Hi everyone, we've made it! The last chapter of this prologue is here. Once this is done, the 'official' chapter 1 will begin!

Thank you all for taking the time to read this. Please read the Author Notes at the end for information about the next part of the series!

Enjoy!

Chapter 10:

"Wait, this is too much – another world?! But… how?" Deuce said, stunned after Claire finished her story. It was almost midnight when they finally left Crowley's office, and the four wearily headed down the stairs and back to their respective dorms.

"Yeah, that's why Cro- the headmaster is allowing me to stay at that run-down dorm while I find a way back home." Claire glanced down the second-floor exterior hallway as if expecting someone to be lurking in the shadow, but not a soul was in sight.

"I-I didn't know," Deuce said, sounding a bit guilty.

"Of course not," Ace said, "Who would believe such a ridiculous story? I didn't believe the rumors when I first heard them."

Claire merely shrugged her shoulders. No doubt that there will be more whispers among the students now that she officially enrolled as the first without any magic in the history of Night Raven College. It was probably best to not include 'being from another world' on her profile.

"I know I already told Cro- the Headmaster this," Claire said as they headed down the final set of stairs and down Main Street, "but I would like to keep this a secret. I rather not have other people learn where I came from."

"Well, if that's what you want, I'm fine with it. Doesn't matter with me either way," Ace said and shrugged.

"Don't worry," Deuce insisted as if he was pledging with his life, "Your secret is safe with us."

"Thanks, I appreciate it." She glanced down at her hand at the small brown polaroid camera that she received from the headmaster as a present. Something he called a 'ghost camera'. In addition to assigning her to take care of Grim, Crowley asked her to take lots of photos of Grim and the other students during the school year.

"It is a magic tool that allows the soul of the photographer and photographed to be deeply connected, and the memory will come to life! Like a video or the situation in the photo! A tool like this can be used by even non-magic individuals. Oh, how generous and thoughtful I am!"

As curious as she was about this device, Claire wasn't the type of person to take pictures and figured she'll take a few obligatory ones if it came down to it.

Meanwhile, Grim was too busy looking at his new shiny pendant to join in the conversation. He was so happy that he was even humming a cheerful tune.

"I'm going to start as a student tomorrow! My first step to becoming the greatest mage starts now!" He spun around to face Ace and Deuce, "I'm going to leave you all in the dust and take that first spot at Night Raven College!"

"Grim, don't get ahead of yourself," Claire pointed out. "You actually need to attend class and pass first."

"Yeah, you sure talk big for someone who is only 'half' a student," Ace added.

"Well, this 'half' a student is going to beat you in everything!" Grim said, puffing up his chest.

"Guess we're going to be classmates now," Deuce said to Claire, ignoring the other two as they bicker.

"That's right…" It didn't occur to Claire until Deuce said it out loud, but knowing that she would know at least two people in this strange world made the idea of going to school slightly more bearable. She immediately brightened at the thought.

"Well then, in that case, it's nice to meet you all," Claire said, grinning at Deuce and Ace. "I look forward to working with you two."

"Will you stop with the embarrassing greetings?" Ace complained though he didn't sound like he meant it. "We don't need to go through those again."

Deuce chuckled. "Even if we don't want to, we'll be seeing each other every day from now on. I mean, I'm in the same dorm as this jerk." He motioned his head to Ace.

"Right back at you," Ace said, not the least bit insulted. "The idea of seeing your lousy mug every day is a rather depressing thought."

"That's my line, you rule-breaker," Deuce shot back as they all finally arrived at Main Street where the path split – one to the official dorms, the other to an off-road to Ramshackle.

"Sure. Whatever you say, 'Almost-Expelled-Cry-Baby'," Ace smirked at Deuce before turning to Claire. "See ya tomorrow, Dorm Head!"

"Hey! Don't just change the subject!" Deuce sputtered and hurried after him.

"Honestly," Claire rolled her eyes as she watched the duo continue to bicker.

"They're probably the type who 'fight-but-are-actually-really-close'," Grim noted. "But never mind that!" He held up his pendant again. "We no longer have to clean the school anymore. Tomorrow, we're going to start our first day of school!"

…

Meanwhile…

The dorm head of Heartslabyul was staying up late to take care of some club registration paperwork when he got the two letters from the headmaster. Riddle Rosehearts was not one who surprise easily, but the content of both letters had baffled him to no end.

This morning, one of his new first years had scorched a Great Seven statue and then proceeded to drag another one to destroy that priceless chandelier that hung in the cafeteria. Riddle had to personally go see the headmaster after school to apologize for his students' behavior. During that conversation, Headmaster Crowley mentioned that he had intended to expel them, so when he read the first letter that just came about fifteen minutes ago, Riddle was quite surprised to see that the verdict had been rescinded.

"Seriously," he said as he shook his head. "What is the Headmaster thinking?" Putting that paper aside, he pulled out the two files he requested from Trey as soon as he received the letter from the headmaster. He open them and flipped through the content with a careful eye.

Ace Trappola and Deuce Spade. He will need to keep a watchful eye on these two going forward, especially Ace – that first year had been extremely rude during the ceremony and then supposedly snuck out with another student in the middle of it. Riddle had intended to punish the two Heartslabyul students each with 500-word apology essays, but since the headmaster had already made the verdict, Riddle had no choice but to let it go this time.

He put the files away and picked up the second letter on his desk.

This one was addressed not only to him but to the other six dorm heads. It announced that the new non-magic girl and her familiar cat had been accepted to this school and to 'help' her as she adjust to her new life here.

What was the Headmaster thinking? Riddle thought once again. It was one thing if the girl had an ounce of magic, but the fact that she didn't, made this whole situation absolutely no sense.

Yet, the mirror had chosen her. For what reason, he couldn't be sure, but that was the one undeniable fact and requirement to attend Night Raven College.

While there is no law that said she couldn't attend as a non-magic (Riddle had already checked the school rulebook twice), there was also no benefit for her to be here. Not to mention that she was only half of a student since that fire-breathing familiar of hers will be doing the magic part of the curriculum (again, Riddle could find nothing in the school rules that said familiars couldn't attend as students). No doubt, that rule-breaking cat will wreak havoc onto this campus for the next four years. This admittance was a stain on the tradition this school upheld for the last one hundred years.

The clock chimed twelve, and Riddle got up from his desk. Deciding he needed a small break, he headed downstairs to the kitchen to check on the food for the upcoming party. However, today's events still swirled in his mind.

The Headmaster may be lenient on these new first years, but Riddle will not tolerate any rule-breaking. From now on, the verdict will wait. If he sees any of these troublemakers break the rule once more, he will personally see to their beheading.

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes

That's it for the prologue and a little bit of foreshadowing of what's to come! Claire and Grim have finally been accepted to this school, but it looks like it will be an uphill battle from here.

I figured that Claire would want to keep her 'I'm-from-another-world' status a secret considering all of the attraction it would cause. Of course, Ace, Deuce, and Grim all know, but let's see how quiet they can keep it. XD

I think we can all agree that the ghost camera has been pretty 'useless' up until the Pomefiore Chapter 5. In fact, when writing this, I completely forgot about the camera and actually considered scrapping it until I saw Chapter 5 came out. My hope is that this thing will be useful in Chapter 6 Ignihyde chapter, but that doesn't seem to be the case at the moment.

And of course, you might be wondering what's next on the agenda or rather when is the next 'chapter' coming out.

Well, I am pleased to announce that the next part - Rose Memory: The Crimsom Tyrant - is 99% done! I have a couple of edits I need to look over, but everything should be good to go! Updates will still be once a week on Fridays. However, for those who don't know, I'm also posting this series on the AO3 site (Feel free to stop by and leave a message if you're over there as well). Due to certain circumstances, those chapters are behind in updates, and I want to catch up over at that site first before posting.

Therefore, there are two options I'm considering.

1. Fast update everything at the AO3 site (maybe twice a week?) and have a release date of the Crimsom Tyrant chapters to be October 15.

2. Update at my usual speed on the A03 site (aka once a week) and then update the Crimsom Tyrant chapters on October 22. This will give me an optional grace period to write and edit more chapters.

Give me your thoughts on this. Either way, expect the next part to come mid-late October of this year.

If you're interested in the next part of my series, be sure to follow me, so that you won't miss when the new story comes out!

Thank you all for reading, and I'll see you on the next part of the journey!

-JapanDreamer09