Chapter 4: Room 24
Dazzled whispers rosed among new students, who started murmuring energetically. Mina understood why. Even though she had spent several years in the castle, she always found it stunning and comforting. It was an H shaped castle made of beige bricks, with large windows, and which was well taken of. The courtyard, which extended all around the building, was surrounded by a wall of beige concrete, and in the four corners of the wall stood four small towers, and nobody knew what their use was – some guessed that archives were kept there, some thought that corpses were hidden there. Miss Gardner rose her hand, and the large portal squeaked open.
"Well, shall we? Oh, do let your bags here," Miss Gardner said, "They will be put in front of your respective rooms."
Used to it, most of the older students always left their bags on the floor, but the youngest, probably first years in the Whit class, shared surprised looks, probably scared of not seeing their stuff ever again. They eventually leave their bags, and the whole group followed the Head of Discipline inside the silent courtyard. When Mina turned around, imitated by a lot of students from the White class, all bags had disappeared. Miss Gardner detached herself from the group and stood before them.
"I wish you welcome to Eagle School. I am Miss Gardner, the Head of Discipline. I am, as you can guess, in charge of discipline, and if you ask you elders, they will tell you I take this very seriously," she said with a clear, a bit severe voice.
Mina and Roxanne shared a look and stopped themselves from laughing. To say that Miss Gardner was a stickler when it came to discipline and the rules was a euphemism.
"However, if you happen to have any problem," Miss Gardner added with a much softer voice, "please let me know. I'm here to help you."
Mina also knew that it was true. If needed, you could always count of Miss Gardner, who always listened to any problem anyone could have.
"We are now going to have lunch in the canteen. After that, the first years will come to me to visit the castle and get your color badges. I will be waiting for you guys here. The others will go to the C building, the one in the middle behind me, to go take theirs schedules and their new badges, and then you will be free."
She indicated them to follow her, and Mina, taking Sebastian's hand as if it was the most natural thing in the world, suddenly realized she was starving. The canteen was on the ground floor of the A building, which was the castle's left part. They entered in the building's hall, which was empty except for dozens of lockers, and turned left to arrive in front a massive orange door. Miss Gardner opened it and they get in a spacious room with orange walls which had a lot of more or less long tables, and in the back stood a platform with a very long table on it where the teachers would eat. The group separated, and Mina and the others walked to their usual table, near the window, and she sat between Sebastian and Roxanne. Once everyone was seated, white plates, shining glasses and cutlery appeared in front of each of them. A small, hidden door opened and all teachers and the school's headmistress appeared. Miss Gardner would usually ask for silence at this moment, but this time it would have been of no use, as all chatting stopped as soon as the teachers came in. The tall woman in the middle of the adult group – who had dark hair and grey eyes and was wearing a suit – started speaking.
"Good morning everyone. If you do arrive here, I welcome you at school, and hope your next seven years will be sweet and instructive. If you're coming back, I say hello again, and I'm delighted to see you all came back safe and sound."
She had a warm smile which seem to make the atmosphere way less tense.
"For those coming back, I apologize for what I'm going to say next, as I know what it will be, but I do ask you to have compassion for your new classmates. For those arriving, my name is Roselina Roth and I'm the school's headmistress. Some of you already know me as I had the opportunity to meet you this summer."
Mrs. Roth made it a point every summer to go see every Mortal-Born student, which mean a student whose parents were Mortals, who had yet to enroll in a wizarding school. Mina remember the first time came Mrs. Roth came to her family's house as if it was yesterday. It was for Camille. The latter had not idea she was a witch and Mrs. Roth was extremely kind and sweet with her while carrying out a not-so-easy task: telling the eldest of the four that she was special. She then went to talk with the parents. Mina didn't know what words the headmistress used, but after they talked, her mother accepted that Camille would go study at Eagle School. Five years later, Mrs. Roth came back to the Hartley house, this time for the twins. Mina was confused and told Mrs. Roth that she "should immediately tell her which dark lord I must kill so we could get to serious business without to go through seven books". She learned at the same time that Camille was a witch – as divulging THE secret to anyone was forbidden, even to family members – and so was Nan. That really pissed her off. For some reason, Mrs. Hartley also accepted to send the twins in the same school as her sister, and in a few years' time, it would be Alice's turn. Mrs. Roth gave her usual beginning-of-the-year speech, explaining how the school worked – Nathan sighed and yawned through the whole thing – and reminded the student some of the school's rules. Mina barely listened to her, delving memories from four years ago. Was it normal, when you were nearly fifteen, to think that time was passing terrifyingly fast?
"I'll finish by saying that if you have any problem, please do come talk to me. It's very important for me to help you on any subject. I'm guessing you all starving, so, without further ado, enjoy the food."
She had a last warm smile, then her and all teachers seated in perfect synchronization. They were barely seated that all plated filled themselves with things that smelled delicious but that a nutritionist would surely not recommend, and water appeared on the center of every table.
"Finally! About damn time," Nathan signed.
"Mina?" Sebastian asked, gently strocking the girl's hand. "¿Estás bien?"
Mina came back to reality
"I am, I was just…thinking. Am I the only one really hungry?"
They all started to eat, and a big noise of cutlery and chatting came along. Mina and the others talked about their holidays: Kenna went to Hawaii and Sebastian visited his maternal family in Spain like every summer.
"By the way, Seb," Raphael said, "thanks again for inviting us to your house, bro."
"Oh yes, thank you, Seb," Sonia continued. "It was so nice."
"No problem," Sebastian answered. "Come anytime you want. It was cool to have you in the house."
Every summer every since they met after returning from Spain, Sebastian invited everyone to spent two weeks at the Grey manor, where they all enjoyed summer free time.
"Thank your parents again for us, kitten," Mina stroked Sebastian's arm and he winked at her with a smile.
Mrs. Grey, Sebastian's mother, despite being very busy with her job – she was a lawyer-, was absolutely adorable and always had been very warm and kind with each and everyone of them. Mina barely knew Sebastian's father, who was always working.
"You still call Sebastian 'kitten'?" Nathan laughed loudly.
"You're just jealous because the only thing people call you is 'idiot'," Mina snapped.
"She's right, though," said Raphael with a small laugh.
"Indeed," Sebastian added. "Though there is a variant, which is pronounced 'dumbass'".
Nathan opened his mouth to probably answer an insult, which he always did in that case, but Alden calmed him down with a single look, perfectly aware that Nathan did not stand a chance against Mina and Sebastian, and even less against the whole group, who would side with the two. Nathan sighed, probably offended, but didn't insist. Mina wondered if they hadn't gone too far, and made a mental note to talk to Sebastian about it later – she already knew his answer though, probably something like "Of course not, corazón, he asked for it.". After that everything went well, and Mina suddenly realized that her and Max forgot to send Nan a message. She looked around the room until she saw her brother, which didn't take her long. Their eyes met, and he silently asked her what was wrong, looking a bit worried. Mina took out her phone and pronounced 'Nan' silently, and Max nodded vividly. She saw him take his phone and both sent a text to their nanny, with Mina adding an apologize for not doing it earlier.
"Is someone waiting for you somewhere, Sonia?" Roxanne joked, seeing that Sonia already had finished her plate.
"No," Sonia admitted with a smile, "but I'd like to go get out schedules before too many people have the same idea."
"Go, then," Nathan retorted coldly, "we're not keeping you from going. Take ours too, that way we won't be wasting time."
"Why, of course. But I might, for some reason, forget to take yours."
"Hey, enough arguing for today," Mina spoke with a tone that couldn't suffer any disagreement.
"Exactly," Roxanne approved, "But I think Sonia is right, though. There will be many students."
"Patience is a virtue, hun", Kenna recited.
"Ironic, coming from you," Raphael teased her.
Once they all had finished, and to Sonia's relief, they left the canteen through a door which was on the professor's table's right and which led to the courtyard. Signs indicated the C building's direction but of course they were useless to them. The great hall which usually only had lockers in it now had seven tables and above each floated a number and a color. There wasn't any teacher or adult behind the table, except for the one for the first years, where Miss Gardner helped the new students, gave them maps of the school and indicated them where their rooms where.
As Sonia predicted, a lot of students were waiting in line, and Nathan suggested they sneaked in the line to get first. They chatted while waiting, and Mina saw that Nan texted her back, wishing her a good first day and sending her love. It was soon their turn, and Mina just had to touch the white paper in front of her in order for her personal schedule to appear. It was a clever spell, as each year had four class – which was the reason Max and she weren't in the same class. She got out of the way to let Alden do the same, and constated with surprise that her schedule was full, which the other soon noticed.
"Boy, they didn't go easy on us this year," Sebastian said.
"Right," Sonia whispered. "We only have two hours dedicated to our homework."
"It's probably because we have more hours of Universe class," Roxanne suggested. "We'll really get into it this year."
The Universe class was one of the classes students liked the most, due to what it taught – the history of different worlds that were now inaccessible – and due to its teacher, Mrs. Stanton, who was very popular among students. They only had an hour per week until their fifth year.
"I feel like we also have more hours of History class," Alden said.
"Come on, we're getting in the way," Mina said, seeing the numerous students arriving.
They left the great hall, and Raphael proposed they all go settle in their respective rooms and then meet after, which everyone approved. They then all go the third floor of the A building, which was the left part of the castle. Mina and Kenna respectively kissed Sebastian and Nathan on the cheek and the group parted in two. The bedrooms usually had five girls or boys students – six was rare – from the same class in it, but Mina, Kenna, Roxanne and Sonia were lucky because there wasn't anybody else in their room. The girls walked through the corridor and arrived in front of the chamber which bore the number 24. Kenna opened the door, and a small rectangular bedroom with four bunk beds in each corner, six wardrobes, and against the facing wall, a table used as a desk which could see at least five people seated around. A small door on the left led to a very small bathroom, and above the table, a single window that overlooked the courtyard and the gates. In the middle of the room stood their bags, but the four girls ignored it, jumping on their respective beds instead. Mina and Roxanne "shared" the first bed on the right of the door, and Sonia and Kenna slept in the bed that faced them, near the window. They could have, as the boys told them, slept in the beds close to the door, but strangely enough, it never crossed their minds. Mina climbed the ladder with agility and laid on the white sheets, closing her eyes. The others did the same, and silence fell. After two minutes, they all got up at the same time.
"Alright, let's get to work."
They opened their bags and put their clothes and books in the wardrobes they had picked during their first year here. Mina and Roxane also shared of the wardrobes that lacked an owner, and Sonia and Kenna the other – "share" wouldn't be correct, as the wardrobe mostly had Kenna's stuff in it.
"That's it for our stuff," Roxanne concluded.
"Now, the serious business."
Posters were accepted in rooms, and most students took advantage of it. Mina and the girls agreed in saying that posters brought life to the room and made it way warmer. Mina used a spell to hanging spell to hang two small posters on her wardrobe, and the others above her bed, and the others imitated her.
"Way better that way, isn't it?" Roxanne turned to her.
"Totally."
"So, should we go find the boys now?" Sonia asked.
"Sonia, hun, I know you can't wait to see your precious Alden, but I need to fix my make-up, so you'll have to wait."
"I don't know what you're talking about," pink appeared on a surprised Sonia's face.
"Right."
Grabbing a toiletry bag which had her favorite saga's logo on it, Kenna went to the bathroom, and the others waited for her while going on social media. Mina got at this moment a text from Sebastian telling her and the other girls to go find him and the boys in the courtyard, and she let the other know.
" We're on the same floor," Kenna complained, "why shouldn't we stay and our room or theirs?"
Once she was finished, the four of them walked through the corridor and joined the boys, who were waiting for them by the stairs.
"Wanna stay outside, or go to the common room?"
"We're outside, we might as well stay here," Roxanne answered. "Come."
They walked to a corner of a courtyard with benches which were constantly in the shade thanks to all the different trees around. Kenna and Nathan seated on one of the benches, followed by Sonia. Sebastian and Mina seated next to her, and the darkhaired passed an arm behind her. They started chatting, but Mina noticed Alden was listening while perambulating in front of them.
"Are you alright, Alden?" she asked gently. "Are you bored?"
"Oh, no, no."
"You want to sit? Kenna, get on Nathan's lap-"
"No, it's fine, really! I'd rather stay standing."
"Say," Raphael said, "shouldn't we go to the library to start our research?"
"It's probably our last chilling moment we'll have before a long time, bro," Sebastian answered, his eyes closed. "As far as I'm concerned, it can wait a few days."
"He's right," Mina said. "Don't worry, Raph," she added with a smile. "And Seb, to just remind you, we're free the week-ends."
Raphael didn't insist and they spent the whole afternoon in the trees' shade. Kenna was already planning to have a nail polish session, and Sonia planned studying sessions. Nathan couldn't wait to the first football match of the season of the fifth years, which he captained, and Roxanne was looking forward to the Jill Center, a mall for wizards who was just a few miles from the school – students were allowed to go there starting from their fifth year, with permission from their parents. Spending time with her friends was Mina's favorite thing, especially at school. They didn't even have to talk or doing anything really. She really felt home at last, with people she loved. Spending time with her sisters, Max and Nan was really nice of course, but Eagle School was her home. She had a soft sigh, and Sebastian turned his head to her.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked with a playful smile.
"I was thinking that I'm happy to be here. With you guys. With you. I missed you, Seb."
"Aw, corazón. I missed you, too."
He kissed her forehead – which was close to Sebastian's neck in their position – and Mina felt her heart pounding.
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Take care 3
