Let Me Be Your Guide

[Castor Allaway]

Set after the welcome feast. Open to Gryffindor First Years and Gryffindor Prefects!

“You can follow me—I’m easy enough to spot in a crowd!” the new prefect joked to the first years behind him as he and the other five Gryffindor representatives led them from the Great Hall.

As always, the welcome feast had been both filling physically and emotionally, the excitement of adding new first years to the house never diminishing, in Castor’s mind, from that of his own sorting. But now, the evening was over, and it was time for business: making sure none of the new additions got horribly lost en route to the common room, and at least trying to ensure everyone (himself included!) had a good night’s sleep before classes began in the morning. With his OWLs now less than a year away, Castor was very much aware of how important his studies would be.

“Some of you from muggle families might not know this,” he offered as he shepherded them through the castle, “but the paintings throughout the school are all alive, and have their own distinct personalities. Some, like Sophia here—” he gestured to an elderly woman in a small, stone cottage “—will be happy to help you if you get lost. Others though, like the portrait of the three fauns on the fifth floor, will do everything in their power to lead you astray.”

  

[Josephine Fontaine]

Josephine followed behind the older boy without speaking. She was ever so tired, but still so excited to see everything. It had been a long day for her. The boy who had just spoken, who she supposed was a prefect, began to lead them up several flights of stairs, introducing them to different portraits on the way.

She glanced around her curiously. Portraits did line the walls, some waving hello cheerfully, while others grunted and turned away. Children behind her talked to each other loudly. She knew the people nearest her were talking, but she could not hear their voices because of the chatter of the other students.

When would they reach the common room? Josephine sighed softly. She just wanted to jump into bed and sleep. After all, she had to be ready for tomorrow's classes.

  

[Tristan Carmichael]

As Castor lead the large group of 1st years towards the Gryffindor common rooms Tristan followed at the rear. He felt that it was just as important leading the new students as it was making sure they didn't wander off or get distracted by one of the animated paintings. Hogwarts could be a little overwhelming at first and the last Tristan wanted to do his first night back was wander the halls looking for lost students.

With his hand stuck idly in his pockets he glanced from all the new first years and then to Castor leading them. Tristan frowned slightly thinking about how he'd been passed up for Captain of the houses quidditch team this year, instead the position going to Mr. Allaway. It just didn't seem fair, but Tristan quickly pushed all those thoughts aside, not only was Castor, a house mate but he was a team mate and Tristan liked him. In the end he figured it really did no good to sulk about things he couldn't change.

"Keep along now" He said in a friendly tone as one first year stopped to gawk at a picture of an old knight riding around on his stead.

  

[Josephine Fontaine]

"I'm sorry, sir," Josephine said to the older boy, moving away from where she was. She had been staring mindlessly at one of the portraits on the walls. It was interesting; an old knight rode through a green, grassy valley on his stead. He smiled at her as he rode through the scene. She had never seen so many moving portraits.

The boy who had spoken to her looked about three or four years older than her. His short brown hair was messy so that she couldn't see his eyes. She smiled nervously, but her mind was buzzing with thoughts. Hopefully she wasn't in trouble now. He was most definitely a prefect and could punish her if he wanted to. She couldn't be expelled on the first day, could she? Josephine was so worried about making a good impression and not being too noticeable, and here she was being told off! The boy didn't seem too cross, though. He had told her to keep moving in a kind way.

  

[Lavender Tinker]

Lavender, who had been genuinely surprised to be named a Prefect, was actually sort of excited to lead the first years around. "Don't worry too much if you get lost in the first few days," she added, "Everyone does once or twice, I promise!"

Well, Florizel Collins-Potter still did, but he was a special case with a terrible sense of timing/direction/everything else. It really was no wonder that Allaway was the prefect, Lavender thought - she still couldn't believe that she was one, though!

She was a prefect, and Milo wasn't. She supposed that it made some level of sense - she thought that she was more self-confident than Miss Sheehan, and her best friend wasn't especially fond of others - but still. Hopefully she didn't screw up too badly - at least she could handle the first years.

  

[Castor Allaway]

“Don’t worry about Carmichael, Miss—he just doesn’t want you to wander off,” Castor offered encouragingly to the first year.

  

[Tristan Carmichael]

"Thats right, no need to apologise" Tristan said agreeing with Castor as he smiled down at the young Gryffindor. He'd heard from some of the other perfects in other houses that they felt like they were simply shepherds for the little lost first years but Tristan didn't feel like that at all, and looking around at his fellow perfects he felt that he could say the same for all of them.

Tristan felt as if were and honor to be a perfect and he was more than happy to help the first years get settled in , after all theyed all been first years at some point.

  

[Josephine Fontaine]

Looking around her at the three prefects, Josephine felt rather intimidated. The students seemed very nice, though. She smiled at them happily, her confidence rising slowly. Maybe what her older sister had told her was true - other students at Hogwarts were always looking out for the younger ones! She had simply apologised for holding up the group of Gryffindors and the prefects had told her there was no need to. She had been expecting something much worse and was pleasantly surprised.

Josephine kept walking tiredly. One prefect, a girl who seemed quite a bit older than her, had told her everyone got lost sometimes. That made sense, seeing as the castle was huge. She expected she would get lost many, many times in this castle.