TIME: early afternoon DATE: 08/28/23

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OUTFIT: casual MOOD: frustrated

KIM LET OUT another violent sneeze as he brushed the dust off of a thick textbook he pulled down from one of the shelves. Covering his mouth and nose with the sleeve of his blazer, he turned the book over to read the title.

"Animal Ghosts of Britain," he muttered under his breath, opening the cover and (carefully, as not not trigger his allergies once more) smelling the pages of the book. It had a musty, pine-like scent, and the smell of something else he couldn't quite describe. Probably something to do with magic.

Magic. I'm here because of magic.

Earlier this morning, his parents had, in a rather unfashionable manner, decided to wake up bright and early and have breakfast as a family, which was nearly impossible since Kim was still hiding in his room ever since his rather dramatic argument with his mother. Still, his father persisted, and instead of eating in the dining room, his father along with his little sister and mother all sat down in the hallway leading to Kim's bedroom to eat their french toast. They opened Kim's door a crack and left his breakfast in the doorway, inviting him to eat breakfast with them for the first time in a long time.

My family can be strange sometimes, he had wondered as he sat in the doorway, poking at his french toast as his mother chattered on about how wonderful Diagon Alley would be and how he might meet some of his future schoolmates there. Kim blanched at this, dropping his fork. He hadn't thought about having to meet new people. What would he even say? That his name was a strange one where his last name / family name came first and his first name last, and that he didn't want to be going to some school for magic folk?

I don't want to learn magic, he had thought bitterly as they had stepped outside into the bleak sun. It burned Kim's eyes after not being outside for so long. I want to go back to being friends with Beatrice and Connor. Twisting the engraved ring on his left index finger, he followed his parents to a strange apartment down the street. This was apparently where the 'Portkey' would be to take them to the Alley, whatever that meant.

It was a rather unpleasant experience, Kim recalled, using that Portkey thing. He had let out a cry of shock when he had touched it, as it had jolted him forward and rather suddenly pulled him inside. His insides felt like they had been twisted beyond repair, and he couldn't tell up from down when he landed in Diagon Alley, breathing hard.

And now he was here, in a strange looking bookstore with strange looking books. He loved all books, he truly did. His father literally owned a bookstore for goodness sake. But these biographies and textbooks were about things he had never heard of. His mother had taken it upon herself to find most of his books while Kim idly searched the shelves to find another book with another strange title to scoff at.

His mother was approaching him from down the aisle now, a nervous smile on her face as she hoisted a basket in her arms, laden with several books with titles he couldn't decipher from here. Kim turned away, not wanting to speak with her, and pretended to be reaching for another book higher up when someone else's hand landed on it as well.

His eyes widened and he recoiled his hand quickly, as if he had been burned. He glanced over his shoulder to his mother, who had stopped and decided now was the best time to check the list and see if she had missed anything. He would rather have his mother come over and try and have a conversation with him than awkwardly apologize to some stranger.

He glanced at the person next to him. To his surprise, it was a girl around his height and age, if not a little older. She had a bold smile on her face, one that phsyically hurt Kim to look at. He never thought he'd seen someone be so happy to introduce themselves to a stranger.

"Sorry about that," Kim muttered, stretching out a hand for her to shake. He knew it was a formal greeting, but it was he was taught to do. He could feel the tips of his ears turning pink already. "I'm..Min-Ho."

It pained him to use his real name. It felt wrong as opposed to being called by his family name, Kim. He was well aware of how his facial expression seemed uneasy whenever he was forced to use his real name. He hoped this girl wouldn't see it.

INTERACTING WITH: @Kayla Realma

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MENTIONING THEM: @Kayla Realma

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28/08/23, early afternoon At this rate, Kayla was going to get a headache. It started out as any other day at Liams house, were the Littles were running around the small apartment; Aiden and Alyassa were once again having an argument on whether or not choclate ice cream was the best flavour of ice-cream there is; Liam and her father were exchanging opinions on whether or not Li should buy a new car. And where was Kayla? She was sitting on the couch next to Jason, making sure the Littles didn't reck anything, while bobbing her head to music that was going through her headphones. But Michaela was so loud, Kayla could barely hear anything. But alas, this was only a small percent of the chaos that usually happened in the Realma household- Cardiff or London. Kayla thought she was finally saved when Liam announced, "Kayla, Aly! We need to get going to Diagon Alley." But of course not. There was silence for a millisecond, before Ella launched into a chant of "I wanna come! I wanna go!" And suddenly all the Littles were facing her and she felt trapped. Curses for being one of the oldest. Why couldn't they bother Jason instead? It took a few minutes, but Nicholas was (eventually) able to restore calm. With promises of ice cream, Ellas gang of protesters finally kept quiet and continued to wreak havoc upon Liams home. Kayla once again cursed upon being one of the oldest. At least they weren't bothered when Aiden piled in the car with Alyassa, Liam and Kayla. Traffic wasn't in their favour, so while they left at around eleven, they only arrived in the early afternoon. Liam had to usher Alyassa out of the car, who was searching frantically on the floors of the car for her hair tie. Kayla exchanged an eye roll with Aiden at this. The twins looked more similar than ever when Kayla had cut and dyed her hair. Obviously, her hair had grown and the dye faded, but she was the unfortunate soul to buy super cheap dye which now tinted her usually rather light hair. Now her hair had a dark resemblance to Aidens'. When Alyassa finally located her long-lost elastic, she pulled her hair up into a ponytail and they finally made it inside the magical alley. They all agreed to split up; Liam was going to escort Aly to buy new school robes and Kayla was going with Aiden to Flourish and Blotts to stock up on books. When the duo reached the bookshop, they skimmed around, occasionally raising a "ooh, look at this" instead of actually looking for Kaylas books for school. Eventually, though, Aiden moved to the other end of the shop, separating from his sister. Kayla hummed good naturdly as she examined a copy of Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland. As she put it back on the shelf, she reached for another book to check when someone else already had their hand on it. Kayla looked over at a boy, who removed his hand from the book as soon as he touched it. He looked a little younger than Kayla, supposedly starting his first year at Hogwarts. But it wss possible he could be in her year too; there were a lot of second years. Although he looked a little nervou, but Kayla couldn't blame him. She was about to open her mouth to apologise, but he did first. Kayla offered him a smile and waved away his apology. "Eh, its okay. You can take it, wasn't planning on buying anyway," she added, pulling the book out of the shelf, handing it to Min-Ho. "Nice to meet you, I'm Kayla. You're going to Hogwarts too, right? I'm already there. Starting second year in September." Min-Ho didn't look like he was in a conversational mood. But Kayla kept the conversation flowing anyway. That was typical of her- the poor guy probably didn't know what he was getting himself into by

OUTFIT Reducio TAGS Reducio @Kim Min-Ho OOC NOTE Reducio :>

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TIME: early afternoon DATE: 08/28/23

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OUTFIT: casual MOOD: awkward

THE GIRL, who's name was Kayla, introduced herself as a second-year. Kim vaguely remembered his mother mentioning how Kim would be attending as a first-year, and that there were a total of seven years of learning at Hogwarts. He had been quite frustrated upon learning that. He hadn't realized he would spend his entirety of future schooling at Hogwarts.

"Ah- yes..i'm attending as a first-year." Kim spoke in a rather quiet voice, running his thumb over the cover of the book he had been handed. He glanced at the title, realizing that..Kayla had assumed he wanted this book. He awkwardly pushed it back into the shelf it belonged to as he shifted his weight from foot to foot.

What to say now? He hadn't had a decent conversation with someone around his age for weeks. How should he start? I actually like being called Kim instead of Min-Ho and I spent the last 3 weeks in my room brooding about being sent to some school that I don't want to go to? He wondered.

He sighed as he finally decided on what to say. "Is..Hogwarts a nice school? Are the teachers decent?" He asked, a twinge of hopefulness in his voice. Maybe if the lessons were interesting and his teachers were as well, he could put up with being sent to such a school.

INTERACTING WITH: @Kayla Realma

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28/08/23, early afternoon "First year?" Kayla repeated, then she grinned. "That's awesome. I wish I could be a first year again...seeing Hogwarts for the first time is definitely an experience worth reliving." No matter how much she oukd sugar coat it, Kayla knew how being a first year was.. The nervousness. The uncertainty. And Min-Ho certainly didn't exactly seem super excited about going to Hogwarts. But Kayla coukd argue that Hogwarts was one of the best places she'd ever been too, the food was great and the whole place was just beautiful. It was like a Disney movie, but without the princesses and knights in shining armour. Min-Ho seemed genuinely unhappy to go though. Or maybe Kayla was just reading him wrong- perhaps he just didn't like her company...nah, everyone loved Kaylas company. Okay maybe not everyone, but so far she only knew one person who didn't like Kayla very much. And they were probably a thousand miles away from her, so eh. Kaylas theory was, however, confirmed when Min-Ho asked her a question. "Is..Hogwarts a nice school? Are the teachers decent?" The Hufflepuff didn't even hesitate to answer. "Its a brilliant school! You're going to love it, I promise," Kayla said, an excited grin on her face. "The place is HUGE! The stairs move, so finding class is a bit hard. It's all worth it at the end of the day once lessons are over. And the teachers, they're all great! I love every lesson. Although transfiguration isn't really my strong suit. Charms is wonderful though- I've learnt so much. And you know the best part in first year?" she paused, about to say, arriving on the boats to see the castle. But she didn't want to ruin the surprise. So, instead she shook her head. "nevermind. Pretend I didn't say that, I'm not gonna ruin the experience for you. But then there's the sorting ceremony. I'm a Hufflepuff. It's always so interesting to watch. Everyone getting sorted. Then there's the feasts-" Kayla lost herself in talking and stopped abruptly. "Ah, sorry. I tend to do that. Talk too much," she said apologetically, "but my point is Hogwarts is gonna become the home you never knew you would ever have."

OUTFIT Reducio TAGS Reducio @Kim Min-Ho Slight mentioning of @Cassandra Ironwoods OOC NOTE Reducio

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TIME: early afternoon DATE: 08/28/23

A PAGE TURNER WORTH CRYING OVER

OUTFIT: casual MOOD: nervous

"THE STAIRCASES WHAT NOW?" uttered Kim with a look of actual terror on his already tense expression. "Staircases are not supposed to move."

Now he was really beginning to regret listening to his mother about going to Hogwarts. And what was Transfiguration? Charms? He was extremely worried now, wringing his hands together as
he thought this over, brows knitted together.

His eyebrows shot up when Kayla hesitated to tell him about the 'best part of being a first-year.' What was she hiding? Was there some sort of induction ceremony where they tortured you? Maybe some prank played by the upperclassmen, if that was what you even called older students there. Kim was naturally skeptical about anything and everything new, and it showed on his face.

Kayla abdruptly stopped talking, apologizing for ranting, even ending with a statement that "Hogwarts is going to be the home he never knew you would ever have."

She was right. This school was going to be something alright. Kim just had no idea whether it would be a pleasant home.

"No no, please, continue," Kim urged, running his fingers quickly through his hair. "I know little about Hogwarts since I only found out I was a..wizard just recently. I need to hear everything." He truly didn't mind long rants from other people, as he was more the listener than the speaker type. Kim would rather listen to someone who seemed to be friendly towards him than the only other person he knew that had magical blood, his mother. He did not want to hear all this from his mother. It would only cause him to panic more.

INTERACTING WITH: @Kayla Realma

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28/08/23, early afternoon Kayla chuckled. She was amused by Min-Hos' reaction. It was how anyone should react being told first hand that staircases move. But it was Hogwarts, anything could happen. "Welcome to the first step of magic, mate," Kayla said with a shrug. "Everything you think is weird is now your new normal." Kayla noticed Min-Ho was becoming agitated. She thought he was nervous about getting used to everything. She made a note in her head that Min-Ho was probably a muggle-born. She didn't want to base this on her very little knowledge on how wizard households worked, but most purebloods or wizard-borns would be this nervous if they already knew about the place. "Dont fret though, no has gotten hurt from the stairs before," Kayla assured Min-Ho. But she had to bite back her tongue from adding I think. Min-Ho didn't seem to mind Kayla rambling. If anything he wanted to continue, and his next words just confirmed her suspicions. But she didn't ask, she obliged and spoke again. "Well, we have like a billion subjects. I mean, thats only when you start first year. As you go on we have elective subjects." Kayla raised her hands and began to tick off the many subjects they had. "Potions, Herbology, Astronomy, Transfiguration, Charms, History of Magic and Defence Against the Dark Arts!" Kayla held up seven fingers, then frowned. "No, there's supposed to be eight. What am I missing? Oh! Flying! Yes, I said flying." she added. Flying was one her least favourite subjects. This was mainly do with that fact that Kayla was lousy in the air. She simply wasn't graceful on a broom than she was on land. But, hey, since when was Kayla graceful anyway? "We fly on brooms. In the air," Kayla explained. "Mostly to train for the two broom sports we have. Ever heard of Quidditch? That's one of our sports. It's played in the air -on brooms- and there are seven people on each team. Four balls- two bludgers, a quaffle and the golden snitch. It's a little confusing if you don't actually play. But then there's Broom Racing- and yes, its exactly how it sounds. But my favourite sport is duelling. Never actually played myself but..." Kayla shrugged. "You should go to that Quidditch store once your done here- or you could just read about it. There should be a book somewhere around here. They have brooms and everything." After a few moments, Kayla spoke again. "Are you a muggleborn?" she inquired. She cringed, realising how rude that might sound. "Sorry- I meant to ask if you were raided by muggles. Since you're so curious about the wizarding world. I'm a half-blood. Muggle dad, witch mum."

OUTFIT Reducio TAGS Reducio @Kim Min-Ho OOC NOTE Reducio :>

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TIME: early afternoon DATE: 08/28/23

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OUTFIT: casual MOOD: relieved

EVERYTHING HE THOUGHT WAS WEIRD was his new normal, huh? Kim considered this silently for a few minutes. He sure wouldn't be used to this 'new normal' for a long time..

He perked up when Kayla mentioned the sheer number of intriguing subjects Hogwarts had to offer, promptly forgetting about his shock from the news of shifting stairs. He had to stop himself from smiling when he caught the word Herbology. He was fond of plants and often found himself outside admiring the flora and fauna, even if he was on his own. His eyes turned wide when he heard Flying, and glanced over his shoulder at his mother, who was still pretending to busy herself with a book a few shelves down. His mother had never mentioned this before.

"Flying? As in, up in the air?" He muttered to himself, now strangely quiet and lost in thought, the look of fear in his eyes gone. He always did love being up in high places, and had gone ziplining once in his life. It had felt wonderful. This game Kayla had mentioned..Quidditch, sounded like something he could do.

Kim shook his head. Listen to yourself, Kim. Flying? On a broom? 50 feet in the air? You must be insane. His thoughts were interrupted by a remark from Kayla about this store having books on the topic, and as if on instinct, he nearly turned around and started scanning the shelves. But that would be rude. He stood still, picking at his nails at his side as the Hufflepuff continued.

A muggleborn? Kim's face twisted in confusion. He was not used to these terms. "Normal dad, witch mum, hm? I suppose that's the same case for me. I believe I'm a half-blood as well." He was feeling uneasy as he looked over his shoulder yet again at his mother, who wasn't even facing him anymore. She really couldn't bother telling him any of this?

Kim cleared his throat quietly. "How do students reach Hogwarts? My mother mentioned a train, but she said something about Platform 9¾, and i've never heard of any platform like that existing.."

INTERACTING WITH: @Kayla Realma

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28/08/23, early afternoon "Of course in the air! You wanna fly underground, mate?" Kayla joked as she saw Min-Ho's expression quickly brightened. Kayla personally never liked brooms, but she was glad someone did. As Kim confided in her that he was also a half blood, and the exact way she was a half-blood too. Kayla grinned and laughed a bit. "Twins! Dont actually tell my twin...I already have one," Kayla added in a stage whisper. Aiden was probably wondering around the shop with her list, picking books off the shelf. The thought made her shiver. Aiden never properly grasped the concept of wizard money, so he could be spending her galleons senseless right now. That wasn't a happy thought. Kayla immediately snapped from her thought process as Kim talked about platform 9 and 3/4. His innocence was admirable and almost a mirror of her anticipation when she got her own hogwarts letter. "Its quite simple actually," Kayla admitted witha shrug. "Between platform 9 and 10, it's not visible to muggle eye, see. It's concealed for us. So we just have to kind of run through the middle with your trolley and everything, and you'll find yourself. The train and everything. It's quite scary feeling like you're going to crash but...you get used to it." Kayla felt like she explained it quite well. It was the best way she could probably get Min-Ho to understand, without sounding like a complete psycho that is. "Make sure you dont hesitate too. Just like run or else you can maybe fall on the other side. Its just a maybe not guranteed though-" Kayla cut herself off as she heard a 'kayla!' behind her. She saw Aiden, holding her stuff in a im waiting for you! expression. Kayla looked at him and waved him off. "I suppose I'll see you at Hogwarts," Kayla said, nodding to him. "See you, mate!" Kayla saluted to him and rushed off to her brother. "Youre such a dork," Aiden mumbled as she reached him. She rolled her eyes. "A, do I need to go over this again? We are twins..." The two went off with their friendly banter, to finish their shopping and maybe get ice cream. What a day.

OUTFIT Reducio TAGS Reducio @Kim Min-Ho OOC NOTE Reducio Kayla has left the thread

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