The Princess of Darkness

Chapter 15: Requiem Military Academy

' Well, I certainly wasn't expecting THIS,' Draco thought sarcastically. He was standing in a long line in a cramped building. Maxx told him to go here to sign up for training. He wasn't expecting there to be such a long line for a death squad. He eyed a small group of giggling girls talking excitedly about the days to come.

"This place reminds me of something my human friend read about in Muggle Studies. What was it now? The Dee-Emm-Vee?" a girl with pigtails said. All her friends laughed softly. Draco could tell that they had no idea what this "Dee-Emm-Vee" was.

"What, you mean Muggles have whole buildings dedicated to waiting in line?" a girl asked.

"No, silly! It's not dedicated to waiting in line! It's so that Muggles can get small sheets of paper or type on Compu-tators."

"Compu-tators? Computing potatoes? That doesn't make sense," said another girl.

"I dunno. Maybe it's existence is for comic effect so that Muggle comedians have something to talk about? Who knows! Humans sure are strange, huh?" the pigtail girl said. The whole group burst out laughing while Draco just rolled his eyes.

"NEXT!" called the exhausted woman at the window at the front of the cramped building. Draco shook his head in exasperation. This was going to be a long day.

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A few hours later, Draco was sitting in a room with a stern looking middle-aged man wearing uniform robes similar to the guards. He also had a white armband, but he had numerous pins on the lapel of his jacket signifying his rank and job. A pocket watch dangled from his chest pocket.

"Okay son, yer here to apply fer classes, right?" the man asked in a deep southern drawl.

"Um, classes, sir?" Draco responded.

"Yes, classes! Why else would ya be in a registration office!" the man barked impatiently.

Draco dug around in his robes looking for the letter that Maxx gave him. He had no idea what it said, but he hoped that it would explain everything. He handed it to the man. He opened it and scanned through it.

"Well, this should make things go a bit smoother. This letter already assigned a squad in th' Serpent Brigade for ya."

"What's the Serpent Brigade?" Draco asked.

The man stared at him incredulously. "Wow, ya really are ignorant, aren't ya, boy? What use the Director has with a half-wit human child such as yerself I don't know. Fortunately for you, it's not mah place to question orders from tha higher-ups."

Draco suppressed a glare. This man didn't seem like the type to be messed with, and many years in Slyterin taught him to pick his fights wisely.

"Well anyway, this organization is separated into four sections called 'brigades'. Tha Serpent Brigade is our assassination squadrons. They're the guys who eliminate small groups a' Death Eaters. They're basically the stealth operations group. Tha Tiger Brigade's our main army. They handle larger groups of Death Eaters who're actively terrorizing the public. Tha Phoenix Brigade is tha aerial assault section. They fly on brooms, in case you're too stupid to know what that means. They mainly gather information, but 're often deployed as backup for tha other groups. Tha final and largest brigade, tha Tortoise Brigade, is our home defense and operations section. This includes all instructors, R&D scientists, security officials, et cetera. They're also tha headquarters of all tha Navis. You DO know who they are, right?" the man looked at Draco skeptically, and Draco nodded back.

"Good. Maybe yer not as uninformed as I thought," he replied, "This note also has a prepared list of classes for you to take. Director Sonata musta really taken a likin' to ya, kid. I'll arrange for yer stuff t' be delivered to tha house yer stayin' at and . Here's tha address yer class schedual. Don't go losin' it now, ya hear!" Draco put the piece of paper in the pocket that previously held the note.

The man checked his pocketwatch. "If'n ya hurry, ya might make yer alchemy class. Take a right on tha next street 'n' follow tha signs. Ya shouldn't miss it, but I dunno. . ." Draco abruptly stood up from the chair just in time to hear the man mutter something about ignorant humans wasting his time.

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Draco raced down the pale linoleum hallway until he reached a door labeled "Alchemy Classroom 267." After checking his schedual, he walked in slowly. He immediately felt lightheaded. The fumes from the various chemicals sitting on a desk in front of the blackboard made his eyes water. As he looked around, he noticed that the desks were elevated, and seemed to crowd around the front desk in a semi-circle pattern. Another desk near the front of the room sat tucked away from all the others; Draco deduced that it was the instructor's. A few windows on the far side of the classroom were open. Many of the students were already seated and talking loudly to one another. Draco found a seat near the middle of the classroom. He realized that he was next to the same group of girls from the registration office. The pigtail girl sat near a window. A polite looking girl sat up straight next to her while writing a reply to the note that a girl with beaded hair wrote her. Draco hardly noticed the door opening until a sharp voice said, "Everyone's eyes to the front, please."

A tall man who didn't look much older than Draco stood at the front of the room with his wand in hand. He had short hair with a waterfall of bangs that fell down the front of his face and covered his right eye. The one visible cold golden eye scanned the room. His very presence demanded attention and respect. Draco almost felt a shiver up his spine.

"We will continue the work that we started on yesterday today. I expect to see a finished product soon. You will be graded for accuracy this time and would you please stop talking for once, Mr. Alfirk? Also, what do you have there, Miss Capella?" with a deft raise of his wand, the note that the polite girl was writing was lifted up into the air. She tried to catch it with an embarrassed look on her face, but she failed. She sat back down with her hands in her lap and her face bent downward.

The instructor caught the note without a second glance. He quickly scanned over it. At one point, he raised an eyebrow. He pointed his wand at the note and it burned to ashes. He stared at the trio of girls for a few seconds. "While I am very flattered that your friend Miss Romeria thinks that I am, and I quote, 'so un-fucking-believably hot' end quote, I don't think that this is an appropriate topic for class at the moment," he said with a smirk before turning to the blackboard, "Oh, and before I forget, I think that I should inform the class that Miss Wheeler has a crush on someone in this room. I don't consider myself to be so heartless as to reveal who it is," He continued to write illegible letters on the blackboard while the class all had a good laugh. The three girls were both blushing like mad; the girl that Draco assumed to be "Miss Wheeler" looked like she was about to murder the teacher, while "Miss Capella" looked like she was on the verge of tears. Draco already decided that he didn't like this alchemist person. The man in question simply walked over to his desk and wrote on a piece of parchment. Draco got up and went over to him.

"Um, excuse me, sir? I'm new and I don't know what I'm supposed to do," he asked. The man at the desk looked up at him with an annoyed look on his face.

"So you're the human boy I was informed of?" he said skeptically, "I am Professor Morningstar. We are currently extracting the salts from different herbs to study their alchemic properties. There's a book under your desk. Use it." He turned back to his work. Draco could see that he was drawing a symbol that looked very similar to the designs on the seals to the city entrances.

"But sir, I-"

"Is it really that hard to understand? I'm busy. If you need to ask any questions, go ask someone else. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to help," He glared up at Draco, "Not to mention that there are these amazing inventions in the back of your book. Perhaps you've herd of them? They are an 'index' and a 'glossary'. Or are humans so prehistoric that they haven't invented book appendixes yet?" Draco could feel his temper flaring up, but he knew better than to pick a fight with a teacher, so he sat back down and paged through the textbook while eyeing Professor Morningstar angrily.

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When Alchemy class was over, Draco had to report to a field for basic training exercises. He read that he was classified as a pyromancer, or someone who's inner magical powers were mostly influenced by the element of fire. When he made it to the field he saw many young men and women in uniform on the field in semi straight lines. As Draco walked around, many of them stopped to stare at him. For the fifth time today, he felt very alienated. 'Maybe this is what its like to be a Mudblood' he thought.

He didn't have much time to think though. A loud cry in a strange language echoed across the field. All the soldiers immediately jumped in straight lines. Draco struggled to find an open space. He ended up on the second row next to a muscular man with spiky, red tipped hair.

The drill sergeant was a short (for Kaborean standards, this is about 5'6") woman with mousy black hair in a messy ponytail and lips pursed in a thin line. She wore a heavily decorated uniform with a yellow armband with a tiger printed on it. She paced up and down the lines yelling in the strange language of the Kabora. Occasionally, the soldiers in line would answer in a booming voice "OJ MUJ'KO S'XAOV!" Draco just blinked and occasionally moved his head from side to side.

The woman stopped in front of him and looked him up and down. "N'XO VODK OI AD IDAVEHM, JECTAO!" she barked.

"Sorry, what?" She repeated herself.

"She wants to know why you aren't dressed properly," the man next to him whispered.

"Tell her that I haven't gotten my robes yet," Draco whispered back. Suddenly his face contorted. He could feel a surging pain in his gut. He felt an equal pain in his neck when he felt a hard ax kick smash him to the ground. Once again his vision blurred; he could feel blood trickling from his mouth. The man jumped out of line and conversed rapidly with the crazy woman. He also got punched for interfering, but another drill instructor started yelling at her. Instructions were given to the spiky hair man who gave a salute. Draco could feel his body being lifted up before he blacked out.

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"Hey, you alright man?" said a calm voice. Draco opened his eyes and saw what looked like a swirling vortex of black, red, and a pale skin tone. When his vision cleared, he saw the kind face of the man that rescued him from that crazy lady.

"What happened?" Draco said lazily.

"Well, you got the crap beat out of you for being disrespectful to Master Chief, and I got permission to get you an ice pack," said the cheerful man.

"Who are you?" Draco asked.

"The name's Azrael. Who are you?"

"Draco. . ."

Azrael's eyes widened. "You're that new human kid, huh? No wonder you didn't understand what the hell Master Chief was saying!"

"Is class still in session?"

"Not anymore. You were knocked out for most of it. So, where're you staying?"

Draco took out the piece of parchment from his pocket. Azrael told him that he could take him there, because conveniently enough, that was where he lived. He lifted Draco's arm over his shoulder and together they walked toward the residential area of the campus. Draco found Azrael to be easy to talk to, so he took this time to complain about everything. Azrael laughed when Draco told him about the registration and scowled when he talked about Professor Morningstar.

Finally, they arrived at the house. Azrael helped him into a cozy looking living room. There was a couch where someone was reading, and a Muggle entertainment box thing that two girls were watching from beanbag chairs on the floor. Behind the entertainment box was a flight of stairs that Draco assumed leaded to the living area. He could see the opening to the kitchen in front of him where a boy was cooking dinner.

"Hey, everyone! We're home!"

Draco almost fell to the floor in surprise. Al came out of the kitchen holding a pan of sauteed onions, Professor Morningstar stopped reading his book, and Wheeler and Romeria stopped watching the box. But his biggest surprise was when Faye Thompson walked down the stairs with her hair twisted up in a towel.

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