A Rainy Day Walk

[Evelyn Turner]

Evelyn headed out to the lake for a little break from the indoors. It had been raining most of the month and today was no exception. But Evelyn had used an Impervius Charm on her cloak to keep her semi dry. The sky was grey and cloudy overhead and the wind blew her hair in her face as Evelyn sloshed across the muddy lawns. Evelyn was surprised to see other students outside, but she figured if she was fed up with being locked up inside all month, others must be too.

[devin]

A sharp chilly rain flew like blades along with the wind, piercing any open skin when someone left the safety of the building. The skies overhead were a pale grey color, symbolizing a coming rainstorm, and perhaps colder weather, with more wind. The clouds were as grey as a stormy sea, or grey mashed potatoes, as it loomed over like an angry curtain. No sign of sun with the ability to breach the resisting converage. One would think any amount of clouds would be gone within a short time judging how quickly the wind was traveling. It had been raining all week, and though his hopes of a lack of rain on this very day had been crushed, Devin managed to look optimistically upon the situation. As optimistically as he could, anyways, there wasn't much good to cold, or grey, or anything about the weather. But truthfully, he was a bit occupied at the moment.

Not so much occupied as he was distracted. Though he only had his loose school robe around his shoulders to keep him warm, no coat, no sweater, no scarf, just the uniform, he found his mind stray away from the chill. Many a papers were located in his hands, with bent corners and ripped edges, some folded in a way that suggested it hadn't been on purpose as much as it had been uncaring, were being thrown into his bag as best as the task could be done at the moment. While still trying to walk briskly inside, for the potential sicknesses were in the air, Devin shoveled his supplies anywhere it could go to make his job easier. Inside books(harming those as well), the inside pockets, within notebooks with similar pages that meant he would most likely never find them again... That's when he tripped. Over his own shoe. And hit the ground. It took a moment to register what had happened, as once the ground that was just five feet below him was now within an inch of his face.

Oh, the rain was a terrible thing. In some instances, such as a hot and humid summer afternoon where the clouds stood like soldiers awaiting an order to resemble the air's stillness, rain was wonderful. In his current situation, however, Devin would have to have chosen the hot and humid summer day, where he wouldn't have had nearly as much trouble with those blasted papers. Though a few months previous to the event it had been a hot and humid summer afternoon, and the boy would have easily preferred the current weather: cold and blustery with hardly any signs of dry ground because of the rain that pounded it into a carpet of slippery grass. It was then that Devin realized just how cold he really was, and how idiotic he had been to brave the weather without any sort of coat. He thought back to his dorm, where both his winter-wear and Ravenclaw scarf were laying around in plain view. If only he could turn back time. Hadn't they learned anything about that yet?

He had landed almost flat on his face, having an unplesant close-up view of the ground surrounding the Black Lake. Other than slightly embarrassed, he felt fine. Unfortunately the little tumble he took managed to get the entire front of his body wet, making it seem like he had spilled something, a very large something, on himself. His bag, though lucky enough to salvage his textbooks and the majority of the loose sheets of papers, lay upside down and open. It let a few sheets fly like ghosts escaping in the wind current, probably being wrecked by the rain. All of the others that had still been in his hands had somehow disappeared as well. Oh yes, the rain was indeed a terrible thing. Although frustrated, and a little embarassed by the klutzy move, Devin had never been one to cry over spilled milk. He simply pushed himself up to a standing position. From there the boy proceeded to scan the area with sharp brown eyes, seeing if he could recover any of the 'lost souls'. If he hadn't been so suddenly annoyed with the weather, and himself for choosing to come outside, he may not have just shrugged the situation off. But Dev decided it was more work than it was worth, and there was always another piece of paper and a quill in the common room. On to the next precaution. He glanced around one more time, looking for people this time. It was just better if no one saw him fall.

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[Evelyn Turner]

Evelyn paid no attention when a sheet of paper fluttered with the wind in front of her. However, when three more sheets followed the first, Evie began to look around, wanting to know what was going on. Behind her a little ways she found a boy, his front soaked, and his book bag on the ground. She recognized him instantly, though she usually didn't see him in such a state.

"Devin, what on earth happened?" She immediately looked around for the sight of a Slytheirn running away, but none were near. Pulling her wand from her pocket, she Accioed some of the flying papers to her. She looked the papers over as she walked over to Devin, a Ravenclaw in her year. Some seemed fine, just a few rain drops smudging the ink. But others were not so lucky. "Here," she said as she handed the wet stack of papers to Devin.

[devin]

"Devin, what on earth happened?"

A farmiliar voice caused the boy to whirl around, a bit surprised that he was not infact alone. The voice belonged to an aquaintance of his, another girl from his year. A few times the two had spoken, probably about classwork, or other simple small talk. The conversations were a blur, but that was no surprise knowing that terrible memory of his. Sometimes he found it ironic how he was placed into Ravenclaw, as they were known for their ingenius ways of solving problems. For fifteen years he had been forgetful. Fifteen years later, Devin had made no progress. Really he was terrible at matching names with faces, but Evelyn's was remotely distinctive. The Gryffindor had blazing red hair that immediatly set her apart from others. It was the easiest thing Devin could remember, hair color. It was helpful to have something that didn't mix in with the hundreds of blondes and brunettes in the world.

"Nothing!" was the instinctive answer, sprung from his vocals by surprise and embarassment. It was usually the answer used when he was dodging trouble, which occured more often than one would believe. The fact that he was a Ravenclaw meant he should be able to think up more creative excuses. Obviously this one was anything but true, which followed the pattern of the other spur-of-the-moment replies he came up with. And thus, he had to correct himself. "Nevermind. I mean..." He paused, what did he mean? She knew what he meant, didn't she? No, she didn't. This cat was falling, and about to land on his back rather than his feet. "Just...falling." A smile crossed his face as he played it off like no big deal. Devin found it would be much easier to get on his life that way.

"Oh, thanks." He answered, accepting the stack of dampened papers. Examining them briefly, only to find that the some of his writing was now illegible, Devin decided it could be much worse and added them to the collection others. He gazed back up at Evelyn, feeling suddenly ridiculous and unorganized. "I, uh..." he gave a sheepish grin, eyes turning to the ground. "I must look pretty pathetic right about now." Devin let out a small laugh, at least he could swallow his pride and get over it.

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[Evelyn Turner]

Evie giggled, but not at Devin. More at the situation. It's not like she hadn't fallen over her own feet before. Everyone has at some point, right? "Pathetic? No. Wet...yes. But we can fix that." She pointed her wand at his clothes and used a drying spell that she was quite familiar with. She was always rushing to get down to breakfast, not being much of a morning person, and used this same drying spell on her hair after she showered. "There, that ought to be better." She smiled kindly at him, not wanting him to feel more embarrassed than he already was. She really didn't think he needed to be embarrassed at all, but most people were when they fell in public.
The wind was picking up and it made the rain fall even harder. The hood of Evelyn's cloak was blown backwards, off her head. She scrambled to put it back in place but the damage was done. Her hair was wet and it would now frizz. Great, she thought. Now I'm going to look like a Puffskien. Her cheeks began to flush as the cold air hit them.
"So, out for a little walk, aye? Why'd you bring your book bag?"

[devin]

She giggled. At him? Of course. What else was there to laugh at? Obviously not open to any other possibilities, Devin did his best to keep the smile from faultering. He appeared confident, but inside he felt like a spineless Hufflepuff rather than an intellegent Ravenclaw. To him her remark, though intended to be helpful, kept his current low self esteem uneffected. But that was his own fault, perhaps he didn't look pathetic, but he felt pathetic. Both pathetic and wet. Unorganized was thrown into the mix as it finally occured to Devin that the salvaged papers were probably spreading water, and ink, onto the dry sheets that were supposed to be safe in his bag. It took talent to stand tall and look sure of his actions when inside he seemed to be kicking himself. But of course he had lots of practice, this was definately not the first time this happened.

The drying spell, also an attempt to be helpful, pushed Devin's confidence lower. Of course, he a Ravenclaw, the steriotypical bookworms, were farmiliar with drying spells. But why hadn't he used it? Normally he was the one that wasn't fazed when he was under pressure. Devin had an excuse lined up, incase anyone chose to question his placement in the house of the Raven. Really, he was both, but it seemed more believable at times like these to say he was street smart, not school smart. He forgot things easily, he thought things through only when he felt it was needed (it didn't help that he had a bad judgement for when it was needed.), and he was indifferent towards schoolwork, and procrastinated often. All traits that led him to believe the sorting hat saw traces of street smarts: powerful and quick working instinct, and the ability to speak without losing his mind. Well, the excuse seemed remotely useless here, as his instinct of conversation appeared to be on leave.

"Thanks," Devin replied, examining his newly dry robes. Small droplets still pouring from the sky were beginning to dampen his shoulders again, but that was ignored. Now that he looked dry, he must've looked less pathetic in turn. Graditude filled the smile as he gazed back at Evelyn, who now, too, found herself getting wet. It was then that he realized how insignificant it seemed to be wet. Just as his confidence level was back to normal again, it lapsed with the next comment. It was a dumb move to bring his bag with him, rain had been expected. But determination gave him a large mental slap to the face, told him to get over it, and so he did. Devin was never this unassured of himself. Maybe it was the fact that he was talking to a girl? Judgement came like a hammer sometimes, and though he hated thinking in such a hypocritical way, he had met more than one female who judged both harshly and quickly upon meeting him.

Something told him that Evelyn wouldn't be the same way. And that much gave him his everyday amount of dauntlessness. "I was hoping it'd be a nice day out, and maybe I could see the sun a bit," Devin glimpsed at the sky briefly, still seeing the stone cold grey color glaring down upon him. "But I guess I wasn't hoping hard enough," smirking, he twisted the question backwards. "How 'bout you? Out for a little fresh air?"

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[Evelyn Turner]

"Cabin fever," she stated plainly. "If I had to sit inside and stare out on the lawns through those tiny little windows for one more minute I was going to..." She stopped herself, as she was getting worked up when there was no reason. She was just making herself upset again when she was outside, where she wanted to be. Realizing how silly she was acting she began to laugh. "I was just looking for a somewhat dry spot to sit for a bit, but I don't think I'll be able to find one today. But searching has been giving me something to do. Wanna join me?"

[devin]

"Cabin fever,"

The statement was enough for Devin to understand. He could relate, he too felt the need to flee from the castle on occasions. Especially when in the library. It was dusty, cold, bland, and gave him the creeps. The amount of light that could portrude through the tightly drawn shades across the small windows was minimal. It even had its own personal witch. Literally and figuratively, of course. Devin always had a little theory about how the librarian was really a vampire. Pale, sensitive to light, unsocial, the evidence was all there. Really though, it was just a small joke he used to get over his dislike for the woman. As carefree as he was, the moment the door slammed behind him she always hissed at him to be quiet. Sometimes Devin even found himself leaving the gigantic room due to her orders.

Had he not understood from the first sentance, the next tantrum of words made the point pretty clear. Soon Evelyn cut herself off, regained composure, and invited the Ravenclaw on a little hunt for dry land. Having nothing else to, he agreed with a smile. "It seems I have nothing better to do than stand here and get wet," brown eyes darted to the sky again momentarily. "So I'd love to."

ooc. sorry, it's not the greatest post...

[Evelyn Turner]

((OOC: You lamest post would beat my best post on any day))

Smiling, Evie continued her walk around the grounds, lad to have company for the moment. She enjoyed her alone time, but having someone to share with was great as well.

"How are you liking lessons this term? I have to say I'm not enjoying Transfiguration as much as I did last year. It seems everything got so much more complicated over the holiday."

[devin]

ooc. I don't know, I've produced some pretty lame posts throughout the years.

ic. Devin followed her direction, walking alongside and for once almost enjoying the cold rainy weather. It had been observed by multiple people that Devin seemed to shy away from water timidly. Rain made him desire the indoors, swimming made him cringe, and he preferred pumpkin juice over water during meals. However, the latter was due to preferance in flavor. Truthfully, the very thought of drowning caused his dislike of the substance. Being awake and unable to free himself was one fear he had, death was another. Devin dreaded the day boggarts would be introduced in Defense Against The Dark Arts class, somehow he was sure the creature would mirror the situation of drowning. Even worse, he had no idea what he would do to counter it.

How are you liking lessons this term?

The question was difficult to answer. Some classes Devin liked, most of them not so much. One small problem with fifth year was the inevitable OWLs. Students knew about the tests for years previous, but most were taken off-gaurd by the sudden realization that they weren't that far off in the distance. Most people would think an owl was a small bird used to carry messages as an efficient form of comminucation. But fifth year Hogwarts students were just reminded of the dreadful courses that would shape their future. All year glancing upon an owl would make Devin want to pound his head into a wall, he assumed sixth years did the same when they laid eyes upon a newt. School was never such a heavy subject.

"Really?" Devin inquired at the mention of Transfigurations. "That's probably my best class." It was the one class he could actually understand. While he was awful at Divinations, he could predict his OWL grade for Transfigurations would be at least an 'Exceeds Expectations'. If he got lucky, he might hold the letter pridefully with a single 'O' for 'Outstanding' printed on it. "But that's only me." He added, reflecting back on the time he impressed everyone by turning a stool into a hyena for about three seconds. Many people thought he was crazy for enjoying the class as much as he did. "You're right though, it is getting more complicated. I could help you out if you ever need it." A friendly invitation of help was sometimes unappreciated, as it stole away a sense of self-accomplishment. Devin chose to play it safe. Smirking playfully, he finished his string of words. "But I doubt you do."

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[Evelyn Turner]

"Really? You wouldn't think I was a bother if I asked for help every once in a while? It's just, well, I'm having one of my girlfriends help me and to be honest I don't think she understands it any better than I do." She wasn't sure if his offer had been sincere or not, so she tried to agree to it without actually saying so.