Corridors at... Night Closed OPEN

Lizzi walked hurriedly, stopping every few yards to check she wasn't being followed. No-one could know what she was up to. She felt awful, she'd never broken a single rule before. It started simple, being out in the corridors after curfew, but what if it spiralled out of control? Soon she would no longer be recognisable as Lizzi Silver, but as some horrid rule-breaker! She shook her head, eager to be rid of the thought. She just needed to do what she was here to do, and go back to bed.

Lizzi made her way down the corridors, towards the stairs down to the ground floor. She stopped. Was that breathing? Whatever she thought she had heard quickly ceased. Shaking her head again, Lizzi hastened her step. She really didn't want to be caught rule-breaking in her first year! (Even if she was telling herself that it was for a good cause...)

Arriving at the staircase, and judging herself out of earshot of the supposed breathing, Lizzi practically ran straight down the staircase, and full pelt into another student. She could tell it was a student because they were about the same height. That could also mean they wear either the same year as Lizzi, or a year above. Lizzi was guessing now. She was just hoping against hope that it wasn't a prefect.

"Aaarghh!" Elizabeth screamed as a brown-haired something ran straight into her. The bag fell out of her hand and she had to pretend to fall down, eventually hiding the bag of gold out of anyone's view.
Who was it? Was it human? Or was it a ghost (come to think of it, ghost doesn't have brown hair)? Was it he or she? What is he or she going to do to her? Or was it "they"? Questions cirlcled Elizabeths's head. Was it a prefect? Or was it a professor? Were they going to put her in detenition? Was she going to the headmaster?
But it seemed like a student, a student that was out at night too. Instinct took over Elizabeth. She grabbed the bag and the shoulder of the brown-haired thing at the same time and hurled themselves into the nearby classroom.
That seemed a good thing, for when students were in the classroom and the door shut, Elizabeth could hear footsteps echoing off the walls just outside. Apparently, her scream had been quite loud.
Elizabeth turned to the brown-haired student next to her. It was a girl, not the one she was waiting for, then. "Who are you?" she whispered in the darkness, eyes large.

"Who are you?" The student whispered.
Before answering, Lizzi ran for the lights. She hated the dark, and has only been in the dark out of necessity before.
But before she could get to them, she heard footsteps I the corridor. Perhaps that wasn't such a good idea...
"Oh whoops! Sorry! I'm Lizzi Silver..." Lizzi hesitated before adding, "I don't usually sneak around at night!!"
More hesitation. Then, squinting, Lizzi added, "You're in my dorm aren't you?
"This isn't what it looks like! I'm going to go to the library and get more studying in! I needed some books from the Library that I haven't taken out, so I couldn't study in the common room!" Before she knew it, she was spilling her guts to a girl who, yes she was in the same dorm, but Lizzi didn't even know her name! "Please don't rat me out to a prefect! I've never broken a rule before!!"
Looking around as she spoke, Lizzi saw that this seemed to be an unused classroom. It'd work for studying perfectly!
Lizzi sat down and began to set up to study with the little bag of books and pens that she had brought. It wasn't everything that she needed but, Lizzi judged that she could get a resonable amount of studying done.

The girl ran away, but then stopped and turned around.
"Oh whoops! Sorry! I'm Lizzi Silver..." She said, "I don't usually sneak around at night!!"
Then she said a whole bunch of things that didn't quite register with Elizabeth. All Elizabeth said was, "Hey! Shut up! They're looking for us."
Then Lizzi did something quite strange. She sat down and began to study!
Elizabeth couldn't believe it. "Are you mad?!" she hald-hissed, half-cried, "This is no place for studying! If they're gonna burst in any moment now you'll be in soup! Have you never been out at night before?" She paused for a moment. "I suppose you haven't."
She began to leave. Just then she thought of something. Well, perhaps it was foolish, but it was kind. A kind offer. And maybe that offer would be kind enough for Lizzi to keep her mouth shut and not say anything at all. Elizabeth didn't like the idea of letting this strange, new, random girl on the secret, but she had to do it. She fiddled with her robes, tucking the gold bag out of site.
"Lizzi...!" she said after a long while of staring at her, "Hey, umm... You know I'll be off, and I don't think it quite suitable for you to stay here... perhaps you want to be caught, you know. But if you don't... well I'm not saying you have to do it, but you can go with me on a er... mission. It'll be much more safer, you know."
She waited for Lizzi to respond.

At that moment, Donald Fish, who had been on his own little adventure searching for a late-night snack, heard the commotion in the classroom. Curiosity got the best of him as he approached the door, listening carefully. He knew he shouldn't be out after curfew either, but his love for snacks and food had driven him to bend the rules this time.

Donald silently opened the door just enough to peek inside, seeing Elizabeth and Lizzi in a heated conversation. He hesitated for a moment, considering whether he should reveal himself or remain hidden. Ultimately, he decided to join them, knowing they were all breaking the rules and that they might be able to help each other avoid getting caught.

Donald stepped into the room, "Hey, I'm Donald Fish," he whispered, trying to keep his voice down. "I'm sorry for interrupting, but I couldn't help overhearing your conversation. I'm also out past curfew, looking for a snack." He grinned sheepishly, holding up a half-eaten donut as evidence. "I know it's not ideal, but I figured we could all stick together, so we don't get caught. What do you think?"

Donald looked at Elizabeth and Lizzi expectantly, waiting for their response. He took another bite of his donut, savoring the taste, and then inconspicuously wiped his hands on his robes.

Lizzi looked up from her studying, seeing the girl looking very uncomfortable. She was blabbering some nonsense about Lizzi going with her so as not to get caught.
"Oh alright, I suppose I can't get to the Library now, can I?" She began to pack up her stationery, exasperated.
A boy suddenly poked his head around the door.
"Hey I'm Donald Fish." He said before taking a rather large bite of his rather large donut.
He then made an offer that they all stick together! Lizzi didn't know, as she had never been out past curfew, but surely sticking together wasn't the best idea? Well, two people had offered the same idea, and they both seemed like they'd broken rules before, so Lizzi supposed she'd better take them up on it.
"Alright. You both seem to know what you're doing, being out past curfew. Let's stay together."
Lizzi then noticed Donald wipe his fingers on his robes. He seemed to think no-one could see it.
"Don't do that! You'll ruin your robes!" She realised too late that she was younger than him, didn't know him, but was already acting like his mother.
"Sorry, I just-" Lizzi trailed off, hoping her facial expressions were doing the talking.

Elizabeth was exasperated and tired. Two people going with her? She signed loudly.
"Fisher, eh?" She said, peering him from head to toe, "Right, Fisher, you aren't going anywhere with us." She put her hands on her hips and glared at Lizzi, hoping it would scare her. "And you, Silver," she said, furiousness in her eyes and wand in her pocket, "I hope you know better than letting a boy go with us. Besides, look at him!" Elizabeth really did not like making rude comments, but she was already really quite late and now was really not the time to tell herself off.
She decided to go further. "And if you think he should go with us, you can stay here with him and you lot can study together. See if he'll offer you half a bite of that thing" she pointed at Donald's donut "and maybe you can sit together cozily while I go back to sleep in the dormitory!" She said, not wishing to let anyone on the plan, "Maybe you can sit here happily and snog--" she realised she'd gone too far and immdiately said "sorry" and continued recklessly, "But if you come along without him, maybe I can find you a good safe classroom you can study in, how's that? Deal?"
Elizabeth waited...

Lizzi had no idea what the girl was talking about now. She was just sat at the desk, watching the girl talk, but not really listening. All she heard was "snog" and "study". The first of the two made Lizzi pull a face of utter disgust, the second a look of joy. The boy, Donald, did not look like Lizzi's kind of person. Studying, however, was Lizzi's thing.
The girl was bribing Lizzi into going with her, with the promise of a classroom to study in?!
"Ok. I guess I can go with you as long as I can study." Lizzi quickly replayed the girl's speech in her mind. "But why can't Donald come? Surely he can come with us until he reaches his common room, wherever that may be... Can't he?" Perhaps there was something the girl had said that meant Lizzi could bribe her.
"If you let Donald come with us, I won't tell anyone what you're doing out tonight."
Lizzi then began to question herself.
1. Why am I sticking up for this random guy?
2. Why I am I acting like I know what the girl is doing???
Lizzi busied herself by packing away her studying things whilst waiting for one of them to respond.

Donald, feeling a bit uncomfortable with the tension in the room, decided to step in and address the situation. "Hey, I understand if you don't want me tagging along on your mission," he said toward Elizabeth, trying to ease the tension. "But she's right, maybe I can just stick with you both until we get near my common room. That way, we can all avoid getting caught together."

He glanced at Lizzi, appreciating her support, before turning back to Elizabeth. "I promise I won't cause any trouble or get in the way of whatever you're planning. We're all breaking the rules here, so we might as well help each other out, right?"

Donald considered for a moment, trying to think of any additional reasons that could convince Elizabeth to let him join them. "Actually," he said, an idea forming in his mind, "I've been practicing some spells that could come in handy if we run into any trouble. I'm pretty good at Transfiguration and Charms, so I might be able to help us out if we need a quick escape or a distraction."

He shifted slightly, feeling more confident in his argument. "And, to be honest, I've been feeling a bit restless lately. Being cooped up in the common room all the time can get a bit stifling, you know?" he added with a grin.

Donald looked at both girls, hoping his skills and genuine curiosity for exploration would be enough to persuade them to let him join. "So, what do you say?"