The Halfwolf (Year 1)

Cookies and Fudge

Claire woke early Saturday morning, before any of the other first year girls. She dressed as quietly as she could and tiptoed from the dorm, shoes in her hands. As she walked down the stairs towards the common room, she saw Tonya standing on the bottom step, arms crossed over her chest shaking her head. Claire could see an amused smile on the older girl's face. Claire got to the step above her before she realized the first year was there. Tonya looked over at her and tilted her head out towards the common room. Claire came down onto the first step with Tonya and peeked her head around the corner.

In front of the massive fireplace in the main level of the common room, four bodies were strewn across the couch, chairs, and floor. On one chair, Matt was curled into a tight ball, a black blanket wrapped around him like a cocoon. Tyson was stretched out across the couch, arms folded over his chest, legs crossed at the ankles. Zach was laying on his stomach on the floor, using his arms as a pillow. Teddy was flopped over the other chair, legs over one arm, head laying backwards over the other. Claire covered her mouth to stop a laugh from bubbling out. Gretchen appeared on the steps behind the two and peeked out over their shoulders. Tonya looked back and raised an eyebrow at her, trying to hold back her laughter as well.

"Do we have any idea what they were doing down here all night?" She looked across the four sleeping boys and shook her head. Tonya eased down off the step and walked over to the back of the couch. Parchment, quills, and sweet wrappers littered the coffee table and surrounding floor.

"Not sure," she whispered to the other two girls, "either Ty was helping them with homework or they were writing something. Either way," she turned to the other girls and quietly walked back over, "we should let them sleep. They obviously were up late." The other girls nodded in agreement and snuck out the common room door. As it quietly swung shut and clicked into place, Matt's head jerked up at the sudden sound in the otherwise silent space. He looked around, confused at first as to where he was in his groggy state. He stretched out his arms and legs and slowly stood up, looking around at the other boys. He smiled at his friends and shook his head. They had been up half the night writing home to get what they needed for the following weekend. He gathered up his duvet and quietly went up the stairs to the dorm.

After a shower, he walked back into the dorm and saw Moony sitting up in her nest of pillows. She looked at him sleepily and made her clicking sound in greeting. Matt walked over and knelt down to her door, holding out his hands.

"Come on, little one. Teddy seems to still be asleep, but you can come to breakfast with me if you like?" The little Niffler needed no further convincing at the promise of food and an adventure and tumbled her way down to the ground floor of her home. Matt picked her up and parked her on his shoulder, letting her nuzzle into his neck. He walked back down the steps and quietly across the common room, careful when he went out the door to keep it from slamming shut.

"And the first country is heard from!" Matt shook his head as Tonya held her arms up over her head with the proclamation. Claire and Gretchen started giggling beside her. Matt took a seat across the table from Claire, settling Moony on the table beside his plate. He reached over and took the saucer from under his teacup and pushed it over to her, then picked up some toast and pieces of fruit and set it in front of her. Moony sniffed the plate, plopped down on her furry bottom, and started stuffing toast into her mouth. Matt shook his head.

"You and your toast, you silly creature." Moony purred around her toast. Claire giggled again.

"She probably gets tired of whatever food is in the dorm for her. I'm sure the toast is better." Matt turned and raised an eyebrow at her, settling his elbows on the table, then pointing a finger at the niffler's round belly.