It's a Long Way - Take a Snack

[Merrill Piper]

Merrill couldn't believe her first day of classes was over already. She was a little disappointed all of them had been introductions, but she supposed she had the next seven years to learn magic. One day really wouldn't matter. After having lunch Merrill decided to write a letter to her brother. She thought about her parents as well, but Merrill wasn't exactly sure where they were at the moment. She knew they planned to leave New Zealand the second she was on the train. They had already lined up a new job. As she was leaving the great hall Merrill thought about what a long trip it was from New Zealand to Ilvermorny. When she thought no Professors were looking Merrill ran up to the closest table, snagged a piece of meat, and stuffed it in her pocket. I'll wash that later.

By the time she got to the Owlery Merrill was huffing, and puffing. She was no stranger to exercise, but that was a lot of stairs! When she finally made it to the top Merrill leaned against a wall trying to catch her breath. It was hard when the room smelled so strongly of dust, and owl poop. Next time I'll write my letter before I get up here. The young witch told herself. This time though she hadn't so Merrill sank down to the ground, and pulled out a rolled up piece of parchment, and a quill. She wrote to Rhys about the train ride, about Solomon, and about sorting. She made her to tell him that she had been sorted into Gryffindor just like mom, and dad. That would make them happy when she got the chance to tell that. Most of all she wrote about how much she missed him. Merrill's whole life Rhys had been her only friend. She wished he was here for this. Instead he was all the way in North America at Ilvermorny.​

 

[Amy Rosemary]

Amy was glad to be back for another year at Hogwarts. She couldn't help but calling this place home, after all she was with her twin and although they had been separated two years ago when they were first sorted Amy knew nothing could ever make them separable. The Rosemary twins always found a way to make the most of their time at HNZ together, even with their different schedules. She was a little disheartened today though, she knew they would pick different classes and therefore would not be able to see other as often as the previous years. The Hufflepuff was happy being able to go to the same school and keeping an eye on her brother, considering they were both magical. She was also grateful the both of them had those abilities their parents did. She would've hated if one of them had to stay at home. It just wouldn't be as much fun.

Amy wanted to spend as much time with Dan as possible, so she decided - after a lot of convincing from her dear brother - that they should write a letter to their whole family, not just to their parents. She would be telling them about the classes they had chosen, how school was going and all of that boring stuff. She wished she could tell them more about Hogwarts but unfortunately she didn't yet have any adventures. It was a bit early for those. She grinned, choosing at the last minute to nudge Daniel in the ribs to let him know she was going to race him to the Owlery. Her exercising skills over the holidays had been really good for her, she noted as she arrived up all those stairs with much time to spare before her brother appeared, huffing and puffing. Amy stuck out her tongue at him and entered the place full of different birds. How she loved animals!

 

[Daniel Rosemary]

Daniel was looking forwards to this year. He finally got to choose the electives he wanted to take, and get to drop those he hated! Life was great, up until a certain point when they had had a discussion during the summer with their parents about what they should take. Not that their parents really had a say in any of it, but to be considerate Dan let them speak. He was still one hundred per cent sure about his choices though so he wasn't the least bit worried. He was hesitant about his sister though, as clever as she was, Daniel was weary that sometimes she wasn't so wise with big decisions. To put it nicely. Amy seemed to debate with herself a lot. He wasn't sure it was a great sign of sanity, but he let it slide.

By the time he managed to convince the House Elves to make him and his sister something to eat after lunch (what? Daniel was a sucker for food), he met his twin near an Abandoned Classroom and from there they made their way up to the Owlery. Before he could protest, Amy was already sprinting up all of those stairs...how was she more fit than him? And he thought he did all the exercise! Huffing, he ran after her, careful not to trip over himself up until the last and highest step, where he fell face first on the ground. "Oomf," he puffed, getting up and sending a playful glare towards his sister. Just look at the things that she makes me do... "Seriously dude, what was that for? It almost killed me, I don't even know how-" He glanced at her and then he noticed they weren't alone in the Owlery. He raised an eyebrow. The girl looked younger than the twins, he wondered whether she was a first year. Although he had enjoyed the Sorting Ceremony, he couldn't exactly recognize her. He started getting disinterested after a few names and had looked longingly at all the food on the table before him. She looked a lot like Amy and stared at her for a few moments. He hoped they didn't have a long lost cousin or family member younger than them, or something. That would be freaky.

 

[Merrill Piper]

Merrill was trying to choose a bird from the schools selection. It was hard because they were all asleep at this time of day, and she hated the thought of waking them. She was sure that soon they would be flooded with letters from students wanting to write home after their first day. She had almost made up her mind with a fluffy snowy owl when suddenly a person came running up the stairs followed shortly by another. The girl seemed to be just fine, but the boy was just as out of breath as she had been. They appeared to be a few years older then her, Rhys's age if she was right. That would make them 3rd years. I hope their nice older students. Merrill thought nervously. She had never been short for her age, but some of the 6th, and 7th years seemed so tall! She was kind of scared of being trampled on her way to, and from class. If I'm nice to them maybe they'll be nice to me. she told herself. "Hi. I had trouble getting up the stairs too. I don't know how the Ravenclaws do it." Merrill gave the two a small smile. Gryffindor was on the 7th floor, but she knew from one of her classmates Ravenclaw's rooms were somewhere in a high tower like this one. As Merrill looked the other two students over she couldn't help but notice the girl looked rather like her. Don't be silly. Lot's of people have blonde hair, and blue eyes.​

 

[Amy Rosemary]

Amy nudged her brother to stop him from staring at the poor girl. It wasn't nice to stare, though the Hufflepuff had to admit she had never met someone who looked exactly like her. Same hair, same eyes. She blinked, but as soon as the younger girl started talking to the twins Amy's face split into a wide grin. She loved meeting new people! "Hey! I'm Amy, this is Dan," she said animatedly. She didn't want to intimidate the young witch so hopefully she'd be able to make her feel comfortable. She didn't know about her twin, but Amy wanted to make the first years feel welcome. Amy had felt welcome, but then again she came at the same time as her brother, which didn't make her worried about many things. The third year nodded cheerfully, agreeing. "I agree! Took me ages to get used to it, though it is my third year here so I probably don't have that much of an excuse to not be able to get up these stairs easily," Amy nudged Daniel again and smiled at the girl. She felt her Slytherin of a brother (in the best possible way) roll his eyes at her comment but she ignored it. "Honestly, I don't know either." Amy shrugged, a laugh escaping her lips. Those Ravenclaws had to be fast if they wanted to get to class on time.

 

[Merrill Piper]

Merrill was still trying to wrap her head around the similarities between her, and the other girl. Her mother had a big family didn't she? No no. They all lived in England, and Wales. There was no way. They say everyone has a double. Merrill smiled when Amy introduced herself, and the boy Merrill assumed was her brother. It made her heart ache for a second to think of it. She wished she was with her brother as well. "I'm Merrill. I just started today, well yesterday I guess. The hat put me in Gryffindor." Merrill introduced herself. After she had stuttered it out she realized it was probably obvious what house she was in due to her tie. For instance she could easily see that Amy was a Hufflepuff, and Dan was a Slytherin. She had heard that there was some kind of rivalry between Gryffindor, and Slytherin, but that seemed dumb. She got along with Solomon after all. Merrill was going to ask when the stairs got easier when all of a sudden she felt a prick in her thigh. She looked down, and the owl that had been awake was pecking at her pocket. Oh the food! "Oh my letter! I forgot. One second." Merrill quickly attached the letter to the owl's foot, and gave the owl the snack. "You're going to Ilvermorny in America. It's a long way so I brought you this as a thank-you. The letter if for my brother, Rhys Piper." Merrill told the owl while giving it a scratch on its head. The owl hooted cheerfully between bites of food, and took off once it was finished.​

((Sorry this took so long! :c ))

 

[Daniel Rosemary]

No worries, it's always good to take your time, especially if you're busy (trust me I know )!

---

Daniel's eyebrows quirked up. This girl, Merrill was a long way from home if her brother went to school all the way in America. He said nothing yet however as Amy introduced the both of them and instead thought it might have been obvious she was new here. She did look rather small for her size and Dan tried with difficulty not to think that maybe the Rosemary twins really did have a long lost cousin or something. He hoped not, otherwise he would blame his parents for them not telling the children about it. He pushed the thoughts at the back of his mind for now. Finally, he commented, not unkindly. "You've come a long way. But so have we," he squinted, trying to get a better look at the girl while he spoke. He was probably making her feel intimidated but there was nothing to do about that so instead he smirked a little and expected his sister to talk for the both of them. It wasn't like she didn't do it all the time.

 

[Amy Rosemary]

"You have a brother? That's awesome! How old is he?" Amy asked Merrill, smiling at her. She liked this first year already, and she was placed in Gryffindor - a house one of Amy's best friends was in. In fact, it was a house she admired. "My best friend's in Gryffindor, except she's a third year like us," she said to the blonde girl, Amy's replica. Well she looked liked her replica. She barely noticed she just gave out her and Dan's age, but at this point who was this girl going to tell? They were at a school and most people were bound to have figured out what year they were in. She almost rolled her eyes at her brother's comment as that was the only thing he bothered to say and she wanted to know why, although she had a feeling of what it could be. Amy ignored him and instead continued. "We're from England. It's lovely to meet you. Oh! We have a cousin who started here yesterday as well, she's in Ravenclaw." Amy laughed, almost forgetting to say that last part.

 

[Merrill Piper]

"He's 14, and just started his third year." Merrill told the girl. They had celebrated her brother's birthday just a few weeks before school began. Merrill had saved her money, and gotten Rhys a book of spells she found in the second hand store. Even though he still wasn't talking to her she had seen Rhys reading it whenever he had some spare time. It made Merrill happy to know that he liked his gift. "Wow England! I was born in Wales, but we haven't lived there in a long time. That's why the Holyhead Harpies are my favourite team!" Merrill told them. She assumed most people at the school would be fans of the Macaws, but she still wore her Harpies shirt to bed every night. "It must be so cool having cousins." Merrill added. She once asked her parents about other family they might have, but they refused to talk about them.​