Firstie Tours!

[Kauri Morales-Tipene]

In Kauri's opinion, becoming more mature and advancing through the years of the school came with certain responsibilities to those younger and less acclimated. And Kauri took that responsibility seriously. He had found it difficult to find his way around the castle in his first year, getting lost often, and wanted to help as many new students avoid that awkwardness as possible. Last year he had shown a couple of new people around, but it hadn't always gone exactly as planned. This year, Kauri decided to take a more direct approach.

Standing in the middle of the Entrance Hall, Kauri held up the sign he had made in his dorm room last night. CASTLE TOURS FOR FIRST YEARS! It read, in big bold letters. Hoping he ran into people who needed help when they needed it hadn't been such a good approach last year. This way hopefully, people who needed help would find him instead. "Tours for first years!" He called out. "Don't let the stairs make you late for class, castle tours for all first years!"

 

[Gwen Owens-Lee]

Gwen was happy to be attending a new school in a foreign country that was full of many different opportunities. The girl made it her goal to explore the castle as much as possible during her first year. After all, she didn't want to miss out on anything and would find places before everyone else, discovering things people hadn't even seen before. It was definitely something to work towards but Gwen was determined to do it no matter what, making it her duty to get to know the castle as quickly as possible before her second year.

As Gwen made her way out of the great hall that morning after a delicious breakfast, the girl's attention reverted to a large sign in the middle of the entrance hall. It was offering a tour of the castle for first years and Gwen beamed, making her way straight towards it. An older student was holding the sign and Gwen went to make conversation with him. "Hello!" she exclaimed, noticing the same red robes as hers. It meant he was a gryffindor too which just made Gwen even more excited for what she could discover. "Are we going to be exploring the castle too? Or just looking for classrooms and whatnot?" Gwen hoped that they were going to do some exploring. After all, that was the main reason why she approached it.

 

[Katherine Alicastell]

With the start of the new year came a tide of fresh faces, both among the student population in the form of first years and foreign transfer students, and among the staff, as it seemed impossible to keep all of the same employees from year to year for one reason or another. The Headmistress did her own fair share of trying to best accommodate the newcomers and help them become accustomed to the unfamiliar castle, and it was with some surprise that she saw that she wasn't the only one. The sign caught her attention first, not a common sight in the otherwise mundane entrance hall, serving mostly as just a way in and out of the castle, and housing the hourglasses filled with coloured gemstones for the house points. Approaching the boy holding the sign and a first year he'd already attracted, Katherine smiled politely at both of them. "Mr Tipene. I appreciate the effort you're putting in to assist the first years with getting acquainted with the castle. More students could learn from you. Here." The woman withdrew her wand and tapped it in the direction of the Gryffindors hourglass, where a handful of red rubies cascaded down to the bottom. "I'll let Professor Kingsley know what you're doing. Keep up the good work." The school needed more students like Kauri to look up to, and it was certainly a nice change from dealing with misbehaving students. Nodding to the both of them, she continued on her way up to her office.
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[Jordan Walker]

Jordan had not expected there to be a tour but with a castle like Hogwarts so vast and expanding and confusing she admittedly did jump at the opportunity to join the boy who seemed to be organizing it. She held back, however, until the Professor had already left for no reason other than she wouldn't know what to say to them and wanted to impress the professors when it came time to do so. So the girl joined in afterwards and smiled at the two students who were there. "Hello," said Jordan to the two politely but offered not much else in the way of conversation from what she might call performance anxiety. She was not going to be one to ask many questions but she was glad to told where everything was meant to be. She wished that there was a map of such a place given to first years because were it not the guide to the common room after the first feast she never would've found her common room.​

 

[Kauri Morales-Tipene]

Kauri smiled brightly at the first girl who approached him. "Hi! Welcome to Hogwarts! I'm Kauri, what's your name?" He asked, eager to greet the new students and make them feel welcomed. "We'll go a few fun places as well as around the classrooms, but nowhere off limits, we don't want to break any rules. We'll check out the arts room though, and the library, and maybe get up to the owlery. I don't want to go too many places though, it'd just make it easier for you guys to get turned around looking for things." He gave her a friendly smile, hoping the girl would understand.

Kauri was a little worried to see the Headmistress approaching, and lowered his sign slightly out of instinct. He wasn't doing anything against the rules, he was sure of it, but he also hadn't actually asked any Professors if giving tours like this was alright. As she spoke though, his worry turned to relief, and then to delight. "Thank you, Professor!" He beamed, looking over at the little pile of rubies proudly before holding his sign higher for more first years to join them. What a good way to start the year! When another girl approached them, Kauri made sure to give her a friendly smile too. "Hi! I'm Kauri, what's your name?"

 

[Emilia Manning]

Hogwarts was overwhelming, and Emilia felt lost everywhere she went. As excited as she had been to go, she now couldn't help being a bit homesick. Nothing here was like home, which made sense as it was on the other side of the world. She had gone outside to find the gardens as she would like to see pretty flowers, but even outside it had been difficult to find anything. So when she saw the sign about castle tours for first years, she felt like it was something she should do. Shy and cautious, she slowly approached and listened to the boy organizing it talk to another girl that she recognized from Hufflepuff. He seemed very nice, and after hesitating for a moment she took a few steps closer. "Um, hello. Can I join?" She asked timidly.

 

[Kauri Morales-Tipene]

Kauri smiled warmly as another young girl approached. "Sure thing! Welcome to Hogwarts, I'm Kauri, what's your name?" He asked, giving her his full attention before looking around. This seemed like a decent sized tour group, but he wanted to make sure nobody was missing out. "LAST CALL FOR FIRST YEAR TOURS!" Kauri called out, waving his sign up as high as he could. Even if people didn't see him here in the hall, he supposed they could always join in the tour as it was underway.