The comfiest chair

Hester climbed through the portrait hole and walked into the empty common room late that evening and sat down in an armchair. It was supposedly the comfiest one in here, but right now she wasn't focussed on that. She was confused and annoyed.

Confused about Lavender. Very confused. She wasn't completely sure of the First Year's motives and she didn't like the way that she, Hester, seemed pretty much under the younger girl's control. But she liked her so much, it wasn't just a simple case of 'well leave be, then'.

She glared at the fire. It was dark outside, very dark, and it was late, or perhaps even early. She checked her watch; it was 1 AM. She wondered if anyone else would be awake. She wasn't sure she wanted to talk to any one right now, but it might be nice to have someone to take her mind off everything. She wondered if Gryffindor tower housed any insomniacs.

She returned her gaze to the glowing embers of the fire. Another detention. That was just her luck.

Ainslee walked through the portrait, a little freaked out that the Fat Lady in the picture was talking to her. Ainslee was a Muggleborn and not used to the wizarding world. So far, Ainslee thought everything was amazing. The talking pictures was another thing though.She knew it was late, but Ainslee couldn't find it in herself to care. She was just lucky that she hadn't been caught. It was 1am and Ainslee knew that if she had been caught wandering, she would be in trouble. But, she had a hard time sleeping and wanted to walk around to calm her nerves.

Noticing a redhead sitting on one of the couches, Ainslee smiled sleepily. "Hi," Ainslee breathed out while rubbing a hand over her eye. She sat down on the floor in front of the fireplace because she was shivering.

Ainslee smiled at the girl, noticing how her long hair was falling out of her braid. "I'm Ainslee James." Ainslee introduced herself, running her hands over her legs in an attempt to warm them.

"Hey," said Hester. She gave the girl a strained smile. "I'm Hester. You've been out late..."

She was curious as to what Ainslee had been doing since she herself had been out late as well. She wondered if the other girl had got caught, like her.

She yawned but she didn't want to sleep just yet. She didn't want to sleep but she didn't want to think.

"What have you been doing?" she asked.

Hester, Ainslee recognized with a grin, Lavender had mentioned something about a Hester. "Nice to meet you Hester. Lavender mentioned you." Ainslee replied, yawing after Hester had yawned.

"I get restless if I'm in a place I hadn't been before. I woke up and began wandering. I guess you could say I'm a bit of an insomniac. I get it from my mother." Ainslee explained, yawing again. Ainslee could remember her mother leaving the house in the middle of the night just to drive. It was something that the James' girls did.

"What about you?" Ainslee wondered, noticing how Leira had ran down the stairs. Leira, her kitten, jumped into her lap and began purring. Apparently, Leira had missed her.

Jen had been lying awake in her bed for a long time. She just couldn't get to sleep, no matted how hard she tried. All the other girls in the room were asleep, so she decided to go into the commonroom to read. She grabbed a book and headed toward the commonroom.

Once she got there, she saw two other girls sitting there, talking. That surprised Jen, because it was around 1am. She walked over to them and smiled. She did not reconize either one of them, but decided to say hi anyway.

"Hello, i'm Jennifer.. Do you mind if i join you?" She asked, smiling.

"Hi, I'm Hester," Hester said to the new girl who had just joined them.

"Lavender?" Hester mumbled, mainly to herself. "I was just-"

She stopped. She was still so confused.

"Well," she said to Ainslee. "I've been out all evening. Got caught, mind. A detention tomorrow morning; yippee."

She attempted a smile but it came out as a yawn.

Gwen came down the stairs in her red pyjamas her brown tresses wild and her blue eyes curious.
"Hiya Hes, hi girls. I´m Gwen, What´s up?" she smiled sitting on the chair next to Hester.
She stretched and took out a pack of redvines.
"Want some?" she offered smiling. In her minds eye she could see her Mother as a sixteen year old Gryffindor prefect sitting by the fire. Her laugh ghosted in Gwens ears and she blinked.
The sight was gone.
God this was annoying.

"Hey," said Hester, yawning once again. It was turning into a real party in here.

"What are they?" she asked Gwen curiously. She had never come across redvines before.

She yawned again, even bigger this time, and wondered what Lavender was doing. Would she be asleep by now, curled up in the Slytherin dormitory? Or would she be sitting awake in the common room, like she was? And was there anyone with her?

Ainslee was a little shocked when two other girls had came into the common room. It was turning to to be a real Gryffindor gathering, not that Ainslee minded. It was nice to be able to meet new girls.

"I'm sorry about the detention," Ainslee said honestly to Hester. Ainslee had yet to get in trouble, but knowing Ainslee, that could change within a second. Ainslee wasn't the best at being a goody-two-shoes.

One of the girls was named Jennifer, she was the first one to come into the common room after Ainslee. The second was Gwen, and Gwen was offering her Red Vines. The greatest candy known to man, in Ainslee's opinion.

"Hey Jennifer, Gwen. I'm Ainslee James." She introduced herself, as she began to stroke Leira's fur. Ainslee smiled at Gwen. "I would love somes!" Ainslee was a little surprised to see that a Wizard, besides Ainslee, knew about Red Vines. It was a little odd, but in a relieving way.

Hester smiled at Ainslee.

"It's my second," she said. "I just can't seem to stay out of trouble..."

She saw Ainslee accepting one of the redvines.

"What are those?" she asked, curiously. "I've honestly never seen them before."

She glanced around the room. There were so many people in here. She wondered if she should go up to bed since she had that detention to deal with in the morning (it was already the morning though) but she decided to stay a little longer.

Ainslee smiled at Hester. "They're licorice. Amazing Muggle candy. I used to eat it all the time with my brother. In fact, back at home, we would fling it at our neighbors. They were rotten little kids. I punched this one girl in the nose. That girl was pure evil." Ainslee shook her head at the memory.

"You should try 'em." Ainslee stated, smiling at the girls. "I love 'em." Ainslee explained. It was nice to meet some new girls. Especially ones that were in her own house. Ainslee was clueless to anything that had to do with the Wizarding world.

Emily wasn't really that tired anymore she had slept for a while and it was technically morning so she had decided to come to the common romm and read, not wanting to wake the others in her dorm. She didn't think abyone would be up at this time but she was wrong, thre were four girls sitting in the common room. She recognised Hester and Gwen and assuemend the other two were first years.

"Hello people" she smiled at them as she wandered over. "what are you all doing up at this time?" she wondered, grinning at them. "Im Emily by the way" she said.

"Well, they mustn't have sold them where I live," said Hester. She took one from Gwen who had offered them and tasted it gingerly with the tip of her tongue.

"Not bad," she said after a moment and then she ate the rest of it.

"So what year are you in, Ainslee?" Hester asked. "I've not seen you around that much."

Another girl joined them; Emily.

"Well, I never went to bed in the first place," said Hester. "I'm not sure why so many other people are here."

Ainslee smiled at the new girl that had walked in. It was starting to turn into quite the party. The more the merrier, Ainslee thought.

Looking at Hester, Ainslee undid her braid and ran a hand through her now wavy hair. "I'm a first year. Muggleborn too." Ainslee explained, feeling like she should be embarrassed. Yet, Ainslee wasn't embarrassed to admit that she was Muggleborn. She knew that these girls wouldn't care if she was Muggleborn. At least, Ainslee hoped they didn't.

Jen smiled at the other girls that had joined them. "Hi, i'm Jennifer." She told them. "First year, Halfblood." She added. She thought it was rather odd that all these girls were up at this hour, but she didn't mind at all. Talking was alot better then sitting in bed by herself.

In reply to Emily's question, she said. "I couldn't get to sleep. I don't really know why. I had come in here to read without disturbing anyone by turning the lights on, but i found that some other girls were awake, so i decided to join them."

"I'm third year," Hester told Ainslee. "And muggle born as well."

"We're starting quite a party in here," she said. "We should have balloons or something..."

She wondered if the pure bloods would know what she was talking about. At least she now knew there was at least one muggle born who would understand her random comments. This was her third year and yet she still found herself talking as if she was a muggle with no magical knowledge. It was hard to get used to.

Gwen smiled at the girl and ate a redvine hapily. Them EM came down and all tiredness was forgotten as she almost tackled Em in a hug.
"Hiya Em" she smiled.
She smiled at the other girls,
"Well I´m same as Hester only I´m pureblood. My Mom is Herbo teacher," she smiled. Immedietly feeling guilty for not having mentioned her Dad. Well everyone knew the Hrbo teacher was the Headmasters wife...so she didnt really need to mention it.
But she still felt guilty and she knew her Dad would be hurt if he knew.
"Andmydad´sheadmaster." she said quickly before eating another redvine.
"Want one Em?" she asked changing subject.

She grinned at Gwen "I am the same as Gwen here pureblood and third year." She still found it a little odd that so many people were in the common room at this time but oh well it was nice to have people to talk to so early in the morning.
She grined as |Gwen offered her a redvine, good to see that her friend hadn't changed much. "thank you" she said taking a redvine waiting to see how the others would react to what Gwen had said. She looked ut of the window, the dark sky was beging to lighten ever so slowly.

Jen was ssurprised at what Gwen had said. "Really, Gwen? Thats really cool." She smiled at her, before adding. "I love Herbology, its one of my favorite classes." Jen had always had a thing for Herbology. She really enjoyed it, and she seemed good at it too. Which was good. Its not very good to love something your bad at.

"Redvines.. I've never heard of those.." She said, thinking. Well, it can't hurt to try one.. She thought. She took one out of the bag and took a bite. It tastes rather good. "These are great, thanks." She chuckled slightly.

"Both your parents are teachers?" said Hester. "Must be cool to have them here at Hogwarts; you wouldn't really get homesick."

She smiled.

"Both mine are teachers except they're muggle teachers and they teach adults, so I never went to a school where they taught."

She yawned again, this one bigger than all of the others.

"I'm gonna stay down here for a little bit longer, but I might go up to bed soon, I don't want to be falling asleep in that detention tomorrow."

Ainslee smiled a little when the girls began mentioning their parents. "Yeah, that's pretty amazing that both you're parents are here. I would love it if my parents were able to come her with me. Only, they're both.. Muggles? Yeah, Muggles. My father is a casting director for BBC. Its a Muggle network on the telly." Ainslee explained.

Ainslee yawned after Hester yawned. Ainslee really was tired, but she knew that her sleep would be pitiful. "I wish I was able to go to sleep. Its so quiet here. I live in the city and the quietness here is unnerving." said Ainslee as she stroked Leira's fur. Ainslee then reached over to take a Red Vine out of the bag. Taking a bite, Ainslee felt a little bit better. It was like a little piece of home.

Gwen grinned but then looked confused.
"Whats a telly?" she asked. It sounded cool. "And yeah, but a lot of people get the wrong idea when they know who my parents are." she shrugged.
"And I´ll be up for a while too. Redvines and al." she chuckled.
"That and I´m wide awake now." she said her eyes taking on a mischievous spark.
Oooh.
Now she wanted to do something...crazy.
Like bungee jump off the astro tower..or throw pink balloons filled with glitter paint at slytherins or...or...or other things.

Hester saw the spark in Gwen's eye.

"Oh god, what have you got planned?" she asked, slightly worried, but excited at the same time. That was the look her little sister got before she did something outrageous.

Hester felt Atlas crawl out of her sleeve. He was the braver of the two mice.

"Hey, little one," she murmered, scooping him up into her hands and stroking his tiny nose. "Where's your little friend?"

As if on cue, Leo crawled out as well.

Gwen smirked,
"Well...bungeejumping is something I´ve always wanted to do.
And Gryff tower has just the right height..." she said before jumping up and going to the window.
Flicking her wand she summoned a long cord and charmed it so it was safe.
"Anyone want to join?" she asked tieing herself and the cord to a heater.

"I think I'll just watch you first," said Hester, yawning. "I'm tired and I already have one detention..." Then she grinned. "But if you make it back alive then perhaps I'll consider it..."

She watched and waited, wondering if Gwen was actually going to do the crazy stunt that she had proposed. Then again, it was Gwen. Why wouldn't she?!