Dollhouse

[Evander Tuuri]

Evander yawned as he looked closer at the names on the trophies. There certainly were a lot of trophies, and subsequently a lot of names. He recognised a few, as he had some relatives on his father's side attend this school when they were his age. It was surreal to think that he had never really known either members of his family, since his mother was the product of an accident (just like he was) and so didn't have much contact with Grandpa's side of the family, while Evander's father had died before he was even born. He only found his father's side of the family totally by accident - and even then, he didn't really see them as his family, just people that he's related to. But he had to see them like that, because they were all really, really friendly to the point that he and his mother couldn't ignore their existence.

The part-goblin pressed his nose up against the glass curiously as he tried to read one of the inscriptions on one of the trophies. He could only read the lower-level trophies, since he was much too small to read the higher ones. He missed his home, since it was built for people like his mother and him. His mother wasp only 4" tall, and some of his uncles and aunts were even smaller than that. He didn't think he would grow too much taller than his mother, but he really hoped he would. As it was, he was currently taller than she was when she was eleven, but she was a girl, and girls were generally shorter than boys anyway.

Getting slightly frustrated at the realisation that it was be difficult to read the higher trophies (if he could do it at all) Evander decided that he would climb up to see them. Tucking his hair behind his pointed ears, Evander dashed to the other side of the room, and began dragging a chair awkwardly towards the trophies. The weight of the chair was not bothering him, but the fact that he had to pull it by one leg was. However, he was sure he would manage, and continued to pull the chair across the ground anyway.
​

 

[Aliyah Wright]

Aliyah set out determined to memorize the entire Hogwarts castle from the bottom up. She had seen most of the lower level and there was nothing much on the ground floor except for Great Hall and the Entrance Hall. The first year approached the first grand staircase leading up the first floor corridor. "Onwards and upwards." she said quietly to herself. She was glad her father wasn't here to see this. He probably would have started tearing up and made some metaphor about her moving up toward her future or something equally as sappy. She loved the man, but he was so embarrassing.

Just as Aliyah was begin her ascent up the second flight of stairs, she heard a faint grinding sound. She franticly looked around to see where it came from but sounded like it was coming from the stairs themselves. "Whhhhat's going on?" She let out a small squeal as she grabbed onto the railing so wouldn't lose her balance from dizziness. When everything suddenly stopped, the stairway had moved completely. It was now leading to a small landing that lead to a third staircase and what she assumed would be the third floor. Not wanting to go backward and risk getting turned around again, Aliyah continued up the hallway.

Aliyah walked slowly up the corridor, trying to take it all in. It seemed that each part of the castle had its own personality. The dungeons was cold, dark, and mysterious. It was the perfect place for student snakes of Slytherin to call home. This hallway seemed bright and sterile. The girl glanced to the left and saw a large room with beds lining the walls. "Hospital Wing. That is explains it." Though she hoped she never needed to use it, she was glad to know where it was. Aliyah came to stop and front of large wooden door with a sign that read The Trophy Room. Intrigued, she pushed the door open and stepped inside. There were trophies, plaques and portraits everywhere. "Woah..." This was the young Slytherin's type of place.

Her small moment of awe was interrupted by the sound of metal dragging against stone. Aliyah jumped thinking that the room was about to move. Luckily, everything stayed put and she looked up to see what appeared to be a toddler pulling a chair across the room. Her first instinct was to go help the child but as she began to appoarch, she noticed the boy's ears. She thought she had overheard some of her housemates saying at the meeting that there was someone part-goblin in their house. It wasn't the type of news that would stay quiet. Although she had never seen a goblin before and hadn't meet her classmate yet, judging by the boy's height and ears it had to be him. "It looks like you are managing." Aliyah called to him. The eleven year old knew if she was in the boy's position she would hate people doing things for her all the time if she knew there was a way she could do them herself. If the boy wanted or needed her help he could ask. Otherwise she wouldn't mind taking the time to get to know a new classmate.

 

[Evander Tuuri]

He had managed to drag the chair only a small distance, finding the slightly uneven stone flooring to be causing a real issue with the smooth movement dragging required. As a result, he ended up jerking several times because the chair would simply refuse to move. However, his determination had continued to win against the chair, as he would simply get behind the chair and give it a swift kick to get it moving again. But the same problem would repeat itself, and the steady realisation that this was probably a bit far to go just to get a peak at the trophies had began to claw at Evander, but this was eventually conquered by his sheer stubbornness and he returned to pulled the chair once more.

Evander had not been paying attention to what was around him. His emerald eyes were only focused on this chair, and this chair's destination. So, his pointed ears, while catching the sound of footsteps quite clearly, did not alert his eyes to the Slytherin's presence. Her prescence was only realised when she spoke to him directly. Pausing his movements, the part goblin took her in, finding her hair to be pleasing. His mother had extremely fluffy hair when she didn't use magic to keep it down and under-control, so this trait the girl held made him smile slightly. He finally released the leg of the chair, and took in the distance he had dragged it, relative to the distance he had left, and looked at her skeptically. "I think we both know there's a little bit to go," he replied. His strength had yet to come in full-force, being a mere eleven-year-old.

"Anyway," he stepped away from the chair, deciding that it would be more beneficial to speak with the girl rather than return to his previous task. He wanted to make friends before the school year truly began, because he doubted he would be in the friend making mood once life picked up here. He would be far too worried about reaching his classes in time. "My name's Evander Tuuri. What's yours?"
​

 

[Aliyah Wright]

Aliyah didn't blame her housemate for being a little skeptical of her intentions, but she didn't mean any harm. She found the short statured boy's determination quite admirable. "Yeah, but still you seemed to be doing just fine to me." she said with an encouraging smile. "Besides, what would you have done if I hadn't shown up? You wouldn't have given up would you? That wouldn't be very Slytherin of you." she said added laughing lightly. The first year was still trying to figure out what it truly meant to be a part of her new house, but determination and achievement were themes that kept popping up. Giving up, especially on something that they set out for, didn't seem like something a snake would do.

"Aliyah Wright. Nice to meet you." the eleven year old replied as she walked up to shake Evander's hand. The girl was only four feet three inches tall herself and she had over a foot and a half on her housemate. It didn't matter to her much though. Aliyah didn't mind being around people who were different from herself and she figured Evander would quite literally bring a unique perspective on things. She would never begrudge him for his background and like one of her favorite books said, "a person's a person no matter how small." She would only disregard someone if they gave her a reason to and being born a little different didn't seem like a very good reason.

Aliyah walked over the closest trophy cases. It contained awards from what looked like some sort of costume contest. It looked both student and faculty members go all out for Halloween at the school. "So have you found anything interesting in here yet?" If the boy was spending all that time and energy dragging that chair, he must have saw something that was at least a little intriguing.

 

[Evander Tuuri]

Evander shrugged his shoulders, deciding she was worth his attention. He was raised to never bother with rude people that couldn't get over the fact that he was different. It was irritating enough to not do the same things as others, he did not need someone making him annoyed as well. He did not leave his home to have fights at school. He came here to prove something to himself, and perhaps something to his family. With Jaskai here as well, he was sure that he would succeed. Jaskai was the dose of home he needed. "I'm not very sure what a Slytherin is," he commented, pulling on his robes nonchalantly. He had no true attachment to them. They were robes, his clothes, just fabric on his flesh.He wasn't that bothered by the whole 'Slytherin' and 'Houses' thing. "Do you know anything about the houses?" he asked, deciding that, since she had mentioned it, she would probably know more than him. "I'm a bit new to this. My mum went to Durmstrang, so she doesn't know anything." He had wondered if he could go to Durmstrang, but he had no way of going there. He didn't live anywhere near there, and the prospect of moving to his cousin Kaisa's house just to go to Durmstrang with her was a little too much for him. He was now living with his uncles, who were much easier to live with than Kaisa's branch of the family.

He had to arch his neck to look her in the eyes, but he managed. He could never get over how his hand fit so easily in everyone elses, as his was much tinier than many other peoples. Some of his relatives were like him, but others did not carry the genes he did. Kaisa was one such cousin, being a little shorter than average, but way taller than he and Jaskai were. Evander retracted his hand as she did hers, and smiled. "Likewise, Aliyah Wright." He then returned his attention to the trophies as she had, and considered perhaps returning to finish dragging the chair, but now felt that it was not as necessary as it once was. He would rather speak with this girl than drag that chair.

"Except that Slytherin has won a lot?" He smiled at her. He thought it was cool that he was sorted into a house with a long, positive record. He was not sure what he was going to do to help his house, but he planned to not be a terrible student at the end of it all. "I think I recognise some names of people, but I'm not sure. I don't know my dad's family all that well," he explained, folding his arms across his chest. "Do you have family from here? Are you from New Zealand?" Evander himself had only been here since just before the school year. Otherwise, he had his mother's fancy English accent, which wasn't even her native accent to begin with. But he had never been to Finland, and doubted he would ever go there for some time.
​

Out of Character:

I apologise for my tardiness!

 

[Aliyah Wright]

Out of Character:

No worries!

Aliyah nodded at Evander's response. It was fair enough response and the question what exactly a Slytherin was, was one that the eleven year old was trying to figure out herself. "Well, like that talking hat said Gryffindor are the brave, strong ones. I think Harry Potter was one of them in the Hogwarts in Scotland. Ravenclaw are the smart, bookwormy ones and Hufflepuff are the nice ones. And Slytherins, we are suppose to be the ambitious resourceful ones. That's all I got." she said with a small shrug. Stereotypes were all she really had to work with, but the simple explanations were good enough for her. She knew that houses were named after real witches and wizards, but history had a tendency to bore her so she really know much about the houses namesakes. Although Aliyah was very pleased so far with the Sorting Hat's decision, she was really just happy to be a part of house. What was there not to like? The community, the competition with other houses, and feeling like you belong somewhere just by simply being you. The first year figured that being in Slytherin was going to be the most exciting part of going to Hogwarts. The only thing she could do without in the Slytherin Dungeon was the living situation. Shoving that many girls in one bedroom was criminal. She wished that her muggle schools had houses, maybe then she wouldn't have felt like an outsider all the time.

Aliyah smiled as Evander returned her hand shake, glad to have made another connection with another first year in her house. Although she was truly trying to only see the boy for who he was and not his height, she would have been lying if she didn't admit that staring down at him was an odd experience. And to think I was worried about being the shortest one in our year. It would definitely take some getting us to, but she would adjust. She continued to move slowly along glass case was about to reach the quidditch awards, but suddenly stopped and grinned brightly at the boy when she heard housemate's words. "Have they?" the girl asked intrigued. She saw that some Slytherin student had won some costume awards here and there, but she must have missed whatever Evander was referring to. She nodded as he also explained that he was looking for possible family members' names. The eleven year was proud that she would be the only member of her family to attend the school. It made the time she spent here feel even more special. It was going to an experience all her own. "Nope and nope." she replied, popping the ps each time. "I am an American. Moved here less than a year ago for my dad's work. Both of my parents went to Salem so I am still trying to get use to all this too. Did you know the stairs move here? Like literally change direction!" she rambled on.

 

[Evander Tuuri]

Evander shrugged his shoulders. "Not all Gryffindor's can be brave and Ravenclaw's be smart, and Hufflepuff's be nice and Slytherin's ambitious and resourceful," he countered, smiling a little to let her know he meant no offence. "I think we're all a little more com-pli-cay-ted than that." He had to slow down a little on complicated, as sometimes he had a little trouble. "I mean, I'm not ambitious - I don't think I am, anyway. I don't know. I'm not a hat." If he were a hat, he would likely be a small little cap or something. He allowed his mind to wander off the thought of hats as he looked back at the trophies, awaiting her response.

He nodded. "Three years or something now, judging by the trophies." He wasn't sure how he felt about Slytherin quite yet. Especially since it seemed to be a rather overachieving house, and their Head of House was the size of a small giant. It was a little intimidating, having to live up to so much. Especially since he had never felt that sort of pressure before. He was only glad that he lived in no-one's shadow here, as it was only his father's side that had been here before, and he barely spoke to them anyway. He was the first Tuuri, and while there was another, Jaskai, they were both first years and could make their way through this school together. He smiled slightly as she replied to him. "American?" he repeated. He had never been to America. "I've never been there - do you miss it?" he missed England, just a little bit, but he loved living with his uncle and Henri. Henri was really tall and could reach all the stuff he and his uncle had trouble reaching - and he gave piggyback rides! He snorted at the comment of the stairs. "Yeah. Since it takes me a little longer to climb them, I have to time it really carefully, otherwise I'll wind up in the wrong place!It's already happened three times!"
​

 

[Aliyah Wright]

Aliyah smirked at Evander's correction and rolled her eyes at his over-pronunciation which sounded a lot like mockery. "Whatever..." Taking friendly criticism wasn't ever something she handled well. Her mother kept telling her that a hard head makes for a soft behind, but the eleven year hadn't learned her lesson yet. She knew that people were complicated and messy than that, but being so new to everything house affiliation seemed like a good starting to place to understand someone's character. Despite his brief moment of perceived cheekiness, she was enjoying her housemate's company. "Perhaps it is something we grow into. I mean the Sorting Hat had to see something." she said with as shrug still looking for the Slytherin trophies the boy had mentioned.

The first year's eyes rested on the display case with the House Cups. Slytherin did have winning track record and that made the first year quite happy. Ever the overachiever, Aliyah silently wondered how many more they were going to win in her seven years at Hogwarts. The young Slytherin was resolved to have her name on at least one trophy by the time she graduated, if she was lucky maybe she could have one per year! She was pulled out of her daydream by Evander's question. "Not really. I move around a lot so I am kind of use to it." The move to New Zealand was actually the best thing that had happened to the girl in a while. She was like it way better than Germany so far and getting to go Hogwarts was definitely a plus. Aliyah smiled at the boy's response to her comment about the stairs. She was glad that she wasn't the only one who was thrown off by them. "They are crazy right? Seriously who thought of that?" she laughed. "Good thing a lot of our classes are on the first corridor this term. By the start of summer break I am going to have this place mapped out." she said optimistically. "There has to be some good short cuts somewhere and I am not going to be late to class because of some stupid stairs."