Chapter Five: First Classes

Hannah often looked back on her first days at Salem, and smiled every time she did. Most people did, with Seth being an exception. Due to a very strange magical accident, he had never had a first day at the school.

Apparently, he had been there on his first day, but hadn't been at the same time. Hannah never fully understood, and she doubted if anyone else did. Maybe Madison.

The first breakfast she had at the school was an interesting one, no doubt about it. It erupted into a food fight, which she learned was a school tradition. Heck, even some of the teachers joined in.

Hannah's first move was to grab a few syrup-covered pancakes and start throwing them like Frisbees. She was particularly proud of her aim when she hit Prof. Rhodes in the face. Then someone behind her soaked her with a pitcher of orange juice. She had run out of pancakes, so she picked up a tray of soggy biscuits and started to throw those.

As one of them left her hand it transformed into a fist-sized spider. She shrieked and looked around for the source of the strange magic. Hannah wasn't doing to well at finding it when one of her own pancakes was thrown at her, making her duck. This, however, turned out to be helpful. As she was down on the ground she saw that it was Madison and Seth who had been casting the biscuit-to-spider spells. She shook her head and moved farther away from the malicious pair.

After a while there was a loud bang from the front of the room, and all of the food-flinging stopped. The headmaster, Caelyn Coko, was standing in his usual spot, food all over his lurid pink outfit. "This concludes our yearly food fight. I hope you had fun." Several people started screaming, something about spiders.

Coko eyed Madison and Seth over the rim of his glasses as they clambered out from under the table they had been hiding under. Coko had a smirk on his lips. "It looks like at least two of our number enjoyed themselves." At this, half the people in the hall sent various items of food at the only two had, up until then, escaped from being hit by any food.

That was one of Hannah's favorite memories, seeing Madison and Seth covered in various breakfast foods.

After everyone had gotten cleaned up Hannah and Anna went to their first class, Charms, who they had heard was going to be taught by a Professor Wright. Rumors had been floating around that he had been in house Gente when he had come to the school.

"Welcome to Charms!" Was the first thing Prof. Wright said to them when they arrived in class. "I know you don't want to hear about me, so we'll get right to the magic."

The greeting she received in History of Magic, which was taught by Professor Rhodes, was a lot more formal, but less than she expected. When her name was called during role, Prof. Rhodes looked up at her. "You're the one who hit me with a pancake." Everyone in the class chuckled. "Good aim," Prof. Rhodes commented.

Those were her only two classes that day, and after that she went to dinner, where she took a seat next to her brother. Madison looked at her with a questioning look. "I take it you don't just want my company?" He asked.

Hannah chuckled and shook her head. "I was wondering if you could help me with the spells we learn." Madison smiled and quickly nodded his head. He could use some reviewing on the spells he had learned in his first year.

After asking her question she left.

Madison looked around. Other than him and Seth, none of their circle of friends had come back yet. Maybe something had happened, he wondered. Seth and he both had two advanced classes apiece. Both had 4th years charms, Seth had 4th year Defense, and Madison had 4th year Transfiguration. They had just been in Charms, and were separated from their house during that time

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Chanteau hurried out of Defense Against the Dark Arts, her last class for the day. There had been a strange accident with a boggart and the door, and it had taken Professor Davver a while to get rid of it.

She hurried to the dining hall ahead of her classmates, eager to eat. Though she was fit and not overweight, she could eat a load of food. Seth could as well, though Chanteau knew he was a little overweight.

When she got to the dining hall and saw Madison she sighed. Madison didn't eat much. He almost didn't eat enough. Most people attributed his underweight look to his baggy clothing, but Chanteau had seen Madison with his shirt off. His stomach, while well muscled, seemed to cave in, and his ribs were clearly visible against his skin.

She shook her head and went to join them. Chanteau had talked to Madison about his eating habits, but to no avail. He just didn't like eating, he said.

Chanteau cleared her head of these thoughts. "You both looked so handsome with food all over you." "Yes," agreed Angelique, hugging Madison before she sat down beside him. Madison looked a little off-balance. He didn't how to take all of this blatant affection. "You were so cute!" Angelique ended.

Chanteau didn't bother to disguise her snort as she sat down across from Madison and next to Seth. "Well thanks, Angel," Madison said. Seth, however, responded the Madison might have had he kept all of his wits. "I know." Chanteau laughed. There was never a shortage of laughs around this pair.

"Did you find out when Quidditch tryouts are?" Seth asked. Chanteau nodded. "Friday." Madison and Seth grinned. "You want to do some practice tonight?" Seth asked. Chanteau was happy that they would help her. She thought she was good already, but desperately wanted the spot.

"Are you trying out?" She asked Angelique. "Nope," She said, chuckling. "It's too tough for me." Madison looked at her sideways. "I think you could do it, Angel." Chanteau was a bit shocked. Madison was an excellent judge of a person's abilities, and to hear that this girl who was about a foot shorter than her could make the position…

"No, you need to have muscle, like you have," Angelique said, squeezing Madison's arm. He shrugged and chuckled. "I suppose so." Angelique smiled seductively at him. "That's why you're so good at it." Madison almost snorted out the milk he had been drinking.

"Um… Uh… I said I'd help my sister with some homework, and it looks like she's done, so I'm going to go do that now," He explained as he got up from the table. Angelique smiled to herself and moved to sit with some friends from another house.

"Have you ever seen Madison so off balance?" Chanteau asked. "Nope," Seth said, chuckling, "Not since we tried to go over a tight rope."

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"So," Madison asked, "What spell did he try to get you to do?" Hannah responded, "Alohamora." Madison smiled reminiscently, and Hannah could just imagine all the trouble he had gotten into with that particular spell. "Yeah, that was fun, but he didn't teach us that spell until end of the semester you're in."

Madison pumped his arm and his wand flew into his hand. "How do you do that?" Hannah asked. Madison glared around the almost empty common room, and then leaned closer as if to make sure the people around them couldn't hear. The only people in the room were some seventh years, and they were sleeping. Madison was tempted to poke them, but decided against it.

"The thing is, Nanners," (That had become Hannah's nickname among the Gente house) Madison began, "To visualize what you're trying to do. Close your eyes and try to do the spell, concentrating on making the lock open."

He looked around for a moment, then ducked under one of the couches. He came out bearing a locked trunk. "Okay, Hannah, try now." She nodded, closed her eyes, and said, "Alohamora," waving her wand. Madison nodded as she did so. She had the incantation and the movements of the wand correct.

The surprise to him was that it didn't work. Instead, the trunk flew up a few feet and came back down loudly. "Well," He said, "The incantation was right, and the wand movements. I don't know what was wrong."
"Need help?" Asked Dugger, the most gifted wizard in the school. "Silencing Spell on your shoes?" Madison asked. Dugger nodded. Madison had excellent hearing, and was almost never snuck up on. Of course, Dugger's magic was more powerful that Madison's hearing.

Dugger had transferred to Salem at the beginning of his second year. He had been sorted into Gente, and had quickly befriended Madison.

"Why are you late?" Madison asked, referring to the fact that Dugger hadn't been in the Trans Room. "Werewolf attack." Madison smiled, looking excited. "What happened?" He asked.

"On the drive down we had to stop for gas, and I went out in the woods while my mom got the gas." Madison almost winced at mention of Dugger's mom. She mistreated Dugger, and was mean to everyone.

"And in the woods," Dugger continued, oblivious to Madison's thoughts, "A werewolf attacked me." Madison looked confused. "In the middle of the day?" Dugger shook his head. "I never said it was day."

"Anyway, I was able to fight it off, but not before it nearly bit off my arm." He rubbed said arm, as if it still hurt. "We got to the healer fine," He continued, still rubbing his arm, "But we were late as it was." He looked thoughtful. "Mom nearly killed me after the healer was done."

"Well Dugger," Madison said, trying to brighten the mood, "You're just the person we need." "What can I do for you?" Dugger asked. "My young sister here needs help with the unlocking spell." Dugger nodded, and leaned over to whisper something in Hannah's ear. She nodded, and proceeded to cast the spell perfectly.

"Well I'll be darned," Madison said. Dugger shrugged. Hannah smiled, and Madison recognized it as the smile of a young wizard learning their first spell.

"That's that!" He proclaimed, heading down the stairs to the boy's sleeping area, where he kept his broom. "I'm going to the Quidditch field," He said. "You want to come?" Madison asked of Dugger.

"Sure," Dugger agreed, "So long as that Angelique isn't around." Madison snorted. Apparently Dugger had seen Angelique, and didn't like what he had seen. Madison sighed. Angelique was a nice person, though she overdid it a bit. Dugger had never liked girls anyway.

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"Wow!" Seth said, after Chanteau scored her tenth consecutive goal past him. He was a fairly good keeper, but had no way of stopping Chanteau's super-fast shots.

"Where's Madison?" Chanteau asked. Seth shrugged. "Right here!" He yelled from below Chanteau. She had to swerve out of the way of his flight to avoid getting hit. "Let's see how good you are scoring goals when you have distractions!" Madison said.

Chanteau grinned and rushed her broom towards the goalposts where Seth was residing. Madison grinned as well, and speeded behind her. He easily caught up to her, proving a fact that not all people knew.

The speed of a broom was not totally dependent on the broom. The more skilled a person was the faster they could go. And Madison was much more skilled at flying than Chanteau was.

Madison waited until the last moment and then shot over Chanteau until he was in front of her. She swerved aside and dropped the quaffle, which Madison flew down and caught. "Take it easy, Madison," Seth ordered. Madison was not paying attention.

"You'll want this back, I'd reckon," Madison stated. Chanteau nodded, and shot towards Madison. He smirked and shot straight down, slow enough that Chanteau could follow him closely. Madison then pulled up on his broom and shot towards the goalposts.

Chanteau kept following him, but had to pull up when he did a feat that she had as much a chance of duplicating as safely shoving her wand up her nose. Which, despite what Seth might say, was not very likely.

Madison was circling the foot-in-diameter pole rapidly, almost a rotation a second. Seth whistled. He would be very hard pressed to do what Madison was doing.

Chanteau's brow furrowed with worry when she saw what was happening. Madison had a tendency to lose control of himself while on his broom. She sighed and shook her head. There was nothing she could do to stop it now.

Madison had started speeding up as he got closer to the top of the pole. When he did, he went through the goal once, then shot up to the cavern ceiling of the area, going out of sight behind a stalagmite.

After Madison didn't come down for a few seconds, Chanteau asked, "Do you think we should go check on him?" Seth nodded reluctantly. "He probably won't come down until we do.

They flew up to the ceiling and quickly saw Madison, with his broom beside him, sleeping. Chanteau shook her head and waved her wand at her sleeping friend. He woke up with a start.

"What's happening!?" He asked. "You're dead and have come to heaven." Chanteau explained. Madison looked around the cavern, accepting this news with ease. "It could do with some decoration."