Usual Suspects || Evan

Wednesday, July 6, 1921
2 PM

The library was a mess, and she'd wanted nothing to do with it.

There she'd been, minding her own business, contemplating a nap, when an eager soon-to-be first-year came running for her, insisting the books were possessed. She'd gone, of course. The kid had been animated enough for Rae to believe there really was trouble, even if she was sure it had nothing to do with ghosts and possessions.

As promised, there had been chaos. There were books chasing people, shelves rattling. Whatever calm had once existed had been utterly erased. In its place were screams and toppled furniture while wards of the camp tried everything they could to get away.

It was a sight for sure, but not one she personally cared to be involved with...until she was reminded that, as a facility volunteer, she was the only one present with a wand and an obligation. Just her luck. Even with her wand, it was a good half hour before she and those gathered could get everything back to right, and by then the girl had lost that sweet spot where she was just sleepy enough to be able to nap, without being so tired that she was overexhausted.

It was gone now.

Rae was woefully awake as she walked back through the large common area and--

Eh?

Evander?

Rae took two steps back, turning to the couch that she was certain she spotted her friend lying on. Rae leaned over the couch's back to look at him, genuine surprise lighting her dark eyes. "What are you doing all the way over here? Wait...it wasn't...you never..." She blinked. "You're not the reason the library was trying to put on its own musical back there?"

That level of chaos seemed right up his alley. Granted, he didn't have a wand, but the boy was nothing if not capable of finding a way.

"Huh."

In his defense, he hadn't been told exactly how the poltergeist would manifest itself when he let it out of its magical container.

When the chaos had erupted, it had first seemed hysterical to him. The spirit, or whatever it was, erupted out of its box like steam rising out of a cauldron after lifting its lid. It spread all around him, the gust forcing his forearm in front of his eyes to shield them. Before he knew it, much of the room began to come alive. Books began to think they were bludgers, chairs that they were trapeze artists.

The screaming came next. The surprised and unaware succumbing to the chaos as intended. One boy was lifted off the ground, his chair rising and then hovering in place before starting to rumble, twist, and turn until the boy was holding on for dear life.

Then it began to become not so funny. Someone would end up getting in trouble for this. He hadn't thought of the consequences up until that point, which is when he moved to the secluded couch to watch everything from a safe if seemingly uninvolved distance. That's when Rae showed up and he shrank deeper into his couch, hearing her get to work cleaning up his mess as always.

He was told that the spirit just needed to act out its raw emotions, playing them out to find its final relief. At first, Evan had thought that meant possessing someone, where he'd be able to follow and find amusement in the misfortune of someone else.

"You're not the reason the library was trying to put on its own musical back there?"

Five seconds into spotting him and she was already putting all the pieces together. He knew Rae was a genius but even this was dumbfounding. His mouth opened but no words came out. Evan sheepishly scratched at the back of his head, laughing a little until he finally thought of where to steer the conversation.

"Musical? Me?" He asked innocently.

"How would that even be possible? I was just trying to take a nap and then all that ruckus woke me up. The hell was happeing?"

"How would that even be possible?"

That's what she'd been wondering, until that laugh.

"You tell me." Seeing the boy lying on the couch as he was, Rae hadn't thought much beyond her initial uncertainty. People, generally, couldn't be in two places at once and as much as she convinced herself of his involvement, it hadn't been an idea she'd committed to in any serious way...until that laugh.

The pair had been sharing a common room since their first year. Rae had watched--and helped to clean up many messes. It was safe to say the girl was a bit of an expert when it came to her disaster of a friend. He'd had genuine moments of confusion before, times when he didn't have the first clue. This...wasn't looking like one of those times.

Rae squinted down at him, suddenly less sure he'd been a hapless bystander hearing about the commotion through others.

"...Uh-huh..."

She moved around the couch, flopping down on top of his legs. He could shuffle them away if he wanted but this was now their seat. "And you're telling me...you haven't been by the library at all today--not even passing through? You don't know anything about the poltergeist that thought Lucas could fly and wanted to test it out?" Poor kid was still shaking. Muggleborn. It'd apparently taken him long enough to be convinced to give the facility a shot before starting at Hogwarts. Make friends. Start learning what he could. That broken arm was likely to leave him unadventurous for the next little while.

Rae leaned her head against the cushioned back of the couch, tilting it to the side to look at him.

"I'm gonna call bullshit on this one and ask where you even got that bloody thing--why you thought the quietest place in the entire facility was the scene for the next Evander Whistler special."

She poked him lightly in the stomach.

"Besides, your eyes are awful clear for someone who got woken up." Not at all red and groggy as one might expect. "Anyway, you didn't stick around for any of the good parts. Afraid of a little solitary confinement? It'd get you out of those group exercises and workshops."

Even if she'd heard the food wasn't as good.

He should have already known by now that bullshitting Ruth Elliot was not very likely to happen. She'd been there for most of his pranks, whether planned or spun out of spontaneity, and while she mostly appreciated his whimsy, Rae was also a person of import and reputation at Hogwarts. She had about every badge a person could have. It shifted their usual dynamic, but he stuck to his guns and continued to try his best to act innocently.

Then she launched herself onto his outstretched legs just to prove a point.

"For fucks sakes," he wheezed, adjusting his knees just as her weight fell on below them. Evan shrank back into the couch, pulling himself up so a sitting position, his knees bent up and away from her although his feet were tucked beneath her thighs. His arms straightened at his sides, palms flat and sinking into the cushion. Sadly, his attempt to appear menacing failed miserably.

He was about to call her fat before she started to levy her accusations on him, flipping him to the defensive.

"When the fuck am I ever voluntarily heading to the library?" The number of times she or someone else had to drag him there to study should have answered that for him. It was not a place he'd be found willingly. Which, honestly, helped his case.

"It's also hard to know what's happening when I'm not even there. I was just told there was a lot of commotion, but I was rather comfortable." Was being the operative term as his eyes narrowed. Shaking his head, he sighed as she didn't seem to be buying any of it. If to add to the point, she literally reached over and poked him in the stomach.

"Maybe if you'd have left me alone, I'd be getting to that point. But I wasn't here for very long enough to get there." He knew he was probably helping her case some by sorting out the timeline, but he didn't really care to keep up with her. Rae was the ultimate winner, and he was the ultimate loser. This tale was decided a long time ago.

Fidgeting uncomfortably in his seat, he found her gaze and then looked away.

"Was it that big a mess?" He asked.

"Holy shit, you're serious..."

Not about not doing it--Rae didn't believe him for a second. No. The girl was realising just how serious her friend was about keeping up the facade that he hadn't done it when he himself was slowly providing evidence to the contrary. She couldn't imagine why. For as long as they'd known each other, Rae had never given any indication she would rat him out even when she walked in on him red handed. As a general rule, she was fine to live and let live but Evan was eyeing her up like she might haul him off to the coordinator's office.

Her friend was sinking into the cushions, growing more evasive by the second and she could only watch as her confusion spiralled outward.

"But I wasn't here for very long enough to get there."

"Because you were coming from...?" she prompted, hoping he would eventually realise the ridiculousness of his little run around. Rae wouldn't have suspected him in the first place until he put himself in her line of sight with his peculiar behaviour and she was content to overlook it, but she wasn't okay with the sudden wall he was trying to erect between them.

Lately, she'd been losing friends and didn't think she wanted to add Evan to that growing list. This was how it started, with distancing and petty lies that were easily seen through. Eventually it would spiral then one day she'd wake up and the boy would be...gone.

If not gone physically, there might suddenly be a massive emotional chasm between them, with her left wondering why.

Couldn't have that.

"Was it that big a mess?"

She snorted lightly. "Do you really care? Reckon you'd have stuck around to help if you did." Rae watched him for a silent moment, noting the way he fell deeper into his discomfort. "Hey." She nudged his feet lightly. "I got you. You know that, don't you? Even if I'd walked in mid-summon." What good were friends otherwise?

She waved a dismissive hand.

"Don't worry about it, it's already been taken care of. In all the fuss, no one really seemed to know who started it anyway. I've done all I can." The boy was lucky that way despite his otherwise massive string of bad luck.

"I really would like to know where you got it, though. In case I ever have need for one myself." Never knew when a poltergeist would come in handy.