Hermione suffered an incredibly awkward tea session with Dorothea, who seemed determined to get her to talk about her love life. Hermione was pestered with questions about loves old and new, her preferences, her interests, her goals for the future. The more Dorothea spoke the more Hermione uneasy felt about her. Although very friendly, Dorothea WAS a harlot. During their rather one sided conversation Dorothea had led it slip that she had been on three dates so far this week, with three different men, and made it clear that one of these encounters had become physical. Hermione, who had only been kissed once in her entire life, found her opinions to be rather alarming.

"Good men don't just grow on trees, Hermione." She urged her, as she placed a hand on hers. (Hermione resisted the urge to pull away) "I mean… look at me. Eighteen years old, at the height of my beauty and career. I whole, wonderful life ahead of me… and yet I can't find a man rich enough for me."

She sighed, rather dramatically. Hermione wasn't quite sure whether she was being hyperbolic or completely serious. The Golden Deer House were sitting some distance away and watching them carefully. She hoped that none of them overhear.

"I mean." Dorothea said. "It isn't easy, finding someone that you want to spend the rest of your life with. Is it? I need someone who can and will take care of me into my old age. You know, when my looks start to fade. I mean." She puffed herself up. "How are you going to find someone by just… sitting around, doing nothing?"

Hermione opened her mouth, and closed it again. Viktor Krum had asked her out to the Yule Ball while she was in the library, studying. She had asked hm (Rather snappishly) to move away from her so that his fans wouldn't bother her while she studied. He had told her he would if she came with him to the Yule Ball. She had been so surprised that she had immediately said yes. To her surprise she had had a wonderful time.

Something told her that Dorothea would be very upset if she learned about how rich, popular, wonderful Viktor had kissed her that night and still wrote her regularly, so she kept her mouth shut about it.

"Anyway Hermione." Dorothea said, in that big sisterly tone. "Don't be afraid to open up to me, you know. You're still quite young. As a matter of fact…" She paused, looking up at the Golden Deer House with interest. "You're probably one of the youngest students here. Errr, going by your actual age, anyway."

"One of the youngest?" She repeated. "There's someone my age here?" She had thought that the military academy generally accepted students of age: Around seventeen years old.

"Quite a few, actually." Dorothea said, surprised. "Most of us are a little bit older… But Petra from our house is your age. And Lysithea from the Golden Deer House. She's, uh, the tiny one with the white hair."

Hermione turned to look. She caught sight of her immediately. That pure white head was hard to miss. Hermione was quick to notice that it didn't seem all that different a shade than Edelgard's.

"Is she related to Edelgard?"

"Related?" Dorothea repeated, surprised. And then she laughed. "Oh, the hair." She said. "No, as far I know… It's just a coincidence!"

Was it really? Hermione wondered, as her gaze turned back to Lysithea. That hair was simply not natural. It suddenly dawned on her that this was an opportune moment to distract Dorothea.

"Can you tell me about the other Houses?"

"Well you've already met the Golden Deer." She said idly, as she waved her hand over to Claude and his group. "Well, Claude anyway. They're… alright, I suppose. I don't have any problems with anyone. They don't have a… uh, a Hubert in their ranks."

Hermione almost knocked her tea over out of shock as Hubert's head appeared behind a pillar, as if he was considering coming out to reprimand her, before slinking back into hiding.

"Claude's a way more down to Earth House Leader than the others." Dorothea went on. "I love Edie, I do, but I think Claude does a great job at dealing with his house. You do know that the Golden Deer have the most commoners out of any house here, right?"

Hermione nodded.

"What about the Blue Lions?"

Dorothea coughed.

"Well." She said. "We're… uh, I guess you could call them our House Rivals? The Kingdom and the Empire have a bit of a history…."

"I've been reading up on it." Hermione told her eagerly, her enthusiasm getting the better of her. "The War of the Eagle and Lion! The King Loog seceded from the Empire and established his own Kingdom, in the North."

"That's right." Dorothea repeated, amazed. "You learned all that that quickly?"

She had been reading herself to sleep each night.

"Well, the House Leader of the Blue Lions, Dimitri, is the Prince of Faerghus, and the descendant of Loog." Dorothea explained. "And he and Edelgard…. Uh…. I don't want to say they don't get along… Well, let's say they're very polite to one another. For political reasons."

She had noticed that despite Dorothea's off hand mentions of House Rivalries and bitterness between students, there weren't really overt examples of it in the Halls of Garreg Mach the way there were in Hogwarts. A misspoken word or insult could lead to an international incident.

"Do I need to be concerned about this Dimitri?" She said anxiously. "What's he like?"

"I wouldn't be." Dorothea told her. "No, he's very chivalrous and kind… A little bit too kind, if you ask me." She smiled. "I'm sure you'll meet him soon enough." Her eyes lit up.

"Professor!"

Hermione turned, and saw Professor Byleth striding towards them.

"Hey Teach!" Claude called over to him. "Be nice to the new girl!"

Several members of the table guffawed at this, but Lysithea was not one of them. She sat quietly, seemingly deep in contemplation about something.

"Hello Professor." Hermione said as Byleth stopped in front of their table. He nodded at her, his face expressionless. Hermione was beginning to suspect that he might be a robot, or a stone statue given life. She did not think she had seen any real emotion out of him since she had come for.

"Professor!" Dorothea said warmly, fluttering her eyelashes at him. "What a surprise! Please…. Please sit down, next to me."

She was just preparing to pull out a chair for him, but Byleth looked towards Hermione. He showed no interest in sitting down with them. Dorothea's hand hovered awkwardly over the chair.

"It has been decided that you will attend Black Eagle Classes." He said. "I do not want the other students to shirk their responsibilities looking after you. You will begin attending our regular sessions starting tomorrow."

"What?" Dorothea asked, seemingly appalled. "But Professor… Is that really a good idea?"

"We have discussed it at length." He said. "And we have both decided that it is in our best interest to keep Edelgard's ready for combat. I doubt that Edelgard will be able to meet her physical goals if she sits around drinking tea all day."

"But she's just a child!" Dorothea protested. "If she doesn't want to learn how to fight, she shouldn't need to!"

Hermione looked at her. She thought back to what was going on back home. Voldemort taking over. The Ministry refusing to believe it. And Dolores Umbridge, refusing to teach them any combat skills whatsoever.

"No." Hermione said, her voice firm. "I want to do this. I want to learn how to fight."

"Excellent." Byleth said. "I will expect you tomorrow, then. Hubert, I trust that you will ensure that she arrives on time?"

"Of course, Professor."

"Excellent." He said. "Now, Granger, I expect nothing but the very best from you. Although you do not truly belong here, you are no more or less a student than anyone else. Please keep that in mind during tomorrow's sessions. Now if you'll excuse me."

He turned around and walked to the Golden Deer table, where he began conversing with Claude.

So she was going to be learning under Professor Byleth? The thought intrigued her. She did not know what to expect, but found herself optimistic about tomorrow.

…

Edelgard did not go to Umbridge's office right away. She, Ron, and Harry sat up in the Gryffindor Common Room, pouring over books. Or at least, Harry was doing so. Ron had gotten bored and set up his favorite board game, Chess, and had started teaching her how to play.

She had been surprised. It was a game of tactics and strategy, and Ron seemed to have a firm understanding of the game. She had found herself instantly attracted to the game and kept challenging him to new matches. Her chess pieces, ones that had been loaned from Harry, initially did not trust her. But she voiced her commands so confidently and firmly that they did not dare disobey her, although she lost spectacularly time after time.

She was patient, however, and learned from her mistakes.

"You're going to be a great player." Ron told her, as he told his Knight to take her Rook. "You have the mind for it. I can tell."

"Why thank you." Edelgard said, as she tried to think of her next move. She knew enough about the game now that she could tell that her King (Which she had taken to thinking of as her Emperor) had been pinned int between his own army. She wondered if this game could be art.

She had thought Ron initially rather dull and unassuming, but the game had made her respect him quite a bit more. He had talents of his own, for certain. A truly worthless person would never be successful at anything.

"Hermione is hopeless at Chess." Ron told her, as he checkmated her. "You're better than her already, I would say."

Edelgard stared at the board, committing the movements she and her enemy had made to enemy, and cleared it for the next game.

"I still feel as if I know next to nothing about her." Edelgard confessed. "Are we really so different?"

"Well, you're both uptight." Ron said casually. Edelgard raised her eyebrow at him. "But you get angry a lot less often than she does."

"Oh really?" She doubted that very much. She simply didn't show her rage and anger all that often. If she wailed and screamed about the oppression of the Church and the corruption of her Empire, she would likely have been executed. No, she had learned to play by their rules. Her heart had been scorched black by flame.

"And you handle Umbridge a lot differently too." Ron went on. "She would never have done that."

"I thought you said she stood up to her."

"She did." Ron said. "Or… rather, we did. It didn't work."

"Clearly." Edelgard said dryly, as she moved her first pawn. She imagined the pawn reaching the other side of the board and becoming a Queen (which she was beginning to think of as The Teacher)

"What are you going to do?"

"Lines."

"You know what Lines with Umbridge are like."

"I'm aware." She said heavily, casting a look at Harry's hand. He had shown her the scars earlier that day. "My apologies for ruining the back of Hermione's hand."

"What happened to standing up to her? Regardless of what happens?"

"I have sown my seeds." Edelgard said. "In time they will blossom. The important thing is to not abandon our core message. In the grand scheme of things Umbridge means absolutely nothing."

"You don't know how much power she has here." Harry told her gently. Edelgard's lip curled.

"A government only has as much power as its people allow." She said. "If the people are swayed, they will be forced to act. There are those among us that already bear scars. These wounds will never heal, and thus will never be forgotten."

She stood up.

"I have lost track of time." She said. "Forgive me."

And she set off for Umbridge's office. There was no sign of hesitation, no sign of fear, no sign of nervousness or apprehension. And Ron and Harry were not the only ones who noticed.