[G.Hall] Not a Morning Person

[Alex Doyle]

As he sat down at the Ravenclaw table, clearly tired beyond anything as he had his robe on inside out, he tried to keep his eyes open and looked down at the pumpkin juice, with a sigh he spoke loudly, "I dont want juice I want coffee!" A professor came behind him and tapped his goblet turning it to coffee for him. "Thanks" he mumbled, however she failed to point out that he had his robe on inside out.

Alex sat there, his hands around the goblet with the coffee in, trying as hard as he could to keep his eyes open. He had mountains of work to get through this saturday afternoon that needed to be ready by monday and he didnt know how he could get through it all in this state. Alex was so tired, he didnt even realise his eyes were drooping until his head fell forward. Groaning he put his head in his hands, mumbling, "I hate mornings"

[Amara Conway]

To Amara it was a beautiful day: the sun was shining (which was a rare thing in Scotland), birds were singing outside and she was expecting something special in the post that day. Skipping into the Great Hall, Amara looked down the Hufflepuff table and saw her brother sitting with two other first years. She waved at him before striding along side the Ravenclaw table.

The smile that was on her face was wide and genuine. So many time she had seen people smile fake and plastic smiles but her joy that morning was radiant and bright. A real smile. There was a boy, sitting by himself Amara noted, with a frown on his face and nearly shut eyes. His discourteous mention of mornings made Amara decide he was going to have to put up with her that morning.

Sitting across from him, Amara grabbed three pieces of toast and put them on the plate in front of her. As she reached she said cheerfully, "and with that attitude I'm sure they hate you too." She giggled cheerfully and began to look at the range of jams and marmalades that were set out by the toast rack. "With a bit of food and ..." she craned her neck to look into the older Claw's goblet, "a whole lot of coffee, you'll be right as rain."

[Alex Doyle]

Alex drained his first goblet of coffee as it refilled itself into a second one. If he was even going to attempt to get through this day, and the mountain of homework he had, once again left to the last minute, he was going to need all the coffee he could get his hands on. He looked up the table and caught the eye of a fellow Claw, who grinned widely at him and waved a little. Younger years... He thought to himself. Alex woul have usually waved back, sometimes he knew how it meant for a younger year to get noticed by a seventh year, however, today he just couldnt be bothered by it.

Once more his eyes shut and his head fell forward, shaking his head and giving a roll of his eyes Alex tried to force himself to stay awake, however he was not prepared for what was about to come his way that morning.

He looked up for a split second at the person across from him, he knew her to be Amara, a fourth year in his house. Awfully cheerful lass which usually he laughed at in the common room. Usually Alex's cheefulness matched hers, but this morning, he was far too tired to cope with it. "Well I'd be glad to share my hatred with them" Alex mumbled as his eyes nearly closed once more. "Me and food dont mix well early in the morning, and I cant seem to keep my eyes open long enough to drink anymore coffee, and your awfully cheerful for such an early time" He commented as he forced his eyes open long enough to drink some more coffee, he knew by twelve he'd be bouncing off the walls on a caffiene high, right now he just wanted to curl up and go back to sleep.

[Amara Conway]

'Alex?' Amara almost shouted, with a broad smile on her face, 'right?' She was certain they had shared a laugh or two in the common room once or twice but being as terrible with names as she was she always checked. It took her almost a whole year to remember names of people in her own year who she saw every single day. It was much amusement to her trying to figure out peoples names but she was confident she had gotten it right this morning.

'Well, you can hate all you want,' Amara told the older boy, 'it's still not going to change that fact that it's a beautiful day.' She smiled and winked at him before puring herself a goblet of pumpkin juice. She took a sip before choosing the elderberry jam for one of her slices. She unscrewed the lid and began to spread a thin lay of jam on her toast, biting her tongue so the tip stuck out of the corner of her mouth. Such concentration to simply jam-ify a piece of toast; such a marvel she made it into Ravenclaw.

Putting her knife down, Mara took hold of her toast at the corner and took a small bit. Contentment spread across her face in a lazy smile. 'Pity,' she said slowly, 'food is always a good way to pick me up when I'm down ... at least I think it would be if I was ever down ...' She thoughtfully looked at the sealing to where the owls suddenly burst in, many carrying packages, parcels and letter. Amara dropped her toast and looked up expectantly, looking for the owl she knew would be coming.

As she waited she nodded her head. 'Course I am,' she said as though it was such a silly thing to say. 'Am I ever not?' She was teasing now because she knew the answer was no. At least she thought it was. Suddenly the owl she wanted to see came through on of the windows and flew around the Hall. 'Yes,' she said triumphantly. It circled twice before descending. Mara watched it closely and waited for it to land by her. But it didn't. It landed on the other side of the Hall, by her brother. 'Hm,' she grumbled. She wasn't upset just full of wonder as to why the owl had chosen her brother to go to. She shrugged and turned back to Alex. 'Rough night?'

[Alex Doyle]

Alex gave a tired smile when she almost yelled his name. Which in Amara's current state of cheerfulness, he was sure she would have been heard in California. "Yes, right. Alex. Thats me." Alex was known by one of three names, Alex, Lex, or Doyle. Nobody called him Alexander, and if they did, he'd go deaf until they called him one of the three names he responded by. He hated the name Alexander, he wouldnt even respond to Xander, which he was sometimes called too.

"Well I'll still hate it" Alex replied as he took another swig of his morning coffee, groaning when he thought of all the work he still had to do, he was tempted to put it off for another day, but if he did, he knew he would only be twice as stressed tomorrow. "Though I guess your right," He sighed looking through one of the owl holes, though squinting because the brightness hurt his eyes, "It is a nice day" Too bad I'll be spending it in the library.

"I didnt even think it was possible for you to ever be down" He half laughed. He never saw Amara frown, she never seemed to be in a bad mood. She reminded Alex a lot of himself sometimes, only the female equivalent. He knew Amara from all the laughs they used to have in the common room, usually at others expenses, not their own.

Alex sighed, giddyness and extreame cheefulness just wasnt helping him right now, in fact it was doing the opposite. "No, cant say you are" Alex answered quietly and let his head rest on the table, trying to keep his eyes both open and in focus. His vision kept going in and out of focus because he was so tired. "Rough few weeks" He told her, "Not been sleeping much" His eyes were trying to focus on the print that was on one of the books spines he had set down on the table, all he could make out was 'Modern' and 'Potions'. He knew if he didnt get this essay done, he'd be in for a right royal butt kicking off Vance.

[Antoinette Rouge]

Antoinette stepped down the stairs carefully, fully inspecting each individual step before putting her weight on it. Several times this morning, she had misjudged the distance from foot to stone, and gone lurching down, headfirst, arms windmilling. Reaching the bottom, Antoinette felt the urge to smile victoriously, but it takes quite a few muscles to do that, and she just didn't have the calories in her. Tucking a strand of blone hair behind her ear, Antoinette glanced around cautiously, then pulled a small mirror out of her pocket, glancing anxiously at her face in it. The circles under her eyes glared accusingly in her ivory face. A whispered "eradico" took care of that. She had managed to pull her rebellious curls back into a semi-sort of neat ponytail, and without the black circles, she looked relatively normal. Glancing down, Antoinette checked for the necessities: robe, shoes, wand...she looked like your average Hogwarts student.

Thank god.

If any of the teachers got a hint of...if anybody found out that....Antoinette shuddered, tucking the gleaming bit of mirror back in her bag. Her slender fingers fluttered over her eyes for a moment- how she would like to sleep. With something that resembled a grimace, Antoinette stepped into the noise and bustle of the great hall.

The amount of talk hit her like a high speed train. Resisting the urge to flee, flee like the wind, she continued on. She had the vague feeling of pushing against something, as though she were walking into a severe windstorm. When she spotted an empty seat, she immediatly took advantage, dumping her bag unceremoniously on the ground and placing herself, with slightly more grace, on the wooden bench. Look up, a huge pile of rolls was directly in her line of vision: resisting the urge not to gag, she grabbed a glass of water. It was delightfully cold- Antoinette had the fleeting thought of lifting it to her forehead.

Something nagged at Antoinette. Shooting a glance around, she couldn't quite put a finger on it...but something was definately...her blue eyes widened.

This was not the Gryfindor table.
This was the Ravenclaw table.
"Bloody hell. "Antoinette whimpered, resting her forehead against the wooden table. "Bloody morning hell."

[Amara Conway]

Perhaps she wasn't so terrible at names after all, or perhaps Alex was just an easy name to remember. Either way Amara had gotten Alex's name right and she was so proud of herself. Smiling a little broader and sitting a little straighter, Mara tucked into her breakfast of toast with elderberry jam and pumpkin juice. It wasn't anything special for the day that it was but she didn't mind. She had had a big breakfast the previous day and preferred a smaller breakfast.

Chewing ruefully, Amara nodded and smiled. 'Must be difficult,' she said through a mouthful before swallowing, 'being so old and sluggish as to not withstand a bit of pressure.' She chuckled to herself, thinking she was terrible, but in a good way. She had never understood why the older students, particularly the seventh years, looked so daggered and were, sometimes, so disorientated. She had never gotten lost in the castle, never missed a meal, never struggled with the work load. 'Though being a mere fourth year might explain it,' she thought aloud looking over her shoulder at her brother once more.

She noticed Alex had put his head down on the table and, thinking it was very funny, Amara did the same so she could look at Alex. She moved the bottles, jugs and plate out of the way by weaving her arm between them and moving them out of the way. 'There you are,' she grinned at Alex through the forest of breakfast stuffs. 'Thought I'd lost you there for a moment.'

All of a sudden there was a soft thud that came to Amara's ear through the wood of the table. Sitting up, Amara looked next to her and saw that a Gryffindor had found herself next to the fourth year Ravenclaw. 'Hi there,' she said with a big smile on her face. 'Also having a bad morning, are we?' Mara tilted her head so that she could see the girl's face properly. 'A little lost, maybe?' It was a surprise to her that she was being so nice about it. If it was any other time she was have teased and made fun of the Gryffindor. Maybe being around unhappy people was effecting her teasing? She shrugged to herself and took up her toast again.

[Alex Doyle]

"Usually I wouldnt find it so difficult" Alex told her, "S'Just with the whole not sleeping thing and leaving everything right down to the last minute, things have gotten ontop of me" He sighed and closed his eyes, nearly drifting off he quickly opened them again. "Maybe I should go for a walk, air might wake me up quicker than coffee"

Alex opened his eyes in time to see Amara move things out of the way so she could see him, the corners of his mouth twitched up in a smile as he couldnt help but find that amusing. "I'm not that easy to lose" he laughed, "If i was dont you think people would have been doing it long ago?" Smiling he risked closing his eyes for a brief moment.

Looking over the top of Amara, Alex noticed a Gryffindor, "Gryffie's tables over yonder" he said, pointing behind him. "I doubt she's lost Mara. She's... Sixth year I think" He looked at the blonde and gave a small smile, "Maybe she's just having a bad morning like me?"He smiled at the Gryffindor and with a shrug added, "You're welcome to stay there if you like." He yawned and nearly closed his eyes again. He hated mornings with a passion.

[Amara Conway]

Amara had to laugh when Alex admitted to leaving everything to the last minute. How unlike her he was. Amara was the kind of person to do what she was given when she was given it. The Astronomy essay she got at one o'clock in the morning was completed by two. The Transfiguration questions from the text book was done in the following class because she was ahead in Ancient Runes do had time to spend. She knew it was a good game plan as it left her feeling virtually stress free and wide awake, on the most part.

'Walks do wonders,' she said slowly, chewing the last piece of her toast. 'Though I'm not so sure so much coffee is good for you. But that's just me.' The wood was cold against her face and she smile as Alex actually looked at her, made eye contact and everything. She smiled wider just because of that. 'I don't think they would have,' Amara said with thoughtful enjoyment. 'You're far to much fun to have around for that to happen.'

Reaching for a jar of tomato jam and spread that in the same concentrated fashion she had the previous toast. Tiiiiing and the knife was back on the plate and she was munching away at her toast. As Alex spoke about the Gryffindor, Amara nibbled on her toast and looked at the girl. Sixth year? Possibly. Lost? She was sure of it but Alex seemed to think otherwise. But one thing they agreed on and that Amara nodded emphatically to. 'Yeah, sure,' she said, 'stay.'

[Alex Doyle]

"Well my problem is I dont have the get up and go, to get up and go on a walk" Alex sighed as his head rested lazily on his arms on the table. "I dont even have the get up and go to lift my head up" Though he eyes looked longingly for the coffee that was in his goblet, he knew ttoo much of the stuff would send him crazier than too much sweets, and everyone who knew Alex knew not to give him too much sweet stuff.

Alex gave a little smile, "Prove me wrong but im not much fun this morning am i?" He sighed, he had so much homework to do and he was really tempted to just leave it and say a wolf ate it or he was abducted by aliens who stole his homework and didnt return it when they returned Alex. Though he knew the likes of Vance would not accept such stupid excuses. "I just wish i could wake up properly"

((Sucky post I know, I apologize))

[Amara Conway]

Amara grinned wickely while watching Alex out of the corner of her eye. She was pouring water into her goblet as the pumpkin juice jug had emptied. She liked water and some called her strange for that. There were many other reason people called her strange but at the moment that one came to her mind. She sipped her water and looked at Alex waiting for him to say the magic words.

'Oh, I don't know,' Mara said slowly, her wicked grin still strewn across her face, 'when people are dead tired they're often more irritable and the more fun for me.' She raised her shoulder quickly and giggled a little. She enjoyed annoying people; she seemed to be good at it so she liked doing it. She put her goblet down and picked up her half eaten piece of toast. She munched on it for a moment before Alex did say the magic words.

Amara's eye lash flickered. 'You would, would you?' she asked slowly as though she were building up to something. 'Well...' she said, slowly reaching for her goblet, 'here!' She threw her water into Alex's face, a good shot too. Setting her empty goblet back on the table, Amara took a bite of her toast.

[Alex Doyle]

((Quality Ending by the way! )

Alex yawned for about the seventieth time that morning. He just couldnt wake up no matter what he tried. All things were telling him to forget today and spend it in bed, though he knew he couldnt do that. He must stay awake no matter what he did, even if he had to go and jump naked into the lake and float there, shivering. That thought made him shiver.

Alex's eyes were closed and he hadnt even realised until Amara began to speak again. Opening one eye lazily he looked at her, "You find irritable, grouchy people fun?" He questioned, "You are strange" Though he couldnt help laughing, he liked strange in a person, it made them all the more interesting. The smell of toast was going up his nose and making him feel sick. With a groan he closed his eyes again.

Before he even had a chance to ask what she was planning, he already found out. A goblet emptied itself, by Amara's hands, into his face as he felt very cold water thrown at him. "Argh!" He yelled and shook his head, though as he made to jump up, his legs caught behind the bench and he ended up falling backwards. Luckily for him, though dripping wet through now, he had put his hands behind him breaking his fall, though he still managed to find himself lay on his back with his legs over the bench. "Thanks for that" He mumbled, though found himself surprisingly alert.

[Amara Conway]

((why thank you))

Mara's cunning plan panned out better then she had expected. Alex fell over backwards, his feet ending up in the air and Amara laughed out loud. She stood up and peered over the edge of the table at Alex lying on the floor with a broad smile on her face. He looked annoyed with her but she didn't mind as that was usually the look on people's faces when she was around. She had come to look to get that reaction out of people and enjoyed getting them worked up over silly things.

Sitting down again and choosing the strawberry jam jar, Amara twisted the cap off and put it down while saying, 'you're most welcome.' She took her knife and looked at it. It was covered in other jams. She pulled her nose up at it for an instant before putting it down and taking the knife of the unoccupied place next to her. She scooped some jam out and spread it thinly over her last piece of toast.

As Amara picked up the toast and held it up, she looked over at where Alex had been sitting. She stretched her neck to try and see him but didn't. Looking back to her toast, Amara bit into it and chewed vehemently. After refilling her goblet with water, Amara asked cheekily, 'have you fallen asleep down there?'

[Alex Doyle]

Alex lay on his back on the floor, aware of other peoples eyes on him too but Alex didnt really care much. Sighing he pulled himself to his feet after hearing Amara's comment, "No, I didnt fall asleep" He gave her a small smile and raised his eyebrows at her. "No matter how tired I am it would be hard to fall asleep on a cold marble floor where people are going to trample all over you"

He went behind her and put his arms underneath hers, "Right, up ya come!" He said pulling her, "Since you've now woken me up, you can drag your butt down to Hogsmeade with me." He gave her a smile while nodding out of the door, people were still watching him, and his hair was still dripping wet from the water she had thrown on him. "Then you can help me get through my homework," He stuck out his tongue at her, "Looks like you're stuck with me for the day miss"

[Amara Conway]

When Alex stood up, Amara looked at him with very put-on surprise. Still chewing, Mara giggled, "oh there you are. I'd wondered where you'd gone." She laughed at the thought of losing someone just because you couldn't see them. No matter what her brother thought it was possible to be so confused that you lost someone who was with you only moments before. Being an older sister, Amara knew that fact all too well having been dumped with her brother many times she had gone out for the day.

Amara took another bite of her toast. She had purposefully left the strawberry jam for last as it was her favourite. Anything strawberry was divine and heavenly to her and she would have sold her left foot for a nice bushel of strawberries had she not known that having a left foot worked terribly well when accompanied by a right one. So strawberry jam sufficed on her toast instead of actual strawberries.

It was only when Alex mentioned people looking that she realised that people were looking at them. Looking up and the table and behind her at the other tables, Amara smiled broadly at them. If they wanted to look it was their business but she would make it worth their while. Some looked away when she smiled at them, others smiled back but whichever they did Amara laughed at them. People were always interested in what others were doing and she found it funny.

Suddenly an arm was wrapping itself around her under her arms. Naturally it was Alex's arm. The shock quickly faded and was replaced with a girlish giggle as Alex pulled her to her feet. "What are you doing, you crazy space monkey?" she demanded, trying to put her feet under her. She listened to his proposition with an excited grin on her face. "Are you sure you want me for the whole day?" she asked slyly. "It's just that you'll get sick of me rather soon, I promise you that." Amara didn't mind going with him but she wondered if it was really what he wanted.