"Freddy!"
"Michael!"
"Nice to meet you," Harry said politely.
"Hey, how come your so old? You're way older than Norton," cried Edgar. The boys all nodded in agreement, and Nat and Norton threw him a suspicious look. Harry felt suddenly nervous. He didn't have much experience with younger children, and for the life of him he could not remember what he was like when he was their age. He didn't remember being that hyper.
"I don't know. Snape said it was because I didn't come to England until I was older," he said finally. At the mention of his main kidnapper's name, the boys each shared a look of horrified disbelief.
"You actually talked to him?!"
"No way!
"He didn't make you eat your tongue? He said he'd make me eat my tongue when I started asking questions!"
"Does his head really twist all the way around? Norton said he could turn it all the way around like an owl, but I don't believe him!" said Freddy, who had been quiet until then.
"How would you know, you got picked up by a girl!" Norton retorted.
"I still don't believe you!"
Seeing that things were quickly escalating into...something, Harry spoke up to distract them. "I didn't see his head turn all the way around, but he is a wizard. He could probably turn himself into an owl and do it for sure."
"Oh yeah, I didn't think of that," Freddy conceded.
"That would be brilliant! I want to turn into an owl!"
"I want to turn into a tiger!"
"When I'm a real wizard, I'm going to turn into whale and swim all over the world! Even to the bottom of the ocean!"
"What about on land, stupid! If you're a whale you can't climb a mountain or swim up a creek."
"Ha! I'd turn into a whale and a...a... dog! Or monkey! Or anything I want!"
Pretty soon the boys were all speculating on what sort of animals they would turn into and what sort of adventures they would go on. It wasn't long before they were all acting out their future plans, barking and flying and climbing all over the place. Harry sat on his bed and watched, baffled at his current predicament. How long was he going to be staying with this band of mayhem incarnate?
Just as Norton was about to be set upon by a pack of shapeshifting lions, the door opened and a jolly looking woman walked into the room dressed much like Edith had the night before. With her plump, rosey cheeks, Harry thought she looked like she should be serving cookies to Santa in the North Pole. The boys immediately stopped what they were doing, some of them looking rather guilty. The woman took a sweeping inventory of the room, put her hands on her hips, and scowled (and still managed to look cute while doing so).
"I don't suppose you've all brushed your teeth?" she asked.
"No, Miss Marilyn," they replied in practiced unison.
"Have you washed your faces? Changed your clothes? Gotten your bags ready?"
"No, Miss Marilyn."
"Well, then hop to it!" she said, clapping her hands together. "Go! Go! Go!"
Or else I'll tell Santa to put you on the 'naughty' list, Harry mentally added.
The boys broke apart into well organized chaos, some heading for the second door which did turn out to be the bathroom, while others dived for their trunks. Harry just stood there, unsure what to do. Miss Marilyn, quick to spot him, marched right up to him.
"You must be Harold then," she began, a little less sternly than when she'd walked in. "You are a bit older than we're used to, but don't worry. I've been here since WYRA first started, and have seen young men and women older than you pass through these doors. You'll do fine."
"Ma'am, with all due respect... what exactly will I be doing 'fine' at?"
"They didn't tell you about WYRA when you came in? No, I suppose you came in a bit late... Well, just get ready for the day. I'll give you a proper introduction while the boys are having their lessons."
"Lessons? Like wizarding lessons?" he asked, eager to start those himself.
"Oh no, just reading, writing, and math. Spells and such aren't taught until they're at least eleven..."
"I'm almost eleven..." He couldn't hide the eagerness in his voice. For all the uncertainty of his future, he could not help but think that becoming a true wizard would somehow clear everything up. After all, there was a spell for everything. Certainly there were spells that help him get even with that Snape bastard and well on his way to Germany. Snape did say the German wizards were more liberal and didn't go around kidnaping children. He could be happy there, right?
"Yes, well... we'll talk about that later. Norton! Come here and help Harry. Show him what to do, just like you did with Edgar and Nathaniel, ok?"
She quickly wandered off to help some of the younger children dress and find their supplies, and Norton quickly appeared and led Harry away to the bathroom. Harry mimicked the younger boy as they prepared for the day. The bathroom had a low shelf with small baskets of personal hygiene items. They brushed their teeth, washed their faces, and Harry made a half hearted attempt to tame his hair. Back in the room, Norton opened Harry's trunk and pulled out a plain black school bag. As the younger boy started loading it with pencils, a notebook, and other items; Harry changed into the set of slightly darker, but otherwise identical set of clothes. They had just finished getting ready when Miss Marilyn called everyone to the hall.
The children all lined up from oldest to youngest (except for Harry who lingered in the back of line), and made there way single file through the hall, where they were joined another line of boys in green and two lines of girls in pink and purple. Altogether there were about forty children, five nurses, and two large 'guards' in the procession.
They all made their way through a series of corridors to a large dining hall, where two sets of parallel tables and one shorter table at their head. The girls went to one long table and boys to the other, while the adults took the short table so that they might oversee them all. The tables were all fully set and there were large dishes piled high with all sorts of breakfast sorts. When everyone had settled, everyone bowed their heads and took their neighbor's hand to pray.
"God bless Britain," Miss Marilyn began.
"God bless Britain," everyone repeated.
"God bless the Community of Magic. And God bless me, that I might grow powerful, wise, and fearless. Bless my brethren, that they may grow powerful, wise, and fearless beside me. And bless the Father of the New Wizardry of Britain, so that he may lead us to a world of glory and justice for all wizarding kind. Amen."
When the prayer was done, leaving Harry feeling strangely like a foreigner, the dining hall broke out into a wordless chaos as children eagerly gathered up food onto their plates and passed dishes around. Harry grabbed some waffles, eggs, and sausage as he realized how truly starving he was. He hadn't had anything but a few tomatoes the morning before. Gradually, as tummies filled, the children all started talking and gossiping.
The atmosphere was all very amicable, and Harry wondered how these children couldn't be even a little distressed at being ripped away from their families. Certainly all their parents hadn't been nearly as wretchedly selfish and neglectful as the Dursley's had been to him. Yet no one mentioned their father or mother or siblings or past friends or pets. It was as if they had completely forgotten about their life outside of WYRA.
He had a dreadful premonition that it was a sort of magic, and as he looked down at his wonderfully delicious breakfast he couldn't help but wonder if it was enchanted somehow. If he stayed at WYRA long enough, would he too forget about his family? He certainly wouldn't miss the last three years spent cloistered at number four, Privet Drive with the Dursley's, but what about his parents? What about the memories of summers they'd spent together wandering the beach, spring festivals, and Christmas? What about all the quiet moments they spent together in the studio, his mother teaching him about perspective and proportions, and his father teaching him the proper way to mold clay?
Only half done, Harry pushed his plate away.
He spent the rest of breakfast listening to the other children, and piecing together what life was going to be like at WYRA. It all seemed a bit like boarding school. Everyone got up at the same time, went to breakfast at the same time, took lessons on generic subjects like math and geography, had lunch, had recesses and activity times for play, a story time, study and homework time, a shower just before dinner, a nightly prep, and finally lights out. Although it wasn't said directly, he got the impression there were no weekends or holidays. And then he overheard a conversation at the girl's table involving 'quarantine'.
"Miss Rachel says I'll be done with quarantine this Friday. I'll get to go with you guys next Saturday if I don't get sick," said an eight-year old girl with ebony hair pulled up into pig-tails and a purple outfit. Her friend in pink beside her squealed in delight, and started speaking in an Irish accent.
"Tha's great! It's non fun going anywhere without ya. Beth picks on me when yar gone."
"If she tries it while I'm there I'll pop her in the nose, and then see who wants to adopt her!" The little girls laughed and started talking about Beth and all the mean pranks they could pull on her when the adults weren't looking. Harry turned to Norton.
"What happens on Saturdays?"