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+--- Thread: On My Way (/showthread.php?tid=15878)
Tell everybody I'm on my way
New friends and new places to see
With blue skies ahead
Yes, I'm on my way
And there's nowhere else that I'd rather be
Now that it seemed the adults were organizing things again, Gia had found Desmond. Quickly pulling her brother near the front, they found themselves in front of a boat with two others. Remembering the weight of first impressions, especially for something like the first moments of Hogwarts, Gia curtsied.
Making a small gesture, she expected her brother to pick up on it. She gave a polite curtsy, "Hello, I'm Georgianna Shacklebolt. Please, call me Georgie. This is my brother." She grinned, passing the stage to her brother.
Thus far, Rorie had remained about as relaxed as a violin string. Pulled away from her home in Scarborough, the young witch - she was a witch! dear god help her - had found a compartment on the train and kept herself there. And when they’d passed a field of horses, and one of them reminded her of her precious beauty? Well, that’s when the waterworks began. Had it not been for Auntie Dido, Rorie would have been a complete wreck leading all the way from Platform 9 ¾ - who in god’s name had thought about platforms being in quarters? - to when she saw Auntie at the staff table (where she’d made Aunt Dido swear she would be multiple times).
Sure if she’d looked around at other children on the train Rorie should have been put at ease. But she couldn’t think of anything besides the fact that she wouldn’t see Beauty for at least three whole months. Who would feed her the special oat recipe that she had made for her? Or exercise her on days when the sun was shining like a golden flame above the hills she loved to run over? And - horror of horrors - who would help her with her hair in the mornings? Only mama knew which potions to apply that would make sure her hair wouldn’t dry out too much during the winter.
All of this fretting mulled over the girl’s mind as she made her way to the boats. It was dark out, but she thought she saw two people out of the corner of her eye who seemed nice. So she inched closer to them, only slightly startling when the girl immediately turned to her and introduced herself. And her brother.
“Hi.” She said quietly with a slight wave, noticing that the girl had hair that looked similar to her own. “I’m Rorie.”
Desmond never worried when he was away from his twin for very long. Sooner or later, he would find her or she would find him. Getting lost in the shuffle after the train stopped just lent the boy time to finish his conversation with some other students on the merits of cushioning charms for brooms. His favorite team didn't play with them, and Des' argument was that the direct seat contact made the real difference.
None of that seemed to thrill his sister, but Desmond couldn't stay quiet as she led him away, "You've felt it, too, right? Cushioning charms just make the turns easi—"
Gia wanted him doing something else, though, and Des took the hint. Stopping mid-sentence, he bowed graciously to the newcomer, "Desmond." A moment later, he added, "Shacklebolt," just in case there was any real confusion on their relation. "But Des is fine by me."
He took the newcomer's style of introduction as assurance that it wouldn't have mattered in the first place. Still, as he was the gentleman in the group, Des did what Papa would have for the girls, "Can I give you a hand into the boat, Rorie?"
He offered his palm to the new girl, and after that to his sister.
Gia had already made peace with never having a Quidditch-free conversation with her brother for the rest of her lives, but that didn't mean she liked it. Besides, who cared about quidditch when there were so many new faces to see? People were interesting. Once the girl was closer, Gia couldn't help a happy little squeak. She had hair much like hers, just with looser curls. Something in Gia's heart grew three sizes because, in a way that she couldn't put words to, she wasn't going to be alone. There were other girls like her at Hogwarts!
"Hello, Rorie," Gia decided the girl must not be from a Society family, or she would have given her surname, but that didn't matter to Gia. Gia took Des' offered hand into the boat and gave him a proud smile. They were almost there! Gia took her seat, having difficulty remaining still. "We've waited so long and it's finally time. Have you thought about your house, Rorie? Mama told me not to like one better than another because it's best to be openminded, but I've still wondered."
What in the world were cushioning charms? She’d heard the exclamation from the boy, and could only infer by his excitement that it was some sort of spell that either summoned a cushion for the user, or perhaps padded one’s fall. Before she had time to ask though, he’d introduced himself and she gave him a nod. Looking at his outstretched hand, she smiled gratefully and blushed because no one had ever done something that gentlemanly for her before (other than her brothers or father), and clambered into the boat.
“Erm - no I haven’t,” She responded to Georgie with unease. She knew about houses and roughly which house meant which kind of personality, but frankly she hadn’t thought about what house she would be. “But my auntie Dido was a Hufflepuff. She’s the divination teacher at the school.” Rorie didn’t know how much confidence she had in her voice; frankly she was just trying to keep up after ‘cushioning charms’.
It didn't seem immediately clear what they were supposed to do once in the boat. Desmond took the seat in front of the girls, at the prow of the boat where things would be happening. Except that nothing was right now. That sent him casting his gaze wide, back to where the girls were still talking and to the other boats. "Are we supposed to use our wands or something?"
Gia would know, he figured. She knew everything about Hogwarts already, he had listened to enough of it on the train. And from all the books they had for months now. Surprisingly, his sister was not sharing another piece of trivia about the castle, maybe she realized he had heard them all already. She was focused more on Rorie instead, which came as something of a relief.
"Can't you just ask your aunt to predict your house?" Des wiggled in his seat, easily remembering the class name from Gia's informal lectures. His twin had her schedule all mapped out for the next three years, probably the next ten if he was being honest. Somewhere, at the bottom of her trunk, there might even be a will she had already written for herself, it would surprise him not at all. "Papa was in Slytherin, he made it sound like the greatest place on the planet. I don't know if that's where we're going, I'll just do like Georgie said."
He'd know one way or the other which House the twins were in before the night was over.