Open First Years Castle Tour

[Aine Thompson]

The Head Girl badge still felt alien on Aine's robes. This had now been the third time she had been completely floored by a letter from Hogwarts. Like her acceptance letter, and the letter with her prefect badge, she had thought the letter with this badge must have been an elaborate joke. There were plenty of nicer and more appropriate choices for Head Girl in the year level, and yet they'd picked her. Overachieving must have counted for more than popularity, unlike other schools. But with all that in mind, Aine figured she had to be responsible and use it to her advantage, such as marking another thing off her list. Be pleasant to younger students.

Her sign wasn't nearly as sparkly as Felix's had been, but she had cast a sonorus charm on her voice to try and make it more clear as students milled about on the first morning, looking a little lost going from the great hall. "First years! This way, please, for a castle tour! Come get your bearings!" She winced as the words went out, quickly reversing the spell before standing up straight, taking a deep breath in, and putting on the best customer service smile she could possibly muster.

 

[Alana Cosgrove]

Slytherin had been a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. It had been Alana's desire to set herself apart from her family and forge her own path and she had done so by not being sorted into her Ravenclaw, her father's house or Hufflepuff, her mother and brother's house. She felt like the weight of expectation had been lifted from her shoulders, which might have been silly as her parents would still have had expectations of her, her family would still watch to see what she became, but in her own mind she would have less to live up and that was all that mattered.

The following day Alana had heard there would be a tour of the castle for first years and she decided she wanted to be a part of it. She didn't want to be someone who got lost on her way to her first lesson, she looked forward to exploring the castle on her own and making discoveries but it was important that she knew where the major places were. She heard the amplified voice of the head girl calling for the attention of first years. She fell in with the group that began to form around the head girl and waited for them to set off on the tour.

 

[Tanith Whitlock]

Tanith was excited when she heard there was going to be a tour- she was definitely eager for something like that, not wanting to get lost here. Which, of course, meant that she got lost looking for the tour itself. It was a good thing she'd left her dorm early to find it then, and she felt a sharp pang of relief as she stumbled to the small group that had formed. She was a little out of breath and more out of sorts than she'd been when she'd left her room, so she tried to smooth her hair and her skirts. "Hello," She greeted the others with a shy smile. "M-my name is Tanith," She introduced herself, automatically offering out her hand to shake the other first years hand- the head girl seemed scary.

 

[Sunday Weeks]

Sunday didn't need to attend the tour. She'd gotten her hands on maps of the school and studied them religiously- it wouldn't do to be lost, after all. But she wanted to make an appearance all the same. She wanted to be seen, and what better way to do that than to show up to the tour where more of her classmates were sure to be? She arrived early, dressed perfectly in a stylish skirt and low heels, giving a demure smile to the girls there. "Cosgrove," She greeted her roommate, and nodded at the hufflepuff girl- Tanith. But Sunday slipped instead up to the head girl. "I love your hair," She complimented, with a carefully crafted 'genuine' smile. "What shade is that?" She questioned.

 

[Cameron Roswell]

Cameron found he was full up on his quota of first year nonsense the second he was done leading them to the common room on the first night (or, as some might argue, even before that), but he couldn't resist stepping closer when he heard what was undeniably Aine's voice announcing 'First Year Tours'. Watching Aine crash and burn sounded infinitely more interesting than looking over his NEWT schedule so he didn't think twice about following the booming voice across the hall.

He hung back as she began acquiring a gaggle of first year girls, catching Aine's smile wryly and making sure to mockingly mimic her god awful attempt at a friendly smile before dropping his face back to its usual scowl.

 

[Sunny Day]

Did someone say a tour? Sunny practically skipped over to the small group that had gathered at the castle entrance. "A castle tour? Yes please!" She chirped, "Do you also provide maps by any chance?" She asked, a map would be very helpful to save her getting lost all the time.

 

[Aine Thompson]

Aine spotted Cameron out of the corner of her eye and wanted desperately to pretend she hadn't, her forced smile faltering when she saw him making fun of her. It rather felt like she was some sort of children's entertainment, but she wasn't getting paid for it, rather she'd done this to herself. She raised an eyebrow at him, thought better of making a rude gesture in front of the children and turned back to the students who had appeared.

There was something familiar about the first girl who approached her, though Aine had never met her before. "Something with a terrible name, I'm sure, like 'rockstar red' or some such," she quipped. She had rather enjoyed dying her hair in an act of semi-rebellion, though what she was rebelling against she wasn't sure. "You aren't...related to Monday, by any chance?" she asked, a little curious. He did have a lot of younger sisters, after all, perhaps this was one of them. She gave a helpless shrug at the other girl who asked her a question. "That's far too convenient for this school," she blurted before she could help it, before quickly regaining composure. "Um, I mean, I haven't got any, but you'll get used to it, I guess? Uh, does anyone have any general questions before we start?" she hurriedly changed the topic, figuring she'd try to be helpful while letting other students find their way over.

 

[Magne Kleos]

Magne was very keen for a tour, the school was so big and busy. he kept ending up lost and unable to find his way, so hearing there was a tour, he immediately joined the small group. he didn't recognise any of the people who were in the group, but wasn't much of a big deal. he needed to focus any way on what was being said and where things were.

 

[Ambrose Webb]

Ambrose had been keen to hear about a castle tour. Knowing his own terrible sense of direction he had quickly decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to attend. So, he had made his way to the entrance hall and automatically walked towards an older girl surrounded by younger students. At least they had been easy to find. He gave Magne a soft slap on the shoulder as a way of saying hello without actually having to say something and focussed his attention on the head girl to figure out if she was already telling them anything worth knowing.

 

[Sofi Ayre]

Sofi joined the group of first years, reassured that she wasn't the only one in desperate need of a tour. Spotting Magne, she gave him a little wave, she hadn't seen him since their train journey and had been wondering how he was faring. Returning her attention to the head girl, she shook her head no to any questions. The thought of speaking up in front of so many people to ask a question, and possibly saying something stupid, made Sofi feel sick.

 

[Cyrus Thorne]

Cyrus left the great hall and jumped at a loud voice calling for first years. He looked around and saw it was an older girl who seemed to be in some sort of official position. Other first years headed over, and Cyrus followed. It seemed very useful and it would be silly to skip it. He saw two of his roommates had also joined and greeted them quietly. As the girl asked if they had any questions, Cyrus raised his hand. "Will you show us secret passageways?" He asked.

 

[Rosalind Montgomery]

Rosalind had heard things from her cousin, of course, but actually being in the castle was a different story. She wanted to make sure she didn't get lost and a first year tour sounded perfect. She arrived, seeing an array of different first years already there. She got a bit shy, feeling nervous to introduce herself though she wanted friends. Rosalind was contradictory like that; she could get along really well in small groups but as soon as a group reached more than three, she started to feel hemmed in and became more nervous. She tried to hide that though, appearing like she was absolutely fine. She told herself to just concentrate on the tour, and everything would be fine.

 

[Aine Thompson]

There were actually a lot of first years, and Aine almost felt a bit overwhelmed by it. Still, she couldn't falter now, especially not now Cameron was watching as she somehow had to succeed purely out of spite if nothing else. "Ah, good question," she said, as though she hadn't been running the potential questions that would be asked through her head in order to prepare answers the night before. "Yes, there are secret passages, and if I can show you one I will. But," she said, moving her hands behind her back and drawing in a deep breath, rocking on her heels. "They are also secret because they have minds of their own, and half the time only show up when you least expect it. If you see a secret passage open up before an exam, by the way, never take it - it will deliberately get you lost and you'll be late and fail your exam."

If one looked closely, one might see a slight glint of mischief in her eyes, but Aine made sure to keep a very solemn expression. "There's a room in the upper corridors I've heard of called the Room of Requirement, but I think you can only find that if you're really, really desperate, like if you really need the bathroom and it's too far to get to the closest one. Even then, it might not appear."

 

[Alana Cosgrove]

"Sunday," Alana smiled at her roommate during their brief interacting before the other Slytherin girl turned her attention to the head girl and started to ask her questions. Alana listened to the things the head girl said, particularly interested in hearing about the secret passages, she might not be able to show them during their tour but Alana was definitely keen to explore and find them herself, she just wanted to get a firmer grounding regarding the rest of the castle so she knew where to go and where not to go.

 

[Sunday Weeks]

Everything seemed to happen very quickly, all at once. Suddenly there were lots of others there and the tour was seemingly commencing. She smiled, hiding her annoyance, and took a small step back. She wasn't surprised that the head girl mentioned her brother- she knew they were friends. Even if it did agitate her that he was brought up so quickly. "Monday is my older brother, yes," She slipped in, though she wasn't sure if it was relevant anymore. "My name is Sunday," She tried to keep her conversation just to the head girl, though she knew others would likely be listening. "So you're saying the room of requirements has standards and only opens for those it deems worthy." She mused, the wheels in her head turning. Wouldn't that be something, if she could find it when her brother hadn't? Had he? She'd have to check and see if any of her siblings knew anything about it.

 

[Genesis Deavor]

Genesis tried to hide behind the other students so not to draw attention to herself. A room of requirement? Secret passages? It all seemed so crazy.

She had to run a little to catch up to the group when she got distracted by a moving painting, hoping that nobody had noticed her fall behind. It would have probably worked if she hadn’t then tripped over her too-big robes and fell into a heap on the floor.

She groaned in more embarrassment than pain. Typical really. Day one and she was going to be known as the clumsiest witch of all time. If she even was a witch. Jury was still out. She hadn’t ever set anything on fire on purpose after all.

 

[Cameron Roswell]

Cameron watched passively as Aine tried to wrangle the first years, barely suppressing a smirk when it became obvious she was quickly running out of responsible head girl things to say and was quickly delving into just plain messing with the first years. If she tried to shaft him with a patrol in any of the areas she was telling these kids there were secret passages in Cameron was going to leave bubotuber pus in her bookbag.

He was content to linger beyond the group, rolling his eyes when he heard one of the girls was Monday's sister. The Weeks family really had something in for their kids, he thought wryly, nearly walking straight into a girl when she managed to wipe out on the floor in front of him. "If you can't handle your robes you're really going to struggle with the moving stairs," he told her dryly, squinting at her to try and decide if she was too badly hurt or not. "Aine, you should probably start with the Hospital Wing with this lot," he called ahead.

 

[Aine Thompson]

Aine made a small 'ah' of understanding, surprised she was right. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Sunday," she said, politely, before shrugging at the suggestion about worthiness. "Nah, the thing you learn about magic after a few years is that it has a mind of its own, and usually doesn't give a cr*p about status or anything like that. It does what it wants to do." Aine shrugged, though she paled a little as she realized what she said, biting her tongue. "Which, er, is to say, just respect the castle and it'll respect you and not get you lost."

"Alright, so," Aine started, clapping her hands together to try and pull attention but mostly just to punctuate her statement and do something with her hands that wasn't folding her arms or sticking them in her pockets. "This is the entrance hall, and you've all seen the great hall, of course. Over this way is the courtyard." She gestured, feeling a little like a flight attendant. "The clubs hold a club fair out there early in the semester, and there's plenty of clubs to join for different interests, and some cool unofficial ones too. Good way to meet people. The arts room is out there too, you don't have to be a member of the arts club to visit but if you're into it you might as well join 'em, right?"

She started walking towards the stairs, gesturing for the students to follow, before getting distracted by a thump and Cameron's voice. She rolled her eyes. "So nice of you to come and help out, Cameron, that's very considerate of you." She didn't want to make a fuss over the kid who'd tripped, in order not to embarrass them, but she had to admit even if his comment was rude it was a good point. "I mean, yeah, let's head over that way, great idea, Cameron," Aine's voice dripped equal measures of honey and venom, easing off when she turned back to the first years. "The first floor is where you'll have History and Defence, but let's head on up to the third so you can see the Hospital Wing. Don't think I've met anyone who hasn't at least visited there once. Key to the stairs, by the way, is just to be calm and know where you want to go." As she stepped on the stairs, they swivelled to the side, which...was not helping the explanation. Still, she'd been practicing hiding her emotions, and her face didn't betray a hint of despondency. Her eyes, most likely, did.