Closed Getting a Head Start, I Suppose

[Eris Athanasiou]

Eris had slept rather well on her first few nights at Hogwarts, though she assumed it was because the days had been filled with a lot of new things and chaos, so her body had needed the rest. It truly was a shame though that there were no viable windows to open in her dorm, unless you wanted slugs to get in or whatever that Head of House of hers had said. The dungeons were nice otherwise, she supposed. Quiet and secluded enough, but she did not mind spending most of her waken hours out of there.

Eris had settled in the student lounge by one of the windows that she'd cracked open, just enough for the wind to blow in. She was flipping through some potion ingredient book she'd sneaked in with her from their home without her aunt's approval. Eris had no doubt if aunt Sofia found out about her taking book without asking she'd complain about it for fifteen full minutes, but that was why she would never find out. easy as that, Eris just had to hope her aunt wasn't feeling like touching up on her potion ingredients knowledge. Though she'd assume she was familiar enough with them already.

@Natsuko Hirano

 

[Natsuko Hirano]

Natsuko was overwhelmed but in the best possible way. Life at Hogwarts was immersive in magic in a way she'd never thought possible and she was definitely in her element. She'd slept beautifully on her new bed which was beyond comfortable and so far everyone seemed nice. Natsuko had taken to doing a bit of exploring, a little nervous she'd get lost on the way to classes because the castle was just so big. So many floors too! Natsuko had ended up somehow on the fourth corridor (fourth? third? she'd lost count) and looking around, had found a room that was labelled the student lounge. She was a student and she liked to lounge so Natsuko entered. She peered around at the other students, walking in slowly. Some of them looked a bit older and Natsuko was a little shy, so she steered herself in the other direction until she came across someone who looked closer to her age. They had a book out and Natsuko's curiosity took over. "What you got there?" Natsuko asked, leaning a bit to catch a glimpse at the pages.

 

[Eris Athanasiou]

Eris was reading about wormwood and its many uses, honestly she had no particular desire to excel in this particular branch of her studies but given how utterly disappointed aunt Sofia had been in both Mania and Gaia for receiving poor grades for their first year in Potions she figured it'd best try to no follow in their foots steps. Nia had so far caught up, but aunt Sofia wasn't all that impressed so the least Eris wanted was not to be the subject of the woman's disapproval. Her eyes shot up when someone was next to her asking something. Wait where had this girl come from? Blinking a few times the Slytherin glanced down at her book and then at the girl again. "Um, it's a book about potion ingredients and their uses and properties." She explained, considering for a second before offering the book towards the girl to look. She looked interested in the pages so might as well. "Not that I'll need it until second semester but figured since I took it with me from home might as well make use of it," she added with a shrug.

 

[Natsuko Hirano]

"Ohh," Natsuko said thoughtfully, nodding. "You took that from home?" That seemed to amuse Natsuko and she gave a slight smile. "You must come from a magical family then! Wait, I think I don't I have potions until next semester either! That means we'll be in the same class. My name's Natsuko, by the way." She gave a friendly smile, and distinctly the impression of someone extremely well-meaning and potentially easy to take advantage of. "So you must be a Slytherin. I'm a Hufflepuff. I think you're the ones who are stuck in the dungeons, is that right? That sounds a bit mean to be put there, though I guess getting to the Great Hall for breakfast is pretty easy." Natsuko liked looking for the silver lining of things.

 

[Eris Athanasiou]

Eris blinked a few times as the girl seemed to find it amusing that she'd taken this book on potion ingredients from home, but then she pointed up Eris must be from a magical family and it made sense. This girl must have been a muggleborn. "Yes, my family is magical." Well most of it anyways, her mum had been muggleborn and her uncle was also muggleborn, her aunt and fathers exact blood status was sort of a mystery since they'd been adopted. Eris kept staring at the girl as she babbled on, she'd said her name was Natsuko. "Uh I'm Eris," she managed in before the girl continued. She gave a nod at the Slytherin and might have even smiled had the girl not brought out the fact that she was stuck in the dungeons, that did souren her mood. Turning her face back to the book she was glad one of them saw the silver lining of being underground. "Yup, they did put me in the dungeons, even though I did ask somewhere where I could open the window and hear the wind. I suppose the hat didn't care enough for my wishes though." Eris said flatly, she was sure she'd grow used to the dungeons but as things were right now it was still a sore topic for her. "What's Hufflepuff like then?" She asked wanting to move on from the part of her being stuck in the dungeons.

 

[Natsuko Hirano]

Natsuko half picked up on the souring of Eris' mood, half didn't. Whatever she picked up on, it didn't phase her much - although she was suddenly rather indignant. "You asked the sorting hat, you mean? And the hat just didn't? That's so rude!" She was very much put out, because she'd really liked the hat and it's song and had a good opinion on it. "I thought it would be more considerate than that!" She was so caught up she almost missed Eris' question. "Hufflepuff? It's great! People are really nice. The beds are so good too, the blankets so cosy, but I'm sure every house has beds like that. If they didn't...well, I'd have to have a stern talking to someone." She puffed herself out a bit, but it didn't do much to make anyone think she could be intimidating. She paused momentarily to suggest they swap - she really was offended on behalf of Eris that she didn't get an open window - but didn't know if Natsuko herself could follow through with dungeon living.

 

[Eris Athanasiou]

Eris was a bit surprised when the girl seemed to be upset for her unfair placement so to say. "Yeah I mean I guess I only asked to be somewhere where I can open the window to listen the wind, but I also asked somewhere where learning is encouraged and the hat took one of the two and rolled with it." She said shrugging her shoulders, if she thought too much about it it would send her into a fit of annoyance too so the Slytherin decided to focus on listening to the other girl. "In all honesty if you don't count the lack of openable windows and the placement in the dungeons Slytherin is okayish. The beds are nice," She reassured the girl when she said she'd need a stern talking with someone if the beds weren't good in the other houses.

 

[Natsuko Hirano]

"The wind?" Natsuko repeated. "Is that like, a comfort thing, like how some people like listening to rain?" Natsuko was strangely curious about this. Then Natsuko deflated from her puffed-up state, calming down upon seeing that Eris wasn't too worked up about it, nor was there any forth-coming complaints about the bedding situation. "That's good," Natsuko said, nodding, then she seemed to suddenly jump to a new topic of conversation. "Which classes are you most excited for? Transfiguration looks tricky but interesting, and charms looks fun...I'm looking forward to flying but I've never done it before so I might be terrible at it. But then again, I might be terrible at magic." The thought alarmed Natsuko a little, but she calmed herself with self-reassurances that she'd be fine.

 

[Eris Athanasiou]

Eris nodded hesitantly, considering how deep into the psychology of why she liked the wind she'd go with this girl. Though if anything the Hufflepuff had so far given off a trustworthy vibe. "I like the sound of it because I like to think if you listen close enough you can hear it talk. Kind of like whispers carried from somewhere beyond. Its a silly thought but I'd like to think that the wind carries with it voices lost in time, like my mum and dad." She said the last part a little more quietly. Eris wasn't too bothered about the sudden topic change, she was sort of glad if she was being honest because it didn't give her any time to regret talking about the wind. "Trust me you'll do just fine and if you ever need help with anything you can always reach out to me," Eris told the Hufflepuff trying to be reassuring. She could understand being nervous about magic. "I'm looking forward to Defence Against The Dark Arts and Arithmancy later on, those were my parents favourites according to my aunt." She explained with a small shrug.

 

[Natsuko Hirano]

Natsuko blinked a few times, listening and wondering if this was a magic thing - if maybe people could talk to the wind, like how owls apparently knew where to go. She therefore took it in her stride, as though it was normal for anyone to think that. "Maybe I should listen closer too," Natsuko mused to herself, the reference Eris made to her own mum and dad completely going over Natsuko's head, although Natsuko thought about her grandfather a bit. She wouldn't mind hearing from him again. Natsuko gave a pleased smile at the idea that she could reach out to Eris. "Thanks! And if you ever want to know anything about muggle stuff, I'll help you out too!" Natsuko nodded. She had no idea what arithmancy was, but it sounded interesting. "I think Defence Against the Dark Arts sounds cool too, but I don't have it until second semester so I've got to wait to see. My parents were always good at science, but they don't teach science here." Natsuko gave a shrug. She didn't feel like she was missing out personally.

 

[Eris Athanasiou]

Eris glanced at Natsuko and tried not to sigh too loudly out of relief when the comment about her parents seemed to fly over the other girls head. She did smile softly though as the girl said maybe she should listen to it too, it didn't seem like an ingenuine remark either. "I'll keep that in mind." Eris said with a smile, she knew somethings about muggle stuff because her cousins, well her cousins cousins she supposed, were muggles and they saw them quite often. That being said she only saw day to day things of their familys and she was sure that traditions and things differed in each family. She nodded along as Natsuko said what she was looking forward to and then a thought struck her head. "Wait your name, Natsuko? It's Japanese right?" There was a tone of small hopefulness in her question. "My dad was Japanese-American and my middle name is Mitsuko." She explained, itd taken her brain a bit to work that one out.