Closed Oh No, We Seem to Have Fallen Behind

[Susie Lagowski]

((Professors, there’s quite a few of us in this RP so would be grateful if you let us get it going a bit before you bust this hehe))

After polishing off the most enormous meal of her life, the last thing Susie felt like doing was going to bed. You weren’t supposed to lie down too soon after eating, were you? Gave you indigestion, or reflux, or something like that. Susie couldn’t remember - but she did remember the advice her aunt had once given her after a particularly indulgent Christmas lunch. The best thing after a big meal, she’d said, was a nice, gentle walk.

Admittedly, she’d gone for a walk, and had made her feel worse, but that wasn’t the point. Advice like that got passed down through generations; it had been helpful once, for at least one person, and perhaps one day it would be helpful for Susie as well. She wouldn’t know if she didn’t try.

She nibbled on a bowl of cranberries, the drone of the professor’s instructions just background noise. Every now and then her ears tuned in to pick up something important, such as, ‘Follow your prefects up to your common rooms,’ and, ‘Try not to fall behind.’ The second part was especially significant. Unlike the first, it was more of a suggestion than an instruction, and it fuelled an idea that had been kindling for several minutes. Adults were good at that. A great many of Susie’s ideas would never have come to her if adults stopped talking a little bit sooner. She had to give them credit.

The mass of first years began to move. Susie made sure to keep to the edge of it; the back was too suspicious, and the front too visible. Thankfully, the torches in the entrance hall provided dim light and animated the shadows everywhere. It was easy to slip away and into a dark niche. She pressed herself as far back as she could, praying the bright yellow crest on her robes wasn’t about to betray her.

 

[Oliver Durand]

Oliver was overwhelmingly happy. Like a bear that has eaten too much honey. There was everything on the table, both main courses, snacks and desserts. Will it be like that every day? What will be for breakfast? Will there be several different cakes for dinner too? The French boy would appreciate it, but then his eating of the syrup cake was interrupted by the professors' voices and orders to move.

It was still too early to move!.. He had yet to try the cauldron cakes and lemon tarts! Oliver grabbed three muffins from the table with syrupy hands and swam to his feet. A bunch of Hufflepuffs walked by and unfortunately the bench crumbled just as Oliver lifted his leg over it to get to the other side of the bench... and stepped on the leg of someone from Hufflepuff.
- Sorry! He managed to say and one muffin fell out of his hands. It rolled far away to a dark niche where he picked up the muffin from the floor... - Susie!
Isn't that... Susie from the sweets shop? It was a big surprise when Oliver saw a familiar face. Then she was also sorted into Hufflepuff! Oliver smiled, what a coincidence! But... why is she standing in there?
He cautiously squinted his eyes in all directions, making sure nobody was watching them, and whispered loudly. - Are you hiding from someone?

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

It had been a bit of a wild experience being sorted, everyone kind of gathering together like that, being put in different houses and such. She was a little annoyed that neither of the twins had been put into her house, or she into their's, but she got Veronica at least, that was something. The girl was older than her of course, and she'd never really spent much time with her, but maybe this was the time to change that, since she'd been so unceremoniously ditched. To be fair she was pretty sure they'd all seen it coming at least with Lumos. She had hoped, thought, believed that Nox would be with there in Gryffindor if nothing else because he (she would deny ever thinking this if ever asked) was braver than Lumos was. She didn't know how that was something she knew, but she knew it. It was in almost all of their interactions honestly.

As they were slowly walked out of the great hall with their prefects, Tori fell behind, mostly because she was curious enough to take another look back, but also because she was sure she'd seen someone else slip out the sides and (even if she wasn't quite aware of who or why) she was interested enough in it that she really wanted to know who it was. "Is who hiding from someone? Oh!" Tori had noticed the Hufflepuff boy leave, but hadn't noticed the Hufflepuff girl until he'd sort of accidentally pointed it out. "Hey Soos!" she had seen her get sorted into Hufflepuff, but hadn't expected to be running into her so suddenly from the sorting ceremony.

@Oliver Durand @Susie Lagowski ​

 

[Demi Zephyr]

Everyone that Demi knew prior to sorting, had been sorted into a different house. She supposed that would mean she had tales of her own to tell, how she could tell her newest friends of her common room and bedroom, but it would have been nice to not have to walk all the up to the towers by herself every time. She’d have to be careful, she thought, to not leave anything behind in her room after starting her day; it would be a nightmare to have to go back.

She left the Great Hall with the other first years, careful not to lose sight of the other Ravenclaws. She’d never find her way back if she got separated. That changed however when she laid eyes on two of the girls she’d previously seen at Puddifoots. Although she’d only spoken briefly to one, she was still glad to see a face she somewhat recognised, even if she hadn’t realised until now they would be in her year. “Hey!” she smiled at the blonde girl, wondering if she knew who she was. It would have been awkward if she’d forgotten, “Did you bring your sign?” she asked her with a cheeky grin to the others in the group, wondering only then why they’d paused together in a clump.​

 

[William Potter-Cade]

William wasn’t all that surprised by being sorted into Gryffindor, nor was he surprised that his sister had also been sorted there. It was their mother’s house after all but what would be considered amusing among their family, if not by their father, was that they were now under the direct supervision of their Uncle James. William couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or not. Would he be lenient or would have be harsher on them to prove a point? William had never known his uncle to be a cruel person but he’d never been their head of house before.

As the other first years gathered with their prefects to head up to the common room William was one of the last to leave, mostly because he hadn’t finished eating, it all felt awfully rushed and there were still good deserts on the table, they soon vanished but not before William had grabbed a handful in a napkin which he now carried in his arms out into the entrance hall. There were still a few students hanging around but he couldn’t spot his sister or the prefects that had been pointed out to him. “You didn’t happen to spot which way the Gryffindors went did you?” He asked some of the students who were still congregating around the door to the Great hall, one of which was the cute girl he had met at the magical menagerie, she had left before either of them introduced themselves. “Oh hi, it’s you,”

 

[Susie Lagowski]

Susie looked down as a muffin joined her in the niche, shortly followed by Oliver (the muffin's owner, no doubt), Tori (heck yeah), the spell-checker from Madam Puddifoot's (sorted into Ravenclaw - no surprise), and Potter-Cade (lost). With each addition to the party, Susie made shushing noises, grabbing sleeves and elbows to try to tug people further into the shadows. Someone was bound to have spotted them - but as the seconds passed, it became clear that nobody was coming back. They'd got away with it. For now.

"Jeez," Susie exhaled. "You think we could fit any more in here?" Some of the portraits on the opposite wall were eyeing them suspiciously. As soon as the next year group came out of the hall, they were busted. "I mean, I was hiding, but I don't think we're hiding any more." Susie jabbed a thumb over her shoulder. "Gryffindors went that way, if you're bailing on us. Buuut personally, I was thinking of taking the scenic route. You guys wanna come?" She grinned.

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

"I absolutely want to come," she said, checking over her shoulder where Susie had pointed. The Gryffindors were too far away now for them to catch up without the prefects being suspicious of where they had been, so it didn't seem to make much sense to head there now. Besides, this seemed like it would be more fun. She already knew William and Susie, but it might be fun to get to know more about these other two. She wasn't entirely sure of their names, there had been a lot of names called out in the hall after all, and she'd really only focused on the names called after hers and into Gryffindor so she would know who she was rooming with and who she would be getting to know more of. It stood to reason there would be a couple of Cade's in the dorms, especially with the number of Gryffindors in the family. Learning William was a Cade though had been a bit of a shock, since she didn't know him at all, only his... cousins? The twins.

"I want to see how many stairs there are in the castle, we should be prepared, right? In case we ever have to run up them?" Surely the Professor's couldn't get mad at research, could they? "For science, you know."​

 

[Demi Zephyr]

As Demi turned her head to see the cute guy from the menagerie she grinned, a small chuckle escaping her lips as she was called you. By the sounds of it, Susie had other plans than heading to the common rooms with their assigned prefects, and Demi was up for seeing what they could learn on their own. "We have plenty of time to explore our common rooms, we should see what else is out here," she agreed, hoping the Gryffindor would join them properly too. With another glance to the Gryffindor girl, Demi cut in, "You're a lion, both of you. You two are Hufflepuff, and I'm in the tallest tower anyway. Wouldn't it be better to explore the dungeons? We can all report back on the stair situation from our houses when we get there but none of us will know what the dungeons are like," Without a Slytherin in the mix it would be the one blank space in their knowledge.

She nudged the Gryffindor boy with her elbow "It's Demi by the way. My name is Demi," she introduced with a grin. "Like the god. My dad's into Mythology," she added with a shrug.​

 

[William Potter-Cade]

William feigned pain as the cute girl elbowed him and introduced herself as Demi, having not done so at the magical menagerie, either by design or by accident as he had failed to do so on several occasions. “I’m William, or Will if you prefer,” He had no preference, his sister mostly seemed to call him Will but he didn’t want to stop anyone from using his full name if they preferred, he truly didn’t care. “It’s a cute name, your dad has good taste,” He was curious about the dungeon and not just because he would agree with whatever Demi said, but her idea made sense, none of them had any reason to be in the dungeon that night, so why not start their exploring there. “Good idea, we should start with the dungeon,”

 

[Susie Lagowski]

Dungeons or staircase? Two very good ideas - and Susie didn’t want to have to be the one to choose between them. They were equally likely to run into a house group wherever they went. Presumably there would be fewer places to hide in the dungeons, but it would also be much darker. Well, apart from a group vote, which was far too dull, there was only one way to sort this out. “OK, well, if I were you guys, I’d pick a direction and start running,” she said. Then she cupped her hands to her mouth and bellowed, “FIRST YEARS LEFT BEHIND!!!”

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

"What if we - NO WAIT!" but it was too late, Susie had already announced that there were first years left behind to any (if any) professors or prefects in the vicinity. She blanked, her face going white as she looked around desperately for what direction she might be able to run in. Deciding she should head somewhere she might be able to hide, she swiftly turned around and headed for the stairs, if nothing else she might be able to reach one of the lower corridors before a professor figured out where they were all going.​

 

[Demi Zephyr]

"Will. William." Demi was playing with the variations to see which one she preferred. "Will it is," she flashed him another smile which only widened when he told her she had a cute name. "Thanks, so does yours." She meant it too, it fit him and was almost as cute as he was. Demi's attention however was pulled away by Susie, who was now trying to come up with the best way for them to decide which direction go, given that Tori disagreed with them. At least Will seemed to think she had a good idea. "Susie stop!" Demi tried to swipe at the Hufflepuff as she moved to cup her hands around her mouth, not knowing what plan she had up her sleeve but it couldn't have been anything good. They had to leave now if they didn't want to get caught. Demi may have even thought it was a good idea had she had the chance to come up with it herself. Immediately she reached out her hand, wrapping her fingers around Will's forearm before bolting after Tori. She wasn't about to lose her newest friend and she could only be grateful that Tori made a bid for the stairs that would take them to the lower floors as opposed to the upper. Maybe they'd have a better chance of sticking together than Demi first realised.​