Food, Glorious Food! (Willow/Verity)

[Verity Bromley]

Verity paused outside of the Kitchens. She closed her eyes and tried to remember exactly what her dorm mate told her to do. She opened her eyes heaving a sigh. This was pointless. She had only been given the directions a few minutes ago and she already forgot what they were. Verity was kicking herself for not writing them down. She glanced down at her grumbling stomach and let out a moan. “Come on.” She muttered to herself impatiently. She should have eaten when she had the chance at the Three Broomsticks, but she was getting so sick of eating the same food and she was convinced she wasn’t hungry at the time.

Verity reached up and ran her fingers over the painting hoping to find some kind of clue as to how to get inside. She let her fingers move lightly from the apple to the orange to the pear. Suddenly the door swung open and Verity jumped back in surprise. Something she touched must have made it open…if only she knew exactly what it was. Verity scurried in. This was her first time in the Kitchen at Hogwarts and all she could think of was in a few short seconds she would be able to eat.

As Verity stepped in, she blinked to get her eyes adjusted to how dark it was. She reached her hand out and touched a wall, or at least she hoped it was a wall. She tried to feel her way around for something to turn the light on. That was when she realized she could just use her wand. It was pretty late at night. Her brain didn’t function properly when she was hungry and tired. Verity brought out her wand and mumbled “Lumos.” A dim light appeared at the tip of her wand for a brief moment before it went out. Verity cursed under her breath and tried again, this time with a little more enthusiasm. The tip of her wand glowed steadily and it took Verity a couple more moments for her eyes to adjust once again.

[Willow Wenlock]

Willow had come back from her internship for a couple of weeks, her head filled with excitement and wonder. She tried not to think about Silver, how much she was missing him, and sometimes how worried she was for him. Those week long trips had continued over time and each one left her more anxious than the last.

The combination of worries and time differences had left her wide awake in the dead of the night. Usually she would only come here during the day, if she ran late between classes, but tonight, she needed the largest batch of sweets she could find. As late as it was she was shocked to find a wand lit in the darkness of the kitchen. Even as the light startled her, she could here the scurrying of small feet, woken perhaps from a deep slumber. Although Willow wondered if the elves slept at night at all.

[Verity Bromley]

Verity found out how to turn the lights on in the Kitchen. She did so and put her wand out before tucking it away. It made her nervous to have her wand out when she wasn’t using it, as if by having it out some spell or curse could be randomly cast and wreak havoc on the entire world. As the room became lit, Verity was surprised to see all of those little house elves. “Er…” She stuttered. She was used to having house elves around. In fact, she was practically raised by them as her parents didn’t seem to have time to do it themselves. “Hello.” She said awkwardly. The house elves she knew always seemed terrified of her. She couldn’t blame them considering the way her parents treated them. These elves didn’t seem much different.

Verity made her way through the mad rush of scurrying house elves and over to a seat out a counter. She peered down at one especially terrified looking house elf. Her lips spread into a warm smile. “You don’t have to be so nervous.” She said in what she hoped was a calm manner. “I won’t do anything bad to you.” The house elf’s eyes grew wide and they bolted away.

When Verity lifted her eyes she realized someone else was there. “Oh, hi there.” She said waving a hand slightly. She squinted, but she still couldn’t tell who it was. Or maybe she was just too tired to try. "Who are you?" Verity hoped whoever it was that had joined her little midnight snack outing hadn’t seen that little interaction with the house elf. There were still a lot of them scurrying about and Verity wasn’t sure how to make them realize that they didn’t have anything to worry about.

[Willow Wenlock]

Willow allowed a small smile to light her lips as she saw the girl appear amidst the light that was dawning in the room. "Willow. Wenlock." She shrugged, "I appear to be finding myself doing things that can get me into trouble lately." Not that she and Dare had actually gotten around to the climbing the tower wall.

Willow pulled the soft knit loose sweater she had on closer around her chest as she walked to sit down. Rebellion, a bit of excitement, balanced life. She loved being the vibrant happy, she smiled to herself, sometimes mischievous Willow, but on these dark nights, she just wondered. At least tonight she had company, maybe there would be some mischief to take her mind off of things again.

[Verity Bromley]

"I'm Verity Bromley." Verity offered grinning widely. "It's good to live on the edge every once in a while." She said raising her eyebrows. It was about time for Verity to do something crazy and exciting in her life. She seemed to have fallen into a routine. At that realization, Verity's smiled faltered. When did she become such a bore? "I appear to be not getting into enough trouble." That's what happens when you become a prefect, you're supposed to all of the sudden be this responsible person that always keeps to the rule.

"What brings you down here so late?" Verity asked not because she was going to write Willow up, but simply because she was curious. Verity didn't make a hobby out of writing people up, especially if she was just as guilty as the other person. "Personally, I'm just starving. I should have eaten earlier like everyone else." She said shaking her head a little.

[Willow Wenlock]

Willow ran a hand through her silvery curls, "I just got in. From Egypt." She sat down at the counter next to the girl, "I'm working at a curse breaking internship this summer." She shrugged, "I guess it's to early for me to sleep." She looked around, "I'm used to the sun being out right now."

The sun and six to ten other interns running around attempting to work on codes that ancient wizards had left behind. It was trickier than she thought, and she could really use a go at climbing a tower, or listening to something that Silver had written. She wondered if she would manage her way on top of the stack of interns, or find out that she wasn't as wonderful as she thought she was sometimes.

[Verity Bromley]

"Egypt?" Verity repeated. Her eyes grew wide with a look of surprise and fascination. Egypt was one of the few places she has yet to visit. "Wow, it must have been incredible there. Was it?" Egypt was on Verity's travel list. Well, not that it was surprising since practically everywhere was on her travel list. She planned on travelling to all the places she's been but never really saw because she was in school the whole time as well as new places.

"Does Hogwarts give credit for your internship or is it just something you're doing because you want to?" There were so many questions she could ask. Of course one of the first things Verity has noticed about Willow was her unique hair and her eyes momentarily flickered back to it as Willow ran a hand through it. Verity was a curious person in general. She had to take a deep breath to keep from blurting all the questions out at once.

[Willow Wenlock]

Did the school give credit for it? Willow shrugged, "the school might give credit for it, I don't know." A genuine smile lit her face, a wide grin splitting her lips, "I love history. Not that I couldn't be a stodgy professor, but I want to experience life." Not that having a professoresque desire to learn was bad, she just wanted that and then more.

"Learning is tangible for me. Like the world is offering me it's choice bits, and all I have to do is try them all." She looked down at her skin, she had picked up a bit of a tan since she had been in Egypt. Making her light hair stand out in stark contrast. "I just...set a challenge for myself and when I got into the program it was amazing."

[Verity Bromley]

It seemed so surreal. The girl in front of her seemed to know exactly what she wanted to do in her life. Verity had no idea what she was doing. She was too busy focusing on what was happened right to be able to think about what she wanted to happen in the future. That was the main problem. Maybe if she focused long enough to think about the future, she wouldn't make as many mistakes now.

"You seem to have a good grasp on what you want." Verity observed. It was an admirable trait. She was quiet for a few moments, trying to figure out if she even had the slightest clue about what she was passionate about. Nothing came to mind immediately, so Verity changed her thoughts. "I love your hair." She said after letting her eyes wander over to that silvery sheen once again. "It's so unique."

[Willow Wenlock]

Willow let her eyes dance with happiness at the thought, "family trait. My dad's hair was this color too." She stared down at the elves who were offering up a platter of food, in the end she plucked up a pear. Sticking her tongue out for a brief moment she continued, "when I was little I used to tell my dad it looked like old lady hair."

She shook hear head and tossed curls out of her eyes, "I don't remember what he told me, but it always made me smile. Now when I remember, I just think of him." She let her teeth sink into the pear. "I'll tell you a secret though, I have no idea what I want in life. I just plow forward. It'll all fall into place eventually right?"

[Verity Bromley]

"I've never seen it before.' Verity said. She realized she was staring and quickly changed her focus. "It's really fascinating. It doesn't look like old lady hair at all." Old lady hair was dull and raggy, not shiny and full of tumbling curls.

"I hope so." Verity said grinning. "Even if I did know what I wanted, I don't think I would know how to get there. I don't even know where to start looking!" Verity was used to having things done for her. She was fortunate enough to be raised in a privileged household where there were house elves around 24/7 to give her whatever she needed. To her more recent realization, it was rather disgusting how much she got by simply wanting it.

[Willow Wenlock]

Willow tilted her head thinking this conversation was similar to one that she'd had with Silver. "Do you know what you like to do? I know that I like history," she shrugged, "maybe because me family is steeped in it." She knew what she hated, arithmancy. Willow chewed thoughtfully on the piece of pear she had.

She shrugged, "you just kind of do it. Breathe it. Be what you like." She chuckled, "I'll probably forever be buried with my nose in a book on ancient spells. After a while you just want to try something in the books." She smiled crookedly, "I may be a Ravenclaw, but I was seriously going to attempt to scale the Astronomy Tower."

[Verity Bromley]

"I guess I've been good at Potions," Verity said. "But it's not something I really love." She reached up and pulled her long curls into a messy bun. "I've always loved fashion." It was a stretch from Potions, but it was something she knew well and loved dearly. "I've given some thought to opening a shop and maybe someday featuring my own line, but it always seemed more like a dream than something I could really make happen." Now that she thought about it, it didn't seem as far as a reach as it used to. The Three Broomsticks gave her background on how to run a business and manage accounts, but she was still learning. Running a restaurant was a lot different than running a clothing shop.

Verity heaved a sigh. "Who knows." She said, picking up a pumpkin pasty and popping it into her mouth. It wasn't her favorite food, but Verity was hungry and food was food. "Maybe someday." The future still seemed like forever away. It wasn't that far away. She was already a Seventh Year and it would be over before she knew it.

[Willow Wenlock]

"Not maybe someday," Willow chuckled, "today." She watched the other girl put her hair up in a pile on the back of her head. "Run a fashion show at school. Or dress up someone for free." Her eyes twinkled again, "there are plenty of guys that would volunteer for this. Just do it." That was why she was going to Eygpt again in a few days. She really did need to send Silver a letter.

[Verity Bromley]

"A fashion show?" Verity repeated incredulously. It never even crossed her mind before to have her own fashion show here at Hogwarts. It seemed outrageous and insane. It seemed like such a long-shot. "That's a fabulous idea!" Verity gushed. She had some sketches, she just needed to create the real thing. She wasn't even entirely sure if it would work. There were so many factors, so many things that could go wrong. "I don't know..." She said apprehensively.