Candles and Broomsticks

First Day of School

My high school experience was about as good as any year in high school can be. I had a group of good friends and my teachers liked me. I had a favourite place to hang out during lunch.  A place where I could cast spells without being seen by my other classmates. My friends didn't know what I was, but they didn't exactly not know either.  They'd asked me if I was a witch, and I'd laughed and said "what do you think?" They didn't ask again, and I don't think they minded much either way. 

The moral of this story is that I belonged and I had a routine. I was happy. But I knew it wouldn't last. Yes. All my life I'd been training to go to Gravescroft Academy. You spent your last two years there after high school and an optional further three years for specialization at Gravescroft. I knew a few people from ceremonies I'd been to in the past. People I would head straight for. Rowena, a girl I knew from camp would be starting as well. 

"Hurry up Raven, or you'll be late for your first day." I laughed at that and snapped my fingers. I appeared in the kitchen. My mother gave a small gasp.

"No apparition in the house." She scowled. I winked at her and grabbed my bag from off of its hook.

"Of course Ma'" I laughed and tightened my ponytail. "I would never."

I snapped my fingers and I was standing outside the school gates. You couldn't apparate inside. They had a barrier. To keep the students both safe and in class. Several other people were walking through the open gate. I smiled up at the autumn leaves of the woods. It painted the world in a whole new pallett from the obtrusive and enveloping green that controlled summer. Someone put their hand on my shoulder. I looked over to see Rowena. I gave her a smirk.

"You ready?" She laughed and bit her tongue. 

"Ready for what?" I raised an eyebrow. "Lectures on how to do magic? I've been in high school. I think I'll manage."

"I guess we'll find out what exactly Raven Delarosa is made of." She laughed and shook her head as we started walking. "You know I'm going to be famous just for knowing you Miss Delarosa. You know your family name will get you through the academy."

"Oh Wen, you know as well I do, my name will be no help. No one likes a show off." I looked down at the foliage beneath my feet and smelled as the scent of the crushed leaves reached my nose. I winked and the leaves swirled up around me.

"What happened to no one likes a show off." She countered with a smug expression. I shrugged carelessly as we walked up the marbled front steps and into the dark looming mansion. There were several mansions on the site as well as a vast network of underground classrooms and the dormitories. Though no one was allowed to stay in them the first day. The first day we went home to talk to all our parents and throw parties celebrating the last branches of our youth before we trained to become real witches. 

We walked into a large hall filled with people sitting on dark ebony carved pews. The back ones were already taken by lone wolf introverts seeking comfort in the presence of other people who didn't want to talk to each other. Rowena and I sat as far back as we could without having to share a pew with anyone else. 

Now, the image of old witches with warts and wrinkled skin would either be a lie or a glamour. Either way, witches stopped aging around twenty-five. So when the headmaster looked fresh from university, no one batted an eye. She could be thousands of years old. She had long auburn hair like leaves that painted the trees outside. Her lips were the colour of blood and they curved into a cruel looking smile.

"Welcome to Gravescroft Academy." She spoke with energy laced with something almost sinister sounding. "Welcome to the start of your new lives."

There was a round of applause. I did not clap.

She met my eyes. Her smile widened as her eyebrows raised.

And so it began.