Welcome!

[Ariana Goldstein]

the night was old and the stars were heavy; hanging in the vast sapphire like sprinkles on the top of a cake. the air was chilly and the wind howled across the grounds, picking up it's victims and tossing them into the air as leaves, twigs and feathers spiraled across the lawns, making a mess. but she couldn't have known that, you see, for miss goldstein was safe and oblivious inside the tall, gothic structure that stood admist the mountains. hogwarts castle was truly a glorious building; a work of art put into a materialistic form and every corridor, archway and detail made sure that that was known. however, having been made at least a thousand years ago, the castle wasn't all that up to date with it's heating and cooling system. most of the time, it was at normal temperature, but when the wind beat on it like tonight, the stone floors turned chilly and the empty face filled with fading colds.

the year had begun, the day had ended and night had come to leave all students fast asleep in their warm, toasy beds except for one fairly restless teenager. ariana had had this issue since the day she learned to speak. as a child, she would stay awake dreaming up stories about the classic fantasy junk with princes and fairies and it was due to this problem, she never attained her sleep. and so, she went to mommy dearest for advice at seven years of age and being a good mother, mrs. goldstein did the best she could for her daughter without involving medication. she told ariana to count to a thousand, the child's favorite number, every night. normally, most children would fall asleep before reaching a hundred and in doing that, it would become a habit that would put a child turned woman into slumber, but all it did for ariana was make her an insomniac.

and this time, she was hungry too.

as thin as she was, anna could eat a horse. it didn't help however that she had eaten a small meal during the feast. it wasn't necessarily her fault and the problem had been some first year who had sat behind her on the gryffindor table; right across from her. he had reminded her vaguely of sirius, in his speech and posture, but she didn't look at him twice because let's face it, who cares? but the stupid kid had noticed her and he wasn't about to let it go, especially not when she was so close to him, only an arms reach away. so imagine yourself in this situation; you're sitting at dinner, collecting food and laughing with your friends when you feel a sharp, painful tug to your hair and turn around to see a greasy, nasty hand recoil from your just previously washed hair {which let's say smells like strawberries}. disgusting? i think so. she hadn't meant to be mean to him, she really hadn't, but could anyone blame her for being slightly upset? as all eleven year olds are, the firstie took it personally and it broke out into a pathetic argument. because he was a child, she chose to ignore him and not respond, but that only made him more upset and it got frustrating to the point where miss goldstein got up and left. just like that.

and she had left all her food behind. it was around nine that she reached the common room and near ten that she prepared to go to bed. her stomach had been growling faintly, but not enough to make her notice as much. however, two hours after tossing and turning, the faint growling had become a ravenous clawing. her stomach was burning as if on fire and twisting twenty times a minute, she was so hungry. at that rate, she would never get any peace and tomorrow was monday which meant classes early in the morning. at midnight, she had no choice but to get off her bed, sneak through the common room and out into the bare corridors; preparing for a long journey down to the cold, damp, ugly dungeons. unbeknownst to her, the dungeons weren't quite as warm as her common room either and about twenty minutes after she had left her bed, ariana regretted nothing more then not bringing a robe and slippers. her legs couldn't have felt more bare and her shoulders couldn't have felt more exposed. it didn't help that the marble floors were as cold as ice under her tiny feet either. the only warmth she got was from the blanket of her hair around her neck because for once, the thick locks had some good use in keeping out the cold.

grudgingly, she continued her way down the kitchens, passing the common rooms of all the houses, some without even knowing it. it was a long way down to food heaven, but it was a sacrifice she was willing to take and after sirius had showed her the entrance in, the portrait of the fruit bowl had become her most favorite painting to pass. so naturally, when it first came into her vision, ariana was overjoyed. spotting it from a distance, she dropped her crossed arms and jogged towards it, ignoring the fact it only made her colder now that she was accelerating and allowing more wind. she just wanted to get her hands on that pear and the second she did, she tickled the life out of it, forcing it to open in two seconds flat. as expected, two house elves already stood before her and she vaguely wondered if they ever slept until she walked in and saw the reason for their wake. someone else had already beat her down here.

[Theodore Nott]

<sub>Why couldn’t he just fall asleep? Theodore Nott wasn’t one who always had sleeping problems, usually it was he who was sleeping before any of his roommates, but on this particular night the boy’s mind remained restless. Whenever this problem occurred at home, which it rarely did but every once and awhile he couldn’t sleep, he would take a walk to get rid of some energy then lay back down. This usually worked, it would make him tired once more and enable him to sleep, but being at Hogwarts presented a problem; you weren’t supposed to leave your dorm after dark. Now, if he were a prefect he could wander aimlessly whenever he wanted to, but Teddy had declined the prefect position so he was kind of stuck in his room. There was, however, always the option of sneaking out. If a prefect caught you, you wouldn’t get in too much trouble, but if a teacher caught you then you were screwed. Teddy did have a few excuses up his sleeve, but he was trying to save them for a better occasion when they would actually be needed. Oh what the hell, he was going to sneak out and go somewhere, he just knew. The question on his mind was where?

Where does one go at midnight on a Sunday? Almost his entire house was sleeping by then, so he would have to go it alone. He could go paint, but that would require going all the way up to the Room of Requirement, a journey too risky for the first week of school. The only place that was remotely close to the Slytherin common room was the kitchens, but that was so cliché. Cliché would have to do because Teddy was getting more bored by the second and it wasn’t helping his mood much. He threw on a white cotton tee shirt and a pair of pajama pants to keep out the cold that was always in the dungeons. As soon as the stone wall that was the entrance to the Slytherin common room closed up behind him Theodore realized that he had forgotten a pair of socks. He cursed under his breath, the cold was already numbing his toes and shooting sharp pains up calf; he was going to have to run to the kitchens if he wanted feet by the end of the night.

He had to do this quietly, however. If you got caught out on the first night, it was worse than hexing your Professor for giving you a ‘T’ on an essay. Not that Teddy ever received a Troll on anything anyway. No, Theodore wasn’t too smart, but he kept his average up. He had only ever failed one thing and that was because one of his hairs fell into the potion they were supposed to be brewing. Let’s just say that the outcome wasn’t too pretty. In fact, it made Teddy miss a whole week of classes, not that he minded too much. It was rather humorous that it turned is skin purple, it was a shame nobody took pictures of it. A chuckle escaped his throat as he recalled the incident, which he immediately regretted. He couldn’t hear anyone else, but someone might’ve heard him. He continued on his way to the kitchens, his wand drawn just in case someone caught him by surprise.

The pear giggled, the portrait swung open, he was in. Teddy strode toward the table by the fire, not in a superior way; he simply walked like he did among his friends. Many students from the Slytherin house thought it strange that Teddy thought so equally of the house elves at Hogwarts and at his friend’s homes. But not many people knew that Theodore pretty much grew up with house elves. He didn’t consider them friends’ per say, but more like just another person; he didn’t look down at them, but they weren’t on some high pedestal in his mind either. A few of the more familiar house elves trotted along at his feet, asking things like if he wanted anything and attempting to make small talk. He patted one on the head while contemplating what he wanted. His stomach wasn’t growling and his mouth wasn’t too dry, he was just really cold. “Tea?” He asked one of them. “With honey and lemon if you could?” A clattering of kettles and mugs was heard as the house elves scattered to go prepare Teddy’s tea.

He took a seat by the fire, the heat from the flames immediately warming his skin and making him feel comfortable and somewhat sleepy. Yes, this is certainly what he needed. He shifted against the cushions of the chair in which he was seated in and closed his eyes once he got comfortable. He swore he could stay like this forever, just him, his thoughts, and the fire. What could make this any better? Oh yes, his tea. He managed to get his left eye open and grabbed at the steaming mug that was sitting in front of him. He took a sip; his eyes closing once more as the hot liquid ran down his throat. Yes, this is exactly where he wanted to be. Another commotion was forming near the entrance, as it seemed someone else was coming into the kitchen. Teddy’s eyes shot open, he sat up immediately spilling some of the hot tea onto his shirt. He cursed under his breath before looking over his shoulder to see who would possibly be joining him.

Well, so much for being alone.</sub>