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tickledpink31 · 2 years ago

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Epics of Ink & Light Chapter 12: The Strange Case of the Nezumis

Summary: In which the Nezumis enter the scene.

Notes: One of the Nezumi siblings, Alexis is AMAB gender-fluid, but identifies as a girl for this chapter and will be referred to as she/her.

Just a heads-up, this chapter will contain several POV switches. It might give you a bit of whiplash.

When you see an asterisk (*), there will information about a topic that appears within the story and will be explained in the author’s notes at the end of the chapter.

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◐ ━━━━━ ºoº Crewel ºoº ━━━━━ ◑

“Good, everyone is here. Let’s begin.” Dire tapped the stack of papers against the table. He was underdressed than usual today having left his coat and top hat to hang on the coat rack. The mask still remained on his face, though.

I swear that thing is glued to his skin, thought Divus.

When Dire meant that everyone was here in the meeting room, he only meant a portion of the faculty; that is, the Dean’s most trusted allies in the school with Anais being the only extra permitted to attend. They were the higher-ups of the staff, the big dogs of the entire establishment.

There was Sam LeFacile, the eccentric shopkeeper of the campus. He was casually leaning back in his seat as he deftly twirled a pencil in his hands. To the surprise of absolutely no one, he was among the first to discover Ms. Nezumi’s family curse through his “friends” that hide among the shadows.

Mozus Trein sat in the chair next to Sam with Lucius on his lap. Divus was almost sure that pets were not allowed in the staff room, but not even the Headmaster was saying anything. Minako had him for history class and was reportedly among the few students that did not nod off at the way he drones during his lectures. (A miracle really, which is why Divus made sure to add a bit of terror— ah sorry, excitement in his classroom environment.)

Sitting to the left of Divus’ seat was Ashton Vargas, the P.E. teacher. It was astonishing to find out that Minako did very well in his class almost as much as the rugged lot from Savanaclaw, but could you blame anyone for thinking that? One would have thought that he would go easier on her when Minako was just so tiny and had a condition that made her frail, but perhaps Vargas lacked discrimination on who gets brutal training in his classes.

Last but not least, was Dr. Anais Radcliffe. It was a well-known fact that she was younger than Divus by three years and yet, many people would say that she was more suited to be the older sibling. A ridiculous notion really, but Divus will admit that she had always been mature and motherly even when she was just a child. Her intelligence combined with her big heart made her one of the most esteemed doctors on the Sage’s Island. If she were still residing in the Queendom of Roses, she might even be able to boot Dr. Rosehearts from her spot as the best doctor in the nation.

After Dire recounted the chaotic events of the past two weeks, nobody in the room looked too happy that Dire had been keeping quiet about Minako’s family curse ever since her arrival.

“Firstly, how dare you not tell the rest of us about this?” Trein clicked his tongue and Lucius mimicked his scowl. “She could have been a danger to us all. Are you so blinded by your greed when you saw an opportunity for free labour that you forgot to think with your head?”

“I wasn’t made aware of just how destructive her magic can be when her blood curse is triggered. The most I have seen is that it harms Ms. Nezumi more than it hurts others,” Dire defended.

“I wouldn’t blame her for not going into details about her condition. For the safety and reputation of the school, Ms. Nezumi would have been likely booted out of the campus had she said anything that brings up concern,” said Divus.

“Me? Kick her out? I would never! I’m far too kind to do such a thing,” Dire spluttered and squawked.

Divus ignored him in favour of talking Trein down. “You have daughters, don’t you? How would you feel if they were in this kind of predicament?”

“Divus!” Anais scolded him.

“Don’t.” Mozus’ stoic expression hardly changed, but his tone took on a dangerous edge as he spoke. “Don’t bring my family into this.” Lucius hissed to back him up. “And what do you know about taking care of children? You don’t have any of your own, and you’re hardly father material.”

Divus pressed his lips into a thin line in irritation. It wasn’t like he thought of Minako as a daughter. He just didn’t need to see someone else fully succumb to the effects of blot when his mother had already…

“Settle down! There’s no need to fight,” the Headmaster chided them. He turned his attention to Anais. “Dr. Radcliffe, do you have the notes from your interviews with Ms. Nezumi?”

Anais flipped open her dalmatian-patterned notebook to her most recent entries that she had documented in the past few days. “Minako Nenita del Rosario Nezumi, age sixteen, born on March 18th 200X. As she has told me, her home is in a country called England. Before her accidental arrival in Twisted Wonderland, she attended a magical school called Hogwarts.”

Divus inwardly snorted upon hearing the name, wondering who had the bright idea to name a supposedly esteemed school “Hogwarts.” He can’t wait to hear about its history.

“Ms. Nezumi resides with her three older siblings and her sister-in-law, all of whom are magical and do not show any symptoms of the family curse. Her late parents are both magicless, so they cannot inherit the curse themselves. With the recent revelations that Ms. Nezumi might be a descendent of the Moseley clan—”

“I knew it!” Sam triumphantly pumps his fist.

“Ahem!” Anais quickly pulled the attention back to her. “With the likelihood that Ms. Nezumi comes from the Moseley bloodline, it is possible that she may have inherited qualities of her world’s magic system and Twisted Wonderland’s magic while her siblings did not. Her lineage has been in the other world for so long that I imagine that this world’s magic must have been diluted over the years.”

“My friends and I could help confirm the family ties. Free of charge, of course,” Sam offered.

“Um… I’ll think about it,” Anais politely replied, suppressing a grimace that only Divus caught. She wasn’t too fond of the dark arts that Sam dabbled in, but the shopkeeper was plenty competent to not try anything dangerous if it was something as trivial as figuring out someone’s ancestry.

The topic made Divus wonder just how many of Minako’s ancestors fell victim to the curse. Was it even more severe than what she has now?

Anais flipped over to the next page. “According to the records that they have found from their ancestors, the curse came from her father’s side of the family. There was at least one victim in each generation before their family’s magic died off then reawakened twenty-six years ago. The victims all began to show symptoms by the time they reached their preteen years, and that brings up my theory that puberty might have a hand in activating the curse.”

“TMI, Radcliffe,” Ashton snorted.

Mozus sent him a look of disappointment. “Grow up.”

“What makes you believe in that theory, Doctor?” Dire asked, ignoring the two.

“To put it simply, the curse and an accumulation of blot are both tied to negative emotions and mental distress.” Anais adjusted her glasses and squinted her eyes at the page. “Puberty causes intense emotions and mood swings in children. Ms. Nezumi has told me about how she would rapidly shift from one feeling to another when she was eleven. It caused her accidental magic to act up and make her ill even when she was at an age where she should have it all under control. But until we know about how her ancestors were like when they got the curse, my theory still remains a theory.”

“Surely with the severity of the curse, Nezumi wouldn’t have the ability to roam around the school as if nothing was wrong,” Mozus pointed out.

“Definitely not. At least not for more than a few days,” said Anais, nose deep in her notes. “She often takes a medicinal potion and her dimension’s light spells does the bare minimum to ward off negativity. Though most recently during Mr. Rosehearts’ overblot, she was able to unlock her ability to cast a powerful charm called the Patronus charm that completely cleared the blot excess in a matter of seconds. However, it was a slow and hard process for her to finally master it.”

Seven knew that Minako was a sensitive child. She may not show it outwardly sometimes, but Divus could see the curse marks creeping on her neck if she got frustrated with a question or formula.

Ashton scratched his head. “Wait, I don’t get it. How do light spells work against blot?”

“Her world’s magic system seems to have a strong reliance on the dichotomy between light and darkness.” Anais placed her notebook down on the table, wide open at a spread where Minako’s hauntingly detailed sketches of two dark wraiths. She pointed to the cloaked, bony wraith that was fully inked with the darkest shade of black. “This is what Minako calls a Dementor. They are creatures of despair, and they suck out your souls should you fall victim to its kiss.” She pointed to the other illustrated creature, which looked really nothing more than a rippling black cape compared to its more skeletal cousin, but it was somehow just as foul. “And this is a Lethifold. It’s more of a beast rather than a ghoul considering that it preys on human bodies rather than souls.”

Everyone but Sam paled at the explanation of the kind of monsters that this other dimension had to deal with. Sam looked more invested in this meeting than he ever did with any other meeting they have had before. He leaned in closer to hear the juiciest details.

Anais continued, “Unlike our own magic, the light spells from Ms. Nezumi’s world has been used to repel spectral foes, and Dementors can be classified as ghosts themselves. Lethifolds may not be ghosts themselves, but they’re related anyway. A more difficult but powerful light charm is needed to fend these monsters off, which is, as you know, the Patronus charm.”

“And blot monsters are practically phantoms themselves!” Sam, ever the ghost expert, added enthusiastically.

“Exactly!”

Divus has heard the story about how the curse went from bad to worse before. He can’t imagine how hard it must have been for Minako. A twelve-year-old girl wallowing in her misery after losing her parents then waking up with a Dementor above her head that she had unconsciously created. Had her siblings not been sleeping next to her… well, Divus didn’t really know what would have happened.

“I knew that there was a fighter in that girl!” Vargas threw his head back, letting out a short and hearty laugh. “If that kid can take down a blot monster, that’s some insane unique magic.”

“No, it’s not her unique magic. There are other people who can cast it too,” Anais corrected him.

Crowley merely beamed. “I like to think of Ms. Nezumi as actually a blessing in disguise rather than a curse. Of all the places that she just happened to end up in, it was at our school. Imagine the kind of awards we’d be afforded now that we have an instant cure for blot.”

“Absolutely not!” Everyone jumped up from their seats in protest. That greedy fucking corvid! He was planning to make Minako his pawn.

“Giving her public attention will do more harm than good. Don’t forget that she’s as fragile as a bomb.” Divus jabbed a finger against the Headmaster’s chest, gritting his teeth as he seethed. He managed to back Dire into his seat, his shoulders tense with fright.

“And remember how malicious the media can be.” Anais’ voice was dangerously low. She had always been Divus’ patient half to a saint-like degree, but not at the moment. “If the word about the curse gets out Ms. Nezumi will be vilified. The stress it would put her through could be catastrophic.”

“And the reputation of your precious school will fall into ruins,” Crewel put in with a hiss, knowing that anything tarnishing the image of NRC would definitely touch a nerve in his boss.

“Dire, I never expected this new low, even from you,” Mozus sighed with an aggrieved shake of his head.

Dire audibly gulped down a lump in his throat. Clearly, he hasn’t thought about the consequences.

“W-well, there goes that plan.” Dire’s clawed hands collected a piece of paper with notes written on it, crumpled it up, and threw it into a rubbish bin behind him.

Grumbles and sighs of disapproval went around the room. Leave it to their incompetent headmaster to sour the mood.

“In any case,” Anais switched the topics, “I think we should provide as much support as we can for both Ms. Nezumi’s sake and ours. Be as gentle as you can and do not give her more stress than she can handle.”

Divus swivelled his chair to talk to Sam. “You will give her a job, right?” It was more of a demand rather than a question. Minako had been wanting to find another source of income other than Dire’s meagre allowance.

“I will. I’ll be able to keep an eye on her then.” Sam smiled reassuringly.

The teachers might have to go easy on course work too. Thankfully enough, the faculty did not have the misfortune of dealing with a cursed student who was a slacker. Every professor who had the pleasure of teaching Minako had unanimously agreed that she was a well-rounded student with only the rare negative comment about her poor choice in friends. Unfortunately, Minako’s diligence had its way of turning against her when work reduces her into an anxious, burnt-out mess.

“What that little fawn needs is a good workout to clear her head!” Ashton loudly announced, not so subtly flexing his biceps.

“It’s not a bad idea. Minako is an athlete,” Anais mused.

“Give her access to the brooms. She finds flying relaxing,” Divus added.

From the corner of his eye, Divus caught how Mozus brows shot up to his hairline. The rest of his expression looked as stale as ever, but Divus sensed a smirk behind that face.

“You seem to know a lot about Ms. Nezumi. I expected you to only do the bare minimum for her aside from calling in your sister, but I guess I might have to take back what I said earlier.” There was a hint of amusement in Mozus’ tone.

Divus couldn’t help but find that statement a tad snarky. How he wanted to scowl at that old fart, but he resorted to only narrowing his eyes to save face. “And what is that supposed to mean, old man?”

Once again, Anais had to interrupt to get them all back on track. “Let’s talk about the Hidden Mickeys and the ghost camera next.”

The rest of the meeting went by in a blur, making agreements on whatever they can do to reduce the amount of flare-ups and accidents. How Minako was able to see Mr. Rosehearts’ childhood memories through her family symbol would be discussed at a later date when everyone else was stumped about what it could mean right now. As everyone shuffled out of the room, Sam suddenly held Divus back by the shoulder.

“Hey, Div. Are you doing okay?” Sam looked concerned.

“I’m fine,” Divus replied plainly.

Sam didn’t look convinced. “You and Ann are doing your best. That little imp’s lucky to have you looking out for her.”

It was clear that Sam was dancing around the overblot of Baroness Crewel, also known as mother dearest. That event was an infamous story in not only the Queendom of Roses but all over the world as well. That shameful and tragic stain on their family pushed Divus to spend the next several years building back up the pride of the Crewel clan.

He felt as if he owed it to his mother to help her legacy live on. Many have told him that his mother’s demise was neither his nor Anais’ fault, and yet a part of him said that he could have comforted his mother in her time of need.

“You think so? Has she said anything about us?” For the first time in years, Divus felt unsure of himself. His talents and his connections seemed to have nothing against the Nezumi malediction. He was back to his twelve-year old self that helplessly watched his mother drown in ink.

“You didn’t hear this from me, but she’s been asking around about what kind of sweets you liked.” Sam grinned.

Raisin butter biscuits, Divus thought fondly as he resisted the urge to smile. Those biscuits that reminded him of the spots on his dalmatians.

“I’ll try to pretend to be surprised if she gives me a gift,” Divus said, making a turn down the hall with Sam.

He made up his mind: Divus swore to find a cure sooner or later. He won’t let Minako succumb to the curse when she was still so young and so scared.

◐ ━━━━━ ºoº Flor ºoº ━━━━━ ◑

For a vintage magical tool, this contacting pendant* was far more advanced than what the Wizarding community had to offer these days. It was almost unfair to know how advanced the technology was in that other realm that Ambrose called Twisted Wonderland. Even with the recent advancements in this world, many wizards and witches alike had their feet firmly planted to the ground when it came to their traditions. A bit of a detrimental move for the magical community really.

“Nothing from her yet?” Her lovely wife, Fiona, gave her a comforting smile as they walked home. Her presence alone was enough to make a rainy, autumn day brighter.

“Nothing.” Flor added nothing more, not wanting to spoil the mood.

Perhaps the necklace’s antique quality could explain why Minako had yet to reach them through her hand mirror.* There was no way she would ever neglect to call them for weeks. When she was still at Hogwarts, Minako was punctual about sending letters to home every weekend even when she was at her busiest. The connection being as shitty as a low-grade Wi-Fi service was the only way Flor could rationalize the lack of contact.

Call her paranoid, but the second Minako disappeared through the magic mirror with Headmaster Ambrose, Flor swore that she felt a cord snap within her. A connection was severed. It was the instant that Flor realized that her sister was now far off somewhere where she couldn’t reach without the mirror to the point that all traces of her magic left with her. Even the Ministry would not be able to track her down now that she was in another world. It left a hollowness in her chest that she hadn’t felt in a long time, and she was sure that the rest of the family felt it too.

The night after their parents died, Flor swore that she wouldn’t lose another loved one so soon. But how can you keep such a promise when somebody’s doom seemed inevitable?

Minako, for all her faults, did not deserve to suffer the burden of a hereditary malediction. Being the prime inheritor of this generation, her frustrations had a knack for getting the better of her, but at least she had the awareness and consideration to not upset others when she was in a bad mood. She had a rash sense of justice for someone who was sorted into Slytherin, and yet her courage to not stand by was admirable. Intelligent, responsible, and talented; Flor could go on.

What a cruel twist of the heavens to let horrible things happen to the best people.

Last summer was supposed to be fun for Minako. She was looking forward to that vacation with her friends in Romania and its dragon sanctuary. However, Minako’s little “accident” at Hogsmeade prompted the authorities to hound at their door and barred her from leaving the country’s borders. They made everything far worse than it needed to be. If it weren’t for Minister Granger’s interference, Flor was sure that her sister would have been unjustly incarcerated.

Hermione Granger, for all her competency in leading their country’s Wizarding community, could only stretch her power so thin until she was deemed unfit to be the minister then sacked from her job. Which is why Flor had no choice but to send Minako away to salvage both her family and Granger’s career. It was a fair agreement that finally got most of the harassment to subside, although the Nezumis would be kept under surveillance as long as they were within the magical areas of the British Isles.

Speaking of which… Flor reflexively turned her head over her shoulder for the umpteenth time during their walk and tightened her arm around Fiona. She had developed the habit of doing that since the Hogsmeade incident along with the rest of her siblings. They were already far off from the Ministry after leaving their Apparition point, but after that one incident where Alexis was almost followed home, it was safe to assume that someone would try it again. Fortunately, Alexis quickly caught on that somebody was pursuing her and was smart enough to flee to the police station nearby. Unfortunately, it was an event that left her hysterical and too afraid to go home by herself for a few weeks.

It got to a point where they started warding their home to a degree that could compete with Hogwarts’ level of security. Anti-Apparition charms surrounded the grounds of the Nezumi Residence. One can Apparate within the confines of the house or Apparate from inside to outside, but nobody can Apparate from outside to get inside. However, this added the extra effort of having to walk from a secret Apparition point to home so that they don’t end up breaking the Statue of Secrecy. They did the same thing with the Floo Network too by barring the way in through their fireplace in case of trespassers but still making it possible to transport from their house to elsewhere.

“There’s nobody there,” Fiona reassured her.

“Right.” They were already at Grimmauld Place, and Flor can’t risk having a stalker know their address. Feeling safe enough that nobody was following them, they climbed up the steps of their house and Flor turned the key into the lock.

Inside, they were greeted by the Victorian era decor of their humble abode. Their late paternal grandmother, the previous owner of this house, had put all of her love and care into keeping this place in tip-top shape. The intricate wooden structures still maintained its glossiness over the years, and there wasn’t a single stain on the vintage tiling complete with a few much-needed touches of modern updates. It still creaked and settled as houses do when they were nearly a century and a half old, but they were still the envy of the neighbours. Even if it was a home located at a mildly unpopular street, this house was practically ripe for selling after she left the will to the family, but the destruction of their old house and the death of their parents pushed the Nezumis to move here instead.

While Obachan’s house was arguably the nicest in Grimmauld, Minako wasn’t too keen on the idea of moving here in the first place. There was a reason why this street was called “grim old place,” and Minako seemed to be the most sensitive to whatever was lurking here. It wasn’t really a street riddled with crime, and it was relatively safe. It was just a matter of atmosphere that made house buyers reluctant to stay here. Just by comparing the gloominess of Grimmauld Place to the other shiny suburban neighbourhoods of London, it was easy to see why houses were seldom sold on this street. This was why they never had sleepovers at grandma’s house and why their visits were usually brief. Not to mention that they now lived in 11 Grimmauld Place right next to the elusive House of Black. It was ironic how Minako used to constantly fear Grimmauld Place, and now she saw it as a sanctuary to Flor’s knowledge at least.

Flor stretched and hung her coat up on a free hook. She could feel the pockets of air popping on her back. “God, I’m knackered. Want some coffee, love?”

“With some lotus biscuits, please,” Fiona gratefully accepted. “Let’s just get some takeaway* tonight. Does fish and chips sound good?”

Flor suddenly stopped in her tracks when she felt the tiny hairs on her arms bristle. She would have brushed it off as some sort of fluke, but then came the dull thud of Fiona’s Wellington boot* when it dropped from her hand and her going into “auror mode” by taking a defensive stance. An unfamiliar draft of a stranger’s magic rushed through their senses. Someone was inside their house.

“Accio bat,” Flor commanded as a cricket bat flew to her hand. Her mind tried to pinpoint where the stranger was.

The tip of Fiona’s wand took on a red glow as she placed herself in front of Flor. “It’s coming from Minako’s room.”

Flor’s stomach dropped. They probably wanted evidence against the family. Wrong move, mate. You won’t find anything useful there.

With Fiona being the auror of the family, she was the one who decided to take the lead on their ambush. They crept up the stairs in their socks, being careful to not step on the spots where the wood would groan. Once they made it under the attic’s entrance where Minako’s room was, Flor was bewildered to hear what sounded like a hurricane going around upstairs and muffled cries of a grown man. A not-so-silent intruder as it turned out.

“What in Merlin’s name?” Did he get caught in one of Minako’s traps? Well, he probably deserved it.

Fiona pulled the string down and as Flor suspected, they were met with gusts of wind and cries for help. The wind actually felt more like a vacuum about to suck them inside the attic. Flor found herself gripping onto Fiona’s arm while her wife clutched the ladder that was hanging from the attic door.

“Somebody, please help me!”

Wait, I know that voice.

“Ambrose, is that you?” Flor shouted from below, the sound of the wind nearly drowning out her voice.

“It is! The mirror won’t let me through!” Ambrose’s aging voice grunted in his grapple with whatever force was causing the wind.

“I’m going up there. Stay here until I give you a signal,” Fiona ordered her as she quickly unfolded the ladder, climbed up the steps, and disappeared into Minako’s room.

“Be careful!” Flor knew better than to argue with her wife about these kinds of things. While she was a well-seasoned dueller herself, Fiona’s combat skills and resourcefulness were more superior due to her profession. She would only slow Fiona down.

From the sounds of their struggle, it seemed that Fiona was getting nowhere in helping Ambrose get out of his predicament. And just as expected, Fiona was quick to call for backup.

“Flor, help us!”

Now it was Flor’s cue to go up. The magic mirror’s vacuum was perfectly capable of bringing her inside the attic faster while going up the ladder, but she wasn’t about to let it pull her too far. Once she made it inside, her hands found nothing to hold on to except for Fiona’s waist.

Flor gaped at the sight. Lo and behold, Headmaster Ambrose was stuck waist-deep in the magic mirror and panic-stricken by how strong the pull was. With both hands, Fiona tightened her hold on his wrinkly arms and the sleeves of his robes. The suction was so strong that it capsized the large vanity, slowly being dragged towards the mirror. The beddings on the alcove bed were askew and the curtains along with its rod looked close to being torn of the wall. It was a good thing that Minako had cleared her shelves and her vanity; otherwise, her belongings would have gone missing, or her room would be more of a mess than it already was.

Flor shook off the initial thought, knowing that just standing aside would do nothing to help. With all of her might, she firmly planted her feet on the floor and gave Fiona and Ambrose a good yank. She wasn’t sure how much that did, but she was sure that she managed to do something. She hauled them in again, her knuckles turning white. And again. Flor’s throat rumbled when she let out a strained grunt. She hastily blew away a loose strand of dark brown hair that stuck to her damp forehead.

They eventually had gotten far enough that Ambrose’s feet were still left inside the glass. They gave him one more tug and the Headmaster’s feet came out with a loud pop. And then the force of the mirror’s pull came to an abrupt halt.

Flor landed on the hardwood floor, the impact knocking the wind out of her for a moment. Fiona was able to catch herself with one palm flat on the floor that lessened the blow after being toppled over. Her other hand currently still had a hold on Ambrose. The Headmaster landed flat on his belly with a wheeze that made both women flinch, and given how old he was, they were afraid that he might have been seriously injured from the scuffle with a mirror.

“Headmaster?” Fiona gently nudged his shoulder. “Are you alright?”

He lives. Ambrose groaned and sat himself on the floor. “Ah, my hip.” He stretched his torso, sighing once an audible crack of his joints was heard.

“Ambrose, what the hell just happened?” Flor’s head frantically whipped back and forth from the Headmaster to the mirror.

Fiona shushed her and helped the old man up to his feet.

“I apologize for the intrusion and for the mess.” Ambrose sighed dejectedly as he fixed his glasses. “I also regret to inform you about some bad news I bear.”

Almost immediately, Flor felt her stomach churn and her heart sink. She wanted to vomit. She knew it was a bad idea to send Minako away!

“No, don’t tell me… She’s…” Flor’s legs turned to jelly as her head felt light.

“Oi, don’t jump to conclusions. He hasn’t said anything about Minako being dead.” Grabbing Flor by the shoulders, Fiona was quick to steer her to Minako’s swivel chair to take a seat.

“That’s right! I don’t know if she’s alive myself,” Ambrose suddenly blurted out.

“What?” Flor’s voice lowered with a growl, curling her fingers inwards that were resting on the arms of the chair. Her nails that scraped the faux leather dug so deep that they left white track marks and were dangerously close to ripping the material open. “What do you mean ‘you don’t know if she’s alive?’”

“Flor—”

“That’s Mrs. Nezumi to you,” Flor replied coldly.

When they first met, a little after the beginning of last summer vacation, Ambrose went from calling her Flordeliza before he eventually started referring to her as Flor. Mrs. Nezumi, while far too formal for her tastes, was a perfectly fitting name to call her at times like these.

“Send her to RSA,” he said! “She’ll be safer there,” he said! Not even a month went by and something already went horribly wrong. If Flor had the curse herself, she would be oozing with ink from her mouth and her skin would be corrupted.

“Please, let me explain everything,” the old man pleaded. Regret filled his eyes.

Flor straightened her posture, a scowl still marring her face. “I’m listening.”

This was turning out to be a disastrous year for the family.

◐ ━━━━━ ºoº Minako ºoº ━━━━━ ◑

Minako won’t be missing the smell of rubbing alcohol in the private infirmary. Her dorm was finally fixed to the best living conditions that it could be thanks to Crewel, and she was excited to see how it looked. She had been treated with the utmost kindness than what she had expected from a supposed villains’ school, but that only applied to Heartslabyul and a portion of the faculty. It was a welcome change of attitude after how difficult her time in Twisted Wonderland had been.

And speaking of kindness, maybe some people were a bit too kind.

“Okay, I’m pretty sure Heartslabyul only sent one gift basket that was from all of us. Where did all of these come from?” Ace scratched his head as he looked at the expanse of the private infirmary. The seats and a portion of the floor were occupied with various baskets decorated in gold and scarlet.

“The rest are from Kalim. He kept sending a gift basket every day until Jamil had to stop him,” Minako said. She sure hoped that Kalim was rich enough to not go broke.

“I swear that boy…” Riddle pinched his brow. “He shouldn’t be throwing around his money so carelessly.”

Cater’s eyes gleamed as he rummaged through one gift basket with folded towels shaped into an elephant as the centrepiece. Various expensive-looking shampoos, bubble bath soaps, and lotions were neatly organized together like pieces of a puzzle. “Ooh, bath bombs!”

“Cater, those gifts aren’t for you,” Riddle scolded him.

“You’re welcome to take the bath bombs. Just leave the pink one for me,” Minako offered.

“And don’t take the food. That’s ours,” Grim added.

Cater pouted playfully. “But the pink one is the best one.”

“Cater,” Riddle warned him.

“I’m kidding!”

Including the gift basket from Heartslabyul, Minako received five gift baskets in total. At least she didn’t have a lot of luggage to move back in her dorm. That was the plus side of getting transported into another world with only the clothes on her back and her wand. Wingardium Leviosa may be one of the most basic charms of the first year in Hogwarts, but it takes practice to focus on more than one as well as prolonging the effects of the spell. She’ll just have to ask for some help to bring all of these to Mugglesworth.

A Heartslabyul student with white rabbit ears seemingly popped out of nowhere and screeched to a halt at the infirmary’s door. “Minako…” A deep breath and a wheeze. “I’ll carry… those for you.”

“Peter, what’s the rush?” Trey asked the rabbit beastman.

“Well, you know him. Peter thinks he’s always late for something,” Ace grumbled and crossed his arms.

“I’d like to help too.” A mouse beastman sleepily poked his head in the door with his hand raised.

I guess I don’t need to ask after all. They were already offering.

Deuce sighed. “There’s only five baskets. We already have enough people to help.”

Minako wasn’t sure why the Heartslabyul students were still trying to get in her good graces. The overblot happened a week ago, and she thought that that would have been old news by now. Oh well, at least taking everything to the dorm would only take one trip.

As they walked from the palace to Mugglesworth, the wind blew the loose strands of her hair against her face. Minako spat when a few stuck to her lips. Looking up, she could see that the trees were gradually becoming brown and brittle on the edges. Her blazer now seemed too thin to keep her warm. The first notes of autumn were here.

Next would be winter. Minako’s hand instinctively reached for her neck, about to adjust a Hogwarts scarf that wasn’t there. Her hand fell dejectedly to her side upon realizing that.

“Autumn is nigh,” Crowley had said to her almost a month ago when he first led her to the former ramshackle of a dorm.

“Autumn is fast approaching,” came Trey’s comment about her pumpkin pasties.

Unlike the other dorms, Mugglesworth didn’t have the benefit of being in an environment that was at a consistent state of a nice spring day (or whatever season the other dorms decided to live in). Mugglesworth was just a part of the campus and not really a pocket dimension that can safely keep any seasonal spells from spreading too far to provide protection from the elements. Hopefully, the new renovations would not disappoint in aiding with that. She did need a coat though lest she freeze once winter hits her like a truck.

Minako beamed at the brand-new banner with the name of her dorm and mouse symbol hanging on a tree. From afar, she could see that the windows were no longer barred with planks of wood, and the tiles were not chipping away. She found Crewel and Radcliffe waiting just outside the dorm as she walked closer to the building. As soon as Crewel spotted them, he raised a sleek brow at the gifts that Minako and the Heartslabyul students had in tow.

“What’s all this?” Crewel gestured to the baskets.

“Kalim kept sending me presents while I was recovering.” Minako smiled dazzlingly, and in response, Crewel pinched his brow, mimicking Riddle’s reaction.

“You know Mr. Asim, Ms. Nezumi?” Radcliffe asked.

“I’ve had lunch with him a couple of times.” Minako decided that nobody needed to know about the fiery incident at the ceremony. She briefly wondered why the “Al-” part of Kalim’s surname was left out.

“Why are we still standing here? Are we going to see our new dorm or what?” Grim hopped on his hind paws impatiently.

“Calm down. You’ll see it in a second.” Crewel dug into his pocket then handed Minako a ring of identical keys. He stepped aside to give her access to the double doors. “Well, shall we?”

Minako couldn’t hold back her gasp as she stepped through the doors. Everything was just so clean! No more splintered or missing pieces of the floorboards, the wallpaper was no longer sagging, the groaning of the wood could not be heard. The colours were made up of muted, earthy tones. Nothing flashy or bright, just a soft and pleasant palette. The blue-and-white striped couches made a nice contrast to the juniper green walls. She could see that the designers made use of the paintings hidden away in the storage room, choosing to hang them up on the dead spaces.

“Professor, Doctor, I don’t know if I can thank you enough for this.” Minako could only think about how meagre her homemade biscuits were as a “Thank You” gift.

Radcliffe chuckled. “A simple thank you will do. Would you like to see your bedroom?”

“Yes, please.”

Their chambers had not one but two twin beds this time. Funnily enough, it looked like a married couple’s bedroom in an old sitcom where the husband and wife would sleep in separate beds. It matched the vintage style of the dorm. Grim happily squealed as he threw himself on the bed that was the farthest from the window, claiming ownership of it. He stretched and yawned, curling himself into a ball to nap.

“Asleep already?” Crewel shook his head.

“At least we know it’s comfy,” Minako giggled. “I hope the ghosts didn’t give you trouble.”

“No, they didn’t. For a bunch of poltergeists, they were well-behaved during the entire renovation process.”

If Minako had to guess, they were probably glad to have new people come over to Mugglesworth when they haven’t had guests in years. The new light fixtures might be another factor. It must be nice for them to not get scared off and cast away by her light spells.

Opening the new wardrobe, Minako was treated to another pleasant surprise. The wardrobe was filled from corner to corner with clothes. It looked bigger on the inside than it did on the outside likely due to a spatial-expansion spell just like the magic in Sam’s shop.

“How cute! Are these all for me?”

“They are. My niece has been looking to donate her old clothes for a while now,” said Radcliffe.

“Niece?” Minako turned to Crewel. “Professor, you have a daughter?”

Crewel looked surprised. “I don’t have children.”

“I’m talking about my husband’s niece,” said Radcliffe.

“I see.” Minako’s cheeks turn pink with embarrassment before she went back to leafing through the clothes. Whoever this girl was, she had good taste. “These look so new for a bunch of hand-me-downs.”

“When you know your stuff with fashion magic, you can enchant clothes to lessen the wear and tear over the years. It’s not permanent, but I can guarantee that those clothes will look as fresh as they do now in about thirty years,” Crewel said.

“How convenient. Can you teach me how to do tha— whoa!” Minako physically stopped when she came across one particular outfit hiding in the deeper part of the wardrobe.

She unhooked it from the rack just to take a good look at it, only to be taken aback by how loud the design was. This was a power suit made by Crewel for sure. The exaggerated pagoda shoulders of the blazer and the contrasting black-and-white ensemble would probably make it easy for someone to stand out in a crowd. It had various sharp angles at the top with a skirt that hugged the waist and legs too much for Minako’s liking.

Radcliffe turned to her brother with a raised brow. “Really?”

“What? Don’t look at me like that, Ann. This is one of my award-winning pieces, and it matches her dorm colours,” Crewel defended.

“I see that, but award-winning doesn’t necessarily mean it’s everyone’s flavour.”

Minako wasn’t going to argue on that. It was a nice outfit, but it really wasn’t her style. Pastels, flowy or fluffy skirts, with a touch of vintage and cottagecore spoke to her more. She kept quiet though because hurting her professor’s feelings was the last thing she wanted.

Still, it’s been a long time since she received clothes that weren’t hand-me-downs let alone designer clothes. She felt butterflies flutter in her stomach. There were a few more animal-themed clothes in the corner of the wardrobe, each one more extravagant than the last and none of which she was interested in wearing.

It’s the thought that counts.

Finally, something caught her eye—a pink faux fur coat. It looked thick and warm, enough to fight the chill of the winter weather. If it weren’t for the fact that fur or animal themes were a staple to Crewel’s work, she wouldn’t have guessed that this more subdued design was his.

Pulling it out from the wardrobe, her suspicions were confirmed when she spotted Crewel’s embroidered signature on the inside of the coat.

“Is it to your liking?” Crewel sounded eager for an answer.

“It’s beautiful!” Minako hugged the coat close to her chest, feeling the softness of the fur.

Satisfied with her answer, Crewel sent a smug smile over to his sister who only rolled her eyes in response.

“Oh, before I forget.” Minako put the coat aside then reached into her canvas bag for the homemade biscuits. Raisin butter for Crewel and ginger nut for Radcliffe, all put into two paper bags and marked with their names. “It’s just my way of saying thank you for all the help you’ve given me.”

The truth is, neither of them had any reason to help her. Minako would even argue that she had given them more trouble than they needed recently.

They both gratefully accepted the gifts. With a grin, Radcliffe peeked inside her bag. “How lovely! I love ginger nut biscuits.”

Bless Sam’s soul for telling Minako their favourite treats. He even made sure to warn her about any allergies that they had.

“Thank you. Raisin butter is my favourite.” Crewel simpered. He didn’t even look inside the bag. Did he know? Minako’s shoulders sagged. Damn it, Sam. That was supposed to be a surprise.

◐ ━━━━━ ºoº Alexis ºoº ━━━━━ ◑

Alexis was fifteen when the family curse first came to light. She was young, too young to even get an internship at St. Mungo’s. And yet, she felt as if she had failed as a healer to see that Minako’s emotional pain had manifested into something deadly.

Not long after finding out about the curse, one particularly bad flare-up sent her into a coma. She was so still, her breathing so slow. Neither Alexis nor her siblings could afford to lose their baby sister, not after losing their parents and their grandmother. It was too much.

Someone from beyond the living must have heard their prayers since Minako had woken up a week later. Not only was she alive, but she looked as healthy as she did before the tragic death of their parents. The family would soon discover that this was how the curse functioned: a happy Minako was stronger than a normal girl her age, whereas a bad mood would make her look and act like a hollow shell of herself.

Minako had described to them what the curse felt like: a thousand hot needles and knives that tore her apart inside and out. Anything and everything that grazed her skin made her feel like she was going to die, but life would not give her the pleasure to do so. Screaming and crying was futile.

She once asked, “Is this what the Cruatious curse feels like?” before Flor shushed her.

Nobody answered her, nobody wanted to. Alexis will admit that that was a little insensitive on their little sister’s part. She might have been twelve at the time, but even at that age Minako was aware that there were certain topics that you shouldn’t touch upon.

Blot, as the family curse was centred around, had a violent nature at its core. That explained why Minako’s emotions had a tendency to fluctuate along with her health. It was easy to make her happy but also just as easy to make her upset. The best days were when Minako could be running a hundred-mile marathon, and the worst days were when she was capable of creating a raging hurricane in her room.

Alexis had done her fair share of research about their ancestors who once carried the curse. Using a combination of Muggle technology and magic, she was recently able to track down their lineage to about two-hundred years in the past. The curse had come from their father’s side of the family it seemed when their ancestors attended Mahoutokoro. Each generation had an abundance of children, ranging from five to ten offspring from each set of parents. However, the only ones that do not have any records of having children were the inheritors of the family curse, which was not surprising because they had all succumbed to debilitation then death shortly after graduating from school. That was not a comforting fact to know in the least.

The one and only exception to a childless, short-lived life went by the name of Akane. She managed to sire a son out of wedlock and presumably lived up to her early forties. But having mothered an illegitimate child who was later discovered to be a Squib, no less, Akane was the black sheep of the family (like she wasn’t already relegated to that since she was the curse-heir at the time). She and all the other inheritors did not have the most pleasant temperaments, at least once they hit puberty. Akane was even reportedly abusive towards her son, constantly throwing explosive fits and verbally beating him down. It got so bad, that Akane had accidentally unleashed her curse upon the entire family, killing everyone except for her child. The one good thing that came out of this was that her son managed to find solace through marrying a childhood sweetheart and eventually changed his surname to Nezumi.

Alexis had to take a long break for herself after learning about that. Minako was once a girl with volatile emotions too as a result of the curse. She didn’t like thinking about Minako being an abuser or dying. She didn’t like how close in resemblance Akane was to Minako and her father when she looked at the antique, yellowed photos. But it plagued her mind to think about what could have been had they left the symptoms of the family curse unchecked like all of their ancestors did.

Alexis and Flor dealt with the monster that Minako was in her preteen years, respectively becoming the carrot and stick to moderate her rapid mood swings. Minako even took on a variety of hobbies to provide some distraction and fostered a better relationship between her and Kento. It somewhat worked, although it took a whole summer to minimize her raging fits and the rest of the school year to help her through a depressive episode.

Maybe it was a bad idea to send her to another world. Minako always had someone that she knew and trusted to help stabilize her moods, like Kikyo and the Scamander twins. What if she can’t control herself on her own? Alexis wanted so badly to trust her sister’s maturity and fortitude, but her worries continued to fester in her mind even as she worked and as she went home.

She was already far enough from St. Mungo’s that Alexis felt safe enough to let her hair extensions break free from the charm she had been wearing all day. Wavy, brown tresses flowed freely, reaching just below her shoulders.

A bit of lip gloss too. Why not? She opened her compact mirror then traced her lips with a glittery, strawberry-flavoured gloss from a plastic tube. She could never be allowed to look like this even today in the Wizarding community. It would be nice to go to work not typically dressed like a man without being harassed.

During her walk back home from the apparition point, Alexis did her usual routine by looking over her shoulder at least five times and keeping one hand in her pocket for easy access to her pepper spray. She can’t risk accidentally leading some stalker to her address. Not again.

She listened attentively, trying not to let the hustle and bustle of London drown out the footsteps of a predator. Look left. Look right. Look behind. Finally, she reached 11 Grimmauld Place, assured that there was nobody following her.

“How could you… what do I … I trusted you!” Flor’s muffled shouting made Alexis freeze as she turned her key in the lock.

Were Ate Flor and Ate Fiona fighting? Wait, no. Neither of them would ever shout if they ever got into a disagreement. Alexis sure hoped that it was nothing serious. Those two rarely fought.

“I’m sorry… shouting won’t help…” A new voice popped up.

Hold the phone, was that Headmaster Ambrose?

Alexis finally felt brave enough to enter the house, quickly and quietly though so that her presence wouldn’t be known. Looking over the corner of the mudroom to peer into the lounge area, her suspicions were confirmed when she saw Ambrose’s azure robes and short grey hair. His head was dipped and downcast as Flor paced around the room. Uh oh, that wasn’t a good sign at all.

“Additionally, I don’t know if this would be of importance to you, but her luggage has also gone missing,” Ambrose said with shame in his tone.

“Her luggage? Why is her luggage missing?” Fiona sat upright in her armchair.

Flor’s pacing came to an abrupt halt, her back in Alexis’ view. Alexis could not see her expression, she didn’t have to see it to know what was going on in her older sister’s head. With the way Flor was inhaling deeply and how her hands would go up to massage her face, it made Alexis’ stomach churn at what unfortunate incident had befallen upon them. Nothing seemed to ever go right with this family.

Flor’s tone sounded eerily calm. “Great, great. Minako is missing and so are her valuables.”

What? Alexis dropped her handbag, making a loud thud. Everyone’s heads jerked to the side in surprise to look at her.

Someone called her name, but she was too shocked to recognize who it was, “Alexis—”

“WHAAAAATTTT?!”

◐ ━━━━━ ºoº Che’nya ºoº ━━━━━ ◑

Che’nya expected that this suitcase would be a lot heavier, but it was as light as air. It was coated with magic, so a spell was likely used to make the luggage feel almost weightless. At least it made his job much easier to do.

He giggled to himself, just thinking about how the faculty had already lost their heads after somebody’s luggage had gone missing. That’s two birds with one stone; causing chaos while making a special delivery.

To whom, you might ask? Why the purr-tty mouse of Night Raven College, Minako Nezumi, of course. Or should he say, the purr-tty mouse of Royal Sword Academy.

Yeah, that plan was stamped on and fell through the floor. Che’nya had a hunch that she would not be welcome by his classmates now that the others know about the blot situation. It was too bad. This is why he was doing this. He might be a troublemaker, but he wasn’t at all heartless. That purr-tty mouse might be happier in NRC.

Invisible to the world, he finally located the dorm where Minako was staying. The door was left wide open to let a couple of tomcats from Heartslabyul in with gift baskets in tow. Che’nya swiftly squeezed himself and the suitcase through the door but not before impishly tugging at a rabbit’s ears. He laughed at how the rabbit beastman flinched and squealed much to the confusion of the others.

Now, where oh where do I hide this? Che’nya drummed his fingers on the leather suitcase. He spotted a more private area away from the living room and side-stepped into the entry. On the cushion of one of the armchairs is where he gingerly placed the luggage, giving it a few good pats. It won’t be long until Miss Mouse finds it.

Che’nya’s keen ears perked up at the sound of footsteps going down the stairs. Oops, that was his cue to go. And he zipped out of the dorm through the window.

◐ ━━━━━ ºoº Minako ºoº ━━━━━ ◑

Minako had thought that the gift-giving frenzy was over for the day. Well, she was dead wrong. Immediately after she gave her own gifts to the Crewel siblings, Crewel pulled an UNO reverse card on her and gifted her a phone. Not even a secondhand phone or even remotely an old model, it was a brand-new phone.

“I doubt that your magic will destroy this one given that all of our technology is run by magic. However, do let me know if you do end up wrecking it,” Crewel said to her before he and Radcliffe left the dorm.

Cater was positively green with envy when he saw Minako with the package in her hands. His eyes nearly bulged out of its sockets. “The new Pomegranate Plus 6? I’ve been saving for one of those for a while now!”

“No way! Don’t those phones cost like a thousand madols?” Ace gaped at the unopened box marked with a sliced pomegranate bleeding juice from its seeds.

Minako chuckled inwardly at how Pomegranate phones were basically the Apple iPhones of Twisted Wonderland. Of course, they took a piece straight out of Greek mythology then made it the icon of their corporate businesses. However, it surprised her that she wasn’t given a phone inspired by the poisoned apple that put Snow White to sleep. They probably existed somewhere.

Riddle crossed his arms, looking unimpressed. “Cater, why would you need another phone, especially if it’s a famously expensive one? If I recall, your current phone works perfectly fine.”

“Aw, but it has all the new features. The new camera has the best editing tools.” Cater continued to ramble on about the benefits of having the newest Pomegranate phone, but Riddle did not seem to care about his reasoning in the least.

“Hey, Minako,” Deuce called from another room. “You left a suitcase in the den.”

Minako raised her brows in her confusion. “Suitcase? I haven’t had a suitcase since I came here.” All she had was her school bag.

Deuce poked his head through the entryway of the den. “But it has your name on it.”

Minako made her way over to him just to check what her friend was talking about. Once Deuce pulled the aforementioned suitcase into her view, she gasped and froze where she stood.

That was indeed her suitcase. Her travelling suitcase that she took on every vacation and on every year going to and leaving Hogwarts. The worn-out edges and black, leather straps decorating the brown outer shell were unmistakable. What was even more damning was her name embossed on the tag that hung from the handle.

“Minako, are you alright?” Trey called out to her with concern.

“Wha— I-I thought I left that back at Hogwarts,” Minako spluttered. Her hands reached out to touch the suitcase just to make sure that it was real. Yup, it was really here.

“I don’t think there’s anything inside it though. It’s really light.” Deuce effortlessly moved the suitcase up and down.

Minako quickly recovered from her shock. “Of course it’s light. It’s been enchanted with an extension charm, so it renders anything and everything inside of it lighter.”

“Wow, you’re really heavy on the vintage aesthetic. That thing looks ancient,” Ace snidely remarked.

“Shush, my sister-in-law gave it to me.” Thank you, Ate Fiona for making her trips to Hogwarts much easier. Minako pulled the latches up and opened the suitcase. “I better check if my things are still here.”

You would think that a bunch of boys who grew up with magic their entire lives would be placid in seeing Minako sink her entire body in that tiny suitcase. Apparently, they were not.

“What are you so surprised about? Your world has extension charms too!”

“They don’t extend that much!” The boys argued.

◐ ━━━━━ ºoº Kento ºoº ━━━━━ ◑

Kento leaned back on his office chair, blowing his newly turquoise-dyed fringe away from his face. Why did the job market have to dry up so quickly? Of all the jobs he managed to snag, it was this boring desk job at the Ministry.

As a kid, watching his older sister honing her newly discovered powers made him hope for a life with excitement and adventures. He expected to grow up to become some kind of hero like Percy Jackson or the legendary Harry Potter, but his hopes were crushed as soon as he was sorted into Ravenclaw.

I should have taken Care for Magical Creatures, he thought. Magical creatures were cool, but Kento at the time didn’t have the guts to approach things that were huge and volatile. That subject was more meant for Minako who was brave enough (or was it stupid enough?) to go and pet a buck wild, fifteen-foot Occamy.

Academically, Kento was the weakest in the family and that continued to persist in his Hogwarts years. So, why was he put in Ravenclaw? Sure, he made the most of his time there by practising his Charms, but the bronze eagle at the common room entrance gave him hell for seven years all because he couldn’t answer the riddles correctly. No, he did not know what has a mouth but can’t chew. (Some bastard Ravenclaw senior rolled his eyes at Kento when he was only eleven and correctly stated that the answer was “a river.”)

At least the one good thing that came out of all of this was getting to work at a cubicle right next to her. Big-hearted, blonde, and cute—his girlfriend, Ofelia never failed to bleed colour into his dreary days at the office.

Right on the dot, Ofelia’s hand outstretched above their mutual cubicle wall holding a box of Ribena like she did every few days. Kento gratefully accepted it with a whisper of a, “Thank you.” He would kiss her if it weren’t for the strict PDA rules. Back then he wouldn’t mind getting fired, but the nosey behaviour of the magical community forced the Nezumis to be on their best behaviour.

A five-minute break was much needed. The stack of letters on his desk kept piling up, no matter how fast he toiled away on his desk. He lamented every screech of the owls swooping in with envelopes bound with twine, and would pray that those documents would not land next to him.

The last four deliveries went to Kento. He was beginning to think that this was all a prank when he started to pick up on the giggles and smirks of his co-workers, but he didn’t have any proof that most of the work was being shoved onto him. Not to mention his older sister has been fretting over how the smallest slip-up could ruin their family’s welfare. He couldn’t risk making a potentially false accusation.

Kento tore the plastic straw from the juice box with a snap from the adhesive gluing them together. He shook the box around then poked his straw through the hole. He barely even got to enjoy a sip of the sweet, blackcurrant flavour when an owl descended upon them in the office. Oh, no, no, no! Kento grimaced at the thought of having to work overtime if any more paperwork landed on his desk. He hid his face in his hands as if his pathetic hiding place could protect him from an owl’s heightened senses.

Ofelia curiously peered over their shared wall to talk to him, probably to insist that he give half of his paperwork for her to work on again. But before he could deny her help for the umpteenth time, she asked him, “Kento, isn’t that your owl?”

Kento looked up from his hands and the dread lifted from his chest when his family’s beloved snowy owl dived to his desk, a letter in her talons.

“Oh, thank Merlin. You’re a sight for sore eyes, Snowdrop.” Kento fondly scratched Snowdrop’s head, and she cooed in response. “Is that a letter for me?”

Snowdrop stepped aside and fluttered over to rest on Kento’s shoulder, leaving the letter free from her grip. Kento’s name was written on the back of the envelope in Fiona’s handwriting. With the lack of cellphone service in any magical-dominant areas, wizards resorted to written letters delivered by owl. However, it’s not like anyone can send letters to you while you’re busy at work every day, let alone every few hours like you’re sending text messages. Kento would usually get at least one letter from home every month since he started working, and he seldom sent letters to his family these days.

Kento thought nothing of what was written in the letter as he opened the wax seal. It was probably just a request for him to shop for a few things in Diagon Alley.

He adjusted the position of his spectacles then he started reading it, or… skimming was a more accurate way to describe it. Blame his short attention span, but the phrases FAMILY EMERGENCY and Minako went missing was enough to set off the alarm bells in his head.

“Shit, shit, shit!” The vulgarity of his words prompted the perplexed and annoyed faces of his co-workers to look up.

“What? What happened?” Ofelia stepped out of her cubicle.

“Family… emergency… got a lot of work to do!” Kento was aware that he was a mess. Snowdrop frantically flapped her wings as he scrambled to collect his things. Of course his family meant more to him than his job, which meant that he would and should clock out a bit early, but he did promise Flor that he wouldn’t get in trouble at work.

“I’ll cover for you. You already had overtime for the past three days.” Ofelia seized him by his shoulders. It was in no way an offer but a demand. No ifs, ands, or buts.

(Once this shitshow was over, Kento was going to treat his girlfriend for dinner even if he had to spend every galleon from his hard-earned paycheck.)

His manager was a fair woman and understood the urgency of his family crisis. Therefore, she was kind enough to let him go an hour before he was supposed to clock out. Disapparating from the office with Snowdrop and appearing at the nearest Apparition point to Grimmauld, he forwent his usual habit of looking over his shoulder for any potential stalkers as he sprinted all the way home. In his defence, no one in his family has been pursued by any nefarious miscreants since the end of July and Snowdrop was capable of pecking someone’s eyes out if anyone in the family was in danger.

Once 11 Grimmauld Place came into view, Kento skidded to a halt and nearly tumbled into a mud puddle. He shoved his key into the lock and barged through the door without much thought.

“What the fuck happened?!”

In the living room, startled heads turned to look at him and Snowdrop. His entire nuclear family was here. Well, almost everyone. He came all the way here because of her.

And Ambrose was here too? Maybe that wasn’t the most surprising thing of all since he was the man who promised to take care of Minako while she was at that flowery prince academy. Keyword: promised.

“You.” Kento pointed an accusing finger at the Headmaster. “What happened to our sister?”

“Manners!” Alexis frowned, none too pleased at the delivery of his line.

Kento glanced over at Flor seated far back on the rocking chair, her fingers massaging her temple. He imagined that she must have exhausted herself from being cross over the situation. All because of the family curse following Mom and Papa’s passing, Minako received the most mother-henning from their older sister.

Ambrose often kept his posture straight with an affable smile on his face, but now his shoulders were sagging, and his expression was full of shame. Kento almost felt bad for nearly losing his temper at him. Almost.

Fiona beckoned him over. “Sit, sit. You’re going to have a lot in.”

◐ ━━━━━ ºoº ━━━━━ ◑

There were cartons and paper bags full of fried halibut, chips, onion rings and scallops. So much food that was ordered, and yet nobody was eating.

Except for Kento. He was shamelessly helping himself to the untouched fish and chips. Look, Minako being missing for weeks was as serious as it sounded, but the panic and running all the way from the Apparition point whet his appetite.

“You must understand. When travelling mirrors break, they can be difficult to put back together, so they’re often replaced with a new mirror. But you are all aware that your mirror and my own cannot simply be replaced.” There was the slightest hint of annoyance with the way Ambrose explained their current predicament, but he still maintained the patience of a saint. Kento had to applaud the Headmaster for that because he hated repeating himself too, especially if he had to explain how he fucked things up.

“Because they’re the only replicas that can travel to different worlds,” Kento suddenly spoke up, mouth full of chips. Bad idea. The food ended up getting caught in the base of his esophagus, so he tried to force it down with a pound of his fist against his chest.

“Correct.” Ambrose poured Kento a glass of water as if he was rewarding him. “I didn’t want to risk breaking your mirror once mine was repaired, so I had to wait until most of the blot subsided in the Bridge between our realms. Even so, I was losing time and I had to come to you.”

Alexis perked up from resting her cheek on her fist. “Wait, what about that hand mirror that Minako was supposed to contact us with?”

“Gone missing, just like our sister and her luggage.” Like the sound of a slow ticking of a clock, Flor retracted her fingers from the arm of her chair then rhythmically drummed them against the fabric. Slow, tense, the temperature was lowering. Big sis may not look like she had the energy to throw a fit right now, but Kento still kept his guard up.

“Those hand mirrors are also particularly hard to come by these days,” Ambrose admitted. Ah, time was a cruel thing.

“And that entire fiasco with having to pull you out of the mirror was because the space between realms was still caked with a bit of blot,” Fiona chipped in.

Flor ran her fingers through her hair that had all but loosened from her braid. If Kento didn’t know any better, he’d think his sister would look like a cranky single mother. She let out an exasperated sigh. “Just what was she so upset about that she pretty much damaged our only means to get to her?”

“I don’t think she meant to do that,” said Fiona.

“Definitely not. I guess she was a lot more anxious about transferring schools than we thought.” Alexis nervously bounced her leg with the speed of a rabbit’s foot. “She’s been getting better at hiding her emotions.”

“Do you think she got into a row with someone before she left and didn’t make up?” Fiona suggested.

And the shock and betrayal that Kento felt when everyone in the room side-eyed him. Even Snowdrop was staring at him! He was wounded deeply.

“Hey, we didn't fight!” he defended, but then he stopped. “I think…”

Kento and Minako once had a famously hostile sibling rivalry when they were young, but he would like to think that they got along much better now that they’re older. (It helped to know that upsetting his younger sister will always end in pain.) That is not to say they didn’t fight anymore. Their spats still ran deep almost like it was second nature to fight when it came to their relationship.

Oh, God. Did he offend her somehow? Maybe he said something unintentionally hurtful. Maybe it was because he ate the last ube cream donut. The intrusive thoughts continued to race in his mind, and Kento sank in his chair out of guilt.

“In any case,” Flor began, “I think it’s time we stop sitting on our asses and actually start clearing the way.” She continued, muttering the last bit as she brandished her wand, “I’m going to shine my Patronus so hard that those blotlings go blind then tear up everything and everyone in my path to find her.”

I can’t believe this woman was sorted into Hufflepuff. Flor was loyal and hardworking for sure, but her dedication to the family was Minako’s Slytherin-like level of deadly.

“Y-yes, I suppose we shouldn’t waste any more time.” A bead of sweat rolled down Ambrose’s wrinkly temple. An esteemed and sometimes humorous Headmaster of a well-renowned school was now following the commands of an ordinary witch that was Ate Flor.

Just like mom. Flor was the spitting image of her too, and Minako was well on her way to become a more cunning version of their mother.

The women in the Nezumi family are to be feared.

◐ ━━━━━ ºoº ━━━━━ ◑

Bonus: (You can decide whether this scene is canon or not)

◐ ━━━━━ ºoº Ace ºoº ━━━━━ ◑

It took a powerhouse of a magician or two along with a large amount of time to make an extension the size of a large room let alone a pocket dimension. The spacious expanses of land in the other dorms most certainly did not take one day or even two days to finish, and you still needed a bigger object than just Minako’s suitcase to shove all of that magic in.

By all accounts, the space inside Minako’s suitcase should be too unstable to exist. And yet, Ace found himself and the others following their eccentric, otherworldly friend inside her suitcase. He might never understand how magic worked where she came from.

Minako had no right to make going inside the suitcase look so easy because the minute Ace had put his second foot in, it couldn’t find the solid ground unlike his other foot. It startled him so much that he lost his balance and fell right through the chute like the girl who fell down the rabbit hole. At least his landing was cushioned by the unexpectedly spongy floor. When his vision cleared soon after his fall, he found himself looking up at the ladder going down the chute and Minako’s laughter. He missed that by a mile.

“O-oh, my god! A-are you… ha, ha, ha! Are you—” Minako couldn’t even finish her sentence as she dissolved into a pile of laughter. Ace grumbled and shot a baleful look at her.

The next person wasn’t much better at finding the ladder himself, prompting Ace to roll out of the way when Deuce plummeted from the chute into the landing area with a scream.

“Dumbass, did you seriously go in head first coming in here?” Ace jeered.

Offended, Deuce shot back, “You fell down too! I was checking to see if there was some kind of ladder…” His face turned red. “…then I fell.”

“Sorry, there isn’t much I can do to widen the entrance. The best that we could do was make the landing soft in case if you miss the ladder,” said Minako.

Suddenly, there was a shout from outside the suitcase, “Look out below!”

With a whoop and childlike glee, Cater plunged down the chute. The force of his fall was so strong that it sent Ace, Deuce, and Minako bouncing off to the side on the spongified floor. He shook his hair around as he came down from his adrenaline high then he gleefully looked around.

“There’s so much space. You could practically live in here,” he said.

“I’ve definitely tried camping in here before. My sister freaked out when she couldn’t find me since I forgot to tell her,” Minako recalled.

Next came Trey and Riddle who were the only ones who managed to find the ladder and go down as carefully as they could. Boring. Their reactions were lukewarm. Okay, maybe not completely lukewarm. Ace had noticed that the ladder had large gaps in between the steps, and seeing Riddle struggling to find his footing on the next rung managed to get a few chuckles out of him. Minako was even more of a pipsqueak than the dorm leader. How does she even climb up and down that thing on the regular?

“Boys, welcome to my suitcase,” said Minako. Those are words that Ace would never think he would hear, but considering it was his weird witch friend, it didn’t surprise him that much.

Minako went on to describe her suitcase as more of a mobile Room of Requirement rather than a walk-in closet, whatever that meant. Ace didn’t expect there to be different rooms to separate her clothes, books, and even a potion lab marked with a neon yellow Keep Out sign. What caught his interest the most were the three brooms displayed on the rack.

It caught Deuce’s attention too, drawing his attention like a flame to a moth. “You fly these?”

“Yeah, my older brother’s great at making fast-flying broomsticks, but that Firebolt Supreme is top-notch,” Minako boasted a little, pointing to an ash wood broom with metal crossbars that Ace was going to assume are foot rests. Those weren’t normally found on brooms that he’s seen before. There were little nicks on the handle here and there telling him that it was well-used but still seemed to be in great condition and regularly cared for.

“Your brother makes brooms? Do you play Magical Shift?” Ace asked.

“I don’t know what Magical Shift is, but I play a little bit of Quidditch.”

“What’s Quidditch?” Deuce asked.

“You don’t know what Magical Shift is?” Trey gaped.

“Different worlds, remember?” Minako deadpanned.

Next, Ace spotted a desk in the corner of the suitcase that was uncharacteristically messy for someone like Minako. He walked over to it. Piles of books with foreign codes were left open, pieces of parchment were haphazardly left lying around or crumpled up on not just the desk but the floor as well, and there were empty bottles of ink that desperately needed to be thrown out.

Among the ink and papers, Ace found a gaudy mesh of colours that did not blend well at all with the “aesthetic of the suitcase. He gently pulled it out only to find out that it was a long, rainbow scarf.

Ace wasn’t a fashion guy, but his eyes work and can clearly see that there was too much going on with this apparel. “Ugh, how tacky.”

“Who are you callin’ tacky?!”

Ace let out an ear-piercing shriek and immediately threw the scarf to the ground, crawling away like he had come into contact with a spider. Gaping at the flashy accessory, he watched as the multicoloured fabric suddenly form a mouth and a pair of eyes.

What. The. Fuck?

“Ace, what’s going on over there?” Riddle sounded more annoyed than concerned for him.

“It talked!”

“Hey now, that wasn’t very nice. Can someone get me off the floor?” the scarf asked.

And then came the most jarring phrase of the day that came out of Minako’s mouth, “Oh, I see you’ve met the Scarf of Sexual Preference.”*

…

“The fucking what?”

◐ ━━━━━ ºoº ━━━━━ ◑

Notes:

*Contacting Pendant: SPOILERS FOR FUTURE EVENT!!! In the Endless Halloween night event (still exclusively in the JPN server for now), the boys on the rescue mission to retrieve the missing students were equipped a mirror pendant in order to easily contact the faculty through the hand mirror that have in their possession. Yes, it's a reference to the mirror from Beauty and the Beast. The mirror and pendant are apparently antique contacting devices long before phones took over.

*Knackered: British slang for tired.

*Takeaway: The British term for takeout food.

*Wellington boot: Also known as wellies. They are what Americans call galoshes (rubber boots) that are worn over the shoes to protect them from rain or mud.

*Ribena: A British blackcurrant beverage. I learned about this drink through Florence Pugh's mukbang video. I've never had it before, but I hear that if you get it from a bottle you have to mix the drink with water. In the video, Florence drank her Ribena from a juice box, so I'm guessing that you don't have to mix it with water when it comes in a box (otherwise what was the straw for?)

*Scarf of Sexual Preference: If you have watched the AVPM (A Very Potter Musical) series, then you know what this reference is.

Fun Facts:

The pomegranate phone is a small reference borrowed from Lore Olympus.

The actress, Emma Thompson, played both Sybil Trelawney from Harry Potter and the Baroness from Cruella. I was a bit shocked to find that out. Her acting range is amazing.

Sorry for the wait! I had a lot of family events going on and July is just filled with birthdays and family visitations. I also struggled to write how the chemistry functioned with the faculty as well the rest of the family's thoughts on the predicament. However, I did have a lot of fun writing the further development with Minako's ties with Crewel siblings.

And while I know that the MC was forced to rough it when it came when they got stranded in Twisted Wonderland, Minako in particular will be treated more nicely here by the staff and close friends. Yes, I know protagonists have to suffer, but Minako's health and everyone else's safety hinges on the stability of her emotions. They're not just going to ignore the safety precautions when they know about the consequences. But I would like to let you know that the curse won't be letting up anytime soon and that some of those who don't know Minako that well or her curse will probably subject her to some piss poor treatment.

Finally, what did you all think of the Nezumi family?

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