Yeah, this is basically my take on a fantasy-story that isn't really Potterstuck, though I do like those stories. And it's also humanstuck.

Chapter Text

‘Dammit Rezi, I’ll miss you!’ Your sister almost chokes you in her hug. When she lets you go, it’s your mother’s turn to tightly hold you.

‘She is right, we’ll all miss you.’

‘No worries,’ you say. ‘I’ll see you in two months. And I’ll try not to make too much trouble,’ you add with a sharp grin. Both Latula junior and Latula senior quirk their mouths in the Pyrope-way. The way people say looks like a question-mark. ‘We have absolutely no idea what you mean, you never ever make trouble.’

‘No, usually it’s Pyralspite who messes up !’ Latula jr. nods at the dragon. It’s calmly sitting a few feet away from you, and by far the most peaceful member of the family. Your mother turns her head sharply to the right. A girl in a long orange dress is yelling at a younger girl with a grey jacket on. You can’t hear exactly what they’re saying, but when they walk closer, Latula sr. puts an arm around you and your sister. She guides you closer to your family dragon. ‘The Serket family, god I hoped they would choose a different magical education facility. But the Marquise never fails to choose the best of the best.’

Behind the bickering girls walks a tall woman. Her hair is by far the blackest and heaviest you’ve ever seen. She wears a long coat with blue markings, and a huge hat to match. There’s something unnerving in the slow, graceful way she moves. Her voice is deep and breathy when she sharply says: ‘Aranea and Vriska, if you would stop squabbling like that, you’re giving our family a bad name.’ Both of the girls immediately shut their mouths. The older sister sharply elbows the younger one, and you see her hiss something in her ear. The other woman, you assume the mother of the two, goes on about what power the youngest sister is bound to acquire. It sounds like a lot of heavy talk to you.

‘Bad name?’ your mother grumbles. ‘Like you can have a worse name than the Serkets. All thieves, pirates and manipulators.’

‘Aranea used to be reasonable,’ Latula jr. says. ‘Until she got a bit too obsessed with her lighty powers. And started hanging out with Meenah Peixes. I’m still surprised that girl didn’t get kicked out.’

‘Well, they never kicked out the time magician who went rogue and… paralyzed a boy, I believe? I’m happy that they follow a stricter set of rules here now. In the time I was on AMS, they didn’t even give one stroke of the whip to thieves and cheaters.’ Latula sr. looks sharply at the Serkets with that last sentence.

AMS. It stands for Alternia Magic School. You’re excited to start here. For years you’ve waited until you were old enough. Now, a few days after you’ve turned thirteen, you stand in front of the huge school terrain. A few months before this, you’ve seriously started researching all twelve forms of magic. Rage, Time and Doom were the first three to go for you. In negative emotions you’re not interested, and the literal manipulation of time or fate doesn’t sound appealing too. Life sounded too vague, Hope too hard to master. Void was odd and secretive, Light and Space too one-sided. Breath had been on your list for a long time, until you saw that with Pyralspite, you were able to do anything with air and wind you wanted to. Besides, if you successfully finished a specialization, you’d be able to fly anyways. All three of the aspects that were left after you’d thinned out your list had something to do with emotions. Blood was the next one to go, you couldn’t see a use for it besides strengthening bonds between people, and that wasn’t something you wanted to devote your entire life to. Now you were stuck between Heart and Mind. The first one was soul and emotions. You knew that Heart-specialists were crazily powerful when fully realized. But Mind, as your mother had said, you already had. It was your own power you’d amplify with magic. Your older sister had chosen Mind too. She was able to see into people’s memories if she tried hard enough, and there are these combat spells, so-called “fraymotifs”, that were almost scarily powerful sometimes.

You look around the terrain a bit. The Serket family is still in hot discussion. The youngest girl seems to be taking the brunt of the anger from both the Marquise and her sister. They’re belting her with reprimanding words about power and honor for the family. Poor girl , you think, before remembering what your mother said about the family. Close to you, a three very tall women are happily talking to two girls who are obviously sisters. Maybe there’s a year or two difference between the two, but both have the same hair, almost white, and the taller one is clinging to the shoulders of the younger sister. She calls out to three guys. ‘Hey! Dirkie! C’mover here, I wanna know what you’re gonna choose!’

To the left of you, a different girl already seems to practice some kind of spell. She puts both hands in front of her, thumb and index finger in a ninety-degree angle and says: ‘Like this, Jake! Like this, I’ll be able to use my powers!’

Then a voice calls out over the terrain: ‘To all the new pupils of Alternia Magic School, could you come to the main hall? I, your excellent host, will lead the choosing ceremony there.’

‘Time to go,’ you say. With one last Pyrope-family hug, you say goodbye to them for two months. As you walk to the gates with the rest of the pupils, you hear the Marquise say:

‘And don’t forget, mastery of your power is mastery of your worthiness!’

In the stream of people, you walk into the hall. As you take a seat, one by one the pupils are called forward by a woman with a kind but grave face. She introduces herself as Calliope. The space-symbol is embroidered onto her long robes, and she seems to inspire the courage to choose a clear path in everyone in the hall. Only a few boys and girls stick in your memory. A timid boy who stutters “Breath”, really softly, a small girl who goes for Heart. The older white-haired sister strangely chooses Void, her younger, more serious sister the opposite, Light. Vriska Serket chooses Light too, and you hear the whispers around you. After an excited girl happily blurts out that she chooses Life, you are called forward.

‘Terezi Pyrope, what will your specialization be?’

You take a deep breath. ‘I choose Mind.’

‘A rare, but good choice,’ she says and hands you a sash. It’s green, the color of the Mind-aspect. As you walk back to your seat, you hold it tightly. The rest of the ceremony goes by in somewhat of a buzz. A tall, extremely muscular guy says Void, the girl you saw signing outside, her name appears to be Jade, happily goes for Space. When all pupils have been assigned to their aspects, other people, which Calliope says are teachers, lead you to your barracks. With that word, you think a bit of soldier’s quarters, but these are much better than you expect. There are twelve bunk beds in every cabin, and a large fireplace in the back. Twelve beds, one for every aspect, you realize.

‘I call dibs on this one!’ Vriska suddenly storms past you and flings herself down on the one closest to the fireplace.

‘Hey! Royalty first!’ A tall boy pulls the cheery life-magician with him to the two beds on the other side of the fireplace. Suddenly everyone in the cabin is claiming his or her spot, and you’re a bit behind in the rush. Two beds are left, both upper beds. One is above a lanky boy with a dreamy expression, the other one above Vriska. You look to the other leftover. The timid boy with the Breath-aspect.

‘Ehhhm,’ he starts. ‘Do… you eh, want that one?’ He shakily points at the bed above Vriska, who grins with a devilish smile at the both of you. Clearly he’s much more interested in the other bed. You agree, it doesn’t seem right to leave him with a girl like the Marquise’s daughter. As you put your bag with possessions down on your mattress, Vriska pinches your leg.

‘I’d watch out with that, if I were you.’

‘Oh you’re not getting your hands on any of my stuff,’ you snap at her. Before she can start bickering with you, the excited Life-trainee says:

‘So, what are your names and aspects? I’m Feferi, and I’ve chosen Life!’

‘Aradia, and I’m going to train in Time-magic,’ a brown-haired girl from the bed below a boy with odd red and blue glasses says.

The Breath-magician who you spared from getting his stuff stolen by Vriska is called Tavros. The guy below him asks if he can call everyone bro or sis. ‘But only if you’re okay with that, of course. What do you say, Tavbro?’

You wonder how he’s going to call you. He says his name’s Gamzee, and he specializes in… Rage-magic? ‘I wanna try and do something good with those negative emotions inside my brain. Like, make some miracle’s happen with them.’

‘Sounds a bit stupith,’ the boy with the glasses says. His name is Sollux, and he has chosen Doom, because he claims to hear voices that tell him that everything is going to shit some time. The Blood-magician of your group is called Karkat, and you immediately think he’s cute, short and shouty. The elegant girl you saw on the terrain outside is Kanaya, she is the group’s Space-specialist has an interest in design and likes doing research about creatures like Vampires and even expresses interest in turning into one some day. You want to say that you know a dragon, she seems like she’ll enjoy meeting Pyralspite one day, when Vriska cuts her off.

‘Yeah, sure. Jeez, such boring losers you all are. I’m Vriska Serket, daughter of the Marquise of Serket Estate, also known as Mindfang. I’m heiress to more money than you can ever imagine. And I’ve, of course, chosen the Light-aspect since it’s the coolest and most powerful of the twelve. More powerful than you dumb losers.’

The last sentence sounds a bit forced. You decide to introduce yourself before she can gloat anymore and say: ‘I’m Terezi, I’ve chosen Mind, and I uh… I like the Law. And justice, my mother is a prosecutor.’

‘Oh yeah, you’re the one with the purrity dragon, aren’t you?’ The voice comes from a bed across the room. A small girl lies on her belly in a high bed with her hands under her head. ‘I’d like to pet it one day. Can I?’

‘Of course, Pyralspite loves being petted, especially when you scratch the back of his neck, he also loves treats, like-’

‘What is this? Dragon exposition hour? Get on with the boring introduction shit already!’ Vriska shouts.

The girl seems taken aback a bit, but she say’s she’s Nepeta, and has chosen Heart. The guy in the bed below her is the Void-specialist with the muscles. He’s Equius and you have no doubt that he’d be able to lift a small house. The last one is Eridan, he’s the Hope-magician of your group and claims he and Feferi, who are closely related, are family of the Empress herself. You talk and joke for the rest of the evening. Food is brought to the barrack. In the weekends, you eat with every pupil in the main hall, your excellent host explains. Aradia asks his name.

‘Call me Scratch,’ he says. After your first two months here, you’re going to have to cook your own meals three out of seven says in the week, he explains. With that, he leaves you to enjoy your meal. When you’re ready to sleep and pull the blankets over your chin, you feel a sharp kick in the mattress. With a swift movement, you bend over the edge of the bed.

‘What was that for, Serket?’

‘What?’ she asks. ‘I did nothing. Bluh.’ She sticks out her tongue to you and turns on her side. It takes some time until you fall asleep. You constantly hear someone whisper. When you sit up and want to ask if whoever is doing that can stop, you realize that it comes from the bed below you. ‘Mastery of your power is mastery of your worthiness,’ Vriska repeats, over and over again.

A Month later

After a long day, you’re finally back in the cabin. God, you’re happy that you don’t have to cook today, you’ll just get food from the school. After a bit of fussing, Kanaya and Feferi have made a schedule for the twelve of you. You have to cook tomorrow, with tall Equius and, sadly, Vriska. Although, the girl’s not quite as bad as you had thought. The first day, you were able to beat her in two physical tests, the sprint and a weight-lifting test. The last one was unfair, in your opinion. You had already practiced things like that with Latula and your mother. But she clapped you hard on the back and said something like “good for you, Pyrope”, which you had decided to take as a complement. Your magic training had been hard. You were having trouble with “awakening the power of your mind”, as the tutor called it. But that happened to the best of magicians, she had said. You didn’t really worry. Your personal favorite lesson is definitely sword-fighting. You’ve already adopted a dual-sword technique, and were able to beat every girl in your cabin, and Eridan, Tavros and Gamzee. The door swings open. Almost everyone perks up, expecting an early dinner. But it is Scratch and two guards that step in. A Time and a Doom symbol glistens on their armor. Scratch doesn’t have a symbol of any kind, which you find odd.

‘Hello, my little magicians. I have an unpleasant message for you,’ he says. ‘A bag with pastries, intended for this evening’s dinner, has been stolen from the kitchens. We found a half-eaten one just outside the window of this cabin. Now that can’t be a coincidence, can it?’

You hear Vriska shift on the bed below you. She has stolen them, you intuitively know. Sudden quick movements betray a thief, your mother has told you.

‘If the culprit would be so kind to step forward? Then we won’t have to make this so hard.’ Scratch looks around the room. You hear a soft hiccup from underneath you. Scratch’s eyes go to the young Serket. Her half stuttered confession is enough for you to hear how scared she is.

‘Well well, Vriska. I am afraid that you have to face the whip for this offense of yours then. Ten streaks.’

The punishment your mother talked about. It seems a little wrong though, a flogging just because of a few stolen pastries. That sentence is out of your mouth before you know it.

Scratch doesn’t even look up to you as he says: ‘It might seem that way, little Pyrope. I am sure your mother wouldn’t take this as lightly as you. She has send people to the gallows.’

‘For worse things than this,’ you say. Vriska looks at you. There’s confusion in her eyes, and some kind of weird look of anticipation.

‘And furthermore-’ Scratch goes on. ‘This is small Serket’s fourth offense this entire month. Two times she has taken a shortcut in an obstacle course during the physical education lessons. And I am not forgetting the stolen money from my very own office or the time she tested her powers on the Space-magician Jade. Luckily the only thing that happened to the poor girl was that she temporarily fell asleep, but they are crimes.’ He looks at Vriska again and you see her cower.

This isn’t right, you think. He’s being way too harsh. Those are just minor offenses, give her an extra cooking job or something, but the whip is going too far. If she’d hurt anyone… okay, then she’d actually deserve it, but now? You get up from your bed and jump onto the floor. ‘Actually, mister Scratch… I’ve helped her.’

Vriska’s eyes bug out. ‘N-n-’

‘Yes, don’t you try to deny this, Serket.’ You try to speak with as much despise as you can. ‘I stood on guard while she went into the kitchens. I made sure that I’d warn her if anyone would come. Her family motto I’d say then, loudly. Mastery of your power is mastery of your worthiness, that is.’

That makes Vriska gasps, she starts to say something along the lines of “how do you even know-” when Scratch quickly adjusts the sentence. Six streaks for her, four for you. At least it’s less than the ten she would get , you think. It’s over in a flash. Four quick shots of pain along your back. You manage to stand up and stumble to Vriska’s bunk when the guard lets you go. You shut your eyes when she receives hers. With a final word, Scratch and the guards leave.

‘No healing,’ he says, directed to both Feferi and Kanaya. Vriska sits down next to you. She whimpers and grabs your shoulder, hard. But she doesn’t cling to you for long, after a few seconds, she just falls on her stomach on her blanket. You climb up to your bed and grab the Mind-aspect sash you have. The long streaks stretch unpleasantly when you jump back off, but you start dabbing the green fabric to her back. At first she turns her head sideways and just looks at you, the she stops your hand. ‘You’ll get red blood all over that thing, use a towel or something.’

‘Here, Terezi, use this.’ Karkat throws you a towel, slightly damped with water. It works much better than the sash.

‘Mhm, cold… feels good,’ Vriska softly says when you press it to her back.

Feferi advises both of you not to bandage the wounds, because shallow injuries should dry in the air. Vriska clumsily sits up and takes the bloodied towel from you. She first folds it clean side up, then says you should lay down.

‘I’d prefer to keep sitting,’ you mumble, grabbing one of the posts of the bed for support. She was right when she said the cold felt good. You let her dab the lashes. It’s oddly silent in the cabin. When you look up at the rest of your cabinmates, almost all of them are staring at you. Except Gamzee, he’s just staring at the underside of the bed above him. Vriska also notices the silence.

‘What are you all looking at?’ she snaps. ‘Go back… doing whatever the hell you were doing… Please?’

As your cabinmates slowly unfreeze, she asks you: ‘I thought you liked justice so much, why did you do that thing just yet?’

‘So you actually listened when I said that?’

‘Kind of.’ She hangs the towel over the edge of your bunk and flops down on her mattress. With a tinge of nervousness, you carefully lie down next to her.

‘Well, justice… fine. But that wasn’t justice. Ten streaks of the whip just because of some stolen pastries. In the courtblock, criminals get thirty when they’ve helped with murder. That’s only three times as many… eh, I might be a little different than you though, with these beliefs.’

‘Maybe… or maybe you’ve got a legislator for a mother and I just don’t.’ She shifts on the bed and puts one arm under her head. You’re a bit speechless for a second. And surprised that she’s opening up to you. But you decide to let your own question wait until nightfall. After dinner, which both of you ate sitting on her bed, everyone has settled in his or her sleeping place. Eridan is trying to get both Feferi and Sollux interested in a story he’s telling, the latter is clearly busy chatting with Aradia. Both Kanaya and Nepeta are drawing. Earlier this month you’ve seen some of Kanaya’s designs. Beautiful dresses and colorful shirts. Equius quietly looks on and on Gamzee’s bunk, he, Tavros and Karkat are playing a card game. The latter throws his cards down in frustration and starts a tirade against Gamzee, who just laughs and suggests another game. You start to climb the short ladder up to your bed, when Vriska taps on your leg. ‘C’mere for a second.’

‘Sure.’ You jump down, wincing when you hit your painful shoulder against a post of the bed. You stand in front of her, waiting what she wants to say, when she taps on the pillow.

‘No, I meant here. Just for a minute.’

‘Oh.. alright,’ you say while lying down beside her. With a shirt on, you can lay on your back without too much trouble. To your surprise, she puts her head on your shoulder.

‘Just a minute,’ she repeats.

You glance down at her hand. She’s holding her Light-aspect sash. The bright shades of orange strongly contrast with the blue shirt and black pyjama pants she’s wearing. She spots you looking at it. ‘Do you ever wear yours?’

‘No. And I won’t now anyways, it’s all bloody.’

‘I’m sorry…’

‘It’s fine. But eh, I wanted to ask something… two things actually. First of, how did you drop that one pastry outside? You seem like quite a thief if you can steal from Scratch’s office.’

She sheepishly looks at you and nods over to Eridan and Feferi’s bunk. ‘I came through their window, I was eating one on the way back and thought I’d put it back in the bag. It must have fallen out.’

The window, so that’s how she got out. With a deep breath you ask your second question: ‘Your sister, I saw her yelling at you the first day-’

‘Aranea is… not nice. A good magician, sure. But she’s so pushy and frustrated all the time. I’m not really looking forward to over a month, when our first trimester here is over.’

‘So you’re going back home then?’ You know you most certainly are. The small cottage of the Pyropes will be a welcome sight for you. And you’ll be happy when you see Pyralspite again. You miss flying on his back a lot. Vriska shakes her head.

‘No, I’m staying here. I send them a letter already, “extra training to become more powerful” and more of that bullshit.’

‘You can go with me if you want to,’ you offer her. ‘I’ll arrange everything with my family.’

She looks completely dumbfounded at you. ‘I eh, well-’

‘It’s not an estate like the Marquise has, just a cottage, but it’s warm and it’s… home.’

‘If you’re sure that the Pyropes will say yes, I’d really like to.’ A little smile is on Vriska’s face. ‘But my family will come over to the school over a month, just to see me.’

‘I’ll talk to them, or my mother will. I’m sure she can convince the Marquise to let you stay with us, it’s only two weeks!’

You’re really hoping for the best. As you want to say this, she has fallen asleep on your shoulder. Nepeta softly giggles from her bed.



‘You’re cute as furriends,’ she says. ‘Purrely platonic, of course.’