The Salem Institute for Young Witches and Wizards (formerly the Salem Witches' Institute and the Salem Academy of Wizardry before the merger of '07) crouched on the flat peak of Strizholm mountain. Its twin stone towers spiraled into the air. Between them was old Dorian hall, cracked and beaten. The dead, gray grass crackled under the feet of the students as they crossed the lawn and entered the iron banded doors of the school.

It was my first day. The school was daunting. It was old and decrepit; the windows rattled in their frames, the nearby forest filled with dead trees creaked,