When all the commotion was over, Professor Lim took over the situation. Dressed
in robes of silver, he looked very impressive for his age. With his almost silvery
hair and beard, Janice was strongly reminded of Fleur Delacour.
"Firstly, Pupils, welcome to Yap Ee Chian. As some you of might have known,
the four greatest witches and wizards around South-East Asia exactly founded
Yap Ee Chian four hundred and ninety four years ago. They are Isabella Ivanov,
Tan CuiHua, Narayana Govindasamy and Mohammed Khairwan. These witches and wizards
were chosen by their native community to participate in this tremendous task
to establish a school for young witches and wizards. With the help of the Department
of Magical Education, which was set up shortly after Yap Ee Chian was founded,
enrollment has increased tremendously. The school is in fact named after Yap
Ee Chian, who made significant contributions to the school. To date, we have
produced many outstanding wizards and witches of our time. Now, you will be
given a map of the school. You are to keep this map with you at all times to
help you find your classes easily. Now, with Professor Chang as the guide, we
will now take you around the school."
With that, Professor Chang took over. "Thank You Professor Lim. Now, we'll now take you around the school. Follow me outside the hall now." She walked down from the teacher's table and towards the main entrance, followed by the students. Not wanting to be left alone in the hall, Janice and Landy joined them.
Outside the hall, Professor Chang took them around. First, they visited the
classroom block. They walked past the Transfiguration classroom, where they
could see the Trandfiguration teacher yelling at a student for changing his
partner into a guinea pig. After much laughs, they proceeded to the Charms classrooms,
where the Charms teacher was teaching the students how to do a summoning charm.
Janice was pretty amazed that the incantations used in Yap Ee Chian were different
from Hogwarts. The incantation used in Hogwarts was " Accio" but in
Yap Ee Chian, it was " Seorang". Feeling confused, Janice asked Professor
Chang why the incantations used were different from Hogwarts. Professor Chang
said that it was due to the different cultures between the West and the East.
The incantations were in Malay as the Malays had a lot of influence during the
16th and 17th century in South-East Asia, thus the difference.
After watching the charms lesson, they proceeded to the Defence against the Dark Arts classroom, which was one of Janice's favourite subjects. They were watching some second years tackling a Boggart. Janice could see the Boggart taking the form of a huge cockroach, causing a bit of panic among the students and the teacher, who shrieked and hid under the table. They quickly proceeded to the next classroom before shrieking with laughter.
"I can't believe that the teacher actually hid under the table because
of the cockroach!" Landy said, in between the laughter.
"Me too, I mean, the teacher's supposed to take charge of the situation,
not shrieking with fright." Janice replied, almost choking with laughter
at the thought of it. Suddenly, a thought came to Janice's mind.
"Hey Landy, if we're suppose to tackle Boggarts at the second year, it means that we'll only be staying here for six years." Janice reasoned.
"Hey...you have a point here. Why don't you ask Professor Chang?" Landy said.
Janice asked Professor Chang. "Urm..Professor? I was wondering, how many years do we have to spent in Yap Ee Chian?" Janice asked.
"Well, you'll be spending six years in here, so it means that you'll only be leaving here when you are nineteen." Professor Chang answered.
"Thanks." Janice replied. With that, she quickly returned to Landy's side.
"We'll be studying here for six years!" Janice whispered.
"What! That means that we'll be leaving here when we turn nineteen! Ohmigosh!
Why can't we leave when we are seventeen?" Landy moaned.
"Because we started late, we'll only be turning thirteen this year, remember?"
Janice replied. With that, they proceeded to the next classroom.
Their next stop was the Potions classroom. The Potions teacher was teaching
the students how to make an invisibility potion. The process was very difficult,
as the ingredients had to be added at different times and stirred constantly
to get it mixed properly. Preparing the polyjuice potion seemed just like child's
play when compared to what they just witnessed.
"Hey Janice! Look at the ingredients used! Unicorn Horn, Essence of Belladonna,
Armadillo Bile, Scarab Beetles, Reindeer horns, Porcupine spikes.... Dragon
teeth ... and lots more..." Landy gasped, lost for words. Janice could
only stare dumbly at the list of Ingredients. If she has to memorise this list
for her exam, she would be dead. She got a feeling that Potions was not going
to be one of her strongest subjects.
They proceeded to the next classroom, which was Herbology. The lesson was held at the greenhouse, which was a very hot and stuffy place. The students inside the greenhouse were however, not complaining of the heat. They were planting something with huge purple leaves and flowers with teeth-like petals. The students were complaining of the difficulty in planting it, as the plant would threaten to bite their fingers off if they touched it. They only to plant, as the Professor lectured them, is to enforce an appeasement charm every fifteen minutes on the plant so as to appease the plant, as the plant is very sensitive to the human touch. After watching the students plant this monstrous plant, it started baring its teeth towards them and threatened to bite, causing them to make a hasty exit.
When they emerged from the greenhouse, all sweaty and tired, it was almost twelve noon. Starving, they proceeded to the hall for lunch. Lawrence, in particular, sprinted towards the hall.
"He really is hungry, isn't he?" Landy replied, watching Lawrence
sprint.
"Hungry? It's a bit of an understatement. You would have thought that someone
actually starved him for a week." Janice replied.
When Janice saw the food, she was practically drooling all over the place. There
was Chicken Rice, Caesar Salad, Nachos, Tacos, Thosai, Nasi Bryani, Fish and
Chips and Lamp Chop served with Herbal Tea.
"What's next?" Janice asked thickly through a mouthful of Chicken
Rice.
"Well. I think we're still touring round the school. You know, we might just visit the library, or even the Owlery!" Landy said, her eyes sparkling. Janice groaned. She knew that one of Landy's favourite haunts when they were in Primary School was going to the library. In fact, Janice reasoned, Landy must have patronised every known Muggle library in Singapore and even made friends with the Librarians there. The only time Janice had to go to the Library was when she had to do some dumb research on Flightless birds, and she had to pass the project up in a few days time.
