Open First Year Castle Tour!!

[Felix Carnahan]

Felix had always thought fondly of the first year tours he saw parading around the castle over the years, and had been disappointed when he didn't see it happen last year. So when he found the beat up glitter sign behind some shelves in the student lounge he figured it was up to him to keep the tradition going. Besides with Thistle at school now he felt some responsibility to show them around. With the sign above his head, Felix cleared his throat before starting his announcement. "Helloooo!! Attention all first years! If you have gotten lost already, no need to fear!" he began. "Join me on the best tour around the castle you'll ever have! I'll show you around to all the classrooms you'll need to find and some you won't." He spotted Thistle and waved her over. "Everyone gather round or we're going to leave with out you!" he finished and waved the sign around a bit more so he was easy to spot. But he was a little out of breath now and smiled to all the first years that seemed to pop up out of nowhere.

 

[Dahlia Doherty]

Dahlia was idly admiring the halls when she heard the announcement, quirking an eyebrow when she saw the boy with green-tinged hair and a glittery sign. This was too funny not to take a closer look at, and any help she could get in finding her way around the castle she'd take. It wasn't like a shopping centre where there were easy landmarks to stake out. Dahlia approached the older boy with other curious first years, unable to suppress a smirk. There was another girl with green tinged hair - were they related? Did wizards have strange hair colours like in cartoons? She was certainly intrigued, but hung back a little, not wanting to appear over-eager.

 

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory had been having something to eat, marvelling at how the food just appeared when he heard an older voice calling out people for a tour. Gregory glanced to look and spotted a boy with green tinged hair. he decided it would be good for him to know where things were, so a tour would be helpful. Gregory finished what he was eating, put his glasses back on and rushed to where the tour was starting, which really only resulted in him tripping up over the robes and falling to the ground. He was sure just too many people saw that. He got to his feet quickly, and continued to the tour starting point, wiping down his hands on the robes and adjusting his glasses. he did now move quicker. He spotted Dahlia in the crowd of people. "Dahlia! Hi!" approached her with an excited wave.
@Dahlia Doherty ​

 

[Valentina Raven]

Val had decided to dedicate a bit of her time exploring the school today. The old castle fascinated her, it was beautiful really, but it was so big that she didn’t know where anything was. Beginning her journey on the first floor, Val made her way to the entrance. It was grand and antique, Val loved antiques.
She admired the entrance for a few seconds before she heard a boy start shouting. It probably wasn’t shouting, but it was definitely louder than normal volume. Turning to see the commotion, she watched a boy wave a sparkly sign about a first years tour. It was a perfect coincidence. It was what she set out to do, but now she didn’t have to do it herself. And, even if she had looked through the school by herself, she still wouldn’t know where her classes were. Hurrying to the boy, Val noticed a couple of other kids her age standing around him but she didn’t recognize her. Probably in a different house.
“You’re here for the tour too?” Val inched toward them, she knew they were there for the tour but she needed to break the ice somehow so she wasn’t alone the whole time.
@Gregory Friend @Dahlia Doherty

 

[Conan Burke]

Conan was so excited to be at school. There were so many cool things he was seeing. Even though there were things Molly had told him about the school, he thought that being here was so cool. He had made a few friends already and had managed to explore a lot of the school. Conan was about to get something to eat at the great hall because he was getting hungry when he noticed that an older student was doing a tour. Even though he vaguely knew where things were, Conan knew he couldn't miss out on the tour, so he hurriedly joined in with a few of the first years that were already there. He waved excitedly to the first years he knew, and waited patiently for the tour to begin.

 

[Dahlia Doherty]

Dahlia wanted to make a good impression, wanting to play it cool, but Gregory was nice and an ally here by virtue of also not being from a magical family. So she waved back at him with a grin. "Hi Gregory!" She greeted. She'd seen him get sorted into Hufflepuff at the ceremony a bit after which was a shame they weren't in the same house, but it wasn't the end of the world. Hufflepuff seemed like where the nice people went as much as it was 'the rest' like that boy - Cassius, she'd learned - had said. She smiled at the other two first years who joined, a nice looking girl and a boy who had a lot of band aids on his hands. Dahlia's eyes flicked to his hands, wondering what he'd done to make such a mess of himself, but thought better of saying anything. "Hi!" She instead greeted the other two, seeing no reason not to be nice. "I'm Dahlia, nice to meet you!"

 

[Thistle Carnahan]

There were a lot of advantages to having two brothers at Hogwarts already, and one of them was definitely having help to get around the castle. Thistle wasn't terrible with directions, but there was so much of Hogwarts, and it was a real challenge to get used to. When Felix had had the idea to show a bunch of the other first years around too she had leaped at the chance to join him, hanging around her brother as other first years joined them. She was pleased to recognise several of them already, waving brightly when she saw Conan. "Hi!" She said in excitement. "My brother's gonna show us around, he's a fourth year."
@Conan Burke

 

[Conan Burke]

Conan smiled at his other classmates and waved a little at one of his classmates that introduced herself as Dahlia. Conan was about to introduce himself when he was interrupted by a familiar voice and face. "Hey!" Conan says with more of an enthusiastic wave, trying his best to match the same energy as Thistle. "Nice! Is he gonna show us like secret passageways or anything? My sister is also a fourth year. I dunno where she is though" Conan says with excitedly about the secret passage ways and shrugged as he mentioned his sister. He always wondered if there were any secret rooms or passageways in the castle.

@Thistle Carnahan

 

[Ruto Vernier-Raison]

When Roo saw that there were tours for the first years, she really didn't hesitate in joining the big group of people that congregated around. It was optional, but Roo was happy to take it, especially since the castle was bigger than anything she had ever seen before and it would definitely be easy to get lost. She chuckled as one of the other first years bragged about the 4th year leader being their brother. "Wow, amazing. My aunt and uncle are sixth years. If your brother sucks at giving us a tour I can always go and find them." she said a little sarcastically with a slight chuckle. She just didn't like it when people thought they were better than others. Everyone sucked equally as much.

@Thistle Carnahan

 

[Ezra Ito]

Ezra had already gotten lost a few times on his way to the Great Hall, so when he heard som eolder student calling for first years and saying he'd give a tour, he decided it would be a good thing to join. A group of other first years gathered around him, and Ezra smiled at them. He recognized one of his roommates and greeted him. "Hey Gregory." He said with a grin.

@Gregory Friend

 

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory smiled brightly at Dahlia as she greeted him. He was quite glad that she did seem happy to see him, it would've been a bit awkward had she not been. But another girl joined them, not someone he knew and it seemed neither did Dahlia. "We are!" he replied to her before waving slightly. "I'm Gregory," he said. He spotted a few more people joining them, he waved to Conan, though the other boy was talking to someone else and then one of the boys from the dorm joined them. "Hey," he said was a smile. "Good to see you!" he was glad to see another familiar face for this tour. "This is Dahlia and...," he trailed off since the other girl hadn't said her name. "Ezra and I are dorm buddies!" he said, though buddies was probably the wrong word, since the dorm had more than just them, but he was sure that the girls would know what he meant.
@Dahlia Doherty @Valentina Raven @Ezra Ito ​

 

[Ezra Ito]

Ezra hadn't noticed Gregory had been talking to a few girls as he spoke to him, but once he realized it he waved at the girls quickly in greeting. This was a good way to meet new people, he wondered if Dorian was nearby, he could use the help. "We are dorm buddies." He said with a grin. "Hi I'm Ezra." He said, glancing at the two girls. "You two aren't in Hufflepuff, right?" He asked, as they didn't look too familiar.

@Gregory Friend @Dahlia Doherty @Valentina Raven

 

[Valentina Raven]

Val smiled at the responses of her new acquaintances but before she could respond, another boy joined the group. They seemingly knew each other, probably all in the same house but she wasn’t sure.
“Valentina,” Val said, filling in the blank silence. She was glad that they were including her within the group, although they had never met before. Val gave a small smile in return for his name.
“Oh, no i’m actually in Ravenclaw.” So she was wrong, the girl wasn’t in Hufflepuff nor Ravenclaw, she wondered what house she was in too. Val still didn’t understand the need for houses, or exactly what they meant, but it was nice to know what type of people were in which house.
@Gregory Friend @Dahlia Doherty @Ezra Ito

 

[Max Goose]

Exploring the castle was something Max had been looking forward to the most. But now that he was actually here, exploring seemed like a rather tricky thing to do. He was getting lost at every twist and turn of a corridor and had already had to ask a portrait if they could point him the way to the bathrooms once - they didn't take kindly to be wakened up from their afternoon nap. No, exploring the castle would be much safer if he already knew where to go or where he could find specific classrooms so that he could use them as way finders. So when Max heard about the first year tour, he quickly joined the other first years as they gathered around the older boy with the sign.

 

[Dahlia Doherty]

Dahlia was glad to see that a whole group of people had showed up. She was keen to get to know more of her classmates. She would have plenty of time to get to know the other Gryffindors, of course, but she would only really get to see the others in classes for now. At least she hoped she'd get to hang out with others a bit more. Valentina seemed nice especially, Dahlia liked having other girls to hang out with and talk to and Valentina looked like someone she might hopefully have a bit in common with. More than the green haired girl, though Dahlia had to at least admire the statement if not the execution. "Nice to meet you all! No, I'm in Gryffindor," she explained, pride evident in her tone. She barely even knew what the houses actually stood for beyond the basics of the song the hat had sung, but she liked Gryffindor anyway. She overheard the other kids compare their older siblings and raised her eyebrows slightly, but decided against saying anything. Instead, she turned back to Gregory, Ezra and Valentina with a grin. "They said it was a castle, but I don't think I could've been prepared for something like this!"

@Gregory Friend @Ezra Ito @Valentina Raven

 

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory felt happy that Ezra agreed with his dorm buddies statement, he gave a wide smile to Ezra and then nodded. He knew the two girls weren't in Hufflepuff, well he knew one for certain, the other less so. But Valentina introduced herself in the gap of names who was who, and was a ravenclaw, and Dahlia who was a gryffindor. "Right?! I don't know if what everyone elses last school was like but mine was like one floor, only like seven rooms, this is massive," he thought it was cool it was a castle, so much better than it not. He was sure all schools built should be castles.
@Ezra Ito @Dahlia Doherty @Valentina Raven ​

 

[Valentina Raven]

“Yeah, it kinda makes you feel like royalty,” Val added to the discussion on the castle, “I only ever thought royalty lived in these types of places.”
It reminded Val of pride and prejudice but the castle was way bigger than Mr Darcy’s house. She imagined wearing a ball gown and running down the staircases, it was magical. Which made sense seeing as this place was dedicated to magic. “I wonder where all our classes will be held,” Val though aloud, “Do we change classrooms each class?” Val remembered a little of her time in primary school but they were only ever in the same room for most subjects and then she was homeschooled and that was always in the study.
@Dahlia Doherty @Gregory Friend @Ezra Ito

 

[Ezra Ito]

Ezra tried to pay close attention as the girl started introducing herself so he wouldn't forget their names. The girl with long brown hair was called Valentina and was in Ravenclaw. "Oh, my best friend is also in Ravenclaw, his name's Dorian." Said, wondering if she had met him yet. The other girl, Dahlia, was in Gryffindor. Ezra nodded in agreement as she spoke about the castle. "I know! It's gigantic. I swear I already got lost ten times." He said. He hesitated at Valentina's question. "I guess so, maybe that's something to ask the guide?"

@Gregory Friend @Dahlia Doherty @Valentina Raven

 

[Felix Carnahan]

Felix was a little surprised to see just how many first years had flocked to him. They all seemed so tiny. Was he that small back then? He grinned as Thistle arrived and cleared his throat to get their attention. "As you know this is the entrance hall." he pointed out. If they didn't know that then they would probably need more help than he could offer. "Over there is the great hall." he said and pointed towards the large doors. "Which is where you got sorted and where all your meals are. If you didn't know that, you're probably very hungry." he said and laughed at his own joke. "There isn't much here on the ground floor besides that. There's the professor's common room but you probably won't need to go in there. And then through the courtyard you'll find the Conglomerated Arts room." Felix explained and pointed in that direction, knowing at least Thistle would care about that. "Any questions so far?"

 

[Dahlia Doherty]

Dahlia nodded in agreement. "My last school was pretty big...but it was like, prep to 12, and even it feels small now." She grinned at the others, especially with Valentina's assessment of it. "We're totally like royalty now," she agreed. Valentina was maybe the only one of them who looked like she might fit the bill - although at least Dahlia no longer had the scraped knees and palms that came with a particularly full on game of netball - but regardless of anything about bloodlines, they were all here and all magical. As far as Dahlia was concerned, that made all of them pretty special. "And we'll get used to it, I'm sure," she assured Ezra, though she'd also gotten a bit lost a couple of times. She turned when the older boy started talking, pointing out a few things that they'd worked out for the most part. Dahlia was a bit curious about the arts room, wondering if they did drama there. She knew there was a club event so she'd check that out, at least.