A Perfect Place to Practice... Magic?

Ethan peered over his shoulder and then quickly slipped into a classroom, sincerely hoping it was empty. He reckoned that he'd have a hard time trying to explain why he entered the classroom looking like he was an undercover agent from some secret organisation and though he could answer that question perfectly well, Ethan surmised that he'd have trouble with answering why he was there in the first place.

Lucky for Ethan, the classroom was empty (he was slightly disappointed that he couldn't try and convince a Professor that he was a spy though), so he walked further into the classroom, and had a good look around. This was the perfect place to practice.

He leant back against the desk and reached into his pocket, taking out.... a deck of cards. He really loved magic, well.. real magic, and optical illusion magic, so even though he could create bubbles with a wooden stick, he still wished he could do magic with a deck of cards, or pull a rabbit out of a hat.

He shuffled the deck of cards and then started to split the desk. "Now," he mumbled to no one, as no one was there, "What next?" He definitely needed a textbook on the matter.

Mark walked into a random classroom, he was bored, as usual, so he decided to go a-wandering. He looked around the classroom and saw that a guy was already there... Mark had no clue what he was doing, but after taking a quiet couple of steps he saw there was a deck of cards on the table... Why the hell did the guy have cards on a table? He adopted a mischievous grin, before charging at the guy and tackling him to the floor. "Hi!" He shouted at him cheerfully, besides the close distance. He had just randomly felt the urge to be a pain, so he did.

Ethan spun around as he heard the door open, but didn't get a chance to say or do anything as he was tackled to the ground by a boy in Gryffindor robes.

What the deuce? he thought, rubbing the back of his head, which had made contact with the floor. "Hello there. I'm all for a quirky entrance, but that has to take the cake! Gold star for you!"

He stood up and brushed the dust from his robes and then grinned at the boy, who seemed to be the same age as time, but at a school of magical students, one could never be too sure.

"Name's Ethan, and..." he looked down at the floor which seemed to be playing 52 pickup without him. "That was my deck of cards." He frowned. "At least they'll be shuffled, I suppose."

Mark blinked after he'd tackled the guy... What had spurred on the hyperactive entrance? He shrugged it off though, it was nothing to worry about. "Why thank you sir, and I think you take the prize for oddest assortment of items with you." He said with a grin, before standing up and dusting himself off himself. "Nice to meet you Ethan, I'm Mark." He said dramatically. "So... Why do you have these things on the floor?" He asked, picking one up. "What exactly are they?" He asked.

Ethan grinned again. He was rather proud of the items he had with him but when the boy asked what they were, his jaw gaped open, as if he were practicing how to catch flies. Mark had to be kidding, seriously? Didn't he?

"Whatcha mean, what exactly are they?!" he asked, incredulously. "Gotta be kidding, right?!"

Ethan shook his head. What kind of childhood did this Mark fellow have if he doesn't know what a deck of cards were?

Mark found himself smiling at the guys grin. He seemed to be one of those people with a contagious smile always on his lips. He resisted the urge to poke Ethan when his draw seemed to have came off it's hinge, he was definetely feeling childish today. "Nope. No clue, so care to explain what they are?" He asked Ethan. "Otherwise I will face you in an almighty duel" he quickly poked Ethan on the shoulder. "Of poking!" He said with a grin.

Ethan shook his head. The boy obviously wasn't kidding around. He seriously didn't know what a deck of cards were. Ethan held up his hands as a petition for surrender. He didn't particularly want to be poked, jabbed, prodded or any other derivative of the word.

"So, I'm assuming you wouldn't be familiar with the 52 pick up?" he asked, wishing that his cards were in his hand, as opposed to on the floor, so that he could introduce the Gryffindor to the wonders of that game. Would save him having to do the inevitable pick up.

"Cards are..." Ethan scratched his chin as he bent down to start picking up the cards, thinking about how to explain them. They're just cards. Sheesh.

"Cards are used to play games with, I guess. All sorts of games. I'm rather fond of solitaire and spoons. Ah, spoons. What a great game!"

"This is a great game, though I prefer solitaire," said the Hufflepuff boy, having landed himself there, and hoping that there was enough space for another. Obviously it seemed like the Gryffindor was a Pureblood or a child that had been deprived of card games. But Ethanael merely shrugged, "There are 52 cards in a set, and they are divided into four categories; hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades".

Entering the classroom, he smiled, "I wonder if I can join you... Ethan and Mark, was it?"

Ethan turned as he heard a voice from the doorway. He recognised the Hufflepuff boy immediately, though they had only met the once. He bent down to pick up the remaining cards from the ground.

"Correct," Ethan said, looking across at Ethanael, smiling. "52 cards and four suits. Pretty simple, right?" he asked Mark.

"More the merrier, boy who has almost the same name as me. Come join us."

Ethanael chuckled, "Well almost," and took the seat beside the other Hufflepuff, "Funny how our names are similar, we are in the same year and in the same house".

"Coincidence, isn't it?" He remembered having met the boy before, and felt good to meet him again after such a long time, whilst the Gryffindor was still stranger to him.

Mark shook his head when he mention a '52 pick-up' "Not a clue, and I'll likely have worn out that phrase by the end of our conversation." He grinned, before nodding. "What kind of games though?" He asked. "Do you... Throw them at people? No... That seems awfully difficult to do with something which is like parchment." He thought aloud. "Solitaires? Up for telling me how you play?" He asked, before hearing another voice enter the splendid and incredibly interesting conversation.

"So... Some are shaped like spades? They all seem like rectangles to me..." He muttered, confused. "Yuppers. Mark Wilson, happy to met you." He said, bowing jokingly. The two seemed to engage in their own conversation for a moment, so left them to it, trying to figure out how these cards could be used to play games.

Ethan thought about it and laughed. They were very similar in those regards. Ethan, however, would bet his family dog, that he was far more random than Ethanael was. The other Hufflepuff boy seemed rather reserved, whereas Ethan, as anyone who knew him, well.. he was rather partial to saying what was on his mind, be that borderline insane or not.

"I suppose we're pretty similar like that. You don't go by Ethan for short, do you? If so, that'll be weird."

Ethan raised his eyebrows at Mark, who seemed to speak up. "Rectangles? Even the hearts? You're more weirder than me and that's saying something."

Ethan looked at a Heart card that he had in his hand. "Bit of trivia for you both. The King of Hearts is the only one without a moustache. Cool huh? Diamonds, clubs and spades are associated with wealth, war and death, so in contrast, as the heart as an organ is pure, open and undisguised, it does not wear artifice, hence the no facial hair."

Ethan himself found this particularly fascinating, but he doubted that the other two would give two cents about it.

"As a matter of fact, I do go by Ethan," and he chuckled. Noticing that Mark was still confused, Ethanael smiled, picking up a card, and nodded. In his hand he held a Ace of Spades.

"Well here are two examples, one in Ethan's hand and the other in mine. They are not shaped as a heart, spade, club or diamond, rather they have them on the cards, like this," and pointed towards the spade on the card he was holding.

When the other Hufflepuff talked about trivia, Ethanael couldn't help but nod as the boy talked about the King of Hearts, "That's bloody interesting".