Eating=Life

Kyra tickled the pear on the portrait that closed the kitchen. When it giggled, she smiled and entered through. Dozens of house elves greeted her, one asking, "What would you like Miss?"

She grinned and said, "A banana split, please."

The house elf bowed. "Yes ma'am."

"Please," Kyra begged, "don't call me ma'am. We're all living creatures and deserve to be treated equally."

Pierre entered the kitchens, soon being swarmed by house elves as he smoothed down his suit. Nodding at Kyra civilly, he smoothly ordered "a plate of steak, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes with no gravy, and a large glass of lemon water, and be quick with it." he added as an afterthought.

"Hello, Kyra," he greeted, sitting down at a small table. "It is good to see you again."

Kyra was sitting down, eating her banana split, when she saw Pierre walk into the kitchen.

"A plate of steak, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes with no gravy, and a large glass of lemon water, and be quick with it."

She snorted and said, "It's good to see you too, Pierre. You didn't get enough at dinner?"

Pierre sighed dramatically. "No, I eat 6 plates each night but it never quite fills me up." he denied, settling in his chair. Rolling his shoulders, he dug in to his plate. Swallowing a large bite of sweet potato, he looked at Kyra. "You know, I wanted to apologize, for being so...ah, bipolar lately." he started.

Kyra scooped up some ice cream. Wow. Those elves did a good job,she thought.

"Six plates?" she asked in disbelief. "There is no way that one person can eat six plates of food without exploding."

"You know, I wanted to apologize, for being so...ah, bipolar lately," said Pierre.

"It's okay Pierre. It happens to the best of us when someone we love passes on," she said, dropping the ice cream in her mouth, savoring the taste.

"It is possible. I do it every night." Pierre smirked. Well, he ate 5 and a half, but no one had to know.

"Someone we love? Ha! I didn't love him. He was barely ever home." Pierre laughed harshly, shaking his head. "And when he was, he was bloody, wounded and drunk. I'm just mad that I probably will have to deal with his unfinished business." Pierre shrugged, taking a sip of water to soothe his dry throat.

"Every night? And my mom thought that I ate a lot," Kyra joked.

It was difficult to hear Pierre talk about how he didn't love the close relative who died. At least now she knew who it was.

"So it was your dad then? Wait, unfinished business? I'm sorry to intrude, but, what's going on Pierre? Tell me please," she begged.

Pierre looked at his barely touched plate of food, bracing his hand on his forehead. "I...wish I could tell you, Kyra. I really want to, but I can not tell you." he whispered quietly. "Maybe, when it has all settled down I could but... I have to deal with all of he usual pure blood stuff that comes with a death and more." he glanced up hesitantly. "I hope you understand."
Stabbing his meal, he waited for a response.

Kyra listened as her fellow Hufflepuff explained. "You don't have to tell me anything that you don't want to. I understand almost completely."

She looked down at her sundae, saying, "I just wish that I could help you Pierre, that's all." She then scooped up another spoonful of ice cream and dropped in her mouth. "I just still can't believe that you eat so much," she said with a smile, hoping to cheer Pierre up.

"Me neither, sometimes. I guess it just comes with the bulk." Pierre nodded, glad for the change of subject. "So, what about you? You must have some dark secret to discuss." he joked, eating the last of the steak and handing a passing elf his plate and his glass magically being refilled as he waited for an answer.

"Dark secret? No. Secret? It's possible," said Kyra, finishing her banana split. In actuality, it was more than possible.

She leaned back in her chair, asking, "You like Quidditch, right? Surely you heard of Michelle Henderson, the Chaser who never got to play?"

Kyra hoped that he would catch on.

"Er...I actually do not like Quidditch. It is funny when they crash, but, no, I have never heard of Michelle Henderson." Pierre declined, shaking his head no. Why does everyone assume he likes Quidditch? Was it because he was a boy...or related to Terry, who could probably tell you the entire history of the Vratsa Vultures without hesitation? "Wait, Henderson? Is she a relative of yours?" he asked curiously.

Kyra loosened up when Pierre said that he didn't like Quidditch, but tensed up when he said, "It is funny when they crash."

"Yeah, she was my sister," she answered Pierre's question of relation. She sighed, asking a house elf for another banana split.

She was going to need it.

"Was?" Pierre asked, frowning slightly. He probably had heard something about the Chaser from his cousin, but never got a specific name. "What happened?" he asked curiously, noticing her tense when he said he liked watching players crash.

"If you don't want to talk about it- it's fine, you know." he added hastily.

"Yeah. Was," said Kyra, her eyes glossing over slightly. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and sunk down in her chair a bit.

"It's okay, Pierre. I can talk about it now. My sister was really good at Quidditch, right? She got on the Holyhead Harpies. Bludger hit her in the head during the last practice before the first game of the season. Went into a coma, died a month later," she explained, a few escaped tears running down her cheeks.

Wow. Gruesome. Pierre blinked as he got that image...Blinking again, he reset it to Krum and a Bludger before he was satisfied. "Wow....Are you okay?" he asked, getting uncomfortable when he saw tears. He was horrible at comforting most crying people. Taking a sip of his water, just to choke on a seed, he waited for Kyra to respond.

Kyra wiped away the tears. "What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine, thanks Pierre. I'm just going to go get some fresh air, I'll be back."

She sat up and smiled at her, as she now thought she could call him, friend. As she walked off, a few more tears fell down. She wiped away at them and started jogging to the entrance hall.