Evangeline Edgecombe

Jamie listened, his face resembling that of a child listening to an amazing bedtime story. “Wow,” he sighed. “So when did you do it? Ask it into your life? Or was it something you were sort of raised into?” His eyes then widened and he shook his head. “Sorry, is that too personal?”

Evangeline considered the question, lightly shaking her head when he asked if that was too personal a question. “I--that question is rather complicated. When you’re a kid, you believe in all kinds of magic. Even kinds that our society doesn’t necessarily believe in. You believe when you’re a kid. Most lose it for a while. I don’t know if I ever...didn’t have it. But I only started doing the more Wicca specific rituals and got my Book of Shadows when I was a third year.”

She would do more to help the student if it wasn’t as late as it was, but Cressida wasn’t exactly eager to leave her post at that moment. It was still too soon after Peeves had caused trouble. “Well, it would be good to head to your dorms soon. I won’t be taking any house points from you tonight, but you never know if you’ll run into someone who would.”

“Right. Will do.” Evangeline sucked in a deep breath and headed for Ravenclaw Tower--this time being more careful not to run into anyone else.

          “Yes, it would be very mean and hurtful. As well as untrue.” And with that, he stuck his tongue out at her.

Evangeline thrust both of her hands into the air. “I have a right to my silence,” she said.

         Gemma nodded, it seemed like sound logic to her. “You look nice,” she added with a smile.

Evangeline smiled brightly back. “Thanks. I mean--I’m not wearing a costume or anything. Everyone keeps complimenting me on my Wednesday Addams costume, but...yeah. Just my regular clothes.”

“That would probably be the simplest option, yes,” Cressida said with a nod. “Sometimes things just turn up eventually when we’re not looking for them too. If you’re lucky, it might just happen, who knows.”

“Er--” Evangeline didn’t really think that it would just happen. But, it seemed pointless to say so. “Sure. Maybe. Yeah.”

It took Jamie a moment to catch on that she wasn’t going to elaborate because of how he worded it, but when he got the joke, a small giggle escaped his lips. “Okay, um… how does it work?”

“It’s about connecting to the natural magic around you. About letting all the tension go, and opening up. These things know when you’re not be genuine or open. Because the magic doesn’t just flow in. You ask it to come into your life. Wicca is...a door, but the handle is only on the inside.”

         “That’s what I’m scared about,” Gemma snorted. “James is usually decent and making sure I don’t walk into people, he doesn’t worry about wingspan normally.”

“If anyone gets mad after you apologize, they’re probably worth smacking them in the face with your wings.”

    Thea had begged both her parents to let her dye her hair this year. She needed that change. She wanted to fit in with them and not stick out like a sore thumb. All her red hair reminded her of was how much her grandmother seemed to hate her. It brought out her bad side and she needed that gone. She cleared her throat, “Thank you.. but honestly, I’m glad it’s gone.” She admitted. Thea nodded slowly, “I haven’t forgotten anything.”

Evangeline paused. What could she really say? “Then I guess it’s a good thing it looks good either way,” she said. She truly didn’t mind that Thea had dyed her wonderful red lock--really, she didn’t. Her concern was the reasoning behind it. Not that she could really bring that up anymore. Not her place. Evangeline cleared her throat. Again, she had no idea what to say to her. The answer felt so pointed. Like she was implying more. “Alright, then you’ll know where to find me when you ready to start working.”

sofia was definitely intrigued. muggles believing in magic? that sounded like a threat to the wizarding world, but the other didn’t seem concerned at all. “that sounds like it would be fun. being able to talk to muggles about magic without worrying about getting in trouble or having to delete their memories sounds peaceful and wonderful. are you able to tell them anything or ?”

“I don’t know any other Wiccas,” Evangeline confessed, though she had some that she chatted with online. “But for Muggle Wiccas, it’s a little different than for us. I think everyone has magic in them. That anyone can tap into the well of magic that naturally exists in nature. But in their society...magic has become harder to siphon because of science. Science and magic co-exist, so peacefully, you know, but when you’re told something for so long--the way Muggle society has been told magic doesn’t exist--you start to believe in so instinctively, so subconsciously, that you can’t truly question it. So for them, because they have that roadblock, their spells can be less immediate, less obvious, and require more patience. Wizarding society has some of those roadblocks too, even though we clearly believe in magic.”

         He pouted, “you’d miss me too much.”

“Would it be mean to say I don’t think I would?”

She noted the student’s reluctance. “You’re not going to get in trouble for being religious, you know,” she said. “But I understand if you’d rather not talk about it.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Evangeline shifted on her feet. “I guess I’ll just have to go to sleep and look tomorrow.” Though she knew she’d have a hard time sleeping without it. 

“Oh,” Jamie said, his eyes widening in fascination. About half of the fear had dissipated as she didn’t seem upset that he was prying. He was still a bit worried, though. “Yeah, I can understand that. The stress, I mean…” He definitely had a lot of it lately. “Can.. can I ask how it works?”

Evangeline raised both eyebrows. “Of course you can ask. You can ask anything you like.” Perhaps that was a side affect of your mum leaving when you were young--you told a lot of dad-esque jokes. 

         Adjusting his Mad Hatter hat, Ansel looked up at the choice of rides before him. “If I knew the room of Requirement could do all this, I’d never make it to class.”

“Does that mean I can count you out for the rest of the year?”

            “The wings probably won’t be my smartest idea,” Gemma commented as she adjusted the fairy wings on her back. “But Happy Halloween, eh?”

“You’ll probably end up whacking a good dozen people in the face, yeah.”

   “Sorry, I’m not trying to stare, I’m just trying to figure out what your costume is exactly.” Alyx liked seeing people dress up. It was something they had always enjoyed to do when they were younger and they were defiantly not going to miss this party. “I like it.” They smiled slightly at the other person. 

Evangeline looked down to her goth attire, looked up, and quirked an eyebrow. “I’m not wearing a costume.”

sofia’s curiosity only grew at the small sounds emitted from the bag, teeth delicately sinking into her lower lip as she eyed it. “could you tell me more? it sounds like you have so many curious things and perhaps i could find something that fills my time rather than pretending that my rat whispers little things to me.” the last part was meant as a joke, but she wouldn’t be surprised if the other actually thought her crazy.

“Well...” She was quite unsure how to approach it all. She’d never really talked about it, and she’d never really gotten questions about it. “I’m Wiccan. It’s--it’s a religion based on the magic of the world. Even the Muggles who practice believe in the magic.”

It was true, outside factors could always make matters more difficult to resolve. She wondered if perhaps the student had lost a journal of sorts. It would explain why she seemed so antsy—though at her response, Cressida raised an eyebrow. “Religiously?” she repeated, giving her a chance to elaborate if she wanted to.

As far as Evangeline knew, that vast majority of the wizarding community were not religious. She had no idea if it was something that people would look down on. “N-Never mind.”