“First years, first years here!” with red roofs of Ilvermorny towers hidden behind barrier in the appearance of fog, Luca and Bryce passed beside the gathering of eleven-year-olds on the side and entered the gates of the castle to begin their second year of learning. Inside, Luca stopped briefly and opened his black briefcase to take out a cage where Grace and Ringo sat together and opened its doors, releasing his pets to fly and run inside the building, cat to greet his peers, golden eagle to see local Nest’s domicile. At the circular Entrance hall, the flow of people they were a part of got directed to the side exits, and back into the auditorium from entrances in the corridor. Students were instructed repeatedly to keep shut and stand in a correct posture, the tradition to acknowledge newcomers receiving their wands and becoming eligible to use magic on this day was completely cemented in the school’s culture.

The little wizards poured in as Luca and others quietly looked at them, the sorting ceremony helmed by vice-headmaster Fontaine this year too. To the boy’s surprise, a person got the admission of three statues, sadly his teacher didn’t get to coerce them into Wampus as Luca’s house’s wooden statue was the only one not glowing. Many excruciating hours later, the gathering of little wizards sent its last member - Zuyed, Xavier - to the house of Thunderbird, and everyone could relax their sore legs, the youths and teachers collectively sat on the wooden steps of the tribunes, vice-headmaster on the small platform in the middle, the silence continued as nobody was in a mood for chatting either way.

“Another day wasted, go eat.” Fontaine after a brief rest announced, the students stood up and went straight to the green-lit dining hall for the feast. As the only unpredictable meal time in the year, Luca didn’t receive the food package from Vilemyr Inn and had to cushion his stomach with steamed chicken, much to both boys' disgust, Bryce gaining some weight and improving his complexion thanks to the extraordinary diet they were on.

“How was your holiday?” Abigail floated behind the boy and touched his shoulder to have a brief sensation of warmth interrupt her ghostly monotony.

“Pretty nice, there are a lot of options about what to do for leisure. Was it that way in your age?” Luca asked her back, interested in the mid-nineteenth century she grew up in.

“I was fascinated more with the no-maj world, it always felt like a prison here. If I stayed honestly in Iverstead, I wouldn’t die…” the ghost girl sighed, Luca once again in their conversations didn’t know how to continue. Eventually, he went alone to the Wampus common room through the familiar stone corridors filled with trinkets and moving portraits adorning their walls, fluffy carpets and animals awaiting him there. Sat on a sofa scratching the chin of the nearest tabby cat for a while, he decided to go leave the briefcase upstairs and check the timetable for his class before chatting with his roommates. The heptagonal room empty, he realized the increased number of needed books as he filled the shelf above his desk and gazed outside the window that offered an overview of the unchanged castle. Soon, he was joined by one after the other roommates arriving, the boy walking up and greeting them with a smile and the classic question of the summer activities made them start talking and throw their briefcases aside for now, Tolkien the exception as he opened his in the middle of the room and took out a two four-packs of raspberry Clearly Canadian sparkly flavoured water and distributed it around, asking for reviews after asserting that it’s the best drink he tried yet. As the boys drank, he took out six packages of Nesquik cocoa powder and told them to transfigure a spoon for themselves and devour it like that.

“You went to a mall somewhere?” confused about the gifts Luca queried.

“Ye, Pops took me out fo’ adventure.” the African-American boy confirmed.

“This stuff can’t be bought for Knuts? Seems obvious to have a no-maj store.” Luca wondered.

“Under smuggling, can’t legally sell. Logistics of either stealing or a prolonged contact unacceptable for MACUSA.” Junfeng explained, taking his wand out and making the cap off the bottle into a piece of metal cutlery, dipping it curiously into the yellow packet. As he took it into his mouth, the boy’s head nodded appreciatively and immediately stuffed the second spoon in.

“Scared of what can come out? Come on, take mine, being an Enlarged Virtuoso has its downsides.” Nathaniel noticed Luca hesitated over trying to transfigure his utensil and gave him his own, taking in return from his hand the cap, five boys joked reminiscent of Luca’s works of art during lessons and estimated the size of his spoon to look more like a shovel.

“Want to see my spoon? Are you brave enough?” Luca went to bring the biggest of his books and attempted to transfigure it in front of everybody. Concentrating on somehow restricting the amount of magic poured into his tentacle, the boy’s efforts went futile yet again, as the big wave of it came crashing into the book and made it twist into a teaspoon, but instead of making it capable to contain at most a thumb worth of water, it looked ready to become a bathtub for a baby. Even Luca couldn’t help himself from laughing, merry times got obstructed by his and Winnetou’s Knight badges screaming.

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“Gathering in the common room, now! We need a new president!” one voice pierced through an ongoing argument to become understandable, the members of the Club present exchanged glances and put down their gifts.

“Don’t secretly plunder those, really tasty, thanks.” Luca warned the others and thanked Tolkien with a nod, going out to check what the urgency was for. In the corner of the common room where the two glass walls connected, an argument involving around sixty Knights, with more incoming from the spiral staircases or through the house’s gate every minute, went rowdily to the timid glances from first-years and interested discussions from onlookers.

“I think it’s clear-cut this year too, just make Themistocles the president, that’s it.” a person sitting on the periphery commented as the boys went further to hear clearly a beginning of a rant, knowing the person shouting, Luca didn’t know if he meant what he was yelling.

“Both unqualified, utterly, monstrously, definitely, unqualified! Only I deserve to be the supreme leader! First policy to enact would be compulsory cat-ears wearing for all! Check out how cute! Oh, and a daily session of coming up with jokes about teachers, starting with that fat guy inhaling potions like a skunk! I promise to train you well, into a bunch of undefeated killing machines, not like that softie Slate!” the Makris triplets each conjured a box for themselves to stand on and agitated their candidacy, the speaking Leonidas on the right wore a pink headdress with cat ears. The eyes of the brother on the left lit up as he saw Luca, the boy got goosebumps and figured him out to be Alexander.

“Why not me, come, Luca! I sacrificed so much for you to check those jinxes! I am always eager to help those in need! No matter the trouble, no matter the race, no matter the gender, as long as your heart is in the right place, my motto is there is nothing impossible to him who will try! How great are the dangers I face to win a good name in Wampus! I’m ready to go against my dearest brothers, all for victory and to improve your lives! An army of lions needs a lion to lead!” Alexander patted his chest and roared, making trouble for the sighing triplet in the middle.

“Okay, okay. Are we all yet? Vote then. Hands up for Leonidas.” the crowd looked around for a dozen seconds only to see nobody raise their arms beside the candidate in question pulling them both to the sky, at last, one young woman put her hand up, resigned to defend her silly boyfriend.

“Yes, overwhelming support! Case closed, I got three votes, you two chumps zero! Call me President Supreme from now on!” Leonidas pointed at her triumphantly and claimed to be elected.

“Hands up for Alexander.” Luca put his fist up to show solidarity, the guilt he felt towards his victim boundless, he nudged Winnetou to also vote. Miranda and a dozen people followed his lead, leaving Alexander smiling contently and waving to the Knights that supported him.

“Up for me.” Themistocles intoned the last option, getting overwhelming numbers as he bowed humbly amid the cheers. Case closed, the boys went back to the dormitory, chatting deep into the night over the raspberry drinks.

“It was weird to have no target for practice, shik’is.” Luca woke up to a sentence coming from Winnetou as he felt a fiery sensation in his throat and nose with every breath, an aroma of pepper hit him, an attack of cough creating a jet of flame coming out of his nostrils.

“Pepper Breath, cough, Hex? Not bad, cough, by the way, I will wake, cough, myself up from now on, so stop this...” Luca said intermediately between spewing flames, Winnetou’s face went sad as he heard it.

“Come on, it was so fun. How about I pay you?” Luca didn’t want to dignify this crying puppy pleading with a response, the boy went to pack up for today, first subject was No-maj Research, the textbook for it highly unusual, boy didn’t know if Professor Biely’s lesson will meet his expectations. Reaching the classroom and seeing a blackboard filled with mathematical equations and a grinning mischievously woman in front of it, his fears came true.

“Hello my dear students in our next year together, dearest Mr. Granger, please stop the scowl. As in ages past, basic education of wizards is the responsibility of their parents, we at Ilvermorny have to make sure kids can add two plus two together, maybe if they feel frisky, even multiply two two’s and compare the results. So prepare to learn how to add, subtract, multiply, divide, remember how to establish the area of a circle, and so on.” the brown-haired teacher gleefully patted the blackboard, Luca couldn’t help but rise his hand.

“Yes, Luca?” she rose her brows a bit and permitted the boy to speak.

“How does it help us in performing magic?” the boy voiced his doubts.

“It helps in drawing runes, second semester we learn more about shapes, helps to not get your Galleons scammed because you can’t count them, helps in establishing the correct weight of materials for their volume to prevent counterfeits, helps exercise your brains, helps…” Professor Biely was ready to continue, but Luca realized there is no escape and accepted it after a struggle.

“Fine, I will cram this book.” the boy knew he could remember the textbook after reading it once over, but he was reluctant to spend the summer time doing it. Professor continued by giving the class a test first to establish their level of knowledge, to Luca’s joy his ability to ‘math’ turned out enough to ace it, contrary to the rest of the class that failed miserably to the point of the young Professor having to start from the basics. The sight straight out of the first year of the elementary school repeated itself in almost the exact fashion, Luca wondered if he blinked and went back in time.

“There was no mistake, can’t dodge maths even in a supposed School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.” Bryce was in awe of the subject as they went to the class of a new course, one of the two that evolved from Crafting, into the basement.