Maya had changed straight into her Quidditch kit after swimming, so as soon as the chime rang to signal the end of lessons, Maya had grabbed her broom from the locker and tucked her bags inside instead. Her first day had been great so far, Maya had shared English, Math, and Science with Kamala, and Transfiguration with Sora, and she had spent lunch break with both of them. They had spent more time chatting with each other over lunch and she felt she could become good friends with both of them .

She'd met some other people as well, the boy who'd sat down next to her in Homeroom, had introduced himself as Ronan Murphy, and had told the girls that he was part fey on his father's side, his mother was a channeler, but he hadn't inherited her abilities. He'd sat down at the same table as Kamala and Maya in Science, the only class he shared with them both, and had introduced them to his cousin, Aiden, a channeler witch who had also sat with them.

Maya hadn't shared swim class with any of them, well she had but Maya had been put into a different group than the others. Being one of the few people in seventh grade who had never been taught to swim before meant that Maya had been placed in a group with two others, a boy, and a girl, who had also never had lessons previously. They'd only had time to exchange names, Jacob, and Emma, respectively, before the instructor had been ushering them into the shallow end of the pool handing them some floats and teaching them how to move their legs for breaststroke. Maya had taken to swimming easily enough and had been doing laps back and forth across the width of the pool by the end of the lesson.

Heading out onto the Quidditch field, Maya saw there was already a sizeable amount of students gathered, one of whom was Kamala. Maya headed in her direction; she was determined to forge a friendship with the other girl. Kamala saw her coming and waved enthusiastically.

"Hey, Maya. How was swimming? Did it go okay? Are you here for Quidditch or Quodpot? Have you played before?"

The stream of words that tumbled out of Kamala's mouth as soon as Maya was close enough to hear, made her grin. Kamala seemed to have realised that she hadn't given Maya a chance to answer because her questions quickly turned to apologies.

"Sorry, sorry, I can get a bit overenthusiastic at times, especially when I'm excited, and I am super excited right now."

"It's okay, I don't mind. Swimming was good, I learnt how to do breaststroke. I'm here for Quidditch and I played in the seeker position on my house team at Hogwarts last year."

"That's cool, I'm here for Quidditch too, I've never played before, but it sounds awesome."

Maya remembered from this morning that Kamala had only known about magic and the wixen world for a few months, and she frowned slightly in concern.

"Have you ever flown before?"

Maya remembered from Hogwarts that most people took time to learn to fly and become comfortable with just doing that, and Quidditch was even harder. There was a reason most first years and very few second years didn't make the Quidditch teams at Hogwarts. Maya liked Kamala and she didn't want to see the other girl get hurt because she attempted something she wasn't ready for.

"Yeah, I had some tutoring sessions over the past few months to catch me up and get me ready to start at the Academy. Flying was part of that, I love it, it's great isn't it."

Maya nodded in agreement, there was nothing quite like the sensation of flying through the air. Before either of the girls could say anymore a piercing whistle filled the air, when Maya turned, she saw a woman dressed in a sports kit and holding a clipboard in her hands standing in front of the crowd of students.

"All right listen up! If you are here for Quidditch gather on the left, if you are here for Quodpot gather on the right. If you are here for both, make a decision right now which one your prefer because both isn't an option."

It took a few minutes but finally the crowd of students had separated into two groups, Maya and Kamala who had already been standing on the left hadn't had to move at all.

"Good. I'm Coach Flynn, I am in charge of the Quidditch teams."

She gestured to her right at a man who was standing next to her dressed very similarly and also equipped with a clipboard.

"This is Coach Eryx, he is in charge of the Quodpot teams, if you have chosen to play Quodpot, please follow him."

There was another flurry of movement as all the students in the Quodpot group left following Coach Eryx. Coach Flynn waited until they were all gone before addressing her group.

"Hello to all the new faces and welcome back to those of you who participated in previous years. Today we will be running drills to assess your abilities and determine which position you will be playing. I realise some of you may have identified a preferred position on the team when you signed up for the Quidditch club, but that doesn't mean you will end up playing in that position if I decide you are better suited for a different one."

Maya got the impression that Coach Flynn was just as no-nonsense as Professor McGonagall had always been.

"Once I've determined which position is right for you, I will separate you into the teams you will be playing in this year, and I will also make a determination as to who will be on the Junior School Quidditch team that plays against Ilvermony and the Salem Witches Institute. My decision is final, if you don't like it, you are welcome to leave. Any Questions? "

When no questions came, Coach Flynn nodded her head and split them into two groups, A, and B. Group A were told to fly five laps around the Quidditch Stadium as fast as they could. Maya who'd been placed in group A, swiftly took the lead in her group. She was the first to finish, a full half a lap ahead of the second-place finisher, who himself was half a lap ahead of the next closest fliers.

It wasn't her broom that gave her the advantage either, several other students had personal brooms and Maya had noted that she wasn't the only one with a Nimbus 2001. For those students who didn't have personal brooms, the school had ones that could be borrowed all of which were Nimbus 2000's. Professor Aradia had told Damon that the school had updated their brooms a few years ago and Maya would be able to use one of theirs if he didn't wish to purchase a personal one for her. Maya vividly remembered flying on her Nimbus 2000 last year and knew that there wasn't much difference between them and the 2001 series.

Kamala, who had been placed in group B, flashed Maya a grin and a thumbs up, but didn't have time to come over and congratulate her because one of Coach Flynn's assistants was readying that group to begin their run through of the same drill. That wasn't to say that nobody congratulated her, the guy who'd finished in second place strolled over and smiled at Maya.

"Nice flying."

He had a very similar accent to Sora, though he didn't seem to take as much care with his words as she did, a quick study of his face helped Maya identify several similarities between him and her new friend. He confirmed their relationship with his next words.

"I'm Ryuu Yoshinaga. What's your name?"

"Maya Nichols."

"I look forward to playing Quidditch with or against you, Maya Nichols."

He flashed her a charming grin and strolled away towards a couple of other students who were just landing and seemed to be about the same age as him. Maya turned away and watched Kamala do her laps around the field, she was good. She didn't have the same fluidity on a broom as Maya did, who found flying to be as instinctive as breathing, but she was still very good, finishing in sixth place out of twenty.

With the first exercise out of the way, Coach Flynn divided each group again, leaving four groups of students. Each group was given a drill to do based on the four different positions on the Quidditch team. For the rest of the session, the groups were rotated into a new drill every so often until each person had done each of the four drills. Maya excelled at the seeker drills, and did moderately well in the other three, in her opinion anyway.

At the end of the session, Coach Flynn, after conferring with her assistants, announced the teams and positions that everyone would play. The school teams for the intermural competition were all evenly mixed when it came to abilities so as not to give any one team an unfair advantage against the others. The Junior High team was chosen out of those the coaches and the assistants deemed to be the most talented. Coach Flynn went through each team one by one, starting with the intermural teams.

"Team Amarok, the players will be, Jacob Lee, Keeper, Jack Chen, Sofia Garcia, Emma Johnson, Chasers, Olivia Smith, Liam Nguyen, beaters, and Maya Nichols, seeker, Evan Kim, reserve."

Maya grinned happily at getting the position she wanted, as Kamala congratulated her. Kamala got placed in Team Dragon as a beater, Ryuu was also placed in Team Dragon, as one of the chasers. He seemed quite happy with that, so Maya assumed it was the position he wanted.

Once the Intermural teams were announced, Coach Flynn announced the School team.

"For the school team, there will be seven players and seven reserves, one for each position. The players will be, Jacob Lee, Keeper, Anna Martin, Ryuu Yoshinaga, Eli Cohen, Chasers, Noah Smith, Adam Lee, Beaters, Maya Nichols, seeker."

Maya smiled from ear to ear, delighted that she had made the school team, as Kamala jumped up and down next to her seeming even more excited than Maya herself.

"The reserves will be, Zoe Taylor, Keeper, Ruby Clark, Emma Johnson, Leo Jones, Chasers, Zara Patel, Owen Ryans, beaters, Natalie Taylor, seeker."

If Kamala was disappointed that she hadn't made the school team, she didn't show it, grinning excitedly and listening avidly to the rest of what Coach Flynn was saying.

"Quidditch Practise is every Monday and Friday after class, and every second Saturday for the school team. The schedule for the games will be posted on the noticeboards on Friday and each of you will receive a copy. Practise is over for today; I'll see you all on Friday."

Maya and Kamala walked back to the locker area together, to secure their brooms, and collect their bags, before heading to the portkey point at the front gate.

"That was really fun. I love flying, it is without a doubt the best part of having magic for me. I'm absolutely psyched about being a beater, I was hoping I would. I used to play baseball, I was always good at hitting the ball, I mean doing it on a broom with balls moving under their own power is a little different, but still. Are you excited about playing seeker? I can't believe you made the school team! You were brilliant though, I was watching you, in that first exercise, you were amazing."

"Thanks, you were pretty good too."

Kamala grinned at the compliment.

"So, seeker position?"

"I'm happy, it's the position I wanted and I'm really happy I made the school team as well."

"You're gonna do great! Oh, I can't wait to tell Ammi and Abu I made the team, and all about my first day, they're still a little unsure about this whole magic thing, but they're happy for me."

"Ammi and Abu?" Maya asked.

She wondered if they were Kamala's siblings or something, she remembered Kamala mentioning at lunch that she had an older brother.

"Ammi means mother and Abu means father in Urdu. My grandparents immigrated to America from Karachi in Pakistan, so Ammi and Abu taught me and my brother to speak Urdu as well as English when we were younger."

Maya nodded.

"That's pretty cool, I only know English, I'm taking the Languages course though."

"Me too! Ammi wants me to go to university when I graduate, so she was pretty firm on wanting me to have an even number of mundane subjects as well as magical ones. She was pretty relieved actually, when Professor Aradia told her that all the subjects, I'd learn in a normal school were mandatory here. But she still wanted me to take some more mundane lessons as electives and not just fill them up with magical courses. Abu just wants me to study hard, and be happy. What about your… you said you had a guardian right? What are they like, about you coming here?"

"Damon, that's my guardian. He already knew about magic, and the Academy came highly recommended so he's okay with it."

The two girls reached the school gates, and Maya felt the slight vibration of the rubber wristband she wore. Whilst the portkey's would activate in the morning on a timer, to take you to the school fifteen to twenty minutes before Homeroom began. They wouldn't activate in the afternoon until you were outside the school gates, so that no-one was portkeyed whilst flying or something, because the club went over the scheduled time. They would sense when you were outside the school gates, and they would vibrate to give you a minutes warning before they activated. Kamala wiggled her wrist as well and grinned at Maya.

"See you tomorrow, Maya."

"Bye Kamala."

Their portkey's activated almost simultaneously, the last thing Maya saw was Kamala disappearing and then she too was whisked away, back to the townhouse where Damon, and everyone else was waiting for her.

If anyone asked, Damon would deny until his last day on earth that he had spent the majority of Maya's first day at the Academy pacing up and down anxiously. And if anyone said any different, well, Stefan was a liar and that was that.

Damon wasn't even particularly sure what he was anxious about, Maya had been looking forward to going, so he had no worries there. The school was extremely well protected by a mixture of wards, enchantments, spells, and security personnel, so he wasn't worried about that either. Maya would be portkeying directly back and forth between the Academy and the townhouse, so he didn't need to be anxious about her getting into trouble on her way to or from school. All the staff at the school were highly trained and no one got hired there unless they had been thoroughly checked out. Professor Aradia had promised to help him protect Maya from anyone trying to come after her, and Damon didn't think Ragnuk would have recommended her or her school if she couldn't be trusted to protect Maya.

So, all in all Damon, had nothing to be concerned about. That hadn't stopped him from feeling a low-level anxiety ever since Maya had portkeyed away this morning. Stefan hadn't been any help, choosing to laugh at him instead of helping distract him. Which had left Damon with nothing to do except pace up and down in the parlour and watch the clock, waiting for Maya to return home from her first day at school.

Lexi, Maggie, and Enzo were all coming over for dinner to celebrate Maya's first day at the Academy, but they wouldn't be here till about six. Maya would arrive home before them, her Quidditch club ended at quarter to five so she would be home by five at the latest. Damon couldn't wait to see her, not just because her being home would assuage the pit in his stomach, but because he wanted to know all about her first day at the Academy. Maya may have only lived with him for four weeks, but she'd filled up a whole in Damon's life that he hadn't even known was there, he already loved her like she was his own daughter.

At five o'clock on the dot, Damon heard the soft thud as the portkey deposited Maya in the vestibule, and then the door into the parlour swung open and Maya appeared with the largest grin Damon had seen yet, plastered over her face.

"Guess what?"

"What?"

"I made the Quidditch team, the junior school one that plays Ilvermony and Salem, I'm the seeker!"

In the four weeks that Maya had lived with them she had mostly been shy and a little reserved, understandable given what she had been through. Damon had seen flashes of who she really was, who she would become given the right care and help, most noticeably when she toured the school. This was the most unguarded she had ever been, and he felt such a surge of love and affection well up inside him, that all he wanted to do was hug her and congratulate her on her achievement. He knew it would probably make her very uncomfortable if he did though and he didn't want to send the happy, excited, young girl scurrying back behind her walls. So instead, he sent a grin of his own back at Maya.

"Congratulations, that's brilliant, I'm very happy for you. How was the rest of your day?"

"Amazing. I made a friend, possibly more than one, but definitely one. Her name's Kamala, she lives in New York, her grandparents emigrated here from Pakistan, she's a channeler witch, but she only found out a few months ago when she tapped into her powers, before that no-one in her family even knew they had magic in their family line. She's in the same Homeroom with me and we had English, Math, and Science together, we sat with each other in each class because she's just as new to the school as me and we had lunch together. Plus, she's in Quidditch club as well, she didn't make the school team and we got put in different Intermural teams, I'm in Amarok and Kamala is in Dragon, she got picked for the beater position..."

Damon had never heard Maya talk so much at once she had clearly enjoyed her first day at the Academy. Maya told him all about her new friend Kamala, her possibly new friend Sora, and her maybe new friends Ronan and Aiden. She went into great detail about her swimming lesson, clearly, she had loved it, and Damon made a mental note to ensure to try and find a swimming pool nearby where she could take extra lessons if she wanted to. And if he thought she'd gone into a lot of detail about swimming, it was nothing compared to the play by play she gave him of Quidditch club, including a complete rundown of the rules of the game and the different positions on the team.

"… because I made the team for Junior High, I'm required to do an extra training session on the second Saturday of every month. We'll be getting the schedule for all Quidditch matches on Friday, and you're allowed to come and watch us compete, if… if you want to?"

A slightly anxious look entered Maya's eyes as she uttered those last few words and Damon rushed to reassure her.

"I absolutely want to. So will Stefan, Enzo, Maggie, and Lexi I imagine, if you'd like them to attend as well?"

Maya nodded anxiety gone replaced by happiness and excitement.

"I'd like you all to come and watch me play."

"Well, why don't you take your stuff upstairs and wash up before dinner, don't forget to put your swimsuit, towel and uniform in with the rest of your laundry."

Maya nodded and disappeared upstairs with her bags, calling out a hello to Stefan as she passed the living room, where he had spent the day after Damon had thrown several books at him for laughing at his anxiety.

The knot that had been in his stomach all day disappeared, Maya's excitement and happiness completely washing away all of Damon's anxiety.