Outfit

Adley yanked at the clasp of his cloak, unfastening the silver in one quick go. He wasn't worried about breaking it-- it had been reinforced with charms by the tailor who had made it. A well-kept boy, he was the nevertheless a boy. He tossed the emerald cloth to the ground, using it as a sort of cushion under the alcove he'd made his own in his many months at Hogwarts. No one ever came back here: the storage area of the owlery, where extra food and straw were kept.

Adley sat down and removed his scarf. He took out a book, the inside of which held many of his favorite possessions. First he extracted the Sneakoscope, setting it in the far right of the alcove. Next came the knut, a lucky knut his brother had sent him. He laid it flat beside his trouser pocket. Finally, the pen knife, which he studied in his wand hand before placing it on the cloak beside the coin.

The Gryffindor had been using the knife to carve his initials into the alcove wall, a tiny patch of defacement in the limestone bricks. He might have used magic, if only he'd known how to carve smoothly with his wand. As it were, he'd been forced to use the knife-- his second favorite weapon, and also something he'd nicked from a family member. He wanted his friends to do the same: to mark themselves in the thousand-year-old walls, and rest where no one would find them for another millennium at least. Their place, no one else's. Not even the Headmistress would find it. And if she did, what could she do about it, but set the groundskeeper to repairing it before the little pack made it their own again?

As he waited for Mairead to show up, Adley practiced his magic. It wasn't the sort he'd wished to be using by now, but it was a start: he spun the coin like a whizzing top, faster, faster, and faster still until it looked like a perfect orb of bronze, ready to light sparks across the stone. His blue eyes didn't blink, his gaze didn't falter. Only his ears were alert to any oncoming traffic-- which would be caught by the Sneakoscope if it were anyone but anticipated company.

The owlery wasn't one of Mairead's usual hangouts.  She certainly never came here for its intended purpose; she didn't really have a lot of people outside of Hogwarts she wrote to.  And, of course she wouldn't bother writing anyone within it.  The people she'd bother writing to where the people she saw daily.  So, there wasn't really much of a point.  If it hadn't been for Adley choosing it as his own hideout, Mairead might well have never crossed the tower's threshold.  As it was, Mairead only found herself in the tower when she was joining Adley in his nook. 

Just like today. 

"Bloody 'ell," Mairead muttered as she dropped her school robes on the ground in a nest-like pile and flopped down amidst them.  "I thought Austerlitz was never going to stop talking," Mairead moaned as she picked up the sneakoscope and tried to balance it in the palm of her hand.  She was so glad it was Friday and classes were over for the week.  A whole two days stretched out in front of her with nothing to do - nothing scheduled, nothing planned and nothing to worry about. 

It was kind of strange being back.  Hogwarts didn't really feel like home, really.  At least, not yet.  Though, home had never been something that was defined by a place for her.  It had always been defined by the community around her rather than the location.

"What are ye doing?"  Mairead asked, glancing at the coin.  "Yer not studyin' for exams already, are you?"  Hopefully not.  That was the type of thing those Ravenclaws did. 

Adley tilted his head, shooting his electric gaze toward Mairead. The coin whisked away from his control like a spark on hot metal, hit the wall, and came to its rest some several meters away from the pair of Gryffindors. "If you think of it like a story-- the fun sort, with villains and pirates-- it's not as bad." Still, History of Magic had not proved to be quite as thrilling as the books he'd found resting in the back of his brother's collection, nor the letters he sometimes thieved from his father's study and cut open with the charmed knife before carefully replacing again. "She likes to talk a lot, though. Almost as much as Eirene..."

No one liked to talk quite that much, lucky for Adley and Mairead both. "If you want my notes," he said, scrounging over to grab the coin and whisk it into his pocket, "They're in my bag." He did not bother to add that if she needed help reading them, he wouldn't laugh; it was sort of unspoken at this point, that Adley was more studious than most of his friends, and was willing to pick up their slack if they happened to introduce him to other types of... education. It would be a bruise to their egos and the trust between to mention either Mairead's literacy or Adley's sheltered life with a bunch of stuffy adults and shined shoes. It was what friends were for, those silent but clear intentions.

Shrugging, he looked away from the tip of his wand to the sneakoscope. They were safe. For now. "Defacing the walls." That sounded much more exciting than it had been... Adley had done it in secret, here where no one bothered to venture. Still, he liked the words on his tongue. "Do you want to have a go?" He picked up the pen knife, waving it tantalizing, the line of his lips almost posing a smile. His blue eyes didn't leave her brown ones as he silently dared her to try it.

Resuming his seat, and crossing his skinny legs one over the other, the boy, glazed his wand over the edge of the faux book whose contents were less than wordy. "Did you show your parents you could turn a needle into straw?" He asked, his smirk growing. He always wondered what it would be like to perform magic in front of muggles and not get tossed into Azkaban. Pesky secrecy laws. Never mind The Trace though, he pegged Mai for a rebel. And what would the Ministry do to a kid who was only showing her mum and dad that sending her away to school had been worth it? Surely they had better things to do... surely. Adley did not trust them as far as he could throw them, however, and so he kept his wand stowed whenever he wandered away from the castle.

Mairead arched a disbelieving eyebrow at Adley.  If there'd been a History class about pirates and villains and aliens - no, that was astronomy - then she'd either skipped it or slept through it.  Or, she couldn't understand it under Professor Austerlitz' accent.  So far, she couldn't remember anything that interesting that had been mentioned in that class.  With a self-pitying sigh, Mairead slumped against the wall of the alcove.  "I wish that class would get hijacked by some pirates.  That'd be cool."  A duel between Austerlitz' wand and Captain Jack's sword.  That would spice things up. 

"Probably later."  Mairead had no interest in Adley's notes right now though she knew she'd appreciate them and his help a whole lot more once she was staring some quiz or end of the year exam in the face.  And, by now, Adley was bound to be used to that. 

With a small grin of her own, Mairead took the offered pen knife and shuffled a little closer to the portion of the wall Adley had been scratching at.  She held the blade between her thumb and index finger and gouged the tip into the crumbly stone.  "Aye, no," Mairead admitted, shaking her head.  "I didn't show them.  Tito doesn't really like to see that stuff.  Me mum was curious but she kept reminding me I couldn't do it outside of school.  Tito said he'd tell her if I did."  The trace was the least of her worries.  In fact, from what she understood, it wouldn't do the Ministry a whole lot of good in her case.  The trace just indicated where magic had been performed around an underaged wizard.  If it was performed in a muggleborn's house, the Ministry assumed the muggleborn had performed it.  But, Mairead's house had no consistent location. 

"But, I wasn't home for very long.  I went to visit a friend for most of it.  She lives in Siberia.  It's a magical land with castles.  I don't really know where it is. We apparated there.  They don't know how to dress there but it was a really cool place.  I did a little magic while I was there."