Cookies (Open)

At breakfast, Lyra ate very little. Just a couple of bites of toast. She'd woken up late and only just had time to rush down to the Great Hall to get any food at all. DADA was her first lesson of the day and she was not going to be late for fear of losing hundreds of points and getting loads of detentions.

When it was over, she was REALLY hungry! So a trip down to the kitchens sounded good to her before her next class. It wasn't like she had anything at all else that she had to do, or any friends to spend the time with. The kitchens always made her feel less bitter about her lonesome state, anyway, as did food anyway.

"Good morning!" she grinned at the house elves. They were all awkwardly eager to help her. Lyra felt sorry for them. They didn't really have any choice but work here. And they were just so pathetic, she cringed when they bombarded her with suggestions as to what she should eat. Well, she should appreciate them, although a tiny part of her wanted to roll her eyes. "Can I have some cookies please?" she asked kindly.

In a split second, she had a plate of cookies in her hand. "Thank you." Poor pathetic creatures. She leaned against the wall, tucking into the range of cookies laid out for her. Yum, double triple chocolate! It was so chocolately. Her hunger slowly disappeared as she ate more wonderful cookies.

It was a very long and tiring day for Victoria. Not only did she almost drown herself from boredom in Charms, but she also had to sit through a double lecture from History of Magic. When her classes for the day were finally over, she dragged her feet to the Ravenclaw tower and crashed on her bed. Nothing could be more sweeter than resting on a pillow that, in this moment, seemed softer than a cloud. But the stack of empty parchment on her table that was suppose to be her potions homework was ruining her sleep. She tossed and turned for a while until guilt made her give up her nap. 

Now instead of sleeping, she was forced to spend the next couple of hours in the library. But not until she had her coffee. Victoria searched through the cluster of her closet until she found what she needed. A large bag of quality Brazilian coffee beans. Even the faint smell of the bag reminded her of home. She forces her mother to send a package of coffee every couple of months so she wouldn't run out. Victoria had tried various English coffees and teas but their taste was always so bland. 

With her coffee and favorite mug put away safely in a small purse, Victoria almost ran down the staircase and headed towards the kitchen. It was still the afternoon so the room was filled with busy house elves doing their daily chores. "Oh no, I don't need anything. Thank you", she responded politely as she made her way to the kitchen counters. As she was unpacking her purse, she noticed a Gryffindor girl eating chocolate cookies from a large plate. "Hi! I hope you don't mind me being here, I'm just going to make some coffee"

Another girl came into the kitchens. Lyra smiled at her as she walked past, wondering what she was doing in here. Her question was soon answered without her asking. "Of course not!" she responded enthusiastically. What right did she have to stop another student from visiting the kitchens? None at all. "Would you like a cookie?" she offered, holding out the plate. There were far too many for her to eat herself, even though she was very hungry.

The bag the girl revealed caught her attention. "What's in there?" she asked, squinting to try and read the label. Coffee beans? That would make sense, as the Ravenclaw had said that she was here to make coffee. Why did she need to bring her own coffee beans though? Lyra was confused, since she was sure the house elves would be able to make their own coffee to save her the struggle of carrying her own beans down here.

Ah, introductions! She wanted to know what this girl's name was so she actually had something to refer to her as. "I'm Lyra!" She beamed at her, eager to make a new friend of this girl. She recognised her from a couple of classes and seeing her around the castle, but didn't know any more than that.

"Oh! Yeah, sure. Thanks", Victoria said with a smile as the girl greeted her and offered her a cookie. "These are really good", she noted while munching on a large piece that was filled with chocolate. One thing about Hogwarts is that you can never complain about the food. It was always amazing. "Did you made these yourself?", she asked curiously. Personally, Victoria couldn't even make an egg omelette. Her mother had complained about the lack of her cooking skills many times. But the one time she did try to cook a meal, she burnt it. So after eating her charcoal black pancakes, no one in her family really pressures her to cook anymore. 

Victoria pulled out her coffee and mug and placed it on the counter. "It's Brazilian coffee!", the Ravenclaw exclaimed with excitement. "My mother sends me a pack every month. It's the best tasting blend you could ask for. Do you want to try?", she asked as she started preparing her own cup. A large teaspoon of coffee, half a teaspoon of sugar and a little milk. One large cup should get her through the long hours of studying and homework today. 

"Nice to meet you. I am Victoria", she introduced herself with a smile. The girl definitely seemed familiar, so Victoria guessed that they should be around the same age. And her name, she was certain she had heard if before. "What year are you? I don't believe we have met before, but for some reason your name sounds familiar." After all, how many girls named Lyra could be roaming the hallways of Hogwarts. Not that many.

Lyra beamed. The girl liked the cookies too! She was already good friend material! "No," she said. "I can cook, but nowhere near this well! I mainly make scrambled eggs." Mom was a great cook, so she couldn't possibly compete with her or the house elves. At home, though, her scrambled eggs were often served for breakfast. They all chipped in with stuff like cooking and chores, it was nice. But now Jack was alone, doing it all himself. Poor boy. She missed Jack.

"Brazilian? Are you Brazilian?" she questioned eagerly. That was so cool! And apparently, Brazilian coffee was the best. She wasn't really a big fan of coffee, since she found it a bit weird-tasting, but this was meant to be very different! "Yes please!" Lyra grabbed herself a mug and skipped over to make her own. She followed the Ravenclaw's coffee-making to ensure she made it right. Then she took a hesitant sip. "Wow, this is amazing!" she grinned. "So much better than English and Dutch coffee!" Truly.

Victoria, nice name. "Nice to meet you too!" she replied politely. "Second-year. I think we might have some classes together?" And she was familiar? That was a statement she used to hear a lot. "Have you met my sister Lyn? Or my brother Hunter? I'm a VanDerberg." That should do it. She imagined that Victoria would have met, or at least heard of Hunter. He seemed to be quite famous at Hogwarts, her total git of a brother.

Victoria grabbed another cookie as she listened to Lyra. They were just so delicious she couldn't resist them! "I wish I could cook, but I am just miserable at it. I did try once though. I wanted to make an egg omelette but I burnt it so bad that you couldn't even see the yellow color anymore", she chuckled at her cooking skills. Oh well, at least she was excellent at ordering food at restaurants! 

"Oh yeah. Me and my brother transferred from Brazil two years ago. I use to have a silly little accent when I talked, so everyone could tell that I was a foreigner. But I guess I kind of lost it over the years. We live in London now with our mom", she explained remembering how strange this country seemed to her when she first came to England. It was definitely hard leaving Brazil, but this place was slowly becoming her home. The only thing she missed was her friends and the coffee. The latter was clearly no one an issue.

A smile escaped her lips as she took a large sip of her coffee. "I am so gland you like it! It is very different from the average English coffee. Much stronger and it has a better flavor to it, at least I think so. But I've never tried Dutch coffee! What is it like?", she asked. Then she heard her last name and it all made sense. "You are Hunter's sister! Yes, he told me about you before. You don't really look alike... well maybe the hair. But you are much prettier than I imagined. And quite... normal", she said hoping Lyra would take it as a compliment.

Lyra grinned widely at Victoria as she talked about her failed cooking incidents, giggling a little bit. “Maybe you should start with something simple?” she suggested jokingly. “Like toast?” Because once you could make toast without burning it, everything else was a lot easier. At least, it had been for her. At home she usually just let her mom cook and helped a little bit with making salad and basic stuff. That was when she wasn’t messing about with Lyn around the farm. It wasn’t like that at Hogwarts. Very little cooking and time with her sister.

“That’s so cool! Did you prefer Brazil or is London better? Oh, and Scotland?” Sometimes she forgot Hogwarts was in Scotland because most of the students were English. At least, a little bit. “I still have a bit of my Dutch accent,” she nodded. It was because she still went home for holidays and she’d only been at school here for two years. It wasn’t really clear though.

She took another sip. It tasted stronger and just really different. But different in a totally good way. “I think so too.” Victoria was right. She was smart, much like Lyra. “Dutch coffee… it depends on the brand, but it’s usually like English, just a bit stronger.” It was nothing special, like Brazilian coffee. “Yes, that’s me. I’m just cooler than him. Really? Hunter talked about someone other than himself?” Although she was smiling mockingly, she was only half joking about the self-centred git. Lyra giggled at Victoria’s hard-to-understand words. “No, I’m waaaay prettier! I’m the most good-looking in the family,” she smiled. One might argue that her and Lyn were identical, but she was prettier so obviously not.