Closed Testing the Waters

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan would never admit it to anyone but when he first heard that the seasons in the southern hemisphere were opposite than in the north, he thought it was a joke. But when he arrived in New Zealand after finishing up his school year, he had expected to have a summer break but instead was greeted by winter. His mom had said his relocation was only temporary and that her old friend Ernie would be watching out for him while she got some things in order. He still didn't understand why he needed to be sent away for that but all his questions had only made her more upset so he had given up. The move was hard but the whole "magic is real" had been an even bigger shock. Ethan loved everything supernatural, ghost stories and monster movies were some of his favorite things, so the fact that his mom was a witch this whole time was a bit hard to swallow. It did mean that he was magical though which was pretty cool.

He paused his routine walk around Obsidian Harbour in front of the wand shop. He had been coming with Ernie to the shop most days so far and eventually he would find himself wandering the streets trying to get his bearings. He peered inside the front window to get a good look at what was going on inside. It was full of kids slightly older than him who he assumed were getting their wands. Ernie had explained that he would be getting his next year before starting at Hogwarts, but Ethan wasn't so sure about that. His mom would come for him way before then.

 

[Blanche Broomhead]

Blanche didn't want to think about what this next year was going to be like. It seemed like the height of unfairness, that Silas would go to school an entire year ahead of her, when the age difference between them was a matter of minutes. Being twins with different birthdays had always been fun, just a silly coincidence they could joke about. But now it was real, very real, and with horrible consequences. Silas was out shopping for his school supplies, and Blanche couldn't bring herself to follow along. As far as she was concerned she ought to be shopping alongside him, buying her own robes and wand at the same time. But here she was, looking vaguely in shop windows and trying to pretend she wasn't devastated.

She wandered a bit while Silas was being fitted for robes, glancing in the window of the wand shop. That was the biggest slap in the face. Silas would be learning spells, would have his own wand and know magic, so much more magic than her, forever. Her brow crinkled with frustration as she stared in, taking a moment to even realise she wasn't the only one. Glancing at the other boy looking in the window, she hesitated a moment before speaking. "If you wanna get a wand you'll have to queue up." She said glumly, giving him a bitter look. As far as Blanche was concerned, anyone getting their wand already was her enemy.

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan squinted and stuck his face even farther towards the glass. Was that tape measure floating? He had been so wrapped up in his observation that he hardly noticed he wasn't alone. He jumped when they spoke and he ended up smacking his forehead on the glass window. "Ow." he groaned and rubbed the heel of his palm against his face as he turned to look at the girl standing next to him. "What?" he said, confused and disoriented. But a second later he figured out what she was talking about. "Oh no. I'm not here for a wand. I was just looking." he said. "I don't turn eleven until February." he explained and gestured for her to go inside ahead of him if she was worried about a line.

 

[Blanche Broomhead]

Blanche couldn't help a small snort of laughter when the boy bumped his head, cheering her up slightly from her funk. She was surprised when the boy explained, studying his face in a new light. "Oh..." She said slowly, hesitating. She didn't want to admit to her own plight, but it would be nice to have a friend in her own year so far ahead of time, if she had to be abandoned like this. "We're gonna be classmates then, I guess." Blanche explained, sticking her hands in her pockets awkwardly. "My brother's going this year." She didn't explain the whole twin thing, didn't quite have that in her yet. This was explanation enough.

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan sighed as the girl laughed at him. He didn't blame her, he was sure it was funny but the dull throb in his forehead kept him from being too amused. He did look at her curiously when she mentioned they would be classmates. He didn't want to correct her and explain that he probably wouldn't be here long enough to join her at school so he just nodded along. "I guess so." he said with a shrug, not wanting to commit to the idea anymore than that. "Well that must be nice." Ethan said when she mentioned her brother. "You'll have someone to tell you all about it and what to expect." he explained. Ernie had told him a bit but he hadn't gone to Hogwarts so his intel had been somewhat limited. But if he had his way he'd be going to Ilvermorny to be closer to his mom.

 

[Ainsley Lynch]

Ainsley looked out of the window and saw two kids chatting. 'How nice' she thought to herself, and went back to work.

 

[Blanche Broomhead]

Blanche's face soured immediately when the boy mentioned Silas explaining Hogwarts to her. Plenty of people had said the same to her, and the idea never got any more appealing. "We should be going together." She confessed, wondering if this boy would understand. If they were going to be classmates, she may as well start trying to make friends. "We're twins, but he was born right before the age cutoff and I was born right after. It's so stupid."

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan finally stopped rubbing his head and noticed that his comment had upset her somehow. He wasn't sure where he had gone wrong but thankfully he didn't have to wait too long for her to explain and he felt his jaw literally drop. "Woah that's crazy." he said in disbelief. "And they can't make some kind of exception?" he asked, getting annoyed on her behalf. As much as he'd like to have a potential friend, it hardly seemed fair. At all of his muggle schools there always seemed to be exceptions to rules like that. But maybe he didn't know enough about magic. Maybe there was something about the school that made age that important.

 

[Blanche Broomhead]

Blanche's face scrunched up as the boy agreed with how unfair her situation was. "Apparently not." She said bitterly. "I've just got to wait a whole year, while Silas is off at school. He's gonna be a year ahead of me the whole time." It was bitterly, deeply unfair. "Terrible way to run things." She folded her arms, not bothering to hide her anger. She had plenty to be angry about, as far as she was concerned. "But... it looks like you and I will be classmates, yeah."

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan frowned and gave her a sympathetic look when she confirmed that there wasn't anything she could do. He was fairly certain this wasn't the first time this unfairness had been pointed out her and he was also fairly sure him pointing it out again didn't help. If anything could be done someone surely would have thought of it by now. "You could always use his notes." he pointed out. He could see some value in having someone ahead of them to guide the way. But he did agree with her. Ethan hesitated again when she mentioned being classmates but nodded anyways. "Guess so. What do you know about Hogwarts?" he asked. "I'm not exactly from around here." he admitted even though it was the understatement of the century.

 

[Blanche Broomhead]

Blanche sighed slightly when the boy mentioned using Silas's notes, nodding. "Yeah, I could, but it won't be the same." She grumbled, trying hard not to think about how much more Silas was going to know so quickly. He'd already be lightyears ahead of her by Christmas, and what was she supposed to do with that? It was a relief when the boy asked about Hogwarts, easier to change the subject. "It's... I dunno, it's Hogwarts?" Blanche shrugged. "Big school, four houses, they teach magic. What's the magic school like where you're from?" She asked, suddenly realising she had no idea what school in America was like. Or Canada - the accents all sounded alike as far as she was concerned.

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan wasn't sure why she seemed so annoyed at the thought of using her brother's notes. If anything it sounded ideal to him but he didn't push the topic, she seemed grumpy enough already and he didn't feel like having it directed at him. But he frowned when she didn't really answer his question. Maybe he should try and find her brother instead if she was going to be this unhelpful. He had heard of the houses already even if they sounded kind of weird. He wasn't sure what the benefit was to separating people into houses that were just like them. But apparently they did lots of things he didn't understand. When she asked about schools where he came from it was Ethan's turn to be unhelpful. "Uh well it's called Ilvermorny." he said with a decisive nod. "And there are four houses too. Thunderbird, Horned Serpent....Pukeagie and uhh Warmis?" he listed off uncertainly. His mom had told him about them but he had quickly forgotten the weirder sounding ones. "And it's in Connecticut." he added, remembering that fact at the last minute. Or he thought that's where it was. Well he knew it was somewhere in New England and figured any state would be close enough.

 

[Blanche Broomhead]

Blanche couldn't help a small snort of laughter as the boy explained the American magic school. "Pukeage? There's a house named Pukeage?!" Blanche cackled with laughter, eyes widening. "Oh my god, and people think Hufflepuff is bad! Imagine that, you've gotta spend the rest of your life telling people you were in Pukeage..." Blanche giggled again, trying to wonder what that school uniform would look like. Probably disgusting.

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan had felt a bit proud of all he remembered about the American school. His mom had shared a lot of this information rather reluctantly so there was a chance some of it might have been wrong. What he wasn't expecting was for her to start laughing. He blinked a few times and smiled reluctantly. "I didn't think it was that funny." he said under his breath, mostly to himself. "I guess. But it's all a bit silly too me. I thought I'd be going to a regular muggle school a few months ago." he admitted a little shyly. She seemed to know all about magic and he found that every time he talked to someone like that he always felt like he was walking on air and was mere moments from crashing to the ground.

 

[Blanche Broomhead]

Blanche raised an eyebrow when the boy commented that he didn't think it was funny, giving him a look. "Pukeage. Like, puke-age. Like, it's a house for people who just throw up all the time?" She explained, unable to keep the exasperation from her voice. She shrugged slightly when the boy added that it seemed silly to him. "Oh, are your parents muggles?" She asked, before realising what she had said. "Oh, that means, like... people who don't have magic." She added, wondering how much they even explained to muggle-born kids before school.

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan shifted his weight uncomfortably as she continued to make fun of one of the houses. "I think it's named after a creature." he said uncertainly. At least that's what he remembered. He really should have paid better attention. For a moment he was glad to chanced topics until he realized her attention had turned to him. "N-no." he said shaking his head when she asked if his parent's were muggles. "Well not exactly. My mom is a witch but my dad isn't. But she doesn't really use magic." he explained. His mom never talked about his dad so he thought there might be a chance he was magical but he figured she would have told him that. "I know what it means." he said with a bit of an edge. He may be new to this whole magic thing but he wasn't completely loss. He had used the word himself after all.