Quills and quill-haters.

Even was sitting near a fireplace, writing something on a sheet of parchment. He looked like he wan't satisfied at all with the text he was writing.

Evan's parchment:

Evan was writing these lines all evening not because of detention, boredom, weird homework, or some jinx. Stupid quills. He's never held a quill before coming to Hogwarts, using muggle pens and pencils all his life. Stupid ink feathers. Despite Evan was quite bright and got really good marks in his primary school, he had some problems in Hogwarts. Not because he couldn't understand something or he was too lazy and careless. He couldn't write with a quill. Stupid stupid quills. He couldn't write down teachers' words in time, he spent nights writing even the shortest ans easiest essays, and, of course, he was really upset with it. Quills. Realizing his problem, Evan practiced in writing as often as he could. He didn't like to do this in places where he could be seen by other students though. He found this shameful. That's why he preferred the furthest library corners or the night common room.

Same parchment, a minute later:

Due to a late time, he was practicing in a common room now. It's really late, no one is awake anyway. Stupid quills. But suddenly he thought that he saw something in shadows. He wasn't quite sure, it was dark and his eyes were really tired. Quills. I saw things because of them. Damn. He noticed some movement second later. Hiding his parchment among others, he asked "Who's there?"

When the shadow figure made some steps towards the fire, Evan understood that it was a girl. He didn't want anyone to know his secret, so he would be glad if it was only a trick of him imagination. He pinched himself, the girl didn't disappear. Stupid quills. "Hello," she said, "Late homework?"

The girl wasn't a first-year, in this case Evan would have recognized her. Nevertheless, he couldn't tell her the truth, girls spread secrets with unbelievable speed sometimes. Evan had to lie now, despite he hated lies and he was a really bad liar. In any case, lie could give him a small chance of keeping his secret, and that's better than nothing after all. "Hi," replied Evan quietly, "It's a homework... well...", he looked at the girl, trying to figure out what elective subject she didn't have. In this case she could possibly have no idea about how homework should look like. "...a divination homework!" Saying these words, Evan stood up. He always couldn't sit still when he was nervous, and he was always nervous when he lied. God, I've stood up. I was looking at my shoes all the time and made some long pauses. Of course she suspects I'm lying now, even if she knows nothing about divination homework! Evan needed another plan. He was desperately thinking about any possibilities of getting rid of the parchment. Then he could pretend that divination homework had really existed. Spill ink! I should spill ink on my parchment! Or throw it into the fire! Hmm. No. Both plans are stupid! Stupid plans! Stupid quills! "Stupid quills!" Evan spatted angrily. Oh, no! Have I just said this aloud?

Auden headed down to the common room. Lately she couldn't sleep a wink. Auden thought it might have to do with her Grandmother's illness getting worse. She quickly noticed Aylee and a first year boy near the fireplace. Auden decided to walk over to them. She got bored easily at night anyway.

"Hello. Are you guys doing late night studying or something?" Auden asked while plopping down on a couch.

The girl giggled. "I know that's not divination homework, divination classes haven't even started yet." Oh, no. Evan realized that he chose the wrong subject to use as a cover. Ok, nothing is lost yet. Time for plan B. He reached for an inc bottle to overturn it, but the girl spoke again. "Practicing to write with a quill?" she asked. Oh, good timing. One more second and my parchment would be covered in ink. Covered in ink for nothing. Evan had nothing to do than to accept that he had lost this spy game.

Another girl appeared. "Hello. Are you guys doing late night studying or something?" she asked. Oh, no. Evan blushed. Muggle films taught him that being caught with a girl in the night in darkness is one of the most awkward things in the world. His blush wasn't visible in the darkness, however.

Suddenly, Evan got an idea. He started writing something on his parchment and answered new girl, "Yes, it's late night studying. I have some problems. My friend tells me it's alright for a first-year, but I, however, asked her to stay with me and correct my work." This lie was brilliant by Evan's standards. No unnecessary movements, no unnatural pauses. "I just want my mistakes corrected before anyone else notices them." Evan strongly emphasized "before anyone else notices them". Then he handed his parchment to the first girl.

Evan's parchment:

Evan smiled. Spy game isn't over yet.

Auden watched the exchange between Aylee and boy. It seemed like he needed his work corrected. Then Aylee corrected it.

"Oh History of Magic. That class is sometimes really hard." Auden said.

Feeling really nervous, Evan got his parchment back. "History of magic," the first girl covered him. "Oh History of Magic. That class is sometimes really hard," the second girl seemed to believe the first one. So, it's time to know the name of my savior. If she wrote it, of course. Evan looked at the parchment. "I'm Aylee." Aylee. Good. Now we can pretend that we know each other. Evan read one more line. "No problem, although I'm not a very good liar." Not so good. But nevertheless our deception was okay so far.

Now it was time for a choice. Evan could either go to bed, taking his shameful practice parchment with him, or stay and chat with the girls. After some moments of considering options, he was struck by a sudden realization. If someone comes to common room at night, they usually don't expect chatting with random people. Evan almost stood up to go to boys' dormitories, when he was struck by another realization. But people don't always mind unexpected things. After some more moments of thinking, Evan decided to stay. He realized that he needed to excuse his standing up now. He turned to the second girl, whose name he didn't know yet, and said, "My name is Evan, what's yours?" I hope it looks like I stood up for a polite introduction. God, this is the most embarrassing night in my life.

Auden looked over the the boy whose name was Evan. "Oh my name is Auden. I must have blanked and forgot to introduce myself." Auden replied.

(((OOC: I'm still a first year in this topic. Don't look at my second year status.)))

Aylee, Auden. Auden, Aylee. Evan repeated names in his mind several times to be sure that he remembered them. "Well, I really like Hogwarts! Now I can do things I've never dreamed about! I can do real magic! It's like I'm in some kind of fantasy book: spells, potions, magical creatures and artifacts!" Evan paused to take a breath and then continued in not so excited tone, "Although, it is a little strange for me to use magic instead of muggle devices I got used to. And these stupid quills.." Oh. Evan stopped. Moments later he picked up his parchment and hid it into a pocket. "Yes.. Quills.. But in general I really do like Hogwarts."

"Yeah, I heard about Peeves, many people complain about him, but I personally have no troubles with his mischief. The staircases, on the other hand, can be really annoying. Sometimes I have to wait really long for the stairs to move the right direction. Why didn't they just make more stairs instead of making moving ones? God." Evan always tried to like the moving staircases, because it was Rowena Ravenclaw, founder of his House, who enchanted them. "Do the staircases have some fixed schedule? Maybe I could write it down and always have the paper with me."

Evan smiled broadly, when Aylee started talking about Peeves. "Most of my former classmates were mush worse than Peeves," he said, chuckled, "Maybe Peeves just likes me, but he's never done any real harm. He made me wet, he made my hear colorful, he made my clothes invisible. Yes. But my sketchbook has never been damaged more than I could fix. I might be wrong, but I think he understands that this thing means a lot to me," Evan paused, remembering his Peeves encounters and thinking about something, then continued, "Actually, nothing has ever been damaged beyond repair. And I have to admit, sometimes Peeves has style! Episodes with him are my sister's favorite. She likes to read my stories about Peeves and the mayhem he makes." Evan took an every flavor bean from his pocket and sent it to his mouth. "Mmmm.. Cherry! Do you want one, Aylee?" He asked, getting some more beans from the pocket, "What about you, Auden?"