Closed You're Wild

[Dante Styx]

Dante Styx was excited to be at Hogwarts New Zealand. He immediately knew that when he heard that the Forbidden Forest was forbidden, well, he would have to see why! The first year had no regard for rules and such unless it was spelled out. He waited until it was between breakfast and lunch and went out to the forest. He cracked his knuckles as he looked at the trees, and walked in. He left broken sticks in his wake as he stepped on them. His blue eyes looked up when he saw a glorious tree. It was perfect for climbing. He jumped up and grabbed the branch. He pulled himself up, and continued to climb a little higher and stopped when he was a good fifteen feet from the ground. He swung his legs as he got comfortable, though his bag slipped off his shoulder. It landed with a thud on the forest floor, definitely alerting others to his presence right there in the forest.​

 

[Celia Vuong]

Being a prefect came with a lot of perks, but Celia couldn't say she thought much of the accompanying responsibilities. Sure, it was fun yelling at and taking points from Slytherins, but she didn't particularly enjoy dealing with troublemakers. It was too much work. Receiving the head girl badge, however, had renewed Celia's enthusiasm for her duties. She could now take points from any student at the school, and she was itching to put her new powers to use.

So when she spotted movement in the forest, Celia pulled out her wand and decided to go investigate rather than pretend she hadn't seen it. She was busy following a trail of broken branches when something landed beside her with a thump, causing her to jump back. Wand aloft, she knelt and realized it was someone's bag. Celia's gaze traveled upward and landed on a boy sitting in a tree. She straightened. "The forest is off-limits to students," she called. "Get down from there."

 

[Dante Styx]

Dante heard some footsteps, and looked down to see a much older student. As she said that the forest was off limits, and ordered him to get down, it connected. Oh! This was the Head Girl! Oh, this was perfect. Finally, someone busted him that was an authority figure. "If the forest is off limits, then why are you out here? Pretty sure only students are allowed with adult supervision." Dante swung his legs a little more, but he did decide to leave that branch, and climb just a bit higher. He locked his knees and hung upside down. He waved at her and smiled, "I know you are head girl and all, but won't you get in trouble for breaking the rules too? Besides, what danger is there? The headmaster wasn't exactly specific." Dante folded his arms across his chest as his face slowly turned red from him being upside down.​

 

[Celia Vuong]

This had to be a first year, Celia decided. And not just because she'd never seen this boy before. Most students were intimidated by her, and it was pretty obvious this one had not been around long enough to hear about her reputation. She fought back an exasperated sigh as he tried to turn this back on her and then climbed even higher. "Prefects are allowed here if they're trying to stop other students from entering." Her frown deepened as he hung upside down and waved at her. "No, because I'm enforcing the rules." Celia paused, trying to decide the best way to answer his last question. She honestly didn't think the forest was that dangerous, though she'd heard rumors (which she didn't believe) about the creatures that supposedly lurked here. However, she had a feeling that if she told this boy that there were centaurs or hippogriffs in here, he would only be excited, not daunted. "Well, for one, you could fall and break your neck," she said dryly. "Now get down."

 

[Dante Styx]

Dante heard her explanation, and how it was logical, but the question was... Did she know that someone was in here already before she followed? The lines of following the rules and breaking them seemed to cross, so who knew which side she was on before she busted him. "Awwh you were stalking me then, only to stop me!" Dante assumed, and also made a small insult though he wasn't intending it to be as bad as he made it sound. Maybe it was all the blood rushing to his head. "Okay okay, mom." Dante flipped back upright, and lowered himself down to the branch he was on before, and then dropped down onto the ground. It was clear that he was athletic from his agility. One had to be to survive in his family. "I have a feeling that you are just doing your job and not really caring about what I do, though if it was the latter, you wouldn't have cared if I was in here to begin with... Ooor you really like bossing people around." Dante knew that if he didn't shut up, she might try to silence him with a spell, and he'd not be able to dodge or block. Wait, he didn't even know protego yet! "I'm Dante Styx."​

 

[Celia Vuong]

There was nothing like talking to a first year to remind Celia of just how much she hated them. Why magical schools insisted on lumping everyone together instead of having separate high schools and middle schools, she had no idea. If they were going to force everyone to live in one building, the least they could do is sequester all the younger kids in a separate wing like a normal school. Celia rolled her eyes at the boy's taunting, but it was the "mom" comment that made her recoil in disgust. She kind of wished the branch would snap. It would be much easier to deal with him if he was unconscious.

To her surprise, the boy actually listened to her and jumped down. However, any hope that this interaction would end painlessly died as soon as he opened his mouth again. "Or I'm just doing my job, and it would be irresponsible to allow a first year to get himself killed in the forest," she said, more than a little irritated that he thought he could psychoanalyze her. Celia nearly laughed when the boy introduced himself. Of course. Of course this brat would be a Styx. At least his name was good for one thing. "Great to meet you, Dante," she said with a cold smile. "Five points for entering the Forbidden Forest without permission. Now, we're going to go straight to the castle so we can talk to your head of house." Celia gestured towards the direction of the castle with her wand, indicating that he should start moving.

 

[Dante Styx]

Dante cocked his head to the side when he mentioned how he could get himself killed in the forest. Even though it would save him from transforming every month for the rest of his life, there was just way too much to live for. Dante bent down and grabbed his bag and put it on his back. "Have people gotten killed in the forest? Like, really?" Dante wondered what was in there, if people would have been killed. Or was she saying that just to scare him? It was hard to say. He looked at her wand, and she pointed it toward the castle. Since he was unsure if there was danger in the forest or not, he started to walk. At least he didn't care about house points, nor talking to the Head of House. Could he turn this around? Play the dead sister card? Nah, she didn't seem the type to care. "Do you really want to waste time taking a first year all the way to the castle to talk to our Head of House? Seems like a waste of time to me." Dante gestured with his hands as he didn't care. "You could be doing other things than listen to me talk all the way there."​

 

[Celia Vuong]

"All the time," Celia deadpanned. "Usually the school manticore gets them." If she answered truthfully and said there was nothing dangerous in the forest, then she would no doubt have to endure an endless barrage of questions about why it was off-limits. And Celia had little interest in defending the school's stupid rules. She was just here because she wanted to exert her newfound authority. It was proving to be a lot less satisfying than she'd hoped.

Dante started walking without making too much of a fuss, which was both a relief and a slight disappointment since she could've taken more points if he protested. Celia bit back a sigh when he revealed that he was also a Slytherin. Why did she have to share a house with the worst people? Plus it meant this whole excursion was a waste of time. Her prefect powers already afforded her the ability to take points from Slytherins; she'd wanted to take points from someone in a different house. But it was too late now. "I was headed to the common room anyway, so it's no trouble to me," she said smoothly. "Don't worry. If your talking annoys me too much, I can always silence you." Celia wasn't completely sure that was allowed, but she figured it might be one of those things that she could get away with if she asked for forgiveness rather than permission.

 

[Dante Styx]

Dante did stop walking to look at her when she said that the school manticore gets them. Did the school have one? Surely one of his siblings would have said something. So, after very little thought, he knew that she was pulling his leg, "Yeah, sure, a school manticore. If that was true, I'm sure half of the students would have been fed to it already." Dante chuckled at the thought, since he was almost sure that any sort of monster that rested at the school was likely him. After all, the bite on his calf was a permanent reminder of what he was. Alas, she was headed to the common room. He shrugged his shoulders and started walking back, even when she said that she could silence him. "Actually, I am positive that is only allowed when you learn it in class. It is a shame that head people and prefects don't have more power than to just take points away. That isn't good for some that don't care about points." Dante made a gesture with his hand, since he didn't care about points - that much was obvious. Neither did he care about going to the Head of House. But he was a special circumstance. "Unless you are a nerd and loves to earn points. Then that would be so crippling."​

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia was mildly amused when Dante paused to look at her. First years were so gullible. It seemed he wasn't completely stupid, though, as he figured out pretty quickly she was joking. "Why do you think there are so many memorials around campus?" she asked, still deadpan. Celia rolled her eyes when he tried to "well, actually" her. "Actually, prefects can do whatever they need to enforce the rules." Silencing someone probably didn't fall under that, but Celia didn't really care. Professor Haden was always encouraging them to use charms on first years, and while she knew he was joking, she was absolutely ready to play ignorant and call his bluff. "If you don't care about points, then I'm sure Professor Castillo can come up with a suitable detention for you," she said with a shrug. She was sure he had plenty of horrors in his greenhouse that needed taking care of. Dante kept going, and Celia once again rolled her eyes. "Yes, I forgot, not wanting to earn house points makes you so cool and special and unique. You're not a nerd like all those other losers. You're a rebel. Congratulations on being the coolest first year at Hogwarts," she said sarcastically. Troublemakers were all the same, and Celia was really growing tired of it.

 

[Dante Styx]

Dante did recall a few memorials, but he knew one story. "One was dedicated to a boy who drowned. What did he down in, the manticore's mouth? Please." Dante was not sure about the other ones. He only knew about the drowning because of his cousin that had a half brother named after the guy. He was a cousin's best friend, even tried to do CPR and everything. It was tragic. Dante wondered if that was true. Could prefects do whatever they wanted to enforce the rules, even go out to the forest? Hmm, well, the badge did show that they were responsible, so maybe. He shrugged, "That's cool. I'll test that if I make prefect. But I doubt it. I'm not doing a good job selling myself if I already get in trouble." Dante wondered what sort of detention he would get. Lines? Cleaning? That would let him know what sort of professor. Her sarcasm made him look at her funny. "I never said they are losers. Being a nerd doesn't automatically make you a loser. A loser is someone who quits, or doesn't come in first in things like sports." Dante knew that because his brother was a nerd. And he was a cool one.​