Finished First Year Entrance 2022-2023

Mentioning @Finley Greer!

Height: 4 foot 7 inches. Accent: Mostly American. Outfit: Standard robes. Dark blue sneakers.

Oh my god. The first-year boat ride. Seven looked up—the moon was a bright waning crescent over the liquid black shimmer of the lake, and the air smelled like… distant storm. Sweating, nervous first year, and distant storm.

The caretaker was a tall, willowy woman with a broadness across her shoulders that spoke of being a casual athlete—she was speaking about the boats behind her, little wooden things that seemed impossibly small compared to the expanse of the lake, that dark sprawl beyond… there were, like, mer-people in there, right? And large lurking creatures? And they were going to travel across it?

Seven suppressed a shiver.

Ooh, moly.

He did not like deep water…

But this was tradition! And it was supposedly very beautiful to see Hogwarts this way for the first time! The crowd of first-years jittered around him, like a mass of tiny silver fish. See, he was thinking of water things already.

The caretaker, Finley, told the first years to get in the boats, four to each one. Seven gave her a smile and nod as he passed her by; he wavered between sitting in her boat (oh, the comfort of adults!) and sitting in an empty one, and, gathering his wits, plopped in the empty one behind hers. The musky, fishy smell of the lake settled over him like a muggy cloak.

Eager, he turned his face out toward the other first-years. It would be embarrassing if no one else joined his boat... so he hoped that... maybe at least one more person would join!

And that he wouldn’t get, like, capsized by mermaids.

Action: Selecting Boat 2.

Selecting Boat 3

Interacting with @Seven Corigault-Seto
Selecting boat 2.

✩ Traversing the Lake - Boat Three ✩

𝒟𝒶𝓉𝑒: September 1st, 2022
𝒯𝒾𝓂𝑒: Early Evening
𝐿𝑜𝒸𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃: The Great Lake, Hogwarts School
𝒩𝑜𝓉𝒶𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝑀𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈: @Marcela Clark

September 1st had definitely been a day filled with new experiences and a variety of feelings and emotions so far from the young Irish blonde known as Alora Shendrow. From leaving her beloved family for the very first time heading to the famous wizarding school Hogwarts to boarding the picturesque sight of the Hogwarts Express to travel from the heart of London to the destination of the school it was safe to say that by the time of her arrival, Alora was more than exhausted by excited all the same to begin her brand-new life as a witch.

Being a muggle-born luckily Alora had travelled on trains before however, it was strange being away from the people she knew and having to start all over from scratch. Although her journey on the Hogwarts Express had been pleasantly filled with conversations and reading two of her favourite things in life so far there was nothing that could have prepared her for what was to come. With the train slowly beginning to pull up to the station, Alora head towards the bathroom to change from her travel outfit into her school uniform for arrival at her new home as discussed with her parents looking at herself in the mirror, she gives herself a small silent pep-talk in the hopes to steady the butterflies swirling deep inside of her stomach as finally, the Hogwarts Express comes to its final destination.

Step by step, the blonde girl makes her way off the train as she steps onto the grounds of Hogwarts for the very first time, looking around into the darkness around her as the students and staff alike begin to gather a feminine voice is heard calling out to all first years instructing them to leave their belongings behind. Nervously doing as asked Alora places her most prized possession her new journal that her sister had bought for her into the top of her trunk swiftly and securely before making her way in the direction of where the voice seemed to be coming from.

Seeing in the near distance the form of a female adult with short dark hair calling out, Alora makes her way across to where she thinks she is supposed to be finding that she was surrounded by children who seemed to be around her own age she was definitely in the right place she thought to herself in silence as she steps up quietly to listen. Learning that the woman speaking happened to be the caretaker of the school by the name of Finlay Greer and that she was accompanied by Professor Farren Horne who taught Astronomy, Alora came to the realisation that the school may also have taught cooking and the art of eating which was much to her own surprise.

Listening to the announcement of how they would be travelling to the school via boat which was a one-time deal before they would attend something called a Sorting Ceremony upon their arrival which was also another special event by the sounds of things when prompted Alora takes her leave to start trying to find the boat to which she would begin her journey across the great lake to arrive at Hogwarts. Thanking the adult women for their help politely, Alora checks the boats one by one nervously before seeing the sight of an unknown blonde female around her own age boarding the third boat alone.

The girl in question had shortish blonde hair and striking blue eyes with skin almost as pale as her own. Inhaling deeply as she took in the view of the moonlight caressing the surface of the lake showing the magic in the natural world, Alora slowly approaches the young girl before clearing her throat politely as she smiles gently across in her direction her Irish accent prominent as she turns to speak. “Hi, I was kinda wondering if I could join you? I understand though if you have the spaces saved for others though” Alora asks the young girl politely hoping that she wasn’t bothering her in any way as she stands patiently on the shoreline.

𝓣𝓸𝓽𝓪𝓵 𝓦𝓸𝓻𝓭 𝓒𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓽: 684 Words

Interacting with @Alora Shedrow

✩ Traversing the lake - Boat Three ✩

𝒟𝒶𝓉𝑒: September 1st, 2022
𝒯𝒾𝓂𝑒: Early Evening
𝐿𝑜𝒸𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃: The Great Lake, Hogwarts School
𝒩𝑜𝓉𝒶𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝑀𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈: @Marcela Clark

The day so far seemed to be a huge blur of high emotions to think just two weeks ago she was inside the four walls of her small bedroom to now standing upon the docks of the large great lake of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry it was safe to say that time truly did fly by. Earlier that morning Alora had been enjoying the final few hours of her family holiday in London with her beloved parents and siblings and now she’d taken a steam train alone to the middle of the Scottish countryside to the place she would call home over the next several years.

Although she was yet to catch a glimpse of the ancient castle as she had not yet boarded the boats to make her first ever entry to the school alongside her fellow peers the young girl couldn’t be more excited but nervous for her new life to begin. To think how much had changed already in the young girl's life was just extreme for a simple farm girl with a dream of becoming a qualified vet working for her family the plans that she’d had in place for as long as she could remember had definitely been changed although right now, she was unsure if that was a good or a bad thing.

After asking a blonde girl inside one of the boats if it was okay to join her, Alora waited patiently for a few moments observing the naturalistic sights of the grand and great lake that surrounded Hogwarts as the light moonlight glistened upon the dark surface before hearing the reply. Smiling in relief the young blonde leaves the safety of the ground as she gently and carefully boards the small rickety boat nervously hoping she wouldn’t topple into the watery depths below. It was another first-time experience crossed off the list as it was the first time Alora would sail on the water or even step foot in a boat.

With where she was originally from the girl was more used to the woods and forest types of area and so seeing a lake so large was completely new to her. Hearing the girl introduce herself as Marcela Clark, Alora smiled warmly as she turned her attention to the conversation offering out her hand to her in greeting ” It’s a pleasure to meet you, Marcela, I’m Alora but please call me Al, Ally or Lora” she smiled brightly responding with her own introduction as she settles into the seat almost grabbing at the bottom of the bench to secure herself to the space clearly nervous to be travelling by boat but trying to keep herself as distracted as possible.

Even though the young girl had already experienced so much that she hadn’t initially expected there was definitely more to come over the next seven years, especially on her first day but being muggle-born she truly felt at a loss. Alora did not yet realise how close the end of her muggle life actually was and in just minutes it would be over forever and everything she’d ever known and believed to be true would be behind her even if she truly didn’t want it to be. Alora probably wasn’t alone in this but the thing with Hogwarts was that a student is never truly alone and that was definitely a good thing and if the rest of the school happened to be anything like those she’d met so far at least things wouldn’t be so bad.

Marcela seemed to be a nice enough person, after all, she could have told her that she wasn’t welcome it wouldn’t have been the first time Alora had experienced that sort of thing so she was somewhat thankful towards the other blonde for her agreement. It was at this point she hears her ask if she happened to know anybody else at the school and smiling a little she tried to find the appropriate response ” To be honest with you I don’t know anyone… it’s my first time here and well up until two months ago I didn’t even know a place like this existed so I really don’t know what to expect bar what the woman back there said and well this thing isn’t doing much for my nerves either” she replies in jest nodding down to the boat before continuing to speak ” How about you? Do you know anybody here? Do you know much about Hogwarts and what we can expect?”

𝓣𝓸𝓽𝓪𝓵 𝓦𝓸𝓻𝓭 𝓒𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓽: 752 Words

Crystal was in a bit of a daze as she was laying eyes on the Castle for the first time. Even from across the lake, the castle looked massive. Crystal could not imagine how magnificent it must look up close. As she listened to the caretaker giving instructions to get in the boat, Crystal could simply not pry her eyes off of the silhouette of the castle on the other side of the lake.

How that the students were free to go off and chose their boats, Crystal was too anxious around strangers to go choose her own boat, so she hugged her arms around herself and shyly followed Alora, the girl she had sat with on the train, as she walked over to the third boat. The Irish girl asked the girl who was already sitting in the boat if it was okay to join, and the blonde in the boat cheerfully welcomed Alor into the boat, introducing herself as Marcela Clark.

Crystal waited as Alora boarded the boat, and then waved shyly at Marcela, quietly asking, "Is it okay if I join too?" Of course, she assumed that Alora was fine with it, as the Irish girl displayed no signs of disliking Crystal after their long train ride together, but, as always, it was the judgement of those whom she did not know that Crystal feared the most.

As Crystal still stood on the edge of the lake, Marcela asked Alora if she knew anybody here, and Alora answered that she did not, as she barely even was aware of the existence of the wizarding world, which was almost the same exact answer that she had given Crystal on the train. Feelign less scared than on the train, Crystal also answered Marcela's question by saying, "I don't know anyone either. I never really was around a lot of kids growing up." She silently hoped that he other girl wouldn't mind her little intrusion into a question not directed at her.

Action: Choosing Boat Three

@Alora Shendrow @Marcela Clark

Mentioning @Finnegan Conner and @EmmaLee LeDames

Height: 4 foot 7 inches. Accent: Mostly American. Outfit: Standard robes. Dark blue sneakers.

Seven's boat was no longer a party of one. As more first-years slowly approached the boats and got in, two had joined his! The first one was a small mousy boy with a snub nose and yet something clever gleaming in his eyes.

He introduced himself with a kind of confident familiarity-- and he'd seemed to pick up on Seven's nerves with an acknowledging joke about the... Seven's heart upticked-- giant squid. Seven accepted his handshake with a smile and said, "I'm Seven. That's my first name." Around them, the lake sloshed. It seemed almost clandestine, being in the boat together, like Finnegan and Seven were co-conspirators or excited fellow countrymen about to set out on a midnight adventure. (Never mind that Seven was from the States, but...)

Seven's look around was interrupted by another student stepping into the boat and sitting down carefully. She almost glowed in the moonlight, with her white-ish curly hair and pale blue eyes. She and Finnegan seemed to know one another-- maybe they were from the same part of Britain, or had met on the train.

He said, to her, "It's nice to meet you. I'm Seven. That's my first name." With the lake lapping around them, and all his nerves, he couldn't really tell what either of them smelled like-- all he was picking up on, if he strained, was deodorant and newly bought robes-- but felt a little weird to be talking to them without a real hint.

Small talk. Small talk. The same thing was probably weighing on all of their minds-- and to the both of them, he said, a little anxiously: "What house are you hoping to get into?"