Roxie crossed her arms and tapped a finger absently against her forearm. A new year, huh? Well that ought to be something. She knew it would not take long before tension began to arise between the so-far calm countries. It seemed they were all taking a massive break to fall back and think about what they would do next.

She knew that's exactly what she was doing.

She stood at the front of the empty classroom and waited for her Second Year troop to arrive. There was not a single thing in this dark classroom - she was using a technique her old teacher had used on her class when she was still learning.

Roxie patiently observed her surroundings until the children began to file in.

Nara stepped into the classroom and had to let her eyes adjust before she actually could recognise it as her classroom. She glanced to her right and the dark silhouette of the Headmistress was there, but Nara couldn't read the expression on her face in the gloom. The room was completely empty and her footsteps echoed as she tip-toed over to the window wall to dump her stuff.

The eerie quiet of the classroom unnerved Nara and she tucked a loose strand of hair out of her face and swallowed. Her every move sounded like it had been amplified by a charm, and even though it was really quite quiet, it seemed to ring around the room like a horse executing dressage.

Remembering her previous lessons, Nara instantly threw up the scrapings of whatever shield she could muster. The holidays had left her feeling dusty and out of practice.

Tricia had made sure that she watched the clock carefully to ensure she wouldn't arrive late to Professor Krum's lesson, for it was surely a crime not worth committing. She could still remember the way the others in her house had glared at herself and her twin for loosing them 20 points. 'Typical first years' they'd whispered to each other. Tricia grit her teeth together and lifted herself up off of her bed, looking up at the clock once more as she noticed it was time for class.

She shouldered her bag and walked along the castle to her classroom, where there was no light coming through the crack in the door. Hesitantly, she pushed open the door and stepped inside the darkness. She took a step and was surprised at the way it echoed around the room, as if she were in the arena. She could hear someone else moving about.

Remembering that this was legillimency, she knew she should put some sort of shield around her mind. She lifted her shield and protected her mind with a feeble barrier.