Exploring Everything

[Derek Tahana]

Derek Tahana had spent a quiet first night. He had been proud to be sorted into Slytherin and he knew why this likely was. He would be proud regardless, but he thought that the nobility the house seemed to carry would suit him well. Regardless of this however, the boy was looking to do something, or well, explore his new surroundings. Of course, despite the cold weather the first place he wanted to go was outside, so the slytherin boy tucked his rugby ball under his arm and headed out. He wasn't taking it to play with, but more that on the off chance he met another student he could play with them. The boy wandered first to the gardens, to the rose bush, he stood outside the forest for a bit, stood at something called Avie's rock, and finally he reached the cliffs. Though the school was certainly interesting and had a lot to offer him he was enthralled by the cliffs. The sheer beauty of them and that they would allow them to be at this school. It seemed a little dangerous, but this was the magical world, there would be some protections, surely. Magic could create a barrier, stop anyone from accidentally falling. He wouldn't want to play rugby here, but it was certainly the first bit of hogwarts that had truly stopped him.
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[Alkander Avaskadiras]

The cliffs hadn't escaped Alkander's attention. The quite opposite. They had peaked his interest from the first time he had noticed them from the window of his common room. Back at home, he used to hike with his father and younger sister almost every weekend, usually reaching the top of a hilltop or somewhere with a stunning view. It was too early to feel homesick but the cliffs reminded him that for a few months, he wasn't going to enjoy this activity with his family. Yet he could reminisce the best wayfarings by continuing trekking around school's grounds.

A look through his omnioculars had revealed another interesting aspect of the particular cliffs. It turned out that the location was under protective enchantments, preventing accidental drops of clumsy students or deliberate falls of daredevils. He had witness from the top of Gryffindor's tower, a couple of older students jumping off the cliffs only to be pulled back up at the top by an invisible force. It seemed to be quite entertaining as the older students repeated the action several times, leaving after a while completely unscathed.

Naturally Alkander thought it was worth the investigation if the guaranteed stunning view of the castle from there, wasn't just enough. From the distance it didn't seem that the cliffs were visited by anyone but as soon as he reached the top of them, another boy was already there.
"Hello." Alkander made his presence known in manner that wouldn't startle the other kid that seemed to be around his age. He wondered if he had witnessed as well the older students pulling off the reckless act. He hovered at the edge of the cliff and looked down at the lake. Even though he wasn't afraid of heights, his stomach knotted back. "That would be a long fall. Water probably wouldn't help." He commented and shifted his eyes on the boy and the ball he was holding. "I'm Alkander. What's your name?" He asked the boy, wondering if they were classmates.

 

[Emilia Manning]

Hogwarts was huge, and Emilia felt herself nervous about getting lost no matter where she went. The grounds outside the castle were a little better, because at least you could always see the castle no matter where you went. So she decided to start exploring outside, maybe she could ask one of her cousins to show her how to get to her classes later. She wandered around the grounds, enjoying the sight of the beautiful gardens and the lake. After a while she noticed a boy she recognized. Derek! The boy she had shared a compartment with on the train to school. After a moment of hesitation she decided to go after him, perhaps he would like to see her too! After all, there were so many people here and it was hard to run into anyone you knew. But as she approached, she noticed he was standing near cliffs. Cliffs? At a school? That was kind of scary. She stopped a small distance away from him, wondering if he would back away from the danger. It didn't seem like it, and then another boy approached. Her shyness made it hard for her to head over, but she felt like she had to warn them away from the dangerous cliffs. After a moment, she approached. "Um, hi Derek." She said, giving him a small wave. "Hi." She said to the boy, feeling awkward as she didn't know his name. "I don't think we should be here." She added, gesturing to the cliffs. "It's kind of scary, right?"

 

[Derek Tahana]

Derek couldn’t help but be so interested in this cliff face, it was almost fascinating to think that such a thing could be here and very few in the school seemed to have said much about it. It was of course a place they weren’t supposed to be, but he really couldn’t help but be there. He was interesting in seeing all that the school had to offer him, including all the little parts, which was just this. It was strange, but as he’d been about to leave he turned to see another boy, someone he’d been sorted with who stood at the cliffs edge greeting him, ”Hey,” Derek replied in a friendly manner, nodding as he glanced towards the cliff, he looked towards the edge with the other boy, ”That’s very true, do you think there’s magic blocking people from falling?” the boy asked, he could imagine that there was, but perhaps this other boy had more knowledge about it. He looked at him as the boy introduced himself, and Derek held out a hand, ”I’m Derek, it’s nice to meet you Alkander,” he took the time trying to pronounce the name as the other boy had said it, ”Did I say that right?” Derek was looking to be sure that he had it correct, he didn’t want to get it wrong and forever say the wrong thing, and if they were to become friends he wanted to be sure he said it right, ”I’m a first year slytherin, you’re a first year too, right?” he asked, ”Do you want to play or something?” Derek held up the rugby ball wondering if the boy knew what it was, so they could have a little bit of a game, it just anything to be interesting.

As Derek had been about to do this another girl approached them and as she did, he recognised who she was, "Emilia!" he replied as she greeted him, she appeared a little nervous about being at the cliffs. He grinned at her, "Oh it'll be okay, I think the magic of the school will protect us, but I'm not certain," He told her with a friendly expression, he didn't really want to leave just yet.
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[Alkander Avaskadiras]

Alkander shook the boy's hand with a smile. He was friendly enough for Alkander to like already. "Nice to meet you too! Hi!" He greeted the girl that joined them. She looked a first year as well. "Right!" He chuckled awkwardly. "Is not far different from Alexander." He added, just then realizing that his name was quite uncommon. "I'm a first year as well. I'm in Gryffindor." He shared. "How about you?" He smiled at the girl.

He then picked up a stone from the ground and carefully approached the edge. He released it and watched it fall all the way until it plopped into the water and disappeared. "Hmm, rocks are obviously not blocked. If any enchantments are in place, they will be for people so, be careful with the...ball." He looked curiously at the ball he was holding. He could recognize the soccer and basketball ones but it was the first time he witnessed this one. "Yeah, sure!" He replied eagerly although he had no idea what kind of sport was played with that ball.

Alkander had another look down at the lake. "Well, I saw some older students jumping off the cliff earlier." He decided to reveal this to his new acquaintances. "They were pulled back here and they were doing it over and over again." He added, finding himself reluctant to do the same although he had witnessed this with his own eyes. He made him question himself. Wasn't he brave enough or he was just sensible?

 

[Emilia Manning]

Emilia was never very good at talking to people she didn't know, no matter the situation. even in stores she didn't like to ask anything at the people working there. So meeting new classmates wasn't easy for the Hufflepuff. She was glad she knew Derek a little, though, and found herself standing a little closer to him. "Maybe there is magic protecting us." She said quietly. But magic or not, she didn't want to fall off. The two boys exchanged which house they were in, and Emilia bit her lip as she wasn't sure if they would want to know where she had been placed. She looked down, deciding to stay quiet about being in Hufflepuff. The ball Derek was holding was a strange shape, and she didn't think it was used in quidditch. "Why isn't that ball round?" She asked him timidly, though she was sure it was a stupid question.

The Gryffindor boy went on to talk about older students jumping off the cliff and being pulled back, and she looked at him with a horrified expression on her face. Surely he was making a joke. Who would do that? "That sounds dangerous." She said hesitantly. "Are you sure you saw that?" Her eyes darted to the edge of the cliff and she shuddered, taking another step closer to Derek. She hoped the other boy wouldn't suggest they try it.

 

[Derek Tahana]

Derek was pleased he had managed to say the other boy's name correctly, he couldn't imagine how frustrating it would be to have your name be constantly pronounced incorrectly. He nodded at what house this boy was in, "Nice! I'm in Slytherin," he had known that Alkander hadn't been in slytherin, since they were the same year group he would've seen him in the dorm room. Of course he knew a little bit more about Emilia, having met her on the way into Hogwarts. He had also paid a little more attention when she had been sorted so he knew that she was in hufflepuff. All they needed now was a ravenclaw and they could get a little inter house game going, so long as he got them all to agree to playing a little with the rugby ball. He was however certain that the cliffs were protected by magic, meaning none of them could fall from them, but as Alkander kicked some stones over he wasn't so sure, "It's a rugby ball that's why," he told Emilia as he tossed the ball up and caught it again, "Rugby's a muggle sport," he added in case it was the fact that it was muggle sport that was confusing her.

Derek like Emilia wasn't sure he believed what Alkander was saying, "I don't know if that's true..." he started uncertainly, he didn't particularly want to test it out, after all, they were brand new to the school and cliff diving wasn't something that first years should be doing, "Plus, just seems sort of silly," he added, thinking that it was silly for people to be throwing themselves off a cliff, even if it was protected. He instead thought it would be better to just play, of course being careful to not throw the ball over the cliff. "We can just toss it about, you need to throw it a little differently than a quaffle, but if you don't know I can show you," he offered to them both, "It'll be nice and easy, and we can move away from the edge, if you want?" his latter question had mostly been for Emilia since she seemed least at ease with the cliffs. He was sure that neither of them would throw the ball too hard, but he wasn't going to go diving after it either. If it fell, he would just need to get a new one.
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[Alkander Avaskadiras]

Even if the enchantments were in effect, Alkander had to agree with Derek that it was a reckless thing to do, although secretly, inwardly, he thought it would have been thrilling to bounce in midair back on the cliff. Perhaps another day when he would have more faith in his spell arsenal. "Let's not test this out. Rugby sounds good." He said, recalling from his memory the muggle sport. He had never played before or watched a game so he assumed it involved tossing and passing, much like chasers.

Alkander moved a safe distance from the cliffs' edge, ready to play some rugby. "I prefer playing chaser. So it must not be much different." He guessed, ready to receive a pass. "Do you like quidditch?" He asked both of them. Alkander was very disappointed when he found out that first years weren't allowed in teams' tryouts. He had to wait a year until he could represent his house. Sunday afternoons back home included short games with his family at their backyard's small quidditch pitch. He preferred to play as a chaser but keeper or beater were also decent posts for him. As long as he didn't have to chase that bloody snitch, he was fine with anything else. "I can't wait for the first match!" He stated overly excited, ready to receive a pass.

 

[Emilia Manning]

Emilia heard Derek say he was in Slytherin, and wondered if he'd seen Espen around. The other boy was in Gryffindor like Emilia's other cousins, and she felt a little jealous of them both. She was glad that Derek didn't laugh at her for her question about the ball, and nodded at his answer even though she didn't really get it. She hadn't grown up with to many muggle influences, and sports wasn't something she was that interested in anyway.

She was glad Derek didn't really believe Alkander's story either, and even happier when the Gryffindor dropped it as an idea for them to do. She wasn't sure about the other plan to play rugby either, but didn't really feel like she could say no. "Um, okay." She said, moving as far away from the edge as she could while still remaining in throwing distance. She shook her head when Alkander asked about quidditch. "Not really." She said quietly. Her father liked it a little, but wasn't a huge fan or anything either. Emilia herself had never expressed much interest in the sport. She watched Derek anxiously, hoping he would throw the weird ball at the other boy rather than at her.