pour me a heavy dose of atmosphere [alice]

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It was later than Natalia had expected when she got off of work that day. She had intended to stop by Godric's Hollow to spend some time with James before visiting Hannah at the Leaky Cauldron, but now Nat was doubting that she'd be able to visit her adoptive mother and still get home to Nikolaj at a decent time. That was the problem with Natalia's life being split between so many houses and so many people - there never seemed to be enough time for her to spend with everyone she loved, especially not with a demanding job thrown into the mix. Nat had to take several deep breaths to keep from complete panic - the fact that she still wasn't sleeping the best wasn't helping temper any of her emotions, and while Nat knew that things were going to turn out in time, it was still hard. None of this was helped by the cold outside. The moment Nat stepped out of the hospital, she was hit with it, and her hands almost immediately started shaking as she began to button up her coat. When she huffed out a sigh of annoyance, Nat's breath made an icy cloud in the night air. She had to brace herself - winter was coming.

@alice

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Alice had always been a fan of the colder weather. Particularly cloudy and rainy days, but winter wasn't so bad either. Alice liked bundling up and wearing layers; especially when it consisted of her old house scarf which she loved too much to ever just ditch. She was wearing, in fact, as she walked down the street to head back home to the Leaky Cauldron. It was still a little weird living there by herself; what with her mother being at school with the boys and all. But it wasn't terribly lonely. She was rarely home anyway, and when she was, she tried to help out around the Cauldron like her mother would have expected her to were she there. Alice didn't speak much to her old classmate, Raleigh, who had a job there now but she worked around him occasionally. She was actually on her way back to help clean up for the evening when, as she was walking, she noticed the first few snowflakes of the season fall down upon the ground. They weren't much, and they probably wouldn't stick over night, but the sight was enought to briefly disract Alice as a small smile formed on her face as she looked up to the sky. She couldn't wait for the entire street to be covered in the stuff. As she walked along with visions of snowy streets in her head, Alice wasn't necessarily paying much attention to what was in front of her. So, when she collided into the person in front of her she was sufficiently embarrassed. And when she saw exactly who that person was, well, she was embarrassed beyond belief.

@natalia

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Natalia was getting surprisingly used to being roughed up. Being bumped into was something that she had had to get used to when she had begun her Healer training. With people running around, normally around cramped spaces, jostling was inevitable. Getting offended every time someone touched her just wasn’t possible. She certainly wasn’t fond of it, though, especially when the jostles were particularly rough. Nat had outgrown most her jumpiness about being touched post-Cruciatus Curse, but some of the unease still lingered, not that she would tell anyone. When she was bumped into on the street, Natalia turned just enough to see who it was that had committed the offence, and then froze. Alice Longbottom, nominally her adopted sister, was behind her. Natalia thought they were sisters only nominally because she couldn’t remember a time where she and Alice had exchanged any words, not even niceties. James had told her of Alice’s dislike for Ravenclaws, which probably didn’t help endear Natalia in the eyes of her maybe-sister, and that was even before James and Alice’s falling out. “Hello.” Nat managed to say, turning so she was fully facing Alice. Then, looking at the sky, Natalia added (somewhat stupidly), “It appears to be snowing.”

@alice

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Alice looked, quite simply, like a deer caught in the headlights. Of all people, she had not been expecting o run into Natalia. Alice had made a point to avoid the Ravenclaw alum even during the short time that they were living together, so naturally she was always able to avoid the Lestrange in public. Until now. And, of course, it was at a time in which Alice was in no way prepared to speak to Natalia. Alice had imagined that she would have at least made up with James before she ever even spoke to Natalia. But it didn't look as if that was going to happen.

The blonde just stared at the brunette as she let out a greeting. Alice had no response. She could, obviously, respond with a greeting but she couldn't find the words. When Natalia looked up at the sky, Alice did too, happy to have a reason to look anywhere but at Natalia. The brunette said something about the snow and Alice was quiet for a moment before saying just as stupidly "yeah. It does."

@natalia

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This was, by far, the most awkward conversation Natalia had ever had, and it was barely even started. Nat wasn’t going to be the one to run away, though. She knew that Alice and James had been friends once, but her relationship with James had put a strain on their friendship. If the two of them were ever going to be friends again, Natalia figured that her having a relationship with Alice would be a good place to start. Nat blinked a few times, and glanced at Alice. The other girl hadn’t said much, so Nat was struggling with what she could say next. Opinions. Opinions were a good place to get people talking. “Do you…like it when it snows?” Natalia asked. The weather. This girl was supposed to be her sister, and the best thing that Natalia could come up with to talk about was the weather? Some small talker she was turning out to be.

@alice

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Alice wanted to run. She wanted to run far away from this situation and never look back. This was embarrassing to say the least. Alice felt much like a fool for how she had acted to Natalia both at school and when her parents had adopted she and Andromeda. But Alice had realized it wasn't just her awkwardness toward Natalia that kept her away. It was still the fact that James had not even spoken to her since they had had that fight. He hadn't even spoken to her after the attacks, or when Jayden had been hurt. And that hurt more than anything. Perhaps... if Alice could learn to speak to Natalia, then maybe she could talk to James? It may be a long shot, but Alice had a weird motivation to at least try. She was at least thankful that Natalia was better at small talk than she was, as the dyed blonde brought up the weather. "Um," Alice blinked down at her feet before looking back up and nodding, taking a moment to collect herself. "I suppose so. It's very peaceful." Alice was really bad at making friends. Especially when she had spent the majority of her school career not liking them based solely on their house.

@natalia

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Even if this conversation wasn’t as bad as Natalia had hoped – there was no shouting, at least – it was still…fairly bad. Alice looked at her feet and then back up, which gave Nat the time that she needed to collect herself and prepare for whatever snappy comeback the Hufflepuff would have. But the comeback didn’t come. “Peace is a good thing to have.” Nat had doubted that she would ever find it, but she was getting there – getting to a point where it was no longer a pipe dream that she would be happy. It had been over a year, since she had escaped, and now the scars were finally fading. “Winter is strange.” Natalia said after another pause. “I would imagine that your father and brother – Neville, and Phil, I mean,” Because it still felt strange claiming them as her family, “I would imagine that they don’t like winter. Because…the plants.” Natalia said, finishing softly. Plants died in winter, so it couldn’t be a fun time for herbologists.

@alice

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It was shocking to Alice how easy the conversation seemed to actually be flowing with Natalia. Alice didn't think she would ever reach this point with her adoptive sister, especially not before she had made amends with James first. It was odd, but at the same time it just felt right. It felt like she needed to be okay with Natalia first in order to make amends with James and it wasn't until this very moment that she realized that. "It is," she nodded simply, still not making eye contact with the Ravenclaw alum. There was a moment of silence then Natalia spoke, and when she mentioned Alice's father and Phil Alice finally met the other girl's eyes for a brief second. As usual, when someone mentioned Alice's family she could not help the small smile that appeared on her face. It was simply reflex now a days. Alice loved and admired her family so much, and she didn't know if Natalia knew that or not, but talking about her family was the best way to get Alice to speak up. And now... it just so happened that Natalia was weirdly a part of that family as well. "I don't think they mind much," she said slowly, thinking for a moment. "But... if someone were to sneak into their greenhouses and cast a freeze spell, well, that would be an entirely different story." Alice let out a tiny chuckle at the thought.

@natalia

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Alice agreed that peace was a good thing to have, and Nat just nodded again, glad that the Hufflepuff wasn’t looking at her. Sometimes, when people she knew didn’t like her looked at her, Natalia forgot how to breathe, and that made having a conversation extremely difficult. At the mention of Neville and Phil, Alice smiled, and Natalia was so shocked that the Hufflepuff would smile in her presence that she nearly took a step back. Alice seemed to be thinking hard about Nat’s comment, and the Ravenclaw waited patiently. Greenhouses. She should have remembered greenhouses, she was a Ravenclaw! And she took herbology! And she was related to the Herbology professor! Natalia felt more foolish than she ever had in her life, and she wasn’t sure whether that was because of the circumstances, the simplicity of the mistake, or who she was speaking to (or a combination of any two or all three). She took a deep breath to steady herself, and then pulled a smile onto her face for Alice’s sake. “I don’t think that would be a very funny prank.” Natalia said quietly. There were plenty of pranksters at Hogwarts, but most of them didn’t try to cause harm – with an emphasis on try. Sometimes they ended up causing harm anyways, but the intention made it a little better. That was what Nat told herself, at least, since her boyfriend was one of said pranksters.

@alice

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The longer Alice stood in front of Natalia, she thought she would get much more annoyed with her. But the topic of her family made conversing so much more easier for Alice. And since it was now technically Natalia's family too, it kind of helped even more. Seeing the other blonde offer up a smile put Alice slightly more at ease. When Natalia spoke, Alice let out a sound that was both a light chuckle and a scoff. "Oh, no," Alice agreed with the Ravenclaw alum. "It definitely wouldn't. If only because you really don't want Phillip and Neville Longbottom angry." She smiled slightly more widely, thinking of her brother and father. Surely Natalia understood that one.

@natalia

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Natalia considered what Alice had said about not wanting both Neville and Phil to be angry. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of them really, truly angry.” And if she had seen them angry, then it probably hadn’t been directed at her, which was why it hadn’t left much of an impression on her memory. Natalia was one of those people who was difficult to make angry, too, but when she was angry, the Ravenclaw imagined that she was much different from her Gryffindor adopted family. For one thing, Nat didn’t rage or make threats – she closed in on herself, or cried, neither of which were particularly terrifying. “My father…Rabastan, I mean…He had a temper.” Nat offered quietly.

@alice

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Alice glanced at the other blonde when she said she had never seen either of them angry before. "Count yourself lucky," she said. Alice had, of course, seen both her brother and her father angry before. The two were gentle hearts and so kind almost any other time, but if you angered them then you were in for it. Alice had inherited the Longbottom temper, however, hers was always much more quick to ignite. Alice, until recently, had always worn some kind of scowl or indifferent look on her face when she was around anyone that wasn't her friend. Especially Ravenclaws. Alice had never been outwardly mean to Natalia, she was sure, but she was certain she had thrown many dirty looks her way in their years at school. After all, Natalia had always been a Ravenclaw.

Alice felt her eyebrow sort of twitch when Natalia corrected herself when she called Rabastan her father. Alice knew what he had done to Andromeda and Natalia. It had been why she didn't make a huge ordeal out of the two sisters moving in with her family when they did. Alice knew that the two sisters did not have a good home life and it almost sort of broke Alice's heart a little to hear Natalia correct herself like that. If Alice felt like she could never call her father her father ever again... she can't imagine what it would possibly feel like. "You don't seem like you do," Alice shrugged, trying to get away from the topic of Rabastan Lestrange. It made Alice more than uncomfortable, considering what the man did to his own kids.

@natalia

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Natalia nodded mutely when Alice said that she should count herself lucky for never seeing the less desirable side of Neville or Phillip. In a way, it was almost disappointing. Natalia had worried since her adoptions that she wasn’t really a part of the Longbottom family, and if they weren’t willing to be their full selves, anger and all, around her…She shook her head slightly, not entirely sure that the logic of that scenario made sense. She was supposed to be the logical one, Nat reminded herself. That was what Ravenclaws were for, after all.

Nat wasn’t looking directly at Alice, but she saw the former Hufflepuff make some sort of movement with her face when Natalia had made her slip of the tongue. Why was that? Was she disgusted that Natalia could ever call that man a father? Because the Ravenclaw was a little disgusted with herself for making that mistake. When Alice remarked that Natalid didn’t have much of a temper, the Ravenclaw nodded. “I was never allowed to be angry.” She pointed out. Anger was unbecoming in a lady, and for the longest time, that was all that she was allowed to do. “I just cry when I’m angry, now.” Natalia added. She hated that, because it seemed no one was able to take a crying person seriously.

@alice

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It was really weird finally speaking to Natalia on such a personal level. Alice wondered for a moment if it would always feel this weird. She couldn't help but think it would, though, with Alice's stubborn mind and Natalia's own shyness that matched Alice's nearly perfectly. The two would probably never be close friends. Especially if Alice could never learn to forgive James. But that didn't mean that the Hufflepuff alum could not feel bad for the Ravenclaw alum when she said she was never allowed to be angry. How could someone never allow another person to not feel something? Alice furrowed her brow at the other girl. Alice felt horrible that Natalia had to live like that growing up, in such in awful place with awful people like that. It made Alice incredibly grateful that she had been raised by her own parents. Alice looked away from the girl until she said she cried when she was angry. "Oh," Alice said with one small, light chuckle. "I do that too, sometimes." She admitted. That was... nice, to find something they both had in common. Weird, but nice.

@natalia

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Natalia cocked her head when Alice said ‘oh’ at the Ravenclaw’s comment about crying when she was angry. “It’s not much fun, is it?” Natalia asked ruefully. She had long since accepted that she probably wasn’t ever going to do anything more than cry, but she wished that her anger didn’t seem so…weak. And unlike some forms of anger, the types that got people moving, Nat’s own brand of fury shut her down. It was nice to think that someone understood the reason behind her tears, though, even if that person was her adopted sister who didn’t seem want much to do with her. They were making small steps towards being civil, though, like finding common ground. “It doesn’t…feel good.” Natalia said after a beat of hesitation. She didn’t know how others felt when they were angry, but Natalia always end up feeling kind of sick, though she always felt sick when she cried too much, for sadness or even for happiness. Natalia brushed her hair behind her ears, wondering how long the two of them were going to be able to keep up this delicate peace.

@alice