Chapter 12
*Heartslabyul dorm*
*Heartslabyul garden*
“Woah ! This is gorgeous! It couldn't be more different from ours !” Grim said.
“Oh yeah, I saw the outside changed, how’s the inside ?” Ace asked.
“Gloomy, green, and silver, Roxana ! Roxana ! Can we have a garden like this one ??” Grim asked her while jumping in front of her like a five year old kids.
Roxana chuckled. “Of course, but I can’t promise you that I won’t put a Devil Snare there or some poisonous plants, or flowers that bite”
The two Heartslabyul first years eyes widened at that. “WHAT ?”
Grim’s ears flattened on his head. “…I changed my mind”
“Aww I though you wanted a garden” Roxana teased him by poking him.
“YES ! A GARDEN LIKE THIS ONE ! NOT A DEATH TRAP !!!” The chimera screamed.
*Heartslabyul Dorm - Rose Maze*
“Crap. I've gotta hurry and get these roses painted.” Another ginger man said.
“Hey, someone’s here.” Grim pointed at the ginger boy.
The ginger noticed a white flower and quickly painted it red. “Oops, nearly missed that. Leave even a bit of white and my head's gone.” The ginger finally turned around to notice the trio behind him accompanied with a cat. “...Hm? You guys need something?”
“What are you doing with that?” Ace pointed at the red paint.
“This? Can't you see that I’m painting the roses red?” The ginger responded like it was obvious.
Deuce looked confused. “Huh!? But why?”
“Ahh, it's been a while since I've got to see such cute reactions like this. Actually, aren’t you the new kids that shattered that 10,000,000 Madol chandelier yesterday?” The guy smiled.
“We're gonna hear about that chandelier until the day we graduate...” Ace mumbled.
Roxana smirked. “Suffer”
“And you’re the first girl in NRC” The ginger said while looking at Roxana before he turned to Ace. “And you're the one who added on even more punishment by stealing the dorm leader's tart that very same night! I feel so lucky getting to meet the notorious newcomers first thing in the morning~♪ Hey, hey~! Let’s take a selfie! Yaaay! Can I put this on Magicame? Tell me your names so I can put you in the tags !”
“I’m Deuce Spade.”
“Ace”
“Grim !”
“Roxana Lestrange, a pleasure”
“Boop! And up it goes~♪ Oh right, name's Cater Diamond, I'm a third-year. You can call me Cater. Caycay is fine, too~♡ Nice to meetcha~”
Roxana was the one who passed her phone to Cater, the third year took her phone and added himself in her Magicame, Roxana took back her phone to look at the picture.
For a picture that was taken in such a hurry it came out good. Roxana liked the photo before she put the phone in the pocket of her uniform.
“Btw Roxana, you became the prefect for Ramshackle Dorm right ? Everyone’s been talking about that. Surprised you’re chill with living there! It's super dark, I can’t even imagine any part of it being Magicammable. You have my sympathy.” Cater said.
Roxana smiled. “Actually the Dorm is now renovated, and I changed its name, the name of the Dorm now is Slytherin, and I would love if you started calling it by it new name, it’s represent a very powerful man from where I came from his name was Salazar Slytherin, the Slytherin dorm value cunningness and ambition ”
“Really ? I should visit later then !” Cater said. “Do tell me who’s this Salazar later too !”
“Man, this guy really doesn’t know when to shut up, does he?” Grim said. “And why are you making conversation with him anyway ?”
“What am I doing? I don’t have time to just stand around and talk! The party is tomorrow. I don't wanna lose my head for being late. Hey, you guys mind helping paint the roses?” Cater asked
And this is my queue to walk away, not my Dorm not my job. Roxana though before she ditched the trio.
Well the witch had the decency to at least wait for them to come out.
“YOU DITCHED US !!” Ace complained.
“Your dorm, your rules, your job, so I don’t have to do anything when I don’t belong to Heartslabyul” Roxana said. “Let’s go to class, I don’t want to be late and neither do you”
Laboratory
FIRST PERIOD: Potions
“So you’re all the fresh faces starting my class today. Hmmm, there are some rare hair colors in the bunch. Not bad. Make sure to take proper care of it. My name is Divus Crewel. You may feel free to call me Master Crewel. Now, hurry up and take your seats. It’s time for class to begin. Let’s start with the basics. I’m going to hammer the names and appearances of 100 different kinds of both medicinal and poisonous herbs into your tiny little brains. Fungi will come at a later time. Memorize these so you don't go poisoning yourselves with random things lying on the ground. Dogs really do eat whatever is lying around. So that not a single puppy here gets anything near a failing mark, your training will be harsh and strict.” Crewel said.
“Goodness I always had a weak point for handsome men” Roxana gave a sly smile.
Although he reminds me of Snape with that long speech. She though.
Ace looked at her in disgust. “That’s the professor !”
“And ?”
“Girls !” Ace rolled his eyes.
Deuce nodded at what Crewel said. “I see. ...By the way, what's a "fungi"?”
“Blegh, this is gonna suck. My memory’s a pile of dirt.” Ace sighed.
“Then you better start studying from now on, I can lend you my notes later” Roxana said.
Ace tsk-ed. “No thanks !”
Grim deadpanned. “All that matters when it comes to grass is whether or not it tastes good.”
“I hope you’re ready for a lesson about Devil Snare from me later then Grim” Roxana said while giving a closed eye smile that promised pain and suffering.
Grim cried to himself.
Classroom
SECOND PERIOD: Magical History
“My name is Trein, and this is my familiar, Lucius. I’ll be in charge of your history lessons. In this class, you will learn about the history of magic, and how it brought prosperity to the world.” Trein said.
“Mroooooaaaaaaawwwwwwwr”
“Your grade will be determined not solely on your coursework, but on participation and behavior in class, as well. Sleeping is absolutely forbidden. Open your textbooks to page 15. We will begin with the discovery of Magic Gems in the Dwarfs' Mine during what had been a routine excavation of gemstones.”
“Mroooooaaaaawwwwwwwr”
“Knowledge of magical energy spread throughout the world after this discovery of the century, leading to that year being named the First Year of the Magic Age.”
“Mroooooaaaaaaaawwwwwr. Plfft.”
Ace yawned.
“Mrooaaah~ At Dwarfs' Mine... Mroaaahh~ Magical energy...” Deuce said between yawns.
“Mmgh, I want a more exciting class that lets us use magic like BANG!” Grim said before he yawned.
And I thought Binns was bad. Roxana’s face didn’t let out any emotions, on the inside she felt tired and every other synonym you could use for that word.
Sports Field
THIRD PERIOD: Physical Education
“Name’s Vargas. I’m in charge of training you bean sprouts up. Becoming a great mage starts with your body! Just look at the muscles you can get from eating raw eggs every day! You can’t be a mage if you don’t have the stamina for it. Start with 20 laps around the track, then 100 pushups!” Vargas said.
“Ugh... I don't dislike exercise, but I can't stand this type of teacher.” Ace complained.
“I've got confidence in my stamina” Deuce said.
“What's so fun about running in circles!? I'm not a freaking hamster” Grim complained.
No, but eat like one. Roxana smiled.
Interior Hallway
BREAK TIME
“Let’s see, the next class is…” Deuce looked at the schedule.
“What was our next class again…? For being a so-called magic school, sure is barely different to a regular old school. It’s kinda boring. Real plain. Not being able to use magic hasn’t really affected me, at all. How about you, Grim?” Ace asked.
Grim was in Roxana’s arms, the woman did not give him a chance to escape.
Grim grumbled under his breath and said nothing.
“Don’t be like this Grim, this is what you wanted after all~” Roxana smiled.
***
“It’s finally lunch time! Wow, everything always looks so good here!” At this point Grim was drooling. “Fluffy omelet! Grilled chicken and bacon-egg tarts!”
Roxana chuckled. “Oh my~ I have a greedy little chimera with me”
Grim turned to look at her. “Says the woman who has a mountain of gold inside her magical suitcase”
The witch narrowed her eyes at him. “Keep my gold out of this !”
Grim looked the other way and decided to focus on food, only for then to start to take place after place and talking loudly.
“Shut up! You're so loud! Try being this excited during more than just lunch…” Ace said.
“Hey, hey, I want some grilled chicken! It's the last one! Oh, oh, and the omelet! Bread and jam, too! Just take a bunch of everything! Ow!” Grim bumped into someone.
“Noooooo! Oi, watch it! Cause of you, the egg in my pasta broke!” Delinquent A said.
“Woah, woah, woah~ Breaking the gooey egg is, like, the best part of eating carbonara, you know? How you gonna pay us back for that, huh?!” Delinquent B said.
“Hand over that grilled chicken as compensation, otherwise we can't call this even.” Delinquent A said.
“Ffgna?! Hell no! This is my chicken!” Grim refused.
“Huh? You're the new kid on the block here. This what you call paying respect to your elders? Come around back!” Delinquent A said.
“H-Hey, settling personal squabbles with magic is prohibited...” Deuce said.
“Squabble? This is just seniors teaching their juniors proper behavior!” Delinquent A said.
“Better prepare yourself!” Delinquent B said.
Roxana put herself between the boys. “Now, now gentlemen, there is no need for a fight”
“HAH ? You stay away from this !” Delinquent A said.
“Hey, hey, how about you pay us back for what you little pet did eh ?” Delinquent B said in her face.
Roxana smiled before she slapped Delinquent B while casting a wandless stupefy, she quickly slapped the other one too and casted a wandless stupefy on him just like she did to his friend.
Both of them fell on the flood unconscious.
“…Death slap” Ace whispered to the two besides him. “She’s like a viper”
“Uh-huh” Deuce nodded in agreement looking at the two idiots on the floor.
“Are you coming to eat or are you staying frozen there ? If I didn’t know better I would have thought that my dear basilisk petrified you” Roxana said before walking to an empty table.
The one brain cell trio followed after her.
“Whatever let's just eat. I even missed breakfast. If I have to go any longer without food, I might just pass out…” Ace said as he took a seat on a table Roxana sat at.
“You had time to eat breakfast, you just didn’t want to eat” Roxana said.
“We really have no luck. Given this is a prestigious school that's really hard to get into, the last thing I was expecting to come across was such cookie-cutter delinquents.” Deuce said.
“There will always be a bad egg in every school Deuce so don’t be surprised” Roxana said as she took a bite of her steak.
“No point dwelling on the riff-raff! Let's eat! Om nom, nom! Delicious! The egg of the omelet is so light and fluffy, and the center is filled with such gooey cheese! Om nom, nom! So we saw your guys' dorm this morning, but what are the other dorms like?” Grim asked.
“You know about the statues of the Great Seven displayed on Main Street, right? The seven dorms of this school were made in the fashion of them.” Cater said appearing behind them.
“Hey! You're the guy from this morning!” Ace pointed at him.
“You tricked us into painting those roses for you!” Grim said.
“Aw, you're so mean. Not like I was doing it because I wanted to. I had no choice but to do it. It's part of our dorm's rules.” Cater said
“You were grinning all the while...” Deuce pointed out.
“Now, now, Deucey.” Cater said. “Those rules are only while we're inside the dorm, so right now, Caycay's just your kind, friendly senior.”
“D-Don't call me Deucey!” Deuce said embarrassed.
“Haha, that's just how Cater shows affection.” Trey said.
“Hang on, who are you?” Ace asked.
“Oh, my bad. I'm Trey. Trey Clover. I'm a third year in Heartslabyul like Cater. And you're the new student put in charge of the newly named dorm Slytherin was it ?” Trey said to Roxana.
The Slytherin witch nodded. “You are correct”
“I heard from Cater about all the trouble these guys have caused you. Sorry about that.” Trey said to Roxana.
“Don’t worry about it, I could just curse them if I wanted to” Roxana said.
Trey and Cater sweat dropped, Trey kept a civil smile but the event of few minutes ago played in his mind again. “Yeah…I…saw”
“We're literally right here, dude…” Ace said.
“Come on, we're in the same dorm! No point being like this all the time. Let's exchange numbers and get along!”
“Here this is my Magicame account Trey” Roxana said as she gave her Magicame name to Trey and exchanged their phone numbers.
Low or high, it’s good to have contact in both places. Roxana though.
“You were talking about the dorms, yeah? That's a good conversation topic! Makes for a nice change. Let your elders tell you whatever you wanna know.” Cater said.
“Honestly, I want to know about our own dorm first, I won't lie. The hell is up with those crazy "Laws of the Queen of Hearts"?” Ace said.
Roxana looked at him. “Dishonor”
“You know all about the legendary Queen of Hearts, right? She created a wonderland of madness built on strict adherence to her rules.” Trey said.
“Out of respect for the Queen of Hearts, those of us in Heartslabyul traditionally wear red and black arm bands, just like her dress, and uphold the laws that she made.” Cater explained.
“Sounds way too stuffy for me! How strictly we follow the rules depends on the dorm leader. Last year's was pretty chill about it.” Cater said
Trey continued. “Dorm Leader Riddle's way more serious about this stuff than even some of the most notorious dorm leaders in Heartslabyul's history. He follows those rules as closely as possible.”
“Bleeeh. What a pain...”
“If he continue like that, there will be a rebellion” Roxana said. “It’s just a matter of time”
Trey and Cater looked at each other and said nothing.
“So, what about the other dorms?” Grim asked.
And Roxana stopped listening until Trey finished telling the names of the dorms.
“Diasomnia, the dorm founded on the majesty of the Fairy of Thorns.”
“I think among all dorms Diasomnia is my favorite”
Deuce looked at her. “Why ?”
“Diasomnia is mysterious, and I love that” Roxana explained.
“Their names are too long! No way I'm gonna remember all of them!” Grim said.
“Ahaha! Just the rough idea’s fine. You'll remember them eventually.”
“Which dorm you enter is based on the judgement of the Dark Mirror when it looks at your soul during the entrance ceremony... So you'll find each dorm is filled with similar types of people.”
“You're right about that. I totally see it.” Cater said.
Deuce looked curious. “What kind of types?”
“For example…look over there” Trey pointed at the familiar Savanaclaw.
Wolf beastman … what was his name again ? J something. Roxana tough for a moment before the name came to mind. Oh right Jack.
“You see someone as built as that; you instantly think Savanaclaw.” Trey said.
“Totally! That dorm has a lot of people who’re good at sports and martial arts. They're, like, the buff and gruff big bro types if you get what I mean. Savanaclaw wears yellow and black armbands.” Cater said.
“Ohm, okay. Then what about that guy with the grey and lavender thing on his arm?” Grim asked.
Trey looked at the guy in question. “He’s from Octavinelle.… the guys with the dark red and yellow bands sitting at the table in front of us are from Scarabia.”
“They say the ones with the brains go to either of those two dorms. Always feels like they're both super close in scores for written tests…That said, the Scarabia dorm leader isn't really that great at studying.” Cater said.
“And there it is, the sign that we're about to go off on a completely different tangent.” Ace said.
Trey smiled. “Wow, you adjust quick, don't you? Getting back on-topic, those rather flashy students over there are members of Pomefiore. Their armband is red and purple.”
“Woah! There's a super cute girl over there!” Grim said.
“Wha!? At a boys’ school!”
“Idiot. You just said yourself this is a boys' school. There wouldn't be a girl here under normal circumstances.” Ace said.
Roxana raised an eyebrow.
“You’re an exception !” Ace said.
“Eeeeeeh?!” Grim and Deuce cried.
Epel from the Pomefiore table looked at them confused.
“If you're on the hunt for girls, you should go see Rose, the portrait in the west building. She's got real class. I don't mind introducing you if you're interested. Should I set up a blind date?” Cater joked. “Because it’s clear Roxana made herself off limit” He smiled at Roxana while saying that.
“I love a man who knows his place” Roxana smiled while Cater just laughed.
“I'm good! I don't doubt this Rose girl’s cute, but, uh… she's a little flat.” Ace awkwardly said.
“Hey, if you hit it off, who cares how flat she is? Well, anyway, Pomefiore's basically the top as far as appearance goes, and their beauty regimen is second to none. Their dorm leader is a Magicamegrammer with over 5,000,000 followers.” Cater said.
“Hey, now. Don't act like their looks is all they’ve got going for them. Pomefiore is also known for a lot of its students being skilled at making potions and curses.” Trey said.
“Ahaha, yeah, forgot about that. Usually I'd point out Ignihyde here, but...I don't see any of them around. Their armbands are blue and black. Everyone in that dorm feels like they constantly have their guard up. Even I don't have any friends from there. They're the total opposite of Heartslabyul. We're all pretty cheerful, I'd say.” Cater said.
“Another reason why I should make friends in that dorm, gives me a good recourse for poison” Roxana said. “It’s also gives me ideas…” She said the last part to herself.
Ace looked at her. “May you never put your hand on any poison !”
“So you mean it's full of pessimists.” Grim said to Cater.
“Come on, watch how you explain these things! Though it is true that they have a quiet and subdued image. Many of them excel at magical energy engineering or computing.” Trey said.
“Only the... Diablahblah dorm is left.”
“Hey, you're fooling no one with that straight face of yours. It's Diasomnia.” Ace laughed.
Deuce looked embarrassed. “I bit my tongue, okay!”
“Diasomnia is... Ah, there they are. They're all in those booths in the back. That green and black armband tells you it's them. They're kinda like super VIPs around here. They have this aura that makes it difficult for us normies to even try and talk to them. The dorm leader has mega “don't come near me” vibes...” Cater said.
Roxana looked at them. “I don’t see it”
That’s because you give the same aura too. They all though.
“Huh? Why’s there a kid with them?” Ace asked.
“This school technically lets students enter by skipping years. But that isn't what's going on here. He's a third year, same as...” Trey was cut off when Lilia appeared floating upside down above them.
“Lilia. Lilia Vanrouge.” Lilia smiled.
Everyone except Roxana jumped from their seat.
“H-He just teleported right over here!” Grim trembled.
“Are you all curious about my age? Kufufu. My cute visage is practically bursting with youth, but as your friend so kindly said, I am not exactly the age one would call a child.”
Trey sweat dropped. “Bursting with youth…?”
“There's no need to simply look on from afar. Come up and speak with us any time you wish. Are we not all students of the same school? We at Diasomnia will always welcome you with open arms.” Lilia said.
But the way the silver haired and greed haired male looked at their group was a big message that told them to stay away
“Welcome ? I am afraid that your companions give the opposite feeling, ah~ what a shame and here I wanted to be invited to something for once” Roxana sighed.
“Then how about coming to Diasomnia next week ? It’s good to make friends over tea” Lilia told her with a smile.
“Oh my~ thank you for your kind invitation Sir Vanrouge” Roxana gave him a smile.
“Kufufu” The fae laughed. “Apologies for dropping in on your meal. Until we meet again.”
“Our table is easily over 20 meters away from them, but you're telling me that he heard us talking? Freaky!” Ace shivered.
“Most of the people in Diasomnia are fae, so it’s not surprising” Roxana said.
“How do you even know that !” Ace said.
“There’s this thing called a book you should open one and read it” She said. “And besides with that loud mouth of yours even a deaf old man will hear you”
Lilia who was sitting beside the silver haired male burst out laughing.
Ace pouted.
Trey gave a nervous chuckle. “W-Well... That’s true Diasomnia has many peculiar members. Many of their students excel at all kinds of magic. Their dorm leader, Malleus Draconia, is counted among the top five mages in the world.”
“For real, though. Malleus is like, the most super of super crazy powerful. Though on the topic, our dorm leader is his own brand of crazy.” Ace said.
Roxana turned around to see Riddle standing behind them.
Oh ?
She smiled and let Ace continue his complains.
“So true! All I did was eat a single piece of tart and he collared me. His narrow-mindedness is super crazy.” Ace complained. “Sure are. Blew right past "strict" and straight into being a tyrant.”
“Oh, really? I'm super crazy, am I?” Riddle frowned.
Ace eyes were full of fear when he turned to look at Riddle. “Holy crap! Dorm Leader !”
“This is getting fun” Roxana smiled.