Devvy began to drift back to the sofa. "So," she said, "What exactly are you doing in here? Because I know you're not a Gryffindor, and I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to just flat-out give the password to a student from another House."
Atlas slowly followed her, shyly taking a seat as far from her as possible. "Well, I, um…" He sputtered, before taking a deep breath, "I'm here to help some of my friends with their essays. They gave me a riddle to figure out the password. Wasn't...wasn't actually all that difficult, but I didn't have the heart to tell them." Surprisingly, he found himself cracking a smile. "They're probably expecting to find me flustered at the door when they come back from dinner, really."
She smiled as well, and the sight practically melted what was left of Atlas's working brain cells. He thought he was in some sort of elaborate dream; that he'd soon wake up in his dormitory, his memories of the beautiful girl in front of him drifting away before he could catch them. He wasn't quite sure whether or not he wanted it to be a dream, anyway. All he knew was that he was very confused.
"Is it much different than this?" Devvy asked, "The Ravenclaw common room, what's it like?" Atlas, for a moment, wondered how she could have known he was a Ravenclaw without him telling her, before he realized that almost all of his clothing was blue.
"Um, well, the colours are obviously different. Blue and bronze, y'know. But…it's not quite as warm as this one. It's a bit more…light, and open. And there are just books, tons of them," He said, with a sweeping gesture, "absolutely everywhere. As far as the eye can see. No one could ever complain that they haven't got anything to read, because I don't believe for a minute that anyone could read all of them in just seven years here. Maybe not even in a lifetime, if I'm honest."
Devvy listened intently, resting her head on one of her hands, peering up at him with curiosity and wonder. "B-but," he stuttered, "I'm probably just boring you now, aren't I?" He could feel his cheeks turning pink.
"No, no, it's interesting! I swear!" She said, lifting her head up, pushing some of her hair from her face. "After a few years here, you've explored just about everything that's open to you. It's just…really nice to hear about the things I can't see. It's like an adventure without all of the walking and sneaking about."
He looked over at her, their eyes locking for a moment. Atlas didn't know what to say, which wasn't much of a surprise, to say the least. He'd never really explored Hogwarts, never gone down the secret tunnels and corridors that he'd read about. He'd spent all of his years thus far just reading about all of the adventures that he could be having, while Devvy had gone out and experienced them for herself.
"You know," She said, "for being a non-Gryffindor who could just be lying to me and could really have just sneaked in here to wreak havoc, I'm being far too nice to you."
"I-I know," Atlas said, "Um…thanks for that, by the way. The…the not cursing me five ways to Sunday bit. Really appreciate that."
She smiled mischievously, "Well, let's just say you owe me one, then. Deal?"
Atlas was about to respond when the door swung open to reveal two worried looking boys. Robin and Carol must have begun to panic when their friend wasn't waiting outside the common room for them like they'd expected. They spotted him on the sofa, smiles immediately spreading across their faces.
"How the bloody hell did you get in here! We thought that riddle would have you for at least an hour!" Robin said, he and his brother quickly making their way over to Atlas.
"Oh, just lucky, I guess." He said. The twins were about to sit down when they noticed Devvy on the other end of the couch, laughing softly to herself.
"Well, what do we have here? If it isn't Miss Devvy Rose! Trying to capture another heart with that Irish charm of yours, eh?"
"Oi! Watch it!" she said, at first looking a bit offended, but then letting a smirk cross her face.
"Oh, don't play that game with us, Rosie," Carol said, placing a hand on Atlas's shoulder, "We know Atlas is a fine gentleman, but we're going to need him fully intact tonight if we want to finish our Potions assignment, thank you very much." The twins both smiled, while Atlas could only look very confused, as he usually did around them.
"Don't get your knickers in a twist, I was just heading up to my dorm, don't you worry." Devvy still held her smirk as she got up and sashayed overdramatically towards the stairs. She turned for a moment before going up to look back at Atlas. He smiled feebly at her, to which she responded with a tiny laugh and a short wave. And then she was gone.
"Alright, let's get down to business!" Robin said, turning everyone's attention inward to work on their essays. Although he seemed clear-headed enough, Atlas couldn't get that girl out of his head, and couldn't really decide whether or not that was such a bad thing.