The Enchanted and Unusual Land of The Renowned Elmbridge School of Magic

Miss Harmony cleared her throat and began to say:

“Of course. I'll start with ... How to explain to you, my dear? Until today you could only notice what you wanted to see. You spent your life in a real world, as those people who want to ... ignore magic. We call them ‘sceptic’. And this world is different from theirs.”

“I was sceptic too?”

Miss Harmony smiled so warmly that anyone would say her picture should be added to the word kindness in the dictionary.

“Have you noticed anything strange with you so far?”

“I saw I could make bright ponies ... out of nothing and other stuff like that.”

“Then you aren’t sceptic. You couldn’t be sceptic ... Your parents were some of the best and most powerful wizards that mankind has ever had. Like Professor Eadan Knudlac. As for you, some people think you’ll ... the most powerful witch of your generation.”

“I think ... it's hard to believe anything,” the girl tried to contradict her, looking back because she saw someone as small as a child younger than 4.

Nothing strange for a witch but to any sceptic person this would have seemed abnormal, because that child seemed to be at least a hundred years old, considering his appearance. His beard almost reached the ground, as if all the hair on his head moved there, because he was bald, and his face looked like he was made of ... stone.

"He is a stone elf," clarified Miss Harmony. “Elves are just like ... like some people. Still, they are different.”

“Who is that Vlad they talk about?”

“You know, dear. In the real world there are evil people ... in the magic world there are evil wizards. They want to control the world of magic, and everything actually. To control both wizards and sceptic people. Kind, compassionate ones are used to drinking from the fountain of love ... but evil ones are fed with hatred and violence.”

The woman, seeing Elizabeth was thoughtful, cupped her chin in her delicate palm.

“Forget about it, dear. All you have to do is live your life and enjoy your childhood. You will have time to think about such things as you grow older. We have so many things to do now. And so little time ... Tomorrow the new magic academic year begins. And I got you are one of our students too.”

“I want to go to school, to learn new things, to learn how to count. I don't even know how to read very well, but I am willing to learn.”

“The school of magic is more than that, dear. It will not teach you only what sceptic people learn at school. You will learn plenty of that stuff, but they will teach you much more. They will teach you everything to become a witch ... at least as strong as your parents were.”

“But, I ... hmm ... I don't know how to write or read very well. And I don't even know what skills I need to become a witch”, the little girl mumbled, scared.

“No problem. In time, you will learn these things. Professor Knudlac will make sure you learn everything you need, you will see.”

The little girl said nothing more. She was fearfully thinking about the next day.

“Now I'm going to take you to your room. Where is your luggage?”

The girl showed Miss Harmony her little baggage, few items of clothing actually. The woman, raising her arm holding a magic wand, said the words:

“Omnia disponere!”

And the luggage suddenly disappeared.

“My stuff!” the girl said, scared.

“Keep calm, dear. I just sent it to your room. I put it in your closet.”

“Do I have my room?”

“Of course ... you'll have your closet and your stuff. In addition to the luggage you had, Mr. Knudlac asked me to prepare other things you would need. Clothes tailored to you, shoes for running, for soirées and parties, for climbing and for trips, supplies and books and more. Including magic stuff to make your stay more enjoyable.”

The girl was amazed and happy at the same time. She could not believe that the man she initially thought would make her life an ordeal, was such a good and generous man.

“Now we will get to your room in a moment. Just wait for me to take my wand ... and in a moment we are there.”

“Please…”

Elizabeth grabbed Miss Harmony's arm and looked at her begging.

“Please, can we walk? I haven't been outside for a long time. Needless to speak about such a magical ... superb court.”

Miss Harmony, touched by the girl's gaze, agreed.

“Sure, dear.

It won't take us long to tour the school. Anyway ... I have not walked in the yard for long. Recently ... I was just transmuted where I wanted to reach. So I will accompany you and show you the surroundings to get acquainted with them. Maybe you will meet some children and make new friends.”

And Miss Harmony and Elizabeth continued their tour.

They began to walk across the large, student-filled courtyard of the school, which looked like the one of a palace in which Henry II certainly wanted to walk. The gardens of this wonderful castle that housed a lot of students and professors of Elmbridge School, had stunning places with such a great diversity of flowers and plants, that you would say they are true botanical gardens.

The fountains scattered throughout the castle yard were the most beautiful and attractive, and those living statues, the moving stone pieces, made everything seem like a continuous show. The scenes and images seen by those watching the majestic living fountains, seemed like true fairy tales.

As if they had been acrobats from the famous Moscow circus, petrified of course, but equally mobile and well trained. Many of the statues that made up the fountains wobbled and moved freely, often leaving passers-by dazzled.

Elizabeth would like to inspect every little statue from the fountains in detail, but unfortunately it would take her at least a few months to do it ... and then there were so many other things to see.

The roof of the school had many towers, rising proudly above the rest of the school. Among them there were three towers, one of which was so high that one would hardly see its peak on a cloudy day, as it would have been lost in the fuzzy clouds. The tallest tower was equipped with a clock like the one of the most famous buildings in the world, which on the hour, sang a song heard in the courts and gardens of the school worthy to be listened to in a famous opera house, as the one in Vienna.

Walking through that royal courtyard, at one point the girls came in front of a different fountain than the first. This fountain had some moving statues too, but they moved less. They seemed to ... think more.

“This is the fountain ... we call it the Fountain of Wisdom. You will meet the pioneers of knowledge, such as Aristotle, Plato, Socrates or Archimedes. Or ... that statue that looks like carving in stone, is Leonardo da Vinci, a great inventor. And many others, which I do not recognize by appearance, but if you want to know about them, go to the Library of the school to meet them.”

“To meet them?” asked Elizabeth in surprise. “Probably to read about them, because I think many of them are gone. I liked to read about Da Vinci. I had a page in a magazine about him that I kept reading ... and he talked about his inventions.”

“Yes. You will see when you reach the Library,” concluded Miss Harmony, as she has seen something strange.

Johnny was by the well. The boy was now dressed in a splendid and clean suit, those too little rugged clothes he had worn in the world of sceptic people, disappearing completely. He drank water from that well, while some students were looking at him laughing. Some seemed to be anxiously waiting for something to happen, and the older ones laughed at what the boy was doing.

“JOHNNY DAVIES, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Miss Harmony called out.

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