It was a miserably disgusting day outside. Howling winds and cold rain whipped into the castle, without even the decency to be a bit of Christmas snow. It was chilly in the corridors, and at every window shadows danced on the stones and stairs. Erin Harper, jumper-clad, paused at the conjunction of the stairs to stare out the nearest window with an armful of food from the kitchen, his fingers freezing cold as he clutched his stolen goods.

He hated winter. Although he was usually warm-natured, all this chill got to a bloke eventually; it was only December and already the cold crept into his bed at night and coated the stone walls with a permanent icy air. And he was getting restless, being so castle-bound - he wanted to ride his broom and lay about on the grounds, but he had months to go before that was possible. Well, all right, Slytherin'd have a game against someone soon enough, but knowing his luck it'd be just as disgusting outside, and he'd never find the snitch. It was a dreary season. A dreary day. And all that rot about the good old English rain just made him sneer. A lot of English things did. Although... this'd be Scottish rain, wouldn't it? Maybe that explained why it was so bloody mournful.

For Rain Alistair Miller there was no such thing as a rainy day – in a philosophical sense that is. Since, being Rain, every day was rather Rainy. Though today even he found the outdoors unwelcoming, Rain didn't mind the cold, he minded the wet underwear.

So instead, he was prowling the halls and corridors of Hogwarts like a big cat with nothing to do and searching for a huge ball of yarn to get entangled in. Luckily, the ball of yarn presented itself in the form of none other than Erin Harper and a lot of food.

Rain, who was always hungery no matter the weather and doubly hungry in cold weather, sidled towards the Slytherin with a large goofy grin plastered on his face. "I'll tell you what, Harper," he said, as if they had been in the midst of a conversation. "I'll let you bribe me with food."

Why exactly Erin would need to bribe Rain was entirely up to him, but the way Rain put it, he had to bribe him for something – otherwise the food would, naturally, be stolen because bored-Rain was too lazy to go to the kitchen himself.

Erin, who'd registered the faint footsteps behind him but dismissed them as inconsequential, jumped a little when suddenly he found himself keeping company with a shifty-looking Gryffindor and his huge grin. When anyone smiled that big at Erin, he automatically found it untrustworthy - but maybe he'd just been spending too much time around his new CoMC partner, who seemed to take a special pleasure in winding him up. But his suspicion faded almost as fast as it had flared. That grin was too goofy to have an ulterior motive.

"I'll let you bribe me with food."

Erin eyed Miller for a moment, but with no real animosity. Despite the rain, Erin's day had been relatively fine, and he was in a good mood. Besides, Miller'd never done anything to him. "Yeah, all right," he agreed at last. "Don't tell anyone I know how to get into the kitchens, then." Although, given the very little he knew about the other boy, Miller probably already knew about it. "And hold off pranking the Slytherin table for a week. At least my side.  You can get Knight, though."

Rain laughed, he had been startled at first when Erin asked that he won't prank the Slytherin table. Many Slytherins were so full of themselves, they practically spilled ego out of their ears, for that reason, pranking them, and then seeing them red in the face was one of Rain's biggest pleasure. Pulling stunts on nearly anyone else was sometimes a little sad.

But then, to Rain's relief, he narrowed down his list a little, "Knight's my favorite," Rain said, the smile still plastered on his face, "Hadn't planned to prank him this week, but now I will, 'specially for you." He scratched his head thoughtfully. The trick with pranking people like Knight was not letting them know it was you where was pranking them.

"So what'd you get from the kitchens, Harpy?"

"Knight's my favorite. Hadn't planned to prank him this week, but now I will, 'specially for you."

Erin laughed. "Brilliant," he said, grinning. "You're too kind."

'Course, then Miller went and called him Harpy. Erin's grin vanished.

Harpy? As in the Greek female harpies? Maybe Rain had meant nothing by it, but as a boy cursed with an unusually feminine first name, Erin was particularly sensitive to such things. He gave Rain a long, hard look, as though trying to gauge the other boy's meaning. It was probably supposed to be intimidating, but since he got bored halfway through his significant look and dropped it, it didn't exactly work. Miller was lucky; Erin'd thrashed people for less. Of course, Rain also had a considerable height and weight advantage on him, but that was completely beside the point.

Erin's arms were pretty full; he shifted the food to try and free up an arm with which to point, offer, or grab for himself. "Some pies," he said, looking down. "Shephard's, right there, and then some sort of tart. Pastries, buns, er, what looks like some roast chicken..." He also had a jug of pumpkin juice and some cheese, which Erin found pretty odd, but this was actually the first time he'd really examined his winnings so he hadn't known 'til now exactly what the house elves had given him. All he knew was that when he was starving and he walked into the kitchens, the elves were more than happy to give him all the food he could carry and, having the appetite of the average teenage boy, no matter how much they gave him he was always able to eat it all.