Knock Knock

[Rowan Trace]

"They need anger management coaching," Rowan said. "Imagine how far a Slytherin could go who could control his temper. But they seem to be proud of their ability to piss people off, for the most part." Which made no sense. Anyone with ambition and cunning would have to realize how important a broad web of connections could be, but they only seemed interested in connecting with themselves.

[Keith Evans]

Keith nodded in agreement. "There isn't anything inherently wrong with any of the houses, they just have to be able to use their talents, but if they don't care..." He shrugged and shook his head. The Slytherins seemed to have no urge to become one of the famous Slytherins that had actually done good things with their lives.

[Rowan Trace]

Rowan nodded. "Slytherins aren't the only ones," he agreed. And they were back to the old discussion of how to get the student population under control. "Well, we'll just follow our plans and see how things are going at midterm. That's the best we've got, and it's quite a bit. No use getting discouraged so soon."

[Keith Evans]

"Yeah, the beginning of a new year and all that," Keith said. "I already have kids complaining about work. It's nice to be able to get off the grounds sometimes." Even if he didn't go wild, he was somewhere that the whining students couldn't reach him, and that in itself was a blessing. "Have a good weekend?"

[Rowan Trace]

"I did," Rowan said. "It was a bit late for my birthday, but someone remembered it was around that time and brought fairy cakes, of all things, like I'm a child. It would have been unbearable if I hadn't told them you'd be along next time." That had turned the attention off of him directly, at least. He'd been asked far too many questions, but at least they hadn't tried to coerce him into making a wish or some other superstitious nonsense.

[Keith Evans]

"There's nothing wrong with having a bit of fun on your birthday," Keith said. "I didn't know you'd had your birthday, hope you had a relatively sane one." He wished he had known, not that he had any idea what to get Rowan, or even if Rowan would even accept something. "Mine's this weekend." It was strange realizing it was so close.

[Rowan Trace]

Rowan didn't like a fuss over his birthday. It was a ridiculous waste of time and energy simply because he was a day older. He didn't say as much to Keith, nor did he volunteer the actual date, but mentally sighed. He supposed he'd have to owl someone so Keith didn't feel looked over. "Will you still be going out with us? I'd understand if you wanted to be with family." The kind of people who tended to care about birthdays tended to want family around, it seemed.

[Keith Evans]

"Yeah, I'll go with you, I saw dad recently and we can't go visit mom," Keith shrugged. There wasn't any reason to go home right now, and he had just seen his friends over the weekend. He was sure to get some letters in the mail, but that was all he expected this year. "I would rather be with you all, anyway."

[Rowan Trace]

Rowan nodded. That he understood. He wondered for a moment about Keith's phrasing: We can't go visit Mom. It would be hypocritical to ask, however, when he'd put such a firm ban on tallking about his own past. He hated convversational dilemmas. This was why he kept to himself! Rowan picked up his water to take a drink rather than allow himself to comment.

[Keith Evans]

"How old are you?" Keith asked, wondering how he had never asked before. He wasn't interested in volunteering information about his parents, not that he would steadfastly refuse to answer questions about them. It was rare he spent his birthday with his family, instead he generally stayed with his friends.

[Rowan Trace]

Rowan's eyes met Keith's briefly over his water. "Twenty now," he said. "I started at Hogwarts the day after my eighteenth." If he'd been born a matter of hours later, he'd have started and finished school an entire year later, and who knew if the Charms position would have been available then? "You're about the same, aren't you?" If Keith had worked at his Alma Mater for two years before coming to Hogwarts, and if his birthday was just past the deadline... "You'll be twenty-one, right? You're younger than most of my friends."

[Keith Evans]

"Yeah, most of my group is about our age," Keith said. "Every now and then there's someone else that's older or younger, though." It meant that anyone that was older stuck out easily in the group, because as much as they may try to act like teenagers just graduated, they would invariably do something that gave away that they had graduated two or three years before instead.

[Rowan Trace]

"I never got along with people my own age," Rowan said. "They always seemed so shallow, apathetic about the future and focused on trivial things." He had never cared who wanted whom or what they would do in an empty room together. He hadn't cared about Quidditch players' stats, whether someone had been traded to another team, or why their current homework assignment was unfair. Life isn't fair, he'd wanted to say.

[Keith Evans]

"You just have to find the right ones," Keith said. "There were some that I would never hang out with in my year. Most of the people in my group grew up once they graduated, just a couple refused to mature, though they seemed to be slowly coming to, like Matthew. "But really, how many seventeen year olds really know exactly what they want to do? You're special."

[Rowan Trace]

Rowan was unsure how to take what he assumed was a compliment, rather than sarcasm. His usual response to any kind of praise was Thank you, but it didn't seem right for something as broad and as personal as You're special. He looked a bit suspicious, a bit confused maybe, but rather than comment, he searched for a change of subject. As flustered as he was, it took him too long, so he defaulted to fighting back with logic. "There's nothing special about it. It was luck that I found it so soon." And yet no part of him actually believed in luck.