Now, Where Might I Find Slytherin?!

[Norton Gillespie]

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<SIZE size="50">Norton stepped out of hufflepuff on this first morning and knew exactly what he had to do that morning. The moment he had been separated from his sister he knew he had to find her again. Being alone in a new house was not a fun experience, he walked out of the hufflepuff dorm, through the common room, ignoring all the interesting things because today he was a boy with a plan and little was going to stand in the way. Well, that was until Nortie ended up getting more than a little lost. The thing with this plan was that he didn't actually know where Slytherin was, he knew that it was lower than hufflepuff but he didn't know anything else about it. The boy had successfully made it down a few flight of stairs before the stairs changed and he was led in a slightly different direction, he followed it, and ended up going round and round some of the floors.

The hufflepuff had tried to get into a room upon this floor, and been somewhat rudely cast out when it turned out it was the prefects common room, but how was he supposed to know that! This place was HUGE! There were so many hallways, so many people, and so many amazing things. Nortie was just so lost and he was frustrated, where was this Slytherin common room was! Norton spotted a student just up ahead, who clearly appeared to be in the same year as him. He just wanted to be able to find his sister and maybe they could help, "HELLO! EXCUSE ME!" he called out, hoping the person wouldn't mind that he was calling out in such a fashion.
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[Jessica Matthews]

Jessica had just about had it with this castle. She'd hardly been out in the main school for more than a couple of hours and already she'd lost her way thanks to all the creepy staircases. Where were the signs, the maps, the little 'You are Here' arrows? This school was a joke. She'd only been trying to find some more people to talk to, and having overheard some older students mention a student lounge at breakfast had made her plan for the day clear. That plan had definitely not included walking down yet another corridor that looked exactly the same as every single other one in the place. She was supposed to be starting classes soon, how would she ever find her way around without clinging to the other first-year girls at every available moment?

She had just made up her mind to find her way down to the ground floor again, and then count up each flight of stairs until she reached the fourth, when she heard someone calling behind her. Stopping, Jessica turned to look at whoever it was, and was slightly surprised that it seemed to be her attention that the boy in question was trying to catch. Although wary of what he might want, she immediately gave him a warm smile and then pointed at herself. "Me? Hello, I don't think we've met." Forget trying to find the student lounge, someone to talk to had just wandered right into her path. Jessica was quite pleased she would be able to halt her harrowing quest to try and locate anything in this castle for a while in order to deal with whatever this boy seemed to want. Her eyes flicked over him curiously as she took a few steps closer. "I'm Jessica. Did you need something?"

 

[Norton Gillespie]

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<SIZE size="50">Norton was glad that the girl had stopped and hadn't seemed to be put off by his blunt shout through the corridor, he had in part just expected her to keep going or tell him to go away like other students had done, instead she seemed friendly enough and was willing to stop. He shook his head at her as he finally closed the distance, "We haven't," he told her slightly out of breath but in a friendly tone, he was desperate to find Slytherin, if only to find out where Gilly was. Certainly the smarter idea would've been to go to the great hall and ask around there, but Nortie knew he'd eventually need to find it and so now was as good a time as ever to do that, and now he had someone who could actually help him! The boy was glad she had stopped, but she seemed like she might be able to help.

Norton grinned happily, "I'm Nortie.....Norton, my sister calls me Nortie," he told her shaking his head and laughing lightly at his own mistake, "I'm looking for Slytherin house? My twin sister Gilly got sorted in Slytherin, and I want to find her and slytherin," the boy told the girl with an excited tone, he was enthralled by magic and he was excited to be at magic, and all the changing circumstances had definitely made him feel a little happier and more at ease. "I'm a hufflepuff, so I don't know where it is," Norton added in case Jessica just thought he had left slytherin and was lost, he could be a little silly at times but not that silly, "Can you help?" he asked the girl, hoping that she could, thinking that this girl probably did know and would help him. he definitely hopeful about it, Norton knew he could probably could find it in a book but he wasn't going to read a book on his first real day at this amazing and magical school!
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[Jessica Matthews]

Jessica smiled at the boy's enthusiasm. She was glad to hear that his request was only to discover where to find his sister's house, particularly as that house was Slytherin. This she would be able to do. She'd hate to think that she might have had to turn him down and subsequently perhaps make him think she had been unwilling to help. And he was looking for his twin sister, no less. Jessica felt an immediate connection with the boy. She was already missing her own twin dreadfully, and was in the process of trying to write her a letter. It was slightly difficult, seeing as it hadn't actually been that long since she and last seen Laura, and it felt odd, too. Writing letters by hand was just so old-fashioned, but so far there didn't seem to be any computers in the castle. Or post boxes, for that matter. Would she be allowed any communication with her family at all?

With these thoughts in mind, Jessica became even more determined to reunite Norton with his sister. Smiling at him, she said, "Well, I'm actually in Slytherin too, so I could take you there myself if you want?" Thankfully all they would have to do was walk in a downwards direction until they reached the entrance hall, and then from there cross into the dungeons. She was quite sure she could remember the way after that. Motioning for Norton to follow her, she began heading towards the nearest staircase. "I must share a dorm with Gilly, but I'm not sure if I met her last night. What's she like?" Jessica wondered how close the two siblings were; whether they spent a lot of time together. Although, the fact that Norton was already trying to find Gilly was quite a big clue, she supposed. She probably would have done the exact same thing if Laura had been here. "It's a shame you were sorted into different places, you would think they'd let siblings be together."

 

[Norton Gillespie]

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<SIZE size="50">The boy was overjoyed at the fact that this girl, Jessica, was a slytherin and willing to help him in finding the slytherin common room, which was just the best thing ever! "Thank you!" he exclaimed loudly and happily to the girl, Norton was so happy that she was willing to help, "Someone in my dorm room said that the slytherin's wouldn't be nice, but clearly they were super wrong," the boy complimented her, in perhaps quite an odd way. He was just happy that he'd find Gilly, and they'd be able to spend the time together. The hufflepuff had found being away from her a little tricky, of course it would get easier since they had no choice but he definitely missed the ease with which he had once been able to talk with her, without having floors and walls separating them. This would be a little tricky the first few weeks, but Nortie knew he'd get use to it, though he would miss her.

The fact that this girl probably shared a dorm with Gilly, since she was a girl, gilly was a girl and they were both slytherin's so of course they would be sleeping in the same room, of course they might have already met, though not by name. It was the question that Jessica asked that threw him off a little, "Gilly's great!" he told the girl, since she was to Nortie, perhaps maybe because they were twins and therefore she had to be, "She's fun, she's really strong, she's like me but stronger and more fun!" the boy explained in what could only be described as poorly. He agreed in one way that it would be better, and was better to split some people up, but he did miss his sister and he didn't like that he could just go see her at random points in the night, or because he just wanted to sit with her and speak with her without finding a normal location they could both find. He didn't like it but he knew he would grow used to it, "Yeah, it's not great, but clearly the sorting hat thought we were different enough to split us up," The boy told her, "I wanted to be with her, but as long as I find her, it'll be fine!"
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[Jessica Matthews]

Jessica found herself growing increasingly happier through being in this boy's presence. Forgetting all about the trouble she'd been having with the staircases and finding her way around, she instead became caught up in his seemingly boundless energy and the obvious affection he held for his sister. It made her feel wonderful to be able to help him out, despite what anyone might have said about the general (not) niceness of the house she'd found herself in. "I admit I've heard that a little too, but I haven't met any housemates who have been rude to me at all." This house system certainly seemed to be encouraging everyone to judge each other slightly, and for a moment Jessica was worried that being in Slytherin might hurt her chances of making friends, even briefly contemplating if she could ask to switch. But then she remembered that it hadn't negatively affected her thus far, and Norton had even seemed impressed with her niceness because of it. Perhaps not fitting with her house's general type would actually turn out to benefit her in future.

Jessica continued to smile as Norton described his sister - she thought she might be able to pinpoint Gilly in her mind now, but didn't like to say anything in case she turned out to be wrong. The number of girls that she had to share a dorm room with was atrocious, even if she did happen to like some of them. "Gilly sounds a lot like my sister, Laura - we're twins too. She would have liked it here I think, although I certainly wouldn't have liked to have been in different houses." Blinking a little, Jessica was surprised that she had shared that fact so readily, but couldn't really bring herself to feel regretful of it - if anyone was able to understand how she felt right now it seemed it would be Norton. "I hope Gilly will still be in the common room or dorm. Although, maybe she's already trying to find you as well - we might see her on the way." It would be preferable to traipsing all over the school looking for the girl - Jessica didn't think she'd be able to be quite so helpful then.

 

[Norton Gillespie]

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<SIZE size="50">The boy hadn't really thought about what he was saying about Slytherin until he'd said it, it was only what someone else had told him, he of course knew that his sister was a lovely and amazing person, so slytherin had to have kind people, so maybe the person he'd heard it from just hadn't had the occasion to meet many slytherin's yet, "But, if you are a slytherin and my sister is a slytherin and you are both lovely people, then it just has to be untrue!" Norton told her excitedly, "Maybe there are just some bad eggs giving the house a bad name" he didn't entirely as a muggleborn understand the houses and he could see how a few bad people would give an entire house a bad name. Norton grinned at her with a warmth and excitement, since she was helping him he had a certain level of gratitude towards her, and it was pretty clear on his face.

The fact that this girl was also a twin, but it appeared that she wasn't magical like Jessica was, "Oh no!" he frowned at her, he didn't entirely understand how magic worked or how it was passed from family to family, "I can't imagine not having Gilly here with me! Or her being here without me! That must be awful," he couldn't help but say before realising perhaps that wasn't what this girl really wanted to hear. He couldn't imagine what it was like to not have his twin with him. Perhaps it was different because of all he and Gilly had recently been through, but he felt bad for Jessica, but he didn't know how to make things better for her. The hufflepuff was therefore rather glad she moved the discussion along and he shook his head at her, "It doesn't really matter if she isn't there really, I just need to know where it is for the future. This school is HUGE! I don't want to be getting every time when I want to find her, so if she's there that's awesome, but if she isn't at least I know where it is!" he said proudly with a broad smile and joyful expression, "And I'm definitely going to find it with you here helping me! If you need help finding Hufflepuff, I can help you in return. I mean you might not have a reason to visit it before, but now you've meet me, you'll have to come visit occasionally!"
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[Jessica Matthews]

Smiling, Jessica nodded in agreement with Norton about his assessment of Slytherin house. "That's what I thought, too! I don't see why everyone in the house should automatically be horrible, that hardly makes sense." She was pleased that Norton agreed with her thoughts, even if she had just decided that she didn't mind what that bad reputation could gain her. The house system at this school had initially seemed relatively normal, but she was definitely beginning to sense that the other students seemed to put far more stock into where people were sorted than she had thought was necessary. Perhaps it was something to think about. "What are the people in your house supposed to be like, then? Hufflepuff? Do you like it?" Jessica wondered if she seemed rude for not asking before now, but Norton didn't seem like the sort who would be particularly offended, she hoped.

Or the sort to think about what he was going to say before he said it, it seemed, unlike herself. It was awful that Laura wasn't here with her, and Jessica only nodded in response. But there wasn't anything she could do about it, and not for lack of trying. She would simply have to learn to get through her time here at school without her sister. It was an unpleasant thought, but Jessica was sure she could do it. She'd have to. Thankfully she hadn't had a hard time finding people to talk to so far, and she hoped that she'd soon have a group of friends to surround herself with in the near future. Listening to Norton chatter away made her feel that perhaps such a process could already be in motion, and she smiled at him happily. "I'd love to come to visit, if you really wouldn't mind, thank you!" She paused, then added. "You know, I'm very glad we met, Norton. I feel like you've told me more about Gilly than you have about yourself, though - what do you like doing?"

 

[Norton Gillespie]

Norton definitely had to agree that he didn't see when everyone who was just sorted into a house had to be a certain way, the people seemed to pretty nice in the school, Norton had not yet come across anyone who was particularly mean to him, he hadn't come across many people yet in general but he didn't think that they would be mean at all. Maybe a few less than nice people, but he just wouldn't spend time with those kinds of people. He nodded in rapid agreement with Jessica, "It doesn't," he added before thinking of her question about his own house. He didn't quite know what the people in his house were meant to be like, the place hadn't struck him as anything in particular, but it made him feel at home in a way he hadn't expected. He wasn't quite sure how to answer the first question she asked, "Oh I love Hufflepuff, it's great, I don't know what the people in my house are meant to be like, but Hufflepuff just feels like home," he admitted with both excitement and a hint of nervousness at the last admission. It did feel like home, it lacked his sister, but then his home before this place hadn't felt much like home in a while.

The boy was pleased that the girl would be willing to come visit him, and he was exceedingly pleased because he assumed this meant that he had made a friend, and Nortie wanted a lot of friends. Any amount would be good sure, but Norton wanted to get to know almost everyone in his year group. Norton smiled gladly at her, nodding too, "I'm glad to have met you too Jessica! Can I call you Jess?" he told her with not one hint of a lie upon his words. The latter half puzzled him, had he not talked about himself? That was a little weird, surely it was wrong but he could've easily just not realised, "I don't know," he admitted softly, "I'm new to magic, all my old hobbies are gone," He wasn't sure what new magical things he might get to try, "Quidditch seems exciting, as does duelling, I like the idea of wizard chess even if I found regular chess DULL," Nortie shrugged a little, he could tell her about his taekwondo but, it didn't seem necessary given he wasn't going to be able to do it much any more, "What about you?" Norton asked, curious, perhaps she knew what kind of things he could do within this magical world.
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[Jessica Matthews]

Pleased that Norton had agreed with her little outburst, Jessica merely nodded. She had found that it was best to share opinions with the people that you considered friends; fighting and arguments were just upsetting, and she tried to avoid them at all costs. Granted, house stereotypes weren't something Jessica would ever bother fighting over, particularly with Norton, but their shared agreement now hopefully boded well for the future. "Hufflepuff sounds wonderful, I'm glad you like it." Jessica smiled, genuinely pleased her new friend was happy with his house - although, the fact that he said it felt like home was curious to her, as she didn't think she'd ever find herself feeling so at home in Slytherin. But then, her school house didn't really look much like a home, nor did she think she would have felt any differently if she had been sorted into any of the other houses. Her true home was a long, long way away from here, and this place could never hope to replace it. She wondered what Laura was doing at this moment - hopefully, her twin was missing her, too.

She had no time to dwell on that thought, however. Jessica found herself rather taken aback by the fact that Norton wanted to give her a nickname already, but it was the pleasing kind of surprise and her smile widened unconsciously. "Oh, you could if you liked! No one has ever really called me that before, but I wouldn't mind!" She listened carefully as he explained what sorts of things he might like in the wizarding world, though she felt a small buzz of irritation at the fact that he had been taken away from the old things he had enjoyed. Although she couldn't bring herself to feign enthusiasm for the same magical hobbies, she appreciated that Norton found them exciting - and one thing he mentioned did in fact pique her interest. "Wizard chess?" Jessica questioned. What could the difference be? As for her own hobbies... "Well, I'm actually new to magic, too. I can't quite imagine myself getting involved with all those things just yet though, they're so... different." Mentally, she congratulated herself for picking such a neutral word for how she felt about it. "But otherwise I just like magazines, and making nice clothes, and scrapbooking, really." She wondered if those would all sound silly to Norton. She hoped not.

 

[Norton Gillespie]

Norton wondered if perhaps he might not have said the right thing, he liked Hufflepuff but by the way she was saying it, though it was clear she meant it, he wondered if she was happy with her own house, he would have to ask Gilly about how home like Slytherin really was so he could figure out if it had been the right or wrong thing to say to this girl, but regardless of it, she was smiling, and Norton was happy so he wasn't going to delve into anything too deep. He after all was on a mission and there would be time to fix things in the future, for now, slytherin awaited him, Gilly awaited him and he was keen to get going, keen to find it. Norton was surprised when no one Jessica knew had ever shortened her name to Jess, it had just been obvious to him that he should, "It's not that Jessica isn't a nice name, it's lovely, but Jess is so much easier to say," he replied with a careful smile and a warm expression, "My sister sometimes calls me Nortie instead of Norton," he told her, he wouldn't mind if she used that for him, but thought it would explain why he had just given her a nickname with too much of a further thought.

Taking up magical hobbies was incredible to him, he loved it, well he loved being able to do new things and the wizarding world was giving him so much that he could play with, so much that he could learn to do. The boy was just grinning to himself so easily, and he nodded at the question, "Yeah, I think it's like muggle chess and just the pieces move themselves," he told her, so it was not too different from what he was used to with muggle chess, but it would just be better. He frowned slightly, "We should get involved together! If you're nervous about it, we can do something together?" he offered, he knew they were different but he was so enthralled by magic he couldn't imagine doing anything more interesting than any of the new hobbies he could pick up at this school, "From what I hear they have magical magazines, once I've found Gilly we could go to the library and see if they have any!" Norton offered, he wanted to become friends with her, and so that meant spending a little more time together, more than just her helping him, so he was keen to do that with her, to look through the magazines and see if there were magical ones.
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[Jessica Matthews]

Jessica returned Norton's smile easily. "If you find Jess easier, you should definitely use it," she said, nodding decisively. "I don't know why no one's ever called me that before, I guess it just never really stuck." For a moment, her brow furrowed as she thought about the fact that none of her - were they old friends now? She supposed she wouldn't see them much anymore - they had never called her Jess, and she'd known them for years. But none of them had had nicknames, really, so it wasn't that strange. Yes, that must be it. "Nortie is nice," she said, trying to distract herself from her previous train of thought. It was something she could see herself slipping into calling him later, but for now she would just stick with calling him by his full name. She had only just met him after all, even though she was already sure that they were going to become good friends. "Is 'Gilly' short for something too?" She and her sister had never had those sorts of nicknames for each other, just preferring to call each other 'sis' - or 'control freak' and 'disgusting pig' if they were in the middle of an argument. She wasn't homesick for cleaning up after her sister's mess yet, Jessica was pleased to note.

"Oh," she said, drawn back into the conversation regarding wizard chess. "That sounds kind of exciting actually." Surprisingly, Jessica truly did mean what she had said. It didn't take much for something to be more exciting than normal chess, after all. Listening to what Norton said next, she nodded her head eagerly. Nervous wasn't the word she had used, of course, but Jessica wasn't about to let him know better now that he had asked if they might spend some more time together in pursuit of one of these hobbies. "I'd love that! Which one did you think you'd like to try first?" She was sure she'd be able to stick out whatever his choice turned out to be, hopefully. She didn't want to waste such an opportunity to further cement their friendship. It was Norton's mention of the magazines, however, that truly thrilled her. While mostly she resented and distrusted magic, there was a large part of her brain already pleading to go and have a look. New magazines! It wouldn't hurt to see what was available... and it might even give her something to look forward to in this new life she'd been thrust into. "Really? I would love to see them, are you sure you wouldn't mind going with me?" Jessica didn't even want to contain the smile that had stretched across her face. "Thank you so much for telling me, I didn't even realise there were such things!"

 

[Norton Gillespie]

Norton wouldn't say that he found Jess easier, but he definitely did think it was easier for him, so it would be what he'd opt to call her, and though the girl suited Jessica, he thought she also suited Jess. Norton was also glad that she liked his nickname, he thought it was a little silly but it fitted his name. It was really only his sister who called him that, he felt that to balance with the fact that he'd given her a nickanme it only made sense that he allow her to call him the nickname that he had. However when she asked about Gilly he frowned, the young hufflepuff had never actually stopped to ask if Gilly was short for anything, he assumed it wasn't because it surely would've come up by now, they would've discussed it, or their parents would've called her that, but he couldn't think of any occasion, "I don't think so," he replied carefully, not entirely positive of his own answer and this coming through as he spoke, "I don't think I've ever asked," the hufflepuff admitted with a little shrug, it had never come up before so it had never seemed important to him.

As he thought that the clubs that were on offer, he was a little stumped, there was the popular brother and sisterhood clubs that they couldn't obviously do together, since no boy would be allowed in the sisterhood and vice versa, "The have that Wild Patch club, it's got something to do with the gardens outside," the boy told her, he was curious about it but he wasn't sure how interested that she would be in it, "Maybe we could check out the area and see how it is," the boy offered, hoping that his lack of ideas to do with clubs wouldn't put her off attending any with him. Trying them out together suited him just fine, though he didn't want to admit it, he doubted that Gilly would want to join any and having a familiar face with him would be useful. However, he thought that if the clubs didn't work out, they could spend more time just looking at magazines that they both hadn't seen before. Norton was glad that Jess seemed excited about the prospect of it, "Of course Jess!" he told her reflecting her own excitement, "I've never been really into magazines, but anything magical has to be amazing," he told her honestly, "I'm ready to get into magazines!" he proclaimed to her excitedly, and waved off her thanks, "That's what friends are for!" the boy assured her, though they had just meet, the boy was sure that they would be friends very soon if they weren't already, so it made sense to call her his friend.
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[Jessica Matthews]

Jessica wasn't exactly sure how you couldn't know if your own sister's name was a nickname or not, but she supposed that was just the way things were for Norton. She remembered realising pretty early on in her life at normal school that there were very often differences between people's families, and that her mothers had told her those differences should be celebrated. Jessica didn't really know about celebrating a difference just for existing, but unless there was a problem she didn't waste too much of her time obsessing over them. Thus she merely nodded at Norton's reply and moved her attention along, asking him, "Did you spend much time with your sister at home - do you like the same things, or very different things? That's what me and my sister are like. She's always outside on her bike, or something like that." She had a bike of her own too, but hers was the kind with a basket on the front, rather than the stripped down thing her sister darted all over the farm on. Jessica hardly ever rode hers; she hated the idea of mud dirtying up the wheels.

Nodding intermittently as she listened to Norton's idea of a club to join, she was pleased to hear that it wasn't anything too strange. "Oh, is that all the flowers out in the grounds? I'd like that," she said, smiling. She didn't particularly relish the idea of getting dirty taking care of the plants, but maybe she could just... water them, and pick them when needed. She could do that without a problem. "I'm not very sporty, so this sounds like a perfect club!" It was something she could have seen her sister joining, actually, and that thought made Jessica even keener to join the club with Norton. This way she would be able to write letters home about something that would be worth the pain of hand-cramp. And his enthusiasm to look at magazines with her was highly endearing - she was relatively certain he would decide the fashion and style magazines she hoped she would find rather boring, but surely there would be others he could browse through. "I'm actually really excited about this," Jessica said, bringing her hands to her cheeks in amazement. They were starting to hurt from the magnitude of the smile on her face. She didn't even know that was something that could happen. Norton's remark about the fact that they were friends only intensified the smile - she felt like she was about to burst from all the happiness building up inside her chest. "I'm glad we're friends, Norton," she said, meaning every word.