Chapter 1 : Diana's prediction

Diana sighed while exiting Professor Finneran's office. As if her exam week hadn't been long enough, now she had to replace a professor for their night patrol. She thought she could relax a bit and enjoy a tranquil evening with Hannah and Barbara, but her plans were now out the window. She knew the Principal would have asked someone else if she could, but Luna Nova had reduced its staff to the bare minimum because of the false debt the dragon Fafnir had asked of them and since all the professors were already busy, she didn't have any other choice than asking this service of the best student in school. As she was ready to go back to her dorm room to tell her teammates and prepare herself for the patrol, the blonde heard someone call her :

"Diana ! Good timing, I was hoping I could talk to you. Do you have a minute ?"

The blonde hold back another sigh while turning around to face Professor Ursula. The young woman's request was surprising : unlike the other teachers -especially Finneran-, Ursula usually didn't go up to her student to talk to her outside of the classroom. To be honest, out of all of the school's teachers, Ursula certainly was the most "indifferent" to Diana : without being hostile in any way, she didn't show the same admiration and expectation of perfection from the blonde as the other professors. For that, the young prodigy was thankful : it had been a long time since she last had the sensation to be a student like any other in the eyes of a teacher. She appreciated the praises and was aware and proud of her abilities, but it didn't stop her from feeling a bit crushed under the weight of her responsibilities as well as her reputation and her family's. Knowing that at least one person in the whole world didn't expect her to be absolutely perfect at any hour of the day or night and wouldn't judge her if she, unfortunately, was to make a single mistake made her feel better. Becoming aware that she still didn't answer her teacher, Diana wiped those thoughts away and asked :

"How can I help you, professor ?"

Ursula smiled at her with a softness and a motherly look which brought the surprising desire of an embrace in Diana's heart. Preposterous : it had been a long time since she last hugged someone. Even when her teammates pressed themselves against her to celebrate a success, it was brief and she never returned their affections -not that she didn't like them, but she was a bit ill-at-ease when it came to this kind of demonstration, even if she would never admit it. Mentally shaking herself to focus on the blue haired woman, Diana prepared herself to answer any request that might be brought to her attention.

oooOOOooo

Akko had already spent half an hour scouring the hallways in search of Professor Ursula. She wanted to properly thank her mentor for defending her in the Headmistress office and so she took advantage of a trip to the city with her friends to celebrate the end of the exams to buy her a dessert as a sign of gratitude. Unfortunately, the young woman was nowhere to be found, neither in her classroom, nor her chambers, nor any other place the brunette could think of. Releasing a huge sigh, Akko resigned herself to turn around and bring her the cake later this evening, when her teacher will be back in her quarters. It brought her near the hallway where Professor Finneran's office was located. Just thinking about the barely covered attacks and insults of her elder made Akko cringe. She was brought back from her dark thoughts by two familiar voices coming from said hallway. Popping out her head to confirm her doubts, Akko smiled at seeing that she wasn't mistaken : Ursula was right there, talking with Diana. Not wanting to interrupt their conversation, Akko readied herself to step back to give her some intimacy ; the boring discussions on the complicated details of the lessons Diana often had with the teachers didn't interest her anyway -especially since she usually didn't understand a lot of what was going on. But one sentence from Ursula caught her attention and made her change her mind :

"During your astrology exam, you read Akko's future, but what you pretended to have seen has nothing to do with what you really saw, has it ? May I know why you lied ?"

Her jaw dropping at the mere idea of Diana lying during her exam -to say she would be expelled at that !-, Akko decided to hide behind the wall and listen to her classmate's reasons.

oooOOOooo

Diana tensed up upon hearing Ursula's question -which sounded more like an affirmation by the way. Of course. The young woman's clumsiness often made her forget it, but Ursula was a teacher at Luna Nova, meaning a highly-qualified witch in her field : it went without saying that she was able to read the signs Diana's magic gave to her, enough at least to know that her prediction had nothing to do with Akko's expulsion. For the second time in two minutes, Diana held back a sigh : strangely enough, the idea of Ursula reprimanding her was even more painful than the one of deceiving any other teacher in school, even Finneran. Perhaps because the young woman was usually so sweet ? Whatever it was, it would be better if she just told the truth and ended it as soon as possible. So she took a deep breath and said :

"It is not a secret for anyone that Akko admires Shiny Chariot more than anything else."

Ursula seemed to be surprised by the change of topic, but she let her student keep going.

"If there was anything or anyone able to encourage our walking disaster to surpass herself for the exams, it would have been her idol. But she disappeared many years ago. So the best option after the inspiring idol is the rival you want to defeat at any cost, isn't it ? I just thought I could use this opportunity to make her study seriously. It seems reasonable to think that if I encouraged her by saying that she will succeed, she would ride on this and not study, but if, on the contrary, I predicted her failure, she would do anything she could to contradict me.

- I see. Yes, I imagine the idea of proving you wrong get her back on her feet after her bad results at her exams and Professor Finneran's threat."

Diana who had looked away after ending her explanation for fear to see disappointment on her teacher's face looked back up to Ursula. The young woman was smiling at her with the same usual softness and a spark of amusement in her eyes. Diana immediately relaxed and breathed again, noticing at the same time that she stopped breathing while waiting for the young woman's reaction. Relief brought a tiny smile to her lips which soon became a little laugh Ursula almost immediately replicated. After a few moments spent giggling while picturing Akko throwing herself on her books, swearing to prove that Diana was wrong, teacher and student calmed down, even though their lips were still stretched in an amused smile. Diana seemingly being in a good mood, Ursula decided to ask the second question who had been bothering her since the exam day :

"Well, since your prediction didn't have anything to do with Akko's exclusion, would you tell me what you saw ?"

Diana opened her mouth to answer when she saw from the corner of her eye a movement at the end of the hallway. There, behind the wall, she noticed a piece of uniform belonging to a student with a belt a beautiful ruby red. Guessing the person's identity, Diana smiled with tenderness, looked back to her teacher and simply said :

"That she will fulfil her dream."