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There had been just a few too many students to fit comfortably on the Durmstrang ship that'd come to fetch them for the Triwizard Tournament. Karl had been fine with it; small spaces never bothered him anyway. The fifth year had managed to keep his admiration for some of the Gryffindors (well, one in particular, but he wasn't going into specifics) out of view.
Despite this success, it was a relief to be able to step out into the (cold) fresh air and stretch properly. The Hogwarts students gathered uncertainly on the deck, watching Durmstrang come into view around a mountain.

Daela shivered at the cold. It had already started snowing here; though the sky was clear for now. The sunlight was pale (a more cynical person might call it sickly) and the mountains seemed far too dark for midafternoon. She had managed to procure a place at the front railing of the ship, so she was a bit crowded by other Hogwarts students trying to cram in to see the other school. Durmstrang kept their location so secret it was hard to even get descriptions of the place in textbooks. This was the first time the school had allowed so many visitors in hundreds of years, according to some Ravenclaw she didn't know the name of.

Julian had followed the crowd upstairs reluctantly, just as tired of being stuck in the ship but less willing to push his way to the front. One finger marking his page in a book, the Ravenclaw surveyed their surroundings with a somewhat bored expression. The excitement of the others might be intoxicating, but that didn't mean he had to jump up and down with no provocation.

Kai leaned the mast, her arms folded across her chest. She was glad to be on deck. While it was still crowded, she didn't feel like a sardine in a can. The Hufflepuff could actually breathe air that wasn't tainted by body odor or perfume. Kai needed to find her friends. She already knew where Fabio was(He was kind of hard to ignore), but she didn't know where the rest of her crew was at. She stretched her arms toward the sky before wading through the knots of students. It didn't take her long to find one of her companions. "Hey, Daela," She chimed. "How are you? You 'enjoy' the trip?" Kai smiled. "I hope you weren't too bored on the ride, I was entertained by trying not to hit my head on the blasted ceiling." She massaged her slightly bruised forehead.

"My good man, what did I tell you?"
"...You've told me a lot of things, Fabio, over the past several hours. I don't have a clue what you are referring to."
Fabio threw his head back and laughed. "Ah, Faron, Faron, Faron, such a slow man, as usual." The younger student made a sweeping gesture with his arm. "I told you we would make it out alive. Aye, such a grand view it is. You don't see mountains like these anywhere..." Fabio proceeded to ramble on and on about the scenery and what not, when he spotted everyone's favorite wizard. "Julian! I didn't know you were coming along." He trotted over to the Ravenclaw, dragging Faron, the dead weight, with him. " Isn't this exciting, Julian? Aren't you thrilled?" He really needed to release some steam. Faron, on the other hand, groaned internally. He didn't like hanging around Julian. His cold, gold eyes spotted the book in Julian's hand. "I don't see why you keep reading, Julian. No amount of studying will make you a better wizard."
Fabio, who didn't like be interrupted, made a face at Faron. "Ugh, you really hate fun, don't you?" Faron, likewise, shrugged at Fabio's response before leaving.
"Don't worry about the basket case, Julian," Fabio rolled his eyes. "Anyway, my good man, I shall see you later." Now Fabio had to find his other good friend. He knew Karl was around somewhere on the ship. He cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted, "Karl! Where art thou? Karl!"

Aneira glanced up at Rain, her face still firmly in a pout. She wished silently that she had stayed inside where it was warm. Seeing the Hogwarts students disembark from the ship wasn't worth freezing to death, at least, not to her. She nodded. “Yes, I’m fine.” Her voice was quiet in comparison to the loud conversations surrounding them.



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Italics is French

Daela shook her head, dislodging the last few snowflakes. "Definitely not. Snow is not my best friend." She blew out a sigh. "I mean, who could resist something like this? I'll have time for my academics when I get back. This is a chance at real magic, you know? No holds barred."

Karl shrugged elaborately. "Don't know what you're talking about." He said, mocking the accent Fabio'd put on. "I couldn't be more at home in sunshine and puppies." After another second he laughed and answered more 'seriously', "This place does sound like it's very...traditional. I'm going to enjoy seeing how much we can mess with them."

Aneira looked up at the boy and then back at the ship, which was still approaching the shore. She shivered and silently wished she had worn thicker robes. The warmth of the castle was like a siren call and she looked up at Rain. Her green eyes held only a small apology. “Going inside sounds good,” she admitted. Her arms crossed her body as she held herself tightly to block out the cold. “I’m just freezing and honestly it’s just a ship docking. I think I can live my life out happily without having seen it, Potters or not. We’ll see them eventually.”
She wasn’t looking at Rain anymore. Instead, Aneira was looking at the ship and her pout, which had disappeared briefly when she asked to go inside, had returned. She didn’t want to see Rain's reaction to her words, so she used her long red hair as a shield that fell over her shoulder in thick silky waves.



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Italics = French