An Eventful Stroll

Tachi Einar

Interacting: @Tachi Einar | @Fiona Sheehan
Mentioning: All the people in the four linked threads

English | Mandarin | Quotes

The first day of classes.

After a rather eventful first day, Hui Ming had gotten up early and all but fled the Slytherin Dorms. He had had all he could stand of overwhelming oddities masquerading as humans, and required a little bit of time to center himself to face the upcoming day with the kind of poise that would be required from someone of his station.

His feet guided him absently, as his mind worked to process the overload of stimulus that was his experience with the magical world thus far.

The summer camp was a crash course of the wizarding world, of sorts. And the Chinese boy had come out of it distinctly unimpressed. There were precious few sane people in this world, and too many either did not understand the worldview of Muggleborns and fewer still who took a moment to properly internalize how scary or dangerous something as mundane as casting a spell was.

Ming came to a halt, snorting at his own thought process. As mundane as casting a spell, really? I appeared that he had started to get more used to the magicals than he initially thought. Perhaps it would not be that bad? He had Avery to fall back upon, and the boisterous boy could be a reliable friend when he was needed.

A gust of wind Perhaps he should try and make more friends? Miss Decipio and Avery was a woefully short list of allies to have in a new environment after all. A gust of cold wind shattered his ruminations.

His feet had brought him to the gates of the castle. Perhaps a quick walk in the morning? It was not the worst idea. . .

Not the worst way to start off the first day in Hogwarts proper.

A step. The another. And another. Hui Ming was down the stairway and onto the cobble pathway. It was a slow gait, as the bespectacled Chinese boy took in the atmosphere. Which way to go though?

The forest to the east, and the stadium to the west. Neither of those choices seemed particularly appealing though. The forest was called forbidden for a reason, and he failed to get the appeal of flying, really. When put like that, there was really only one choice: the cobblestone road that led south towards the lake.

A deep breath, and the Chinese boy was on his way down the empty road. Hui Ming took in more and more of the world with each slow, deliberate steps. This was happening. This was really happening. He was in Hogwarts, and would be for the next seven years.

How....vexing

Footsteps, as the young Slytherin wandered down the road, willing himself to have a fortuitous start to his time here in Hogwarts. Not that it was something he could quite control, given the explosive nature of half his peers. But he would at least have to put in the effort.

He had put a little more distance now between himself and the Castle proper. A part of him could not help but wonder what the new students (despite being a first year himself, he had been on the castle grounds for a whole month now, after all) would be like. Would they be rude and loud and obnoxious, or quiet and studious? Would they be prone to adventure and excitement, or would they see the dangers that lurked behind the bright colors of this school?

And what of him? Would they see him as conniving, just because he had ended up in green and not in blue? Why was he in Slytherin, anyway? He was not particularly sly or ambitious. He had no desire for power, or to trick people into getting his way. But the Hat had judged him to be a snake, the same as Schneider and Avery. And were they not a trio to speak of. Three more different people he could not think of! And yet they were in the same house, bound some invisible thread that was beyond Ming's comprehension.

More steps, and Ming meandered down towards nothing in general.

Did that mean that there were others in other houses that did not aspire to the purported values that they were assigned? Miss Foster was very much the stereotypical badger, quiet and helpful and sociable. But perhaps he would keep his eyes out for the animalities?

His feet had started dragging him somewhere again, he realized. And with that, Ming came to a stop. It would hardly do to get hopelessly lost before the first day of classes even began.

A moment of confused examination of his surroundings. He was not quite certain where he was, but the imposing castle really made losing oneself rather difficult in the school grounds. There was the lake, not too far way. More interestingly though, there were a couple of people up and about. One of them was sitting on a stone bench, while the other seemed to be wandering, much like himself.

Interesting.

Should he approach? There was hardly anything he had to say to them, and idle curiosity would only take him so far in a conversation. But then, what was the alternative? Wander pointlessly until worry and stress took a hold of him like some sort of infernal cancer?

But that wasn't right. Hadn't he just promised himself that he would go out of his way to keep an eye on the outsiders? A compromise, then.

This was the thought process that led to the bespectacled Slytherin boy approaching the others. Not with a spoken greeting, but rather a silent tipping of his head; a nod of acknowledgement for whoever happened to be looking in his direction

Interacting with: Fiona Sheehan | Hui Ming | Dancelos Grey

One's body clock was a fascinating thing.

Geoffrey and his dad started going on morning runs earlier that summer when he expressed an interest in possibly taking up football, so now he was used to sleeping a bit earlier and getting up earlier to go for that run. But here at Hogwarts there was no way he could do that. There was a rule about it - you couldn't leave the dorms too early, so Geoffrey already knew that he wouldn't have time to go for a proper run, get cleaned up, have breakfast, and then get to his first class on time. Still, it didn't seem as though his body was caught up despite his knowing this.

He woke up extra early anyway, so he spent a bit of time just lying in bed reading (sort of...not really) one of his new textbooks and wondering about what his new life would be like here. So far it'd been okay-ish encounters with everyone around, but he doubted it'd be that way forever. He couldn't be friends with everybody, after all. He already tried that once; he wound up with a black eye and eating a mouthful of sand because of Jeremy Grand, who thought he was way too nosy for his own good.

What caused that misunderstanding? He asked a stupid question, thinking it would break the ice.

He was lucky he didn't break his nose.

And what about class? Would the subjects be at all similar to the ones he knew from his old school? Didn't seem likely. The book he had out (clearly just for decoration because he wasn't able to focus enough to actually read it) was titled Magical Theory. Definitely not in any school curriculum in his town, he was certain of that. But would they teach maths and other common subjects along with all the new, magical ones? He lay there wondering for what felt like ages, asking every possibly question his eleven-year-old brain could come up with, until eventually the clock showed a time that he knew wasn't going to break any rules. At that point he got out of bed, got dressed, grabbed his things and headed down for some breakfast.

He continued to wonder about the people around him as he went, giving the occasional passing "hello" when he noticed someone else in the corridor and smiling awkwardly whether the greeting was returned or not. He really hated being new and not knowing anyone or knowing anything about...well, anything. And it wasn't even just that the people were new. Literally everything was new, right down to having to use an old-fashioned quill and parchment to take notes instead of a notebook like he did back home. It might as well have been a whole new world!

"It is a whole new world, you idiot," he sighed to himself, apparently loud enough for the two girls that were walking just a few paces behind him to notice. He heard them giggle, watched as they hurried past him and looked over their shoulders, and then heard them giggle some more. He sighed again and hurried along, soon coming upon the Great Hall.

The selection of food, and the amount of it, brought a smile right to his face. He let his thoughts fall away and focused on the food instead; he grabbed some fruit, hard boiled eggs, some strips of bacon, a few muffins, and some water before heading back out. The chattering was way too loud for that time of the morning. He wondered then, as he left it all behind him in favor of a quiet moment to enjoy his breakfast on the grounds, if the chatter was only that loud because of the nature of the Great Hall. Large, grand, made of age-old stone.

"Yeah, that makes sense," he murmured to himself, far too focused on his thoughts that he barely noticed the cold as he went along in search of a bench.

Geoffrey found one, though it wasn't exactly ideal for enjoying breakfast on his own so he could gather his thoughts a bit. There were four others already there, apparently making conversation. Was this a sign, maybe, that he ought to start early with the whole trying to make friends thing? And if so, should he follow it? How hard could it be to make friends here, even if he was always awkward at the start?

With a silent, dry gulp he made his way over.

"Morning," he greeted, looking from one face to the next. He vaguely recognized them from the Sorting Ceremony, but he couldn't put any names to the faces. As per usual his nerves caught up to him and he forgot what comes next in an introduction, so he went instead with, "Muffin, anyone?"

@Tachi Einar | @Fiona Sheehan | @Hui Ming | @Dancelos Grey

Interacting: @Tachi Einar | @Fiona Sheehan | @Dancelos Grey | @Geoffrey Donovan

English | Mandarin | French | Quotes

One of the girls (Miss Grey) had asked him if he was a first year. It was perhaps not the most proper way to start a conversation, but she was no Ashwood, at least. The fresh memory of the conversation of taking a dip in alligator-infested waters made the Chinese boy take ore kindly to such a small breach of etiquette.

“Indeed,” he said, carefully enunciating his words. “My name is Hui Ming, first-year Slytherin. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss.”

He managed to get most of that out properly, though a tinge of bitterness remained at his house name. Slytherin? Him? How?!

Just as he had approached the others, more people followed and approached them. A part of him was amused, while another part was equally exasperated. The Asian girl seemed to have voiced his thoughts on the matter.

Did not a single person among the new first-years maintain proper hours, or were experiences in every House as insane as his?

He recognized Geoffrey from the boat ride the night before – Mr. Donovan had ended up in Gryffindor, from what he recalled. He nodded in a silent greeting to the boy, and was rewarded with an offer for muffins. It was a tempting offer, but politeness meant that he could hardly accept.

Before he could quite respond though, the final girl had all but invited them to join them for what was an impromptu meal. That was more than he had bargained for when he had approached. A light conversation was one thing, but with the rate at which new faces seemed to pop into existence in this area was rather frightening.

“It’s quite alright Miss,” he said in reply to the offer to join them. “I would hate to intrude upon you all this early in the morning. Especially as it appears that a meal is in the works.”

@Hui Ming
@Fiona Sheehan
@Tachi Einar
@Geoffrey Donovan