Do they bite?

[Rory Dewan]

At last, Rory had summoned the courage to visit the place which he was sure would intimidate him the most. He needed no reminder that he was not brave enough to ever consider a career as a Quidditch player. Sometimes, he thought, he was thinking a little too far ahead. At twelve years old, he had a long way to go before he even chose the subjects he wanted to take for his O.W.Ls, let alone be wondering what path he would take down the career direction. Thinking ahead was a trait that Rory often wished he could rid himself of, but at least he didn't have too many unsuspected surprises, like those who had no idea what subjects they wanted to take when the time came.
The young boy pushed open the large door of the trophy room with a slight struggle. He was sure he had goblin blood in his family somewhere. Why else would he be so small and skinny? If he didn't grow, like the rest of the boys would, he was going to look extremely silly. Perhaps he would even be mistaken for a first year when he was in fact in his last year of Hogwarts! Rory banished these thoughts from his mind, unwilling to be frightened when he was doing something he needed courage for. He chuckled slightly; it was quite clear why the sorting hat had not placed him in Gryffindor.
Although Rory quite liked the idea of being a professional Quidditch player, he strived to be more successful accademically. He was muggle born, but that did not stop him from wanting to soak up as much information as he could. The opposite had occured; he was so interested about this strange world his parents had nothing to do with that he could hardly keep his hands off all the knowlege there was to reveal about magic. Of course, he could never learn everything, but there was no harm in trying, even if some of the other students thought him odd.
As Rory took a step towards the trophies, his mouth opened in awe. The door swung shut with a bang that made him jump, but he did not turn around. Gold, silver, and metal cups, trophies which stood illuminated by torch light, their gleaming surfaces reflecting the flames in a beauty he could not find the words to describe. He released his grasp a little on the book he was holding when he realized he was clutching it so tightly his knuckles had turned white. Did everybody notice this room's true glory? Rory was quite ashamed with himself for not visiting before. He crept up to a glass cabnet as if not to disturb monsters which might leap out and attack him at any second. His open mouth started to leave prints on the glass until he snapped it shut, flushing even though there was nobody there to see.
The place was simply amazing. All these awards for heroic actions, for winning Quidditch, for people who had succeeded in the things they wanted to do. At that moment, Rory did not care about the people who thought he was strange for wanting to learn so much. He wanted this. Not to show off or be well known, but to achieve whatever he wanted, no matter what it was. He relaxed a little, stepping back and admiring a plate with several names inscripted into it, none of which he recognize, when his brain became aware of someone entering the room.
Oh, no, Rory whined inwardly, grasping his potions book tightly once more. He was unsure of where to go. The person entering surely was here to admire his or her own trophy! Would it look like he was trying to steal something? Rory lifted his chin, trying his best not to wear the guilty face he always seemed to adopt when he hadn't actually done anything wrong. He decided to wait until they'd come in, and leave without a word. Preferably, without even looking at whoever was entering.

 

[Kyle Cavanaugh]

The exams were approaching fast and all the students at Hogwarts were seen with their face books. This young Gryffindor had been doing the same for a while now and he had so far managed to review all the subjects at least once. He had been locking himself lately either in the library or in his dormitory because he knew that he had been far behind in revision than other students. The reason behind this had been some of his evenings being occupied with Qudditch practice with the Gryffindor team. The matches had gone well and they had won. Kyle had not got to play as he was an alternate but he was happy anyway. The happiness from the victory had been taken over by the exam pressure and after reading himself to exhaustion, Kyle finally decided to take a break.

Not only was he starving but he was craving for some communication with someone from his species. All his friends seemed to have been hiding somewhere studying. It was not like he had many friends but at the moment he could not spot a familiar first year face in the common room. He hoped to find someone in the Great Hall but he was disappointed again. The smell of the fresh food hit his stomach as he entered the Great Hall and he realized just how hungry he felt. He took a big sandwich and wrapped it so he could eat it while walking. He took a big bite of his vegetable and cheese sandwich as he arrived on the Third Floor Corridor. He could wait no longer to find someone and share some sandwich with them and all staircase climbing was making him more hungry. As he walked through the third floor he noticed one of the doors of the rooms shutting with a loud bang.

The curious gryffindor forgot all about his upcoming exams and the pressure and walked towards the source of the sound his mind filled up with curiosity hoping to meet an adventure. He pushed the door inwards. It was heavy and big and Kyle was not that muscular or anything and after a few seconds he finally managed to open it. "Phew!" he said to himself as he took few steps and entered the room taking another big bite of his sandwich as his eyes scanned the unfamiliar room. Within the next second he realized that this was no ordinary classroom and he had not been here before. It was filled with shining gold, silver and other kinds of big and small things that were displayed. It was a room filled with Trophies! "Oh my God, there must be like a thousand trophies in here" he said a little louder than a whisper. He could hear his own echo. His eyes than seemed to take notice of the other young boy who stood in the room. He looked scared. Maybe he had been running from something scary and had taken refuge in this room. Had he shut the door to keep the danger at bay which he had opened to invite whatever lurked outside. "Are you okay?" he asked the boy, his voice not sounding scared or anything just a bit concerned. "I'm sorry if I scared you" he added with a small smile.

 

[Rory Dewan]

The fear drained out of Rory as quickly as it had appeared. His face relaxed, and he managed, although a little forced, a friendly smile. He turned back to the trophies as though agreeing with the boy's statement, though he was simply hiding a blush. 'Mhmm,' he replied as a vague reply to everything he had said, before realising how rude he sounded. 'Oh! Oh no it's fine, you didn't scare me,' he flashed a real smile towards the boy, though he still didn't dare to look around in case his cheeks looked as hot as they felt. At least he wouldn't be accused of stealing, as Rory had feared.
There seemed to be an awkward silence between the two boys that lasted an eternity. Rory shifted uneasily on his feet, searching for something to say. 'Uh.. What's your name?' he managed at last, feeling a little foolish but none the less pleased. His Father would have been ashamed to see how his son was failing to make friends. He had been immensely proud to find out his son was magical, even though his Mother gave him a few concerned looks at his excitement. Perhaps Rory was living out the sort of life his Father had always dreamt of, but believed was only true in fairy stories.
For a care free person, his Father had suddenly become very proud. Rory had not seen this side of him before; he had always assumed his Father just wasn't interested in the things he did. Which was probably true, until Rory recieved the letter inviting him to Hogwarts on his eleventh birthday. It had come as rather a shock, of course, but Rory had no choice but to believe it when he took his visit to the wizarding shops. Unfortunately, only his Mother had been able to come with Rory, and she was a little less fond of the idea of being called a 'Muggle', whatever that meant. Still, she went along with the whole thing, just to please Rory.
A tear formed in Rory's eye rather unexpectedly, and he turned away towards the trophies. What had he done? He had completely failed his Father, who had been so sure he would do well. Yes, he was doing fine academically, but he had nobody to share it with except Hayley and his parents back home via owl post. He wanted to take after his Father, who had always been surrounded with friends. And Rory knew that's what his Father had wanted too. But he'd failed. What would he say when he had to explain how little company he'd had all year? Rory felt like kicking himself hard.
Realising where he was, Rory turned back towards the boy. 'It would be nice to have a trophy,' he stated blankly, with no tone or hope to his voice at all. Who was he kidding? Never in his life would he be awarded with anything so special. His Father was going to be extremely disappointed, and it was Rory's fault.​

 

[Kyle Cavanaugh]

Kyle truly hoped that he had not interrupted the boy's thoughts or his visit to the trophy room. He did look like a first year. Kyle was not sure but maybe he was in one of his classes so for one thing that Kyle was sure about was that he did not have any trophies in his name in this room. Maybe he had come to admire the trophies of someone from his family, his siblings perhaps. Kyle could not see the boy's face as it was turned towards the trophies. Kyle was almost going to look at him to see if he was fine when the boy spoke and said he wasn't scared by Kyle's appearance. "Good. I would hate to frighten anyone" he said returning the boy's smile. Kyle did have a few people whom he knew so far at Hogwarts and he could even call one or two of them as his friends but he did not have that many people whom he knew as yet and scaring people was no way he was going to socialize.

As Kyle felt relieved that the boy was okay, he took a moment to see the room once again. His first sight had not been good enough and the place was great. His eyes fell on a big trophy that had a ball on top. As Kyle took a few steps closer to the trophy and watched it, he realized the big ball was in fact a metallic impression of a snitch and it even had metal wings. Qudditch and associated things made Kyle excited and feel a warmth that was different than how other things made him feel.For a moment he had almost forgotten the boy's presence. It was when the boy asked him a question that Kyle, a little startled but not showing it took a small breath and turned to face the boy. Smiling he answered. "I'm Kyle and you are?" He was standing closer to the boy than he had been previously and now he was sure the boy was in his class. "You're a first year too, aren't you?"he asked the boy.

Kyle wondered if this was the first time the boy had come to the Trophy room but he did not ask. Instead he said "These trophies are beautiful. I think they should be giving us a full tour of the school when we come. It seems like new places keep popping up in the castle" and his sentence was followed by a slight chuckle. He remembered the time when he had gone to find the source of food in the place and had seen the grand kitchens. He walked closer to a different shelf of trophies. This one was filled with trophies for what seemed like academic awards. He wondered if he would ever get one, a trophy for an academic award seemed harder than one for Qudditch. These people whose name were there, unfamiliar to him yet known and famous must have been very intelligent. He heard as the boy said that it would be nice to have a trophy. "It would be great. I wonder if all these academic trophies are taken by Ravenclaw house. They are very smart, I guess" he said his tone a little sad as he thought he would never get an academic trophy. "Qudditch trophy would be nice too. Maybe one like that" he said pointing at the trophy he had seen before. "That is if I ever get a chance to play seeker. Being an alternate, I could be a chaser for all I know" he continued going on about himself. Suddenly he realized the boy must be thinking he was bragging. The topic was such a sensitive one. It made one think about the future and all and this twelve year old was not very good with such topics.