“Hey do you want this?” She offered the cup out to the person. “I didn’t drink any of it. Personally, it’s just not my poison or whatever.”

“my brother not told me not to take drinks from strangers.”

“ — gesundheit, ” she replied calmly, clinking her glass against the other girl’s. “ — so what are your other drinking partner requirements ? besides being ALIVE, of course. you’ve gone and made me curious now. ”

    “well, someone who can hold their liquor. i don’t like drinking with people who are going to puke everyw here. they also have to be somewhat compassionate, because i wouldn’t want them to leave me if something were to happen. —also if they are good at drinking games.”

“ — hey, whaddya know ? first time i’ve ever lived up to anyone’s standards. pun intended. i’ll drink to that. ”

     “—clever. also, oddly relatable.” the girl replied through a laugh. unintended puns were always better than intended ones, in her opinion. “sláinte!” evelyn raised her glass to clink it against her drinking partner’s.

“ — no spirits with the spirits for you ? you’d rather not crack open a cold one with the cold ones ? ”

     “—no i’d rather not.” she laughed taking a sip from her glass. “i do have some standards for my drinking partners. one is that they have to be alive.”

“ — if you ask me, they missed out not having the party in the shrieking shack. dunno about you, but i’ve always wanted to get plastered with a ghost. ”

    “—ghosts still freak me out. i have gotten accustomed to a lot of the wizarding world, but the spirits have still make me uneasy. i would much rather drink with the living.”

“my favorite memory would be my first day at hogwarts. i guess specifically— the train ride over. it was where i met hestia. she told me all about the housing system and then proceeded to ask me a million questions about the muggle world. guess things don’t really change.”

“i would sleep with emmeline—although, she has a boyfriend so i’m not sure how that would work out. i would marry lily, because i feel that with an upcoming war it would be logical to surround yourself with a excellent duelist. then i would have to kill mary because i have no other choices left.”

      “i’m sure you can manage more than that, but i appreciate you trying to save my dignity,” she said with a giggle. perhaps she’d never join the ravenclaw quidditch team, but she had other talents elsewhere. “oh…. well still, sounds nice. still really curious about the cows though, i mean… it’s a weird concept.”  her mind was boggled by the idea but she decided to push it away for later. 

    “—well, maybe the next time i go home you can tag along. i can show you some of the things you have been curious about. cows, potato peelers, televisions.. everything.” she smiled with a tilt of her head. showing hestia the muggle world would mean going back to her own not-so-magical reality, but it would be worth it to see the look on her friend’s face when she was introduced to the new inventions. “it could be your birthday present or something?”

“that’s fair.  i think they think they’re watching our every move.  there’s no way someone like mcgonagall would just turn a blind eye to …  well, anything, really.”

    “i think if the professors saw everything that went on around there halls they would need to wash their eyes out, —there have been some, um, scandalous activities going on lately.”

   “ you’re joking, “ he said. then he shook his head, “ you have to be joking.  it is enough that the staircases in this place move. “ and, he honestly knew that she wasn’t being serious somewhere.. deep down. but, the idea seemed so ridiculous to him. moving common rooms, as well? admittedly though, he had to say that would be a stroke of evil genius. something that he might have come up with if he had built the school. he then nodded in agreement to her statement that seemed to make MUCH more sense. even though, he would argue that he really wasn’t that bad off. “ hey, “ he said, “ i am not that drunk. i am doing just fine. “ right. still, he accepted the hand that was offered out to him and pulled himself up from the ground.. unfortunately staggering over towards the wall in a clumsy manner.

    “i’m joking.” the ravenclaw clarified. “although i do think moving the common room would be something quite mischievous. the rest of my house would get a kick out of figuring out where the common room was each day. they quite enjoy riddles and puzzles.” she thought helping the boy up would be enough good deed for the day, but that was too quick an assumption. the boy staggered towards the wall until evelyn grabbed the back of his shirt to tug him in the RIGHT direction. “you are, but i’m going to help. —just for a little.”

“well, what else would you call it?  we’re locked in this castle — until further notice — with a bunch of old bags watching over us.”

     “i think i would consider it more advising than babysitting. they don’t watch over EVERYTHING we do. or else i feel like most of our peers would be a lot more discreet with some of their actions.”

      “i do have this habit of being quite clumsy… if you can imagine it.” of course, anyone that knew her well, knew she could be quite the mess at times, so it was no surprise to anyone how badly she flew on a broom. “i suppose we’re not all that different after all. but a farm… that must be… something. what all did you do there ? i saw a picture of someone milking a cow once, is it as weird as it looks ?”

    “i can just barely picture it.” she had known hestia for quite some time, so it came as no surprise to her when heard of the girl’s uncoordinated actions. “we don’t have cows on our farm. it is more planting and harvesting. —much like herbology, but on a larger scale. we grow maize, beans, peas.. things of that nature. it was quite boring.”

   “ i’m greta, “ the blonde responded enthusiastically. it was always exciting to make friends. if possible, the grin that was on her face grew that much WIDER at the prospect of it. “ greta catchlove, “ she added in, remembering to tell the girl her last name as well. her head then nodded as she recalled her other remark, “ uh, yes.. hufflepuff. i’m in hufflepuff… and a seventh year. “

     “i’m in sixth year. quite a difficult year. with owls and what not. that test is going to help me get a career and move to the wizarding world for good. it’s exhilarating, but terrifying at the same time. you must understand having already taken it.” evelyn replied with a comforting smile. “ nevertheless i’m studying with true ravenclaw spirit.. which means i hardly ever take a break.”

      “oh, i don’t know about exciting. sure, there were some things, like trying to learn how to fly on a broom ━━ which went terribly, by the way. for the most part though, it was fine. i mean, my mum worked all the time at the ministry, i was practically raised by my brother. it wasn’t like either of us were really allowed to use magic or anything. my brother would teach me the occasional spell once he had gone to school, but that was it.” 

     “—how am i not surprised that your broom experience didn’t go well?” the ravenclaw laughed with a shake of her head. “well, if anyone knows what it’s like to be cared for by someone else it’s me. i have eight other siblings, non-magical of course, so after a certain age my parents had to start focusing on my other siblings and i took care of myself mostly. i spent time with the neighbors.. sometimes my older siblings, but for a large portion it was just me. i guess being magical makes me feel special. which is something i always wanted.”

“merlin.  we’re being babysat by skeletons.”

“i wouldn’t really consider this babysitting.”

“i would say rabastan or remus. —clearly they have to have an ‘r’ name or else they aren’t as attractive.”