Hey guys!
So here's the thing: I put my name in the story. That's all. Don't judge me.
Also, I've got a question: how often do you want me to update this? Should I update as I write, or should I set a specific day/two days of the week for uploading? I'm leaning towards the second option cause I'd rather have a set schedule with deadlines, but I think I'll leave it up to the vote.
Please read and review! It's a lot easier to write (and it makes me happier) if I get feedback!
Thanks!
-Ana
Disclaimer: I only own me, myself, and I (also some cookies, but those will be gone in five minutes).
The long, gruelling day of filling out paperwork, combined with the seemingly endless rain had left Nikita drained to the core both mentally and physically. As she locked the door of her office and left the building, the only things on her mind were a hot shower and a cup of chai in front of the fire when she got home. Nikita figured if she wanted chai right away, she'd better call home and have her best friend and roommate Ana take care of it, so that she wouldn't have to waste time making it herself.
She stuck her hand into her pocket and took out her phone, careful to keep her wand from falling out as well. She really had to stop sticking her wand in her back pockets, she just knew that someday she'd end up either cursing her own ass into oblivion, or breaking the wand itself by sitting on it. After all, her phone was already in a bad shape from falling out of her pockets all the time. She wanted so badly to fix it up with magic, but she was afraid it would end up messing with the actual telephone line. The last thing she needed was for the muggle phone company to investigate her account if she ended up cutting an entire area of reception.
Nikita dialed a number on the phone, and put it to her ear, listening to the familiar beeps, until she heard a grumpy "What?" on the other end, accompanied by the distinctive sound of ripping paper.
"Ana?" Nikita paused, trying to figure out what was going on. "What the hell are you doing?!"
"Drew Antarctica wrong apparently, now they want me to redo the entire damn thing", huffed the voice. "What's up?"
Nikita rolled her eyes. Typical Ana.
"Make me chai, I'm on my way." The ripping noise stopped abruptly.
"What?"
"I said make me chai," Nikita repeated. "How difficult is that to understand?"
"You mean, without your supervision?" Ana sounded shocked by the idea.
"That's right", Nikita nodded, even though she knew quite well that Ana couldn't actually see her.
"Uh...alright, I'll do my best", she could now hear Ana's footsteps carrying from the living room towards the kitchen.
"Cool, I'll see you in a bit then", she said and hung up.
Despite the fact that she specifically told Ana to make chai without her supervision, Nikita was still worried. She hoped the worst Ana could do would be to accidentally burn down her kitchen (yes, she thought of it as her kitchen, since Ana only ever visited the alcohol and coffee cupboards), but she'd made Ana watch the chai-making process enough times for her to know what to do...or so she hoped.
Now, Nikita thought as she looked around the quiet muggle neighbourhood, quickly and discreetly before anyone gets half a glance at you. She had to get out of this place before any muggles came about to stare at her auror uniform. And with that, Nikita disapparated right in the middle of the street, despite Apparation Law 22, that no witch or wizard was to apparate or disapparate during daylight hours within a high-traffic muggle vicinity. The kicker was that Nikita herself had helped to write the 37 Apparation Laws and Guidelines, and now she was helping to break them too.
She apparated right in front of her door just as it opened, which then hit her right in the face and sent her tumbling backwards. Dazed, she straightened herself and threw a glare at the blonde girl in the doorway, who was keeled over in laughter.
"I'm sorry!" Ana choked out in between her laughs. "That was absolutely BRILLIANT! Are you okay?"
Clearly, today was NOT Nikita's day - she could feel blood slowly dripping down her face. Ana stopped laughing and came over to look at the damage, taking out her wand from behind her ear as she walked. She twirled it in her hand, pointed it at Nikita's face, and removed the blood with a scourgify. Nikita regarded her warily.
"Call Vanessa", she told Ana. "You're absolute crap at healing spells. If you do it, you'll probably end up dissolving my face in acid or something."
"Right," Ana placed her wand back behind her ear, and pulled a phone out of her back pocket.
Nikita was glad that Ana wasn't arguing for once, or she would end up bleeding to death in the middle of a screaming match. Not that she screamed at Ana often, she knew the girl wasn't half as stupid as she portrayed herself to others, but her stubbornness never failed to annoy the crap out of half the human population.
"Yo Nessa," Ana's voice halted Nikita's train of thought. "Can you come over? I kind of hit Nikita in the face here, and she looks like she'll die if you don't save her."
She paused for a moment and listened to the voice on the other end before bellowing "NO, I'm NOT taking her to St. Mungos. How am I supposed to explain this? Of all the things to have injured an auror, it just had to be a door smacking her in the face!"
She paused again, tapping her foot impatiently. "Yes, you could say it was my fault. Shut up and get your ass over here before she bleeds to death."
Ana placed her phone back in her back pocket and turned to Nikita.
"Looks like you had a rough day", she observed.
Nikita shrugged. It had been rough, despite the fact that nothing of value had really happened.
"It's the rain," she said. "Let's go inside, why the hell are we still standing here anyway?"
Nikita shook her head again and started inside for the kitchen. She wished Vanessa would arrive sooner rather than later; her nose had started throbbing again, despite the freezing charm Ana had put on it. It always seemed Vanessa was running into floo network problems, despite the fact that Nikita's floo was connected directly to her fireplace. She sighed wearily and her hopes that home would offer comfort and a cup of hot chai seemed to be melting further away by the minute. All thanks to Ana.
Nikita loved Ana, she really did, but she couldn't fathom how the girl was still not written out of this world by natural selection. Trivial tasks which could be done by practically anyone and were usually considered necessary for basic survival were quite foreign to Ana. Considering that the most complex meal Ana had ever successfully cooked was a grilled cheese sandwich (now referred to exclusively as the ana-sandwich), Nikita highly doubted that 'growing up' was ever part of her friend's vocabulary, and therefore saw it as part of her job to look over and attempt to rectify the general idiocy she radiated.
She and Ana had been in the same year at Hogwarts. They'd met on the train in their first year, finding an immediate connection over the fact that both of them had already read Hogwarts: A History twice over that past summer. Although they'd been sorted into different houses when they arrived at Hogwarts, they'd maintained a close friendship throughout the years.
They were a strange pair, often looked at with considerable distrust by their fellow students. Nikita wasn't surprised at this - an exceptional Ravenclaw constantly in close contact with a hard-boiled Slytherin was bound to be explosive for everyone else.
They'd caused some ruckus alright, mainly by Ana's initiative, although perfected and polished by Nikita's wit, which had left them with a considerable amount of mutual craziness. It was only Nikita's overpowering sense of responsibility and common sense (which Ana lacked completely) that prevented their expulsion from the school - which would've inevitably happened had Ana's plan to steal their Ancient Runes final exam been uncovered. Overall, Nikita had saved them about a year in detention time and was the reason they had even graduated with everyone else in their year.
Although Ana's ambitious personality had gotten her decent marks over the years, she really was rubbish at healing spells, a fact that even she accepted without argument.
Vanessa arrived within five minutes, for which Nikita was eternally grateful. The bleeding had increased, and all Ana did was tell her that she should just chop the rest of her nose off to continue Lord Voldemort's fashion statement. Not helpful.
Which was why, when the fireplace erupted in green flames, Nikita jumped right off the couch and was standing in front of the fire, ready for Vanessa to appear before Ana could add another smart-ass comment to the list.
Vanessa was quite an unusual witch, whose habits varied rather greatly from those around her. For one, she absolutely loathed apparating and generally preferred to use the floo network whenever possible. No one quite understood why, since apparating was often the easier option of transportation that didn't require the dangerous art of fireplace hunting to take place, or the hazard of falling off a broomstick for those that preferred to fly. But, despite having an international level apparition license (Nikita had once discovered an apparition badge inside Vanessa's coat pocket), she insisted on flooing from place to place.
"Hey guys," Vanessa said as stepped out of the fireplace and brushed the soot from her clothes. She continued briskly, "Ana, stop being useless and go fetch me something to drink. Nikita, look at me, please."
Ana left for the kitchen without protest, an action that caused Nikita to raise an eyebrow at Vanessa as she turned to face her.
"How the hell did you train her to do that? She'd throw a fit if I did that!"
Vanessa shrugged, but otherwise didn't reply, instead focusing her attention on Nikita's nose and muttering healing enchantments under her breath.
Nikita still wondered where Vanessa had learned wandless magic. It was a rare talent, which took many years to acquire and was therefore possessed only by the most brilliant and patient wizards. Three years ago, as nothing but an average fresh-out-of-Hogwarts graduate, Vanessa had disappeared off the King's Cross platform without so much as a single goodbye to anyone. When she'd resurfaced in London once more last year with a new confidence and a seemingly bottomless Gringotts account, her skills had become a wonder among the English wizards, and alas, a real mystery to Nikita.
No matter how much Nikita asked her where she'd learnt it all, Vanessa always replied with shrugs or vague hand gestures, not once giving a direct answer. Ana boasted that she knew exactly where Vanessa had been and how her sudden brilliance had emerged, but Nikita suspected that anything she claimed to know was simply a mix of speculation and her own wild imagination. Such was the world of Ana.
"There, you're all fixed up now!" Vanessa's voice broke Nikita out of her reverie.
Nikita touched her nose and realized it was whole once more. No more Voldemort jokes. Thank Merlin.
"Thanks Vanessa, can't say I could fix your nose as well, but Butterbeer is on me next time, okay?"
Vanessa chuckled. "No worries, that's what I'm here for. To be the St. Mungo's when St. Mungo's can't be. But I won't say no to a Butterbeer!"
Ana emerged from the kitchen then, attempting to balance three mugs of steaming chai in her arms. What an idiot…
"Have you not heard of wingardium leviosa?" Nikita asked, as she pointed her wand at the mugs, which immediately flew out of Ana's reach and distributed themselves on different sides of the coffee table in the living room. Ana's facial expression was rather vacant for someone who had just practically been called a moron. That was a strange reaction, very un-Ana-ish. She'd have to look into that at some point.
"You fixed her nose", stated Ana brightly, arms now devoid of precariously balanced beverages.
"Indeed," replied Vanessa, as she plopped herself down onto the couch and grabbed a steaming mug. "So what have you two been up to lately?" she inquired as she took a sip of her chai, " Apart from breaking noses and such."
"Meh", Nikita and Ana replied simultaneously. Vanessa raised an eyebrow.
"Have you two merged into the same person or something? It must be the whole living together arrangement; very eloquent by the way".
"Thanks," Nikita grinned. Ana, however, stayed unusually silent. Seriously, what was with her today?
Nikita spread herself out on the sofa and closed her eyes. It was moments like these which made her life worthwhile, as sad as that sounded. She was home, with her two best friends in the room, just lying on the couch with a hot cup of chai and relaxing after a long and boring day of work. This was the best feeling. Even better was that her nose was fixed AND Ana hadn't burned down the kitchen. The chai was quite tasty too. Nikita was about to compliment Ana's chai-making when Ana's phone rang, disrupting the quiet moment. Ana bolted up from the couch over to the counter where her phone lay to take the call. Nikita sighed.
Living with Ana was a decision she'd made straight out of Hogwarts, and while she in no way regretted that choice, she wished that life at home would be slightly less hectic than work. But Ana was usually quite jumpy, and on the rare occasions when she was calm something would usually happen to change that. Such as phone calls.
Nikita had no idea why, but phone calls freaked Ana out big time. It was something she'd gotten used to now, but the first few times she'd seen Ana's reaction to her phone ringing, she was quite ready to ring up St. Mungo's and ask them to take her friend away, because Ana's behavior was in no way normal. Every single time the phone rang, Ana's eyes would widen almost to the size of dinner plates, she would jump up from where she was sat and sprint toward her phone like her life was dependent on it.
"Do you know why she does that?" asked Vanessa, looking at her from her place on the loveseat.
Nikita shook her head. All she knew was that the calls had something to do with Ana's job, but she had no clue as to what they actually meant.
Ana then charged into the living room at top speed, frantically searching it with her plate-sized eyes. Finally locating what she was looking for, she ran towards the far corner of the room, picked up a number of rolled up map sketches (or that's what Nikita assumed they were), spun on her heel and headed straight for the door, grabbing her wand and a set of keys along the way.
"Where are you off to?" Nikita asked, not really expecting to receive an answer.
"Out," grumbled Ana, and slammed the door behind her.
Nikita heard a faint pop from behind the closed door, and Ana was gone.
"Any idea what she's doing?" Vanessa was looking at her expectantly for an explanation.
Nikita sighed and put her mug down.
"Haven't got the faintest idea. For all we know, she could be flying off to China with those maps. I've stopped asking, it's quite useless. All I know about today's matters is that she drew Antarctica wrong."
"Antarctica, hm?" Vanessa mused as she picked up Ana's deserted chai, taking a sip. "Good idea," Nikita thought aloud, gesturing to Ana's reclaimed chai, "It'd probably be cold by the time the crazy girl got back anyways."
Nikita decided it was time to change the subject. As much as she herself wanted to know what her friend was up to with her rather suspicious disappearances and strange behaviour, she knew that it was a fruitless topic of conversation.
"So when's Kellan coming back?" she asked.
"He said he'll be back before the end of the month, but I'm not sure how that'll work out. Apparently Charlie Weasley asked him to be his successor," Vanessa scratched her head and sighed.
"You miss him, don't you?"
"Miss him?!" Vanessa snorted. "I'll kill him when he gets back! Leaving me for a whole month for those damn dragons!"
It was Nikita's turn to snort.
"Sure you will. You'll smother him with love the second you see him," she stuck her tongue out at Vanessa.
"Very mature", Vanessa grumbled, trying to counter the grin spreading across her face as she placed Ana's mug back on the coffee table. She stretched and proceeded to stand up.
"Well, I should probably head out. It's late enough as it is, and I've got a meeting tomorrow morning."
"What meeting?" Nikita tried.
"Never you mind, you nosy witch", came the reply. "Now, where's your floo powder?"
"The mantelpiece. Turn off the lights before you go, my head hurts from all the brightness and commotion."
Vanessa nodded and flicked the lights off. Nikita could hear her toss the Floo powder in the fireplace, and Vanessa hollering, "And try to keep your nose on, will yah?" just before the whoosh as she disappeared into the green flames, and then silence.
Nikita pulled a blanket over herself and closed her eyes. She'd had a very long day.
It was time to rest.
