Chapter 12: Scheduling Conflicts

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The air next to Penny shimmered and solidified into the form of a girl who looked a year or two older than her. Penny recoiled backwards in shock at the sight of seeing someone appear out of thin air in front of her.

Alex also jumped back, but Juliette simply observed the girl with a curious expression.

Mr. Magister stood up. "Right on cue, Miss Hannet, as always. Thank you. We have three new students today, and I would like you to give them the tour."

The girl nodded, looking bored. She had brown hair with a streak of neon pink in it, which she was absently chewing on.

Her outfit was also fairly bright, with a neon pink shirt to match her hair and blue jean shorts.

Penny suddenly felt much less self conscious about her neon suitcase.

"All right, c'mon. Where will they be staying?" The girl addressed the kids first, then Mr. Magister.

"Juliette and Penny will room together with Miss Malfoy-- she arrived not to long ago and doesn't have any roommates yet. Alex... let's put him with Mr. Anderson. The younger one, that is. We'll have to find them a third and fourth roommates, but someone will arrive soon."

Penny did a double take. Malfoy? There was someone here with the last name Malfoy, and she would be rooming with them? Penny didn't know whether to be excited or worried. Hopefully this Malfoy would have a nicer personality than Draco.

The girl turned to Penny. "I'm going to send your stuff to your room. That okay?"

Penny nodded, unsure of how the girl was to do this. She watched as the neon girl tapped her finger on the neon suitcase and the suitcase shimmered out of existence.

"Wow!" Penny exclaimed. "That's really cool."

The girl shrugged and smiled, her grin as bright as her shirt and hair. "Thanks. I'm Jennifer, by the way. But my grandma is the only one who calls me that. Everyone else just knows me as Jen."

"Penny. Nice to meet you."

"You too." Jen went on and did the same thing to Juliette's and Alex's suitcase. Penny watched, fascinated, as each bag slowly disappeared, doing the reverse of what Jen had done when she first arrived.

When all the suitcases had vanished, Mr. Magister nodded. "Thank you, Miss Hannet."

Jen nodded and left the office. Penny glanced at the others, unsure if she should follow. Juliette took the lead, followed by Alex, who glanced over and shrugged at Penny before leaving. Not wanting to be left behind, Penny hurrid after.

They walked down a few staircases before Jen turned off into a hallway with several doors leading off of it.

"This is our math department. Any of you in that?"

Penny and Alex both shook their heads, but Juliette spoke.

"Well, I should have been in both Science and Math, but apparently you can only be in one specialty subject at this school, and since my science grade last year was 115% and my math was only at 108% I went with science instead."

Jen gaped at her. Alex offered an apologetic shrug, and Penny had to hold in her laughter.

"Okay, well, I'll show you the science department next then..." Jen murmured as she continued down more flights of stairs to another hall.

"You'll be in the Year 1 Lab. That's this one." Jen gestured towards the first door on the left.

"Am I not in an advanced one? You know, year 2 maybe? Or even 3?" It took Penny a moment to realize that Juliette was being completely serious.

It took Jen a minute too. "Um, well, these are really advanced even in the year one class, so..."

Juliette seemed to be growing impatient. "I don't think you get it. I have been taking classes well above my grade level since kindergarten. I think there must be some mistake."

Out of the corner of her eye, Penny saw Alex clenching his fist.

Jen had sufficiently recovered from her surprise to reply. "Well, you'll have to talk to Mr. Magister about that in a week. You're only allowed to ask for schedule changes after your first week."

Juliette sighed heavily. "Fine. I'll wait."

Behind her back, Alex rolled his eyes. 

Now Penny sighed. They couldn't go five minutes together without someone getting aggravated. Once again she wondered how they would save everyone when they couldn't even get along.

Jen led them to a few more halls, one the Social Studies, where Alex would be attending, and another English, where Penny excitedly peeped into a window. It was a Saturday, so no class was in session, but she got a glimpse of posters and desks, as well as several bookshelves.

Jen also showed them the cafeteria. To Penny's disappointment, it was a regular, run-of-the-mill school cafeteria.

By far her favorite part was the magic towers. Each tower was where each year of students would practice learning their magic. Inside were all sorts of odd things. Penny looked for a Pensieve or Sneakascope, but didn't see any.

They looked at the gymnasium, which only relieved Penny more that she wouldn't have to take P.E. this year.

Finally they reached the part of the school where the dorms were. Jen stopped at one door and pointed at it. "Juliette and Penny, that's where you guys will be. Usually there are four to a dorm room, so you guys will probably get someone else as the year goes on. Students are always coming to the school. For those of you who don't know, we don't have a regular school system. Basically on the morning of your 13th birthday, after you have your Coming, you will be brought here. This happens all year round, and you will be here year round except for holidays like Christmas and Easter. You won't graduate until your 18 birthday."

Penny nodded. It was a weird system, but she didn't mind.

Jen continued. "Your stuff is already inside, so go ahead in. Alex, I'll take you to your room next."

Alex nodded as Penny stepped up to the door. Taking a deep breath, she turned the handle.

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