Still Too Cold

[Cyprien Verline]

It was the first morning since the sorting, and for the Tahiti born, everything was new and everything was terrible. He didn't know how on earth he was possibly going to enjoy the school. He wanted to, but since he had moved from place to place in his life he knew that it always took a while for boy to adjust to anything. The first thing about the school was that he'd been sorted in Ravenclaw. He didn't know much about the house, only that it appeared that it was a house for smart people. Cyprien Verline did not think he was smart, far from this fact, he thought that in the grand scheme of things his brain were average. He loved learning, but this didn't mean he was good at it. It was however something he was willing to try out. He was willing to try to get the best grades that he could. He would work hard, and prove that he was capable, as capable as the others in his year. Just being a Ravenclaw for now, felt weird and wrong. He didn't really think he belonged, and this was why he hated being sorted, because he found he was always sorted wrong. He'd once been put in with a group of trouble makers, in one of the place's he'd lived and he'd been bullied relentlessly by them. Thankfully that hadn't lasted long, but he still didn't like sorting. As far as he could however tell, the people seemed nice. They didn't off the bat start shouting at him, or calling him names. So that had to at least be a positive factor.

Cyprien was spending the first morning wandering around his new surroundings as he did with any new place he had to go to. He was really assessing the escape routes, places to hide and places to go. It wasn't that most did, but Cyprien felt the need to. The seventh floor was a good place to start, he worked his way down the stairs, knowing that he'd just check the floors later. His first goal was the outside. Cyprien was not dressed for winter. He didn't have winter clothes. He had summer clothes. And today was no different. He was dressed in his school trousers, since they were his warmest pair, and a white shirt, with the sleeves rolled up and a skinny black tie, tied loosely around his neck. Overall the boy dressed smartly, he thought he could make a good impression. Upon stepping outside, the cold hit his bare arms instantly. He gave a slight shiver and then headed towards the lakefront. He was a little tired and wanted to sit but the lakefront, like he would've done back home. Only it was the ocean not a lake. Cyprien smiled to himself as he took a seat underneath the willow tree looking out at the water. While he hadn't enjoyed the first few hours of his school life, sitting out at the lakefront in the morning was definitely something he would grow to like and Love in the summer months. Now all he needed were friends to share it with.​

<i></i>

 

[Nephrolepis Undersee]

Having finally found a way out of the huge, intimidating castle, Nephrolepis felt the cold air hit her face. Despite the shock of an icy breeze rushing through her hair, she felt immensely relaxed. The castle was certainly great for exploring, but it was also perfect for getting lost in. Nephy had been lost many times before, on whatever adventures she had gotten herself into in the woods, but that was outdoors, and she'd put up small signs showing her the way home, just in case. Thinking about the forest now made her eyes tingle, though that could have been the bitter air. Still, she longed to be back where she belonged, out in the forest with nothing but her hands to keep her amused. Nephy bit her lip, turning her head to take in her surroundings. In the distance, some sort of huge lake lay perfectly in the ground, reflecting the fluffy white clouds. The sky was too beautiful for it to be winter. If she had taken a picture, she could easily have got away with saying it was summer in New Zealand. The sun was shining, the clouds were beautiful and wispy, and the sky behind them was a clear, pale blue. Smiling, she started to wander across the span of land which seperated her from the lake. It was nice to be able to see into the distance on an adventure for once, instead of only seeing trees wherever she looked. After a few seconds of walking, the castle was beginning to shrink behind her, and she noticed something. Not something, someone. Squinting, she kept walking, but her pace slowed as she approached what seemed to be a boy. Immediately, she recognized the back of his head. The way he sat. It was the same as when she'd seen him before.

"Cyprien!" Nephrolepis blurted out before she could stop herself, raising a hand to her mouth as though she could take back what she'd just said. She was standing just a couple of metres behind him now; there was no point turning back. So instead, she walked carefully to his side and sat down a good distance away from him. Not so far that she looked rude, but not so close that it felt creepy. Now that she could see his face, her suspicions were confirmed. It was definitely Cyprien, the boy she'd met at the bandstand not many days ago. So he was magical? Nephy never would have guessed. But then everybody at the school could have been muggles if she'd been told so. Running her fingers across the grass, she noticed his sleeves were rolled up. Nephy shuddered, dressed in her school robes and a scarf. "Aren't you cold?" she asked him, frowning a little as she thought about how freezing his arms would be. She was cold, and she wasn't dressed as though it was summer. She didn't know much about this boy. When she'd met him before, she'd had to dash off when she realized how late it had been. There had barely been any chance for introductions, and she had felt extremely rude. Remembering this made her speak again. "I'm sorry for running off before. My Mother would have killed me if she'd realized I was out," she said truthfully, nodding a little even though she barely knew him. It didn't feel awkward to talk around him at all.

 

[Cyprien Verline]

There was an odd calm on the grounds. It was different from anywhere in Tahiti. Maybe higher ground was different, but apart from that it was all the same. With the beach more or less crowded every day, and the sun always shinning. In New Zealand, at hogwarts it was different. It wasn't summer so there were few people outside, this meant there was a very serious silence which filled the air. Cyprien shook slightly. He was more than a little cold but he had nothing else. His parents were working on sending him some warmer clothes, but he was still pretty new to the family, Cyprien would not pester them, or ask for more than what they sent. He was always wary when he first came into any form of new family, and while he'd been a Verline for a few years now, he didn't want to do anything that could mess it up for him. His sister seemed less bothered, she was always telling him that he would be fine, that they would stick it out until the end. But, Cyprien nodded but never actually believed it. He really had no reason to. Every other family he'd been in had eventually given up on him. This was his longest home so, he wanted to do everything right. As much as the boy knew he could handle moving to another home, with a different family, he really didn't want to. He didn't want to have to deal with it, or have to handle it. He liked living in one place. He hoped that at least Hogwarts would give him such a thing. The boy was unsure as to if the school would really help him, but it was worth a try and that was what he was doing. Giving the school a try. As Cyprien sat in the silence he heard his name being called, he looked round and expected to see his sister, Tegan walking towards him, her bubblegum pink her bouncing in the wind. However, he could straight away tell that it wasn't, since the girl approaching his had normal blonde hair. He squinted to see who it was and realized it was the girl from the previous day. Band stand girl. Cyprien felt a little nervous that she was coming towards him. He didn't think she was a bad person, but there was still that initial fear.

The girl, whose name he could no longer remember, was walking towards him. He definitely remembered her, since she was small to say the least. But she had appeared fairly nice, and for that the Tahiti born ravenclaw was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. He remembered her from sorting. He was sure that she'd been sorted only a little before him, and had been placed in either Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, not that he knew what those houses actually meant, but it was always good to have a little clue. He gave the girl a small smile as she sat down a little far away from him. He wondered why she'd done that, there was plenty of space, so why hadn't she sat closer. He was suddenly paranoid that something was wrong with him. That he smelled, or that he had a mark on his face. Something that would cause her to not sit closer. Or maybe it was just because he was a boy, and by the norm, boys and girls didn't sit close to each other. Considering that Cyprien was close to his sister, he was fairly comfortable around girls. He looked down at his arms, sure he was cold, but that didn't matter.

"Yeah, I'm cold, but I don't have any winter stuff, my parents are sending me them now." Cyprien replied simply, his french accent playing lightly almost untraceable on his words. He looked away from her and then taking a deep breath willed himself to focus and be the confident young Ravenclaw his sister and his family wanted him to be. The girl gave an explanation as to before, but Cyprien raised a hand waved it in a fashion that said to not bother. "It's okay. Really, I understand." Cyprien smiled again at the girl, she was nice, and he liked that. She would make a good friend over time he was sure. There was just one tiny little problem that he couldn't remember her name. His cheeks flushed a deep red before he spoke. "I'm sorry, I can't remember your name. I've just had a whole bunch of new terms and concepts thrown my way, that your name got lost and now I can't remember it. Sorry," As much as he felt embarrassed, it wasn't one he could handle. He smiled shyly at the girl, and hoped it would be okay, and that she would not be too annoyed at him. "Magic is new to me"​

<i></i>

 

[Nephrolepis Undersee]

When the boy spoke for the first time, Nephrolepis realised something she hadn't noticed before. The boy was undoubtebly French. The accent on his words was slight, but being French herself, Nephy had no trouble recognizing it. It puzzled her that she hadn't noticed before, but blamed it on being too wrapped up in herself, a habit which she really had to get out of if she wanted to make any friends. When the boy's cheeks flushed, she felt her own feel warm and pink. Unsure of why he had blushed until he revealed that he had forgotten her name, she frowned in thought. Then, she relaxed her eyebrows, suddenly realising he was embarrassed, and hoping he didn't mistake her frown for one of anger that he'd forgotten it. Her name was hardly an easy one to remember, of all names, and he was right, he would have had a lot of things on his mind. Nephy, too, had plenty to think about that day, but she seemed to have a knack with names. It wasn't often than people would introduce themselves to such a tiny person, and suddenly she felt immensly proud, her blush deepening in colour. Stop it! Nephy told herself inwardly, though stop what she wasn't sure of. pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them, her hair blew gently in the breeze. It was very relaxing, sitting in front of the lake with somebody she didn't really know much about. It would have been made so much better if it had been warm, though. Nephrolepis couldn't wait for summer, where she could spend days in the garden and nights in the forbidden forest, getting into indescribable trouble with the professors and whatever else lurked in the depths of the forest. Nephy guessed it would be nothing like the woods at home in there, that there would be darker, scarier creatures than just bears and deer lurking behind a tree.

Snapping out of her daydream, Nephrolepis glanced at Cyprien again, remembering she hadn't yet answered his question. She was sure that his surname began with a V, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember what it was. Surnames were not her speciality; luckily, they weren't quite as important as forenames. She couldn't remember her best friend's surname, let alone someone she'd only met once. She smiled sympathetically, trying to show that she was fine with the fact he'd forgotten her name. "Oh, don't worry about it. Nephrolepis Undersee, or just Nephy," her smile widened as she looked back over the lake. He seemed to be quite a shy person, which Nephrolepis admired. He was brave to talk to her if this was the case. From what he had seen so far, Nephy wasn't exactly coming across as normal. It didn't bother her, however, that the boy might have thought her weird. She was just enjoying the moment while it lasted. "Magic's new to me, too," she added in her strong French accent. "I found out I was magical when I was eight, and I couldn't wait to come here," she sighed inwardly. It was obvious she was missing home, even to someone who wasn't bright. And the boy seemed to be bright enough to her.

 

[Cyprien Verline]

</SIZE>

<SIZE size="50">There was an odd smile on the boys face as he sat with her. It wasn't like he knew her well, but as the first person at the school that he had talked to apart from his sister it was a huge achievement for him. Cyprien had always been shy, he took time to get to know people and become like he was around his sister, or the sort of brother he'd gained from his first house. Someone he had kept in contact with. But here with this new girl in beside him, he was pretty sure that it meant he would in time get better. Cyprien however did not think it was going to as easy making other friends, at least in this situation the girl had been the first to talk to him, and she appeared friendly. Like his sister. Which was a good thing, since friendly meant he wasn't going to be picked on by them, it never occurred to him that she might be feeling the same way. Having grown up in many different homes, the boy had pretty much seen everything in terms of weird. And the fact the girl was very small didn't bother him in the slightest. He wondered why she wasn't making fun of him, since that's what people tended to do to Cyprien, forget what they feared about themselves, Cyprien was the easy target, and more often than not, Cyprien would just break down. It was why, he was nervous about school, about Hogwarts. He just wanted the first few days to be over with, so he knew who to hang out with and who to avoid. First on his list was his sister, and who to avoid was still undecided. A cold wind blew and Cyprien visibly shivered. He didn't know what he was going to do until his clothes arrived. His parents had not been clear as to when they would arrive, but they would in time. Cyprien just wanted them now, so he could stay warm. The Tahiti born rubbed his arms. He was still waiting for the girl to tell him her name. He wondered if he had offended her. From what he could see, she didn't look annoyed. He felt his hands begin to sweat, and he was feeling more and more and more nervous. His eyes glanced to the forest and wondered if he could run there and make it. It would maybe annoy the girl, but she wasn't replying so, would it really matter. However, Cyprien told himself to stay.

The girl spoke, and Cyprien let out a sigh of relief. He let out the breath he'd been holding and smiled at the girl, ever so slightly. Nephrolepis, he was never going to remember that, so the nickname, Nephy sounded like a good beat. His name didn't shorten to anything since Cyprien was already a short name. And it was fairly easy to remember. Then, he noticed it. The way she spoke. Clearly not from around New Zealand, from what he could tell. French like him. Well, he spoke french, but he lived on an Island that belonged to France rather than actually living in France. He wondered if the girl lived in France, or if she was like him from Tahiti. Cyprien glanced at the girl and guessed no. She didn't look like she was from Tahiti, she lacked a tan and was more prepared for the cold weather. Both his parents and his sister had been completely unprepared for the fact that it would actually be cold in New Zealand at this time of year. Sure, it was very humid in Tahiti, but that was the only problem he had with his home. Everything else was very bare able, the cold was not. He nodded as she spoke. Keeping his eyes out at the lake, only glancing over at her briefly. She appeared to miss home. Cyprien could read people well, and that factor was very clear.

"I found out about magic about 3 months ago. It came as a real shock to me, my sister and our parents." Cyprien smiling fondly thinking of the memory of receiving the two letters on the same day. "Miss home?" Cyprien asked. His tone was quiet, but clearly he was actually interested. He was like his sister in a sense that he got protective of people, but it was less clear, and could be passed off as just concern. "Where do you stay?" Cyprien was pretty much ready to tell her all about Tahiti, to try and make her feel better about being away from home, but he couldn't he was nervous and taking about his home was something he did with passion and it generally meant he talked a lot, so considering they'd just met, Cyprien wanted to do nothing of the sort.​

​

<i></i>