Dragonsflame Academy of Sorcery - Once again

Ok, so I've been feeling all depressed lately because I let one of my favorite RP's die... homg that sucked... But I'm a firm believer in second chances, so I try once again to bring this puppy to life. Because Harry Potter based RP's are always fun...

Dragonsflame Academy of Sorcery

Magic has been taught throughout the ages. How else would young wizards and witches learn to use their gifts? But as varied as the types of magic are the schools at which they are taught. Ranging from the Salem Witches Institute to the Osaka Magical Preparatory School
and even the fabled Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, these great schools have a noble purpose. But upon reflection, doesn't it make sense that taking into account the number of wizards and witches in the world, that there should be an equally surprising number of schools? And that is where this all takes place. At the famed American school of magic, Dragonflame Academy of Sorcery

Though the school's specific location is unknown, most else about it is. The school accepts students from all over the United States, and of all parentage. The only requisite is of course, that they be magical. What else is known, is the school's somewhat unorthodox manner of running things. First and foremost, are the lodging situations. Rather than separate dormitories based on house, they are separated by year. While students are indeed, separated into four different houses, instead theytay with those of their same year. First and Second years, Third and Fourth years, and Fifth and Sixth years, the Seventh years getting their own dormitories. That aside, each house also has its own common room, for casual interaction and such.

Apart from that, the school has also received some strange reviews, based on the fact that Dueling is encouraged. In fact, it is a sport shared between the many schools of the area. As if this alone wasn't strange, students of all ages are allowed to take part, causing some parents to believe that the school isn’t run strictly enough, and endangers, some of the younger students.

And probably the strangest part of the school is its headmistress, Professor Nuual. Easily the most eccentric of the school's many leaders. Though surly as old as the best of them, Professor Jenalyn Nuual looks no older than thirty-five. Many theorize that Nuual has used her extensive knowledge of magic to make herself eternally young, though whenever confronted with this prospect, she simply smiles and changes the subject. Brilliant in every aspect of her being, many claim Professor Nuual to be the greatest witch of the age, and a fair Quidditch player as well. And so, all things considered, every year parents from across the United States send their children to the acclaimed Dragonsflame Academy of Sorcery, so that the noble art of magic can be passed down. And that, is where this story begins.




Houses
Falconsflight- House and Home for those noble of heart and pure of action. Those of Falconsflight pursue adventure, fight for that which is right and often put others before themselves. Founded by the youngest of the Dragonsflame Children, Falcior Dragonsflame, he is best remembered for his ancient ability to communicate with birds, or aviatongue.

Spidersilk- House that represents the embodiment of the greater good. Most consider it the, “sissy” house; Spidersilk rarely receives much glory but is known for the selfless acts its students have committed. Almost all the trophies for special services to the school were awarded to members of Spidersilk. The only girl of the Dragonsflame children, Anisa Dragonsflame, founded the house.

Wolfsfang- House that represents progress and boldness. If ever there was a house that was responsible for producing famous witches and wizards, it was Wolfsfang. Four of the seven players on the U.S. Quidditch team were once members of Wolfsfang, not to mention a good portion of Ministry officials, as well as the Minister himself. Good grades, impeccable athleticism, and longing to be great, most parents cross their fingers in hopes that their children will be chosen for this house. Founded by the oldest of the Dragonsflame children, Loberacious Dragonsflame.

Tigersclaw- House that represents ingenuity and resourcefulness. Members of this house most often choose to work on their own than rely on the help of others, seeing such as a sign of weakness. Not to say that they are anti-social, but rather, that they are more independent than most. Members of Tigersclaw also have an incredible sense of loyalty and commitment, and are unlikely to not finish something they start. Founded my the second oldest of the Dragonsflame children, Felixander Dragonsflame.

Professors

Professor Amiteus- Professor of Charms at Dragonsflame. A large, stout wizard who has played Quidditch for over fourteen different league teams, and excelled at every position, though known for incredible keeping skills, he eventually came to teach at the renowned school of magic. He has taught for twenty-three years and is a favorite among the students. Very happy and always bouncy, Amiteus is known around school for always guessing correctly, who will come out the victor in the school Quidditch matches.

Professor Treelow- Professor of Defense against the Dark Arts at Dragonsflame and head of Falconsflight. Brilliant in every aspect of being, Professor Treelow is known for having once been a famous Auror. One of the younger teachers, Treelow has taught at Dragonsflame for seven years now, and has developed somewhat of a fan club. Many of the female students tend to develop crushes on the young teacher and many of the others think of him as something of an idol.

Professor Jenkins- Professor of Divination and head of Tigersclaw at Dragonsflame. Very old and knowledgeable, Professor Jenkins is one of many in a long line of incredibly gifted Seers. Said to have made over three hundred prophecies, all of which have, to date, come true, she is one of the most well respected teachers at Dragonsflame, and one of the most feared. She is known to walk along the corridors and make predictions about students that pass her, all of which have a habit of coming true. This has led to most of the student body to develop an intense fear of her, which in turn has meant that Professor Jenkins tends to have very few students take her class.

Professor Latheway- Potions master and head of the medical ward at Dragonsflame. A short, plump, and rosy cheeked witch, it is almost impossible to find her anywhere without a smile on her face. Old though she is, her long hair always hangs down her back in silver curls. Well liked amongst the students, and well respected amongst the staff. Once a head healer at Twin Talons Magical Hospital in Washington (The best wizarding hospital in the U.S.), Professor Latheway eventually came to realize that nothing brought her more joy in life than helping children. And so, she took up a position at Dragonsflame. Not only did she choose to teach, she also felt it was her duty to expand upon the infirmary, leading to the now very large and well staffed medical wing which takes up the better portion of the third floor. With her on staff, it is not uncommon to see a fully-grown wizard on campus, having traveled a long way just for her excellent healing skills.

Professor Fielman- Teacher of Care of Magical Creatures at Dragonsflame, and head of Wolfsfang. Tall, lanky, and incredibly handsome, Professor Fielman is one of the teachers that many either hate or love. Though his teaching methods are a bit less than conventional, he is effective nonetheless. It is his firm belief, that what a seventh year can handle, a first year can handle, and so, he does not break up his lessons by year, but teaches all his students, the same thing, for all his classes, changing it only when the year changes, at which time he teaches something else. Many parents feel that some of the creatures they deal with are too dangerous for some, however no students have ever come into harm in his care, and thus, no complaints have ever been filed.

Professor Carrows- Professor of Transfiguration and head of Spidersilk at Dragons Flame. Definitely one of the tougher teachers at the school, Professor Carrows is old, but strong, tough, but sensitive. Having taught at Dragonsflame for forty-three years, he has seen the school under many a headmaster, and has also taught Charms, Defense against the Dark Arts, and Herbology. Handing out homework is one of the professors favorite pass times, and much the dismay of his students, it is rarely anything easy.

Professor Gellings- Professor of History of Magic at Dragonsflame. Quite easily the oldest teacher at the school, Professor Gellings is excellent at what she teaches. Last recorded at being one-hundred-and-seventy-three, Professor Gellings has lived through most of what she is paid to pass onto to the students, specifically wars. Once a general for the Ministry, she tends to focus mainly on area of history she has either lived through, or been a participant in, and is well known for bringing her class to life with visions of particularly interesting battles, by drawing out her memories and displaying them for the class.

Professor McCall- Professor of Herbology at Dragonsflame. Tall, broad shouldered, and very well built, it is hard to picture such a man teaching a subject as Herbology. However, it is truly his passion. Having developed many new breeds of magical plant right on the campus, he has become somewhat of an authority on the subject, and has even published a few books. Students feel that classes are more of fun experiments to try and further the progress of Herbology, but in the process, just happen to learn something.






Other things of magical interest

Starcrest Port- The largest all-magical settlement in all of North America, and lies on the Californian coast. Large in every aspect of the word, wizards and witches from across the United States travel to Starcrest Port to purchase the magical objects. Students too would be hard pressed to find anywhere else that has all of the necessities for their upcoming school year. The Dragonflame Bullet, the train that takes students to the school, is also located here.


The Ministry of Magic- Located in upstate New York, it is the hub of the United States magical government.

The Salem Witches Institute- An all-girls school and rival school to Dragonsflame.





Now then, a few rules of play before we start! First off, I would like to state for those of you too dense to already know, this takes place in the world of Harry Potter, but does not in any way intertwine with the story of Harry Potter. Got it? Super. Next, I, and possibly my co-GM (Games Master) will be playing any and all NPC’s. This includes, but is not limited to: Teachers, Professor Nuual, Shop Keepers, other random students, various ghosts and the like. Third, and this ones important, so pay attention folks, your character must, MUST(!!!!!!) be starting out in their first year. FIRST YEAR!!!!!!!! No Second years, no third years, no fourth years, no fifth years, no sixth years, and no seventh years. This levels the playing field and sorts out the little matter of dormitories. Now then, moving on… where was I? Ah yes! Number Four! Your character must live in the U.S. Its an American school, therefore, its students are American. Neat huh? Now then, you wanna create a character? Super! Then would you be so kind as to fill out the sheet found below for me? Peachy friggen keen!


Name:

Gender:

Age:

D.O.B.:

Height:

Weight:

Eye Color:

Hair Color:

Build:

State of Origin:

Parentage:

Known Family:

Desired House:

Quidditch Position (If Played):

Hobbies:

Religious Orientation:

Physical Description:

Personality:

Background History:



Now then, there are a few things I’d like to point out about the above sheet before continuing. First, you’ll notice I put DESIRED House. This is because, ultimately I will choose what house you go into. This of course, is a very laborious task involving a quiz, analysis of your charies personality, and many other tedious tasks. This is to ensure fairness. Next, you’ll notice that this is pretty in depth, just short of favorite foods. This is because I hope for this RP to be an on going thing, and knowing as much about fellow charies is helpful in such a case.

Now then, a few more things. Your characters will all start out at their homes, and with them receiving their letters saying they’ve been accepted… yay……. And then, you should all proceed to Starcrest Port, And from there, WE ALL GET TO GO TO SCHOOL~! Yay…… if you’re ever cofused, you can use my post as a basis, or just PM me, Its all good.

OH~! And below is my charie 

Name: Xander Michaels

Gender: Male

Age: 12

D.O.B.: October, 14th, 1993

Height: 5'6"

Weight: 112

Eye Color: Blue

Hair Color: Brown

Build: Slim with a runners build

State of Origin: California

Parentage: Muggle born

Known Family: Mother, Step-Dad, Older Brother and Sister

Desired House: None in particular

Quidditch Position (If Played): None

Hobbies: Reading, Writing, Listening to 80's rock, Japanese culture and animation, Sushi, animal rights, many other things

Religious Orientation: Buddhist

Physical Description: Skinny with a little bit of a build, he used to run a lot so some of those signs still linger. His brown hair is really light and hangs down the sides of his face in feathered waves. At first glance, many think him to be a girl. His bright blue eyes are what really set him apart. They stand out both against his tan skin, and his hair.

Personality: A pretty social guy, Xander has lots of friends, but few real friends. Most are more of acquaintances more than anything. He loves going to concerts, and music goes with him wherever he goes. He's typically always happy, and though most consider him emo, he really isn’t. He supports world peace, doesn’t eat meat, thinks that war is bad, has an intense optimistic attitude.

Background History: Born the son of a Business Woman mother, and Brain Surgeon Step-Dad, Xander has led for the most part, a very well off life. However, he's always had a bit of pressure on his shoulders, as both of his older siblings received nothing but impeccable grades and are both now, very successful. He's tried his best to always get good grades, but usually seems to fall just short. But his perfectly normal life was all disrupted when he received a strange letter in the mail....

I used to be part of L_E's RP...but I was a jerk and dropped out. I would like a second chance at this, as well..

Name: Peter Fletcher

Gender: Male

Age: 11

D.O.B.: March 15th, 1994

Height: 4'5''

Weight: 99lbs

Eye Color: Brown

Hair Color: Brown

Build: Skinny, with not a definite build since he isn't a sports person

State of Origin: Florida

Parentage: Half-blood, Muggle Mom, Wizard Dad

Known Family: Mother, Father, Two older brothers

Desired House: Falconsflight

Quidditch Position (If Played): None

Hobbies: Reading, Collecting random things

Religious Orientation: Christian (Baptist)

Physical Description: Most people would brand Peter as a sissy: He isn't very strong, has no physical buildup of muscles, and is short. Not a good combination for sports, so he tends to stay away from them. He has short, brown hair that goes to about his ears and above his eyes, with brown eyes to compliment his hair. He also has a buildup of freckles around his nose. His skin is normal, with no tan, and completly white.

Personality: He is drawn back, and also quiet. He doesn't tend to start conversations with people, because of the menacing and mean things that have happened to him in the past from trying that. He is what you would consider a loner that needs to learn "Trust".

Background History: Peter isn't amazing. He hasn't done anything that if you said his name, someone would recognize him completly. He tries to NOT be one of those people. Due to his physical weakness, he is picked on, and it tends to get annoying and tiring after a while. His parents refuse to believe this is true, moreso his Mom, who keeps pushing him to be the greatest at everything, even when he just wants to be normal. His two older brothers, who are twins, are already members at Dragonsflame, and they kid with him and make up outrageous stories of how he isn't going to get in, because he is weak and short. The only thing coupling with weakness is his height, which is the highlight of his bullying. Even though this bullying is going on, he never backs down if it happens, and always shows great courage and looks after what little friends he has.

His Dad is the only one who gives him moral support, and assures him he will be a great Wizard, and makes him laugh whenever he tells him his physical weakness just means he will be awesome at Magic.

You could say Peter gets..normal grades. Good enough to make his parents happy. Unfortunatly, his Mom gripes at him when he gets anything less then an "A" in Social Studies, because she is a History teacher at their local High School. His Dad has a small job working as a Bank Clerk during the Dragonsflame Off-Year, but his main income comes from his Job as a Book Seller for the children's school books at Seacrest Port.

Due to the letter from Dragonsflame, his house isn't quiet, and his Mom and Dad are dancing, embarrasing all three children.

[Hope this is acceptably, if not, just tell me what to change.]

You were a part of my RP too.... o.O

I'll think on it.

((I was part of your RP once upon a time, but then I forgot Keiichi Anime existed and put all my efforts into writing my stories. Sorry ))

Name: Alexandria Marie Isabell Josephina Winters (Alex for short)

Gender: Female

Age: 11

D.O.B.: 1st May (Mayday, YAY!!)

Height: 5'

Weight: I don't know any weight orientation stuff, so can I just say she's average?

Eye Color: bright bright blue

Hair Color: black brown

Build: short with an incredibly small build

State of Origin: She came from England, but moved to Arizona when she was 9

Parentage: Pure blood

Known Family: her mother, and a brother she discovered the year before (I'm hoping he can be in 3rd year)

Desired House: Falconsflight

Quidditch Position (If Played): seeker, but she hasn't played for a few years

Hobbies: talking to or making friends, working on one of her many, many art projects, playing guitar or (when she's in a bad mood) practising Martial Arts.

Religious Orientation: Very strongly Catholic (she constantly wears a silver cross she hides under her shirt)

Physical Description: She's short, and petite. Unfortunately, her build makes her seem even smaller than she is, and she has a strangely doll-like appearance. If you take her messiness into account. Her hair goes to just past her elbows, and is difficult beyond belief. Other than her eyes, she has no real distinguishing features, so they seem oddly piercing and slightly exotic.

Personality: Bouncy, fun loving, has a scarily strong sense of justice. She hates other people getting hurt, and can find a way to blame herself for everything. But she's not much of a worry wort, and can seem much more carefree than she really is

Background History: Her mother believes that a person cannot truely understand the world unless they know of other walks of life. So, she's basically seen the best and worst of humanity since she was a little girl. When she was five she moved to mainland Europe (Italy to be exact) and then to Arizona at the age of nine. When she was ten her mother introduced her to her brother, and since he's been obsessed in his 'older brother' role, practically destroying all of her privacy.

((And can I make another character?))

Name: Samantha J. Connors

Gender: female

Age: 12

D.O.B.: september 16

Height: 5 foot 4

Weight: Average for her higth

Eye Color: Cristal blue

Hair Color: white

Build: slim, but built slightly

State of Origin: TX

Parentage: pure blood

Known Family: Mother, father, and a 4 year old brother

Desired House: not that picky

Quidditch Position: beater

Hobbies: running, reading and collecting manga, watching TV

Religious Orientation: Cristian-methodist

Physical Description:slim

Personality: kind, warm, protective of her friends, strong sense of right and wrong, and will back up that sense if she thinks something is wrong.

Background History: not much to tell, but she grew up as a texas girl with a sense of wright and wrong, and knows how to fight, with her fists.

((I like this. I wasn't in the other RP but, mind if I join? Here is my Character sheet.))

Name: Brett Gates (Of no relation to Bill Gates)

Gender: Male

Age: 13

D.O.B.: July 8, 1993

Height: 5'5

Weight: 107 lbs

Eye Color: Brown

Hair Color: Dark Brown (Almost Black from a distance)

Build: A muscle like build (From 3 years in a Military Academy)

State of Origin: Louisiana

Parentage: Muggle Born

Known Family: Mother, Father, younger sister, and an Uncle

Desired House: Wolfsfang

Quidditch Position (If Played): Doesn't play

Hobbies: Playing sports, with the acception of Quidditch, doing excersises and studies, likes to read and write. Also likes to play video games, but never has the chance to do so.

Religious Orientation: Catholic

Physical Description: A little tall for his age and a pretty descent build. around 5-6% body fat. Most of his weight is muscle. Always keeps a picture of his younger sister Erica with him. He has short dark brown hair. From a distance looks like black hair. Has brown eyes.

Personality: His keeps to himself alot. But he can be very social at times. Kind when you get to know him. Always willing to step up to a challenge even if he knows there will be a big chance he would fail. Learns very fast. He has a ninth grade education already. Always one step ahead of just about anyone he knows.

Background History: His father is in the USMC (United States Marine Corps), His mother is a software programmer for a major computer company, she has to move alot. His father always in Iraq and his mother always having to move to other states every 6 months, they put him into a military academy. His sister was put into a bording school. His sister is only 6 years old, she doesn't understand much of the world and takes every chance she can to see her brother.

He makes very good grades. Lowest he has ever gotten on his report card is an 85. In his own time he does push-ups and sit-ups to think. This is one reason why he has a very strong build. He puts himself into hard positions in order to assest the situation and try to resolve it. Even if he knows he can't win something, he tries as hard as he can to win.

Okey doo...

IceAngel: Your profile is fine, you just need to clean up your spelling and grammar a bit. ACCEPTED

ReaperZeta: Your profile, however, ISN'T, fine. You're spelling isn't really all that great and your grammar falls under the same heading. You're profile is also less than descriptive. So, until you can clean everything up, DENIED

EclipseWolf: Yours is perfectly fine. ACCEPTED

Name: Conner McKnight

Gender: Male

Age: 13

D.O.B.: October 28, 1993

Height: 5'5 1/2

Weight: 110 lbs.

Eye Color: Dark Brown

Hair Color: Brown

Build: Atheletic

State of Origin: New Mexico

Parentage: Half wizard, Half Muggle

Known Family: Father, Mother, Younger Sister and Brother

Desired House: None in Particular

Quidditch Position (If Played): Chaser or Keeper

Hobbies: Playing the Piano, Soccer, and drawing

Religious Orientation: Catholic

Physical Description: A pretty normal kid. He has some muscle due to playing soccer since he was nine.

Personality: A quiet person who mostly keeps to himself around strangers. Conner is the type of person who would become your best friend if you get to know him. But once he opens up to you a freindly, entergetic and calm person comes out.

Background History: Conner is the son of a Half muggle and half Wizarding family. Until about a year ago he had never known about his heritage. His mother is the wizard in the family and his father is the muggle. His father only wanted to keep his wizard blood a secret in order to help Conner lead a normal childhood. After becoming more aquainted with the ways of the wizarding world he became instantly facinated with Quidditch and is very earger to learn more about it.

In his past conner has played on his school's soccer team as both a foward and a goalie. He performs fairly well academically and usually doesn't give his teachers any trouble at all. But since he hasn't known about the wizard world for a long time he doesn't know much about things such as brooms, Quidditch teams, the various candies, etc.

((Well, well, well. What do we have here? An old RP of mine perhaps? Very interesting... I was just thinking about this story the other day. Never thought I'd see it back up again. Mind if I join?))

• Name: Cassie Mercer
• Gender: Female
• Age: 11
• D.O.B.: May 19, 1994
• Height: 5'0"
• Weight: 115lbs
• Eye Color: Hazel
• Hair Color: Copper red
• Build: Well-built for her age as an athlete
• State of Origin: Michigan
• Parentage: Unknown
• Known Family: Adoptive-mother Jaquie Mercer
• Desired House: Non-specified
• Quidditch Position (If Played): She doesn't know what Quidditch is, but if she did, she would be a Beater.
• Hobbies: Playing competetive soccer and basketball, sitting on the roof, taking long runs through the city, reading, singing and playing the bass guitar.
• Religious Orientation: Catholic
• Physical Description: She may be short, but she is quick. Very quick. Fastest, and most aggressive, defender on the local soccer and basketball teams. No one can get by her. She always wears her straight, copper red hair in a pony tail and cherishes her black with pink shoe-laced Chuck Taylors. She usually wears hoodie sweatshirts, t-shirts or jeans (weather depending) and is usually very conservative in her clothing choices. Most would consider her pretty, but she usually tries to hide it.
• Personality: Cassie is very reserved and distant from people. She likes to keep to herself and sit alone when she gets a chance. It takes a great deal to get Cassie to smile, and the one person who can do this constantly is her adoptive-mother Jaquie. Cassie is usually quiet and only speaks when spoken to. She usually keeps her head down and out of the lime-light whenever possible. The only place where Cassie can release herself and get excited is on the field or court.
• Background History: When Cassie was seven years old, she ran away from home. Living in an abusive environment was too much for this little girl to handle, so she had no where else to go but to the streets of Detroit. At this point, Cassie was on a crash course to juvenile hall. She got herself mixed into a tough crowd filled with gangs and criminals. Eventually, Cassie did find herself behind bars for a night after breaking into an abandoned warehouse. It was Christmas Eve to be exact and was one of the only places to sleep that was decently warm. And on this very night, the sweetest woman in the world, Jaquie Mercer, visited her and took her home.

Ever since, Cassie has tried to turn her life around but it's been a challenge. Every day she remembers the home she was born in and is thankful for the home she was raised in. Cassie has come a long way from becoming a juvenile delinquent and enjoys releasing some of her emotions through song writing and singing. Under the Mercer roof, Cassie was able to finally go to school. She is a very bright girl, but sometimes she doesn't like to think things through.

An even greater future for Cassie awaits at Dragonsfire.

Name: James 'Jim' O'reily

Gender:Male

Age:13

D.O.B.: May 15, 1993

Height:6' 2''

Weight:180 lb

Eye Color: red

Hair Color: white

Build: A Slim but very tone build

State of Origin: Wy

Parentage:1/3 wizard rest is muggle

Known Family:Adopted to a full blodded japanese family that happened to be wizards.

Desired House: Wolfsfang (but is really made for spidersilk)

Quidditch Position (If Played):He wants to play but Just cant think of himself as a player.

Hobbies:Likes the game go, Reads Classical books, lifts weight (when he is bored), Draws like a camera, and practices fencing.

Religious Orientation:Protestant

Physical Description:Jim is a albino child. He Is about 6 foot 2 inches, Very white, Blood red eyes. Since he couldnt go out side, much he decided to work out inside. His body is only about 6% body fat. The rest of his body is ripped.

Personality:selfless, loyal, and kind of a gullible person. Jim will try to do alot of things for anybody. He really wants friends and tries to get them by doing alot of work that people see as being taken advantage of.

Background History: Jim was born in jacksonhole Wyoming. He had a mother and a father, but one day on his 8 birthday his parents were killed in a consession stand robbery. His parents just happened to be in the crossfire. After that Jim was taken to the orphanage.

6 months later Jim was adopted by a Japanese wizard of the name Kiskue momochi. This man was old and kind of reminded Jim of the man in the karate kid movies. He always seemed to give good information and was loving. The best part that Jim loved is that his japanese house was built on top of one of the tallest mountians in Wyoming. After that it seemed that Jim's life was turning around.

After 5 years of living with his adopted parent Jim went snowboarding in Jacksonhole. After he finnished his run he went inside a resturant. There when he ordered his food the waiter brought back a letter that was strangely addressed to him....

OOC:

LE: Naturally, you're accepted. And it technically speaking isn't your RP, just shares the same name... In fact, both you and Kon were a part of the old one =D To be seen here! ==>The Old Dragonsflame

Ichigoslayer: Your bio is, for the most part, fine. You just need to tighten up your spelling and grammar. As long as from now on there aren't many spelling or grammar errors, ACCEPTED.

And on that note, I think it's about time we started, ne? People still interested in joining are more than welcome to.

IC: It was a perfectly normal day in Laguna Beach, California. The sun was blazing down on the beaches, the streets were lined with kids, all enjoying their summer holiday, and a young boy was having as good a day as ever. Xander Michaels was walking home on his perfect summer weekend. Accompanying him was a small group of about five friends, of which he was something like a leader. He by no means chose this position, he just kinda, fell into it. He was always the decisive one, the one whom decided what they did, who broke up arguments, and whose house they all hung out at. And this day was no exception. They had just left the local three-story-mall and were now heading to a small caf?or lunch, a caf?hat Xander decided they should all go to, as none of the others could come to a decision.

It was on this most normal of days, when the first sign of something odd happening, happened. Him and his gaggle of friends were all waiting on the corner for the light to change, signaling them all to cross the street. Xander was taking in his surroundings, though he had seen it all before on numerous occasions. On the corner where the stood was a small ice cream parlor that he rather enjoyed. It looked like something out of the fifties, with old-fashioned stools and over a hundred different flavors. Across the street in the direction they were heading was the big brand name surf shop where his brother had once worked and where most of the employees thought of him as something of a little brother. He had grown up around most of them, and knew a good portion of those employees better than most of the people standing around him just then. Across the street to his left was one of many Starbucks that peppered his fair city and of which he was rather fond. His day usually didn’t happen without a Caramel Macchiatto in the morning after all. And exactly diagonal from where he stood was the small caf?hat was their destination. A variety of small tables and chairs lined the outside, which was enclosed in a small gated off area. Xander in particular was fond of eating there, as they had a wide selection of vegetarian foods, and that was always a plus in his eyes.

As Xander gazed about the intersection and its adjacent stores, something colorful flashed past the corner of his eyes. He turned around just in time to see two large birds swoop past him and come to rest on the stoplight facing him. They were those birds he had seen in those old Zoobooks when he was little. Their bodies were jet black with white under the wings. Their beaks were incredibly long, but seemed incapable of really hurting anyone. Tied to each of their legs were large robins egg blue envelopes with writing in violet ink on the fronts of them. He stared at them, his mouth slightly hanging open. He had never seen them in person, but he assumed that one of the many research facilities around here must have been doing an experiment with them. There were a few of such facilities along the beach that were known for doing odd things like teaching sharks to polka and the like, and Xander simply figured this was another such experiment. But even as he stared, he couldn’t help but think something was off. Like why did they have letters attached to their legs? And why, for the life of him, couldn’t he remember what they were called? It was only as one of his friends tapped him on the shoulder that he noticed the light had turned and the rest of their group was already moving onward. He shook his head slightly, and crossed the street, eventually passing under the birds as he moved towards the caf?br />
As they approached the caf?a waitress who looked about sixteen rushed out and asked if they would like seats inside or out. He didn’t know why he said it, as he usually preferred his meals to be had indoors, but something made him just blurt out the word “outside”. And before he knew it, he was being seated around one of the larger outside tables and a menu was being shoved under his nose. He ordered without thinking about it, his mind elsewhere at that moment. He barely registered that his friends were talking about what they were all going to do for the rest of the summer before school started in two months time. Xander however, wasn’t really paying attention, just nodding occasionally in fake agreement. He didn’t even notice as his avocado sandwich was placed in front of him. He was still thinking of other things. Turkeys? Turtles? Tigers? Trout? No, none of those were right. T… T… Tuh-Something. It was on the tip of his tongue. It must have been the light in his eyes, but those birds looked as though they were talking to each other. Granted, it was just a bit of squaking, but, either way…

“Toucans!” Xander’s head had turned so fast that a sharp pain ran down his neck. One of his friends was pointing to the two birds, a look of childish delight on her face. The rest of them all turned around to look, and each of them seemed genuinely surprised to see the birds.
“Toucans… yeah, that’s it… don’t know why I didn’t think of that…”
“What was that Xander?” It was the same girl who had pointed to the toucans.
“Hmm? Oh, it’s nothing… Um, are Toucans really that rare around here?” He had assumed they were just part of research, but maybe it was a strange occurrence.
“Oh yeah, its really rare to find them away from their natural habitats. Don’t you remember Mrs. Mossman talking about them in science?” Truth be told, Xander honestly couldn’t remember much of science. It was always his least favorite subject, and he had a tendency of spacing out or catching up on sleep in that class.
“Oh… erm… yeah, I sorta do… must not have been thinking is all…” The subject of discussion quickly shifted to an upcoming movie that would be in theaters that next week, and they all quickly made agreements to go see it together. Xander was once again not paying attention, but was watching as the two toucans flew off in opposite directions. He ate his sandwich in silence, and so too, did the rest of his friends. He paid the waitress with one of the many credit cards his parents had given him and they all left, still talking about things that he really didn’t care about. The group all separated when they reached the neighborhood in which he and his friends all lived. He broke off from the rest, saying he’d be sure to remember the movie next week, and walked home alone. He didn’t know why, but something about the toucans and come off as weird to him. It was those two birds that he thought about for the rest of his walk home, and it came as a surprise to him when he reached the stone wall that wrapped around his house. Stars were starting to show in the skies, and it was that short time when the sun and moon are both barely visible at the same time. He pushed open the small gate to his house and walked up the cobblestone walkway.

His house was by all means, grand. Three stories high, it looked like one of those houses you see in Disney movies, where a single dad raises three kids on a janitor’s salary and still manages to support them all. Because, you know, in Disney movies, a janitor can make fifty dollars and hour and still be in the PTA, because its Disney, and that’s what they do. It was made of many red bricks with white windowpanes and a giant weeping willow in the front yard. He fumbled in his pants pocket for the front door key, and then crossed the threshold into his house. The inside of his house was as magnificent as it was large. But instead of hearing the normal silence that greeted him when he got home, as both his parents worked very late, he could here voices. Voices that abruptly stopped as the front door slammed shut. He could here the sound of a glass being set down, and footsteps moving closer. His mother rounded the corner and took him into her arms.

The fact that she was home was odd enough, but more so was the fact that she looked a little bit worried. Strange in that she rarely ever showed fear, doubt, of worry. His mother was definitely a beautiful woman. She had his eyes, which were as blue as his own, but long blonde hair which she often wore over one shoulder. She seemed to have just gotten home, as she was still wearing her blue pantsuit. She didn’t speak but rather, grasped him by the shoulder and steered him into the living room. Three large and comfy couches were positioned around an equally large wooden coffee table. A fire had been lit in the massive marble fireplace that was set against one wall. Many bookcases were positioned around the room, along with many vases of flowers. Sitting on the couch to the right was his step-dad. He looked slightly more disheveled than his mother, but as handsome as ever. His hair was a sandy blonde and looked particularly unkempt just then. However, the fact that his parents were home early was not what truly struck him as odd. At least, not after he saw the third person that was sitting in the room, on the couch across from his parents. He was a large man who looked as though he played football, though his age seemed to say otherwise. His rust colored hair was streaked with gray in places, and his face bore signs of wrinkling. His cheeks had a rosy color to them and he was smiling widely at Xander. He was also wearing long robes of emerald green, and on his shoulder, was one of the toucans he had seen earlier. His mother motioned to the couch in between the one where the man sat and the one where she herself was sitting. He did as he was told and looked at those around him. He felt his face reddening, under the pressure of those staring at him.
“Xander dear, this is Professor Gregory Amiteus, he’s a teacher at—“ his mother took a deep gulp and seemed to be incapable of continuing. Xander turned to his step-dad, but he too seemed to think that speaking was a bit much. Professor Amiteus, however, seemed to be giddy with excitement.
“Oh, don’t bother dear, I’ll tell the boy. You’re probably under enough trouble digesting what I’ve just told you.” Amiteus doubled over in laughter and the toucan seemed to almost lose its balance. Amiteus wiped a tear from his eye and shifted on the couch so that he was now facing Xander.
“M’boy, I am a teacher at a very special school, and I have been sent here today to inform you that you have been chosen to attend and give you all the information you might need to know.” Xander furrowed his brow and turned to his parents, both of whom still looked shocked.
“Are you from Pacific Coast Prep? Because if you are, we already declined the offer last time you wrote us.” Xander was used to getting letters from private schools that wanted him to attend. It was just that none of them had ever sent recruiters.
“Oh no m’boy, I’m not from any of those private muggle schools you all deal with. No, I’m from… well, perhaps it would be easier if I just gave you a little example” The question of what exactly a muggle was, was wiped from his mind when Amiteus withdrew from his robes a long piece of wood, what looked like mahogany. He tapped the rim of his empty teacup three times and muttered something under his breath. Large blue flames erupted from inside the cup and burned brilliantly of their own accord. Xander’s face could not have truly shown how shocked he was at that moment. He scooted forwards in the couch a bit, extending a hand towards the flames. He could feel the intense heat radiating off of them. They were real.
“Xander, I am Professor of Charms at Dragonsflame Academy of Sorcery, a school for witches and wizards. I have been sent here today to inform you that you have been selected to attend our school so that you can learn to hone your skills as a wizard and progress your magical knowledge.” Xander could feel his eyes widened. He was sure he had just misheard this man. Because, had he understood him correctly, that would mean that he was a wizard, and that surly couldn’t be right.
“Did… um… did you just say that I’m a—“ He now knew how his mother felt. He couldn’t bring himself to say it. Amiteus however, simply smiled again and removed the blue envelope from the toucan’s leg and reached across to Xander, who took it tentatively. It was very thick and made of heavy parchment. On the front written in violet ink was:
“To Mr. Xander Michaels, 2323 Crescent Court, Laguna Beach California” There was no stamp and no return address. He flipped the envelope over to open it, and sealing it was equally violet wax, emblazoned with the schools crest. Two crossed wands making four spaces, an animal residing in each. A falcon, a tiger, a wolf, and a spider.
“They each represent one of the four school houses into which every student is sorted.” Amiteus was staring at Xander and he examined the wax seal. “Falconsflight. Tigersclaw. Spidersilk. Wolfsfang. You too will be sorted into one of these houses. Should you choose to attend of course.” Xander nodded, to acknowledge what Amiteus had said. And pulled apart the seal. Inside were two thick sheets of yellow parchment. Xander unfolded the two and read the first.
“Dear Mr. Michaels,
It’s is my sincere pleasure to inform you that you have been accepted at Dragonsflame Academy of Sorcery. Enclosed is a list of all of necessary books and equipment, which you will need to purchase before the start of term.
Term begins on September 1st and we expect your response by no later than July 31st.

Greatly awaiting your reply,
Jenalyn Nuual
Headmistress
Order of Merlin, First Class
Grand Sorceress
International Confederation of Wizards”

Xander looked up at the beaming Amiteus and then turned to his parents, both of whom were now staring at him. “Did you… know about this? Know about… me…?” His mother made to shake her head but Amiteus cut her off.
“Oh no, they wouldn’t. You see, there hasn’t been a witch or wizard in your family since your great uncle Alexander, which coincidentally, is why I’m here today. You see, your uncle Alexander very recently passed away.” Amiteus looked into his lap for a brief moment as though to honor his name. “He was a great wizard that one. Taught me back in his days as a teacher. He was a great man. Half the books in the school library were written by him. Well, anyway, in his will, he left specific information about what to do with his estate. He made it perfectly clear that all his worldly possessions be left to the first witch or wizard in the family to attend Dragonsflame after his death. Well, as I said, you’re the first non-muggle since your great Uncle, and so therefore, that means that it all goes to you. That is, assuming of course that you accept your place at Dragonsflame.” At that moment, more thoughts than any one mind could possibly handle began racing through his mind. This surely was a hoax. His parents had paid some man to dress up and pretend to be a wizard. The flames were probably fueled by a propane tank under the table. None of this could really be happening. Not to him. Not to someone who had, until this very moment led a perfectly normal life. He had certainly never shown any exemplary skill at magic. In fact, he was rather fond of making fun of those crackpot magicians he saw on TV. But this guy wasn’t like them. He seemed different. He seemed, more real. And as he thought about it, his parents would never make him believe he had an uncle who had just died. Could this really be happening?
“Um… uh… OK, so let me see if I’ve got this all straight. First off, I’m a… a… a wizard…” the word had suddenly become incredibly difficult for him to say, “and I’ve been chosen to go to this school, erm… Dragonsflame was it? Uh, yeah. And this school teaches… witches… and wizards… to learn how to… do magic. And furthermore, I’m the great nephew of some really great wizard, and he left me everything he owns. But only if I accept to go this school… right…?”
“Right-O m’boy! Not surprised you caught on so quickly. Your uncle was a sharp one. I’m sure you’ve got some of that spark in you somewhere.” Amiteus beamed at Xander, who felt that he himself couldn’t stop from smiling. Regardless if this was a joke or true or not, it all seemed very interesting. His eyes fell upon the blue flames, still burning resolutely in the teacup.
“And if I go to this school of yours, I’ll… I’ll learn to do stuff like that?” He pointed at the flames.
“Of course! That’s only the basics! Barely first year stuff! Oh, you’ll learn to brew sleeping potions, and turn rabbits into garden hedges, and handle unicorns, and fly! Oh I’ll bet your brilliant on a broom. Your uncle never played for any national quidditch teams, only for the fun of it, but he was great at it nonetheless. Wouldn’t be surprised if you made your houses team. You have the body of a seeker, but I dare say you’d make a fine chaser too. Bit too thin for a good beater, and keepers are typically a bit taller. Oh, but you’ll learn all about quidditch soon enough.” Amiteus seemed to be sizing Xander up, looking at him with one eye squinting and the other looking through a box made by his two thumbs and forefingers. “Oh! But, could your sudden curiosity mean that you’re accepting? That you’re going to go to Dragonsflame?”
Xander looked back down at the parchment and read the acceptance letter again quickly. It all seemed too fantastic, but this professor seemed genuine. And even if this was all some joke, there was nothing to be lost by him playing into it.
“Well, erm… if it’s OK with you guys… I guess I would like to… yeah…” The second the words had left his mouth, Amiteus leapt to his feet, clapped his hands together as though closing the matter, sending the toucan flying off his shoulder out an open window, and beamed at Xander.
“Excellent! Knew you’d say yes! You’ll love it at Dragonsflame, just know you will. Well then, must be getting on. Need to inform Jenalyn that you’ll be attending. She’ll be thrilled. She was a good friend of your uncles, yes…” He reached into his robes absentmindedly and withdrew a small handful of glittering powder, which he then threw into the burning fireplace, causing the flames to turn as green as the robes he was wearing.
“I’ll be along to pick you up tomorrow around ten-ish so that I can take you to Starcrest. Wouldn’t want you jumping into the wizarding world headfirst would I? Plus we’ve got to hammer out the fine details of your uncle’s estate. But we’ll discuss that more tomorrow!” And with that he placed his foot in the fire, but seemed not to burn.
“Erm… shopping?” He stared at the man who was now standing in the green flames as though this was perfectly normal.
“Second page m’boy, second page!” And with that, his body began to spin very quickly, and then he was gone. The flames returned to normal, and Xander was left with much to ponder. However, one thing was for sure, he would certainly be having an interesting summer.

“Alexandria!” snapped a voice. Alex lifted her head tiredly, looking up at her Maths teacher. The woman was tall, elegant and beautiful with gorgeous honey coloured skin. But she was still an evil conniving devil in Alex’s eyes.
“Yes Ms Titha?”
“When you are in detention, you should not be sleeping!”
A dark haired boy sitting across the room glanced at the two females. “Leave her alone, she’s always here,”
“Nicholas Demarka, do not interfere! This is between me and Alexandria!”
“Bet you couldn’t remember her whole name,” remarked the boy, his misty green eyes sparkling mischievously.

As Ms Titha spluttered in embarrassment, Alex snorted. She grinned at the guy, and he winked.

“You’re both dismissed. And Nicholas Demarka, I’ll be expecting here tomorrow for your insolence,”
“Yeah yeah,” the guy muttered, swinging his bag onto his shoulder. He waited just outside the door as Alex struggled with her coat, sniggering quietly.
Scrunching up her nose, Alex finally shrugged on her bag and rushed out to join him. “You idiot Nick,” she half-laughed. “That was our last of summer detention! How am I meant to get in there tomorrow?”
Nick shrugged, grinning. “You’ll figure something out, you’re my Skiski,”
“Stop calling me that!”
“Nah, don’t think I will,”

Alex glanced at Nick out of the corner of her eye. He was about a foot taller than her and pretty lanky. Alex knew he was a fast runner and a good fighter. He had brown hair, with natural black lowlights and unnatural black tips. His ‘Emo’ haircut hung in his misty green eyes constantly, and there were several piercings in the cartilage of his right ear. He certainly was not a normal thirteen year old.
But Alex had known him since she was two, and he was easily her best friend.

Finally noticing her glance, Nick shoved her lightly. “’Sup Skiski?”
“Your eyeliner’s smudged,”
“Ah,” Nick paused trying to remove the smudge without a mirror. “It gone?”
“Yeah,”
“So what’s really up?”
“I don't know,” she shrugged. “I just feel like it’s ending, you know? Like we’re not gonna go to the same School when the new year starts up,”
“How come? We’ve been going to the same school since you started,”
“Yeah, thanks to you being kept behind two years!”
“I just wanted to stay with my best Skiski,”
“Stop calling me that!”
“But I don’t wanna,” Nick mumbled, pouting at Alex. Suddenly, she remembered the one threat she could actually use on him.
“I’ll tell Marine about the blue teddy bear!”
“You wouldn’t!”
“You keep telling yourself that,”

Nick stopped suddenly, staring at Alex. “Are you coming to my house or something?”
“Wha?”
“We’re halfway to my house,”
“Eh, guess I’ll come over,” Alex shrugged.

She and Nick had barely started walking again when her phone rang. She flipped open her phone instantly. “Hi, this is Alex and if you don’t know my second name, I’m not here right now,”
“You got in!!”
“What? Mum is that you?”
“Baby! You got in!”
“Got in where? What’re you talking about?”
“Dragonsflame!!”
“Mum, you’re not making sense,”
“Come home!!”
“Okay, okay, bye,”
“Bye bye honey!”

“Everything okay?” Nick asked softly, his warm green eyes worried. Alex smiled wanly.
“It’s fine, I gotta go home,”
Before Nick could say another word, Alex raced off. He didn’t even try to catch up with her – he could tell she didn’t want to be disturbed.

The scenery blurred past her as she ran, her feet pounding on the paving stones. She tripped on a curbstone, slamming into the ground. Instantly she jumped up, running with the same reckless abandon as before, ignoring the trail of blood she left behind.

She finally smashed into a woman with the same dark hair and searing blue eyes, sending them both crashing to the ground.
“Mum,” she panted, her voice hoarse, beads of sweat dripping into her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“You got in!!”
“You said that before,” she mumbled, wiping her forehead with a torn sleeve. For the first time she noticed the large graze on her forearm. Blood dripped from the abrasion, and it was smeared with dirt.

With her mother still squealing behind her, she trooped into the house. It was a fair sized place, with high ceilings and spacious rooms. Unfortunately, every surfaced was cluttered with sculptures and ornaments. Amateur artwork hung from every wall, handmade mobiles dangled from the ceiling.
The room was so cluttered that it seemed impossible to traverse it. But with natural skill, Alex dart between the objects, somehow not disturbing a single one. Her mother followed behind, moving things around ever so slightly to make the going easier.

Upstairs Alex washed the blood from her arm, cleaning the cut with antiseptic cream before wrapping it in bandages. She turned to leave the bathroom, almost bumping into her mother again.

“I’m so proud of you baby!!”
“For what?”
“You got in!!”
“Into what?!” Alex snapped her patience finally exhausted. Her mother waved a thick, yellow tinted envelope in her face. Her name was beautifully transcribed in violet ink on, and her address scrawled in cramped handwriting underneath.

She grabbed the envelope, flipping it over. The seal – a wolf, a tiger a spider and a falcon separated by two wands – was broken. She recognised it instantly.
“Dragonsflame Academy? I got into Dragonsflame?”
“Yes!! I’m so proud of you baby!”
“But... what about Nick?”
“He’ll be fine. It’s unhealthy how much you two depend on each other. This’ll be good for both of you,”
“I guess... promise you’ll forward all of our letters?”
“’Course baby,”
“Fine, I’ll go,” sighed Alex, resigning herself to her fate. Taking a deep breath she edged around her mother and pushed her way into her bedroom. Pushing through the clutter, and dropping more than a few things, she scrabbled for her cordless connection.

Hurriedly she dialled a number, having to redial the familiar digits three times before she got it right.
“Hey Skiski,”
“Nicky...”
“What’s wrong?” she noticed the instant worry in his voice, and could imagine the look on his face. Falling back on her bed, she took a deep breath. As she wondered how to begin, her eyes settled on her easel, and the sketch on it. She’d been planning on starting to paint it tomorrow.
“I... got into a special school... and... I’m going there next year...”

"HAVE A ROCK FOR YOUR COLLECTION!" a voice yelled, as a grey blob came hurling through the air. As it made impact, the boy running was lucky to be behind a tree, or it would have made for a nasty cut. As the rock hit, he made a dash for the Mahogany door to his left, and quickly slammed it behind him. The house, which was built out of Mahogany wood, with the same type of flooring, had an majestic, yet simple, style to it. The boy's parents weren't rich, yet they weren't poor either, so it is likely they could afford this house. A dining room table sat in the room directly north of the door, and to the east was the living room, with three couches and big screen television. The stairs were in the middle of the two rooms, and behind the dining room was a door leading to the Kitchen. A large light fixture set in the middle of all the rooms illuminating every portion of the house.

"What's wrong?" A man asked, pulling the paper down from his face as he stared at the boy.

"John took my Bike" He said, giving the man, who obviously was his Dad, a indifferent look, like it has happened before.

"We'll..buy you a new one for Christmas." His Dad said, sighing.

"Daniel." A Women's voice said, having tones of excitement and sadness that they seemed to contradict each other. "A letter came for Peter."

"Oh really?" He said, taking the letter and opening it. HIs face beamed, and he got up, giving the boy a beaming look, then changing it to a look of fury.

"Young man," He said, grabbing the boy, "you're in big trouble." Taking his belt, he lifted it up, and then hugged the boy after a second of silent anticipation. "You need school robes!"

"What?" Peter said, obviously surprised.

"You got into Dragonsflame!" His Dad yelled, handing him the letter. Peter took it, and opened it to the writing:

“Dear Mr. Fletcher,
It’s is my sincere pleasure to inform you that you have been accepted at Dragonsflame Academy of Sorcery. Enclosed is a list of all of necessary books and equipment, which you will need to purchase before the start of term.
Term begins on September 1st and we expect your response by no later than July 31st.

Greatly awaiting your reply,
Jenalyn Nuual
Headmistress
Order of Merlin, First Class
Grand Sorceress
International Confederation of Wizards”

"So Small Fry got in?" A voice from upstairs called. One of his brothers, Matthew, stood there, eating an Orange. "Grats." He said, then walked away.

"Would it kill him to be more enthusiastic for once?" His Mom said, staring up at where Matthew was just standing.

"I'm going to make a HUGE Dinner, and then we are going to celebrate this by getting tons of ice cream.." His Dad said, moving away from him and entering the kitchen, soon followed by his Mom. His Dad goes crazy when his kids get sent to Dragonsflame.


OOC:

Cassie

A young girl of eleven years walked down the street, tuning out the desolate world of Detroit with the aid of Angels & Airwaves and a pair of headphones. She passed by abandoned homes and overgrown lawns, kicking pieces of trash out of her way as she continued her journey home.

School that day had not gone too well for Cassie Mercer. She tucked a strand of copper red hair behind her ear and sighed as she looked up at the stunning blue and cloudless sky. A group of kids were teasing her again, for pointless and self-promoting reasons to make themselves feel all that much better about their equally crappy lives. Growing up in Detroit wasn't the most ideal place for ambitions or dreams, and they certainly didn't harbor themselves inside people like Marley Goodwin.

Marley and her posse of six other kids always picked on her. Cassie did her best to ignore them, but sometimes it wasn't efficient. Some things said were too harsh to turn the other cheek.

Today after school, Cassie had been jumped by a few of her friends and was hit a few times but nothing too serious. She could already tell she was going to have a nice shiner around her eye that night and her lip was split; but the other kids were much worse off than she was.

Jaquie wouldn't approve of Cassie's behavior today, but enough was enough. When others tease her, she has learned to easily ignore it... but once they start attacking the shape of her home and her mother, she can't help herself. And Jaquie new that. It still didn't mean that Cassie was going to get off easy.

She quietly turned onto the short walk-way leading up to their small house with peeling white paint but a welcomed sight all the same. She opened the creaking screen door and stepped into the house.

"Jaquie, I'm home," she called into the house of warm colors and comfy furniture. There wasn't much, but it was enough.

"In the kitchen," replied a voice.

Cassie dropped her backpack on the couch, stroked the cat as he jumped up onto the chair to greet her, and proceeded into the kitchen. Standing at the oven, hunched over to look inside it's contents was Cassie's adoptive mother. She was in her 50s with long silver hair tied back into a half pony-tail. To Cassie, Jaquie Mercer was still as beautiful and graceful as ever. Her caramel skin and strangely striking blue eyes made her look as spirited as the day she was born.

"Smells good," Cassie said, sitting at the small breakfast table in the corner. Jaquie chuckled and lifted the last batch of cookies onto the rangetop to cool.

"I'm taking them to the orphanage tonight. Mrs. Freeson said that--" she stopped mid-sentence and stared at Cassie, who quickly avoided her gaze.

"Cassie Ann Mercer! What happened?!"

"I fell," Cassie lied, still looking anywhere but at Jaquie.

Jaquie wetted a cloth and pressed it to Cassie's slightly bleeding lip. She winced in pain and retracted her head for a second. "Oh, don't be a baby," she scolded. I've had worse, Cassie thought, morosely. "Was that Marley girl bothering you again?" Jaquie asked.

Cassie didn't reply, but due to the silence Jaquie had her answer. She clicked her teeth and walked back over to the sink. The two spent a few minutes in silence as Cassie put her head down on the table. She'd worked so hard keeping herself reserved. She'd worked so hard to keep that past away.

Something suddenly touched her hand and she jerked her head up, startled. Her eyes grew wide as saw that it was Jaquie who was holding her hand tightly. She instantly calmed, That past is gone...

Jaquie gazed deeply into Cassie's eyes and said sincerely, "Cassie... I know bad things have happened to you, but you can't be afraid anymore."

Cassies eyes grew wide again, staring at the table in front of her. All of those horrible memories flashing through her head at once. Her heart rate began to rise and her palms began to sweat. She was visibly afraid. Of what? Hardly anyone knew.

"But, Cassie... Hey, look at me."

Cassie slowly did as she was told, her hazel eyes still round as saucers.

"But you're safe now. Trust me."

Cassie blinked a few times, tears beginning to well in her eyes. She lowered her head again and Jaquie grasped Cassie into a tight hug. Cassie had come a long way from growing up in such a violent household and Jaquie was proud of her for that.

"There's something else I need to tell you," Jaquie said, finally releasing her.

Cassie wiped her eyes and sniffed, "Yeah?"

"This came for you this morning," Jaquie said, pulling out a blue envelope with violet ink on the front.

Ms. Cassie Mercer
3560 West Park Lane
Detroit, Michigan

"What's this?" she asked, flipping the envelope over and examining the intricate seal on the back.

"It's your future," Jaquie said, watching Cassie.

"What?" Cassie asked, ripping the seal and unfolding the papers inside.

She read over the hand-written letter two or three times before looking up and asking with an amused smirk, "Is this some kind of joke?"

Jaquie replied, "Crazy as it may seem, this is no joke. As of now, you're of age to attend my old alma mater. I received a letter much like this one way back when I was your age, but instead I came from a pureblooded family. I was expected to go. I never really had a choice. My favorite class was Transfiguration... I wonder if old Carrows is still there," she chuckled to herself for a moment and then continued, "I could never really grasp onto Herbology though, but never the less I worked for the Ministry as an Auror for quite some time before finally retiring."

Cassie's face quickly fell and she looked back down at the letter. After a long pause, Cassie's shoulders began to shake. At first it was silent, then pretty soon she began laughing in loud, hard guffaws. She continued until tears began streaming down her face again.

Jaquie sat in the chair indignantly, watching Cassie have a good laugh before she finally calmed.

She wiped her eyes and said, "Man, Jaquie. You had me for a second. Heh... That was pretty good. Maybe I could use something like that in my next creative writing essay."

"Oh, you think it's funny, do you?" Jaquie said, raising her eye brows.

Cassie smiled and said, "Nice try, Jaquie. Maybe next time. Right now I have to get started on my homewo--"

In a flash, Jaquie was clutching onto a long stick and shouted, "Accio backpack!"

Cassie's face dropped and she turned to face the doorway as her packpack came flying into the room. Jaquie held her hand above her head and snatched it from the air.

"Here you go," she said, handing it to her.

"Holy sh--" Cassie began, her mouth hanging open, but Jaquie stopped her.

"Don't you dare."

OOC: Shplegh! There are eight of us and only four have posted... Tsk Tsk kiddies... Tsk Tsk... For the sake of moving things along, I'll do my next post...

Oh, and KINOSHINTA I realized that I didn't mention this earlier, but you are also ACCEPTED!

IC: The sun rose with a rosy tinge to it. Xander’s alarm clock beeped silently as the numbers rolled over again and turned to seven. Xander however, had already been up for three hours, sitting stock still in the middle of the living room in front of the fireplace. The strange happenings of the following day had proved for some interesting dreams that night. Things with many legs singing songs and brooms dancing to music played flying backpacks. This perhaps, played a role in him waking up at the crack of four. He wasn’t quite sure what time that Professor Amiteus of Dragonsflame Academy of Sorcery would be coming to pick up to go shopping. Even more unknown was where they would be going to pick up all the necessities for his year to come. Where did wizards and witches purchase magical goods? Surely there wasn’t a wizard’s section in Wal-Mart, and he was certain he’d never seen a section of Mervyns devoted to robes.

Xander picked up the piece of paper that told all the necessities of first year students. He had read it enough times that he could now recite it by heart. He had to squint to read the violet inking in the dim light.

Uniform

1. Three sets of plain robes for day wear (Standard Dragonsflame style of silver threading)
2. One pair of protective gloves (Dragons hide preferably or similar material)
3. One winter over cloak (white with fur trimming)

Course Books

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Aaaresnius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble
North American Dueling Societies, Beginning Dueling by Alexander Michaels
Other Equipment

1 Wand
1 Cauldron (pewter, standard size 3)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales

In addition to the compulsory equipment, students would be well advised to also invest in:
Quills
Ink
Parchment
Bag
Pencil (or indeed quill) case

Students may also bring an owl, a cat, a toad, or any other pre-approved magical creature. It is also to be reminded that first year students may not bring their own brooms to school.


It all seemed to fantastic to really be true. Everything looked to be in order, but… something about it just made him feel like Amiteus would never come back, that he would just sit their in that living room all day long, feeling like an idiot. It was now seven thirty, and still no Amiteus. Eight, eight-thirty, nine, nine fif-
Brilliant emerald flames erupted into the fireplace before him. Towards the center of the flames, some twirled, slowly growing in size until the form of a large man stepped from the flames, dusting soot from his crimson robes. Standing before Xander now was Professor Amiteus, still as hulking as ever, and no less old. When he was sure he had cleaned himself of all soot, he turned his gaze upon Xander, who was staring quite dumb struck at the man who seemed to be capable of travel via fire.
“Xander, m’boy! Good to see you! Hope you slept well; we’ve got quite a day ahead of us. And as I always like to say, there is no time for dilly-dallying when the present keeps turning into the past!” Amiteus chuckled silently to himself, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.
“Now then, step forward, step forward. Seeing as how you’re unable to apparate, we’ll be traveling by floo powder today. Now then, floo powder is this magnificent little glitter right here.” Amiteus withdrew his hand from his robes and held a small glass jar full of glittering dust. Xander took the jar tentatively and looked at it closely. It was very sparkly and seemed to make diamonds look dull.
“What you do, is take a small handful, toss it into the fire, and when the flames turn green, step into them. Don’t worry m’boy, don’t worry. They won’t burn you. Once you’re completely in the flames, I want you to say, very clearly now, St. Ides Estate. Got that? St. Ides Estate. Keep your arms tucked in too; it’ll save you some pain. Now, then you think you’ve got that under control?” Xander nodded, though not fully sure of himself, and took a small handful of the glittering dust. His hand shook and he threw it into the grate and immediately those same flames erupted in that instant, and tentatively stepped into them. They were warm, but not hot.

"Moonsilver Estate!" The world around him spun quickly, making him slightly woozy. Every now and then he would catch glimpses of other households, apparently from the position of their fireplaces. However, the experience was not a long one. Almost as quickly as it had come, it had stopped. The spinning slowed, and before he knew he was stepping out of the fire. Xander now stood in quite possibly the most wonderful place he had ever seen before in his life. High ceilings like those seen in cathedrals gave him the impression that he was looking at the world from the perspective of an ant. Hundreds of paintings lined the walls. Paintings of knowledgeable looking men and women, of strange creatures he had never seen, of far places the likes of which he had only ever seen before in story books. What was more, is the inhabitants of the paintings were moving. Between the frames and having conversations, some people even walking out one end of the frame and disappearing completely. On the very top of the ceiling was what looked like a miniaturized version of the universe. Clusters of stars mimicked diamonds suspended in mid-air. Planets swirled and comets rushed past. It was the most stunning thing Xander had ever seen before in his life. Against one wall, large windows the size of an SUV gave a view of an ocean so perfect, it couldn’t possibly be real. The crystal blue water gave view to great coral reefs and magnificent creatures swimming within its depths. Frothy waves crashed softly against cloud white sand that looked like it couldn’t possibly course. Xander couldn’t help but press his face against the glass. Out of the corner of his eye, he could just see the edge of a forest where the sand met the trees.

"It is a paradise, isn't it?" Xander turned around in shock. There stood Amiteus, the last of the green flames dying away. His round face was smiling broadly and he now more than ever looked old. Xander saw now the lines in face more prominently. But he looked fatherly at the same time. The twinkle in his eyes sparkled in the sunlight seeping through the windows. Xander nodded absent-mindedly in response.

"Where are we?" It was the only way he could really sum up his feeling at the moment without drooling on himself. Amiteus simply laughed.

"We are at Moonsilver Estate, located in Maryland. This, m'boy, is where your great uncle lived. And all that lies with in its walls, and everything within a five-hundred mile radius, now belongs, to you m'boy." Xander's eyes widened in shock. It was impossible. This couldn't all be his. It was hard enough to believe that he was a wizard, but to be a wealthy wizard as well? Surely now there had been some sort of a mistake?

"Ah! So is this young man the new master?" Xander now noticed that all the chatter amongst the portraits that had acted as background sound had stopped. All eyes were now on him, some occasionally darting over to Amiteus to see how he responded.

"Yes Olivia, this is Xander, Alex's great nephew." The woman who had asked the question now beamed at Xander and scurried out of her portrait. Many of the others did the same, darting from frame to frame until more than fifty people were all squished uncomfortably into a large painting of a country scene, some no more than a pair of eyes poking out from behind the gold frame. The woman named Olivia was at the front of them all.

"Oh splendid! He does look like him when he was younger. Oh and how happy Luna will be! She's been singing that mournful song for weeks now. No one on the grounds has been chipper at all in what seems like forever!"

"Alfred says she's coming now!" Squeaked a small man who was squished into the corner of the frame."

"Oh good, very good. She's the main reason I brought you here today." Xander blinked in confusion. He really had no idea who or what a "Luna" was. He did not, however, have to wait long to have his question answered. At that moment, a swishing sound echoed through the open room. From one of the open doorways that led to the rest of the house, a flash of gold rushed in, circled a couple of times, and came to rest on Xander's arm, which had outstretched itself automatically. On his arm now sat on of the most beautiful things he had ever seen in his life. A large bird the size of a swan stared up at him with calming black eyes. The bird seemed to radiate of warmth, and somehow, the sight of her made Xander feel calm, at peace with himself. Its golden and deep blue feathers were long, and its tail almost reached the floor.

"Xander, I'd like you to meet Luna the phoenix. She was your uncle's. And now, she is loyal to you. It was as your uncle wished." Luna let out a long musical sound.

"She's mine?" Xander couldn't help himself from blurting out.

"Hmm, I suppose that isn't really the proper way to phrase it. Phoenix's do not really belong to anyone. They are loyal companions. They confidants and--"

"--a friend. Yeah... I know what you mean."

"And what’s more, Professor Nuual has already said that you will be allowed to take her to school with you. I suppose that saves you the trouble of using an owl, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah…” Xander stood there, in a state of shock, staring at the bird he now held.

“Well then, that’s enough of that. We really should be getting to Starcrest to do your shopping. Ah! But this is perfect, we can have you try out Luna’s powers!”

“What do you mean Professor?” Xander hadn’t even thought of the possibility that the bird could have any powers. It was already enough that she was there.

“Ah, you see, phoenix’s are capable of moving from place to place in a fashion similar to apparation. What you need to do is take hold of her tail feathers. Don’t fret, don’t fret, it won’t hurt her. Now, next you think hard of the place you want to go, Starcrest port. Then, when you think you’ve got it, pull. Got that?” Xander shook his head tentatively. It was bad enough traveling by fireplaces, but simply disappearing and reappearing in once place was another. However, he did as he was told. He said the word “Starcrest” over and over again in his head. When he thought he couldn’t think it any more, he pulled on the birds feathers. The sensation was very much unlike floo powder. His body felt like it was surrounded by warmth, and that it was being lifted into the air. Surely this was what it felt like to fly. But less than a second later, it was over, and he stood now in the middle of packed street. He seemed to be in some seaside town. If things were interesting enough yet, there were about to be.



Amiteus appeared shortly after and the two began their shopping. Luna had flown off and awaited Xanders return in the room Amiteus had reserved for him at the local inn. They first traveled to the wizard’s bank to retrieve some of the money his uncle had left him. Xander couldn’t help but squeak in shock upon learning that eighty-seven of the bank vaults had been devoted to holding all of his recently acquired riches. After retrieving his money, Xander proceeded to shop. It was fantastic. He purchased his wand, (11 ½ inches, willow, core of sphinx feather), bought a set of school robes, potion necessities, scales, cauldron and the like. When Xander reached the magical bookstore, he couldn’t find it himself to resist. He left two hours later, closely followed by three storage trunks full of books. As the day came to a close, Amiteus led Xander to the inn where he was to stay that night. He was given instructions about the train the next day, and was wished luck.

Xander lugged his trunks slowly up the stairs, making more noise than could be helped. He finally came to his room, and collapsed onto the bed, his head swimming with happy memories. It had been the best day of his life, and he was sure that he would not be sleeping tonight. It would be miracle if he even stopped smiling. And tomorrow, he got to go to school…

OOC:

IC:

It was a normal sunny day in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The sky was perfectly clear and people were bustling around Smith's the local supermarket. "...can you belive that Conner?!" Conner had been walking around with a few of his close friends all day and enjoying his last few months with them before he had to go off to Dragonsflame Academy. "Yeah... Yeah... Unbelivable..."

It happened about a week ago. His letter had come and everything come crashing around him. His father had just retrived the mail from the postbox and Conner was just hanging out in his room. "Conner, honey? Can you come down please?" His mother called. Conner leapt out of his bed and dashed downstairs to find his mom and dad sitting near the dining room table with a blue envelope in hand. He walked towards his parents as his dad held out the envelope.

"It's for you son..." His father said in a nervous tone. "For me?" His dad nodded. Conner looked down and saw that there was no stamp and that there was no return address. All it simply said was:

Mr. Conner McKnight
4300 Eagle Ridge Road
Albuquerque, New Mexico

He raised an eyebrow as he read it over again and carefully opened it. "Who would call me "Mr."? I'm not that old..." He pulled out two pieces of white parchment folded neatly and immeadiatly opened it.

“Dear Mr. McKnight,
It's is my sincere pleasure to inform you that you have been accepted at Dragonsflame Academy of Sorcery. Enclosed is a list of all of necessary books and equipment, which you will need to purchase before the start of term.
Term begins on September first and we expect your response by no later than July thirty-first.

Greatly awaiting your reply,
Jenalyn Nuual
Headmistress
Order of Merlin, First Class
Grand Sorceress
International Confederation of Wizards”

Order of Merlin? Dragonsflame academy? Sorcery? None of this made any sense to him. But then it hit him. "Mom," he said nervously, "does this mean I'm being sent away? What did I-"
His mother had hugged him tightly and kissed him on the forehead. "No! Your father and I aren't sending you away... We... I..." She was at a loss for words it seemed like she didn't know what to say. "Maria... You need to tell him..." Conner's father said. Conner felt his mother loosen her grip and back off. She got on her knees and looked him straight in the eye. "Honey, do you remember the time I told you that I was a witch?"

"Yeah..." he replied hesitantly. "And do you remember the time when Brad, that bully made you mad and you sent him flying off the edge of that arroyo and into the water?" Conner nodded. "Well..."

"Well that means you are a wizard." His father said aloud. "Look son it's my fault that we have'nt told you until now. I... I just wanted to let you have a normal childhood growing up and..."

"Watch out!" Conner felt someone tug on his arm. "Huh?!" He shook his head and looked around. A truck zipped by him and it took a second for him to realize where he was. His mind had been wandering and he had missed out on the entire conversation with his friends. But he didn't care much the only thing on his mind was the fact that he was going to see other wizards and witches tommorow.

Alex yawned, rubbing her eyes. Around her the familiar bustle of Starcrest port continued unperturbed, witches and wizards pushing past her with little care.
“Baby!! Keep up!” squealed her mother. Alex simply yawned at the bubbly thirty year old. Not only had she been dragged out of bed at four in the morning, after the first shop or so her mother had forgotten about the school list. Currently they were buying some very beautiful but completely useless crystal cauldrons.

As she was dragged off to yet another shop, Alex began dozing on her feet. It was getting dark in the comfortably busy port.
Waving off several punters Alex darted after her mother. The Winters were one of the richest and most noticeable wizarding families. It was less well known that they rarely spent much of the money at their disposal.

“This would look great on you Baby,”
Sleepily Alex glanced at the robes. “It’s blue,”
“So?”
“We’re shopping for my school things...”
“But you look so good in blue!”
“Well, take it up with the school,”
“I will,” Terra Winters decided resolutely. Alex’s head instantly popped up, her brilliant eyes widened.
“I didn’t mean seriously!! I don’t want anyone knowing I’m a Winters!”
“But Baby, you have the eyes,”
“Oh come on,” Alex scoffed. “Bright blue eyes aren’t that strange,”
“Long, black eyelashes, very bright, soul searching and bigger than normal,”
“They’re not that big... and I have black hair anyways! And we live in the age of mascara, in case you’ve forgotten,”
“You hate makeup,”
“They don’t know that,”
“Who are ‘they’?”
“The leeches that bugged Matt. And how come he got to go to Aunty Zara’s?”
“Well he had the sense to shop earlier on,”

Muttering obscure would-be curses under her breath, Alex followed her mother into the dressing room.

“Now try on these lovely robes,”
“They’re blue!”
“What’s wrong with that?”
Alex sighed, flicking her hair out of her eyes. “Mum, please just give me the money. I’ll buy everything and give you all the change. Guarantee,”
“Are you sure you don’t need help?”
“Yes,”
“But baby, you have such bad taste,”
“Thanks mum. Thanks a lot,” muttered Alex. Putting a finger to her lips, Terra regarded her daughter. For a long moment they stared at each other, but then Terra handed the purse of Galleons to Alex, and the younger girl beamed.

In moments the two females parted, silently agreeing to meet up in the main street in an hour or so. And in that hour Alex had finished her shopping and was ready to go home, explain to Nick why she couldn’t sneak into detention and finally sleep.
But unfortunately she was kept waiting for almost another hour by her mother.

“There’s the cutest little cat thing in the pet shop!” Terra beamed.
“I’m taking Cerberus,”
“But I thought you didn’t want to be noticed,”
“Cerberus has saved my life a ton,” Alex muttered, crossing her arms.
“But baby...”
“And anyways, if he wears that special collar then only people with a lot of power will be able to see all three of his heads. He’s not big or anything, and he’d take care of me no matter what,”
“Well there’s no reason not to, I’ll send an owl to Professor Nuual. The teachers will have to be warned, even if you don’t want the students to know,”
“Teachers I don’t mind. Weirdoes pretending to be my friends for money, I do,”
“If that’s what you want Baby. Well come now, we have to get home,”


((Sorry it's kinda crappy, I'm writing this past midnight. I know I should have waited till morning so it was good and all, but I had to))

Name: Chrystelle Phrotus

Gender: Female

Age: 11

D.O.B.: October 7, 1994

Height: 4'4''

Weight: 107 lbs.

Eye Color: light Green

Hair Color: Dark Brown

Build: lean and slender

State of Origin: Arizona

Parentage: Half- Blood, muggle mother, wizard father

Known Family: Father

Desired House: Falconsflight

Quidditch Position (If Played): Doesn't Play

Hobbies: Collecting porcelain dolls, eating (especially alot of sweets), painting

Religious Orientation: Christian

Physical Description: A lean, slender build with pale white skin, medium-long dark brown hair that comes down to her back, normally tied back in a braid, and light green eyes that always seemed to be filled with happiness. She is normally seen wearing a short sleeved white blouse with a black necktie around the collar, some black Bermuda shorts with black knee high socks, some black boots, and a black jacket, when not in school uniform. Chrystelle is not very tall person compared to most people in her family, standing at the height of 4'4'', giving her a somewhat cute appearance.

Personality: Chrystelle is a kind, cheerful, and sugar-happy girl who is very easy to get along with, never wanting to cuase trouble for anyone. She also eats alot of food (mostly sweets and junk food) and is very clumsy at times, sometimes tripping and falling face first into the ground, and getting back up with a smile on her face as if never even happened. Despite her happy, cheery mood, Chrystelle can also sometimes be shockingly serious when the time is needed to be serious, like in dangerous situations involving people she cares for.

Background History: Born and raised in the state of Pheonix, Arizona, Chrystelle is the only child of a muggle mother and wizard father. As a young child growing up, she was always raised by father for as long as she could remember ever since her mother had died from illness when she was five. From then on, her father tried raising her the best way that he could, making her happy in any way that he could, hoping that she could live a normal life like other child. Then six years later, one day while playing outside, her father receives a mysterious letter in the mail adressed to Chrystelle, soon to forever change her entire lifestyle.

((Is this good? If not, I'll change it.))

Jim sat in his bedroom that morning. It was dark and there was almost no heat in his room. Jim twisted and turned in his bed with the sheets over his head. Not only was it dark and cool, but he couldn't feel his toes. Jim shivered on the floor and started to rub his toes for heat. Then Jim herd the sound of feet walking to his screen door. Pretending to be asleep, as the door slided open, Jim waited for the good morning from his father. He could hear the screen door close behind his father. Then the loving old man sat on the floor, as he gave a deep grunt.

"Jim my son," He cooed to him," Their is a saying for those who fear things." Jims Father lifted the covers and started to stroke his hair. He kept stroking untill Jim pretended to get up. Jims father looked into Jims blood red eyes. "Anzuru yori umu ga yasashi," his father said as he kept on staring into his elbino sons eyes.

Jim streched out of bed and stood up on the wooden floor. He looked in the corner of his room and chuckeled to himself as he saw the books that his father picked up for him the day that they got the letter.

"Whats wrong my son."

"Oh nothing is wrong father," Jim said as he started to do his pushups on his knuckels.

"Then why are you worring my son," His father grunted to his white hair son.

"Well to tell you the truth dad," he said as he started to do sit ups," I am just... Just..."

"Just worried about who and if you are going to make friends?"

"Ya... Well," Jim stumbeled to say thats exactly what he was thinking. He sat up from the floor as he stared into the old wrinkeled asian face of his dad. He panted for a few moments and asked," How did you know?"

His father laughed," Expirence my son. Expirence." His father patted his son on the back and gave a cough.

"Dad" Jim said," Don't stress your self."

"Nonsense my son. I only cough because god wants my to."

"Ha, well then you must be popular with him then" Jim laughed and then started to be silent again. He looked at his father and his father looked back lovingly," Do you really believe that I can make friends?"

His father said in his mystical Japanese voice,"While it is always best to believe in ones self a little help from others can be a great blessing."

((I hope you don't mind me taking some creative liberty in explaining other ways of reaching Starcrest port, besides floo powder or phoenix flight. If there's a problem, I'll edit.))

Cassie

As she walked down the crowded streets of Starcrest port, Cassie couldn't breathe. It was overwhelming. Her breath had long been swept away on sight of this entirely strange but wonderful culture. The cramped and ancient buildings seemed to crowd over her, bearing down their large sings advertising new robes, wands or any other kinds of do-dads that Cassie only thought existed in fairy tales. People were shuffling passed, pressed next to each other, shoulder to shoulder, as they tried to travel down the cramped alley.

School was finally out and Cassie was excited, but most of all terribly nervous. What if they really did make a mistake? There had been nothing special about Cassie, and there probably will never be. Why start now? She was the scum of the world. A street rat. Unwanted. No matter how many times Jaquie reassured her that there was no mistake, Cassie still couldn't accept it.

After a day of traveling to California by plane, she and Jaquie had made their way down the state in a rented car packed with only a few of Cassie's personal affections. She never had many to begin with and never asked for much more. She didn't know how.

The trip down the coast was a huge shock in it of itself to Cassie. She'd never been outside her home-state, let alone near an ocean. The atmosphere was completely different. Everything was novel: new smells, new sights, and new sounds. She found that her mouth was hanging open a majority of the time, and she hadn't even reached the exciting part of her journey.

Jaquie drove up to a small and abandoned-appearing surf shack balancing dangerously close to the cliff encasing a small cove. The blue waves crashed upon the rocks in huge turrets of white and sprayed themselves high enough to be seen over the cliff's edge.

Cassie followed Jaquie out of the car and proceeded up the front steps. They creaked with age as she placed her weight on each. Cassie wondered how long this shack had sat here.

Jaquie quickly whipped out her wand, which Cassie still marveled at, and rapped sharply on the crooked door. At first, nothing happened. Cassie was about to suggest, jokingly, that she should have said 'Abracadabra.' When a small slit in the door roughly slid open and two darting brown eyes overshadowed by large, white caterpillars for eyebrows flickered quickly between the pair.

"What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?" the eyes seemed to say with a raspy and very old voice.

"Oh, come on, Fidelus, you know it's me. Please let us through," Jaquie said, rolling her eyes.

"Answer the question, Jaquie!" he said, almost child-like.

Jaquie sighed and groaned, "24 miles per hour. Now please open the door."

The slit slammed shut and the door slowly creeked open. Jaquie pushed it forward and from inside the deep and musty room, Cassie could see a small man, hunched forward, shuffling away into the darkness.

Jaquie whispered to Cassie as he disappeared around the corner, "That's Fidelus. He's a bit of an oddball already but he has to amuse himself somehow when he's the gatekeeper to Starcrest port."

Jaquie stepped inside the dusty shack and Cassie followed close behind. The door shut by itself behind her.

Although the cabin was musty, Cassie could still see. This place was definitely ancient, but it was filled with various devices in which she could never have dreamt of before.

In the hallway, there were pictures lining the small corridor, covering the peeling wallpaper. Sitting halfway down the hall was a small table. Cassie slowed to a stop and let Jaquie continue on as she quietly observed the odd little gadgets that were perched atop it. One of them was a small lighter.

Cassie picked it up and tried to hold it up to what little light streamed in through the cracks of the roof when she flicked it. Just as she did so, a lamp hanging on the wall lit itself. Thinking it to be coincidence, she looked up and down the hall before flicking it once more. A second lamp ignited. She continued doing this until each lamp in the hall was illuminated.

Smiling to herself, she set down the lighter and her gaze was brought up to one of the pictures that was hung just in front of her. At first, she didn't catch it. Then it happened again. The middle-aged woman in the portrait blinked.

She squinted and leaned in closer, wondering if the old oil lamps were playing a trick of the light. She tilted her head to the side, curiosity briming. But her guard was let down.

"Why, hello, m'dear," the portrait said, smiling kindly down at her.

Cassie stared, slack-jawed. In half a millesecond, she ripped herself backward and slammed herself against the opposite wall with a scream.

"What's all this racket?" another picture, one of an older man, grumbled.

"Can't you see we're trying to sleep?" more piped in.

This only scared Cassie even more. Pictures were moving and talking. Both traits that these (once-thought-of) inatimate objects did not lack. They were all now bustling and talking to each other.

"Sorry, ladies and gentlemen," the sweetest voice in the world said, interrupting the confusion, "She's not used to things like this yet."

"That's quite alright," the first portrait said, nodding.

The other portraits caught on and began apologizing for their own misunderstanding. All but one.

One particularly young man, with sleek black hair brushed back out of his eyes only glared down at Cassie with striking violet eyes. As she was led away by Jaquie, he hissed out, "Stupid mudblood."

At this, Jaquie turned around. Although Cassie couldn't see her face, she knew that Jaquie was upset.

"What's a mudblood?" Cassie asked, confused. It didn't sound good anyway.

Jaquie didn't answer immediately. Instead she just slowly turned back around and muttered, "Nothing you have to worry about."

Cassie could tell that it meant "drop the subject" so she did.

"Why do you still have that picture in the hall, Fidelus?" Jaquie hissed, leading Cassie through to the main room.

"I can't get him off! He's been cemented there by some sort of jinx. Trust me, I've tried getting him down many times. He's such a drag," Fidelus said sincerely, washing a few mugs that were sitting in the sink.

Jaquie just sighed exhaspiratedly and proceeded to the back of the cottage. There, she came to a lone door situated directly in the center. It didn't look all that significant. It looked to Cassie like just any door that any other person could walk through, but she'd been wrong before.

"Well, Cassie," Jaquie said, her tone now back to it's normal cheerfulness, "Welcome to Starcrest port."

At that, she threw open the door. Cassie expected to see the dropoff of the cliff behind the cottage but what she saw instead swept her breath away.

"What would you like to buy first?" Jaquie asked, grinning at Cassie's expression.

((Wow. Long. Alright, if it needs editing. Let me know, please.))

Name: Xi Ang Fa

Gender: Female

Age: 11 and 3/4

D.O.B.: November 17, 1994

Height: 5’ 5” (and growing, she likes to point out)

Weight: 116

Eye Color: Brown

Hair Color: Black

Build: Sleek, lithe physique; muscles of a martial artist

State of Origin: New York

Parentage: Pure Blood

Known Family: Mom, Dad, two older sisters, and an older brother

Desired House: Whatever (that is, she doesn’t care).

Quidditch Position (If Played): Beater

Hobbies: Reading, practicing her martial arts, beating everyone at everything

Religious Orientation: None; doesn't care

Physical Description: Xi Ang is, as her name suggests, of Chinese descent. She has long straight, shiny black hair. While she’s not overly muscular, due to her love of martial arts, she has a somewhat muscular physique. She usually wears shorts and regular t-shirts when she’s not in school uniform. Her eyes are brown and partially covered by her long bangs. She is tall and slim, with soft skin and lips and she often has this regal air about her, like she is a queen or princess (she usually acts like one too).

Personality: A loud mouth. She says exactly what she wants, when she wants, how she wants and doesn’t think anything of it. She’s a very beautiful girl, but she is brash, blunt, and very rude and unladylike. She failed most all etiquette classes she’s been required to take and doesn’t care. She’s a show-off and has placed top of her class in all fighting classes she’s taken, including archery, fencing, and hand-to-hand martial arts. That said, she doesn’t think before doing anything and because of this, often charges into situations that are way over her head and has to be saved. Few people are allowed to call her Xi and those who do who haven’t been “approved” receive a swift kick to the crotch. Her talents include fighting, cooking, and computer things. Xi has a very strong sense of justice, and hates to see people being mistreated. When the time calls for it, she can be very kind and caring. She enjoys long baths after a hard training session, training, and reading. She dislikes arrogance, the cold, and idiocy.

Background History: Xi Ang is the fourth and final child born to a Chinese-American wizard and a Caucasian witch. Her father holds a position as one of the higher ups in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in the Ministry of Magic. Her mother was once an Auror, but has since “retired” (that was, in fact, how they met) and is now a stay-at-home mother, though she occasionally picks the work back up for a bit, just to remind her of “the good old days.”

Despite having so many older siblings, her parents do not expect Xi to follow in their footsteps. However, Xi has decided to not only do that, but exceed them greatly. Her oldest sister, Fei Lan, is very level-headed. She is in her seventh year at Dragonsflame. Her middle sister, Yu Ting, enjoys tormenting and taunting Xi. She is very full of herself (she is very capable at performing magic) and constantly downs Xi’s lack of knowledge of the magical world, despite having grown up in it. Fei Lan serves as Yu Ting’s buffer. She is the one responsible for offering Xi some comfort after Yu Ting has downed her spirit. Yu Ting is in her fourth year at Dragonsflame. Her oldest sibling, and only brother, Chenglei, is a lot like Fei Lan. He and Fei Lan have an especially close, special relationship, as for several years it was just the two of them. He is very kind to all, and handsome as well. He works under his father in the Ministry of Magic.

Her father and mother are very laid back people. The entire household has a very relaxed feel about it. Her father, Ling, was the one who taught Xi martial arts. He taught all his children basic martial arts to keep up the family tradition, but thus far, only Xi has pushed him to really learn the art. Xi’s mother, Lisa, is very random and enjoys acting ditsy to not only embarrass her children, but also keep things lively. She is very proud of her kids, and her husband’s Chinese heritage (hence her decision to give all her kids Chinese names). Both of Xi’s parents attended Dragonsflame. Ling was in Wolfsfang and Lisa was in Falconsflight.

((My background history wasn’t much. u.u;; Sorry. I hope you're happy now, Porikins.))

"Why...do I have to wear this?" Peter asked, staring at his shirt. It had "Fletcher's Wands" emblem basically plastered on the front and back of a red and orange shirt, which looked too old for anyone to wear in this day and age. Looks like his Dad is giving people at Starcrest Port ammo. Oh well.

"You need to advertise, Petey. Can't get money for the year to come without kids buying their wands. I just need you to do a little..advertising." He said, taking out some Floo Powder and setting it on the table. The fireplace lay right ahead, and apparently, in some odd way which confused Peter, they were going to be going to Starcrest Port that way. It still didn't make sense to him, but he would find out soon enough if it was true.

"How come Matt and Simon don't have to wear this?" Peter asked, pointing at Matt and his other brother, who had already used the Floo Powder, and were vanishing in a spiral of green flames and smoke. This was followed by a bunch of yelling which caused his Mom to use it, and his Dad thrusting him towards the fireplace.

"Because....they're older." His Dad said, pushing him into the Fireplace and handing him a bunch of Floo Powder.

"Just say the place you are going clearly, then throw the powder down. You'll be there in a few seconds. Go to Fletcher's Wand." His Dad said, gathering up the last of his bags.


"Uh..", Peter said, looking at the powder. He didn't want to use it. It wasn't that he was scared. He had always watched his brothers and his Dad go to Starcrest Port, leaving him and his Mom at the house, since he wasn't old enough to go. His Dad had a weird rule: None of his kids who were old enough for Dragonsflame, or were accepted, could see Starcrest Port, or anything magical unless it was used in their own home. He knew it was safe, but it was just..odd. Oh well. "Fletcher's Wands!" Peter yelled, throwing the powder down. He was soon engulfed in green flames, and was sent spiraling down, as if a giant pipe had sucked him up. Houses and buildings where Fireplaces were settled flew by, and soon Peter forgot about the unknown journey through Floo Powder. The sheer art of it amazed him. Before he could get over the whole..amazement, he was flung out of a fireplace. Flying across the room, he landed on Matt, who pushed him off.

"Learn some manners, would ya? It isn't nice to land on people after a long journey." He said, laughing a little bit at his brother's lack of knowledge. "Maybe you wouldn't be flung so much if you grew a few inches."

"Shut up, Matt." Peter, said throwing a box that was lying nearby at him. His Mom caught it, and turned to Peter. "This is a WAND, and it is MERCHANDISE for your Dad. Don't throw it." And with that, she sat it back down. A moment later, their Dad came walking out of the fireplace. He obviously has mastered the art of Floor Powdering.

"Alright. Shop door, open. Sign ready, good. Magical Bell, done. Alright, last bit of business...Ah, Peter. You need a wand. Try this one." His Dad said, pushing a box onto him. As he opened the box, he was amazed. The wand, nine inches, oak, core of a owl feather, seemed to shine in the light. Picking it up, he waved it. Many things happened which can't be explained here, because it will just be embarrasing to write.

After a couple of tries, Peter finally had his wand. Ten inches, oak, with a core of a phoenix feather. Putting it away in a backpack he was given, he stood up and looked at his Dad. His Dad handed him a small bag, which contained some money, along with his list of school supplies.

"Oh, and here is an extra backpack. If you can't carry everything, then come and store some stuff here before getting the big things, alright?" He said. "Got it, Dad."

"Be careful, Peter." His Mom said, kissing him. "ARGH, STOP!" He yelled, blushing and moving towards the door. His brothers, laughing in the corner, was soon stopped by their father, who seemed to use a mouth-binding charm, or curse. He didn't know. "Alright, bye." He said, leaving the shop.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

A few hours passed by, and he seemed to get everything on the list down. He was wearing a new shirt, which is bought with the extra money. It was really embarrasing to wear that advertisment shirt, expecially when he got laughed at by alot of people in the shops he went into. His owl, which he named Pepper, sat in the cage next to him, hooting slightly. Pepper may seem like a sissy name to alot of people, but he had a reason to name her that. She was a grayish-white owl, which looked like someone sprayed, or poured, pepper all over her. There really wasn't much to describe.

"Now..back to Dad's shop...if I can get all this stuff there." He said, looking at the two backpacks, boxes, and containers which had all his school supplies in. "This is going to be fun."

OOC:

Cassie

That night, Cassie and Jaquie sat in their small inn's tavern, quietly enjoying their dinner and innocuously listening to the various others around them. Cassie took a swig of her newly tried (and loved) butterbeer and set it back down on the table, her eyebrows curiously furrowed.

"Jaquie?" she asked.

"Mm?" Jaquie responded, not looking up from the paper.

"What's a mudblood?" she asked.

Jaquie looked up, slightly annoyed. "Will you let this go?" she pleaded.

"No," Cassie said, stubbornly frowning.

Jaquie stared at Cassie, reminding herself it was no use fighting it. Cassie would find out sooner or later, and it would be better if it were now. Jaquie finally gave in. Taking a deep sigh, she said quietly, "A mudblood is..." she licked her lips, trying to find the appropriate words, "someone who is born of Muggle parents."

"And what are Muggles?" Cassie asked.

"What you thought you were before you received your letter. Someone who can't use and doesn't know about magic," Jaquie explained.

"And the word Mudblood is supposed to mean something to me?" Cassie asked.

Jaquie put her finger to her lips and tried to hush Cassie's loud question. Confused, Cassie asked why with only a single eyebrow raised. Jaquie explained, "The word is not... considered polite."

Cassie nodded slowly and said, "So you mean to say..."

"I mean to say don't say it! It's about as horrible as calling someone a --... Well, it's just a term used by someone who wants to distinguish a purity in their bloodline, wanting to prove something. It's disgusting really, to hear someone utter the word. Makes me sick," Jaquie said, taking a long swig of her own drink.

"But... how do we know that my parents weren't wizards?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter! Blood shouldn't matter! As long as you've got the talent, it should never be a factor in the equation," Jaquie said, slamming her cup down on the table.

Cassie took a deep breath and stared at her plate. She didn't feel sorry for asking, but she knew that it might have been a touchy subject for Jaquie.

"Were you ever called that?"

Jaquie sat up straighter in her chair and blinked a few times, shocked that Cassie had figured it out. Cassie was a sharp girl and could hardly let things like this slip by without notice. Jaquie let out a long shuddering gasp and finally said quietly, "Yes, but I'm not ashamed of my parents."

Cassie didn't speak at first, still staring at the plate. She let the initial tension of the conversation ebb away before she spoke, "You shouldn't be ashamed. It's only a word. It only holds meaning if you let it." She looked up and stared determinedly into her adoptive-mother's eyes, "I'm not going to let it."

Jaquie's gaze softened as she silently watched her brave daughter. She'd never heard anyone say such a thing. Slowly, she began to smile. This little girl had so much to gain.

"They can call me that all they want, but I'll prove it to them--... blood doesn't mean a damn thing to me."

Jaquie laughed softly and said, "You've got to be the wisest eleven year old I've ever met."

Cassie smiled in return and said, "It kind of helps when I've had someone like you around."

"Now you're just being a kiss-up. Finish your butterbeer," Jaquie said, jokingly.

Cassie giggled and did as she was told.

OOC:

"I told you, you should have brought it back in seperate trips, Peter." His Dad said, sort of laughing as he led Peter along the path towards the Inn. "We're going to stay the night here, and hopefully it gets your strength up, considering you will be lugging all of this to the Station." He continued, slapping Peter on the back.

"Ow...jerk." Peter mumbled, opening the door to the Inn to let himself, his Dad, Mom, and two brothers in. After his Dad motioned to the bartender, they took seats in a corner booth, enough seats for them all to fit there. Thanks to his brothers, Peter was forced to sit on the outside of the booth, which he knows they know he hates that. Stupid phobia.

"Alright....it seems you all have your supplies and are ready to go. We probably have enough to buy some supplies for the next year from the shops around here, so me and your Mom will head out after you guys leave to get some of them, alright? After counting up all the money...we have enough to give you all some, as well as buy a round of butterbeers. How does that sound?" Dad said, finally looking at the whole family.

"Butterbeer? Is that illegal for minors?" Peter asked. He knew it was probably a stupid question, but he didn't know what it was. Though it be Wizard things, it was never drunk at their house.

"Yes, Petey, don't worry." Dad said, getting up and going to the bar.

"Maybe it will make you grow." Matt said, pushing Peter, which was almost out of the seat. After regaining his bearings, he said "Shut up."

~_~_~_~_~

After the whole family got their butterbeer, the Mom decided to go get their rooms ready, as well as go to bed. That left Peter with his Dad and brothers.

"Remember kids, no matter what, just focus on your studies. Also, don't get into trouble. I don't want any of my kids to be kicked out of Dragonsflame, also..." Dad rambled on. Matt and Simon weren't paying attention, because it was obviously a speech they got every year, except with the added 'Watch out for Peter' deal. He didn't need two oafs to look out for him; he could look out for himself.

Staring around the room, he looked at the people in the Inn. It ranged from children, to families, to adults enjoying the night. They all looked so happy. Who knew the Wizarding world was so cool? Peter still couldn't believe he was going to be learning magic, and knew an exciting year lay ahead of him.

Xi slumped down the stairs. All she had to look forward to was another 12 hours of her sister’s taunting. That’s all she ever had to look forward to during the summer. She had few—probably closer to no—friends (though she’d admit she’d had offers; they were too stupid for her tastes though) to hang out with, and quite frankly, she had no desire to hang out with them anyway. They were hardly interesting or out of the grain in any way. The most risqu?hing her classmates ever did was wear tennis shoes with fancy clothing. The mere thought of it made her want to role her eyes.

She stepped off the last step and slouched into the kitchen, where her mom was seated at the bar, drinking a cup of coffee while she read a magazine.

“Good morning dear,” she said with a smile.

“Morning,” Xi grunted.

“Well lookee here. If it isn’t the resident Dragonsflame reject.”

Wonderful. She’d been downstairs for less than a minute and the litany of insults had already started. This had to be some kind of world record.

“Good morning to you too, Yu,” Xi said as she opened the refrigerator to get some milk.

“Why should I great you since you’re the one bringing shame to the Fa family. You’re the only one who has not been accepted to Dragonsflame. Perhaps you’re a squib!”

“Yu,” her mother said warningly as she gave her the Look.

Her middle sister merely smiled smugly. “I must have taken all the talent then seeing as I’m top of my class in all subjects I take at Dragonsflame. Poor Xi, there’s none left for you.”

“Yu Ting,” her mother said sharply.

“Get bent,” Xi replied as she poured herself a bowl of cereal and added milk to it.

“Xi Ang.”

“What?” Xi asked as she took her bowl to the breakfast table and sat down to eat. Yu was regarding her with anger. Xi merely offered her a smug smile, similar to the smile Yu had given her earlier.

“The mail already came?” Yu asked grabbing InStyle off the counter.

“Obviously, moron,” Xi mumbled. “Your magazine came, didn’t it?”

“Excuse me, who’s attending Dragonsflame and who isn’t?” Xi’s face flushed red hot but she said nothing as she glared at her bowl and shoved the cereal into her mouth. “Exactly.” She opened the magazine and began flipping through it. “Oooh, mom!” she squealed several minutes later. “Look at this!”

As she lifted the magazine an odd colored bright blue envelope fluttered from within its pages. It was addressed to Xi. The sender was Dragonsflame Academy. “Oh,” Xi cooed, “who is it trying to hide my acceptance letter from everyone?”

Yu flushed such a deep shade of red, it took all Xi’s strength not to laugh at her. “But I di—I would nev—I don’t know—it wasn’t—!”

Lisa leaped up from her seat and clapped. “Oh, Xi, that’s wonderful! I was starting to get worried since it was a bit late in the year. Well what are you waiting for? Open it, open it?”

“I’m savoring the expression on Yu’s face. To think she’d been hiding it all this time,” Xi smirked.

“I wasn’t hiding it! I didn’t even know it was there! Mom, I swear I wasn’t trying to hide it from anyone.”

“I’m sure you didn’t Yu. No one thinks that you did. Now calm down.” Xi slit the letter open with the knife her mother handed her and removed from within it a paper. Her eyes traced over it carefully. Slowly, a small smile began to form on her face.

‘Excellent. I’m in.’

---

“Xi, hurry up! You’re going to make us all late. All the good books will be gone by the time we get there,” Yu whined.

“Be quiet Yu, I’m coming.” The insults had been in amazing decline since she’d received her acceptance letter. Xi liked to believe that Yu had been too shamed by where the letter had been located and was now being much more cautious about her comments. It was mostly whining that she did now.

Jumping off the last step and rushing into the living room, Xi saw her sisters and mother waiting by the fireplace. “Your father’s gone on ahead,” Lisa explained. “Now hurry up. Grab some floo powder and let’s go.”

Xi nodded and followed her mother’s instructions obediently. Within a few moments, she and all her sisters were standing in Starcrest Port. It was bustling with activity as usual. Xi had done this so many times before that she already knew what she needed to get and where it could be found. First she was off to get her school robes.

Once those had been acquired, she went to pick up her books, and then to get her cauldron, parchment, ink, and quills. She picked up a new bag, along with a winter cloak (which she thought looked absolutely stunning though she would never tell any one that) and her gloves. And finally stopped in the wand shop, where she purchased her wand (11-inch maple wood with phoenix feather).

After picking that up, Xi went with her mother to meet up with the rest of the family again. Fei Lan held out two packages when they stopped in front of her. “Here’s your telescope, phials, and brass scale.”

Ling was the last to arrive at the designated meeting spot. He was carrying a cage, inside of which was a beautiful brown owl. “Her name is Redina. This is your present for getting into Dragonsflame.”

“Oh, thank you Daddy!” Xi exclaimed. “She’s beautiful.” And so they headed to the inn, where Xi placed all her stuff in her trunk, packed away for tomorrow when they set off for the Dragonsflame Bullet. As she lay in bed, Xi felt her entire body tingling with anticipation. Who and what would she find there? What challenges would she be required to overcome and how would she beat them? Regardless, her siblings had blazed the trail. She was going to do everything they did and more. After all, being the youngest didn’t necessarily mean being the weakest.


(( Long, but I'm caught up at least. :3 Makes up for lost time. ))

OOC: Ok, sorry if it seems like we're moving at a brisk pace here kids, but not that much has happened yet for it to be that big of a deal. Play catchup and all should be well...

Xander’s night was as he had predicted. A sleepless one. Rather than sleeping, he had spent his nocturnal hours reading. By the time morning had come, he had already read Years 1-3 of the Standard Book of Spells, not to mention the Dragonsflame Anthology, Basic Arithmancy, and a Beginners Guide to Learning Mermish. He had even practiced a few spells, as according to Amiteus, he wasn’t allowed to do so in the presence of muggles. However, as far as Xander knew, there were no muggles anywhere in Starcrest, and that made everything okey dokey. He had turned his bed pillow into a small boulder, managed to make his Converse tie themselves, and make the text in books become invisible. Regretfully, he had made invisible the book that held the counter spell to make it readable again, so he’d have to pick up another copy on his way to the train.

The hand on his watch finally clicked over to nine, telling him it was time to get his butt out of bed and start heading for the train. Gathering up his many books into his trunk and changing into a fresh pair of clothes, Xander started the arduous task of getting his trunks downstairs. Ten minutes later he was barely at the doorway. He quickly resolved that this was much harder to do when he didn't have Amiteus helping him out. A soft tone came from the corner of his room, where Luna perched atop his coat rack. It was then that a though crossed Xander's mind.

"Luna... you wouldn't be able to..." Xander looked down at this trunks and then to Luna. The phoenix seemed to get the point, as she quickly flew over and landed on the trunk closest to him. In a blaze of flames, the bird and trunks disappeared, leaving Xander feeling all that much better about the magical world. Xander walked downstairs, waving at the kind barmaid who had brought him dinner last night at exited out into Starcrest port.

It felt strange being in Starcrest without Professor Amiteus at his side. Not bad necessarily, just different. Everything seemed new, even though he had seen it all the day before. Walking the cobblestone streets of Starcrest, the young boy got lost three times before finally finding the bookstore had had spent so much time in yesterday. As the little bell rang when he walked inside, all of the store clerks looked at him nervously.

"O-Oh... it's you sir... Did... you want to buy some more books? We haven't gotten any new shipments since yesterday you know..." Xander smiled nervously, realizing that yesterday couldn't have been all that fun for these people.

"Oh... No, haha. Umm, I just need a new copy of one of my books. I kinda ruined it. Umm, Charming Your Day Away?"

"Ah! Ah yes! We have that one!" It seemed like not a second later that the attendants had produced another copy and practically shoved it into Xander's arms. He quickly payed payed and was sort of shoved out of the large shop.

"I must have made quite the impression yesterday..." Xander spoke to himself. He checked his watch, seeing that it was 9:30. Asking directions of one of the nearby women, or rather, witches, Xander set off for the location he was told. A few minutes later, a most wondrous sight came into view.

Set along the shore against the crashing waves, a sleek, silver bullet train billowed smoke into the air. All along the train hundreds of children said goodbye to their parents and met up with friends before boarding the train. Xander felt more separated now than he had the day previously. Most of these kids had been exposed to the magical world before. Xander was thrown in head first. This almost depressed Xander. But he was too much of a naturally happy person to be taken down by something as silly as this. Scanning the platform, Xander found his four trunks with Luna perched atop them rather easily. Large birds of a magical nature tend to stick out, though albeit less so here than in Laguna Beach. Walking over, Luna fluttered upward and landed on Xander's shoulder. Flagging down one of the attendants, Xander managed to get the trunks onto the train and, after a bit of searching, they placed the trunks into one of the racks above the seats in an empty compartment towards the back of the train. It was then that Xander resolved never to pack as much in the future.

Taking the seat closest to the window, Xander stared out at the ocean stretching beyond. Even though he had lived by the beach his entire life, something now made it seem so much more beautiful than it had in the past. It was now... symbolic. They were a symbol for the start of something new, for the start of something even better. Luna turned her head and stared at Xander curiously.

"Well, guess this is where everything begins..."

It was a nice, hot afternoon in Pheonix, Arizona, with the skies blue and lucid like they always were, and Chrystelle could be seen running around in a small, clean yard in front of a small house, trying to chase after a cerulean colored butterfly. As she was running around trying to catch the small winged creature, a man could be seen standing out at the mahagony colored door of the small house, happily smiling at Chrystelle.

"Be careful now, and slow down! You know how you are when you get to excited!" the man said.

"Okay," Chrystelle said to the man who must of been her father, "I'll be careful!"

Having that said, Chrystelle's father had turned away from her for a brief moment, about to walk away, until he heard a 'omph' sound. He had tunred back around to see that his daughter had tripped over a small grey rock, and fell face first into the ground.

"Are you okay?" He asked, with a look of worry in his eyes, staring down at his daughter.

"I'm fine," Chrystelle said looking up with a big grin on her face, with small particles on dirt on her pale face, "so don't worry!"

"Ah, but I can't help but worry. You're the only daughter I have, and I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you," Her father said, helping her up, "just be a little more careful when playing, okay?"

"Okay." Chrystelle said, and with that, ran back off to trying to catch the butterfly, only to fall again.

"That daughter of mine..." her father said, slightly shaking his head, while walking off to the house.

As he walked off, he noticed that the mail box had a blue envelope inside of it, and had taken it out, tp see violet colored ink on the front and a seal with two crossed wands making four spaces, an animal residing in each. A falcon, a tiger, a wolf, and a spider. Seeing this, he had let out a small sigh, and looked over at his daughter, happily running around after the butterfly.

"I guess the time has come," he said to himself, and then yelled,

"Chrystelle!"

Chrystelle had stopped in her tracks when she heard her father call out her name, and started to run towards where he was.

"What is it father?" Chrystelle asked, slightly tilting her head to the side.

"Come inside, there' something I have to show and tell you about." her father said, gently grabbing Chrystelle's hand and taking her inside of the house.

The entire house overall wasn't that big. It was more like a small apartment with, three bedrooms, a kitchen/dinning room, a very comfy living room, and a bathroom. Chrystelle and her father had went into the living room, where he father had sat down in his airchair, and she sat down on the snow white colored carptets. They both sat there in silence for a few moments staring at each other, until he broke the silence.

"A letter came in the mail for you today Chrystelle..." he trailed off, "but not just any letter."

"A letter for me? What is it about?" Chrystelle asked curiously.

Chrystelle's father had handed the envelope to her with a small smile on his face and said, "I think it's better for you read it and find out."

When Chrystelle had received the envelpoe from her father, she felt that it was very thick, which meant it must of had alot of important things in it. Without wasting anytime, she had opened the envelope, revealing a letter, and slowly read it:

“Dear Ms. Phrotus,
It’s is my sincere pleasure to inform you that you have been accepted at Dragonsflame Academy of Sorcery. Enclosed is a list of all of necessary books and equipment, which you will need to purchase before the start of term.
Term begins on September 1st and we expect your response by no later than July 31st.

Greatly awaiting your reply,
Jenalyn Nuual
Headmistress
Order of Merlin, First Class
Grand Sorceress
International Confederation of Wizards”

"Wow, is this some special school or something?"

"Yep. Dragonsflame Academy of Sorcery." Her father said, looking at her.

"So that means that I'm a w-"

"Yes, you're a witch, or should I say, half and half."

"So you're a wizard, and mom was a witch?"

"No, I'm a wizard and your mother is what we call a 'muggle'."

"Did you go to Dragonsflame?"

"Of course! I met your mother a few years after, we gotten married, and then had you."

"Wow!"

"Yep. I've been there, so now it's your turn to go there, that is if you want to."

"Can I?" Chrystelle asked her father.

"Like I said, it's up to you."

"I'll have to say yes then, becuase it would be so fun to learn about magic and more about the world I didn't know of!"

"Well then, get packed up becuase we're leaving fisrt thing in the morning!"

"Okay!" Chyrstelle happily said, going to her room, starting to pack her things.

When Chrystelle was out of the room, her father had looked back at a picture of a young woman with long dark brown hair that came down to her back, light green eyes, pale white skin, and a slender body. She was wearing a cream colored summer dress, and was happily smiling back him.

"Lillith..." he said, continuing to stare at the picture of his deceaseased wife.

---

The next day came, and Chrystelle felt many jolts of excitement flowing through her body, for the summer would be over soon, and she would be going to Dragonsflame for next year. It was currenlty seven twenty-five, and for some reason she found herself standing in front of the fire place with her father, who had a big smile on his face.

"Father, why are we standing in front of the fireplace like this?" Chrystelle asked.

"Well, how else do you expect us to get to Starcrest Port?"

"Starcrest Port?" Chrystelle asked confused.

"Yes, the place where you need to get your supplies from before going off to the school!"

"Oh, okay. So how do we get there by the fireplace?"

"Oh, simple! We use floo powder. Much faster and quicker that taking a plane all the way to California!"

"Cool!" Chrystelle said in awe.

"Now quickly grab some, and say the name of your destination which is Starcrest Port." her father instructed her.

Doing as he told her to do, in the blink of a flash Chrystelle was standing the the crowded, busy streets of Starcrest Port. Soon had father had appeared behind her, touching her shoulder, and said,

"Let's go look for those supplies you need now."

Before continuing on, Chrystelle had quickly pulled out he list of supplies she need for school, looking over them, fisrt having to get school robes. It didn't take long, but once that task was completed, she picked up her books, and then her cauldron with some parchment, some small bottles of ink, some quills, and a quill case, soon going down the list, buying everything that was required.

"Well, that's everything." Chrystelle said, staring down at the boxes and bags all of her supplies were in, also notcing that her father had dissapeared.

"Now where did he go off to?" Chrystelle thought to herself, looking around to see no one in sight, until she heard a voice say,

"I see that you've gotten everything that you need. Now for the surprise!"

Chrystelle had turned around to see her father holding a gorgeous looking black cat in his arms.

"Oh wow, he's so adorable! I'll call you Night, becuase your fur is so dark!" Chrystelle said, craddling the cat in her arms.

"Just a present for getting into Dragonsflame. Now when you get there, promise me one thing: That you'll do your best for you mother and I. Okay?" he asked her.

"I promise!" Chrystelle smiled.

"Ah, if your mother were here today, she'd be so proud of you. Well. let's head for the inn, because it's starting to get dark ." he said, ruffling Chrystelle's dark brown hair.

When Chrystelle and her father arrived at the inn, he had immediately ordered rooms, and Chrystelle went up to her room packing all of her stuff into her trunk for tomorrow when she head off to Dragonsflame. Soon after she was done packing her trunk, she had put on her night clothes for bed, and was currently lying in bed, with Night curled up beside her, staring out the window.

"Tomorrow will be the start of a new life and journey..." she trailed off, slowly falling asleep, awaiting the next day soon to come.

OOC:

OOC: Yay for catchup! Anywho, just one thing Dragonfire, when your charie asks her dad if her mom was a witch, he says no, but then goes on to day that he met his wife at Dragonsflame... Confused...

((Yeah, I noticed that too))

Alex mumbled incoherently in her sleep, cuddling closer to Cerberus. He always slept in her bed, and could only be pried away from her when Matt visited their Aunt's.

But this time something was different. Cerberus seemed to be wearing clothes, and smelled kind of musky.
“Matt!!” Alex shouted, “Stop letting Esme dress Cerberus up!”
“Ow...” mumbled a male voice. Alex looked up to see her older brother. He yawned sleepily, dark brown hair flopping into his eyes. To be honest, other than the eyes, he looked nothing like Alex. He was tall and gangly, and was easily the most emotionally balanced person in the family. Not that that was saying much.
The amount of fights he’d been in had rubbed off on him, and he had a slightly ‘bad boy’ image, which was in no way dispelled by the scar over his left eye.
Like Alex, he was very warm hearted, kind and could be incredibly comical. He had a goofy sense of humour, and had some popularity among the female students in Dragonsfire. Which, of course, he did not mind.
Matt could be an extremist – he disliked having a large group of friends, and spent most of his days talking to the house elf he’d paid to spy on Alex. Strangely, once you lost his trust, you never gained it again. In that respect he was very different from Alex – once you gained her trust you never lost it.

“Why’re you in my room?”
“I’m not in your room. You wouldn’t wake up so mum made me carry you here,”
Alex looked around sleepily. They were in one of the showy train carriages. “I don’t like it here. Too posh. And where’s Cerberus?!”
“He’s in the luggage rack. That dog loves sleeping more than you do...” Matt muttered, staring blankly out of the window. “And you just have to stay here till mum’s finished waving us off,”
Alex glanced out of the window, to see her beaming mother waving frantically at them. Half heartedly flapping her arms at the older woman, Alex slid into her seat. “So, who’re we sharing this carriage with?”
“Anyone not too intimidated to come up here. Or whoever’s brought up here cause they have money and ‘deserve’ to be in a good carriage,”
“I didn’t know mum was this... showy...” Alex glanced around again, taking in her surroundings. There was oak panelling lining the carriage, thick red velvet slips were put on the seats and curtains of the same material hung from the window. Every metal surface was obviously gold, and gold thread tassels hung from the window. “And had this bad taste...”
“She doesn’t even know this is one of the ‘posh’ carriages,”
“That would explain a lot...”

"GET UP!" a voice yelled, at which time Peter was propelled from the bed and onto the floor. Above him, his Dad stood, smirking down. "Time to go to Dragonsflame! I've got all your stuff already on a trolly, so you don't have to lug it. Your brothers and Mom are already in the car, so get up and be down there in a few minutes!" and with that, he ran off.

"Jerk." Peter said, standing up. Picking up the change of clothes off his bed, he proceeded to the bathroom, taking a uick shower and then pulling on the clothes. With his new wardrobe ready, he did a quick look over in the mirror, then ran out the door. At the car, his Dad and Mom were waiting, opening the door and pushing him in before getting in themselves. With all the tasks done, the car zoomed off to the station.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~

Too many people. Peter tried to push his way through tons of people on the train, but they seemed to be too interested in their talk to move, or are busy practicing magic. Moving past one car, a boy seemed to have accidently made a girl have an extremely large nose, due to a curse a few of the older boys told him. The girl was overly smacking him, and it seemed to draw a crowd. The middle cars wasn't the place for him.

Moving to the back of the train, the compartments seemed to empty. Only one or two people seemed to fill these, and it suited Peter more. Moving to one compartment door, he opened it and stared at the boy. The boy didn't seem intrested in talking, but maybe he would when the train started moving. Putting his suitcases on the seat for now, Peter moved inside and asked,

"May I sit here? The other compartments are filled with, uh, 'entertainment' "

OOC:

Cassie

It didn't take much to get her out of bed that morning. In fact, she was already down in the tavern enjoying a small breakfast consisting of an apple and a glass of orange juice at the high bar. She had finished her juice just as Jaquie came padding down the stairs. Her silver hair was tied up into a tight bun, wrapped elegantly with silver rings. Her caramel skin was complimented by flowing, colorful robes that seemed to fan out behind her as she approached.

"Do you have everything packed?" she asked, smiling warmly.

Holding the apple with her teeth as she did a Sudoku, she jabbed her thumb over her shoulder to point at a lone trunk sitting near the door.

"Ah," Jaquie said as Cassie bit off a chunk of her apple.

"Ha! Done! Finished in record time, too," Cassie exclaimed, grinning broadly. She wiped her chin clean of a little apple juice and flipped the page to do another game.

"How much sleep did you get last night?" Jaquie asked as Cassie began scratching away at the game.

"About three hours," she said, not looking up.

Jaquie watched her work for a few minutes, sorely regretting that it would be quite a long time before they would meet like this again. She began to feel lonely and tears immediately began to pool in her eyes. She inhaled deeply and looked away. Laying near Cassie's half-eaten apple was her new wand. Chestnut, 10 1/4", with an unusual core. The energy of Chi Spirits.

The use of Chi is very rare in wands, and this was the first time Jaquie had heard of any such thing used. The saleswoman got very excited when it appeared to be the right match for Cassie; she told them that she hadn't sold a Chi wand in a quite a few years.

As Jaquie held it in her fingers, she could feel that this wand was special. It was made for something great, but yet it also had the potential for something dangerous. The energy was very peculiar indeed, but Cassie seemed not to notice.

"I did it again!" Cassie exclaimed, making Jaquie look up, startled. "I finished even faster that time," Cassie said, smiling wider than ever. She closed her book and tucked it into her hoodie pocket.

"You're getting quite good at that game," Jaquie said, handing Cassie her wand.

Cassie picked up her apple, smiling and walked back over to her trunk, "What time is it?"

Jaquie looked at the clock seated on the mantel behind the bar and said, "It's about time we go. Are you ready?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Cassie asked, picking up her trunk.

-----------------------------------------

"Whoa..." Cassie said, staring in amazement at the train. Students began to file into the train as their parents waved them off, pets screeched or cooed, younger siblings ran between the crowds and the doormen began yelling for boarding.

All at once, she immidiately began to feel intimidated. So many new cultures, and so many new people, with so many new lives. It was all so different and all so terrifying. What if she couldn't find her place in the world just like on the streets of Detroit? It was all so unsettling to her. What if she was rejected here like she was there?

"You should get on board before you miss it," Jaquie said behind her, looking up at the train with a reminiscent gaze.

Cassie turned to face her and said serenly, "Jaquie... I'm scared."

Jaquie brought her gaze down to her daughter and saw true and completely normal fear in her eyes. How she would miss that expression dearly. She began to cry again and knelt down to tightly embraced her. Choking down sobs, Jaquie said, "Oh, sweetheart."

Cassie returned the tight hug, her eyes struggling to stay dry. She said through a quivering smile, "I'll come home for Christmas."

"You'd better," Jaquie said sharply, pulling away and holding her at arms length, "Let me get a look at you."

Cassie stood in front of her, feeling the butterflies nearly leaping out of her stomach. This was it. The moment of truth.

"You have to promise me that you'll study hard, and stay out of trouble. And that you'll earn lots of points for your House, and that you'll play your heart out for the Quidditch team--"

"What's Quidditch?" Cassie asked, curious.

"You'll find out soon," Jaquie said over the train's whistle. With another quick hug, Cassie turned to her trunk and pulled it aboard.

"Bon voyage, mon cherie!" Jaquie called out to Cassie just before she disappeared into the car.

Quick as a flash, Cassie was sticking her head out of the window and waved as the train began pulling out of the station. Jaquie's tears were now streaming down her face, but they were all tears of joy. Cassie could now finally have the future she deserved. Just before the platform disappeared around the corner, Cassie could hear over all the other voices, "And no fighting!"

Heh. Let's hope not, Cassie thought, doubting it very much.

She siddled down the corridor, trying not to bump into other students as they proceeded to their compartments. Most were filled with upperclassmen, others were filled with students practicing new spells they had learned over the summer, and more were talking loudly and excitedly as the train rumbled past the ocean.

Finally, she reached the very last car of the train to find a compartment that was only occupied by two boys. They looked to be about her age and, at least, approachable.

If she was going to make friends, now wasn't the time to be shy. Bringing out her usual confidence, she smiled at them.

"Hey," she said, standing in the doorway. "Mind if I sit here?" she asked.

OOC:

"Robes... Check... Books... Check..." It's been a day or so since Conner and his mother had arrived in Starcrest Port. But eversince then he hasn't had a chance to catch his breath exept when they stopped to grab a snack every now and then. Between the process of being fitted for robes and getting his wand, Conner was amazed by the sheer amount of people that surrounded him. But one particular shop really caught his intrest. The Broom and Quidditch Shop caught his eye every time they passed by it.

For next couple of nights he couldn't get even a few minutes of sleep thanks to everything he had seen. His mind was full of things such as the many things in his books. He had been skimming the pages and everything semed like a foreign language to him. Conner simply took his mind off these things by thinking of what ind of place Dragonsflame was going to be like and who would he meet. Would any of the poeple be like anyone back home? Or would they shun him since he knew very little of the wizarding world? "Nah..." He thought. Conner was pretty sure that there were a few people out there in the same boat he was.

~--------------~

"Conner, honey wake up... It's time to go..." He slowly opened his eyes and saw his mom beside him shaking him a little. "Huh? Go?" He said sleepily. Conner sat up as his mom got up and went towards his trunk. "The train's leaving today. Don’t you remember? You barely got any sleep last night!" Conner slapped his head. "That means..." His mom nodded. Moments later after dashing in and out of the bathroom multiple times Conner was finally dressed and they were off to the train station.

As he walked into the grand train station the sight simply made him drop his jaw. The oceans of bodies in front of him were swarming around what looked like the train. "Excuse me! Coming Through!" Conner's mom had grabbed his hand. Almost instinctively he grabbed his trolly and held onto his mother's hand as she led him through the crowd. As they got a little closer he caught a better view of the train. The quick jerk from his mom made him snap out of it and before he knew it he was standing infront of one of the train carrige openings. "Conner look at me," He mom knelt infront of him once again and she kiswsed him on the fore head, "I ant you to be safe and..." The loud whistle from the train drowned out everything she was saying to him. "...just make sure you write to us if there's anything wrong okay?" She said after the whistle died down. Conner nodded and kissed his mom on the cheek. "I'll be okay!" He reassured when he noticed that his mom was about to cry. An attendant took his trolley and Conner turned to the train. "Whew... Here we go..." Conner hopped aboard the train and aved at hi mom one last time before he dissapeared into the train.

From the looks of it he seemed to be in the middle section. "Excuse me.. Oh Sorry.." He squeezed through the other kids as he peeked into the compartments to see if any were empty. "Of course not Conner.. Duhh..."

Brett jogged around the base for awhile when he saw a bright light. He cautiously walked behind a building. He looked around and saw a figure. "Hey don't just stand there come on! We haven't got much time. The train leaves tommorrow morning and we need to get your things."

"So your the guy about the school right?" Brett was a little confused. He had only received a letter one day before and it was hard for him to pack when he had to go through drills the whole day. But he finally did and was out looking for the bright light just like the letter had said.

"Yeah thats me, Professor Fielman. We better get going Brett or we will never make it in time." The professor was somewhat tall, and had a humble feeling to him, but Brett could tell he was strict. "You've got your things together then right?"

"Yes sir. But it's all in my room. On the other side of the base." Brett said. A short burst of light and then his things were infront of him. "Whoa... That was...really fast. So if you don't mind me asking where are we going?"

" We are going directly to Starcrest Port. I have taken the liberty of getting all the basic needs you will need for your classes at Dragonsflame Academy of Sorcery. Now hurry up or we will be late." Brett and his stuff were lifted a few inches of the ground then teleported.

Brett looked around and found himself in an ally. A note floated down to his feet. He picked it up and followed the directions. They led him to a small Inn. he got his room and found all of his stuff ready for departure. He went to sleep, then woke up the next morning at 3:00 am.

"Excuse me sir, were is the train station to Dragonsflame?" Brett asked the Inn watcher.

"Just go down the street about a block and turn left. At 5:00 is when it opens. Until then you can look around, but I warn you don't go too far from the Inn." The old man said laughing.

"Yes sir, thank you." At 4:30 am brett walked over to the train station. It was already busy. he could see alot of kids in the same uniform as him. When the gate opened he was one of the first aboard. The train was slowly filling up but no one came and sat in the same compartment as him. They all know someone on this train. he thought to himslef.

Brett stuck his head into the hall and found that one kid about his age was looking for a place to sit. "Hey, I've got an open spot here if you want!" Brett had to yell to get his voice over everyone elses.

OOC:

It was around seven when Chrystelle had woken up, washed up, and had gotten dressed. As soon as she was finished getting dressed, she had dragged her trunk behing her by the handle, and left the room eith Night trailing behind her. When she was down stairs, she had seen her dad sittting down at a table, eating breakfast which consisted of some scrambled eggs, two strips of bacon, two sasuage links and some coffee.

"Good morning, do you have everything you need packed?" her father asked her.

"Yes, I've gotten everything." Chrystelle said, with a smile on her face.

"Did you have enough sleep last night," he asked, taking a napkin and wiping his mouth off to get the small remains of his food off.

"Yep! In fact, it was the best sleep I've ever had," Chrystelle said, looking over at the clock.

"Ah, it's about time we get going," Chrystelle's father said, dumping his plate in the trash, noticing that she was looking up at the clock.

"Are you ready?"

"Of course!" Chrystelle said getting her trunk and her cat.

---

"Wow," Chrystelle said, staring in awe at all the kids at the station with their parents with them, saying their final goodbyes, with children boarding the train.

"It's so huge," exclaimed Chrystelle, turning around to look at her dad, who had a look of sadness in his eyes.

"What's wrong father?" Chrystelle asked, gazing up at him.

"It's just that it's gonna be my last time seeing you before you leave for Dragonsflmae," he said, crouching down towards her, "I want you be safe, and make loads of new friends while you're there. Also write to me whenever you can, okay?"

"I promise." Chrystelle grinned.

Then they both heard the loud whistle of the train, echoing across the entire station, letting them know what time it was.

"I guess it's that time... well, go on, your future is waiting for you." Chrystelle's father told her, giving her a soft push forward.

Chrystelle started to walk towards where the entry where the car train was, with a train assissant helping her with her trunk, and she picked up her cat. Just before boarding the train, she had took one last look at her father who was waving at her, whom she waved back to before dissapearing into the train. When Chrystelle had gotten inside, she noticed alot of other kids with the same uniforms on as her which meant they were also going to the same school that she was going to.

"Well, better try to find an empty compartment before they get all full." she said, looking down at Night, who happliy mewed at her.

OOC: =D So many people posting! See? I'm a good influence on all of you...

IC: Xanders moment of solitude was made brief by the entrance of two people into his cabin. The first was a boy who looked about his age only considerably shorter. By at least a foot. He seemed nice enough and looked almost as nervous as Xander himself did. Besides, if he was going to make it in this world, it most certainly couldn't hurt to have a few friends. Without saying anything, Xander just motioned towards the seat with an open arm, a smile on his face.

Before the boy could even take his place though, the cabin door slid open once again. This time, however, it was a girl. She too was short, though not quite to the degree that the boy was. Her red hair was what really caught his eye. It reminded him of his sisters. Realizing that it probably seemed odd staring at the girls hair for so long, he shook his head out of its daze.

"Um, yeah, please. Take a seat. It's not really my place to say no is it now?" For some reason, he suddenly became overly aware of what he was wearing. Like he was trying to make a good impression. His top half was covered in a small vintage Barbie T-Shirt that was clearly made for a girl. His cross gender dressing continued with his pants, which clung to his legs. Not to the point where it cut off circulation, but tight enough to make it apparent they weren't made for a man to wear. As if this didn't make him seem weird enough, his black converse were dirty, their laces untied.

"Ahem... um, yeah... Hi... My name's Xander. Xander Michaels. It's nice to meet both of you. Are you two familiar with the magical world? 'Cause, umm... I'm not. Yeah, I'm... what did Amiteus all me? Umm... fuggle... truggle... guggle... Muggle! Yeah, that's it, umm... Muggle-Born... so this is all pretty new to me... Apparently my uncle... or, great uncle was a wizard, that's where I get it from. Umm, yeah, so... my name's Xander, this is Luna... I'm... going to stop talking now..."

Xander could feel a beed of sweat dripping down the side of his face. Why was he so nervous? Maybe he should just throw himself out the window and get it over with. That would certainly make thiings much easier.

Cassie

Shoving her trunk on the rack above, she sat down in the seat across from the boy who introduced himself as Xander. He was wearing a Barbie T-Shirt, which surprised Cassie a little. But once she got a better look at him, she realized that he didn't look all that feminine. She actually liked his style. It was different. Something out of the ordinary.

"I like your shirt," she said, giving him a genuinely warm smile. "I'm Cassie Mercer. Pleasure to meet you both." She held out her hand for Xander to shake, and then to the boy who had yet to introduce himself.

She was also relieved to hear that she wasn't the only person who was so new to all of this wizarding stuff. It made her feel much better that at least someone else was as lost as she was.

"Don't worry, I'm a... Muggleborn, too," she said, carefully deciding not too assume so much from her parents. She left for a reason, after all.

Tearing her mind away from those horrible memories, she looked at the creature perched upon Xander's shoulder. "What the hell is that?!" she exclaimed, realizing that it was real and moving. She half jumped out of her seat before she reminded herself to stay calm.

After putting his bags up into the overhead compartment, Peter went to take his seat that the other boy motioned to him. He noticed the boy kept staring at him. "Curse my shortfull, uh, ness." Peter thought, looking out the window for a minute. Before he could even take another breath, a girl walked in. Her red hair also caught his attention.

"Why..is my heart beating like this? It's only a girl...who cares? I saw them everyday at..school....what am I saying? I..don't know anymore.." Peter rambled on in his head, which confused himself, making him look like an idiot. The boy introduced himself as Xander, who also seemed to have a hard time finding words, and was also wearing the most odd clothes for a boy, and the girl as Cassie. After shaking her hand, he heard them say the word muggle.

"My Dad is a wizard...my mom is, uh...not one...so I guess I'm half blooded. I know some things about the magical world....but, uh, not alot. Also", Peter continued, "I have no idea what that is on your shoulder. I've never seen anything like it. All I have is an Owl..." Peter said, looking down.

"OH! I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Peter Fletcher!" Peter said, holding his hand out to greet the other two. "Also, do either of you know any spells yet? The only ones that I seemed to be able to get down were Lumos and Nox....but I guess that isn't impressive." Peter said, suddenly looking out the window. He was always sort of nervous around new people, expecially if there was a considerable height difference.

OOC:

IC: The two members of the cabin quickly introduced themselves as Cassie and Peter. It was a relief to hear that Cassie also Muggle parents, and even more so to hear that Peter was new to all of this as well. Knowing that people who came from wizard families were as nervous as him made the knot in this stomach loosen some. That same knot, however, tightened up once again when the subject turned to Luna, perched atop his shoulder.

"Oh, um, this is Luna. She's a phoenix. She used to belong... erm... well, her and my great uncle used to be close friends... well... umm... yeah, anyways, she'll be accompanying me for this entire year at Dragonsflame." Xander decided that having his pet phoenix in the cabin might make for a bit more attention than he wanted.

"Umm... why don't you go on ahead to the school. You know where it is, right?" The phoenix let out another musical tone, nipped his ear affectionately before disappearing in a burst of flames. Realizing that this left the conversation on an awkward note, Xander quickly tried to think of a new topic of discussion, but was saved the difficulty when the boy, Peter, asked if anyone knew any magic spells.

"Oh! Well, I don't know if it's anything really big or not, but I practiced a few spells last night. Umm, two charms. One that made my the text in my book disappear, and one that made my shoe laces tie themselves. I also figured out how to do this transfiguration spell. It was kinda hard, but I figured it out eventually. I turned my pillow into a boulder. I felt bad for the maid who had to make my bed this morning... So, what about you Cassie?"

“Xi, please hurry. You all will miss the train,” her mother said as she fretted, needlessly.

“Coming!” Xi called as she jumped off the final step and rushed outside. She felt an intense wave of jealousy when she saw her two elder sisters standing over the trunk of the car trying to figure out where they should lay their broomsticks. Involuntarily, she felt her lips pucker.

“Don’t pout Xi. You’ll be able to take a broomstick with you to school soon enough,” her mother said as she patted the girl’s back. “Now get in the car. Your trunk’s already been brought down and loaded into the trunk.” Xi slumped her shoulders. Chenglei and her father were carrying the final trunk out towards the trunk. She watched them pulled it up into the trunk and then she slunk towards the car.

“Xi Ang, I hope your not planning on leaving without saying ‘good-bye’ to your older brother,” he chided.

“’Course not Chouchi,” she said and went over to hug him.

“I’m so proud of you Xi,” he whispered into her hair. “Between me and you, I have faith that you can surpass Yu Ting in magic ability if you pay attention during class. Give me a reason to get a big head when I boast about you, sis.”

“Okay, Chouchi. I will. I love you.” She nuzzled into his chest and tried to hold back the tears that prickled at the corner of her eyes. It all sounded so final, saying good bye like this, even though she knew it wasn’t. She would probably even be back for the holidays. That was in a couple months.

“I love you too, Xi. Now! Into the car with you or you’ll miss the train.” He pushed her back and they shared one more moment where they stared into each others’ eyes and then he nodded firmly and she nodded back.

“See you soon, Chouchi.” And with that, she climbed into the car and flipped open her magazine.

---

Xi did not even notice the ocean when they first arrived by the train. Yu was being a pain again and she was too busy imagining ways to kill her to care. Pairing off, they each lugged their trunks towards the train. Save for Xi, who was left to drag her drunk to the train. ‘I hate you,’ she hissed.

“Oh, Xi!” her dad exclaimed when he noticed her. “I was going to come back and help you with that.” She grunted and with her father’s help was able to safely load it onto the train. The goodbyes were short and sweet, though particularly emotional for her mother, who was seeing her final child off on her first year of Dragonsflame. Xi felt a little embarrassed as she embraced her sobbing mother and promised to write her every week.

She followed her sisters onto the train and nabbed a compartment with Yu (Fei had got caught up talking to friends). She plopped down in a seat and pulled out her magazine again. Yu sat across from her.

“Hey,” she said as he bent down to get a better look at the magazine cover. “That’s my InStyle magazine.”

“So?”

“So, who said you could read it?”

“I did.”

“It’s not yours.”

“What’s your point?”

“Xi, you can’t just take my stuff whenever you feel like it! That’s my magazine; you didn’t even ask to borrow it.”

“You never ask to ‘borrow’,” she dropped the magazine in her lap to make air quotes before picking it back up again, “my clothes.”

Yu had no response for a minute. “Yeah, but you’re a guy. Why do you need to read InStyle. There’s nothing in the world that could make you look pretty.”

“Bug off.”

“Give me my magazine.”

“I’m reading it,” Xi replied.

“Xi, hand over my magazine!”

”Would it kill you to share, Yu? You aren’t even reading it anymore! You finished it weeks ago!”

”I would have been more than happen to let you read it if you asked.”

”Can I read your magazine?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s you. Your might get Xi germs on it.”

“You are so immature!”

“Whatever, I’m not the one stealing people’s magazines.”

“Go to hell!”

“Such foul language from an 11-year old. You bring shame to the Fa name. If not for my amazing talents, you’d probably have all ready ruined it. And you haven’t even been on the train for five minutes.”

“I don’t know how you have friends. You are such a jerk!”

“Xi, that’s no way to address your older sister.”

Xi stood and pushed open the compartment door.

“Where are you going?”

“You’re being a class-A donkey,” Xi said. “I’m not putting up with this for the rest of this trip.”

Yu got up to and followed her out into the hall. “Xi, give me my magazine, now.”

Xi paused and turned back around, “You know what? Fine. You can take your stupid magazine and shove it up your bumhole!” she screamed, before throwing it hard at her sister. She stomped into the next compartment where she promptly slammed the door and sat in the last remaining seat. There were three other kids in the compartment all ready—two boys and a girl. One of them was wearing a Barbie t-shirt.

“That’s a ridiculous t-shirt, by the way,” she hissed as she crossed her arms and stared out the window.

IC: Xander stared in awe as their, until now, nice and friendly compartment was interrupted by some girl on a fiery rampage. She seemed to glance at the three of them already in the compartment and then turned her attention on Xander.

“That’s a ridiculous t-shirt, by the way,” she spat maliciously. Xander didn't quite know how to respond. He only blinked a couple of times, opened his mouth once or twice as though to speak, and then closed it again as though to process what just happened more thoroughly.

"Well, I'm really very sorry that you feel that way. However, I don't really feel you're in any sort of position to be insulting people when you so rudely barged into our peaceful cabin and started slinging mud. Your rude demeanor is better fitting of a dog with rabies more than a young lady, or any sort of human being for that matter. So unless you're intent on making a school full of enemies this year, why don't you try sitting down and making nice with your new cabin mates rather than insult their choice in fashion?

And really now, was that the best insult you could come up with? Next time try something with a bit more venom, hmm? You could have just as easily said "You're shirt looks like something even my little sister wouldn't wear." However, that would depend solely on the fact of whether or not you even have a sister or not. Regardless, I'm sure my point got across.

And Jesus, this shirt was a pain to find. I went to twenty different Goodwills before I found it. So lay off why don't you?"

Xander blinked a few times. This kind of behavior really wasn't like him. He typically preferred to avoid confrontation, rather than meet it head on as he just had. Maybe this was all bringing out better qualities in him.

"My name's Xander by the way, pleasure to meet you. Miss...?"

Alex screamed as Cerberus' damp, cold nose found it's way into the side of her neck. Pushing her faithful companion away slightly, she sat up. "Matt left me in here all alone, didn't he?"

Cerberus barked, before tugging on her sleeve. With a sigh, Alex stood. Instantly she was dragged into the hall by the over eager dog, and down towards the end of the train. As she passed one of the comparments, she thought she saw someone beating Matt over the head with a wet fish, but she was going too fast to be sure.

Finally Cerberus stopped infront of a compartment. She stared at the door. The vaguely friendly atmosphere the other carriages had seemed to have been dispelled here. "Are you sure?" she asked her pet. He simply barked and she sighed, pushing open the door.

There was a mixed feeling in this compartment - an Asian girl was undoubtably in a bad mood and the other three people in the compartment didn't seem particularily comfortable with her. One of the boy's in particular - he was wearing a Barbie shirt - seemed slightly irritated, and more than a little confused. "Uh... I'm Alex... is something wrong?

"Uh, well...that's cool. I guess you make due with what you learn, even if it is creating and putting out light.." Peter said, sighing. Xander obviously read more of the book then him, but also didn't pick up on the small spells. Oh well, not everyone can get everything down. Xander soon told his Pheonix, who was introduced as Luna, to go on ahead to the school, in which she faithfully did. Now that everything seemed to be calm again, Peter started to stare out the window. His peace was soon interrupted by their cabin door slamming.

“That’s a ridiculous t-shirt, by the way." A voice said, and Peter was not keen on turning around, but did. There stood an asian girl, with long black hair. Wow, she looks like Samara, and the attitude didn't help release her from that nickname.

"That was sort of rude, you know." Peter said, looking at her as she insulted Xander's shirt. Even though Xander already pressed the point, he didn't want some obnoxious, irrate, girl disturbing his trip, let alone his FIRST trip. "If you don't want to be nice, or like any of our clothes, no one is making you stay here. You can leave, if you want."

As soon as both boys said what were on their minds to the new girl, yet another girl appeared in the doorway. Pulled by a dog, she looked confused, yet nice.

"Uh... I'm Alex... is something wrong?" The girl said, looking at the people in the compartment.

"Sort of....this girl came in here and started being rude and obnoxious....and she looks like Samara, too." Peter said outloud, but kept the last part of the sentence down to about a whisper, where maybe only Cassie and Xander could hear, if they wanted to. "Oh, I'm Peter, by the way..."

Cassie

When Xander asked about some of the spells she had studied over the past week, her stomach dropped as if she had missed a step on the stairs. She hadn't learned any. She didn't know she should have.

What a great way to start out the year. Already behind, she thought, mentally kicking herself.

She was just about to mumble something about not learning any spells when an angry girl burst into the compartment and sat down angrily next to her. The boys quickly took care of her attitude before Cassie could say anything. She was glad that the girl drew all of the attention to herself instead of on Cassie, so she silently thanked her.

She listened to the others talk as another girl appeared in the doorway and decided not to join the conversation until she was spoken to. Propping her elbow on the armrest of her seat, she rested her chin on her fist and watched the scenery outside changing as the train wizzed toward the school.

OOC:

Alex laughed lightly, "What, Samara from the ring?" she asked, glancing at the girl. "Come to think of it, you kinda do... Well, this place's full, so I'll be going, maybe we can meet up after the train ride or something," she smiled, turning to leave.

But Cerberus stood in the doorway, and was just too large to slip around. "C'mon Cerberus, move," Incessant barking followed, and with a defeated sigh, Alex turned back to the compartment. After a moment of deliberation, she used the small gap on the seat between the Oriental girl and one of the boys to leaver herself onto the luggage rack, and Cerberus soon joined her with an easy bound.

Alex shifted slightly before finding a comfortable spot on the stainless steel bars. Immediately, she began to feel uncomfortable "So... what're your names, and uh... how much do you actually know about Dragonsflame? Cause my brother won't tell me anything, and he ran off somewhere while I was asleep. And... do you know anything about the wizarding world?" Alex trailed off, secretly praying for a chorus of no's.

Conner made his way to the back of the train with a little bit of trouble. On his way there he slipped by a few people arguing and almost stepped on a rat that apparently belonged to the boy chasing after it. He kept peeking into other compartments hoping to at least find a seat. "Ah ha!" He said to himself after finding a compartment occupied by a man sleeping by the door. The attendant put his trunk in the overhead compartment then looked at the sleeping man curiously. Conner took a seat by the window and leaned back in his seat as thanked the attendant as he left.

Conner closed his eyes hoping to get some sleep in but was immeadiatly awoken by the barking of a dog. The sound was coming from the compartment behind him and Conner sighed. "So much for sleep... Hope that dog doesn't decide go of like that for the whole trip..." Conner then turned to the window facing to the inside of the train. He watched and scanned the faces of the many people that passed by and wondered if any of them was going to decide if they would sit with him.

Xi listened to the boy’s outburst and turned to him and narrowed her eyes. He certainly had a lot of nerve. He looked like a stick she could break over her knee. His very presence was angering her. And then certainly, her frown turned into a big grin. She liked him instantly. Despite being smaller than her, he’d stood his ground.

"You've made your point, whoever you are," she said to Peter, raising her eyebrow. "And please don't compare me to others. I don't really appreciate it when people do things like that." When people compared her to things, it was usually to her sisters, which angered her, especially in the case of Yu Ting. She refrained from rolling her eyes. "And furthermore, Samara and I are nothing a like. We don't even look similiar."

It was then that she noticed a girl standing in the doorway. She introduced herself as Alex. “Oh. I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there. Was this your seat?” she was going to stand and give it to her, but the girl instead climbed up onto the overhead luggage ledge with her dog and settled up there. “I…oops.” She dropped back into the seat and looked around.

“The name’s Xi Ang and if you value your baby maker, that’s what you’ll call me.” Only those close to her could do that. It was a bit brash, but she hated it when people shortened her name without her permission.

The girl who had just climbed up above her spoke. “So... what're your names, and uh... how much do you actually know about Dragonsflame? Cause my brother won't tell me anything, and he ran off somewhere while I was asleep. And... do you know anything about the wizarding world?”

“I’ve grown up in the wizarding world. I’m a full-blood, both my parents were magical. Dragonsflame is one of the best, most prestigious schools for teaching wizardry and magic to on the North American continent. I’ve heard it said that students who attend Dragonsflame have a leg up in the magical world.

“The headmistress of the school, Professor Nuaal, is considered one of the best witches in her time. And on top of that, she was an amazing Quidditch player. All in all, consider yourselves lucky for being invited to the school. Every witch and wizard wants their children to go to Dragonsflame for their schooling. I have two older sisters, one’s a seventh year and the other’s a fourth year, and an older brother who’s already graduated, so I’ve been through this many times. Feel free to ask questions.” ‘Just don’t make them stupid ones,’ she added silently.

She blinked back at the others in the compartment. “I’m guessing most all of you are new to the wizarding world, then?”

OOC: Haha, oi, it would seem that we've slipped into one of those infinite loops of repeated conversation. Time for a plot bump...

IC: Xander slowly massaged his temple as the level of conversation in the compartment quickly jumped up again. While Xander was all for making friends, this was just starting to give him a headache. Glancing over at Cassie, it seemed to him that she was feeling similarly. This just wasn't going anywhere. Turning around on his knees and reaching into the luggage rack, Xander fiddled around in his trunk, finally removed from it a copy of Pride and Prejudice and his IPod.

Xanders mood quickly lessened further when he realized that his IPod wasn't working. He could have sworn that he had charged it two nights previous and this was certainly the first time he had used it. Finally he just resolved that it had something to do with the magic around him. Placing his IPod back into the trunk, Xander just further cushioned himself into the corner of the seat, flipping through the book until he reached his bookmark. Humming The Cure to himself, Xander kept himself occupied for a better portion of the train ride.


*******************************************************************************

A few hours passed and Xander had been taken into the world of Miss Jane Austen. The bright rays of yellow sunshine that had been seeping into his compartment had been replaced by deep orange rays as the sun began to set. Replacing his bookmark, Xander replaced the book in his trunk and stared out the window. The scenary hadn't changed much from what Xander could tell. From their position in the train, they were still against the ocean. He was almost tempted to get up and see what the cabins on the other side could see, but he felt that took more effort than he was really willing to put forth at that moment.

"How long is this train ride going to take?" He said to no one in particular. Glancing out the window, he was taken by surprise as the scenery, for the first time since departure, began to change. Either the train was getting lower, or the water level was getting higher, because in what seemed like no time at all, the water was starting to press against the windowpane.

"Umm... guys? Is it just me or are we sinking?" Some higher force seemed to answer the question for him as almost instantly the train dove underwater. Rays of golden sunshine were instead replaced by cerulean blue water pressing against them.

"Oh my god..." Xander stood up, pressing his face against the glass like a kid at the zoo. It was the most amazing thing he had ever seen in his life (A heading that continually kept topping itself each moment he spent in the magical world.). Fish the likes of which he had never seen swam past the glass. This only got weirder as creatures the likes of which he had never seen chose to be brave and poked the the glass curiously.

"I could totally get used to this whole magic thing..."

Chrystelle had continued to make her way to the back of the train, occasionally bumping into people, still trying to find an empty compartment. After a while, she had finally came across one that wasn't full that only had a sleeping man sleeping by the door, and a boy who looked about the same age as her.

"Um, excuse me, do you mind if I sit here with you," Chrystelle asked, putting her trunk in an overhead compartment and sat down.

"My name is Chrystelle Phrotus, pleasure to meet you," she said, to the boy who hadn't introduced himself yet with a warm smile on her face, "and this is my cat, Night."

Chrystelle had slightly held up the cat, who mewed happily at the boy. After introducing herself, she had put Night down, and started to look out the windows at the scenery they were passing by, noticing that the sun was starting to set, with it's orange rays of light, hitting the window. She continued to look out of the window, and started to notice something different about the scenery. Water was starting to rise and press against the windows, until she could no longer see the sun's rays shining through the window. Instead she seen cerulean blue water surround them everywhere through the windows.

"Wow, it's so beautiful," Chrystelle exclaimed, looking out of the window, watching all sorts of fish swim by the windows.

"So what's your name, and is this your first time going to Dragonsflame?" Chrystelle asked, the boy, continuing to stare in awe out the window.

OOC:

"My names Peter, and I would like to keep my, uh, baby maker, thank you very much." He said also rubbing his temples. As Xander pulled out Pride and Prejudice, Peter decided to read Standard Book of Spells Grade 1, just to get his knowledge up. Flipping open to his bookmark, on the page with Nox on it, he continued to read. All sorts of different spells came up, some of which peaked his interest, some of which including Wingardium Leviosa, which was a charm that let you levitate things, Repairo, which let you repair some objects, and Flippendo, which really wasn't a good spell, unless you wanted to knock someone back. Putting these into his mind, he continued to read on, but the more advanced first year spells confused him.
~_~_~_~_~_~_~

"Why do they have to make spells to complicated..." Peter said, closing his book and placing a bookmark in it. He realized alot of people really hadn't said much for the rest of the train ride, except for the outburst from Xi Ang.

"Lively group you guys are." He said, placing the book inbetween him and Cassie, and using it as an armrest. Hey, some things need to be useful for..other things sometimes. Staring at the door and Alex, who was sitting in the Luggage Rack (And him thinking she was a complete nutcase with that weird dog of hers) he didn't realize what was going on around him.

"Umm... guys? Is it just me or are we sinking?" Was Xander's comment, and the only one to bring him out of his boredom trance. "Holy crap." Peter said, as he DID realize they were sinking. As the deep blue water rushed around them, he thought of holding his breath, but then remembered the train was magic, and he would look stupid if her did. As Xander exclaimed about the sea creatures, he was also amazed.

This was better then SeaWorld.

Several hours passed and Xi entertained herself by reading the InStyle magazine she had nicked from her sister (with Fei's help). Thus far, she'd been unimpressed with most of the clothes she'd seen them advertising, though several pairs of shoes did catch her eye. If there was one thing that Xi would almost never pass up if she had the chance, it was shoes--boots, in particular. She loved shoes. She'd moved over to sit by Xander who was sitting all alone a while ago, and could thereby feel him fidgeting next to her. She watched him put a bookmark in his book and close it.

"Lively group you guys are," Peter spoke up as he placed a bookmark in his own book and shut it.

Xi replied without looking up from her magazine. "Oh I'm sorry. Did you want me to talk to you while you were reading your book?" She turned the page and continued reading. She hardly even noticed when the sunlight was replaced by water as the train was submerged in the ocean, and to be honest, she didn't really care. She'd grown up seeing pictures of these animals. She'd leave Xander and Peter to get excited in her stead. There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Xi said. It opened and her eldest sister, Fei Lan, stood in the doorway.

"Hey Xi. Yu and I bought some candy, and we thought you and your friends might want some," she said with a smile.

"All right, thanks," she said with a smile. She suspected only Fei wanted to bring the candy, but she loved her sister's all-including attitude. It alone had sustained her for eleven--almost twelve--hellish years with Yu Ting Fa.

"I'll see you later then," she said. She smiled and nodded at everyone to show that she'd acknowledged their presence and closed the compartment door and left.

The bag Fei had handed her was full of multi-colored jellybeans. She held them out. "You guys want some candy?"

Alex woke with a start. She looked down to see one of the boys staring out of the window in amazement. "Not used to magic?" she asked laughingly. "And no thanks, 'less you've got chocolate,"

Leaning back she started contemplating the Oriental girl's reply, as the others obviously knew little to nothing of the wizarding world. The preteen hadn't recognised her that was for sure. "Well, I never was as unlucky as Matt," she whispered to Cerberus. He immediately barked at her comment, and she smiled. "Yeah, yeah, and you're a wonderful dog not to take me into a carriage with some money obsessed freak who vaguely knows my mum or something," she breathed, sure no one could here her words in the crowded compartment below.

With a long yawn, she cuddled up to Cerberus. Only several hours had passed, and Matt often enough described the train journey to Dragonsflame. It was going to be a long and seemingly boring trip. "Hey, does anyone wanna play cards or something?"

Conner continued to lean back and look at the people passing by until the sound of the door had him looking around. As it opened a girl emerged from it. She was fairly short and had dark brown hair. He simply smiled and turned towards the window once again. As the train began to move he began thinking about his friends back home and how they reacted to his "I'm going of to boarding school" story his parents were going to give them. Before he knew it Conner had begun to notice that the train began to descend in to the blue ocean beneath them. "Well now... This keeps getting better and better..." He observed the various creatures and fish that swam through the ocean.

"So what's your name, and is this your first time going to Dragonsflame?" The girl who sat across him asked.

He regained focus and turned towards her. "Oh I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself yet have I? My name's Conner McKnight. Pleased to meet you... Chrystelle was your name right?" He remembered she introduced herself the a few moments after she came into the compartment. "And yup this is my first time going to Dragonsflame... How about you?" HE asked.

Cassie

For the past few hours, Cassie had been staring out the window, all the while not seeing much. Her thoughts were drifting elsewhere, mainly already exploring the school and wondering what life would be like without Jaquie there with her. It was a very lonely thought that made her feel immediately homesick. She hadn't even been to the school yet and she already wanted to be with the most caring woman on the planet.

She didn't even realize that the train was sinking below sea level until the water crashed in white swirls against the window, plummeting their compartment into the deep. She immediately lifted her head and pressed her nose to the glass just as Xander did. It was the most amazing thing she had ever experienced. She could tell it was going to take quite some getting used to this whole magic business... which everyone seemed to already have a head start on. She mentally kicked herself again at the reminder.

But just as she watched a large school of fish swim passed the glass, a larger creature poked it's head up from below and tapped lightly on the glass. Cassie looked down and immediately said, eyes wide, "You've got to be kidding me." The creature had long flowing green hair and pale green skin. It almost looked human. And almost as quick as it had appeared, it had gone. "Was that what I think it was?" Cassie asked amazed, turning to the others and pointing at the glass.

Something out in the open sea caught her eye and she turned again to see three of the same creatures swimming up to greet them, curiously watching the train as it sped along. They all had long flippers where their legs should have been if they were human. Cassie started laughing and said, her eyes sparkling with excitement, "Mermaids! Those are mermaids!"

The bunch of (once-thought imaginary) creatures swam next to the train for a few minutes before trailing back to watch the rest of the compartments at the rear. "This... is unbelievable," she whispered, pushing her cheek to the glass trying to get another look at the strange visitors.

"I could totally get used to this whole magic thing..." Xander said.

Cassie glanced at him and said as she smiled, "Good luck with that." She turned back to the glass, "I think it's going to take a lot more for me to finally understand any of this..."

Cassie's attention was drawn away from the glass as Xi Ang asked, "You guys want some candy?"

She curiously furrowed her eyebrows and questioned, "What are these?" She picked a deep blue jelly-bean and held it in her hand before taking any chances. From what she'd seen so far, anything was possible; especially when it came to food.

OOC:

Name: Rundee Lightweaver, of the Punjab.
Gender: male
Age: 12
D.O.B.: Jan 23rd.
Height: 5’5’’
Weight: 102
Eye Color: near black
Hair Color: black
Build: very slim
State of Origin: NW India – London, England – Canada, Vancouver.
Parentage: Believed pure blood.
Known Family: Extensive… actually part of the reason he went to America.
Desired House: He cares little about houses so no preference [though desires not, Spidersilk].
Quidditch Position (If Played): Chaser
Hobbies: Amateur Quidditch, pranks, dragons, travel, Quidditch team ‘Vancouver Vampires’, Gatka [Dueling].
Religious Orientation: Sikhi [Somewhat devote in its general rules found across all major religions]
Physical Description: Some could call him skinny but he is just within the ‘safe’ weight and considers him self healthy. Black hair that varies in length considerably as he cuts it very short but only bothers to get it cut a few times a year. Can be as long down to his eyes or as short as 2mm. His skin is ‘Arabian’ looking and is light brown. His eyes are dark as too is his hair.

Personality: Would not describe him self has antisocial but would admit to thriving more alone than the average person. He has spend much of his time travelling between his extended family. Motivation is not his strong point, as he gets bored rather quickly when given a task. The only times he keeps stimulated is if he causes mischief along the way. Mildly sadistic, but only to his friends and informal associates. He tried to be polite to people he knows little about, encase he inadvertently insults them.

With his upbringing closely associated with Sikhi and the art of Gatka [Martial art], he has a strong moral bereave and follows the rules it recommends, though some lesser ones he often bends.

He could be described as a bit wild or rough around the edges. He has rarely stayed in one community long enough to fully grasp their social and cultural customs. This has made him a bit 'off'.

Background History:

During these 12 years he has seen a lot. He was born to a poor but loving family, in the backwaters of India. By the age of 2, he and his family emigrated to England with the pursuit of economic benefit. This 'economic' benefit was quick in coming. The house and objects within it were pristine in the continued pursuits of the 'social' code. His mother and father both worked long hours to make this possible in only a few short years. Also the believe in saving was deeply embedded. Hand-me-downs were common were possible and gifts given generously, received graciously, though these gifts would often be kept rapped so that they could be given generously again.

Contact with relatives in India and Canada was strong as the family had a strong sense of keeping contact and appearances. This 'social' behaviour was particularly despised by Randee.

At the age of 7 he was aloud to discover the secrets of the family which were they had powers relating to light. While the immediate family was no longer active in the pursuits of magic [as they preferred the safer life among regular people, particularly as they them self’s came from a word of poverty with magic banned among regular people], their were others who did actively use magic. This would take him to Canada and his relations their.

His Canadian relatives were far more magically oriented and less afraid to use it unlike their Indian and English counterparts. Randee was allowed to move there as he constantly requested he be allowed too. It would be here that his love of Quidich would develop. The local side ‘Vancouver Vampires’ came 3rd that year in the national league, and ever since he has been a devout supporter.

The relations from Canada decided to apply for him to go to one Americas best schools in USA, which Randee was only too pleased at. The story starts here.

Little is known to Randee about his families ancestry in India apart from it was believed to be rich. The power of raw light is not a common one as a trait but for some reason, all with the family’s blood seem to become competent in light based spells. His is due to the fact that the Lightweavers have accumulated several books which are passed down to aid learning.

OOC: Ok, so my posts may be a bit... few and far between for the next couple of days. I'm kinda being being hospitalized right for a severe case of pneumonia. But luckily, since I'm at the hospital where my step dad works, I'm in one of the better rooms. And that means that I have an ethernet connection. Who knew that hospitals had ethernet connections, right? Anywho, my nurse is probably going to come yell at me in a second for being online, so I'll try and post later on tonight. Sorry about the delay.

Oriana

OOC: Double post but... meh x.x; I'm medicated, gimme a break >__>

IC: The train continued to speed on underwater for quite some time, three hours at least. However, considering the scenery, Xander really wasn't going to complain any time soon. Somewhere during that time, one of the older students popped his head into each of the compartments. He looked about sixteen with messy black hair that partially hid his face with equally dark eyes hiding behind his bangs.

"Oh hey guys, just thought you should know, we'll be arriving in a little under an hour, so you might wanna change into your uniforms." With a smile, he exited the compartment to continue on his way. Xander shook his head a bit to escape the dream like world he had slipped into, and reached into the luggage rack, fumbling with his trunks until he found the one with his robes. After a few minutes of fighting with his trunk, he managed to extract the robes from their confines.

Made of silver threading, the robes were definitely finely crafted, even if they were a bit ostentatious. The uniform was a bit preppy. Button up shirts were worn under white sweater vests. Boys wore gray slacks while girls wore skirts, the robes worn over all of that. By the time Xander had managed to get into one of the bathrooms to change and made his way back to the compartment, it seemed as though their trip was nearing its end. The older students were all moving about in the corridors and trying to get as close to the exits as they could. Xander began to feel overwhelmed for the umpteenth time since he'd entered the magical world.

"I guess we're almost there, huh?" He spoke to no one in particular. As he moved towards the window, his question seemed to answer itself as the water began to recede. Moonlight reflected off of the waters surface and shown into the cabin magnificently. As the water left his vision, Xander was treated to an equally wonderful sight.

Beaches of pure white sand met the crashing waves, a wild jungle loomed on the shore, and far off in the distance, Xander could just make out pin points of light that were surely coming from the school.

"Dragonsflame Island! Last, and only, stop!" A conductor yelled as he walked through the corridors.

"I guess we're here..." Xander began to exit when a thought occurred to him. Glancing at the luggage rack, Xander once again spoke to the cabin as a whole. "Um... what do we do with our luggage?" He wasn't particularly looking forward to dragging all of his luggage outside. But once again, some sort of higher power seemed to answer the question for him. This time, however, in a sugary sweet tone.

"First years! All first years follow me now, follow me! Leave all your luggage and animals on the train, they will be moved into your dorms for you! Now then, everyone off the train now, the carts will be leaving soon with you on them or not!" The voice was singsong and grandmotherly in every way. The speaker walked past the open door of their compartment and looked in smiling sweetly. She was a short woman, a little plump, with gray hair in ringlets falling down her back. She wore snow white robes with glittering stars embroidered into them.

"Come on now children, don't dilly dally!" She giggled sweetly and moved onward. Xander glanced at the other members of the cabin and shrugged, moving out into the hallway. He suddenly felt like a sardined packed into a can far too small even for salty fish. Student's all pushed past, eager to get off of the train. When he finally reached the doorway, Xander stepped into the crisp nights air.

It was really happening. He was really going to magic school.

OOC:

"Oh hey guys, just thought you should know, we'll be arriving in a little under an hour, so you might wanna change into your uniforms." Alex woke at the voice, sleepily pushing herself upright.
"I smell like wet dog..." she mumbled, sniffing at her uniform. She contemplated changing, but immediately dismissed the thought - she had no idea where her trunk was. Leaning against Cerberus again, she began to doze.

But the conductor's shout woke her again. Irritably, she slid off the luggage rack, soon followed by Cerberus. Drowsily, Alex twisted her fingers through his decidedly shaggy fur. Rubbing her cheek, she glanced out of the window, instantly freezing.

"That's gorgeous," she breathed, gazing out into the clear night. Rivulets of salt water traced down the windowpanes leaving smears on the glass, but that did not take away from the beautiful view.
A brilliant full moon lit the scene, bathing the island with a light almost as bright as the sun. Tiny wavelets sparkled as they splashed against the pearly, gleaming sand. The smell of the sea finally penetrated the cabin, and the howls and screeching from the jungle could be heard with ease.
For a moment Alex thought she saw a creature venture past the tree line, a four-legged beast on slightly shorter than her. But then the shadow vanished into the foliage once more.
Pinpricks of light were visible in the distance, and Alex smiled at the thought of the school. The lights must have come from several of the higher floors, as they seemed to hover behind the forest.

The others in the compartment may or may not have spoken, but Alex didn't hear them. She was too caught up in the beauty of the island, and in trying to work out what that creature may have been.
Only when Xander edged past her was Alex brought out of her half-trance. With a shake of her head, she turned to enter the corridor.

Outside the carriage it was pandemonium. Dragged along with the crowd, Alex eventually made her way through the packed and boiling train and out into the freezing night air. Shivering, she crossed her arms over her chest, only then noticing that Cerberus was missing.

For a moment she looked around, before tightening her grip on herself. "He'll find me," she mumbled.
"You believe in me!" Alex turned slowly at the voice, facing her grinning older brother.
"I wasn't talking about you,"
"Sure you weren't,"
"I wasn't!"
"And I didn't argue with you... you do realise you have to follow that woman, don't you?" Matt asked, pointing at an elderly lady in sparkling, silvery robes.
"... Yes?" Alex smiled sheepishly, before running towards the woman, slipping through the crowd with considerable ease.

The underwater trip was stilling keeping Peter's full attention. He was mystified that a train could go underwater, and yet still not begin flooding. Magic truly was amazing. As the time past, he also noticed an older boy, about sixteen, walk into the cabin.

Oh hey guys, just thought you should know, we'll be arriving in a little under an hour, so you might wanna change into your uniforms."

"Gotcha" Peter said, standing up in his seat. Looking at the rack, he stood on his tiptoes, yet tried not to make it obvious, to open his baggage and pull out a robe, as well as the dress sweater, tie, and gray slacks. Excusing himself past Cassie, he made his way to the bathroom, waiting for Xander to exit. After a few minutes, Xander exited and Peter went in, changing into his school uniform.

"I look like I did at that stupid Private School that I went to in third grade." Peter thought, flushing as he, embarrased, still looked the same, basically. Still flushed, he exited the bathroom and made his way back to the compartment, and waited for the train to arrive at Dragonsflame. He was too perplexed with everything that was happening to hear Xander's comment.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

"Dragonsflame Island! Last, and only, stop!" A voice yelled down the hallways, as kids started to get ready as the train pulled to a complete stop. People poured out of the cabins, laving their stuff apparently.

"Do they not care about their stuff?" Peter said, turning to ask Cassie or another person in the cabin, but a voice also reached his ear.

"First years! All first years follow me now, follow me! Leave all your luggage and animals on the train, they will be moved into your dorms for you! Now then, everyone off the train now, the carts will be leaving soon with you on them or not!"

"Ok then.." Peter said, exiting into the crammed corridor of students. He spyed Xander a ways ahead, but decided against yelling his name until they reached the outside. As he steadly moved towards the exit, he heard the women's voice yet again:

Come on now children, don't dilly dally!" Stepping into the night, a wind swept over him, and before he could enjoy it, a kid pushed him off the step, and he went cannering into the ground.

"Move it, shorty." The boy said. He towered over Peter by about a foot, and looked like he was raised by PitBulls (and acted like it too). Getting up, he was glad the boy didn't do anything else. Looking around, he spotted Xander. Running over to him, he asked.

"Uh..mind if I stick with you? I don't know anybody else, and my brothers are pains in the butt..."

OOC:

Xi little attention to the boy who stuck his head in the compartment to alert them to get dressed. She spared him little more than a glance before returning to studying a pair of boots. She had finished reading the magazine well over an hour and a half ago, but she'd had no desire to start a conversation with them; they were too busy pressing their noses and gawking out the window like idiots.

Peter and Xander exited shortly thereafter to go put on their robes. Alex climbed down from the luggage ledge and wandered out into the hall. Xi was still sitting in the compartment in her street clothes when Xander and Peter returned. She didn't really feel like getting up and tracking down her sisters so she could find her luggage and get her robes. But then she also knew she could get in big trouble for not wearing the uniform.

Grunting, she pushed herself off her seat and headed out into the hall, shoving through the crowd of students to get back to her sisters' compartment. There she got her uniform and instead of waiting in line for a bathroom, she asked her sister to guard the door and make sure it stayed shut while she changed in there. It was, afterall, only Fei, and her girl friend. Yu was gone somewhere.

"Is this your younger sister, Fei?" one asked.

"Yes," Fei nodded as she stood in front of the door way. "This is Xi Ang. She's a first year."

"Aww, she's so cute. It's nice to meet you," the girl said extending her hand. Xi looked at her. She was in the middle of trying to put on her shirt. Her hands were busy. The girl realized her mistake and dropped her hand, laughing to herself. "Sorry. That was stupid." Hurrying to put her shirt on, Xi extended her hand towards the girl. She took it and the two shook hands.

"Nice to meet you, Xi--"

"Xi Ang," Xi corrected her.

"--Xi Ang. My name is Melissa."

"It's a pleasure." I'm only doing this because you're Fei's friend. Xi smiled and withdrew her hand as she put on the rest of the uniform and then pulled on her robes.

"You look good in a skirt," Melissa said as Xi patted her robes back into place.

"Thank you," she replied. "All right. I'm good. Thanks Fei. I'll see you later." Fei nodded and stepped aside.

"Take care, Xi. Mind your superiors."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

"I mean it Xi. Don't get in trouble tonight. Listen to your elders."

"Fine," Xi replied and slumped off back to the cabin where the others were seated. Not too long after she'd returned, the water began to recede to reveal the sparkling moonlight. Xi had to admit that it was a very beautiful sight, but she remained in her position--her arms crossed across her chest, and her right leg crossed over her left. She bounced her foot boredly.

"Dragonsflame Island! Last and only stop!" a man--most likely the conductor--yelled as he walked past their compartment. The train slowed to a stop and Xi could instantly hear the rush outside as students hurried off the train. She ignored Peter's question and headed out the door.

A woman was calling, "First years! All first years follow me now, follow me! Leave all your luggage and animals on the train, they will be moved into your dorms for you! Now then, everyone off the train now, the carts will be leaving soon with you on them or not!" Xi pushed through the crowd heading for the nearest train exit. "Come on now children, don't dilly dally!"

Yes, please don't. She couldn't surpress a grin as she burst out of the train into the cool night air. It felt nice to breathe the fresh air of the outdoors again, even if the air was a bit salty and humid. She flicked some of her hair over her shoulder and started walking forward when something grabbed her arm and yanked her back.

"Xi, what are you doing?" Yu asked.

"I'm minding my superiors. Get off me!" Xi started moving forward again. Yu kept a tight grip on her arm.

"Not like that you aren't! Here, Fei and I have made a very high reputation for ourselves. I will not have you ruining them going in there on your first day looking like this. Your robes are wrinkled." Xi glanced at the silvery garments.

"There are only one or two--if any--wrinkles on my robes. Get off." Yu continued to brush and smack at her robes trying to beat out the wrinkles. "Bug off," Xi commanded as she shoved Yu away.

"Don't push me!" Yu exclaimed as she shoved back.

"You're being a jerk!" Xi pushed her again, harder this time. She reached out and pulled Xi's hair. "Ow! Ow ow ow ow OW!" Xi yelled as she grabbed Yu's arm and bit it.

"OW! Son of a--"

Fei walked between the two of them, her nose buried in a book. "Break it up now children."

"But... she started it!" Yu replied following Fei.

"You big suck-up," Xi said as she patted her hair.

"What was that?" Yu growled as she lunged back and grabbed Xi's cheeks. She pinched and pulled as she pushed Xi over so that she was bending backwards.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow," Xi grunted, though her first sounded deformed and abnormal since she couldn't make the sounds correctly. She reached up and smacked Yu as best she could on the cheek. It only caused her sister's iron grip to get harder.

"Yu, is that you?" a masculine voice asked.

Instantly, her hands flew to her sides as she straightened and turned, leaving Xi with no option but to cry out and fall backwards, arms flailing. "Oh, hi Jeremy," Yu said smiling. "How was your summer?"

"It was good. Yours?"

"Oh, just wonderful!"

"I can see you're looking as beautiful as ever," he said.

She blushed and giggled. "Oh Jeremy, stop."

"Yes, please do," Xi grumbled as she got to her feet rubbing her cheeks and glaring at Yu. Yu glared at her. A warning glare not to make any more comments.

"Is that your sister, Yu?"

"Oh yes! This is Xi Ang. She's a first year."

"Nice to meet you," Jeremy said, holding out his hand. "I'm Jeremy Ritter." Xi was about to wave off his greeting and slouch off when Yu stomped hard on her foot.

"OW! YOU NASTY LITTLE--" Xi howled. Jeremy blinked. Angrily, Xi grabbed his hand, flung it up and down hard, shoved Yu off her foot and hobbled off. She melted back into the crowd and swung back around behind her sister and Jeremy. She was determined to get some revenge. Walking up behind her, she kicked her hard in the back of the knee causing her to collapse ("HOLY S--Cr--Carp. Holy...carp. Holy carp," Yu had exclaimed as she'd fallen, though her efforts to stop herself from swearing were the most entertaining) and quickly escaped by diving back into the crowd, snickering. Yu had seen her, but the look on her face and the way she'd fallen had been priceless. She'd hopefully looked like a complete idiot in front of that Jeremy guy.

Hurrying on up the slope, Xi joined the crowd of first years gathering in front of the woman from the train earlier. She spied Xander and Peter a couple people away from her, but did not move towards them. Clinging to people was for the weak and scared, and she was neither.

((OOC: To quote Oriana... Shplegh!!! Someone explain to me why I didn't look into this earlier, and got in when the getting was proper... Now I'm gonna have to play such a serious catch-up game here... >.< Expect flashbacks, folks, and probably a few typos for rushedness at late night... >.<!!! That is, if you're still accepting people, Oriana... ::puppy dog eyes at Ori and at Jane just for good measure::

Name: Litana Ferous
Gender: Female
Age: 11
D.O.B.: February 29 (Pisces)
Height: 4'0"
Weight: 55 lbs
Eye color: Hazel (Mixture of green and brown)
Hair color: Black
Build: Very small and nimble; a dancer's build.
State of Origin: Hawaii
Parentage: Pureblood
Known Family: Frank Ferous (father)
Desired House: Falconsflight, for the adventure, of course!
Quidditch Position (if played): Seeker
Hobbies: Dance, running, louder music, making a (loud) nuisance of herself.
Religious Orientation: Agnostic

Physical Description: First two words that come to mind would be tiny and fast. Litana has been dancing in all forms since she could stand, and she's a natural runner, so she is rather physically fit. Her black hair is long, straight and flowing, and she sometimes ties it back in one or two tails. Her eyes are warm, but sharp; she has excellent vision.

Personality: Energetic, in a word. She loves to be moving at all times, and seems to have a slight hyperactivity issue. Stillness bother her; she feels that movement proves that one's alive, and you should keep moving to keep living. She's also very generous and sharing: rarely will she contain her antics to herself, and instead will pull other people into them whenever possible, with or without consent. With all this excitement, she has little foresight, and rarely thinks of the consequences of her actions until she has to face them. As to her outlooks, she's often loathe to look for darkness in anything, and instead shines a bright light over every situation and dusts for good points.

Background History: Born and raised on the main island of Hawaii, Litana was brought up by a single father; he mother had died giving birth to her. Her father Frank did not conceal magic from his daughter; he felt there was no point, since Litana would no doubt develop her own abilities as a witch in time. This was proven when the girl was five years old and caught hold of her father's wand, and proceeded to use it in a rather dangerous dance; the local authorities were stumped as to how three-quarters of a large home could be burned to ashes within hours by a five-year-old with a stick and a package of Pop-Rocks. (She'd caught a gas valve with a magical spark, and it went downhill from there.) Since then, Litana has learned some control, but not alot.

~-~-~


"FINALLY!~" Thump. "Oww..."

The small girl looked back at the rather broad-shouldered beast who'd shoved her, and stuck her tongue out emphatically before jumping up and running off. Jeez, some people are so touchy, she intoned, looking around for the silver-haired woman who'd been shouting. This certainly could have started off better...

Rewind four weeks ago at the end of July, and begin with an explosion of considerable proportions. The neighbors raised no screaming complaints; they'd given up long ago. When you lived within a mile of the Ferous household, you either lived with the noise, or moved.

"LITANA! STOP BLOWING THINGS UP AND GET IN HERE!" was the only shout heard, and that not of anger or scolding, but of whooping cheer and merriment. Frank Ferous was also well accustomed to the ranbunctiousness of his daughter, and took it in stride.

With a sigh and a final look at the fragmented soup can (she'd blown it up by prodding it with a salamander), the youth ran into the house and leapt onto her father's back. It was good for that: wide and strong, with plenty of shoulder to wrap one's arms around. She made sure to do it often, so that he didn't get unused to it, and she enjoyed it anyway. Litana looked over her father's shoulder, resting her chin on it, and spied a strange letter on yellow parchment, written in purple ink in his hands.

Frank waved it happily, and asked if she knew what it was.
"No, because I can't read it if you don't hold it still, Dad..."
"Oh, of course," he replied sheepishly, and held it still for his daughter to read through.
"Dragonsflame? I know there are some dragons in the 'canoes, but we stay away from those, don't we?"
Frank knocked his daughter on the head lightly with his knuckles. "You know full well what Dragonsflame is, you goof. I've told you enough about it, and now it's your turn for your story there!"
Litana wasn't as impressed as her father with the news, but she was happy; while salamanders were fun, they got boring quickly, especially when one ran out of cans, or kindling to keep the lizard's flame going. A magical wand and the knowledge of how to use it, though, could present many useful possibilities for entertainment.

Their trip to Starcrest Port was mostly full of shopping, both for necessities (very small robes, all the necessary books and a few for general light reading, a wand of 13 inches of cedar, filled with dragon heartstring; "A large wand for a small girl," the wandseller had commented) and a couple luxuries, to celebrate the occasion. Frank decided that Litana would need a proper companion at the school, and allowed Litana to choose a pet of her own, with the sincere promise that she would care for it properly should she take it to school. She looked through the cages and immediately fell upon one containing a large, spotted cat, which licked her through the bars. The shopkeeper looked astonished, and explained that it was no cat, but a Kneazle, and they were only so friendly to people they truly trusted. Her father waited no longer to purchase the animal, as well as the necessary license. Upon arriving home, she christened the creature "Garfield" and fell asleep.

And so I'm here, and Garfield's in the train, and I have no idea where I'm going, thought Litana as she continued scoping for the shouting woman. A new yell sounded, and she turned to see the sparkling robes, and ran forward without looking out for anyone else, dodging people as best she could nonetheless. A foot caught her own, and her instincts told her to dive. She went flying forward once more, this time into the back of a boy at least a foot and a half taller than herself, already in his robes, with light brown, wispy hair. As she hit his back, she curled her legs around his midsection and wrapped her arms around his neck, unconscious of the position but thankful he was there.

Remembering where she was, she leaned over the shoulder of the person she'd landed upon, and smiled. "Sorry about that; it's way too crowded here!" She looked back and stuck out her tongue again, in hopes that the owner of the criminal foot caught it and felt guilty.

As Xander stood there, totally minding his own business, he was nearly taken off of his feet as a girl somehow managed to find herself clinging to his back. He barely knew what was going on when she spoke.

"Sorry about that; it's way too crowded here!" Xander blinked a few times before he actually comprehended what she had said.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, don't worry about it."

"Ok First Years! Follow me now! Don't stray!" Xander glanced in the direction of the woman who had led them all off of the train.

"If you're coming along for the ride, you might as well hold on." Xander glanced at Peter and motioned for him to follow.

Soft white sand had changed to rough, grassy earth. The majority of students who had been waiting outside of the train were now gone, and all that remained were children who looked about his age. The darkness that enveloped them was thick, and all they could see was the lit wand tip of the smiley woman who had talked to them on the train. Thick trees rose up on either side of them, vines wrapping around their branches and strange glowing eyes peering at them from the unknown darkness.

More minutes passed and finally, the jungle path they had been following was replaced by the thick stone of a cliff face. The woman turned around and faced the children. When they had all stopped walking she smiled at them all warmly.

"Everyone still here, no one get gobbled up by the manticores?" The woman giggled sweetly at her own joke.

"Good, good. Now then, everyone stick together. It gets dangerous from here." The bubbly woman turned around and faced the cliff face. The lit tip of her wand tapped the rock three times, and a crude stone face shifted and formed.

"Tilly Widdle" Sang the bubbly woman. This seemed to mean something, as the face then disappeared an was replaced by a large archway in the rock face. Just inside were about twenty mine carts on a single track, each cart holding about six people each.

"Six to a cart, don’t touch the sides of the walls once they start moving. Chop chop now!" Xander shrugged and pulled himself into a cart towards the front. They were quickly joined by others (hint hint wink wink getyourassesintothecart) Once everyone was comfortable, the mine carts shuddered to life and started moving along the track, with the bubbly woman in the front most cart.

"We are currently traveling miles beneath the school. Back when the school was founded, these mines provided valuable orichalum which helped fund the not to mention its usefulness in magic in various forms. Now, can anyone tell me just why orichalum is so very precious and valuable?" Xander blinked a couple times. He didn't know he was going to be quizzed so soon. He felt unprepared to say the least.

"Fine by me," replied Litana to the invitation to stay put. It would save her some walking, and riding was always fun. She hummed merrily as the procession moved on, and gazed around at the jungle, occasionally sticking out her tongue as a challenge to the eerie eyes in the dark. Jungles weren't terrible new to her; Hawaii was covered in it, and they, too, had their share of beasts that liked to peer at you when you trotted past them.

"M-m-manticores? No..." The tiny girl looked back, hoping she hadn't offended any such beasts; she wasn't so foolish as to wish to get on a manticore's nerves. As the cliff face (no pun intended) opened, she continued to ride until the boy reached the cart, and then jumped off and climbed in, sitting next to the boy she'd been hanging off of until now. The cave wasn't all that novel to her either; she'd explored many in her self-engineered adventures. In fact, this whole island was starting to look alot like home.

As the bubbly woman began asking random trivia, Litana screwed up her eyebrows as if in thought, then relaxed and shrugged. "Only way I know something's valuable is if Dad yells at me for breaking it," she proclaimed almost proudly, and waited for the correct answer to present itself while resting her head on the boy's shoulder. He felt safe, somehow.

Cassie

Climbing into a cart, Cassie sat down quietly as five other first years filed in behind her. A chance to start up any kind of conversation was swept away as the cart jerked forward and wizzed them all through the cavern. The fridged air blowing past made Cassie thankful of the robes she was wearing. She covered her bare legs with the silver material and watched as the glimmering walls zoom by.

She almost didn't hear the question the sprightly woman in front asked until a small kid with glasses and greasy black hair shot his hand into the air, narrowly missing taking out Cassie's eye in the process. He said quickly, his voice squeaking over the echo in the cavern, "Orichalum was a substance thought to have existed only in the legendary city of Atlantis. It's worth is only second bested by gold. The word orichalum derives from the Greek term oreichalkos which translates into 'mountain metal'. It's thought to have been a mythical substance in the Muggle world and labeled a logical explaination of an unnamed alloy. Today, it's used in many forms of wizarding currency."

Cassie watched the kid with an apprehensive eyebrow but made a not to herself, When it's time to cram before a test, be sure to grab that guy first.

While the teacher in front replied, Cassie's attention was brought down to the cart just before her's. Sitting with their backs to her was Xander and another girl. Cassie looked down just in time to see the girl suddenly rest her head on his shoulder.

Cassie's eyes narrowed, drilling into the back of the girl's scalp. She had seen many girls like her before. At her old school, any time a boy became interested in Cassie, an overly flirtatious blonde with a short skirt bounced over to take him away, leaving Cassie on the outside looking in; wishing-- praying-- that he would turn around again.

Cassie wasn't bad looking. In fact, many have asked if she'd ever consider modeling but she simply refused any offer. Her first love was soccer; it's what she enjoyed doing most. Showing off her appearance wasn't on her top five priorities. Soccer made her feel better than anything ever could.

She suddenly felt as if she had been punched in the stomach. Soccer. Did they play soccer here? What about basketball? Did they have a team? What's that thing Jaquie talked about anyway? What was it... kwiditch? All these thoughts rushed into her head as she quietly processed them, watching the copper walls race by.

OOC:

A tired Litana was slowly closing her eyes, trying to relax uncharacteristically; the day had been eventful to say the least, and she hoped to catch at least a little rest before she needed to get back to matters at hand. The moment her eyes closed, though, a pair of daggers seemed to poke the back of her head, and while there was no physical pain involved, it was uncomfortable.

Looking behind herself, she came face-to-face with a glaring redhead, and raised her eyebrows questioningly. Her head tilted to the side in thought, and then a revelation came to her. She quietly pointed to herself, then the boy's shoulder, then raised her eyebrows again, and shook her head quickly. Then she pantomimed sleeping, her hands forming a pillow on her cheek, and even added excessive silent snoring. "And he's the most convenient spot at hand," she concluded. Litana blinked a couple times, and added, "Hell, I don't even know his name."

She turned around completely and leaned on the edge of the cart, lightly poking the glaring girl in the shoulder, who'd given up glaring to stare at the walls. "Speaking of which, what's your name? I'm Litana. Sorry if I looked like I was moving in on your boyfriend." Flaw number one of Litana: she assumes alot, and doesn't keep much of it to herself.

((Hmm, maybe Litana will be good in Divination. Who knows?))

Xi turned around and glared at the boy who had answered the question; she was just about to answer that question. She lowered her half raised hand slowly as she stared at him thinking murderous thoughts. He obviously didn't value his life very much if he was trying to upstage her. Much to her dismay, the boy was right. Her long black hair flew out, gracefully behind her as she arched her neck and glanced back over her shoulder.

To keep herself from jumping over her cart into the next and jumping him, she focused instead for a moment on Xander and a girl who's head was lying on his shoulder. Her expression was between disapproval and surprise. He didn't seem like the type of boy who would move so quickly when it came to these things. Her respect for him dropped slightly.

However, something slightly more interesting caught her eye. Cassie was sitting behind the two of them silently steaming. Oh? Does she like him or something? Honestly, people let their emotions get the most of them way to quickly. Xi studied her and then Xander and his new found friend once again before turning her head so that she was riding sideways and studying the walls of the mine.

"So, if that's the case, what use might the ore have in the field of wand making?" the professor asked. The boy raised his hand and began to answer.

"Wa--"

Xi faced front, raised her own hand, and spoke over him, "To muggles, orichalum is very important in the science: alchemy. Several magic books refer to Orichalum as a 'magical catalyst;' its natural alchemic qualities make it very useful for things involving substances. Therefore, a wand with a core of pure orichalum is ideal for potioneers, who deal with mixing substances on a daily basis, as the orichalum not only speeds up the potion brewing process, but also raises the percent yield of the potion." Xi smirked to herself inwardly. Suck on that, upstage boy.

For the past few minutes Chrystelle contiuned staring out of the window in awe as the train continued it's underwater trip to Dragonsflame. It was really amazing how a train could travel underwater, and it was even more surprising how the water pressure didn't seem to start causing the windows to crack. As she continued to stare out the window, the boy who introduced himself as Conner Mcknight had asked if it was also her first time coming to Dragonsflame.

"Yeah, it's also my first time going to Dragonsflame," she said, truning her attention away from the window and stared at Conner, "and to tell you the truth, I really don't know a thing about magic. I received the letter a while back, and didn't know about any of thiss until my father told me about it. He's a wizard and my mom was a muggle. I wanted to learn more about the world I've never come to know as a child, so I guess that's why I'm going-"

Chrystelle had stopped what she was saying when she heard the compartment door open with an older student poking his head in telling them that they should change into their school robes becuase they would be arriving soon. Nodding in agreement at the older student's suggestion, Chrystelle had reached for her trunk and rummaged through it a bit until she pulled out the required clothing. It didn't take long for her to reach a bathroom and change into her robes, now making her way back to the compartment.

"Dragonsflame Island! Last, and only, stop!" A conductor yelled as he walked through the corridors.

"I guess we're here... It was nice meeting you you Conner. I'll see you sometime later when we get to the school." Chrystelle said, making her way out of the compartment.

It was a hassle for Chrystelle to get ot one of the exits with so many people crammed in one place everywhere. She kept bumping into people every now and them, silently apologizing for bumping into them.

"First years! All first years follow me now, follow me! Leave all your luggage and animals on the train, they will be moved into your dorms for you! Now then, everyone off the train now, the carts will be leaving soon with you on them or not!" Chrystelle heard a woman call out, as more students were exiting the train. When there was enough space to actually move around, Chyrstelle made her way towards the nearest exit, getting off of the train. "Come on now children, don't dilly dally!" she heard the woman say cheerfully.

It had felt good to be outside, off of the train again. The evening air was nice and cool, gently blowing causing Chrystelle's hair to flow with the breeze a little. "Ok First Years! Follow me now! Don't stray!" the woman said, with all of the students following her through what appeared to be a large jungle, which soon turned into a rough, rocky cliff like place. "Everyone still here, no one get gobbled up by the manticores? Good, good. Now then, everyone stick together. It gets dangerous from here." the woman warned the students.

"Manticores? How weird...." Chrystelle thought to herself.

Then the woman had the stones three times with her wand, which opened some sort different pathway. "Tilly Widdle," the woman said, which must of meant something as an archway had appeared with twenty nine carts behind it. [I]"Six to a cart, don’t touch the sides of the walls once they start moving. Chop chop now!" Chrystelle heard the woman say to all of the students, and without hesitation Chrystelle had gotten into a cart with five others she didn't know. When she had stepped into the cart and sat down, it started slowly moving along the track, revealing a jungle surrounded by many trees.

"Wow, this place is big." Chrystelle said to herself.

"We are currently traveling miles beneath the school. Back when the school was founded, these mines provided valuable orichalum which helped fund the not to mention its usefulness in magic in various forms. Now, can anyone tell me just why orichalum is so very precious and valuable?" the woman asked the students.

When the woman had asked the question, Chrystelle had absolutlely no idea what she was talking about until another gilr had raised her hand and responded to the answer, "To muggles, orichalum is very important in the science: alchemy. Several magic books refer to Orichalum as a 'magical catalyst;' its natural alchemic qualities make it very useful for things involving substances. Therefore, a wand with a core of pure orichalum is ideal for potioneers, who deal with mixing substances on a daily basis, as the orichalum not only speeds up the potion brewing process, but also raises the percent yield of the potion."

"Wow, it looks like I have alot to learn before learning any advanced stuff," Chrystelle silently sighed to herself.

OOC:

Conner found himself squeezing out of his compartment after the girl, Chrystelle, had left. "So much for waiting around." He said to himself after hearing that the carts would be leaving. He ducked under a few older people and was almost forced to get on all fours until he saw an opening and decided to take it. It was great to be outside again, the evening air felt so good compared to the the stuffiness of the train.

"Shoot!" Conner had also just realized that he hadn't changed yet and bolted staight into the train once again. After dashing through a relativaly empty tain he had once again found his compartment and literaly ripped down his trunk from the overhead compartment. He looked around alittle and saw that not too many people were aroung and decided to change right then and there. After closing the door and closing the blinds on the window, Conner began to change as fast as he could. "Dragonsflame Island! Last, and only, stop!" A conductor yelled from not too far away.

After finally getting his shoes on Conner grabbed his robe and slammed his trunk shut. He left it where it was and opened the door to see a last few students getting off. Once again he squeezed right through them and looked around. "Now what..." A student who was behind him bent overand siad to Conner, "You the kid who just changed?" Conner turned around and nodded. The student wasn't that hard to miss he seemed like a fairly tall person. "First year eh? Don't worry about it I did the exact same thing my first year. Look You don't have much time just look around for any carts that still have a seat." Conner nodded and said,"Thanks! Ummm... And your name is?" The student simply turned Conner around towards the carts and said,"Look just go! Maybe I'll see you around school and you can thank me then!"

He felt a gret push as he began to walk quickly towards the carts. So many things had happened to him today that he just wanted to stop and let it all sink in. But he knew he had no time for that. After finnaly arriving to the first cart he saw it was already fillled and he immeadiatly moved on to the next. Just as the first one he saw, the second, the third and as well as the fourth one were full. "You've got to be kidding me!" He said aloud. "Oi! Hey you get in!" Said a kid in a cart that was passing by. Conner started into a dash and climbed inside of it to find himself aurrounded by unfimmiliar faces. "T-thanks.." He said as he was catching his breath. "No, prob man we heard you throwing a fit back there and decided to help you out abit. Us first years go to stick together right?" After letting out a sigh of relief Conner finnaly had some time to let the Wizarding World sink in his mind alittle.

"Ok First Years! Follow me now! Don't stray!" The women said, as she continued to move, making sure the other first years were following her. Peter, who was awaiting his response from Xander, quietly took his surroundings in. This was a new world. New everything. He just had to make the most of it.


"If you're coming along for the ride, you might as well hold on." Xander said, motioning for Peter to follow him. He agreed and followed the boy.

As the group continued walking, Peter noticed that the ground had changed to a rough earth, as well as the students around him all seemed to be first years. Most all of them looked confused. He did notice a girl eyeing Xander, but he payed no attention to it. Trees soon enveloped the group, and a thick darkness shrouded the area. After a little while, the jungle path was replaced by a large, stone cliff.

"Everyone still here, no one get gobbled up by the manticores? Good, good. Now then, everyone stick together. It gets dangerous from here." The women said, as she laughed. Manticores? Nice way to talk to new students, lady.

The women turned around and tapped the stone three times with her wand, and a face appeared.

"Tilly Widdle" She said, which obviously was a password of some sort, because almost immidiatly after, an archway appeared, with twenty mine cars behind it.

"Six to a cart, don’t touch the sides of the walls once they start moving.

"Six to a cart, don’t touch the sides of the walls once they start moving. Chop chop now!" Peter followed Xander about halfway down, then got cut off by a storm of other students. When he finally pushed himself through, he noticed a girl sitting next to Xander. She was making hand gestures, then finally leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Over hormonic eleven year old.." Peter said, stepping into the cart. Cassie was sitting in the front, and she obviously seemed a bit P.O'd about the girl. Peter decided to make a bit of a joke out of this, even though he knew that this girl saw Cassie.

"Girl, that girl that is glaring at you will punch you in the face if you don't get off her man." Peter said, and with that, he leaned back in his seat. It was kind of inconvinient getting confortable, because the girl kept trying to lean on the edge of the seat.

"We are currently traveling miles beneath the school. Back when the school was founded, these mines provided valuable orichalum which helped fund the not to mention its usefulness in magic in various forms. Now, can anyone tell me just why orichalum is so very precious and valuable?" The women said.

"What the crap?" Peter said, stunned by the sudden question. Before he could gather his thoughts, and boy with glasses and greasy black hair answered the question.

"Know it all..."

OOC: Peoples, if you would please, read through everyone's posts thoroughly. I know how tempting it can be to skim sometimes. But when you do, accidents like that happen. Also this is important.

I NEED YOU ALL TO PLEASE PM ME ASAP WITH YOUR DESIRED HOUSES! PLEASE LIST THEM IN ORDER OF MOST DESIRED HOUSE FIRST, AND YOUR LEAST LAST!

That is all o.o;

IC: As the carts moved along their track, Xander was lost the the beauty of the caves they were now traveling through. They were oddly phosphorescent and seemed to 'cause Xander to slip into trances. He only vaguely heard as the greasy haired young man answered the question that the Bubbly Woman had asked. He only really perked up when a familiar voice answered the question in further detail.

"To muggles, orichalum is very important in the science: alchemy. Several magic books refer to Orichalum as a 'magical catalyst;' its natural alchemic qualities make it very useful for things involving substances. Therefore, a wand with a core of pure orichalum is ideal for potioneers, who deal with mixing substances on a daily basis, as the orichalum not only speeds up the potion brewing process, but also raises the percent yield of the potion."

Xander turned his attention on Xi, a bit of a smug grin slapped across her face. He couldn't help but find himself smiling from just look at her look so satisfied. His attention was once again seized, however, by a giggle issuing from the front cart.

"Very good, very good! Word for word correct Mr. Collins. Fifteen points to... well... whatever house you happen to be sorted into!" The woman giggled again. "Oh, and Ms. Fa, you too are quite right. Although Margaret tends to be a bit severe when it comes to her wands. Alchemists and Potioneers often have wands with a core of pure Orichalum. It tends to be very beneficial to both respective jobs. In fact my own wand has an Orichalum core. This perhaps, is merely coincidence, but perhaps now is a good time to introduce myself. I am Professor Latheway, and I am the Potions Master and head of the medical ward here at Dragonsflame. It is a pleasure to meet you all! Oh, and ten points to you as well Ms. Fa!" The woman giggled once again to herself. Xander however, blinked once more in confusion. He had no idea what these "points" meant. However, he felt it safe to assume it was something good.

"In fact, some of you may find it interesting to know that Dragonsflame castle is built entirely out of bricks or pure Orichalum, each one charmed to further enhance its abilities. It also gives the outside of the castle a very lovely silver glow on nights when the moon is full. But you'll all see that for yourselves soon enough wont you? Oh my! Speak of the devil, it would seem we're here!" The rough rock walls of the mine slowly turned to finally polished stone. Presumably Orichalum according to Latheway. However, it resembled solid white marble more than anything. The sound of running water issued from an ornate fountain in the middle of the beautiful room... thing...

The mine carts came to a slow stop and Latheway hopped out of the cart with the ability of a woman much younger than she herself seemed capable of.

"Everyone out of your carts and gather around me! Come now! They haven’t all gathered in the Dining Hall yet but they must be nearly there!" Xander was the first one out of the cart.

Xander looked around. On one side of the room was… well… the mine, the other three made of polished Orichalum had no doors, no stairs, no… nothing… Just what were they waiting for? His answer was quickly answered. The crystal blue water that had been running through the fountain changed to a golden color that resembled champagne.

“Oh good very good! Everyone has been seated in the Dining Hall. Now then, I’m telling you all now, when we move upstairs all of you will be sorted into one of four houses. Falconsflight, Wolfsfang, Tigersclaw, or Spidersilk. Do not worry children, we’re not going to test your or make you brave some sort of feat. Oh, but look at me! I almost spoiled it for you! Oh well, up we go!” Professor Latheway giggled again and clapped her hands twice. At first, it appeared nothing would happen.

“Umm… was something supposed to happen?” Xander turned and asked whoever would give him an answer first. However, before anyone was given a chance to answer, the floor beneath them lurched. At first it seemed that was all that would happen, but this too was proved false. The ground beneath them was being forced upwards, walls rushing past them. It was like they were all in one giant elevator. Xander like most all of the other children was forced to the ground. Eventually Latheway was the only was standing, smiling and humming to herself something that sounded like “When the Saints go marching in”. It lasted for about two minutes, and stopped as abruptly as it had started. The force of the abrupt halt had thrown Xander slightly into the air. When he got up however, fear overcame him.

He and the rest of the first years were all standing in the middle of an immense room, filled to the limit with the rest of the students attending the school. Four very long tables were positioned at each of the four corners of the hall. In the middle, close to where they stood at that moment, was a circular table with the middle missing. Sitting the middle facing the outside were the rest of the professors. Before Xander couldn’t even fully register what was going on, Latheway had clapped her hands again, and the golden water in the fountain had changed again. This time, however, pure white flames licked at the edges of the fountan menacingly. Xander couldn’t help but back up a few paces.

“The sorting will now begin.” Her voice had lost its cheer, and was now crisp and business like. Even though Xander was standing right next to white hot flames, he couldn’t help but feel the temperature in the room drop a few degrees.

So much for a little rest, thought Litana as she climbed out of the cart, stepping on the side for the extra necessary height before almost bouncing over to the newly discovered teacher, looking around for doors. When the fountain changed color, she turned to stare, wondering what it meant until Professor Latheway declared it.

"You mean they're ready for us? Alright! Dad never did tell me about the sorting... school secret, apparentl-EEE!" The sudden upheavel of the floor was a little too sudden to Litana; such a lurch on her island was usually a warning of the kind that went "get the hell out of here before this place becomes another Pompeii." As the floor proceeded to ascend at an alarming rate, Litana, unbalanced already, was thrown onto her belly, her chin hitting the floor painfully. She rubbed it and didn't bother trying to get up until the ride ended. This resulted in Litana performing a spectacular flip-over in the air to land on her bottom, her legs left in a rather unladylike position for one wearing a skirt. She stood quickly, brushing herself off and not looking the least bit embarrassed.

While neither her personal state, nor the sheer number of students staring at them from all sides had shaken her, when the water of the fountain burst into white flame, Litana squeaked and clung to the sleeve of whichever first-year was nearest. They're teasing me, I swear... first the ground-quake, and now a fountain of fire... It's seriously not funny...

After warning the girl sitting next to him, Peter leaned back in his seat. If they were going to be resting on this mine cart for a while, might as well relax.

"To muggles, orichalum is very important in the science: alchemy. Several magic books refer to Orichalum as a 'magical catalyst;' its natural alchemic qualities make it very useful for things involving substances. Therefore, a wand with a core of pure orichalum is ideal for potioneers, who deal with mixing substances on a daily basis, as the orichalum not only speeds up the potion brewing process, but also raises the percent yield of the potion." Is what Peter heard for a minute, which seemed to come from Xi. Looking behind him, he noticed she had a pleasing look on her face, the one where you feel good after you answer a question correctly.

"Very good, very good! Word for word correct Mr. Collins. Fifteen points to... well... whatever house you happen to be sorted into!" The woman giggled again. "Oh, and Ms. Fa, you too are quite right. Although Margaret tends to be a bit severe when it comes to her wands. Alchemists and Potioneers often have wands with a core of pure Orichalum. It tends to be very beneficial to both respective jobs. In fact my own wand has an Orichalum core. This perhaps, is merely coincidence, but perhaps now is a good time to introduce myself. I am Professor Latheway, and I am the Potions Master and head of the medical ward here at Dragonsflame. It is a pleasure to meet you all! Oh, and ten points to you as well Ms. Fa!"

Finally, her name was revealed: Professor Latheway. Potions would seem to be fun enough. Another thing that caught his attention in that was Alchemists. Peter was a sort of nerd, because he watched....cartoons, as we will call them. One of those dealt with Alchemy, and he was always intrigued by it. Hopefully he can dabble in Alchemy while in Potions class.

"Already one of my favorite classes, and I haven't even been there yet." Peter said, sitting up. The whole mine dazzled with wonder, as the Orichalum gave it a mystical touch. Peter was soon lost in thought, and didn't notice the carts start coming to a stop.

"In fact, some of you may find it interesting to know that Dragonsflame castle is built entirely out of bricks or pure Orichalum, each one charmed to further enhance its abilities. It also gives the outside of the castle a very lovely silver glow on nights when the moon is full. But you'll all see that for yourselves soon enough wont you? Oh my! Speak of the devil, it would seem we're here!" Professor Latheway said, as he stepped out of her mine cart.

She continued on to a wall, which changed from rough stone to, apparently Orichalum. Peter somehow managed to be landed in the back, so he couldn't hear her talking very well. The only details he noticed was the fountain water changing into a golden color, and her telling the others to get ready, apprently. He also caught a bit of 'sorting' and the 'houses'.

"I hope I get Falconsflight." Peter said. The name appealed to him. Not noticing anything, he was again lost in thought. He was now somehow standing next to Xander and the girl who was in the mine cart with them, and everyone seemed confused.

"Is something going to happen?" Peter asked, finally coming out of his trance. All of a sudden, the floor lurched forward. If it wasn't for his semi-quick relfexes, Peter would have hit the ground face-first. As the ground ascended upwards, Peter soon found himself in the middle of a large room, with four, long tables and a large table in the front. Professor Latheway then promptly clapped her hands, and the fountain changed and issued white hot flames.

"WOAH!" Peter found himself, saying, stepping back a few steps. By doing that, he felt a hand grab his robe, and hold it tightly. Turning around, he flushed.

"Uh..." He startd, but was shut up by Professor Latheway with:

"The sorting will now begin."

OOC:

Cassie

Cassie stared at the girl who explained herself through excessive gesticulations. Cassie didn't know what else to do but remain silent. "Speaking of which, what's your name?" the girl asked. "I'm Litana. Sorry if I looked like I was moving in on your boyfriend."

Cassie finally remembered how to speak and stammered, "B-Boyfriend!" She laughed loudly, wishing that the dim light of the cavern would hide her pepper-red face. I'm eleven freaking-years-old, Cassie thought. What the hell was I thinking?

Swallowing her embarrassment, she said defiantly, "I don't care what you do. You can move in on anyone you like." She looked away at the wall again and mumbled, "I had other things on my mind, that's all." It wasn't entirely false either.

She quickly realized that what she said might have been taken the wrong way by Xander. What if he thought she didn't like him? There's nothing more painful than feeling rejection. Someone who thinks he or she isn't good enough for someone else can really damage his or her psyche. Cassie was very familiar with the feeling.

But instead of saying anything more, she clenched her jaw and refused to continue to the coversation. Cassie already felt that she and this girl would not get along.

The remainder of the awkward cart ride seemed to last for eternity until finally they came to a stop and all the first years filed into yet another cavern. Cassie looked quizically at the fountain situated in the center as the other students pressed in around her, equally looking curiously at their surroundings.

Quite unexpectedly, the floor began to shift and groan from underneath her feet. Cassie looked down only just in time to feel the floor suddenly rocket upward. She struggled to maintain her balance, swinging her arms in wide circles and distributing her weight in her feet but the push upward was too eratic. Cassie was one of the last to finally lose her footing and fall to the floor on her stomach.

Cassie was too surpised to even scream at this point. This world was getting more mind-blowing by the second.

Before Cassie was any the wiser, the rocky ride had ended. Cassie slowly lifted her head and saw to her even more breath-taking surprise that the small group of tiny first years were now surrounded by older students, sitting at tables situated in the four corners of the room. The platform was like an elevator.

Cassie pushed herself up to her feet and straightened, looking around the hall in wonder. The professor who called herself Latheway clapped her hands for a second time and the fountain that had journeyed with them to the hall began spitting white flames into the air.

Latheway announced that the sorting would begin and Cassie's sudden elation upon witnessing the nifty fountain immediately crashed down upon her. Sorting?! We're being sorted?! she thought frenetically. Jaquie never told her about any sorting. She would most certainly get an earful about this in Cassie's next letter.

Cassie nervously waited for some sort of instruction from Latheway before she began to panic. This was another chance for the people in charge here to finally realize that maybe she really wasn't supposed to do any magic and should be sent home immediately. Cassie's palms instinctively began to sweat.

"Very good, very good! Word for word correct Mr. Collins. Fifteen points to... well... whatever house you happen to be sorted into. Oh, and Ms. Fa, you too are quite right. Although Margaret tends to be a bit severe when it comes to her wands. Alchemists and Potioneers often have wands with a core of pure Orichalum. It tends to be very beneficial to both respective jobs. In fact my own wand has an Orichalum core. This perhaps, is merely coincidence, but perhaps now is a good time to introduce myself. I am Professor Latheway, and I am the Potions Master and head of the medical ward here at Dragonsflame. It is a pleasure to meet you all! Oh, and ten points to you as well Ms. Fa!"

Xi sputtered in disbelief. Ten points? She only got ten points? But why?! Her response was much more thorough and thought out. It was much more informative! She wasn’t listening to the rest of what the woman said. She deserved 15 points. More even! That boy had said two sentences! She tried to yell over the noise of the moving carts to get the teacher’s attention. She was going to demand an explanation for this.

“Excuse me!” she yelled. “Excuse me!” But it was hopeless. There was no way she would be able to hear her. Xi turned around again, glaring past Peter, Xander, and that girl, straight at the boy right next to Cassandra. This isn’t over, upstage boy. I will beat you over and over again until you beg for mercy. She turned around, and stared straight ahead angrily for the remainder of the trip. When the carts stopped and she was instructed to get out, she did just that, flinging a nice long lock of her black hair over her shoulder.

She strode over to the fountain and promptly tuned out the teacher. She knew what was coming next. The sorting ceremony. What she was not expecting, however, was for the ground to suddenly jolt underneath her and go soaring upwards. Xi struggled to keep her balance. She, too, eventually resorted to flailing her arms about and weaving her upper body back and forward in order to keep her balance. To no avail. Her only gratification was that she was the last one standing aside from the professor. But, even she fell onto the cold tile, pressed against it mercilessly by the sheer force of the air and speed at which they were traveling. Opening her eyes, Xi could see a ceiling quickly approaching. Surely they weren’t going to be slammed into the ceiling.

She didn’t know how right she was. Just as abruptly as it had started, the elevator stopped and Xi felt herself thrown up into the air. She flipped and landed, stomach down, on the belly of one of her classmates. “Oof,” she said squeezing her eyes shut, her hands stretched out in front of her. How embarrassing, she thought. Her legs were tangled up with someone else’s too. She opened her eyes and turned her head to see just who it was she was laying on. Xander. He was smiling too. That lecherous pervert! she hissed, inwardly.

“Don’t touch me!” she exclaimed and struggled to her knees, raising her right hand as she did so. With her hand poised, she swung it hard and slapped him. Pushing her robes down, she flicked and kicked her legs irritably. “Get off me,” she told whoever had their legs entangled with her own. She frowned at Xander and staggered to her feet, tempted to give him another smack, but did no such thing, instead choosing to look around, standing in an elegant and dignified manner.

“The sorting will begin now,” the Professor announced, solemnly.

Good. I can finally get away from these clueless first years.

"Very good, very good! Word for word correct Mr. Collins. Fifteen points to... well... whatever house you happen to be sorted into!" The woman giggled again. "Oh, and Ms. Fa, you too are quite right. Although Margaret tends to be a bit severe when it comes to her wands. Alchemists and Potioneers often have wands with a core of pure Orichalum. It tends to be very beneficial to both respective jobs. In fact my own wand has an Orichalum core. This perhaps, is merely coincidence, but perhaps now is a good time to introduce myself. I am Professor Latheway, and I am the Potions Master and head of the medical ward here at Dragonsflame. It is a pleasure to meet you all! Oh, and ten points to you as well Ms. Fa!"

Chrystelle slightly tilted her head to the side in confusion when the woman who introduced herself as Professor Latheway, who would be their potions teacher, said. She must of meant the names of the other students who answered the questions... Plus what did she mean by "points", house and sorting? All sorts of questions and thoughts started to pop in Chrystelle's head just thinking about it.

"In fact, some of you may find it interesting to know that Dragonsflame castle is built entirely out of bricks or pure Orichalum, each one charmed to further enhance its abilities. It also gives the outside of the castle a very lovely silver glow on nights when the moon is full. But you'll all see that for yourselves soon enough wont you? Oh my! Speak of the devil, it would seem we're here!" Professor Latheway said.

As soon as she stepped out of the cart, Chrystelle had looked around at their surroundings to see that they were in a rocky looking room, with the rocky walls turning to marble, which must of been the Orichalum Professor Latheway mentioned earlier on their trip, and a huge, golden fountain in the center of the room. Soon the carts had slowed down to their designated stop, and Professor Latheway had hopped out of the cart with the energy of a young person.

"Everyone out of your carts and gather around me! Come now! They haven’t all gathered in the Dining Hall yet but they must be nearly there!"

Chrystelle had gotten out of the cart like other students did, and started looking around the room, with a confused expression. Were they supposed to waiting for something to happen? The room they were all currently standing in was nothing, except for the mine, and the other three made of polished Orichalum, which had no doors. Then the water of the fountain that was in the middle in the room changed from the lucid blue color it was into a golden color. "That's strange... the water was blue a few moments ago." Chrystelle whispered to herself.

“Oh good very good! Everyone has been seated in the Dining Hall. Now then, I’m telling you all now, when we move upstairs all of you will be sorted into one of four houses. Falconsflight, Wolfsfang, Tigersclaw, or Spidersilk. Do not worry children, we’re not going to test your or make you brave some sort of feat. Oh, but look at me! I almost spoiled it for you! Oh well, up we go!”

When Professor Latheway said that, clapping her hands twice, unexpectedly the floor started shifting beneath Chrystelle's feet, with the floor starting to soar upwards. It was hard for Chrystelle to keep her balance at the speed and rate they were traveling at. Feeling her legs get weak, she fell down to the ground like the others, leaving only Professor Latheway standing.

“Don’t touch me!”

Chrystelle had turned her head, and had seen that the girl who had answered the question earlier that Professor Latheway asked was yelling at a boy, which soon was followed by a slap, who was smiling. "That had to hurt..." Chrystelle thought to herself. It almost seemed like an eternity when they were still soaring upwards, until the abruptly came to a stop, slightly throwing Chrystelle into the air, and back on the ground. Chrystelle had slowly gotten up from off of the ground, quickly dusting herself off, and looked up to see that she and the other first year students were in an enormous room where there four very long tables were positioned at each of the four corners of the hall, which were crowded with the rest of the students who attended the school. In the middle, close to where they stood at that moment, was a circular table with the middle missing, and sittting the middle facing the outside were the rest of the professors. Chrystelle was at a loss for word, never seeing so many people packed into one room like this.

"The sorting will begin now," Professor Latheway said, with the cheery tone of her voice, disappearing, turning into a more serious tone.

OOC: I know that you're already getting along in this RP, but do you mind if I join in too? I'm planning on reading up on all the posts/profiles asap and before I begin posting. I'll put in my profile just for now. Thank you, again! ^^

IC: Skitter along sideways, just a couple twists up and long dive down, a circle or two and the—Nicolette blinked. My pen’s out of ink. Quietly chewing at the inside corner of her mouth, she traced her eyes over the drawing. An ornamental head sinking low upon a thin neck, the dragon it belonged to limbless and held aloft by a sole wing, the extensive feathers which she had been in the middle of drawing left incomplete.

Another moment of gentle contemplation and she glanced to the clock, only to start when the bell rang shrill. She blinked and leisurely took her time packing up her things. Time to get home and work on that algebra. An image of her German Shepherd dog snorting in distaste brought a smile to her lips, and she shook the picture from her mind. “Gotta get home first,” she exclaimed with a loud groan and stretch, not surprised to see she was next to the last person still in the classroom. Shouldering her backpack, she was soon on her way out of the school, and glad that all the day called for was a sweatshirt. Grey and old, but warm and fuzzy on the inside, it was perfect for this weather.

The walk home was pleasant as always, though the sun was a touch blinding. However, transition glasses took care of that, and a tune hummed idly made walking through the city all the more enjoyable. She raced across the final street, eventually, and a little further down the block lifted a hand, grabbing the bar at the beginning of the stairs and leaping up them to her door. A pause and she fished out the mail before coming inside, yelling out.

“Mum! Dad! I’m home!”

The echoes were expected and she brushed them off with little care, smiling as her huge, wolfish dog raced to greet her. She knelt, the mail under one arm, and kissed the large canine on the nose. “Yeah, glad to see you too Sheeby,” she said affectionately and stood up again, quickly shuffling through the mail and suddenly pausing.

The blue that caught her eyes, the almost magenta ink that shone irregular in so flowery a script had sent her into something close to shock.

“I GOT A LETTER! MOM! DAD! I GOT A LETTER!”

She had dropped all the others and was carefully opening this one, already having noted the seal on the back, and careful not to ruin it in any way. And the next moment her parents were around her, her eight and eleven-year old sisters trailing, and the whole family was jittery.

“Ohhh! It’s robin’s egg blue!” cried the youngest sibling excitedly.

“Actually, it’s turquoise Cassie,” she said off-handedly. “Robin’s egg blue is more pale and fragile. And it’s not as rich as aquamarine, so….” She trailed off with a general hand gesture, turning to her parents.

“Mum. Daddy. I got into Dragonsflame,” she said, a large grin already spreading across her lips.

---

“You’ll find one soon, I’m sure.”

A reassuring voice, nonetheless, Nicolette felt a touch disappointed. She had been here for how long now? An hour it seemed. And still a wand had not taken her for its other half. Every combination she could think of had been offered, and it was getting dark outside already.

School robes bought, plenty of books for reading along with her textbooks, a new Infinite Sketchbook that never ran out of pages, and several pencils and pens that never needed sharpening or ink. Her parents had allowed her to bring Sheeba, their German shepherd along with them, and Nicolette found the creamy wolf of a dog a big reassurance now in the midst of her hopelessness.

“I just don’t know. Sheeba, what are you doing?” Nicolette stepped to where the huge dog had raised itself up to glance curiously at a particular box, third from the left, eighth from the top. She blinked and walked to the side of her dog, pointing silently to the box. The resounding bark made her blink again and she turned to look over her shoulder at the shop owner.

“Do you mind if I try this one?” A bustle forward and the kindly old man slid the thin box out without too much difficulty, and Nicolette meanwhile got Sheeba to settle down once again.

“This is… a rather peculiar choice, Ms. Galladu. Perhaps…,” he trailed off and presented the wand to Nicolette, who took the gently swirled wood into her right hand slowly. It was almost grey, she noted, and the sudden sense of warmth that made her heart flutter encouraged the deft swish of her wrist.

A swirl of pale smoke, and suddenly it erupted into tiny blossoms, floating down like snow, dissolving into trickling sparkles upon touching the ground. A smile was on her face, and she turned to look to the old man, whose expression mirrored hers.

“Fir, ten and a quarter inches, with a double core of Amethyst and Wormwood,” he said gently. And Nicolette inclined her head. “Thank you, sir.”

---

The train ride was majestic, and perhaps parting with her parents and bothersome siblings wasn’t such a big deal. But the mere fact that Nicolette would be gone a year without the companionship of her beautiful dog left her feeling a bit lonely as she headed home after all the shopping had been done.

Waking the morning she was to leave, excitement and anticipation gripped her both. But a soft crooning was what had thrown her out of sleep. The face staring back into hers was curious and sculptured, shiny and scaled, and… orange. She sat up and eyed the draconic midget more steadily.

“Mum! Why is there an orange fire lizard sleeping on my pillow?”

“SHEEBA COULDN’T FLY! SO WE GOT YOU PUMPKIN!” Nicolette blinked and glanced back down at the miniature dragon, which, as far as she knew (and she knew a lot) was indeed exactly what it was.

“So… they named you Pumpkin, eh?” The creature chirped and twisted its head upside down curiously. Nicolette blinked. Pumpkin blinked. Nicolette sighed.

“Are you even legal?” To that, Pumpkin disappeared, only to reappear atop her head, chattering away incessantly and tapping her forehead with a careful claw. “Ai! Okay! I get it! You’re legal.”

With a compartment all to herself, and Pumpkin constantly there to entertain her though, the ride wasn’t that bad.

The mines were also not too bad. The information the other students already knew helped her deduce that there had to be some purebloods going to this school, and not as many of the muggleborn as she had noticed coming onto the train. She could not help but smile when following her would-be Potions Professor. The woman had a genial and pleasant vibe, and Nicolette had a feeling that this would make her classes all the more enjoyable than she had originally thought they’d be.

And then up on the elevator, which threw her to the ground and had her laughing, because everyone was in such a ridiculous situation. And honestly, what a comic way of “getting thrown off one’s feet”. She appreciated the humor of the school, and getting a touch shakily to her feet, still not used to the odd pull of robes on her shoulders, she turned to face the Dining Hall, awed and amazed and entranced all at once.

“The sorting will now begin.”

With white flames now the dancer that caught her sight, she felt the trill of excitement race through her. I can’t wait. A smile ever on her face.


OOC:

OOC: Sorting Time =D Please post according to the PM you should have received. If you somehow did not receive a PM please contact me immediately. Thanks.

Also, below are a few things I wanted to address before the RP advances any further. Not big things, well, I don't know, medium things =D

~Layout of the island~
The island in and of itself is large, and makes up the entire grounds of Dragonsflame. The school it self it set in the mountains toward one side of the island. Rich jungle surrounds the school and takes up a good portion of the island as well. White sand beaches make up the border of the island and a river connecting to the ocean leads to a lake and hot springs in the middle of the island. The jungles range in density, the most thick housing dangerous creatures, and completely off limits to students not accompanied by Professor Fielman. The northern beach of the island also houses a labyrinth of caves that run deep beneath the ocean level. This area is also off limits to students. The ancient founders of the school also bewitched the island so that in the winter months, it snows. The waters around the school are crystal clear and are home to many creatures, some docile, others not so much. One the eastern side of the beach, there's a village that remains empty for the most part. This is mostly housing for visitors and the like. Also, this part is worth noting twice, but the island really is large, and there are theories that it has been bewitched to appear smaller than it really is. For the most part, when you're traveling between the greater part of the jungle and the rest of the island (IE: for Care of Magical Creatures, the hotsprings, to go swimming in the lake etc.) you'll travel by means of a series of port keys which have been set up around the island for easy transportation.

Next item I wanted to address is the matter of the layout of the hall. It may have been a bit hard to understand when I described it earlier, so I made a picture instead =D


The arrows in the middle represent how the staff views the rest of the hall, looking outward, while they sit in the middle of the circular table. The circular table also rotates so that every teacher can view all parts of the hall equally.

And... that's all! Onward!

IC: Xander felt a bead of sweat roll down his face. He felt the pressure of every pair of eyes boring deep into him. He was starting to think not being a wizard would be better than this sort of experience. Latheway observed the students gravely, and then extended a hand to the fire burning brightly before them.

“The flames before you all shall be the judge that will determine which houses you will all be sorted into. These very flames are the last remaining relic of the massive dragon that one claimed this island as its home, and was eventually defeated by the patron of the Dragonsflame family, Algernon Dragonsflame. When I call your name you will step forward, and toss your wands into the center of the flames, the smoke will shape itself into a representation of house you belong in. Worry not, you will get your wands back. And Miss Fa! If I see anymore displays of violence like that the consequences will not be favorable."

At once all of the eyes turned to Xi. Turning around, Latheway picked up a scroll with thin slanted writing on it. Without even turning around, Latheway spoke again. Her finely tuned Teacher Senses (as opposed to the more widely known spider senses, which are really no comparison to the magnitude at which an educators work) were able to pick up Xi's oh so eloquent Flying Bird.

"That'll be fifteen points, Miss Fa, from whatever house it is that you are sorted in, for that rude gesture of yours." Turning around to face the students once more, Latheway cleared her throat. "Now then, it begins. Adams, Jessica!”

A small willowy girl with wispy blonde hair who was shaking violently walked up to the flames and extended her right arm. Clutched loosely in her hand was a slender piece of wood that was obviously her wand. Xander figured that her hand must have been pretty sweaty, for her wand kind of fell rather than was let go. As the flames engulfed the wand, the flames died down for a moment, only to erupt seconds later violently. As the flames returned to normal, the billowing spoke above the fountain swirled around, and finally came to form itself in the shape of a long spindly spider. The smoky figure wafted over to the girl and clutched between two of its legs was the girls wand, which it dropped into her shaking hands. With the girl once again in possession of her wand, a swarm of students at the table set towards the back of the hall erupted in applause and cheers. Over the noise, Latheway called over everything. “Spidersilk!” The girl named Jessica looked relieved and hurried over to the table where she was greeted enthusiastically.

And so, the sorting continued on, many of his companions from the train being sorted into their respective houses. But eventually, Latheway called to the hall, “Michaels, Xander!” Xander felt like he was going to pass out. He slowly walked over to the fountain of flames and hesitantly dropped his wand into the fires. The flames acted as they had before. In the split second before the flames erupted, Xander noticed that though the students were all looking at him, he also caught a glimpse of the teachers. They were all staring at him very intently, more so than they had for any of the other students. He was, however, quickly brought back to reality as the flames expelled its smoke. It swirled and shifted, eventually coming to form a large falcon that swept over to Xander and deposited his wand that had been clutched in its talons. The far back corner of the hall exploded in cheers as Latheway called to the call, “Falconsflight!” Xander breathed a heavy sigh of relief. It was over, he had been sorted. Nothing bad had happened; he wasn’t told he had to be kicked out. He was… happy! Xander smiled and sat himself down at the Falconsflight table, all the while being patted on the back, and having his hand shook. He was being… accepted. Xander couldn’t stop smiling as he turned to the rest of the first years, waiting to see where they were all sorted.

Xander smiled and cheered and chatted idly with his new found house mates, occasionally breaking out into applause every now and then when a new person was sorted into Falconsflight. He was really starting to enjoy himself. The people around him were all very friendly, and it was exciting watching the students get sorted now that his turn was over.

Finally, the last student was sorted (Zelle, Margaret to Tigersclaw) and silence fell over the Dining Hall. Professor Latheway waved her wand over the fountain and crystal blue water replaced the fire as it sunk back into the ground, leaving only a gray patch of stone flooring. Latheway surveyed the students all once more gravely, and then replaced her stern face with a bubbly smile and turned, positioning herself at her seat in the inner portion of the staff table staring outward at the Hall. However, with her seating came the rising of another. A mildly tall woman with shocking violet eyes and long sheets of auburn hair that cascaded down her back had now stood up. She walked to the middle of the revolving staff area and seemed to walk a few steps onto a raised pedestal. All eyes were on her and the deathly silence in the hall gave Xander the impression that speaking just now was a bad idea. The woman cleared her throat, as if to quiet the already silent hall.

"Welcome, one and all to another year at Dragonsflame Academy of Sorcery! For those of you who are returning, it is good to see you all again, safe from what I'm sure were very exciting summers! To those of you experiencing your first years here, it is a pleasure to meet you! I hope that regardless of whether or not this is your first year or your seventh, that you will all have an exciting time in the months to come. For those of you meeting me for the first time, or for those who simply forgot, I am Professor Nuual, Headmistress here at Dragonsflame, and I hope that I get the chance to know each and everyone of you! Now then, I'm sure that after that long train ride and equally long sorting, you are all just itching to get your hands on the food we have waiting for you. However, I beg of just a few more moments of your time. First, a few rules that should be known to most of you by this point, but deserve reiterating. I would like to point out that the Northern Shore as well as its adjoining jungle are off limits to all students. No Exceptions! Also, anybody wishing to tryout for their house Quidditch teams would do well to speak with their house Heads for information concerning dates and the like. And one last bit of information that I would like to get out before the feast starts. Any student interested in joining the School Dueling Society should all attend the informational meeting this Saturday after breakfast in this very hall! Now then, what say we placate those monsters rumbling in your stomachs?" Professor Nuual smiled and clapped her hands twice.

At once the powder blue runners that ran up and down each table levitated a few inches above the tables. The crystal plates and dishes that sat upon them all filled suddenly with the most wonderful array of foods Xander had ever seen in his life. Suckling pigs, honey glazed hams, heaping trays of cheese lasagna, salads of every variation, bubbling pots of soups and stews and mountains of pasta all materialized out of thin air. With the food now resting in its dishes, the runners began to move, like a slow train, around the table. It was like those expensive sushi bars Xander used to eat at where the sushi moves down the bar. He smiled widely and began heaping food onto his plate.

"I could get used to this."

OOC: Yay for Houses! *Dance!*

Tension? She could feel it emanating from those first years surrounding her, from the one chastised to those a touch more generous in the overwhelming situation. But beyond that, the grand hall was… pleasantly silent. There was eagerness in their eyes, those of the students already settled, and the professors eagerly awaiting the special something that would press them forward, take another step towards a future some had never known lay ahead. And amongst them all, along with those who managed to keep a level expression, a scattering of smiles that couldn’t help breaking through early, regardless if the first child that stepped forth would be sorted into their house or not, was what breathed a gentle upturning of the lips onto her countenance as well. And then the more formal tones of Professor Latheway broke the tremulous silence.

“The flames before you all shall be the judge that will determine which houses you will all be sorted into. These very flames are the last remaining relic of the massive dragon that one claimed this island as its home, and was eventually defeated by the patron of the Dragonsflame family, Algernon Dragonsflame. When I call your name you will step forward, and toss your wands into the center of the flames, the smoke will shape itself into a representation of house you belong in. Worry not, you will get your wands back. And Miss Fa! If I see anymore displays of violence like that the consequences will not be favorable.”

Whatever reprimands Miss Fa had received, Nicolette hardly noticed it. Each to his own, and she had just chosen an ill beginning, lest she find those who sympathized. Nicolette would not be one of them. Eyes had flickered to rest upon the professor once she’d spoken again, not merely out of due courtesy, but also of honest interest. The voice was pleasant, regardless the more serious tones it settled into before this great hall. A rustle of paper and Nicolette’s eyes had already shifted to the pale flames, tracing long fingers into the solemn air where soon the first choice was configured. Step after step, one after another, all greeted by forms so genuine, the flames they were made of were overlooked as needless a detail, each wand returned, every face breaking soon into vivid elation. At last… they had a House of their own! And upon each fated word thrown out so clear as the cloudless skies dotted by dazzling stars like never the city girl had seen, the cheers rose and another life was settled into the warmth that came with a title and home, so strong a foundation to hold to.

“Galladu, Nicolette.”

Perhaps it is curious—She slid between two students, long stride smooth, almost elegant.—that I should find myself unafraid—She slid the grey wood from her robes, letting her thumb slide gently along the faint curves made by the soft twisting as it reached a point.—and yet…
Nicolette glanced deep into the flames, squinting slightly behind her glasses, a faint smile on her lips. She silently offered the wand to the flames, let it part from her for the first time since she'd met it.

I do trust you.

As her wand fell, she softly took back her hand, traced the flames high above her head. And they shivered and suddenly lengthened, became brilliant in a color she had no time to notice. Shaking its head, beautiful and with each whisker flickering majestic and proud as its eyes, a tiger etched its existence in her heart as in the air.

“Tigersclaw!”

And as the corresponding table erupted into rambunctious cheering, the grand feline bowed its head and its sculptured jaw parted, gently dropping her wand of fir into her awaiting hands. Gently inclining her head to the beautiful beast, she whispered softly, “Thank you,” before turning towards her awaiting and rambunctious table. On a whim, she punched her fist into the air, standing still for a brief moment, another roar of concord from her house whisking a grin onto her face. And then she stepped onwards, walking with as much elegance as the symbolic creature she had fallen under the care of had born.

It was with a humble smile and a slight flush touching her fair face after the faint performance that she laughed as older students quickly leaned in, congratulations and approving nods all around. Various shouts flooded in from either ends of the table, coming to reach her where she had gone on impulse, settling in the center of the extensive and rich spread.

Soon the table silenced, a couple throwing last smiles and motions of congratulations before all eyes once more shifted to the next students. Watching now, those first years that she had not met, but had traveled with so far, all to find an uncertain destiny under the name of Dragonsflame… it was thrilling! And the sorting done, her eyes switched quickly to the Headmistress, her smile never ceasing to just touch at the corner of her lips. At last.

“Welcome, one and all to another year at Dragonsflame Academy of Sorcery! For those of you who are returning, it is good to see you all again, safe from what I’m sure were very exciting summers! To those of you experiencing your first years here, it is a pleasure to meet you! I hope that regardless of whether or not this is your first year or your seventh, that you will all have an exciting time in the months to come. For those of you meeting me for the first time, or for those who simply forgot, I am Professor Nuual, Headmistress here at Dragonsflame, and I hope that I get the chance to know each and everyone of you! Now then, I’m sure that after that long train ride and equally long sorting, you are all just itching to get your hands on the food we have waiting for you. However, I beg of just a few more moments of your time. First, a few rules that should be known to most of you by this point, but deserve reiterating. I would like to point out that the Northern Shore as well as its adjoining jungle are off limits to all students. No Exceptions! Also, anybody wishing to tryout for their house Quidditch teams would do well to speak with their house Heads for information concerning dates and the like. And one last bit of information that I would like to get out before the feast starts. Any student interested in joining the School Dueling Society should all attend the informational meeting this Saturday after breakfast in this very hall! Now then, what say we placate those monsters rumbling in your stomachs?” Professor Nuual smiled and clapped her hands twice.

So suddenly Nicolette blinked at the change. A grand rush of never-ending foods and grand selections of every sort! And it was practically ineffable! To even attempt to describe it madness! The assortment of foods and the overwhelming wholesome scents flooding the Dining Hall upon but a whim! The laughter of a fourth year witch across from her brought a grin to her face.

“The look on your face,” she cried and rubbed at her eyes, still laughing and gesturing helplessly. Nicolette couldn’t help herself. She burst into laughter along with her, and soon the two of them could not help but swipe at their eyes, the feeling infectious as it tickled the fancies of those surrounding them. At last the giggles dwindled and though everyone was already digging into their meals, the two rose and reached across the table to shake hands.

“I'm Deritta Hatchens,” the girl said, a warm smile on her face. “You can call me Derry.”

“And I’m Nicolette Galladu,” she responded, with a broad grin spreading across her lips.
“You can call me Nick, Nicky, Nicole, Nicolette or whatever else you can possibly come up with.”

With the greeting so swiftly complete, a first introduction to note in this truly magical world, Nicolette finally began piling her plate with food and tucked in.

OOC (again): Omg. Random NCP?

As Professor Latheway calmly explained the meaning, origin and purpose of the flaming basin, Litana slowly released the first-year's sleeve, and calmed down, at least to the point she normally functioned. Fear left her in lieu of excitement's arrival, and she wondered bouncingly which house she was to be interred into. More tension left her as the first child called received her wand back from the arachnid, quelling her fears of losing the precious length of wood she'd only obtained a few days ago, despite Latheway's reassurances to the contrary.

The crowd had not thinned so much when the cry of "Ferous, Litana" was called, surprisingly with the proper pronounciation; most people attempted to say her last name as if she were an animal and they were describing it: "furrus." While most students had either crept cautiously or strode evenly, whether out of defiance or pure elegance, Litana instead chose to half skip, half run after a excited "I'm here!" to the professor. Certainly not the average timid first-year.

She stepped up to the fountain, resting a hand on the edge and feeling no pain from the heat. She stared deep into the white fire. You're not a volcano, she decided to herself, just a bowl of fire, that will chose where I belong. She pulled out her surprisingly long wand, and held it over the fountain, whispering "Don't eat it," before letting it fall. The flames swallowed it, and Litana peeked into the bowl closer as the flames lulled a moment, so that when they erupted again with force, she jumped back with a yelp of surprise. She wasn't about to test whether the flame would burn her or not; she liked her nose the way it was.

The smoke coalesced above the fountain, swirling quickly as if it had decided long ago for this wand. Litana could tell before the image was distinguished; the pointed ears, long snout, and spirited eyes were all she needed to decide. The wolf's head nodded, and offered back the wand, its handle toward the girl while its teeth of ash and ember lightly gripped the tapered end. Litana took her wand, and smiled widely, patting the smoke-wolf's head lightly; it almost felt like fur.

The teachers had not specified which table was which, but it wasn't any difficult task to tell which table was Wolfsfang; the one just to the left of the door had erupted in applause and wolf-whistles, and Litana laughed as Latheway pronounced, rather redundantly, "Wolfsfang!"

Litana ran to the table of her new house-mates, accepting handshakes and high-fives from anyone who proferred them; it seemed the entire table was up in a ruccus. I think I like this group. They know how to have some fun! As she sat down for the rest of the sorting, she accepted every new Wolfsfang that followed her as if she'd been in the house for years; it just felt right.

As the headmistress stood and the hall silenced, Litana followed suit and watched the woman intently. While quiet was not a normal setting on Litana's behavior, she was not foreign to respect, and the air of the room suggested that this seemingly young woman received it in heaps, and deserved it every bit. Litana made careful note of the "off-limits" areas; her experiences showed that the places that were most exciting were usually labeled with these words. The Dueling Society sounded fun as well; she'd have to show up for the meeting.

As the runners filled with food, Litana barely batted an eye at the showing and instead lunged immediately toward a large fork dug into a veritable mountain of linguine with what looked like shrimp mixed in. She was glad the plate before her was so large; she'd make good use of it before the night was through.

Xi crinkled her nose at Professor Latheway's reprimand. She pursed her lips, and as soon as Professor Latheway turned away, she raised on long elegant finger. Her middle one. She dropped it a second later when the potions master turned back around.

"That'll be fifteen points, Miss Fa, from whatever house it is that you are sorted in, for that rude gesture of yours."

Xi's mouth almost fell open. 'Minus fifteen points? But I only got ten before. No way! I can't be at negative five. Fei Lan and Yu Ting never got their houses into the negatives, much less with in the first twenty minutes of being on the premises!' Instead of letting her thoughts show on her face, she crossed her arms and "hmph"ed. She was hardly interested in the houses where other people ended up, only where she ended up, though it was rather obvious, she thought. She could see her sisters, heads buried in their hands, shaking them back and forward. She knew why.

"Fa, Xi Ang!" she almost smiled. There was no way they could play it all off like they didn't know her now. She strode forward confidently ad dropped her wand into the flames, watching as they burst upwards, engulfing the wand entirely. She dropped her hand to her side and waited, almost impatiently for the answer she knew was coming. While it was possible for siblings to be in different houses, it was very rare and Xi highly doubted that it would happen here.

Just as she thought, a cloud of smoke in the shape of a wolf's head with her wand clutched in its mouth arose almost hauntingly from the fountain and dropped her wand. She caught it. "Wolfsfang!" Latheway announced. Loud cheers erupted from a table to her right. She turned and strode away from the fountain, smiling. She was actually smiling, and she didn't know why. She assumed it was because she'd just been placed in the house known for producing great wizards and witches, or possibly because she actually felt like she was a part of Dragonsflame, now that she was in a house. Whatever the reason, she found she couldn't stop smiling as she pounded her fist with other people's fists, hit high fives, and felt what seemed like (and probably was) hundreds of pats on the back and congratulations. Some even complimented her on her boldness, flipping a professor off like that (obviously people who didn't get along with Latheway). She sat down beside her sisters and almost immediately, Yu Ting pounced.

"Why the hell did you flip of Professor Latheway?" she whispered harshly. "The year's barely begun and thanks to you, we're fifteen in the hole."

"Only five in the hole," Xi corrected. "Also thanks to me. I got ten points back during the mine ride for answering a question about orichalum thoroughly."

Yu seemed shocked. "I guess you're good for something after all," she said after a bit.

Xi frowned at her and contemplated slapping her but refrained. "In any case, I'll write a letter of apology to her and I'll apologize to the kid I slapped. No biggie." She joined in the cheers and yells as yet another person joined the table.

"Oh honestly, Xi. Please try to control yourself from now on," Fei Lan said. "You're a good girl at heart. Let the teachers see that side of you."

"Whatever."

They watched the rest of the sorting, listening to Headmaster Nuual's speech, and then dug into dinner. Xi wasn't very hungry but she ate anyway.

"I still can't believe you flipped her off."

"Yu, let it go. It was half and hour ago."

Silence for a moment, and then, "I just can't believe it."

"Oh my god," Xi said, exasperated. She slapped her palm to her forehead and sighed. "You just can't let it go, can you?"

OOC: Tairi, you're officially removed from the RP. You're post isn't up to standard. sorry. You're posts are now being deleted...

"Mercer, Cassandra," Latheway called.

Cassie stomach seemed to drop out from her abdomen and tighten helplessly on the floor. This was the moment she'd been waiting for. It was either stay here and make a future for herself or otherwise go back into the ditch of split lips, black eyes, and bloody noses. She would much rather choose the former, no matter how hard it was to forget her roots.

With a deep determined breath, Cassie stepped forward and squeezed passed a few students standing in her way. She emerged into the clearing, just before the fountain and felt a hundred eyes on her back. Cassie reached within her robes and withdrew her wand, holding it over the surface of the flames.

Before she let go, she took a moment to survey her surroundings. It was such a magical place, she painfully didn't want to be reminded that this could be the first and last time she'd ever step inside such a wonderful atmosphere only to be sent home because of a mistake made by this academy.

Narrowing her eyes as she turned back to the fountain, she realized that Jaquie had so much faith in her, so why should she question it? Jaquie was the most trustworthy person Cassie knew. If Jaquie said that she had the gift, Cassie should believe it.

Now, she did.

She took another deep and calming breath, focusing fearlessly on the flames below as she released her grip. Her wand disappeared into the fountain as all noise around her seemed to muffle into silence. The seconds seemed like hours to Cassie as she watched the fountain sputter for a moment, and suddenly erupt furiously. Cassie, however, held her ground as the flames roared and then finally died down again to reveal smoke entrails snaking their way into the air.

Her wand floated loftily around in the turrents, as a shape began to form. Cassie stared the enchanted smoke down with fierce stubborness. She would not be turned away,... and she wouldn't have to be.

A sharp beak began to appear as wings unfurled themselves, growing wider. The falcon snatched the wand from the air with its finely detailed talons and gently deposited it into Cassie's outstretched hand. The noble creature curled in on itself and was once again smoke, innocently dissipating into the air.

"Falconsflight!" Latheway boomed, as Cassie's hearing revived itself.

The table with the rest of the Falconsflight members pounded on the table rowdily as their cheers reverberated through the hall. Cassie couldn't help but smile.

Greeting her at her seat were lots of hands outstretched to shake her's and many firm pats on the back as she flushed slightly, sitting at her place. Now that she was finally "in," she couldn't remember what it was that she had worked herself so sick over. Her stomach seemed to have rejoined the rest of her body.

Another first year who had been sorted into Falconsflight was Xander. She was glad to see a familiar face amongst all of the chaos. She gave him an encouraging smile but he seemed not to have noticed her.

She bowed her head, temporarily embarrassed for doing such a thing, but brought her eyes back up, gnawing on the inside of her cheek thoughfully. The remaining students were sorted quickly and the headmistress of the academy stood for attention.

Cassie's eyes widened with shock. She had never expected a headmistress such as Professor Nuual to look so young! From what Cassie had heard from Jaquie, she assumed that Nuual was quite the opposite of what her eyes were showing her. From what Cassie could tell, Nuual was very beautiful. Her posture resembled that of a dancer and her charisma reminded Cassie of a forever jocular teenybopper.

First impressions alone, Cassie liked how this lady got business done. She was the one in charge of calling for dinner, and she was now Cassie's best friend in the world. She hadn't realized how hungry she had become until Nuual began speaking.

But with all things said and done, Nuual announced dinner and Cassie's eyes brightened. She'd never seen anything so magificent or so plentiful. Without a second thought, Cassie dug in.

She heard Xander say, "I could get used to this."

Cassie smiled, but said nothing.

OOC:

OOC: Ok kids, new policy for this RP. I've realized that with this many people taking part, it's stupid to wait for everyone to post. So here's the new deal. I'm going to move things along at a pace I see fitting. I figure that if you're really devoted to and are really enjoying this RP, then you'll take it upon yourself to keep up with it. If we happen to lose people along the way, oh well. Sorry if this seems mean, it's just that I have a lot I want to accomplish in this RP and I don't want each school year to take five IRL years to complete. So yeah...[/rant]
Also, this is an important post, so if you'd please, read it all through.

IC: As Xander sat at the table, he couldn't help but smile widely and cheer loudly as the people who had sat in his compartment were sorted into their respective houses. What was more, Xander couldn't help but feel elated whenever he thought about being in the same house as Cassie. After being sorted, Xander managed to position himself closer to where she was sitting.

"Guess you're stuck with me, huh?"

Xander smiled and chatted idly with Cassie and the rest of his new class mates for the remainder of the meal. His eyes lit up with excitement as the food on the hovering runners disappeared, being replaced by a wide array of desserts. Seeing no reason to hold back, Xander took a healthy portion of one of the cheesecakes and a good many chocolate covered strawberries. By the time he had polished off his meal, a general feeling of contentment was sweeping the Dining Hall. Many students were moaning from over stuffed stomachs and what remained of the desserts hovered up and down the tables on the magically levitated runners.

While Xander waited for whatever was coming next, his eyes wandered and for the first time, he took the time to truly admire the hall. The high ceiling bore many elaborate paintings of many witches and wizards doing various things of a magical nature. In each of the four corners of the ceiling, a painting of each of the four house mascots was placed, a large dragon residing in the middle. However, unlike the other paintings Xander had seen in the magical world, these figures weren’t moving. They seemed to be just regular old paintings. Somehow, this comforted Xander, to know that there was some part of the non-magic world here with him even in this place. Positioned all along the walls were the most stunning stained glass windows Xander had ever seen. These, unlike the ceiling, were magical. There occupants were moving between windows and having conversations amongst themselves. It was truly a strange site to behold.

A little while passed and eventually, the remainder of the desserts were wiped away as well, and the runners replaced themselves as regular runners on the tables. All of the idle chit chat that had been going on stopped and everyone turned to the center table to see that Professor Nuual had risen once again, a sweet and friendly smile spread wide across her face.

“I hope that your meals were to standard?” The hall cheered in response and the smile on her face spread wider still.

“Good good! I’m glad to hear that! Now then, our last order of business for the night. As I’m sure you’re all excited to hear, your classes will begin tomorrow. You will receive your schedules tomorrow morning from yours Heads of House. Then, at lunch tomorrow you will all be shown where your common rooms are for those that don’t already know. Your common rooms will act as a place to interact with those who are in your house, but may be in a different year, while your dormitories will act as a way for you to commute with those who are in your year or similar. Now then, off to bed with you all! May you all sleep well and wake up tomorrow rested and ready to learn!”

The entire hall shifted as one, everyone rising from their seats. Xander looked around, turning to Cassie in confusion.

“Erm… do you know where we’re supposed to be going? I mean, where are our dorms?” As though some higher power was answering his question for him, a booming voice resounded throughout the hall.”

“First years please form a line in front of us! First years please form a line!” Xander spun around and peered over the heads of those around him. At the front of the hall stood a boy and a girl, the boy holding a wand to his throat and was presumably the one whose voice Xander heard.

“Third years! Over here! Come on now!”

“Fifth years! If you are entering your fifth year please come here now!” It was like people were speaking through megaphones all around the hall. Xander looked around and saw other students, each a boy and girl speaking in a similar manner. In confusion, Xander once again turned to Cassie.

“I’m confused… what exactly is going on?” He was answered once again, not by Cassie, but by someone else. This time, a boy he had met at dinner, a seventh year named Dennis Collins.

“Oh that’s right… you guys are muggle-born huh? Don’t worry about it, I was as confused as you are in my first year too, and I’m a pure blood!” Dennis laughed a little bit at his own joke. “Anyways, students share dormitories with those of similar years. First and second years share a dorm, third and fourth years are stuck together, fifth and sixth years too, and we seventh years get our own, but we get it a bit more complicated than you guys. Those guys up there at the front of the hall are the GA’s, Graduated Assistants. They were chosen by professor Nuual as the best in the years to help those who are a year below them. Two second years, two fourth years, two sixth years, and two seventh years. They’ll help you find the dorms. Argh, the rest of them have already started. I better get going or its going to be a long night. Looks like my GA’s have already left. Geeze, I better not have to sleep in the halls tonight. I’ll see you tomorrow at breakfast Xander. G’Night Cass!” Dennis hurried off through the crowd, his robes eventually whipping around the corner out into the rest of the castle.

“What do you think he meant by all that ‘long night’ and ‘sleep in the halls’ stuff?” Dennis’s words kind of worried Xander a little bit, but this was very much over ruled by his intense joy at having met someone who could show him the robes at Dragonsflame. Shrugging at Cassie, Xander motioned for her to follow him to the front. The crowd was horribly thick and made Xander feel like he was a fish swimming up stream. When he did reach the front of the hall, however, he had to search a bit to find the GA that was gonna help him find his dorm. After a little while though, Xander spotted a line that held some of the other kids from their compartment, and assumed that was the one he was supposed to be in. Xander walked over to them all, smiling and joining them in front of the GA’s.

“Come on guys, we’re not going to wait for much longer! Okay, my name’s James Williamson and this is your other second year GA, Courtney Stuarts.” The girl beside him smiled and waved absentmindedly at the first years assembled before her. “For the year before you, you will treat us, as well as any other GA who may cross your path, as sort of, less powerful teachers. We can, and will if need be, assign detentions, and their coinciding punishments. It is our job to make sure that all things run smoothly among the student body and make sure you’re all ok. Don’t worry, we’re not mean, but we do have a job to do. So, first things first, why don’t you all follow us, and we’ll show you where the first and second year dorms are.”

James and Courtney turned on their heels and exited the halls, Xander and the rest of the first years following suit. The halls of the castle were as amazing as one could expect. Paintings adorned what seemed like every inch of wall was covered in paintings, some stretches of wall covered in full length murals. Chandeliers that gave off waves of golden light hung from the ceilings and added even further to setting. Every few steps creatures that looked like they could be fairies wearing backpacks would dart around corners and up walls. This wasn’t even the weirdest thing. Occasionally the group would stop in front of blank stretches of wall for a few moments before they would slide back revealing hallways and more routes for them to take. They walked for a long while and by the end of it Xander was more than confused.

The group eventually stopped when they reached what seemed to be an indoor courtyard. Paintings of a forest were imbued onto the four walls, while a picture of the moon slowly moved over the ceiling. It took Xander a moment to realize that this room changed with the time of day. His attention however was quickly drawn to the middle of the room, where a large pool of water the size of a lap pool was set into the floor. It’s surface was so smooth and perfect, it seemed more like glass than water. Courtney stepped forward to one side of the pool, staring down at it as though it held some incredible secret.

“Sprites!” Xander raised an eyebrow at this, and was once again about to ask Cassie if she thought this meant something when a ripple issued from the middle of the pool. This was followed by several more, each more powerful than the last until finally the water began to take the form of a pair of stairs leading down into the darkness. The stairs seemed to be more than water as Courtney, closely followed by James, descended the stairs as if they were stone. After some quick murmuring amongst the first years, the group followed the GA’s . The stairs led to what must have been the most fantastic room in the world. A roaring fire burned in a fireplace set against one wall. Furniture of every variation filled the room and gave it an air of sophistication. The most amazing part about the room however were the windows set into the walls. An ocean scene existed beyond them. It was like they were on the train again.

“Welcome to Dorm One, housing for the first and second years at Dragonsflame. Stairs to the left, boys dorms. Stairs to the right, girls. The dorms are even further down so it’ll probably take you a while to get used to the pressure, but you catch on soon enough. Now, if I were you, I’d try and get some sleep. Classes start tomorrow.” The GA’s walked back up the stairs, their reasons unknown. Xander in the meanwhile was still taking in his new surroundings.

“Why wasn’t I told about this place sooner? School rocks…”

"Phrotus, Chrystelle," Professor Latheway called.

It felt as if the entire room froze within the moment Chrystelle heard her name called out by Professor Latheway. She could feel tension in the air from all of the other first year students, and could feel their gazes on her from behind. There was no need to be nervous, right? This was the moment of truth where she would discover the things she never knew about life until now, the moment when her life would be changed forever. Taking a beep breath trying to calm herself down, Chrystelle had stepped forward, passing through a few students until she was in the clearing where everyone could see her.

Taking another deep breath, Chrystelle turned towards the fountain of flames and like all the other students she seen do before she was called, dropped her wand inside of the fountain. The few seconds Chrystelle was waiting seemed like an eternity, until the fountain sputtered a moment with the flame errupting furiously, causing her to jump back a bit. The flames soon died down, with think whisps of smoke entrails starting to rise from the fountain. Chrystelle's wand was floating around in the smoke, that was starting to take shape of something. A head started to appear, with long, elegant whiskers, and eyes that were full of pride, leaving Chrystelle speechless. The smoke had turned into the form of a tiger.

"Tigersclaw!"

Soon the entire room broke out into boisterious cheering, and at the same time the majestic creature had slightly bowed it's head, dropping Chrystelle's wand back into her hand. No longer felling nervous, knowing that the sorting was over for her, she walked over to the Tigersclaw table, to be greeted by all of the other members. Older students were congratulating her with Chrystelle responding with a silent reply of thanks.

The table soon got silent again as the rest of the sorting for the first year students were carried out, until it was finally over with everyone shifting their attention to the head mistress of the school.

“Welcome, one and all to another year at Dragonsflame Academy of Sorcery! For those of you who are returning, it is good to see you all again, safe from what I’m sure were very exciting summers! To those of you experiencing your first years here, it is a pleasure to meet you! I hope that regardless of whether or not this is your first year or your seventh, that you will all have an exciting time in the months to come. For those of you meeting me for the first time, or for those who simply forgot, I am Professor Nuual, Headmistress here at Dragonsflame, and I hope that I get the chance to know each and everyone of you! Now then, I’m sure that after that long train ride and equally long sorting, you are all just itching to get your hands on the food we have waiting for you. However, I beg of just a few more moments of your time. First, a few rules that should be known to most of you by this point, but deserve reiterating. I would like to point out that the Northern Shore as well as its adjoining jungle are off limits to all students. No Exceptions! Also, anybody wishing to tryout for their house Quidditch teams would do well to speak with their house Heads for information concerning dates and the like. And one last bit of information that I would like to get out before the feast starts. Any student interested in joining the School Dueling Society should all attend the informational meeting this Saturday after breakfast in this very hall! Now then, what say we placate those monsters rumbling in your stomachs?” Professor Nuual said, clapping her hand twice.

Chrystelle's light green eyes had widened at the change. There were foods of all sorts and kinds on the plates in front of her, which were clear and spotless of anything before. It was almost overwhelming for Chrystelle, and couldn't figure out where to begin.

"Oh wow, there's so much to choose from. Now this is something I can get used to." Chrystelle said, starting to fill her plate with the food set out before her.

Ok well since i never got a house assigned to me i assume it means you want me to drop out...so bye?

Alex groaned, sitting up. Her chin ached and her eyes burned. The last thing she remembered was the white haired woman - Proffessor Latheway - had been talking about something or the other. Then the floor had come flying up to meet her face. "What's going on?"
"We're getting sorted," whispered a voice. Alex looked over her shoulder to see the source - a skinny boy of about average height with an extremely noticable nose.
"Thanks," she smiled, turning to look at Proffessor Latheway. After a moment of consideration, she turned to look at the boy again. But he had vanished.

Confused, she looked around the group enclosed within the flames, but she couldn't find him. The group did seem oddly depleted - only a handful of people were still there. Alex simply shrugged to herself.
"Winters, Alexandria Marie Isabell Josephina,"
I hate my full name... My name!! She started, moving forwards. Unfortunately, she tripped over her own feet and knocked her chin against the floor again. Luckily, her wand - which she had been holding in her left hand for some strange reason - flew through the air and landed in the fountain of fire.

Smoke wafted from the flames, twisting to form a long stick-like object. "MY WAND!!" Before swirling into the shape of a large, but spindly spider. One of its legs reached out and deposited her wand on her head. "Oh... right..."
"Spidersilk!"
"... Um... that's the table over there, isn't it?"
"Yes,"

Alex jumped, darting over to the table. For a moment it seemed as if she had forgotten her wand, but when she sat down it clutched tightly in her hand. She played with her wand for a short while, completely at loss in the crowd of older student.

But then a woman - Alex assumed she was the headmistress - spoke. “Welcome, one and all to another year at Dragonsflame Academy of Sorcery! For those of you who are returning, it is good to see you all again, safe from what I’m sure were very exciting summers! To those of you experiencing your first years here, it is a pleasure to meet you! I hope that regardless of whether or not this is your first year or your seventh, that you will all have an exciting time in the months to come. For those of you meeting me for the first time, or for those who simply forgot, I am Professor Nuual, Headmistress here at Dragonsflame, and I hope that I get the chance to know each and everyone of you! Now then, I’m sure that after that long train ride and equally long sorting, you are all just itching to get your hands on the food we have waiting for you. However, I beg of just a few more moments of your time. First, a few rules that should be known to most of you by this point, but deserve reiterating. I would like to point out that the Northern Shore as well as its adjoining jungle are off limits to all students. No Exceptions! Also, anybody wishing to tryout for their house Quidditch teams would do well to speak with their house Heads for information concerning dates and the like. And one last bit of information that I would like to get out before the feast starts. Any student interested in joining the School Dueling Society should all attend the informational meeting this Saturday after breakfast in this very hall! Now then, what say we placate those monsters rumbling in your stomachs?”
The woman clapped sharply twice, and foos appeared on the dishes before her.
"YUM!!" Alex beamed, reaching across the table to a plate of chicken wings.

((Sorry for the delay and crappiness and stuff. The first three times I tried writing it I was dragged off the computer and it was deleted by my sister and my mum by accident))

OOC: Quick note peoples. If you'll notice, I've raised the Level of this RP from 2 to 3. Your posts have all, for the most part, been of lvl 3 standard anyways, but this is just to hammer it in.

"Fletcher, Peter"

His name sounded foreign all of a sudden. He felt a few eyes fall on him, since Professor Latheway was staring directly at him. Numerous people had gone before him, it can't be THAT hard, right? The fountain was little scary, due to the flames, but all he had to do was drop his wand into it and find his house. That's all.

"Don't...do..anything...stup-" Peter thought, but as soon as he did, he felt himself trip over a step. Losing balance and control, he went caneering into the floor at the top of the stairs with a lound THUMP. Laughs could be heard emitted from most of the unsorted first years, and from some of the tables. Flushing, he quickly got up again.

"Great, only has been about half an hour and I'm probably already branded a dunce...." He thought, looking down while holding his wand over the fountain. The flames licked around, seemingly menacing, giving off an air of danger, but also calmness.

"Here it goes." Peter said, dropping his wand into the fountain. Nothing happened for a few seconds. Standing there, Peter looked at the fountain, confused. "Did I do something wrong?" He asked, turning around to Professor Latheway. As soon as he did, the fountain came to life again. The fountain seemed to erupt. Peter stepped back a few paces, uttering the words "NAYAGHH" in the process, but soon calmed down after a second. The eruptions and smoke died down, and Peter's wand floated to the top. The smoke stared to form into a shape. It was that of a Wolf's head.

"Wolfsfang!" Professor Latheway called. Peter smiled for a minute before grabbing his wand, and then made his way to his table. Claps erupted from Wolfsfang, and as he approached people started shaking his hand. He moved down the line of people, and took his seat a few places down from Xi. He didn't think he wanted him to wave at her, so he refrained from doing so.

~_~

After the rest of the first years were sorted, a women (who was seated at the middle of the teacher's table) stood up. It must have been the headmistress. She started to speak:

Welcome, one and all to another year at Dragonsflame Academy of Sorcery! For those of you who are returning, it is good to see you all again, safe from what I’m sure were very exciting summers! To those of you experiencing your first years here, it is a pleasure to meet you! I hope that regardless of whether or not this is your first year or your seventh, that you will all have an exciting time in the months to come. For those of you meeting me for the first time, or for those who simply forgot, I am Professor Nuual, Headmistress here at Dragonsflame, and I hope that I get the chance to know each and everyone of you! Now then, I’m sure that after that long train ride and equally long sorting, you are all just itching to get your hands on the food we have waiting for you. However, I beg of just a few more moments of your time. First, a few rules that should be known to most of you by this point, but deserve reiterating. I would like to point out that the Northern Shore as well as its adjoining jungle are off limits to all students. No Exceptions! Also, anybody wishing to tryout for their house Quidditch teams would do well to speak with their house Heads for information concerning dates and the like. And one last bit of information that I would like to get out before the feast starts. Any student interested in joining the School Dueling Society should all attend the informational meeting this Saturday after breakfast in this very hall! Now then, what say we placate those monsters rumbling in your stomachs?”

With this, food magically appeared on the table. Wolfsfang seemed to dig in, and (after rubbing his new House emblem on his robe) he also started stuffing his face. The food was excellent, and the dessert was even better. He even thought he gained a few pounds from this.

After the dinner, The headmistress, Professor Nuual stood up and said

“I hope that your meals were to standard?” The hall erupted in loud cheers, and she seemed to smile.

“Good good! I’m glad to hear that! Now then, our last order of business for the night. As I’m sure you’re all excited to hear, your classes will begin tomorrow. You will receive your schedules tomorrow morning from yours Heads of House. Then, at lunch tomorrow you will all be shown where your common rooms are for those that don’t already know. Your common rooms will act as a place to interact with those who are in your house, but may be in a different year, while your dormitories will act as a way for you to commute with those who are in your year or similar. Now then, off to bed with you all! May you all sleep well and wake up tomorrow rested and ready to learn!”

"Beds?" Peter said, but he soon found his answer: Two people yelling.

“First years please form a line in front of us! First years please form a line!”

From what he heard, they were James and Courtney, and they were the GA's for the first years and would be showing them to their dorms. Peter wasn't going to complain, and they were soon off. As they started to ascend towards the dorms, Peter was amazed by the portraits. Not only were there TONS of them on the walls, they all seemed to be alive. He was lost in shock for the remainder of the trip, and the only last thing he heard was "Sprites!", which seemed to be a password to open something (the dorm, perhaps), and the students moving in.

The GA's announced that Dorm One is where the First Years would be sleeping, so Peter followed Xander and the others up to the dorm. As he entered, he found the bed with his stuff, and he was also amazed at the sheer size, as well as elegance, of the beds. He could sleep on these forever!

As he settled into bed, he shot a glance over at Xander.

"This school is awesome, isn't it?" And with that, he went to bed, awaiting the next day.

"This school is awesome, isn't it?" The words snapped Xander out of his momentary reverie. Turning to the source, Peter came into Xander’s field of vision. Without further word, however, Peter turned on his heel and marched off towards the dorms. Spending a few moments more to take in his new surroundings, Xander smiled and bid his new friends goodnight as he followed Peters lead and took off towards the dorms.

A long spiral staircase lead downwards, the pressure pushing more and more on his ears. He eventually came to one door that he guessed, based on the large brass number two on the door, was the second years dorm, meaning his was lower still. He eventually came to another door similar to the one he passed at the bottom of the stairs, a number one on its face. Turning the knob, he pushed open the heavy door, warmth spreading over him. Roaring fires burned in large circular fireplaces scattered along a large room filled with many beds covered in silver hangings.

It took Xander a couple of minutes to find the bed with his many trunks around it. It was situated against the wall, right in the middle of one circle of beds. Some sort of magic must have been placed upon this room, being that the second he found his bed, an intense desire for sleep swept over him. Logic however, simply said that it had been a very long day full of excitement. Either way, he was happy to change into his pajamas and pull the curtains closed around his bed, quickly drifting off to sleep.

“Come on! We’re going to miss breakfast if we don’t hurry up!”

“I’m coming! Give me a sec!”

Somewhere in his dream, a door slammed shut and Xander shot upwards in his bed. Pulling back the silver curtains of his four-poster, it was apparent that morning had come, and brought with it the first day of classes. The light from the sun above filtered through the water around the dorm and danced on the floor before him. The magical presence of this place left Xander with a broad smile slapped across his face. With a muscle loosening stretch, the young boy extracted himself from his blankets and wasted no time in rummaging through his trunks. Fifteen minutes later, Xander was dressed in his school uniform and trudging up the stairs towards his common room.

The large and cushy room was miraculously empty and Xander assumed that everyone was already up at breakfast.

”Great… late on the first day of classes…” Making his way towards the staircase leading to the rest of the castle, a wall of water blocked his path. It was only then that he realized that the staircase itself was water. Thinking back to the night before, Xander tried furiously to remember the password the GA had used.

“Umm… coke?” he tried tentatively to no avail. He knew it was a soda. And with that, he took the only course of action he could think of.

“Root Beer, Orange, Dr. Pepper, Cactus Cooler, 7 Up, Ginger Ale, Sprite… Sprite? Sprites!” The wall of water before him rippled and formed once again into a set of stairs leading upward. Pressing a toe to one of the steps, Xander wanted to make sure that he wasn’t going to die the second he started his ascent. But much to his elation, the steps were as they had been the night before, solid as stone; much like his belief was now. He knew this was no dream now. He really was at magic school.

Xander soon realized that the castle was no easier to navigate during the day than it was in the wee hours of the night. Windows on every wall made it impossible to follow the edge while certain mischievous paintings made it a habit to hand out wrong directions. Only after a half hour of tiring searching did the chatter of students and the clanking of plates meet his ears. Rounding the corner, the dining hall came into view and Xander couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. He had a feeling it was going to take a while until he fully mastered the floor plan of this castle. But considering his current position, he had been giving more arduous tasks in the past.

Walking to his table, Xander was welcomed with warm smiles and greetings as he took his place in the middle. He had barely enough time to scoop some scrambled eggs off of one of the floating runners when a loud voice met his ears.

“Monroe, James!” Turning towards the source of the name calling, Xander was met by a tall man who appeared to be in his late twenties. Nudging Dennis, the seventh year he had met the night prior, in the side, Xander pointed towards the man now approaching.

“Hey Dennis, who’s he?” Looking up from his plate, Dennis turned to the man who Xander had indicated.

“Oh, that’s Professor Treelow. He’s head of Falconsflight as well as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor here at Dragonsflame. Really great guy. He used to be an Auror. Really good one too. All the girls are giddy about him. He’s really down to earth though.” Xander certainly had no idea what an “Auror” was, but he surmised that it was something he’d learn about soon enough.

“Michaels, Xander.” Professor Treelow looked downward at Xander, a look of curiosity in his eye.

“You’ll be in Group K. Your first class is—“ Treelow glanced a piece of parchment he held in one hand, “—Charms, with Professor Amiteus. The rest of your classes are on your schedule.” Xander once against felt the familiar sense of confusion that seemed to be expected when attending a magical school.

“I’m sorry, Group K? And I’m afraid I don’t have a schedule…”

“Hmm? Oh, my mistake. You’re muggle-born aren’t you? Professor Nuual likes to promote good relations among the houses. So students are assigned into groups made up of students from your year but different houses. This way you don’t fall into the habit of only making friends in your house.”

“Oh, and the schedule, sir?” But without answering his question, Professor Treelow merely offered a warm smile.

“Welcome to Dragonsflame.” And with that he continued on his way. Xander, even more confused than he was moments earlier, turned to back to his plate. There, leaning against his still empty goblet, was a note card with violet inking scribbled across it.

“He’s brilliant, but a bit of a show boater…” Dennis said with a smile, nodding towards the schedule. Xander nodded slightly and read his schedule. To one side of the card was a list of names, presumably the others in his group. A warm feeling of happiness spread over him as he noticed immediately that everyone he had met on the train the day before, as well a few he hadn’t, were all in his group. At least he wouldn’t be alone. The rest of the card was made up of a list of classes with the days and times he was to attend them.

“Hey Dennis, where’s the Charms room? I don’t want to get lost again…” Dennis nodded, placing a strip of bacon between his teeth as he withdrew his wand. Grabbing hold of Xander’s schedule, he flipped it over and tapped it twice with his wand. Instantly a thin line of ink appeared on the white surface, working its way into a map that ended in a big star.

“Just follow that. Oi, you might wanna hurry up. Groups are gathering in the entrance hall.” Leaning back, Xander watched as small groups of people were indeed forming in the adjoining hall.

“Oh… thanks…” Xander looked at his plate sadly. He hadn’t even gotten a chance to eat. But he figured that was the price he had to pay when waking up late, and made a mental note to wake up earlier from then on. Making his way to the entrance hall, Xander noticed flaming letters hanging above each of the groups. Spotting the letter “K”, Xander maneuvered through the students, those he had met the day before already grouped together.

“Hi guys, guess we’re stuck with each other, eh?” Xander smiled weakly at his own joke.

“Umm, yeah, anyway. Maybe we should get going. I have a map if that’s any help…” Waiting a few moments, Xander proceeded onward, starting up the stairs towards their Charms class. It soon became very obvious that traveling in the castle became much easier when you had a general sense of where to go, and only a few minutes passed before Xander found himself standing in the Charms class room. The room had high ceilings hanging with various broom sticks. The walls were covered in posters of various teams who seemed to be playing a game Xander was completely unaware of. Standing at the front of the class was the familiar face of Professor Amiteus, who waved happily and Xander and motioned at the desks closest to him. Xander smiled back and made his way to the desks indicated. As the rest of the students began to filter in and take their seats, Amituses booming voice filled the room.

“Welcome, welcome! Welcome eager First Years to the first class of the rest of your life! This, boys and girls, is Charms. And I will be your talented, and rather handsome I might add, Professor. Professor Amiteus is how you will come to know me, and we have seven years to get to know each other! Now then, why dilly dally when the present keeps slipping into the past? Here in Charms, you will come to know the very basics of magical workings. The foundations of all spells you will ever learn will reveal themselves in this classroom. You will learn simple spells that levitate, and advanced ones that defy any previous concepts of space and time you may have had. While these spells may seem easy, I expect you to put as much effort into this class as you would any other. Homework will be assigned at the end of each class and I expect it to be completed to the best of your ability.” Amiteus finished his speech and proceeded to go over the attendance. As he came to Xanders name, a smile spread across Amiteuses face.

“You know Mr. Michaels, your uncle, Alexander Michaels, was a brilliant man. Brilliant though he was, he always said that his favorite subject at Dragonsflame was Charms. Did you know that?” Xander felt his face flush as he shook his head very slightly.

“Ah well, where was I?” Amiteus finished with the attendance and then proceeded with the class. For the remainder of the class, Amiteus explained the basic fundamentals of Charms and magic as a whole. The knowledge he imparted on them was so much to take in, that by the end of the class, Xander felt his head spinning. As the end of the class descended upon them, Amiteus gave them their first assignment of the year, two feet of parchment on the basics of Charms and their applications on spells outside of Charms. Xander could barely understand the assignment; he didn’t know how he was going to manage to complete it.

Glancing at his schedule, Xander noticed his next class was Potions: the class taught by Professor Latheway.

“I wonder how we get to Potions.” He said to no one in particular.

“Potions is taught on the third floor, next to the infirmary m’boy.” Xander looked up to see Professor Amiteus towering above him, a wide grin slapped across his face.

“Enjoy your first class Xander?”

“Oh yes sir. Very interesting.” Amiteus chuckled to himself.

“Yes well, don’t worry m’boy, it’ll become more interesting once you actually start practicing spells. Ah, but we mustn’t keep you busy. We don’t want Professor Latheway blaming me for making you late to her class now do we? Off you go!” Amiteus chuckled to himself once again and returned to his classroom, singing an unfamiliar song to himself.
Xander felt his face flush again. He wasn’t exactly fond of getting this much attention. Turning away so as not to show his beat red face to the rest of his group, Xander began to walk towards the staircase leading downstairs. Xander quickly realized that finding the infirmary wasn’t as difficult as he had first imagined. It seemed to encompass the entire floor and was much more sterile that the rest of the castle.

If finding the infirmary was that easy, then locating the classroom was equally as difficult. Only after much searching was Xander able to locate the classroom where his Potions Lessons would take place. It was equal in size to the Charms room except it seemed to have a sort of ambiance about it. A mist hung above the ceiling and various colored potions lined shelves at either side of the room. At the front of the classroom, where a desk would normally be, a large bubbling pond existed instead, a pink substance bubbling and frothing inside.

“Ah, hurry on children, take a seat! Let’s get started!” Professor Latheway spoke from behind a veil of mist rising from pond of potion. Learning from the previous class, Xander took a seat towards the back of the classroom.

“Welcome to Potions children! I am Professor Latheway as you all know, and I act as Potions Master and head of the Infirmary here at Dragonsflame. Now then, I thought we could start this class out right, and brew a little starter potion! Hmm?” Xander was glad to hear that lecture wouldn’t be a part of this class. Reaching into his bag, Xander, like the rest of the class, began to withdraw the potions set he had purchased back at Starcrest Port.

“Oh, no no dears! We won’t be using any of those ingredients! Anything you need can be found up here!” Professor Latheway motioned to a table to her left. It was laden with a variety of vegetables and seasonings.

“Today, we will be making potato stew! A good warm up to get you used to the principles of potion making, wouldn’t you agree? Now then, chop chop!” For the time being, Xander had found his favorite class. As the class began to “brew” their stew, Professor Latheway made her way around the class, commenting on each student’s progress and offering suggestions when necessary.

“Remember children, stew is something you make from the heart. Add what you like to it and make it your own. This is a valuable concept to remember when brewing potions. While it’s true that you’re given a set of steps to brew the potion, you must also remember that change is an inevitability in all things. A potion can always stand to be improved and a personal touch never hurts.” When less than half an hour remained in the class, Latheway told everyone to stop and enjoy their stew. It was like the parties he used to have at his old school at the end of the year. When the bell finally rang, the general opinion among the students was a good one.

“What class is nex—“

“Lunch!” Students around him rushed out of the classroom, making their way to the Dining Hall. Xander shrugged and followed suit.

Xander soon found that getting lost wasn’t a problem when you moved in packs. The smells of food soon reached his nostrils and after that, his nose did all of the directing. Rushing into the Dining Hall, Xander was seconds away from taking hold a piece of corn when a booming voice once again met his ears.

“First years! All first years please gather by your houses tables. Your heads of houses will be showing you to your common rooms!” Xanders face fell as the realization that he wasn’t going to be eating swept over him. Turning around, Xander spotted Professor Treelow standing at the table’s end, a small pack of students gathered around him. Spotting Cassie, Xander managed to squeeze into the group next to her.

“Everyone here? Good, off we go.” Professor Treelow set off at a brisk pace out of the hall, the students trailing behind him. In a fashion similar to the one last nice, the students navigated the halls and corridors of the castle in a very confusing manner. The stairs seemed to never end as they all continued to climb higher and higher. Only after Xanders legs felt like they were going to fall off did the group come to a halt. Standing before a large tapestry of what looked like a living room, Professor Treelow made sure that they were all paying attention.

“Mermish!” At Professor Treelows words, the tapestry rippled a bit, as though a wind had gently brushed past it. Stepping forward, Professor Treelow passed through the tapestry as though it wasn’t there at all. What had only looked like a depiction of a living room turned out to in fact be the Common Room itself. It strongly resembled the common room that the first and second years used, the only noticeable difference being the color scheme. The entire room was covered in varying shades of blue, obviously the house colors of Falconsflight. His mouth falling in awe, Xander would have been able to more accurately depict his state of amazement if he hadn’t been so hungry, not to mention worn out from the trek up to the common room.

“Now, that wasn’t so bad. I recommend resting here a bit. You probably won’t be able to make it to lunch now, so you might as well wait here until your next class starts. Now then, I’m off. I’ll see you all in class!” And with that, Professor Treelow exited through the tapestry, this one depicting the rest of the castle outside. Slumping into one of the comfy armchairs, Xander glanced out the window at the island. One thing was for sure. He certainly was getting a work out at Dragonsflame.


Standing at the foot of the table was a very tall man, his appearance almost unbefitting of the Wolfsfang House. Tall and lanky, he seemed to have those rugged good lucks you see in movies: messy hair, tan skin, and a permanent five o’clock shadow. As the students gathered around him, his height seemed almost magnified, the first years mere dwarfs in comparison.

“Well, let’s get to it then.” Without saying anymore, Professor Fielman set off into the castle, the gaggle of students struggling to keep up with him. Unlike the Falconsflight common room, it wasn’t much of a walk until they were all faced with a large statue of a gryphon standing before them. With all of the students gathered around him, Professor Fielman spoke the password.

“Felix Felicis.” With the password uttered, the gryphons mouth stretched towards the ceiling and floor, creating a pathway into the Wolfsfang Common Room. Draped in deep red and black, the entire room seemed fitting of the house full of students destined for greatness.


Tapping her foot impatiently, Professor Jenkins stood waiting for the rest of her first years to gather around. Professor Jenkins seemed to have an air of superiority about her. She clothed herself in elegant robes of deep purple silk and wore her gray hair up in an elaborate updo.

“Don’t fall behind now…” Setting off without saying anymore, Professor Jenkins seemed to be in a hurry, as her strides were quick and long and she didn’t seem to really care if any students got left behind. Traversing two flights of stairs, Professor Jenkins had to wait impatiently numerous times while her trail of students caught up. Eventually coming to stop in front of a blank stretch of wall, Jenkins once again tapped her foot impatiently as the students finally caught up.

“Pixie Willow.” Grumbling to life, the bricks of the wall rotated inward, taking the form of a spiral staircase. Walking upward, the darkness dissipated to reveal the Tigersclaw Common Room bathed in green. As the students entered the room, Professor Jenkins was no where to be seen. She really must have been in a hurry.


“Is everyone here?” Professor Carrows seemed to command attention. While obviously old, it wasn’t so hard to believe that he could hold his own in a fight.

“Right then, let’s go.” Marching out of the Dining Hall, Professor Carrows took an immediate right, making his way to the dungeons. Trudging through the corridors, the group was soon faced with a dead end. With the given password, Antromacula, the wall slid downwards, revealing the Spidersilk Common Room. The room was lovely and seemed to stand out in the dark dungeons. The chairs were all a lovely lavender color with grey accents.

“Lunch is over soon, so you might want to relax here a bit.”