It was late and the castle had a chilling black color to it. The moon spread over the marble floor through the large windows, every time she passed one she looked out to see the cresent moon shining brightly in the sky. A.J. had her black plastic framed glasses on, they stood out on her pale freckled face. She made her way to the kitchen slowly wondering if everyone else was sleeping soundly. A.J. couldn't sleep, she never could, it was a shame really she had these horrible nightmares that got her to thinking. She had one tonight, she awoke in a fright wonderin where she was, when she realized she was in her bed at Hogwarts she heard her stomach growling, and here she was tickling the pear to get into the kicten to grab a few cookies and warm milk, or some tea and a biscut. She couldn't decide it all sounded so yummy.

A.J. walked in a pushed her glasses up her nose looking around, an elf asked her what she wanted and she asked nicely for a cookie and some hot tea. She pulled herself up onto the counter and waited.

Jake found himself once again unable to sleep. That seemed to be happening a lot lately. He got a little hungry and decidd to walk to the kitchen. He enjoyed the darkness as he walked. After he tickled the pear and went inside he told the elves that he wanted a sandwich, he noticed a girl sitting on the counter. "Hi." he said with a little smile. He hadn't expected anyone else to be there.

A.J. looked up as someone walked in, she smiled slightly and waved. " hi." she said softly back letting her eyes drop so she could watch her feet swing back and forth. The Elf brought her a cup of tea and a cookie. " Thank you." she said sweetly to the little elf, A.J. always thought the elves were so cute, with there big ears and huge eyes. She sighed and sipped her tea before looking at the boy again. " I'm A.J." She offered.

An elf handed Jacob the sandwich and he thanked it. "Jake." he said to the girl. He walked over to the counter where she was sitting and pulled himself up to sit beside her, if she didn't like it, she could move he thought. It was late and his lack of sleep lately made him feel more grumpy than usual.

" It's a pleasure." her voice was soft, she was a shy girl and she didn't want to be yelled at like earlier today, a Ravenclaw boy yelled at her for breathing his air. A.J. looked down at the tea watching it ripple when she tapped her finger tip on the china. A yawn escaped her lips, she didn't really know what to say to fill this silence that fell between them so she didn't say anything.

He could tell she was a little shy, so he forced himself to be nice. "Likewise. I'm a Slythering 6th year. What about you?" he asked her to make conversation.

Most of the people A.J. knew would flee at the sight of a Slytherin but A.J. was different, she really didn't care. " Gryffindor Sixth year." she told him looking up and taking a small bite of her cookie, once A.J. got warmed up to the person she wasn't as shy.

"Why is everyone I meet in Gryffindor?" he wondered out loud. "I don't have a problem with gryffindors, don't get me wrong, they just seem to be the only people I meet." He thought about taking a bite of his sandwich but he suddenly didn't want it, so he just layed it down beside hm.

A.J. shrugged. " Maybe because us Gryffindor's are trying to take over the world and we ares tarting to over populate ourselves." she shrugged and smiled alightly looking down at the chocolate chip cookie. She brought the tea cup to her lips and took another sip of the warm tea.

Jake chuckled slightly. "I thought that was us Slytherins." he said, thinking of how much most slytherins hated the other houses.

A.J.'s smile grew a bit when he chuckled. "Nah." her voice wasn't as soft as before. " So what brought you to the kitchens?" she asked him watching elves scurry around taking one glance at the two of them and surrying a bit faster past them.

"I couldn't sleep, I was bored, and I thought I was hungry." he said looking down at his untouched sandwich. "What brought you here?" he turned the question on her, imagining she was there for the same reason.

A.J. nodded and listened to him speak. She pushed her glasses up on her nose gain. " Bad dreams." she shrugged setting her tea down then finishing her cookie. " I thought maybe eating a midnight snack ould bring back good memories of being at home. It didn't though." she laughed slightly but stopped herself.

"Oh. I'm sorry. What were your dreams about?" he asked her as he picked at the bread on his sandwich, scattering the crumbs about his plate. Jake was naturally a very aloof person around those he didn't know very well and it sometimes seemed as if the things he said weren't sincere even if they were.

A.J. paused, he wanted to know what the dreams were about. She sighed. " It's stupid." She shrugged. " M<y brother, died when I was younger and I say it and I just have dreams about thet night...alot." Her eyes looked up at him.

Jake looked over at her. "I'm sorry." he said again, doing his best to show that he really was sorry.

"Eh." she shrugged. " It doesn't matter it was a long time ago anyway." she told him smiling slightly.

"No one in my family has died that I knew. Or at least none have that I remember knowing." he said with a shrug. "So you'll have to forgive me if I sound like I don't care. I just can't relate."

A.J. shook her head. " Seriously it doesn't matter." she told him with a reassuring smile.

He forced himself to smile back. "Okay." he said. He didn't know what to talk about now.

A.J. dropped her head slightly then looked back up letting her feet swing freely. "So um..." she scrunched her nose and laughed. "I'm not great with conversation." she smiled.

He smiled back. "Me either." he admitted. "Hm...Well...What's your favorite subject?" He asked her

" DADA." she told him then asked. " And yours?" okay so now they were getting somewhere that was always a good thing.

"I like Transfiguration and Potions." he said. "Okay...now you ask a question." he said, hoping that they might find something interesting to discuss. There wan't much to say about what your favorite class was.

" Okay." she said scrunching her nose slightly while thinking. " What kind of music do you like?" she asked, music was her favorite thing to talk about, she loved tit so much she could get into a huge conversation about it.

"I'll listen to almost any kind of music." he replied. "Except classical." he added with a smile.

" You know." she started tracing the rim of the tea cup with her finger lightly and watching the liquid ripple. " Classical music acaully helps you out when like your taking a test or something, it isn't that bad. It also helps to put you to sleep." she shrugged and laughed slightly. " The only music I won't listen to is country."

"Why don't you like country?" he asked simply.

" I don't know." she shrugged and smiled. " It just isn't really my style."

He nodded. "I won't listen to heavy metal." he said kind of randomly after a moment's pause.

" I listen to it it's just not my favorite ya know?" she asked looking over to him. She sat up a little and sst indian style.

"Yeah..." That conversation seemed to be running dry. "What is your favorite music then?" he asked.

" Alternative." she answered simply. " You?"

"Rock." he said in reply, and then fell silent. He watched the elves scury about busily.

Amber watched him. She was bored and this was kind of akward. " Hey." she started then paused, bringing her hand to her mouth and chewing on her nail. "What do you say we go take a walk to the astronomy tower and watch the stars?" She asked looking over at him. " I do it often, it's quite beautiful." She shrugged.

"I bet it is. I've never been to the astromonomy tower just to watch the stars before. That could be fun." he said. Why not? It wasn't like he had anything better to do. He didn't plan on eating anything so there was no point to staying in the kitchen.

" Okay let's go." The girl jumped off the counter letting her feet hit the ground with a small smack. Her bare flesh was warm against the cold floor. She sighed and stood on her tippy toes trying to escape the cold.

A.J. made her way to the door and then looked back at him and smiled.

Jake stood and followed A.J. He was in a much better mood than when he had first arrived in the kitchens. He noticed that a few house elves grabbed the dishes they had left on the counter. He wondered absently what time it was. "I hope it's not too cold outside." he commented.


ooc: sorry i rambled a little

" It won't be." she smiled back at him and continued to walk out of the kitchens and into the hallways. It was chilly but not cold. A.J. liked to walk through the halls at night, it made her feel free and happy. She sighed. The girl spun around once and laughed slightly.

ooc; it's alright!

Jake walked beside her and was surprised when she spun around suddenly. He kept his tone even though, bo surprise showed when he spoke. "What was that for?" he asked, wanting to laugh as well but refraining from doing so.