It is way too late at night. I only have 1042 words left before I win and hit 30k, but I have a hen do tomorrow, hence why I bashed this out even though it's REALLY LATE. and shit.

They first heard about it during sixth year. It popped up from time to time in the Daily Prophet, which Ray and Hilary both got delivered every morning. A new school for witches and wizards. It was a novelty, but not an innovation: new independent schools popped up quite often, according to the Prophet. None of them had lasted longer than the seven year span of one cohort yet in the United Kingdom.

The Prophet hypothesised that this was due to the reputation, tradition and routine of Hogwarts. Many parents would never dream of sending their children anywhere else. They were sceptical of the capabilities of a school which wasn't Hogwarts. When assured that all of its teachers had been to one or another of the great magical schools worldwide, these parents generally expressed their bewilderment that those teachers hadn't been sensible stayed there. "Why don't they just open a new building in Hogwarts?" one irate middle aged witch was quoted as saying.

Yes, the general view of new schools was that they were either massive cons set up to collect money and ruin the children, or that they were an idealistic dream of perfection that was doomed to fail. After reading reports like these in the news day after day, Ray and Hilary, and anyone else who leafed through their copies of the paper, could be forgiven for putting it completely to the back of their minds to get lost somewhere in the cobwebs. After all, they had started their NEWTs now. They had important things to focus on.

It took Kai a long time before he too saw an article about this new school. Nearly three months. In his defense, he didn't read the newspaper on principle. His grandfather was a majority shareholder. He knew how much of it was lies and propaganda. Eventually, though, months later, he happened to be staring blankly at the table as his brain whirred fruitlessly away at an essay, and what his gaze was resting numbly on was that page in the Prophet.

"CLASH OF THE HEADMASTERS?" screamed the title. Kai didn't find out what the main body of the report was about. He didn't need to.

He'd just seen the name.

The British Educational Gathering of Arcane_. Headmaster: Boris Balkov.

That night, Kai didn't sleep. He did try. It wasn't a good idea.

After several days of trying to sleuth around himself, Kai gave in and gritted his teeth and went to his grandfather. If anyone would know, surely it was him.

"Well?" he asked, kneeling in the Gryffindor common room fireplace with his head in the Floo fire at three o'clock in the morning. His grandfather looked the same as ever despite the hour. He wasn't even dressed for bed. When Kai was much younger he had often wondered if the man was actually a vampire.

"None of my business." His grandfather shrugged and brushed off his robes in a gesture that looked so casual that it must be planned. Everything that man did was planned. "I'd heard of the school, of course, long before the Prophet got their desperate little fingers on it, but no, Balkov hasn't approached me for funding or advice in any capacity." He frowned. "That does surprise me, I must admit." Kai's mind boggled. It must be the late hour. Grandfather never admitted ignorance. "I wasn't aware Boris had the business acumen to pull off something of this scale."

"Of this scale?" Kai repeated. Damn, he knew that he should have read the article more closely … He could feel his grandfather's eyes on him, could see the smirk without needing to look. The old man touched the Floo fire and the room began to dissolve.

"Do try to be in possession of all of the facts before you come to me again, boy." His voice drifted, ghostlike, through the closing connection.

"Hey Hilary," Kai asked the following morning at breakfast, "can I have a look at that when you're done?" He nodded at the Prophet. Hilary looked surprised. Before she could reply, Tyson had loudly pointed out that he always read Hilary's newspaper after her, and Max had made a joking comment about wanting to make a paper hat out of it.

They still acted like children. For a long second Kai wanted to shout at them all, to scare them half as badly as he was scared. But he squashed the impulse. It wasn't their fault. They didn't know a quarter of what Balkov had done when he was at Hogwarts in second year. He should let them have their fun, and their time of being unafraid. While they could.

Anyway, Ray had slid his copy across the table after taking out the puzzles at the back. So Kai read, and found out a little more.

The school, which was persistently referred to by the acronym BEGA, didn't have a large student body yet, but it was growing at an astounding rate. The school boasted a sleek new building, filled with top quality brand new magical technology "straight from the Ministry itself". It took students from ten, rather than eleven, and kept them until they had passed the exit exams.

But most importantly, it offered scholarships. Not the piddly little hardship fund that Hogwarts offered – Kai knew from Ray how little that money really stretched to – but an all-expenses paid free ride. Wands, school supplies, travel to and from school for the holidays, school trips, monthly pocket money … everything.

That explained their sudden pupil number explosion, then. People did love a free ride. Despite all the warning signs still blaring in his head, Kai relaxed slightly. He was certain that the popularity would wear off once a few months had gone by and parents had had the time to interrogate their children about their studies. There was no chance in hell that BEGA's standard of education was higher than at Hogwarts, with its thousand years of experience.

So he too let the issue fade to the back of his mind. It never grew cobwebs – waking abruptly every couple of nights dreaming of elder keeps related memories quite fresh, thank you – but it faded.

That is, until seventh year started. They all sat down for the Sorting. The line of tiny terrified first years trooped ten of them.

To say conversations broke out in the Hall was an understatement. The huge room roared with shock and speculation. An icy rock lodged itself in Kai's gut.

"They've gone to BEGA," he said under his breath to Ray on his let.

"They aren't the only ones," Max said from his right side. "Look." He nodded towards the section of the table which had been occupied last year by the fifth years. This year's sixth years. There were less of them than before.

"They're going to BEGA for their NEWTs." Kai's head spun. Suddenly he wished that he'd paid a lot more attention last year. "We need to do something, guys."

All opinions welcome!

xIlbx