Up is best

[Elio Zephyr]

Although taking pictures was one of the Gryffindors hobbies, he had a few others he liked to pursue too. Climbing was one of them. Elio had left his camera in his dorm room in case it got broken, not wanting to have to write to his parents to request money for a new one, and disappeared out of the castle and into the school grounds. He'd not been outside much since he arrived at the school, but he knew exactly what he was looking for. He loved to climb, he could have climbed anything. The grip by his fingers and forearms had done him well up until this point, and starting simple he wanted to try out what the school had to offer.

Finding a tree that seemed to have a good number of branches at a reasonably low height, the first year shrugged off a hoodie he'd been wearing, and considered his route up ahead. If his mum could see him now he'd be in trouble, but here he had a new chance away from them and the feeling of being able to pull himself up and rise higher in the air was fun, not to mention trying to figure out how to get from A to B. Taking the first foothold, he made sure he had a good balance, before reaching up with his left hand towards the closest branch, reaching up and out for it and he began his ascent.
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[Alice Holland]

While Alice Holland liked many things about the castle, she had to admit the grounds held more of a draw to her. She loved wandering around outside, as it never seemed to be boring. It was still cold, so Alice had a scarf wrapped around her neck. It was one her older sister Rose had made her for her last birthday, and she was very happy to wear it now. It was fraying a lot at the edges, but Rose had made sure to make it in Alice's favorite colors, so she loved it. As she crossed the great lawn, she wondered where she should go on her walk today. The forest wasn't an option, but she didn't mind that. There were so many other places to explore instead. Like the greenhouses, perhaps? Or she could go back to the gardens. It had been quite nice there last time.

Then, she noticed something unusual that made her stop in her tracks. For a moment, she watched as a boy appeared to be attempting to climb a tree. As she moved closer, she noticed it was Elio. Alice had met the Gryffindor at the meeting she had organized with Emily, and he had seemed very nice. "Elio, what are you doing?" She asked him, tilting her head to the side as she watched him reach for a branch. "Do you usually climb trees?" It was something Alice had done in the past, but truthfully she found it kind of unrewarding. After a lot of effort, you were just sitting in a tree with nothing to do. Besides, Rose always got really nervous about it, so Alice had stopped doing it. It had been years since she climbed a tree, but seeing Elio do it kind of made her want to join him.

 

[Jasmine Wolfe]

The best thing about Hogwarts was the large amount of open spaces and activities that could be done there. It was a different environment to what she was used to at home and it was the thing that she was most excited to get back to doing once school had started again. The twins had arranged to meet each other by the lake once they had got themselves settled into the dorms so Jasmine immediately left for the outdoors the second she finished unpacking. She walked across the lawn in the direction of the Lake when she saw a couple of students hanging around her favourite tree to climb.

She decided to do a little detour to see who the student's were and what they were doing. Jasmine had favoured that tree the second she started at the school and managed to get a couple of her friends to climb it with her. It was the perfect tree to climb and the best one to start on. She walked over to the girl who seemed to be looking at someone else who as already climbing the tree. "Hey there" she said, announcing herself and she reached the students "I see you've found my favourite tree. It's the best one to climb isn't it?" she asked directing the question more to the student in the tree than the one on the ground. She itched to be up there with him but Grayson was waiting for her only a couple of minutes away.

 

[Elio Zephyr]

Pulling himself up further, he moved one foot to the next holding point, shifting his weight across to the other leg so that he could reach further with his right hand, steadily climbing the tree and not looking down. Even when he heard a voice, his mind was almost too preoccupied with the activity to face her, although if he was hearing the girl right he knew who it was. He'd spoken to Alice recently and they had a couple of lessons together. "I want to get to the top." Perhaps Alice thought he'd gotten something stuck up there, but he thought it was a bit obvious what he was doing even if not why. "I don't always climb trees. Sometimes I climb other things too," he said, although leaving out the details as he wasn't sure if he'd get into trouble if he admitted everything to her. "Don't you ever climb anything?" He knew a few of the children back at his primary school didn't like to get themselves dirty, which sometimes happened when he was climbing and especially if they were outside, and that would have been a shame. It wasn't long before he heard another voice, but his attention remained focus on what he was doing, pulling himself up higher and stepping across to a branch that he was sure would take his weight. It was only then that he allowed himself to relax, stood and balanced with his hand against the trunk to steady himself, he looked back down to the girls. "It's pretty easy." he commented, it had taken it no time at all to get up there, although now he was faced with the drop ahead of him, his grip on the trunk tightened, as he tried not to show the wave of fear running through his mind as to how he was meant to get back down.
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[Alice Holland]

Alice had known her question wasn't entirely necessary, but she hadn't been able to stop it from getting out. She watched as Elio pulled himself up more, and Alice watched quietly for a moment. [color=fcc9e3]"What kind of things?" She asked curiously when the boy mentioned climbing other stuff. "I used to, haven't in a while." She said with a small shrug. Her sisters had been going to Hogwarts for the past few years, and there wasn't much point in going on adventures that might involve climbing all on your own. Another girl joined them, and Alice gave her a smile. She seemed to be a couple of years older, and Alice wondered if she was in Phoebe's year. "Hi, I'm Alice. This is Elio." She told the girl who apparently also enjoyed climbing trees. Hearing it was the best one to climb, Alice finally made a decision. She cupped her hands around her mouth and looked up. "Elio, I'm coming up too!" She said, then started to climb it. Her ascend wasn't as effortless as Elio's had seemed, and she paused on the first branch to catch her breath. She looked up at Elio again. "Is it nice up there?" She asked, wondering if the effort was worth it.

 

[Jasmine Wolfe]

Jasmine watched as the boy climbed higher and higher and she smiled when the girl beside asked more questions. She could tell that the younger girl wanted to be hanging from the branches too "Nice to meet you both, i'm Jasmine" she replied happily. Jasmine always liked to meet new people and she was working on being nicer to make a better first impression. Her first couple of years at the school had resulted in her having more enemies than friends which she wasn't at all used to so she was determined to change that, even though they were that little bit younger.

She examined the tree when the boy commented that it was pretty easy, she supposed that he was right actually and she sighed. Maybe this boy could show her more challenging things to climb if this one was too easy for him "if this tree is easy, what else do you climb?" she asked the boy as he seemed to be knowledgeable on the subject. She clapped her hands together when the younger girl decided that she was going to follow the boy up the tree "Yes! You can do it! I'll be right behind you" Jasmine said encouragingly, completely forgetting the time and how close it was getting to the time that she would have to meet Gray. She reached for the lowest branch and began to swing on it as she waited for Alice to get a bit higher.