Attack of the midnight hunger

[Connor Manning]

One thing that always seemed to get the best of Connor when he was on his late night patrolling was his hunger. He usually didn't eat much at dinner due to lack of interest or being busy, or chatting with some housemates, and by the time his patrolling duties started, he was starved. And he didn't see anything wrong with stopping by the kitchens every once in a while to pick something up. Usually the food item was portable and not messy, he didn't want to get crumbs and such all over the castle which the elves were still in the process of cleaning by that time. He tried to be inconspicuous as he tickled the green colored pair and pushed open the tapestry into the kitchens, but was instead met by a small chorus of tiny elf voices greeting him with a, ' Good evening Mr. Connor! '

He grinned sheepishly, thinking that maybe he was coming by a bit too often if the elves even recognized him by now. He appreciated them, but at the same time he didn't want them to cause trouble for themselves by catering to him too much. " Evenin'. Can I get.. uh... just a couple cookies? " He knew that in elf speak ' a couple ' would turn out to be about a dozen or so. But he was in the mood for sweets and thought that the cookies would quiet his hunger for the time being.

The Slytherin rubbed his eyes sleepily as he waited, absently touched his lip where his lip ring would normally be. As of a couple days ago the teenager had decided to take his piercings out. It was a weird feeling, to bite down on his lip and not feel the cold metal. There wasn't a particular reason for it either, and all that remained of his former piercings were tiny holes in his skin. He silently wondered if they would close up or if they would stay for a while. Connor finally looked up from his wondering state and spotted someone entering the kitchens. He tensed, though he didn't know why, he was Head Boy after all. He gripped his wand though he didn't brandish it wildly, for that would have been foolish.

( Open )

[Tianne Webster-Barrett]

When it was time for Tianne to patrol, usually she prepared herself. She wasn't always on the night shift, though she was more than happy to do so, but when she was she made sure that she had a few staples; a book, plenty of food, and water. She didn't know whether she was allowed to eat or read on the job, but no one was monitoring them, and if she had to keep herself awake for the entire time, she was going to eat.

But that night, Tianne hadn't been expecting to be called onto the graveyard shift. Maybe someone was sick, or there was some other emergency that stopped them from patrolling that night, Tianne didn't know, but she was mildly upset that she didn't get the chance to pack anything. It was just her, in her robes, with her wand in her pocket. She didn't even have the time to grab a book. Tianne knew that she could sneak off and get one, once her shift had begun, but she couldn't bring herself to do that. She just had a feeling that she was going to get caught that night, if she chose to rebel.

Coming down from the first floor, Tianne checked to see if the coast was clear. Running down the stairs as she was sure she heard footsteps approaching from behind, Tianne entered the dungeons and ran down the corridor to the kitchen. Pausing outside the door, to catch her breath, Tianne hoped that the elves wouldn't mind her coming down for a late night feed. They usually didn't in the day, so hopefully they took they same approach to this minute. Leaning against the wall casually, as her stomach rumbled hungrily, Tianne turned and entered the kitchens, and to her surprise, she wasn't the only one who got hungry on the job.

"Oh my goodness."

[Connor Manning]

As soon as he recognized the figure walking towards him Connor tried to discreetly put away his wand safely into his pocket. His attempt was successful, and he hoped he didn't look too dense by assuming the girl had been an attacker. Then again though, how could he have known? The small sixth year could have been a seven foot tall vampire trying to eat him. Connor reached up and rubbed the sleepiness out of himself, wondering if he was just letting his at times overactive imagination get the best of him. " Hi. " He muttered as he dropped his hands back down to his side.

Just then the elves appeared with a large plateful of cookies for him. " Erm... care for a cookie? " He asked, a smile on his face as he now felt he had fully recovered from the slight embarrassment he had just experienced. His cheeks were a pale pink, but that was all that remained. He brushed his hair out of his eyes and took a few steps toward the girl, holding out the cookies to her. There were really only two reasons to be in the kitchens, either you wanted food or you wanted to be warm. The place was always full of heat from the constant cooking, something that the boy could appreciate at times.

" I take it you're hungry, too? " He ventured with a smile as he helped himself to a cookie.

[Tianne Webster-Barrett]

When she first saw Connor, Tianne couldn't help but feel relieved. At least she knew him. Tianne wasn't really in the mood for getting someone in trouble. Not that Tianne was the meanest Prefect on the block, in fact she liked using warnings as her punishments, but a kid wandering around at this time of night, at the kitchens, well, there would have had to be some consequences for the kid. Okay, so Tianne wasn't exactly doing the right thing herself, but what harm could a prefect just ducking down, whilst on duty, to get a snack?

Tianne was just happy that Connor wasn't going to get her in trouble. She wasn't sure why she should be worried about consequences, but she was. "Sounds delicious." She giggled, her cheeks momentarily flushing as she realized how stupid she must have looked when she walked in. "Thanks." She said, taking her pick of the cookies, although thanks to the elves expertise, they were all very similar. "I wasn't expecting to be called on tonight. And I didn't eat that much at dinner." Tianne replied to Connor's question about her being hungry.

"Boy, am I glad it was you that was here."

[Connor Manning]

Connor was relieved, there was nothing to worry about except a still hungry stomach. And that of course was easily fixed. He munched on his cookie before setting it down on the counter next to him, leaning on it casually as he looked back to Tianne, smiling slightly. He gulped down the rest of the cookie and nodded, answering, " You're welcome. " He had already downed two cookies by the time Tianne had grabbed her first and he felt a bit rude, pushing the plate towards her a bit more.

" Neither did I... I guess I sorta forgot to eat a heavy dinner. I dunno what it is about the latenight shift, but I always end up hungry. " He shrugged his shoulders, and as if the elves could read his mind a small little elf shuffled forward and held up two coffee cups filled with milk. Connor took them and offered and appreciative smile as the house elf made himself scarce. Curious creatures, that was for sure.

He set the other cup down in front of Tianne just as he replied, " Yeah. I was about three seconds from cursing you. " He smiled sheepishly, glad he had waited a bit before casting a terrible spell on his friend. That probably wouldn't have been a good greeting. " What've you been up to lately, how were the holidays? " He didn't think he had seen much of Tianne lately.

[Tianne Webster-Barrett]

Rubbing her hand in a circle on her stomach, Tianne eyed the cookies. She didn't want to be rude, you really weren't meant to eat all of someone elses food, but she knew she was hungry. If she hadn't had the initiative to come down and get something, Tianne probably would have made it until it was time for breakfast; she did it on nights when she wasn't patrolling, though she was asleep for the majority of the time; but it probably would have been painful.

Gingerly finishing the cookie that the boy had offered, Tianne smiled as he pushed the plate over a bit more. Taking another of the cookies, which were successfully killing her hunger, even if she had only had one, Tianne took a bite. "Thanks." She said, as the cup was placed in front of her. Cookies and milk at midnight, this was definitely one of the perks of the prefect patrol.

"Wow. Good thing I didn't come running in screaming." Tianne said, with a grin evident across her features. As the boys next question was asked, Tianne's mind wandered back. What had she done? It hadn't been that significant, she had met a couple friends, she had spent time with the family. There really wasn't that much to tell. "Holidays were holidays. Relaxing, but somewhat boring. I like being here... At Hogwarts, that is. You?"

[Connor Manning]

Connor supposed this was one of the things he would randomly miss about Hogwarts when he had to leave. The spontaneous meeting up of friends, in places as odd as the kitchens, where usually only the elves were. He was thankful that it was Tianne he had run into down here, though, he didn't feel much like being his usual social self with the, Hi, nice to meet you's. He considered the girl to be a friend of his and was glad that it hadn't been some raving loony. That wouldn't have been very good at all.

" Oh, yeah. I would have cursed you, then apologized profusely for turning your head into a pumpkin or something. We wouldn't want that... " He trailed off into a small chuckle as he wiped the cookie crumbs off of himself, not feeling very hungry anymore. " I... had a boring holiday. My sister got married, though. That was... eventful. Or tortuous, both are fitting. " In reality it hadn't been as bad as medieval torture, but he hadn't enjoyed it as much as he could have. " Nice guy, though. " He shrugged his shoulders slightly, wondering what to say next. He usually didn't have much trouble finding things to talk about with people, but he felt tired and wasn't sure where to take the conversation. " How're classes? " Lame question, talking about lessons of all things but it was his only idea.

[Tianne Webster-Barrett]

Before she had come to Hogwarts, and even when she had attended, but kept to herself, Tianne had been too shy to actually talk to people like this. She still had a bit of trouble with the whole conversational thing, but Connor was a friend of hers, and someone she found surprisingly easy to talk to. She could still remember the first time that they had met, in the trophy room, the conversation had been... actually rather tiring. But Tianne had enjoyed their meeting, just like she had every other time.

"That wouldn't have been very fun for either of us." Tianne joked, as she adjusted her footing. "Aw, I love weddings. Sometimes." Tianne laughed, knowing that she had been to about five, her mom's, mom's friends, and cousins. She'd enjoyed the majority of it, but Tianne was the kind of girl that liked the spotlight on her, and with a wedding, it was anything but. "Classes are okay, I guess. Sometimes I swear that I'd be just as well off with a list of books to study, but eh. It gives me something to do, y'know." Tianne shrugged, with a grin.

[Connor Manning]

Connor smiled up at Tianne for a second or so before looking back down to his cup of milk as he broke a cookie in half and dipped it into the liquid, softening it up a bit. " Not very fun? Oh, come on... that would be loads of fun. For me, of course. " He laughed a bit at his own joking, finding himself humorous as he usually did. " But I'm glad it's just you and not... someone who could get me into trouble. " Being Head Boy he generally didn't worry about getting into too much trouble these days, but when one was wondering around at a somewhat late hour it kind of made sense for him to be careful.

" It was really nice and all. The reception was a laugh. " He smiled at the memory of his sister dancing with all the little boys who had come claiming that she looked like a princess. It had been quite a scene. He stuffed the soft cookies into his mouth and quickly chewed and swallowed them before he responded on the topic of classes. There wasn't much to say, half of the staff weren't really doing their jobs properly and the other half were MIA or something worse. " You probably would be better off... but then what would the point be of attending this fine establishment? "

[Tianne Webster-Barrett]

"Yeah, and I probably would have had my first hospital wing visit for the year. That is, if you didn't know the fix for whatever the problem would have been." The girl joked, with a shrug, offering the boy a wink just so he knew for sure that she was joking. She liked having these sorts of friendships with people in the castle, where they could joke and know that the other was joking too, where they weren't held back by fear of being hated. There were a few people in the castle that Tianne shared a friendship with, something that made her think of the castle as more of a home.

"Head boy, getting in trouble. Gee, I'd love to see that happen." The girl joked sarcastically, though she wasn't sure whether or not it could actually happen. If prefects could get in trouble, so could head boy, but Tianne wasn't sure if the staff would ever have the guts to. "I'm glad." Tianne spoke with a genuine smile, as she munched down another cookie. "I don't know. I get to live with my friends, I guess." That was one of the perks of Hogwarts, though she knew that she wouldn't survive without her classes; she'd probably die of boredom. "So, last year, eh?"

[Connor Manning]

The seventh year couldn't hold back the small bit of laughter at the girl's joke, although he did have something to add about her comment. " Luckily for you I happen be an aspiring mediwizard... So I might have a few tricks up my sleeve. Dunno how they would help you getting your head un-pumpkined, but hey... you never know. " He smiled slightly at the wink, appreciating the fact that he could just joke around and be himself. Thoughts of finishing the rounds and going back to sleep eventually slipped into the back of the boy's brain and he kind of forgot what he was doing in the kitchen anyway. Connor was easily distracted when tired, not that he minded though.

' Gee, I'd love to see that happen. '

" Hey, you might. Stick around me long enough it could happen. " He gave another short laugh and a small grin, finding the nonsense conversation refreshing to his tired mind. He supposed living with friends would be a plus side of Hogwarts, getting to see them whenever you wanted to. It was nice, but then again a person had to give up a lot to live there, too. " Good point. But you must admit, there are a lot of good and bad things about living here. " He shrugged his shoulders and gave a solemn nod at her statement type question. " Yeh. Not so sure how I feel about that one. " A smile kept on the boy's features although it was somewhat clear that the topic wasn't such an easy one. He didn't mind it too much though, as he knew he would have to discuss it sooner or later.

[Tianne Webster-Barrett]

Giving a laugh at the boys retort to her joke, Tianne couldn't help but try to remember the last time that she had laughed like this. Sure, she hadn't actually seen many of her friends in what seemed like forever, but there were other times, before her plate had gotten so full with school, and being a prefect, and trying to remain in contact with her family, despite the distance between them. It made her thankful, that she had drawn the long end of the straw, she was magic, her sister was not. She was lucky, but she felt for her sister. Tianne hated leaving Tanya every year, but she was sure the younger girl had fun aswell.

"Come on. Every professor here is scared of what the 'kids' might think of them, none of them would have the guts to make such a high profile reprimand." Tianne joked, having been brought back to reality, ditching the nostalgic thoughts about her sister. "Definitely." Tianne said, before pausing as the boy answered to her next 'question'. She wasn't stupid, she could see that the boy didn't want to talk about it. "Sorry. So, you come down to the kitchens often?" Tianne spoke, awkwardly trying to change the subject.

[Connor Manning]

Connor sifted through the cookies, looking for a pumpkin spice one... All this talk of pumpkin heads and whatnot had made the boy want a cookie of the same variety. Once he found one he munched happily on it, seeing that he hadn't been full at all. Just a bit talkative instead. The vanilla flavored icing that topped of the cookie was great, so Connor couldn't help but cooking that the house elves provided them. At times the little creatures were annoying and very much in the way, but they could certainly cook and bake.

The seventeen year old quirked his head slightly to look at Tianne, pondering what she was saying. " Well, I'm pretty positive Raynor would. From the looks of it, the woman doesn't care what other people think of her. Good thing, too. Can't have our Headmistress in shambles because here students don't like her. " She was a respectable woman, that was for sure, and although Connor didn't always see eye to eye with her, he did acknowledge the fact that she did the best she could. He realized that his breezing over the next subject had cause a bit of uneasiness, so he hastened to reply with something substantial. " No, it's cool. One of those seventh year things, you know... Can't wait to get out but you don't want to leave. It's a bit of a security blanket, really. " He grinned at the analogy of Hogwart's to a blanket of any kind. " And yeah, I do come down here often. Mostly when I'm doing the late rounds, really. "