Dust To Dust [M] (Whim!)

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

"A-Aahva, stop! I n-need that for c-class today!"

Susie Rainfeather cried out in pain as she was shoved to the floor, her schoolbag ripped from her hands. The Thanati boy laughed, imitating the girl's voice. "Aahva stop! Leave me alone!" He began to rummage through the redhead's bag, grinning cruelly. "What's the problem, retard? I just wanna see if you have any cool stuff in here, that's all."

"I-it's just my p-papers! N-n-nothing for y-you!" Susie sputtered, tears beginning to flow down her face. It seemed like every time she found something fun to do, the school always found some way to take it away from her. The girl swallowed timidly. "I-I don't carry my g-games with me a-anymore..."

Aahva looked down at the girl, sneering. "What? You're no fun..." The boy began to dig through the bag again, pulling out a bottle of ink. "Guess I'll just have to do this!"

"No! Wait!" Susie cried, but it was to late. Aahva uncapped the bottle and poured it's contents into the bag, staining it a deep blue color. "B-but..." the girl murmured, tears now falling freely from her face. "M-my essay on w-w-wards was in there..."

Aahva grinned nastily, throwing the bag to the side. He lifted his arm as if to hit Susie, laughing as the girl whimpered and recoiled. "You know what?" he said, spitting on her. "You're such a pussy, you're not even worth it."

The Thanati boy walked away, leaving Susie alone with her tears...

[Whim]

"Come on! We studied all week and you have a good memory anyway! The uppers are going out tonight, so Taig and Us can get the sparring pit to ourselves!" Kana, on the right, pleaded as the two-boy rounded a corridor. They were late for their lessons and cryptozoology and cutting across the stacks, a twisty, turny warren of dusty old bookshelves.

"We studied? You were trying to play cards with Arthur the whole time!" Liam huffed.

"Its a joint effort! You get me through class, and I see how you enjoy flexing for the mirror..." Kana gave a wry little smile.

"Ssh!" Liam brought a hand to Kana's mouth. Up ahead they could hear Aahva's shrill taunts. They were always fighting Aahva, and always getting in trouble for it. Liam's pride and Kana's aggression were not a good mix. They found themselves unconsciously avoiding the Thanati boy all the same, though neither ever admitted it. Soon Aahva's voice faded, replaced by the tell-tale sniffles and sobs of Susie. They found her between two-bookshelves trying to scrape ink off... everything.

"Susie? Are you okay?" Liam called out gently.

"Did that donkey dick take your hackeysack again?"

"Um, is that ink? Karsu's Chromatic Siphon can... de-blue things you know! I mean its pretty easy if you wanna get stains and things out. Kana always-!" Liam babbled on, over-eager, whether to help Susie or show off his spell who knew.

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Susie blinked at Liam's voice, and flushed a deep red at Kana's. "No! I don't want him to see me like this!" she thought. "What if he thinks I'm weak? I already chickened out on him once!"

Susie frantically attempted to wipe the tears from her eyes, smearing her face with ink in the process. "I-I'm fine!" she sputtered unconvincingly, smiling unnaturally at the two boys. "It was a, um, spell backfiring on me!" She looked at them uncomfortably for a bit, eyes wide. "Um. Yes. I-I could use help with this. P-please."

"I don't deserve it."

[Whim]

Liam canted his head and stared at her in disbelief. The apprentice attempted to cross his arms but Kana didn't follow. It came off more as an awkward kind of shrug.

"We both heard Aahva giving you trouble again! Why do you even let him?" Kana blurted out, a hint of anger in his voice. Letting Susie save face and politely pretending nothing happened wasn't in his nature. The duhjari boy had no sense of shame or subtlety. He raised up a white-knuckled fist, scratched and calloused "We'd get him for you."

"You're a good wizard Susie. I'd bet you could shrink him or give him buck teeth or something." Liam smiled at Susie, trying to be  reassuring. "But I guess fighting him does just make trouble. But really? Can he even do magic?  He's just so ordinary that I don't get why he gets away with so much.

"Give me a quill?" Liam asked, stepping them forward.

"Well there's gotta be a way to get back at him! Make him look stupid or weepy. I hear he cries at night! Maybe pants him in front of everyone?" Kana grinned.

"Can I have our pen?" Kana took his time to fish for the quill, perhaps deliberately if the little smirk he have Susie was any indication.

The more studious of the pair knelt over Susie's pack and began to twirl the quill. Inky vapor rose up from Susie's pack, swirling about the raven feather. The blue on her parchment began to fade... so too did the hem of Liam's sleeve as the spell pulled away the blue...

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Susie's cheeks flushed pink as Kana offered to get back at Aahva, and the girl timidly began to pick at her fingernails. "He's really gonna stand up to that jerkhead because of me?" she thought, trying not to tear up. "D-does he like me back?"

"Don't kid yourself, Susie." whispered a voice in her head. "Who would ever like you? Even Myyla think's you're worthless."

Susie's mind blanked, and she was silent as Liam knelt nearby to cast his spell. "Yeah." she silently agreed. "You're right. I'm a nothing." 

The blue began to disappear from Liam's sleeve, snapping Susie back into focus. "W-wait! That's too much!" she cried, and she quickly reached into her bag. "Oh no oh no oh no... Oh no!" Liam's spell had worked too well- not only had the ink stains vanished, all the writing in her spellbook and notepad had been removed as well. The redhead looked up at the two boys, tears streaming down her face. "T-that was all my notes f-for the semester..." she sobbed. "N-now what am I s-supposed to d-d-do?"

"Thow yourself off the library tower. Nobody will miss you anyway."

[Whim]

Liam stared blankly at Susie in utter shock, jaw slack. His face was hot. Before Kana he'd have been blushing furiously. How could he do such an awful thing? "I-I'm sorry! You said there wasn't any blue so I thought it was okay! We'll fix it somehow. Maybe I can help you with your homework or something?! I've had the class before." How could he be such a moron? Susie always got flustered. He should have asked. Why did he have to mess up her stuff of all people's? She'd breaks down when her socks don't match! And he wasn't supposed to make mistakes like this. Ever.

Kana was quiet for once. He liked fighting, but not arguments and bad feelings. Not between friends. Liam's idea made sense, they were one year ahead of Susie and either took or were taking anything she had. But copying would take ages and be so boring. Unless! "Susie. You can just copy us. Liam keeps all our old notes ya know. How long before class?" The duhjari boy might have taken a swipe at his other head, but Liam was probably feeling bad enough. Liam had never messed up a spell before. Not like this.

***

"Wretched!

"Nasty!

"Smelly!

"Stupid!"

Idiot hissed under his breathe, fluttering up and down and reshuffling the volumes of Cadebadh's Hivan. The imp did not care to read the book, but it had pretty pictures. Pretty fish. Idiot might have liked to have colorful fins like that. There were dozens of volumes, of course, and the order was ALL WRONG. Stupid human children always making mistakes. Idiot could hear them now squawking and whimpering without purpose as they do. It wanted to be one once and play chasing games and laugh and drip snot and have hair but it was not to be so. Idiot was made to keep order, and these human things were the very opposite.

It's ears, flappy bat things, twitched. Idiot did find their secrets amusing. The girl was like a little mouse always running and hiding. Always nervous. It made it so angry she would aquander what she was and be a little mouse instead...

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Susie stared at the now blank parchments in her hands, blubbering incoherantly. "B-b-but w-what if I g-g-get c-caught?" She looked up at the conjoined boys, face wet with tears. Her nose was beginning to run, and her lower lip quivered madly. "A-are you s-sure we c-c-can do that? We- we won't g-get in t-t-trouble?"

"There's no point. Just find a rope and hang yourself. You won't hurt anymore."

The image of the girl's body hanging limply from the rafters floated through Susie's mind, and she shivered. "U-um, would..." Her eyes drifted from Liam to Kana, and then to the floor. "W-why do you even w-want to help me? I'm no good..."

[Whim]

Liam reached out to touch Susie's shoulder. He should make her feel better, this was all his fault! But what could he really do? She probably hated him now. His hand hovered there, unable to extend or retract. "Its okay Susie. Its not your fault, its mine! And ruining your homework is against the rules too so copying should be okay. So long as you learn it, right?" In reality there wasn't any real rule against sabotage. Students were somewhat expected to keep their things safe, not that it was explicitly encouraged. The boy nudged Kana who began fishing for a quill and paper after some prompting.

"What was it on anyway? And when's it even due? Here you write out the alphabet so the quill knows what you write like. Then I'll dictate it. We won't even need to get my old notes." Liam beamed with pride just a bit. His memory was always very good, and whatever he dictates will probably turn out even better.

"Why not? You're our friend." Kana smiled, totally without guile. The boy flipped the quill in his hands, covered in scrapes and callouses, offering it to Susie with a flourish. Liam supposed Kana would still offer for her to copy even if Aahva hadn't ruined her notes. He wished he could be that way, sometimes.

***

Bad stupid ugly cheaters they could be wizards but they're not instead they're cheating! Idiot curled its wings and compressed himself into a crack in the bookshelf. Only a single, yellow eye glowering from a crack in the shelf would have given it away. Imps were better sometimes because they could fly and have no bones, but not all the time. It bulled its little fists, turgid with aqua vitae, digging razor claws into soft mahogany. Oh it would make them get it good and be made to do messy horrid things and be worse than imps because they were! Yes they would learn...

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

"You're our friend."

The words caused Susie to inhale sharply, and a small smile fluttered onto her lips. "I-I..." she stuttered, blinking the tears from her eyes as she took the quill. "Yeah... Friends."

The girl's cheeks were tinged pink as she hurriedly began to write the alphabet. "It w-was on words- um, wards." she said, stumbling over herself in her attempts to appear composed. "D-due next week, for Magistrix Fen-Breath."

"Oh Myyla, I can't believe it!" she thought, glancing up at Kana's cute smile. "He called me a friend! He actually called me a friend!" The girl handed back the paper, now with all twenty-four letters scribbled on it. "Th-thanks you guys..." she said, sniffling. "I'm glad I have friends like you..."

[Whim]

One week? She could do that easy. In a day even! It was so dumb to risk cheating over this! But he did promise. They did, rather.  Liam felt warmth rushing to his cheeks at Susie's words. He ever really had friends before, either... The boy reached for the paper and pen, and gestured to a tiny end-table flanked by two chairs. A flower-pot, housing a tiny tree with an even tinier village upon its leaves, sat on the table. "Its really no problem. Its wards against hexes and demons, right? We can do that easy.

"...wards are spells used to pre-emptively negate the actions of another spell. They are divided into two classes: metamagic and kinetic. Metamagic wards, which negate any magical manipulation. Metamagic wards are difficult to maintain and can potentially create barriers impermeable to your own spells. Kinetic wards, which are not true wards, conjure energy opposed to a spell. An example of this would be an icy wind to a counter a blast of flame..." the quill moved on its own, scratching his words into the parchment. It was all in Susie's looping script.

Kana peaked around Liam to talk with Susie. It was kind of weird to just sit there quietly while the more bookish of the two babbled about magic. "I guess that's one nice thing about being this way. It makes sitting together much easier," he smiled at the sad girl. "Anyway you feeling better? Weren't you afraid Fenbreath was gonna eat you at first? She looks just like the stories. I don't know why they just don't make Aahva's mouth vanish or something. She did it to us once."

"Just wait a minute okay? Its hard to think with you guys- Oh gosh now I wrote it! I'm going to need to erase this bit now!"

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Sniffling, Susie nodded and sat at the table. She watched in awe as the pen began to write in her own handwriting. "He has an E-Z-Forge pen?" she thought, beginning to get nervous. "But I thought they were on the ban list like dupliquills are!" The girl's breathing became heavy, her eyes growing wide. "What if se're caught and we get in trouble? Will they hate me for it? Oh no, this is really bad!"

Kana's voice snapped Susie out of her panic. "Y-yes! Much better!" she squeaked somewhat unconvincingly. "Miss- um, Magistrix Fen-Breath has always been really nice to me! She even let me keep the pup..."

The girl's voice trailed off as she remembered the dog she'd transmogrified in class, and how it's bloody, broken body had been discovered in the hall the next day. The girl's eyes began to well up with tears once more. "U-um..." she said, lower lip trembling. "She just l-looks scary is all... I don't think she'd hurt a fly..."

[Whim]

Liam waved a hand and the dupiquill stopped, for a moment. "Well I think some pretend to be sweet to, um-" Liam tried to hide a brief wince. Kana had reached behind their heads to scratch, subtly flicking his friend's ear.

How could Liam be so smart and so stupid? It was kind of cute. But you had to let Susie have something. She got questions wrong in class almost much as him, but mostly because she kept going back and forth and back and forth. She was really good at hacky-sack too. One time he swore she conjured enough energy to knock a stone loose. Kana didn't really care very much about auras and elemental manipulation, really (he kind of didn't have to), but he knew some stuff. "You made it really cute ya know! You-" Liam nudged him back.

"You are a pretty good transmuter anyway. Can you change that dust stuff you make into other things yet?"

***

This week Idiot was meant to find Headmistress Nettlefield when students were bad. Usually it was bigger, uglier humans he needed to find. But this week the Master told Idiot and the other imps to report everything bad and wrong to the Headmistress Nettlefield. Many mischief-makers meant many meaty mice! Leathery wings propelled Idiot, with more purpose than the imp could usually muster, through the labyrinth of bookshelves. It sent candles flickering, and a bird-faced girl with glass on her eyes shrieked when his barbed tail whipped her face, knocking her extra eyes onto the floor. Idiot was the best imp. There was a great line of imps in the headmistress' study. Three more were on the floor, smoldering, ozone fresh in the air.

"Magistrix Nettlefield! Two bricks at front gate are black and not red!

"Mistress Nettlefield! Professor Zinc did not cut hair from face again!"

"MISTER NETTLEFIELD RAINFEATHER GIRL DID BAD! STEALING NOTES AND SPELLS FROM TWO-HEADED BOY!" You had to be loud to be heard. Idiot was the loudest and the smartest.

The Magistrix was perched at her desk, eyes narrowed at the cadre of shrieking homunculi. It was not in their nature, being wrought from blood and clay, to sense her outpouring of contempt. It was not in their nature to care for their siblings' safety. Her finger darted between the flock, ready to pick another victim, but paused at the mention of Susie Rainfeather...

***

Azure rob afflutter, Saoirse Nettlefield kept place with the gleeful imp. She made no effort to hide her footfalls; the school was hers and she knew every inch. Money from the Whitechalk family was all well and good. It was business: prestige for the family and funding for Wyrdwood. However, the way their useless daughter wandered about with pretensions of importance was completely unforgivable. Showing how that toy of her's, the Rainfeather girl, was a worthless little sneak would be just perfect. A letter to Juniper, no, to her father would be a perfect reminder.

"So good to see my students working together so diligently. Shall I check?" Her voice was sharp. There wasn't even a twang of humor or mockery to it, just impatience. She knew that they knew that she knew.

Liam's jaw fell open. The headmistress? But how-? Why would she even-? At least he couldn't blush anymore. The boy fumbled for the dupiquill but it was on Kana's side.

"Kia's cunt..." Kana muttered. He did not have the cunning.

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Susie expression turned bleak at Liam's comment. The puppy had been really cute. Transmogrifying that kettle was without a doubt the coolest thing she'd ever done, but fate had seemingly taken issue with her small victory. "Um, I-I..." the girl stuttered, desperately trying to distract herself from the image that was currently stuck in her head. "W-well, I'm not s-sure it-"

"So good to see my students working together so diligently. Shall I check?"

Susie froze, her eyes like dinner plates. "The headmistress?" she thought, beginning to hyperventilate again. "But she'll see us! We're gonna get in trouble! What if we're expelled?"

"It won't matter, Susie. You aren't a very good witch anyway." said a voice in her head. "You deserve to be expelled." The girl blinked, desperately trying to quell the tears that were forming in her eyes. Her head moved up to look at the headmistress...

And then she saw Kana's face.

"Yeah, so what?" she thought, a weak sense of determination beginning to fill her chest. "Maybe I do derseve to be expelled, but they don't! They were only trying to help!" Susie's hand clenched into a fist. "I can't let them get in trouble!"

The redhead stood up abruptly, rocking the table and (deliberately) knocking over the inkwell Liam had been using. The blue liquid spilled over the notes that'd been taken, rendering them illegible. "Headmistress Nettlefield!" she squeaked. "I-It would be an honor to have you look over my notes!"

[Whim]

Kana stifles something between a gasp and a laugh of fear. He knew when not to push it, usually because of how Liam would get all tense. Most underclassmen tutors, besides, accepted that kids would be kids. It was okay to punch Aahva or enchant someone's desk to run away. Magisters, especially the older ones, were very different. There was sometimes just a look in their eyes where Kana knew they could care less if he lived or died. Saoirse was like that.

Liam cringed. Just tell her! Nettlefield isn't dumb, your story isn't going to add up, and that will make her angry. Getting in trouble, really, was not so bad...

Nettlefield's eyes widened. Surprise? Anger? Amusement? That was the only indicator of emotion on her stony face. An unseen force whisked the page from Susie's fingertips and held it in front of Saoirse's face. "Have you found the imps of Wyrdwood to be very imaginative, Susie? Your little friends, rather routinely, are able to outsmart them. Do you really think one might invent fanciful tales of how Kana-Liam is writing your essay?

"I would be expecting you to mop that up if it wasn't intentional." A soft breeze gusted over the paper, drying the ink before it might spread further. The Whitechalks' pet was not so bright, was she? And how smug she was about it! No doubt preening around the school and chasing after boys under the delusion she has real talent, while some poor and deserving students toil in obscurity.

Liam flicked his wrist and a spectral handkerchief, translucent and vaguely sparkling, errupted from their sleeve. Kana began to mop up the ink with a nudge.

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Susie swallowed nervously as the notebook was taken from her, her body quaking. What did she say now? She couldn't let Kana and Liam get in trouble, not when they'd been so willing to help her! "I-I-I didn't..." she stuttered, desperately trying to sound not guilty. "It- it's not what you t-think! T-that imp must be-"

"It's all true, Headmistress Nettlefield!" exclaimed a nasally voice. "I saw the whole thing!"

What little hope Susie had left evaporated. With her lower lip trembling, the redhead turned her head to see Beatrix Evans standing behind them with her arms crossed. "B-Beatrix..." Susie whispered. "Please..."

"Kana and Liam were letting Susie copy their essay 'cause Susie didn't have it done yet!" Beatrix said, ignoring her classmate's pleas. "They were using one of those quills that lets you copy handwriting, which are explicitly stated to be against the rules in chapter six of the student handbook." The pug-faced girl glared at the supposed troublemakers, her black irises seeming to ripple slightly. "I can't believe you'd cheat like that! Some of us actually put in effort, y'know!"

[Whim]

"How does anyone know you're not?   You could be copying us from any fold in the dark! And-" Kana spat defiantly crossed their arms. That was the weirdest part. When your arm wasn't yours anymore.

"Aahva did pour ink on her work. We were just trying to help her understand it. We were, um, teaching her..." Liam added hopefully with a sort of half-hearted smile. Sometimes people really did occasionally notice that he, or they, were actually good students...

"-and Aahva poured ink over all her stuff anyway! Her essay was probably good but its not like she can rewrite it so quick!"

Really...

Nettlefield's lips, usually woven into a steely yet enigmatic grimace, flickered into a half-smile as Beatrix stepped into view. The Headmistress was not one to joke or grow over-familiar with students. Even the smallest hit of praise, she liked to imagine, carried weight. The girl had won some honors in her brief time at Wyrdwood, and Saoirse knew enough that the pug-nosed girl was disliked by her peers. It was hard to follow the rules, and be liked, and succeed. You could only ever pick two. "Thank you for your honesty, Beatrix. I know that was a difficult choice.

"And don't you imagine, Kana-Liam, That Susie simply should have informed a teacher if there is misbehavior? Surely you know that. There are procedures for everything." Nettlefield narrowed her eyes toward the Whitechalk's mousy pet. "Now I do believe the sixth years are having an examination today. I am going to send you over there. I trust you know why?"

"You're always finding ways for Aahva for be an ass to people. Always! And you cheat, too, I bet. This is why no no one likes you! Do you even care that Susie's stuff got ruined!?" Kana glared indignantly at Beatrix. Whatever Nettlefield was droning on about was irrelevant. It was just boring teacher stuff. Why was this lady even in charge?

Liam was beginning to get mad too. Perhaps it was just their shared hertbeat. But how could Beatrix make him go to detention and cost him a bad grade? They were so much smarter than she was anyway! Or at least just as clever. And maybe Kana was right and the teachers really weren't going to do anything about her. But he was... and it was going to be great. Their left hand lifted the quill from the desk and began to twirl it, Liam's eyes locked on Beatrix. Karsu's Chromatic Siphon slowly bleaching her blue hair white. Old lady white. He could always blame it on Kana...

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Susie's glared at Beatrix, tears running down her face. The ugly girl was practically glowing at the Headmistress's praise! Why did she always cover for Aahva?  She was so gross!

Kana, unsurprisingly, shared Susie's opinion. The blue haired girl's face fell as the boy tore into her, lower lip trembling. "P-people like me!" she said, eyes beginning to water- crocodile tears, Susie bet. The girl began chew on a lock of her hair- another gross thing she did. "I have-"

Just then, the color from Beatrix's hair began to fade! Susie burst out laughing. Was Kana responsible? It had to be him, right? Oh, how Beatrix deserved that...

"Susie! How could you?" Beatrix cried, tears now falling from her face. "You're so mean! It- it's like you don't care about living up to the school's reputation at all!"

[Whim]

A little smile crossed Liam's face when Susie started to laugh. He was always so afraid to do stuff like this. Usually Liam would be smiling and nodding while someone else bragged about a prank or told a dirty joke. But not this time, and it was great! It was great until he caught sight of Nettlefield.

Kana suppressed a little giggle at the color change

Nettlefield pursed her lips. There was, however, an audible crunch as the Magistrix ground her teeth with rage. Did this failed experiment that amounted to nothing more than a castoff toy, and this middling insignificant little girl really think Saoirse Nettlefield was some schoolmarm to be sniggered at?  Saoirse pointed a manicured nail at Susie's robe. A wisp of blue snaked from it and toward Beatrix's hair, turning it blue once more, though it remained a frizzy mess. Susie's robe was left frayed, pale, and blotchy. It was always so neat and pressed, too. "Susie and Kana-Liam. Did you really think even cracking a smile at this stunt was wise? I do not understand why it was even very funny? Is it just the only spell you knew how to do with even middling competence?"

'But-!" Liam was sure he could do Beatrix's old hair better...

The Headmistress' fingers danced through the air in an intricate pattern, filling the air with the cool scent of ozone. And then came a flash of light and a boom of thunder. A crooked blue man with feathery wings stood before her, no doubt some air daemon. His beady blue eyes met Nettlefield's with a mix of loathing and awe. "Imp! Take these three to the alchemy stockroom. They will scrub the rust from every last pot. It is just through the Alchemy lab. The sixth years are having a little test, but do not mind them. Perhaps they will enjoy the parade?"

The little daemon nodded eagerly, sending a jolt of electricity toward Kaliam and Susie. "You go now!"

"Ow! We're going we're-" they yelped again in unison, a second shock countering whatever rebuttal they could muster.

***

"It will get easier." Her voice was quiet. Saoirse turned away from the tear-stricken Beatrix. Pretending it never happened seemed more of a mercy. It was not that her heart was icy, she should say something, but such a display would be saccharine and unseemly. "Nonsense like that stops being amusing once it actually wastes time. Susie's mistress will grow bored of her and in time she will be nothing. Kana and Liam have already served their purpose and are now a passing curiosity.

"I will... I will see you are rewarded." Would she have wanted anything more, at that age, than a nice book or a new wand for being right? A smile or pat on the arm from an elder would just be pitiful.

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

This was going far better than Beatrix could have ever hoped.

She had known the two-headed boy was impulsive, of course- watching people was a hobby of hers. To have jinxed her in front of the headmistress, however, went far beyond "impulsive" and right into "really fucking stupid" territory. Really, what made him think it was a good idea?

Pinning his act on Rainfeather did make Beatrix feel bit guilty. The two girls shared a common enemy, though the redhead didn't know it. Aahva was the least of that girl's problems- Maergath's tiefling lacky was the real menace. Still, Susie being a troublemaker seemed to be what Nettlefield wanted to hear, so she'd have to take the fall this time. Besides, when had Susie ever been nice to her? She was the same as the other students, really.

Sniffling, Beatrix looked up at the headmistress. Her eyes rippled slightly. "Th-thank you for standing up for me..." she whimpered, tears flowing freely down her face. "Nobody's ever done that for me before... M-my classmates just tell me I'm a killjoy for sticking to the rules..." She swallowed nervously. "Um... I don't want a reward... I t-think they would want to get back at me if I did..."

Her eyes suddenly grew hopeful. "But, maybe, could you show me how to do that spell? I'm not the first girl who's been hit with that color drain charm, I bet if I could reverse it for people then maybe I..." She trailed off, as if embarresed to have said it. "I mean... if you had time..."

"I am going to be your favorite student, Nettlefield." Beatrix thought darkly. "Freeing Aahva will be a piece of cake if I have you in my pocket..."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"This is not fair!"

Susie, for what seemed like the first time in forever, was visibly angry. Having to clean dirty cauldrons was bad enought, but seeing all those upperclassmen giggling at her when they were paraded through the testing hall was too much. "I hate her!" she spat, aggresively scraping the dried muck out of a large beaker. "She lies about everything, and she always gets away with it! She such a... such a..." The girl face scrunched up with rage. "Such a cunt!"

The beaker was clean by this point, but the redhead didn't seem to notice. "I hate this stupid school too!" she muttered, her scrubbing getting increasingly violent. "Everybody is out for themselves, and the people who aren't get-"

The girl shrieked in frustration as the beaker broke in her hands, glass nearly piercing her hand. "Myyla's underwear! Can't I do anything right!?"

[Whim]

"If you've made a sacrifice you should get a reward." Magistrix Nettlefield maintained careful stillness as Beatrix sniffled. She had considered children when she was much younger. Why not? It was the next step when your youth was fading and your friends and siblings were settling. Try as she might that the spark was never there. Not with her nieces and nephews. Not with children she tutored. Spark was the word she used because it was impossible to articulate. The way Ellis could make faces and tell jokes seemed so natural, but the science of why was beyond her. It did not matter, truly, Saoirse was content. But why was this impossible to master?

"But do you really think a pretty illusion is worth your time? Or mine? You could learn it from a book in three days. Think of something you would actually want or use.

"You are smarter than this. You won't get my favor very often so think carefully about something I can give you that no one else can." Those cutting words felt right.

***

The boys gasped in unison at the weepy girl with broken glass. She was almost trembling. "Um, here. Liam can get that for you.

"And you know, most of those uppers probably had to do this once or twice. Its nothing, really! And the teachers know you're not bad Susie. The Headmistress doesn't really know who we are is all." Kana tried to sound cheery. It wasn't really very fair to Susie. He and Liam got punished but they got some laughs out of it. And everyone kind of liked them. It wasn't like Susie ever got to sneak out or do anything fun, she studied hard, but was always treated like a trouble maker. It was the worst of both worlds. Probably. It made him sad. "This whole idea was Liam's fault anyway. So I'm blaming him for the fact my ass got shocked a bunch of times."

"The one time I do something fun? And its our, um-" Liam turned a bright shade of red, hiding a smirk. Kana wasn't helping him scrub. He could feel it and had to be bored, of course, but it was kind of an unspoken thing that Kana would always actually do whatever chore they were assigned after being dumb. Now it was the other way.

"Anyway, maybe we should do a little something to embarrass Aahva and Beatrix? Or at least show people what they're like. They can't just keep doing this. You probably spent hours on that essay! Maybe Beatrix's schoolwork should get spoiled for once." The idea of taking her down a peg, academically, was more appealing than Aahva.

"We could pants him at dinner friday!"