It happens to everyone - sometimes, you have nights where you just can't fall asleep, no matter what you do. It could be for a number of reasons, or no reason at all. And this is what's happened now: you've been laying in bed for what feels like hours, just tossing and turning, and nothing seems to help. So what's left to do? Get out of bed and go wake someone else up, of course. If you're not getting any sleep, then why should they?
i n s t r u c t i o n s • Post with your character (note the name and fandom in the subject). • Other people reply to you by generating a number from 1 to 10. • Have fun!
o p t i o n s 01 • FEAR. Maybe you're hearing strange, indeterminable noises; maybe there's a severe storm happening outside; maybe you watched a scary movie before bed? Whatever the reason, you're terrified and it's keeping you awake. You just want to wake someone else up so they can protect you from the monster in your closet. 02 • HUNGER. Your stomach is growling and it just won't stop. Or perhaps your throat is so dry you could cough up a tumbleweed? Well, you've gone to the kitchen to remedy this and hey, that was a pan that just dropped on the floor. It was loud enough to wake the dead! Oops. 03 • PAIN. Your body is completely worn out, be it from exercise, battle, sickness, or what have you. Either way you're in enough pain to keep you from sleeping, so maybe someone else has a home remedy or something, or can at least help you take your mind off of it. 04 • SOLITUDE. For some reason, your bed just feels so empty at the moment. You're feeling terribly lonely and really just want someone to keep you company for a while. Maybe it'd be easier to fall asleep if you're with them... 05 • DISCOMFORT. Your room is an oven. Either that or a freezer. Or maybe this bed is just really uncomfortable? Who knows why you can't get to sleep, it feels like it could be anything. Why even bother trying? Maybe someone else can preoccupy you until you feel tired enough to ignore your discomfort. 06 • PENSIVE. Something's on your mind, and no matter how hard you try to focus elsewhere, it's just not going to work. Your body may be tired, but your mind is incredibly busy and it's virtually impossible to get to sleep. Surely, talking it out with someone else will help? 07 • SADNESS. Something terrible has happened that day, perhaps; or you could just be severely depressed. Either way you're trying your hardest not to cry yourself to sleep, and it's not working at all. Better find a way to get it out of your system somehow; you need a shoulder to cry on. 08 • ANGER. You are just... fuming. Who knows why - that annoying dog is barking again, or maybe the people next door are getting busy and keeping you awake. Whatever the reason for your ire is, you'd better put an end to it so you can get some damn rest already! Go wake up a friend so you can complain to them. 09 • RESTLESS. You're far too energetic to sleep right now. Maybe you're just trying to do so out of necessity - you have to be up early tomorrow! But you just don't think you'll be able to fall asleep for a while now, so why waste the time trying to sleep when you could be doing something else? Namely bothering someone else - you're totally jealous because they're getting more sleep than you. 10 • WILDCARD. Choose one of the options above, or make up your own scenario.
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[Mostly.]
Don't tell me you've never.
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[ Lily knew a slippery slope when she neared one. Admitting a thing like that would only lead to cajoling of some sort, and that could only lead to deeds the Head Girl and Boy had no business undertaking. ]
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How can you possibly be Head Girl if you haven't had the full Hogwarts student experience?
[Yeah, trying to dissemble here isn't working. Not when cajoling is such a speciality.]
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[ Lily's nose wrinkled as she gave him a wry smile. ]
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[Insomniac James somehow manages to be more obnoxiously energetic and over-the-top than normal James, which is impressive.]
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We're out in the middle of the night, isn't that living enough for you? And where are we going?
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[He shakes his head, clicking his tongue, but does relent.]
There's a spot I want to show you. It's got an incredible view on a night like this.
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[ If it wasn't for the slight wrinkle creasing the bridge of her nose she could almost be taken seriously. ]
That sounds a bit like a line James Potter, but- [ Lily rolled her shoulders in a shrug. At worst she'd have a new spot to check while making rounds. ]
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[It's really not. Not that he'd necessarily mind her taking it as one, but... it's not.]
It's just a really good night for it, is all. You can see right across the glen, and...
Well. You'll see.
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The suspense is going to kill me, I swear.
[ Had it been delivered as dryly as most of her rebuttals it might have sounded a bit more scathing than it did when warmed with a little smile.
He was such a creature of chaos, making rounds was rarely boring. And it wasn't all bad, precisely. ]
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C'mon, this way.
[He beckons her around a corner that shouldn't even be there, through what looks like solid wall and into a broad, moonlit hallway.]
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[ Lily retorted flatly, biting at the inside of her cheek to suppress a grin.
She hesitated for a moment before following him around the corner and into the corridor beyond the wall, the surprise she felt evident in her face. ]
So it was a line.
[ Secluded moonlit corridors at 3am? Definitely not a part of the rounds, not as she had ever known them. ]
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[He raises his eyebrows, patting her arm.]
I promise not to put the moves on you. Cross my heart and hope to die.
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[ It wasn't often that she used his first name, and it was said so dryly it was almost easy to miss.
At both the promise and the pat to her arm, she sighed, rolling her shoulders in a vague shrug. ]
Don't write cheques with your mouth that you aren't able to cash James.
[ The irritating thing about those that had grown up ensconced in the magical world was that there were so many turns of phrase she had ended up needing to explain. Did Gringotts even deal with cheques? ]
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[But he understands it enough to pull a pious expression.]
I have never once written a cheque I couldn't cash.
And if you want to go back to bed, I won't stop you.
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I don't.
[ She said lightly, her nose wrinkling ever so as though she'd passed through a cloud of some faint but highly unpleasant odor. Admitting that kind of thing was reckless in the face of the chaotic energy that James seemed to radiate. There was some expression about giving an inch only to have a mile taken from you that suited the situation, but Lily was far too preoccupied with maintaining her carefully manicured facade of merely polite interest to conjure up a witty remark along the lines of it. ]
So, is this the big secret? A pretty hallway?
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But no. The big secret's down there. [He points down the hallway, the way they're heading.] Took us ages to figure this one out.
[There's a door at the end of the hallway. He pulls out his wand, muttering something under his breath, and opens it, stepping back to gesture her through.]
[The room beyond is small and plain, carved stone with very little furniture. It's dominated by the window, which is immense and arched, latticed with smaller, diamond-shaped panes. Beyond it is the Lake, and the glen, and the mountains, sitting still and peaceful under the clear, starry sky.]
[Or. Well. Mostly clear sky. There's something odd about the window, and it may take a little while to figure out what it is. All the latticed panes show the same view, the same lake, the same glen. All the stars are in the same position, and if you move so that the moon shifts from one pane to the other, it's the same waxing crescent in all of them.]
[But some of the panes show clouds. Some show fog. In one, there appears to be a fire burning in the distance. In another, there is snow on the mountaintops which doesn't seem to be anywhere else. Move closer, so that the castle below is more readily visible, and it may be apparent that the buildings are also different when viewed through different panes - subtle changes of wear and development.]
[James is grinning ear to ear.]
Pretty cool, right?
oops this turned into my post nano treat instead of a prenano warmup
[ Lily glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, the corner of her mouth curving in a lopsided smirk, though, she hoped he wouldn't take that as his cue to start talking about how wonderful he was. They'd be stuck in this hallway until dawn if so, tantalizingly close to the door at the end of it but not reaching it while James Potter delivered a monologue on himself. That she could see it happening all too easily kept her from smiling at him outright, she was far too keen to find out what was waiting at the end of the hallway.
When the door swung open Lily's mind leapt into motion, wheels already turning as she took it all in. She strode past him, arms crossing over her chest while she turned this way and that, examining the simple stonework on her way to the massive window.
It was the fire that caught her attention first, and she squinted, leaning in closer to study the view from that particular pane of glass before she took a step to the side, exploring the sight of the landscaped, but ensconced in fog. ]
What– [ Lily breathed the word under her breath, not bothering to finish the question when there were more parts of the window to look through, and different sights to see when she did. Dropping her arms from around herself she lifted a hand to rest her chin against the backs of her fingers, eyebrows raised in thought. ]
Pretty cool. [ Echoing the turn of phrase he used she turned away from the window to look at James, relenting at last and grinning right back at him. She had been too caught off-guard by being presented with something actually wonderful to bother to quell the urge to do so. He looked awfully proud of himself and while ordinarily, that would annoy her this was quite accurately - pretty cool. ] What do you see when it's daylight?
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Nothing. It blacks out. We think it's triggered by starlight.
There's a shortcut to the Astronomy Tower just a few yards... [He scrunches up his face, mentally pulling up the image of the Map, and then points.] ...that way. Moony thinks this is for research. Shows you all the times in the last nine hundred years that the stars were in this alignment, and you can... I dunno. Compare what they look like, what was going on?
Mostly, it's just fun to mess around with. [And also, to sit and stare at while high. Seriously, this is the best room in the castle to get high in, and Lily should just be glad it doesn't currently stink of weed.]
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[ Was it wise handing Lily Evans something like this to work over? She wanted to pick the window apart and figure out precisely how it worked, and some part of her was kicking herself for leaving her little pencil and notepad behind in her bedroom.
And oh, how she hated the way she didn't exactly hate the way he was looking at her.
Thankfully James was James, and he plowed on ahead, telling her about the corridor to the Astronomy Tower and what Remus thought it might be for. All of these details were filed away for the research she was completely going to do tomorrow. Turning back to the window Lily was leaned in close enough that the tip of her nose was just brushing the pane of glass in front of her face, staring out at the fire burning in the distance. ]
I don't suppose I ought to trust you to pick me up enough so I can look through the panes I can't reach. [ Oh no what an idiot. ]
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[And while there might certainly have been a time when he'd use the opportunity to cop a feel, he's more or less moved past that now. This is seventh year, and he's Head Boy, and while he may still be something of an incorrigible arse, he's no longer enough of one for straight-out sexual assault.]
[(It turns out that the staff's scheme to teach him responsibility by making him Head Boy might actually work, just a little bit)]
[He pushes his glasses up his nose, crossing the room to stand beside her, and cups his hands into a step by way of an offer.]
Here, have a boost.
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[ Her words might have been as brusque and aloof as ever but there was a distinct softness in her eyes that hadn't been there before. Turning to look up at the panes of glass that were out of reach, marveling over the prospect of what she might find when she was finally able to see through them.
When James approached Lily gave him a quick appreciative nod, though the idea of using him as a ladder suddenly struck her as quite awkward. Still, in for a penny in for a pound and she rested her hands on his shoulders, muttering out a quick apology just in case she hurt him when she planted her foot on his laced together fingers and hoisted herself up.
Thankfully she managed to keep from kneeing him, though he was rewarded for his efforts with a face full of her midsection, Lily would worry about that later, as right now she was far too captivated by peering through the upper panes of glass at last. ]
I think it might be the same as the ones below it. The one with the fire certainly is, though this left one is, hm. [ Lily gave a wobble, looking down at James warningly. ] Hold onto me James, I'm not poisonous you know!
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[His voice is a little muffled against her hip, and his glasses are steaming up a little already, both from being pushed up against her and from the effort of holding her still. But there's no real resentment in his tone, and he does the best he can to steady her without getting his hands anywhere they shouldn't be.]
You wanna go left? You can hold onto my hair if you're feeling off-balance, that's what Wormy always winds up doing.
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[ Still, she was smiling while fighting to suppress her laughter. Not wanting to pull his hair, though she very much wanted to go left and peer through all the panes of glass she couldn't reach from here Lily decided the most polite course of action was to hold onto his head. ]
Go left– [ This was ridiculous, she knew it, but she also wanted to look out and see what about the landscape had changed. ]
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[He's laughing now, which is not helpful, because it makes it very difficult not to shake, and he does very much not want to drop her. Stifling it as best he can, he shuffles a few careful steps to the left, trying not to lift his feet off the ground any more than he has to.]
Anything good? I never managed to get up there.
[Always the climbed, never the climber. It's a curse, being the buffest Marauder.]
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