Marylebone, Muggle London.
When Severa enters her room, she immediately internally panics because Nicole is reading an Elle magazine on her bed. She watches as Nicole drops the magazine and picks up a new one, flipping through the pages, humming here and there, smirking at other parts. She wasn't ready for Nicole to see or explain why she had them!
Severa's irritation bubbled up, threatening to burst, but she managed to maintain her usual bored expression.
Nicole looks up and smirks when she sees Severa. "Well, well, well, hello, Vera, " she says, waving the magazine around. "Look what I found. Or should I say, look at all the things I found?" She giggles as she opens the magazine in her hand and reads aloud, "Six ways to get him to look at you."
With a flick of her fingers, the magazine flew out of Nicole's hands and into hers.
Nicole, who was used to Severa's bouts of wandless magic, just grinned.
Severa flipped the magazine shut with a sharp, loud snap, levelling Nicole with a cold, indifferent stare. "And what, exactly, do you think you're doing?" She asked, voice flat.
Nicole lay sprawled on the bed, exuding the same smug contentment as a cat discovering an unexpected treat. "Oh, nothing," she said airily. "Just expanding my knowledge on the art of seduction," her smirk deepened. "Didn't know you were into this stuff, Vera." She gestured towards all the magazines.
Severa rolled her and tossed the magazine onto her desk, ignoring the heat creeping up her neck. "I'm not." Her words came out clipped and slightly harsh.
Nicole raised a brow at her. "Really?" she said, grabbing another magazine beside her and rolling her eyes. She turned it towards Severa. It read, "Sex, Love & Art in the '80s."
"Come on, Vera, if you're not interested, why do you have a small dragon's hoard of magazines on your bed?"
Severa scowled. "It's none of your business," she snapped, walking over and snatching the magazine from Nicole's hand. Nicole frowned and sat up.
Her fingers tightened, scrunching the magazine as she levelled a cool glare at Nicole, "Why are you even in my room?"
"I already told you why," Nicole said, crossing her arms and getting defensive. "When I got home, you were acting weird in the loo. When has it ever been an issue that I'm in your room? The rule has always been: If the door is open, you're free to come in, and your door was wide open."
Severa frowned. Nicole was right; that was one of the House Rules. She must've left her door open when she made a mad dash to the toilet.
Sighing, Severa ran her hand through her hair. "Still, that doesn't mean you can dig through my things." She shot back, nudging Nicole off her bed.
Nicole huffed as she slid off the bed, landing on her bottom with an exaggerated oof. "Hey!" She scowled. "I wasn't digging through anything! Your magazines were just sitting there, practically begging to be read." She smirked, standing up, she cocked a hip. "Not my fault you left them out in the open."
Severa crossed her arms, unimpressed. "And what part of 'none of your business' didn't you understand?"
Nicole threw up her hands. "I had to do something while you were being all suspicious in the loo. So not my fault!" she huffed before dramatically flinging herself onto Severa's bed again with a heavy thump.
Severa groaned. "No! Get off!" She shoved at Nicole's shoulder, but the other woman went limp, making herself as heavy as possible. "You've been in that filthy hotel all day and haven't even showered!"
Nicole gasped, pressing a hand to her chest in mock offence. "How dare you! I'll let you know; I sat in one mildly questionable chair and wiped it down first!"
Severa shot her a flat look and wrinkled her nose in distaste, "You're disgusting. Get. Off. Better yet, get out!"
Nicole grinned and flopped onto her stomach, pressing her face into Severa's pillow. "Mmm, nope. This is my bed now."
Severa let out a long-suffering sigh, watching in horror as Nicole's makeup smudged onto the fabric. "Oh, for Merli—Nicole! You're ruining my pillow!" she snapped, using magic to yank it from under her.
Nicole let out a dramatic oof as her head hit the mattress. "Rude!" she huffed, propping herself up on her elbows. "You act like you don't have a million other pillows."
Severa scowled, inspecting the smeared foundation and mascara staining the once-clean fabric. "That's not the point." She waved a hand over the pillow, returning it to its pristine condition.
Nicole sat up, grabbed one of the other pillows and swung at Severa's back.
Severa stumbled forward with a grunt, whipping around to glare at Nicole. "Are you serious?"
Nicole just laughed, clutching the pillow like a weapon. "Oh, I'm very serious, Vera."
Severa narrowed her eyes, then lunged, grabbing at the pillow. Nicole yelped and rolled off the bed, narrowly avoiding Severa's grasp. "Too slow!" she taunted, waving the pillow in the air.
The two girls moved around the room, one running away, squealing, and the other growling in irritation. Secretly, though, Severa was amused. Not that she'd ever admit it.
Nicole tossed the pillow she had in her hand at Severa, who ducked. The pillow flew over her head, smacked into the wall and knocked down a picture frame that held her graduation scroll.
Severa stood up slowly and turned to look at the frame; the glass had broken upon impact with the floor. Clenching her jaw, she turned back around slowly; Nicole stood there with her mouth open. With a flick of her wrist, the pillow yanked itself out of Nicole's hands, and with an upward motion of her fingers, the pillow smacked the brunette square in the face.
Nicole gasped, staggered back slightly, and stared at Severa in disbelief, clutching at her nose. "Oi! Cheater!"
Severa smirked, "Cheating? I'll have you know I have never cheated once in my life on anything." She said, tossing the pillow back onto the bed. "Besides, it's not my fault you're a muggle." She raised a brow, a self-satisfied look on her face.
Nicole opened her mouth to retort before closing it; she was standing close to the desk and, without a second thought, grabbed one of Severa's pencils and tossed it at her.
Severa, just to irritate Nicole more, stopped the pencil mid-air, giving her a smug look.
Before Nicole could say or do anything, the doorbell rang, cutting through the air. Both girls froze, exchanging glances.
"Did you order food or something?" Nicole asked, smoothing down her hair as she peeked around the doorframe.
Severa shook her head. "No," she said sarcastically, already approaching the door.
Nicole grabbed the pillow from the floor and clutched it like a weapon as Severa scoffed at her, looking at her 'weapon' choice. Honestly, what did she think a pillow was going to do? "Are you sure you didn't invite one of your many men over?" she asked, eyeing Nicole suspiciously.
Nicole gasped dramatically, dropping the pillow to the floor and pressing a hand to her chest. "How dare you! I'll have you know I'm a respectable woman."
Severa snorted. "Right. A respectable woman who's been on three dates this week."
Nicole wagged a finger at her. "Correction—two dates and a 'casual meetup.'"
Severa rolled her eyes and pulled open the door, only to freeze, lips pursed, when she saw who was standing on the other side. Nicole, still clenching the pillow, peered around Severa before letting out a squeal.
"Baby!" she shrieked, tossing the pillow 'weapon' aside and launching herself into the grinning man's opened arms.
Severa let out a long-suffering sigh and crossed her arms as she watched in mild disgust at the all-too-familiar scene unfolding before her.
Benjamin Gold—Nicole's on-again, off-again boyfriend of three years and the owner of the Golden Luxe hotel she worked at.
She had never entirely understood their dynamic. One moment, they were tangled up in each other like love-struck teenagers, and the next, they were cursing each other to the depths of hell.
Correction: Nicole would be cursing him to the depths of Hell, and he would stand there and take it with a frown before muttering something filled with quiet resignation and leaving.
Severa had to begrudgingly admit that the man had the patience of a saint. That's not to say he couldn't give as good as he got. She could distinctly remember one time the two of them got into a heated argument. The worst she'd ever heard between the two. There had been lots of yelling, cursing, and crying before Ben left, slamming the flat door behind him.
You would never have guessed that the two of them could ever fight so viciously, judging by how they were now devouring each other's faces in the flat entry.
Turning away, Severa headed to the kitchen, figuring she'd grab a snack as those two devoured each other—and undoubtedly, everything edible in sight once they managed to stop snogging. She had just pulled the milk out of the fridge when the door abruptly shut in her face, cutting off her access.
A familiar cologne filled her nose. While not unpleasant to the nose, the musky, earthy smell was not something she preferred.
"Hello, Benjamin," she greeted flatly, not even bothering to look up as she set the milk on the counter.
Ben chuckled, leaning against the fridge he had just shut, "You're always so welcoming, Vera," he teased, his voice dripping with amusement as he crossed his arms.
Severa shot him a glance over her shoulder, her expression unreadable. If not bored. "I don't have time for your nonsense today," she muttered, reaching for the cereal box instead. Frowning, she noticed it was almost empty.
Nicole. She thought a bit grumpily; the girl was constantly using up the last of things and forgetting to mention or replace it.
Ben watched her as she poured her cereal into her bowl. "What's got you all worked up this time? Another one of Nicole's... drama-filled entrances?"
Severa sighed, not wanting to get into it. "Something like that." She poured the milk over her cereal with unnecessary force, splashing some of it over the side. She huffed, getting annoyed again as she thought of the magazines in her room. "Is there any reason you're here, or did you just come to interrupt my peace?"
Ben smiled knowingly, his tone light. "Actually, I came to see Nicole. But now I think I've found something even more interesting." He gave her a sideways look, clearly enjoying the irritation bubbling beneath her calm facade.
Severa shot him a pointed look. "Don't make me regret acknowledging your existence."
Ben raised his hands in mock surrender. "I'm just here to visit, Vera. No need to be so hostile."
She could hear the faint sound of Nicole laughing at something in the other room, and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes again. The last thing she needed was another round of their ridiculous back-and-forth.
"Honestly though, Severa," Ben said, straightening up and looking at her with a bit of concern. "Are you alright? You seemed vexed. I'm asking as your friend." His focus may have been on Nicole when he arrived, but he clearly remembered the look on her face when she opened the front door.
He knew how Nicole could be.
Severa scowled, hating he could see right through her; her wand dropped out of her sleeve and with a flick, a spoon flew out of the drawer and into her bowl. The milk zoomed back into the fridge, and Severa turned in a huff. "Go screw my roommate and leave me in peace," she muttered, her voice thick with irritation as she left the kitchen, her bowl of cereal floating behind her. As she crossed the living room toward her room, she ignored the shocked gasp from Nicole, who was sprawled out on the sofa.
"Severa!" Nicole called out, her voice rising in a mixture of offence and disbelief with a hint of teasing. "We're not going to be 'screwing'! What we do is more loving, more passionate, more rough—"
Severa's patience snapped, and she grabbed the nearest object—Nicole's shoe, thankfully one of her trainers—and flung it at her. It hit Nicole with a dull thud, but the message was clear.
"Just shut up. I already know to wear earplugs," Severa snapped, her tone dry and exhausted as she finally entered her room, her cereal bowl just managing to float through the door before it slammed shut.
Severa leaned against the door, exhaling heavily as the sounds of Nicole's exaggerated protests and Ben's low timber laughter filtered through. She had no patience left for either of their endless back-and-forths, and now, more than ever, she just needed a moment of peace.
Pulling off her jeans, she tossed them haphazardly into the corner of the room; with a flick of her wrist, her pillow flew from the floor to the bed; another flick saw her bedroom door opening up briefly, and a squeal was heard before her other pillow came flying into the room her door shutting behind it. It lays itself on the bed next to the other one. With the same hand, she waved it towards her floating cereal bowl. It floated towards her desk before settling down with a thunk.
With no more energy in her to even eat, she sank down into her bed. She let the weight of the day hit her all at once, her mind spinning with everything that had happened. From the pushy teen at the shops, the overwhelming information with the magazines that were still scattered around her desk, the disastrous magical make-up spell, Nicole finding the magazines, and now her annoying kind of boyfriend and the endless amount of giggling she could hear, it was all too much.
She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to block out the noise, but it was hard to shake off the feeling that she was being pulled in too many directions at once.
With a loud groan, she grabbed her wand and cast a wordless imperturbable. Pure silence, with a sigh of relief, she laid back down, letting her wand clatter to her bedside table.
And to think, this was only the beginning.