The Fairy Who Cried Witch

A collaboration by one.foot.out.the.door and LadyNightSky

Disclaimer: To quote one.foot.out.the.door, this is a one-size-fits-all disclaimer x). We are not in any way associated with or claim to own Winx Club. That's all you're going to get for this story, folks. It stands for every single word we put up here.

Before the gold and the glimmer have been replaced
Another sun soaked season fades away

"Stolen" by Dashboard Confessional

Chapter One

Nolee Denvers stood in the line in front of Alfea's Head of Discipline. She didn't know who the severe, strict-looking teacher was, but she was in no hurry to meet her. Luckily, the registration line was creeping along at an excruciatingly slow rate. As she waited, she gazed around in slight awe at the soaring pink towers and halls that made up Alfea.

A nervous air hung about the crowd of new students gathered in the courtyard, while the older students strutted about, carrying themselves with a confidence that was more than a little bit intimidating.

After what seemed like an eternity, Nolee was in front of the imposing woman. "Name and realm?" she demanded.

"Nolee Denvers, of Eraklion," she piped up nervously.

The Head of Discipline handed her an envelope and turned to the next person in line.

Nolee hurried on, not wanting to be in the woman's vicinity, and stopped beneath a willow tree to examine the envelope. It was the same pink color as the school, edged with gold trim and sealed with an opaque wax depiction of fairy wings. She opened it carefully, not wanting to destroy it, and pulled out a cream colored parchment. In elegant, flowing gold script it read:

Dear Miss Denvers,

We here at Alfea are most pleased to welcome you to our school, and sincerely hope that you enjoy your time here. We understand that you are transferring to our school, and have had prior private tutoring on your home planet of Eraklion. We will therefore treat you as a junior, and have assigned you a dorm with four other girls of your age. Please, after attending orientation in the Main Hall, report to room number 68975, where your new dorm mate, Princess Stella of Solaria, will greet you.

It was signed Ms. Faragonda, Headmistress.

Nolee gulped. FOUR other girls? What if they didn't like her? What if they teased her because she had never been to a school before? Plus, her roommate was a princess! Didn't princesses have other princess friends? She'd never even seen a princess in person before, never mind shared a room with one! Calm down! She ordered herself, fighting the rising panic and helplessness that welled up inside her at the thought of her shortcomings and doubts.

She heard a booming voice announce over the P.A. that the orientation was set to begin, and hurriedly stuffed the envelope into her bag and headed off towards the Main Hall, following the floating signs that had suddenly appeared out of thin air as soon as the announcement had been made.

When Nolee entered the Main Hall, a tall, distinguished-looking lady stood at a podium in front of a crowd of girls, most of them younger than Nolee. She could only guess that they were freshmen. Beside the woman was the unpleasant-looking Head of Discipline. It occurred to Nolee that she didn't even know her name.

Hopefully, I'll never need to find out, she thought, making a quick vow to stay well out of trouble.

The lady at the podium clapped her hands, and an instant silence fell over the room. "Welcome to Alfea, girls," she began warmly. "I am Ms. Faragonda, your headmistress, and this is Ms. Griselda, your Head of Discipline. You all will find a copy of Alfea's handbook in your dorms when you are dismissed, so I will not bore you now lecturing about the rules. Something I am sure you are all quite happy about."

The audience gave an appreciative laugh. Nolee, however, felt panic again. They have an entire book filled with rules?

"I'd like to begin by letting you all know what Alfea is. I'm sure you all know that it is a school, or at least, I hope you all do." Ms. Faragonda paused as the crowd chuckled again. "But Alfea is more than just a school. This is a place for learning, a place for growing. You will find yourself here in these halls, and you will come to know things you have never known before. Your magical powers will develop fully, and you will emerge from these doors a bigger person then you entered them."

Nolee pursed her lips. Wasn't that asking a rather lot from teenagers? Talk about setting the bar high.

"And with that, I ask that you all to begin your journey by filing quietly and in an orderly manner through those double doors to your left, where the professors in the lobby are waiting to direct you to your dorms. We ask you to please meet your roommates and begin to unpack as much as you can before dinner in the cafeteria at 6:30. There, we will be handing out class schedules. You are dismissed."

The crowd rose as a whole, and swept out of the hall chattering and laughing. Nolee followed the masses until she spotted the 60000 corridor, and turned down it.

As she walked down the hall, she noticed that there were fewer room doors than there had been in other hallways, and they were spaced wider apart. That means bigger rooms. What could I have possibly done to merit a bigger room? Aren't they reserved for princesses and such? she thought.

Her new room was quite far along the hall, and a gold plaque hung on the deep mahogany door, proclaiming Stella, Princess of Solaria; Bloom, Princess of Sparx; Musa the Harmonic Nebula; Flora of Linphea; Tecna of Zenith; Nolee of Eraklion.

Nolee tentatively rapped on it, and it immediately flew open, revealing a beautiful blonde girl with laughing amber eyes, dressed in a distinctively upper class style.

"Hey Bloom, I-," the blonde chirped happily, then stopped as she noticed that she wasn't addressing the correct person. "Well, well, well, I suppose you're Nolee?" she continued carefully, her voice now deeper and more mature than the cheerful tone of before.

Nolee nodded wordlessly, and the blonde beckoned her in. She stopped over the threshold into a completely different world.

Stella studied the new girl as she gaped at the luxurious foyer. Her name, she remembered from an earlier discussion with Faragonda, was Nolee, and she hailed from Eraklion. She absentmindedly wondered how Nolee and Sky would get along, Sky being the prince of her realm and all, then turned to analyzing Nolee herself.

She had dark brown, almost black, hair that was shot through with a golden color, and fell in thick, glossy waves to her waist. Her face was dominated by two large, wide-spaced, amethyst colored eyes framed with sooty black lashes above high, broad cheekbones. Her skin was ivory pale and flawless, and a straight, small nose perched over a pair of ruby lips that were currently slightly apart in an unbecoming gape.

Altogether, a beautiful, rather aristocratic, face, even though Stella could plainly tell Nolee didn't have a drop of noble blood; she didn't carry herself with a proud, regal air: shoulders back and nose upturned. Even Bloom, who hadn't known she was a princess until recently, carried herself with that special grace that was only derived from birth. However, there was something attractive in Nolee's eager, nervous manner. She'll be a regular boy magnet, Stella thought, quirking her lips into a smile.

Nolee didn't notice Stella scrutinizing her; she was much too caught up in observing her opulent new surroundings. The foyer she had just stepped into personified understated elegance; the furniture was glossy oak, upholstered in pure white silk, and the floors were real snow marble streaked with jet. Two pillars supported the low part of the ceiling, which went on to rise steeply until it became a vaulted, soaring point overhead that was punctuated with skylights. The right hand corner of the room was sunken into the ground, with a few steps leading downwards, a group of plump sofas hunched around a slim television no thicker than Nolee's finger. Abstract art and vases standing in alcoves lined the walls, and Nolee's head spun at all the wealth. Are ALL the rooms like this, or am I just lucky? she thought. Suddenly, she was aware of the bemused stare that the blonde girl, most likely Princess Stella, was leveling at her. She blushed, and turned to face her, eyes downcast in mortification that she'd been caught gaping as if she'd never seen luxury in her life, which, now that she thought about it, she never had, if this was luxury.

"H-Hello," she stuttered. "I'm Nolee."

The princess gave a tinkling laugh, and extended a hand. "I'm Stella of Solaria."

Nolee grasped the proffered hand and shook it enthusiastically, if not a little shyly.

"I guess you're wondering why you got this room, huh?" prompted Stella, obviously referring to the fact that Nolee was plainly unused to silk and satin cushions. Nolee nodded wordlessly. "Well," the princess continued, "it used to be mine, but I decided I was getting a bit lonely in here without all my girls, and requested a roommate. Of course, I must introduce you to the Winx later; they'll absolutely love you."

The look on Nolee's face was precious in itself. You know the cute expression a kitten gets when it falls off of a chair and isn't quite sure how it wound up on the floor? That was Nolee's face for a moment.

I just got here! I just met my roommate! I just saw my dorm! Now Stella wants me to meet her friends?! Nolee's mind cried incredulously. Things are happening so fast... Can't we just stop for a minute?

"Of course," Stella continued, "You probably want to unpack first--"

Nolee nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, I'd really love to unpack first."

The princess smiled. "I figured as much. Your room is in here..." She led the way to the room she would now be sharing with her. "Like I said, I didn't have a roommate until now, so if you don't really like the colors or something, we can change it." She opened the door and Nolee stepped through it.

"I actually get to sleep in here?" was the first thing out of Nolee's mouth.

She blinked a few times, stepped back, and gaped yet again. It seemed like she would be doing quite a bit of gaping here at Alfea. She was flabbergasted that Stella would suggest that she didn't like this room. At the moment, it seemed phenomenal, incredible, impossible. She hesitatingly stepped into the room, as if afraid to ruin its splendor. The foyer looked like a humble shack next to this.

The room was an enormous display of wealth. Nolee didn't dare touch anything, even though everything looked extremely comfortable. Good furniture isn't meant to be sat on, Nolee remembered her mother saying to her about the mahogany dining set that was the sole luxury her parents had. In the far left had corner, two beds canopied in golden velvet and covered with numerous crimson silk comforters reigned, surrounded by an assortment of vanities and drawers made of deep red wood, polished to a magnificent shine. The beds themselves looked like they came up to her torso, and both even had a miniature ebony stairway leading up to their covers.

In the laterally opposite corner, a long, welcoming stone fireplace radiated warmth. In front of it sat several big armchairs upholstered in the same golden velvet as the bed; crimson stitching forming whimsical designs on it.

Directly in front of Nolee was a beautiful painting of Alfea that spread from the bed to the fireplace, its colors contrasting against the dark wood paneling of the walls. Large bay windows hung with gold and crimson drapes dominated the entire right hand side of the room, and a desk complete with a computer and a flat screen TV opposed it on the left side. Overhead, hundreds of shining bubbles obscured the ceiling, casting the space in a smooth glow.

The room had an air of richness and warmth, very comforting to Nolee. She fought the instinct to bound over to a bed and leap onto it, instead taking carefully measured steps toward its direction. Stella, beside her, ignored Nolee's attempts to be regal, and leaped onto a bed herself, reclining on the satin pillows and looking at her expectantly. Nolee gave up, and copied Stella's movements, feeling the soft fabric under her part to let her sink into the downy mattress.

Nolee sighed contentedly. Stella giggled. Nolee blushed, ashamed once again of her humble upbringing.

"Oh, don't be embarrassed. I just laughed because that's exactly what I did the first time jumped on this bed. They're so comfortable, just you wait till you actually get to sleep on them. It's like…" Stella sighed. "Forgive the cliché, but it's honestly like sleeping on a cloud."

"Have you ever slept on a cloud?" Nolee asked, intrigued.

Stella nodded. "I actually think these beds are better."

Nolee laughed. She could already tell she would enjoy going to this school, and she loved her roommate.

"So, are you going to unpack, or what?" Stella asked. "The sooner you unpack, the sooner you can meet the other girls."

Nolee sighed and climbed out of her bed. Stella followed suit. "Your luggage should be in the foyer." Nolee nodded and went to find it.

When she returned, Stella gasped. "How did you fit all of your stuff in just two trunks? I have five already, and Daddy still needs to send my gowns for the dances."

"I don't have that many clothes," Nolee shrugged. She tried to look like she didn't really care, but she felt her face heat up. Again.

"Oh, stop blushing," Stella scolded her. "Puh-leese, are you always this worried about what people think of you? Half of my friends aren't royal. I mean, I've been told I'm shallow, but I'm not so shallow I'll judge you by how much money your family has."

Nolee looked stricken. "I didn't mean to say you were shallow!" she exclaimed quickly.

"I know," Stella smiled. "Other people, however, have made it clear that I am."

"You don't seem shallow at all," Nolee said sincerely.

Stella thanked her. "You want some help unpacking?"

To be continued...

Well, there's chapter one! Love it, hate it? To read or not to read, that is the question.

Xo,
one.foot.out.the.door
LadyNightSky