It's not Bondi, but it'll do

[Leia Evans]

It was Christmas holidays and unfortunately for Leia, her father had to constantly be away on business so she had stayed here in New Zealand. She had been looking forward to spending her first Christmas with her father in Australia, her first Christmas that wasn't in cold New York, she imagined going to Bondi every day and learning how to surf some more. However now she was confined to New Zealand, choosing not to stay at Hogwarts even though she liked it, and instead her father had rented out a room for her at the Leaky Cauldron so she got to visit Brightstone and Obsidian any time she liked. Being an 'independent child' had its advantages.

She had been in search of the secret beach she found before she went to Hogwarts and just couldn't find it, but finally, when she had almost given up hope, she heard the ocean waves crashing in the distance and knew she had finally found it. She hurried down the street, heading towards the 'room of requirement'-esque place, it appeared as something different to each person. The Veela girl was in her white cotton summer dress, with her matching white bikini on underneath. Her dark hair was billowing behind her as she rushed up to the warm sea water, stripping off her dress and throwing it carelessly on the sand, and dropping her large tote bag beside it. She searched the area for a stray surfboard and found a few by a shack. She picked up one that was the right size for her and headed out to the water, not caring whether she had enough lessons or not, she was going to try it anyway. Leia desperately wanted to ride a longboard, but being only twelve, she was too small for one. The water lapped and splashed around her feet as she ran into the water with the board over her head. As soon as the water had nearly swallowed her up, she hoisted herself up onto the board and sat on it, waiting for her chance to start paddling on.

 

[Shaylah Rouge]

Shaylah was walking along Brightstone towards the beach which she thought no one else knew about.

She got to the beach and saw a white dress and bag discarded on the floor. When she looked around, Shaylah saw a girl out in the sea.Sitting down, Shaylah got her sketchbook out of her bag and started drawing the girl.

It was cold but Shaylah didn't feel the cold much so she was wearing a grey top with a white cardigan, navy trousers and black boots. She didn't feel the cold much due to the fact that she grew up in scotland so what most people here in NZ called cold toher was quite warm.

 

[Leia Evans]

As soon as Leia saw an available wave coming towards her, the petite girl leaned flat against her surfboard and began to paddle towards it. In a swift motion, she switched positions and was now facing forward towards the beach as she was crouched down low on her board. A glance behind her told her she was 'on' the wave, but it was huge and quite frankly, intimidating to the twelve year old so no sooner had she stood up on the board, than she completely tanked and went flying off the board and underwater.

It took her a while to recover and was swimming up to the surface with great speed, afraid that she'd run out of air. When she finally emerged from the surface she saw that she was way closer to the shore again and her board was floating somewhere nearby. Leia did a quick look around to see if anyone had seen and saw a girl standing on the beach. Aw great, she thought to herself with embarrassment. When Leia wasn't playing her guitar, she was always quite shy and timid. She just wasn't good with people though she attracted them all the time unintentionally. Leia could feel her leg burning with a fresh cut so she paddled her way out of the water and sat on shore. When she looked down at her leg she saw a small dash below her knee where salt water was mingling with a bit of her Veela blood. Leia shrugged it off and stood up once more, shaking her dark long locks and peering out in search of her board.

 

[Shaylah Rouge]

Shaylah saw the girl fall off the board ad wondered whether she was ok. Then she saw the girl re-surface and look at her. Smiling at the girl, she carried on drawing.
Shaylah took off her cardigan and put it in the sand to blow in the wind. She could feel the cold breeze on her arms now but she didn't care. She kind of liked the feel of it.

 

[Leia Evans]

Ignoring the slight sting of pain now coming from the cut, Leia finally found her board floating not too far off in the water. She ran into the water, which immediately slowed her down, but trudged through until she finally had it in her grasp once more. The Veela girl looked out into the ocean again, having every intention of trying to surf again despite her failed attempt the first time, but remembered that she'd forgotten to put on sunscreen. Leia was already naturally tanned but she didn't want to get any darker, and was afraid of getting sun-burnt to the point of peeling, not appealing!

With that thought in mind, the petite girl trudge back through the water with the board in her hands and began walking back to her bag. She forced the surfboard into the ground as she'd seen done in many movies so it stood upright on its own and reached down for her bag. It was then she noticed how close the girl was to her. Leia took out the sunscreen and began pouring some on her hands and rubbing it across her small frame, thankful that it was waterproof. After a few moments she felt she couldn't just ignore the girl so Leia piped up. "Hi," she said in her musical voice, with a flash of her signature smile.

 

[Shaylah Rouge]

Shaylah saw the girl walk along the beach with the board and put it down with her stuff then put some lotion on.
The girl came up to Shaylah and said 'hi'. "Hey. I'm Shaylah Rouge." Shaylah held out her hand. "That looked like fun, what you were doing just now. I've only ever seen people do it once befor."

 

[Leia Evans]

Leia smiled once more as the girl instantly returned the greeting, introducing herself an offering her hand. "I'm Leia," the Veela girl introduced herself to Shaylah as she walked over and shook her hand before blurting out, "Sorry I forgot I had sunscreen on my hands!" A bit of the lotion had gotten on the girls hands so Leia was now biting her lip with an anxious look on her face, feeling apologetic.

When she said that what she was doing right now looked cool, Leia looked back over to the ocean and chuckled lightly. "Yeah it's fun but hard, I'm not very good yet, as you probably saw," she said giggling slightly in embarrassment. "You should try it!" Leia offered with a smile.

 

[Shaylah Rouge]

Shaylah smiled. "It's alright. My dad always nags me to put more on 'cause I burn so easily but I can never be bothered."
"You're probably better than I could ever be. I'm only good at quidditch and even with that I'veonly played one on one with my dad." Shaylah couldn't wait to get o hogwarts so she had the chance to tryout for the team.

 

[Leia Evans]

At the mention of Quidditch Leia knew right away that this girl was a witch, or at least knew of the magical world. The Hufflepuff girl smiled brightly as she said, "Ooh you play Quidditch?!" as if what the girl said wasn't already answer enough. "I like playing it too, but I doubt I'm good enough for a team or anything," she said with a small shrug, putting on the last of her sunscreen. She was reminded of when she first met Kaleb and the two had decided not to try out in their first year but instead the next year, so they could practice and get good for tryouts. Leia shook her dark locks that were shimmering golden in the sun, and said, "You don't go to Hogwarts now do you?" She didn't think she'd ever seen her before, but then again the castle was huge, she saw someone new every single day and just hadn't come across this girl yet.

 

[Luciano Lurken]

After visiting Brightstone vllage, and having a drink at the Three Broomsticks Luciano wandered down to the water to go for a walk. He enjoyed the solitude of walking by himself, and thinking about life, and the daunting prospect of his new school. He didn't mind making new friends, and meeting new people, but the thought of managing all of his classes didn't excite him. Picking up a stone, he skimmed across the water, watching it bounce away from him. As he walked by two girls, one with a surfboard, he picked up on aword of their conversation
"Quidditch?" he said, turning around to look at them. It was one of his favourite sports, and couldn't help but join the onversation.

Realising that he was being rude, he said quickly
"Sorry" giving them a slightly guilty smile, and turned to keep walking.

 

[Shaylah Rouge]

"I'm not very good at it but i want to try out as a beater." Shaylah smiled. "I'm starting in September. How about you??" Shaylah had met lots of people who were ging to be in the same year as her but not so many who were older than her.
Shaylah heard a boy talking net to them. She turned to look at him and said "It's alright. Come and join us if you want."

 

[Luciano Lurken]

Luciano nodded in thanks when the younger of the girls said he could stay.
"Sorry" he said again
"I just couldn't help but overhear you talking about Quidditch" he explained with a smile. Sitting down in the sand next to them, he was suddenly glad of company, and, who knew? These might be his fellow students next year. He assumed, since they were talking about Quidditch, that they were both magical like himelf.
"Are you both at Hogwarts?" he asked them, looking closely at both, trying to figure out their ages. The one who had spoken to him seemed to be younger, and possibly a first year, though he couldn't really tell. The other seemed older.

 

[Shaylah Rouge]

"I'm starting in September." She smiled at the boy "I'm Shaylah by the way." Since coming to NZ Shaylah had become much more sociable than she was befor.

 

[Leia Evans]

[Brightstone's going to be closing to students again so I won't be able to reply ]

Leia raised her eyebrows with interest as Shaylah said she wanted to try out for Beater. A small smile graced the Veela girl's smile as she recalled one of her good friends Sam playing Beater for Hufflepuff. It seemed like a tough position but she guessed that Shaylah knew that and how hard it could be at times. Leia could never be a beater, as she was so petite, so the position that interested her was Seeker. "Cool," Leia replied to Shaylah. "I'd like to be Seeker," she shared with her, a hopeful smile on her face. She felt she was very light on the broom and therefore fast in the air.

Leia was about to answer Shaylah's question about what year she was in when suddenly she heard an unfamiliar male voice interrupt them. The Veela girl looked to see a boy who seemed somewhat older and smiled at him as Shaylah invited him into the conversation. Since he asked if they were both at Hogwarts, Leia decided to answer now, since Shaylah had asked a similar question earlier. "Yeah I'm a first year there," she replied with a smile, leaning lightly against her upright surfboard.

 

[Shaylah Rouge]

( lol)

Shaylah smiled "I would try out for seeker but I don't think I've had enough exprience. There's probably someone who will have loads more experience and be much better so is more likely to get on the team. If I try out for beater I feel I'm more likely to get in. I've got good hand-eye co-ordination and I'm quite strong." Shaylah had always loved hitting things.
She heard Leia say she was a first year at Hogwarts. "Oh cool. What house are you in??" It was one of the first things Shaylah asked everyone who was at Hogwarts. She didn't want to get too close to gryffindors.

 

[Leia Evans]

Leia nodded her head as Shaylah explained why she wanted to be a Beater, all good reasons. "Well I'm sure you'll do great," Leia said with encouragement. "Though I must warn you, for some reason people seem to like that position," she warned her, indicating that a lot of people tried out for it. Still, for all she knew she was probably a Beater prodigy.

When Shaylah asked what house she was in Leia proudly stated, "Hufflepuff" with no tone of hesitation or ashamedness. She was used to the wrinkles of their noses in disgust or the eyebrows raised in question, Leia didn't care. She loved her house and was out to change the stereotypes of it. "What house are you hoping to be in?" she asked in return. Turning to look at the older boy, Leia also questioned him. "Do you go to Hogwarts?"

 

[Luciano Lurken]

(We could continue in the holidays? :errm: )

Luciano listened to them talk about Quidditch. The older girl, who he now knew was a first year really did have the build for a seeker, and the other girl could do aswell.
"I was beater at my old school" he said while they were on the subject.
"No, I'm transfering into the fourth year, from Hogwarts Scotland" he explained. He smiled when she mentioned Hufflepuff
"That was my old house" he told them
"The best" he added, his proud tone matching the girl's. Realising that he hadn't even introduced himself, after interuptng their conversation, he offered his hand to them
"Luciano Rossi" he said, with a smile.

 

[Shaylah Rouge]

Shaylah nodded. "Yeah. I've heard that. If I don't get in for beater in my first year I'm going to try out for chaser in my second year."
Shaylah smiled. "I wanna be in slytherin. From what I've heard, it's an amazing house." She didn't know how these two would react to her saying she wanted to be in slytherin. Her dad had told her that people from the other three houses didn't tend to like slytherins.
Shaylah shook the boys hand when he introduced himself. "Shaylah. It's nice to meet you."

 

[Leia Evans]

Leia listened as the older boy gave his own input on the subject of Quidditch and where he went to school. When he said that Slytherin was his old house, Leia beamed brightly at him in response, before saying, "Cool. Well I hope to see you around Hogwarts soon." She turned to Shaylah as she said this, because really it was meant for the both of them.

The Veela girl listened as Shaylah said that if she didn't make Beater her first year she would try for Chaser her second year. "You should try for Beater again your second year if you really like it!" Leia encouraged her with a smile. Chaser too, was her second choice, but right now she was merely working on Seeker and wondering if she had the guts to even try out. Leia listened as Shaylah revealed that she wanted to be in Slytherin, she merely nodded her head in acknowledgment. One of her good friends Ava Prince was in Slytherin; Leia wasn't one to judge people on houses. If she didn't want them to judge her based on her house, why would she judge someone based on theirs?

When the boy introduced himself afterward, Leia wanted to smack herself for not introducing herself earlier. "I'm Leia," she said to him with a bright smile after Shaylah had introduced herself.