hello again, friend of a friend [maria, summer]

“Well it rains and it pours when you’re out on your own
If I crash on the couch can I sleep in my clothes?
‘Cause I’ve spent the night dancing, I’m drunk, I suppose
If it looks like I’m laughing, I’m really just asking to leave.”

The music pounded loudly in the empty room. At some point earlier that morning, Ella had turned on the muggle CD player she and Maria had bought. She’d turned it on after she’d heard the other girls leave the dorm, no doubt to go and get breakfast. Ella stretched out, her fingers grazing the headboard of her bed lightly. She turned her head slightly to the right, her eyes resting on the clock nailed to the wall. It was just after lunch time. Ella glanced around the room quickly. It was still empty. The dorm was a mess. Maria, Ella and Summer had never really been clean freaks. Ella wasn’t sure what the other two Othello girls thought, but she honestly didn’t care. Ella stretched again. At some point during her sleep, her blanket had come off. Her underwear was exposed to the world. Ella had no shame when it came to these things. In the warmer months, she rarely ever wore pyjamas. It was mostly out of respect that she even wore underwear to bed. Maria had gotten used to Ella sleeping naked long ago. Summer was adjusting to it, seeing as she stayed with the twins during most of the holidays. The other two Othello girls (she should really learn their names one day) hadn’t ever seen Ella naked. Ella was a bit more careful when those two were around.

“This alone, you’re in time for the show
You’re the one that I need, I’m the one that you loathe
You can watch me corrode like a beast in repose
‘Cause I love all the poison, away with the boys in the band.”

Ella pushed herself into a sitting position, yawning as she scratched the back of her head. Her hair was a mess, and felt absolutely disgusting. It felt like it hadn’t been washed in days, but really that was just because of all the products she used to style it. Ella yawned again, and swung her legs over the side of her bed, standing up. She stretched, reaching her arms to the ceiling before making her way over to the floor to ceiling windows. She stood there, clad in nothing but her underwear, looking down on the lawns. There were students all over the place. As she stood at the window, Ella became vaguely aware that her head was pounding. Flashes of the previous night came back to her. With a frown, Ella whirled around, immediately regretting it. She held her arms out to the sides, trying to steady herself as she waited for the room to stop spinning. Once it did, Ella strode over to the wall beside her bed, glancing at the calendar she had placed there. Oh. Last night had been Friday night. The end of the week. Cause for celebration. Ella nodded to herself. She remembered now. She’d gotten off her face drunk last night. Ella turned around again, this time more slowly. She walked to the end of her bed, and dropped down onto her knees. She pushed open her trunk, and rummaged through everything (that was a lot- her drugs were hidden in there, a lot of ingredients for Maria’s potions were in there, and she kept her alcohol and candy stash in there, too). After a moment, Ella sat back. “Fuck!” she said loudly. Ella crawled over to the trunk in front of Maria’s bed (which was, thankfully, right beside hers) and pushed it open. She rummaged through all of Maria’s potions ingredients and the rest of Ella’s alcohol stash, and swore again. “Where the fuck is it?!” Ella growled, putting one hand on her forehead. She did not handle hangovers very well, not since Maria had created that anti-hangover potion last year. And now, it seemed, they had none left. Ella stood up, muttering to herself as she walked into the bathroom, turning the music up as she did.

“I’ve really been on a bender and it shows
So why don’t you blow me a kiss before she goes?
Give me a shot to remember
And you can take all the pain away from me
A kiss and I will surrender
The sharpest lives are the deadliest to lead”

Ella stepped out of the shower, drying her hair with the towel before dropping it on the floor. She had never, in her life, hung a towel up after using it. Ella walked back into the dorm (completely naked, mind you, so it was probably a good thing her dorm mates weren’t around) holding a bundle of clothes in her arms. She dropped the clothes on the bed and pulled on a fresh pair of underwear and a bra. She pulled on a pair of ripped tights and pulled a red tartan skirt on over them. Ella pulled a black shirt over her head, and sat down on her bed. She leaned forward slightly, reaching underneath her bed. After a moment of feeling around, Ella pulled out a pair of combat boots.

“A light to burn all the empires
So bright the sun is ashamed to rise and be
In love with all of these vampires
So you can leave like the sane abandoned me”

Ella pulled the boots onto her feet and stood up again, once again going to the trunk at the end of her bed. She pulled it open, and leaned forward, half of her body in the trunk, her butt sticking in the air. After a moment, she stood up straight. In her right hand, she held a cigarette. In her left hand, she held a bottle of firewhiskey. She placed the cigarette in her mouth and leaned forward again, this time emerging with a large bag of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans. Ella grabbed her wand off the floor and pointed it at the end of the cigarette. A small spark zapped the cigarette, and it was alight. Grasping the cigarette between two fingers, Ella pulled it out of her mouth, blowing out smoke as she did so. She sat down cross legged on her bed and opened the bottle of firewhiskey, taking a large mouthful. With the bottle placed securely between her legs, she leaned over to grab a magazine off her bedside table, and placed it on the bed in front of her, flipping it open. And this is how her dorm mates would find her.

Maria stared at the food laid out in front of her, she was starving! Always was after a good party. She wasn't really tired either, didn't drink much. Maria didn't know why she didn't like alcohol, it was something that always turned her stomach. She could drink it but she never enjoyed it, which was why Maria could have perhaps half a cup of firewhiskey and she was done for the night. She supposed it made her quite dull in that respect, but it wasn't as if she couldn't still be the life of the party. Maria decided to get a big bowl of cereal, she was starving but the idea of a cooked breakfast, all the fat and grease instantly put her off. She had left the dorm just in time for breakfast, after showering the bathroom with half a ton of hairspray and spending half an hour on her makeup she left Ella snoring away she went down to the Dining Hall, she couldn't stop the headache, from the music. A loud pounding in her head that she just couldn't get rid of.

Maria poured out some cornflakes covered with sugar in a bowl, grabbing a jug of milk within arms reach. Students were talking all around her, some of them talking about last night but that wasn't many. The rest were probably in bed, still recovering. She poured a large amount of milk into the bowl, watching the cornflakes begin to float. Maria looked down the long table filled with Othello students, wondering if Ella had arrived yet. It wasn't likely but still, she would probably return to the dorm to find her drinking again. To stop the hangover. That reminded her, she had been meaning to make another anti-hangover potion. She knew all of it had been used and she had forgotten to brew some more, it would have to be made later after breakfast. Maria picked up the spoon laying next to the bowl, her hand shaking slightly. She dove into her breakfast, munching on the milk-sodden cereal as if it was a chore to chew.

It felt like it would be a long day, it was the weekend, a weekend normally meant getting over the night before. Her mind went back to last night, the music pounding, everyone laughing and dancing. She was dancing with some boy, people were drinking all around her. Not alot different from the other parties, except Maria was more hyper last night. After everyone had crawled to bed, she had been wanting to go out, run, something. She had so much energy. Maria decided that after brewing another batch of anti-hangover potion in the dorm bathroom she would go for a long run to get rid of all that energy.

Finishing up the last mouthful, Maria jumped up from her chair brushing something away from the top of her ripped skinny jeans. A bright green top on, which hardly suited the mood Maria was in. She just, couldn't be bothered with it all, Maria wanted breakfast but she didn't want to make it, even walking to the Dining Hall was a task in itself. It was only the mood she was in because she was tired, that would change later. Once she was more awake. She flicked part of her long black hair behind her and walked out of the Dining Hall back towards the dormitory. Ella would moan about not having that anti-hangover potion if her hangover was particularly terrible. She would get straight to it then go out for a run afterwards. Maria always felt more awake after a run.

Summer jumped out of bed as soon as she woke up. She hated mornings but she didn’t like watching her best friends wonder around the room trying to get ready the morning ater a party. She loved Ella and Maria, but she just didn’t understand the whole alcohol and drug thing. She’s tried it, it just didn’t sit well with her. She pulled on blue top and some jeans. Now she just needed shoes. She pushed some things around under her bed looking for her flats, but they weren’t there. She sat on the floor of her dorm while her dorm mates were sleeping.

Her two best friends were a part of those sleeping dorm mates. At the beginning of school she wouldn’t of guessed that she would become friends with the black haired twins in her year. How could she have known that those black haired twins were actually the used to be blonde haired twins that were the Minister of Magic’s daughters. She was actually surprised she was thinking about it then, considering she honestly didn’t care that they were technically important people. At least they didn't rub it in everyone’s face like the Amorcya twins did. Maria and Ella were practiacally like family to her now.

Summer sighed quietly while getting up. Paractically like family or not, she’d rather not be here when they wake up. She slipped on some simple flip flops and walked out of the fifth year Othello girls dorm. She had a couple minutes before breakfast would be served, so she just took her time making her way through the second floor corridors. She passed the trophy room, passed the library, and she passed the staff room. When she got outside the infirmary, she pushed open the door to check to see if anyone was in there. Of course, no one of interest was in there. There were two people in there though, one looked about in his first or second year and the other one was an older not so pretty girl.

She let the door shut and she made her way towards the ivory staircase. She was probably a little early for breakfast, but she didn’t care. She stood in the entrance hall looking up at the Amorcya family. Why they needed to have a portrait of them in the school was beyond her, but there it was. Summer rolled her eyes and hurried towards the dining hall. She sat down at the Othello table and wasn’t surprised at the lack of people there that early. She was surprised she was up that early. She pulled a plate towards herself and filled it with bacon, eggs, toast, and she filled her cup up with orange juice. She was glad she had decided to pass on everything that had been going around at the party last night. She had plenty of fun without it. She loved the parties, she loved being around all the people and dancing. She wasn’t the best dancer, but she didn’t think she was the worst either.

She finished up her breakfast and glanced around hoping at least one of her friends had made it to breakfast yet, but she knew it was still early. She watched as her dirty plate and cup disappeared and she made her way out of the dining hall and up the huge staircase. She climbed up and passed the second floor. She wanted to be with her friends, but she wanted to give them enough time to wake up. She kept climbing until she reached the fourth floor. She figured she could waste some time while in the student store. It wasn’t like she could buy anything, but she enjoyed looking at all the different things to buy. She wondered around there for a little before making her way to the post office. The next thing she knew she saw the lunchtime owls come in with the newspapers.

Summer frowned, how in the world had she went through so much time. She walked back to the staircase and saw more students moving around. She put her hand on her hip. She stood there for a little trying to figure how her day had disappeared, but she figured it was for the best. At least now her friends would at least be awake. She walked back down the stairs and stopped on the second floor. She made her way back to the Othello common room. Pushing around a million or so kids and went back up to her dorm.

On her way to her dorm though she happened to find a face she loved. ”Maria!” She hurried to catch up with her friend before walking beside her. She smiled slightly at her friend. ”Not fully awake yet?’ She pushed open their dorm door and found the other half of who she had already found. ”Hey Ella.” She smiled and headed over to the windows. She pushed part of one of them open to let the smoke from Ella’s cigarete outside and free the fresh air in. She knew Ella wouldn’t think anything about it. Summer didn’t mind Ella smoking in the room, and she knew Ella knew that. "I don't understand where today went. Like, really, one minute it was barely breakfast time and now it's practically lunch." She rolled her eyes and plopped down on her bed.

“She paints her fingers with a close precision
He starts to notice empty bottles of gin
And takes a moment to assess the sin she’s paid for...
A lonely speaker in a conversation
Her words are swimming through his ears again
There’s nothing wrong with just a taste of what you paid for.”

Ella could barely hear her own thoughts over the music. She had already downed the bottle of firewhiskey and had a second bottle (which was half empty) sitting between her legs. The cigarette she held in her fingers was her third... or fourth. Ella often didn’t remember how many she’d had. It was just second nature to her now. One cigarette down, light another one. She was a robot. She had flipped through her entire magazine, and was now leaning forward, quill in hand with her tongue poking out between her lips in concentration. She was drawing moustaches on every face she could find in the magazine. Very mature. “Say what you mean, tell me I’m right and let the sun rain down on me...” Ella sang along with the song between puffs of smoke and mouthfuls of firewhiskey. She wasn’t a bad singer, but didn’t like to let people know that. Ella also played guitar, but only Maria and Summer had ever known or heard her play.

“Give me a sign, I want to believe...” Ella dropped the quill, studying her handy work with a particularly skinny model. She’d drawn a layer of fat around the girl, added some boobs and given her a moustache. After a moment of examination, Ella picked her quill up again. She worked on turning the moustache into a beard as well. Ella just oozed maturity at this moment. Using her free fingers on her left hand, Ella grabbed the bottle of firewhiskey and downed the rest of it, tossing the bottle aside as if it was nothing. Thank Merlin the dorms were carpeted, otherwise there would be a lot of broken glass all over the place. Safety hazard, much? Ella extinguished her cigarette on the magazine, a lovely cigarette burn now covering her hard work of doodling on the model’s face. She crawled to the end of her bed, slightly unstable due to the two bottles of firewhiskey. Ella pulled open her trunk, and reached into it, emerging with another two bottles of firewhiskey. Ella did not have a drinking problem. She just liked to enjoy herself. Besides, it was the weekend. She had no homework thanks to a conveniently placed bribe to an older student who had done the work the previous year. So Ella was free to enjoy her weekend.

Ella popped the top off her firewhiskey and took a swig, placing it between her legs while she busied herself with the lighting of her fourth (or fifth.. maybe it was sixth?) cigarette. She pulled the cigarette from her mouth and blew out some smoke. “Whoa, Mona Lisa, you’re guaranteed to run this town. Whoa, Mona Lisa, I’d pay to see you frown.” Between the drinking, smoking, and the loud music, Ella couldn’t hear anything else. Could you blame her? She was filling her system with drugs and alcohol, and killing her eardrums with loud music. She didn’t even realise that there were other people in the dorm until she saw the window open. “Holy fucking shit!” Ella said, clutching her free hand to her chest. She pointed her wand at the muggle CD player, and the volume lowered itself. “Summer Marie Godfrey, you scared the SHIT outta me!” Breathing heavily, Ella turned her head until she saw her sister. “And you! Where the hell is that hangover potion, huh?! I’ve had to drink more damn alcohol to get rid of my hangover from last night. So my hangover will be twice as bad tomorrow!” Ella may have had an attitude problem.

“I don’t understand where today went. Like, really, one minute it was barely breakfast time and now it’s practically lunch.” Ella turned her attention back to Summer. They were unlikely friends, Summer and the Raines twins. A lot of people accused Summer of just being a tagalong to look “cool” in front of her other schoolmates. But even though Summer didn’t approve of a lot of the things Ella and Maria did, the twins genuinely loved the other girl. She might not do drugs, but Summer was always willing to have a good time with the girls. “I don’t suppose you brought me any food, Summer darling? All I’ve had for breakfast is this.” Ella held up the bag of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, which was already almost empty. Ella got hungry when she drank...

She walked through into the Othello commons, it was rather quiet the students were probably now all at breakfast. "Maria!" Maria turned around to see her best friend walk up beside her, ”Not fully awake yet?" She shook her head, she didn't know how Summer could manage being so awake. Maria was struggling, she slowly went up the stairs, walking with Summer. She stopped just outside their dorm room, hearing the music blaring through, Ella was awake. Summer opened the door and the smell of cigarette smoke flooded her nostrils. Maria breathed that in, sighing contentedly, she loved that smell. She watched Summer open a window, the smoke slowly disappearing. Maria was stood in the doorway, and saw Ella suddenly jump and start shouting. The cd player was turned down and she tried not to laugh, seeing Ella with a bag of every flavour beans, firewhiskey and a cigarette in her hand.

As soon as Ella turned to Maria she froze, immediately stopped laughing as Ella began shouting. "“And you! Where the hell is that hangover potion, huh?! I’ve had to drink more damn alcohol to get rid of my hangover from last night. So my hangover will be twice as bad tomorrow!” She rolled her eyes, her arms crossed and walked towards the bed. "Ella you would've had a drink with or without that potion. It's the only hangover you've had in ages because I've been making these potions. Take a chill pill, I'm making itnow anyway." Maria sighed and dove into Ella's trunk to pick out a couple of ingredients, "So impatient.." She muttered, standing back up to go over to her trunk.

Maria had ginger root, armadillo bile, powdered nutmeg, there was something else. She dumped the containers holding the ingredients on her bed aqnd went into her trunk. "Kelpie tears." Maria chucked a small bottle of a pink liquid with the others and reached under her bed. There was a sound of something being dragged along the floorboards, her small cauldron. "It won't take long Ella" She yawned and placed all the ingredients in the cauldron, in their containers to take it into the bathroom. Humming the song that was playing from the cd player she thought about her run later. Just after she made another batch of anti-hangover potion.

“Summer Marie Godfrey, you scared the SHIT outta me!” Summer smiled proudly over at her friend. ”Good. Someone’s got to every now and then.” She watched as Maria gathered ingrediants for Ella’s hangover potion. Of course Ella had an excuse for her early drinking this morning, but what more could she expect. She listened as the twins talked back and forth. The hangover potion Maria makes for Ella is, in Summer’s opinion, one of the coolest things she’s seen her potion loving friend make.

“I don’t suppose you brought me any food, Summer darling? All I’ve had for breakfast is this.” Summer listened as Ella asked for food. ”I didn’t bring you anything. You should of gotten up and eaten.” She moved across her bed so she could reach into her own trunk. ”I do have some crakers and chips my dad sent me a couple days ago. Want some of those?” She held up the box of crackers and chips for Ella to choose between, before throwing Ella’s choice over to her. She tried to keep some kind of food in their room. Sometimes a girl just didn’t want to leave the room.

Summer pulled herself out of her bed. She was feeling restless. It had to be from watching Maria. She walked over to Ella’s bed and took a couple Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans. She grabbed quickly and walked a little bit away just in case Ella decided to try to smack at her. She walked back to the window to look down. She wondered briefly where the other two girls were. She barely saw them. Not that she cared much, but sometimes it was nice to know what people were doing. ”Are we doing anything tonight?” She asked as she turned back towards her bed. She just sat at the edge of it. She didn’t like not knowing if they had plans or not. Surprises weren’t her favorite thing in the world. She actually really hated not knowing what was going on. She really enjoyed going to the parties and she hoped the twins knew if there was one tonight.

“Ella you would’ve had a drink with or without that potion.” Ella thought for a moment, then nodded. Maria was right. Of course she was. She was always right. Darn that girl and her brains. “It’s the only hangover you’ve had in ages because I’ve been making these potions. Take a chill pill, I’m making it now anyway.” Ella thought again. “Do we actually have chill pills? Because that sounds like a wicked high.” She beamed as Maria dove into her trunk to retrieve a few ingredients, muttering under her breath. Ella caught, “So impatient...” before tuning her sister out. “I will hear no negativity about me, thank you very much Maria Louise Raines!” Ella said, poking her tongue out at her twin as she walked over to her own trunk. Ella watched her sister, examining the ingredients she was holding. Ella was good at potions, but she was nowhere in the league of Maria. Ella knew enough about potions to be able to identify the ingredients that Maria had just dumped on her bed. Ginger root, armadillo bile, powdered nutmeg... she was missing something. “Kelpie tears.” Maria answered for her. Ella nodded as her sister dragged her cauldron out from underneath her bed. “It won’t take long Ella.” Ella watched as Maria walked into the bathroom. “Good”, she said, before turning her attention back to Summer.

“Good. Someone’s got to every now and then.” Ella poked her tongue out at Summer, taking another swig of her firewhiskey. “I didn’t bring you anything. You should of gotten up and eaten.” Ella shook her head. “But if I woke up as early as you and Maria did, I wouldn’t look half as gorgeous as I do now”, Ella said, fluffing her hair a little bit, throwing a big smile in Summer’s direction. “I do have some crackers and chips my dad sent me a couple days ago. Want some of those?” Summer held up the box of crackers and chips, and Ella eagerly pointed to the crackers. Nothing better for soaking up mass amounts of alcohol than dry crackers. She caught the box as Summer threw them at her, shoving a few into her mouth immediately. “You’re a lifesaver, doll”, Ella said, batting her eyelashes at Summer. Good old Summer, she always kept some food in the dorm room.

Ella watched suspiciously as Summer walked over to her bed. Before she could react, Summer had grabbed some of her Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans. Ella flailed an arm in Summer’s direction, but Summer had jumped back quickly, and was chewing the beans triumphantly. Ella glared at Summer, but only for a moment. She’d been told her attention span was the same as a gold fish. Ella turned back to the spread she had in front of her. Her magazine, which was slowly being filled with Ella’s doodles, a bottle of firewhiskey between her legs, crackers on one side of her and the beans on the other. She had quite the mess. She listened as another song came on the CD player, bobbing her head in time with the music. “Sit tight, I’m gonna need you to keep time. Come on, just snap, snap, snap your fingers for me...” Ella sang along, leaning forward to draw some more doodles in the magazine.

Her tongue was once again poked out in concentration, however she turned her gaze back to Summer when her friend began talking again. “Are we doing anything tonight?” Ella frowned slightly. “I say we throw a party here again”, she said, nodding. “I haven’t heard of any parties around the school, and Merlin knows that if there was a party, we’d be at the top of the invitation list.” Ella gestured to herself and Summer, and flailed an arm in the direction of the bathroom. “What do you think, Maria?” Ella called, “Should we throw a party or go on the hunt for one?” Ella took another swig of her firewhiskey, pressing one eye against the bottle. “Empty. Sad”, she said. “I suppose we could just hang out in the dorm. Just the three of us. When’s the last time we had a good old bitch sesh?” Ella tossed her empty bottle to the ground and leaned across to grab the full bottle from her bedside table.