After Hours PV Elena finished

Speech -- Thoughts

Night escapades were not a part of her daily to-do list. Getting caught was way too easy. She wasn't a fan of breaking rules which made her waste her hours in detention. It made much more sense to break the rules out of which you could escape unscathed.

But she was always playing around with curfew. The time between dinner and curfew was now mostly spent at the Astronomy Tower, the place having become like a second home for the girl. Pam would stay there for as long as she possibly and safely could, before rushing back to the dorm just before time. No-one could really tell her anything as long as she was within curfew.

Her common room was about two corridors away, and she had managed to make it so far without alerting the portraits or falling over a cat or smacking into sharp corners. All was well.

Until it wasn't.

A girl stood at the end of the corridor, partially cloaked in darkness. Pam didn't notice her until it was too late, so she couldn't run away or melt into the darkness or do any of those things she read in books. Let her be a student also sneaking about. Let her be lost. Anything but a prefect please.

Oh, the irony. Pam getting caught on the one day she was past curfew. And it wasn't even purposely.

Luck had abandoned her yet again, as Pam caught the glint of the prefect badge on her chest. Goddamn it.

Pam considered her fight-or-flight chances. Along with possible consequences the next morning. It was dark after all, the girl had probably not seen her face and there were a lot of blonde girls at school. There was a fifty-fifty possibility of actually getting caught. Unless she managed to follow Pam to her dorm. That could be a problem. Talking about dorm.... I'll have to cross her to get to it. She'll definitely see me then.

And so her flight option was swiftly deemed useless. Fight then? Pam would consider bribing the prefect to be a pretty good idea, problem being she didn't quite have anything to offer. Besides chocolate. Did the girl like chocolate? Well everyone likes chocolate, right? She shrugged, but then flashed the girl what she hoped looked like a harmless smile, "Hello."

Speech -- Thoughts

Gentle.

Was this prefect older than her? Or were they in the same year? Pam wondered if she'd had a lot of experience running into terrified rule-breakers as a prefect. The soft smile gracing her lips told Pam that this girl was probably not going to be one of those prefects that dish out punishments before listening to reason. Not that Pam had actually met those kinds of prefects yet, or even knew whether such prefects currently existed in the school. However, when your hobby is reading, your mind does tend to imagine scenarios.

Most of the current scenarios in her mind involved months of detention.

The girl was a Ravenclaw, Pam noted suddenly, eyes finally shifting from her pinned badge to the rest of her uniform. The uniform was normally one of the first things Pam would notice whenever she met a new person. It was always helpful to prevent the obvious question.

She had been more concerned about what the shiny badge could mean for her. In this situation, it wouldn't have done her much good even if the girl had been a Hufflepuff. She was a prefect nevertheless.

The way she spoke to her though, make a shiver of amusement pass through Pam. Had she looked so scared that the girl had had to speak to her like she was a seven year old? Well, that wouldn't do at all. After all, it was an accident. Today wasn't one of those days when she couldn't sleep and therefore had snuck out to wear herself down. Is this punishment for times I've done that? That's very unfair. It was only once though.

She was getting sidetracked. First it was important that she didn't end up in detention tonight. Or her next letter to her father would include her having to scrub the toilets or something. That definitely would not do. Maybe she'd be able to get out without too much trouble. Probably. She smiled sheepishly at the girl, "Uh, well yes. I uh... fell asleep at the library."

Speech -- Thoughts

Pam blinked.

Walk me back?

Walk her back.

Walk. Her. Back.
Her entire soul did a clumsy spin with the thought, both really embarrassing and kinda relieving at the same time. Because by no means: yay, no detention, no scrubbing cauldrons, no letter home that her dad would dramatically read at the dinner table. However, on the other hand... being taken by a prefect like a lost little kid who had wandered away from the caretaker?

No, no absolutely not. The very thought was embarrassing.

But still being taken back to her dorm...

In kdramas the phrase "walking back" had one main use. The romantic one. Holding hands, soft laughter, quiet roads, maybe a hug. However, this wasn't that. Instead, it was more like the "I'll walk you back because I don't trust you to not murder people while I'm away".

Babysitting.

And, of course, she was well aware of the curfew. But also, she didn't intend to be here in the first place. Pam was a little chaotic, no doubt, but her chaos was purposeful. If she was out there deliberately breaking rules, she would at least pretend to look like she was sure of herself. Maybe she would wear a dramatic cloak, pull her hood up, get a suspicious candle or something. There would be a whole vibe happening.

And she wasnt going to get caught after all.

All because she had taken a nap. How utterly disappointing.

She massaged the back of her neck and laughed weakly, "Yeah it's pretty hard to forget." Her eyes wandered down to her shoes for a moment. "I really didn't think I'd sleep that long. "

"I promise to be more careful, " she said quietly while raising her eyes to her and giving her a soft and sincere smile. "I'm not usually, you know. Not very much into breaking rules?"

Silence. Then, as she was Pam and unfortunately had a knack for meddling, she added with a smile, "Only if I have a good reason, you know. "

Regret hit her like a ton of bricks. Someone please lock up my mouth and throw away the key. "Thats not what I meant. Please ignore that," she said, embarrassed at herself. Her mind went on a rampage conjuring up the memories she probably should have never had in the first place. You remember all those times you really were running down the stairs from the Astronomy Tower like a thief in the night just five minutes before curfew? Yes? Great.

The joke, whether the intentional or not, helped to relieve the tension inside Pam's chest a little. Even though she was still slightly embarrassed, it was a kind of embarrassment that felt good and really didn't bother her that much. "Thanks," she whispered, "for not sending me to detention. I owe you one." She could recall her last detention far too clearly; arguing with her two friends and then spending an hour cleaning potion stains off the dungeon floor while a ghost kept nagging her in the ear the whole time.

She had loudly, dramatically promised that that would be her last detention ever.

It certainly wouldn't be, but it's the thought that counts.

She softly cleared her throat and waved vaguely towards the Hufflepuff common room. "So, uh... do you always patrol this late?" she whispered, nervously trying to make conversation because really this was so awkward, "Or did I just pick the worst night to accidentally hibernate? "

Why was it she suddenly so talkative? This time her smile was much natural. Definitely more confident. And it felt like her.

Embarrassed? Yes. But also... kind of okay. Even safer than she thought.

"Just don't judge me too hard," Pam added, “I swear I’m much more competent in daylight.”