A Midnight Snack

[Ella Mage]

Don't...No...Go away....I said leave me ALONE!

Ella awoke and at up in bed, bads of sweat dripping down her forehead. Moonlight was shining in through the dorm windows, casting bizarre shadows across the dark room. It had to be about midnight. Ella sat panicking - trying to remember what it was that had woken her up, It must have just been a dream...just a dream she thought, while trying desperately to calm her breathing - which had speed up to an alarming rate after her scare. Although she couldn't reWizard what it was she had been dreaming about, she knew it must have been terrifying, as Ella didn't usually scare so easily.

Breathing back to normal, Ella lay back onto her soft pillows and tried to get back to sleep. She lay there for what seemed like hours (but was actually only a few minutes), until giving up and getting out of bed. Ella quickly dressed into her favorite black skirt and a plain black T-shirt. She turned and walked towards the dorm door, pulled it open, and crept down into the deserted common room. The last embers of the fire had died away, and all that was now left in the fireplace was a pile of grey ash.

She crossed the common room noiselessly - as she had left her shoes back in the dorm and was walking barefoot - and opened the door and left.

The corridors were completely deserted, and Ella made her way towards the kitchen without running into anyone else. The castle was dark and filled with shadows, but Ella wasn't afraid, she liked the silence as it gave her time to think. Back home, she would often get up in the middle of the night, when everyone else was sleeping, and just wander aimlessly round the house, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere.

The kitchen was bustling with activity when Ella entered. Fairies were flying all over the place, making pots of tea and cooking croissants ready for breakfast the next morning. One of the fairies, a young one with sparkling mauve wings, noticed Ella and flew over to see what she wanted.

"Welcome to the Evnastea kitchens, can I help you?" Ella looked around the room uncertainly before saying, "A hot chocolate would be nice - to help me sleep," the fairy looked at her sympathetically, and Ella had a strange feeling that the fairy knew all about the dream that had woken her, "got through that door, and wait please, I'll just get your Hot chocolate."

Ella walked towards the door the mauve fairy had pointed to. It was painted white, with elegant pink detail painted over it, depicting hundreds of fairies dancing round what looked like the moon. Ella pushed open the door and walked through it, but almost jumped back in shock when she saw what was inside. The room was decorated like a quaint little tea room, with dozens of tables and chairs dotted round it. The walls were covered in the most beautiful painting Ella had ever seen. She st down at one of the elegant little tables and waited for the fairy to come. While she was waiting Ella examined the nearest picture more closely, it was of the school - probably back when it was first built, and five people were standing in front of. One of the people, a women in her early twenties, caught Ella's eye. She had ebony black hair, with a streak of vibrant green running through it. Her eyes were a brilliant blue, but even though the sunlight was reflecting off of them, they showed no warmth, instead Ella was reminded of piercing icicle, like the ones that hung from her balcony at home during the winter. They were hard and cold, as if they had seen far to much. Ella knew at once who the woman must be - Tempest, her great ancestor, who had been one of the school's founders.

Ella continued to look at the picture until the door opened and the little fairy flew in, accompanied by 5 or 6 others, who were carrying a silver tray between them. Upon the tray was a steaming mug of hot chocolate, topped with whipped cream, and a plate of biscuits. Ella smiled at the fairies gratefully, "Thanks a lot," she said as they put the tray down carefully on the table. The fairies all flew out, except for the mauve fairy who Ella had spoken to earlier, "Will that be all miss?" she asked politely, "Yes thank you," the fairy turned to leave, but Ella quickly said, "Wait! What is this place?"

The fairy laughed and replied, "this is the fairy tea-room silly! We used to get so many students come down here that we had to create a room where they could all sit, they were getting in our way in the kitchen." With that, the little fairy flew from the room, back to the breakfast preparations. Ella gazed around the room in awe before picking up her cup and taking a sip of hot chocolate. As the warm liquid trickled down her throat, Ella felt instantly relaxed and calmed. It was the perfect blend of rich chocolate and creamy milk, easily the best hot chocolate Ella had ever tasted. She lent back casually in her chair and continued to drink.

[Professor Travis Aspinall]

Typical, Travis just couldn’t seem to get to sleep, this place was just too quiet for him, he’d managed to sleep next to raging waterfalls on his travels but couldn’t seem to get to grips with the silence of this huge school, even in the previous school he’d taught in, he’d had the same problem. Laying on his back staring up toward the ceiling, Travis let out a deep sigh, his bed sheets were a tangled mess from where he’d turned and turned again in the bed, his hair was a mess for the same reason and his head was full of thoughts, none of which he would share with anyone.

“Oh for god’s sakes.” Travis said quietly to himself as he gave up on the idea of sleeping. Sitting up and swinging his legs off the edge of the bed, Travis looked around the dark room, moonlight streamed in through the window and illuminated enough of the room for Travis to see what a mess it was, boxes of his books and equipment sat piled up in the corner. His desk was covered in papers that had no order to them at all… all in all, a mess. Standing up, Travis ran the fingers of one hand through his hair only making it stick up a little more than it already had been. Shuffling his way over to the desk, Travis picked up a piece of paper, glanced at it, made nothing of the information on it and put it down again, his mind definitely wasn’t in the mood to think. Running his tongue over his dry lips, Travis paused for a moment, he’d go for a walk and try and wear himself out to the point he’d just fall asleep exhausted.

Thinking it would be best to put some clothes on just on the off chance he might bump into someone on his wanders, Travis made his way to the foot of his bed. Pulling a t-shirt over his head and a pair of pin striped trousers on from the suitcase that rested at the end of the bed, Travis looked down at himself, that would just have to do, he was too warm for much more.

Pushing his feet into his favourite pair of converse and picking up his glasses, Travis made his way to the door of his dorm and opened it slowly hoping it wouldn’t make a noise… which luckily it didn’t. Closing the door behind him, Travis looked around for a moment before putting his glasses on and pushing his hands into his pockets, his hair was a mess but he didn’t care, after all he wasn’t expecting to see anyone. Wandering for what must have been ten minutes, Travis eventually found what must have been the kitchen judging by the noise that was coming from within. Opening the door and sticking his head inside, Travis paused before sheepishly stepping right inside and closing the door behind him. A fairy with astoundingly bright mauve wings flew over to him, obviously the young fairy could tell by Travis’ bedraggled appearance that he needed a drink of some kind. “You might want to go and wait through there.” She stated pointing to the door. Doing as he was told, Travis gave a slight nod, thanked the fairy and wandered toward the door, one hand still in his pocket as he cracked the door open and stepped inside barely noticing the girl already in their. Letting a soft sigh escape his lips, Travis stood for a moment looking around, his mouth open a little and eyes wide. Pushing his glasses up his nose a little, Travis eventually noticed the girl sat at one of the tables looking at a picture. Sitting opposite her without even asking, Travis rested his forearms on the table. “Couldn’t sleep eh?” He asked with a grin feeling even more awake now than he had done before… maybe his walk hadn’t been such a good idea after all.

[Ella Mage]

Once they had given her the hot chocolate the fairies seemed to leave her alone, and she was left sat by herself in the tea room while the sounds of the fairies clattering and crashing as they prepared tomorrow's breakfast drifted through the open doorway.

She contented herself with sipping slowly from the hot chocolate and glancing up at the picture of school founders from time to time. As she looked at the picture of her ancestor another picture, of the same woman only a few years younger, floated into her mind. This time she was stood alone in front of cave, her ebony black hair blowing in an invisible wind. A six year old Ella stood in front of the picture, trying to outstare those cold, cobalt eyes.

"Daddy, who is that?"

"Tempest Mage honey, she was your great ancestor, and one of the founders of Evnastea."

"The school you and mummy went to?"

"Yes, and the school you'll be going to as well in a few years. Now run alone, I need to get some work done." He sat down at his desk and pulled a sheet of paper towards him, signalling that the conversation was over. The six year old girl signed and hurried out of her dad's study, still thinking about the strange woman. She looked so severe in the picture, as though she was angry at the world and everything in it. But Ella couldn't work out why (the world seems perfect when you're still a little kid), and that bothered her.

It was still bothering her now, seven years on while she sat in the empty tearoom. She wasn't naive enough to still believe that the world was perfect, but that didn't sure her curiosity at what had happened to make Tempest so angry.

She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn't notice another person enter the room. She was alerted to his presence when he sat down in front of her.

“Couldn’t sleep eh?”

"Sleep? Who needs it?" Ella said with a smile. She gripped her hot chocolate mug tightly and took another sleep. "So I'm guessing you must be one of the new professors we have joining this year. What do you teach?"

[Professor Travis Aspinall]

Travis scratched the back of his neck with one hand as he nodded at the girl's answer. He didn't even need to think about her question though. "Charms actually." Travis said still grinning as he took in the girl's features, her unusual cranberry coloured eyes, her facial structure, all those kinds of thing. "I'm Travis Aspinall." He added though he was pretty sure his first name wouldn't be of that much use to the girl as she would probably be expected to call him by his surname at least - well that was usually what the rules dictated though Trav wasn't really a big fan of being called sir or professor, he was still menatlly to young for such a title though it had been handed to him some years before.

Looking at the picture the girl had been looking at, Travis' usual wide eyed, mouth open expression became evident. "Who's that then?" He pointed to the woman with the ebony hair. When he'd signed up here he'd been given a little booklet to read into the history of the school but he never seemed to get round to it for one reason or another.

Eventually his hot chocolate arrived, the fairy came and left silently almost without Travis even being aware of it.