Climbing Badger

[Rotem Ledger]

A bright shaft of sunlight peaking through the curtains sought its way towards the sleeping Hufflepuff's eyes, its sole goal to bring the young boy to wakefulness. Groaning as the light hit his eyes, Rotem rolled over and pulled the covers over his head. Snapping his eyes open, he threw off his blanket and gazed about his dormitory. It hadn't been a dream! He really was on his way to becoming a wizard! Slowly the events of the night before returned to him, there had been a delicious feast and he had been sorted into the house of badgers. Smiling, Rotem hopped out of bed and threw open the curtains, not caring if he woke his roommates. After a quick wash up, he threw on a pair of khaki shorts and a blue t-shirt and ran down to the great hall to grab a muffin before he started to explore what was to be his new home for the next few months.

Scarfing down his breakfast, Rotem walked outside and surveyed the grounds that sprawled out before him. It took him no time at all to find the great cliffs next to the lake and he immediately started walking towards them. Having been born and raised in Montana, the curly haired boy was most comfortable outside and had a great love of climbing things that really shouldn't be climbed. It had started when he was just seven years old and had fallen into a ravine with no way out. A little pygmy goat had shown up and helped teach him how to climb the way that only a goat could, clinging to imperceptible ledges and seeming to defy gravity. Thinking about it made him sad, he wasn't able to bring Reggie with him and so far hadn't met any new friends yet.

Shrugging it off, Rotem found himself at the base of the cliff. Surveying it with keen hazel eyes, he saw that it was perfect for climbing and at least for the first 20 meters even a beginner would have no trouble. Slipping off his shoes and so he would have more traction, he left them at the bottom and began to climb towards a wide ledge that was about 15 meters up. Hand hold by hand hold, he conquered gravity and ascended as if he were floating up the rock. Having reached the ledge, Rotem sat down on it, his legs swinging out over the edge as he looked over the lake.

 

[Kaenon Eisenburg]

Kaenon was far too lazy to take care of himself today. Usually, his mother, or father, depending on who he was with at the time, wake him up and push him to get ready. He didn't have that now. Now he had to rely on himself, so he did, and he was rather terrible at it. His hair was not brushed, his tie was just lazily tied around his throat, and he was slouching the entire time at breakfast. Everyone else (well mostly everyone) looked immaculate, while he looked about ready to climb back into bed. That wasn't a bad idea, either. He grabbed a banana for some energy, and poured syrup all over it. It tasted shocking, but the energy boost he gain from it made it totally worth it. After running his fingers through his hair, he dashed out of the Great Hall. It was too crowded in there for him to feel comfortable, so his solution was to just get outside and walk around. He had not been everywhere yet, and that was his mission. He had to go everywhere.

The Slytherin looked at his robes nervously. Ellie had said that this wasn't the house he wanted to be in, considering who he was. Kae was not ashamed of his blood status, as he loved his parents and would never change himself or them, but he did sort of wish that he wasn't in the green house since it was apparently a big elephant in the room. At least he sort of knew a Slytherin, in second year, he just had to find whoever Tommy was and explain to him that Ellie said that they could be friends, but that seemed so awkward. Kaenon did not want to just go up to some strange guy that apparently wasn't even 'human' as Ellie had said, and just expect him to be his friend. Wasn't that weird? Could he just expect someone that was older than him to like him? Was that the done thing? The Slytherin gasped suddenly as he tripped on a rock - finding himself walking up the cliffs in thought. However, it was not too high, as this part of the cliffs were more of a slope than anything. However, it did bring his attention to the fact that someone was sitting on an edge. His father would kill him for attempting to climb this thing without him by his side, but Dad always climbed stuff by himself, so Kae reasoned that he could do it too.

The Slytherin hauled himself up over to the ledge, and rested there for a bit. With a weak fling of his arm, he did what could be considered a wave. "Hey," he breathed, rolling his head over slightly so he could look at the boy he had climbed this cliff for. If they didn't become friends, Kaenon was probably just going to stay up here for the rest of his life. "I'm Kae."
​

 

[Rotem Ledger]

With the warm sunlight streaming down on him, Rotem almost had a hard time keeping his eyes open, but luckily there was so much to look at that he couldn't even begin to think about taking a nap! After he had taken a good look at the lake, he had turned his attention to the ominous forest that he could see on the other side of the grounds and saw movement in the treetops. Squinting his eyes to try and see what kind of creature would dare to climb the foreboding trees, he thought he saw a multitude of legs, but it was gone before he could get a good look at it.

Turning his attention back to the grounds he saw some other students walking around, probably stretching their legs after breakfast. The sound of someone tripping near by cause Rotem to look down and see another boy that was around his age at the base of the cliff. He was wearing Slytherin robes, but being muggle born Rotem didn't really care about that. When the other boy started to climb towards him the young Hufflepuff became excited. Maybe this was to be his very first friend here at Hogwarts! He couldn't wait until the other boy joined him! Although it might take a while... the other boy was a decent climber, but he certainly hadn't been taught by a goat.

Finally the other boy hauled himself onto the ledge and gave him a tired wave. "Hey," Nodding a hello Rotem surveyed the Slytherin's disheveled appearance and came to the conclusion that he either was having a rough day or just wasn't a morning person. "I'm Kae." Smiling, he waved a hello and spoke "Hiya Kae! The name's Rotem, but if that's too much of a mouthful you can call me Tem!" Bringing his legs back from the ledge he scooted back to lean against the rock. "So did you know about this place? I mean before the letters came? I sure didn't! It was a complete surprise! Where did you come from? I'm from Montana! Have you tried doing magic bef-"

His rapid fire questions abruptly stopped as he looked out towards the lake and saw an enormous squid basking in the shallows. "Wow! Would you look at that! You wanna go check it out?" Looking expectantly at Kae, Tem swung his legs out over the ledge, ready to start climbing down if the other boy decided to join him.

Out of Character:

Hehe... Tem's kind of talkative so I hope Kae's alright with that. He'll probably calm down a bit once he knows Kae a bit better.