a little break (Duncan, brooke, open)

[Duncan Mowbray]

Duncan lead Brooke to the dungeon and showed her the entrance to the kitchens. Gobbie, a female house elf, immediately appeared before them. "Mister Mowbray - hello ! It's so nice to see you and another friend ! We love to be able to do things for you all."

Duncan bowed politely to Gobbi. "It's kind of you to welcome us into your home. Thank you."

Gobbi blushed a little at the kindness. "You are most welcome and always welcome sir."

Duncan turned towards Brooke. "This young lady is Brooke. I'm showing her the wonders of Hogwarts and it wouldn't be complete without a visit with all of you."

Gobbi smiled hugely and turned towards Brooke. " Mister Mowbray is too enerous with his praise." the house-elf said, but she was smiling ear to ear. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Brooke." she said with a small curtsey. "What can I get for you ?" she asked as several house elves appeared with her.

"How about something light and refreshing ?" Duncan asked Brooke. "I need some energy after all that sitting."

[Brooke Edwards]

Brooke was a bit afraid for going into the dungeons, even though her common-room was there. She didn't like the smell of the dungeon outiside her common room. She found that smelled nice until she left the entrance. Brooke was glad that Duncan was with her though. She knew she being foolish with her crazy crush. He was so nice though and cute. Brooke's hair had remained that beautiful blue colour, but now it fell completely straight around Brooke's face. She'd changed her eyes to her favourite deep emerald green colour.

Brooke's eyes opened wide at the size of the Hogwarts Kitchen's and all of the house elves. She gasped happily. She'd only every met a house elf once, but her uncle always talked about their false treatment. So many Royal Family mistreated the elves, even though they wanted to serve they still should be treated with some respect.

"Wow," Brooke said. "House Elves. There are so many of them." When the female one, who seemed to be called Gobbi, came up to Brooke, Brooke smiled and asked for a nice cucumber sandwich.

"You seem to know the House Elves quite well, Duncan," Brooke observed. "Have you been down here before? You seem pretty popular with the elves," Brooke laughed at this. She found herself constantly laughing at her own jokes, which weren't funny.

"Sorry," Brooke apologized. "I know I'm not funny." She was still laughing at herself, but she kept it too a low chuckle.

[Duncan Mowbray]

"Laughter is good for the soul." he replied. "And I like the blue hair. I've seen it somewhere but I can't put my finger on it."

He turned to Gobbi "I think a cucumber sandwich and a lemonade would be great."

Gobbi nodded and dissappeared.

Duncan looked at the house elves moving about. "My cat brought me down here on my first day, nearly three weeks ago. ANd I guess that I have a friend or two down here. Basicly you be nice and you get nice returned."

[Brooke Edwards]

Brooke chuckled at Duncan's comment about her hair. She blushed, knowing that it was the colour of his eyes. She really hadn't done it on purpose. Smiling at Duncan was just so easy for Brooke, she hoped that he didn't mind.

Brooke agreed with Duncan's statement. Be nice and you will recieve nice things. He was such a nice guy. Brooke stopped for a minute, thinking that she wasn't nice enough for him. Brooke brushed this thought off, but it sat in her stomach. She suddenly was a lot hungrier that she had been before.

"Your cat?" Brooke was surprised. She knew that wizard cats were quite intelligent. "Has it been here before then? Did it belong to a sibling?" Brooke was very curious about animals, as she was sure Duncan knew.

The House-elves in the background hustled and bustled around. She could smell delicious food that she was sure was being prepared for the Start-of-Term feast. Brooke couldn't wait. She was almost a little sad that she's have to sit at the Hufflepuff table as opposed to sitting with Duncan.

[Duncan Mowbray]

"No, Bast was mine since she was a kitten. She's just good at exploring. She's very smart and helped me find a lot of great places in the castle." Duncan answer.

He took a bite of his sandwitch and seemed to be enjoying it. "Thanks Gobbi. It's delicious, as ussual." and he took another bite.

He looked at Brooke and smiled. She seemed like a nice girl and he certainly felt like he needed more nice people around him, especially with the drama that arrived with the 1st year students. "You're lucky you got here right before the feast. SO far it's been 'Hogwarts School of Drama and Meyhem' and I'd like to get to the wizardry part and escape the drama." and he ate more of his sandwich.

[Brooke Edwards]

Bast, Brooke thought. That's very interesting name for a cat. She thought it was pretty cute. It was so cute to her because of her love for animals. She would love to meet Bast.

Brooke laughed loudly at 'Hogwarts School of Drama and Mayhem'. "Yeah," Brooke responded. "I heard all about it from Mist once. That Hawkes guy sounds like a real jerk. And poor Katie, she's so sweet." Brooke did like Katie, she was Brooke's only girlfriend in Hufflepuff so far. Brooke also didn't know any guys in Hufflepuff.

"So how were you involved in the drama?" Brooke asked, curiously. "I didn't hear anything about you. Unless you don't want to talk about it." Brooke said the last sentence quickly to cover up her curiousity. The Houselves had brought her food so quickly, that Brooke hadn't noticed it was there. She smiled and grabbed a cucumber sandwich and ate it rather quickly. It tasted so amazing. She loved a good sandwich.

"These are awesome," Brooke said with her mouth full.

[Duncan Mowbray]

Duncan sighed and shook his head. "Yea, the drama just kind of exploded on everybody. I didn't know that Hawkes was playin several girls and I noticed that he and Katie seemed close. I made the mistake of writing a big Hawkes + Katie note and it all blew up."

"And it was like a perfect-storm of heart ache. And Hawkes jumped off the top of the quidditch pitch and dissappeared - no injured kid, no dead body - nothing at all. So the girls were all hurtin everywhere and I tried to take care of my friends."

"If I ever see that idiot Hawkes again I gonna hex him into oblivion."

[Brooke Edwards]

Brooke looked at Duncan with a certain admiration when he talked about helping his friends. He was so noble, so kind and pretty cute. She was getting a little crazy, she had a huge crush here, but she had to be careful to not show him too much of her feelings. Brooke smiled warily at Duncan while she ate her amazing sandwich.

Brooke took a huge gulp of her lemonade to wash down her sandwich. She flashed her green eyes and the sparkled. "Which class do you have today? I have Charms later and I'm incredibly excited." Brooke began to pull out her books and suddenly her notes fell out all over the ground. "Oh! Sorry. I do that a lot," Brooke admitted.

Among Brooke's notes were some of her Sketches. She had always loved to doodle, but lately she had been trying to sketch the mysterious animals that she had seen in her books. There were some pictures of her owl, Jefferson, that she had done on the train. There was also a sketch of a griffin that she had just been working on. Brooke also had a sketch of a rabbit standing on his hind legs.

Brooke blushed as her sketches fell all over the floor. She found them very embarressing. She didn't like to show her drawings to people, they were merely what she did for enjoyment. She gathered them up quickly, crumpling a few of them. "You don't have to look at those," She said, gather them in her arms, blushing.

[Duncan Mowbray]

He smiled at her and picked a couple up "Yes, I do have to look." he said. "I'm probably the most curious fellow you will ever meet."

He looked at the pictures "These are great. You have real talent." he said. "You should let people see these."

He gathered them for her and handed them to her.

[Brooke Edwards]

Brooke smiled warmly at Duncan's comment on her sketches. She would show them to people, but she was constantly afraid of rejection. With another gulp of lemonade, Brooke put her drawings back into her bag. She had her Charms book out still, but looked at it dully now. She couldn't even remember why she had pulled it out in the first place.

"Are you in Charms too?" Brooke asked, curiously. She wanted to know exactly which classes she had with Duncan. He was so nice and Brooke loved spending time with him. Although Brooke doubted she would ever find the courage to tell Duncan her feelings. She wasn't that brave.

Brooke finished her sandwich with a satisfied sigh. She loved a good meal. Those House Elves were geniouses. Brooke sat back and looked at Duncan's blue eyes. She then changed her hair colour to a bright red and let it fall in curls around her shoulders, she found that she was beginning to like that style.

[Duncan Mowbray]

Duncan was about to answer when Brooke's hair changed again. He still wasn't used to the fast changes and stared in amazement. "I've read about metamorphmaguses but I've never seen any before you. It's amazing."

"But you distracted me. Yes, I'm in charms, transfiguration, potions and dada. I wouldn't mind a class on thursdays, my only free day, I think I'd rather have five classes."

Duncan smiled at her. He met so many nice people here. He did meet an idiot or two, but mostly he was enjoying the people he met here.

[Brooke Edwards]

Brooke smiled at Duncan's comments on metamorphmagus' she didn't get asked about it very often, because she liked to keep it quiet, unless her emotions were running wild, then she really couldn't help it. That was why Brooke sat in the back of classes, just so that she wouldn't be singled out.

"That's funny, I'm in Charms, Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts with you. You're not in Herbology though." Brooke took another sip of lemonade. "Do they let you take five classes? That would be fantastic. I would love that." Brooke smiled, wondering what her extra class would be. She then thought about Flying and realized that there wasn't a class for that yet. She frowned a bit, thinking about it. Her eyes turned chocolate brown. This was a rare eye colour for Brooke. She only did it when she was in a thoughtful mood.

"Do you think we'll have flying lessons this term?" She asked simply, looking deeply into Duncan's eyes. "Or is that like a club we could join or something?" At this point she was kind of thinking out loud, but she didn't mind if Duncan heard

[Duncan Mowbray]

"I don't know if they let you take 5 classes." Duncan replied. "I plan to ask. ANd I don't know if they have flying lessons or a club either ?" He shrugged. "I guess I fall as the answer man."

[Brooke Edwards]

"No," Brooke smiled. "You don't fail as the answer man." Brooke tried not to look too happy. She didn't want to be showing her liking for Duncan too much. She was way too shy. Brooke began to play with the hair around her ears and she looked around for the House-Elves.

"Umm..." She started, as the one called Gobbi walked over. "Could I possibly get some more lemonade please?" Brooke said this very kindly. The House Elf bowed and took away her empty glass and the empty plate where the sandwiches had been a minute ago.

"Well Duncan," Brooke said, smiling. "One more question and then I'll let you question me. Met anyone particularly special?" She blushed when she said this, but she also dreaded the anwser. If there was one, if might even turn her off of Duncan.

[Duncan Mowbray]

He smiled and nodded his head. "I've met a few special people here." A curious look covered his face. "Girls... the only guy I've really known was hawkes... yuck."

"Katie.. we kinda adopted each other. She's like my sister." he smiled at mentioning her name. Then his expression turned sad "Mist and Lilah... they're having a ..little trouble. Both of them kinda like me and... well some things happened and I guess you ould say that me an Lilah are an item."

He looked up and smiled at Brooke. "And you, of course. You're pretty terrific. I'm glad we met." he said.

OOC: Duncan wasn't dating Lilah when this thread started, but he is now. That wouldn't have changed anything he said or did because he is basiclly a nice guy and clueless about girls.