The Sparks Academy of Magic (discontinued)

Four- New wand!

As Ziara hurried after Jennifer through the bright hallway lit by torches spaced evenly on the walls with shimmery paint that changed colour every few minutes, she noticed some other students were already dashing to their classes. A student suddenly appeared in front of her, blocking her route. Ziara stopped in her tracks, staring at the boy who had almost crushed her with wide eyes. But the boy didn't seem to notice her; he just wandered away towards a bustling classroom at the end of the corridor with at least five giggly girls following him. Ziara gawked after him - he was the most handsome boy she had ever seen. He had startling gold eyes, and wavy goldish brown hair.

'Hey! Newbie!' yelled Jennifer, 'Are you coming or not?!?!?!?!?!' 'Sorry! 'Ziara squeaked and continued to scurry behind Jennifer. All the students seemed to know Jennifer, and they waved and said her name every time she passed a student.

Finally, they arrived at their dorm room on the third floor. Jennifer sat on her bed covered with a gorgeous lavender-coloured quilt she brought from home. Ziara unpacked the things she needed for class on the opposite bed covered with just an ordinary white bed sheet provided by the school because she didn't have time to sort out her belongings yet, much less decorate her side of the room. Just then, she realized she didn't know which classroom she should be in for homeroom.

She began to ask Jennifer, but before she even opened her mouth, Jennifer said in a bored voice, 'You'll be in the same homeroom as me.' 'Oh.' Ziara continued to unpack. She put scrolls of papyrus in a small tote bag, along with a few quills and a scroll book about the Academy.

'Let's go.' Jennifer said curtly after Ziara stood up, holding her bag. She strolled out of the room in her extremely high heels, and as before, Ziara scuttled after her like a scared mouse. Jennifer went down the stairs to the second floor where the homeroom classrooms were. She walked into the first one and Ziara followed. There was a teacher at the front of the classroom, taking attendance.

'You're late, Jennifer. And who's that behind you? Ah... You must be Ziara Rowan, new student, am I correct?' the teacher said in a musical, lilting voice. She had long, wavy platinum blonde hair piled into a messy bun at the back of her head, her beautiful multi-coloured eyes stared unblinkingly at her. She said in the same lilting voice, 'I am Ms. Siriena, your homeroom teacher for this term. Please find a seat and sit down. You too, Jennifer, you'll have to explain to me after class why you were late.'

Jennifer's cheeks turned red. 'I...I was taking Ziara for a tour of the school, and she went into Principal Starfire's office, then she had to unpack, she took simply ages!' she said defiantly.

'Very well, you shall sit down,' said Ms. Siriena. She continued to take the attendance, there were about twenty students in this homeroom. Ziara shrank back in her seat in the second row nervously, was she the only new student in this classroom? She thought. All the other students looked so confident, and they all seemed to know each other very well, some of them were even chatting together, or playing magic wrestling, a game which involves two players, they each have to send out a blast of magic and whoever's blast repelled the other's first wins the game.

After attendance, Ms. Siriena handed out papyrus folders filled with a stack of papyrus, 'These are your timetables, school maps, locker numbers and after-school activities and school teams selection sheet. If you want to join, please tick the box next to it and hand it in to me before tomorrow.'

Then, she pulled out an ancient, dusty chest from underneath the teacher's desk. 'Now, it is time for a very important task,' she announced, 'It is time for the new students to get their wands!' She tapped the chest with her own wand, sending up clouds of dust, and the lid popped open.

'In this homeroom, there is only one new student, Ziara Rowan. Ziara, please step forward. Now remember, do not be scared. You will have to stand in front of the wand box, which is magically refilled every time a wand is given to a new student, and the suitable wand for you will appear in your hand. The original wands in this box have already been taken, except for one,' Ms. Siriena lifted out a delicately carved wand made of rowan wood, 'this wand is prophesied to belong to a powerful magic user, but no one has ever gotten it for fifty years.' Ms. Siriena placed the wand back in the chest and motioned for Ziara to step closer.

Ziara gulped and stepped towards the box; she held her hand over the box as instructed and waited. The other students seemed bored because Ziara's wand didn't appear in her hand for five minutes, even Ms. Siriena started tapping her foot on the floor with her hands crossed, clearly impatient. Ziara started to get panicked, what if she didn't get a wand? Does that mean she'll be kicked out of her dream school? She frantically stared at the box, willing it to give her a wand as soon as possible. The wands in the box quivered for another few minutes, and a wand appeared in Ziara's hand, the very same wand Ms. Siriena had said was for a very powerful magic user, a sorceress, to be exact, just some minutes ago.