Snack Time

[Belladonna Metzger]

Belladonna Metzger carefully peered her way into the kitchen and scanned the layout quickly. A small grin rose to her lips when she discovered that there was no one inside who would possibly cause her grief for being in here so late. It wasn't that late, there was still some time before students needed to be in bed, but it was past dinner time. Belladonna had accidentally napped through dinner, and when she awoke she was practically starving. There was no way she was going to be able to sleep being this hungry, so Belladonna opted to see if she could go down to the kitchen and get something to soothe her stomach. If she couldn't find anything to eat, it was likely to be a long night for her. A few of the house elves looked startled when they saw her enter, to which she uttered a soft apology for. They must not have been used to seeing students entering the kitchen this late. The fact that she looked so long, and her face so soft and sweet looking must have alerted them that she was no trouble, because they quickly got back to work. Belladonna felt bad, hopefully she wasn't going to get in their way by asking if she could have something to eat. After a little bit of time, Belladonna managed to get herself some food, and she practically swallowed it whole too. Never again was she going to nap during dinner.

Belladonna thanked the elves and remain remained in the kitchen a little while longer. Bed time was nearing quickly, but now her stomach was far too full for her to try moving right now. "It'd be cool to be sloth. Or a cat. They both get to take things easy and they love to nap. I love to nap too...maybe a bit too much though." Belladonna never fell asleep in class, but she when she did decide to take one of her naps, boy did she sleep. Practically numerous hours at a time, just like a cat often did. The problem was that Belladonna did a lot during the day. There were classes, Quidditch, clubs, and even friends. Never did she think that she was going to be this busy all of the time. At home she mostly helped her dad out, watched some Quidditch, and hung out in her room when her dad wouldn't let her go shopping. Life was easy back home, and Belladonna sort of missed it. It was more exciting at Hogwarts, but at least she didn't get bullied at home. The sound of footsteps alerted the blonde, and she instantly turned to look at the doorway that led to the kitchen. ​

 

[Persephone Zografos]

Persephone tip-toed her way down the five flights of stairs, hoping no one would question a First Year being out so close to curfew, but she was in desperate need of a snack. Despite the fact that she ate dinner nearly two hours ago, she was craving something sweet and chocolatey. And tea, always tea. Right now she wanted a cup of Lady Grey, her current favorite. It was citrusy, light, and comforting. And it always goes well with snack time. Rounding the corner, Sephie found herself at the doors of the kitchen. Switching her book to her right hand, she opened one of the doors with her dominant hand and entered the kitchen.

When Persephone entered the kitchen, she immediately felt eyes on her. Glancing around, she noticed a girl about her age sitting at one of the tables, a near empty plate in front of her. Persephone smiled tentatively and began to walk towards her, when an elf made its way up to her and asked if she needed anything. Sephie smiled, "I'd like a cup of tea, please, Lady Grey if you have it, and a brownie," requested the brunette. Looking towards the girl at the table, she asked, "Would you like a brownie as well?"

 

[Perseas Stratis]

Perseas had declared the kitchens as his own secret hideout. Because not so many people were visiting the lowest part of the castle, this place full of tall fireplaces with boiling cauldrons in them was the best place to plot for his future pranks. The second year Gryffindor had exceptional talking skills, at least exceptional for persuading the bunch of house elves working in the kitchens. He had earned their trust after visiting them again and again for a year and he was always welcomed with eagerness and food. Some of them were not even hesitant to help them orchestrate his pranks or eager to share the secret passageways and areas of the castle. It felt he was among his minions each time he was returning back in the kitchens,

This night was no different from last night nor than the night before that. After wandering aimlessly in the darkness, spying out the corridors, he ended up descending the Grand Staircase on his way to the dungeons. Navigating through the labyrinth of stone walls and tortuous turns was a piece of cake for him and with his eyesight got used to the dark, he could navigate without using the lumos spell. The elves welcomed him enthusiastically and treated him with blueberry muffins and chocolate chip cookies. Perseas' senses were always on alert this time of the night. Who wanted to get caught out of his bed at night? Although, professors were rarely visiting the kitchens, the second year stood up like he was electrocuted when he heard footsteps down the corridor. He darted towards some barrels next to the storage room. There was a particular barrel there that was empty and without bottom. Perseas lifted it and hid in it while peeking through a tiny hole.

The newcomer was a girl around his age. Apparently, she paid a visit to eat something and as always his little minions were more than eager to provide. Perseas thought it was better not to betray his cover and stayed silent in the barrel. A wise choice as another person entered the kitchens. It was another girl. She was around his age too. Perseas watched the girls devouring the food that the elves were going to gave him and thought it was time to give them a fright. He flourished his wand and aimed through the hole. "Tarantallegra ." he whispered. The closest chair to his location was charmed to dance frantically, with its wooden legs moving uncontrollably. "Tarantallegra, tarantallegra, tarantallegra..." he casted several times, the incantation in whispers, muffled by the squeaking and creaking of the dancing furnitures. Soon enough almost everything was dancing in the kitchens. Chairs and tables had paired up in an ecstatic dance and stools were bouncing while performing back flips. Perseas even attempted to charm the seats of these two intruders. It was so hard to restrain from bursting into laughs under that barrel.

 

[Belladonna Metzger]

Belladonna was relieved to see that the person entering was only another girl, one who seemingly looked to be her age too! If it had been a Professor, Belladonna had no idea what she would've done. Even if it wasn't time for her to be in bed yet, she felt like they would fine something to lecture her about. Belladonna offered a polite smile and paused. Though she probably wasn't lost, it was always nice to make sure that she didn't need help. When the girl asked for a cup of tea and a brownie, it confirmed to Belladonna that she definitely wasn't lost. The anonymous girl was even sweet enough to ask if she'd like a brownie as well. "Normally I would take you up on such an offer, but I just kind of ate my own weight in food." Though the thought of a brownie felt like heaven to Belladonna, she was pretty sure that nothing else could fit into that stomach of hers. "I'm Belladonna." The young Gryffindor introduced herself, hoping to figure out what the girl's name was in the process of doing so. They looked to be the same age, so perhaps they could even be friends after everything was said and done? Belladonna could really use a friend or two so she was never shy when it came to talking to other people. Shyness was not in her nature.

Just as Belladonna was about to ask the girl what house she was from, the chair right next to her began to move. "AHH!" Belladonna jumped out of the seat she was sitting in and backed away. Why on the earth was the freaking chair dancing? Furniture wasn't supposed to be dancing, even at Hogwarts! Belladonna glanced at the girl, silently asking if she knew what the heck was going on? Then more and more furniture began dancing about the room until just about everything possible was dancing. "How do we make them stop?!" Belladonna hopped out of the way to avoid being hit by a pair of dancing chairs. All the squeaking and creaking of the old wood was sure to attract some attention if it didn't stop soon. Why were they dancing in the first place? Had Belladonna said some magic word or something? Belladonna was slowly becoming frustrated with the dancing objects. Enough to the point where she was half tempted to start breaking them, or setting them on fire. Both would work as long as they stopped moving around ​

 

[Persephone Zografos]

Persephone chuckled at the girls response to her offer of a brownie and nodded in understanding. "I don't blame you a bit, especially if you had the supper I had a few hours ago. Incredibly delicious but extremely filling." The Hufflepuff went to sit across from her new acquaintance and politely thanked the house elf who brought her tea and brownie. The other girl introduced herself as Belladonna. "Nice to meet you Belladonna, I'm Persephone," she smiled, somewhat apprehensive. Persephone hoped they could become friends. She hadn't really made any just yet even though it was just past Halloween. It's not that she was shy or anything, but she had become so caught up in her school work, she hadn't made any time to go out and meet her fellow classmates. To be honest, the girl looked familiar so Sephie assumed she was first year like herself. Maybe they could study together?

Persephone took a sip of her tea, and she could tell that Belladonna was preparing to say something else to ease themselves into a conversation, the other girl shrieked as the chair next to her began to move. The brunettes eyes widened in shock as several other chairs around the two girls began to shake and wobble about as if they were dancing. Persephone quickly backed away from the bewitched furniture, unsure of what to do or what was even making these objects move. "I have no clue! It's like someone is making them do this!" Persephone knew that she or Belladonna didn't make these chairs start moving. And she didn't think that the house elves would play a trick like this. "Do you think that someone is in here with us?" She looked around, not seeing anyone around. "Nevermind, that was a stupid question. There's no one but us," Persephone frowned. She desperately wished this would end as she saw her teacup fall off of the table and break into tiny pieces.

 

[Perseas Stratis]

From the bottomless barrel's hole, a grey eye was watching at the uproar of dancing furnitures. The girls looked clueless of what was going on and it seemed they didn't figure out yet the counter spell. This made Perseas think that they were first years. For a moment, the first year debated with his mischievous self on whether enough was enough. It turned out that his naughty side was winning ground. The girl's attention was locked on the dancing tables and chairs so Minoas slowly sneaked out of the barrel and took cover noiselessly behind a counter. With his forefinger on his mouth he urged the house elf that had seen him to not betray him. The creatures continued minding their own business and Perseas breathed softly as he listened the girls. The first years hadn't spotted him yet. The were too occupied with the peculiar dancers performing some impressive dance moves.

Behind the laden counter of goodies, Perseas schemed about his next move. He had no idea what thoughts were roaming in those girl's heads but he guessed they might be thinking something about haunting. It was a shame that these school didn't accomodate a poltergeist. Well, it was going to have one now. The Kitchens' poltergeist. Perseas peeked behind the counter and saw the girl with their backs against him still trying to figure out what was going on. He pointed his wand above him and casted. "Caeruleus Inflamarae." his whisper caused his wand tip to shot a blue flame above him. "Wingardium Leviosa." he whispered again and flicked his wand and the flame levitated above him. It was above the counter's and spread an eerie, blue light to shimmer on the Kitchens' walls.

"Who's disturbing my slumber?" boomed a raucous one. Perseas was good at altering his voice and the one he was taking off was suiting that of a ghost. The mystical flame was cracking above him, spitting blue sparks. He swished his wand to levitate it a bit higher. Not a lot higher though. He wanted the voice to be coming close to the flame but also to make it as intimidating as possible.
"I'm Canneto, the poltergeist. I was once a first year student here in Hogwarts. One day, I was playing hide and seek with my fellow first years and I hid in one of these cauldrons. My classmates sealed the cauldron's lid and I couldn't get out. I was boiled to death and sentenced to roam amongst the house elves f-o-r-e-v-e-r." he shrilled and pursed his lips to not let a laugh escape.
"Do you know what happens to first years coming here? Do you?" he continued and flicked his wand to cause more blue sparks fly off the flame. "They join me in the cauuuuuldrons!" the sentorian voice bounced against the stone walls and echoed dauntingly. Perseas laughed silently in his head and expected the girl's to scream and run away.

 

[Belladonna Metzger]

Belladonna desperately wished that she could remember the incantation for the spell that made the effects. It'd be really handy in this kind of a situation. "Didn't we learn about a spell that stops this stuff? Fin something? Crap, why can't I ever remember stuff like this? Do you remember what it was at-ah!" A chair knocked her out of the way as it continued to dance around with another chair. Belladonna really hoped that a Professor wouldn't walk in to see this. Even though Belladonna was pretty sure this wasn't her or the other girl's fault, she was sure both of them would get blamed for the mess made by the dancing furniture. Belladonna pulled out her wand and tried to recall the name of the spell that she needed, but there was nothing. This is why she would never likely be at the top of her class for anything, she just wasn't good at this sort of stuff! When Persephone suggested that someone might be in here with them, Belladonna was about to agree with her, but then she heard a voice. At first she believed it to be a Poltergeist like the voice claimed, but then she remembered reading that Hogwarts New Zealand didn't even have one within the castle!

"Hold on. You might be onto something...." Belladonna drawled on as she peered about the room. One way or another, she was going to find the little faker. Belladonna listened for a moment, blinking in surprise at the things this so called apparition had to say. Belladonna turned and motioned for Persephone to follow her. Though she wasn't one hundred percent sure, she thought she knew what was causing this. Belladonna listened in carefully until she thought she knew where the sound was coming from! Then she began to head towards a counter. When Belladonna finally was at the counter, she leaned over the top of it so she could peer at the other side. To her shock, there was a boy there! "You're a fake!" Belladonna gasped, actually surprised to see a human male sitting there as opposed to an actual ghost or something. Belladonna glanced at the girl, wondering if she was as upset a she was. Was he also the one that caused the dancing furniture? Or did the two girls say some magic word or something?​

 

[Perseas Stratis]

Perseas wanted to scream with laughter but he used his free hand to seal his lips. These two girls were helpless, they didn't even knew how to cast a simple counter spell. They deserved to be played even more by the mischievous Gryffindor. "Run! Run away before I recall my appetite for human fleshhhh." said with a hoarse voice. The smirk on his face was so wide that it could reach his ears but it soon reduced to a puzzled expression when he could no longer hear the girls desperately trying to figure out what was going on. The only thing remaining to disturb silence was the cracking blue flame above him and the boiling cauldrons in the fireplaces. Even the house elves had stopped cooking or minding their own business, looking unsure of what they should do. "What?" he whispered at the house elf he gestured earlier not to snitch him. The house elf gulped and pointed right above the boy. "Don't be such an idiot. This is my doing. Of course there's no poltergeist." he murmured to the house elf. Perseas believed that the creature was scared of the mysterious fire and had indeed fell for his acting. But as the house elf kept pointing above Perseas, the boy raised his head and saw someone looking down at him.

Perseas jumped off the ground, losing his concentration, causing the blue flame to vanish. Astonished, he pointed his wand at the two girls who had managed to find out that he was behind the fake poltergeist. He just lowered it when he recovered from the shock and grinned. "Yes, I actually am." he replied to the blonde ones conclusion. "You should have seen your faces. Priceless." he laughed excited, thinking that this was a prank he should play again to others sometime in the future. He tried to hold back his laughter when he saw frustration on the girls' faces. "What? Oh come on! You shouldn't be angry about this. It was fun, get over it." he said, unable to hide his usual half smile. His grey eyes were sparkling with larkiness but he decided it was better to not push these girls to their limits as they could easily fetch a professor and get him into serious trouble. "Okay, I'm sorry. See? I'll fix this one for you. Finite!" he started shooting counter spells all over the room, immobilizing the dancing furnitures until there was no dancer left in the Kitchens. "I'm Perseas by the way." he introduced himself while shoving his wand in his pocket. "What's your names?" he asked them.

 

[Belladonna Metzger]

Belladonna stared the boy as she tried to decide whether she wanted to be mad or if she wanted to laugh. As funny as it was, Belladonna was far too used to being picked on to be entirely comfortable about the situation. "It's not like he knows that, though." Belladonna thought to herself. Maybe she shouldn't be so quick to judge or get angry with him. The issue was that Belladonna was a total hot head. It took very little to get her wired and upset, and since she also had a tendency to be impulsive, she often put little thought into the things she thought or felt. The blonde thought for a moment, then sighed in defeat. He even apologized and fixed the problem. "Fine, since you were nice enough to apologize, I won't have to beat you up." He looked older so she doubted that she would be able to beat him up even if she wanted to. Mostly it was just her being playful. Though it also held a tone of warning to it. Belladonna might have been smaller and probably useless at casting magical spells, but one way or another she'd kick his butt if he ever tried a stunt like this again.

The boy introduced himself as Perseas, and Belladonna grinned. "That's an interesting name." Belladonna liked it. Not only was it unique, but it almost matched him in a way. If only her name was half as interesting and fitting for herself as his was. When he asked what her name was, Belladonna softly rolled her eyes. Her name was okay, but she could think of a hundred names she liked a lot better. "My name is Belladonna." After the poisonous plant that this school seemed to use a lot of. Surely it was a better way to make fun of her then calling her a bird all of the time. Hopefully Perseas knew nothing about her silly nickname that was given to her by a nasty group of pure bloods that seemed to loath her with every fiber of their being. Hopefully Perseas wasn't the type to associate with them. "What house are you from?" He didn't look familiar, so Belladonna wasn't sure if he was a Gryffindor or not. Then again, she wasn't so good at remembering people, so for all she knew she could have seen him pass by every single day and not even realized it. ​

 

[Perseas Stratis]

Feeling not so comfortable with the blonde girl staring at him, he wondered if she was mad at him or she was getting over the prank he had played against her. "Don't be so touchy, princess." he winked mischievously. Typical Perseas, attributing her the nickname he thought it was matching her the best. Although millions of girls would love to be called princess by a boy, Perseas sure didn't mean it exactly in the way most girls would like to take it. Princesses were also spoiled, huffy and not fun according to his point of view.
"You won't survive a week here if you're going to take so personally everything said or done to you." he advised her if she wanted to stay long enough around Hogwarts with all the bullies infesting the school's corridors.

It was Perseas' turn to stare at the girl. His piercing, grey eyes scanned her from head to toe but in the end they pinned on her pretty face. Perseas remained expressionless for a moment with his arms crossed against his chest. Then he bursted into laughs.
"You won't have to beat me up?" he repeated really amused. "You're funny. I like you," he said with a cocky smile across his face and leaned unruffled against the counter he was using as a cover minutes ago. The girl couldn't reverse simple spells and she wanted to beat him up? Just in case she wanted to try and show him, he was holding his wand ready to defend himself but he doubted he would have to.

Perseas had never thought of his name as interesting. He was only taking proud of it because it belonged to a hero, the kind of hero he wanted to be. "Thanks. I guess." the second year replied, not sure if the girl was sarcastic or she was meaning it. Perseas thought that her name was suiting her when she introduced herself. Belladonna was definitely reminding him of the poisonous plant. A plant seemingly harmless but not until used in lethal potions. The girl before him may looked nice at first glance but he thought she could become vicious if he was going to push her too much. "So, you prefer Bella or Donna? Oh wait, I think I'll be calling you princess. Venom princess." he derided smugly, not caring if she could turn out to be poisonous as well as the plant she was named after.
"I'm a Gryffindor." he stated and felt pride rising up through his chest like gas. "Where have you been sorted?" he asked, already believing she was a Slytherin. He had nothing against any house. Perseas had just observed that most Slytherins were short-tempered when he was messing around with them.

 

[Belladonna Metzger]

Belladonna was ninety nine percent sure that his little nickname for her was meant to be taken in a good way, especially since they barely knew one another. But she decided to take his advice on not taking everything personally to heart. Getting upset at every little thing someone said to her was probably going to make it a lot harder to enjoy life. Belladonna's ears were soon met with laughter from Perseas, and she raised an eyebrow at his sudden behavior. Had she said something funny? Belladonna opened her mouth to say something to Perseas, but he managed to say something before she could even put a single sentence together. A crooked smile overtook her features when he revealed that he liked her. It was nice to hear that someone out there didn't detest the ground she walked on due to her blood. Belladonna wanted to jump on the boy and cling onto him for dear life, but she worried that it might scare him away. It was nice to have made another friend! "That's cool! I like you too!" The blonde managed to let out without sounding like a total creep. Belladonna's impulsiveness made it a bit hard to hold conversations without creeping people out at times. There were just times when she forgot to think about things before she said them. No big deal!

"Most people just call me Bella. Venom princess? Well it's better than calling my birdy like some kids around here do. Do you have a nickname? I could call you percy....but that's up to you." Belladonna admitted, wondering if he would join the bandwagon when it came to calling her bird, or if he would stick to the newly found nickname he had given her. Anything was better than bird. Mostly because the blonde still didn't understand how being part-veela had anything to do with a bird. Maybe she would need to do a little bit of searching through the library one day. "I'm a Gryffindor too, only I'm a first year. I don't remember seeing you at the sorting ceremony either, so I'm guessing you're not." It was pretty exciting to have someone in the same house as she was, that meant that they would see one another around in the common room every once and awhile! Belladonna could practically see the pride flowing off the young boy in front of her. He must have been really proud to have been sorted into Gryffindor!​

 

[Perseas Stratis]

Perseas was observing the younger girl as she was talking about the names that other students were giving her. He got the impression she was finding herself in similar situations quite regularly and wondered if he did wrong for giving her a nickname as well. Perseas was like playing pranks on other people but not in a malevolent way. His way was often misunderstood but he was definitely not the bully his twin brother was preaching he was. He used to tease those he liked and it was the first time he was thinking that maybe some people weren't taking too lightly. "Birdy?" he repeated with a frown. "Why would someone call you birdy?" he wondered as he could discern nothing that would have earned her this nickname. Princess was much more suiting her. She looked delicate but also tough like a wildflower. That was Perseas' first impression of her.

His typical half smile returned on his face when she asked him if he had any nickname. It grew even wider when she called him 'percy'. "Please, don't call me Percy." he chuckled, his silver-grey eyes smiling as well.
"This how an aunt of me calls me and I really don't like it." he stated, remembering his grandmother's sister, who had the talent of giving the worst nicknames to her relatives. Percy wasn't a bad name but it was definitely bring the old, plump witch in Perseas' mind. "My brother calls me Pers which I don't really mind but I like better Perseas." he admitted. "You can call me whatever you like though. I really don't mind." he winked with a smile.

He was interrupted by his rumbling stomach and just then realized how hungry he was. Before he was able to ask or search for food, a house elf was there offering him a bowl of muffins. "Thank you Velda." he smiled at the creature and received the bowl of his favorite caramel muffins. He knew the names of all the kitchen's elves. He was finding them a much better company to hang out with than most of the uninteresting and fake people in that castle. The fact that they were spoiling him most of the time, might have also contributed to this. "Would you like some?" he offered her and jumped on the counter to sit on it. He had seen her eating while he was hiding under that barrel a while ago but he liked sharing and he thought it would be rude if he didn't. He set the bowl next to him and took a muffin to enjoy the liquid caramel in its core.

"A fellow lion. You just need to let your roar sound more regularly." Perseas suggested. She had the unsettlement of a firstie, the one he never had as a first year, but she was going to find her courage. All Gryffindors did at some point.
"I'm a second year that's why you didn't see me at the sorting." he confirmed, finishing the first muffin in two mouthfuls. He took a second one and his piercing eyes observed her once more. "You remind me of someone." he said and tossed the muffin in the air to catch it right back. "Does someone in your family plays for Thundelarra Thunderers?" he decided to finally ask as she was reminding him one of the players of his favorite team.