Elijah Fitzroy Grimlish was happy as a niffler in a Gringott’s vault. He had spent most of his free time that day in the library, researching various party games and wizarding get-togethers. His great big sleepover was coming up and Eli couldn’t wait! He had all the decorations ready and was putting the finishing touches on all his roommates personalized gifts. He was starting to feel stuffy, like he always did in the dusty old library, so he decided to make his way out to the grounds for a bit of a stroll around the lake.
   
The weather was chilly, but it wasn’t bitter like he knew it would get in just a few short weeks. His time in nature was assuredly about to decrease dramatically and he was going to take advantage of the last few days of comfortable weather. He scurried down the corridors, eyes completely out of focus. The stale air that permeated the castle made it difficult for the Ravenclaw to focus.

When he made it outside, the sharp bite of the wind tore through Eli’s attire and he was forced to draw his cloak about him for warmth. He looked around, trying to find someone to talk to, but didn’t see anyone. Most people were still inside, either busy studying or staying out of the chill. The NEWT kid spotted a boy down by the lake, intent on something in his hands, it had to be a Ravenclaw, no one else in the school could stare that intently at a book and manage to walk at the same time.

Eli skipped down the lawns, gaining speed as he went until he was in a full out sprint. It felt good to run, to cast off the bindings of being scholarly and let his rising body heat warm him up. Too soon, however, he was nearing the boy, and he tried to slow down. His feet were finding little purchase with the grass, however, and he was finding it increasingly difficult to slow down. “Watch out!” He yelled, just in case he couldn’t stop and bowled the guy over.

Trystan heard the warning, but barely had time to react.  He dove out of the way, but swore he felt something catch his ankle.  Miraculously he held onto his book only losing a page in his reading, as it almost slipped from his grasp.  He sat up and brushed some grass from his elbows where he had caught himself when he landed and looked towards the other person.  It was a boy from the look of it.

"Watch where you're going next time." he stated and then resumed reading after finding where he left off.  He didn't even care that the cold from the ground was going to slowly make him freeze.  He wanted to make sure he had all the directions implanted in his brain if he didn't find anyone to help him make the potion.  He still wasn't sure when he was going to use it, no ideas had come to mind yet.

After a minute of reading, Trystan put the book aside.  He looked at the figure that had warned him to watch out, "Why were you going so fast anyway, you could of hurt someone." he told the boy.  "I mean, I'm all for going fast, but next time, do it on a broom."

Eli, in all his glory, tripped over the Ravenclaw boy’s trainer as he dove out of the way. He lay sprawled in the dirt, in pure agony for what felt like an eternity. His forehead had bashed pretty hard on the ground and his mouth was full of grass, dirt, and debris. He was pretty sure that he could feel the acrid taste of his coppery blood, and he spat the wad of ick into the grass. Judging by the sharp pain in his mouth, Eli assumed that he had bitten his tongue pretty hard on the way down.

When he sat up, he got a good look at his victim, Trystan McElroy, a Ravenclaw in the year above Eli. “Sorry,” He grinned widely at the older boy, showing dirty, bloody teeth. “I guess that’s what I get for wearing these loafers.” He said sticking his black leather slip-on in the air for Trystan to see. “Didn’t mean to attack you,” he laughed a bit, until he realized how much it hurt his mouth to laugh. Miraculously, his speech hadn’t been affected by his newly acquired tongue piercing. He thought briefly about sticking something through it to keep the hole from closing up. Maybe it would be cool to have a tongue piercing.

“Oh, brooms are super dangerous. I would never think of riding one around campus. Brooms are made for sweeping the floor, not for carrying you in the air.” He said, a bit of pure terror showing in his eyes. He was not at all a fan of flying; he even had Marietta send a note to school with him in his first year asking to excuse him from lessons. “By the way, what could be so important to read on this beautiful day?” he asked the boy, waving his scraped up hand across the grounds. He truly couldn’t have been more beaten up had he fallen from a broom.

Trystan thought about not answering the younger boy at all, but he did need some help with the potion, maybe this was the help he needed.  He brushed a piece of dirt off of the cover of the book and flipped  it over to show the boy.  “You’re Elijah right?”  He knew the kid was in Ravenclaw, but he really didn’t know too many people in years below him.  “Sorry if we haven’t spoken before. I tend to ignore anyone who’s not a 7th year.” He told him.

“Ah, yes, speeding along the ground on a cleaning device could be terrifying. I see your point.” He didn’t elaborate that he didn’t fly often, for even though he could get a broom to jump into his hand, his steadiness once he was on said broom was anything but perfect. He preferred to have both feet on the ground.  “Anyway, there’s a potion in this book I’ve been wanting to try out, but my potion skills are sorely lacking, quite embarrassing for a Ravenclaw to admit that, but there you go.”

“Yup, I’m Eli, and you’re Trystan.” The sixth year Ravenclaw said, getting to his feet and brushing off his robes. “I understand; most people don’t really talk to me. The only people I really talk to are my year-mates. Even they avoid me sometimes. Sometimes my personality can be quite intriguing and the sheer awesomeness of my life intimidates most people.” Eli said with another grin. His statement wasn’t really true… most people avoided him because he was quirky, but that wasn’t exactly something Eli was willing to share with a near-stranger.

Plus, Eli found it super hypocritical of the people that mocked him. Almost everyone at Hogwarts was unusual in one way or another. The peculiar personalities of the patrons of the school were what made the dynamic of the castle so interesting and anyone that said otherwise was simply untruthful. Eli’s interest picked up drastically when the older boy mentioned a potion. Elijah was never great with wandwork, but potioneering was something Eli excelled at, plus… Eli was a Ravenclaw, and he shared the Ravenclaw’s thirst for ever-increasing knowledge. It was an addiction, always searching for new and unknown. “Oooooh!” He squeaked out, “What kind of potion?” He started eagerly glancing from the book to the boy’s face and back.

Trystan almost laughed at Eli's instant attraction to what potion he was talking about.  "It's a prank potion, one that, depending on which ingredient you add will change part of your target's appearance." He handed the book over to his fellow Ravenclaw to show him.  "I was going to do it on Halloween, but I messed up the potion and it didn't turn out like it was supposed to.  I was actually hoping that I could find someone who is brilliant with potions to be my partner-in-crime. " he took a breath, "but those are hard to find in our house. No one wants to be caught."

He looked back at the book and then back to Eli, maybe this kid could help him.

Elijah eagerly reached for the book, nearly snatching it from the boy’s hand in excitement. Not only was he super excited about making a new potion, but it would be an awesome pranking potion. His earlier years had been full of small pranks and jam-packed with laughter. Being a member of the Grimlish clan would put a smile on anyone’s face, and he had learned to be a great prankster from his grandpa.

This year, however, he hadn’t had much time for pranking. Between classes, divination club, and having an actual social life, there didn’t seem to be much time for fun. Maybe this would be his opportunity to get back into the fun part of life. “I’m not brilliant… I’m pretty good though, and I think that between the two of us we could probably pull it off. Can I please help you? Please?” He begged, eyes twinkling in excitement.

“I don’t mind getting caught, honest. I don’t think anyone would really make a big deal about it anyway,” Eli was practically glowing with the fun of it all.

Trystan openly laughed at Eli's eagerness.  He didn't have much luck in pranking people.  Most of his ideas involved potions and he wasn't very good at making potions.  His younger brother could make an outstanding potion in his sleep, but Trystan seemed to get the short end of the stick on that one.  He asked Eli, "How good are you at making potions?"

He really wanted to do this prank with someone, usually his pranks were given as ideas to younger pranksters while he stood in the shadows and watched the aftermath, but this was his seventh and final year at Hogwarts, he wanted to do something instead of  watching everyone else get all the credit for his ideas.

"Usually, I just give ideas to the young pranksters, 2nd and 3rd years are really good at implementing them.  There was this one prank..." , he started thinking about it, he couldn't help but snicker at the sight of the fifth year Slytherin girls coming out of their dormitory with bubblegum pink clothing.  It had been a potion filled water balloon idea that had been slipped to a couple of 2nd year Slytherin boys who were anxious to cause some mischief. "... those girls looked ridiculous and no one could figure out how to reverse it." he finished. 

Elijah laughed a hearty laugh at Trystan’s story, spewing a bit of blood and spittle on the ground around him. “Oh, that’s great. I thought about giving all the owls a laxative one time… right before breakfast… but I never actually did it. Could you imagine how pissed off people would be? Especially the girls, getting poop in their hair during breakfast.”

The Ravenclaw boy was having way too much fun. “Anyway, I got an ‘O’ in my OWLs, so I’d say I’m pretty good. I like making things, it’s more fun and personal than just waving your wand and watching something happen,” he said with a smirk on his face. “Plus, usually prank potions are pre-OWL level stuff, because the pranking potions people know that after OWLs people are too busy to prank. Not me though, as long as no one takes away my position as Divination Club President, and I don’t think they will,”

"I've heard people say that they like Potions better, I'm just not one of them." he took a deep breath, "I can make the ones for Healing, but all the rest, it's like the instructions evade my grasp and I always do something to make whatever potion I'm working on turn to sludge." 

He thought for a moment about what Eli's prank would of done.  He was so busy imagining the chaos involved with giving owl's laxatives that he forgot he was talking to someone.  "You know, the owl thing would've been gross, unless you just found the Slytherin owls or one's used for the Professors." Trystan told him.  "That would be funny."

Lydian brushed her long blonde hair across and over her shoulder as she proudly walked through the castle and made her way outside towards the courtyard. The weekend was usually a boring time for her with no work to do as she had completed all earlier in the week. She strolled casually watching the scenery as it gently passed her by not noticing the large rock in front of her and accident tripping over it."Me and my clumsyness" she sighed as she stood up dusting herself off before noticing two boys stood ahead of her.

Trystan saw the girl trip, but didn't budge from where he was.  Normally he would of gotten up and went over to see if she was okay because his mother had taught him to be kind to girls, but as she had stood up and brushed herself off she seemed to be just fine.  "So, when do you want to start working on the potion?" Trystan asked, a nagging feeling in the back of his mind telling him to go check and see if the girl was alright. 

Lydian tried to brush every last little bit of dirt off her clothing. She noticed she had a few leaves within her perfect blobde curly locks and she quickly tried to find her brush and get them out. Her leggings had a small rip across the knees of her knees from where she had fallen. She wasn't impressed with herself as they were one of her favourite pairs because they had two colours and glitter sown into to the side. "Great!" she sighed to herself as she not only noticed that her clumbsiness had not only ruined her clothes but sre had also cut the palm of her hand

Trystan focused back on the potion and Eli's eagerness to help.  "Well, how about we go find somewhere to brew this potion, somewhere a little less crowded." he said a bit louder than he intended to.  "Wouldn't want to get interrupted and mess the potion up."  He stood up slowly.  "I'll leave the location up to you, I have to run and go get a couple things from my dorm." he told Eli.

"Where shall I find you when I'm done?" he asked, knowing that the younger boy probably already had a location in mind.  Normally, Trystan would already be gone, but he needed help with this little prank if it was going to be done right, so he needed to let the other boy make some decisions about the potion too, and the first one would be where to brew it.