Presley was putting jelly on her toast when she heard a lumos, and light flooded the room. Presley jumped a mile and a half and screamed. "AAAAAAAAHHHHH" she shrieked. But she calmed as she caught sight of the person. Awar? She was such a good kid, and not a rule-breaker. What was she doing here? Presley's hand flew to her heart. "Oh, God, Awar. You scared me half to death." She took several deep calming breaths. "Getting dinner. What are you doing here?"

Emotions.They were honestly not needed at times like these. They were terrible right now, and Ness could barely utter a word of what had just happened to her without bursting into either tears, or into a rage. It wasn't a good feeling at all and she wanted a distraction, company, something.

After having been her dorm the whole day, Renesmee decided it was enough and she needed to do something. With a small sigh, the red head tickled the pear and then entered what was the kitchen.

No one was around, which was good...good for the state she was in, that was. Her eyes were all puffy, and it was not hard to see that she had been in tears at some point today. The last thing she wanted were too many people questioning her. Yes she did want to talk about it all, just not with everyone, only with someone who she could trust. Today that someone was Kurumi.

Unsure of what to do, Ness stood and waited, letting more thoughts flood thorugh her mind. Not particularly good ones.

Awar looked around vigorously as Presley screamed, frightened that someone might hear them. "Dinner?? Why are you having dinner now??" She moved over to where her cousin was. "I don't know, sleepwalking. Sort of..." She avoided Presley's eyes before sighing and saying, "I wanted milk and cookies."

Presley heart was still beating a mile a minute. She had already been slightly freaked by the basement at this time of morning, and then Awar had walked in. "I didn't have time to go down to the Great Hall earlier. I was finishing up some stuff." She had thought she could just go to sleep without it today, but after that workout, her poor stomach wouldn't let her.

Presley actually laughed out loud about the milk and cookies thing. It was soo...Awar. She could remember one Christmas when they were all staying together at thier grandparents manor, and Grandmother had put cookie dough in the fridge over night, but thanks to Presley and Awar, there wasn't any left by 6 AM. "Nice." She sat down with her toast and jam. Did her cousin know that she would have to make the cookies? The house elves were probably asleep at this time of day. "Want me to help you make them? I know a good recipe." Presley grinned. She'd said that before. And the last time she'd said that to Awar about brownies, they'd ended up with chocolate concrete mess.

"You should of told me. I would of brought up something for you." Awar sat down next to her cousin and snatched a bite of her toast and jam. "Make cookies? Right now?" She tapped her chin and chewed. The hungry, greedy ghoul inside her roared. "Okay! Let's do it!"

Presley shook her head. "Seven flights of stairs?" When Presley was a firstie, those stairs used to exhaust her to the point where she never went to the common room between classes simply to avoid the million steps it took. "Hey!" she protested with a laugh when Awar took a bite out of her toast. She didn't really mind though.

The fifteen year old shrugged. "Sure, why not?" How else would Awar get her cookies and milk? Granted they had classes in the morning, but Presley didn't have anything until 8AM and she could power nap between now and then. She didn't know about Awar, but kids were resilient. She'd be fine. Exhausted, but fine.

Presley skipped over to the cupboards and started pulling down ingredients. Flour, chocolate chips, all of the essentials. She didn't really know a recipe, but it couldn't be that hard, right? Just toss in some eggs and sugar and stuff? They'd be fine.

Awar scavenged for some bowls and utensils. "Are you sure you know what you're doing? Maybe we should look for a recipe book." She looked at her cousin with a concerned look.

Recipe boook? Phhst. Presley shrugged. "It''ll be fine. I've seen Kurumi do it dozens of times." and Pres couln't remember if Kurumi used a recipe book, which meant that she probably didn't, right? Presley tossed sugar, eggs and baking soda into a bowl without measuring. There was probably twice the amount of sugar as there was baking soda, and four eggs, forgood measure. She stirred it vigourously. "Wanna toss in some flour?" she asked the eleven year old. These were going to be the most delicious cookies ever. Especially because they could eat the dough! Which the cook at home never allowed Presley to do.

Awar looked at Presley with a hesitant look and then shrugged. She poured some flour into the bowl. "There's so much sugar! These are going to come out so sweet!" She giggled.

This was so much fun! Why hadn't they done this before? Presley stirred in the flour and dropped in the entire bag of chocolate chips. Was that enough? Maybe. If not, there were always more chocolate chips in the kitchens. "Hey, I almost forgot!" Presley held up the letter that was in her pocket. The one from Zebhidiyah.

"I can come visit you in Spain for a couple of days, but not the whole time. Zeb wants me to stay home most of the time." And by "stay home" he meant "attend social functions and make nice to all of my creepy friends." Which Pres didn't mind so much. It gave her an excuse to go shopping and buy lots of new pretty dresses for all of the holiday parties. Some of which she was sure to see Awar at. That is, if her mum was up to it so soon after...

Presley eyed the kid. "Anyway, this means we should go shopping together. Are you going to Grandfathers Christmas Soiree?" Of course Awar was, the question Pres was really asking was 'Is your mother coming to Grandfathers Christmas Soiree?' Everyone who was anyone would be there, and if they were struggling financially, it would be good for them to jump back into the public eye as quickly as they felt comfortable.

Awar fished out a couple chocolate chips and popped them in her mouth. She let them melt on her tongue before talking. "Yay!" She jumped up and down. "It'll be a fun couple of days!"

"Um...Manolo and I were planning to go, but my mom probably won't be going. She said she has some things to sort out with my Grandma and Grandpa Santiago." Some things is all she could say. She didn't know what was going on. Her mother always talked on the phone in a hushed voice or left the room.

Presley shoved her fathers letter back into her jammie pocket. She grinned again. She was so happy lately. Ever since she'd talked to her father and Leo, she felt like a huge load had been lifted off of her back. "Tons of fun," she agreed with her cousin.

So Presley's aunt wouldn't be there? Well, at least Manolo would be, and he was always good for a laugh. Presley smacked Awar's hand out of the bowl. "No snitching until it's done," she scolded jokingly. She tossed in about three tablespoons of salt. Cookies had to have salt didn't they? They were almost done, so Presley turned an over on to 400. It seemed like a pretty good cookie baking temperature, right? She reached for the cookie sheet on the counter, and started spooning cookied onto it.

Pres offered the bowl to Awar. She could snitch some dough now if she wanted. The two of them should be on a muggle cooking show together.

Awar took the bowl from Presley and stuck her finger into the bowl. She looked at it for a long few seconds before sticking it in her mouth. Her face immediately describing what it tasted like. "EW!" She laughed. "It's so salty and weird tasting!!"

Ronnie giggled. "Who doesn't love caramel? ITS FANTASTIC!" she exclaimed, laughing and jumping up and down. This was one of the best days ever! Adam was so fun to be with! Most of her friends would not explore or be hyper with her! Gah! He was perfect! <3 She'd literally never had this much fun with a buddy in a long while. . .the last time she had this much fun with someone probably was like in her first year! Now everyone was all too 'mature' for her exploring and stuff. *sigh*

Dora kinda looked over at all the commotion going on but didn't really pay it much mind cause she was making cookies and that was much more important. "We have a house elf, so I don't need to help either, but I do sometimes cause she's a really nice elf." And Vera never cared when Dora came in making huge messes. The house elf liked the company.

"We're using the recipe I just looked up, it's in my head." A good place to be, she had a good brain. Digging around in her pockets, she pulled out a bag of chocolate skeletons, a grin spreading on her face as she waved it some in the air. "We can break up the smaller pieces and put them in with the chocolate frogs too."

Chocolate frog and human parts in cookies sounded SO GOOD.

She placed her chocolate on the table and started to open it, inclining her head towards the other ingredients. "We add all of that stuff and stir then add the chocolate and more stirring! Then we let them bake." And the best part was just after that.

Cassia opened her mouth to what recipe they were following but Dora answered. She seemed to know what she was doing and Cassia followed along. Cassia's memory wasn't that good so she couldn't count on it. "We used to have a house-elf," She said ,"But I was so young I don't remember what became of her. She either passed away or my grandmother just let her go." She shrugged. "My mother and grandmother do all the kitchen duty." She told Sarah.

The Slytherin, stood by Dora and started opening the chocolate frogs she had with her. Careful not to let the frogs jump away. She pushed the three cards without looking at them. She'd do that later now wasn't the time. She cracked what could be cracked then glanced at the bowl with vanilla now.

Stirring? Who should do this? "You guys do the stirring," Because Cassia never done it. "And I will start making tea." With that she opened one of the cupboards and retrieved a teakettle. She looked around to find a sink and went over to fill it. She thought of using Aguamenti but she wasn't sure of succeeding. At lessons it took her a couple of times till she managed it. And no time now.

Once filled with water, Cassia put the teakettle on the oven and reaching for her wand she uttered. "Incendio," That she was used to because of Potions. And with that she left it and skipped back to the girls. "Where do you think we could find the tea?" She probably should have looked before lighting the fire. But again thinking wasn't her thing.

With her cookie recipe book opened up to the gingerbread section of
her notes, Kurumi made her way into the kitchen hoping to run a few of these potentials by the house elves and maybe bake one of them to taste. Her thoughts were a little too focused at the moment to really take in her surroundings and she immediately made her way towards the usual cupboards and began to take things out when she thought she heard some sniffling going on behind her.

Setting a bowl down and her hand only on the drawer where the spatulas were kept, Kurumi glanced over her shoulders and saw Nessie...who had obviously been crying. "Nessie?" Kurumi called softly.

Ethan found himself wandering down towards the kitchen after dinner. He was hungry again. It seemed to be a regular occurrence lately and, since he had already finished the tin of gingerbread men his mother had sent back with him, the boy followed in the direction his grumbling stomach seemed to lead him.

After stepping into the kitchen, the fifteen year old took a moment to look around. He was really in the mood for a sandwich.. but wasn't completely sure he should bother one of the house elves for his own personal needs. They just seemed so busy getting the next day's meals ready. Surely they wouldn't mind if he helped himself?

Ethan headed straight for a cabinet and began peeking inside. There must be some bread around here somewhere..

Minerva was still a little down from the holidays, but was glad that other students were back and the noise level was back to normal. It was just to quiet around the corridors with everyone gone. She had just left her common room and was so cold that she decided to duck in the kitchen for maybe a cookie and some hot chocolate.

Walking in she smiled thinking about the wall decorating her and Laura had done in here last year and then turned smiling at the busy elves. She went to find if there was any cookies around before asking when she spotted him.

Freezing she wasn't sure whether to approach or not. She hadn't seen or spoke to him since the match announcing accident. She shook her head and decided not to be a wimp. Walking over the cabinet she smiled shyly. "Hey Ethan."

There was someone in here already?

At the sound of her name, Renesmee scanned the kitchen once more, this time noticing Kurumi standing beside some working space, that was occupied by a bowl and other baking equipment. Not surprisng at all, to see Kurumi here, Ness was sure the Cookie Girl was here more than any other student and in fact she had sort of hoped to see the older lioness at some point today. So good thing it was for Ness that she came here of all places.

Wiping her eyes again, Ness began taking small steps closer to Kurumi. She really did hope it wasn't that obvious, she had been crying, but last she checked her eyes did seem a bit puffy. "Yeah?" she asked in a hoarse-ish voice.

House elf... these girls were so lucky. Sarah always thought she was the family's house-elf, which she knew was not exactly true. She did way less then her mom and dad did.In her head? That was awesome. Sarah had a few recipes in her head too... She was told she had a good memory and things. Sarah quite trusted a memory so she was okay with it. Then about the chocolate chips being replaced with chocolate frogs and chocolate skeletons part. Sarah was not so happy with the idea, yet as she was just joining them she said nothing. The other girls seemed to be doing the breaking part, so Sarah decided to be useful. "I will stir" she offered.
When Cassia aked where the tea was Sarah shrugged. She did not know it was, seriously... "Why don't we ask a house elf? If worse comes to worse and for some odd reason Hogwarts does not have tea... Perhaps someone could run down to the Greenhouse... I am sure it contains a variety of herbs we can use, like ginger or mint. It is very simple to make tea from fresh leaves" Sarah's favorite tea was the tea her mother cold Rooibos, yet in England it was called Red Bush Tea. It was so yummy.

No bread in that one...

Ethan turned to the next cabinet, still in search of bread, when a familiar voice made him stop.. and slowly turn. "Minerva.. hi," he said upon sight of her and gave her a tentative smile. Things were awkward between them.. he knew that.. and he didn't like the way things stood right then. He hadn't really seen her since the last Quidditch game, other than briefly in class, and they definitely hadn't talked. And he knew he owed her an explanation for that.. as well as his walking away. But he wasn't sure how to begin..

Instead, he decided to start with some small talk and he carefully watched her. "So.. how was your Christmas?" he began, before immediately regretting his words. He had heard that she stayed in the castle over break.. but he hoped that it was more fun than he would have thought.

Minerva gave an awkward shy smile as he turned and saw her. Fidgeting with her fingers she didn't know if she should just come out and say something or act like it never happened. He was cute though, she thought and felt her cheeks turn pink a bit. She shifted her eyes to the floor trying to control her blushing.

Then he said something that made her frown a bit, not meaning to. "Oh Christmas.. Umm. It was fine." she twisted her fingers together more feeling the tension in the air from the awkwardness. This was not how she wanted their friendship to be. She knew she liked him, but if he didn't like her like that she would deal, she just wanted this weirdness between them away. "H..how was your Christmas?"

Had he made things more awkward by bringing up Christmas.. um, yeah, he thought so. Ethan tried to quickly lighten the mood, "Well, I hope those House Elves took care of you.. I hear they put on a pretty big feast." He shot her a grin which quickly faded somewhat. Trying to hard.. ? Maybe.. plus the unanswered questions hanging in the air. He knew he couldn't avoid them for long.

The Ravenclaw gave her a sincere smile as Minnie asked about his Christmas. "It was really nice, thanks.. Lots of visiting.. Did some skiing. My friend's family owns a chalet in the Swiss Alps." His smile faded again as he looked at her. She seemed so nervous around him.. and he was certain that it was his fault. Ethan chewed on his bottom lip for a moment, searching for the right words to say. "Minnie.. I.. I owe you an apology," he began, softly.

Minerva felt the tension get worse, she didn't mean it to, but she knew the Christmas comment wasn't what he wanted to hear, "Oh yeah.. the elves do a great job. It was lovely." Minerva lied, she didn't even go to the hall during Christmas, she had just hid in her room the majority of the day. Then she saw his smile and couldn't help but smile. But.. what was that.. it was gone again. Did he just not like her that much.. Oh she hated this awkwardness..

"Well I'm glad you had fun. Oh Skiing that sounds like loads of fun." yes she was glad he had a great Christmas. People deserved good Holidays and she always enjoyed hearing about them. Then it seemed like his mood changed and he looked so serious, here it comes Min.. He is going to tell you he never wants to speak with you again. Your such a dumb dumb for ever even.. wait..what, "Umm Ethan, what are you apologizing for. I..I should have never said that on the microphone. I.. I mean it's true I really did think that." **blush**, "but I still shouldn't have said it. I'm sorry for embarrassing you and I don't blame you if you don't want to be around me anymore for it." she looked down waiting for the worst..