Magnus managed to take a break from midterm madness and decided to make the most of what little free time he had. It had been at least a week since his last fix and like most people in similar situations he found himself becoming increasingly irritable and anxious. He was usually such a quiet well mannered young man, but over the course of a few days Magnus succeeded in making a first year cry and landed himself in hot water with a professor over an uncharacteristically nasty attitude. It would all be over soon, he thought. All he needed was a few moments alone and he would be back to normal.

Backpack grasped firmly in his arms, Magnus pushed and shoved his way up the castle steps throwing glances over his shoulder periodically in the event that anyone was on to him. This bout of paranoia continued as he reached the third floor and did not cease completely until he convinced himself that the spider crawling up his leg was not the same one he stomped on in the Hufflepuff  commons the day before brought back to life for the sole purpose of spying on him. IT'S NO ONES BUSINESS BUT MY OWN Needless to say, the spider encountered the same fate as his comrade from the previous day.

The untimely death of a fellow creature was regrettable but Magnus was thankful, for at last he was alone. Once settled in the abandoned corridor Magnus frantically unzipped the bag and shook it until all it's contents were on the floor. He grabbed a beat up looking book from the pile and flipping to the page he marked Magnus began reading aloud, "Push the right hand needle against the left hand needle and pull the yarn you just wrapped around through the slip knot loop." He read the same line several times to himself before picking up his knitting gear and making an actual attempt.

and man, it felt good.

 

Having finished her packing late last night, a benefit of being a perfectionist, left Addison with nothing to do until it was about time to board the train for home. Midterm time had been pretty stressful for her, as it was. That Defense Against the Dark Arts midterm was definitely a killer. Nevertheless, she survived it, and was rather happy about it.

Instead of staying up in her dorm room with nothing to do, she decided to venture around the castle for a bit. On her way out the door, she picked up her bag with sketchpad and various other books in it. This bag wasn't going to be packed up with the rest of her luggage. No, this one she was content to just carry around with her on her shoulder. It allowed for an easy access to its occupants.

Having been walking through the castle for a bit, Addison turned down a corridor with her sketchpad out. The pencil in her hand glided around the page as details and details were added to her latest doodle. This one was from the Yule Ball, which was only just last night, which went smoothly. It was such a nice change from the stress of just earlier in the week.

As she turned down the corridor, the Ravenclaw had just finished drawing out her dress with all of its frills. While she was walking, she noticed a boy sitting on the ground near by. Was he knitting? That wasn't something that she saw a lot of around Hogwarts. Stopping her doodle,  she looked up from her pad to get a better view of the boy, whom she immediately recognized from her year. Indeed, and he was definitely knitting.

"Hey," she greeted him with a smile as she approached him with her sketchpad held up against her chest, "What are you knitting?" Her curiousity definitely got the better of her half the time.

It was so boring sososososos boring. Everyone was in their whole study mode crazy panics. All anybody did was study and for the people who didn't, like herself, were alienated, scolded and treated like a social pariah. It was exhausting to deal with she missed enacting fun stories and instead was forced to enact roles that dwelled in sorrows of loneliness of neglect. A victim. During this time she had taken to different approaches. Things more subtle... things that made her invisible.

Before old Maggie decided to turn up, Daisy had squeezed herself into the knight of armor. Why the forbidden corridor you ask? Why not? EVERYONE knew that the forbidden places were the places most frequented. DUH. She wasn't going to miss out on this action. But she was getting tired and uncomfortable and was about tocall it quits when she spied feed hastily scurrying down the corridor, sat down and then began knitting. MAGGIE! she shouted in her head.... so THIS was what he did whe nhe said he was going to take a piss...

But sure enough before she could begin to bug her friend another pair of feet scurried revealing his daunting secret. That Maggie liked girly hobbies. nuuuuuuuuuuu she cried in her head. Desperate to save his manliness she deepened her voice and grumbled lowly imitating Magnus to the best of her ability "Knitting?! HAH." she scoffed  "I'm clearly sharpening these knives to better feast upon your blooood--" uhhhhhh wrong charaacter! Panicked she squeeked  "uhhhiii mean huuunt. Not blood.. " she grunted.

Magnus didn't usually go to such lengths to avoid other people, and even if he did surely it would be to do something cool like practice forbidden magic or tend to some kind of exotic creature smuggled into the castle through illicit means. He would actually have perfectly valid reasons for hanging out in dark abandoned corridors (avoiding expulsion, etc..) and most likely would not feel nearly as ridiculous as he did at present. Why couldn't a young lad sit amongst his peers and knit? It wasn't like he was parading around in women's clothing. The giggles and stares weren't an issue at first but there was only so much a guy could take and after a while he figured isolation would be best.

And it really would have been the best thing in the world to finally have a moment to himself.

His first instinct was always to avoid people. Maybe she was talking to someone else? Or... Maybe if he remained silent long enough and wished  hard enough, she'd disappear? Of course he was never that lucky.

"Uh well...I'm just teaching myself how to knit..without magic." He murmured in response, not quite making eye contact with the speaker. "Oh and hello."

A ghoulish voice echoed through the corridor at that very moment and Magnus was almost certain he heard the world blood. Having some company suddenly didn't sound like such a terrible idea.

Whenever Addison walked around the castle with a sketchpad out, or a book for that matter, she often times had absolutely no idea where she was going. In this case, she stumbled into the abandoned corridor in the same fashion. Of course, her curiosity kept her in that same spot. One of these days, that curiosity was going to get her in trouble.

Now that she was in the abandoned corridor with Magnus, it was unlikely that she was going to leave quickly. Addison smiled and nodded as he told her that he was teaching himself how to knit without magic. "Doing it without magic makes it all the more satisfying. Do you - " she was suddenly caught off guard by a masculine sounding voice echoing down the corridor.

Looking up from the spot, Addison didn't see anyone else in the corridor, just suits of armor. Could this have been a prank by one of the first years? Definitely not the ones that she had conversed with so far anyway. "I think the knitting shows a much needed skill that has been lacking so far," she called out, while inspecting the closest suit of armor. Empty. There were definitely too many to try to search in the corridor.

FINALLY someone who understood. "Yeah! That's exactly what I said. I mean magic is cool and all but I'm not gonna use it to wipe my arse. There are just some things that should be done without magic and knitting is one of them," Magnus replied, with more enthusiasm than intended. It was hard not to get excited when very few people ever agreed with him on anything. He was rather opinionated when it came to certain matters and while some viewed it as a personality flaw, Magnus always thought it was one of the best things about himself.

It was definetly a relief to know he wasn't the only one hearing voices. It never occurred to him someone might have been hiding in a suit of armor. He only assumed that's why she was searching through them but decided against asking in case he was dead wrong and really was the only one hearing voices, in which case he would look like a loony.

"So I guess you draw then?" He asked, pointing at her sketch pad, "Are you any good?" He always wished he could draw. The most he could manage was a well decorated stick figure.

Addison smiled and nodded as Magnus spoke about not using magic on knitting. Being a muggleborn herself, she had to do a lot of her activities without magic in the past. Just because she was at Hogwarts now wasn't necessarily going to change that. Sure, magic might make muggle activities easier and faster, but most of those activities she did because she enjoyed it. Take drawing and painting, which she naturally completed the muggle way with a pencil or paint brush in her hand. The only time she used magic was for her Ancient Runes project for a demonstration.

"I know. If it's a pleasure activity, like knitting, then you might as well get the full experience of knitting without magic. Rushing to finish it wouldn't be too practical on that part." And it was rarely warranted for that matter. For those students who used magic for a lot of what they did, it would be harder on them when school wasn't in session because they weren't supposed to be using magic.

Not hearing the voice again, Addison wondered if the voice was indeed some sort of prank. If it was another person, she thought there would have been more sounds. Maybe someone charmed one of the suits of armor? Nevertheless, she silently drew her wand just to be on the safe side if anything else strange happened.

"Oh, this. Um, yes, I do draw," she began after glancing down at the sketchpad in her hands, "I guess I am, but I'm probably a bit biased in that regard." They were her drawings after all. She had to think she was good to continue pursuing it.

Bree had been trailing Magnus, the elusive male fourth year, for the better part of fifteen minutes. She was already late for her match with Daisy, and time was of the essence. Bree the Dragon was proud and strode with great purpose. Her trainers didn't provide much stompy noise, but her puffs of breath from her nostrils hopefully made up for it. Her green hoodie was pulled up, the huge felt eyes glued to the top making her look attentive, and the line of orangey felt spikes running down the spine hopefully gave her an air of mercilessness that she had been trying to cultivate for years. This was a long running grudge match for the two girls, and normally Bree was excited, but for one small detail.

The long trail of green and red frilly shiny garland hanging from her hand, fanning out behind her was the cause of her despair.

Her tail. Her beautiful tail. Her glory. It had been hanging by a few threads since their last Epic Battle, and had finally lost the battle. She had no glue gun, and didn't want to 'magic up' her dragonly attire. It must be done by hand, and by hand she meant Magnus' hand of course. Clearly his ability to do knitty stuff enabled him to fix all sew tasks, and nothing would ever convince her otherwise.

She nodded sadly at Addison, not caring that she would be witness to Bree's defeat. She held up her tail to Magnus, and with the most woefully broken voice ever to be heard, begged for his assistance.

"Help me Obi-Wan Magnus...You're my only hope"

It was kind of a silly question to ask since he doubted very much she would actually admit to being terrible, but Magnus was never one to catch on to that sort of thing until it was too late.  He was very much interested in her drawings though and almost asked to see her sketch pad, until his conscience stepped in and reminded him of the last time he asked to see someone's work. He hadn't meant to make the girl cry, really. It just so happened that he was  one of a few people who when asked to provide an honest opinion, actually did just that. Never again, he vowed. Addison was pretty enough and seemed like a nice girl. If her drawing skills were an insult to eyeballs everywhere who was he to tell her that?

Instead he chose to venture down the path of awkward silence and simply fiddled his thumbs for a few moments. Lucky for them both, however, Bryony's stalker senses were in full effect.

He couldn't do much but stare at first. Just what in the hell was that THING in her hand? It was a wee bit late to still be sporting a Halloween costume and he was sure fourteen was too old to play dress up. "Um...," was all he could manage. Why couldn't the normal girls ever bother him? Bryony was always saying strange things and calling him 'Obi-wan' or 'sempai', never his actual name.

"Okay," he muttered at last, "I guess I can fix it. When do you want it by?" He held the hoodie in one hand and the makeshift tail in the other, and after careful examination  was able to determine that what lay before him was a piece of crap. "Actually, give me a few days 'cuz this uh...needs more work than I thought."

Despite having presented with self-painted artwork in Ancient Runes[1] not too long ago, she still wasn't too comfortable showing off her artwork. Sure, it helped to show it to her classmates, but the whole point of her presentation was to display knowledge of ancient runes and not to show off her artwork. It would have been an inappropriate setting for her to expect any form of full recognition of her artwork.

Alas, both Addison and Magnus now fell into silence. Him fiddling his thumbs, while she glanced around in another direction. Awkward.

"If you want to see ..." Addison started to offer to show her work and thus break their silence, when she suddenly trailed off at the sight of Bryony walking over to them. Was she carrying something? With green and red in it? Was she just fooling around in the corridor in that ... that costume? She honestly had no idea, but she knew that she wasn't hearing any other additional noises. Silently, she pushed her wand up her sweater sleeve.

Addison couldn't help but to tilt her head slightly to one side curiously as Bryony appeared sad about something. The other girl held up a portion of ... was that a tail? Apparently, it had to be fixed.

"What are you dressing up as?" she asked Bryony curiously.

1.	No Pressure!

They were suspicious now... suspicious = NOT GOOD! She needed to keep her mouth zipped before she ruined her methodical 'surprise attack'. Daisy bit down on her lip and tried her best to avoid blurting out anymore than she had, although it was growing harder and harder. Why was maggy being such a sissygirl? ART.... for the love of.. ugh. He needed to see her art... and then DESTROY it. Then he'd be well.. maybe not manly but he'd be oozing manly essense and come off like the male protagonist of a manga novel, cold brute but deep down sensitive and sweet. She flushed slightly at the thought. But he'd get nowhere if he contiued to play the sweet sissy sidekick character. They never got anything but hugs. Ugh. But for the meanwhile she needed to be quiet.. calm.. steady..

And lo and behold. Her silence paid off as the begrudgingly foolish dragon entered her home carrying a relic of their last battle, the tail she had managed to slice off with her mad ninja skills. Yeah.. she had gotten her alright but that wasn't the end! nuuuh uh! This was war.

"NEVER!" she shouted and stumbled forward, with just a little too much gusto. Her arms flailed about as she tried to keep herself from falling face first.. but the armor was proving to be too heavy for her  frail body and she teetered onto her feet until finally colliding into maggy, sendign them both to the floor. Her helmet fell off and she gasped "Quick! UP MAGGY we need to defeat her.... UP MY STEED" she commanded, poking him violently into his ribcage.

Bree fairly wailed at Addison, putting aside the fact that she was a terrible, invincible mighty beast.

"I'm a dragoooon...it's not a costume it's my inner identity...I'm not dressing up, I'm peeling off layers to reveal my true self!"

She didn't really seem like much of a dragon with her tail hanging off, and she didn't have time to draw scales onto her jeans like she wanted to...but the hoodie would have to do for now. Then her plans all began to go to hell, and her tail was quickly stuffed into a pocket, forgotten, because Daisy got the drop on her and tried to get dibs on Magnus. HELL NO! "Nooooo! You can't have hiiiim! It's my turn to ride hiiiiim!"

Then she remembered that a dragon didn't ride a steed. D_____ Daisy.

"Fine...you can have Magnus...I'VE GOT..."

Da__ what was this girl's name?
Think! Ok, they had classes...THEY WERE IN CLASSES TOGETHER ON AND OFF FOR FOUR YEARS, THINK, BISHOP!!

"I've got her! And we will totally kick your a__!" she slung a shoulder around Addison as if they were new best friends and bonded for life, and they could take on anything these two losers could dish out. Immediately she spun the other girl around and began whispering frantically in her ear.

"Look, Rockwell," and she was JUST that proud she remembered!, "don't let them psyche you out! Just get in there and do your best! Don't break formation, and don't fall for their little games, WE CAN DO THIS!", she hissed, before grabbing the other girl's pencil and began sketching the scales on her sleeves.

"I'm sorry, I don't have a hoodie for you, next time," she promised sadly, then craned her head around the other girl to yell at the others.

"Yeah, good luck carrying her fata__ PLUS her armor, she'll snap you like  a twig!" she grinned and winked at Rockwell.

"See, just gotta get them all stressed, that's how you get them early on" she whispered and went back to drawing, while waiting for the others to be ready.