Avis Blackthorn: Is Not an Evil Wizard! (3 page)

Two hours wasn't that bad, the letter said as
long as we arrived before sundown then we would be there in time
for the induction. I couldn't wait, excitement coursed through me,
something I hadn't felt for a long time. All I had to do now was
stay awake. On this hot… Stuffy…Train…Oh dear…

Zzzzz…

***

“
Hello?” said the snake’s voice. “Hello?
Hello?” It circled round me, then in a flash jumped and bit me on
the arm.

“
AHH!” I cried.

My eyes opened. I was on the train. It was
just a dream! Thank goodness for that, I hated snakes. But there
was someone standing over me and prodding my arm.

“Hello?” he said again.

I rubbed my eyes and looked around. The boy
was tall, wire thin and spoke with this funny accent from your
world - the north of England somewhere, I saw a programme about
it.

“Erm, hi?” I said, noticing I was still on
the train and it was nearly dark! “Oh no! I haven't missed Hailing
Station have I?”

“What? Naa, that’s why I was waking ya…” he
said, his little beady eyes blinking nervously behind thick glass
frames. “To ask if you were going to Hailing Hall school too?”

“What?” I was genuinely surprised, somehow I
didn't expect to see anyone else going to Hailing Hall on the
train. His beady little eyes looked down at me through the comical
little circular spectacles. “Yeah I am, are you?”

“Yeah, the stop’s soon, thought I’d let ya
know. Don't wanna sleep through and miss ya’ first day o’
school.”

“No exactly.”

I stood and stretched, the carriage now
empty. My pockets felt oddly empty too. With a sinking feeling, I
put my hands in them to check, all my gold pieces had gone! I would
have cried if that boy resembling a lamppost wasn't standing there.
I made sure I had enough gold for the entire year, but now I had
nothing. I shouldn't have left it in my pocket, that was so stupid.
If I found out who stole my gold I would do something…
evil
to them.

I sighed. Who was I kidding?

“I’m sorry I woke you,” said the boy, he
seemed to think he was the one who’d upset me.

“No it’s not you, it’s me. I’ve lost all my
gold.”

“Oh… bummer. Well I haven't got any money
here either if it makes ya feel any better… me Dad couldn't get to
the exchange place. I am from the normal world, I mean, I am from
York, in England, in the other world…” he pointed. “Where are you
from?”

I eyed him up, he was a nervous sort of lad
who tried not to make eye contact. He had a big leather suitcase
with wheels on it. The train jumped and shuddered and I nearly fell
and smashed my face into the perplex glass window, but luckily I
caught the seat just in time.

“I am from Happendance, the fourth Magical
Kingdom… I’m Avis, Avis Blackthorn.” It was safe to tell him my
name, he was an Outsider. I stuck my hand out to shake, something
my family would never do.

“Robin, Robin Wilson…” he said as we
shook.

If I told most people my name, especially the
second name, they would either run a mile or tell me what an evil
family I had. But this kid Robin was from the Outside and, well, he
hadn’t a clue. Which meant, I had probably just made my first
friend.

I lugged my backpack off the train and set
after Robin who pulling his bag along on wheels! I’d never seen
anything like it. A large sign in front of us read ‘
Hailing Hall
that way’
with an arrow. Mind you, as I regained my full
consciousness, shaking off the sleepy daze, I saw that there were
now lots of other people, our sort of age getting off with
suitcases and backpacks. The platform was long, lots of conductors
now stood and directed the flow of children up the hill ahead.

Me and Robin followed the chattering crowd.
Falling in line behind three older boys who were laughing and
joking about, they were slightly older and seemed excited to see
each other again. We followed, I huffed and puffed, as the joking
threesome walked purposefully out of the station and up a hill.
Robin kept trying to make conversation with me and I could tell he
was nervous because his tiny eyes were open terribly wide. I
couldn't reply to him though because I was so puffed out lugging my
stuff up the hill.

Soon enough the hill levelled and we came to
these huge iron gates emblazoned with ‘
HH
’ in fanciful metal
writing. Following the current of people, we walked into the
grounds of our new school - my new home for the next year. Even
though I was knackered, I smiled, I was finally free!

Hailing Hall stood huge before us. It was
very wide and perhaps five stories tall with a centre spire
shooting so high up into the air it was surrounded by it’s own
formation of clouds. It looked like a monumentally huge manor
house, with white brick and mullioned windows. It had taste, I’d
give it that. Much better than the cold, grey, sprawling mess that
we called our home. In the walk up to the school, along this yellow
stone path, we got to see the grounds. Living in a dark castle with
no life in it whatsoever, the only plants being some dead bracken,
I was gobsmacked at the life in this place. I could feel the Magic
in it, which made me feel kind of warm and cosy. There were long
green hedges encircling the grounds, which bowed us. Large white
stone statues and fountains of animals and strange creatures that
stood to attention. They looked happy and playful, watching us
enter. There were these strange colourful bird things wondering
about, with huge purple fans on their back. I thought it was some
strange Magical creature I’d never seen before, but when I pointed
this out to Robin, he laughed at me.

“No, they’re not Magical. They are just
peacocks.”

These peacocks strutted around and made an
awful racket, but I liked them. I had never seen anything of the
sort before. The sun shone across the garden, and it felt awfully
nice. I am not used to sun you see, the only sun I ever get is when
I manage to escape the castle and go for a walk in the forest.

Suddenly I heard a
NEIGH
!

And then Robin shouted. “Duck!”

We both jumped to the floor as a flipping
great carriage came zooming in over our heads.

“Cor, that was close!” said Robin, dusting
himself off.

“Yeah…” I said, annoyed. My parents would
have sent a hundred Spells at that carriage, but me? I just got
angry and carried on walking. The carriage landed some way off,
where a landing bay filled with hundreds of carriages sat. People
were getting out and marching into the school, their luggage
floating just behind their head. I wish I could have done that up
that poxy hill.

Then I spotted Ross, my brother, the git had
just got out of Mum’s special work carriage. It’s completely black,
she loves black. Flash git, some girls nearby were crooning over
him as he got out.

We waited for ages near the main entrance.
This batty looking old woman was lingering near the front — she
looked far too mad to be a teacher. A large collection of new years
were already there, sitting on their luggage and looking nervous.
The sun was going down behind the castle and it started getting
nippy. I sat on my bag next to Robin and we watched on in silence,
as all the existing years of the school made their way in with
curious, devilish glances towards us. Someone nearby kept trumping,
I could smell it. To be fair, I was a bit nervous myself but I held
in any gaseous give-aways. I wondered how many people here had come
from the Outside, where Robin was from. It’s hard to tell though,
we all look so similar. Looking around at the crowd of new years,
there was around fifty of us, but the next moment their must have
been a
mega-carridge
, because another forty or so nervous
looking first years joined us, sitting down, looking like they
might pass out and probably trying not to trump.

The old women at the front put down her
papers and, with a flick of her hand, the papers, chair and desk
she was sat at all disappeared. I heard a few more trumps. She
stood quite still for a moment gazing off into the darkening sky. I
couldn't make out her exact age, she looked old, but the way she
moved indicated someone much younger. Her hair was greying, long
and platted at the back, which is strange for an old person.

“Hello and welcome to Hailing Hall. My name
is Magisteer Dodaline. Pick up your stuff and follow me…” she
called turning with a flash of her tweed brown robes, and marching
off towards the entrance.

Me and Robin sort of stayed close, and
followed the line inside the school. We went through these giant
wooden doors and into this great big entrance hall. It was kind of
plain, but charming. Stone floor, velvet drapes and hundreds of
sheets of paper, pinned to the wall containing a multitude of
information. To the left was a great big carpeted staircase. It was
hot as well, with fire in brackets going all the way around
illuminating the high, beamed ceilings.

“Woah…” we all chorused as we entered.

“Leave your stuff here, they will be taken to
your rooms.” We all dumped our bags and, as I let go, it slid
across the floor to the wall, where they all now stood in neat
rows. A name tag popped into life above each bag and wrapped it
self around the handles. Wow, this was an awesome place.

Magisteer Dodaline turned to us and waited
for absolute quiet. “Shortly, you will be taken in to the Chamber.
All the remaining years are already awaiting your arrival. As is
the Headmaster, who we address as
The Lily
. You will
announce your name and something vaguely interesting about
yourself. You will be put into forms and later you will be taken to
your allotted rooms. Lessons start tomorrow at 7am, lunch time is
at 12pm, lessons finish around 5.30pm and dinner is at 6pm. We have
lessons six days a week. Sundays are for homework. Toilets are
signposted on the walls. Any questions? Good,” she said curtly.
“Follow me.”

I was suddenly really nervous about having to
stand up in front of the whole school, I could see everyone trying
to think of some interesting fact. What on earth could I say? I
belong to an evil family? I have a birth mark on my left buttock? I
had no idea. Magisteer Dodaline walked quickly to the corner of the
room. We all frowned, confused. Then, the wall suddenly gave way to
a large descending staircase. She beckoned us to follow and
shortly, we were stood in a long, tall, underground corridor facing
another set of big wooden doors. I could hear a lot of people the
other side of these doors. And I’m not afraid to say I cowered
behind Robin, who seemed to shrink as far as he could into his
green pullover, until he resembled a turtle. The cacophony of noise
that hit us when the doors opened was deafening. And I felt this
hot draft blow across me. As well as the smells of varnished wood,
old stone, burning coals and a strange flowery incense. At once,
all eyes in the room turned to look at us.

I looked around at this huge room so as to
avoid any eye contact. The huge, long room was stone walled and I
see why they called it the Chamber - there were no windows and the
stone walls curved round into roof, creating a dome effect. It felt
like standing in a huge stone fish tank. The noise reverberated
deafeningly around the curved walls which were fit to bursting with
stuff. Swords, armour shields, flags and quotes, pictures of famous
Wizards and a picture of every form. All the way around the outside
of the walls were fire brackets, with the fire changing colour. All
through the chamber were these dark oak circle tables where the
existing years were now stood. There were ten tables in the middle
that were empty. Ours I guessed. At least I didn’t have to sit with
the existing years, could you imagine if I had to share a table
with my brother Ross? I shuddered at the thought.

Magisteer Dodaline led us through the crowd,
everyone wore different coloured robes and ties. There was a huge
mix, creating this rainbow effect of colours. The oldest and
tallest ones were wearing bottle green robes, and what looked like
the year just above us were all in red. And in the middle were
blues, purples, browns, yellows and oranges. The teachers, or
that’s who I presumed they were, had their own round table to the
left, raised up a little to survey the Chamber. They all wore
brown, black and grey, except one man, who was stood and dressed
all in a brilliant, pristine white. When we reached the front of
the Chamber we were turned around to face everyone. My heart
suddenly began beating a million knots an hour.

“Welcome, welcome!” bellowed the man in white
who stood and smiled wide. “I am The Lily, your Headmaster here at
Hailing Hall.” He began to walk slowly round the staff table. He
was an old man, but he had this… aura, I suppose you call it, no
one in the Chamber spoke or made any movement when he was speaking.
He glided towards us and walked along the line, looking at each and
every one of us. He was completely bald, but his white robes were
so dazzling to the eye I couldn’t look directly at them.

When he got to me, it felt as if time slowed
down. My hammering heart stopped racing, I felt calm. Then, I felt
as if he had just scanned my entire soul. And I saw this small
smile dance across his face. He knew who I was, I didn’t even need
to tell him my name. His face was kind, his nose large, his eyes
grey and spotted, but twinkling as they scanned his subjects. I was
already fascinated by this man who was called The Lily.

When he finished, he moved around the room,
between the tables doing the same with everyone else who had
returned. “At this school we pride ourselves on our ability to
learn the most sacred art of Magic. Something denied to ninety-nine
per cent of the world. You are the privileged ones. And I needn’t
remind you of the great power that comes with these abilities. You
are all very powerful people, in your own right, and together even
more so. Therefore the fate of humanity is in your hands, whether
you like it or not. Many have assumed this meant they had the power
over those less fortunate, but others know this is not correct. The
true nature of man, is not his ability to rule others, but their
ability to treat others less fortunate exactly as themselves.”