[Kitchens] Fill the void! (Ariel/Open)

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

If someone arranges an all day meeting you would thing that food would be provided seeing as you would be there all day, but clearly the Minister of Magic and his little gang of colleagues had another idea and when they said all day meeting they meant and all day meeting. The discussions just went on and on, Dan trying to defend the school while he was being questioned by all these proud men who did not know a thing about running a school, but then saying that Dan was still a newbie at it all.

So as the clock chimed seven Dan Hubbles stumbled into the Entrance Hall of the castle, his jacket was dragging on the floor behind him causing passing students to give him a few strange looks…it would be safe to say Dan was exhausted. He could just collapse in bed right now and sleep till lunch time tomorrow if it was not due to two things, the fact that his bed was in the tallest tower of the castle and the fact his stomach was rumbling louder then a dragon.

This was why Dan now found himself slumped at one of the tables in the kitchen, a crowd of house elves around him trying to offer the headmaster everything they had but the problem was he had rested his head on the table, his eyes were closed and Dan was now drifting off into the land of nod.

(Sorry not the best start in the world but it is something hehe)

[Ariel Trenton]

Today had been a good day. And in Ariel's mind today could be classified as a great day! The term was inching faster and faster and she realized that sooner than she knew it, she, Ariel Trenton, would be teaching Occlumency. She shivered at the thought, but at the same time she was so proud and couldn't wait. Ariel had been in high spirits all day and smiled at whoever had past. All morning she was in her office putting together more lesson plans, but after lunch, which she skipped, she was out and about.

Ariel was dead set on speaking with Headmaster Hubbles, but when she got to his tower, she was told he was out. Well, after all the talk and disappointment it was now around seven. Seeing that Ariel had pretty much missed breakfest, lunch, and now dinner, her feet took her to the Kitchens. Ariel adored the House Elves and the usually helped her out when she missed her meals.

She stumbled into the Kitchens and noticed that the Headmaster was slumped over one of the tables. The house elves came and asked her what she wanted. She responded with cook a surprise for her. The scurried away. Ariel tapped the headmaster on the shoulder and waited. He looked about dead, but if he had been out and about all day then he must have been exhausted.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

In his dream Dan was lying back in the beach in Jamaica, carefree and able to relax with his wife. That was his idea of perfection right there, his happy place where he would often find himself dreaming about almost as if his body was trying to get him to de-stress. As Dan watched the perfectly blue ocean lap onto the golden sands he felt a tap on his shoulder, but as he turned around no one was there, the tap happened again and…

With a start Dan woke up, he breathed in deeply (which was more of a snort then anything) and opened his eyes really wide as if forcing himself to stay awake. The side of his face felt numb from there is had been lying on the hard wooden surface of the table and his hair was just a mess. Giving his stiff neck a rub Dan looked around to see that there was someone standing behind him this time, the new Occlumency Professor.

“Evening.” Dan muttered, his mouth bone dry from snoozing with his mouth open. “How long have you been standing there?”

It may have seem a very strange question to be asking but Dan could not help but feel slightly embarrassed at being seen sleeping in the Kitchens. It was something he used to do when he stumbled in from the pub intoxicated with alcohol not normally due to fatigue, now that was a new experience for Dan.

[Ariel Trenton]

It had been five or so minutes and Ariel was starting to think the Headmaster had died. She took a seat in front of him at the table, when the House Elves arrived with her food. She smiled, patted them on the back, and thanked them. She took a bite and told them how excellent it was. Her day just couldn't get any better. Ariel ate her dinner piece by piece, bite by bite.... the perfect way to eat it.

Soon after she was all done with her meal, the house elves came to take it away. Abruptly the Headmaster woke with a start. He jumped, rattled, and snorted. Ariel's head shot up to look at him with this happened. She figured he was in a wonderful dream and her tappings woke him. She wanted to apologize, but guessed it was unneeded.

“Evening.”

Ariel just stared. She had to say something, but what. All she wanted to say was: Oh my goodness Headmaster... quite the dream eh, what an uneasy way to start the evening; but Ariel knew that that would be inappropiate. She smiled and said,"Evening to you too!" That would do it; not to weird, but happy.

“How long have you been standing there?”

Headmaster Hubbles, in Ariel's opinion, seemed rushy on this question. He wanted to know the answer and she didn't blame him. It must have been quite embarassing to be found sleeping in the kitchens. She giggled and in her head counted how long she had been in here. "Oh sir, don't worry only ten minutes!" She smiled, just ten minutes, that was a long time!

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

For a while Dan and Ariel just seemed to look at one another, the former blinking sleep out of his eyes trying to focus while the later seemed lost for words. Finally she gave a rather polite hello and answered his question…although it was not what he had been expecting.

“Ten Minutes” Dan gasped as he looked up at his fellow staff member, letting out a deep breath the man ran his fingers through his hair forcing it to spike on end more then usual. “I hope you have not been standing their just watching me?” He teased slightly, Dan new he was quite the good looking man and his vanity normally shone threw from time to time.

With a loud sniff and a small cough to try and clear his throat a bit more Dan looked around the kitchens with slightly blurred vision to see a plate in front of him with the traces of food upon it. Clearly Ariel had done something else other then watch him, although he could not blame her if he did, Dia always said that even when he slept with his mouth hanging open he was handsome and Dan was not one to argue that fact.

The Headmasters gaze returned back to the Occlumency Professor and offered her a small smile to go with it. When he became head he had made a promise to himself that he would try to be sociable with every member of staff at some point or other, he did not want to be seen as their superior, heck half of them where properly better suited to this job then he was but he was not complaining…yet anyway.

“So how are you today then Ariel?” He asked causally while reaching out across the table for two goblets and a bottle of red wine that was hurriedly brought over by one of the house elves.

[Ariel Trenton]

This was a pleasant, but quite boring meeting with the Headmaster. Ariel had planned on meeting most of the staff members and getting to know them well enough to become friends with them. But if they were al like this one she wasn't sure she wanted to. Dan and herself just sat across the table from one another like idiots not saying a word. That was until he freaked out and said:

“Ten Minutes”

Ariel smiled at his splutter. This seemed to come to the poor headmaster as a shock. Smiling Ariel said,"Well Daniel, can I cal you that? It wasn't that bad. But if that's how all men sleep i'm not so sure I want to get married." Ariel laughed and watched his face go a deeper color again.

“I hope you have not been standing their just watching me?”

Giggling Ariel watched as Dan's face went back to it's normal color. "Oh no I've better things to do: think and the wonderful house elves cooked me some food..." Ariel said hoping it sounded believable; 'cause it was. He went quiet for a second and seemed to be lost in thought, but then he snapped back into action.

“So how are you today then Ariel?”

This caught Ariel off guard. It had been so quiet. What was she to say. Daniel started to get glasses and the house elves brought him a bottle of wine. "I'm doing fine thank you. How about youself." Ariel asked. Ariel didn't drink no matter what. Never had as a student and didn't plan to as an adult. But how to tell the Headmaster that? She decided that when he started pouring she would tell him.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

For some the Kitchens may not have seemed the most amazing of places for two people to met and have a conversation, but for Dan there was no better place. This room was a the house of many happy memories for the man, there were many places which he could point to where things had happened to him, after all in one spot he had been slapped and kissed in the matter of seconds…those were good times.

“You can call me whatever you like, but most people normally stick with Dan.” He offered the professor a small smile only for it to turn into a laugh as she mentioned about how men sleep. “Oh no, not all men sleep like that; most are a lot worse then me.”

Dan continued to listen to what Ariel had to say, her confirming how she had been doing other things and enjoying the hospitality of the house elves. They really were amazing creatures and Dan would do anything for them, heck he put them first then most of the students in this school as without them the school would fall apart.

“Well I am glad to hear your well.” Dan commented and he pulled the cork out of the bottle of wine and began to pour them into the goblets. “And I too am well, other then the want to curl up in bed and sleep for a week but sadly I know that is not going to happen.”

Dan automatically started to pour wine into the other goblet, carefully making sure not to spill any of the fine Italian wine. After both goblets were full Dan ran his finger around the rim of the wine bottle to stop any drips and placed the bottle back on the table.

[Ariel Trenton]

[[Sorry Liz, I do appologize for taking so long to reply to this. Just got through a horrid move to Ohio and well heck I was out of muse! Anyway I remembered I had created poor Ariel and decided to use her and then realized we had a thread! Hope it doesn't suck too bad! Thanks for waiting!]]

It was a bit dim in the room and Ariel wasn't much of one to spend most of her time in dark lit places. She was usually out in the sunlight or in her office. She always made sure that her chamber had many windows, so she could see out and enjoy as much of the world as possible. Although Hogwarts is quite the gloomy and dark place and called a castle, Ariel was pleased to come back. Many of her childhood memories consisted as being a student here, but believe it or not, as happy as she is, the majority of her time she spent down here. Not only was it quiet and you could think, but the house elves always treated you to something nice.

Stick with Dan? Well Ariel didn't like nicknames much. Her's was always Ari, but it was so unoriginal and didn't make since. What did 'Ari' mean anyway, so what they just took off a few letters that doesn't make it a nickname. "Well good 'cause I prefer to call you Daniel... nicknames aren't really my thing." Ariel responded as the headmaster began to laugh. Apparently she made him laugh. Awkward, because Ariel wasn't much of a jokester or jester, just a normal person. Anyway this wasn't much of a conversation going her way. "Then I definetely don't want to get married..." Ariel joked. She was very young and hadn't really met the guy she wanted yet, so marriage wasn't in the subject yet. She laughed along with him for a moment or two, then her eyes went toward the wine bottle again.

"Thank you, I'm also glad too hear that you are doing fine as well," Ariel added. She felt like his echo, but what more was she supposed to say. Ariel barley knew Headmaster Hubbles, but she planned on knowing him better. Her eyes were spinning. Could he really be pouring her crap that could kill her. Ariel wouldn't drink it. Only pretend yea that sounded good. The two cups were already full of the fine liquid, that Ariel would not be tasting, and he returned the bottle back to the table. "I completely would be doing the same thing too!" she agreed and continued to stare at the wine trying to not make it too obvious!

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

There is always the awkward when you first met someone properly, Dan always called it the ‘getting to know ya’ stage which for an over confident and cocky man like him was a very simple thing, but for others it provide to be more challenging. There was only one person that Dan could recall having trouble talking too and as a result ended up spending the first few conversations with them talking about all the varieties of tea…in fact they still talk about the different types of tea.

Swirling the wine around in the goblet Dan studied the waves of red liquid as they tried to climb the outside edges and break free of the boundaries. When you were younger your parents would always tell you never to play with your food or blow bubbles into your drink with a straw and they where Dan’s favourite past times! He found it therapeutic to see the swills of the patterns and it just enhanced his enjoyment of the alcohol, although as any Hubbles would tell you, nothing could compare to the taste and thrill of drinking it…any form of alcohol for that matter.

After the first few sips Dan lowered his goblet, refreshed and taste buds buzzing, and looking at Ariel and the untouched glass of wine. A small amused smile filled his face as he carefully placed his drink down upon the table.

“You don’t drink do you?” He made this statement almost as an apology. It vexed him how little he knew about someone, let alone someone who he worked with, heck someone he hired! “I am sorry. Most adults in the school drink, I should not have assumed…I mean your new, the students have not broke your will and sanity yet.” All this was said with a smile on his face showing he neither meant nor took any offence.

“You’re going to have to tell me more about yourself then to stop such things happening again!”

[Ariel Trenton]

Awkward. Ariel didn't find herself being too childish when it came to meeting new people, but it wasn't her speciality. For some odd reason it came easier to her to talk to the students and become enthralled with them instead of people her own age. She never understood why, but just went with the flow. After being hired by Daniel Hubbles, she never once took the time to go and meet him, so here they were in the kitchens having a candle lit "get to know you' conversation. Not exactly the brightest, but it would have to work. So far Daniel was the only one she knew, but didn't even know, really know him anyway. So Ariel considered herself a loner. She would rather spend her time mezmerized by the nature of the outdoors or going around catching kids with banned substances and this and that, but Ariel found out she couldn't hide from it forever. So she was taking a chance.

She watched as Headmaster Hubbles 'played' around with his wine. It made her sick inside to know that he enjoyed that. It was crazy! Didn't they realize that one more sip they could be dead on the floor, or that they will have a shorter life span than other people? Maybe it hadn't occured to them, but for Ariel... she took it to heart. Ariel gazed at the liquid in the goblet in front of her. She couldn't even pipe up the courage to fake drink it, because in the end he will still know she refuses to drink the death liquid, because all of the substance will still be there. She giggled to herself. What a strange idea in the first place.

Daniel looked up and laughed an appology that she didn't drink. It was curious how he had assumed that she was like everyone else, for God's sake she was a caretaker, but it was normal for people to do that. Ariel smiled as she felt her cheeks go cherry red. "No sorry, I don't drink," Ariel accepted his appology and was quite embarassed, but it felt good to know that he really didn't mind, even though it was quite an odd trademark for someone not to drink even the red wine.

Now he wanted to know more about her. That's more like a conversation, but what did she say? Just go off on all of her favorite things? Nah! "What do you want to know?" Ariel asked,"I have even more weird things about me than not drinking!" She laughed. It was better she tell him what he wanted to know than waste his time on stuff he could care less about.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

Now that was a question and a half. Normally when Dan asked someone to tell him more about themselves (admittedly it used to be a very rubbish but very used chat up line of his) the girl normally went into overdrive telling him about her whole life and him being well trained at the art would nod his head and gasp at the right moments making it seem like he was listening. But this time around Ariel had thrown a question back at him that he; yes he Daniel Hubbles had no idea how to answer. “What do I want to know?” Dan repeated the question out loud just to make sure he had heard it right. What did he want to know?

Maybe more reason into why someone turned down alcohol (which to him was just craziness beyond belief), or what she did before coming to Hogwarts, hobbies, favourite books or even her opinion of the current rumours of a new Goblin uprising? There were millions of possibilities of questions he could ask and she was asking him to just pick one.

“Go on then,” Dan began with a wide grin, placing his goblet down on the table. “what other weird habits do you have other then drinking as in my opinion that has to be the ultimate…although my wife my say that is because I am an alcoholic.” He gave a soft chuckle at this last statement. It of course was not true, well Dia did from time to time call him an alcoholic but he was not one at least not anymore.

[Ariel Trenton]

Her stomach was twisting and turning as the red liquid in her cup, otherwise known as wine, swirled causing different shades of red to emerge out of one another. She felt like puking as her boss continued to talk about alcohol like it was no big deal. But for Ariel it was the worst sort of stuff that somebody ever created, worse than cigarettes. At the time of her parent's death it hadn't seemed like that big of a deal, but now that she thinks about it alcohol is the reason that they are dead and that thousands upon thousands of people are dying around them. Ariel sighs at her thoughts and wishes they would leave her alone.

Death was a hard subject Ariel to talk about seeming as if her parents died from it and a few of her sisters were addicted it never seemed right for her to get caught up in it as well, but show other the right way and how not to abuse it. It seemed silly yes, but offly right to her!

Now that she had thrown the question out about what he wanted to know, Ariel soon regreted it. She also had mentioned about her other quirks other than not drinking alcohol and she somehow had to come up with a bunch. She didn't know he'd want to know that... she had thought that she would just mention them as they were talking and they came to her, but looks like there has been a change of plans.

Ariel coughed scooted her glass a bit toward Mr. Hubbles and began. "Um... well, for starters i've never been into the Forbidden Forest and almost everyone in every house has done that." she smirked and continued,"i've never smoked or picked up a cigar. Charms is my most hated subject!" She cringed as Dan joked about being an alcoholic. Ariel didn't think it was a laughing matter, but she didn't dare say anything to him about it, he was afterall her boss.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

“Oh whoa.” Dan looked over at Ariel with a slightly stunned face. She had a point; everyone had been in the forest. You do not put a place with the word ‘forbidden’ in it title at a school full on teenagers, might as well roll out the welcome mat. Maybe if they renamed it the ‘Cute, Pink and Fluffy Forest’ it might keep a few of the students out…well maybe the Slytherin’s anyway. Dan’s little mental detour came to a sudden halt however when she mentioned that she hated Charms, in fact he found it hard not to laugh out loud at that point. Luckily his laughter was contained and instead a wide grin filled his face as he lightly shook his head from side to side. It was time for a weird and wonderful Hubbles analogy.

Reaching out across the kitchen table Dan picked up the glass salt and pepper shakers, the little grains inside sliding from side to side as he gave them a light shake before placing the salt shaker down in front of Ariel.

“You are like salt. Almost everyone likes it, can bring out the best in any food and if it was not there anymore it would be missed as it goes with everything. It’s pure and has the whiteness of innocence and is in sharp contrast to its fellow pepper. I am pepper.” He held the small glass shaker in front of him with a small lopsided smile filling his face. “I am not to everyone’s tastes; I have that little kick to it which a lot of people hate. There is only the odd thing that I go well with and can only be dealt with in small amounts. I am not pure…” He tipped the shaker upside and watched as the multicoloured gains fell onto the palm of his hand. “Defiantly not pure.”

With a light chuckle Dan brushed his hands together and watched the grains tumble to the table bellow him. Then with a wide grin he looked over at Ariel before continuing his mini and frankly confusing lesson. “So although they are both complete opposites salt and pepper always sit side by side on the table and they tend to get along.” With a small sigh Dan gave a slight shrug knowing that old Headmaster Darrow would have been able to come up with a better analogy then that. “I guess what I am trying to say is don’t see me as just your boss. I am a normal human being too.”

Swinging his legs from behind the bench Dan walked over towards Ariel before holding out his hand in offer to help her up with a wicked smile on his face. “Do you want to remove one of them off your list of things you have never done? It may not be alcohol or tobacco but the forest can give you the same kind of kick."