Journal of a Teenage Wizard: Year 1

2nd September 1932

Friday, 2nd September 1932

I got lost in the dungeons today while looking for my potions class. I wonder why Qimengdian would even schedule classes down in the dungeon to begin with. In my opinion, it's the least conducive place to learn in the entire academy. It's cold and there's a funny smell which permeated the air. Actually, I wonder why a magic academy like Qimengdian would even have a dungeon? I mean, it's not like we keep any dangerous creatures or people on campus. Or do we?

Getting lost in the dungeons, however, was not entirely bad. I got to befriend Mia, a fellow first-year student who had also gotten lost in the dungeons while trying to find the potions class. This was not my first time seeing Mia, actually. I had first seen her during enchant class. She was one of the few students Professor Kingsley had called upon to demonstrate the levitation enchantment to rest of the class, as she had managed to successfully cast it by the end of class. As we searched for our ever elusive classroom, I got to know her a bit better. I found out that she has an older sister who attends Qimengdian as well and that she too was from Singapore. What a small world!

As we continued to search for our ever elusive classroom, we started to hear the sound of sobbing. Curious, Mia and I followed the sound. We ended up coming across one of our fellow students, an ork. He was sitting down on the floor, crying. I must say I was rather taken aback. I never expected to see an ork crying. Not at all. They always looked so fierce with that two lower canines which protruded from their mouth. I approached the young crying ork. I asked him what was the matter. Between sobs, he told me he got lost trying to look for his class. Mia asked whether he was looking for the potions classroom. He nodded. I told him that we were lost as well, and that were looking for the potions classroom as well. I told him he could follow us as we looked for our class. The young ork stopped sobbing. I asked him what was his name. He said his name was Duncan. I then introduced myself to Duncan. Mia did the same. Duncan got to his feet. We then began to start looking for our elusive potions classroom again.

After an hour of walking through the hallways of the dungeons, we finally found our elusive potions classroom. But we were too late. We arrived just when the class had ended for the day. I was expecting our potions professor, Professor Horatio Mallard to give us an earful for being tardy. But he didn't. Instead, the hefty-built professor told us that it was common for first year students to get lost trying to find his class during the first week of classes, and that he does not punish students for being tardy on the first and second week of classes as we had yet to familiarise ourselves with the layout of the academy. He did say to us, however, if by the third week we were still tardy, he would begin issuing demerits, as we should be familiar with the layout of the academy by then. Before letting us three go, Professor Mallard let us know what reading we needed to do to catch up with the class.

Although I was disappointed that I was not able to attend my first potions class, I was nonetheless happy. I got to make two more friends here at Qimengdian. Though I hope that I don't meet all my friends this way. Anyways, I can't wait for tomorrow, because tomorrow is the day of the where we first-year students will be finally sorted into one of the twelve clans of Qimengdian. I wonder which clan I'll be placed in.