A Nightly Walk

[Elizabeth Burrows]

Elizabeth's steps echoed in the seventh floor hallway as she walked. She rather enjoyed her nightly walks, it was so peaceful in the school at night. No stampeding students or yelling teachers. The hall was silent except from the hollow echoes, and the occasional unidentified bump.

Hopefully it wasn't anything dangerous.

Elizabeth ran her fingers along the cold, ancient stone walls and gazed at the portraits snoring in their frames. If only my friends knew where I was! she thought, and chuckled. All of her friends back home were muggles, and since learning about her magical abilities Elizabeth had felt alienated from them. It was hard being different, especially if that difference was magical and a secret. She sighed, and continued to roam the hall, observing statues and walking through the passing ghosts.

 

[Hollie Ridley]

Hollie was restless, and couldn't get to sleep. She knew that whilst lying here in bed, getting more and more impatient, she was never gonna sleep. So she swung her legs out of bed and pulled on a pair of jeans and her new hoodie.
She grabbed her wand from her bed and a chocolate bar - that was always a good remedey - and then headed out of her dormitory.

"Lumos," she murmured, and light burst from the tip of her wand giving her a clear path. She smiled appreciatively.

Hollie took a moment to decided whether she should read in the common room, but she eventually decided the seventh floor corridor. So she clambered through the portrait hole into the freezing corridor.

Instantly regretting not bringing her clock, Hollie wrapped her arms around herself as she crept along the corridor, her wand alight. The silence was rather eerie, and she debated heading back.

However, just as she was about to make the decision of reading in her common room, she noticed a first year wandering around the corridor. She walked over to join her.

"Hey," she whispered, lifting her wand so her face was lit and not so eerily green in the light. "I'm Hollie, Hollie Ridley. I don't think we've met?" Her tone was kind, and warm, unlike the freezing air around them.

 

[Elizabeth Burrows]

Elizabeth was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice the other girl until she was standing right in front of her. "Ah!" Elizabeth squeaked, not expecting anyone else to be in the hallway at such a late hour. She quickly composed herself, and smiled as the older looking girl made her introduction.

"Hi," she said back. "I'm Elizabeth Burrows, and no, I don't think we've talked before. It's nice to meet you. I take it you're from somewhere in Britain? Your accent is lovely," she commented.

 

[Hollie Ridley]

Hollie jumped as the first year squeaked in shock.
"Sorry," she whispered, realising it must be pretty spooky at this time of night meeting a stranger in a white hoodie. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"Nice to meet you to," she commented, smiling at Elizabeth. "I hope you're enjoying HNZ?" She smiled at the comment about being British. "Yeah, I sure am," she said, smiling lightly again. "Aww, thanks, and your name is lovely too. Where are you from? Sorry, I'm not too good on accents. And I don't even consider my own an accent!" She laughed, quietly, realising this was everyone's view. No matter where you came from, you never realised your own accent.

[[lol you're absolutely right, i'm just curious, how did you know?? lol - about being british i dont mind, just wondering.]]

 

[Elizabeth Burrows]

((Haha, don't worry...I'm not a stalker or anything. I just usually read the bios of people I'm in an RP with to get to know them better and stuff. =D))

"That's all right," Elizabeth said. Being easily frightened was a bad habit of hers. "Yeah, I like Hogwarts a lot so far. It's pretty exciting. I'm from Chicago." She smiled. "I don't think I have an accent either, but apparently I do to non-American people." The gray sweatshirt she was wearing was fairly warm, but she shivered anyway. It was freezing.

"I don't think I've ever met so many people from different countries before!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "I mean, my mom took me to the UK once, but here I'm meeting people from, I dunno, China and Japan. I've never been so far from home before." She allowed herself to admit that she was a little homesick. Staying somewhere without her family for more than a few weeks made her a little uneasy.

 

[Hollie Ridley]

((oh right that explains it lol... dw i know you're not good idea btw, saves a lot of time trying to get that sort of info out of people. lol. and makes u sound v. intellectual with accents ))

Hollie breathed a sigh of relief as she realised Elizabeth was ok.
"Chicago? Oh my goodness, wow! How exciting! Where abouts do you live? Makes sense now, an american accent. I kinda guessed, though I had no idea where abouts in America you lived!" She realised she was waffling and hastened to stop.

Hollie laughed. "I know!" she said, grinning. "So many different nationalities!" She noticed Elizabeth's tone and smiled. "It kinda feels weird being away from home for so long, but just in case you're wondering, it gets better," she encouraged.

 

[Elizabeth Burrows]

((Why thank you. ))

"Yeah," Elizabeth smiled, still a little homesick, "America. It's not the greatest place at times, but I love it anyway."

"It kinda feels weird being away from home for so long, but just in case you're wondering, it gets better."

"I sure hope so," she said. "I'll think about home less when I make some new friends. All of my close friends are muggles." Elizabeth shrugged. "I try really hard to make friends, but sometimes my friendliness scares people off," she admitted. "What can I say, I'm a cheerful person."

 

[Hollie Ridley]

[[np ]]

Hollie smiled sympathetically. She knew the feeling of homesickness, but she also knew how it faded away.
"Muggles? Oh, same," she said, glad to find someone she could empathize with deeply. "My best friend Lauren is a muggle, and all my old friends from Primary school. But I've been at HNZ for a year at least now, and I've met friends here to. Like Harri, Steph, Annamarie, Kate, Aiden... I did have Laura and Belle, but they left rather quickly. But it does all get better, I promise." She smiled, remembering how Belle and Steph had been joined at the hip until Belle had left abruptly. "Some people are hard to make friends with - sure, they'll talk, smile, wave, but it depends what your definition of friend is. It took a while for me, and then I became great mates with Laura, who left without goodbye." She smiled sadly. "But never mind. I'll be your friend, if you want. Harri's one of my best friends and she's a year above me." She smiled, hoping she wasn't being too forward.
"And yeah, i know what you mean. Sometimes people shy away from friendly behaviour, which doesn't make sense at all. Oh well, it's their loss." She hoped she had cheered Elizabeth up, and that the first year would take up her offer.

 

[Elizabeth Burrows]

Elizabeth resisted the urge to squeak again. "Thanks for the offer! You are officially my first Hogwarts friend." She beamed. "And thanks for the advice. I feel lots better, and just know that I'll miss home less every day. Oh," she continued, smile slightly fading," I'm sorry about your friends that left. Do you still keep in touch?"

 

[Napolde Amandil]

Napolde rounded the corner and amost crashed into two students. She rolled her eyes, "Can't you stand somewere else?" she moaned, pushing past them.

 

[Elizabeth Burrows]

Even though the girl pushing through the pair was being rather rude, in Elizabeth's opinion, she stopped her anyway. "Hi," she said pleasantly. "Why in such a hurry? I'm Elizabeth, what's your name?"

 

[Hollie Ridley]

Hollie beamed at the acceptance. "Fab," she said, grinning. "And it's no problem. I know how hard it is, being new and all." She noticed Elizabeth's concern and smiled. "Urm, not really. Laura left without warning, and there's no way of keeping touch. I never knew where she lived, and I didn't have an address. I don't even know why she left! And the others weren't like my best friends when they disappeared." She smiled, not wanting to give the wrong impression. "But I'm fine now. It was only at the time I felt let down."

Another girl then appeared out of nowhere, moaning and groaning. How rude. Hollie was impressed with Elizabeth's politeness, but she couldn't stop the comment.
"Urm... well it was you who crashed into us," she said, squinting in the light of her wand. "So, sorry." Then she noticed Elizabeth had given an introduction, and she smiled. "Yeah, sorry, I'm Hollie." She held out an arm.