An Encounter

[Alaska Waterhouse]

Alaska sat in a window crevice, curled up like a cat bathing in the sunlight. The blonde was trying to relax after the stress of sorting and settling down in New Zealand, her jet lag had finally settled, and Alaska was grateful to finally settle her internal clock. The late nights and early mornings no longer working for her. Shifting her seat, the blonde carefully put her hair up into a ponytail.

The girl's thoughts had settled on her house placement; Alaska wasn't surprised that she was sorted into Slytherin, although deep down she wished for different colours. Exhaling deeply, the young American watched the other students shuffling around her wondering if Hogwarts would ever feel like home. Home! Alaska promised her parents that she'd write after sorting. Swiftly grabbing parchment and a quill from her bag, the girl started writing carefully; knowing full well that every word was going to be analyzed by her mother. ​

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[Rory Fergusson]

Rory's thoughts had just been else where in the days following his arrival at the school, it was just so far from his home, and he couldn't deal with it being so, he didn't like the school, it was too much like the one he was supposed to go to, he just wanted to be at home, he would've taken homeschooling over this, after all, this schooling was pointless anyway. The slytherin boy knew that when he eventually left this school, when he graduated that he would end up working for his family, and that was set in stone, without his sister to do it, it was to him as the next child in the legitimate line. However, Rory had to be at the school, he had to be in amongst the others that were here at the school with him, he had to pretend like he was interested, like studying was what he wanted to do.

The Slytherin was walking down from visiting the library, mostly for curiosity's sake, he had no books in hand, and the warm school, had forced him out of the boring room with books that he would never read lining the walls. As he walked down, passing each of the windows with the warm winter sunlight just streaming in, he just focused his eyes on the steps in front of him, and didn't pay attention to nothing else, until that was that he saw Alaska sitting at the first floor at a window and he remembered that long after he'd been sorted she had been sorted too, a slytherin like him, "Hey," he said softly smiling a little at her, "Congratulations on slytherin," he told her, since he was sure she had actually wanted it, "Whatcha doin'?" the boy asked motioning to the thing she was writing.
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[Alaska Waterhouse]

Jotting down a basic introduction, Alaska couldn't write if her life depended on it. The blonde was so worried about telling her family what happened at sorting and that they would be disappointed. Her mother and father had both been in Ravenclaw; the two would joke about Alaska being in Slytherin, and now that she was sorted the girl couldn't help but think it was only a joke to them. Scribbling down a few more generic lines, Alaska placed her quill down.

Alaska looked up for the first time in a while, she had half of her letter done, it was by no means her best letter but it would have to do. Her head snapped up, "Hey Rory," the blonde didn't expect to see him here, she smiled slightly at his congratulations, "Thanks, her voice laced with false confidence, "too bad you didn't get Hufflepuff" the girl regretted the statement as soon as it was out of her mouth. She knew the boy would be sensitive to the subject, he was so set on being a badger. Looking from the boy to her letter, "I'm writing home, I promised my parents" a slight blush tinting her cheeks, who admits to writing their parents?. "Wanna sit?" Alaska collected the rest of her writing utensils, clearing space for the boy.

 

[Rory Fergusson]

The boy smiled easily at her as she greeted him, and he couldn't tell if she was happy or not with her sorting, after all she had been worried about being a slytherin and he had counted her out of it. The young slytherin was pretty unhappy with his placement, "The hat didnae listen tae me," the boy muttered clearly unhappy that he wasn't going to be getting his way in his house, but he had to admit that he did like the idea of being in the same house as Alaska, though their friendship was definitely rocky, he liked her, "But, am glad we're in slytherin taegether," Rory said, scratching his head nervously as he spoke and also turning slightly away as he did so in a clear show of nervousness. As she admitted to writing to her parents Rory gave a small sigh and then happily nodded and took the seat she was clearing for him, he hadn't been able to write to his parents yet, not yet having found the courage to after his bad sorting, "Ah should, but they were all hufflepuffs, so I cannae face them," the boy said, with a heavy sigh, leaning back slightly and just smiling a little at her and then looked down at her parchment where it was written, "Ah will soon, just no for a while, I just cannae let them down,"
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[Alaska Waterhouse]

The blonde felt more relaxed the more the boy spoke, his accent difficult to understand at times but also melodic. Alaska sat, a content look on her face "What would a hat know?" her nose crinkling, because they both knew fair well that the old piece of fabric knew what it was doing. Realizing he seemed upset she quickly added, "If it makes you feel better, you're the most Hufflepuff-esque Slytherin I know," which admitting there wasn't much to compare to; but Rory didn't have to know that. Hearing the boy's statement made Alaska's face flush almost instantaneously. "Me too Rory, me too" not making eye contact, she continued, "Feels better to have someone around you can trust". The girl chewed at her lip, feeling like she gave away too much.

Alaska brought her legs closer together, a helpless movement; but gave the visual of creating more space. Listening to how much his parents' approval meant to him, Alaska felt the same. The blonde nodded as he spoke, feeling like her response wasn't needed. Alaska watched the boy lean back, her eyebrows furrowing in concern, "Don't rush, it'll come when it comes," Alaska had never had to comfort anyone besides her little sister, "They're your parents, they're suppose to love you no matter what," Alaska clasped her hands, feeling hypocritical because she secretly somewhat feared her parents as well.

 

[Rory Fergusson]

Rory smiled easily at Alaska, really despite their weird first meeting, he had to say that, Alaska was one of the people he really did prefer in the school, she was much like him he found, and though he assumed they'd probably clash on certain things she didn't hold any ill feelings about their bookshop disagreement in the same way that he didn't. Rory laughed lightly at her statement, "Nothin'" he agreed in response before smiling easily at her statement, it felt nice to him that she'd say he was hufflepuff-esque, he really appreciated the sentiment behind the statement. The young slytherin wondered then as she spoke of trust if perhaps she too hadn't wanted slytherin, she had said she was likely going to end up in Slytherin, "Did ye no want slytherin either?" the boy asked tentatively, not wanting to annoy her, but curious, certainly his curiosity was spurred on by the way she'd spoke of trust, but he could also admit that it was nice to know someone. Rory wanted his parents approval and he wanted to be a part of the family, but he had also just wanted Hufflepuff for the connection to his sister and the reminder of home he was so far from, "I'll no," he shrugged a little, "Aye, I guess, just want tae please them, and I know they willnae mind me being slytherin, but I wanted to be like them, a Hufflepuff like them,
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[Alaska Waterhouse]

Alaska stretched her arms over her head, she was happy and comfortable; something the blonde didn't expect to happen so quickly in New Zealand. She was grateful to have him, even though they had a weird and seemingly rocky meeting, Alaska felt close to the fellow Slytherin. The realization came to the girl that the two were actually quite similar. Obviously not in large overstimulated crowds, but one on one, Alaska thought them to be very much the same. Alaska laughed, she was glad to have given a good word; she could sense his gratitude, which made her feel good. "I mean, yes and no. I think in the long run it'll be best, although I do worry about getting a bad reputation," Alaska didn't bother sugar coating it, it wasn't something she did. She felt better getting her feelings out, the girl had stressed over sorting for weeks and moths before arriving in New Zealand. If Alaska was honest with herself, she didn't mind much where she was placed but she did worry that her parents would mind. "Well, you'll have to tell them sooner than later Rory. Everybody's different, it would be boring if we were all the same," Alaska flushed a bit, she hated sounding all inspirational and uplifting, she just never spoke like that.

 

[Rory Fergusson]

The boy had never worried about getting a reputation, he had never even given it more than a fleeting thought, but then when he actually considered that he realised that it would be an easy thing to get, "You'll no," he said to her, thinking that the last thing she was going to get was a bad reputation, she wasn't a bad person, not in Rory's mind, just someone who like him perhaps knew they were better than others, "And if ye dae, I wouldnae gee it much thought, they're just jealous," Rory had never really been the comforting type really but he was trying his best with her and trying to make sure that she didn't feel too bad about being a slytherin. The scottish boy actually didn't mind the fact that he'd gotten slytherin for him it was more about the fact that he hadn't gotten hufflepuff, the boy had absolutely nothing against the other houses. He nodded at her statement, "Aye, ah realise," he shrugged at her, but his head nodded slightly, everything was different for him, "Am sure they willnae mind, ah just need tae face the music," he knew that he would write soon, she was right about it, postponing it wouldn't help things, they'd want to know as soon as they could, and one of his cousins had been a slytherin, so surely they wouldn't mind too much.
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[Alaska Waterhouse]

The girl felt odd, letting her feelings out so openly was never her strong suit. Since their second encounter, Alaska had relied on Rory subconsciously; the boy's support was stronger than she realized, it was comfortable although the blonde did fear scaring him away. She smiled at the boy, his comments bringing great confidence, "Yeah, they probably are," she only half-joked. The girl wasn't afraid to let others know how great she is, although others typically didn't like hearing it. Alaska hadn't officially met any of her dorm-mates, besides classes and awkwardly saying goodnight. It wasn't that big of a surprise that she befriended a boy, someone less likely to get catty over her pretentious behaviors. "Yeah, you'll figure it out. I feel it's not my place to tell ya what to do," Alaska told him truthfully. Putting her quill down, she turned to him face on, "Rory, do you promise to sit with me during classes? Especially astronomy, astronomy sounds hard," The blonde had a semi serious, semi you-better-do-it look on her face.

Out of Character:

Sorry this is crazy late!!

 

[Rory Fergusson]

Rory was glad to have run into Alaska, even though when they'd first met things hadn't gone terribly, he realised upon meeting her again, and then again now that he actually liked her, she in his mind was the first person truly worth of his company and that was saying something, and they had an understanding almost, an inward and outward pressure, a desire to not be completely shunned because of house, he wanted a friend badly and was so pleased to have essentially made one with her, and the statement, the promise she asked of him, made Rory smile a little, he didn't intend to get her to help him with his work, she didn't seem like the type that would do his astronomy homework, but he might as well sit with her in the class. Rory nodded slowly, "Alright, Astronomy, I'll save ye a seat," he told her with a smile on his face, "Astronomy sounds like it'll be hard but fae whit ma sisters said, they didnae find it that hard," he tried to assure her, but of course perhaps his sisters would be different from them, and they might find it hard, and his sister had only gotten to the mid point of fourth year, so of course at that level it would be far easier than when they got older. In the classes themselves Rory didn't really intend to do any of the work with a career path already set up for him after school it seemed exceedingly pointless to him to actually pay attention in classes and even more so to do any extra unnecessary work.
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[Alaska Waterhouse]

Alaska was very happy, the sun was still shining through the windows of the first floor corridor, she was sitting next to a good friend whom she admired, and her letter home had been successfully finished. Leaning back against the window, the girl smiled back at him, listening to his agreement made her smile even more, "Sounds perfect, and if it isn't crazy hard we won't really have to pay attention," she laughed; the idea of an easy O was exactly what Alaska needed. The American didn't care all too much about her grades, but her parents definitely did. "Rory, have you met anyone else from our house yet? I've been rather anti-social this week, barely talking to anyone," but the truth was, Alaska just wanted to know if she had any competition. Knowing she was rather unlikable made her competitive when it came to relationships, especially since everyone always preferred her younger sister Marigold to herself.

 

[Rory Fergusson]

Rory wasn't sure how easy the class was going to be but he was sure that with a little bit of help on the side he was going to be just fine, he was sure that he would manage pass grades and really that was all that he wanted, just enough to get him to pass. But he nodded at her statement, he didn't plan on paying attention anyway but it would be good for him to at the very least have someone he could speak with about it, and other things. After all that was half the point of sitting next to a friend. The Young Slytherin was sure to sit next to those he liked or could get work from, which he assumed the former would be true with Alaska, "Course," he said in agreement, and then was surprised as she continued speaking, had he met anyone from the house yet, "Ah've met a couple," he said slowly, "They didnae seem Tha' bad, this girl Twyla she's a little weird, doesnae know any magic, but try's tae say she does," he told her, "A girl named Anabelle, she's quite nice," he paused having nothing more to add to it, "They didnae seem that bad in our house, I 'hink it's the other houses you have tae watch out fae," he added since he had met some very odd people from the other houses, most of whom he was glad we're not in his house.
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