Magic | D. Malfoy

02. Meeting in the Storm

Nicole arrived in the late afternoon on Sunday, carrying the single suitcase she had taken with her to her trip to Lyon, her smile when Ashley opened the door wider than usual. Sophia and Ashley smiled as well at the sight of her and at once, Sophia moved forward.

"Let me take your suitcase-"

"I'm fine," Nicole waved her off, "my cousin Gerald helped me get the suitcase up the staircase so I wasn't too tired."

"Where's your cousin?" Ashley, looking down the corridor outside, asked.

"He needed to go," Nicole waved her off, briefly turned back to face her. Her brows furrowed, she briefly stopped in the middle of the corridor leading to her room. "What's this you are wearing, Ashley? Is it new? You look nice in it."

She sent her a small smile and turned away, headed to her room, oblivious to Ashley's frozen figure by the door. Sophia raised a hand to her lips to hide her chuckles. Ashley's expression turned dreamy.

"She did not just say that. Pinch me."

Sophia's chuckles got louder and Ashley seemed to snap out of her trance. She glanced at Sophia, her cheeks instantly gaining colour. "Shut up."

She left, followed the route Nicole had taken but headed to her room instead. With a fond shake of her head Sophia closed the door behind her and headed to Nicole's room to help her unpack. When she got inside, she found her friend sitting on the bed, taking out her belongings from her suitcase. She was humming to herself and Sophia took a moment to take her in.

She was dressed in the clothes she wore to the airport, a white pair of trousers and a light purple blouse on her torso, her attire comfortable for the long travel. Her hair was messier than usual, curls slipping out from every which direction. She knew Nicole was tired but she seemed content at the same time, the slow movement of her hands as she took out her belongings making her think she didn't quite wish to empty her suitcase. Sophia was reluctant to burst Nicole's bubble but in the end she imagined her friend would be thankful for her aid so she took a step closer, then another. When she was close enough she took some of the clothes she had taken out and started putting them in her wardrobe.

"Merci," Nicole murmured, bringing Sophia to smile slightly. "I see the house looks tidy. Thank you for cleaning."

"I didn't want you to stress about it when you returned," she admitted, briefly paused to send her a smile over her shoulder. After the two of them exchanged a smile, they turned back to their front to finish their tasks.

"Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

"Kind of," she hummed, her smile widening. "The men who treated us last week were here yesterday. They paid for the second round of our drinks and came over to our table."

"Wow," Nicole laughed, "that's certainly something. How was it?"

"I'm going to tell you when Ashley is around. You'll first tell us about your trip and then we'll tell you about our days."

"Deal. Honestly, Lyon is so beautiful, I could easily live there. I'll take you and Ashley with me next time, I swear-"

Sophia smiled to herself at the declaration. She already knew it wasn't going to happen.

A few minutes later they had unpacked everything and put it in its correct position with their combined efforts. When they were done they headed to the kitchen to have dinner, where Ashley had ended up going, choosing to leave her self-inflicted prison in her room. She smiled at their entrance, and as if she had been expecting them, she handed them over their food.

"So, Nicole," she began when they had all sat down, "how was your trip?"

And that was all it needed for Nicole to start recounting every little detail of her trip, starting from the time they left her alone at the airport. The story went on into the early hours of the morning and in the end, they relocated from the kitchen to the living room, took out all kinds of blankets they had and laid down on the floor. They kept on talking like that until they fell asleep, all of them happy with the way their night ended.