The next morning, everyone awoke to the smell of dampness from the rainwater covering the grounds and the stone of the castle. However, it wasn't long until the sun was high and boisterous. It promised to be another bright day, this one in the low 70s during the high point of the day. There was a generally anxious feeling amongst many of the sixth graders, such as the Summerhill twins, for the wand ceremony was to be held right after breakfast.

Evergreen and Seta finished getting ready for the day very quickly and waited down in the Nest for Link to finish. When he did, he joined them as they headed toward King Arthur's portrait entrance, joking, and roughhousing a bit on the way. They descended the stairs swiftly and made their way to the commons. Andie and Glade were already seated at the Thunderbird table when they entered.

"Good morning, sleepyheads." Glade giggled.

"Hi, girls. Thanks for waiting for us." Evergreen managed.

"Oh, of course. The thrill of our lives is waiting around for weird little boys." she replied with an eye roll. "It has nothing to do with the fact that breakfast isn't even until 7:45."

Andie and Glade laughed good-naturedly, conceding the point. The boys took their seats, and after a while, the headmaster stood before the commons. He was wearing crimson robes today with, of course, a matching hat.

"Good morning students of Ilvermorny!" he began with a smile and hands raised above his head in a Y formation. "Tomorrow, a new year begins, but today, we have the wand ceremony. All sixth graders must attend the opening proceedings held at 9 AM sharp, even if they already have their wand. This will be held in the annex, just outside of the commons. Older students, if they do not wish to attend the wand ceremony, are encouraged to visit our club fair which will be held in the Steward courtyard all morning and early afternoon."

Evergreen kind of wanted to check out the club fair, but he knew he had to go to the wand ceremony's opening proceedings first. After a few more words of encouragement and warning, Washington-Frost took his seat. As soon as he had sat down, a large breakfast spread appeared on all the tables.

Once again, the food was set up in a dizzying array. There was French toast, pancakes, waffles, crepes, bagels, biscuits and gravy. There were eggs prepared half a dozen ways, bacon, sausage, and hashbrowns. There was also a spread of cereals including oatmeal and granola with apples, oranges, bananas, milk, and half a dozen different fruit juices.

Evergreen piled French toast, scrambled eggs, sausages, and roasted potatoes on his plate, and grabbed a delicious-looking Honeycrisp apple and a bowl of granola. Link was more of a pancake man, apparently, piling his plate with such a tall stack that Evergreen was sure he'd never be able to eat them all. They all ate, once again, to their hearts' content, swapping stories and jokes with Andie and Glade. Link even showed them how to levitate a bagel at one point with his wand. This was a first-year charm that Evergreen had read about over the summer, and he had been eager to try it. They all copied Link's technique and managed to float a bagel each as well. What a rush it was to do magic!

Evergreen decided he wanted to try levitating the platter of hashbrowns as a challenge. Link told him it was a great idea, but Glade said that it wasn't. He decided to try it anyway. So, with a swish and flick of his wand, and a wingardium leviosa, the platter was suspended in the air. The boys were laughing at this, triumphantly grinning at Glade, who was rolling her eyes. Just then, Evergreen was bumped from behind, causing the platter and the potatoes to fly off behind him, prompting Glade's frown to become an ear-to-ear grin as she laughed at him.

He turned around and stood up to see that the platter had unfortunately landed on the front of the robes of a Wampus girl who was standing directly behind him. She must have bumped into him, causing him to lose his focus and his grip. The tall, stocky girl had brown hair and eyes, a pale face, and the muscular appearance of someone who had perhaps grown up on a farm, and she was glaring down at Evergreen.

"What was that for?" she asked angrily.

"I'm s-sorry. I'm so s-sorry. I d-didn't mean to g-get you."

"Well, you did." she threw her hands in the air. "What are we gonna do about it?"

"I c-can wash your robes if you'd l-like. I know how."

"No. I think you've done enough."

Suddenly, an unwelcome voice came from behind them.

"What the hell is going on here?" Swab intruded.

"This kid bumped right into me, spilling all of this all over me!" She gave Swab a look classified as 'puppy dog eyes'.

"Quandary. I should have known that you would come and try to start something like this right away!" Swab said as he towered over Evergreen.

"N-no. I said that I was s-sorry and it was an accident."

"Accident? I don't think so. You and your dumb stutter, thinking you can-"

Before he was able to say anything further, a very welcome voice came along to save the day. It was Professor Habitatio.

"Swab, my friend. I watched the whole affair. Believe me when I say that it was an accident, but someone needs to help Mr. Quandary with his charm work."

She warmly looked at Evergreen and then looked over at the Wampus girl. She pointed her wand at the girl and with a scourgify, cleaned all the grease and food particles from her robes.

"I'm sure that neither Mr. Quandary nor Ms. Gale-Larson meant any trouble, which might distract them from their studies," she said, eyeballing the kids sternly.

"I'm sure that he meant some trouble." Swab said, pointing to Evergreen who was still shaking, his face burning from the 'dumb stutter' comment.

"Swab, please let me take over and head back to your seat." Professor Habitatio's eyes flashed dangerously.

Grumbling, he left and went off to sit down. All the while, he was glaring at Evergreen. Gale-Larson, the Wampus girl, was also glaring at him.

"So, do we have any problems here?" Professor Habitatio asked the two children.

"N-no, ma'am." Evergreen quickly responded.

"I guess not ma'am." Gale-Larson replied, nearly boring holes into Evergreen's face with her eyes.

"Splendid. Mr. Quandary, in the future, though, please refrain from magical experimentation without the guidance of an experienced witch or wizard, such as your head of house, perhaps. She of all people could inform you of the dire potential results of magic experiments."

"Thank you, ma'am," he replied.

Gale-Larson turned on her heel and left the side of the Thunderbird table, going straight out the door of the commons in a huff. Link, Andie, and Glade watched as she left. Professor Habitatio also turned, but the other way, to rejoin the teachers at their table at the head of the commons.

"Who w-was that?" Evergreen asked, sitting down, now only slightly shaking.

"Beatrice Gale-Larson," began Glade. She went on to explain that the girl's mom had apparently been one of the most powerful no-maj-born witches to ever come out of Ilvermorny. Her Dad had come from a long line of magic, but Glade didn't know much else. She and Beatrice had interacted only occasionally while growing up.

They all finished up their breakfast and were sure to stack their plates and silverware together, at Andie's request, to possibly make the jobs of the dishwashing house elves easier. Evergreen didn't know how much of a difference their four plates would make, but he acquiesced for her sake. With a look at Link, Evergreen knew he was thinking very similar things.

Leaping from the benches simultaneously, the children and their familiars started towards the doors. Evergreen had Seta, Link's familiar was a green and blue parrot squirrel, Glade's a tiger-striped kneazle, and Andie had brought a raven.

Soon enough, they joined hundreds of other 11-year-olds in the annex. The room was truly impressive. It had a high ceiling, stone floor, and mahogany-paneled walls. Hung on the walls were the moving portraits of influential Ilvermorny alumni who had since passed on. There were still at least four dozen ghosts still swirling around one another high above their heads, making it pretty difficult to make out any discernible features of the ceiling. In the center of the room, the four Ilvermorny beast statues stood, unmoving, and right in the middle of the four of them stood a large, white altar that appeared to be made of ivory or something similar. There were two cylinders on either side of the altar as well, which disappeared into the floor below.

Most of the students talked excitedly amongst themselves while some looked quite nervous and kept to themselves. The large clock on the stairs' second-floor landing showed that it was 8:59 AM. Within seconds of Evergreen noticing the time, a man of average height strolled through the commons' doors. He was 'cut,' as Dad had always described men who worked out. The man was wearing a long, sleek, black robe with a golden crest of some sort shining upon his chest. He also wore a small, pointy hat that matched his robes. He had a short, clean beard that appeared to have been black at one time, but now was salt and peppered, and his sharp eyes radiated energy.

The wizard walked swiftly to the altar in the center of the room and pulled out his wand. He said an incantation that Evergreen recognized from his summer reading: sonorus,meant to amplify sound. When the wizard spoke again, it was loud enough to overpower all the side conversations amongst the hundreds of tween students in the annex. It didn't sound like a yell, and it also didn't sound distorted like he was speaking into a megaphone or microphone, it was just a louder version of his own voice.

"Good morning," he began with a raspy voice and some kind of eastern European accent. "My name is Professor Agilbert Fontaine, Deputy Headmaster, and I will be assisting with the wand ceremony today."

He looked around at all the students with a slightly mischievous expression on his face. His eyes briefly locked with Evergreen's and then he started speaking again, his wand still amplifying his voice.

"A prolific wandmaker in Great Britain coined the phrase: "the wand chooses the wizard," or the witch, as it were. Today, we will see evidence of that. In years past, all Ilvermorny students received their wands here and left them at the school during breaks, only ever removing the wand from the grounds upon graduation. Such traditions mostly ended with the repeal of Rappaport's Law in 1965. For certain groups, we still do carry on this tradition, and as you will all soon see, this ceremony is a wondrous opportunity to see some amazing magic."

He stopped for a moment to appreciate the silence that prevailed amongst the students. They were hanging on to his every word. With a smile, he continued.

"Those who do not yet have your wand are to line up two by two just behind me in preparation for our next steps." He stopped, yet no one moved. "Now, if you please."

There was a mighty shuffle as many of the students dragged themselves into the afore-described formation. Evergreen, Link, and Glade stayed where they stood while Andie and the Summerhills were amongst those who got in line. Just under half of the students stood in lines to get their wands, Evergreen estimated.

"It is of the utmost importance that you do exactly as I do." Professor Fontaine commanded. "When you approach one of these cylinders, you are to thrust your hand out like so." He held out his hand as if he were holding an invisible mug. "And you are to say veni ad manum meam. Repeat after me."

Everyone, including Evergreen, repeated the words, which were probably Latin. When they did so, a light came from the cylinders briefly which caused many of the other students to drop their jaws in awe. Professor Fontaine merely smiled, as if he had done this, and seen that same reaction countless times before.

One by one, each of the wandless students went forth, stretched out their hand, said those words, and a wand leaped out of the cylinder closest to them. It was a wonderful bit of magic. Evergreen only waited long enough for Andie to get her wand, which was black and fairly short. Then again, Andie wasn't the biggest person by anyone's definition, so her small wand made sense.

Evergreen and Link then left the annex with the girls and filtered off with many other students to the Steward Courtyard just out back. The pathway that took them there seemed different than it had the night before. They went up a flight of stairs, just to go down again, traveled through a corridor in which at least a dozen pukwudgies stood, locked in a heated argument in a language none of them could understand. They even passed by a strange set of classrooms, peering through the windows in the doors. One classroom looked to be underwater, another covered in thick jungle vines, and the floor of a third covered in scorching sand. Evergreen decided to not even ask his companions about the strange sight, for even Link looked as surprised as he did.

It wasn't long before they reached the courtyard. None of them had any plans to join any of the clubs, as such was forbidden for anyone under ninth grade, but they were nevertheless interested in what the school offered. They entered the courtyard and looked around. Evergreen noticed at least two dozen booths all surrounding the fountain with the statue of the man that Evergreen had assumed to be Mr. Steward, considering, after all, that the name of the place was the Steward Courtyard.

They were approaching one booth that had comedy and tragedy theater masks levitating just above it. Evergreen noticed Maggie was there, talking excitedly to the professor who was running the booth. The professor was short, with wiry black hair, pale, weathered skin, and dressed in a brilliant red robe. Evergreen didn't know for sure but thought that she looked Korean. She too was chittering excitedly with Maggie. Spotting him, the girl waved their entourage over.

"Evergreen! Come over here, I'd like you to meet Professor Park." Maggie called.

Evergreen did as he was told and sauntered over to the booth. The professor briefly sized him up and then smiled warmly. This smile put Evergreen strangely at ease.

"Professor Ani Park," she said, extending her hand, her voice hinting at a faint, vaguely European accent. "Also known as the keeper of all knowledge cool." She said, with a wink.

He shook the woman's hand and smiled back at her.

"So, you're involved in the theater?" he asked.

"Involved? What an appropriate word! You could say that I have a love affair with Shakespeare's work."

"How is magic theater different from non-magical?" he asked the professor.

A gleam of utter joy appeared in her eye at his question. She then stood up to her full height, which was only an inch or two taller than Evergreen and took out her wand. With a flourish of her wrist, the floating masks began singing loudly, clearly heard by all in that corner of the courtyard.

LISTEN UP AND LISTEN WELL

FOR WE'VE A STORY NOW TO TELL

IT BEGAN ON A GRECIAN STAGE

NOW TO MAGIC AND NO-MAJ IS THE RAGE

WHEN A MEMBER OF THE CHORUS

CAME FORWARD TO SPEAK BEFORE US

HE CHANGED THE WORLD FOREVERMORE

MORE THAN STORM, THAN PLAGUE, THAN EVEN WAR

THEN OUR ANCESTORS OF NOBLE STOCK

LEARNED SPECIAL MAGICKS TO THEIR SHOCK

AND THIS NEW MAGIC BEGAN THE AGE

OF ENCHANTMENT AND SORCERY UPON THE STAGE

The music ended and Evergreen was spellbound. Even Link showed extreme interest in that impressive show of magic. All he knew was that he couldn't wait to see a show here at Ilvermorny. However, Professor Park's next words were a real surprise.

"I understand that you are sixth graders and thus cannot be a part of any of our clubs yet. However,... you don't need to be a part of the club to audition for any of the shows we put on." she said with a grin.

Evergreen had never performed in that way. Sure, he had participated in violin recitals as a child, but that was different. Everyone's focus then had been on his instrument, but if he auditioned for a play, he would have nothing to distract from the fact that he was awkward and uncoordinated.

"Let's audition." Link said excitedly.

The earnest look on his friend's face was compelling. Evergreen figured that, as a four-statue-student, he needed to get out of his comfort zone. Sure, being mild-mannered, meek, and overly polite may have served him as a child, but he knew that must soon change. Perhaps the theater could be his tool to use to help him gain some confidence in himself? Perhaps he could use it to ultimately do away with this stutter which was certainly not doing him any favors.

"OK." Evergreen responded, almost unconsciously.