Coming into the magical world from outside was not easy. Aeris Gainsborough's induction into the Nibelheim School for Witches and Wizards had begun soon after receiving the (surprising) acceptance letter with a personal visit from a Professor. There were two conversations that day. One for Aeris and her mother - and one for her mother alone. Aeris listened into the second, some of it strange at the time. There would be a certain amount of prejudice from some quarters and some students - potentially some faculty too. Other students came from families steeped in lore and with the chance to practice spellwork before attending school.
Aeris would need to prepare for failure. Prepare to crumble under the pressure. To be unable to unlearn the intricacies of her life up until this point and instead learn of the hidden layer in the world - and reconcile the two. If she failed- The Professor's tone grew serious as she assured Mom it would likely not come to it. Aeris was a bright girl and ranked (via some oblique mechanism no other child had an insight into) above a good number of the traditionally born witches and wizards. Mom said nothing of the conversation after the teacher left. She was more concerned with the shopping trips and preparation. Meeting up with their contact to get their first glimpse at this other world; how to change the family's gil into something else.
The witching world - for want of a better description - was not wholly a surprise on their first visit to the hidden shopping district. It was oddly inline with Aeris's own assumptions of the world offset from present day by a century or more. Though not that simple either; these people had no Mako reactors or mobile phones. But they made use of electricity and most of the younger generation could pass through mundane society without attracting a second look. Curious. Books were still paper and cardboard - they also tended to include images that would shift or photographs that would move.
Some witches and wizards stared with disdain as their guide showed them around; conversely it was hard not to stare back. At the red-furred creatures running the banking system. At the proliferation of so many people dressed how she might have imagined a wizard or witch would. Pointy hats. Cloaks. Robes. There were cauldrons and dried ingredients. A whole shelf of phonebook sized volumes of histories and theories - Aeris read those avidly. And of course, the wands.
Here reality deviated more sharply from fiction. A wand was ultimately little more than a container for Materia. Each Materia represented a class of spell. With skill, dediction and time, a witch could hope to retain the knowledge from the Materia and no longer require them or the wand. Over time. For the meantime, a witch needed to use their wand to cast spells. The wand size increased with a witches magical ability; from a short section allowing for four spheres to something the length of a quarterstaff; typically only found in the hands of the older and most famous witches.
Wands were easy to come by; Materia less so. Obtaining it required a number of licenses and the completion of at least the first four years at the school. Another area where her outsider status came with limitations; established families could and did allow for the new students to handle and practice with Materia well in advance of the school beginning. Aeris was not about to allow that to slow her down either.
But while she was not allowed Materia - and would gain her first chance to cast magic later - the wand revealed something hereto unsuspected. The white rock, the sole memento of her real mother was the precise shape and size of one of the Materia slots in her first wand. Aeris made no move to mention this to anyone during shopping. She did not reveal it to her mother either. She waited until it was time for bed - and when she was sure her mother was sleeping.
Sure enough, the white sphere slotted into the wand without problem. Her heart thudding in her chest, Aeris re-read the instructions in the course text, hefted the wand upright and reached out. Nothing. She closed her eyes and willed the Materia to respond. Still nothing. She re-read the text. No step missed or incorrect procedure. Clenching her teeth she tried once more. Still nothing.
A few possibilities; only one of them of any comfort. Perhaps the sphere was not Materia. The size and shape could be coincidence. Disheartening, but plausible; none of the books mentioned any Materia of that colour. The next possibility was that despite all the assurances, she was not intrinsically gifted with magical abilities. That after all this she would be unable to learn anything at the school. That one did not bear thinking about, though it was near impossible to stop now. Last was the most optimistic; perhaps there was something more she had yet to learn. Something the school could teach her. Time would tell.