Follow You Down [Addi]

[Deleted]

@addilyn

09.06.2024

The first week of school was done with. Took it long enough. The whole sorting ceremony the first night had been ridiculous, even with the forewarning he had received by one of the students he had met over the summer (which surprisingly enough, happened to be in the same house he was in now). Steve had no idea until a few weeks before the term started that he and Nora weren’t going to be the only new students at Hogwarts this year. He had been completely oblivious to the fact that the American school had been blown up or whatever, and now they were being forced to go to Hogwarts as well. It was kind of ridiculous, honestly. Here he was, expecting to be the shining example of a new student, and his entrance was completely ruined by a bunch of silly American kids. The worst part was that all the Hogwarts students seemed to think he and Nora were Ilvermorny students, and vice-versa from the Americans. The sorting ceremony had been extremely awkward as they went one after the other, neither school knowing who either of them were. Steve loved the attention normally, but having hundreds of eyes on him at the same time, trying to figure out who the hell he was, ended up being a little too much even for him.

The only positive Steve had managed to pull out from all of this was that there were now double the girls here. And trying to find a problem in that was impossible. There had been a few cute ones he had bumped into over the summer, but since his arrival there seemed to be a lot more than a few. Dinner had let out a couple hours earlier, and Steve was currently making his way down the stairs and into the dungeon area. He had found this to be an interesting place to explore, whereas Nora had decided that she liked the upper floors more right now. Divide and conquer was the game, and with two of them, they would eventually find everything Hogwarts had to hide. The goal for today: wander the corridors and look for girls. Curfew was coming up, so he was sure a few would run by that he could chat up for a couple of minutes here and there. None of them seemed averse to his conversational techniques yet, and he always seemed to do better at night, once the sun had dipped below the horizon and his half-vampire nature felt more alive.

[Deleted]

Dinner was over and Addilyn went straight back to the Common Room, getting ready to head out again for the pre-curfew and curfew patrol. The best thing about being Head Girl was that she technically could be out past curfew, if she was doing her job. And, being an explorer herself, it was hard not to enjoy that. She knew that she shouldn't take too much advantage of it, though, no matter how much she wanted to. The school year had just started, so she was still being good when it came to just doing her job while out and about.

She left the Common Room and started her walk. She was planning to meet Hugo halfway, since he'd start at the top and work his way down. She wasn't out of the room five minutes when she saw Steve up ahead, the guy she had seen this summer. The... not American. Canadian. Well, it wasn't curfew yet, but he had been put into Gryffindor which meant his Common Room was not nearby. 

"Lost?" she asked him, starting to approach.

@steve

[Deleted]

@addilyn

09.06.2024

It was pretty obvious that curfew was getting closer, if the lack of students in the corridor was any sign of that. The hurriedness of the younger students told him that there were some penalties to being out after dark, not that he really cared much. Sneaking around at night was his thing, or at least, was supposed to be his thing. Effortlessly making it back to the common room wouldn’t be all that difficult for him. The only problem was that he didn’t want to be in the dungeons when the clock hit curfew time; that meant he would have to traverse the entrance hall, which almost always had a professor or one of the students that thought they were better than everyone else because they had that shiny badge on their shirt. So far he had kept away from them when it started getting dark out, but that wasn’t going to happen for much longer. He could tell there would be an encounter eventually. If it was one of the female prefects that caught him, he was sure he could wiggle out of trouble with a little influence.

A voice echoing through the hall snapped Steve out of his daydreaming, leaving him momentarily frustrated that he wasn’t able to visualize how the aforementioned interaction would proceed. That thought was immediately thrown out when he saw who the voice belonged to. “I don’t really like using that word,” Steve grinned as he stepped towards Addi, one of the girls he had talked to over the summer. “I prefer to call it wandering. Makes it seem like I know what I’m doing.” And in this case, he did actually know where he was. Only so many turns could be made from the entrance to where he was currently, and retracing his steps wouldn’t be that difficult. Doing that now would be silly though, considering the fact that he had something interesting standing right in front of him. “See, I knew if I walked around enough down here, I’d eventually find you. How’ve you been?” he asked, leaning up against the wall, elbow supporting him, his grin refusing to budge the entire time.

[Deleted]

Steve grinned, stepping toward her and saying he didn't really like the word 'lost' but preferred 'wandering'. Addi grinned back at that, too. She also preferred to wander rather than be lost. Somewhere, wandering made it sound more like it was all on purpose. Which, in Addi's case, it usually was. "Wandering, then," she agreed. He then suggested that he knew he'd run into her if he walked around down here, by her common room. Addi found herself leaning her back against the wall as he leaned his elbow there next to her, and she shrugged at his question. "I've been fine, Steve. I have a job to do which, I'll admit, is something I enjoy," she said, her tone firm and confident but maybe a little more... relaxed than she should be while on Head Girl duty. "Do you have anything even resembling a responsibility? I assume not much, considering you're using precious time wandering around the dungeons just for the hopes of running into a pretty girl."

@steve

[Deleted]

@addilyn

09.06.2024

“Yup. Wandering.” Short and sweet. Why make it seem like he was doing anything else? Everything had a purpose and meaning, and walking around aimlessly needed both of those as well. To have Addi agree on it only served to validate his view on the subject. If he was lost, he wouldn’t know where he was, the goal being blocked by his inability to find the way. Even when he got turned around in the woods back home, Steve found it hard to consider that being lost. There had never been a moment where he thought that getting home would be impossible without assistance from an outside force, and usually that did the trick of getting him to where he needed to be. The same could be said now, except he had an express interest in being in the dungeons, and now she was standing right in front of him.

He raised an eyebrow at the mention of her job. That had to be the ‘Head Girl’ job he had heard about. “Responsibility? Gosh no, I leave that up to my evil twin. Now, what she does with that is up to her. It’s out of my control at that point,” he shrugged, grinning at his own wittiness to use Nora like that. Pinning responsibility to her would be the last thing he would do in the world, but it worked for the time being. “As for the wandering around for the pretty girl part, you took the words right out of my mouth. Hard to beat you to the punch, isn’t it?”

[Deleted]

He agreed that he was indeed wandering, and she nodded, glad for his honesty. Well, if he was being honest. She had a feeling he was, though, and that he didn't really have an agenda - at least not a malicious one. At the mention of responsibility he raised an eyebrow, claiming he definitely did not have any. But that his 'evil twin' did. Addilyn tried to remember all the transfers names, but the Kolstad girls was escaping her right now. "I find it's not generally the safest thing to try and control our siblings," she said, originally intending it to be light-hearted but whenever she talked of siblings her voice came out a little sad. Partly because she had indeed tried to control Grey at times, or rather push him in a more social direction and because she felt strange being the only Slater at the school.

He said she took the words right out of his mouth about his search for a pretty girl, noting that it was hard to beat her to the bunch. Addilyn nodded, giving a short shrug, trying to seem cavalier about it. "I'm in Slytherin for a reason, Steve Kolstad. I'm pretty clever and good at putting things together," she explained. Then she chewed on her bottom lip for a second, thinking if she wanted to say the next thing... "want to finish my patrol with me? Then I can make sure you don't get into any real trouble."

@steve

[Deleted]

@addilyn

09.06.2024

His head shook in agreement almost instantly when Addilyn said it wasn’t safe to try and control siblings. Definitely not. Nora was basically from a different planet, as far as he was concerned. While she was the other half of his vampire, that didn’t mean he was spared the wrath of it if he pushed the wrong buttons. There was always this strange assumption back home that because they were twins, they were automatically meant to be the same thing, and that one would know what to do with the other. Sure, they had that whole ‘telepathic twin’ thing going, but that was because they knew each other better than anyone else did. And Steve knew not to mess with Nora when she was on a mission, and he expected the same from her when he was doing his own thing. As for helping each other out, that was different. Meddling in her affairs when it would still be beneficial in the end was completely fine. “Sometimes I think she’s more werewolf than vampire,” he stated as his head nodding finally came to an end. “Both are extremely scary, and you don’t want to run into them when they’re hungry. Trust me.” An awkward laugh slipped out as he finished, thinking about what happened when they missed their blood allotment. Despite it being gross, the agony of not having it was worse. Getting it from anywhere was fine at that point, even if it ended up being morally wrong.

Slytherin. Clever. Sure. That and Steve knew he was easy to read sometimes. Why else would he be wandering around in a part of the castle that he wasn’t going to be in normally? For all she knew, he could have been looking for an abandoned room to hide his casket bed in. That would have been what he’d tell the uninformed. His alternative plans were disrupted when she asked if he wanted to finish the patrol with her. To keep himself out of trouble. “I mean, either way you would have to be there so…yeah I’ll give myself up this time,” Steve said after a slight hesitation. There were times for chasing and to be chased, and this time his chasing was coming to an end. Better to turn himself over before looking like an idiot. That wouldn’t get him anywhere.

[Deleted]

He said that sometimes he thought his sister was more werewolf than vampire and Addilyn furrowed her brow in confusion, a smile still on her lips. He added that both were scary and shouldn't be bothered when hungry, and she chuckled a little under her breath. "But why more wolf than vampire? Just the... uncontrollable aspect?" She guessed. Neither of her siblings were any part magical beast, though she wouldn't be surprised if Claire got bit by something, someday while at work. She wouldn't even flinch if Claire told her that she was now a werewolf or something. She wouldn't even be surprised if Claire had been one for months and not said anything. That was Claire, after all.

Steve's answer was that Addilyn would have to be there either way, though he wasn't sure if 'there' was on her patrol or 'with him'. Still, he agreed to give himself up and she grinned. "Good. I'd rather keep an eye on you myself, rather than have some other prefect or a professor catch you lurking about. I think I could take you in a scuffle, if it came down to it," she joked, starting to continue walking.

@steve

[Deleted]

@addilyn

09.06.2024

“Bingo!” Steve gave her two thumbs up. Uncontrollable and Nora went together like white on rice. Even more so that she wanted to be that way. “Obviously she can be calm and rational. But I like her the way she is.” Because it drew the heat off of himself whenever he did something egregious. She could always do something worse, and their parents knew that. They had to be thankful that they were only half-vampires though. He had met a few toddler full vampires, and they were little beasties. Trying to deal with two at the same time had to be almost impossible as it was, dealing with blood-sucking babies had to be worse.

He raised an eyebrow as she said she could probably take him in a fight. Now that was something he wanted to see. Steve knew exactly what would happen though; he would give up and let her win. And then she would potentially get frustrated because he either went easy on her, or gave up on purpose. Or maybe she was that much better at fighting than he was. She had said it herself, she was clever. Those types always got him in the end. “I wouldn’t know what to do without you watching my back. Probably be lost somewhere down here,” Steve sighed dramatically as he sped up his pace to walk side by side with her. “So how’d the rest of your summer go? Don’t think we’ve discussed that yet,” he inquired. There were plenty of things to talk about when it came to himself, but he was more interested in learning about her. Head Girl, Addilyn Slater.

[Deleted]

She had guessed right, apparently, as to how Nora was more wolf. He gave her two thumbs up and she shook her head, letting out a laugh through her nose. He said she could be calm and rational, his sister, but he liked her that way she was. Addi nodded, "well, that's good. I have two siblings and they're alright, I guess," she said, not really knowing what to say about her siblings. She idolized Claire and was often frustrated with Grey, but she didn't really think either of them were her close friends or anything. Not the way Steve seemed to be with his twin.

At his eyebrow raising, she raised her own. She waited for him to respond, patiently. He say he wouldn't know what to do without her watching his back - probably getting lost, and she scoffed at his dramatic sigh. She kept going her path, which was starting to wrap back toward the potions classroom. "Thank the gods we found each other," she said in a sarcastic tone, playing along. He asked how the rest of her summer went and she shrugged, "it was nice, I suppose," it was terrifying, really. She blacked out more and more leading up to school and barely left the apartment unless it was to visit Edmund, really. "Stayed home a lot. How about yours? I'm sure you and Nora were busy getting to know England."

@steve

[Deleted]

@addilyn

09.06.2024

He bit down on his lower lip as she laughed at his thumbs up, letting out his own low chuckle. “Hey, they can’t be that bad. You’re a pretty cool person, so I’m sure they just don’t know how to handle that,” Steve reassured her. He didn’t know how siblings were supposed to act around each other normally, or what it was like to have one that wasn’t his other half. Everything about the Kolstad family members was different from any of the new people he had met so far at Hogwarts and over the summer. That should have been a sort of blessing because it made he and Nora unique, but he often found himself asking more questions than he did receiving an answer in response.

“I’m in debt to you now, Miss Slater,” Steve exclaimed, running in front of her to get down on one knee and bow his head in front of her. “I’m but a humble clown, so do with me as you wish.” Self-deprecation was excellent in this sort of situation, and so was making it look like he was a complete idiot. Wasn’t there something about changing his personality once school started? Like new school, new him? That went out the window rather fast.

As she answered his question about the summer, Steve hopped back to his feet without missing a beat and continued walking at her side. “I stayed at home quite a bit as well, though mostly because of the sun. But I did do as much exploring during the day as possible.” Sliding up one of his shirt sleeves, Steve showed her the red burn on his skin. “That’s from Care of Magical Creatures yesterday. Being stuck outside for an hour can be rough, and a whole day can turn into a nightmare.” One specific event over the summer, at a musical festival where he had met a lovely girl, had him roasted by the end of the day, putting him out of commission for the rest of the week. “I’m kind of glad that the castle has a lot of places to sneak off to. Dark corners and empty rooms. Really works with what I’m trying to do here,” Steve explained, the nod of his head only confirming his contentment with coming to Hogwarts. So far everything was fantastic.

[Deleted]

He said that her siblings couldn't be that bad because she was pretty cool, saying that they just didn't know how to handle that. She laughed again, shaking her head a little. "I guess that's one way of looking at it." In reality, that was sort of how she felt with Grey. Not so much that she was 'too cool' for him, but just that they lived very different lifestyles and hers consisted of being a lot more social... which was 'cool', some would say. She always wanted to encourage him to get out more, but he just wasn't interested. She didn't understand that very well, even if Edmund was kind of the same way.

He said he was in debt to her and suddenly was running around in front of her to bow on one knee. She paused, leaning back a little with her eyes wide, but her smile was still in place. Her brow furrowed in slight confusion as he called himself a 'humble clown' and she scoffed. "I've never had that kind of power before," she explained. "I'll have to think of what to do with you..." she suggested.

Then, as the subject changed, he was back on his feet. He said that he stayed out of the sun, and she leaned forward to look at the burn on his arm. She winced, sucking in air through her teeth. He said that it happened during class and she shook her head. "I mean, shouldn't the school accommodate you guys for outdoor classes?" she asked. "I mean yes, the castle has plenty of dark areas, but you shouldn't have to stay outside for that long if it's painful," he had triggered her 'business' mode.

@steve

[Deleted]

@addilyn

09.06.2024

“I try to live life on the cool side,” he shrugged. That was super cheesy, but he wasn’t done with just yet. “So I know how to call ‘em when I see them.” He and Nora were two cool bats for sure, and terrible puns aside, anyone that thought they were something other than that would be sorely mistaken. Addi seemed to get it though, and that was one of the things he had taken notice about her when they had bumped into each other for the first time over the summer. “Your siblings will probably come around to it at some point in time. They can’t be boring stiffs for the rest of their lives.” That sort of concept didn’t really exist in his life right now. If something was dull and boring, there were loads of ways to change that. Sitting around idly, criticizing what other people did with their lives’ without taking any action (which was the sort of vibe he was getting about her siblings), was not cool in his book. Most people changed for the better eventually though, in his experience.

Steve thought he had confused her for a second with his actions. He was always at her whim, not really knowing where he was going or what he was doing in the school. Now she had permission to do whatever she wanted. Having that sort of in with the Head Girl would probably be beneficial to him at some point in time, or at least generate some sort of sympathy. Hell, he was already doing that by showing her his sunburn. “It’s not that bad. I’ve had worse.” True and true. “I don’t know about my sister, but I don’t want to have special accommodations made for me just because I burn easily and have to drink blood every so often. If I have to wear long sleeves and a giant hat to protect myself during class, then I will. Nothing changes from when I’m back home.” And that was what it was really all about – keeping the normalcy of what he had at home. If he was a full vampire, that would be a completely different thing. The school didn’t treat the werewolf students any differently when they were humanoid, why should he and Nora be exceptions to that?

[Deleted]

He said he tried to 'live life on the cool side' and she shook her head a little in amusement. He said that he knew how to call em' when he saw them, and she chuckled a little. "I think that's a good way to live. No use dancing around things when it's easier to be straightforward," she said. He suggested that her siblings would come around some time, that they couldn't be 'boring stiffs' for the rest of their lives. She laughed, "oh, my sister definitely isn't a boring stiff. She's a former auror turned hit-witch," she explained. "She's amazing," she added. She didn't say anything further about Grey.

In terms of his getting special accommodations, he said it wasn't that bad. But to her any pain caused to him and his sister and any others with special circumstances was bad. It shouldn't be a problem for anyone. He said that he didn't want any special help, and she furrowed her brows. It was too late, though. She already knew the situation and he couldn't really stop her from wanting to do something about it. "Well, then the school should provide the big hat," she suggested,  "maybe we all should start wearing big hats to outdoor classes on sunnier days, make it part of the uniform." Sure, it sounded like it could be a joke, but she was really considering fighting for that option.

@steve

[Deleted]

@addilyn

09.06.2024

Yes! Addi totally understood what he was saying! It was always easier than when people looked at him funny or scoffed. There was absolutely nothing wrong with being straightforward and completely transparent. If he really wanted to be sneaky, he could be. The best example that Steve liked to use was when it came to girls: he had the choice of telling them exactly what he wanted in a relationship (or whatever, really), or he could use the alluring voice to get their attention and sway them. Now he wasn’t a fan of the latter option, usually only using it as a party trick or to scare off the ones that he was having difficulty with. Being naturally charming, flirty, and smooth-talking happened to get him a lot of things that he wouldn’t otherwise have, and that was all him.

“I hit on witches a lot too,” he joked, before putting a more serious tone on, “But really, that’s pretty cool. I don’t really know much about those sorts of jobs because we don’t have that at home. They’re like police officers, right?” The Aurors of the UK were in the newspapers all the time; they were crime fighters and heroes, by some standards. Steve had played with the idea of being one after graduating, having taken an interest upon reading a very detailed article about a current Auror. The problem was that he wouldn’t be that useful during daytime shifts and he was sure they wouldn’t like someone with his sort of personality. There were plenty of jobs out there for him anyways.

Addi suggested that the school should do something about it, like give them a big hat to protect them. Steve snorted at the concept. “As long as they aren’t those ones they wore at the sorting ceremony. They were terrible looking.” When he had inquired about having to wear the pointy hats that first day, he was relieved that they weren’t required during normal classes and only came out during special events. Which meant the entrance and closing ceremonies for the school year. “How about a sombrero? That’ll cover my shoulders as well, and I might even be able to squeeze my sister under it too. Save the school some money. We are two for the price of one as it is.”