Embarrassing moments?

Evan had to make some excuse for not being able to answer, and quickly. "Well.. Yea.. I suppose the common room defenses are a little bit trickier than I expected. Yes.. Now I started to think that only Ravenclaws can solve these riddles because they get solvable ones. And all non-Ravenclaws, well.. get impossible ones." Evan made a pause to let everyone keep up with his thoughts and continued, "But what if there are both Ravenclaws and non-Ravenclaws in the entering crowd? The point of the riddles is to prevent non-Ravenclaws to enter, no matter what. So the door can't let me solve this riddle as this can result in you going inside. See?"

This theory was pathetic and had a lot of holes in it. And Evan knew this perfectly well. But it was still better than just to accept the fact that he had troubles with riddles sometimes. At least he had a chance not to look stupid now.

Ryland frowned at Evan's newfound arrogance. He had liked the boy before, but now he wasn't so sure. The Ravenclaw was too sure of himself, much more than Ryland was used to, clearly showing off to them. He rolled his eyes as Evan stared blankly at the door. How was it that a Ravenclaw couldn't answer the riddle? He himself couldn't, but that understandable. He had courage not wisdom. He thought about the riddle for a few seconds, scratching the back of his head as he did so. Window...Wife? What? This doesn't make sense! Door? Someone giving life...a lifesaver? A doctor? A mother? What in the world? Ryland's eyes narrowed in concentration. He had never liked riddles but he couldn't take his mind off it. It was a challenge, and he liked that feeling. He turned to Selwyn, who was now showing off to Evan. Could these two just be quiet and let him think?! Again, Ryland rolled his eyes, this time at the Slytherin. "If you throw me from the window, I will leave a grieving wife." Ryland muttered softly, lost in his thoughts again. Okay, a grieving wife is a widow, he scratched his cheek in concentration.[i] Bring me back, but in a door...Someone giving life...a doctor?! That was it. Ryland was so close to giving up when the next thing he knew Evan was making up excuses for not being able to answer the riddle himself. Again, Ryland frowned at the boy.

"That's nonsense," Selwyn said. "Everyone knows Harry Potter has been in the Ravenclaw common room, and he was a Gryffindor. It's all in his biography."

"Besides, I could easily take someone into the Slytherin common room if I wanted, and I should think we have far more reason to not want people going in there than you do."

"Well, not everyone, as you can see. As a muggle-born, I read different kind of biographies, for instance, Machiavelli, da Vinci, Napoleon," Evan explained. He didn't read anything actually, he just knew those people from historical TV programs like "BBC Horrible Histories". "So.. What I want to say, is that I, well, made my guess without any knowledge about characters like Henry. So actually, yes, I could've been mistaken." He was pretty sure he had been mistaken. He just made a wild guess to excuse his inability to solve the riddle. "But hey, if I was right it would be much better protection after all! If not all the Ravenclaws are outside the common room, of course.. Well, maybe there would be some kind of special emergency enter in this case."

Evan was trying to save his face. He just needed someone to open the door before he was completely disgraced, and better from the inside, as he could still say that the riddle was unbelievable difficult.

Sydney made her way down the stairs after hiding in her room for 30 minutes. She wiped her eyes and hoped that she didn’t look like she had been crying, even though she had been. She exited the common room to find people standing outside the portrait hole. She saw Evan, Ryland and some Slytherin boy all crowding around. They appeared to be having a conversation. “Sorry to interrupt, but can I please get by?” She said, trying to sound calm and confident. But her voice cracked halfway through her question.

The girl who had the alleged hots for the Gryffindor guy - what was his name again? - had thrown open the door to the tower once more.

"Guess you're saved then," Selwyn told Evan. "You going to invite us in?"

To Evan's relief the door opened and some Ravenclaw girl tried to leave the common room. The doorway, however, was blocked, so the girl asked the three students to make way. I don't know you, girl, but you're on my list of nice persons now.

Evan stepped aside to let his savior go."Sure," he said.

Then he thought it was quite possible that the guys could assume it was said to them and added, "As for you two, well, I'm not sure if it's possible, you know. I would like to invite you, but I'm afraid there can be some sort of misunderstanding with my housemates. Common rooms are somewhat sacred. But I think looking inside without walking in is okay. Just look what good blue curtains we have!" After telling this, Evan placed his foot right next to the opened door, so it couldn't be closed.

Ryland wasn't even close to figuring out the riddle, but he'd gotten at least one part done! He finally gave up when Sydney came out, possibly frustrated, and seemed to have saved Evan from his embarrassment. It seemed the Ravenclaw Common Room was indeed bad luck. With the whole Aylee thing happening shortly before, he didn't feel like looking at the blue curtains Evan was proudly bragging about. Instead, he held back and said, "I'm actually not in the mood. I'll see you in class Evan." he said to his Ravenclaw classmate, and then turned to Selwyn and muttered a small goodbye before heading back down the many stairs. He felt a little defeated on the inside, and not being able to get the answer to the riddle.

Oh Merlin. This guy was such a dork.

Selwyn leaned as far into the Ravenclaw common room as he could, without setting an actual foot inside.

"Nice," he said.

"Maybe some other time then. You know, when everyone's at dinner or something."

He winked at the other kid.

Sydney glared at the Slytherin boy, something about him made her angry and quite annoyed. She didn’t like him. She smiled at the young Ravenclaw and held the door open for him, “Get in here,” she said rather rudely, but didn’t really care at the moment. She narrowed her eyes on Ryland and didn’t know what to do. So, she simply smirked and stepped out of the doorway and made her way to the middle of them all. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.” She made her way down the staircase and disappeared from view.

"See you, Ryland. Maybe, Selwyn," Evan replied. Then he walked into the common room and disappeared from the sight of everyone outside. Home, sweet home. Protected by the most uncomfortable and ridiculous security system ever, but still home.