Delicate | James Potter

1.04

~

"What in the-"

Alice let out a loud scream at the sudden new voice, for she had thought the girl was asleep, but apparently not anymore. She was silenced by the hand of Dorcas Meadowes who glared at her, before finally removing the arm that was muffling her frightened yelp.

The other girl had screamed back, not really on purpose but more as a reflex for the loud noise directed at her. She stopped as Alice stopped, then took a moment to stare down the two teens in front of her. "Sorry. I don't know why I did that."

The blonde, who was quite pale and still in a slight trance of fright, simply nodded slowly before speaking. "Sorry I did it first."

"That's okay."

Then they were left standing in an awkward silence, one no one seemed to want to break, not until Dorcas anyway.

"What are you doing out so late?" She raised her eyebrows quizzically, though it was a little hard to see in the dark of the corridor, only the moonlight illuminating them after Alice had dropped her lit wand in shock.

The mystery girl blinked. "I could ask you the same thing."

"I'm a prefect." Dorcas retorted, not missing a beat.

"But she's not." A finger was pointed at Alice, who just smiled nervously, raising a weird thumbs up at the Ravenclaw. "I don't think Dumbledore would approve of special treatment."

"Then maybe I should report you both."

"Or," Alice intervened, her voice a lot softer than the pair. "We all just go back to our common rooms and no one gets in trouble?"

They both turned to her, Dorcas with a look of what seemed to be frustration, but the Ravenclaw with slight amusement. She was very pretty, the stranger, and the blonde was a little surprised she'd never seen her around before. Her hair was jet black and reached to just above her shoulder, and she had a galaxy of freckles on her face (similar to Alice's, however hers only really clustered around her nose). There were also smudged black marks around her eyes, presumably mascara, but what made the Gryffindor frown was the question of whether they had been caused from crying or simply sleep.

"I like that plan." She grinned and nodded.

Dorcas looked between the two. "Fine. I won't report you on the condition you tell us why you're out here."

As much as she hated to admit it, Alice couldn't deny she was curious. It was part of her nature, even if she wished she wasn't always so persistently inquisitive about matters that had nothing to do with her. And so, she tilted her head at the girl.

"Why are you out here?" Was the response they got.

Before Dorcas could make up some new strange route through the conversation, Alice answered. "We were in the kitchens."