A Night on the Town

[Edwin Fessenden]

Edwin crept silently between the looming shelves of the library, looking around at all the dusty tomes with wide eyes. A combination of unease and exhilaration gnawed at him as he walked through the dark room, hardly able to believe his own actions.

So little time here and I'm already sneaking out at night, he thought to himself with a smile, I hope I don't have to find out what the punishment for that is tonight.

As the young man looked over one shelf in particular, trying to find out what kind of books were being offered at this library, he tried to work out just why he had been drawn to the library of all places. For some reason, from the moment he heard the older Ravenclaws talking about it, he had wanted to have a look, and couldn't stand waiting until an academic reason drew him here. Besides, this way he didn't have to worry about silly things like "restricted books". He grinned as he moved for the next shelf with a bit more confidence, eager to see just what he'd be able to find.

 

[Rose Holland]

Hogwarts was fun and all, but if there was one thing Rose knew was that anything was more fun at night. Especially if you weren't supposed to be out and exploring. It was necessary, though, she had to have something interesting to write to her sisters about! Phoebe especially wouldn't be impressed by a simple description of the sorting and the castle. Besides, a magical school had to start with a magical adventure.

So here she was, in an unfamiliar corridor without being able to see a whole lot. She wished she knew how to make her wand light up, like she'd seen her father do. But she would be fine, there was nothing that could possibly go --

Was that a noise? Footsteps? Behind her? Or ahead?

Cursing under her breath, with her heart hammering in her chest, Rose quickly sidestepped through a door that was slightly ajar. There were a lot of books here, so she assumed it was the library. In the dark, it looked eerie and she almost wished she had stayed in her safe and warm bed.

Almost.

Just as she was getting over the shock of hearing whatever she had heard. She saw something move, a shadow. She squinted and could just make out someone between two shelves. Shakily, Rose grabbed her wand and pointed it at the other person, hoping dearly that she was holding the right end. "Who's there?" She hissed.

 

[Edwin Fessenden]

Edwin gave a start, fumbling back and pulling out his wand. He jabbed it roughly in the direction of the voice, trembling slightly. What if it was a prefect? Or a professor? He didn't want to get a detention during his first week!

"J-just a first-year who wanted to get a feel for the castle," he tried to keep his voice steady, not wanting to come across as too scared. He stepped a bit closer, trying to get a good look at the intruder. The young man relaxed slightly when he saw the silhouette of another first-year in front of him. Most likely this person was just another would-be adventurer like him. Still though, it wouldn't hurt to check...

Edwin put his wand away, grinning somewhat more confidently now that the danger had seemingly passed, "So, who are you? Did you get lost going to the bathroom, or are you also checking the castle out?"

 

[Rose Holland]

Oh. So it wasn't a ghost. Good! Not that ghosts were something to be scared of, Rose knew they couldn't hurt people even if they wanted to, but she still didn't really want to run into one in the dark. Thankfully, it was just a boy. And not a very scary looking one either. He was a first year as well, which was a relief. Rose squinted at him in the dark, slowly calming down again.

"I'm checking the castle out, duh." She said, putting her wand back in her pocket and tightening her ponytail. "But the library isn't exactly the most exciting place. Let me guess, you're a Ravenclaw." It wasn't really a guess, she could tell even in the dark. Still, it was such a typical Ravenclaw thing to do. Even when sneaking around and breaking rules, they just had to be surrounded by books. "Do you have a lamp? Were you going to read or something?" She asked, looking around. "There has to be something more exciting here, maybe a really magical book. Or something that isn't a book."

 

[Edwin Fessenden]

Edwin was surprised she had managed to figure out his house so quickly. He'd known that Ravenclaws had a reputation for being, well, nerds, but he hadn't expected her to figure him out just from him being in the library.

"I wasn't going to read here, duh," he tried his best to imitate her tone, not wanting to look any more foolish than he likely already did, "I was just going to, um... check out what some of the forbidden books were. Yeah." He totally had been there to read, but there was no reason for her to know that. He looked over his new companion critically, trying his best to get a read on her, "So I'm going to take a wild guess and assume you're a Gryffindor? " he grinned mischievously, "I'm impressed. Some of the older kids told me you guys didn't even know what libraries were."

 

[Rose Holland]

It seems like Rose's guess was right, she smiled at him. It was interesting to meet kids from other houses, it seemed like the Sorting Hat sort of did know what it was doing. Rose had half expected it to just be random. How could a hat know so much anyway?

But the boy surprised her with a witty response, and she couldn't help a small laugh. She had expected all Ravenclaws to be like her dad, endlessly bookish and honestly, sort of boring sometimes. But she couldn't picture him sneaking out at night, not even to read. "Those older kids don't sound very smart, you sure you're a Ravenclaw?" She asked, tilting her head. "We know what a library is, it's a place the boring people go so they don't get in the way of our awesome pranks and adventures." She was exaggerating a little, she didn't hate books and studying, she just thought they were a bit overrated. There was so much more to see outside of stuffy rooms like this, so they sort of lost their appeal in her eyes.

 

[Edwin Fessenden]

Edwin couldn't help but let out a little laugh as well. He hadn't been sure quite how his attempt at a joke would go over, and had to admit he was relieved this girl seemed to have a sense of humor. Still, she definitely did sound like a Gryffindor from what he'd heard. All about the adventuring and running about without a plan.

"Well, they had the fancy blue ties and knew the password, so I assumed they were Ravenclaw, but who knows?" he grinned mischievously, "Maybe there's a secret society of Slytherins trying to infiltrate other houses." Obviously such a thing wouldn't be true, but it was fun to think about, "I think I saw one or two of them give a longing look at the snake emblem too..."

He turned around and took one last look at the shelf. Nothing there either. All the books he'd seen so far were either too advanced or in some language he didn't know. "You know what? You're right. The library's lame at night. Where should we go instead?"

 

[Rose Holland]

The Ravenclaw was funny, and Rose had to laugh again. She had been convinced Gryffindor was clearly the best house, and had been very pleased to be sorted there. But it seemed like the other houses had some cool people as well. "I'll stay on the lookout for secret Slytherins." She said, grinning.

His suggestion to leave the library surprised her, and she looked around. "Are you sure? There might be something here." She said, wondering why she was suddenly defending the library. But she remembered the sounds she heard in the hallway and would rather not get caught. "Besides, I only came here because I think I might have heard some footsteps out there. I thought it was a Professor so I ran in here to hide."

 

[Edwin Fessenden]

Edwin shrugged, curious why she was suddenly in favor of staying here, "You're welcome to look around with me a bit more, but the only interesting things I've found so far were way too advanced for me, and probably for you too." He had to admit he was a bit disappointed about that, though he hadn't known what exactly to expect in the first place.

Her comment about footsteps caused his eyes to widen, however, "Someone else out there? Are you sure? If you're right, we should probably figure out a plan to not get caught." he looked around his darkened surroundings, trying to figure out a place to hide out if someone came in, "Um, I'm sorry, I didn't get your name?"

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose rolled her eyes. "I didn't mean we should go read, but maybe there are some cool old books that have gruesome drawings in them or something. Or maybe there's more than just plain books here. I don't know!" She was feeling a little annoyed and was forgetting to keep her voice down because of it. This wasn't her idea of an exciting destination either but she had been forced to go in here. He was the Ravenclaw, he should know how to entertain yourself in a library of all places.

When he started talking about a plan, she smiled. "We don't need a plan, we just need to run very fast." Then he asked her name and she laughed, she hadn't realized at all that they hadn't introduced themselves yet. "Good thing you asked, I almost forgot. I'm Rose. What's your name?"

 

[Edwin Fessenden]

Edwin grinned, laughing along with her, "My name's Edwin. Its nice to meet you this fine evening." he had to admit he quite liked her bravado in the face of certain detention, "I get why you're frustrated, Rose, but the really juicy books are all under lock and key. One of the fourth years told me that before I came down here."

He shrugged, rather unhappy that his quest for an interesting read had been thwarted, but at this point he was more focused on making sure he and his new friend got out of here unscathed, "Do you know anywhere where we could run? To tell the truth, I don't really know much about the castle yet. The other kids were so busy talking first years through getting into the dang common room they never bothered giving us a proper tour..."

 

[Rose Holland]

"Nice to meet you Edwin." Rose said, smiling at him. She liked the other boy, if only because he was breaking the stereotype of his house in her mind. She sighed deeply. "Well, I suppose we aren't the first students in the history of this school to go look for trouble here. They're prepared." She looked around hopefully, as if something interesting might appear at any moment.

For his question of where to go, she had no good answer. "I don't know the castle yet either. I know the Gryffindor Common Room is a few floors above here." Oops, was that a secret? Well, it wasn't like she had told him the exact location. "We didn't get a detailed tour either. Maybe they like seeing the first years get lost the first few weeks." Honestly, she would enjoy have enjoyed that if she wasn't the first year in question.

 

[Edwin Fessenden]

Edwin couldn't help but laugh at the idea of older kids deliberately letting first years get lost for their own entertainment. It would make some sense, really, "That's probably it, honestly. At least we'll get to be on the other end next year." He continued grinning widely despite himself as he looked around the area. This Rose seemed like pretty good company, if a bit brash.

Edwin was surprised she had been so forthcoming about the Gryffindor Common Room's location, though he supposed she hadn't really been that specific at all. Still, it only felt fair to return the favor, "The Ravenclaw room is in one of the towers. Don't really think we'll have much luck trying to run all the way there without getting caught though, do you?"

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose smiled, glad to have made him laugh. "True! I can't wait until we're no longer the youngest, it's going to be so much fun. My younger sisters are coming to Hogwarts too and I can't wait to tease them every day again." She missed them more than she wanted to admit, even to herself. But it was still nice to be here before them, to be the one to learn everything about the castle first. It was something to hold over their heads during the holidays, at least.

It was interesting that the Ravenclaw Common Room was up high as well. She wondered if they were all in towers. "I think not... and it wouldn't let me in anyway. So you'd be safe inside and I would be stuck outside, prey for any wandering Professors or ghosts." She shuddered at the thought. "Maybe if we do have to run we should just split up and hope one of us survives." She joked.

 

[Edwin Fessenden]

Edwin shrugged, admittedly somewhat surprised she had siblings, "That sounds like fun. Shame I don't have any younger siblings to mess with," he grinned mischievously, "Just an annoying older brother who'd be lecturing us right about now"

When she joked about splitting up, he had to wonder whether it would actually be a good idea. Still, after a moment, he discarded it. He didn't want to risk one of them getting caught and having to rat out the other, "Well, unless you want to hide in here for the rest of the night, I say we just get out of here and start running for the stairs. We'll figure out the rest when we get there, I guess. Depends on whether we want to explore more or sneak back to our common rooms.

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose smiled, surprised to hear about his older brother. "Does he go to this school? Will you get a lecture from him if you're caught?" She loved being the oldest, if anyone was going to lecture in her family, it was her.

When he came with the idea to just run for it, she shrugged. "Well, we can try it. If we're going to get caught at least it won't be cowering in the library like a bunch of babies. So... I'm in." It didn't really matter to her if it was the best idea, it was something to do and that was enough.

 

[Edwin Fessenden]

Edwin laughed softly at her guess about his brother, "Nope. He's off at some accounting school or something in Europe. He probably would lecture me for getting caught though. He's such a straight arrow..." he finally stifled his laughter and stretched out his legs a bit. He couldn't imagine what it must be like for her to be the oldest kid in the family. Being the youngest had its downsides, but he couldn't imagine what it must be like having to be responsible for your younger brothers and sisters.

"So..." He leaned forward and looked around, checking for where the nearest exits were, "Should we go on the count of three, or what?"

 

[Rose Holland]

So his brother was a muggle? Or maybe a squib. It somehow felt impolite to pry, so she didn't. Instead she just nodded. "People like that are boring. I mean, no offense to your brother. I'd sooner lecture my sisters on not doing something reckless once in a while. Wouldn't want them to miss out." She grinned. "He should be proud."

Then it was time to start doing something. Rose looked around. "Alright. Let's do it." She said softly, both excited and a little nervous. "To the stairs, yeah? Will you count?"

 

[Edwin Fessenden]

Edwin grinned back, enjoying the mental image of someone lecturing others on not misbehaving. He tried to suppress his nervousness and looked around the area, checking one last time to see if there was anyone else, "Stairs works. We'll go on three."

"One," He let out a breath he hadn't been holding, "Two," he leaned forward, preparing to run, "Three!" At this he began to sprint for the stairs, breathing heavily. He privately hoped that he and his partner in crime would be both fast and quiet enough to avoid detection.

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose grinned as he started to count down and got ready to run. Once he was on the count of three, she sprinted away with him. Adrenaline surged through her body as they raced out of the library and into the hallway, passing shocked people in paintings. If there was anything more exciting than wandering through the school at night, it was running at full speed. She had to force herself not to start laughing, or whooping. It was thrilling. She glanced at Edwin, wondering if he felt the same way. She let out a small , breathless laugh at the ridiculousness of this situation, unable to keep it in. As they started nearing the stairs, Rose found she was almost disappointed.

 

[Edwin Fessenden]

Edwin took a deep breath as they neared the stairs, slowing down. He couldn't help but mirror Rose's exhausted laugh as they reached their destination, shocked that they had made it this far without getting caught. He had to admit, this kind of adventure was very exhilarating, even if it wasn't quite what he had expected from his first few nights at Hogwarts.

As he began to look at the staircase, mentally calculating which path would lead back to his house's tower, he looked back at this strange partner-in-crime he had found. "We're gonna have to look around again sometime, yeah? You can pick the next place, since its my fault we got stuck in the library."

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose had to catch her breath once they stopped, leaning on the stair's railing. Her earlier excitement was fading just slightly as she realized how many more stairs she had to climb before she was back in her bed. It was worth it, though. She couldn't wait to write all about this encounter to her sister Phoebe.

"Definitely." She said in response to Edwin's remark. "I'll think of a good spot." Maybe outside? She wondered if Edwin would dare. She wondered if she would dare."Well... see you around." She said, feeling a little awkward but not sure what else to say.

 

[Edwin Fessenden]

Edwin shrugged awkwardly, not quite sure how to respond. This had certainly been an... interesting encounter. He'd just have to keep it secret for now, however. At least until he figured out some people in his house he could trust.

"See you later, Rose. Maybe we'll be in a class together or something." he nodded and started strolling in the rough director of the Ravenclaw entrance, hoping against hope that he wouldn't get caught along the way.