Dropping their bags as they crossed the threshold together, they stammered apart; Rozzy to the left and Niko to the right. The room seemed massive for the space it was allotted, first the doors on either side of the entrance; the one on the left Rozzy found was the restroom which connected to the next room, and the one on the right was a very spacious walk in closet with shelves, drawers and cubbies galore. The bathroom had two toilets, two showers and two sinks, and mirrors everywhere. After closing the doors and moving further into the room, they saw two solid looking desks made of some very fine dark wood, with nice looking arm chairs sitting under them. Next to these chairs were tall, gray, shapeless statues. Or, at least that's what they appeared to be.

Rozzy walked up to the one on the right and went to touch it. As soon as he did, it shivered and blue smoke wafted from the top of it and appeared to be absorbed into Rozzys' head. Niko watched almost horrified. Several minutes seemed to pass, and just as Niko was making his way over to his motionless friend to check on him, green smoke wafted out from his friends' head and returned into the statue. What happened next Niko couldn't believe. The statue started to shiver again, but this time it started to change. It's shapeless form started to shrink, grow thick and take on curves. Within seconds its image had totally metamorphosized. Niko couldn't believe his eyes. Before his best friend with the long, brown hair stood a penguin. But the transformation wasn't over, and to his amazement he noticed Rozzy was somehow aware of what has happening even though he still wasn't moving. The penguins' eyes finally opened, and Niko noticed he wasn't black like a normal penguin. Instead, he was cobalt blue and he blinked icy-silver eyes. Niko had to ask what had just happened, but before the words passed through his lips; Rozzy rounded on him looking extremely pleased. Niko had a bad feeling his friend had just done something equally as stupid as Berry jumping on the swirl-o-floor.
"Dude, WHAT did you DO!?" Niko finally asked.
"Dude, it's ok. Just touch it and think of something." Came Rozzys' response as he pushed Niko towards the statue on the left side of the room.
"What!?" Niko thought his best friend had lost it.
"Dude, it's OK. It was put here for us to use. It's kinda like a…reminder. A butler, a friend."

With that, he turned around and reached out to touch the statue. Instantly his eyes were fixed and he didn't see the blue smoke that he had seen come to Rozzy. Instead, all he saw was midnight. Or, at least, that's what it reminded him of. Then, he heard a warm voice ask him something. This voice didn't come from outside, but it seemed to be inside his own head. It asked him in a very warm and motherly voice
"What would you like?"

Niko didn't know what to say, but as he was running over the question in another quadrant of his mind, the voice came back
"I will be your friend. I will help you all throughout the school year. All I ask is that you tell me what shape I should take and be nice to me."

Now Niko didn't know what to think. So this is what it was like for Rozzy? It DID make sense; Rozzy had always had a thing for penguins. But what was it that Niko was going to pick? What HAD he always wanted?

"More than anything?" Came the voice again.
"Yes, that's it." Niko remembered thinking suddenly.
"Are you sure?" Asked the genderless mother-like voice.
"Yes, I am positive." Niko could have sworn he heard himself say, and all of a sudden he was back in the room, looking at a young girl. He could see her whole being, even though he didn't move his head, or even his eyes. All of a sudden he heard the voice ask
"What color shall I wear?"
This time it wasn't inside of his head, but seemed very distant.
"Perhaps blue…no no, PINK! Yes, pink."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, pink will be fine."
"Is that all?"
"Err, white hair."

And with that, the girls' skin turned a dreamy, milky-silky pink and her hair which fell straight down her back just as long as Rozzys' turned ghost white and seemed to shimmer with a few glints of silver. She blinked the same icy-silver eyes he had seen Rozzys' penguin blink, though he could tell they were different…better somehow. These eyes belonged to HIS friend…his SPECIAL friend.He turned slowly to face Rozzy, aware suddenly that he was wearing the same empty smile he had seen his friend wearing only seconds ago, though it had somehow seemed like years. The two of them looked at each other silently for a few seconds, watching the new "friends" eyes' blink behind the other occasionally.

The silence was broken by a scratching at the window at the far end of the room. Niko and Rozzy both raced to the window to open it. In flew a brown barn owl with a piece of parchment tied to each leg. On one leg the hair was shaved away in the shape of an "R" and on the other one an "N" was shaved away. Each of them untied the parchment from his leg of the owl. The owl hooted almost rejoicingly, ruffled up its feathers, and then flew back out the window. The letter read as follows: "Welcome to Aikenwood Academy, boys. I do hope you like the way I fashioned your rooms. It is quite different from the way the dorms were back at the school I grew up in, but that's another story, for another time. I hope you find everything suitable, as I made the rooms quite spacious as to accommodate you growing young boys as best as possible.
I want first to ask you that, if you haven't already discovered them, please investigate the golemn statues in the middle of your rooms. Simply reach out and touch them and choose the form which would best suite you. These golemns will aide you throughout this year and any future years here at Aikenwood. They will stay here during the summer, as your parents probably won't be too keen on you keeping them, and, if you choose not to return next year, they will be recycled for new students next year.
Well, next year isn't going to be the focus of this letter. Nor will this year, either. The point of this letter is to ask you to come down to the Great Hall in two hours to be suited for your uniforms and matched with your wands. Don't dread the uniforms, as you'll find them quite suitable I'm sure, and as for your wands, don't get too excited. As you are first year students, most of whom probably don't even believe in magic, these wands will have a limit to their powers that will be slowly increased or decreased, according to your ability, practice, and most importantly discipline.
Dinner will start after all the suiting is finished. It is asked that as soon as you are suited with uniform and wand that you either go up to your room, go outside or go to the Library downstairs until the dinner bell is rang. Then you are asked to proceed back into the Great Hall. Dinner will be served between 7 and 8. In the event you come to the Great Hall late, you will not miss dinner, but you will be handed a card. Every time you are late after that, your card will be punched. Three punches and you will miss the next meal you are tardy to. As you may have seen earlier today, jumping on the swirl-o-floor could be grounds for anywhere from severe tickling to expulsion from Aikenwood Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please do not take your chances, as this is a serious offense, no matter the degree of damage and punishment.
The school has been divided into teams by gender, in an attempt to raise FRIENDLY competition between schoolmates and make learning, living, and growing more fun. Please note no boys shall be allowed in girls' dorms and vice-versa. This is a serious offense as well, and is also subject to any of the serious punishments listed above.
In closing, I, Thomaston Ebbershire, co-headmaster of Aikenwood and counselor to the boy's team urge you to have fun. You will come to find there is so much more to the world than you already know, and you will find there is so much more to yourselves as well. I will see you at dinner.
Thomaston Ebbershire
Co-headmaster of Aikenwood Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry"

Rozzy looked up at Niko after reading his letter and he noticed his friend was already looking at him. This didn't surprise Rozzy at all, seeing as Niko was a bit faster at reading than he was.
"So, what do you think about that?"
"What, the letter?" Came Rozzys' response
"Yeah, uniforms and wands." Niko replied
"Well, I guess we'll find out in a bit, won't we?" he said, and walking back over to his suitcase, he had an idea.

"Prism, please help me unload my suitcase." And with that, the blue 3-foot penguin with the white tummy jumped up, smiled, and waddled over to Rozzys' suitcase. He hefted it up, which looked much easier than it should have been for a creature with flippers, and carried it behind Rozzy as he led the way into the closet.

With that, Niko decided to try it as well. He turned to look at the pink-skinned, white-haired girl and went to speak. The words tripped at his mouth, however, when he realized he hadn't named her. Just as he was wondering what to call her, the same mother-ish voice came to him in its far-off tone
"Anything you like," it said.

He thought for a moment, or a second, he couldn't really have known, and the first name that came to him he wasn't sure where he had heard it before, but he knew that was what he wanted to call her.

"Labyrinth, will you help me unload my stuff, please?" And with that, the pink skinned young girl smiled such a sweet smile, hopped, skipped and jumped over to him, hugged him, and then lifted up his suitcase, pillow and teddy bear and looked at him, waiting for him to lead the way.Slightly embarrassed as he saw she was holding all of his stuff, when he had meant just his suitcase, he flushed, smiled a wry little creak of a smile and then said "Oh no, just my suitcase, my bear and pillow can go on my bed."

Labyrinth smiled again, cocked her head a bit, pranced over to the bed next to the stand the statue of clay she had been had come from, placed the pillow and bear on it, then walked back over to him. Shaking his head a bit in amazement, he turned and marched into the closet and she followed him.

As they unpacked their suitcases, Niko and Rozzy found the closet to be the coolest part of their room so far. Every time they put something in a drawer, like socks, after shutting it, writing would appear on the drawer labeled "Socks" followed by the number of the item put into it. Niko was embarrassed to find his drawer reading "Socks, 19" so he found the matchless sole and laid it on a nearby shelf. As soon as he let go if it, however, it came to life, crawled down the shelf and slipped itself back into the drawer with the other socks.

"Wow, this way you can't lose any socks!" Rozzy replied.
"Yeah, too bad the 20th was lost before we got here." Niko answered, still slightly embarrassed with the lone slipper.
"So, how many sets of uniforms do you think they are gonna give us, Rozzy?" Niko asked, half interested in knowing his friend's take on the situation, half interested in steering the conversation away from his habit of loosing socks.
"Probably eight," Rozzy answered after thinking on it carefully.
"Why do you say that?" Niko asked, now very interested in the conversation.
"Well, it seems they have all sorts of magical things that are gonna safe guard us and help us out, but I say eight in case one fails…like say if you get sick or spill something on your clothes during the day."