First Days (Sept 7)
Jul 11, 2018 0:25:05 GMT -6
Post by Snick on Jul 11, 2018 0:25:05 GMT -6
Thursday, September 7th
Dear Jaime,
It’s a couple days into the week so now I’ve gone to every class at least once. I have to admit, this is the most I’ve ever liked school. It’s not like anywhere I’ve ever been, I mean of course it isn’t. We learn magic everyday. The only thing that’s boring is that so far we spend a long time just listening to the professor talk about the spell we’re going to do, warn us how it can go wrong and then make us practice without wands over and over. That’s the part I don’t like, I want to just be able to get to the magic, you know?
The only classes I don’t like as much so far are Home Economics (even with magic it’s still basically learning to be a girl), Herbology (hopefully this will get more interesting later when we get to learn about dangerous plants but at the moment the plants are boring), and Astronomy (we have to fill out star charts and we don’t get to do any magic). Everything else is pretty good, even History because it’s about magic. Transfiguration is really, really hard though. I think my favorite classes are going to be Defense Against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures.
I like my roommate so far. She’s also muggleborn so doesn’t know anything about magic either, which is nice because then I don’t feel so dumb for no knowing things. The other students are okay. There are, of course, a bunch of total jerks but just because it’s magic school doesn’t mean it’s not school. I hate that sometimes I can’t tell if people are bullshitting me or not. Like, there’s supposedly some house that makes you go crazy and see your worst nightmares and I don’t know if I believe them. I’ve been keeping to myself mostly, though, so generally people leave me alone.
Anyway, I think hear Katrien coming.
You’re sister,
Lex
Lex flipped the notebook shut and pushed it under her pillow hurriedly. She didn’t really want to answer questions about why she was writing letters to a brother who would never read them. She had several notebooks filled with these letters, which she had been writing since she and James had been separated. She had never even tried to send them so at this point they were essentially journal entries. She had never told anyone about them, instead preferring to lug the notebooks around with her every time she moved. Sometimes she wondered if that made her crazy, writing to someone who was basically an imaginary friend.
It was after classes so Lex had changed into the casual uniform and was now lying on her stomach on her bed. She really didn’t like having to wear a uniform, but had at least managed to send her skirts back in place of pants. The one good thing about the way she had grown up was that she was pretty resourceful. She had taken the uniform issue into her own hands, written to the uniform store in Paranor Mall and exchanged the skirts for pants. That had definitely made things better. Not wanting to explain herself, Lex pulled the nearest book in front of her and flipped it open to a random page in order to feign reading.
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Kit pried the door open and slipped inside. She was still wearing her uniform. Her skirts, too, had been sent back and replaced with pants. The guidance counselor had done it for her, though. Katrien wasn't exactly the most independent girl.
"Hi, Lex," she chimed, tossing her messenger bag to the foot of her bed and turning to her chest of drawers to pull out a blue polo shirt. "Whatcha reading? I've just been to the library to get a few books, myself."
As she talked, she moved behind the divider to change. Kit sighed in frustration before pulling her shirt over her head and poking her arms through the sleeves. She would need to start wearing bras soon, and she wasn't at all pleased with that thought. Couldn't she stay young forever? Maybe there was some magic for that.
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Lex actually hadn't the faintest idea what she was reading. She had grabbed the nearest book and flipped it open to a random page. In an effort to figure out what she was reading, Lex flicked her eyes around the page, looking for key words. "I... uh... I'm reading about the seventeenth century goblin rebellions.... " Apparently she'd grabbed their History of Magic textbook. Lex had never heard of the goblin rebellions and they weren't due to talk about it for several more weeks.
In an effort to steer the conversation away from what she had been reading Lex asked, "What did you get from the library? School books or entertainment?" Though Lex had read from a lot of her textbooks over the summer it was not something she did normally. Reading for fun wasn't one of her hobbies and was not something that had been fostered by any adults in her life. She wound't even know where to start in a library were she looking for something enjoyable.
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"A little of both," she came out from behind the divider and rifled through her bag. "Transfiguration stuff. It's fascinating, turning one thing into something else. Making stuff appear and disappear. Creating something out of nothing. Can't say it's as exciting as goblin riots...."
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"Yes... well." Lex looked back down at her book and flipped it shut. Though History of Magic was more interesting than normal history class, that didn't mean she wanted to spend a lot of time reading ahead in their textbook. Goblin Rebellions may be fun to hear about but the dryness of a history textbook usually sucked the joy out of even the most brutal battles.
"Transfiguration seems like the hardest class. It would be pretty cool to turn yourself into something though. Spy on people by transfiguring yourself into a banana or something. Or an ani-whatsit." The first day in transfiguration had mostly consisted of professor Kim regaling the first years with all the different possibilities transfiguration had to offer. Unfortunately, it was soon clear that they were a very, very long way from such things. "I think Defense Against the Dark Arts will be exciting. I hope we get to cast a lot of spells in that class." DADA seemed to have the most potential when it came to practical magic practice and in Lex's opinion, that was the ideal recipe for a class.
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"Yeah," she agreed. "Or maybe change someone else into something. Like a toilet plunger. Or a toad like everyone thinks witches do, anyway."
Katrien had no doubt she would change herself in a heartbeat. Not to an animal or a banana, but she agreed it would be cool to do something like that. Someday, she would have the skill, but definitely not any time soon. For a moment, she was lost in a labyrinth of thoughts about what she would want to change into and what it would be called.
"I like Defense Against the Dark Arts, too," she nodded, grinning and pulling a couple of books from her bag and stacking them on her bed. "I peeked ahead in the book and saw some scary stuff. I wonder if we'll get to defend ourselves against them, or if we'll just learn how. I mean, would they really bring dangerous monsters here to practice on?"
Kit was both frightened and exhilarated by the thought. Werewolves, vampires, banshees, and a lot of other things she'd never heard of, like boggarts and dementors. It seemed everything from all the best movies (and her worst nightmares) weren't fictional creatures, after all.
"I think Potions will be hard," she was settling onto her bed and kicking off her shoes. "But it's like cooking and I'm not very good at cooking. I burn water bringing it to a boil."
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"Well, considering all the other crazy stuff at this school.... I keep hearing about Throckwattle from older students so if that's true I wouldn't put it past a professor to bring in one of those monsters and make us fight them or whatever. I want to learn how though, you know? I wouldn't want to come across one and not know what to do." As much as the magical world offered, there were now new, very real monsters to deal with. It seemed like everything good thing Lex discovered there was also a corresponding bad thing. This included a whole host of things she had thought only belonged in fantasy books and stories to scare children.
"Yeah, potions is tricky." Lex agreed. "It's so easy to get distracted." Lex had already found that her attention span wasn't quite fit for potions. The room got hot and stuffy. Everything had to be so exact and careful, it was hard for Lex to stay focussed for that long on such minute details. "I'm thinking of joining the dueling club," Lex said, having been reminded by their discussion of DADA. "Do you know what extracurriculars you're gonna do?" Lex was actually excited about the clubs and teams that the school had to offer. This was the first time that she was sure she was going to be staying at a school for a long time and she now had the option of actually joining in.
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"Whether it's true or not, I'm not going near that place," Kit shuddered. "Just setting eyes on it gave me the creeps."
In her explorations of the island, she took in the sight from a great distance. It looked pleasant enough, but had a sinister shadow over it. Kit had never seen anything quite like that, except in movies. It kind of reminded her of the house from Nightmare on Elm Street. There wasn't a resemblance, but it gave her the same sense of terror.
"I was thinking maybe the Thespian Society," she shrugged, going a little pink in the cheeks. "I think acting would be fun. I might join the dueling club next year, after I get a few spells mastered. I don't think I'd be very good at it, yet."
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Thespian society. Definitely not Lex's thing, but she decided not to voice this opinion. "That's a good point about the dueling club, I guess I'll see and maybe ask the teacher about it. It does say it's open to first years so I dunno." Lex shrugged, she thought dueling would be a good thing to know. Lorccan had said that everything he learned was useless, but if Lex knew how to better protect herself she certainly wouldn't see that as useless. Magic would give her the upper hand against any muggle, no matter their size and that was something she wanted.
Lex sat up and leaned her back against the wall, pulling her feet under her. "I want to join one of the sports clubs too, but I don't know which one. Probably either baseball or the track, field and flying team though I don't really know what that means." Lex admitted. It sounded interesting, that was for sure. She had always wanted to be on a sports team, but constantly moving schools had made that impossible. "Or what's that other thing? Quidpit? Quodpit?" Lex had seen it listed as one of the school sports teams but she had no idea what it was.
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"Me, too," she lay down on her side with her chin propped on a fist. "I hear that quod-thing is like hot potato meets soccer... on flying brooms. It sounds like fun. I'm not sure I'd join the track team, I'm not very fast. Maybe the flying is broom races instead of foot races? I could do that, maybe, I don't know. I've never flown a broom, have you?"
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Quod-whateveritwas sounded pretty exciting to Lex and she was looking forward to watching the school games, but she didn't see herself joining this year. Kids with magical families already knew all this stuff and probably knew how to ride a broom too. She wasn't going to try for a sport she knew nothing about when there were sports she was perfectly good at already.
"No, no," Lex answered, shaking her head at Katrien's question about flying. "It looks cool," what kid didn't dream of being able to fly? "but I wonder if it's uncomfortable. You'd think it'd hurt a guy's nuts wouldn't you?" Lex had seen the brooms at the flying store in the mall when she'd gotten her school supplies and they didn't look at all comfortable to sit on.
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Kit laughed. "No, I don't think it would be comfortable for boys," she answered. "You'd think they'd put seats on them or something."
For all she knew, they did. Or maybe they put spells on the brooms or boys put spells on their junk for protection. Kit wondered how high up in the air the brooms went in these sports. Great heights scared the bejesus out of her. Stepladders and such, she could handle. Even regular ladders, to a degree. But brooms were just suspended up in the air with no support.
"I wonder when the first quod-whatsits game is," she pondered, thinking she'd like to see it. "Do you know?"
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"Uh... " Lex had no idea when the first quodpot game was supposed to be. She leaned over her bed and started digging around in her duffle bag, the only piece of luggage she had brought with her, and pulled out the school handbook hoping to find a calendar that might have the games in it. "Oh, no, it doesn't have the games on here. Maybe they haven't decided yet? Oh, the Hello Dance is tomorrow," Lex added, not all that enthusiastically. It had slipped her mind. Being around large groups of people wasn't something Lex enjoyed. "Hey, look!" She said, turning the handbook around so the pages she had been looking at were facing Katrien. "It says it's a pajama party, it updated all by itself!" Lex still hadn't gotten used to all the strange things that happened around the school.
"Are you going to go?" She asked. She could think of a few people already who she doubted were going to go. Lex herself almost didn't want to go, but she figured she probably would anyway.
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"Oh, well," her lips turned down on one side. "I'm sure they'll let us know soon. Maybe it's just not the right season."
When Lex turned the book for her to see, she sat up and leaned closer. Maybe she needed glasses. But the writing was kind of small.
"Woah," she blinked at the calendar. "This place is so cool. I kinda wanna go to the dance just to see what impossible things will happen. I don't like dancing, but at least I wouldn't have to wear a dress. PJ's are definitely doable."
Dear Jaime,
It’s a couple days into the week so now I’ve gone to every class at least once. I have to admit, this is the most I’ve ever liked school. It’s not like anywhere I’ve ever been, I mean of course it isn’t. We learn magic everyday. The only thing that’s boring is that so far we spend a long time just listening to the professor talk about the spell we’re going to do, warn us how it can go wrong and then make us practice without wands over and over. That’s the part I don’t like, I want to just be able to get to the magic, you know?
The only classes I don’t like as much so far are Home Economics (even with magic it’s still basically learning to be a girl), Herbology (hopefully this will get more interesting later when we get to learn about dangerous plants but at the moment the plants are boring), and Astronomy (we have to fill out star charts and we don’t get to do any magic). Everything else is pretty good, even History because it’s about magic. Transfiguration is really, really hard though. I think my favorite classes are going to be Defense Against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures.
I like my roommate so far. She’s also muggleborn so doesn’t know anything about magic either, which is nice because then I don’t feel so dumb for no knowing things. The other students are okay. There are, of course, a bunch of total jerks but just because it’s magic school doesn’t mean it’s not school. I hate that sometimes I can’t tell if people are bullshitting me or not. Like, there’s supposedly some house that makes you go crazy and see your worst nightmares and I don’t know if I believe them. I’ve been keeping to myself mostly, though, so generally people leave me alone.
Anyway, I think hear Katrien coming.
You’re sister,
Lex
Lex flipped the notebook shut and pushed it under her pillow hurriedly. She didn’t really want to answer questions about why she was writing letters to a brother who would never read them. She had several notebooks filled with these letters, which she had been writing since she and James had been separated. She had never even tried to send them so at this point they were essentially journal entries. She had never told anyone about them, instead preferring to lug the notebooks around with her every time she moved. Sometimes she wondered if that made her crazy, writing to someone who was basically an imaginary friend.
It was after classes so Lex had changed into the casual uniform and was now lying on her stomach on her bed. She really didn’t like having to wear a uniform, but had at least managed to send her skirts back in place of pants. The one good thing about the way she had grown up was that she was pretty resourceful. She had taken the uniform issue into her own hands, written to the uniform store in Paranor Mall and exchanged the skirts for pants. That had definitely made things better. Not wanting to explain herself, Lex pulled the nearest book in front of her and flipped it open to a random page in order to feign reading.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kit pried the door open and slipped inside. She was still wearing her uniform. Her skirts, too, had been sent back and replaced with pants. The guidance counselor had done it for her, though. Katrien wasn't exactly the most independent girl.
"Hi, Lex," she chimed, tossing her messenger bag to the foot of her bed and turning to her chest of drawers to pull out a blue polo shirt. "Whatcha reading? I've just been to the library to get a few books, myself."
As she talked, she moved behind the divider to change. Kit sighed in frustration before pulling her shirt over her head and poking her arms through the sleeves. She would need to start wearing bras soon, and she wasn't at all pleased with that thought. Couldn't she stay young forever? Maybe there was some magic for that.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lex actually hadn't the faintest idea what she was reading. She had grabbed the nearest book and flipped it open to a random page. In an effort to figure out what she was reading, Lex flicked her eyes around the page, looking for key words. "I... uh... I'm reading about the seventeenth century goblin rebellions.... " Apparently she'd grabbed their History of Magic textbook. Lex had never heard of the goblin rebellions and they weren't due to talk about it for several more weeks.
In an effort to steer the conversation away from what she had been reading Lex asked, "What did you get from the library? School books or entertainment?" Though Lex had read from a lot of her textbooks over the summer it was not something she did normally. Reading for fun wasn't one of her hobbies and was not something that had been fostered by any adults in her life. She wound't even know where to start in a library were she looking for something enjoyable.
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"A little of both," she came out from behind the divider and rifled through her bag. "Transfiguration stuff. It's fascinating, turning one thing into something else. Making stuff appear and disappear. Creating something out of nothing. Can't say it's as exciting as goblin riots...."
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"Yes... well." Lex looked back down at her book and flipped it shut. Though History of Magic was more interesting than normal history class, that didn't mean she wanted to spend a lot of time reading ahead in their textbook. Goblin Rebellions may be fun to hear about but the dryness of a history textbook usually sucked the joy out of even the most brutal battles.
"Transfiguration seems like the hardest class. It would be pretty cool to turn yourself into something though. Spy on people by transfiguring yourself into a banana or something. Or an ani-whatsit." The first day in transfiguration had mostly consisted of professor Kim regaling the first years with all the different possibilities transfiguration had to offer. Unfortunately, it was soon clear that they were a very, very long way from such things. "I think Defense Against the Dark Arts will be exciting. I hope we get to cast a lot of spells in that class." DADA seemed to have the most potential when it came to practical magic practice and in Lex's opinion, that was the ideal recipe for a class.
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"Yeah," she agreed. "Or maybe change someone else into something. Like a toilet plunger. Or a toad like everyone thinks witches do, anyway."
Katrien had no doubt she would change herself in a heartbeat. Not to an animal or a banana, but she agreed it would be cool to do something like that. Someday, she would have the skill, but definitely not any time soon. For a moment, she was lost in a labyrinth of thoughts about what she would want to change into and what it would be called.
"I like Defense Against the Dark Arts, too," she nodded, grinning and pulling a couple of books from her bag and stacking them on her bed. "I peeked ahead in the book and saw some scary stuff. I wonder if we'll get to defend ourselves against them, or if we'll just learn how. I mean, would they really bring dangerous monsters here to practice on?"
Kit was both frightened and exhilarated by the thought. Werewolves, vampires, banshees, and a lot of other things she'd never heard of, like boggarts and dementors. It seemed everything from all the best movies (and her worst nightmares) weren't fictional creatures, after all.
"I think Potions will be hard," she was settling onto her bed and kicking off her shoes. "But it's like cooking and I'm not very good at cooking. I burn water bringing it to a boil."
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"Well, considering all the other crazy stuff at this school.... I keep hearing about Throckwattle from older students so if that's true I wouldn't put it past a professor to bring in one of those monsters and make us fight them or whatever. I want to learn how though, you know? I wouldn't want to come across one and not know what to do." As much as the magical world offered, there were now new, very real monsters to deal with. It seemed like everything good thing Lex discovered there was also a corresponding bad thing. This included a whole host of things she had thought only belonged in fantasy books and stories to scare children.
"Yeah, potions is tricky." Lex agreed. "It's so easy to get distracted." Lex had already found that her attention span wasn't quite fit for potions. The room got hot and stuffy. Everything had to be so exact and careful, it was hard for Lex to stay focussed for that long on such minute details. "I'm thinking of joining the dueling club," Lex said, having been reminded by their discussion of DADA. "Do you know what extracurriculars you're gonna do?" Lex was actually excited about the clubs and teams that the school had to offer. This was the first time that she was sure she was going to be staying at a school for a long time and she now had the option of actually joining in.
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"Whether it's true or not, I'm not going near that place," Kit shuddered. "Just setting eyes on it gave me the creeps."
In her explorations of the island, she took in the sight from a great distance. It looked pleasant enough, but had a sinister shadow over it. Kit had never seen anything quite like that, except in movies. It kind of reminded her of the house from Nightmare on Elm Street. There wasn't a resemblance, but it gave her the same sense of terror.
"I was thinking maybe the Thespian Society," she shrugged, going a little pink in the cheeks. "I think acting would be fun. I might join the dueling club next year, after I get a few spells mastered. I don't think I'd be very good at it, yet."
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Thespian society. Definitely not Lex's thing, but she decided not to voice this opinion. "That's a good point about the dueling club, I guess I'll see and maybe ask the teacher about it. It does say it's open to first years so I dunno." Lex shrugged, she thought dueling would be a good thing to know. Lorccan had said that everything he learned was useless, but if Lex knew how to better protect herself she certainly wouldn't see that as useless. Magic would give her the upper hand against any muggle, no matter their size and that was something she wanted.
Lex sat up and leaned her back against the wall, pulling her feet under her. "I want to join one of the sports clubs too, but I don't know which one. Probably either baseball or the track, field and flying team though I don't really know what that means." Lex admitted. It sounded interesting, that was for sure. She had always wanted to be on a sports team, but constantly moving schools had made that impossible. "Or what's that other thing? Quidpit? Quodpit?" Lex had seen it listed as one of the school sports teams but she had no idea what it was.
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"Me, too," she lay down on her side with her chin propped on a fist. "I hear that quod-thing is like hot potato meets soccer... on flying brooms. It sounds like fun. I'm not sure I'd join the track team, I'm not very fast. Maybe the flying is broom races instead of foot races? I could do that, maybe, I don't know. I've never flown a broom, have you?"
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Quod-whateveritwas sounded pretty exciting to Lex and she was looking forward to watching the school games, but she didn't see herself joining this year. Kids with magical families already knew all this stuff and probably knew how to ride a broom too. She wasn't going to try for a sport she knew nothing about when there were sports she was perfectly good at already.
"No, no," Lex answered, shaking her head at Katrien's question about flying. "It looks cool," what kid didn't dream of being able to fly? "but I wonder if it's uncomfortable. You'd think it'd hurt a guy's nuts wouldn't you?" Lex had seen the brooms at the flying store in the mall when she'd gotten her school supplies and they didn't look at all comfortable to sit on.
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Kit laughed. "No, I don't think it would be comfortable for boys," she answered. "You'd think they'd put seats on them or something."
For all she knew, they did. Or maybe they put spells on the brooms or boys put spells on their junk for protection. Kit wondered how high up in the air the brooms went in these sports. Great heights scared the bejesus out of her. Stepladders and such, she could handle. Even regular ladders, to a degree. But brooms were just suspended up in the air with no support.
"I wonder when the first quod-whatsits game is," she pondered, thinking she'd like to see it. "Do you know?"
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"Uh... " Lex had no idea when the first quodpot game was supposed to be. She leaned over her bed and started digging around in her duffle bag, the only piece of luggage she had brought with her, and pulled out the school handbook hoping to find a calendar that might have the games in it. "Oh, no, it doesn't have the games on here. Maybe they haven't decided yet? Oh, the Hello Dance is tomorrow," Lex added, not all that enthusiastically. It had slipped her mind. Being around large groups of people wasn't something Lex enjoyed. "Hey, look!" She said, turning the handbook around so the pages she had been looking at were facing Katrien. "It says it's a pajama party, it updated all by itself!" Lex still hadn't gotten used to all the strange things that happened around the school.
"Are you going to go?" She asked. She could think of a few people already who she doubted were going to go. Lex herself almost didn't want to go, but she figured she probably would anyway.
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"Oh, well," her lips turned down on one side. "I'm sure they'll let us know soon. Maybe it's just not the right season."
When Lex turned the book for her to see, she sat up and leaned closer. Maybe she needed glasses. But the writing was kind of small.
"Woah," she blinked at the calendar. "This place is so cool. I kinda wanna go to the dance just to see what impossible things will happen. I don't like dancing, but at least I wouldn't have to wear a dress. PJ's are definitely doable."
