Chapter VII NEW SCHOOL START

AN: one review; Were we supposed to get something from this chapter?

Its seemed as if nothing of any consequence happened?

It's no action, and same go for this chapter, but it be some folks die in the epilog, I hope you stay with tha last ending of the story do have a little twist in it. (and this an are not spellchecked)

And thanks to alla of you who have given favoriting for both me (author) storyline are by me but wording are by my cowirter bbmc u/6211258/.
Small edits on time - before or after (2018-02-05) :NA

:-:-: Hogwarts September first 1988 :-:-:

Harry had just returned from from Texas seeing the staff for the four sites that would host the British students and was now preparing for the first arrivals of the students for the new school. It had been discussed if all staff would be present at first welcome feast or not, but due to the need to remain at the other sites to complete a few last minute things before students arrived, the decision had been made for him. Well it would be just him and a few others, this time, in the great hall but what a two years it had been, just to make to this point. The first thing he had to reorganise was the arrival at Hogsmeade of the Hogwarts Express. They would not let the matter drop until he gave a explanation of how it would work. He hated that some families would have to travel non magically from Glasgow or Edinburgh to London. It wasn't to see their kids on to the train but to see them go through a brick wall and then go home again. The other part of, what he considered, unfair treatment was the kids from non magical families would see the kids from magical families be dropped off at the station by their parents. Those kids would get that last minute talking to by their dads and also the last minute hugs from their mom. It was a close call, but he took care of that aspect.

Once at Hogsmeade first year students would still be directed to the boats on the lake. That first trip from the train to the castle, being transported by boat over the lake to Hogwarts castle, was traditional and magical he wouldn't change that. Oh don't think he kept everything the same because he didn't, oh no. To have the ministry monetary backing for Hogwarts Harry had to make some alterations. He couldn't leave things alone and still expect things to come together as needed.

So one thing he changed was how the students came to the school. Once the first years had left the docks a new set of boats came for the second years followed by the third years. Harry had thought over how the students would journey to the castle once off the train and decided that it still magical and awe inspiring to see the castle from the lake in second and in third year as it was in first.

The fourth years and up would still journey to the castle by the thestral drawn carriages and would arrive and be seated before the younger years. When Harry had taken over Hogwarts and stated he could teach the students better, to have them ready for their O.W.L.s earlier, he decided if he was going to do it then he was going to do it his way and he was going to do something big.

As the students started to trickle in Harry thought back over the weeks and months he had put into recreating a new and hopefully better Hogwarts.

He remembered deciding that the things he loved the most was the first trip to the castle and the Welcoming Feast. So, he decided that while he may change things, like how the students got to the school, some things would stay the same, like the feast. The students would still come to the castle and come to the great hall to have the Welcoming Feast for all new and returning students. But that is all that was the same about that first night.

They no longer only had the first years coming by boat now it was the first three years, for this first year. The next thing he changed was that he no longer had students sorted by the sorting hat. Harry thought and explained that while the sorting hat may have been a great idea one thousand years ago to give the new incoming students a sense of family when they first arrived now times have changed and the only thing the sorting did was to create walls. The walls between people and families due to the house they were sorted into were indirectly helping in creating dark lords.

Oh, he remembered the fights that comment created. He shut them down rather quickly when he said that while the wizarding world has been lucky to have their heroes to save the day but one day they might not be so lucky. It was with the thought of breaking down the stigmas and barriers in mind one of the first things he changed about the school was the house system.

Again, when he had first said he was changing something the fights broke out and they hadn't even heard what he was changing. When he explained that the house system needed to be gotten rid of there had been something akin to mass hysteria and panic. When he was finally able to calm everyone down he explained he wasn't doing away with the houses just changing them a little. Once he made that statement people still weren't happy but they let him explain.

Harry knowing this may be his one shot to have people understand went on to tell of his vision of Hogwarts. He envisioned a Hogwarts where students were not separated by house but perhaps by year. The new incoming students would not be sorted but would immediately be known as Gryffindors. He reasoned that they were extremely brave to be leaving their parents for the first time and in the cases of muggleborns to be coming into a whole new world.

The returning second years would be Hufflepuff for their loyalty in returning. The third would be Slytherin, his reasoning for that was by now all students would be ambitious and trying to take new classes on or sneaky enough to know who to go to in their year to get them to do their homework. Finally, fourth years would be Ravenclaws. Fourth years would be hitting their stride and this would be the year that would determine if they just took the O.W.L.s or if they continued to their N.E.W.T.s.

Harry explained that while house pride was great to have it also at times lead to families rejecting one another over those houses. Houses he reminded them, that were chosen for you by a magical artifact when you were eleven years old. When he saw the possible objection again rising for his wish to not use the sorting hat he had just looked to the people who were raising the loudest opposition to his plan and asked.

"Are you still the same person now that you are thirty, seventy, or one hundred years of age as you were when you were eleven? Have none of you changed even a little since then? Perhaps when you had your first kiss, first girlfriend/boyfriend, when you bonded to your spouse or had your first child? If you say you haven't changed then I say you are a liar."

It was the quickest he had ever seen the naysayers shut up. While they were still quiet he went on to say that the school he had started for his years mates was doing quite well and he wanted to keep it going. His next proposal was something new and would give the students a safe look at the world around them while they were still in school.

What he wanted to do was send the different years to different locations. The first years would go to Texas which is where his current school was located. The second years would go to New Zealand, third years to Malta and finally the fourth years to Barbados. He stated that he had properties in each area that had enough space for each year group. They could learn about different areas of the world, different cultures and still get their education.

When naysayers again spoke and brought up the cost of getting the students to the different locations and also keeping it from the muggles Harry had an answer for that. He said that everyone would come to Hogwarts as traditional and partake of the feast. But once the feast was done instead of going to the common rooms the younger years would take specialized gates from Hogwarts to each of the different locations.
:-:-:

Harry paused in his reflection of the last few months as the first welcoming feast of the new and improved Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was about to begin.

The students, as they were entering the great hall, saw seven tables. For the first years there may not have been anything noteworthy about the tables, but to the returning students this was a large change. The older students quickly noted that instead of the usual four tables they now had seven with a sign on each telling what year it was for. The staff were quick to direct the students both new and old to the appropriate tables with assurances to the returning students that explanations would follow. After the students settled down and were sitting Harry stood to give his speech.

:-: Harry giving his welcome speech :-:

"Welcome to what the Ministry for Magic calls Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I prefer to say Welcome to the new Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"With the stories you might have heard before, from parents or siblings, or on the train ride you may experience a small bit of wonder at the changes that have been made to the school. I will go into details about some of the changes made and the reasoning behind them and I will even discuss how I came to be the one to reorganize the school but keep in mind it's a long story. Now I know everyone is just waiting to ask questions or get that explanation but most of them will wait till after the feast.

"To assuage some of those burning questions let me say first that the house tables have now been replaced with tables for each year. The tables are for years one to seven and for the great feasts such as the Welcoming and Leaving feast you will be required to sit with your year. And few others that will be announced separately.

"Now for you who are returning from Texas with me, you need to know that the school is changing. For instance, you may have noticed there wasn't a sorting? Well the old sorting hat hasn't been retired just yet but it's job has changed. It now is the head judge of disagreements. There is no longer going to a traditional sorting of students into the houses.

"Next you will see that at the end of your tables are two people that older than you are. These people are your mentors, traditionally known as your heads of house. In the past the heads of houses have been overwhelmed by the students in their house and their needs. This didn't even cover if they had other assigned positions in the school.

"I am happy to say this change is permanent and their only job is to be your head of house or mentor and to help you. If you find that you have any questions or problems please seek them out. If for some reason they are not accessible or if they are not able to help you then call upon Dobby or Winky". When they heard their names called the two elves showed themselves to the student body.

"These elves are the head elves of my house and if there is an emergency do not hesitate to call upon them, by saying their names. Do not call upon them for simple things like help in finding an article of clothing.

"However, as I stated previously, if you need help and say something like 'Dobby help' or 'emergency Dobby I need help'. They will come. I do want to mention that they may not be alone and that might be thee most important thing you need to know. Thank you Dobby and thank you Winky, if you could please let the others know to serve the feest."
:-:-:

Once the feast was done, the desserts were gone and many a student were entering the first stages of a food coma Harry once again stood to speak.

"As the food now fills your bellies and you are almost ready to sleep I ask that you give me just a few more minutes longer. I want to let you know this is the start of the new and improved school for magic in Britain.

"When I say Britain, I mean all of Britain and not just this small part of Britain. In 1967 Barbados was separated from England while other islands such as Montserrat and Turks and Caicos Islands, are two of the seven islands or group of islands are what's left of British in British West Indies.

"If you don't know your geography it is easy to believe Gibraltar is a part of Spain but it's not. This is why it's important that you all learn the about the world, it is more than this small part here.

"The next thing that is very important is that we have a few thousand magicals living on the British islands but there are more than sixty million non magicals. The non magicals have and will continue to carve areas out for themselves. These areas may be ones that we made ours hundreds of years ago, but there are no documents in their archives telling them that these areas are ours. To their systems and archives we do not exist.

"In centuries past we hide ourselves and our areas so they could not see us. This was both good and bad. Good because we were safe but bad in the fact we removed all record of our existence so to them we are squatters. Now as their technology grows they are able to see through the magic we used to shield ourselves and make more accurate maps. Its thanks to their advancing technology that they can take images, from a higher altitude, for their maps.

"Due to the altitude that their technology can record from, the images will not be affected by our magic. The cameras they use are a more modern version of our own, they are machines and have no mind, no thought process. The images they can make will show all areas below it. It is for this reason we have to reintegrate ourselves back into British society as a whole.

"It was was decided upon and announced worldwide to the muggles that cities would have cameras placed in multiple areas. These cameras are linked together and will record images and send those images to another location to be recorded again.

"In other words they are on line, that is the same as saying that somewhere some people are watching a lot of screens. These people are trained to find anomalies, to watch people's reactions, their clothes and if they find something they report it to their superiors.

"What that means for us magicals is if you appear as if from nowhere, or in cloths that is different from the rest of the crowd, they are absolutely going to be looking very closely at you. They will track your movements and actions if you appear threatening they will take steps to neutralise the threat. If they track you they could also find the rest of us because you could lead them to us.

"I'm not going to say any names but people have commented 'it's no problem, just do as we always do, find them and obliviate them'. The people that made these comments may be your parents, your neighbors or your friends but they are wrong. If they attempt to actually follow this plan it will only lead to disaster for us.

"First, you won't find 'them'. Their really isn't a them since they are online they have systems, multiple systems at that, that record the information. You may erase the memories of the people that viewed the recordings but all they have to do is watch it again to know something is wrong with their memories.

"Second, as I mentioned, sort of, a moment ago all recorded images are stored. This is done for safety reasons. These recordings could be stored for days, weeks or more.

"Third by the time you find out that they have seen something they deem unusual you are way too late.

"Whatever strange thing occurred has been stored, perhaps even listed as an anomaly. There will eventually be so many anomalies filed that they will see a pattern. This is when they will react especially as they find out that people on the street, their police or cops (their aurors) that are on patrol can't remember a thing.

"That will make them afraid and angry. With that combination of emotions in enough people, especially those in 'power', well we might be back to the days of the witch burnings. Oh, I am sure it will be a more modern witch burning, something like shooting us, blowing us up or using drugs to kill us but however they do it we aren't going to like the results. They could even just make people start disappearing without a word or a trace. Hell, they could do as we did to them, when I say we I refer to when both Grindelwald's or Voldemort's forces attacked civilians, blame the disaster on gas leak, even in places without gas lines. Blow a property up with bombs and call it a gas leak.

"Now while the non magicals or 'muggles' are a threat to us we also have another threat to worry about, our own ignorance and feelings of superiority. We think we can ignore the muggles and stay in the magical enclaves, that we don't have to walk amongst them, but soon there won't be any magical enclaves hidden from them.

"The threat that I will speak of now is the threat of magicals, ignorant of the non magical world, exposing themselves and the rest of us to the non magicals. They can do this through ignorance, stupidity, carelessness or through the belief that the non magicals won't hurt us if they find us. Let's talk about some of the ways magicals are a threat to the rest of us.

"So ignorance, suppose there are two of you walking around using words like muggle and talking about the price of dragons liver in the alley. You are dressed in traditional magical clothing like robes and a pointed hat. Maybe your robes even have a little design of dragons and unicorns and they are animated through the use of a spell. Do you know what will happen if the non magicals see you?

"They will take out their pocket cameras, yes they have cameras that can fit in their pockets they are getting smaller now, and they will record you maybe they will share the video online or with friends. Congratulations! You just exposed us to the non magicals and there is no way to take it back or undo it.

"To save lives, ours and theirs, to prevent a war that we will lose you must learn to live side by side without exposing magic to the non magical. If you are sitting in a public place and someone asks you what you think of last nights show on the tele and you don't even know what a tele is, you stand out to them.

"We can't stand out, we need to blend. If we keep standing out then that could cause them to question why we don't know certain things it could be a way for them to mark us, to track us.

"This is why you need the education this school will provide to you. Hopefully you can help educate your parents later and before they expose us.

"What will be very new to this school is that when you leave after four years you will have taken your O.W.L.s. This will be equal to what the non magical youth have, one of the differences to theirs will be that it will show all four of the external schools. Yes, four actual schools, in each of those different locations and you are going to be interacting with them from time to time. As I said earlier we will train you up to your O.W.L.s but after the first four years it's up to you to gain more education here or elsewhere in magic. If you prefer you may also seek your future on the non magical side as that in a near future they will be side by side with the magical part.

"We are now certified to use the international connecting doors. These doors are in various countries but you will need a form of school ID-card to use them. That ID will be a form of passport and because you have that you will be allowed to reside in the countries we use. There will be new ones distributed for each year and first to be handled are the oldest. We will then go down through the years distributing them. Yes, each country will allow us to start the school year up before the ID's are made ready, but, this means you will need to stay on school grounds until your year has them.

"Your mentors will teach you more about how you can interact between the different locations but please do not rush to learn how to do this first thing. As for the rules, at the top of your new trunk is a book. This book is a complete listing of the rules and regulations of this school you will also have a section that contains the laws for the areas that you will reside in. This is done so that if you leave the school grounds you will know if you could possibly break the law.

"These books should be with you constantly for the simple fact that if you end up visiting a sister location the book will update with their laws while you are there. They are also spelled to update if the rules, laws, or regulations change or are amended. When we put this book together we tried to make it a complete guide to how you could start and complete your academic life at Hogwarts.

"It also has sections to help those who struggle in certain areas for example, you can find examples and tips on how to write an essay for your classes when they are assigned.

"Now so that we didn't overwhelm the first years, we want them to settle in and get a handle on things, this next section can only be seen by those in second year and above. The section I speak of is one that focuses on the careers that you can strive towards. It will explain the courses you will need to take, how to get intern or externships and who would be able to best advise you during your studies.

"As I said at the beginning we have rules, you will read them because if you break enough of them you could face serious repercussions.

"Now some of you may have heard me say your new trunk, right? So as you must know by now the ministry is helping to support this school. They are providing funds similar to any business that contributes to the local community. Inside the trunks is all the school based supplies you will need. This includes parchment, ink, paper, notebooks, pen, books etcetera. What it does not include is your clothing as that is based on your body size and gender.

"The school uniform will be provided to you in the next few days. The tailors will bring pre made items and they will offer tailor made items as well. Should you wish to have outfits made by the same tailor, outside of the school issued uniforms, you may ask for ways to contact your family to arrange payment to the merchant. At this time the school will only pay for what's needed for the school uniforms."

"The trunk and school supplies, such as your books and whatever is not used like parchment, is not technically yours. It's was provided for your use during the school year however next year the new first years will inherit these supplies from you, so take good care of them. We will of course replace any supplies used during the course of the year.

"You will meet a lot of new teachers they will introduce themselves closer to the times you will take their course. Many of them you would not see at meals because they are teaching multiple years in multiple locations.

"The next planned gathering of all students and staff, like tonight, will be at the midwinter feast just before Christmas break. For that feast it will be open sitting and smaller tables so that the year groups may mingle then.

"I want to mention to please remind your family's of the new school rules regarding being expelled. In the documents we sent out to everyone who accepted a spot in this school we specifically mentioned these rules and highlighted them for easy viewing.

"It's also listed in chapter two of the rule book talked about. I want to point out that if they send howlers, poison, any other form of dangerous mail or if they try to get the dangerous mail to you in any other way, then it will be you and your siblings who will be expelled.

"The reason I mention this is because if you are expelled now, by the rules that the ministry have enacted, your magic will be removed. You will be stripped of you magic core and then all of your memories of the magical world and your families will be destroyed.

"Now, I am sure you are wondering where in the world will you reside? For our new first years, all of you will go to the house of Gryffindor. The house is located in the area that I been using the two past years for my schooling, Texas in the USA. This location is the main administration office for the school. All locations have their own hospital wing that is open and staffed during the daytime. The hospital wing in Texas is called a 'sick-bay' and as it is basically very much like the emergency room of a hospital. If you are injured after the hospital wing in your location is closed, or you for whatever reason don't wish to go to the hospital wing at your location, you can call for 'sick-bay elf help'. We have elves on standby that will come to help and they are always an option.

"Next the second years will go to the house of Hufflepuff and your housing is located in New Zealand, north east of city Wellington, and it's south part of the north island. Just to let you know, timewise, they are twelve hours behind or before us, depending on how you look at it, but technically New Zealand is 12 hours AHEAD of Britain, and they are heading summertime now, as they are south of the equator and that's one of the reason - the south hemisphere, completely other stars .

"Our third years will be in the house of Slytherin. This year group will be located in Malta on the Mediterranean sea and of the same reason Malta is one hour AHEAD of Britain - not one hour behind us.

"Last but not least is our fourth years. You will be the house of Ravenclaw and they will be located on the island of Barbados which is in the eastern part of the Caribbean, and they is about 3 hours behind Britain.

Both the third and fourth years will have a body of water as a focal point.

"Let me go ahead and mention that we plan to have outings for all students. Some older students need to remember that detentions will interfere with what we have planned for your weekends. We plan to have you learn to ride horseback, or even go to Malta to sail in a boat race, or possibly deep sea diving after you learn to swim. You may later use this knowledge to learn to dive the non magical way.

"I had hoped to have the second years housed in Australia but there is a school for magic already there. If I was to house our students there another it could be seen, by others, as an attempt to compete with them. For this reason I decided to use an old family connection in Masterton. With this connection we will be interacting with The Lakeview School and Civil Defence Center. For outings there we plan to go to Mt. Taranaki, it has a nice little volcano.

"Now these are just a few outings we have planned there will be more and we do welcome suggestions of places to visit that could safe, fun and educational.

"Bigotry is something you are taught from an early age and usually from your parents. In the magical community it is considered normal to not like someone due to their beliefs, blood, family status and so on. You are taught to maintain a certain status quo that this 'is how it is supposed to be.' I am here to tell you that IT'S A LIE.

"We here at this school will attempt over the course of your studies with us to change your views, to expand your minds. I know that even with everything you learn, see and do some of you may not change your views but we at least can show you a different view and a different way.

"I want to say now to all that are assembled here IF IT IS NOT SOMETHING YOU WOULD SAY TO YOUR MOTHER, FATHER, BROTHER, SISTER, SPOUSE EXCETERA then it is not to be used when you speak to or about people here. Derogatory words such as 'mudblood' may be spoken when used as part of your classes as it may be a part of your learning. This does not mean you can use it in everyday life or outside the context of the learning environment. I hope everyone understands this.

"When I started this school I had to accept ALL students that would come to Hogwarts. With the variety of cultural backgrounds in mind I insisted that all students follow the same guidelines and rules. It's now mandatory to be educated up to OWL levels.

"To accommodate the traditionalists in the ministry you are brought to Hogwarts and all four houses will be used. The difference is the locations of the houses and how we use them. Before using the old sorting method you were assigned to one house for the duration of your Hogwarts career. I felt that the houses were used to divide us a people so I wished to abolish them. However, to compromise with those who follow traditions, they were kept but while I agreed to keep the houses and sorting I never promised not to modify them. Here at Hogwarts the houses remain as a tradition for the locals each of these houses will house students that are in different fields of study. These may include students for the auror academy and even St. Mungos.

"As Hogwarts was set up before some families had to travel, by non magical ways, from Glasgow or Edinburgh to London to get them to the express.

"What really was upsetting about this was most that did this could not even see their kids on the train but had to stop and watch them go through what looked to be a brick wall. So in some cases a three to four hour trip, or longer, one way ended with the parents and family staring at a brick wall and then they would go home again.

"For the children with magical parents try to picture what it was like for the those with non magical parents. You travel a long distance, a distance that could take you hours to complete, you do this to send your child off to a school in hopes for a better education. You want to see the vehicle that your child will be using for the final part of their journey and make sure it's safe or just to make sure they make it to a seat.

"Now imagine you are the non magical parent, you traveled all that way and you get here only to be stopped before you reach the end. Stopped because you can't see through the magic protecting the train platform and even if you could see it you could not get through because you are not magical yourself. So instead the children are sent ahead alone to board the train.

"These children enter into a new world without the visible support of their family, watching the kids from magical families be assisted on the train and fussed over by their families while they themselves are alone.

"It wasn't fair to these students to hold their family against them. In an effort to correct that I now made the way the students depart for the school the same for all.

"This is now a ministry founded school for PRE-OWL students. This school will instruct you up to O.W.L. levels which is now taken in your fourth year. The ministry wants to see that you repay their generosity by doing your best in your studies. The courses you will study have had a few things added. To assist you better at being able to blend we have added a series of non magical course subjects.

"First through fourth years now have the right to invite your immediate family, such as guardians and siblings, to visit you at the school. Their will be two weekends that your family will be permitted on the school grounds. One visitation day can be arranged prior to the Christmas holidays and one day can be prior to the end of the academic year. There are five weekends, prior to the Christmas holidays, open to allow for ten family visitations. After the holidays we have set aside six weekends for the second visitation.

"We have sent this information to your parents and ask that if you wish to have your family visit you at school make sure to sign up at least a week ahead. For the days that the visitations will occur we would prefer that the visitors would arrive at Hogwarts on a Saturday at or before ten am to then return home from here on Sunday by three o'clock pm. All visitors will be picked up by the same buses that brought you to the train. If the visitation times are not suitable for your family please see your mentor to arrange for alternative arrangements. If you want your family to stay for the night or even for the complete weekend leaving Sunday afternoon we need to have an accurate head count to be able to provide accommodations for them. This is why we ask for the sign up to be completed a week in advance to give us a better understanding of how many people will be on campus that weekend.

"We have instituted some new rules regarding the language used on the school campus. Word such as muggle, muggleborn and muggle whatever are derogatory and demeaning. This type of language has no place here and I feel it shows a distinct lack of class. Also on the other side of things the word or status Pureblood will not exist or be acknowledged here either. It's not to be used to describe someone. We are seeking to eliminate ALL bigotry on campus and as intelligent people you should not need to make others feel as if they are worth less to feel better about yourselves. Henceforth those words are not allowed and should you not heed this rule the punishment shall fit the crime, so to speak.

"Lastly as I previously stated there is a book in your trunk that will give you more detailed information about the school, surroundings, entertainment and staff. This is the only book that is yours out right all other books are pre checked out from the school library for your use.

"I'm not your headmaster, your headmaster will be individual to your location. So each 'house' has a headmaster but each of the externship locations will answer to the headmaster at the Texas school. Then that headmaster answers to me.

"Now the feast is coming to an end so let's have the mentors for Gryffindor lead their students to their house so they can see their new common room and dorms. The next to leave will be the Hufflepuffs, clearing the way for Slytherin to leave third, and lastly followed by Ravenclaw."

As the first group left the others groups watched curious to see the gateway in action. Once they had left Harry once again rose.

"Now for the remaining students. The upper years, fifth year will be in Gryffindors area, sixth year in Hufflepuff's quarters and the seventh in Ravenclaw. Even your years have mentors or a head of house.

"Drum roll please…. and I present you with your headmaster, the one, the only Remus Lupin.

"The last thing to mention is in the next week the auror academy will be coming to visit the school . They also may be staying for longer than just a week long visit.

:-:-:

All the students easily found the rule book that Harry spoke of. They were able to read more about their possible day to day routines. There was one thing they saw that they could not have missed as it was on a lot of pages.

The thing they saw repeated frequently was the reminder for students and staff of the school's no tolerance policy for bigotry and bullying.

With the reminder they saw a listing of consequences for minor and major offences. Each consequence was explained so thoroughly no one could possibly say they didn't understand.

The next sentence they read that was frequently repeated throughout the book and was listed as a rule. It had the words 'live by it' next to it. Those words were 'A wand is a weapon and all weapons have the potential to be deadly. Never aim your wand at anything you are not willing to destroy. Never raise your wand against a living being.'

All offensive training that are to be part of class assignments will be completed against non living human shaped target's, or training dummies. Each student will to be tested by the teacher for the strength of their shield charms prior to the practical training exercises. The only time this rule was not active was during defence classes where they had animated targets when testing on the Holodeck.

Students continued to read through the book lighting upon different areas and talking amongst themselves about each new discovery they found. Some such discoveries were things about oaths, healing magic, philosophy, higher learning, where muggle borns come from and so on.

:-:-: Excerpts from the book :-:-:

From year three onwards it is permitted for you to accept or make an oath allowing you to use helping magic amongst friends. Helping magic is magic such as charms for warming, drying, and/or for healing spells that was used after the lessons in that subject. That type of magical oath and the spells covered by this oath are only active during school. Even with the oath in effect you would still be allowed to defend yourself and others.

During the school term there are no restrictions that would hinder your use of magic to save a life. If, through the use of magic, you could save a life, magical or non, within school grounds or even outside of the school grounds it's mandatory to try to help. If you do happen upon a situation that requires the use of magic like this we ask that you act as discreetly as possible. If needed we will ask for an explanation later.

Harry's philosophy is either you are a born with magical abilities or you are not. You can have been exposed to non magical world or not, but to be able to coexist you must know about it to not stand out.

Why is there four places around the world to be used as schools for you? Well, as you enter the non magical world, you need to show you are currently in or went to a school, here is an opportunity to provide documents showing that. As a bonus since you are schooled in many locations around the world you do not have a set social group like most non magicals may have. To seemingly appear from nowhere and have no schooling or documents, to have no friends or acquaintances that could say they knew you that would be suspicious.

As everything has been handled up to now, the magical children of, believed to be, non magical descent just seem to randomly disappear as soon as they reach eleven years of age. Some seem to reappear roughly seven years later but without 'proper' schooling, as Hogwarts did not provide knowledge other than of the magical variety and does not exist to the non magicals or well didn't exist.

Now with the steps we have taken you will be educated in all non magical school subjects as well as magical and will leave the school with documentation showing this. The documentation will stand up to non magical scrutiny, as it will show that we are an accredited school, and it will be accepted should you wish to apply to a non magical school for higher learning.

Other new developments to your academic lives are that you will now be fourteen as you enter into your fourth year which is also the year you will sit for your O.W.L.'s. When you go home after that year you will know if you either passed or not. If you passed your O.W.L.'s then you are to be recognized as a magic user with the right to carry and use your wand in public. That is to be understood that will be in the magical public world.

From that point forward if you harm someone you can be tried as an adult. You can choose to not continue with your schooling, to come back here to continue to your N.E.W.T.'s or you can choose to enroll at a non magical college.

If you put forth the effort but do not pass the OWL exam then you have the option to redo your fourth year. If you choose to do this then you will be doing the same as those that choose to return for their fifth years and up. You are signing up for the option of later payment as the ministry is only sponsoring the first four years of your education.

Hogwarts is open and running but it will mainly be used for higher learning such as N.E.W.T. courses, the Auror Academy training, security officers for the non magical world, entry level chemistry, potion masteries, healers, and many more.

The first four years of classes are taught in four different parts of the world with the ability to alter the locations if needed. There may be a few occasions when there is going to be a big meeting or where we may host celebrities at Hogwarts. On those occasions each year group would join together in the Hogwarts main hall but other than that most you will eat, room, and learn with your year.

During the first month the school staff will not allow students to visit the other school locations to give students time to adjust to the area they will primarily reside in. After the first month students will be shown how to use the portals to go to other school locations to visit with friends and siblings in other years.

All students and staff in the school have access to all school locations as long as certain rules are abided. No one is to leave their primary school location without permission. No one is to leave the school grounds no matter the location without permission. There will be tours given at all locations and you will be given basic instructions on how to comport yourself among the 'native population' in that location.

As you all are now aware all school materials are supplied for you pre OWL, but beyond that you will be required to sign up for work hours. Some of the work hours will be spent as handlers or mentors for the lower years on days spent outside school grounds or as guides on family days.

All letters, if not urgent, are delivered to you on Friday mornings. Any outgoing mail will leave school on Monday evenings. Please advise your family, or whomever may be sending mail or packages to you, to never send edible things in letters. We ask that you do this because standard policy is that these packages will be destroyed. This policy will apply to mail that is sent between between our other school locations. We are also asking everyone to never bring anything edible through the door portals. If you purchased something you like, during a trip off school grounds, and wish it to be brought back to the school call for an elf. Our elf staff they know what is permitted and what is not. They will also know if any edible items have foreign substances, like potions, that should not be ingested. This is not just the school rules it's the also the legal local customs regulation that we are to abide by if we do not wish to have the local government requesting us to leave.

All five school locations have a hospital wing and a door to the 'sick-bay'. The local hospital wings are only open during that time zones daylight. Typical hours of operation will be seven a.m. to six p.m. and should there be any patients requiring an overnight stay they shall be moved to the sick-bay. If you find yourselves in any need for a hospital outside of the posted hours you may go to the sick-bay as that is open and staffed with personnel full time while the school is in session.

Gringotts bank will have an office in the Texas facility that can be used to access their services.

For first month you are restricted from visiting the other school locations to give you time to acclimate to your new surroundings. Exceptions may be made for legitimate needs but that is decided on a case by case basis. If you do visit an alternate school location you must seek out your mentor, after you are introduced, to report that you will be leaving the school grounds. The mentor will be responsible for keeping a log of those that leave the school grounds so that if an emergency occurs we have an accurate accounting of all that should be accounted for at this location. Once at the alternate school site you will be met by a faculty member and will need to sign into that location. Please remember to carry the rulebooks with you as they will update at the alternate school with any laws that need to be followed for that country.

If there is an accident, fire or whatever, all students are required to go to specific locations within the schools. Please read about these safety procedures and become familiar with the locations by reviewing the map provided for your specific school. There will be safety drills held periodically within your specific school and they are mandatory attendance. The school will post reminders throughout the school to advise you of the dates and times of the drills. If you miss the scheduled drills you will be counted as missing and a search party will begin to look for you. Please keep in mind that if this was a real emergency and not a drill they might be risking their lives to find and save you.

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On the first night most students did not read that far in the book before they found their way to their beds. They did stare at the clock a little trying to understand why it looked the way it did. There was six faces, on it one at the top, two in the middle, and three below them. They realized the top reflected their current time, the middle left was HQ, and to the right side was Hogwarts time, the bottom three were for the other school locations. From far the left it started with New Zealand then Malta and finally Barbados.

They were told upon coming to their schools location that they had moved time zones and were expected to adapt to the local time by adding or reducing an hour in their sleep schedule. This would allow them to come to the local time without a major adjustment. They also learned that the same time adjustment would need to be done before the end of the semester in preparation to go back to Hogwarts for Christmas break. The schedule for the adjustment of their sleep schedules was posted and they realized that it followed their scheduled times to leave or return to their school.

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The next morning each different school location and year saw a posting on their notice boards. It looked like an advertisement but they still stopped to read it.

Safety:
If you have not found the time to read the sections in your books about safety, your personal safety and others, as the mentors instructed you to yesterday please read it before breakfast.

Interested in earning pocket money?:
There is a section in the book about earning money through knowledge and ability, it will be updated regularly. At Hogwarts there is a special room that can be used for practical testing. Not all of the tests are strictly voluntarily and depending on the grades or results you receive you can earn sickles or vouchers for events, outings and events held while on an outing.

Before going on any of these excursions you must have your school ID. The id will be shown to the guard before you are allowed off school property and if you return after hours they are your key to unlock the gate. Be warned however the id will be locked to your magical signature. This way you will be unable to sneak anyone inside and you will be unable to leave after hours without proper authorization. The first test is mandatory for everyone and it's a simulation about your house being on fire. It will take place next week and your mentor and a select group of your teachers will guide you as well as participate in the testings. At this point we will remind you of the first paragraph on this notice. If you skipped that paragraph go back and read it now.

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