another bottle down

It was another one of those days where Lena felt like hiding, so she did. She loved to hide nowadays; it gave her a chance to think, and to hide everyone away from the mental unstability she was experiencing nowadays. She wanted to go home, to be in Durmstrang, to be in the places she was familiar with, but she couldn't. All she could do was hide here.

It was another night of binge drinking, and Lena was making the most of it. She had already finished a bottle of vodka in about an hour, and she had eaten all the sweets she had bought in Honeydukes just the week before.

"Screw you, Hazelle Bass!" shrieked the Uchitel, "you ain't gettin' what I want! I get what I want, and that is all mine, no matter what ya say!" She then twirled around and yelled, "I'm so done with it! I won't go back again, and I'm okay with this, that I'll be on my own until the day I die which shouldn't be that long! So I'll just do what I do and make the most of it!"

Paloma walked around Hogsmeade. One of those days she had nothing in mind, no destination, and just felt like walking.

She'd admit she did miss Durmstrang a bit, and wondered how everyone was doing back there. As she passed the caves, a girl's voice yelling caught her attention. She frowned and peeked inside the cave, "Hello?"

Paloma's eyes widened when she saw Lena Vorstenbach, shrieking and twirling. "Lena?" she called, "What are you doing here? Are you alri-" She stopped as soon as she saw the empty bottle of vodka and sighed. Of course.

Lena had been twirling for a while when she heard someone talk to her. It took her a while to figure out exactly who it was, because it wasn't a familiar voice and she doubted she knew this person very well.

When Lena could finally get a clear view on who was talking to her, she smiled, though it was a drunken, unsincere one. She walked gracefully for a couple of moments, trying to greet the figure in the dark. "Pah-low-mur," she slurred in Russian, falling onto the ground. "What are yeh doin' here?"

As she tried to get herself back up again, she fell again on the ground, her elbow making a thud sound as it hit the ground. It was at that point Lena shrieked in pain as she felt a stinging burn where her elbow used to be.

Paloma watched as Lena tried to get up, but fell and hit her elbow instead. Getting her wand out, she ran to help her when she heard her shrieking in pain, and muttered a simple healing spell.

"I think it'll be okay for now. It's the best I can do," she took a closer look at her elbow and told the other Uchitel, frowning. Well, healing spells certainly weren't her forté. She'd have to get the girl to the infirmary later.

"Never mind what I'm doing here, you're drunk," Paloma stated, "Let's just get you back to Hogwarts." She started walking towards the exit, but stopped a few steps later. The blonde couldn't even walk straight, how would she make it to the school? Paloma certainly wasn't strong enough to carry her. She could always use her wand. . . but how would they get back unnoticed? She sat back down, "Or not."

Lena could hear Paloma mutter something, though she wasn't sure what it was until she felt the pain in her elbow soften a little. Form that, she deduced (not seduced) that Paloma had uttered some sort of healing spell, which the Uchitel could only be grateful for.

"T-Thank you," she replied, waving her arm around as a signal for Paloma to reach it so she can stand up, but she put it down after a while. There was nothing else to say, or at least nothing that the blonde Uchitel could think of at the moment. She tried to move her feet, but her attempts of doing so were futile.

"Why can't we just stay here tonight?" slurred the Uchitel, trying not to fall completely onto the ground. She then managed to put both arms on the ground, and managed to push herself off the ground so she wasn't crawling on it anymore. Sober, the Uchitel would haev done this in a matter of seconds, but this was taking way longer than she would like. "W-What are you doing here in such a somber night like this anyway?" Lena asked, trying not to turn her words into a giant garble.

Paloma saw Lena wave her arms, but shook her head. "I think you'd be better off sitting, you're not really in a condition to stand," she told her.

"Here," she got up and walked over to the other girl, giving her the water bottle, "Drink this. It's water, people say it helps." She sat down next Lena, sighing. "I think we'll stay here for a little while," Paloma told her, "Just until you're good enough to walk."

Shrugging, she answered her question, "I run everyday. Don't ask me why I chose at night though, I don't even know. I just. . . felt like walking."

Lena chuckled at Paloma's words as a sign to show that she understood, but it probably didn't go that way. So instead of attempting to stand up, she decided to plop herself down on her butt again. She then decided to laugh in a haughty fashion.

Taking the water bottle from Paloma, she looked at it for a second before she brought it slowly up to her dry lips. She drank a little, and she felt a little more awake, but only slightly. Her throat didn't burn anymore, which was a good sign. "T-Thanks," she mouthed, not having the strength to speak properly.

Lena nodded, and mouthed, "I see."

Paloma watched the girl closely. She looked so unlike she usually did and, for some reason, she got the feeling it wasn't just the alcohol.

"What about you?" she asked her, "What are you doing out here, hiding with a bottle of vodka?"

Lena shrugged her shoulders, to show that she didn't know, when in truth she just didn't one. As she sat, she simply rocked herself back and forth, and her head was staring up at the ceiling, and she chuckled, mostly to herself. She didn't know why she did it, though. She looked up at Paloma after a while of rocking herself, and she said nothing.

Paloma raised an eyebrow when the girl shrugged and watched as she rocked herself back and forth, in silence.

"Nobody comes out here wanting to get drunk for no reason," she said, after a few minutes. "If you want to talk about it, I could try to help you out with whatever you're needing," Paloma told her, "But if you don't want to, I suppose your reason for coming isn't really my business anyway."

"Just. . ." she sighed, and looked at the other Uchitel, "don't do this. At least not alone. You could get seriously hurt."

The Uchitel nodded, and she simply looked ahead. "You can go," she mouthed, and she fell asleep abruptly on the ground. She needed to rest after all this drinking and stumbling and whatnot. Of course, there would be the nightmares, and getting up in time for school, but she didn't need anything else on her clouded mind right now.

Paloma sighed when the girl fell asleep. Did she honestly think she'd leave her lying around in a cave, drunk?

She supposed, asleep, that it would be easier to carry Lena. "Wingardium Leviosa," she muttered, flicking her wand and making her hover a little above the ground.

The Uchitel sighed and started walking back to Hogwarts. The night was beautiful and it made her want to just stay outside, but she felt much too tired.

Muttering the password for the Exchange Student Housing, she walked in, careful not to drop the other girl, and made her her way to the beds.

She dropped Lena slowly in her bed and went to the bathroom. After getting ready, she looked at the other Uchitel's bed and, noticing she was still sleeping, Paloma sighed and flopped down on her bed, falling fast asleep.