First Impressions - Corridors - Lyn VanDerberg, Blake Ralston

Blake was strolling the corridors waiting for some burst of inspiration to hit him. He was bored and no one was around. He didn’t feel like walking all the way back to the common room at this particular point, he’d only have to walk all the way back for class later on. Wow, he had gotten lazy! Well it was a trek up to the seventh floor just to sit around the common room for about half an hour. Hogwarts provided ample of exercise for him he felt without him seeking out even more by climbing numerous of stairs, he reasoned with himself. Maybe he would visit the library to waste some time? He stood in the middle of the corridor, still debating what to do with himself.

As Lyn was going back to her common room after the last lesson of the day, she remembered the nice ghost that had shown her the way to Defence Against the Dark Arts on her first day. She had forgotten to thank the ghost afterwards, and she immediately felt bad for that. She wanted to thank the nice ghost-ly man for saving his time just to help her get to class- he could've been late to some ghost-friends party or something because of helping her! But the only thing she knew about this ghost was that his name was Nick, and that he was nice and friendly and didn't mind helping lost first years finding their way to class. Lyn realized that she couldn't exactly go around asking people that- she'd sound stupid or something. She could go ask Hunter? No. She was sure that her brother didn't know of any such ghost, except for Peeves.

Luckily, Lyn had never encountered Peeves yet, but she was sure that the nice ghost was no relative of Peeves at least. Still, she needed to find him and thank him. Her best lead was to, well, get lost. And so she did. Lyn walked through the corridors, unaware of where she was going, stumbling around until she was lost and the corridors were totally deserted. She sat down on a windowsill and waited, waited, waited to see if a ghost would come by. Nothing. She must have waited a full fifteen minutes before she gave up. No ghost in sight.

But now she was lost. Lyn held her schoolbag's straps tight, trying to decide where to go. After some more walking, here and there, she was completely sure that she was lost and had no idea where she was. Maybe, if she kept walking, she'd have to find her way out at one point. As she turned round a corner, Lyn saw that the corridor was deserted except for a boy who looked about her age. Well, I hope he's not a gossip, she thought, and decided that it wouldn't hurt to ask directions. Except that it might bother the boy, who seemed deep in thought. Slowly and quietly, Lyn walked up to the boy, who she now noticed was a Gryffindor and shyly asked, "I'm sorry, but do you know your way down to the Kitchens, please?" After all, her common room was right next to the kitchens, wasn't it? Even though she had no idea how to gain access to the kitchens.

Blake swivelled around when he heard a quiet voice speaking. He presumed it was directed at him since no one else was in the vicinity. How had he not heard her approaching? Blake was looking down at the girl, she did look familiar with her tan skin and dark hair. But why had she bothered pestering him for, he was so bad with directions! Well at least he had something to do now. Helping first years had seemed to become his mantra lately. Not that he was much help; he was probably more accomplished at getting lost than they were. Blake was still staring blatantly at the girl, lost in thought, when he realised that he still hadn’t answered her. Why did she look so familiar? Blake replayed her question over in his head, when it hit him. Her slight accent! She was a Van Der Berg, and the only sibling in the school he hadn’t met yet too. As Blake was coming to this conclusion he was staring blankly at the girl, with his mouth slightly open. God, he probably looked comatosed!  

“Hey, no not at all. You’re not bothering me!” Blake smiled at the girl as soon as he realised it was Hunter’s sister. He could go back and tell him what a good Samaritan he had been! Just, one problem. Which twin was it? “Your Hunter’s sister aren’t you? Ly-ra-n?” Blake mumbled, trailing off, abashed that he couldn’t remember which one she was. “The kitchens?” He quickly jumped subjects, trying to avoid further embarrassment. “Well they’re beside the Hufflepuff Common room?” He asked, confusion lacing his voice. He was trying to wing his way through the directions, but he really wasn’t too sure!  All he knew was that himself and Hunter were planning a trip there soon for some free food. He had left all the planning up to Hunter though and really didn’t have a notion where it was. "Wait, you're in Hufflepuff aren't you?" He asked, thinking that he had seen some Hufflepuffs leaving the Great Hall and returning to their Common Rooms on that floor. "Not that I stalk you or anything! Just Hunter was talking about you." He quickly remedied what he was saying. If Hunter heard about this conversation and how stupid he was acting he'd never hear the end of it!

As soon as she asked her question, the boy turned around. Lyn expected something like an enthusiastic "Sure, follow me!" or a sad "No, sorry, I'm lost myself." But this boy just stared. As if she wasn't uncomfortable already by asking a random stranger for directions, the boy was staring at her. Do I have something in my hair? Oh god, did she remember to wash it that morning? It was only when Lyn brushed a few strands of hair behind her ears uncomfortably that the boy spoke for the first time. He still seemed to be staring at her, though, as he assured her that she wasn't bothering him. Lyn was biting her lip, wondering if the boy could still help her get to the common room. But the strange boy was asking her if she was Hunter's sister. "Yes... Lyn," she confirmed. Was this one of Hunter's or Lyn's friends? She tried to remember the names that Hunter had mentioned, but could only remember Aoife and Seren.

The boy continued talking, as if putting off showing her where to go. Was this some kind of prank? "Yes, Hufflepuff Common Room, where I'm trying to go," Lyn said slowly, wondering if the boy actually knew where it was. Then the boy asked her if she was a Hufflepuff, and claimed that he wasn't stalking her at all. Lyn laughed at it. "You know Hunter?" she asked curiously. It would be fun to meet Hunter's friends so she and Lyra could fulfill their plans on embarrassing their big brother.

Yes. He had definitely made her uncomfortable. Blake just managed an apologetic grin at her, while shrugging his shoulders. What else could he say? Sorry for staring you out of it for the last few minutes while my slow brain tries to figure out if you are a VanDerberg and if so, what one! That was sure to make some first impression. He sighed to himself, as if the first impression had gone so smoothly already!

Ok time to start over and this time he knew her name! "Hey Lyn, I'm Blake." He said grinning at her. "Nice to meet you and yes I'm one of Hunter's friends. One of the less loud ones." He emphasized the latter part, not wanting any association with Aoife's deafening personality. Plus it seamed as if Lyn was a lot quieter than her siblings. He could see why, she probably couldn't get a word in edge ways with Hunter and Lyra rambling on. He'd have to change that. "So how you liking first year so far? Upset that you're not in Gryffindor?" Oh god, that probably wasn't the most tactful question he could've asked. "Also, just putting all my cards on the table here. I don't know where the Hufflepuff common room is." He decided honesty was the best policy in this case, because if she didn't already realize that he didn't know where it was she soon would! "I could show you the general direction, if that's any help?" He asked biting his lip, giving her another apologetic look.

Yep she probably thought he was a first grade dope at this stage.

The boy looked kind of embarrassed, but Lyn was just as embarrassed herself so she didn't bother saying anything. What would she say? Hey, did I make you embarrassed or something by the fact that I am related to Hunter? It seemed like both of them were frustrated at the moment with trying to figure out what to say to each other. But then, the boy spoke and introduced himself as Blake. "Hi Blake," Lyn replied, giving him a small smile and nodded. When Blake said something about being one of Hunter's quiet friends, Lyn grinned and said, "And I'm Lyn's sister. The quieter one, they tell me." They did tell her that, because Lyn was always known as Lyra's quiet sister. The quieter VanDerberg. Everyone thought of her as quieter. She realized that her smile was gone because she was being thoughtful but she quickly beamed again. Blake seemed like a cool friend of Hunter's anyway. As Blake spoke again, though, he seemed to have ruined that for Lyn.

"I'm..." Lyn was about to say but broke off. Blake was asking her if she was upset she wasn't put in Gryffindor. With Hunter and Lyra. In the cool house. While she was in the boring, not-good-at-all house. No, I'm not upset at all! she exclaimed in her mind to herself. "First year is fine," she managed, ignoring the last question and decided to ramble about Hogwarts "I do like the moving paintings, they're amazing!" She especially loved that one painting of a giraffe, although the giraffe was seen moving into other paintings sometimes. "Although I hate getting lost so often, and the moving staircases are no help..." It's a good time to ask about that nice Nick ghost! Lyn realized and quickly added, "One time, when I was lost on my way to class, I met this nice ghost who showed me the way- you wouldn't know who he is, do you?" Then she added, "He says his name is Nick."

Then Blake said that he had no idea where the Hufflepuff common room is, and Lyn just nodded, a bit sadly. Maybe she could ask where the Great Hall was, and try to find her way from there? As she was about to ask, Blake then added that he could show her the general direction of the Kitchens, and Lyn's eyes immediately lit up. "Yes, please, that would be great!" she answered happily.

“Great, well that automatically makes us friends.” Blake said, as Lyn confirmed she was Hunter’s sister. He remembered his own time in first year, pretty vividly as it wasn’t too long ago, and he struggled with approaching people and making new friends. This was his good deed for the day. Hopefully he had helped out a first year by offering to be friends with her. Well she could  always throw the offer back in his face and refuse to be friends, since he had made such a horrible first impression. Well it still counted as his good deed for the day! “Being quiet isn’t always a bad thing.” Blake added, thoughtfully, as it seemed like Lyn was ashamed of this fact. Just because her siblings had the tendency to be heard before they were seen wherever they went didn’t mean that she needed to follow the trend too. He wanted to emphasise this point more to her as it seemed an important matter to him. He felt a rush of emotions through him as he remembered what it was like in first year, and he had found solace in her brother so he wanted to pass on some gratitude in the form of comfort.

But before he could elaborate his big mouth got him in trouble as he was asking the stupidest question ever. He was about to rectify the situation by making it clear that she didn’t have to answer his question, but she was moving the subject on to more suitable topics. Good move, he thought relieved to himself. “I hate the paintings.” Blake groaned. He was outraged by their lack of help. “They seem to find enjoyment out of directing lost students into getting even more lost! Or else they’ll expect you to talk to them for a good half hour before actually helping you. They have no life!” But what could you expect from the people confined to paintings stuck watching first years get lost over and over again for the rest of their lives. Not something he felt like aspiring too. “The stairs are the worst though. That's actually how I became friends with Hunter. He had gotten stuck in a staircase and saved me from the same faith.” Blake purposely left out the part where Hunter had spent the best part of the evening trying to convince him that his story was true, but he figured it wasn’t really relevant now anyway. “Yes, I do know of Nick!” Blake exclaimed, happy to be of some help. “See, I’m not altogether useless.” He said, grinning at the girl. “He’s the Gryffindor ghost. Hufflepuff has one too, the Fat Friar. He’s alright. You probably saw him at the start of year feast?” He questioned. “But he’s not as cool as Nick. Did you know his head almost comes completely off?” Blake said excitedly as his voice got louder as he appreciated the gruesomeness of it all.

Right to the kitchens now. The Great Hall actually wasn’t too far away, just around the corner and down one flight of stairs. It was a real shame that Kynan hadn’t told him where the kitchens were. Not that Blake really needed to know until now. He turned his back to Lyn and quickly appraised the Entrance Hall. Well he knew it wasn’t down where the dungeons were. Blake bit down on his lip and scrunched his face up in concentration as he decided an educated guess at this point was probably out of the question. He should have just stayed in his common room at this rate.

Lyn didn't say anything about Blake's comment, even though she was a bit uncomfortable about it. How could he automatically be friends with her? What if he spent five minutes hanging out with her, got enough of her and just pretended to be her friend for the rest of their friendship? Goddammit, Lyn, stop worrying about it! she told herself. There was no use in worrying, was there? So they were friends. Blake hadn't gotten sick of her yet. When Blake said something about being quiet not being a bad thing, Lyn didn't say anything again. Instead, she looked away. To her, it was a bad thing. Her siblings were all loud and fun and everyone wanted to be their friend. Lyn was just... there. To get someone's attention, she had learned that all she ever had to do was say something silly or do something worth remembering you for. But she blurted out, "But if you're quiet, everyone starts to take you for granted."

Then she let out a small laugh when Blake started complaining about the paintings. "I know!" she agreed, smiling. "At one point, I met this painting of a knight who challenges anyone who walks in front of him to a fight! I was pretty sure he was drunk!" She giggled at the memory. The knight did help her find her way to class in the end, though, so she couldn't blame him for that. Then when Blake said that he knew of the Nick ghost, Lyn looked up at him curiously and listened to him. Oh, so he's the Gryffindor house ghost, she thought. He seemed like a Gryffindor. She laughed again when Blake said that he wasn't that useless. "I bet you're not," she teased. Then she tried to remember the Fat Friar. The only reason she remembered the name was because Friar sounded like Fryer and Lyn didn't like fried stuff because it was always meat. "Yeah, I remember the Fat Friar! He didn't sit near me at the feast so I never exactly talked to him," she said. And then Blake said something about Nick's head almost coming off. "You're kidding!" Lyn exclaimed, gasping and putting her hands up to her mouth. "It must have been a really hard death for him, then!" She started feeling really sorry for the poor ghost.

As Blake started leading the way to the Great Hall, Lyn followed closely behind. When they arrived, Lyn walked towards the staircases and started climbing down the one which she had memorized since the first day. Then she realized that Blake was probably not following. She turned round and said, "Thank you very much, Blake!" and smiled brightly.

Blake was picking up on Lyn’s uncomfortableness, as her stance grew more and more awkward. Oh God, what had he done now? Blake almost smiled in relief when Lyn seemingly blurted out the reasoning behind it. He made sure his relieved smile disappeared quickly though as he decided to take the conversation seriously. He couldn’t be seen not giving serious advice, especially in front of his new friend. He needed to make a good impression. Plus, it seemed like a problem that bogged Lyn down quite a bit and he didn’t blame her. Living in sibling’s shadows must be hard, especially when they were as loud as they were. “You want my honest opinion?” Blake asked, not waiting for an answer. Lyn was upset and Blake knew he needed to comfort her and what better way than the truth? “I’d notice you any day, anywhere over anyone else.” "It's not your persona that has to be loud just to get someone to notice you and remember you" Blake reiterated his stance. "Honestly, I've already forgotten your twins name, but yours I'll always remember." Blake said with an smile, hoping he wasn't offending anyone when he said that. It was true though, he kept forgetting their names,but he definitley remembered the Hufflepuff's one now. She just had that lasting affect on him. "Laura, right?" Blake said with confidence. "Kidding,it's Lyn!" He joked.

"But in all honesty us 'quiet' ones need to stick together.” Blake knew he had a long way to go before he was as quiet as Lyn, but maybe he could help bring her out of her shell a bit. That was if Hunter didn’t mind them hanging out a bit. He seemed ridiculously overprotective of them, but seeing as he was Hunter’s good mate he didn’t see a problem in it. He was probably doing them both a favour, siblings never liked being forced to hang out together and since Blake was enjoying Lyn’s company it was no hassle at all to him.

"Oh, Sir Cadogan." Blake rolled his eyes. "I was trying not to bring him up. He is stupid." The painting had literally not one redeeming quality. "NEVER take directions from him and just be sure that you can run faster than him. I had this one incident where he chased me through portraits, shouting abuse at me. He was definitely drunk." Blake wondered where he got his supply of alcohol from, it seemed endless. "Oh yeah," Blake was momentarily stumped as he realised he never thought of Nick's death before. "I'm sure it was, no wonder he's always grumpy!" Blake wondered if it was rude to ask the ghost how he died or maybe that would just make him even more sour. He really needed to start thinking ahead in social situations and try and spare people's feelings. Even if they were ghosts.

Blake smiled despite himself as Lyn used his name. He had been getting so used to the term ‘Blakey’ it was nice to come across someone who hadn’t heard of it yet! "Anytime." Blake replied back, glad that she knew the rest of the way. Although, he accepted the fact that she probably would never ask him for help with directions again.