Luna Nova Cafeteria
It is Saturday, just one day before the Banquet that will see Appleton Academy's students as well as Luna Nova's alumni visiting the academy. Four days after Akko and Lotte had resolved the issue with the Curse of Annabel Creme and convinced Mary-Ann Lait to resume being the (current) author of Nightfall. Four days after Lotte discovered that Barbara, one of Luna Nova's two bullies, is a closeted fan of Nightfall.
As of now, the cafeteria is filled with the chatter of students talking about the Banquet and anything related to it.
"The boys from Appleton are coming! I bet they're really handsome~"
"I'd be honored to meet with the witches who graduated before us!"
"Perhaps some of Luna Nova's alumni got into very high positions! I heard that one even became a high-ranking general of the US Air Force!"
"Between the boys from Appleton and Luna Nova's alumni, which one are you hoping to see the most?"
"Is it true that the head of the WHO will be coming as well?"
The only person in the cafeteria who isn't talking about the Banquet at all is Diana who just ate her breakfast while listening to Hannah and Barbara talk about the Banquet to each other.
"The Little Miss Perfect Cabbage seems to be thinking about something..." Sucy took note as she observed Diana from the table occupied by the Red Coven.
"Isn't she always thinking about something?" Akko, still munching on her pickled plums, wondered out loud.
"Only this time, whatever's on her mind right now seems to be making her angry..." Sucy clarified.
"Like her being not worthy to wield Shiny Rod?" Lotte suggested, as she glanced at the Rod which Akko has secured to her sash.
If Shiny Rod could emote, it would've shuddered as it remembered that time from four days ago when Lotte violently retaliated against it for insulting Nightfall.
"Doesn't seem like it..." Sucy said. "Otherwise she'd have that exact look on her since the day the Rod flat out told her that she isn't worthy..."
"Maybe it's about tomorrow's Banquet?" Lotte offered another suggestion.
"Who knows?" Sucy said casually, before taking a sip from her mushroom juice box.
Before anything else could be said among the Red Coven, Wangari from the Yellow Coven suddenly rushed into the cafeteria alongside her Coven mates.
"Hey, everyone! Breaking news on the news channels!" Wangari shouted into her microphone. "Blackwell the Bastard just got fired from the Defense Ministry!"
The entire cafeteria went silent after Wangari broke that news.
Then a short while later, everyone took out their smartphones or crystal balls to tune in to the news on the internet. Murmurs began after that.
Lotte also took out her crystal ball and placed it on the table. Wispy hopped onto it as the Finnish girl switched it on and started tuning it to find the relevant channel.
"Who is this Blackwell guy?" Akko asked as she had no knowledge about the subject of the news. "Why does he sound like he's a big deal?"
"You don't know?" Lotte responded. "Robert Blackwell is the current Defense Minister of the United Kingdom..."
"Blackwell is called 'the bastard' by us witches, and literally the entire world's wizarding community do not respect him. Ever." Sucy explained. "He's gained infamy from his constant ramblings about there being 'no such thing as good witches and wizard' and has literally been calling for world governments to cull the world of all magic users..."
Akko makes an expression that indicates she is offended by what she heard. "Why? What does this guy has against magic?"
"Nothing." Lotte said as she continued to tune the crystal ball. "Blackwell hates us magic users simply because we're not Muggles."
"Blackwell the Bastard is, to put it simply, a muggle supremacist." Sucy resumed her explanation. "Basically, anything that isn't a Muggle, he hates enough to want them exterminated..."
At that moment, Lotte has finished tuning the crystal ball, which then displayed the news everyone else in the cafeteria are tuning in to right now.
Breaking news: UK Defense Minister Robert Blackwell has just been sacked from the position by the Prime Minister after he suggested in a press conference that wizards and witches should be rounded up in special camps and have every single one of their actions be monitored "for national security reasons". That suggestion has drawn severe backlash from civilian, government, and even military parties, both local and abroad. Many countries including even the United States has criticized Blackwell's suggestion as a thinly-veiled attempt to start death camps for wizards and witches ala the infamous Auschwitz during World War 2. The UK Prime Minister has called this an "unacceptable rant-slash-manifesto that came from the mouth of a Muggle Supremacist", and has said that anyone who even suggests it "without so much as a thought about the ramifications" is a societal threat that "clearly have no business to be in any governments". It is for that reason that Blackwell was fired from his position as the UK Defense Minister, the decision of which is met with 100% approval from every politician in the UK government.
"And now that his ramblings has cost him his career, I have only two words to say about it..." Sucy continued. "Good riddance."
Akko looked at Lotte's crystal ball, then all over the cafeteria to see that everyone else are basically celebrating the news, even Hannah and Barbara. Though the only exception is, once again, Diana, who didn't pay any attention to the news that her Coven mates are watching on their smartphones.
"No one likes this Blackwell guy, does it?" Akko summarized what she just learned about.
"No one." It was Lotte who responded with emphasis. "Not even his fellow muggles."
"With a mentality like that, I'd be surprise if there's even a single sensible person who even thinks of him as a human being..." Sucy commented.
Akko turned to look at both of her Coven mates, who both nodded to signify that they are in agreement for once.
"Well, I'm glad that it's one less person in the world to potentially speak out against Shiny Chariot!" Akko declared before popping another pickled plum into her mouth.
At the same time, Professor Badcock suddenly appeared in the cafeteria and, paying no mind to the commotion caused by the students, approached Diana to ask for her assistance on something...
...
Headmistress' Office
Professor Badcock led Diana to the Headmistress' Office, where the entire faculty of Luna Nova stood around the headmistress's desk, discussing about something.
Of course, Chloe also happened to be there, having been the one called over for assistance before Diana. The French former prodigy is less than pleased to see her rival.
"What are you doing here, Cavendish?" Chloe asked with venom in her tone.
Diana also doesn't seem pleased to see Chloe. "Professor Badcock asked me for assistance." She answered with displeasure. "I presume you were here for the same reason?"
Chloe crossed her arms and acted smug. "Oh, please! I was the top student before you, so the professors came to me when they needed assistance!" She then said proudly.
Diana was about to respond to Chloe, but Professor Nelson, recognizing the animosity between the two girls, put herself between them to prevent them from starting an argument.
"Alright, ladies! You two are the top students of this academy, so act like it!" The Flight Instructor told the two girls. "Forget about your disagreements! This isn't an Army-Navy Football game!"
Chloe is not about to entertain the idea of having her detention, which is set to expire tonight, be extended, so she backed off and shut herself up.
Diana, on the other hand, wasn't even in the mood for an argument, and is simply glad that Chloe backed off on her own.
"In any case, professors," Diana then reminded the faculty of the matter at hand. "for what matter is my assistance needed?"
"Oh, about that, Miss Cavendish..." Headmistress Holbrooke beckoned for Diana to come closer to her desk. "It's about this... oh, how should I put it? Message from a benefactor of Luna Nova?"
Diana approached the headmistress's desk as instructed. As she neared the desk (with Chloe reluctantly stepping out of the way), Diana saw that laid out over the desk is a large sheet of very old-looking parchment with many symbols printed on it.
"You... want me to translate this?" Diana asked the faculty while keeping her sight on the parchment.
"That would be the case, Miss Cavendish." Professor Finneran answered.
Diana kept her sight focused on the parchment. Though as she analyzed every inch of the parchment and all the symbols on it, the ace student found her sight drifting slightly toward a package that is placed on a corner of the headmistress' desk.
That package is wrapped up in what looked to be multiple layers of thin cloth, but Diana can still tell that the shape of the package resembled one of those jars of pickled plums that Atsuko Kagari is often seen snacking on. It is tied with a ribbon, and has a note attached to it.
Diana wondered if that is another one of those jars. But if so, why does the headmistress has a neatly packaged one delivered to her?
"Having trouble, Cavendish?" Chloe interrupted Diana's train of thought by mockingly offered to assist. "That message is in Dragon Alphabet, in case you're wondering." She mockingly added.
"Yes, I know what Dragon Alphabet is, Dubois." Diana gritted her teeth at Chloe's mocking as she responded. "Do you have anything else you would like to add?"
The French former prodigy made no notable response to Diana's response. "Well, for all I know, this message is written in archaic grammar, so I could make out only one word." She said. "'Payment'"
Diana took note of that. "'Payment'? Payment of what?" She wondered.
"Like I said, I could only make out that one word." Chloe responded with a shrug as well as a mocking grin. "So you tell me..."
Diana gritted her teeth again. Chloe's mocking is really getting on her nerves. She took her inhaler out to take a puff of it and steady her breath. The she put the inhaler away and resumed analyzing the message.
Before she realized it, the ace student had spent five minutes staring at the message, trying to figure it out.
"Well, Miss Cavendish?" Headmistress Holbrooke asked Diana for her progress.
Diana looked at the message for a few more seconds before looking away from it. She shook her head and, with a frown on her face, answered...
"My apologies, professors. But this message... the fact that Dubois can identify even one word is amazing. Because its grammar is so archaic that I struggle to even find context for it..."
Gasp! Diana can't read the message?! Then who could?!
That's just another way of me nerfing Diana so she wouldn't be the canon Mary Sue that she is.
Anyway, we see some new things in this chapter that seems to be foreshadowing some things. Now, what could they be foreshadowing?
It's canon that Louis' dad hates magic. But here I made him into a straight up muggle supremacist so everyone both in- and out of universe has a perfectly good reason to hate him, to the point that the UK government has finally had enough of his BS and gave him the pink slip. Bigotry is bad, people!
Now excuse me while I make another attempt to try to fix my FUBAR'd schedule.
"Just remember: a believing heart is your magic..."
Afterword ends here.