Use the Chilly Tarn as an opportunity to show off

You probably don't have time to do much more before the upperclassmen get off the ferry. So, in the moment, you decide to treat this as a contest between yourself and the Chilly Tarn. Of all the first-years, you have everything to be proud of and no reason to be ashamed, and your drab travel clothes don't include anything you'll miss. Except your hat. You pick a soft spot in the sand and cast your suitcase through the air in a low arc, then wrist-fling your hat in the same direction.

As you expected, the upperclassmen tell the first-years to wait and send the boat to back oars a little bit.

"School rule!" one of the Minervals crows. "First years have to splash ashore!" It's a tall skinny one with black hair. Her friend, a moon-faced blonde with some padding on her curves, tries to look serious, but can't hide her smirk.

You eye the other first-year students. There are four, one from each House, so you're the extra Draconid in the mix. There's the girl with the braid and glasses from Leontes. A diminutive fellow with a puff of black hair and heavy-rimmed glasses clutching a battered document case with a newly applied Minerval emblem. A tedious-looking bloke with a gold-trimmed brown hat who blinks up from some sort of guidebook, only now perceiving he's in some sort of predicament. And a fierce-looking young lady with green eyes, hair, and fingernail enamel who you've gathered was talent-scouted from some dreary urban wasteland into House Draconis. You wonder how they'll take this.

You reach into your cloak and take a flask out for a nip of strong, warming brandy. The liquid makes a lovely burn on its way down and its special spices go to work. Your ears go warm, then your toes, and lastly you feel a twitch, a throb, and a swelling up front. Excellent. A little help versus the chill is very much in order. Stay up, you, you silently tell your soldier of love. Time for a little parade march.

"Ah, very well!" you say. "I'll show you how it's done!" You put one hand on the forward thwart and another on the rail and swing yourself into the Chilly Tarn.

You never liked those boots anyway.