Nibatan walked through the magical fair looking at all the displays. He had yet to officially enrol on the course he wanted, though he had been offered an unconditional offer for a placement there, at the Drew Menrion Institute for Supernatural Learning. Some high ranking wizard had come across him and apparently sensed great potential, though Nibatan reckoned he was actually quota filling by that point as he had never done anything that was slightly out of the ordinary. He wasn’t complaining mind as most had to pay enormous amount to even be considered, where-as he, a farmers son, had got a scholarship, and that had been the day his parents were proudest of him, or that was what they said anyway. They had bought him some of the finest clothes they could afford, so that he at least looked smart and made the right impression on his first day, but compared to everyone else, he was quite shabby by comparison. He was just glad that neither of his parents could see how embarrassed that made him, how ashamed he was of what he had to wear, even though he thought it was splendid, and high ranking when he got it.

The square this fair was in was bustling with life as hundreds of potential students scrabbled around, looking at the courses offered. Some even had butlers to carry their things and hold the freebies that all the stalls were offering, to try and entice people to opt for those courses. All in all, two major subjects had to be chosen, and two smaller courses, that could be dropped or changed after the first year. Nibatan looked at the huge clock that hung above the entrance way, suspended by magic from the building itself, hovering an impressive sixteen or seventeen feet above the ground. It was nearly two o’clock, which meant that afternoon lectures were about to start, giving great detail about some of the major subjects that were offered, and would even show some feats of magic that could be learned, just to give people a taster of what they too could one day do. Nibatan managed to get a seat near the middle of the lecture theatre, though it had to be by the aisle as non of the rich kids really wanted such a common looking person near them, most seemingly horrified that someone of such a low class had even managed to get past the lion based gargoyles outside the main gate.

The levitating balls of fire that were illuminating the room dimmed, indicating that the proceedings were about to start. It took a couple of seconds for the crowd to quieten, and once it had, a tall wizard in a full length green robe walked onto stage. “Good afternoon prospective students, and various other people that seem to have been dragged along. I am Professor Archibald Menrion, the current owner of this institution, and grandson of its founder, if any of you were interested. Now down to some serious business, magic. Its what you’re all here to learn, and let me start off by informing you of some of the ground rules. Number 1)There is to be no practice of magic of any kind in the corridors between classes, number 2) Dark magic of any kind will not be tolerated within these walls, nor will it be tolerated on the non magically inclined, unless they give consent for it to be so. There are others mind, but those are the two major ones.

“Now for a little bit of light hearted entertainment, some of the professors here will demonstrate what is possible from years of dedication.”