Elijah Grimlish had been at work for what felt like ages. He’d been ensconced in the Ravenclaw Common Room long enough to watch the sun fade from the sky, casting spooky shadows over the twilit grounds. It was a lovely evening – in Eli’s rather biased opinion, as it was the one night this week the young adult had set aside for literally anything other than classwork. Why then, one might ask, was the odd Grimlish boy holed up in what could arguably be called the most uncomfortable common area in the vast castle? Simple – he was getting ready for an evening that promised fun.

The seer had already drained three cups of tea, read enough tarot to fill a novel, and even thrown some rune stones just to be sure. Every outcome was basically the same – time for fun. Elijah wasn’t sure where the fun would come from or who would be involved, but he was determined to make his divinings come to pass. If all else failed, he had been gifted a box of Weasleys’ Wildfire Whiz-bangs a while back and he’d been itching for a reason to use them.

It had been easy to keep the room mostly to himself throughout the evening – most of his housemates were busy with dinner and studying in the library. Now that the evening meal had finished, however, the room was starting to fill up and a huge grin lifted Elijah’s features.

“Oi!” He called to no one in particular, “anyone fancy a game of wizards' poker[1]?” Unbeknownst to everyone else around, Elijah had hidden a case of butterbeer and snacks from the kitchen in a nook behind the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw – if it was going to be a fun night, Elijah had to make sure everyone was prepared!

1.	Wizards' Poker

Kelvin was studying.  Well, he was trying to study.  And he had been trying to study for hours.  But with career day only hours away, he was panicking on the inside.  He'd looked at things in previous years but had never really found anything that seemed perfect.  And now with O.W.L.s on the horizon and trying to decide what to continue on with, things just seemed overwhelming.

So much so that he found himself re-reading pages of the textbook in front of him multiple times, only to realize it was the wrong chapter in the first place.  Basically, he was losing it.  Though at least this time it was for a good reason.  Better to lose it over his future, rather than his latest crush.  Thankfully a few of his crushes would be graduating soon.  Still left his future to worry about though.

So when Eli offered a game to the rest of the room, Kelvin's book surprisingly snapped shut before the seventh year even said wizard's poker.  "I'm in,"  he sucked at wizard's poker but he couldn't take reading another page five times that night and still not knowing what he'd read.

After packing his things and clearing what remained of his potion from his cauldron, Sasha had toted his (far too full) book bag out of Vaillancourt's potions dungeon and back up to the Ravenclaw tower.  Baldur, the tower's resident German Shepherd, met him eagerly as he crawled through the doorway and tap danced in circles around Sasha in his eagerness to get outside.  Sasha deposited his bag on one of the tables by the window, took the dog out for a quick run before returning to the monumental pile of work that was coming due in the next week. 

He'd come to regard that table as his table; without question, he saw the bright surface of that table far more than he did his bed up in the seventh year boy's dorm.  He probably caught quite a few more hours of sleep slouched over that table than he did his own bed. 

Sasha glanced up when Eli announced a card game across the room but Kelvin was quick to toss his proverbial hat into the ring.  Less than a week back from Easter holidays and they were already descending into compulsive study breaks.  It was going to be a long trudge to exams.  Sasha flicked his wand and cast a quick muffling charm around his table (complete with the ambient sound of a delightful babbling brook) before he turned his attention back to his muggle studies essay "When Good Fruit Goes Bad - An Exploration of Muggle Home Remedies for Common Food Poisoning."

Baldur, however, was intrigued by the sound of closing books (and bored by Sasha's studiousness.)  He clamored out from underneath the table and trotted over towards the action.

Peyton was not the most studious of Ravenclaws. It was hard to get his mind to focus on one thing long enough to retain the information. He was much better suited to tactile learning. More often than not he found his place amongst the Eagles questionable but he was logical and he was clever. His Quidditch plays showed as much, even if his grades left him thinking the Sorting Hat had made a mistake. Thankfully after securing some decent OWLs he had managed to bring his course load down to a manageable eight classes. It gave him extra time during the day to complete his work so he could spend his nights dedicated to Quidditch. It was his final year and winning the Quidditch Cup would certainly look good when he tried out for the Tutshill Tornados.

He was curled up with a worn copy of He Flew Like a Madman. It wasn't exactly studying, at least not the kind that his fellow students were engaged in. He probably should have been doing some revision but he really didn't feel like it. Even reading his book for the quadrillionth time was better than trying (and failing) to study.

He hadn't immediately perked up when Elijah had suggested a game of Wizard's poker. To be honest he hadn't been listening. He did however look up after Baldur whacked him with his tail, "Sup boy?" He asked the large hound that had become a fixture of the tower in the past years. He saw the source of the dog's excitement and placed his book down, "Deal me in." He crossed over to where the other boys were setting up.

A wide grin erupted across the odd boy's face as his housemates started to approach the table and settle in. An ancient dealer's visor was brought from Elijah's pocket and pressed firmly atop the young man's unkempt scalp. Wizard's poker, for most Hogwarts aged students, was a lesson in futility - the game was all about random bids and hands, everything depended on how much you knew about the game. It took most people decades to learn to play with any proficiency - but these were Ravenclaws! Eagles soar far above the others for a reason, and Elijah had a secret weapon.

Elijah Grimlish had an actual ghost for an uncle. Uncle Kasper[1] had been dead since 1898, and had picked up quite a few mysterious and uncommon folds, hands, and bids. Tonight he would wipe the floor with tears of blue and bronze. His eyes glanced around for Schlagenweiner, the fluffster was butting around and it reminded Elijah of how little time they'd have left at Hogwarts. He'd easily be able to keep in touch with his classmates, but when would he see the annoying pupster that was such an anomaly at the magical institution? Plus, Sasha was muggleborn - he would have no clue how the game even worked... and any time Elijah could prove that he was smarter than his dorm mate in any way, Elijah was sure to jump on it.

Elijah's deft hands (trained from shuffling and dealing tarot cards) passed a hand of cards for the four of them - yelling out at Schlagenwagon with all the volume he could muster, "Oi! Shagginmaster!" Getting no response, the boy picked up a random book from a nearby table ("Flying Fantasies") and tossed it roughly at his overly-studious classmate. He then brought his attention back to the two boys and the doggo around his table - confident that his skills as a beater would give him at least descent aim. "Right then, everyone know how to play?"

1.	Kasper Bagnold