slight of hand - leroy, ariana, evan

[HUGO CHARLES WEASLEY]

Before he'd left for his sixth year at Hogwarts, Hugo's grandfather gave him a gift stuffed in a small cardboard box. Take this, let me know how much you can figure out. On the train, he'd taken it out of his pocket and flipped the small lid at the top. A fresh deck of muggle playing cards spilled onto his lap. After grumbling and participating in a not-so-fun game of 52 card pickup, he noticed that something else had fallen out of the package as well. Folded neatly so that it slid in with the cards were printed directions for a variety of magic tricks. Hugo couldn't help but smirk; his grandfather had always been very interested in muggle culture. The printout had taglines accompanying its prescribed tricks- Stun your friends! Become a master of illusion! Understand the world of magic! 

He set aside the deck of cards in favor of a raucous first few days. Technically, because he was a prefect, he should have been keeping eyes on things and keeping people in line. He was never the sort of prefect who ratted on people- more made sure that they didn't do anything actually dangerous. He'd always been more attentive to quidditch anyways. But, after the first weekend back and a handful of classes, he found himself more and more inclined to pop open the muggle cards and try to master 'muggle magic'.

It was much more difficult than he wanted to admit to anyone. First of all, he had to learn to shuffle, which he soon realized was a skill that he'd never be able to master. Something about the way you're supposed to hold the cards didn't quite fit with his fingers. After that, it was all about being slick. Now that was something he was very good at. He could talk the tongue off any magic trick and set it up beautifully. However, the exposition wasn't what got the trick done- he was pretty terrible at getting the cards to do what they were supposed to. He couldn't cut properly, he couldn't hide cards in his hands without them popping away, he couldn't follow through.

Tuesday morning, early for lunch, Hugo was positioned near the middle of the Ravenclaw bench with his cards in his hands. He'd gotten a little better at shuffling, but every third shuffle and the cards exploded in his general area (and some sort of expletive also exploded in muffled frustration from his mouth). Slamming the cards that remained in his hands down on the table after one of these incidents, Hugo reached out and snatched a muffin out of its bowl, chomping down on it hard, chewing frustratingly.

TAGS: EVANGELINE RAE FINNIGAN, LEROY FRANK LONGBOTTOM, ARIANA EVELYN SAFT

[ARIANA EVELYN SAFT]

The first month was always hard to adjust to. Ariana went from an unstable schedule and trying to work in the muggle world or even babysitting her niece and nephew. Now she had a set time to get up and with how the sunlight hit her face every morning it was hard to sleep in. Not to mention how her own bedroom actually smelt like her own and not like it belonged to several other girls. She already missed her light green sheets, the blue scratchy materials just never made the cut for her. Not to mention she didn't spend much free time with girls in her house, at this point it just meant she had her own corner bed and more privacy.

She rubbed her face and looked around at the others getting ready for the day. Ari quickly got dressed and headed for the great hall. The blonde walked down tables table looking for a place, until she noticed Hugo. "Having a rough game of Solitaire?" she asked, taking a seat next to him and examining the deck of cards. "You know there's supposed to be fifty-two cards right?" She reached towards the center of the table, grabbing an apple before she began to fill her plate with eggs and toast.

"Is this like your summer hobby or something?"

TAG: HUGO CHARLES WEASLEY, EVANGELINE RAE FINNIGAN, LEROY FRANK LONGBOTTOM

[EVANGELINE RAE FINNIGAN]

Evan sighed as she looked over the Hufflepuff table. None of her friends from her grade had come in yet, and Leroy was also unaccounted for. The last thing she wanted was to eat alone, how lame with that. The little brunette made a face as she turned her attention to the other houses tables. She never understood why it was a taboo to sit somewhere else, but today she just didn't care about what other people thought because she say two of her Ravenclaw friends already sitting down.

Evangeline hugged Ari from behind, smiling across the table at Hugo. "Hey guys, hope you don't mind if I join?" she beamed before nudging Ari to scoot over a bit and taking a seat next to her. Right away she noticed all the cards scattered around the table. "Muggle stuff is so weird.. I mean, why don't the pictures move?" Evan asked, as she picked up one of the face cards and examined it. Even though she was technically a half-blood, Evangeline knew nothing about Muggle things, if that wasn't obvious already. Still, it was clear that Hugo was beyond frustrated with the tiny picture things, but she couldn't really tell why. All she could offer him was a sympathetic look before reaching for food to start filling up her plate.
"Is this like your summer hobby or something?"

TAG: HUGO CHARLES WEASLEY, ARIANA EVELYN SAFT LEROY FRANK LONGBOTTOM