TERM 7 - The First Day - Corridors - Vanessa Di Angelo, Hunter VanDerberg, Blake Ralston

Vanessa walked down the hallway as she clung her books to her chest. She was one of the smallest kids in the hall. She kept getting bumped into by the bigger kids and one even knocked her over! Tessa had told her Hogwarts was a fun and magical place. But so far, the only magic she was receiving was bumps and bruises. She turned a corner and ran right into someone! "I-I-I'm sorry." She said as she stood up and helped the poor kid up. "I didn't see you."

Blake was trudging down the corridor, lost in his own thoughts, ignoring the hustle and bustle as students were rushing to class or wherever they were supposed to be. Blake was busy flying under the radar, he was now a second year student, but still didn't enjoy the bigger kids as they acted so boisterous in the corridors. Blake was turning the corner, avoiding running students when someone came at him from another angle, catching him unaware and knocking him over. Great. Blake scrambled to his feet as he was half helped up by another student. He didn't recognise her, maybe she was new. He was knocked over by a first year? Even better. "It's alright." Blake mumbled, slightly embarrassed that the skinny little first year had put him on the ground. He really did need to watch where he was going. "So what's your name?" Blake quickly asked, looking to change the subject from the fact that he was just on the floor. "I'm Blake," He added, still slightly flustered.

"I'm Vanessa. Vanessa Di Angelo. But you can call me Nessa." She said in a low whisper. She looked up and met his eyes. They were an ice blue color by the looks of it. His hair was all tousled up, but she assumed that was on purpose. "Are you a first year as well?" She asked in the hopes of having a friend in her year. She saw his Gryffindor robes and was disappointed that they would not be in the same house together.

The Hallways were busier than usual, and quite annoying to navigate in Hunter's opinion. That was because term had just started and people were all stopping to talk to each other and first years who had no clue where they were going were running into people all over the place. So Hunter just pushed his way through the corridors, not bothering to excuse himself. Nobody would hear him anyway. He rounded a corner on his way to charms and caught sight of Blake up ahead. Hunter quickened his pace to catch up with his friend, but just as he neared him, some girl collided with him and knocked him to the ground.

Hunter couldn't help but laugh as he approached the pair."Alright there, Blake?" Hunter joked with the boy who had just pulled himself up from the ground, grinning in amusement. He heard the girl - a first year, no doubt - introduce herself, and had enough manners to not ignore her completely and introduce himself. "I'm Hunter!"

"Hello Hunter. Im Nessa." They both seemed to be in Gryffindor. Nessa had not yet met any other Slytherins. "Again Blake, I'm really sorry." She wondered if they knew where her common room was. "Um... do either of you by chance know where the Slytherin Common Room is? I'm obviously completely and utterly lost." Her Italian accent was starting to come out and she blushed softly.

Blake rolled his eyes, typical that Hunter would show up when he was on the ground. He just hoped he didn't see who had knocked him down. "Hey there, Hunter. Yep, I'm peachy!" He laughed falling down off, now that Hunter was there for some support.

"Hey Nessa, nice to meet you. No I'm a second year with Hunter here." He pointed to the goofier looking guy beside him. "Oh, so your a Slytherin then. Well we're both Gryffindors so as far as I know it's in the dungeons.." Blake trailed off looking towards Hunter. He seemed to have a better grasp on where things were here, he might have a better idea. "Is that an Italian accent I hear?" Blake hoped that it was, it might have been offensive if it wasn't!

Nessa smiled and nodded, "Yes it is. I'm from Venice. And where exactly are the dungeons?" She asked cluelessly. she smirked cutely and giggled. she followed the boys and tried to avoid being knocked over anymore. Her neck hurt from an earlier run in and she rubbed it hoping to ease the tension in it. "So where are you two from?"

"Slytherin, huh?" Hunter repeated. "And how's that going for you?" This girl seemed a little too timid to be a Slytherin. And she was asking where the Slytherin common room was. "Blake's right, it's in the dungeons," Hunter told her. "I don't know where, exactly. I don't have any friends in Slytherin." He knew Leila, but not well enough to know where her common room was. And he knew Jen, but he preferred to avoid her at all costs.

Hunter raised an eyebrow as the girl went further to ask where the dungeons were. "They're at the bottom of the castle... that's kind of what dungeon means, after all, isn't it?" But then again, Hunter had gotten lost plenty of times looking for the Gryffindor common room, and that was at the very top. "You can get to the dungeon corridors from the entrance hall," he told her. If she didn't know where the entrance hall was, there wasn't much he could do for her.

"Slytherin is ok I guess. It's a bonus that i look fanastic in green." Then, Vanessa glared at Hunter and rolled her eyes, "Obviously a dungeon is underground. Thats why they call it a dungeon." Her inner Slytherin was starting to come out. She took a deep breath and turned back to Blake, "So how do you guys like Gryffindor?"

Blake laughed at Hunter's tone when he asked about Nessa being in Slytheein. He could see why he was skeptical, she seemed too nice to be in Slytherin!

Blake sniggered when Hunter said the dungeons were under the castle. He hid his laugh with his hand and dug Hunter in the ribs. Way to be nice to the first year, even if she was a Slytherin. "Yeah, it's cool. Everyone's so nice." Blake didn't elaborate much more as there wasn't really much more to say on the subject.

"So how are you liking Hogwarts so far, probably not that much if your already lost!" He joked. "And how does a girl from Italy end up here?" He asked conversationally.

Vanessa continued to follow the boys to wherever they were going, "Its ok so far. You two are the only people I've met. But this place is totally huge!!! I'm gonna get lost like everyday." She smiled and continued, "I live in Italy but we vacation in London. I dont really know how i ended up her. But my sister went here too. Tessa Di Angelo. As did my brother, Luca."

Hunter grinned when Blake laughed at his dungeon comment, and asked "What?!" a bit mock-innocently when he felt an impact to his rib cage - but come on, who didn't know where the dungeons were in a castle? Figuring he should probably make a better attempt to be nice, he answered her Gryffindor question in a friendly manner. "Gryffindor's great!" he said enthusiastically.

"Slytherin's not bad. I know one girl in our year from Slytherin - Leila - and she's pretty nice!" He didn't know Leila too well, but hey, it was something to talk about, right? "It's easy to get lost at first," Hunter said to Nessa in response to Blake's comment. "You'll get used to the place eventually." Or maybe not, if you can't figure out where the dungeons are... "My sisters are first years, too," Hunter informed the younger girl. "They're in Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. We're from Netherlands," he added at the end when Nessa said she was from Italy.

Vanessa smiled at Hunters attempt to be nicer. It was cute how he was trying. "Netherlands sounds nice. I've never been though. Tessa has been as part of her auror training." SHe imagined more people like Hunter and was both worried and fascinated. "Well then, I cant wait to meet them. What about you Blake? Got any siblings?"

Blake was glad that Hunter heeded his advice and was a lot friendlier to Nessa. He guessed that Nessa wasn't someone to offend too much. Maybe they'd see her Slytherin side then!

Blake felt himself clamming up as he was asked about his siblings. He hated talking about his home life, but he was getting more used to answering questions about his personal life. "Nope, only child."He grinned and changed the subject immediately. "So are your siblings still at Hogwarts? Couldn't they show you the way to your common room?" He questioned, presuming that they'd be in Slytherin too. Probably a bit too presumptuous of him considering Hunters' sister was sorted into Hufflepuff.

"Tessa was a Gryffindor when she went here. But she graduated. Same with Luca but he was a Ravenclaw. SO no luck there." She brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and smiled. She noticed that Blake had quickly changed the subject away from his family life, but decided not to push it. "So what do you guys do for fun around here?"

Blake was glad that Nessa didn’t push the topic on his family. “Awh, sounds like you’re out of luck then!” He laughed, kind of teasing her. “It’s weird the way all of you were sorted into different houses.” He commented, he didn’t think he’d heard of a situation such as that where all the family members were split up.

“Well we mainly hang out in the common room. That’s always good fun!” There were some funny characters that kept things exciting in their house. Although, that was no good as a suggestion for Nessa. “Hanging outside is another option and personally, I actually quite enjoy the library.” Blake shrugged, looking at Hunter wondering if he had any suggestions. “Something random and weird often happens when this guy is around.” He said, pointing at Hunter, laughing at all the odd situations that seemed to happen to him. He was a magnet for trouble. “Hogsmeade is also a favourite hangout of the older students, but that’s obviously out since we’re not allowed to go.” Well not until next year anyway, Blake was really looking forward to that.

Vanesa listened as Blake spoke, there was something about him that she liked. She smiled when he mentioned Hogsmeade. "Luca told me about Hogsmeade. He said to hae a butterbeer for him." She decided now was a good time to ask him for a favor, Blake, if its not too much trouble, could you maybe show me around the castle?"

"Yeah the butterbeer sounds the best!" It was probably Blake's main reason for wanting to go, he had heard the older students raving about it one too many times for its importance to be ignored.

"Yeah, of course. I can show you where the dungeons are too then!" Blake laughed, still finding it funny. "I'm sure Hunter won't mind coming along either?" He looked over to his friend, raising his eyebrows questioningly.

"Yeah, the more the merrier." If Vanessa were to be honest, she was hoping it could just be her and Blake. But Blake seemed determined to have Hunter come along. "I mean, if he wants to that is."

"Lyn and Lyra were sorted into different houses, and they're twins," Hunter pointed out, shrugging. "Lyn's still a bit distraught over it, actually. She thinks she's not cool enough to be in Gryffindor, or some rubbish like that." Then, Nessa was asking what they did for fun, and Blake commented that interesting things happened around Hunter. "Yeah, I prefer to spend my time getting suffocated by the devil's snare in Herbology, or something along those lines," he said, shrugging nonchalantly. "Or outside. Never in the library," he added, making a face at Blake.

When Blake mentioned Hogsmeade, Hunter couldn't help but grin as the time he snuck into Hogsmeade with Aoife and Kynan came to mind, but he didn't bring it up. Not in front of Vanessa. He'd tell Blake about it some other time, when they were alone. Then, Vanessa was asking Blake to show her around the castle. Hunter almost rolled his eyes at how predictable the girl was. But Blake seemed to want him to come along.

"Sure, why not?" Hunter said. "I have charms, but Kynan told me the new charms professor actually likes when people are late. How weird is that?" Hunter laughed, thinking that Kynan was probably just making it up. But he didn't mind being late, anyway.

"What kind of teacher likes when people are late? He wont last very long." She smirked and scoffed at the thought of the new teacher getting fired. Uh oh. Her Slytherin was showing. She looked over at Blake and smiled. "Well then. Lets go shall we?"

“Oh is she?" He asked, feeling sorry for the girl. "I’m not surprised. I think I would be too if I was in the same situation. You must introduce me to your other sister, Hunter!” Blake said, he really did want to meet Lyn as Lyra seemed pretty cool the few moments they had met. He presumed he’d come across her soon enough though in class or along the corridors.

“Hey! Don’t be dissing the library, just cause you’re not smart enough to even be allowed grace its presence!” He joked, not liking people dissing on one of his favourite hangouts. “If you’d rather get suffocated or something that’s up to you.” He shrugged, grinning.

“Oh, damn I have Charms then too! Are you sure it’s alright we’re late?” He asked, laughing, skeptical that a professor such as that existed. That didn’t sound very teacherly of a professor, letting them be late. Oh well, they may as well test it out and see what happens.

“Well if he lets us be late I hope he lasts!” He laughed at Nessa. She would soon know that allowed being late for class would be a privilege. “Ok, well where to? Anywhere in mind you want to go?” He shrugged, not really knowing where to start. It was a big castle!

"Where you feel like showing me." She felt like being a little daring so she added in a wink and a small giggle. She bumped his hip with hers and said, "you lead. Ill follow" This was so unlike Nessa. She was usually shy around boys. But something about Blake was different. She liked something about him

Blake grinned in spite of himself. Since he was so young he never really got any attention off of girls and didn't really know how to react to it. "Ehm, ok." Blake replied, grabbing Tessa's arm and dragging her along. He didn't really know where they were going. He looked over to Hunter for ideas, his cheeks still slightly flushed from the earlier encounter.

Vanessa decided she like being this outgoing and decided to take it a step further. She moved her hand down and grabbed Blakes quickly before he could say anything. "So, where to Blakey?"