Walking Takes Effort

[Crimson Sterling]

So far, Hogwarts New Zealand had been absolutely astounding. The castle's age and size in itself was reasonably breath-taking, but the magical factor gave it a constant feeling of wonder and every turn led to something new and unexpected. Never in one place had Crimson seen so many portraits, each with their own unique stories and personalities, nor had he ever seen an actual medieval suit of armor up close. Ghosts too came as a surprise and already the red-haired Ravenclaw had learned to avoid passing through one. The feeling of standing under a cold shower was not that comfortable and the thought of another person's energy passing straight through him had left shivers down his spine. Some of them apparently seemed to take joy in floating through students. Though even the best of things had to have flaws. In the castle's case, it was the stairs. The never-ending stairs that went up and up, level after level, and the young wizards Common Room just so happened to be at the very top.

I hate my life. Crimson thought with a groan, flopping heavily against the stone wall and sinking to the ground. It was early in the morning and he'd only just finished breakfast, the best cooked food he'd ever had that students said the House Elves prepared down in the Kitchens, when he realised he needed to go back up to the Ravenclaw Common Room and grab something warmer to wear. What felt like a thousand steps later up the staircase and he unthinkingly got off at only the Sixth Floor Corridor and had wandered around the corner before he still needed to ascend two more levels. Muggles have invented steps that automatically move you up from the bottom to the top without having to climb them, yet we have to manually walk them ourselves. he thought bitterly, exhaling in frustration. I don't want to walk anymore. Eight floors all for a jacket, this isn't worth it. Another sigh and he thumped his head back against the wall, causing a portrait of an elderly witch just over his shoulder to swing dangerously on its hook while she lost her footing. Crimson quickly pushed himself off from the floor and put his hand to one corner to steady the painting. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn't thinking." he stuttered apologetically. The elderly witched managed to balance herself out before mumbling a response and waving him away. With a slight frown he turned away and wandered a little back down the corridor, which felt impossibly long in his sluggish state, only to stop once more and lean tired against another wall. "It's too early for this."

 

[Eugene Smythe]

Eugene had been looking forward to breakfast that morning.There was only one thing he enjoyed more than cooking food, and that was eating it.After having breakfast,Eugene decided to continue his exploring of the castle.He had been to the North tower yesterday and the view from there was absolutely stunning.Today he was on his way to the Astronomy tower which was apparently the tallest one in the castle.He had also taken his camera with him so that he could take a picture of the view.

But by the time he reached the fifth floor,he was breathing hard and had a stitch in his side.He hadn't realized when he was eating that it would not be easy to climb so many staircases afterwards.He continued climbing up the next flight of stairs but that was as much as his body could endure.It was complaining rather loudly.So Eugene gave up.

He walked towards a window and perched himself carefully on it and then relaxed,closing his eyes.The grounds outside were covered in snow and chilly wind was blowing in through the window but Eugene was protected from it by his blue sweater, scarf and gloves.The only thing that was exposed was his face and soon he felt like his nose was going to freeze so he got off the sill and decided to go and find a warmer place to rest.As he walked down the corridor he observed the protraits on the wall which were all interesting in different ways.

In one of them the figures were having a heated discussion which sounded like politics from a long time back.Eugene was so distracted by it that he almost walked into a boy who was leaning against the wall."Sorry for that mate,didn't see you there" he apologized as he observed the boy.He looked like he was his age and Eugene was sure he had seen him during the sorting ceremony."You are a first year too right? I'm Eugene,Hufflepuff" he said introducing himself.

 

[Crimson Sterling]

Crimson had been slowly regathering his energy when he heard footsteps coming from his left. Natural curiosity caused him to look briefly up in time to see a less-than-aware boy, probably around his age, nearly collide with him at walking speed. As a reaction, Crimson gave a small jump backwards, mixed with nonsensical noises as his tongue tried to form a dozen words at once. Luckily the boy had stopped himself just mere inches away.

Crim breathed out a sigh of relief and self-consciously attempted to brush down his now-tossled red hair as the other student apologised. "Haha...that was a bit close, but don't worry about it at all, it's bound to happen a few times in this school." he chuckled lightly and gave a half-smile, his heart rate slowing back to its average beats per minute. He perked up as the boy, Eugene, introduced himself as a fellow First Year. Until now, Crimson hadn't had a chance to speak to many students, aside from one of his crazy, eccentric cousins and a few students in passing back up in the Common Room. He needed to socialise with others and avoid becoming that one kid who hangs by themself. "Yeah, I'm a first year too. It's nice to meet you. I'm Crimson, as in the red colour. I'm from Ravenclaw." he responded, absently bringing his hand up to his loosely tied tie. He'd spent a good thirty minutes that morning trying to figure it out before giving up and leaving it in its semi-decent state.

 

[Eugene Smythe]

Eugene was laughing as he held out his hand for the boy to shake.He seems alright he thought as he studied the boy.He didn't look overly shy or quite like most of the students Eugene had met so far.Eugene also wondered what he was doing here but guessed that he might be going to his dorms or exploring just like him.Maybe we could explore together Eugene thought happily.

"Crimson? That's a nice name but oughtn't you be in Gryffindor then?" Eugene teased and then laughed at his own joke. "Don't mind me and my lame jokes.How is Ravenclaw treating you so far?" he asked Crimson,curious to know how the people in other houses were and how they treated the first years.The older students in Hufflepuff were nice and helpful to them but that might not be true for all houses.Maybe Ravenclaws students were being bossy to the first years.Eugene didn't know but he was curious.Crimson was the first person from another house that Eugene had talked to.This is going to be interesting.

 

[Crimson Sterling]

The Ravenclaw rolled his eyes and smiled. He'd made a similar comment to the Sorting Hat during the ceremony of their first day, wondering if his name would actually put him into the red house. It was then that he realised how much personality the item of clothing had. "Oh haha, haven't heard that one before." He replied sarcastically, it wasn't the first time someone had made that joke and it probably wasn't the last. His entire life people had said things about his name. Especially when people found out his cousins were called Lilac and Turquoise.

"But yeah, Ravenclaw isn't too bad. I haven't gotten to know many of the other kids yet, but the school isn't lying about it being the house for wit and learning. A lot of them seem pretty intelligent, it can almost be a bit intimidating." Crimson confessed. Just being a part of the house made him feel pressured to do extremely well and he was worried that others would straight-up think he knew everything. Though at least it was better than Slytherin. Being known as "cunning and willing to do anything to achieve your ends" wasn't all too great. "How about Hufflepuff? People say it's pretty decent."

 

[Eugene Smythe]

Eugene leaned against the wall next to Crimson and ran a hand through his hair.It was slightly sweaty because of all the stairs he had climbed that day.Eugene didn't like it that way but he couldn't complain because it was his own choice to go exploring instead of chilling in his common room.And exploring had led to meeting people like Crimson.

Eugene listened as Crimson talked about Ravenclaw and wondered if he would have fit in well in that house.Eugene was fairly smart and had a thirst for knowledge but he didn't think that he could handle being intimidated by know-it-alls.Maybe it was true that he belonged in Hufflepuff even though the lot of them seemed shy."People also say that it's full of sissies but that isn't exactly true.Most of the people are friendly and helpful but the other first year students are kind of shy.I doubted the Sorting Hat's choice at first but maybe there is a part of me that is Hufflepuff through and through,I just have to discover it." Eugene told Crimson.By the end of his little speech it sounded almost as if he was talking to himself.

"And I'm hoping to tryout for Qudditch but I'm pretty sure they hardly ever take first years." he said almost wistfully.To wait for another whole year to play Quidditch was almost a torture to this boy.

 

[Crimson Sterling]

Crimson listened quietly to Eugene talk about his house and noted that Turqouise had felt the same way, doubting the Sorting Hat's placement. Though unlike the Hufflepuff, she'd taken a more drastic approach of mixing up different coloured ties and rebelling against being in her house. The short time he'd hung out with her in the Gardens had been a bit of a nightmare. Though the fact that she was wrong about everyone else being entirely happy with their house made him smile.

"That sounds very soul-searchy." Crimson said as Eugene finished. "Though I think that most kids in our year are shy, generally. This is all such a new experience. I've never seen so many people in our age group all shoved into one place. Only really the Muggle-born kids have been to schools before, I think? I had a couple of friends back in Salem who kept going out for hours. They start their non-magical education at the age of like five or something." he said, shrugging his shoulders. They were so weird. Still, he realised he didn't want to probably bore the boy with useless information and wondered if maybe he had Muggle background himself. Crimson's mother was a Muggle-born, though they still lived a very magical life. About the only thing muggle they owned was a telephone, which the Ravenclaw had no idea how to even begin using. "Anyway, Quidditch. Maybe you'll get lucky and they'll have a few positions open? I rarely have Flying classes on my timetable for this week so I haven't been in the air on a proper broom yet. It looks like fun and I was thinking about trying out for the team next year, or maybe even this year if I can. I'll have to see how it goes."

 

[Eugene Smythe]

"Yeah It's hard to understand why these muggles would want to send their kids to school at such a young age." Eugene agreed to Crimson."Maybe its because they want them out of their way.Or maybe it's because they don't want them to be shy" he added wondering what could possibly be taught to 5 year olds at school.He had never gone to a school before Hogwarts and all the muggles in his neighbourhood had found that odd and made cruel jokes about it.And on the other hand,he wondered what they did for so many hours at school.Muggle education must be very hard,he had always thought since they had to live without magic.

"Yeah maybe...I used to fly on my dad's old bloom back in Scotland.There were these woods bordering my neighbour hood and I had this clearing where I would practice with a snitch.I have never practiced any of the other positions though because there was no one to play with." he told Crimson.He had had a rather lonely childhood and ever since he set foot in Hogwarts New Zealand he had decided that he would change that."Yea you should, what positon would you like to play though?" he asked him.

Sorry,it's kind of lame