Sebastian was happy. He had talent. He was evaluated as outstanding in charms and now, he even knew why he was able to nearly hide his spells.
It wasn't nice that it wasn't something, that was just special about him, but at least he had something that stood out amongst others.
While he was thinking about his evaluation, the vice headmaster led two more boys into the hall.
After he apparently had told them the same, he had told him, the two boys came to the corner, but just nodded at Sebastian who nodded back. He was really too tired for all of this.
After contemplating for a bit longer, Sebastian rested his head against the wall. The last few days had been too long.
-HP-
"Hey", someone tapped him on his shoulder, "stand up, we are about to go inside.", a vague figure standing in front of him said.
Sebastian yawned. Had he really slept that long?
He stood up and thanked the boy who had waken him up and grabbed his staff and book before walking after the others. By now, there were around nineteen kids his age and walking in front of them was a woman in a fine black dress and black boots, her black her flowing behind her back, reaching her hips.
She walked up the stairs leading to the large double door and with a flick of her wand, they opened. Behind the door was the largest hall Sebastian had ever seen. Even the inside of the Bundestag wasn't that big.
The walls to the left and right were plastered with paintings, trophies, and some papers and at the ceiling was the same painting as in the entrance hall, just bigger, more detailed and moving, with several people shooting spells at each other, disapparating or putting up shields and running around. It was like a live battle scene.
At the end of the hall was a long table with several adults sitting at it. Two seats were empty. The one in the middle and another, two chairs to the left.
In the middle of the hall were a lot of tables, big and small with people sitting at them ranging from kids his age to young adults. From what he could see, there were around 1.100 students. The tables didn't have any apparent order and just stood around.
"Dear students," the female lead said loudly. "Please welcome with me the rest of the new students that just came out of the forest!"
There was raging applause, a few even yelled.
"Let me introduce them to you. Sebastian Roth, … , …, …, Andreas Kuhn, …, ….", she finished.
"You may sit wherever you want. Ater today's evening I am sure you will understand the reason for the placement of the tables and the sitting order. Dear first years, by now all 167 students are here, so please stay back after the feast, so I can tell you about your living arrangements. And to the newcomers, please call me headmistress Vogel."
Sebastian was surprised, 'So only two students were rejected? I am pretty sure that we were 169 in the safe house. I wonder what happened to the two that weren't allowed to come."
Sebastian was snapped out of his thoughts when Andreas Kuhn pulled him to a nearby table, where the missing piece of their former group of three sat. "Come, let's sit down."
After they sat down, a menu appeared in front of them and told them in a quiet voice, to say what they wanted to eat. After looking through the menu, Sebastian settled on sauerkraut with spaetzle. He didn't want to eat any more meat after the last few days.
"Tell me, how was your experience in the forest? What happened to you?", Sebastian started a conversation while eating.
"After running away for two days, I began to pick up a few plants and herbs I found and traded them. I lucked out by apparently finding something super rare and bought some kind of magical platform that stuck itself to a tree at the hight of ten meters with a ladder attached. After that, I just practiced all the spells, ate fruits, and hid on my platform. That was all.", Andreas told his story.
"I was rescued after my third day. I had managed to learn the knockback jinx and knocked a wolf down a small cliff, but I didn't get very far, as the pack was just around the corner. The first wolf drove me into a trap it seems.", the other guy continued.
An older student, sitting at their table stared at Sebastian and asked, "What happened to you? You have some blood on your robe, you know?"
Sebastian smiled awkwardly and began telling his story which ended with the others, even the older student, gaping at him. "Wow, I have heard of people hunting wolves, but only after they practiced their spells a lot. Too bad, you nearly survived until the end. But you must be very talented!"
Sebastian thanked him for the complement and asked whether the older student could tell them how the school worked, and he did.
The first three years were mandatory and they couldn't leave the castle. (They were in some kind of large, renovated castle in the woods.) After the third year, a lot changes. You didn't have any classes, only clubs or groups managed by 7th year students or teachers, some practical training trips and the rest was self-studying and they could go home for a few days whenever they wanted.
Like this, students could fully focus on their favourite fields or their biggest strengths and could have this class several times the normal amount per week. They could even take their specialised O.W.L.'s, N.E.W.T.'s and G.U.A.T.'s whenever they liked, but they could only do so until the end of their seventh year, or sometimes a bit longer, depending on how close you were to passing one of them.
But that didn't mean that students became lazy. There were a lot of good prizes for good students, some were even accepted to advanced schools early. Then, there were also practical and written exams everyone had to pass at least once every two years in charms, transfiguration, and DADA, whenever they liked.
All this combined made those that didn't care at least get their O.W.L.'s and those that cared were above average on their own fields. But it also had the consequence, that there were seldomly students that were good at many classes, because they didn't have to. In the end, it still was better than the system before and everyone was happy.
They also learned about the housing situation. There were some kind of shared apartments, which were also mandatory till 6th grade. In each were two or three students of each year, that could and had to help each other out. Even trips outside of school were done in that group.
And lastly to the seating situation. It was free to pick, but most either sat in their study groups, clubs, main classes or with those from their apartment, thus the different table sizes.
Sebastian was on fire; he loved this school. It was definitely a better system than at Hogwarts. Though he didn't know how it was in this world.
-HP-
After eating and talking, the feast ended and the first years waited in the hall and walked to the front, where the headmistress stood with a few older students.
She told them the same, their senior had explained during the feast and then read out names and each group of three or four were taken away by an older student.
Sebastians ended up with Andreas and were taken away by a rough and muscular looking boy with short military style hair, who walked quietly in front of them and lead them through doors, corridors and up and down a few staircases. A bit later, they ended up in front of a painting, picturing a castle, which read: 'Blackwald Institute of the Arcane, 1918'
The senior stopped and said, "quark bag", the name of a German food, upon which the painting moved to the side and revealed a small, cosy room with a fireplace, two couches, three tables with chairs, a bookshelf and three open doors leading to smaller rooms with a bed, chest, bathroom, and a closet each.
"Welcome to our home. Now for the reason why we are only three people in this apartment.", the senior said, as he sat on a couch and motioned them to do the same.
"You can think of me as a student recruiter and evaluator. Both of you have special qualities, that could be useful for us and therefore I am going to watch your progress this week, after which you will have to face a short test. And I am telling you, you wouldn't want to miss out on this opportunity. Else you will be thrown out and your memories will get wiped.", he recruiter said in a serious tone.
"Why are there recruiters, tests and threats of memory wiping everywhere?", Sebastian asked in an annoyed tone.
"Precaution. Now, I am going to go into my room. Don't tell anyone else about this and keep away from others. Only talk with others if necessary.", the recruiter said, stood up and walked to one of the doors and closed it behind himself.
"Well fuck.", Andreas cursed.
"I feel it.", Sebastian said.
So much for finally being in school and doing magic and making friends in peace…
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Remember, it's my first fanfiction.
Feel free to comment and correct my grammar and writing, or to leave review.