NOTES:

——

It was madness

Pure and simple madness

Tea kettles and cups flew around on their own, butterflies with toast and butter for wings rested on plants, while tiny rockinghorses with wings journeyed from table to table.

Thousands of different desserts seemed to be found everywhere you turned, and no two tables seemed the same. Hats took flight, friends joyfully cackling and playing games, like croquet and an odd ringtoss game where tiny oysters waltzed around, the goal to get a ring around them.

She had never been more curious, more enthralled by this world then in that moment.

Although she had promised herself to stay on the sidelines and avoid the party for her own safety, she couldn't help but run in, dragging the other first years with her as Trey and Cater gave Elephys the go ahead to take a break and join them.

Alas, she often gave herself good advice, but seldom followed it.

———————————————-

In all the time they had spent together, he had never seen her so giddy and loose, so free.

Normally she was so fearful and tight-knit, overworking herself or shying away from her curiosity, but now she was running around, so far into her wonder that she hadn't noticed him slip away and join the party himself.

It made him smile to see her enjoying herself for once.

It didn't take long for the Cheshire to steal a Heartstabyl uniform, so he had alot of time to spare, and alot of people to scare too.

___________________________

Making her way through the crowd to the table, she checked the odd pocketwatch amulet thing, 45 minutes until Riddle arrived, if the clock wasn't broken.

Closing it, Ophelia looked back down at her teacake with a blank stare.

𝑰 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒉𝒚𝒑𝒆𝒓, 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒔𝒐 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒚, 𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒊𝒇 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒚, 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅'𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒐 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏

A flick landed on her forehead, snapping her back to reality momentarily as she faceplanted onto the table while Ace laughed beside her.

"Yup, Ophelias officially regretting everything already. I didn't think you'd last that long."

She felt something poke her cheek, but remained with her head to the table cloth until an unexpected voice chimed in.

"Awww, and just as I came to saw hi to mew?"

Nearly falling out of her seat, the three, now perhaps four people at the table doing the same as Che'nya appeared, floating above the table in a Heartstabyl dorm uniform.

"Che'nya?! When did you—I mean how long have you been here?"

"Hmm, purrhaps..ever since mew got here? Meowby a little less?"

Deuce, who had nearly dropped his plate from the scare, seemed to be regaining his thoughts, although he had the advantage, given he usually didn't have many.

"Wait, Ophelia, do you know this guy?"

Che'nya smiled as he flew to be behind and above Ophelia, hugging her neck while using the crown of her head as a headrest, his tail swishing happily from side to side.

"Yea, he's the one that gave me the fae charm.."

Lifting his head from where he had been furiously typing on his phone, Elephys tilted his head, causing his earrings to jingle a little melody

"I didn't know there was another fae in Heartstabyl, I thought I was the only one, since I hear most end up in Diasomnia. What's your name? Maybe I just forgot."

𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔

She could practically feel his trademark grin from above her, overjoyed at the question due to its answers sheer absurdity.

"I'm Artemiy Artemiyevich Pinker, with an A, not a bee."

Ace nearly sputtered, both he and Deuces eyes wide in confusion as they yelled practically in-sync, Vyr just looking on in near abject horror while Elephys seemed to think nothing of it.

"WHAT THE SHIT?!"

"How do you even write that on all of your assignments? Is that a normal fae name? How am I going to fit any information in when that name probably takes up most of the writing line?Wheres the b even fit into that??"

"Huh, thats an interesting last name you got, intriguing indeed. What should we call you?"

Both Ophelia and the Cheshire above her fell into a fit of laughter as a loud fanfare began from somewhere nearby, a long line of students with trumpets making a path for something.

Elephys paled as the bubble he had been shaping popped, jumping up and turning to her in a panic.

"You're a housewarden, right? Oh my, oh dear, we need to hurry. Do you have everything of yours? We need to move tables immediately!"

"What? Why?"

"Theres a table for only housewardens,
and non-Heartstabyls! Ophelia must be sitting there when the Housewarden arrives , and you with the collar and you with the blue hair should probably go too, just to make sure we have someone to tell him I'm innocent.
I can stand the sight of the collars, but wearing one might just be too much for me, even fatal to a weaker fae like me, we must hurry!"

Scurrying to the table, Che'nya going invisible to all but her and scooping up Grim, the group ran to the largest table in the room, completely empty except for Trey, Cater, and three other people she didn't recognize on sight.

Practically throwing the others into the chairs, Elephys dragged her to a larger seat, next to the largest of all of them, aswell as one of the seated group she couldn't see due to the blur from the speed of it all.

Turning to the source of the fanfare once more, she saw a small figure making his way through the line of students holding up swords, void of any emotion on his face.

Just the sight of him sent her into a panic internally.

𝑹𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚?

𝑶𝒉 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕, 𝒐𝒉 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕, 𝒐𝒉 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕

𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔, 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔

𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒊'𝒎 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚,
𝑴𝒚 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝑨𝒄𝒆: 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒄 𝑶𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒂, 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆, 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝑽𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒅.

𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅,

𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒖𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒑𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕, 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒎.

𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆, 𝒐𝒓 𝑰'𝒎 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒘𝒆𝒅.

A trumpet went off from somewhere to the left, a student dashing to his position with the speed of a rabbit.

"HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY, HIS GRACE, THE HOISEWARDEN OF HEARTSTABYL, RIDDLE ROSEHEARTS."

As a series of forced cheers flooded the doom, Blueish grey irises scanned the room, obviously looking for any rules that had been broken whilst he had not been present.

"Roses bathed in red..the table is be-decked in white, is there a dormouse in no more then 4 teapots?"

"Yes Housewarden!"

"Diamond, is the new housewarden present?
If so, She is seated next to the throne in Um's chair, yes? Wearing atleast three bows?"

"Done and Done, housewarden!"

"Good, a flawless unbirthday once more.
Um, come here."

From above her, drumming his long nails on her head, Che'nya whispered lightly.

"He means mew, mew're Um, silly."

𝑯𝑼𝑯?!

Shakily, she lifted herself from her chair, near brought to full blown panic by the quiet as she approached the Red Rose Tyrant.

As pale as fresh parchment, and his hair red as blood, although imposing, they stood at the same height, leaving her unsure what to do as she played with her hands and gazed anywhere but into his hard stare.

"Look up, stop glancing around so much, and don't twiddle your fingers! You are a housewarden, are you not? Act like one."

Painting on a fake smile to her face, she held her dress to the side, doing her best at a curtsy as she mocked back, her spite once again replacing her fear for a single moment.

"My apologies, your maa-jesty."

Somehow, the hidden sarcasm went far over his head as he nodded curtly, and walked closer to her.

"Good, proceed to the table at my side."

She couldn't help but find it funny that while she could hear Che'nya snicker a bit from where he rested above her, Riddle couldn't see him nor hear him at all as they walked silently to the table, not a peep coming from anyone

Of all things, a silent crowd, especially ones with their eyes on her, was a fear she held for longer then she could remember. When she was in the presence of many friends, but nobody spoke a word, it made her fill with discomfort.

This made it all but a hundred times worse. She felt as if she might pop from anxiety.

Finally reaching the table and near darting into her chair, attempting to non conspicuously shift it further from Riddles throne, accidentally knocking into the person on her other side in the process.

"Sorry, just trying to-"

They had dark, curly hair that matched the color of their wings, hidden swirls of red and gold inside it. Ink black replaced the normal white of the average human eye, irises of light snow blue and yellow with no pupils inside the blade sharp scleras.
Unhumanly pale, yet the hands hidden by their sleeve ombréd down from their elbow down into a cloudy black with sharp nails, near talons, at the end of each.

The stranger only glanced at her in response, and unfurled a giant obsidian colored wing, pushing her chair closer to the left of the table with it carefully.

"There. That better?"

𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒐𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏, 𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒅

"Um...yea..Thanks...?"

Sitting down in his chair, Riddle announced for everyone to carry on, surprisingly unaware or un-enraged about Aces presence only a few feet away.

With every intent of not talking to the redhead since they had already turned in a tart and set Ace free, and being unable to talk to the Cheshire without seemingly like a lunatic to boot, she remained dead silent for a good 20 minutes.

Moving the fork around her chocolate tart, anxious, she peeked over at the winged unknown, who was glaring at something far away.

𝑰 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕, 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆.

𝑰𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝑹𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒆.

Putting the tiny utensil down, she poked them, then recoiled instantly as they turned around.

"Uh...Whats your name?"

The blank face stare did not cure her awkward feeling at all, practically just adding to it more so.

"For now, just call me Nevermore. Before you say it, yes, I know its stupid name."

"Oh, thats ironic. Winged person with the name Nevermore. Did your parents like the Raven?"

"I am not a raven, and it's not my real name, and I never met my parents."

𝑨𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕

𝑰'𝒎 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔

Trying once more, she dropped a few sugar cubes into her tea as she spoke.

"Oh, the Raven is a short story from my world, sorry for the confusion. What are your pronouns, by the way?"

"Address me however you like, as long as I know Its me being referred to, I couldn't care less."

The brunette was about two seconds from faceplanting into the table for the second time in the hour, while Che'nya just seemed to find the whole situation amusing and stole another creampuff from the table.

𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆

"HENCHHUMAN!!"

The tiny firebeast flew across the table, intent on landing in her arms, but Nevermore intercepted the feline instantly, holding him by the scruff as several students came up to the table.

"You, the one that caught the weasel! Hand him over! He's got something of ours!"

"It ain't yours, chump! I got it first!"

Crossing over, she reached over to grab Grim from Nevermore, who simply placed him in her arms as she looked over to the students apologetically.

"I'm sorry if he caused you any trouble, he's a bit of a glutton, and I should have kept a better watch on him."

"That thing is yours?! What idiot keeps a monster like that as a pet?"

"Grim isn't a monster nor is he a pet. He isn't the most easy to work with, but he's my familiar."

𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒚.

"Maybe you should learn how to train a hamster before you try training that tiny psychopath! How unlucky do you have to be to have a monster for a familiar anyway?"

"—I just said Grim is not a monster! Either way, what happened t-"

"OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!!!"

"ACK!"

A sharp metal clank caused her to flinch backwards momentarily as a fuming Riddle stood up, the Cheshire floating above wrapping his tail around her and placing two hands over her ears to dim out some of the noise, likely so it wouldn't hurt or overstimulate her.

Standing, still at his throne, the redhead began to shout, the room almost heating up from it.

"YOU DARE CAUSE A RUCKUS DURING A PERFECTLY PUT TOGETHER UNBIRTHDAY?! NOT ONLY THAT, YOU HAVE THE GALL TO RUN UP TO THE HONORED GUESTS AND HOUSEWARDENS TABLE AND INSULT ONE? YOU MAY SEE YOURSELFS OUT, OR I WILL HAVE YOU SEEN OUT. UNDERSTOOD?"

"HEY! DON'T BLAME US! HER-"

"Dude, lets just go!"

"NO, HE'S-"

"SILENCE! TREY, CATER, REMOVE THESE IMBECILES FROM THE PREMISES!"

Playing with one of her pigtails, she surged forward, feeling somewhat guilty for their predicament.

"Wait! We shouldn't jump to conclusions, its entirely possible that I'm at fault for letting Grim out of my sight for too long. Atleast give them a chance to explain themselves!"

Something gripped her wrist from behind, holding her from going to the students aid as the Tyrant shot her a look.

"You are far too nice, Avillion. Your mercy has a price, and that is letting those who break rules run free without repercussions, and that is not an outcome I will allow in this dorm!"

"Wrath has a price too!—Mrmph!!"

A hand clamped over her mouth from the side, nearly knocking her over as she bit it.

"Ow! What the fuck?!"

"Ace?! Why did you do that?!"

"Because you wouldn't shut up, and that guys freaking insane! Would you prefer getting collared instead?"

"....Fuck you."

"Thats what I thought."

Loud crashes came from nearby as they sat back up, drawing their attention to where a fight was practically going on.

Several Cater clones crowded each of the four guys, the grass below two of them turning into slippery ice or fire, causing them to trip or scamper backwards, and be dragged away by one of said clones, as the two others were physically knocked out by the other clones and taken away, Trey and Cater both slowly returning to their seats, both with saddened expressions.

Almost nobody batted an eye at it.

If almost on cue, all the first years at her table , other then Elephys, let out the same two words quietly.

"Holy shit."

————

Making very concentrated eye-contact with her teacup, she listened to the sound of heels crossing the grass, and returning to the seat next to her.

𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈

Glancing to the other side, she noticed Nevermore and Ace had swapped seats, for what reason, she didn't know.

"Avillion."

Nearly skyrocketed out of her seat from the jolt of fear brought by Riddle addressing her, Ophelia tried to look as calm, prestigious and porcelain as she could.

"Yes..?"

Placing his teacup down, the darker haired of the two redheads on each side looked at her.

"As you are now attending a prestigious academy for mages, how do you intend to succeed as a student and housewarden without magic nor backbone to tell off a rulebreaker who insulted you personally?"

With no intention of letting the underlying insult there slide, she decided to try to seem as if she was simply attempting at an intellectual discussion as she responded.

"I just think its better to hear what they have to say before making a verdict, so all sides can be accounted for, Alibis compared, and the evidence fact checked. That way, the innocent are not falsely accused, and the guilty are reprimanded, and perhaps given another chance, dependent on the crime."

"Then you also leave the chance for them to think up all matter of lies and declarations to sway you. If a rule is broken, no matter how so, it would do you well to remember to make the punishment immediate."

Every fiber of her wanted to dunk him headfirst into the nearest boiling pot of tea, but she resisted it to carry on, and not break her act so soon.

"I must humbly disagree. There are situations in which certain things must be done to survive, or when rules simply have no use or benefit, and become needless restrictions.
If someone were to be trapped by sheer bad luck, out of reach from outside assistance, and the only safe way out is a set of stairs with a "Do Not Climb" sign, then an exception should be made for them to survive, correct?"

"Perhaps contemplating what got them into such a foolish position that such a direct rule must he crossed would be a better use of their time."

𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒍

Keeping her face as controlled as possible, expression somewhat similar to a fox with closed eyes as she tried her best not to strangle him before she could muster up an answer.

"If you must know, that was an example from my own life.
It wasn't my fault, nor my siblings fault, that the water pressures generator exploded while we happened to be on, and that it stopped when we happened to be in spot that made it impossible to return to the surface by rule abiding means without the possibility of falling to our deaths, therefore leaving the stairs our only option, and even them we had to jump across a gap to reach them,
Hence why our action was pardoned.

Now that you have the context of it, perhaps my view of things makes more sense?"

Her heart jumped, the incoming realization of how badly this might end far buried beneath her growing spite.

𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒓, 𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒏𝒐𝒘.

Lifting Grim up and checking for a tail swish that notified her that Che'nya had returned to his more feline form, she excused herself from the table and walked off until she was far enough that she could no longer see the event.

Not long passed until the crunch of grass came from nearby.

"You suck at hiding."

Glancing up, she watched as familiar of tufts of orange hair sat beside her with his still stacked plate of sweets.

"I wasn't trying to. If I was, you wouldn't be able to find me."

"Yea, because I totally couldn't see you moping in a bright white dress from a mile away."

"I'm not moping, its called taking space so I don't commit a felony against a certain someone.
Is there any other reason besides wanting to piss me off that you decided to follow me?"

Swiping a creampuff from Ace's stash, Grim attempted to follow suit only to be pushed back and ran off, complaining, to get his own as the ruby eyed first year popped a chocolate dipped cherry into his mouth.

"Because that rose prick is on a highhorse so tall that it reaches past the damn sun, and now he thinks the world revolves around him, plus because of that stick he has so far up his ass he can't look down at anything that isn't another person to see that it doesn't."

The snort she made turned into a cackle she attempted to hide behind her hand.

"Did you seriously just combine three separate common insults into one long and complex one in a way that actually works, off the top of your head?"

"What can I say? I've got a talent."

"I'm not sure being a silver-tongued asshole counts as a talent."

"Depends on who you ask—Stop stealing my food!"

"Its compensation for the rent you never paid to stay in my