Saturday morning

It was ten o’clock, and Fauna was hungry. She’d been awake since eight and had tried stalling for as long as possible. Her rat was happy and fed, she’d been for a walk outside, and had even started on some homework until she found she’d made a dozen spelling errors in less than ten minutes. Homework could wait, she decided. Her stomach could not.

So she walked back into the dorms in search of her lovely comrade, Ollie. They ate breakfast together most weekends, and most weekends Fauna was forced to wake up her friend before she slept the day away and missed her bacon. They couldn’t have that. She hummed to herself happily and nudged open Ollie’s dorm door as quietly as possible. When she saw that no one else was sleeping there, that it was just Ollie snoring lightly with her tangled hair snaking out from underneath the covers, she had an idea.

Fauna went back to her own room and opened up her closet. Soon enough, she’d changed out of her pajamas and had put on a pair of old, orange cut-off shorts that were so short they were almost indecent (she’d stopped wearing them out in public years ago, in fact), bright tights with fireworks on them, slouchy green socks, fuzzy slippers, a long-sleeved top, and over that a knitted sweater vest in red and white stripes.

She paused for a moment to grin crazily. Playing dress-up was so much fun. It was obviously an activity she had never grown out of. After she put on the basics of her outfit, she tapped her finger to her mouth, knowing she was forgetting a key item.

Ollie’s sunglasses! She hadn’t returned them yet so she plopped them on her nose. Scarves! She had to have scarves. She grabbed five and draped them around her neck. Then there was the question of the hat. Fauna scanned her hat collection that was scattered all over the dorm- a few on bed posts, three on the window curtains, and the majority stuck to the ceiling with a charm. Finally, she picked out a velvet maroon fedora with feathers.

Now, Fauna felt ready to face the day. She crept out of her dorm and back into Ollie’s. After she shut the door quietly behind her, she cleared her throat.

No reaction. The form beneath the covers hadn’t so much as stirred. This called for drastic measures. Fauna tiptoed over to her friend and threw off the bedcovers. Then she took out her wand and whispered, “Aguamenti.”

Water sprouted from the tip and fell on Ollie’s head. Fauna giggled and decided she would only stop the spell when her friend was fully awake. Meaning, awake enough to chase her around the room with a head of matted, damp hair!

Ollie was sleeping peacefully in her bed; a slight snore left her as lay on her front her head almost hidden under the sheets but her feet sticking out under the blankets and a hand hanging off her bed. Ollie was not a morning person and had to drag herself from bed. On the weekends Ollie didn’t mind missing breakfast, but it usually didn’t happen because Fauna dragged her from her bed for breakfast and in the end she would always thank them for it. Ollie just wasn’t a morning person and wanted to sleep the day away if she could. Ollie was having a particularly good dream involving Devlin; with cameos from Fauna it was a darn good clean dream. Ollie was enjoying some time with Devlin, it was not an uncommon dream but today Fauna kept popping up, which had not happened before. Ollie was wrapped in those amazing arms of Devlin’s his slight scruff brushing her cheek. He was just about to kiss her when a sharp shot of cold water hit her.

“Whap?” She said as she flailed a bit the stream of water was not stopping. She was so dazed and unaware of where she even was. Finally she realized she was waking up in her dorm and there was water and a culprit behind it. She knew it wasn’t any of her dormmate as none would dare. She spluttered some more trying to hide under the blanket as she tried to avoid the jet of cold water. “I am awake bloody hell!” She jumped off the bed and ran towards Fauna. “You are going to pay for that Fauna.” Ollie screamed loudly, her wild hair flat against her head in a tangled wet mess. Her oversized t-shirt clung to her body and her shorts were dripping wet. “FAUNA BLAKE! I am going to bite you I mean it!” To Ollie biting was more of a threat and she was sure Fauna would get it.

Fauna was laughing so hard at Ollie’s reaction that she didn’t move quite fast enough. It was only when Ollie jumped off the bed and started screaming her name that Fauna yelped and ran out of the dorm. She raced towards the common room, her giggles and layers of clothing slowing her down. To make up for it, she threw her scarves behind her and hoped that one of them distracted Ollie.

“No fair! You can’t bite me!” She squeaked breathlessly, losing a slipper. “I’m not even wearing my red cape today!”

Her stomach grumbled from amusement and lack of food.

Somehow she made it to the common room and realized she’d lost all of her scarves and both her slippers in the sprint for her life. Fauna started backing away slowly from her friend, her hands held out in front of her in a gesture of peace, until she reached down, ripped off a slouchy green sock, and hurled it at her.

Giggling manically, Fauna ran around the common room, fully expecting to be tackled or hit with a spell in retaliation.

Ollie was jumping over falling articles of clothing, how many scarves did the woman have?  Ollie nearly slipped on one catching herself on the stairs rail before running down the rest of the stairs. Fauna was going to pay for this one. Waking her up from that amazing dream. Ollie swore it was real, his lips had been so close and the scruff. Ollie was very mad that she was no soaking wet and having to sprint after the culprit.

“I will bite you I swear!” She threatened again chasing Fauna around the common room. They weaved out of the furniture and finally Ollie caught up with the older girl. All 5’4 of Ollie leapt up and jump on Fauna who was looking behind her as Ollie did it. Ollie and Fauna fell over the arm of a couch; Fauna’s back hitting the couch as Ollie covered her. A loud noise left Ollie, “I caught you!”

Ollie looked at Fauna and laughed loudly and leaned down and nibbled ever so lightly on Fauna’s shoulder. “You are a cruel cruel person.” She said looking at Fauna, Ollie’s hands either side of her head. Ollie looked down at Fauna and was breathing heavy after the sprint to catch her. Ollie’s heart was racing and she was shaking from the cold water but she was warm and nervous. Ollie was so close to Fauna and as she looked down at her she had the sudden urge to kiss her. Ollie did the only thing she could think of and rolled off Fauna landing hard on the floor.

“Ouch!” Ollie said but she welcomed the pain to replace those thoughts, to distract her. Fauna was a girl; Fauna was not Devlin, why the hell did she want to kiss her? Ollie looked at the ceiling for a moment before turning her head to smile at Fauna. Ollie was really not sure what this new feeling was all about.

Fauna didn't know whether to squeal or laugh when Ollie playfully 'nibbled' her shoulder, so she did both. She felt glad that no one else was in the common room to bother them, or be bothered by their antics. She liked acting goofy with people she trusted, and Ollie was definitely one of those people.

She grinned at her friend and stuck out her tongue, but Ollie just gave her a funny look. She raised her eyebrows in surprise. Where was the spell that would soak her with water? Where was the pillow to the face? Or some other kind of appropriate retaliation?

Ollie finally rolled off of her, and off of the couch with a loud thump.

"Uh, that sounded painful," she commented, still confused by the lack of mischievousness from her friend. Turning over to lay on her stomach, she peered down into Ollie's face. There was the lopsided grin she knew and loved.

"I thought you were going to kill me for a second," she teased, sunglasses sliding down her nose. Fauna took them off and gently slid the glasses over Ollie's eyes.

"There. Now I won't keep forgetting to give them back."

She opened her mouth to say something else but stopped when she saw a funny mark on her friend's stomach, where her shirt had rolled up slightly. It looked like an old scar, but it was in the shape of a cross.

Fauna sat up to rest on her elbows and frowned. "Where did you get that?" She pointed to the mark and glanced back at Ollie.

“It was painful,” she said in the midst of a groan. Ollie was more concerned about that sudden thought of kissing Fauna then on the fact she had fallen to the ground though so the pain was kind of taking second place. Ollie looked up at Fauna as her face came into view. “Nah I wouldn’t kill you, well not this time, so don’t do it again.” Ollie forced out a laugh at this statement just to play it off.

Ollie spoke a brief thank you before taking the sunglasses and placed them on her head in amongst her wet hair. She looked up at the ceiling enjoying the calming feeling she felt and her body relaxing so she hoped that her mind would stop running with the ideas of kissing Fauna.

“Huh?” Ollie looked to wear Fauna was pointing and pulled her shirt down. “Um,” Ollie never liked talking about this sort of thing, it was hard to talk about. Ollie got up to sit down next to Fauna so they could talk properly. “It is an old silver scar from a cross.” Ollie looked down at her hands. “I lived in a wizard orphanage for a bit and all the kids there knew what I was and they thought it was fun to pin me down and put silver on me.” Ollie looked at Fauna hoping to gage her reaction to that.

Fauna shifted so Ollie could take a seat next to her on the couch. What Ollie told her changed her carefree mood immediately.

“Oh, jeez…” she said softly, frowning. “Kids are cruel.” Fauna scooted closer to her and rested her head on her friend’s shoulder, trying to imagine what that must have been like. Fauna had faced much teasing and bullying at school when she was little, so she could relate to being ostracized, but Ollie had never gotten a break from those kids. She had to have lived with them too. What was worse, Fauna doubted that anyone had looked out for Ollie when she’d been young.

“I never knew you had to stay at an orphanage,” she mumbled into her shoulder. She wasn’t offended, just surprised. “How long were you there?”

A few years ago Fauna had tried to give Ollie a holiday gift, a necklace, but she never wore it because it was silver. Fauna remembered being upset until her friend had pulled her aside and explained why. She smiled a little. That was the start of what had turned into a very close friendship.

“Yeah they can,” Ollie said in a melancholy tone. Leaning her head against Fauna she sighed a bit. She never talked about her life before living with her mother Emma Foley. Emma was her family and she really didn’t want people thinking any different.

“I wasn’t there long before Emma adopted me,” Ollie smiled weakly. “I was there a few months after I was released from St. Mungo’s.” Ollie looked at Fauna and brushed her hands over her face as it to rub away the tears that had yet to fall. “I was attacked when I was five and I would have died if my mother had not intervened but it cost her, her life.” Ollie had never remembered this but she was just going by what she was told. “My grandparents put me up for adoption, and then Emma adopted me.” Ollie felt a few tears fall across her cheeks as she pressed her lips together.

Scratching just below her ear she looked at the floor before brushing tears from her cheeks. “So yeah, breakfast?” Ollie didn’t feel like talking about this anymore, and she was going to once again bottle up her feels. “I need my bacon before it all goes.”

Fauna’s face grew increasingly somber as she listened to Ollie’s story. Her friend so rarely talked about her past that it was as if she’d sprung into existence the moment Emma had adopted her. Fauna sometimes forgot the pain she must have went through, with losing her mother to the werewolf attack and then losing her grandparents because they put  her up for adoption. It made her angry to think about how the rest of her family abandoned her. Ollie had only been four years old, she couldn’t have understood what had happened to her, or why her mom was no longer around to take care of her.

Fauna sent a moody glare out into space and swallowed tightly as she felt a tear drip into her hair. Thank Merlin for Emma Foley. She’d give the woman a big hug next time she saw her.

Right now though, she’d have to settle for giving Ollie a light squeeze with one arm. She had so many things to tell her friend, yet she couldn’t find the words. Ollie seemed to want the conversation to be over anyway, so she stood up slowly and averted her gaze when the girl wiped at her eyes.

“Yeah, uh, bacon,” she picked up her fedora from the ground and put it back on her head. “I get to shame my housemates this morning,” she said, looking down at her ridiculous outfit and lamely attempting a joke. “Well, more so than normal.”

Fauna took a step towards the door and then paused. “Ollie,” she stared, scratching her head. “I just want to say… I’m glad I was there that night. You know, The Night. Um…” She trailed off and glanced at her helplessly.

“I’ll wait here if you wanna change,” she finally said, digging the tip of her slipper into the carpet.

Ollie’s mood had turned rather somber and that was not the way she wanted to start the day. She hated talking about emotions and much preferred to bottle them up. She didn’t want to show this side of her to anyone, even Fauna. She was up off the couch wanting to just get away for a moment to at least compose herself. “I don’t think you will shame anyone.” Ollie said sweetly she liked the way Fauna just dressed how she wished.

Ollie wasn’t sure if she was glad Fauna was there or not. Nobody needed to see the transformation but now Fauna had. “Well I am just glad it has not changed your opinion of me.” Ollie was really glad to have a friend still standing by. Now Ollie just needed to figure out her own feelings for Fauna.

“I will be right back,” Ollie said with a bright smile as if nothing had happened just moments ago. She was determined just to brush off that somber moment and act as if the words of her past had never been uttered. “Maybe I will go with something a bit tamer than your outfit.” She joked as she ran up the stairs to get out of her soaked clothing.