Surprise, surprise, I screwed up the ages. Ryann should have been eleven when starting freshman year (equivalent of sixth grade). I'm going to have to go back and change that, but for anyone who has already read the first three chapters, I'm telling you now: Ryann isn't twelve, she's eleven. I'm sorry about that. I'm really terrible about ages during school because I'm young for my grade and I always get screwed up… So if I'm wrong again, and was right before, or whatever, please please PLEASE tell me! I would be very grateful. (Her birthday is in May, so as I see it she would be eleven when going to Burnside, and would turn twelve while there. Does that sound right??)
------
We poured out of the bus and onto the soft grass where it had touched down, hundreds of students quickly trampling the bright green blades. I still had my backpack with me, though I'd barely touched it throughout the whole bus ride, except when I was hungry. Everyone just seemed to be standing around waiting for something, so I stood very close to Jane and stared with wide eyes at anything and everything nearby.
The only part of the school I could see from the lawn was a large brick building directly behind me. The silvery bus and the crowd of students blocked everything else from sight. I studied the building, trying to memorize it in case I had to find it later, but it was pretty nondescript. Just a three-story brick building, basically rectangular with a few extra corners and some chunks taken out of it. The lawn we stood on now stretched all the way to this building's doors, uninterrupted but for a narrow footpath cutting diagonally across it.
I turned back to the bus in time to see the driver stepping down from his seat. He stood on the bottom step so he was just a bit higher than the students, and called for attention.
"Students, listen here!" he yelled hoarsely. "Come, now, pay attention. We've arrived at Burnside. In a few moments you will be collected and taken into the dining hall for your welcome feast. Freshmen, listen up!" I was all ears. "You will stay here until the other students have gone, and will be delivered to the dining hall separately." I looked at Jane nervously; he made it sound as if we had to make some sort of entrance. I didn't like entrances. At least, at the moment I didn't.
The driver disappeared into his bus again, and everyone started talking at once. I turned to Jane nervously.
"Why are we going in separate?" I whispered, but Jane only shrugged, her eyes wide. Apparently this was something her dad hadn't told her about.
"Nervous?" I turned around. It was Kevin, standing behind us with a rather smug smile on his face.
"Of course not," I said, quickly composing my worried face. "Why should I be?" Kevin shrugged, smiling slightly.
"Well, y'know, coming in separate and all. Hope you can think on your feet, is all." And with that he walked away, smirking.
Despite my sudden upsurge of nervousness, I had to swoon into Jane, who was giggling again.
"He is so hot," I muttered, and we both burst into giggles. But once my adrenaline rush had subsided, all that was left were nerves. By the time two professors arrived, dressed in the same black robes we were, to take away the students, I was shaking at the knees again. Luckily, Kevin didn't see me, but walked right past, talking animatedly with Connor and another boy. I watched them go with a little sigh of happiness, but nerves quickly took over again as one of the teachers moved closer to the remaining students. He was a very tall, athletic-looking man, and very forbidding to a bunch of twelve-year-olds.
"Come with me," he said in a deep voice, and turned toward the brick building I'd seen earlier. The other students had gone the other way, around the bus where they were hidden from view. I could still hear their footsteps and chatter getting farther away as we parted from them, moving as one scared clump toward the brick building.
The professor turned back to face us at the entrance.
"My name is Professor Plodkowski," he told us seriously, and no one dared giggle. I had a sudden unhappy feeling that he was one of those people who hated having his name mispronounced or misspelled. My heart sank to my toes sickeningly fast, for I had already forgotten it.
"Some of you have undoubtedly been informed of what we are about to do here, whether by parents, older siblings, or friends. However, for those of you who are less up-to-date, I will explain." Was it my imagination, or did he seem greatly disgruntled about this? I wondered again if I was supposed to know all this by now.
"When we enter this building—which contains the potions laboratories and the Muggle Relations department, something you would do well to remember—you will follow me in single file along the hallway. There will be no talking, whispering, giggling, running, stepping out of line, slowing down, stopping, whining, or getting lost." He glared around at us as if to be sure we had memorized all these things, then gave a curt nod and continued. "I am taking you to my own office on the top floor. You would do well to treat it with respect, meaning you will touch nothing, look at nothing, and say nothing in regards to my office or myself. Understood?" We all nodded in unison, unconsciously bunching closer together as the professor fixed us with another scowl.
"Follow me, then," he said almost quietly, and turned and walked through the door.
I was inclined to stay where I was, comfortable in the warm sun and fresh air, but a few boys at the front of the group pushed each other forward until they were following single file behind the professor. When they scurried away, the rest of us were quick to follow. Jane managed to shove me before her, for which I was very ungrateful, but I didn't dare waste time arguing with her. I hurried after my classmates-to-be and into the brick building.
It was as plain on the inside as on the outside, with its clean white walls and scuffed tile floors. There were bulletin boards on every wall, some with a few brightly colored papers pinned onto them, but I didn't dare turn my head to study them. Remembering all of the professors rules, I kept my eyes straight ahead and only observed things that crept into my peripheral vision.
We followed the professor up a flight of stairs that doubled back on itself, so that it took up less space in the building but seemed even longer than it really was. No one complained, but I could hear Jane huffing slightly behind me.
The professor's office was right in the middle of the second floor hallway. A sign on the door read "Professor Plodkowski, Professor and Head, Muggle Relations Department." I quickly memorized how to spell his name, though I couldn't figure out how to pronounce it while focusing on not focusing my eyes on anything in the room. I stared at the hair of the boy in front of me; he had shaggy blond locks growing just past his ears, and I couldn't tell if his hair looked dirty because of the color or because it really was.
The professor's office was very large; we were all able to fit inside it by squishing our line and making it curve slightly along the wall. Professor Plodkowski closed the door as we shuffled into place, then strode to his desk and picked up a large black box, made of some velvety material. It was kind of like a jewelry box, but the size of a textbook. He shifted it to balance in his right hand, and with his left picked up a long roll of parchment.
"When I call out your name, you will walk forward to stand before my desk. You will put on this necklace, being extremely careful with it, and wait patiently to be placed in your dormitory. When you are finished, you will quietly exit the room, closing the door behind you, and form a line along the wall outside." My knees began to shake, try as I might to keep them still; I could see myself walking forward to receive the necklace, which in my mind was very valuable and encrusted with the rarest of jewels, and dropping it on the floor or breaking the clasp or any manner of terrible things. My face burned with embarrassment, though I'd obviously done none of these yet. I was convinced something terrible would happen, and Professor Plodkowski's stern manner was not helping to assuage my fears.
The professor shook the parchment open; it rolled out and stayed that way, probably aided by some magic to keep it from curling up again. He held it out before him and called out, "Apple, Melanie." Looking absolutely terrified at having been called first, the brown-haired girl I'd met on the bus walked forward from the back of the line. Her hands were shaking visibly at her sides, but she didn't stumble and she met Professor Plodkowski's eyes as he followed her silent progress across the room.
Melanie stopped in front of the professor's desk, directly across from him, and waited to be told what to do next. The necklace was still in its box, and I don't think anyone in that room would have been brash enough to reach for it.
But the professor made no move to open the box or offer it to Melanie. She stared at him, her hands now clasped before her, waiting patiently and fearfully for something to happen.
With a sudden snap that made everyone jump (excluding the imperturbable professor, of course), the jewelry box opened itself, like a clam displaying its pearl. But from what I could see, this pearl was a bit of a dud. There were no jewels on the necklace; it was just a heavy chain made of large, brass-colored links. Remembering the hundreds of stories I'd read about hidden appearances, I decided not to write the necklace off just yet, and waited to see what it could do.
Melanie had stumbled backwards a few feet at the sudden revealing of the necklace, and was staring at the velvety box with undisguised fear. The professor's mouth twitched into an ironic smile, and he moved the box forward slightly, offering the necklace to Melanie. She reached out a shaking hand and picked up the chain by its clasp, holding it between two fingers and at arm's length. It swung evenly from her fingers, catching the light dully on its brassy surface.
Looking as if she'd rather be doing anything else, Melanie slipped the necklace over her head; it was easily large enough to slip around her slightly protruding ears. She settled it gently around her neck and waited, staring at the links with rather wide eyes.
I had no idea what she was waiting for, but after a few minutes she removed the necklace. The links were glowing faintly red as she replaced it carefully in the jewelry box.
"Bryant it is, then," Professor Plodkowski said dubiously, looking her up and down. He turned to his list of names and Melanie, taking her cue, hurried out of the office. She shut the door behind her with a dull clunk, and I wished very strongly to be out there with her, away from this terrifying business with the necklace.
For I had thought I'd be enlightened somehow about the workings of the necklace, after I'd seen it used. But watching Melanie stare blankly at it for a few minutes had told me nothing. Was I supposed to project my thoughts at it? Should I have in mind which dorm I wanted to stay in? I didn't know anything about the separate dorms; Melanie's being placed in Bryant told me nothing. Rather than being reassured about this process, I was horribly confused and much more nervous than before. Why didn't that blasted Plodkowski explain anything? What were we supposed to do?
"Chau, Michael," the professor called as soon as the door was shut. The small Asian boy I'd seen on the bus stepped forward quietly. He didn't seem to be nervous at all, and took the chain from its box with both hands. He slipped it over his head and placed it carefully so that it wouldn't slip off his skinny shoulders. He stared straight at Professor Plodkowski for a few seconds, then removed the necklace and replaced it. The links were glowing brightly blue now.
"Lavada," said the professor. "Lovely." I was sure he was being sarcastic, but Michael didn't seem to notice and simply left the room quietly. The professor called "Connolly, Riley," and a girl I hadn't seen before tried on the necklace. She was placed in Bryant, and left the room with a huge smile on her face.
"Donahue, Emily," the professor called. The smug girl from the bus walked forward and took the chain, placing it around her neck with an excited expression on her face. After almost a minute, she took it off and replaced it in the velvet box. The links now matched the black velvet, though they shone prettily in the light.
"Donovan. Excellent." The professor's voice was flat, but he didn't seem disapproving this time, and watched Emily leave with a blank, rather than judging, face.
I was fully terrified now. Three people in a row had put the necklace on, then, without warning and after no set time limit, taken it off. I had watched carefully, and ascertained that the links did not glow until the necklace was replaced in its box. So how did they know?
Professor Plodkowski continued down his list, but I had stopped listening. I watched each person carefully, but could infer nothing from their faces or their actions. I realized about the time of "Lawrence, Matthew" that I would have to figure this out for myself.
"Nelson, Jane" jarred me from my thoughts. I watched her go with more fear and apprehension than I'd felt at all previously. Jane walked quickly up to the desk and snatched the necklace from its box, as if to prove she wasn't scared in the least. Her face passive, she dropped the chain over her head and waited patiently—for what? I had to wonder again—before removing it and replacing it on its velvet cushion. The links were blue again; Lavada.
Jane threw me an almost triumphant glance as she slipped through the line and left the office. I tried to take courage from her easy manner, but could not. The possibility that I would stand there looking like an idiot for hours on end, waiting for some sign and hoping I wouldn't miss it…
"Patterson, Marietta." I stared at the professor in shock. There were no "O's" starting this year? I hadn't expected to be called on this soon. But as my feet moved automatically toward the desk, I felt my fear slipping away through my footsteps. Now that the waiting was over, I was no longer scared. Dealing with things as they came was always easier for me than agonizing over them beforehand.
I reached out and slipped my fingers around the cool metal chain. It wasn't warm at all, even though many people had worn it before me. I slipped it over my head, only the slightest knot of fear in the pit of my stomach as I waited for something to happen.
As soon as I took my hands off the chain, there was a kind of vibration from the necklace. I would have been startled, but somehow I'd known it was coming. It was rather comforting and familiar as it changed in frequency and pitch. After a moment, it slowed to a steady beating, matching the pace of my heartbeats, and then it stopped.
I carefully lifted the necklace over my head and replaced it in its box. The actions of those who'd gone before me were no longer mysterious; everything seemed to make sense now. I watched the links for the discerning color, though I felt I already knew what it would be.
"Bryant," the professor announced when the links turned red. "Good." Ignoring the lack of enthusiasm in his voice, I turned and left the room.
------
"To our new students, I extend open arms and wish you the happiest of times at this excellent academy!" There was politely loud applause as the school president finished her lengthy, formal speech and sat down at her place at the head of the long staff table. It was situated on a kind of raised stage at one end of the long commons room, and looked entirely temporary. I wondered excitedly whether the stage was used for performances; ever since I'd snagged a large part in a revised version of "Romeo and Juliet" in grade school, I'd been interested in trying out acting again."What a hag," someone said sarcastically nearby. I looked up to see who had spoken; it was a freshman boy I hadn't met yet. He must have tried the necklace on after I had, because I didn't recognize him at all.
"Excuse me, but that's our president you're talking about," a girl sitting next to him said nastily. She looked to be much older than a freshman; probably fifteen or sixteen, though I wasn't too good at guessing ages.
"Um, so?" the boy retorted, looking the girl up and down with arrogant disapproval all over his face. "Does that make her a god or something?"
"Goddess," I corrected automatically. I said it quietly, but the boy heard me anyway.
"What did you say?" he asked loudly. We were attracting the attention of a few other Bryant students now; for the welcoming feast, the six tables had been draped in tablecloths of dormitory colors, and students were expected to eat at their own table. This was an attempt to force the older students to welcome the newbies, but everyone was grouped with friends among the tables anyway, so it didn't seem to be working too well. I was feeling slightly lonely; Jane wasn't in Bryant, and so was eating at the table across the room from mine. The food was good, but I wasn't really enjoying it.
"She didn't say anything, leave her alone," the older girl cut in angrily. I could see she didn't like this kid already, and I was very much with her in that opinion.
"I wasn't talking to you," the boy snarled, turning back to face her again.
"Hey, what's going on here?" said a voice from behind me. I turned quickly in my seat to see a very tall, tough-looking guy with a trim goatee and longish brown hair standing behind me. He was looking over my head at the two arguing students.
"Who are you?" the boy asked sharply, surveying this newcomer with open dislike.
"I'm an RA for Bryant, so you'd better treat me with a little respect," he replied, glaring at the freshman.
"I don't even know what that is, so it means nothing to me."
"It stands for Resident Assistant," the girl cut in again. "It means he's the one who'll be helping you out if you have problems with your dorm room or your roommates."
"And if you happen to get locked out of your dorm tonight, I don't know if I'll be in the mood to get up and help you out," the RA said nonchalantly. I had to hide a giggle behind my hand. If anyone deserved to be the butt of a joke like that, this arrogant freshman did.
The freshman glared at the RA disgustedly, then muttered something like an apology and turned back to his food. The older girl was laughing openly, but she didn't taunt him further and turned back to talk with her friends, sitting next to her on her other side. As the RA walked away, a girl sitting next to me elbowed me in the ribs and rolled her eyes, grinning.
"I'm Riley," she said cheerfully when I smiled back.
"Ryann," I replied, shaking her hand briefly. "Are you new here too?"
She nodded. "But my brother goes here—that was him, the RA—and he's a senior, so I've been hearing about Burnside most of my life. We're—" she paused, counting on her fingers, "—seven years apart, almost."
"Wow." I didn't know what else to say in response to that. "I have a sister. She's seventeen now, so we're six years apart I guess." I'd never really thought about it before.
"That's cool, what's her name? Maybe Dane knows her."
"Oh, she doesn't go here," I replied quickly, assuming she meant her brother. "Her name's Phoebe."
"She a Squib then?" Riley asked excitedly. "I've never met a Squib before, but I guess they must be pretty common now that wizards and Muggles are marrying more."
"Um…"
"Oh! You're Muggle-born then!" Riley looked even more excited about this. "I'm pureblood—a Connolly, but I guess Muggle-borns wouldn't have heard of us really—and I've only ever met people like me." Her face became slightly troubled. "My parents are weird like that, but Dane says it's stupid."
"I'm actually half-and-half," I clarified for her. "My dad's a wizard, but my mom isn't magic at all."
Riley's face brightened again. "Well that's cool! So you've grown up with both worlds? I wish I had—it's so weird not knowing what a telemaphone is, when even Dane does. But I guess that's because he's been going here for so long, he's bound to have met some Muggle-borns and all, and I guess he took Muggle Relations—it's required for sophomores, you know." I smiled as she babbled on; she reminded me of Jane, though they looked nothing alike. Riley's hair was the same dark brown, but it was bone straight and fell only to her shoulders, a good inch or two shorter than Jane's. Her eyes were not brown, but hazel, leaning toward green. She had a pretty face even at that age, and her features were soft and feminine.
"I haven't grown up with magic, actually," I told her with a laugh when she finally paused for breath. "My dad wasn't sure I'd have magic, since he's a Muggle-born and the gene might not be passed to me…especially after Phoebe was a Muggle."
"Oh," Riley said with some surprise.
"Have you grown up knowing about Burnside and everything, though?" I asked excitedly. Riley nodded, smiling and cheerful again, and proceeded to tell me everything she knew about the school. By the end of dinner, we had both talked ourselves hoarse, and I thought cheerfully that I had made a new friend. As much as I missed Jane, it would be nice to have someone to talk to in the dorm room.
Riley told me about the different dormitories over dessert: Bryant was supposed to be for brave kids, Zephyr for the jocks, Hewitt for the brainy ones (Alex must have been put there, I thought with a smile), Lavada for the artists, and Donovan for the bullies.
"Why would there be a house for bullies?" I asked around a mouthful of chocolate cheesecake. "I mean, that can't be all they are, is mean!"
Riley shrugged. "Dane says the Donovan kids are put in the same house so they'll take each other down a few pegs, y'know what I mean? They all think they're the kings of the world, and maybe if they're all together they'll realize they can't all be that way." We giggled about that for a while, and by the time we'd switched to discussing the qualities of Bryant kids, the feast was coming to a close. I watched in fascination as the food simply disappeared from the plates and platters, and Riley explained that the kitchens were below, and things were magically transported between the two rooms.
The commons dining hall suddenly went quiet as the president, Professor Rilozo, stood up for a final word. Riley and I stopped talking immediately and turned to listen politely to another long lecture.
"Your Resident Assistants will direct you to your dormitories," she finished up after a happy speech about what wonderful times we'd have at Burnside. "Please go to them for any problems you might have concerning your stay here, and they will be sure to help you or direct you to someone who can. Of course, I'm always here if you need me! It's my personal goal to get to know each and every one of you throughout the year!" I looked around at the hundreds of students dubiously. It didn't seem entirely possible, but I wondered if she had a magically enhanced memory. Now that magic was a fact, anything seemed possible.
"Please have a wonderful first night, and a wonderful year! Breakfast starts at seven as usual!" The president sat back down and surveyed her school from her seat as we all stood up and prepared to go to our dorms.
Riley led me to where her brother Dane was standing, calling over the heads of the other Bryant students for the freshmen to come with him.
"I already know where the dorm is," Riley explained to me as we pushed our way through the crowd, "but it's nice to be shown by an RA your first year anyway. They usually explain the rules and all that, plus we don't know the password yet."
"Password?"
"Oh of course! Otherwise we'd all be playing jokes on each other all the time. All the dorms are rivals, really, but we're still friends too." This didn't make much sense to me, but I let it pass.
"How do you know where the dorm is already?" I asked instead, as we followed Dane out of the commons and onto the darkened campus.
"Oh, I've visited with my parents a couple of times. Parents and family are always allowed to come for graduation at the end of the year, and my other brother was a senior in Lavada last year." Riley had mentioned Sean a number of times during dinner. I was greatly jealous of her for having brothers; Phoebe was nice, but rather boring really. She only liked makeup and boys, and never wanted to play baseball or climb trees or anything. From the way Riley talked about her brothers, they were all really close despite the age gap. Dane was especially friendly, and didn't tease her as much as Sean did.
Once outside, the crowd dissipated quickly. It seemed that most people were taking longer routes to their dormitories to allow more time to talk with friends from other dorms; soon we freshmen were alone, a clump of shrimpy eleven-year-olds led by a couple of seniors—at least, I assumed they were all seniors. They were all tall and old-looking, and beside them I felt like a little kid, even though I was taller than most of the other freshmen. Riley, I noticed, was rather short now that we weren't sitting down. I looked ahead to her brother and saw that he was shorter than the other RA's, too, and rather stocky with his broad shoulders and big hands.
Bryant Hall looked a little like the Muggle Relations building had; it was made of brick, with white trim in a fancy design around the windows and doors. There were flower beds around the whole building, or at least the part I could see, and some windows were equipped with flower boxes, now empty. The building was four stories, and very large.
Dane and the other RA's led us through the double doors at the front of the building, informing us as they did so that the password was "blasphemous wombat". Stamped into the white trim around the door, in Greek styled letters, were the words "BRYANT HALL." I grinned excitedly and fairly jumped with anticipation as I pushed forward with Riley to crowd into the dormitory.
There were only twelve freshman assigned to Bryant, but with the four RA's there as well, the front room of Bryant Hall felt pretty crowded. I wondered what it must be like when all the students were crammed into it after classes.
"Listen up!" one of the RA's called out loudly. We stopped talking immediately and turned to look at her. I noticed the annoying boy from dinner rolling his eyes to the boy standing next to him, who sniggered. The RA didn't notice, however.
"This is the first floor lounge," she told us clearly, indicating the room we stood in. "There's one on every floor, basically in the middle like this. In here you can hang out, do homework, whatever. There's a fireplace in the back corner, there, but it only really gets cold enough for that during the winter. It won't even be lit until November." She paused, and the RA standing next to her took over.
"There's an ice box in the other corner, and it's for use by anyone in this dorm," she said, indicating a large white box in the back. It looked like a horizontal refrigerator. "Always label whatever you put in there, and never take someone else's food without their permission. I, for one, will personally chastise anyone who eats my personal supply of ice cream." She glared around at us warningly, then let Dane take over.
"The right side of Bryant Hall is for the girls," Dane said, pointing to his left—our right—so there would be no mistake what he meant. "The left is for the boys." Again, he pointed, and he smiled slightly as he added, "You're supposed to stay separate." The girls gasped softly and burst into giggles, while the boys rolled their eyes at our behavior and tried to look cool. Dane and the other RA's were grinning at each other and laughing silently at us.
"You kids are the unlucky ones," the last RA cut in. He was a tall guy with dreadlocks and very white teeth. "You get the top floor, and there's no elevators here." He laughed mockingly and headed off toward the left side. "Alright kiddos, bedtime!" He and Dane led the boys off to their side of the building, and we girls followed the other two RA's, crowding out of the lounge about the time the other students started to arrive.
"We're Laura and Adie," one of the RA's said as we left the lounge. She was tall and blonde, with a friendly smile. Adie was almost as tall, with flaming red hair and a copious amount of freckles. "If you have any questions about the dorms or the rest of the campus, you can come to us."
"Don't go to the guys," Adie cut in with a wink and a grin. "They'll just try to confuse you more."
Riley leaned in next to me and whispered, "That's Dane's girlfriend, the red-haired one. She's real nice, and so is Laura. They come over to my house all the time in the summer to visit."
"There's a bathroom on every floor," Adie was explaining, "but there's only showers on the first and third. Sorry, you got unlucky, but room assignments change every year." She stopped talking as we started to climb the stairs, then turned around again when we reached the second floor.
"This is where me and Laura are," Adie said, tapping on the first door by the stairs. "You can knock anytime you need us, there's usually someone there except during classes and meals. If you really need someone and we're not there, you can go over to the guys' side—Dane and Jett are on the second floor, right across from the bathrooms. Their door is usually wide open anyway, you can just walk right in if you want."
This said, she and Laura led us up the next flight of stairs to the third floor. We didn't stop there, but climbed right on past to the top floor, where our dorm rooms were.
"And here's your floor. You share it with the sophomores, and your rooms are pretty randomly spaced out."
"About the rooms," Laura cut in suddenly. "There are five of you, so you've been split up into two rooms. There's no real choice in who your roommate is, but if you guys can't stand each other, come talk to me or Adie about it. We'll try to fix things up, and if it's not working out we'll move you." She led us into the closest room. It was depressingly empty except for the occupant's suitcases; the walls were white and bare, the furniture sparse: two beds, two small dressers, two small desks with wooden chairs, and a closet to share. But the windows were open, and a light breeze played in the light curtains. Despite the meager look to the room, I was excited to make mine more like home.
"This is actually a couple of sophomores' room, but they won't mind if we show it to you," Laura explained. "The furniture is standard, and you're not allowed to replace it, but when you get older sometimes you can transfigure it for the year. If you're really nice, you might convince an older student to do it for you. You can put up whatever you want on the walls, but anything more drastic than posters and whatnot, come and see us first for permission." She looked at Adie. "Anything else?"
"I can't think of anything," the other girl said with a shrug. "Come talk to us if you need anything," she said once again. "We'll be in our room for the rest of tonight, just knock first." Adie and Laura smiled and made to walk away.
"Oh, one last thing," Adie said suddenly, turning back from the stairs to face us. "Curfew for you freshmen is eight o'clock Sunday through Thursday, nine o'clock Friday and Saturday. Breakfast starts at seven, classes start at eight—you'll get your schedules over breakfast tomorrow—and dinner is at five except on feast nights. Lunch is served from eleven o'clock to two o'clock, because classes don't all get out for lunch at the same time. As freshmen you'll have a pretty standard schedule, so you'll probably eat around noon." Then they turned and disappeared down the stairs at last.
There were five of us standing in the empty hallway; we stared at each other in confusion.
"Does anyone know where you're supposed to be sleeping?" a girl with short blonde hair said quietly. We all shook our heads. It appeared the RA's had forgotten a very important bit of information.
"What are we supposed to do?" Melanie Apple asked in a slightly squeaky voice. I'd almost forgotten she was in my dorm.
The other girl, who was almost as tall as I was with sandy blonde hair and large brown eyes, spoke up clearly. "Well, I think we should just go around and look for our bags. They've already been delivered to that room," she said logically, pointing at the room the RA's had shown us. We all shrugged and followed her down the hall, but before we could reach the first door there was a loud meow from near our feet. I looked down in surprise.
"Quiz!" He'd been put in a special compartment below the bus during the ride over, and I'd only assumed he would be delivered in his carrying case with the rest of my bags. "How did you get out?" The ginger cat launched himself at me and landed not-so-neatly on my shoulder; I winced as his back claws dug into my skin.
"Ouch, Quiz," I said sternly, helping him get settled around my neck. He was obviously regretting this precarious perch, and was walking back and forth across my shoulders.
"That's an interesting cat," Riley commented, staring at Quiz as he tried to find a safe position. "Did anyone see which room he came from?" No one had, but when I shook my head Quiz became thoroughly exasperated and tumbled to the floor. Shaking his paws in a disapproving way, he trotted away down the hall.
"Looks like he's going back, though," I said, and we hurried to follow him.
My room turned out to be at the far end of the hall, at the corner where the hall bent to lead to the lounge. There were three sets of furniture in my room; my suitcases had been carefully piled at the foot of the bed by the window, for which I was glad.
"Oh, good, those are my things!" Riley announced happily as we entered the room. I was greatly relieved that I would be rooming with someone I knew, especially since it was Riley. The girl with short blond hair sat experimentally on the bed by the closet, where her bags had been placed.
"Not bad," she decided, and flopped onto her back. Melanie and the other girl still had to find their room, so we all left that one and walked back up the hallway, looking into the dorms. Other students had started to arrive by now, and we surprised a few of them by opening their doors, then disappearing with a quick "sorry."
The other room turned out to be just a few doors down from ours, even on the same side of the hall. Melanie rushed to greet her owl, a large dark bird with fine white designs on its chest.
"Chogan's a Stygian owl," she told us proudly. "My grandma got him from Brazil when she went there on vacation a few years ago, and he likes me best in the family so I was allowed to bring him to school." Chogan lifted his ear-tufts interestedly at us and uttered a "wak-wak" kind of sound. Melanie soothed him and stroked his black back, then carefully locked him in his cage again. We'd already agreed to go back to the bigger room to talk.
It was almost eight o'clock when we got settled in the room, but the rest of the floor was wide awake and walking around from room to room anyway, so we figured we wouldn't get in too much trouble for staying up late. We talked mostly about our families and school: Stephanie, the girl with short blonde hair who was staying with Riley and me, was a Muggle-born but thought she had an aunt or two on the east coast who were witches. She had a twin brother, Tom, who'd been sorted into Bryant as well. Carolyn was the other girl, and her parents were a witch and wizard.
"But I'm not actually a pure-blood," she told Riley, who hadn't recognized her last name—Taylor. "My dad is a Muggle-born, and my mom's dad is Muggle."
We talked until nine, when Melanie suggested tentatively that we should be awake during our first classes tomorrow. The hall did seem to have quieted down considerably by now, so Carolyn and Melanie headed back to their own room.
I couldn't let Quiz out the window from the fourth floor, so Riley and Stephanie agreed to leave the door open enough for him to get in and out. The minute I got into bed, he jumped off my desk with a soft meow and padded out into the hall. I worried about him for a minute as I was falling asleep, but he'd always done fine on his own at home, and I figured magical cats had some other defenses besides their claws.
I dreamed that night of cats with laser beam eyes, and woke up with Quiz lying on my chest, staring lazily at me with his own, quite normal, yellow-green eyes.
The staff table had, as I'd guessed it would, disappeared from the dining hall when I walked in the next morning for breakfast. The stage seemed to have disappeared too, for which I was sad. Surely they didn't use it only for feasts?"Is there always this much food?" I heard Stephanie ask as we sat down with Melanie and Carolyn. An older boy sitting nearby overheard and laughed at us.
"Of course not," he said with a grin, "this is just to give you false hopes." He shoved half of a sausage into his mouth and chewed with relish. "Enjoy it while it lasts," he said before turning back to his breakfast.
"Carolyn, you're not really going to eat all that?!" Stephanie asked in surprise or horror, staring at the other girl's plate, which was heaped with scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, buttered toast, and hash browns.
"Sure I am," she replied with a grin. "You heard the man. Oh, and call me Lyn," she directed at all of us. "I didn't think to tell you last night, but that's what I usually go by." Just then, a tall boy with reddish hair sat down next to Stephanie.
"Oh, hi Tom," she said with a smile. "This is my brother," she told us, and Tom smiled slightly. "Tom, this is Lyn, Melanie, Ryann, and Riley." He nodded to each of us, that little smile still playing around his mouth, then turned to his breakfast. For the rest of the meal, neither spoke to anyone but each other except when they were directly addressed.
About half past seven, there was a great flapping noise from somewhere behind me. I turned in alarm to see hundreds of owls soaring through the large window that made up for half the wall on that side of the dining hall. The glass seemed to have disappeared to make room for the birds—no, it hadn't. I looked more closely and saw that the owls were flying through the glass window, as easily as if through a sheet of water. I watched this with my mouth hanging open until one of the owls flew right at me, barely skimmed the top of my head with its feet, and landed gracefully on my breakfast plate.
I stared at it for a few seconds before realizing the envelope in its beak was addressed to me.
"I've got a letter," I announced with some surprise. Who would be writing to me already? It didn't look like any of my family's handwriting.
"Of course you do, it's your schedule silly," Lyn informed me. She was already ripping open hers, and the owl who'd delivered it was long gone.
"Oh," I said softly, and took the letter from the bird. It took off immediately, leaving downy feathers on my plate. I grimaced and pushed the plate aside, then tore open my schedule.
"Oh, look, we've got our first class together," Riley said happily, reading over my shoulder. "Charms with Professor Hewitt." I recognized the name and looked up with a frown.
"Not the same Hewitt as Hewitt Hall?" I asked.
"Yes, of course," Riley replied with a laugh, now surveying her schedule for the rest of the week. "He would have donated the smart hall—he's supposed to be brilliant. Should've been the president, Dane always said. Ooh, look, we're flying today!"
I quickly ceased wondering how old Professor Hewitt must be to have donated the dormitory, and looked at the rest of my schedule.
"Only three classes today?" This was a big change from the seven I'd come to expect from middle school. "Nice."
"Yeah, but look how long they are," Melanie said with a little groan. "Two hours in Charms, a ten minute break, two hours in Potions—"
"You have Potions second?" I looked at my own schedule. "I don't have it at all today."
"I have it second," Riley offered, still studying Friday's schedule.
"So…we don't all have the same schedule?" I asked sadly. "I thought they'd…I don't know…keep the freshmen together or something."
"Well they do," Lyn cut in, "but not the dormitories. Can you imagine if we only had classes with our own roommates? We'd never meet anyone new!" I could see the logic in this of course, but I wasn't excited about having to go to classes where I didn't know anyone. I quickly began comparing schedules with the few people I knew, so I wouldn't be unprepared.
It turned out I had double Charms with just Riley, then Care of Magical Creatures with Stephanie and Tom—though I couldn't count on them to be much company if they were together—then lunch. After lunch I had double Transfiguration with Riley and Lyn. That was the end of my day, until flying lessons at four o'clock; I couldn't believe those were my only classes, until I looked at Tuesday's schedule. Defense Against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures in the morning, then double Potions and Magical Theory and History in the afternoon. It shocked me that I wouldn't have the same classes every day, and wouldn't get out at the same time every day, and wouldn't have lunch at the same time every day, and wouldn't have all my friends in all my classes… Everything was so different from normal schools, and I wasn't sure if I liked it or not.