Beginnings
“Is this car full?” A blond haired boy peered in. There were only two people in there, so there was room, but the boy didn’t want to intrude.
“Yeah sure, we can make room- right Connor.” the other boys nodded and the blond stepped into the car.
“So what’s your name?”
“Look Bad, I’m not gonna waste your time with this.” Skeppy said to his close friend. “I don’t like that Ari is here, and something needs to be done to keep her in line.”
“Skeppy I wish there was something I could do, but I can’t” Bad replied. “If I kick up too much of a fuss Schlatt’ll just replace me with his own puppet. It’s best to just let this happen for now so we still have the ability to protect these students.”
“I see where you’re coming from Bad, but really some of them might really get hurt.” Skeppy argued, “Like Ranboo has a lot of trauma tied to his abilities that needs to be considered. Techno is half-vampire, and in such an aggressive class they could lose control. If she pushes Dream too far he might get stuck in between transformations.”
“I know Skeppy, I know.” Bad replied, “But going in brazenly isn’t going to help anyone. Just sit back for a bit and let me handle this please.
“Fine.”
“Hey Dream, Techno wants to meet with us two.” Punz said to Dream while he and George were lounging around in a multi-house commons. George just scoffed. Of course Techno wanted to meet with Dream and Punz. Because they were so special.
“It's fine George. Techno’s the 12th year head of class, he probably just has to check in cause Mr. Halo told him to.” Dream siad, trying to take his friend’s mind away from the idea that everyone else was a part of this special course and George wasn’t/
“Yeah whatever. Just don’t be late for dinner cause I’m not saving seats for the third time this week.” George grumbled, returning to Mr. Skeppy’s charm homework. Punz and Dream headed up to the Wampus common room. Unlike Hogwarts commons, they weren’t hidden behind things. Ilvermorney was known for being more progressive, and promoted community over competition. It was a good thing in Dream’s opinion, but he knew a lot of conservative families chose to send their kids overseas to Hogwarts for a ‘proper education’.
“Thanks for meetin’ with me.” Techno said. He was easily recognizable in the commons. The long pink hair and boar ears that poke out from the side of his head made him quite noticeable- not to mention the vampire fangs. Most of the 6th years (I’m saying Ilvermorney starts in middle school so 6th grade) were pretty terrified of him, but people in the animagus’s year knew full well that the guy was a bit shy himself and wasn’t especially confrontational either. “Let’s head up to the top tower for some privacy.”
Ilvermorney had many tall spires, and four of them were owned by one house respectively. They climbed up the stairs quickly. It began to get colder as they climbed Ilvermorny's mountainous location.
“Look I’m gonna put this to you straight.” Techno said, turning to them as the three finally reached the top. “I can get you out of this class if you really want, but I wanted to ask first because it’s goin’ to be a pain and I don’t want to have to do it for no reason. The only reason I’m even sayin’ I can get you out is cause Hbomb missed once and Ari banned him from the class entirely so it’s possible to escape.”
“I want to stay in.” Punz’s quick answer caught Dream off guard. “I want to show that teacher that I can be just as strong as everyone else without having to be some pure-blood!”
“Hey Punz relax.” Dream said, giving his friend a gentle nudge. “No need to let her pull your strings too much alright? I also want to stay too. I think I really can improve in that class.”
“Alright. I have to tell you you can come and talk to me whenever since I'm class head or whatever, but we all know that’s a lie” Techno grumbled, turning to walk down the stairs. “So, don’t bother me later cause I gave you and out.”’
“Phi- uh Philza, Phil for short.” The young blonde stumbled over his words.
“Cool I’m Schlatt- J. Schlatt- and this is Connor.” the other replied. The blonde looked at the two boys. The one called Schlatt had two small ram horns protruding from his head whilst the other looked fairly normal.
“Woah, you’ve got some cool wings.” Schlatt said, fingers lightly grazing the gray and black feathers.
“Oh, uh thanks. You two aren’t from here are you?”
“Nope.” Connor replied. “We’re both American, but our parents didn’t like how out of hand Ilvermorney was getting so they sent us here.” So they were pure-blood exchange students, Philza thought. Kids whose parents didn’t like how much more progressive Ilvermorney was. He was knocked form hsi thoughts when the train jolted to a halt.
“Well, see you later Philza. Maybe we’ll get sorted together.”
Phil looked out upon the sea of students that sat at each of their tables. Eyes scanning across from red to yellow to blue to green. It caused him to reflect back a bit. When Philza first came to Hogwarts he wanted to change things. He wanted to make it more open to people, to get more progressive. But, as Phil soon found out, the board wasn’t going to support the idea at all. And, the thing that reminded the man of this, the Gryffindor and Slytherin house tables still sat on opposite sides of the room.
It was such a simple detail, but Philza hated it. It was what Hogwarts seemed to do a lot. Adjust to make problems less noticeable rather than actually solving them. Philza had wanted to change that, he’d wanted to change a lot of things. Make them more safe and help the students. And yet here he stood getting ready to draft some kids to go to America and fight an imaginary war.
“As many of you know, we have been invited to America to compete in a Triwizard Tournament alongside students of Ilvermorny.” Philza began. “But, because of safety issues, there will only be a few select students going. These student’s parents have agreed to this and they have been made aware of the risks. They have been selected for their diversity in talent and comradery together considering it is unlikely that they will be spending much time apart.” Philza looked out on the crowd of students. Most probably already knew Phil’z picks anyways.
“Wilbur Soot from Slytherin House, Tommy from Gryffindor House, Tubbo from Slytherin House, Eret from Ravenclaw House, Fundy from Gryffindor House, and Nihachu from Hufflepuff House, Jack Manifold from Ravenclaw House. These students will be leaving the day after tomorrow and will continue classes at Ilvermorny. That is all, have a lovely feast.” Philza sat down at the long table at the head of the room and began to eat, memories still plaguing his mind.
“Jonathan Schlatt… SLYTHERIN!” Schlatt grinned before sitting down at the table to the far left, looking over at his new friend. Connor had already been sorted into Slytherin with Schlatt, and now it was up to the winged blond. He was a nice guy- it’d be a shame if they couldn’t be friends anymore.
“Philza Minecraft… hmm very interesting.” the hat murmured. “Quite wise, quite wise indeed. But also kind, one with heart. You’re one to act too, not stand by. But always planning, always plotting. Smart but with a goal. Ambitious as a Ravenclaw, but I’d say… SLYTHERIN!”
Philza walked down from the hall slowly. They’d all been staring at him for so long he’d wanted to disappear. His wings now curled around him. He sat next to Schlatt and Connor quietly, looking down at the wooden table.
“Hey cheer up buddy, you’ve got the best house already and you’ve got friends. Let’s have some fun!” Philza looked up at Schlatt. The boy was so upfront and forwards about everything. Maybe one day he’d be like that too.
Ari’s hand krept to her back, running over her wings and pulling back to look at red tipped fingers. She was in the shower and had looked down and saw red there too. It wasn’t a new occurrence. As nomag science developed, magic had developed with it. There had been an epidemic of magical experimentation tied with genetic experimentation. What had resulted were people like Ari and Schlatt. Animagus magic mixed with genetic experiments had made hybrid people with exceptional animagus abilities at the cost of not being able to get rid of some of those features in their human form.
From what Ari knew, Schlatt’s mother was the result of an experiment and not himself, so he didn’t have any problems. But Ari, however, knew exactly what that was like. She remembered the white rooms and searing pain as wings were branded into her back forever, and Ari didn’t even have it worse either. There were the combination experiments that made hybrids like Ranboo. Ari could tell he’d seen things, but knew the only way to not be afraid of what he was was going to be to control it.
She grabbed a towel and wiped the blood off of her wings with a towel, lightly flexing them and flicking the water and blood off. She looked back in the mirror watching the blood drip from where her wings met her human skin. It began to dry up and flake off, leaving a mess around the room. A flick of her wand made the dust float up and into the trash. Ari grabbed a rove, wrapping it around her before laying in her bed in the next room over. She began to pick at the white feathers, setting them straight and picking out any dust and dirt caught in them. It’s been months since she’d done it, and she could clearly see a face of disappointment from an old friend pop up in her head.
Schlatt yanked Philza across Hogsmeade, arm slinging around the winged boy as they ran around the town.
“The butter beer is gonna sell out Phil!” Schlatt yelled, continuing to drag his friend around as the other just giggled at his friend’s determination. As the blond looked around something- or rather someone caught his eye.
In a back alley between one of the shops there was a small ball of feathers snacking on scraps and looking out at the robed students. Wings glowing white in the pearlescent snow.