A Little After Hours

[Jessica Reed]

Jessica clasped her lit wand tightly as she made her way up the rocky cliffs. Overall she was glad to be back at Hogwarts, she got to see her friends again, well friend again. She got to practice magic again! But there was still a part of her that wanted to be back home. So much things were happening at home that she was missing out on. Matthew had already finished up at the recording studio by the time school had finished and while she was happy for him she felt a little bitter about the whole thing. When they were children, her and Matthew discussed each others future late at night. Every night. Jessica had always said she wanted to be there while he made the first step in becoming famous. It was something they both agreed on, now that Jess thought about it. Matthew was probably to busy to remember she thought in anguish.

The light from Jessica's wand and the small flickers of light from the spackled stars were the only things that disrupted the darkness that surrounded the entire castle. The whole of Hogwarts must have been asleep. Jessica climbed to the edge of the cliff and made sure to be cautious of the thin layer of frost covering the rocks. She perched herself on a large rock and stared out into the distance. The grounds were in complete silence except for the crashing waves against the cliffs and the odd distant sound from the Forbidden Forest, it must have been long past midnight at this stage. Jessica pulled her coat around her as a gust of icy wind brushed by her. She knew she would get in trouble if she was caught, but of all the times she was out this late last year, she was never caught. Why would this year be an exception?

 

[Miles Vanderwolf]

Being on night patrol duty sucked. All you did was wander around a spooky old school in the dark, by yourself, no less. Who knew what creepy ghosts, centaurs, or other dangerous beings could attack you? Actually, that all sounded rather fun to Miles, and he liked the idea of getting to be all ninja in the middle of the night. However, now that he'd actually experienced spending his night out in the cold, he wasn't so keen. Sure, he was wearing a coat, but it wasn't a very warm one. Miles was definitely a summer person, and just wanted to go sleep in his bed until the winter passed. Well the icy breeze had made him well and truly wide awake now, so there was no chance of that happening, unfortunately. Glancing at his watch, Miles noticed that his shift had ended. Since he wasn't tired yet, he decided to go chill out by the cliffs for a moment. The view from there was beautiful, as the stars seemed to glitter the bay's sky.

Miles spun his lit wand absentmindedly around his fingers, its light flickering across the track with every twirl. He hummed a made up tune, as he stepped into the clearing by the cliffs. He was about to stride closer to the edge, and sit himself on his favourite rock, when he spotted a young girl positioned there. Miles wasn't a very strict adult, so he didn't really care about curfews and such. God knows that he'd broken curfew more than most, so he definitely wouldn't be turning her in. She was just lucky that someone harsher hadn't come across her. Miles considered calling out to her, warning the girl that there was someone else on duty too, but he decided against it. She might get a fright and tumble off the cliff face, and that wouldn't exactly be a good thing. After all, what would he tell his boss? 'Yo headmaster, I played a trick on some girl and she fell off a cliff. Lololol.'

Anyway, he couldn't exactly turn back and let her stay on the edge of a cliff by herself. That would even more irresponsible. Deciding that it was safest to just walk up to the girl, his footsteps clearly audible, Miles did just that. He wasn't sneaking up on her at all, so unless she was really spaced out, she wouldn't be surprised when he appeared beside her and spoke. "Mind if I join you?" he smiled, sitting himself down on the rock near her without waiting for a reply. Drumming his hands on his knees, Miles looked out at the stars. Despite the light wind, there were no clouds in the sky tonight, so the stars were glowing quite brightly. "So do you often sit on cliff edges at.. 12:32am?" Miles continued, pausing slightly as he glanced at his watch for a second time.

 

[Jessica Reed]

During the silence, Jessica heard a set of footsteps and she automatically spun her head around. How ironic would it be if it was infact a professor (and it would probably be Styx, with her luck) who came to to turn her in. With her wand pointing at the source Jessica saw that it was some guy. Although he was too old to be a student. Jessica just simply stared at him as he sat down on a nearby rock. She was a little confused by him, if he was a member of staff, shouldn't he be turning her in by now? She didn't recognise him at all, prehaps he was new? But then again, Jessica rarely recognised faces. For all she knew, this guy could have been a long term member of staff.

Jessica slowly turned her gaze back to the ocean and with a small smile she said, "No, most nights its around 12:15." She ran her slender fingers up and down her wand before turning back to the man, "Is this a regular hobby for you too?" She asked with her usual montone voice, her American accent was thick as ever. She wondered why she hadn't already ran into him if this was in fact a hobby of his. Jess was out on the cliffs most nights and rarely would she see a single person up there. The odd time she might spot a passing ghost, but they stopped creeping her out a long time ago. In fact, these days, she almost enjoyed their presence.

 

[Miles Vanderwolf]

With one ear focused on the young girl, and the other on the quietly crashing waves, Miles nodded as she spoke. "What a rebel," he replied with a friendly smirk. He didn't say it in a sarcastic, mocking fashion, but more of just a lightly joking tone. He had a very dry sense of humour, and had already insulted two stuffy old professors with his smart-alec comments. Miles didn't mean any harm though, he was just very immature. Far too laid-back and flippant for his own good. That was probably why the older folks at Hogwarts didn't seem to like him too much. The kids, however, really enjoyed talking and joking with him in the library or whereever. A content smile on his face, Miles gazed out over the bay. It was a lovely night, so he was actually rather thankful for his inability to feel tired right now. Instead of sleeping, he was sitting on the cliffs, which he found rather peaceful and meditative. Miles turned his attention back to the girl, ceasing his moment of beginning to zone out. He listened as she asked a question in return, and shook his head lightly. While he did visit the cliffs on occasion, it wasn't a regular hang out spot for Miles.

"Not really, no. Usually I just play my guitar and talk to my turtle," he shrugged, not really serious at all. Miles actually had quite an active social life, but for the last few months he'd gone out less and less. He'd just gotten back from non-stop travelling the previous semester, so the couch was his favourite place at the moment. The two sat in silence for a few moments longer, as Miles pulled his jacket tighter around himself to shield from the breeze. Soon enough, the quietness began to transition from peaceful to awkward, so the young man spoke once more. "What part of the US are you from?" Miles asked in an attempt to start converation, in his own Floridian accent. He did miss America to an extent - mainly his family and friends from school - but at the same time, what he'd seen of New Zealand was beautiful, so he was more than willing to call it home. For now, at least. Miles always seemed to be moving, so it would surprise no one if he was living anywhere from Thailand to Tanzania within a year.

 

[Jessica Reed]

"That's me." She said as he called her a rebel, of course just playing along with it. She never thought herself as a rebel nor did she ever try to be a rebel. She was just herself. Jessica Reed. She never tried to be anybody else in her life. As he told her that he usually played his guitar and talked to his turtle, Jessica let out a short laugh, how random was that? "Not at the same, I suspect?" She said playfully and fully turned herself toward the man who seemed to be willing to converse with her for a while.

"Boston. You?" She asked simply, easily detecting his accent. Before he could answer however, Jessica interrupted with another question, "Who the hell are you by the way?" She didn't mean for it to come out as rude as it had but to be honest, she could easily be freaked out by a man who talked to his turtle who was now sitting next to her, talking about where she was from. But, being Jessica, she actually wasn't freaked out. Just curious.

 

[Miles Vanderwolf]

As the girl laughed at his comment about guitars and turtles, Miles couldn't help but laugh a bit too. Not because it was a particularly funny remark, but just because he found laughter to be infectious. Miles was a very young soul, so it wasn't uncommon for him to laugh at random things. "Oh, totally at the same time. I'm teaching her to play Smoke on the Water," he joked, thinking that that was an appropriate song to teach a turtle. She was a beginner after all, and wasn't that the song that every beginner started with?

Miles nodded when the girl mentioned Boston. He'd been there several times, and thought that it was a lovely city. About to open his mouth to reply with 'I guessed as much. I'm from Tampa,' the young girl interrupted with another question. Miles chuckled at her bluntness. Her question didn't surprise him at all, actually there wasn't much that did. Most people noticed that he was too old to be a student, yet not old enough to be a professor. The former Gryffindor seemed to be at an odd phase between teenager and adult. He believed that he would stay a teen forever, but nearing twenty, most of his friends were starting to grow up. His best friend at school was already engaged, for Pete's sake. Still, Miles refused to believe that he had to settle down at twenty. To him, that was ridiculous.

"Miles Vanderwolf. I'm kind of the librarian here, but just until I figure some stuff out. After that, I'm outta here," Miles replied honestly. He found no point in lying to be polite, or pretending that his job was incredibly enthralling. Well, it was decent pay for a pretty easy job.. but Miles' heart lay elsewhere. He was too lazy to pursue that right now, so instead he found himself just chilling in one place for once. Maybe he was growing up a little, instead of gallivanting around the world like he had for so long. Hogwarts was nice, so he was intent on enjoying his time here. How long that would be, however, remained to be seen. "And yourself?" Miles asked in return, unable to pick how old the girl was in the dim light. She's obviously an older student, though, he thought.