Rebirth

Rebirth

Chapter 2: The First Day

Nowhere. That's where she was. Nowhere at all. It was like the end of the world.

The mist seemed to melt into silver leaves as it touched the bare branches of the trees. It was cold... so cold, and Geno was feeling lost, hungry, and alone. The only sound that could be heard was the voice - a woman's voice calling in desperate agony.

"Help me... please help me!"

"Where are you?" asked Geno. "I can't see you."

"I've been hurt... and they're all dead!"

"Who's dead?" Geno continued, but, apparently, the owner of the voice was unable to hear her.

"They've killed them... and I think I will die soon as well... I'm bleeding... come and help me! Please!"

"Where are you?"

"Help me..."

"I will help you, but I've got to find you first! Where ARE you?"

"Genoveva," a second voice was then heard. Geno turned and saw the raven-haired lady.

"You!" She ran towards her. "Was that you?"

"No, Genoveva, it wasn't me. In a certain way, you can say it was one of you. One of the chosen ones."

The voice was heard again, now sounding as if being sent by the wind. "Help me... anybody..."

Geno turned her attention back to the lady. "What do you mean, 'chosen ones'?"

"That," the lady sighed, "is something I can't tell you, because I do not know exactly. I'm not the real me, but a shadow. My real self would know."

"But who's crying?" she asked. "How can I help?"

"Follow me," replied the lady, who then turned and started to run. Actually, it looked like she was sliding, since her feet didn't seem to touch the ground. Geno tried to follow, but couldn't move quickly enough. The trees were attacking her viciously with their branches, and soon her arms and face were bleeding. But she kept running. As she looked at her hands, silver feathers seemed to spurt from the cuts.

Then the two of them stopped in front of a large block of golden stone. Enormous snakes surrounded the block, in what appeared to be an attempt to crack it open. The screams of pain seemed to increase with each blow.

"She's in there," the lady said, "and only you can find a way to get her out."

Geno was surprised. "How can -" she began, but was instantly interrupted by a piercing scream.

"Aaaaaaaagggghhhh!"

Waking up with a start, Geno got out of bed and searched for the source of the scream. It was Irina, who was shaking in fright. At her feet was a round, furry thing, which was trembling as much as she was.

"What's going on?" Dulce mumbled as she got out of bed.

"It... it attacked me! I... I vos sleeping and felt somefink vet touching my nose!"

The other two took a careful look at the frightened thing. It looked like a custard-colored furball, and was just as terrified as its "victim".

"It's a Puffskein," Geno smiled. "It's perfectly harmless."

"But it attacked me!"

"It was probably searching for bogies," Dulce laughed. "Is your nose clean?"

"V... Vot?" Irina was surprised.

Dulce grabbed the Puffskein and hugged it. The furball began to purr happily. "See? It wouldn't hurt a fly! There, there," she said, in mock motherly tone, "the mean girl won't hurt you."

"I wonder where it came from?" said Geno.

"That shouldn't be too difficult to find out," Dulce said without hesitation. "Have you ever heard the saying, 'a pet resembles its master'?"

The other two glanced at each other.

"Half-Pint," they said in unison.

***

"Half-Pint! Hey, you stupid prat, wake up!"

The three girls had just entered the boys' dormitory. Since only two beds occupied it, it looked larger than it actually was. Even though it was the students' first night there and everything was still rather clean, Half-Pint's half of the room already had some things dumped carelessly on the floor, and the door knob was adorned with a sock.

"What the..." mumbled Aenor, getting up. "What the hell are you three doing here?"

"Returning this," Dulce said, pointing at the Puffskein curling in Geno's arms.

"Oh, that," said Aenor. "She belongs to the midget. I put her out because I couldn't stand the noise." He then looked at the girls and smiled. "You know, I'm still too young to be entertaining female guests in my bedroom. Pink is really your color, blondie. And those fluffy bunnies... lovely."

Irina blushed and hid behind the other two, trying to hide her bathrobe and slippers.

"Just leave her alone," Geno said. She then nodded towards the other bed, where Half-Pint was still as quiet as if nothing was happening. "What's wrong with him?"

"He... er... sleeps like a log. It would take an earthquake to wake him up."

"You know, if I hadn't seen him bounce like a Bludger yesterday, I might have believed you," said Dulce. "You're not convincing me."

And with this, she moved towards the bed and grabbed the sheets.

"Wake up, you moron!"

But still, Half-Pint didn't move. His eyes were open and were now looking pleadingly at the girls.

"Somefink's wrong vit him," whispered Irina. "Vat does he haff?"

"Full Body-Bind." Geno turned at Aenor. "Let me guess, your work, right?"

"I wanted some peace," said Aenor. "Is that too much to ask?"

"Well, undo it, or we'll tell Professor Ventura."

"You wouldn't, would you, Genoveva?"

"I might."

"Oh come on, you don't look like the ratting type."

"Just try me. Now undo the curse."

"No."

"All right," Dulce said, showing her wand, "I'll do it myself, then." She then pointed it at Half-Pint and said, "Finite incantatem."

With this, Half-Pint started moving again.

"Matilde!" he said, jumping towards Geno and the Puffskein. "I thought he had thrown you out the window!"

"Well, looks like he didn't," said Geno. Half-Pint took the furball from her hands, and it started to lick his cheek.

"Why did you do this?" Dulce asked Aenor.

"Well, the midget and his stupid pet are a nuisance I could just live without. I wanted to get some sleep, so I had to get them out of the way."

"That's the most -" Geno began.

"Ahem," a voice behind them said. It was Professor Ventura. "If you don't mind, children, I would appreciate it if you could all return to your proper beds and go back to sleep."

The girls obeyed, and returned to their dormitories. Dulce, however, was wondering about the short time that took for Professor Ventura to reach the dormitories. "And how on earth did she hear us? We weren't making that much noise!"

Geno was unable to answer.

***

The next morning during breakfast, Professor Ventura handed out timetables to her students. "I hope you'll soon learn them by heart," she said, "as well as your classes."

"Yeah, right," mumbled Aenor when she was out of earshot. "Let's see... first class today is Charms. I heard that old prune-face is teaching it. Prepare to be bored out of your wits."

"Don't be such a pain," snapped Geno. For some reason, Aenor's comments irritated her, something that was rather unusual considering her quiet disposition.

"I think History of Magic is going to be the one that's really boring," said Half-Pint. "My dad hated studying it when he was at school."

"Hey guys," a voice behind them said. It was Magda, who was accompanied by a skinny boy from her House. "This is Tulio," she introduced. The boy smiled and nodded.

"What's your timetable like?" she asked. "I think we'll have Charms together in a moment, right?"

"Yeah," said Geno. Let's see if we have more classes together... this is strange..."

"What's strange?" asked Half-Pint, checking his own timetable.

"We have Special Studies all Saturday."

Dulce's eyes widened as she read it. "Weird."

"Wait a minute," said Magda, grabbing Aenor's timetable ("Hey, how about asking for permission first?").

Tulio compared the two Houses' timetables. "We don't have this. What are 'Special Studies'?"

"Beats me. Guess we'll find that out on Saturday. I wonder who's going to teach what," said Half-Pint.

Geno glanced at the teachers' table. Professor Lockhart was talking to a bearded teacher, who scowled and seemed to be restraining himself from strangling him.

"Yeah, the only thing we know is that that one," she said, pointing at Lockhart, "won't be teaching. I wonder what he's doing here."

"Word is," said Tulio, "that he's here to recover from an accident he had this past year when he was at Hogwarts."

"What kind of accident?"

"Well, I don't know if this is really true, but apparently he tried to do a Memory Charm on someone and it backfired."

"And he's here to be treated by old Sampaio," added Magda. "They're trying to see if there's a chance to reverse the Charm without causing damage."

"Looks like it's too late for that," sneered Aenor.

At that moment, the bearded teacher who was enduring Lockhart's conversation turned to the Headmistress, whispered something, and stormed out of the table.

"My, he doesn't look too happy," Aenor smiled.

"What did he say?" asked Half-Pint.

"'If I have to sit with this twit for one more minute, I'll turn him inside-out without magic'."

"What, you can hear him?" wondered Dulce, who had spent the entire meal staring at the teacher and was now looking disappointed about him leaving.

"Oh yeah, I can hear conversations five hundred miles away, and I can see everybody's underwear when I blink in a special way," scowled Aenor. Irina, who was again distancing herself from the conversation, looked at him amazed. "Of course I can't hear him, stupid! But I can read lips."

"He's pretty good at it, you know," said Half-Pint.

"Well, everybody has a gift," Aenor smiled smugly.

"And yours is...?" asked Geno. To her, Aenor's only gift had to be the unusual ability of being an irritating idiot.

"Who was that teacher?" asked Dulce, who was still staring at the door. "What does he teach?"

"His name's Coleraine," said Tulio, "and he's Head of Ceuta. No idea what his class is, though."

"He looked creepy," said Geno.

"No he didn't," said Dulce.

"Ooh, got a thing for the teacher, eh?" Aenor joked.

"Of course I don't! I'm just curious. Actually..." she stopped.

"Yes?"

"Well, this is weird, but... he looks a lot like a friend of my dad's. I was trying to compare them."

"That's your story, is it?" Aenor gave her a very malicious sneer.

"Oh shut up, all right?"

After checking her watch, Irina opened her mouth to speak, but gave up at the last minute. The others realized what she meant, however, so all seven got up and joined the other Goa students in the entrance corridor.

"Hey look!" said Dulce. "It's the woman from the globe!"

The raven-haired lady was sitting on a rock inside a picture depicting an African landscape. She smiled and waved at the children.

"What lady?" asked Tulio. "There's nobody there."

"There is," said Aenor. "The lady that greeted us when we picked the globe."

"Nobody greeted me," said Magda.

"Me neither," said Tulio.

The other five eyed each other.

***

The first class was Charms, with professor Sampaio. As soon as the students sat, she began a long speech about wands, their materials and their uses.

"Now, can anyone tell me why a wizard needs a wand?" she asked.

Geno knew the answer, but her fear of speaking in public stopped her from raising her hand. The other Avises remained silent as well, but several Goas (including Magda) raised their hands.

"Yes, you," Professor Sampaio pointed at a boy with a weazily face. "Your name?"

"Crispim Pinto," he said. "Ahem... the wand serves as the primary magical utensil, focusing the magical strength of the wizard or witch using it."

"Very good, Pinto, five points to Goa."

The Goas smiled. Half-Pint crossed his arms in exasperation and muttered something about "swallowing encyclopedias". Then Geno looked out the window, and saw the bird. It looked like a large crow, but had a strange silver color. And, Geno noticed, it was gazing at the Avises, ignoring everyone else.

When the Charms lesson ended, Half-Pint was still complaining about Crispim Pinto's answer.

"'The wand serves as the primary magical utensil.' Did she really expect us to know that on our very first day?"

"Well, the Goas knew," said Geno. "I knew it too, though I don't think I'd say it the same way Pinto did. I'd probably -"

"And you didn't say anything?" asked Half-Pint, shocked. "We could have won those five points!"

"Get real, miniature twit," sniggered Aenor. "There are over twice the number of Goas than there are Avises, and there's even more Ceutas. We won't win, so why bother?"

"That's a loser's excuse," Dulce replied.

"I'm not a loser," he said. "I just don't see the point of wasting energy with the impossible."

Their next lesson, History of Magic, with the Ceutas, was more interesting. Professor Nelia Gabriel didn't ask any questions, just limited her job to telling stories of wizarding events, but was able to make them sound incredibly exciting and interesting. Her tale of the Roman wizard Caius Sertorius, who created a powerful magical army by turning his Muggle soldiers into magical ravens, caught everybody's attention, even the Ceutas, who were initially more interested in swapping notes and playing hangman. Irina tried to pay attention to Professor Gabriel's words, but was constantly disturbed by a Ceuta boy sitting behind her, who kept pulling her braids.

At a certain point, Geno's eyes moved toward the window, and again she saw the bird. She nudged Dulce, and whispered, "I saw that bird during Charms. Do you know what it might be?"

"No idea," Dulce replied, "but it looks familiar."

After lunch, they had Herbology, again with the Ceutas, who spent the entire time goofing off. A girl called LaSalete spent most of the lesson throwing handfuls of dirt on another girl's hair. Instead of looking outraged, however, the other girl giggled hysterically. At a certain point, Professor Calixto (who was the man in green overalls they had seen during the sorting) announced that the Ceuta House had the strange feat of having twenty negative points on their very first day.

"They might be more than us," said Dulce, "but they don't really care about winning points, do they?"

Professor Calixto was rather young and very funny, and seemed to treat plants as if they were real people. As he approached the Fireorchid shared by Geno and Irina (Half-Pint had been paired with a Ceuta boy, while Dulce and Aenor were sitting together against their will), he decided to introduced it to the two girls.

"Well, girls, I'd like you to meet Marlene," he said in a mock game show host voice. "She's a Virgo since she was planted last September, and she enjoys sitting in the sun, drinking water and... well, vegetating."

This joke made Irina laugh for the first time, which took Geno by surprise.

"Well, now that you've met Marlene, you've got to study her properties. You've got your book? Good. Now, let's see..." He started browsing through the pages, until he stopped on a description of an ordinary orchid. "Okay, now, without peeking at the answers on the next page, I want the two of you to compare the two of them, and tell me what the main differences are, apart from the fact that Marlene spits fire during pollination."

"Yes sir," the two girls said at the same time, as Professor Calixto turned his attention towards Aenor and Dulce, who were so absorbed in an argument that, without even noticing, they began tearing up the petals of their own Fireorchid ("Please, you two, don't harm Lucrecia! You'll traumatize her!").

As they left the greenhouse, Geno stopped abruptly.

"What -" started Aenor.

"Shh. Listen," she said. And, sure enough, all five started to hear a strange noise.

"This way," said Half-Pint, and the five of them advanced towards a large concentration of trees near the slope. They hid behind a rock and began to quarrel over who would peek.

"Geno, you go."

"Me? No way! Let Aenor do it."

"Oh no, ladies first..."

"Tell you vat," said Irina with an unusual exasperation, "vhy don't ve all look at the same time?"

And, on the count of three, they lifted their heads, expecting some strange creature. Instead, they saw Professor Coleraine, who was practicing fencing against another sword, which seemed to be pulled by invisible strings.

"He's probably using a spell to animate it," Half-Pint whispered before being nudged by Geno. She wasn't sure, but she expected that they might get punished if they were discovered spying on a teacher, even if it had been by accident.

"You know, he's good," said Aenor. "I reckon he probably would have managed to kill the other guy if there was one."

Suddenly, he stopped, and the sword fell to the floor. Geno's heart leaped in fear.

"Oh, it's you, is it?" he asked. "What do you want?"

"Well, we're-" Aenor was about to begin, but Professor Coleraine kept talking.

"As you can see, I'm practicing, and I hate to be disturbed unless it's something very important."

Dulce looked around and, with her mouth open, pointed upwards. The Professor wasn't looking at them. He hadn't even noticed their presence. Instead, he seemed to be talking to someone sitting up in a tree.

Geno looked up, and couldn't restrain a gasp. Sitting on a branch was the big silver bird.