In the Dark of the Night{Rachel}

Sleep was elusive. Again. He never got much sleep before a full moon. He lay awake in bed, looking up at the drapes hanging over his four poster bed. The moon filtered in through the curtains over the window and made patches of light on his blankets. He sat up in bed and traced the light shapes before grabbing the clock next to his bed. 2 am... He had not slept at all yet. Sighing he fell back onto his pillows and pulled the blankets over his head. There had to be someway to fall asleep. He tried several different positions. His side, stomach, back, other side, curled in a ball. Nothing helped. Giving up, he quietly got out of bed and slipped his shoes and cloak on. Rachel would be awake, she was always awake at night. He snuck out of the room and down the spiral staircase. He pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady. Luckily she was out visiting a friend in another frame.

The halls were deserted, which was to be expected this early in the morning. He kept to the walls and the shadows, a natural instinct. It seemed Filtch never slept either and he could be anywhere, around any corner. James walked softly, so as to be able to hear the noises around him. His hearing was always fantastic. As was his sense of smell, which wasn't always a benefit. Boy's lavatories are not a good place to have a keen nose. It had taken some practice, but eventually James had been able to filter through the multitude of noise and smells. He remembered when he was first made a werewolf he was overwhelmed with the intrusion on his senses. He was glad he was past that now.

He climbed several staircases and sprinted down some halls. Not really paying attention to where he was going, before he knew it he was surrounded by armor. He sighed and leaned against the wall, between two suits. "Now I know how Rachel feels staying up all night." he muttered to himself.

She was humming. As she usually did when he traversed the halls at night. She, like any other student, had a curfew. But vampires had a way of going unnoticed if needed. She had a shuddering feeling this night though, about Daniel. She had a feeling she would run into him soon and she was not excited for that time to come. When she was 'resting' in her dorm room, she had a strange daydream about him. The thought made her sick. She left quickly, hoping that she would walk it off. The cold dark hallways just made it worse.

Suddenly a strong scent entered her nose. James. She shook her head and sighed. He should be asleep, it wasn't even time for breakfast yet. She followed the scent until she found a hallway filled with armor. When she saw him leaning against the wall. She didn't hear the whole sentence but she heard him mutter her name. "That's impolite, you know." She walked closer to him and folded her arms, "muttering behind someones back." She smiled at her brother.

"What on earth are you up for?" She asked, her tone slightly agitated. It was bad enough that they weren't in the same house. This way she had no means of protecting him when he was out and about. It wasn't fair.

He smelt her coming before he heard or saw her. James looked up at his sister quickly a smile forming on his face. She looked beautiful and unharmed. a quick glance showed no scratches, bruises, wounds. But then again not much could hurt her anymore. Except him. That was something he was constantly aware of.

"Rachel!" he threw his arms around her neck, pulling her close to him.

"I was only muttering to get your attention, it works everytime." he confided to her in her ear before he let her go. He stood an arms length away from her, beaming. He hadn't seen her since the day before yesterday. He hated being away from her for so long. He never knew what trouble she could attract. Actually, he did know. Daniel. The thought made his lip curl. But he pushed that thought out of his mind, he was here with Rachel now. She was fine. He was fine. Everything was ok.

"What are you doing up here?" he asked her, leaning back against the wall and taking her hand in his with brotherly affection. He was glad she had found him. He would have found her eventually, but he didn't like sneaking into the Slytherin common room, it creeped him out.

Rachel had never been scared the fact that her brother was a werewolf. She even found it a little amusing that they both had become monsters, and unsurprising. Given that her luck was pretty terrible, she didn't think it was that odd how it had happened. They were each others own worst enemy. But they were blood, twins, best friends. Nothing could convince them to hurt one another.

She moved her folded arms just in time to hug him back, slightly irritated that he was being so dramatic. Why did he always have to make things such a big deal? "What, i'm here what?!" She growled.

She knew he was worrying about her. He was always worrying about her. "Well, it worked. Creepy muttering creeper." Her insult wasn't very good but it was pretty fun to make up. She smiled at him and moved to reach her arm out, touching his shoulder. "It's early. You shouldn't be wandering." She said, her voice sweetening a little.

She shrugged, if she told James about her dream he would freak out. Probably destroy a suit of armor in the process too. "Just taking a walk. Nothing better to do." She raised an eyebrow at him as he took her hand. "The better question is why you're here, James. Did you follow a pretty girl and lose her?" She smirked.

He always felt so much better with his sister. He shrugged at her comment about him being a creeper.
"You would know, creeper queen." he countered. She smelled of the Slytherin common room, which she did often, but it was stronger now. That meant she had just come up. He wondered why she had stayed in her dorm for so long. He wondered what she had been doing for so long. Maybe she was -- No! No, he was not going to manage every detail of her life. What she did with her time was her business. He was not going to infringe on her any more. He loved her, but he was not going to smother her.
"Yeah, she turned into a bat and I lost my interest."He let go of her hand and ran his hand through his hair. "I just couldn't sleep. The full moon is this weekend." he sighed. He felt comfortable with Rachel, but he still wasn't comfortable with what he was. It made him uncomfortable to speak about it. He was a monster, but more dangerous than he liked to think about.

"Well, I guess vampires kind of did invent the whole creeper creepy thing." Rachel nodded in agreement. She knew he was probably analyzing her reasons for being out so late in the morning. She usually was out and about a good few hours earlier. But, he could tell the difference and she really hoped he didn't question her about it. She let her jaw drop at his 'bat' comment, "How rude! She's probably a nice girl deep down inside all that furry fuzz. Speaking of furry fuzz, sorry about this weekend." She shrugged, "But hey, what's wrong with being a couple of furry twins, right?"

She laughed out loud. It was pretty convenient that they both could fend for themselves fairly well. It made it a little easier to be apart. A little. She moved to link her arm through his and started pulling him down the hall. "I'm starving." She complained. Not that there was much for her to eat, but Hogwarts had...ways of helping its less human students out with their less than normal appetite.