A New Year

Ruby was standing on deck looking out. She was happy to start a new year but she was going to make this year count. She knew she was going to keep up with classes and not skip any.

Smiling to herself Ruby felt the breeze go by. "Hm I wonder if I'll meet anyone new this semester."

Adrian was in her compartment reading a book titled 32 Nasty and Practical Jinxs after reading a few she was dying to try them out this year. Adrian placed down the book and decided to head up to the deck for abit

She reached the deck and took a deep breath and inhaled the sea air, Adrian noticed a girl standing by herself on the deck, she then quietly snuck behind the her, Adrian then suddenly grabbed her shoulders 'RAWR!" she yelled out, let out a giggle afterwards

Carina hadn't really met anyone yet who was attending the school. Durmstrang had touched her in the form of that incredibly unusual and frankly frightening incident in the pub in the alley. She had encountered some of the staff members there, although it was not something she really wished to recall in any great detail.

She had hoped as she had made her way onto the ship that she would be able to avoid another incident similar to that one and that she would at least be able to talk to some people.

Carina had never really bothered to excell in social interactions and she didn't want to hang around groups of other students, waiting for an opening to appear in their conversation for her to speak and introduce herself.

She had not yet found one and was pretty much alone as it stood at that moment. She was steeling herself to approach a group of giggling girls looking out on the otheer end of the ship, pointing at something in the water. Carina gritted her teeth a little as she made a step towards the girls. They weren't her type at all by the looks and sounds of it, but they would be better than no one.

She heard a loud 'rawr!' emenating from somewhere behind her and she jumped a little, spinning round to see where the noise had come from.

"There was no need to be so loud." Carina said harshly, not at all pleased that she had reacted to the noise.

"What year are you in?" Carina asked hurridly, as she realised that she had an opportunity to talk with the two girls, the one who had made the noise and another. They seemed like they would be better than the giggling girls.

"I want to kick them into the water, see if that would shut them up." Carina muttered, throwing the girl's a dirty look. She assumed by the way they were fussing over each other's clothes and hair that they were vain airheads. They weren't really doing much to disprove that assumption.

Ruby jump and quickly spun around and grabbed the girls wrists. Looking at the girl Ruby dropped her wrists and placed be hand over her chest to try and slow her breathing. When her breathing calmed some she smirked and chuckled "nice one, I'm Ruby Moon. Who are you?"

Looking over at the other girl who had to be a third year or lower, she smiles innocently. "Loudness here. Hun I think you have me mixed up with the gossipers. They are a pain to deal with trust me. Oh I'm Ruby Moon, fourth year Hitrost and you are?"

Ruby chuckled when the girl said she was going to throw the others off the side. "Thats not a good idea. Highmaster Runsak wouldn't like you very much and would have to talk to you about your behaviour." winking at the girl Ruby continued "but I'll be cheering for you."

Carina was glad that she hadn't been snapped at or greeted abriasevely. It was comforting that at least not everyone appeared to be as hard as nails or air headed. Some of the other students she had seen looked like they would terrify even a Hippogriff. She herself had been told that Durmstrang was harsh, cruel and unforgiving by her family when she had been growing up.

"Nice to meet you Ruby. I'm Carina Rosier, first year." Carina said, resisting the urge to hold her hand out for a formal handshake. That was a rather ridiculous notion. She wasn't among adults right now, very clearly by those nuisances still giggling away and clucking like hens.

"Hmmm, I guess it wouldn't make a good impression. Then again..." Carina paused, her lips twitching up into a small smile as she seen the girl, Ruby, winking at her and saying she'd be cheering.

"The deck is awfully slippery today don't you think? It would be so easy to slip and just fall over the edge into the water wouldn't it?" Carina said, chuckling a little. She was her father's daughter alright, that was the sort of thing he would have said and done.

Adrian beamed a smile back at Ruby " Im Adrian, nice to meet you" Adrian then looked over towards a girl who had approached them, this girl shared the same values and views of the airhead girls as she did

"Im Adrian, im in third year" she replied to the girls question. The girl Carina mentioned how slippery the deck was and the airheads could "accidently" fall in, Adrian let out a burst of laughter

" You know what Carina I like the way you think" she remarked

Ruby laughed. These two girls were entertaining. Listening to Carina mumble about the deck being slippery was to funny. Grinning Ruby leaned against the deck watching the two younger years. "so how do you two like durmstrang so far?"

Ruby chuckled as her thoughts kept drifting to the preppy girls going over board. The only thing stoping her was the news of the perfects teachers and Higahmaster Rusnak. She was trying to be good in this school. In the muggle school she wasn't the best student so she wanted to change that in this magic school.

The other girl spoke up and introduced herself as Adrian. It sounded a bit like a boy's name to Carina, but she wasn't about to point that out. She might be young but she wasn't that stupid and she did have a little bit of tact, or so she felt.

After her comment about the deck being slippery, the girl Adrian burst out laughing. Carina felt the smile on her lips widening slightly more after the comment Adrian had made about how she liked how Carina thought.

"I met some of the staff in the alley. That was... interesting." Carina replied to Ruby's question, pausing as she tried to find a reasonably appropriate word.

"I hope the rest of my time at the school isn't like that though." She added on as an afterthought.

Katerina was walking through the ship, everything and nothing in mind. She couldn't exactly say she was happy to be going back to Durmstrang, it wasn't as if she had any friends, and she felt kind of bad leaving her grandmother alone, but something told her this new year would be different.

She was going through the deck, when she slipped on something and almost fell into a girl a few years older than her, from Hitrost as well. What was her name. . . something Moon? She was never good with names.

"I'm sorry," she muttered.

Ruby smirked and leaned against the rail she shook her head at the giggling girls, hoping they would some how slip and fall over. Focusing on Carina, Ruby chuckled, "Don't worry about your teach-" She stopped and blinked at the girl who slipped.

Ruby caught the girl who fell into her "Woah there. You okay? That could have ended up with you overboard" Ruby smiled soothingly at the shy girl and helped her stand up straight.

Adrian was listening to Ruby she saw a girl slide into them, she let out a laugh this was natural for Adrian why she even laughed when she hurt herself thankfully Ruby had helped her get back on her feet

" That looked kinda fun actually" Adrian said directing her comment towards the girl

(OCC: Oh Adrian is pretty much a tomboy wildchild, hence the male name)

Carina had been listening to Ruby and hadn't even noticed another girl coming onto the scene. The girl had slipped and Carina's hands had twitched towards helping her up but Ruby had already done so.

As soon as Adrian had started laughing, Carina had become rather uncomfortable. She couldn't help but feel rather useless. It wasn't really in her nature to ask if someone was okay, and even if it had been, she would just have been repeating what Ruby had asked.

"Guess I was right about the deck being really slippery." Carina remarked quietly, taking a look around and making sure she was standing in a dry spot.

Katerina nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine." She looked at the girls for a few seconds, deciding whether or not to talk to them. She'd seen them around once or twice and was pretty sure they were in her house. With the exception of the younger one, who she thought might be a first year. They seemed alright. . . and she needed to get over her trust issues. Well, she wouldn't trust them, but it didn't hurt to socialize a bit, right?

She raised an eyebrow at the short-haired girl, "I do hope you're not laughing at me. Though I suppose it must be a fun sight. . ."

Katerina nodded at the younger one, "It is."

"I'm Katerina Kahnovich," she introduced herself to the girls.

The girl introduced herself, Adrian smiled and nodded "nice to meet you Katerina, im Adrian" Adrian then gave a smirk at the girl's comment about Adrian laughing

" Well I'd like to think I was laughing with you, not at you" Adrian said with abit of a smirk

The girl who had slipped seemed to be fine, and she had said so herself. She did seem to hesitate for a few moments and Carina did feel a slight amount of awkwardness in the air. It lasted for the briefest of time before it went away and conversation started up again. It took only a few seconds that felt as though they stretched on for ages.

"Carina Rosier." She said, introducing herself to the new girl, and following suit from Adrian in the exchange of names.

Katerina leaned against the ship railing and kept her eyes on the water, "It's pretty funny, if you're not thinking about falling into the water, that is."

She turned back to them, "Nice to meet you both."

"Ruby Moon. Nice to meet you. Yes I do agree now that you are all right it was pretty entertaining" Ruby chuckled and leaned back on the railing feeling the breeze. She smiled and hummed a British lullaby.

"So who do you think the exchange students are this year?" Ruby was curious.

Ruby asked who they thought the exchange students would be, Adrian almost forgot that they were getting exchange students

"Oh yes thats right we're getting exchange students, well I haven't heard anybody walking around with a posh english accent as yet" Adrian remarked with a grin

Katerina blinked for a second before remembering that they were getting exchange students this year.

She shrugged, "I don't know. But it's not like I'm going to be friends with them, anyway. They're all 5th years and aren't going to be in any of my classes."

Carina was very confused and decided that she would let the conversation slide away from her for a little while. She thought it was the most prudent thing to do as she would be far more likely to understand what was being spoken about.

"I didn't know that there was an exchange programme. Where are they coming from?" Carina asked, wondering if they would be of a single nationality or mixed.

"From what I know," Katerina told Carina, "They're all going to be from Hogwarts."

She sighed and thought if the new year would be better than the old one. She seriously doubted it. Of course, the first one had been very painful because of the fresh memories of her sister's death, but would second year have anything more to offer?

Adrian then gave a little chuckle and rested her hand on Carina " You know I almost forgot you were a firstie, for some strange reason I thought you were a second year?" Adrian then titled her head from side to as Katerina said because the students would be in fifth year she wouldn't have anything to do with them anyway

" Well I gotta disagree with you there Kat, im definately going to try hard to get to know them, im hoping I'll be able to convince one of them to send me a few of Weasly's Puking Pascels, my supplies are getting low" Adrian remarked

Katerina frowned and turned her head to face Adrian, "What are those?"

Carina would usually have shrugged someone's hand off her shoulder or any part of their body touching her's and moved away from them but that wasn't really acceptable behaviour anymore. Also, Adrian had been nothing but nice and friendly enough to her. She might also find that Adrian would be an ally if ever Carina got herself into trouble. That was very far down the line though.

"Does it feel like you've known me forever Adrian?" Carina asked, teasingly, throwing her head back a little and chuckling.

"They are joke sweets aren't they?"

Adrian smirked at Carina's remark, " Oh absolutely " she replied, Katerina then asked what Puking Pascels were, Adrian was kinda surprized she didn't know, but I guess not everybody had a such a devious mind as her own

" Yep thats right Carina they are kinda like joke sweets, you see Katerina you can trick people into eating them and they end up puking violently for a good 15 minutes"

Adrian looked back at the preppy girls " And theres already a few people I think I could use them on" she said with a laugh