Food and Friends (Haylen)

Surrounded by busy house elves, Tristan sat at the table, munching on the piece of cake that they had brought him. He knew that they technically weren't allowed down here, but it was a quiet place, and the company nice. In fact, Brooke had been the one to tell him about it, although she made him promise not to let others know; as a prefect, she knew she shouldn't be condoning this, but she figured that it wasn't too bad as long as you respected the house elves.

At first, he hadn't known what to expect, but the politeness of the odd creatures brought a smile to him, and now he was a regular, frequenting the kitchens almost every other night. Curfew was not for another couple of hours, so he had of intention of leaving any time soon. "Could I please have a glass of water?" he asked, not directing it to a particular elf, and within seconds, three pairs of hands were holding out a glass each. With a soft giggle, he took one at random. "Thank you," he said, remembering Brooke's teachings: they were not servants, but helpers, and everyone - no matter what species - deserved kindness.

He heard the door opening and turned around sharply, wondering who it was, and hoping it was not someone who could get him in trouble.

Haylen opened the door to the kitchen, hoping to get something small to eat before dissapearing into her room for the rest of the night. She opened the door slowly and waved to the house elves. Her eyes widened when she saw another person in the kitchen. She'd hoped to not have to run into anyone so that she could leave as quickly as she came in. Something in her mind told er to just leave, hopefully the boy wouldn't notice that she had ever been there, but instead she walked up to him.

"H-hi," she stuttered quietly. "Sorry. I didn't know that anybody else was down here. I'll leave if you wanted to be in here alone." Haylen crossed her arms across her chest and let out a small sigh. She hated how awful she was around people, but frankly, she didn't know how to act any differently.

A Hufflepuff girl entered, and he recognized her from a few of his classes, although he had never spoken to her before. "Hello," he said shyly, but with a smile.

"Sorry. I didn't know that anybody else was down here. I'll leave if you wanted to be in here alone."

His intentions had been to be alone, but she looked nice, and he decided that a little company was fine, just as long as no one else showed up. One person he could handle, but not more than that. "That's fine. You can uh, join me, if you want," he replied, motioning to a free seat opposite him. "I'm Tristan," he added. "What's your name?"

"H-Haylen," she replied with a slight smile, sitting down in the chair. She had seen Tristan in a few of her classes, but she'd never really tried to be social in classes. She nervously let out a quiet laugh and pushed a dark lock of hair behind her ear.

"Do you come down here alot?" she asked him. "I come for a snack every now and then. Sometimes I just like to talk to the house elves. I know that probably sounds really strange, but they're actually very good listeners. I find it much easier to speak to them than the students."

'Shut up Haylen,' she thought to herself. 'He doesn't want to hear your life story.'

"H-Haylen,"

"Nice to meet you," he replied, actually meaning it. It wasn't as awkward for him to start a conversation as it had been when he first came, but he was still getting used to it. He took another bite of cake before realizing he hadn't offered her anything - as were taught to him by his parents - and he flushed red. "Uh, do you, um, want anything?" he asked, looking shyly away.

"Do you come down here alot?"

Nodding, he admitted, "I do, but don't tell anyone. We're not really supposed to." At her second statement, he laughed slightly. "You're right, they are easy to talk to. Too bad a lot of people don't think that way." He smiled at her, glad that he found someone besides Brooke who understood how he felt.

"Maybe just a glass of water," Haylen shrugged. "That's pretty boring, I know. I probably could have just gotten it from a sink." Her deep blue eyes had a look of embarrassment in them as Haylen spoke. "Sorry I'm not really used to talking to people this much," she told him. She looked around at the house elves and then back at Tristan...

"We're not supposed to come down here?" She asked. Haylen thought about all of the times she'd come down to the kitchen the past few years, whether o get a snack or just have a conversation with the elves. "I guess that's why not many people come here. I just thought that this wasn't a very popular place for people to hangout."

"That's pretty boring, I know. I probably could have just gotten it from a sink."

Grinning, he added, "Would you like to try the cake? It's really good." Before she could even reply, a house-elf had already gotten her a plate and set it, along with the glass of water, on the table in front of her. "Oh, thank you," Tristan said to him, chuckling at their over eagerness.

"Sorry I'm not really used to talking to people this much,"

"Me neither," he admitted, a blush touching his features. "But I'm getting better!" At her comment about the kitchens, he nodded. "My sister's a prefect and she told me so. But it's not that bad if you're nice to the house-elves, I guess."

Leaning back in the chair, he smiled at her again, wanting to continue the conversation, but not knowing how. Usually it was the other people who asked him questions that he could just answer and repeat back, but he had quickly realized that the Hufflepuff was as shy as he had been when he first came - which meant he would have to be the one to initiate if their conversing were to carry on. Thinking through all his previous meetings with people, he picked a common question that he heard. "What year are you in?" he asked softly, not very confident in that moment.

"Oh! Uhm thank you," Haylen said to the house elf, staring at the piece of cake in front of her. "I'm a t-third year," she answered. "And you?" Haylen gently grasped a silver fork and stabbed the slice of cake. Plopping a small piece into her mouth, she smiled. "You were right," she told Tristan. "This is really good cake."

"It's really cool that your sister's a prefect. What house is she in? Oh I should probably ask wat house you're in too!" she laughed. "It'd be strange to only ask what house she's in. She's not even here. I'm a Hufflepuff and I'm going to stop talking now."

Haylen's gaze darted from Tristan to the piece of cake. 'For someone who's afraid of being social you sure do talk alot,' she thought.

"And you?"

"Second," he started, pausing before he continued. "But I'm thirteen, not twelve." Not knowing what to say to her comment, he merely smiled, taking another bite of his own cake and washing it down with the water.

"What house is she in? Oh I should probably ask what house you're in too!"

Confused, he glanced down, wondering why she had to ask. Surely his green robes would have told her? "Ohh," he muttered to himself as he saw a plain t-shirt staring back at him; he forgot that he had changed into something more comfortable before coming down to the kitchens. "I'm a Slytherin," he finally said, looking back up at her with a smile. "My sister is a Gryffindor." With a chuckle, he said, "You'd think there would be some rivalry, but there isn't."

Another question popped into his head and he debated for a few seconds before deciding that he'd just go ahead with it. "So, uh, what subjects are you taking?" Merlin, keeping a conversation going was harder than he thought.

"Oh uh I'm taking Herbology, Muggle studies, and care of magical creatures, or at least those are the only classes that I actually enjoy taking. I really like nature and animals. Muggle studies is interesting because everyone has so many different views on Muggle,." she replied. Haylen could tell that the conversation had very little potential to keep going without getting extremely awkward, but she continued to talk anyways.

"And you?" she asked, trying to keep the conversation alive. She took another bite of the cake and a small sip from the water. "What classes do you take and which classes are your favourites?"

"Nice," he commented. "I might start to take CoMC, but I'm not sure yet. I'm taking Muggle Studies, DADA, Herbology and Potions, currently." Pausing, he thought about the different subjects. "I don't actually have a favourite yet. I'm still trying out the subjects. They're all new to me."

He finished the last bite of cake and frowned into the empty plate. "I'm still hungry," he joked, grinning at her. "What do you normally eat?" In all honestly, Tristan was not actually hungry, but the girl before him had spiked his interest level, and this was the only way he knew how to keep things going.