After the final name was announced and answered, the entire group of knowledge seekers flooded into the building of Sapphire Owl House. However, waiting for them behind the grand entry, there stood a sea of upperclassmen who held out a large, unfurled tarp - with devious faces of mischief. "Congratulations~!" each boy sang in a deep unison while their smirks grew ever wider. "Eades" and the other first forms backed away slowly, fright now quite present on each of their features, but the pack was blocked from turning away from the scene when they spotted Clayton guarding the doors behind them.
"Welcome to Blue House, boys." The fag readjusted his glasses, reflecting a slight glare off of them, before ordering, "Proceed with tradition!" The sole girl in the room easily noticed the joy in his tone as he barked, and was afraid about what was to come next.
Just then, a shaggy, brown haired owlet was plucked off from the front of the horde and sent into flight as the other students tossed him up and down using the hardy fabric. Agetha edged towards the back of the crowd, hoping to gain some slack, but was instead easily pushed forward in her light-weight attempts. Her pale blue eyes only widened when a hand latched itself to her arm, dragging her onto the tarp's second round, and her lips remained utterly silent until her body flew up in midair. She made a few high-pitched wails, not unlike the boy before her, and after she was through her third lift - she was released to the other side of the older crowd. A red-headed student handed the blonde her hat, that had been lost in the excitement, and then scurried back to watch the other victims' horrored faces or laughs of delight. The first form blinked, dusted off her topper a bit, and headed toward the dorm rooms, in search of her belongings.
A month had passed since the cross-dresser's first day at the institution, and all of her letters home detailed to her governess the precautions she had taken since arriving. Using methods such as changing in the bathroom just before curfew was called and avoiding most Cricket practices through the use of doctors' notes (like most of Blue House did), Agetha was able to evade any mishaps pertaining to her "questionable" garments.
The blonde sealed her weekly letter using the wax and stamp provided by the school, and dropped it off in the house basket for mailing. Her letters had been in code at first, then she dropped minor hints of her gender, and finally her notes held no restraint of her feminine thoughts. By now, she figured that if the headmaster really did check every article, as he was allowed to in the government-cut-off facility, he would have called her in already for answers.
The petite girl grinned to herself before catching up to a few of the other owlets she had grown to flock with, and they continued onto their first period, Latin. The boy who had been the first of the first-formers to be initiated that year's name was Rollin Peaton, and the blonde figured that if she was to blend in - she should stay beside someone who matched closest to her physical meekness.
"Eades," the other friend nodded his dark head in acknowledgement to her approach. Ignatius Sim was more of a quiet fellow who kept to his studies in the science world and very little else; the company he kept was an even smaller pool in comparison to his hobbies.
She grinned at Sim's reserved nature and greeted both boys back before glancing to the side to gaze at two passing students from Purple House. Cheslock, his contrasting hair in a wild flare as always, was demonstrating a story to Violet rather than telling it. She guessed the fag was describing beating a Green Lion in cricket practice, from his violent, excited swinging motions, but the older student didn't seem at all interested in his tale. The prefect kept his dark eyes upon the charcoal sketch he was probably brilliantly sketching with each fluid flick of his left hand; the teenager was a genius in his abilities and it remained clear as to why he had his prominent school position. The blonde girl was mesmerized by the artist's seemingly flawless features, perfectly pale skin, and harshly eyeliner rimmed eyes - and the only time she was able to rip her sterling blue orbs away from the mysterious hooded boy was when he and his partner in crime stepped onto the lawn. She visibly jerked away from her obvious stalking, knowing exactly what punishment she would receive if she ever set foot on the grass during her enrollment, and she finally turned to face forward and become involved in Peaton's unrequited monologue with the dark-haired owl student.
That morning in class, while casually translating entire sentences of a dead language into English, Agetha pondered over the intriguing wolf from earlier. She lightly pondered if he ever spoke with anyone outside of his house or the prefect circle, and if he was on the marriage market. The blonde sighed after finishing the assignment early and she chalked up that her chances of verbally speaking with him were slim at best, let alone ever meeting him outside of campus. Her eyes glided lazily over the sea of older students, only her and a few other Blue first-forms being present among the other houses' boys, and she mentally questioned if she should move up to yet another advanced class. Her governess had always prepared her early for marriage - and that meant a fine education worthy of a prestigious family. She took the spare moment to stack her papers neatly on her desk, fold them, and slip them into her bag so she might turn them in the next day (their proposed due date).
Once the period was over it was 9:00 a.m. and time for breakfast, so Eades met up with her duo and they strolled back to their dorm's grand mess hall. However, she failed to notice the gaze locked upon her figure from afar.
After taking a seat at one of the numerous tables, bare of any table cloth but riddled with an assortment of food, Agetha observed silently as the help began to trickle in, carrying small tea kettles and their matching metal stands. Cups of tea were soon poured and laughter was shared as the honor students began conversing about their studies and frequented stories. The vast room was bathed in the high morning sun's rays that brightly shone through the tremendous window that bore the house's crest. Shelves lined the above balcony, where books upon books were sloppily lined up one after the other, and the unlit chandeliers held only potential in the day. The blonde's attention then fell onto a new darkened kettle that was delicately placed beside her plate. She thanked the servant for his special trip and, after he left, her face lit up with extreme glee as a wide grin spread across her features.
"It's happening again; you're scaring me, Eades." Sim had glanced up from his book on Newton's laws, only to see a "boy" who seemed to be way too happy over a drink.
The girl only waved her hand at the boy before pouring out a cup of the delectable drink. "Simple pleasures, my dear friend, simple pleasures."
"An Englishman who doesn't drink tea; what is this world coming to?!" the brown-haired fledgling spread out his arms and dramatically asked the heavens.
The Latin whiz took a sip from her imported, Spanish hot chocolate before answering with, "I'm different," and smiling.
"Then you should be in Purple House if you are so different." The jet haired boy continued on with his reading, but his comment caused a few heads to turn before gossiping whispers filled the suddenly cramped space. No one took such jokes lightly in Sapphire Owl House, and what he uttered was a sheer scandal. Mixing houses was frowned upon in the school and frequent competitions made sure of this fact, whether they were physically or intellectually based. Peaton laughed at his remark to ease the tension in the room, and for the most part it worked as other awkward chuckles sounded, but the comment was still there. There were only two exceptions to this solid rule - and one of them required being either a prefect or their fag.
However, the other exception was one that Blue House was especially known for.
The dining hour passed quickly, and fag time began as it did every school day. Both Sim and Peaton were swept away by their seniors and Agetha patiently waited for hers within the dorm's common room. "Eades, there you are!" a voice called, sounding with several pants placed after it.
"Hawdon," she greeted as she lifted herself out of the rouge colored armchair. "Why so out of breath, pray tell?"
The third-form student pushed up his rounded glasses and removed his palms from his knees, straightening out his form. Although he was older than her, his expressions and actions were far more childish. "We both have tutoring duty for the month and it's starting today - at Cricket hour."
"You ran here to tell me that, even though it won't begin for hours?" He only nodded his blonde head vigorously. "Right, well why I have I been assigned to this? Aren't the higher forms responsible for tutoring?"
"Generally yes, but you've been requested for Latin and I have already been recommended for calculus several times previous." He scratched the back of his head with a nervous expression, worrying about her answer.
Tutoring at Weston was primarily handled by Blue House and served for the purpose of helping out the other houses in their studies so they may continue to advance in their own specific areas, while the owlets received training in teaching - should they ever choose to enter the academic world themselves. This was the second exception to becoming friends with the other members of the institution, and it also was considered tradition by the school.
"I see; that's fine then, thank you for the warning, I'll gather my past study guides in preparation then." She then dismissed the conversation and carried out her duties to the older student: ironing his clothes and cleaning his side of his shared room.