the Hogwarts drunk

First Impressions || Olivia and Rei

Olivia smirked, “That could prove to be interesting because so am I.” Olivia was usually surrounded by people who tempered her impulsiveness with reason so the idea of spending time with someone who might do a bit more acting and then thinking sounded exciting. Olivia shifted to lean her back against the arm of the couch as Rei joined her, her leg brushing against Rei’s and she pulled it up onto the couch between them. She felt her cheeks color as warmth spread through them at Rei’s words. “Well I’ve um…I’ve already had quite enough to drink tonight so I’d much rather have a kiss than a drink. And um…I’ve never gotten a um…a lap dance so I can’t say whether or not it would be better than a kiss so…I’ll have to stand by my previous statement.” Olivia took a sip of her drink in an effort to hide the way her cheeks continued to redden at the way Rei was looking at her.

Rei smiled internally at the idea of them both being impulsive. Mostly Rei would just decide that she wanted to do something and do whatever it took to then accomplish what she had set out to do. She smirked at Olivia's obvious attempts to hide her blush behind her cup. Rei shifted her body forwards slightly. "Never had a lap dance? What a shame. They are quite good." As Rei finished speaking she lightly brushed her fingers against Olivia's leg. Trying to be as obvious as she could but also moving slowly so she didn't scare Olivia or push her beyond what she night feel comfortable doing. Her fingers played along the edge of Olivia's leg and she smiled. "Well, if you ever wanted to see if a lap dance would be better than a kiss, I know a few people who would be happy to give you one. Or I could just keep you all to myself..."

How we got here

#Tiny Rei #p: how we got here #i feel like they're probably the same height and that's a weird thought actually

Olivia gave Rei a small smile, it was nice talking to someone who actually seemed to want to listen to her. Olivia wasn’t used to that, especially not with kids her own age. Talking to Rei like this made Olivia hope that maybe she’d finally ended up in a place where she could make friends. “If I try to explain it anymore we’ll just both get lost in my rambling and I’ll manage to embarrass myself even more,” Olivia tried to smile like she was joking but she couldn’t quite pull it off. Olivia watched as Rei stuffed a bit of food in her jacket with curiosity. She wondered if they were supposed to take food but she had no idea so she didn’t say anything and just continued to smile over at Rei. Olivia heard the scrapings of a chair from the front of the hall and turned to see the headmistress stepping up to the podium to wish them all a goodnight and a good start to the school year. As soon as she stopped talking the students around them got to their feet. Olivia looked over at Rei not sure what they were supposed to do now.

Rei glanced up towards the front of the room as the headmistress began to speak. As soon as she was done speaking, the Great Hall seemed to burst into a cacophony of sound as everyone stood and started to exit the Great Hall. Rei looked nervously towards Olivia, not sure what exactly she was supposed to do next. It was easy to identify the first-years at this point, since they were all unsure of where to go. At least until, the prefects began calling for the first years. Rei slowly made her way over to the prefects, trying to not lose sight of Olivia. Rei just didn’t want to spend the time having to make a new friend, at least that’s what Rei told herself. She just didn’t really want to admit that she felt uncomfortable and that Olivia made her feel a little less uncomfortable. As the Prefects began to lead the lost little first years through the castle, Rei found Olivia and stood next to her. At the Grand staircase, Rei strained her next to see up to the top, and she blinked in surprise as she saw one of the staircases move above them. “That’s a lot of stairs...”

First Impressions || Olivia and Rei

Olivia smiled, “Well you’re welcome to talk to me about it if you’d like. You don’t have to though, I know how hard it is to talk about things that are that personal.” Olivia shrugged, “But that’s unavoidable, this was avoidable. You put yourself in a potentially difficult situation to spend time with me, you definitely didn’t need to do that.” Olivia shook her head, “Don’t be ridiculous. What could be better than a kiss? Besides, you didn’t even know it was my birthday. There are three people in the world who give me birthday presents and two of them live with me.” She laughed and grinned up at Rei, “Well at least you’re aware that I’m weird. I’d be pretty disappointed if you hadn’t noticed. Because if you hadn’t then that’d mean that you don’t like me for the right reasons.” Olivia squeezed Rei’s hand back and smiled, “Thank you.” Then she walked around Rei, gently tugging on her hand, “Come on, we should sit down.” She grabbed her lemonade before moving into the living room and sitting on the couch.

“Have I mentioned that I’m just a tad impulsive?” Rei gave Olivia a little shrug and a small smile. “I honestly didn’t think on it until I was offered a drink.” Rei wasn’t sure how she was supposed to feel about the realization that she wanted to hang out with Olivia so much that she had completely forgotten about having to worry about alcohol. She followed Olivia as the shorter girl tugged on her hand and followed her to the couch. Rei sat down next to her, angling herself so that she was looking at Olivia. “Well, I can think of a few things that might be better than a kiss. I mean, if we were at the club and it were your birthday, you’d probably get a free drink. Maybe even a free lap dance, depending on the dancer.” Rei smirked and took a drink from her glass, her eyes not leaving Olivia’s.

How we got here

#Tiny Rei #p: how we got here #that sounds like a good idea

“There is a raven doorknocker that guards our common room…though that is significantly less exciting than a dragon. And I suppose it doesn’t so much guard us as make us answer a riddle to get in. So it’s more like a sphinx than a dragon,” Olivia frowned, realizing that this all might be a lot less interesting to Rei than it was to her. Olivia nodded, “I hope you’re better at flying than I am, I’d hate for both of us to look ridiculous. Though I doubt you’re as clumsy as I am, you don’t look clumsy…not that I have much information to judge that on…sorry, there was a compliment buried in there somewhere,” Olivia blushed and pushed the crumbs around her plate with the piece of bread she was still holding. Everyone around them seemed to be started to finish their food, maybe that meant they’d be going up to the dorm soon. She hoped that was the case, she was amazed she’d managed to talk to Rei for this long without completely embarrassing herself but if she kept talking she was sure she’d manage it soon enough.

Rei nodded as she listened to Olivia speak. “Yeah, not as exciting. But still, I’ve never met a talking doorknocker. So it’s still pretty cool.” Rei couldn’t help but imagine that door handle from Alice in Wonderland, and wondered what would happen if she couldn’t answer the riddle and couldn’t get in. “Thanks, I think?” Rei’s eyes squinted in confusion a bit, but she gave a tiny smile. Rei noticed that everyone around them had begun to finish, and Rei wondered what might happen next. Everyone sort of seemed to be in that same place, looking around and waiting for something to happen. As she was waiting, she grabbed a pastry, wrapped it in a napkin, and slipped it into the pocket of her jacket. She wasn’t quite sure how meals worked around here, so she wanted to make sure that she would something to eat. Just in case she didn’t get breakfast or something. She didn’t know if she was allowed to take food out of here, but figured that they wouldn’t miss just one thing. Rei wasn’t entirely sure what she should say next, this was probably the longest conversation that she had had in a very long time. She wasn’t exactly talented in the art of small talk, and she didn’t usually care to make friends. But she kind of like Olivia, she decided.

So I guess we're supposed to dance now...

Olivia smirked as she watched Rei’s eyes trail over her, she’d always loved it when Rei looked at her that way. Even when that sort of look had made her blush all the way to her collarbone she’d still loved the fact that Rei was looking at her. But Olivia never could have imagined that Rei would be looking at her like that after spending the night in her bed. Olivia grinned, “That’s better. Don’t worry we’ll do the things you like too,” she leaned forward and pressed another kiss to Rei’s neck before leaning back and pressing one to her lips. Olivia continued frowning and shook her head, “That’s not true. You just have to want to be the kind of girl who lets people take you on dates.” Olivia tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and fidgeted slightly, “Do you um…do you want to go on a date?”

“Oh well I certainly hope so.” Rei said, though she knew that she would probably be alright with cuddling even if there was nothing else before it. Because it was Olivia and Rei was sure that she would do anything that Olivia asked, even if she acted like she wouldn’t. “Well, I mean no one has ever wanted to take me on a date. So I’m not so sure that me not letting them take me on a date the issue here.” Rei smiled softly up at Olivia. “I would love to. Though I’m not sure what they entail exactly. But I’m willing to try.” Especially since it’s you. Rei finished her sentence in her head, not sure how to say it out loud. But the sentiment was still there, even if she hadn’t actually said it.

How we got here

Olivia grinned, “No, there aren’t any dragons keeping us trapped in there. I can’t imagine there are dragons on school grounds. There are dragons though, just not here. The Ministry tries to keep them under control.” The idea of dragons being on campus was both exciting and terrifying. “There are other magical creatures though, there’s a whole class about it. It’s an elective though so we can’t take it until third year.” Olivia nodded, glad that Rei seemed to be interested in what she was saying. She smiled back at Rei, it was the first time the girl had smiled at her since she sat down, “Superman is brilliant, I’m a bit fonder of Supergirl myself.” Olivia blushed slightly and continued talking, “No, not as exciting as Superman. Yeah, really. And if you’re good at flying there’s Quidditch too. It’s a sport like um…well there’s not really a muggle equivalent.”

Rei shrugged her shoulders. “Well that’s less cool. Though I guess dragons aren’t actually that safe. You know, with the whole breathing fire thing.” She figured that dragons in real life were probably closer to the dragons in older tales then some of the newer ones with the dragons being almost benevolent. The phrase “dragons in real life” made Rei question her sanity just a touch. “That sounds cool.” Rei wondered what exactly good at flying entailed. And how she would know if she was or not. But Rei was suddenly very excited to try flying, because she wanted at least once to experience it.

So I guess we're supposed to dance now...

Olivia put her hand on Rei’s cheek, “Hey, I know you do. You were more honest with me last night than you’ve ever been before, it was a lot. We’ll get there.” Olivia ran her thumb across Rei’s cheek and leaned forward to press a kiss to Rei’s other cheek. She smirked as Rei grabbed her hips, “Your intentions have never been purely honorable. You are insatiable and incredibly attracted to me, don’t try to pretend you weren’t thinking about sex.” Olivia bite her lip, “I know I was thinking about it.” Her face softened slightly, “But I have to say I can’t remember the last time I felt as good as I did curled up in your arms.” Olivia smiled and pressed a kiss to Rei’s palm against her face. She opened her mouth and made an indignant noise as she pushed Rei’s shoulder, “Not as bad as you thought it was? Now that definitely makes me want to have sex with you,” Olivia shook her head and smirked at Rei. She frowned and looked down at Rei, “Have you ever been on a date?”

“You are completely correct.” Rei smirked as Olivia admitted that she was thinking about shagging her. “But can you blame me.” Rei let her eyes roam over Olivia’s body, and she couldn’t help but be distracted by the beautiful blonde straddled on her waist. She laughed when Olivia pushed her shoulder and smirked. “And by not as bad I mean that I, uhm, enjoyed cuddling with you. And I uhm, would love to stay and cuddle with you.” Rei’s words had been a lot more confident in her head. She hated how unsure she sounded, but before tonight if someone had told Rei that those words would have come out of her mouth she would have just laughed. At Olivia’s question she shook her head. “Nope. I’m not really the kind of girl that people take on dates.”

First Impressions || Olivia and Rei

Olivia nodded as Rei spoke, Olivia was always paying attention. She was grateful for the smile, at least Rei didn’t seem to be upset with her for being so nosy but as Rei continued Olivia frowned, running Rei’s words around in her head, “Oh, Oh!” Her eyes got wide as she realized what Rei was saying. “Why didn’t you say something? You know we could have done just about anything else right? Obviously I don’t know what it’s like for you but I do know something about being in situations that bring up painful parts of your past.” Olivia squeezed Rei’s hand, “At the very least having someone who knows what’s going helps me.” Olivia smiled up at Rei, hoping to let her know that she wasn’t bothered by what Rei had told her. It made her sad that things had been that way for Rei but that was different. Olivia laughed, she could tell Rei was confused by her reaction to the kiss. She kept her hands on Rei’s waist and played with the fabric of her shirt, “Sorry, I realize that was a little weird. It’s after midnight, it’s my birthday.” Olivia smiled up at Rei, “I had my first kiss at midnight on my birthday and Cass thought that was the best thing so every year since someone kisses me, usually it’s Cass and on my cheek but not always. That’s why they made me come to the party tonight.” Olivia shrugged, “I know it’s ridiculous but it’s what we do. I promise that’s not why I invited you tonight, I didn’t know that you might want to kiss me. I mean, I knew I wanted to kiss you, of course I wanted to kiss you.” Olivia had started rambling again, “I probably should have just told you but I forgot to and now you probably think I’m weirder than you already did. Which is fair because I am really weird.”

Rei shook her head and shrugged. “I don’t talk about it, usually. Also I didn’t quite think about it until I was already on my over. Besides, I work in a club, I’m around it all the time.” Not that that actually made it any easier to deal with, but Rei had become good at avoiding it. Rei smiled at Olivia squeezed her hand, please by the fact that telling her this hadn’t seemed to alter anything, which is probably the biggest reason why she didn’t talk about it. She hated being pitied for any reason, but Rei should have known that Olivia wouldn’t be that person.

Rei smiled as Olivia explained why she had thanked Rei for the kiss. “I’m glad that I could help you keep up your tradition then. Though I’m sorry I don’t have anything better to give you than a kiss.” Olivia’s rambling made Rei smirk and Rei reached out and put her hands on Olivia’s shoulders to slow her rambling. “I don’t think you’re weird. Or at least I don’t think you’re any weirder.” She gave her a teasing smile and then reached down to squeeze Olivia’s hand. “Happy Birthday.”

So I guess we're supposed to dance now...

Olivia smiled back softly, “Thank you for wanting to know. It feels sort of weird telling you about it, it’s been a really long time since I’ve been able to share things with you.” Olivia went back to tracing her fingers over Rei’s skin, “I like it though, being able to talk to you. I hope you’ll get to the point where you can talk to me too. Don’t worry if it takes a while though, I know how hard that is for you. I can wait.” Olivia smiled up at Rei, it felt really nice to sit with her like this. Even when they’d been friends before there were still so many walls, so much that Rei wasn’t telling her or that Olivia didn’t feel like Rei would want to know about her. They weren’t back to where they’d been, they’d already managed to move past that. Olivia laughed, “Oh just because it’s helpful? Are you sure there’s no other reason you might want to sleep with me again?” Olivia shifted up onto her knees before moving to straddle Rei’s lap, “Are you sure it’s not because you think you’ll get a shag out of it? Because I sort of think you might be thinking that. Though I cannot imagine what would give you that idea,” Olivia leaned down and pressed her lips to Rei’s neck. Olivia leaned back and smirked down at Rei, “You do realize that I’m going to expect you to stay now right? If we have sex I will want you to cuddle with me after.”

“I’m glad you can,” Rei smiled but looked down when Liv mentioned Rei talking to her. “I want to, you know. I just...” Rei shrugged her shoulders, not really knowing what to say but Olivia just said she understood so she just let her voice trail off. She wanted to be able to share everything with Olivia, and she knew she could, but after so many years of silence just forming the words was so difficult. Rei shifted over a tiny bit so that she was more towards the middle of the bed so that Olivia wasn’t in danger of falling off. She smirked and and put her hands on Olivia’s hips, “Mhhm, I have no idea what you’re talking about. My intentions are purely honorable.” She shifted her head at Olivia kissed her neck, and was completely distracted from what she had been talking about before. She smiled at Olivia hand put her hand up to Olivia’s cheek. She rubbed her thumb in a tiny circle on Olivia’s cheek. “Of course. You know I’ve recently found out that it’s not quite as bad as I thought it was.”

How we got here

Olivia smiled, her smiles seemed to be coming easier as the conversation went on, “Did you see those big towers on the castle when we were on the lake? Well we are going to be living in one of them, I can’t remember which one though.” Olivia was really excited about living in a tower, the idea of being able to see so much from her bedroom window sounded wonderful. All she could see from her bedroom at home were fields and trees now she’d be able to see so much more. “Plus we’re going to have flying lessons.” Olivia realized she should probably elaborate, “Not like, flying like superman. On brooms, like all the stories. At least they got something right huh?” Olivia had been on a broom before, her mom still had one from when she was growing up. Olivia hadn’t been very good at flying, she was too clumsy and too afraid of falling off. For someone who climbed around on trees and buildings she couldn’t feel secure on a thin piece of wood. To be fair her mother’s broom was pretty old and not nearly as stable as some of the new models.

Rei nodded, as Olivia explained where they would be living. Rei thought that is was cool that Olivia was so excited about living in a tower. Excitement wasn’t really something that Rei was accustomed to, but she felt as if she could almost be excited because someone else was. “That sounds really cool. Hopefully there’s not a dragon that keeps us trapped in there.” Rei wondered if there were dragons. Everything else from story books seemed to be real, why not a dragon. She wondered if everything was actually real, or if there were stories and myths in this world as well. Rei blinked at surprise at the idea of flying, and she was grateful that Olivia explained it before she had time to ask a question about it. “That sounds so cool.” And with that Rei gave a tiny smile. Probably the first smile that Rei had had on her face in a long time, but Olivia wouldn’t have known it. “Superman is my favourite superhero because he can fly. Flying on a broom is good too, not as cool as superman. But still, flying? Really?”

So I guess we're supposed to dance now...

Olivia twisted around to face Rei and crossed her legs, she smiled and gently ran hers fingers down Rei’s arm, “It’s not exactly something I need to talk about because there’s nothing that can be done about it but…” Olivia took a deep breath and continued, “It is important. I have no idea if you even noticed how much changed between fourth and fifth year but in case you did, this is why.” Olivia played with the T-shirt Rei was wearing, “This isn’t something I tell people about because, well no one knows how to react to this sort of thing.” Olivia stared at Rei’s shirt rather than looking her in the eye, “I was in a car accident the summer after fourth year and um…my friend, my only friend before Hogwarts, she um…she died and well…every night I have nightmares about it.” Olivia laughed without any humor in it, “Until London of course, now sometimes I have nightmares about that instead.” Olivia looked up at Rei, “But I didn’t have any nightmares last night and that was thanks to you because you made me feel safe.” Olivia leaned forward and pressed her lips to Rei’s just for a moment before leaning back and smiling, “That was a lot heavier than I was expecting this morning.”

Rei waited patiently for Olivia to recount the reasons why she had nightmares. Rei had been drawing light patterns on Olivia’s hips, and at the mention of the car crash Rei’s movements paused for a moment as she processed what Olivia had just said. She put her whole hand on Olivia’s hip, trying to offer her comfort without saying anything. Rei wasn’t entirely sure what to say. She also realized that that had been around the same time she had tried to push everyone away. So instead of offering her first friend at Hogwarts comfort, Rei had just ignored her. She wasn’t even sure if Olivia would have come to her, but Rei hadn’t really made it easy for Olivia to come to her. Rei smiled into Olivia’s kiss and after the blonde had pulled away Rei gave her a small smile. “Thank you for sharing that with me. And I’m really glad to hear that I made you feel safe.” Rei stared at Olivia for a moment and then smirked trying to lighten the mood. “Hey maybe we could sleep together again. You know, just because it’s helpful. No dreams for you, warmth for me. Win-win.” Rei smirked and shrugged her shoulders, trying to act innocent in the face of that not-so-innocent suggestion.

First Impressions || Olivia and Rei

Olivia frowned, she would never be able to understand someone letting go of control that much. “Is that why you didn’t drink tonight?” Olivia asked without thinking. “Sorry, you don’t have to answer that. Sometimes my mouth is faster than my manners.” Olivia smiled, hoping she hadn’t offended Rei by asking a question that could very easily be personal.

Olivia laughed, “What do you mean? I had every intention of drinking lemonade with you and then we can go sit on my bed and pretend we’re not dying to make-out. Is that not what you were expecting?” Olivia sighed against Rei’s lips, the kiss felt sweet and soft and comfortable. There was no push behind it for more, it was a kiss for the sole purpose of being a kiss and it felt incredible. Olivia put her hands on Rei’s sides and lifted herself onto her toes as she gently moved her lips against Rei’s. Dropping back onto her heels Olivia leaned away from the kiss and smiled up at Rei before glancing at the clock, 12:01. She grinned, “Thank you.”

Rei gave a little sigh and pushed her hair back out of her face nervously. “No, it’s fine. It means that you were paying attention.” She gave Liv a small smile, to let her know that she wasn’t mad about the question. “I’ve, uhm, I’ve been sober for a year. But before that I was kind of a disaster and I tried to use alcohol to solve my problems.” Rei was willing to answer Olivia’s questions, she just didn’t want to bring the mood down with talk of her alcoholism.

Rei’s fingers ran through Olivia’s hair, coming to rest at the base of the blonde’s neck. She was gentle, sweet, almost careful. It wasn’t exactly her typical style, but Olivia was far more special to her and she wanted to show her that. She felt the slight pressure of Olivia’s hands on her waist to lift herself up. Rei hummed slightly, happy at the increased pressure. The kiss somehow managed to last forever and not be long enough. Rei frowned slightly at the loss of Olivia’s lips and Rei opened her eyes again to stare down at Olivia. “Uhm, you’re welcome?” Rei liked to think that she was a good kisser, but she wasn’t sure that she had ever actually been thanked for a kiss before.

How we got here

“Oh…” Olivia smiled and looked down at her plate. She was so used to being different, she was the weird kid who stammered and spent all of her time reading and drawing. She wouldn’t have realized that Rei was talking about herself if she hadn’t said something, even though she knew it still didn’t quite make sense to her. “I don’t have to like you to be nice to you,” Olivia smiled looked back up at Rei, “But that doesn’t mean that I don’t like you.” Olivia pulled her hair up into a bun and stuck the pencil she’d used to draw the house-elf into her hair where she usually kept it. “No, not exactly. But if there is a Father Christmas maybe he has house-elves too.” Olivia glanced back down the table and considered grabbing another piece of bread, “So…you’re not afraid of heights are you?”

Rei nodded, not really understanding Olivia’s point of view, but knowing that this conversation wouldn’t be the best way to at least seem sort of friendly. So Rei just nodded. Rei nodded at the mention of Santa Claus, not knowing if Olivia still believed in him. She knew she had to be careful with that, but she hadn’t believed in Santa for a long time. Rei tilted her head with a slightly confused look on her face, but shook her head. It was kind of an odd question to ask, and Rei didn’t quite know where it came from. “No, I’m not afraid of heights. Why?”

First Impressions || Olivia and Rei

Olivia raised an eyebrow at Rei, “You don’t remember your other party experiences? That doesn’t really sound like a good thing.” Olivia had never been blackout drunk before, she’d never even been drunk enough to get sick. She could never manage to let herself get to a point where she couldn’t take care of herself, Olivia had always figured that that stemmed from the fact that she’d spent so much of her childhood being the only person concerned about her. Olivia didn’t know how to let people take care of her. Olivia looked up and smiled at Rei before pouring them both a glass of lemonade. She handed one to Rei and took a sip, moving back to lean against the counter. They were back in the same position they’d been in just before they’d left for the party. Olivia looked at Rei over the edge of her glass and smiled before setting it down on the counter beside her. “It’s been a long time since I brought a pretty girl back to my apartment. I can assure you my roommates think we’re doing a lot more than drinking lemonade in the kitchen.” Olivia laughed and tapped Rei’s foot with her own. She moved to pick her glass back up and glanced at the time displayed on the microwave which read 11:59. She smiled widely and stepped up to stand in front of Rei and asked, “Will you kiss me please?”

Rei shook her head, “Yeah, it’s not really a good thing. I mean I remember some. But most of the memories are blurry or I can’t remember them.” It wasn’t exactly something that Rei was proud of, and she didn’t really talk about it ever. She used to use her drink to forget and to avoid her life, so she had been working on not doing those things.

Rei took a sip of the drink that Olivia had handed her and then she placed it on the counter next to her. It didn’t escape Rei’s knowledge that they were in the same position that they had been in earlier. Except that this time Rei had had the opportunity to kiss Olivia, and now she didn’t think that she could be this close to Olivia and not kiss her. She smirked as Olivia tapped her foot. “Well there’s no reason why we couldn’t be doing more than drinking lemonade.” Rei hadn’t quite been expecting Olivia to ask Rei to kiss her, but she was not going to argue. Rei stepped forward, closing the gap between them. She paused for a moment, pushing a few strands of blonde hair behind Olivia’s ear. Then she finally pressed her lips to Olivia’s, kissing carefully. Sweetly. Trying to somehow convey the warmth in her heart and the butterflies in her stomach through the kiss.

First Impressions || Olivia and Rei

The bounce was back in Olivia’s step as the walked down the sidewalk towards her apartment. She smiled and looked up at Rei, “Well I hope you don’t mind how little time we spent there. That’s the most fun I’ve ever had at a party. For the first time in a very long time I’m glad I went to one of those parties.” The last party Olivia had enjoyed had been over a year ago, with Val. Olivia smiled fondly at the memory though it felt a lot longer ago than it actually was, probably because it had been so long since she’d felt the way she had about Val that she did that night.

Olivia almost didn’t realize that they’d made it to her apartment. They made their way up the stairs and Olivia dug her keys out of her bag as the made it to her floor. She unlocked her door and pulled Rei into her apartment, locking the door behind her. “Do you want something to drink? More lemonade?” Olivia dropped Rei’s hand and stepped into the kitchen and opened her fridge. She pulled the bottle of lemonade out of the fridge and set it on the counter.“

“I don’t mind, really. And I’m glad that I went as well. It's was one of my better party experiences. At the very least I will remember this one." Rei hadn't gone to a party since she stopped drinking. She knew alone it would be too hard to resist a drink. But with someone there, as well as the sort time they had spent there, it had been easier than Rei thought. Rei wondered if it were her, or if it had something to do with her comfort with Olivia.

Rei let Olivia pull her into the apartment. One of the reasons why Rei hadn’t really liked the idea of holding hand was because she used to think of it as a way of giving someone else power. Because you were letting them control you and lead you around. But honestly it wasn’t as bad as she had been thinking. And there was a tiny thought in her brain that said she probably wouldn’t mind Olivia taking control. She zoned out briefly, staring at Olivia, but was brought back to awareness by Olivia’s question. “Oh, uhm, sure.” Rei moved into the kitchen, leaning against the counter as Olivia grabbed glasses and whatever she was going to drink.

How we got here

“I know that. I um…I didn’t say you have to-to like me, just that I um…that I’ll answer your questions,” Olivia shrugged and picked at what was left of the food on her plate. This definitely wasn’t going as well as she’d hoped but at least talking to Rei was better than sitting by herself surrounded by people who didn’t seem to have any trouble making friends. Olivia shook her head, “No, not like those though honestly I don’t know what the verdict is on Father Christmas. Not like the Lord of the Rings elves either. They’re more like…” Olivia thought for a moment but couldn’t come up with a good comparison. “Here, I’ll show you.” Olivia leaned down and pulled a sketchbook and a pencil out of her bag. It took her a couple of minutes to draw a basic sketch of a house-elf but it was the best she could do in such a short amount of time. As she drew she continued to respond to Rei, “I don’t think there’s magic involved in the cooking. House-elves don’t have the same kind of magic that we do, though they do have magic. But witches and wizards use magic to cook too.” Olivia looked up at Rei and held the sketchbook out for her to take, “That’s vaguely what they look like.”

“Oh, no. I didn’t mean it like that.” Rei frowned to herself and tried to think of a better way to say it. She didn’t want to offend the only person who had decided to talk to her so far. “I just meant that you don’t have to like me or answer my questions just because we’re roommates.” Rei nodded as the other girl spoke, and was surprised when she produced a notepad to draw on. Rei hadn’t even noticed that she had a bag. Rei didn’t have anything on her, all of her things were packed away in her suitcase and she briefly thought that it was just a little weird to carry around a bag when there weren’t even classes yet. Rei ate her food slowly, still a little worried about the food having weird effects on her. When Olivia was finished, Rei grabbed the book that was offered to her and smiled. “Okay. So not exactly like the elves in the store window.” They did still sort of look like Santa’s elves to Rei. Also a little bit like the elves in a picture book about elves and a shoemaker she once read.