Heart of the Eclipse, Book one: Ascent
Chapter 8
Terra Arcana, Hogwarts Realm of Magical Education – Entrance gate
The time for the "triplets" to enter Hogwarts had arrived, so Lily brought them to the gate of the Hogwarts realm – often called the gate of diverging paths, because once students entered, they could only leave on the eclipse days until they finished school. They would not be able to see their family except on those days.
"The big guy over there is Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of the keys of Hogwarts. He will tell you what that means – it's your first lesson at school. You will need to go to him as a group, because you will stay with the people you enter with for your entire time in the Hogwarts Realm. It's kind of a team system. This is also why so many families wait out here: Clans, guilds and friends try to get their children to form teams. You'll soon learn why. Still, three is a good size for a team, so you should be good on your own. Which is good, because children of different genders can't team up."
"But why can't they? And wouldn't that mean that I can't team up with Flora and Hermione?"
"It's forbidden because teams share a set of rooms, including a single dormitory. And you three can team up – you remember that spell I used a few days ago, which made all of you glow green for a second? That was a test. It's the same spell they use here, and the green glow says that everybody in the tested group is of the same gender. Apparently, your transformation is complete enough to fool even that spell, which isn't easy."
The children nodded.
"Well, it's time. Take care of each other. I'm sure you'll make me proud – all three of you. I'll miss you..."
"We'll miss you, too, mum."
Hermione was the one who had spoken – her "siblings" were tearing up and didn't trust their voices. Both of them nodded in agreement, though, and joined in a group hug with Lily and Hermione.
"Go on, children. Hogwarts is waiting for you."
"Welcome to Hogwarts, new students! Let me be the first to congratulate you: You are now entering a stage in your life which will contribute greatly to your future abilities. Your parents nourished you, your godparents built a strong base – Now it's time for your school to build upon that base and make you a strong part of the community of Terra Arcana. The path is long – Seven full cycles on average – And this is merely the first step."
The students stood in several rows in a rough semicircle around the guy. Their parents, godparents and a few younger siblings formed a second group behind them, watching proudly.
"My name is Rubeus Hagrid – Hagrid to you. I am the keeper of the keys of Hogwarts, a great honour. Therefore, none of you can pass the gate until I give you a ward key. Please be aware that these are no portkeys – you can't use transportation magic to enter or leave the realm, except for this area in front of the gates. This is the role of a keeper of keys for any realm: The realm is inaccessible to any who were not given a key by the keeper, and they can only enter or leave with transportation magic if they were given a portkey."
The new students nodded, with very few exceptions. Two or three simply looked bored, as if they already knew this. One – a redheaded kid – seemed to be impatient and didn't really pay attention to anything.
"I will also give each team their tent. Hogwarts tents are special, because they are linked to the dormitory door on the ground floor of the castle. You can leave your tent either through that door to enter the castle itself, or through the normal door if you wish to go outside. More about that will be explained in your classes. Also, your tent starts out rather simple, like those you got when you began your godparenting. You can get better rooms and furniture in exchange for merit points, which you can earn in class."
Again, most students nodded. Some smirked, believing that they would get merit points easily – most of those would be quite disappointed. The redhead was hopping around impatiently, grumbling something about food.
"Now, step forward one team at a time. Once you have your keys and a tent, set up your tent in one of the plots on the other side of the gate, enter the tent and step through into the castle. Magic will measure the time you take from the moment you step through the gate until you enter the tent – the quickest team will be awarded one merit point per member."
Suddenly, Hermione was glad that they had practised setting up a tent when they first started their godparenting. Lily had told them it was "in case a storm ever blew them over", but she had smirked while doing so. Judging from the expressions on the faces around them, not every godparent had been as considerate.
Soon, it was their turn. Hagrid confirmed that they were of the same gender, asked for their names, gave them their keys and a single tent. They hooked the keys to a keyring on the left side of the belt included in their uniform and shook hands with Hagrid, who welcomed them personally to Hogwarts – as he had done for everybody else.
Afterwards, they hurried through the gate and quickly set up their tent in the first open plot they saw.
"Welcome, students, to another year at Hogwarts – and a very special welcome to our new first years. I am Albus Dumbledore, your headmaster. Please, pick a table and sit down."
The first years all picked a table and sat down among the older students. The tables expanded on their own so there was enough room for everybody.
"The first merit points have been awarded, and even I do not know who got them. Remember that it isn't possible to tell others about your points to prevent undue jealousy. First years, please stay seated after the feast, the teachers will help you pick your first courses. Our school healer, Madame Pomfrey, also told me to warn all of you about the danger of using magic on your own body. A certain first year apparently wished to imitate the magic of one of his older brothers by breathing fire. In addition to setting fire to his bed before his first night here, he also managed to burn his throat, mouth and lips as well as crack his teeth from the sudden heat."
The headmaster might not have mentioned a name, but the team mates of Ronald Weasley – the impatient kid from before – certainly looked disgruntled. They were Seamus Finnegan, the only child of the Finnegan family, and Dean Thomas, a latecomer from Terra Origina who would have been on his own otherwise.
An older child a few seats away from the Evans triplets commented on the kid's stupidity. Apparently, breathing fire was dragon handler magic – a dragon handler could only safely use it because their magic was connected to a dragon, protecting them from any flames weaker than those of their dragon.
"Yeah, you would know. After all, you want to be one when you're done here, Drake."
This comment, which came from the boy beside the one who had just told them about dragon handlers, was followed by some laughter around them.
"Well, with a family name like Drake, it's almost an obligation!"
They were interrupted by the headmaster clearing his throat. Apparently, the entire hall had been listening to their conversation.
"On that note, and with the cautionary tale of the day done, let the feast begin!"
"Now that the feast is done, there is one task left before you first years can go to bed: You need to select your courses. You always select the courses for one moon only, and you can either take the exam for that course after that moon or take the course for up to three moons."
Everybody nodded, even Weasley (although he couldn't speak and had to return to the hospital wing after selecting his courses).
"By spending fewer moons in a course and getting better marks, you can gain more merit points, but you can only try the examination three times. If you fail all three, you fail the course, if you succeed on the first try, you gain all merit points, half the points if you succeed on your second try, no points for the third try."
Hermione raised her hand, and Professor McGonagall, the transfiguration teacher and deputy headmistress, nodded to her.
"Do we get the same amount of points in every course? If so, how many can we gain?"
"All courses contain roughly the same amount of material, so they also give the same amount of merit points. You gain one point for an acceptable grade, three for an exceeds expectations and five for an outstanding. The amount is doubled if you manage to pass after your second moon and tripled if you pass after the first moon. The maximum amount you can gain from an exam is, therefore, 15. During the course itself, you can gain a maximum of ten more points, for a total of 25."
Hermione nodded, satisfied with the answer.
"The list of available courses is tied to your keys. Touch your key to your timetable and the parchment will expand and show the courses you can take during the next moon. Depending on which courses you already passed, the list will include more or less courses. You can take up to five courses at once and have to take at least two. Just use your finger to drag them from the list into one of the five timeslots."
A rather small girl of asian heritage (according to her looks, at least) raised her hand.
"Do you have any recommendations for our first courses?"
Professor McGonagall nodded.
"For new students, we recommend taking at least Herbology 1 and Focus Training. The former is needed for quite a few other subjects, like the whole range of Potions courses, Healing, Care of Magical Creatures and Rituals. The latter assists you in learning how to use your focus and how to train it so you use less magic. Many subjects, like Duelling and Defense, may not explicitly require this, but the teachers will assume that you know how to use your focus. Some of the other courses you can chose may either be easy ways to get some merit points or help you gain more points in other subjects."
In the end, the triplets chose Herbology 1, Focus Training, Essay Writing, Runes 1 and Meditation. The latter three were mostly taken for easy merit points, since Lily had already taught them those subjects, but Runes and Meditation were also required for some interesting courses later on.