It was not a dark and stormy night. Erin really wished it was. Those nights were so much more exciting, and then maybe he'd have an excuse to still be up all on his lonesome sitting in the common room in front of the fire. (But not just any fire- a green fire. Erin'd been practicing his charms.) It wasn't terribly late, he supposed, especially not for a Friday night, and there were some people wandering about, but he had the great hearth rug all to himself. Still, this might have been because they were hesitant to come near the spitting, arching flames, which, besides being green, were also behaving in a manner that some could call "playful." Whereas Erin, who was leaning forwards to leave flaming traces in the air with his wand, was behaving in a manner that some what call "liable to catch himself on fire."

He was murmuring to the fire, too, a rambling, on-again, off-again commentary. Well, he had no one else to talk to. It was really very sad what he'd been reduced to. Given his recent train of thought, it was only a mercy that he wasn't mumbling about Beatrix or Bellatrix. Both were subjects he'd be highly embarrassed to be caught thinking or talking about.

outfit

 Fergie had a History of Magic essay that he needed to be working on, and that had originally been his plan for the evening. He'd changed his mind at the last moment, however, and after dinner instead of retreating to the library he headed back to the common room instead. It was Friday night, after all. He'd have all weekend to work on his coursework. Tonight he just wanted to relax.

 Of course, relaxing in the Slytherin common room was easier said than done. Something was always going on, particularly on the weekends, and the schedule apparently had 'green flames catch student on fire' penciled in for that evening. Ordinarily Fergie wouldn't care. If someone was stupid enough to play with volatile, unnaturally colored fire? That was their own problem. But the student leaning precariously close to the fireplace was Erin Harper, pretty much the only one of Fergie's roommates who didn't want to kill him. It was nice to have a roommate who Fergie could count on not to try and smother him in his sleep - he figured he could spare a moment to save said roommate from the flickering chartreuse flames of death.

 "Don't you think you should back up a little?" he inquired, raising his eyebrows and sitting down on a comfortable arm chair near the fireplace (but not near enough that he was any danger of catching fire). "You're going to burn yourself."

He'd heard the muffled sounds of someone padding across the carpet, but it wasn't until Fergie spoke that Erin looked up, his surprise at someone approaching him fading once he'd seen who it was. One of his roommates, and one Erin often called by his first name instead of his last- a telling opinion in any British boarding school. Ferguson Amherst wasn't so bad. Erin honestly couldn't see why their other yearmates- particularly Callum- gave him hell all the time. He was a pretty nice guy, with a sharp tongue and sense of wit that remained funny to Erin because he'd never been the brunt of it. Bit of a poofter, but that'd never bothered Erin. He never felt uncomfortable by sharing a room with him or whatever else sort of things Callum was always jawing about at night when they bunked down. Fergie was a Slytherin, and that was all that really mattered. After all, why pick on a fellow Slytherin when there were three other houses to choose from?

He paused, considering the flames in front of him, then tipped his head back to look at Fergie. "Nah," he said, as the flames reached out for his negligent hands. "Watch this." He dropped his wand in his lap and leaned forward into the fire as though grabbing something at its heart, or perhaps as though to embrace it; green flames licked eagerly at his bare arms and chin, almost flaring up to reach his mouth and nose. After a moment or two Erin withdrew, satisfied, and looked back up at Fergie with a grin. "What can I say? It loves me." That he'd charmed the fire- or perhaps himself- to prevent from being burnt went without saying.

Fergie leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands, watching as Erin stretched his hands out towards the fire. Apparently his classmate had done his work well - there appeared to be no negative consequences. "Not bad," he commented when, after a while, the other boy pulled back from the flames. "How long can you keep the charm up for?"

 Glancing at a nearby end table, he spotted someone's abandoned magazine and picked it up. One of those Quidditch periodicals...not the most interesting reading material, at least in his opinion, but it would do for the time being. He opened it up, settling more comfortably in his chair, and idly flipped through the pages. "So is this all you have planned for the evening?" he inquired, not looking up from his reading material. "Playing with fire?" He was a little surprised - Friday nights were usually more exciting. Then again, it wasn't like he was doing much of anything either. Maybe it was just a slow day.

Erin shrugged. "I'll let you know when it starts to hurt again." He lifted his chin, pointing with it to an armchair farther away from the fire, with a book spread open facedown on the cushion. "I got it from that. Some book from the library, wilderness spells and such." He'd had a hell of a time getting it, too- Erin hated to go into the library now that his brother was there. He had to sneak about if he wanted to avoid the wanker, and half the time Landis caught him before he was even three feet into the Restricted section. The prat had ears like some sort of great blonde cat, and silent steps to match.

The book'd been helpful, though. He'd found it all on his own. There was all sorts of brilliant stuff in it, loads of things that could be used for pranks and stuff, and some that were pretty useful. If Erin ever got lost in the Forbidden Forest, he'd be set. In fact, the section about killing giant spiders had seemed.... really, bizarrely appropriate. He wondered if maybe the book'd been written by a former student.

But Fergie posed a good question. Was this really all Erin was going to do tonight. He paused, considering, head thrown back so that he could stare at the cieling. "You got something better in mind?" he asked, geninuely curious; if Fergie could think of something else, Erin'd be up for it in a heartbeat. It was a slow night, but he'd quite like for that to change.

  When it started to hurt again? Fergie shook his head. "Wouldn't it be safer to test the time limitations on something other than your skin?" That just seemed like common sense to him. Why risk burning yourself when there were expendable objects such as parchment readily available? But then, Erin had always been a little more...adventurous than Fergie.

 The Quidditch magazine, he decided, was a lot less interesting than the book appeared to be. Fergie set it aside and hopped up momentarily to retrieve the book Erin had pointed out. It wasn't one he'd read before, and not one he was sure he'd find useful. He didn't go into the wilderness often enough to require knowing a lot of spells for it. But the fire charm was interesting - he'd look it over anyway, see what else he could glean from it.

 Fergie hadn't really had a plan for the evening. Well, not one he'd stuck to anyway. "I was just going to go up to the dorm and read, until I saw you here," he admitted, shrugging. "But I guess we could see if anything is going on in the Great Hall. It's the weekend - something usually is. Or...what do you usually do on Friday nights?" Fergie asked, curious. He and Erin got along, but they hadn't ever been all that close. It'd be interesting to find out what his roommate did in his spare time - other than try to set himself on fire.

Erin gave him a long look. Then, after several minutes, the corner of his mouth quirked upwards in a smile. "This kind of learning's far more permanent." Erin had not even considered this to be the truth until Fergie'd asked him why he was testing the spell in such a potentially painful way. But it made sense- well. It would've made sense with anyone else. Erin wasn't likely to stop just because he'd been burned. But it'd make him a little faster in the future, just a little bit more knowledgeable- and since the idea of it sounded so sensible, Fergie should accept it. "Besides, I really can't be bothered." The safe way was almost always unbearably boring. That was one lesson Erin had definitely learned.

Another thing that was boring was going up to the dorm room and reading all night like Fergie admitted he'd planned to do. But then again, Erin'd been sitting here all evening sticking his arms in the fire; he could hardly throw stones himself.

He thought about it. "I could stand the company, if you'll have me," he said, with surprising sweetness. "But not to the Great Hall, it'll be dead boring, you have my word. All gossip, and at this time of night there'll be a Prefect there to supervise that everyone gets back to their rooms." A small pause. Erin didn't have anything in particular he did on Friday nights - Erin didn't have many friends to do anything with. He carefully decided to leave this fact out. "I do whatever turns up. Like now, for instance... " He flopped onto his back, frowning faintly at the ceiling. "I think I'm starving- missed dinner. Want to hit up the kitchens?"

 Permanent? He supposed that made sense. Sort of. Personally, his sense of self-preservation was strong enough that he didn't have to burn himself to know not to stick his arm in a fire, charmed or not. He still stuck by his assertion that parchment was safer, and could be more accurately timed. Burning one's arm was generally enough of a distraction to forget about checking the clock. But as long as Erin didn't burn down the common room... "To each their own, I guess," he shrugged.

  "Are you sure?" Fergie asked, when the other boy shot down the suggestion of the Great Hall. The scene Erin had described actually suited his tastes pretty well. He didn't enjoy being gossiped about himself, but he liked knowing what was going on, particularly if it was something juicy. And..."I don't mind prefects," he admitted, smirking, a certain Ravenclaw in mind. "I quite like some of them, actually."

 Ferguson smirked, amused, as his housemate flopped backwards. He wasn't surprised the boy had forgotten supper. It just seemed like the sort of thing he'd do. "The kitchens?" he repeated, tugging his watch out of his pocket and checking the time. It wasn't that late - they should have plenty of time for Erin to eat before they had to be back at the common room for curfew. He shrugged and got to his feet. "Sure, why not?"

"I don't mind prefects. I quite like some of them, actually."

Erin raised a lazy blonde eyebrow. "To each their own," he said after a short pause, deliberately echoing Fergie's words of only a moment before. Although . . . Beatrix was a prefect, wasn't she? "I s'pose some of them aren't too bad."

Ah, Fergie was agreeable to his plan. Erin was glad; he really was starving. And it was a bit of a trek to the kitchens, so it'd be better to have company. He climbed to his feet, shoving the book of spells under the cushion of the chair Fergie had been sitting in and casting a dismissive glance at the fire, which even as they watched began to die down, licks of orange flame flickering through the green like a promise of normalcy being resumed. He made sure his wand was in his back pocket and shambled towards the exit with only a brief glance back to see that Fergie was following.

Apparently they weren't the only ones planning a quiet evening. The halls they trekked down were nearly empty. It might have been creepy if not for the fact that, after five years of being in Slytherin,  both Erin and Fergie were well used to the close dim dungeon halls. But even when they emerged into the regular castle corridors they were alone. Erin summoned a little clock with his wand, one with curling hands of smoke that he blew out after checking. Not too late yet, but not early either. He wouldn't complain, because it gave him the opportunity to turn to Fergie with a grin and say, "Brilliant book, wasn't it? Want to practice?"