[Corridors] Just For Tonight!

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

Even has Headmaster Dan could not get out of the small tasks that were forced upon every professor and Prefect, even the most torturous ones he still had to partake in and today was a prime example of this. The hands on his watch just hit one in the morning as the headmaster gave a small sigh as once again he wondered past the steps that led to the Astronomy tower. Dan was on patrol, but he was not complaining to much as at least it meant that he was sitting around in the office waiting for Dia’s lesson to end, at least this way he could pretend to be occupied.

Deciding that maybe he should wonder around the other corridors in the school (not just the seventh) Dan took a few shortcuts and soon found himself walking around the fourth floor corridor slowly humming to himself a little muggle song that just made him chuckle. It was one of those songs that people sang when they were alone but the lyrics just made you feel worse.

Rounding the corner that led towards the main entrance to the library Dan could not help it and he burst out into song. “All By Myself!” His words echoed around the empty corridor and the portraits that had been previously enjoying the silence of the dark corridor were soon rudely awoken. “Don’t wanna be, All by myself anymore!” his voice wavered on the long notes and cracked when he tried to sing too high then he was physically capable of. It was not the best singing in the world, it was the type that would not go amiss in a Karaoke Bar after someone has had a few too many drinks.

Strutting his way down the corridor Dan continued to sing at the top of his lungs, simply enjoying the fact he had the corridors to himself. “All By Myself!” he rounded yet another corner, that headed to the main stair case, he jogged down the few steps still singing away. “Don’t wanna live…” Dan jumped the last few steps landing on the landing of the third floor, dropping to his knees in an over dramatic way as he bellowed out the last word of the song. “by myself ANYMORE!!”

The problem was Dan was not alone, and as he raised his head, out of breath and grinning like a mad man the Headmasters eyes fell upon a very surprised looking individual in front of him.

[Erys Grace]

Returning from a private lesson with Professor Hanzel, one to educate her more thoroughly on the Dark Arts before her training begun, Erys Grace was walking through the hallway quite at ease, even smiling to herself with the serenity of it. Much nicer than how she was treated earlier, such bad manners at this school! The irony at the thought caused her to laugh, but the sound caught in her throat when she heard the sound of a dying potbelly pig reverberate through the halls. Or maybe it was a half-decapitated goose? Whatever it was, this this was dying, and singing "All By Myself" while they were at it. What kind of beast sung this particular tune? She had started to tune it out after turning a corner when she stopped short at the sight of Headmaster Hubbles on his knees, belting out the horrible, out-of-pitch notes that composed the song she heard earlier. She just hadn't expected it to be him or a human for that matter. Widening her eyes, Erys stood there staring for a second, incredulous and for a moment refusing to believe this moment.. It was too good to be true.

It was silent for a while after, her just staring at him with a blank look on her face before suddenly bursting out laughing. Hysterical, uncontrolled laughter that pushed tears from her eyes as she fell and clutched at her stomach. Whenever she tried to compose herself, stand and look at him, she just fell back down again, unable to stand even a glance without tears spilling down her face. Erys rolled to her side, fighting to breathe, knowing this had to be the funniest thing she saw all year. "You're.. You're such a good singer!" She said with the few breaths of air she had left, gulping a lungful before spewing it out with more laughter.

With that singing? "No wonder you're all by yourself!" Erys said between sobs, rubbing her aching stomach before laughter exploded from her once more.[/color]

[jodytameryn]

“I’ll send an S.O.S to the world”

She hummed along to an old muggle band called the police. ‘Message in a bottle’ was the song, and the lyrics spoke to Jode so much that she was on the verge of tears. She was crazy about music, it was her input and output, and she would always be humming something, but now her music player was broken and she was awaiting a replacement from her parents she had to make do with the noises in her brain. Not the best alternative, but if anyone ever paid attention to Jode, they would here she was quite musical, especially when she was equipt with her acoustic guitar.

As she wandered the castle, unsure if she should attend her Astronomy lesson late or just not turn up at all, she decided the latter, and took to stalking out the corridors just for the fun of it. She began to think of things back home, and what life would be like in a typical muggle school if she were attending. Would she still be how she is now, and was being a quiet muggle too little for people to notice in Hogwarts? There were so many thoughts clouding her mind, that she had no sense on where her legs were taking her. Rounding a corner, she ended up stopping at the sight of Headmaster Hubbles making his rounds and whistling a rather famous song known to her fellow muggleborns.

Grabbing onto her jumper sleeve, she stood staring at the headmaster as he continued to sing away. As he turned to face the petite frame of Jody Tameryn a small smile tugged at her lips. Seeing the sight of a slytherin nasty piece of work, she frowned slightly as the girl was laughing hard at the headmaster.

“When I was young, I never needed anyone. Making love was just for fun. Those days are gone”
She continued to sing after him. It was weird to say the words ‘making love’ to an adult, let alone a headmaster, but for a moment, she had interacted with someone and something she was familiar with, muggle music. Giving a smug look to the slytherin, it was quick and un-noticable before she leant against the wall.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

Of course a Slytherin was never the ideal person to come face to face with when you were having your own little karaoke moment and when she burst into fits of giggles things did not improve. But it seemed like he was not the only one singing in the corridors today as over the fits of laughter Dan heard the next verse of the song, turning his head, a small smile filling his face as he watched the Hufflepuff approach him. Pushing himself up to his feet Dan brushed the dust off his trouser legs before looking at the still laughing Slytherin.

“Well clearly Miss Grace I am not by myself.” Dan raised his eyes brows at her and gave her a small chuckle. “I mean in the matter of one chorus I managed to attract two students, I must be like the Pied Piper, but then that would make you all rats…”

A cheeky smile was filling his face as he stroked his stubble as he thought more on the matter; the mental image was rather disturbing; him with his bad karaoke singing leading all these students in their Pyjamas out of the school and to the forest. This rather strange movie that was playing in the Professors head made him over look the fact that there were in fact two students out of bed after hours standing right in front of him.

Snapping out of his own little dream world Dan turned to look at Jody, a small smile filling his face like it did with all his Hufflepuff’s. Jody was always a quiet one but from the few conversations they had shared she seemed a nice girl (although he would say that about every Hufflepuff in the school!) and at least he had someone other then Erys Grace to talk to.

“Good to see you know the old muggle classics Miss Tameryn…although I think that verse of the song suits me a bit more, I am almost double your age.”

Dan froze at that point as it made him realise how old he was getting, the fact that the first years were not even born when he had already left school was a very, very scary thought for the man.

[Erys Grace]

"... but then that would make you all rats…”

He said, and Erys bolted upright into a sitting position, pointing a finger at him and exclaiming, "Hey!" with a strange look on her face, and for a few seconds it was silent before her seriousness broke and she was on the floor laughing again. She couldn't give a toss if she was stared smugly at for the rest of the evening, she was having a blast just laughing on the floor. Though her ribs will probably hurt like nobody's business in the morning, so she best enjoy it while it lasted. She wasn't about to go cry herself to sleep because a biased Headmaster and an ickle PeachPuff preferred each other instead of her. No, Erys was a Slytherin and with that title came strength, prejudice, and responsibility, so long as you deserved it. She was built to handle this kind of behavior. Though she wasn't acting all tough now, still laughing on the floor and fighting to breathe.

Close to blacking out by now from the lack of air, the animagus managed to contain it, holding her breath and squeezing her eyes shut, flapping her arms like a deranged bird. After popping out of the laughing session, she jumped up, hyper and not really caring how it reflected on her. "ELLO TOAST!" She grinned doggedly, slapping her arm around Puff's shoulder and squeezing her close before releasing her. "Quite lovely singing, I must say." She commented seriously, eyes sparkling. Stumbling a little the Slytherin thought she must have had too few many a beer after her lesson, and wondered how on earth she made it all the way over here. Were was here anyway? "I'll be over there." She whispered conspiratorially to them, starting to walk off until she hit a wall, grunted, then tripped around it.

"Lesh go stripping!" Would be heard echoing down the hallway, as Erys tripped and laughed her way back to the common room. Hence exiting Erys from this scene, so on and so forth.[/color]

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

A Slytherin having a laughing fit was not something you saw everyday so Dan made sure that he took a mental picture of this moment. A Slytherin rolling around on the floor, to the point of not being able to breath, all over something as simple as his bad singing, he could not wait to tell Dia tonight! However the next thing that happened was completely unexpected. Erys stood up and Dan expected the yelling and screaming to start but instead she walked over to Jody and wrapped her arm around a shoulder, some would actually call that a hug. Then she started to spout out a load of nonsensical words and then talked to a wall.

All Dan could do was stand and watch as the Slytherin made her way down the corridor, laughing and talking to herself as she stumbled her way back to, what he guessed, would be the Slytherin Commonroom. Running his hand through his hair Dan just stared on in wonder until the echoes of Erys Grace vanished, it was only then did Dan turn around to look at Jody with a bemused smile plastered across his face.

“Was…was she drunk?” Dan glanced back down the empty corridor before looking back at the Hufflepuff. “That really has to be the weirdest encounter I have ever had with her.”

For a moment Dan thought about running after her as he almost thought she would not be safe to be around, a happy Erys Grace now that really would scare him more then the fake tough Slytherin façade did. With a small shrug Dan turned back to Jody just in time for everything to dawn on him. It was the middle of the night, and there was a student standing in front of him, but she was a Hufflepuff. With a small groan Dan glanced down at his watch and then back at the Hufflepuff.

“Miss Tameryn please tell me you have a good reason for being out this late?” Dan was almost pleading with her to come up with some viable excuse meaning he would not have to punish her.

[jodytameryn]

As Jody watched the spectacle unfold infront of her, she couldn’t help but be utter dumbfounded at Erys response to some casual singing. ‘Those Slytherins sure were nuts, that’s for sure’ she thought to herself as Eys neared her and in a funny sort of a way gave the hufflepuff a friendly gesture of a hug. The shock of it caused Jody’s heart to stop beating for a second before Erys walked off cackling, thus leaving Jody to take the rap of why she was out wandering the corridors alone at this time of night. ‘Great idea Jode, well done you moron. Okay, just tell the truth, you know he’s going to know anyway. Man, I hate confrontations’ she rushed the words through her head, feeling her cheeks burn up so much from awkwardness and embarrassment that she thought she might just pop her clogs then and there. Taking a deep breath, she inwardly cursed Erys for leaving her, even if she was a slytherin any company was welcomed right about now.

Gulping back a rather large dry lump that seemingly formed within a matter of seconds, she bit her lower lip slightly as her eyes searched around the perimeter of the headmaster, configuring a way on how to say she was here on her own at this time. The words would jumble up and she knew she would become tongue-tied.

“I, erm. Well I was late for class, and I was unsure whether I should disturb them or not” she blabbed. Her eyebrows raised and her hand threw itself out in defence into a ‘stop’ sign.
“I’m sorry Headmaster” she quickly apologised, hoping this didn’t land her in detention.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

A lesson at this time of night clearly would mean that it was Astronomy that she had missed and Dan found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place. Well the more he thought on the matter the more Dan knew what the right response would be, but then since when was Dan Hubbles ever one to follow rules? With a small grin Dan looked down at the small ‘stop’ hand sign that was being held out in front of him and he was finding it very difficult not to laugh too much.

“Miss Tameryn please just take a deep breath and relax. I will tell Dia…er…Professor Hubbles that you were with me. So you will not get into trouble with her and although I should strip your house of 50 points…it is Hufflepuff after all and I have a bias reputation to keep up.”

With a small wink at Jody Dan looked around the stair case and at the portraits on the wall who were all listening closely into the conversation, many looking rather disgruntled that they were not the witness to a fight. Looking at his watch one last time Dan noted that not much time had passed, he still had an hour to kill before he would skip the rest of his duty, (the thought of walking the corridors all night long was too much for Dan) he needed something to do.

“Would you care to accompany me Miss Tameryn?” Dan turned back to the fifth year and grinned at her. “We shall say it is your punishment for being out of bed after hours. Having to hang around with the Headmaster who just happens to know a few secrets about this school…I am guessing you have your wand with you?”

[jodytameryn]

Feeling and more than likely looking quite like a little lost lamb formerly owned by Bo peep, Jody bowed her head in shame at herself. Here she was fobbing the headmaster of all people off with an excuse, in which she never tolerated excuses nevermind anybody else. She wished she was just brave enough to walk into class late for once and deal with the few seconds of attention being on her instead of dealing with this embarrassment in front of the one person who would probably crucio her butt to Devon and back. Of course he wouldn’t, but Jode’s mind was always thinking the worst, and right now the worst thing that Headmaster Hubbles could do is send her into the class extremely late. The thought of it made her eyes well up slightly in embarrassment before she snapped herself out of her worry and awaited his decision on what he would give her as punishment, a decision in which Jody was definitely not looking forward to. Erys was definitely going to get payback one day for leaving Jode in the lurch. Narrowing her eyes slightly at the thought of the cackling witch skipping about the corridors freely without so much as a small punishment angered her.

As the crimson look didn’t suit Jody’s face, she did her best to clear her mind and to stop the blushing. Thrusting her hands into her hoodie front pocket, she nudged her wand to know that it was still there. Hearing him say something about taking 50 points off Hufflepuff for her actions, Jode lifted her head so quick it might of given her whiplash.
“Sir, please no. I couldn’t bare it” she exasperated interrupting him, her voice wavering as if it were teetering on the edge of a cliff. Realising he soon after said he would not, she rolled her eyes slightly in relief and gave a sigh of relief. She would be getting evil looks for weeks if they got docked 50 points, and she would have to lock herself away and cause more of a fuss.

Hearing her punishment, she gave a big grin at his compassionate attitude and friendly nature. He was sure going to get noticed one day for favouring Hufflepuffs, but Jody couldn’t be more glad of his favouritism right now, or being a Hufflepuff.
“Yes Sir” she said, tapping her belly to where her wand was laying hidden in her hoodie.
“In my hoodie, not my belly” she continued, realising that he could of mistaken her and that she may have eaten it.