"Hwarin, the dragon won't come any sooner even if you keep staring outside," Mum said from the dining table. She was feeling happy today, so she wore a bright pink robe. Leave it to her fashion senses to make everything right. True enough, I had been standing beside the balcony for the past half and hour, hoping for sight of the winged beast. 

Mum had lent me her maroon coloured Wizarding robe for today, maybe for good luck. Then I felt someone tapping lightly on my shoulder. I turned around and saw Mum handing me a silver lunchbox. She smiled, "Kimchi for one week. They don't serve Korean food there very often. I thought you'd be homesick." I stared at the lunch box and asked, "How are you able to fit one week's worth of kimchi into that?"

She shrugged as she placed the lunchbox into my trunk, "I used the Bottomless spell. Probably the only useful spell I learnt, besides Wingardium Leviosa." I laughed. Honestly, Mum was a cool person. She would join me in pranks on Dad sometimes. I don't think Dad wanted his pants to be on fire the last time.

Dad was another issue. He wasn't afraid of the Wizarding world at all. In fact, he enjoyed imitating Mum when she taught me a few simple spells. Once, he had gotten her to levitate a house broom to imitate Quidditch. The day I had gotten the entrance letter from Jade Palace, he complained for a few hours straight that I was lucky that I could study magic and all he got was a degree in computing. (He works in Google.) It really wasn't a surprise why they got married.

Finally, I spotted something flying in the distance. A large white flag billowed from above of it. The logo of Jade Palace. "Mum! It's here!" I cried in astonishment. Mum quickly ran to stand beside and looked out. The dragon was fat, sorry but it really was. 

It blew out puffs of lazy smoke as it beat it's wings towards our apartment. Mum told me that the school had put an Invisibility spell on it so that the Muggles wouldn't freak out. It's reddish-pink scales gleamed in the morning sun and it let out a streak of fire. Mum commented in an amused tone, "It's grown fatter. Professor Choi must have been dotting on it a lot."

Finally, the creature swooped down from above the tall apartments and stopped just beside our window. It was nicer smelling than I'd expected. Suddenly, a white carriage the size of our apartment materialized beside it and a man poked his head out. He had a watery nose and a balding head, but Mum seemed pleased to see him.

"Jiyeon! How's life?" the man shouted with a grin. Mum yelled back, "Fine, Professor Choi!" I shifted nervously beside Mum. Then, Professor Choi fixed his eyes on me and said, "Your daughter? She looks like you!" I think I blushed a little, but Mum just took out her wand and said, "Locomotor Trunk!" My trunk immediately flew up and made it's way to the carriage, where I saw a girl poking out her head in curiosity.

Professor Choi turned around and told the girl, "Now now, Hyomin. For your own safety, please go back inside. We are twelve stories up in the air." The girl gave one last careful glance at me and disappeared back into the carriage. He looked back at me, "Well, Miss Gu. It's time." Mum gave me a tight hug before she released me. "Be good okay?" she asked.

I snorted, "Sure." Then I looked at my window sill. I just realised that there was a large gap between the carriage and I. "Umm," I started, "Professor Choi? How do I get to the... carriage?" He raised his eyebrows and replied, "Dear me. I forgot!" Waving his wand, a Persian carpet rolled out from the front door of the carriage and hardened beside the window sill.

Mum edged me on, "Come on, go." I heaved myself out of the window sill and put a tentative foot on it. It seemed quite solid. Then I took another unsure step. When I reached the door, Professor Kim disappeared from the window and the carriage door opened soon after. He smiled down at me as he stepped aside, "Welcome to Jade Palace's official carriage, dear."

I cast a sweeping look inside. The carriage was half-full, some boys were busy testing out fake broomsticks in the middle of the carriage, which was empty. The carriage was relatively rectangular and cushioned seats lined the side beside the wide-panelled windows. Large bean bags and cushions were placed randomly on the floor and a girl had hidden herself behind a mound of them.

Professor Kim cleared his throat and said, "You can sit anywhere. And you can touch anything. Make friends. If you ever need anything, call me." I was wondering how to call him when he didn't look like he had a phone when he Disapparated with a crack and the carriage lurched forward. 

I was about to take a seat nearest to the door then the carriage stopped suddenly. One of the boys moaned, "So fast?" I agreed with him silently. I could hear Professor Kim talking to someone outside, but not enough to eavesdrop. Then the Professor Kim opened the door like he had done for me and in stepped my neighbour.

It was Kai. As usual, the girls in the carriage immediately went googly eyed when they saw him. Even the girl who was hiding behind her cushion wall looked at him in interest. Professor Kim told him the instructions quickly before Apparating off and the carriage lurched forward.

Kai was looking normal, with his lazy eyes and messy hair. Only now he was wearing a black robe and a wand stuck into his jeans' pocket. We had never spoken much, maybe only saying hi when we passed each other in the lift lobby. But he? A Wizard?

I was probably eyeing him with as much interest as the other girls when he scratched his head and caught sight of me. Kai gave me a blank stare and swooped down to sit beside me while I was busy face-palming on the inside. He said, "Hey."

"Hi."

"How are you?"

"Um fine."

It was awkward for a few minutes and I spotted a girl at the far end of the carriage giving me the evil eye. Coughing, I decided to ask Kai a few questions. "How come I never knew you were from a Wizarding family?" I asked as I pushed back my fringe. Kai shrugged and took out his wand, "I didn't know you're a Witch either. But I think our parents know that we're Wizarding familes."

Kai's wands started sparking and I eyed it cautiously, "Kai, how did you get your wand?" He flicked it and whispered, "Wingardium Leviosa." The cushion lifted from the floor and landed neatly on his lap. He answered thoughtfully, "Well, I stole it from my cousin." "You what?" I asked back loudly, attracting weird stares from the group of boys.

I then quickly reverted my gaze to my trainers. Kai tucked the wand back in casually before replying, "It's not actually stealing. The wand chose me of it's own accord." He quickly looked at me seriously and asked, "Have you read about wands?" Nodding my head, I answered, "Yeah. The wand chooses it's master, not the master choose the wand."

Kai seemed pleased with my answer and he took out his wand, running his fingers up and down it. Sparks shot out again. "I want to become a Wandmaker," he said softly, "It's pretty cool, don't you think?" I imagined him bending over the table, trying to stuff a sparking unicorn's hair into the hollow wood. Being considerate, I answered politely, "Yeah. Pretty cool."

He grinned a little but then his expression returned to it's emotionless state. "But my parents think it's beneath me to do things like that," he mumbled. I sat up and changed my posture and asked, "Why?"

"You see, my family's pure blood."

"That's really dumb. They still believe in that pure blood thing?"

"Yeah. They still do. And they rather dislike Harry Potter."

Then Kai winced, "I've seen then cursing the book once. I think they've gone mad." I laughed a little, then I stared out of the windows at Seoul's passing horizon. "What's your dream?" Kai asked.

I thought of Mum and I said with pride, "A Dragonrider." Suddenly, all the boys in the room laughed, including Kai. "What?" I asked indignantly. One of the boys answered, face flushed with laughter, "It's for boys." "And you don't really have the right physique," Kai added. My blood boiled. Because I was a girl?

When Kai noticed the scowl etched across my face, his laughter faltered, "Okay sorry. I was just joking." Sometimes, I just wished that I had my wand already so that I could hex people. But we were only going to get wands as well as our study materials on the second day when we visited the water market as a cohort. I answered angrily, "Yeah right. Just joking." We didn't talk for a long period of time.

The dragon stopped a few stops along the way and new people stepped in. Once, there was this pale looking boy who shuffled in with an extra large cloak and he looked so pale and thin, he could have been invisible. But it was obvious, a lot of people knew Kai. I cast a shifty look at him. He seemed to be entirely engrossed in looking at his wand and I rolled my eyes.

After a while, the high rise buildings of South Korea disappeared and I saw the rolling hills of the mountain side. Although still feeling miffy, I asked Kai, "Are we heading to Jade Palace now?" But a new emotion passed on his face - distaste. "No," he said slowly, "We're going to the house of the Kims." 

"Who are the Kims?"

"Pure-bloods. Very interested in... the Dark Arts."

"And they're in our year?"

Kai didn't answer as he stared warily outside. A large mansion loomed into my sight and I couldn't help but feel amazed. The carriage halted and Professor Choi popped out to the window and called for someone. I noticed that Kai's eyes never left the window. I curiously looked in the same direction, wondering how the Kims looked like.

Not a moment too soon, a sharp and angular face of a boy appeared behind the windows. Then another, more gentle looking one popped up behind him. The carpet rolled out and the two walked towards the carriage. I could immediately feel the mood of the carriage drop. A girl even whispered to her friend, "The demons are coming."

Then the door opened and the brothers walked in casually. Kai jumped to his feet and scowled, "Chen... Junmyeon..." The taller of the two gave Kai a smile and answered, "Fancy meeting you here." Then he turned to the boy who was huddling in his thick robes and opened his arms.

"Ah, Oh Sehun. How's your, ah abnormal cold?" he asked and his brother snickered behind him. "Maybe I should help with it?" He whipped out his wand and said loudly, "Engorgio!" Inflamed, Kai took out his wand as he yelled in retaliation, "Expelliarmus!" A bolt of red exploded from Kai's wand and hurtled towards the boy's hand and his wand flew out of his hand. The spell bounced harmlessly off the window panes.

I immediately felt the shocked stares boring into Kai's face. The boy growled, but made no attempt to retaliate. Just then, Professor Kim appeared in the carriage and said with a frown, "Kids, no using of wand magic here. And you, Chen. I don't care who your family is, no magic means no magic."

"Kai, would you kindly please take a seat."

Still bubbling with energy from the spell, I half willingly sat back down beside Kai. Then Professor Choi cleared his throat with a wry smile, "Anyway, children. We're heading off to Jade Palace now. We should be reaching in the evening. Now when we reach, all of you will follow me into the Amphitheatre for your sorting, then you'll have your dinner. Understood?" All of us nodded. With that, he disappeared with another crack.

The carriage filled with excited talking again. Kai rudely snatched back his wand after that and I began thinking about the sorting. Mum said we had to do some sort of test... What were we going to do? At the corner of my eye, I saw the boy named Sehun watching me with wary eyes. Feeling nice, I turned a little and gave him a small smile. Sehun mouthed to me weakly, "Hi."

I would like to be sorted into the same house as him. He seemed to be a nice person. Meanwhile, Chen and Joonmyeon sat in a corner and tapped away at their wands. Junmyeon's one made a snake's hiss, scaring the wits out of the group of boys. The two of them laughed and gave each other a hi-five. And I severely wanted to smack them.

The carriage flew across a few cities throughout the trip and I thought that it must have been charmed. Nothing could make it over Asia in two hours. Finally, I grew a little bored and decided to strike up a little conversation with Kai (guiltily). He seemed pissed off at first, but quickly warmed up when I asked about the function of unicorn's hair. Over the next two hours, we disscussed about the types of cores wands had and the magic behind it.

The magic part of it was too confusing for me to understand, but Kai assured me that it had taken him a long time to grasp everything. We moved on to the sorting afterwards. "I want to be in Lupeus, but I don't really mind the rest. But what is the Arcturus House supposed to be anyway?" he asked.

I kicked away the mini bludger that the boys had set off and shrugged, "I dunno either. My mother was in it though." Kai looked like he wanted to ask a question but he melted back into the seat. Then I sat up straight and asked, "How did you cast that spell though?" "Huh?" he asked back stupidly.

"That Expelliarmus."

"I sort of practiced," he explained sheepishly. I decided to shift slightly further from him to prevent any injuries from happening to myself. "That's high level magic," was the only thing I said before we went back to our topic on the sorting. 

Time flew almost as quickly as the dragon carriage and I soon spotted the massive mountains of Tibet. Kai turned around excitedly when he saw the temples and villages dotting the hillsides. The people must have been Wizards or Witches because they waved at us when we walked past. Some of the girls waved back enthusiastically.

"Ten more minutes to landing," Professor Choi's voice boomed overhead. Now everyone had their faces pressed to the windows, hoping to get a glimpse of Jade Palace. Professor Choi's voice said once more, "And there you have it, Jade Palace School of Wizardry." I gasped when I saw the school, so did many others. Kai looked eternally amazed by the sight.

Jade Palace wasn't a castle like Hogwarts, instead it was built like a traditional Chinese palace in the Forbidden City, spread out and short. But it was still impressive. The laquered roofs of Jade Palace gleamed under the evening sun like gems. Actually the more I looked at it, it seemed that the roofs were decorated with real gems. A lake glittered in the distance.

A group of students flew past us with their broomsticks and the group of boys oohed and ahed. Finally, the carriage descended slowly upon a grassy field. I looked around curiously and noticed there were other carriages which were also descending. "They're from other countries," Kai explained, as though reading my mind, "Professor Kim is in charge of Korea I think."

The carriage landed gently on the grass and it's door swung open, causing a strong breeze to blow in. Everyone got to their feet before making a line for the door. I saw Chen zapping Sehun who had been sleeping with his wand and the poor boy tumbled out of the seat, igniting laughter from everybody. Kai cracked a smile but immediately coughed awkwardly when he saw me glaring at him.

"Hurry up, sneezy boy," Junmyeon called mockingly as he roughly kicked Sehun's legs before walking off. I muttered to myself, "What a jerk." I wanted to go over and help him but Kai prodded my back with his finger. I had no choice but to move forward.

We made our way to the main gate of the school together with other students. My teeth chattered severely along the way and Kai said glumly, "No wonder they asked us to wear cloaks." I nodded and held back a sneeze. The wind was hella strong on the hillside, and I wondered how Sehun was faring if I could feel this cold. 

Seniors were busy zooming about on their broomsticks, calling for order. One particularly chubby one hovered over us and shouted in Korean, "You guys will take the seats on the far left hand side of the Auditorium." Then he groused grumpily, "Why are they always giving Korean the worst seats?" I watched a girly looking boy sneak up behind him and point his wand at him, "Confringo."

The chubby senior's end of the broom immediately burst into flames, causing him to yell, "Luhan! Stop it!" The Luhan/pretty boy just laughed and said something in Chinese before zooming off. The chubby guy looked even more depressed after that. The fire was slowly eating up the hairs of his broomstick. The same boy who jeered at me raised his hand and said, "Umm... Your broom is going to disintergrate."

Chubby boy just stared down at his burning broom and took out his wand, "Aguamenti." Water gushed out from the tip of his wand, instantly putting out the fire. When the smoke cleared, everyone laughed hard the burnt and stubby end of the broom. Chubby boy grit his teeth sullenly and muttered, "What's that repairing spell...?" Kai who had been standing beside me took out his wand and pointed it at the broom confidently.

"Repairo."

The burnt end of the broom began regrowing it's hair until it became it's full length again. Stunned, I asked him, "How many spells did you exactly practice at home?" Chubby boy scratched his chin and looked at me before asking, "She has a point. Who are you?" Kai said proudly, "I'm Kim Jongin, nickname is Kai." Chubby boy stopped scratching his chin and a hopeful gleam entered his eyes.

"The pureblood family?" he asked. Kai nodded in reply, but I guessed he didn't like it when people called him pureblood judging by his strained smile. Chubby boy grinned for the first time and asked while turning his broomstick, "Can I meet you at dinner?" "Uh sure...?"

Chubby boy didn't even hear his answer before flying away, saying something like, "We've got hope." "You mean we don't have hope?" Kai asked in bewilderment. I shrugged and made a face, "Dunno. He's a little weird, don't you think?" The crowd began moving forward and we walked.

Saying Jade Palace was a beautiful was an understatement. It was holy tingly awesome. By any chance, it looked more glamourous than the exterior. It's passage ways and halls were decorated with ornaments from every culture possible. Like Hogwarts, we had ghosts. They drifted around us excitedly, pointing and whispering stuff.

"Wheeee new blood!" one lady ghost cackled as she did cartwheels in the air. We eventually reached a pair of humongous wooden doors, painted with Chinese dragons. Some seniors yelled, "Stand back! It's going to open!" I noticed that they didn't look like Koreans, so why could I understand them? I was about to ask Kai when the doors creaked open with loud groans.

It opened to reveal an amphitheatre the size of half a football field. A stage had been set in the center, as if waiting for someone to step on it. We Koreans got shoved to the furthest corner, like Chubby boy had said. A group of mixed ethnicities came in and sat down right in front of the stage. They seemed to be sharing good jokes.

Kai blew out a puff of air and told me, "Singaporeans. Stay away from them. They're usually nice, but don't get on their bad side." Suddenly, all the lights shut off and the roof disappeared, causing a lot of people to scream. But Kai and I just stared at the open sky, waiting for something to happen.

Then, a roar sounded and a gray dragon burst in, followed by another two. Obstacles popped out from the high ceilings and the first dragon spiralled through a set of swing blades swiftly while another extinguished water spirits with it's fiery breath. It was then that I spotted people on their backs. "Dragonriders!" I gasped in excitement.

The whole place was filled with clapping and cheering for the Dragonriders. After a few minutes, all three dragons breathed out fire towards the center and they zoomed out of the roof. The fire lingered in the middle like one angry ball. Then, it spilt into many spheres of fire and began rushing towards the students. One particular one zoomed straight at Kai and I.

I nearly pushed Kai in front of me and he took out his wand, probably to cast a spell, but suddenly, a gleaming rope swung forward and caught the fire ball. It disappeared back into the center together with the fire ball. Then I realised people were busy lashing out the same kind of rope and capturing the fire balls. Soon, all the rogue fire balls had been squashed together into the same original giant ball of orange.

The Wizards and Witches flew towards the ball on their broomsticks. I watched eagerly as they raised their hands and yelled something. The ball spilt into four and the people split themselves to each separate ball. One ball turned red and the Wizards flew around it, moving their hands, as if shaping it... "Fire shifters!" Kai yelled enthusiastically.

Each ball of fire began taking shape slowly. Soon, the first formed into roaring dragon and fiery writing appeared above it, "DRACINAE." Kai applauded then said in awe, "Flagrate. I've been wanting to do that." The second turned into a galloping deer. "CERVIDAE." Then a running wolf, snapping it's teeth, "LUPEUS." Lastly, there was a screech of a bird and a firebird appeared (a phoenix?), "ARCTURUS."

The Fire-shifters waved their wands and all four animals moved towards each other, then froze as a banner appeared behind each of them. Everyone, including me clapped wildly. A voice boomed through the Amphitheatre, "Welcome students!" The roof closed back and lights shone down onto the stage in the middle. A middle aged lady materialised onto the stage with a smile.

"I am Headmistress Aris. From now on, Jade Palace will be your home," she announced and everyone cheered. Headmistress Aris waited for everyone to settle down before continuing to speak, "You have just seen two of Jade Palace's prized talents, Fire-shaping and Dragon Racing. There will be trials for each, but let me impress the seriousness of joining either."

I leaned forward expectantly to listen. "Both require strong will and courage. It is not alike Quidditch, although there will also be Quidditch trials." The boys sitting me began chatting about the trials and I focused on Headmistress Aris' words irritably. "Now, let the sorting begin!" After stepping off the stage, she waved her wand and shouted, "Accio Lotus Lantern!"

Everyone held their breaths as the air shimmered and an object appeared. It was zoomed into Headmistress Aris' hands before shooting up a display of fireworks. From where I was sitting, I could only make out that it shimmered like a water in the sun. "Jessie Nguyen," she called.

With all eyes fixed on her, she trembled as she made her way up the stage. Then Headmistress Aris did something unexpected. She threw the Lotus Lantern towards the stage. The moment it touched the stage, fire sprang up and circled the girl. Jessied looked horribly frightened as she stared at the fire.

"Now, Jessie. The lantern will give you whatever you want, an object, of course. But only one. Use it to put out the fire." I watched Jessie pick up the Lotus Lantern and she whispered something. A moment later, the Lotus Lantern turned into a blue coloured staff and I heard her say loud enough, "Aguamenti!" It didn't seem like a normal spell either.

The water rushed out strongly and travelled in a circle, putting out the fire as it travelled. The blue staff turned back into a lantern and her name wrote itself onto Arcturus' part of the banner above in gold. "That simple?" Kai asked in surprise. I doubted so, and it was true.

The next boy had his feet entwined with Devil's Snare. He summoned a torch light with the Lotus Lantern. He then shone it onto the plant and it withered away. The boy's name appeared in Lupeus. Headmistress Aris ticked off the list as different people went upstage and completed their tasks. After a while, she called, "Kim Jongin."

I wished him good luck and he went down. People stared at him as he went. As I was leaning back on my seat, I noticed his wand lying in his seat. Then I wondered how he was going to beat whatever thing without it. Kai stood on stage and a snake slithered up towards him. He spoke something to the Lotus Lantern and the wand disappeared from his seat.

He shouted, "Incendio!" The snake immediately lit up with fire just as it leapt at Kai. He waved his wand again, "Impendimenta!" The snake got hit by an invisible force and disintegrated into ashes when it hit the ground. Kai's name appeared in Lupeus. Not surprising, he seemed so book-wormish.

A few people after, Chen was called out. A lion appeared on stage and everyone gasped. But he looked like he had just seen a butterfly and said to the Lotus Lantern, "Dagger." It turned into a knife in his hands. Chen immediately ran at the lion before it could even growl.

I held my breath. He was going to be killed at this rate. But he just grappled with the beast, climbed onto its back and then plunged the dagger into right where the heart was. Kai wrinkled his nose, "Gory." Fortunately, there was no blood. Chen's name appeared in Dracinae.

Junmyeon came up after him. He was trapped in an encasing of glass and he busted his way out. He went into Arcturus. Then Headmistress Aris called out my name, "Gu Hwarin."

As I went down, I calmed myself down. Nothing's gonna eat you, Hwarin... I wished I could have been sure, because the moment I stepped onto the stage, the Lotus Lantern lifted from the ground and was encased in a dragon made from fire. For a moment, I was stumped. How was I supposed to get the Lotus Lantern? Maybe this was the test.

I leapt at it but the dragon flew to the other side, leaving me to crash hard on the floor. The dragon was the size of a car, for your information. Some students snickered. Quickly getting up, I looked at the dragon which seemed to be snorting at me. Then I remembered what Mum always told me, "Dragons need force to coorperate with you. Maybe a little petting also."

Taking that into account, I stepped towards it, I said, "Stay." The students in the front row roared with laughter. The dragon blew out a puff of fire in amusement. Seriously, a dragon was laughing at me. I said fiercely, "I said stay! You stupid beast!" My loud voice seemed to have stunned the dragon. It dilated it's nostrils but still didn't sit.

"Sit!" I shouted. Finally, it sat on its haunches, it's tail sweeping below stage. Some shrieks could be heard. Slowly, I moved towards it and touched it's back. It was surprisingly solid for something made of fire. It made an attempt to bite off my fingers but I said angrily, "I said stay put!" I didn't know who was more shocked, the students or the dragon.

Softly patting the dragon, (it seemed pretty nice to me now) I travelled to the belly where the Lotus Lantern was floating. Then I used force and pushed past the shimmering skin and gripped onto the handle of the Lotus Lantern. The dragon grunted as I pulled it out of his body. It's inside wasn't that hot as I'd expected. 

Standing beside it, I stared at the Lantern and then at the dragon. "You can disintegrate now," I told it. But it didn't. Instead it nuzzled my arm affectionately. I immediately felt my cheeks burn. What the heck?

My name wrote itself on Cervidae, but the stupid dragon hadn't gone away. I then looked helplessly at Headmistress Aris. She gave me an amused smile, "Don't worry, Hwarin. It's just gotten attatched to you. Giselle! Take this dragon away for now." A girl, maybe a few years older walked up the stage and  pointed her wand at the dragon, "Stupefy."

It fainted on the spot and began snoring. All around the Amphitheatre, people started laughing. My first day was going down the drain. As Giselle walked away, she whispered, "Meet me at the Great Hall later." 

I was in a bad mood all the way until the last person. And Kai, probably my only friend was in another House. The good thing was that Sehun ended up in Cervidae as well. Two other girls were also sorted into Cervidae. The boy who jeered at me went into Dracinae.

"God, stop scowling will you?" Kai asked impatiently while we were making our way to the Great Hall. How was it different from Hogwarts? It was like a high school cafeteria, except that the tables were floating in the air and chairs were lined at the side. Kai told me that you sat on the chair and told it to go in whatever direction you wanted, until you reached a table. 

The moment we were near the food table (tonight it was buffet style), the Prefects told Lupeus to go first, so I bade goodbye to Kai and waited at the side awkwardly. People had already made friends but me? Oh it's alright. Just lonering over here...

Cervidae House had the luck to go last and my stomach was rumbling. They were serving steamed codfish as the main course and I took a cup of hot chocolate which was jinxed to follow whoever touched it. Carrying my plate, I wandered to an empty chair. It took off the moment I sat down, nearly upsetting my soup. "Where to?" the chair squeaked in a tinny voice.

I scanned the floating tables and spotted Sehun picking at his dish high up in the air. 

"Um that table where the blond boy is sitting."

"Chairs don't have eyes, you know?"

"Huh- Oh fine. Just go up..."

Nothing could be worse than an uncooperative chair which complained every five minutes. I almost crashed hard into Sehun's table because of the chair's high speed. Nevertheless, I still bumped onto the table which made Sehun look up at me.

"Sorry, um can I sit here?" I asked. The chair commented rudely, "You're already sitting on me!" "Shut up!" I hissed back at it, then I grinned sheepishly at Sehun. Fortunately, Sehun seemed to be accustomed to weird thing because he nodded his head.

After setting my plate onto the wooden table, I immediately started eating. On the other hand, Sehun didn't seem to be in much of an appetite. I stole a look at him and thought he looked rather princely with his long robes draped around the chair. I asked, "Are you always cold?"

Sehun poked at his salmon and answered, "It's not that I'm cold. My family's not that rich, like somebody's..." I almost thought he was refering to me then I remembered Chen. "Oh. Chen," I said softly. He nodded forlornly. At that moment, I could hear Chen's laughter coming from another table below us. 

Gulping down my hot chocolate, I willed the chair to move closer and asked, "How did you two meet?" Sehun scowled into his plate, "Kindergarten. He and his angel brother has been makng fun of me for ages." Then he paused and mimicked, "How are you doing, sneezy head? Bet your parents don't even have the money to get you a cure."

"That's horrible," I said, wrinkling my nose in disgust. Sehun agreed with me, "I know right." He seemed to be in a happier mood after that. We talked about random stuff like his family and mine until Chubby boy came up to our table, still looking glum.

"Mind if I sit here?" he asked. Both of us shook our heads and Chubby boy placed his plate on the table. I silently took in his face and realised he looked more like  Cherub, but with a foul mood all the time. He looked up at me and asked, "Your friend Kai is in Lupeus?"

"Ye-"

"Shame. He could have done a great deal in Cervidae. Lupeus has too many brains, why can't one smart kid be in here for once?"

Sehun stared at him and asked, "You're in Cervidae?" Chubby boy narrowed his eyes before retorting, "What do I look like to you? A Lupeus?" Sehun answered dumbly, his fork still in hand, "I thought you were in Arcturus." 

"Hah! Arcturus!" he sneered as he set his cup down violently. I inched away from him slowly.

"Listen here- Sehun- You're Sehun right?" 

"Well yea-"

"You're already in great disadvantage being in Cervidae, plus you're a Korean. The worst combi around here. You'd better get your judgements right."

Then Chubby boy jabbed his spoon in my direction, "You, Hwarin already made a fool of yourself with that dragon back there." My face flushed again. "But it wasn't my fault..."

Chubby boy dropped his arm and sighed, returning to his dejected state. He said, "Look, I know this is going to be harsh, but here at Jade Palace, we're high on pride and honour. Any simple mistake will have a big repercussion. Understand?"

Sehun and I nodded our heads. Chubby boy heaved heavily and sat up straight before saying, "I'm Kim Minseok. Third year. Head Boy of the Lower Years." I leaned forward, "Head? That's a high position." Minseok bit his lip and nodded. 

"But you see," he said anxiously, "I'm not really important to the other Heads. Like for instance, the Chinese boy Lu-" The same pretty boy zipped past Minseok and zapped him with his wand - the Stunning spell and sped away with his laughing friends. Fortunately, Minseok had cast a shield, so that he wouldn't fall down a few stories.

"That's Luhan," Minseok said sadly, "He's the Head Boy for Lupeus." Below, a girl shouted at Luhan and his gang, "Brooms are not allowed here, Luhan!" But obviously, they didn't care. Minseok gestured to her and said, "Andromeda. Head Girl for us and we usually get along." Then he continued eating his dinner.

I turned back around and asked, "What do you mean, by usually get along?" Minseok frowned before answering with a mouthful, "She's been quite hot-headed since she came here." "You don't say," Sehun said flatly as he eyed Andromeda yelling at another group of students. I saw Minseok flash a quick grin but he quickly reverted back to his moody self.

"Heyo!" came Kai's voice. He zoomed to our table on his chair a moment later with a grin and asked, "How's dinner?" I replied, "Okay.Not too bad." Then I nudged Sehun. He woke from his daydream and mumbled a greeting to Kai. He cleared his throat and said a little louder, "Um, thanks for deflecting that spell just now." Kai shook his head and flashed another grin, "My pleasure."

Kai eyed our empty cups and asked, "You're done with your drinks?" All three of us nodded. He lifted his wand without hesitation and pointed at the cups. I watched in fascination as the cups began filling themselves up to the brim. "I just learnt it from Saras. Quite handy. Gotta go! Bye!" With that, he sped away from our table.

Minseok stared at his cup and mumbled, "He's really one of a kind." Then he looked up in surprise. "Hwarin, you've got a guest."

The guest happened to be Giselle, the girl at the stage. And she took me out of the Great Hall to the grassy fields outside. "How's you first day?" she asked kindly. I muttered a reply while walking, "Not good." 

The grass was reached up to my knees and the wind howled around me. "I'm from Dracinae," she explained, "And I'm the Head of the Dragonriders." That got me hooked on. I quickly asked, "So, what do Dragonriders do?" "What they do?" Giselle asked in a mild tone, "Well, we basically just train dragons and get ready for competition."

Soon, we reached an open field where a few people were guarding the fiery dragon from just now. It seemed to be lighting up the dark hillside for miles and miles. "That dragon is rare, Hwarin," Giselle said with a smile, "It was born from fire and lived in water. Has a strong mind to play, though." As if on cue, it coughed out a fire ball at the feet of one of the guys.

"Of course, it's already been bonded with you just now. Only when a dragon bows down to you, then it is yours, so as to speak. Dragons are ancient creatures and are not simply pets. Okay, maybe temperamental pets but you get it."

We walked closer to the dragon and it spotted us. It bounded happily towards me and coughed out another fire ball. I picked it up unsure of what to do, then I looked at Giselle. "Throw it."

I did, and the dragon took off into the air with a strong flap of it's wings. Giselle looked at me seriously and said, "But still, you need to pass the trials to become one of us. It will be held next week. There will be three students chosen from each house." I nodded, my eyes concentrating on the returning ball of fire against the dark sky.

"So... This half fire half water dragon is my pet?"

"Yeah. Until both of you get tired of each other."

"Great."

 

 

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A/N:

Comments will be much appreciated :D 
They'll go shopping for their school stuffs in the next chapter.