Hermione woke up the next morning at dawn to the sounds of the four other girls in her age group getting ready for the day and the morning sun peeking through the curtains. Blearily opening her eyes she saw the girl Phaet Tousilee brushing her long gleaming blonde locks with her fingers humming softly. A small creature like the ones Hermione had seen on her way here was cautiously getting into a small dress, looking around nervously like someone would hurt her. One girl with pale amber eyes that seemed to shift colors in certain lights was reading a book. Another girl has sea-green hair that seemed almost black was dressed in what seemed to be a wetsuit with a loose dress over it, her hair still wet from showering. None of them are in robes, Hermione notices and so feels okay to dress in jeans and a grey blouse. The familiar clothes help to boost her confidence.
Getting down from the tower to get to the mess hall is an adventure, to say the least. When the professor, a short half goblin named Jaggedtooth, had taught them how to get into the tower he had offhandedly mentioned that the towers had no doors, just windows with the common room actually having a ledge that students entered and exited through. The only problem with this was that the ledge was at the top of the tower with all the dorms below it. To get up the tower; Jaggedtooth explained, one had to step into a circle of runes drawn at the base of the tower below the ledge and speak the word 'up'. A current of air then lifted you to the ledge and you could enter the tower. Getting down though, that hadn't been explained. Hermione realized she should have paid more attention to how Jaggedtooth had gotten down and less attention to the people also in East Tower with her.
Though it was nice being able to get to know everyone. Though knowing the names of her year mates, and the names of a few of the older students didn't help much when they were all gathered onto the ledge trying to figure out how to get down.
Draco Malfoy apparently the son of the lady who had donated spell books to Haven Cross; and who apparently couldn't shut up about it, was actually the one to figure out how to get down. It was more of an accident really, someone had apparently gotten tired of his boasting and pushed him. He stumbled and toppled over the edge. Everyone was silent, worried he had died mostly until they saw the blond boy walking over the bridge that led to the central island.
After seeing that Draco was fine Phaet was the next one to jump. After that, the rest of the students in the tower started jumping off. It was like those two students jumping had been the trigger for the rest of them to see that it was okay to do something so crazy; like jumping off a tower and surviving was natural.
'Magic is crazy. Awesome, powerful, and crazy. If it can allow people to survive a fall that would normally kill, what can't it do?!' Hermione thought as she watched.
The girl with shifting eyes that had introduced herself as Sylvia, American,were-cat, born to two No-Majs, came up beside Hermione.
"Well, that was unexpected. Honestly, I was expecting a bit more gore. I wonder if one can die from hitting the clouds hard. And what enchantment was used on the clouds to keep them solid? Anyway… I'm scared of jumping from up high. Always have been. Even if I see others doing it and being just fine. So I was wondering if you would jump with me?" She said looking down, letting her black hair hang around her face as if to hide her from the truth of her admission.
Hermione nodded. She was scared of heights and honestly was not looking forward to jumping from this high up. Sylvia seemed like someone she could become friends with. And since she had been told friendship was a two-way street, she decided to share something.
"I'm positively terrified of heights. Yesterday I was so in awe of all the magic that I thought that I couldn't be scared, but today… I'm half afraid I'm going to freeze up at least until I'm certain that the ground won't drop out from under me. So, I'd be really grateful if you know you would jump with me, and maybe walk with me? Just for a bit?" Hermione said, letting a little bit of fear and desperation slip into her voice.
Sylvia looked up and nodded, reaching out a hand. Hermione understood what Sylvia wanted and slipped her hand into hers. Together they approached the edge and before either of them could back out, jumped.
The clouds they landed on where soft and Hermione let out a sigh of relief that they hadn't died, echoed by Sylvia. Pushing themselves to their feet Sylvia and Hermione activated a trail that would lead them to the mess hall.
As promised Sylvia stuck by her until they got to the mess hall and sat at a table with Draco, Phaet, and Vivvie, the house elf that shared the dorm with Hermione and the others. Hermione could see Neville sitting with a table of what she assumed where his dorm-mates, and relaxed because he looked happy. When he looked over at her she smiled warmly at him. Hopefully, friendships between towers were allowed, from their limited interactions Hermione thought that she be good friends with the shy boy.
The mess hall looked normal with small circular tables that could seat ten comfortably scattered around a large open space with a pool in the middle of the floor; Hermione assumed it was for the sirens and large windows that let natural light into the open space. It managed to feel open while at the same time giving off vibes of a large cafe. Hermione was less nervous, probably because there was stone under her feet and not clouds.
On the walk over Hermione could have sworn the clouds shifted and she was walking only on hardened air and light. But before she could panic the cloud had shifted back and everything was normal again. Hermione could almost think she had imagined it; except Sylvia had turned to her and asked whether she thought the clouds where what they were walking on or if they were walking on air. So Hermione knew that she had seen the same thing, Sylvia never said things straight out she twisted her observations into questions to see if others were at the same conclusions or mental reasoning as her, in an effort to not stand out. While Hermione knew things and was proud of her knowledge, Sylvia while just as smart she as more into guiding people to the answer she had achieved while seeming just as average as the rest of them. Hermione wanted to ask why but was afraid that it was a too personal question for someone she had met less than 24 hours ago, but on the course of the morning, Hermione felt she had sown seeds of friendship. Honestly, two almost friends were more than she had ever had in her life, the children at her previous school had never quite understood her and were nervous of the things that she could cause to happen. Neville and Sylvia both had magic like her to Hermione that was as good a start to a friendship as any. Sylvia also had a healthy fear of doing logic-defying stunts and was born into a non-magical family like her. She was also in the same tower as her, so logically(Hermione prided herself on her ability to be logical) she was the best option to start with in terms of friendship. Honestly, Hermione wanted to pick Sylvia's head, or Phaet's, part-Veela, can you imagine! Or Vivvie, the small house-elf she shared a dorm with, she wondered how house-elves were treated and how she had just popped away from the tower. Or Anahita's the last girl in her dorm who was a siren and who never spoke around others for fear of enchanting them, but didn't want to pry.
As Hermione wondered on how best to build friendships with the others in her dorms chatted, except Anahita who sat watching with large eyes. Hermione was snapped out of her musings by Professor Jaggedtooth who was handing out the schedules of each of the students in East Tower.
Hermione took hers and looked it over:
Monday
Introduction to the Magical World 8:30-10:00 am
Basic Charms 10:05-11:55 am
Lunch 12:00 am-1:00 pm
Basic Potions 1:05- 3:00 pm
Basic Defence 3:05-5:00 pm
Curfew at 8:00 pm
Tuesday
Magical Creatures 8:30-10:00 am
Basic Transfiguration 10:05-11:55 am
Lunch 12:00 am-1:00 pm
Basic Etiquette 1:05-3:00 pm
Basic Magical Law 3:05-5:00 pm
Curfew at 8:00 pm
Wednesday
Basic Lie-detecting and Manipulation 8:30-10:00 am
Basic Survival Skills 10:05-11:55 am
Lunch 12:00 am-1:00 pm
Basic Self-Defense 1:05- 3:00 pm
Free Study 3:05-5:00 pm
Astronomy 10:00 pm-12:00 am
Thursday
Divination 8:30-10:00 am
Basic Charms 10:05-11:55 am
Lunch 12:00 am-1:00 pm
Basic Potions 1:05- 3:00 pm
Basic Defence 3:05-5:00 pm
Curfew at 8:00 pm
Friday
Introduction to Wizarding World Relations with the Non-Magical World 8:30-10:00 am
Basic Transfiguration 10:05-11:55 am
Lunch 12:00 am-1:00 pm
Basic Magical Law 1:05-3:00 pm
Basic Magical Art 3:05-5:00 pm
Curfew at 8:00 pm
Saturday
Basic Self-Defense 8:30-10:00 am
Basic Survival Skills 10:05-11:55 am
Lunch 12:00 am-1:00 pm
Magical Creatures 1:05- 3:00 pm
Free Study 3:05-5:00 pm
Astronomy 10:00 pm-12:00 am
Sunday
Basic Lie-detecting and Manipulation 8:30-10:00 am
Basic Survival Skills 10:05-11:55 am
Lunch 12:00 am-1:00 pm
Basic Etiquette 1:05-3:00 pm
Free Study
Curfew at 8:00 pm
After they all had their schedules everyone passed around their schedules to compare. Everyone at Hermione's table all had Basic Self-Defense, Basic Survival Skills, Basic Lie-detecting and Manipulation, Basic Magical Law and Astronomy twice a week. Draco had a similar schedule to Hermione though they only had etiquette once a week and where the second etiquette class would be was a class once a week on the Non-Magical world. Anahita, Phaet, Sylvia, and Vivvy had schedules and classes based on their personal magic with only one class on magical creatures. Other than that the schedules all had the same lunch times and curfews.
Once their plates had been cleared(Hermione wondered how they were cleaned and how the food was made) the group split up to head to their first class.
HCA
A/N I don't own anything but the plot and the OCs. I think I have that in the description but I've forgotten to say in in the previous chapters. Sorry!
Also, does anyone have ideas for teachers? If so please leave a description of them in a review with name, what they teach, personality, physical description, etc.