End of December
Lu played with his wandless magic (something he didn’t have as much time as he would have liked during the war, well, he had a lot of "do it now or else you'll dieeeeeee" moments where he did wandless magic but it wasn't the same) when Dietrich stormed into the classroom. It surprised him since he was alone in the room. Jay was helping his neighbor pack his stuff for the Winter Holidays while Ten went with Nate to go to the Headmaster’s Office to get permission for the five of them to stay at school during the vacation.
Lu doubts that the Headmaster would be able to say no. Nate was the one who was doing the negotiations. Nate wasn’t Lys but he could be damn persuasive if he needed to be, scary as hell if that’s what it takes.
There was a reason Nate was a lazy bastard. He could get other people to do his work for him. Everything except Arithmetic since Lys was scarier and made Nate do it with her so he wouldn’t cheat.
Lu had only walked in on the homework session once and saw Nate like that and… never again.
“What happened?” Lu asked.
Contrary to what most people seemed to think, Dietrich was the most explosive of the Silver Six. Which was saying something because there was himself and Ten but Dietrich was the most emotionally explosive of them all. Usually, it involves Lys, but Lys wasn’t here so there was a chance it didn’t involve Lys. Small chance, but still a chance.
“Someone, who I know is Viper, has started influencing... mind-controlling... peu importe, je m’en fous... the Scarabia’s Dorm Head and has started making him order Scarabia students around to do hard training. Both academical and physical.” Dietrich answered after calming down, “I have left the dorm and will now be living here from now on, as annoying as living with Nate again, it was much better than living at the Scarabia Dorms.”
“Is it that bad?” Lu asked.
“No. It is not, however, I have little desire to spend more time with those imbéciles.”
“Of course, ya wouldn’t stay. Ya only stayed at Slytherin and Hogwarts 'cause of Lys, since she wasn’t there, you’d never stay. Ya moony-eyed Fake-French sap.” Lu said, nodding his head as if he figured out the answer to Professor Vector’s most complicated Arithmetic question.
“Merde! I am Half! And I do not fancy Lys!” Dietrich yelled in frustration.
Lu kept riling him up. He wasn’t as good as Nate, Lys, or Ten when it came to getting under Dietrich’s skin but it was easy enough when you know the right buttons to press. Most of which included Lys.
Wow. Lu knew he said it a lot, and a lot of people said it too, but Dietrich is really attached to Lys.
(Not that anyone else can criticize and laugh at him about it, they were all attached to Lys like she was to them.)
“Anyway!” Dietcih exclaimed, interrupting their argument, “I believe that either Al-Asim or Viper will Overblot next.”
“Again?”
“There is a trend, is there not?” Nate asked with a smirk on his face as he, Jay, and Ten entered the classroom.
“I guess.” Lu nodded, he wasn’t convinced but if both Dietrich and Nate said so then it would probably happen.
“Did you manage to get the oiseau idiotique to let us stay?” Dietrich asked.
Ten smiled brightly, “We got permission to stay!”
“It was like the Headmaster wanted us to stay.” Nate added with a smile.
Jay didn’t say anything. Nate did something. Nate definitely did something. Jay walked over to his desk and pulled out his sketchbook. It seems like something in the Headmaster’s Office inspired Jay to draw.
“Hey, Jay, if Dietrich is moving in, do you want to move in too? That would make everyone!” Ten asked, bouncing over to Jay.
“I would rather not. Unlike you, I have a decent relationship with my neighbors and besides, the room is getting crowded. If I do move in, there will be even less room.” Jay answered.
“Ah, okay.”
Lu let out a sigh. It would have been fun if Jay joined in. The classroom was huge! Nate said it was probably an old lecturing classroom, which is why it was so big, but Lu didn’t care about that.
All that mattered was that it was big and that there was enough room to even fly, even if they couldn’t go too high.
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Jay wanted to sketch out all of the portraits of the Seven Greats but he left his color charcoal pencils in the Art Room. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize that he left his art tools in the Art Room until he finished the rough sketch of the Queen of Hearts. It would have been much better if he remembered his tools when he was with Ten and Nate back when they went to ask the Headmaster for permission.
Jay left the room on his own. Between the five of them, he was the only one who was allowed to go off on his own. Well, allowed was a bit much but there wasn’t another way to say it. Dietrich, Ten, and Lu were targeted by their fellow dormmates. They can handle themselves but they didn’t want to make questions pop up. As for Nate, he was Nate, and Nate wasn’t trusted on his own.
So he was the only one who was able to walk around on his own. It helped that he was an Ignihyde student since everyone else seemed to be conditioned not to talk to Ignihyde students. Though he did get some stares and sneers about being placed in the wrong dorm since he looked like a Pomefiore student but that was about it. They were much nicer to him than his friends.
Jay turned the corner and walked to the door to the Art Room. He opened the door but paused when he heard an angry voice.
“Stupid fuckin’ Dorm Head! Why da hell do I needa change?! I wanna be manly, not some girly thing!” The voice yelled out.
Jay has never heard that accent before.
Jay pushed the door slowly, entering the room before silently closing it behind him. Inside the room, a small student was still cursing out his Dorm Head loudly as he skillfully carved an apple. The student was a short, fragile-looking boy with shoulder-length lavender hair and blue eyes.
He would have even passed for a dainty girl if it wasn’t for his voice. His face was also contorted with rage.
Jay decided against bothering the obviously upset boy, not that he would have bothered him, and went over to the shelves to grab his pencils.
“And that- Gah!” The boy suddenly screamed, “You!”
Jay blinked and turned to the boy, he was pointing a finger at him.
“Is there something you want?” Jay asked.
“You! You! You!”
“Yes?” Jay asked.
“H-How long were you here?” The boy asked, his voice softening and his face smoothed out.
“I heard you yell and complain about your Dorm Head if that’s what you want to know. I don’t care, I just came here for my pencils.”
“Ah… y-you heard that?” The boy paled.
“Yeah. Anyway, you should go and finish packing. You’ll be leaving tomorrow, right?”
“Y-Yeah…” The boy nodded before turning his head and muttering, “This guy looks as girly as me. So why the hell did he an Ignihyde student while I’m stuck as a shitty Pomefiore student?”
“It’s based on your personality, right? The Mirror could tell I was more diligent than tenacious.” Jay answered.
The boy looked up in shock.
The people here really should learn how to whisper. If they didn’t want to be heard, they shouldn’t be so loud.
“A-Ah… right.”
Jay turned around and left the room, leaving the boy alone. As Jay turned the corner, he was stopped by an older Pomefiore student.
“Bonjour, Monsieur l’Artiste. Have you seen a boy about this tall, very pretty, with shoulder-length lavender hair?” The student asked.
“Oui. Il est dans la salle d’art.” Jay answered.
The older student smiled brightly, “Ah! Merci beaucoup! Now, Roi de Poison wants Monsieur Crabapple back as soon as possible. He wants to impart some last-minute wisdom to Epel before he leaves.”
Jay just left the strange older student. That student, and the ones he named, had nothing to do with him.
Jay thinks this was Lys’ influence, not caring about people who weren’t relevant to him but still treating most politely.
Jay touches his hair, it was at the length of his waist. He didn’t put it up in a braid today, which would have been dangerous since he would have been at risk of getting it pulled or things thrown in it if it wasn’t for the fact everyone was too busy packing to do anything. There was also the fact that most Pomefiore students would have rioted if anyone messed with beauty but that was beside the point.
Jay missed just being able to draw while Lys did his hair for him, helping him relax… he missed Lys.
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Dietrich carried some bags into the kitchen and started filling them up with snacks. The others were also in the kitchen, doing their assigned tasks. Jay and Ten were cooking and putting the cooked food into containers, Nate was collecting spices, and Lu was grabbing water and juices.
They didn’t want to leave their classroom more than necessary so they were going to spend today gathering food and tomorrow gathering books to read. They were still no way closer to home but they weren’t giving up.
It may be a bit worrying to anyone about how fanatic they were going about this but they wanted to go home. They wanted to be with Lys again. It may seem a bit strange to go that far for one person but… it was Lys who brought them together, led them into war, and made sure they all got out of it okay.
Dietrich also missed his parents but he spent more time with Lys than with his parents so he didn’t feel as bad for missing Lys more than his parents. He didn’t ask the others if they missed anyone else. The only one they would miss was Lys since everyone else they would possibly care about was here. Well, Ten might miss his parents too but, like him, not as much as he would miss Lys.
Honestly, the only good thing about this ‘stranded-in-another-world’ thing was that he didn’t have to talk with his fiance. The last time he talked to her was… during the Tri-Wizard Tournament? Maybe.
Well, it was long enough that he has forgotten her face so it was a plus for him.
“Merde! Don’t you dare mix the salt and sugar, Nate.” Dietrich growled before turning to the stove, “Jay! Stop Ten! He’s going to-”
Jay, the ever-diligent person he was, didn’t need Dietrich to finish and quickly drew Ten’s attention elsewhere and saved their food. Dietrich took a moment to appreciate Jay, he truly was the only other voice of reason in their group, then he went on to stop Lu from throwing an open bottle of boiling hot water at Nate.
Dietrich knows that Nate probably did something to deserve it but Dietrich didn’t want to waste water on him. If they do, they will take longer in the kitchen and Dietrich had a feeling they didn’t want to stay in the kitchen for long. He may not be Lys but, after spending so much time with her, he felt like he had some feelings about the future. Maybe it’s a side effect of their mixing magic colors and him pledging his allegiance to her as her vessel house? A study for a later time.
“-and now he- what the hell are you doing here?” A voice yelled.
Dietrich held in a sigh and turned to the kitchen entrance. The twin doors were wide open and a large group of Scarabia students standing there with one of the many students pointing at him angrily.
“Vous êtes aveugle? For food.” Dietrich answered simply before moving over to Jay and Ten to help them pack up.
The five of them continued working, ignoring the large group. They seemed to be doing things at their leisurely pace, with all the bantering and stuff they did only made that image more realistic, but they were moving fast.
They wanted to get out as soon as possible.
If they wanted, they could become the rexs of Night Raven College. They could easily take it over and rule it like they did Slytherin, but they didn’t want to draw unwanted attention. They knew their history. When a small group of people has more power than another, the other will revolt against the powerful due to fear. It happened with the Muggles, it happened throughout history, there’s a chance it might happen here.
So. They weren’t risking it.
“You have some nerve… running away like that!” The Scarabia student yelled, “Where is your Dorm Loyalty?!”
Dietrich gave the students a scary look, one that never failed to make people shut up when they tried to target Lys.
“I do not have any loyalty to you, the dorm, or the Dorm Head. My liege lord, ma soeur de coeur, and those who she calls hers, you do not fall into either of those categories.” Dietrich said cooly.
The five of them strolled right out in their usual formation. Dietrich at the from, Ten and Jay on his right and left respectively, with Lu behind Ten and Nate behind Ten. They didn’t give the students another glance.
Dietrich misses home.
He missed Lys.
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Ten happily sat with the rest of his friends as they ate their dinner after a relaxing day. Something was happening in the Scarabia Dorm (the Mirror that leads to that dorm was acting weird) so Nate and Lu handed over some Gallions to Dietrich and Jay. The Mirror was acting the same as when Rosehearts and Kingscholar Overblotted, which means that someone in Scarabia Overblotted too.
There was also the noise of the flaming cat and Muggle student flying into the Octavinelle Mirror. Something must have happened because the Octavinelle Dorm Head, Vice Dorm Head, and the Vice Dorm Head’s twin brother went over to the Scarabian Dorm with the duo to do something.
Not any of their problem.
However, that means Dietrich and Jay won the bet.
Ten was too late to join in. He forgot the bet was even happening and when he remembered, he didn’t see the point. It was going to happen, no point in betting on it. Though, Nate probably bet against Dietrich because he was Nate and Dietrich was Dietrich. Lu probably bet against Dietrich because he was annoyed about being forced to help rearrange the beds again.
Jay bet with Dietrich because he knew that Dietrich would win and didn’t want Dietrich to stand alone in the bet. Jay was always the nicest one between them. Lys even called him the Sweetheart of the group.
Suddenly, Ten was hit with a thought, “Hey guys, do you think there’s some kind of time difference between this world and our world?”
Everyone froze.
“What did you say, Ten?” Lu asked, putting down his fork.
They were eating with forks, spoons, and knives. For some reason, everyone mostly eats with chopsticks like the Japanese. The language they were speaking in, which was called Common, was also Japanese like now that he thought about it. There was also French, but that was called the Second Language. English, from what Ten could understand, was called the Old Language.
It was only used for spell names and emphasizing things though, which was strange.
“I asked if you thought if there was some kind of time difference between this world and our world.” Ten repeated, “I mean, it’s been four, almost five months since we came here and I don’t think Lyssie would take that long to come and get us and we’ve been waiting for a long time so-”
“Breath.”
Ten took a breath, stopped, and looked around the makeshift dinner table. Everyone had a serious look on their faces. Ten shrunk into his seat. He didn’t mean to make the atmosphere so tense.
“That… that is a good prediction.” Nate said evenly.
Ten could know that Nate meant a realistic prediction, not a positive prediction. It was a sad prediction.
“Lys always did call you an accidental genius.” Jay sighed.
Everyone went into a deceptively relaxed slump. Everyone seemed relaxed at first glance and, if you didn’t know them well, they would have really looked as if they were just enjoying the day. However, Ten knew better. Everyone was so tense that, if there was any sudden noise, Stingers were going to start flying.
Ten turned his head and looked up at the painting of Lys that Jay made and he hung in Lyssie’s Corner. Everyone also turned their attention to the painting. The painting and Corner had become their one connection to Lys while they were in this world, even though they both have nothing connecting them to the real Lys. Ten’s eyes lingered on his colors and then met Lys’ eyes.
“I miss Lyssie…” Ten muttered.
“I think… there is some kind of time difference.” Dietrich said slowly, breaking the tense silence, “I do not believe that the difference is too large, however, just in case, we should research more.”
Everyone nodded. They all decided to believe that Dietrich was telling the truth, that the difference wasn’t that big, it was much easier to swallow than the other answer. Ten nodded, he won’t be able to help much but he will help. He wanted to go home soon and that will take a lot of work.
He wanted Lys to show him his colors again.
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Nate wandered the halls early in the morning. He needed to talk to the portrait and the ghosts to keep his information network up to stuff. The portraits and ghosts liked having a student talking to them every few days and were grateful for a break in their mundane life. It makes them happier that he stayed back for the holidays to spend time with his friends but also made time for them.
Everyone is so simple. All anyone wants is food, shelter, and good company. Food and shelter are things that portraits and ghosts don’t need. The only thing they need is good company and Nate can fake that very well.
He didn’t have any other time to spare on his information network because he spent all his time during the Winter Holidays with the rest of his… friends. Yes, the four people he spent time with were his friends. However, if anyone asks, he will call them his allies before hexing anyone who tried to say otherwise. He had his pride after all, and Lys would never let him live it down if he ever let it slip.
“A-ha! It’s Azul-junior!” An annoying voice exclaimed happily.
As Nate turned the corner to walk down the hall so he could meet the last portrait on his list to visit, he also bumped into a tall student. The student had turquoise hair, with a longer, darker strand on his right. His eyes have heterochromia iridium; his right eye is yellow, while his left eye is olive. He wore a blue, diamond-like earring on his right ear. It was Octavinelle’s Vice Dorm Head’s twin brother, Floyd Leech.
Nate just smiled. Floyd Leech’s mood swings make it hard to predict what he'll say or do next and he likes to call others by odd pet names. Nate hated dealing with Floyd Leech since it was like dealing with a more violent and much worse mix of Ten and Lu. It wasn’t hard, just very annoying.
“Floyd Leech.” Nate greeted blandly with a polite smile.
“He-y! Listen… you have to come back to the dorm, Azul said.” Floyd said in an airheaded manner.
“I do not want to. Please step aside.” Nate said.
Nate tried to walk past Floyd but was stopped when Floyd slammed his fist on the wall in front of him and stared down at him with a scary face. Well, it might have been scary but Nate has long been desensitized to it. The war, practicing his own scary face in the mirror, Lys in general, yeah, Floyd wasn’t scary at all.
“No one talks to me like that.” Floyd said seriously, “Azul wants you back in the dorm for reputation reasons. You will go back.”
“No.” Nate said before escaping.
Floyd chased after him but Nate has long since mapped out all the secret passages and shortcuts that the portraits and ghosts told him about. Nate evaded Floyd with ease, slipped into a mostly forgotten corner, and cast strong Notice-me-not and scent-blocking charms before making his way to the last portrait.
Floyd ran right past him, causing Nate to smirk.
Too easy.