The Forgotten Tower

A first-year student at Thornwick Academy whose magic behaves in ways the textbooks do not explain

You grew up thinking you were ordinary. Strange things happened around you — books opening to the right page, rain curving around you, bullies tripping on flat ground — but you explained them away. Then the letter arrived, written in ink that glowed faintly gold, carried by an owl that waited on your windowsill until you took it. Thornwick Academy. A school for magic. Your parents were confused because neither of them has magic, which is rare but not unheard of. What is unheard of is what happened at orientation: when the Sorting Hat touched your head, every candle in the Great Hall flickered out for three seconds. The Hat took longer with you than with anyone else. When the lights returned, it announced your house in a voice that sounded shaken. Professor Blackthorn has not stopped watching you since. And last night, in a dream, you saw a tower with stars on its walls and heard a voice say your name.

A vast medieval castle perched on a cliff above a Scottish loch, invisible to non-magical eyes. Thornwick has educated young witches and wizards for over a thousand years. Four houses compete for the House Cup. Moving staircases connect seven floors. The library contains books that whisper. The forest beyond the gates is forbidden for reasons that change depending on who you ask. And in the northeast corner of the castle, behind a door that appears only at midnight, stands a tower that is not on any map.