Cozy Corner Near The Fireplace

[Zachery Evans]

Zachery had spent the past few days alone, reading one of his many books and wandering around the castle when he had a free period. Term had started a month ago and Zachery felt the weather getting a bit warmer, which was a good thing for him because he liked being outside whenever he could. So, instead of wearing his blue jacket, the teen walked around in a black t-shirt with the Gryffindor crest on it. Zachery decided to wander around the school again, the castle still amazed him every once in awhile, the boy sometimes forgot how big it actually was and how easy it was to get lost, even though he had been here for six years now. With his shoulder-bag hanging on his right shoulder he walked out of the Gryffindor common room and out of the seventh floor corridor.

The teen stood still in the grand staircase, thinking about where he should go next. The seventh floor was, obviously, not an option since he just walked out of there, although he wouldn't have to walk all the way up again if he stayed there. Another option that had been crossed was going to the lower levels of the castle, Zach never really felt comfortable when walking in those parts of Hogwarts. The boy then decided walking to the student lounge, instead of wandering around, and just chill there for a bit. If he wasn't spending all of his time outside, he was usually reading one of his books there, or making homework. Zachery started walking again and when he arrived at the lounge, the boy took place on one of the armchairs near the fireplace.

 

[Victoire Fontaine]

Victoire had been busy, her life surrounding the OWLs was just busy. She was jumping from place to place, trying to keep on top of her classes and then also her prefect duties. It wasn't overly hard for her to do this, the girl liked all the different aspects of what her life was made up of, but it was tricky. She was dealing with it all, pretty well she believed, but then again, not all of it was perfect. She was trying her best, but the article in the Hogwarts Monthly had really thrown her in a loop, she liked Jean, she wasn't sure how much she liked him, her crush on his seemed to have faded, but did he like her? In that way? After everything that had happened she was just confused and she felt like she really needed to talk to him about it, but Victoire really didn't want to. It would be the right thing to do in this situation, but it wasn't what she actually wanted. Things with Jean had always been simple, or well, her idea of simple, they spent time together and talked in french and it was just nice, but that article, everything, just made things difficult.

For this reason, Victoire was avoiding the Gryffindor common room just a little, she had taken most of her books, and left the common room in a hurry. Her blonde hair, tucked behind her ears, and a faint amount of make-up applied to her face. She wondered about grabbing Theo and sitting with him for a little while, but as she walked through the halls, she knew that sitting with her brother would really bring her no joy. She loved him, like she loved all her siblings, but not right now, she didn't want that right now. Sighing slightly, the teen realised she'd reached the student lounge and she took one look at the warm fireplace and decided she was where she needed to be. She wandered close to it, and then placed her books on a spare, empty armchair and then stood in front of the fire with her arms out, taking in the sweet warmth, block the light and the heat, she glanced around and her blue eyes settled on the boy who was sat reading, she smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry, didn't mean to block your heat or light, didn't even see you there," she admitted with a shrug, she knew him, slightly, he was a gryffindor like herself, and was he not also on the team? She didn't know, "I'm Victoire," she introduced, still stood in front of the fire, just loving the warmth and the glow of it.
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Hope you don't mind me joining!

 

[Zachery Evans]

After a few minutes of enjoying the warmth of the fireplace Zachery opened his schoulder-bag and grabbed his copy of The Beaters' Bible. Ever since the boy got to play as a beater on the Gryffindor quidditch team he wanted to learn more about this position, of course Zach already knew a lot about this position and quidditch, but felt like there were still some things that he didn't know about. He turned a page that was all about one rule and one rule in particulary; take out the seeker of the opposing team. Zachery read the page carefully, wishing he wouldn't overlook something as he did so. The book talked about being aware of the location of the referee before you were going to strike, and where to hit the seeker when you had the chance to hit a bludger towards him or her. It talked about all sorts of ways to distract the referee. A smile appeared on his face after reading this page, it was all very interesting to read, but doubted that some of the things the book said wouldn't even work in this quidditch tournament, and would only get him trouble. The teen was about to turn the page when his light got blocked by something, and looked up to see what it was that wa blocking it. In front of him, and the fireplace, stood a girl. Probably ejoying the warmth too. ''Oh, it's okay.'' the Gryffindor said with a smile on his face. ''Yeah, I know you, you're our Prefect, right? My name is Zachery, nice to meet you I guess.'' Zach wasn't sure if the 'nice to meet you' was needed, but he had never really talked to her.

sorry this took so long.

 

[Victoire Fontaine]

Victoire had been stood in front of the fire light, not noticing the person behind her till she had looked round and seen him there. She knew that he was a gryffindor, but she hadn't seen him much before now, which she wasn't sure was her fault or if it was his. Victoire had always tried to be fairly social, but she didn't always get to meet everyone, as much as the school wasn't particularly large, it was too big for that to be able to happen, but as she looked at him, she thought he was actually a little cute. Her current feelings were a little all over the place, she didn't know how she felt about anyone any more and she couldn't help but think this boy was cute. He replied, telling her it was okay, and then she took that time to move away slightly as she had introduced herself to him, just so that she wasn't standing right in front of the warm fire and so they could both enjoy all it had to offer them. Being a prefect apparently really did mean that people knew who you were a little more, she hadn't even really thought he would know her, but when he asked if she was the prefect the girl nodded with a small smile, she was indeed, "Yeah, a new prefect," she told him, not sure why she had needed to inform him that she was a new prefect, but she had, "Nice to meet you too Zachery," she added sitting down on the chair and just looking between him and the fire, "The first years are a bit full on the first few weeks aren't they," she said, obviously referencing how they'd both found themselves in the student lounge rather than the common room.
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[Zachery Evans]

''Tell me about it,'' the boy said with a sigh, ''Makes me wonder if I was like that in my first year.'' Zachery closed his book and put it on the table next to armchair he sat in. ''But as long as they behave well and we don't lose any house points because of them, I'm perfectly ok with the fact that the first years are acting like hyperactive dogs.'' A smile appeared on his face while the boy was talking about the new Gryffindor students, he hadn't talked with any of the first years yet, but heard all about their little adventures. Zachery had to admit to himself that he was feeling a bit jealous. He also wanted to go on adventures at night again, or even during break when going at midnight wasn't a possibility, unless he would bump into professor Pendleton again instead of another professor and have a nice, little chat about history like last time.

 

[Victoire Fontaine]

Victoire knew her first year had been nothing like that, she had always been a studious sort of student which didn't really mean that she'd been out too much running around losing points. It wasn't too much of a big deal to be honest, she didn't find it to be so, but the girl knew that to some it might seem a little strange, "True, as long as we don't lose too many points it's all fine," She agreed with him with a small smile at him, "I know I wasn't like that in first year, I was much more interested in books than anything else," she admitted with a shrug, as a muggleborn coming into the school it had only made sense for her to really fall for the books about this place and her classes, and it helped that she'd always enjoyed reading and found it to be the best sort of thing even before this place. She couldn't really imagine getting into trouble and she couldn't believe what some of the students were doing, "There is nothing against older students doing things against the rules, I mean at this point we're less likely to actually be caught," the teen said with a shrug, "We aren't going to be careless," she knew that she wasn't about to start breaking the rules or things like that, as a prefect she couldn't really, but it would definitely be easier for an older student to sneak around than their younger counterparts.
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[Zachery Evans]

Zachery agreed with her and nodded. "Almost makes me want to sneak out at night myself," Although it probably wouldn't be smartest thing to do, sneaking out at night, he had to admit that all of the excitement the first years had made him feel a bit more excited, too. "It's been a while since I've seen the castle at night," In the first few weeks of his first year Zachery got homesick and wasn't able to fall asleep at some nights, so instead of being a good student and stay inside the common room, the young Gryffindor decided to explore the castle at night. "But of course since the first years have made a habit out of sneaking out of the common room at night, I'd bet you that professors are patrolling on the seventh floor corridor." Zachery straightened and enjoyed the warm air coming from the fire in the fireplace.

 

[Victoire Fontaine]

Victoire sat beside the boy, Zachery with a smile curling up slightly on to the sofa, sitting on her legs and leaning into the comfort and warmth, allowing the warmth and the easy glow of the fire to bask over her. She smiled at him, "I don't make much of a habit of it, since you know, I'm a prefect," she told him, but admittedly she knew that in the winter it wasn't as hard to see the castle at night, since it got darker earlier, she just knew that he meant after curfew and she couldn't help but agree with what he was saying, the first years seemed particularly hell bent on bending and breaking the rules, "I bet they do, this lot seem so much worse than I remember any other lot being," she said to him with a small smile, feeling happy to just sit with someone, and possibly a new friend, "If I see you sneaking out, I won't tell anyone, don't you worry," she told him smiling at him, while maybe not a good move on the part of the prefect she didn't mind too much about it at all.
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[Zachery Evans]

''Would you have? I mean, if you weren't a prefect.'' Zachery asked her. ''Have you ever seen the castle at night? It's bloody beautiful. It is also very peaceful. No students roaming around, not much noises, either. I used to go out, you know, after curfew, couldn't really sleep in my first weeks here, so decided to sneak out when everybody was fast asleep. Except for the professors of course. I always checked corridors twice before wandering around, kind of miss the excitement. Though it did help me, you know, sneaking around, didn't feel homesick anymore when the third week ended.'' He smiled at her. Zachery began to feel a bit more comfortable around Victoire after the words he just said. Unlike other prefects the Gryffindor had met, this one seemed actually nice. ''Thanks,'' He said while laughing. ''That's a real comfort.'' Even though Zachery did not know her that well before this conversation, something told him that he could considered himself lucky if he could call Victoire one of the few friends he had made during his six years at Hogwarts

 

[Victoire Fontaine]

Victoire thought about what he said about the school at night, she hadn't seen the school much at night and definitely not in a long time, the most she saw it at night was during these patrols lately she just wasn't the type of person who was like that, she didn't go venturing out of the dorm, she stayed behind her books did her duties never once really broke the rules, not because she didn't want to go out at certain times or because she wanted to certain things but she was a muggleborn in this world and half of her mind did think that she would be punished more harshly because of her blood. She just listened to him speaking, and smiled at him, knowing the feeling of missing home and seeking comfort in certain things, she could definitely say that she did that in the French she spoke with Jean, in her old french and flemish books which were of no use here.

The teen just smiled, "That's really nicely put, I don't admittedly go out much at night, I did during the younger years but not so much any more. I want to watch the sunrise from the top of the school, but I don't want to get into trouble," she admitted a little shyly, "I get what you mean, doing something to make you feel less homesick, when I get homesick I just switch back to my language and read in that, it's just a little thing which reminds me of home," she told him, "Jean speaks french too, we end up just talking to each other in French and this really helps me if I'm feeling homesick," she wasn't sure of it Zach would know who that was but since they were all gryffindors she had to assume they might know each other. As she assured him she wouldn't tell the girl just shrugged at him, "Of course, I really don't think I could be the one to ruin your enjoyment of this school at night, just promise you won't tell anyone that I knew about it and we're square,"
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