Expressing himself had always been a difficulty for Evan, showing gratitude or emotion to others even more so. The people who'd always gotten the most candor from him, were his siblings. Perhaps his parents when he'd been younger and awestruck of them in their infinite wisdom. He'd thought he'd been healing from his past traumas, and while he'd made steps... it was only now that the Ravenclaw could tell he truly was getting past all the scars and changing into a more light hearted version of himself. Studies were important, books and memorization had been easy. But at the end of the day, where was that truly going to get him if he couldn't tell the people who mattered that they did? Or he couldn't really openly people to get to know him? The important of experiences and social relations was even more impressed upon him given the fact he was a mere months away from the end of his Hogwarts career and what did he currently have to show for it? Perfect OWL scores.

But with no idea on his future and if those would even matter.

So while he knew Jude's words were right and it was just something friends did for each other. The fact of the matter was Jude never had to be Evan's friend and put away with his shenanigans. He just cared and had done so. And it was something Evan had a vast amount of unshared gratitude regard. "Sure, but you still didn't have to. I appreciate you. And everything you've done." He smiled at the Hufflepuff, before going back to his potatoes as Jude had turned away for a moment to busy himself with prepping the rest of the kitchen.

Finishing up his cutting of the growing pile of peeled potatoes, he tossed them into the water pot as instructed. "Done. Then what?" A laugh at the teasing, because it was... 100% spot on. He WAS a nerd, and he was fully aware of it. "You're not wrong. I'm not really living up to that expectation so far this term. It's kind of nice." Was the homework a little more stressful because he waited so long? Yes. But then it wasn't so bad because he reminded himself it didn't have to be perfect. "Perfect scores are only important if you need them for your degree." Which... who knew if he would. "You're the more impressive one. You got good scores AND you still managed to have a life." Best of both worlds.

Ev was scrapping up all of the potato peelings when he felt a few things bounce off the back of his neck. Considering his wand was no longer moving, unless it was raining veggies there could only be one perpetrator in the room. With a bemused expression, Evan turned to face Jude again, lifting the offending carrot in the air. "Was this yours?"