Craving a snack before bed, Lux slowly made her way down to the kitchens. There was a little bit of time to spare before curfew, so she was sure that she wouldn't get into any trouble. The important thing was to keep an eye on the clock.

After grabbing a glass, she made her way over to the fridge to get some milk. What was a better late night snack than milk and cookies? After pouring some milk into the glass and returning it to the fridge, she went to sit down at the counter where there was a plate of fresh cookies.

Picking one up, she dunked it into the glass of milk and took a bite. Delicious.

It wasn’t her usual habit, but Lily had decided that she wanted a cup of tea before she attempted to go to sleep. Of course, that meant going down all the flights of stairs to the kitchens, but she had figured that it wouldn’t be nice to try and summon a house elf to bring her tea in her dorm. It’d just be easier to make the trek down, and make sure she would have enough time to get back to the common room before curfew. If anything, she’d gotten used to a lot of walking during the summer trip, and not easy walking. That had been serious hiking, and she was confident a simple trip to the kitchens would be simple after that.

After what seemed like only a couple of minutes, she had arrived at the entrance to the kitchens and acquired entry, stepping inside as quietly as her boots would allow. Accidentally startling the house elves wouldn’t be nice either, and she’d started toward where she figured she could find things for tea before anyone would have likely even noticed her. Although, she’d paused as she noticed a flash of red hair out of the corner of her eye, and turned to see Lux sitting at the counter with milk and cookies. “I guess I wasn’t the only person who felt like a bedtime snack,” she observed with a smile, continuing her quest for tea. Once she’d found a cup and a teabag, she walked over to the counter to join the younger Hufflepuff. “Mind if I have a cookie?,” she asked, filling her cup with water and heating it with her wand before adding the tea. She wasn’t going to just steal a cookie from the plate.

Actually there really weren't a lot of things down that corridor. It was mainly just their common room. Apart from the occasional paintings and portraits of course. And the barrels. And people hanging out in front of their common room. So asking him about the other things that were down there wouldn't really lead to anything. So Olly just nodded.

"....or do I?" She smirked, leaning her back against the counter. Schuyler usually kept her updated on these things, to be honest, so it was VERY likely that she did in fact know the password to the Gryffindor Common Room. That reminded her. She should ask Dora about the Prefects Bathroom one. Or Els. Maybe if she brought her food. Huh.

There was a cleaaaarly amused grin playing around her lips when he stopped himself from giggling. Yup. He should go look for her some time. Schuyler was hard to miss. Especially with that description she'd just given him in mind. "Seventh." So, graduating this term. Yes. Uhm. That. A first year? "And you found the kitchen already? Well done." It wasn't quite clear from her tone if she was mocking him or being serious.

Probably a bit of both.

Paloma watched him nodding every now and then about the process. "A little trust please? You will see why we need all this..." Mostly because the part of the milk would evaporate, it'd thicken with the sugar and all those little gastronomic events that'd he observe...

And then he asked the one thing she wanted to avoid. At this, she raised her eyebrow, but later closed them, bit her lip then tried to smile innocently. "Don't be upset, but thismighttakeuptotwohours." Cough. This could really put him in a different mood.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lislchen

Actually there really weren't a lot of things down that corridor. It was mainly just their common room. Apart from the occasional paintings and portraits of course. And the barrels. And people hanging out in front of their common room. So asking him about the other things that were down there wouldn't really lead to anything. So Olly just nodded.

"....or do I?" She smirked, leaning her back against the counter. Schuyler usually kept her updated on these things, to be honest, so it was VERY likely that she did in fact know the password to the Gryffindor Common Room. That reminded her. She should ask Dora about the Prefects Bathroom one. Or Els. Maybe if she brought her food. Huh.

There was a cleaaaarly amused grin playing around her lips when he stopped himself from giggling. Yup. He should go look for her some time. Schuyler was hard to miss. Especially with that description she'd just given him in mind. "Seventh." So, graduating this term. Yes. Uhm. That. A first year? "And you found the kitchen already? Well done." It wasn't quite clear from her tone if she was mocking him or being serious.

Probably a bit of both.

!!!!!!

How would she know there password!? He'd have to tell Professor Bentley or the Big Ole Fat Lady. They'd put an end to THIS CRAZINESS! Ezra didn't respond vocally though, but his facial expressions had been clear enough to show his surprise.

"So you're both seventh years? Is your last year going to be hard? Who's your Head of House? Is she the one who decides if you're ready?" Like classes and stuff. What if you didn't pass and had to stay another year when everyone else left?? That would be tough but maybe cool because like you got another year and everyone else didn't! "I did, well my Prefect Alexa asked me to come help her get food for a party in our Common Room after the Start of Term feast." he hopped up on a counter and sighed because him being asked by a PREFECT as a first year on the first night to sneak out after curfew was KINDA A BIG DEAL.

In the middle of eating her cookie, Lux waved at the new comer, who she was happy to see was Lily. it had been a little while since he had seen her older friend; the last time had been at her birthday party back in July.

Curiously, she watched as Lily went about getting things ready to make tea, in the meantime eating another one of the cookies. If no one stopped her, she would be devouring every single one that was on the plate. Or not, seeing as sharing was caring.

After swallowing, she sent a smile to the other girl as she pushed the plate so that it was in between the both of them. "Have as many as you want. Do you like milk and cookies?" That was the best way to eat them in Lux's opinion.

Smiling as she turned around to face him he was glad she wasn't afraid like most people were, who wouldn't be he was a big guy with a good body build. "Do you mind if I pet Elouan?" he asked as he continued to talk to the human and not the pet "very nice to meet you Mel" seeing that she stuck out her hand for him to shake he looked down to see that it was covered in stuff..

oh well putting his hand in hers he introduced himself "I'm Bay" it was right to the point and true-ish. He totally hated to give out his actual name which was Victor but always by his surname. as she asked him what he recommend "well one can't go wrong with cookies and milk, why don't I get some for us and you go wash your hands" he nodded to her messy hands, she didn't want to put those near her mouth did she?

Louis chuckled softly at Paloma’s request. “I may have my suspicions you’re trying to give me diabetes, but I trust you,” he teased, poking the girl on the cheek with a sugar-coated finger. They had only just started but somehow the boy had managed to make a mess of himself. Good thing they’d worn aprons.

When Paloma let out one long string of words, Louis cocked his head to the side in confusion. What. “What did you…” Slowly, the words began to separate in his mind and he was able to understand. OHMYGOSH. “Two hours?! Two!?” BUT. They were using magic! WHAT.

The eyes watching her as she’d moved around getting the things she’d needed for her tea hadn’t gone unnoticed, even as it had taken those few seconds for Lily to have noticed Lux at the counter. If anything, had she not seen the other girl, she would have assumed it had been a house elf watching her to make sure that no help was needed. Luckily there wasn’t, although it would have been easier if she’d been able to make a whole pot of tea. She didn’t need a whole pot, though, and seeing as Lux had her milk, it seemed unlikely that she needed to share. One cup was enough, even if she would have rather had loose tea instead of the teabag. She’d still slid into a seat across from the Hufflepuff once she’d gotten situated, waiting for the tea to steep so she could drink it.

“I do, actually. Especially when they’re homemade cookies,” she replied with a smile, checking on her tea. “I felt like tea tonight, though. But that’s good with cookies too. Or scones, but cookies are fine.” She wasn’t sure exactly when she’d become so weirdly English, unless it had been a gradual thing. She’d always liked tea, anyway, and cookies weren’t exactly hard to come by when she had a boyfriend who occasionally made them for her. “How was your summer?,” she continued, taking the teabag out as she decided that the tea was brewed enough and grinning as an elf appeared at her elbow to take the bag from her. That saved her from having to figure out where to dispose of it, and after thanking the elf she turned back to her friend.

HA!

The boy looked surprised to say the least. "The Fat Lady likes me." Way too much sometimes. But she had to stay on her good side or else she wouldn't let her in anymore. Olly doubted the Fat Lady didn't know that she was in fact Hufflepuff. It was hard to miss, really. And the portrait seemed to be fairly intelligent.

Fairly.

Questions. There were questions. Lots of questions. And Olly was in no mood to answer any of them. So she just gave him an unimpressed look instead. "I'm not a Prefect." So she wasn't obligated to put up with annoying curious first years. "Go ask one of them all those questions. Or the Head Boy. He's always happy to deal with excited first years." And people in general. Theo was such a people-person.

But the kitchen question. "You had a party?" And she hadn't been invited? For shame.

Ana loved food, probably more than she should, although she still somehow managed to lose weight instead of gaining it, and so the Kitchens was her second favourite spot in the castle. It was also the first place she'd learned to navigate to without needing assistance or getting lost. Although she was getting better at that. It was that love of food that led her now, even though she knew it would be dinner in a few hours she couldn't resist grabbing a snack. Or as the case may be a ginormous sample plate of all the goodies the house elves had made.

Sitting down at a table Ana started to nibble at a raspberry cookie. It was, unsurprisingly, delicious.

There was one place he hadn't visited yet since returning for the year and that was the kitchens. Terry usually spent a lot of his free time in here, hiding from the grumpy/angsty/overtired friends he shared his dorm with. They were great guys but Terry was often in a good mood and he felt like he could be annoyingly happy sometimes. Going up to the kitchens and cooking up a treat when he was hungry which was often, he was still growing after all.

Pushing the door open and wandering in his eyes fell upon a very familiar set of locks. A smile crept across his face as he silently approached her chair and tackled her around the waist. "Boo" he grinned before planting a kiss on her cheek. "Hungry?" he asked chuckling amid nibbling through one of the cookies he stole from the plate in front of her.

Hmm.. Not bad.

It was good that Lily enjoyed milk and cookies, because Lux thought that it was the best way to eat them and it was nice to know that she wasn't alone in liking them with milk. "These cookies are the best. I eat them so much during the School year." Having her Common Room right by the kitchens held this advantage; this was one plus that Hufflepuff had over Gryffindor in her eyes.

Scones? Lux had never had those before. Nor had she ever thought of eating tea with cookies. "Do you dunk the cookies into the tea? Or eat them on the side?" Okay, these were probably silly questions, but she really did want to know. Even though she did not drink it a lot, Lux DID like tea. She had even gone to a few tea parties before; even though she preferred picnics, they had been rather fun. "My summer was awesome. I spent a lot of time with my boyfriend and my friends. I wished I could go on the field trip to Peru, so I was sad when I couldn't." Oh well. That was life. "How was your summer?"

"Oh, this will take you far than to Diabetes, Bolton." She teased back, poking him back and throwing him nutshells, hoping none would land on the pot. The good thing about making a mess there, at Hogwarts was that they could clean it in a few seconds, with magic. "But all this mess will be worth it. You'll want to tell the whole school that you made this by yourself." Because, her role there was only to help him, cough.

A few seconds it took for Louis to react and Paloma felt like running back to her dorm and under her bed sheets. OY. "I know, I should have told you, but I can't really remember a spell that could speed up the thickening of the mix..." Unless they consulted a potions-cooking book. She just hoped he didn't decide to bail on this.

Though, she would understand if the excuse was that he'd never trust her again, or that he had Prefect duties to cover that day.

Ana continued her nibbling almost absentmindedly, as she thought about all the things she needed to do. Her mamushka had let her know in no uncertain terms that Ana's OWL results hadn't been good enough, which meant that she still had to study hard this year, even though she had no major exams. Ana personally thought her mamushka was overreacting, so she hadn't gotten O's in everything and had barely passed Ancient Runes, but she certainly hadn't done terribly. Still it would be better to attempt to appease her than have her carry through on her threat of not letting Ana see Terry at all outside of school. Which was a shame since next year Terry wouldn't be here. Although she tried not to dwell on that because that way lay sadness.

She was brought out of her thoughts when she felt a pressure around her waist as she was pulled into an embrace that she'd grown familiar with over the Summer. Ana tipped her head back and smiled softly up at Terry, eyes filled with fondness. "Hi baby face," she greeted, her tone playful as her smile transformed into a slight smirk. Not that she really thought that Terry had a baby face. He definitely had last year but he was looking more manly recently.

GASP. Did he just steal one of her cookies? She was always one for sharing but ask, don't just take. "You are lucky that I love you. And yeah, I'm hungry I wasn't feeling the best earlier so didn't eat breakfast," Ana told him honestly as she turned so that she could burrow into him. She wanted boyfriend snuggles now please.

It wasn’t the most normal of conversations, but Lily didn’t mind that. The topic was just to start things off, and it did make sense when one considered the presence of the plate of cookies between them, along with her teacup and Lux’s glass of milk. She’d smiled a little at the confession, however. “So does that mean these are better than just any cookies?,” she asked, a hint of amusement in her voice even as she’d broken off a piece of cookie and eaten it. It tasted like almost every other cookie she’d had while at Hogwarts to her, including the ones Austin had made for her. But then, he’d probably made them in here, so maybe it was something with the kitchens. She wouldn’t know, considering her common room was about as far from here as it could have been. Even the dungeons were closer.

She had laughed at the next question that had been asked, not by any sense of meanness but just amusement. She’d actually never thought of dunking cookies into tea, although she’d done so with other foods occasionally. She’d done so with scones when she hadn’t had any cream or jelly to eat with them, just to counteract the dryness. “I eat cookies on the side. I think they’d disintegrate if I dunked them in it,” she finally admitted. Especially when they were this light. She wasn’t about to deny the younger girl the answer, though, no matter how silly the question might have seemed. The discussion had moved on anyhow, and she’d listened as Lux had talked about her summer. It was interesting that she had brought up the trip. “My summer was good. Interesting, since I actually did go on the trip. It was definitely an adventure.” Mudslides, trolls, llama stampedes, zombies… “I was happy to have the month after I got back to relax before school, and to hang out with Austin and my friends.”

“Good thing I like sugar, then. At least I’ll die happy.” The boy smiled at his friend, chuckling softly when she poked him back and threw nutshells in his direction. “Will I? It’ll be that amazing, huh?” he asked with a raised eyebrow, lifting himself up to sit on the counter, beside the pot that magically continued stirring itself.

Louis lifted his chef’s hat to ruffle his hair absentmindedly, the way he usually did when he was thinking something over, as Paloma explained she didn’t know any spells that could speed up the thickening of the mix. “Hmm.” The boy placed the hat back on his head and looked off thoughtfully. “There must be a spell for that…” He turned back to Paloma with a small smile. “I think you and I are going to have to visit the library soon.”

There was everything wrong with felines. Or maybe it was just felines that didn't like him. Because he had no problem petting Cinna's cat but this one? This one needed to be watched, and that's exactly what Grayson was doing as they walked along the corridor.

It wasn't until Lex had said something about a common room that he looked up and then over at the direction she was pointing at. "So that's what the barrels are for!" Again, he had thought they were just there for decoration. Nothing major. Vinegar? "Why? Their common room smells of vinegar or something?" And here he had thought that the house of the Huggers and Finders would have a common room that smelled differently. Maybe something fruity or flowery.

When the Gryffindor stopped, so I'd Grayson. Pay close attention???? To what? A FRUITbowl? Jeez, what was so interesting about THAT?! He was about to roll his eyes and retort when.............

............. things started to happen.

What in the name of.

So it turned out that the Gryffindor hadn't gone bananas and was tickling a pear in a painting for no reason. There was an entrance and he was going to be led somewhere. And Lex was telling him to enter. She was grinning too. "Er, alright," he said, shrugging his shoulders. There was no way that Lex would lead him to his death. Nuh uh. That didn't mean that he wasn't showing signs of caution and nervousness as he pushed open the door and led the way to--

HOLY.

FREAKING.

MERLIN!!!!!!

"This is a kitchen?" he whispered, his blue eyes wide and staring around at the room. He then turned to look at Lex and said in a louder voice, "This is a kitchen!!!" This was the BEST. LEX was the best. He wasn't going to admit that but HELLO?! She had just shown him how to get into a very useful room.

"This is brilliant!"

This was a lot more entertaining than she'd thought it could have been. Giving new kids a tour and seeing their reactions was worth a delay to the kitchen. She'd been to the kitchen loads of times but it wasn't everyday that she played tour guide. Don't get her wrong, this wouldn't become a thriving business for her considering she had better things to do than hold every new kid's hand and molly coddle them til mid-term but this right here was funny and she gave a firm nod to his exclamation of the barrels.

"Yup, they guard the entrance. I always thought it was quite fitting for them." You know, barrels usually being used to store food and them being...well...Puffers and all.

"The vinegar's what you get doused with if you aren't a Hufflepuff but you try getting in. Last I heard, no one's broken in their in over 100 years but that can't be true because I've been in their a couple times." And lookit her with her fancy scarlet and gold robes then again, she wasn't breaking in. "But I never told you that. We aren't meant to be visiting each other's Common Rooms, got it?" Where were the Professors to see her try her hand at this responsible Prefect thing? Eh, it was just as well. The responsibility would die in another minute or two, just watch.

His caution as he entered didn't go unnoticed. He had nothing to worry about though. If she wanted to lead him to his doom it'd have been MUCH better orchestrated and she wouldn't show her face, in case he lived to tell someone.

Once inside, she waited for him to internalize where he now was. It seemed he'd gotten it with his question...then again when he yelled it at her. His excitement made it hard for her grin to die. "It is brilliant! No waiting on 'meal times' to grab a bite to eat. I come down here for late night snacks sometimes--but I didn't tell you that either." Because responsible Prefects did not only enforce curfew, the abided by it...or some hogwash of the sort, really she hadn't been paying attention.

Paloma just chuckled and shook her head. She had never met anyone who'd talk to her this long as Lou had, neither had she been teased so much. Definitely, the world on stage was sometimes too different and isolated compared to what she had that moment, a real friendship. "So. Who will you share this acxomplishment with?" she graciously asked, motioning him as if he had gotten a big trophy.

Oh no. Those expeessions, the hair ruffling. Then the clever thinking to go to the library. Pal raised her eyebrow and nodded. "Does it have to be today? Because library trip isn't planned til tomorrow.." for homework research reasons, of course.

Listening intently to her friend, Lux dunked another cookie into her milk and then took a bite of it. Swallowing, she shrugged her shoulders slightly. "Well, I think they are the best, but I'm sure that there are other people who would disagree. I've learned to respect other people's food preferences." Beam. She was proud of that fact; as proud as she had been when she had told Ana that very same thing on the train to school.

Where was Ana? Lux missed her older friend already even though they had talked to each other recently. As long as they didn't fall out of touch again this term, she would be happy; the fact that there were no OWLs to get in the way this time was a huge plus.

Placing the cookie back into the milk, she stopped in mid-dunk. Wait, why was Lily laughing at her question? Was it really as silly as she had thought? Oh well, surely she wasn't being laughed at. Lily was way too nice to ever do that. Finding peace of mind in that fact, Lux finished dunking and took another bite. Delicious. "Well, I never thought about it that way, but I suppose you have a good point. I don't think anyone would want bits of cookie and chocolate floating in their tea." Cookies were amazing generally, but they wouldn't be in that case! "So I guess I would eat them on the side too if I did that, or just stick to my milk and cookies." Maybe she could even do both!

Oh, so Lily had gone on the trip? "I've heard a fair bit about it from some of my friends and my boyfriend. It sounded like quite the adventure; I'm not sure if I would have been able to survive that." Even though people told her that she could be brave, Lux really felt that she was truly not a Lion. Oh well, she had her Lion and that was enough to make her happy. "You know, I don't think I have properly met Austin. I've talked to him on Twitter though." He seemed like a nice boy, though it never was the same when talking on Twitter as opposed to in person.

Lily had to admit there was a sort of logic to the answer Lux had given her. Everyone was entitled to their opinions, even when it came to cookies, and she had to admit that the ones they currently were enjoying weren’t bad. They definitely qualified in her top five of cookies, at least. Most of the food that the house elves had made generally turned out pretty appetizing, so there was no reason to think otherwise. “That’s a good way of looking at things. Some people like food that we might think is completely weird, but if that’s what they like. We shouldn’t judge,” she replied, breaking off another piece of her cookie and popping it into her mouth. These were just normal cookies, though. There was nothing weird about them at all.

She’d been tempted to offer a penny for the Hufflepuff’s thoughts, as the girl had seemed a bit distracted for a moment or two. But then, maybe it wasn’t anything that she needed to know. Lux didn’t look upset or anything, so the thoughts couldn’t have been bad. Plus, there was the little moment of amusement that had broken the silence, and she had trouble ceasing her giggle at the sight of the younger redhead sitting there with her cookie frozen halfway into her milk.

It was an amusing sight, but then the dunk was completed and she finally managed to stop giggling by lifting her teacup to her lips. She didn’t want to choke on her tea, after all, and it gave her a second to listen as her friend had spoken again. “Unless it was like cookie flavored tea. Or chocolate tea,” she offered, setting her cup back down as she’d spoken. There was flavored coffee, so she didn’t see why there couldn’t be cookie flavored tea. Especially in the Wizarding world. “It’s easier to just stick with milk and cookies though,” she finally agreed. Cookies were fine just as an accompaniment to tea, and she could survive without dunking them right now.

She hadn’t expected Lux to have heard much about the trip to Peru, either. It wasn’t exactly surprising, however, and the comment wasn’t wrong. “It was definitely an adventure. I’m sure you would have survived it. Everybody sort of helped each other,” she replied. Except for during the time they were all fleeing the trolls, but she’d forgiven Huxley for pushing past her. Nobody had gotten squished by the rocks and trees, after all. Or bitten by any zombies, although she wondered what had become of the arm that Professor Flamsteed had detached from the one. They’d stopped talking about the trip and being brave, though, and she hadn’t been able to stop the smile from appearing on her face at the next topic. “You have?,” she asked. “Maybe I should try and get him to properly meet you. I’ve been trying to get him more comfortable to talking to people, anyway.” After that mess during the Valentine’s Day event last term, with West.

Leah always thought that the kitchens were out of bounds to students. When she heard that other people were going into the kitchens to get food, she was practically fuming with anger. This evening, the second year headed to the kitchens to explore.. and EAT.

Well, it looked like the great hall. No surprise. Were they allowed to just snatch some snack and leave? Leah walked past some chatting students and grabbed a small piece of cake. Mmm, niiiice. She hoped she had brought Filomena out with her, there were food she would have liked. The girl leaned back against the table and took another bite.

"It's just somewhere down here...." Kyroh said as they walked along the hallway. He knew there was a way to get into the kitchens. Ezra had told him that he had done it on his FIRST night at Hogwarts with the Gryffindor Prefect. And they had seen house elves and everything!

Kyroh never thought he'd actually want to go into the kitchens. He didn't really need to snack between classes, it was easy enough to sneak muffins in your bag or something anyways. But since it was Maddie's birthday she had to get a cake right? And the only way to get a cake would be to make one. And making food happened in the kitchens!

Passing by a painting of a bowl of fruits the first year stopped. "Oh it's here!!" Reaching out he began to tickle the pair with both hands just like Ezra told him, it probably looked really silly but soon a green door knob appeared. Turning the knob the boy walked through and motioned for the other claw to follow into the kitchen, where a few house elves worked away at some meal.. "Come on Boddie."

Maddie had been following Kyroh quietly, hands shoved in her pockets. Their common room was SUPER far from the kitchen and she was glad she didn't need to come down here often. It WAS an adventure, though. Maddie LIKED adventures and she guessed she might learn to like birthdays so this would be doing BOTH.

"The house elves don't mind people in there?" The birthday girl was all for cake but she didn't want to tick off the elves that made her food on a regular basis. Kyroh seemed pretty confident, though, and she was going to trust him for now.

Wait, it was here? "Where?" Maddie looked around and then noticed her fellow claw tickling a painting. WELL. That was interesting. Even MORE interesting was the doorknob that appeared! "Wow."

The brunette nodded her head as Kyroh lead the way inside and stopped to look around once she'd stepped out of the doorway. "So THIS is the kitchen." COOL.