Beatrice's first Illusion class was spent in steely, tense silence. The awkward silence of the classroom was only broken by Laurence's lecture as the man rambled on and on about how illusions were primarily used to trick and confound the senses. The earth witch couldn't help but stare back at him as he spoke; he was a lot more mild-mannered at the bus station, talking to her parents. It was as if the man at the head of the classroom was another person entirely. One who delighted in cruelly teasing first-years with little to no magic experience, tricking them into thinking they've been handling toxic plants, fooling them into maybe falling into an endless void. There was something with his eyes: they were dark and hollow.

"Miss Beatrice Gaia, was it?" Laurence smiled at her, and she hastily shook her head and snapped herself out of her trance.

"Um, yes, Professor?" Beatrice replied. A quick glance told her that the rest of the class was staring at her.

"I asked you a question, miss."

"I'm so sorry professor, could you please repeat it?"

Instead of repeating the question, Laurence merely laughed. "When the target of your illusions is as inattentive as this, you wouldn't need to cast a thing!"

Around her, the class laughed. Out of the corner of her eye, Beatrice saw Nova staring at her. She wasn't laughing.

Beatrice swallowed dryly and waited for the laughter to die down. "What was the question, professor? I will try my best to answer it."

"Very well then." Laurence perched on the edge of his desk. His wand was held at a jaunty angle and a relaxed grip. "Though we are discussing visual illusions and how to cast a simple cloaking spell today, can you tell us what other kinds of illusions there are?"

"What other kinds of illusions..." Beatrice repeated, buying herself some time while her brain ran a mile a minute going nowhere. The silence began to stretch. Laurence's smirk grew a fraction wider. Something was moving at the corner of her eyes and the earth witch nervously glanced to her side: to Nova.

The Asian witch deliberately moved her right arm to rest her chin on in the universal expression of teenage boredom in class. But she slowly tapped her temple with one finger, once, twice, three times. Then rested that same finger on the helix of her ear.

"Miss Gaia?" Laurence prompted again, and Beatrice jumped.

"The other kinds of illusions..." She trailed off, thinking furiously. Nova definitely signaled to her, she was helping her out! Beatrice could puzzle about the why later, when Laurence wasn't staring so smugly at her. Adjusting her glasses and clearing her throat, Beatrice answered.

"The other kinds of illusions are auditory, causing the recipient of the spell to hear things that aren't there, and illusions that cloud the mind causing the recipient of the spell to remember things that never happened." The earth witch said in feigned confidence. "And the visual illusions cause people to either see things that aren't there, or not see things that are there, or see something different than the truth."

"Hmm," Laurence said simply in response. He got off his desk and returned to the blackboard to note down what Beatrice had said. "That is correct, Miss Gaia. Maybe you do know a thing about Illusion after all."

Beatrice leaned back in her seat with a long sigh and glanced over at Nova. She meant to thank her, but her roommate had her eyes on the blackboard and was taking down notes, not looking her way as if Beatrice didn't exist at all.

The young witch blinked. Did Nova actually help her at all, or was that an illusion too?

The "simple" cloaking spell Laurence had in mind for a class comprised primarily of teenagers with very little actual magic experience was one that was meant to make an object look like another object.

"Turn this brick into a book," He said, that smirk on his face as he gestured to his table. The brick and book were roughly the same size. "It will only change in appearance, of course. The texture, weight, and size of it will still be the same. Would anyone like to come and pick it up to show to the class?"

No one moved. Beatrice glanced nervously at her seatmate, and Felix subtly shook his head. The tension in the room was clear: the students were wary.

"Oh come now! Don't be like that, it's just a book, isn't it?" Laurence picked up the book — or it looked like a book — and casually threw it right at Arnold's head.

He yelled and leaned back instinctively, just as another of the students screamed on reflex. He was in the process of bringing his arms up to cover his head when something flared into existence in front of his eyes. It was a burst of red-orange flame that expanded into a square and solidified, shimmering and solid. A barrier. The book crashed into it and exploded into chunks of brick and a cloud of reddish dust.

"Hmm." Laurence raised a brow and looked across the classroom aisle.

Hanan, who was seated across from Arnold, had her hand out to him. The pen that was her wand was in her hand; she had been using it to write down notes. Her dark eyes were wide and shone with the shock and confusion that were reflected on everyone else's faces.

"Good job, Miss Gonzales," Laurence said flatly. "I see you've taken to Professor Hope's lesson quite well. And so soon! I will be sure to pass on a good word for you."

"I did that?" Hanan's hand shook as she put it down, the flaming barrier dissipating as she did. "I didn't do the hand gestures, or speak the words, or anything!"

Beatrice clapped quietly from the front of the room. She waved to her friend and gave her a thumbs up and mouthed, "You did great!"

At the front of the class, Laurence turned back to his table. "That, class, is an example of instinctual spell casting. Miss Gonzales here did not speak the words or use the gestures associated with spellcasting, as she said. What she did, instead, was channel her energy and intent into action. I will assume that you wanted to protect Mister Hunter here, is that correct?"

"Yes," Hanan stammered. "I wanted to make sure he didn't get him. I wasn't really thinking anything else, maybe to catch it? But I knew I was too far away."

"And so your magic, along with the knowledge still fresh in your mind and muscles from practical application, I will assume, reacted quickly."

"Thanks," Arnold said quietly, nodding to Hanan. His own wand, made of polished wood, sat still and untouched on his desk. He didn't have time to pick it up at all.

Illusion class ended soon after that. Professor Laurence scribbled some homework on the board, made sure to remind the class to practice their illusion spell — he will be checking on their progress in the next class — and dismissed them.

Beatrice stood in the hallway once class was dismissed and fussed with the contents of her satchel.

"Beatrice, are you alright over there?" Sascha called. They were halfway down the hallway with Hanan and Adeline. The three of them were looking back at Beatrice. "Could have sworn you were following."

"Oh! Yes, I'm alright. I think I left my notebook inside." The earth witch answered. "Please go on ahead!"

"Okay! We'll try going to the library after merienda. Will you be going too?" Hanan beamed, the thought of snacks in the main hall dancing in her head. Oh, and homework too.

Beatrice nodded. "I'll meet you in the library later. Please save me a seat!"

"Of course, we will, darling. Always have a space for you. See you there!" Adeline smiled and waved, and the three continued down the hall.

As her friends left and the hall emptied out, Beatrice's heart began to sink with dread. It wasn't her notebook that she left behind, it was her wand! She quickly ducked back into the Illusion classroom.

Professor Laurence wasn't there. There were no illusions cast on the classroom to confuse her sight and senses. Instead, there was her roommate.

"Nova?"

The Asian witch looked up, startled. Nova was seated at her desk and had made no intention to move. Her eyes met Beatrice's and her gaze grew hard. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just getting my wand," The young druid answered quietly, crossing the room as she did. Her wand, a straight piece of polished wood with the tiniest engravings of vines on the handle, was still on her desk where she left it. "Sorry for startling you."

"You didn't—" Nova said defensively. "Ugh, it's fine."

"Aren't you going to... Well, this was our last class for the day. You're not going back to the dorm or something?"

"No."

Beatrice raised her brow. Putting one hand on her hip, she unconsciously adopted the stance her mother used when scolding her and her siblings. "Nova. I have no idea what I did, and if I did anything to offend you, I'm really sorry. But is the cold shoulder really necessary? We're roommates! We might as well try to get along."

Nova met Beatrice's disappointed look with a glare of her own. "Yeah, we're roommates. Not friends."

"If we're not friends, then why did you help me with Professor Laurence's questions?"

"I—" The Asian witch spluttered, caught off guard. She was the first to break eye contact. "Hmph. "You looked like a cat caught in the middle of the road, stunned and waiting to get run over." Beatrice caught Nova's little fidget. "Laurence was working overtime to run you into the ground."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember when you weren't able to answer one of his questions?"

"Yes, he humiliated me in front of the class. I heard them laughing."

Nova shook her head. "No one actually moved. I looked around, no one was laughing. I thought I was hearing things because it was faint, but I figured it was because I was sitting across from you."

"You were close enough to hear." Beatrice's eyes went wide as the realization dawned on her. There was shock, then the hot surge of anger.

Her roommate nodded. "Auditory hallucination. Laurence had his wand in his hand and I saw it twitch in your direction."

"He— Why—" Beatrice stammered. "Why would he do that? Why would he make me feel humiliated and terrible on purpose? He's a professor!"

"No idea," Nova said flatly. "I figured it’s just how you people are. Then I felt bad for you and decided to help."

"Thanks for that Nova, I really appreciate it," Then Beatrice blinked. "Wait. What do you mean, "you people?"

Beatrice clutched the strap of her satchel at the sight of Nova's scoff and eye roll. A whirlwind of emotion was threatening to swallow her up. Sadness, disappointment, betrayal that a professor, someone that she implicitly trusted, would do something so petty to her on the first day, and then there was Nova's blatant arrogance and...Could it be hatred? Why?

"You magic people," Nova continued. "Acting like you know everything. Acting like people like me, who had no choice but to be born a freak, are so below them, you wouldn't give us a second glance."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh don't act like you don't know, Beatrice Gaia of the Oakendale Gaias." Every word dripped with disdain. "You come from such a well-known, respected, established magical family. You know all about magical plants, and spells, and how things work here. But I don't. I woke up one day with a lightning storm in my bedroom. I short-circuited my whole house, my father had to go into debt just to afford repairs to the wiring and all our electronics. I destroyed stuff that my family needed to work and live, stuff that would take millions of won to repair and replace, and then I get a letter saying that this is a gift?"

Nova paused to take a shaking breath. It wouldn’t stop, her words spilled out of her in a torrent. "My mother couldn't wait till they could throw me on a plane to this "magic school." By the third time I accidentally shorted out the car, they were so done with me they didn't care to know what "Ravensburl" was. They just saw it as a place to dump their cursed child. Get me out of their hair..." Nova turned away, unwilling to look at her roommate. Beatrice could have sworn she heard Nova sniff.

"Nova..." The earth witch said softly. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know. I didn't mean to... I'm sorry I didn't warn you about the wolfsbane."

"It's not that. I just..." Nova trailed off with a heavy sigh. "Why are you my roommate, of all people? Now it’s like I have to look in a mirror every day and see all the things I'm not. All the things I wish I could have."

Beatrice was quiet as she pulled up a chair and sat close to Nova. "I understand that you don't like me. And I'm sorry, I really am. But we can't help who we are or where we come from. But while we are roommates..."

"Don't say you hope we can get along."

"I wasn't going to say that. I was going to suggest that, just maybe, we can learn from each other."

"What do you mean?"

"I can teach you what I know about magic, and maybe you could teach me about...everything else? For one thing, what is your wand anyway? A black mirror?"

It was the first time Beatrice saw her roommate laugh.

When Beatrice turned down the hall to the library, there was a pep in her step. Despite how badly the day was going, she had found a silver lining to it. Her roommate was hard to deal with, angry, and aloof, but there was a chance to connect with her there. The earth witch did invite her roommate to go to the library with her and her friends, but the tech witch — Nova had to explain what technology was and how her personal magic worked — declined the offer.

Beatrice shrugged to herself as she thought back to her conversation with Nova. Their backgrounds were so different from one another, so patience will have to be exercised. A lot of it.

"Not a problem," Beatrice said quietly to herself in a little pep talk. "It'll be just like waiting for flowers to bloom. It'll happen in their own time."

The library’s thick double doors were open, but though its interior had the same high windows as the main hall, curtains were closed towards the back of the large chamber, shrouding it in darkness. Instead of letting light in from the adequately sized windows, candelabras, torches, and a chandelier were in use instead. Beatrice's face scrunched up in confusion as she entered. It was a gorgeous, sunny day outside! Surely a place where people need light to read would make use of that, right? She found friends fairly easily: the three of them were seated at a table close to a window, with a bright sunbeam falling across their open books.

"Beatrice! There you are, darling," Adeline said, spotting the earth witch first and waving her over. "We saved a seat for you. If you can find anything else about Abjuration, that would be great. Hanan's already pulled up Basics of Barriers, Abjuration 101, and Beginner's Guide to Not Getting Hit, but if you have any other suggestions that would be great."

"Oh! Hmm, that was what I was going to start with as well. Surely that would be enough to answer all the questions, right?" Beatrice sat down beside Sascha and pulled out her notebook and a roll of parchment. "I learned barrier spells from my grandfather, and he didn't really explain anything aside from how to actually cast the spell."

"I learned something like that too," Sascha said quietly. The pixie in their hair was asleep. Beatrice couldn’t help but notice the scrawling writing in thick black ink they had in their notebook. "Not much theory, just practical application."

Hanan turned a page in Basics of Barriers. She scrawled down a new line in her perfectly organized notes. "I think learning about the theory behind this magic will help me understand it, you know? It's new to me, I want to know how it works, I want to know why it works."

"It shouldn't be difficult for you at all, darling! You had a brilliant showing at Illusion class earlier." Adeline pulled over one of the other books and checked the table of contents before handing it over to Beatrice.

"Yes! Nova told me she was really impressed with the barrier you made! It was so fast and clean, Professor Laurence hardly saw it happen—"

"Excuse me, what?"

"I mean, your spellcasting is really good—"

"No, no, no." Hanan fully looked at Beatrice, while beside her Adeline's mouth was agape. "You were able to talk to Nova? Weren’t you having trouble with her?"

"Yes darling, you ranted during lunch that she was impossible. What happened?"

"Well, I just managed to talk to her." Beatrice shrugged. "Got to know her a little bit, after Illusion class."

"Well! Talk about sudden blessings." Adeline smiled, leaning back. "Hopefully this will lead to you having a smoother stay at Ravensburl."

Beatrice was about to reply, to agree with Adeline, when someone walked into the library. The earth witch's brows shot up in surprise as that same someone spotted them and made a beeline for their table.

"Darling? What are you looking at?" Adeline asked.

"Headmistress Cassandra?"

Adeline looked behind her, and standing there was the Headmistress. She nodded. "Yes, hello there, all. How are you finding your classes at Ravensburl so far?"

"I think we're doing well, Headmistress." Hanan smiled.

The Headmistress didn't look as pleased. "Wonderful, wonderful. Miss LeStrade, may I speak with you a moment? In my office?" Adeline barely nodded when the Headmistress waved her to follow. "This way please, and do keep up."

The two swept out of the library so quickly, Beatrice was sure she had hardly blinked. "What was that about?"