Sneaking Snacks (Open)

[Remus Lupin]

(I like that the title rhymes with Shrieking Shack. Lol.)

Remus couldn't sleep. In the week before the full moon, he often felt a strange restlessness that dragged him down and kept him up at nights. He had trouble sitting still, and he was actually the closest he ever came to being hyper. This month, for some reason, was particularly bad, probably because he was feeling stressed about exams. There had been a couple of times in the past week where he had felt so antsy that he was sure he would jump out of his own skin.

After tossing and turning for a few hours after James, Sirius, and Peter had gone to sleep, Remus finally gave up and slipped downstairs to the common room for a while. He sat in front of the dying fire and tried to relax. But it was just no use, and soon his stomach began growling with hunger.

It was past midnight at this point, and definitely against the rules to sneak out. But he was hungry, and he was never going to get to sleep while his stomach was growling. So he quietly slipped out of the common room and began to make his way down to the kitchens.

Somehow, he made it down there without incident, and he went over to the portrait and tickled the pear to get inside. He was greeted by a couple of sleepy-looking house elves, and he wondered if the poor creatures ever got to sleep. Was he keeping them up just by being here?

"I was wondering if I could have some cookies and milk," he asked politely.

The house elves were only too happy to oblige, and they hurried off to get him what he asked for. While he waited, Remus sat down at the little table and looked around the room.

[Brynn De Luca]

Being of a normally quiet nature, Brynn was hardly ever noticed in the common room and while out after dark. She liked to walk the corridors at night, it was peceful. Not crazy and caotic liek during the school hours.

One night on one of Brynn's walks when she found herself near the kitchens. All of the sudden, the idea of a hot chocolate sounded really, REALLY good.

"Hello," Brynn said to one of the elves that greated her. "Do you mind if I could have a hot chocolate?" she asked. the elf nodded and ran off, comming back momentls later with a steaming cup. "Thank you very much."

She walked more into the kitchen and saw another student sitting at a table, being served by the elves. "Remus?" Brynn recognized him and smiled as she approached him. "Mind if I join you?"

[Ariesa d'Veldrin]

Was it impossible to get any quiet around this stupid school? Even in the middle of the night, there were students up and about, talking and causing a racket.

Ariesa had been sitting in the dungeon halls, reading her book. The entrance to the kitchen was near enough the Slytherin common room entrance that she could easily hear them. She frowned and slammed her book closed.

Slowly, Ariesa rose to her feet and walked up to the entrance to the kitchen. She practically loomed over the second and third year, being two to three years ahead of them. The dark eyed girl cleared her throat and stared down at the two gryffindor kids.

She always hated younger students. If the students in her year were noisy, those of the lower years were so high on volume, it broke her tolerance.

At this moment, the two kids were basically trapped. She was blocking the only exit from the kitchen. And this Slytherin fifth year looked anything but happy to see two younger Gryffindor kids wandering in the dungeon area...

[Remus Lupin]

"Hi, Brynn," Remus had greeted the girl. "Sure, go ahead."

He nodded at the spot in front of him as he sipped his milk. For a few moments, there was a comfortable silence as the two Gryffindors just enjoyed their late-night treats. But then the door opened again, and an older girl, a Slytherin, stepped in, trying to look menacing. For the most part, she succeeded. Remus had his moments of bravery, but he was always stronger when James and Sirius were around. Without them, he was really just another scared second year wondering why this older Slytherin girl was blocking the door.

Think, Remus, what would Sirius do?

The answer almost made him burst out laughing as he thought of it. Hitting on the girl, which was surely what Sirius would have done, was out of the question. And not only because Remus wasn't nearly as good at it as Sirius was. It felt wrong to do something like that in front of Brynn, and he was pretty sure the Slytherin girl wouldn't be fooled for a second.

So he just cleared his throat uncertainly. "Er.... hi. Want a cookie?"

[Brynn De Luca]

Brynn smiled and took a seat across from Remus. "Thanks," she said. She blew on her hot chocolate and took a sip. "Can't sleep?" she asked, wondering why her friend was up so late like she was. Normally, she'd be sitting in another part of the kitchen, or would have just walked back to the common room. But her new friends were getting her to be less shy around others, so sitting with Remus didn't seem as terrifying as a thought as it had toward the beginning of the year.

Then of course, they were approached by an older Slytherin girl, who, in Brynn's opinion, didn't seem in the mood for milk, cookies, and a friendly chat. Just her appearance alone made her squirmy. She looked away and focused on her mug in had and made a quiet sqeek. Gret, she was a bloody mouse.

[Ariesa d'Veldrin]

"You are not suppose to be down here..."

This was more than likely the first time these students had ever heard any words come out of this Slytherin's mouth. Her narrowed eyes stare down at the two of them.

She takes a step forward, disrupting her robes a bit. They can just barely make out a bandage on her right forearm. She doesn't seem to notice that it is showing as she places her hands on the counter between them and her, leaning forward on it.

[Remus Lupin]

So bribing her with a cookie didn't work. Remus couldn't help but wonder why it was that this girl felt it necessary to act as the guardian of the dungeons. Yes, it was true that they weren't supposed to be here. But they weren't bothering anyone here, and the house elves seemed perfectly fine with their presence. So what was her problem?

Remus tried to think again about how his friends would handle this situation. Sirius's response, again, probably wouldn't have been appropriate and probably would have landed him in worse trouble than he was in right now. But James... he was the fast talker, the quick thinker, the smooth one. He would know what to do... so what would James do?

"We know that," he said, biting his bottom lip. "And we're really sorry.... we were just hungry. And I couldn't sleep. The house elves don't mind us being here..."

[Brynn De Luca]

The slytherin girl made Brynn more and more nervous by the second. She saw that Remus was trying to handle the situation the best that he could. But truth of the matter was, the girl was right. they weren't supposed to be down here. But that would mean...

"If we're not supposed to be here, neither are you right?" Brynn asked, her voice just above her normal curious octiave. "So..." She looked up to the girl looming over her and Remus. "If you were to tell anyone, you'd get in trouble too. So maybe you should just let us be and we'll return the favor..." She still felt like a mouse, but she had stood up for herself, and she had hardly ever done that before. She smiled to herslef with a little pride.

[Remus Lupin]

Remus glanced over at her, impressed. That was just the kind of thing James would have done... try to turn the situation around on the girl. He didn't know if it would work, but it was worth a shot. It was better than just letting the Slytherin girl control the situation.

"Yeah... why don't we both just agree to forget that we ever saw each other?" he added, hoping that the girl would just go along with it.

[Brynn De Luca]

Brynn tried with all her might not to bit her lips as she and remus turned their situation around in their favor. She wasn't normally this daring. She couldn't tell how the Slytherin girl would react to her and Remus, so she just chose to face away, turning her seat so that she was facing Remus only and sipping her now cooled off hot chocolate.

[Ariesa d'Veldrin]

Sure, Arie knew she wasn't supose to be walking about at night. But at least she stuck to her area of the castle. These two were so far outside of their section, it was completely inexcusable. Besides, it was just annoying.

"If you head back to your house, I might forget about it. Down here, your disturbing the silence..."

Her eyes flickered between the two of them then nodded quickly towards the door.

[Remus Lupin]

"Disturbing the silence?" Remus burst out, quite unable to help himself. Really, this was just ridiculous. First of all, it would be difficult to find two second year Gryffindors that were quieter than Remus and Brynn. It wasn't as though they were laughing and running around. They were sitting quietly in the kitchen sipping on milk and hot chocolate. They weren't bothering anyone.

Secondly, the kitchen was anything but quiet. There were house elves everywhere, bustling about. Some were still cleaning dishes from dinner, some were putting things away with a clatter of pots and pans. Others were cleaning the kitchen, and still others were chatting among themselves. It was about as quiet in here as in the Great Hall at dinner.

And besides, who was this girl to claim that they were disturbing anything? She didn't own the kitchens or the dungeons. Maybe it was closer to her common room than to his and Brynn's but that didn't mean she had any more proprietary rights over it than they did.

"I don't think you have any right to tell us to get out," he said, starting to get angry. "The house elves don't mind us being here, and this is their kitchen. Not yours. We're just going to stay until we've finished our snack, and then we'll be out of your way."

[Brynn De Luca]

Brynn actually let out a small laugh. "I doubt we're disturbing anyone. We weren't even making a sound when you showed up and made a fuss of yourself," Brynn said, placing her Hot Chocolate mug back on the table. "Who are you to say we're disturbing anyone? If anything, you are bothering us."

This girl was starting to make Brynn feel frustrated. "I agree Remus. We'll just stay here."