Chapter 32 – First Day at the School of Magic(2)
Johnny eventually managed to read these lines, but none of them seemed to be marked by what was written on the front page. So the boy closed the book and handed it to the girl. Elizabeth, unaware of the purpose of this book, took it along with the others she had under her arm.
'If the author doesn't trust what he wrote, then I say it's good for nothing. Come on, the class with Knudlac will start soon," Johnny told her.
'You can help me for a while to get to the classrooms ... I really do not know how to get there ..."
'It's very easy, just do what I tell you."
'Good."
'Pick a classmate and follow him/her until you get where you need to go ..."
'Do you know where all the classrooms are?"
'Not at all."
'And then…?"
'Then we follow him. He is a first-year classmate," the boy pointed at a freckled guy with spiky hair.
The two went down three floors, following that boy, heading to the classroom.
'Can I ask you something?" Elizabeth looked at Johnny.
"Yes," he said, smiling.
'There, at the orphanage, Mr. Green ... I mean… Professor Knudlac there. He hit you very hard. Your lips and nose bled. You cried, but after a few moments, after we left the orphanage you smiled."
'I didn't cry," the young man defended himself bravely. 'I pretended," he kept completing.
The boy was proud of him.
'I was very convincing, wasn't I? That's why Mr. Knudlac picked me."
The girl didn't understand anything. Johnny looked at her with a smile as he saw that she could not get what he said.
'Let me tell you. Professor Knudlac introduced himself as Mr. Green to that orphanage director. That director, because he hated you so much, I don't know why, wanted the one who adopted you to make you suffer your whole life. And that is why Mr. Knudlac tried to convince him that he would hurt you as your adoptive father."
'But how did you put up with such a blow without ..."
'Magic, dear ... Magic. I got the mysteries of this kind of magic that others want to master for a long time, Imperium. I can go through the biggest pain without crying, if I say this magic word. The tears were false."
'Can I learn too ... to have this magic power?"
'As I said, many want to master this magic, but it is only my power."
The girl sat wondering.
A 12-year-old boy, who heard Johnny's words, proudly got close to him and the girl. He wore the same kind of clothes as them, but he had a coat of arms representing his family. He was brown-haired and blue-eyed like the clear sky,
'Bragging again with your magic, Johnny? How can you cope with any danger with that damn magic that you got by mistake?"
Johnny looked at that boy with a frown. He bit his lips with anger because of that student.
Still, he didn't say anything, but kept going, along with Elizabeth. Eventually, they stop in the front of their class and all kids get in.
Miss Harmony waited for them in that class.
'Who's that boy?" Elizabeth asked.
'Alexander Soimescu ... a jerk. Some say he is a distant relative of Dragoesti's. And his grandparents were vampires all their life ... until they died of old age."
"As far as I know, vampires do not die of old age," Elizabeth smiled, hearing the rubbish that Johnny kept selling.
'Whoever he is, you should stay away from him. He has the impression that if his family spent a fortune on the best magic professors, he is a master of magic now."
And leaving Elizabeth in front of Miss Harmony, Johnny went to his desk angrily, at the back of the classroom.
Miss Harmony told the girl:
'Please sit there in the front row ... you have a lot to make up for."
All the children sat at their recently manufactured and skilfully crafted wooden desks. Each of them had the emblem of Elmbridge School of Magic.
Elizabeth placed her books on the desk like the other children, then she began to listen carefully to Miss Harmony. No one managed better than her to explain to those children what magic is and make these kids love magic.
'First of all, I want to tell you that we are extremely pleased to have you among our students in Elmbridge School of Magic, one of the best magic schools in the country ... and in the world."
After a short break when she smiled at those kids, she went on:
'Here at the school of magic, we will train all sorts of wizards. You will learn how to use magic and master it. Many of you will become magic architects, the greatest inventors of all time. They invented among many things, the vigil candle, patented by Henric Julien IV. Professor Brian Hazzelnuck, who paved the way for ... any place in this world where we want to get at once, leaving behind the …witch broom. Yes, he showed us the way to transmutation ... through portals. And we are very lucky because riding those brooms was not very comfortable and safe ... As others told me, because I did not have ... the chance to try something like this."
Miss Harmony smiled at the children, continuing to talk as she looked at them:
'Or maybe some of you will become guardians. Who knows? You will join the group of fighters against black magic. And who punish wrongdoers. Or you will become potion makers who will create the strongest cures and the most powerful elixirs. Or you can become herb growers for potions, fantastic and non-fantastic caregivers ... it all depends on you. Depending on what you choose ..."
'As Johnny really sucks, I think he'll be a potion bottle cleaner ... or a caretaker of mystical and non-mystical beings ... And he will clean their manure," Alexander laughed at his own joke.
Many children in the class also laughed, especially Alexander's friends. Or rather, those who wanted to join this kid's group and his attention, as he belonged to a renowned family.
'You're wrong. I know a lot of stuff. For a year I read all kinds of books, unlike you."
'Maybe you read, but you learn nothing. As for me, I've been studying magic for five years. I came to Elmbridge just because I needed ... papers to prove how good I am."