You again! (Victoria)

It was the last Saturday in September, the air was crisp and fresh, the smell of Autumn even more prominent than it has been. Olivia walked down a cobbled street, with earbuds in her ears, dressed in her usual black jeans, a ratty t-shirt and a leather jacket. She hadn't really bothered with make-up, but she had tied her hair back in a plaid and actually made sue it wasn't messy. Her heels made loud click-clacking noises in the early morning - well, early was an overstatement. It was around 10 in the morning, but for a campus, that was early.

She didn't have neither work or classes today and she was excited to see her little brothers. It was a Hogsmeade weekend for the Hogwarts students and Ian and Alfred had written to her to make lunch plans. Of course, she immediately said yes, as she missed the two of them.

It was immensely weird, not seeing the twins every day, as she was used to hanging out with them almost all the time; first at home and then at school. Ever since they've been adopted, Olivia and the twins had been inseparable and it was quite an adjustment, not living with them. She missed her other family members, as well, of course, though she was less likely to admit it.

She missed her Mum's off-key singing as she painted, her Dad grumbling as he read the newspaper, Sofia's annoying nagging about everyone's health, even missed her insufferable know-it-all attitude -at least she made Olivia want to know more, even if it was just so she could beat Sofia at her own game-, and she missed Tony's triumphant yells as he beat someone at video games. She missed them all, especially because they didn't really spend the summer together.
Tony had got an internship in some obscure European country, Sofia was basically stuck at work 20 hours out of the 24 and she spent the remaining 4 to catch up on sleep. It had helped with the nagging, though. Mum and Dad went on a cruise for a month, as they were able to afford it, because most of their kids had their own jobs now. It was really nice to see them be so excited about a holiday, plus they sent a postcard every week and brought back a thousands of gifts.

So, that left Olivia and the twins in the big house. It was fun, she had to admit; they basically played video games, ate take-out and watched movies. They had a Buffy marathon, which lasted the whole week and left them feeling dead inside.

All in all, it was a pretty great summer, even though it made Olivia miss her family even more.

Now, Olivia walked into a local pub, greeted the barman and, not stopping for conversation that would undoubtedly last at least half an hour - Ted, the barman, was a chatterbox and lured you in political discussions if you weren't careful- and made a beeline for the fireplace.

A few minutes later, she was standing in The Three Broomsticks, surrounded by loud chatter and laughter. She grinned and scanned the place for her brothers. As she couldn't see either of them, Olivia walked over to the counter, ordered a large coffee and went to sit at an empty table.

As she drank the delicious latte, the girl scanned the pub, looking to see if there was anyone there that she recognized. It would be possible, after all.

Olivia had just spotted an empty table and was about to go sit down, when somebody called her name. She turned around and her lips twitched in a quick smile when she saw Victoria. As much as the girl had annoyed her when they first met, she grew on her, especially when she was eager to help out with homework, despite being younger than Olivia. She wouldn't really consider her a friend just yet, but she was definitely a friendly acquaintance and Olivia liked spending time with her.

As soon as she sat down, Victoria bombarded her with questions and Olivia laughed before answering. It was quite typical of the younger witch to get way too excited in the middle of a conversation, but this was the first time she had greeted Olivia with such enthusiasm.

"I've been fantastic, thank you! They finally let me near an actual, live dragon this week and it was amazing!" Olivia said, grinning. It was such an amazing experience and she told everyone she talked to. "Oh, don't worry, they're up to their usual stuff, though they're being smarter about it." She told Victoria in regards to her brothers.

"They learned their lesson, I hope." Olivia chuckled and took a sip of her coffee. She almost laughed at the situation, as she realized having coffee with the Newbury siblings was becoming quite a regular thing. She could only hope this would end better than the time with Jake. That had been a disaster.

She pushed the thought aside, as she didn't really want to think about that jerk. Besides, Victoria was lovelier than her brother. Much lovelier.

"How've you been, then? Enjoying your rule as Head Girl?"

"It was a baby Common Welsh. They're the least dangerous breed and they're quite lovely as babies." Olivia explained and then grinned. "Of course, you've still got to be careful, as they are dragons. One of my classmates provoked his hatchling and got his eyebrows singed off." She told Victoria cheerily.

It had been a fun day. Mike, the idiot that wasn't careful enough, had been all high and mighty all last year and was absolutely unbearable. His ego deflated significantly and, after the rest of them have finally stopped laughing, they went for lunch without wanting to strangle him.

As Victoria talked, Olivia just stared at her with raised eyebrows. She could tell that the girl was killing herself for school and to help others and that just wouldn't do.

"Okay, Victoria, I admire your selflessness and all that shit, but seriously, you've got to think about yourself. You know I'm grateful for all the help with homework and I'm sure the others are as well, but if you're exhausted and don't have time to do the things you want to do, you need to take a step back. There are other people that can provide help with homework." Olivia was saying, though she didn't realky know why she was so invested in this.

It was, after all, Victoria's problem and she should take care of it. Right? Olivia should just let her be?
Except, no. She shouldn't. She had been in Hufflepuff house, like Victoria and they looked out for each other. Plus, it didn't look like the younger witch was about to realize all that any time soon.

"Also, grades aren't everything. You've got to take care of yourself, not study all the time." She added sternly.

Victoria then mentioned a ball and Olivia brightened up. Surely, dancing and having fun would relax the younger witch. Good, that's good.

"Just go as you are and say you're a werewolf. They look just like everybody else. So you won't have to do any work, and you'll be breaking stereotypes about werewolves." Olivia grinned and took another sip of her coffee. "Ooh, or a unicorn. You could totally pass as a unicorn."

"That sounds amazing!" Victoria responded to the older witch. "Not about the boy getting his eyebrows singed, but seeing a dragon! You're so lucky!"

Olivia shook her head, grinning. "No, no, that was amazing, too." she chuckled. "But, yeah, seeing a dragon, touching her, trying to make her feel as comfortable as possible... It was amazing."

When she had seen the dragon, Mimi, she finally felt like she's on the right path and that taking care of dragons, training them, is the thing she was supposed to do. It was a glorious feeling and if it didn't sound so lame, she'd tell someone about it. For now, though, she would just go around, saying how awesome dragons are.

When Victoria started defending herself, saying she was alright, Olivia frowned.

"I'm not saying stop completely, but helping everyone can't possibly be healthy. Plus, I'm sure you're taking about a zillion classes, when do you have time? Anyway, just get someone else to help some of the students, delegate your workload." Olivia explained the best she could.

She's never done this before, telling someone why they can't help everybody. Sure, her parents were good, selfless people who adopted a shitload of kids, but they knew when to stop. They knew when their helping people was causing them to be exhausted, and they stopped.

"Studying makes me happy!"

Olivia thought about this for a moment. Once again, she had never had to deal with that before. Yes, Sofia was an insufferable know-it-all, but even she complained about studying all the time.

"Okaay..." she said slowly, trying to think of what to say. "Well, what else makes you happy? Do that sometimes, as well."

As Victoria asked what she meant by stereotypes, Olivia was torn between gaping and laughing at her. The rest was a sort of high-pitched giggle, accompanied by raised eyebrows and wide eyes. The witch was horrified at the sound she made, so she started talking immediately, not giving the other girl time to comment on it.

"Well, stereotypes. You know, some people think that werewolves look hairy and whatnot all the time, some think that they only eat raw meat... I've actually heard someone say that they think werewolves can't wear the colour pink, because it burns them." Olivia shook her head, taking a sip of her coffee.

"There's all sorts of things, people are idiots. You do know that most werewolves can't get a regular job because the employers are afraid they're gonna eat them or they're just horribly prejudiced? It's horrible." Olivia finished seriously, looking at Victoria. How does someone not pick up on the prejudice all around them?