Harriet Jinjur vs. the Academy

Chapter 2: Harriet's First Day

Slowly and with great disdain, Harriet changed into her usual clothes, ignored the black velvet robe with a red Dragonbord patch from the chair near her laptop, and stepped out into the halls and made her way upstairs for class through the grand foyer staircase.

Harriet got the memo from Mr. Spinks (take a wild guess who he's related to) that preliminary classes would begin this weekend before she went to bed. It was bonkers to have school on a Saturday, especially after a big welcoming feast last night.

Keeping herself in the crowd, Harriet wandered class after class of subjects that weren't part of the regular school curriculum to begin with.

Potions class had a scarecrow of a teacher droning on how to bottle fame, brew glory, and other impossible things, which Harriet had no interest in and so she let her imagination take over while she shut her eyes. However, after fantasizing a huge wedding cake on top of the school's headmistress in which the young student had to climb her decaying body to reach it, young Harriet swore off daydreaming for the time being.

Next were Charms, which was dedicated to performing certain spells with your wand, which was also a breeze for Harriet since she didn't have one.

You see, in all the time Harriet has been in Gretna, she has never entertained the thought of buying a secondhand wand and cause some mischief. She figured her old slingshot would provide all the entertainment she would ever desire. That and the static cling that comes from basic cable in Innsmouth.

The teacher offered Harriet a disposable wand, which were kind of like pencils that you need to grind once the illuminated tip has lost its spark, but she refused. Instead, she entertained the class with slingshot tricks she'd learned over the years using the fragile things on the teacher's desk as a target.

He certainly didn't find that amuzing, but the students seemed to love it. Harriet felt a little joy from that, but then soured once she realized they might be cheering her because of her "Chosen Onnabe" fame.

Then came Astrology, which excited Harriet a little because she heard all about planetariums and always wanted to go there. So, she figured it would be the same thing. Instead, she was disappointed once she learned it was nothing about bold claims about getting the Fantastical Mystics into space by the end of the year. The teacher didn't even take advantage of that big telescope wedged in the middle of the room.

It was also the shortest class of the day, which made Harriet question what the Academy thinks is proper learning. Herbology afterward turned out to pulling out screaming white turnips that shot throught your ears and direct into her subconsciousness. She tried to no avail distracting herself from the pain by mentioning she saw a toad and a jackalope from her window this morning.

"It looked like the rabbit was biting a flower off the toad's back!" she claimed, but the other students didn't find that amusing.

Maybe it was because the turnip screamed so loud that it blew up into mush, but all that noise prevented Harriet to think clearly.

Then, it was time for Defending Yourself with the Fantastical Mystics.

She didn't bother making herself welcome, not just because of the lack of wand, but because she still had quite a headache in order to concentrate.

In her head, that wedding cake suddenly tasted like turnip, much to her chagrin.

Luckily, a visit to Nurse Nightshade fixed her right up. Well, not entirely fixed, her head still stings from that pronounced cowlick atop her head. She's even considering the possibility that it took up roots in her brain like some old oak.

Once she was back in the halls, it was time for the only normal class she took part in, History, but it wasn't really History. She'd think it was all about why the Fantastical Mystics are the way they are or even gloss over the controversies she heard rumors from some of the more dismissive classmates, but rather...