#lia001

The first day had passed, not without its fair share of hitches and setbacks. Noah had taken the liberty of ditching responsibility for as long as possible in the forty-eight hour weekend cushion before classes actually started. Noah set out to wander the castle like so many others, ducking back at the last second to make sure he had his prefect’s badge with him just in case.  Watching the endless groups of students mill about immediately proved to be much less stressful than directing them, and Noah had to figure he’d made a good call keeping his badge in his pocket.  Even after attending Hogwarts for six years, there were changes with the reintegration that surprised Noah. There was a door of the third floor they’d all been warned away from for ages-- and it turned out to be a completely new bathroom, resplendent and graffiti-free. He doubted that would last long, but it was still nice to see.  Somewhere near the Divination Tower, new spiraling staircase fully intact and not covered in signs warning students to watch their step, Noah ran into Cohen Goddard. Since he was short on actual friends to talk to, he ended up chatting with the Slytherin Quidditch team’s new captain about the upcoming Hogwarts season, the newest Cleansweep model, and Puddlemere United’s reshuffled roster. The quidditch talk was a much-appreciated break from endless questions about... well, everything, and Noah had almost relaxed until the sound of something thudding dully down the new stone steps caught his attention. A trio of crystal balls made their way down the steps at varying paces, followed by a gaggle of cheering kids that Noah pegged to be atleast partly composed of native Hogwarts students, considering their complete lack of interest in anything beyond the results of their race. He waited for the first of them to roll to a stop across the ground floor, a short distance from where he stood. The guilty looks he spotted in the group confirmed his theory. They recognized him well enough to know they were busted. “So we’re going to take these back upstairs,” he began conversationally as he stopped another ball with the side of his foot. “And we’re going to personally apologize to Professor Eszes for almost damaging what I expect is very expensive equipment for, what?” “Ten galleons,” A boy answered him dully. “Brilliant. So, apologize for almost damaging her expensive equipment for a whopping ten galleons. And then she is going to decide your collective fate.” The groans and grumbled apologies fell on deaf ears, and Noah followed them up the steps to make sure no one wriggled out of the apology or the punishment. The Professor herself was in a remarkably good humor about it, and no one left with more than a week’s detention.  Noah returned the crystal balls to where Eszes kept them in an elaborate display on the landing, across from her classroom door. Figuring it was only a matter of time before they were removed again, he turned to find himself face-to-face with the one person he didn’t really want to see. Not at all confident in how this interaction was going to go, however briefly, Noah figured it was better to just bite the bullet. “Hey,” he offered in the suddenly oppressive silence that settled over the landing.