Making Enemies

The next day, I sat in the library reading the book I had found. It was fascinating. There was so much more to the magical world than I had imagine. The book went into the four different types of mages, and then, a fifth type. A very rare type of mage that could draw their power from all four of the sources. It gave an indication as to why my blood produced a blue glow at the ceremony. Even more, it explained why it intially glowed red. Mages who draw power from all four sources don't obtain their talents until they're around 15. It's also like a muscle, the more it's trained, the stronger it grows. The blue glow disappated in the solution because I hadn't strengthened my magic.

A bell tolled somewhere in the castle, signalling the end of recess. I shot to my feet, I had to get to herbology.

When I finally arrived, I was late. Entering the classroom I could see it was a large greenhouse with plotting tables for the students.

"Class, let's welcome our new student, Asteria Halliwell," said Professor Greene as I entered the classroom.

I awkwardly stood there as everyone shifted their focus towards me. Fabian smiled as we made eye contact. A rush of heat came over my face. I felt embarrassed. I hate being the centre of attention.

I walked over to the free plotting table beside Fabian.

"Hey," he mouthed.

I smiled.

"Alright class, we are going to be repotting a mature venous flytrap. First I'll have you take notes on the procedure, then we will do it practically," she said with a cheer.

Professor Greene conjured a blackboard, and charmed the chalk to write as she lectured the class.

"Pssst Aura," Fabian whispered.

I looked in his direction.

"Where were you? I couldn't find you" He asked.

'Was Fabian planning to walk me to Herbology? Surely not. I'm just reaching…' I thought to myself.

"I was just reading the book in the library," I smiled.

"Find anything interesting?"

I nodded.

"Ahem. Class, let's focus on this, I don't want any of you being eaten by the plant," she said cheerily.

My eyes grew wider. To my knowledge, a fly trap had never been large to eat a person. We listened for another five minutes before we were instructed take our plants from the other.Fabian and I walked to the adjacent room. I froze in my tracks. These were huge.

"Asteria, what's wrong?" He asked.

"Huh? Nothing," I shook my head.

I watched as Fabian waltzed over picked up the plant. I followed suit, surprised how light it was for its height.

When we reached our table, Professor Greene demonstrated how to remove the plant from the smaller pot without agravating it. She started by stroking its head, then slowly scooping it out and gently placing it in the other pot.

"Now, your turn. Exactly as I showed you," the Professor spoke to the class.

I watched Fabian as he effortlessly transferred the plant over. I copied what he did and stroked it's head as gently as I could. It immediately shot to life, and caught my arm with it's tongue.

"Ew," I said squealed.

"Not to worry, yours is a bit too mature….." Professor Greene said, and flicked her wand.

The plant froze, and I carefully removed my arm from it's grasp.

"Now, re-pot it," she said.

I did as the Professor had shown me, and then she took it from me before it re-animated.

"That was horrid," I turned to Fabian.

He laughed, "that was some sound you made."

I immediately blushed, "shut up."Clearly this place was a bit different from your conventional schooling. It would take some getting used to.

———————

A bell tolled somewhere in the castle, indicating that it was time for lunch.

"Lunch?" Fabian asked.

"Sure," I smiled.

We walked to the great hall as per my request. The glyphs still made me whoozy. As we made our way through the halls, I examined my surroundings. The castle was beautiful. It was decorated incredibly elegantly. Suits of armour, statues and magnificant paintings lined the walls. Fabian laughed each time I'd stop, fascinated by something.

When we got to the great hall, I was welcomed by a familar sight.

"Food!" I said, excitedly.

Fabian directed me to the table Atticus sat at. Soon, I realised the mages sat according to what type of mage they were.

I sat beside them. Across from me was my rather unpleasant roommate Esmeralda. She gave a curt smile, I smiled back, and then she returned to socialising with her friends.

"Hello Asteria," Atticus said in his familiar friendly tone.

We exchanged some pleasantries, then I eyed the food presented before me. There was everything one could imagine. Roast chicken, beef, pork and every type of root vegetable was plated in front of me. That was only the tip of the ice berg. A variety of salads and rice dishes also littered the table. There were even some desserts comprising of fruits, pies and puddings.

"There's a lot isn't there?" Atticus said as he watched me examine the table.

I nodded.

"It's cute how surprised you are by everything here," Fabian laughed.

I felt the heat rising in my face.

'Did he really just call me cute?' I thought.

"Please. She looks like a lost puppy," a snarky voice said.

It was Esmeralda.

I laughed awkwardly, attempting to hide my embarrassment.

"Imelda, you were new too once," Atticus said.

"Yeah, during my first year," she said.

Fabian leaned towards me, "don't worry about her, she just likes attention," he whispered.

"Why exactly did you start as a year 10 student? And why do you always seem as if magic is a new concept to you?" Esmeralda's voice grew snarkier.

I froze. I couldn't explain the book to her, and I especially couldn't let her know I wasn't a pure blood mage.

"Esmeralda, it's none of your business," Fabian said.

Atticus nodded in agreement.

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes, and went back to her conversation.

Esmeralda made me lose my appetite. But the moment I took a bite of the food, all stress melted away.

I sat there in awe for a second.

"This is amazing," I said.

"The elves cook it. They're really good at what they do," Ominis said.

"Elves?" I murmured.

My heart sank as I realised this was made with slave labour.

Fabian raised an eyebrow.

"You're don't actually feel sad for them? They're happy," he whispered to me.

"How can anyone be happy as a slave?" I asked. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"I don't know, they just are."Fabian actually believed what he was saying. I frowned, what else did he believe that I wouldn't agree with?

———————

After classes were done for the day, I continued to read through the book I had found. Fabian had decided to join me. We sat in the library, reading in silence, our usual banter gone.

"You're a little quiet," he said.

"Am I?" I asked, attemping to brush off the question.

"Asteria, what's wrong?"

"I just…..don't think its right. The whole enslavement of elves thing," I said.

"What? They've been our slaves for centuries. Trust me when I say they're happy."

"Fabian, that's because they don't know any better. They don't know how to survive on their own without their masters," I frowned.

He stared for a moment. I could tell he was thinking.

"I guess I never saw it that way. But there's nothing you can really do about it."

I signed, "no there isn't."The more I learned about the magical world, the more I realised it too has it's problems. I turned the page of the book frustrated.

"Looks like there are pages missing," Fabian said.I examined the page. The last few pages had been removed. I groaned, I had no clue what my next steps were or what this adventure I suddenly found myself in was.

"Wait, Asteria... does the information in this book apply to you?" He asked.

I watched him confused, how had he not put two and two together?

"Fabian….obviously," I laughed.

His eyes grew wider as he realised, "the sorting ceremony! That's why it glowed blue!"

I laughed harder.

"Asteria, merlin's beard, that's such a rare gift," he said.

"Really?" I asked.

Fabian nodded, "the last person to have it was alive 250 years ago."

I thought back, then quickly realised that might've been the girl I saw in the vision.

"Fabian, you're a genius. I need to see Professor Hermes," I said, packing up the book and leaving before he could say another word.

I just about ran from the library to the glyph, then to Professor Hermes's office.

"Professor! I have some information. I had classes all day, so I was unable to come earlier. But I found this book in the hidden archive. There's a few pages missing but from what I could piece together, I have a rare ability, that's why I could see the location on the map," I paused for a moment and wondered if this sounded too far-fetched.

"Continue….." he said, intrigued.

I handed him the book, then proceeded to tell him about the student from the vision, and explained that they must have been the last mage with this talent.

"Extraordinary," Professor Hermes said, flipping through the pages of the book.

"I'm not sounding completely daft am I? Each time I did the ceremony, it glowed blue before turning red."

"No, you're not," he laughed.

I smiled. No one ever believed an orphan. It made me happy that someone finally did.

————

I returned to my dorm, mind circling with excitement. I was part of something more, and it made me feel special. All my life, I was told I was nothing, that no one wanted me. Here, I could be something, or someone. I sat on my bed, doing some homework before bed.

"Trying to catch up to the rest of us I see….. don't bother, you will never get ahead of me," Esmeralda said.

I rolled my eyes, "there's not even a formal ranking system. Why are you so caught up with who's the best?"

"Simply because I want to be the best."

"Well, then clearly you're threatened by me for some reason if you're so determined to make it abundantly clear you outrank me," I said.

"Please. You are nothing. Who are your parents exactly? I'm Esmeralda Beswick. Part of a prestigious wizarding family. We are notable scholars and atheletes. We even invented the spoofle," she held her head high.

I laughed, was she really expecting me to be impressed? I didn't even know what a spoofle was.

"I'm happy for you. Now, if you don't mind, I am trying to focus," I said and turned my attention back to my books.

Esmeralda muttered something under her breath. I sat there, my mind shouting degrading thoughts at me. While I knew she was being ridiculous, her words rung in my brain out of habit. They told me I wasn't good enough, and that I shouldn't be here.