No where to be found on Labyrinth Gardens

Leonardo Michaels

April 20, 2010 3:58 PM

No where to be found by Leonardo Michaels

Leonardo (or Leo, as he preferred) was late. Not to class, not to breakfast, but school, to tell you the truth. He couldn't believe his ignorance. Maybe other muggleborns had gotten lost too? But in his heart of hearts, he knew he was the only one. He wondered how he couldn't find his designated transportation place, or whatever the heck it was called. And by the time he got there, there was a giant covered wagon zooming through the sky. Of course, he had called out, shouted, waved his wand in the air, but to no avail.

Sigh.

So here he was, finally at school (after getting a ride off a broom with some sort of Ministry official a couple days after everybody had arrived) and he didn't know where to go. Had he missed classes? Would he be sorted? Where was he supposed to go now? Magic was confusing, and he hadn't even done any yet! But as he wandered around the grounds (for the Ministry official had left him there with no further explanation) he ended up in a garden. It was quite a shock from the desert that he had flown over; full of lush grass and hedges that formed a maze. He didn't go inside; no, he would save that for later when he knew some spells and stuff. But he liked the garden, and it breathed life into him.

Flying had been fun for the brief time that he had ridden next to the Ministry guy. He seemed to have a knack for it, and the guy had taught him how to push off from the ground, hover, fly, and finally, land. The wind whipping through his dark and curly hair had made him feel free, a feeling he loved more than most anything. At first, the Ministry person had had to hold his broom gently so he could get the hang of it, but soon, he was independent and soaring fast. They had reached the school earlier than planned, so he had flown a bit longer in circles in the air. While they had been flying, the polite official had told him all about Quiddtich, and how he had played Quidditch while he had been in school and loved it. The basics seemed easy enough to understand, and Leo thought perhaps he'd try out for his House team.

As he laid on the grass and watched the clouds roll by, he wondered about all the chances he would get for adventure here.

0 Leonardo Michaels No where to be found 1468 Leonardo Michaels 1 5

Professor Aaron McKindy

April 20, 2010 5:06 PM

Doing some finding myself by Professor Aaron McKindy

Aaron McKindy, Charms Professor and Head of Pecari House, hummed to himself as he wandered around the Labyrinth Gardens. The weather was perfect—a slight breeze that ruffled the man’s black hair, twisting the ends about themselves until they appeared slightly more curly than usual. The sky was blue, with puffy white clouds drifting across them in various shapes. Aaron loved days like today; it was the reason why, when he wasn’t always in his Charms classroom or the Pecari commonrrom.

Actually, to be fair, most of the Pecaris were probably outside or elsewhere anyway. No, the surprises in the Commons tended to start close to or after curfew. Until then, Pecaris were usually out making trouble elsewhere. Thankfully, he had not had to deal with anyone explicitly breaking rules in his year as a Head of House. Aaron would prefer to keep it that way. When it came down to it, the dark-haired man wasn’t very good at playing the authoritarian. Neither was Garen; with a house full of kids (biological, fostered, and otherwise) Aaron could see that becoming a problem. But for now, nothing had arisen.

Still wandering, Aaron felt a twinge of worry when he thought about their foster children. Melody was doing fine, but she seemed the more adaptable one. Cooper was much more worrisome. Although he had been responsible for the first year for less than two months, Aaron still felt responsible for him. Cooper hadn’t had a transformation yet, thankfully, but he didn’t seem like he was making friends when Aaron watched him in Charms. Maybe he was just being paranoid. He had never really had the chance to be a father anyway, not with the girls.

Over to his left, he spotted movement and the man turned. These were the times he actually considered wearing robes instead of the jeans-and-a-t-shirt he usually taught in and was currently wearing. Bemused grey-green eyes landed on a student lying down in the grass, presumably examining the sky. Aaron checked the mechanical watch on his left wrist. It was midway through lunch hour. Although it was hardly unusual for students to not be in Cascade Hall when food was served, it was unusual for a young student to do so. Coming closer, Aaron realised that he didn’t know the boy. Sadi had mentioned something about a missing student set to arrive escorted by a Cabinet member. Could this be him?

“Good afternoon,” Aaron said with a smile, sitting down next to the student on the grass. “Are you Leo Michaels?” he asked. That was the name of the missing first year, if he remembered Sadi’s memo correctly.

0 Professor Aaron McKindy Doing some finding myself 0 Professor Aaron McKindy 0 5

Leo

April 20, 2010 5:32 PM

Sort of glad you did by Leo

Leo was just having thoughts of what it would be like to be on a Quidditch team, when he was shaken from his reverie of clouds and words by a man's voice. “Are you Leo Michaels?” Leo sat up and looked at the casually dressed man sitting beside him. Perhaps he was a... groundskeeper? He was sure that a professor would wear robes like the official who had brought him here had, and like the ones he had bought a few weeks ago. But hopefully this guy would help him find where in the world he was supposed to be. He hoped he wasn't missing lunch, because he was feeling ravenous, now that he thought about it.

"Yeah, that's me," he answered, giving the man a thin-lipped smile. On another thought, perhaps he was going to get in trouble for missing class. Not that he would mind, exactly, but he didn't want to give a bad (okay, worse) impression to the teachers, and he really didn't want to miss out on a chance to catch up on things that perhaps the pureblood kids had already learned. He was a bit competitive, and didn't like feeling behind.

"Um, do you know where the first years are right now?" he asked somewhat timidly, for he truly did want to know the answer.

0 Leo Sort of glad you did 0 Leo 0 5

Professor McKindy

April 20, 2010 5:50 PM

Me too--makes my job easier by Professor McKindy

Why yes, Mystery Student was in fact Missing Firstie. Given that Aaron would have been positively humiliated if the student wasn’t the missing one, this was an excellent outcome. After sitting up, and admitting that yes, he was Leo Michaels, the boy enquired as to where the other first years were at the moment. The obvious answer—lunch—was the one he did not give. It was fortunate that Aaron of all people had been the one to find Leo. The man relished in spending his time experimenting with Charms, and frequently dabbled in using Charms to solve other problems he encountered. For example, Aaron had long been playing with a Charm to achieve relatively the same effect as the Sorting Potion. He was still refining it, but in the future it could potentially be utilised to save the school money on Potions ingredients.

Sadi could be a bit of a traditionalist though, and Aaron didn’t want to make his friend-cum-Headmistress uncomfortable with such a suggestion. She was one of the very few people that had been very closely involved in Aaron’s life. One of the few he counted among his friends rather than close acquaintances. Her daughter, Jera, had actually spent the night over the summer in between camping trips with one of Aaron’s own biological children. No, a simple charm was not reason enough to discomfit her.

However, that simple charm could save him a little bit of trouble in the here and now.

“Professor McKindy,” the man introduced himself to Leo, realising that he had been lost in thought for a moment too long to be normal. “Everybody’s at lunch, at the moment, but I should probably get you situated with your Sorting and such before I take you to Cascade. Hang on a moment,” Aaron pause a second, withdrawing his wand from his left jeans pocket and waving it over the first year. The air around him shimmered for a few seconds, then slowly changed colour until it seemed like a light brown fog had enshrouded the boy. With another flick of his wand, Aaron dismissed the fog. “Right, sorry about that,” he said with an apologetic grin at the boy still seated next to him. “Well what that tells me is that you’re in Pecari House, which is lucky because I’m actually the Head of Pecari as well as being the Charms teacher, so you’ll be seeing an awful lot of me.

“I should probably show you the Commons and all so you don’t miss any more classes than you already have,” the man’s grey-green eyes examined Leo for a moment. “Do you have luggage or anything like that?” He hadn’t seen any, but he was probably overlooking something, unless the parents had it shipped separately.

0 Professor McKindy Me too--makes my job easier 0 Professor McKindy 0 5