"Rune, I'd like you to meet Crabbe," He gestured to the shorter one, "and Goyle," He gestured to the taller one.
Rune looked between Crabbe and Goyle, hesitantly holding his hand out to them.
"It's uh... nice to meet you both." Rune cleared his throat as they shook his hand and returned the pleasantries.
It's kind of hard not to be uncomfortable around these two- they didn't seem too happy with Rune for whatever reason when the three were speaking. "Hey, Draco-- we should get on the boat before they take off without us." Rune titled his head in the direction of the boats as a non-verbal way of directing them to it.
"Right. Come on, then." Draco turned to lead the way to the boat, the four of them walking to the water's edge.
However, before the blonde attempted to get into the water as well, he looked at the two boys and gestured towards the boat. "You two first." He took a step back, folding his arms over his chest. His gaze met Rune, staring at a moment. Rune raised a brow in confusion, causing him to roll his eyes and nod his head to the spot beside him to wait with him. With a quiet 'Oh', Rune did, as silently told and fell into place at his side.
Crabbe was the first to get to the boat, reaching over and tugging the boat a tad closer to shore to climb on a bit easier.
However, as he was half way on, Goyle attempted to climb on at the same time on the other side. The boat rocked under their unbalanced weight. Goyle ended up half dipped in the water for a moment, causing him to panic in surprise at the cold water covering his lower right side.
He pretty much threw himself into the boat, almost Crabbe to completely fall in the water. The shorter boy scrambled into the boat as well, collapsing on top of Goyle. One of Rune hands flew up to cover his mouth to muffle the snort of amusement. Rune didn't notice the amused look the blonde gave in response to his reaction.
Rune looked over to Draco with a smile, "Come on." They both went towards the boat as well.
Draco looked at the boat with a slight frown-- he seemed to be looking for a way to get in without getting wet.
I mean, who could blame him?
The water was pretty cold this time of year, the night not helping. Rune watched for a moment longer as he placed a hand on the boat, which shook under his weight. The shaking caused him to back off immediately.
"Here." Before doing anything else, Rune removed his robe, balled it up into a ball, and threw it into the boat. He then stepped into the water until it was about half way up his calves. The chill made him shiver a bit, but he didn't let this deter him from helping out Draco. As his first friend, it was the least he could do. Rune held one hand out to him while the other held the boat steady. "I'll make sure you don't fall in the water."
Draco looked at his hand and then at the boat hesitantly. His lips pressed into a thin line and his brows furrowed as his hand slipped into mind. The other hand grabbed the boat securely. He visibly relaxed when it didn't shake. He took in a deep breath before reaching a leg over the water and into the boat, using me as support. The extra weight was a little more than Rune expected, but it wasn't a bother. He did have to shift his weight once at the end, but once he was settled into the boat, Rune was able to relax.
Both hands grabbed the side of the boat now. Rune shook the water off his leg before swinging it over the side, doing the same with the other- albeit more carefully as to not shake the boat too much and possibly cause them to flip over. A sigh of relief left my lips as Rune took a seat up front beside Draco. The boat sat still until everyone else got into the boats as well. When all of the first years were settled into the boats, Hagrid spoke loudly into the night, "Boats, forward!"
And forward they went.
The boats took off from the shore in a pattern of sorts. A few went at a time, going in a line of sorts, towards the castle. The boats floated so smoothly across the water. It was almost like they were floating above the surface itself-- like they were flying instead of floating.
The water's movement proved this to be wrong, of course. Rune, as well as all of the other first years, stared up at the castle with starstruck eyes as it neared and neared.
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TO BE CONTINUED.....