Mungo couldn't sleep much, he was so excited that in the morning, he's going to start learning things that would help him for his entire life. He imagined to himself what it would be in the morning, and for the rest of the year. Kyle promised him that he won't be alone, but no one can change the fact that he did come alone to this school earlier that day.
He was full of thoughts until eventually he fell asleep, dreaming about his first day.
Mungo woke up, he fell asleep late, but he felt like he slept for a whole night. He looked outside from the window and looked at the sun rising. He figured that it's still early. He stayed on the bed and looked at the view outside. The view was incredible, the fact that this school was built on a mountain, and that the sun was rising, made the day seem even more exciting. Mungo saw the uniform of the school, which was a blue robe with cranberry red trim. He remembered the conversation the previous night about the cranberry pie, and that Kyle told them about the reason for the cranberry color in the uniform, although he didn't believe it. He thought that it must be something else. It sounded silly to add a color to a school uniform just because someone likes food with that color. He wore the uniform and waited, because it was still early. After a few minutes, the sun woke up Kyle, who was taking a few seconds to remember where he was.
"Good morning," Mungo said to him.
"Good morning, finally the morning came." He got up from the bed, "Are you ready to start learning today?"
"Yes, and you?" Mungo asked him.
"I can't wait anymore, my brother always loved to explain spells he learned, and say that I have a long time until I'll start what he has finished," Kyle told him.
"Sounds annoying," Mungo said while Kyle changed to the uniform.
"He can be that sometimes," Kyle explained.
"Do you want to go down?" Mungo asked him. He wondered if Weetamoo had woken up already.
"Yes, I don't want us to miss breakfast on the first day," Kyle answered and they both went down to the Thunderbird common room. They found Weetamoo, sitting in one of the chaires.
"There you are! I thought that you didn't wake up." Weetamoo said to them.
"I did, I woke up too early so I waited for Kyle to wake up so that we'll go together," Mungo explained.
Kyle looked at him, "You know that you could've just woke me up, right?"
"I know, but I still decided to wait. I woke up at sunrise, I didn't know you wanted to wake up that early," Mungo answered and shrugged.
"We better go to breakfast before we'll miss it, probably everyone sitting together again," Weetamoo urged them to go.
They arrived at the dining room, and weetamoo was right- the group did sit together.
"Good morning," Jason told them when the three of them sat with the rest.
"Good morning," Kyle said.
"What took you so long?" Annawan asked them.
"Probably they didn't wake up," Jason said.
Mungo passed a glance on Jason, and then turned to Annawan, "Kind of, I just didn't want to wake Kyle up."
They started eating until they heard "Kyle!" Everyone looked at where the voice came from.
"Clark!" Kyle called back and hugged who called him.
"I see you have a group of friends already," Clark said after they separated, smiling at them while petting Kyle's head, "Greetings! I'm Clark, Kyle's older brother, nice to meet you all." He had dark blue eyes with black hair, but looked similar to his brother. Clark sat with them.
"What year are you?" Hanna asked him.
"Now I started the third year," Clark answered, "Are you all in the first year?"
"Are we supposed to be in another year?" Weetamoo asked him, confused.
"No, I'm just happy for you that you got along on the very first day. When I was in my first year, it took about two days for us to get along." He explained, "So which house are you?"
"Weetamoo and Mungo are with me in Thunderbird," Kyle told his brother and Clark looked at Weetamoo, "Are you the only girl from Thunderbird?"
"No, there is one more girl with me, Leonor." Weetamoo said, "Apparently she is a decentens of Chadwick Boot, the founder of the Thunderbird house."
"Her brother is in my year, Antonio," Clark said.
"I didn't know she has a brother, we haven't talked much. Although she doesn't talk very much, it feels like I'm alone there, that I can do whatever I want." Weetamoo said.
"Like?" Hanna asked her.
"Dancing, I guess," Weetamoo answered.
"Do you dance?" Kyle was a little surprised.
"I do, you sounded surprised," Weetamoo said.
"I guess it's because we don't really know each other a lot," Kyle shrugged.
During this conversation, Isolt and James passed the students' tables to give everyone their class schedule.
Kyle looked at the food and noticed something is missing on the table, "Clark? Didn't you say that there is a cranberry pie every day?" He looked at his brother, but he didn't respond.
"Every day?" James asked him, he and Isolt just arrived at their table, "How can anybody eat the same food every day? With how much I love cranberry pie, no one can eat the same food every day."
Kyle looked at his brother, "So you lied to me?"
"There's a difference between a prank and a lie." Clark looked at his younger brother.
After a few seconds of silence, Isolt turned to them and said, "Welcome to the school," She gave them their schedule, smiling. "I hope you slept well in the night."
They started reading the schedule while she left for another table.
"I need to go Kyle, I have Potions now." Clark told his brother and stood up, "It was nice to meet you all, but I prefer not to be late for Orenda, I don't want her to yell at me if I'll be late on the first day," Clark left them and went to class with his friends, while Kyle stared at him leaving.
"I hate when he does that." Kyle said.
"What?" Annawan didn't understand.
"Pranks, I thought he grew up from that." Kyle explained.
"Pranks between brothers never stop," Jason told him.
"Good to know." Kyle sighed, "I thought this would stop eventually."
"You can prank him back," Hanna suggested.
"It's impossible, he knows every prank that exists, and with magic. It can be annoying to have an older brother." He told them quietly and all of them turned to look at their class schedule.
"So, we have today two hours of Defence Against Dark Arts and then two hours of Charms," Weetamoo told them.
"Sounds exciting, those two classes," Hanna said.
"What do you mean by that?" Mungo asked her.
"Well, they sound like very important classes, more than Potions or Transfiguration." She responded.
"I disagree with you," Kyle said to her, "I think that every class is important, and you even didn't learn anything yet from the classes, so that means you don't have a voice here. At the end of the week we'll decide which class is better."
The breakfast was about to end, so they decided to go to their first lesson. James led the first years to the Defence Against The Dark Arts class, the teacher was already there so the students hurried to sit, and Mungo sat in the middle of the class, along with Kyle. James and the teacher talked for about a minute, and Mungo was able to see that they were smiling at each other. After James left the room, the teacher started talking to the students. "I'm Rionach Steward, Isolt and James' daughter, and the Defence Against Dark Arts teacher," Mungo now understood James' and her talk. "In this class you'll learn how to survive, from all kinds of things that can put you in all sorts of dangers, from fantastic beasts to curses."
Mungo noticed that a lot of the kids seemed excited for their first lesson, but he was more nervous than excited.
"I'm going to read your names to see who's here," Rionach said and started reading, "Annawan."
"I'm here." Annawan said.
"Hanna Reed." Rionach called.
"Here," She answered and looked at Jason, who sat with her, nervously.
"Jason Reed."
"I'm also here." He responded.
"Leonor Calderon-Boot."
"I'm here." Leonor said, and Mungo noticed a little smile on Rionach's face while she looked at her.
"Mungo MacDuff."
"Here," He answered.
"Nita," She called.
"I am here."
"Kyle Webb."
"Here," Kyle answered.
After she finished reading names, she turned to the class in order to start the lesson. "In your first year here, we are going to focus more on fantastic beasts, and I'm pretty sure that you may know a few or heard its name because it's the names of the houses in this school, or because your wands' core, like Snallygaster's heartstrings, Wampus' hair, and Jackalope's antlers." She stopped for a second, "It's a very important class, and you're about to learn very important things, not just in this class. As you probably know, there are groups who want to hurt people. You'll learn how to defend yourself."
Mungo left the class along with the other students after the two hours of the lesson were over.
"It was a long two hours." Kyle said.
"Not so long," Hanna said, "she just said a speech about how we need to listen in her class."
"Exactly, it was too long." Kyle said
"It wasn't bad, she said important things." Weetamoo told them.
"Like?" Kyle asked her.
"She said that we need to listen in every class, and talked about spells and protection. We have spells lessons, I don't think she talked only about her lesson." Jason explained.
"Exactly," Weetamoo said, "At least I'm not the only one here who listened to her."
"You're not, I listened to all her speech." Mungo told her.
"Me too." Annawan said.
"So did I." Nita said quietly.
"So I think it's your problem that you didn't listen." Weetamoo told Kyle.
"Or you're lucky that you were able to listen to her," Kyle said, "I hope that the next lesson isn't going to be with a long speech."
"Speaking of the next lesson," Annawan said, "What do we have now? We better not be late."
Mungo checked their lesson schedule, "Dinner, after that we have charms."
"I guess we'll see if the teacher in this class will do the same." Kyle shrugged.
They went to the dining room to eat dinner and sat together. They were quiet, excited after their first lesson but no one knew what to say to break the silence. Hanna took out her wand and held it in her arm.
"How do you think the rest of the teachers are?" Weetamoo asked them after a few minutes of awkward silence, trying to break this silence.
"What do you mean?" Hanna didn't understand and looked at her.
"Well, not all of the teachers are the same." Weetamoo explained to her.
"I hope not," Kyle said, "I heard from Clark about the potions teacher, she sounded tough. I don't want the rest of the teachers to be like that. Actually, I'm not sure if he pranked me on that, too."
"No one can be the same," Weetamoo corrected him, "And I'm sure she's not that bad, sometimes people can be exaggerating with what they're telling, even if it is a prank."
"We already met one teacher," Hanna told them.
"Yes, Rionach," Jason agreed.
"Exactly, and she was really nice." Annawan said.
"Speaking about her, did you know she is Isolt and James' daughter?" Mungo asked them.
"Yes," Weetamoo said, "You didn't?"
"No." Mungo answered.
"Neither did I." Hanna told them.
"I knew that already." Kyle shrugged.
"Because your brother told you?" Jason asked him.
"Technically, yes." Kyle said in embarrassment, "I also heard from him that we're learning lessons with a book by Chadwick Boot."
"Sounds nice," Hanna said.
"It sounds like there is a lot here from this family," Annawan told them, "Rionach, Chadwick Boot's book."
"They are the family that started the school," Mungo said to him, "What do you expect?"
"It's nice," Annawan shrugged, "And a little weird, I mean, they're from the same family. All of them."
"It is a big family," Kyle told Annawan, "Isolt and James as headmasters, Rionach as a teacher, and we're learning charms with a book written by Chadwick Boot."
They went along with Rionach to the charms class. The teacher wasn't there yet, so they let themselves take their time to choose where to sit. Hanna and Nita sat together, and Weetamoo decided to sit next to Leonor.
"Can we sit together?" Annawan asked Mungo.
"Yes," Mungo told him and looked at Kyle.
"It's fine, I'll sit with Jason." Kyle said to Mungo and went to ask Jason.
Mungo and Annawan sat at the beginning of the class, and the teacher just arrived.
"I'm Amanda Rooks, and I'm the charms teacher." The teacher said and started reading names. "What wands do you have?" She asked the class when she finished reading names, although Mungo didn't know what this had to do with the lesson.
"Mine is Spruce wood and Snallygaster's heartstrings." Hanna said
"I have Beech wood and also Snallygaster's heartstrings." Jason said.
"Have you thought about what Snallygaster probably looked like?" Kyle asked suddenly, "I imagine it like a big, red monster with horns."
"It sounds like a dragon," Mungo told him, "Are you sure you don't think of a dragon?"
"No," Kyle answered to him, "Because dragons are different from that."
"It sounds like it's similar to Thunderbird, actually." Annawan said, "Think about it, I'm pretty sure that Snallygaster is the name of a bird, but it didn't get a name of a house here, unlike Thunderbird."
"You will learn about that in the Defence Against Dark Arts lesson" Amanda told the class.
"When is that?" Annawan asked.
Mungo checked the lesson schedule, "Wednesday."
"So we'll just wait, I guess." Annawan said.
"Does anyone else here have Snallygaster's heartstrings?" Hanna asked them.
"I do," Nita said.
"Nice," Kyle told her, "What wood do you have?"
"Birch wood," Nita answered.
"I have Birch wood too!" Weetamoo said to her, "But with Jackalope's antlers as a core."
"How can you remember your wand wood and cores?" Annawan asked them, confused.
"We just do," Hanna shrugged, "Don't you remember yours?"
"I remember that I have Wampus' hair," Annawan answered, "I'm not so sure about the wood."
"As a core?" Kyle asked him, "Because I have Wampus' hair as a core too! I have Pine wood, and I don't think they make the same wand twice. So, if it helps you remember, you don't have Pine wood."
"I wasn't so sure. I remembered I saw a lot of wands yesterday." Annawan told Kyle.
"Don't worry," Mungo said to Annawan, "I'm sure you'll remember eventually."
"I have Ash wood and Jackalope's antlers." Leonor said, and the rest of the students told their wand wood and cores.
"Do you think it's possible that Chadwick Boot wanted to name his house 'Snallygaster'?" Kyle asked after they left the charms class.
"I think it's possible," Hanna told him, "It is a very similar name. But we can't know that for sure."
"Still, imagine that we were in the Snallygaster house," Kyle said to them.
"We are supposed to learn about this beast later this year," Mungo told Kyle, "I think that we'll wait until Wednesday to ask Rionach about this."'
"Who said she'll teach us about that?" Annawan asked him.
"She said she's going to teach us about beasts," Mungo answered to him, "I'm sure she meant Snallygaster too."
"We don't have to wait." Kyle said.
"What do you mean?" Mungo asked him.
"We can look for an answer, maybe there is a book or something." Kyle explained, "Or we can look for Pukwudgies."
"What Pukwudgies? There are Pukwudgies here?" Annawan asked Kyle.
"Yes, they work here." Kyle explained, "I think that's why there is a house called after them. We can look after them, I never got to see a Pukwudgie. What do you say we'll go looking for one?"
"Sounds nice," Hanna told him, "But maybe on another day, we have lunch now."
Author Note: At the time of this fanfic, the meals names were breakfast, dinner- the big meal that people usually eat in the noon, lunch - the middle mealת and supper - the evening meal, so I'll be using those words a lot instead of the modern words.
In the D.A.D.A lesson, Rionach mentioned "groups who want to harm you". She meant by that to the Scourers and the Puritans.
If you read my other fanfic, "The Start Of Ilvermorny", you may know that Chadwick did thought about Snallygaster as his house name there, and I thought it would be nice to mention it here.
I worked a lot on this chapter, so I hope you liked it.
