Yer a Wizard

The 9 3/4 platform was crowded, drowned in white smoke.
Mike Lewis, followed by his anxious parents, dragged his heavy trunk across it, looking for his friends, the cage of his barn owl, Soupy, in hand. He looked back to his mother who was gripping her husband's arm, looking both terrified and amazed. It was the first time she accompanied Mike and his father to the platform. She'd just stayed in the car in front of Kings' Cross before. She was the only one to know how to drive and it was impossible finding a non-paying parking spot. But this year, they'd decided to pay. Mike remembered the reaction of his father when they first went through the wall.

'But Mike, my boy, there's no 9 3/4 platform!'
'Dad, we have to run through the wall. That's what Mr Stump told me.'
'Your Mr Stump is crazy!'
'He's the one who came to tell us I was a wizard, Dad.'
'Oh right. But it's a brick wall! You can't run through it!'
'Diagon Alley is a street that doesn't exist! I'm sure we can pass through this wall. It's magic after all!'
'But I'm no wizard!'
'I'm sure it will work for you.'

And it did.
It was Mike's little sister first time there too. They had no idea if she was magic or not, but she seemed really excited when they had to run through the wall. She looked mesmerised by all the people in black robes and pointy hats ; most of them had tried keeping discreet. Some of them had tried dressing like Muggles but it was mostly not a winning match.

"Michael dear, do you have all your robes? All your jerseys?" Mike's mom asked, joining his sister at his side.

"Yes Mom. I'll send you a letter by owl every week." Mike smiled.

The ginger woman smiled back.

"Oh Mike, you're 15 now, a letter every two weeks will suffice, but send over some treats for your sister, she loved the ones you brought back from the Diagon Alley."

"Yes! Please Mikey! Chocolate frogs! And Jelly Slugs! Oh and please please Fizzing Whizzbees!" The girl tugged on Mike's sleeve.

Mike's mother frowned.

"No Fizzing Whizzbees! You know that it might reveal the magic world..."

"I'll only eat them when I'm alone! Chocolate frogs too..." Sophia protested.

"Chocolate frogs don't make you fly." Mike smiled.

Sophia sighed and pouted.

"Fine. But I want Ice Mice!"

"Alright" Mike smiled.

Mike was very well from a muggle family, a poor one. Thankfully he'd gotten a scholarship by the Ministry of Magic for his exceptional results at end-of-year exams. It was the Hermione Granger scholarship for talented Muggle-born students, and Mike had been chosen as the beneficier. He had met Mrs Granger on occasion of the third renewing of his scholarship, and even gotten in the Daily Prophet. His parents kept the issue in a locked, small safe. They were very proud of the "Young Michael Lewis wins Granger scholarship for the third time" article with the magic photograph of him shaking Granger's hand, with the Minister of Magic and Headmaster McGonagall in the background.

Obviously they did not show it to anyone. Nobody had to know Mike was a wizard, talented or not. They told everyone he was in a private boarding school in Scotland that an old uncle had paid for.

Mike suddenly spotted a tall, bleached blond young man, wearing black skinny jeans and a pink tee-shirt.

"It's Sean!" He exclaimed.

Sean was his best friend. They had gone to the Quiddicth world championship together, with tickets Mike had won. It was in France, they'd had a lot of fun but Mike's family had never seen him.
He waved at his friend. Sean waved back, turning towards his mother, a small white haired woman.

Mike pulled the trunk against the wall, and hugged Sean.

"Hey bro!"

Sean was half-blood, his mother was a witch and his father a muggle. They were divorced, too, and Sean's father didn't want anything to do with the wizarding world.
Sean's mother approached Mike's.

"So you're Michael's mother! My son is good friends with yours. Is that your first visit in a wizarding place?"

"Indeed," Mike's mother smiled nervously.

"My ex-husband is a muggle too. Don't worry, since the Second Wizarding War, muggles are not persecuted anymore! Your son is a brilliant young wizard. I wish Sean was so applied!"

"Mam, leave Mike's parents alone. Mike and I are going to go in the train!" Sean said.

"Have you put all your stuff in the train? Forgot nothing?"

"No, it's okay."

Mike went back to his parents, starting by hugging his father.

"I'll help you put your trunk up in the train, son." Mike's father smiled.

Mike bid goodbye to Sophia and his mother, and grabbed his owl's cage.

"Bye bye Soupy!" Sophia grinned.

Mike rolled his eyes, and climbed into the train, following Sean and giving him the cage.

"I'm gonna haul my suitcase in. Get that in our booth?"

"Okay Cap'n!" Sean smirked, swooping his hair.

Mike took his suitcase in and joined Sean in their booth. There already sat Tay Jardine and Sam Carter. Tay was already in uniform, her Prefect badge shining on her chest.

"Oh, so YOU'RE my partner!" Mike laughed.

"You're a prefect?" Sam asked, looking surprised.

Mike got out the badge from his pocket with a smile. Sean grinned.

"Did you really think he wouldn't get it?"

Mike got out his robe from his bag, putting it above his uniform, which he had already passed on. He then put the badge on his chest and looked out the window, waving towards his parents.

And the train went as they all bended out of the windows, waving goodbye to their families.

Soon after that, Mike and Tay left to join the other prefect in the prefect compartiment, leaving Sean and Sam alone to put on their uniforms and robes.

"Where's your little brother?" Sam asked as he ate a Chocolate Frog from his snack. "Oh, Ron Weasley. You have that one?"

"Yeah, I do, but thanks still" Sean answered. "Well he must be with his friends. Stealing their candy."

"The little rascal" Sam laughed. "Anyway-"

"Hey guys!"

The door of the compartiment was brutally opened and Josh Franceschi stepped in, grinning, his little crowd of admirers behind him.

"Guess who's running up for Quidditch team this year? This guy!" He pointed his thumbs at himself.

"And?" Sean questionned.

"And have you seen Stuart Richardson?"

Sam rose his eyebrows.

"Well, no."

"Too bad, we'll keep looking for him!"

And they went away. Sam looked out of the window.

"He's a twat."

"A cool twat." Sean smirked.

"He's French, come on!" Sam rolled his eyes.

Josh was in fourth year and he was indeed half French. He'd spent his life in France, but his parents moved to England in order to make him study in Hogwarts like his mother had. He was from a pure blood family, owning a castle that sat on the banks of the Loire, hidden from the muggles as a small house in the wilderness. Josh had attended the best wizarding primary school of France, in Paris ; those were common in France, in an opposite fashion to the UK. He'd lived very happy years there ; he studied French and English, as well as reading, writing and the basics of arithmetics like non-wizarding children, but also how to ride a broom, how to contain the bursts of magic, taking care of owls, simple History of Magic and other things that Josh didn't remember all the time.

Nevertheless, it hadn't stopped him from falling in love with football, a Muggle sport, that he played with the children of the nearby boarding school. He kept a poster of Arsenal football club in the dormitory and a few in his room, as well as a magical photo of them playing he had taken sneakily at a match.

During the long holidays French pupils were allowed, he spent his time in the castle's park, with his older sister Elissa. It was a place full of the most delightful magic plants. The wizard that took care of cutting the bushes into correct shapes kept a whole jardin a'la française trimmed and in place, from the fountains to the closes where Josh played hide-and-seek with the fellow pupils he would invite over.

Josh had demonstrated magic bursts very early, hence his scolarisation in a wizarding primary school. His parents had been delighted when they saw him, aged 5, make his coloured felts fly around. They had feared Elissa was a Squib, as she only demonstrated magical abilities at age 10 ; but she also revealed to be a talented young witch.

Josh's family were rich, and he always had had costly school stuff ; silk robes, expensive hair potions, quality dragon skin shoes, peacock feathers to write, beautiful turquoise blue ink, egyptian parchment, and the last model of Firebolt - Puddlemere United signature.
However he wasn't too good of a student. He was keen on metamorphosis but not so much in the rest. But that didn't matter, he was the most popular Gryffindor at the young age of 14, and that was all that mattered.

Sean watched him go.
Himself came from a half-blood family. His father had left his mother when he discovered she was a witch, and refused to admit his sons were wizards. Sean and Jay had grown up in a small muggle town of South Wales. Sean could clearly remember hiking in the hills with his brother and seeing a Common Welsh Green dragon fly into an abandonned coal mine. Their mother had made them swear not to say anything to anyone and bribed them into it with candy.
Jan, their mother, came from a half-blood family : a muggle-born wizard and a muggle woman were her parents. She worked in Muggle relations at the Ministry, and had made friends with muggle mums, encouraging her sons to do so with their children. When Sean started showing signs of magic, she'd been very happy. Sean would get into a lot of trouble for his uncontrolable bursts, which were mainly inoffensive, consisting of balding teachers or pens disappearing, but sometimes pupils that angered him would find themselves magically shoved against walls or drenched with water that came out of nowhere.
Jay's magic was smoother to show itself. He did however have an impressive fact of arms : he was a fan of motorcycle racing and at age seven made an engine apparate in the family's living room. They had later discovered it was the neighbour's.
Sean had become interested in Quidditch as soon as he was introduced to it. His mother had bought him a Cleansweep 12 for his tenth birthday and he would fly it around in the hills near his town. As he didn't have anybody to play with, he simply practised his way of flying and agility. Then he would sit in front of the wizarding radio and listen to the matches being narrated. His favourite team were the Caerphilly Catapults ; right next to his hometown. He'd gotten to see a match during Christmas of his first year at Hogwarts and loved it.
In Hogwarts, he wasn't exactly a bad student, but he wasn't really interested in anything else than Charms. He usually relied on Mike for his homework, as the gifted boy would finish his quite quickly.

Sean popped out of his daydream as he heard the familiar sound of the Honeydukes express.

"Oh, jeez!" He squeaked, before dashing off his seat and into the hallways.

A bunch of Slytherin students were already there, as well as Stuart Richardson, a Year 6 Gryffindor prefect with a black cat on his shoulder. Sean rose his eyebrows.

"Ain't you supposed to be with the other prefects?"

"I was hungry, Sean." Stuart smirked, taking three liquorice wands.

The Slytherins were boys of Sean's year. Ali Dean, Rob Rolfe and Dan Flint. Dan held his cat in his arms, eyes fixed into the distance. The cat was the fattest thing in the world, and Sean was surprised it was even alive. Two 14 year old Hufflepuffs walked up the hallway, stopping in front of the trolley too. Sean knew them. Jono Yates and Aled Phillips, possibly the most awkward students in Hogwarts.

Ali Dean smirked, turning towards Dan.

"You want anything bro?"

"Yeah, uh... Coconut Ice please."

Sean crossed Ali's eyes and the young man smirked, but said nothing. Sean took a box of Every Flavour Beans, and came back to sit in front of Sam.

Jono was hesiting. He only had 10 Sickles. Aled had 8.

"I'll take a Chocolate Frog and three Jelly Slugs please" Aled said, giving his 8 sickles to the witch.

"Here you go dear!" The witch smiled, giving him his candy. "What about you, young man?"

"A sugar quill, a peppermint toad and a pumpkin chocolate bar, please."

They came back to their compartment with their buyings. They were sharing one with a Ravenclaw student in their year. They didn't know him that much, though. Aled knew the boy was named Lee Gaze and that he wasn't exactly the best student ever, but he also knew he had been caught giving head to a seventh year in the toilets and had a reputation of spreading legs at breakfast, meal and dinner. He was one year older than them, because he had failed his third year and done it again. At the moment, he had his forehead pressed on the window, half asleep, sometimes eating from the bag of coffee-flavoured edible bouncy balls in front of him - chocolate with a coffee mousse and a peppermint heart, bouncy before but melts agreeably in the stomach.

Aled was pretty sure he'd performed sexual favours on every boy who was willing to experiment, and that he'd started early, too, and that his pure-blood family didn't seem to know or care. Lee's blond hair fell beautifully on his forehead, his blue eyes scrutinised the landscape, and Jono suckled on his sugar quill.

Aled wished he had recieved the gifts of wit and beauty, but he was happy enough already to be gifted with magic.
Aled came from a muggle family. They didn't really like the fact he was a wizard ; they had not appreciated the way a red-haired, black robe wearing man had knocked at their door on a Sunday morning to announce that their second son was a wizard. Aled had one older brother, one younger brother, one older sister and one younger sister. He was in the middle of it all and so far the only wizarding kid.
The red-haired man had introduced himself as Sir Gerard Way, teaching Transfiguration at the Wizarding School of Hogwarts, to which Aled had been admitted. And then, he dug into his pocket and gave Aled a letter, a letter that would change everything.

They had to sit in the living room with all the children, and Mr Way explained the wizarding world to them.

'Your son belongs there. He's a wizard, like me, like hundreds of others in Hogwarts, like millions of others in the world. We are a secretive community, also I'll ask you to not tell it around. The security of your son depends on it. These last centuries we've been able to make you believe we didn't exist, and it perfectly worked.'

'I don't want my son to go to no magic school! He's gonna study in St Paul high school in Cardiff!'

'Your son needs to learn how to exploit his magic abilities, Mr Phillips. Otherwise he'll become a danger for himself and his peers.'

'I don't believe you. You're just wacko. Magic doesn't exist!'

'Oh really? Haven't you noticed that weird things happened to Aled? Aled, haven't you noticed?'

And Aled knew Mr Way was right. After a few demonstrations of simple magic by Mr Way, Aled was allowed to open his letter.

And his parents let him go.
That night in the room he shared with his brothers, he spent it thinking of how the wizarding world would be, and thinking of how utterly great it was going to be. It was like a childhood dream realised.
But the day after, nobody in his family would speak to him. His father was talking to himself.

'How are we going to pay for all this stuff?'

Aled's brothers wouldn't sit near him, and when he asked what was wrong to his mother, she sat with him, and explained it was hard to all the family to discover he was different and that they didn't know what he was able of. That he would always be an outcast and would never fit in.
Aled knew his parents felt uneasy about the wizarding world ; they never went on the Hogwarts Express' platform with him, never helped him to go buy his school stuff. And when he was home, his brothers usually made fun of him, accused him of being a liar because he could not perform magic in front of them.

Aled really felt good in Hogwarts. He was good at Potions, Transformation and Spells. His first thoughts for a carreer was Healer ; he'd visited St Mango's when Jono had been hospitalised there after having been bitten by a spider while on holidays and found it all fascinating. But right now, he was just extremely happy to be back in the castle, in the comfortable beds of the Hufflepuff dormitories.

Face to him, Jono had started eating his chocolate bar. For himself, Jono was muggle-born for all he knew. His grandmother was a witch, his uncle was a wizard, but his father had turned out a Squib ; Jono had never known until he started showing signs of magic. Nobody had to come in to explain ; his father did it. Jono also discovered that all along he was living in a village that possessed a wizarding community and that some little witches and wizards went to his school.
But for Jono, what coming back to Hogwarts meant was that he would see Fish again.
Fish - his name was really Jordan Fish but there was another student that went by the name, so everybody called him Fish - was in Slytherin, but he was Jono's best friend. Fish's parents had died in the Second Wizarding War, as well as his sister ; his father was a Death Eater who had been killed in the battle of Hogwarts and his mother had died in a post war settling of scores. His sister, for herself, was there too and died when the Death Eaters made a tower of the castle collapse. Fish had no compassion for his father, and he was not an evil man. His naturally cunning and ambitious nature had sent him to Slytherin, and he was happy about it. He wanted to be the head of the Department of Mysteries.
Jono liked Fish a lot. They'd met in detention and immediately made friends. However, at the moment, Fish was probably sleeping like he always did on the train. They'd given themselves a rendez-vous spot for the first day of class' lunch break. One of the turrets of the astronomy tower.
Jono couldn't wait.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by a great rumble in the hallway. A pair of Fifth year students were laughing in front of the compartment, looking breathless. They were both red-haired, one with shorter hair than the other.

The Johnston twins. They were said to be the heirs of Fred and George Weasley but the truth was they didn't cause much mayhem, just a few pranks on their friends ; the fact they had flamboyant hair was probably the basis of the comparison.

They were from a half-blood family. Their father was a muggle, their mom, a witch. Their little brother was in first year. James and Ben were respectively in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, but were very tightly bonded. They'd grown up in the Scottish Highlands, in a small city.

Next to Jono, Lee Gaze had woken up and was grinning.

"How good would it be to bag twins? And redheads with that, hot like fire, man."

Aled did a discreet grimace of disgust towards Jono, who imitated him.
The Johnstons walked away to their compartment.

A few hours later the landscape started reminding everyone of Hogwarts. Mike and Tay came back to Sean and Sam's compartment, and they all started gathering their hand luggage and their owls.
Mike stepped onto the platform and the cold of the Scottish moutains' air bit his skin, as he heard the voice of Hagrid calling for First Years, away in the fog.

Mike and his friends climbed into a carriage, rubbing themselves, trying to gain a bit of warmth.

"It's colder than usual..." Sam yawned. "'Shoulda taken my cloak."

The carriage started moving.

"So how was your prefect meeting?" Sean asked.

Tay grinned.

"Oh it was really cool, but I don't think Mike payed attention a lot."

"What?" Sean laughed. "Mike, not paying attention?"

Mike became red.

"Not true-"

"And why did he not?" Sam asked playfully.

Tay looked like a child on Christmas.

"Well, Stuart Richardson sat in front of us..."

"Shut up!" Mike screeched.

"And Mike couldn't get his eyes off him!" Tay giggled. "I bet he was thinking dirty thoughts about him, I'm not a Legimmens but it was obvious-"

"Not true, NOT true!" Mike slapped Tay's hand furiously.

"Oooh, Mikey has a crush!" Sean sang.

"Mike and Stuart, sitting in a tree, F-U-C--" Sam started before being cut off by Tay.

"Sam, stop, that's just gross now, I have the image!"

They all made fun of Mike on the way to the castle. They left their stuff in front of the Grand Staircase, and went to sit down for the Start-Of-Term Feast. The enchanted ceiling was already starlit, although a few clouds floated in front of the Milky Way.
In front of them, the Johnston twins were playfully arguing.

"He'll be in Hufflepuff!" Ben exclaimed.

"My ass! He'll be in Ravenclaw! He's a clever, inventive kid!" James retaliated.

"Hufflepuff!"

"Ravenclaw!"

Mike shrugged.

"By the way, Sean, we're gonna see Jay being sorted?"

Sean hit his chest proudly.

"Mum was in Hufflepuff, but he's definitely gonna follow me just for the hell of it."

They sat down in front of the gold plates. Another group sat next to them. Tom Searle, Simon Neil and Stuart Richardson. Stu smiled.

"Hey Sean, nice holidays or what?"

"Yeah, I went to London. You?"

"The Shetlands, I learnt loads about broom flying in cold weather!" Stuart laughed. "By the way, Tay and you are still wanting to be on the Quidditch team, right? I can't afford losing my best chaser... Or my favourite beater." He smiled.

"Sure" Tay smiled.

"Obviously" Sean dissmissed with a wave of the hand.

"Unless I find better at the selections" Stuart said playfully, "You're almost garanteed a place here."

They were cut off by the doors of the Entrance Hall opening, and Professor Way entered, carrying a three-legged stool with the damaged Sorting Hat on it. Following him were a file of trembling First Years. Sean turned around and a tall boy with a mullet waved at him when he passed.

"My little brother" he whispered with a grin.

The Sorting Hat sang his song, and Mike caught himself thinking of how nice it would be if his little sister got to be a witch. She loved the magic world so much.

"The Sorting Ceremony must now begin!" Way said loudly, unfolding the list.

They all turned towards the hat and the group of anxious First Years.

"Ashby, Alan!" Way called.

A really small red haired boy hurried up to the hat, which fell down to hide his whole face. A few people sneakered. The hat thought for a bitbefore shouting "GRYFFINDOR!"

The friends cheered for the boy, who looked really excited and went to sit down at their table.

Way continued to call students, and Sam bent in, whispering.

"There's a new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher."

They all scrutinised the teachers' table.

"Well, not surprising since Professor Finnigan went on to being an Auror."

Indeed, a man with short brown hair, and with one blue eye and one brown eye, sat at the table. He had a face that encouraged empathy.

"Eisenstein, Zackariah!"

A tall boy with glasses tripped and sat on on the stool. The hat didn't take long.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The table cheered.

"Did you know Voldemort had put a curse on the DADA teachers? None had managed to keep the job more than a year" Simon smirked.

They all shrugged. Sometimes people wondered why Simon wasn't in Ravenclaw.

"Gaze, Sarah!"

"Gaze? Isn't that the same name as...?" Tom frowned.

"Lee Gaze? Yeah. Hot piece of ass that guy" Stu grinned.

Mike blushed intensely, so Stuart was interested in guys?
Tay and Sean exchanged a knowing smirk.

A girl with midlong blond hair and icy blue eyes climbed up the stairs and put the hat on.

The hat thought for a good minute, before declaring :

"SLYTHERIN!"

Mike searched the Ravenclaw table for Lee. The boy had just buried his head in his hands.

"He looks desperate."

"Isn't he the only non-Slytherin in his family?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Johnston, Adam!"

A red haired boy walked up to the stool and two simultaneous one person cheers came from both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. The Johnston twins.

The hat chose very rapidly.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The faces of the twins were priceless as Adam strolled towards the table, sitting just next to Tom.

"Well done kid!" Stuart grinned, patting Adam on the shoulder.

The boy smiled cockily as Sumners, Shane was sent to Raveclaw.

"Thank you!"

"Jim and Ben are as green as fresh frogs" Simon giggled.

The list continued until another name awoke the friends.

"Lupin, Teddy!"

"Lupin? Like Remus and Nymphadora Lupin? The one whose godfather is Harry Potter?" Tay whispered.

A boy with large brown eyes and electrical blue hair dropped the hat on his head.

"I think it's him."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The friends cheered happily as the blue-haired boy trotted up to join Adam. Mike shook Teddy's hand with a smile and so did Tay.

"Is your hair jinxed?" Sean asked curiously. "How do you get such a blue colour?"

"I'm a metamorphmagus" Teddy smiled. "I don't need a jinx. Look!"

He looked like he was concentrating, and his hair quickly changed to a purple tint with snow white strands. The freckles that previously were on his face disappeard and his eyes became grey.

"That's just, so, cool." Sean murmured, looking impressed. "I wish I could-"

"Smith, Jay!"

Suddenly all eyes were on Mullet Boy. The hat only fell on his forehead, just above his eyes.
Sean was looking insistantly at his brother.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Sean yelled in a cheer, and Jay ran up the table, clapping in the hands of students, sitting face to Teddy.

"You go my boy, you go!" Sean shouted.

"Sykes, Thomas!"

A boy with dark brown hair and blue eyes sat on the stool, the hat barely touching his head before shouting "SLYTHERIN!".

The Sorting ended on Yates, Mafalda being sent to Ravenclaw.

The room fell silent and Headmistress McGonagall stood up.

"Welcome and welcome back, students of Hogwarts! Before we start eating, although I am sure you all are exhausted and hungry after this day of travelling, I must remind you all the basic rules in Hogwarts. The forest in the grounds is forbidden to all students. Magic is also prohibited in corridors. On a lighter note, I am happy to present you our new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher, Professor Timothy McIlrath!"

The new teacher stood up, smiling, and they all applauded him.

"I invite you all to now concentrate on eating!"

Immediately, the food appeared on the tables. Mike rushed on the beef balls. They all ate with appetite.

When the feast ended, Mike and Tay, as the fifth year prefects, were tasked with bringing the new Gryffindors to the dormitories. Mike counted the excited boys and girls. They were 28. He rose his eyebrows. His own year had only had 22 students in Gryffindor, but he seemed to remember an article about how the population of magic folks was increasing by the year ; some very good magic sociologists had conjectured that since the death of Voldemort, the climate of fear that had been permanent even when he was supposed to be dead in the seventeen years after Harry Potter's first win on him, had dropped ; and that magic seemed to appear more within half-blood families.

Teddy Lupin was making his fellow students laugh by turning his hair a daffodil yellow and his ears pointy, and Tay asked the First Years to follow her.

"The staircases move, so you might have to wait a bit while they link another platform." She explained.

They climbed up to the portrait of the Fat Lady. She looked disgruntled.

"This is the Fat Lady. She guards the access to our Common Room."

"Password?" The Fat Lady barked.

"Nunquam Morientur" Tay announced clearly.

"Get in" the Fat Lady groaned.

They snuck into the narrow passageway, ending up in the circular, cosy common room.

"It looks as good as my godfather told me" Teddy marvelled.

Small Adam Johnston grinned, looking at the fireplace in front of which Josh Franceschi and a bunch of other boys were sitting.

"Are you happy to be in Gryffindor?" Mike asked him.

"Too right I am, I won't have any of my brothers on my back!" Adam said cheekily.

"The girl's dormitories are on the left, second story. Same goes for the boys but on the right." Tay explained.

"You'll get your timetables tomorrow. Be there for breakfast." Mike smiled.

The first years noisily climbed towards their dormitories and Mike sat in an armchair next to where Sam, Simon and Stu had flopped down like old mops.

It felt good to be home again.