Heads Up In The Clouds | Vera [FINISHED]

solace in solitude

At least Elsa understood.



If Alex were with her, he’d insist on touring the campus with her. He’d probably check in the closet and under the bed as if she were still four. She had welcomed it her first year at school. New place, so far away from home, from family… It wasn’t as if she were new to being a witch. Grandma and Grandpa had told her stories of her father, but they were nomaj’s themselves. Just like her brother. “Muggles” as Elsa called them. Growing up probably would have been easier if Elsa had been around longer… But Alex had done a good job. Now, though, at sixteen, she didn’t need her big brother checking her room for monsters.



She was well aware they existed.



With a pang, she realized she missed her brother. She’d put such a hard face on when she’d boarded the plane, but he was all she had left. They’d spread their grandparent’s ashes less than a month ago, and just discovered they had an aunt at the same time. It was a whirlwind of loss and discovery that Vera was still trying to get a hold of. Her only respite was going back to school. Here she could lose herself in her studies and shove all that other emotional bullshit aside until it had dulled down some. Thinking about it now brought a mist of tears to her eyes that she stubbornly wouldn’t allow to fall.



“Bottling it up isn’t good for you, sugarplum.”



Her grandmother’s voice seemed to filter through the heavy guitar riffs and full bass cradling her ears. A sad, smile fell past her lips as she stepped out onto the courtyard and squinted her eyes at the sun. She’d already explored her dorm and unpacked her suitcase to discover Alex had replaced most of her shirts with ugly cat sweaters and her shoes with slippers. He thought he was hilarious. So, dawning a ridiculous galaxy=pizza=santa-cat sweater, Vera was at least comfortable.



Bright blue eyes danced over the empty courtyard and she sighed. Switzerland was beautiful. The Beauregard grounds were a magical (ha!) extension of that, and she was quickly falling in-love with the scenery. She could see the edge of the treeline from here and immediately she thought of running any trails as soon as she was able to get her hands on her proper work out gear.



Drawing her lower lip between her teeth, Vera rolled the flesh idly between her teeth as she stepped off the stone path that wound over the grass and made her way toward the forest. Three steps onto the grass and she was splayed starfish-style in a streak of mud left behind by her damned slippers.



Just laying there, Vera let out a groan of contempt and closed her eyes.



”Of course.”



At least no one saw.

solace in solitude

Ohp, nope. She had a witness.

Vera blinked up at the shaded face and immediately felt the sharpness of embarrassment bloom in her belly. Her face went hot as she reached up and flicked her headphones off of her ears; unceremoniously losing her beanie off the top of her head in the same dismissal. Now she was sprawled out on the lawn, definitely had mud on her backside considering the damp chill that was sneaking through the layers to her bare skin beneath, and she couldn’t imagine her hair looked any good after being scrunched under a hat all day.

Great first impression, Vera. Fantastic.

“Oh, yeah,” She said with a hum and fairly thick American accent. “I’m just working on my slip n’ slide skills.”

He had an accent. Of course he did. And not that thick, boxy Swiss accent she’d been struggling to understand the last few days. “A dusting of Irish”, her roommate from Ilvermory would have said. Like powdered sugar on a doughnut. Juuuuust right. She didn’t give a crap about what type of accent or how thick, just as long as she could understand. The whole “smile, nod and hope they didn’t ask you a question thing” was getting old. Fast.

As he laughed over her outfit, Vera frowned and started to sit up right. Laying down in the mud was only making her mood worse. She reached out and grasped his hand; needing the little extra support to make sure she didn’t slam back down on her ass again the moment she stood. With her hat in her other hand and her headphones around her neck, Vera got to her feet and hunched forward; her face obscured by her wild, dark-blonde hat hair as she twisted around to get a good look at the damage.

“Yeah, well, they weren’t my first choice Malachai O’Collins,” she started. “My brother thought he’d be funny and swap all my clothes out for cat sweaters and slippers.”

Exhaling slowly, Vera realized she was starting to take a bit of a tone. It wasn’t his fault she’d slipped. Turning back around, Vera lifted her gaze up to his and smiled sheepishly as she extended her hand for a handshake; her face no longer obstructed. “Sorry. Thanks for helping me up. I’m Vera.”

solace in solitude

That’s much better, she thought to herself as he helped with cleaning her up. Although she’d been born into a magical household, Vera’s childhood didn’t have much magic in it. After her father died, her remaining relatives that she knew of didn’t have any abilities. It wasn’t until Ilvermory that Vera started to get a real gist and handle on her heritage. And even then, as she grew up, magic wasn’t the first thing she went to for things like this. It never crossed her mind that she wouldn’t have to crumple her clothes up and throw them in a washing machine somewhere.

Did they even have a washing machine here?

As Malachai suddenly started to choke on his words, Vera couldn’t help her frown. The attention she had received since she started puberty was confusing. She had a professor at Ilvermory, luckily, who was able to help her through those awkward years and now, of course, she had Elsa, but… still. It wasn’t something Vera particularly enjoyed when men were struck by her looks.

And at being only 5’2” and quite slender in size, she didn’t have much muscle to back up her sharp mouth when the real pricks would try to get her attention. She had one hell of a shin-kick though… And a few hexes up her sleeve when the occasion called for them. At least then she proved she had so much more going for her than “lucky” genes. Last she heard, Erica Johnson’s older brother still couldn’t look at the color blue without feeling nauseous.

Serves him right. Handsy asshole.

With a tight smile, Vera cleared her throat and slipped the beanie back on her head; eyes falling to the ground as she adjusted it until it was comfortable.

”Thanks. My mom was a veela, so… ”

Shrugging a single shoulder, she crossed her arms over her chest then and glanced around. An awkwardness started to swell between them that she didn’t want. One of the things she admitted to Alex before she left was that she was afraid she wouldn’t make any new friends. It took her a few years to find a small group of people who actually liked her for her in the american school. She was nervous that it would take her until she was already graduating from Beauregard to do the same.

”So, uh… You’re Irish, huh?”

Smooth, Vera. You’ll be besties in no time.

we light up the world

As Malachai spoke, Vera’s stance became a little looser. Less defensive. He seemed more choked up over his words and less inclined to try and touch her hair, or her hand. Or really just touch her at all. That helped. There was also a genuine kindness about him that Vera recognized.

Born to a muggle family in Ireland. She often asked her grandparents what it was like when they found out their son was different. They had been so proud, she remembered them telling her. Just like they were proud of her, and Alex. That pain clutched at her heart again, and Vera cleared her throat before the emotions could get her. Instead she smiled; looking at Malachai with a raised eyebrow as he just so happened to mention he was Prefect for her house.

"The magical world, I don't think I will ever get used to it."

Vera couldn’t help her small snort of agreement before she reached out her hand; palm up and canted her head away to help obstruct her face.

”I know exactly what you mean. Here, let me borrow your sunglasses.”

Once she felt their weight in her palm, she moved them up to her face and slipped them on. With her beanie forcing her ashy hair tightly to either side of her face and Malachai’s sunglasses covering everything above the bridge of her nose, it was just her mouth and chin unobstructed. Making a face, she turned to face him fully.

”Better?”

we light up the world

”Any time,” she said with a smirk; sliding her hands into her front pockets. ”First week of my fourth year I wore a hockey mask for a week.”

Shrugging as though there was nothing unusual about that, she drew her lower lip into her mouth and gnawed absently; shaking her head in response to his question.

”No. I went straight to the dorms to change, discovered the super sweet prank my brother played on me then thought I’d practice my mad slip-n-slide skills when you so rudely interrupted me.”

Smiling, she lifted her hand up and scratched at her scalp through her hat before gesturing to the woods off to the side.

”Actually, I was going to try and see what sort of trails there were to run when I got some real clothes again, but I think that’s a little too hazardous in slippers.”

Turning her head back to look at him, she adjusted his sunglasses on her face and tilted her head to the side.

”This might sound weird, but… Is there a place where I could find a bunch of scrap metal?”

Her head turned to look at the forest with a smile mixed of excitement and relief when he mentioned being familiar with a few of the trails. Her expression shifted to one of careful consideration when he mentioned others, though. She pursed her lips and glanced back at him sideways; trying to think of the best way to thank him but turn down the idea of running through the woods with a bunch of other people. He didn’;t need for her to express anything though, she realized, as he waved dismissively in the space between them and explained that most were women. She exhaled a small laugh and nodded; dipping her chin down to hide the fullness of her smile.



Turning her toes in, she felt the ground squish under her heels and realized she’d still been standing on the soft earth in her slippers. Stepping forward, she moved around him enough to give him enough space so that her being near wasn’t a struggle for him. She almost made it, but as he commented on her looking like a drunk christmas tree she laughed fully; lurching forward enough to have to reach out and grab his arm so she didn’t fall again. Her free hand went up to shield her mouth as she righted herself; waving her hand in the air between them as she stepped back quickly on the stone pathway and shook her head.



”Sorry, sorry,” She started quickly through a few tears; barely managing to get her laughter under control as she reached up and swiped quickly at a few tears. It was rare, but when she was startled into laughter sometimes her eyes would just tear up uncontrollably.



Licking her lips, she lost a few more breathless laughs through her teeth. Shaking her head, she cleared her throat and crossed her arms again as he grinned at her. Squishing her mouth into a thin line, she reached up and scratched her nose and nodded.



”That would be awesome. Thank you. I’d call my aunt but I’m afraid she’d try to convince me dresses are comfortable and practical for every day life.”



She could only imagine Elsa buying her an entire new wardrobe with absolutely nothing she could actually wear on a day to day basis included. Motioning for Malachai to lead her back to the dorms, Vera couldn’t help but smile to herself. Maybe she wouldn’t struggle too much with making new friends after all.

butterflies around the flame

Vera glanced down at her slippers with a smirk before she tilted her chin up just enough to peek at him over the top of his sunglasses. She pointed her finger at her own face, clearly gesturing toward the sunglasses as she smirked.



”Mind if I hold onto these until I get my own?”



When he graciously allowed her to, Vera gave him a double thumbs up and then turned and made her up to the girl’s dorms. She didn’t need to change, but she needed her wallet. Elsa had given her a credit card of sorts when she’d first come to Switzerland. It was charmed to take the proper money out of the proper account depending on if she shopped in a magical town or in a nomaj/muggle town, and in the proper currency too. It kind of felt like her aunt was trying to buy her over, but Vera needed some clothes to get her through the next few weeks at least until Alex could ship the rest of her stuff here. Jerk.



Sliding the card into her pocket, Vera was about to spin away from her bed when she looked down at her slippers. Right. Taking her wand from her pocket, she held it out and flicked it toward her shoes. With a wince, she glanced down to double check her work. Her wand could be a little finicky sometimes… But it seemed to cooperate with her today. Moving away from her bed, Vera skipped down the steps to the common room and jumped the last three stairs to the bottom in a childlike manner that startled even herself.



Looking up and meeting Malachai’s eyes, she grinned sheepishly and straightened up; clearing her throat as she crossed her wrists behind her back and rocked back on her heels.



”Uhm, when I was younger I used to not be able to jump more than two stairs, so…”



What on earth did that explain? She seemed to think it was good enough to cover herself as she pushed his sunglasss up higher on her face and cleared her throat with a soft cough.