Kitchen
 

For Astrid and Ashley >:)
 

Tea! Yes TEA!! Moose needed the relaxing feeling of drinking some tea. The ill-tempered 5th Year was in a foul mood. Don't ask why. Sometimes he just is. And unfortunately it seemed the Room of Requirement had been occupied so accessing it for his needs to release his stress was out of reach. Piping hot tea had been a good discovery from last term thanks to Cathal's advice that it could be a calming experience. They were right of course.

It would be a sight to see watching the Slytherin bound around in the Kitchen ignoring the House Elves and getting out a tea set and setting it down on one the tables in the kitchen. He took the kettle and filled it with water. bringing it to a stove and setting a flame beneath it.

He paced around his whole body stiff with anger.

Right, Let's get this Mad Tea Party underway.

Ash did not drink tea. She drank water, and juice, and soda, and occasionally she would drink coffee if she was tired. She really only drank tea when she was ill. No, Ash was in the kitchens for a whole different reason. She was hungry. And when she was hungry, she got angry. It was best to not be hungry.

As she entered the kitchens, she saw one very mad Moose looking, as usual, very mad. Hmmm. Her sandwich could wait, For NOW. Grabbing a soda, she pulled up a chair to his table and sat down in it backwards. "Bad day, huh?" It looked like one. She felt bad for his mad tea party. They were supposed to be weird, not angry and sad. Sad tea parties were against the rules(said Ash, who had had many depressing tea parties with Mamie and with herself).

The waiting for tea to boil only made him more irritated. Some would tell him to just heat the kettle with some heating charm, it would get the hot tea out faster. To them he would say. 'get out! Who asked you anyways!?' There were things Moose actually understood from magic more than others. Like Potions, Moose was actually very good with Potions, and in Potions class. Sure yeah half of the ingredients felt infuriatingly unreal, but they crushed or sliced just like any other kitchen ingredient you could find. He would tell you he's a terrible chef. It's just that brewing a potion felt like the most relatable subject to an actual muggle activity that wasn't itself Muggle Studies.

So his arms crossed as he leaned on the table where he placed the rest of the tea set and looked to his side when a voice piped up. "Hi, Ash." He responded to her. Not really even answering her question. She saw him, she knew him. It was obvious he was having a bad day. He moved his glare off from her. "I'm making some tea. Care for some?" She looked like she was at her tipping point too.

Ash would not tell Moose to heat the kettle with magic, partly because he'd get upset and partly because she sometimes forgot to remember that you could use magic for small everyday tasks. She preferred to do them the muggle way, unless they involved healing or repairing something. It was just more familiar, and it came easier when she was kinda out of it.

"No thank you. I don't drink tea much." There was like... a small chance that this would upset him. Moose was very easy to upset. Not that she wasn't- she'd cried for hours when he compared her to the mad hatter. It was impressive that they were friends, probably. It was impressive that Ash had any friends at all. "Do you want to eat something, or do you just want tea?" She hoped he was hangry. That was a fixable problem. The world sucking and Hogwarts being a terrible place and everyone being on the verge of death at all times... not so much.

For Linds and Daniel!
 

Daniel made his way to the kitchen to get himself a mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows before he would go to the library to do some extra studying on Animagi.

He entered the kitchen and unceremoniously threw his bag on the table closest to the door as if he owned the place. He looked around, wondering which of the House-Elves he could order to make him some chocolate milk when his dark brown eyes landed on the History of Magic professor walking around with his nose in a notebook. Huh.... interesting.

Not bothering to announce his presence, the Hufflepuff moved over till he stood nearby and casually peeked around his arm he was too small to look over his shoulder T___T to read the writings in the notebook.

........And he thought his handwriting was bad "Deciphering code?"

Deciphering code?

The question altered Simon to the fact that he was, indeed, not alone with the house elves. Lowering the book from his face, he noticed a curious Mr Yoon looking up at him. Closing the book with one hand, he held it in one hand and then folded it and his arm underneath the other so he had his arms folded. “Yes…. deciphering. Code? Perhaps. Tell me. What do you know about codes and runes, Mr Yoon?”

Curious he was to see what the third year had to offer.

“Here for a snack or here for.. other reasons?”

For a brief moment, the third-year looked irritated as he buried his hands deep in his Hufflepuff robes. He'd come to the kitchen for a mug of hot chocolate, not to answer questions as if he were in a class.

He shrugged. "The purpose of code is secrecy" He said. "It's a collection of words, figures, symbols or letters that are used to represent others" He looked over at the cracks in the wall before turning his gaze to him. "But why do you ask, Professor?" he asked, cocking his head slightly to the right. "Are you stuck on something? No need to feel bad about it. It took mathematicians 800 years to decipher Ceasar's Cipher" he grinned.


What other reasons would he be here if it weren't for getting a snack or a drink? He wasn't plotting. Not today at least "I came here to... His gaze moved to a house-elf nearby as he spoke ...get a mug of hot chocolate with extra marshmallows before going to the library to learn more about Animagi and wandless magic" he explained.

Evan!
 

Evan had not forgotten when and where to meet Jude. It was just taking longer to get there than he anticipated, as there had been decorations and plenty of origami to carefully making his way around in order to leave his dorm room. His dorm mates were always nice enough to help his sisters with this seemingly yearly tradition. Which he'd made quick detours to find his sisters and thank them, though he'd have to offer gratitude to the dorm mates later, before quickly making his way down to the kitchens.

He was a few minutes late by the time he got there, stepping through the entrance. "Hey, I'm sorry I'm late. Sisters." He'd go more in depth too if needed. His birthday was so close to return after break too, he'd not had a chance to catch up with his friend either. "How was your holiday?"

Simon nodded enthusiastically as Mr. Yoon answered his question perfectly. Despite the excitement he felt within his bones, the man kept his deadpan expression visible but simply nodded. Consider him pleased. Very pleased. “Indeed. It is… and sometimes you find signs in your surroundings but then again perhaps that’s over analyzing the situation.” He chuckled. Not that Simon was good at that- he was BRILLIANT- at over analyzing.

“A little…” He paused before reevaluating his position. He hasn’t gained anymore data since the last time he had gone through the library and he was still waiting for a reply from Mordaunt on this one. “Perhaps more than a little….”

The very next phrase that Yoon offered brought a smile that Holden couldn’t hide off of his face. He chuckled, surprised to hear that someone would mention Caesar’s Cipher. “That’s true… Caesar’s Cipher! Merlin! Haven’t heard that in ages.. takes me back. I used to be obsessed with writing in codes…” he nodded. “My third year at Hogwarts there was a riddle pertaining to the Arthurian Legend and that was the year the school faced an eternal winter… most likely caused by a rune or something else.. I was trying to see if there were more runes around the school that could explain what we are seeing…”

He’d have to ask his peer again about it.

His eyebrows arched when Yoon mentioned he was interested in wandless magic. “Wandless magic, you say? A helpful skill to have…. extra marshmallows always help get the studying cogs a turning,” he smiled before cocking his head to the side to look at Mr. Yoon. “Whats fascinating about Animagi, Mr Yoon? Looking to become one?”

Daniel was convinced that answering the Professor's question would have earned him House points for Hufflepuff. But when it was never awarded to him, the teenager let out a disappointed sigh that was barely audible.

His gaze returned to the closed notebook in the Professor's hand before he looked at the walls as the man paused for a moment, obviously wondering how much he could tell a mere student, but this only piqued Daniel's interest.

He wasn't surprised to learn that the Professor used to write in code when he was younger. He, on the other hand, did not do so. It was too much trouble, and he had more pressing concerns than remembering a secret code he had devised for himself. But it was the fact that he spoke about a curse that had been placed upon Hogwarts many years back that caught his interest again. He wasn't surprised, after all, this was Hogwarts. He lived through a curse only last year.

"You're talking about these cracks in the castle's walls, right?" he began slowly, taking his hands from his robe pockets. "Is it possible that they are the remnants of last year's vines? Isn't it similar to how a curse leaves a scar?" he scratched the back of his neck. "But come to think of it, Headmaster Kazmi did say that whoever planted Pharaoh's Triumph had not been found. Do you think they left a Rune mark somewhere in case plan A failed?" That wasn't so far-fetched, was it? "I mean, i know that he said that no lingering curse had been found by the Curse-breakers but what if they missed it?" The castle was huge after all. "Or maybe some were working for the culprit? Or maybe it's someone we all know or maybe it's a family member of someone who lost a loved one during the war and they blame Hogwarts for what happened? or maybe ..." Over-analyzing. He had that skill too.

Daniel gave a nod. It was a useful skill, but he was still irritated that Hogwarts didn't teach wandless magic like at Uagadou. But, aside from that branch of magic, he was currently more interested in Animagi. "Yes" he replied in such a resolute tone that he surprised himself. "I'm not the only one who is interested though.I know a couple of other students who would love to become one... I believe it would be a useful skill to learn, but it is also frightening... The consequences of a failed transformation..." he shuddered at the thought and his thoughts went to the cat ears that Maya had told him to try on during Halloween. It would be like that right? part animal, part beast. This was why he didn't jump into the process but was going to take his time and research everything he could. He didn't want to walk around having a tail!

By the time Evan had seen Jude, the Hufflepuff was smiling and still seemed in good spirits, so he was hopeful that meant he'd not upset his friend by his tardiness - something he abhorred as a trait in general which made him feel extra bad about making his friend wait. He was probably still covered in the glitter his dorm mates and sisters had left around for him, but it would have taken far too long to get it all off prior. "Thanks." He offered, a smile as well in response to the easy forgiveness of showing up so late.

Interesting? An eyebrow raised quizzically at the response, and he tilted his head and opened his mouth with intention to ask what that meant but he was distracted immediately by the candle going into a rather impressive looking cake. Ev blinked for a second, before pointing at it and looking back at Jude. "Did you make and decorate this?? This is insanely impressive!" All the detail work. Jude had definitely picked something up in Professor Applewood's previous lesson. Evan's had looked nothing short of a mess. "This looks like something that could be sold in my cousin's bakery!" If only he had a camera so he could take a picture to show Chin-hae later. Looking back up at the words, the Ravenclaw smiled before closing his eyes and making a quick wish before blowing out the candle. "You outdid yourself, Jude. Thank you. You didn't need to do all this work for me." To him, it was just another day. But he did appreciate his friend putting in all this effort for his sake.

And he did not the use of 'best friend', which was what he thought of Jude too. He was just pleased to know it was reciprocated, and their friendship could still be fairly normal and close given Jude's feelings and Evan's current lack of. It only made him uncomfortable in the sense of he was extra cautious of his actions with others to not hurt Jude, though that wasn't even something he'd deem 'uncomfortable' so much as just an awareness.

Jude had not interrupted anything, it had just been the delay of trying to get out of his dorm. He'd planned nothing today outside of meeting Jude for a bit, mainly because he hadn't wanted to cut into their hang out time, but also because to him his birthday was really just another day. Though he appreciated how much his friends seemed to care.


Help from elves or not, he was still thoroughly impressed. "You soaked up a lot more information and skills from that lesson than anyone else I've seen." Had he seen anyone else attempt? No, but he stood by the statement regardless. It had taken a minute for him to decide on something to wish, which probably looked silly as he stood there for so long with his eyes closed. But eventually he'd come up with something and blown out the candle. The question made him laugh, though he'd probably reddened a little based on the fact... it was not far from the truth. But he hadn't wished it so much for himself. Evan was actually feeling very confident about his exams already. Plenty had seemed worried he'd overdo it, but honestly studying was fun to him. He liked absorbing information. "Superstitution saving me from admitting how single minded I am." He smiled, accepting the knife carefully and eying it while he tried to figure out the best spot to cut first to not mess up too much of the decor. Finding the best looking option, he cut a couple pieces for himself and Jude, nudging the first plate towards the Hufflepuff while he put the other on the plate. "It smells as good as it looks!" Forever a sweet tooth.

He went to reach for a fork, but was distracted when Jude pushed a box towards him. He tilted his head and eyed it before reaching for that instead. "You didn't need to do that. You already did so much prepping the cake." There was no way that had not been a lot of work to do.

It would have been a shock to him that Jude considered him nice and friendly. Though... perhaps more the friendly part, he intentionally tried to not go out and be a jerk. No one liked that. A small part of him was always still a bit surprised when people seemed to care, though each birthday and the longer he was at Hogwarts, the more people showed. He was clearly lucky.

"Well your best was really good." He was still very impressed. "Although you also bring up a good point, getting to eat the cake after was the best part." His favorite part of the lesson by far, but how could it have not been? Sugar was his guilty pleasure. The nice thing about birthday meant that there was a lot of it. "I suppose there's nothing wrong with it, but... I think I am pretty single minded. OWLs is all I've been thinking on. Even when I wasn't feeling great. I skipped class. To study." Truthfully, even he could find the humor in that. Evan picked up the fork when Jude passed it over, muttering a small 'thanks' as he did so before taking a forkful. "Mm, delicious!" As good as it looked.

"Well, thank you. I appreciate it. I'll open it later." So he could eat cake now, because zero self control "What's your plan for the rest of the day?"

The tease and laugh got a bit of a bashful smile as he took another bite off the plate in his hands, a small shrug. "I believe there was a study about how sweets make you happy. I just need extra doses of happy throughout the day." At least dancing also kept him active. Though... even if he didn't dance, being located in the Ravenclaw tower certainly would have done it for him too. "Do you like sweets?" It occurred to him he didn't really know. He'd offer his stash often, but was that the only time Jude really liked candy? "It wasn't the smartest, but it wasn't that bad either. I'd always get the coursework, or Maya would bring me her notes." The ever concerned sister, even if she also thought he and Lisa were dramatic.

Part of that might have been correct.

"Sounds like you have a large selection of options then." He smiled a bit, figuring he shouldn't see then if Jude wanted to do something else and hang out more. The Hufflepuff's day sounded quite busy. But celebrating to get back to? Evan raised an eyebrow before giving a small shrug, "Not really. I didn't make plans with anyone." Outside of this anyways. "But I'm sure they'd enjoy cake, so maybe I will go find them. They can help me decide if yours is actually better than my cousins. I'm leaning yes."