Twist Until You Break (Priscilla)

[Deleted]

February 25, 2025

The past few days honestly seemed too good to be true. Riley came back to her! He loved her and promised he wouldn't leave her again. He even gave her a beautiful ring to seal his promise and now they spent more time together than ever. He sat with her at meals, during class. Just being close to him brought Kinsey peace, despite the fact that she was still dealing with those nightmares. At least he was with her. She didn't feel torn in two anymore and knowing that Riley was with her gave Kinsey more peace than she could imagine. 

They couldn't always be together though. Today he was at Divination, one of the only classes they didn't share, and Kinsey had a free period. She decided to go up to the Astronomy Tower, since she had some homework that she hadn't been able to finish during the weekend. She walked up the steps, a little bounce in her step as she went. Her homework shouldn't take too long, and after Riley's class was over, they were both done for the day. They'd probably go on a walk together or play games until dinner, but Kinsey didn't really care what she did. As long as she was with him, which she should be. 

She got to the top of the staircase and pulled her work out of her bag, moving next to a telescope. It was still the middle of the day, but with the magical telescopes one could still see the sky pretty well. She leaned forward and looked into the telescope, entirely unaware that she wasn't alone. 

@priscilla

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Ever since the engagement party had ended as it had and ruined any hope of a future for Priscilla, the Ravenclaw had decided to skip her lessons for the foreseeable future. She couldn't bear to look at anyone, even though she hoped that they knew that it wasn't her fault that Riley had no consideration for anyone but himself… and, it seemed, Kinsey Bainbridge. It was mind-blowing to her just how quickly he had gone back to her, the half-blood scum that she was. It wasn't normal for anyone to change their mind so quickly, and especially not Riley. Riley, who had loved her, who was going to marry her… was spending more time with Kinsey than ever before—and that wasn't all: There was also that glimmer of a diamond on the older girl's finger.

That made Priscilla's blood boil. What had happened, and what in Merlin's name had Kinsey slipped in his pumpkin juice?! Oh, it was just unbearable! Riley was her first real relationship, and it was intended that he would be her only one. What was wrong with him that he had the nerve to ruin the rest of her life in front of the entire school?

She might not have been able to find Riley to confront him, but Priscilla was like a Niffler as soon as she saw the glint of that diamond ring on Kinsey Bainbridge's hand. That she should have been in class was irrelevant; she guessed that Kinsey probably should have been, too, and she saw nothing wrong with trailing her until the older girl went up to the Astronomy Tower.

They weren't technically supposed to be up there if they weren't in an Astronomy lesson, but Priscilla wasn't exactly concerned with the thought of getting detention or losing a few House points for entering somewhere that was meant to be restricted. She waited until she was sure that Kinsey was at least halfway up the staircase before she followed behind her, careful to make sure nobody saw her.

Gradually, Priscilla drew her wand from her robes, holding it out as she ascended the stairs to the very top of the tower. She saw Kinsey almost immediately as she stepped away from the staircase she had just climbed, and there was no sign of Riley. At least there would be no one to defend Kinsey so high up.

"Where did you get that ring?!" Priscilla demanded, wand out and pointed at Kinsey. She had tried to play nice in the past. This time, she wasn't above a duel.

@kinsey

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Kinsey was busy looking through the telescope and writing notes on her work. Too busy to notice that someone joined her on the astronomy tower, until the girl spoke. Kinsey spun around, recognizing that voice immediately. Priscilla Rosier. What was she doing up here? Shouldn't she be in class or something?

The younger girl had her wand in hand, pointing it straight at Kinsey, whose wand was on the table beside her work. Crap. Priscilla was obviously angry and Kinsey wasn't exactly sure what she was going to do. She didn't want to answer Priscilla's question, hadn't even thought about how the younger girl would feel seeing her wear a diamond ring, or what she would think it meant. "It's not what you think," Kinsey said, trying to placate her as she reached behind herself for her wand, glad that it was at least easily accessible. Kinsey kept her wand behind her back as she waited to see what happened. "Riley gave it to me," she added for a moment, knowing that Priscilla wouldn't accept her first answer. This was not good.

@priscilla

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"It's not what you think," Kinsey claimed, although there was no way that it was anything but what it looked like: Riley Fudge was even more of an idiot than he had proven himself to be, which Kinsey promptly confirmed to her then. "Riley Fudge gave it to me."

"Of course he did," Priscilla spat. She wasn't a fool; she'd seen how he'd suddenly changed his tune and cozied up to her. It was sickening. He was sickening, as was Kinsey for having agreed—apparently—to marry him. Riley's speech about not wanting to marry anyone now? It was all lies, every word of it.

She should have known better than to think that Kinsey Bainbridge had any kind of decorum. There shouldn't have needed to be a prohibition on how soon someone could get engaged again after breaking off their marriage, but Riley Fudge clearly needed the rules written out for him in ink. Riley, her handsome and pure ex-fiancé.

Priscilla stepped towards Kinsey, trying to get a better look at the ring in question. "What is it?" she interrogated her. "Goblin-wrought silver?"

@kinsey

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Priscilla was obviously furious, glaring at Kinsey and staring at the ring on her finger. Her words were sharp and Kinsey gritted her teeth. She didn't know what Priscilla wanted, or what she hoped to gain by confronting her here, but Kinsey wasn't going to take it lying down. She wanted to defend Riley, to defend herself and tell Priscilla that they were always in love, just like she'd told her months ago, but that wouldn't help anything. It would probably make things worse with how upset Priscilla obviously was. 

She stepped closer and Kinsey took a step back, not sure what she was doing. Then she started to ask about the ring. Kinsey shrugged, "I don't know." Honestly, Kinsey didn't know much about jewelry or anything. She didn't know why Priscilla cared. "It's just a ring." Of course, it meant a lot more to Kinsey than that, but she wasn't about to say that to Priscilla.

@priscilla

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"I don't know," shrugged Kinsey. "It's just a ring."

Priscilla rolled her eyes at the realization that of course Kinsey wouldn't know what the ring Riley had given her was made of. She wasn't deserving of it, whatever it was. Even if it wasn't actually a precious metal or a real diamond, she wasn't deserving of it. Of course she had no knowledge of the potential value of what she was wearing on her finger.

And it wasn't "just" a ring. It was a ring that, as far as Priscilla was concerned, should have been hers. She was supposed to be marrying Riley; she was supposed to be the one able to rub it in Kinsey's face. It wasn't supposed to be the other way around, with Kinsey as nonchalant as she was about it.

"He proposed to you," Priscilla gritted her teeth. "He embarrassed me in front of everyone, ran off, and proposed to you?! You dirty little half-blood…"

@kinsey

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Everything about this conversation was going downhill and Kinsey just wanted to leave, but at the same time she didn't. Kinsey wasn't really a fighter, all her experiences with Dom made her quite the opposite, but she also didn't want to run away. Priscilla hated her, which wasn't really a surprise. Only a few days ago, Kinsey hated her. Still, this conversation was going into dangerous territory and Kinsey wasn't quite sure what to do. 

Priscilla growled that Riley proposed to her and Kinsey automatically shook her head. "He didn't propose to me, he just gave me a ring," she argued. She wouldn't tell Priscilla everything. She didn't care what the younger girl thought, but she did want to try and talk her down. Kinsey wasn't sure what the girl would do now. 

Then Priscilla was calling her a dirty halfblood and Kinsey's expression grew serious. "I told you. He loves me. He's always loved me. The only reason he was ever with you was because his parents forced him into it," she muttered back, eyes hard as she brought her wand in front of her. Kinsey didn't want to bait Priscilla, but at the same time she did. This fight was a long time coming. 

@priscilla

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"He didn't propose to me, he just gave me a ring," Kinsey countered her, at which Priscilla glared. So she was really supposed to believe that all it was was a ring? And that Riley Fudge would just turn around after wrecking everything to give another girl—the girl he had dated before they were betrothed to one another—a ring that meant nothing at all? That was awfully convenient timing, Priscilla thought.

Kinsey didn't react as negatively to the "half-blood" comment as Priscilla had expected; probably because she had just gotten everything that she had just had—snatched it right out from under her nose. "I told you. He loves me. He's always loved me. The only reason he was ever with you was because his parents forced him into it," she asserted.

"If he was so unhappy with me," Priscilla argued back at her, "he had plenty of time to tell me that he didn't want to go through with it." Riley had had months to do that. While she probably would have been angry with him for breaking off the engagement in private, it would have been a significant improvement from how he had decided to go about it. She could have done without the mortification.

And then it hit her. Kinsey must have known the entire time. She had to have known, and Priscilla gripped her wand more tightly. A fire raged in her eyes. "You knew! You knew he was going to do it!" She must have had it all planned out.

"Expulso!" Priscilla cried out, watching as the curse blasted the telescope beside Kinsey off of its mount, sending it flying in the air a short distance before hitting the floor and rolling to an eventual halt. She'd missed her initial target, but that didn't mean that she wouldn't try again.

@kinsey

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This was really just going from bad to worse. Kinsey wasn't sure why she was still trying to fix it. Obviously, Priscilla saw her as the bad person, the reason why Riley left. That was true, he left because he loved Kinsey, but she'd never meant to hurt Priscilla in the process. She didn't even know the girl cared that much about Riley. 

"I don't know why he didn't say anything to you about not wanting to get married," Kinsey answered almost immediately. Honestly, that did seem like the logical thing to do ... unless he suspected Priscilla was involved in the same kind of things as his parents. But ... he would have told Kinsey if he thought that. He didn't even tell Kinsey that he didn't want to marry Priscilla until the whole debacle with that blonde girl. 

Then the atmosphere shifted and Kinsey could sense Priscilla's intentions growing violent. Her eyes widened and she lifted her wand as the girl accused her of knowing. "I knew what?" Kinsey shouted, feeling cornered as she moved to the side to try and avoid Priscilla's curse. It hit the telescope next to her, which Kinsey felt bad about, a little. "I don't know what you're talking about," she added angrily. What was going on in Priscilla's mind? She couldn't figure it out. Nor did she have the time, with Priscilla attacking her. 

@priscilla

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"I don't know why he didn't say anything to you about not wanting to get married," said Kinsey, but that didn't do anything to change the fact that he hadn't said anything. Priscilla knew better than to seek out Riley for an apology as to why he hadn't spoken to her sooner; she would probably end up even angrier with him than she was with his pathetic new fiancée.

Still, Kinsey played dumb—or, at least, that was how Priscilla perceived it as the other girl asked her what it was that she was supposed to have known. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You know," Priscilla answered her, her tone more and more accusatory. "He showed up late to our party, just to tell his parents that he wasn't going to marry me," she explained, "because he decided he'd marry you instead." As far as she was concerned, both of them were dead to her, but there was one way around it: Riley couldn't marry Kinsey if there was no Kinsey to marry.

"I could knock you off this tower," Priscilla threatened, eyes locked on Kinsey. It was high enough that a fall from that distance would almost certainly be fatal. "Give your fiancé a taste of his own potion…?"

@kinsey

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Priscilla explained what she was talking about, her tone furious and Kinsey shook her head. She doubted Priscilla was even listening to anything she said anymore, but she'd still try to defend herself. "I didn't know. Riley and I hadn't even spoken to one another in more than a week. I didn't think he was ever going to talk to me again." Then, when he had, he'd told her that he chose her, that he wanted her and abandoned his family and everything he knew for her. 

Kinsey was starting to feel a little scared. She'd never seen someone this angry before, someone this full of hatred. Goosebumps crawled up her arms when Priscilla continued, suggesting that she could knock Kinsey off the tower. Kinsey took another step away from her, silently using the protection charm to hopefully help her against whatever Priscilla was planning on doing. She didn't say anything though, just tried to prepare herself for whatever Priscilla was going to do next. Priscilla was obviously mad and losing her mind, but Kinsey had no intention of dying today. She'd fight back, do whatever she had to in order to protect herself, but she wasn't going to attack Priscilla. 

@priscilla

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"I didn't know. Riley and I hadn't even spoken to one another in more than a week. I didn't think he was ever going to talk to me again."

Priscilla was certain that Kinsey was only feeding her lies now, the same way that Riley had lied when he'd said that he wasn't going to marry anyone. The idea of a surprise proposal would have been a charming one, Priscilla thought, had it been any other couple. The thought of Kinsey and Riley engaged, though, made her feel sick to her stomach.

Watching Kinsey back away from her, Priscilla moved towards her. She didn't want a commotion; she just didn't want to have any more problems with the older girl. If that meant that Kinsey had to fall from the Astronomy Tower in order for her to accomplish that, then she didn't care. She was sure that Elaine would be proud to know that she was following in her footsteps.

"Scared of me?" Priscilla taunted with a smile. "I could make it painless, if you want." She'd have a fun time with that, too. No one would believe that she was capable of performing the Killing Curse, and there wasn't exactly a prison in which to lock her up. The thought was tempting, for a moment, before Priscilla considered Elaine again. She still had work to do. She couldn't actually waste that potential on Kinsey.

But she didn't have to know that.

@kinsey

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Priscilla was eerily silent now, looking at Kinsey with those hate-filled eyes. She didn't say anything to Kinsey's defense of herself, didn't argue or even sneer at it. Which was even more creepy, honestly. Priscilla moved towards Kinsey as she moved back and Kinsey tried to figure out how many steps it would take for her to be able to make it back to the staircase. Too many to be able to make it without Priscilla trying to hit her with a curse, for sure. So for now, Kinsey decided the best thing to do would be to stay as close to the middle of the tower as possible. She didn't want to be close to an edge, didn't want to give Priscilla the chance to do what she was threatening. 

Kinsey shook her head when Priscilla taunted her, saying that she could make Kinsey's death painless. No. Kinsey wasn't going to die, she just had to be careful. She couldn't think of a thing to say to the other girl, so she just watched her carefully, finding minimal relief in her shield charm. How long was Priscilla going to stand there and taunt her? "I'm not scared," Kinsey answered, her voice normal to her surprise. She'd had a lot of practice pretending to be fine with Dom. Maybe that was paying off now. If she could get away. 

@priscilla

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Kinsey stayed towards the interior of the tower, rather than around the periphery from which she could reasonably be knocked off. She claimed not to be scared of her and, truthfully, didn't sound as though she was lying to save face that time.

Priscilla kept smiling; she would have to see about that. "Good," she replied to the older girl's relatively calm demeanor, shocked that the same girl who had run away from their last meeting didn't appear fazed by her veiled mention of the Killing Curse. "Then you won't mind if I do this…"

She made sure that her wand was steady and aimed it directly at Kinsey. "Stupefy!"

@kinsey

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Riley would hate this. Kinsey couldn't keep herself from thinking about him, even as she stood in dueling position against Priscilla Rosier. All Riley ever wanted was to keep her safe. He'd hate knowing she was stuck in a duel with anyone, but most of all with his ex-fiance. Kinsey wasn't going to tell him about this. Once she got away from Priscilla, she'd pretend like this never happened and be careful not to go out in public on her own again. 

Priscilla continued smiling, saying good when Kinsey said she wasn't scared. Then she spoke before shooting at Kinsey. Kinsey took a step to the side, her wand still out, but making the curse miss her without needing to hit the shield charm she had protecting her. Kinsey didn't want to warn the girl of that. She'd keep trying to evade Priscilla's attack until she could make it to the stairs. It shouldn't be too hard to do that. 

Kinsey didn't say anything or fire anything. She didn't want to hurt Priscilla. She just wanted to get away. 

@priscilla