History Excursion Part 2 PV Closed

"Welcome to Europe, kids. If you look down the hill, you'll notice a bunch of Muggle automobobles, which are vehicles they use to travel... and beside those, is our first destination, the medieval cave city of Vardzia!"

The cool mountain air felt soothing on Frost's freckled face. The portkey had transported them to somewhere on a mountain. The spinning around made her feel as if she was going to fall off. Granted it was her first time using a portkey. 

Good thing she had barely made it in time to catch up with the group, and by then he had taken the statue portkey out of his pocket. She had to bustle to get close enough to slip her neatly folded permission slip into the professor's pocket.  Grabbing hold of the statue at the very last minute. 

The leather strap of her knapsack was still slung on her shoulder. The girl checked her leather boot to make sure her wand hadn't fallen out. Sure enough, the wooden grip of it poked out from the side.

Frost had already changed into her muggle clothing beforehand. Just her leather boots, a long sleeved sweater, and some weird denim contraption that was called overalls. 

Professor Wordsworth had brought a tent that seemed to be a lot bigger than it looked on the outside. He had walked inside like it was a full-sized house.

Scattered around like confetti, the students were all in different places, Frost being on her bottom in the dirt next to a girl with dark shoulder-length hair.  

She hadn't seen the girl around before until now, but now she had. So why not try to be her friend?

Sitting up from the dirt, the ginger dusted herself off and stood up. 

"Are you alright?" she reached down and offered her hand to the girl.

The Hufflepuff girl smiled at her. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Frost!"

Frost shivered a bit, seeing as it was cold up in the mountains. 

"Bit chilly up here, don't you think?"

Gee whiz, it was cold. Amanda was definitely not dressed appropriately for this winter weather, especially not in her T-shirt and shorts. She listened as Professor Wordsworth gave them a brief run-down and tried to keep her teeth from chattering too loudly. Shadeglasses, automobobles, what’s next? Amanda thought, laughing to herself. According to the professor, their destination was a cave city, which sounded pretty awesome to Amanda.

When the professor released everybody to go change, Amanda ducked quickly into the little tent, which actually wasn’t very little once you got inside. It’s practically a mansion in here! Amanda thought excitedly as she looked around. She found her designated room and pushed open the door. It was lavishly decorated, according to Professor Wordsworth’s tastes. Amanda grinned and shook her head. That man could be so extra at times. She tossed her satchel on the bed and opened her trunk that the house-elves has delivered. Amanda rooted around for something warm to wear and quickly changed when she found something. She put on a flannel, jeans, Converse, and blue-tinted sunglasses. She looked in the mirror and grinned. Looking good, looking good.

Amanda grabbed a small backpack that was nestled in her trunk and threw her wand, quills, ink, and notebook into it. She then left her room, backpack in hand. Amanda decided walk over to the sitting area. She sat down in one of the chairs, waiting for their little adventure to begin.

The journey was not a pleasant experience. Luna may not have been Muggle-born, but she grew up as muggle most of her life. And much of magic was still mysterious to her. This magic was new to her. And she didn't like it. Not. At. All. Her stomach felt like it was doing flips, despite the fact that they had already arrived in Georgia. She desperately suppressed the urge to hurl. 

As she tamed her turbulent torso, two thoughts turned up. The first was how lucky it was she had dressed for the much colder temperatures. Her heavy coat warmed her slender frame, the leggings she wore keeping the cold at bay, and her signature black hiking boots had prepared for the rocky terrain. She couldn't have been dressed better if she had tried. She smiled a small bit at this.

The second thought was how ordinary the tent appeared. But then again. Magic had deceived her before. She pulled back the entrance flap and glanced inside. And suddenly she was in an episode of Doctor Who a tent the size of a mansion. Professor Wordsworth had even given each of them their own rooms! Luna quickly found the plaque with her name and checked out her room. She was amazed by how elegant the room looked. Not be used to such grandeur, she couldn't help but stare at the room she would occupy for the next five days.  She quickly unloaded her books onto her bed, arranging them in stacks at the foot. Figuring she'd need her quills and parchment, she retained her shoulder bag and proceeded back into the main area of the tent. 

Luna had known Isabella would be here and was prepared to steer clear of her. There were a few familiar faces here and there, as well as a few unknowns. But Luna hadn't expected Professor Henley. The Charms teacher was a picture of elegance that Luna admired. If Professor Scheinberg had the determination Luna wanted to imitate, Professor Vi had the grace Luna wanted to exhibit. So now was as good a time as ever interact with her. 

Luna approached the Professor, curious as to why she had accompanied them. 

"Excuse me, Professor Henley? If you don't mind me asking, what made you want to go with us on our trip? I mean, I'm glad you came with! Don't get me wrong. I was just curious is all...."

Continued from Part One...

At Professor Wordsworth's announcement that the Charms professor would also be joining them, a smile immediately lit up Ami's face. Fabulous! Professor Henley was kind, sweet, beautiful, and knew exactly how to deal with students ready to go on an adventure- everything the History of Magic Professor wasn't. 

Between the two of them, this trip was sure to be loads of fun. Glancing around the group, Ami tried to pick out faces she knew, and make mental notes on the kids she didn't know. The two- no, three girls with brown hair seemed to be unknown to her, along with the caramel-dark-blonde haired kid, but that was pretty much it. It surprised her that there were so few unfamiliar faces in the group, but then again, Ami had been given many different opportunities to go and meet new people.

The portkey that Professor Wordsworth pulled out from his pocket was a new concept, a new term, to Ami. It didn't seem all that pleasant, with the thought of being transported to anywhere in the world if you let go, but it thought of it being similar to a rollercoaster was intriguing to Ami. After all, who didn't like rollercoasters?

Grabbing on to the statue, Ami shut her eyes tightly as the world around her began to spin out of focus and out of control. Giggling madly to herself, laughing at a joke no one knew but her, the Hufflepuff stumbled a bit as they landed at their destination. Vardzia, Professor Wordsworth had announced, was their first destination. Where the heck was that?

As some of the other students began to shiver a bit from the chilly temperatures, Ami was suddenly glad that she had chosen to wear her hoodie and jeans, because she wasn't cold at all. Walking into the tent, it was clear that some voodoo-magic thing was going on, similar to what Professor Cazarez had done to their Unicorn Cabin. Suffice to say, it was way bigger on the inside.

Locating the area that was to be hers, pleased that it was set apart from everyone else so that she could have her privacy, Ami shoved her overnight bag under the bed that was supposed to be hers, sitting on the aforementioned bed for a moment to catch her breath. She was really here... without her mom... exploring all these different places without parental supervision... Awesome.

Keeping her school supplies with her, like they were supposed to, Ami stepped out of her room, brushing her hair back from her face. Wherever they were going today, it was sure to be fun- but it would be even better if Ami also made some friends while she was at it. 

... or she could build on her existing friendships. "Cecily! Hey!" she called, waving to her Ravenclaw friend. Strides lengthening so that she wouldn't be yelling across the cavernous space, Ami smiled warmly at the blonde. "How have you been? Ready to get this party started?" 

Anatole wasn't sure what spun faster: his head or the world around him. As he trusted the toned-down noodle-haired Professor, Anatole shut his eyes. Watching the world dissolve and spiral around him grew to be too much.

Once all the whizzing trees and fading grasses ceased their horrid motion, Anatole opened his eyes and let go of the key. It was now a much colder land with harsher air and it was the type of land that made Anatole's sneakers wet from all the snow. It was only the first day of the trip! He had so much more way to go!

Thankfully, the pajama pants he had slept in were alright against the cold. The frozen-over land woke him up, and the cotton of his pants hugged his thighs and hung down right past his ankles. The very bottom scraped against the cold, but realizing he was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, the boy scrambled to get out his opulent silver sweatshirt. Out of all things, he had to grab one that reflected against the snow and was super shiny. Anatole was almost a walking disco ball.

Tossing his hood on, stuffing his hands in his pockets and zipping up the sweatshirt, the Prefect blew out a heavy breath of air as Alpheus began his second instructional monologue.

Europe. Welcome to Europe?!? He had been in Europe all of his life so far, for what he knew. It was a glorious continent, really, but he had never seen this much snow since he was but a toddler. Wherever this was seemed wonderful, despite Anatole easily preferring the summer months over the torturous winter. The second thing that struck the red-faced Gryffindor was the weird fact that Professor Wordsworth referred to small, four-wheeled vehicles as automobobles. O for effort. Under his frigid breath, Anatole corrected him. "It's...automobiles. They're automobiles..."

This next subject had the disco ball jumping for joy. Changing? Blending into Muggle world? If there was one thing Anatole was good at, it was that topic. And everyone knew it was best he get out of this obnoxious jacket.

He was about to dash into the tent when he noticed another large shadow nearby, belonging to the elegant Violet Henley. She had decided to accompany them? Oh, thank whatever forces that be! Leaving one Professor to ten kids seemed like a stretch anyways. Smiling to greet her, Anatole thought he could survive just a little longer in this outfit to engage in some half-sleepy conversation. Yawning, Anatole swept his hair to the side and greeted, "Hello there...Miss Helney..."

Yep. That's right. Sleepy Anatole had just addressed the Professor by a mispronunciation of her last name. Wonderful impression, wasn't it? "And YES!...eugh...it is cold." Wiping his eyes, Anatole did not look the Charms Professor in the eyes, nor show as much courtesy as he usually would. It was morning. He was not ready.

[font=Times New Roman]"Welcome to Europe, kids, if you look down the hill, you'll notice a bunch of Muggle automobobles, which are vehicles they use to travel... and beside those, is our first destination, the medieval cave city of Vardzia!" Automobobles? What was professor spaghetti hair talking about? Surely he must of meant automobiles, right?

The mountain air made goosebumps erupt on her skin. Even though it was cold, the buzz of excitement running through her veins kept her warm. For now at least. Backpack slung over her shoulder, she ducked and made her way into the small tent that professor Wordy had put up for them.

Looking around the tent, she marvelled at the genius use of magic that was in play here. Even after spending a year at a school training young wizards and witches she still wasn’t used to it and continued to be blown away by some of the extraordinary things others took for granted.

‘We get our own areas? Cool!’ Pushing open a door and walking underneath a doorway with her name on it, she entered a small room that branched off the main one - instantly dropping her bag full of breakable ink pots and bendable quills on the ground.

Emerging a few minutes later in a second, warmer outfit the house elves had so kindly delivered with her trunk, she looked around - studying faces as well as the interior of the tent.

She was faced with three choices - either talk to someone she already knew, branch out and try to make a new friend, or sit alone like the antisocial person she was.

Making her choice, she moved over to a what looked to be a sitting area where only one other was seated. Dropping her bag on the floor - she really needed to get out of that habit - she sat down in an armchair before turning to face a girl.

“Hello! I’m Isabella, Isabella Hills. But you can call me Bella for short. Are you excited for this? It seems like it’s gonna be quite fun, doesn’t it?” She kept her voice happy and polite, trying hard not to come off as rude to this girl as she had to others she had met before.[/font]

Portkey. It had never been Violet's preferred method of travel. When the spinning had stopped and the brief dizziness subsided, she looked to Alpheus with a small, weary smile. For someone so madly in love with Muggle culture, he was a mess about what things were which... From the edge of perception she could hear the boy in the tinfoil coat mutter a correction and had to stifle a small laugh behind her hand.

"Right then... In we go." Turning to the tent, she slipped inside. Despite having grown up in the wizarding world... Despite knowing well what extension charms could accomplish, there was always something so magnificent about a well executed tent design. Alfie had not spared a single comfort, and she could hardly complain. Setting her bag down, Violet rifled around inside, locating the mint green pea coat she'd packed. As she pulled it free she straightened to find she was no longer alone, and a smile alighted her features as she nodded to the girl.

"I've always been quite enamored by History. Seemed too good an opportunity to waste." It wasn't a dishonest answer, even if it was only half of the reason. Still, starting off their excursion explaining she had come to protect them from any potential harm seemed hardly a necessary revelation so early in the morning.

As a second voice interjected, Violet turned to find the boy in silver addressing her... Sort of... And smiling, Violet bowed her head, "Close enough, anyway... Good morning, my dear. Now then... If everyone gathers here a moment, while Alf-- Professor Wordsworth is finishing up, I can pop an Impervious Charm on you, so you don't end up soaked through..."

As Violet worked through the students, one by one, she counted, and between spells, continued, "Right, probably a good idea you partner up. Groups of two, please... And you'll need to stick together... This way, no one's as likely to wander off and get lost."

Mentions: Violet Henley
Interactions: Isabella Hills

Amanda looked up in surprise as a girl sat down across from her and introduced herself. She hadn’t really been expecting anyone to talk to her, let alone try to be her friend. Amanda didn’t know anybody on this trip yet, so she grasped the opportunity to make a new friend. “Hi Bella! I’m Amanda Sparrow. If you’d like, you can call me Mandee. I’m sort of trying out the whole nickname thing.” Amanda shrugged and smiled at the other girl. She was glad that someone had decided to come up and talk to her, because Amanda herself would’ve never found the motivation to.

Amanda slightly diverted her attention as Professor Henley began giving instructions. They were supposed to gather around the professor, so Amanda turned to Bella. “Let’s go get that Imprivious Charm or whatever put on us.” Amanda was pretty sure that she was mispronouncing the name of that particular spell, but she didn’t care in the least. I’m sure the message got across. When Professor Henley came to Amanda, Amanda half expected to feel a little tingly, magical feeling when the spell was cast on her. But instead there was nothing. I guess magic’s nothing like it is in movies. When the students were told to pair up, Amanda turned immediately to Bella. “Wanna pair up?”

Partners. Professor Henley had asked them to team up, causing Luna to swivel her head around, scanning for someone with which to cooperate. Many of the students were already in groups, even if they hadn't realized it yet. It took her a few moments to notice the boy closest to her. She had heard him greet the Charms Professor, and yet hadn't truly paid attention to him.

She should have noticed him though. The bright silver coat made him stick out like a shiny piece of metal. She wondered how in the world she had missed him. But now that she had noticed him, she realized she had an opportunity to both make another friend and have a partner for the trip. Perhaps her fellow student would be able to teach her something new as well. No need to waste time then.

Luna turned to the boy. The exhaustion of the early morning was evident on his face. Luna wondered if he was even fully mentally present yet. Part of her, the more cunning and manipulative part of her that is, saw this as an advantage. He'd be more likely to agree to be her partner if he wasn't really running yet. Most people tended to just go with it when they were tired, just wanting to be left alone. The more compassionate part of her decided she should partner up because they were in rocky terrain and quite high up. The sleepy kid could seriously hurt himself if she didn't keep an eye out for him. Regardless of the reason, the conclusion was the same. One way or another, this boy would be her partner. 

She turned her piercing gaze, not that she wanted it to be that way, to lock eyes with him. Her foster mom had ingrained it into her to make eye contact when initiating a new relationship. It showed you were serious. Plus how the other party reacted would provide a wealth of information about them. "Hi there." She said softly, not wanting to scare the prostrated boy. "Professor Henley said we should find partners. And get charmed. So I'm Luna, and if you don't mind, I'd like to be your partner. What do you say?" As she finished speaking she realized her perchance for detail might be overwhelming the poor tired boy. She hoped it wasn't too much.