New Streets To Explore

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene’s life had taken a rather odd turn from it’s old trajectory, when an old, odd looking man appeared at the door of his and his cousin’s flat and had told Eugene about his magic, about the school he would attend and how he was in fact a wizard. Eugene hadn’t believed any of it, someone was playing a prank on him, someone he went to school with had an older brother who had the means and they probably all thought that this was exceedingly funny. However, the magic he had seen the man do and the odd things that had happened around him had to be magic. The boy had asked that during his break in normal school if he could go to check out these areas, he hadn’t expected to be brought to a little village in the countryside. He had been given a couple of hours to explore before he’d be taken to Brightstone and he was suddenly wondering if this magic thing was an awful idea. He’d not been outside of Auckland before and he felt like he couldn’t be further from it. How far from Auckland was he? Was he still on the North Island, would he finally see some sheep that everyone else always went on about. Was wandering the small streets, pleased he hadn’t argued about bringing his bike, there wasn’t much to explore and he didn’t want to get lost in the surrounding countryside but he had of course brought his guitar. ​

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Eugene was looking in the windows...well that was being generous….he was peering into the them, watching the different objects move on their own. He was currently in front of the book store, spotting how all the pictures moved, it was staring at a gif but it was on a book and nothing was powering it. ”That’s sweet as,” he couldn’t help but say out loud, since to him it very much was. This magical world was weird and he missed the smell of auckland but this could be quite cool. He continued on down the street, with it not taking him too long to actually finish looking at all the shops and he couldn’t help but think it would be neat to bring his cousin back something from this street. He didn’t have any money, any of the magical currency and generally probably not enough for anything. But magical people had to like music too, he could play a few songs, maybe get some of the currency and find a postcard or keychain cheaply in one of the shops for his cousin. He found a spot near the harbour and took his guitar out, he placed the beanie hat he’d been wearing and placed it on the ground in front of him. Eugene quickly tuned the guitar and then just began playing, he didn’t know if magical people had any awareness about muggle music, but it wouldn’t matter, maybe they’d give a little more thinking he’d come up with it himself.​

 

[Nolan Burke]

Even though Nolan was born and raised with magic all his life, the magical world had still slightly weirded him out. There were still things that he was so used to, that would make him feel a little anxious. He knew he was going to a magical here in New Zealand, he always thought that he would be attending to the one in Scotland as his parents did. But he guessed that this would be easier for him to travel to and such. He had known bits and pieces about the school, as his parents told him bits and pieces of their experiences at Hogwarts. Even though he wouldn't admit it, he was a little nervous to be away from his family, especially his younger siblings. He hadn't really been out of town before without his family, so it was a little different.

His parents had decided that they were going to take him out of town to the obsidian harbour, as they called it. He wasn't sure what this place was, or why they were taking him out for. He just knew that he was going to be bored easily, so he thought to bring his small ukulele with him, to keep him entertained. Nolan was thinking of taking his guitar, but he thought it was a bit too big to take with him everywhere around the harbour. He also knew that his sister, Molly was just gonna annoy him with questions, so he knew that he was going to have to bargain her with lollies like he always did whenever they were going to go out. Nolan was slowly trailing behind his family, his uke in hand (which he painted himself), when he heard the tune of guitar-playing nearby. He turned and followed to where the tune of the music was coming from, ignoring if his parents were wondering where he was. Nolan saw that there was a boy about his age where he was playing his guitar, and noticed a beanie laying near him, probably for money? Nolan wasn't sure but he stood near, listening to the music, actually getting into the beat of it. He had decided to throw in a couple of galleons into the boy's beanies, even though he was going to use it for his sister's lollies later, he didn't really care right now, he was enjoying the tunes. "That was cool! What song were you playing?" Nolan asked the boy when the song he was playing was over, his strong Irish accent coming in.

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene had busked before, it was something he occasionally did on a Saturday when he had a moment to. His cousin wasn’t always about but when she was she tended to sit with him, he knew it wasn’t what she’d want to do on her Saturday but he appreciated the company. He wasn’t sure how common it was in this world, but it seemed to be quite good. Some people put in some of that weird looking money into his hat and he was sure he’d managed to get a good amount or at least enough to buy his cousin a little something. He was careful to give the people giving money little smiles as they did so, he couldn’t thank them without getting too distracted or interrupting his singing. But he spotted the boy about his age giving money and stuck around a little until the song ended he knew he’d probably be able to thank him. When he finished before he could really even say anything, the other boy spoke with an accent Eugene knew wasn’t Kiwi but didn’t know where it was from. ​

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”Chur bro,” he said first, trying to remember the word that old wizard had used to refer to his cousin, ”It’s song by a non-magical person,” He noticed then that the boy had a little ukulele or maybe a uke, did he play too? ”Do you play?” he motioned to it. ”Do you wanna play with me?” he moment he said it he realise he might not know the song that the other boy would play, he didn’t know how much music crossed that line between the two worlds. ”You can just start playing and I can just join in?” He offered. He was good enough at guitar at this point that he could just jump in, and maybe this boy would play something he knew. ​

 

[Nolan Burke]

Nolan smiled a little when the boy had used a word that he was a little unfamiliar with. He had always heard his classmates say this, yet he was a little confused on how the word was used, but he wasn't really going to ask about it right now. Nolan nods when the boy explains that it was a song from a muggle. "I thought so, it sounded familiar," Nolan says with a small smile. He had remembered hearing the familiar tune from the car radio a couple of times. Nolan's parents always had the car radio on whenever they were driving, and that's probably why Nolan had a huge interest in music.

Nolan looked down at his ukelele, or his uke as he liked to call it, as ukelele was too long to say in his opinion. "Oh yeah, I do. I also play a few other instruments as well," Nolan says with a small smile, his strong Irish accent lingering in. Nolan had learnt how to play a few different instruments as he was younger. His father had taught him most of them, like the guitar and the piano. "Uh, sure. I'm still a little rough though" Nolan says with a small shrug, as he positioned his uke to its side, so he was ready to play. The ukelele was one of the recent instruments that Nolan had decided to learn. Nolan nods when the boy suggests that he starts off. He thinks of a song that he had heard from the car radio until he had thought of one. Nolan starts to play a familiar tune, hoping that the boy was familiar with it.

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene gave a wider smile when this boy said he was familiar with it. Perhaps this boy was like him, entirely new to the magical world. Or perhaps just familiar with the muggle world, perhaps the music was better in the muggle world..perhaps he had a magical family and that was why he sounded like he did and not like any of Eugene's Auckland friends. ”Awesome,” he said to him, a clear cheerfulness on Eugene’s thick accent. When he mentioned he could play more than just the ukelele, ”Yeah? Sweet as!” Eugene said, he was quite eager to get to playing again, so would mention later perhaps that he too could play more than just guitar. He just didn’t want to boast too much in front of this kid, that wouldn’t be good of him. Eugene took a moment to just re-tune the guitar, he'd leave the beanie out in case others wanted to give more of the weird money. ​

​

”No worries bro, we’re just jamming out,” Eugene was sure this boy was good enough even if a little rusty, why would someone carry around an instrument if they couldn’t play it. Case and point his own guitar. Eugene was pleased that the tune that the boy began playing was one he knew, it was a song on the radio currently, so something Eugene could easily slot into with his guitar. He didn’t know it by heart so where he wasn’t sure just invented a little, keeping in time with the boy and keeping the harmony as best he could. However, instantly Eugene was smiling wider, if everyone in the magic world was like this boy, and it was as fun as this, all his concerns about being lonely or bored would be gone.​

 

[Nolan Burke]

Nolan smiles widely when the boy starts to play along with him. He hadn't really played with anyone before. The only people he had played instruments with were with his brother and father. So this was a slightly different experience for Nolan, though he quite enjoyed it. Nolan was so into the music, he was feeling it, and started to move his body with the beat and strum of the music. He was so into it that he didn't realise that they were almost near to the last few notes of the song, which made him a little sad, as he enjoyed it so much. After he does his last strum on his ukelele, he lets out a relieved sigh.

"That was awesome!" Nolan exclaims with a chuckle. He had noticed that there were a few people around them listening around. But he wasn't sure if they had thrown any galleons and what not in as Nolan did to the boy previously. However, Nolan did enjoy that little session there. He had friends that weren't into music, so this had been a cool thing to do. Nolan wondered if this magical school he was going to next year allowed them to bring their instruments, he couldn't do anything without him bringing his instruments. He then turned back to the boy. "I'm sorry mate, I didn't catch your name. What's your name?" Nolan asked the boy, his usual Irish accent lingering around in his sentence. Nolan barely knew anyone, so he was glad that he had met someone from his small trip, then be walking behind his family. Which he didn't know where they were. But they could wait later, right now he was having fun.

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene liked playing with this boy, he was really good, where he thought he wasn’t that good at it or where he might be rusty and while he had played with others before, he hadn’t expected to play with someone in the magic world. It hadn’t been how he’d expected his first venture into the magic world to be. Eugene finished the song as the other boy did and smiled gleefully at the boy and nodded. He raised his hand as high five so they could high five to the way they had just played so well. ”Yea bro,” he agreed warmly. It would be so cool to be able to jam with him while at school if he too was going to this magical school Eugene had really only just learned about. Eugene didn’t know how much music would be at this school and he knew he’d at least have one person who could be interested in with him. He shook his head at the apology and then held his hand out to the boy, ”Eugene,” He replied, ”What’s your name?” he asked with a little interested tone. ”Do you wanna share the dough, you’ve definitely earned some of it,” he wouldn’t mind sharing the money, even returning the boy’s money to him for playing with him. Eugene could use half of it and get something for his cousin, even if it was super small. ​

 

[Nolan Burke]

Nolan smiles as the boy puts his hand up to show he wanted to do a high five and Nolan decided to high five him. He thought that they did really good, and the boy played the guitar really well. Nolan wondered if the boy was going to Hogwarts, the magical school his parents had kept mentioning about as he grew up. Maybe if the boy was going to the same school as him, they could jam out with music or something.

He smiles when he finds out that the boy's name is Eugene. "Nice to meet ya. I'm Nolan" Nolan says with a small smile, as he puts his hand out for a small handshake. Nolan thought about it for a little bit when Eugene had asked him if he wanted to share the money. He felt bad if he took half of it, as he was only there for a little bit of the time. "Nah, you can keep it," Nolan says with a small shake of his head and a smile. He felt that Eugene had deserved it more than he did. Again, he did enjoy playing with the boy. "How long have you played the guitar for? You're good!"

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene nodded and took Nolan’s hand to shake, he wouldn’t often shake his friends hands, but he’d know them a while and maybe that was just a wizarding way of doing things and he didn’t mind that at all. Eugene gave a little surprised expression when Nolan said he could keep all of it. ”Nah, bro, come on, I’ll feel bad if I take all of it. Why don’t you just take one of those gold ones you put in?” he would appreciate being able to keep all of it, he’d definitely be able to get his cousin a little something. Maybe even enough to like, transfer it back in New Zealand dollars and give it to his cousin..he didn’t know how much it would be worth but they could always use a little extra money especially since he had no idea how much this magical world would cost him.

Eugene gave the guitar a light strum, ”A long while, I was like three or four when my grandfather started teaching me,” Eugene said, ”I’ve picked up some piano and drums from school. And I sing! Though guitar is my best instrument. Bro, music is my passion!” he said, very quickly delving into an excited keen tone as he talked about music. ”What about you? Do you play guitar normally or are you strictly a uke guy?”​

 

[Nolan Burke]

Nolan smiled a little when Eugene shook his hand. He felt a little bad that the boy offered him to take one of the coins he had put in there. He wasn't the one who started playing and he also put money in there, so he felt bad for just taking it back. "Dude, are you sure? Because I'll feel bad even if I just take one coin out" Nolan says with his thick Irish accent, chuckling at their small dilemma here. What was going to happen now?

Nolan nods enthusiastically as Eugene explains about how long he has played the guitar for. "Ah, that's awesome! I was about that age also when my dad started to teach me a guitar and such" Nolan says with a smile. Nolan always loved enjoying his time with his father, They would always play instruments together and have little jam sessions in their small music room they have back at his house. Nolan looked down at his ukelele with a smile as Eugene asked him about it. "I'm more of a guitar and bass person. But I just carry my uke around cos it's light to carry around I guess." Nolan says with a small smile and shrug, as he explained. "I can also play the piano and can do a bit of singing. Music is also my passion! To be honest, I don't think I could live without it." Nolan says excitedly with a small laugh. He was probably exaggerating. Nolan thought that he was an okay singer, though he thought if he did a little more practice on his singing, he would be a lot better at it. "I don't know why, but I've always had this idea or goal of being in a band one day. I think it would be a pretty cool experience"

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene didn’t want to force him to take something, knowing he could use it, but he would also feel bad about taking it all. ”Welllll, what does like one of the gold coins buy you? Like could we spend it to get like a juice?” he was relying on the fact that Nolan seemed to be a little more involved in the magical world than Eugene was, maybe knew what a little amount of money could buy. It could be good to get something they could drink or eat together. Might keep this conversation going too. But, he just didn’t know how much things cost at all.

Eugene nodded when Nolan said his dad taught him, and explained the instruments he could play. ”Woow, you can play bass, that’s cool,” he imagined it wasn’t impossibly different from guitar but he had never tried it, so he couldn’t know for certain. Eugene knew from taking his guitar pretty much everywhere that it would be easier to carry around a uke, but his guitar was the only instrument he owned and ukes were an expense that he couldn’t afford. It was fun to eugene that the first person he met in this new world was as interested in music as he was, he nodded in true agreement over never being able to live without it. ”No way bro?!” he said after the last statement, ”Like my one goal in life is to be able to play professionally whether alone or in a band,” he always wanted enough to live, he didn’t need to be famous, just be able to get by on his music. ”I have two original songs on soundcloud if you know it?” Eugene added excitedly with no idea if Nolan would know what that was. ”Cuz, instead of spending that money, why don’t we play a little more, see if we can’t earn a little more?” He didn’t want to outright immediately suggest they start a band, he knew they’d need to play a little more, but he thought it would be so cool to potentially have a friend or bandmate going into school. But even if no band he thought it would be cool to keep playing with him. ​

 

[Nolan Burke]

Nolan sends Eugene a small shrug of unsurenment when the boy asks about what they could buy with the galleons that were offered to them while they played. "Well, you could buy a few things with that such as drinks and food, and I think small things. I'm not sure what it would be in New Zealand money though" Nolan says with a shrug. He remembered his mum talking about this exchanging thing about money. Though he was confused as to what it actually meant. It sounded like a lot of working thinking about the difference between galleons and New Zealand cash. "Yeah, you can spend it on juice I reckon," Nolan says with a small nod and smile.

Nolan nods his head excitedly when Eugene asks him about playing bass. The bass is one of Nolan's favourite instruments to play. The beat when plucking the strings was just one of his favourite feelings, as we always like to feel the waves of the music. "That's awesome dude! I've always wanted to as well. I think it's cool when people have the chance to listen to your own music that you put out there. Whether it's solo or in a band." Nolan says excitedly when Eugene tells him that he wants to play professionally and such. Nolan's face turns into a slight confusion when he mentions about this 'SoundCloud'. "If heard my muggle friends mention about it. But I don't actually know what it is. What is it? And I think that it's cool that you have original songs! I should listen to them!" Nolan says excitedly and a big smile. He didn't even know that there were people about his age that made their own original music and had put it on the internet. He had found that interesting, thinking that maybe he should do that one day. Nolan smiled excitedly when Eugene had offered the option of them playing together once again. He thought that it was cool that he would probably know someone that was going to Hogwarts, that was also had a huge interest in music as him. Maybe they could be in a band together? Though Nolan didn't want to jump into conclusions and he wouldn't want to force the boy into something that he probably wasn't interested in. "Sure! I think that would be a good idea. How about you start this time?"

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene had found the edge of this boy’s knowledge of the non-magic world. He found it interesting and if they weren’t already doing something cool, would’ve asked about the boy’s know about his world, the muggle world, as he’d called it. ”It’s a website where anyone can upload original music to or covers of other songs, my cousin showed me how to do it and helped me do it,” he told Nolan excitedly. Eugene had already had the disappointing realisation that his phone didn’t work in this magical world. He lightly tuned his guitar as the boy agreed to play some more and smiled, ”Okay, I’ll play something, it’ll be muggle but recent, and you can just come in,” he played the first few chords of a song that was pretty popular and common currently and he hoped that would meant the Nolan would know it. He was sure he’d be able to just as easily fit himself in. Though he was half deciding whether or not to also sing a little, maybe not this song, but the next song. Then he would sing. ​

 

[Nolan Burke]

Nolan nods when the boy explains about what this 'Soundcloud' was. He had found it interesting that the Muggle World had interesting technology or apps for basically almost everything. Maybe he should try this 'Soundcloud' thing when he gets back home. "That sounds cool! I should defiantly use it sometime!' Nolan says with a nod and smile. He had a few song lyrics in his journal that he had back at home. His journal was just at home for safekeeping. Whenever Nolan had thought about a lyric that just randomly came into his head, he had always made sure to save it onto his phone, and always made sure to add that lyric in his journal. Nolan knew that he just had to use this app or website. It was still a little confusing to use a phone or the internet, even though his mum taught him it so many times.

Nolan nods when the boy explains about the next song he was playing. "Okay, sweet!" Nolan responds with a nod and a small smile. He was sure that he would most likely know the song that Eugene would start to play. When the boy starts to play the chords of the next song they were playing, Nolan had realised that he did know the song as well, and slowly started to join in with Eugene when he felt like it was the right time to come into. He starts to jam more into the song, as this time around he was more comfortable. Nolan was so into playing the song, that he didn't realise that he had slowly started to hum the lyrics of the song.

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene thought it would be cool if he had another listener on sound cloud. It had been recent that he’d put them on, but he was always writing things down and putting things to small tunes, it was just the two that had formed the most coherent song. Well, one of them had been more thought out and done through but the other had just mostly been him and his cousin mess around together. He nodded and just got to playing, smiling as it seemed Nolan knew which song he was doing and even began humming along. Eugene took that as enough indication to start singing, he wasn’t singing too loudly and hoped he wasn’t over powering Nolan, but just thought it did add a little something to it. He had never thought he’d run into someone like this, near immediately into being in the magical world. He smiled easily as he was singing and playing just really enjoying what he was doing and did hope that Nolan was enjoying it too. ​

 

[Manaia Te Rangi]

((I'm so sorry it took me so long to get to this thread show season has been killing me))

It wasn't really time to be buying his Hogwarts supplies yet, but that didn't mean Manaia couldn't spend his free time lurking around Obsidian Harbour. He had just been wandering from shop to shop looking at the things he would be buying when his time came to go to school, peering idly in the windows at Ollivanders and wondering if his wand was already in there waiting for him. The months had slowed to a crawl, and some days it felt as though his journey to Hogwarts would never come.

Seeing the people was also a perk of wandering around the harbour, wondering which of the people he passed by would be his future classmates, and on one trip, two people in particular caught his eye. He heard the music before he saw them, looking over to see what was going on. There were a couple of boys about his own age jamming out, and Manaia made a beeline for the two of them. It reminded him of family singalongs, one of his favourite parts of holidays with his whole whānau, and for lack of an instrument to play, Manaia started humming along and drumming on his thighs in time as he listened to the other boys.

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene was really getting into the song, playing with ease along with Nolan and it was good. It was after a few minutes when he'd shifted into a new song, again something modern that he was sure that Nolan would know that he heard someone else humming along, and almost drums. He spotted the boy, who seemed to be around his own age. Eugene gave him a wide smile and jerked his head in a motion to get the guy to come join them, at the very least it would mean they could keep some rhythm which would be very very welcome. Plus he just thought this was so cool, he was brand new to this world, this town, it was his first experience outside of magic and he'd possibly met another guy who seemed interested in music like he and Nolan were. Once this song ended they could do introductions and Eugene was very eager for it. ​

 

[Nolan Burke]

Nolan had been enjoying to the jam out that he and Eugene had been having, the songs that were being played by them so far had been familiar to him, which had made him happy and had so much more enjoyable. While jamming and getting into the new song that Eugene began to play, Nolan had then smiled and joined in with this song, as he began playing, he had heard some sort of patting or drum-like sounds as well as a humming coming from somewhere near them, he had noticed that there was a boy about there age and smiled at him, Nolan then noticed that Eugene was motioning his head so that the boy can join then. Nolan also wanted the boy to come and join them too and motioning his arms while also holding his uke to show the boy that he could join them.

 

[Manaia Te Rangi]

Manaia was thrilled when the guys gestured him over, moving closer to join in the jam properly. He wished he had his guitar with him, but he'd grown up having impromptu singalongs with his family, and Manaia knew his voice and his thigh percussion would be plenty. He played along with the guys for the rest of the song, giving them both a bright grin once it was done. "That was awesome." He said brightly. "You guys are really good!"

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene gave a wide smile as another boy had joined in with them, and this eventually did bring the song to an end. He thought it was pretty amazing that he had met two dudes who always liked to play. "You were real good too bro," he told him. He wasn't sure how they'd split this pot three ways but he would be more than happy to share. "I'm Eugene by the way," he held out his hand to the newer boy, he already knew Nolan, so they didn't need to reintroduce themselves. "What do you normally play?" He was sure that this new boy did more than just hit his thighs in a good rhythm he was sure that he must also play something, or maybe he sang. ​