As light poured into the windows of the dorm room, my eyes opened slowly. After the eventful ceremony and meal last night, I didn't waste time getting to my designated bed within my dorm room.
I barely even took in the sight of the common room; I focused only on getting all the details I needed from the prefect and headed off to bed immediately after.
I nearly headed off to bed without my school timetable as well, that's how focused on sleep I ended up being. I hadn't taken a good look at it yet, so I grabbed it off of my bedside table and glanced over all the lessons I had each week.
Looking at the timetable, they weren't kidding when they said independent study was encouraged. Besides today which was a full day of lessons, all other days would have free periods where self-study was allowed or you could go to an optional class if it was being held. Notes on what optional class was being held at that time were abbreviated underneath the free period on the time table.
Looking at my day today, I took note of what my first lesson was.
"Ah… charms".
Looks like I'd be seeing Madame Cosette once again. It was already awkward after yesterday's events and now today I'd have to learn under her. I just hope she didn't make it awkward in class and just let me learn like everyone else…
There was no use mulling over all of this now though. Getting out of bed, I stretched and looked out the window above my bedside table. The morning sun was rising slowly, it was still really early. After all the workshop sessions with Randolph at his house, my body had trained itself to wake up bright and early so I could get some exercise in before we started to carve handles for brooms.
Exercise was important for me and still was. After all that time in the forest being malnourished and skinny with no stamina at all, I didn't want to neglect my physique. Magic usually distracted a lot of witches and wizards from their bodies as magic was the 'be all, end all' to a lot of them, but after my experiences in the forest where I was powerless, I wanted to cover all areas of weakness that I could.
Back when I was not able to learn much magic at Randolph's, waiting for the school year to start, I focused on exercise alongside obscurus training and broom flight as another way to feel somewhat at ease. Carving brooms also helped with stamina and strength so for an 11-year-old, I was decently built and a shadow of my former 'forest' self.
Looking around the dorm room, I noticed that all the other first year Ombrelune students were still asleep. I remember hearing them up quite late talking to each other, getting to know each other before they slept.
They probably thought it was best to talk then whilst I was asleep so it wasn't 'awkward'.
Talk of magic, hopes and dreams really highlighted their idealistic natures. They were only young though, so I couldn't hold that type of talk against them.
Quietly, I headed out of the dorm room, making sure not to wake any of them up as I exited. Leaving the room, I headed towards the common room I had rushed through last night.
When I entered into the common room this time, I took in the surroundings properly. There were big glass windows on one side, looking out towards the hills and mountains surrounding Beauxbatons. The morning sun illuminated the mountains and reflected that light into the window giving the entire room a soft light.
Around the room were tables and study areas, as well as a fireplace that some students had left their cups at last night. Most likely some of the older students having a catch-up after summer break. Looking at the table, there was a French newspaper called L' Chroniques Magiques. Looking at the French text on the newspaper and the French title, I grimaced noting that whilst the compass around my neck helped translate voices, written words could still pose an issue to me.
The name of the newspaper I could barely translate with my previous knowledge of the French language… It seems to be called 'The Magical Chronicles'.
Moving my gaze from the tables near the fire place, I looked at the central table in the common room and noticed that suspended above was a moon that emitted a soft white glow. The glow wasn't strong right now, barely noticeable even, most likely due to the sun coming through the window as it acted as a night light for the common room.
I'm honestly shocked I didn't clock it when I rushed through, it was pretty big after all. I really was tired…
This common room had a very analytical feel to it, almost like it was more relating to students you'd find in Ravenclaw at Hogwarts. However, when we were sorted yesterday, I overheard that Ombrelune students were considered cunning, logical and ambitious which sounded more up the alley of Slytherin students.
Overall, it was another testament to the difference between the schools and how they functioned. The lines being blurred made sense in the end and this house did seem fitting to me.
I don't know about being cunning or logical, after all if I was so 'cunning' and 'logical' I wouldn't have been imprisoned twice in the forest. 'Ambitious' though was something that resonated within me. Wanted to grow and improve my magic abilities lead to the ambition of power, and that ambition ran deep.
Looking around the common room, I noted no other students were present due to how early it was. It was quite comfortable honestly, being so void of people here for once.
The idea crossed my mind to stay here until breakfast but I knew other students would be funnelling into here soon, so instead I decided to head for breakfast early.
Heading out of the common room, my destination was the dining hall.
.
The doors to the dining hall were open thankfully. Entering in I spotted two students sat at separate tables.
As I entered, their eyes glanced in my direction for a moment and then immediately their faces were tucked back into their books. The way they quickly buried their faces seemed like they were actively trying to ignore me.
Sitting myself down at the same table I sat at yesterday, I reached into my pouch that Randolph gave me and grabbed a charms book he bought me in one of the shops at the Wharf. The book was a part of the list of supplies I needed for school.
Since charms was the first class I had today, I thought it would be somewhat pragmatic to read the contents of the charms book to get a handle on the subject matter before class started.
Glancing through the contents of the book, I realised quickly I underestimated the sheer amount of information these books would have.
Mention of spells and such were far in-between as this was a first year book. A lot of the text was more centred around the do's and don'ts of charms as well as some background on how charms worked.
I scratched my head looking at the sheer number of words on each page. Would I need to know all of this? I was starting to get flashbacks to my college years…
"Man, I really wish my memory was eidetic…"
"Don't we all, kid".
Hearing my absentminded words being replied to, my head shot up in an instant. My gaze rested onto a man stood towering before me. He was dressed in a white outfit, with a white chef's hat on. A robust body and a grey beard, with his stern glare he was a textbook angry chef you'd find in a restaurant.
He continued to glower at me for a while until he spoke again. "Well kid, what do you want for breakfast?"
His accent was hard to place initially… I could only guess he was most likely Belgian. Thinking for a moment, I replied. "A full English".
The man scoffed. "A full English huh? Makes sense that an English kid would ask for an English meal. I'll get to it right now; it'll be interesting to make a different dish for a change…".
Looking up at the stern man, I responded. "Thank you… Chef".
"Chef Wynants is what you kids should call me".
Chef Wynants turned around immediately after introducing himself, heading off towards what I assumed was the kitchen, not even bothering to ask for my name.
I wondered if he usually served students so personally… with the number of students here, I gathered it was unlikely. Maybe it was a service given to only those who came in early?
Stopping my mind from going on a tangent, my eyes fell back down onto my charms book. Glancing over each page, I started to only focus my attention on charms I deemed useful to some degree. Background information whilst interesting wasn't exactly useful to me in the long run.
A couple I spotted that looked interesting were charms like 'Accio' and Aguamenti', purely for the survival applications.
Being able to pull stuff to you from far away and produce clean water as well… that would have been incredibly helpful in the forest. There were a couple of days where the water I drank was not clean and my stomach started to do somersaults… it would have been nice to conjure clean water at that time…
Continuing on from these charms, I made notes of some other charms that looked useful, as sparse as they were in this introductory book, keeping a mental image of how the wand movement looked and what words were used to cast the spells.
As I committed this all to memory, a soft voice appeared from behind me. Gentle singing drifted down into my ears, calming my mind slightly as I was trying to commit all the charms to memory. As the soft voice got louder, I eventually felt a small weight land onto my shoulder, the singing now entering into my ear directly.
After the singing came to a close, I spoke. "Morning Sylviana".
Sylviana winked cheekily and responded. "Good morning, Axel… Are you one of those goody goody students that wake up early to study?"
Closing my book for a moment, I responded. "Not necessarily, I've always been an early bird so I thought why not eat and read a bit".
Sylviana didn't seem to understand my figure of speech as she tilted her head. "You're… a bird?"
"Uh, no Sylviana. I mean I'm a morning person. Someone who gets up early".
The confusion on Sylviana's face faded as a lightbulb seemed to appear above her head. "Ooooh… so that makes me an 'early bird' too!"
Chuckling lightly, I replied. "Yeah, you could say that. Do you usually get up early?"
Sylviana nodded. "I have to practice my singing as early as possible in order to keep my title of 'Songstress' amongst the nymphs!"
"I see… so do you usually practice singing with the students who come here early then?"
She shook her head. "Not really… I usually just hum to myself in my nest over there. I spotted you though, so I decided instead of humming I would come and bless you with my voice!"
Smiling wryly, I commented. "How… kind of you".
Sylviana laughed proudly in response to my comment. "That's right! I'm so magnumerous!"
"I think you mean magnanimous Sylviana".
Blushing as bright as the morning sun, Sylviana tried to defend herself. "I-I knew that! I was just testing you, making sure your studying is going well! Yep. Yep. Seems you are learning well to know a big word like-"
*SMACK*
As the smack sounded on my table, I looked up to see Chef Wynants face staring down at me. The other students in the dining hall jumped when they heard the smack and Sylviana who was on my shoulder initially had fallen off due to the shock of the sound.
I nodded towards Chef Wynants, thanking him for bringing the meal. He nodded slightly back before heading off immediately after, towards a door on the other end of the dining hall. Sylviana flew onto the table, next to my plate of food and started stomping her feet.
"That stupid chef is always so loud and mean! Appearing out of nowhere like that, is his ancestor a demiguise!?"
Looking at Sylviana's mini tantrum, I couldn't help but chuckle lightly again. Now I was thinking about it, he did suddenly appear in front of me when I was reading… I was pretty focused on my book but it's not like me to not notice someone approaching, especially someone as robust as him.
Maybe Sylviana was on to something…
Sitting down on the table, Sylviana crossed her arms and pouted, continuing to curse. "If he does that again ill start yell singing in his ear! Yeah, yell sing!"
Looking down at Sylviana, I couldn't help but ask. "Yell singing?"
"Yeah! There was a student a while ago who liked yell singing so I practiced it myself! The other nymphs hated it though when I showcased my new talent to them so I locked it away… to use as a secret weapon!"
Yell singing… I wonder if she means heavy metal. I couldn't imagine this little nymph that was so innocent and small blasting out something like Slipknot.
Picking up my fork, I started to tuck into my breakfast. Sylviana continued to throw shade Chef Wynants way a little while longer until she calmed down. When she had fully calmed, she just started to question me instead, asking me random questions with no real meaning.
Maybe this was why I warmed up to her so quickly. All other people I met always asked things like 'what happened to you' but Sylviana was so innocent that she didn't care about those kinds of things. Since that was the case, it was easier to talk to her.
As I finished up the last part of my breakfast, I leant back in my chair and heaved a long breath, satisfied with my meal. The food here really was good, top grade to be honest.
Seeing my satisfied expression, Sylviana pouted once again and spoke. "Just you wait. When I find the perfect song for you, it'll be way better than that big old stinky chef's food!"
"Who are you calling old?"
Chef Wynants had once again teleported to my table. Sylviana who had insulted him so loudly instantly flew up and hid behind my ear, using me as a shield. Poking out her head from behind my ear, she stuttered out a sentence.
"I-I didn't say 'old'… I-I said 'bold'!... I said 'bold chef's great meal'! It was a compliment!"
Chef Wynants eyes narrowed looking at Sylviana. "I think I heard you say 'big' as well".
"No, I said 'Mig'! It's a nymph term! It means 'Wonderful'!"
Chef Wynant seemed to realise this would be an uphill battle as he just huffed and turned his gaze back to me. Picking up my plate he gave me a meaningful gaze, waiting for me to comment on the food.
"It was good".
A slight grin lifted on his lips after hearing my approval. Turning around he headed off again, however this time he left me with some words. "If you get here early again, ask me to make some other English dishes".
Watching him stroll off, my first thought was there wasn't many other dishes that were truly English I could think of. My second thought though was how this Chef was someone who definitely cared about his craft.
His demeanour was similar to Randolph and Grimbolt's, a master of his craft looking to improve in every way.
Sylviana flew back down onto the table in front of me after Chef Wynants left our sight. Grumbling to herself, she mumbled. "Stupid meanie chef…".
A small laugh escaped my lips hearing Sylviana's genuine comment. Looking at the other students in the dining hall, their eyes were on me during that whole exchange and shifted back to their books as I glanced at them. Sighing, I decided to do the same as I opened my charms book back up.
Sylviana who saw me get so focused on my book so quickly flew back up onto my shoulder, starting to hum a song softly into my ear again.
The soft tones of her voice actually helped me focus as I read the book and absorbed more of its contents with more clarity than before.
Making mental notes of the charms I wanted to focus on, I felt I was ready to start my first full day of lessons at this school.