Galen stood in front of the open gate of the school with anticipation. The old school's grounds were already teeming with students. The brick building was plain, if not austere. The bricks were weathered and covered with moss or ivy in different places. The main entrance held two large wooden doors. The entrance was higher than the courtyard, a few steps led up to the broad brick walkway before doors This elevated area formed an open terrace. A small bell tower continued up over the main entrance. The bells had already rung once at the opening of the gates. They would begin ringing again soon with the start of the day's classes.
When Galen finally entered the busy courtyard, the upper grades were already coming together semi-naturally, as students found their friend groups and began to reacquaint themselves. The youngest grade, the Year Four students, merely stood idly by themselves, for the most part, unsure about who exactly was in their grade and who they should talk to.
As the school had no room large enough to accommodate all the students at once, any meeting to address all the grades was made in the school's large courtyard. The school's headmaster had yet to appear, so the students continued to laugh and talk among themselves, or sit quietly in the cases where they had no one to speak to.
'How do all these students fit in this one building,' Galen wondered. 'I didn't realize there would be this many.'
Before Galen could continue his little self-guided tour of the courtyard, the Headmaster, accompanied by several teachers, appeared on the steps of the main entrance. The students began to quiet down as the groups came to notice their appearance and their attention was directed towards the teachers.
Galen noticed a vocal stone sat in the Headmaster's hand. The small stone was a common magic item that had the effect of amplifying one's voice when holding it.
"Good morning students! We are delighted to have you back. We are sure you've missed your friends quite a bit during school break- and us too, I'm sure!" The Headmaster gestured to himself and the present teachers and laughed at his own remark. "I am your Headmaster, Duarte Edmonds, and I'm sure this year will be the best our little school has had so far."
The Headmaster continued to ramble about a few random accomplishments of the school in the last year, how much fun the school year would be, and about the school being a wonderful, happy family. Galen found him odd but put it down to him just being a generally excitable person who loved his job.
"For our new Fourth Year students, I welcome you once again. You will be staying in the courtyard with Master Harlow, who is in charge of grades Year Four through Year Seven. He will be directing you to your new classes. Year Eight students, Master Godric will lead you to your new classes in the West Wing of the building. For the rest of you, well, I'm sure you can still remember where you need to go." The Headmaster, once again, laughed at his own joke alone. "You are dismissed!" he declared, finally ending his speech.
The older students gratefully began to move forward to enter the building. When the older students had finally cleared the courtyard, a thin, sharp-looking man took to the steps and turned to look at the remaining students. Seeing this, the new students cautiously moved forward to make a group in front of the man.
'These people must all be Year Four then. Even though it's just the Year Four students now, it's still a big group!' Galen thought, looking around at his new classmates. He then spotted a face he'd been looking for since he'd arrived, and he carefully made his way over to the person in question.
"Good morning, Merry!" he spoke quietly when he reached another boy's side. Though he hadn't intended to sneak up on him, the smaller boy still jumped when he heard Galen's voice beside him.
"Galen! I was looking for you! You're the only person I know," Merry replied after realizing it was his friend Galen.
"Same here." Galen agreed. The two boys lived close to each other. Their homes sat near what could be called the edge of town, where the buildings were sparser as you headed out of town to the open fields that lay before the beginning of the forest.
While Merry was the same age as Galen, he was much scrawnier; people often assumed he was younger due to his size. His dark brown hair fell just above his shoulders and he was constantly trying to tuck or blow away the longer strands that fell across his face, obscuring his gray eyes.
The two's conversation was cut short by the sound of the severe-looking man on the steps clearing his voice to gain their attention. He was now holding the vocal stone that the Headmaster had held before.
"I am Master Harlow. As Headmaster Edmonds mentioned before, I am in charge of the lower grades of the school. I have no desire to waste my breath reading off all your names and class assignments for you so, you will come up and find your names and classes on the list I've placed upon the main door. There is also a general map next to it, showing where each classroom is located. As Year Four students, all your classes will be in the East Wing. If you have any questions," he paused, his eyes glaring over his half-moon glasses at the children, "I suggest you make sure they are not questions that waste my time."
'Scary…' thought Galen and Merry at the same time.
"Come up and find your classrooms." Master Harlow finished.
The students, a bit unwilling, began walking up the steps towards the door, consciously or subconsciously shirking around the school teacher as they went. Galen and Merry walked together towards the door, also giving the teacher some space, as students began piling up around the doors to read the list.
Soon, students began going inside to head for the classrooms they had found on the map. Galen and Merry waited patiently at the edge of all this, neither one of them wanting to be pushed or shoved as the students closer to the door were. Soon, the students began to thin and the two boys were able to read the list themselves.
"Noooooooo," Merry groaned, 'Our main classes are different, look."
Galen found their names and found that most of them were separate classes, but that there was still one they shared later in the day.
"Well, we still have one class together, see? We'll take mathematics in the afternoon together." Galen pointed out.
"Mathematics my arse. That class will be the death of me." Merry complained as he made a dramatic stabbing motions to his chest.
Galen laughed at his friend's acting till his attention was caught by a few students huddled anxiously to the side. The three had been there long enough to read the list and the map, but they didn't show any signs of heading inside. Instead, they were anxiously looking back and forth between the door and Master Harlow. Galen decided to talk to them.
"Are having trouble finding your assignments?" he asked in a relaxed and friendly manner. The three students really did look anxious enough as is and Galen didn't want to fluster them any farther.
The other students looked at Galen, then at the door, and finally back to Master Harlow, who was still watching them. Finally, they chose to direct their attention to Galen, as if he was the best option out of three uncomfortable scenarios.
"We… Can't find our names." A boy with dirty blond hair admitted. The two others nodded in agreement.
Galen noticed their old tunics and well-worn satchels. Looking at the situation, he realized there was a chance the three hadn't had the opportunity to learn to read and write before this and were having difficulty making out their names, let alone their class assignments.
Galen laughed and smiled at the three, "I don't blame you, it appears Master Harlow has some really weird handwriting." It was true, the script on the list was sharp and tilted while being written too close together; it wasn't the easiest to read. But Galen said this so that the others wouldn't be embarrassed having to admit they couldn't read it at all. "I'm Galen and this is my friend, Merry. What are your names?'
The boy who had spoken up before looked a bit more relieved. Galen thought he might have noticed what he was doing now. The boy returned Galen's smile before introducing himself.
"I'm James and this is Edith," he said, and gestured to the petite girl beside him, "And this is Joseph." He finished, gesturing to the gangly boy on the other side of him.
"Hello." The girl, Edith spoke up. She had her dark hair in a long neat braid that she held in her hands, idly messing with the ends.
"Thank you. You can call me Jo, actually." The boy referred to as Joseph spoke quietly. His soft voice sounded strange coming from such a tall youth.
Galen and Merry greeted the three properly. after getting their last names as well, Galen and Merry looked through and found their classes. Fortunately, the three would have someone they knew in all their classes. In each class, they would either be with at least one of their old friends or one of their new friends, Galen and Merry. They would also be taking Mathematics together with the other two boys.
"Well, that settles it! Let's go inside." Galen peered around the door to Master Harlow, who had gone inside and was now yelling at one of the other students about their sense of direction as the unfortunate student had apparently headed to the West Wing classes by accident. "Let's find our classes quickly," he added. No one disagreed with that.
While pitying Master Harlow's victim, they moved quickly through the main hall towards the East Wing. After meeting the Headmaster and Master Harlow, they couldn't help but feel apprehensive about meeting the other teachers that awaited them that day. Finally, the group was forced to separate to find their respective classes. It would be a long day.