. midnight snack, |open|

[Charisma Carter]

12:00 and all was not well.

A muffled groan, hardly audible, came from what appeared to be a bundle of blankets in one of the Gryffindor Girl's Dorms. It shuffled around as the girl beneath them rolled over, her head just hardly poking out from underneath. There were a few moments of silence and then, woosh; she threw the covers to the side of her bed, wincing slightly as it made a louder sound than she thought. Once her eyes adjusted to the dark, she checked about her dorm to make sure she hadn't awoken any of the other girls. Satisfied that they were all still asleep, she slowly slipped out of her bed and exited the dorm.

Now, you may be aware that it wasn't exactly school policy for one to be wandering around the castle at night, but this particular girl had done it so many times over the years without getting caught that she no longer thought twice about it. One might think that her being Head Girl and a supposed example for the other students that her mind would be changed, but that didn't happen. She was hungry and she wasn't going to get another wink of sleep until that was fixed.

The blue and white plaid pajama bottoms clad girl exited the common room and began the descent down to the Kitchens. It really was inconvenient for her and her destination to be on opposite heights of the castle, but she'd get over it once she was fed. Her bare feet didn't make a sound as she snuck through the familiar hallways and corridors, pausing only for a moment if she heard a sound. Soon, however, she was at the familiar picture of the fruit bowl. She tickled the pear and headed inside.

It really wasn't that suprising that there were no house-elves out and about at this hour, but that didn't deter her. Familiarized with all the drawers, cabinents, and other storage places, she soon had what she wanted: a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of milk. Content, she hopped onto one of the counters, her legs swinging back and forth without a sound. She shivered slightly, regretting that she didn't bring a sweatshirt to put over her white spaghetti-strapped tank. She always seemed to forget that.

Should anyone happen to walk into the Kitchens at that moment, they'd be faced with the petite and tired looking Ms. Carter, a girl who was usually full of spirit. She supressed a yawn and took a drink of her milk, going about her business like it was a daily routine. Although, for Charisma, it pretty much was just that.

[Amber Vaughn]

Amber gave a coy little laugh as she walked up the main drive towards the castle. She was vaguely aware how late she was out. Vaguely. It didn't matter. She had the buff Slytherin seventh year on her arm, and he was all over her. She wasn't going to put out tonight, and he probably realized that by now, but if he wanted to remain in her good graces, he'd keep doting on her. But she'd skipped dinner to sneak down to Hogsmeade and while she had had some ice cream down there courtesy of this brute, she wanted something a bit more substantial. So she waved him off and shooed him back towards the dungeons as she stepped up to the portrait of the bowl of fruit. It was so easy to sneak in down here. It was like they expected students to do it.

But when the door opened and she stepped inside, Amber came up sort. Obviously the room wasn't empty, and by God, it had to be the Head Girl sitting on the counter like it was her throne and this merely a part of her castle. Arrogant halfblood whelp. This castle, this world, belonged to the few remaining pure lines. Like Amber's, and the Malfoy and Black lines as well. Noble lines. Nothing like this girl's. She was already caught, though, so she may as well go with the flow. She put a hand on her hip and rocked it to the side, jutted out and a sign of her irritation.

"Carter. Why am I not surprised?" She gave a sneer and walked past the girl like it wasn't strange or very against the rules for the two of them to be in here. Amber was still hungry and she'd be damned if she was going to let the Head Girl deter her. She dug out a bowl and the makings of oatmeal, and in sort time she had a bowl with some dried cranberry bits on top, sprinkled liberally with brown sugar. She dug in before she looked back at the Head Girl. "Let me guess, the next line is that you're going to dock Slytherin points for me being down here, while you hide behind your position."

[Charisma Carter]

Normally a girl for the crowds, Charisma was starting to wish for some conversation. She had gotten over the point of not wanting to do anything but eat and even though she was still tired, she was ready to talk to someone. As though someone had heard her mental wish, the door to the kitchens opened and in walked a fifth year. Riss sighed quietly; anyone but her. Why did it have to be Amber Vaughn?

Miss Vaughn had the reputation of being a spoiled brat, even when she first came to Hogwarts. As it was Charisma's tradition to initiate first years, she quickly found out that Amber hated spiders and used that against her at breakfast. The two weren't exactly pals before that incident, but ever since, they had become pretty good enemies. It really was a good thing Vaughn wasn't a prefect or there would be points being docked.

Hold up. I'm Head Girl. Why should I even care that she sees me in here?

She was still getting used to the fact that she was in a position of power and she couldn't help but give a tired smile at the girl as she acknowlegded her. Subtracting points from Slytherin would be great fun, but there really wasn't that good of a reason and if she did, than she'd come off as a bitch and that isn't what she wanted her reputation to be, no matter who it was she was being a bitch to.

"Thought about it, but I'm good. You Slytherins need all the help you can get when it comes to house points. Consider this a charity." she replied with a grin. It was obvious she was tired, but she didn't care. It wasn't like she was trying to impress anyone with her witty comebacks at the moment.

[Amber Vaughn]

Amber didn't look at Charisma, but it was obvious she was seething. The house points remark was a little too accurate, unfortunately. Gryffindor had twice the points Slytherin did right now. While that was likely to change when the Quidditch season finally began, for right now she had to listen to those ill-begotten and arrogant lions chatter about it. That needed to change. If only Demara had the backbone to use her position, this wouldn't have been half the problem it was. Damned girl, trying to be noble about it. She should have been a Gryffindor, that Akila Demara.

For now, however, Amber had bigger fish to fry. Like the one that was seated just behind her. She turned, leaning back against the counter with her bowl by her elbow, and studied the mudblood who thought she was so special. God, her and the Head Boy too. You'd think that even one of the higher ups would have picked someone worthy of the position. Any Slytherin worth their salt, for example.

"You think you're clever, Carter. Slytherin needs your charity about as much as Hogwarts needs more mudbloods. For the totally inept, that would be not at all. I'd ask what you're doing down here, but I'd have to care first." She snipped and turned back to her oatmeal. Amber hated this girl for personal enough reasons, but she was also the sort who just hated Gyffindors. And she thought it was more than unfair that both the Head Girl and Head Boy this year were Gryffindors. That was simply insane and obviously the higher ups showing favoritism. She wouldn't stand for it. Unfortunately her aunt would never complain, the woman had no backbone, and a disgrace to the Vaughn name.

[Charisma Carter]

Charisma had by now finished her sandwich and was working on her glass of milk, though she didn't really plan on leaving any time soon. As usual, the midnight snacks she often had woke her up even more than before. Oh well, at least she wouldn't be hungry. And by the time she walked all the way back up to the Gryffindor Common Room, she'd be ready for bed. But why waste an opportunity like the one before her? Amber Vaughn was not about to get the best of Charisma Carter, no-sir-ee.

She watched the Slytherin make her oatmeal. Just watching the fifth year irked her; why was she so damned arrogant? No doubt she was degrading Charisma mentally for lack of a pure blood line but these days, it was hard to find anyone with that. She didn't mention this to Amber, however. An argument on the superiority of blood did not sound like fun at the moment, no matter how stupid she thought the whole thing was. But wouldn't you know it, Vaughn brought the issue up in her next comment. Typical.

Riss rolled her eyes. "Fine, have it your way. 15 to 30 isn't that bad for the start of the year I suppose." she said, feigning absolute agreement. "In fact, I think you're right about the mudblood issue to. Let's just close the school off to them, give everyone with completely pure blood the power and live in a complete fascist enviroment." She had to bite her tongue after that statement or else she would have continued her rant and probably added something about how proud dear Voldemort would have been. Throughout her years at Hogwarts, she had kept silent on the issue of the former Dark Lord, not knowing how people still reacted to his name. He was dead though, so did it even really matter?

Of course, that's what they thought 100 years ago.

[Tobias Loxley]

“Busted! Busted! I’m so busted,” was all that was mingling in Toby’s mind as he wandered aimlessly around the night hallways. Being that this was his first year at Hogwarts he already received an earful about going out at night past curfew and all of the other commandments that ‘thou shalt not do’ while he was here. But how could he resist not taking a gander of exploring such a HUGE castle! It would be an opportunity most misspent that would be for sure!

Carefully the boy crept out in his pajamas which were simply some yellow flanel pants and a t-shirt and made his way carefully out of the common room door. The guardian asleep as his nimble little fingers opened the door ajar and he carefully slithered through the small cracks. To make sure he’d be able to get back inside, he jammed the entrance with a lollipop into the lock crevice. That should hold as far as he could assume.

The journey was dark and extremely scary for the eleven year old Hufflepuff. But his sense of adventure was currently overriding his sense of reason. Heart pounding against his chest, every noise and distant echo caused his adrenaline to spike up and down. In a sense, he enjoyed it like this. It was a thrill ride being out and wondering if he would be caught. Of course he didn’t WANT to be caught, but if curiosity killed the cat…and a cat had nine lives…then he could do this eight more times without dying.

Yeah………that makes oodles of sense.

It felt like hours had past as he hugged the walls and crept quietly in the shadows trying to be undetected. How far had he gone? Hundreds, maybe thousands of miles down these hallways? Eventually his ears perked up to something that sounded like voices. Female voices at that. With stealth on his side, Toby turned in and found himself face to face with another picture door and a fruit bowl.

“Oh boy…” he muttered to himself as he inspected the picture and began spouting out words, “Umm, jelly belly? Chipoodle? Yummy? Uh…Snufflepuss?” Darn, the things wasn’t budging and he wanted to hear what was going on inside. Were there teachers in there? Other students? If only he could find a way to get in somehow.

Still hearing a couple of whispers here and there, Toby leaned up against the picture and put his ear to the door in hopes that maybe he could still overhear the conversation. As his fingers touched the picture, his little pinky managed to brush over the pear in the process. A tiny giggle and a jerk and before he knew it, he was jumping back as the door gave way for him to open. What an odd password, pressing one’s ear against the door. He’d have to tuck that away in the back of his memory for next time.

Like the curious little monkey he was, Toby crept into the door, peeking first to see who was there before cautiously dropping to the floor and crawling to a nearby shadow. Forgetting to close the door back up and leaving it partially open several inches, he huddled in a corner silently before trying to take a peek around the table. Apparently he was in the kitchen somehow, unaware that he hadn’t actually gone that far since the Hufflepuff Commonroom and this area were practically next door neighbors to one another. Toby was only paying attention long enough to hear that last couple of remarks from the Gryffindor Prefect. What could they have been discussing in regards to charity? Were they going to do a food drive for the needy or something?

[Amber Vaughn]

Amber narrowed her eyes and planted her hands on her hips. Defiant to the last, she chose her words very carefully. It was the mantra of the family, the same things her father had detailed in his journals. She'd been reading them since she was little, and it was how she knew so much of what the did, and especially why she should be condemning her aunt for marrying a Muggle. The Muggles were thinning the gifts; lessening what was innately the wizards' gifts. Thinning the blood, until there was nothing left for them and magic was lost forever.

"When there is nothing magical left, then you'll understand why the mudbloods shouldn't exist." She snapped. "Filthy things, and destroying the gifts." She snarled. Malice dripped from her words, and scorn evident. Her hatred was the most potent kind: borne out of fear for the end of her kind. Sure, mixed blood wizards were almost as powerful as purebloods, but none of the wizards were as powerful as they had been even in Lord Voldemort's time. It was terrifying to think about.

"So I will thank you when our children are all born squibs!" She added, twisting the knife, and turned to stalk away. Imagine her surprise when she rounded the table and almost tripped over a rather small boy. She didn't recognize him. That didn't mean anything, she probably wouldn't have recognized a Slytherin boy who was that young, and he didn't look like a Slytherin. "What are you doing there, spying on us?! Dirty brat, get up!"

[Charisma Carter]

Charisma listened to Amber's retort with a raised eyebrow and a slight smirk. Yes, it was obvious that if there were no purebloods left, the magical world would just die out. Funny... it seems that some muggle born wizards did quite well, just as the halfbloods did. Why was it that whenever Riss talked to this girl (which was seldom, mind you) that the issue of blood status was always brought up? I guess that cuold be all the girl had going for her. Pity.

"Yeah, well thank Merlin you were here to save all those lives." she said, rolling her eyes. "All the future generations of purebloods will have you to thank." As Amber started to leave, she let out a light sigh. At least it was over. She knew that she probably she be heading back to bed soon as it was never a good idea to stick around longer than she needed. She had learned that lesson during her second year when she decided that she wasn't tired and wanted to explore the kitchens further and a professor happened to walk in on her. Since then, she always tried to be more sneaky.

Charisma hopped off the counter top and turned to follow Amber out when she heard the Slytherin's spiteful voice once more, but this time it wasn't directed at her. She rounded the corner to see who had the unfortunante pleasure of dealing with the already pissed off fifth year. What she saw was what appeared to be a first year hiding in the corner, probably a Hufflepuff by the way Amber was shouting at him and by his brightly colored pajama bottoms.

Charisma folded her arms over her chest and leaned her head to one side. "Oh give him a break, Vaughn. It wasn't like we were talking about anything important." she said. She offered the boy a friendly smile before turning her eyes back on Amber. Hopefully he would know that she wasn't going to yell at him too. No sense scaring a first year at the beginning of the school year. She'd probably scheme up a different initiation process for him later.

[Tobias Loxley]

The moments were like a blur to him as his heart leapt into his throat at the sound of being discovered. It was like a harpy’s voice screeching at him to get up, but his fear was also overwhelmed by the fact that the girl was lovely by comparison to her attitude. With his breath a flutter, he scurried and scrambled to rise to his feet he pressed his back against the wall while his eyes darted from girl to girl. “Sp-spying? No, no! Just exploring. I didn’t mean to intrude on your conversation about charities.”

When the other girl chimed in, he gave a small smile in a plead for mercy, “Thank you, I didn’t mean any harm, honest!” Toby had been surrounded by English and European accents of all sorts. His must have seemed so boring by comparison. Perhaps that was why he was so easily captivated by everyone. Their foreign appeal was unlike any other. So far he enjoyed the Gryffindor more than the other girl but both were like goddesses in his eyes. Was the prerequisite to attend Hogwarts as a girl meant that you had to be drop-dead gorgeous?

He kept his glance cautiously at Amber. For some reason he had this feeling that she either verbally bitch-slap him again or kick him in the shins just for laughs.

[Amber Vaughn]

<sub>By now Amber's anger had compounded into a cold rage and she clenched fists at her sides, eyes narrowed, and very nearly gave into the urge to draw wand and hex either the bitchy Gryffindor or silence this waif of a Hufflepuff. She couldn't decide and by the time she could, she'd caught ahold of her own temper and moved on. "Get out of my way." she hissed as she stormed passed the Hufflepuff and out of the kitchen door. She'd left her bowl behind: if it had been in her hand, she probably would have thrown in. Instead her robes billowed out around her as she stormed down an extra flight of stairs to the dungeons and the Slytherin common room.

Filthy mudblood. The boy probably was too. Most purebloods were sorted in Slytherin: the house that would be the only hope for the wizards. Princess Head Girl wanted to try and deny it. Only the families with records spanning millennia could see the decrease. The greatest wizards and witches of this age could not compare to those of past era. The wizards were on a downward spiral of their own destruction, and it was the fault of the muggles who thinned the blood. Damn that girl for not understanding. Damn them all for destroying the race like this. They were the one true people, after all.

Amber collapsed onto one of the leather couches in the common room and groaned. She felt like crying or screaming, and being indecisive about it, chose both. She threw a fit and some light furniture before she decided to head into her room and sleep some. She'd tell Nikole about this in the morning, and they could come up with a plan together. Hopefully.</sub>

[Charisma Carter]

Charisma attempted to hide a grin as the boy fumbled around for an excuse as to why he was down here. He reminded Riss of herself as a first year; she was also caught in situations like this one rather often in her younger years. It was all thanks to her ability to stick her nose wherever it didn't belong. Her curiosity was going to be the end of her. But because of it, she was also able to sympathize with the Hufflepuff and so she wasn't about to subtract house points. Not that she would have anyway... it wasn't in her nature to be that cruel. At least not to the undeserving.

"Don't worry about, kid." she told him with a dismissive wave of her hand as Amber left the Kitchens. Riss wasn't at all sad to see her go. She was glad that their arguement had remained strictly words and not spells or anything, as sometimes it seemed it would escalate to that. If there were jinxes involved, she'd have another subject to explain to Professors should they have gotten caught. Then again, they probably wouldn't have.

"You hungry?" she asked, changing the subject. "Or was your trip to the kitchens completely unintentional, Mr..." her voice trailed off as she noticed she hadn't asked his name yet. Hopefully he'd catch on and give it before she had to awkwardly ask what it was.

[Matilda Weasley]

Matilda skipped down the hallway, her dark brown hair fluttering behind her. It was nearly one o'clock in the morning and the snoring of her dorm mates had began to annoy her. That was the reason the little first year was out of her dorm long after the time she should have been asleep. That and she had skipped dinner to go into the library for a little bit of studying. She grinned coming to the painting of fruit and raised her hand, and her grin faulted.

What was I supposed to do again?

She ran her fingers along each fruit, knowing that you had to do something like that, and the painting swung open. Shrugging, Matilda walked in and went over to the refridgerator. Suddenly she heard voices and froze, slowly turning to where she heard the voices. Unconciously pulling down on her light blue pajama top she used her other hand to grab her wand from behind her ear. "Darn it!" She whispered and walked quicly to the corner, attempting to see who the owner of the voices were. Popping her head around the corner, she let out a sigh of relief.

"Charisma?" Matilda smiled walking over to the girl. The only knew the older girl because they were in the same house and she was the head girl. "What are you doing down here?" She replaced her wand to its spot behind her ear, as she no longer needed the wand.