have something left to hold on to."

A/N: Well that's a rather dark and ominous ending to a chapter called "Friendship." I hope you're enjoying Rivalry so far. Please leave a review letting me know what you think!