Apprehension

[Theodore Westwick]

Theodore Westwick was the sort of person that would prefer to never leave his house. It helped that it was an incredibly interesting house, one that he loved to explore with his brother. He had everything he needed there. But their parents seemed to believe it was healthy for children to get out once in a while. He had informed them that he and Edmund went out all the time, they went into the forest at least once a day. They had as many fun places to hide in the forest around the house as they did in the house itself. The forest also had a lot of interesting spiders and insects to find, which he enjoyed a lot.

There was one good thing to come out of this, and that was the brand new wooden puzzle box in his hands. Their parents had given them some money to spend in the village today, and this is what he had bought. He didn't want to solve it too quickly, but he was also itching to start trying. His hands hovering over it once or twice every minute. He was sitting on a bench with his brother, both waiting for their parents to finally finish shopping and take them home again. He looked around, this was the same village they would get to visit once they were at Hogwarts. It was something he thought about sometimes, what it would be like to move to the big school. It would be fun to learn some of the things they taught there, and the idea of being able to explore the huge castle with his brother was fun. But there would be so many other people there, so many other kids. Though he'd always have his brother, and he didn't need anyone else. He looked over at his twin who looked over at the same time. Theodore smiled slightly, that happened a lot. "Our time at Hogwarts is coming quite soon. I wonder what it will be like." He didn't have to explain what it was he was wondering about exactly, or that he was worried. He knew Edmund understood him exactly.

 

[Edmund Westwick]

As much as he would have preferred to be at home, there was a certain delight in visiting the village for Edmund. It was so strange and interesting being around so many people all at once, watching the strange and funny things they said and did. It was such a different world to the one he and his brother usually lived in, their world of creativity and creepy crawlies and each other. So many things were going on, and so many of them seemed pointless to Edmund as he caught the edges of strangers conversations, but some of them were interesting to observe, like an old man talking about a knee replacement. They had taken out his whole knee and replaced it?! Fascinating! Edmund had had to resist the urge to stop and question him on it as he and Theodore had made their way from shop to shop.

But now their day was done and it was time to return to the safety and security of home and their own company, as soon as their parents were done shopping. As much of a relief as it was, Edmund relished the rush of these strange, out-of-the-ordinary days in town, so many new things observe and contemplate, and he was looking forward to doing just that. Soon being surrounded like this was going to become the norm, and Edmund wondered how the two of them would adapt. He already knew he was going to enjoy it more than Theodore, Theodore never liked outings like these in the same way. As if he had read Edmund's mind, Theodore commented on their upcoming adventures, and Edmund nodded with a hint of a smile. "Much like this, I imagine." He gestured to the people going about their shopping. "So many people, every day. We'll have to take time to find places away from them as soon as possible." Sure, being around so many strangers was exhilarating for a one-day excursion, but Edmund relished the privacy they shared, and didn't intend on giving it up just because he had to go away to school.

 

[Athena Rey-Martinez]

Athena barely knew why she had decided to explore today, she must have been bored out of her mind at home to come to the village now, without her brother. She was rarely seen without him but Athena wanted to take some time for herself and of course if her twin decided to join her she would gladly let him. Besides, he was the only one she liked being around at the moment. Her parents were being so clingy and the blonde didn't do clingy. Heck, even her godmother was constantly on her case and telling her to do this and that. It was getting exhausting. She passed two boys around her age who looked really alike - twins. Athena smirked as she got an idea. Walking up to them, the ten year old put on her best charming smile. "Hi. Is anyone sitting there?" She pointed to the seat next to them, ignoring how painful this friendly process was. She was feeling annoyed today, so she forced herself to keep on the smile as her gaze switched from one boy to the other.

 

[Theodore Westwick]

Theodore's skin prickled as he looked around at all the people passing them. He felt like they were watching him and Edmund, which he didn't like. He tried to focus on his twin's words, and he could tell Edmund didn't find the idea of being surrounded by strangers as horrifying as he did even though he said they would have to find places away from them. Theodore nodded, though a part of him wondered if there were even any places that no one else knew in a castle with that many people. He bit his lip, what if they were separated? He didn't want to voice the thought, but he couldn't help fearing it.

Then it happened, a strange girl talked to them. Theodore tensed at once, eyeing the blonde cautiously. Her question was idiotic. "You can see there isn't anyone sitting there, can you not? Unless you are wondering if there is an invisible person sitting there." He paused and stared at her blankly. "There is not." Nothing about his expression or body language suggested he would welcome her sitting next to them, he crossed his arms and frowned a little, hoping the girl would take the hint and leave them alone.

 

[Edmund Westwick]

Edmund wasn't used to people trying to interact with them, and certainly hadn't been expecting the intrusion. He watched the girl curiously, a small thrill of amusement running through him as he listened to his brother's response. Was this something they were going to have to get used to when they went to school? Nosy classmates and people asking silly questions? Theodore was onto something, clearly the best way to deal with them was going to be to treat it as a game, they could at least have fun with these intrusions.

"I believe you asked the wrong question." He said to the girl, his tone a mixture of Theodore's disdain and his own amusement. "I can assume from your observation of the existence of the seat that your eyes work well enough for you to be fully aware of the occupation status of the seat. I can only guess that the question you meant to ask was a different one. Possibly whether we would mind if you sat in the seat." Edmund leaned forward a little as he spoke, the barest trace of a smile curling at the edges of his mouth. Other people could be so funny.

 

[Athena Rey-Martinez]

Athena's smile wavered as the one boy replied rudely to her question. Of course there was nobody there, but how could she have known if there was someone there previously? Her patience was already running thin, so the girl rolled her eyes and folded her arms. Cute, she thought as his brother tried to sound intelligent about it. They were having fun, weren't they. Well, they were certainly not going to have the upper hand here - Athena always did and she wasn't about to give that up.

"Listen here, you twats, the question I asked wasn't as stupid as it sounds. There could've been someone sitting there who just went somewhere and then would come back, how was I supposed to know you two loners aren't with anyone? Honestly," she rolled her eyes again. "And clearly, by the way you're talking to me you do mind if I sit there. So..." She grinned, hoping to annoy the two brothers further and sat down anyway, not bothering to move. She examined her finger nails. "Don't mind if I do." That last part was clearly sarcastic, she could tell they weren't pleased by her presence which was just how she liked it. If only her own brother would show up, then she'd have more fun.

 

[Jasmine Wolfe]

It was a day for adventure for Jasmine Wolfe. She had decided to ditch the delights of Obsidian Harbour for the Brightstone Village; a place that she had only been a couple of times but had always liked. There was a nice little park with lots of trees that were absolutely perfect for climbing. She chose a tree that was close to the edge of the park, it wasn't too tall but it had thick, wide branches that were ideal for lying on. She began to climb and settled herself halfway up the tree and lay back as she watched the clouds roll by.

However, it wasn't long before she felt herself getting a little bored so she sat up and swung her legs as she wondered what to do next. Luckily it wasn't long before inspiration struck her when she noticed two boys who looked exactly the same sit on the bench underneath her tree. What was even better was the fact that they were soon joined by a girl and Jasmine knew that this was her chance to have some fun and meet some new people. She couldn't quite hear the group conversation so she hooked her legs around the tree and let her body hang inches above the group. "Hey guys!" she said, announcing her presence, she only heard the last bit of conversation which was something about seats... it didn't seem like a happy conversation but Jasmine could turn that around. "You could sit up here with me, there's loads of room" she said, gesturing to the large branch she was currently hanging from.

 

[Theodore Westwick]

Theodore wasn't surprised that his brother was humoring this girl by talking to her more, but it wasn't what he wanted to do. He knew from experience that if you ignored someone long enough, they would eventually leave you alone. He was sure that would work on this new blond girl too, even if she seemed especially unpleasant. Her entire demeanor changed when she talked to them again, and Theodore was reminded of why he never trusted people to just be the way they appeared to be. Everyone except Edmund, of course. He scowled at her. "Then you should have asked if anyone had been sitting here." She sat down despite seeming to notice that they minded, which just showed him she was a rude person. He could be rude as well, he turned away from her and looked at his brother, now determined to ignore her.

But then another girl popped up. Theodore really wanted nothing more than to leave now, why were all these people bothering them? He gave her a withering look. "If we had wanted to sit in a tree, we would have." He said coldly. "Go away." He snapped. He looked at his brother for guidance, all he wanted now was to leave but he feared Edmund would be interested in the girls in the way he was when they found a new type of bug, and would want to observe them.

 

[Edmund Westwick]

Edmund had expected the girl approaching them to be unhappy with his observations, but the degree to which she suddenly became ruder surprised him. He eyed her as she sat down, then glanced at Theodore, who looked unsurprisingly unhappy at the interaction. How to handle this? Edmund wasn't finished having fun with this irritating girl, even if Theodore clearly was, and he took a moment to ponder his response.

Before he could say anything else though, another girl had made herself known. Had she been spying on them from a tree this whole time? This was officially too many people now, and Edmund scowled at her, joining in and speaking in unison with Theodore at the end. "Go away." He said coldly, and turned his attention back to the original annoyance now sitting next to Theodore. "Would you like to meet my pet tarantula?" He asked innocently. Shelley wasn't actually with him, but he was hoping that most people's fear of spiders would be enough to drive the girl away.

 

[Xavier Mackintosh]

Xavier had been wandering around the village, taking note of all of the worthwhile shops and places he would surely come back to visit after he'd made a friend or two and it wasn't long before he reached a scene that made him raise his eyebrows. What on earth...? Was that a girl hanging upside down from a tree? "Hey," he called to her, jogging to where she was in the tree. He looked up, casting his head to the side as he squinted up at her. "You alright?" Maybe she needed help getting down. It was only then that he noticed other not so friendly looking people behind him. He turned around fully to face the trio. "Sorry to bother," he said genuinely, his attention directed towards the boy who had spoken about a spider - he had arrived just in time to hear the last part of the conversation. "You collect spiders? That's pretty cool." He nodded in approval, grinning. If they did, he wouldn't mind seeing one. Others might have called him unusual but he wasn't scared of much especially not spiders. Xavier wondered who out of all of these people around his age would want to be friends with him. Probably not the girl who by her expression seemed like she wanted to murder someone. Better avoid her, then.

 

[Athena Rey-Martinez]

Athena rolled her eyes again, but was thankful that another girl appeared. Of course she was trying to solve the problem. "Yeah actually, maybe I should join you," she said nodding to herself, and got up from her seat as if to climb the tree. She was about done annoying these two, they were no fun. "Stop being so rude to people, gosh," she said to the boys, completely missing the hypocrisy of her own words. Before she could give a snarky reply in return to one of the twins asking if she wanted to meet his pet spider - his pet? - she was saved by yet another boy joining their little party. Shrugging, Athena climbed up the tree and sent a smile to the girl. "I'm Athena by the way," she introduced herself.

 

[Grayson Wolfe]

Grayson was enjoying his day at Brightstone village, it was good to be somewhere different than the usual trip to Obsidian harbour. The joke shop was a particular highlight for the boy but it appeared he had spent too much time in there because by the time he came out of the shop his sister Jasmine had disappeared. Gray frowned as he looked around the high street trying to spot the girl but he couldn't. The boy decided to give up and just explore the place alone. That plan didn't last long however as he soon spotted his sister, who may have left him on her own but she didn't stay that was as she seemed to have found herself a group. "What you couldn't wait another five minutes?" Grayson asked as he approached her and her new friends. "The fake wands in there were so realistic,"

 

[Jasmine Wolfe]

The conversation had not gone at all like Jasmine had hoped. The two boys seemed incredibly mean and Jasmine narrowed her eyes at the two of them, she certainly wasn't going to be spoken to like that. She pulled herself up on the branch so her legs were now dangling just above their heads and was about to have a go at them when someone else decided to join the party, another boy. "I'm fine" she replied, addressing the boy's concern. "If I were you, I'd come up here. They aren't very friendly" she advised. The blonde girl who had first joined them decided to take Jasmine up on her offer of sharing the branch. She shuffled over a little and smiled at the blonde girl who introduced herself as Athena. Jasmine was about to introduce herself when her own brother turned up "Oh, Hi Gray. Nice of you to show up. I've just been hanging out with these guys" she chatted "this is Athena" she said, gesturing to the blonde girl who was sitting next to her. "Athena, this is my brother Grayson and i'm Jasmine" she said happily "I don't know their names though" she shrugged. She didn't particularly want to know the rude boys' names but the newest addition to the group seemed nice enough.

 

[Theodore Westwick]

Theodore was slightly annoyed with his twin for clearly enjoying talking to the mean girl that had joined them. Couldn't he see it was more fun with just the two of them? Thankfully when the other girl joined from the tree, Edmund seemed to realize it was getting a little too crowded around them. Theodore always enjoyed it when they said things in unison, especially when it unnerved people. Talking about Shelley was smart as well, surely the girl would be scared of that?

But then another boy joined them and Theodore gave him his best glare. He didn't even seem put off by the spider, instead he was interested. Couldn't people take hints? "We collect many things, but that doesn't concern you." He snapped at him. "We don't want you here. Go away." Those words didn't seem to work at all, though. The first girl didn't leave, instead she climbed into the tree with the annoying girl. That was a slight improvement. Theodore was starting to feel like he could breathe a little again but then ANOTHER boy joined them. He reached for his twin's hand without thinking about it, looking for a way to ease his anxiety though he was hiding it behind his angry look. Was this what school was going to be like? He glared at the new boy and the girl that seemed to be his sibling. Were they twins? The girl said they weren't very friendly, which made Theodore roll his eyes. "We never claimed to be friendly." He said with a scowl. "We didn't ask to be surrounded by a group of chattering idiots like you."

 

[Edmund Westwick]

Edmund couldn't believe the amount of children that were suddenly surrounding them. He and Theodore had chosen their seats because they seemed quiet and isolated, away from the worst of the noise and bustle, but it seemed the noise and bustle had been more than happy to follow them where they went.

Edmund squeezed Theodore's hand reassuringly when it found his, trying to think of the best way to make all these people leave. It wouldn't be possible without Shelley, really, and even if Shelley was here that one boy seemed like he would unfortunately want to stick around. "I don't collect spiders." Edmund snapped at the boy, frowning. "I have a pet spider. I collect butterflies. They don't make such good pets once they're pinned to cardstock." He raised an eyebrow at the boy, trying to make his sentence sound like a threat. Now that the girls were away in their tree they didn't seem worth talking to, hopefully they would just leave him and Theodore alone.

 

[Xavier Mackintosh]

Xavier almost missed how alike the girl and the newcomer looked as his attention was on the new boy of their group. He was so close to making new friends, this was fantastic! "Are you guys like twins or something?" He guessed, trying to figure out why they looked alike - and not just in appearance but in age too. Xavier might have been completely off, as with some siblings it wasn't easy seeing who was older. "Nice to meet you guys!" He said, pointedly looking at the two girls and the boy who was introduced as Gray. Awesome name. "I'm Xavier," he smiled. He raised his eyebrow once he heard one of the other boy's words. "Uh no, I don't think so," he shook his head referring to him leaving. He actually wanted to be there, so he wasn't going to go anywhere. The boy rolled his eyes at the other boy, not feeling threatened one bit. He didn't say anything though, choosing to ignore his disturbing words. "Are you all going to Hogwarts next year?" He said excitedly, trying his luck. Hopefully it wouldn't be one of those awkward moments where they said no and he'd have to change the subject.

 

[Grayson Wolfe]

The first thing Grayson noticed was the two weird twins and that Jasmine and her new friend Athena hadn't taken to the two boys and he could see why. They were a strange pair. One of the twins comments about butterflies didn't seem to go over well with the group but Grayson just tried to ignore the pair and turned his attention to the others. "Nice to meet you Athena, and you too Xavier," Grayson added to the other boy who had also joined them, he seemed a lot more pleasant than the weirdo spider twins. "Yes boys, I'm sure your collections are cool and not at all...creepy and borderline morbid," Grayson nodded, he doubted he would seek the boys out once they all arrived at Hogwarts.