Chapter 2 - Brave New World

[] [] [] – Lucas

Lucas woke to a thick, fresh bedspread, static piercing through the old dorm stereo, and a hand gripping his shoulder. Fretful, he turned away, and pressed his arms forward in an attempt to push the intruder away. A voice reached his ears, saying "Calm down man, just waking you up for class."

Somewhat perturbed, he made his slow way to his new uniform, aided by the other Ravenclaws in his room. Ravenclaw having multiple sleeping areas, one for late-night-readers to get peace, one for light-sleepers, and one for late talking. Each room was completely soundproof, and had multiple applications for in house activities. This however made navigation tricky, as sound was Lucas' main director. It took twenty minutes to get fully prepared for class, only learning of the irritating fact that it was only 6 in the morning after the older Ravenclaws assembled the first years for a bit of orientation. As it turned out, Ravenclaws were big fans of group projects, and made no small note of it. Describing it in great detail undoubtedly for his benefit, they described the Wall of Inquiry, where each leaving sixth year each year wrote up one question they had never solved, which the Ravenclaw students would try to solve it, scratching the answer into the wood beneath it. Most questions lasted a few years, bar one.

"Three gods A, B, and C are called, in no particular order, True, False, and Random. True always speaks truly, False always speaks falsely, but whether Random speaks truly or falsely is a completely random matter. Your task is to determine the identities of A, B, and C by asking three yes-no questions; each question must be put to exactly one god. The gods understand English, but will answer all questions in their own language, in which the words for yes and no are da and ja, in some order. You do not know which word means which. A single god may be asked more than one question, questions are permitted to depend on the answers to earlier questions, and the nature of Random's response should be thought of as depending on the flip of a fair coin hidden in his brain: if the coin comes down heads, he speaks truly; if tails, falsely."

Lucas could almost snicker, as George Bollos' infamous puzzle had made it to the wizarding world. That sixth year was most likely a muggle born. He said nothing.

Eventually, they were let go to head to class, as Lucas wasted twenty minutes in front of the moving stairs, trying to work out if there was any discernable pattern to them, nearly died twelve times down the nonsensical stairs, making it to Muggle Studies with nothing damaged except his nerves. Shaken up even more than usual, he leant up against the wall, hands white with pressure.

Where the hell were the others?

[] [] [] – Laila

Laila conversely woke herself up, just past 5 o'clock in time to see the sun rise, however she took no time to admire it as she got dressed hurriedly. She had spent all of last night with her new housemates, and was at the end of her tether with the superiority complex of each individual student. They were all arrogant, putting on a pleasant face to all they were addressing. As she closed the door silently, grabbing a spare quill off a locker, she moved through the near silent dorm room, past two robed sixth years talking business, as she moved down the stairs into the main area. As she pushed open the doors into the common room, where there was a surprising number of people up. Slytherins are self motivated, but this was insane. Amongst the small crowd, she mentally groaned as the inseparable Maria and Roland raised themselves from two of the dozen armchairs next to the three hearths, forming an outwards facing ring. The room was homely, and seemed to be separated by the spaced out furniture, which was good for intrapersonal discussions, and the trading of secrets like a commodity.

Speaking of which..

"Lai-la!"

The European pair approached,as the sorting hat's words came back, as some of the elder Slytherins peered in to the three heirs. A good connection with the dominant one could prove very useful in the future.

From the lions den to the pack of wolves. When you're fresh meat, kill, and throw something fresher….

She recognised the line from House of Cards, one of the few muggle shows her family allowed in the house, given its excellent parallels to the system she was going to inherit. Who knew the Sorting Hat was so cultured?

Nonetheless, advice from something like that was usually sound, so she attempted to take the upper hand in the conversation. Asserting herself, raising her nose to compensate her shortness, she began "Good morning. Up early I see?" attempting to prove herself superior, as if the three of them were in a gladiatorial fight, with spectators galore. She caught Roland's eyes narrow slightly as he caught it, and they both knew what she was doing.

In the background, a shaggy fifth year sighed and handed his companion a twenty pound note. She could have laughed. Blood had already been spilled.

She pulled back slightly, catching herself in thought. She had been prepared to rip the pair apart with cold rhetoric, merciless in tearing their superior faces down. She would have been good at it. She would have enjoyed it.

She backed up, still not entirely willing to let the two go free despite herself, before making her way out. She shook her head in confusion at her own hostile attitude. As she began navigating the stairs, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned her face back towards the smiling face of another fourth year Slytherin, with slicked, silver hair with two bangs over the left eye, rich blue eyes that were near shut, complementing his smile. He began in a kind, nurturing voice "Hi there. Laila right?"

She could have rolled her eyes if it weren't so rude, but there was something else. He was playing his own games, like everyone else. She couldn't blame him for wanting to move up in the world, even if it was debatably awkward. She perked her face, and replied "Yes? Do you need something?", attempting to balance the valuable offer of help with the need to be dominant despite the age gap. He responded with a smirk and "Nonsense Miss Faust. Just offering a helping hand is all. I would consider it. The names Ricard, Ricard Lutece."

She nodded her appreciation, as she replied "I may just have to take you up on that sometime. Nonetheless, I have class soon, and would like to get breakfast over and done with as quickly as possible." Ricard nodded respectfully, before withdrawing, with a simple "I never forget my promises. I know the same goes for your family Miss Faust."

Slightly unnerved by that experience, she descended the stairs to the great hall, where every meal imaginable lay along each house table. She sat near an empty space, still not on pleasant ground with most other Slytherins, as she picked slowly away at a Full English breakfast. Faust this, Faust that. Her worst enemy was her greatest advantage, but she knew the real face of the family better than anybody. Born into the prestigious house of Faust, Laila was conceived by Clarisse and Raymond Faust. Being born a cesarean, and premature at that, Laila was smaller than average. This was quite worrying for the Fausts, as premature babies tended to not last too long.

Their worries were mitigated by Laila's miraculous growth rate. She hit the age of 1 with next to no troubles, besides being worthy of Godric Gryffindor's respect by trying to lift an imperial sword at least six times her size when she was a crawling toddler.

Growing up as a noble pureblood was no easy feat, owing to the fact that she wasn't allowed to have too many friends. Whatever "friends" she had were all only around due to her wealth and status. She could see their sucking up to her quite easily. One thing different about the Faust lineage was that they practiced humility. Unlike the other pureblood kids, Laila was taught never to look down on half-bloods, muggleborns, muggles or squibs, and to show all of them the same level of respect. But that's as far as it went, since interaction was still a taboo. She was trained from an extremely young age on how to handle herself, but her completely non-elitist nature had earned her quite a few sneers from relatives. She'd been dubbed "weak" and "unmotivated" by people like her uncle Thomas and grandmother Angela.

At age 3, Laila disobeyed her parents for the first time. She'd moved towards the family's heirloom : A soulbound wand. This wand had killed Laila's aunt, it had killed a lot of people. It did so by scanning through the soul of its wielder, establishing a bond on a spiritual level with him or her. If the contractor were deemed unworthy, their soul would be ripped straight out of them, like a Dementor's kiss did. She took the wand in her hand.

The tender three year old with "pure" intentions won the ancient relic over. Instead of getting reprimanded like she'd expected when her father had found out, Laila was greeted by an embrace filled with pride. Of course, some more malignant members of the family were quite indignant of the matter even to this day.

Unfortunately, for being in such a precarious position, there were plenty of other potential influences on the budding heiress including said uncle and grandmother, the former manipulative and the latter truly sadistic, if now restrained to her room by the doctor. Thomas had upped and left for a job in the ministry, leaving her with increasingly absent parents.

By now, having inferred for the better part of twenty minutes, she had achieved two things; an empty plate, and a crowd. Unsure whether to clean up or not, she left both of them behind, as she made her way to her class, surprised to see Lucas of all people had beaten her there. His head perked to the footsteps, and he gave a smile in her direction, before asking "Who's there?"

She backed up in shock, wondering briefly how he could not recognise her, before reminding herself he couldn't see him. He saw everything the same, with no biases. "It's me… Laila.." His face further lit up as he recognised the voice "Good morning!" he wheezed, enthusiastically stepping forward to greet her.

"Why are you so early?" she asked, confused, until a groan from his stomach interrupted. She looked up at the guilty face, and laid into it.

"Why didn't you get breakfast! You need to take care of yourself, you have all the food in the world, it's literally magic! Whats wrong with you? You can't do that! You need food to survive, you idiot!"

The both of them were taken aback by her ferocity in reaffirming his need for sustenance, as both their minds got to work at the surprising outburst. Laila poured through her mind as to what possessed her to go off on such a topic. She looked at him, and while he was visually recoiled, he did not look surprised, only frowning in distaste. Did he even feel emotion?

"Laila?" a male voice rose from their left.

[] [] [] – Tyler

Hufflepuff, for all its reputation as weak, certainly knew how to make a comfortable common room. Unlike the others, which were brick, this was a homely wooden room, with a wood burning stove in the centre, for people to share late night snacks during the all too common parties, which were not unique to Hufflepuff, but theirs were unique in not only atmosphere, but it was open invitation to all houses. This was a theme for house activities, but not many attended, which was a rotten shame given the warm, inviting nature of the rooms. Unlike the other houses, all the Hufflepuffs slept in one, large room, spiralling round in ledges so everyone could see everyone. There was rarely any hate among house, unlike the others, as they uniquely recognised fighting with themselves didn't help anything.

He ran his hand through his thick ginger hair, tired after a long night. As he moved down the vertical hallway, which placed first years near the bottom to ease them into the stairs system, as the elders moved up with their growing responsibilities, sharing the load equally, he sighed as he exited past the jubilant hubbub of activity, as he still thought about last night. His mother had been a Gryffindor, but what was-#

BWOOF!

While deep in thought, walking down the halls, he'd barged into another Hufflepuff, another first year with frizzy thick blonde hair and her body stretched up to not quite 5 feet, unsure of where she was going. He was abnormally tall and mature looking for his age, and she looked intimidated. Instantly transitioning to his charismatic self, he knelt down and comforted her, masterfully apologising and helping her up. He helped her to the main hall, and by the end of breakfast, he and this girl, named Milly, were already fast friends, as they embarked just in time to catch the whirlwind of anger coming from Laila.

"You need to take care of yourself, you have all the food in the world, it's literally magic! Whats wrong with you? You can't do that! You need food to survive, you idiot!"

She seemed to catch her breath, as Lucas gave no response, or even admission of shock. That didn't stop Tyler, as he nearly fell over as the formerly quiet girl struck out in wrath at her friend, whispering "Laila…", catching both their attention. He responded just as virulently once he got over his surprise, shouting "Why did you do that? He doesn't need that on his first bloody day! Calm down, and let's not get all up in a huff about who forgot breakfast of all things!"

He also calmed, as Lucas' nonchalant look made them all wonder if he was deaf as well as blind. But eventually he spoke up in his croaking, hushed voice. "I forgot about breakfast Laila, because unlike some people I am still not used to the idea of a regularly guaranteed and scheduled breakfast. Forgive me that transgression, but as Tyler reaffirmed, there are more pressing matters. I've lived twelve years, I'm sure another day won't hurt. No point rushing."

His calm tones defused the room, even as he admitted horrible things that by all right should have the pair of them even more concerned. Where was this guy from? No eyes, arrived on the train in a hospital gown with not a scrap of extra weight from head to toe, now this? The truth eventually sank in that while he was well articulated, he didn't lie very well, which was made worse by the fact that this obviously wasn't one, with the unremarkable manner in which he'd let it slip. Tyler was of course the first to catch himself, with his voice turning itself on Lucas.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I was hardly subtle."

"You know that's not-"

"Enough."

Laila, suddenly arbiter, intervened, even though interestingly neither party raised their voices, as she recognised no one stood to gain from a fight, and Milly was beginning to cry. Tyler halted, though the less socially aware Lucas still scowled at Tyler through his blindfold he continued to wear. He tried to signal to Laila with his hands to portray his frustration at Lucas' irrational argumentative mood. Laila nodded understandably as Tyler sighed again, before an awkward silence permeated the crowd. Shortly after, Milly piped up "Ty?"

Putting off his simmering anger, he sweetly replied "Yea? What's up?"

"Where is everyone? Is there meant to be a class…"

"They'll be here in a minute, don't worry. Trust me, I know."

A lie, but it reassured Milly, even if it lowered Lucas' brow further. He evidently didn't approve, but did not voice any grievances. As if to highlight the point, a few students voices echoed down the hall, led by the unmistakable high pitched voice of Gryffindors new firebrand"

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOODD MORNING!"

[] [] [] - Anna

The energetic Pole uncharacteristically woke late, after a night of talking to her new housemates. They were nice, but she missed Tyler and Laila, and even some of Lucas' dry humour. She had thought a lot about last night, and Laila's sorting had been on her mind. She wasn't concerned about whether she was good, but her own behaviour. She was horrible to her, and felt horrible about it. She had probably made her feel so bad, especially given how unsurprised she had been at her appointment. She lay on her bed, thinking, as a face appeared over her resting body.

"Wakey-wakey!"

Her face fell, as the one thing that was able to drop his mood appeared into view.

Her bloody older brother.

The tall, stick thin fifth year leant over her with his hands in pockets, as he teasingly poked her in the forehead, before smiling "Come on, rise and shine sleepyhead!"

"Good morning Georg…" she groaned. She didn't hate her brother, although he did get annoying, but not to the extent of her family was. Not quite in the way Laila's probably was, with their promp, circumstance and old fashioned manners, but more.. traditional attitudes to other things. He dragged her out of her beds with a thump as she hit the wooden floor, as he ruffled her hair.

"WHY?" she screamed between being assaulted from under her duvet.

He laughed "Because you're awake now, aren't you?"

He always did this, excusing his teasing with getting her to do things, even if he wasn't wrong. Of course, when it scaled up, it wasn't so benign. She always grew outraged and red faced, to the amusement of her , the short girl didn't find it funny. She sighed as she shooed him away to get dressed, as she shook her head in frustration. She pulled her cloak over her short, choppy hair, before exiting into the warm common room, seeing the chatter about the room, and joining in with boundless cheer, if not skill or nuance.

After familiarizing herself with her housemates, she followed her brother down to the main hall, much to her own protests.

"C'mon, quit it!" she shrieked as Georg teasingly twirled her short, but fine hair around his finger, almost deliberately attempting to get a rise out of her.

"What's the problem?" he mocked meanly, before backing into a tall, imposing figure. Just as Georg turned to lay into the person, he suddenly stopped, and stood straight. As Anna pushed past to see, she was greeted by the imposing figure of Mr Hagee, looking even more disdainful than usual, as he glared down the normally insurmountable Georg with ease. The man sighed, before inflicting wrath.

"My muggles studies class begins in 30 minutes, indeed for your sister Anna and her year. It has been a long summer without cleaning, wouldn't you agree?"

The poor teen sighed, and said "I'll get on that sir."

Unfortunately, the poor teen came complete with an angry sibling "OI! Who do you think you are, he just knocked into you! What's your problem?"

Hagee smirked, replying smoothly "As to the former, I am Mark Hagee, Slytherin house head and your muggles studies teacher. As to my problem, I'm struggling with making it a day without taking Gryffindors points away. Thank you, that'll be ten in Day one!"

She winced as Georg gave a piercing glare, as he departed to begin his punishment, leaving her with the Slytherin housemaster.

"Quite an outburst. Perhaps you'll be more agreeable in class with some food?" he politely stated, ending it with a rhetorical question. He'd only had resistance from Georg once, and since then he had always withered under the teacher. Anna surprised him by replying "Rubbish. He did nothing wrong, and you just punished him to spite him. That's not ok!"

Caught off guard, Hagee almost forgot to laugh.

Almost.

"BFWAHAHAHAAAHHAA!" the teacher roared, loudly enough to draw attention from three storeys in both directions, drawing eyes from all angles. "Ohhhh… I'll have to remember that.. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name?" he asked in between his deep, bellowing chuckles.

"Anna Król!" she responded at his volume, sending waves throughout the stairs.

The teacher's chuckling grew quiet, as he shut his eyes and leaned his head down, smiling like he'd never smiled before.

"I see… heh.. have a nice day Anna.."

He left on that note, ascending the stairs behind her, leaving her to ponder on that thought.

She shook her head in confusion, as she watched Mr Hagee disappeared upwards, to be replaced by mute first year Gryffindors.

"What's up?" she asked, concerned at their unusual silence.

"You…" they silently stuttered "Just made the biggest mistake of your life.."

She shook her head "Nah.."

[] [] [] - Anna

"and I'll tell you, that Hagee is fuuuuullllllll of nonsense. He's all talk. Dude, chill out. Ma- oh god, we're late… there's just… oh wait, GOOOOOOOOOOOOODD MORNING!" she chattered, laughed, and finally roared, causing the normally calm Lucas to recoil spectacularly, nearly clattering into Tyler in uncharacteristically over the top shock, causing laughter from Tyler, Laila and Milly after a brief pause.

"WHAT THE HELL?" he screamed in a rare show of unfiltered emotion, namely terror.

"It's just Anna.." Tyler himed helpfully as he was being smothered by the blind Ravenclaw. As he failed to move, he sighed before pushing Lucas off him as the others giggled. "Right…" he replied. "Just Anna..."

Anna smiled as she saw her friends unwind. They had looked stressed, so she was glad to see them happy. She came up to them as more first years entered the area.

"Hey Ty! You alright Lucas? Good to hear.. hi Lai-"

She stopped herself, as she reflected again on what she had said to Laila last night. She had almost certainly hurt her feelings, if she knew her own standards. She felt horrible.

"Laila…"

Laila head perked up towards her, as she stared back for the first time, with seemingly no distractions. Her brow furrowed, as if she was calculating something… no, she was obviously just thinking about it, she thought.

"I forgive you Anna." Laila said finally, much to Anna's obvious relief. "Buuuutt…"

Anna's face instantly fell, as she considered the possibilities of retribution. Her experiences with Georg's twisted justice. What could she have in mind?

A sickly sweet smile rose on her face as a shadow cast itself over her.

"I'm not bailing you out from him."

"Good morning Miss Faust, hello again Anna."

Anna gulped as she turned to face the towering man.

"Good morning Mr Hagee…."

She glared back at Laila's smile. She mouthed "I hate you." At the black haired girl, much to her and Ty's amusement, though Lucas was clueless as ever. She sighed, as Hagee let them all into his room. It was annoyingly familiar, with regular desks and chairs, with posters and bleak, square windows like a regular class, a major let down.

Lucas raised his eyebrows towards his three friends as he felt his way through the room. Anna sighed and said "It's just a muggle classroom. Just take a seat."

There was a collective sigh of disappointment at Anna verbalising their sentiment, before it was hushed as the head of Slytherin moved to the top of the room.

"Please SIT DOWN. Yes Lucas, that is a chair. To the left. Too far. Now you've spilt ink everywhere. Down… there. Now.." he began, sighing as he contemplated his dark future with this class. "Now, as you all are aware I am your Muggle Studies professor, and Slytherin House head. My classroom will be very familiar to those of you who attended Muggle schools, because in this class we will be examining those who live without magic, their culture, and their alternative methods of sustaining their livelihoods and technologies. Anna, would you mind handing out the textbooks?"

As she grumpily stood up and grabbed the tall pile of books, as he continued. "As such, there will be no spells, charms, or other magical applications in my class." He paused again as Anna returned to her seat, before resuming. "Now please open your books to page six, and Anna? Would you mind reading from the top."

Anna felt furious at the figure at the head of the room, as he seemed to be picking on her. She looked to either side of her briefly, as she took in the mood of the room. Lucas looked deep in thought, which was par for the course, Laila seemed cross but was masking it well, and Tyler was more openly concerned, but not angry. She herself was fuming, and with no hiding her mood, she read out "Muggle History; The history of the muggles has largely been determined by a need to innovate in the face of conflict, with technologies based around the laws of nature that do not pertain to the magical world, as the historical arms race from arrow to the nuclear pinnacle, and the social and economic circumstances surrounding it is the topic of this chapter… what the hell does any of this mean?" She concluded, as the room sat silent, surveying the paper, except for Laila and to a more subdued extent Lucas. From what she could tell, while he was smart, his general knowledge was lacking, but his concealed puzzlement spoke volumes for the what the rest of the room felt. Laila was just well educated, but that was certainly not the consensus, however Anna realised too late that voicing this sentiment had made her a target.

The teacher smiled, before coming over to her desk. "Having trouble?"

She sighed. This was going to be a long seven years.

Thank you for reading! Please take the time to review. One thing before I go, is that is is already finished; I have written this entire story, and am publishing it over time, a chapter every 3 days or so. The final product has 50000 words and 16 chapters. I would appreciate anyone sharing this around, and once again, thank you.

~Eth0