A Midnight Chat

[Eamon Tulloch]

It was close to midnight when Eamon managed to sneak out of the Gryffindor common room without someone trying to stop him from doing so. He'd been unable to fall asleep once the other boys in the dormitory fell silent, as he was too curious to know what was going on in the castle at night. He had seen a couple of ghosts floating around earlier that evening so wondered if they would still be here somewhere or if they had their own sleeping chambers they would reside in once the students were asleep in their warm beds. As he made his way down the corridors - Eamon figured that going up wouldn't be as interesting as going down since he was already pretty high up in the castle - the young Gryffindor stopped to look around because he could have sworn he heard footsteps behind him. "You better come out now before I'll hex you with a spell" the boy said with a thick Scottish accent, his wand at the ready so it would not look like he was bluffing at all.

 

[Lavinia Benivieni]

Lavinia had been too excited and energetic to sleep as early as some of her dormmates. She wanted to explore and walk around, get used to the castle a little before lessons started. She was walking up the stairs - did they always have to move?! She gave up after a few minutes, deciding that maybe at this time of day it was better to see what was in the lower levels. She turned back around and started to move towards the direction that she came from. Just as she spotted another student, Lavinia about to greet them and maybe befriend them, the person stopped in their tracks and Lavinia frowned at the boy's remark. This was going to be interesting. She smiled thinly at him, before replying, "What, a person can't explore the castle when she wants to?" She folded her arms, raising an eyebrow. She hoped not all of the first years were going to greet her in such a way at first glance.

 

[Eamon Tulloch]

Eamon lowered his wand and smiled apologetically at the girl. He did not mean to be rude to her, though it seemed like his bluffing had come across as just that. He vaguely recognised the girl from the sorting ceremony hours ago, she'd been one of the first to take a seat on the three-legged stool. ''I'm sorry,'' the young Gryffindor said, putting his wand back into his back pocket. ''Didn't think I'd run into another student so late at night.'' He should have known that other first years would try to sneak out of their common rooms and explore the castle whilst everyone else was sleeping as well, if he had come up with it then others would've too. ''Glad that it turned out to be you, though, imagine the trouble I'd get myself in if you were a Professor instead,'' Eamon said with a chuckle, tapping his back pocket. He did not think that the teachers at Hogwarts would take kindly to threats, not even from a first year.

 

[Lavinia Benivieni]

Lavinia was satisfied when the boy didn't seem to have anything against her in particular so she smiled back at him, shrugging. "Most people would probably be sleeping, except for us two. I just want to get to know the castle before everyone else wakes up. It's not as busy at night as it is when people are moving all the time during the day." She had no idea why she'd said all of that - okay, maybe she did have some idea. She nodded again at his next words. "Same," she agreed. "It wouldn't be as much fun getting caught now, on the first day exploring. Um, you're in Gryffindor, right?" Maybe he had seen her cousin Leo as he was a prefect and Lavinia was vaguely curious about this.

 

[Eamon Tulloch]

Eamon nodded in agreement. He didn't want to be late to his first class just because he couldn't find the classroom so seemed like a good idea to get to know his way around the castle before classes would start tomorrow morning. The Gryffindor did not want to know what was going to happen to him if he turned up at class half an hour too late. ''I bet every year students get out of bed to explore the castle on their first night, and I cannot blame them. How are we ever supposed to know what everything is, this place is huge,'' Eamon said. He nodded again when she guessed his house and smiled, ''Aye, I am.'' Eamon was the first in his family to be sorted into Gryffindor house so was curious to know what kind of things the sorting hat saw when it was placed upon his head. Perhaps someday he would find out as to why the hat had placed him there, but for now, he was just glad that it had put him in one of the four houses.

 

[Lavinia Benivieni]

It was a relief to Lavinia that the boy seemed to agree with her. It was nice to meet friendly people and if she wanted to start her journey here it was better to do so by meeting new friends sooner rather than later. If classes were to start soon, then she could know the important areas of the castle before they did, without needing to ask around for much help. And upsetting those older than her during her first week of the semester didn't seem right - like the professors, for example. "First years you mean, or every year in general? I've been told I have a lot of energy so exploring seems like a good idea to me," she shrugged, a soft smile on her features. "This place is indeed enormous. I'm sure we'll get through all floors at some point though," she chuckled.

Lavinia was quite determined to find her way around without getting lost by the time her seventh year came. Despite the staircases that changed and led to different areas of Hogwarts all the time. Lavinia's eyes brightened when she guessed his house. "I'm in Hufflepuff. My cousin's in Gryffindor, he's a prefect though. I have another cousin in my house...and more cousins." She paused. "I just have a lot of family members." Which was true. It was sometimes hard for Lavinia to keep track of how many people were part of her family tree. She knew that at least one member from her family had been sorted into each house. "I'm Lavinia by the way, what's your name?"

 

[Eamon Tulloch]

Eamon thought that it was funny that they were talking about students roaming around the castle at night while they were doing the exact same thing and for the same reason too it seemed. ''I bet we aren't the only ones out of bed right now,'' the Gryffindor commented. He chuckled at the girl's comment about getting through all floors eventually and said, ''Probably when we are in our final year.'' Eamon wondered if they would ever get through all of the castle since it was so big that it probably had corridors that not many had walked through before. ''What do you think is so dangerous that we cannot go in the forbidden forest?'' the young boy then asked the other first year in front of him. It had been on his mind the whole evening - perhaps she would want to join him in going inside of the forest soon.

He smiled when she mentioned that her cousin was in Gryffindor too and that he was a Prefect. ''Is he? Do you think he would turn the two of us in if he saw us standing here?'' Eamon asked, immediately asking the question that popped into his mind. He grinned when she said that she had a lot of family members and nodded his head. The Gryffindor had quite the amount of family members as well though doubted that they were very happy with him and his cousin at the moment since both had decided to go the New Zealand rather than stay in Scotland. ''Both my cousin and I got sorted today but he got Ravenclaw,'' the boy told her. He smiled once more when the girl introduced herself as Lavinia and said, ''Eamon, my name's Eamon.''

this is a mess, i apologise

 

[Lavinia Benivieni]

I am so sorry for the delay! Also sorry about the length getting longer each time

---

Lavinia chuckled as she thought over what the boy was saying. "Yeah, I think other people have the same idea. I wouldn't blame them," she responded, forgetting for a moment what parts of the castle the Hufflepuff had had in mind to explore tonight. She was having a good time anyway, and she figured making a friend now meant she could go on adventures with him later in the year. "There are seven floors, if I'm not mistaken," she furrowed her eyebrows, trying to remember. "Excluding the top floor with the towers and the lowest floor where the kitchen is," she added as an afterthought. Getting through the entire castle seemed quite a goal and Lavinia wasn't going to stop exploring until she was satisfied. She doubted, in her young mind, that she would ever get tired of finding out what secrets the castle held.

When the Gryffindor asked her a question about the forbidden forest, she shrugged. "I think some type of creatures. My cousin told me that it's because it's too dangerous for us to defend ourselves from what's in there, or whatever, but honestly forbidding students to go there only makes them want to go to the forest more. I would." She paused, glancing at her new friend. "Not telling us what we need to be protected from is a little shady," she commented. "It doesn't do in my opinion not to tell people why they shouldn't go there. If it's dangerous then I would certainly like to know why."

Lavinia snorted at her new acquaintance's question about her cousin. "Oh, Leo? Probably not. He was just as much of a troublemaker as the next first year." Wait, that didn't make much sense - if he had been, he must have been a pretty good one at hiding the mischief he was up to, since he was Prefect. But maybe he had let go of the old habits before his fourth year. "That's cool, who's your cousin?" Lavinia asked, interested. She didn't have cousins her own age that she was close to, the closest one to her age was Athena. "That's a pretty cool name," she announced, extending her hand for Eamon to shake.

 

[Eamon Tulloch]

He grinned and said, ''You'd think the corridors would be packed with Professors patrolling them, right?'' If Lavinia and he weren't the only ones out of their beds at the moment then perhaps they were just lucky that they hadn't been found yet. ''And you think we'll have time to explore all seven floors?'' he asked Lavinia. It was going to take them a while if she did want to go through every corridor in the castle but he couldn't blame her for wanting to do so as he too was curious to find whatever secrets the castle held, even if it was going to take all seven years. ''Do students have access to the kitchens?'' Eamon than asked the Hufflepuff when she mentioned them. ''It would be nice to know that we can pick up a snack before going off to bed.'' It had become sort of his thing to eat and drink something right before going to bed which his parents did not approve of because they kept repeating that it was bad for you to eat before you'd sleep.

He listened carefully when she answered his question about the forbidden forest and widened his eyes when she said something about creatures living in the forest. The thing Eamon didn't understand was why the Headmistress would harbour these supposedly dangerous creatures in the woodlands when it was so easily accessible for students since he didn't think that there would be a Professor keeping guard of the entrance all day and night. He nodded his head in agreement because there he stood wanting to go to the forbidden forest whilst the two of them were talking to each other. He smirked at Lavinia and said, ''Want to go there right now?'' curious to see what type of creature lived in the forest that made it forbidden territory for them.

''So that one less Prefect we have to worry about,'' Eamon commented with a grin. If he would befriend all of the Prefects then perhaps walking around at night was going to be even easier for him and his friends. ''Arcturus,'' the Gryffindor replied. ''I hope he doesn't mind that we weren't placed in the same houses, I know that he was really looking forward to all this,'' he said. He really hoped that his cousin would not have much of a problem with being separated again since that had been the whole reason why his cousin had chosen this school rather than in Scotland with his sisters. Eamon smiled at the compliment she made and shook her hand.

 

[Lavinia Benivieni]

She nodded, finally someone was agreeing with her on this! "Yeah exactly. This castle is so big you would think there would be at least half the staff patrolling at night," she rolled her eyes, with no malice intended. "Still, I wouldn't want my adventures to be interrupted by authority figures," she said, shrugging. "Cause where would the fun be in that?" The first year giggled at Eamon, of course she didn't mean all of these floors in one go. "No silly, I mean yes I do, but not all of them right now." They would definitely be staying up all night if they did such a thing and Lavinia doubted they would be able to explore them in one night anyway. "Yeah, I think so. I don't know if we are allowed to go, though. Are you hungry?" she asked, a little giddily, with a mischievous look in her eye.

Lavinia was satisfied enough with Eamon‘s reaction to her comment on the creatures in the forbidden forest, simply because it mirrored her own when she was told. At his question, she grinned. "If you are up for it, why not?" The girl never backed down from a challenge, if this was one, and it was a bonus because it meant she would have another area to add onto her list of places she explored in her first year. It was worth the risk of getting caught. When Eamon mentioned Leo was one less prefect to worry about, she nodded dismissively. "Yep," she agreed easily, popping the ‘p‘. "I mean, who can resist this face," she joked, indicating to herself. "Is Arcturus enjoying being here, in Ravenclaw? He should come adventuring with us!" When Lavinia had been sorted into Hufflepuff, all she thought about was the fact that she would be able to distinguish herself easily from her cousins. It was a close call, and she was glad she hadn't been sorted into Slytherin simply for that reason.