Francesca poked her head out from under the Gryffindor House table. She had ducked for cover during the food fight. It seemed impossible that a bunch of wizards could be that immature, but alas it had happened. Wiping off a section on the bench, she took a seat and assessed the damage. She had never seen the Great Hall so messy in all her years at Hogwarts.

Hearing Professor Bennet announce that there would be no more food, Francesca looked forward in shock. She barely had anything to eat at the feast, and her stomach was rumbling. How could they do this? she thought angrily, teeth clenched. After a little while, she stood up and started towards the Gryffindor common room. She took one last look at the Great Hall, she didn't know the next time she'd be able to have a meal there. She hoped it would be soon.

Jade muttered a string of very fast Russian swears under her breath, one of which included a particularly nasty one about dessicated corpses and syphillitic camels that would have made her mother faint to hear her say. She imagined that she had some food un her trunk. After all, it was Russian tradition to send ungodly amounts of food with family members who would be travelling long distances. Grumbling the whole way, she followed Frencesca up to the Gryffindor common room.

Archer raised his eyebrows again as the cracker started whizzing toward the teachers' table, but didn't worry about being hit at all. He knew that this was the moment Lydia had been waiting for since the foodfight had begun. He took a last sip of his pea soup and leaned back in his chair to wait for the punishments to be administered, keeping his face perfectly neutral as he hid his enjoyment of Lydia's decision. Instead he put on a 'well-you-did-break-the-rules' face. Without a word to anyone else, Archer stood from his seat, turned on his heal and walked to the door behind the teachers table, disappearing with the sweep of his robes.

About half-way up the steps, Francesca realized she didn't know the new password. She felt badly because Jade was following her lead, and she was leading her to a locked portrait. Thankfully, a prefect happened to be walking up, and she stopped her and asked for the password.

By the time she reached the portrait, her stomach was rumbling, all this walking was making the hunger worse. Francesca wondered if there was any food in her trunks; she must have packed something to eat. She turned to the portrait and said "Antipodean Opaleye", and it swung open to reveal the warm common room. She forgot how much she missed that place. Rubbing her belly, she took a seat by the fire and closed her eyes, pretending this wasn't happening. A stray thought, particularly unusual for the passive, uninvolved Francesca, entered her mind. Something must be done.

Catching the portrait just as it was swinging closed, Jade made a mental note to ask someone what the password was later and walked straight up to the girls' dormitory to rummage for some food through her trunk. She came up with three portions of Droobel's Best, half a bag of Bertie Bott's, and a Chocolate frog from before summer holidays whose jumping spell had almost worn off, causing it to twitch more than actually jump, like it was being dissected.

She chucked the frog into the bin next to her bed and finally found what she was looking for. "Ah, pirozhki," she said gladly and pulled out a large container of the pastries. She opened the lid and breathed in the smell, but thought of Francesca as she did. Sighing as she remembered the girl standing up for her, she put the lid back on the container and stuck her head out the door. "Psst!" she hissed, trying to get the girl's attention.

Francesca heard a soft whisper. She jerked her neck around, but didn't see anything. "Bloody mice," she complained. The last thing she wanted to have to deal with was mice. She heard it again, this time louder, coming from up stairs. When she stood up, she felt dizzy from the lack of food. "We'll have food tomorrow, we must!" she mumbled to herself as she hiked up the steps to the Sixth year Girl's Dormitory.

She let out a sharp squeak when she saw Jade. "Oh! It's you. You gave me a fright!" she breathed. "That was you, then? Calling me up here, What for?" She walked into the dormitory for the first time this year. She found her trunk and things set up by her four-post bed. "It's good to be back," she said to herself. No matter what was going on at Hogwarts, she always loved being there.

Jade rolled her eyes grumpily at Francesca's ignorance of her presence, but smiled a little when she finally had the girl's attention. She stepped back from the door to let the other girl in and answer, with enthusiasm, "Pirozhki." For a moment, she stood there, then realized that the girl probably had no idea what she was talking about. She cleared her throat rather sheepishly and walked over to her own trunk, pulling out the plastic Muggle container her mother had obviously packed the pirozhki in.

She showed the contents to Francesca and said, "Potatoes end corned beef, if moy nose es smell correctly. Fresh from Moskva." Then she added, "Is for thankink you for earlier vith det boy from Hurfleduff." She took one of the pastries herself, biting one gladly, though her stomach declared that it was not yet satisfied.

Francesca politely smiled. She walked over to Jade and took a whiff of the mystery contents in the container. She made a face, it smelled weird, not something she would normally eat. But right then, she would have eaten anything. She grabbed a little bit of the food. "Thanks," she said, then took a bite. It was far better than she thought it would be. "Mmm, this is really good," she added.

She continued to nibble on the pirozhki, at least that's what she thought it was called. Her eyes darted around the room, it was virtually empty, just how she preferred it. Her mind wandered back to her home. Her two younger sisters would be getting ready to sleep by now, her younger brother was probably out with his mates. She wished they were magic, like her. Then they could all be at Hogwarts together, and she wouldn't feel so isolated.

Francesca finished up the food Jade had given her. She lay back in her bed, staring up at the canopy. She didn't know if she brought any food, she didn't know how long this food ban would last. Closing her eyes, she thought about duelling, one of her favourite wizarding hobbies. Many wizards and witches her age were enamoured with Quidditch, but Francesca had a passion for wizard duels. After Hogwarts, she planned on pursuing the activity professionally.

Opening her eyes, she looked over to Jade. "Do you know what you're going to do after Hogwarts?" she asked. She knew she would be coming of age this year, and the thought crossed her mind of leaving and settling down. But that was impossible, she didn't have the financial means to do that.