Nathan Xavier
March 16, 2014 9:50 PM
Head of House Speech by Nathan Xavier
Nathan led the way out through the large main doors of the Cascade Hall into the grand entrance hall with its portraits of the Founders and the corridors and stairwells to different parts of the school. From here, there were actually several ways to get to the commonroom, so he picked the route he thought might be the most helpful to them, if not the shortest.He headed toward one of the corridors, leading the new students down a hallway lined with doors, which he pointed out as being some of the classrooms they would utilize for potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and, on days when it was not held outside, Care of Magical Creatures. He stopped at a cross-corridor, and pointed further down the way they had been going. "The Transfiguration rooms are further down that way. This is the way to the hospital wing," he added, leading the students down the side corridor.
Before they reached the medical wing, though, he stopped at a staircase leading up. "Our common room is up here," he said, starting up the stairs. He stopped partway up and turned back to the students following him. This was the difficult part.
He pointed at the step underneath him. "This is the entrance to our commonroom," he stated, with a slight air of someone not expecting to be believed. He had been through the entrance several times since Headmaster Brockert told him he'd be the Teppenpaw Head this term, and he still didn't quite believe it himself. "Look for the little diamond-shaped chip in the stair," he added, giving them the advice he'd been given for finding the right spot. "Now we do a jig to get in." His tone had changed to one of much more blatant disbelief for that part. "Don't blame me for this."
As the school's groundskeeper, Nathan's job was reasonably demanding in a physical sense. He could lift heavy bags of dirt and walk around the labyrinth for hours without needing to sit down too often, so he wasn't completely out of shape. However, he was in his forties and had about twenty or so extra pounds around his middle that were not strictly necessary and 'graceful' was never a word anybody had ever accused him of being.
"You don't need to be good at it," he reassured the first years. "You just need to get the steps in the right order." Merlin knew his own rhythm was awful and his timing inconsistent, so he knew for a fact that these were not necessary for successfully navigating the entrance. "You step like this, this, and, uh, this, then click your heels, and tap, and tap, and shuffle. And you repeat that twice more. You can get an older student to show you how to do it with the right tempo, if you'd like, but everyone just do the steps with me now. This, this, and . . . this, click, tap, tap, shuffle. This, this, and this, click, tap, tap, shuffle." After the third iteration, the wall slid open and revealed the Teppenpaws' Sonora home.
"Everyone in," he ushered and followed them through the opening once they were all inside. It slid closed behind him, looking just like a blank wall except for the doormat lying on the floor next to it. "Getting out is much easier," he informed them with no small amount of relief that he didn't need to teach them another jig. "You just step on the mat."
He moved further into the room, and waved around the room they found themselves it. It was decorated, predictably, in the house colors of yellow and maroon. The fireplace looked cozy though, and the couches and armchairs were comfortable (he'd even slept on one of the couches last night when his cat had decided the bed was hers, so he could testify to their comfort first-hand). "This is your common room," he introduced the students to their new home. "Your dorms are up the stairs, girls to the right, boys to the left. Look for the room with your year number on it so, one, in your case. Don't go up the wrong staircase. You'll get dumped back in here if you even try."
He pointed out the bulletin board hanging on the wall near where they'd come in. "That's the board. It'll have important information on it like club announcements, Quidditch sheets, and so forth. If you do want to join Quidditch or ask about it, our captain is Brielle Thornton. She's got red hair." There were a couple red-haired girls in Teppenpaw, but he wasn't sure how to narrow down the girl's description further as he hadn't actually ever met her, though he was familiar enough with the family to know that much, so he just added, "and will have a Quidditch Captain's badge on her robe."
"Teppenpaw also has some prefects, who also wear badges identifying themselves as such. They're named, um, Aria Yale and Carter Browning." Most houses had three, but Teppenpaw lacked any seventh years this year, so both Room Sevens were empty and, without any seventh years, Teppenpaw had no prefect from that year. Just as well. He'd nearly forgotten the names of the two he did need to remember.
"Just a couple more rules, then I'll let you get settled in and acquaint yourselves with your new home for the next seven years. Curfew is at 10. You don't need to go to sleep then, but you need to be in Teppenpaw territory and quiet. Otherwise, we lose House points. You get those for good behavior and achievements and lose them for bad behavior and the House with the most of them at the end of the year gets a trophy. Uh. . . Breakfast starts at seven. Each of you should have gotten a class schedule and a map with your acceptance letter, but I've got more in my office there," he pointed out the door to the Head of House office, "if anyone needs them. I'm also available, either in there or out in the Gardens, if you ever need me for anything. I'm here to help. Are there any questions?"
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