The First of Many Open Closed

Leonard Valdelamar hadn't seen this many wizards in the same place since his parents' dinner parties. A part of him was delighted not to have to hide his magic any longer, and another, a bigger one, was completely terrified he'd be a terrible wizard compared to his peers. His aunt Mary and her friend Amelia had come with him, and he was already dreading having to leave them. He'd spent such a good year with them, after all...
But he really wanted to study magic, and see the moving paintings his aunt made, and the creatures that hid in the forest, and every secret Hogwarts School had to offer. Mary had told him all about her time there, and the curiosity had been eating at him for months.
Running straight through a solid column had been more fun than he'd imagined, though he almost expected it to move to the side at the three of them running so fast and determinately. Soon enough his luggage was taken care of and he didn't want to be alone in the crowd for much longer, so he climbed inside the train and looked for somewhere to sit. There didn't seem to be any empty carriages anymore, so he decided to just hope for the best and open the door to one.
"Hello, I'm Leonard." He tried to sound less nervous than he felt. "Is there any room here?"

Bree thought it was immensely charming that the boy was so dedicated to his family. She loved hers very much, but going off to school was exciting for her. She pursed her lips to the side to think before nodding. That makes sense, get in get out approach. I'm excited to learn cool magic too.
Her mouth stood slightly agape as she answered her second statement. How could he not believe in magic? Hadn't he already done it? She couldn't understand the nuances a muggleborn must feel - honestly magic wasn't really prominent in her life either, but she had never questioned that it was out there. She had paused to answer him, when the train door slid open. She threw her eyes quickly to the door, surprised to see another boy around her age. Even though the car had been empty, she hadn't expected anyone else besides Lamik to sit with her so she was right in the middle of the bench. Hi Leonard, I'm Bree. Sure there's room, I can just move over... She bumped her hips to the side to scooch over for the new boy. She had gained quite a bit of her confidence back as she spoke with Lamik and thus she flashed a bright smile towards Leonard, ready to continue to make new friends.

Bree. Okay, now he just needed to remember it.
There was another boy too but Leonard was too busy entering the carriage and closing the door to realise he didn't know his name. He felt more awkward than usual. Quiet by nature, he didn't account for the whole 'having to interact with people's. He'd apparently assumed he'd just find himself somewhere in an adventure and friends would magically appear. Maybe there's a spell for that, and he can learn it.
"I hope I wasn't interrupting," he tried to straighten his robes as he sat down, ten years of etiquette somehow coming back to him in an instant "I'm a first year, I don't know anyone here yet."
His older siblings were in Beauxbatons despite their distaste for French, and he wasn't even sure he would have liked to go with them. Like this, at least he could tell some new tales about somewhere none of the others knew. The thought comforted him, and he relaxed just a bit. He was going home for Christmas, and even if it was far too early to think about that, the idea that he didn't have to stay forever if things didn't work out for him was oh so welcome.

Lamik waved at the boy who introduced himself as Leonard. "Come in! I'm Lamik." Though being interrupted could be annoying, Lamik didn't really mind it in this case. Quite the opposite, in fact- Leonard seemed to be another student who could use help, and the boy had plenty of help to give. "Don't worry. We were actually just talking about how nobody he actually knows what they're doing." Though he didn't expect to be able to guide them throughout the entire year, the young Gryffindor hoped that the train ride would serve as some sort of preparation for the school year.

Turning back to Bree, Lamik decided to continue their conversation. He reasoned that if Leonard was interested in joining in, he would. "You'll definitely learn some cool stuff. You shouldn't have too much trouble throughout the year- as long as you're careful, that is." Lamik thought back to the first spell that he managed to cast perfectly. It was during one of his first herbology classes. The professor had decided to teach them Incendio, a charm that makes things catch on fire. Unlike some of the other spells that he had learned up to that point, Lamik managed to cast Incendio almost immediately (and nearly burned himself several times during the rest of the class).

She flashed a smile as the first-year sat down, grateful that she was now not the only newcomer. I'm a first year too. And yeah, like Lamik said, apparently we're not the only ones who don't know what they're doing. She smiled down at her lap, she hoped that wasn't true for long. Always the top student, she wanted to know exactly what she was doing and why.

After Lamik had turned to speak to her again, her mouth went agape. She looked, bewildered, at the second-year. She was never one to cause trouble, and in fact, the thought never occurred to her. I don't understand? What do you mean be careful? It was true she wasn't that adventurous, perhaps that's why as soon as she got into the Great Hall later that day, the Sorting Hat would not even consider Gryffindor. She was a by the book kind of girl, and yet a sickening kind of curiosity was creeping into the back of her head, wanting to know all the trouble it could get into. Finally the idea was too much for her, and the words came pouring out of her mouth, What kind of trouble have you gotten into?

Had Bree said trouble? That had always been his area of expertise, he was a certified troublemaker in all important matters.
"Did you go in the forest?" Leonard's eyes shone with curiosity. The Spanish house he had grown up in was right next to a forest and however nice the year in London with his Aunt and Amelia had been, he had missed the forest terribly. He'd heard there were many beasts inside of it, too, and the sheer amount of excitement it brought him was entirely too inappropriate to a Valdelamar child. But still, now he wasn't a Valdelamar child, he was a first year student at Hogwarts, so the expectations placed on him had shifted entirely.
"Did you see any dangerous beasts?" He could see Bree wasn't too comfortable with all of this, so she probably wouldn't want to join in any adventures, but girls were always surprising regarding what they would or would not be excellent at. His sister always insisted she didn't want to play hide and seek, but she was a terrifying seeker. Amelia always seemed prim and proper but he had seen her up to her knees in weird paint chemicals and he was convinced it was a well kept secret that all girls were actually scary. He decided he wanted to see Bree in an adventure.

Lamik leaned back into the cushioned backrest and sighed. As rare as it was for the Gryffindor, he had no idea how exactly he should respond. There had been quite a few dangerous events that took place during his first year at hogwarts. Luckily, Lamik wasn't directly involved with most of them. "Listen..." He began, trying to piece together a sentence that could accurately describe the message that he was attempting to covey. "Even at hogwarts, there are people who want to hurt you. Not the professors. Not the staff. Not anyone that you would really care to know. In fact, the chances of you ever meeting one of them are extremely small. They exist though. I can tell you that from experience." Though he wasn't aware of it, one of Lamiks hands had gone to the collar of his robe, which he was now rubbing softly as if trying to get a non existent stain off. "Stick to the rules, and you'll be fine. They're there for a reason. And never, under ANY circumstance-" The boy gave an extremely serious look towards Leonard, the warm, kind, smile completely gone. "-never go into the forest." As much as he hated the idea of giving the newer kids such a bad first impression of Hogwarts, Lamik couldn't help it. Though he knew some of the other victims of that day had moved on, the boy was still scarred. Nightmares consisting of nothing but screams and explosions, flashes of blood covering the walls, and worst of all- the insane, cruel laugh of a fellow student.

A shudder ran through Leonard.
A threat was found in Hogwarts after all.
He wasn't brave in the same way Lamik was, but he looked so somber and serious Leonard just wanted to be able to help. "Tell us what happened."
He was so excited to see the forest, see how it would be different from the one at home, how it would be similar. The thought of never entering it was close to breaking his heart, but he steeled himself. If the problem was with people, though, then that could be solved, and the forest would be fine to go in.
Bree didn't look happy at all, maybe even scared, too. "I'm sure it can be talked through, right?" His siblings pulled some nasty pranks from time to time, it was usually fine. Leonard was a strong believer in people in general, despite being aware of how annoying it could be to deal with them. "And even if it's a beast, then shouldn't the school deal with that?"
Adults are complicated. But they have more power, being adults and all.
Leonard noticed he'd been speaking for a bit, asking questions without letting anyone else speak, deep as he was in his own head thinking about solutions.

She was taken aback almost immediately. To her, this was just a playful conversation, the same way she needled her parents about little things to push boundaries. It had gotten much more serious.
She was used to muggles being cruel, not to her per se, but she saw it on the schoolyard or when a teacher unfairly yelled at a student who wasn't causing an issue. It seemed silly to her that wizards, people who were capable of such beauty and incredible power, would use that to harm others.
She was after all, only eleven, her experiences were narrow and her heart still full of wonder, not yet jaded. She knew bad things happened in history, in fact she had read everything about the Battle of Hogwarts, but that didn't seem relevant in her life. Those were things far from her and far out of her control.
"That can't be true, Lamik!" She turned her head, her mind racing with thoughts. She pondered everything she read about the forest: centaurs, thestrals, even unicorns! And yet... There were trolls, legends of werewolves. She pushed those thoughts out of her mind. Bad things were real, but she maybe was not ready for them herself. Not yet.

Lamik looked between the two kids, just a year younger then himself, and prepared himself mentally for the story. The boy wasn't one to cut corners, and though the exact details of the bombing were disturbing- maybe nightmare inducing, depending on how in depth he got, the two first years seemed eager to know more. With a sharp intake of air, Lamik began to tell the story in what came out as a somewhat melodramatic retelling.

"Look through the newspaper archives in Hogwarts and you'll find the inaugural edition of the Hogwarts Headliner, telling the stories of May, 2019. That issue is all the proof I really have to show for this. See... Back in May- my first year at Hogwarts, mind you, I was walking through one of the tens of sprawling corridors that are contained within the walls of Hogwarts. I heard an explosion coming from within one of the rooms, and saw a prefect rush into it. Of course, me being a curious idiot, I followed him. Inside- well it was an abandoned bathroom. That doesn't really matter though. What does matter was the blood. The blood, the crying, the stabbing, the screaming. In the middle of it all- Kaegen Deathmote, a Ravenclaw, who had built a bomb and set it to explode without checking to make sure that there was no one there. On purpose. A girl lunged at him, her legs speckled with shards of glass embedded into her leg. He pulled out a knife and stabbed her. Three prefects had arrived, and though I was dragging the girl out and couldn't completely see what happened, spells were fired- more screams, more blood, more people dropping. I brought her to the hospital wing, covered in her blood, and called Headmaster Lear, but by the time we got back to the bathroom, Kaegen was gone, and all but one prefect remained standing." The farther that he got into the not-so-well-told story, the more Lamik looked distant and small. By the time he got to the end, the boy had his legs hugged to his chest and his ching resting on his knees.