The Lunar Night

Alexander Nighthook stepped quietly throught the quiet and what he thought to be empty corridor. he wore heavey robes over older casual clothes. The 17 year old looked tired and unsusally wary, it would be a full moon outside soon and he would change into a werewolf. It sounded eciting.. but not really. Days before the full moon he would weaken, to the point he even looked ill, and usually he was very healthy person. After this he need to suck it up fake it hide it.. he was sure people would start to notice sooner or later.

He walked down to the room of Requierment, his safe house for the night. No one could open it, and he could not leave till dawn the next morning.

He paced three times infront of it and drank down his wolfsbane potion, so he could still keep his mind, he could not imagine how it must have been like before the potion had been invented. Werewolves could even have families now if they wished as the potion prevented the condition from going to he child... Before that it must have been almost unbearable. So for that he supposed he was lucky, this day and age potions helped him a great deal.

"Show time..." he muttered at the door started to open and he slipped in..

To say that the semester was not going well for Melania Harper was an understatement. The Ravenclaw/Slytherin match loomed ominously at the same time she was being swamped with work for her N.E.W.T.-level classes, and to make matters worse, things were heating up between the two Houses in the corridors between classes. Usually the whole "team members being attacked before a match" stuff only happened before Gryffindor/Slytherin matches, but by now everyone knew about Jericho and Cole's bet, which only added fuel to the fire.

It also made Lainey's usual go-to stress-relief impossible; she and Cole were not really speaking, and things were strained. Instead, she found herself slipping out of Ravenclaw Tower each night an hour before curfew, to take long soaks in the prefect bathroom she now had access to as captain of the team. It was on one of these nights that she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure stealing away upstairs -- conspicuously in the opposite direction of Gryffindor Tower.

Wringing her long, wet hair back over her shoulders, she nearly called out his name, but something in his clipped pace made her hesitate. He was clearly intending to break curfew -- now only ten minutes away -- and she could either follow him and find out what he was up to and break curfew herself, or just barely get back to the common room in time. Something about all of the stress she was facing made her reckless -- at the last minute, she turned the corner to follow him just as he walked into a room she'd never noticed before, with a strangely ornate doorframe. This time, she did call out.

"Alex!" She sprinted towards the door, which was now sliding shut. "ALEX!"

Alex turned around to hear someone calling his name, and it sounded a like Lainey. Just his luck someone was following him tonight and that someone had to be someone as sharp as Lainey. If he let the door close on her he wouldn't hear the end of it later... So he quickly made up his mind, he had some time to spare.. perhaps he could somehow convince Lain to go back to her common room and let him be.

He put on a normal face as if nothing was out of the ordinary and proped the door opened from being shut.

"Hey Lainey, whats up? besides you and me anyway" making light of the fact they were both out of bed just before curfew. Though he wasn't sure that would fly off all to well, he had been declared sick earlier that day from class and allowed to rest in his dorms, though the majority of that time was spent getting his potion ready. Merlin it would be a long night.

He wasn't to sure what to say if she asked what he was doing, could just pass it off as something he liked to do, sneak off to the room of requierment in the middle of the night and not come out till dawn. Needless to say getting out of this might be a feet. He wasn't sure if Lainey was as much for the rules as Cole was, sje just might let it pass with him.. maybe. If not he might have no choice but to close the door on her. Once the door shut he could not open it again till morning.

"Shower," Lainey replied simply, indicating her still-wet hair. "What about you? Where were you in class today, I thought you were ill. I've got the homework for you back in the common room, although we don't really have time to get it, now."

Actually, now that she'd stepped closer to him, she could see that he did in fact look a bit off. There were slight but noticeably dark circles under his eyes, and he looked quite tired rather than as alert as he normally did. So if he was ill, why was he sneaking around before curfew? And what was that room?

"It's funny, I've never noticed this room before. That door looks so strange, you'd think I'd have noticed," she shrugged, sidling up next to Alex and peeking into the half-open door. It kind of looked like a common room, from what she could see -- couches and the like -- but they definitely weren't anywhere near one.

Alex got slightly nervous when she slide up next to him by the door, there was no way she could stay with him much longer, it was getting late and once the door shut there was no getting out.

"Yeah they call it the Room of Requierment, it appeares to people who have real need of it" he explained.. "Otherwise it stays out of sight" he answered turning back to glance at the clock in the room. It was one or two minutes away from curfew, he inwardly cursed, he had to get rid of Lainey soon with out making her suspicious.. or anymore then she already was.

"Thanks for getting my homework, I will get it in the morning, since it is almost curfew..." perhaps trying to hint she should go...

Curse it. this night was not going as he planned.

"I am playing hookie for tonight" he said with a light chuckle again trying to act as nothing was wrong.

Lainey listened, fascinated by his description. "That's amazing -- really incredible magic! Does anyone else know about it other than us?" she wondered out loud, pushing the door open further and peering inside. She caught a glimpse of a bare stone wall holding an intimidating display of strong-looking chains, and quickly ducked back outside of the room, eyes wide in alarm.

"Whoa! What's that for, then?" It hadn't yet occurred to her that it was Alex who had conjured the shape the room had taken. "Looks kinds scary. Doesn't seem like the room approves of you playing hooky," she joked, smirking to cover up her sudden fear. The Room of Requirement appeared to be rather ominous, as far as she could tell, and she didn't want to leave Alex there alone. She didn't trust it.

Alex winced when she pointed out the chains, they happened to be his fear of going wild.. he took his potion so the should be totally nessesary, he would still keep his mind. But he feared his potion might not work... so the chains were is next best option.. just in case. But for the moment he played dumd.. thankful she hadn't believed the school would only give those to him if he needed them.

"Ahh I am not sure, they will vanish later I am sure" he said telling the truth for the most part, he hoped anyway.

He laughed sheepishly as her joke about him playing hooky... in a room with chains in it. "Ah yeah you don't know the half of it" he muttered scratching the back of his neck.

Then there was the first gong of the clock in the room and a window at the top of the room showed the moon light. it wasn't quite risen yet apparently. It was also curfew after that moment. In the next hour they would get a hole lot worse before the got better... such bad luck.

" Anyway Lain, I ah guess I will see you tomorrow.. pick up my homework" he said starting to close the door. Not particularly wanting her to see him transform over the next hour.

Lainey put her foot between the door and the frame, confused and surprised at Alex's rudeness, not to mention the fact that he apparently was serious about skiving off.

"Wait, you're really gonna go in there? But it's weird in there! Why don't you just sneak off to Hogsmeade like everyone else? We could go to The Three Broomsticks if you wanted, I'm kind of not in the mood to head back just yet anyway," she offered, looking concerned. He was looking worse by the moment and she didn't think it was a very good idea for him to be alone.

Alex sighed, well so much for this going smoothly... clearly she wasn't going a way and she wasn't falling for his lies either.

"Lain..." he said breathing out feeling slightly fustrated. He needed to think of something.. "I can't." after that he wasn't sure what else to tell her, he couldn't really salvage the situation.

Then the door started to close on its own accord.

Lainey yelped in pain as the door started to close on her foot, with Alex on the other side. She remembered what he said about the room becoming what one needed, and felt that much worse. Clearly, he wanted to be rid of her rather urgently.

Not bothering to mask the hurt on her face, she yanked her foot out of the way and stared at Alex with accusatory eyes as the door closed between them. With a sigh, she slid onto the floor with her back to the door, mulling over what had just happened. He would explain himself, that much was decided. She'd give him no choice.

After a moment, she realised she'd be the one getting in trouble if she was caught out of bounds after hours, and reluctantly hoisted herself to her feet and sprinted down the hall towards the common room.