Silver Six in Twisted Wonderland

Nate stepped out of the change room after his Flying Class. Anything physical was still his worst subject, even after all these years and running during the war. Arithmetic was not to be spoken about. At least Lu and Ten let them use their brooms, the brooms here didn’t work with their foreign magic. It would be unbelievably humiliating if they couldn’t fly on brooms, it would raise unnecessary questions as well but Nate thinks the embarrassment would be much worse than the questions. It was nearing Exams time so he didn’t have as much time as he would like conversing and managing with his new, budding information network.

It took him back. Back when he was just a young eleven-year-old child when he just started his information network made up of talking portraits, ghosts, older students, teachers, and the like. He also added younger students when he got older, and later creatures to help during the war. 

Lys had jokingly told him during one of the few lighter moments of the war that, when the war was over, he should start up an international spy network since he liked doing it so much. Making an international Spy Guild seemed like a worthy goal to have when he doesn’t have to deal with the Ministry of Magic.

Maybe he should just get Lys to take it over? The position fits her, the people of Magical Britain would be well cared for, and it will give him a lot more leeway to do whatever he wanted...

His new spy network wasn’t as vast as he wanted but that was to be expected. The older students and teachers seem to have some kind of natural distrust of Octavinelle students. That distrust was so ingrained in them that even with his experience getting informants in Gryffindor to work for him, a Slytherin, it was difficult even to get them to talk with him. The slow progress was something that frustrated him.

At least the talking portraits and ghosts were pliable. All they wanted were pleasant conversations from time to time and to be updated if anything amusing happened so they could gossip.

Simple and doable. 

Jay was spending time with Ten in the Art Room, Ten wanted to get Jay to draw him something that they were keeping quiet on. Dietrich went out to the field so Lu could fly, some habits never change.

As he walked down the halls to chat with some of the portraits in the less-visited halls of the school, whispers appeared behind him.

“Did you see him? It’s like the second coming of the Dorm Head! The sneaky guy feels so slimy, we need to keep our distance.”

“Gah, did you think he saw me?”

“Quiet down! We better keep off his radar, did you see what happened to the flaming cat and the magicless student after they interrupted his talk with that Pomefiore-looking Ignihyde student? Ruthless.”

“The flaming cat and magicless student? Forget about them, think about what happened to the Savanaclaw Dorm!”

“We don’t talk about that!”

“I don’t know what those two Savanaclaw students paid to get Azul-junior to do that but… you don’t think they sold their souls, do you?”

“Ha. For someone as disturbed and messed up as that guy is, I doubt their souls were enough.”

Nate ignored them. Their words did nothing to him. Everyone in Slytherin had very, very thick skin. It came with the territory of being known as backstabbing, evil people before Lys came to power. 

Words like those never managed to get under his skin, but Nate did take offense to the one who said he extorted Ten and Lu as payment to help them get even with their dorm. As if he needed payment to make the lives of people who inconvenience him difficult. 

(As if he would need to be asked to help get revenge for Ten and Lu)

Nate turned his head and gave the people who were just talking an innocent smile, taking great pleasure in watching him squirm before continuing on his way. If he gets a thrill from hearing them curse and stuff, well, no one would know. No one important at least. 

Lys would know. Lys would know and she would also know he wasn’t doing it just for laughs and tease him about being a ‘secret softy’ and all that rot. He would get annoyed but Lys would stop before she goes too far.

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Lu glared down at the book he had in hand. Normally, he wouldn’t be the one doing this research. This was more of Dietrich, Nate, and Jay’s thing. However, the whole school was going on about the Dorm Head(ache)’s Overblot that happened moments before the Intra-School Magishift Tournament, and Lu didn’t want to be in the dark about it, especially since it sounded dangerous.

Technically, the Political Trio (as Lys called them) already did some research about it and told them about it.

It was a complicated thing but it boiled down to: Use magic, create blot, blot bad, too much equals Ten. Well, it equals a giant magical explosion that would lead to a lot of death but Lys created War Code which said that Ten was another way to say explosions so it works.

Anyway, it was bloody deadly. Both deadly for the person who Overblotted and for the people around them. Nate scoffed and laughed and said it was yet another reason they were better than the people here.

Dietrich sent a Stinging Hex at Nate on the principle of Nate talking like a git but begrudgingly agreed with him. So it must be true if Dietrich agreed with something Nate said without Lys making him.

Anyway, books. The books about blot. The only few books about blot that have the word Overblot in it. 

Lys made a spell to find books easier, he had to help her find things a lot so she taught him the spell. He was just trying to get her to fly with him and relax during the few downtimes during the war, he didn’t want to get dragged into doing research and then into learning a hard spell that he didn't think he would ever use. 

At least it was useful now.

There wasn’t much in the chapters with the words in them but it was better than what little the others told him. Overblot is when the blot, which is the waste created by magic, gets too much for the person to handle and it all comes out at once. It will make some monster thing and the person will go crazy and attack everything. If it isn’t dealt with immediately, will kill whoever Overblotted.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here? Vaisey? Reading? In the library at that? Shishishi, I should buy a lottery ticket.” 

Lu growled, “What do ya want Bucchi?”

“Wow! No need to be so hostile, Shishishi.” Bucchi laughed, “I’m just here to tell you that you and Harper’s ban from the dorm is going to be lifted soon. It would have been lifted earlier but… you sold your soul to that slimy Azul-junior Octavinelle student to get revenge on us for kicking you out.”

“Azul-junior?” Lu asked, temporarily forgetting his annoyance, “I heard Nate get called that a lot, what’s that s'posed to mean?”

“You don’t want to know. Take this as my only free warning to you, my undisciplined and disrespectful underclassman. You just don’t want to know.” Bucchi said before looking at him weirdly, “You call Wilkes by Nate?”

“Yeah, we all do.”

“... you known him for how long…?”

“Since we were eleven.”

“... Did he change or…?”

“Nate’s still the same git as when we were eleven. Toned down a bit but that’s more about finding better targets.”

“Ah…”

Bucchi stopped talking.

“We aren’t coming back, so ya can leave. Someone else can have our room.” Lu said, trying to shoo Bucchi away.

“If that’s what you want. By the way, where are you staying now?”

“As if I’d tell ya anything.” Lu glared.

“Shishishi, okay, well, I know when I’m not wanted. So hostile, you should really learn to respect your betters.”

“I know how, but you’re not the person I listen to.” Lu retorted, “Lyssie’s the only person I listen to.”

“Lyssie? Who’s that?”

Lu just put the book he was holding and left, making sure to fade into the crowd before putting on a Notice-me-not charm on himself to slip away. He knew that Bucchi wouldn’t let up, he was annoying like that, but he wasn’t going to just let Bucchi follow him back to their classroom like that.

Not only because it would destroy the safe haven but because the others might kill him if he let anyone find out.

They’d kill him, lie to Lys when she gets here, Lys would know or find out they were lying, get angry at them, and avenge him but Lu didn’t want to die.

He liked being alive. Being alive meant Quidditch, taunting Ed for his bad life choices through prison bars, and Lys.

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Jay sat back and stared at his canvas. He thinks it was his best work yet. What started as a commission from Ten turned into his own personnel project, one that he wanted to be as perfect as possible.

“Wow. I knew you had talent but wow. It’s not even colored yet but it already looks like it would be a perfect SSR Card cover. Who is this and which game is she from?”

Jay looked up and saw his neighbor. After their first chat in their History of Magic Class, he had stopped commenting about his friends. Their conversations were mostly positive if a bit bland.

It was unfortunate that he was one of the more amicable people in the school, though, it does put in perspective the personalities at the school.

Jay turned back to his canvas. Ten wanted a painting of Lys to hang up in Lyssie’s Corner. The drawing he planned out was Lys standing with her arms stretched out, one above her head and the other beside her, as if shaped like an L, like Egyptian paintings. She was standing proud with a haughty and confident look on her face, drawing attention to the fierce scar on her face and the fire in her eyes. Her hair, which she let grow out at the request of Ginny and had miraculously survived the war, flared out around her.

She was surrounded by fire. A long, thick, continuous ribbon of fire was swirling around her with sparks flying around her. Her black, formal dueling robe was in tatters but still looked regal. The background was the ruins of Hogwarts right with a full moon in the sky, there were also some plants sprouting up from the ruins to give the message that, although things look bad, there was always hope.

Jay’s little way of saying that Lys was a beacon of hope. For all those Grey and Neutral families, for all those who didn’t want to do what their parents told them to do, she was their way out, away from Voldemort.

He still needed to add color to it, the part he wanted to paint the most was the fire since they will be in their colors. The Silver Six’s colors. The color of their magic intertwining with each other.

“This is Lys.” Jay answered proudly, staring at his canvas, “My friend, not a video game character.”

“Huh, you must really like her if you’re drawing her like that.” His neighbor said, observing the drawing, “Fierce and scary, just like the women of the Greats. You trying to have her emulate them?”

“Ten asked me to paint this for him.” Jay said with a smile, dodging the question, “She was the one who made me start braiding my hair. She liked doing it and, eventually, I started doing it out of habit.”

“Ah, girls do like to braid hair.” 

His neighbor didn’t even realize he dodged his question. Personally, Jay thinks that, if the Greats went against Lyssie, Lyssie would be the one coming out on top. It may be biased on his part but it was the truth.

“You should start studying soon, Exams are close.”

“I will. This is just to destress.”

“Ah, of course. I forget you’re one of the very few Ignihyde students who don’t play video games. I can’t believe you aren’t a Pomefiore student. With that hair, your looks, and your love of air, you’d fit right in.”

Jay just smiled and got started on choosing the colors. It may not be a Magical Painting but he wanted it to be perfect.

Though, he’d rather be an Ignihyde student than a Pomefiore student. Ignihyde can blend in more than Pomefiore.

Knives in the dark, as Lys said. He did like playing that role, even if he wasn’t one for needless violence.

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Dietrich walked with Ten as they made their way to their joint class. All the classes were divided into four groups and made to mix with each other for the week so he was with Ten for the week.

“Hey, it’s that Harper kid. He’s walking with that Bastion kid.”

“Again? Seriously, how can such a criminally happy kid, almost as happy as Kalim Al-Asim and all those self-righteous bastards from RSA be friends with the Living Statue of Scarabia?”

“Tsk, the emotionless bastard doesn’t even spar Dorm Head a second glance but he gives that idiot the time of day?”

Dietrich’s already blank face grew even blanker. He was used to the words but they take him back to a darker place. A place before he met Lys, a place before he became her second. It was a very dark place.

Dietrich could see that, although Ten didn’t show it, he was upset as well. However, Ten didn’t stop his constant chatter. Just to keep up the illusion that they didn’t hear them talk about them.

Suddenly, an older Savanaclaw student marched right up to them, growling as he glared at Ten.

“Oi. Dorm Head already lifted your ban, Harper. When are you and Vaisey going to come back? We still need to pay you back for all the trouble you two caused us,” The Savanaclaw student snarled.

“Why would we do that?” Ten asked, genuinely confused, “We know you want to get revenge so why would we go back? Besides, we like where we live now, you can have our old room.”

The Savanaclaw student sneered, “You need permission to leave the dorms.”

“We got permission though. Annoyed him when he tried to sleep until he said yes.” Ten explained happily.

“You disrespectful little… gah!” The Savanaclaw student yelled and prepared to punch Ten.

Dietrich wasn’t having it. Au diable tout ça. He was dealing with so many annoyances that this was a good way to relieve stress.

Dietrich used his knowledge of dueling stances to good use and used his arm to knock the Savanaclaw student’s arm away before grabbing it and using the momentum to throw the student over his shoulder in one fluid movement.

“Wow! Dietrich, that was so cool! You gotta teach me how to do it!” Ten exclaimed, eyes wide with excitement.

“D’accord. Si c’est ce que tu veux, je t’apprendrai.” Dietrich answered.

“Merci!” Ten cheered.

They turned and continued to walk. However, they didn’t even take ten steps when the student got back up and ran towards them from behind, intent to get a sneak attack in. Unfortunately for the student, they fought in a war and they wouldn’t have lived this long if they couldn’t sense something like that.

The two stepped to the side with Dietrich’s leg stuck out. The Savanaclaw student tripped over the food and Dietrich hit his neck, pretending to hit a pressure point when he was really casting a wandless and wordless Knock Out charm. He let the student drop to the floor and kept walking.

“Someone, get him to the infirmary.” Dietrich ordered the bystanders as Ten laughed at their shocked faces.

Dietrich and Ten went back to walking to class. If Dietrich stepped on the Savanaclaw student’s head as he walked, well, no one was going to call him out on it. It wasn’t like he didn’t deserve it.

And if, when he passes a Savanaclaw student with a red mark on his forehead who couldn’t look him in the eye and flinched away from him, he feels a sick satisfaction in him? No one would know.

Except for Nate, the git, but he wasn’t important. A good Stinging Hex was all he needed to shut him up.

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Ten stood in their classroom, standing in Lyssie’s Corner. He was alone in the room for once. He wanted to do this on his own and everyone agreed. Nate was flying with Lu for once while Dietrich and Jay were working on their homework in the library. Actually, they were doing everyone’s homework, forgery charm and all that.

Jay had just finished the painting and it was time to hang it up on the wall. Ten felt a little bad about wanting to do it alone but, he felt like it was something he had to do. They haven’t seen Lys in three months and this painting was the closest thing they have to see Lys again. Ten wanted to have a moment.

After Ten put the painting up, he stepped back and really looked at it. It was definitely Jay’s best work. The fire was Ten’s favorite part. It may not look as amazing as it does in person but it was close enough.

“I miss you, Lyssie. I really do.” Ten said, speaking to the painting, “We’re working hard, looking for a way home but it’s taking some time, sorry. Though, I think you’re also looking for a way to get us back, right? Since you weren’t panicking before we got sucked away, you didn’t know this would happen so everything must have turned out okay if your Clairvoyance didn’t warn you. I… I don’t like it here. It reminds me of the time before we met you. So can you make Fate hurry up? I want to go home now, I don’t like it here at all.”

Ten was about to keep rambling on to the painting but then the door opened and in came everyone. There was some strange tension in all of them that immediately caught Ten’s attention.

“What happened?” Ten asked them after getting everyone water to drink.

“My Dorm Head Overblotted and destroyed the dorm while we were having lunch at the Mostro Lounge.” Nate said with fake happiness, “I am moving here with you and Lu from now on. Even if it gets rebuilt soon, I’m not going back.”

“Why?”

“Because I’d be a fool not to capitalize on this opportunity to get away from my dorm without any negative repercussions.” Nate answered smoothly, though a barely visible twitch betrayed his true thoughts.

Though, Ten thinks he only caught it because of how well he knew Nate. He doubts anyone else would have caught the twitch.

“Oh, okay. As long as you have your own bed, it’s fine.” Ten nodded.

“Damnit, Ten! You’re supposed to say no! Now I have to live in a room with this git all over again!” Lu exclaimed in mock anger.

“Suck it up, Lu!” Ten yelled back.

“Why you…!”

Ten and Lu ended up wrestling on the floor, successfully getting rid of the tense air in the room. Nate chucked Spongify-ed books and things at them as they did. Even with all that chaos happening, Ten could still hear Dietrich complimenting Jay for the painting of Lys he did in a soft voice reserved for Lys.

They were going to be just fine. They still had each other and they weren’t completely alone.

… He still missed Lyssie though.