Sophia listened closely giving her friend her full attention as Colemet how she really was fairing. It made the blonde witch wonder if anything could be done in either the muggle or magical worlds for the problem that her friend was facing. “Cole, the people who know of the attack know exactly why you’re being mean to them and they understand. I certainly did when we were in school” she said offering her friend a small smile. Her eyes moved to her friend’s clenched fists and she wished she could help her friend but she knew very little about her friend’s condition and was really only able to offer emotional support. “You know you’re not alone right? You’ve had me around since what? We were 11. Okay so we lost contact for some years but I’m here now” Sophia told her friend, speaking gently.

The blonde dismissed the apology with a wave of her hand. If only her friend knew the fondness she had had for her ex went beyond simply liking him. “I loved him but it’s fine we were just teenagers and he got a great opportunity to play for one of the US quidditch teams, I could have gone with him but you know me I love photography too much” she tried to grin with a brave face. “Well…what I have going at the moment isn’t a relationship, Ti and I are just having fun” she explained giving Colemet a pointed look, praying her friend knew what that entailed. “After returning from Paris it’s just what I want” Sophia said before she took another sip of her coffee.

“Well you know the prophet doesn’t exactly have to most reputable name going around but I get paid for it and I treat it like just a job” she shrugged as she removed her jacket and hung it on the back of her chair. “Family is great, Penelope starts Hogwarts this September and has been trying to work out if she’ll too be in Ravencalw” Sophia laughed.

"I know they understand," Colemet said quietly. "But it doesn't make me feel any better about doing it. Not to mention the strangers who face it too. I try to hide it, but I can't always..." She sighed and took another deep, shuddering breath. "I know you and Peter and the people who know and care are here for me, but I feel alone anyway. No one seems to really get what it's like..." Colemet didn't want to sound melodramatic or petty, but this was a hard thing to get across. She appreciated the support regardless, though, and she knew Sophia knew that.

Colemet nodded as she listened to Sphia explain her situation. "Maybe a bit of fun is all you need. You don't want to rush into things to fast after everything." Colemet put a reassuring hand over her friend's and gave a small smile. "As long as you're happy. That's what matters most, because you deserve it."

Colemet smiled again. "I'm glad work ia going well. You were always a fantastic photographer." Colemet could remember all of Sophia's photographs hanging up in their dormitory, collecting over the years. They were of anything and everything, from shots of the Hogwarts grounds to butterbeer bottles lining the walls. Colemet always loved the variety of it. She grinned. "I can't wait to hear how Penelope likes Hogwarts. She'll be great there."

Sophia offered her friend a sympathetic smile, of course she knew that Colemet didn’t want to be mean or aggressive towards people but something inside her couldn’t control it from coming out and probably at the wrong times too. “I’m sorry you go through that” Sophia told her friend as she tucked her hair behind her ear. For a moment she thought she might need hair cut but she wondered how Tiwaz would react. Why she had even considered his opinion was beyond her. “Explain it to me Cole, tell me what it’s really like, you know I won’t judge you” she told her friend. Sophia of all people should be the last person to judge another. While she didn’t have any werewolf tendencies, she had done enough stupid shit in her life and her life wasn’t exactly perfect so she hating people judging her especially when they learnt that she had no clue who her father was.


“Definitely not” Sophia confirmed. What she and Tiwaz had going at the moment suited her perfectly and they weren't hurting anyone by shagging each other on regular basis. “Oh trust me I’m very happy and I’m pretty sure he is too” she smiled while wiggling her eyebrows. A thought occurred to her, she hadn’t asked Colemet if she had anyone special in her life. “What about you? Are you seeing anyone?”


“Thanks, I’m sure I still have most of the photos I took when we were in school. I’ll make copies and send them to you if you like?” she asked taking a sip of her coffee. Slowly she was starting to wake up. “Of course she’ll be great there, she’s my sister after all” Sophia smiled proudly before laughing but she did think Penelope would do well at the school. “Plus, I live in Hogsmeade so I’ll be around if anything happens” but she doubted that any problems would take place.

Colemet looked down. It was hard for her to talk about, and it was hard to convey without getting worked up to some extent. She sighed quietly, searching for words to explain it to Sophia. "It's like...there's another part of me. Another part that's angry and aggressive and cruel, and it wants to hurt people. And all of it wants to escape, it fights with me." Colemet knew that this part of her was the would-be werewolf, but since she wasn't one, she was so much more aware of it. When a werewolf had its monthly change, it lost its human mind, but Colemet could feel every moment of her anger, but she still couldn't stop it. "I can feel it in there, and I hate it. I hate that it can control me instead of me controlling it." She sighed again and clenched her fists again.

Colemet soon smiled at the news of her friend. "I'm glad you're happy. You deserve to be happy more than anyone I know." Colemet knew that Sophia struggled sometimes, especially with her past and her family, but she was also one of the happiest and brightest people Colemet knew. Sophia's bright personality always made Colemet feel good. Colemet shook her head. "No, I'm not seeing anyone right now."

Colemet grinned. "I would love copies of those photos." Those photos brought back good memories to Colemet, of her time at Hogwarts and her friendship with Sophia. Having them would definitely hold sentiment. Colemet chuckled. "Yes, you're both great students. It's great that you'll be close by for Penelope, I'm sure she'll love that."

Watching her friend closely, Sophia knew that it would be hard for Colemet to explain what it was really like. Having seen it many times during their school years Sophia knew perfectly well what it looked like but wasn’t exactly sure what it felt like. And she was quiet certain that her friend’s werewolf tendencies would have changed over the years, not that she was a full blown werewolf. “You feel like you’re two different people?” Sophia asked her friend trying to get a clearer picture. “Okay and what do you do when your cruel side fights to come out?” she asked further praying her friend wouldn’t mind the prying but she was really asking so she could support her friend better. “Have you seen anyone about this? Like other than Peter of course?” she asked, knowing that Colemet would most likely trust her brother who was a healer above anyone else.

A bright smile graced Sophia’s features. “Thank you Cole, I know you really mean that but you know you deserve happiness to, when you feel the time is right of course” she concluded as she looked around them wondering just exactly which direction she had to go in Godric’s hollow for work today. Quirking a brow Sophia asked. “Have you dated anyone since we finished school?”

“Great, I’ll dig through my many, many boxes of them and try to find them and owl over copies to you” she said unable to say if she was able to actually catch up with her friend anytime soon after today not knowing what work had in in store for her. “Maybe who knows, she’ll probably hate that her older sister lives so close to school” laughed the blonde. “One definite advantage to living in Hogsemade is that Tiwaz is a professor at Hogwarts” she winked.

Colemet nodded weakly. "Yeah, I do. And I imagine it's because a person isn't truly themselves anymore when they turn into a werewolf, so naturally the werewolf part of me, however much that is, doesn't feel much like myself." She bit her lip nervously. Talking about this was difficult, even to Sophia who was one of her best friends. "I can't do anything when it wants to come out. I try to keep being myself, at the very least, but it just seeps into me. I guess the cruelty is who I am now too." Colemet sighed and almost flinched with the next question. "I haven't seen anyone else. Peter has been begging me to go to St. Mungo's so he can have a look at what we can do, but I'm just so scared. Peter is the only person I'd trust to do that, and I barely let him near it. Seeing another Healer or something just...scares me."

Colemet smiled shyly. "Thanks, Soph. And I am happy. I'm happy with my family and my job and everything. But having a boyfriend...I don't know. I haven't really dated anyone since leaving Hogwarts." Truthfully, Colemet was a little worried about getting too close to people. She was so cynical, and she always thought she was doing them a disservice by getting close to them. She knew they would experience her aggression and cruelty at some point, which was something she could hardly bear to put on another person such as a significant other. Not to mention she would be afraid of losing them once they found out how awful she could be, even if she couldn't prevent it. She didn't want to get close to someone only to lose them. "I mean...it would be really nice to have someone like that, but I don't know if it's realistic for me to hope for that."

Colemet smiled again, happy at the thought of the photos. She grinned even more and winked at her friend. "That is rather convenient, isn't it?" she teased.

She would never be able to feel what her friend went through especially trying to control being two very different people. Sophia had had a hard enough time trying to work come to terms with being attracted to both males and females and that was just being herself. She couldn’t fathom trying to get both sides, one nice and one cruel in check or trying to get one to overcome the other side. “Do you know if they ever found out which werewolf did it?” Sophia asked curiously wondering if the creature was still out there somewhere or whether the ministry had got to them. “And Cole, I know who you are, I’ll always know who you are really” she told her friend. She had witnessed her friend with both personalities and when the violent side had come out, she didn’t mind it, she just bore it and accepted that it was who her friend sometimes turned into. “You’re not a cruel person, who know that right?” she tried to remind her friend. Sophia understood it would have been hard for her friend to see a healer since her case wasn’t exactly all that clear. “Well I know you aren’t exactly thrilled with your scars but they make one very cool witch in my opinion” she stated with a wink. “You should go see a Healer, they might have some idea on what treatment would work best for you”

“Oh I can tell you’re happy, trust me I take photos for living, I’ve seen people strike all sorts of poses and such, the happiness just radiates from you “ she could see where her friend was coming from. If Cole had a boyfriend he would be the first to witness any rage the girl exhibited and more than likely didn’t want to subject the guy to that. “Well if any guy falls for you, he would fall for the whole you, not just one side of you” Sophia stated the obvious with a broad smile, but she doubted she could back that up with any concrete examples. “And really if I’ve learnt anything over the past few years it was that you should always have hopes for your life, I mean when I graduated I certainly didn’t see myself spending two years in Paris but I had hopes I would work overseas and that’s what happened” Sophia added taking another sip of her drink.

“It’s very convenient, the lucky wizard gets the summer off too” she grumbled as a joke. But really she didn’t want to spend that much time with Ti in case she grew too fond of him.

Colemet shook her head. "I don't know which werewolf did it, but I don't care. I don't blame them. Whoever it was, they didn't know what they were doing at the time. They probably never would have wanted to turn my father or give me this second personality. I'd rather them keep living their life not knowing what they did. I don't want them to feel the guilt for something they don't mean to do." It was all true; Colemet really didn't blame the werewolf that turned her, and she wouldn't want anything to happen to them for something they couldn't control. She certainly knew the feeling at this point. Colemet sighed. "I don't know if I'm a cruel person or not, Sophia. Maybe I am." She shuddered at what she was about to say next, her voice almost a whisper. "I almost tried to lunge at Andrew yesterday, Sophia. I probably would have if Peter hadn't held me back and tried to talk me through it." It was an awful thing to do and she knew it. She couldn't help it, though. She was a werewolf without the skin. Colemet smiled weakly. "Thanks. But it's not just the scars; it's the Healers. Peter is my Healer and that's all I need..." She knew she'd have to let him look eventually.

Colemet smiled again. "Thanks, Sophia. I hope I'll be able to find a guy who can accept me...I just don't know if I'll be able to, no matter how much I'd like to." Her friend was right; you never knew what the future might hold and what might come around...

She saw a look in Sophia's eye when she made the passive joke. "You don't look as happy about that as you say you are," Colemet pointed out. "Do you not like to be around Tiwaz?"

Sophia understood everything her friend was telling her, how Colemet could be so calm and collected about not finding the werewolf that attacked her and her father. But since she hadn’t experienced anything like this herself she supposed that she would never fully understand anything like this. And what her best friend was saying made complete sense. Werewolves, couldn’t control their transformation let alone their behaviour. “I guess I’ll never know how you can be so calm about this” she sighed and smiled weakly. Of course it was very different circumstances but Sophia had always wondered who her father was even though she felt Erik was fantastic father for her; part of her did wonder if there was some way of finding out where he was now. But now was not the time to think about such things. Reaching out Sophia took Colemet’s hand in hers. “Listen to me, you’re not cruel, this aggressive side does not make you the fantastic witch you are” she stated giving her friend a pointed look. Unfortunately she couldn’t help her eyebrows from shooting up as her friend admitted to nearly lunging at her younger brother yesterday. “Can you recall what brought that on? Did something provoke you?” Sophia asked knowing that it wasn’t the full moon as it wasn’t the time yet. “I guessed as much that your brother would be your healer but you know they aren’t all bad” Sophia trailed off even though she was aware of her friend’s innate fear of them. She could only imagine what someone such as her friend would go through when being examined by one; she felt almost defeated she couldn’t do more.

“Cole, you know there are plenty of decent guys out there yeah? The right one for you just hasn’t come along yet, but he will and when he does I better be in the wedding party!” she teased her friend good naturedly. However, she couldn’t respond with the same action knowing if she would ever meet the right witch or wizard for her.

Fuck! Sophia swore in her head. She hadn’t even realised she was communicating any such signal. Pinching the bridge of her nose she sighed and looked into her coffee cup for a second before looking at her friend. “It’s not that I don’t’ like being around him, I wouldn’t be sleeping with him otherwise…..it’s just that, I don’t know, I don’t want to find myself getting too attached to him since we didn’t agree to that” and that’s what bloody scared her.

"I guess I've learned that I have no choice but to be calm about it. I can't just be upset about it all the time; that's no way to live." There were certainly times that were worse than others with her condition that made her feel down about it, but that's why she made sure she invested so much of herself in the things that made her happy, such as her job and her family and being in nature. Colemet accepted that this was the way she was, but still, that didn't make it any easier to deal with sometimes. Colemet sighed. "I don't know what brought it on. I guess I was feeling really angry and I just snapped. It usually isn't that bad, and I can usually get a handle on it before it gets to that point, but it just took me over yesterday." Thankfully Andrew wasn't mad at her and was able to talk her through it with Peter. She was entirely grateful for how understanding her family was. Colemet shrugged. "I know Healers aren't all bad; they're all great people for the work that they do. But ever since I went to St. Mungo' when I was little, I couldn't shake the fear of them. Just the thought of being poked and prodded at by a Healer...it freaks me out." Maybe it was irrational, but Colemet didn't know how to think differently.

Colemet smiled at Sophia gently. "I know there are. And I hope I'll find the right guy when the right time comes." She would love nothing more than to have someone to share her life with someone. She appreciated Sophia's optimism more than anything; she had a way of making Colemet feel so much better about herself and what was going on. Sophia just had the singlehanded ability to brighten everything up.

Colemet gave her friend a sympathetic look and placed a hand gently on hers. "You know there's nothing wrong with getting a little attached, right?" she asked her friend quietly. "Even if that's not what you agreed to, it's normal to develop those feelings for a person. And if you really feel that way about Tiwaz, or at least start to...well, you shouldn't have to regret it." She knew Sophia didn't like things to be more complicated than they had to be, but she also knew that Sophoa had a bigger heart than almost anyone she knew. Trying to disconnect herself from feeling anything for Tiwaz would be against her nature. She didn't want her friend to worry about it, just let it flow.