First Year Boys Room on Teppenpaw Commons

Derry Four

January 21, 2011 8:16 PM

First Year Boys Room by Derry Four

The most fascinating thing the Head of House had shown them (aside from how to walk remarkably quickly if circuitously from the Cascade Hall to the Teppenpaw Commonroom - a path Derry was not entirely certain he could duplicate in the morning) was the jig they had to dance to get inside. That was just cool. He'd tripped up the first couple of times he'd tried, and laughed about it with his new friends, but by the time they all trooped into the yellow and maroon home away from home, he had the steps down pretty good. He might even remember it tomorrow. He hoped.

He'd listened to the rest of what Professor Crosby said and internalized what seemed important. (Privet was the Russian word for hello; transfiguration teacher; old; drives mother crazy - which Derry probably shouldn't have interpretted as 'she'll probably let me get away with more than Mom and Dad do' but did anyway; that staircase is his; he should try going up the girls' stairs sometime; Quidditch sign-ups will be on the bulletin board; bedtime is 10pm - two hours later than Mother let him stay up; don't get caught out of bed after lights-out; breakfast was at 6am.)

He talked a little while longer with his new Housemates, but he was tired and it had been a long day and he still needed to unpack, so he asked Ben if he was ready to head up and check out their room.

The first thing he did when they came inside was to make sure Three's broom hadn't been damaged on the ride over, and then he opened up his trunk. The room had two dressers and two beds. He pointed at the dresser and bed set closest to where the elves had dropped off his truck, and asked his roommate, "Do you mind if I take this set of furniture, or did you want them and I'll take the others?"

1 Derry Four First Year Boys Room 189 Derry Four 1 5

Ben Holland

January 23, 2011 3:51 PM

Moving in. by Ben Holland

Ben had dutifully followed his new Head of House out of the Cascade Hall and into his new common room. He had laughed so hard that he could barely perform the dance that allowed them inside. He listened carefully, taking in everything the professor told them.

After chilling in the commons for awhile, Four and Ben headed up to their new dorm. The room was decorated in yellow and maroon, and Ben spotted his trunk on the left side of the room. Four asked if he could have the right, and Ben nodded, flashing his friend a grin as he flipped open the trunk. He pulled out a small, wooden box, with an intricate design on the lid. A mischievous twinkle caught in his eye as he flipped it open.

There, nestled atop a layer of soft velvet, was a miniature broom, about six inches in length. It had been a gift for his eleventh birthday. He pulled his wand out of his pocket. Tapping the small figure, he whispered the password, "Cy Alexandra." It grew in his hand until he held a full sized broom, in perfect condition, and the second best on the market. He turned to Four, "Lightning Streak 380, a birthday present from my sister."

0 Ben Holland Moving in. 0 Ben Holland 0 5

Derry Four

January 23, 2011 4:50 PM

Unpacking by Derry Four

Derry smiled and nodded as Ben confirmed that the right side of the dorm could be his. He opened the set of dresser drawers and began tranferring his clothes over into it so he wouldn't have to live out of a truck for most of the year. When he looked over at his roommate again, Ben had an awesome broom in his hands.

"Nice," Derry breathed. His own broom had been top of the line once, but it was twelve years old now, if still in very good condition. A classic, but no Lightning Streak 380. "Mine was my brother's." He pointed at the broom where he had laid it out carefully beside his trunk. "I'll probably get a new one in a couple years, but Mom wanted me to have Three's broom this year."

He moved back over to the trunk and picked up a few more item, tossing them onto his bed as he named them, "I've also got his old bat and his old beater gloves." He had a new pair of gloves, too, because Three's were kind of battered, and so was his bat, but they would be good for practice. "And I've got his," Derry stopped.

The dark haired boy stared into his trunk wordlessly for a long moment, staring at what had been hiding under the last few things he'd taken out. "Huh."

He stood up and carefully picked up the yellow and brown outfit and turned to show it to Ben with a baffled look on his face. "I apparently also have his Halloween costumes." The clothes were colonial style, the kind of clothes Hamlet had worn when he'd been alive in Jamestown during the early 1600s.

1 Derry Four Unpacking 189 Derry Four 0 5

Ben

January 25, 2011 9:25 PM

I've been dreading this part. by Ben

Ben nodded as Four pulled out all his brother's previous possessions. He grinned at the Beater equipment, glad to think that they might play as a team. Four's gloves were slightly battered, but Cy's were ancient. The Holland family gloves had been in the family since his great great grandfather. Several generations had worn them while breaking records, and they were considered, "The Holland's Luck." Cy had sworn to give them to Ben when she finished college. He would use them for school games or anything else until she asked for them back as the rightful heir.

He looked up from his unpacking and met Four with a baffled look on his face, holding an ancient outfit. Ben looked at it with an equally confused look. "My dad is pure and all, but I've no clue what that is, Four. Perhaps, uh, some type of formal dress robe thingy?" He'd never seen anything like it. It was probably more ancient than Cy's gloves, heck, it was more ancient than his great great great grandfather's gloves.

0 Ben I've been dreading this part. 0 Ben 0 5

Derry Four

January 26, 2011 2:27 PM

Why? by Derry Four

Derry carefully laid the strange clothes out on his bed. The were in good repair - no rips or holes or obvious patches - but they seemed worn. Like someone had worn them far more often than for Halloween or even formal occasions. What the soft fabric most reminded him of, honestly, was his play clothes. What he wore around the house when it didn't matter what he wore and he could wear what felt most comfortable instead of what looked best.

He looked over the outfit carefully and drew back in surprise when he found the inside of the collar. In his Mom's neat stitches, she had sewn the name Derry into the shirt the same way she had sewn it into all of the clothes Derry Four owned. Only all of his read Derry 4.

She only did that for regular clothes. In case they got dirty at Thad's and had to be washed with clothes belonging to his cousin.

"I think," he said carefully, "Three must have worn these all the time." He took off the tricorner hat from where it had rested on his head since he put it on at the wagon pick-up point. Putting it down on the bed with the rest of the clothes, it was obvious it matched the style and time period perfectly. Even the amount of wear on the hat was the same. "My brother was weird."

And yet . . . "D'you think people would look at me funny if I started dressing like that?"

Mom must have given him Three's old clothes for a reason. The most obvious one Derry could think of was that he was supposed to wear them.

1 Derry Four Why? 189 Derry Four 0 5

Ben

January 26, 2011 5:05 PM

It's dreadfully boring. by Ben

Ben looked at the clothes, walking up close to Four's bed where they lay. They were old fashioned but not terrible. Ben had surely seen worse, and they went well with Four's tricorner hat. He smiled slightly when he saw the name stitched into the collar. The outfit was probably a family heirloom, something from Derry One. His thoughts were confirmed when Four guessed they belonged to Three.

"Well," he answered Four's question, "If they didn't laugh at your hat, I don't think they'll make fun of the outfit. Besides, I like the hat, it's a good signature look. All I've got is my wild curls and a crappy pair of sneakers." He gestured to the faded red Converse that he had kicked off before unpacking.

It was true, the hat was pretty cool, and though the outfit wasn't exactly stylish, it had a certain charm to it. Anyway, Four couldn't wear it every day, he had to wear his robes to class, and the clothes had to be washed.

0 Ben It's dreadfully boring. 0 Ben 0 5

Derry Four

January 26, 2011 7:54 PM

I'm finding it rather fascinating, honestly. by Derry Four

Good, Ben seemed to think they'd be okay to wear, especially with the hat, which was good because Derry liked the hat, too, and he wasn't sure how he would tell Mom that he couldn't wear the weird clothes because she'd probably cry if he did so it was just good all over that Ben agreed that people wouldn't make fun of the outfit. He even said it was a good signature look, and Derry puffed up a little at that, even though he had no idea what that even meant. But it sounded like a positive compliment.

"Right," he agreed. He wasn't quite sure what sneakers were either, but gathered from context that they were the strange looking red shoes the other boy was wearing.

Derry picked one of the drawers of his dresser to put the odd outfit in and then went to unpack the rest of his trunk. That was when he realized Three's dress style wasn't just an occassional whim. He picked up another outfit just like the one he'd just put away, but this one was brown instead of yellow. Digging further into the trunk, he found a gold one, an orange one, a dark green one, and a light blue one. "Three must have dressed like this all the time," he concluded in something like disbelief.

In fact . . . "Mom packed more colonial clothes for me than she did regular stuff. I mean, there's my green school robes, of course, and a few changes of normal pants and shirts, but mostly it's this stuff."

He sat back on his heels. "Next year, I pack my own trunk."

1 Derry Four I'm finding it rather fascinating, honestly. 189 Derry Four 0 5

Ben

January 27, 2011 10:52 PM

How so? by Ben

Four continued to pull out outfits like the first, and Ben liked it more and more as each one was extracted. He looked to his own trunk, pulling out his robes first. They were still new and fresh, the Teppenpaw symbol on the chest. He carfully put each set away, before moving to his Muggle clothing. He had several concert t-shirts that were gifts from Cy, Collyn, and James. Each shirt was tossed in a different drawer, loosely folded.

Moving on, he tugged out his jeans, a light pair, two medium, and a darker with no holes, followed by a light pair and a medium pair. The light pair were battered and ripped, with grass stains that just wouldn't disappear.They were his favorite. He threw them in with the rest before fishing out his underwear, socks, and shoes. Another set of converse (black), a dress pair, and Quidditch boots.

"I've gotta come up with a look, now. I can't be the lame best friend of the guy with the awesome clothes." He grinned as he finished unpacking. Settling on his bed, he realized just how good this year would be.

0 Ben How so? 0 Ben 0 5

Derry Four

February 01, 2011 9:47 AM

Because I'm finding all these old clothes by Derry Four

Derry grinned back at his new roommate and friend as he refused the title of 'lame best friend of the guy with the awesome clothes'. Firstly, because Ben thought his strange hand-me-downs were awesome, which made him feel a whole lot better about wearing them in public. Secondly, because Ben was already calling them best friends which was just as awesome as his clothes. And thirdly, because Ben totally needed a style of his own.

"Well, how 'bout this?" Derry asked. "I'll wear all my boring clothes through once before I start using the cool colonial ones. That should give you about a week to figure out your look." He thought about it, trying to remember other remarkable styles that Ben might be able to get his hands on. "What about a cowboy hat?" Derwent the First used to have one of those. Derry had seen it in some really really old paintings of him, from his time in California.

"My great grandfather was in the gold rush," Derry added, in case Ben wasn't sure how Derry knew about cowboy hats. Now that he knew muggles were real, he was pretty sure the gold rush was a mostly muggle thing given how the family didn't like to talk about it and brushed off most of his questions on the subject. So he told the only piece of information he'd been given on those years of Derwent the Original's life: "He had house elves dig for him, and Aunt Berta - she's a Seer - told him where to dig. It's where most of our money came from."

1 Derry Four Because I'm finding all these old clothes 189 Derry Four 0 5