William woke up as the sun crept in through the window next to his bed. He clambered out, and made his way to one of the hall bathrooms a few doors down. There were a ton of people jostling about at mirrors, in toilet stalls, and the showers as everyone was getting ready for the first day of school. William quickly showered, and clambered into his clothing before leaving. As he made his way through the hallway back to his dorm, he yawned a little and bumped right into someone.
As he straightened himself out he found himself face to face with the rotund boy from the line at dinner. The bigger boy scowled down at him, "You again," The big boy shoved him into a wall which William slammed directly into and then slumped down a little as the other boy just waddled off.
William made it back to the room to find that Chris was already gone. He checked the clock on his desk and then immediately grabbed his books and burst his way out of the room, rushing back to lock the door before quickly heading for the main building. Somehow between sleeping, and showering it was only twenty to nine, and he still needed to get to the dining hall and eat breakfast.
As William burst into the dining hall he jogged down to the breakfast line, and piled on as much food as he thought he could eat in five minutes then looked around for a place to sit. As he moved through the tables, he spotted Chris who waved him over. The boy was sitting talking to a girl who looked about their age.
The girl had short blond hair and brilliant blue eyes, and was currently locked in a hard stare with Chris, as William sat down she seemed to finally burst, "How can you even call it a sport?!"
Chris looked at her and said, "You're crazy! It's the most intense thing you can do on broom."
"You're just hurling a ball around before it blows up in your face," She called glaring at Chris. As William looked very confused, she rounded on him, "Quidditch or Quodpot?"
"Uhm...erh..." William wasn't really sure what Quidditch was, but suddenly found both the girl and Chris leaning in waiting for his answer, "I don't really know?"
The girl and Chris both groaned leaning back into their chairs. After a few moments Chris said, "William meet Sarah Klein, she's a big Quidditch fan...but I guess we can forgive her."
Sarah snorted then added, "Sure, because I'm the crazy one here who likes sports that require skill."
William nodded trying to eat his breakfast without being dragged into what seemed like one of the most intense conversations he had ever walked into. Chris looked like he was about to say something else, when he suddenly went, "Oh god, I need to get to the Herbology greenhouses in like...five minutes." He jolted up from the table and barreled his way out of the dining hall as he went. Just like the evening before, William watched as the plate faded away with a faint pop.
Sarah watched it too, "That's really cool isn't it?"
William nodded, "I've never really seen anything like it."
She smiled, looking up at the clock, "What do you have first period?"
"Transfiguration," William said, staring up at the clock and trying to shovel the last bits of his breakfast into his mouth as fast as he could.
Sarah laughed, then said, "Well I've got Potions, so I got to go." She then stood up from the table and made her way out.
William waved goodbye before getting up and making leaving the hall as well. He quickly mounted the closest flight of stairs to the second floor, and found his first classroom. All of the room's desks were arranged in a circle around a big chair on wheels. William quickly found a seat and took out his notebook. After a few minutes all of the students were calmly sitting, looking around, and just when someone was going to ask where the teacher was the door burst open.
A young man, only a few years older than the oldest of Salem students jogged into the room, "Sorry I'm late guys," He smiled, "And girls." He was tall with short blond hair and bright blue eyes and wore a deep green robe. As he came to stand in the center of the class, he turned about, looking at each student in turn, and after making a full circuit of the room he spun about in the opposite direction and there was a loud crack.
All of the desks had suddenly transformed into large tortoises that seemed slightly surprised by the fact that they were sitting in a classroom, most with notebooks on their backs. "Welcome," the young teacher said, "To Transfiguration." When he said the class's title he waved his wand and the tortoises became desks again. Everyone clapped and laughed, the teacher began to talk once people had quieted down, "Now you guys are a few years away from doing that sort of thing but I'm not one who feels the need to start off a class with a lot of boring stuff. So we'll spend a few minutes actually trying to change something into something else." He quickly spun his wand about and matches landed on everyone's desk as he began to explain that changing an inanimate object into a similar object was much easier than anything else, but that no one should feel too bad if they couldn't do the spell.
William found that as he practiced the spell the match would sometimes become pointy, or turn into metal but it never quite became the needle everyone was trying to turn it into. However as he looked about the classroom, he found that even that left him far ahead of most of the class. Their teacher, Mr. Caravaggio (or as he preferred Mr. C), took the matches away after ten minutes and then began to launch into an explanation of transfiguration, it's importance and how they were expected to act during class time. He ended the class by getting everyone's name and wishing them all luck in their first day at Salem.
William was riding on a high that was quickly dashed in History of Magic when he met Ms. Codswell. Ms. Codswell wore plain robes and kept her graying hair pulled back into a tight bun. She spent the majority of the period listing what she expected of all of her students, and how students were to compose themselves in her classroom. Everyone kept their eyes straight ahead and furiously took down every word she said. As people left her class she gave everyone a firm glare.
As William shuffled through the hall to his Defense Against the Dark Arts class he caught sight of the big boy who he seemed to continually run into, and he attempted to give him a wide berth before he slowly realized that they were heading into the same classroom. William gulped as he approached the door, slowing so the larger boy could go in first, the boy noticed and gave him a harsh look as he passed through the door. Once inside, William quickly took a seat near Chris, and was shortly joined by Sarah on his other side who smiled at William and stuck her tongue out at Chris then chuckled. As people began to take out pens and paper, the door to a side room opened and in strode an old man.
He wore a set of very old robes that seemed to drape over him like an over sized coat but this did nothing to hinder his smooth, strong, strides across the room. His hair was long and black with flecks of gray and more interestingly three feathers arranged along the left side of his face all pointing downward with red tips. His face was long and wrinkled with the exception of his large and impressive nose. He lifted his thin, wrinkled hands and the room fell silent. As everyone stared at him, he gave a small smile, and then spoke with a smooth cadence, "I am Assistant Dean Tall Elk, and I have been teaching this subject for several decades." He began to pace around the front of the room as he spoke, "In this room I will teach you how to defend yourself from all manner of dark and dangerous forces from minor pests to dementors, over the next several years you will learn how to prepare and defend yourself from such things." Tall Elk stared out over the classroom, "This is not a place to fool around, it is a very serious subject and I will not tolerate mischief in my classroom. I expect you all to be respectful and listen with care." He found his way back to the center of the room, and he waved his arm, a long thin white wand slipped out into it almost as an extension of his body as he waved it upwards murmuring under his breath the whole way. As he brought the wand around himself, colors and light seemed to roll out of it forming in a haze around him, when he was done, the air around his body seemed to shimmer with an array of colors. William couldn't see where he had put his wand as he spoke, "I have just covered myself in an array of protective spells in the manner of a few seconds, this is what I will strive to teach you. We will talk about hexes, counter-jinxes, and all other manner of spells, but I expect you to pay attention to defense rather than anything else that I speak of in my lectures." He let his eyes gaze out over his students, "Do I make myself clear?"
When he asked this the whole room somehow called back, "Yes," in unison. Everyone looked around feeling the strange sense of having an entire class room speak the same time as you.
The assistant dean smiled and then began to launch into a lecture explaining the different spells they would be covering that year. As people left the classroom, Tall Elk nodded at each one in turn. William wasn't sure why, but he liked Tall Elk, the man seemed to be in control of everything that occurred in his room. As William made his way to the dining hall, the big kid from earlier pushed past him with a shove, "Out of my way tiny!" William nearly fell to the floor.
Chris caught up with him quickly and helped to steady him as the thick boy walked off to the stairwells, "Wow, that guy really has it out for you."
"Yeah, I've noticed," William said as he stared after the larger boy, "Do you know who he is?"
Chris nodded, "Yeah, he was in my herbology class this morning. His name's Henry Blackstock, and he's not the friendliest guy I've met."
William nodded, "I just got to try harder at avoiding him."
Chris nodded in
return, "Ready for lunch?"
William shrugged, "Yeah, that
sounds like a good idea."
After lunch it was William's turn to trudge out to the greenhouses behind the main school building. Mr. Thorten was very laid back, he seemed mostly to sit at the front and half-explained the subject while sipping from a mug. He gestured around the greenhouse explaining that this is where they'd be spending their first year of Herbology, and what plants they'd be studying. William tried to stay interested but mostly had trouble paying attention to Mr. Thorten's bored drawl. William rubbed his eyes as he jogged back to the main building to get to Charms.
William got into Charms just as the bell was ringing, the old professor at the front of the room gave him a hard look as he took a seat next to Sarah who had waved to him as he had entered. As he sat there he noticed that he once more shared the class with Henry Blackstock. The boy was sitting next to a slim boy with slicked back hair, they had both watched William when he had entered the room. William gulped, the bully was already making friends, this was great, William thought, just great.
Mr. McAllister, as his Charms teacher was named, explained that while Charms was the subject with the most wand waving and spell learning this didn't mean that people would get by with non-sense. "Charms," He said firmly, "Is a serious subject, the work of precision and concentrated effort. Expect to work hard in my class, as I do not care for lolly gagging and horse play." He surveyed all of his students, letting his eyes rest on a few of them including William when he said this.
William had to gulp when Sarah leaned over and whispered, "Jeez, this guy's pretty uptight."
"I'll have you know Ms. Klein that there is nothing wrong with my hearing," McAllister said from the front of the room. Sarah jumped a little in her seat when he said this. "I'll let you slide on the first day, but speak out of turn in my class again and there will be consequences," He let his eyes run over all of his students, "That goes for all of you." As he ended his harsh expectations speech he went on to explain that in the first few weeks they would be concentrating on the simplest of levitation charms and how this along with other simple charms they would learn throughout the year would form the framework around which all of their charms' knowledge would be built.
William left the class quickly, shaking his head at Sarah who mouthed sorry as he passed by McAllister and felt the old teacher's scowl following him down the hall. Somehow within one class period he had already displeased his Charms teacher. He mounted up the stairs to the top floor where he entered a large hall where a lot of students were crammed around work stations facing the front of the classroom. Once more, William quickly found Chris and sat on the stool next to him.
William looked toward the front of the large room where on a raised platform their stood a young woman, probably about the same age as Mr. C, who waved out to the class as people filed in, "Good afternoon class." There were a few poor returns of the greeting, and she once again called out, "Good afternoon class." This time everyone responded and she smiled, "Much better. Class, I'm Ms. Newman and I'll be teaching you potions this year." She launched into an explanation of how they would be learning all about the important techniques and simple potions over the following year. William found himself very excited as she explained that they would be making lots of things, and really rolling up their sleeves and getting work done. As he closed his notebook, he smiled, potions was already reminding him of science back at his old muggle school but he was going to be doing a lot more than he ever did then. As he made his way back to his dorm room with Chris, William smiled, school was already off to a great start, and all he had to do was keep a positive attitude and things were going to be great.