Going forwards, backwards

[Soohye Kendall-Wu]

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<FONT font="georgia"><SIZE size="50">Soohye was certain she'd already walked down all the stairs in the castle, but as she peered over the edge of her current moving flight, she still felt as though she had a long way to go before she reached the ground floor. She'd lost track on where she was now, was this the floor for the Muggle Studies or the Charms lessons? Beauxbatons had been so much simplier, less stairs, less classrooms, and everything was clearly labelled. Soohye knew she should have asked her brother to show her round the school, and he'd be in the Ravenclaw common room now relaxing, because he didn't have the stress of dealing with exams like she did. She tried to calm her thoughts, panic and apprehension running through her as she took the last few steps into god knows which corridor, looking up and down for some indication of where she was. Next time, she was going to have to remember to bring a map.​

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[Amber Chou Wilson]

Ever since she had been made a prefect, Amber had a new spring in her step as she walked through the corridors. She felt the responsiblity of the position very much, and found herself constantly scanning around for people in need of help or perhaps students getting into mischief. She kind of hoped to avoided the second group for as long as she could, though, as she wasn't sure how good she would be at making them stop. A rule follower herself, Amber found it hard to even imagine wanting to cause trouble. The only time she had lost points had been in her previous year, which still felt unfair to her. It had been November's mistake that caused her to be sprayed with bubotuber pus, so why had she taken a twenty point hit for it? But now that she knew it hadn't hurt her chances of being prefect, she didn't mind so much.

Her eye caught on an unfamiliar girl, and she faltered in her step. By now, Amber felt like she recognized most faces at Hogwarts at least vaguely. If not, she assumed they were in the years above her or new first years. But this girl looked around her own age. Even if she was in the year above or below her, surely Amber would have seen her by now. Not only did she look unfamiliar, she also looked sort of lost. After a moment of hesitation, Amber headed over. "Hi, can I help you with something?" She asked the girl in a friendly tone. "Sorry if I'm interrupting your day, but you look a little lost. Are you new here?" The girl could be a transfer. Amber hoped she was right, otherwise this would turn awkward quickly.

 

[Soohye Kendall-Wu]

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<FONT font="georgia"><SIZE size="50">Soohye was about to toss up in her head whether to take a left or right turn, when another girl started talking to her. "Oh. Is it that obvious?" Soohye gave a small giggle, secretly glad that someone had started talking to her. If she were to asked for directions she wouldn't have known who to even approach. Soohye had a slightly french accent from her years abroad, and she nodded at the girls question. "I transferred from Beauxbatons this year." She was always happy to introduce herself to new people, although unsure of how her siblings reputation was held at the school, she was going to go for as long as she could without giving out her surname. Hopefully by the time her future friends would find out, they wouldn't think she shared their opinions. "Soohye," she introduced herself, holding out a hand. She had calmed down considerably with the girls presence, and taking a moment to compose herself properly, she tried to explain her predicament. "What floor is this? I thought I'd be on the ground by now but.. " She glanced around, knowing she probably sounded very silly. "I'm trying to get outside." she said eventually, hoping the girl wouldn't be judging her too harshly.​

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[Amber Chou Wilson]

Amber smiled when the girl turned to her, and quickly shook her head. "Oh, no! Not really, I mean, not in a bad way." She said, trying to reassure her. "I just wondered why someone around my own age would be looking lost, you know?" She said, her smile turning a little sheepish. "Honestly, I'm mostly glad I wasn't wrong. That would have made me sound really mean." She said with a small sigh. "But hello! Welcome to Hogwarts!" She said, brightening up again instantly. She didn't want to give this girl a bad impression, after all. "Soohye is a pretty name. I'm Amber, Amber Wilson." She said, shaking the girl's hand. Patiently, she listened to the girl's question. "This is the third floor, but I completely understand how you feel." She said with a small smile. "The castle has more floors than you'd think. I must have gotten lost a hundred times in my first year." She said, hoping it would help Soohye feel less silly for being three floors higher than she thought. "If you want I can walk you to the entrance hall, I don't mind." She told the girl, meaning what she said. "I could point things out to you on the way, like different classrooms." Only then did she think to ask, "in what year are you?" She asked, hoping it was her own year. It would be nice to have more friends in her classes with her.

 

[Soohye Kendall-Wu]

Soohye smiled as the girl introduced herself, and told her how she'd struggled too when she joined the school. She gratefully shook the girls hand, glad that someone had managed to find her before she'd gotten dangerously lost, even more so that they seemed to be as nice as Amber was. "Nice to meet you Amber. I would like that, but only if it's not too much trouble?" Soohye didn't like to cause more problems for others, and Amber would have to go out of her way for her if she were to show her around the school. It would be helpful though, as no doubt she'd find herself in a similar situation later on if she didn't take her up on the offer. "I've just joined in fifth year." She replied, thinking over the girls proposition again. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to stop you from.. going wherever you were headed," the Ravenclaw said nervously, wondering why a stranger would be so kind to her. Amber could have just pointed her down the stairs and left her to it, and Soohye suddenly wondered whether her sisters had anything to do with this. Perhaps it was all a joke and she was going to be left worse off than she started. "Are you very sure you don't mind?" She questioned again, trying to ignore the negative thoughts. Growing up with siblings such as hers she'd had to learn to more than slightly wary.
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[Amber Chou Wilson]

Amber was a little embarrassed to admit it, but Soohye was exactly what she had been looking for. The girl seemed worried she was intruding on Amber's time, so she tried to reassure her. "It's okay, I promise it's not too much trouble." With some pride, she pointed at the badge on her shirt. "I'm a prefect, it's part of my duties." She said with a happy smile. Her smile grew as the girl said she was in fifth year. "Really? I'm a fifth year too! We'll have classes together." It was a shame the girl wasn't a Hufflepuff, as it would be nice to have another friend in her own house and dormitory. Things with November hadn't really changed since the last year, though they mostly seemed to be avoiding each other now. "I'm completely sure I don't mind." She said firmly, hoping the girl would believe her and accept it. She smiled and started to walk in the right direction. "On this floor there's the trophy room, it's over there." She said, pointing. "The hospital wing is at the other end, but most importantly the charms classroom is here. We don't have that subject this semester, but once we do you'll know where to find the right classroom." Amber said brightly, pointing at the classroom door as they passed it.

 

[Soohye Kendall-Wu]

The girl did seem to not mind that she'd found her, and Soohye nodded as she explained she was a prefect. That at least explained why she felt as though she had to look out for her, and as a prefect she probably knew everyone and everything in the school anyway. "Well I'm glad to have bumped into you, Amber" she smiled, allowing her new friend to lead the way. She smiled with genuine warmth when she heard that they'd be sharing classes together, glad that she wouldn't be alone when she began them. There were a few extra classes at Hogwarts that Beauxbatons had offered, and she knew she was going to find lessons a struggle as it was. "Do you have a favourite class?" she asked, wondering if the rumours were true about the Professors here too. Soohye's eyes followed Amber's words as she pointed out a few important rooms, and made extra sure that she wasn't going to forget where the Charms room was next semester. "Beauxbatons didn't have this many corridors and rooms. It was really beautiful, but I think Hogwarts is more in depth" she added, wondering whether she even wanted to hear about her old school. Perhaps she'd been there already herself as a prefect, or spoken to members of the Beauxbatons team when they attended during the summer.
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[Archie Renner]

Since returning to Hogwarts Archie often frequented the lower levels of the school, the grounds, and lastly the great hall when he wasn't on patrols as they were the only places he needed to be. The third floor on he other hand was not somewhere he spent time since it was out of the way for him. Although that day Archie found himself there, skating up and down the corridor and thoroughly enjoying himself. He had wanted a change of pace from skating between the quidditch pitch and the castle, as well as to find somewhere level where he could skate faster and practice new tricks. The third floor was perfect for this as it was said to be one of the safest corridors because of the hospital wing, and Archie could be healed almost immediately if he fell off his board. He was in the middle of gaining speed to attempt a jump when he skated past a pair of students talking. Overhearing their conversation, Archie realized the Hufflepuff student was helping the Ravenclaw student and he quickly slowed down, turning around on his board and skating slowly towards them. "Hey, you!" Archie said, pointing to the Hufflepuff. "Twenty points to Hufflepuff!" He exclaimed. "It's awesome you're helping out someone new and it shouldn't go with out being rewarded, okay? Have a nice day!" Archie then turned around on his board to skate in a different direction away from the girls, while smiling to himself. He remembered being told that if he saw students being kind he was allowed to give points and that situation was the perfect opportunity. It was an awesome thing to see students kindly helping others and Archie was glad to have rewarded the Hufflepuff girl for her actions.​

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

Amber grinned at Soohye as she lead her around. "I'm glad to have bumped into you too! I really hope you enjoy your time here at Hogwarts. Did you transfer here for any particular reason?" She asked, hoping it wouldn't be found intrusive by the other girl. Amber loved Hogwarts, but she couldn't help wonder why someone would leave their old school to come here. "My favorite class is potions, that's in the dungeons." She said with a smile. It was still a surprise to her that it had become her favorite, as some of the ingredients did gross her out. "I also like divination lot, which is in one of the towers. That's an elective, though, so I don't know if you picked it?" It interested her to hear more about Beauxbatons, and she looked at the girl curiously. "Is it a smaller school? What does it look like?" The description of beautiful intrigued her. Hogwarts was beautiful in an old medieval kind of way, but she couldn't help but feel like a more modern building might let in more light and be more pleasant. Maybe Beauxbatons was like that?

Amber jumped when a blur passed by her and she frowned in the direction of the person skateboarding, assuming it was a student at first. Once he came back she recognized him as the temporary flying professor, but she also remembered him being a student at the school in her first and second year. Was this allowed? He was a professor, sure, but surely skating through the corridors wasn't... encouraged. She took a small step back as he pointed at her, wondering if she had done something wrong. When he instead gave her twenty points for her house, her mouth dropped open. She quickly closed it again. Before she could really react to anything he told her he had given her points for helping a new student and started moving in the opposite direction again. Finally finding her voice, Amber cupped her hands around her mouth. "Thank you, Professor!" She shouted after him, feeling bad that she hadn't known how to react sooner. She laughed a little and looked at Soohye. "Before you ask if this is common at Hogwarts. I don't think this has ever happened before. Not to me, at least." She smiled as she looked in the direction of Professor Renner. It made her very happy she had gotten points, even if he had startled her.

 

[Soohye Kendall-Wu]

Soohye wasn't particuarly keen to go too deep into her true reasoning for joining the school, not yet. However she did have a back up for what she would say in such a circumstance. "The school is closer to my family. Living in France was lovely but it meant I couldn't see them as much." It wasn't exactly a lie, she just left out the part that her family were here at the school with her. The Ravenclaw listened as Amber explained her favourite subjects, "I don't have divination actually. The only electives I took were Muggle Studies and Arithmancy, although I did hear Divination is supposed to be an eye opening subject" She said with a smile. She honestly didn't really need to take all the subjects in order to have the career she was looking for, and didn't want to bombard herself with classes to the point that she'd be unable to practise her true passions. "It's a little smaller, but it's bright and open." she began, trying to note the main comparisons between the two schools. As she was about to describe further, she spotted someone flying by them on a skateboard. She gasped quietly, catching her by surprise and wondering whether that was even allowed, but as the scene played out it appeared that he was a Professor, and glancing back at Amber as she received some House Points she gave a small laugh. "Well, Professors at Beauxbatons would certainly never do that." she added, remembering how much more strict they were there. Soohye was still trying to understand what kind of behaviour was rewarded with these points, as she'd not experienced houses at her previous school. As they began to walk further down the corridor, Soohye wondered what this girl would have in common with her, if anything. "Do you have any siblings Amber?" she asked nervously, bringing up a topic that would be difficult for her talk about if the situation was reversed, but thinking that she was going to need to talk to someone about what she was going through at the new school.
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[Amber Chou Wilson]

Amber nodded when Soohye explained why she had transferred to Hogwarts, as it made sense. If her family was here, she could understand wanting to be here too. Amber wondered if she had siblings at the school. She grimaced a little when Soohye mentioned her electives. "That's too bad, those are some of the few electives I don't take, actually." She sometimes wondered what she was missing out on. She had taken Muggle Studies for a single semester in the previous year, but had dropped it again. She didn't think she really needed it. Now that she had dropped that and Herbology, her workload had lightened significantly. The sound of a more bright and open school was pretty nice, and she wondered if she would ever see it. Though it seemed unlikely.

A small laugh escaped her as Soohye commented that professors at Beauxbatons would never do that. "I don't think any other profssor here would do that either." She said with a small shrug. She hadn't talked to Professor Renner much when he was still a student here, but it was odd to see him back as a professor instead. She had a bright smile on her face as they continued walking. Amber always enjoyed getting points, and it was rare to get any outside of a lesson setting. Soohye's question made her glance at the girl in surprise, then nod. "I do. Her name is Sophie." She said, thinking of her younger sister. "She's in your house actually, in third year." Sophie was very different from her, but she didn't think she needed to say that. It wasn't fair to Sophie to give people an impression of her beforehand. She hadn't seen much of her lately, but she knew Sophie had her own friends. They weren't as close as Amber would have liked. "What about you?" It seemed only natural to ask the question in return of the other girl.

 

[Soohye Kendall-Wu]

It was sad to hear that the only person who so far had looked out for her, wouldn't be in the same classes. It would have been good if she were to go in at least not feeling completely cut off from the rest of the class, especially when everyone else had an additional four years under their belt. "Oh, well he seemed nice. What does he teach?" Soohye asked, wondering if she'd have the skating boarding Professor teaching her something important like Potions. She imagined not, he seemed a little too relaxed and clumsy for a topic that needed patience and attention to detail. As the fifth year listened to her new friend talk about her sister, she smiled upon hearing they were in the same house. "Sophie..I'm not sure if that rings a bell if I'm honest." Soohye had heard alot of new names recently, although perhaps Sophie knew her brother. "My younger brother is a third year Ravenclaw too. His name is Isaac and so maybe Sophie knows him?" She would have loved to be close with any one of her siblings enough to know who their friends were, but that was a bridge she had yet to recover. "I have three other sisters in the school too, although we don't really talk much. None of them are in Hufflepuff though." If any of the Kendall-Wu's were going to be placed in a house of kindness, she would have thought it would have been herself, and couldn't see any of the other girls being quite as considerate as she. "Perhaps you've heard of Kimmyeon? She's a seventh year and she's on the Slytherin Quidditch Team." She had yet to tell anyone at the school of her connections to the others, and could only hope that Amber didn't associate her actions with Soohye.
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[Amber Chou Wilson]

Amber hoped Soohye didn't feel too sad about the different electives they had. She figured they at least would share a few of the core subjects. "He's temporarily replacing the flying teacher." Amber said with a smile. "So he just teaches the first-years. Thankfully, that's the only time we're forced to take flying." She paused. "At least, that's how I feel. I'm not very good on a broom," she admitted somewhat sheepishly. It wasn't an opinion many people shared, and she had just blurted it out. Amber wasn't really surprised the girl wasn't familiar with Sophie, as Sophie really wasn't the most social person. It made her a little sad to realize she had no idea if Sophie knew this Isaac boy, though. The two hardly talked. "I don't know if she knows him, I don't think she's ever mentioned him." She said lightly. Amber didn't really want to admit to Soohye how little she spoke to Sophie, so it was a surprise to her when the other girl mentioned the same thing about her own sisters. The one she mentioned in seventh year on the Quidditch Team rang a bell, and she said as much. "I think I've seen her play before. I've never spoken to her though." She said. Then, because the girl had been honest, she was as well. "I don't talk much to my sister either. We have pretty separate lives here." There was a tone of wistfulness in her voice. Lately, the gap between her and Sophie was starting to bother her more and more. But she had no idea how to approach her sister. Sophie always rejected her, so it had been easy to stop trying.

 

[Soohye Kendall-Wu]

Soohye was a little disheartened to hear that the Professor only taught first years, and she found herself wondering why flying was only taught for one year. She was about to tell Amber that she had just tried out for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team herself, but at her confession that she didn't really enjoy being on a broomstick Soohye thought better of it. Instead she listened as her classmate spoke about her sister. "I don't think Kimmy ever really talks to anyone, she's the sort to close herself off I suppose." It wasn't surprising Amber had never spoken to her, "My siblings don't talk to me much though because I chose to go to Beauxbatons and move away, instead of stay with them here." Before she'd admitted the problems to the Hufflepuff, Soohye had been thinking it would be a long time until she would tell anyone the story behind herself and her siblings, but it was very easy to talk to the prefect, especially when she was in a similar situation. "Do you want a relationship with her?" she asked, looking up at the brunette as they walked. She would do her best to help if like Soohye, she wished she could get passed their difficulties.
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[Amber Chou Wilson]

Amber hoped she hadn't offended the other girl with her talk about flying, but she didn't talk about it or respond to it. Amber wasn't really sure if that was a good sign or not. The description of Soohye's sister actually sounded a little bit like Sophie. "My sister mostly talks to a few of her friends, but not many others." Amber felt a little sad at the description Soohye gave of why her sisters were angry. "Just because you chose a different school?" She asked with a small frown. "That seems a little unfair... but is that why you came back? To reconnect?" As the question left her mouth, Amber realized she was being pretty nosy. "Sorry, you don't have to answer that. I'm asking too many questions." She said, a little embarrassed. But she wasn't the only ones asking personal questions. Soohye's question about Sophie hit home. "Well, yes." She admitted, glancing down. "It's not that easy, though," she said with a small sigh. Thinking of her sister was a little painful, as she wondered if there was something she could do to make things better at this stage. Sophie always rejected her and pushed her away. Though maybe Amber let her do that a little too easily.