Hungry (OPEN)

It was way past midnight and Lora couldn't get any sleep. She didn't have any proper dinner either, so she made her way to the kitchens.

"What would you like, Miss Lora?" Her favourite house elf, Cutie asked her.

"A slice of strawberry cheesecake, please." She replied with a smile and chuckled quietly to herself as Cutie scurried off to get her dish.

She sat at one of the tables and wondered if she was the only one with slight insomnia.

Roman was in the hallway just outside the kitchens, practicing. One of the ghosts was a master swordsman, and he was extremely willing to have a student.

So far, Roman had lost a hand, and Sir Brodinski was supposed to have lost his leg, but Roman caught him free-floating every once and awhile.

They had been fighting for a solid ten minutes, and Roman was beginning to feel the sword getting gradually heavier as his arm weakened. Eventually, he felt the unmistakeable chilling feeling in his chest that signalled that Sir Brodinski's sword had "killed" him.

"Thank you, Sir," he said, "You are the best partner I've had in a long time."
Roman turned to leave, but was stopped when he heard a voice in the kitchen that was definitely not elven. He quietly opened the door.

Lora towards the sound of the door opening and saw a boy who seemed to be younger than her. "Oh hey there!" She called out to him and waved an arm.

"Here you go Miss," The house elf came along with her cheesecake.

"Thanks Cutie." She grinned and took a spoon from the nearby stand.

She once again turned towards the boy. "You coming in or what?"

Roman made sure there was no one else outside and closed the door.

He walked up to the girl, "What are you doing here? It is very late, you know."

He had never really had much experience with trouble-making, but he seemed to be doing it more and more now. Even tonight, when he was well within the rules, he was terrified that he would get into trouble.

"I couldn't sleep. I think it's insomnia, though I keep getting nightmares." Lora admitted. "That and the fact I happen to enjoy midnight trips into the kitchens." She told with a grin. "Besides, I didn't eat any proper dinner."

"What about you? First time I'm seeing a first year or second year in the kitchens." She stated with an amused smile. "Well, first time ever since I've been coming here that is."

"Ah, so you are a night owl, too?" he said.

He yawned, "Alright, maybe I'm not. But I am taking private lessons from a ghost, and they have strange waking hours."

He looked at the cheese cake in her hands, "So how does all that sugar help you get to bed?"

"You could say that," Lora replied and shrugged. "Like I said, I've been having nightmares for a couple of weeks now and it's the same one every time I close my eyes." She sighed. "But thankfully, I have been able to stay awake in classes."

"Wow, nice! That sure must be fun!" Lora exclaimed. "What sort of lessons are you taking?"

She looked at the cake and started laughing. "This thing doesn't help me to go to bed, it just kinda makes my hyper I think." She grinned at him. "And I need some sort of dessert at least once in a week." She smiled sheepishly.

Anya was positively livid with herself. She had told herself that she could only have an hour of sleep after class before having to start on her homework. But that didn't happen, instead, she slept the entire afternoon and when she woke up, it had been two hours after dinner.

She headed to the kitchens, despite the fact that it was after hours. She didn't care. She was a hungry, hormonal teenager and the fact that she had to pull an all-nighter to finish her homework wasn't helping her mood. It wasn't that her essays were due the following day, they were actually due in the following weeks. She just wanted to get a head start so she didn't have to worry about them at last minute.

As she opened the kitchen doors, her eyes widened in surprise because there were two more people there. Two people she recognized.

"Oh," she said softly. "Hey guys."

She asked a house elf that had approached her for a large amount chocolate chunk cookie dough ice cream before she joined Lora and Roman at the table.

Lora turned towards the sound and grinned when she saw her one of her best friends. "Hey Anya!" She greeted with a hug. "Can't sleep or late night homework?" She asked with a knowing smile.

"Want to try my cheesecake? 'Cause I really want to try your icecream." She told with an innocent look and laughed.

There is one true flaw to sleep walking that Faye always hated - waking up and having no idea where she was.

Some nights she just walked about and landed back in her bed, but tonight she wasn't so lucky.

She blinked about her tiredly, identifying that she was - thankfully - still in the school, but cursing every damn hallway for looking the ruddy same.

Sighing, and just about deciding that she was going to have to wander until she found something familar she heard voices behind a door.

She bit her lip as she approached it, trying to get over the usual problem of not wanting to talk to people. But really, this was more important than all that. Her flimsy little night gown, although expensive and cute, really didn't do much against the drafty Durmstrang halls.

Sighing she pushed open the door and was surprised to find not one but a bunch of people, most of whom she knew, "Oh - Hello..."

"Homework," Anya groaned. "I just wish I was like other students who rather like to do it last minute and still get amazing grades. I don't understand why I can't do that."

Anya looked towards Lora's cheese cake and shrugged, "Sure, why not?" She said as pushed over her bowl of ice cream towards her and took a bite full of her dessert. "This is pretty decent."

Her head suddenly turned to face Faye, the girl she had helped in the hidden passage way and smiled at her, "Hey! I hope you're not lost. Come join us!"

Faye smiled slightly and slipped inside, not really sure what else she could do, "Not anymore thank you."

She looked around the room bashfully for a moment, before nervously pushing a strained of hair behind her ear, and stepping a little bit closer.

"This seems to be the place to be tonight," she gave a small little smirk trying out her half attempt at a joke.

Roman watched as the two girls walked into the room, and was surprised to see that he recognized both of them.

He smiled at Anya's comment, "Tell me about it. It's a nasty habit, getting work done early, no? Maybe it's a Hrabrost thing."

Roman was exhausted from his lesson, and the late night exercise made his stomach flip at the thought of ice cream and cheesecake, "I can't believe you can stomach this stuff at this time of night. All I can handle right now is water." He had barely said this before a house elf walked up to him with a tray of ice water, "Danke," he thanked the elf.

Then he turned to Faye, "I think it's a little cold for attire like that, is it not?" he said, looking at her outfit.

Faye looked down at herself, almost having forgotten what she had on. She felt her face heat up. It was in no way revealing, but it was still probably less than she had ever worn in front of anyone.

"A little," she admitted shivering as the suggestion of cold made her so. "I did not plan to be walking tonight."

Anya nodded at Roman, "Probably, but I wish someone please teach me how to procrastinate just a little!"

"Well, we need to stay up! Besides, I skipped dinner and if I order something that's food food, it's going to take longer," she replied when Roman spoke about the sugar overload she and Lora were having.

"Glad you're not lost," Anya smiled and laughed lightly at Faye's joke. "The place to be if you're drowned homework, that's for sure."

She then finally took noticed the thin nightgown Faye had on and her eyes widened in shock, "You must be freezing!" She then instructed one of the house elf's to bring a warm coat for Faye. The elf, Buckie, then came over and handed the coat shyly to Faye before he scurried off with the other elfs.

"Faye, you're here!" Lora shouted with a grin. "Yeah, this definitely seems to be the place." She replied. "Hope you're feeling warmer now." She said, as the elf gave the coat to the Slushatel.

"It's because you are one of those organized people who won't get peace within themselves unless they finish everything before hand." She told Anya with a laugh. "Also, you're essays won't turn out if you do it last minute, unlike the other students." She added, a grin on her face.

"I find sugar to be an excellent comfort whenever I get my nightmares." Lora admitted with a sigh. "It doesn't help in my sleep all the time, but it does make me feel better somehow." She shrugged.

Faye took the coat from the elf greatfully, wrapping it around herself and snuggling into its warmth.

"Thank you," she said, "Hello Lora."

She bit her lip as she looked around once more, "So... what is everyone doing here?"

"Thanks Lora, but I would really like to be disorganized at least one day in my life," she said with a frown. "Teach me how to procrastinate and I'll be forever in your debt! I mean... if you can and if you're a procrastinator. I just, what's the point of doing an essay two weeks from when it's done? Why can't I do it the week before at least."

"Nightmares?" Anya asked with a raised eyebrow, "You and I are going to have a little talk later."

"Well, to make things short, I spend the entire afternoon asleep when I was supposed to do homework, skipped dinner because of being asleep and I had to come get some sugar in me so I can pull an all nighter. How about you?" She then asked Faye.

"Yes! I would love to teach you on mastering the art of procrastination." Lora replied in a profession voice, trying her best not to laugh. "I'm not much of a procrastinator, but compared to you, I am." She told and grinned at Anya.

"Why? They're just nightmares. Most probably it'll go off after while." She shrugged. Truthfully, it bothered her. A lot. But she didn't feel like dumping the problems on her friends. They probably had plenty to deal on their own.

She couldn't help but laugh at Anya's comment. "Wow, nice routine." She teased her friend.

"Oh," Faye nodded and fiddled with the end of her coat. She felt lost in the long conversations.

"I sleep walk somethimes," she muttered quietly. "And this time I just ended up out there."