The Fireside {Ravenclaws Only}

[Mac McCracken]

Mac finished off the cookie in his hand, and held out the bag for Belle to take one. "Sure you can! I have plenty. They're sugar-free though, just thought I should warn you, but Mom makes them so well that you can hardly tell." He hoped she'd like them as well.

[Belle~Ambroise]

Belle thanks him and carefully grabs a cookie and takes a small bite out of it, "are you sure these are sugar free?....They on't taste it..."

[Mac McCracken]

"Yes, I'm positive they don't. I can't have any sugar, so you'd be able to tell right away if they had any." He smiled. "My mom is awesome at making these; you can barely taste that they're sugar-free!"

[Anri Sonohara]

After quietly solving the riddle at the common room entrance, Anri slipped into the common room itself. She had been unfortunate enough to have been caught in the middle of no less than four moving staircases, resulting in her journey back from dinner being greatly extended. Looking towards the fireside, she noticed three students conversing whilst munching on some cookies. She recognized one of them as a prefect, something Gumball (she could not recall his first name), but the other two were unfamiliar. New students, perhaps. Anri stepped around the trio and sat on an empty chair, leaning back with a short sigh and relaxing her posture.

[Mac McCracken]

Mac munched on another cookie as an older girl he didn't know yet sat in an empty chair near the three of them. He turned to her and smiled. "Hi, I'm Mac. What's your name?"

[Anri Sonohara]

Blinking at the sudden question, she replied quickly. "A-Anri! Anri Sonohara. Fifth year." She looked at the boy. "Are you new? I haven't seen you around before..."

[Mac McCracken]

"Yeah, I'm a first year," he replied. "It's nice to meet you Anri. Would you like a cookie?"

[Anri Sonohara]

"Huh? A cookie?" she asked curiously, "Um...yes, I suppose." She didn't have much of a sweet tooth, but she was slightly curious about the cookies that had warranted a discussion between the three earlier.

[Barnaby Gumball]

Gumball finished the cookie, his mind analyzing the flavors. Something had to be replacing the sugar. Was it a charm? Now that was an idea, replacing unhealthy ingredients with magic-- but Mac was a muggleborn, he remembered, so it had to be something else. He was so caught up in trying to solve the mystery that he didn't notice another girl enter the common room.

[Belle~Ambroise]

Belle smiles as she finishes her cookie, it was as delicious as Mac had said and more. Her attention drawn now to the girl who had just slipped into the common room, she looked exhausted and caught unawares by Mac.

[Mac McCracken]

Mac smiled at Anri; she seemed a little taken aback by his sudden offer. Surrounded by new-found friends, Mac was beginning to open up and feel a little more confident around this new person, instead of withdrawing inside himself as soon as she appeared. He held out the bag for her to take one. "Here, help yourself. They're my mom's homemade sugar-free chocolate chip cookies."

[Anri Sonohara]

The boy held the bag out to her, and she reached in and picked out a cookie. Bringing it to her mouth, she was surprised at the sweetness. Were these really sugar-free?

"Do you know how your mother makes these?" She asked, curious as to how the sugar had been replaced.

[Barnaby Gumball]

Snapping out of his thoughts, Gumball leaned forward in the armchair, piping up, "I'd like to know as well."

[Mac McCracken]

"I'm not really sure, she makes them when I'm not around so as to keep it a secret," Mac said in reply to Anri's and Gumball's question, "but I have seen boxes of a sugar substitute called Sweet 'N Low in the pantry, so I assume she uses that instead of sugar. It's made to taste basically the same as sugar, but it's made differently, so it doesn't have the negative side-effects sugar can cause."

[Anri Sonohara]

Sweet 'N Low, huh. She would have to look that up. Anri took another decadent bite out of her cookie.