And So it (Almost) Ends (Bryce)

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Katrina sat in a chair by the Black Lake and sketched the body of water, which had just recently melted at the top due to the arrival of Spring. Her artistic heart loved the Spring. There was so much beauty to capture in her sketches and paintings. Sadly, her heart wasn't completely into it today. Her sketching was good as it usually was, but done idly. Her mind was on other things. As she looked about the beach, she remembered how around a year ago, she sketched Cole jogging there. He stopped and they had an actual conversation for the first time. From there, they built up what was now a strong relationship, and soon she would be moving in with him.

And then there was graduation. Her time at Hogwarts was almost at an end. It was so strange to think of that now that it really hit her. Sure she would see her friends afterward, but it wasn't going to be the same. There were things they wouldn't be able to do again, and things she wouldn't be able to do again. She would definitely miss sitting outside of Hogwarts and sketching the amazing area. Kat sighed and shook the thoughts a bit, trying to concentrate on her work.

@bryce

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Kat stopped sketching and looked at the photo of her that Bryce placed on her sketch. She smirked a bit.

"Well congrats, Bryce," she said, not even having to look at him to know who it was. "You've made even me look interesting." She then turned to him and her voice went from good-naturedly sarcastic to sincere. "Thanks." She watched as he took another. "Glad you came down though. Lots on my mind and it's good to have a friend to spill it to."

Had the cards played out another way, Katrina and Bryce could have been dating. Bryce was the first male friend Kat had made at Hogwarts, and this was back when most guys annoyed the hell out of her. Bryce was different and was respectful to her, never once saying some cheesy pick-up line or anything else stupid for that matter. He was definitely one of the people she wanted to hang with long after she graduated.

"So... you doing okay?" she asked.

@bryce

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Katrina nodded at what Bryce said. One thing he both loved about him and was driven mad by was the fact that Bryce always knew what to say.

"It's clear you're the intellect of our little duo," she said. "And I'm the artist, so... I think that works out well." She smirked at him.

She raised an eyebrow about him getting beat up by a Ravenclaw.

"Um... yeah... you're totally going to have to tell me about that one," she said. "I mean, it's too late to hold back now. So which one tried to do you in? Wasn't the French guy who can dance, was it?" She was joking. She couldn't picture Mathieu assaulting anyone.

She then shrugged when he asked how she was.

"Well... everything's sort of hitting me at once," she said. "The whole graduation dealy and all, along with what's coming after it. My boyfriend asked me to move in with him, and I have the museum to work on. Doesn't look like I'll be having that last summer break."

@bryce

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Katrina shook her head and smiled.

"If I thought you were that, I would have asked you for money by now," she joked. Everyone knew Kat had never hurt for money. Her late mother had lived a miserable life, but not an impoverished one by any means.

Kat patted Bryce on the shoulder.

"Yeah, you're a real outlaw," she said. "You'll be on the Ministry's Top Ten Undesirables List by your early twenties. But seriously, yeah don't let it get to you. Just ride it out a few more months and you can stop worrying about Prefects and concentrate on fleeing from Aurors."

Kat smiled when Bryce told her she could take it a bit easy and that she had a plan.

"I suppose," she said. "If it wasn't from Cole's Uncle Draco's generosity, I wouldn't have much of one though. Honestly, I'm just playing it as I go."

Katrina didn't want to hear that. She cared a great deal about Bryce and didn't want to say good-bye to him for good in a few months. She became more seriousness now.

"Don't say that, okay?" she said. "I've been able to make a few friends here over the past couple of years, but I can count on one hand how many are close ones. You're one of those. I don't want you to be one of those I meet again twenty years down the road wondering where the bloody hell the time went."

@bryce

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Kat couldn't help but laugh when Bruce went on about his plans. She could see him going through with it too. It was nice to laugh a bit again.

"Bryce, you are by far the most fascinatingly odd friend I've ever made," she said. "Of course I'm a bit odd myself, so again... it works out."

Kat sighed and tried to smile when Bryce spoke of her naming her child after him. But the fact was the idea of not seeing him for a long time proved to be a black cloud.

"If you make me wait that long, I might smack you when we reunite before giving you the world's biggest hug," she said. "And please do not bring up me having kids. I don't think I could bare what my mother......" Kat then stopped. Whenever she brought up her late mother, she found herself fighting back tears. "I don't plan on having children at the moment."

@bryce

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When Bryce said for her not to look for him if he disappeared, that made Kat feel uneasy. What did he mean by that? Kat had struggled to push through her mother's passing, but to lose another she loved? She didn't know if she could handle that.

"You're not going to disappear on me," he said. "I'm going to see to that. Even if you are far away, we'll still keep in touch."

Kat smiled when Bryce said he bet her mother was an aazing moment. And then Bryce was about to experience something he probably hadn't yet... seeing her tear up.

"Yeah... she was," she said. "My father... and I use that term in a biological sense only... left her a great burden when he ran off, but she did her best... and Merlin I miss her." Kat wiped her tears with her sleeve. "Sorry."

When Bryce spoke of standing by Kat whether he was there or not, Kat found her self embracing him and just holding on. Few people, even so few of her friends, could have this effect on her.

"I love you, Bryce," she said, and she did love her friend an incredible deal.

Bryce spoke of being odd, and how despite what flaws he might have had, he still had a friend like Katrina.

"Always, Bryce, always," she said.

@bryce

(not much to add for Kat I suppose)