Princes and oranges (Agnes and maybe Ariadne)

Evan walked into the Great Hall dressed as Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange. On Halloween many people dressed up like something scary, and Maurice was an absolute horror for any Spanish or Holy Roman Empire soldier and general. There was no real soldiers and generals at this party, but if someone dressed up as one, they had to be really terrified to keep  the costume thing realistic. Not many people here knew Maurice, Nassau, Eighty Year's War and all this muggle stuff, since muggleborns weren't very common. But it didn't stop him from choosing this character to dress up as, since most people would probably call him something like "Prince in orange" or "Orange prince" because of the color of his clothes. And since it would be very close to his original title, Prince of Orange, Evan considered this costume "easily recognizable."

There were lot of people Evan knew, but he decided to get some food before do any talking. Oranges would be most welcome now, so Evan headed to one of he food tables to find these citrus fruits, which suited his new title well. Moreover, they contained lots of vitamin C, and Evan knew how important vitamins were for him. For everyone, in fact. But some people were better not to get it. Cat-kickers, for example. So eating all the oranges could also help cats in a bit indirect ways. With all those motives in mind, Evan started his search.

With the two bottles of firewhiskey in hand, Agnes walked over to the food table. Again. She took a few moments to just look at Evan. He was ridiculous. Ridiculously good looking. Seriously, this guy managed to look good even when wearing something so stupid! Agnes wasn’t sure whether to be jealous or awed, so she settled on a mixture of both. “So, I have a very serious question.” She began, tilting her head to the side to get another perspective of Evan’s face. It was kind of weird that she knew his name and he didn’t know hers, but that would be settled soon. “What exactly are you supposed to be?” Her charmed wings fluttered around softly and Agnes smiled at the feeling.

It was probably a common thing for every child to want to fly, and Agnes had been no exception. The only devastating thing about the wings was that they were a charm, and illusion: they could not carry her weight in the air. She looked around, glancing at Hunter only a few seconds before returning her attention to Evan. He seemed to be looking for something, most likely food considering he was at the food table. “Anything in specific that you’re looking for?” She wondered, her lips curling into a smile.

Maybe, she should apologize now. But...what if he suddenly became the sexist jerk he proved to be on their first meeting? It wasn’t even much of a meeting, anyway, so she shouldn’t be worrying about that. What she should be worrying about was the fact that she was standing in front of Evan Williams! She was looking at him, directly and not like the silly lovesick girl she could be. She was standing in front of him. Holding two bottles of firewhiskey disguised as butterbeer. Her heartbeat going a thousand beats per second. Her palms starting to sweat with anxiety. Her mind coming up with all the weird thoughts about how Evan could just tell her to go away.

Damn it. She shook her head, no longer paying attention to whether or not he was speaking. She had made a terrible mistake. A huge one. She glanced around to see who else she could join and share a fake butterbeer with, but found no one. Hunter and Aoife were probably making out secretly, and Aislinn wasn’t around, and the rest of the people were more strangers than she wanted them to be. Turning back to Evan, she decided she might as well live in the moment. Carpe Diem and shit. “Sorry about kicking you the other day.” She shrugged, making it seem like it wasn’t a big deal. “I’m Agnes. Want one?” She said and held out one of the butterbeer bottles for him. There, that was good. That was good. Stay calm, Agnes. Stay. Calm.

Evan was in the middle of his search: he found nothing, a part of the table was checked and confirmed not to have oranges, when some girl asked him about his costume. Evan recognized that remarkable French accent immediately: it was the very same girl that kneed him in the balls some time ago.

Despite being offended and shit, Evan decided to act politely. He admitted that there could be people who considered butt touching and ball kicking equally bad, and, moreover, he really liked her French accent. Maybe it was the accent that made Evan tolerate the treacherous kick. "Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange," he replied proudly. And, in case the girl wasn't a muggleborn or wasn't into History much, he added, "He's a muggle military genius."

"Your angel costume is really good," Evan said. He still wasn't sure if wizards had angels in their myths and stories. It could have given him a clue about girl's blood status, but, unfortunately, Evan wasn't familiar with wizard culture that much. "I like the dress color," he added, since he secretly liked pink. It was almost as good as teal sometimes. In this particular case, for example.

"I'm looking for oranges," Evan explained. "They contain lots of vitamin C. And they also go good with my title. It would be ironic and.. stuff." For some reason he desperately wanted to say "and shit". Maybe the desire to swear comes with the age.

And then the most unpredictable thing happened. The French girl apologized. With her adorable French accent. And even offered Evan butterbeer. And told him her name. It was like a full set of trust-related thing. Evan heard that friends and generally nice people tended to do so. "Apology accepted, beer taken as an indemnity," he replied and took the bottle. "And, in case you haven't heard about me, I'm Evan. I usually don't need to introduce myself, but you look like a new person here."

Evan had never drunk butterbeer before. He opened his bottle and took a little sip. It was incredibly strong, Evan felt like his stomach was attacked by a fire breathing dragon, bombarded with napalm, and then thrown into a volcano crater. How did some firsties manage to drink it and stay alive? And how could they like it? But Evan didn't want to look like some nerd and drink it in small sips. He was a tough and manly seventh-year, so he drank half of the bottle at once. "Yeah, good old butterbeer!" he commented, despite finding it anything but good. "Thanks, Agnes!"

Agnes’ face probably showed more emotion than she was comfortable with, but the confusion she felt when Evan replied was probably the more reasonable response. Who the hell is Maurice of Nasal? And who would even bear that name proudly? As he explained the muggle military geniusness or this Nasal Maurice, and Agnes had never felt more ignorant. It’s not like she could help it, anyway. She was a Pureblood, her whole life had been about magic and had never involved anything muggle related. Actually, the only muggle part of her life was Chasen and she greatly regretted that.

“Thanks.” She replied simply, because she didn’t care about what he thought of the costume. She cared about what he thought of her. Wait, he likes pink? For a moment, Agnes judged him. Maybe he’s...wait. Ugh. She’d never met a guy who openly admitted they liked pink! Maybe he was just sensitive and all that stuff. Maybe she’d just spent so much time with sexist guys who had to be manly all the time. No, but Evan was sexist too.

“Oranges?” She asked, but the explanation to her question came shortly after, and it all made sense again. Moving past that, she glanced around at what Aislinn had ordered the cute house elves to make. Mostly sweets, really, and no oranges. Wait, there was something with orange in it. Agnes remembered it from the list of things Aislinn had made. Her eyes still scanning the table, Agnes realized she had suggested a French pastry, but Aislinn had ignored it. That bitch. Completely forgetting about Evan’s quest and necessities, Agnes cursed Aislinn’s selfishness. But then again, wasn’t Agnes selfish too?

Agnes couldn’t help but smile when Evan took the bottle, because for a second, she felt an electric tingling rushing from her hand to her fingertips. “Oh, I’ve heard plenty about you, Evan.” she said, remembering what Hunter had said about Evan being a git...mostly negative stuff. Very negative. “It seems everyone wants to lure you to the Astronomy Tower....” Wait, no. Agnes what?! She stopped herself before she could say ‘to throw you off’ because that would only make him hate her. She couldn’t just say those things to anyone! Just like she couldn’t tell Hunter that Aislinn had a crush on him, and that she disliked Aoife for obvious reasons. Oh, god. Agnes was suddenly thankful that little secret hadn’t spilled that night with Hunter.

A new person. Well, he got that right. Nodding, she tried to ignore the last thing she’d said. Maybe if she pretended it hadn’t happened, he would do the same. Despite the whole drunken night with Hunter, in which personal demons were shared and judgments made, Agnes had not yet gotten used to the burning taste of firewhiskey. And it seemed Evan was just as inexperienced in drinking as she was. Smirking, Agnes assured, “Yeah. Butterbeer.” She almost laughed, really, because it was so...nerdy. And it was adorable! It was incredibly cute to watch him drink half the bottle at once and pretend he knew it was butterbeer, because it wasn’t even butterbeer! “If you want more, just tell me.” She said, and it took almost all of her self control keep herself from giggling.

Opening her own bottle and drinking, she felt that same burning and almost fizzy sensation from the first time. Except, she didn’t cough. Not this time. She was brave. She was Agnes, the one Hunter had said was strong and all that stuff. Quickly taking another sip of the firewhiskey, Agnes looked at Evan. Looked at him. In all his Nasally splendor and whatever. “So. What’s it like being a Head Boy?”

After getting his stomach burned, Evan lost connection with the real world for a bit. "Yeah, the Astronomy tower," he said, paying no attention to the words. Lure him there? Why? And who? Evan didn't care. He even didn't realized he said something about the tower, he just repeated some Agnes' words. Evan's brain was mostly occupied by the terrible taste of Firewhiskey. Lots of different synonyms of "terrible" were running through his head. And for some totally illogical reason, Evan wanted to take another sip. Where did this desire of self-destruction even come from?

"No, thanks, I still have a half of my bottle," Evan replied to Agnes' offer and checked his "butterbeer". Only a quarter left. When did he drink some more of it? Evan was quite surprised, but decided not to bother much and just took another sip. It still tasted terrible.

"A Head Boy," Evan paused, "is a reponsib.. respinso.. responsibility." He couldn't understand why the word he never had problem with was so difficult to pronounce now. It was definitely Kynan's fault, and Evan just had to punch him in the face. He didn't think about a better explanation or about using a wand instead of his fists. Evan looked around but didn't see Kynan. It made him to calm down a bit. "Respnosibility," he repeated, not noticing the mistake he made. "You need to, like, patrolling, right wrongs, and think about the birds." Evan had no idea what birds he was talking about, but he said it in a very serious tone, like the birds were the most important.

This level of importance and seriousness definitely required some more "butterbeer", so Evan tried to made one more sip. But his bottle was already empty. Why did his drink always disappear? Damn you, Kynan. But Evan always preferred to think about solutions, not problems. And the solution was pretty simple, in this case. "Agnes, I recosn.. reconsidered your offer. I need some more."

Thank whatever supreme being there was for Evan's sudden drunken state. He seemed to have paid no attention to Agnes' comment about everyone wanting to throw him off the Astronomy Tower, and she sighed in relief. Seriously, drnknpeople were the best. Hunter didn't remember anything about Chasen, and Evan hadn't realized what she meant. From this day on, Agnes promised to love drunks. They were very good at keeping secrets. However, she wasn't sure if Evan really liked the firewhiskey or not, because he looked...sick, but he wasn't stopping himself from the drink.

For a moment, Agnes almost took the bottle away from him. This wasn't okay. She didn't actually want him to get drunk, because then she probably wouldn't get to talk to the real Evan. Actually, she didn't mind him being drunk. She just didn't want him drunk. Drunk Hunter was different, she didn't like him the way she liked Evan, so she couldn't care less aboout what state her house mate was in when they talked. But Evan Williams! He was...important. To an extent. Though probably more important than Hunter.

Agnes tilted her head to the side a little as Evan struggled to find the right pronunciation for a rather common word. Then he looked strange and glanced around, apparently looking for someone. Even after trying, Evan still got 'responsibility' wrong. Laughing, Agnes instantly knew he was very easily influenced by alcohol. "Why are the birds so important?" She asked him, mostly for her own amusement than out of actual curiosity.

So Evan wanted more. Okay. Searching around her dress, Agnes realized she had left her wand in her dormitory. There hadn't been a reason to use it, and there wasn't really one now. She could just go and get another bottle from Hunter, but she didn't want to explain why more firewhiskey was needed. In case he asked. Glancing down, she noticed she still had her own bottle. "Here. I'll go get another one for myself later." she smiled and handed him her bottle and looked towards Hunter. She really needed her wand right now. Well, not really but still. It seemed strange and hypocritical that she had kneed Evan for touching her, and now she really wouldn't mind.

Ari was still scanning the room for her Prince that had made her a princess. It was then she saw a figure in orange. All completely orange. She squeezed Matthew's arm and whispered, "Found him." She didn't care what he did in reaction to her touching him. That boy was weird with girls. She straightened her princess dress, and her ear muffs, and skipped over to the boy. She asked, "Hi, um...Do you remember me? You made me a princess!" She hoped he remembered her. But, who wouldn't remember Ari? Ari was easily remember-able. She said, "You were my frog I was holding." Ari hoped he remembered.

If not, she would be crushed. More than crushed, she would probably cry, and go to her dorm room not caring who followed her. She batted her eyes at the orange prince. She would do anything for him. Absolutely anything. Even if it included sacrificing her own precious life. Ok, maybe she wouldn't go that far. But she would do a lot for the prince who made her a princess. She then asked, "Um...What country am I the princess of? Because My aunt was asking me all these questions, and I had no answer." She hoped he had one.

Why were the birds important? Which birds? What did Agnes have to do with them? Evan had already forgot that thinking about the birds was, according to him, one of Head Boy's duties, and was a bit puzzled with Agnes' question. But it didn't take him long to figure stuff out. Birds! Oh course! "Avis!" Evan exclaimed, taking the wand from his fake scabbard. A flock of semi-transparent blue birds got into the air, twittering cheerfully. "See? They are beautiful," Evan explained, "beauty is what will save the world eventually." Saving the world was important. And Evan, as a true hero, saved it by conjuring magical birds.

Agnes passed Evan the bottle, just as he asked, and at the same moment, another girl appeared. She looked very hyper and claimed to be a princess, and that it was Evan who made her a princess when he was a frog. Firewhiskey made Evan to forget everything about his frog adventures, but, nevertheless, girl's story made sense, since she was dressed like a princes after all. "Netherlands," Evan replied to the question about princess' county. It was easy. Since Maurice of Nassau ruled Netherlands, it would be logical if he made the girl a princess of this country.

"Hold it for a bit," Evan said to Agnes and handed her the bottle, unsheathing his wand again. "Avis!" he exclaimed one more time, conjuring another flock of semi-transparent blue twittering birds. "Just look how beautiful they are, the birds," Evan whispered dreamily. He did well as the Head Boy, there was no doubt in it. Thinking about the birds was his middle name. Evan thinking about the birds Williams. Although, considering his current state, he would probably forget about his true name tomorrow.

Giggling, Agnes looked at the birds that appeared suddenly in front of her. They were beautiful in their own way, and she was sure that part of their beauty was simply due to her crush on him. Evan's beauty translated to the birds. But his words were shallow, and Agnes thought for a moment that that was really all he cared about; beauty. "Why does beauty have to save the world? Why not kindness? Why not love?" Seriously, why the hell did it have to be beauty? "Let's say that a girl wants to save the world, any girl, but she's just not pretty enough for your standards. Does that mean she's not worthy? Does that make her any less than...let's say, Victoria Campero?" To Agnes, Victoria was one of the most beautiful people she'd met, and if Evan didn't think so, well he was an idiot.

"I mean, really, what about the whole thing? Why does beauty have to be so important? Seriously, Williams, is this all that you're about? Appearance and good looks?" At some point during her little speech, her hands had crossed over her chest and she was glaring at Evan. He was being sexist again. AGAIN. Agnes didn't have time to lecture him very long, because some little girl came up to them and started talking about princesses and frogs, and Evan seemed to know what it was all about. The girl didn't look older than twelve, so she figured they were just friends or in the same house, but the little one didn't even look like a Ravenclaw. The girl wasn't perfect like they all were. She wasn't perfect like Seren, or Victoria, or Evan.

Evan shoved the bottled to her, he shoved it, and Agnes took it thanks to a stupid reflex. Her mouth fell when he just conjured up some more birds as if nothing had happened. "Yeah, they're beautiful. But is that really ALL you care about? How beautiful something or someone is?" He's drunk, Agnes thought, but that's no reason to be like all of those shitties in the world. "You know what, you and I are not going to be friends. No, you're too shallow and selfish and just...UGH." Agnes said, forgetting that there was a child next to them. Damn you, Evan Williams. His physical beauty was just not enough to make up for his shitty personality.

Agnes' response to the conjuration of birds and the quote about beauty was a long and pretty aggressive monologue. There were lots of questions in it, but Evan was too intoxicated to keep them all in mind and give the girl any answers. So he just nodded several times and hoped they were rhetorical. Despite the lack of concentration and the amount of alcohol in his blood, Evan got the main idea of Agnes' words, so now he was ready for a good philosophical dispute.

Most of the time Evan was a quite practical person, but now, thanks to Agnes and firewhiskey, his head was occupied with some abstract questions and problems. "Beauty," he started, "is a universal thing. Appealing looks, or what else you say, kindness, are just, like," for a moment, Evan felt silent, not being able to find the right word. "Maniseftations of beauty," he finished his sentence after a few seconds. "People can be kind, birds can be semi-transparent, pictures.. can have a golden ratio or whatever. And in this case, everything is beautiful," Evan wasn't sure if transparency could be a legit beauty manifestation for birds, but but he was so carried away that he didn't pay attention to most words he spoke. "Spells that work well are also kinda beautiful," he added, looking at his birds flying under the enchanted Great Hall ceiling.

Evan thought that chances Agnes would understand this concept of universal beauty were slim, since most girls obviously thought about beauty as a good appearance only, otherwise they would read about advanced Transfiguration and fight against muggleborn discrimination instead of spending hours on picking dresses, casting illusion charms, and putting on layers of makeup. And the thought of beauty as something more complicated would probably sound alien for Agnes as well, in Evan's opinion. So he sighed and turned to the younger girl, who probably wasn't yet spoiled by all this girly stuff due to her age. Who knows, maybe she understood what Evan meant and could translate it into the "older girl" language? Could she give him some wise advice, maybe?

Whoa.... Ari looked up at the birds as they flew high in the Great Hall. They were magical. So magical, only a prince could conjure up those! Well, Ari could, if she tried hard enough. She could probably even do it with no practice, as she was that good of a witch. She had been practicing spells ALL SUMMER long in her head. Getting the pronunciation's right and everything. She squealed, "You have to teach me that, your majesty!" Was that right? Your majesty? Ari didn't know what to call him. He was after all, a high prince! He and the other girl, whom she hoped wasn't a princess, was talking about beauty. Ari was beautiful, so they must be talking about her! Ari smiled. She said, "You guys must be talking about me! The most beautiful Princess in all the land!" She curtseyed for show.

Ari asked, "Are you guys in love? Because, if you guys are in love, you should kiss her! That's what my Aunt Evelyn told me people do when they are in love anyways."

She said it very seriously. Ari laughed a little bit as she got distracted by the birds again. She so hoped his highness would teach her that marvelous spell! She would love to show Matthew! It would be fantastic to show him how brilliantly, brilliant at magic she was! Well, she hoped Matthew already knew she was better than him at Magic. They were after all, best friends.

"Yeah, I can teach you that," mumbled Evan automatically, still thinking about the deep philosophical beauty problem. His answer war delayed a lot, but he didn't paid attention due to his a bit drunk condition.

After Evan finished his speech on beauty and its manifestations, which most likely would be ignored by Agnes, he turned to the younger girl again in hope that she could help him somehow. Evan needed an "English to Girly" interpreter. And it seemed that the girl (who was probably called Ariadne, but Evan wasn't sure)  understood his needs, since she told him to kiss Agnes. There were lots of other words, but Evan heard the most important ones. They made sense, since girls tended to talk about kisses and stuff like that. So that was probably the right translation to Girly. Or it sounded Girly at least.

Agnes was telling Evan something, probably objected against his modern and progressive views on beauty, but he didn't listen to her, since now his approach to the conversation was different. Trying to use element of surprise, Evan made a quick (as quick as he could do at that time) step forward and slightly to the right, then leaned and kissed Agnes in her left cheek. Now his argumentation was girly enough, and the French girl should probably agree with him in their dispute about beauty.

Rolling her eyes, Agnes said, "Beauty is not measured in physical terms, but by soul and personalities." Seriously, these young girls nowadays were just full of themselves. "And I do not see any beauty in you." Agnes didn't see any beauty in the little girl because she had been rude with her entrance, she had interrupted, and she had to mettle in their business. This girl would probably grow up to be some sort of no-brain, all-make up kind of woman who did not care whether or not she was made less by sexist shitties. Basically, the mind of women Agnes didn't understand.

"No! We're not in love, child!" Agnes replied, not exactly offended but still taken back by the fact that the little girl had even thought of that possibility. Agnes liked Evan, she was infatuated, but not in love. There was a huge difference. "How old are you? Twelve? Surely, you must know that people-" Agnes was cut off, because in a span of three seconds, Evan had taken a step towards her and kissed her left cheek. Agnes stood there, almost paralized, with the surprise and strangeness of it all, coated with a n undeniable layer of sweetness.

"Uh, I-I-I'm just..." Agnes stuttered, unsure of what life was anymore. What is life!? What is air!? What is this!? A simple kiss on the cheek from Evan was all it took for Agnes to feel the need to leave. Walking backward, Agnes started to make her way away from the Nasal Prince and the Arrogant Child. Turning on her heels, she turned away from the two and was suddenly facing everyone else. There were so many people. There were people dancing, others talking, and others, like Hunter, were drunk. With a sudden burst of bravery inside of her, thanks to the firewhiskey, Agnes walked back towards Evan as determined as she could be. She was going to do it, because everyone always said to live it up, so why not now?

"Carpe Diem, Evan." She sort of muttered when she reached him again, and almost as quickly as he had done, Agnes kissed him. But not on his cheek. She kissed him full on. Like the weird girl she could be. Agnes liked Evan, and this little annoying girl had just said the wisest thing tonight. Carpe Diem.

This girl was insulting. Of course Ari was beautiful. She got told so ALL the time! And just because this jealous french girl didn't think so, didn't mean that she wasn't. She was just that. Jealous. Ari replied, "Your just jealous because I'm prettier than you. Your costume is ugly." There. That will get her. Ari could be childish too. Ari was proud of her insults. She was better than this girl by the long mile. And she could prove it. She was a PRINCESS after all, and this girl was just merely a peasant.

Ari laughed when the girl denied being in love. She replied, "Then how come your face is about as red as a tomato? Surly it can't be because your NOT in love. That would be ridiculous. And yes, I am 12 thank you very much. I'm the best 12 year old princess there is."

When Ari stopped speaking, her Prince came in and kissed the other girl on the cheek. NO this wasn't right. Princesses and Princes were supposed to end up together and live happily ever after. How could they now if he was with her? Ari slouched her shoulders. She was just teasing them. If she knew how he really felt about the other girl she wouldn't of said anything. Then the girl was whispering weird things. Something about carpets and dimes she guessed. What were dimes? Man... French people were weird. But maybe, just maybe, she was being teased about this whole princess thing. Maybe all girls weren't princesses. Maybe it was just a fantasy?

And with that, Ari walked away with Matthew's words in her head. Maybe he was right after all.

Okay, this thread is going to stay as it is now.
Summary of what happened next:
- Basically it can be discovered by reading Agnes/Hunter thread somewhere in the Griffindor Tower