The crowd of anxious first-years strolled past a huddle of coniferous trees. Hana could still swear as though there whispers all around them - as though the trees were talking.
"The kids these years," one said.
"I know I say it every year, but they keep getting smaller and smaller," said another.
"And skinnier, most of them look like they're famished."
"Skinny, you think? I say this country's obesity levels are through the roof!"
A sound that could only be described as a collective groan seemed to come from the surrounding trees. She also heard a distant voice hiss "Not this again, Gerald."
As the ape-man led the pack of thoroughly confused children forward, they came to a limestone staircase that led up to a set of tall double doors, flanked on both ends by ornate, glittering granite statues - one of a man and the other of a woman. Another hairy creature like the one at the train station knelt at the base of the woman's statue, polishing it with a soapy rag. The creature sneered at the children as they walked up the staircase toward the double doors.
At the doors was Miss West in a long, flowing black robe with a magenta shawl wrapped around her. She wore a pointed black hat with a peacock feather sticking out of it. She seemed to notice Hana immediately, and her smile grew bigger that well-defined her laughter lines. The students stopped just at the landing and their own hushed whispers slowly came to a halt.
A girl with bouncing blonde curls nearly pushed into Hana as she stopped. She briefly glanced at Hana, huffed, then rolled her eyes. Hana furrowed her brow, and then rolled her own eyes, but returned her attention front.
"Welcome, boys and girls, to Ilvermorny," Miss West said. "Thank you for taking them this far, Barnabas!" She waved behind them to the large ape-man that guided them up the mountain. "I'll see later tonight."
"Yes, yes, Mrs. West!" The big thing shouted back. "And bring pie!"
"It's just 'Miss' and…" She laughed. "Yes, of course I'll bring pie."
He laughed, a sound which shook the nearby trees, and he bounce-skipped away back the way they came.
"I always bring pie," she said, shrugging. She cleared her throat. "Now, I trust you all found yourselves well?"
Everybody nodded, muttering and whatnot.
"Good. Now, before we go inside, I will tell you a bit about our history. A long time ago, when the English came to the New World, a woman, a witch, named Isolt Sayre came. She came to escape another life, a terrible life. And when she did escape it, she found a new one. One made with love, and friendship, and community. With her new family, she made a school for magic, and over the years this school grew and grew, until it became a castle, and the most well known school for witchcraft and wizardry in the Americas."
Hana noticed that the hairy creature polishing the statue of what she now could only assume was Isolt Sayre, he stopped polishing and had his full attention on Miss West.
"Today, we carry on her tradition of teaching magic, and family. Here you will each be represented by four houses, and while you're here your houses will be like your family. Good deeds and remarkable feats will win you points, and any rule-breaking will lose you points. At the end of the year the house with the most points is awarded the house cup.
"Doubtless there are many of you who already know what the houses are, but for those of you without the privilege - they are Thunderbird, Horned Serpent, Pukwudgie, and Wampus." She seemed to glance at Ronan when she mentioned Wampus. "Emblems of the natural magical order in the Americas. Chosen by the founders of Ilvermorny themselves - Isolt Sayre, who chose the Horned Serpent, James Steward who chose the Pukwudgie, Chadwick Boot who chose the Thunderbird, and Webster Boot who chose the Wampus. The four creatures are sacred on these grounds-"
The hairy creature snorted as though it found this statement funny, put his rag into a nearby bucket, and walked off.
Miss West shook her head at this and continued. "-and as such, we must ask that you do not provoke them when approached. Now while we promote a healthy dose of house rivalry, we do encourage you that all houses are like family. For it is as it was centuries ago, it shall be so on this day, these houses are united by the blood of our ancestors and by the bonds of a family made of broken people.
"You will be sorted by the Gordian Knot at the center of the Grand Cupola, enchanted and imbued with the forces of the four houses. At the four edges of the chamber are statues of the four emblems of Ilvermorny. When you walk up to the Gordian Knot, you are to place your hand over it, and let the houses choose you." A murmur came from some of the students. "Yes, that's right. It's possible that they may all choose you."
Dead silence.
"But here in Ilvermorny, it is not by fate you are chosen, but by destiny. By will. Even if all four houses choose you, you must decide where you will go. What path you will follow, what journey calls out to you. I know it may seem scary to make a decision like that, but trust yourself. Trust who you are. Trust your power. The thing inside you, that guides you, that knows you, it will never lead you astray." She nodded. "Now, wait out here for a moment." She turned, opened one of the double doors and went inside, closing it behind her.
As the muttering of every first-year began up again, Hana felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to her left behind her and saw that Ronan had made his way to her. She groaned and turned forward.
"Hey, hey!" He said. "I don't think you're giving me a fair shake!"
Hana turned back to him, her eyebrows raised.
"Look, I swear, I didn't mean anything by your friend on the train."
Abby overheard and looked back to Ronan. "Who's he?"
Roddy noticed this and turned back as well.
"Um, I-" Ronan began.
"This," Hana cut him off. "Is Ronan. He acted very rude to Roddy on the train before you showed up."
"Nuh-uh, really?" Abby said.
"Okay, seriously," Ronan said. "I don't even know him!"
"Yeah you don't know him," Hana said. "Maybe get to know him before deciding you're better than him just cause he's born from no-majs."
The other girl just behind Hana's right shoulder giggled. Hana didn't feel like acknowledging that.
"Hey," Ronan said. "It's not my fault we're born from different families! I just meant that it's easy to tell who's born from a no-maj or not. What's up with getting defensive about that?"
"Because, he's my friend! And you make it sound like it's easy to tell like it's a bad thing."
"How does it sound like it's a bad thing."
Before Hana could respond, the other girl made an "ahem" sound. "Well," she said, condescendingly. "If you ask me, it just sounds like she thinks being all-magic is the bad thing here. What's wrong with being pure-blooded?"
"I didn't say it was wrong?" Hana replied, dumbfounded she even asked the question. "What does that have to do with what he said?"
The girl giggled again, this time with a bit of a squeak. She pushed past Hana and Abby. "Well, it's just that if there's something so wrong with us pure-bloods picking out a noborn in a crowd," she stepped up onto the landing, and faced Hana. "Then there's clearly something wrong with us, right?"
A couple kids that were standing in front of Hana and Abby moved back, making Hana move forward a bit.
"My name is Darby, by the way? Darby Fischer."
"Funny," Hana said. "I don't think I asked." She crossed her arms.
Roddy leaned forward. "Hana, really, you don't-"
"Yeah, Hana," Darby said. "Really, don't." She crossed her arms, seemingly mocking Hana's stance. "Because you wouldn't want to pick a fight with the wrong kinds of people. But I'm willing to put that behind me, if you are. After all, some people just aren't worth it." She glanced briefly at Roddy, and Hana could feel the glance. "You can pick them out in a crowd."
Hana glared at Darby, then smirked. "Yeah, some people aren't worth it."
Darby raised her eyebrows.
"Picked one out just now." Hana winked, then moved backward, looping her arms through Roddy and Abby's.
Darby pursed her lips and her face turned red.
One of the double doors opened with a loud creak and Darby jumped. She hurried back into the crowd and Miss West came out, smiling widely.
"We're ready for you now, follow me." She turned, and pushed the stone double doors with ease, opening up to a grand granite and marble cupola chamber.
The crowd of first-years followed inside after her, marveling at the grandeur of the chamber. The columns stood tall and rigid, carved with an assortment of American magical creatures. The floor was paved and polished with a reddish marble and ringed designs etched into a circle that spanned the entirety of the chamber. An ornate, glittering chandelier hung from he ceiling past a circular second-story mezzanine. Hana looked up and could see the older students watching from the mezzanine.
"This way, kids. This way."
Hana looked back to Miss West, who was now standing still near the center of the chamber, point and gesturing to the right of the crowd and toward a short corridor that was off to the side of the cupola chamber. Hana looked behind Miss West and could see a circular platform decorated in mahogany and a violet ornamental rug. Standing at its center was a mahogany and golden-ladened perch, holding an incredibly thin pedestal that had, at its tip, what looked like a small golden brooch.
At each corner of the circular part of the chamber was a wooden statue. One seemed to look like a panther or mountain lion with a long, whip-like tail and six legs. Another looked like one of the hairy creatures Hana had seen already here on the grounds. Another was clearly a snake with a horn-shaped head with spikes on it as well as its long, winding tail. The fourth was a large bird, it seemed to resemble an eagle and glittered the most of the statues - its wings were spread big and wide.
The students made their way to the right of the cupola and into the relatively small corridor, that seemed to lead into a tower. Several people who looked like school staff were at the edge of the corridor's cut-off from the tower area.
"Now," a deep, masculine voice shouted from the corridor's entrance into the cupola. Hana looked toward the source and saw a man in a deep cranberry mortarboard robe with a beige executive suit peeking underneath. The robe was being held together by what seemed to be an intricately woven knot, one that resembled the brooch on the middle of the cupola chamber. His hair was a bright blond, gelled and combed neatly. His eyes were a piercing sharp blue, and his gaze was cool and steely as he watched the corridor fill with students. "Before we begin the Godrian Sorting Ceremony, each student called will have to come up behind me to collect their wand."
A person in a sharply-fashioned executive suit sitting at a long wooden table behind the man, cluttered with rows and columns of narrow wooden boxes, stood up awkwardly and waved slightly before quickly sitting back down.
The man turned briefly to the person, then turned back to the students. Hana made a note that he seemed to be about the same age as Jeremy, krazy kab driver, if not maybe a few years younger. When the corridor had been filled by every last student. He nodded his head, then pulled out a long scroll from within his robe. He held the scroll steady, reading it carefully.
He called out, shushing the murmuring voices, even from above in the mezzanine. "Jonah Baccnadaes!" His voice echoed throughout the chamber. A boy came out of the crowd, his skin was copper and his short helmet-hair was black, and was guided by an old-looking pale skinned man in brown robes that made him look like he was wearing a sack, toward the long wooden table.
As the man in cranberry robes made to call out another name, Jonah had already started with his wand testing, apparently blowing something up in front of the person in the executive suit. "Nope!" They shouted, and snatched the wand from Jonah.
The man cleared his throat and continued. "Rodrigo Salvatore!"
Roddy tensed and barely moved forward until Hana and Abby pushed him forward.
The old man guided him to the table.
"This is so exciting!" Abby whispered to Hana as the man continued to call names.
When Jonah came to the middle of the cupola and up to the golden brooch at its center, the statue of the panther moved its slender shoulders and roared. Miss West called out that Wampus had selected him, and urged him toward the statue when none of the other statues moved. Claps and cheers came from above in the mezzanine.
"Ronan Eilonwy!"
Ronan, who was at the far side of the crowded first-years, moved out and toward the old man. Ronan looked back at Hana briefly before continuing on to the table of wands. There were murmurs and whispers when his name had been called, even some of it could be heard from the mezzanine. Hana rolled her eyes.
Roddy moved forward toward the center, placing his hand on the brooch just as Jonah did. There seemed to be an almost immediate reaction by both the Wampus statue and the statue of the hairy creature across the chamber from it. The creature's statue made a chirping noise and pounded the staff it was holding twice on the ground. The reactions startled Roddy.
After a moment of pause, Miss West announced that both Wampus and Pukwudgie had chosen him. Hana couldn't see his face, so couldn't see what his expression was, but she imagined he was a bit surprised at realizing that Wampus had shown interest in him. But Roddy nodded, taking his hand off the brooch, and made his way toward the Pukwudgie statue. Claps and cheers came from above the mezzanine.
After having called several names already, another familiar name to Hana had been called by the man: "Abigail Illis!"
Two boys voices could be heard cheering and whistling from the mezzanine as Abby came forward. She winced and sighed, following the old man's gestures. Hana smiled, figuring the cheers were coming from her older brothers.
As Abby finally got her turn to try out her wand, Ronan made his way to the center of the cupola. After placing his hand on the brooch, it took a couple of minutes until the Pukwudgie statue made its motion, its chirps echoed as the reality sunk in. Whispers began to sound, and even Hana seemed intrigued. Then, the Wampus statue roared, and the whispers died down somewhat.
After a moment of waiting, Miss West announced he had been chosen by both Pukwudgie and Wampus, and to decide between the two. Ronan took his hand off the brooch, and seemed to be thinking deeply about this decision.
Hana raised an eyebrow, curious as to why he hesitated. He had been so eager to talk openly about being a Wampus in Saglant Square, and about being descended from a long line of Wampuses. She could hear whispers increasing around her until she saw Ronan turn sharply toward the Wampus statue. Claps and cheers came from above the mezzanine.
Eventually, it was Abby's turn to go up to the brooch, and when she placed her hand onto it, the eagle statue gave a piercing caw and flapped its wings. After a moment, Miss West announced she had been chosen by Thunderbird. Claps and cheers came from above the mezzanine as she made her way toward the statue. A couple of those cheers seemed to come from rambunctiously louder boys yelling "Woo, Abby! Wooooo!"
Hana could imagine that Abby's face was red like a tomato.
"Hana Dow!"
She stopped grinning and suddenly her vision tunneled. It was her turn to go up. She walked forward slowly and toward the old man as the man in cranberry robes looked her, then did a double take - as though he thought he saw something else. His eyes lingered on her, his brows furrowed like he was confused by something. Then he shook his head and continued calling out names.
"This way, girl," the old man said. Hana thought he looked old, but then again she thought anyone older than twenty was old. Really, he just seemed to have salt and pepper hair, a receding hairline, and small glasses on the rim of his nose. His face seemed stoic - it betrayed no level of emotion and he waved her toward the table distractedly.
She came up to the long table with stacks of boxes with wands. The lady in the executive suit smiled at her. "Hello, Hana is it?"
Hana nodded.
"Ready to get your wand?"
Hana nodded again, vigorously.
The lady laughed. She picked up a box right next to her, opened it and presented it. It was a modest size, and very light-colored with some coral etched into an elaborate design much like Miss West's wand. " Cypress, dragon heartstring with coral."
Hana picked it up, and the lady pushed forward an apple.
"Just point to it and flick your wrist toward it."
"That's it?"
The lady nodded. "That's it."
Hana did as instructed.
The apple exploded, spraying apple mush all over the table.
"Okay… No… Not that one…" The lady quickly took the wand from Hana's hand and placed it back into its box. She pushed the box away and picked out another one on her right side from a stack on the far right. She opened it at presented it to Hana. "Here, try this one." It was reddish brown-colored with an ornate grip. "Redwood, wampus hair mixed laced with rougaru hair. A tough combination, but I think you can crack it."
Hana picked up. When the lady put another apple in front of her, she flicked her wrist toward it. All of the lady's papers flew up and away from the table and some of the boxes flew off as well. It made the student that went up to the brooch jump when some of the boxes flung toward her.
"Nope, definitely not!" She took the wand from Hana and put it back into its box. She mumbled something under her breath as she got up to recollect her papers.
"I can help…" Hana motioned to start picking up some of the papers.
"No! No, I got it! Just stay there!"
"Is everything okay?" The man in cranberry robes said, turned toward them.
"Yes, Mr. Oleander, everything is fine!" The lady said. "This one's just a bit too flourished and forceful in her magical talents. Needs some more channeling in her…" Her words stopped and she sat back down. "Maybe…" She pursed her lips and whirled around, picking up a box from underneath the table. "Told myself I was just kidding when I packed this. There hasn't been a student that benefited from a Thunderbird feather in years." She opened the box and pulled the wand out. It was a darker brown color with a simple grip and a polished body. "Bur oak wood, Thunderbird tailfeather. Very powerful, and very delicate, be gentle with it, sweetie."
Hana picked it up, and looked intently at it. It didn't seem too showy, at least not as showy as the other wands did. It actually seemed very plain. Yet still, Hana could feel an odd aura coming off of it, an alluring one, a feeling that seemed welcoming to her. The minute the lady placed the apple in front of her, the apple floated an inch off and Hana could feel a rush of wind blow past her, the wand vibrating briefly before the apple floated back down.
The lady nodded. "That's it. It's a great honor to hold a wand with an aura like that. It's a great channel for great wizards and witches. Congratulations."
Hana looked at her simple-looking wand as she was guided by the shoulders to her left toward the line of students going up to the brooch. She felt its power, she wasn't sure how to describe how she could. She simply did.
As she reached the edge of the chamber, she looked up, bringing her wand down to her side. As soon as the little boy in front of her had been sorted into Horned Serpent, beckoned by the snake statue, Miss West nodded to her and waved her forward. Hana walked up to Miss West.
"Having wand issues?" Miss West whispered, then chuckled. "You're finally here!"
"I know," Hana held her wand up. "Mine has a Thunderbird feather in it!"
"Ooh," Miss West said. "That's rare, been awhile since I've seen somebody with a wand like that." Miss West guided Hana toward the centerpiece. She gestured toward it. "Alright, Hana. Now go up to the Gordian Knot brooch. Place your hand over it, and let the houses choose you."
Hana nodded and walked up to the brooch. She took in a deep breath, let it out, then reached out. She took it in the palm of her hand, and then closed her fingers around it. She closed her eyes at first until she started to hear whispers inside her head.
Mmm. Another girl from the west. One voice said, hissing.
She's powerful. Another said gruffly. I admire that raw, untapped power.
She also has fairness. This voice was nasally. She's very outspoken, very independent.
We do like those that can stand up for themselves. A smooth, elegant voice said. Even more so if they stand up for others.
I can also see she's a clever girl, she sees more than most people think she does. The hissing voice said.
But we must all make a decision about her. The elegant voice said.
Yes, we do. The nasally one said.
We can all choose to have her. The gruff one said.
But may that be wise for any of us? The hissing one said.
All four of the voices muttered an agreement.
Then there was silence.
Hana blinked and looked up, looked around the chamber, and looked to Miss West.
Miss West was looking at her intently, and even Mr. Oleander had stopped reading the names aloud. Everybody was looking directly at Hana.
Hana turned a bit before Miss West shook her hand to stop.
"What?" Hana said. "What?"
"Just stay there," Miss West whispered. "Do not take your hand off the Gordian Knot. This hasn't happened in ages."
"What hasn't?"
"It's been ten minutes."
"Ten minutes?"
"Yes, it usually just takes five minutes for the houses to make a decision, max."
Hana raised an eyebrow. "How long can it last?"
Miss West tilted her head and scrunched up her face. "Um…" She squinted. "Two hours."
"Two hours?!"
"BUT! I am sure it will not take two hours for them to decide."
They waited for another five minutes.
"They still haven't decided!" Hana said.
"Just be patient, Hana-"
The Wampus statue roared and everyone jumped.
Hana looked at Roddy who seemed sad at this revelation.
"Oh, dear! Okay, well there you go, so Wampus House has-"
The Horned Serpent statue hissed and the tip of its forehead glowed, its body slithering slightly.
Miss West paused for a moment, then nodded. "So Wampus House and-"
The Thunderbird statue cawed and flapped its wings.
Whispers and mutterings came from all over the chamber, even among the staff. What happened? Hana wasn't sure why this was a big deal, dozens of students had been chosen by Thunderbird.
"Um…" Miss West said. "So… Wa-"
The Pukwudgie statue chirped and motioned with its staff.
The gasps and whispers of students and teachers rang out everywhere. Hana was getting nervous about the gawking and the attention.
"Alright…"Miss West began walking to the center, looking and gesturing around to everyone in the chamber to quiet down. "Alright now, everybody just calm down. She is only going to just one house at the end of this. Just simmer down." She walked up to Hana. "Hana, sweetie you can let go of the knot now." She whispered into her ear.
Hana let go of her grip, her knuckles were almost white from her tightly she was gripping it. She turned and looked up at Miss West. "Now what do I do?"
"Pick one."
"From all four? I thought I was just gonna get two at most. And apparently this is a big deal to everybody-"
Miss West shook her head. "No, Hana, don't…" She waved her hands. "Don't think about everyone else. This choice has nothing to do with 'em. It's all about you."
Hana chuckled. "Yeah that makes me feel better."
"Hana," Miss West crouched down to her eye level. "You have an opportunity most people don't have. You have an open road to walk down. Every lane is your lane. All you have to do is pick one and go. Don't think about it." Miss West stood back up and backed away slowly. "Just do it."
Hana let a breath go she didn't realize she had been holding in. She turned and looked at each of the houses. She looked at the children her age at the base of those statues. She saw a sea of faces. She could also make out Abby with the Thunderbirds, Roddy with the Pukwudgies, and Ronan with the Wampuses. She then thought of her mother - and for some reason the woman from one of summer dreams came to mind. She saw her and thought she wanted to be like her. What would this woman, maybe her mother, a practical stranger, what would she have picked?
Yet, something inside her was calling. Drawing her to a specific image in her sight. Guiding her feet toward the statue. She didn't quite know how to describe it, but she just knew it was a part of her. A voice in her head telling her it's where she was meant to go. The road she had to travel. The journey she had to take.
She made her way, slowly, hesitant at first, toward the Thunderbird statue and claps and cheers came from above the mezzanine. The students at Thunderbird also cheered her on and Abby hugged her tightly. "Wowie, really?! You picked Thunderbird?"
"Yeah," Hana said. She shrugged. "Something just told me to."
"Look," Abby said, pointing to her Ilvermorny pin, which was now different. In the middle, surrounded by flourished letters stating "ILVERMORNY ACADEMY FOR MAGIC & SPELLCRAFT", was a crest with a thunderbird on it. "The pin changes depending on which houses chose you and which you picked. Look at yours!"
Hana looked down at her pin and could see it had changed as well. The middle was the Thunderbird crest, but on the right side of the crest was a smaller crest with a Wampus, on the left was a Horned Serpent, and on the bottom was a Pukwudgie. Hana marveled at her new pin design.
After Hana were still several more students. She and Abby managed to stay together, but she lost Roddy in her sights as more kids gathered around the Thunderbird and Pukwudgie statues. The annoying girl, Darby, was only chosen by Wampus so she went to that house. There was another boy that came close to being chosen by all the houses like Hana, but he only stopped at three - and like Hana she chose Thunderbird. She didn't catch his name, though. At that point a lot of the students already sorted began intermingling and talking over each other so it was hard to hear what name Mr. Oleander was calling on the other side of the chamber.
Once all the students were sorted, Miss West and Mr. Oleander announced the first feast of the school year would be commencing in the Feast Hall. The staff ushered the first years down the corridor across from the corridor the students got their wands and toward a curved wall with wide double doors. They all walked through the double doors and entered a large, circular banquet hall with dozens and dozens of round, wooden tables.
At one end of the room was a long table with large throne-like seats around it. Some of the staff made their way to this table, and an old, withered man with a long grey beard wearing red and gold robes and a saggy red hat was sitting at one of the throne chairs in the middle of the table. The table was near a staircase that followed closely to the rounded edges of the room and went up to a second floor balcony that disappeared into a corridor. Hana presumed this room was the base of the big turret-looking tower she saw when they first hiked up to the castle. She saw some of the older students make their way out of the corridor and onto the balcony, heading for the stairs to come down and join the feast.
"Now," Miss West shouted. "First-years! There are no designated house tables, you are all free to sit with whoever you like, if you made any friends on the train and you're not in the same house don't worry! You can still sit together! It's just dinner, after all." She waved the students off and the students immediately bolted, gravitating more towards the older students that were waving over other students from their houses.
"Here, Hana," Abby tapped her on the shoulder. "The Thunderbirds are mostly sitting in that corner."
Hana nodded, then noticed Roddy sitting at a table by himself. It was on a side of the room furthest back from the teachers' table and seemed situated farther from most of the other tables. Hana skipped over to the table and smiled at Roddy. Abby followed her when she noticed Hana wasn't going toward the Thunderbirds.
"Hey," Hana said.
"Oh hey," Roddy said, quietly.
"Why are you sitting all by yourself? Why don't you go with the other Pukwudgies?"
"Um…" Roddy looked at a couple of the other tables Hana assumed were his house.
Hana looked to them and saw they were all very full, she imagined he tried to sit with them but just couldn't fit. "Oh." She turned back to Roddy.
Roddy shrugged. "Besides, I don't really know anyone. You didn't pick Pukwudgie." He winced after he said that. "Sorry, that's not fair."
"It's fine," Hana said. "You could get to know them."
Roddy shrugged. "Talking is hard for me, you know that. I'm not really the 'make friends' person."
"There's still some room with the Thunderbirds, I think," Abby said.
Hana looked at the corner of the room where the Thunderbirds were mostly located. "Hmm." She shrugged and sat down next to Roddy. "Yeah but I don't want Roddy to sit alone."
Abby shrugged. "Okay, I guess." She sat down next to Hana.
"Really?" Roddy said. "You guys wanna sit next to me instead of with your houses?"
"Sure," Hana said. "Miss West said we didn't have to sit with 'em."
"Yeah," Abby added. "Besides, you're also our friend. You shouldn't have to sit alone."
Roddy smiled, exposing a little gap in his front teeth. He chuckled. "Thanks, guys."
As the tables began to fill, a couple of stragglers that hadn't found anywhere to sit, especially some older students, made their way to their table. A couple of stray Horned Serpents came by, one Wampus student and a fair number of Thunderbirds and Pukwudgies joined them. One of them was an auburn-haired teenage boy with a lean torso and an angular face. He smiled brightly as he approached the table and surprised Abby by tickling her in her sides.
Abby laughed, then groaned as he took a seat next to her. She turned to Hana and Roddy. "Guys, this is my brother Jaime." The other two smiled and waved at him. "He's in fifth year." She turned to Jaime. "Jaime, this is Hana and Roddy. I met them on the train."
Jaime nodded to them. "Hi! Nice to meet ya. Good to know my sister's already made some new friends and school hasn't even started yet."
Abby turned to her friends. "Apparently he's been made a prefect this year."
"And, I'm co-captain of the quodpot team this year, too. Don't worry, I swear you guys can get some of the perks of knowing a prefect and a captain." He winked.
"What are those perks? Not getting detention if we get caught 5 minutes past curfew? Getting a twenty-percent discount at the concession stand at the quodpot pitch?" Abby teased, sticking her tongue out at him.
"Well, I swear there are!" A glass dinged from the teachers' table and the withered old man stood up and raised his hands. Jaime leaned in toward the three children as the noise of conversation died down. "That's the headmaster, Agilbert Fontaine. He's been headmaster since the 70s."
"He looks like he's about to pass out any moment," Roddy said.
"Yup, running a school for forty years'll do that to ya."
Roddy glanced at him and was about to say something until a couple of shushes cut him off.
Agilbert Fontaine waited for the whispers to cease before uttering a single world. "Before we begin our first of many feasts, a few start of term notices. First of them is a reminder many of our students are familiar with, to avoid Tower Thirteen as it is currently being renovated and vanquished of the phantasms that haunt its stairways and corridors."
Jaime leaned back to the children, his voice much more hushed. "It's always being renovated. There's too many phantasms in that tower to get rid of."
"Also," Fontaine continued. "The wyvern's lair in the dungeons is strictly forbidden to any who do not wish to die at its hands. Our groundskeeper Barnabas would also like to encourage students to freely explore the hiking trails in the Black Forest, but to remain on the path alone. While the forest is safe and has been cleared of many dangers to your lives, not everything is accounted for deep within the woods. Stay on the trail, and you will not die."
Several older students nodded and some murmured a show of respect. Hana and Roddy looked around flabbergasted. Even Jaime seemed somber.
"Another reminder made by our caretaker, Governor Wilson, to be mindful of curfew and of the awakule that have a tendency to be drawn to mischief at two in the morning. Also, to first-years if you wake up early and go out to the big courtyard and see mists glowing in strange iridescent colors never seen on this earth, filling your heart with dread and your mind with images of things best left forgotten, don't worry about it. It's just Lucy. You can walk through the mist, it's fine." He nodded, then sat down in his seat and raised a goblet in the air. "Let the feast begin!"
Just as dinner at the magical ward house, the food immediately appeared at the center of the tables. This time, though, the food was bigger, richer. Pounds and pounds of hams and turkeys, alongside buckets of fried chicken and pots of mashed potatoes, green peas, macaroni and cheese, plates with heaping helpings of wok and fried rice, spaghetti and lasagna, even some plates had piles of hamburgers and hot dogs and pizza. Hana, of course, dug in.
As the feast went on, several of the hairy creatures, which Hana knew now were the actual Pukwudgie creatures, came out to replace the plates and the bowls and the buckets with more helpings of food. Several ghostly apparitions floated in from all sides. At first Hana jumped, thinking they were phantasms, but realized they didn't look nearly as zombie-like, but more like people - grey and wispy though.
One female apparition in a flowing gown and her hair braided in a viking braid floated past their table and nodded. "How do you do?" She said, regally.
"Hello, Ms. Frieda." Jaime said.
"Well if it isn't Jaime Illis, spritely fellow." She turned to Abby. "And you must be the sister I hear so much about. I'm always happy to see an Illis attending school here. They're all the most daring in Thunderbird."
"I know you!" Roddy exclaimed, as though he'd caught a train of thought. "You're Frieda Morgenstern!"
Frieda turned to Roddy, smiling.
"Who?" Hana said.
"She's a patron of Thunderbird!" Roddy said. "One of the most famous and powerful warlocks of all time! She even founded the Tournament of Warlocks!"
"I'm flattered," Frieda said, a pep in her voice, "to have such a fan of my work, especially one whose house I'm no patron to. Most especially for one so young."
Roddy's cheeks reddened. "Well, there are a lot of books on you."
Frieda nodded to him, then to Hana, then to Abby and her brother. She floated away, making her way to the other tables.
Hana turned back to the others. "Patrons to the houses?"
Jaime shrugged. "That's just a title cause they're the most famous witches and wizards from those houses. Their ghosts haunt the grounds. You'll probably hear more about them eventually during a history class one year."
As the night drew a close, Agilbert Fontaine announced for prefects to guide first-years to the dormitories.
Jaime drummed his hands on the table and looked to Hana and Abby. "You guys ready?"
They nodded and hopped up, following him as he shouted for first-year Thunderbirds to follow him. Hana and Abby waved at Roddy, who waved back and quickly ran over to the Pukwudgie prefect.
A sea of young-wide-eyed students came and huddled around Jaime.
Jaime nodded. "Okay! Time to go!"
He turned and made his way to a set of wide double doors that led out into a granite-covered corridor. Through windows on the other side, it looked out to a vibrant-looking garden. Jaime and the Thunderbirds turned right and took the first left corridor. An entrance to the garden was on the left as they passed it.
"We're about to enter the sol wing for a little bit, that's where you'll find Responsive Magic in your schedules, which will be laying on your bedside table next to your beds in the common rooms. Also in the sol wing is the entrance to the Wampus dormitories."
As they came into a colonnade that seemed to be more of a single spacious chamber, they saw across the way an open lounge with a skylight above. They also saw a fireplace sitting area at the opposite end of the chamber and students hopping into the fire, completely disappearing. They made a right and entered a fairly narrow corridor.
Jaime pointed to the left as they passed a tall set of double doors. "This will be your Transformative Magic class."
Some of the kids "ooh'd" at this.
They turned and went up a large staircase that opened up to an open corridor with a mezzanine that looked down into a paved courtyard. Jaime turned and gestured for the students to follow, and they went up one of two staircases on either side of the staircase they just came up. Jaime led them through a wide entrance into a huge, lavish lounge area with stairs and entrance that led up into towers located at each corner of the building.
Jaime stood at another wide, opened entrance in the middle that led into another tower.
"This is, guys! Thunderbird Tower!" He gestured forward. "Quickly guys, come on."
All the students entered and saw the tower was huge, with a long winding staircase along the sides of the walls, as well as floating staircases leading to platforms that rose high up the tower. Some of these platforms were even going up and down, side to side. All of the first-years stopped dead as they looked above the tower.
Jaime laughed. "Don't worry, there's a trick to getting to the dorm." He gestured for everyone to follow him as he began climbing the winding staircase. "Someone's gotta show it to ya."
As they made their way up the staircase, Jaime stopped at a landing, then ushered everyone to get on a floating staircase that was coming by the landing. As soon as everybody got onto the staircase, it moved, coming toward a still platform. They all gathered onto a platform, and Jaime told them to get ready to get on a platform that was gliding toward the one they were standing on. They did as he instructed.
Suddenly another platform came up from below beside the new platform, and Jaime ushered them to get on before either platforms moved again. As soon as they got onto the new platform, it shot up, passing by rows and rows of the winding staircase. Soon, it came to a slow as a moving, floating staircase came by and the students rushedly got onto it. The platform shot back down and the staircase moved itself to a landing that had an ornately golden designed set of double doors. Jaime walked up to the door, knocked three times and shouted "Pickled ferret".
The double doors opened and the students came into a small squared part of a much bigger room. The feeling of a cool breeze swept them up. Jaime led them up a small set of stairs and into the rest of the room, which overlooked the entry of the common room by a granite-and-marble polished banister.
The rest of the room was made of limestone and cherrywood, with gold covering almost every inch of the place as well. A fireplace rested to the left of the entrance, across the room was a hollowed out nook with bookcases and a long table where some students were doing homework already. To the right seemed to be entrances to two sets of bathrooms. In the center of the room was a large, crystal globe with dots lighting certain areas of the globe. A lot of dots were concentrated on America, Canada, and Mexico, but some dots were highlighted at other parts of the globe, particularly in Europe, China, Japan, and in some Middle Eastern countries.
A staircase to the left following the curve of the wall led up to a landing and balcony above the nook with bookcases. Jaime pointed to them and said they led to the boys' and girls' dormitories. Several older students that had already begun taking up places to sit around the common room said hello to the first-years and talking about their homework assignments they were given over the summer (and had yet to even start).
Hana looked at the globe, puzzled by it.
"It's based on country of origin," Jaime said, as Hana turned to him. "Both for students in Ilvermorny born in America, as well as where their families come from. A lot of European ancestry for some of us."
Hana nodded up to the globe. "And what about China and stuff?"
"Foreign exchange programs. We're popular in Asia."
Later that night, Hana and Abby stayed up talking excitedly. Hana had found her schedule for class in a couple of days right where Jaime said she would. Both she and Abby had Magizoology, Charms, and Transformative Magic together. Hana asked for a clarification on some of the classes.
"Transformative Magic means we'll be learning like, transfiguration and stuff," Abby said.
Hana shook her head. "Still don't know what that means."
"Basically like using our magic to turn objects into something else, making statues and stuff move, animating things and casting complicated enchantments on rooms and animals and stuff. I think they even help teach us how to become an animagus."
Hana blinked at her. "A. What."
Abby laughed and shook her hand. "Baby steps, Hana."
"Right," Hana chuckled. "Responsive Magic?"
"Using magic to cast offensive and defensive spells. You know, learning to use magic in the case of an emergency."
"Oh cool." Hana scanned her schedule. "Ooh! Alchemical magic? We're gonna learn to do anime stuff?"
"Don't know what anime is, but alchemy is just using the elements and nature and stuff to do magic and spellcraft. And before you ask, Magizoology is studying magical creatures."
"Actually I knew that. You know - "magic", "zoo", I put two and two together."
"This is gonna be so much fun! Can't wait to find out what Roddy got!"
"I know!"
Lulu meowed and Hana realized he'd already managed to get out of his cage again. He strolled by the couch they were sitting on, hopped up and sat down on Hana's lap. He turned and looked at Abby, nodded and meowed an acknowledgement of her presence.
"Oh you brought a cat," Abby said, not hiding her disappointment well.
"Yeah, hey didn't you say you brought a dog, or something?"
"YES!" Abby practically screamed. She stood up. "I'll go get her!" She sped up the stairs fast. She'd been gone for barely two minutes until she had returned with a small, white Scottish terrier-looking dog, only at his rear were instead two, small wagging tails whipping into each other. "It's a crup, a special kind of magical dog. It's got two tails, super strength, a real nasty bite, and a loud sonic bark that breaks the sound barrier." She held up the little danger death dog up. Its eyes were wide and curious, its tongue flooped out with a hearty pant and looked at Hana gleefully and absentmindedly. She made smooching noises and looked at Hana. "Her name is Paprika." There was nothing about this dog to indicate that it should have been named Paprika.
"She's adorable!" Hana squealed. "Wait, what's a crup?"
"Well, like I said magical dog. Nothing too special. They were originally bred to identify and even attack no-majs but that's a long time ago." She held the crup up to her face. "Now the worst thing she does is bark like a siren, yes she does." Her voice changed as though she was referring to a baby. "Yes she does!" Paprika licked her face and Abby laughed.
Abby put Paprika onto the couch and it scuttled its little feet up to Hana, sniffing her leg and her elbow. She then rubbed her head over her leg as Hana then pet her. Paprika sniffed and licked Hana's arm, making her laugh at how much it tickled. Then Paprika noticed Lulu and hopped up her front paws onto Hana's lap. She leaned in to sniff Lulu, who swat at his snout and hissed.
"Lulu!" Hana said.
Lulu looked up at her.
"Be nice to Paprika, she ain't doin' nothing to you!"
Lulu meowed several syllables as if he was stating his case.
"Don't talk back to me."
Lulu stopped. Then he made what sounded like a huffing noise and looked back at Paprika, who was simply sitting upright panting with a dumb grin on her face. Lulu meowed and nodded to Paprika.
Paprika tilted her head, her ears perking up.
"Thank you, Lulu," Hana said.
Lulu made a muttering meow noise and looked at the fireplace.
"Your cat is weird," Abby said.
Lulu turned his head sharply and glared at Abby.
Hana patted him on the head. "We should go and get some sleep."
"You said it," Abby said.
They went to the girls' dormitory and Hana got ready for bed. She wasn't sure how she was going to sleep tonight, considering she felt as though her dreams were tied to the dreamcatcher - which she purposefully left at the ward house this time to test her theory out. If she had any dreams at all this time, she'd know that the dream with the dark figure and the strange man was real. That there was something weird going on with her life - she'd had the dreamcatcher ever since she was a baby and only until she forgot it at the orphanage did she start having dreams period.
She hadn't known a lot about where she came from - only that Mrs. Ringer and Ms. Brookes had found her on their doorstep with only an unsigned letter and a dreamcatcher. Ever since that dream at the magical ward house she began to wonder if there was more to her past than she realized. After all, she came from a magical family but was kept in a no-maj orphanage. Why? The dreamcatcher was proof, she thought, that there was something deeper. Possibly even something to do with the mysterious shadowy figure. And she knew for certain that Miss West had to have answers.
After all, Miss West was the one who seemed to even know she existed. Both the intern at the M.A.C.U.S.A. office and the Haymitch man seemed perplexed that Hana wasn't registered, or however they called it. Her dreams had also recalled something Hana felt was a memory - a memory of something bad. She wasn't sure how, but something was telling her Miss West knew something about her past. She even confirmed that her mother was a witch - a Thunderbird.
And now Hana was in Ilvermorny. She surely wanted to go a perfectly spectacular magical school to learn magic, but she also wanted to learn more about her family. Her mother. And in a school of magic, all things are possible. Maybe then it would be possible for her to finally find out who she really was, and what the Shadow Man had to do with it.
