DracoDracul
Transbian Communist
- Location
- Austin
- Pronouns
- She/They
Not often you see son of the devil Merlin.
Also the first assassination on Ferdinand apparently succeeded.
Also the first assassination on Ferdinand apparently succeeded.
Minerva Golding and the Wand of Silver (Harry Potter Deconstruction)
- Thread starter DragonCobolt
- Start date
- Mature Novel Fantasy
Twei
I have a face!
- Location
- the land where they write things
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Selene is my beautiful neurodivergent blorbo and I love her!!!
Also yes, Merlin the sexy devil boy is A+, even if he's being a shitty authority figure right now
And speaking of shitty authority figures, the final "no one fucking listens to Minerva" section was tagged on the patreon with a warning for Medical Professionals Refusing to Listen to Patients sorts of stuff, and actually brought to mind some of my own, comparatively momentary Trauma in that area, but I'm not sure I would have made that connection if I hadn't been primed for it. Hindsight is not very good, actually!
It's a really effective section, though, and I appreciate that the professors are clearly not completely comfortable (Stevenson in particular probably had a similarly humiliating outing experience when she was I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Sorting-ed?), but that doesn't stop them from doing this thing because it's what they've always done! It's what you do! Obviously students can't be trusted to interpret their own mystical visions! It feels very believable
Also yes, Merlin the sexy devil boy is A+, even if he's being a shitty authority figure right now
And speaking of shitty authority figures, the final "no one fucking listens to Minerva" section was tagged on the patreon with a warning for Medical Professionals Refusing to Listen to Patients sorts of stuff, and actually brought to mind some of my own, comparatively momentary Trauma in that area, but I'm not sure I would have made that connection if I hadn't been primed for it. Hindsight is not very good, actually!
It's a really effective section, though, and I appreciate that the professors are clearly not completely comfortable (Stevenson in particular probably had a similarly humiliating outing experience when she was I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Sorting-ed?), but that doesn't stop them from doing this thing because it's what they've always done! It's what you do! Obviously students can't be trusted to interpret their own mystical visions! It feels very believable
Lots to unpack here. I love a good round of ominous foreshadowing.
The professors all have interesting descriptions, although I'm not sure which of them are directly parodying Hogwarts professors besides Stevenson. It seems like almost all of them fought in the war or worked in the factories, and have the scars to prove it. (And one of them is a ghost. The obvious parallel is Professor Binns, but given the darker setting I suspect she died in the war.)
I always love it when magic makes a family tree more complicated. Please tell me that wizarding inheritance laws have specific rules for what happens when a family member comes back from the dead.
The professors all have interesting descriptions, although I'm not sure which of them are directly parodying Hogwarts professors besides Stevenson. It seems like almost all of them fought in the war or worked in the factories, and have the scars to prove it. (And one of them is a ghost. The obvious parallel is Professor Binns, but given the darker setting I suspect she died in the war.)
Nice attention to detail. Birkat ha'Gomel is the prayer said after surviving a dangerous situation, including illness, a long journey, or childbirth, so her mother would indeed have recited it not long after she was born. (Nowadays, you're most likely to hear it when people come back from vacation, but it's the 1930s and overseas travel isn't so common.)
It's hilarious that this symbol has shown up often enough to be a specific diagnostic question.
You know, after all the sexy wizard shenanigans, I'd almost forgotten that people in the 1930s weren't actually okay with lesbians. Ouch.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Fun fact, I learned about it from, OF ALL THINGS, Wolfenstine: The New Colossus. BJ Blaskovich's mother says the prayer over 12 year old BJ - meaning he must have survived something awful. Well...awful that wasn't his father.
- Pronouns
- It/Its
I wonder why she got a fourth image instead of the regular three
Big fan of Selene, though now that we know everyone in the school is of noble descent in some way, I do wonder, the character erlier said there werent any hedge witches left, but presumably those who arent of right birth to get into the college will have to do something
oh how I wish to know what all the signs in the potential visions are
Big fan of Selene, though now that we know everyone in the school is of noble descent in some way, I do wonder, the character erlier said there werent any hedge witches left, but presumably those who arent of right birth to get into the college will have to do something
oh how I wish to know what all the signs in the potential visions are
samdamandias
Apprentice Plane Wizard
And the award for most sensible wizard goes to...
Jesus tapdancing Christ, does the young miss Sidereal have a fuckin' deathwish?
O hai Charles!
It looks like a variety of things: 1) the difference in numerology between Christianity and Judaism 2) to showcase the ridiculousness of basing your house on a singular trait like being gay (or bravery, cunning, loyalty or studiousness) 3) the possibility of Minerva not being Siladanis but one of the other houses, like maybe the house that had to do with abolishing slavery, and 4) the possibility that the sorting is often misinterpreted because of how any visions after 3 is ignored.
Considering how Minerva seems to be one fo the few Jewish students to ever be accepted? I'm not even sure what the professors would even sort her as if she did tell them about it, or how it was a vision of the past and not a possible future. Other than to ignore the vision anyway if she did tell them.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
I am absolutely loving this story so far! Also, not for nothing, it has been fun to see how much folks are commenting over here on SV.
Minerva hearing her mother's voice got to me!
Also, I quite liked the work the book bondage vision did to reveal a part of her character (and maybe one of her stronger flaws). Minerva really quickly goes all in on the magic with zero refusal of the call. Admittedly, her life wasn't in the best place and desperation was creeping in, but she "embraced magic is real and I'm gonna learn it" FAST. And I like how the scene brought forth the unspoken reason WHY she wanted it. That she has a deep and primal hunger for knowledge and it's part of her core. And, per the metaphor, it's a part of her that can be manipulated by an institution like Hexgrammarica and The British Empire.
Also, well done making the interview uncomfortable! It's a really strong scene that just makes the professors all so punchable!
Selene is sweet. Also, her attempt to encounter rare fae and the "son of Satan" Merlin does have me wondering whether Sheydim will be making an appearance at some point.
In any case, I punch the air every time Minerva pulls a particularly Jewish tricks out of her back pocket! Keep up the great work! Can't wait for the next chapter!
Minerva hearing her mother's voice got to me!
Also, I quite liked the work the book bondage vision did to reveal a part of her character (and maybe one of her stronger flaws). Minerva really quickly goes all in on the magic with zero refusal of the call. Admittedly, her life wasn't in the best place and desperation was creeping in, but she "embraced magic is real and I'm gonna learn it" FAST. And I like how the scene brought forth the unspoken reason WHY she wanted it. That she has a deep and primal hunger for knowledge and it's part of her core. And, per the metaphor, it's a part of her that can be manipulated by an institution like Hexgrammarica and The British Empire.
Also, well done making the interview uncomfortable! It's a really strong scene that just makes the professors all so punchable!
Selene is sweet. Also, her attempt to encounter rare fae and the "son of Satan" Merlin does have me wondering whether Sheydim will be making an appearance at some point.
In any case, I punch the air every time Minerva pulls a particularly Jewish tricks out of her back pocket! Keep up the great work! Can't wait for the next chapter!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
it's always nice when it turns out that I manage some representation! It can be a bit nerve wracking, don't wanna fuck it up
Wow!
Also...
Also...
Minerva
plumage
ruffled
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Your representation always feels like it comes from a place of genuine enthusiasm for people. It's clear you put effort into doing right by the people you include, and that care regularly shows through.
Not to minimize how nerve wracking that can still be, but, you do good work.
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- He/Him
Also as a future note for everyone; if you spot typos and tell me, I will not fix them, I am lazy
(Okay to be honest, it also is because I am going to make a second draft of this once I'm finished and sell it for money, and I'll fix typos then. Also, like…if you're doing editing, you should get paid)
(Okay to be honest, it also is because I am going to make a second draft of this once I'm finished and sell it for money, and I'll fix typos then. Also, like…if you're doing editing, you should get paid)
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- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- She/Her
"For the high crimes of being horny and repressed lesbianism, you are hereby banished to the house of horny fanfic. Your first assignment is a mandatory Kirk/Spock slash fic."
Edit: wait, this is the 40s. It'd probably be like Holmes/Watson or something.
Edit: wait, this is the 40s. It'd probably be like Holmes/Watson or something.
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- Location
- Ottawa
- Pronouns
- She/Her/Whatever
i regret to report in my capacity as the story researcher that slash fic was illegal at the time
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Regret...or am pleased to report the smuggling slash fic plot is BACK ON THE MENU
Chapter Seven: Lilly White Feather
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Professor Ravenwood took Minerva about three corridors away from the inquisitorial chamber, into a side passage that was far from any prying eyes, then withdrew a wand of black wood and glowing white runes that crackled with power along their entire length. Her wand tip flicked and she snapped out, in sandpaper tones: "Awer Kemb Haater." Her wand tip glowed and a thick bundle of cloth burst from the tip. She yanked it free with a hand that seemed more gold than flesh, then held it out between two sharp, black tipped fingers. "Here."
It was a handkerchief.
"Dry your eyes and do stop blubbering," Professor Ravenwood said, her voice not exactly unkind, even if her words were brusque.
Minerva took it. She blew out a truly awful amount of snot with a honking noise, then sniffed once more. "Thank you, Professor," she said, her voice porcelain fragile.
"Yes, well, we all had to go through it," Professor Ravenwood said, her veil rippling in time with her voice. "No need to get so weepy." She flicked her wand again. "Haater Kemb Awer!"
The hankie - rather…full now - vanished. Minerva smiled. "Air to cloth. Cloth to air. R-Rather tidy."
"Saves on the laundry," Professor Ravenwood said, her voice sharp. "Now, come." She turned and continued her way through the corridors of Hexgramatica. Minerva followed after, still feeling as if she had been scooped out and left hollow. The path was dizzying. Ravenwood took no time to describe her destination, nor did she indicate where and when she would turn. Instead, she simply took a left, a right, ducked under an awning, went up a flight of stairs, down once more. The stairs were made of stone, but they led through wooden walled structures that had as much to do with the exterior stonework of Hexgramatica as Minerva had to do with the far side of the moon.
They sometimes came into larger corridors, where other students were talking, laughing, and walking to various destinations, but more often than not, they seemed to be moving through an abandoned school. Some of the turns required odd rituals - the pulling of a torch sconce to open a door concealed behind a tapestry, or rapping with one's knuckles on the bust of some ancient wizard to cause a stairway to unfold from the ground in some sophisticated display of grinding stone machinery.
The end result was that when they at last came to House Sildanus' wing of Hexgramatica, Minerva felt completely lost.
Fortunately, she was distracted enough by the sheer gothic splendor of the entrance. It was protected by a pair of carven stone statues of a statuesque woman and a powerfully built man, both with the grotesque devilish features one might expect of gargoyles. The woman had an extended tongue, long and rippling, and a pair of sharp fangs that swept down towards her chin. The man had a beaky face and curled horns big enough to serve as a king ram's headpiece. They were both clad in carven stone scraps. But as Minerva and Professor Ravenwood walked towards the two of them, Minerva noticed that both gargoyles had gleaming red gemstones for eyes. Those gemstones caught the light from the torches and reflected them back towards the pair of them, as if they were being watched.
The gargoyles stood to either side of a wooden door, painted dark blue, with orange around the edges. A large pair of knobs sat to either side. The door looked big enough to serve as a dinner table for the main hall - outsizing the two women standing before it.
"This is our pass phrase, don't allow others to know it. The Houses don't make war on one another like they used to, but there are pranksters and other jokesters who would love to get in here and ruin our laundry. Or the bathrooms." She shook her head, veil rippling. She lifted her chin and then spoke, her voice firm. "In Darkness, We Thrive. In Victory, we Triumph."
The two gargoyles glowed. When the glow faded, their arms moved as if their stone was flesh, and the female gargoyle withdrew her tongue, her lips skinning back in a wicked smile. "Good evening, Professor. Miss Sableknight." She nodded her head to Minerva, who felt a crawling chill run along her side as the doors creaked open, pulled aside by the two moving statues.
"That's…the pass phrase?" Minerva asked.
"It is the old motto," Professor Ravenwood said, her voice prim. "House Sildanus has always prided itself on exceptional students - that means hard study, good breeding and getting things done." She sniffed as she led Minerva through the doors. "Fortunately, as is true throughout history, to victors go the spoils."
Minerva's eyebrows went right up as they came into the common room of House Sildanus. To call it extravagant would have been rather insulting - the floor was covered in rich, sable soft carpet that was colored a dark blue and decorated with streaks of gold that formed into complex, swirling patterns of geometric perfection. Whoever had fashioned the carpeting had done so with surpassing skill, because it sure as hell didn't look machine stitched. The walls had a pair of fireplaces that flickered with warm flames that blazed out before sitting chairs and couches that were finer than even the Blythe's townhouse had sprouted. There were complex writing desks, a small set of shelves full of books tucked into the corner, and glass windows like a vast garden greenhouse, but rather than looking out into greenery, it looked out into the deep dark blue of the lake beyond. Fishes swam past in schools like moving constellations - but for a single moment, Minerva swore she could see something larger and darker and sleeker moving in the gloom beyond.
"The girl dormitories are that way, the boys, that way, the baths are there," Professor Ravenwood said, gesturing. "We have an attached stable of fae, they will do anything you ask within reason - they have the school's geas, so you can't order them to turn against it." She frowned slightly. "We have…added male fae, but I take it that won't interest you."
Minerva's cheeks heated. "Professor!" she said, shocked.
Ravenwood snorted. "I don't care that you're a dyke," she said, her blunt words and dismissive tones making it clear at least part of her did. "Just know, if free access to fae distract you from your studies, we shall be deeply disappointed. We in House Sildanus do not appreciate being disappointed."
Minerva frowned. "I take it that we're in all for one, one for all kind of situation, Professor?"
"Do you not know how Houses work?" Professor Ravenwood asked, snorting. "No, don't answer that, you're Sleeperborn. And not even from what passes for the higher strata in their…society." She sighed. "Yes, Houses are ranked against the other Houses. You earn points, given by professors and faculty. At the end of the year, there will be a House Cup, which will be bequeathed to the House with the most number of points by the Headmaster. If you do poorly, you lose points. If you lose us points, Miss Schross-Sableknight, because you can't keep up with your classwork-"
"I can keep up, Professor," Minerva cut her off, her voice holding a quaver that gave her words near a lie. It was funny, she was…rather mad right now. But thanks to that damn inquisition, she still felt near to tears. They pricked at the corner of her eyes.
Professor Ravenwood noticed both the quaver and the trembling.
"We'll see," she said, flatly.
The professor, thank God, chose then to incline her head and turn and walk away - heading towards the rear of the Common Room and out through one of the side doorways. Minerva shivered, then slumped into the nearest sitting chair. The other Sildanus students who were in the common room started to walk over, each of them eying her curiously. They were, to a T, all tall and thin and elegant. Most were blond. Quite a few of them bore family resemblance to one another. A pair of rather lumpen looking men grinned at her.
"You're the new one, huh?" one asked. "Professor Ravenwood says we got a Sleeperborn, right?"
His fellow nodded. "I'm Clyve," he said, then gestured to the one who had spoken first. "This is Gregory."
Gregory nodded. He seemed…nice enough, if standoffish.
"T-This place is a bit gloomy, isn't it?" Minerva asked.
"Oh it so is!" one of the girls of the group said, her voice going a mile a minute as she stepped beside Minerva, placing her hand on her shoulder. "My name's Milicent Bathory-Whytchapel, but you can call me Millie and don't worry about the name, we don't do that anymore. Ha ha!" She had a high, nervous, squirrely laugh. "Is it true you're one of Maximillian Sableknight's grandchildren? He was a big hero. Bit of a Glintfair but we can't hold that against him, ha ha!"
"Shut up, Millie," a perfect copy of Millie said, stepping to Minerva's other side. "You're going to give our newest member a headache."
"You always tell me to shut up, Penny," Millie muttered.
"Cause you need shutting up," Penny said. "I'm Penelope Bathory-Whytchapel, her half sister," she said, nodding to Millie.
"Half?" Minerva asked. She felt almost ready to stand once more.
"It's a long story," Penny said. "Still, you're probably the only member we're going to get this year, considering how greedy the other professors are. The best students for their houses, the leavings for us. Like Clyve and Gregory here. They can barely spell shoe, let alone a spell."
"Hey!" Clyve exclaimed.
"I resemble that remark," Gregory said, slowly and carefully, his arms crossing over his chest. He chuckled a second later.
"What witty repartee," Penny said, her tongue as razor sharp as the rest of her seemed to be.
"She's always so mean," Millie whispered to Minerva.
"Someone has to be," Penny shot back.
"Do they?" Millie asked.
The door opened once more.
And in strode Katarina Wulf, her jacket over her shoulder, her hat at a jaunty angle, and a smile big enough for the whole world crawling across her face.
"The pass phrase is being the same as when my aunt went here," she said, casually. "You need to work on your security."
"A second newbie!" Millie said, excitedly rushing forward. She took Kat's hand, shaking it. "Hi, I'm Milicent and, wait, how did you get in here without the Professor? Does she know you're here?"
"I lost her," Kat said, casually. "She showed up near the end of my inquisition and only got to vote right at the end." She grinned. Then her eyes fell on Minerva. "Mein Gott!" She exclaimed, while Minerva gave her a little smile.
"Yes, it seems that House Sildanus got me," she said, casually.
"Well, I will be quite damned," Kat said, laughing.
"Yes, we all are here," Penny said, her voice dry.
Kat chuckled, then fixed Penny with her fierce, fierce eyes. Minerva wondered: Were they gold or were they blue when Kat crooned. "There could be worse fates, and worse scenery."
Penny, to Minerva's shock, didn't immediately come back with some sharp barb. She flushed, then coughed, and stammered. "W-Well!"
"Now, come on, Minerva," Kat said, taking Minerva's hand and tugging her from the chair. Minerva came to her feet and bumped into Kat's side. The feeling of Kat's muscular arm against her cheek was almost enough to cause Minerva's brain to shut out like a lamp doused in water. She jerked away and stood a bit straighter, tugging her blouse straight. She coughed, then nodded.
"Lead the way," she said.
The two of them walked off. Behind her, Minerva could hear Penny whispering to Millie. What she said was just beyond her hearing - but Minerva sensed the incredulity. Now, was that incredulity because of Katarina's obvious…ahem…mannishness, or because she was a lycanthrope, or because she was just a new member of a House that seemed rather bereft of recruits. That was a question for later. Minerva followed Kat into the girl dormitories, hesitating only a second as Kat paused at the door, then opened it and stepped through.
Only once they were through did Kat let out a soft chuckle and murmured, under her breath: "Oh, danke, danke…"
"Sorry?" Minerva asked.
"Ah, nothing, it is…" It's clearly wasn't nothing, Kat was beaming from ear to ear. Not the sly smile she always seemed to have around Minerva, the unbreakable smug expression, but a joy so genuine she looked like she might burst out into tears or laughter or both. "Never you mind."
The girl's dormitories were just the same level of opulence as the common room. Gilt and gold and rococo furnishing, with a fireplace crackling warmly. The ceiling overhead looked up into the lake and the shimmering cascade of moonlight shining down through it to play along the ground, creating wavy patterns that intermixed with the firelight. "I hope it never cracks," Minerva said, before looking around to note that there were several more staircases leading away from the room proper, each one labeled with a name - including one that was Glinda Wolfe Dormitories. Pointing at that one, Minerva glanced at Kat.
"Is Glinda a relation?"
"On my mother's side, yes, my aunt. We had… similar circumstances," Kat said, walking not towards that, but rather, towards Fiona Bathory Dormitories. The stairs wound not up but down, winding around a central pillar and coming into yet another chamber. This one was hexagonal in shape with six doors leading off to six bedrooms. Several of the doors had already been closed and names had been scrawled on them. Minerva stepped to a door that had no such name, placing her palm on the knob curiously.
To her surprise, doing so caused her wizard name to appear on the wood in flowing, shimmering cursive. Minerva Schross-Sableknight. There and official, it seemed. Minerva gulped slightly.
Kat put her hand on the door next to hers, with a grin. "It seems that we're going to be neighbors, Minnie," she said as her name shimmered to life upon her door: Katarina Wolfe.
Minerva stepped into her bedroom and found it was easily twice the size of her bedsit. There was an adjoining bathroom with a clever little set of plumbing, a mirror that she could see her own haunted face in. The bed was a queen sized bed - and it was situated next to another one, about five feet away. She had no luggage to be transported here, but she heard an excited cry from the open door next to hers. "Ah! The fae have brought my luggage here already, wunderbar! And…two beds…"
Minerva felt her eyes beginning to fill with tears. She stumbled to the bed, then thumped down on the mattress. She drew her legs up onto it, then put her face against her knees, breathing steadily, slowly. Steadily. Slowly. It didn't work. Her shoulders shook as Kat chattered away cheerfully. "Well, you are fortunate I didn't know these were doubles - lest you'd have to deal with my snores!"
When Minerva didn't respond, Kat ducked her head around, peering in. "Minnie?" she asked, then, seeing that Minerva was crying silently, her shoulders shaking, her body trembling, she swept into the room like a hurricane. Before Minerva could so much as squeak, Kat had enfolded her in her arms - strong, powerful arms. The heady scent of her made Minerva's head spin and she buried her face against her shoulder, feeling the strong muscle beneath skin beneath shirt. Kat's nose pressed into the hair and the other woman growled softly. "Who has hurt you?"
The mental image of sharp claws ripping out Professor Tweed's throat out flashed into her mind and was so appallingly appealing that Minerva let out a little snort. "N-No one. Nothing. It…" She buried her face once more against Kat.
"It is not nothing, Minnie," Kat said. She brushed fingers through Minerva's long brown hair. "Good god, your hair is beautiful. My apologies, I should be focused-"
"No, it's all right," Minerva whispered, her cheeks burning. Then, quietly. "It was the Trial."
"Ah," Kat said, as if she should have known.
"T-They were so…awful," Minerva said. "E-Every detail, every private little thing, ever… t-they figured out… they said such awful lies about me." She blushed, furiously, but letting that single word out seemed to let everything out. "They wrung out every little detail that I saw! T-They would have wrung my own mother's voice from me, taken that from me, if they had just bloody thought to ask about it! They ripped me apart, Katrina, how could anyone stand it!?"
Kat sighed. "Oh, my Minnie, my little Minnie." She squeezed Minerva tightly.
Minerva had thought that being coddled and cuddled would have felt infantilizing, insulting.
She reveled in it. She tilted her head, so that when Kat leaned in, her nose, her lips, pressed like liquid gold to her skin. Gooseflesh prickled, despite the warmth of the room.
"Kat…" she whispered.
"The answer, Miss…" Another kiss. This one was on her earlobe and it came, daring, with a nip. A nibble. Minerva's toes curled. She gasped. The hand on her belly grew more insistent, tugging her closer. Possessive. Minerva tilted her head more. Exposing more of her throat. Her head was spinning. Swimming. "Minerva…" Another kiss. Her breath was warm. Moist in her ear. Kat's rough German accent had never sounded…
…sexier…
"...you lie, you silly girl."
Minerva blinked, shocked for a moment from the haze of red lust that bubbled through her brain. She sniffled. "L-Lie?" she asked.
Kat chuckled. "Yes." She turned Minerva around, so that Minerva's legs settled to either side of her. Straddled her. It was the most intimate pose that Minerva had ever been in in her life. She had been hugged from behind before. But she had never…straddled someone before. Like this. Kat's gold eyes bored into hers as she grinned. "How else do you think I got into this house?"
"W-..." Minerva opened her mouth. "B…But can't they tell?"
Kat snorted.
"If they could rip it from you with magic, they would not be wasting time with the twenty questions, ja?" She grinned. Her canines were so. So sharp. Minerva put her hand on Kat's cheek. She laughed, and blushed, and cried a little more.
"So, you just lied to them?" she asked.
"Told them all little stories they have come to expect, yes, of deep seas and deeper mysteries and oh so eager studying," Kat murmured. She turned her head. Kissed Minerva's palm. Then she took her hand in her hands. Kissed her wrist. "I didn't tell them thing one about the elk I hunted." Her golden eyes smolder. "Oh how she ran. Oh…how far. But not nearly fast enough, oh no, not fast enough at all."
Minerva felt as if her entire skin was too tight. Too warm.
"Not fast," she whispered.
"Not fast enough," Kat said. Her grin was wicked. Her canines were so very sharp. Minerva…leaned in.
She wanted to…
Kiss one of those canines. She wanted to feel that sharp edged tooth against her lip. She wanted to…
The door to the room banged open and a woman started to walk in backwards, holding a huge pile of luggage in her arms, and Minerva found herself, as if by magic, propelled to her feet and standing beside the window of the room, looking out at the lake beyond, while Kat was brushing her hand through her hair casually, leg cocked over her other leg. The brown haired, mousy looking girl who turned around to see Minerva and Kat smiled, wryly.
"W-Wait, uh, I thought this room only had one girl, I can change rooms, if, uh, if you want?"
"No, no, Minerva and I are friends," Kat said, standing up. "I have the room next door, Miss…"
"Oh, I'm Bellatrix!" The mousy looking girl said, smiling. "Bellatrix Landon-Blyhte."
"Blythe?" Minerva asked. "Any relation to the Blyhtes that live in London?"
"They're our poorer relations, I hear," Bellatrix said, then smiled. "And you're Minerva Schross-Sableknight?" She held her hand out. Minerva took it. "Don't worry, I don't snore!"
"I wasn't worried," Minerva said.
She ached as Kat ambled from the room.
Minerva's dreams were of the glass overhead cracking, of water rushing down stairs, pressing against the wooden door, spilling beneath the frame, creeping around the bed. She woke as it rushed down her throat and jerked upright, gasping and panting and trembling. Bellatrix kept snoring loudly. Minerva glowered at her, then looked around for her alarm clock. The glowing hands said it was four in the morning. She frowned.
Radium tips.
Minerva laid back, eyes closed.
She was wrenched from sleep again by the screaming of her alarm clock. She smashed it to sleep again, while Bellatrix groaned and rolled out of her bed. Both girls headed for the bathroom at the same time - Minerva gestured Bellatrix forward. She rubbed her palms against her face as Bellatrix started to brush her teeth, floss, then use the toilet, all as slowly as possible it seemed. Once Minerva had a chance to use the facilities, she was near to bursting.
The two girls dressed in their student robes. This was the first time Minerva had worn this garb since she had bought it, and finding it recolored in dark blue with orange highlights, with the House Sildanus pin already on the breast. The fierce looking rearing griffon made her frown slightly. Glintfaire used a lion, Sildanus used a griffon. That seemed repetitive to her. She shook her head and started out towards the common room. She found the door to Kat's room was open and Kat was sliding out, her roommate emerging. Kat looked…shockingly un-Kat-like in her house robes. She had even cast aside her jaunty hat. Their eyes met and Kat grinned. Butterflies bloomed inside of Minerva's belly.
The entire House set out as a group, and Minerva found that she was walking beside Millie, who chattered cheerfully and gaily as they moved through the corridors of Hexgramatica.
"I hear they're allowing clubs this year - there was some debate it with last year, but a bunch of students argued quite hard in favor of it. I do love school clubs, have you ever been in a school club? I think I want to join the chess club, do you think any boys might join the chess club? It is a rather boyish game, but I'm sure I can at least do passably well! Do you think they'll be serving waffles or pancakes for breakfast?"
Minerva gave her a thin smile. "W-We'll see," she said.
The banquet hall was a blessedly warm and convivial place. House Sildanus, House Glintfaire, House Ravelorexu, House Harrierette and House Wainscove each had their own tables. Minerva caught sight of Gina and Harry, in Glintfaire green and black, sitting at the corner of House Glintfaire. She made a note of setting as close to them as she could, putting her at the corner of house Sildanus. She looked over and caught Gina's eyes. Gina saw her, then her face twisted slightly. She mouthed the words 'tough breaks, old chap' at her, and Minerva gave her a little smile.
Breakfast, brought out by the fae, was a delirious arrangement of every type of food one could imagine. Including, of course, waffles and pancakes, which delighted Millie to no end. Minerva skimmed her gaze around, looking for any sign of Selene, and spotted the odd girl was perched among House Wainscove, her bright red and blue robes looking several sizes too large on her. As she spotted to her, Gregory asked: "Uh, what are you looking for?"
"Where the other first years got sorted," Minerva said, turning back to her meal.
"Ahh," Gregory said. "Want any bacon?" He asked, holding up the strips in a set of tongs that had come with the silver tray that the breakfast was brought on.
"No thank you, I prefer to eat light," Minerva said, smiling at him. He was trying to be polite, he had no idea after all. "So, um, what are the classes like?"
"Oh, they're ever so much fun!" Millicent said, her eyes shining brightly. "First years begin with some potions, then you do beasts, oh, I do love beast studying. There are so many interesting creatures. Then-"
"She has a schedule just like the rest of us," Penny said, her voice sharp as she dug into her waffles with a fork.
"I…I actually don't," Minerva said, a bit sheepishly.
"Check your pocket, first year," Penny said, rolling her eyes. "God, you're Sleeperborn, not an idiot, right?"
Minerva slid her hand into her pocket, glaring at Penny. There was nothing there. Then, quite suddenly, there was. It was a folded piece of parchment, which she withdrew and unfolded, to find it listed all of her classes, as well as their locations, with a sprawling map listed on the back of the paper. Somehow, despite being compacted and shrunk down to be small enough to fit on the parchment, the map seemed to swim before her eyes and unfold and unfold and unfold, until it seemed six times bigger than it should have been. When she glanced away, then glanced back, it was small once more.
"Penny!" Millie said as Minerva did her rummaging. "Don't be so rude."
"I'm not being rude, she's being an idiot," Penny said.
"Being Sleeperborn means I don't know all the things magic can do," Minerva said, her voice thin. "I'm going to not know things that seem obvious to you."
"You didn't do any reading?" Penny asked.
"She's a first year, Penny, calm down," Gregory said.
"If we lose the House Cup again…" Penny muttered, glaring down at her waffles.
"Again?" Minerva asked.
Millie shifted in her seat. "House Sildanus hasn't won the cup for…a while."
"But we're going to do it this time," Penny said, her voice grim.
"Does it matter that much?" Minerva asked.
"Yes!" Penny said. "Do you think I want to work raising magical reagents in one of the farms up the Midlands? Or maybe I could work in a factory putting together gizzers and tops and fucking spindles! Or, I know, I could spend my life trying to marry some wizard who has a job in the Ministry? Wizards with top marks and the best school records get the chance to have jobs worth having. And we're finally out of this damn Depression. Things have to get better for us."
"You're a wizard," Minerva said, frowning. "How could a mundane stock market crash impact you?"
"Well, show what you know," Penny snapped. "How'd you end up here, while my parents had to pull some bloody strings to get me into Hexgramatica and not St. Darrows or the Bowery or Middleton!"
"T-...The what?" Minerva asked.
Penny gaped at her as if she had started drooling. "Okay, now I know you're a fool," she said. "Did you think every wizard in Britain went to one school?" She pushed her food around with a fork.
"I-" Minerva blushed. She…she actually had rather thought that. Everyone had spoken about Hexgramatica as if it was the only school worth talking about. She looked down at her plate as Penny shook her head.
"Idiot Sleeperborn," she growled.
"Penny!" Millie glared at her. "That's enough."
The two twins - the half-sister twins - glared at one another.
Once breakfast was over, everyone began to split up for their classes. Minerva was trying to work up her nerve to ask someone - Millie, she supposed, was the best choice - why exactly everyone had muttered about House Sildanus. But before she could Millie was whisked away and Minerva found herself walking alone, following the map towards potions. But as she walked along, she saw Gina ambling along, her own nose in her map. "Gina!" she said, jogging to her side.
"Oh, hey," Gina said, wincing slightly.
"What?" Minerva asked, then glanced down at her robes. "Oh come now, it's not like I've become a Hun or something."
"...yeah," Gina said, nodding. "I…sorry."
"No, it's okay," Minerva said. "I say, we're still friends, though. Screw houses, right?"
Gina considered. She bit her lower lip. "I mean, you're House Sildanus though…"
Minerva felt her belly flop.
Then Gina snorted. "Eh, hell with it! Still friends."
Minerva frowned. They came to the potions classroom - it was situated high in a tower, requiring them to go round and round and round a stairwell before at last coming to a wooden door that opened into a room full of pale white desks. Minerva found that the map actually guided her straight to a desk that had been marked off as her own, and she saw that the…the fae had moved her alchemical gear right into the room, placing it there before she had even arrived. That was who had to be magically moving luggage about, the fae. Her stomach knotted at that thought, but there wasn't…anything she…
Her thoughts trailed off.
There was her alembic, her philosopher's stone, her cauldron. But there, also, was a small white feather sitting on her desk. She reached down and picked it up. "What the?" She whispered - then blinked. Her skin was starting to transform, turning yellow moment by moment as the feather glittered and turned to dust in her fingers. "What the!" She exclaimed again as the yellow swept along her whole body and, before she knew it, she was yellow from her head to her toes - she lifted her robes to check her shoes, and saw yellow ankles. She let the robes drop as the entire class started snickering and snorting.
Gina scowled. "Well, that's a…that's a mean trick!" she exclaimed.
"Looks like someone's gotten the new Silly off to a great start!" A voice called from the other students - Minerva snapped her head around, trying to see who it was, but no one announced themselves. Then the door opened and Professor Ravenwood walked into the room, her golden eyes narrowing as she saw Minerva. She walked forward as the room's chuckles and guffaws faded to silence.
"Who did this?" she asked, her voice grim. The entire classroom went silent. "Schorss-Sableknight, what, exactly, happened here?"
Minerva felt every eye on her. She felt awful. Points and house cups and House Sildanus swirled through her brain and she realized that Professor Ravenwood would hit whoever had pranked her for negative points - which would make Minerva's reputation even worse than already being in…House Sildanus.
White feather.
White feather.
Minerva hadn't been old enough to ever see it. But she knew the story: Back in the Great War, girls not too much older than her had given men who were fit and able and not at the front a white feather - a sign of cowardice, for shirkers and pacifists.
She knew House Sildanis' sin. They had, of all the Houses, stood against the Great War.
Minerva's sighed. "I…spilled some of my reagents on me," she said, her voice wooden. "It was my mistake."
"I see," Professor Ravenwood didn't believe her. "Wif Kemb Wif." She flicked her wand - and the yellow color vanished instantly. "Pathetic curse work. Whoever made it should be docked ten points for that alone." She walked away from Minerva who sat down, her chin lifted, head held high.
I will not squeal, she thought.
Professor Ravenwood, despite the disruption, began to teach the class. Despite the shame burning on her cheeks and the feeling of other people's eyes on her back, Minerva began to write down notes. Her pen - a relatively expensive fountain pen that she had borrowed from the Blythe townhouse - flew across the page as she wrote down diagrams and formulas that Ravenwood began to explain. The first demonstration potion that they had to work on came halfway through the class. Minerva's reading served her well. Half the class didn't seem to understand that one had to use a Philosopher's Stone extract extremely carefully when performing transmutations - they used much too much and half the class was swimming in broiling, hideous fog that stung the eyes like woodsmoke. Professor Ravenwood banished it with a wave of her wand and a barked spell, then began to upbraid students and hand out demerits by the pound.
When she came to Minerva's desk and eyed Gina's orange-red vial of glittering liquid, then eyed the pure ruby of Minerva's potion. That caused her to arch an eyebrow. "Virgina Blyhte, why is it that you are sitting next to a Sleeperborn and your Philter of Warmth has the hue of a diseased kidney?"
"Well, cause she's better at it than me," Gina said, cheerfully. "She's a grand old wizard!"
"I see," Ravenwood said, then picked up the Philter of Warmth. "I believe if I were to drink this, I might not drop dead within the minute." She set it down. "Five points to Sildanus."
She turned and started off.
Gina beamed at Minerva. "Looks like sitting next to you is gonna be my ticket to passing these classes, eh?"
Minerva smiled back.
She felt maybe she might make it after all. Her eyes drifted down to where the feather had rested on the desk.
Maybe.
It was a handkerchief.
"Dry your eyes and do stop blubbering," Professor Ravenwood said, her voice not exactly unkind, even if her words were brusque.
Minerva took it. She blew out a truly awful amount of snot with a honking noise, then sniffed once more. "Thank you, Professor," she said, her voice porcelain fragile.
"Yes, well, we all had to go through it," Professor Ravenwood said, her veil rippling in time with her voice. "No need to get so weepy." She flicked her wand again. "Haater Kemb Awer!"
The hankie - rather…full now - vanished. Minerva smiled. "Air to cloth. Cloth to air. R-Rather tidy."
"Saves on the laundry," Professor Ravenwood said, her voice sharp. "Now, come." She turned and continued her way through the corridors of Hexgramatica. Minerva followed after, still feeling as if she had been scooped out and left hollow. The path was dizzying. Ravenwood took no time to describe her destination, nor did she indicate where and when she would turn. Instead, she simply took a left, a right, ducked under an awning, went up a flight of stairs, down once more. The stairs were made of stone, but they led through wooden walled structures that had as much to do with the exterior stonework of Hexgramatica as Minerva had to do with the far side of the moon.
They sometimes came into larger corridors, where other students were talking, laughing, and walking to various destinations, but more often than not, they seemed to be moving through an abandoned school. Some of the turns required odd rituals - the pulling of a torch sconce to open a door concealed behind a tapestry, or rapping with one's knuckles on the bust of some ancient wizard to cause a stairway to unfold from the ground in some sophisticated display of grinding stone machinery.
The end result was that when they at last came to House Sildanus' wing of Hexgramatica, Minerva felt completely lost.
Fortunately, she was distracted enough by the sheer gothic splendor of the entrance. It was protected by a pair of carven stone statues of a statuesque woman and a powerfully built man, both with the grotesque devilish features one might expect of gargoyles. The woman had an extended tongue, long and rippling, and a pair of sharp fangs that swept down towards her chin. The man had a beaky face and curled horns big enough to serve as a king ram's headpiece. They were both clad in carven stone scraps. But as Minerva and Professor Ravenwood walked towards the two of them, Minerva noticed that both gargoyles had gleaming red gemstones for eyes. Those gemstones caught the light from the torches and reflected them back towards the pair of them, as if they were being watched.
The gargoyles stood to either side of a wooden door, painted dark blue, with orange around the edges. A large pair of knobs sat to either side. The door looked big enough to serve as a dinner table for the main hall - outsizing the two women standing before it.
"This is our pass phrase, don't allow others to know it. The Houses don't make war on one another like they used to, but there are pranksters and other jokesters who would love to get in here and ruin our laundry. Or the bathrooms." She shook her head, veil rippling. She lifted her chin and then spoke, her voice firm. "In Darkness, We Thrive. In Victory, we Triumph."
The two gargoyles glowed. When the glow faded, their arms moved as if their stone was flesh, and the female gargoyle withdrew her tongue, her lips skinning back in a wicked smile. "Good evening, Professor. Miss Sableknight." She nodded her head to Minerva, who felt a crawling chill run along her side as the doors creaked open, pulled aside by the two moving statues.
"That's…the pass phrase?" Minerva asked.
"It is the old motto," Professor Ravenwood said, her voice prim. "House Sildanus has always prided itself on exceptional students - that means hard study, good breeding and getting things done." She sniffed as she led Minerva through the doors. "Fortunately, as is true throughout history, to victors go the spoils."
Minerva's eyebrows went right up as they came into the common room of House Sildanus. To call it extravagant would have been rather insulting - the floor was covered in rich, sable soft carpet that was colored a dark blue and decorated with streaks of gold that formed into complex, swirling patterns of geometric perfection. Whoever had fashioned the carpeting had done so with surpassing skill, because it sure as hell didn't look machine stitched. The walls had a pair of fireplaces that flickered with warm flames that blazed out before sitting chairs and couches that were finer than even the Blythe's townhouse had sprouted. There were complex writing desks, a small set of shelves full of books tucked into the corner, and glass windows like a vast garden greenhouse, but rather than looking out into greenery, it looked out into the deep dark blue of the lake beyond. Fishes swam past in schools like moving constellations - but for a single moment, Minerva swore she could see something larger and darker and sleeker moving in the gloom beyond.
"The girl dormitories are that way, the boys, that way, the baths are there," Professor Ravenwood said, gesturing. "We have an attached stable of fae, they will do anything you ask within reason - they have the school's geas, so you can't order them to turn against it." She frowned slightly. "We have…added male fae, but I take it that won't interest you."
Minerva's cheeks heated. "Professor!" she said, shocked.
Ravenwood snorted. "I don't care that you're a dyke," she said, her blunt words and dismissive tones making it clear at least part of her did. "Just know, if free access to fae distract you from your studies, we shall be deeply disappointed. We in House Sildanus do not appreciate being disappointed."
Minerva frowned. "I take it that we're in all for one, one for all kind of situation, Professor?"
"Do you not know how Houses work?" Professor Ravenwood asked, snorting. "No, don't answer that, you're Sleeperborn. And not even from what passes for the higher strata in their…society." She sighed. "Yes, Houses are ranked against the other Houses. You earn points, given by professors and faculty. At the end of the year, there will be a House Cup, which will be bequeathed to the House with the most number of points by the Headmaster. If you do poorly, you lose points. If you lose us points, Miss Schross-Sableknight, because you can't keep up with your classwork-"
"I can keep up, Professor," Minerva cut her off, her voice holding a quaver that gave her words near a lie. It was funny, she was…rather mad right now. But thanks to that damn inquisition, she still felt near to tears. They pricked at the corner of her eyes.
Professor Ravenwood noticed both the quaver and the trembling.
"We'll see," she said, flatly.
The professor, thank God, chose then to incline her head and turn and walk away - heading towards the rear of the Common Room and out through one of the side doorways. Minerva shivered, then slumped into the nearest sitting chair. The other Sildanus students who were in the common room started to walk over, each of them eying her curiously. They were, to a T, all tall and thin and elegant. Most were blond. Quite a few of them bore family resemblance to one another. A pair of rather lumpen looking men grinned at her.
"You're the new one, huh?" one asked. "Professor Ravenwood says we got a Sleeperborn, right?"
His fellow nodded. "I'm Clyve," he said, then gestured to the one who had spoken first. "This is Gregory."
Gregory nodded. He seemed…nice enough, if standoffish.
"T-This place is a bit gloomy, isn't it?" Minerva asked.
"Oh it so is!" one of the girls of the group said, her voice going a mile a minute as she stepped beside Minerva, placing her hand on her shoulder. "My name's Milicent Bathory-Whytchapel, but you can call me Millie and don't worry about the name, we don't do that anymore. Ha ha!" She had a high, nervous, squirrely laugh. "Is it true you're one of Maximillian Sableknight's grandchildren? He was a big hero. Bit of a Glintfair but we can't hold that against him, ha ha!"
"Shut up, Millie," a perfect copy of Millie said, stepping to Minerva's other side. "You're going to give our newest member a headache."
"You always tell me to shut up, Penny," Millie muttered.
"Cause you need shutting up," Penny said. "I'm Penelope Bathory-Whytchapel, her half sister," she said, nodding to Millie.
"Half?" Minerva asked. She felt almost ready to stand once more.
"It's a long story," Penny said. "Still, you're probably the only member we're going to get this year, considering how greedy the other professors are. The best students for their houses, the leavings for us. Like Clyve and Gregory here. They can barely spell shoe, let alone a spell."
"Hey!" Clyve exclaimed.
"I resemble that remark," Gregory said, slowly and carefully, his arms crossing over his chest. He chuckled a second later.
"What witty repartee," Penny said, her tongue as razor sharp as the rest of her seemed to be.
"She's always so mean," Millie whispered to Minerva.
"Someone has to be," Penny shot back.
"Do they?" Millie asked.
The door opened once more.
And in strode Katarina Wulf, her jacket over her shoulder, her hat at a jaunty angle, and a smile big enough for the whole world crawling across her face.
"The pass phrase is being the same as when my aunt went here," she said, casually. "You need to work on your security."
"A second newbie!" Millie said, excitedly rushing forward. She took Kat's hand, shaking it. "Hi, I'm Milicent and, wait, how did you get in here without the Professor? Does she know you're here?"
"I lost her," Kat said, casually. "She showed up near the end of my inquisition and only got to vote right at the end." She grinned. Then her eyes fell on Minerva. "Mein Gott!" She exclaimed, while Minerva gave her a little smile.
"Yes, it seems that House Sildanus got me," she said, casually.
"Well, I will be quite damned," Kat said, laughing.
"Yes, we all are here," Penny said, her voice dry.
Kat chuckled, then fixed Penny with her fierce, fierce eyes. Minerva wondered: Were they gold or were they blue when Kat crooned. "There could be worse fates, and worse scenery."
Penny, to Minerva's shock, didn't immediately come back with some sharp barb. She flushed, then coughed, and stammered. "W-Well!"
"Now, come on, Minerva," Kat said, taking Minerva's hand and tugging her from the chair. Minerva came to her feet and bumped into Kat's side. The feeling of Kat's muscular arm against her cheek was almost enough to cause Minerva's brain to shut out like a lamp doused in water. She jerked away and stood a bit straighter, tugging her blouse straight. She coughed, then nodded.
"Lead the way," she said.
The two of them walked off. Behind her, Minerva could hear Penny whispering to Millie. What she said was just beyond her hearing - but Minerva sensed the incredulity. Now, was that incredulity because of Katarina's obvious…ahem…mannishness, or because she was a lycanthrope, or because she was just a new member of a House that seemed rather bereft of recruits. That was a question for later. Minerva followed Kat into the girl dormitories, hesitating only a second as Kat paused at the door, then opened it and stepped through.
Only once they were through did Kat let out a soft chuckle and murmured, under her breath: "Oh, danke, danke…"
"Sorry?" Minerva asked.
"Ah, nothing, it is…" It's clearly wasn't nothing, Kat was beaming from ear to ear. Not the sly smile she always seemed to have around Minerva, the unbreakable smug expression, but a joy so genuine she looked like she might burst out into tears or laughter or both. "Never you mind."
The girl's dormitories were just the same level of opulence as the common room. Gilt and gold and rococo furnishing, with a fireplace crackling warmly. The ceiling overhead looked up into the lake and the shimmering cascade of moonlight shining down through it to play along the ground, creating wavy patterns that intermixed with the firelight. "I hope it never cracks," Minerva said, before looking around to note that there were several more staircases leading away from the room proper, each one labeled with a name - including one that was Glinda Wolfe Dormitories. Pointing at that one, Minerva glanced at Kat.
"Is Glinda a relation?"
"On my mother's side, yes, my aunt. We had… similar circumstances," Kat said, walking not towards that, but rather, towards Fiona Bathory Dormitories. The stairs wound not up but down, winding around a central pillar and coming into yet another chamber. This one was hexagonal in shape with six doors leading off to six bedrooms. Several of the doors had already been closed and names had been scrawled on them. Minerva stepped to a door that had no such name, placing her palm on the knob curiously.
To her surprise, doing so caused her wizard name to appear on the wood in flowing, shimmering cursive. Minerva Schross-Sableknight. There and official, it seemed. Minerva gulped slightly.
Kat put her hand on the door next to hers, with a grin. "It seems that we're going to be neighbors, Minnie," she said as her name shimmered to life upon her door: Katarina Wolfe.
Minerva stepped into her bedroom and found it was easily twice the size of her bedsit. There was an adjoining bathroom with a clever little set of plumbing, a mirror that she could see her own haunted face in. The bed was a queen sized bed - and it was situated next to another one, about five feet away. She had no luggage to be transported here, but she heard an excited cry from the open door next to hers. "Ah! The fae have brought my luggage here already, wunderbar! And…two beds…"
Minerva felt her eyes beginning to fill with tears. She stumbled to the bed, then thumped down on the mattress. She drew her legs up onto it, then put her face against her knees, breathing steadily, slowly. Steadily. Slowly. It didn't work. Her shoulders shook as Kat chattered away cheerfully. "Well, you are fortunate I didn't know these were doubles - lest you'd have to deal with my snores!"
When Minerva didn't respond, Kat ducked her head around, peering in. "Minnie?" she asked, then, seeing that Minerva was crying silently, her shoulders shaking, her body trembling, she swept into the room like a hurricane. Before Minerva could so much as squeak, Kat had enfolded her in her arms - strong, powerful arms. The heady scent of her made Minerva's head spin and she buried her face against her shoulder, feeling the strong muscle beneath skin beneath shirt. Kat's nose pressed into the hair and the other woman growled softly. "Who has hurt you?"
The mental image of sharp claws ripping out Professor Tweed's throat out flashed into her mind and was so appallingly appealing that Minerva let out a little snort. "N-No one. Nothing. It…" She buried her face once more against Kat.
"It is not nothing, Minnie," Kat said. She brushed fingers through Minerva's long brown hair. "Good god, your hair is beautiful. My apologies, I should be focused-"
"No, it's all right," Minerva whispered, her cheeks burning. Then, quietly. "It was the Trial."
"Ah," Kat said, as if she should have known.
"T-They were so…awful," Minerva said. "E-Every detail, every private little thing, ever… t-they figured out… they said such awful lies about me." She blushed, furiously, but letting that single word out seemed to let everything out. "They wrung out every little detail that I saw! T-They would have wrung my own mother's voice from me, taken that from me, if they had just bloody thought to ask about it! They ripped me apart, Katrina, how could anyone stand it!?"
Kat sighed. "Oh, my Minnie, my little Minnie." She squeezed Minerva tightly.
Minerva had thought that being coddled and cuddled would have felt infantilizing, insulting.
She reveled in it. She tilted her head, so that when Kat leaned in, her nose, her lips, pressed like liquid gold to her skin. Gooseflesh prickled, despite the warmth of the room.
"Kat…" she whispered.
"The answer, Miss…" Another kiss. This one was on her earlobe and it came, daring, with a nip. A nibble. Minerva's toes curled. She gasped. The hand on her belly grew more insistent, tugging her closer. Possessive. Minerva tilted her head more. Exposing more of her throat. Her head was spinning. Swimming. "Minerva…" Another kiss. Her breath was warm. Moist in her ear. Kat's rough German accent had never sounded…
…sexier…
"...you lie, you silly girl."
Minerva blinked, shocked for a moment from the haze of red lust that bubbled through her brain. She sniffled. "L-Lie?" she asked.
Kat chuckled. "Yes." She turned Minerva around, so that Minerva's legs settled to either side of her. Straddled her. It was the most intimate pose that Minerva had ever been in in her life. She had been hugged from behind before. But she had never…straddled someone before. Like this. Kat's gold eyes bored into hers as she grinned. "How else do you think I got into this house?"
"W-..." Minerva opened her mouth. "B…But can't they tell?"
Kat snorted.
"If they could rip it from you with magic, they would not be wasting time with the twenty questions, ja?" She grinned. Her canines were so. So sharp. Minerva put her hand on Kat's cheek. She laughed, and blushed, and cried a little more.
"So, you just lied to them?" she asked.
"Told them all little stories they have come to expect, yes, of deep seas and deeper mysteries and oh so eager studying," Kat murmured. She turned her head. Kissed Minerva's palm. Then she took her hand in her hands. Kissed her wrist. "I didn't tell them thing one about the elk I hunted." Her golden eyes smolder. "Oh how she ran. Oh…how far. But not nearly fast enough, oh no, not fast enough at all."
Minerva felt as if her entire skin was too tight. Too warm.
"Not fast," she whispered.
"Not fast enough," Kat said. Her grin was wicked. Her canines were so very sharp. Minerva…leaned in.
She wanted to…
Kiss one of those canines. She wanted to feel that sharp edged tooth against her lip. She wanted to…
The door to the room banged open and a woman started to walk in backwards, holding a huge pile of luggage in her arms, and Minerva found herself, as if by magic, propelled to her feet and standing beside the window of the room, looking out at the lake beyond, while Kat was brushing her hand through her hair casually, leg cocked over her other leg. The brown haired, mousy looking girl who turned around to see Minerva and Kat smiled, wryly.
"W-Wait, uh, I thought this room only had one girl, I can change rooms, if, uh, if you want?"
"No, no, Minerva and I are friends," Kat said, standing up. "I have the room next door, Miss…"
"Oh, I'm Bellatrix!" The mousy looking girl said, smiling. "Bellatrix Landon-Blyhte."
"Blythe?" Minerva asked. "Any relation to the Blyhtes that live in London?"
"They're our poorer relations, I hear," Bellatrix said, then smiled. "And you're Minerva Schross-Sableknight?" She held her hand out. Minerva took it. "Don't worry, I don't snore!"
"I wasn't worried," Minerva said.
She ached as Kat ambled from the room.
***
Minerva's dreams were of the glass overhead cracking, of water rushing down stairs, pressing against the wooden door, spilling beneath the frame, creeping around the bed. She woke as it rushed down her throat and jerked upright, gasping and panting and trembling. Bellatrix kept snoring loudly. Minerva glowered at her, then looked around for her alarm clock. The glowing hands said it was four in the morning. She frowned.
Radium tips.
Minerva laid back, eyes closed.
She was wrenched from sleep again by the screaming of her alarm clock. She smashed it to sleep again, while Bellatrix groaned and rolled out of her bed. Both girls headed for the bathroom at the same time - Minerva gestured Bellatrix forward. She rubbed her palms against her face as Bellatrix started to brush her teeth, floss, then use the toilet, all as slowly as possible it seemed. Once Minerva had a chance to use the facilities, she was near to bursting.
The two girls dressed in their student robes. This was the first time Minerva had worn this garb since she had bought it, and finding it recolored in dark blue with orange highlights, with the House Sildanus pin already on the breast. The fierce looking rearing griffon made her frown slightly. Glintfaire used a lion, Sildanus used a griffon. That seemed repetitive to her. She shook her head and started out towards the common room. She found the door to Kat's room was open and Kat was sliding out, her roommate emerging. Kat looked…shockingly un-Kat-like in her house robes. She had even cast aside her jaunty hat. Their eyes met and Kat grinned. Butterflies bloomed inside of Minerva's belly.
The entire House set out as a group, and Minerva found that she was walking beside Millie, who chattered cheerfully and gaily as they moved through the corridors of Hexgramatica.
"I hear they're allowing clubs this year - there was some debate it with last year, but a bunch of students argued quite hard in favor of it. I do love school clubs, have you ever been in a school club? I think I want to join the chess club, do you think any boys might join the chess club? It is a rather boyish game, but I'm sure I can at least do passably well! Do you think they'll be serving waffles or pancakes for breakfast?"
Minerva gave her a thin smile. "W-We'll see," she said.
The banquet hall was a blessedly warm and convivial place. House Sildanus, House Glintfaire, House Ravelorexu, House Harrierette and House Wainscove each had their own tables. Minerva caught sight of Gina and Harry, in Glintfaire green and black, sitting at the corner of House Glintfaire. She made a note of setting as close to them as she could, putting her at the corner of house Sildanus. She looked over and caught Gina's eyes. Gina saw her, then her face twisted slightly. She mouthed the words 'tough breaks, old chap' at her, and Minerva gave her a little smile.
Breakfast, brought out by the fae, was a delirious arrangement of every type of food one could imagine. Including, of course, waffles and pancakes, which delighted Millie to no end. Minerva skimmed her gaze around, looking for any sign of Selene, and spotted the odd girl was perched among House Wainscove, her bright red and blue robes looking several sizes too large on her. As she spotted to her, Gregory asked: "Uh, what are you looking for?"
"Where the other first years got sorted," Minerva said, turning back to her meal.
"Ahh," Gregory said. "Want any bacon?" He asked, holding up the strips in a set of tongs that had come with the silver tray that the breakfast was brought on.
"No thank you, I prefer to eat light," Minerva said, smiling at him. He was trying to be polite, he had no idea after all. "So, um, what are the classes like?"
"Oh, they're ever so much fun!" Millicent said, her eyes shining brightly. "First years begin with some potions, then you do beasts, oh, I do love beast studying. There are so many interesting creatures. Then-"
"She has a schedule just like the rest of us," Penny said, her voice sharp as she dug into her waffles with a fork.
"I…I actually don't," Minerva said, a bit sheepishly.
"Check your pocket, first year," Penny said, rolling her eyes. "God, you're Sleeperborn, not an idiot, right?"
Minerva slid her hand into her pocket, glaring at Penny. There was nothing there. Then, quite suddenly, there was. It was a folded piece of parchment, which she withdrew and unfolded, to find it listed all of her classes, as well as their locations, with a sprawling map listed on the back of the paper. Somehow, despite being compacted and shrunk down to be small enough to fit on the parchment, the map seemed to swim before her eyes and unfold and unfold and unfold, until it seemed six times bigger than it should have been. When she glanced away, then glanced back, it was small once more.
"Penny!" Millie said as Minerva did her rummaging. "Don't be so rude."
"I'm not being rude, she's being an idiot," Penny said.
"Being Sleeperborn means I don't know all the things magic can do," Minerva said, her voice thin. "I'm going to not know things that seem obvious to you."
"You didn't do any reading?" Penny asked.
"She's a first year, Penny, calm down," Gregory said.
"If we lose the House Cup again…" Penny muttered, glaring down at her waffles.
"Again?" Minerva asked.
Millie shifted in her seat. "House Sildanus hasn't won the cup for…a while."
"But we're going to do it this time," Penny said, her voice grim.
"Does it matter that much?" Minerva asked.
"Yes!" Penny said. "Do you think I want to work raising magical reagents in one of the farms up the Midlands? Or maybe I could work in a factory putting together gizzers and tops and fucking spindles! Or, I know, I could spend my life trying to marry some wizard who has a job in the Ministry? Wizards with top marks and the best school records get the chance to have jobs worth having. And we're finally out of this damn Depression. Things have to get better for us."
"You're a wizard," Minerva said, frowning. "How could a mundane stock market crash impact you?"
"Well, show what you know," Penny snapped. "How'd you end up here, while my parents had to pull some bloody strings to get me into Hexgramatica and not St. Darrows or the Bowery or Middleton!"
"T-...The what?" Minerva asked.
Penny gaped at her as if she had started drooling. "Okay, now I know you're a fool," she said. "Did you think every wizard in Britain went to one school?" She pushed her food around with a fork.
"I-" Minerva blushed. She…she actually had rather thought that. Everyone had spoken about Hexgramatica as if it was the only school worth talking about. She looked down at her plate as Penny shook her head.
"Idiot Sleeperborn," she growled.
"Penny!" Millie glared at her. "That's enough."
The two twins - the half-sister twins - glared at one another.
Once breakfast was over, everyone began to split up for their classes. Minerva was trying to work up her nerve to ask someone - Millie, she supposed, was the best choice - why exactly everyone had muttered about House Sildanus. But before she could Millie was whisked away and Minerva found herself walking alone, following the map towards potions. But as she walked along, she saw Gina ambling along, her own nose in her map. "Gina!" she said, jogging to her side.
"Oh, hey," Gina said, wincing slightly.
"What?" Minerva asked, then glanced down at her robes. "Oh come now, it's not like I've become a Hun or something."
"...yeah," Gina said, nodding. "I…sorry."
"No, it's okay," Minerva said. "I say, we're still friends, though. Screw houses, right?"
Gina considered. She bit her lower lip. "I mean, you're House Sildanus though…"
Minerva felt her belly flop.
Then Gina snorted. "Eh, hell with it! Still friends."
Minerva frowned. They came to the potions classroom - it was situated high in a tower, requiring them to go round and round and round a stairwell before at last coming to a wooden door that opened into a room full of pale white desks. Minerva found that the map actually guided her straight to a desk that had been marked off as her own, and she saw that the…the fae had moved her alchemical gear right into the room, placing it there before she had even arrived. That was who had to be magically moving luggage about, the fae. Her stomach knotted at that thought, but there wasn't…anything she…
Her thoughts trailed off.
There was her alembic, her philosopher's stone, her cauldron. But there, also, was a small white feather sitting on her desk. She reached down and picked it up. "What the?" She whispered - then blinked. Her skin was starting to transform, turning yellow moment by moment as the feather glittered and turned to dust in her fingers. "What the!" She exclaimed again as the yellow swept along her whole body and, before she knew it, she was yellow from her head to her toes - she lifted her robes to check her shoes, and saw yellow ankles. She let the robes drop as the entire class started snickering and snorting.
Gina scowled. "Well, that's a…that's a mean trick!" she exclaimed.
"Looks like someone's gotten the new Silly off to a great start!" A voice called from the other students - Minerva snapped her head around, trying to see who it was, but no one announced themselves. Then the door opened and Professor Ravenwood walked into the room, her golden eyes narrowing as she saw Minerva. She walked forward as the room's chuckles and guffaws faded to silence.
"Who did this?" she asked, her voice grim. The entire classroom went silent. "Schorss-Sableknight, what, exactly, happened here?"
Minerva felt every eye on her. She felt awful. Points and house cups and House Sildanus swirled through her brain and she realized that Professor Ravenwood would hit whoever had pranked her for negative points - which would make Minerva's reputation even worse than already being in…House Sildanus.
White feather.
White feather.
Minerva hadn't been old enough to ever see it. But she knew the story: Back in the Great War, girls not too much older than her had given men who were fit and able and not at the front a white feather - a sign of cowardice, for shirkers and pacifists.
She knew House Sildanis' sin. They had, of all the Houses, stood against the Great War.
Minerva's sighed. "I…spilled some of my reagents on me," she said, her voice wooden. "It was my mistake."
"I see," Professor Ravenwood didn't believe her. "Wif Kemb Wif." She flicked her wand - and the yellow color vanished instantly. "Pathetic curse work. Whoever made it should be docked ten points for that alone." She walked away from Minerva who sat down, her chin lifted, head held high.
I will not squeal, she thought.
Professor Ravenwood, despite the disruption, began to teach the class. Despite the shame burning on her cheeks and the feeling of other people's eyes on her back, Minerva began to write down notes. Her pen - a relatively expensive fountain pen that she had borrowed from the Blythe townhouse - flew across the page as she wrote down diagrams and formulas that Ravenwood began to explain. The first demonstration potion that they had to work on came halfway through the class. Minerva's reading served her well. Half the class didn't seem to understand that one had to use a Philosopher's Stone extract extremely carefully when performing transmutations - they used much too much and half the class was swimming in broiling, hideous fog that stung the eyes like woodsmoke. Professor Ravenwood banished it with a wave of her wand and a barked spell, then began to upbraid students and hand out demerits by the pound.
When she came to Minerva's desk and eyed Gina's orange-red vial of glittering liquid, then eyed the pure ruby of Minerva's potion. That caused her to arch an eyebrow. "Virgina Blyhte, why is it that you are sitting next to a Sleeperborn and your Philter of Warmth has the hue of a diseased kidney?"
"Well, cause she's better at it than me," Gina said, cheerfully. "She's a grand old wizard!"
"I see," Ravenwood said, then picked up the Philter of Warmth. "I believe if I were to drink this, I might not drop dead within the minute." She set it down. "Five points to Sildanus."
She turned and started off.
Gina beamed at Minerva. "Looks like sitting next to you is gonna be my ticket to passing these classes, eh?"
Minerva smiled back.
She felt maybe she might make it after all. Her eyes drifted down to where the feather had rested on the desk.
Maybe.
Aww, her glee at the enchantment recognizing her as a woman is so cute and so real <3
Twei
I have a face!
- Location
- the land where they write things
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I posted these on patreon but I'll post em here too!
I guess you could also analyze it from the perspective of character traits and the supposed sorting or whatever
Ravenwood has the "when I was a kid we got hit three times a day, never did me any harm" strain of British brainworm, I see.
There's more than one school?!? In Great Britain alone???? Rowling is rolling in her future grave
Sildanus having stood against the war is interesting. I wonder if that was a decision of their rank and file or whether it came down to whatever passed for leadership at the time. Either way, it's not who you might naively expect, as the closest thing to a left House seems to be Harrierette, whereas Sildanus seems most associated with capital in terms of politics and class position. Though of course, the IRL left wasn't that good at resisting the Great War, right? AFAIK most of the socialists and social democrats in Europe ended up supporting it, and anyone who didn't was pretty effectively marginalized, hence the white feathers.
I guess you could also analyze it from the perspective of character traits and the supposed sorting or whatever
> the IRL left wasn't that good at resisting the Great War, right? AFAIK most of the socialists and social democrats in Europe ended up supporting it, and anyone who didn't was pretty effectively marginalized, hence the white feathers.
I think only the Bolsheviks opposed the war successfully from the left. A major slogan before the revolution was "peace, bread, land" and after the revolution the Bolshies pulled Russia out of the war as they had promised. It was the thing that Rosa Luxembourg praised Lenin for most, even as she criticised a lot of other things the Bolshies did (like murdering all the other leftists and centralising power in a new elite).
Outside Russia, many leftists also opposed the war, but the main socialist parties all supported it and there was no effective resistance, afaik.
I think only the Bolsheviks opposed the war successfully from the left. A major slogan before the revolution was "peace, bread, land" and after the revolution the Bolshies pulled Russia out of the war as they had promised. It was the thing that Rosa Luxembourg praised Lenin for most, even as she criticised a lot of other things the Bolshies did (like murdering all the other leftists and centralising power in a new elite).
Outside Russia, many leftists also opposed the war, but the main socialist parties all supported it and there was no effective resistance, afaik.
Do we know anything about House Sildanus except that it is shunned by the other houses and probably refused to fight in the war?
Edit: found the main descriptions for the houses:
So:
- original Sildanis set up Fae sweatshops
- other houses never liked them for unspecified reasons
- probably refused to fight in the war
- Kat already wanted to be in Sildanis when we first met her
Edit: found the main descriptions for the houses:
So:
- original Sildanis set up Fae sweatshops
- other houses never liked them for unspecified reasons
- probably refused to fight in the war
- Kat already wanted to be in Sildanis when we first met her
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Twei
I have a face!
- Location
- the land where they write things
- Pronouns
- They/Them
As I've understood it and/or discussed:
Glintfaire = Gryffindor
Ravelorexu = Ravenclaw
Harrierette = Hufflepuff
Sildanus= Syltherin
Wainscove= hastily renamed inbred German aristocrats - er, the monarchy
Hakazin
Serpent Admirer
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Yes and no. The debate over revolutionary defeatism versus social patriotism in regards to WWI was the initial domino that led to the collapse of the Second International-era socialist consensus and the split between revolutionary socialism and what we would now define as social democracy. The anti-war socialist factions were usually significant in size, but the pro-war factions usually had control over their local party apparatus and other political institutions. As a result, they were forced into the position of having to build entire new from scratch while under active suppression by the government, which limited their influence until after WWI ended.
- Pronouns
- It/Its
iirc Russia was the one place the anti war movement dominated, Germany also had a fairly sizable anti war movement that got shut out completely, but in France the head anti war guy got shot and they all jumped on the war train, idk what happened in England though
samdamandias
Apprentice Plane Wizard
Intentional, no?
That is terrible security. It's super obvious.
Kat gets it. Rotate your passwords. Or at least have sign-countersign.
A distinctive hat? Perhaps worn only by a certain group of people to mark them out?