Seeing as Brynn had been acting a bit off recently, Erica had taken to hanging around with Roxy and Dakota a bit more, because they made her feel more relaxed and content. She wasn’t sure what was up with Brynn, but being around him was making her feel more anxious than usual. Even trying to ask him what was wrong wasn’t really helping. This morning, she’d done her hair nicely, maybe putting in a bit more effort than sometimes, because she was feeling in a good mood, when Brynn had demanded to know where she was going. Telling him she was going to see Roxy and Dakota hadn’t seemed to help, either, as he’d just kept asking her when she would be back; where they were hanging out; what they’d be doing. By the time Brynn had stopped questioning her, Erica was running a little later than she wanted. They’d planned to go for a walk around the lake, and Erica was supposed to meet them at the Entrance Hall. As she hurried up the stairs, she reflected on her conversation with Brynn. It made her anxious, like somehow she was doing something wrong by spending time with her new friends. This just added to the guilt she was feeling at realising she would be 10 minutes late to their meeting. Erica got to the Entrance Hall, out of breath and feeling downcast, and immediately blurted out an apology as she got within hearing distance of Roxy and Dakota: “Hi, I’m so so sorry, I lost track of time, I’ll be better in the future, sorry.”
Roxy and Dakota had been spending a lot of time with Erica recently; their project seemed to be going well. Flo had asked her about it the other day, and Falcon had looked a little unconvinced by it all. What was wrong with trying to show some support for an abuse victim, she’d asked, and Falcon had said there was nothing wrong with that but was she sure that was all there was to it? She’d paused too long before answering, and now Flo and Falcon both kept giving her little looks whenever she mentioned Erica. The truth was, she wasn’t sure if that was all there was to it, and it was making her feel a little weird and guilty. Thankfully Flo and Falcon would never say anything to Dakota, even though they shared a dorm with her. Anyway, she reassured herself now, waiting with Dakota for Erica, she loved Dakota, she wanted to be with Dakota, and some weird mixed-up feelings for a damsel in distress made a sort of sense, didn’t they? Once Erica and Brynn had broken up, everything would go back to normal.
She frowned up at the clock, before gazing around again. Erica wasn’t usually late. As far as they’d been able to tell, Brynn had never physically hurt her, but today - any day - could be the day that changed. Just as she was beginning to get antsy, she saw Erica across the hall and breathed out a small sigh of relief; she noticed Dakota doing the same. Clearly they’d been having the same thoughts. “Hey, don’t worry! I’ve never had track of time, Dakota’s the only reason I ever get anywhere on time,” she joked, trying to set Erica at ease. She was always worried over things like this, and it was clear Brynn would usually give her a rough time over the smallest things. Merlin, she wanted to kill him.
Sometimes it felt like all of Dakota’s time these days was either spent with Erica and Roxy, or talking to Roxy about Erica and complaining about Brynn. Weirdly, Dakota was completely okay with that: she loved spending time with Erica and was desperate to make sure she was okay. Whenever she saw Erica with Brynn, Dakota had an urge to hex him, despite this being totally out of character for her. She made do with just hanging out with Erica as much as possible, which, thankfully, Roxy wanted to do as well. Today, she could feel her girlfriend starting to get anxious when Erica was late, because it was so unusual for her. When they saw her, they both heaved a sigh of relief. She looked unscathed, if a little down in the dumps. Dakota snorted and nudged Roxy at her comment. “So true. I’ve had to drag her out of bed so many times because she thinks she still has plenty of time to get ready. Which, spoiler alert, she never does. I honestly don’t know how you coped before I was around,” she said with a fond smile. Hopefully, their usual bantering and cheerfulness would make Erica smile.
Erica frowned when they both said it was completely fine, feeling a bit unsettled. She was rude for keeping them waiting and they shouldn’t be so nice about it; she’d have to make it up to them at some point by buying them some chocolate or something. She managed a small smile in response to what they were saying: Roxy’s organisation did sometimes leave something to be desired. “Sometimes time just gets away from you,” she admitted. Erica could be quite uptight, not wanting to disrupt anyone by being late or doing something wrong, but sometimes she would realise that it was suddenly hours later than she expected. Usually when she was scrambling to reach a deadline for some homework. At Dakota’s fond smile, Erica felt a slight pang in her heart, like she wanted something like that. She looked down at the floor to avoid seeing any more sappy looks, instantly feeling guilty for wishing she had something other than what she had. She and Brynn were happy together: they loved each other as much as Dakota and Roxy loved each other. So why would she yearn for something she already had? Besides, if Brynn had been less loving recently, it was clearly Erica’s fault, and she needed to do something to cheer him up. She would work on that when she got back.
Roxy gave Dakota an indignant look. “I coped perfectly well before you, thank you very much,” she said, folding her arms and sticking her nose in the air, holding it for a second before snorting and admitting to Erica, “Nikki used to drag me out of bed. She’s much happier now she can just go down to breakfast. But I prefer Dakota, she gives me kisses,” she said, giving Dakota a big kiss on the cheek, then frowning a little as she noticed that Erica was looking down at the floor. She must be really down if she wasn’t even cheered up by their usual banter and cuteness. They’d better turn it up a notch, she supposed, and gave Erica a cheery smile. “C’mon, let’s get going on that walk, or it’ll get dark and we’ll get eaten by werewolves,” she said, putting an arm through hers to drag her outside. “Or we’ll fall in the Lake and get eaten by Grindylows! Or the Giant Squid! Merlin, there are a lot of dangerous creatures here,” she realised, side-tracked for a moment.
Dakota laughed, always amused by her girlfriend’s antics. She liked getting up early, usually before Falcon and Finola. She’d made friends with Kirby and Paige that way; they were always in the Great Hall bright and early. It was amazing how Kirby was always late for class, considering how early she got up. “So that’s why Nikki likes me so much,” she joked, well aware that most of Roxy’s family liked her a lot, at least the ones she’d met. She liked them, too, for the most part. Her mum was Cuban and came from a big, close, boisterous family, and she quite liked that Roxy’s family was similar. “I don’t think there’s werewolves here, babe. I’m sure the centaurs would chase them away.” She might have a point about the other creatures, though, she realised, glancing toward the Forbidden Forest. That was somewhere she definitely didn’t want to go exploring.
Erica let herself be dragged, quietly snorting at her friends’ conversation. Then she remembered how unattractive that was and decided to just keep to laughs from now on. She couldn’t imagine anyone in her dorm needing to be dragged out of bed: even if Eternity or Kaelyn did, Erica wouldn’t dare do it. And Maia was always up before 7am, going out on her runs like some mad person. “I don’t think there’s werewolves at the moment, anyway; the full moon was last week,” she pointed out, making an effort to join in the conversation, in case they suspected something was up. The Forbidden Forest gave her the shivers, anyway, even though she figured some stories about the creatures in there were exaggerated. Dakota was probably right about most creatures being driven away by the centaurs; they were scary.
“Yeah, she’ll be very disappointed in you if we ever break up, babe,” Roxy told her with a serious face. She knew Dakota was probably correct about the werewolves; as far as she knew, Remus Lupin was the only werewolf who’d ever been in that Forest. Still, it was much more fun to pretend that there were werewolves in there, so she gave her a pouty frown. “Excuse me, don’t rain on my parade. Have you checked the whole of the Forest, all over?” she asked, knowing that most students had only been in the edges of the Forest. “Well, some werewolves like to run around being evil even when it’s not the full moon!” she protested, feeling like she was being ganged up on.
“As she should be,” Dakota replied with sniff, amused that their relationship was doing so well that they could joke about breaking up. “Along with the rest of your family. I’m the best influence you’ve ever had.” She grinned, predicting Roxy’s indignation at her comment. Dakota caught Erica’s eye and rolled her own at Roxy’s pout. “Hey, I could have checked the whole of the Forest, you don’t know. Or I asked my secret spies to check for me, just so I could prove you wrong.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Yeah, but Erica’s right, they wouldn’t be wolves. So if there are any werewolves running around ‘being evil’” - she said, using quote marks - “they would just look like humans and wouldn’t rip our faces off.” She enjoyed it when Erica joined in with their bantering, especially when Dakota could side with her against Roxy.
Erica made a face at the idea of the two of them breaking up - they were such a healthy relationship that it made her feel heartbroken at the idea of them not being together. Sometimes she felt like she was more invested in their relationship than her own with Brynn. Shaking her head slightly to stop thinking this, she made an effort to focus on the current conversation. She laughed at their banter. “It would be pretty hard to check the whole Forest,” she said, agreeing with Roxy. “Your spies? Who are they, then?” Erica shivered at the idea of a wolf ripping their faces off, wishing Dakota hadn’t phrased it quite like that. “How about we don’t hang around here too late to find out who’s right?”
“I must be pretty bad if you’re all such good influences and I’m still like this, then!” Roxy said cheerfully. It was true; most of her family were good influences, particularly Hugo. She blamed her dad and his brother, as well as the Marauders. “She would never have checked the whole Forest, she’s too much of a wimp for that,” she told Erica in a stage-whisper. “Some werewolves like to act like wolves all the time though! They’re evil,” she said, nodding solemnly. “We’d be ok though, Dakota’s checked the whole Forest all over, so we’d be safe with her!”
“I had my secret spies to help, so it was easy-peasy,” Dakota said, amused by the whole conversation. “If I told you who my spies were, they wouldn’t be secret anymore, and they take secrecy very seriously!” There, that sounded good and mysterious. “You are very bad, I’ll have to punish you later,” she said, with a wink. “I am not a wimp! I am very brave,” she said, indignant, although she’d be the first to run screaming if a werewolf did swagger out of the Forest right now. “I might leave you to get eaten,” she said, narrowing her eyes at Roxy.
“I don’t think even Mother Theresa would be a good influence on you,” Erica said with a laugh, getting caught up in the joking. She found it was much easier to be herself around them. Erica blushed at Dakota’s comment and wink, and looked down at her feet for a moment, unsure of how to respond. “I’m sure you’re not a wimp,” she said placatingly, even though there was probably a reason Roxy was the only Gryffindor in their group. Erica would absolutely wee herself if a werewolf came within a mile of her. She giggled at their antics. “You wouldn’t leave me, right?” She asked, blinking innocently.
“You don’t have spies, you can’t keep a secret to save your life,” Roxy said, indignant again. “I look forward to being punished,” she said with a salacious wink, then glanced at Erica and realised she was uncomfortable again. “Who or what is a Mother Theresa?” Roxy asked, though she could tell by the context it was an insult. “But you’re right, Godric himself could rise from his grave and say I’m an insult to the name of Gryffindor and I’d flip him off and be like, begone, old man!” She quite liked the idea of that. “She is, she’d use me as a human shield if a werewolf were within a mile of her.”
“Heyy, I can totally keep secrets. I didn’t even tell you who I saw making out in the greenhouse the other day, ‘cause they asked me not to tell.” Dakota mimed zipping her lips shut. She grinned at Roxy’s flirting, but followed her glance to Erica and decided to change the subject. “Y’know, Roxy, I’m always shocked by what you do and don’t know. Like, with your family, I would’ve thought you’d know more about Muggle stuff? Mother Teresa was like the olden-days version of Erica,” she said. That was the best explanation she could give - she was sure Erica would be more articulate. “To be fair, Godric would just think that was a good embodiment of Gryffindor,” she said, rolling her eyes at the House. Helga, on the other hand, would be proud of all of her Hufflepuffs, no matter what. “I’d absolutely use you as a shield, but I would let Erica be protected by you, too, I’m magnanimous like that.”