Ms. Ari X
Whispers spread fast across Ilvermorny. President Schlatt had entered the school with his vice and another woman in tow. Bad had met them, although rather begrudgingly as Skeppy commented, and the teacher for Defensive Spells and Hexes was promptly removed and replaced. Letters were dispatched and a select few students were invited to a new class, Defense Against the Dark Arts.
“You got one too?” Dream asked Sapnap and Punz to which the both nodded yes. George hadn’t received one and was a bit peeved. “In fairness George, only one horned serpent got one.”
“Ranboo isn’t even in his final year!” George growled back. “How did a 10th grader beat me out?”
“I don’t know. Word is its three Wampuses, me, Punz, and Technoblade, one Serpent being Ranboo, and one Thunderbird being Sapnap.” Dream recapped to the rest.
“Hbomb also made it from the Thunderbirds.” Sapnap added.
“I got one too and so did Ant.” Sam said from across the hall, walking towards the group. “That makes three Horned Serpents.” The conversation ended when the bell rang. Dream, Sapnap, Punz, and Sam began to walk into their new mysterious class- meeting Ant and Ranboo on the way as well.
At the door to the classroom was President Schlatt, ready to shake hands with each student who entered. Inside, Techno was already standing to one side of the room, and everyone was instructed to go to one side or the other. There were no desks to be found, or any schooling materials at all, just a simple chalkboard at the end of the room.
Dream filed in next to Techno on the right along with Sapnap and Punz, and Sam, Ranboo, and Ant stood on the left side across from their classmates.
“Now I’m sure all of you are wondering why you are here.” Schlatt began to speak, shutting the door. “You are here because you were specially selected by the school for your unique gifts that can aid our country in a time of turmoil.”
Murmurs came from the small room. Whispers between friends about what could be going on. Everyone knew they were on the verge of war with the European sect of (specifically British) wizards. However, this seemed a bit extreme.
“You all will be trained to defend yourselves against other wizards, similar to how they do at Hogwarts, and you are all being gifted positions as aurors in our Congress that I highly recommend you take.” Schlatt continued. Everyone knew it wasn’t really a recommendation- more of a glorified draft. “Anyways, I think it’s time to meet your teacher.”
The clicking of high-heeled boots sounded from the hallway and a stout woman appeared in the door wearing a dark black robe. Her hair was bright white, in stark contrast to her chocolate brown skin. Beautiful feathered wings protruded from her back and robes to circle around her like a halo.
Everyone knew the woman’s name. It was Ari X. A known terrorist, animagus, and criminal who should be on death row at the moment, not standing in front of them. She’d been caught blowing up Gringotts bank and deported back to
“I’m sure you have all heard of Ari X, and what she has done to some of our neighboring nations.” Schlatt continued, “However, I feel her talents are of use elsewhere, under supervision of course. Ari will be teaching you how to properly duel, new spells, and how to defend yourself from threats. If there aren’t any questions, I will be taking my leave.” After a moment of silence Schlatt stepped out of the room leaving them alone with Ari.
“Alright, you know who I am.” Ari began. “And I’ll be honest I’ve never taught a class before in my life, but when an old friend offers you a job instead of an execution you take it. Anyways let’s get some things straight. I know all about you and you don’t need to know anything about me. I want to meet with each of you individually first to see your skill. Antfrost you’re first. The rest of you can just fuck around I don’t care.” Everyone began to group up and talk whilst taking nervous glances over at Ant.
“Why would President Schlatt be friends with a terrorist?” Sapnap whispered to Dream and Punz.
“She wasn’t born a criminal dumbass. They probably just knew each other before.” Punz retorted. It put an end to the question, but Dream wasn’t so certain that was the whole story. J. Schlatt was a bit of a controversial figure with a very simple philosophy. ‘I was given the right to rule, and I will rule until that right is taken’.
“Ranboo.” Ari said as Ant walked away towards his friends.
“What happened?” Sapnap asked eagerly.
“She’s a legilimens. That’s why we weren’t speaking.” A mind reader? Schlatt had brought a mind reader to the school? This was insane. “I know a bit of Occlumency, but it wasn’t even relevant to her. I don’t think she even noticed. It’s like she looks at you and she knows without even having to press. If I didn’t know any better I’d have no clue she was there.”
“Awesam.” Ari’s voice echoed again as Ranboo walked back, obviously a bit shaken. Ant tried to comfort his younger housemate
“You alright kid?” Techno spoke up, finally looking up from his book and joining the group. Ranboo just shook his head and mumbled out something about not liking her inside his head.
“Punz.”
“What’s going on Sam?” Dream asked, eyeing Punz and Ari’s meeting.
“She’s good. Like really good.” Sam said, “I wanna know how she does it.” He seemed almost excited. Sam was one of the only two of the proficient in Occlumency- the other being Techno- and he was known to be better than the animagus too. Sam was a decent Legilimens as well, but not as good as Techno or Dream and seemed to be excited to learn something from Ari.
“Sapnap.”
“Damn, you know I’ve been called a mudblood and all other types of shit before, but I’d never thought it would happen inside my head.” Punz commented, a bit annoyed about the situation- although it wasn’t unexpected that Schlatt’s choice of teacher was as discriminatory as he was.
“Dream.”
Dream walked over to the woman cautiously. He could already sense a presence in his own mind and knew there was pretty much only one thing he could do. Attack back and reach into her mind to put her on the defense. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He focused on Ari’s presence in his mind, using it as a pathway towards her own ideas.
It was mostly blank, but he could see a few memories in flashes. They were very painful, Dream could feel it. Wands pointing at him as he looked through her eyes. ‘Crucio’ whispered over and over again. He wanted to know more, to underst-
“Do you really want to go deeper? My pain will become your pain.” Ari’s voice echoed. Of course. She was letting him in, doctoring what he saw. Dream wasn’t having it, continuing to push further. The torment began as small tinglings up his spine and at his fingertips, but it began to grow. He couldn’t tell if the memories were yelling or it was his own voice. He wanted out, wanted to withdraw, but the door had been closed. Ari had locked him.
“Please let me out.” Dream begged. He could see Ari’s eyes looking at him as he ventured through the painful memories.
“You chose this, face the consequences.” Ari replied.
“Dream, Dream, DREAM!” Dream’s eye snapped open to the sound of Sapnap yelling. He was on the floor now, unsure of how he got there. A sigh of relief escaped Dream’s lips as the pain left him. Sapnap was kneeling over him and Punz had his wand trained on Ari.
“What did you do to him!” Punz yelled at their ‘teacher’.
“What happened.” Dream asked groggily.
“You were yelling and screaming and convulsing and everything. We kept trying to wake you and it didn’t work and th-” Sapnap began.
“And then I let you out because you were giving me a headache.” Ari interrupted, disregarding Punz’s wand in her face. “Honestly I don’t know what you expected. I warned you not to keep going in but you decided to be a reckless idiot.”
“You- I-!” Sapnap sputtered, but Dream placed a hand on his shoulder as he slowly got up.
“It’s fine Sapnap, I’m fine.” Dream said calmly. “She warned me and I didn’t listen.”
“Finally some maturity.” Ari commented, “Anyways we have Technoblade last.” Ari’s meeting with the hybrid took half an hour, both fighting for control. Ari ended up winning, but applauded the student for a job well done, admitting he’d be fine against most wizards.
“Anyways, I’m aware we have some animagus in the classroom, so I’d like to see that at play.” Antfrost and Techno were able to transform almost immediately into a cat and boar respectively. “Dream, you’re a metamorphmagus yes?”
“Yeah.” Dream replied. He knew it was a gift to be able to transform into anything, but honestly he wasn’t very good at it.
“Let’s see a slug, then a horse, and then a dove.” Ari said, watching the student expectantly. The first one was simple enough, Dream’s body twisting into a black slug with lime green patterning. The horse was a bit harder for sure- taking him a whole minute to become a black horse with lime green eyes.
“Well, any day now please?” Ari said, watching him closely. “Or are you not proficient enough to do three simple changes?” Dream bowed his head in defeat, transforming back into a human.
“A bit disappointing.” Ari said, looking over to Ranboo who hadn’t even transformed yet. “Jesus kid, you gonna look at the floor all day? Prove to me you aren’t a waste of talent.” Ranboo nodded slightly, his arms beginning to lengthen and body transforming into an Endermen. Ari then, of course, proceeded to look the creature directly in the eyes to piss it off.
“If you lose control, there will be consequences.” Ari said coldly.
“Like she could do any better.” Punz murmured to Sapnap who stifled a bit of laughter.
“I could do better.” Ari said without turning around. “I would like nothing more than to wipe those dumb grins off your faces by killing you both, but here I am.” Normally most students would laugh it off, but something told the two to take Ari’s words seriously.
“Alright, since some of you fail to realize my expectations, I’ll give a demonstration.” Ari said, wings spreading out, flexing the length of the room. In a snap she had morphed into a beautiful white dove. She flew to the window and returned to her human form there. Repeating the steps six times at various locations. The sixth time she was a dove she grew larger, to about the size of a thunderbird, before returning as a human again.
“Our time is nearly up for today- Ranboo you can transform back- so I’ll leave you with some things to practice.” Ari said. “Now I don’t give two shitsa about you being perfect little well rounded angels, so I want you to improve what you’re good at. Antfrost work on your transformations and stealth. Try sneaking around the castle after hours and see if you get caught- I’ll be looking. Ranboo I want to see less hesitation and quicker, more controlled transforming. Awesam study up and put your intellect to good use rather than your physicality. Punz continue training your offense- it will be your best defense too. Sapnap I want hotter fire, go out to the snow atop the mountain and make it in the cold to train up. Dream work on all sides of combat- I know you can handle it. Technoblade get some charisma- there’s more to being an auror than strength and intelligence. You need to learn to put people at ease.” With that Ari walked out, slamming the door behind her.