The month leading up to the beginning of school was full of reading my new books. Runes for Beginners didn't have anything that I could use right now it was more like the rules of runes. It was a very useful book to have and I was very glad that I got it.
Rituals for the Novice was very useful as it not only went into the rituals that were done during major holidays but minor rituals I could do every day. None of them were very big, but things like a ritual to replace the need for a shower were very nice and made me interested in how far rituals could go.
The part that got me really excited was the historical part that gave examples of rituals that have been used throughout history. Like the hiding of Atlantis or the fountain of youth. They all came with warnings, the biggest was to not do to many sacrificial rituals as the Aztecs proved.
My favorite book was The Land of the Fae. It was interesting to see how many different types of creatures were out there in the world. Terrifying in the case of greater demons, but it was balanced by the magic that the dryads taught the original inhabitants of Britain.
The core classes looked like they would be interesting as well. Charms seemed like it would be the most difficult for me. Affecting states like the levitation charm seemed complicated to me. However, changing the form of an object seemed much easier.
The class I was most excited for was potions. They were what someone came up with to simplify rituals and it turned into a field of its own. Each potion was like a mini ritual. However the potion is not permanent and the ritual would be. I was very excited to try out both rituals and potions. It will most likely be my favorite class.
As the day grew closer my excitement grew until I could hardly sleep the night before I would be picked up by Dumbledore and taken to the train. Even though I was extremely excited for my first year I did not slack off in terms of my mind or wandless magic. Because I now had my first year books to help with my exploration I knew all the easiest spells to learn.
I started with the lumos and nox charms. It was both easier and harder than I thought it would be. Easier because it was the first spell any first year learned. It was harder because without the use of my wand it was always fluctuating. It flickered, changed colors, and would stay where so put it. Eventually I was able to stop the flickering and got it to stay one color, but I could not get it to stop moving.
Transfiguration was very frustrating to try and perform wandless. I thought it would be easy because transfiguration was more about visualization than spells. I was very wrong. The most normal ones had spikes or did loops. The bad ones would give me nightmares for a long time. After I accidentally made something that had too many EYES and TEETH I decided to wait until at least my third year to do any more experimentation with transfiguration.
I ended up waking up way before it was time to get up again. As I sat on the steps waiting for Dumbledore I started to make some plans for things to do on the train. I wanted to leave a good impression on my fellow classmates. Dumbledore was once again was right on time. I stood to greet him as he walked up the path.
"Good morning Tom. Are you ready to head out?" I nodded as he took my trunk and shrunk it down to the size of a matchbox."For easy transportation. I then thought of something that would probably give him a good laugh. "Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?"
He gave a chuckle at that "The first and the third I believe. I rather enjoyed that book and can not wait to see how it will continue. It gives a rather compelling story. When it first came out, the ICW was in quite a tizzy trying to find out wether the story wizarding world had been exposed. There were quite a lot of..." Dumbledore continued to lecture as we made our way to the same place as last time.
As we arrived he stopped his lecture "... and that is why you must never try to do the animagus ritual for more than one animal. Ah, I see we have arrived. This will be a bit different as we will be flooing to kings cross. Now take some of this powder throw it into the fire and call out your destination. Once you call out your destinations keep your elbows in and your knees bent. When you can feel the ground walk forward." He handed me some grey powder and took some for himself.
I have to admit I was a bit curious how this would work, so without hesitating much I did as I was told. It was a wild ride that almost shot me out of the fireplace but I managed to keep on my feet. I looked around as soon as I was sure of my footing. It was very crowded with lots of families dropping off their children. All around me there were a hundred different examples of magic from people with floating trunks behind them to a man that had a chimney blowing smoke out of his hat.
I startled as a hand gripped him shoulder. "Exciting isn't it, to be able to see all this magic done without worry all around you." Dumbledore looked almost wistful as he spoke. "The world at large is not ready for things like this. Perhaps some day, hopefully if not in my life time then in yours." He then guided me to the train stopping now and then to chat with people.
When we finally got to the train he handed me my shrunken trunk. "When you want to get into your trunk simple set it down and tap it with your wand three times." He then smiled "Now go and have a pleasant train ride. The friends that you make here will last a lifetime. I will see you when you get to school." With one last nod him walked away.
As I searched for a cabin to sit in I saw a lot of older students greeting each other. Happy to see one another after the long summer. However, as I looked closer I realized that some of the oldest student were grouped together whispering about something. I shrugged and went to find a cabin to sit in, after all the older student aren't going to share all their secrets with a little firsty.
Soon after that I found an empty cabin, after unshrinking my trunk I put it under my seat and sat down. It was difficult to stay still as I could not wait for the train to get moving. My thoughts were interrupted by the door opening.
"May I sit here?" A girl my age asked, I nodded. After she sat down we sat staring at each other for a minute. "So... nice weather we're having." That comment got me a raised eyebrow. "Really, one chance to make a first impression and that's what you go with?"
Both of us were only able to keep a straight face for a couple of seconds before we both started to laugh. "Tom Riddle" I said after I stopped laughing. "Marie Longbottom, what house do you think you'll end up in? I'm hopping for Ravenclaw myself." I smiled "Me too. I'm a muggleborn and I just found out about magic, it's all so interesting and it sounds like it would take several lifetimes to learn about it all."
That really set the pace for the rest of the trip. There were a couple of times that our door was opened but no one ever entered. We both talked about our opinions on different types of magic. I told here about trying to control my magic without a wand. She told me some things about her family history.
The Longbottoms went all the way back to the time of the Vikings and had many interesting magics that they have kept over the years. They started out very battle oriented but beached out into Druidic practices when they settled in Britain. We talked for a long time, only stopping when the trolley came by. We both got some lunch and tried to finish as quickly as possible so we could get back to our discussion.
I learned a lot from talking with her, and she was very interested in the new perspective I could give. While we both didn't hate muggles we were of the opinion that they hadn't caught up in quality of life. By the time we had to change into our uniforms I had already gotten an invitation to Longbottom Hall for Yule. When I commented on the fact that we seemed to connect very quickly I got a surprising answer.
"Oh I thought you knew, it's the train. Every year every student takes the train. There are certainly faster ways to travel. But there are benefits to riding the train. The best part about the journey are the people you talk to during it. There is a strategic level enchantment on the train that guides people to meet others like them to make friends. The connections we make on the train will last a lifetime."
I sat there, stunned for a moment before regaining my wits. "What do you mean by a strategic level enchantment?" I asked. I hadn't found anything in my books about levels. Marie hesitated trying to find a way to explain it. "It's not like it's a secret or anything so I guess telling you would be ok."
"You know how there are many different fields of magic. Well, during the time of Atlantis they came up with a system that could grade magic by strength. The first level is Action class, also called level one spells. Action class magic is very simple, instead of lifting a feather with your hand you use a spell. Any spell that has one direct effect is action class. We will learn only action class magic during our first 5 years of schooling."
"The next class is called battle class magic. This type of magic has two categories, level 2 spells that have bigger effects than level one spells. The other type is called complex spells, we won't be learning these until our NEWTs. These spells tap into concepts like fluid transfiguration, not to be confused for liquid transfiguration, or dimensional magic."
"The third class is called tactical class magic. Only magical titans are able to perform this type of magic on their own. Usually groups of wizards or witches gather together to perform these spells. There are a lot of dark tactical class spells as sacrificial magic is for the most part is tactical class. The most famous instance of tactical class magic is when Merlin overcharged a patronus to repel a thousand of Morgan Le Fay's allies."
"All higher types of magic have to have some sort of external power source, usually ambient magic. It cannot be sacrificial magic as if some one using to many sacrifices resentment will build up, and there will be a large backlash. The purveyors of sacrificial magic taught us that the backlash can be delayed but never stopped. The muggles still don't know what happened to the Aztecs after all."
"The higher classes of magic are called strategic, war, national, continental, and world class. Throughout history there has only been two times world class magic has been used. The first is called the Advent of Magic. It was when the planet itself introduced magic to some of the creatures living on the earth at the time. This was about 20,000 years ago. Humans were not one of the creatures graves with magic. But over time we adapted to it."
"The second time world class magic was used was after the statue of secrecy was established. It's called the veil, it separates our world form the muggles. We wanted to hide from them so they would stop hunting us. So every magical community worked together to bring about the veil."
"I don't know exactly how it works but the results speak for themselves. Unless a magical shows a muggle magic with intent, the muggle will not see it and even then it will fade from their minds in a matter of days. That is why despite muggleborns being born into non magical families the secret of magic has not gotten out."
I sat there thinking about everything that she told me until the train stopped. I could not imagine the level of magic that went into making the veil. Someday I wanted to be able to do magic like that. I knew it would be very difficult and I was just starting to understand just how much I had to learn.
The walk and subsequent boat ride to get to the school was amazing. There were small lights that lit up our path, ranging from the size of a pea to a tennis ball. They were zipping around as though they were just as excited as the rest of us. When we arrived at the dock we were told to get four in a boat. Two boys joined Marie and I, they didn't speak much to busy looking around them to try and see everything at once. Not that I could talk, my head was moving just as quickly.
When we had been riding the boat for about ten minutes we came around the bend and there it was. Hogwarts, nothing could have prepared me to see it and no description could do it justice. It stood a monument in time, just by looking at it you could almost "see" memories that the castle had of the thousands of student that had passed through these halls.
"Is the castle alive?" I asked not expecting an answer. "There is still some debate about that but the overall opinion is that yes it is alive. Hogwarts is an artifact that the founders poured all their knowledge into. Over time it became aware."
We were both silent for the rest of the way simply observing the castle. We were awoken when our boat hit the shore. After blinking a few time we all got out of our boats and followed the caretaker to the door. It must have been twenty feet high with beautiful metal designs. They looped and twisted in strange designs. When the door opened we were greeted by Dumbledore.
"Come in, come in, it is time for the sorting. The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. When you enter the great hall walk straight down the center. When your name is called come up to the front to be sorted when you are done go to the table with your matching colors. Any questions?"
No one answered, either they didn't have a question or they were to nervous to ask them. "Alright then, wait here and when the fires open come in." With that he walked away, though soon after the fires opened and we all walked in. The great hall, while not as breathtaking as the view outside, was still a sight to see. The light came from a thousand floating candle, but that wasn't even the best part.
Ceiling captured my attention as it was the most extraordinary piece of magic I had every seen. Stars like you never would have been able to see with your own eyes were displayed up there. The entirety of the night sky was visible. There were a million stars in a hundred different colors. "...ddle, Tom Riddle if you could tear your attention from the ceiling it is your turn."
With a blush I realized that I had been standing there gaping like a fool. I quickly walked up the hat and put it on my head. Ah yes, one of you...let's see plenty of courage to face injustice, loyalty to spare but only to those who have earned it, ambition to rival the greatest but not just for yourself. Oh ho...there we are, out of all your traits a thirst for knowledge that will never die out.
"RAVENCLAW" with the shout came a thunderous applause. I walked over to the table with blue banners and sat next to Marie. "Got lost in the clouds?" She asked with a smirk. I blushed again "Never seen the sky like that before. It's enchanting. Someday I want to be able to go and explore all the stars in the sky." She just stared at me when I said that. "Well your certainly in the right house, Ravenclaw has a lot of dreamers."
The rest of the night was calmer, we ate our full and then opened our second stomachs for dessert and ate some more. By the end of the meal I was barely keeping my eyes open and Marie was not much better. We trudged up the stairs to the tower and went our speedster ways promising to meet up in the morning when we were not afraid of falling asleep on our feet.
I went to the room that I would sleep in for the next seven years. I was apparently unlucky as the rooms this year were on the top so I had to climb seven more flights of stairs before I reached my room. After I chose a bed near the wall I got ready for bed and fell asleep within seconds of my head hitting the pillow.