Is this really real? on Labyrinth Gardens

Nathan Xavier

April 01, 2016 7:32 PM

First Year Orientation by Nathan Xavier

Nathan Xavier stood, as he had two years ago, in the landing area for the flying wagons as they arrived from all corners of the United States. International students were responsible for getting into the country by their most convenient method, but once inside the US, they would also board one of the wagons for the final leg of their journey to the school. Also as he had two years ago, the heavy-set middle aged man offered directions to those disembarking.

"Hello and welcome or welcome back to Sonora Academy," he greeted again as another wagon landed and disgorged an assortment of new and old students. "Leave your luggage in the wagon; the elves will deliver it to its appropriate location. New first years, you can head over that way and collect a welcome packet, get some snacks, and get to know your fellow classmates until we are ready to start the Orientation." He indicated a nearby clearing in the Gardens where a reception area was set up with tables of food, a large banner ("First Year Orientation - Welcome to Sonora Academy!"), and a few piles of green folders on the table beneath the banner.

"Returning students, the Cascade Hall has some snacks for you if you're hungry, otherwise you can head up to your rooms and settle in. Prefects or Heads of House should be in the Hall if you need a password. The library is also open if you would rather spend the time until the feast reading." The students split off to their various destinations, and Nathan turned to address the next wagon load of kids with the same instructions.

Eventually, all the wagons were accounted for and he headed into the clearing where the first years had gathered. In addition to the green hedges enclosing the area, and a large maple tree shading the space, as well as the tables and banner, the reception clearing was also decorated with a handful of natural sculptures. They were not necessarily the top scoring sculptures that came out of last term's team event (some of which had walked away as soon as the judging was complete), but they were the ones Nathan had deemed most likely to endure the elements for a year or more. He'd liked all of the results he'd seen and was hoping these showcase ones would survive until the next school wide set of challenges was issued. Reinhardts had contributed to two of them, so there was a good chance those ones might make it that long at least. But even if they all fell apart at the end of the week (unlikely, since they'd made through the whole summer intact), they would, if nothing else, potentially provide conversation starters for the first years who were currently almost all complete strangers to one another.

He let them mingle for a little while longer, giving the last wagon group time to get their packet and a plate, then cleared his throat to gain their attention. Speaking in front of this group was not nearly as intimidating as speaking in front of the whole student body last spring, so his nerves were not nearly as apparent as they had been then. A keen eye, though, could probably note that he repeatedly wiped sweaty hands against his green robes (which were a lighter shade than their uniforms, but close enough that it was fairly clear he was trying to show school spirit).

"Hello, and welcome again to Sonora Academy of Magic," he began with a voice that was deep and loud enough to carry well over this small area without amplification. "My name is Mr. Xavier, and I am the groundskeeper and Head of Teppenpaw House here. I'll be giving you all a little overview of what to expect, then we'll break to continue meeting each other, then we will finish up with a tour of the grounds and school, which will end at our dining hall, the Cascade Hall, just in time for your Sorting Ceremony and the Welcoming Feast."

He paused a moment, less for dramatic effect and more to organize his thoughts and briefly pray he didn't forget any important parts of his rehearsed speech. "This is a school, so I'll start with academics. You should have a copy of the class schedule in your folders. All first years take the same core classes, and most of those will be shared with the second year class, and are collectively known as beginner level classes. In third year, you move up to intermediates and are allowed to select optional elective courses or begin independent studies at that time. In sixth year, you become advanced students and are allowed to drop the courses you don't want to take anymore." This time, Nathan decided not to mention the massive exams that took place at the end of fifth and seventh year, figuring it was too far off to bother scaring them about those already. He only kept in the part about advanced classes because it implied dropping classes wasn't a done thing until that point.

"Also, we have several student run clubs, some of which have an academic focus, like the science club or the book club. We also currently have an art club, an archery club, and House Quidditch Teams. If none of those cover what you would like to do as an extracurricular activity, you may start your own. In the past, we've also had cooking, fashion, and dance clubs. They just need a leader to volunteer to start them up again."

He wiped his palms on his robes again, then went on, "For living arrangements, everyone is split into one of four Houses, chosen by some personal characteristics and values during our Sorting Ceremony later today. Within each House, you will room with those of your year and gender. Each House has three prefects, one from each of the year groups fifth year and up, a Quidditch Captain, and a faculty member called your Head of House, any of which you can go to with questions or problems."

He had decided not to go into which traits were characteristic of each House this year in the vain hope that maybe that would slow the perpetuation of House stereotypes, though the school literature they had received with their acceptance letters went into those details and had likely already done that damage.

"Houses serve as your family here as you will be seeing quite a bit of one another over the next seven years. Each House earns points for exceptional classwork, behavior and participation in school activities such as Quidditch. Likewise, misbehavior loses points. The House with the most points at the end of the year gets the honor of hosting the House Cup in their commons the next year."

He took a deep breath and finished off with the key facts people probably wanted to know but didn't fit together in any neat categories. "Small fare food like sandwiches and snacks are available upon request in the Cascade Hall at all times between 6am and curfew at 10, but larger meals are marked on your schedule and are only available then. All students are welcome on the House Quidditch teams; no experience necessary. I think most teams have openings."

"If you have any further questions feel free to ask me or one of the other staff members." He took a moment to nod at the other staff volunteers who had chosen to help him chaperone the group during the orientation. "In the mean time, enjoy the food and talk amongst yourselves. The tour will begin in approximately one hour."

OOC (Out of Character):
Welcome first years to Sonora! You can post a reply here to ask staff questions or meet your new classmates. This thread is intended for first year students to have a chance to try out posting and get a hang of the site before we throw you into the big Opening Feast next week, which is open to the entire school population and can be a bit overwhelming. So post, enjoy, have fun! Everyone here is happy to help out, so if you've got a question, put it on the OOC or try to catch somebody in the Chatzy and we'll try to get you an answer as quick as we can.

Subthreads:

Is this really real? by Killian Everett with Farrah Welsh

Looking for a fellow explorer. by Lily Spencer with Jozua Sparks

&#9834 A whole new world! ♬ by Madeleine Dautin with Georgia Kirkly

From Paris to Sonora by Sébastien Évreux with Jocelyn Spencer

Welcome Home by Eliza Steinbeck with Arianna Valenti, Eliza

Glad to be here, I think! by Finbar Scott

1 Nathan Xavier First Year Orientation 28 Nathan Xavier 1 5

Killian Everett

April 01, 2016 11:24 PM

Is this really real? by Killian Everett

Killian hopped down out of the wagon – the MAGIC wagon! – in a daze. He stumbled, almost toppling over on his face when the ground turned out to be farther away than he anticipated. All throughout the flight, he’d tried to wrap his mind around the fact that he, Killian Everett, was a wizard attending a bona fide Magic School. He still couldn’t believe it even though they’d just arrived in a flying wagon of all things.

When they’d first gotten the letter explaining why he was different and inviting him to attend, it set off round two of what he thought of as; The Epic Battle!! Round one began when he was five, and his mom refused to let him attend school even though he was perfectly healthy, thank you very much. Sure, he was a little on the small, weedy side, but in her eyes, she never got over seeing him as a premature baby locked away in a tiny glass box, covered in tubes and wires. For the first five years of his life, he’d stayed under her watchful eye, never allowed to go out and play by himself or do anything that might put a strain on his ‘delicate’ constitution.

For the longest time, his dad went along with it, not wanting to fight her. Then they’d gotten the kindergarten school packet, and Audra tore it in two before throwing the pieces away. She’d informed her husband then and there that he’d be home schooled, and that was that. Killian didn’t remember a whole lot of that time, but he recalled the shouting matches that seemed to happen every night of his fifth year of life.

When he turned six, his dad had enough, and that year Killian finally got to attend ‘big kid school’ with everyone else. The magic letter brought all of the buried anger and resentment roaring back to the surface for his mom, reigniting the flame. But, this time, Randall had an unexpected ally. When he was five, his wishes didn’t matter, but now Killian was 11 and he refused to miss the chance to learn real magic. Together the two males of the household fought Audra to the bitter end until she was once again forced to yield.

An ache flared in his chest when he remembered the tears flowing down her cheeks when she hugged him goodbye. He’d never been away from her for more than a few hours, even spending the night at friends’ houses was forbidden. Now here he was, all alone in a magic school where anything might happen.

All at once, the weight of what he’d done crashed down on him, and Killian had to swallow back a sob. He wasn’t magic, not really! Magic wasn’t even real. Now he was stuck in a strange place full of crazy people, with no friends, far from home, and without his mom.

Killian’s large puppy brown eyes opened wide as he tried to keep the excess moisture from spilling over. He wasn’t going to cry. The wind blew through his dark hair, tousling the curls, and brushing against his suntanned skin like a phantom kiss from his mom, and in that moment, all he wanted to do was get back on the wagon and go home.

0 Killian Everett Is this really real? 354 Killian Everett 0 5

Lily Spencer

April 03, 2016 2:56 AM

Looking for a fellow explorer. by Lily Spencer

From the moment Lily stepped into the wagon, she could hardly contain her excitement. It was finally, finally her turn to attend school and learn how to control her magic. Her mum had forced her to comb out her long brown, coarse hair for the occasion and would have liked her in a frilly dress had Lily not thrown such a fit. “Now behave when you get to school, Lily, we need to make an impression to all the American pure-bloods,” Mother had said, but Lily didn’t really listen. It was only fair to say that Lily wasn't exactly the ideal Spencer in her household. If her good-natured, lovely siblings hadn't made an equally lovely impression, then the American pure-bloods were all mental.

Jack kept eyeing her with his condescending stare as the wagon jostled along, and Lily crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him, an expression she made in his direction often. “What?”

“You’d better not make trouble whilst we’re at school. I don’t want to have to look out for you wherever we go.”

Lily stuck her nose in the air. “That’d be your choice, wouldn’t it, looking after me? I’m going to do whatever I please.”

“I’m going to tell Mum.”

Lily glared at him and turned her face away. The trip from England to Arizona had felt like an eternity, but soon enough they arrived at the school. Without waiting for Jack to lecture her any more, she hopped out of the wagon and immediately joined her peers at the entrance. The chatter of conversation as older students walked past filled her ears as Lily’s wide, brown eyes soaked everything in. Everything was enormous; she’d never been inside a castle before and now she was going to live here, the same castle where Adam, Charlotte and her cousins had lived and studied before her.

There was a larger-set wizard guiding separating the first years and the older students. She walked away to join the rest of her peers, looking back only once to wave goodbye to her brother. Though Lily was only wearing her robes, she felt comfortable in her skin and fashionable trainers. After grabbing a couple of pumpkin pasties and tucking a welcome packet under her arm, she walked over to a fellow student and would have stuck out her hand if they hadn't been filled with snacks. “Exciting, isn’t it, all this? I’m Lily Spencer. I can’t wait to find out which house I’m in. I hope I’m in Pecari. My older brother was in that house, you know, and he was Head Boy and Quidditch captain. I’m going to play Quidditch just like him. Which house do you hope to be sorted into?”

Their conversation was severed by the groundskeeper’s introduction. Lily listened patiently, allowing her mind to roam as he relayed information she was already knew. She was looking forward to being as actively involved in school as possible; if she didn’t try out everything, she’d never know what she liked. Lily already had a long list of things she didn’t like, which included painting, practising the piano, reading long books and wearing dresses. She knew what she loved as well, that being flying, climbing trees, pulling pranks on Jack, swimming and wearing trousers and loose shirts. The first thing she would do after the feast would be to find the MARS rooms. According to her siblings they were perfect for practising music, sports and swimming. Lily couldn’t wait to explore the enormous castle.

Once the groundskeeper had finished, she turned back to her potential new friend. “Do you like exploring?” she asked, remembering to be polite and keep from speaking too fast. "I used to do loads of exploring with my brother when he would take me out to the gardens in London."

40 Lily Spencer Looking for a fellow explorer. 357 Lily Spencer 0 5

Farrah Welsh

April 03, 2016 2:05 PM

My dad says it is! by Farrah Welsh

Farrah stood in the middle of the gardens with the rest of the first years. She couldn’t believe that she was here. Here! At Sonora Academy. This was a real place. Magic was real. A couple of years ago, Farrah and her sister, Corra, learned about magic. They had been fighting over skittles and Corra had broken the bag. In a fit, Farrah had stopped the skittles in mid-air to prevent any loss to them. Their father had come into the room then and found out that Farrah was able to do things that she wasn’t aware of doing. It had been a long evening of discussion. Her dad had to explain to her mom that he was a Wizard and that Farrah was showing signs of being a Witch. Her mom didn’t believe him of course, but Farrah was celebrating on the inside. Magic was real! Eventually, her dad had to prove that magic was real, so he had water pour from his wand, the table disappear, and he took mom somewhere with a loud popping sound. After that, her dad told them all about magic. Apparently, only her dad and his twin sister were magical in his family. He chose to live outside of magic while her Aunt Zoey decided to live her life in the magical world.

It was all so very fascinating. Farrah felt like she was living in a Dr. Who episode. Now she was just waiting for the Doctor to pop in and say that he is a Time Lord. She wondered if there were Time Lords in the Magical World? She would have to write to her dad and ask him about it or find the library and search it out. There was so much here and it was exciting. It was absolutely frightening as well. Farrah didn’t know what or how she was going to handle the change, but she was going to be able to spend the next few months at Sonora and away from her small home in Vermont with her annoying little sister. Corra couldn’t get her here. This was all Farrah.

She was munching on a cookie (her mom never let her snack on cookies!) as she wandered around the area, taking in what she could. Everything was going to be different now. Back home with the other non-magical people, Farrah had been picked on because she had odd features (she used to be called Alien because of her big wide set eyes) and her nerd behavior. She just loved fantasy and science fiction. But it was a small town and very few people enjoyed similar things. But here, maybe she could find someone who shared the same interests as her?

She watched as everyone began mingling together and getting to know each other. Farrah was so nervous about meeting new people. She wasn’t very good in social settings, which was another reason why she was poked fun of in school. Farrah patted down her reddish brown hair to make sure she looked alright. She thought her blue dressed looked nice on her, but her dad said that there were different types of Magical people, some would accept her just as she was while others wouldn’t. She needed to find the ones who would want her as a friend. Looking around her, Farrah had no idea on how to do that.

There was a boy though, he looked a little down. Farrah approached him tentatively. She cleared her throat to get his attention. Attempting to give him a bright smile to cover her nerves, “Hello.” She greeted, hoping that was okay. “I’m Farrah Welsh. I, uh, I was wondering if you’d like a cookie or something?” She asked him. Everyone enjoyed a good cookie.

6 Farrah Welsh My dad says it is! 344 Farrah Welsh 0 5

Killian

April 03, 2016 3:30 PM

How does he know? by Killian

Panic loomed large in his mind at the enormity of what he’d gotten himself into. It didn’t help that he could practically hear his mom’s voice telling him all the things he shouldn’t do, all the things that could hurt him, and if he wasn’t careful he might get sick, or have to go to the hospital. Did magic people even have hospitals? Did they get sick?

That thought helped throttled back the fright. Of course, they got sick because he got sick sometimes. Not all the time, but he’d had colds, and ear infections, and once he’d gotten pneumonia. Were there illnesses that only magic people could get? Maybe laughing cough instead of whooping cough? He bit his bottom lip, and hoped none of them were fatal. After finding out about magic, he didn’t want to die from gnome fever or something equally silly.

Before he could get too far into his mental hysterics, a voice jolted him back to the here and now. Her soft voice and bright smile helped him push back the tears, and he found his lips quirking up in a slightly wobbly smile. “Hi, yeah sure. A cookie sounds great. I’m Killian Everett. Can you believe all of this? I mean, I’m not really sure…well you know,” he said, waving a hand at their surroundings. “Do you think this is real, or some sort of new reality show?”

Now that he had someone to share the adventure with, his earlier worry evaporated. Instead, his thoughts turned over the idea of their predicament. Reality shows were getting more advanced every day as they tried to one-up each other, so why wouldn’t one gather up a bunch of kids and spend a few weeks trying to convince them all that magic was real?

0 Killian How does he know? 354 Killian 0 5

Jozua Sparks

April 03, 2016 5:24 PM

Do we get to slay Evil? by Jozua Sparks

Jozua boarded his wagon in his hometown Aladren, Oregon. Being a magical town, it was one of the spots a flying wagon could land safely without raising any eyebrows. He'd said good-bye to his parents and was on his way to his new life at Sonora Academy. Having grown up surrounded by magic, he wasn't worried about that part of it. The difficult part was going to be the number of other people he would need to interact with over the next months. He was a home-schooled only child; until now, the only people he'd really spent much time around were his parents. Boarding school was going to take some getting used to.

The brown haired boy allowed some of the other riders to get off first, but he was not the last to disembark. He followed another first year over to the Orientation area and collected his packet and a few crackers. He wasn't really all that hungry (his mom had packed him a bag of brownies for the ride south and they were all gone now), but he took the snacks anyway to blend in with the other kids. He didn't want to look out of place and draw attention to himself.

It didn't seem to work, at least not completely. He avoided wide-scale staring at least, but a girl came up to him and started talking. A lot. He was saved from answering by the Groundskeeper starting up his speech about information he'd mostly already gotten from his mom and the pamphlet the school sent along with his acceptance letter, but it was only a temporary reprieve. But instead of picking up her earlier chatter, she just asked now if he liked exploring.

He blinked a moment, surprised by this turn to the conversation and the less frenetic flow of words, but it wasn't an unwelcome change. "Sure," he said. He almost left it like that, not being a person of many words, especially around strangers, but Lily Spencer had provided her name and it seemed rude not to return the favor. "I'm Jozua Sparks." If the students were sorted alphabetically by surname for anything here, they'd probably be spending a lot of time together. He didn't offer a guess to his House, partly because he thought that half of their 'conversation' may have expired, but mostly because there wasn't a lot of point in speculating. If he guessed wrong, he might end up disappointed, and if he guessed right, then that killed the suspense of finding out. He didn't think any of the four were entirely out of the question, but he was kind of hoping for either Aladren or Crotalus, largely based on his mom's observations that people in Teppenpaw and Pecari talked too much. If Lily really did represent Pecari, he could see what she meant in regards to that House at least. Plus, mom had been and Aladren, and he came from a town called Aladren. So he was a little biased to start with and that didn't help accuracy.

Because he did have some social experience, he knew the best way to avoid talking himself was to encourage his companion to talk. That didn't seem like it would take much effort in this case, so he asked, "Did you find anything interesting with your brother?"

1 Jozua Sparks Do we get to slay Evil? 348 Jozua Sparks 0 5

Madeleine Dautin

April 04, 2016 8:13 AM

&#9834 A whole new world! ♬ by Madeleine Dautin

Madeleine was feeling kind of finicky. She had done her best to stick close to Bastien as they had made the journey from France over together, doing their best to ignore Louis Valois who was, after all, the reason they were both being forced to attend such a sub-par school. It was ridiculous, really. However, in descending the carriages, she’d lost her grip on his sleeve and found herself in a magnificent garden. Previous thoughts left her head as she took in the general grandeur, but she still tried to maintain a certain air of superiority because after all she was a Dautin. She shifted uncomfortably in the new frock she had been made to wear, feeling naked without the floral crown she’d tried to sneak out the door when she’d kissed Mme Mercier good-bye and gone to the wagons for the first time.

Her sharp eyes took in the surrounding company. There were various students who appeared to be from all backgrounds, but so far she hadn’t seen a single one that would live up to the roll of Léo in her life. He might have only been a third son of third-tier noblesse family but she was a second daughter and besides they had the best fun together out of everyone she knew! Perhaps, she thought to herself, she could find a Léo in one of her classmates, but she’d never do so if she just sat around and watched them interact, so in an out of character move, she walked up to the snack table and selected what appeared to be a croissant but which she was certain would fall short of anything the house elves back home could make.

Sure enough, as she bit into the pastry, the flaky outside crumbled a bit too much ad the soft inside was perhaps too greasy for her taste. Madeleine wrinkled her nose in disgust as she brushed away the flaky crumbs from her new dress which suddenly seemed much nicer and more elegant than before. She turned her careful eyes around her to spot someone she might be able to talk to. The witch who approached the wizard beside her was very energetic but despite her best efforts to approach them to engage in conversation, the outgoing mannerisms caught her off guard. French society was much colder at first, though distantly polite throughout and…wasn’t Pecari the Rosenthal cousine’s House? Purée! She hoped she wouldn’t be placed there! She’d heard the witch had been made prefect of that House. Oh là là, c’était pas possible!

The witch, seemed to really like exploring and Madeleine listened in as they talked, slipping back into that default “spy” mode she and Léo went into whenever they were in attendance at a dinner party. Exploring…did she like exploring? She supposed she did—other people’s business at lest. She wasn’t really allowed to, but that just made her want it even more. Yet…perhaps if this witch with the Quidditch Captain, Head Boy brother could explore then perhaps America wouldn’t be as bad as it seemed. And at the very least it would give her opportunity to improve her English, something a world class spy would need.

Just then, a voice interrupted her thoughts and Madeleine turned the other direction to see who she thought was a fellow first year. “Pardon,” she said, pronouncing the English as though she were using the French word. ‘Pardon’ was easy enough because it meant basically the same thing in each language. “I didn’t really catch that, I’m so sorry for my English, but I prac—non, I’m learning.” She smiled, happy with her success so far and wondered briefly how Bastien was getting on. She’d have to catch up to him later before the tour and see. Maybe they could even walk together. Back in France he wouldn’t have been her first choice for company but here they only had each other.

(Rough) Glossary:
cousine - female cousin
Purée - literally it means mashed, non-literally it's used kind of like "shoot"
Oh là là, c’était pas possible! - Oh no, not possible

10 Madeleine Dautin &#9834 A whole new world! ♬ 340 Madeleine Dautin 0 5

Sébastien Évreux

April 04, 2016 11:47 AM

From Paris to Sonora by Sébastien Évreux

It took all of his training to hide the panic beneath a calm visage. Everything was different. He barely knew anyone, and was similarly unknown to them. Still, as he stood in the middle of a strange and new world Sébastien managed to appear confident and relaxed.

The wagon ride had been long – especially when forced to travel in a carriage with the infuriating Louis Valois, that stuck-up first-tier noblesse heir who thought he was oh-so-important. Luckily Madeleine Dautin had been there to make the journey more pleasant, and Sébastien was glad to have an ally in this foreign land. He actually felt quite protective of Madeleine, and had tried to stay with her after they left the wagon. Unfortunately they had been separated. He would have to check on her later (he even managed to convince himself that this would be entirely for her benefit – surely it wasn't that he needed to see a familiar face).

Despite the friendly smile on his face, Sébastien gave out an air of slightly haughty superiority. A little short for his age, he was smartly dressed in highly fashionable clothes, and his blonde hair was neatly combed back. The Évreux family heir wouldn’t dream of being seen in public at anything but his best.

Sébastien stood there, slightly apart from the main group of people, and surveyed his new classmates whilst listening to the groundskeeper's speech (honestly, welcomed by the groundskeeper? He’d expected some a little more important – and a little less nervous.). The speech didn't really tell him anything he didn't already know, although he was interested to hear that most of the Quidditch teams had openings for players. Bastien was, of course, proficient on a broom – his father would stand for nothing less – but wasn't sure if he enjoyed the sport enough to join his house team. Still, it might prove a useful way of meeting people.

And with that thought, he decided he couldn't stand here on his own until the tour started. Walking over to the tables, he picked up one of the peculiar green folders and avoided the food. He moved away, and looked around for someone to talk to. Spotting someone who looked reasonably respectable, he headed over to them and introduced himself in what he hoped was perfect English.

“Hello. I am Sébastien Évreux, from France. Into which house do you think you will be sorted?”

Sébastien had fully considered all the house options when doing his Sonora research, and had come to the conclusion that Crotalus and Aladren sounded like the most respectable options. Still, he didn’t want to alienate classmates from other houses, so decided not to voice that opinion.

9 Sébastien Évreux From Paris to Sonora 350 Sébastien Évreux 0 5

Lily

April 04, 2016 2:05 PM

Of course. We'll be heroes. by Lily

Lily noticed that the boy hadn’t said a word to her yet during her ramble, and she remembered Adam’s sage advice to her: "Let other people speak, Lily. People like it when you listen to them." She was never any good at that, listening to other people, but she wanted to make friends even if that meant shutting her mouth for a bit. She asked a simple question which he didn’t give much of a response to; maybe he was one of those shy, quiet sorts who needed to warm up to conversation. The lad, Jozua, asked her a question and the English witch didn’t hesitate to begin chatting again about her favourite subject.

“Not much, really, besides insects and furry little creatures. I did find a nest of duck eggs once. Loads of Muggles go there; it’s quite a large park in London and I’ve been around almost every inch of it. But the playground there is my favourite. They have a play ship and it’s almost always crowded during the summers. It’s very popular. I’d assume a boarding school like this wouldn’t have a playground, but I guess we’re supposed to be little adults now.” Her disgust with the idea of being a ‘little adult’ was evident on her face. The idea that she couldn’t play pretend anymore was depressing, but the inner rebellious spirit in Lily refused to give it up simply to ‘fit in’ with society.

There had been many wars between her and her mother regarding Lily’s blatant lack of pure-blood propriety. She had manners like any decent child, but it wasn’t according to Cassie’s high standard. Not that it mattered to Lily, really. She’d accepted her role as the petulant youngest child; though she didn’t get along well with her mum, her dad let her get away with anything.

“There’s a palace there too where the Muggle royalty lives, but I’ve never been there,” continued Lily. “I’m excited to live in a mansion like this here.” She gestured to the school behind her before smiling again at Jozua. “I’ve never seen one like this before, but I suppose I haven’t really travelled much.”

Adam’s advice returned to her then and she felt contrite. She’d never really known what to do with quiet people. “What’s your family like? Do you have siblings?” The idea of getting to know someone new outside of the children she used to play with was invigorating in its own way. Having grown up in a very full household, she couldn’t imagine life without people to play with her. Lily liked to play, and she was sincerely hoping to find companions who did too. She didn’t care that she was already eleven-years-old; even when she was an adult she’d still play pretend and climb trees.

The trees here looked nice, but the shrubbery as a whole seemed a little unnatural in the desert. Still, the labyrinth looked intriguing; it would be a lovely place to begin her exploring and, she hoped, find magical creatures waiting to be found. That idea was the sort she wouldn’t be sharing with Jack. That and climbing trees after dinner.

40 Lily Of course. We'll be heroes. 357 Lily 0 5

Farrah

April 04, 2016 6:55 PM

Because he's a Wizard! by Farrah

She had been successful in introducing herself to the boy and with sharing cookies with him! Farrah held out the plate of procured cookies that she had gotten at the snack table. “I hope chocolate chips are okay. I prefer snickerdoodles, but these are just as good of a substitute.” Farrah commented as she took another bite of her own cookie. Farrah looked around the garden again when Killian (what a strange but awesome name!) gestured around. She had to admit, all of this was quite overwhelming, and beautiful, and everything that she had hoped for ever since her dad had told her all about magic.

“No,” Farrah agreed with a small giggle as though they were sharing a secret together. She couldn’t believe any of this at all but here she was! She was at Sonora! She was going to learn all about magic and then she could shove all in her little sister’s face! When she was older and allowed, of course. Her hazel green eyes widened when Killian asked about whether or not this would be a reality show. If he knew about Television, it must mean that he was associated with the Muggle (Farrah still thought this word was super weird and she didn’t understand why it was chosen to label the non-Magical ones) World just like her!

“My parents would never agree to do a reality show.” Farrah replied. She was allowed to watch television, but never such things like those particular shows. They told her that they were terrible for her imagination. They preferred her to watch her science fiction or fantasy shows. “Maybe a game show, but not reality television.” Farrah expanded on her thought. “Anyway, this is all very real. My dad is a Wizard and he showed us magic! And then, when I got my letter, he took me to the Magical city to get my supplies and it was amazing.” Farrah admitted, leaning toward him and in a loud whisper. She was still nervous to admit that they were magical. Her father told her that Non-Magical people didn’t understand magic, that it frightened them, so they did crazy things as a result. From her father’s explanations, Non-Magical people could not get into Sonora, so her mom would never be able to visit her here like her dad could and that made her sad, but it also meant that the crazy people couldn’t get in and hurt her either.

Farrah took a breath. She was excited, so she was talking much more than she would normally feel comfortable doing with a stranger. But she had no one else to share this time with and so coming across another person who didn’t know this made her excitement feel equal with him. “What did you think of the wagon ride?” Farrah had been petrified that they would fall, but it had all been so fascinating.

6 Farrah Because he's a Wizard! 344 Farrah 0 5

Jozua

April 04, 2016 9:08 PM

Then I am in! by Jozua

Jozua nodded along, genuinely interested in her response, and pleased that his question had paid off so well. At this rate, he was only going to need to say one or two sentences for every five to ten of hers. If that held up and she didn't run off to meet someone more chatty, he might actually know her well enough to start evening out the ratio by the time the tour started.

He was going to guess, tentatively, given the number of times she'd apparently been to the London gardens and her accent, that she was at least British, and possibly from London. He made a note to ask her that at some point to confirm the theory, but first he needed to answer her question back to him. It was important not to be dismissive of her own curiosity about him, or it would just backfire and, if past experience was anything to go by, they'd just think he was trying to hide something and become even more curious about him. Not what he wanted.

"I'm an only child," he told her. "Pureblood." Not that he thought there was anything superior about only having magical relatives, but that was the most common term for the type of family he was raised in and would save a lot of words. Plus, the Maartens on his Mom's side cared about that kind of thing, so it would probably be good to figure out who he should and shouldn't be admitting he knew here when he talked to his Dutch grandparents. "Grew up in Aladren, up in Oregon. Are you from London, then?" he thought that sounded like a seamless transition and not like he was pushing the conversation back at her. Maybe one more useless personal fact to be sure. "I haven't made it to England yet."

He wasn't quite sure what level of travelling qualified as 'much' to Lily so he offered no statement on his own travel experience classification. He'd been to the Netherlands to meet his family out there on more than a few occasions, and they often hit another neighboring country while they were out that way anyway, so he'd also visited Germany and Belgium a couple times, and toured Luxembourg once. England was next on the list, but it hadn't happened yet. Beyond that, they took annual vacations somewhere in the States, so he'd been to most of the Western ones by now, too. He could now check Arizona off that list as well, so he thought that just left New Mexico and Utah, unless he was forgetting one, and also depending on how one defined 'Western states'.

1 Jozua Then I am in! 348 Jozua 0 5

Killian

April 04, 2016 10:51 PM

Really? Are you sure? by Killian

“Chocolate chip’s one of my favorites. I’m surprised they aren’t made out of some sort of magic chocolate. Maybe a single bite would make our hair turn green.” Grinning, he gave her hair a teasing look after she’d taken a bite of the cookie. Much to his disappointment, her hair’s hue remained consistent and didn’t suddenly turn into a new and exciting shade.

After giving it some thought, Killian gave a decisive nod of agreement. “Yeah, I agree. Mom would have a kitten if she found out this whole thing was rigged,” he leaned forward a little. “To tell you the truth, she kind of flipped over the whole thing anyway. She didn’t think it was real. But Dad pointed out all the crazy stuff that I’ve done, can you believe I made a dog float to the ceiling once? My sister got a mean little yip dog and it kept biting my ankles. Then it just started to float away. Anyway, we got it all explained and everything, so here I am!” He left out the bitter fights his parents went through. It all worked out in the end, so there was no reason to bring it up.

“Is he really? That’s amazing! It must have been so cool growing up with magic. I’m the only one in my family with magic, so this all sort of fell out of nowhere, you know?” Killian wished the rest of his family was magic too, that would have been the best. Then he could have known all about it from the start. “Wow, do they really have whole towns that are magical? I bet that was so cool.”

He tried to imagine a town full of magic, and his mind instantly locked onto Disney World. They’d gone there two years ago for vacation, and he thought maybe that’s what a real magic town would be like, except without the crowds. “Crazy! How do they make them fly? Do you think it’s like Peter Pan and they use pixie dust?” Killian tapped his lips with his pointer finger as he tried to figure it out. “I can’t believe none of the normal people ever noticed wagons flying about.”

0 Killian Really? Are you sure? 354 Killian 0 5

Georgia Kirkly

April 06, 2016 4:02 AM

Yay.... by Georgia Kirkly

Georgia had had a whole year to get used to the idea that magic was real, ever since the discussion about where she’d go to school had got serious. She had always assumed that she’d go to the local high school along with all her friends (and enemies) from middle school but her dad had started pushing the idea of her sitting the entrance exam for his old school. That was when her mum had had to come clean, to tell them both something she should have told them a long time ago, which meant that neither of those would be an option for Georgia. Still, even being told it was real didn’t make it feel real. Shopping for her school stuff felt like they were just dressing up or playing a really elaborate game. The only bit that had seemed like it might be real was when she’d first touched the wand for her, and made it spark because that just didn’t happen. There were also a lot of things looking back that made more sense, like the time all the pens had vanished when she didn’t want to do math, or when Libby, the snootiest girl in her year, had got her new outfit splashed with mud even though there were no trucks going by, which her mum told her were ‘accidental magic.’ Having a reason for them was sort of comforting and helpful but it didn’t help her know what to expect now, or to really believe it. But now, here she was. Having been transported by flying wagon. Now it felt scarily real.

She had tried several times on the wagon ride squeezing her eyes really hard shut and wishing she would wake up, back home with everything back to normal. Things hadn’t really been comfortable lately. She knew her parents had been fighting the last year, even though they tried to put on happy faces and only do it once she was in bed. The happy faces looked fake and strained, and she didn’t always fall straight to sleep, so sometimes she heard them arguing. A few times, when the fear of not knowing had outweighed the fear of being caught, she’d snuck onto the landing to listen. The rows were about her mum keeping secrets, and about her having to come here. It was confusing to be here, because it felt a little easier to breathe knowing she wasn’t going to have to hear that any more, but if she hadn’t had to come here, if everything had just been normal, the fights wouldn’t have started in the first place.

She went to collect a welcome pack, and considered getting a cupcake. There was a girl standing near the snacks, picking at the croissant she’d selected. Some of the girls in Geogria’s year had already started fussing about food this way, saying they were dieting and things like that - Libby always proclaimed it loudly, saying she didn’t want to end up looking like Georgia. Georgia had always known she was a little chubby but she had never thought it was a problem, until Libby started saying things like that. These days, she considered herself downright fat because that’s what she was told she was. So, she waited. She didn’t want to be that fat girl that was desperate to get at the cake. She really, really wanted to be liked, although from what her mum had said, there might not be too much chance of that happening. Apparently, there was this thing called being “pure blood” and they were always the in crowd. At least, they always had been, at her mum’s east coast school. She hadn’t wanted to send Georgia there, which was she’d ended up way out west. Because maybe it would be better here. Her mum kept telling her that she was sure it would be, whilst looking anxious and worried. It wasn’t really super reassuring.

She edged a little closer. She wanted friends, as well as a cupcake, so perhaps getting chatting to the witch at the snack table was a good way to start.

“Hi there. How’s the food?” she asked, immediately regretting her question. It was just the first thing that came to mind as small talk. Luckily, fate gave her a second chance, as the girl seemed a bit tuned out, or not quite fluent with English. “I just said ‘hi, how’s it going?’” Georgia smiled.

13 Georgia Kirkly Yay.... 346 Georgia Kirkly 0 5

Madeleine

April 06, 2016 7:48 AM

I take it you aren’t excited either? by Madeleine

Madeleine returned the American girl’s smile, imitating the way it turned, not being used to such open friendliness with strangers. Americans smiled way too much, she thought to herself privately. How’s it going? she could do this, it was basic English. She wouldn’t complain, she would just answer politely and see where the conversation went. “I’m okay and you?” As eager as she had been to tutoyer Bastien, that was different. He was noblesse and this witch was a stranger (in both the French and English forms of the words). She suddenly hated not having the more distant for of ‘you’ to use. It was funny, Madeleine thought to herself, how one missed the things they normally took for granted when they didn’t have them anymore.

She forced herself to break off another piece of the croissant and eat it. She might not have liked the mal fait snack but she was French and the French never wasted food. Jamais. And then, before the window of time ran out and it was awkward to ask for a name, Madeleine offered hers and enquired after the other witch’s. She had been taught the American way of introductions, but found it overly pretentious and wasn’t interested in following through on her parent’s wishes. Her eyes flitted over to where Bastien was talking to someone and sighed. He was probably being a perfect example and she couldn’t let him beat her.

“Madeleine Dautin, from France,” she said with a quick smile, one that graced her face easier than the wider one she had attempted earlier. “And you?” ‘And you’ was a phrase she could see herself using quite frequently. It allowed her to redirect the question without much opportunity for mistake, something she did not really like making. She ripped up the croissant into two last pieces and popped them into her mouth one after the other, wondering if she would try her hand at something else after she’d had such a big disappointment the first time. There were cute little cupcakes on the table beside her, amongst other various baked goods, and she thought those might be safer since the cupcake was a more American invention in comparison to some of the other treats that had been laid out which were likely to have been bungled in the way only an American could bungle things.

But the other witch wasn’t eating anything. And she was American. So perhaps she didn’t trust any of the food on the table either. If that were the case, that would be a good indicator for Madeleine if she ought to try something else. But she was also so very hungry. That was when she noticed that her new accquaintance had a green folder and she did not. A lot of other people had green folders too. Come to think of it, she had seen them on a table on their way into the Gardens but she had been too occupied with looking for Bastien to realise she was supposed to take one and it seemed to late to grab one now.

“I-euh, well I did not receive one, would it be bothersome if we could share?” She was aware that her sentence was a little off, and she did her best to stifle the slight blush that rose in her cheeks even though she knew that at the very least her cheekbones had a pale pink spreading across them as she could feel the warmth as it moved over her face.

10 Madeleine I take it you aren’t excited either? 340 Madeleine 0 5

Lily

April 06, 2016 1:03 PM

We'll make a great team! by Lily

Lily had never considered being an only child before. She couldn’t imagine how awful it would feel, not having anybody to play with. It had been agonising when Adam left for school first, but she’d always had at least one sibling in the house with her. Once it was Jack’s turn to go, Adam had come back home hopefully for good. Being surrounded by adults all the time must’ve been awful growing up; it was no wonder Jozua was as quiet as he was. “You didn’t have any siblings?” asked Lily, feeling sorry for him. “Did you have many friends in Oregon then? What sorts of things did you do there for fun?” It must’ve been even worse for him, being alone, if Jozua came from the typical chilly pure-blood family. If she’d been born into that sort of circle she would have cried.

“I’m pure-blood too,” she said, feeling glad despite herself to have found someone she shared the same background with. As she’d discovered playing with the neighbourhood children, there were some unspoken mannerisms understood by pure-bloods that Muggles and half-bloods didn’t understand without being told. It wasn’t as though it would make any difference whilst playing, really, but it was a nice foundation to begin a friendship on. As long as he wasn’t the stuffy, misogynistic sort.

Though Jozua told her where he was from, Lily had no idea where Oregon was. She assumed it was in the United States, however, and nodded as though she could visualise the place. She didn’t want to look foolish in front of a person she’d just met. “Yeah, I’m from London. I’ve lived there my entire life with my family, but neither of my parents are from the city originally. My dad works as a mediwizard for a London hospital. If you haven’t made it to England, where have you visited?”

Lily hadn’t travelled much with her family and she’d never had the real burning desire to do so. The furthest she’d gone out in any direction was to Germany on holiday whilst Adam and Charlotte were in school. It hadn’t been much fun without them, really, even though she and Jack didn’t fight during that trip. Usually their family holidays were spent visiting her grandparents in Darlington or the Princetons in East Horsley. Last she’d heard of her Princeton cousins, one of them was betrothed to an Italian witch. She really hoped their wedding was in the summer so she could finally visit Italy.

After Jozua had spoken, Lily asked a question that popped into her mind that would be critical to their potential friendship: “Do you like climbing trees or flying?”

40 Lily We'll make a great team! 357 Lily 0 5

Farrah

April 06, 2016 7:53 PM

I'm definitely sure by Farrah

Farrah was relieved to hear that the cookie selection was to his liking. She would have felt terrible if she offered him a cookie and it turned out that he didn’t like them. That would be no way to make friends. His remark made her hesitant to take another bite though as she didn’t want to walk around with colored hair and have people stare at her. She knew that such things could happen in this world. Her dad said so. Thankfully, nothing seemed to have happened so far. Farrah gave a relieved smile. “Wouldn’t that have made quite the impression?” Farrah joked, “But, I’m pretty sure there are weird treats that do that sort of things. I’m not sure what they are though because I haven’t had any.” Farrah explained.

She was really happy to be talking to Killian this afternoon because he was also from the Non-Magical world and understood the strangeness of this all. “Oh, I know what you mean.” Farrah agreed when he mentioned how upset his mother had been. “My mom was so upset at my dad when he finally told her everything. He had to prove to her that magic is a real thing. It took some convincing, but she eventually believed him and forgave him.” Even though Farrah played all of it off as no big deal, it really had taken her mother a long time to forgive her dad for hiding something so important from her and their children.

“You made a dog fly?” Farrah asked, her eyes wide with amazement. “I’ve never done anything quite as drastic as that, but it was enough little weird things for my dad to notice… and the fact that I stopped a bunch of Skittles from falling by freezing them in mid-air.” Farrah added with a giggle. She had always thought she was special. She felt different. Sometimes she imagined that she was a Superhero because of all the weird things that happened around her that worked to her advantage. She never imagined that it was Magic though.

“Oh, I didn’t grow up with Magic.” Farrah corrected. “I only found out about it a couple of years ago by accident.” She confessed. “Daddy had told us that the reason he never said anything was because after he graduated from school, he chose to live life with Mom - who isn’t Magical - and left magic behind. He didn’t think me or my little sister would be Magical because everyone else in our family isn’t magical except my Aunt. She’s my dad’s twin. But I ended up getting it after all.” And hopefully my sister never will Farrah added silently in her head. “So, he had to fess up about it all.” From what her father mentioned about the secrecy thing that Magical people had, she couldn’t really blame him for not mentioning it, but she could understand her mother’s anger about being kept in the dark too.

“There are lots of Magical towns!” Farrah advised, showing her excitement. “It was like a circus or something. There were things flying around, all sorts of weird animals, people dressed up in crazy getups. There were books on spells and the wand shop… oh! How did you like trying out different wands?” Farrah asked suddenly, forgetting his question about the horses momentarily.. She thought that the experience was extremely weird, but when she found her wand, something just felt right about it.

6 Farrah I'm definitely sure 344 Farrah 0 5

Jocelyn Spencer

April 07, 2016 4:09 AM

It's a Pleasure to Make Your Acquaintance by Jocelyn Spencer

Jocelyn had never felt so nauseated as she did on the wagon ride to Sonora. Oysters had a similar effect on her, but even they were accompanied by less nausea (though they were instead accompanied with chest pains and a mild rash.) Cassandra had flitted off somewhere when the wagons were being loaded and so they had been mercifully separated. “Good,” Jocelyn thought, “the less we have to see each other the better.” Jocelyn didn’t hate her cousin but she was an impediment towards making the right connections. Although it would be a long time until she would graduate, opening doors now was important.

And this boy, Sebastien, might be the first connection worth making. “Pleasure to meet you. I’m Jocelyn Spencer.” In response to his question she answered, “I believe I’ll be sorted into either Crotalus or Aladren.” She was definitely not Teppenpaw material –Cassandra could be, she was too stupidly nice- but Cassandra wasn’t. She was more sensible than that. What sort of Pureblood lady was sorted into Teppenpaw? That went for Pecari as well, so many active girls, disregarding propriety in favor of flying brooms. Ghastly. She hoped almost desperately that she’d be sorted into one of the remaining two. She had faith, though, that the sorting potion would not make too egregious an error and house her differently. She was smart enough for Aladren, certainly, and she was ambitious enough for Crotalus. “Where do you think you’ll be placed?”

7 Jocelyn Spencer It's a Pleasure to Make Your Acquaintance 351 Jocelyn Spencer 0 5

Killian

April 07, 2016 9:57 AM

Too cool! by Killian

Killian chuckled, “Yeah that would have been a great way for the teachers to get us all talking.” Back in school, he remembered how awkward the first couple of days a new year could be, especially when joining a new school. He’d had personal experience with it after he’d been transferred to a private school in third grade over an accident. One of the other kids bumped into him while they were all climbing on the jungle gym during recess, and he’d fallen, breaking his left arm in two places. She’d freaked, certain it was the result of bullying, and wouldn’t hear a word otherwise. So he’d been pulled out of public school and moved into private.

The first day of private school had been full of the sort of awkwardness he’d expected to feel here. New kid in a new place and all that. At least he wasn’t the only newbie. All the first years were new, so hopefully they would all start out the same, instead of him trying to fit into already established friend groups. It hadn’t worked out all that well, and most of his school life was spent drifting along the edges of those cliques, never quite finding the place he fit. Maybe Sonora would be different.

A grin flared across his face. “Maybe we’ll find some of those strange treats sometime and try them out together.”

He gave a sympathetic nod when she confessed that her mom wasn’t thrilled with the magic world either. “I guess moms are supposed to worry, and magic is kind of a big deal. It’s not like moving to a new town or dad getting a new job, you know?”

“Well, nothing quite as cool as flying. Have you ever seen the clips with the dogs in outer space? You know, drifting around in zero gravity? It was more like that. His little legs were paddling, but not helping out much, and he just sort of floated, like a balloon until he reached the roof and started rolling around up there. It really was kind of funny.” At least, he’d thought so at the time. His sister was not nearly as amused by the situation.

“That’s pretty awesome,” he said, imagining skittles all hung in the air. “Talk about tasting the rainbow!”

Finishing off the cookie, Killian listened as she explained about her dad. “That must have been hard. Now that I know about magic, I’m not sure I could go back into the real world and pretend it doesn’t exist.”

His face brightened, and he couldn’t quite hide his sheepish smile when she brought up wands. “That was amazing and crazy. I mean, I’ve never tried to buy something that when you picked up the wrong one, fire flew out the end. I almost set the poor clerk guy on fire. Did you get a pet? I really wanted one of the owls, but dad said not this year.”

0 Killian Too cool! 354 Killian 0 5

Jozua

April 07, 2016 2:08 PM

If you say so by Jozua

Jozua was mildly disappointed that his investment in words netted mostly questions in return, but at least Lily was proving to be one of those people he found easy to talk to: Interesting enough to hold his attention and carrying more than her own conversational weight. Uninteresting people got tedious and Jozua often tuned them out after a while which made it even harder to return meaningful replies, and people who expected Jozua to talk in equal amounts often found themselves hiccuping from one awkward silence to another.

Lily triggered neither social pitfall, and Jozua was grateful for that.

Though he could do without the pity. He liked being an only child, thank you very much. In retaliation, he opted not to answer her questions about his friends in Oregon. That was a complicated enough issue that he wasn't sure he was ready to share it yet, anyway.

Fortunately, she rattled on and gave him more to work with that was less fraught with explanation.

"I have relatives in the Netherlands," he offered. "The Maartens," he added in case she'd heard of them. They were supposed to be a big deal among Dutch purebloods and not too shabby among the greater European arena either, if his grandfather wasn't exaggerating things too much. The Sparks had a much smaller sphere of influence, though, so it still seemed kind of weird to him that people in unrelated countries might have heard of his family.

"So we visit them about once a year and them make a tour of some other European area while we're out that way. Mom was an Aladren, and she homeschooled me, so they were very educational trips." He nodded definitively to emphasize the point. Which was not to say they weren't fun, too, but Mom made sure he always came back smarter from them.

He wasn't quite sure how her brain traveled from educational foreign tours to climbing trees, but evidently it had because that was the next question fired his way. After he blinked in confusion for a moment, trying to find the point where they'd taken different tracks on their trains of thought, he just shrugged and answered, "I can fly." In Aladren, it was the most quickest, most common mode of transport for kids too young to apperate. Everyone under seventeen had a broom. "And I'm not very good at climbing trees, but I'd be glad to learn."

1 Jozua If you say so 348 Jozua 0 5

Sébastien Évreux

April 08, 2016 11:54 AM

And yours, mademoiselle by Sébastien Évreux

Sébastien decided he’d chosen quite well: Jocelyn seemed well-mannered and was hopefully from a good family. As yet there seemed to be no indications to the contrary. He vaguely recognised the name Spencer (he had read up on American pureblood families before leaving France), but was aware that it could, for all he knew, be a common name here. Still, there was no harm in being polite (if she turned out to be from not such a good family, he could avoid her later) so he smiled charmingly at her before responding.

“Yes, Crotalus and Aladren certainly seem like the more appropriate houses.” Another point in her favour, then – the characteristics of the Pecari house seemed rather inappropriées, and Teppenpaw seemed a rather pointless house - what was the point of helping others if it did not help you?

Sébastien was very aware that, in the next seven years at Sonora, he was expected to make Good Connections. The Évreux family were one of the noblesse of French wizarding society. Whilst their family was not one of the very finest or oldest, they were definitely one of the wealthiest, and on the rise. A series of strategic marriages had rather improved their status (sadly for them, money was not everything in France), and Sébastien had high hopes of further increasing his family’s success.

Searching around for a topic to continue the conversation, Bastien decided that more information on the school and its occupants wouldn’t come amiss.

“So, have you any siblings who already attend Sonora?” he asked. Maybe asking about siblings would also give more of an insight into who this girl was.

9 Sébastien Évreux And yours, mademoiselle 350 Sébastien Évreux 0 5

Georgia

April 09, 2016 6:22 AM

I'm a lot of things but I don't think that's one of them by Georgia

Georgia took a cupcake as the other witch introduced herself. The girl was finishing her own snack, which helped, but mostly she just couldn't resist. She licked at the big swirl of icing whilst the other girl talked, the chocolately goodness working its magic and making her feel more relaxed.

“Nice to meet you,” she smiled, “I'm Georgia... Kirkly,” she added, with only a slight hesitation. The new girl hadn't introduced herself as 'of the such-and-such family' and she didn't say it with a nasty tone, or one like Georgia should know who she was, which were the warning signs her mother had told her about, but she wasn't very used to giving her surname when meeting anyone who wasn't trying to fill in a form about her. “From Ohio, here in America,” she added, again feeling a bit awkward. The other girl had said what country she was from but as they were in America it seemed weird to just say 'America' but equally it seemed weird to say a state when the other girl had given a country. Normally, Georgia didn't worry so much about these little details, but she was feeling kind of edgy after the warnings her mother had given her, and with being in a whole new world, it was all doubly confusing.

“Sure,” Georgia nodded, holding out her pack so the other girl could inspect its contents “Though I think you'll have a chance to pick one up later – I don't think he said we had to do it right away or anything.

“So, you're from France? What's that like?” she asked, taking a bite of her cake having asked something that would hopefully yield a nice long answer, without much thought as to how she would sum up her home country in a few sentences if put on the spot in a similar fashion.

13 Georgia I'm a lot of things but I don't think that's one of them 346 Georgia 0 5

Eliza Steinbeck

April 09, 2016 11:09 AM

Welcome Home by Eliza Steinbeck

Eliza was a witch. Well, she had known that she was one from day 1. As far as she could remember, the blonde eleven-year old had been proficient at magic - or so she would like to think. The truth was that she had been exposed to magic, but not enough. Her background was complicated, and Eliza was sort of proud of it. It set her apart in a way. Her mother had been as forthcoming about her ancestry as she would have liked, but she knew enough to manage a knowable life at her new school. Her mother was very secretive when it came to magic, since she was basically an orphan, and they spent most of their time with her dad’s family and surrounded by people without magic. Eliza thought it might be hard for her to hide her awesome powers, but she also admired her mother greatly because she did it with grace and poise.

However, the ride to Sonora had been eternal. And bumpy. And all around awful. Eliza was sure she would have had a better flying in a normal airplane or car ride. Wizard folks had to improve this bad service. The blonde eleven-year old gladly got out of the carriage - a little bit nauseous - and waited a second or two to wait for the ground to stop moving. Eliza was feeling a little bit queasy from the ride. She finally felt better and was able to discern the instruction being shouted at her by a male faculty person.

The excitement began coursing through her veins giving her a jolt of happiness as she began taking in her surroundings. The gardens were beautiful, and she swore she could hear celestial birds singing as she made her way through the maze of people to where the banner welcoming her stood. She smiled. She grinned. She was where she was supposed to be.

Her whole head was swimming with untapped possibilities. The adrenaline was making Eliza feel practically invincible. She loved Sonora, and she was sure to love the girls that would be her future friends. Her hazel eyes wandered to look for potential friend prospects, but her attempts were cut short when the male faculty member addressed them again. Eliza listened carefully and nodded when she had to or understood something that was said, but being careful to look for the information in the green folder she had acquired at first arrival. Everything seemed to be in here, and the information provided by Mr. Xavier was clear. She nodded in approval to no one in particular and looked around for someone to talk to. She still needed to find friends.

Eliza took a step back and clumsily - first time ever! - stepped on someone´s foot. “I am sorry!” She exclaimed as her snacks flew out of her plate. “But you should be standing behind someone like that.”

0 Eliza Steinbeck Welcome Home 352 Eliza Steinbeck 0 5

Farrah

April 10, 2016 4:27 PM

Agreed! by Farrah

“Oh yes, like sort of an ice breaker game, only it’s with physical transformations.” Farrah wasn’t exactly sure how fun that would have been. She didn’t necessarily enjoy how she looked all the time, she would have found it unnerving to suddenly have a different hair color, or eye color, or shaped nose. Her parents always tried to remind her to appreciate herself, especially after heavy bouts of bullying that she endured. Those came and went, depending on the school year. Farrah’s parents did well financially (her father was a vet and her mother a nurse, after all) so most people respected that enough but there was a mean crowd and if she was in their line of sight, there was no saving her. Physical appearance was their way of torture, hence the nickname Alien, but with her parents support, she was learning to accept herself. Being thrust into this world and then suddenly have her appearance change unexpectedly would have been rather jarring.

Farrah was genuinely glad that the first person she spoke with here was Killian. She had no idea if they would end up in the same house or not, but she really hoped that they did. If she could manage to make it out of this place with one really great friend, she considered herself a winner. “I’ll see if my Dad can send us some.” Her dad seemed opened about talking about magic ever since he had to tell the truth about it, so she felt that he would be willing to do her that favor. If not, she could always ask her Aunt Zoey.

She nodded along with his assessment of the situation. He had a point. Magic had been a large part of her father’s youth and important, but for some reason, he hadn’t felt it necessary in his life. Her aunt, however, had. Farrah had always wondered why it was that she couldn't stay with her aunt occasionally in NYC or see where she worked as a Senior Editor for her magazines. Now she understood. It was all in the magical part of NYC and Farrah hadn’t been allowed there. Things would be different now though! “I guess my dad was just hopeful that it would never come up.” Farrah replied.

“I don’t think I’ve seen those clips, but I think I get what you mean.” Farrah stated, picturing it in her head. “We mostly watch cat videos.” Farrah gave a nervous giggle, feeling a little dorky admitting to that. She had spent the entire wagon ride like an outsider, uncertain as to what she would talk about with people only to find that the first person she has met, grew up in the Non-Magical world too. It was really quite a relief.

“I don’t think I ever asked him how he could do it. I mean, it was probably a little weird since my Aunt decided to stay with Magic, but since no one else is Magical, maybe he just sort of forgot?” She knew that wasn’t actually possible. She could never forget all of this. “You know, like, if I can’t see it, it doesn’t exist?”

Farrah laughed into her hand, trying to keep from being too loud in case they got into trouble or someone thought their conversation was stupid. “Actual fire? That’s so crazy! I picked up a wand and things just started flying off the shelves. The shopkeeper ranked it right out of my hand to stop it from destroying anything.” Farrah remembered being so frightened at the time because it felt more like a ghost had just thrown a tantrum rather than the stick in her hand and she didn’t know what to do about it. “No, I didn’t get anything like that.” Farrah admitted, looking a bit put out. With her dad being a Veterinarian, one would think he would be okay with it. “Dad said that school owls work just fine and I’m not allowed any pets until I’m older. Can you believe there’s no internet here? We have to like, hand-write things!” Farrah was miserable about that bit.

6 Farrah Agreed! 344 Farrah 0 5

Arianna Valenti

April 11, 2016 8:39 AM

Family Matters by Arianna Valenti

Arianna reviewed the green post-it stuck to her dresser’s mirror for what had to be the twenty-fourth time that morning. Yes, she had painted her nails a pretty shade of salmon - to contrast with her summer-tanned skin - washed her face, applied a rose-tinted chapstick, and tamed her long dark curls into more trendy, long beachy waves. She had not, in fact, been able to sneak the mascara out of Mamma’s bathroom. But that had been more of a hope, rather than an expectation. She had successfully convinced Papà to buy her the cream-colored sundress she absolutely needed for such a momentous occasion as the very first day of her being an official, practicing witch. All that was left was to do was put on the uniform.

The eleven (and seven-months) year old examined herself in the mirror in a cramped bedroom in Brooklyn as she donned the dark forest green robes. She adjusted, she twirled, she tossed her hair, before deciding with the absolute certainty, “I look like a shrub.”

A book snapped closed. From the bottom bed of the purple bunks behind her, a younger girl with messy dark curls sat up and scrutinized her big sister carefully. Arianna pursed her lips.

“Well, I think you look like a principessa,” Elisa announced dreamily, popped out of her bed and began to dig through their accessories, carefully organized by Arianna on the dresser. With delicate fingers, freshly painted by her older sister, she selected a headband with two thin, flexible gold colored bands, covered in tiny rhinestones. On tip-toe, she set the headband atop Arianna’s head.

“And now you have a crown,” Elisa grinned, still with gaps where adult teeth would soon grow in. Arianna’s face mirrored her sister’s, the accessory added a little bit of sparkle, without being super flashy. Clever Elisa, she was learning.

“You know, I am going to miss you, Piccolina,” she hugged the nine year-old, her Little One, “You must write me everyday.” And with affirmation that Elisa would do just that, Arianna was soon in the car, on the way to her cousins in the suburbs. It would be just Mamma and her, Papà would be taking Elisa to the Hobart School, an elite (and expensive) Manhattan private school the Valenti sisters had gained admittance to because their father was upper school vice principal and they paid reduced tuition.

There were pictures taken in the backyard (where non-magical neighbors could not see) of Arianna and her cousin, Gabriel, in their school robes. Pictures with the happy families. And soon the flying wagon had arrived to take Gabriel and Arianna further away from home than the latter had ever been before.

Strange to think that she now counted her (slightly) older among her best friends. But they had survived purgatory together this summer. Her parents had decided it was necessary for them to get a full, non-magical, sixth grade education in the summer before they traveled to Sonora. Just because the two Valenti children were a wizard and witch now, didn’t mean they didn’t need to know about geography, apparently. Gabe had answered all her questions about magic, about Sonora, about the classes and the kids at school. He seemed to be friends with everyone there, which was comforting, but also strange. The boy was sweet, but he was also totally the type of dork she and her exclusive group of friends back at Hobart would have teased. He had taught her how to fly, let her borrow his books, even his yearbook.

In return, she had helped him get through English, Social Studies, Science… basically everything. Arianna had always been a star student in her year. This was in part because of her own cleverness and ambitions, in part because her parents expected no less. Both involved in academia, it broke their hearts that they could no longer be actively involved in her formal education. They were, however, relieved that she would be spending more time with Gabe, and less time with her particular group of friends. Emily, Madison, Abigail and Olivia were from the more prestigious families in the school, and they knew it. They also hung out with the older kids, at coffee shops and trendy cafes and shops their parents’ credit cards could afford, well past when Arianna was supposed to return home. Upon returning, Arianna always seemed to come home with accessories and other small trinkets no one had actually purchased.

Arianna blamed accidental magic.

Chatting and sharing pastries from their grandparents’ bakery, the ride to Sonora seemed to pass by in a moment. Gabe said goodbye as he dropped his younger (but taller) cousin at Orientation. For the very first time, Arianna was totally on her own in the magical world..

She skimmed through her packet and listened attentively to the speaker, although practically everything covered were things she’d already asked Gabe. So she got herself a small plate of grapes, deciding that she had had enough sweets on the way here, and she didn’t want to totally spoil her dinner. She was just wondering about what clubs she’d want to get involved in, and whether or not she wanted to follow her cousin’s footsteps and try out for the Quidditch team, when some klutz backed into her and stepped on her foot. And then blamed Arianna for it. What?

Immediately she felt her blood start to boil, she wanted to tell that girl just where she could put her clumsy feet. Sure, wizarding robes were weird and unflattering (who wore something this heavy in the desert?) and Arianna didn’t even really like them, but it was her first day and she had ironed them herself. It was like being with the Hobart girls, who stomped all over the world without a care, who threw away people and things as soon as they were no longer useful. They could always buy more. Arianna could not.

But she pursed her lips. Because she had studied Gabe’s yearbook just like she had studied the textbooks. Because this wasn’t her first time at an exclusive school, where others had the upper hand. There were names that repeated in that yearbook, names like Brockert, Manger, Reinhardt and Carey. No doubt some of these were important names with influence, just like at Hobart. Who knew who this girl was. She didn’t want to get on the wrong side of such names on her very first day. She had plans.

“Nothing that can’t be fixed,” she answered smoothly, even throwing in a smile as she brushed her robes clean. She made a mental note to review her books for any spells or charms to clean her robes later tonight.

“I’m Arianna Valenti, from New York City,” she introduced herself pleasantly, “What about you? Where are you traveling from?” She still didn’t apologize, of course. Rare was the day that Arianna Valenti apologized for anything, especially if it wasn’t even her fault.

0 Arianna Valenti Family Matters 343 Arianna Valenti 0 5

Eliza Steinbeck

April 11, 2016 11:39 AM

Sure? That is kind of deep for a first meeting by Eliza Steinbeck

“I am Eliza Steinbeck,” she answered with the air of importance she was accustomed to show back home. Her family was well known, and the blonde girl was used to her last name to be recognized - at least in decent company. The girl´s annoyance was visible in her face, but Eliza took a deep breathe to calm herself a bit. She couldn't start her Sonora career like this. Eliza closed her eyes for a second trying to summon patience from the surrounding vegetation before actually looking back at Arianna.

“Pleasure to meet you,” Eliza responded as a smile tugged at the corners of her lips even when the girl hadn't apologized for her clumsiness. Honestly, who creeped on people from behind? That was just not polite, and that had sealed Eliza´s opinion on Arianna. A barbarian! Though, she had to admit that the other girl seemed somewhat put together. Her appearance projected femininity, and her mother had always told her that it was important to surround yourself with people that reflected positively on you.

Eliza´s hazel eyes analyzed Arianna more closely, “I am from the state of New York too. Manhattan, specifically” She finally answered to the other girl. They were from the same state and they had managed to miss each other at the carriage. Maybe there were several carriages that served that area? It wouldn't have mattered because Eliza had been nervous during the flight (not that she would admit it anybody), and she had been going over what her mother had told her about Sonora, how the wizarding world worked, and important families she had encountered during her time there. Monica Steinbeck had been by no means a Pureblood, but she had some magical acquaintances that were. So, Eliza felt she knew everything she needed to know.

The blonde smoothed her impeccable school robs, and out of habit played with a strand of perfectly straight blonde hair. Eliza had spent days choosing what to wear for her first day at Sonora. It had taken a couple of shopping trips to finally settle on a blue dress with matching ballerina flats, and the girl was more than annoyed to have her beautiful outfit hidden by the school robes. They were kind of impractical (and ugly!), if anyone asked her.

“That is a nice headband,” Eliza commented about Arianna’s appearance. The girl instinctively passed her fingers through the braid that was serving as a natural headband. Eliza attempted another friendly smile, but really she was kind of exasperated with Arianna already. Besides, that headband was so last year, and Eliza wanted to find more suitable friends.

0 Eliza Steinbeck Sure? That is kind of deep for a first meeting 352 Eliza Steinbeck 0 5

Madeleine

April 11, 2016 3:43 PM

Well then, that makes two. by Madeleine

Madeleine watched with careful eyes as Georgia took a cupcake from the table and licked the top of it. Disgusting. But she refrained from wrinkling her nose and kept the polite smile on her face, nodding when she introduced herself and said where she was from. She even bit her tongue and didn’t say something snarky about knowing where Ohio was because Maman always said that no one liked a know-it-all and besides that, she wasn’t meant to care about the United States right in that moment so knowing where one of it’s least exciting states was probably didn’t fall under that category.

She flipped through the pages, taking the time to look over the pictures in the brochures and shuffled them back together as Georgia said she’d be able to get one later. It was very important to Madeleine that she have one of the packets—she had read up on Sonora before coming, thinking it was very important to know what exactly it was that her parents had gotten her into, but additional reading material could always be of use. “Thank you,” she said, returning the packet back to the other witch. “I’ll do so.”

The photos (and the garden she was currently in) did nothing to inspire her to be happy with where she was. She missed Paris and it’s beautiful buildings, it’s many gardens, it’s long and windy roads. She missed her house with the creaky floorboards and the over-elegant furniture and the nervous house-elves. She missed her room and Léo and even Mme Mercier! And the other witch seemed to know exactly what to say to make Madeleine feel even more homesick.

“It’s marvellous,” she returned, frustrated that her range of English vocabulary went deep in some areas while other times she forgot basic sentence construction though more often than not it was the pronunciation of certain words that were spelt the same way but pronounced completely differently that she abhorred. At least she had never said anything as ridiculously stupid as some of the children of her father’s German business contacts. To hear them talking about ‘becoming an apple’ at the table made Madeleine always feel very good about her English.

She didn’t want to wax on about her country though she already had a list forming in her head about what was better in France than in America, and she didn’t want to let on that she was homesick either, so she left it at ‘marvellous’ adding only that it was a country rich in history and in art and that every where she went was full of story. She said all of this only slightly implying France was better than America since she didn’t want to have her first ever conversation end in an argument—that wouldn’t do well at all for the diplomacy she was expected to be proficient in.

“And how do you like O-hi-o?” she stumbled slightly over the word only because she was unsure on which syllable the stress was supposed to go on. As Georgia answered, Madeleine carefully selected a cupcake from the table, one that didn’t appear to have as much frosting on it as the others though it was sprinkled with coloured sugar. Unfortunately it wasn’t chocolate which was Madeleine’s usual stuff-her-face-to-deal-with-negative-emotions choice of food, but the excess of frosting (something she had never really been a fan of) had turned her off the chocolate cakes and besides that, she supposed the coloured sugar made up for it.

10 Madeleine Well then, that makes two. 340 Madeleine 0 5

Lily

April 11, 2016 6:13 PM

At least I hope so. by Lily

Lily was chatty, but that didn't mean she didn't notice when someone evaded a question or a topic. She let it slide, however, instead of pushing it as she usually did. Lily didn't want to come off as too pushy since Jozua didn't seem like the sort who would appreciate that.

"Are the Netherlands very nice?" she asked. It was sad that she, a Brit, had never been to the European continent. She supposed there was enough to take care of, what with her father travelling often during her early childhood and her mother too preoccupied with teaching her children manners and etiquette. The family name didn't ring a bell for her, but she was sure her parents would know. Lily had never been particularly strong in her pure-blood history. "All that travel sounds lovely, though it's only once a year," she said.

Jozua's mum was an Aladren, and already Lily had her stereotype for them based on her brother. She imagined Jozua's mum to be proper and intelligent and not very fun. Her brother Jack could be fun, but only when he wanted to be and not when he was with Lily. She didn't know why she and Jack just couldn't get along, but their idea of 'proper' did differ considerably. That was probably it. She hoped Jozua wouldn't be like that, and she waited in anticipation for him to answer her next question.

She was sure it seemed a bit odd, but he answered any way and she smiled. A friend who could already fly was a good mate to have. She was a little jealous that he'd grown up in magical town, but she wouldn't trade London for the world even though she had to hide her magic when she went out in public.

Lily was even happier to hear that he would be glad to learn how to climb. A typical Aladren trait, she mused, but it was too early to make any assumptions on which house they'd be sorted into. "It wouldn't be wise to climb in our uniform," she said, looking down at her fresh forest green robes, "but maybe in the future we can climb together." She let the statement linger, wondering if she could possibly make Jozua smile or show any emotion other than a cool demeanour. "I'll be happy to teach you," she said, smiling at him. "What's Oregon like? It must've been nice growing up in a magical town. London's very big and Muggles and magical folk live there nearly on top of each other. Typical of big cities, I suppose."

40 Lily At least I hope so. 357 Lily 0 5

Killian

April 12, 2016 11:08 AM

I wish my dad was a Wizard by Killian

Delight flashed through him when Farrah agreed to ask her dad to send them some magic candy. Schools, at least in his experience, didn’t offer a whole lot in the way of sweets for the kids. Probably because they didn’t want a whole pack of magical children hyped up on sugar bouncing around turning people purple. He also doubted they’d be allowed to wander off to a magic store to buy sweets on their own. Since his family was all non-magic, he couldn’t even send a letter home to beg for sweets, so he’d owe Farrah a big one if she managed to score a stash for them.

Killian laughed with her about the cat videos. Even though his sister was so much older, she still loved watching youtube cat clips. “Can’t go wrong with a good cat video!” he offered. There were a lot of funny ones. He’d seen a series of videos where people sneakily set cucumbers next to unsuspecting felines, who, upon seeing the alien vegetables, promptly jumped out of their skins.

“I guess that makes sense,” Killian said with a small frown. It seemed like magic was a pretty big elephant in the room. Kind of hard to ignore in his opinion. Even when he didn’t know about magic, he’d still been intensely aware of the strange things that happened around him sometimes, and he loved coming up with different theories to explain them away. Everything from poltergeists to him being half alien had been entertained at one point or another during his childhood.

Killian was in the middle of giving a sympathetic nod at not being allowed to have magic pets when Farrah dropped a bomb shell. He gaped at her in utter horror. “No internet,” he squeaked. Yes, his dad made him keep his laptop at home, but that was expected. At his old school, the students were issued school laptops for their work. He’d assumed the same was true here. Now his mind tore through all the information and came to a terrible conclusion. This wasn’t a school at all, nor was it a reality show. Nope, it was something so much worse. It was a rehab center for children addicted to gaming. All his WoW CDs were packed away in his luggage, waiting to be installed on a computer that would never come. This was cruel and unusual punishment! Okay, yes, so he’d spent more than a little time this summer locked in his room playing video games. That didn’t mean he was addicted. The cold sweat itching his back at the thought of not being able to play the game for who knew how long called him a liar.

“They can’t do that,” he cried. Heck, he couldn’t even remember the last time he had to hand write something. By the fourth grade he’d mastered keying, and all his school work had been completed on his school laptop. “It’ll take forever to hand write assignments,” he whined, trying to think up an excuse that didn’t involve his absolute need to play video games.

0 Killian I wish my dad was a Wizard 354 Killian 0 5

Jozua

April 12, 2016 3:52 PM

It's certainly possible by Jozua

He had forgotten to ask a leading question to get her talking again, and he regretted it when the questions started getting directed at him again.

"Yeah, the Netherlands are pretty great," Jozua confirmed in answer to the first of them, though that was usually the less interesting part of the annual trips. Nothing against the country, of course, but the Maartens were pretty stuffy people and Jozua always had to be on his best behavior there. "And we travel around the States, some, too," he added for accuracy's sake when she voiced her assumption that was the only traveling he did.

He looked down at his new school robes and decided she was probably right that they were less than ideal attire for climbing in, and nodded agreement that 'later' would be a better time for his first lesson on the subject. "Aladren is a pretty good place to live. Definitely smaller than a city, but it's a big enough town that if you fart in a restaurant, people have better things to talk about than your flatulence." He paused, reconsidered, and amended, "Most of the time. And not everyone knows your name, but maybe three quarters of the adult permanent residents know your grandfather's name." He gave a small eye-roll because he couldn't count high enough to reach the number of times someone had asked if he was the Sparks boy because he was the spittin' image of old George.

"Where'd your parents live before they moved to London?"

1 Jozua It's certainly possible 348 Jozua 0 5

Lily

April 14, 2016 2:33 PM

Time will tell. by Lily

As someone who had never travelled far before, Lily was disappointed by Jozua’s vague remark on the Netherlands. Her house was great, London was great, Sonora was great, but that didn’t really tell her anything. However, instead of pointing it out she just nodded. Again, she didn’t want to seem too pushy and end up making an enemy on her first day here.

Jozua seemed like a well-travelled young wizard, but if she asked which states he had visited, it wouldn’t mean anything to Lily. She would really have to improve on her geography to engage in more traveller’s talk. “That sounds like fun. You’ve been to loads of places,” she said with a friendly smile.

Then Jozua went on to talk about his hometown, and his reference to farting made her eyes widen in surprise and then giggle out loud. She hadn’t expected someone like him to talk about farting so openly. She didn’t know what ‘flatulence’ meant, but she assumed it had something to do with expelling air out of one’s bum. Lily didn’t particularly understand why farting was considered rude when it was such a natural phenomenon, but she was old enough to control herself in public. Burping was OK and more fun, especially when she and the lads engaged in burping contests. That her mother considered terribly rude as well, but Lily didn’t mind her much.

“That must be annoying, always being asked about your grandfather,” said Lily, wrinkling her nose. “If they know you’re his grandson, that is. I suppose no one knows that I’m related to the Princetons unless I tell them.” The Princetons were a very big name in Europe, an old name with relatively new money, and all three of her cousins had attended Sonora. The last had just graduated, but she’d never been close to any of them. That family seemed rather chilly in comparison to hers.

Jozua asked a somewhat odd question following, but she supposed it was because she’d mentioned the subject earlier offhandedly. “My mum’s a direct Princeton witch, so she grew up in Surrey where the Princeton Estate is located. Dad grew up in Darlington, but he moved to the city to work at the hospital. He started as a potioneer there, brewing medicines and collecting ingredients, but he’s a mediwizard now. That’s where my parents met, at the London branch of the hospital my grandparents own.” Lily grinned, remembering her parents’ love story. It was all very practical, but still sweet. She just didn’t want a wizard dictating her life so firmly; rather, she didn’t want anyone dictating her life. Watching her mum and Charlotte both endure that, Lily knew she wanted no part in it.

“So if you don’t climb trees, what do you do for fun in Aladren?” she asked, pressing the question again. She didn’t ask about his mates this time, just in case he didn’t have any or they were the snotty pure-blood sort who just used others for their own personal, or familial, gain. “I played outside a lot, at the gardens with my dogs and friends who were around, but was it any different in a smaller town?” She was genuinely curious if living in a magical town made life as a pure-blood different in any way from her own.

40 Lily Time will tell. 357 Lily 0 5

Jozua

April 14, 2016 4:05 PM

That it will by Jozua

Jozua could see her disappointment when he failed to describe the Netherlands in any real detail. He felt a little bad for it but not enough to correct the oversight. He gave her a mental promise to answer her next question with more than a boring adjective anybody could toss around about anything. And if they did become friends, he'd probably eventually show her some of the photographs he had from his Grandparents' estate. They'd do better explaining the countryside better than words could anyway.

He shrugged a little as she commiserated about being asked about his grandad Sparks. "It's not as bad as it sounds," he admitted. "I just look like him, I guess, and people like to tell me so." In truth, Jozua tried pretty hard to blend in, so he stuck to common styles, and his coloring and features were all pretty average, too, so he just reminded people of someone and apparently Grandad was similarly nondescript so the comparison settled people's mind that they had figured out why Jozua seemed familiar.

His eyes started to glaze a little as she answered his own question in far more detail than even he had hoped for. The unfamiliar place names skidded over his brain without leaving any impression or trace of their passage, but he did catch her parents met at work in a hospital her family owned. Or somethings like that.

"Princeton" sounded vaguely familiar and he wondered if that was one of the families the Maartens wanted him to meet while he was here. If so, mission successful! And Lily didn't even seem super uptight or anything! Maybe her dad's family was more relaxed like the Sparks were about that kind of thing.

He flushed a light pink as she asked about what he did for fun. And his promise - even though she didn't know about it - meant he couldn't just brush it off, either.

"Well, flying," he said, because that was the easy and safe part of the answer. "And reading." Getting dorkier, but Sonora Aladrens didn't hold a total monopoly on the book reading market. "I guess I collect chocolate frog cards, but that's mostly because I like eating chocolate frogs. And I play wizards chess," and that probably killed any coolness he'd earned with his chocolate frogs. "But mostly," he paused, gathered his courage, and went for full disclosure, "I listen to wizard duels on the wireless, and Dad brings me to a match in person on my birthday every year, and he and mom both pretend to duel me in the backyard, and sometimes we go hunting pretend monsters in the woods!" The flush deepened and he hoped that didn't come across as childish as he feared playing pretend with his parents might sound to others.

1 Jozua That it will 348 Jozua 0 5

Finbar Scott

April 14, 2016 6:18 PM

Glad to be here, I think! by Finbar Scott

So this was Sonora. Finn had to admit that he was a little impressed. He’d not seen much of the place but already one of his fears had been put to rest: there was a proper outdoors. Part of him had been expecting to see lots of buildings and boring courtyards, but here he was standing in a proper garden! He’d spent lots of time outside at home, so seeing familiar plants and animals was definitely a comfort.

It had been a wrench leaving home – his family was such a large part of Finn’s life – and as his younger cousins had waved him off, part of him had wished he could just stay at home forever. However, now was his chance for the bit of adventure he had always wanted, and he wasn't going to let his natural shyness get in the way of what could turn out to be a lot of fun. Besides, both his father and grandfather had impressed upon him the importance of good friends and a good education for a young pureblood.

He listened carefully to Mr Xavier’s speech, not wanting to miss anything important. The idea of exams was daunting, but at least he wouldn’t have to worry about them for a few years. He was glad that he wouldn’t be thrown into a room with the rest of the school just yet, and the tour of the grounds and school sounded like a very useful idea - getting lost would not be a great way to start his time at Sonora.

Walking over to the table of food, Finn snagged a green folder and then started to pour himself a drink. Remembering his grandmother’s advice to be polite and friendly, he looked over his shoulder to see of anyone else was waiting. “Would you like some juice?” he offered.

9 Finbar Scott Glad to be here, I think! 347 Finbar Scott 0 5

Farrah

April 14, 2016 8:27 PM

It has its pros and cons by Farrah

Farrah relaxed a bit when Killian didn’t make fun of her for watching the videos with various cats in it. Some people found that to be lame or ‘something little kids watch’ as some of her classmates used to say to taunt her. It wasn’t like she was still watching Dora the Explorer or anything. Her parents blocked a lot of content on tv and limited their access on the internet, so cat videos was a safe thing for her to watch.

She assumed that Killian would have known that magic and Muggle technology didn’t work together. There were magical items that worked like non-magical items, such as watches and radios, but they weren’t run the same way. Her dad had bought her a watch that would work on magic and a radio (although they called it something else in the magical world, it looked like a radio to her). He thought it would be easier on her to be able to listen to music or ‘shows’ while she was doing her homework and since there weren’t any regular clocks, it was better that she had a working watch too.

“I’m sorry.” Farrah replied, watching Killian have a moment while he tried to take in the fact that there would be no computers or email or games. Farrah had been upset about it too when her dad had told her about it. She thought writing out assignments would be the absolute worst. Writing was okay, but based on the supplies that her father had picked out with her, there were no pencils to allow her to erase mistakes. So, she would have to scribble out or restart her work repeatedly because she wouldn’t hand in anything that was too messy.

“My dad told me because I asked him why I needed all the weird paper and old pens if I was just going to do everything on the computer.” Farrah explained. “He said something along the lines of magic messes with the workings of technology so things like a clock won’t work unless it’s a magical clock.” Farrah shrugged. She didn’t really understand it herself, but her dad said that it was just something she would get used to over time. Her father was rarely on the computer or even watched tv and she figured it was probably because he had learned to entertain himself in other ways.

Boring.

“He told me that there were fun magic games though.” Farrah offered. “Like, the kind that explode and stuff. He said that even magical chess is different, the players move on their own!” Farrah gave him an excited smile. “Maybe we can learn some of those together?”

6 Farrah It has its pros and cons 344 Farrah 0 5

Arianna V.

April 17, 2016 9:40 AM

Family is everything by Arianna V.

Eliza introduced herself like she was someone who mattered. Arianna gave a small nod of recognition. No, she had no idea who this girl was, but she had plenty of experience with girls who thought they mattered, as if their sense of self-importance fueled their wealth, and not the other way around. And she knew how to handle herself around them. Standing confidently, she picked a grape off her plate and nibbled it politely, patiently waiting for the next move.

“Likewise,” she responded with a polite smile, dark eyes self-assured. She wondered if Eliza was an accurate representation of what most witches were like. If so, how did Gabe managed to deal with it all the time. Perhaps he was just oblivious? She loved her cousin, he was always so kind, but really he could be kind of an idiot sometimes. Maybe he didn’t have quite as many friends here as he thought he did.

Weirdly enough, the clumsy girl was practically her neighbor. What a coincidence. A wonder she hadn’t stomped on Arianna or some other unsuspecting citizen before. Luckily, Arianna had taken the wagon from Westchester, where Gabe lived, and managed to escape any potential harm. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise that she had met Eliza so early. Now, she would be sure to take note and avoid this girl on any flying wagon trips going forward in her Sonora career.

“Practically neighbors,” she nodded, “We had family brunch up in Westchester before my cousin and I left for Sonora. Do you have any family here?” Arianna queried, continuing to make polite conversation. Knowing more about the girl’s family would help Arianna determine just how much of a waste of time she truly was.

“Well, something has to brighten up these robes,” she responded, this time unable to hide her frustration. Forest green was so not a summer color, and seemed so out of place in the middle of the desert. She had read about a school in France that had much cuter uniforms than these. It would be incredible to attend school in France - she had never even left the country before. Her old friends from Hobart would have been so jealous if they knew she was attending an exclusive boarding school in France. But she’d make Sonora work for her, somehow. At the very least, she was glad to avoid winter and the bulky fashion that went with it for the next seven years.

0 Arianna V. Family is everything 343 Arianna V. 0 5

Killian

April 17, 2016 3:33 PM

What cons? by Killian

Killian had to give it to the girl, at least she was trying to make the best of a bad situation. Bad? More like a horrible nightmare for which there was no escape ever. It’s just ten months. No time at all, not really. Then I’ll have all summer to play, he tried to convince himself. It wasn’t working. Not one little bit. Ten months might as well be ten years in the gaming world. He’d get kicked out of his Guilds! He’d lose all his friends!

To put it another way – Killian’s life was over. Everything he’d worked for over the past three years (when he was first introduced – aka addicted – to the game) was officially flushed down the drain. He might as well cancel his subscriptions and trash the characters all together at this point. By the time he finally got back to it, everyone would be miles ahead of him if any of the people he gamed with were still around. Knowing his luck, they’d all be poached over to some other game, one he didn’t know and wouldn’t have a chance to excel at before he was once again locked away in this crazy place where something as basic as electricity didn’t work.

Killian would have been more accepting, and honestly more understanding if they’d told him they didn’t have modern plumbing. He’d be willing to run outside in the middle of the night to use an outhouse and bathe in a wooden bucket. No problem. But no electricity? Cruel, it was cruelty beyond measure, and if he’d known about this beforehand he would have sided with his mom no questions asked.

Still, it was done now and even if he wanted to run away back to the real world, he had no idea where he was. It wasn’t like flying carriages had to follow roads. He knew they were in Arizona, but aside from that? He had no a clue. Not that it mattered anyway. An 11-year-old wouldn’t be able to get far, and even if he did get away, where would he go? His parents would probably send him back. If they didn’t, his mom would still freak out about him running off and he’d lose his gaming privileges anyway. No matter how he twisted this Rubix cube, there was no solving it. He’d have to remain gameless until summer.

Well, perhaps not entirely gameless. “Exploding games?” That might have some potential. And he kind of liked the sound of talking chess pieces. “Hey, do you think they have a magic version of Dungeons and Dragons?” That would be an amazing magic game!

0 Killian What cons? 354 Killian 0 5

Lily

April 18, 2016 1:45 PM

I think I like you already. by Lily

Lily tried to imagine Jozua as an old wizard with loads of wrinkles and sagging eyelids and a receding hairline. She couldn’t see it, really, but it was entertaining to try. She wondered what it was that made Jozua remind others of his grandfather. Was it their similar demeanour? The way they walked? Their similar facial features? Lily would like to see a photo of his grandfather one day. Maybe then it would be easier for her to visualise an old Jozua.

“You’re practically a celebrity,” she said grinning, half-teasing. “I suppose that could be both good and bad. I know I’d love the attention, but I’d hate constantly being reminded of my grandfather.” She waited a beat before adding, “My mum’s dad, that is.” She liked her Darlington granddad who was very lively and friendly when he was feeling well.

The slight change of colour on Jozua’s face did not go unnoticed, and Lily wondered what it was he did for fun. Was he going to tell her straight or be vague again? Unsurprisingly he enjoyed flying, which he’d already told her, and reading, which she assumed from his quiet, bookish sort of personality. Boring. Wizard’s chess was something that Jack and Adam liked to play, but Lily never really understood why except that the pieces fought each other. She did like watching that. Collecting chocolate frog cards, however, was a hobby they shared.

But there was even more, and Lily grew more delighted with every word he spoke thereafter. As soon as he was finished, she clasped her hands together in her excitement. “You like wizard duels? I think they’re great! I listen to them occasionally on the wireless, but I’ve never seen a match before. And you play pretend too?” Her smile couldn’t possibly grow any bigger. “I do too! I used to pretend to hunt monsters and baddies in the gardens with my siblings when I was younger. I didn’t think I was the only one, but I imagined no one here would admit to it. I’m glad I’m in good company.” It sounded like Jozua was close with his parents, and they didn’t seem like the uptight pure-blood sort like her mum’s side. That was very encouraging.

“I play pretend all the time,” she admitted a little quieter. Jozua’s hesitation was probably merited in this sort of crowd where they were supposed to be ‘adults’. She stood a little straighter after her admission. “But your secret’s safe with me, if you want it to be a secret.” Lily smiled at him. “I collect chocolate frog cards, but I only started my collection after my oldest brother gave me all of his. Wow, I didn’t think we were going to have so much in common. I don’t like reading much, but I like climbing things and playing Exploding Snap.”

Now that Lily had found someone with a common interest, she really hoped he wouldn’t grow up too fast or decide he was too cool to play with her after joining Aladren. She was quite sure he was going to be sorted into Jack’s house after hearing about his interests.

40 Lily I think I like you already. 357 Lily 0 5

Jozua

April 19, 2016 4:39 PM

You're my new best friend by Jozua

Jozua shrugged noncommittally as Lily teased about his near-celebrity status - or at least his grandfather's. The Sparks had been one of the founding families of the town, and Grandad was highly involved in the community, so she wasn't exactly wrong, at least on the scale of the town. As for her analysis of the situation, he was exactly the opposite; he hated the attention, but he didn't mind getting compared to Grandad Sparks. Though if her mum's dad was like his Mom's dad, he could see the reluctance. "Grandad Sparks is okay," he assured her.

Her response to his admission of his dueling obsession was just about the best possible scenario and he immediately upgraded her from barely an acquaintance to his best friend at Sonora. "Really?" he asked amazed and showing some excitement for the first time. "You fight monsters, too? We'll need to mix that into my climbing lessons!" That was what he needed the skill for after all: gaining the high ground and a quick escape if chased by ground dwelling monsters! "And maybe you can come with me to the next match we go to! My birthday is the summer so Sonora isn't making me miss any, and Dad has asked if I want to bring any friends before."

He calmed down again as she promised to keep his secret, and he nodded solemnly, "It might be for the best," he agreed, "we can have our Secret Order of Sonora Knights, which we can invite more people to once they have been cleared, but we don't want imagination-less people raining on our fun." He gave her a conspiratorial grin, and added, "And having a secret club is always fun, too."

He was a little disappointed as the conversation moved away from quests of derring-do, but he was much more open and comfortable talking now that she had passed over the threshold into friendship, "I mostly just read adventure stories," he confided, "through Mom tries to get me to read things that are more 'literature' but those are usually boring. And Exploding Snap is too loud for me; it makes too many people look over to see what you're doing."

1 Jozua You're my new best friend 348 Jozua 0 5

Eliza

April 20, 2016 11:32 AM

I guess.... by Eliza

Eliza smiled unconsciously at Arianna´s remark regarding the school robes. The color was horrible, and the blonde shared the frustration that sprung from the lack of a more fashion conscious school uniform. It didn't seem too hard to try, right? Besides, it wouldn't hurt anyone in the school if the uniforms were a more friendly shade, let's say like black. The black color never hurt anyone. However, Eliza had to be honest with herself when it came to wizarding robes: they sucked. The blonde had been raised under the Muggle standards, and for her, robes were used as a nighttime garment which one never wore in public. She couldn't really understand why wizards and witches used them, but she had to comply to the wizarding rules now that she was part of this world.

“I know,” Eliza agreed, “These uniforms leave a lot to be desired.” The expression that accompanied that statement was one of disdain. She tugged the robes a bit trying to wish them away, but she was unsuccessful. One could wish for miracles to happen. Maybe Arianna wasn't that bad. They had something in common.

Eliza smiled a little more broadly this time. “No, I don't have family here.” She wondered if Arianna was a Pureblood and if she was just how important her family was. “My mother attended Sonora years ago,” she offered the piece of information to let Arianna know that she was not a Muggleborn. Eliza did not have anything against them, but her mother had told her some people thought ill of them. It was much better to be a Halfblood than a Muggleborn.

“I am the first to come here,” she finished. Her father was a Muggle and she didn't know anyone from her mother´s side. Monica Steinbeck had become an orphan right after graduating Sonora and had been an only child. Eliza supposed she had extended family, but her mother never talked about it. She had been content in the Muggle world. Maybe her mother´s extended family attended another magical school. “Though, my mom told me all about the school,” she said knowingly. She could not seem like a misinformed idiot in front of Arianna. “I want to be sorted into Crotalus,” she stated firmly. “How about you?” Eliza asked curiously. Arianna had mentioned she had family here, so she probably knew more updated information about the school.

0 Eliza I guess.... 0 Eliza 0 5

Lily

April 28, 2016 3:17 PM

The feeling is mutual. by Lily

Lily had gleefully discovered that the quickest way to Jozua’s heart was through duelling. He perked up immediately and she fed off of his surprising enthusiasm. Fantasies of fighting off monsters and magical creatures whilst climbing trees to gain the higher ground played in her thoughts. She couldn’t wait! Jozua was proving to be more fun than she’d initially thought, and she was very glad for that. He was turning out to be a fine playmate already, as long as he didn’t try to keep her on the ground or in dresses as if that were the “proper” thing to do.

It sounded like Jozua had exactly the same idea and she clapped her hands. “That’s a brilliant idea, Jozua!” she exclaimed. “And I’d really like to see a match in person. That sounds fantastic.” Hardly an hour in and she’d already found her best mate. Taking a holiday to Oregon sounded like an adventure, though she had looked forward to spending the summer with her family all together again. But then again, if it was only for a week or so, she could have both! “A secret club is only proper,” she said, half-serious. “Not everyone can appreciate what we do. But we’ve got to keep the name. What was it again? The Secret Order of Sonora Knights? Ooh, I love it! How did you come up with such a brilliant name on the spot?” Lily’d never been very creative in that aspect, but she knew a good name when she heard one.

“Adventure stories are loads of fun too,” she said, addressing the next topic, “but I like ones with loads of pictures. It makes the story more interesting, seeing the battles taking place on the page even if they’re just drawings.” Even if he liked reading, Jozua was becoming less and less dull as she got to know him. “My brothers love Exploding Snap, so I used to play with them and by myself just to annoy my mum, but I started enjoying it. I like the explosive suspense of the game.” Lily liked making a lot of noise with her playmates and playing games that made a lot of noise, but she wasn’t a loud and noisy person on her own.

“Have you ever played Wizard’s Chess?” she continued curiously. She wanted to know how nerdy and bookish Jozua was. “My brother Jack - he’s in Aladren - loves it. It’s all about strategy, so he’s told me, and the pieces fight each other. I have more fun watching than playing, but it is too bad when the pieces get worn out. He’d never teach me how to play though, my brother.” Lily hated how possessive and condescending Jack was towards her, but she didn’t hate him; at least sometimes.

40 Lily The feeling is mutual. 357 Lily 0 5

Jozua

April 29, 2016 4:57 PM

Knights and Chess by Jozua

Jozua grinned back as Lily enthused about the idea of a secret order and shrugged self-deprecatingly as she asked where the name came from. "I just always wanted to be in a secret knight order, and we're at Sonora, so..." he trailed off figuring the rest was self-evident and did not need to be verbalized. "It does sound pretty good, though, doesn't it?"

He nodded along to her explanation of how she came to enjoy Exploding Snap, and he guessed he could see it if one didn't mind annoying one's mum, but his Mom was one of the few people Jozua spent a lot of time around and it really was counter productive to get on her bad side. She didn't like loud noises either.

"I've played Wizards Chess. Mom and Dad both kick my set's butts though, so they get annoyed at me. I can teach you, if you'd like." He gave her almost a teasing grin, "It might be more fun to play against someone who hasn't been honing their skills at it since before I was born. I might actually win."

"Seriously, though, I do like it. There's knights - I told you I like knights - and my Queen is awesome, and I do like strategy games, but it gets old when you just play against the same two people and they are loads better than you. They say I'm getting better but I haven't managed to rise out of the ranks of the sorely defeated yet."

He hesitated a moment, then asked, curiously, "You mentioned brothers. Are they all older than you?" He assumed the one must be if he was in Aladren. He wondered if he'd meet the older Spencer if Jozua got sorted there and whether he was at all like his sister. Would he have a House ally right from the get-go? An interest in wizards chess was promising at least, though his apparent disdain of playing with a younger sibling was off-putting. If there was rivalry there, Jozua felt he should side with Lily since she was his friend first.

1 Jozua Knights and Chess 348 Jozua 0 5

Arianna V.

May 01, 2016 3:46 PM

Old families and New by Arianna V.

Arianna could not help but mirror Eliza’s smile. So at least one person in the magical world had a sense of fashion, even if she was a klutz. Who knew, maybe it was just these ugly robes making Eliza so clumsy? Perhaps there was hope for this school after all. The brunette wondered briefly how strict Sonora was about this particular rule, and what the consequences would be if she were to get creative with the uniform. Worst case scenario, she ended up at her old school, with her old friends, and living at home with her little sister for a roommate, instead of some random girls.

“This color doesn’t even make sense, we’re in a desert, why make us look like shrubs?” she held out an arm, demonstrating the absurdness of the robes, “There’s a school in France with much cuter uniforms, but that’s France for you.” Not that Arianna had ever been there. But she’d read all about it.

Now that she had redeemed herself, Arianna paid a little closer attention when Eliza mentioned her family. Arianna nodded when Eliza mentioned her mother. So she was from a magical family. Small, from the sounds of it, but small didn’t necessarily mean without power. She decided she must find a book where she could look such things up as soon as possible in the library. It seemed doubtless to her that people who thought highly of themselves, and were at least somewhat worthwhile would have books devoted to them. Wasn’t that what most of her history classes at school had been about?

And what house did she want to be in? She should have an answer, it was definitely a question Arianna had thought about before.
Of course not Pecari, it seemed too impulsive for her tastes. Who would ever want to be in a house like that? Teppenpaw was a certain no, her cousin was there, and he was a dork. Not that she’d ever admit such a thing to Eliza, or anyone else really. Private opinions aside, Valentis stuck together.

Before coming here, she was certain it would be Crotalus or Aladren. The description of Crotalus reminded her of her old school, and the New York society that she had left behind. She was comfortable with that, she knew how to play that game, twist the rules until they suited her needs. It was what she had expected the rest of her middle and upper school career to be. But did she still want it?

Aladren on the other hand, represented the sort of life she dreamed about. She had always thought she would go to college in California, live in the Bay Area, be judged only by her own wits and never deal with winter again. Become more powerful than any of her old friends, than any of their parents. But that was only a dream, and besides, Aladren was probably just a bunch of boring nerds. Even if Gabe said they were supposed to have a really good Quidditch team.

“I want Crotalus or Aladren,” she stated, “They seem like the most worthwhile houses. Although, I hear that Crotalus hasn’t been able to field a full Quidditch team in ages,” from what Gabe said, she understood this to be a very big deal. Maybe she would try out for the Crotalus Quidditch team if they were short on players, help them save face. That is, if she was sorted into Crotalus. For all she knew, Aladren was still on the table. Old power or new, which would it be? Well, it wasn’t too long until she’d find out.

0 Arianna V. Old families and New 343 Arianna V. 0 5

Farrah

May 03, 2016 6:34 PM

He can literally read my mind. by Farrah

Farrah didn’t think Killian was handling the news of no technology or electricity very well and she nervously contemplated if she should have said anything at all. Hat if he decided magic wasn’t worth the sacrifice? What if he left Sonora over it? Then Farrah would end up losing the only possible friend she may have made or ever make at this school! It was a selfish thought, she knew, but she couldn’t help it. This place was new and scary and Killian was the first person she had met so far and they were already getting along so well.

It wasn’t that she didn’t agree with him. Farrah loved technology. She loved music and movies. She loved playing games on the computer and watching videos. It’ll be much more difficult not being able to call her mom to talk to her about stuff and get her advice, or even hear her voice. That, she thought, would be the most difficult part about all of this. She wouldn’t be able to talk to her parents or her friends. She couldn’t even send anyone an email! None of her friends understood why she was being sent away and on top of that, she told them that the school did not allow the use of telephones or emails, so the only form of communication would have to be through written letters. Not that she could provide them with an address to send said letters. Of course not… everything had to be sent through her parents. Her friends thought she was lying and were mad at her for part of the summer. There was nothing Farrah could do or say to prove that she was being honest or to make her friends feel better about it.

Farrah stood awkwardly next to Killian while the news fully sunk in. She had all summer to deal with it and knew communication went through owls, but she still had to adjust to everything else, evening the lighting. Her dad told her that the lighting was by candlelight and from firelight. Farrah knew that her eyes were going to have a hard time adjusting to taking notes and doing homework via flame (not to mention, using a quill that her dad had to teach her out to ink properly…), but there was little else she could do. There was going to be an awful lot of adjusting for her to do. There was so much awesomeness that came from magic, but she also felt like she was going to be living in the Middle Ages without electricity and internet. Oh well, at least they had running water and working toilets.

“Oh, um…” Farrah mumbled, thinking over what she could remember her dad telling her about the available games in the Wizarding world (or, the ones he played anyway). “I don’t really remember my dad saying anything about that, but it’s completely possible. Maybe that’s their version of Monopoly?” Farrah suggested. “You know, since all that stuff is probably real for the magical world in a way that Monopoly teaches us about banking and owning property and stocks or whatever, maybe Dungeons and Dragons is their Monopoly?” She didn’t know much about how Dungeon and Dragons was played other than it had like a Goblin and a Wizard of some sort involved in it and she couldn’t really see Magical people playing it the same way Non-Magical people did considering some of those things were real to them, but she could be incorrect in her assessment. “It’s worth checking out, I think.” She added, to show Killian she was interested in learning more.

6 Farrah He can literally read my mind. 344 Farrah 0 5

Killian

May 04, 2016 3:38 PM

Yikes! by Killian

Suck it up Butter Cup. His sister’s voice sounded in his mind, cutting through the swath of feeling sorry for himself. She always said that when he whined about their mom not letting him do one thing or another. Now he wouldn’t be able to play his games, but so what? It wasn’t the end of the world no matter how much like the end it felt like.

And there was still magic, it had to be good for more than starting fires and making irritating little yip dogs float. If they didn’t have any amazing games already, then he would make them. With magic, games could become fully interactive. They could make illusions that would stalk people through the garden, and use their wands to shoot the monsters. Not to mention there were plenty of places around the place where a princess could be stashed and then saved. Yes, he WOULD make the best of this and not call him mom – not that he could call her, even if he wanted too. That thought almost sent him back into his dark mood, but he fought it back.

He would not cry or act like a big baby, he wasn’t a mama’s boy no matter what his sister said. He could do this.

He would.

Farrah startled a laugh out of him when she said DnD might be their version of Monopoly. “Yeah, I like that. Instead of being sent to jail, the character gets turned into a frog! Anyway, what kind of classes do you think they’ll have? Maybe Spell Slinging 101?” He grinned, imagining himself standing on a dusty street, wearing a well loved cowboy hat and wiggling his fingers, waiting for the sun to shift just a little more and mark the start of the duel.

0 Killian Yikes! 354 Killian 0 5

Lily

May 05, 2016 7:10 PM

Eager to learn! by Lily

Jozua was brilliant at coming up with names, and Lily, her hands still clasped together, nodded eagerly. “It does sound good; better than good!” This was exciting, this new secret they shared. She couldn’t wait until she and Jozua could play together in the gardens without everyone watching. She really hoped he would be in her house now, though their personalities were quite different. Lily and Jozua together would be loads of fun, she thought, excited to have potentially found her new best friend.

It wasn’t surprising that Jozua knew how to play Wizard’s Chess and it was equally unsurprising that he had learnt from his parents. Playing against adults who were clearly better at it than any child seemed unfair, but Jozua seemed to only mind it a little. Even if Lily was a sore loser most of the time, losing to Jozua whilst he taught her how to play didn’t seem that bad. At least she would be learning. “Would you really teach me?” she asked with a smile. “That’d be brilliant! We could conduct our Secret Order and then you could teach me how to play Wizard’s Chess afterwards.” She loved this idea so much already. Studying and classes and books were completely disregarded in the light of her new fantasies.

Strategy games - those Lily hadn’t much experience with, but she wanted to learn what her peers already knew. It was good of Jozua to even offer to teach her how to play; Lily had learnt most of what she knew from following her siblings around, especially her brothers, except one was much more receptive than the other.

“Yes, they’re all older than me,” she said, happy to talk about her siblings. “I’ve got an older sister too, but she’s the prim and proper sort; you know, the pretty one who plays the piano and paints and makes Mummy proud.” Lily had never been envious of Charlotte, but Mum always alluded to some future where Lily would wish to curl her hair and wear pretty robes like her sister. “I used to follow my brothers around everywhere. Adam - he’s the eldest - is an intern at the Ministry right now in London. I’m not sure what he does, exactly, but he’s always working. My sister’s graduated as well, but my other brother, Jack, he’s a fourth year here. If you’re in Aladren, I’m sure Jack would be much nicer to you. I don’t think he likes girls, Jack. He always got on better with Adam and Dad.”

40 Lily Eager to learn! 357 Lily 0 5

Nathan Xavier

First Year Orientation by Nathan Xavier

Killian Everett

Is this really real? by Killian Everett

Lily Spencer

Looking for a fellow explorer. by Lily Spencer

Farrah Welsh

My dad says it is! by Farrah Welsh

Killian

How does he know? by Killian

Jozua Sparks

Do we get to slay Evil? by Jozua Sparks

Madeleine Dautin

&#9834 A whole new world! &#9836; by Madeleine Dautin

Sébastien Évreux

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Lily

Of course. We'll be heroes. by Lily

Farrah

Because he's a Wizard! by Farrah

Jozua

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Killian

Really? Are you sure? by Killian

Georgia Kirkly

Yay.... by Georgia Kirkly

Madeleine

I take it you aren’t excited either? by Madeleine

Lily

We'll make a great team! by Lily

Farrah

I'm definitely sure by Farrah

Jocelyn Spencer

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Killian

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Jozua

If you say so by Jozua

Sébastien Évreux

And yours, mademoiselle by Sébastien Évreux

Georgia

I'm a lot of things but I don't think that's one of them by Georgia

Eliza Steinbeck

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Farrah

Agreed! by Farrah

Arianna Valenti

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Eliza Steinbeck

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Madeleine

Well then, that makes two. by Madeleine

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At least I hope so. by Lily

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Jozua

It's certainly possible by Jozua

Lily

Time will tell. by Lily

Jozua

That it will by Jozua

Finbar Scott

Glad to be here, I think! by Finbar Scott

Farrah

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Arianna V.

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Killian

What cons? by Killian

Lily

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Jozua

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Eliza

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Lily

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Jozua

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&#9834 A whole new world! ♬ by Madeleine Dautin