a girl can do what she wants to do ∙ [tomie]

“Good on you for decking that little shit in the face.” Josie beamed, swelling with pride. “Boss, that.” She gave Tomie’s shoulder a gentle bump and grinned. They were walking through the town, headed to the shops to grab something to eat. Josie had overheard some students gibbering about a fight between first years, and she’d known right away to seek out Tomie. They’d initially met through Ara, Tomie’s less cool older brother. Kembara was nice, but he always wanted to be reasonable. What fun was that? Tomie, on the other hand, reminded Josie a lot of herself when she was a first year, so naturally she’d taken a keen liking to the younger Gryffindor.

She had bonded with Tomie quickly, picking up the big sister mantle with ease. The youngest in her family, Josie had never gotten the chance to wear it which was pretty shit because given all of her experience as the baby she was the perfect candidate. Antonia was strict and boring as a bucket of dirt. Leah brought the adventure, but disappeared like a thief in the night any chance she got. And Naya hovered like a vulture – she and Josie had almost come to blows more times than she could count because her older sister didn’t know when to piss off. But Josie loved them dearly. Their flaws served as good learning tools. She made sure  not to show the parts of them she disliked when she was interacting with the younger students. Josie wanted to be fun and present when needed, but never overbearing – the cool sister figure.

“Godric, can’t believe he had the balls to say that.” She could feel her own temper rising and she was glad she hadn’t been there. Would have been an ugly picture if she’d helped fight an eleven-year-old – even though she didn’t really care how it looked. He’d deserved it with a comment like that. Anyone who tried to say otherwise could shove it. She’d punch them in the gob too.

“What happened after?” Josie urged her to continue her story, shoving the door to Stowe Brewery open and letting Tomie walk ahead.

Tomie bounced a little, a skip in her step from both the praise and the much-shorter-leg-length situation. “Yeah, little shit,” she repeated, feeling elated. Her brother’s friends were all so cool. Josie was like the person she wanted to be when she grew up. She always said what she thought. Didn’t give a F– well, a damn about what anyone else thought. Tomie was still working her way up to total comfort with that swear word.

“Honest, though,” Tomie said, skipping over a crack in the path, “Don’t really remember it. I was so mad.” She remembered him saying the thing, and feeling everyone’s eyes on her, and sort of stepping forward… but her temper had really taken over. It was a bit blurry now, and if there hadn't been a million witnesses and a teeny tiny bruise on her knuckle the next day, she wouldn't have even been sure it had happened.

“well, I got in trouble,” Tomie said, rolling her eyes. She still had her usual easy-smile, though. It was perhaps a little cockier this afternoon though – the effect of being around her older housemate. She stepped through the door, then waited on the other side for Josie to come through before falling in step with the older girl again. “And I’m not allowed to go to that dance,” she added.

Tomie frowned a bit, “which is fine, like I didn’t even care about it – until someone asked me to go with them, I guess – but Matty didn’t even get a slap on the wrist or anything.” She rolled her eyes again, this time a bit more huffy.