Chapter 4; Evelyn

Evelyn couldn't help it, she was just bored out of her mind. Also, despite the many Hogsmeade trips she had spied on, she had never realized how huge the Hogwarts student body was. She felt out of place, unnatural surrounded by all these strangers. It made her skin crawl. She sat rigid, her fingers fidgeting on the table, eyes zoning out into a different world, ears open...listening.

"Goodness Harry's filled out some hasn't he?" Two girls, heads together in camaraderie squealed over some boy.

"I knoooow, Cho! You're so lucky you get to play Quidditch against him..." Evelyn was actually very anxious to try out this sport, this "quidditch".

"I can't believe Parvati got into Gryffindor, she gets to live in the same dormitory as Potter!" Apparently two twins had been separated, and who the hell was this Harry Potter guy? The name sounded familiar...she couldn't quite place him though. She had Aberforth to blame, he had never really let her out and about. Whenever she questioned him about the wizarding world he always grew cold and impatient, ranting on about the cruelty and violence of his race.

"A Helipoth is a spirit of fire which gallops and burns anything in its path. They make very good armies..." The dreamy voice caught her attention. Smiling, she shifted her eyes a fraction of an inch to see the speaker, a dirty blonde haired girl who was staring off into space and making elaborate gestures with her pale hands. The curly haired girl who she was talking to smiled vaguely and turned to the squealing girls. Honestly, it was just refreshing to find someone who could talk about something interesting.

Evelyn opened her mouth to introduce herself, but Dumbledore cut her off. Annoyed, she resumed her position of solitude and waited for her freedom. After a rather pointless speech about some tournament or other (who honestly cared if you weren't over 17? Evelyn herself had only turned 15 a few weeks ago.)

Food appeared on the table, some of the finest food she had ever seen. Yet her stomach didn't call for any of it. She leaned over to the girl sitting next to her, the chittery twin who was distraught over her own house placement.

"Excuse me, but do you know when we'll be allowed back to our rooms?" The girl had the dark skin of an Indian and big, friendly chocolate eyes. She smiled, bright white against dark, yet Evelyn could detect the slight air of annoyance in her answer.

"We're never on a set schedule. Whenever Dumbledore sees fit to release us is when we go..." Evelyn nodded and began to turn away when the stranger added, "You must be new here." She supposed the words weren't meant to be cruel, but they cut through her. Was it really that obvious? Was she so out of place?

She swung her head up at the ceiling, the stormy clouds and rain reflected in the candlelight. She closed her eyes and grimaced. This is what you wanted, she thought to herself, and now you've got it, so enjoy it dammit!

She began to look back at the table when she met a pair of dark eyes. Her heart skipped a beat for a moment before she quickly looked away. Evelyn's heart was going wild, she had no idea why either. She had only caught a glimpse of the bright orange hair framing the boy's face, but those eyes. She felt exposed, like he had just look through her. They had looked almost black, but she reasoned it had to be the light.

Her skin prickled, she could feel him staring, glancing to something else and then back at her. She felt shrunken under his gaze, like a bug under a microscope.

"Students, you may head back to your dormitory's," Evelyn didn't even wait for the Headmaster to finish, she fled the hall.

Ravenclaw tower was beautifully built. The tight wrapping of the spiral staircase made Evelyn feel enclosed and safe. Her dormitory was shared with three other girls, Cho, Marietta, and someone with the last name Fawcett. They had already claimed their beds in the past, leaving Evelyn with the corner bed right next to the window. She frowned, having grown up in Hogsmeade she knew how tricky windows could be, allowing the cold winter air to slip into a room unseen.

She clicked her tongue very quietly, she was alone in the room. Arggie poked her head out from under the bed, then shot out like a bullet towards her master. She tickled the fox behind the ears before she began to get ready for bed. Her trunk had been placed at the foot of her bed. The bed itself was very tidy with a thick canopy curtain encircling the entire bed. A small nightstand offered a lamp as well as a small dresser. She unpacked and set up Arggie's bed.

Climbing onto the windowsill, Evelyn gazed out over the castle grounds. The black ink lake showed a perfect copy of the moon. Everything was still, quiet...peaceful. 'You must confess yourself a squib!' Aberforth's voice still rang in her head. She threw a wary glance towards her closed dormitory door. Evelyn had never gone a full day without her abilities before, she was willing to risk breaking her promise. Turning back towards to window, Evelyn studied the metal frame work. The window's were designed to be opened, however the metal had been manipulated into a locked position.

Evelyn raised a slender hand, closed her eyes, sighed, and began. Her hand twitched to the side, eyes narrowed in concentration, the metal framework groaned. She pulled her hand into a fist and then pulled it up in a sharp arc. The strip of metal creating the face of the bay window slid out of the sheath of metal that had held it captive for all these years. She spun her hand and out came the screws, and with a groan, the window flew open.

Cold air rushed into the room. Arggie was up and at her side immediately, ears flicking towards the new life of the outdoors. Evelyn allowed herself a laugh. That was by far the smoothest bending she had done yet, especially with metal being her shakiest bendable and windows being very fragile in nature. Smiling, she shut the window and repeated her movements backwards, leaving no sign of the window being opened.

Evelyn was in bed, dead to the world, by the time all other life returned to her dormitory, the forbidden use of her powers gone unnoticed.