“Who is it?” Another male voice calls from behind the wall to my right. The hallway I’m standing in is very short and I quickly figure out that the room that it ends in is the common room.

“Our new housemate!” The guy who opened the door answers before he turns his attention back to me. “So, I’m Quentin, and those guys are-” he shows me into a quite big room in which three more boys are seated on a green armchair each, “Scott,” He points at a blond guy, with clear ice blue eyes. That reminds me that I yet have to look closer to Quentin, for I simply looked away from him when I introduced myself before, and ruined my chance to look at him without being awkward. Stupid me. “Pace” Another brown haired boy. “And Miles.” This guy is looking a remarkably lot like Seth with his black hair and very dark blue eyes, the same angular face and am I right to say they have the same posture as well?

“Hi,” all three boys greet at the same time.

“Hello,” I smile back. “I’m Rez.”

“We know,” Miles answers. “As if it wasn’t enough with all the rumours going around the school, my brother has already been here and told us all about you and your extreme powers.”

“All?”

“Well, no, he refused to tell us your last name. And I’m sure he skipped several details he didn’t think we needed to know, but he couldn’t stop talking about you.”

“Really? Uhm, does your brother happen to be-”

“Seth, yes. It’s quite evident, isn’t it? But I kinda like it, because now everyone knows I’m the older brother of the school’s smartest kid.”

“Hey, you two can talk all you want about Seth later. Later as in after school,” Scott cuts in, “because right now, we really need to go or we’ll be late for Mr Hedas’ class, and we don’t want that now, do we?”

“Mr Hedas?” I ask. “Oh, would it be okay if I went with you? I need to talk to him anyway.”

“Of course! If you want to, you can join our class as well!” Miles says.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Miles, she can’t possibly-” Pace rolls his eyes.

“Oh, we’ll see about that later,” I say, “First I just need to talk to him about a few things.”

While listening to the four boys discussing some assignment they’ve gotten for a class I don’t know what it is, I follow them back to the school grounds. Despite trying my best to focus on their conversation, I can’t help but notice how the students that see us start whispering. Without realizing it, I speed up my pace and it isn’t until someone grabs my shoulder to hold me back that I look up from the ground.

“Take it easy, Rez, you’re almost running!” Quentin hisses. “We’re not that late, you know”

“Oh, I’m sorry, it’s just… never mind.”

“Hey, you can tell us what’s wrong.”

“Yeah, I know, just… not now.”

“Alright,” he mutters but doesn’t press the matter further and shortly after that we arrive at the classroom.

“I think the professor is inside already,” Miles says. “He usually is.”

After a quick thanks I purposely knock on the door. Only a few seconds later it is opened but no one’s standing by it. Slightly indecisively, I poke my head through the door and immediately greeted by professor Hedas voice.

“Oh, hello there Rez. Come in, come in!” I do as I’m told. “What brings you here?”

“Well, I have a few questions and I didn’t know who else to go to.”

“Go on and ask then. I’ll do what I can to help you.”

After a deep breath I start telling him about my strange dream and how it also came to affect me when I was awake a few hours later. And how it seemed so much more real than a normal dream. And obviously it wasn’t a normal dream or I wouldn’t get such a vision in broad daylight. I also explained how hard it had been for me to pull myself out of it and how Seth had been forced to help me.

“Hm, that sounds truly disturbing, I must say. I can not, however, help you with it right now as I will have a class that starts in a minute-”

“Yes, I know, I’ve talked to Miles and Quentin and their gang.”

“You have?”

I nod and smile as I tell him about my house arrangement, and then how I’d gone with them here. Without thinking about it, I also tell him about Miles’ idea of me staying during the class. This is, it seems, an idea that the professor approve of as he almost instantly cuts in to say that I very much am welcome to stay. As he finishes his sentence, he motions his hand and the door opens. Like my first class, this one also seems to only have students of one gender, though this time they’re all boys. Miles waves at me and I quickly walk over to him after professor Hedas tells me that we’ll meet for an hour after class. As soon as I’ve told them the news of me staying for the hour, I get pulled with them and he shows me to sit down on an extra chair between him and Pace.

“Did you get everything sorted?” Miles asks.

“Yeah, I think so. Or well, at least as much as could be.”

“Great! So, I understand that you’ve only had one class before this, so I’ll explain what we’re doing. Well, we’re three years above you, so I don’t know how much you’ll be able to actually do, but anyway, right now we’re learning about creating with your magic. Like, in the future we’ll be able to actually create something with just our magic, but for now we’re practising it by making potions. And we're trying to learn how to channel our magic through our body.”

“Oh, is it like the Suiler I did yesterday? Or when I made a Soredy come alive through my drawing?”

Miles’ mouth drops open just as Pace half shouts out “You did what, now?!”

“Oh, didn’t Seth tell you..?”

“No! You mean to tell us-” Miles doesn’t get to finish his sentence because Professor Hedas clears his throat and draws our attention to him. As soon as he’s explained that everyone’s supposed to continue with the exercise they did last lesson, Miles and Pace turn back to me. “You’re saying that you created a magic creature, I assume, using only magic, on your first day?!”

“Oh, well, it wasn’t intentional, I didn’t realize I was doing it.” Apparently, that doesn’t make it less remarkable, as the two boys’ eyes only grow even bigger.

“That is absurdly sick! How can you not notice that you’re using enough magical energy to create a creature?”

“I don’t know. But afterwards, Seth and I did that Suiler thing and well, I did most of it, and that surely felt a lot. That’s why I passed out and spent the night in the infirmary.”

“We are so talking more about this when we get back to the cabin. Now, maybe you could try help us with this exercise?”

“Uhm, I don’t know… it’s not like I knew what I was doing yesterday. And I don’t really know what your exercise is about…”

Miles quickly retells the instructions they’ve gotten from Professor Hedas.

“Well, maybe I can try to do it and then I can explain to you if I manage to do it?”

I close my eyes when they give me a nod of encouragement. As Miles explained, I search for that spot where my magic feels the strongest, its centre. Just like yesterday, I find it slightly to the right side of my heart, and I let myself dissolve into it even as I can feel that I’m keeping it contained. Then I channel it through invisible threads in my body, letting it warm my body up and I feel more content than I have felt in the entire day. Then I let it get focused on the candle I know is standing in front of me and I focus my mind on lighting it. I don’t need to open my eyes to know if I’ve managed with the task or not, I feel it in my body that the goal has been achieved. I draw my magic back into its origin and then open my eyes with a smile.

My smile disappears quickly though, as I realize that everyone’s staring astonishingly at me. Even professor Hedas. I hunch my shoulders and quickly let my gaze drop to the floor.

“Why’s everyone staring?” I whisper so quietly I’m not sure if Miles or Pace will be able to hear me. Pace does though.

“Well… you… no one in this classroom has managed to feel their magic very clearly yet, even though we’re in second year, and you… you should’ve seen yourself… it was… magical.”

A snort comes from Miles.

“Well, yes, it’s a comical choice of word, but Pace’s right. You were… shining. At least it seemed like it. It was as if you were radiating magic and kindness. And I’m not sure if I’m right, but it seemed like you lit that candle with more precision than most adult magicians can even dream about.”

“You are right about that, Mr Frislyze. That was quite a performance, Ms Tronder. And I’m glad that we decided that you should stay for this class so I could see your potential. Though I believe this is enough for today, so maybe we should postpone our separate class until tomorrow. I need to do some research and such.”

“Of course, professor.” I say.

I’m very grateful about this decision because right now, all I want to do is disappear. I want to go to my bed in the cabin and lie down and never get up again.

As soon as the two words ‘class dismissed’ have left the professor’s lips, I run out of the classroom and hurry ‘home’. I throw myself onto my bed as soon as I’ve gotten in, and put my earphones into my ears. I only get to listen to half a song though, before I’m asleep.