Hogwarts: First Class - Episode 1

## Episode Synopsis

### Introductions

The one-shot starts out around the 10th or 11th century, with the founding of Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It's the first year of Hogwarts' existence, and therefore the first group of students. All the students meet each other, but Nicholas, a muggle-born, is very confused about the concept of magic. A sharp looking young girl, Morgan, was chosen by Godric Gryffindor himself to join Hogwarts, and together with Liam shows a dislike towards Nicholas, with Morgan calling him ‘an uneducated swine’, and Liam offering him to learn a spell to remove his fingers. A young boy with short brown hair, Merlin, offers Nicholas to teach him to read and write, since he’s illiterate. Merlin is a Slytherin, but is very muggle-friendly, as opposed to the other Slytherins. Wylie introduces himself as well, and inside the castle they meet a friendly girl, Baraith, who is also in Hufflepuff.

*“Gosh you’re tall” - Merlin about Wylie*

### Charms Class

As the weeks pass, Nicholas becomes friends with Merlin, who takes him under his wing. Merlin soon turn’s out to be a prodigy, and is the most skillful wizard of all the students. Nicholas begins to adapt to his new surroundings, realizing that the magical world is full of possibilities for him, and he is no longer destined to be yet another farmer. In the meantime, Liam has taken a fancy to Morgan, who happens to be the princess of a kingdom called Avalon, and is quickly becoming queen of the school.

The students find themselves in Charms class, Rowena Ravenclaw is teaching the kids a charm for breathing underwater. The muggles have been adopting a sink or swim policy in their witch hunting. If a witch floats in the water, it’s a sign of guilt, so the floating charm’s the wizards used before, won’t work anymore. Now they need to survive underwater, until the crowd disperses. The students practice the spell, and Merlin is the first to create a bubble of air. Liam, Wylie and Nicholas also successfully cast the spell. Rowena has devised a test for them at the Black Lake to see who can stay underwater. She also introduces the new house points system. Whoever wins the competition will win ten points for their house.  Baraith dives into the water and her form shifts into a Welsh Puffin, revealing she is an animagus, much to the delight of Rowena. The other students follow her into the water, with their air bubble over their head. Once they have waded in up to their necks, Liam jinxes Nicholas’s bubble to pop just as he goes underwater, causing him to fail, and earning Liam an approving nod from Morgan.

*"I am not above cheating" - Liam*

Wylie, despite his spell holding strong, is unable to keep himself submerged, and floats up to the surface. Only Merlin, Morgan and Liam remain in the water, while Baraith is swimming around as a puffin. It's getting harder to stay underwater due to the temperature, and after 20 minutes, Merlin and Morgan pop to the surface. Baraith eventually also pops out of the water, transforming back to her human form. Liam decides to stay under a bit longer as a show of strength. He ignores the underwater horse that approaches him, and the kelpie gives up and swims away. Finally Rowena extracts Liam from the water and floats him to dry land, where he makes a “superhero landing” and earns Slytherin 10 points.

### Beast slayering

Three months pass, and we join the students in Beast Slaying class, taught by Godric Gryffindor. He informs them that there is an intruder on the grounds of Hogwarts, a Crocotta, a fearsome mix between a wolf and a hyena, and that as a test, they shall slay it together. Liam suggests to use Nicholas as bait, but Wylie successfully tracks the beast. Meanwhile, Nicholas picks up a sharp stick and transforms it, with the help of Merlin and Wylie, into a metal stick, that they will perfect in the next month to a rough sword. The students encounter a centaur, and due to a lack of respect from Liam's side, Godric deducts 10 points from Slytherin. After being pointed to the right direction by the centaur, the group finds the beast, which turns out to be a mimic dog. Godric congratulates the students for their good work, saying he would never set students against a dangerous beast. The mimic dog is taken to Hogwarts, and now lives in the great hall.

*"Wow, this is a great place! Aside from the animals that tear you apart and the teachers that set you out to fight them." - Nicholas*