Late Night Cram Session

[Vixie Hart]

It was late, nearing midnight in the Slytherin common room. Vix had finally quietened down after a heated argument with another girl in her house. The girl had given up, letting Vix have the victory and stomped up to her dormitory to go to bed. The young Slytherin girl sat in the common room in a plush emerald green armchair with her potions work in her lap. Their professor had assigned a rather nasty essay on the affects of newt eyes in different potions.

She had been hard at work, and didn't realize how tired she really was until she began to doze off in her chair. With a shake, she woke to find the fire burned out in front of her and the common room dark. Shrugging to herself and deciding to call it quits for the night, Vix began to pack her books, parchment, and other various school related objects into her bag. Upon hearing a door cracking open, she stopped to listen, seeing a dark shadow begin to creep through the commonroom, unaware of her presence. She slid down into a chair to keep a closer watch on what was going on, staying very quiet.

[Xavier Scotts]

A little-known secret about Xavier was that he didn't sleep well. As a child, he used to sleepwalk, but even as that habit had begun to wear off, he continued to have sleep problems. Some nights he hardly slept at all. Other nights he would wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to get back to sleep.

Tonight was one of the latter nights. He had fallen asleep relatively early, but then woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. He'd been staring at the canopy over his bed for at least an hour when he finally decided to get out of bed and go down to the common room.

He'd fallen asleep in his clothes, as he often did, so he didn't bother to put on a robe or anything. It wasn't like he expected to see anyone. If he had, he probably would have stopped to fix his hair, which was sticking up at odd angles.

He hardly made a sound as he slipped down the stairs and into the common room. It was very dark, with only the dim light from the dying embers of the fire to guide his way. So he didn't even realize right away that he wasn't alone.

Frowning into the remains of the fire, Xavier took out his wand and pointed it at the fireplace. "Incendio," he whispered. He sat back and smiled with satisfaction as the flames rose up and filled the room with light and warmth.

[Vixie Hart]

Vix, still hiding behind her large backed emerald green chair, froze solid when she heard a boy utter an incantation to ignite the flames in the once dying fire. She was still not visible, but if the boy happened to walk any closer, he would surely see her. Trying to be sneaky, she slid into her chair, the proper way, and in one fluid motion stood, facing the possible intruder.

She gazed into his blue eyes, and with a quick glance at his robes, Vix discovered that he was a Slytherin as well. Her breathing grew a bit easier and she revealed the warmest smile she held. She knew she recognized him but couldn't place his name.

"Hello, I'm Vix," she said extending her hand, and waited to see if the greeting was mutually nice.

[Xavier Scotts]

Xavier nearly jumped at the unexpected sound of the girl's voice. He had genuinely thought he was alone, as he usually was at this time of night. He turned around and looked at her for a moment, his heart rate slowly returning to normal.

He'd seen her around, of course. He was usually very observant, being the quiet type, and he noticed people. He seldom made the effort to be friendly with people, but when they spoke to him, he was usually agreeable, if quiet.

"Hey," he said, nodding casually. "I think I've seen you around. I'm Xavier Scotts."

He was used to giving his full name and waiting for the impact of his last name. The Scotts name carried a lot of weight, and although sometimes he thought he would be crushed under that weight, he still didn't mind using it to his advantage when meeting people.

[Vixie Hart]

Vix nodded when she heard the last name. Of course she knew him from somewhere. Debutant parties in the wizarding world provided her with that knowledge. "The Scotts' eh?," she partly asked, mostly stated.

"I've definitely heard of you, and I remember seeing you around here of course. I'm Vix Hart. Not sure if you've heard of us but we generally run with your kind of people," she said with a smile. She didn't want to come off as snobby, besides, it was mutual currently in this room.

"Well it was very nice to meet you, and I hope you don't mind me asking, but what are you doing out of bed this late?," she asked, a smirk on her pink lips.

[Xavier Scotts]

Xavier smiled slightly. The Scotts name was both a blessing and a curse. It made him instantly recognizable, but it also gave people an impression of him that might not be correct. Xavier was one who tried very hard to be all things to all people. He didn't know yet who he really was, so he simply tried to adapt, like a chameleon. He wasn't sure whether he was like his parents and oldest brother Justin, or if he was like Gwen. He only knew he wasn't like Timmy or Thane, both of whom annoyed him.

"Nice to meet you, Vix. I'm familiar with your family."

Unconsciously, he reached up and tried to smooth out his hair a little; it was his one vanity and he was a little emabarrassed to be seen with it still tousled from sleep. "I guess you could say I'm kind of a night person."

[Vixie Hart]

Vix smiled, watching his movements, noticing he fooled with his hair a bit. It made her a bit self-conscious of hers, so in what seemed to be a flirty way, she ran her fingers through her own blond, black, and brown locks. She knew she looked as if she might be intimidating, and depending on the circumstances she could be, but tonight was not the time or the place for it. She was on neutral ground here, and her guard was no where near as high as it normally would be.

"Yes, unfortunately most people are familiar with my disfunctional family," she stated, with a roll of her eyes. "I do apologize for anything you've heard about us."

The Hart's were quite disfunctional, her mother constantly having affairs that she attempted to keep private, but everyone in the family knew excluding her father. He hadn't been around the house much lately, and Vix assumed that she had just gotten bored.

"Anyway, enough talk about family. What about you?," she asked, a grin forming on her lips. She loved to get to know people, if they were of the correct breeding of course, and if Xavier was in Slytherin then he must have checked out, right?

[Xavier Scotts]

Xavier wanted to tell her that he knew all about dysfunction. The Scotts family was pretty dysfunctional in its own right, what with one child in each house at Hogwarts. Then there was Aunt Tanya, who Xavier loved but privately thought to be a bit deranged. And of course, there was Uncle Zach, who wandered so often that Xavier had only ever seen him twice before his recent return.

But she changed the subject. And if she wasn't too concerned with the particular level of dysfunction that his family suffered from, he wasn't about to bring it up.

"What about me?" he repeated. He honestly didn't know yet how to answer that question. "I like to read, and sometimes I draw. I... I don't really know what else to say."

[Vixie Hart]

Vix nodded, acknowledging every word that came from his lips. She began to pace around the common room a bit, not truly knowing where to go, or what to do from here, so conversation it was.

"Drawing, I like that quite a lot," she posed. "Writing is a favorite passtime of mine, and reading has recently become something I have picked up," she stated, nodding her head in agreeance with him.

"Well, there are some hobbies. What do you like to do for fun? What kind of music do you listen to? What is your favorite and your least favorite class?," she started, knowing she was asking too many questions at one time, but when she met someone she didn't know well before, she had to get to know them right then, as much as possible.

[Xavier Scotts]

Xavier gave her a strange look. "You sure ask a lot of questions," he remarked. "Um... let's see. Music. I like muggle music, mostly. Rock and roll. Like... Neil Young, Grateful Dead, Black Sabbath... David Bowie... Stuff like that. My favorite class is potions, and my least favorite class is transfiguration."

He raised his eyebrows at her, wondering what she thought of his answers. "As for what I like to do for fun... well, I'm not really the 'fun' type. I guess the only thing I would call fun is getting my older brothers in trouble. Especially Timmy. He deserves it. I mean... the guy's a Hufflepuff, for Salazar's sake."