Generally hugs were not Evan's favorite thing, but he didn't mind it so much when he was closer to a person. Close friends and his family were the exceptions to the rule, Ash included. Besides, he knew how much she DID like hugs and if that could comfort her when she was upset, he would absolutely do that.

"Fair point." Spells were the most common, as they backfired a lot. He'd been lucky enough to never experience a large misfire, it was usually just.. his magic didn't work or was weak, but he'd certainly seen it enough. Besides, even here at Hogwarts hadn't they seen magic malfunction before? Or... at least heard about it, in the case of that term where his brother just... disappeared. "Who would have had access to interfere? Thankfully it's not like Board of Governors was invited here this year.." bless Kazmi for that, "so tampering seems unlikely... unless... wasn't it mentioned at the beginning of term there'd been cursebreakers cleaning up after the vine fiasco? Could maybe one of them just.. messed something up with the entrance?" He wasn't jumping to intentional, though... if it had been it didn't seem worse than just a prank.

Talking to both seemed the best plan, so at her suggestion he found himself nodding in agreement. "Let's go to Professor Carton's office then. Doesn't seem like we'll be getting anywhere with the door anyways..." but maybe their Head of House could help them get in quickly so Ash could cuddle her cat. "Do you want to go together? Or should one of us stay here?"