A High Rise Apartment In the Sky (Samantha, openish)

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra awoke sometime in the night, a headache pounding. She had drunk too much with Julian and was paying for it now. Thankfully Mimsy, her newly acquired house elf, had brought her something to ease the pain. She lifted the bottle from the bedside table and pulled the stopper. It tasted horrible and she quickly followed it with a large gulp of the water that was waiting for her. The pain in her head began to subside as Mimsy suddenly appeared in the doorway. The house elf looked tired, but wore a smile.

"What time is it?" Lyra inquired, the black sky outside giving no hints.

"Four in the morning, miss. Will you be wanting breakfast?"

"4am? No, no I want to go back to bed. Wake me in the morning."

"Yes, miss. I'll wake you before the designers arrive."

Lyra was confused. Designers? What on earth was Mimsy talking about? But it didn't matter now, as she was still tired and the throbbing in her head had decreased but not disappeared altogether.

***

When she woke the next morning, Lyra could smell something cooking. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had a warm breakfast. Smiling and bleary eyed, Lyra rose from her bed and headed toward the kitchen. She was greeted with a large plate of food and a glass of juice. As Lyra ate, Mimsy explained that Julian had succeeded in surpassing his previous gifts by hiring interior decorators to furnish her flat. They would be by to meet with Lyra after lunch, and she could have a beautiful new home by the evening. 

Squealing with delight, Lyra fetched some parchment and a quill and wrote two letters. The first was to Julian, obviously. She thanked him for his latest offering and promised to make it up to him somehow. The second letter was to her friend, Samantha. She would need help in deciding how she wanted the place to look.

Sam,
I need your expert eye. I am decorating my flat and have designers coming this afternoon. If convenient, come by the Black Cat Apartments room 609. If inconvenient, come anyway.

I take priority,
Lyra

She gave Mimsy the letters and sent her to the nearby owlery to have them delivered. In the meantime, Lyra pranced off to her bedroom and began destroying the beautifully organized closet that Mimsy had cleaned for her, picking out the perfect outfit for the day.

[Samantha Montgomery]

Samantha set Lyra's letter down in her lap and her eyes narrowed. Lyra hadn't mentioned anything about moving, but not only had she moved, she was now decorating. Sam was curious. Not suspicious, not yet.

"Kinney." Samantha called her personal house elf. When the poised - for a house elf - creature arrived Sam instructed her to clear her afternoon schedule. She sent Lyra a note stating that she would be by before the designers arrived.

When all at home and the magazine was taken care of Samantha used the private carriage to take her to the Black Cat Apartments. Before long she was in front of Lyra's flat. She rang the bell.

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra was flipping through a magazine on the sofa, looking at the pictures but not really reading the articles. The last two days had been undoubtedly the best in Lyra's recent past, and she eagerly looked forward to her luck continuing on this upward momentum.

The bell rang and Mimsy answered the door. "Hello, Miss. You must be Miss Samantha. Miss Lyra is expecting you." Mimsy bowed low to the ground and gestured for Sam to come inside.

[Samantha Montgomery]

More and more surprises. "So." she said entering the room regally, "You decided to move and neglected to tell your best friend about it? I should say I'm feeling quite miffed Lyra."

She nodded at the House Elf in courtesy before she took in her surroundings. The apartment was bare, but Lyra had decorators coming so that explained that much.

[Lyra Newbury]

In her excitement, and true Lyra form, she hadn't considered how her apparently sudden life changes would appear to, or affect, Samantha. "Don't be miffed," she said, putting her magazine down and patting the sofa cushion next to her as an invitation. "It's been a work in progress. I didn't want to say anything prematurely." This was not completely untrue. She had been working hard to make her life better since graduation, it just wasn't going so well until Julian swept in and saved her. And she didn't want to mention her situation to her friends until things were better. But in all reality, as soon as she wasn't completely drowning in her misery, she reached out to her best friend. Surely that had to count for something.

"Mimsy," Lyra called her the elf, "can you bring us a couple mimosas, please." The house elf nodded and popped off to the kitchen, returning shortly with two flutes of champagne and orange juice.

[Samantha Montgomery]

Samantha wasn't seriously miffed, maybe a little concerned. She had let Lyra into her life and past her guard. Quite seriously if Samantha believed in such a thing as "Best Friends", Lyra was it. To think that her "best friend" could make such a move and completely conceal it from her was disconcerting to say the least.

Nevertheless Samantha joined her on the couch, removing her gloves and sun hat - ever the fashionista.

"What prompted this move anyway?"

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra smiled confidently. "Oh, you know, I'm an adult now and I thought..." Julian's kind words filled her head as she continued to lie to her friend. You're underestimating her... Lyra bit her lip as her heart began pumping stronger. 

"Actually..." This felt wrong, but it had also felt wrong to lie to her friend. And ultimately, when she had finally confessed to Julian she felt a huge sense of relief. Lyra assumed this had to feel the same way in the end, and that gave her some courage. "My father kicked me out," she said softly. Reaching for one of the flutes Mimsy had left on the table for them, she avoided making eye contact with Sam as she drank nearly half the liquid in her glass.

[Samantha Montgomery]

Sam waited for Lyra to explain, but what came out was not what Sam had been expecting at all.

"What?"

She froze. Every obscure detail that she had taken in and questioned over the past few weeks was starting to make sense.

It only took Sam a few seconds to put all the pieces together, but still some things didn't make sense. If Lyra's father had kicked her out was he still paying her bills? The apartment? Mimsy? The furniture? If so why kick Lyra out at all? Which was a damned good question, but she figured that one out on her own.

[Lyra Newbury]

Still avoiding Sam's eyes, Lyra proceeded to explain how her situation from her last year at Hogwarts had essentially resulted in her current situation. She'd finished her mimosa half way through, but luckily Mimsy had brought her another one. She was an intuitive little house elf.

"And then yesterday, Julian came by and...found me out." Lyra was beginning to feel like she was vomiting her story all over Samantha. She felt dirty, but finally looked up to Sam's face. She needed to see a reassuring face, but dreaded the possibility of being met with a look of disgust and contempt.

[Samantha Montgomery]

Lyra was Samantha's best friend. Her only female friend outside of family. That being said there was still much Sam had kept from her - things that were too painful to reveal and unnecessary to bring up. One of those things had been Samantha's mother. Sure Lyra knew that the woman was "dead" and most unpleasant when she had been alive, but Lyra was more familiar with Samantha's Father and Step-Mother who both loved and adored Sam.

Sam had never gone into depth about the various tortures her mother had inflicted on her. If she had, perhaps it would explain the look of pure fury blazing in Samantha's eyes. Though Sam was only a quarter Veela, the current look in her eyes could have shot firebolts to rival even her Grandmother's.

As Lyra had explained the pressures the girl had been under to find a suitable match, and subsequent result of her failure to do so, it touched on Sam's dealings with her mother and she was locked in her impotent rage for a full moment. But she wasn't impotent. Not anymore. And Lyra wasn't either.

It took a few more moments for Sam to register that Julian had "rescued" Lyra. That, more than anything else, returned Sam's calm disposition. There was a reason Sam had gone to Julian in the first place, she had full faith in him to take care of things, but not even he would predict Sam's reaction.

"When are the designers getting here?" she asked as if Lyra hadn't confided anything at all.

[Lyra Newbury]

It was a good thing Lyra had averted her eyes as she spoke. If she had looked up even a moment sooner, she would have seen the rage in Samantha's face. Without knowing the context of Sam's thoughts, Lyra would have interpreted the hateful look as spitefulness toward herself. She would have been beside herself, and furious at Julian for pushing her toward this. But luckily, Samantha's face had softened at just the right moment. When Lyra looked up, she saw an impartial Sam looking at her.

She checked the clock which showed it was just past 1:00. "Julian said they would be here by now, unless Mimsy got the message wrong. I'm not too clear on the whole thing, I had had a lot to drink." Her memories of the last bit of their evening together were fuzzy. Lyra didn't even remember Julian leaving.

As if on cue, the bell rang and Mimsy scurried off to answer the door. Lyra leaned over to Samantha, and said softly "Julian got her for me." 

[Samantha Montgomery]

It would have been interesting had Lyra interpreted Sam's rage. She dodged a bullet in hurting her already vulnerable friend.

"He's very thoughtful." Sam said speculatively, " And the designers too." she said with some pause. Now that her anger was receding she was capable of thinking clearly, a single brow rose as Mimsy left to open the door for the designers but she kept her thoughts to herself...for now.

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra nodded and was about to sing Julian's praises when Mimsy led in a couple, only slightly older than Lyra herself. The woman was a tall, thin witch with pointed heels and a pencil skirt. She looked like the sort of woman Lyra imagined worked at Sam's father's magazine. Levitating behind her was a stack of binders and catalogs. The witch was accompanied by a squat wizard who wore a bright blue shirt under a dark grey vest. His hair was perfectly coiffed and made Lyra feel as if she needed a day at the salon in order to outdo him. 

Lyra stood to greet them both. "Hello. I'm Lyra, and this is my friend Samantha." She gestured for them to take a seat on two of the dining chairs that Mimsy had pulled over to fill out the sitting area, and waited for the pair to introduce themselves.

The witch spoke first, in a thick French accent. "Good afternoon, Miss Newbury. I trust you have an idea of what you're looking for?" She wasted no time getting straight to the point, flipping open catalogs and idea books. The squat wizard added, "which rooms are we focusing on?" in a heavy German accent.

"Not really," she confessed to the witch, whose name she still didn't know. "All of them," Lyra replied looking to the wizard, a slight tone of anxiousness touching her voice. She looked to Samantha for some guidance.

[Samantha Montgomery]

Samantha, who was accustomed to designers and the design process, took the lead. If you weren't firm with designers they'd take over and then your flat would end up looking nothing like you wanted it to all the while being assured that everything was "the best".

Samantha was quick to set the tone of who would be leading the design (Lyra and herself), and who would be led (the designers). She then instructed Mimsy to pick up lunch for them at Le Repas Cher and return, they were going to be there a while.

Thumbing through a portfolio she gave her opinions to Lyra for a look that would be elegant but not ostentatious. Subtle displays of wealth would be key. So often people were eager to show how rich they were and it ended in a tasteless garish mashup.

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra was thankful for the support. She had watched her mother deal with designers at the family's home before, but Lyra had never been invited to join the discussion. She didn't even have a say in how her bedroom was decorated, besides adding a few posters of young celebrity wizards she fancied. Lyra's family was well off, but nothing compared to the Montgomerys or the Fausts. With Julian's help she was entering a whole new world, and Samantha seemed a willing guide.

They perused the catalogs and Lyra pointed out furniture she liked, items that she thought were hideous, and odds and ends that would bring the design together. The whole process took much longer than expected, but in the end Lyra had a design with rich colors that she felt comfortable with. She was surprised to discover that it was nearly the complete opposite of how her parents had chosen to decorate their home. This made Lyra smile with a slight hint of vengeance. 

[Samantha Montgomery]

Samantha seemed to attack the task of designing Lyra's apartment with a vengeance. There was fury driving her movements. She did relent a bit as she praised Lyra's choices, the girl had taste naturally, which gave Sam the idea of taking her on at the magazine.

When they were finished Sam fair shoved the designers out the door. Once they had realized who she was they were eager to bend over backwards, there was a certain power that came with producing the number one selling magazine for all things style and class. Beyond that of her name and wealth, vendors, restaurants, designers, et cetera usually went the extra mile on the chance they could be featured in Enchanted Magazine. Were Lyra to work at the Magazine she would experience the deference first hand.

"Are you exhausted yet?" Sam asked picking over her meal that Mimsy had brought them.

[Lyra Newbury]

As the design of her apartment came closer to fruition, the designers seemed to fawn more and more over Samantha. At first it seemed genuine, but as it went on Lyra noted that these people simply wanted to praise Sam as a way to further their own careers. A totally understandable approach in Lyra's eyes, were it not for the fact that Samantha was her friend and she disliked seeing her friends taken advantage of. Samantha, however, was adept at fending them off. The pair left, noting that the furnishings would be arriving later this evening - a perk of having magical designers was their ability to order and deliver products in a relatively short period of time. Lyra thought nothing of this convenience, having never had to wait around for manual deliveries, as muggles did.

"Not at all," she confessed to her friend. "That was quite fun. I can see why people go into the profession. But you..." Lyra laughed, thinking how the design witch's eyes bulged when she realized Sam was in fact the Samantha Montgomery. "You must be tired of that, at least, being harassed because of your success and name."

[Samantha Montgomery]

"Good." Samantha thought, Lyra wouldn't tire easily, and she was going to need her energy for the upcoming weeks of socializing.

Sam shrugged in response to Lyra's comment. She had grown accustomed to it. She was born and bred for it.

"It can make it difficult sometimes...to find out who likes you for who you are rather than what you can do for them." she gave the first warm smile of the day to her friend.

Sam had been on edge during the design process, she had been on edge ever since Lyra had told her she had been thrown out.

[Lyra Newbury]

"Well, its a good thing we became friends back when I had money," she teased. In addition to seeking her friend's guidance in decorating matters, Lyra had invited Sam over to inquire about obtaining a job at the magazine, as Julian suggested. But thinking on Sam's comments, Lyra wondered if there wasn't a better time to approach the matter. The thought of asking for help still made Lyra queasy, so she decided to return to that particular subject later.

Leaning back into the sofa, Lyra looked around her flat, once again imagining how different it would look when her new things arrived. "I do hope we made the right decisions. I wouldn't want any potential suitors to be scared off by my decorating skills." Lyra laughed a little. Although she had been with plenty of boys during her time at Hogwarts, her life since graduating had been marked by an almost self-imposed celibacy. There had only been a small handful of guys who she had even considered a future relationship with, and the thought of having to start that process over again was nearly as terrifying as admitting to Julian and Samantha that she had ruined her life. "Thank Merlin for Julian," she said aloud, but certainly to herself.

[Samantha Montgomery]

Sam smiled. Yes they had met when Lyra had money, but there was more than money that Sam could have offered Lyra and the girl had never asked, now Sam was going to put the full force of her "powers" toward helping her and by the time she was finished Lyra's parents would be begging their daughter for favors. Lyra never put any strain on their relationship, she genuinely liked Sam for who Sam was, that was priceless. Lyra was priceless to Sam.

"Your selections were excellent, you have a good eye, I've always told you." she smiled taking a sip of her wine.

"Speaking of...I think you should come to Enchanted." she said and raised her eyes toward Lyra, "There's a tidy salary involved, although I'm sure Julian's already set up accounts for you so money's not an issue anymore, but I could use the help from someone I trust - Sheena, one of my so called "lead" designers, wanted to do an article on paisley prints - so you can see why I'm desperate. But as an editor you'll be invited to all the right parties and soirees, and it may be a pain sometimes, but people will come to you which is what we want." there was a special "evil" sort of glint in Samantha's eyes as she spoke.

"By the time we're done Lyra Darling, your mother will be begging you to come to her events, and your father - " she paused almost maliciously, " he'll grovel to earn your good favor once again."