Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Under the dimly lit and soft yellow glows offered by two pairs of lamps on the dark wallpaper of the bedroom, a four-poster bed resided in the middle of two wooden bedside tables adorned with bright and colourful flowers, its green curtains pulled back to expose the bed’s plain white sheets. A woman possessing flowing platinum blonde hair streaked with tea-green highlights in between and sickly pale skin occupied the bed, sat up against a propped pillow in a pink dressing gown atop a white nightgown. From between the platinum blonde and tea-green bangs encompassing her face, she smiled fondly towards the left side of the bed, focusing on two young girls around the same age and height seated on stools at her bedside.

The girl on the woman’s right looked almost identical to her in appearance, having the same wavy platinum blonde hair and tea-green highlights that reached her shoulders, barring her side-swept bangs both being tea-green. She wore a dark blue jacket over a red dress with white buttons, staring up at the woman with wide and sparkling light blue eyes while clutching a brown furred teddy bear with a silver tag on its right ear close to her person.

“Mother,” the girl started with a hint of a posh-sounding British accent, scooting closer to the edge of her stool as she did so. “Could you please tell us a story?”

“Diana,” the younger girl on the woman’s left said through a small huff with a similar accent, leaning her elbow against the bed and cupping her cheek in her hand. When Diana turned to her with a quick blink and the fading of her smile, the girl’s drooped light blue eyes briefly shifted to the green curtains drawn across the window behind them. “It’s late. We should let Mother rest.”

Like Diana, the girl had shoulder-length wavy platinum blonde hair, the two of them identical in hair style. But her highlights and side-swept bangs were yellow and she was dressed in a light blue cardigan over the top of a white dress.

Diana pouted and squeezed her teddy bear into her front, already looking to say something in protest. Their mother’s light-hearted chuckle, however, returned her attention to the bed, along with her sister’s.

“It’s all right, Delila,” the woman reassured in a matching accent. She reached a hand over and gave the addressed girl a small head pat and hair ruffle, her motherly smile never faltering even when her daughter closed an eye in response to her affection. “There’s still enough time for a story.”

Diana smiled widely at this, her posture straightening and her eyes fixing on her mother when she pulled away from Delila. Delila, meanwhile, folded her arms atop the bed and rested the side of her head on them, silently watching the woman turn her gaze to the quilt and stroke a hand at her chin.

“Now, which story should I tell you…” she mumbled.

Diana perked up with the raise of her hand. “What about the story of Beatrix Cavendish?”

“The first witch of our family?” Delila questioned.

Diana turned to her with two excited nods and a hum to match. “Mhm!”

Delila raised her eyes towards her mother as she righted her head again, now resting her chin on her folded arms. “Beatrix was one of the Nine Olde Witches, wasn’t she, Mother?”

“Yes,” their mother confirmed with a stiff nod. She stared ahead to the opposite side of the room, where a vibrant coloured tapestry bordered by yellow tassels hung above the fireplace between another pair of wall lamps. “She was one of the nine witches who helped to prevent the decline in magic in the past. She was named ‘Beatrix the Affectionate’ for the kindness she extended towards both friend and foe with her healing magic.”

Diana and Delila followed their mother’s gaze to the tapestry in unison, which depicted a young woman petting a unicorn. The woman had flowing, waist-length platinum blonde hair streaked with tea-green highlights. She was dressed in green and brown robes, her eyes covered by a large green and pointed hat with a wide rim on her head. The woman and the unicorn were standing amongst small trees decorated with orange fruit and white flowers of varying types, which appeared to be growing atop a giant tree with intricately placed branches supporting the leaved ground below them.

Diana pointed to the unicorn in the tapestry. “And she had a link to unicorns! That’s why it’s the symbol of the Cavendish, isn’t it?”

Their mother’s smile widened a little as she gave Diana’s closest shoulder a proud pat. “That’s right, Diana.”

Diana beamed at the praise and closed her eyes with a noise of contentment. But then Delila found her eyes locking with a thin, yellow banner stretched above Beatrix and the unicorn. The young girl lifted her head from the bed and squinted at the ancient text she could see weaved upon it, leaning forward against the bed to get a closer look.

“What does the writing say?” Delila asked, drawing Diana’s and their mother’s attention to the tapestry once more.

“Civilladura Lelladebura,” their mother answered.

“Civilladura… Lelladebura…?” Delila repeated slowly and pursed her lips. “What does it mean?”

“It means ‘An old tradition and a new power will cross to open the door to the unseen world’.”

Diana frowned. “A new power and an old tradition…” she mumbled, looking to her sister with a wide blink. “What do you think that means, Lila?”

Delila closed her eyes and shrugged, showing she was just as clueless on the matter as Diana was. “Shouldn’t you be asking Mother that—?”

Harsh and dry coughing from their mother’s direction silenced Delila’s question. The two sisters watched on with wide-eyes and open-mouths as their mother’s body repeatedly racked against the coughs leaving her lips, failing to muffle them with the fist clenched close to her face and the fingers of her other hand dug deep into the quilt.

“Mother!” Diana called out in a cracked voice upon overcoming her shock, scraping her stool against the carpet to move closer to the bed. “Are you okay?”

Delila eventually returned to reality with the shake her head. She jumped to her feet and turned to run out of the room. “I’ll go and get—”

“No,” their mother rasped, halting Delila in her tracks. Several seconds longer of coughing ensued before the girls’ mother silenced it with a small gasp of breath, her shoulders slumping with relief. “I’m fine. There’s no need to panic.”

“But Mother—” Delila protested, only going quiet when her mother lifted her head and stared directly at her with furrowed brows.

“It’s okay, Delila,” she replied calmly despite the croak in her voice. “Please don’t worry.”

But her words did little to comfort either Delila nor Diana, the latter’s blue eyes glistening with the quivering of her lips.

“Mother…” Diana whimpered, prompting the oldest witch in the room to stay quiet and look between her worried daughters.

After a moment of silent contemplation of what she could say to ease their concern, their mother forced a smile.

“Diana, Delila,” she began in a low voice, reaching out both of her hands to gently hold Diana’s in her right one and Delila’s in her left one. “I have no doubt that someday, you two will open the door spoken of in the tapestry and help to build a new future for this family. That’s why… I want you both to promise me something.”

Diana and Delila exchanged wide-eyed gazes for a few seconds, repeating what their mother said in unison. “A promise?”

“Yes.” She moved her daughters’ hands to place Diana’s on top of Delila’s, her own hands cradling the girls’ between her palms. “Promise me, no matter what happens, you’ll always support and look after each other.” Diana and Delila stared speechlessly at their clasped hands as their mother gave them a light squeeze, her voice growing solemn. “For the future of this family, please don’t let your differences divide you.”

Neither Delila nor Diana knew what to say at first, the pair continuing to stare wordlessly at the hands their mother kept in her grasp. The two sisters didn’t understand what their mother was trying to say. But once they willed up the courage to give each other a sideways glance and lock eyes, it was obvious to the other that they suspected a deeper meaning behind their mother’s words, something important that, for the time being, would likely elude them.

Silence lingered between the three of them before Diana and Delila resumed eye contact with their mother, giving life to the words they wanted to reply with in sync. “We promise, Mother.”

A weary smile graced the oldest Cavendish’s face. “Thank you,” she muttered.

Releasing Diana’s and Delila’s hands, their mother moved closer and wrapped an arm around their shoulders each, slowly pulling the two girls in for a small embrace. Returning the gesture, Diana and Delila each stretched an arm round their mother’s back and rested their heads against her shoulders with the closing of their eyes, choosing to bask in the warmth their mother’s hug gave them while they still could.

Delila shouldn’t have felt intimidated by the Glastonbury Tor. It was a gigantic, steep, lush hill looming over the town of Glastonbury in the southwest of England. What was so intimidating about that? Then again, there was going to be a big difference between seeing the hill in pictures compared to actually standing in front of it—a fact Delila pondered as she admired the scenery from the bottom of the long steps leading to the hill’s peak, bathed in the bright light of the early morning sun of May and encompassed by a blue, cloudless sky.

A tall silhouette of an archaic rectangular tower stood at the top, and while Delila was too far away to see the ruined building in detail, she could still make out the shadows of the vegetation growing out of the tower’s sides and its top. Delila thought it was a strange sight against the modern backdrop of the town she’d recently ventured through, even if the tor and tower itself were located away from the tightly packed buildings and winding roads and pavements. Though considering this site was connected to the magical world, she wasn’t surprised. Those associated with magic were sticklers to the old traditions and methods, meaning unlike the regular people who walked this earth, they never adapted to the changes that came with the passage of time; why would any locations connected to magic be any different, she reasoned. But the longer Delila stared, the more it dawned on her that, perhaps, it wasn’t the tor making her feel intimidated, nor the old building situated atop it. No, now that she thought about it a little more, Delila was certain her unease was directed towards the person whom she knew was awaiting her at the top of the hill.

The reminder prompted Delila to reach into the left breast pocket of her white, elbow length puffy sleeved, black dress and pull out a piece of folded paper. Taking it into both hands, Delila flattened it out to reveal the handwritten letter sent to her over half a year ago, around August time if she recalled correctly. The smell of the now dried black ink was long gone, yet the neat and cursive writing etched into the paper remained just as Delila remembered it. It helped to bring the voice of the sender to life inside of her head as she mentally read the letter’s contents for yet another time, reminding herself of the reason why she’d travelled to Glastonbury to begin with:

Dear Delila,

I hope this letter finds you well.

I received your letter at the beginning of the first semester, but I couldn’t find the appropriate time to pen my reply. As expected, it has been a tricky time for students both new and old, yet I’ve managed to handle it just fine so far. The contents of your last letter concerned me. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there to defend you from our aunt’s and our cousins’ shared belittling, though I trust that Anna and the rest of the staff have taken good care of you in my place, as always. I sincerely hope they haven’t given you any further trouble and that you are doing better now.

With the arrival of the summer holidays here, I’ve had some time to ponder over recent events on your end. I acknowledge that the past few years haven’t been kind to either of us—our shared grief, your affliction, the societal pressures placed upon the House of Cavendish, all of which has been made worse by the ever-increasing decline in magic. While you’ve reassured me that your decision to stay at home had nothing to do with our estranged relationship, I still bear the guilt of my decision all the same. My enrolment to Luna Nova was my own selfish endeavour, after all, and we can’t deny that the burdens thrust upon us didn’t strain our relationship prior to my departure. It was unfair of me to leave the responsibility of keeping a watchful eye on our aunt solely to you, for which you have my deepest apologies.

In light of this, I wish to once again extend the invitation for your enrolment at Luna Nova Academy for next year. I realise I have made this proposal twice already and that this isn’t necessarily the last opportunity we have to uphold the promise we made to our mother as girls. But with Luna Nova’s age limit for acceptance cutting off at sixteen, and our sixteenth birthday fast approaching, I do fear the time we have left to mend our rift is limited.

Please do not feel pressured into accepting for my sake. I understand if you don’t feel ready to return to your magical studies just yet. I only wish to give you adequate time to think this through before making a final decision.

I look forward to hearing from you in due course.

—Yours Sincerely, Diana

Folding the letter back up and slipping it into her breast pocket once more, the young Cavendish’s hands took a collective grip on the straps of the purple rucksack on her back, her light blue eyes closing for a few seconds with a sharp intake and release of breath through her nostrils.

“Come on, Delila,” she hissed, accompanied with the sudden jerk of her head to the right. “If the entirety of witch-kind could muster the strength to fight against their persecution during the Middle Ages, then surely you can gather the will to walk up this hill!” Delila dared to open an eye at feeling sweat sticking her platinum-blonde and yellow streaked hair to her head, her brows furrowing at her black tights and matching leather shoes. “But it’s been so long since we last saw each other,” she continued to debate with herself in a low voice, briefly letting go of one of her straps to stroke her left, ear-length, yellow streaked bang closer to her ear. “And I can’t deny I’m no longer the person she may remember fondly. What if she is no longer the person I remember in turn?”

Delila knew she was not obligated to be here. The consequences for not showing up to her agreed commitment wasn’t dire, after all; well, outside of permanent expulsion. Still, if she so desired, she could just turn around and walk back to the train station right now. However, upon glancing over her shoulder at the path she’d not long trodden over at entertaining such a thought, it didn’t take long for a lump to rise in her throat, one she was forced to swallow with the stubborn stomp of her foot.

“No.” Returning her gaze to the hill’s peak, Delila scowled and raised a hand to flick her right shoulder-length and yellow highlighted bang out of her vision. “It’s now or never, Delila.”

Delila’s little ‘pep talk’ did nothing to calm the furious pounding of her heart against her rib cage, but at least it didn’t affect her mobility. With both hands gripping her rucksack straps with shaking, ghostly white knuckles and her jaw clenched so tightly her teeth were close to penetrating through her lips, the second oldest Cavendish made her slow trek up the hill, ignoring the muffled clinking of glass coming from her bag as she did so. She kept her eyes laser-focused on the approaching tower standing majestically against the cloudless sky, occupying her mind with the clearer view she was beginning to get of it the closer she got.

The tower itself was made of brick, possessing two open and arched entrances at its front and back. Giant and thick tree roots snaked around the bottom of its walls, while tree branches with lush and bunched leaves of varying sizes grew from its left side, its back and in place of its roof. The vegetation on its left side was rather small and the one that poked round from its back from the right side was medium at best. Yet the leaves sprouting from the tower’s top were great in number and acted as a canopy, practically replacing the roof that had since crumbled away. It reminded Delila of the depiction of the canopy of leaves she’d seen Beatrix and her unicorn companion standing on in her mother’s tapestry, though the leaves here weren’t flat and were raised high enough to the sky that it looked like there was a large bush growing up there; she imagined if anyone did attempt to stand on it (should they have been stupid enough to do it, of course), they’d plummet straight through to the ground.

As she came to a stop close to the entrance towering over her, Delila warily scanned around the hilltop to distract herself from the incessant palpitations jumping to her ears, seeking out the one whom she was expecting. At first, it appeared she was alone, but that all changed when a familiar female and posh-sounding British accented voice echoed from inside of the tower.

“Delila,” it greeted calmly. Delila’s eyes settled upon the thick darkness cast inside of the entrance with a slight flinch. “It’s been a while.”

Butterflies sprung to Delila’s stomach and began their repeated somersaults once she’d registered the faint outline of the silhouette standing within the tower’s interior, her anxiety once again taking hold despite having expected their presence. She’d barely been standing there for long, and yet hearing that voice for the first time in what felt like forever tugged on her heartstrings in a way she couldn’t quite discern, but one that made her grip a hand at her chest anyways at feeling her eyes start to sting.

“I apologise for startling you,” the voice continued as its owner started to walk towards Delila, their approaching footsteps resounding off the brick interior. “I’d not long arrived when I saw you coming.”

But Delila failed to give a verbal response. Her silence prolonged when the owner of the footsteps crossed over the entranceway and paused in the early morning sun, exposing a girl around Delila’s age and height with a broom held upright in her right hand and bearing a stoic expression. She held a striking resemblance to Delila in appearance, barring the tea-green highlights and bangs streaked into her platinum blonde hair. Yet what robbed Delila of her oxygen was the outfit the other girl wore, consisting of a dark blue tunic, witch’s hat and boots with a light blue belt around her waist and matching bands around her hat and shoes (along with a matching ribbon tied around the bottom of the bristles of her broom).

“Is everything all right?” the other girl enquired, her matching light blue eyes briefly revealing a glisten of concern.

It wasn’t until she saw the other girl’s expression soften with the furrowing of her brows that Delila comprehended her shock was probably showing on her face, snapping the young Cavendish back to reality with three forced blinks. Delila hastily responded with the loud clearing of her throat and her immediate aversion of her eyes to the ground, allowing herself a moment to regain her composure with her knuckles pressed to her mouth.

“I-I apologise, Diana,” Delila spluttered, followed swiftly by a forced cough to even out her tone. She frowned and pursed her lips into a thin line as she pondered on the right words to say, eventually daring to lift her gaze once more. “It’s only just hit me that this is the first time we’ve been together in three years. It’s…” She trailed off at the lump she felt rise to her throat, prompting her to swallow thickly and rub a hand at it to dispel it. “…a little overwhelming, admittedly.”

Diana’s frown deepened, as though she was sceptical of Delila’s answer. “And that’s all it is?” she pressed, her eyes lowering to the hand still on Delila’s chest.

Delila knew why she was looking there, hence her instant nod of the head and the lowering of her hand. “That’s all it is,” she affirmed.

Diana gave a satisfied nod. “Good.” There was a short pause before the older Cavendish continued. “How have you been?”

Delila hesitated to answer at first, her tongue already tingling with a bitter taste without saying anything. She hated that question. Her answer was always the same and she knew Diana only asked because she hoped to hear a different answer to the expected one. Unfortunately, today was not going to be the day that happened.

“Same as always,” Delila replied monotonously. She ignored the subtle droop of her sister’s eyes upon hearing her answer, her disappointment palpable. This was why Delila preferred their letter exchanges; at least she couldn’t see it.

“Does that include the situation at home too?”

Delila gave a stiff nod. “Yes. And yourself?”

Diana closed her eyes. “I’d say I’ve been doing well.”

“Does that also include your studies?”

Diana nodded without opening her eyes. “Perfect marks, as always.”

“Good to know.”

And then… silence.

It descended between the two teenagers the moment Delila finished talking, causing the younger Cavendish to drop her gaze to her shoes and tug at her dress collar with a finger when nothing else was said. She wanted to berate herself for not making more of an effort to converse. After all, her worries had been for nothing; her sister sounded and acted as she’d done prior to their parting. And yet how could she when she was feeling that familiar invisible wall sprouting between them, the one that seemed to appear whenever the twins were physically together? It was there prior to their parting and had returned once more, making Diana seem so far away even though she was so near.

Luckily for Delila, the silence didn’t last.

As expected of her sister, Diana was quick on the ball and swooping in to move things along with a new enquiry, drawing Delila’s attention back to her. “How was your journey?”

“Fairly normal, I’d say.”

“Did you come to Glastonbury alone?”

“Carter accompanied me to the train station and then saw me off at the bridge in the meadow.”

“Oh?” The older Cavendish raised a brow. “Wasn’t Anna going to accompany you?”

Delila didn’t answer straightaway. She’d secretly hoped her sister wasn’t going to bring the elderly maid up, but then again… that was wishful thinking, she realised. The reminder of the reason behind Anna’s absence left the teen witch clenching her jaw for several seconds, though she was quick to relax it in attempt to hide her anger. And not just for Diana’s sake, either.

“She was,” Delila eventually answered in a composed tone, only to huff loudly and cross her arms. “But Aunt Daryl had more pressing matters she needed her to attend to, apparently.”

Of course, Delila knew that wasn’t true, and while Diana hadn’t been there to see it, her sister knew that to be untrue too. It’s not like their aunt had changed since the last time Diana had seen her. And this was why Delila wasn’t surprised at witnessing the older Cavendish’s expression fall with the slight slump of her shoulders.

“… Is that so,” Diana said after a short delay, with Delila detecting a hint of despondency in her sister’s voice. When Delila nodded, Diana closed her eyes and lowered her head a bit, a soft sigh slipping past her lips. “How unfortunate.”

As an awkward silence arose between them again, Delila couldn’t help frowning in concern at seeing how crestfallen Diana had become. Her reaction mirrored Anna’s the moment their aunt denied the maid’s request to accompany her to Glastonbury. But it didn’t take long for Diana to square her shoulders without a break in her stoic mask, relaxing Delila’s expression in turn.

“Still, I appreciate you coming here today,” Diana eventually commented. “I know this wasn’t an easy decision for you.”

“That I can’t deny,” Delila admitted sheepishly, her eyes drooping. “Though, I think the reminder of the consequences for not showing up gave me the kick I clearly needed.”

“I did say you weren’t obligated to be here,” Diana stated matter-of-factly. “If you’d preferred to seek out other educational opportunities when you’re ready, I’d understand.”

“Yet you didn’t extend this invitation repeatedly just for education opportunities, did you?” Diana’s eyes widened with a shocked blink at Delila’s rhetorical question. The younger Cavendish placed a hand to her chest, digging her fingers into her dress’ front. “This is the school our ancestor helped to found. If we’re going to save our family’s future, this is the place I need to be, isn’t it?”

Diana remained frozen in place for a few seconds at processing what Delila meant, looking like a deer who’d stepped out into the middle of the road just as a car was speeding towards it. Her sister’s reaction said it all for the younger Cavendish; she hadn’t expected that response, yet it soon became Delila’s turn to be shocked when a faint smile gave way on her sister’s face, a sight that forced two confused blinks from Delila.

“A good point well made,” Diana conceded, her smile vanishing just as quickly as it appeared when she turned her back to Delila; had she just imagined that? “That being said, we should get going.”

“Already?” Delila raised a quizzical brow as she watched her sister walk ahead. “Isn’t the opening ceremony still hours away?”

“It is. But I think it’s best to show you around when most of the students have yet to arrive.” Diana halted in the middle of the tower, eventually prompting Delila to follow her and come to a stop on her left side. “You’ve never been much of a ‘people person’, have you?”

“And you have?” Delila instinctively retaliated with a bite in her tone and raised her palms. She didn’t realise her mistake until Diana directed a cocked brow at her. “Sorry, force of habit,” she added hastily and lowered her hands, not bothering to explain herself any further. She knew her sister would understand the meaning behind her reaction without her having to spell it out. “But thank you.”

Diana’s expression relaxed with a curt nod. “It’s the least I can do to ease any first day nerves.”

The older Cavendish broke eye contact to look up towards the top of the tower, granting Delila the chance to give the square interior a proper scan using the little sunlight shining in from the two open entrances. Due to how tall it was, the top of the tower was hidden in darkness almost a quarter of the way up, meaning Delila couldn’t see anything to do with the giant tree covering its missing roof. Yet just like the tower’s exterior, there were giant and thick roots snaking along all four walls from bottom to top, with one or two tiny windows being visible on the structure’s upper levels.

“This is called ‘St Michael’s Tower’, isn’t it?” Delila enquired aloud.

“Indeed, it is,” Diana replied without looking away.

“At one time, it was supposedly part of a medieval church named after the archangel ‘Saint Michael’,” Delila continued, catching Diana giving her a sideways glance within her peripheral vision. “Now, here it stands as the main Leyline Terminal to one of the most prestigious witch academies in all of Europe.” Delila closed her eyes and lowered her head. “Though, seeing as the tor has been cited as the Isle of Avalon from the legends of King Arthur, one can assume it was always destined to become a powerful magical landmark.”

A contented hum brought Delila’s eyes to open and turn to her sister. “Still hungering for knowledge, I see.”

Delila’s brows raised with a confused blink. “Pardon?”

“Diving deep into the history surrounding the places you’re visiting; it’s very like you to do.”

The moment she felt the heat rise to her cheeks, Delila turned her head towards the nearby wall with the singular objective to hide a potential blush from Diana, lifting her nose to the darkness surrounding them for good measure.

“I happened upon that information by accident, is all,” she said matter-of-factly. “It was inevitable while I was doublechecking the directions provided in the academy’s pamphlet.”

Though Delila could see from the corner of her eyes that Diana did not believe her, if the faint smile she thought she saw appear was any indication. “Of course it was.”

Delila said nothing more after that, but not because she didn’t have another retort in her. Seeing her sister smile for the second time since arriving brought a strange warmth to blossom throughout her very being, one that she hadn’t experienced in a long time. For a moment, Diana didn’t feel so far away, like the invisible wall had never existed between them in the first place. And yet, as the saying goes ‘All good things must come to an end’, a fact proven when Diana’s amusement disappeared in favour of returning to the task of setting up their transport to their destination, extinguishing that feeling of comfort within Delila like a flame doused with a bucket of water.

Diana positioned her broom underneath her horizontally and spread her legs apart, standing over the top end of the broom and clutching the handle between her palms. She glanced at her younger sister and gestured at their transport with the tilt of her head, giving Delila the cue to get on. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Diana watched from over her shoulder as Delila climbed on and copied her stance near the back end of the broom; however, she raised a brow when Delila gripped both hands upon the broom’s handle.

“This is your first time riding a broom, isn’t it?” Diana asked.

“It is,” Delila answered, frowning at her sister’s current expression and following her gaze to her hands. “Am I doing something wrong?”

“Not if you were the lone rider. But as the passenger, it is highly recommended that you don’t grip the handle of the broom.”—Delila let go and slowly retracted her hands—“Should flying conditions become turbulent, you’ll more than likely fall off while travelling through the leyline.” Diana removed one of her hands from the broom to point at her waist. “You’re safer holding onto me.”

The words barely left Diana’s mouth, and yet her subtle finger point was all Delila needed to know what her sister was going to say before she’d even said it.

“I-Is that right,” Delila replied with a slight stutter in a voice that raised an octave higher than intended, her body tensing as straight as the broom itself.

Of course, Diana’s sharp eyes and ears instantly detected her sister’s obvious failure to hide her discomfort, causing the older Cavendish to squint. “I take it your problem with physical contact persists?” The pursing of Delila’s lips and the awkward sideways glance she gave to the bricked floor beneath them was all the confirmation Diana needed. The older girl lightly shook her head. “I sympathise with your plight, sister. But for your own safety, I must insist you compromise. I can’t ignore the obvious risk posed to both the rider and the passenger.”

Delila was afraid Diana was going to say that, evidenced by the slump in her posture and her drooped eyes. Yet the younger Cavendish didn’t dare utter any further objections, because she knew her sister was right. Besides, her issues with physical touch weren’t at a phobia-like level; she could last a quick trip through the leyline if she forced herself to.

“… Very well,” Delila relented despondently. “If I must.”

“Thank you.” Diana waited for Delila to shuffle closer and loosely wrap her arms around her waist before she continued, pretending not to notice her sister’s left eye twitching a couple of times. “And you didn’t pack anything containing salt, did you?”

Delila crinkled her nose and creased her brow, staring at her sister as if she was talking complete gibberish. “Do I look like a fool with a death wish?” she snarked.

“I didn’t mean to offend.” Diana faced forward again. “The last thing we need is the leyline going awry. I just wanted to be sure.”

Delila rolled her eyes, though she responded without the sarcasm this time; she knew Diana was just being cautious. And possibly attempting to distract her from her current predicament… “Well, be rest assured, sister, that my belongings do not contain anything with salt.”

“Does that include your elixirs?”

Delila gave her rucksack a brief over-the-shoulder look at the reminder. “That includes my elixirs,” she parroted back, but then she narrowed her eyes at the back of her sister’s head upon properly processing the question. “How did you know I had them on my person?”

“Simple common sense,” Diana replied without missing a beat, as if she’d expected Delila’s enquiry. “I presumed you’d have at least one or two vials just in case.”

“And did you presume that before or after hearing them rolling around in my rucksack?” Delila deadpanned.

A small pause followed before Diana let out an irritated sigh, allowing that to be the only response she wished to give to her sister’s comments. “Anyway, are you ready to go?”

And as if on cue, the reality of what Delila was about to do hit her in full force. Their conversation had acted as a nice little distraction, and yet all it took was one small reminder of why she was here to kick her nerves back into gear, the palpitations in her chest pounding to the fore and giving rise to that uncomfortable lump in her throat.

Was she nervous because she’d never ridden on a broom before, let alone on a broom through a leyline?

Or was it because she knew that once she entered the leyline, there was no turning back?

Maybe a little bit of both?

“Delila?”

Diana’s gentle form of address brought Delila out of her internal interrogation. The young Cavendish found the courage to swallow the lump in her throat; however, she still couldn’t bring herself to speak, her prolonged hesitance causing Diana to peek over her shoulder with a faint frown.

“It’s okay if you can’t do this,” her older sister reassured, staring directly into Delila’s eyes to prove her point. “If you want to abandon enrolling at Luna Nova and try again somewhere else—”

“But I won’t try again, Diana,” Delila blurted out in a cracked voice, cutting her sister off and leaving the older Cavendish gaping and recoiling a little at her response. She didn’t know where her sudden burst of courage had come from, yet the younger teenage witch didn’t waste it. “If I turn back now, I know I won’t leave our home ever again. I’ll regret this decision for the rest of my life.” Fighting against the incessant pounding of her heart trying to escape the confines of her ribcage, Delila tightened her grip on Diana’s waist and squeezed her eyes shut, causing Diana’s shock to disappear in turn. “So, I implore you to make haste before my paranoid thoughts change my mind.”

“Are you sure?” Diana pressed sternly.

“I’m sure,” Delila croaked out instantly, missing Diana’s dismissive shake of the head as she focused forward again.

“Then let us be off.”

“Yes, let’s!”

With Delila keeping her eyes closed and tensing her shoulders in preparation for what was to come, Diana tightened her grip on the broom handle, jutted her chin to the air, puffed out her chest and proudly recited the spell name Delila recognised to be for flight. “Tia Freyre!”

Seconds after the spell’s recitation, a green glow sprung to life from the bristles of the broom and faintly illuminated the darkness-shrouded walls of the tower. Round and sparkling lights leapt from the broom’s bristles as they expanded outward, conjuring a sudden whirlwind around the two sisters and forming a ring of dust beneath them. The invisible and harsh assault on her clothes and hair forced Delila to lower her head close to her sister’s back, yet she still refrained from opening her eyes or loosening her grip. Meanwhile, Diana remained unfazed and poised during the brief onslaught, even once the broom started to levitate into the air. Delila’s breathing grew short and sharp at feeling her bottom touch the broom’s handle and her legs dangling in the air, her pounding pulse practically leaping into her ears. But she still didn’t dare to peek at her surroundings as they gradually ascended the tower, knowing that if she did, the little courage she’d found to defy her body’s nerves would soon shrivel up like a prune.

After enduring a short acceleration that took them a good distance into the air, a flash of bright green light appeared above the two sisters, revealing a rectangular, bright green portal situated partway up the tower, decorated inside with streaks of electrified black that arched outwards like tree branches yet slithered forwards like snakes. Delila continued to keep her eyes shut and her grip tight on Diana with ragged and deep breaths, while Diana hunched her shoulders and eyed the approaching portal entrance with a determined frown.

“Hang on tight!” Diana warned, which Delila took as her cue to shuffle closer to her sister. Diana waited until her broom was in close enough range before she boldly shouted the command to grant them access, her voice resounding off the bricked walls. “Open! Reveal the path to us!”

Chapter Text

The moment she felt the broom abruptly lurch upwards, the oxygen left Delila's lungs like a harsh punch to the chest. But throughout it all, she didn't open her eyes once—not when the harsh winds ruffled at every inch of her clothes, not as her hair whipped wildly about the air behind her, not even as her exposed skin was slashed at and her mouth was flapped about by the invisible force. All the while, Delila could feel Diana remaining motionless under her touch, staying as still as a statue. Without looking, it was blatantly obvious that her sister was used to the sensations brought on by travelling the leyline via broom more so than her, which wasn't surprising to her in the slightest.

A short amount of time passed before the broom slowed to a leisurely stroll, the winds formerly attacking them now gently caressing Delila's skin and hair. Her breathing gradually evened and her pulse faded at the calm that had since grappled their surroundings, which Delila took as her cue to open her eyes again. Upon doing so, she was met with the familiar sight of the circular, green tunnel of the dimensional rift they'd entered, her usual stoic mask shattering with the dropping of her jaw at the electrified, black streaks slithering alongside them from above, below and beside them.

This wasn't the first time Delila had seen a leyline, of course. It was a common form of transport in the magical world, after all. But as the younger Cavendish looked back at the way they'd just come at the bright purple covering the portal's entrance, even she could admit there was something oddly breath-taking at experiencing such a common source of magic up close and personal, to the point where she could almost reach out and touch it if she wanted (but she obviously wasn't going to do that; that was a death wish in the making!).

"Wow…" Delila uttered breathlessly, grabbing Diana's attention and prompting the older Cavendish to briefly peek at her sister from over her right shoulder.

"Are you glad you didn't listen to your paranoid thoughts now?"

"Very." Delila's brows furrowed. "It's strange, though, isn't it?"

"What is?"

"Magic is said to be in decline nowadays." Delila tilted her head up to the black streaks above them. "But you observe magical sources such as the leylines and it looks as strong as ever."

"Astute observation." Diana allowed her gaze to wander a little to the right of the leyline, her brows knitting together thoughtfully as her voice became underlined with a hint of dismay. "It is a shame the same cannot be said for Luna Nova, however…"

Delila faced her sister again with a deepened frown, having recognised the reason for her concern. "Has the effects of the magical decline on the school been really bad?"

"Sadly, yes," she answered solemnly. "It's certainly been palpable during the time I've been enrolled. I don't doubt that once we're at the opening ceremony, you'll start to notice it as well."

Delila raised a brow at the familiarity of her sister's explanation, her mind scrambling to recall the contents of the most recent letter Diana sent prior to her departure from the Cavendish Manor; didn't she mention something about a drop in student numbers during the previous opening ceremony? "Ah, yes. The lack of attendance at last year's opening ceremony, you mean?"

"Yes. The declining number of students new and old has hit Luna Nova terribly where their finances are concerned."

"Because the populace of the world is gradually believing that magic no longer has a use to everyday society?"

"Precisely."

"I see." Delila sighed quietly and shook her head out of disappointment. She'd already expected this but hearing it directly from her sister's mouth made the situation properly sink in, giving rise to her already acknowledged feelings a second time. "So, am I to assume that the poor turnout has extended to this year as well?"

"In terms of returning students, I wouldn't know. That is something we will not see until the commencing of the opening ceremony. Regarding new students, however, I've heard that we are expecting two new arrivals aside from yourself. One of whom descends from a witch family…" Diana briefly trailed off to narrow her eyes and add forced emphasis to her next words. "…and another who does not."

Delila forced three blinks at the last thing Diana said, staring at the back of her sister's hat as if she'd grown a second head. Very little managed to penetrate Delila's stoic mask these days, and yet even she couldn't help being surprised by this revelation.

"You mean, a first-generation witch?" Delila pressed, with Diana's confirming nod leaving the younger Cavendish speechless at struggling to comprehend what she was hearing.

She shouldn't have been too surprised by this. First generation users of magic weren't unheard of, yet in the present time, they were certainly uncommon given how deeply rooted magical heritage was into bloodlines; she would know, given hers and her sister's own magical roots.

A minute of silence passed before Delila brought herself to speak again with the crinkle of her nose and the twist of her lips. "I didn't know Luna Nova accepted witches without magical heritage. They're very strict when it comes to the old traditions and magical practices, aren't they?"

"Usually they are. But Luna Nova's ongoingly dire financial problems forced the headmistress to make an exception this year," Diana explained with the lowering of her head, a soft sigh escaping her. "But even extending the invitation of enrolment towards first generation witches hasn't been as successful as they'd hoped."

"I'm surprised there's even anyone in that category who wanted to enrol at a magic school."

Diana looked over at Delila with a raised brow and a forced blink. "You don't see a problem with it?"

"Do you?"

"Not necessarily." Diana closed her eyes. "Despite some apprehension, I respect the headmistress' decision to do what needs to be done to protect the future of Luna Nova. Provided the new student respects the traditions and rules of the school." The older Cavendish opened her eyes again and tilted her head to the side. "Though I cannot help being curious as to why you don't have an issue with it."

A snort slipped past Delila's lips when her mouth moved faster than her brain, leaving Diana furrowing her brows out of confusion.

"And why would I take issue with it?" Delila countered rhetorically, giving a casual shrug of her shoulders. "I understand the controversy behind allowing outsiders like that into our world, but on the other hand, it could also prove to be a good thing in the long run." Delila held her head up high at feeling the light wind blowing past them brushing her cheeks, her eyes glazing over with the thousand-yard stare as if in reminiscence of past times long gone. "It's very similar to the controversy surrounding Shiny Chariot, actually."

Unbeknownst to the younger Cavendish, Diana's frown deepened with a partial squint. "What do you mean?"

"Well, both situations are frowned upon because they break the traditions surrounding magic, yet in the case of Shiny Chariot, her efforts kept the belief and fascination in magic alive, especially towards non-witches." She paused to return her gaze to her sister. "Perhaps the same outcome will occur at Luna Nova with the arrival of this non-bloodied witch—"

Delila cut herself off with the raise of her brows upon beholding the slight gape and wide-eyed stare that Diana was now giving her, her body rigid. A child-like glint had overtaken her eyes, one that Delila recognised very well from when they were girls; no doubt Delila's explanation had propelled Diana back to the same nostalgic time she was currently referring to.

"… What?" Delila questioned when it didn't seem like Diana was going to say anything. Her older sister's intense staring caused the heat to rise to Delila's cheeks, forcing the younger Cavendish to look off to the left in a flimsy attempt to hide her embarrassment. "There's no need to look at me like that! I was listening to your rambles back then, you know!"

A long pause followed, with Delila refusing to even so much as peek at her older sister. But then… a small giggle from Diana grabbed Delila's attention once more, causing the younger witch's heart to skip a beat in her chest; when was the last time she'd heard her sister laugh?

"I have to admit that until today, I was greatly concerned for the futures likely to befall the House of Cavendish and Luna Nova," Diana said quietly, causing Delila's head to whip toward her sister as her sister gave her a small and genuine smile. "But now that you're here, I think we'll be able to restore them both to their rightful glory."

Delila couldn't bring herself to say anything to that. Her tongue continuously twitched with the urge to say something, yet no matter how much she wanted to respond, the words refused to form. Luckily for the teenage witch, however, the time for her to speak was abruptly cut short by a flash of white light from up ahead, the indication that they were reaching their destination drawing Diana's attention forwards once more and returning her to her composed demeanour. That was surprisingly quick, Delila thought; unless their conversation had made time pass faster.

"It looks like we've arrived," the older Cavendish remarked. As their surroundings started to become engulfed by a sea of bright white, Diana moved her head downward so the rim of her hat shielded her eyes. "Brace yourself."

And Delila did so without verbal objection, shutting her eyes and pulling herself closer to Diana the moment the bright light flooded her vision. She was unsure how long she was supposed to keep her eyes shut for, as she couldn't feel any outward changes to her surroundings during the transition from the leyline to their current destination. So just to be safe, she started to count to sixty in her head: one, two, three—

"Ahem," Diana softly cleared her throat, sending a startled jolt through Delila and stiffening her shoulders. "You can open your eyes now."

Never mind then, Delila sarcastically thought with the mental roll of her eyes, though she was admittedly surprised at how fast that change was. Upon relenting and doing as instructed, however, Delila was not prepared for the view that greeted her, so much so that she felt her eyes widen to the point they almost bulged from her eye sockets.

A sea of lush trees stretched across the land below as far as the eye could see, the scattered clouds sailing through the blue sky above them as faint swirls in varying directions. But it was the gigantic, castle-like structure situated in the midst of the varying shades of greenery in the distance that drew Delila's attention, almost parting the tightly packed trees like Moses parting the Red Sea.

The four-storey high building consisted of a rectangle base and two smaller rectangular attachments branching off close to the back of its left and right sides, possessing sloped roofing and an open grassy area inside the main building that looked to resemble a courtyard. Three towers rose from the roofing of the main building, two of which were located beside the rectangular extensions, while the final tower was situated at the back in the middle of the roof. At the building's back, far off into the distance, Delila also spied a thin tower that rose so high it almost looked to be touching the sky, housing a large, glistening and glowing mint-green stone at its peak; the Sorcerer's Stone, she instantly realised. A short distance opposite this tower was a smaller and wider circular tower around the same height as the large building, which had a long, rectangular wooden platform stretching from its top that Delila could just about make out.

Delila had already seen the pictures of this location beforehand thanks to the pamphlet sent and her own research, but beholding the actual building from a view like this? She felt like she'd lost the ability to speak! The longer she stared in awed silence from where she and Diana were gradually approaching the majestic building, the more certain Delila was that this was all just a fanciful dream—she hadn't actually left the Cavendish Manor. She must have imagined departing for the train station, getting off in Glastonbury and then trekking all the way up that tor, only for her brain to get creative and imagine the rest. That had to be it, right?

One light pinch on one of her palms after briefly loosening her grip on Diana proved her wrong, the tiny sting against her skin finally coaxing a word to leave her lips as a breathless whisper. "Whoa…"

From within her peripheral vision, Delila thought she caught Diana sideways glancing her from over her left shoulder, closely scrutinising her reaction.

"Welcome to Luna Nova Academy, Delila," she stated with a proud smile and the upwards tilt of her chin to the sky, making Delila wonder if Diana had waited nearly three years to finally say that to her.

The two sisters flew until they passed a pair of large metal gates far below, sectioning off a circular path with neatly cut and lush grass whose edges were lined with a long trail of rounded shrubbery. Diana slowly dipped the tip of the broom and carefully guided them to the sloped roof and multiple tall doors of the semi-circled entrance, waiting until they were hovering close to the set of steps underneath each door to gradually lift the broom into a horizontal position. The levitation cut off once they were hovering close to the ground, the brief drop startling Delila and jolting her into a standing position when Diana put her own feet down. Despite her momentary shock, Delila recovered quickly enough to release Diana and let her sister disembark, quietly sighing in relief and clutching her hands against her chest as she copied her.

"Extraordinary, isn't it?" Diana remarked while she righted her broom at her side, focusing her sharp blue eyes on the academy's entrance's roof when Delila moved to her other side.

"I'll say," Delila muttered and followed her sister's gaze, clutching the straps of her rucksack once more. "This isn't the building from the school's original founding, is it?"

"It's not." Diana shot Delila a sideways glance. "How did you know?"

"Because Luna Nova was founded in the 5th century and this restored reiteration looks to be from the 19th."

"Which you memorised from the pamphlet, correct?" Delila didn't respond to that verbally, yet her silence and the red flush slowly overtaking her younger sister's cheeks still gave Diana an answer, nonetheless. "I'll take that as a 'yes'."

Delila's eyes drooped as she rolled them, but she quickly clamped her mouth shut and refrained from making any retorts, even though the urge to say a snarky Excuse me for being a diligent student tingled on the top of her tongue; she wasn't with her aunt or cousins right now, after all. Diana deserved her self-restraint.

"I see now why you insisted we arrive at the academy early," Delila remarked in a low voice, once the extra colour disappeared from her face. "Punctuality aside, attempting to give a tour of a school this size is likely to take hours."

"That was part of the reason, yes," Diana replied in kind. "But not to worry. To save us time and to avoid overwhelming you,—"

Delila rolled her eyes, a hand absentmindedly brushing its fingers against her chest when she grumbled under her breath. "Overwhelming isn't the word I'd use."

"—I aim to focus on the important areas for now, with the inclusion of one particular area of interest."

"Will my new bedroom be included in that list?"

Diana shook her head. "Until the opening ceremony commences, the professors cannot determine how the room arrangements for the dormitories will go."

"In case of any students failing to attend the opening ceremony and thus being expelled automatically?"

"Precisely. As such, room assignments will be sorted afterwards."

Delila couldn't help wincing and closing an eye at her sister's bluntness, even though she'd expected that answer. "A little harsh, but also fair, I suppose."

"Agreed. As harsh as it may seem, it is an efficient way of filtering out those who aren't serious about their magical studies and pursuits. Though we will be making a stop by the dormitories a little later to collect your uniform from my room." Diana paused to sideways glance Delila's rucksack. "And to give you somewhere temporarily secure to store your belongings."

"Oh?" Delila raised a quizzical brow at her sister. "You have my uniform?"

"Everything except your belt, sash and bands, but you won't be needing those just yet." Diana faced Delila fully and gestured a hand to the white shirt hidden underneath her tunic. "Everyone is required to wear Luna Nova's standard uniform, cape coat and hat when attending the opening ceremony, so you'll need additional time to change."

"Even the new students?" Delila questioned, looking down at her current outfit after Diana nodded in confirmation. "Was I supposed to receive my uniform in advance then?"

"Normally, you would have. But I convinced the professors to leave it with me." Diana lowered her eyes to the ground, her next words spoken quietly and with a hint of a crack in her tone. "Just in case you changed your mind."

Delila furrowed her brows as she took in her sister's brief shameful and guilty outlook, though she couldn't blame her for it. She had let Diana down two times already, so clearly she'd been trying to prepare for the worst case scenario.

When a short round of silence followed and Diana seemed to catch the pitying look Delila was still giving her, the older Cavendish quickly averted her eyes again and loudly cleared her throat.

"Anyway," she started, holding out a palm towards the school's entrance as the two sisters locked eyes again. "Are you ready to head inside?"

Delila took a few seconds to reply as she lowered her gaze to her chest, giving herself a moment to assess her current condition with a hand subconsciously rubbing at it. Unlike how she'd felt before they'd departed through the leyline, there was little trace of her earlier nerves. Sure, there was still the odd one or two flutters from her stomach (which she'd naturally expected), but otherwise, no chest pains or indication of any upcoming chest pains, which was her main concern. So, upon determining she felt fine, she turned to Diana with a stiff nod and her hand falling to her bag strap.

"Ready whenever you are."

With Diana leading the way and carrying her broom over her shoulder, the two Cavendish sisters walked up the steps into the academy's main building side by side; however, upon crossing the threshold, Delila's pacing slipped as she beheld the inside of the high-ceiling entrance, causing her to lag a couple of inches behind her older sister. The academy's building was decorated with pristine, plain and pale coloured floors and walls, the lack of carpet and wallpaper sending the echoes of the sisters' synced footsteps bouncing about like a tennis ball. Having lived most of her life inside of a castle-like building much smaller in scale than Luna Nova with more vibrant decorum, Delila would have thought the entrance's lack of decoration made the academy look rather boring and unappealing in comparison. Yet she could admit that it gave Luna Nova a strange charm to it, one that seemed to match its majestic exterior, perhaps caused in part by the evenly spaced, square pillars lining the sides of the entrance.

Only now was it beginning to settle in that she was actually here. At Luna Nova.

"Just out of curiosity, which places in the school do you plan on showing me?" Delila asked as Diana led them towards an open doorway housing a vertical corridor with red carpeting just ahead of them.

Diana counted off on her fingers on her empty hand while she verbally listed the rooms for Delila's benefit. "There's the dormitories,—"

"Obviously."

"—the library, the cafeteria, the auditorium,—"

"Where the opening ceremony is being held, presumably?"

"—Yes. Also the botanical garden,—"

Delila's brows raised with a forced blink, wondering for a few seconds if she'd heard Diana correctly. "Wait, what—?"

"—And, of course, the student counselling and headmistress' offices—"

"Whoa, whoa, back up a second!" Delila cried and purposely stumbled forward into Diana's path with her palms raised, forcing her twin to come to a gentle stop. "Did you say botanical garden?"

"I did," Diana answered calmly and without any ounce of hesitation, making Delila's eyes narrow.

"Why would you need to show me that?"

"It's the place of interest I mentioned previously," Diana elaborated, causing Delila's expression to relax with a wide blink of realisation. "I don't need to show it to you by any means. But as it houses an important part of Luna Nova's history, I wanted to give you the opportunity to admire it when few faces were around."

Delila frowned and pursed her lips. "What could possibly be hiding in a garden that's as important as that?"

"You'll see soon enough." Diana ignored Delila's shoulders slumping as she started to move around her sister and raised her head to the ceiling with the slight puff of her chest, moving her free arm behind her back. "Come along now. We don't have all day."

Delila shook her head dismissively at her sister's last comments, but it didn't stop her from turning around and following Diana with quick strides to catch up to her side again. Just like Diana said, she didn't have to show her this 'important part of Luna Nova's history' by any means. She was only doing it because she knew (or at least suspected) that it was related to Delila's interests, so the least Delila could do was entrust herself to her sister's capable hands. Not that she had much of a choice anyway, she mentally remarked.

While Delila followed Diana along to their first destination, she gave the first floor of the building a brief scan. The area close to the school's entrance was a single corridor that, in line with the exterior, formed a rectangular outline consisting of a vertical corridor at the building's south end and then two horizontal corridors to the building's west side and east side. Allowing Diana to guide her into the east corridor, Delila also saw that the corridor's inner walls were lined with large and arched windows, while the corridor's outer walls were not. Delila only spared the outside area beyond the windows a quick glance, recognising it to be the grassy area she recalled seeing cutting through the middle of the main building whilst they were airborne. Her sister hadn't drawn attention to it, so Delila didn't deem it important enough to question right now. Not to mention it was obvious to her that it was probably the school's courtyard, because what else would that sectioned off area be for?

"You'll be pleased to know that three of the places on our list are conveniently located on the first floor," Diana said as they approached a pair of big dark green wooden doors decorated with thick, golden and intricate patterns, located to their right almost halfway down the corridor. "And that our first stop happens to be the library."

"Why?" Delila questioned sarcastically as she watched Diana approach the door to their right with drooped eyes and her arms crossed. "Is there an ancient tower with books spiralling up the walls hiding behind there?"

"Sadly, no," Diana answered in kind, swapping her broom to her other hand so she could place her right palm flat on the door. "Still, I think you'll be fascinated with the treasure trove of knowledge Luna Nova has to offer."

Diana turned away and shoved open the door with her hand, causing a noisy and elongated creak to echo around the corridor when it slowly inched open. Delila waited until Diana moved to hold the door open halfway with her back and right arm pressed against it before she dared to approach the doorway. But upon stopping beside her older sister and craning her neck round the closed door to look inside, she found herself beholding a wide, rectangular room with a green, square tiled floor, bathed in bright and almost blinding sunlight shining in directly from the large and arched windows opposite them. Long, wooden tables surrounded by armless chairs were scattered across the library's lower level, while both the bottom half and top half of the walls were covered in bookcases almost bursting with neatly placed books. The bookcases were separated in the middle by a stone walkway supported by stone pillars with a wooden railing that outlined the upper half of the room up to the windows.

An awkward silence hung between the two sisters as Diana observed her younger sister's eyes slowly move with the slight turning of her head, appearing fixated mostly upon the rows of books on both the upper and lower levels. Outwardly, Delila was succeeding in keeping a straight face and not giving her true thoughts away. Inwardly, however, a warm and fuzzy feeling brewed away in her chest like a boiling cauldron, a familiar and welcomed reaction she often found herself experiencing in the company of books. Around books she'd previously read, this feeling frequently sprouted up whenever she wished to re-experience nostalgia during the times she spent in the library back at home, as though she were reliving the past times with an old friend. But in the case of books she hadn't read yet, especially within this library based on the vast number of unfamiliar titles and covers she could manage to make out from her current vantage point, this feeling of warmth and fuzziness surfaced from the exciting prospect of attaining new knowledge, like she was getting to know a potential new friend for the first time.

"… Well?" Diana pressed upon ascertaining Delila had scanned practically every inch of the library by now.

Delila straightened up and returned her focus to Diana with her hands clasped behind her back. "It's not a forgotten library hidden underground, but I suppose it will do," she deadpanned, the corners of her lips twitching with the urge to smile at seeing Diana's eyes narrow a little at her response; her sister did not find that amusing.

"Please be serious, Delila."

"And when am I not serious, Diana?" the younger Cavendish replied sarcastically, only to continue in a normal tone of voice and raise her palms in surrender when Diana visibly slumped back against the library's door. "But yes, I concede that it is, indeed, impressive, all things considered."

"I'm glad to hear it." Diana straightened out her posture again and allowed her eyes to scan across the library from left to right. "You mentioned you were attempting to restart your magical studies in preparation for your enrolment in past correspondences. Luna Nova's library houses magical texts similar to the studying materials at home, along with additional materials should you need to review the basics."

"Hence why you showed me the library first," Delila casually remarked and subconsciously rubbed a palm at her chest, even though she felt fine at present. "As a way of easing my nerves by introducing me to a space I find some familiarity in."

Diana briefly closed her eyes. "That is one way to look at it. Though, it just so happens the library is the closest to the school's entrance out of the three rooms in question."

Sure it was, Delila instinctively and sarcastically thought. Yet she succeeded in pressing her lips tightly together and following her sister's gaze to the room's interior to prevent those words from being spoken aloud. She was only just now realising the terrible influence of being left alone with her aunt and cousins was having on her. Even still, she could mentally admit that Diana's plan (intentional or otherwise) had worked; her first day nerves had decreased a little more.

Thankfully, her attempt to seek out a distraction before she said something she would regret worked, the second look at the library giving rise to a sudden thought that caused a muffled snort to escape with the slight jerk of her shoulders. Out of the corner of her eyes, Delila caught Diana raising a brow at her seemingly 'out of the blue' reaction.

"What's so amusing?"

"Nothing," Delila immediately responded, keeping her gaze ahead for now. "I just realised this is the first time in a while that you and I have been stood in a library together."

Diana's brows raised in surprise at this revelation, though she quickly furrowed them in thought and lowered her eyes to the floor with a hand cupping at her chin once Delila's words sunk in.

"Now that you mention it… you're right," she muttered, her eyes absentmindedly drifting to the library's tables.

As Delila followed her older sister's gaze, the warm and fuzzy feeling in her chest seemed to intensify, prompting her to curl a hand into the front of her clothes with a faint smile. "It's funny. I never knew until now how many of my memories with you involve the library."

"Well, it was one of the few rooms in the manor we frequented the most as young girls," Diana commented quietly.

"It was, wasn't it?" Delila said through a soft sigh, a faraway look glistening in her blue eyes as the silence enveloped the two sisters for a moment.

Delila supposed that was another reason why she'd always found comfort in the company of books. Thinking about it, she couldn't remember a time where she and Diana weren't in the library at the Cavendish Manor—all those hours they spent reading up on the history of magic and the Cavendish family legacy, the times they dedicated to studying the knowledgeable side of magic, even the times Diana dragged her there just to enthusiastically ramble about her interests to someone who happily listened to her. She and Diana had never had much in common growing up, their personalities and thoughts distinctly different alongside their appearances. Yet when it came down to books, whether through general reading or magical study, it was an interest they'd always shared. In a way, the library was the foundation of their formerly close sisterly bond, Delila mused, that and their mo—

Whoa! Hold that thought, Delila!

The youngest Cavendish squeezed her eyes shut for several seconds and shook her head from side to side to halt that thought in its tracks, eventually clearing her throat to get Diana's attention with her knuckles pressed close to her lips.

"Ahem. Anyway, should we move on?"

"We should," Diana agreed, watching Delila walk back into the corridor before she followed suit and pulled the library door closed behind her. "There's still plenty of time until the opening ceremony, but there's also the risk of us running into any students who have decided to arrive this early."

Delila peeked over her shoulder at Diana with a cocked brow, her deadpanned response already on the tip of her tongue. "Another witch as punctual as the great Diana Cavendish? Perish the thought."

Diana brushed off Delila's attempt at a joke with a dismissive shake of her head and a small huff to match, not even bothering to make a retort; good to know her older sister was adjusting to her dry sense of humour.

The second stop for the Cavendish sisters for the first floor was the cafeteria, a large, wide and square-shaped room located past the library and the vertical north corridor beyond the courtyard, making up the remainder of the first floor's north side of the building. Following Diana into the cafeteria through another large set of double doors, the young Cavendish was greeted to the sight of hardened bright blue flooring and pristine brightly coloured walls, blindingly reflecting the sunlight streaming in from the tall windows stretching round from the entrance and forcing Delila to shield her eyes with her arm upon entry. As with the library, the cafeteria housed an accumulation of small wooden tables in the middle with four armless chairs for each side, along with a vestibule that lined the top half of the room with two sets of stairs on either side of the entrance granting access to it. But other than that, Delila saw nothing noteworthy about this particular eating area. After all, like with the courtyard, it was pretty self-explanatory to Delila that this was where students and teachers were served their daily meals. This was a sentiment Diana verbally confirmed upon admitting she'd showed Delila the cafeteria because it was the only way to access the school grounds at the building's back, where the botanical garden was located—the third and final stop on their tour for the first floor.

Luna Nova's botanical garden resided in a circular-shaped, dome-roofed and window-walled building on the right side of the school grounds, a sight that Delila wasn't the least bit surprised by, considering the name practically gave away what she naturally expected to find in there and the main reason why the building was designed this way: plants. And sure enough, upon allowing Diana to lead her inside through one of the building's many arched entrances, that is exactly what she found herself beholding amidst the sunlit area. Flower beds filled with thriving and lush flora of varying bright colours lined the outer side in between the entrances, while a circular and sandy coloured pathway encompassed the inner parts of the garden.

"And here we have the botanical garden," Diana explained, gesturing her empty palm towards a small circle of neat grass with a tall and thin tree almost as high as the building itself at its centre. "which houses the 'important part of Luna Nova's history' that I wanted to show you."

As she and her sister approached the edge of the grass side by side, Delila noticed that the tree's roots rose from the grassy ground in a left-sided spiral to form its trunk, with its base initially compacted tightly together, but then appeared to separate and form a gap-like spiral the closer it got to the glassed ceiling. Furthermore, nestled at the front of the cluster of branches that stretched from the tree's top, Delila swore she could see the faint semblance of a woman's face, making the hairs on her exposed arms stand on end with a shuddering tingle when she and Diana stopped together at the grass' edge. Diana observed Delila as she blinked a couple of times and rubbed at her eyes with her hands to make sure she wasn't seeing things, only to look at the same spot again with a squint to see the face remained.

"You've noticed the face, I see," Diana stated bluntly.

"Oh, thank goodness, you can see it too!" Delila sarcastically replied as she relaxed her expression, only to return her voice to normal and look at the grassy ground while rubbing at her exposed arms. "But if that is, indeed, a face, am I correct in assuming we are standing on the site of what could quite possibly be a witch's grave?"

Delila once recalled reading that powerful witches were capable of either transforming into or manifesting a tree on their grave upon their death, so her assumption wasn't a far cry from reality. Unless someone manually carved a face into this tree—

"You would be correct to assume so," Diana answered without breaking eye contact with the tree in question. "This sacred tree is the Jennifer Memorial Tree, aptly named after the legendary witch 'Jennifer'." Diana's gaze lowered to the tree's roots, staring intently enough that Delila couldn't help wondering if she was trying to see through the earth to wherever the spoken of witch's body was. "She was said to have aided in the restoration efforts of Luna Nova during the Golden Age of Magic, and allegedly transferred her spirit to this tree to watch over Luna Nova from the afterlife."

"Ah, I see," Delila commented with an understanding nod, only to hunch her shoulders as her eyes trailed back to the serene and closed eyed face embedded at the tree's top. "Though, that doesn't make the face any less unsettling to look at, no matter how peaceful it looks."

Delila was expecting Diana to chide her for making such a joking comment. However, when the silence was prolonged and her sister said nothing, Delila opened her eyes and looked over to find Diana had since resumed staring at the memorial tree, only to freeze up and blink a couple of times out of surprise at beholding the watery glint that suddenly crossed the older Cavendish's eyes.

"Diana?"

"Huh?" Diana uttered as she suddenly snapped to attention, causing the younger Cavendish to frown and cock her head a little to the side when her sister briefly returned her focus to her.

Delila gave Diana several seconds to pull herself together before saying anything further. "Is everything okay?"

Diana forced a couple of blinks to remove any traces of her momentary show of emotion and then gave a stiff nod. "My apologies. I'm fine," she replied, sounding more composed now. Though, she quickly looked back to the tree with drooped eyes, specifically at the wilting and barren branches dangling from the top. "It's just such a shame."

"What is?"

Diana released a despondent sigh. "That you were not able to see the memorial tree in better health."

Narrowing her eyes at her sister's comments, Delila directed her squinted gaze to the tree's trunk and leaned forward a little on her toes to get a closer look. Sure enough, she realised that there was more to the tree's abnormal appearance than she initially thought, noting that the bark was discoloured and greying, and the barren and wilting branches arched towards the tree's trunk like a cluster of limp and bony fingers; she'd been too preoccupied by the face to notice this tree had seen better days.

"Oh…" Delila mumbled after a moment of awkward silence, eventually straightening up and relaxing her expression. "I didn't notice it was sick. Has it been like this for a while?"

"Yes, sadly."

"Does anyone know what's wrong with it?"

"Not yet. The faculty are looking into the problem as we speak." Diana hung her head a bit. "Although the headmistress suspects it could be at the end of its time, given its age…"

"End of its time, huh…" Delila parroted under her breath, allowing her eyes to lower to her shoes to fend off the sudden stinging behind them.

When was the last time Delila had heard a similar phrase spoken? The same time as Diana, she concluded, one she came to when she spied her sister's sharp eyes soften with that watery sheen once more. If Delila dared to focus hard enough, she could repaint that dark and dreary day so vividly in her head—the two sisters stood side by side with Anna knelt before them, a hand of hers placed on one of their shoulders, neither of the girls able to look the elderly maid in the eyes after she'd broken the news of—

Nope. Not again, Delila!

One sharp shake of the head later to dispel that negative thought, words tumbled out of Delila's mouth before she could process what she was saying.

"Well, they still don't know what the cause of the problem is, do they? I'd say that counts as a positive if we consider that there is still hope that the cause is treatable."

Delila's eyes almost bulged from their sockets the moment she realised what she'd said, even catching Diana whipping her head towards her with a shocked blink of her own. Where had that come from?

"Ahem!" Delila forcefully cleared her throat and ducked her head down at the heat flaring her cheeks, mentally wishing she could just disappear into the ground right now to evade her embarrassment. "Sorry."

"No need to apologise," Diana reassured, prompting Delila's head to raise a bit to see the older Cavendish giving her a small yet genuine smile. "Your words of comfort are appreciated."

For yet another time that day, Delila couldn't feel that invisible wall between them. That familiar and welcoming warmth blossomed within her being and lingered there for several seconds, tricking Delila into believing the two sisters were fine, that their rift never existed. But the moment Diana turned away from her and the memorial tree and set her stone expression back into place, reality crashed down and shattered the illusion like a fallen mirror hitting the ground face-first.

"In any case, that's the first floor of the school covered," Diana said while walking out of the botanical garden, with Delila waiting a few seconds to pull herself together and then speed-walk to re-join her sister at her left side. "The rest of the tour should go by fairly fast for the remaining four destinations on our list, leaving us plenty of time before the opening ceremony."

"Good thing too, because we've been going at a snail's pace until now," Delila deadpanned, causing her to watch Diana release a heavy sigh and stare back with an unamused squint and pursed lips.

"Really, Delila?"

"What?"

Diana didn't respond after that. She only rolled her eyes and turned her gaze ahead to focus on where they were going. But despite Diana's apparent annoyance, Delila swore she saw the corners of the older blonde's lips twitch. She knew that simply spending time in each other's company for today wasn't going to fix their three-year rift just like that, yet the younger Cavendish took that lip twitch as a sign that Diana wasn't regretting inviting Delila back into her life, a sentiment that Delila was glad was mutual.

Chapter Text

Circling back to the cafeteria from the botanical garden, Diana guided Delila to the second floor of the school building via the vestibule, walking up the cafeteria's left-sided set of stairs and then emerging into the second floor's north corridor through the doors situated above the cafeteria's first floor entrance. Just like the corridors on the floor below, the floors were lined with red carpeting and windowless, pristine walls, with the north corridor having a descending staircase at both its top and bottom ends that Delila suspected led to the first-floor north corridor.

Upon entering the second-floor corridor, Diana didn't stop walking. She headed straight down the west corridor, continuing to talk to Delila following along on her left side as she gestured her empty palm to a set of tall, wooden doors opposite the doors to the cafeteria vestibule.

"This is the student counselling office, usually occupied by Professor Finnelan," the older Cavendish explained without a break in her stride or her gaze from where she was currently going. "She is the faculty member in charge of student guidance here at Luna Nova, alongside the teaching of various magical subjects."

"And the professor whom I would need to speak to should I have any concerns about student life at Luna Nova?"

"Correct."

"Huh…" Delila muttered, her eyes drifting to her chest with the furrowing of her brows at the realisation slowly dawning upon her. "Would she also be the professor I should consult if I have any problems with my illness?"

"That would depend on the situation." Diana furrowed her brows and tapped a finger to her chin as she and Delila rounded the corner into the west corridor, the sunlight streaming in from the line of windows from the interior wall bathing the carpeted floor in a warm and inviting glow. "Professor Lukić is the faculty member in charge of pharmacology, so she handles the medical needs of any students or staff."

"But let's say I was to have a medical emergency in the dormitories during the evening. What would I do then?"

"In that case, Professor Finnelan is the one you'd need to speak to. Otherwise, it would be whichever professor is close by. Either way, you would end up under the care of Professor Lukić for any medical problems or enquiries."

"Including the restocking of my elixirs?"

"Yes."

"Does that mean all of the teachers have been made aware of my illness?"

"I made sure that Headmistress Holbrooke, Professor Finnelan and Professor Lukić were aware so the necessary arrangements could be made upon your arrival. But the responsibility of informing the other faculty members was left with the headmistress. I assume they'll be told in due course."

"Good to know," Delila said with a nod of understanding, a palm subconsciously going to her chest.

Out of the corner of her eyes, Delila thought she saw Diana eyeing her movements with a slight squint, yet she didn't bother to bring attention to it. Instead, she chose to keep following her sister to the end of the west corridor in silence, assuming she was subtly checking to make sure she was okay.

Arriving to the third floor of the school made Delila concede that Diana's words back in the botanical garden were certainly accurate; the tour had, indeed, gone by 'fairly fast'.

Her older sister pointed out where the auditorium was located in the south corridor before they'd ascended the set of stairs to their right at the bottom end of the west corridor (which Delila came to realise was the case with every east and west corridor on the floors she'd seen so far). According to Diana, as they were going to be returning to the second floor for the opening ceremony anyways, she felt it was unnecessary to go into detail about the auditorium for now, a sentiment Delila gladly agreed with.

Upon reaching the west corridor of the third floor, Diana turned left and headed for the opposite end to the north corridor, guiding Delila along on her right side this time.

"The headmistress' office is in the corridor up ahead," Diana elaborated. "It isn't difficult to find, but I'm taking the liberty of showing it to you so you're certain of where it is in future—"

Diana interrupted herself at seeing Delila's pace slow down a bit when they neared the halfway point of the west corridor, her blue eyes drawn to a narrow and open doorway to their left. A long corridor with single wooden doors lining both walls and a wooden floor lay beyond it, mostly shrouded in shadow. There was no sign of any windows down there, so what little light there was streamed in from the west corridor. The plainness of the interior's design didn't give Delila a reason to be suspicious or afraid, and yet she couldn't shake the ominous feeling fluttering in her gut at seeing two rows of doors partially hiding in the dark. It was like she'd stumbled upon a forbidden area of the school… if it wasn't in plain sight and easily accessible, of course.

"What's down the creepy looking corridor?" Delila bluntly asked as they passed it by.

"The west dormitories," Diana replied just as bluntly, causing Delila to whip her head to the older Cavendish with a wide blink. "Which brings us neatly to the final destination on our list."

"Wait, what?" Delila's head moved back and forth between her sister and the corridor at least three times, her gaze lingering a few seconds on each before she switched. Had she heard that right? "Those are the dormitories?" she enquired upon allowing her gaze to finally stop on Diana.

"The west dormitories," Diana corrected as they turned into the north corridor and started walking to the other end, witnessing Delila's eyes become briefly drawn to a set of wooden double doors to their left in the middle of the corridor—the headmistress' office, Delila guessed. "There is an entrance leading to another set of dormitories in the east corridor as well."

"Really?" When Diana nodded, Delila lazily flicked her wrist in the direction of the high ceiling. "I was under the impression they'd be on the top floor."

"They are." Diana saw Delila give her a puzzled squint, prompting the older Cavendish to sigh heavily and lower her head a little with the closing of her eyes for a few seconds. "Did you assume the dormitories were located in the main building?"

Her sister's query only caused Delila to narrow her eyes further, her confusion very apparent at this point. "What are you talking about?"

"When we arrived at Luna Nova, did you see the two extensions to the west and east of the school's building?" Diana purposely paused to let Delila answer, to which the younger Cavendish immediately nodded. "Those are the dormitories."

Several seconds of silence followed before the realisation hit Delila in the face like a fireball cast from a witch's wand, resulting in a muttered 'Oh…' from the younger teen after the short delay.

"Luna Nova's main building is solely classrooms, offices and additional rooms related to the educational or living needs of the students, faculty and non-teaching staff," Diana continued. "In the past, Luna Nova have received a large number of student enrolments, which the main building doesn't have the space to accommodate—"

"—thus the dormitories are housed in the west and east extensions because they have the necessary space," Delila finished.

"Exactly, hence why the dormitories can be found on the second, third and fourth floors of each building extension."

As the two Cavendish twins walked into the east corridor and approached the corridor for the east dormitories to their left, Delila frowned upon remembering that she hadn't seen a doorway to a dormitory corridor on the second floor that matched the one she'd seen on the third floor, a finger tapping at her chin.

"Then how come there wasn't an entrance to the west dormitories on the second floor?"

"Because access to the dormitories is only from the third floor."

Delila's eyes widened with the sharp turn of her head as she and Diana stopped in front of the east dormitory entranceway, the younger Cavendish staring at her older sister like she'd grown a second head. "But then how…?"

Delila trailed off at Diana gesturing her empty hand to the left side of the east dormitory corridor, where Delila spied a set of descending and ascending stairs just inside of the entranceway. "Students assigned to the second and fourth floor dormitories use these stairs."

"So, they'd have to come up to the third floor just to get to their rooms on either the fourth floor or second floor?"

"Yes."

Delila gazed at the stairs with a furrowed brow and a crinkled nose. "Who's the genius that came up with that ludicrous layout?"

"I don't have the answer to that, I'm afraid," Diana answered calmly with the brief closing of her eyes, resuming her walk towards said stairs. "Still, it's nothing to worry about."

"Doesn't make it any less ludicrous," Delila muttered under her breath, relaxing her expression and returning her voice to normal volume as she moved after her sister down the stairs. "I'm assuming your dormitory is in the east building, then?"

"Yes, at the far-end of the second floor. Although, speaking of which…" Diana trailed off and partially peeked at Delila from over her left shoulder as the two Cavendish sisters entered the second-floor corridor and made their way to the other end, the pair's path illuminated by dim blue lighting from the diamond shaped bulbs hanging from the arched ceiling. "Before we head inside, I must ask that you brace yourself."

Delila raised a brow at how serious Diana sounded, admittedly not helped by the poor lighting and their echoing footsteps against the wood being the only other sound filling in the silence between them outside of their own voices. Who knew a narrow corridor without natural light leading to a set of currently empty bedrooms could give off such a hair-raising atmosphere, she thought.

"Let me guess: one of Aunt Daryl's snake familiars snuck into your luggage three years ago and it's hiding somewhere in your room," she deadpanned. Diana responded with an exasperated sigh, resting her forehead against her empty palm after giving it a small shake. "Is your silence an indication it is still at large—?"

Delila finally stopped the moment Diana's posture slouched and her eyes drooped, her subtle message to please quit messing around while she was trying to have a serious discussion with her becoming loud and clear. The teenage witch cleared her throat.

"Sorry," Delila apologised, which her sister acknowledged with a curt nod. "But seriously, why would I need to brace myself?"

Diana hesitated to answer at first, her sharp and grave gaze lighting up under the blue light trail above them, making it appear for a moment that they were glowing. When they got closer to the far end of the corridor, though, the older teenage witch broke away with a deflated sigh.

"Because I don't want you to get your hopes up," she mumbled upon halting in front of the door, with Delila frowning and leaning a little to the left to observe her sister reaching out for the stick-like door handle.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Diana gripped the handle loosely between her fingers, purposely delaying opening the door to answer her in a solemn tone. "You're about to see."

Without giving Delila the chance to press the matter further, Diana swiftly yanked the door to the room open in one go, startling her younger sister and forcing her backwards a couple of steps and averting her gaze away from the bright sunlight flooding into the corridor. Diana didn't spare Delila a single glance as she headed inside first, leaving Delila to slowly move after her sister once she'd adjusted her eyes to the lighting again with a couple of blinks. The moment the younger Cavendish crossed over the threshold into the room, however, she came to a gentle halt, her blue eyes instinctively wandering round while Diana went on ahead.

Diana's dormitory was a large and wide room dressed in red carpet and plain blue walls, containing two tall, wooden framed, square windows with arched tops across the back wall complimented on either side with large red curtains neatly tied back. A quick skim of the room's right side from her current vantage point revealed a closed door just beside the entrance, along with a tall, long and rectangular wooden dresser with a wide, oval shaped mirror framed in dark brown stretching across it on the door's opposite side, where two matching armless chairs were pushed in to the dresser's table.

Delila released a low and impressed-sounding whistle upon returning her attention to Diana, who'd approached a green armchair in the centre of the room opposite the dresser to remove her broom from her shoulder and rest it against its back.

"Wow," was all Delila could muster at first, oblivious to Diana closing her eyes and lowering her head to remove her hat while keeping her back to the younger Cavendish.

As Diana placed her hat upon the armchair's cushion, Delila shuffled her way in and headed to where a square wooden table with curved legs and a green sofa shaped like a 'r' to its left were placed with the armchair, continuing to scan the room as she made her way over. She noticed the two 'windows' each had two sets of door handles on them, and that looking beyond the glass, she could see a semi-circled balcony outside with two white chairs and a circular table.

"And here I thought our shared bedroom back at the manor was spacious," Delila mused aloud. "No wonder you didn't want to come back home during the holidays."

Diana gave no reaction to Delila's jesting, not sparing her a word or a look of acknowledgement, yet Delila paid it little heed for now; Diana was probably getting sick of her jokes, she assumed.

As the younger Cavendish slipped her rucksack off her back and placed it upon the first seat of the sofa for now, she resumed getting her bearings and switched her attention to the room's left side. A wooden wardrobe with four doors and two sets of drawers underneath them could be seen stood against the room's front wall, while two single beds with red quilting and pillows was situated along the left wall, each with a wooden bedside table on their outer sides. It was the two beds that caused a sudden thought to strike the younger Cavendish.

"Diana," Delila addressed her sister as she turned to face her once more. Diana never turned around, yet it didn't deter the younger Cavendish from voicing her question anyway. "You mentioned during our previous letter exchanges that students have to room in groups of three, correct?"

"Correct," Diana answered instantly, but she still didn't make eye contact.

"So, where's the third bed?"

"Behind the dresser."

"Behind the dresser?" Delila repeated slowly and narrowed her eyes, prompting the older Cavendish to stroll to the back of the room with her hands clasped behind her.

"Yes, behind here."

Diana approached a wide square-shaped gap between the dresser and the back wall on the room's right side, a sight that caused Delila's brows to raise with a surprised blink. How did she never notice that when she first walked in, she wondered. Delila strode briskly to join Diana in front of where a third window was past the gap between the dresser and the wall, leading her to behold a long, rectangular area partially cornered off from the rest of the room. It was situated between the actual left wall and the back of the dresser up to the wall connected to the room behind the door that Delila initially saw upon entry (she presumed it was the bathroom, seeing as it was the only thing she had yet to see in here). A wooden bookcase filled with books ran the length of the dresser up to where the gap was, with a small wooden desk stacked with books pressed against another similar length book and scroll filled bookcase lining the left wall close to where the two sisters were standing. A single bed was also placed vertically at the far end, fit snuggly between the far wall, the left wall and the bookcase, with the headboard before another window on the left wall.

"Oooooh," Delila said after getting her bearings, daring to take a step or two further in as her blue eyes glossed over the assortment of colourful book spines lining the bookcase shelves; she counted five shelves in total. "So, this is where your bed was hiding."

Diana's brows raised at the comment. "What makes you assume this is mine?"

Delila peeked back at her older sister with a creased brow and twisted lips. "A personal reading and studying area separated from the rest of the room? This has you written all of it."

Delila strolled to the bed and dragged a fingertip along the spines of the books close to her eye level, missing Diana's eyes drooping at her comments.

"We have a dresser in our bedroom back at home," she stated matter-of-factly.

"True, but it's tiny and was only used to prepare for formal events or brushing hair. So, who else was I going to assume occupied this bed knowing that?"

Diana didn't respond to Delila's rhetorical question, but it did prompt the older Cavendish to knit her brows together once Delila paused beside the bed and then fully turned to face the bookcase.

"Though while we are on the subject of our shared bedroom," Diana started, grabbing her sister's attention and pulling her away from her admiration of the book's spine her fingertip rested upon. "How are you feeling about moving into the school dormitories?"

Delila raised a brow at the question, her nose crinkling a bit. "It's a little late to be asking me that, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"This feels like a question you should have asked when we were at the Leyline Terminal."

"I disagree." Diana lifted her head and rolled her shoulders to straighten her posture a bit. "You were already nervous about leaving our home as is. I didn't want to worsen your distress before we'd even arrived at our destination."

"Worsen my distress?" Delila scoffed, lazily waving Diana's comments off with a hand. "What did you think I was going to do if you breached the topic there and then? Run back down the hill?" Delila was joking, obviously, but the moment she saw Diana lift a sceptic brow and crossed her arms, the younger Cavendish's eyes widened out of disbelief. "I was joking."

"Were you?" Diana countered.

Delila instinctively opened her mouth to refute Diana with her index finger raised accusingly; however, when the reminder of how she'd reacted before they entered the leyline flooded back into her head, her shoulders and finger drooped like they were a pair of slowly deflating balloons.

"… Okay, that's fair," Delila relented through a small huff, running her fingers through her hair as she adjusted her posture. "But you need not worry, sister. My feelings on the situation have vastly improved since our last written correspondence on the matter."

Diana frowned out of suspicion and narrowed her eyes, closely scrutinising Delila's movements with a quick look from head to toe. "Have they now?"

"Indeed," Delila answered seriously, which she noticed momentarily broke her sister's stoic mask with a shocked blink. "As we originally discussed the room arrangements three years ago, I've had more than enough time to think it through thoroughly, and while I'm still uneasy, I know there are compromises for my situation." Delila's gaze wandered to Diana's bed at this, a hand subconsciously stroking at her chin. "For one, I now know where you sleep, so I am reassured you are not far away if I need you for anything. And for another, I'm not required to stick by my roommates all day outside of the dormitories. I have access to other areas of the school for quiet study and privacy should I require it."

"And you are content with those compromises despite not seeing the other rooms for yourself?"

Delila lifted her eyes to her sister's once more with a puzzled frown. "Why would I need to see the other bedrooms? Don't they all look the same?" Diana lowered her eyes to the floor and turned her head towards the wall with knitted brows, her troubled expression answering the younger Cavendish's query without need for a verbal one. "They don't all look the same, do they?"

"No, they don't," Diana answered through a soft sigh. She turned towards the centre of the room and began to walk around the bookcase to the seating area, expecting Delila to follow suit. "The rest of the dormitories in both the west and east wings of the school are much smaller and cramped, lacking a bit in privacy and personal space. Apart from this room, they are all identical in furniture layout and design."

"So, this room is the only exception in both dormitories in terms of space, privacy and design?" Delila pressed with a deepened frown and her head tilted to the side out of confusion, following her sister back into the main part of the room once she'd disappeared beyond the gap.

"It is."

"Why?"

Diana delayed saying anything at first, heading straight for the back of the armchair and placing her hands against it. It wasn't until Delila moved to stand behind the sofa that she attempted to explain, her tone solemn as she kept her gaze focused on the floor and not on her sister's face.

"I don't know. I was merely fortunate enough to have been offered this room when I first enrolled."

"Offered?" Delila repeated with a suspicious squint. "I thought the faculty were the ones in charge of choosing the rooms and teams of three."

"They are." Diana closed her eyes and hunched her shoulders a little at the next thing she prepared to say, the words spoken lowly and with a hint of shame. "But they considered me an exception regarding room choice."

Had Diana been discussing this matter with anyone else, her simple yet vague response probably wouldn't have been enough for them to instantly understand what she was getting at. The same, however, couldn't be said for Delila, even despite their three-year rift. Her older sister had barely uttered the words before the realisation smacked the teenage witch in the face like she'd been hit with a brick; Diana's earlier warning suddenly made sense.

"Because you're a Cavendish," Delila said calmly, though her lips curled with disgust at the bitter taste left on her tongue from vocalising those very words. And to no one's surprise, Diana gave a stiff nod without opening her eyes, prompting Delila to inhale and exhale a sharp breath through her nose and grumble under her breath. "You have got to be kidding me…"

Delila knew she should have seen this coming. She and Diana were descendants of one of the Nine Olde Witches, the group who founded the very school they were currently standing in! Their family name was already revered by many within the magical community, but for Luna Nova to have a descendant of one of their founders enrolled was a big deal in and of itself. The younger Cavendish didn't even want to try to imagine the reactions of the faculty and students upon Diana's initial enrolment at the school, especially in light of the reputation she'd garnered over the years as the rightful heir to the House of Cavendish. Just thinking about it was making her stomach churn.

"Have the teachers been giving you preferential treatment—?"

"Absolutely not," Diana interrupted Delila sternly, opening her eyes and lifting her gaze to her younger sister again with a frown and a palm held out. "The faculty have held me to the same standards and rules as everybody else. Any personal respect they have for myself was rightfully earnt through my good work ethic."

"So, they won't give me special treatment for being your sister?"

"I wouldn't have invited you to enrol here if I knew that was going to happen," Diana reassured, relaxing her expression when Delila allowed her body to slump with a heavy sigh of relief and placing both of her palms to her chest. "Our circumstances may have changed us, but if there is one thing I am certain has remained a commonality between us, it's our dislike for being hailed on pedestals without proper merit."

"Of which I can confirm that you are, indeed, correct about," Delila remarked in jest.

Although, deep down, Delila was glad that Diana had taken that into consideration when it came down to her, despite having naturally expected her to do so for herself.

"But returning to my original enquiry," Diana resumed talking upon standing up from the back of the armchair and folding her arms behind her back. "Have your feelings towards the dormitories changed with this new information?"

Delila didn't need to think about her answer. The young Cavendish immediately shook her head and folded her arms across her chest.

"I'll admit it is a shame that I cannot have a bedroom quite like this one, though I believe it is still too early to pass judgement." Delila lightly dragged her fingertips across her chest. "It's possible that my illness could, perhaps, force the faculty to be more accommodating to myself. Yet either way, I'll just have to wait until after the opening ceremony to see, won't I?"

Delila saw Diana's brows and lips form into a thin line, her sharp blue eyes looking her sister's appearance up and down a couple of times, as though she wasn't convinced that she was being completely honest with her answer. "And that is all you have to say on the matter?"

Delila nodded affirmatively and without hesitation. "Yes."

"There is nothing else you wish to question?"

"There is nothing else I wish to question."

"Not even why I accepted the offer to—?"

"Diana," Delila interrupted calmly and held up her palm to dissuade her from saying anything further, causing the older Cavendish to fall silent with a forced blink. Whether she was surprised by Delila interrupting her or the fact the younger Cavendish wasn't cracking jokes and being serious for once, Delila didn't know, but it didn't deter her from attempting to offer her reassurances. "It's honestly okay."

Yet Delila could see Diana wouldn't accept it. The older Cavendish's composure broke with the deepening of her frown, her hands loosely balling into fists and dropping to her sides as she took a step forward and prepared to protest. "But—"

"You and I haven't seen each other in three years," Delila silenced Diana again in an even tone, prompting the older Cavendish's eyes to widen slightly. "Aside from the promise we made as girls, the main reason we stayed in touch was so I could report anything Anna informed me about our aunt's activities. Any other communication outside of that was purely out of politeness." Folding her arms behind her back, Delila steadily approached from around the sofa and the armchair, resuming talking once she was standing in front of her shellshocked sister. "Right now, we are still getting to know each other again, so you have no obligation to explain yourself to me about anything pertaining to your decisions during our time apart. That's a topic for further into the school year, don't you think?"

Diana lowered her eyes to her shoes for a moment and relaxed her hands, her brows lifting a little in contemplation. A short round of silence passed between the two sisters then, with Delila granting Diana the time she needed to let what she'd said sink in. Eventually, the older Cavendish broke it with a defeated sigh and the closing of her eyes, her shoulders dropping.

"… You're right," Diana replied in a composed tone, her stoic demeanour returning when she raised her gaze to Delila's and held her chin high. "It would seem I got ahead of myself. I apologise."

Delila waved Diana's apology off with a hand. "Apologies aren't necessary. When it comes down to it, the choices we've made were done to cope with our circumstances. And while we may not understand each other's choices now, maybe we will come to later." She paused when a faint and cheeky smile slipped onto the younger Cavendish's lips. "Besides, what right have I to judge you for seeking comfort in a familiarly designed bedroom when I've been isolated in our old bedroom for five years?"

And, as Delila predicted would happen, Diana twisted her lips, crinkled her nose and released an exasperated huff at her attempted humour, not at all impressed by the reply. "You couldn't help yourself, could you?"

Delila shrugged nonchalantly, her momentary display of happiness quickly fading from her face. "Couldn't help myself with what?" she deadpanned, prompting Diana's eyes to droop as she shook her head.

"Never mind." Diana peeked behind Delila at the windows to the room, which she took as her cue to collect her hat from the armchair into one hand and her broom in her other one after several seconds of looking. "With our tour of Luna Nova concluded, we should get ready for the opening ceremony." The older Cavendish jerked her head in the direction of the door beside the dresser, the remaining area of the dormitory that Delila had yet to know the function of. "Your uniform is already waiting for you in the bathroom to change into."

"What about your roommates?" Delila asked as she gave the two single beds opposite them a brief glance, her mind flitting to her sister's unknown roommates. Diana hadn't mentioned anything about them in their letter correspondences leading up to Delila's enrolment, though Delila expected they'd stop by their dormitory to drop off their belongings before the opening ceremony. "I don't want to impose."

"It's not an imposition. By the time they arrive, we should be at the auditorium, so take as long as you need to."

Delila nodded in acknowledgement. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Delila expected Diana to end their conversation there, but instead, she spotted the older Cavendish once again taking a short glance at her chest for a couple of seconds, her brows knitting together upon lifting her sharp eyes to her younger sister's. "And you're sure you're fine?"

Delila placed a hand to her hip and raised a brow out of disbelief. "Diana, I assure you, I am."

And thankfully, the older Cavendish didn't question her sister's answer, giving her a satisfied nod a few seconds after. "I'm glad to hear it." Delila caught Diana raising her hand holding her hat to her closest shoulder, as if she was about to pat it. However, the older witch quickly caught herself and retracted it to her side with twitching fingers, moving around Delila and heading behind the dresser. "I'll be changing back here if you need me for anything."

"Understood."

As she watched Diana leave, Delila felt the invisible wall between them flicker out of existence for the briefest of seconds, her eyes glued to her sister's retreating back. But the moment the older Cavendish rounded the corner of the wall and disappeared from her sight, Delila's chest tightened, acting as a reminder that her escape from her loneliness was constantly fleeting, and was likely going to remain that way for a while.

The bathroom of her sister's dormitory had a plainer interior design than Delila initially expected. Having anticipated vibrant and tiled flooring and walls upon entry to the small, rectangular space like she was used to seeing back home, the second oldest Cavendish sister instead beheld bricked walls and flooring, giving off a primeval and simplistic aura that completely contrasted the grand and elegant one given off from the bedroom. And it didn't just extend to the walls and floor either. While the small white sink to Delila's left and the white and oval shaped bath placed along the back wall matched the mental image Delila had in mind, the bath's drawn-back and plain green shower curtain did not, and neither did the two metal taps protruding from a wooden box from the middle of the wall, alongside the round stand in the room's top left corner with its accumulation of soap and other plain coloured bottles for shampoo and conditioner. Being frank, Delila found the contradicting design choices just as ludicrous as the layout for the dormitory stairs. Sure, it was just a bathroom, and as long as everything was hygienic and functional when it came to serving its purpose, the youngest Cavendish had no complaints. But she still couldn't help curling her lip in disgust at how tacky it looked. Delila blamed her family pride for that, as the descendants of the Cavendish line had always let their actions, words, behaviour and even household décor reflect how proud they were of their magical heritage and the good their ancestor had done for the magical world. Perhaps her expectations for Luna Nova had been too high and unrealistic in comparison, Delila mused. Either way, it acted as a nice little distraction from the tightness in her chest, which had yet to ease or disappear since entering the bathroom.

Upon properly getting her bearings, it didn't take long for Delila to spy her school uniform neatly folded atop the toilet situated in the middle of the right wall of the bathroom, which consisted of a buttoned dark blue vest, a long white-sleeved shirt, cross-over tie, a blue knee-length skirt and a pair of blue socks on top of the toilet's closed wooden seat and then a pair of brown shoes next to the toilet on the floor. There was nothing amongst the garments that resembled a cape coat or the tunic, boots and witch's hat Delila had seen Diana wearing; although Delila presumed Diana was still in possession of those and would hand them to her soon. After changing out of her old clothes and carefully folding them up on top of the toilet's tank, Delila stood before the silver-framed and oval shaped mirror hanging above the bath's top end, staring intently at her reflection. Admittedly, she almost didn't recognise herself at first, causing the blue eyes of her reflection to widen with a slight gape at the possibility that she was definitely dreaming. That thought soon dispersed once she started to check her uniform over, her expression falling stoic while fiddling with the cuffs of her shirt, adjusting her tie back and forth and smoothening out any creases against the front of her vest and skirt with her palms. Being Diana's twin, the two shared the same body types and sizes, so the uniform she'd been given was naturally a snug fit. That didn't stop her from giving her wrist a gentle pinch and wincing at the slight pain that came with it, providing the proof that she was, indeed, awake.

Back at the Cavendish Manor, Delila had lost count of how many times she'd stood in front of the dresser mirror in her bedroom and tried to imagine herself bearing the uniform of the magical academy she and Diana once desired to attend together. Back then, it had seemed such an impossible feat, not helped by the countless taunts and teasing she'd endured at the hands of her aunt and cousins. But now, the weight of what she'd done was properly dawning upon her—she'd left the Cavendish Manor, she'd journeyed down to Glastonbury by train, she'd flown with Diana on a broom through a leyline terminal, and now she was standing in a dormitory of Luna Nova Academy, wearing their uniform and preparing to attend the opening ceremony that would cement her as an official student. Three years ago, such a feat would have been unthinkable! Yet here she was, one step closer to upholding her childhood promise to Diana and proving her hateful relatives wrong! She should be proud!

... So, why wasn't she?

Delila immediately blamed her aunt the moment she heard her grating laugh inside of her head, the same one she'd given in response to Delila's announcement of her enrolment at Luna Nova.

"You enrolled at Luna Nova Academy?" the recollected British-accented voice of Daryl mocked in a honeyed tone, making Delila clutch at her chest with a hand as the lingering tightness increased. "Are you sure that's wise, Delila? After all, a witch who cannot use her powers, regardless of the reason, is still but a child. Diana has already embarrassed the Cavendish name with that in the past. The last thing this family needs is her sickly spare doing the same."

Three muffled raps on the bathroom door suddenly roused Delila from her nightmarish recollection with a startled flinch, the concerned voice of Diana swiftly following from the other side.

"Delila?" The addressed witch sucked in a shaky breath through her nose and quickly exhaled after several seconds, finally ridding her chest of her discomfort. "Is everything all right? You've been in there a while."

"Just a moment, Diana!" Delila called back in an even tone, purposely pretending everything was fine while giving herself the necessary time to pull herself together again. Delila knew if she risked prolonging the silence any further, Diana would not hesitate to come inside; she was a health and safety risk, after all.

Upon glancing over her uniform to ensure nothing was out of place and quickly stroking her fingers through her hair and fringe to tidy it up, Delila collected her casual clothes and leather shoes from the toilet tank and approached the bathroom door with hurried strides, placing her folded clothes over her left arm while opening the door with her right hand. Before Delila could even begin to utter her apologies, her eyes crossed with the matching ones of her older sister standing directly in front of the doorway, making the younger Cavendish freeze in her tracks and the twins' eyes widen simultaneously, both for differing reasons.

For Delila, it was the sight of her sister in her changed clothes. Diana was, of course, wearing the same uniform as Delila currently was, coupled with the same witch's hat she'd worn at their first meeting. But instead of the tunic and boots formerly covering the uniform from view, Diana had swapped them out for the same brown shoes Delila now wore, along with a dark blue, sleeveless, six-buttoned and hooded cape coat outlined in red around the bottom, the hood and the right side of the buttons, with two short and vertical red lines on the bottom left and right of the coat's front. Delila also spotted a blue sash tied around her sister's waist peeking out from under the coat, replacing the blue belt on the tunic. On the other hand, however, Diana was speechlessly looking her younger sister up and down multiple times and forcing blinks, suggesting to Delila that the older Cavendish hadn't been prepared to see her bearing the same uniform she was. Not that Delila could blame her; she hadn't believed it, either. Although just like her, Delila would not have been surprised if it was only just dawning on Diana that her younger sister was finally enrolling at the same school she was, based on the awed and watery glisten Delila swore she could see in her sister's eyes.

For a solid minute, the Cavendish sisters stood in stunned silence, as though they'd both accidentally encountered one of their aunt's snake familiars lurking where they weren't supposed to be. But as expected of her older sister, Diana was the first to regain her composure with the subtle clearing of her throat and brief closing of her eyes, the sight of the older Cavendish's eyes returning to their normal and sharp outlook in turn prompting Delila to straighten up like nothing had happened.

"What took you so long?"

"My reflection started talking to me," Delila immediately answered with a straight face. "I think someone's jinxed your bathroom mirror."

But of course, Delila could see Diana wasn't buying her excuse for one second, proven by the brow she sceptically raised in reply. "Is that your roundabout way of admitting you're nervous?" Delila casually shrugged her shoulders, prompting Diana to sigh heavily and drop her shoulders in an almost weary manner. "I shall take that as a 'yes'." Delila suppressed the urge to roll her eyes as Diana stepped closer to her and extended both of her arms, revealing the folded cape coat over her right arm and the plain witch's hat clutched in her left hand. "Here is your cape coat and hat."

"Thank you." Delila collected the coat and hat from Diana's hands using her right one, only to pause at spotting her older sister remove her casual clothes and leather shoes from her possession. "Oh, I was just about to put those in my rucksack—"

"Then allow me," Diana interjected, leaving Delila blinking a couple of times with a slight gape.

"No, it's okay. It'll only take me a second—"

"It's honestly no trouble." Delila's body visibly deflated as she watched Diana turn around and carry her clothes off in the direction of her bed. "I've moved your rucksack to my side of the room for safekeeping, so it'll be quicker if I do it."

"Diana, I appreciate the gesture, but it's really not necessary," Delila protested while moving after her sister with long strides, proceeding to plop the witch's hat on top of her head, open out the cape coat and slip it on and button it up as she did so. "Besides, I still have to retrieve my—"

Slight movement from the left side of her coat brought Delila to a halt just as she'd closed the last button up, with Diana disappearing behind the dresser without so much as a glance of acknowledgement. The younger Cavendish looked down and pulled her coat over to the right to examine the bottom left of the garment, soon spying a small, thin and long lump bulging from underneath a short and vertical red line decorated on the clothes; didn't that shape look familiar? Frowning out of suspicion, Delila slipped her left fingers behind the red line, exposing a tiny opening of a pocket; how convenient, she thought, and here she'd assumed she was going to have to slip her elixir vials into her socks to take them into the auditorium. Yet it wasn't until her fingertips touched ice cold glass that Delila's suspicions were confirmed without the need to look.

It was one of her elixir vials, she realised. But how did it get in there? It was in her rucksack until a short time ago and she wasn't even in possession of her cape coat until now. In fact, the only person who had touched her rucksack since she'd gone into the bathroom and had kept hold of her cape coat until she'd emerged was—

"Are you ready to go, Delila?"

Diana's enquiry sliced through Delila's train of thought with an involuntary flinch, the younger Cavendish's head snapping up to see her sister standing beside the dresser with her arms crossed, her clothes no longer in her hands and looking as poised as ever.

At first, Delila didn't answer, staring at the older Cavendish in a daze while attempting to process the déjà vu that washed over her like a violent wave crashing into a group of rocks. But once she saw Diana tilt her head at her and furrow her brows at her silence, Delila swallowed thickly to regain her composure and let her pocket go, pointing a finger at it.

"Did you take one of my elixirs from my rucksack and put it into my cape coat pocket?"

And much to Delila's surprise, Diana answered with a single and stiff nod, no ounce of hesitation present even when she gave a verbal response. "You are required to carry your medication on you in case of an emergency. I simply thought ahead to alleviate you of any unnecessary worries."

So, why didn't you say anything until I brought it up, Delila wanted to ask, yet she did the wise thing in pressing her lips together to stop that question from being vocalised. Because in truth, Delila knew the answer. After all, it wasn't the first time Diana had snuck her medication into her clothes without her knowing. This was why she did and said nothing as Diana unfolded her arms and strolled straight past her, her older sister's composed gaze focused solely on where she was going.

"Come along then. The opening ceremony will be starting soon."

And Delila followed Diana without a word, sticking closely behind her sister as the pair exited the dorm room. Though while keeping her eyes locked on the back of Diana's head, the younger Cavendish allowed a quivering smile to appear for a few seconds, with one palm briefly covering the pocket her elixir vial was in and the other placed against the comforting warmth swelling in her chest.

Chapter Text

Returning to the second floor of the main school building, Delila followed closely behind Diana into the south corridor and towards a set of large double doors located in the middle of the corridor, intently listening to Diana giving her a brief rundown of the room they were about to head into—the auditorium.

"The auditorium is used to host school-wide assemblies or events on special occasions," the older Cavendish explained without breaking eye contact with the approaching doors, which were currently wide open. "I'm sure you have already gathered that because of the opening ceremony, however."

"Indeed, I did," Delila confirmed. "But speaking of which…" The younger Cavendish increased her pace to align herself with her sister on her right side, a hand subconsciously patting at the elixir vial in her cape coat pocket. "Seeing as you've attended three of them since your enrolment, you can probably give me an accurate estimate for this query of mine: how long is the opening ceremony expected to take on average?"

"Using an educated guess, around five minutes," Diana answered instantly, appearing to have anticipated her sister asking such a question. "Taking into account the headmistress' welcoming speech and any additional announcements Professor Finnelan or other members of the faculty may have."

Delila forced a couple of blinks out of disbelief. "Really? Five minutes?"

Diana gave an indifferent shrug of her shoulders. "The purpose of the opening ceremony is to welcome students old and new to the school for the current year. Once that has been accomplished, the professors switch their focus to student attendance and then sorting dorm room arrangements, which naturally takes up a lot of time depending on the number of students present."

Delila relaxed her expression with an understanding nod, slowing down alongside Diana as the sisters closed in on the auditorium doors. "That makes sense—short and sweet is the best way to go, especially in this instance." She tapped a finger against her chin. "I can imagine checking attendance is a herculean task with a school this size."

"Very true." When Diana came to a stop before the auditorium's threshold, so did Delila, the younger Cavendish following her older sister's gaze as it turned to the left area inside the room. "Good thing the faculty have recognised such a predicament and planned ahead."

"Wha—?" Delila interrupted herself the second her blue eyes caught sight of the tall, square, wooden table placed in front of the auditorium's left door. A thin and dark blue leathered book was opened on top of it beside a pot of ink and a quill, the two visible pages revealing black inked and cursive text that was a list of names written surname first and then first name (plus any middle names if they had them), the two exposed pages currently showing names in descending order from 'A' to 'D'. Delila didn't recognise any of these names, yet she didn't need to be a genius to figure out what she was staring at. "Is that a register?"

"It is." Diana stepped closer to the table, her eyes rapidly skimming through the names on the right page until they halted on the surnames beginning with 'C'. "They leave the register here so students can tick the box next to their name upon entering the auditorium."

"Assumingly to save the faculty having to painstakingly stand around and manually mark attendance off themselves?"

"Precisely."

"How resourceful."

Delila moved to Diana's right side and peeked over her shoulder as her sister picked up the quill and dabbed its end into the ink a couple of times, preparing to tick the boxes next to both hers and Delila's names located close to the top of the right page. Even after sixteen years, Delila found it strange whenever she saw hers and Diana's names written together in alphabetical order, because her name always came before Diana's thanks to the second vowels in their first names. Funnily enough, it was the only time she was placed ahead of her sister with anything, Delila mused. Well, except for the years before Delila's medical diagnosis—

Delila's train of thought was cut off at the sound of Diana putting the quill to the parchment, striking their boxes in descending order with two swift strokes. With Diana's task completed, Delila took a couple of steps backwards to let the older Cavendish return the quill to its pot, deciding to take the opportunity to get a look at the auditorium during her short wait. A brief skim revealed that she and Diana were the room's only occupants at this time, allowing Delila to properly scrutinise her new surroundings more closely without making awkward eye contact with a random student (she suspected Diana had purposely brought them to the auditorium ahead of everyone else to give herself the chance to get her bearings without being self-conscious about it).

The auditorium was a wide and high-ceiling room with three wooden stands lining the left wall and three wooden stands lining the right wall, with each stand containing five rows of long benches and separated by two sets of stairs. In front of where Delila and Diana stood were three rows of wooden benches placed on the red carpeted floor, centred in line with the large blue and yellow outlined circle with three spear-headed shaped points attached to it in the middle of the room, one of which was at its top while the other two were at its bottom left and right corners. There was also a semi-circle, wooden stage at the back of the room with a small wooden podium at its top and two sets of steps on either side aligned with the two sets of double doors at the back of the stage.

For the average person who beheld the auditorium's layout, it was a simple design choice, nothing out of the ordinary. But for Delila Cavendish, it wasn't difficult to spot the obvious and purposeful pattern formed amongst the four walls of this room. Three stands against the walls, three rows of benches on the floor, three points on the school's symbol, and three students per room—it was only just dawning on her how obsessed the academy was with the number three.

"Is the number three significant to Luna Nova, Diana?" Delila enquired as her sister approached her left side and halted beside her, the younger Cavendish's eyes homing in on the school's symbol on the carpet. "I'm noticing a repeating theme."

"I believe it's referencing the deity archetype of the 'Triple Goddess' from Neopagan religions and other spiritual traditions." Diana sideways glanced Delila at hearing her sister release a breathless 'Oh!'. "Do you remember learning about that?"

"How could I not?" Delila joked, though there was a slight crack in her tone when she did, her eyes breaking away from the symbol on the carpet to stare intently at the auditorium's high ceiling. "The 'Maiden', the 'Mother' and the 'Crone'—the rulers of the heavens, the earth and the underworld, each representing a phase of the moon and a stage of life."

Quoted word for word from their mo— you-know-who, Delila realised and mentally corrected herself, prompting a lump to spring to her throat shortly after she'd finished that she immediately tried to swallow. A hand also subconsciously rubbed at the middle of her chest to make sure she was okay, but it soon fell still when she felt no oncoming pains.

"Well remembered," Diana praised, yet Delila swore she caught a slight wobble in her sister's tone, which seemed to disappear when she patted a palm against her sternum a couple of times; perhaps Diana had just experienced the same realisation, Delila guessed. "I suppose Luna Nova's name does give it away."

Delila suddenly perked up with a forced blink and whipped her head towards Diana so fast it could have easily snapped from her neck, distracting her from her momentary sadness. "That's right. It means 'new moon' in Latin, correct?"

"Correct."

How did she not catch that before, Delila mentally admonished. The urge to smack her palm to her forehead was strong, yet she held back upon lowering her gaze to the school's symbol on the carpet once more.

"Come to think of it..." She tilted forward on her tiptoes with a scrutinising squint. "Is that circle supposed to represent a new moon?"

"An eclipse, actually. But good catch." Delila switched her focus to Diana at catching movement within her peripheral vision, her expression relaxing and her feet flattening at witnessing the older Cavendish pointing to the school's symbol attached as a golden buckle to the blue band around her hat. "The students wear this symbol on their hats, while the faculty usually bear a crescent on theirs."

"To show who's more experienced than who?"

Diana's eyes drooped at Delila's bluntness. "That is not how I would choose to phrase it, but…" She paused for several seconds before allowing her shoulders to slump a little. "…yes."

"Thought so."

Delila expected their conversation to temporarily end there and for Diana to take the lead in venturing further into the auditorium. Instead, she witnessed the older Cavendish lean forward and clasp her hands behind her back, her sharp blue eyes staring intently into her younger sister's matching own.

"How are you holding up?" she asked, prompting Delila to place a palm to her sternum and close her eyes for a few seconds to gauge her current wellbeing.

"Surprisingly okay," Delila answered honestly upon locking eyes with Diana again.

"No oncoming chest pains?"

"None, if you can believe it. I certainly can't."

"Yet the fact your nerves have not affected your condition is a good sign, no?"

"I suppose so." Delila fixed her droopy-eyed gaze on the empty auditorium before them. "Though, I worry that will change as the day progresses…"

"Well, I wouldn't worry." Diana straightened her posture once more and followed Delila's eyes, her own scanning the length of the room and glossing over every vacant bench she could. "You have made it this far without any problems. I am certain that will continue if you focus on the positives."

Delila rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue, letting a sarcastic retort loose before she could catch herself. "That's easy for you to say—"

Her shoulders stiffened the second her own words processed, abruptly interrupting her sentence too late by slapping her palm over her mouth. Curse her snarky tongue, she chided.

Several seconds of awkward silence passed before Delila growled out of frustration and dropped her hand away from her face, avoiding looking in Diana's direction by squeezing her eyes shut and thus missing her sister's surprised raise of a brow.

"Apologies," she uttered lowly. "I didn't mean that."

"I know," Diana replied in kind after a short delay. Delila dared to crack open an eye upon hearing her sister huff, observing the older girl close her eyes and hang her head a bit. "But if it's any consolation, it would appear your illness is going to be the least of your worries."

Delila's left eye and the left corner of her mouth twitched at the comment, yet this time the younger Cavendish did well to hold back from saying anything snarky, purposely taking a long moment of pause and then releasing a long exhale from her nose.

"Perhaps so," Delila eventually forced out in an even tone, keeping her eyes locked on her shoes. "Thank you for the encouragement nonetheless."

"You're welcome."

Diana's response was as composed as ever; however, from within her peripheral vision, Delila swore she saw the older Cavendish smile faintly at the show of gratitude, which soon disappeared within a literal blink. Perhaps it was just Delila's imagination again.

"Well then," Diana began as she straightened out her posture and took a couple of steps further into the auditorium. "With that matter cleared up, we should take our seats—"

No sooner had Diana said that, however, derisive laughter echoed from the corridor outside of the auditorium and caused the teen witch to perk up. Delila watched the older Cavendish abruptly stop and partially turn to face the open doorway with the slight raise of her brows, prompting the younger Cavendish to follow her sister's gaze and listen to the two pairs of soft footsteps approaching the auditorium in sync.

Shortly after, two grinning figures appeared and walked into the auditorium side by side, revealing two girls looking to be around the same age as Delila and Diana and bearing the same uniform as the latter, including the matching-coloured bands on their hat and shoes and the sashes around their waists peeking out from underneath their cape coats. The girl on the left had hazel eyes and wavy auburn hair tied into a ponytail by a yellow ribbon underneath her hat, while the girl on the right had teal eyes and straight black hair that went to her waist.

"Can you believe how dumb that commoner was?!" the girl with raven hair exclaimed in a grating and posh British accented voice, continuing to talk to her companion as she paused by the register and removed the quill from its pot.

"What a moron!" the girl with auburn hair snidely added in a shrill and matching posh accented voice, turning her nose up to the air with a smug smile. "I suppose that's what happens when Luna Nova just lets anybody in!"

"I know, right?" The raven-haired girl cackled while she ticked off their names and returned the quill to the pot, facing her companion with a matching smile.

Delila silently observed the two unknown witch students with her lip curled and her nose crinkled, instantly gulping at the déjà vu nauseously crawling up her throat like a group of spiders she'd accidentally swallowed. She couldn't put her finger on why, but something seemed so… familiar about the way they sounded and acted, and not in a good way. It was making Delila's skin crawl, to the point where the younger Cavendish decided she and Diana should go find their seats to avoid a potential interaction with these girls.

But just as Delila turned to look at her sister and opened her mouth to speak… she was cut off by the two students simultaneously shouting the older Cavendish's name.

"Diana!"

The two girls immediately jogged over to where Diana was and straight past Delila without any acknowledgment, with the younger Cavendish narrowly avoiding a collision with the auburn-haired girl by taking three swift steps backwards. How rude, Delila thought with a disdainful sniff.

Luckily, Diana seemed to read her younger sister's mind. Without a single break in her stoic mask, the older Cavendish lifted a palm towards the two excitable students once they got within her personal space, bringing the pair to a screeching halt before they could do anything else.

"Girls, please," Diana began sternly, causing the two students (whom Delila noticed were a couple of inches shorter than her and her sister) to straighten their backs and press their arms against their sides. "Be mindful of your surroundings. We can't be having any accidents now."

"Sorry, Diana!" the two girls both apologised in unison, only for the pair to smile widely as the auburn-haired girl cheerily returned the greeting.

"It's good to see you!"

"It's good to see you both as well," Diana returned the greeting with a nod of acknowledgement, lowering her hand back to her side. "And being rather punctual at that."

"Thank you for noticing!" The auburn-haired girl closed her eyes with a beaming smile, clasping her hands to her front and replied in an exaggeratedly sweet tone. "But we can't take all the credit! We learnt from the best role model at Luna Nova, after all!"

"Your school attendance and punctuality are unmatched!" The raven-haired girl piped up as she lifted her shoulders and tilted her head to the side, her tone just as saccharine.

Diana didn't need to say anything for Delila to recognise that the unnecessary and overexaggerated 'compliments' (or at least what she believed to be 'unnecessary' and 'overexaggerated') were making the older Cavendish uncomfortable. Diana closing her eyes and lowering her head a little without responding to them was all the proof Delila needed. She'd observed these two students for less than five minutes and yet their words and actions continued to make her uncomfortable, to the point where the younger Cavendish's stomach was churning just listening to them.

Delila couldn't tolerate such behaviour, which was why she had no qualms putting an instant stop to it by purposefully clearing her throat as obnoxiously loud as her lungs could muster.

"Ahem!" Delila held her arms to her back and calmly watched the two unknown girls whip their heads in unison in her direction, the pair blinking widely upon realising she was there as the younger Cavendish addressed her sister monotonously at normal volume. "Diana, sorry for interrupting. Shouldn't we take our seats in case other students arrive?"

Diana, unfazed by her younger sister's timely disturbance, opened her eyes and righted her head again, strolling past the two girls now frozenly staring at the other Cavendish while repeatedly looking her appearance up and down out of disbelief.

"Of course. But I believe introductions are in order, first and foremost." Diana halted beside Delila's left side and gestured a hand towards the younger Cavendish, facing the two students as she did so. "Girls, allow me to introduce my younger sister, Delila." Then she proceeded to turn to Delila and repeat the same action towards them. "Delila, these are my teammates, 'Hannah England' and 'Barbara Parker'."

Ah. These two were her sister's roommates/teammates. That explained Diana's interactions with them, Delila mused. She recalled her sister had never been interested in making friends with other children their age when they were growing up. Then again, she was no different; another commonality that still lingered between them, apparently.

Delila followed up the introduction by taking part of her skirt's hem between an index finger and thumb, lifting it slightly and then bending her right knee for a small and polite curtsy, bowing her head forward a bit out of acknowledgement. "How do you do?"

The auburn-haired girl was the first to break free of her trance with a rapid blink, directing a decently polite smile at the younger Cavendish as she stepped a little closer. "It's nice to meet you, Delila!" she greeted in an enthusiastic tone and extended her left hand for Delila to shake, which prompted the raven-haired girl to finally snap back to reality with a brief shake of the head before she joined them. "I'm Hannah!"

"A-And I'm Barbara!" the raven-haired girl said with a slight stutter, copying her companion's actions with a matching smile. "It's a pleasure!"

Out of the corner of her eyes, Delila saw Diana preparing to open her mouth with the raise of her finger, likely wanting to say something regarding her discomfort with physical contact, Delila assumed. However, Delila instantly silenced her older sister by taking hold of Hannah's palm in her right one and giving it a firm shake, managing to suppress the slight twitching of her left eye upon doing the same with Barbara's hand. She thought she caught Diana raising her brows with a surprised blink, but that disappeared a millisecond or so later.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance," Delila replied in an even tone as she pulled away from Barbara, ignoring the small twitch of her fingers when she did so.

But then Hannah's happy demeanour shifted as she turned her attention to Diana, pouting at the older Cavendish with slumped shoulders. "Diana, why didn't you tell us your sister was one of the new students enrolling this year?!"

"Yeah!" Barbara said in agreement and loosely balled her hands into fists. "We could have arrived earlier to help her get settled in!"

And since when was that any of your business, Delila mentally snarked, doing well to keep that to herself and let Diana speak on her behalf.

"I wanted to give my sister the opportunity to ease her way into life at Luna Nova without drawing too much attention," Diana explained, giving the subject of the discussion a quick sideways glance. "She isn't used to being in a public academy, after all."

Hannah's brows raised with a wide blink at hearing this. "Oh, that's right!" She looked to Delila and placed a finger to her chin. "I remember hearing you were home-schooled around the time Diana first came to Luna Nova!"

'Home-schooled'—the lie Aunt Daryl insisted she and Diana say to anyone who wasn't sworn to confidentiality surrounding Delila's condition, Delila recalled; she'd almost forgotten about that.

"So, this must be a huge change for you, huh?" Barbara commented as she curiously tilted her head and cupped one of her cheeks in her palms. "What made you decide to enrol at Luna Nova?"

"My sister has spoken quite fondly of her experiences at Luna Nova during our letter correspondences," Delila lied, the words casually rolling off her tongue without an ounce of hesitation. Obviously, Delila wasn't going to blab the real reason she was here to just anyone, whether they were acquainted with her sister or not. And from the corner of her eyes, the younger Cavendish could see that Diana understood what she was doing, based on the curt nod of agreement she gave. "It was high time I came to see what all the fuss was about."

Barbara beamed and clasped her hands together underneath her chin. "Well, you certainly made the right choice!"

"Agreed!" Hannah chimed in. "If Diana likes it here at Luna Nova, then you definitely will too!" Delila felt her throat spasm at the attempted flattery. But then a sly smile slipped onto the auburn-haired girl's face, which she directed to Barbara while leaning over to her and lowering her voice a bit. "Even more so if that moron doesn't show up."

It took Barbara a few seconds to understand what Hannah was getting at, only to gasp and then muffle a giggle behind her hands upon moving them to cover her mouth. Meanwhile, Diana and Delila, who had caught wind of the insulting remark, both raised a brow out of confusion.

Yet before the older Cavendish could query her teammates on what they were talking about, faint chatter echoed from the corridor outside of the auditorium, hushing the four girls and turning their focus to the opened doors of the room.

"It appears the opening ceremony is due to start soon," Diana commented with the brief closing of her eyes. "Let's take our seats."

"Good idea, Diana!" Both Hannah and Barbara said in cheery unison, something that made Delila flinch a little as Hannah became the first of the two to walk down the right aisle of the benches; why was she getting terrible déjà vu from these two?

"We'll choose a seat for you!"

"On the first row, of course!" Barbara added while jogging after Hannah to catch up to her, switching her attention to the auburn-haired girl once she'd done so. "Maybe we should choose one of the middle stands and avoid the benches on the floor—"

As Hannah and Barbara continued talking amongst themselves, Delila stayed put for the time being, waiting for Diana to take the lead and move after her teammates. Instead, the older Cavendish waited until the two were out of earshot and then leaned close to Delila's ear, lifting the side of her hand close to her mouth.

"I apologise," she whispered. "I wasn't expecting Hannah and Barbara to arrive to the auditorium so soon."

Delila lightly shrugged her shoulders in response. "I would have crossed paths with them eventually. Better now than later."

A tense pause fell between the Cavendish twins for several seconds before Diana dared to whisper again, with Delila catching the older Cavendish direct a frown to her chest. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yes," Delila reassured lowly and held up her palm as an act of reassurance. "I can continue to interact with them until the end of the ceremony."

"Are you sure?" Diana pressed, with Delila noticing her sister's blue eyes then switching focus to Delila's right hand for several seconds. "I'd rather you not make yourself uncomfortable for my sake."

"I'm sure," Delila countered calmly. "Besides,"—she paused to clench her right hand into a loose fist, rubbing her fingers against her palm—"I can't just ignore them. We have appearances to maintain."

To an outsider, the last thing Delila said wouldn't have made them bat an eye, but as the younger Cavendish sideways glanced Diana, she saw the concerned glint that flittered across the older Cavendish's eyes for a few seconds, peeking from behind her composed mask. Neither sister spoke again as they followed after Hannah and Barbara, yet Diana didn't need to for Delila to recognise what that glint meant.

Diana knew those words weren't Delila's own.

Having chosen the first row of the middle stand on the right side of the stage as their designated seat, Delila and Diana respectively sat beside Hannah and Barbara at the end of the left side of the bench, the twins' postures as straight as pins, their heads held high and their hands clasped together in their laps, their identical calm expressions almost making them mirror images of each other. From the corners of her eyes, Delila spied Hannah and Barbara attempting to copy the same pose, their eyes repeatedly flitting back and forth between themselves and Diana to ensure they were mimicking her every move. Once again, Delila's insides twisted as though it were tied into a knot and being repeatedly tugged, but the discomfort was promptly ignored by the younger Cavendish. Eventually, Hannah and Barbara chatted quietly between themselves while waiting for the opening ceremony to begin; however, Delila and Diana both remained silent, choosing instead to observe the swarm of dark blue now filing into the auditorium, courtesy of the girls returning for another year at this prestigious magic school.

This turned out to be an intriguing and welcomed distraction for Delila, whose sharp eyes noted of the variety of coloured hat bands scattered amongst the sea of same-coloured uniforms—yellow, green, indigo, orange, peach, purple and so on, all of which were grouped in threes. But it wasn't just the uniform grabbing Delila's attention. The once soundless room was brought to life by the indiscernible and excited chatter of the girls as they made their way to the stands or the benches on the floor, a mixture of thick-accented voices echoing between the ceiling and walls, some familiar and some foreign to Delila's ears. Delila was already aware that Luna Nova Academy, a boarding school located in Britain, accepted students and teachers from across the continents, so hearing the different voices of so many cultures under one roof wasn't a surprise. Yet she couldn't deny how fascinating it was to be experiencing such a phenomenon first-hand, a feeling she blamed on her upbringing. After all, it was rare Delila and Diana had ever interacted with anyone outside of the Cavendish household who wasn't British, so listening to the varying accents bouncing about her brought forth a strange child-like wonder, one that apparently ended up reflecting on her face, if the sly glance Diana gave her was any indication.

As the benches above, beside and opposite them were gradually filled, however, it didn't take long for the younger Cavendish to spot the obvious gaps forming in the seating on the floor and the opposite side of the auditorium, some small and some large. Diana's indirect warning from their conversation in the leyline popped into Delila's head then, prompting the young witch to slyly sideways glance her sister sitting as still as a statue beside her, their matching eyes instantly meeting the moment Delila's shifted.

'I told you,' were the words Diana's eyes spelt out, seemingly having read Delila's mind yet again, shattering the illusion of that invisible wall between them once more for the briefest of moments.

Even still, it didn't change the fact that Diana was right: the current state of Luna Nova's financial problems because of the decline in magic were, indeed, palpable by the empty seats scattered between the rows of chattering students. How unfortunate, Delila crestfallenly thought with the slight drooping of her eyes. Though, it sounded like the present students in the auditorium were still in high spirits about the upcoming school year despite this. It was certainly an invigorating and promising change of pace to the dreary and depressing atmosphere she was used to back home.

For a few minutes after the last of the stragglers took their seats in the auditorium, the lively and inaudible conversations between the various students continued, filling up the silence lingering between the two Cavendish sisters blankly eyeing the empty stage. However, it gradually started to die down when the collective sound of approaching footsteps could be heard from the corridor outside of the auditorium, grabbing the female students' attention and causing a hush to descend across the wide room. A group of women of varying heights and ages walked into the auditorium in single file, splitting into separate lines to stroll down the left and right aisles on either side of the benches by the door—the teachers of Luna Nova, Delila guessed, at spying the crescent symbols on the front of the black bands on the witch's hats they were all wearing, remembering what Diana had told her earlier.

As the two lines approached the steps of the stage and ascended them to form two lines beside and behind the podium, Delila attempted to get a look at their appearances from her current vantage point, even squinting and leaning forward a little in her seat. It was difficult, yet from what she could make out, she identified they were all wearing the same dark, violet hooded and long, wide sleeved dresses with a red flame-like design (except for one teacher, whose flame design was grey) on the bottom half of their skirts (some of which varied in length depending on the teacher) and dark blue knee-high boots. Yet despite this glaringly obvious commonality between them, Delila noticed from the teachers on the front row that she could see that they all had very distinct hair, ranging from mundane and plain to eccentric and vibrant styles, lengths and colours (like the one teacher just to the right of the podium with flowing grey-blue hair that draped down to her feet, for instance). She also noticed that some of the teachers were wearing extra items of clothing on their person, such as the teacher with the grey flame pattern on her skirt placing a round glass bowl of water on a tall wooden stool set up in between the teachers stood to the left of the podium, whom Delila noticed was wearing some kind of cap and thick, black goggles underneath her witch's hat—

Wait a second.

"Diana?" Delila whispered to her sister as she discreetly tilted her body closer to her, keeping her eyes focused solely on the glass bowl. "Why is there a bowl of water on the stage?"

"That's for Professor Pisces," Diana whispered back without sparing her younger sister a glance, remaining unfazed by the enquiry.

There was a five second pause before Delila could bring herself to respond. Did she just hear Diana correctly? "… Pardon?"

"That bowl is for Professor Pisces."

… Nope, she hadn't misheard Diana the first time.

"Who's 'Professor Pisces'?"

"Look closer."

At first, Delila looked at Diana as if she'd grown a second head, but when her sister subtly gestured with a head tilt to do as she'd instructed, the younger Cavendish huffed quietly and returned her focus to the stage, inching forward on the bench and circling her fingers around her eyes to mimic looking through a pair of binoculars. Sure enough, a few seconds of intense staring allowed Delila to just make out the outline of a golden fish with turquoise fins floating in the middle of the bowl, the shape of a witch's hat atop its head also being visible.

"That fish is a teacher?" Delila replied in disbelief, earning herself a low hum of confirmation from her sister. "… Fascinating," was all the younger Cavendish could mutter to herself as she straightened up again in her seat and returned her hands to her lap.

But then Delila's train of thought switched focus upon spying the teachers' postures stiffening and their chins tilting to the ceiling, with some either clasping their hands at their fronts or behind them, or leaving their arms idle at their sides. Next thing Delila knew, a big and curvy, dark blue witch's hat (bigger and curvier than the hats of the other teachers' to boot) with a new moon symbol hooked between two crescent moons on its black band bobbed between the two rows of teachers, a hat that Delila was certain she'd seen somewhere before now as her eyes intently observed it manoeuvring its way to the front of the stage.

The younger Cavendish didn't get her confirmation until the owner of the hat finally reached the podium and popped up over the top, exposing a small and elderly lady with short, pale green hair and blue eyes hidden behind rectangular spectacles. Like the teachers on the stage, she wore the same uniform as they did, but Delila could only just make it out from underneath the red jacket, green stoned necklace and white scarf that was covering it. Delila's mind propelled her back to the school pamphlet she'd received, remembering the black and white photograph she'd seen beside the section detailing the brief history of the school and its progress over the years. Didn't this woman look just like the one in that picture?

"Greetings, everyone," the elderly woman greeted the room in a soft-spoken and posh-accented voice. "To those of you who have returned to us, welcome back! I hope you all had a good holiday! But to those of you who have just joined us, allow me to warmly welcome you to Luna Nova Academy." The elderly woman placed a palm to her necklace. "I am Miranda Holbrooke, Luna Nova's 44th headmistress."

… Wait.

This was Luna Nova's headmistress?!

Delila recalled the photograph in the pamphlet had been a close-up of the woman's face, so the younger Cavendish hadn't gotten a good look of her entire person prior to now. And while she had no issue with the elderly woman's height or appearance, she couldn't get over how sweet and kind she looked, even with how she spoke, despite her professionalism. Though that didn't stop Delila from paying attention to the headmistress' speech, her gaze fixed on the elderly witch as she dropped her hand to the podium and gave the seated students a wide and slow scan from left to right.

"As we begin yet another year, let me remind you all that Luna Nova has nurtured many girls to become great witches since its founding." Delila noticed the corners of the headmistress' lips twitch each time her eyes crossed with an empty space amongst the stands, though it only lasted for a millisecond as she resumed talking, acting like nothing had happened. "Just like those who came before you, you must devote yourselves to the study of magic with great determination within these historic walls."

As the headmistress' gaze reached Delila's side of the auditorium, the pair locked eyes for only a few seconds, yet the longer the younger Cavendish hung onto every word oozing from the elderly witch's mouth, the more awestruck she became at the stern and warm glint reflected from behind those rectangular spectacles.

"But remember to stay humble and be respectful," she continued, her tone a little firmer compared to a moment ago. "As Luna Nova's founding mentor once said, 'Let this academy be the first milestone in restoring the art of witchcraft and all of its lost glory,' a goal that has remained until the present day."

A quick sideways skim of her row revealed that the majority of the current students weren't as captivated as she was by the headmistress' speech—Diana was as poised as ever, her face failing to betray her true thoughts as she kept her gaze ahead and her posture rigid; Hannah and Barbara had retained their own proud and matching stances, but wore tight-lipped smiles that were clearly forced; and then there were other random students visibly slouching and looking to the stage with droopy-eyes and heavy blinks, giving off the impression that this speech wasn't new to them in the slightest. Maybe it was because she was new and this was the first time she was hearing this speech? Who knows, but Delila didn't care.

A strange, burning warmth was building in her chest, like a Phoenix rising again from its ashes and resuming its cycle of rebirth for yet another time. It made Delila straighten her back and lift her shoulders a little more, her chest puffing out as the ignited flame within swelled and burnt more passionately, granting her a feeling of confidence she hadn't felt in a long time.

A short time ago, Delila had been staring at her reflection in the bathroom mirror of her sister's dormitory, questioning where her absent pride was. But now, she was no longer asking that question. Experiencing the headmistress' speech while seated in uniform alongside an auditorium full of students was apparently the very thing she needed to properly accept her induction into these hallowed halls, keeping her aunt's taunting voice silent inside her head for once.

At last, Delila was one step closer to upholding her promise and saving her family's future. And no one could take that away from her.

"And now that's been said, let us begin the ceremony by—" the headmistress started to say, only to abruptly halt mid-sentence and turn her eyes to the ceiling with a concentrated frown. "Hm?"

Delila furrowed her brows out of confusion as she watched the headmistress lower her head towards the floor in front of the stage, ignoring the raised brows and sideways glances from her fellow staff while locking onto the school's symbol printed onto the red carpeted floor. Her reaction suggested she'd become distracted, yet Delila and everyone else in the audience had no idea what it was that had caught her attention.

That is… until the faint sound of whipping winds reached Delila's ears, coming from the same direction that the headmistress was currently focusing on. The noise was growing louder and louder by the second, prompting all heads in the auditorium to whip to that one specific spot with surprised glances and befuddled murmurs, with Delila's frown deepening at trying to figure out what was causing such a noise. Then, one blink later, the source made itself known.

Delila beheld the inner circle of the symbol become bathed in a bright and light blue glow, followed by a thin beam of light shooting upwards towards the ceiling. Startled gasps erupted from the benches, stands and the stage as teachers and students alike recoiled at the sudden gust that whipped at their clothes and hair from the glowing beam, forcing many to shield their faces with their arms and look away, Delila and Diana included, the former of whom gripped onto the rim of her hat with both hands and squeezed her eyes shut for good measure.

The gusty assault lasted for a solid ten seconds, but once she felt her hair and clothes fall still, Delila opened her eyes again and released her hat, slowly lowering her arms in the process. Upon doing so, she was left wide-eyed alongside everyone else at the transparent, light blue spotlight encompassing the circumference of the symbol's inner circle and stretching as high as the top of the stage, her mouth agape. A chorus of shocked noises echoed from the teachers as they collectively shuffled to the front of the stage and gawked at the oval wisps continuously rising from the floor to the ceiling, gathering around the headmistress still standing wordlessly at the podium. Meanwhile, the seated students around Delila were left just as speechless as the headmistress, intently staring at the anomaly before them with a mixture of gaping mouths and bulging eyes, like they were all single-handedly trapped in a petrified trance.

This was obviously the work of magic, Delila concluded, but where had it come from? The reactions of those around her proved that this wasn't part of the opening ceremony. Everyone was just as baffled by the appearance of this transparent light as she was.

… Well, except for one.

Delila instinctively turned to face Diana seated beside her, observing the older Cavendish fixing her gaze on the scene before them while leaning forward on their bench. But unlike everyone else around them, her sister's blue eyes and slightly gaping mouth didn't reflect fear. No. Delila recognised the faraway look in Diana's eyes, the same look she vividly remembered her sister possessing that one time when they were six years old and Diana was enthusiastically detailing her trip overseas to Delila shortly after her return home.

"Diana," Delila hissed and scooted closer to the older Cavendish, breaking Diana's awed trance with two forced blinks and one shake of the head. "What's going on? Is this supposed to be happening?"

"I don't think so," Diana answered in a quiet mumble, her eyes refusing to leave the magical spotlight in front of the stage. "But that spell…"

Unfortunately for Delila, Diana never got to finish. Delila saw the older Cavendish's brows raise sharply as the unknown light in the auditorium intensified in glow, the younger Cavendish's head whirling to the magical anomaly at the thundering bang that swiftly followed.

And then… her vision was swallowed by an eruption of sparkling, white smoke expanding towards the ceiling, the collective distressed screams of panicking girls echoing throughout the auditorium.

Chapter Text

So much happened in such a short span of time for Delila—an explosive bang, white and sparkling smoke erupting like a volcano towards the ceiling and then a chorus of shrill screams sounding from above and below (and beside her, if Delila counted Hannah and Barbara). The teachers on the stage leaned back with loud gasps. Wide-eyed students on the benches and the stands cowered or huddled together, some hugging each other for dear life (including Hannah and Barbara, whom Delila spotted squishing their cheeks together in their own death-gripping hug), acting as if the sparkling fumes were a sign that the world was ending.

Delila, on the other hand, was glued to her seat, eyes intently fixed on the billowing cotton candy textured smoke as it began splitting off into randomly shaped and sized chunks. Eventually she swivelled towards Diana staring intensely and dagger-eyed at the dispersing smoke and, without thinking, reached out for her closest arm. However, Diana, without breaking eye contact with the smoke, halted her sister's hand in its tracks by raising her own palm.

"Hold on," she said firmly. "I think I just spied a Luna Nova uniform."

"What?" Delila uttered incredulously, turning her attention back to the situation unfolding before the stage.

By this time, the smoke was breaking down into smaller and fluffier wisps and popping one by one like bubbles, slowly exposing three short humanoid figures suspended in mid-air in line with the height of the stage. Cupping her hands round the sides of her eyes and narrowing them to get a better look, Delila identified that they were Luna Nova students, based on the familiar uniform, cape coat and red sash she spotted on the girl closest to her. But her other two companions appeared to be wearing more casual and vibrant clothing, an observation Delila couldn't help arching a brow at.

The trio stayed in the air until the last of the smoke dispersed into its surroundings, only to suddenly plummet to the floor like someone had just yanked a rug out from underneath them. They released brief cries during their descent, with two of the girls flapping their arms about as if they were baby birds attempting to fly for the first time. But in the end, the entire room was left watching the girls' fronts simultaneously collide against the red carpet with a dull thud, all three of them collapsing face-first in the middle of the school's signature symbol.

A tense silence washed over the auditorium. Students cautiously released each other or warily rose a little out of their seats, their gazes collectively eyeing the newcomers with raised brows or frowns. The teachers and headmistress looked down at the three collapsed students from the stage bug-eyed, gawking like spectators at a magic show. And then there was Hannah and Barbara, whose gasps instantly snapped Delila's head towards them to catch both of their hands smacking over their mouths in sync. There was something more to their reactions than mere shock, Delila thought, making the younger Cavendish furrow her brows at her sister's teammates. Even Diana gave the two a sly sideways glance, her lips poised to address them directly on the matter. But then a pained moan shifted Delila's attention back to the middle of the auditorium.

A girl with brunette hair, who was the middle of the trio, pulled herself to her knees, closed her eyes and rubbed a hand at her lower back, her front facing Delila's direction and allowing the younger Cavendish to get a better look at her. She was wearing a red coat, brown shorts and matching coloured boots with a pink backpack strapped to her back, possessing a curtained fringe that swept to the left side of her forehead and her hair styled into a half-ponytail. Several seconds of rubbing later, the girl cracked open an eye, pausing her movement and blinking widely upon taking notice of her current surroundings.

"Huh?" the girl said as crimson eyes darted about the auditorium, forcing repeated blinks at the still stunned audience staring straight back. Delila caught the notable accent in her voice, though she was struggling to discern its origin. However, the girl's nationality was long forgotten once her wandering eyes halted on the benches in front of her, a wide grin breaking out onto her face. "All right!" she cheered and reached her right hand down to grab a beige and thick stick-like object from the carpet, throwing her hands above her head while leaping to her feet like a baby bunny. "I made it in time!"

From there, the bubbly girl excitedly rambled and occasionally let out bouts of joyous laughter while waving her arms about in the air, leaving Delila and the other students just… staring, unblinking. What exactly was Delila supposed to be looking at? She didn't know. But on a positive note, it appeared that this girl wasn't hurt despite the rough landing.

Of course, the younger Cavendish's attention didn't linger on the celebrating girl for long, swiftly shifting to her two companions when they dragged their bodies onto their knees. The girl kneeling on the right had long, lavender hair with a shoulder-length and parted fringe draping over her left eye, wearing a green dress partially covered by a brown shawl over her shoulders. The lavender-haired girl was watching her rejoicing companion with a weary look in her exposed and drooped red right eye, her skin looking unnaturally pale in comparison to the other two girls present, greyish almost; was she sick, Delila wondered. Either way, this girl was clearly unbothered by the antics occurring, suggesting that she wasn't injured, in the least. But the same couldn't be said for the short, bright orange-haired and freckle faced girl sitting to the left, the one Delila recognised to be wearing Luna Nova's uniform. She was clutching both hands to her right knee, her eyes squeezed shut behind her semi-rimmed spectacles.

Delila switched her focus to the stage, seeing the teachers' and the headmistress' postures had relaxed. Their constantly turning heads and exchanged creased brows suggested to Delila they were unsure of what to do, their attention mainly on the brunette girl based on the occasional glances they kept sending her way. That is until Delila spied a pointed witch's hat with a single red feather tucked in its band dipping in between the teachers, the wearer eventually revealing themselves as she hunched her shoulders as much as she could, curled her arms into her middle and shuffled her way past two teachers standing to the right of the podium.

Delila noticed based on the uniform she was wearing that she was one of the teachers of the school, yet unlike her fellow colleagues—whose ages outwardly appeared to range at middle-aged or higher—this adult witch was much younger, likely in her twenties if Delila were to make an educated guess. Her back-length, dark-blue hair was tied into a low ponytail that draped over her right shoulder, her eyes hidden behind black-framed, oval shaped glasses catching the reflective glint of the auditorium's bright lighting.

"E-Excuse me, Headmistress," the young teacher timidly stammered upon getting to the side of the podium, speaking in what predominantly sounded like a British accent, but with a hidden undertone of another unknown accent that Delila frowned at. Though Delila's pondering was cut short the moment the headmistress and the other teachers focused on their younger colleague. The young teacher visibly shrunk under her colleagues' intense stares, yet with the loud clearing of her throat, she mustered the courage to point a finger towards the orange-haired girl. "I-It appears Miss Jansson is hurt."

Upon hearing this, the brunette girl ceased her hyperactive movements and laughter with a sudden gasp, her former joy instantly replaced with a wide gape.

"Oh! Lotte!" she exclaimed. She whirled round on her heels to face 'Lotte' and dropped to her knees beside her with a dull thump, crimson eyes growing wide and watery at the knee her companion was holding. "I'm so sorry!" she wailed, smacking her palms to her cheeks.

Still holding her knee in both hands, Lotte forced a wobbly smile and shuffled backwards on her bottom a little. "I-It's okay!" she reassured in a soft-spoken tone, speaking with a distinct accent Delila couldn't quite identify. "It hurts worse than it looks!"

The headmistress furrowed her brows and lifted a hand close to her mouth. "Oh dear," she mumbled, her eyes momentarily trailing to the top of the stage. "We should make sure these girls are all right. They did drop from quite a height, after all." The headmistress leaned against the podium to peek round the younger teacher, focusing her gaze on the teacher with grey-blue hair standing just behind her. "Professor Lukić, could you please tend to them?"

'Professor Lukić', whose eyes were narrowed into slits, grunted in acknowledgement and turned away from the podium after a curt nod, walking to the steps on the right side of the stage; however, a tall teacher with brown hair standing just to the left of the headmistress stepped closer to the podium in turn, her brows and lips set into a thin line.

"I will accompany them as well, Headmistress," she declared with her hands placed to her hips, her brows deepening as she gave the offending trio of students a stern glare. "These girls need to be reprimanded for their tardiness and rude disruption."

The brunette girl and Lotte both whimpered and visibly shrunk under the teacher's gaze as the headmistress gave a nod of approval, while the lavender-haired student returned a blank and droopy-eyed stare.

"I shall leave it with you then, Professor Finnelan."

With the confirmation given, 'Professor Finnelan' followed Professor Lukić off the stage, keeping her eyes fixed on the trio all the while. "Come along, girls!" she snapped, making the brunette girl and Lotte flinch simultaneously. "No dawdling!"

"Y-Yessum!" the brunette girl stuttered out in a high-pitched squeak.

Recovering quickly from their momentary scare, the brunette girl wrapped an arm of Lotte's round her shoulders and supported the shorter girl's lower back with an arm of her own, slowly pulling them both to their feet and keeping Lotte steady. She kept that beige, stick-like object clutched against Lotte's side as she gently led her companion down the right aisle of the benches after Professor Lukić, with the lavender-haired student being guided out behind them by Professor Finnelan, the girl's posture slouched and her arms dangling limply at her front.

Before long, the inaudible mutters and whispers of the spectating students sprang up around Delila, yet the younger Cavendish paid them no heed. Instead, the younger Cavendish gave Diana a brief sideways glance, only to raise a brow at seeing her sister's eyes fixated on the brunette-haired student, that thousand-yard stare reflecting past her usually composed mask for the second time today. Diana remained that way even after the group of five departed through the double doors at the room's opposite end, with Delila catching further complaining and hushed remarks from Barbara and Hannah respectively.

"Unbelievable."

"This year's already off to a bad start."

Delila narrowed her eyes at the pair within her peripheral vision, mentally wondering what their problem was. Yet she didn't have time to dwell on it.

A single thundering clap sounded from the podium and echoed throughout the room, restoring silence to the auditorium in an instant. Attention returned to the front of the auditorium as the remaining teachers on the stage took their places on either side of the podium in their former stances, their backs as straight as pins and their chins tilted to the ceiling.

"Apologies for the unexpected interruption, everyone," the headmistress addressed the students calmly while scanning around at the stands and benches. "Please return to your seats so we can pick up where we last left off."

The students were swift to comply and settle down properly in their seats, with Delila, Diana, Hannah and Barbara included at straightening their backs, holding their heads high and placing their hands on their knees once more. But as the headmistress resumed talking, Delila dared to peek at Diana within her peripheral vision, noticing Diana's eyes were looking down at her lap this time, that faraway glisten peeking past her stoic mask as her fingers bent inward.

Despite the unexpected disruption nearly scaring the skin off almost every single witch gathered in the room, the opening ceremony proceeded as if three students hadn't just magically teleported themselves into the middle of the auditorium. With the headmistress' opening speech concluded, the students were left to sit through additional announcements other members of the faculty had to give, leading to various teachers taking it in turns stepping up to the podium after a brief introduction and speaking for at least thirty seconds to a minute each. The only exception was the headmistress, who departed from the auditorium before the announcements began while using a long, thin based and oval shaped headed staff like a walking stick. She was accompanied by a small, elderly teacher with rectangular spectacles, a green cloak over her uniform, two red feathers tucked into the band of her hat and short, turquoise hair with a curtained fringe and curled tips round her cheeks, who collected the register from the table on the way out. Delila assumed whatever business they had was likely related to the dormitory arrangements, yet for now, that was none of her concern.

During the announcements, Delila noticed that the students around her were slowly slumping in their seats and fighting off the urge to close their eyes, including Hannah and Barbara. At one point, Delila caught the two girls leaning towards each other until they bumped shoulders, in turn startling themselves and jolting upwards with sharp headshakes. In comparison to them, however, Delila found she and Diana were faring well at maintaining their tall postures and composed masks. However, it was obvious to Delila based on the occasional sly glances she gave Diana that unlike herself, her sister wasn't paying attention to anything at all. Her eyes hadn't lifted from her lap since the three late arrivals and the two teachers accompanying them had departed, her sharp gaze fixed and unblinking as though lost in thought. Delila was sure it was connected to that unknown brunette-haired student, going off what she'd seen earlier.

When the announcements finally ended, the students were instructed to calmly leave the auditorium and head for the cafeteria while the preparations for the dormitories were made, where they were given the option to have lunch should they want it. Yet even with the lively chatter echoing around them from their peers as they walked beside each other and followed Hannah and Barbara out of the room, neither Delila's nor Diana's demeanours changed. They were as quiet and composed as ever, the youngest setting her sights on her surroundings while the oldest kept hers on her feet, still pondering away on a topic that eluded her sister. But once the group of four reached the cafeteria, Diana's focus on the current situation was restored, her thoughts once again prioritising Delila and manoeuvring her younger sister through her new and chaotic environment.

After agreeing to get one of the tables close to the middle of the cafeteria in front of the windows on the far right, Delila and Diana stayed at the table while Hannah and Barbara lined up at the serving station to collect their food first, respectively seated at the head facing away from the stairs and the chair on the right. With Diana naturally having a better idea of the school's menu and the younger Cavendish's food preferences, she'd agreed to accompany Delila to help her choose something close to what she'd have back at home. But while the two sisters silently sat and waited for Hannah and Barbara to return, Delila's attention was eventually drawn to the row of servers behind the serving stations, who were standing on wooden stools and dishing out the school cuisine to the ravenous yet patiently waiting girls.

At an initial glance, it was obvious that they were Luna Nova staff, all of them wearing identical red caps bearing the school's insignia, alongside matching-coloured dress-like outfits and white aprons. But the uniform did little to hide the fact that the toddler-sized and large-headed servers definitely weren't any of the teachers, let alone witches or humans despite looking humanoid in appearance. In fact, Delila was certain based on her knowledge of magical creatures that they were a species of faerie, specifically goblins—their greyish skin, oval and brown-pupiled eyes, pointy ears, protruding lower jaw fangs and lack of a nose was a big giveaway.

"Hey, Diana?" Delila whispered and leaned closer to her sister without taking her eyes off the serving station. "Are those 'goblins' over there?"

Diana hummed lowly in confirmation and responded in kind. "Luna Nova employs numerous magical creatures for non-teaching duties. The goblins are usually in charge of laundry, cleaning and cooking."

"I thought magical creatures didn't know how to speak in human languages."

"Luna Nova runs a training program to teach them English."

Delila's brows shot upwards with a wide blink. "Can the school afford to do that with their current financial situation?"

"Magical creatures are paid using magical energy from the Sorcerer's Stone, due to their dependence on it to function. So, it's given the school more freedom to use the finances elsewhere."

"Ah. That makes sense." Delila's eyes drooped with a small sigh; if only Aunt Daryl had thought to use their Sorcerer's Stone for a similar purpose, she thought.

When it was their turn to collect their meals, Delila wound up returning to her seat with battered haddock served with a side of chips, peas, white bread and butter and tartare sauce. It was a little bit of a bland meal compared to Delila's usually refined palate, but she wasn't complaining. It was cooked thoroughly, hot, filling and it didn't disgust her tastebuds. At least Delila had one familiar taste from home in the form of a frequently drunk beverage, English breakfast tea; one part milk, two parts water, one teaspoon of sugar, just as she liked it. Either way, Delila had a feeling it was going to take a while before her tastebuds adjusted to Luna Nova's food choices, a sentiment Diana did not share, an observation Delila made as the pair ate their meals in contented silence (well, amidst the inaudible chatter coming from the other tables, of course) while Hannah's and Barbara's chatter flew over their heads from where they were sat opposite Delila and Diana respectively.

By the end of their lunch, however, Delila soon found herself unexpectedly brought into the next upcoming topic of conversation, courtesy of Hannah leaning forward over the table a bit to address her.

"We're sorry you had to witness that rude interruption during your first opening ceremony, Delila," she apologised.

Barbara scowled and nodded vigorously in agreement only to tilt her nose up to the ceiling. "We can assure you that doesn't normally happen."

Delila raised a puzzled brow as she glanced between Hannah and Barbara. Why were they apologising for something that didn't even concern them?

"The apology isn't necessary," Delila reassured, knitting her brows together shortly after. "Although, I must admit that spell they used was intriguing." The younger Cavendish cupped her cheek with a hand and rested her elbow against the table as she sideways glanced her sister. "Don't you think so, Diana?"

Diana, who had been in the middle of sipping her tea, lowered her cup from her lips and forced a blink upon meeting Delila's gaze. "Hm?"

"The teleportation spell in the auditorium. I haven't come across anything like it in the magical texts back at home." Delila moved her hand to her chin and deepened her frown. "Is it a spell you've happened upon through Luna Nova's magical texts, perhaps?"

"Not to my knowledge, no," Diana mumbled and closed her eyes, returning her cup to its platter on her wooden food tray. "Though from initial observations, it looked fairly advanced."

Hannah clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms and leaning back into her chair. "Well, it doesn't matter. They were still technically late."

Barbara gave an open-armed shrug in response. "There's no way they're going to allow them to stay at Luna Nova after pulling that stunt!"

"Good riddance to the moron, I say!"

"She should have never been accepted in the first place!"

There it was again: the same 'moron' Hannah mentioned before the start of the opening ceremony, now with a little more context from Barbara. Why did Delila get the feeling they were talking about the first-generation witch enrolling? Maybe because she couldn't think of anyone else off the top of her head who they'd have a reason to criticise? First generation witches were a controversial topic in the magical world, as Delila was already aware.

Delila scowled and pursed her lips as she shared a look with Diana, who gave the younger Cavendish a dismissive shake of the head, like she was dissuading her from saying anything. It looked like Diana possibly shared in her assumptions, Delila thought, and that was all the more reason for the younger Cavendish to fidget a little in her seat at the skin-crawling tingle that shot down her spine.

Who did Hannah and Barbara remind her of?

Luckily for Delila, her frustrated ponder was interrupted by a grating, British accented female voice loudly clearing her throat from behind her.

"Attention, girls!" she shouted to the cafeteria, causing a hush to suddenly descend across the room.

All the students' heads turned to the first-floor entrance doors of the cafeteria, where Delila spied the small elderly teacher with rectangular spectacles and turquoise hair she'd seen leaving the auditorium with the headmistress. She was standing between the stairs with a wooden clipboard in both hands, resuming talking at a lower volume upon making sure everyone's attention was on her.

"We shall now be commencing the dormitory assignments. When I call your name, please come up to the front and I will confirm which dormitory you'll be staying in."

Starting in descending alphabetical order, the teacher proceeded to call the first name from her clipboard, prompting the mentioned student to stand from her table and approach the front as instructed. Delila then observed the teacher quietly discuss the room assignment with them before sending them up the cafeteria vestibule stairs to the second floor, to which the process would repeat for the next student. As the teacher continued to go down the list of names, however, Delila took the opportunity to briefly face Diana and whisper her way, her curiosity piqued regarding the teacher's identity.

"Who's that?"

"Professor Badcock," Diana answered in kind, not once breaking eye contact from the front of the cafeteria. "She acts as the assistant headteacher of Luna Nova in addition to teaching and handles the administrative duties on behalf of the headmistress."

Ah, that explained why she left the auditorium with the register earlier, Delila realised as she returned her attention to the roll call. And maybe why she was wearing such a sour expression, now that Delila thought about it…

One by one, Delila watched the cafeteria gradually get emptier with each student called forward and then disappearing up the cafeteria vestibule, with the younger Cavendish paying little heed to each name that was said. However, that soon changed when Professor Badcock got to the surnames beginning with 'C'…

"Delila and Diana Cavendish!" Professor Badcock shouted to the room.

Delila and Diana raised a brow each in surprise at hearing both of their names instead of just Delila's, the former in particular glancing over her shoulder at her sister with a faint frown.

"Why did she call us both?" she asked in a low voice.

Diana delayed her answer by several seconds before quickly relaxing her expression, responding to the younger Cavendish in kind. "It's probably because we share the same surname. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."

You don't sound so sure about that, Delila wanted to retort. But upon remembering Hannah and Barbara were in earshot, she held her tongue and instead focused on the task at hand.

The two Cavendish sisters barely began rising from their seats before attention from the remaining students in the cafeteria was drawn straight to them, or more specifically Delila. Delila, naturally, wasn't fazed by this in the slightest. Although not as well-known as her older and more talented sister, Delila was still a Cavendish and a recognisable face to the magical community. Still, as Diana made her way to the front and Delila followed closely behind, she had to try her best to keep her gaze ahead and ignore the sea of eyes watching her like hungry predators waiting to pounce, ignoring the inaudible whispers bouncing between the tables. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she could easily speculate what they probably were, a thought that forced her to swallow back the bile attempting to climb up her throat.

As Delila and Diana reached Professor Badcock, the former noticed the elderly witch's posture stiffen upon locking eyes with her, appearing to freeze for several seconds. Eventually, though, Professor Badcock relaxed her stance and shuffled closer to the two sisters, cupping a hand over the side of her mouth while talking to them in a hushed voice, albeit a couple of octaves higher than it probably should have been.

"The headmistress wishes to speak to you about Delila's team assignment. She's waiting in her office for you."

Delila blinked a couple of times in surprise and turned to Diana, whose brows raised in what seemed like confusion until she swiftly recovered her composure after several seconds.

Diana wasn't expecting that response either. That was all Delila needed to know that this wasn't part of the new student protocol.

Per Professor Badcock's instructions, Delila and Diana headed straight for the third floor and to the north corridor where Headmistress Holbrooke's office was, neither of the sisters saying a word the entire way up. However, that all changed as the pair stopped in front of the double doors side by side, where Diana dared to glance over at Delila. Delila's facial expression was her default, stoic one, giving away no traces of whatever thoughts were running through her head in that moment. The same couldn't be said for her left hand, though, which currently had the outside of the pocket containing her elixir vial trapped in a white knuckled death grip.

Of course, Diana's sharp eyes were instantly drawn to the latter like a moth to a light bulb.

"There's no need to worry," Diana reassured lowly, looking away once Delila relaxed her hand and dropped it to her side. "I'm sure the headmistress simply wishes to discuss your illness with you before they complete the arrangements."

Whether Diana was saying that to comfort her or herself as well, Delila didn't know. Either way, the younger Cavendish said nothing and watched the older Cavendish raise her right hand to one of the office doors, rapping her knuckles hard against the wood three times.

"Pardon me, Headmistress," Diana addressed the mentioned witch as loudly as she thought to be appropriate. "It's Diana and Delila. Professor Badcock sent us."

There was a short pause before Delila heard the familiar soft-spoken and posh-accented voice of Headmistress Holbrooke responding from the other side of the doors.

"Come on in, girls!"

With the confirmation for entry given, Diana opened the right door and walked straight inside, prompting Delila to follow her sister inside shortly after.

Upon crossing the threshold, Delila was met with a wide and rectangular room decorated with plain white walls and wooden flooring, its rectangular floorboards forming triangular patterns all the way to the other end of the room. Red carpeting outlined in gold and matching the width of the double doors stretched from the office's entrance up to the room's far side, stopping before a matching circular rug. A long wooden desk was situated atop it in front of seven ceiling-high windows, its back surrounded by nine stands in a semi-circle. Each stand held a statue that depicted varying styled hats or headgear, yet at first Delila didn't give their appearances much attention. That soon changed the second the younger Cavendish's eyes caught the third stand from the right, however, which depicted an unusually large witch's hat adorned with the skull of a horned animal.

Wasn't that—?

"Thank you both for coming," Headmistress Holbrooke's greeting halted Delila's thoughts in their tracks, forcing her gaze to where the elderly witch sat on a wooden chair behind the desk. She had her hands clasped together upon the desk's surface, wearing a warm and polite smile that reminded Delila of the rare smiles she recalled Anna giving her and Diana when her stern façade slipped. "I apologise for the short notice."

"The apologies aren't necessary, Headmistress," Diana replied as she closed the door behind them and led the way to stand in front of the desk, Delila slowly trailing after her and joining her at her right side.

Why weren't there any chairs for visitors, Delila wondered.

"And you must be Delila," the headmistress continued as her focus turned to the mentioned witch. "It's nice to finally meet you, dear."

"Likewise, Headmistress Holbrooke," Delila courteously returned.

Delila's eyes flitted between the headmistress' face and her clasped hands, anticipating a handshake per polite protocol. Instead, Headmistress Holbrooke closed her eyes and tilted her head to the side, prompting the teenage witch to frown out of confusion; perhaps Diana had forewarned the faculty about her aversion to touch, she assumed.

"Diana has spoken very highly of you and your dedication to your magical studies. She was adamant you would make a fine addition to our prestigious school, and I couldn't agree more. Based on what we've heard, I'm certain you're going to be right at home here."

Delila's brows raised as she dared to shoot the older Cavendish a sly sideways glance, the latter of whom kept her gaze ahead in response. Delila could tell when someone was trying too hard to get into hers and Diana's good graces because of who they were. Yet as she listened to the headmistress go on, it was dawning on her that Diana had been right with what she'd said earlier: the headmistress' decision wasn't down to preferential treatment, but rather the trust and respect she clearly had for her sister, who had spoken highly of her. That realisation alone caused an unexplained warmth and fuzziness to ripple in Delila's chest, the sudden stinging of her eyes making Delila worry that her stoic mask was about to slip.

Luckily, the headmistress was quick to move the conversation along after straightening up in her chair and lifting her chin a bit, her tone taking on a more authoritative one that Delila recognised from her speech in the auditorium.

"Of course, I didn't just call you here for a warm welcome."

Diana nodded stiffly in acknowledgement. "Yes, Professor Badcock mentioned you wanted to discuss Delila's team assignment?"

"That's correct." Headmistress Holbrooke paused to sigh solemnly and lift her clasped hands to rest her chin upon them, flitting her eyes between the two Cavendish sisters. "When reviewing the register earlier, we discovered that the number of students in attendance for the opening ceremony was two less than we were expecting. As it turns out, the absences were from returning students assigned to the Red Team who never arrived, meaning we no longer have enough students to sort everyone into equal teams of three.

"We were originally planning for Delila to join a team of three with the other new students enrolling this year. But because of the unexpected absences, we are going to have to break tradition and assign one group of four." Headmistress Holbrooke winced and hunched her shoulders a little, her next words coming out as a mutter. "A choice Professor Badcock did not like the sound of…"

Delila's shoulders sagged a little upon hearing this, the urge to smack her palm to her forehead slowly growing by the second; of course, this had to happen to her. Still, at least that explained Professor Badcock's nervous behaviour earlier, Delila realised; she should have expected the staff of Luna Nova to be the primary problematics when it came down to changes to tradition.

Diana's brows knitted together in a thin line as she cupped a hand to her chin. "I see. So, what are you proposing, Headmistress?"

"Well, we could place Delila and the other three students together in the Red Team. However,"—the headmistress furrowed her brows at Delila as she addressed her directly—"you suffer with Grieving Heart Syndrome, don't you, Miss Cavendish?"

Delila nodded once and clasped her hands behind her back. "That's correct."

"I am concerned how such an arrangement could impact your condition. I feel it'd be a bit of a squeeze having four students share the same dormitory, and while we can make an exception and give you your own room on medical grounds, you're not allowed to be left alone for long periods of time during the evening, are you?"

"No, I'm not," Delila confirmed, with Diana nodding in agreement. "I did sleep on my own back at home, but I had to be periodically checked on as a precaution."

"Delila's condition isn't life-threatening; however, it can put her into life-threatening situations if no one is around to help her quickly," Diana added.

The headmistress hummed and nodded slowly a couple of times. "I assumed as much. Which is why I called you here as well, Diana."

"Hm?" Diana let out a quizzical hum and a forced blink, prompting the headmistress to elaborate.

"I was wondering if you'd be willing to let Delila become a fourth member of the Blue Team."

In hindsight, Delila should have seen this coming, and frankly, she thought Diana should have as well. The headmistress didn't even need to elaborate on her reasons for making such a suggestion, because they were glaringly obvious to both sisters already. And yet it didn't stop the pair's matching eyes from widening, the older Cavendish's more subtly than the younger one's.

"As her sister and one who is already familiar with her medical condition and requirements, I think Delila could become better accustomed to life at Luna Nova being around a familiar face," the headmistress continued and closed her eyes. "Of course, you don't have to agree if you—"

"Ahem!" Diana was the first of the Cavendish twins to regain her composure then, interrupting Headmistress Holbrooke with the gentle clearing of her throat and her knuckles to her lips. "Actually, I was about to make the same proposal myself."

Delila's head whirled to face Diana so fast, she swore she was close to snapping it off her own neck. Meanwhile, Headmistress Holbrooke's eyes snapped open again with the sharp raise of her brows, a surprised look of her own making itself known.

"Really?"

"Yes." Diana placed a hand to her hip. "If Delila must go into a team of four, I agree she'd be better suited in the Blue Team."—the older Cavendish spared her younger sister a quick sideways glance—"She is required to share her medical history with her potential roommates, and I don't think she is comfortable divulging such personal information to complete strangers at this stage, are you?"

Delila's shoulders stiffened a little when both sets of blue eyes turned to her, her own pair shifting back and forth a couple of times between her sister and the headmistress expectantly awaiting an answer.

"Um…" the younger Cavendish hesitated, only to find her voice again after a quiet and thick gulp. "Yes. T-That's right."

"So, you have no objections to this arrangement?"

Delila shook her head; both Diana's and the headmistress' reasons were valid, after all.

Diana gave an approving nod. "Then it's settled."

Headmistress Holbrooke smiled brightly and gleefully clapped her hands together underneath her chin. "Splendid! Thank you so much for your cooperation, Miss Cavendish!"

"Was there anything else you needed, Headmistress?"

The headmistress held up a hand to give Diana a dismissive wave, her smile dimming down a little. "There is still the matter of where Delila will be sleeping in your dormitory, but I'll leave you to discuss that with Professor Finnelan later." She made a gentle shooing motion with her hand. "For now, you girls are dismissed."

Diana bowed forward a little as a show of both respect and acknowledgement to the elderly witch, with Delila doing the same after several seconds of delay.

"Thank you, Headmistress Holbrooke," Diana muttered before righting herself.

"Yes, thank you," Delila quietly parroted and then stood straight again. "I really appreciate the efforts of the school to accommodate me and my needs."

Headmistress Holbrooke shook her head in dismissal. "You're very welcome, dear. But the gratitude is unnecessary. After all…" She offered Delila a kind smile, the latter of which took the younger Cavendish off guard with a shocked blink. "Those who desire to learn magic deserve to be given the opportunity, don't they?"

Delila wanted to agree, but deep within the crevices of her mind, her aunt's saccharine voice rose to the fore once more to taunt her, restoring that aching tightness to her chest.

"After all, a witch who cannot use her powers, regardless of the reason, is still but a child. Diana has already embarrassed the Cavendish name with that in the past. The last thing this family needs is her sickly spare doing the same."

Delila spent the entire short walk to Diana's— sorry, their dormitory (that was going to take some getting used to, Delila thought) lightly scratching her chest through the material of her cape coat with a hand. The tightness hadn't eased at all since they'd left the headmistress' office, wriggling away under her skin like she'd become host to a maggot infestation. It was so distracting, in fact, that the younger Cavendish was struggling to pay attention to Diana, who was obliviously talking away to her from where she was walking just ahead of her.

"Hannah and Barbara need to be informed about your condition, but we can be vague on the details until you're better acquainted. It's not necessary for them to know what your affliction is at this stage." Diana held her chin between her fingers, resting an elbow on her other palm. "This also means your bed will need to go on my side of the room so you can take your medication in private. Though seeing as there isn't adequate space for another single bed, converting mine into a bunk bed seems like the way to go—"

"Bunk bed?" Delila repeated incredulously as she snapped her head up to look at her sister's back, her scratching stopping almost instantly. Now that had gotten her attention. "You'd sleep in a bunk bed?"

"Don't act so surprised," Diana chided and briefly glanced over her shoulder. "I am perfectly capable of compromising." She and Delila slowed to a stop as they gained on the dormitory at the end of the second-floor corridor of the east building extension, the former returning to facing forwards again. "But I must insist you take the bottom bed, in that case."

"Yes, that's fine." Delila patted at her chest. "Personally, I'd rather not be up the ladder if I suffer a medical emergency."

"I'll ensure to relay that to Professor Finnelan when she arrives then."

"Much appreciated."

Delila wasn't sure how much time had passed since she and Diana were in the headmistress' office; however, she assumed it was long enough that both Hannah and Barbara had been sent up to the dormitory, meaning they were both likely waiting for them on the other side of the door. This was why the moment she saw Diana reach out for the doorknob, the tightness in her chest dug its aching fingers further underneath her skin, the words impulsively leaping from her tongue like a diver jumping from the diving board.

"D-Diana, wait!" Delila slightly stuttered with her hand partly outstretched. Diana's fingers halted inches away from the doorknob, the older Cavendish partially turning to face Delila with a cocked brow. For several seconds, the younger Cavendish's words became caught in her throat, though it wasn't long before she managed to force them out slow and steady, her brows furrowing while she watched her phrasing. "A-Are… Are you really okay with this?"

Diana huffed and allowed her eyes to droop a little. "If I wasn't comfortable sleeping in a bunk bed, Delila, I wouldn't hesitate to—"

"N-No, no!" Delila hastily interrupted and waved her palms about frantically in front of her. "I-I'm not talking about the bed! I-I meant…" She hesitated and halted her movement, recoiling her hands to her chest and splaying both sets of fingers over the area afflicted with pain. "I meant having me on your team."

Both of Diana's brows raised sharply with a wide blink to match, her mouth dropping open a little. The older Cavendish stared Delila down wordlessly for a solid five seconds, then temporarily pressed her lips together again and frowned deeply, her sharp eyes narrowing.

"Why would you think that?"

"… Because I'm breaking school tradition?" Delila stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, tilting her head to the side. "Aren't you concerned what the teachers and students are going to think of you having your sister as a fourth member of the Blue Team, including your roommates?"

Diana scowled sternly and folded her arms. "You were going to end up in a group of four regardless, Delila. Do you really think being the fourth member of another team wouldn't have made a difference to my reputation, considering our relation?"

… Okay, Diana had her there, Delila mentally admitted.

"And besides," Diana continued, daring to step closer to Delila as she did so. "it's not like the headmistress can just expel you to correct the numbers. What happened was an unfortunate occurrence. It wasn't your fault. So, what can the faculty and the students here at Luna Nova judge you for, really?"

"My illness hindering my magic control?" Delila blurted out without thinking, but even if she'd stopped herself, it still didn't make it any less true.

"That's just your lack of self-confidence talking."

"Bold of you to assume I had self-confidence to begin with," Delila deadpanned, prompting Diana to shake her head and sigh quietly in dismay. At least that was a sign that Diana was getting through to her, though.

For a moment, the two Cavendish sisters became engulfed in the silence of the dormitory corridor, the pair maintaining eye contact and not saying a word to one another. And then, without thinking, Diana went ahead to place her hand firmly upon Delila's closest shoulder, not realising what she'd done until she felt the younger Cavendish instinctively jerk in surprise to her touch.

Diana blinked widely at the hand on her sister's shoulder and tensed her fingers a little, an apology springing to the tip of her tongue as she prepared to move her hand back. However, she paused at noticing that Delila’s fingers on both hands were constantly twitching at her sides out of discomfort, yet she wasn't making any move to push her sister's hand off her shoulder. In fact, Delila swore the warmth given by her sister's touch was gradually rippling throughout her body, washing away the aching tightness in her chest like a gentle wave.

"You remember the promise we both made to Mother when we were young, don't you?" Diana enquired, her expression softening at the stiff nod and shaky breath Delila replied with amidst her constant twitching. "You and I have spent the last three years keeping that promise vaguely intact through letters. But today, you took a risk and came all this way to protect that promise, to help fulfil Mother's belief that we would be the ones to save our family. The least I can do to return the favour is take a risk of my own to further protect it." Diana tightened her grip a little on Delila's shoulder, a weak smile slipping onto her lips in the process. "I told you not to make yourself uncomfortable for my sake and I meant it, so please don't worry, okay?"

Delila allowed her shoulders to sag a little as the last of the aches in her chest disappeared, Diana's reassurance finally succeeding in ridding the younger Cavendish of her former worries and once again overpowering her aunt's past taunts to the point of shoving them back into the dark crevices where they belonged—'out of sight, out of mind,' as the saying goes. However, as the younger Cavendish prepared to open her mouth to respond to her sister, muffled footsteps charging towards them from the other side of Diana's— their dormitory door forced Delila to shut it.

With Diana retracting her hand from Delila's shoulder, the Cavendish twins faced the door just as it violently swung open, revealing a gawking Barbara in a wide stance in the doorway, her cape coat and hat no longer on her person and exposing her Luna Nova uniform.

"There you are, Diana!" Barbara exclaimed in a relieved tone, briefly turning to look over her shoulder as another pair of footsteps hurried their way over to the door, revealed to be Hannah's when Barbara addressed her. "See, Hannah?!" She gestured her hands to the older Cavendish as Hannah appeared in the doorway beside her, her own cape coat and hat discarded. "I told you I could hear her voice out here!"

Before either Hannah or Barbara could bombard their roommate with a barrage of concerned questions, though, they both took notice of Delila standing behind Diana, prompting the pair to raise a brow each and slowly lean to the left and right respectively to peek round the older Cavendish at the younger one.

"… Is everything all right, Diana?" Barbara asked carefully, sounding genuinely confused, Delila noted.

"Yeah, why's Delila with you?" Hannah quizzically added.

Diana straightened out her posture and tilted her chin to the ceiling, her usual composed demeanour restored.

"All will be explained soon, girls," she answered calmly. "But I can assure you that everything is fine." Diana paused to look over her shoulder at Delila, who returned her sister's stoic stare after righting her own shoulders. "… There's just been a slight change to our living arrangements."

Evening veiled itself over Luna Nova like a thick blanket, plunging the gigantic and castle-like building and its surrounding forest into pitch black. Within the end dormitory on the second floor of the east extension building, its inhabitants lay still and fast asleep in their beds amidst the evening backdrop, content with whatever awaited them following their first official day at Luna Nova. All except Delila, who, now donning a white and long-sleeved nightgown, laid sprawled out on her back underneath the red quilt of her bed. Blue eyes honed on the wooden planks of the bed bathed in the faint silver moonlight above her, listening to the quiet and soft breathing coming from Diana, Hannah and Barbara from both sides of the bedroom. It was a strange sound for Delila to hear after spending the last three years sleeping alone, yet she could admit that it was a welcomed one. It was nice hearing sounds coming from someone other than herself for a change.

The young Cavendish's mind was still reeling from the events that had followed after her return to the dormitories with Diana, from Hannah's and Barbara's overly receptive attitude and excitement to gaining Diana's sister as an extra roommate, to receiving her sash, hat and shoe bands and wand from Professor Finnelan upon making the necessary adjustments to Diana's side of the room. By now, Delila was certain that the fact she was officially a student at Luna Nova would have sunk in, but the fact that she was still lying awake in her dormitory after receiving the rest of her school uniform, and knowing that tomorrow she officially started her magical education, proved that it hadn't. It had literally been twenty-four hours, yet still it felt like she was trapped in a self-induced dream, no matter how much or how hard she pinched her skin.

Of course, that was the least of Delila's problems. Because it wasn't just Delila's self-disbelief causing sleep to evade her. No. She also had the disembodied words from Beatrix's tapestry and its translation playing through her thoughts like a broken record player, the faint voice belonging to a face she could no longer remember and a name she struggled to even say these days, let alone think.

"Civilladura Lelladebura."

"An old tradition and a new power will cross to open the door to the unseen world…"

Delila couldn't remember how long ago it had been when she'd last heard those words spoken from her lips, though it's not like it mattered. Because even after all this time, she still didn't know their true meaning. But as she closed her eyes to try to get some sleep, she at least assured herself that it was fine if she didn't.

After all, she and Diana had the next three years to figure it out together.

Chapter Text

Light shakes of her shoulder roused Delila from her slumber from where she was lying on her back, flickering her eyelids a few times. Delila couldn't for the life of her remember when she'd managed to doze off, but it didn't matter. In response to the disturbance, she groaned and rolled over onto her left side towards the wall, hunching her posture underneath the covers while lazily waving a hand about.

"Five more minutes, Anna…" she mumbled and squeezed her eyes shut, pulling the quilt a little further over her head in the process.

A loud and disapproving tut sounded behind her, followed swiftly by a quiet and familiar British accented voice that sounded nothing like Anna. "Still not an early riser, I see."

Delila's eyes snapped open wide at processing the speaker's words, taking a moment to adjust her vision to the faint golden light enveloping the former darkness cast about her. Partially sitting up and supporting herself with her elbows, the young Cavendish's gaze began haphazardly darting about her unfamiliar surroundings. From the plain blue walls that contrasted the white walls of her usual bedroom, to the dark brown frame of the bunk bed she was apparently sleeping on instead of her four-poster bed, and then to Diana in a green dressing gown and matching slippers standing calmly next to the bed's ladder—

Oh.

Delila's gaze froze on her older sister bathed in the faint sunlight streaming in from the window at the far end of the room, the events of the day before flooding back to the forefront of her mind like an overflowing dam.

She wasn't at Cavendish Manor. She was at Luna Nova Academy, the magical boarding school she'd enrolled at to fulfil her childhood promise with Diana.

"Well, good morning, Delila," Diana said lowly after a prolonged moment of intense staring between the pair, finally prompting the younger Cavendish to shake her head sharply and snap out of her daze.

"Sorry," she apologised sheepishly and sat up properly in her bed, rubbing a hand at the back of her neck. "Forgot where I—"

"Sssh," Diana gently shushed her sister and placed an index finger close to her lips, only to slyly point it in the direction of the bookcase as she elaborated in a hushed tone. "Hannah and Barbara are still asleep."

Ah, of course. Delila had forgotten they weren't alone.

"Sorry," Delila reiterated in a whisper this time, only to direct her gaze over to the window behind her head upon proceeding to smooth out her mix of platinum blonde and yellow streaked hair strands. A quick glimpse outside revealed the sun partially peeking its way over the treetops of the surrounding forest, making the younger Cavendish squint. "What time is it?"

"Half past six in the morning," Diana replied in kind, drawing Delila's attention back to her sister with a bug-eyed stare.

"Half past six? I thought classes don't commence until eight o'clock."

"Correct; however, we are granted very little time to prepare for classes, including getting breakfast, so it is crucial to wake up early." Delila frowned at the older Cavendish's explanation like her sister had just spoken to her in a foreign language, prompting Diana to raise a brow out of disbelief. "Did you forget you have to get your own breakfast from the cafeteria?"

It took several seconds for Diana's comment to properly hammer home into Delila's brain, but when it did, the realisation of her stupidity smacked Delila across the face hard. The younger witch ended up answering Diana's question by slowly turning to the nearby wall and gently—very gently—hitting her forehead off it, making the older Cavendish sigh heavily, briefly close her eyes and lightly palm her own forehead.

"It appears you still have some adjusting to do to the new routine. Good thing I took the liberty of thinking ahead." Diana waited until Delila was facing her again before she pointed in the direction of the bathroom. "Your uniform is already waiting for you in the bathroom. We can talk more about your first day at Luna Nova once the two of us are dressed and at the cafeteria."

"The two of us?" Delila repeated and tilted her head to the side. "What about your roommates?"

"What about them?"

"Don't you normally eat breakfast together?"

Diana shook her head and sideways glanced the bookcase. "They usually awaken a little later, which is just as well. As this conversation will involve your illness, it is not one meant for their ears. Though speaking of your illness…"

Diana trailed off and shifted her eyes between Delila's pillow and her face twice, prompting Delila's matching own to droop at quickly catching on to her sister's subtle gesture.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Delila grumbled and rolled her eyes, restraining her annoyance as much as she could. "I'm surprised you remembered where I keep it," she added more sincerely.

"Where else would it be if not within close reach?" Diana quietly argued as she watched her sister stick a hand under her pillow.

The younger Cavendish felt around for a few seconds and then fished out the small and thin shaped glass vial the same length as her palm, taking a moment to admire the watery and ominously glowing red liquid trapped inside by a cork with a tiny metal ring attached to it.

The staring eventually prompted Delila to blurt out a question that suddenly popped into her head. "Am I going to have to hook one of my vials onto my sash?"

Delila only just remembered their uniform didn't have any pockets.

"I'd recommend doing so to avoid accidental spillage." Diana turned away from her younger sister. "But don't worry. I doubt there's any students at Luna Nova who would recognise what your medicine is at a mere glance. Your condition is rare, after all." Delila hummed lowly in agreement and watched her sister walk off round the bookcase. "Hurry up now. You don't want to be late on your first day."

Delila waited for Diana to disappear before shuffling to the edge of the bed and uncorking her vial, being mindful not to spill its contents as her legs dangled over the bedside.

"Well then," Delila muttered under her breath, pinching the bridge of her nose between her index finger and thumb. "Down the hatch you go."

Reacting quickly, the younger Cavendish tilted her head all the way back and proceeded to pour the vial's contents into her mouth, swallowing the thick and lukewarm red liquid in one gulp. Upon straightening up again, though, she scrunched her lips like she'd just licked the inside of a lemon, the foul and yet familiar taste she'd grown accustomed to lingering on her tastebuds despite her attempt to avoid it.

Iron flavour. Disgusting.

Delila got cleaned up and dressed as discreetly as she could, changing into a clean uniform matching the one she'd worn yesterday, minus the cape coat and hat, and now with the addition of her blue sash, which she tied around her waist and knotted at her left hip after slipping the cork ring of a new unopened elixir vial through it.

After making sure the vial was secure and her outfit was in order, the younger Cavendish met with Diana in the corridor outside of the dormitory. However, she'd barely closed the door before she saw Diana cock a brow at her waist.

"Did you forget your wand?" she enquired, prompting Delila to glance at the knotted ends of her sash, where she was told by Professor Finnelan she was supposed to be carrying her wand when it wasn't in use.

"No," Delila answered honestly, jabbing a thumb at their dormitory door. "It's still on the desk where you left it last night."

"Then why not bring it with you?"

"There's no point. It's not like I need it right now." Delila made to walk past Diana and shrugged her shoulders. "We're going to have to come back after breakfast anyways, so I'll just collect it then."

From her peripheral vision as she passed her by, Delila saw Diana's brow lift a little higher out of disbelief, a strong indicator that the older Cavendish suspected there was more to the younger Cavendish's words than what she was letting on. A few seconds later, however, she heard her sister sigh loudly and then walk after her until they were side by side.

"Very well," Diana replied quietly, showing she wasn't going to push the matter any further.

This Delila inwardly sighed at; she didn't want to admit out loud that she was afraid to touch the wand, even though she was sure Diana probably already knew that. After all, she was the one who had collected it from Professor Finnelan last night.

Upon arriving at the cafeteria, the Cavendish twins were met with the sight of only six occupied tables in total, by Delila's count. That was less than what the younger Cavendish had expected, but at least getting a table and waiting in line wasn't an issue, allowing the two sisters to get their serving of the full English breakfast (consisting of bacon, sausages, baked beans, toast, grilled tomatoes and eggs—scrambled in Delila's case, because that's how she preferred hers) that had been prepared for the day and then sitting down at a table closest to the stairs without delay.

Though despite the tranquil atmosphere offered by the distance put between her and the small number of students quietly talking amongst themselves behind her, Delila was having a difficult time eating. Her eyes continuously flitted between her food tray and her elixir vial with every bite of her food or slight movement she made, constantly checking it was still there, or staring at it long enough to ensure it wasn't damaged or that the cork didn't look loose. She blamed this newly conjured habit on how often she was used to carrying her medication in a more discreet fashion, such as in a pocket on her clothing or in a bag, sometimes even inside of her socks if she was desperate enough.

Luckily for the younger Cavendish, Diana, sitting to Delila's left side this time, finally provided her with a much-needed distraction once the pair had gotten through a good portion of their meal.

"How are you feeling about undertaking magic classes for the first time?"

"Is this a trick question?" Delila deadpanned with a straight face, pausing mid-cut of her bacon to peek at her sister. "It's too early for riddles, Diana. I haven't even finished my tea yet."

Of course, as Delila expected, Diana didn't buy into her humour for a single second, evidenced by the weary droop of her eyes. "So, you are nervous, then?"

"What makes you say that?" Delila asked sarcastically, prompting Diana to shake her head and look away when she replied in kind.

"I think you know."

The younger Cavendish fell quiet in favour of taking another bite of her food, purposely avoiding her sister's gaze to focus on her plate instead. Delila waited for her sister to say something, but all she heard was the scrape and light clattering of Diana's cutlery resume against her plate, an obvious sign that the older Cavendish wasn't going to indulge her further. Delila chewed and swallowed her food before releasing a small and irritated huff.

"It's normal for me to be nervous, isn't it?" she spoke lowly, keeping her eyes fixed on her plate while her hands remained occupied slicing up her food into ridiculously tiny pieces. Though, from within her peripheral vision, she caught Diana's cutlery hovering above her plate, her blue eyes intently watching her sister's every movement. "Until now, all the knowledge and practice I've acquired came from self-study and research. Why wouldn't learning magic from qualified teachers alongside other students be daunting?"

"Which is to be expected. However, before I left for Luna Nova, you hadn't resumed your studying, and you've scarcely mentioned it in our past letter correspondences either."

Delila halted mid-scoop of some baked beans onto her fork. "… So?"

"So, have you done any magical studying since?"

"Indeed, I have." Diana's brows rose sharply as Delila continued. "Aside from meticulously reviewing the books we already have living in our library back at home, I also read through the books you sent to me." She pointed her knife upwards at the ceiling. "Those are currently in my rucksack back in the dormitory."

Diana gave a perplexed blink. "You bought them with you?"

"It doesn't hurt to have extra reading materials, does it?" Delila lightly shrugged her shoulders. "I thought you'd be more surprised that I actually read them."

The younger Cavendish shovelled the baked beans from her fork into her mouth when Diana didn't reply to her jesting, taking her sister's stunned silence as the perfect opportunity to push through her meal a bit. And much to Delila's confusion, that was how Diana stayed, just intensely staring at her younger sister as if she'd spoken gibberish. It wasn't until Delila cocked a brow at her that the older Cavendish shook her head back and forth and loudly cleared her throat, taking another mouthful of her own food to give herself a moment to regain her composure.

Had Diana not expected her to take her book recommendations so seriously, Delila wondered.

"Well, I'm glad you've still been refining your magical knowledge," Diana said once she'd swallowed her food. "And what of your spell practice?"

Delila lowered her eyes to her almost empty plate and kept them there, staring at her food like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

At least ten seconds passed before Diana calmly addressed her. "Delila."

"Hm?" Delila hummed without looking up.

"Have you also resumed your spell practice?"

Delila scooped up the bacon she'd previously dismembered into tiny pieces onto her fork and put the bits straight into her mouth, still refusing to make eye contact with Diana while purposely grounding her food into mush until she was forced to swallow it. Eventually, Diana shattered the silence with a soft sigh, with Delila catching a glimpse of her returning to eating like nothing had happened.

"… I see." Her prolonged avoidance to answer the question was all the older Cavendish needed to know where Delila stood on the issue, it seemed. "Although, speaking honestly, I expected it."

Delila's head snapped up to meet Diana's gaze again with a scowl. "What's that supposed to mean?" she hissed.

Diana, however, remained unfazed, merely closing her eyes and lowering her head a little. "I mean in terms of your symptoms flaring up," she clarified, her eyebrows knitting into a thin line with a slight twitch. "You often mentioned the terrible conduct of Aunt Daryl and our cousins towards you in your letters. I'd understand if it was difficult keeping your magic under control in their presence."

Diana sounded so composed and rational with her tone and words, yet her sister's wrinkled forehead suggested otherwise to Delila. She could only imagine the anger that was bubbling away under Diana's stoic mask.

"Still, your lack of practice is nothing to be concerned about." Diana opened her eyes and allowed her expression to relax as she turned Delila's way. "You're perfectly capable when it comes to spell casting. Your illness meddling with your magic control has been your only obstacle." The older Cavendish paused to collect her teacup and take a sip of her beverage. "I'm certain you'll have no trouble overcoming it once you settle into life at Luna Nova."

Easy for you to say, Delila sarcastically thought and slyly rolled her eyes, her fingers lightly brushing the front of her vest.

But then she frowned and dropped her hand away at the sudden thought that struck her. "Will we be expected to do any spell demonstrations in class?"

Diana shook her head. "Aside from broom flying, spell demonstrations are only required during magical examinations. They won't be taking place until a little later in the term."

Delila sighed quietly and allowed her shoulders to sag. That was one less thing for her to worry about, she thought.

"And speaking of classes," Diana continued. "Did you get a chance to review the timetable for our magic lessons today?"

"I did." Delila tapped the side of her right temple a couple of times. "Memorised it too."

"Good. After we've collected our belongings from the dormitory, I'll take you to our first class a little early. That way you can get your bearings with few students about."

"And will your—" Delila stopped mid-sentence upon processing what she'd said, forcing a cough after a couple of seconds. "Sorry, will our teammates be accompanying us like yesterday?"

"Hannah and Barbara have the same classes as us this morning, so they should be joining us once they—"

Diana was abruptly cut off by two familiar voices shouting her name at the same time from the cafeteria vestibule, voices Delila immediately recognised to belong to Hannah and Barbara. "Diana!"

The two sisters turned their heads to the right set of stairs, where they saw the other two members of the Blue Team jogging towards them dressed in their school uniforms and carrying two identical thick, brown leather-bound books in their arms. Delila and Diana watched with raised brows as Hannah and Barbara slowed to a stop in front of their table, respectively stuttering out their greetings between heaving breaths.

"D-Diana, w-we're here!"

"S-Sorry we're late!"

Diana dismissively waved her teammates off with one hand while reaching the other for her teacup. "On the contrary, you're early. Classes don't start for another hour."

When Diana took a sip of her tea, Hannah and Barbara blinked at the same time in confusion, the former of the pair immediately shaking her head.

"Oh, we didn't mean for classes!" The auburn-haired girl smiled widely, a smile the younger Cavendish saw unnaturally stretched the skin on Hannah's cheeks. Why did she get the feeling that wasn't genuine? "We meant for breakfast!"

Diana lowered her cup to the table and cocked a brow out of confusion. "The two of you don't usually join me for breakfast."

"We know!" Hannah closed her eyes and directed her smile at Delila, the latter of whom rolled her shoulders back and forth at the uncomfortable tingle that crawled down her spine. "But now that Delila is part of our team, we wanted to help her feel welcome at Luna Nova!" She held up the two textbooks in her arms a bit for the Cavendish twins to see. "Including by helping her prepare for her very first class!"

Barbara copied Hannah's actions with a wide smile of her own; although, unlike Hannah's, Delila noticed it was a little smaller and made less of an indent in her cheeks. "We collected yours and Diana's belongings from the dormitory so you could head straight to class after breakfast!"

Delila felt her stomach drop at this revelation, prompting her to speak up with a squint after straightening in her seat. "And when you say everybody's belongings, does that happen to include—?"

"Your wand?" Hannah interjected, proceeding to place a thin, silver and stick-like object with a half-circled tip and a wooden handle on the table beside Delila's food tray. "Right here!"

"We saw you'd forgotten it!" Barbara proudly added, making Delila press her lips together into a thin line to stop the words I left it there on purpose from leaving them.

Meanwhile, Diana frowned and lowered her head a bit with her eyes closed, the tell-tale sign to Delila that Hannah's and Barbara's actions had made her uncomfortable as well. Luckily, it didn't stop the older Cavendish from politely addressing the matter with them, giving Delila the necessary time she needed to calm down unnoticed.

"That's very kind of you. But it really isn't necessary—"

Barbara cut Diana off by placing one of the books she was carrying beside Diana's plate, putting the other book down in the empty seat opposite Delila. "We don't mind!" she reassured sweetly; sickly sweet to Delila's ears.

"It's the least we can do!" Hannah agreed in a saccharine tone, plopping one of her textbooks down next to Delila (with the younger Cavendish glimpsing the title 'Magic Linguistics' printed in gold lettering on the cover) and then the other in front of the last empty seat at the table. "It's not fair to leave all the responsibility to you, Diana!"

"So, you two enjoy the rest of your breakfast! We'll be right back!"

Delila's eyes drooped as she watched Hannah's and Barbara's swift departure for the serving stations, catching Diana opening an eye of her own in her peripheral vision to watch them leave. Once the twins were sure the two girls were out of earshot, however, Delila returned her attention to the older Cavendish at the loud and weary sigh that left her lips, her body visibly sagging a bit as she folded her arms across her abdomen.

"… I apologise for that," she eventually muttered.

Delila let some of her annoyance slip with an exasperated huff. "Don't. You're not responsible for their behaviour."

"I should have expected it still." Diana gave her Magic Linguistics textbook a short glimpse, her own blue eyes drooping a little. "Hannah and Barbara mean well, but they revere me just like the rest of Luna Nova do. I'm not surprised they've started to do the same to you because you're my sister."

"Neither am I." Delila pursed her lips and scowled at her wand, making a mental note to either take her belongings with her or hide them next time. "Regardless, there's no need to dwell on it. Let's just take this as a lesson learnt."

"Hm," Diana hummed in agreement, only for her gaze to lock with Delila's right hand at seeing her fingers twitch.

The younger Cavendish stared intently at her wand for a moment, trying to decide if she should risk picking it up to put it in her sash while Hannah and Barbara were away from their table. In the end, Diana decided for her, reaching over to grab it and then pushing the tip back inside the handle.

"Don't be afraid to let me know if they're making you uncomfortable, however," Diana added. "We can't have you suffering a medical emergency in the middle of the lesson."

"Sure."

Delila gladly received her wand into her right palm with a tiny and relieved exhale, wrapping her fingers loosely around the handle.

Thank goodness that Luna Nova's provided wands could do this, she thought. It made her less nervous to carry it around on her person.

The remainder of the Blue Team's time in the cafeteria went by painfully slow. Or at least, it felt painfully slow to Delila. Since she and Diana had gotten to the cafeteria long before Hannah and Barbara had, it was no surprise they finished their meals by the time their teammates returned to their table with theirs. However, because of the 'unofficial' tweaks Hannah and Barbara had made to their original plans, both Cavendish sisters were forced to stay seated and listen to the two girls engage in animated and (in Delila's opinion) nonsensical conversation whilst they ate, occasionally attempting to pull either Delila or Diana into the discussion. Had it not been for Delila's lack of confidence in navigating the corridors of the main building alone at this time and the fact she'd been raised with manners, she would have used some flimsy lie to politely excuse herself from the table. Instead, she opened up her textbook and pretended to be preparing for their first class of the morning, a crafty tactic that successfully kept Hannah and Barbara at bay until it was time for the four of them to return to the upper floors of the main building.

Upon arriving to their classroom for Magic Linguistics, Delila was met with a small and long room behind a pair of large, wooden double doors, partially illuminated by the sunlight flooding in through ceiling-high windows lining the back wall. On the room's far right, close to the entrance, was a wooden and uniquely shaped platform with steps on either side of it, almost reminding Delila of the stage from the auditorium because of the small wooden podium placed at its front. To the room's far-left side were three rows of raked desks split into sections by two sets of stairs in between them, some of which were already occupied by students who'd arrived to the classroom sometime before the Blue Team had. A quick skim of the occupied desks helped Delila to figure out quickly that they were expected to sit in their teams; although for the Blue Team, this was easier said than done.

Like they did for the opening ceremony, Hannah and Barbara chose for the four of them to sit on the third desk up in the middle rows, seated in the same arrangement they'd been the day before—Delila on the far left, followed by Diana beside her (which her sister did intentionally to keep Delila separated from their teammates, just as a precaution), then Hannah, and then finally Barbara on the far right. However, as the desks were clearly designed to only occupy three people, Delila ultimately found herself almost elbow-to-elbow with Diana, also leaving very little space between them for both of their textbooks to be open at the same time, a fact that left the younger Cavendish awkwardly eyeing the desk with her book held between her hands.

Luckily, it didn't take long for Diana to come up with a convenient solution, plucking Delila's closed textbook out of her hands without warning and slotting it on the seat between their sides spine-up.

"Here," Diana said as she placed her opened copy of the textbook on the desk and pushed it close to Delila. "We can share one textbook to free up space."

Delila frowned as her eyes flitted between Diana and the open textbook a couple of times, noting her sister had placed the textbook close to the desk's farthest edge to leave some space in front of them. "What about with notetaking?"

Diana had informed her that the teachers provide students with notebooks, quills and ink at the beginning of each class, yet based on the restricted space they had, Delila wondered if they'd even be able to do any notetaking at the same time…

"That shouldn't be a problem," Diana stated bluntly, causing Delila's brows to raise a little higher. "According to the lesson timetable, this class is an introduction to Magic Linguistics. You and I are already familiar with the basics of the subject, so I won't be taking notes." She folded her arms across the desk and closed her eyes. "However, if Professor Finnelan says anything you believe is worth jotting down, please don't hold back on my account."

Delila blinked widely at Diana's words, a little surprised that her sister remembered her past studying habits. But then again, thinking about it a little more, Delila concluded she shouldn't have been too surprised. After all, the sisters had spent most of their childhood 'joined at the hip'—as she recalled Anna once putting it—which included with their magical studying.

Though, that surprise quickly faded when she was distracted by Hannah and Barbara leaning forward in their seats to look at what Diana was doing, the former of the pair gaping in awe.

"Oh! That's a good idea, Diana!" Hannah exclaimed in a honeyed tone as she went ahead to place her copy of the textbook on the seat beside her, leaving Barbara to open up her copy between them. "You're always so resourceful!"

"And smart!" Barbara added saccharinely.

Diana held up a palm in response to the unprompted praise without opening her eyes, remaining unfazed in the face of her teammates' behaviour. "I'm just trying to make sure everyone is comfortable."

Delila, on the other hand, was forced to turn away and avert her gaze to the rest of the students filing into the classroom, discreetly wrapping her arms round her middle at feeling her breakfast slowly rising to her throat.

Delila had encountered her fair share of flatterers and sycophants when she was younger. It was inevitable for witches of their social standing, after all, and the younger Cavendish had learnt to handle these interactions well enough to ignore them. And yet in the case of Hannah and Barbara, she was struggling to understand why their behaviour was sending her insides topsy-turvy, to the point where she was mentally praying to her family's ancestor to give her the strength to not throw her guts up all over the desk. It had been happening from the moment they'd met, and she couldn't help wondering what it was about these two that conjured such violently inward reactions, reactions she was struggling to keep physically masked.

Fortunately for the younger Cavendish, her attempts to search for a convenient distraction was about to bore fruit. Amidst the swarm of girls and vibrantly coloured sashes that entered the classroom and made their way to the empty desks, Delila's sharp eyes caught a trio of girls bearing red sashes on their uniforms walking into the room at the back of the herd, three girls whom Delila instantly recognised despite their change in attire and straightened up in her seat to focus on.

They were the three girls who'd disrupted the opening ceremony in the auditorium yesterday—the girl with crimson eyes whose brunette hair was tied into a half-ponytail and curtained the left side of her forehead and draped in front of both ears; the freckle-faced and semi-rimmed spectacled girl named 'Lotte' with short and bright orange hair and turquoise blue eyes, and the pale and greyish skinned girl with shoulder-length lavender hair that covered the left side of her face and an exposed and droopy red eye.

The brunette girl led the charge with a wide smile and her copy of the textbook tucked under her left arm, her uniform appearing to match the majority of the other girls' uniforms at Luna Nova in terms of appearance. Lotte, who was a couple of inches shorter than her teammate, followed behind her with her textbook held to her front in both hands, wearing a blue headband in her hair (Delila also noticed that she was walking normally and without aid compared to yesterday, indicating she'd recovered well from her injuries). And then finally, the lavender-haired girl slouched after her teammates at the back of the line with her shoulders drooped and her textbook dangling along with her arms towards the floor, wearing a longer skirt that stretched past her knees and blue tights instead of the blue socks everyone else wore.

Delila wasn't at all shocked to see them. She remembered seeing Lotte with a red sash on her uniform in the auditorium yesterday, and the headmistress had mentioned during Delila's and Diana's meeting with her that the Red Team was going to be made up of the two other new students and the team's only returning member, so the younger Cavendish was already aware these three were staying, the same naturally applying to Diana. Of course, the same couldn't be said for Hannah and Barbara, who Delila warily glanced at when the Red Team were approaching the stairs to Delila's right. Thankfully, her teammates had their focus on each other, prompting the younger Cavendish to release a soft sigh and close her eyes with a visible slump. At least she wasn't going to have to endure more of their silly slander.

But as Delila prepared to switch her focus to the front of the room to await their teacher's arrival, her eyes were once again drawn to the trio when she heard the brunette girl's familiar and distinctly accented voice standing out amongst the inaudible chatter bouncing about the classroom, the three girls now ascending the stairs.

"I can't believe I'm about to take my first ever magic class!" she exclaimed excitedly through a bright grin, red eyes wide and sparkling with a child-like glint as she gripped her textbook tightly in her one hand and balled her other one into a fist close to her middle. "My heart is pounding from the excitement!"

To the brunette girl's left, Delila saw the lavender-haired girl roll her exposed and droopy eye out of annoyance, looking to be on the complete opposite end of the 'enthusiasm' scale in contrast to her teammate.

"Like you haven't told us that a hundred times already," she remarked monotonously, her voice also bearing a distinct accent different to the girl's and Lotte's; Delila was unsure of its origin.

The brunette girl's excited expression swiftly soured into a pout, her shoulders sagging.

"Aw, c'mon, Sucy!" she whined and roughly shoved her free hand against 'Sucy's' shoulder, eliciting a subtle yet telling eye twitch from her teammate in turn. She did not like that; Delila would know. "This is your first day at Luna Nova too! Aren't you excited?!"

"Oh? It wasn't obvious?" Sucy replied sarcastically, retaining a chronic wearied look on her face all the while. "I'm so excited, I'm close to bursting."

The brunette girl crossed her arms and faced forward again with a displeased grumble, reminding Delila of a child who'd just been denied sweets. Lotte, who was walking on the girl's other side, gave her teammate a pitying smile and pat on her closest shoulder.

"It's nice that you're excited, Akko, but you can't expect Sucy to share in that," she said in her own distinctly accented and softspoken voice. "Magic isn't as new to her as it is to you, after all."

Akko? What an unusual name, Delila mused. At least that was one mystery inadvertently solved for the younger Cavendish, thanks to Lotte clueing her in; Akko was the first-generation witch, making her the one subject to Hannah's and Barbara's (silly, in Delila's opinion) scorn.

As Delila slyly watched the Red Team head for the desk in the middle row one step above the Blue Team's desk, Akko frowned at Lotte's words and pursed her lips, humming in contemplation. Once Lotte had moved to take her seat on the desk's left side, though, Akko followed straight after her shorter teammate and replied in a mumble.

"… I guess you're right, Lotte." Upon reaching the middle seat, Akko shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, well!" She directed a wide smile at Sucy from over her shoulder as the taller girl took the far-right seat of the desk behind Delila. "I can just be excited for the both of us then!"

"… Hurrah," was Sucy's unenthusiastic reply, seeming to bring the conversation to a close and prompting the trio to take their seats.

It was at this point that Delila chose to tune out the Red Team's interactions and return her focus to the front of the classroom, cupping her cheek in the palm of one hand while lightly tapping the fingertips of her other hand against the empty desk. Yet try as she might to occupy her thoughts with the upcoming class, Delila could not stop herself from sneaking glances at Akko, observing the brunette girl unpacking and arranging her textbook on her desk alongside her teammates.

Delila recalled telling Diana during their conversation in the leyline that she was surprised a first-generation witch would want to enrol at a magical boarding school. But having witnessed Akko's excitement and enthusiasm both today and when she was cheerily rambling and laughing at her entrance into the auditorium yesterday, she was beginning to understand why the headmistress had chosen to let Akko stay, despite technically breaking the rules.

"Those who desire to learn magic deserve to be given the opportunity, don't they?"

Those were the headmistress' parting words to her yesterday, weren't they?

A quiet titter slipped past Delila's lips upon turning her gaze to her textbook, the younger Cavendish catching Diana cocking a brow at her from the corners of her eyes.

"What's amusing you?" she questioned in a low voice.

"It's nothing," Delila muttered, eventually shooting Diana a faint and almost reminiscent smile. "It's just been a long time since I last saw anyone excited to learn magic."

At first, Diana squinted a little at her younger sister's words, appearing to take a moment to understand what Delila was getting at. When the realisation finally registered on the older Cavendish's face, however, Delila watched Diana's eyes widen a little and her mouth open a bit, that recognisable child-like glint flashing across her eyes momentarily.

The tranquil moment was disturbed by a thundering clap from the entrance to the classroom, causing a hush to descend and the Cavendish sisters to instinctively straighten up and look in the direction of the noise.

"Settle down, girls!" the strict voice of Professor Finnelan barked as Delila saw her strolling into the classroom, her immediate destination being the podium in front of the blackboard. "Class is now in session! Take out your textbooks!"

A chorus of textbooks thumping against desks and pages turning bounced between the stands as the students obeyed the given instructions, reminding Delila what it was she had been waiting for. With their stoic outlooks restored, Delila and Diana adjusted their postures in their seats and faced the blackboard, shoulders straight and heads held high. But whereas Diana kept her hands flat on the desk, Delila clasped hers together close to her front, her fingers twitching at how clammy her skin suddenly felt.

Thanks to Diana's reassurances earlier, Delila hadn't been as nervous about beginning her first magic class at Luna Nova as she probably should have been. And yet sitting here now, surrounded by rows of other witches her age whom she didn't know, gave rise to her own heart pounding in her chest, but not from excitement. In fact, Delila was sure her heart was likely trying to make a jailbreak from her body, based on how its heavy and quickened thumps felt like someone was smashing a hammer against her ribs.

The sneaky glances and exchanged inaudible whispers she saw from some of the other desks close to where her team sat certainly weren't helping. Delila had hoped her classmates would be too distracted to notice her presence, but unfortunately, it appeared she still managed to stick out like a sore thumb. Whether it was because she was Diana's sister, or because she was breaking tradition, or both, she didn't know, and frankly, Delila didn't want to know.

Sucking in a shaky breath, Delila stole a look at her elixir vial resting at her left hip, its contents ominously glowing from underneath the desk.

She mentally prayed to Beatrix Cavendish that she wasn't going to have to use it.

Chapter Text

Professor Finnelan was a middle-aged witch with blue eyes and brown hair tied into a bun and two thick strands dangling in front of her ears. She wore the same teacher's uniform as her colleagues and had two red feathers tucked into the band of her hat. However, as with some of the other teachers that Delila recalled seeing in the auditorium yesterday, she had her own additional accessories to her uniform, which included a bolo tie with an emerald-green oval decoration on its clasp. Unlike her colleagues, though (well, maybe with the exception of Professor Badcock, Delila mused), Professor Finnelan's face bore a chronic stern expression that the younger Cavendish swore she'd had since the first time she'd made her appearance, wearing a consistent scowl with her lips tightly pressed together. Delila had quickly gathered from the few interactions she'd both witnessed and experienced so far with her that Professor Finnelan was a no-nonsense educator, the kind that demanded respect and radiated authority, both through her mannerisms and the way she spoke. And that was especially evident now, as Delila observed Professor Finnelan's conduct during her first official lesson at Luna Nova: Magic Linguistics.

At the start of the lesson, Professor Finnelan covered everyone's desks with three (four, in the case of the Blue Team) blank notebooks, quills and tiny black pots filled with ink using the simple flick of her wand when its tip alighted with a bright green glow, bringing the trio of items into existence from puffs of smoke without speaking or breaking her concentration. Delila knew this technique wasn't common practice when it typically came to using magic, as witches were required to say a verbal incantation whenever they cast spells (something she knew from experience, obviously). Though she was very aware that witches with a certain level of skill and experience under their belts could reach a point in their training where they could cast spells without saying the incantation. Thus, despite barely knowing this teacher even from the brief encounter they had last night, the younger Cavendish could already tell that her education had been placed in knowledgeable and experienced hands. Naturally, nearly all the students in the classroom remained unfazed by the sudden appearance of their provided stationary, their fixed attention on the lesson allowing Delila's earlier palpitations to fade away and help her ease a little into her unfamiliar surroundings. The only exception was Akko, whose awed gasp Delila heard loud and clear from behind her; an expected reaction.

"Magic Linguistics is the study of the ancient languages and writing systems used by witches long ago," Professor Finnelan explained, keeping her wand raised, her free hand to her hip and her eyes closed while addressing the class before her from behind the podium. "This includes the subject of today's lesson: the Luna runes."

Twirling her wand round in a circle multiple times, Professor Finnelan produced thick and glowing green lines on the blackboard without glancing behind her, appearing to be casting the same spell as before. But instead of making objects appear out of thin air, she was making tiny crescent, circle, and semi-circle shapes compacted together in square and rectangular formations appear at the top of the blackboard, only to still her wand once they'd covered the entire top half.

To the average witch at a single glance, it all just looked like a bunch of random shapes made up of even tinier shapes, so tiny in fact, that they couldn't be seen unless you were standing directly in front of the blackboard. Of course, Delila knew better, hence why she tuned out the explanation Professor Finnelan gave and occupied her thoughts on the familiar characters on the board, dipping her quill into the ink and jotting down what she believed to be the translation into her notebook. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed Diana had her eyes closed, indicating she was also likely contemplating the runes on the board.

"Luna runes are a segmental script once studied from the moon and stars." Professor Finnelan opened her eyes and gestured her free hand to the blackboard. "Their characters are represented by the phases of the moon, as shown in the example on the board." Her stern gaze wandered over the swarm of students in front of her. "Is there anyone in the class who thinks they can translate the passage?"

I already have, Delila mentally answered, just as she stopped writing and put her quill back in its pot. The younger Cavendish didn't realise what the passage on the blackboard was for. She'd attempted the translation purely for practice's sake. But the thought that she'd just completed her first problem solving question in her first class filled her chest with a prideful warmth and nostalgic fuzziness; the child within her was inwardly beaming at her minor accomplishment.

Lightly elbowing Diana in her closest side, Delila slid her notebook over and pointed at it when her sister opened an eye in her direction, mouthing 'Does this look correct to you?' for good measure. Much like her sister's, Delila's handwriting was almost identical, written in neat, cursive. The only subtle difference between them was that Diana coloured in the dot on the letter 'i', whereas Delila didn't.

Delila watched Diana's lone blue eye scrutinise the writing on the page, allowing ten seconds to go by before she nodded stiffly in confirmation.

'So, you weren't telling tales about your studying earlier,' Diana mouthed in reply. Delila jokingly rolled her eyes and went to move her notebook away, only to freeze at Diana placing her palm on it to stop her from doing so. 'Do you want to give Professor Finnelan the answer?'

Delila immediately shook her head and responded in kind. 'I'll let you take this one. Gives me a chance to observe the proper etiquette expected in a classroom.'

Diana nodded in understanding and faced forward again, raising her left hand into the air. Professor Finnelan, who was now leaning forward with her hands on the podium for support and scanning between the students staring blankly back at her, was quick to perk up at the movement and focus on the older Cavendish.

"Ah, Miss Cavendish," Professor Finnelan addressed Diana and then pointed her wand at the board behind her. "Would you care to give it a try?"

Diana wordlessly rose from her seat then, shoulders back, eyes closed, hands clasped behind her, and head tilted to the ceiling, body language the younger Cavendish wasn't unfamiliar with. Confident, eloquent, composed—'Diana Cavendish' in a nutshell. However, she became briefly distracted by Hannah and Barbara exchanging smug smiles, whom she narrowed her eyes at suspiciously until Diana spoke.

"'Bless the one who lets the stone remain untouched,'" Diana recited in a stentorian tone, each word spoken with forced emphasis. "'Woe betide the one who moves it.'"

Shocked and surprised gasps echoed around the classroom as Delila witnessed the sea of heads from the students below simultaneously turn around. They stared up at Diana slack-jawed and wide-eyed, like her sister was an animal in a zoo who'd just performed an entertaining trick. The sight prompted Delila to lift a brow out of confusion. Why did this suddenly feel like every high society function she was forced to attend when she was younger?

Thankfully, Professor Finnelan restored order after nodding in approval. "That's correct, Miss Cavendish. Well done."

Diana sat down again without opening her eyes, resting her arms on the desk like she had done before. Yet despite the girls below returning their attention to the front of the classroom, Delila heard their awed muttering and whispers talking over Professor Finnelan resuming the lesson, engulfing Delila's eardrums. The contents were unknown, but the context clues were enough for Delila to guess what was being said, not helped by Hannah's and Barbara's respective and 'encouraging' whispers towards her sister.

"Way to go, Diana!"

"We knew you'd be the only one to know the answer!"

The bile instantly rose to Delila's throat like a backed-up pipe that had just been unclogged, her teammates' smug smiles from a moment ago suddenly making so much sense. She scrunched her mouth and dug her bottom set of teeth into her lower lip hard, her shoulders tensing, her eyes staring daggers into the visible pages open in her notebook, her hands shaking a little atop the desk as she resisted the ever-growing urge to hurl. And all the while, Delila observed Diana in her peripheral vision, unmoving, silent.

Until Delila's notebook was pulled from under her, ridding her of her nausea in an instant.

The younger Cavendish retracted her arms with a wide blink, her gaze whipping towards Diana with an inked quill in her hand, writing something down in Delila's notebook. At first, Delila lifted a quizzical brow, having no idea what her sister was doing or why. And then Diana finished writing and pushed the notebook towards her, allowing the younger witch to read the following question in Diana's neat and cursive handwriting on a blank left page:

'Are you okay?'

Ah. Diana had noticed her reaction, had she?

Releasing a quiet and irritated huff, Delila picked up her quill from her own pot and wrote down her reply at the top of the blank right page. Delila wasn't expecting this to be how she was going to make use of her provided stationery, but she supposed it was better than having Professor Finnelan scold them for not paying attention to the lesson.

Delila quickly finished her reply and then pushed her notebook over to Diana so the older Cavendish could read the following:

'This couldn't have waited until AFTER class?'

Diana stared at Delila droopy-eyed, her expression basically spelling out 'Really?' to the younger Cavendish. When said younger Cavendish shrugged, the older Cavendish quietly clicked her tongue and swiftly penned her response.

'Please just answer the question.'

Delila scrunched her nose, but she complied after a moment's hesitation. 'I don't like how everyone reacted just now, OUR teammates included.'

'To me answering Professor Finnelan's problem?'

'YES. All you did was answer the question the fastest. It wasn't even a DIFFICULT problem.'

'I understand your frustrations; however, don't forget that the Luna runes are one of many ancient writing systems lost to time. They are largely forgotten nowadays, hence why classes like this exist and are mandatory. Our heritage has granted us opportunities that the majority of witch families no longer have, including access to archived material on the Luna alphabet. Their reactions are understandable when put into that context, aren't they?'

That was true, Delila reluctantly noted. She hadn't given it much thought before class started, but she knew Diana made a valid point. Being a descendant of the great 'Beatrix Cavendish' hadn't just granted them with a life of luxury that most didn't have, but also privileges in their magical studies that most probably didn't have either, including access to texts and other knowledge that dated back to the time of the Nine Olde Witches. Granted, a lot of that had been lost over the years, yet the younger Cavendish could bet that what they still had was more than the combined materials of every witch family present in this classroom.

'I suppose I didn't consider that. But it is STILL absurd, in my opinion. This is a SCHOOL. We are here to LEARN. And from what I saw in the provided textbook, ANYONE could have used it to figure out the problem on the blackboard. Why should it matter if YOU were the first to answer correctly?'

Diana hesitated when Delila pushed the notebook in her direction, her blue eyes staring, drooped, at the writing filled pages for a minute. Eventually, though, she turned the book over to the next set of blank pages and wrote out her answer, albeit slower and more careful than before, as if she was scrutinising her own wording.

'I think you already know the answer to that question, don't you?'

Because you're a Cavendish, Delila internally huffed, the obvious answer.

The younger witch buried her face into her palms and rubbed her hands up and down her face, feeling her sanity gradually being chipped away at piece by piece, like her brain was made of marble. Frankly, she should have seen this coming, and yet Delila had clearly made the mistake in thinking this behaviour was only restricted outside of the classroom, not in it.

A full minute went by before Delila's left ear twitched at the scribbling of a quill tip returning to the paper. But the younger Cavendish didn't remove her head from her hands until she felt the side of her notebook poke her closest elbow, prompting her to partially turn it so she could peek past her arm at the newest writing Diana had added.

'If it brings you any solace, Magic Pharmaceuticals is coming up next. Professor Lukić's classes are comprised mostly of visual learning, so everyone's attention will be on the lesson.'

It doesn't, Delila mentally disagreed. Her disgust was still crawling underneath her skin like her body had become host to a colony of maggots. But instead of writing that down, the younger Cavendish turned to Diana and nodded stiffly in acknowledgement, collecting her notebook from her sister and returning her attention to the lesson at hand. Because she'd known right from the beginning that her transition into boarding school life wasn't going to be easy, so the least she could do was tough it out for Diana's sake.

That didn't stop her from making her second mental note for the day, however: Don't answer any questions unless you're called upon.

As Diana had correctly informed her, the next class on Delila's schedule was Magic Pharmaceuticals—the study of magical potions. Due to her ancestor's skill with healing magic, Delila held quite a bit of knowledge on the subject already, albeit extended primarily to medicinal concoctions. According to Diana, much like their previous Magic Linguistics lesson, this class was supposed to be an introduction to the fundamentals of brewing specific concoctions, both medical and non-medical. And since she and Diana were apparently on par when it came down to their current knowledge on the subject, they both needed to take notes for this one.

But upon arrival to the designated classroom for Magic Pharmaceuticals (almost exactly the same design as the classroom for Magic Linguistics, barring the large black cauldron replacing the podium) and despite Diana being the one to choose the assigned desk this time (the first desk on the far-left side of the classroom), the Blue Team found themselves encountering the same cramped space conundrum as before. Fortunately, Delila was quick on the ball this time and suggested, to be fair, that Diana be the notetaker this time, while Delila copied them into her own notebook later. This idea was met with approval from her older sister and unwanted attention from Hannah and Barbara, the latter of whom once again showed no hesitation in singing their (pointless) praises after eavesdropping and caused cramping somersaults to rise in Delila's stomach. Thankfully for the younger Cavendish, however, she wasn't going to be subjected to the uncomfortable antics of Hannah and Barbara for much longer.

Professor Lukić, the teacher Delila remembered from the auditorium, made her timely appearance through the classroom's doorway, clearly revealed to be the teacher in charge of today's lesson the moment she stood in front of the cauldron and went about introducing herself to the class. She was an elderly witch with long and flowing grey-blue coloured hair that stretched all the way down to her feet, back and front. However, unlike her colleagues, her uniform's skirt stretched all the way down to her feet and her sleeves were long and loose over her arms. Nothing necessarily out of the ordinary, and yet now that Delila could see Professor Lukić clearly, she started to notice the other… glaringly eccentric features that made her stand out from the other teachers, such as her big and bulging eyes and squinted gaze, for instance, or how her nose seemed unusually large and pointed, or even how she stood hunched forward and how sharp and jagged her teeth were. She almost reminded Delila of what many regular people once perceived to be the 'stereotypical' witch back in the day, and that image only got worse when Professor Lukić officially started the lesson.

Using the large cauldron at the front of the classroom, Professor Lukić proceeded to demonstrate how to make the potion of her choosing (a non-medical related concoction called 'Fog Brew', from what Delila caught during the professor's explanations) while also talking through the steps, leaving the students to pay close attention and simultaneously write everything down, the latter of which was a breath of fresh air for Delila; at last, an environment where her teammates were actually concentrating and quiet!

At first, Delila observed Professor Lukić adding vials of various coloured substances to the cold and still-looking water in the cauldron, listening intently to the elderly witch's thorough instructions as she proudly lectured the class on the exact measurements of each ingredient, what colour they needed to wait for the water to turn, how long they needed to stir for in between, etc. Just like Professor Finnelan, Delila could tell by the way Professor Lukić spoke and her mannerisms that she was very knowledgeable in her craft. But then, shortly after the Magical Pharmaceuticals professor added her most recent ingredient to the cauldron and began to stir it with both hands gripping on to her ridiculously long, wooden spoon, thick, teal-green smoke exploded from the water. It ominously oozed from the cauldron's opening and surrounded the grinning elderly witch like sickly fog, prompting Professor Lukić to elicit a shrill and grating cackle that sent a sharp jolt down Delila's spine.

"—Make sure you stir the water until it turns a teal-green colour," the professor relayed to the class once she'd calmed down, a mischievous glint suddenly entering her eyes as her grin seemed to widen almost… sadistically to Delila. Or was that her just being paranoid? "Then you add your live frog to the concoction." Professor Lukić took one hand off her spoon and reached it down behind her cauldron, keeping up her stirring with her other hand. “But you must do so while the water is still cold to achieve the proper effect."

A tiny croak sounded when her hand came back up, now revealed to be holding a small and olive-green frog upside-down by one of its webbed feet. Without stopping her stirring or breaking her gaze away from the class, the elderly witch carelessly dropped the dangling amphibian into the smoky water with a loud 'plop!', causing Delila to close an eye and physically squirm a little in her seat at the shrill scream the poor frog emitted as it fell in. Delila wasn't unfamiliar with live animals being key ingredients to potions, yet that didn't change the physical discomfort she felt at witnessing it first-hand.

The frog's addition to the potion increased the amount of smoke flowing from the cauldron, drawing Delila's attention away from what the professor was saying and towards the large haze of teal green now rolling its way over to the left side of the classroom. It rose three desks high and then descended upon the Blue Team with no warning, travelling straight up Delila's nostrils right as she inhaled.

The potion's odour was foul, a combination of what Delila identified as rotting fish, rotten cabbage and eggs, and even a bit of garlic. It weighed in her lungs with each breath she took, stinging her eyes to the point of watering and blurring her already clouded vision.

"Do you smell the pleasant aroma it's giving off?" Delila heard Professor Lukić ask the class.

More like the smell of death, Delila sarcastically thought; she was half-expecting the smoke to morph into the shape of a skull and crossbones.

Hacking coughs from the opposite end of her desk caused Delila to sideways glance Hannah and Barbara. Through her own tears and the shroud engulfing them, she just about made out the sight of the pair squeezing their eyes shut and covering their noses and mouth with their hands, shaking and twitching in their seats from obvious disgust. Diana, on the other hand, was showing little reaction to the death cloud, still managing to write in her notebook despite her sagging shoulders, knitted brows, and closed eyes. Though, Delila did catch her left hand reaching for her wand tied at her waist, which Diana promptly flicked upwards.

A tiny green glow flashed at the wand's tip for several seconds, and then the next thing Delila knew, the smoke surrounding their desk was split down the middle with a clean cut. The two halves parted off to the sides as evenly as a pair of drawn curtains, flushing out the foul smell from her teammates' and younger sister's lungs. The moment she felt the fresh and clean air flooding back through her nose after a quick inhale, Delila slumped against her seat with a relieved exhale, tilting her head to the ceiling to bask in the odourless surroundings once more. Hannah and Barbara, however, collapsed onto their fronts and sprawled out across the desk, groaning into the wooden surface and the pages of their notebook respectively.

"Thank you," Delila wheezed to Diana after the older Cavendish rested her wand on the desk beside her, her older sister nodding out of acknowledgement. But then the younger Cavendish's eyes drooped at the delighted and shrill cackle Professor Lukić released when she increased the pacing of her stirring, bringing Delila to sit up straight again and rub away the remnants of her tears with her palms. "Though, I would have appreciated the warning about the professor's… unique tastes and behaviour."

Diana halted her writing and huffed, opening her eyes and peeking over at her younger sister.

"I can assure you Professor Lukić is harmless," the older Cavendish whispered. "She can just be a little…" She paused to ponder the appropriate word. "… unconventional sometimes."

"And yet of all the teachers it could have been, she's the one I must converse with about my medication and my magical condition." Delila watched Professor Lukić take a good and long whiff of the teal-green smoke still lingering around her as it continued its stretch to the higher rows of desks, eliciting a skin-crawling tingle throughout the younger Cavendish's body that made her physically shudder. "Lucky me."

Delila heard Diana quietly tut and shake her head in disapproval, returning to her notetaking as she responded to her sister. "Well, regardless, you only have one more lesson to go for the morning. Perhaps use that as your incentive to endure the remaining time of this one."

"Perhaps I shall," Delila reluctantly mumbled. Not that I've got much of a choice, she mentally snarked. Still, the younger Cavendish supposed it could have been worse; she'd take an eccentric and strange elderly teacher creeping her out over gawking and two-faced students any day.

Harsh coughing from two rows behind her prompted Delila to glance back over her shoulder, her attention drawn to the Red Team seated on the third desk up (in the same formation as they were in the previous class), the trio still engulfed in the smoke of the 'Fog Brew'. The younger Cavendish spotted Akko and Lotte hunched over their desk, their shoulders shaking, the former clutching her hands to her chest and the latter pressing both palms over her mouth and nose; Delila sympathised with their plight, especially as it looked like Lotte didn't know the spell her sister had used. Meanwhile, Sucy followed in Professor Lukić's example and tilted her head backwards to sniff a long stream of the smoke up her nose, eventually slumping her posture and lowering her head with a dazed smile and contented sigh.

Delila pressed her lips together, stiffened her shoulders and swiftly swivelled round to face the front of the classroom again, ignoring the beads of sweat gathering at her temples. Looks like someone was enjoying themselves, she thought.

Magic Numerology was the third class on Delila's lesson timetable and the last class she had for the morning period, taught by none other than Professor Badcock, according to Diana. The study of the hidden meanings behind the numbers related to sorcery and divination was yet another subject Delila was familiar with, though, admittedly, it was also one of her weaker subjects, due to the fact she hadn't studied it as thoroughly or as often as others. Thankfully for Delila, Diana had a better grasp of Magic Numerology than she did, meaning that when the Blue Team reached their designated classroom and seated themselves at the same desk they'd had during Magic Linguistics, the older Cavendish had no qualms becoming the chosen notetaker for a second time. Delila recalled that Diana had a concise way with words that somehow succeeded in simplifying even the most complex of explanations for the younger Cavendish to understand, so having her sister take the lead for this particular class was for the best; little did Delila know how wrong that thought was going to be.

Prior to Professor Badcock's arrival to the classroom, a brief sweep of the desks below her and her own desk revealed that only Diana was bothering to take notes. Hannah, Barbara and the other girls in the class only had the provided textbook open in front of them, which was gigantic in size, thick in page number, and decorated with brown coverings and intricate patterns on the front cover coloured gold. This was certainly an odd sight to Delila. After all, from what she saw during Magic Linguistics, students utilised both their notebooks and textbooks, while during Magic Pharmaceuticals they only required their notebooks. But just the textbooks? Delila couldn't understand the logic.

Until Professor Badcock entered the classroom and begun the lesson, that is.

Surrounded by small stacks of thick books on either side of the wooden podium at the front of the classroom, the diminutive and chronically sour-faced professor introduced herself to the class and set up the blackboard behind her to display complicated diagrams and specific numerical equations, some of which included a list of roman numerals and the sefirot (the channels of divine creative life force or consciousness, Delila recalled from her past reading) they were connected to. As with Professor Finnelan's style of teaching, Delila was expecting Professor Badcock to be lecturing the class on the topics referenced in the textbook. What Delila didn't expect was for Professor Badcock to stand at the podium and read everything word for word from the textbook open in her hands, leaving the younger Cavendish staring intensely at this teacher as if she'd grown a second head.

Professor Finnelan and Professor Lukić had proven to possess impeccable knowledge and passion for their chosen subjects, both through their words, their lack of reliance on their source materials and, in the case of Professor Lukić, their behaviour. But when it came down to Professor Badcock, Delila observed the assistant headteacher spending the majority of the lesson with her nose buried in the pages of her chosen textbook, reading the text aloud exactly as she saw it, and not once bothering to spare her students even a single glance. Delila couldn't help wrinkling her nose in disgust. How lazy and clinical, she thought. She might as well be in the library studying the textbook herself than sat here listening to Professor Badcock parrot everything she was reading.

And apparently, Delila wasn't the only one who was struggling to engage with this poor excuse of teaching. A second glimpse at the desks below her and her own showed Diana as the only one dutifully writing away in her notebook, while everyone else was either slumped over their textbooks or swaying back and forth and resting their cheeks in their palms like they were on the verge of dozing off. The younger Cavendish shook her head with a quiet tut and closed her eyes, supporting her chin atop her clasped knuckles. She understood the subject matter wasn't necessarily easy to engage students with, but she expected much better from someone who primarily worked within the school's administration, the disappointment Delila felt ultimately causing the assistant headteacher's lecture to fly over her head and her brain to absorb nothing.

Delila momentarily contemplated opening her own textbook in her lap and reading through it by herself to kill whatever remaining time there was left of this class. But as she prepared to reach for the book wedged between hers and Diana's sides, Delila paused at the sight of Diana's quill halting on the paper, her free hand shooting up into the air.

"Professor Badcock?" Diana loudly addressed the assistant headteacher from her seat, causing Professor Badcock to fall quiet and look up at the older Cavendish. None surprisingly, the students below the Blue Team's desk also turned to look in their direction, some of them flinching a little out of surprise first at the new voice. "I believe you've misquoted line 102 on page 923 of the textbook."

Delila saw Hannah and Barbara look towards Diana with the same smug smiles she recalled seeing on their faces back in Magic Linguistics, making the younger Cavendish roll her shoulders at the electrifying tingle that travelled down her spine. Why did she get the feeling this wasn't going to end well?

"Have I?" Professor Badcock replied an octave higher than she probably intended, blinking perplexedly down at the textbook and removing one hand from the cover to adjust her spectacles. "Which part was it?"

"The scale range which Numerology is used to depict the universe with," Diana answered. "It should be one to four, not one to five."

"What?!" the assistant headteacher exclaimed, aghast.

Delila watched Professor Badcock lean in close to the current pages open in the textbook and narrow her eyes, her pupils skimming over the line Diana had indicated a couple of times. Several seconds later, Professor Badcock let out a mortified gasp and widened her eyes once more.

"Oh, no!" Professor Badcock said breathlessly, only to slump her shoulders and lower her head in clear shame at the realisation that dawned upon her. "You're right, Miss Cavendish. It appears I have. My sincerest apologies."

Hannah's and Barbara's smug smiles widened into wicked grins as they snickered behind their palms, the pair watching Diana lower her hand and return her focus to her notetaking like nothing had happened.

Meanwhile, Delila raised a brow and collected her own textbook from her seat, quickly opening it up and flipping through it until she found the referenced page and line. Sure enough, it said one to four and not one to five, making the younger Cavendish's brow lift a little higher as she shut the book in her lap. How did Professor Badcock get that wrong when she was reading directly from the book, Delila wondered.

That line of pondering was soon forgotten, however, when she heard Barbara loudly whispering in Diana's direction. "Great job, Diana! You're so much smarter than Badcock!"

Delila had to physically bite her lip to stop herself from snapping at the raven-haired girl right there and then, the exaggerated flattery once again sickening the younger Cavendish to her stomach. Instead, she attempted to divert her attention elsewhere to ignore the students who were still staring in their direction (or rather Diana's) with awe, resulting in her gaze landing on the Red Team on the desk above them.

Lotte was looking through the lesson's textbook with droopy eyes and a hand cupping her cheek, her other one muffling a small yawn slipping past her lips. Akko was slumped over her own textbook fast asleep, the side of her head laying on her folded arms while drool pooled at the corner of her open mouth. And then there was Sucy, holding a pestle dish above Akko's head and trickling a couple of drops of a green, sludge-like liquid onto Akko's ponytail—

… Wait a second.

Delila blinked a couple of times and rubbed at her eyes with her hands, just to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Yet it didn't stop the younger Cavendish from witnessing Akko's ponytail suddenly straightening and morphing into a small plant shoot with two leaves. Sucy's exposed red eye locked with Delila's sharp blue own as she pulled the pestle dish away, initially staring at her classmate blankly for a moment. A few seconds of staring later, the lavender-haired witch shot the younger Cavendish a devilish smirk, causing the hairs on the back of Delila's neck to stand on end.

Feeling the sweat gathering at her temples, Delila swiftly turned around to face the front of the room again.

Delila did not like that smirk, and she didn't feel inclined to find out what it was intended for, either.

By the end of the lesson, Delila's head was pounding. Her pulse was hammering away at her temples. Each blink of her eyelids felt heavy, to the point she was resisting the urge to close them and doze off right there and then.

Simply put, Delila Cavendish was exhausted. Physically and mentally.

Of course, aside from her obviously slow blinks and droopy eyes, the younger Cavendish did well to keep her true feelings off her face. As she followed behind Diana leaving the classroom for the cafeteria, flanked on either side by Hannah (to Diana's left) and Barbara (to Diana's right), Delila matched her older sister's erect posture and raised head, walking in time with the Blue Team's pacing despite lagging a little bit. Inwardly, however, was a different story, her sharp blue eyes continually flitting between the two girls leaning forward past her sister to animatedly talk to each other with cheery grins plastered on their faces.

Delila naturally anticipated her first day at Luna Nova to be out of her depth. She was temporarily living far away from home with a bunch of strangers and trying to adjust to the regular routine and inner workings of public boarding school life. That was already an expected challenge without factoring in her Grieving Heart Syndrome as an additional complication. But the more Delila reflected upon the behaviour of her peers, Hannah's and Barbara's in particular, and Diana's passiveness towards it, the stronger that feeling of déjà vu became. It fluttered round her stomach and clawed at the inside of her throat, converting each step she took into a sluggish stroll.

It hadn't been apparent to her until now because of how hectic everything was yesterday and this morning, but Delila was sure she knew this nauseous feeling. They tended to spring up around people she sensed were bad news, people whom she loathed. Not disliked. Not hated. Loathed; the strongest of the three. And that's how she knew Hannah and Barbara were reminding her of someone familiar, someone her brain was refusing to expose at this time. Because she'd experienced this intense sickness before, almost daily in fact. It was one of the reasons why she became a shut-in, after all, to escape the culprits who caused these violent reactions. Her—

Delila's train of thought was derailed by the sight of the wooden doors leading to the cafeteria vestibule. The younger Cavendish instinctively dug her heels into the carpet and shuffled backwards a couple of steps, movement that didn't go unheard of by her teammates. Diana was the first of the trio to partially turn around, soon followed by Hannah and Barbara quizzically lifting a brow each.

"Delila, is something the matter?" Diana asked.

"Uh…" Delila uttered in reply, dazedly blinking between Hannah and Barbara upon hesitating to say anything more and trailing off.

I don't want to eat lunch with them; that was what Delila wanted to answer with. That was the reason why she'd stopped. But obviously she couldn't say that in front of them, causing her brain to short circuit while it scrambled to come up with a convenient lie.

Luckily for the younger Cavendish, however, her sister caught the look she gave their puzzled teammates, based on the way Delila saw Diana's own eyes slyly glance the two girls flanking either side of her.

"You look a little tired," Diana continued when Delila didn't answer her. She slowly approached Delila and leaned in close to her face, cupping her chin with a hand and squinting. "Are you unwell?"

Diana ended her enquiry with a brief and sly wink, giving Delila the confirmation she needed as to what her sister was doing.

"Y-Yes, actually," Delila quietly replied, massaging her fingers around her eyes and then putting her fingertips to her temples. Diana's cue restored Delila's brain function to normal, helping to ease a white lie off the tip of her tongue. "I think I inhaled too much of Professor Lukić's 'Fog Brew'."

"I think so too, based on your symptoms." Diana straightened up and clasped her hands behind her back, her eyes closing. "You should sit out in the courtyard for a little while. The fresh air will do you good."

"Perhaps I should, yes."

"Do you remember where it is?"

"It's the grassy area on the first floor, isn't it?"

"It is."

"Good." Discreetly mouthing 'thank you' for Diana's benefit, Delila turned away and started walking to the stairs at the bottom of the west corridor. "I'll head there right now, then."

The younger Cavendish stopped at hearing Hannah's stuttered objection. "W-Wait, Diana!" Both Cavendish twins turned to see Hannah and Barbara jogging to Diana's sides again, the former frowning at the older Cavendish with what appeared to be concern. "You're not going to accompany Delila to the courtyard?"

"There's no need to," Diana calmly answered. "The cafeteria is only a short distance away. Delila knows where we are if she needs me for anything."

"Are you sure?" Barbara pressed as she mirrored Hannah's frown, looking between both Delila and Diana with a hand curled into her sternum. "If you want to keep an eye on Delila, we can just eat our lunch in the courtyard instead of the cafeteria!"

"Yeah!" Hannah chimed in and nodded vigorously a couple of times. "We honestly don't mind, do we, Barbara?"

Barbara shook her head. "We really don't!"

"Ahem," Delila purposely cleared her throat with a fist pressed close to her lips and her eyes closed, gladly doing the honours of shutting down the girls' attempts to keep them altogether. "I appreciate the consideration and concern, Miss England, Miss Parker,"—ugh, that first part left a bitter taste on her tongue—"but please don't make yourselves uncomfortable for my sake. I'll rejoin you when our next class begins."

Hannah's and Barbara's frowns deepened at this response, their exchanged looks making Delila wonder for a moment if these two were preparing to persist in ensuring the four of them didn't split up. In fact, now that Delila thought about it, their concern for her actually looked and sounded… genuine. Though whether it was towards her or Diana, she couldn't quite tell.

In the end, the pair relaxed their expressions and slouched a little, with Hannah releasing a relenting sigh. "If you say so, Delila."

Barbara said nothing, prompting Diana to take over the conversation again. "We'll come find you when we're done. But if you have any problems in the meantime," she emphasised while looking down at the elixir vial on Delila's hip. "you know where to find us."

"Of course." Delila turned away again to roll her eyes out of Diana's sight, muttering the next part under her breath as she departed for the stairs. "I'm not a child."

"We'll see you later, Delila!" Hannah shouted after her.

"Hope you feel better soon!" Barbara added.

Delila acknowledged the farewells with a wave, not once looking back at the two of them nor her sister as she went. She feared even glimpsing even one of them was going to make her feel worse, Diana especially. A slight tightness enveloped her chest at the thought of leaving her sister alone with those sycophants, yet she was swift to shake her head to the side and brush it off.

Diana will be fine, Delila reassured herself. After all, she'd gotten on okay without her for the last three years. What was an hour going to do?

The further Delila got away from her teammates, the more the fluttering in her stomach and nausea in her throat lessened. Each step she took forward became lighter and rhythmic. Her eyelids no longer felt heavy, her blinks increasing in number and speed. By the time the younger Cavendish was exiting the staircase leading to the first floor, her condition had improved significantly, her earlier sickness and fatigue disappearing like a distant memory.

But as Delila got a few steps from the stairs, she felt a light bump against her right shoulder, accompanied by a startled cry from the culprit.

"—Ah!"

Delila teetered a little to the left before she caught her balance on her left foot, briefly catching sight of a Luna Nova teacher's uniform falling to the floor within her peripheral vision before two thumps resounded against the carpet, one louder and larger than the other.

Recovering quickly, Delila straightened up again and turned to face the teacher who had bumped into her, finding her sat on the floor and hunched forwards, her hands holding her forehead, a green book resting on the carpet to her left. Her hat was tilted over her face, concealing her identity from view; however, it gave Delila a perfect view of the single red feather tucked into the hat's band, making the younger Cavendish narrow her eyes for a few seconds.

Hadn't she seen that hat somewhere before now?

The teacher's pained groan wiped the rhetorical question from Delila's mind immediately. The younger Cavendish approached the fallen teacher and started to hold out her right hand towards her, an apology already leaving her lips.

"My apologies, Professor. Are you—?"

The teacher lifted her head and lowered her hands to her lap before Delila could finish her sentence, revealing a pair of dazed red eyes with white pupils behind oval-shaped glasses.

Delila froze.

Chapter Text

Blinding sunlight from the late morning sun spread across the bedroom that belonged to Bernadette Cavendish, bathing the dark walls and carpet in an inviting warmth. Amidst the room's tranquillity, Bernadette, in her nightwear, was sat up in bed, leaning back into the propped pillows and reading through the book currently open in her lap. Three gentle knocks on her bedroom doors soon pulled her attention away from her reading, however, her head turning just in time to watch the left door creak open a little.

"Mother," the voice of her youngest daughter greeted her as the door was pushed open a little, revealing young Delila stepping inside and carefully closing the door behind her.

Unlike her mother, Delila was already dressed for the day ahead, wearing a dark blue sleeveless vest over a white short-sleeved and buttoned shirt, blue jeans and brown boots. But what stood out to Bernadette the most was the sight of a certain teddy bear tucked into the crook of Delila's left arm, one she recognised to belong to her oldest daughter. Though she wasn't surprised to see it with Delila. She remembered watching Diana give it to her younger sister before she left with Carter yesterday, so Delila 'wasn't lonely' until she came back, as her oldest had told her.

"How are you?" Delila asked as she approached the bed and stopped at the bedside, observing her mother moving her still open book to the empty side of the bed for now. "Are you feeling better?"

"I'm feeling much better, thank you, dear," the older Cavendish answered with a warm smile, prompting Delila to furrow her brows and tilt her head to the side with a squint.

"Really?" Blue eyes darted about her mother's face. "Anna said you had to stay in bed."

"Only for today," Bernadette reassured. "It's just to make sure I get plenty of rest. Nothing to worry about." Delila relaxed at that and nodded in acknowledgement, which the oldest Cavendish took as her cue to change the topic of the conversation. Bernadette's eyes flitted to the teddy bear her daughter was holding. "Are you missing your sister already?"

Delila immediately shook her head in response, though it became evident that Bernadette was right when the younger Cavendish hugged the teddy bear closer to her chest to hide her mouth behind it.

"… No," she mumbled, earning herself an amused smile from her mother as the latter patted the empty space beside her, inviting Delila to sit on the bed if she so wished to.

"You could have gone with her and Carter to Japan, you know," Bernadette remarked while watching her daughter climb up. "It would have meant a lot to Diana to share that experience with you."

Delila's eyes drooped as she settled on the bed's edge so her feet dangled over, sitting her sister's teddy bear in her lap and glancing over at her mother.

"I know," she sighed, resting her chin on top of the teddy bear's head and pursing her lips with a faint scowl. "But I promised Diana that I wouldn't leave you alone." Bernadette blinked in surprise as she watched Delila squeeze the teddy bear a little. "She didn't want to go to see Shiny Chariot 'cause she was worried about you. So, I said I'd stay here and help Anna look after you." She closed her eyes and tilted her chin up to the ceiling. "I didn't want Diana to miss it."

Delila remained oblivious to the small smile that appeared on her mother's face, only opening her eyes at feeling Bernadette's hand gently ruffle at her multicoloured locks. "That's very sweet of you, Delila."

"Well, Shiny Chariot makes her happy. I want her to be happy."

"And I'm sure she will be."

When Bernadette pulled away, however, Delila took notice of the book her mother had been reading beside her, prompting the young Cavendish to lean forward a little to get a closer look.

"What are you reading about?" she asked.

"Revitalisation magic."

Delila briefly looked up to her mother and cocked her head to the side. "What's that?"

"Magic that heals and restores life."

"Like what Beatrix Cavendish had?"

"Yes."

"… Ooooh," Delila mumbled in awe and shuffled closer to the book, wide and curious blue eyes becoming drawn to the handwritten pages like a moth drawn to light for the first time.

Delila squinted a little at the inked and cursive lettering, naturally struggling to understand most of it; she was still learning about cursive writing. However, near the bottom of the right page, she soon spied a hand drawn image. It depicted a wilting plant shoot surrounded by a circle of small stones, with four large stones positioned behind, in front and to the sides of the plant. Delila pointed at the image as she leaned against her mother's side, prompting Bernadette to loosely wrap her arm around her daughter.

"What spell is that?"

"Louperial Ral."

Delila knitted her brows together, pressing her lips together a little to try to repeat the spell's name. "Louper… Louperi… Uh…"

"Louperi-al Ral," Bernadette repeated through a small chuckle, causing Delila's brows to furrow a little more out of determination.

"Lou… perial… Ral…" The younger Cavendish briefly met her mother's eyes upon looking up at her, her frown deepening. "And what does it do?"

"It provides nourishment to dying plants using magic stones. It's a secret technique that's been passed down through our family for generations."

"A secret spell…" Delila quietly repeated, returning to looking at the image while absentmindedly tracing her fingertip along the circle of stones. "Do you know the spell?"

"Yes."

"And Aunt Daryl too?"

"Mhm."

"Does that mean Diana and I could use it?"

Bernadette chuckled light-heartedly at the innocent question, failing to muffle it behind her knuckles. "I think you and Diana are a little young for this spell." She gently tapped the tip of Delila's nose with her fingertip. "Maybe you should wait until you're both a little older, hm?"

Delila's shoulders visibly slumped at this revelation, but she was quick to brush it off with a small huff. "Okay…" She lifted her head back to look Bernadette in the eyes from an upside-down position, her finger pausing on the paper. "Can I still tell Diana about it when she comes home?"

"Of course you can."

In response to the confirmation, Delila said nothing more, though she did offer her mother a small smile of acknowledgement. A rare sight on her youngest daughter to be sure, usually only cropping up around herself or Diana. Yet it acted as a strong indicator that Delila was genuinely happy, making it infectious enough that Bernadette couldn't help smiling back. It was a relief to know both of her daughters were happy right now, despite their current distance.

An awkward stare down ensued between the student and the teacher standing and sitting in the middle of the west corridor of Luna Nova's first floor. The latter appeared momentarily stunned from her little tumble, her recovery slow as she gave Delila the occasional slow blink. The younger Cavendish, on the other hand, couldn't bring herself to move, stuck in her bent down pose while her sharp eyes darted about the teacher's face.

Back-length dark-blue hair tied into a low ponytail, black-framed oval shaped glasses, a single red feather tucked into her hat band, a youthful-looking face… Wasn't this the teacher Delila had seen speaking with the headmistress during the opening ceremony yesterday? The one who had drawn attention to Lotte's injury? Although that realisation paled in comparison to her eyes. The younger Cavendish recalled she hadn't gotten a good look at her face because of the auditorium's lighting catching the woman's glasses. But now that they were here face to face, Delila couldn't look away. Those eyes… Staring into them gave rise to a warm flutter in her chest, one of nostalgia, of a time where she was happy and everything was right with the world.

An oxygen-sucking gasp left the teacher's lips as she smacked her palms over her mouth, pulling Delila abruptly out of her reverie and ridding her of her newfound and comforting warmth.

"I-I'm so sorry!" the teacher hastily apologised in between her stammering, her strange and primarily British accented voice muffled behind her hands. The teacher snatched her book from the ground, scrambled to her feet and bowed forward repeatedly with her hands in the folds of her skirt, prompting Delila to step back out of alarm. At her full height, the younger Cavendish noted the teacher was only a few inches taller than her. "I-I wasn't paying attention to where I was going!"

A bead of sweat trickled down Delila's face as she looked the jittery teacher up and down. She remembered how nervous she was acting when speaking to the headmistress yesterday, so her behaviour right now wasn't too much of a surprise. Although, at the time, Delila had chalked it down to the unexpected entrance of the Red Team. Now she was starting to see that wasn't the case; this teacher was just naturally nervous, apparently.

Delila swiftly cleared her throat to regain her composure, pressing her fist to her mouth and closing her eyes. "Neither was I, Professor. You don't have to apologise."

The professor stopped mid-bow and snapped her head up at registering Delila's voice, her nerves washing away like a wave from the sea swooping over its sandy shore.

"Hm?" The unknown professor blinked perplexedly a couple of times and stood up properly, scrutinising the younger witch's face with a small squint. "Are you a new student? You look familiar, and yet I don't recall seeing you around here before…"

Delila shook her head, already getting an idea of who the professor was thinking of. Because who else was it going to be? They essentially shared the same face!

"I've just enrolled at Luna Nova. I think you have me mistaken for my sister."

The teacher frowned and cocked her head to the side. "Your sister?"

"Diana Cavendish."

The name seemed to turn on an imaginary lightbulb above the teacher's head, her eyes widening behind her glasses with the sharp raise of her brows.

"Oh! Of course!" she suddenly exclaimed. "You're Delila, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"The headmistress did say we were expecting you." The professor smiled politely and held her palm out for Delila to shake. "I'm Professor 'Ursula Callistis', Luna Nova's Magic Astrology teacher. It's a pleasure to meet you."

'Callistis'? Ah, yes, now that Delila thought about it, she had encountered that surname and subject on her lesson timetable, hadn't she? Magic Astrology was one of the classes she was obligated to take in her first year, if she recalled what Diana had told her correctly…

"Likewise, Professor Callistis."

Delila went to reach out her own hand to initiate the handshake, only to pause at seeing the professor's smile fall and her gaze zone in on her outstretched hand. A few seconds later, the professor gasped and recoiled her hands to her chest, bringing her book up to her mouth to try to hide the embarrassed pink flush that rushed to her cheeks.

"O-Oh dear! I'm sorry!" she quickly apologised again, her words rushing out of her mouth at the same pace as a waterfall. "I forgot we were told you don't shake hands!"

The younger Cavendish's eyes drooped as she slowly retracted her own hand back to her side, giving the older witch another quick look up and down. Delila had had very few interactions with the teachers of Luna Nova so far, and while the ones she had interacted with appeared more professional, intimidating and put-together… Professor Ursula was the complete opposite—clumsy, jittery, and a little all over the place. Perhaps it was because Professor Ursula looked and sounded much younger than her colleagues and thus lacked the teaching experience that they had? Delila couldn't tell.

"There's no harm done, Professor," Delila reassured, prompting Ursula to slouch her posture and sigh in relief.

It was here that Delila's blue eyes glimpsed part of the obscured title on the front cover of the book Professor Ursula was holding. A brow arching out of curiosity, the question left Delila's tongue before she had a chance to fully comprehend what she was saying.

"Are you interested in magical botany, Professor?"

"Hm?" Ursula blinked a couple of times in confusion, prompting Delila to point at the front cover of said book.

"The book you're holding. It mentions 'plants' in the title."

"… Ah!" Ursula cried out in realisation and pulled the book away from herself to check the front cover. "Actually, this is research I'm doing on behalf of the headmistress." Ursula smiled sheepishly and rubbed a hand against the back of her neck, oblivious to Delila's brows abruptly lifting at the mention of 'research'. "I was just on my way to the library to continue it before bumping into you… Heh…"

"Research?" Delila repeated, her interest piqued. "What kind of research, if you don't mind me asking?"

The enquiry instantly rid Ursula of her earlier embarrassment. Like Delila had accidentally flicked a switch on the back of her head, the Magic Astrology teacher furrowed her brows and hugged her book tightly to her chest again, a sombre expression settling on her face upon directing her gaze to the carpet.

"It's for the memorial tree," she answered lowly, causing Delila's eyes to widen a little.

"… Oh," was all the younger Cavendish muttered, triggering her conversation with Diana in the botanical garden yesterday to come to mind. Delila closed her eyes and stroked her fingers at her chin. "Diana showed it to me in the botanical garden yesterday. It's sick, isn't it?"

Ursula sighed heavily and nodded in confirmation. "Uh-huh."

"Do you know what could be causing it?"

"Not yet. I need to look into things a little more to be sure." Ursula raised her head and adjusted her glasses with a hand. "But based on my findings so far, I think something is draining the tree of its nutrients."

Delila perked up with a slightly raised brow. "Draining, you say?"

"That's right." Ursula's gaze wandered to the windows overlooking the school's courtyard, red eyes soaking in the lush and square patches of grass scattered between the cobbled paths cutting through the courtyard's middle and its borders. "We originally thought the tree was rotting because of its dying leaves and discoloured bark. Yet it's been like that for a while now. No other symptoms have appeared. Discolouration and dying leaves are also signs of an insect infestation or lack of nutrients, so I suspect it could be a combination of both."

"… Hm." Delila lifted her gaze to the high ceiling as she pondered on the state she last saw the memorial tree in yesterday, subconsciously tapping her fingers against her chin. "I suppose it's possible. Normally with an insect infestation, you'd expect to see physical damage to the tree and its foliage. But I don't remember seeing any. Furthermore, Diana said the tree has been around since the Golden Age of Magic, meaning if it's lasted this long, it's obviously been placed in a thriving environment. That does point towards something potentially draining the tree through its roots—"

Delila stopped talking as she returned her gaze to Professor Ursula, going quiet the second she saw the older witch gaping a little at her and slowly tilting her head to the side. Why was she looking at her like that? Was it something she said—?

Oh.

Delila had voiced her thoughts out loud, hadn't she?

"Ahem!" Delila loudly cleared her throat and swiftly averted her gaze away from Ursula, feeling the tingle of a potential blush creeping to her cheeks. "M-My apologies! P-Please excuse my ramblings!"

A small giggle was the only response she got from the Magic Astrology professor, prompting the younger Cavendish to blink widely out of surprise and look over to see Ursula hiding a smile behind her fist.

"I see Diana isn't the only student at Luna Nova very dedicated to her magical studies. You must be breezing through your first day of classes."

Delila ignored the pools of sweat gathering at her temples at being reminded of her earlier classes. Though she didn't choose to dwell on it for long, purposely sniffing and clearing her throat to move the conversation along. The professor didn't need to know the reason for her wandering the corridors alone, after all.

"In any case, Professor, are you hurt? You took quite the tumble."

"Hm?" It took the older witch a couple of seconds to understand what Delila was referring to, only to swiftly perk up with the sharp shake her head back and forth. "O-Oh, no!" She waved off Delila's concern for her wellbeing with a hand. "I-I'm fine! Happens all the time, believe it or not! Heh!"

You don't say, Delila sarcastically thought as Ursula forced a nervous laugh and turned to look at the windows, failing to hide the pink tint Delila could see creeping to her cheeks.

"Then if you don't mind, I shall take my leave. I do not wish to keep you from your research."

Professor Ursula whipped her head back to Delila and nodded. "O-Of course! I-I understand!"

Delila gave the Magic Astrology professor a short curtesy. "Good day to you, Professor Callistis. I hope you find the cause of the memorial tree's illness soon."

Ursula responded with a small, polite smile, her eyes closing momentarily. "Good day to you too, Miss Cavendish. Good luck with the rest of your classes."

"Thank you."

Quickly straightening up, Delila swivelled to face the north corridor and strode away without sparing Ursula another glance, holding her head high and keeping her back straight. She failed to hear the professor's footsteps following behind her, yet she paid it little heed as she rounded the corner and out of sight. Perhaps she was waiting until she'd made herself scarce before heading to the library, Delila concluded. Either way, at least the younger Cavendish had some good news to tell her sister the next time she saw her.

The courtyard was empty upon Delila's arrival, a welcoming sight that the younger Cavendish willingly basked in. Pausing in front of the steps she'd just descended, Delila closed her eyes and cupped her hands round her ears, loudly inhaling the clean and fresh air of the outdoors into her lungs. The silence was practically music to the younger Cavendish's ears, the smell of freshly cut grass clearing the negative shroud formerly entrapping her mind. It was almost reminiscent of the secluded land of Wedinburgh that the Cavendish Manor was situated upon, its vast and lush hills and countryside Delila had spent countless hours traversing. During happier times, it was whenever she and Diana needed somewhere private to practice their magic. But in more recent years, the scenery became a means of a temporary escape for Delila whenever the walls and inhabitants of her home drove her insane. Almost like what was happening now with her teammates, in fact.

Releasing a controlled exhale through her nostrils, Delila opened her eyes again and allowed them to wander, deciding to use her alone time to get her bearings. Luna Nova's courtyard had two entrances on the ground floor—one in the north corridor directly opposite the cafeteria's entrance and another in the south corridor directly opposite the school's main entrance. As such, multiple cobbled pathways cut through the courtyard like a complex design for a maze, covering the courtyard's borders around the steps for the canopies connected to the school's east and west sides and any gaps between the grass decorating the area. Square and rectangular patches lined its sides, some of which housed wooden benches for students to sit upon, while a lone oblong patch stretched through its centre, containing two stone statues situated at either end. It was the latter that eventually drew Delila's attention, coaxing the young Cavendish to move towards it until she heard her feet touch the grass with a satisfying crunch.

The statue at the north entrance to the courtyard depicted three women in long, sleeveless dresses standing in a circle and holding each other's hands, their backs resting against the pillar towering in the middle of them. The women bore the same serene expressions, yet they each were carved with differing hairstyles of varying lengths, granting them clear distinction between each other. It was a peculiar little detail, Delila noted, as a quick glimpse over the statue's base revealed no sign of a plaque, confirming its purpose to be purely for decoration. Delila found that decorative statues of people were usually lazy in design, repeating the same generic appearance for each person sculpted. Furthermore, the statue was in pristine condition, lacking any marks or small plants one would have expected to come from the natural elements of nature, such as animal excrement or moss, for instance. They were well maintained, making Delila wonder if these women were actually meant to resemble important figures connected to Luna Nova's history somehow. She couldn't think of a reason why the school would go to such effort to display and look after these statues otherwise.

The same seemed to apply to the other statue by the courtyard's south entrance as well, which Delila attempted to get a glimpse of by walking around the north entrance's statue. But she swiftly halted when her temples began to pound again, her eyes squeezing shut. Delila groaned and massaged the sides of her forehead with her fingers, breathing in and out sharply through her mouth to fend off the pain. She felt her earlier exhaustion slowly creeping its way to the surface, the effort to reopen her eyes more than palpable. The younger Cavendish was beginning to suspect this wasn't just the result of her first three classes of the school term taking its toll on her. The lack of sleep from last night was likely also playing a part.

With heavy blinks and a small yawn slipping past her lips, Delila carefully scanned the empty courtyard again. Perhaps she should take advantage of the peace and quiet and nap for a short while, she thought.

However, the slamming of wood into stone from behind her jolted Delila back to reality with an electrifying spasm, her heart briefly leaping into her mouth. Well, that had woken her up.

"Hey, Diana!" yelled a familiar voice with a distinctive accent, the sound of approaching footsteps snapping the teenage witch from her daydream with a forced blink. "Getta load of this!"

Delila barely got all the way round before a beige, pointed and blurry object was swung into her personal space, causing her to cry out in shock and instinctively lean away.

"Gah—!"

Delila's slight stumble allowed her to narrowly dodge getting hit in the face, her eyes growing wide when the object halted an inch away from her nose. A bead of sweat rolled down her temple at her pulse violently pounding in her ears, the shock of the close call she'd had having not quite worn off yet. Though her attention was quick to switch to the object's wielder when she heard them speak up in evident confusion.

"Huh?"

It took several seconds for Delila to register the pair of wide and befuddled red eyes of the Luna Nova student standing three inches shorter than her, gripping the base of the object tightly between her palms. Her brunette hair with the green plant shoot sticking out of the top of her head and curtained fringe cemented the wielder's identity almost instantly, leaving the two students staring at each other in dumbfounded silence.

Wasn't that—?

"Akko!" another familiar voice with a distinctive accent shouted from the north entrance to the courtyard, followed by two new pairs of footsteps running towards them. "That's not Diana!"

Delila looked up and blinked in surprise upon seeing the second speaker was Lotte staggering to a stop at the edge of the grass with a loose fist placed to her sternum, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath back. Sucy was revealed to be the owner of the other pair of footsteps, appearing in Delila's view line as she slowed to a stop behind Lotte not looking even mildly winded. Up close, Delila noted there was at least two inches between herself and Sucy when the latter stood straight, making her the tallest of the trio but still shorter than Delila.

Meanwhile, with her mouth hanging open a little, Akko turned to look at Lotte for a few seconds and force another blink, repeating the same process with Delila. It took couple of glances back and forth for the realisation to properly register, yet once it did, Akko instantly shrieked and leapt backwards, bringing the stick-like object upright and hugging it to her front.

"Oh, gosh! I-I'm so sorry! I thought you were someone else!" she stammered. But then Akko paused and narrowed her eyes at Delila's face, flickering them between Delila's eyes and hair a few times. "You do sorta look a lot like Diana up close, though..."

Delila's eyes momentarily drooped in dismay, yet she refrained from commenting. She didn't blame Akko for not catching on straightaway. After all, in the affectionate words of her cousins, Delila was the 'oddball' of the Cavendish family when it came down to her appearance, the only indication she was even related to them being the fact she and her sister shared a face. Had she possessed the signature tea-green highlights her relatives and founding ancestor were well-known for, her resemblance to her sister would have been more obvious, especially to someone like Akko, who was ignorant to the magical world.

Sucy, however, wasn't going to let Akko's obliviousness go that easily. She rolled her visible eye out of disbelief.

"Yeah, from the front," the lavender-haired witch stated matter-of-factly, earning herself a glare from Akko as she peeked back at her.

Before the shorter brunette could retort, however, she was drawn back to Delila at hearing the other girl's exasperated huff, a displeased frown and pursed lips finally replacing the shock she'd had a short time ago.

"Can we please get back to the matter at hand?" she questioned sternly, placing one hand to her hip and gesturing her other one to the stick object still held in Akko's hands. "I'd very much like an explanation as to why I almost had my eye taken out."

Akko scowled. "Hey! I said I was sorry!" she bellowed defensively.

"Sorry doesn't excuse you recklessly swinging that death trap around," Delila retorted at regular volume, a complete contrast to the ever-rising volume that was, apparently, Akko's voice.

"I was showing it off!"

"By nearly hitting me in the face?"

And, as if to prove Delila's exact point, Akko thoughtlessly pointed the tip of the object within range of the younger Cavendish's personal space, spinning it round in a circle while Delila instinctively recoiled. "It wasn't my fault you weren't paying attention!"

Delila's eyes shifted to the plant shoot that had temporarily replaced Akko's ponytail atop her head.

"Like it wasn't my fault you've been walking around with a sapling sticking out of your head?" she asked sarcastically.

"What's that got to do with—?" Akko started to shout, but then she halted mid-sentence upon properly processing what Delila had said, her brows raising sharply. "Wait, wuh?"

Wordlessly, Delila tapped a fingertip against the top of her own head, hoping Akko would get the message without her having to vocalise it. And luckily, Akko did. The brunette furrowed her brows and stroked her fingers through her hair until her fingertips brushed the stem of the plant.

"Hah?!" Akko shrieked at the top of her lungs, her hand continuously feeling along the vegetation apparently sticking out of her head as if to ensure she wasn't imagining things. "How long has that been there?!"

"Since Magic Numerology," Delila answered calmly, remaining unfazed by Akko's little outburst.

"Who put it there?!"

Sucy's ominous cackle answered Akko's question. "It really took you this long to notice?"

Akko gaped and then swivelled round to face her currently smirking teammate, oblivious to Lotte cringing and sticking a finger in one of her ears when she noisily addressed the lavender-haired witch. "Sucy! Why would you do this?!"

"To kill off some boredom in Badcock's class," Sucy answered honestly, only to snort a little in amusement. "But you also made for a good guinea pig in the moment."

Delila's left eye twitched out of discomfort at the term 'guinea pig', not liking how easily it rolled off the other witch's tongue.

"Guinea pig?!" Akko furiously growled and waved a fist in the air, her nostrils flaring like an angry bull. "Dang it, Sucy! Get rid of it right now!"

Sucy's smirk fell from her face then, restoring her to the weary look that Delila had seen primarily plastered on her face in previous encounters. "Gee, I wish I could,"—Delila practically heard the sarcasm dripping from the lavender-haired witch's tone here, only for it to fall monotonous at the next thing she said—"but I can't. The potion I used on you was an original recipe. There isn't an antidote to go with it yet."

Oh? Sucy specialised with potions? That explained a lot.

"No antidote?!" Akko loudly repeated.

"Yet," Sucy corrected. She looked down at the assortment of empty vials she had hooked to her sash and tapped the closest one with her fingertip; how did Delila not see that before now? "I could make one, but it'll take some time."

"How long?!"

Sucy casually shrugged and closed her visible eye. "Hard to say. Could be days. Weeks." She gave Akko a toothy grin and lowered her voice a little. "Years."

"Years?!" Akko tugged harshly at the roots of her hair, looking about ready to pull them out. "I can't wait that long!"

"Well, what else can you do?"

And, as if the answer to Sucy's obviously rhetorical question magically sprung to her mind, Akko abruptly swirled to face Lotte.

"Lotte, you can fix this, can't you?!" Akko got right up in her teammate's personal space, making the shorter and bespectacled witch hunch her shoulders and inch backwards a little. "There's got to be a spell for this, right?" She moved her face closer to the shorter witch's face until their noses were almost touching. "Right?!"

"Uh…" Lotte hesitated and furrowed her brows, eyeing the plant shoot on Akko's head with a bead of sweat appearing on her forehead. From Delila's perspective, she got the impression that Lotte did not want to partake in this conversation. "I… I don't know, Akko. I don't think there is a spell that can get rid of it." Lotte awkwardly scratched a cheek with a finger, her tone cracking a little with her next words as she lowered her eyes to her shoes. "S-Sorry…"

Akko's body slumped backwards like she'd just been given a life-threatening medical diagnosis, whatever hope she had left literally draining from her face and freezing her slacked jaw in place. The brunette shakily crumpled to the ground on her knees with a loud thump, the medium-sized, stick-like object falling from her palms and landing with a gentle thud into her lap.

"Noooooo!" Akko wailed, ducking her head down and burying her face into her palms to muffle the rest of her speech. "What am I going to do?!"

Delila tutted and shook her head in disapproval. "There's really no need for the dramatics."

"But I can't spend the rest of my time at Luna Nova with a plant growing out of my head! How am I supposed to become a witch like Shiny Chariot stuck with this?!"

Delila's head snapped towards Akko so fast, she honestly thought she was close to breaking her neck.

"Shiny… Chariot?" Delila repeated slowly, causing Akko to remove her hands from her face and look at the taller girl from over her shoulder. "Did you just say Shiny Chariot?"

"Uh-huh," Akko confirmed with a nod, smiling sheepishly and rubbing the back of her neck with a hand. "I've been a fan of hers since I was a little kid. She's the one who inspired me to come to Luna Nova and become a witch in the first place." But then Akko frowned despondently and turned her eyes to her lap, her voice growing quiet as she gave the stem of the sapling on her head a light tug. "But I guess I don't stand a chance if I can't even get rid of this stupid plant by myself…"

When was the last time Delila had heard anyone aside from herself mention Shiny Chariot, let alone speak about her so positively? She couldn't recall. But Akko's words did succeed in giving rise to that warm fluttering in her chest from earlier, leaving the younger Cavendish frozen to the spot and fixated on Akko's forlorn expression. Akko's earlier excitement before Magic Linguistics was suddenly starting to make a lot of sense now.

Akko's quiet whine and quivering lips brought Delila back to reality with a blink, in turn dispersing the familiar warmth like an extinguished flame. Releasing an irritated sigh and creasing her brow, the younger Cavendish stepped up right behind Akko and grabbed hold of the plant shoot by the stem in her right hand, giving it a single, harsh yank without any warning.

"Yowch!" Akko's eyes instantly teared up with the loud screech of pain she emitted, her body visibly jolting upright.

Lotte widened her eyes and covered her mouth with her palms at Delila's actions, while Sucy had to hide an amused smile behind her hand upon finding Akko's reaction rather comical. But it didn't take long for the pair's attention to be drawn to the top of Akko's head when the brunette girl leapt to her feet and whirled round to face a stoic Delila, a scowl gracing her brow while awkwardly balancing the stick-like object between the crooks of her arms.

"Hey, what's the big—" she started yelling, only to interrupt herself at catching something small and green held up in Delila's right hand. The rest of Akko's question trailed out of her mouth as a quiet mumble. "… idea…?"

"As I thought," Delila began as her blue eyes shifted to the rooted sapling now lying flat in her palm, ignoring Akko frantically patting a hand on top of her restored ponytail. "The potion utilised transformation magic. Luckily for you, fixing the effects of this magic type isn't always reliant on spells or antidotes."

Delila ignored the awe filled eyes of Lotte and Akko as she carelessly tossed the plant shoot aside, watching the now lifeless flora glide until it gently hit the grassy ground.

"Now then, where were we, Miss—?" Delila paused and frowned at remembering she didn't know Akko's last name. Delila had briefly forgotten that this was the first time the four of them were encountering each other formally. "… Ah." Delila awkwardly cleared her throat and lowered her head a little, restoring Akko's reality with the vigorous shaking of her head. "My apologies. We haven't been properly acquainted yet, have we?"

Akko perked up and released a small gasp, smacking a fist into her palm. "Oh! That's right!" She smiled widely and placed a hand to her chest. "I'm Kagari Atsuko! But you can just call me 'Akko' for short!" The brunette's brows furrowed shortly after, however, her head turning back to look at Lotte and Sucy. "Wait, was that the right way round?" Akko crossed her wrists and pointed an index finger on each hand off to the sides. "That's how I usually say it in Japanese."

Lotte answered by shaking her head and smiling a little. "Native English speakers would say 'Atsuko Kagari'." She lightly waved her hand about out of reassurance. "B-But it doesn't matter! It's still technically right for you!"

Japanese? That explained the accent, Delila thought.

"Ah! Thanks!" Akko replied gratefully and gave her a thumbs-up, facing Delila again with a goofy grin. "But anyway, I'm Akko!" She gestured to Lotte and Sucy with a hand. "And these are Lotte and Sucy, my friends!"

Lotte acknowledged Delila with a shy wave, while Sucy rolled her eye at the last thing Akko said.

"Friend is a strong word," she grumbled, which Akko ignored by the time Delila politely bowed her head.

"How do you do." Delila placed a hand of her own to her chest, moving her other arm behind her back. "You may call me 'Delila'."

Upon hearing the name, Lotte blinked widely out of surprise and adjusted her glasses at the side of her frames.

"Delila?" she quietly repeated, daring to take a step towards the taller girl. "You're Diana's younger twin sister, right?"

"Correct."

Akko's jaw nearly hit the floor when it dropped open. "Wait a sec! Twin sister?!" Delila nodded stiffly as she lifted her head again, causing the shorter brunette to go bug-eyed for a moment. "No wonder you knew what to do about the plant on my head!" She nervously chuckled and averted her gaze to the ground, lightly tapping the fingertips of her index fingers together. "Thanks for that, by the way."

"You are very welcome," Delila acknowledged, in turn breezing past the implied compliment. "Though speaking of my sister, may I ask why you were shouting her name earlier?"

And why her sister was the reason Akko almost whacked her face, Delila wanted to add, yet she decided to keep that comment to herself. She was in the presence of strangers, after all. She had to remember her place.

"Akko and Diana got into an argument over Shiny Chariot and Akko got offended," Sucy bluntly answered.

"And why wouldn't I be offended?!" Akko tautly retorted as she whipped round to face Sucy, crinkling her nose and twisting the object she was still holding tightly between her fingers. "Diana called her a 'disappointment' and a 'has-been' just because she doesn't think Shiny Chariot can do real magic! What does she even mean by that?! I wasn't even talking to her in the first place!"

Delila felt her heart skip a beat inside of her chest at this revelation, reaching a hand to her throat at feeling a lump suddenly spring there. This wasn't news to Delila, yet hearing it from Akko made her heart ache, the painful reminder of how much her older sister had changed from their youth rising to the fore.

But then the younger Cavendish frowned and arched a brow upon properly processing what Akko had said.

"One moment, Miss Kagari." Akko looked back at Delila from over her shoulder at being addressed. "Did you say you weren't conversing with Diana about Shiny Chariot to begin with?"

"I did! She butted in when I was talking to Lotte and Sucy just to insult Shiny Chariot! And then she had the nerve to say that no one cares where she disappeared to ten years ago!" Akko puffed out her cheeks and tipped her nose up to the sky, briefly closing her eyes as she did so. "It was so rude!"

So, Diana intentionally interrupted a conversation between the Red Team just so she could state her opinion about Shiny Chariot, Delila concluded. That was… odd.

"Maybe she wouldn't have heard you if you hadn't been shouting to the whole cafeteria," Sucy deadpanned, but her remark was swiftly ignored by the shorter Japanese girl.

"Yeah, well, it doesn't matter!" Akko grinned triumphantly and held out the beige stick-like object in front of her again, both hands gripping at the base. "'Cause once Diana sees this, she's going to eat her words!"

With Akko now keeping the object still and close to Delila, the younger Cavendish took the opportunity to move a little closer and folding her arms, managing to get a good look at it. The object in question was medium sized and long in length, possessing curvy sides separated by two sets of pointed edges at its middle and top, an arrow-headed and golden coloured ornament adorning its head, and seven circular, blue crystals embedded into its body: three near to the head and four near the base. Its appearance was very distinctive, a fact that made Delila squint suspiciously.

"My apologies, Miss Kagari, but what is that?" Delila enquired.

"It's Shiny Chariot's staff, of course!" Akko proudly declared, her grin widening and her back straightening.

Delila's head snapped up so suddenly, it was a wonder she didn't hear her bones snap in two. "… I'm sorry?"

"It's Shiny Chariot's staff! The one she used during her performances!" Akko reiterated for Delila's sake, but of course, it did nothing to clear up the younger Cavendish's confusion and shock.

Staff? Is that what Akko had been carrying around since yesterday?

So many questions sprung to the young Cavendish's mind in that moment, the notable one being why Akko apparently had what Delila could only presume was a magical artifact in her possession (because what else would Akko have meant?). But the longer the younger Cavendish fixed her gaze on the staff, the more she found her thoughts flitting back to Diana's reaction in the auditorium—that trance-like and mesmerised stare, the one Delila knew so well from that one time when they were little.

Had Diana recognised the staff and that advanced spell from—?

"That is not the staff of Shiny Chariot," a familiar and disembodied voice stated matter-of-factly from the courtyard's north entrance, disrupting Delila's train of thought. The group of four turned to face the Blue Team as Diana emerged into the courtyard and stopped at the top of the steps with Hannah and Barbara flanking either side of her, looking down at the Red Team and Delila with a stare that was as cold as ice. "It's an obvious imitation."

Chapter Text

Diana stood tall and proud at the top of the steps with her arms folded across her chest, an icy stare plastered onto her usually stoic and sharp features—creased brows, narrowed eyes, tightly pressed lips. Hannah and Barbara stood on either side of her, their backs as straight as pins, hands on their hips, their smiles smug. It made Delila's stomach do a backflip.

Why did she suddenly not like where this was going?

"How can you say that when you're all the way over there?!" Akko argued upon snapping out of her shock, holding the staff out as far away from her body as she could between ghostly pale knuckles. "At least come down here and see it for yourself!"

"On the contrary, Miss Kagari," the older Cavendish started bluntly, tapping a fingertip to one of her temples. "My family possess archived knowledge on magical artifacts, of which I have studied meticulously. I know the difference between a real magic staff and a fake one from this distance."

"But you said you don't like Shiny Chariot!"

"Didn't I also say that Shiny Chariot's performances were incredibly popular for a time?" Diana countered, making Akko's left eye twitch with irritation. "Everyone at Luna Nova knows who Shiny Chariot is and what the controversies surrounding her are. You don't need to be a fan of her cheap parlour tricks to recognise that."

Delila couldn't hide her physical wince at the phrasing Diana had chosen to use, quietly swallowing at being forced to acknowledge that invisible wall sprouting up between them again. Yet upon catching Akko's nostrils flaring up like an angry bull who'd just seen red, the younger Cavendish literally shook the feeling off with the shake of her head and made her way to the steps, deciding to intervene before the situation escalated.

"Diana," Delila addressed her sister as she stopped at the bottom of the steps, her brows furrowing out of concern once Diana's attention was on her. "What is going on here?"

"My apologies," Diana answered calmly. "My intention was to come and check up on you,"—she paused and looked over to where the Red Team were still standing—"yet it would seem Miss Kagari is still intent on finishing a debate that's long since been had."

"Is that so," Delila replied monotonously, a sceptical brow raised. "Because according to Miss Kagari, you interrupted her conversation with her teammates to insult Shiny Chariot. Is this true?"

Diana sharply shook her head in disagreement. "I was actually imparting some friendly advice about Shiny Chariot's disrespectful methods. Miss Kagari is unfamiliar with the traditions surrounding magic, after all. It's natural she wouldn't be aware of why Shiny Chariot's performances are not liked amongst the witches of Luna Nova."

From behind her, Delila heard Akko shout her objections. "Calling Shiny Chariot a 'disappointment' and a 'has-been' is not friendly advice!"

Diana ignored her, promptly resuming her explanation regarding her side of previous events. "In any case, I was trying to be diplomatic and end the conversation when it began to escalate." She closed her eyes with a slight scowl. "However, Miss Kagari insisted on prolonging it with the conceived notion that she possessed the real Shiny Rod."

"This magic staff is the real deal!" Akko yelled again, prompting Delila to look back to the glaring brunette waving the magic staff wildly above her head. "You're wrong!"

"Am I?" Diana questioned haughtily, cracking open an eye and holding out her palm towards the other girl. "Then please enlighten us."

"We used the Shiny Rod to get to the opening ceremony yesterday!" Akko proudly declared, pausing the staff in midair and lowering it to her front with a deepening glare. "It was the same spell Shiny Chariot used during her performances! The one where she turns the Shiny Rod into a bow!"

"And what was the name of that specific spell?"

"… Heh." Akko forced a chuckle and grinned confidently, seeming pleased with the answer she planned to give to Diana's question. She tipped her nose up to the sky, cupped her chin with a hand, held the staff upright with the other one and then answered in a firm tone. "Why, the Shiny Arc, of course!"

An uncomfortable silence descended.

Lotte hid her face in her palms. Sucy twisted her lips and squinted in what Delila assumed was disbelief at her teammate's back. Hannah and Barbara each shared a look and a raised brow each. And then there was Delila, who crinkled her nose and creased her brow at Akko like she'd just spoken in another language. The younger Cavendish should have expected that, but that fact did little to ease the second-hand embarrassment creeping up on her, to the point where she had to duck her head down behind her hand.

The metaphorical spell was broken by shrill laughter coming from the top of the steps, drawing everyone's attention to Hannah and Barbara wrapping their arms round their middles and throwing their heads back.

"What a moron!" Hannah wheezed.

"But what should we have expected from someone who doesn't even know how to ride a broom?!" Barbara cackled.

Akko's earlier confidence instantly shrivelled up like a prune. Her expression fell with a bewildered blink and matching frown, both hands returning to the staff as she looked back to her teammates for clarification.

"Did I say something wrong?"

Before either Sucy or Lotte could answer the brunette, a thundering clap echoed around the courtyard, shushing Hannah and Barbara and making the pair recoil in alarm with matching yelps. All eyes turned to Delila at the bottom of the steps, her palms pressed together. She narrowed her eyes into slits up at the formerly laughing auburn-haired and raven-haired witches.

"How rude," she chided, prompting Delila to fold her arms behind her back and tut in disapproval. "Mocking another student for failing to understand the basics of something she is naturally not going to be privy to? For shame."

Hannah and Barbara were rendered speechless, staring down at Delila as if she'd just backhanded them across the face. Admittedly, Delila was a little shocked at herself for letting her composure slip. Though, she should have expected it by now. Those two had been trying her patience all morning, and what they did was rude. It was inevitably going to rub Delila the wrong way eventually, she grimly acknowledged.

Meanwhile, Diana remained silent and still, showing no reaction to her teammates' bullying nor Delila's sudden interference. Why Diana hadn't attempted to intervene first, Delila didn't know. Yet the younger Cavendish paid it little heed for now, returning her focus to the Red Team, or more specifically Akko.

"But back to the matter at hand, Miss Kagari: 'Shiny Arc' is not the official name of the spell."

"It's not?" Akko questioned.

"No." Delila glimpsed the wand wrapped up in her sash. "If one wishes to cast a spell, one must recite the incantation that accompanies it. In the world of magic, the incantation is how we commonly refer to spells. If you claim to be the one who cast such an advanced spell, you must have spoken an incantation of some kind."

"Oh…" Akko mumbled in understanding. She furrowed her brows and scratched a hand at the side of her head, occasionally darting her eyes about as she did so. "Uh… I think I remember saying something like that when we were falling out of the sky, but I don't know what it was."

Falling out of the sky? Just what were those three doing prior to their entrance into the auditorium, Delila wondered.

Diana shook her head in disappointment. "Then I'm afraid that doesn't prove you were the spell's caster, nor that you used that 'magic staff'." Akko opened her mouth and made a noise of protest, only for Diana to swiftly cut her off with the raise of her palm. "My apologies, but I believe this conversation has run its course. If you will excuse us, we have other places to be."

"But it's true! You—"

"A word of advice, Miss Kagari," Diana swiftly cut in like her tongue was a sharpened knife, silencing Akko's voice once more. "The ability to use real magic is cultivated through hours of intensive study and following magical tradition, not by becoming intrigued with a fad. If you wish to stay at Luna Nova, it's in your best interest to keep that in mind."

Ouch, Delila mentally noted with a slight wince, briefly closing an eye at her sister's harsh words, as true as she knew them to be.

As Diana prepared to turn away and ignored the offended gawk Akko sent her way, she focused her attention on Delila still lingering at the bottom of the steps. "We were planning on stopping by the botanical garden to check on the Jennifer Memorial Tree. Would you like to accompany us?"

Delila's eyes warily shifted to Hannah and Barbara still flanking her sister's sides, the sudden eye contact causing both girls' shoulders to stiffen and their backs to go as straight as cardboard. The younger Cavendish could already imagine what those two were going to be talking about the moment they left the courtyard, things Delila knew she wasn't going to keep her mouth shut over this time. Just staring at the pair of them was causing her blood to boil under the surface of her skin, so her snapping their heads off again was inevitable. She didn't want to put Diana in the middle of that awkwardness.

"Thank you for the invitation," Delila answered lowly, returning her gaze to Diana with a small huff. "But if it is agreeable with you, I think I'll stay here a little longer. I still feel a bit queasy." Delila saw Diana's brows furrow and her eyes subtly droop, a sign that suggested the older Cavendish was disappointed in her younger sister's response. Luckily for Diana, Delila wasn't finished with her answer just yet, proven with the short huff she gave as she adjusted the cuffs of her shirt sleeves. "Besides, I have no need to know how the Jennifer Memorial Tree is faring. I've already heard the good news from Professor Callistis."

As much as Delila wanted to tell Diana everything she'd heard from Ursula earlier, her sister was going to see the memorial tree anyways. Why not let her discover the good news for herself, she thought, which was furthered when Delila saw her sister's face perk up in surprise at the last thing she said, her brows sharply raising and her eyes widening slightly.

"Is that so?" she enquired evenly, doing well to mask the relief the younger Cavendish caught glimmering in the corners of her sharp blue eyes. Delila nodded in confirmation, prompting Diana to return the nod out of acknowledgement, the shift in her mood palpable only to her younger sister. "Very well then." Diana quickly turned away and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "I'll return to check on you once we're done. Should you need me for anything, you know where we are."

"Of course."

Diana made her departure from the courtyard then, with Hannah and Barbara each giving Delila an awkward wave and forced smile each before jogging after the older Cavendish. Delila let a quiet snort slip once the trio were out of earshot and shook her head in silent amusement; looks like the two of them hadn't taken too kindly to their earlier scolding.

The sound of a raspberry being blown behind her drew Delila's attention back to the Red Team, where the younger Cavendish spied a glaring Akko with her thumbs in her ears and her fingers waggling on either side of her head, her tongue stuck out as far as she could get it. How comically childish, Delila thought, yet she supposed it was better to see Akko's spirits still intact despite the argument and Hannah's and Barbara's rude behaviour. The younger Cavendish had lost count of how many times she'd witnessed Diana's passion and confidence constantly being snuffed out by their cousins and aunt throughout their childhood for similar reasons. Just thinking about it made Delila ground her teeth together with annoyance.

"What's Diana's problem?!" Akko complained, directing her rhetorical question to Lotte and Sucy. She puffed her cheeks out and balled her hands into fists at her sides, gripping the staff in one trembling hand. "Just because she comes from some hotshot witch family, that doesn't mean she knows everything!"

"Try not to take it personally, Akko," Lotte soothingly reassured, offering her teammate a sympathetic smile and a light pat on her closest shoulder. "Witches are reliant on facts and logic when it comes down to magic. It's only natural Diana is going to believe her research over your own word."

"And what happened to us isn't easy to believe," Sucy casually added, approaching Akko's other side to give her cheek a harsh poke. "Unless she saw the whole thing for herself, you stood no chance of convincing her."

Akko slumped her shoulders and pouted at the lavender-haired witch to her left, releasing one hand from the staff to rub the back of her neck. "I didn't think of that."

"Probably because you're still wrapping your head around what magic is really like," Lotte replied, prompting Akko to sullenly nod.

"I thought magic was supposed to be fun and exciting, but it's been so boring since I got here." Akko straightened up again and furrowed her brows at the staff still in her hands, sighing heavily as her voice grew quieter. "This isn't how I expected my first day at magic school to go at all…"

Just like me, Delila realised, her mouth falling open slightly at the faint tug she felt on her heartstrings. Another first for today to be sure, with some variation to their individual situations, yet the familiar feelings still managed to ignite that strange and warm fluttering to her chest once more.

Sadly, this feeling was fleeting for the young Cavendish.

Low gurgling suddenly filled the air, interrupting Delila's train of thought. All three pairs of eyes from the Red Team blinked simultaneously at Delila instinctively wrapping an arm round her stomach, a faint pink flush rising to her cheeks. Looks like her lost appetite had returned, she embarrassingly thought. How uncouth of her to let the truth of her empty stomach slip in front of other students!

"Are you hungry?" Akko asked, tapping a finger to her chin and walking over to the younger Cavendish with Lotte and Sucy slowly trailing behind her. "Though now that I think about it, you weren't with Diana when we were in the cafeteria…"

Delila swallowed thickly and averted her gaze to the windows on her left, purposely avoiding eye contact at the sweat she could feel gathering on her forehead.

"I didn't have much of an appetite," Delila answered lowly. "Please do not trouble yourself over my wellbeing. If you will excuse me."

Delila turned around and prepared to make her exit from the courtyard through the north entrance. However, she only got two steps forward before Akko intercepted her with her arms outstretched and a displeased frown, suddenly halting the younger Cavendish in her tracks.

"Where are you going?!" Akko questioned demandingly. "You're not planning on spending the rest of the day with an empty stomach, are you?!"

Delila raised a brow as she looked the shorter brunette over from head to toe, her head cocking to the side. "Not necessarily, but I don't have much choice in the matter. The lunch period has likely passed now. Until they resume serving meals for dinnertime, there's nothing I can do about it."

Delila attempted to step around Akko's left side and prepared to announce her exit from the courtyard. But she only got halfway past the shorter girl before she felt two hands tightly grasp her upper arm, the unexpected physical contact tensing every muscle in the taller witch's body.

"No way!" Akko replied defiantly, her frown matching her tone. "I'm not letting you do that!"

Delila scowled at Akko from over her shoulder and tugged harshly against the other girl's grip to make her let go, trying to keep her tone even to avoid coming across impolite. "And what concern is it of yours, Miss Kagari?"

"Since you pulled that plant off my head!" Akko's words caused Delila to briefly stop her struggling, her eyes widening in confusion at the brunette girl deepening her frown. "I've got snacks, so you can hang out with us until Diana comes back!"

Delila huffed loudly and turned away from Akko then, resuming her earlier tugging and gritting her teeth to keep her voice steady. "Thank you for the generous offer, but I'm afraid I must decline—"

Delila cut herself off with a shocked yelp at suddenly being pulled forward up the steps by her right wrist, stumbling a little until she caught her footing on the top step. It took the blonde witch a second to realise that Akko was now marching in front of her and holding her wrist in one hand, her head tilted proudly to the sky.

"I wasn't offering!" the brunette girl stated bluntly.

The second Delila's shock wore off, the younger Cavendish glared at Akko's back and began yanking her wrist backwards as hard as she could, futilely fighting against the shorter girl's strong grasp dragging her out of the courtyard; Delila swore Akko had the strength of a farmhand.

"Unhand me!" Delila demanded, her feet skidding about the stone as she tried and failed to dig her heels into it.

"Not until you've got food in your stomach!" Akko replied without taking her attention away from where she was going, her grasp and her marching remaining steadfast. "Now, come on!"

Delila peeked back over her shoulder at Lotte and Sucy quietly following them, giving the pair a frown that bordered on pleading for help. However, all she was met with was a sympathetic smile from Lotte and a dismissive shrug and shake of the head from Sucy, causing the younger Cavendish's body to fall limp and her physical resistance to cease altogether. So much for the backup, she mentally snarked. Looks like she was going to have to tolerate Akko's company for a little while. After all, she had an appearance to maintain.

The back of the main school building beyond the cafeteria was similar to the courtyard, possessing large patches of neatly trimmed and lush grass separated by a winding path and the towering and thriving trees of the nearby forest surrounding the dome-like structure housing the botanical garden. However, unlike the courtyard, there was also a narrow river that cut through the land, circling the botanical garden and slicing almost vertically through the ground close to the school's building. Two small and arched stone bridges allowed students passage over these waterways, one of which was located directly before the entrance to the botanical garden, while the other could be found in the middle of the river close to the school. It was the latter bridge that Akko chose to drag Delila over and then settle her by, thankfully with no sign of Diana nor Hannah and Barbara nearby.

Akko sat cross-legged on the grass near to the river's edge with the Shiny Rod lying on the ground in front of her, forcing Delila to kneel beside her on her right. Meanwhile, Lotte copied Delila's position and settled on the younger Cavendish's right as well, while Sucy opted to sit on the bridge opposite Akko on Lotte's other side, dangling her legs over the side onto the grass. With her fists tucked into her lap, Delila cautiously watched Akko fiddling with a tiny and round, brown pot, a handmade white cloth lid tied by a small piece of rope over its opening. It took a couple of tugs for the shorter brunette to loosen the string and pull the cloth away, grinning proudly at her 'handywork'.

"Here!" Akko said to Delila as she held the pot out to the latter. "Try one!"

"… Thank you," Delila mumbled her thanks after a short delay, only to squint suspiciously at the small, ball-shaped and reddish-purple snacks she was being offered.

The younger Cavendish gingerly plucked one off the top of the pile and held it between her index finger and thumb, noting it almost filled the gap in the crook of her fingers. It felt slimy to the touch and had a wrinkled appearance, like it had shrivelled from soaking in something for a long period of time. A quick whiff sent a strong, sour scent up her nose—vinegar, perhaps? A droplet of the presumed vinegar dribbled off onto the grass close to her feet, making the younger Cavendish shudder a bit in disgust.

"What… is it?" Delila hesitantly enquired as she peeked over at Akko.

"Pickled plums!" Akko's grin widened with the raise of her shoulders, her eyes blissfully closing and missing the puzzled raise of Delila's eyebrows. "They're a much-loved snack where I come from!"

Pickled fruit? Had Delila ever heard of such a thing before now? Pickled vegetables she was aware of, pickled eggs she definitely knew about, pickled fish too. But plums? She was drawing a blank on that one. At least that explained the smell.

Delila furrowed her brows at Akko out of uncertainty, the brunette's words doing little to reassure her. But when the Japanese student's grin morphed into a beaming smile with two eager nods, the British witch quietly swallowed and then huffed. Yes, Akko had dragged her here against her will, but her intentions came from a good place, Delila knew that. She didn't have to offer her anything, especially a delicacy from her own country. The least the younger Cavendish could do was try it. She'd been raised with manners, after all. And if she could down an elixir that tasted like blood every day, then surely she could stomach one pickled plum, she reasoned.

Her mind officially made up, Delila inhaled deeply through her nose, straightened her posture, opened her mouth wide and tossed the plum inside, ignoring the waiting eyes watching her every move.

The Red Team had little time to wait for a reaction; the plum barely hit Delila's tongue before an intense sourness erupted across her taste buds, laced with a salty tang. With her eyes suddenly watering and her lips instinctively puckering, the younger Cavendish released a muffled screech and ducked her head down, pressing her palms against her mouth. What kind of flavour combination was this, she internally yelled.

"Delila, are you okay?!" Delila heard Lotte question out of concern, with the younger Cavendish swearing the poor girl's voice rose a couple of octaves in the process.

Without looking up, Delila removed her right hand from her mouth and held up an index finger in the bespectacled witch's direction, attempting to ground the plum into mush as fast and thoroughly as possible. During this time, Delila swore she heard Sucy cackling lowly at her suffering, causing the heat to rise to her cheeks a little. She couldn't believe a pickled plum had succeeded in shattering her composed mask so easily.

A lot of chewing and one loud, thick gulp later, Delila was lifting her head again with an oxygen-sucking gasp, her breathing labouring as she placed a palm to her chest and coughed.

"M-My apologies," she wheezed, pausing to cough again and roughly smack her chest twice more. "I-I think that was a little too sour and salty for my palate…"

"No need to be polite," Sucy commented with an amused smirk. "You're allowed to admit Akko was trying to poison you."

Akko released an exaggerated gasp and gripped the pot of pickled plums to her chest like Sucy had just insulted her newborn child, only for her shock to morph into annoyance with the puff of her cheeks and the narrowing of her eyes.

"Knock it off, Sucy! You know that's not true!"

"Wasn't it your pickled plums that nearly killed us yesterday?"

Akko opened her mouth to retaliate, then a few seconds later, her expression froze, crimson eyes almost bulging out of realisation. Delila watched with a puzzled frown as the Japanese girl pursed her lips and averted her gaze to her pickled plums, her fingertips lightly tapping the sides of the pot.

"… How was I supposed to know the leyline didn't like salt?" she grumbled loud enough for the younger Cavendish to hear, causing Delila's eyes to droop the second the metaphorical puzzle piece clicked in the back of her head.

So, that's why the Red Team wound up scaring the entire auditorium half to death, Delila bluntly thought. Though she refrained from saying such out loud when Akko snapped her head up again and glared at the lavender-haired witch.

"And anyways, you're one to talk about poisoning people!"

Akko jabbed her index finger into the back of her head a couple of times as a subtle reminder of what happened during Magic Numerology for good measure. Sucy simply shrugged her off and let her face return to its default, droopy-eyed look.

Loud gurgling drew the pair's attention back to Delila. The younger Cavendish bashfully looked down at her rumbling stomach and wrapped her arms round it, keeping her head bowed to hide her embarrassment. If only she wasn't paranoid about using her magic right now, she internally sighed. She could have used a shadow magic spell to get out of this situation…

The sound of a crinkling wrapper reached Delila's right ear, prompting the younger Cavendish to slowly lift her head towards a shyly smiling Lotte clutching something thin and rectangular wrapped in blue packaging between her palms.

"Do you like chocolate?" the bespectacled witch asked, holding up the chocolate bar in question for Delila to see. 'Karlfazer' was printed almost diagonally in large and golden cursive lettering on the front, along with the word 'maitosuklaa' in tiny, golden block lettering printed vertically underneath it. "You can have one of my chocolate bars if you want."

Delila narrowed her eyes at the unfamiliar and tiny words on the wrapper, which she assumed was supposed to be the name of the chocolate flavour. It was clearly written in another language; Finnish, she suspected, because of the name 'Fazer'. If memory served her correctly, there was a chocolate company in Finland with that name.

"What flavour is it?"

"Milk chocolate." Lotte's smile widened a little as she tilted her head to the side and pointed at the tiny lettering. "Sorry. The packaging is printed in my native tongue."

Lotte was Finnish? Didn't Delila recall Professor Ursula say Lotte's surname was 'Jansson'? That was a Swedish surname, wasn't it? Perhaps Lotte had some Swedish ancestry somewhere in her blood, Delila concluded.

"I see," Delila remarked, gratefully nodding as she accepted the chocolate bar from the other witch. The younger Cavendish could handle ordinary milk chocolate no problem. "Thank you, Miss Jansson."

"Yeah, nice one, Lotte!" Akko cheered, making Lotte blush and avert her gaze to her lap while rubbing at the back of her neck.

"I-It was nothing, really!"

Akko sent Delila a sheepish smile and cocked her head to the side. "Guess you aren't as used to pickled plums as I am…"

"No, I'm not," Delila affirmed. "But the gesture was still appreciated."

Akko blinked widely in surprise, though her shock only lasted for a few seconds before she switched her focus back to the pickled plums in her lap.

"Oh, well!" Akko licked her lips and rub her hands together with anticipation. "More for me then!" The brunette paused her movements briefly to glance between Lotte and Sucy. "Unless you guys want some?"

Sucy immediately shook her head back and forth and crinkled her nose, her actions easily spelling out her answer without the need to say anything. Lotte, on the other hand, smiled nervously and held up her palms, beads of sweat visibly forming as she waved her hands back and forth in dismissal.

"N-No, thank you! I-I'm still full from lunch!"

Delila wondered if her earlier reaction to Akko's snacks had put Lotte and Sucy off from even trying them. At least it didn't affect Akko, who responded with a casual shrug as she grabbed a pickled plum from the pot.

"Suit yourselves!"

Delila curiously watched Akko plop the plum into her mouth, witnessing the Japanese student's lips pucker and her eyes squeeze tightly shut at the exact moment the young Cavendish guessed the intense sour and salty flavour combination assaulted her tongue. Yet in comparison to Delila, Akko's reaction was brief and more subdued, the shorter brunette chomping down on and swallowing the contents of her mouth without making a single distressed sound, swiftly following up with a contented noise and then throwing another pickled plum in to repeat the process. Delila couldn't help wondering how often Akko actually ate these things to have built up such impressive tolerance.

With Akko tucking into her own snack, Delila wasted no more time in pulling open the packaging of the chocolate bar and breaking off the first square piece to plop into her mouth, wanting to silence her empty stomach as soon as possible. Her shoulders slumped in relief at the sweet and creamy taste melting on her tongue, washing out the sour and salty aftertaste of the pickled plum from her taste buds.

For a short time, peace and quiet lingered between the four girls, Akko and Delila munching away on their snacks and Lotte and Sucy patiently watching them do so without interruption. Once Delila had devoured her chocolate bar, however, Lotte went ahead to strike up a conversation with the younger Cavendish.

"So, Delila, you're new to Luna Nova too, right?"

Akko gagged on the pickled plum she was in the middle of swallowing, having gasped at the question and prevented Delila from formulating an answer. She coughed violently and whacked her fist to her chest, giving it a couple of hollow thumps until she felt it was safe to speak.

"You're new?!" the Japanese student exclaimed, red eyes bulging in her sockets.

Sucy shook her head and adjusted her sitting position on the edge of the bridge, bringing her legs up to cross them so she could rest an elbow on her knee and a cheek in her palm. "Did you already forget what Professor Finnelan said last night about our team assignment?"

"I did not!" Akko refuted and pointed in Delila's direction without breaking eye contact with the lavender-haired witch. "Lotte said Diana was a returning witch student like her! And since Delila sounded as smart as Diana, I thought she was one too!"

Oh? It sounded like Akko and company had been relayed the same information she and Diana had from the headmistress. No wonder no one had questioned her about the current number of students in her team, she thought, Lotte especially.

"That would be because I was homeschooled until recently," Delila explained, causing Akko's expression to relax with a curious blink.

"It's possible to be homeschooled in magic?"

"All witches start their magical studies at an early age," Lotte continued with the raise of her index finger. "Though, what you learn can differ depending on where you live, your ancestry and your family's profession in the magical world."

"Precisely," Delila confirmed, briefly closing her eyes. "Some witches choose to remain homeschooled well into adulthood, particularly those of noble witch bloodlines. But for anyone seeking to expand their magical knowledge and spell repertoire, along with any personal reasons they might have, they can enrol at magic schools like Luna Nova once they hit the required age bracket."

"Oh!" Akko perked up with a quiet gasp and leaned forward a bit, placing her hands in her lap to steady herself. "Like how I came to Luna Nova because it was the same school Shiny Chariot attended?"

Delila hummed in agreement without opening her eyes, not surprised by Akko's response. It was common knowledge in the magical community that Shiny Chariot was once a student of Luna Nova, and since Akko had already professed her love for the former witch performer, the younger Cavendish could put two and two together easily.

"I get it!" Akko cheerily stated, then glanced between Delila, Lotte and Sucy and smiled. "Then why did you guys decide to come to Luna Nova?"

"I'm studying to obtain my magical licence so I can take over my family's shop," Lotte answered, shyly scratching a finger to her cheek. "Luna Nova was the only affordable magic school offering the qualifications I need to graduate with."

Delila cracked open an eye in Lotte's direction with the curious lift of her brow. "What kind of wares do your family sell, if you don't mind the enquiry?"

"Magical wares mainly, like magic scrolls, wands, hats, and so on. But we also sell ordinary wares for non-magical folk."

Delila saw Akko's eyes widen out of awe the second Lotte listed off some of the magical items by name. "Ooooh! That sounds so cool, Lotte!" But then that excitement swiftly wore off when Akko glanced over at Sucy. "And you, Sucy?"

"I wasn't planning on sticking around for this long," Sucy casually admitted, making Lotte's and Delila's brows raise with surprised blinks while Akko gawked.

"Wait, really?!"

"Yup." Sucy slowly eased herself off the bridge until she was sitting on the grassy ground, bringing her knees up to her chest so she could rest her chin on them. "I got what I wanted after we fell out of the leyline." Delila frowned when the lavender-haired witch gave her a wary glance, though it only lasted for a second before Sucy shook her head. "However, I've heard that Luna Nova have samples of some poisonous mushrooms that went extinct a while ago, so it looks like you'll be putting up with me for a little longer."

Akko scowled. "And you had the nerve to accuse me of poisoning Delila! You're the one actively looking for poison!"

Sucy chose to reply to Akko with an amused smirk and a low and eerie sounding chuckle, causing sweat to sprout to Delila's temples and one of her eyes to twitch in discomfort. And here Delila thought Akko had made quite the impression!

Luckily, Akko's attention didn't linger on Sucy for long, finally turning to Delila when Lotte took the initiative to question her.

"What about you, Delila? Your family are well-known for their rich history in magic, aren't they?" Lotte smiled and adjusted the side of her glasses with her hand. "I'm admittedly a little curious why you've enrolled at Luna Nova when you probably have access to the same magical knowledge at home."

Delila contemplated repeating the same answer she'd previously given to Hannah and Barbara yesterday. However, she soon decided it couldn't hurt to be a little honest with the Red Team. They didn't seem to be as sycophantic as her teammates, after all. And it wasn't like she had to go into massive detail.

"Aside from looking to enhance my knowledge and skills in magic, I wish to learn more about my family's founding ancestor and her ties to Luna Nova," Delila answered after a short delay. And how she was connected to preserving magic in the past, she mentally added, though it's not like the Red Team needed to know that part.

Lotte perked up with a small gape of realisation. "You mean 'Beatrix the Affectionate'?"

"Correct. Sadly, many of the archived texts my family have that date back to her time were damaged due to poor preservation, so I am hoping Luna Nova possesses what I am seeking."

"Who was she?" Akko curiously asked.

"She was one of the nine witches who founded this school and used her magic to help those in need, regardless of whether they were friend or foe." The young Cavendish straightened her posture and lifted her head in the direction of the school's main building, puffing her chest out a little. "She is the witch I have always aspired to be like since I was a little girl; my role model, if you will."

Akko let out an excited gasp and almost launched herself at Delila, making the blonde witch flinch and recoil in surprise when the brunette landed in front of her on her knees and softly slammed her palms into the grass. "Just like me and Shiny Chariot!"

Delila hunched her shoulders and edged away from the Japanese student a little to create some space, awkwardly clearing her throat. Though, the younger Cavendish couldn't deny that Akko had a point; what a coincidental little parallel. "Y-Yes. Something like that."

"That's so awesome! But I wouldn't sell yourself short!" Delila blinked in surprise as Akko grinned from ear to ear and clenched her hands into fists before her chest, her red eyes widening with a fiery glint of determination. "After what you did earlier, I'm sure you'll get there in no time!"

Delila blankly stared at Akko for a moment, her unexpected encouragement and support rendering the young Cavendish speechless. And why wouldn't it when they'd not long met and barely knew each other? Perhaps it was because she could hear in Akko's tone and see in her demeanour how genuine she was being. The compliment that rolled off the Japanese student's tongue didn't sound forced nor sickly sweet. Akko meant what she said, a rare encounter for the British witch to be sure.

Eventually, though, Delila slowly shook her head and lowered her eyes to the elixir vial on her hip, sucking in a sharp breath to prevent a sarcastic response from leaving her tongue; Akko's words came from a place of ignorant bliss to her current circumstances, after all.

"Believe me, Miss Kagari, I am nowhere near to becoming the witch Beatrix Cavendish was once revered as," Delila said flatly, doing well to hide the apprehension that formed as a small lump in her throat.

The blonde witch stretched out a hand to her elixir vial and lightly held it in her palm, feeling the cool glass on her skin. But from within her peripheral vision, Delila spied Sucy's visible eye intently focused on her sash, particularly on the hand cupped round her vial. The younger Cavendish subtly swallowed the still growing lump in her throat and pulled her sash anti-clockwise, further obscuring her medicine from view behind her back.

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't try! You can do it if you believe you can!" Akko argued matter-of-factly, drawing Delila's attention back to the Japanese girl. She tilted her nose to the sky and closed her eyes, holding up an index finger. "It's like Shiny Chariot always said: 'Believe in yourself! That is your magic!'"

Delila forced a couple of blinks out of disbelief at Akko's words, rendering her speechless for possibly the third time today (not that she was keeping count to begin with). Was it because of the continued admiration and positivity about Shiny Chariot? Or perhaps it was the genuine kindness and support this foreign student had shown, something she hadn't had in a long time? Delila wasn't sure. It didn't stop that strange warmth from igniting deep in the confines of her chest again, a hand of hers reaching up to lightly rub at the affected area.

"I, uh… appreciate the encouragement, Miss Kagari," was all Delila could bring herself to say once she found her voice again, her words slow and hesitant. "Thank you."

It didn't seem like Akko noticed, though, based on the teeth-baring grin and happy chuckle she replied with. "You're welcome!"

Delila softly cleared her throat and stood up, collecting the chocolate wrapper from her lap as she did so. "And thank you all for your hospitality, but I believe I've overstayed my welcome." The young Cavendish glanced in the direction of the botanical garden. "I should see how my sister and my teammates are faring with the memorial tree."

Come to think of it, they've been in there for an awfully long time, Delila mused, so something must be keeping them. But before Delila even took a step forward, a light tug on her shirt sleeve kept her in place.

"Hold on! There's no need to rush off!" Akko said, prompting Delila to look down at the Japanese student still sitting on the ground. "I said you could hang out with us until Diana comes back! Why not stick around?"

Delila frowned out of uncertainty, her eyes warily trailing to Lotte and Sucy also still seated on the grass. "Are you sure?"

"Sure I'm sure! We don't mind!" Akko peeked back over her shoulder at her teammates. "Do we, guys?"

"Not at all," Lotte echoed Akko's sentiments, closing her eyes and smiling as if to further provide reassurance. "Right, Sucy?"

Sucy's default expression didn't change as she rested a cheek in her palm with a light shrug of her shoulders. She didn't need to say anything for Delila to get the message loud and clear.

Delila glimpsed the dome-like building of the botanical garden one more time, a little unsure if she should accept the invitation or not. It had been a while since she'd last seen Diana, and while Delila could guess her sister was more than likely fine, Diana's earlier despondency over the previous rejection swiftly sprung to the forefront of her mind. Was she being selfish by allowing Hannah's and Barbara's behaviour to ruin time they could be spending together? Delila had initially come to Luna Nova for Diana, after all.

But all it took was another glance at Akko's beaming smile and questioning head tilt for the young Cavendish to realise that the fluttering warmth she felt earlier was still lingering in her chest, faintly tugging on her heartstrings. She couldn't place her finger on it, but something about Akko's smile and actions was giving rise to the same feelings of nostalgia as Ursula's eyes did, reminding her of blissful times she could no longer return to.

Her mind made up, Delila allowed her body to slump back down onto the grass with a defeated and heavy sigh, ignoring the pleased grin from Akko and the friendly smile from Lotte at having chosen in their favour as she responded. "If you insist."

She could spend time with Diana again once she returned from the botanical garden, Delila reasoned. And besides, she could admit it: after the morning she'd had, it was nice to be in the company of students who didn't want to make her throw her guts up.

Chapter Text

A short time passed for the four witches seated on the riverbank. Conversation began to wane. The awkward silences in between were frequent. Occasionally the rustling foliage and the trickling water filled in the blanks. Otherwise, very few words were exchanged amongst their strange little group.

Admittedly, Delila saw this coming. The second-oldest Cavendish heir acknowledged unabashedly that she was introverted by nature, only engaging in polite conversations with strangers if it was absolutely necessary in maintaining a certain image for her family's sake. And from her short interactions with the Red Team so far, the young Cavendish quickly picked up that Akko was the most outgoing and extroverted of the trio, primarily being the one to take the lead with the conversation. Occasionally, Lotte timidly chimed in with a comment or two, but Delila could tell based on how soft-spoken she was that the Finnish witch wasn't a natural conversationalist. And when it came down to Sucy, she barely uttered a word unless Akko or Lotte spoke directly to her (or Akko said something that the lavender-haired witch had to poke fun at her for). The social interaction between the four of them started out fairly strong, yet now, much like the declining condition of the Jennifer Memorial Tree, it was slowly dying, weakly supported by menial small talk or playful bickering in the case of Akko and Sucy.

Speaking of the memorial tree, Delila had noticed during her time sat with the Red Team that the Blue Team had yet to emerge from the botanical garden, which admittedly didn't sit well with the younger Cavendish. The more she stole glimpses of the botanical garden's entrance during the periods of awkward silence, the more palpable the aching in her gut became, niggling away at her insides like her body had become the host to a colony of maggots. Delila was quick to chalk it down to the idea of leaving Diana alone with Hannah and Barbara. And while Delila highly doubted her teammates would do anything to her sister considering how they revered her, it did not stop her from stealing yet another glance at the botanical garden for the umpteenth time today.

Fortunately for Delila, Akko was about to come to the rescue with a much-needed distraction.

"Delila?" The younger Cavendish flinched at the palm the Japanese girl waved in front of her face, snapping her out of her reverie. "Did you hear what I said?"

"Hm?" Delila turned to Akko and forced a couple of blinks, taking a couple of seconds to pull herself together and then clear her throat after Akko retracted. "My apologies. What did you say?"

"Is what Diana said about Shiny Chariot true? That witches at Luna Nova don't like her magic because she was a worldwide witch performer?"

Ah. That question.

Delila sighed quietly and closed her eyes upon facing Akko properly, adjusting her position to sit cross-legged. "That is correct."

"… Huh." Akko, who was still seated with her legs crossed, frowned in confusion, propping an elbow on her knee to cup one of her cheeks in her palm. "How come?"

One of Delila's eyes cracked open with the slight and quizzical lift of one of her brows, the further questioning taking her off guard a bit. "Did Diana not enlighten you on the reason why?"

"Not really." The brunette girl scowled to the point her forehead wrinkled like an old newspaper, appearing to be recalling the little 'debate' they'd had in the cafeteria, from Delila's perspective. "She just kept going on about how no one respects Chariot's performances and that I shouldn't look up to her as a role model."

So why did Diana imply to her that she had covered that information with Akko back in the courtyard, Delila wondered. How was Akko supposed to understand Diana's side to the debate if she didn't know why witches found Shiny Chariot's magical acts 'disrespectful'? Then again, her sister had apparently butted into the discussion uninvited to give her opinion. Her behaviour surrounding the whole issue was befuddling Delila.

"I see." Delila looked between Lotte and Sucy. "And I assume neither of you were given the chance to elaborate on the matter?"

Lotte and Sucy both shook their heads in response, the latter of the pair choosing to answer first in a monotonous tone. "I don't know about Shiny Chariot all that much. She didn't do any shows where I live, as far as I know."

"Same here. I think I heard some things here and there growing up, but it wasn't much."

Delila sighed a little. "The negative opinions, presumably?"

Lotte smiled sadly and nodded. "Shiny Chariot does have a bad reputation amongst witches."

Attention turned to Akko when she sat up straight and threw her arms above her head exasperatedly. "But why? Shiny Chariot was just trying to make people happy! What's wrong with that?!"

Delila answered bluntly. "Nothing." Akko looked her way with a bewildered blink as she rested her chin on her knuckles. "It's not the intent behind the performances that upset the magical community. It was the misconception they gave about magic to the general public that many witches found disrespectful."

"Misconception?" Akko knitted her brows together and pursed her lips a little. "What do you mean?"

"Before coming to Luna Nova, were you aware of how magic is traditionally practiced?"

Delila could already guess the answer without hearing it from Akko herself. The little she'd seen and heard from the brunette so far pretty much confirmed she wasn't. Though, she saw no harm in double checking from the source.

Akko shook her head. "Everything I knew about magic came from Shiny Chariot's shows. And the mail orders I found." The Japanese student chuckled nervously and rubbed a hand against the back of her neck. "But looking back, I'm starting to think those were scams…"

I concur, Delila thought, allowing her eyes to droop a little out of concern at the nervous smile Akko gave her. She couldn't judge Akko for falling for scams like those when her knowledge on the magical world was naturally lacking, yet it didn't stop her wondering just how much money Akko probably lost to those scams…

"Well, in the magical community, magic is a vital tool to a witch's way of life. For millennia, our ancestors have been reliant on magic for a variety of cost-effective and convenient uses, like plumbing, electricity, heating, even for the most basic and menial tasks such as—"

"What?!" Akko interrupted with a high-pitched shriek, causing Delila's body to stiffen and one of her eyes to close upon being startled. "You really use magic for things like that?!"

"… Yes." Delila frowned in disapproval and twisted a finger round inside one of her ears, waiting until the ringing stopped to remove it. "However, at the time of Shiny Chariot's performances, her act was promoted as, in my sister's words, 'cheap parlour tricks', giving ordinary people the false impression that was all magic was. Alongside the decline of magic, it fed into the opinions from the Industrial Revolution that magic is obsolete, more so when Shiny Chariot began to fall out of favour with her audience. The majority of witches saw this as an insult to the good and hard work our ancestors did over the centuries, which is why they have looked down on her to this day."

"Wait, wait!" Akko held her palms up and waved them about a bit. "Go back a second! What was that part about a 'decline of magic'?"

Oh. That's right. Akko didn't know about the Sorcerer's Stone, Delila realised, mentally facepalming at her failure to pick up on that sooner. Fortunately for the younger Cavendish, Lotte was more than happy to rid Akko of her confusion.

"Witches could once use magic wherever and whenever they liked. But over the course of history, magic has been gradually dying out."

"It has?!" Akko loudly exclaimed, her jaw hanging open for a few seconds in gobsmacked silence. "Why's that?"

Lotte gave the brunette an open-armed shrug. "Nobody knows. Nowadays, the decline has gotten so bad that witches can't use magic unless they're near a Sorcerer's Stone."

Akko squinted a little in confusion at the unfamiliar term. "Sorcerer's Stone?"

"It's a large stone that absorbs and stores magical energy from the leylines." Lotte gestured a hand to the wand tied in her sash. "Luna Nova has its own Sorcerer's Stone constantly charging the batteries in our wands. As long as we're on school grounds, or on grounds where a Sorcerer's Stone is located nearby, we can use magic without it running out." Lotte pointed in the direction of the school building. "You've probably seen it at the top of the New Moon Tower."

"You mean that giant, glowing rock?"

"That's the one!"

"Oh…" A short pause followed from Akko, her brows furrowing deeply and her eyes flitting down to the ground when she chose to speak up again in a quiet voice. "No wonder Diana was so mad." She pouted and cupped her cheeks in her palms, raising her voice a little. "Still, she could have just said that without insulting me or Shiny Chariot!" Akko turned to Delila. "Why is your sister unnecessarily mean?!"

Delila released a heavy sigh and slowly shook her head, a lie instinctively sprouting to the tip of her tongue. "I am afraid I do not have the answer to that question, Miss Kagari." She solemnly closed her eyes. "Though knowing that my sister is very proud of our heritage and is very protective of magical traditions—as the majority of witches are—I fear that may have something to do with it."

"But a lot of the witches I've spoken to since coming here have been mean to me too! Hannah and Barbara laughed at me for not knowing how to fly a broom and for not knowing what a 'leyline terminal' was!" Akko pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them tight, resting her chin atop them. "If I hadn't bumped into Lotte, I never would have made it to Luna Nova at all."

Delila's eyes opened once more with a perplexed blink. "Did Luna Nova not send for Miss Jansson to collect you from the leyline terminal?"

"No," Akko replied sullenly, her gaze briefly locking with the bespectacled ones of her Finnish teammate. "I ran into Lotte by chance. Same with Sucy." The brunette directed a narrow-eyed glare at her other teammate, her next words spoken with forced emphasis. "But she wasn't as nice as Lotte was."

Sucy fired back with a joking retort. "Shouldn't have made a bad first impression then." That earnt herself a raspberry from Akko shortly after.

So, the school had just expected Akko to find her own way through the leyline, despite not knowing how to fly a broom? Delila felt the heat rushing to her face as her blue eyes glared at the Shiny Rod still resting on the grass by Akko's other side, her hands loosely curling into fists.

"Tch. How negligent," Delila remarked tautly, snorting condescendingly and pointing her nose to the sky. "I expected more from a school who were willing to be more inclusive with their students."

Then again, after everything she'd witnessed on her first day so far, Delila was less than impressed with the attitudes of some of the staff and students when it came down to teaching and learning about magic. Perhaps this should have been expected, she bitterly concluded.

When no one spoke up after her comments, Delila lowered her head and looked around at her temporary company, a brow quizzically raised. Sucy returned Delila's current expression, Lotte kept blinking at her bewilderedly, and Akko was now resting the side of her head on her knees, watching her with a suspicious squint. Delila's eyes awkwardly flitted back and forth between the trio's faces, beads of sweat gathering at her temples. Had she said something out of line? Going off Sucy's and Lotte's expressions alone, Delila gauged they were surprised for some reason. But Akko? The younger Cavendish wasn't sure what to make of her reaction…

… until the Japanese student suddenly lifted her head and shuffled closer until she was kneeling directly in Delila's personal space, forcing the British witch to lean back with a startled blink.

"Are you sure you and Diana are related?" Akko probed.

Delila's surprise instantly melted away into anger, an offended scowl and gape now gracing her face. "I beg your pardon?" she instinctively snapped.

"I-I didn't mean it as a bad thing!" Akko stammered as she physically jolted in place upon realising her mistake, red eyes widening while she frantically waved her palms about in front of her. "I-It's just that you don't seem as judgy as she is, you know?"

Delila lifted a brow in confusion. "Judgy?"

"Yeah! Like, er,"—Akko twirled one of her hands around a couple of times as she tried to think of the right thing to say, only to suddenly halt it and snap her fingers together—"like when we were arguing about Shiny Chariot! You told off Hannah and Barbara when they made fun of me!"

"Because they were being rude," Delila replied matter-of-factly, crossing her arms in front of her chest and creasing her brows. "It was uncalled for."

"You also didn't make fun of me for not knowing stuff!"

"And why would I? It is common knowledge that you are not from a witch family. There are topics you would need explanations for."

"And it's the same for Shiny Chariot too!" Akko pointed her index finger at the taller blonde. "You haven't bullied me for liking her! And you don't seem to have a problem talking about her!"

Delila huffed exasperatedly, one of her eyebrows twitching. "What is your point, Miss Kagari?"

"That you're nicer than your sister! So, let me ask you something." Frowning determinedly, Akko reached behind her and grabbed the Shiny Rod from the grass, facing Delila once more with the staff clutched tightly in her hands. "What's your opinion of Shiny Chariot?"

"One of indifference," Delila answered bluntly, holding her right palm out flat and to the side. "On the one hand, I understand and agree that her performances caused the magical community harm." She did the same thing with her left palm. "However, on the other hand, I do acknowledge that for a short period of time, her performances helped to keep the belief in magic alive amongst the non-magical community."

"So, you don't like her like I do, but you also don't dislike her like Diana and other witches do?"

"Precisely."

"In that case,"—Akko held the staff a little closer to Delila—"do you think this is the real Shiny Rod?"

Oh? Akko was seeking her opinion on the matter now. Considering the examples Akko previously listed from their first interaction, Delila supposed it was inevitable that she was going to be dragged into her sister's debate. After all, compared to Akko and Diana, Delila's opinion made her impartial, so, of course Akko would expect the younger Cavendish to give an unbiased answer regardless. That didn't stop a frustrated sigh from slipping past Delila's lips, however.

"With all due respect, Miss Kagari, I don't have enough information at present to give an honest answer."

"But you saw what happened in the auditorium!" Akko protested, shoving the staff close to Delila's face and making the younger Cavendish recoil her head with a displeased frown. "If this isn't the real Shiny Rod, then how come it used the same spell Shiny Chariot did?!"

"That is not what I meant," Delila coolly retorted, prompting Akko's expression to relax with a puzzled blink as the British witch slowly pushed the Shiny Rod away from herself with her palm. "I do believe you: the evidence I've heard and witnessed thus far proves you used that magic staff to cast the spell, even despite not being able to recall the spell's incantation." Akko's eyes sparkled as she elicited an excited gasp, only for the brunette to swiftly close her mouth when Delila raised an index finger close to her lips and then quickly retracted. "However, if we were to go with the assumption that this is the Shiny Rod used by Shiny Chariot during her performances, it raises more questions than answers."

"What do you mean?"

"As my sister mentioned earlier, my family hold an array of knowledge on magical artifacts and weapons." Delila cupped her chin while her eyes scrutinised every curve and pointed edge on the staff's design. "I'm not fully familiar with what Shiny Chariot's staff looked like. But throughout all of my reading, I have never encountered anything about a magic staff that looks like this. Furthermore, the circumstances surrounding Shiny Chariot's disappearance from the limelight are unknown. Meaning if this is, indeed, the Shiny Rod…" Delila briefly trailed off and furrowed her brows in pondering as she locked eyes with Akko again. "…then I'm not sure what to think."

"You don't know what the Shiny Rod looks like?" Delila shook her head, prompting Akko to match Delila's current frown and fall into thought for a moment. "Would it help you make up your mind if you did?"

Delila lifted an amused brow at Akko's suggestion, though it didn't stop her from entertaining it. "Well, there is still the matter of clarifying how someone such as yourself happened upon this magic staff in the first place. But I suppose having a visual reference could help—"

The younger Cavendish was swiftly startled into silence when Akko chirpily perked up and snapped her fingers, an unnaturally wide and bright grin appearing on her face.

"Then I've got just the thing!" The Japanese student plopped the Shiny Rod down on the grass again and then proceeded to fiddle with the knot of her sash, appearing to be meddling with a rectangular item with an arched top that Delila saw was tied up beside Akko's wand. "When I was a kid, I bought a lot of Shiny Chariot's merchandise, including her trading card collection." Akko pulled the now revealed deck of cards free from her sash and shuffled through them one by one, placing each card down face up on the grass in front of her in rows of four. "I remember there's one in here that has a picture of Chariot holding the Shiny Rod. It happens to be my favourite! Just give me a second to find it!"

Temporarily leaving Akko to her search, Delila observed the cards the brunette girl carefully placed on the grassy ground, sharp eyes soaking in the detailed designs across each row as they began to pile up.

Each card was rectangular in shape and possessed an arched head, all looking similar from behind with the same printed silhouette of a witch with a large witch's hat whom Delila assumed was Shiny Chariot. However, on their fronts, each card had different, vibrant images with textboxes underneath them, all of which was contained in varying colourful frames on the card's outer corners. The text was printed in Japanese lettering, so Delila had no clue what was written on the cards. But based on the pictures, it didn't take much for the younger Cavendish to figure out that it was all related to various magical locations and creatures. For example, one card Delila saw showed a unicorn with a purple mane and tail, while another card showed an accumulation of giant, red mushrooms. Delila also noted that each card had a certain number of symbols (either a sun or crescent moon shape) in the bottom left corner and actual numbers varying in value in the bottom right corner, indicating they were also for playing with as well as trading.

By the time she heard Akko make her cheery exclamation of 'Aha! Gotcha!' upon finding the desired card, Delila counted ten cards in total, with the middle row of four missing two cards. One of those missing cards was handed over to the British witch by Akko, though Delila saw no sign of a second one in Akko's possession.

"Here you go!" Akko proudly said, prompting Delila to gingerly accept the card into her hand and bring it close to her face.

Decorated with a dark green frame, the picture on the card showed a widely smiling Shiny Chariot (a young witch with red eyes and matching coloured short hair parted in the middle), dressed in her signature white, long-sleeved tailcoat, a thigh-high blue skirt secured by a brown and golden ringed buckled belt, light blue thigh-high socks, and white boots with red heels and tips. She also wore a large, white witch's hat atop her head (decorated with a blue hatband and a red and blue diamond shape depicting a four-pointed star in its middle) and a long, flowing red cape over her shoulders.

"See?" Akko continued when Delila didn't say anything and pointed to the magic staff Shiny Chariot was wielding, which resembled the one currently lying on the grass next to the two girls. "There's no denying that isn't the Shiny Rod now, right?"

Delila couldn't bring herself to answer Akko's question. Their present conversation was tossed from her head the second the blonde witch laid eyes on the Japanese girl's card collection, leaving her staring dumbfoundedly at the card in her grasp. A strange warmth was fluttering within the confines of her chest as rapidly as a pair of butterfly wings, reminding her of the last time she'd set eyes on one of Shiny Chariot's trading cards. Hadn't that card also depicted Shiny Chariot holding the Shiny Rod? Except unlike in this image, Delila recalled the Shiny Rod hadn't been as clear in the picture outside of its distinctive outline—

"Delila?" Akko's concerned and confused voice snapped the British witch back to reality with a startled blink, greeted to the sight of the brunette raising a brow and cautiously waving a palm up and down in front of her face. "You still there?"

"Oh!" Delila exclaimed as she suddenly straightened up, ignoring the faint prickling rising to her cheeks at realising she'd spaced out in the middle of a conversation. "M-My apologies! I-I was just taken aback by how many cards you have."

It was a flimsy lie, but it's not like the Red Team could know the real reason, could they?

Luckily, the Japanese girl seemed to buy it. Akko chuckled sheepishly and closed her eyes, rubbing the back of her head with a hand. "Yeah. I wasn't kidding when I said I was a fan of hers!"

Clearly, Delila sarcastically retorted in her head, just about managing to suppress it from leaving her tongue. Diana hadn't been kidding yesterday in the auditorium; she really needed to watch her tongue.

Lowering the card she was holding to the grass to join its 'brethren', the British witch's blue eyes curiously roamed between the printed illustrations laying in front of where Akko was sitting. "Is this all of the cards?"

"All of 'em that I managed to collect, yeah!" Akko confirmed, placing her hand in the remaining gap of the middle row and splaying her fingers with a pout. "There was this one premium card I missed out on. I really wanted it! But they were hard to come by 'cause Shiny Chariot was so popular back then."

"Still, I must admit I find these trading cards a little peculiar." Delila bent forward a little and cocked her head to the side, fingers stroking her chin. "I'm sure these pictures are of real magical locations and creatures."

Delila saw Sucy shuffle closer to the cards along with Lotte. "She's right," Sucy said as she picked up the card with the picture of the giant mushrooms. "This mushroom looks like the one rumoured to rekindle romance."

Lotte was the next one to pick up a card and bring it close to her face, adjusting her glasses with a surprised blink as Delila leaned over to peek at the image. The picture on the card showed a humanoid-bodied creature with gigantic butterfly wings, four arms, two legs and two antennas atop its head surrounded by tree-sized roots, along with a small green caterpillar-looking creature at its feet. The butterfly creature's body was shrouded in a bright green light, making their physical features barely recognisable. However, its wings were adorned with stretched and distorted spots, as well as the top half being coloured gold while the bottom half was coloured red. Both the caterpillar and the butterfly were adorned with a six-pointed star, the former of whom had a golden star in the middle of its forehead and the latter of whom had a silver star in the middle of its chest.

"And I know this one!" Lotte declared. "Pappiliodya—"

Akko interrupted her. "A butterfly that can fly long distances." Both Lotte and Delila turned to Akko with simultaneously raised brows, while Sucy sideways glanced her teammate with a surprised blink. "It hatches once every century and is said to give hope to anyone who gazes upon it."

There was a short pause, the three witches currently accompanying Akko staring speechlessly at the Japanese girl as though she'd grown a second head. It was Lotte who eventually broke the silence.

"Akko, you memorised what was on the card?"

"Of course I did." Akko remained unfazed by the surprised reactions from her friends and acquaintance as she tapped a finger to her chin and momentarily looked up at the sky. "I'm not sure of some of the pronunciations when it comes to the names, but I've memorised them all."

And she retained that knowledge, Delila realised, unable to break her gaze away from the brunette all the while as that strange and comforting warmth sprung to her chest again. Thinking back to the single Shiny Chariot card she'd seen in the past, it was no different than the ones laid out on the grass right now, possessing a single image and wad of Japanese text she couldn't read. Yet hearing Akko talking now, it was dawning upon the younger Cavendish that the cards weren't just for collecting and playing. They acted as a fun way of teaching the children of the non-magical populace about magic, knowledge Akko recalled with ease, just as she had done earlier with Shiny Chariot's show.

Hannah and Barbara had grossly underestimated Akko right from the start; this girl was more knowledgeable about magic and witches than she appeared, despite lacking in some areas.

"Wait!" Delila was propelled out of her pondering when she saw Akko frown and look back to her and Lotte. "They're called 'Pappiliodya'?"

Lotte nodded in confirmation. "That's right."

"… Huh." Akko's frown deepened as she scratched at the side of her forehead with a hand. "I thought that long English name in orange was what they were called."

"What long English name in orange?"

"This one." Akko crawled over to where Delila was kneeling and pointed over her shoulder at the text on the card, showing the younger Cavendish and Finnish witch a single line of orange text printed in cursive English close to the top. "Right here. I never understood what it said."

Delila and Lotte squinted a little at the cursive lettering, the latter slowly attempting to recite what she saw aloud for the benefit of the others. "Uh… Papil… Papillio… Fillio… Um…"

"Papillio Fillio Nymphodya," Delila finished for Lotte, eliciting an excited gasp from Akko.

"Oh!" Delila flinched at feeling the brunette clamp both of her hands down on her shoulders. "Is that how you pronounce it?"

Delila gritted her teeth and sucked in a sharp breath before responding in an even tone. "Yes, I believe so." Only to peer at the shorter brunette and gesture a hand to the ones upon her. "And do you mind?"

Akko's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets when she understood what Delila was getting at, almost throwing herself backwards as she rapidly retracted her hands and settled on her knees again.

"Oops!" Akko smiled nervously at the bead of sweat that rolled down the side of her face from her left temple. "Got a little carried away!"

"… I can see that," Delila snarked under her breath, releasing a relieved sigh and rolling her shoulders back and forth to loosen them up again. What was with Akko and her lack of boundaries?

Delila's attention switched to Lotte at hearing the Finnish witch hum in thought, her head tilting to the side curiously as she scrutinised the card. "I think that might be a spell related to the Pappiliodya. It certainly sounds like one, going off Delila's pronunciation."

Sucy's nose crinkled in disbelief. "That's weird." The lavender-haired witch returned her chosen card to its designated spot and suspiciously eyed the rest. "There's nothing like that on the rest of them."

The younger Cavendish skimmed over the other cards still on the grass, her brows furrowing at noting Sucy's observation was correct. How odd.

Akko cocked her head to the side at her lavender-haired teammate. "Does it matter if there is?"

"Not really. Just thought it was weird." Sucy shrugged and held out her arms on either side of her. "Then again, you've been making weird stuff happen ever since I met you, so who am I to judge?"

Akko pouted and slammed her palms down into the grass, leaving behind a deep indent of her handprints. "Hey! That's not true!"

Sucy's visible eye became more noticeably drooped as she gestured a hand at the Shiny Rod on the ground, her next words spoken with underlying hint of weary annoyance. "Do I have to bring up the 'pickled plum' incident again?"

"That wasn't weird, Sucy!"

"It was to me."

Akko scrunched her mouth and nose up and made muffled grumbling noises in reply, amusing Sucy enough that she cackled lowly. Delila, however, was left arching a brow in confusion, prompting the blonde witch to literally look to Lotte for an explanation.

Lotte smiled and laughed nervously at clocking on to the blonde's befuddlement, prompting her to provide some helpful context. "Akko's pickled plums caused terrible turbulence when we entered the leyline and it knocked us off my broom." Her smile widened a little out of embarrassment, a faint pink flushing her cheeks. "Then we crashed into Sucy and fell into the Arcturus Forest."

"The Arcturus Forest?" Delila repeated, her brows knitting together as her mind tried to recall any information she already knew. "The holy forest protected by magic trees?"

"Uh-huh."

Delila eyed the Red Team suspiciously, squinting a little. "But isn't that place rumoured to be difficult to enter, let alone exit?"

Sucy nodded stiffly and gestured her hands towards Akko. "And now you know why Akko's pickled plums almost killed us."

And, of course, Akko was swift to shout her objections. "They did not!"

Sucy ignored her and lazily waved her off with a hand.

"Right…" Delila murmured out of acknowledgement and held a loose fist close to her lips, directing her next query at Akko as her gaze wandered to the Shiny Rod. "Was it there that you encountered the magic staff, by chance?"

"Yup!" Akko confirmed, picking up the Shiny Rod and holding it between her hands so she could admire it with a giddy grin. "It appeared out of the ground wrapped in vines when we were in trouble."

"What kind of trouble?"

"Uh…" Akko hesitated and awkwardly side-eyed Sucy.

At first, Sucy lifted a brow out of confusion at the shorter girl's reaction. But when Akko not-so-discreetly flitted her eyes back and forth between her and Delila, as though she were asking her teammate for permission to answer the latter, the lavender-haired witch's usual expression returned. Sucy gave Akko an affirmative grunt, prompting the brunette to smile and nod gratefully before returning her attention to Delila (who had been following the strange little interaction with suspiciously narrowed eyes).

"Well, we ran into this giant rooster with a snake for a tail that tried to burn us and turn us to stone with its breath.—"

A giant rooster with a snake for a tail that had fire and petrification breath… Why did that description sound so familiar to Delila?

"—We tried flying away from it on Sucy's broom, but we got knocked off and started falling. And then I heard someone shout for me to use the spell for Shiny Arc."

"Which is how you escaped and reached the auditorium," Delila finished, prompting Akko to respond with a pleased hum and stiff nod. "Do you know who the shouter was?"

"No. I never got to see them. But…" Akko briefly trailed off and widened her grin, a child-like sparkle entering her eyes. "…part of me thinks it might have been Chariot. Looking back, the voice did kinda sound like her."

Sucy scoffed and rolled her visible eye. "You think Shiny Chariot magically called out to you because you just happened to find a magic staff that looks like hers?"

Akko shot the lavender-haired witch a disapproving scowl. "Well, who else could it be?! She's the only one who used the spell!"

"That you know of."

Akko ignored Sucy's teasing as she brought the Shiny Rod closer to her person, slowly twisting it round and round between her fingers. "Well, even if it wasn't her, it doesn't change the fact that the Shiny Rod appeared to us for a reason!" Akko frowned determinedly and brought the Shiny Rod close to her front, her next words spoken firmly and unwavering. "I don't know what that reason is, but there is one! I can feel it deep in my gut!"

"Are you sure that's not just your stomach growling?" Sucy jokingly quipped, prompting Akko to puff her cheeks out and scowl.

"Stop it, Sucy! I'm being serious!"

"So am I."

Akko scrunched her lips up and grumbled inaudibly, her body tensing like a volcano on the verge of exploding. Luckily, Lotte got the conversation back on track after returning Akko's card to its spot on the grass, turning attention to Delila with the curious tilt of her head.

"What do you think, Delila?"

But Delila didn't answer immediately, resting her chin on her knuckles with her blue eyes looking over the Shiny Rod from top to base multiple times.

The younger Cavendish couldn't deny that Akko's 'tale of origin' was quite fanciful, even in a world where magic made anything possible. Akko's possession of the Shiny Rod alone was already a bit of a headache to wrap her head around, but the story of how she obtained it left the younger Cavendish questioning everything she knew about the formerly popular magical entertainer Shiny Chariot and magic staffs in general. After all, while magic staffs weren't as commonly equipped by witches as wands were, Delila recalled reading that they were fashioned with their wielders in mind, more often than not made specifically for the witch who would come to use them. Not to mention she was certain the Shiny Rod had been advertised as a simple stage prop back in the day and not a real magic staff, leading her and many others to assume Chariot herself was the master behind the magic. So, if Akko did, in fact, find this magic staff, thought to have belonged to Shiny Chariot, in the middle of a forbidden and sacred forest, and she, a first-generation witch with no magical experience, used that same staff to cast an advanced spell Shiny Chariot once used… what did this mean?

Was Shiny Chariot not the original owner of the Shiny Rod? Was the magic staff sentient? Had something nefarious happened to Shiny Chariot when she disappeared ten years ago? And what about Akko and her friends? How had they managed to infiltrate a forest that was supposed to be off limits? Why had this magic staff come to Akko to begin with? Why was she able to use it? Those were just some of the questions currently buzzing around Delila's head like an angry cupid bee, questions she had zero answers to at present.

Unfortunately for the younger Cavendish, before she could even begin to formulate a response to Lotte's enquiry, the familiar and shrill laughter of Hannah and Barbara sounded in the direction of the botanical garden, sending an uncomfortable gurgle through her stomach.

Looks like her sister and their teammates were finally finished with their little trip to the memorial tree, she grimly acknowledged. Time surely flies when you're in tolerant company.

However, when Delila and the other members of the Red Team turned to look in the direction of the botanical garden, naturally expecting to see all three members of the Blue Team approaching them, the group of four were left simultaneously blinking in bewilderment at the sight of just Hannah and Barbara. The two girls wore beaming smiles as they darted their way over to the bridge nearby, locked so deep in conversation that they were seemingly oblivious to the group's presence, as evidenced by Hannah.

"Diana's so amazing!" Delila heard the auburn-haired witch chirpily praise when her teammates got close enough. "Using a secret revitalisation spell passed down through her family to save the memorial tree!"

Wait, what?

"I can't wait to see the looks on the professors' faces when we tell them!" Barbara giddily replied, leaving Delila frozen to her spot on the ground as she watched her teammates cross over the bridge. "They'll be thrilled at the good news!"

The Red Team collectively frowned at Hannah's and Barbara's retreating backs, their confusion over what they'd overheard as palpable as day when they broke their gazes away and exchanged their puzzled looks.

"What was that all about?" Akko questioned.

Lotte's frown deepened, a hand fiddling with her glasses. "It sounds like Diana cured the memorial tree using revitalisation magic."

"Ugh." Akko groaned and slouched a little, pursing her lips out of annoyance. "Of course she did. 'Cause she and her family know everything there is to know about magic." But then the brunette's brows shot up upon realising what she'd said, causing her to twist her body towards Delila and start waving her palms about in a panic. "N-No offence to you, Deli— Huh?"

Akko interrupted herself at noticing Delila's currently rigid stance, her blue eyes slightly wide and fixated on the botanical garden. Unbeknownst to the Red Team, the imaginary cogs in Delila's head were grinding together, reflecting over Hannah's and Barbara's words while recalling Professor Ursula's own about the state of the memorial tree a short while prior.

"Louperial Ral…" Delila muttered without thinking, causing Akko and her teammates to blink out of bewilderment.

"What was that?"

"Louperial Ral," the younger Cavendish repeated a little louder and slower, the shock of her body finally thawing enough for her to turn her head and meet the eyes of her confused acquaintances. "It's a spell that restores dying flora using magic stones. That's the spell Diana likely used."

Akko arched a brow and squinted a bit when Delila stood up and faced the botanical garden building, her confusion still very much apparent. "… Is that bad?" she cautiously pressed.

"Professor Callistis suspected something was draining the Jennifer Memorial Tree of its nutrients," Delila elaborated lowly, pausing to thickly swallow at the beads of sweat sprouting to her temples. "Meaning if Diana supplied the memorial tree with additional nutrients…"

Sucy confirmed the rest of Delila's suspicions in a monotonous tone. "Then she's also fed whatever was stealing them in the first place."

The prolonged and paranoid aching in Delila's gut once shoved into the background of her thoughts sprung to the forefront, the glaring absence of her sister and her current whereabouts making the younger Cavendish's body tremble with dread—

Wait. That wasn't her body shaking.

Delila's blue eyes almost bulged from their sockets at sighting the quaking landscape in front of her, producing splintering cracks in the earth that sliced through the field from either side of the botanical garden from the river. And then, without warning, the mini-earthquake halted, the cracks split apart, and long, dark-green tree roots shot through the opening, breaking out of the ground like the bony fingers of the undead escaping their earthy prison.

Lotte gasped. Akko screamed. Sucy was silent and slightly wide-eyed. And Delila? She was sprinting as fast as her legs would allow in the direction of the botanical garden, her teeth gritted, her hands loosely clenched, her pulse pounding away in her ears and chest like her heart was trying to make a jailbreak.

What in the name of their founding ancestor had Diana just done?

Chapter Text

Amidst the trembling earth beneath her feet, Delila charged across the bridge and into the botanical garden as quickly as she could, staggering from left to right with each step. Her thoughts were as scrambled as the eggs she ate this morning, her mind struggling to grapple with the unusual tree roots bursting from underneath the botanical garden and arching over the river surrounding the land the building was on.

However, the full reality of the situation didn't hit her until Delila stumbled inside the building and came to a grinding halt by its entrance, her eyes almost bulging from their sockets upon spying the Jennifer Memorial Tree. Its branches, once barren and wilting, were now proudly raised to the dome's skylight and thriving with lush leaves. The gap once visible in its discoloured and greying trunk now stood firmly compacted together in a distinctive spiral, its bark a healthy shade of brown.

Sadly, its newfound life didn't last.

Down on the ground, surrounding the base of the tree, the strange, dark-green coloured tree roots were running ragged, slithering through punctured holes in the grass like a horde of large snakes, covered in a glowing, mint-green outline. That same glowing outline flashed up around the memorial tree's trunk, washing over the colour of its base and up its spiral to turn its bark a ghostly white; it was like Delila was watching someone sucking milk through a spiral straw.

Delila's eyes remained fixated on the memorial tree until she heard a familiar gasp at the base of its trunk, directing her horrified gaze in the direction of her older sister. Diana was stood frozen in the middle of the snaking roots, her back facing Delila, her legs spread apart in an effort to maintain her balance.

"Diana!" Delila desperately called out to her sister, charging towards her through the slithering roots as the older Cavendish whirled partway round to face her.

The second they locked eyes, Delila saw Diana's pupils shrink, her usual composed mask shattered in the face of the current carnage as the younger Cavendish stumbled to a stop at the edge of the grass. But before Delila could even question her sister's reaction to her presence, something hard collided with her left side, throwing the oxygen out of her lungs and her whole body forward through the air. Over the wind whipping around her ears, Delila thought she heard Akko shouting her name from somewhere behind her. Yet that was long forgotten when she crashed close to the tree on her back, gasping and spluttering for air like a drowning fish on land.

Amidst her attempts to regain her breath against the ground violently quaking underneath her, Delila saw Diana's cold and stoic expression return with a deep frown, her palm held out in the direction of the botanical garden's entrance.

"Stay there!" she sternly ordered; Delila presumed she was addressing the Red Team, whom she guessed had followed her upon getting over their initial shock.

Delila harshly smacked a fist into her chest and forced out a cough once the oxygen flooded back into her lungs, rolling onto her side (the one her elixir and wand weren't tied on) just as Diana staggered over and knelt beside her. In turn, the ground suddenly stopped its shaking, the raised roots falling still. They lost their glows and hardened in place, leaving behind arched roots coloured a dark brown.

"Are you hurt?" Diana asked as she placed her hands on Delila's shoulders, ignoring her sister's persistent twinging while helping her up onto her knees.

"I don't think so…" Delila croaked, gently shoving her older sister's hands off her shoulders and clutching at her side. The younger Cavendish was sure she wasn't hurt, though the stinging pain left behind from the impact did. "Did you cast Louperial Ral on the memorial tree?"

Diana lifted a brow and blinked in surprise at the enquiry. "I did." She squinted suspiciously at seeing Delila's eyes grow wide at the confirmation. "Why do you ask?"

Delila wasn't given the time to formulate an answer; Lotte's shocked shout beat her to it. "Look!"

Both Diana and Delila glanced to where the Red Team were standing on the botanical garden's path, the trio almost back-to-back and surrounded by hardened and arched dark brown roots. Embedded atop some of the roots were round and spiky green glowing chrysalids, the sight causing the twins' jaws to drop. The Cavendish sisters scanned the rest of the roots surrounding them, seeing the same chrysalids scattered about. Up close, Delila noted that the tops of the chrysalids were adorned with a six-pointed star symbol. Why did she feel like she'd seen that symbol before now?

Akko yelped and stumbled backwards into her teammates, hugging the Shiny Rod (which she'd apparently brought with her) to her chest with wide red eyes. "What are these things?!" she shrieked.

Sucy's visible eye narrowed suspiciously at the chrysalid closest to her, arching her body a little to the left to get a closer look. "Pupae," she answered Akko calmly, glancing over at Diana and Delila at the next thing she said. "And they're not ordinary pupae either."

A bead of sweat trickled down Delila's face at the confirmation the lavender-haired witch had given to her earlier suspicions, the younger Cavendish's fists loosely clenching at her sides.

"So, Professor Callistis was correct," Delila stated lowly, her blue eyes jumping between the glowing chrysalids. "These creatures have been draining the Jennifer Memorial Tree of its life."

Delila heard Diana's breath hitch in her throat at this revelation. "That's why the memorial tree got so sick," she quietly affirmed, her gaze falling to her palms for a moment; Delila caught their subtle shaking, alongside the crack developing in her sister's voice. "Meaning the spell I cast just now… fed these vermin…"

The guilt the younger Cavendish heard and saw practically bleeding past her sister's public mask was as plain as day. The longer the younger Cavendish stared at the watery shroud enveloping Diana's eyes, the stronger the familiarity of it became, tugging at faint recollections hiding in the darkest corners of her memory and striking a sharp pang across her chest. This look… How many times had she seen it expressed on her older sister's face when they were girls?

A booming crackle propelled Delila back to the dilemma at hand, returning everyone's attention to the roots. The chrysalids began to expand in size and throb as they absorbed the nutrients from the roots they were settled upon, flushing them all the same ghostly white as the memorial tree's bark. Lotte and Akko both cried out in shock and shuffled backwards to increase their distance from the chrysalids near to them, the latter recoiling her limbs closer to her body.

"What are they doing now?!" Akko screeched in a wobbly and high-pitched tone.

"They're absorbing the remaining nutrients from Diana's spell!" Lotte loudly answered, making Diana glare at the chrysalids in question.

"Then they must be stopped!" the older Cavendish declared, causing Delila's brows to sharply raise.

What did her sister just say?

Before Delila could question what she'd meant, Diana abruptly rose to her feet and reached for her wand tied to her sash, whirling round to face the far side of the botanical garden. Her wand's tip flashed a bright mint green as she aimed it directly at the first chrysalid that fell into her line of sight.

"Murowa!" Diana boldly shouted the spell name as loudly as her lungs allowed; the Heat Blast spell, Delila recognised.

A round wisp of mint green light leapt from the tip of her wand, gracefully spinning and gliding through the air until it closed in on its target. It exploded upon impact and encased the chrysalid in electrical green static. After a few seconds, the static dispersed through a small puff of white smoke, making the chrysalid droop and shrivel, its form physically sagging like a deflating and scorched balloon.

Was her sister planning to exterminate these creatures singlehandedly?

"D-Diana, wait a minute!" Delila objected as she staggered to her feet, but it fell on deaf ears.

Diana swirled round on her heels and pointed her glowing wand at a trio of chrysalids gathered close to the memorial tree's opposite side, once again shouting the spell incantation at the top of her lungs.

"Murowa!"

This time three circular wisps launched themselves into the air, raining down upon their targets like tiny, glowing missiles and attacking them in quick succession. The younger Cavendish stood there, as still as a statue, blue eyes numbly staring at the blackened and steaming carnage left in her sister's wake. She was only snapped back to reality by Diana bellowing the spell's incantation for a third time, her newest target being the chrysalid directly in front of Akko.

"Murowa!"

Delila looked back just as the chrysalid became surrounded by static, followed by the Japanese student squealing and shielding her face with her arms.

"Diana, stop!" Delila pleaded, forcing her sister to look at her as she grabbed her wrist and brought her to a halt. The younger Cavendish ignored the uncomfortable twitching of her fingers at the physical contact. "Don't be reckless!"

"There's no time!" Diana argued. "They need to be stopped before it's too late!"

"Then we need to consult with Professor Callistis in the library!"

"But these parasites are going to kill the tree!"

"And how do you know they're parasites?" Delila disputed. "Have you seen these pupae before now?"

From the corner of her eyes, Delila thought she caught Akko narrowing her eyes at the chrysalid in front of her as if to scrutinise it. But then her concentration swiftly returned to Diana when she released an irritated huff and wrestled free of her younger sister's grip with ease.

"Just stay out of the way, Delila," the older Cavendish strictly instructed, beginning to turn away and ready her wand for her next target.

To the Red Team, what Diana said was unremarkable. To Delila, however, it was like she'd just been hit by a large wave of déjà vu, drowning out her senses and propelling her back to one of many arguments between her and her Aunt Daryl over the financial decisions the latter made for the household.

"Just stay out of the way like you always do," the older witch's dismissive scoff echoed clearly from the crevices of her memory. "Children, sickly or otherwise, have no business involving themselves in adult affairs."

Delila's left eye twitched with annoyance, that all-too familiar tightness springing to her chest. Forgetting where she was for a brief moment, the younger Cavendish glared at her older sister's back as Diana turned around to aim her wand towards a group of chrysalids on her right, a scathing remark tingling on the tip of her tongue. However, before she could speak it, a brown blur suddenly dashed in front of Diana, cutting the former off mid-spell and distracting Delila.

"Muro—"

"Hold it, Diana!" Akko shouted, leaving the older Cavendish halting her movement with a surprised blink and a slight gape. The Japanese girl stood before the chrysalid in a starfish pose, arms and legs outstretched, Shiny Rod in one hand, a frown etched on her brows. "The pupae might not be bad, after all!"

It took a moment for what had just transpired to properly sink in for Delila. Yet upon processing that Akko had just thrown herself in the way when her sister was in the middle of casting a spell, her jaw dropped, her stoic mask shattering like smashed glass. A sly peek over her shoulder revealed Lotte and Sucy still standing amongst the dying roots, the former forcing multiple, bewildered blinks and the latter staring at her missing teammate with a puzzled lift of her brow. Not even they had expected Akko to do what she'd just done.

Unfortunately for Delila, Diana regained her composure faster than her younger sister did, scowling and whipping her wand about in a 'shooing' gesture.

"Move, Miss Kagari!" she ordered. "You're in the way!"

Akko stubbornly shook her head and deepened her frown. "No! I think they belong to the pappiliodya!"

Diana pressed her lips together and furrowed her brows in confusion, the glow of her wand dying out as she lowered it a little. "The… what?"

"Pappiliodya!" Akko repeated with forced emphasis. "You know, the magic butterfly? They're not parasites!"

Delila's eyes flickered to the chrysalids scattered about them like glowing marbles, a quiet gasp escaping her at mentally recalling the image she and Lotte were looking at earlier on one of Akko's cards. Akko was right: they were identical. No wonder Delila thought she'd seen those symbols somewhere before now!

The younger Cavendish heard her older sister growl under her breath, her head snapping towards her again to see Diana gritting her teeth and tightening her grip on her wand, flushing her knuckles as white as the bark of the memorial tree.

"This isn't the time for games! Move!"

"Make me!" Akko defiantly challenged.

Diana's wand visibly shook in her hold, the veins on the side of her neck protruding from her skin. She almost looked like a volcano on the verge of erupting, a very rare sight these days even to her family. But then Delila saw her sister's eyes suddenly dart to her right, where a small gathering of chrysalids lingered close to the base of the memorial tree. Akko immediately noticed the shift in movement as well and followed Diana's gaze, red eyes growing wide at realising where the British witch was looking.

Neither girl had to say a word for Delila to figure out what they were both about to do, the unspoken understanding increasing the tightness in the younger Cavendish's chest.

Oh no.

The second Delila saw Diana sharply turn towards her right, a rapid and electrifying jolt shot through her limbs. The British witch broke out into a sprint alongside Akko (who, even with Delila being guided by the rush of adrenaline, moved much faster and got quite a few steps ahead of her) towards her sister's next target, her hand moving of its own accord to snatch her wand free from her sash. The hammering of her pulse in her ears drowned out any awareness of her own actions, her body moving as though she were possessed.

"Murowa!" Diana bellowed, firing a medium-sized blast of mint green light with the harsh swish of her wand.

It soared at the unsuspecting chrysalid in a straight and vertical line just as Akko became the first to get within its range, prompting the Japanese student to launch her body forward and twist it round while she was airborne, her eyes squeezing shut in preparation for the hit she was expecting her back to take. But as the approaching attack whizzed straight towards the brunette dropping to the ground, Delila flung herself sideways and directly in its path, her wand fully extended and glowing a bright red at its tip.

"MUROWA!" she roared the spell name at the highest volume her voice could muster, sending a large burst of red magic springing from her wand.

Within seconds, the two attacks collided midair and exploded with a resounding bang, zapping thin and electrical streaks of mint green and red in all directions. Any roots in range of the destructive blast were struck, scorching and steaming several chrysalids beyond recognition.

Diana stood in a wide stance, gawking and wide-eyed, as the attacks fizzled out and conjured a mass of grey smoke between her and Delila, the older blonde forcing multiple blinks trying to comprehend what had just happened. But once the thick haze cleared, she was greeted to the sight of a heavily panting Delila collapsed onto one knee, her wand weakly held upright in her right hand, her other hand digging its fingers into her chest. Akko laid flat on her back on the grassy ground behind her, the Shiny Rod clutched loosely in hand just above her head. The Japanese student stared slack-jawed at the British witch's back, red eyes sparkling with awe at the little she'd witnessed the blonde student pull off just now.

Aside from Delila's struggle to regain her breath, the air was silent and heavy, the bulging and shocked blue eyes of the older Cavendish locked with the drooping and weary blue that matched her own. Eventually, Lotte's distressed yell for Akko snapped all three girls out of their reveries.

"Akko!"

Lotte and Sucy weaved around the maze of roots and sprinted over to where Akko lay on the ground, the brunette vigorously shaking her head to return to reality. The Finnish witch was the first to reach her teammate, dropping to her knees beside her and snaking an arm round her shoulders to help her sit up.

"Are you okay?" Lotte asked.

"Yeah, I… I think so," Akko answered slowly, blinking heavily while she heaved the Shiny Rod from the ground and rested it across her lap for now. Sucy, on the other hand, remained standing behind Lotte, her focus switching to Delila when Akko shuffled round to her right side to peer at the British witch's face. "Hey, Delila, what about you—?"

Akko went silent when the younger Cavendish weakly turned her head to her, blue eyes narrowed into slits, her brows knitted close together in a displeased scowl. The tightness in Delila's chest had long since faded, her breathing mellowing out. Yet the exhaustion was currently weighing down heavily on her, keeping her slumped forwards like a rag doll and making each blink of her eyes a struggle.

"Do you have a death wish?" Delila hissed, making the brunette's body stiffen with a startled squeak. Due to her palpable exhaustion, the younger Cavendish figured she didn't look the least bit intimidating; her naturally sharp facial features were likely accomplishing that for Akko instead, she assumed. "Jumping into the path of a heat blast spell? Have you lost your mind?"

The last thing Delila said made Akko pout and scrunch her nose out of anger, her hands clenching into loose fists. "What else was I supposed to do to stop Diana hurting the pupae?!"

Delila's eyes drooped in disbelief (or maybe it was tiredness. She wasn't sure anymore); was Akko being serious right now?

Sucy gladly answered on her behalf. "Show her the trading card," she stated flatly.

An awkward pause followed as Akko shifted her gaze to her teammate, her expression blank for several seconds. When it finally clicked, the Japanese student laughed nervously and closed her eyes, rubbing at the back of her neck with her palm.

"Heh… Whoops. Didn't think of that in the moment."

Of course you didn't, Delila thought, only just about hiding the annoyed twitch the corners of her lips did as she was reminded of her very first interaction with Akko; she was quite the impulsive individual.

Luckily for Delila, a distraction sprung over the horizon: a flash of mint green light entered the left side of Delila's peripheral vision, directing everyone's attention to the Shiny Rod in Akko's lap. Five audible gasps sounded at beholding the seven crystals of the staff glowing in sync, its brightness intensifying the longer they fixated upon it.

Having already been given more information surrounding the Shiny Rod because of Akko, Delila wasn't too shocked at the sight she was currently beholding. Though, actually seeing Akko's explanations come to life right before her eyes for the first time was still enough to get a physical reaction out of her, their truth fully cementing itself into her mind and washing away her exhaustion like a violent wave crashing into rocks. A brief peek over her shoulder at her older sister yielded the same result, Delila noted. Diana had relaxed from her offensive stance and returned her wand to her sash, but her eyes were currently focused intently on the Shiny Rod, a child-like fascination glistening in their corners, her mouth partially dropped open.

Out of the five of them, however, the Red Team were naturally the quickest to get over their shock, with Akko exposing the reason why when she collected the staff between her palms and brought it closer to her face.

"Hey! It's glowing again!" She glanced over to Lotte and Sucy, directing her next enquiry at them. "Any idea why?"

Sucy shook her head and offered an open-armed shrug, whereas Lotte tilted her head to the side and tapped a finger to her chin, turquoise eyes glimpsing the Shiny Rod over from head to base.

"I think it could be connected to the pappiliodya," she guessed. "The last time it glowed, you used it to save us from falling. Maybe you need to use the Shiny Rod to help the pappiliodya hatch."

"Oh, yeah!" Removing one hand from the Shiny Rod, Akko fished through the trading cards she'd tied back to her sash and yanked out the one for the pappiliodya, turning it around to show Lotte its front and accompanying image. "You thought there was a spell written on this card, right? Do you think this is it?"

"It couldn't hurt to try it."

A wide smile spread across Akko's face, bringing the Shiny Rod and trading card close to her person with an enthusiastic nod. "Then let's do it!" But then the Japanese student's face fell as her eyes darted about the area. "What should I cast it on?"

"Hm…" Lotte hummed in thought and allowed her gaze to wander about the scattered roots and chrysalids, eventually settling it upon the ghostly and drooping memorial tree. "How about the memorial tree? The pupae are connected to its roots, so it'll channel the magic to all of them at once."

"Good idea, Lotte!" Akko threw her body back and then jumped onto her feet as lively as a baby bunny, ignoring Lotte's surprised recoil and yelp as she sprinted for the base of the tree without waiting for everyone else. "C'mon! We have a tree to save!"

Upon regaining her composure with a heavy exhale, Lotte stood up and jogged to catch up with Akko, with Sucy slumping her posture and slinking after her two teammates without saying anything. Delila, however, stayed where she was for the time being, switching her attention to her sister at noticing the older Cavendish calmly watching the Red Team pass her by. Her stoic mask was back in place, her posture was as straight as a pin, and her arms were folded tightly across her abdomen, not speaking a word as she let the trio go on their way. Once again, Diana Cavendish looked the very picture of 'composed' and 'elegant'; no one would have guessed that she'd just spent a good minute frying a bunch of chrysalids and then arguing with both Delila and Akko.

It was only once the Red Team gathered around the base of the tree that Diana approached the other blonde, watching her younger sister let her wand roll out of her palm and onto the grassy ground.

"Can you stand?" Diana enquired lowly upon getting close enough, her brows furrowing a little out of concern. Delila nodded her confirmation, prompting the older Cavendish to look her over from head to toe. "And you're not hurt? Any pains or other concerns?" When Delila shook her head, the older Cavendish's brows soon relaxed with a quiet sigh, a nod of her own acknowledging her younger sister's words swiftly following. "Good."

As Diana crouched down to collect Delila's wand from the grass, Delila shot the Red Team a brief look, a curious brow raised at seeing that her sister definitely had no intention of stopping them from executing their plan. By the time Diana was pushing her wand back inside its handle and handing it over for Delila to take, the younger Cavendish couldn't help vocalising her confusion.

"You're going to let them execute their plan?" Diana nodded as Delila slipped her wand into the knot of her sash, prompting the younger Cavendish's brow to arch a little higher. "What happened to 'I know the difference between a real magic staff and a fake one'?"

Diana narrowed her eyes at the second enquiry, almost causing Delila to smile in amusement. Her sister did not appreciate that teasing jab. But Diana breezed passed it with a heavy sigh and shake of the head.

"I am more than capable of acknowledging when I am in the wrong, dear sister. Seeing the magic staff activate before my eyes is enough evidence that this isn't a coincidence. Besides,"—Diana gave Delila a pointed look, her next words laced with a stern tone—"I doubt you would have risked leaping to Miss Kagari's defence like you did if she was incorrect, now would you?"

Diana's disapproval at her earlier actions was as clear as day to the younger Cavendish. Unfortunately for her older sister, it didn't deter the younger of the two from clapping back with a sarcastic comment.

"I would have done it regardless. Could you imagine the reactions if it was discovered a Cavendish accidentally blasted another student?"

Diana inhaled deeply and lightly facepalmed her forehead, one of her eyebrows twitching irritably. "This is hardly the time for jokes, Delila."

"Who said I was joking?"

At concluding Delila wasn't going to drop the act any time soon, Diana rose to her feet and waited for Delila to do the same, the two sisters walking side by side over to where the Red Team were. At least Delila had managed to dissolve the tension between them a little.

Lotte and Sucy currently flanked Akko on either side (the former on Akko's right and the latter on Akko's left) while the Japanese student took on a wide stance between them, gripping the glowing Shiny Rod in both hands and pointing its head at the memorial tree. It wasn't until Delila and Diana (respectively) joined them next to Lotte that the former noticed Akko's eyes were shut tight, her brows furrowed deeply in concentration.

"Okay! Here goes!" she proclaimed, only to crack open an eye and then narrow it slightly. "Uh…"—she slyly sideways glanced Delila—"What was that spell again?"

Look who remembered she was the only one to pronounce the spell correctly, Delila mentally commented.

"Papillio Fillio Nymphodya," Delila emphasised without missing a beat, ignoring the raised eyebrow Diana shot her out of intrigue at their interaction.

"Got it! Thanks a lot!" Tightening her grip on the Shiny Rod and lowering her head, Akko closed her eye again and returned her focus to the memorial tree, reciting her next words loudly and proudly. "The magic butterfly, Pappiliodya—spread your wings and fly! Give us all hope!"

The glowing inside of the seven crystals flashed brighter in sync with the brunette's words, conjuring sparkling balls of mint green magical energy that gathered and danced around the head of the Shiny Rod. With Sucy and Lotte each taking a strong grip on her upper arms and Diana and Delila moving closer together in anticipation for what was about to happen, Akko sucked in a deep breath through her mouth, snapped open her eyes, raised the glowing staff above her head like it was a giant mallet, and correctly bellowed the name of the spell to the botanical garden's skylight, swiping the Shiny Rod downwards.

"Papillio Fillio Nymphodya!"

A giant surge of sparkling magical energy erupted from the head of the staff, spiralling around its top half as a giant tornado. The strength of the magical energy assaulted the five girls standing behind it as a strong and continuous wind, forcing them all to close their eyes and dig their heels into the grass to withstand the whipping gusts attacking their clothes and hair. Lotte and Sucy maintained their strong grips on Akko's shoulders in the meantime, with Diana and Delila shielding their faces from the gusts behind their raised arms.

Eventually, vine-like streaks burst from the middle of the enchanted chaos and rained down on each and every chrysalid in the area, including the ones formerly attacked by Diana (and, unintentionally, Delila). The streaks of magical energy were absorbed through the chrysalids' symbols until they blew up like a balloon and ignited a golden light inside of it, with any damaged chrysalids shedding their charred skin and regaining their healthy green cocoons as they expanded.

The Red Team and Cavendish twins relaxed their stances when the raging gusts and bright lights finally disappeared, just in time to witness the shells of the chrysalids crack down the middle and split apart. One by one, large glowing and golden beings emerged in a bundle from the openings, their gigantic and butterfly wings unfurling to reveal the four-armed, two-legged, and double antennaed humanoid creatures Delila recognised from Akko's trading card—the pappiliodya.

All five girls gawped in awe as the pappiliodya simultaneously stretched out their limbs and wings as wide as they could, hovering in place and intently eyeing the botanical garden's skylight. And then, like sparkling golden wisps in a gentle breeze, they gracefully flapped their wings and moved in sync. Golden and glittering lights shed from their fluttering wings and rained down upon the still gawking and wide-eyed students watching the pappiliodya rising to the ceiling, all of them at a complete loss for words.

Delila, in particular, was enamoured with the sight, unable to pull her eyes away from the almost angelic creatures flying above them. Once again, she found herself pondering if she'd become ensnared in the confines of a fanciful dream. After all, hadn't Akko's trading card mentioned something about the pappiliodya hatching once every century? And yet here she stood, beholding a rare event only a lucky few could witness at least once in their lifetime? The odds of that were almost impossible, right? So, the only logical conclusion was that she'd dozed off with the Red Team by the river, yes?

Akko's joyous laughter destroyed that thought of Delila's in an instant.

"Yeah! It worked!" the brunette cheered, sporting a cheery and proud grin upon her face. "We did it!"

Delila watched Akko release another hearty laugh and sling her arms around Lotte's and Sucy's shoulders, bringing the pair into her sides in a tight squeeze. Lotte closed an eye and shyly smiled up at her teammate from where she was being squished, while Sucy squared her shoulders and crinkled her face in disgust at the unwanted physical contact. But when Delila broke her gaze away to look at Diana, the older Cavendish was still fixated on the pappiliodya, that child-like and faraway look streaked across her wide blue eyes, her body as still as a statue's.

It was official. Everything Akko told her earlier was true.

As the late afternoon dawned over Luna Nova, the sky was awash with a fiery orange hue. The pappiliodya, having since escaped the confinement of the botanical garden, majestically soared above the castle-like structure in a long and glowing line, the sparkling shimmers from their wings decorating the air and falling to the ground like glistening, golden rain. Inside and outside of the botanical garden, the roots that once broke free of the earth had returned to their home underground, the pathways and grass restored to their original, pristine state with not a single crack visible, as if they had never emerged from the ground to begin with.

Following the exit of the pappiliodya from the botanical garden, the Red Team had headed off together to watch them fly away from Luna Nova. This left Diana and Delila Cavendish alone for the first time since this morning, the twins stood side by side in silence before the restored Jennifer Memorial Tree. Diana was gazing up at its healthy, brown bark, its compacted trunk, and its proudly raised branches flourishing with lush leaves, her arms limp at her sides. As for Delila, however, she was scrutinising her sister's current stance and expression through a sly sideways glance, her hands clasped behind her back.

Although her sister's worries surrounding the wellbeing of the Jennifer Memorial Tree were finally resolved, Delila could tell by the glassy glint reflecting in Diana's eyes that her older sister was far from relieved by the outcome. Something was bothering Diana, likely connected to her irrational behaviour earlier, Delila suspected. And while she wanted to rip off the plaster and ask Diana directly what was troubling her, her mouth refused to open, the question catching in her throat. When they were girls, a task like that was more than simple for Delila. But now, there was a tense heaviness weighing in the air between them, giving rise to that invisible wall and pushing Diana far away despite the pair literally standing only a couple of inches apart.

Thankfully for the younger Cavendish, Diana soon shattered the terrible illusion and its suffocating silence along with it, the older blonde's head solemnly lowering to her feet.

"Did I upset you?" she questioned, her voice just above a whisper.

Delila blinked once, then twice, and then thrice, a little taken aback by the unexpected enquiry. "Pardon?" was all the younger Cavendish managed to utter amidst her surprise.

"There was too much magical energy in that heat blast spell," Diana clarified, speaking a little louder this time. "That only happens when you're upset or angry."

Diana noticed that? Although now that Delila had the time to think back to her reckless counter, how could her sister not have noticed? The damage she'd caused when their spells clashed was quite devasting, she grimly acknowledged with an inward wince.

When Delila didn't reply to her, Diana released a heavy and weary sigh, squeezing her eyes shut in the process. "I apologise for my behaviour earlier. I was just trying to—"

"I know," Delila calmly interrupted, prompting Diana to open her eyes and raise her gaze to her younger sister. "You wanted to fix everything and got caught up in the moment. I know you didn't mean it."

"That doesn't mean you deserved it," Diana argued. "You were only trying to stop the situation from escalating further. I should have listened to you."

Delila released a bitter snort before she realised it. "I don't blame you for ignoring me. I mean, why would you listen to what I have to say?"

You think I've abandoned you for the last five years, right?

That was the rest of what Delila wanted to say, though she refrained from doing so. Because while the younger Cavendish's initial response left her tongue so casually, like what she'd said was a well-known fact, the way she caught Diana's brows furrow in concern suggested otherwise.

Tense silence enveloped the air between the twins quickly then, prompting Delila to subconsciously rub a palm at her chest; she swore she felt the tightness from earlier creeping up on her. However, it wasn't long before Diana spoke up once more in a quiet voice.

"I never intended to use revitalisation magic on the memorial tree. But when we arrived to check on how it was doing, we discovered the headmistress and Professor Finnelan discussing the matter.—"

The headmistress and Professor Finnelan were here? Delila didn't recall seeing them leaving the botanical garden during the time she was with the Red Team. Perhaps they'd departed before the four of them had gathered close to the field, the younger Cavendish concluded.

"—According to both the professor and the headmistress, the memorial tree's condition had declined considerably since our visit the previous day. Professor Ursula was looking into the cause of its illness and it seemed like she was close to uncovering it, but they both believed the tree wasn't going to last for much longer…"

"So, you cast the spell as a means of extending the tree's life until the answers could be found," Delila solemnly finished after her sister trailed off.

"Yes," Diana sighed despondently, her eyes drooping as she lifted them to the memorial tree's face. "Luna Nova has lost so much because of the magical decline already. I simply wanted to prevent the school from losing such an integral part of its magical history." Diana's head bowed to the ground, her shoulders hunched, and her hands balled into loose fists at her sides, her wand still clutched in her grip beginning to shake. "But all I did was feed the problem. If I'd just spoken to Professor Ursula before I acted…"

Diana left the rest of her sentence incomplete at hearing her tone wobbling, finally forcing the younger Cavendish to return her focus to her older sister. A heart-wrenching mental image of a younger Diana appeared in Delila's mind and overlapped with the current one in the same pose, dressed in a white t-shirt and blue jeans. She held a wooden wand with a white snake designed handle curled round its bottom half, her teary blue eyes boring holes into it out of frustration. Delila's fingers twitched uncomfortably, the urge to reach out and pull Diana into a tight hug like she'd done back then growing stronger the longer she stared.

Surprised gasps from behind her, however, swiftly extinguished that urge.

The two sisters turned around to be met by Professor Finnelan, Headmistress Holbrooke, Hannah and Barbara approaching the memorial tree from one of the botanical garden's many entrances. All four of them were smiling widely up at the memorial tree, with Hannah and Barbara respectively trailing behind the headmistress and Professor Finnelan leading the charge. The former supported herself with her staff in one hand and held her other arm behind her back, while the latter strolled beside her with both hands clasped behind her (Delila couldn't deny that it was strange seeing Professor Finnelan smiling, however. It did not look right against her usually stern facial features, in her opinion).

"The memorial tree…!" Headmistress Holbrooke jollily exclaimed once they'd reached Delila and Diana, her eyes never leaving the memorial tree's trunk. "It's back to its old self again! Oh, how wonderful!"

Hannah leaned down close to the headmistress' level as her smile widened out of pride. "And it's all thanks to the spell Diana used!" she declared.

Delila saw Diana's pupils shrink and her shoulders stiffen as the headmistress blinked in surprise at Hannah, with Delila herself just about suppressing an annoyed eye twitch. Hannah and Barbara obviously weren't here to witness what actually happened, so the younger Cavendish couldn't fault them for pushing the praise onto her sister this time. It didn't mean she still wasn't instinctively irked by it, though…

"Is that so?" the headmistress enquired, prompting Diana to take a step or two forward. "In that case, thank you very much, Miss Cavendish. Your help is greatly appreciated."

"That's very kind of you, Headmistress. But I wasn't the one who did this—" the older Cavendish started to protest, only to be cut off by Professor Finnelan.

"You don't need to be so modest, Miss Cavendish. There's no one else who could have done this but you."

"Well, I—" Diana went to say, but as she took in the beaming faces expectantly looking back at her, the words caught in her throat.

The older Cavendish dropped her gaze and took a step back in defeat, eyes subtly shimmering with shame. But then a forced cough from Delila into her fist drew Diana's attention to her younger sister alongside everyone else.

"What Diana is trying to say is that she does not deserve the full credit for the memorial tree's restoration. Please also extend your gratitude to Atsuko Kagari and Professor Callistis for their contributions."

The pleased smiles fell from the others' faces at the mention of Akko's name, replaced by open mouths and wide eyes between Headmistress Holbrooke and Professor Finnelan. Hannah and Barbara both gawked as if the younger Cavendish had just backhanded them across the face (had it not been for the current situation, Delila would have found their reactions amusing). Meanwhile, Diana stared at Delila like she'd just spoken a forbidden spell, forcing multiple blinks and frozenly gaping at her.

"Atsuko Kagari, you say?" Headmistress Holbrooke repeated.

"That's correct." Delila straightened out the front of her vest and the cuffs of her shirt sleeves. "And on that note, you will have to excuse us. There is an important matter we wish to speak to Professor Lukić about." The younger Cavendish peeked over her shoulder and slyly winked at her sister. "Isn't that right, Diana?"

Obviously, it was a lie. But frankly speaking, it had been an exhausting day for both Diana and Delila following recent events, mentally and physically. Delila didn't fancy sticking around to entertain her teammates nor the school staff about what had transpired here, and she was sure Diana felt the same, proven when Diana's shock evaporated shortly after and her face fell stoic with a stiff nod.

"Ah, yes, of course. We should get going." Diana then turned her attention to the group of four and politely bowed her head, with Delila copying her. "Please excuse us, Headmistress, Professor."

With her farewell said, Diana strolled briskly past the two staff members and her two teammates and towards the nearest entrance of the building, with Delila lagging behind a little. Once the two sisters were outside and safely out of earshot, however, the older of the twins slowed her pacing to allow Delila to align herself with her right side.

"Why did you lie to the headmistress?" Diana queried.

"I didn't," Delila answered matter-of-factly, causing Diana's head to snap towards her sister with the sharp raise of her brows. "You did help. Just indirectly."

"But it was a mistake," she stubbornly refuted, prompting Delila to shake her head in dismissal.

"A mistake that sped up the hatching of a species of magical butterfly who only do so every century. I doubt Miss Kagari could have succeeded without you bringing them to the surface to begin with."

That still didn't seem to be enough to convince Diana otherwise. The older Cavendish looked like she wanted to continue to argue, based off the way the corners of her lips twitched along with her fingers. But in the end, she released a heavy huff and averted her eyes to the late afternoon sky, frowning in thought.

"… Perhaps so," she quietly relented; although Delila sensed her sister just said that to avoid further conflict.

Regardless, Delila was more than happy to copy her and not push the topic anymore, the Cavendish sisters both admiring the glowing golden trail of the pappiliodya streaking across the darkened clouds, creating a sparkling and dotted swirl around the New Moon Tower.

Delila's first official day at Luna Nova certainly hadn't gone as she'd expected it to; however, she couldn't confidently say if that was a good thing or a bad thing at this stage. Between her struggles to adjust to boarding school life and everything she'd stumbled upon courtesy of Akko and her involvement with the Shiny Rod, she'd experienced a rollercoaster of emotions and thoughts she couldn't even begin to pick apart. But all of that paled in comparison to the befuddling behaviour Diana had displayed today, a reminder that prompted Delila to slyly peek at her older sister still fixated on the sky, spying the melancholic glimmer in her eyes.

Delila had known from the start that upholding their childhood promise wasn't going to be easy. But after today, she was only just now realising how difficult the journey was actually going to be for the both of them.

Chapter Text

The north corridor of the first floor was empty upon Delila's and Diana's return to the main school building. As it wasn't quite dark enough for the corridors' lights to be turned on, the evening darkness creeping into the late afternoon was cast throughout from the courtyard windows. It lingered in various spots and corners surrounding the entrance to the cafeteria, only partially staved off by what was left of the fiery, orange glows of dusk streaking across the floor.

The Cavendish sisters hadn't spoken further after their departure from the botanical garden, the pair unanimously choosing to stroll side by side in silence and focusing solely on where they were heading to. Partly due to the awkward note their previous conversation ended on, but—especially in Delila's case—also partly out of exhaustion. The younger Cavendish had done well to fend it off thanks to Akko and the ensuing chaos she and her sister caused earlier acting as a convenient distraction, even in spite of the physical exhaustion from that heat blast spell. Yet it seemed it wasn't fated to last. A headache was beginning to pound away at her temples like a pair of tiny hammers, her eyelids drooping with each blink they took. Her every step felt heavy, as though her feet had been turned to stone.

Simply put, the mental and physical trials Delila Cavendish endured today were finally catching up to her, which was why the second the east corridor stairs for the second floor entered her peripheral vision, she didn't hesitate heading straight towards it. However, Delila only got six steps forward before she heard Diana forcefully clearing her throat from behind her, bringing her to a halt with a startled jolt.

"And where do you think you're heading off to?" Diana enquired in a strict tone, just as Delila peered over her shoulder to meet the older blonde's disapproving frown and crossed arms.

"Uh…" Delila awkwardly shifted her eyes back and forth between the north and east corridor, naturally not understanding her sister's strange shift in demeanour. "To the dormitory? Our lessons have ended for today, have they not?"

Delila was sure her lesson timetable showed that their afternoon classes ended by 4pm the latest. And judging by how dark it was now, that time seemed long gone.

"They have," Diana answered, then turned her head slightly to one of the nearby windows to glimpse a look outside. "But I do believe it is coming up to 6pm, which is when dinner is scheduled." She faced Delila again with a deepened frown, putting purposeful emphasis on her next words. "And you didn't eat lunch earlier today."

In spite of the tired haze hanging over her brain like a thick mist, Diana didn't need to spell it out any further for Delila to catch on. The younger Cavendish's eyes narrowed in annoyance at having her memory jogged.

"Ah. I was wondering why you were impersonating Anna all of a sudden," she deadpanned, the remark rolling off her tongue with ease; she was too tired right now to keep her tongue in check. "Very convincing, by the way."

"This isn't a joke, Delila." Diana's stare turned sharp with the slight narrow of her eyes, her head lifting a little more into the air. "Missing one meal is already bad enough. I sincerely hope you weren't planning to miss another."

Under different circumstances, Delila would've instinctively combated her sister's harsh and incorrect 'accusation' with a sarcastic 'Oh, sure I was!', or something else to that effect. Instead, the younger Cavendish groaned and stroked her fingers through the hair on her scalp, squeezing her eyes shut to fend off the incessant pounding in her forehead. She wasn't in a frame of mind where she could keep up the usual façade, and seeing as the pair of them were currently alone, she saw no harm in just being straightforward with Diana right now.

"I forgot, okay?" she stated tautly, unaware of Diana's cross expression shifting to surprise with the arching of a single brow. "It's been a long day and I'm tired. Give me a break, will you?"

Silence engulfed the corridor for a moment, with the only sounds Delila hearing coming from inside the front of her skull thanks to her thumping pulse. Eventually, Delila heard Diana shatter it with a defeated sigh, her footsteps echoing around them as she moved closer to her younger sister.

"You're right," Diana said softly, the choice of tone prompting Delila to open her eyes and focus on the older Cavendish stopping beside her with a concerned frown. "I never took that into consideration. I apologise for my assumption."

The apology was unexpected, but it was welcomed, nonetheless. Delaying her response for several seconds until she could pull herself together, Delila sniffed haughtily and hummed in acknowledgement, massaging her temples with both sets of fingers. Yes, you should have, she snarkily thought.

"However, you shouldn't miss dinner," Diana continued. "Missing two meals will make you feel worse."

And Delila knew Diana was right. She lowered her head shamefully. "I know," she huffed. "But I must admit I am not in a good frame of mind to be in the presence of others at present, Miss England and Miss Parker especially. Should they join us, then—"

"They won't."

Diana's sudden declaration caused Delila's head to whip up in her direction with a puzzled blinked, a brow sceptically raising. "And how are you so sure of that?"

"Because I made sure of it, dear sister." When Delila's brow lifted a little higher out of confusion, Diana momentarily broke her gaze away to stare out of the courtyard windows, clasping her hands behind her back. "I've spoken with Hannah and Barbara in your absence about what happened in the cafeteria this morning. I politely requested that they allow you and I to dine alone while you're still adjusting to life at Luna Nova."

"Oh?" Delila tilted her head to the side a little. "Is this because I refused to eat with them earlier?"

Diana nodded as she resumed eye contact with her younger sister. "Your discomfort was primarily regarding our classmates' behaviour this morning, which Hannah's and Barbara's own behaviour contributed towards. Until you have been given ample opportunity to familiarise yourself with your new school routine and environment, I thought it was for the best they steered clear for the time being."

"And they agreed to that?" she questioned incredulously.

"I didn't give them any specific details. I just asked if they wouldn't mind dining separately from us until next week, after you've had some time to get to know your schedule and your way around the school. They didn't mind."

How generous of them, Delila thought. But then again, perhaps she shouldn't have been too surprised. As she'd witnessed earlier today, Hannah and Barbara seemed more than willing to accommodate Diana's needs and wishes when she asked them to (and Delila's to an extent). Whether it was out of genuine kindness or their need to appear agreeable to the Cavendish sisters, Delila couldn't tell. Yet it was better than nothing, she supposed.

"And do you mind?" Diana's brows raised a little in surprise as Delila furrowed her brows. "I appreciate the thought, Diana, but I don't wish to drive a wedge between you and our teammates."

"You won't be. It's a temporary arrangement. And I'll still see Hannah and Barbara at other times of the day." Diana shook her head in disapproval. "Besides, you shouldn't think like that. You're my sister. Regardless of what's happened between us in the past, you're going to be my priority, as I am for you; you proved that earlier, after all."

Delila felt her shoulders drop as the muscles in her body she didn't even realise were tense finally loosened up. What Diana said wasn't news to either of them, yet hearing it directly from her sister's mouth sent a wave of relief washing over her for some reason. Maybe it was related to the guilt she'd experienced earlier for choosing to spend time with the Red Team over her own team, she mused.

"Fair enough," Delila wearily relented, prompting Diana to nod.

"I'm glad that's settled." She gestured a palm to the cafeteria doors. "Let's get going. You'll feel better once you have some food in your stomach."

Delila's eyes drooped at the momentary déjà vu that sprung up because of the last thing Diana said, the reminder of Akko's harsh grip on her wrist prompting her to subconsciously rub at it. It didn't deter her from following Diana when her sister turned away and walked ahead, though, mentally thanking her ancestor that at least this time she wasn't going to be yanked to eat against her will.

Unsurprisingly, Diana and Delila were the first occupants of the cafeteria upon arrival, being met with the sight of empty tables under the dimly lit lamps lining the walls of the cafeteria vestibule. Taking immediate advantage of the free reign over the communal space, the sisters didn't delay in grabbing their food and settling down opposite one another at a middle table close to the far left windows, ceasing conversation in favour of tucking into their chosen meal—Cheese and broccoli pasta bake served with sautéed mushrooms, garlic slices and raw slaw (the latter of which Diana forewent when it came to her own dinner), paired with a cup of English breakfast tea each; a chosen beverage both Delila and Diana had in common, but which was prepared per their individual preferences.

During the time that they ate in silence, other students filtered into the cafeteria and swiftly occupied the majority of the tables, gradually filling the room with enthusiastic chatter projected by a variety of different accents. Thankfully, the lively atmosphere the cafeteria had now gained didn't worsen the fatigue veiled over the younger Cavendish. The more Delila ate, the weaker her throbbing headache became, the last few bites of her meal doing the trick in quietening the pain entirely.

Diana, who'd finished her dinner long ago and was nursing her tea while supporting her cup between her palms, calmly observed her younger sister slouch in her chair and push her empty tray and plate away when she was done eating. "Feeling better?" she enquired.

"Much better," Delila answered through a contented sigh, her head tilting to the ceiling as she folded her arms over her abdomen. "It appears my fatigue was made worse by my empty stomach."

"I did tell you."

"Indeed, you did." As Diana took another sip of her tea, Delila leaned her head back a bit more to peer at the serving stations, eyeing the selection of food the goblins were standing behind. "Although, I couldn't help but notice that starch appears to be a common option—potato salad, mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, chips."

"And I'm not surprised you did. As you will come to find, a lot of the meals they serve are repetitive across multiple days."

Delila faced Diana again and reached for her own cup of tea, an idea of the reason why already bubbling in the back of her brain. "Because of the school's current financial situation, presumably?"

"I'm afraid so." Diana sighed solemnly as she watched Delila finish off the rest of her tea. "Professor Badcock is rather overscrupulous when it comes to how Luna Nova spends its funding. Food isn't exempt from such scrutiny."

"Is that so." Delila tutted and shook her head in disapproval at hearing this, putting her cup back on its saucer and folding her arms across the tabletop. "Though, I suppose I cannot complain too much, when you put it that way. Professor Badcock's decisions are understandable. But it is a shame for the foreign students who have enrolled here."

"Not entirely. They are allowed to bring along snacks from their home countries to Luna Nova should they wish to."

"Provided they are leyline-friendly, of course." Delila's shoulders and eyes drooped upon recalling Akko's little 'tale' of the leyline incident from earlier, a loud sigh escaping her. "Not that it mattered in the case of Miss Kagari."

From across the table, Delila caught Diana raising her brows and blinking a couple of times, the cup she was about to put to her lips pausing rather abruptly. "What about Miss Kagari?"

"That the snack she attempted to bring from her home country contained salt and she was unaware of the leyline's dislike of it." The explanation left Delila's tongue so smoothly that she didn't register Diana's palpable confusion at first. It was only when she noticed her older sister staring at her with a squint and pursed lips that the realisation smacked her in the face. "… Oh. You don't know what I'm talking about, do you?" She very gently smacked the middle of her forehead with her palm. "Sorry. I forgot you weren't there when she told me. Please forgive my weary brain."

But that didn't clear up Diana's confusion at all, evidenced by the head tilt she gave her younger sister past the cup in her hands. "You've been spending time with Atsuko Kagari?"

"Not by choice." Delila's lips curled in disgust at recalling the very incident that brought her into her sister's mess to begin with, suppressing the urge to stick her tongue out; she swore she could still taste the remnants of that wretched sour and salty combo from the pickled plum on her tongue. "Miss Kagari insisted on quietening my empty stomach and wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. I was subjected to hers and her team's company on the school's field until the botanical garden incident."

"That explains your swift arrivals." Diana straightened up again, closed her eyes and paused to finish off the rest of her beverage, resuming speaking at returning her empty cup to its saucer. "I didn't know you were nearby."

"The location also wasn't my choice. I was literally dragged there against my will."

"Yes, I can imagine so. It is very unlike you to willingly socialise with strangers these days."

"And you do?" Delila retorted without thinking, her tone a little harsher than she'd intended.

The younger Cavendish winced several seconds later and closed an eye, an apology already springing to the tip of her tongue. But as she opened her mouth, she froze at processing the current expression on Diana's face. She'd naturally been expecting her sister to be staring at her with a look of disapproval at her attitude; eyebrow cocked, perhaps accompanied by a frown and crossed arms. Instead she was… smiling? Mind you, it wasn't very accentuated. Barely visible, in fact, unless you were sitting as close as Delila was. Yet after a couple of repeated blinks to ensure it wasn't her tired eyes playing tricks on her, the younger Cavendish was sure her sister was smiling at her, seemingly taking amusement in her little comeback compared to her reactions to her previous 'offences'.

"… Ahem," Delila awkwardly cleared her throat and lowered her head to the table after a short round of silent staring, her meek apology eventually slipping past her lips. "Sorry."

"Don't be." Diana's unexpected response made Delila lift her head so fast, she was very close to snapping it off her neck. "It's a relief to see you acting more like yourself compared to earlier."

Delila was momentarily taken off guard by Diana's response, her eyes widening a little. Though, her shock only lasted a few seconds, the faint prickling of heat at her cheeks reminding her of where she was and what was going on. The younger Cavendish ducked her head down to try to hide what she could only assume was a potential blush sprouting on her face, swallowing thickly before attempting to reply through a little stuttering.

"T-Then I'm glad you're relieved."

Delila chose to say nothing more on the matter, allowing the mindless chatter from the surrounding tables of the cafeteria to fill in the awkward silence between them in favour of intensely staring at her empty plate. She wanted to make sure she gave her face adequate time to lose whatever extra colour had likely sprouted to her cheeks. But then her sister's chair creaked from across the table, drawing Delila's gaze upward once more. Diana had moved closer to the edge of her chair, now resting her chin atop her clasped knuckles, her former smile replaced by the thin line her lips now formed.

"May I ask you something?" she asked lowly.

Delila straightened up a little and blinked in confusion at Diana's serious shift in demeanour, yet she wasn't deterred in hearing her sister out. "What is it?"

"The pappiliodya spell, the one that was on the trading card in Miss Kagari's possession—why did you have it memorised?"

Oh. Diana was finally addressing the elephant in the room, was she? Not that Delila hadn't expected her sister to bring it up eventually. She did recall Diana's intrigued reaction when she'd recited the spell for Akko.

Delila released a heavy huff and rested her cheek in her palm, her body slouching forward over the table a little. "The blame falls upon Miss Kagari once again, I'm afraid." Her brows creased with the twist of her lips. "She did not take too kindly to your slander of her 'role model', so I was forced to endure non-stop conversation about her. This included being shown Miss Kagari's extensive trading card collection. The pappiliodya trading card was amongst them."

"Hmmmm," Diana hummed in an exaggerated tone, putting purposeful emphasis on her next words. "Forced to endure, you say?"

Diana didn't need to say it outright for Delila to figure out that her sister did not believe her version of the situation. In fact, to Delila, it sounded like Diana was trying to imply something, something they both knew was related to the little secret shared between them. That didn't stop Delila scowling and glaring at the older girl from across the table.

"Yes," she replied in kind, her tone becoming sarcastic as she dramatically placed a palm to her chest. "Had you not started that pointless argument with Miss Kagari, perhaps I could have been spared such a terrible fate."

Diana dismissed Delila's comments with the shake of her head and a soft sigh, clearly not wishing to linger on a topic she believed to be irrelevant. "But returning to the matter at hand: you happened upon this knowledge by pure coincidence?"

"Yes. The card had both the spell and an image of the pupae on it."

"Which is how Miss Kagari recognised them in the first place…" Diana unclasped her hands and kept her chin supported by one pair of knuckles, her other hand dropping to the table and repeatedly tapping its fingers against the surface. "Did the other cards have spells on them?"

"No. But they, too, had pictures and information pertaining to real life magical places, creatures and plants."

"Hm," Diana hummed in thought, her fingers falling still as Delila spied that faraway glint flash across her sister's light blue gaze. "I see…"

As she trailed off, Diana broke eye contact first and lowered her eyes to the table, her brows knitting together in a thin line. She didn't say anything more after that, though she didn't need to for Delila to know that something was bothering her, likely related to that magic staff in Akko's possession based off her line of questioning just now.

"Is something the matter, Diana?" Delila queried, purposely lowering her voice to avoid startling her sister out of her momentary pondering.

Diana perked up with a blink at registering Delila's voice, only to shake her head shortly after and return both of her hands to the table. "Oh, it's nothing."

"Didn't look like nothing to me."

Diana's eyes drooped at her younger sister's blunt delivery, prompting a faint and amused smile to appear on Delila's face for a few seconds. However, it vanished at the older witch's despondent sigh.

"It's just…" Diana trailed off when a tinge of hesitation took hold, taking the opportunity to gently shove her food tray to the side and clasp her hands together in front of her. "I owe you an apology. For my behaviour earlier today."

Delila quirked a brow out of confusion, her head tilting to the side with her index finger raising and then bending partway. Had she heard Diana correctly?

"Diana, you have already apologised for your behaviour earlier today, remember? Before Miss England and Miss Parker arrived to the botanical garden with—"

"I'm not apologising for that," Diana clarified, making Delila squint.

"Then what is the apology for?"

"For dragging you into the middle of my debate with Miss Kagari." Delila forced a couple of wide-eyed blinks and raised her brows sharply, which Diana took as her cue to continue. "I realise my behaviour may have looked ill-mannered in your eyes, especially so with whatever Miss Kagari has likely told you. But just so you know, I wasn't trying to start trouble." The last thing Diana said caused the corners of Delila's lips to visibly twitch a few times, the pressure not to laugh at how ludicrous it sounded coming from her sister's mouth mounting by the second. Diana did not share in that amusement, evidenced by the annoyed scowl that graced her forehead. "This is a sincere apology. Don't laugh."

"How can I not?" Delila wheezed, just about staving off her laughter by covering her mouth with her palm in spite of her twitching shoulders. "You have to admit that the reason you've stated would have never crossed my mind in the first place."

"I am stating it for the record, in any case," Diana retorted sternly, giving Delila a moment to inhale and exhale deeply through her nostrils until her entire body fell still once more. A tinge of pink seemed to flush Diana's cheeks momentarily, soon vanishing when the older blonde cleared her throat to regain her composure. "I originally claimed I inserted myself into the conversation to inform Miss Kagari of the controversy surrounding her idol. But in truth, there was an ulterior motive."

"Ooooh, how ominous," Delila teased in a monotonous tone, which Diana promptly ignored.

Diana's eyes darted to the tables on her left, then to the tables on her right, lingering on each for a solid five seconds by Delila's count. Upon ascertaining the occupants on both sides were preoccupied, she sucked in a deep breath and muttered loudly enough for only Delila to hear.

"I was attempting to uncover information about Miss Kagari's magic staff."

"Because of its uncanny resemblance to the Shiny Rod?" Delila whispered, her expression and tone unfazed by her sister's revelation.

While Delila hadn't expected Diana to come clean about what was playing on her mind so soon, she couldn't blame her for doing so. What they'd both experienced in the botanical garden wasn't exactly something they could just ignore, after all. Not to mention Diana probably suspected Delila already had an inkling as to what was causing her odd behaviour. Their relationship may have changed through time and circumstances, but that didn't mean the secrets they'd once confided in each other had.

That last thing became evident when Diana didn't answer her and averted her gaze to her clasped hands, making Delila huff and stroke a hand through her side-swept fringe. "I don't blame you. What happened back in the auditorium was certainly baffling."

"Indeed," Diana mumbled in agreement and shook her head despondently. "I'd hoped my approach to the situation would be discreet enough to gleam more of an understanding of Miss Kagari and the staff in her possession." The older blonde's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Alas, I did not account for how…"—she paused at feeling one of her eyes and eyebrows twitch simultaneously—"…contrary she is."

"Then it's a good thing her name isn't 'Mary'," Delila deadpanned. "That would just make the word 'contrary' all the more fitting."

At first, Diana's brows furrowed, to the point Delila could imagine a group of cogs turning together inside of her sister's head. It didn't take long for the joke to click for the older Cavendish, though. Her posture momentarily faltered with the resounding slap of her palm to her forehead, her reaction appearing to be out of disbelief at what she'd just heard. Unfortunately for Diana, it didn't hide the obvious quivering of her lips—the struggle to contain the amusement Delila guessed was on the verge of erupting.

"… Okay," Diana started evenly, her tone betraying nothing of her true feelings on the subject as her lips finally stilled themselves. She kept her gaze averted for the time being, however, her mouth partially hidden behind the fist of her other hand. "I'll concede that one was quite clever."

"I should hope so," Delila jokingly retorted.

Inwardly, on the other hand, Diana's words conjured a strange swell of pride within the younger Cavendish, allowing Delila to hold her head up high and puff her chest out a little. Seeing Diana's mood uplifted some helped to ease the guilt she'd felt earlier for leaving her to her own devices in the botanical garden.

Delila allowed Diana ample time to calm down with a few deep inhales and exhales, staying quiet even when she fixed her posture and locked eyes with her again.

"But in any case, I suppose none of that matters now," Diana continued. "Despite what happened with the pappiliodya, the information you've given me is more than enough to prove we have nothing to worry about."

"… We don't?"

Diana shook her head. "There isn't conclusive evidence to suggest that magic staff in her possession is the Shiny Rod, in spite of Miss Kagari's claims. As far as public knowledge goes, it was a stage prop, meaning the staff Miss Kagari found was likely fashioned to look like it. It is also common knowledge that Shiny Chariot was a student at Luna Nova before she became a famous performer. All the information and pictures printed on those trading cards could have come from textbooks harboured in the school's library."

"That's a good point, actually," Delila remarked with a nod to match, a hand of hers moving to cup her chin as she recalled Lotte's and Sucy's reactions to some of the cards. "I recall Miss Kagari's teammates expressing prior knowledge of certain trading cards, the pappiliodya included." Diana's logical reasoning did not stop the younger Cavendish from shooting her a frown, however. "But don't you think Miss Kagari being in possession of a magical artifact is concerning? Should she even be allowed to have it at school?"

Come to think it, Delila was surprised Professor Finnelan hadn't confiscated that magic staff from Akko after the Red Team's majestic entrance into the auditorium yesterday. She'd expect the Red Team were forced to tell the story Delila was given. Unless they'd lied to the professor, of course. That possibility seemed the most probable to Delila, given how wary Sucy and Akko had acted whenever the topic was brought up.

"There's nothing in the school's rules forbidding her from having it on her person," Diana answered matter-of-factly. "Not to mention Miss Kagari is a first-generation witch. She's not capable of wielding it properly at this stage."

"And you can say that in spite of what we saw yesterday and today?"

"I certainly can." Diana pushed her chest out and raised her head, maintaining eye contact with Delila all the while. "Both events were simple strokes of luck. I doubt Miss Kagari will replicate these feats again in future."

Would you still say that if you knew what I knew, I wonder; sarcastic words Delila didn't dare to vocalise outside of her head. Instead, she turned her gaze to the cafeteria windows, staring out at the school field becoming engulfed in the midnight blue of the nighttime sky.

On their own, Diana's conclusions were sensible. And had Akko found that magic staff somewhere else, somewhere more easily accessible to witches, Diana's reasoning would have been plausible for the younger Cavendish to accept. But the odds of someone like Akko and her friends getting access to a sacred forest that was supposed to be out of bounds, locating a magic staff that just so happened to resemble a witch performer's stage prop, and then replicating an advanced spell used by said performer correctly on the first try, were infinitesimal. As was using it again to cast another spell on a bunch of magical butterflies' pupae! Delila wanted to accept her sister's answer and call it a night, she really did. But Akko's words from their earlier conversation were niggling away at her brain like a group of maggots who'd taken up residence inside of her skull.

"…it doesn't change the fact that the Shiny Rod appeared to us for a reason! I don't know what that reason is, but there is one! I can feel it deep in my gut!"

A gentle tap on her closest shoulder sent a jarring shudder throughout Delila's body, Diana's concerned voice calling out to her shortly after.

"Delila?" Delila's head whipped round to greet the deeply furrowed brows of her older sister, her usually sharp eyes having softened a little out of worry. "Is everything alright?"

"Huh?" Delila uttered, her mind going blank for a few seconds. Eventually, though, she returned to her senses enough to snap herself out of her momentary shock, shaking her head back and forth a couple of times and forcing three blinks for good measure. "Oh, sorry. I don't know what happened there."

"You appeared to space out."

"Did I?" Delila questioned an octave higher than intended, only to slump her shoulders and massage the front of her forehead with her fingers. "Forgive me. That counterspell has taken more of a toll than I initially thought…"

It was a flimsy excuse, yet believable enough for Delila to get out of this discussion without Diana knowing why. She didn't want to burden her sister with her thoughts while the weariness of today still hung over her head.

"Then let's vacate our table and head back to the dormitory," Diana suggested, already moving to collect her empty tray and rise from her seat. "We don't want to get in the way of other students."

"Agreed," Delila replied through a huff, quickly copying her sister and then following her to the serving stations with her own empty tray in hand.

"We still need to discuss tomorrow's lesson timetable, but that can wait." Diana slyly looked Delila from head to toe as she fell in line at her side, her sharp gaze lingering on her chest for a couple of seconds. "Today has been tough on you. Your recuperation is more important." Delila thought she heard Diana's voice crack slightly near the end there, though that was soon overshadowed by the next thing she said. "Although, for your own peace of mind, what happened with Miss Kagari today is not a typical day at Luna Nova. So, don't worry about anything like that occurring again tomorrow."

Delila narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips in annoyance at that, slightly offended at the implication Diana was making. "I was not thinking that," she stated tightly.

But thank you for the reassurance, nonetheless, Delila mentally said. Absurd as it sounded, she was secretly glad for that clarification. The last thing Delila needed was to be roped into dangerous situations like today on a daily basis when she already had other problems on her plate.

Pitch-black was the first thing that greeted Delila as soon as she opened her eyes. It engulfed her surroundings in a thick, black void stretching as far as she could see, prompting her to frown and take a moment to assess her current condition.

A short wriggle of her fingers and toes revealed she was lying down, though Delila couldn't feel any surfaces underneath her. Her body felt weightless, as if she was suspended in mid-air by some invisible force. Slowly, the young Cavendish pulled her upper body up into a sitting position, casting a brief scan of the darkness around her upon ascertaining that she was safe to move normally. From every angle she looked from, the darkness was everywhere, appearing endless and empty with her as the sole occupant. Despite the lack of light, however, Delila's body stood out clearly against the pitch black, a quick glance down at herself revealing she was in her school uniform.

Immediately, Delila knew something was off. Her last recollection leading up to this moment assured her that she had been fast asleep in bed in her nightwear, the latter of which she'd changed into upon hers and Diana's return to the dormitory that evening.

So, where was Delila now? How and when did she get here?

Disembodied and high-pitched laughter shattered the still air above her, its derisive nature and sudden appearance stiffening Delila's shoulders. It lasted several seconds before a familiar and grating posh British accented voice spoke, their words bouncing around the area the younger Cavendish was seated in.

"Can you believe how dumb that commoner was?!"

Delila's eyes widened upon identifying the owner of the voice, her head whirling to the left and right of the darkness in search of them, to no avail. Was that Barbara?

A second disembodied voice distinct from the first soon joined in with a snide comment of their own, possessing the same posh British accent with a hint of shrillness.

"What a moron! I suppose that's what happens when Luna Nova just lets anybody in!"

… Hannah?

Slowly, Delila stood up and scanned every inch of the darkness in search of her teammates, narrowing her eyes in a futile attempt to adjust her vision better to the empty blackness. Delila recognised what was being said as the conversation she'd overheard the pair having during their arrival to the auditorium. But why was she hearing it again? What was going on?

A spotlight in the distance eventually caught Delila's attention, highlighting a second presence in the empty space with her. Soft sobbing was coming from that general direction, coaxing the British witch forward with cautious steps.

As she got closer, the figure's appearance became clearer, revealing a young girl no older than six years old standing with her shoulders hunched and her head lowered, clutching something rectangular between her hands. She wore a short-sleeved, light blue dress with light green rectangle patterns streaked horizontally across her sleeves and chest and vertically down her front, a darker green shade forming where the two patterns crossed on the chest. But it was the wavy platinum blonde and tea-green highlighted hair that made Delila pause after enough distance was closed between them, her blue eyes widening at the name that instinctively and breathlessly left her tongue.

"… Diana?"

The little girl's head snapped upwards upon hearing her name, her matching teary eyes lighting up the second they locked with the older blonde's.

"Lila!" Little Diana cried, the all-too familiar nickname causing the inside of Delila's throat to dry up.

When was the last time she'd heard Diana call her by that name?

Before Delila could even begin to process the sight in front of her, little Diana bolted out of the spotlight and straight for her, wrapping her arms tightly around her abdomen and pulling herself into the taller blonde's front.

Strangely, Delila's body didn't react as she usually expected it to. She didn't flinch. She didn't recoil from the touch. She didn't even tense. The British witch simply stood there, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape, watching her older—technically younger, in this case—sister muffle-cry into her school uniform, dampening her vest with her tears.

"Lila!" she wept into the other blonde's front, Delila just about making out what she was saying into the material. "They're making fun of me again!"

"… Huh?" was all Delila could bring herself to say at first, looking down at her sister with befuddled blinks. "Who is?"

Hannah's and Barbara's shrill cackling filled the air above them before the little girl could form a response, drawing Delila's attention to the darkness looming over her. But as the younger Cavendish listened to the prolonged laughter, she started to hear a strange shift in the voices. It was slow at first, but eventually, Delila noted that the pitching in their voices was getting slightly deeper, older. The posh and British accents of the two girls became thicker. Before long, what originally started out as mocking amusement became crueller, colder, haughty almost.

Uncomfortable tingles crawled up and down Delila's arms and spine, the nausea creeping up her throat like a nest of spiders. She knew that laughter.

Loud hissing mingled into the cacophony of laughter, returning Delila's focus to the spotlight and silencing little Diana's weeping. Two pairs of glowing red eyes slithered along the floor towards them, their bodies melded into the darkness until they halted directly behind the blinding beam and rose to their full height. The hissing and glowing eyes were already a big giveaway for what Delila was dealing with. But the moment she made out the long, cylindrical bodies and forked tongues of their supposed enemies under the light, she reacted instinctively.

Tightening her grip around Diana, Delila's hand lunged for the wand on her waist and forcefully ripped it out of the hold of her sash. With gritted teeth and a low growl, she pointed the glowing red tip of her wand at the two green and scaly blurs lunging towards them, sharp and pointy fangs bared to chomp down. The last thing Delila heard was her sister's ear-piercing scream and the name of the spell she bellowed at the oncoming danger, her vision swallowed whole by a large explosion of red light.

"MUROWA!"

"Gah…!" Delila breathlessly gasped when her eyes shot open, her upper body jolting up into a sitting position.

With her forehead drenched in a panicked sweat and her heart hammering ten to the dozen in her chest, Delila's blue eyes haphazardly darted about her brightened surroundings, taking stock of everything they landed upon—a wooden bookcase stretching the length of the wall, wooden bed panels above her, a small wooden desk stacked with books on her right side, all highlighted by the streaks of sunlight coming in through the windows behind her and on her far right. Her hands patted at the front of the clothes she currently wore, the material matching that of her nightgown.

… It was just a dream, she realised.

Delila sighed heavily and flopped backwards onto her pillow, the soft snores from the other side of the bookcase and above her filling in the lingering morning silence around her. She ran her palms up and down her face and inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying to steady her breathing and erratic heartbeat. What in the ever-loving name of her ancestor was that all about, she mentally yelled.

And so began Delila's second day of magical boarding school.

Chapter Text

Waking up in a panicked sweat from a presumed nightmare wasn't a great start to Delila's second morning at Luna Nova. Not that Delila thought her first morning here was great either, though she acknowledged having Diana disturb her slumber wasn't as rude of an awakening as being attacked by two giant dream snakes. But unfortunately for the youngest of the Cavendish sisters, she wasn't granted time to process the horrible experience her brain set upon her. Shortly after she'd awoken, Diana wasn't far behind, propelling Delila straight into the fast-paced routine of her new boarding school life without delay.

Just like the previous day, Delila and Diana were the first to get ready early and head downstairs for breakfast, leaving Hannah and Barbara peacefully snoozing in their beds in the meantime. This was why Delila wasn't surprised at the atmosphere she and Diana stepped into upon their arrival to the cafeteria, which was no different to yesterday—a partially empty cafeteria with only a tiny number of tables filled. Compared to yesterday, however, breakfast time was a quieter affair for Delila and Diana. Both girls ate their meals in silence, with only the occasional clattering of cutlery and creaking of chairs from the surrounding tables or their own filling in the lack of conversation. Delila honestly didn't mind it. At one time in the past, mealtimes between her and Diana often involved the latter talking her ear off while Delila occasionally chimed in with a comment or two, the older Cavendish once being the natural chatterbox out of the two of them. Nowadays, though, neither of the sisters engaged in pointless small talk with each other. As was the case with their letter exchanges, unless it was necessary to speak with the other Cavendish, they rarely conversed casually.

Once breakfast was taken care of, the Cavendish twins returned to their dormitory to prepare for their upcoming lessons for the day, just as Hannah and Barbara departed for their own breakfast in passing. True to Diana's word, their teammates had respected their privacy and left them be, which Delila, admittedly, found impressive. Looks like Hannah and Barbara did have self-restraint, she amusingly thought. In preparation for this discussion (and as a means of distracting herself from her cluttered thoughts), Delila had taken the liberty of glimpsing over her lesson timetable the night before, so she was naturally already aware of what to expect for her second day of magic lessons. But there was one lesson in particular that wound up becoming the focus of the sisters' discussion, a lesson that, conveniently, was set to be their very first of the day.

"Broom flying," Diana began. She was sat in the green armchair of the Blue Team's dormitory room with her hands resting in her lap, now changed into her blue tunic, accompanying blue belt and knee-high boots over the top of her regular school uniform. Her hat was on the table in front of her, her school provided broom lying flat next to it. "I presume you're aware it's first thing this morning?"

"Unfortunately," was Delila's sarcastic response from the other side of the dresser.

The youngest of the sisters was sat on the edge of her bed on the twins' side of the dorm room, also wearing a blue tunic over her uniform. Unlike Diana, though, Delila wasn't fully dressed, presently in the midst of putting on the last of her boots. Or rather… trying to put on the last of her boots. Her tunic's—ridiculously, in her view—wide sleeves weren't making it an easy task, a reminder that came when she attempted to pull her left boot up her leg. The movement caused her formerly rolled-up sleeves to fall past her elbows and back to her wrists for the third time today, giving Delila pause with an irritated eye twitch.

According to Diana, these outfits were fashioned to resemble the garments traditionally worn by witches in the olden days, the differing uniform only worn for special ceremonies or certain outdoor activities. Not surprising when Luna Nova had a penchant for sticking to tradition, Delila acknowledged. Of course, it didn't stop Delila from finding the lack of snugness around her arms distracting, a thought she had while bunching her sleeves back up to her elbows and then finishing putting on her boot. Note to self, Delila: next time, put your shoes on before your tunic.

"As we previously discussed, broom flying requires mandatory participation using spell demonstrations," Diana continued, oblivious to her younger sister's comical struggle happening behind her. "Yesterday, you appeared apprehensive at the idea of performing magic so early into the school term. I take it that's still the case?"

"Was my sarcasm not enough of a clue that it was?" Delila retorted, stomping her foot down and twisting her ankle about to make sure her boot was on properly.

"It doesn't hurt to make sure," Delila heard Diana reply coolly. "Your casting of the heat blast spell proved I was correct about your magic capability. But that doesn't mean I expect you to suddenly be comfortable using magic again, let alone using a spell you have zero experience with."

Delila's shoulders sagged with a defeated sigh as she prepared to stand up from the bed. "… I suppose that's true."

"Grieving Heart Syndrome aside, this is the first time in a while that you'll be learning a new spell. This is also the first time you'll be learning a new spell in a classroom environment. So, if you have any questions or concerns, now is the time to ask them."

Questions or concerns, you say, Delila thought, blue eyes trailing to her hat, closed wand, blue belt and full elixir vial she'd left on Diana's desk. Oh, she had plenty of questions and concerns alright, one of which she didn't hesitate to put out there while collecting her belt and elixir vial into both hands.

"Where did you say the broom flying lesson was taking place again?"

"The school's field."

Delila slipped her belt through the ring of the elixir vial's cork and then buckled her belt around her waist, sliding her elixir vial round until it reached her left hip. "Who's the professor in charge of this lesson?"

"Professor Nelson. You may recall seeing her assisting Professor Pisces during the opening ceremony."

Delila's head whirled in the direction of the bookcase with bulged eyes, blinking widely in realisation a couple of times at the instant reminder. "The professor wearing the cap and goggles under her hat?"

"Correct. You have a good memory."

Delila playfully rolled her eyes and fiddled with her belt's buckle to double check if it was properly secured. "How could anyone forget a distinctive look like hers?" At least Delila knew those clothing items weren't a fashion choice. "What is Professor Nelson like as a teacher?"

Delila heard her sister briefly hum in thought, her answer delayed for a minute as she seemingly pondered over the younger Cavendish's query. "She can be strict when it comes to her subject matter, especially concerning health and safety. But unlike the professors you've encountered so far, Professor Nelson has a strong relationship with students and is very supportive when they struggle. So, you don't have anything to worry about in that regard."

"Good to know." Upon ascertaining her belt and elixir vial were secure, Delila slipped her closed-up wand into the hip holder attached. "And what of the lesson itself? What should I expect going into this?"

"It can depend. Sometimes Professor Nelson assigns specific tasks for students to practice at their own leisure, usually for examination preparation. Other times, students participate in sports."

Delila frowned in confusion as she picked up her hat from the desk, giving herself pause for several seconds to properly process Diana's words. She had an idea to what Diana was referring to, but at the same time, her use of the word 'sports' implied it wasn't just the one logical example that popped into Delila's head in that moment.

"Sports? As in broom racing?"

"Broom racing is one of them. But there have been others."

"Like what?"

"Well, I recall playing croquet during my second year at Luna Nova."

"Croquet?" Delila repeated incredulously, her head snapping in the direction of the bookcase with a disbelieved blink. "On a broom?"

"Yes."

Growing up, Delila was never an avid participant when it came to sports, same with Diana, now that she was thinking about it. However, the influence of their family's wealthy status meant that there were times the sisters were introduced to certain sports not related to their magic-obsessed hobbies, croquet being one of those. As far as Delila was aware from her own experiences with the sport, croquet required a great deal of concentration and stillness to hit the balls through the hoops using a mallet. So, it was no surprise that no matter how deeply Delila furrowed her brows at the ceiling, she could not mentally picture a group of Luna Nova students wielding mallets whilst hovering on a broom. She couldn't even begin to imagine the skill needed to multitask on controlling your magic and attempting to score points by whacking a ball about—

"Delila?"

Diana's concerned voice cut through Delila's deviating train of thought like a knife, grounding her back to reality with a wide blink. "Wu—?" It took a few seconds for the younger witch to remember what she was previously doing, resulting in a short shake of the head to get her brain back on track. "Apologies. Got distracted for a moment."

"Because you were attempting to decipher how croquet on a flying broom works?"

An embarrassed pink flush decorated Delila's cheeks, making her self-conscious enough to cover the bottom half of her face with her hat. Good thing she and Diana weren't face to face right now, she thought. Despite the embarrassment showing on her face, though, she showed no trace of it in her tone. "… Maybe," she answered lowly.

"I wouldn't waste time pondering on it. Once you experience flight magic for yourself, you'll understand."

Will I now, Delila wanted to retort. But instead, she plopped her hat atop her head and strolled over to the window on the far side of the room, scrutinising her reflection in the glass. She didn't want to waste any more time in case Hannah and Barbara returned partway through.

"Going back to your question: under normal circumstances, Professor Nelson has the whole class practice flight magic together. But as you are a new student, I expect your first lesson is going to be a little different to the usual."

"Oh?" Delila frowned at both Diana's words and the reflection of her wonky hat in the window, responding while simultaneously moving her headwear from side to side to straighten it. "How come?"

"Professor Nelson is required to work one-on-one with all new students on the basics of flight magic. Until you can cast the flight spell successfully, you'll be kept separated from the rest of the class."

Delila's brows sharply raised upon understanding what Diana was getting at. "So, no one will be watching me?"

"That's not a guarantee." Delila dared to peek over her shoulder at her older sister in the armchair, spying Diana, still facing away from her, with her arms folded and one leg crossed over the other. "The rest of us will be on the opposite end of the field to you, so our classmates can still see you. Yet you can take reassurance in the knowledge that you will have some privacy."

Delila's shoulders slumped with a heavy sigh of relief that she hadn't even realised she'd been holding. Thank goodness, she thought. Some privacy was better than none, after all.

"And speaking of privacy," Diana continued, slowly rising from her seat at noting of Delila's current location. "Your Grieving Heart Syndrome." The older Cavendish turned to face Delila properly without moving away from the chair, momentarily pausing to carefully look her younger sister up and down. Diana's sharp blue eyes gradually soaked in every inch of Delila's current outfit, making the younger blonde feel like an ant under a microscope. "How has it been since yesterday evening?"

Delila remained unfazed by the enquiry, though she refrained from answering straightaway. She placed a palm to the front of her tunic and rubbed it back and forth a couple of times, taking a moment to assess her current condition. A few gentle flutters spread throughout her chest (most likely due to nerves, she presumed), but otherwise, the younger Cavendish didn't feel any chest tightness nor upcoming pains. Funnily enough, Delila couldn't recall sensing any tightness or pain throughout yesterday evening either.

"Uh… strangely silent?" Delila eventually said, an uncertain lilt lacing her voice with the light shrug of her shoulders; even Delila couldn't believe her own words. "I don't think my condition has reacted to my unexpected spell casting at all."

"You haven't felt uncomfortable or distressed by what you did?"

Delila slowly shook her head. "… No," she mumbled after a tentative delay, her eyes flitting down to the hand on her chest. "Then again, it's not the first time I've cast that spell. I suppose I wouldn't be too affected by a spell I'm familiar with, regardless of my lack of magic practice."

Diana's shoulders, once rigid, appeared to lower at the response Delila gave, an approving nod following suit. "Excellent. Hopefully, that continues." Diana stepped over to the sofa and picked something off the cushions between her hands. The movement caught Delila's peripheral and prompted her gaze to return to her sister just as the object she'd picked up was revealed being held against her front—a wooden broom identical to Diana's, blue ribbon tied around its bristles and all. "But in the event it doesn't and you begin to feel any signs of an impending fit, alert Professor Nelson immediately. Even if it turns out to be nothing. It's better to be safe than sorry."

"Obviously," Delila grumbled, wincing several seconds after upon realising her failure to catch her slip up.

Thankfully, Diana didn't seem to hear her, based on the lack of a reaction. The older Cavendish strolled over to Delila and held out the broom for her to take. "I retrieved your broom prior to your arrival. Aside from the professors, no one else knows I collected you from the leyline terminal the other day. As far as the students of Luna Nova are concerned, you know how to fly a broom. I assumed you would want it that way to avoid unnecessary prying."

"And you assumed correctly," Delila jested.

The younger Cavendish accepted the broom into her own hands and held it horizontally at her front, tilting her head a bit to scrutinise it closely. Just like her sister's broom, Delila recognised hers to be a standard straw broom. However, at the top end of the broom, there was a punctured metal tip with a retractable slot, which, like her wand, housed a battery powered via the Sorcerer's Stone. It was a feature Delila hadn't noticed when hitching a ride on Diana's broom the other day. But then again, why would she when she was too busy having a mental crisis over entering the leyline?

Although, that train of thought soon reminded Delila of Akko's own words regarding her experience at the leyline terminal, making the younger Cavendish frown and tighten her grip on the broom's handle.

"But a lot of the witches I've spoken to since coming here have been mean to me too! Hannah and Barbara laughed at me for not knowing how to fly a broom and for not knowing what a 'leyline terminal' was!"

"Diana?" Delila suddenly said, looking up at her sister's chronically stoic expression staring back at her as she did so. "How important is it for a witch to know how to use flight magic?"

Diana's brow quirked in surprise at the enquiry, only to relax after a couple of seconds upon turning her eyes to the ceiling. "Very important, I'd say. The leyline is our only manner of transport. Flying a broom is an essential skill."

"Right." Delila slowly nodded in acknowledgement, then averted her eyes to her broom and gently started twisting it between her hands. "But what if there was a witch who couldn't cast the flight spell? Such as Miss Kagari, for instance. How would other students react if during the first class, they failed to master the spell?"

Delila didn't have the slightest inkling as to why she'd suddenly reverted to asking her questions in the third person. Perhaps it had something to do with the nervous flutters in her chest suddenly flapping as hard as a pappiliodya's wings at the thought of receiving the same terrible treatment as Akko, and then some. After all, she was a Cavendish, and Diana was well regarded by their classmates as a prodigy. How would it look if Diana's younger sister, hailing from the bloodline of one of the school's founders, couldn't cast the flight spell during her first ever broom flying lesson? Delila had not forgotten the judging glances and whispers she'd received from her schoolmates yesterday for forming a team of four, drawing unwanted and potentially negative attention towards herself and her sister. Delila didn't even want to imagine how bad it'd be when it came to her using her magic in front of them.

Of course, it didn't matter how Delila attempted to disguise her queries. Diana wasn't stupid. Her sister could very easily read between the lines and put two and two together, a fact proven when she saw Diana lock eyes with her again and flip some of her hair over her shoulder.

"You needn't concern yourself with matters that haven't happened yet. It's mandatory for all new students to be tested on the basics of flight magic, regardless of their present knowledge and skill." The older Cavendish stepped further into Delila's personal space, placing a palm in the middle of her sister's broom handle as a show of reassurance. "Besides, while we can certainly hide what your illness is from the rest of Luna Nova, everyone is going to come to know you're chronically ill eventually. They're not going to care for something that's out of your control."

"Want a bet?" Delila snarked, which Diana brushed off with a short sigh.

"Either way, try not to overthink it. If your first broom flying lesson doesn't go well because of your condition, perhaps we can discuss solutions with the faculty to better accommodate you in future."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Delila casually said, causing Diana to arch a brow in confusion. "I already have a solution in mind."

"And what would that be?"

Just about managing to keep a serious look on her face, Delila switched her broom to one hand and held up her right arm horizontally, moving it up and down so her wide sleeve flapped about. Delila did not need to elaborate for Diana to understand what she was getting at. The disbelieved squint and glance between her sleeve and her face indicated the older Cavendish received the message loud and clear, prompting the younger Cavendish to lightly shrug her shoulders.

"What? You can't tell me these sleeves aren't roomy and distracting enough to become makeshift wings."

Diana stared so intensely at Delila, that the youngest of the pair struggled to discern if her sister was fed up with her antics or trying her hardest not to laugh. A mini stare down ensued for a solid minute before Diana became the first to break away with the lowering of her head, sighing heavily for the umpteenth time and pinching the bridge of her nose between her index finger and thumb.

"And to think, you were the emotionally mature one once upon a time."

For Diana's sake, Delila wisely chose not to comment further, beholding her sister's annoyance in humoured silence. Inwardly, however, the invisible wall Delila was more than familiar with by now had constructed itself between the sisters once more, the unintentional and painful reminder making Delila's heart ache.

How was it only just dawning on Delila how much their roles from childhood had reversed in the last five years?

Diana suddenly perking up shattered the terrible illusion conjured by Delila's brain, restoring the younger Cavendish's full attention at the next thing her sister said.

"By the way, Hannah and Barbara also have broom flying this morning. You can expect them to accompany us to class once they return."

"Ugh," Delila grunted without thinking, her posture visibly slumping. Great, she sarcastically thought. Just what she needed, especially after the dream she had last night.

However, Delila's own actions didn't properly register until she saw Diana frowning at her, blue eyes squinted suspiciously. "Is that going to be a problem?"

… Oh. Did she just do that out loud?

"No. Not at all," she said monotonously, attempting to retain a stoic outlook for the sake of 'damage control'. "Sorry. Think my nerves are getting to me a bit."

It was a flimsy excuse, but it was the only believable one Delila's mind could conjure in the moment. Sure, Diana was vaguely aware that Delila had mixed feelings towards their teammates at present, especially after the events of yesterday. But Hannah and Barbara hadn't necessarily done anything to Delila to warrant a reason for her to not be around them at times like this. Even if they didn't count as her 'friends' per se, Delila recognised that Diana clearly had some sort of mutual bond with those two and didn't mind their company. In exchange for the sacrifices her sister had already made for her, the least Delila could do was tolerate her teammates' presence for one lesson, a lesson where she very likely wasn't going to see much of them anyway.

At first, Diana appeared unconvinced, judging by the way her sharp eyes scrutinisingly looked her younger sister up and down. Before long, however, the older Cavendish softly sighed and closed her eyes, turning away from Delila.

"If you say so." Diana glanced over her shoulder at Delila and scowled sternly. "But if they do make you uncomfortable at any time—"

"I will say something, yes," Delila interrupted with heavy emphasis. I do take my illness seriously, you know, she wanted to add. But she wisely decided that was best kept to the confines of her own head, lest she started an unnecessary verbal sparring.

Diana gave a small, appreciative nod. "That's all I ask."

As Diana looked away again and returned to the armchair to fetch her broom, Delila tuned out the rest of what her sister said about Hannah's and Barbara's inevitable return, quietly exhaling in relief and dropping a hand to her chest.

That was close, the younger Cavendish mentally remarked, making an inward note to keep a close eye on that. The last thing she wanted to do was let her tongue to slip up like that in front of her other teammates, after all. But as her eyes drifted to her elixir vial hanging off her belt, Delila sincerely hoped the slip of her mask just now was merely the result of nerves for the upcoming lesson. Though, the faint tingles suddenly scurrying up and down her spine seemed to disagree with that theory…

It was close to mid-morning when the Blue Team set off from their dormitory for their first lesson of the day. Donning their matching tunics, hats, and knee-high boots, all three clothing items customised with their blue belts and bands respectively, the four girls travelled together from the third floor of the building down to the first, their intended destination being the school's field. Diana was leading the charge, strutting at the front of the group with her chin raised, back straight and broom held upright in one hand. Hannah and Barbara strutted close behind Diana in similar poses, though their heads were tilted back a little more to the ceiling, arrogant smiles gracing their lips. Delila, on the other hand, was trailing after her teammates at an amble pace, leaving quite a bit of distance between her and her group. She clutched her recently acquired broom vertically at her front, blue eyed gaze watching her knuckles flush white each time she anxiously wrung the wooden handle between her palms.

From the little glimpses Delila caught as they passed through each floor, the corridors weren't as busy as the younger Cavendish thought they'd be at this time. The third and second floors were primarily bustling with activity for the most part, with Delila spying students and staff passing through the east corridor while heading off to their first lessons for the morning. But the lower they went, the quieter it seemed to get, meaning that by the time the Blue Team entered the first floor, the adjacent corridors were scarce of additional physical company, allowing the sunlight streaming past the arched windows to beam its warmth inside uninterrupted. It made Delila wonder if her sister had once again succeeded in going to their broom flying lesson too promptly.

Diana, Hannah and Barbara paid no heed to their tranquil surroundings, walking straight into the east corridor leading out to the east side of the cafeteria's vestibule. However, as Delila prepared to follow them, a faint and thick-accented voice imitating a car engine echoed from the courtyard, just about reaching the blonde witch's ears.

"Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrm! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrm!"

Delila blinked in befuddlement and stopped in the corridor's doorway, looking behind her towards the courtyard's windows. Blue eyes locked onto a blue and brown blur darting backwards and forwards at the courtyard's south end, causing Delila to narrow her eyes suspiciously. What was going on out there, she wondered.

Her curiosity now piqued, Delila approached one of the north corridor's windows to peer outside at the far end of the courtyard, raising the side of her hand above her eyes to fend off the midmorning sunlight blaring inside.

Because of her current vantage point, Delila struggled to get a good look at the current occupants of the courtyard at first, not helped by the sun's blinding rays. Though, the longer the younger Cavendish stared outside, the easier it became to make out the two figures on the grass close to the south statue, just in front of the blur still zipping back and forth. They appeared to have their backs to the north windows of the courtyard, the left figure sitting cross-legged on the grass while the right figure was kneeling. But it was the outfits they were wearing that soon grabbed Delila's attention—blue tunics and hats, the former decorated with red belts and the latter with red bands. Additionally, Delila spied brooms in the figures' possessions. The left figure was resting theirs on their shoulder bottom-up, a red ribbon tied around the bristles. The right figure had laid their broom across their lap, their red ribbon-tied bristles peeking out from their left side.

Red belts, red bands, red ribbons. It was the Red Team, Delila realised. Were all three of them scheduled for broom flying this morning too?

There was only one way to find out.

Ignoring the intriguing warmth blossoming in her chest at the potential revelation before her, Delila strolled to the courtyard's north entrance, opening one of the heavy wooden doors just as Lotte's distinctive Finnish accented voice rang clearly about the area.

"Akko! Please calm down!" she timidly pleaded.

Delila loitered on the north entrance steps and watched Akko (now revealed to be the one dashing about) stiffly halt in between Lotte and Sucy, digging her heels into the grass. From her current vantage point, Delila noticed Akko was wearing the same uniform as her and her teammates, holding a straw broom above her head in both hands. Unlike Delila's tunic, however, Akko's was shorter at the hem, exposing the bottom half of her thighs. She also noticed Sucy was the one sitting cross-legged on the grass on Akko's left side, with Lotte kneeling on her other side.

"Calm down?" Akko repeated in an aghast tone, recoiling from Lotte as though she'd insulted her idol while hugging her broom to her front. "Are you kidding?! I'm finally going to fulfil my childhood dream and learn how to fly on a broom! How do you expect me to calm down?!"

"Yeah, Lotte," Delila heard Sucy agreeing sarcastically. "What were you thinking?"

At first, the sarcasm seemed to go over Akko's head, the brunette smiling proudly and sticking her nose up to the air. "See! Even Sucy agrees with—" And then the penny finally dropped for the Japanese girl, her smile falling after blinking a couple of times in succession. Just as quickly as the realisation had dawned on her, Akko whipped her head to her lavender-haired teammate and glared, scrunching her nose and lips in annoyance when Sucy started slyly snickering. "Hey!"

Ah. It was officially confirmed: Akko, Lotte and Sucy were all going to be present for Delila's flight magic lesson. Why did that acknowledgement ignite the familiar warm fluttering she'd recently come to associate with Akko and company throughout her chest, finally stilling her pesky nerves? Maybe it was out of relief at knowing more familiar faces aside from her sister's were going to be present. Or was it the fact she wasn't going to be the only new student in the class? Both Akko and Sucy were new to Luna Nova as well, if Delila recalled correctly, meaning they'd be joining her and Professor Nelson in learning the basics—

Wait. What are you doing just standing here, Delila?! You need to return to Diana right now, a mental declaration Delila acted upon without delay.

However, seconds after the younger Cavendish turned her back to the Red Team and placed her palm flat on the wooden surface of the door in front of her, the jolly and energetic voice of Atsuko Kagari rang loud and clear from the opposite side of the courtyard.

"Hey, Delila! Over here!"

Oh, Beatrix, help me, Delila mentally squeaked, her body freezing to the spot like a criminal caught in the midst of a crime. There goes that plan.

Delila took her hand off the door and closed her eyes, inhaling deeply through her nose and then counting to 'five' in her head before exhaling. As much as Delila wanted to pretend to ignore them and attempt to slip away, she knew she couldn't. She was a Cavendish. And as a Cavendish, she was to be polite and respectful in all manners of company, personal feelings and thoughts aside.

Delila waited for the feeling to return to her body before turning back around, bearing a stoic expression while approaching Akko and company.

"Good morning, Miss Kagari," Delila calmly greeted.

The younger Cavendish sent a nod of acknowledgement to Lotte and Sucy as they rose to their feet with their brooms in hand, briefly focusing her attention on their outfits once she stopped before the trio. Now that they were standing up, Delila noted it wasn't just Akko's outfit that differed with certain measurements. The hem of Lotte's tunic was a longer length than Akko's, reaching a little past her knees and completely covering her exposed thighs from view. Meanwhile, the hem of Sucy's tunic stretched past her feet and physically curled upwards, almost resembling a tiny set of tentacles in Delila's eyes. Sucy's sleeves also looked longer than Lotte's and Akko's, stretching over and completely covering her hands from view. How did Sucy find that comfortable, Delila wondered. Though the change in uniform hadn't stopped Sucy from decorating her belt with a small cluster of empty vials, just like with her regular uniform.

"Hiya!" Akko cheerily returned with an enthusiastic wave and grin to match. As she prepared to continue speaking, however, crimson eyes finally took notice of the broom Delila held, her mouth morphing into a surprised gawk. "Is that a broom?!" she cried breathlessly, her eyes widening in awe as they soaked in Delila's outfit. Akko closed the gap between them and leaned in too close to Delila's face for personal comfort, forcing the taller witch to arch her upper body away. "You have flight magic class this morning too?!"

Delila wasn't granted the opportunity to respond. The British witch barely opened her mouth before Akko interrupted her with a high-pitched squeal, pulling back to hold up her fists and her broom underneath her chin.

A pale hand suddenly grabbed Akko by the collar of her tunic and harshly pulled her back, making the Japanese girl yelp in surprise.

"Would you quieten down already?" Sucy, revealed to be the 'grabber', complained monotonously, bringing Akko to her side and then letting her go. Because of Sucy's chronically tired expression, the scene reminded Delila of a weary looking owner reining in their boisterous puppy. "You're giving me a headache."

"I can't help it!" Akko protested, lifting her broom over her head and repeatedly spinning round in circles away from Sucy. "Ever since I was a kid, I've dreamed of flying like Shiny Chariot did during her show!" Akko clumsily stopped spinning and spread her legs apart like a warrior preparing to do battle. "And now I finally get to learn how to fly for real! This is so exciting!"

Delila's eyes drooped in dismay as Akko started running around the courtyard again with the broom horizontally raised above her head, occasionally leaping and twirling about in the same manner as a ballerina. Akko never stopped enthusiastically rambling all the while, though the contents of what she said was lost on the younger Cavendish. Delila felt exhausted just watching her. At least someone appeared unbothered by the events of yesterday, she mused.

Speaking of, now that Delila had a closer look at Akko, she noticed there was no sign of her magic staff on her person. Had she left it back in her dorm room—?

"Sorry, Delila," Lotte said, interrupting Delila's thoughts and bringing her attention to the Finnish witch moving closer to her. "Akko's just received her broom this morning." The shorter student smiled bashfully and scratched a fingernail at one of her cheeks, a bead of sweat sprouting to her temple. "It's taking a while for her to get her excitement out of her system…"

"You don't say," Delila replied flatly, blue eyes continuing to follow Akko's animated movements about the courtyard. Though, it took several seconds for Lotte's words to properly register, leaving the blonde-haired witch frowning in confusion at the shorter witch. "Did you say she only received her broom this morning?"

"Uh-huh."

"Was Miss Kagari not given her school-issued broom after the opening ceremony?"

Lotte shook her head. "Professor Ursula stopped by our dorm room to give Akko her broom."

"Professor Callistis, you say?" Delila muttered, frowning in confusion at the familiar name. "I heard Professor Nelson is Luna Nova's broom flying instructor. Should she have not been the one to give the broom to Miss Kagari?"

Sucy chose this as her moment to enter the conversation, shuffling a little closer to where the pair were standing to narrowly avoid Akko twirling past her. "Professor Ursula has been assigned as Akko's 'guidance coach', apparently," she answered monotonously, temporarily removing one hand off her broom and using two of her fingers to mimic quotation marks where appropriate.

"Because she's a first-generation witch?"

Sucy gave a casual, open-armed shrug. "Guess so. She never gave the actual reason, but it's not like it could be anything else aside from helping Akko catch up with the rest of us. She doesn't know the basics of magic like we do."

"Very true."

"And speaking of 'helping her out'…" Sucy's drooped eye looked Delila up and down. "You're looking much better compared to when we left you yesterday."

"Sucy's right," Lotte agreed. "You looked exhausted after you fired that spell." She smiled nervously and held up a palm. "N-No offence!"

Delila's shoulders slumped in dismay, a matching and soft sigh escaping her. "No, I agree. I certainly felt it. Must have been the amount of magic I exerted through that heat blast spell."

Sucy stiffly nodded. "Probably a good thing you did. I knew Akko was careless, but jumping in front of the pupae? Can't imagine it ending well if Diana's spell connected."

Lotte hummed in agreement. "But at least everything worked out okay and no one was hurt."

It was around this time that Akko bounded to join the conversation after finally calming down from her excitement, slotting in between Delila and Lotte. "What're you guys talking about?"

"How much of an idiot you were yesterday acting as a human shield," Sucy answered bluntly (and partially honestly), causing Akko to squint and purse her lips in annoyance.

"Hey! If I hadn't jumped in the way of that spell, Diana would've fried all of those innocent butterflies!"

"But if Delila hadn't reacted, she would've accidentally fried you instead."

"I never asked her to do that!"

"Just like you didn't ask her to pull that plant off your head?"

Akko made a dissatisfied noise the younger Cavendish assumed was the cross between a grumble and a growl at the unintended reminder, pointing an accusing finger at her teammate. "You mean the one you put there?!"

Sucy merely responded with an amused smile, prompting the shorter brunette to haughtily close her eyes and turn her nose up to the air.

"Whatever! In the end, I still saved the day!" Akko defiantly declared, then cracked open an eye and slyly peered over at Delila with the lowering of her head and her voice's volume. "I'll admit I thought Delila was cool too, though."

The unexpected compliment caught Delila off guard, sending a wave of déjà vu over her that rendered her speechless for several seconds. "… You did?" she hesitantly pressed, once she'd managed to find her voice, of course.

"Of course I did!" Akko's earlier annoyance melted away into a wide and cheery smile, her mood uplifted. "You said you weren't close to being as good as your idol, but you countered Diana like it was nothing! It was awesome!"

"It was instinctual," Delila corrected matter-of-factly. "I wasn't going to standby and let my sister injure you."

Akko playfully rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at her for a few seconds. "Call it what you want! It doesn't make me any less excited to see you fly with us! I can't wait!"

"Hm," Delila pointedly hummed and averted her gaze elsewhere with a faint scowl, deciding not to push the matter any further.

Inwardly, however, that strange and inviting warmth ignited in the same manner it had done the last time Akko had complimented her, one Delila swore was spreading up towards her face, specifically her cheeks. She mentally prayed to her ancestor that it did not manifest into a full-on, visible embarrassed flush.

Thankfully, Delila was saved from her potential embarrassment by a convenient distraction: the echoing creak of the courtyard's north entrance doors opening.

"Delila," the composed and British accented voice of Diana Cavendish called out from the opposite end of the courtyard, prompting the addressed to partially turn around alongside the Red Team.

Delila didn't hesitate to briskly walk to her sister's current location, spying her standing before the halfway open door on the right with her broom balanced against one of her shoulders. As she got closer, she observed Diana was alone, no Hannah nor Barbara in sight. A good thing, Delila thought. No doubt those two wouldn't have resisted to make a scene teasing Akko.

"Here you are," Diana remarked once Delila met her at the bottom of the steps, briefly looking past her to watch the Red Team leisurely following her younger sister. "Is everything alright? Your disappearance had me worried for a moment."

And Delila noticed. As stoic as Diana could be in the presence of others, the watery glint of relief in her eyes and her rigid stance didn't escape the sharp ones of the younger Cavendish. Delila could guess what was running through her sister's head upon noticing she was missing…

"My apologies," Delila said, ignoring the short pang of guilt that struck her chest. She indicated to Akko, Lotte and Sucy behind her with a hand. "I just got a little sidetracked."

Diana's stance relaxed a bit at the confirmation, a breathless sigh of relief escaping her in turn. "As long as you're fine." She turned to the open door and pushed it open wider with her arm. "Come along now. Class will be starting soon."

The words barely left Diana's mouth before Delila heard a startled cry from Akko, the younger Cavendish looking back just in time to see the Japanese student gawking in horror and smacking a palm to her forehead.

"EH?! It's that time already?!" Without warning, Akko charged forward and dashed her way out of the courtyard, pushing open the opposite door of the entrance in her wake. "Let's go, guys! We can't be late!"

Sucy and Lotte awkwardly watched their teammate disappear out of sight with bewildered expressions (or slightly bewildered in Sucy's case; her gape and wide eye weren't as accentuated as Lotte's was). Sucy was the first of the pair to snap out of it the quickest, her body slouching forward with a tired groan.

"At least Akko's given me an idea for which potion I'm experimenting on her next," the lavender-haired witch muttered under her breath, sauntering after Akko up the steps.

Unfortunately, the comment failed to escape the ears of Delila, who watched Sucy leave with a puzzled blink. Delila's confusion didn't escape Lotte, who laughed awkwardly and broke out into a nervous sweat across her forehead.

"Sucy didn't mean that! She was just kidding around!" she reassured in a wobbly tone. Though Lotte's front didn't last for long, her lips twitching at the corners as her voice grew quieter and rose a couple of octaves. "… I think."

Delila didn't believe her, but she did the wise thing and refrained from pressing the matter further. It was probably for the best. She simply nodded and walked behind the Finnish witch when she decided to depart from the courtyard, catching her exchanging a nod of acknowledgement with Diana in passing.

Upon joining Diana at the doors, Delila allowed the Red Team to go ahead of them, waiting until the trio were out of earshot before facing Diana.

"Just out of curiosity, how long did it take you to realise I was missing?" she deadpanned.

Diana frowned in disapproval and placed a hand to her hip, her response spoken strictly. "Until we were partway down the cafeteria vestibule."

… Whoops.

"That long, huh?" Delila joked.

Diana huffed and exasperatedly stroked her fingers through her fringe, ignoring the irritated twitch of her left eye as she began walking away. "Just please don't wander off like that again without telling me where you're going first. I was genuinely worried."

Delila held up a hand in surrender and made to walk beside Diana, immediately relenting with the humour at detecting how annoyed her sister was.

"Okay. I'm sorry. I won't do it again," Delila sincerely assured. She gave the corridor ahead a wary glance before moving a little closer to Diana, purposely lowering her voice to a whisper. "But for your own peace of mind, I'd never do that if it was related to my illness."

"I should hope not," was all Diana chose to respond with without breaking her gaze away from where she was going, concluding the conversation there.

As Delila followed her sister and the stragglers of the Red Team outside of the school building, however, she realised her earlier nerves were nowhere to be found, prompting her brows to furrow in confusion down at her front.

… Huh. Now, when had that gone away?

Chapter Text

Luna Nova's school field consisted of a long and oval shaped sports track and a small patch of grass in its centre with a white outline of a football pitch drawn on it. Given its location and that it took up almost the entire horizontal length of the land between the cafeteria vestibule and the botanical garden, it wasn't hard for Delila to spot when she was here last. She'd just paid it little attention because of the distractions at the time. There was nothing odd about the setup, after all. It resembled a typical running track and football pitch one expected to find at a public school. The only notable difference was the track lacking any markers to define running lanes, suggesting to the younger Cavendish that its purpose was solely related to flight magic and not any physical education activities.

The students for today's lesson were gathered in two lines at the foot of the pitch, specifically behind the lines for the goal closest to the school and botanical garden. An empty and box-like platform slightly raised from the ground was setup in front of them, presumably for Professor Nelson to stand on to address the class once she arrived. In the meantime, the class were left to their own devices, either talking idly between themselves or patiently awaiting the arrival of their teacher.

The Blue Team were at the far-left end of the second row, standing in order of Hannah, Barbara, Diana and then Delila. Hannah boredly rubbed her upright broom stick between her palms while she conversed idly with Barbara, the latter of whom held her own broom still. Diana and Delila, on the other hand, stood side by side in contented silence, their backs as straight as their broomsticks. They stared ahead at the school building, occasionally observing the straggling students passing by from the cafeteria vestibule to join the other end of the lines. But whereas Diana held her broom upright in her left hand and rested her right hand on her hip, Delila held her broom in her right hand, her other hand limp at her side.

Meanwhile, the Red Team were positioned at the end of the first row a little off to Delila's left, leaving the Blue Team with an unobstructed view of the platform. Akko, in the middle of her teammates, was obliviously chatting about topics Delila struggled to follow. The words were rushing off Akko's tongue so quickly, she might as well have been talking at the speed of light. Lotte, standing on Akko's left side, was weakly smiling and nodding along to Akko's rambling, outwardly appearing to be following what her teammate was saying. Though, the beads of sweat Delila spied across the Finnish witch's forehead implied she, too, was having a hard time keeping up with Akko. And then last but not least was Sucy, who had chosen to occupy her time staring at her broom instead of listening to her chatty teammate.

As the minutes ticked by, Delila blankly watched each new arrival come and go within their assigned teams of three, none particularly standing out to her. This was how Delila expected things to go until Professor Nelson arrived, gladly using it as a temporary distraction to continue keeping her (currently missing) nerves for the upcoming lesson at bay. That expectation soon changed with the last team of three Delila spied walking from the direction of the cafeteria vestibule, the three girls bearing peach-coloured belts, hat bands, shoe bands, and ribbons tied to their brooms. One of the girls was leading the group with her broom slung over one of her shoulders, her dark eyes drooped and her brows furrowed so deeply in concentration they wrinkled her forehead. Meanwhile, her two teammates walked side by side behind her, exchanging cheery smiles and conversation.

Within Delila's peripheral vision, Diana's eyes instantly shifted to the new arrivals and narrowed, following them along as closely as a hawk who'd just found their next meal. Strange, Delila thought. Diana hadn't reacted to any of the other students passing by. What was so special about these three then, she wondered.

Delila got the answer when the lead girl of the trio happened to look over to where the Blue Team stood in passing. The moment her eyes landed upon Delila and Diana, she dug her heels into the grass and halted sharply, her mouth dropping open in visible shock.

"Mon Dieu!" the lead girl exclaimed when she finally found her voice, doing so in the thickest French accent Delila had ever heard.

Her teammates narrowly avoided bumping into her back as they staggered to a stop, giving Delila a proper view of all three girls' appearances. The girl leading the group had fluffy and wavy pompadour-styled hair that was golden blonde and stretched down to her lower back, looking to be a couple of inches taller than Akko. The girl previously walking on the left side of her possessed brown eyes and greyish hair with a fringe covering her entire forehead, looking to be around Akko's height. The third and final girl, previously walking to the lead girl's right, had long, red hair that draped in front of both of her ears and matching coloured. She looked to be the tallest of the trio, standing around a foot taller than her shortest teammate.

Sucy's head raised to the small commotion the unknown girl caused, her attention immediately drawn like a moth to an open flame. Otherwise, the only other student presently focusing on them was Diana, her eyes turning to slits at the girl with the greyish hair facing her teammate with a confused frown.

"What's wrong, Chloé?" she asked in a thick accent Delila vaguely recognised; German, wasn't it?

The red-haired girl, on the other hand, didn't bother to wait for her teammate to respond, looking to where she currently was. Upon seeing the Cavendish twins, however, the tall girl's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, a hand flying up to her mouth to cover it.

"Oh, shit," Delila thought she heard the girl swear in a partially muffled voice, her accent sounding similar to the greyish-haired girl's.

Within a split second, 'Chloé's' eyes flickered back and forth between Diana and Delila, the French student scowling and balling both of her hands into compacted, shaky fists.

"Are you kidding me?!" she loudly complained, finally doing so at a volume that silenced the chattering of her classmates and caused a sea of heads to turn in her direction. "Those rumours are actually true?!"

Wait, what?

Deepening her frown at her teammate's explosive reaction, the greyish-haired girl decided to follow in her tallest teammate's example and see who Chloé was looking at. Spotting Diana shuffling closer to Delila (an action that left the latter arching a befuddled brow at her older sister), the unknown girl stiffened up and froze, bug-eyed. She only snapped out of it when her red-haired teammate moved for Chloé's left side and clamped her empty hand down hard on her shoulder.

"Chloé!" the red-haired girl addressed her shorter teammate sternly, a matching scowl gracing her forehead. "Don't make a scene!"

"But how is that fair, Sarah?!" Chloé refuted, shaking her empty fist at Delila. She wasn't sure if it was her eyes playing tricks on her, but the younger Cavendish swore the French student's knuckles were flushed white from how tight her fist was. "It's three people per team! Why does Cavendish get a fourth?!"

"That's not any of our business!" 'Sarah' argued, Chloé's complaints failing to deter her from roughly shoving her forward to get her moving again. "If you want to complain about it, do it after class, not during!" Sarah looked back at their third teammate and gestured with the bending of her head for her to follow. "Elfriede! A little help here?!"

'Elfriede' didn't move right away, awkwardly switching her gaze between Sarah's annoyed expression and Diana coldly glaring at the still fuming Chloé grumbling under her breath. After a few glances back and forth, Elfriede resolved to give the Cavendish sisters an apologetic smile and mouth 'Sorry, Diana!', then sprinted after her teammates. She went to Chloé's other side and grabbed her shoulder, helping Sarah guide their teammate as far away from the Blue Team as they could.

In the meantime, Delila sneakily sideways glanced her classmates to gauge their reactions, noting how quiet they'd been throughout the small commotion. All the girls within Delila's line of sight watched Chloé being herded along by her teammates with slumped postures and drooped eyes, either looking annoyed or disbelieved at the angry French student's behaviour instead of surprised, as Delila expected them to be. Their reactions, plus Sarah's and Elfriede's and her sister's said it all for the younger Cavendish: this wasn't the first time something like this had happened.

As soon as the Peach Team were out of earshot, chatter amongst their classmates resumed as normal, albeit now as hushed whispers and mutters. Diana relaxed her expression and protective stance beside Delila, moving back to give her younger sister her personal space again with a heavy sigh.

"Are you alright?" Diana asked, her tone weary yet soft as her eyes trailed to the front of Delila's uniform.

Are you, Delila wanted to counter; Diana's glare towards those students was so cold, the younger Cavendish swore her sister was close to turning them into icicles. But one look at her sister's face was all Delila needed to know she wasn't in the mood for jokes. She did not want to be having this conversation to begin with and was simply doing so out of worry about how the implied context had affected her younger sister. The sight of Akko, Lotte and Sucy peering over their shoulders at the two sisters and Barbara and Hannah peeking round Diana to look at her wasn't helping either. Thus, Delila Cavendish chose to spare Diana of her usual childish whims and cut straight to the chase for a change.

"I am. Just… a little confused." Delila jabbed a thumb over her shoulder in the direction the Peach Team had left in, a single brow arched. "The remarks that 'Chloé', I think her name was, made sounded rather pointed. I'm getting the impression she wasn't actually upset about the alleged 'rule break' itself…"

"You are correct." Diana dismissively waved Delila off and returned to facing forwards again, straightening her shoulders. "However, Chloé's behaviour was simply out of pettiness. It's nothing to concern yourself over."

Hannah and Barbara didn't seem to agree with Diana's sentiments, based on the frowns Delila saw the pair shoot at the Cavendish heir. Barbara was the first of the two to step closer to the other British witch, an index finger weakly raised in objection.

"Are you sure about that, Diana?" she questioned uncertainly, eyes darting between the Cavendish twins. "Don't you think it would be a good idea to tell Delila what's going on with Chloé?"

"Yeah." Hannah followed in her teammate's lead, her frown deepening as she shifted her position round to stand on Barbara's free side. "Chloé's got something against everyone in our team because we're associated with you. What if she goes after Delila for being your sister?"

Diana didn't answer Hannah and Barbara straightaway. Piercing blue broke away from the makeshift podium and connected with her younger sister's piercing own, the two noble witches locked in a silent stare down. Delila presumed the older Cavendish was reconsidering her earlier response and taking her teammates' words to heart. But after a good five seconds, she went back to blankly looking in the direction of the school's building, responding to the two girls without making eye contact.

"Then we shall cross that hurdle when we get to it, Hannah," she stated matter-of-factly, her eyes briefly closing. "Delila doesn't need to worry about such immature behaviour when there are more important matters that need her attention."

A perfectly articulated and mature response, one Delila saw her older sister making from a mile away. Being who they were, the Cavendish sisters had encountered their fair share of unfair judgements and scorn growing up, both within and outside of the magical world. It wasn't a nice fact to acknowledge, but it was an inevitable one when your family were hailed on a pedestal as high as theirs, a lesson the two had learned the hard way.

Sadly, and strangely in Delila's opinion, her sister's words didn't seem to offer any solace towards their troubled teammates. The pair's matching frowns became more pronounced, wrinkling their foreheads as they shared worried glances between themselves. It made Delila wonder if there was more to this situation than Diana was letting on. Before either of her teammates could protest and prove Delila's assumption right, however, an unfamiliar female voice with a rugged accent shouted from across the school's field.

"Attention, girls! Flight magic class is now in session!"

Everyone fell silent and faced the makeshift podium at the same time the speaker stepped up onto it, the students intently watching her approach the middle of the platform and turn to look at the class below them with one hand to their hip, a broom tied with a black ribbon held upright in the other, and a strict frown. Professor Nelson, Delila instantly guessed, because who else was it going to be?

Professor Nelson was a tall witch with olive skin, brown eyes, and long, light brown hair tied into a single braid, looking to be around middle-aged. Just like her fellow colleagues, she was dressed in the standard teacher's uniform, with Delila recognising some of the outfit distinctions she remembered seeing in the auditorium, such as the grey flame pattern on Professor Nelson's skirt and her aviator's hat and pilot's goggles under her witch's hat. But now that she had a closer look at the flight magic professor, Delila noticed the other additional accessories she couldn't quite make out before, like the green scarf around her neck, the pair of brown gloves on her hands, and the strange harness-like backpack strapped across her chest and on her back—a parachute, perhaps? Professor Nelson's witch's hat possessed a single red feather tucked into its band, though unlike the other teachers' hats it didn't have a rim, almost resembling a pointy cap, in Delila's opinion.

Barring Diana, Sucy and Akko, Delila observed the two rows of students abruptly stand to attention, heads raised to stare directly up at their professor. Some had one hand holding their brooms bristles-up beside them and the other pinned to their sides. Others, like Lotte, clutched their broom handles with both hands to their fronts. Yet the one commonality between them all was the serious and stone-like expressions befalling the students' faces, reminiscent of soldiers awaiting a briefing from their commander before heading into war. Akko's eyes scanned her peers' current stances with surprised blinks, while Sucy and Diana looked on indifferently to the makeshift podium.

"To those of you who don't know who I am, I'm 'Professor Nelson', Luna Nova's broom flying instructor," she introduced herself in a stentorian tone, puffing her chest out and lifting her shoulders in a way that exuded a commanding and authoritative aura. Almost reminiscent of Professor Finnelan's, in fact, but more… army-like. "For today, we'll be splitting the class into two groups. New students will stay put and await further instruction." Professor Nelson pointed over the students' heads at the football pitch. "Everyone else will work on their acceleration over there. Any questions?"

The broom flying instructor was met with a unanimous shake of the head from every student, except Delila. The younger Cavendish was too busy squinting at the professor's mouth, focused specifically on her top set of front row teeth. Was the one on the right chipped or was that just her eyes playing tricks on her—?

Professor Nelson's muffled clap of her gloved hands together (after shifting her hold on her broom to the crook of her arm) made Delila jolt and stiffen her posture.

"Then let's get to it, ladies!" she declared.

With their instructions given, all the students promptly turned around and headed for the middle of the field, splintering off into their assigned teams or friendship groups. Hannah and Barbara were the first of the Blue Team to follow suit, sending Delila a matching pair of sickly-sweet smiles.

"Good luck, Delila!" Hannah encouraged, her tone just as honeyed as her smile.

"Not that you'll need it! We know you'll do great!" Barbara added cheerfully, sounding no different to Hannah.

Unfortunately, Hannah's and Barbara's words were far from encouraging. It took everything within Delila not to outwardly wretch at the bile slithering up her throat, her stomach somersaulting like circus acrobats on the trapeze. When their teammates were out of earshot, Diana stepped closer and cupped a hand round her mouth, whispering in her younger sister's ear.

"Just so you know, when you cast the flight magic spell, it won't happen in the same manner it did at the leyline terminal."

Delila turned to Diana with her brows shooting up in surprise, replying in kind. "It won't?"

Not that Delila recalled seeing much at the time, having her eyes closed and all.

"No. The take-off that usually occurs when the spell is cast is much more lacklustre. If you are concerned about drawing attention to yourself, you won't."

So, why didn't you say anything earlier, Delila nearly hissed, her left eye visibly twitching out of disbelief. But she didn't, because she already knew the answer. She'd never asked.

Un-believe-able.

Professor Nelson's yells as she descended the platform snapped Delila out of her disbelieved reverie, pulling Diana back in turn. "Miss Cavendish! Miss Kagari! Miss Manbavaran! With me!"

Akko held up her empty hand to indicate they'd heard, chirpily responding on behalf of herself and her other two classmates. "Coming!" As the brunette prepared to sprint to their teacher with her broom slung over her shoulder, she partially twisted round to shoot Lotte an enthusiastic smile and double thumbs-up. "Wish me luck, Lotte!"

"Good luck, Akko," Lotte shyly returned, smiling a little in amusement at the Japanese student's steady run. Yeesh, what was with this girl's stamina this morning, Delila wondered.

Sucy was the next to go after giving Lotte a nod of acknowledgement, sluggishly following her hyperactive teammate with her posture slouched and her broom lazily resting against her own shoulder. Delila was the last one to move, purposely allowing her classmates to go ahead of her. She stopped to look at Diana and gratefully nod, her older sister immediately sending an encouraging nod back. Nothing more needed to be said between them, after all. Thanks to their conversation in the dormitory earlier, both sisters knew where the other stood.

No parting words were exchanged as the pair strolled off after their respective parties, straightening their postures like they had broomsticks stuck under the backs of their clothes. All the while, Delila's nausea and unsettled stomach continued to wreak havoc upon her body, coating her innards and the confines of her throat with uneasiness for the lesson she'd been dreading since this morning. Though, compared to earlier, Delila could admit the older Cavendish had helped to steel her nerves somewhat—no doubt that's what her sister was aiming for, however little it was.

The trio of new students joined Professor Nelson on the left side of the running track, Delila, Sucy and Akko standing—in that order—in front of the broom flying instructor with her back to the field. Akko stood with her broom cradled close to her heart in both hands, a determined frown on her face. Sucy, per the usual based on the few times Delila had seen her, regarded their professor with a chronically weary and droopy-eyed look, broom upright in one hand. And then there was Delila, awkwardly holding her broom across her abdomen, stoically awaiting further instruction. By this time, their classmates were airborne and zooming around on their brooms above them, flying about in different directions at varying speeds with their legs tucked in and their hands gripping tightly at the top of their broom handles. The distant flapping of their clothes and the constant whizzing noises they made overhead occasionally grated on Delila's eardrums. At least she could take solace in the fact her classmates appeared intently focused on their current task and not on them. So far so good.

"Listen up, new students!" Professor Nelson barked, surveying the three girls before her with her broom clutched upright in one hand like a spear. "Flight magic is one of the most essential and basic types of magic a witch can learn. But if you're not careful, it's easy to hurt yourselves." She pointed a finger at her broom beside her. "In order to take part in this class, it's important you know the basics. So, before we begin, is there anyone here who already knows how to fly a broom?"

Delila remembered from her perusal of the school's pamphlet that while broom flying wasn't a strict requirement for witches to be allowed to attend Luna Nova, it was greatly encouraged to learn prior to attendance. Not just because it was a basic and essential magical skill, as Professor Nelson had told them, but also because the leylines were the only way to gain access to the school grounds. Like Diana mentioned to her earlier, it was mandatory for new students to be tested regardless of their present knowledge or skill in using flight magic, so Delila didn't find it unusual for Professor Nelson to ask. No use forcing certain students through the basics if they were already good enough, right?

Unsurprisingly to the witches gathered, Sucy wordlessly raised her hand. When Delila didn't raise her hand, however, the younger Cavendish caught Akko peering at her from around Sucy's back, her brows shooting up in surprise. She opened her mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by Professor Nelson.

"In that case, Miss Manbavaran, I'll test you separately so you can join the rest of the class." She gestured a hand over to the empty side of the field to their left. "Head on over there. I'll be with you in a second." Sucy grunted affirmatively and slunk off as directed, going round the back of Akko and walking a short distance away from where the group were stood. "You two wait here for now. When I get back, we'll run through the basics together, alright?"

"Understood, Professor," Delila acknowledged, with Akko standing to attention and sending their teacher an army-like salute.

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!"

Delila's eyes tiredly drooped at Akko's overenthusiasm, ignoring Professor Nelson's puzzled squint.

"Uh… right," was all the broom flying instructor managed to respond with before walking off.

Akko was really taking this lesson seriously, wasn't she?

With Professor Nelson momentarily leaving them to their own devices, Akko suddenly scooting closer returned Delila's attention to the Japanese girl, the British witch blinking widely in surprise at seeing her classmate now occupying Sucy's former space.

"You can't ride a broom, Delila?" Akko outright asked before Delila could even speak, her tone rising a couple of octaves out of obvious shock.

Delila, however, remained unfazed at the blunt enquiry. While she and Diana had done their best to hide Delila's flying inexperience from the majority of their classmates, the younger Cavendish knew the moment she discovered Sucy and Akko would be in this lesson that the cat was going to get out of the bag to someone. This was why the British witch calmly shook her head in reply, a white lie already loaded on the tip of her tongue; thank goodness for Akko's current ignorance to the magical world they thrived in!

"I'm self-taught in magic. My family advised me not to study flight magic until I could do so under an experienced instructor. Health and safety and all that."

"So, how did you get to Luna Nova?"

Delila delayed answering her at first, wondering if it was a good idea to divulge such information aloud to someone like Akko. Not that she thought Akko was going to blabbing about this to anyone, of course! But she knew from first-hand experience how easily secrets tended to get about if you weren't careful with their containment. Fortunately, Delila's decision was made for her when the brunette girl's eyebrows shot up in realisation, red eyes briefly trailing to the school's field.

"Diana?" she said lowly as she resumed eye contact. Delila slyly nodded, seeing no reason to hide it now that Akko had worked it out by herself. "Oh…" Akko uttered in understanding, only to squint upon processing the first thing Delila said. "Wait, you taught yourself magic?"

"That's correct."

"But you said you were home-schooled."

"I was. I just didn't have a human teacher."

Akko furrowed her brows deeply and awkwardly bent a finger at Delila, the younger Cavendish swearing she could hear the mental cogs in Akko's brain grinding together hard in attempt to understand what she meant by that. Had Akko taken her words too literally? English was her second language. Perhaps she'd misunderstood.

Delila switched her broom to one hand and sighed heavily in dismay. "What I mean is all my magical knowledge and skill was acquired from books. You may recall Miss Jansson mentioning my family to be well-known for our rich history in magic, yes?" Akko nodded vigorously. "That includes our possession of a myriad of modern and ancient texts."

"Ah!" Akko exclaimed in realisation, hitting her fist into her empty palm with a resounding smack while awkwardly balancing her broom between the crooks of her elbows. "You're just like me!"

Delila blinked perplexedly, lifting an eyebrow. "Just like you?"

"Mhm!"

"I don't follow."

"I tried to teach myself magic as a kid too! Especially how to fly on a broom!"

Delila frowned a little in concern at that last part, wondering for a moment if she'd heard her correctly. "You tried to teach yourself how to fly a broom?"

"Yup!" Akko grinned bashfully and rubbed at the back of her neck. "But I never got the hang of it, obviously. Didn't know about the Sorcerer's Stone back then!"

Delila narrowed her eyes cautiously. "And when you say you taught yourself how to fly a broom… what exactly did that entail?"

Akko's grin dimmed down into a proud smile, the brunette plopping down on the grass and putting her broom in her lap to pull off her right boot. "Here! I'll show you!"

Show her? What was that supposed to mean?

Delila got her answer when the shorter girl raised her naked foot for her to see, exposing a faint and greyed marking on Akko's right ankle with jagged edges spread out like ripped flower petals.

"This is one of the scars I got while practicing!" she declared, closing her eyes and holding her head high while ignoring the stunned stare her British classmate was giving her right now. "Guess how I got it!"

"… Should I?" Delila questioned tentatively, her eyes becoming suspicious slits.

In the short time the younger Cavendish had come to know Akko, she'd quickly gathered that the Japanese girl had a tendency to be… a little reckless. Throwing her full body into the path of an oncoming heat blast spell was perfect proof of that on its own! So, it was understandable why Delila was having a hard time deciding if she actually wanted to know how Akko earnt her 'battle scars'.

Sadly for the British witch, Akko didn't care nor wait for an actual answer, pointing at her exposed ankle with a widened smile.

"I got it from falling out of a tree!" Akko lowered her foot and pointed to a second scar on her left thigh that looked the same. "This one I got tumbling down a hill!" She lifted her right arm to expose her elbow past her sleeve, revealing yet another matching scar. "And I got this one falling off the roof of my house!"

The longer Delila listened, the harder it became for her to keep a straight face. Outwardly, she was just about succeeding with a blank stare. But on the inside, the younger Cavendish literally felt the oxygen rush out of her lungs, her empty hand subconsciously clutching at the front of her tunic in horror. A tree? The roof? And those grey splodges were the only injuries Akko had walked away with?!

"I-Is there a point to you telling me all of this?" Delila eventually stuttered out, somehow regaining her composure in spite of her mind's struggle to comprehend the absurdity sat at her feet.

Aside from to gloat how you've evaded death numerous times, she wanted to sarcastically add, yet managed to catch herself before she said it out loud. Because seriously, how was this girl still alive when counting this revelation alongside all the other trouble she's gotten into over the last two days?!

"Hmmm…" Akko hummed in thought and briefly looked up at the sky to ponder on it, only to casually shrug her shoulders and focus on slipping her boot back on after a few seconds. "Not really! I guess I'm just happy!"

"That you're about to fly on a broom?"

"That I'm not alone!" Delila blinked dumbfoundedly down at her Japanese classmate, watching the brunette cross her legs and smile solemnly at her broom resting in her lap. "Ever since I got here, I thought I was the only one who couldn't do magic. I'm glad I'm not." She looked back up to Delila as her smile beamed as brightly as the sunshine upon them right now. "And that it's you. Looks like we have something else in common, huh?"

The tips of Delila's ears burned out of embarrassment at the vague reminder of yesterday's conversation, forcing her to clear her throat and look off in the direction of the school's building. Thank goodness her uneven strands of yellow highlighted hair covered the sides of her head!

"B-But getting back on track, I would sincerely appreciate if you didn't tell anyone about my lack of flight magic skills prior to this lesson!" As she said this, Delila warily glimpsed over the other students still zipping through the air close by. "You're the only one who knows how I actually got here and, frankly, I'd rather keep it that way."

"Sure! Your secret's safe with me! Not that you'll need to worry for long!" Akko sprung to her feet and grinned determinedly, holding her broom over her head like it was a spear. "Once our practice with Professor Nelson is over, we'll be soaring through the air like Chariot during her stage show! We're totally gonna nail this!"

I greatly disagree, Delila mentally retorted, ignoring the bead of sweat trickling onto her temple at Akko's unfounded confidence. From first-hand experience, the younger Cavendish was painfully aware that even the most basic of spells couldn't be mastered on the first try. For her classmate's sake, however, she stayed quiet, not wanting to burst Akko's bubble. Sometimes, lessons had to be learnt the hard way, within reason.

Professor Nelson's voice finally shouted from behind Akko, drawing the two girls' attention to the broom flying instructor as she walked back over to them. Just off to the side, Delila spied Sucy's back as she leisurely flew on her broom midway from the ground, heading towards the school's field to join their classmates.

"You ladies ready to learn how to fly on a broom?"

Delila silently nodded and turned to face their teacher, returning to her previous stance. Meanwhile, Akko stood as straight as the Queen's guard and confidently held her head up, her broom standing upright to her right in one hand.

"Yessum!" she answered boldly, allowing the stern-faced Professor Nelson to stop before them again in a similar stance.

"First thing's first, I'll be showing you how to cast the flight magic spell. You can't be learning how to fly until I've seen you get those brooms off the ground. So, pay close attention to my demonstration, okay?"

Upon receiving confirming nods from her students, Professor Nelson took her broom in both hands and held it off to the side. "First, you hold your broom like this." She flipped her broom round, pointing its bristles at the grass. "Next, you gotta pay respect to the broom. Doesn't have to be anything fancy. Just a few seconds of silence will do." As if to prove her point, Professor Nelson intently stared at her broom in silence, holding it for around three seconds by Delila's count. "Then, get on your broom like so." She slipped the broom underneath her and placed both hands at the top end of the broom's handle. "Now, you try."

Dutifully, both girls followed the broom flying instructor's demonstration almost perfectly, changing the position of their brooms in one fluid motion, staring in silence at their brooms and then mounting them simultaneously. Although, during their silent staring, Delila thought she caught Akko army saluting her broom, prompting a judging and sly lift of one of her eyebrows at her classmate.

"Great job, girls!" Professor Nelson praised, adjusting her position so she was standing to the side and closing her eyes. "Next, close your eyes and take a moment to picture yourselves in the air, just like your classmates right now. Really imagine everything your five senses would experience up there. Then when you're ready, cast the spell." Opening her eyes again, the broom flying instructor puffed out her chest and proudly bellowed the flight magic spell as loudly as her lungs could muster, the same spell Delila recalled Diana reciting at the leyline terminal. "Tia Freyre!"

Professor Nelson levitated off the ground in the literal time it took Delila to blink, making it appear she'd just jumped into the air rather than used magic. But just as Diana said, there was no flashy light shows nor the flourishing of her wand. One second the professor was standing on the ground and in the next she was hovering before them, her legs tucked up to her broom handle. Akko gawked, red eyes sparkling with child-like excitement as an awed 'Whoa…!' tumbled off her tongue. Delila, of course, showed no outward reaction, though seeing her sister's reassurances come to life did wash away the remnants of her earlier nausea like a calming wave.

"Any questions?" Professor Nelson enquired, receiving a unanimous shake of the head from both girls in response. "Good. Then, it's your turn."

Delila shot the sky above the school's field a wary scan, attempting to search for any peepers amongst her fellow classmates in preparation for the task she was about to undertake. In terms of the other students, nothing looked out of the ordinary, all of them still occupied with their acceleration practice. Although, it didn't take long for Delila's sharp gaze to catch wisps of platinum blonde and tea-green overhead, close to their side of the field. The younger Cavendish just about made out Diana's body leaning far forward on her broom, her front almost resting on the handle as she accelerated past them. Fast enough to be a blur to the naked eye, yet not so fast that she couldn't see what was going on down below. Subtle, Diana, Delila sarcastically thought. Real subtle. But she received the message loud and clear for the second time that morning from her sister: don't overthink it.

"Miss Cavendish," Delila dropped her head back to Professor Nelson when the teacher addressed her. "You first."

With her cue given, the younger Cavendish sucked in a deep breath, tightened her grasp on her broom handle, and closed her eyes, arching her back and broom skyward. Delila conjured the memory of riding through the leyline on Diana's broom, recalling the weightlessness of her legs dangling in midair, the feeling of the broom handle underneath her, the cool and harsh winds whipping at her clothes, hair and exposed skin, even the rush of adrenaline pounding in her chest during the take-off (which, admittedly, Delila could also feel right now due to nerves; she did her best to ignore it).

Delila stayed that way for a while, doing her best to block out everything around her. Then, upon opening her eyes, just as she'd done with the heat blast spell, Delila yelled the flight magic spell without thinking, keeping her gaze straight ahead.

"Tia Freyre!"

In an instant, Delila felt it; the short and sharp lurch of the soles of her feet leaving the ground. The blonde-haired witch looked downward, bug-eyed, as her broom slowly rose and began to hover her body into the air, her breath catching in her throat with a shocked gasp.

Could it be…? Was the spell working?

For a brief moment, Delila's inner child was practically giddy at her minor accomplishment, her chest swelling with the same prideful and nostalgic fuzziness she fondly remembered experiencing as a child whenever she'd successfully cast a spell.

Unfortunately, Delila's victory didn't last.

The younger Cavendish lifted her head to the sky just in time to catch Diana flying past, having turned around and chosen to come from the opposite direction to avoid going around the whole track again. However, just as the twins made eye contact, Delila felt a familiar and ominous shift in her chest cavity, its insides constricting as though it was being squeezed in the palm of a person's hand.

Oh.

Oh no.

Before Delila could react, the magical energy keeping her in the air evaporated, disappearing from beneath her like someone yanking a rug from under her feet. In a split second, Delila fell, her bottom harshly colliding with the grassy ground and landing on top of the wooden broom handle she'd formerly been sitting on.

Ouch! She internally hissed, flinching in pain and reaching a hand over to rub at her now stinging backside.

Diana abruptly pulled her broom upright and leaned back as far as she could go, bringing her flying to a screeching halt and then hovering horizontally again, eyes subtly widening in shock at what she'd just beheld. Meanwhile, both Akko and Professor Nelson looked on at Delila with baffled expressions, the pair completely speechless.

"Delila!" Diana instinctively gasped, quickly regaining her composure and lowering her broom to the running track.

As the older Cavendish dismounted her broom and jogged her way over to where her sister was, Akko became the first of her and Professor Nelson to snap back to reality, the brunette dropping her broom and stepping over to kneel beside Delila while their teacher dismounted her own broom.

"Hey, you okay?"

Akko placed a hand on Delila's shoulder, only to swiftly jerk it back at the blonde's involuntary spasm from the physical contact.

"I'm fine," Delila confirmed through a heavy and relieved exhale, moving her hand to her chest to rub it in a circular motion. "I didn't get too high off the ground, thankfully. No harm done."

The former tightness gripping her chest had disappeared as swiftly as it had appeared, allowing Delila to push her palms against the grass and hoist her body into a standing position, Akko doing the same the second Diana reached her sister's side.

"What happened?" the older Cavendish asked, blue eyes glistening with worry past her collected mask and fixating on Delila's hand still on her chest.

Delila instantly opened her mouth to respond, the answer more than obvious to her given her familiar symptoms. However, before she could say anything, Akko beat her to it, the brunette frowning and pointing at the school field ahead of them.

"Why has everyone stopped flying?"

Delila felt her blood run cold. Slowly, she and Diana dared to follow Akko's finger, the Cavendish twins freezing to the spot at the sight they were met with. A deathly silence had veiled across the sky where Delila's classmates currently resided, every single broom in the air hovering in place. A sea of tranced eyes looked down upon the Cavendish sisters silently staring back at them, a mix of surprised and befuddled faces greeting them. The most notable ones Delila made out were Hannah and Barbara gaping from the sports pitch, Lotte frowning in concern from the left side of the running track, Sucy's blank stare from beside her teammate, and the Peach Team looking on nearby with stunned and raised brows.

Of course, who was looking at her and how didn't matter right now. It didn't change the reality Delila had been dreading coming to life before this lesson even began.

They'd seen her mess up.