The next morning, she got up, putting on the uniform since it wasn't "Casual Friday" yet. She made sure to fasten the cloak with her brooch, and kept re-doing her ponytail until not a single strand was out of place. She's made sure that her school books ad everything she needed, and that her Jonkers wand was properly polished, then walked to the cafeteria while Janna and Rosemary styled each other's hair.

Morgen knew she needed to stay quiet, stay calm, and be friendly. Don't get yourself kicked out or anything.

The first half of her day went by like a dejâ-vou, with crowded hallways, her emotions detached from the positive energy of the crowd as she squeezed on by. The classes were just like Salem, the classes just as memorable.

She stumbled into fourth period with eyes glazed from concentration and her left hand smudged by pencils. Morgen pulled out another new notebook she was about to break in and began up the steps of the lecture hall. She'd gotten only three levels up when she heard someone call her name.

"Morgen! Come sit with us!"

She turned to see Rosemary, Janna, and Sol all sitting in a row. Morgen managed something more than her usual polite smile that matched her glazed eyes very well as she sat down next to Janna.

"Thanks," she said quietly.

"No problem, you're going to want to brace yourself- my dad's intense," Janna warned.

"I can handle intense," Morgen assured her.

"Good, but even if you couldn't, you wouldn't be the only fifth-year to need to go to the nurse's office," Janna said.

"Whenever Fairchild teaches a new grade besides his usual first-years, they all end up traumatized," Sol chimed in.

The bell rang, and everyone scurried to their feet. From an office adjoining Fairchild's classroom and Easthaven's, Michael Fairchild entered. He was a tall, physically-imposing man in a steel-gray cloak in contrast with his all-black uniform underneath. His face was all angles and his eyes gleamed as sharply as a knife.

"Welcome to another week in Ilvermorny's Defense course," he declared, pacing the length of the lecture floor. "Today, we continue our study of Archangel's history as the Department of Magical Education has deemed worthy for young ones like yourselves to know. This week, we will be studying the Morgansterns."

Fairchild stopped and raised his wand to the ceiling, and an image sprang to where everyone could see. Morgen immediately felt sick, looking at the image. It was clearly a boy beaten within an inch of his life, not even that- she realized when her eyes caught the heart-

She forced her head between her knees. The image wouldn't leave her mind, it was all she could see even when she closed her eyes, rocking slightly as she remembered the sticky blood, the iron smell, the rocking itself as the sirens screamed and people came running.

Morgen could see the green jet of light again, and tried to block it out of her mind, tried not to scream. She screwed her eyes shut, trying not to cry, to break down, to not be weak. It had been six years- why couldn't she pull herself together?

"Miss Sayre, do you need to go to the nurse's office?" Morgen managed to control her nausea enough to look up. A few others were looking green, but she was determined not to be weak.

"I'm fine," she almost spat in her determination to stay calm, to be strong. She had to. Purebloods are made of true steel and grit.

"Alright then," Fairchild said, and he waved his wand, dissolving the picture. "That was the last heir of Morganstern, Revan. This is what happened to his father, Dominick Morganstern."

Morgen's hand went to her mouth. While it wasn't nearly as bloody or gory as the last photograph, she was seeing a man dead on the ground in the darkness. Maybe it wouldn't bother her as much if it were bright sunlight, not the night. . .

No, stay strong, she told herself forcibly. You're going to act like a pureblood.

She just let her pen glide across the notebook, not daring to look up again.

"The Morgansterns, while most of them are respectable like our own Tana Morganstern of the Charms department," Fairchild continued, "the branch of Armitage Morganstern has been set on running Archangel, from what we deduced from Revan Morganstern's memories."

Morgen thought she saw something in Sol and Janna flinched, but ignored it, figuring that it was something like her reaction. She couldn't believe the callousness of stealing the memories from a kid who they clearly dismembered despite being seventeen at the eldest, maybe not even that.


After class, she wanted nothing more to get out when she heard her name.

"Miss Sayre, if you could come with me, please," Mr. Fairchild said. Janna looked worried, but Morgen walked into the backroom. She wouldn't act afraid. It wasn't respectable. Besides, there was nothing to fear- right?

She waited and he came in.

"Could you pick up that set of books?" he asked. She picked it up and heard a click. She whipped around, and saw that the door was closed, and Fairchild had somehow gotten a mouse.

"Crucio," he said with a careful, quiet power to him. Morgen's eyes widened and she dropped the books upon seeing the mouse in pain, squeaking and squealing. "Imperio."

The mouse began to dance and do cartwheels. Morgen let out a high-pitched laugh of fear, it was all she could do, feeling frozen on the spot. Fairchild looked disturbed at her hysterical laughter.

"This is no laughing matter," he almost growled.

Morgen shook her head frantically. "N-no sir," she said between frantic giggles.

"AV-"

"NO!" Morgen screamed, and she snatched up the tiny mouse before Fairchild could kill it. Rocking, like she did before in the lesson, before in the presentation at Mr. Gold's school, as she did six years before. She clutched the mouse under her cloak as tears of fear continued, sobs sounding an awful lot like laughs.

"Miss Sayre- MISS SAYRE, SNAP OUT OF IT!" Mr. Fairchild bellowed. He reached for the mouse, but she let it slip out of her hands and into her schoolbag.

"No! Not so you can kill it!" she shrieked, almost not aware that she was talking to her teacher. She bolted towards the door, and realized it was locked. She pounded on the door, elbowing Mr. Fairchild in attempt to defend herself as he tried to peel her off the door.

Finally, the door opened, but to the wrong classroom. Jayden Easthaven stood there with Tana Morganstern clearly in the room as well, both ladies looking irritated and bewildered.

Before anyone could say anything, the mouse dashed out onto the floor, and Morgen practically jumped on top of it.

"Miss Sayre-"

"You've done enough here," Morganstern said icily as Morgen got to her feet with the mouse in hand. "Go get ready for your next class, Michael- we'll handle this."

"I want my mouse back," Mr. Fairchild said irritably.

"He's not going back to an animal murderer!" Morgen cried, hugging the mouse close.

"He's not your mouse, he's Mr. Fairchild's," Easthaven said in a calm voice.

"And he was torturing it and was about to murder it!" she shrieked.

"I'll take it," Morganstern said. "I'll take it. Give me the mouse."

"Tana, this isn't your business-"

"I told you, you've done enough," Morganstern said icily as she gently took the mouse from Morgen. "Let me guess, you tried to do the same thing you do to the first-years? You clearly didn't read the file!"

"What do you mean?" Mr. Fairchild demanded, glancing at Morgen, then Tana.

"Michael!"

"I'm going to take her to the nurse's office," Easthaven said.

"No- I should get to class-" Morgen said quickly.

"I think it would be best if you went to the nurse's office- you seem pretty upset," Easthaven said.

"No, I'm late enough to Skyler's class as it is," Morgen said as she swiped her tears away.

"What didn't I read?" Mr. Fairchild demanded in a low voice as Easthaven ushered Morgen out.

"Michael, her parents were murdered with the Killing Curse," Morganstern chided as the door shut behind them. Morgen then ran. She ran through the halls to the history class- Mara Ray Skyler's class.


She tripped coming in, but barely regained her balance, and scouted for an empty desk.

"Morgen Sayre?"

Morgen's head swiveled to see the tall woman with frizzy red curls and too-big green eyes that was smiling warmly-for an adult, although there was an edge to it.

"I'm Ms. Skyler, I just want to welcome you to my class, and I'd like to place you here," she said, gesturing to the desk in front of the teacher's. "You're going to like today's class."

"Okay," Morgen said with a shrug, feeling numb and tired after the spike of emotions inspired by Fairchild's class.

The bell rang, and unlike the other classes, the students remained chatting. Ms. Skyler got to her feet. "Alright class," she said, her voice naturally booming over theirs. "As you see, we have a new student? Ready to watch her initiation?"

"Initiation?" Morgen asked, confused and slightly afraid.

"It's fun," Ms. Skyler promised. She then assumed an imperial posture that fitted a woman of her stature perfectly. "Please take the textbook from under your chair and open it to the introduction."

Confused, Morgen did so, aware that the chattering had turned to a whispering and all eyes were on her. She skimmed over the bland preface of how wonderful it would be to learn about history and repeating the previous generation's mistakes.

"Done reading?" Ms. Skyler asked eagerly.

Morgen nodded hesitantly.

"Now forget everything you just read," she said, smiling widely. "You will not be learning about pureblood white male wizard bullshit this year! You will be learning from resources I have spent most of my career tracking down so children can learn how it all really went down! Now rip the introduction from the book!"

"What?" Morgen asked as a boy in the back magicked the trash bin from near him to right by her desk.

"Rip it apart, destroy the lies- let out anything you're feeling on that textbook!" Ms. Skyler encouraged.

Morgen then tore out the first page, remembering every feeling that she didn't belong, that she wouldn't live up to anyone's expectations for her, all the taunts and stupid things. She ripped with impunity, and smiled while doing it, feeling free for once.

"Doesn't that feel good?" Ms. Skyler asked as she grabbed a small muggle object that looked like a tiny gun. "This is a lighter- set the book on fire!"

Morgen didn't hesitate. She clicked the lighter and watched the flame lick the page. She quickly grabbed the edges, then tossed it to the pond in the garden outside, below the fifth story. With starling accuracy, it caused steam to rise into the air.

When Morgen stepped away she became aware of the cheers screaming her name, and they were all cheering, welcoming her into their ranks. For once, Morgen felt both free and like she belonged.