Ezra pulled the hood of his cloak up over his hair and stuffed his hand into the pockets as he meandered down the trail towards the lake.  It was a cold and cloudy day, gloomy all around.  It was rather appropriate given that everyone had stayed up late the night before for the dance.  A good deal of alcohol was passed around, he assumed, because he dorm mates were still fast asleep when he left and the one that had roused upon his movement had looked at him with bloodshot eyes, groaned, and buried his head beneath his pillow again.  Although Ezra had had a bit of firewhiskey with Livi, he hadn't overdone it the way they must have.  His eyes hurt and he was a little bit dehydrated but beyond that he was doing ok.  Tired, but ok.

When he reached the edge of the lake, he took a fork in the trail that was relatively unused.  He crested a small hill where an outcropping of ruined stone structures.  He climbed up onto what was once a windowsill.  It still had a portion of stone arch stretching into the sky above him.  He reached into the pocket of his cloak and pulled out a cigarette case he'd purchased a little over a year ago.  He'd had it sent to him from the States just so he could get the stylized Cajun design.  Ezra pulled a cigarette out and placed it between his lips.  It hung there for a moment as he looked out across the foggy water of the lake.  Then he pulled his wand and lit the cigarette using a gentle incendio spell. 

He enjoyed coming out here a great deal.  It relaxed him and gave him some time to think.  And he certainly needed to think after last night.  He'd done a few relatively stupid things because of that girl, his father would be giving him that look if he were here now.  He wasn't sure he could help it though.  He enjoyed her company immensely last night.  She was fun and intelligent.  Her soft hair, beautiful face, and sultry scent were added bonuses and, no doubt, the reason his father would disapprove.  Sex was always the problem, according to him.  But Ezra was young and in his opinion the results would be well worth the risk.  He took another inhale on the cigarette and tilted his head back against the stone of the rising half-arch.  The cigarette burned itself up, hanging forgotten between his fingers by his side.

Nicholas was not used to be awake before lunch on the weekend, but he hadn't slept yet.  The annoying side effect of the potion he had taken the night before to try and make him glide like a dementor.  The effect hadn't even lasted long enough  for him and Sophie to get from Gryffindor tower down to the Great Hall.   And it had taken him till about three in the morning to figure out that he wouldn't be sleeping.  Though he was thankful he hadn't experienced the nastier side effects, like boils in unmentionable places.  It would have made being ditched by his friend-date for Figaro even worse.

So he had been wandering the grounds for most of the morning since curfew lifted, after getting a bite to eat of course.  Nicholas wasn't about to turn down breakfast one of the few times he was awake for it and he wasn't about to be stuck in the castle even if it was a less than perfect day.  He had been skipping rocks across the lake for the better part of an hour, using his wand he was able to find the perfect rock and keep using it over and over again, when he smelled smoke drifting on the breeze from the hill behind him.

Losing the rock finally in the lake, he walked up the hill where an old stone building had once stood, what it was, Nicholas had never cared to find out though it would probably just take asking a Ravenclaw to find out. He crested the hill to see Ezra sitting in what once was a window obviously lost in thought, and with what appeared to be a lit but unsmoked cigarette given that half of it was ash.  "Hey, if you aren't going to smoke it, pass it over."

Although he was deep in thought, Ezra was relaxed enough not to startle overly when he heard someone speak.  He merely looked over with a raised eyebrow in question.  Oh.  It was then that he realized his cigarette was more than half gone.  He picked it up and frowned at it in consternation.  Then he shrugged, flicked the end and dusted the ash to the ground.  He placed it loosely between his lips and sat up, fishing out his cigarette case at the same time.  Holding it open to Bevans with one hand and pulling the cigarette in his mouth out with the other, he said, "You can have a whole one to yourself, if you're that desperate."  He replaced the case and returned with his wand.  A flick of the wrist and there was a small flame there for Bevans to light up with.

He and Nicholas Bevans seemed to have struck up a casual alliance over their cigarettes in the past few years.  Especially during the winter when it was an astonishing act of bravery to go out into the cold for one, the company was almost enjoyed and certainly not begrudged.  "Late night?" he asked with a smirk.  His tired but keen eyes caught on to the shadows under the other boy's eyes and his mussed up hair.  The hemline of his trousers were dirty, probably because he'd been mucking about down by the lake. 

Nicholas smiled as he took one of the offered cigarettes and lit it with the flame Ezra produced from his wand.  He took a long drag before he finally responded, "Not desperate, just hate to see a perfectly good cig go to waste."  Leave it to a Gryffindor and Slytherin to overcome house rivalries over shared smoke breaks.

"Late night?"

Nicholas exhaled a lungful of smoke, "Do I look that bad?  Wait no, don't answer that.  I haven't slept yet.  I was ditched by my date," He laughed because he wasn't really sore about Sophie ditching him.  Though really she could have at least ditched him for some hot American bloke with some single friends.  "And its difficult to flirt when you are dressed as a dementor.  I didn't think that one through."  Nicholas liked the idea of Halloween being scary, but scary wasn't exactly sexy and didn't lead to making out, unless it was a horror movie, but those weren't exactly in great supply in the wizarding world.

Ezra regarded Nick with a calm and easy smile teasing the corners of his lips. Gryffindors were kind of cute and trusting sometimes.  He offered up potential embarrassment about being abandoned by his date quite easily.  With anyone else it would have been a cue to start snidely insulting one another.  But Ezra like Nick well enough and certainly wasn't about to lose a smoking buddy over something so stupid.

Good-natured ribbing, though, was well within his rights as friend and Slytherin.  "Yes, perhaps your choice of costume was ill-advised.  That was you drifting about as a Dementor, yes?  Most girls don't want to snog with a creature of pure fear."

Finished with his cigarette, although most of it went to waste, he lit up another and settled back in his window seat with a superior grin splitting his features.  "You managed to lose a date and I managed to find one.  How fortuitous for me and sad for you." 

Nicholas still thought his costume had been amazing, even if it had scared potential fun away.  He would probably find the idea more frightening if he had ever been around a real dementor, but as of yet his time in the wizarding world had not taken him anywhere near a dementor.  Which was probably for the best. 

"Would have preferred a bloke anyways, though I wouldn't have objected to any of the ladies," Well except for the Durmstrang ladies, and the Slytherin ladies but Nicholas wasn't about to say that to Ezra, "but no, everyone was too freaked out by the costume.  And I was barely even gliding when I got to the Great Hall, wasn't nearly as frightening once that potion wore off."

Nicholas frowned as Ezra put the loss of his date so bluntly.  "It was just Sophie, not really a date.  Not the first time either."  He took another long drag from the cigarette, "I hope you didn't take advantage of some desperate Hufflepuff with your charms.  Or did one of them slip you a love potion, some of the fifth year 'puffs looked a bit shifty near the drinks."

Ezra held up his hands with his palms facing Nick and laughed.  "Easy there, Gryff, I was only teasing you.  No need to get so touchy about it."  Ezra quirked an eyebrow and wondered if Nick was sore about his dating situation.  If he preferred men over women and was stuck escorting a female friend, that was bound to be frustrating.  He'd offer his help but he didn't want Nick to think he was offering his help.  Not that the Gryffindor would ever accept dating advice from a Slytherin.  Although, really he ought to.  No one knew about relationships like Slytherins did.  The thought was highly amusing and he couldn't quite fight the broad grin making its way onto his face as he regarded Nick.

With another pull on his cigarette he reached the end and busied himself with lighting another for a moment and staring calmly out across the lake for a moment while he savored it.  Then he conveyed a small shrug with an elegant gesture of his hand.  "There's a reason Halloween is so important to witches and wizards."  Ezra was aware that Nick was Muggleborn.  He was a capable enough wizard but he showed his heritage with his ignorance of wizarding customs and his tendency to fight with his fists rather than his wand.  He didn't hold it against the Gryffindor like some of his peers might but he felt it was important to inform about the past when he could.  It might some day prove valuable.

"It used to be a time to perform powerful rituals and spells but now it also serves as an opportunity to show off your prowess.  There could certainly be worse representatives for our school."  He rolled his eyes.  "Like those little Hufflepuffs you mentioned.  As if I would even need to spike their drinks with love potion.  They were shifty because someone snuck them alcohol and they were afraid of getting caught."  He snorted and took another drag.  "Silly twits."

"I'm not touchy"  Nicholas muttered as Ezra lit another cigarette.  He really wasn't.  He hadn't had a date, Sophie hadn't had a date, so they'd gone together.  Wasn't the first time they'd gone as friend-dates, wouldn't be the last time.  At least he hadn't been there with her to make someone jealous.  They always had fun, so he wasn't touchy about being ditched by her.  He was still annoyed that his costume had scared people off, which wasn't helped by the lack of sleep.  And he was still not tired.

Halloween history lesson. He blew out a puff of smoke, "Muggles have stuff like that too on Halloween, its all nonsense or mostly nonsense anyways."  Nicholas laughed at the idea of the younger Hufflepuffs with alcohol.  "I'm surprised they didn't hand it straight over to a professor. Wish someone had slipped me some.  I think Harcroft confiscated my bottle of frost-vodka.  Could have been the house elves I guess.  Either way I don't have any now."  He'd been pretty annoyed about it when he hadn't been able to find it earlier in the month, and he hadn't had a chance to smuggle anymore into Gryffindor tower.

Ezra quirked an eyebrow.  Trust a Gryffindor to skip right over a compliment paid to him by a Slytherin and move on  to their own pitiful lack of alcohol and the alcohol of others.  He flicked the ash off the end of his cigarette and turned his head out towards the lake.  "I could get you Frostvodka," he offered nonchalantly.  Then his gaze slid sideways back to Bevans so he was looking at him askance with a smirk on his lips.  "For the right price of course."

A friend currently out of Hogwarts would send him a lot of things he asked for, things that techinically weren't allowed in Hogwarts at all.  He had to pay for it, of course, and pay for the convenience of having it sent so he didn't do it very often.  But perhaps if Bevans were desperate he could make a tiny profit. 

"The houselves take your things?" Ezra questioned with a frown.  He'd never heard of such a thing before.  The elves cleaned and gossiped a bit but as far as he was aware they didn't get involved in things like contraband.  Was it because Bevans was a muggleborn and he'd never learned any better?  They would never dare steal from a pureblood child, who oftentimes knew enough about houselves to make their lives difficult.

"I've got some spare gold," Nicholas said looking straight at Ezra. He would generally get it himself, magic certainly helped, but he didn't have a problem letting someone else do the work for him.  No problem at all. This time he would just have to keep it from being confiscated.

"They've never taken anything before, as far as I know."  He said, wondering by the look on the other boy's face if he had said something that showed a lack of certain information most witches and wizards had.  Nicholas got that look from people less and less as he'd gotten older, and he certainly looked forward to being part of the wizarding world full time.  He still found difficult at times bouncing back and forth between his muggle friends and family during the holidays and breaks and Hogwarts and the hidden world he somehow had gotten an invitation to during the school year.

 "It probably wasn't the house elves, but easier to blame them since I like them, than blame Harcroft.  Can't do anything about it either way, but one doesn't make me as irritated as the other.  I really should have taken the chance to punch Harcroft in the fight[1], especially after he knocked me out in dueling club.[2]  No it was probably him, but what can you do when your prefect is an arse and confiscates your contraband."  Nicholas said matter-of-factly, he wasn't particularly heated about it.  Eventually he would get even.  Though right now, he just wanted another cigarette as he finished the first one.  And maybe the promise of more alcohol arriving soon. "Who knows, I might even have shared with him had he asked."

1.	Secrets, Scars, and Wild Hairs [Oct 20]
2.	[6th October] On Guard All Thee Who Enter!

Ezra's lips pursed around the end of his cigarette.  "I try not to punch a prefect if I can help it," he said around a mouthful of smoke.  "It's too high a risk that they'll be a pussy about it and run crying to the nearest teacher to tell on you.  Getting even, however, should always be a priority so that I can get behind."  His eyes flashed wickedly at the thought.  He was a Slytherin and couldn't quite help himself, plotting was what he did best.

"There are measures you could take, of course, to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again but I would start with disguising your stash.  There are ways to hide ice vodka as a mouth-freshening potion.  Just don't let a potions expert get a taste of it but it'll fool a laymen at a glance and a sniff."  Ezra shrugged elegantly and finished his cigarette.  He dug the burning end into the side of the stone wall beneath him then flicked the butt into the bushes down the hill towards the lake.  "It's not the route I'd take but I know how quaint your Gryffindors are when it comes to breaking the rules."

Slyherins talking about getting even was never good, and Nicholas was glad when Ezra didn't show any interest in pursuing the idea of helping him plot revenge.  Somehow, when Slytherins plotted something, they always ended up coming out way ahead of everyone else involved, including the people or person they were helping.  Nicholas had learned early on that when Slytherins started plotting it was best to be elsewhere and uninvolved.  Besides, he would get even with a well placed jinx in the Great Hall or somewhere else very public.

"Yeah-yeah-yeah.  I know, I would have but I forgot to when I got back to the castle."  One he wouldn't have been able to use magic to conceal his stash before he got back to Hogwarts, and two he hadn't needed to worry about concealing it over the summer.  "So much easier when I am home and not sharing a room with a prefect."  Nicholas frowned, it certainly did suck having to share a dorm with certain people he couldn't stand.   And the one time he had tried to go visit Sophie in her dorm, he had enjoyed an embarrassing ride down a staircase-turned-slide.  Well the first time had been embarrassing.  The times after had just been fun.

"Quaint, really?" he said with a laugh.  "And I didn't realize Slytherins knew what rules were.  Don't you lot just see guidelines to bend."

Ezra huffed a wicked laugh.  "Bending guidelines is fun," he admitted with a sideways glance.  "But there's a naughty kind of pleasure in truly rending a rule to pieces."  The smirk on his face was positively sinful as he reflected on it.  Having the stones to break a rule, while ostensibly a Gryffindor quality, was something he could admire in everyone, including himself.  But what really got him off about it was the complete satisfaction that slid over you when you had the skill to get away with it, no one the wiser.

"Of course," he added out loud to Nick, "Getting caught kind of puts a damper on things so I try to avoid it."  Ezra sat up straight and swung his legs over the side of his perch.  He jumped off and dusted the seat of his trousers to shake loose any dirt and dust.  "You can bring the supplies next time, you're not bumming from me forever you lout."  It was all in jest, of course, his tone was light and his expression relaxed as he said it.  Good-natured ribbing, he considered it.  Snakes and Lions really shouldn't get together with out it.  Tradition and all that. 

Nicholas laughed at the idea of pleasure from completely breaking rules.  It was a feeling he was familiar with, there was a certain pleasure in breaking a rule for the right reasons.  "I don't get caught all that often anymore.  Not like before Hogwarts, I got caught all the time when I was younger."  He had gotten much better at not getting caught as he'd gotten older, though he still hadn't gotten much better at talking his way out of trouble.

"I don't know what you are talking about.  I'm sure I've given you something at some point?"  He said as the Slytherin stood and dusted himself off.  "Next one's on me." Maybe.  It wasn't Nicholas's fault that half the time he ran into Ezra on a smoke break, he hadn't been planning on having one himself.  "Oh, you never said who your date was?  I hope it wasn't some pimply faced fourth year."  He smiled, "I don't think I saw you at the ball itself."  He left the 'I hope you weren't embarrassed' unspoken, but the look on his face made it quite clear what he was thinking.

Ezra's smirk was self-indulgent and secretive as he reminisced on the night spent out in the woods with Liviana Wiedman.  It had been wonderful fun.  Exciting in a fairly innocent way which is a feeling he got less and less of as he got older.  It was nice, whether or not it meant anything substantial between them in the long term.  Really, how often could a Slytherin just be innocently and happily engaged in a situation?  Best to savor it when it came along.

It was a lot like being friends with Gryffindors. Ezra decided, peering down at Nick.  They were endearingly obvious.  Ezra just smirked and straightened his coat.  "No, I didn't say who my date was.  Nor will your fun little insults get me to say it.  You'll just have to wait like everyone else to find out.  I wasn't at the dance because I was off having fun unlike all the poor sops who actually spent the night in the Great Hall."