Change of Scenery and People

[Kovu Lothorien]

Kovu held a reasonably large bag over his shoulder with care as he stomped up the North Tower. Why were there so many stairs at Hogwarts? Was it like this at all the schools? Taking two at a time when he was almost at the top, Kovu let out a breath as he reached the landing. Stepping towards the window, Kovu knew instantly that it was worth it. He had wished to be at the lake front, in a warm breeze looking over the lake. Being Winter however, he couldn't get exactly what he wanted. This, however, was almost better. A small shower of rain fell from the sky and from his window at the North Tower, Kovu could still look out over the lake, where the giant squid was appearing above the water to soak up the raindrops.

Kovu slung the bag off his shoulder and placed it against the wall. Inside held his violin, which he had intended to play, but after hearing the echo of his feet on the steps, he decided he wouldn't draw that much attention to himself. He didn't want a repeat of his old school. He had come to Hogwarts specifically to get away from all that. Some old habits died hard, but he had a new name for himself here. He could be anyone he wanted to be. He briefly imagined what it would be like for him if he'd attending Durmstrang with his brothers instead of coming here. It would be horrible. His brothers loved him, but they were all rough as guts and everyone knew who they were at Durmstrang. If Kovu had been forced to live in that shadow, he didn't know if he could take it.

Kovu sat down against the wall next to his violin and took it out of the bag. He ran his fingers along the strings, and practised silently without using the bow. He was kind of glad his parents had made him learn the instrument when he was of a young age, because now it meant that he had quite some skill with it. Music was one of the things muggles had definitely done well.

 

[Tybalt Archer]

As with most other things, The Gryffindor felt somewhat afraid. It was a new place. He didn't know anyone, and his only connection to the magical world was his mama. A woman who clearly wasn't there right then. The young boy was however making the most of finally being able to get some decent sleep. The car their family had was by no means big and it was most definitely not comfortable. His back had ached every time he had attempted to sleep. It was why, currently, even if he was not actually asleep the young Gryffindor chose to hide under his covers in the very comfortable bed he was no able to call his own. Tybalt was underneath the covers that day, lying on his back with his eyes closed. His roommates had left long before, this point in time. But the young boy had not been interested in following, he had not been interest in getting out of bed, and socialising. He had pretended that he was just very tired so therefore also and pretended to snore very loudly for little bit of extra effect. This had served him well, as he was alone. The young colourblind boy knew that he could not just hide forever. He could not cower away in his bed using the excuse that he hadn't had a bed in a while, he was a Gryffindor. He had to get up and do something with his day. Go on an adventure like the ones his roommates went on about. So reluctantly the young boy pulled the covers off and dragged himself out of bed. He grabbed his glasses from his beside table and headed towards the bathroom. He took a quick shower and then walked back into the main dorm room. He quickly went to his wardrobe and opened it, rubbing the slight steam away from his glasses. He took out the same bit of paper that he always did and reviewed it as he picked out his clothes. He in the end picked out a simple t-shirt and jeans combination and his oversized dark grey jumper. Since it was actually winter in New Zealand and not the nice lovely constant summer that he had had in Georgia. It had once been his da's and Tybalt had been happy to take it once he had decided that it wasn't for him anymore. It was why it was so much bigger on him that it should be. Most of his clothes were, since Tybalt was a very small boy, but this jumped seemed even bigger.  But it was not something he worried about. Despite his Archer style luck in growth so far he was still holding out for a small spurt that would help him on his way to being just that little bit taller. He was sur he would have less issues with ours if he was just that little bit taller. Tybalt pulled on his shoes and then from within the drawer pulled out his contact lenses. He always put them on while also keeping his glasses because without the glasses he could even see the lenses. The colourblind boy had the worst sight possible. He actually hated touching his eyes. He hated having to put his fingers near them but he had to. For his own sake. And so he would not actually have to wear glasses. Once that was done, Tybalt put his glasses back into there case and then into his drawer before heading out of the dorm room.

Once out of the entire house, the young Gryffindor wondered where he could go. The whole school was just in front of him. He just had to go where his feet chose to take him. This was odd since he just had no idea where anything was. So he had no idea where he would be heading if he was going anywhere. In the end Tybalt, despite his better judgement decided that the place for him to go would be up. There seemed to be no harm in heading higher than where he was already, mostly since in Gryffindor house he was having to face it. He wasn't great with height but he was also not awful with them. He knew that he was safe, and he had climbed man a tree but he was always more afraid of falling to the floor. He knew that it was unlikely, but he was willing to give it a go. The only way up from Gryffindor houses, was down two flights of stairs, along a small corridor and up three. The boy walked slowly, trying to figure out what was around him. He didn't really know what was much higher than the house he lived in. In the end he knew that heading up would serve him well. Knowing which classes would be harder or just longer to get to compared to others. What he stumbled upon was actually the north tower. Probably one of Hogwarts highest towers. He wasn't sure what there was up at such a height. He knew they did astronomy so he figured that it was something taught so high up. It turned out that like most places in Hogwarts there was already somewhere there. There was already in the spot where he would've probably sat. But he wasn't going to turn. Instead he decided that the next best thing to do was to watch the person. The person was a boy, who looked about his age. Though he could've been wrong since the light coming from the window made it difficult for the young colorblind pre-teen to make out who it could be. He noticed the violin beside the boy. In the boys hands he seemed to be doing something with it, something he didn't quite make out. This sparked his curiousity. He didn't want to bother the boy but he was interested enough to want to know. He sighed slightly before taking a long breathe. Tybalt stepped out and walked over to where the boy was. "Hi, you been playing long?" Tybalt said his voice barely above a whisper, the usual southern twang he had playing on his words. It was a thing he has for as long as he could remember. Much like the dent on his nose where a break had not healed probably. Tybalt briefly met the boys eyes, his bright blue slightly hopeful of someone who want to be his friend, as well as being full of pride at how he had managed to go up to someone else to talk to. It was a step in the right direction. 
​

 

[Kovu Lothorien]

Moving his fingers in different cords, Kovu felt a sense of calm wash over him. It was incredible how relaxing playing an instrument could be. Of course, it wasn't always like that. He had been put under a lot of pressure as a child to learn it. To get it right. To match the standard his brothers had at their instruments. It wasn't so much his parents putting that pressure on Kovu, as it was his own personal pressure that he was putting on himself. He strived for the best. To be noticed above others. This was a factor that contributed to his bullying in his previous school. No one likes a show off. But Kovu know he was good at the violin and he had worked hard to achieve that level of excellence.

Kovu had almost spaced out completely, his mind instinctively playing the silent tune on his violin, when he jumped back into reality by a small voice. Kovu hadn't even noticed anyone coming up the stairs. Compared to Kovu's stomping loudly up the tower, the small boy that stood in front of him made very little noise at all. It took the Slytherin a few seconds to realise what the boy, who looked no older than Kovu, had said. As it sunk in, Kovu looked down at his instrument and stopped moving his fingers along the strings. He settled it down in his lap. "Uh, quite a while actually. Since I was about six. So like, five years?" Kovu admitted. He knew he still had a lot to learn, but being only eleven years old, Kovu thought playing for half of his life was quite impressive.

Looking back up from his violin to the boy, Kovu again took in his small appearance. "Are you a first year?" he gambled, thinking it would be unlikely he was much older. The boy looked harmless and he had been kind enough and bold enough to strike up a conversation, so Kovu would go along with it. It was refreshing not to have eyes immediately judging you.

 

[Tybalt Archer]

A part of the young pre-teen was very wary of what he had just done. There was really no telling how the boy would react to him going over to him. Tybalt wasn't good after the initial introduction mostly because that was only as far as he generally got. Most people realized who he was and left him alone. It had been quite lonely. He was hoping for something different. He was wishing that here at Hogwarts things would be different and just maybe. He was a fairly hopeful kind of guy. He worked hard enough he knew he could achieve it. He was a Gryffindor. He was in the house of all those that were brave, who were able to achieve highly and then there he was. He wasn't like any of the rest. He had found it difficult to talk to his roommates, so this going wrong would be disasterous. It would be awful. It really would be. He didn't know how this other boy would react to him. He'd interrupted the practice he'd done the wrong thing. He wasn't sure. He jadn'r had any friends to interrupt before. It was a going to be a 50/50 chance on it being rich or wrong. Tybalt was glad he had chosen to not wear his glasses. He hardly wanted to give more for him to bully him with it it turned out that he'd done wrong. However the habit of touching his nose to push up his glasses existed still when he didn't have them in. The colourblind Gryffindor scratched his nose, keeping the light blue eyes glued to the violin the boy had. Boy no older than him, but he was sure a hell of a lot more talented than him. He didn't ever think that he's missed out because he didn't know any instruments. It didn't entire matter to him. In fact he was pretty happy with what he knew. Learning to play an instrument would be hard enough being unable to see well would not help in the slightest. he rather not think about it. He would rather block it out his mind, but he never felt at a lose unable to see colour. In fact he was perfectly happy with what he had. This was just to be another thing that happened. The boy would've had more drive and USB he had, he just had to focus very hard on writing and reading learning an instrument at the same time would not have been possible. He didn't know what he'd missed by not being able to, but he was sure it wasn't much. The young boy was okay with it. Music wasn't something he did much of apart from in muggle school and that class had been one of the worst. The Gryffindor noted that he didn't recognize the boy from his house. He hadn't seen many of the other boys but he couldn't remember this guy at all.

When the other guy spoke, Tybalt sighed in relief. For now it seemed like he had done nothing wrong. He had only just been a very normal person who had gone up to someone. The boy had been playing the violin a long time, he didn't know how hard it would be to learn so he was very impressed. All he wanted to see now was the guy playing. He wasn't going to, but Tybalt was curious. Why would he be. The boy glanced up at the other boy in front of him. his light blue eyes meeting the other boys eyes. Smiling ever do slightly to show he was interested. "That is impressive." Tybalt added quietly. His accent strong compared to the New Zealand accent. He nodded at the second question. He was a small boy, he couldn't pretend to be much older than the age he actually was. "Yeah, I am." Tybalt thought being vocal about it would be better and a lot more friendly. "Tybalt," he introduced himself to the other boy, giving as friendly a smile as he could muster. He wasn't very good at introducing himself, something het at seemed to change from person to person. Some tended to say both names, others just the one. It was a little confusing for him, he never knew which to use for which person, but he realised that it didn't matter all that much. If he was first, he would vary between the two. Unless the other person was first and he just copied what she or he ended up doing.
​

 

[Kovu Lothorien]

Kovu grinned a little as the boy said it was impressive. He suppressed the urge to add, just wait until you hear me play. He had sworn to himself he wouldn't give people that impression while he was at Hogwarts. It was difficult to stop his mouth going sometimes. Kovu had virtually no brain-to-mouth filter. He said whatever was on his mind, even if it wasn't the best thing to say at the time. It had landed him in quite some trouble over the years, so he swore he would try as hard as he could not to be that guy while he was here. It tended to be harder to suppress his words if he was faced with someone intimidating or someone that might be a challenge to Kovu, however this boy showed no threat at all, so it was much easier to keep his words inside.

"Me too," Kovu said in his English accent after the boy had confirmed that he was in fact a first year. Kovu took the violin out of his lap and placed it against the wall with his bag. He then stood up, he felt a bit odd sitting on the floor while talking to the other boy. He was a bit taller than the boy, but then the boy was rather small. Kovu was currently going through a much needed growth spurt. All his brothers had gotten them younger and had always been quite large children. Kovu's was taking its sweet time. Finally though, he was growing, slowly but surely.

When the boy introduced himself, Kovu was glad to be standing. Having a proper pureblood upbringing, Kovu had learnt that an introduction was always important in making a lasting impression. Tybalt was the other boys name. Kovu was curious as to his last name, but didn't think it necessary to ask. "I'm Kovu L-" the young Slytherin stopped before saying his own last name. It had always seemed important for people to know which family he came from, but he was at Hogwarts now, making his whole 'fresh start' thing happen. He didn't need to tell people who he was here. "Nice to meet you," he said instead and he held out his hand for the other boy to shake. This was purely out of habit more than anything else. "So which house did you get sorted into?" Kovu asked, he still wasn't entirely sure about the houses. The sorting hat had kind of given some what of an indication, but Kovu still didn't get it.

 

[Tybalt Archer]

Glad to hear that the boy was a first year he smiled. He smiled and gave a slight nod of the head in understanding. He was very glad to hear that the boy was in his year. He didn't think he wouldn't be, the boy in front of him looked not too much older than him. Taller yes, but Tybalt was just very small he wasn't really the right kind of mark to go off when it came to height in comparison with age. He was just happy to know that someone in the first few seconds of meeting hadn't either walked away or hit him. Which was how it used to go. Now, in New Zealand things had been different. People were just a lot more open, a lot nicer in general. Which was good, because Tybalt had been a little tired of everyone always just being a little mean to him. He was always hopeful that when they moved that things would instantly get better. And while they were a lot better than how they had previously been it didn't make them really that much better. It just made it slightly easier to pretend that he wasn't so lonely. This school was yet to unleash the bullies on to him. They were yet to show him the darker side of the school that wouldn't like most of what Tybalt was. A weak gryffindor. A not so brave little lion. One that could be easily picked out and targeted, he didn't have a huge sign on his back, but he may as well have considering how the people had once treated him. He was colourblind too, while this was less obvious that his own fear, and his height, it was another things that pretty much defined everything that he did. He couldn't really play sports because of it. He couldn't really do much in directly sunlight, and everything took him a hundred times longer to do than it would for most other people. For anyone a little more normal than him. Tybalt glanced up at the boy, looking from the violin and then back up at the boy. He wondered how much a violin even cost. In there house there had been a few guitars and that had been all. He couldn't play, and as far as he was concerned he wouldn't ever be able to, because no one in their right mind would actually let him play. He wasn't going to be much of an asset to the team if he didn't know how to play. He didn't know what sport they even offered at Hogwarts. it was something that was probably very magical and therefore incredibly difficult for him to play. Which was also why he had no intention of ever trying.

The boy introduced himself as Kovu, which Tybalt thought was a pretty odd name. But, he could hardly say anything considering his name was Tybalt. Tybalt's name wasn't incredibly popular anywhere, all he knew was that it was in a piece of literature that was in fact very old. For all the color-blind boy knew, Kovu was actually an incredibly popular name. Although the boy's accent sounded more english than the usual Kiwi accents that were heard. For all he knew the name was just more popular amongst magical folk, and since Tybalt hadn't really grown up around magic, it wasn't really like he was going to know. The town he had spent the most parents of his life in was actually a very muggle place. As far as they knew they were the only family with any connection to the wizarding world, and it had been purely by accident that his mother had ended up being a witch. Muggleborn, it was good though. Tybalt was pleased, it made him in many ways feel better than all the other people in the little town they had called home. "Nice to meet you too." Tybalt replied. He took the next question lightly, he didn't really want to say he was a gryffindor because he didn't feel like one, but he also had no intention of lying about it. Even if he didn't feel like one, Tybalt was now a Gryffindor, the only Gryffindor who strongly believed he did not belong in such a house. "Gryffindor, you?" There was no point in fretting, this may spell the end of the possible friendship, but Tybalt was sure the more people he told about him, the more he acknowledged it, then the more likely he was to start believing it.
​

 

[Kovu Lothorien]

Gryffindor. That was the boys house. From what the sorting hat had said, Gryffindors were meant to be brave. Kovu didn't want to be one to judge, but unfortunately his upbringing had pinned that upon him. His parents weren't exactly pureblood supremacists or anything like that, but they weren't exactly completely for muggleborn and pureblood mix. They still believed that a pureblood, to keep the bloodline going, should be with another pureblood. That theory had been explained to Kovu during his childhood, as well as others, like keeping up appearances of the family name. It was things like this that made it hard for Kovu not to judge others. Which is why he was now looking at the small boy and wondering how he could be brave. A small image of the boy trying to fight a dragon came to mind and Kovu just couldn't see it happening.

"I'm a Slytherin," Kovu said. The sorting hat had told him it was his desire to be set apart that had placed him in Slytherin. It could be a strange house at times. A lot of people in there were cold and unfriendly. He assumed Slytherins had worked up a bad name for themselves because of that. However, they weren't all this way. Kovu didn't consider himself an unfriendly person. "What's Gryffindor like?" Kovu asked, "Hopefully better than the cold Dungeons where Slytherin is." Kovu wasn't really a fan of the Slytherin common room, he tried to avoid it at all costs, which was another reason as to why he was up in the North Tower. He loved the sunshine and being outdoors. He didn't want to be cramped down in the dark and cold.

 

[Tybalt Archer]

Houses, had never been on the front of the preteen's mind. He had never really thought about them, and they had never actually made him think too hard. In his eyes, he really wasn't any of the houses. Tybalt had somehow done well and gotten himself sorted into Gryffindor. Which was a nice feeling. The house so far had been great. It had been a lot friendlier than anything he was used to, and it was just cosy. He hadn't been there long but he was pretty happy with how things had been going so far. His confidence had not really improved much. It just was something that he knew would eventually come, but for now he was perfectly happy to just pretend that he did knew what he was doing. To pretend that he was a good member of his house, and not that the little things scared him. To pretend that really he wasn't the completely wrong person to put in a house life Gryffindor. He didn't think of himself as Noble or brave, however this wasn't really saying much considering that he pretty much thought very little of himself. Tybalt thought he was the most self guy on the planet, when in fact he'd be classed as one of the more selfless. Tybalt cared a lot about people. He had always worried when people got hurt. When the kids at his last school had been beating him up, he had always been somewhat worried about bystanders getting hit. And the guys who hit him. He didn't wish any evil upon them. All he really wanted was an apology. He cared about people more than his desire to get revenge for what they had done. That was thankfully in the past, and he no longer had to give much thought to it. In the matter of houses, Tybalt had seriously been wishing that out of all the houses, being a slytherin would've been the worst for a boy like him. He would've been the world's easiest target, and that would even be before anyone found out that he didn't see the world like anyone else did. The boy standing in front of him had been sorted into Slytherin. Tybalt hadn't really thought he was a Slytherin but until people started putting on the uniform he wouldn't know. And he wouldn't learn through colour. Tybalt was pretty excited for classes, and he was excited to share the classes with those around him. With his classmates, those in the same house as him and those not. What he was aware of, despite not knowing much about Hogwarts was that the two houses Gryffindor and Slytherin was meant to hate each other. He couldn't see how it would be possible for such a thing to happen.

It had been his brother who had taught him everything that he knew about Hogwarts. The brother who had more research on Hogwarts than he had ever done on any project in school. Tybalt hadn't really wanted to get his hopes up too much. He didn't want to have to be the incredibly happy preteen who then doesn't get accepted. It would've been a little more than just a little bit awkward. He also didn't know what to say to the boy being slytherin. Did they shake hands, part ways and become enemies. Tybalt thought that it was a little early in the day to be making enemies. "Gryffindor?" Tybalt paused, how to describe it, he wasn't quite sure. "It's nice. Warmer, I assume. But, a lot of people in Gryffindor are very daring. I feel a little out place." Tybalt added with a shrug. He didn't really know of the other houses well enough to know if the daringness was a purely Gryffindor thing, or if it encompassed a lot more that wasn't really worth thinking about. Houses seemed like a silly idea to the young male. He thought it was the weirdest thing to split kids up by their personalities. Wouldn't that just drive most to purely being like the house, becoming so invested that they couldn't be anything other that what the house expected from them. "I'm looking forward to classes starting, at least it'll give me something to do rather than just wandering around" Tybalt figured that if Kovu was still in front of him even if Tybalt was a Gryffindor then it didn't really matter that he was. That it would, at the end of the make no difference.
​

 

[Kovu Lothorien]

Kovu couldn't help but feel a little envious about the boys placement in Gryffindor. Kovu had heard that the Gryffindor common room was up high in the castle somewhere. Kovu was born and raised in England, so you could say he was fairly used to the cold, but that didn't mean he liked it. He waited around all year for it to be Summer again so he could soak up the warmth and be outdoors and generally enjoy the sunshine and heat. Being hauled up underground wasn't Kovu's idea of fun. He turned and walked to the window and stared down at the view below. He would much rather prefer a view like this and as cool being able to see underneath the lake through the windows of the Slytherin common room was, this would be better. Rain was still slightly sprinkling over the grounds.

"Are you not daring?" Kovu asked, turning his head back to Tybalt. After he said it, the words seemed a little invasive, but he'd meant it in a way, that everyone had their own reasons to be brave. Sometimes bravery wasn't measured in strength or daring. Although it was sure easy to look at it that way. Kovu considered himself brave because he had to put up with three older brothers. He considered himself brave, because of the amount of bullying he'd received and how he hadn't let it bring him down. It had hurt at the time and he'd built a small guard around himself because of it, but he still wouldn't let it change who he really was. He wouldn't be ashamed of himself. That was bravery wasn't it?

Kovu nodded in agreement at being excited for classes to start. "I'm excited for flying lessons more than anything. I've been playing Quidditch with my brothers for as long as I can remember, so at least I know I'll be good at one class," he said with a laugh. He really didn't know how well he would do at everything else. He'd never tried potion making before or anything like that. He guessed it didn't really matter what kind of family you grew up in, you were really thrown into learning on the same level as everyone else, because you're not allowed to do magic until you reached Hogwarts.

 

[Tybalt Archer]

Tybalt was not daring. He didn't think of himself as daring, not in any definition of the world. He panicked at the slightest thing, and his life was pretty much driven by how much something scared him. If this conversation scared him too much, then he would happily walk away. It was all about avoiding getting hurt. Which would work only as well as it could if he kept himself around the right kind of people. As long as he kept himself amongst a crowd of people that didn't want to hurt him. Which had recently been occurring. As of yet, he had come across no one who was in to hurt him. Who seemed to be out to get him. Not like before. For which he was pretty thankful. He didn't like when people were like that. He didn't enjoy people bullying him, or making just generally feel like crap. He didn't want that in the slightest. He didn't want to have to be the boy who didn't have any friends. He didn't like that. So, his daringness would always depend on who he was surrounded by and how close they were to them. He shrugged to the other boy, did it really matter if he was or wasn't. Gryffindor's always seemed braver than they needed to be. What did it matter if the person was braver than another. Sure, bravery wasn't always mentioned. Bravery was something a lot more silent. It didn't need to be in the form of something that became blown out of proportion or just something so huge in scale that the word hero could be used. Daring and bravery were the small things, being the bigger person in a fight, being to climb up a tree despite being afraid of heights. Trying something new even though it scared you. Even though it maybe scared you a lot more than you'd be willing to admit. For him, he'd found Gryffindor so far to be friendly. Opening but, he felt he didn't belong in a house like that. He didn't have an once of bravery. He didn't have an once of anything that could associate him with that house. He wasn't even good at making friends, which was another thing that his house was apparently known for. Sure, Hogwarts was making it easier for him to meet people and talk to them, but it didn't mean that at the end of the day, they actually wanted to be his friend. He was just a young boy with nothing to show for why he had landed himself in the house that a lot of people wanted to be in. He had no way of explaining his luck. Which most likely a good thing that no one asked. "Not as daring as they are." Tybalt tried to add a tone of annoyance, he was trying to say that he was daring, but others were just more so. He probably didn't have it right, but he just wanted to appear more than he was normally.

"I've never flown before." Tybalt admitted with a small shrug. His hometown would not have taken too kindly to the fact that people were flying around on brooms in their perfect town. Tybalt wasn't exactly good at seeing, so things like the snitch, the quaffle, and the bludger, would not be easy for him to spot. This was also forgetting the fact that he was a small boy, who probably would have trouble staying on a broom. He was glad to know that other people would be better at it. He could blend in easily to the crowd who would not take the teacher's breath away by the already perfected movements. "Lived in a small muggle town. Would've drawn a little bit too much attention to us had we done that." his mama was of magical blood, his da not, but his mama and da had always been very open to him and his siblings about what it meant to have magical blood and the duties that this meant, especially in a small muggle town. But it wasn't like Tybalt had ever thought to tell anyone. He didn't need the name crazy pinned to his head along with weak and along with color-blind. Things he didn't need he avoided. "How many brothers do you have?" Tybalt asked, knowing that quidditch was a seven man sport, and if this meant that they had enough players for that, then they had a family bigger than his. Which wouldn't be hard. He was curious too, and in the back of his young mind he was sure that this was the way to keep the conversation going. The way to keep getting to know the guy, so that he could at least claim to having some friends before the term began properly.
​

 

[Kovu Lothorien]

Kovu shrugged at the boys confession that he wasn't as daring as the other people in his house were. "Fair enough," Kovu didn't really know many other people at Hogwarts, so he had little comparison to prove that Tybalt's words were correct. He wondered if he would make many friends while he was here. Still it was just early days, but he was having a perfectly good conversation with a stranger. It seemed like he was headed on the right track at Hogwarts. He'd managed to keep his mouth shut so far and not say anything stupid. Admittedly, he had heard a slight tone of annoyance in Tybalt's voice as he had answered Kovu's question, but Kovu didn't think that was too much of a big deal, or concerned too much with the way Kovu had asked the question. He hadn't meant any harm. If he annoyed a few people, then there wasn't much Kovu could do about that. He knew he could be a strong personality at times and not many people liked that. The way Kovu saw it, if he could make more friends than enemies then he would be doing alright.

Kovu's jaw dropped at the fact that the boy had never flown before. "Haven't flown before?!" Kovu asked in amazement. Flying was such a big part of Kovu's life, he couldn't imagine never having been on a broom. His brother was even a professional Quidditch player. Kovu would love to have a career like his brother's. It seemed like a lot of work at times, but it also seemed like so much fun. At Tybalt's explanation as to why he hadn't flown, Kovu supposed it made sense. "I suppose you're right. My home's quite away from the rest of the town, so we had a lot of space to fly," he said. There was a lot of countrysides and old castles where Kovu was from in England. His family lived in an old pure blood house. It was huge, but Kovu's parents had blocked off a lot of the house to make everyone closer together and give it a more homey feel. "Where about's are you from?" Kovu asked, a little curious. It was so hard to pick peoples accents while at Hogwarts New Zealand, there was so many people from all over the world, drawn to the school. Kovu knew his own accent came through in conversation, it was quite a proper English, but it had been dulled into a more casual tone.

At Tybalt's question, Kovu let out a small laugh, for no particular reason. Maybe it was because the way he perceived his family was probably a lot different to the way others did. In Kovu's opinion he had a large family, even if he knew that families could come a lot bigger than his. Perhaps it was because Kovu had been brought up to be incredibly family orientated, he was forced to put such devotion into his family life, that it made it seem larger than it was. "I have three older brothers and one younger sister," he answered. He got into fights with his older brothers a lot. Never anything serious, mainly either play-fighting or bickering over something stupid. However, Kovu adored his younger sister. After being the youngest of three brothers, a sister to the family that idolised him so much was like a breath of fresh air for Kovu. He was incredibly protective of her and he hoped that next year his parents would allow her to come to Hogwarts with him. "Do you have any siblings?" Kovu asked.

 

[Tybalt Archer]

The fact that he hadn't flown caused some form of amazement from the boy in front of him. He didn't know if this was a good thing, or if it was a bad thing. He wasn't really willing to admit that it really scared him. Putting your life in the hands of a broom that took high speeds. Sure, he hadn't actually done it before, but with his eyesight, combined with his small fear, he didn't make the best candidate for flying, for a sport where flying was the main factor, he was just a small boy who didn't know how to fly, how to act calmly or even just fly. The most simple part of it, was something he didn't know how to do. The simple fact of the matter being that he had never gotten the chance to do such a thing. He was just a young boy, a small boy who'd always lived in a small close knit town. That close knit that everyone knew everyone else's business, but they just chose to ignore how all of their kids had acted towards the young Gryffindor. He had been picked up by the other kids, and only two or three adults had ever thought to stop, one of those people being his da who had desperately tried to get it to stop. Who had fruitlessly tried to get something done about it, but no one was going to own up to it, and no one believed the two people who couldn't see colour. It wasn't fun, it wouldn't be fun. He was just glad that here in Hogwarts he had yet to worry about such a problem. He didn't have it. He was just another person at a huge school, where most kept to themselves. He was just another young Gryffindor. It didn't matter what he could or couldn't see. The other boy seemed to make sense of what Tybalt had said, which made Tybalt pretty happy, since he hadn't wanted to scare someone away because he hadn't ever played the biggest wizarding sport that there was. Tybalt had just not been in the right place. His mama had always said that he would be great at it. That the moment he got the chance to play it that he should. Even with his luck and eye sight. His mama had always been very proud of her son, she knew that no matter what he did, she would always be proud. He believed that, but he wanted to give her reasons to be proud. He had a feeling that quidditch could do just that. He could see how it would be a good idea. How it could work out. He would just have to work for it.

"A small town in Georgia, in the U.S of A." The boy replied with a proud smile. He hated his town, but he had always liked his country. Nothing made him prouder than saying which country he was from. After all his country was the place he'd spent most of his life. He loved the company, the portion sizes, the sights. Everything was very different in New Zealand. For one thing, Georgia lacked real seasons, well it had a short winter, and a much longer summer. The summer lasted most of the year, which was different from New Zealand, where he had gathered that it was sunny in certain months, and terrible in others. He didn't really know too much. While he'd been in New Zealand for over a year now, it was still in the period of him getting used to it. Well, that and he was finally at Hogwarts that was entirely different. He was at an amazing school, with amazing opportunities a head of him. But, he was happy to be in the glorious country. "I am a long way from home." The boy said, his Southern accent was a lot clearer as he spoke, as if emphasizing where he was from. The other boy, he realised didn't really have a New Zealand accent, it wasn't one he could place very well. "What about you" He thought it only fair to return the question, as the conversation moved on to siblings. He smiled along with Kovu, not sure why the boy had laughed slightly, but knowing that it was better to pretend that he got it than didn't get it. The boy had a much bigger immediate family than he did. There were five of them. With Tybalt, there was firstly just him and his brother, and then him, his brother and his sister. Now, it was just him and his sister. Tybalt didn't talk about what happened. He was pretty good at casting it out his mind, even if each day he missed his older brother. "Just the one sister." He said with a small nod, almost as if he was reassuring himself that he had only one sister. "Must get pretty busy at your house then? Do you get along with all of them?" Tybalt asked, genuinely interested in what the boy might have to say regarding about his siblings. Tybalt liked hearing about other families. His family was so secretive that it was nice to hear, that no all families were like that.
​

 

[Kovu Lothorien]

When the boy told Kovu where he was from, the Slytherin smiled back. Tybalt obviously liked where he was from. Kovu could relate to that. He had travelled a few places around Europe, but he loved his home in Kent and didn't really want to live anywhere else. He supposed now that he was at Hogwarts it would become a home to him as well. However to Kovu, home was where your family was and although it had been said a lot that your house at Hogwarts would become like a family to you, Kovu didn't really feel as though he would see it that way. Not with the house he was in anyway. It was probably different with the other houses though, Kovu thought. Most of the Gryffindors seemed very friendly to him. The boy's accent made sense now that he had told Kovu he was from America. "Wow, how cool. I'd love to visit America someday," Kovu admitted. He hoped to one day travel all over the world, like his older brothers did. One, travelling for Quidditch games, the other searching for dragons across different countries. The stories they told made Kovu extremely jealous.

"I'm quite a long way from home too," Kovu confessed, "I live in Kent, in England." As he said it, his accent came through slightly stronger. His parents were of Italian background and as he was growing up, a slight Italian accent had played on his voice, but when he started primary school it had been washed away, with the influence of other voices around him. "What made you come all the way to Hogwarts New Zealand from the USA?" Kovu asked curiously. All the other schooling options were closer to Kovu's home by quite a significant amount, but that was why Kovu had wanted to go to Hogwarts in the first place. It made the Kovu wonder if the Gryffindor boy had a similar story to Kovu's.

Kovu felt a tiny surge of jealousy that Tybalt only had one sister. Kovu sometimes wondered what it would be like to have a small family, not to say that he didn't love his fairly large one, it just got a bit much sometimes and he said as much. "We get along fine most of the time. My brothers can just be a bit... full on," he decided. "Even when they're busy working away, my mother always demands all her boys come home at once. If even one person is missing from her family dinners, she will hunt them down," Kovu chuckled a bit. "So I guess it can get a bit crazy in my house," he shrugged. Regardless of his wondering about a smaller family, he really wouldn't have it any other way. "What about you? How old is your sister?" Kovu asked, hopping up on the window sill.

 

[Tybalt Archer]

Tybalt had always wanted to go to England. It seemed like the most perfect place to go. He had family in Scotland but that really wasn't the same. He loved the idea of going to the UK. He had never been and he knew it would be a long while until he went. This was the first English person he had ever met. He found that pretty interesting. More that this was the first he'd meet and he was in New Zealand. He thought it was a lot cooler that the boy was from England. As much as the young boy was proud of his roots, America was not as cool as the UK. Or so he thought. "England, that's really cool. I've always loved seeing pictures of it." He didn't entirely mind, one new country at a time. He looked at the ground between the, and thought of the question. He didn't actually know. They had always thought to send his brother to New Zealand, but Tybalt had always imagined that they would send him somewhere a lot closer to home. The magical school nearest to them, but they had moved over to New Zealand just under a year before and then had applied so he could attend school there to. That was all he knew. The real reasons were a mystery to him. His father wasn't really that open about things like that. He was pretty quiet, his whole family liked to keep him in the dark about things. Him and his sister. He smiled and looked up at him. "We moved to New Zealand last year, so it was the closest." Tybalt answered honestly, but he knew there was a lot more to it, that he just couldn't mention to some guy he had just met. A random boy he had just met. He had no idea what he might do with that kind of information. Tybalt also didn't want to pour his problems onto someone he just met.

Thankfully, before he could say anything else about it, the boy started talking again. About his family. He felt better just listening to someone else talk about their family than him talk about his. It just felt better. Though he couldn't imagine having that many people in his family. Family gatherings were tough enough as it was without having to add on the pressures of everything else. Without having to add on the pressures of being a large family as well as everyone having a large family. But the other side of his family. The Evans, there was a lot more people there. Whereas on the Archer side, there were fewer, and most of them didn't talk. His little family was more than enough for him. He knew that any more and he would just not being able to handle it in the slightest. His little sister was adorable and cute, but she was young. His brother was nice and he would've liked having him around, but it wasn't to be. Even if his brother was still in his family, then that would've been fine. The family would've been still been pretty small. "We get along well, she's six, or five, I always forget but, she's young so she's pretty easy to get along with." Tybalt said. In actual fact he got along extremely well with his sister. She had been born a few months before his brother had passed, and things were better with her around. Or so he thought. He prefered having her around to keep him company. if he'd been an only child he had no idea what that could've lead to. "We're a lot closer now than we were back in America. It's good. We've spent a lot of time traveling here, so I'm always keeping her entertained. Which at times is slightly hard to do."

Sorry It's so terrible.
​

 

[Kovu Lothorien]

Kovu nodded when Tybalt said England was cool. Kovu didn't know if it was cool as the USA, but in the Slytherin's opinion he did think it was rather cool. It was a beautiful country, especially the part where Kovu lived. Kovu was glad they didn't live in the hustle and bustle part of England. Living in London would be cramped. Kovu liked how peaceful it was where he lived. "Oh, that's fair enough then," Kovu said when Tybalt explained he had moved over here. It was a simple enough reason. The boy hadn't asked Kovu why he was here, and although Kovu kind of wanted to confess his story, he wouldn't go ranting about himself when no one was interested. He didn't want a repeat of his old school, wasn't that the idea of him being in New Zealand?

"Enjoy them when they're young, as soon as they grow up they get worse," Kovu joked with the boy. He could never be nasty to Scarlette, he cared about her a lot. Even so, it would be pointless to lie and say she never got annoying. Anyone who had a younger sibling would disagree with them sometimes. Kovu let out a laugh, he could relate to entertaining siblings being difficult. His little sister, having grown up around boys could be a real tomboy and often was far more adventurous than Kovu could ever be. Kovu usually struggled to keep up with his siblings.

Stepping back over to his violin, Kovu slipped it into its bag and picked it up. It was getting quite cold up in the tower and Kovu hadn't brought a jacket. It was also a long walk back down to the Slytherin common room. Glancing out the window one more time Kovu turned to his company and grinned. "Well I should probably get going," he said, hoping it didn't seem like he was trying to get away from the boy quickly. "It was nice to meet you Tybalt, I guess I'll probably see you in classes," he added to prove he wasn't. Kovu stretched and then headed towards the steps. He gave his new friend a gentle nudge with his elbow on his way past.

Out of Character:

I hope this isn't too soon to end it. I struggle to keep these introductory RP's going for too long, haha.