Forced laugh

Another spell hit Selwyn in the back this time, forcing a couple of giggles out in response to the girl's sob story.  Awkward.

"Wow."

"I just wanted to know who your family are.  You know, whether they're prominent and influential.  You're kinda getting into too much information territory with all that murder stuff," he said when he'd had a moment to process her words.

He ignored the other girl.  She was just one of those people who thought all Slytherins were evil and could go die in a fire for all he cared.

Lyrica (Evan knew her name as she signed the parchment) told her family story, that wasn't really bright, and asked him to temporary stop "The Homework Project".

Selwyn (Evan knew his name as the Hufflepuff called it once) giggled and continued talking to Lyrica. Note: sometimes tickling charm effects are reduced to giggles even with a direct hit. Maybe more precise movements and distinct incantation can fix this problem.

Then Aylee suddenly turned to him. "What homework?" she asked. "Charms homework," Evan replied casually, just as he didn't cast the tickling charm at all.

Lyra cached her breath selwyn and aylee argue, She didn't mean to tell him her life story it just slips.

"Im sorry, i shouldn't have said that, it just slips sometimes, i-im sorry"

Lyra knew she had to stop talking otherwise her tears where gonna spill, its just, shes never been this opened to anybody, not even her own family, who for some reason trouble themselves with work or school to forget about there problems, Lyra felt lonely, but not here, not Hogwarts

Oh Merlin, now he'd made her cry. Well, not yet but she was on the verge of tears.

Selwyn shifted his stance just enough to look at the boy with the homework. Evan. He gave Evan a significant stare, although whether Evan was smart enough to get it was anyone's guess. He was wearing blue robes, but then so was the angry girl and she was dumb as a post.

"It's okay," he said. "I suppose you weren't to know."

Ugh, she was so depressing.

Evan realized that his spell made Selwyn look like he giggled at Lyrica's tragic family story. Oh, snap. I must be a terrible person. Actually, it would be really funny if the girl wasn't about to cry. He looked at the Slytherin boy and made a sorry face. Well, he tried to make a sorry face but he couldn't hold a smile, as he found this situation funny in some way. So Evan made some hand gestures to indicate that he was really sorry for making Selwyn look like a monster. He wasn't sure if Selwyn understood it though.

Then Evan turned his face to Aylee and said, "Well, I need someone to practice the spell on, right? I can't tickle nothingness. And I can't tickle myself either." Evan frowned a little, thinking. "At least I can't non-magically tickle myself. And anyway, practicing self-tickling may not be what I really need for the Charms class." Don't worry, Selwyn, your giggles weren't for nothing, I'm going to be the best at tickling during my next lesson.

After his brief explanation, Evan stood up from the ground and tried to clean his robes with his hands. "Hey, Aylee, don't you know some cleaning spells? You're a fourth year after all," he asked some seconds later, when his hands proved their inefficiency at robe cleaning.

Okay, so mind reading wasn't one of Evan's strong points. It looked like this was going to be up to Selwyn all by himself and he only knew of one way to make girls feel better.

It was probably inappropriate, considering the situation.

He ran a hand through his hair, then held his breath and felt inside himself for something insubstantial. He could never quite tell whether he was successful at connecting with his veela side until he got a reaction from other people.

With a smile, he sidled closer to the Hufflepuff girl.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.

To tell the truth he couldn't have cared less about her actual feelings, but it was so uncomfortable being around someone who was so emotional. This would be a distraction for her.

Lyra looked at Selwyn suspiciously, what is he going on about, she didn't like people getting close to her, she has a mild case of claustrophobia. Lyra blinked the tear that threatened to spill and answered Selwyns question.

"Im fine, i guess it was just the tipping point, but Im fine, Im sorry Evan i think i should go now, uh bye."

Lyra looked down as she said this, all she wanted to do is go to her common room and write in her diary.

"Thanks," Evan replied, looking at his robes, that were clean again. "Well done, I need to learn how to do this too," he added, smiling at Aylee. "As for Charms, I know that we practice spells during lessons, but imagine what a good impression I could make if I already knew how to cast spells properly! I could earn some more point for my.. for our House, Aylee!"

Then Evan noticed that Lyrica was about to go. "Well, yeah.. I'm sorry too. I thought it would be fun," he said apologetically and waved his hand. "Have a nice day!" Evan wanted to add something like "I'm looking forward to continuing our cooperation," but he decided not to say this aloud.

"Hey, do you think I haven't tried to use my cat? I tried, of course, but everything she does is meowing and purring, or even nothing at all. I need practice targets who can give me an adequate reaction to the spell or even some feedback," Evan explained. And I can't find a better way to earn points and demonstrate my superiority to Kynan at the same time. I even can't find a better way just to demonstrate superiority. It's a perfect opportunity, sorry Aylee. "Yeah, I can get other chances, but I don't want to miss this one. We lost the last House Cup, remember?" Actually, Evan didn't care much about the House Cup or any other cups, he just wanted to add some weight to his excuse.

"But Lyrica agreed to help me! And I can't call people who tackle me harmless." Evan looked at the Slytherin boy and added, "Especially who tackle me without any good reason." The last thing Evan wanted was to make Aylee even angrier, so he decided not to argue with her about the great role of rivalry in motivation. For a moment Evan thought about asking her to help him with the spell practice, as he considered Aylee a friend (although this feeling probably wasn't mutual) and she was definitely not a "harmless first-year". But the time wasn't good for it, and Evan understood this clearly, so he said nothing.

Damn. It hadn't worked. Neither of the girls seemed to think any different of him and the Hufflepuff one just looked even more dismal. She said she was going to leave, though, so at least she wouldn't be Selwyn's problem any more. Not till next time, anyway.

"I'm harmless," he interjected, twisting to look at Evan. "And I did have a good reason."

Evan sighed. "You probably had no idea who I am, what I was going to do, and what this parchment was. Evan paused, thinking about what he just said and then corrected himself a little, "Well, you had some assumptions, I think, but apparently you were completely wrong. Anyway, you probably wanted this parchment to know what is written on it, because if you knew it, you wouldn't want to get it from me for any good reason I can imagine." Evan paused to let everyone keep up with his thoughts. "And there is a lot of more polite ways to know this information. If I tackled people every time I wanted to know something, I would probably be expelled by now. Or at least I would have much less friends." Much less friends? Is it even possible? The only person who treats me like a friend is Darcy. So I can only have one less friend. "What I want to say is that I can't call this kind of attitude harmless." Evan made a deep breath, this long speech was a little tiring for him.

Selwyn rolled his eyes.

"Do all Ravenclaws have sticks up their bums, or is it just you two?" he asked. "Do you have a special ceremony after the sorting feast to get them inserted or something?"

Selwyn stared.

"Well that was weird."

Evan didn't know what to do. Staying with the Slytherin could let him recruit a new member of his spell practice group, if he got lucky. But following Aylee seemed like a right thing to do. Moreover, Evan couldn't miss any opportunity to make her despise him a little less.

"Aylee, wait for me!" Evan hurried to caught up with his friend. When he nearly left the courtyard, he stopped for a second, waved Selwyn goodbye, and kept following Aylee.