Harry and Othniel retired to their dormitory a short while later, and to their relief, found all their belongings tucked neatly away next to luxurious four-poster beds. The room was approximately a square in shape, with three doors – one leading to the main hallway, one leading to another bedroom much like theirs, and finally a luxurious-looking latrine. The wash area had four basins – each sink had a hand towel embroidered with a student's initials – plus there were four personal commodes and individual shower stalls.

As the boys began unpacking and getting ready to settle in for the evening, Harry spotted an olive-complected boy with close-cropped black hair, already in his pajamas, sitting on his four poster with several playing cards laid out in front of him.

"Hey there," Harry greeted the other boy. "What are you playing, out of curiosity?"

The boy shrugged before addressing Harry. "Wizard's Solitaire. The face cards can give you advice on what moves to make, though you might want to think twice because they have a bit of a reputation for tricking you." He then reached out with his right hand. "I'm Quentin Lugo. I'm from Colorado… I'm not the only magical person in my family, but I am the first to attend Ilvermorny. Most of my magical family members studied magic in Europe or Latin America."

"I'm Harry Potter, and this is my friend Othniel Beckett," replied Harry. "Nice to meet you, Quentin. I can relate… I'm the first in my family to study at Ilvermorny as well. My magical family members have studied in Great Britain." He cocked his head. "So I take it that you're of Spanish descent?"

Quentin nodded. "Por supuesto," he trilled in perfect Spanish. "My family's lived in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico for generations, but our heritage is Spanish, not Mexican. There are similarities between the two cultures, but they have some major differences too." He smirked. "I also have a fair bit of French, Apache, and Basque blood in me too."

"That's cool," Harry replied. "I'm English, with a smidge of Irish and Welsh on my mother's side. I was born in the United Kingdom, but I grew up near Vancouver in British Columbia." He gestured toward the playing cards on Quentin's bed. "So… d'you mind if we watch you play? I don't think I've ever played regular solitaire, let alone Wizard's Solitaire."

"I don't mind," murmured Quentin as he continued to play his game. He laid down the jack of diamonds on top of the queen of spades. "Mmmph! Watch it¸ you insolent knave!" shrieked the queen. "I thought about telling you where you could find the ace of clubs, but you're on your own!"

After a few minutes, Quentin made all the plays he could, and slammed his cards down in frustration. "That's it, I give up," he groaned.

"You give up? What about us?" grumbled the king of hearts. "Maybe the next game will be played by someone competent!" Quentin shrugged, then put his cards up for the evening.

"So, who's our other roommate?" Othniel asked. "Have you met him yet?"

"Yeah," replied Quentin. "Some Swedish meatball named Jeremy Dahlgren. He's still in the common room catching up with his older brother. He probably won't be back until lights-out."

"I'm sure that's nice, having a sibling to talk to," Harry said quietly. "I'm an only child, and Othniel's siblings aren't magical, so we just have each other so far."

"My older sister Francesca goes to Beauxbatons in France, if you can believe it," admitted Quentin. "She's fluent in French and Spanish so it wasn't hard for her to transition. She's told me that their headmistress has some giant blood in her… like, she's twice as tall as Mister Floyd, and he's a big guy in his own right!"

Harry and Othniel looked at each other in awe – they found it hard to believe someone would literally be twice as big as Ilvermorny's caretaker – even in the magical world!

Ten o'clock finally rolled around, as they heard a male prefect's voice holler from down the hallway. "Light's out! Boys are to remain in the dormitory area until reveille!"

Harry, Othniel, Quentin and Jeremy's room immediately darkened, with only a couple of small strategically-placed magical candles providing any illumination until morning. It was a long day for all the students, so it was but a few minutes before they drifted off to sleep.

At six o'clock sharp, the boys heard the sharp, distinct tooting of a bugle call from the hallway, followed by an equally sharp holler. "Everybody get up and get dressed in their workout uniforms! You must report to the training grounds by no later than six fifteen! Hustle, hustle, hustle!" It wasn't long before the sounds of zippers, drawers, and shuffling feet filled the dormitory area, along with occasional calls to get lethargic roommates on the move.

Harry quickly jolted out of bed and found a privacy blind in which to change into his tee shirt, shorts, and trainers. He noticed that they now had the distinct colors of the Horned Serpent house this time, so he assumed that his daily uniform would have the same teal and gold motif as well.

He then spied Othniel, still laying in bed, with a small amount of drool on his pillow.

"Othniel!" Harry yelped. "We've got like ten minutes to get to the field! You gotta get up and get moving, or we're going to get a demerit!"

"Ugggh," replied Othniel, clearly not interested in budging.

Harry darted over to Othniel and began to shake him up. "I'm not going to let you get the rest of us in trouble! Now get up and get changed, we're practically running behind! Quentin and Jeremy just left the tower, so we gotta move!"

"I'm going, I'm going," Othniel said in a groggy voice. He stifled a yawn, and shuffled to his privacy screen to change. Harry rolled his eyes as Othniel seemed to move with no particular urgency. Othniel double-tied his trainers… he was tempted to triple-tie them but Harry grabbed him by the wrist. "C'mon, Othniel! I don't want to get a demerit on our first day!" He sprinted down the corridor, with Othniel just behind him. They made it to the magic lift, but neither Harry nor Othniel remembered how to activate it.

"Cripes, we're gonna be late," Harry said, giving Othniel a bit of a glare.

To their relief, they saw the familiar face of Missy Ludwig, who was escorting a handful of girls to the field, including Tallulah. Again, she had a trainer in one hand as she jogged toward the life. Her face immediately lit up when she saw her two new friends.

"Good morning, Harry! Good morning, Othniel!" she chirped in a cheery tone. "Gallifrey is a naughty kitty… he loves to play with my shoes for some reason! I wouldn't be cutting things so close if he wasn't such a stinker!"

"Glad to know we're not the only ones cutting it close," Othniel chuckled. "Harry practically had to drag me out of the dorms this morning…"

Missy then stepped on to the platform, between Tallulah and Harry. She was in her workout uniform as well, along with her trustee sash. Instead of an intricate braid, she put her hair up in a tidy ponytail.

Harry tapped the freshly-minted trustee on the shoulder. "Erm, scuse me, Missy… I forgot how to activate this device. Could you show me again?"

Missy smiled and nodded at Harry. "Of course. It's a bit tricky, but after a few times, you'll get the hang of it. You just sort of gently stomp on the platform twice, like so…" She then proceeded to demonstrate how to activate the lift with her foot.

The same female disembodied voice as the night before presented another riddle. "What sort of room has no windows, no walls, nor doors?"

Missy did not hesitate for a moment. "A mushroom." As soon as she answered correctly, the stone lift activated again, and about thirty seconds later, the lift came to a complete stop at the bottom of the tower.

"Wow, you sure are smart," Othniel complemented Missy. "It's like you don't even have to think to answer those!"

Missy giggled. "Well, thank you. Don't get me wrong, I'm bright and I study hard, but you'll find that Old Margie doesn't have countless riddles… sooner or later, you'll learn to memorize them." She winked. "But that's something we don't like to tell the other houses, so that's just between us, all right?"

Othniel nodded. "Sounds good to me!" His cheeks then turned a rosy pink. "Umm.. you're really pretty, you know…" Harry chucked Othniel in the arm. "Oof!"

Missy just smiled apologetically at the boy. "Thank you for the very nice compliment, but I don't think my boyfriend would appreciate me flirting around – not even with an innocent little firstie." She then flashed a lovely smile. "Don't worry too much about it right now. I'm sure you'll find an attractive witch when the time comes."

Harry, Othniel, and Tallulah were astonished at how quick and easy it was to reach the training grounds, despite the fair physical distance between the field and the castle. If Missy led them through any shortcuts, they were completely oblivious to them.

"I think I see our housemates," Tallulah said, pointing at a group of students in various positions getting limbered up. She picked up her pace and trotted off toward the gaggle of Horned Serpents. Harry and Othniel followed Tallulah to the opposite side of the field, and just as Harry began to sit down to stretch, he heard someone call out for him.

"Good morning, Harry!"

Harry looked over his shoulder, and saw a familiar russet-haired girl grinning at him.

"Ana! Good morning! How's it going?"

Ana shrugged. Like Missy, she also tied her hair back, but instead of a silky-smooth golden ponytail, Ana's was more like a russet-colored, frizzy ball of fluff. Harry tried to stifle a chuckle.

"What's so funny?" asked Ana, cocking her eyebrow.

"Oh, nothing really," replied Harry. "Your hair… is it usually that poofy in the morning?"

Ana groaned. "Don't get started on that, Harry. Thank goodness I've learned a couple of charms which makes taming my hair a little easier, but before coming to Ilvermorny it took forever to get my hair to be merely wavy!"

Harry cleared his throat before attempting to change the subject. "So, did you talk to Nova last night?"

Ana shook her head. "I tried, Harry, but she didn't feel very comfortable talking about it." She gave Harry a small smile. "She did admit that she has some issues indirectly concerning you, but again she refused to say exactly what they were. You can also take heart in knowing that she flat-out said that she doesn't hate you."

"Well, that's good, I guess," Harry said with some disappointment in his voice as he tried to stretch out his calf muscles. "I guess all I can do is give her plenty of clearance because I don't want the slightest little thing to cause her to blow up."

"And there may well come a time when she wants to get things off her chest, and she's going to approach you and want to talk things out," reasoned Ana. "She's not the kind of person to just 'blow up' over trivial things. She has no interest in being your enemy. She's got a level head and a kind heart. She just needs time to figure things out on her own is all."

TWEEEEEET!

Harry and Ana turned to see Missy standing on a box with a silver whistle dangling from her neck. "Form up, Horned Serpents! Everybody make twelve lines behind the baseline – we're going to start off with sprints!" Some of the returning students grumbled in dismay as they jogged their way behind a bright white stripe that ran the length of the field.

When everyone lined up to Missy's satisfaction, she addressed her charges again. "I see some of you are still in a summer break mindset. How about a little more hustle next time? If you want to lollygag, we can continue our physical training into your breakfast hour."

Most of the students stood in silence, but a tall, burly fourth year student named Chuckie Siemens scoffed. "She can't do that – we're guaranteed time to clean up and have breakfast," he said to a couple of his companions, who appeared equally agitated.

"Enough! That's a demerit, Siemens," barked Missy, who looked visibly perturbed that someone was questioning her authority." Siemens just scowled at Missy, but didn't say another word as he had no interest in staying late or getting further demerits. She then addressed the rest of her Serpents. "When I blow my whistle, the first heat will dash toward the white line on the opposite side of the field as quickly as possible. When I blow it again, the second heat will do the same. I'll repeat this until all heats have gone, and then we'll sprint back to the other side of the field. I don't care if you're a fast or a slow runner; I just want effort. Don't make me get on to you for not giving your all… Ilvermorny witches and wizards are the best in the world because we have as much pride in physical fitness as we do for any scholastic discipline. There's a reason so many MACUSA aurors serve overseas tours! Our very own Mister Floyd has worked several missions in Magical Britain, and when it comes to stamina and grit, our British counterparts just don't compare!"

A second-year Korean-American student, Madeline Kim, raised her hand up in the air. Missy gestured toward the student. "Yes, Miss Kim?"

"If our aurors are so much better, why doesn't the British Ministry of Magic just send their prospective aurors over here for training?" Madeline asked. "Or why don't we send a trainer over there?"

Missy smiled. "Trust me, Miss Kim, that's been discussed ad nauseum in the past. As someone who's been to the Hogwarts castle, I can say first-hand that you can practically see the tradition and prestige ooze from the ancient castle walls! That said, their methods are rather antiquated… our British friends are rather stubborn to a fault, and would rather give up their magic altogether than to modernize their teaching methods!" She looked at her enchanted wristwatch. "Goodness gracious, I'm so sorry… we've got to get a move on. First heat, on my count, three, two, one…" TWEEEEEEET!

Harry was third in line, with Ana right behind him. "How many reps do we usually do for sprints?" he asked.

"Depends," replied Ana with a bit of a shrug. "Usually five or six, then we just jog for the last twenty-odd minutes or so – oh, you're up next Harry! Good luck!"

Harry turned around, and saw that his heat was about to go next. Tweeeet! Although sprinting in ice skates was a bit different than in trainers, it wasn't anything Harry wasn't used to as he had done the dreaded suicides – repeated sprints almost to the point of exhaustion. He bolted to the other side of the field without breaking as much of a sweat. He wasn't the fastest in his heat, but he wasn't all that far off.

A few seconds later, it was Ana's turn. Although she wasn't particularly fast or athletic, she was at least able to hold her own as she was around the middle of her heat. When she reached the other side, she shook her head at Harry in disbelief. "Good heavens, Harry! You can really scoot, did you know?"

Harry chuckled. "Yeah, I played ice hockey before coming to Ilvermorny. I'm used to being on my feet and needing to move quickly."

Ana giggled. "Yeah, hopefully some of your hustle will rub off on Othniel." Othniel was in the heat after Ana, and he finished third from last. Come on, Othniel. You're better than that, Harry wanted to say to his friend.

A couple of minutes later, little Tallulah took off. As expected, she was the slowest in her heat, but at least it wasn't due to lack of effort. The poor girl hunched over trying to catch her breath after she crossed the white line. Harry and Ana turned around and gave Tallulah a thumbs-up, which she reciprocated.

At six about six thirty five, once everyone had sprinted six times, Missy barked further instructions. "Everyone on the track – we're going to jog until seven! I don't want to see anyone walking!" She got on the track and began to jog in place for a moment, and blew her whistle again to let her charges know that it was time to start jogging.

Othniel seemed to have no problem maintaining a steady jog, so Harry asked him if it was okay if he would go on ahead for a little bit so he can stay behind and encourage Tallulah. Othniel nodded in agreement.

Harry and Ana stayed back as Tallulah clearly struggled with her running – she nearly vomited after running her sprints.

"You're doing great, Tallulah," Ana chirped as she set the pace for her friend. "I wasn't that good at running either when I came here last year – you'll get used to it, I promise."

"Not as bad of a runner as me," Tallulah wheezed. "I can't exercise to save my life."

"Exercising is easier when you have friends to do it with," chimed in Harry. "Ana, Othniel and I won't ever let you fall behind." Tallulah smiled at Harry.

The time passed much more quickly than Tallulah expected – before she knew it, Missy blew her whistle again, which meant it was time for everyone to head back toward the castle. Just as Harry, Ana, and Tallulah were about to step inside the castle, Missy had caught up with them and wanted to have a word with them.

"I'd like to speak with you three if you don't mind," she said in a pleasant tone. "Slater – a point to the Horned Serpents for your refusal to quit, even though you knew that running was going to be a challenge today. Keep up the good work." Tallulah blushed, obviously not expecting to be recognized by the trustee. "Potter and Harrison – a point to each of you for encouraging Miss Slater. You're both team players and I hope to see more of that throughout the term." She beamed so brightly that her cheeks turned somewhat pinkish.

"Thanks, Missy," the three younger children said.

About a half hour later, Harry and Othniel had showered and changed into their daily uniforms. Both were grateful for the simple comforts of a collared golf shirt and khakis instead of the stuffy formal robes and starched dress shirts. They followed their housemates to the mess hall, where the scent of a delicious breakfast – made courtesy of the Pukwudgie helpers – awaited them.

They spotted Ana and Tallulah near the end of the Horned Serpent table. The girls had a similar daily uniform – collared golf shirts in the Horned Serpent house colors, but instead of trousers and hiking boots they wore pleated khaki-colored skirts, knee-length white socks and black penny loafers. Ana had managed to get her hair to look much straighter than at the training grounds, while Tallulah put her hair up in a tidy bun.

"You have a big day ahead of you," giggled Ana. "You'll be getting your class schedules sometime this morning, and you'll also be getting your wands."

"What's that all about? Getting our wands, that is," asked Othniel.

"Well," giggled Ana, "it involves being locked in a room with an ettin, and plucking an eyebrow hair before it crushes you…"

Harry, Othniel, and Tallulah looked at each other, jaws agape.

"I'm kidding," Ana said, rolling her eyes. "Merlin, you lot are gullible…"

"What's an ettin, anyway?" Othniel asked, still confused.

"Good gravy Othniel," sighed Ana. "Haven't you read fantasy novels before?"

Othniel hung his head sheepishly. "Uhhh, no… my parents wouldn't let me read that stuff."

"It's like a giant, but they have two heads," explained Ana. "They actually exist in the magical world, if you can believe it." She smirked. "And yes, so does Sasquatch – ettins and the Sasquatch are mortal enemies, according to what Professor Whitten taught us last year. I hope Professor Lupin's as awesome!"

"Horned Serpents!" rang out a familiar shrill soprano from the opposite end of the table. Harry turned around and saw Missy with a huge stack of parchments in her arms. Her golden hair was done up in a flawless halo braid this time.

"Is she always that meticulous with her hair?" Tallulah asked Ana, who only gave her a deadpan expression before nodding.

"When I call out your year, you will come up to me to receive your class schedules for the term," Missy called out. "All right, come up first-years!"

"That's us," Othniel said as he got up from his seat to get his class schedule. Harry and Tallulah were right behind him. When they returned to the table, it wasn't long before Ana's year was called up to receive theirs.

"Hey, can I see one of you guys' schedules?" asked Ana. "I want to check something." Tallulah handed Ana her schedule.

"Hmm, it looks like you're having Herbology this morning. Professor Frye teaches that – she's our house head, actually! And it's a two-hour course… so today most of that time would probably be spent getting your wands," she surmised. "And then you have History of Magic. You guys are lucky – Professor Esposito knows that the stuff she teaches can be dry and difficult to remember, but as she's Italian-American, she sometimes brings pizza bites or tiramisu or something of her heritage to help keep your attention. They're enchanted with memory charms to help you maintain your focus. I've heard horror stories about her predecessor – I think his name was Professor Cohen. He apparently had a habit of putting himself to sleep during his lectures!"

"That's brilliant," Othniel said. "I love Italian food, by the way!"

"What's your first class, Ana?" asked Harry.

"Defense, if you can believe it! I really enjoyed it last year… I'm really curious to see what Professor Lupin's all about," replied Ana.

"Yeah, we have him tomorrow morning," Tallulah said. "You'll have to let us know!"

"For sure," giggled Ana. "At any rate, it's just about time for us to get up and go to class. You three have a terrific first day – I can't wait to hear all about it!"