Looking for a Lion, Finding a Snake

After hours, most everyone was in bed already, perfect time to slip out and meet up with each other. At least, that's what Alli and James thought when they made plans to meet each other in the kitchens. It had been quite a while since they'd made their little arrangement and so far it was working out, even if it was hard and it sucked because they didn't get to spend a great deal of time together.

As Alli left the common room and headed up to the kitchens, the prefects were easy enough to slip around since they obviously didn't want to be on duty and the portraits were all asleep so none of them shouted for a professor to come quick for the student out of bed, so she made it to her destination with relative ease. Waiting around in the hall was probably a bad idea, just in case one of them came along, so Alli went inside the kitchens and sat to wait for James, hoping he would arrive soon.

Thomas yawned slightly as he walked through the corridors quietly. It was slightly unusual for him, but he was starving in the middle of the night. He walked into the Kitchens and rubbed his eyes from the change in light, before adjusting to his surroundings. He noticed Alli was here too, he asked the House Elves just for some toast for now, before walking up to Alli. "So what's got you up here so late?" He asked.

Alli heard someone coming through the portrait and looked back hopefully only to have her hopes crushed by the fact that it was Thomas coming through, not James. Wait... Thomas? Crap.

Thankfully he went and talked to the elves first rather than coming straight to her, which gave her time to think and build her mask back up before she had to say anything. "Couldn't sleep," she lied easily. "And you?" she asked to buy more time. What was she going to do when James got there? Crappity crap crap.

Thomas yawned again, stretching slightly. Sure, he was tired, but his need for food over-ruled that. He looked at Allison, thinking she seemed worried before rubbing his eyes again. Nope, it was just his eyes playing tricks on him. It wasn't the first time. "I couldn't sleep much either because my stomach decided to want more food." He said with a slight smile, his tiredness made him forget about the mask. "You getting anything to eat?" He asked, before taking the plate the House Elf offered, and taking a bite of the generously buttered toast while waiting for Alli's reply.

Alli was about to give Tom a weird look; why was he asking her if she was getting something to eat? And then she realized that this was the kitchens and that was really the only reason to go there. Unless you were waiting for your secret boyfriend. Crap again.

"Yeah, once I think of what I want," she replied, pretending to be thinking about that rather than what she was really thinking about. "Any recommendations?"

Thomas grinned slightly at how she seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if she was about to say or do something and then stopped, he supposed it was because it showed she wasn't completely perfect or as scary as she seemed. He thought of what he'd heard some of the Gryffindorks say about her. He supposed that was true, but then, he didn't really think of any person like that really, but it was an apt summary. "Hmm... I'm not sure. I picked toast because it's fairly simple and I'm not that fussy usually, but for you... I'm not sure, I'll ask for toast anyway if you want?" He asked, before smirking... He had an idea, and it would be funny to see how Alli reacted, before giving her a chance to respond, he said to one of the house elves. "Could you get Miss Smoking Hot but Fricken scary some toast please?" He said, before turning around to look at her face, he was hoping for some reaction.

Alli coughed in surprise. Had Thomas been following her? Where else would he have heard that besides James? Did he know? 'Crap' was replaced in her mind by a few more choice expletives. She just had to remain calm on the outside and found out what he knew.

"I beg your pardon, smoking hot but fricken scary? Where on earth did you hear that?" she asked, accepting the toast when it came but not eating it yet. She'd lost whatever appetite she had when she started to think that Thomas knew her little secret. Big secret. Whatever.

Thomas had to smirk after seeing the look on her face. It was absolutely priceless. "I hear dit somewhere... But I'm sure you've heard it somewhere before, right?" He asked, Gryffindorks were hardly quiet about their opinions after all. He noticed she hadn't started to eat anything yet. "You not hungry?" He asked curiously, his mind jumping to all sorts of conclusions as to why she might be here... Pranking someone perhaps? A big set-up for later? He decided to ask this later while trying to gauge Alli's reaction to what he said. He was thankful he'd said it, he had the upper hand on her for once.

Alli was growing more and more worried that Tom really did know her secret but her only option for finding out what he knew, if he knew anything, was to play it cool. Luckily, she was an expert in playing it cool. The Slytherin mask made sure of that. "Obviously you heard it somewhere, otherwise you wouldn't have said it," she pointed out in a voice heavily weighted with sarcasm. "What I'm asking is where you heard it."

She pushed the toast away from her and toward Tom. "I am, I just don't think I want toast, so you can have it if you want," she said. She was going to have to think of something else to eat as well as figure out how to get Tom to leave before James got there.

Thomas wondered why Alli's expression had seemed to change from shocked to worried. Hmm... He wasn't going to push it though, there was only so far he could go before Alli snapped, and he didn't want to be the one to cause that, but he could keep the game going for a little longer. "I heard it from a certain Gryffindork..." he said, it must have been obvious now that it was no worry, but he decided to make it sound like it was more than it was anyway, just for the sake of it.

"Why're you so nosy about it anyway? You got a little crush on a Gryffie?" He asked jokingly, the Alli he knew wouldn't let herself, whether she wanted to or not. "Ah... Well then what would you want to eat?" He asked. "The House Elves will probably get you almost everything." He stated.

Alli internally breathed a sigh of relief. Tom didn't know anything; she'd taught him well enough that if he did, he'd be openly dangling it over her head by now. He must have heard it from the same boys that James had heard it from. She, James, and their secret were safe for now.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Yes, I absolutely fancy a Gryffindor. You've caught me red handed, Tom," she said sarcastically. The sarcasm would make Tom see just how ridiculous he sounded, even though he was actually right and she was telling the truth.

"I'm not sure yet. I have to let my stomach think about it for a while," she told him. Even though Tom didn't know anything, she still had to worry about what would happen when James arrived, which meant she really couldn't be bothered to think of something to eat yet.

Thomas sighed to himself. Looked like the game was up, though he still wondered why she looked worried... He deemed it better to not ask about it though. He saw a chance for the game to continue though by just ignoring her overly sarcastic tone. "Really now? Who would it be? That Grayson guy, Noah? Or is it one of the Wilsons?" he said, knowing there to be these of them at least who were Gryffindors. He guessed she'd ignore the questions, but it would be worth a try.

"Letting your stomach decide for you? Sounds like a plan, but you may want to hurry in case a Professor comes, we might have to run quick." He said, trying to think of any professors that might check the Kitchens... He supposed all the hungry ones would really. He decided to wait to see if there we any response, and if he could think of a new topic of conversation in the meantime.

"I don't even know who most of those people are," Alli replied without thinking. Luckily he really didn't seem to have any idea what was going on, but if he'd had suspicions, she would be narrowing it down for him considerably.

She shook her head at him. "Professors don't generally come here after curfew. Or before curfew, for that matter, so I'll take my time. You can go whenever you feel like it, I'll be fine on my own," she said. After all, she couldn't exactly tell him she was waiting for someone, otherwise he'd get curious.

James was running late for their secret meeting up arrangement. He had planned on being right on time, but a quick side step into the shadows, to avoid a protrolling seventh year, kept him at least a few minutes behind scheldule.

He made it to the portrait, but as he reached out to tickle the pear he swore he heard voices from inside the kitchen. That wasn't good, he though. Either Alli wasn't there yet, and some other group of people were hungry at this hour, or it was Alli herself talking to someone.

He didn't know if he should enter, but decided that if worst came to worst, he'd bluff that he was hungry and wanted to eat and the apparence of Alli being there was a complete and utter shock to him.

He tickled the pear and watched the portrait swing open, seeing that Alli was there.. but Thomas Celare was there as well. James inwardly cringed but stepped through the portrait anyway. Act cool, act natural, he repeated in his head.

"Popular time for a snack, I guess," James said, to announce his presence, even though he was sure that the swinging open of the portrait would have done that for him.

Alli sighed inwardly (though she kept up the mask and showed no emotion) as she heard the portrait open and, as much as she hoped it was James, she hoped it wasn't him, just so there was less of a chance of Tom putting two and two together. She needed to think of a plan, fast. The only thing coming to mind and the only thing that James would understand to do without her actually telling him would be just to argue continuously until Tom left. Luckily, they were so good at arguing that, if it were an Olympic sport, they'd take the gold, silver, and bronze medals.

"Thank you for that, Wilson, but the next time I want the information that would come in such an obvious statement, I'll just look around and find things out for myself," she said in what she hoped was a cool voice.

She did her best not to look at James, just in case he looked so cute that she just wanted to jump him, even if Tom was there, but she couldn't help herself. She looked away and asked a house elf for a plate of strawberries, just for an excuse to look away, but her eyes were drawn straight back to him.

"You look like you got run over by a herd of hippogriffs," she lied, using the statement as an excuse to look him up and down once more. "Would it kill you to iron your clothes?"

James caught on fairly quickly that Alli deemed it best to throw insults at each other but for the reason of making it sure no one caught on that they actually liked each other, or to make Thomas feel so uncomfortable that he left, James didn't know. Probably both.

He suppressed a grin when she called him Wilson, remembering that to be one of their code names. He'd have to keep a tally of how many kisses he owed her; he surmised there would be a few.

He glanced down at his clothes, which were pretty disheveled now that he actually noticed them, and placed an expression on his face, which he hoped was annoyance.

"Yeah? Well, I could just steal some freshly pressed ones from a Hufflepuff. Or was it borrowing, I can't quite remember? You seem to be quite knowledgeable on that subject, in any case. Any pointers?" He placed slight emphasis on the word steal, but not so much that Thomas would think anything of it.

Alli rolled her eyes partially for show and partially out of annoyance at his insistence that steal/borrow be a code word. "Honestly, you are such a stupid lion. Why would you take Hufflepuff robes? That's just ridiculous. Do any of you Gryffindors have even just one brain cell? Or is it just you that's missing the rest of them, Jamesie?" she replied.

The house elf came back with her strawberries and she set them down on the table, eating one of them before she said anything further. "And if I did have any pointers what makes you think I'd share them with you?"

James huffed and walked past her to slide down a wall and onto the ground of the kitchen. "I should have expected such a comeback, but I thought you might have surprised me. Alas, no sharp wit from you today." He said, dryly. A house elf appeared and asked him if he was wanting something. Those strawberries of Alli's look amazing, but he deemed that he'd just eat them once Thomas left them the hell alone.

"I'll have some toast, with vegemite if you've got it." He was rather partial to the stuff. Salty and awesome. Besides, there was nothing better than toast as a midnight snack.

"As if I'd waste my wit on someone like you," Alli retorted. Truth be told she couldn't bring herself to use it on him; she was too focused on just trying to get Tom to go away.

She listened to James order food and nearly gagged. She'd had a Vegemite flavored Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean once and it had been one of the most traumatizing experiences of her childhood. "It's no wonder that girls stay away from you when you eat crap like that," she commented. If he thought that he was going to eat that stuff then put his lips anywhere near hers, he was sadly mistaken. "Best of luck getting anyone to ever kiss you."

James laughed out loud. "Awesome. Can't say I want attention from girls but I shall eat the stuff by the barrel full just in case. I wouldn't want you to get any ideas about wanting to kiss me. Just think, it could be my own Allison repellent." He purposely used her full name instead of her shortened version, mainly to get her back for calling him Jamesie.

James grinned, thinking about the endless possibilities he have, teasing Alli wise. She really did hate the stuff, which made James laugh. If only she hadn't had that bean when she was a kid; he might have had some luck in persuading her to try some on toast. It really was just so damn good.

Alli groaned. She really didn't have any idea how he could stand that stuff. On top of it, he had decided to start teasing her. And then on top of that, he had called her 'Allison'. Well, two could play at that game.

"Oh please, the way you try to strut around the castle like you own it, you're practically begging girls to look at you. They're just not interested. And don't go pushing your fantasies on me. My kisses are reserved for very special people," she looked at Tom and winked, knowing that it would get under James' skin.

James narrowed his eyes. He knew she was only pretending, but he couldn't help but be a tad annoyed by what she said. His eyes flickered to Thomas for a fraction of a second, and then back to Alli. Screw being a tad annoyed, he was royally pissed off. He knew that the kiss that Alli and Tom shared wasn't about anything, but it still happened and that still grated on James' nerves.

He pressed his lips together, his teeth pressed so hard against each other, he was surprised they weren't cracked under the pressure. "I don't strut," he said coldly, knowing it was a feeble attempt at a retort, but that was the only thing he could muster without showing real emotion.

Alli could tell that she may have pushed it a bit far just from the mere length of James' response. Crap. She hadn't meant to actually make him angry. Still, she had to keep up the pretense of arguing.

"I know you don't, I said try to strut. You're such a bumbling idiot that you fail at that even though it doesn't get much simpler than strutting," she replied, hoping that he remembered what that code meant and took it as the silent apology that it was meant to be.

James heard what she said, and pried his jaw open, massaging his face gently his thumb. He knew he shouldn't get so easily riled up, and he couldn't change the fact that it happened, so he tried to just let it go.

He saw the house-elf coming towards him with his toast, and grinned. Toast definitely was cause to smile.

"Thanks heaps," James said to the elf, who bowed and disappeared. He took a bite and looked at Alli. "Yum." He offered the piece towards the Slytherin "Want some?" he smirked.

Alli rolled her eyes. His "peace offering" was indication enough that he'd understood what she said.

"You know what, yes I do want some," she said, snatching it out of his hand. Rather than eating it, she pitched it in a nearby trash can. It was something that she would have done regardless of whether or not Tom was there. "Exactly where it belongs. I can't even believe they have that stuff here. Disgusting."