Around 2AM

The sun had long since set and the majority of Londoners had long since retired to their beds. The streets were quiet and calm with the exception of two women walking along the riverbank, arm in arm and a bottle of Ogden’s firewhiskey clasped in the hand of the blonde. Golden liquid in the bottle slashed against the glass with each mildly drunken step. Much of the bottle’s contents, however, had already been consumed. That explained the laughing and lack of a straight line the women were able to carve out before them.

“A flock of rotting squid brains!” The lawyer, the taller of the two repeated herself, having just shared the tale of her trip to Russia with Johann Storm. “’ave you ever been to Russia?” With a considerable amount alcohol now in her system, the witch’s accent had become stronger, less easily decipherable. They approached a bridge and she stopped dead, pulling her friend back from taking her next step. Bright blue eyes searched deep brown as she drew closer.

The pair had been out since the middle of the evening, Eva having invited her companion to see a live band in a Diagon Alley pub. It wouldn’t normally have been the witch’s scene, her habitually opting for a nice restaurant and a bottle of decent wine, but something about Elixa made her want to act differently, to reclaim a youth lost to the past. The wine drinking refined woman had spent an evening in a corner booth of a darkened pub drinking firewhiskey with a woman she found scarily enticing.

The pub had recently had their final orders before kicking out and closing its doors. This had led to Eva and Elixa slowly wandering near the Thames, continuing the evening into the early hours. The dry weather that had held out started to fail as they stood near the bridge and Eva felt a few droplets land on her head. With a grin, Eva looked up to see it increasing in power, hitting her face. She made no move, however, to go for cover, instead lifting the bottle to offer more whiskey.

“Ewwwwwwww.” Lix reacted to the explanation of the January day a year and a half ago with her third cousin. Rubbish Russian and stupid defendant by the sound of it, all on his birthday. She had no idea Eva had known him, but it was good to know a little connection there. Made her feel she knew Eva better - even if the two of them had started talking like they’d known each other for years, when they’d only just met. One of those uncanny moments.

“’ave you ever been to Russia?”
“Russia? No,” Lix shook her head as she replied, “Not knowingly - stuck to Scandinavia for the cold.” She shrugged, brushed her dark curls back from her face and then stopped unexpectedly as Eva’s hand gripped her arm. “You al-?”

It was starting to rain, but both of them were less interested in the weather and more interested in whiling the night away with that bottle. More drinks, more places. Maybe a Muggle place, maybe just walk the city. That was the joy of cushioning charms…!
“Don’t mind if I do.” Lix grinned as Eva offered the whiskey. She tiptoed up and leaned forward to leave a soft kiss on the cheek of the other witch before uncapping the bottle to knock back a shot.

Healing training was hard work but going well, but Lix found herself needing time to blow off steam and forget the emotional weight of caring for people for most of the hours of the day. When her shifts deviated to Arc’s, he’d never miss her going out. When they were home, she knew he appreciated her company. Right now she appreciated Eva’s company. She was intriguing, intelligent and witty. Lix would venture she was one of the most clever witches she knew in recent years. Their conversations went to places that twisted the inebriated mind. Whereas wizards might tell her she knew nothing and shouldn’t bother her pretty little mind about it, Eva would shake her head and debate.

“Do you fancy some squid?” Lix asked, the neck of the bottle clasped in one hand, contents slopping inside the glass as she gestured. Her balance was all a little oiled, exaggerated for the drinking. “Probably find a Chinese open if you’re hungry,” she grasped Eva’s jacket, “Oh you’re getting wet.” She began to try and wipe the rain off, and giggled to herself, “Wet!” What a terrible pickup line that could be, in her terrible mind.

Soft lips pressed against the wet skin of her cheek and a very strange feeling of nervousness and surprise overwhelmed her. Eva brushed it off, putting it down to far too much fire whiskey in one evening. Work would be terrible in the morning; a day of struggling to tolerate Maurice Holmes and her boss with a dreadful hangover would be like hell warmed up. That was, fortunately, something she could ignore until the morning and she had to face up to. For the moment? The fire whiskey needed finishing and they would be wise to get out of the rain. Eva was never wise when alcohol and company were concerned.

“Do you fancy some squid?” Lix asked, grasping at the bottle. Eva’s brows shot up, unimpressed at the idea of squid ever since her unpleasant visit to Russia. It wasn’t necessary to respond immediately, however, as Lix grasped her jacket and made a joke about being wet. Despite herself, Eva’s cheeks flushed as bright eyes darted over her friend’s face. Regardless, she grinned, taking the bottle back. She lifted it, swigging and closing her eyes as the liquid burned down her throat.

When the bottle was lowered, her gaze once more met Lix’s. “There’s a Chinese a few doors up from mine. Are you hungry?” She dug her wand from her jacket pocket and, without really considering it, wrapped her arm around Lix’s waist ready to apparate.

“Are you hungry?”
“Tcha, always.”

Two witches popped out of thin air in the middle of the night. One had thrown her arms around the other’s waist, dark head near buried into the bosom of the blonde. There were giggles bubbling, and as Lix let go she twirled on the spot, as if dancing to music only she could hear. For someone who had been drinking that evening, she retained balance only through luck.

“You live here?” Lix asked, looking up and around herself at the street. “Out here?” She hadn’t ever really asked, though Eva may have mentioned it. But Lix had forgotten that it would be so Muggle. There was nothing wrong with it, but the shorter witch had become so accustomed to nights in wizarding haunts it was different to traipse along with someone with such Muggle origins.

“Let’s get way take,” she asserted in her Swedish accent. “I mean, to go - not inside.” She waved her hands in a more dramatic gesture than she might ordinarily, “take away! Then take me!” Lix grinned, “To you place!”

It was rare for Eva to pay so little mind to the area in which she apparated when coming home. It was a muggle street with, as far as she knew, no other witch or wizard for quite a distance. Such a reality meant that two women suddenly appearing out of nowhere in the middle of the road would start tongues wagging, if not worse. But Eva had had far too much to drink to even care about the ramifications of a middle of the night apparition. She was far too distracted by the rain and the face buried in her chest when their feet hit the floor.

“It’s normally quiet.” She rose an eyebrow, smirking as her companion span in the rain that cascaded down over their faces.
“take away! Then take me!” Blue eyes grew wide at the suggestion but the blonde couldn’t help but grin after a moment at the slip of the tongue or whatever it may have been. Elixa hadn’t exactly been secretive about past relationships with women and the reality of such definitely intrigued the lawyer.

“Way take, it is.” A hand reached out to grab her friend’s and she pulled her up the street in the direction of the Chinese. Her balance was somewhat off after so much whiskey and her grip of Elixa’s hand was tight as they approached the darkened shop front. “Scheisse!” The place was closed as should have been expected on the far side of 2AM. With the rain pouring down on them, Eva pulled Elixa closer to her, under the shelter of the overhanging roof to the takeaway shop. “I am a sorceress in the kitchen, Mordent. It’s not Chinese but my beans on toast is the talk of the street.”

“Ohhhh my Goooooods.” Lix uttered in a low voice, clasped to Eva’s side as they sheltered from the rain. “Beans on tooooooast. I haven’t had that in aaaaaaaages.”

It was a decidedly British meal, that was for sure. There were tins of beans in Lix and Arc’s pantry back at Diagon Alley, but it wasn’t often that she thought to cook any. “My Dad loves beans[1]. He’s forever asking me to owl some back.” Her father was English, and had gone to Hogwarts, but moved and married her mother when they met in Sweden. It was how she ended up related to the present Minister for Magic, not that Lix tended to bring that up in conversation. It was not for anyone’s benefit if she did.

“Take me to your kitchen, Eva, pleeeeease. That sounds deee-lish.” Lix thumbed over her shoulder at the dark restaurant window, “Chinese next time. Right, umbrella.” She brandished her wand and looped her arm with Eva’s. With a swish, she conjured an umbrella charm which parted the rain illuminated by the nearby sodium streetlamp. “There!” Lix declared over a rumble of her stomach. “Lead the way.”

It was closer than she had imagined, as they made their way just doors down as Eva had literally described on the embankment. The tiny, unassuming two-up-two-down was sandwiched in a tight terrace and reminded Lix of the way the Diagon buildings were magically compacted. Only this was a muggle place, so it could really be quite little inside. She told her inebriated brain not to judge, which meant it had a high likelihood of judging out loud in the near future.

1.	Actual previous mention of this in a thread

The front door was opened straight onto the small living room and Eva pulled the door shut behind them, giving her wand a quick flick to lock it and set the catch in place. Her house was a small and cosy one that was distinctively muggle with the exception of the general electronic gadgets that they tended to keep and use at home. Directly before them was a set of stairs that led to her bedroom and the bathroom, but Eva directed her guest into the main area where the mismatched sofa, armchair and coffee table completed the set-up of a house that wasn’t exactly homely and well cared for.

From the sofa by the staircase, Chou-Fleur, the fluffy little pup that seemed to have more fur than body lifted his head, staring at who disturbed his nap. Eva paid the dog no mind as she removed her jacket and hung it over the banister of the stairs.

“Make yourself at home.” She waved at the sofa and frowned. Chou-Fleur wasn’t very likely to move but he only took up one seat out of the three when curled up. Shoes still on, the heels clicked on the bare wooden floorboards as she walked through the living room into the small kitchen. “Shit, I hope I have bread.” With alcohol, Eva had lost her volume control and was speaking perhaps too loudly when one lived so close to one’s neighbours. “and beans! How do you feel about air and whiskey?” Bending down, the witch began to check the somewhat bare cupboards. “Beautiful fresh air, stale biscuits and whiskey!”

It was a sort of homely setup - Lix hadn’t really known what to expect. She’d never visited Eva’s office at the Ministry, so had nothing to compare. The Muggle exterior had suggested Eva might keep a more muggle lifestyle, and the hypothesis was proved somewhat correct, as far as Lix could see in the dark. It was the small hours of the morning, after all, and through the glass of a bottle.

“Ok!” Lix called after Eva as she suggested she make herself at home. The dog was perched one end of the sofa but sleepily regarded them with only mild interest. If had bounded across to say hello she might have fussed it, but she contented herself with a friendly grin and mutter to it that it was a nice dog.

In the kitchen beyond Eva was thinking aloud, and Lix used the opportunity to slip off her boots and pull her feet up onto the sofa end with her, the whiskey bottle cradled in one arm.
“How do you feel about air and whiskey?”
“Ehh…”
“Beautiful fresh air, stale biscuits and whiskey!”
“Whiskey and women,” Lix corrected with a grin and patted the sofa beside her, shuffling herself to sit more comfortably with her companion. “Sometimes that’s all I need,” she propped her elbow up on the back of the sofa and twisted to look at Eva better. “Maybe that’s all you need too, hmm?” Evangeline Kuester was good fun, but she was also giving Lix subconscious signals - the sort married women might give her after spending time suggesting their husbands were a bad lay. Kuester was definitely more subtle though, and Lix could be misreading, but maybe it would be no harm to explore...

The dark-haired trainee healer lifted the whiskey to her lips, barely breaking eye contact, leaving the rim of the bottle an inch from her lips as she kept Eva’s attention, lips twisting into a suggestive smirk.

“Whiskey and women,” Elixa’s voice could be heard from the living area and it caused Eva’s head to snap up in shock, smacking it off the top of the cupboard she’d currently had it inside.
“Scheisse!” she cursed, standing straight and rubbing the back of her head as an extremely inebriated mind tried to comprehend the thought of whiskey and women. A quick glance from the kitchen to Elixa on the sofa suddenly caused a wave of nerves to strike Evangeline. Of course, she’d been aware of her companion’s…preferences. There was absolutely no judgement there. But for the suggestion that it might work for her as well? Eva’s lips parted as her eyes danced over the form of the woman before landing on the bottle inches from red lips.

As if trying to snap out of the sudden daze, the witch began to walk back over to the sofa, pulling her jacket free of her arms as she did. The leather garment was thrown over the back of the armchair and she reached, taking the bottle from Elixa’s grasp.
“Don’t be so daft, I’ve been married. To a man.” Right now, it seemed like logical and perfectly adequate proof that whiskey and women were not what she needed or was interested in and, seemingly content with her evidence, Eva took a long swig of the intoxicating drink before dropping down on the sofa between the dog and the Healer. Arms brushing on the now cosy furniture, Eva found her bright blue eyes dancing between the whisky bottle and the friend who enjoyed whiskey and women. “Zu viel Bourbon! I think that you’ve had too much whiskey.” The bottle was lowered and Eva couldn’t draw her eyes away. “Or I have.”

“Don’t be so daft, I’ve been married. To a man.”
“Don’t make you exempt,” Lix chuckled, not even trying to hide the way her eyes traced up and down the other witch’s body. Eva was older, but in good nick as far as Lix could see. It didn’t stop Eva taking a seat on the sofa too though, for which Lix was happy.

“… I think that you’ve had too much whiskey. Or I have.”
“Maybe,” the healer shrugged. “Why don’t you put it down.” It wasn’t a suggestion, the way it was put and the tone she used it was more a playful command.

“I’ve slept with men, with women, shifters and near beasts, and none of them are the same,” Lix elaborated to Eva in a low tone. “The thrill is in the discovery, once you know the route you’re keen to take the shortcuts, but when you’re finding your way it’s the best.” She smiled, all lipstick and teeth under thick dark hair. “To box yourself off to one type of partner is as good as cutting off one hand. Sex isn’t all about a dick, Eva.” She laughed gently, not ridiculing, but just easing the drunken tension. “Though I’m sure we’ve both known wizards who’d claim it was.”

The whiskey bottle was lowered to the floor as Eva listened to Elixa elaborating on types she’d slept with. Now for a woman who’d certainly not shied away from attention throughout her teenage years and following adulthood, she’d never considered herself a boring sort. Until now. Eva had spent her lifetime sticking to what she knew. Smart, arrogant men. Ever since her first boyfriend and fling, she’d had a distinct type and had never strayed, always drawn to the same personality traits, the same promise of intellect, challenge and power.

Until now.

Now, sat upon this sofa, the boring witch with a type found herself drawn to someone who couldn’t be more different. Elixa wasn’t an arrogant wizard in a distinguished position. Elixa was a younger healer in training. A witch. She must have been losing it.

Elixa softly laughed and Eva glanced down for a moment, considering her words. Exploration, boxing oneself off, more to sex than…

With a sudden surge of courage, Eva leaned forward, her cool hand brushing Elixa’s cheek and she pressed pale lips against soft rouged ones.

Despite a little surprise, Lix covered and reciprocated the advances. Eva had smelt lovely all evening, and she kissed firmly, with all the confidence of alcohol and a lack of audience. She also kissed first, which was nice. It was more often Mordent kissing her way up a shoulder or sliding an arm around a stomach to make it impossible to escape that started something.

Their lips parted, and Lix’s heavily shadowed eyelids were lowered to the space between them. She blinked, and looked up to Eva, measuring how she felt about this.
“You alright?” She asked, trying to say it smoothly, but with a Swedish accent it always sounded practical and factual in English. “I could do that again,” she smiled, and tilted her head, leaning forward to close her lips against Eva’s again. This time with more purpose, her hand softly finding a home on the other witch’s waist, anchoring them together.

Eva was a good friend, and the last thing she wanted to do was scare her off by being too forward. Though, equally if she wanted this rather more than she realised, Lix was more than ready to show her exactly how ladies did it.

Eva Kuester was no stranger to waking up next to someone. She certainly wasn’t a prude and neither was she someone eager to settle down and commit to anyone again.

But the big difference?

It was always a man that Eva woke next to.

She’d always had a type. Smart, ambitious and intellectually challenging. They needed a position of authority or a plan to reach it in the near future. Eva certainly knew the type of man she liked and went for, and, apart from her marriage in her 20s, she hadn’t been into fidelity or enjoying the company of the same person every night. In that respect, she was similar to the witch who lay beside her as she rolled and began to surface from an alcohol induced coma.

Everything from the night before came flooding back with one bang of the oncoming hangover headache. Merlin, they drank a lot of whiskey. Eyes fell on the pretty brunette asleep next to her and Eva rolled onto her back, groaning. She’d had far too much fire whiskey! What in Merlin’s name had she done?

Regardless of the surprise and memories flooding back into her hangover addled brain, Eva slipped from the covers and snatched her dressing gown from the back of the bedroom door. She wouldn’t wake her friend yet. She had nothing to say.

So, Eva left Elixa to sleep off the whiskey in bed while she crossed the tiny landing into the bathroom. a hangover potions and a substantial amount of time later and Eva was moving back into the bedroom once more in her dressing gown. In her hands were a tiny vial of potion and a glass of water to wash it down with.

“Lix?” Eva placed the vial and water on the bedside table beside her friend before touching her shoulder. “I have to go to work, Lix.”

Lix Mordent stretched out lazily in Eva’s bed, enjoying the blissful join between sleeping and waking where one was warm, comfortable and trouble-free. She opened her dark eyes gently and blinked a few times before they focused on Eva. How lovely of her to bring water and was that…
“Hangover potion? You’re a doll.” She pushed herself upright, not caring that she hadn’t a speck on her, and reached for the potion. He dark bed hair cascaded over her bare shoulders and tickled her skin. She necked the potion and then the water with practiced efficiency. “Ahhh,” she exhaled, head tilted back and then looked to Eva, curious if the other woman’s eyes were wandering.

“Work?” She asked, “Pity…” She shrugged and bit her bottom lip a little suggestively. Her expression changed to enthusiastic curiosity as her mind recalled their conversation last night - hazily - but the general gist retained.

“So…” she began, sitting upright, “So…” she appeared to be expecting Eva to fill in the gaps, but the witch did not seem forthcoming. “How was it?” She asked, flipping the covers back and hopping up, wearing only a delighted grin. “How was it to be taken by a woman?”

To say that Eva was surprised by Elixa’s lack of embarrassment by sitting up exactly as she was, would be an understatement. The habitually reckless woman found herself glancing away to give her… friend her privacy. She’d never been the prudish sort, having decided long ago that she was interested only in fun and not anything serious with anyone. Hell, she’d spent a lifetime of sleeping with her oldest friend. But this? A woman? A woman so bold? Eva found herself utterly confused and out of character.

At the mention of work, Eva’s hand brushed through blonde hair, still messy from sleep and the evening’s entertainments. Why in merlin’s name was she so nervous? So uncomfortable?


“So… So… How was it?” Eva’s lips stayed firmly shut, her arms now folded over the silk dressing gown covering her own body like the sheet covered Elixa’s.

But then Elixa threw back the covered and climbed out of bed in all of her glory and Evangeline had no idea where to look.

“How was it to be taken by a woman?” The shock at such a question left Eva to stare, visibly stunned as her mind tried to catch up with the events.
“I was hardly taken.” She finally responded. “That would…” she paused, considering her words. Did she really want to go there? Did she want this? “That would imply you instigated it. I kissed you.”