The sun shone through the windows of Professor Wizgiz's classroom, lighting up the first class of the year. Wizgiz himself was perched on the desk as Les Amis and their classmates filed into the room. He was the only Leprechaun on staff; a sprightly little man with spectacular curly sideburns, wearing a green three-piece suit with a yellow shirt and a huge green hat. He spoke in a sharp Irish accent, and addressed them as they entered. "Good morning, students. For those of you who haven't met me yet, I am Professor Wizgiz, and as always, it befalls me to lead the first class of the year: Transfiguration. On this course, you will learn the classic magical ability to transform an object from one form to another. We're going to start with the most basic type of transfiguration: self-transfiguration." With the class all seated, he leapt off the desk and scrunched up his face. With a loud snapping noise, his features morphed into those of Professor Javert. The entire class burst into applause. Javert-Wizgiz laughed. "Oh, that's nothing. After a few years of practise, you'll all be able to do even better than that!" He leapt onto Enjolras' desk, and the blond boy jumped in surprise. "Of course," the professor continued, "every ending has a beginning. So we're going to start with a simple exercise: changing the colour of your own hair!" He clapped his hands, and a mirror appeared on every desk. "Look at your reflection, and concentrate on changing the colour of your hair!"

Cosette glanced around at her friends. Jehan's ginger locks had turned neon green, while Éponine's ebony buns glowed bright blue. Courfeyrac's hair was turning purple, and Enjolras' curls had turned a vivid scarlet. She focused hard on her mirror, willing her hair to turn from pale gold to bright pink, scrunching her face and concentrating… nothing. She sighed as she gazed at the rainbow of her classmates' heads. Professor Wizgiz smiled encouragingly at her.

"Don't worry, Cosette," he said. "If at first you don't succeed, try again!"

Cosette smiled back. It was nice to have a professor who didn't yell at you for mistakes.

After class, Cosette went straight back to the room she shared with Jehan, and tried again, but to no avail. Enjolras came in to help her, but he looked more than a little frustrated. "Cosette, it's OK if you can't do it. It was your first class, being unable to do one of the exercises isn't the end of the world."

Cosette shook her head. "I was nearly expelled yesterday, Enjolras. I don't want to fall behind in classwork at all. Please, just one more try?" She held up the mirror.

"OK, fine," Enjolras sighed. "Now, close your eyes and think of a colour. Concentrate on that colour, and imagine your hair turning that colour. Imagine the colour slowly spreading from the root of your hair to the tip."

This time, Cosette could feel tingles in her scalp. She excitedly opened her eyes, but sighed when she realised all that had happened was her fringe reacting to magic as though she'd touched a Vandergraph generator; it was sticking up on end, crackling with golden sparks. She flung herself back on the bed with a groan.

"'Sette, you're not concentrating!" Enjolras chastised her. "I can feel it. You've got a bunch of thoughts zipping around your head like a flock of bunnies!" He chuckled. "Your hair is very punk, though."

"At least something happened," Jehan offered from where they were watering their Narratioflore Magnocaeruleo. They sat down on the bed next to Cosette and swatted at Enjolras, who was still giggling. "Oh, stop laughing at her!" they smiled.

Cosette sighed even harder. "Why should he?" she asked rhetorically. "I mean, look at this, I'm ridiculous!"

Jehan smoothed her fringe down. "No, you're not," they said firmly. "All you need is a bit of practice."

Cosette sat up. "Can I ask you guys something?" she said tentatively. When they nodded, she continued. "Why are you here at Musain?"

Enjolras stood up. "So I can become a real Faery! Powerful, kind, able to help people! I want to make this world a fair place, where everyone can be happy – like my parents." He sighed sadly. "They're divorced, you know. I wish I could at least just make them listen to each other."

"I want to become a real Faery too," Jehan added. "I wish I could save the environment, starting with endangered flowers. But I'm also here because I love to learn. What about you, 'Sette?"
Cosette got up and paced over to the window that looked out over the courtyard. "That's the problem. My powers are so new, and up until now I was a pretty ordinary kid. I'm not really sure what I'm doing here."

At breakfast the next day, Headmaster Myriel made an announcement. "As is the tradition between the Magic Schools, the Gala for new students will be held tonight! Students from the Musain College for Faeries and from the Corinthe College for Wizards will gather here in this castle in order to perform the traditional Welcome Gift Exchange ceremony."

The room erupted in excited whispers as Faeries speculated on what the Gala would be like. Professor Javert clapped his hands sharply. "Silence!" he shouted. "Headmaster Myriel is speaking, let's show a little respect!"

Myriel chuckled. "Thank you, Professor. One more thing." He surveyed the students with a smile. "I am calling on all of your creative talents to prepare the dining room for the party. Today's classes are cancelled, and may you do us proud!"

Meanwhile, about 5 miles away…

Votirlu College had a far more threatening appearance than Musain College. It was a spiralling castle made of smooth purplish stone, with huge scarlet stained-glass windows and circular pillars. The roofs were turret-style, and the entire structure seemed to pulse with dark magic.

The main hall of the building was right in the centre. Built like a lecture theatre with about 100 seats on banks that all looked down into a central stage with an enormous throne, it was currently full of Senior Year Witches - including the coven, Patron-Minette, who had attacked the Amis a few days before. At that moment, all of the students were watching Headmaster Thénardier intently.

He was an odd-looking man, with curly red hair and yellow eyes, teeth that seemed too big for his mouth, and dull skin that had turned yellowish. His nose was sharp, but not as sharp as his scarlet pupils. He wore long dark red robes, patterned with strange symbols, and his voice was a combination of gravelly and smooth.

"My young Witches," he began. "I have summoned you here because I have a sad piece of news to share. Musain College is hosting a party tonight, and once again the Witches of Votirlu have not been invited." The Witches booed loudly, and Thénardier smirked. "Yes, Witches, I agree with you, but this is an excellent opportunity to test your cursing skills. It is the duty of every Witch in this room to crash that party and thoroughly ruin it for the Faeries. They've snubbed us, and we'll make them pay! So today's assignment is to come up with a way to ruin the party! Submit your proposals, and I will select the nastiest. May the worst Witch win!"

As the room erupted in cheers and the Witches began jotting notes down for ideas, the brunette member of Patron-Minette, whose name was Claquesous, turned to her companions. "What do you think?" she asked. "Shall we come up with a little scheme?"

"Why not?" the ice Witch, whose name was Babet, agreed.

The third Witch, who went by the name Gueulemer, groaned loudly. "Why though? We'd just be wasting our time!"

Babet leaned back in his seat. "Trust me, Mer, it will be worth it." A grin slowly spread across his face.

Back in Musain, Les Amis were heading back to their apartment. Courfeyrac looked like he didn't know what to do with himself. "Classes are cancelled, and it's just our second day," he said. "This place is, like, the opposite of Zenith, my home planet."

"What do we have to do for the party?" Cosette asked, turning to Enjolras.

Enjolras shrugged. "From what I learned last year, look pretty and avoid talking about politics. Some Wizards have surprisingly strong views on the Andros Division."

Cosette was about to ask what the Andros Division was, but Jehan had twirled ahead of the group, looking exuberant. "This will be so fun!" they laughed. They snapped their fingers, and vines spiralled up the wall, sprouting delicate pink flowers. "What do you think of Fumigari Odoribus for the decorations?" The flowers began emitting a sweet, light scent, and all the Faeries in the surrounding area breathed in delightedly.

"I'll DJ," Éponine smiled. "What's a party without music?"

"All you have to do, Sette," Enjolras said, "is worry about what to wear."

Back in their room, Cosette admired Jehan's gorgeous dress. The bodice was fuchsia, the skirt baby-pink, and it had ruffles running down the sides. The straps were dark green, and three fell over each of Jehan's shoulders. They were wearing their hair in two Princess Leia style space buns, but most of it tumbled down their back, and a pink floaty veil-thing was clipped into their hair. Golden bangles glittered at their wrists. They looked amazing, and Cosette said so.

Jehan blushed happily. "Thank you! Now, let's see your dress!"

Cosette laughed awkwardly. "I don't exactly have a fancy dress with me… do you think they'd let me in like this?" She gestured to her skinny jeans and lacy top.

Jehan shook their head sadly. "The gala's a pretty formal event. Maybe Éponine has a dress you could borrow?"

Unfortunately, Éponine didn't have another dress, but she did present a solution: shopping. Courfeyrac and Enjolras both had their suits ready, but they agreed to come with to help Cosette choose a dress. They hopped on a bus, and were in Magix City in 15 minutes. This time, Cosette was a little overwhelmed with how many clothes shops there were, and Éponine pushed her into one called Xeron. The first dress she tried on was fuchsia with ruffles, but they all agreed it was a little too similar to Jehan's dress. The next one was yellow and pleated with matching elbow-length gloves, but the general consensus was that it was too similar in colour to her hair, and Jehan suggested maybe looking at quirkier styles.

Cosette emerged from the changing room in a shiny blue dress. It had one strap and showed off her belly-button, and she looked gorgeous. The Amis all nodded in approval, and Cosette glanced at the price tag, her face falling. §135.50 - far too expensive for a dress she would most likely wear only once. "Too expensive," she sighed, and vanished back inside the changing room.

Enjolras reached for his wallet. "I'll pay for it -" he offered, but Jehan shook their head.

"You might offend her," they pointed out. "We don't know Earth customs."

Outside the shop, Cosette sighed in defeat. "Now what?"

"It's getting kinda late," Courfeyrac pointed out. "We should probably head back soon."

Cosette smiled at him. "It's fine, you guys go back. I'll find something."

Her friends waved goodbye, and Cosette decided to look for a thrift store - but she found something even better: a 50% off everything sale in the window of a shop called Bunni.

After nearly half-an-hour of trawling through the Must Go rack, she struck gold: a dress the same colour as the one in Xeron, but far cheaper - §18.99! She hurried to buy it and catch a bus back to Musain.

At Votirlu, Patron-Minette had been called into Headmaster Thénardier's office, and he was surveying them through narrow yellow eyes. "Of all the ideas I've seen, I've never seen anything as despicable as yours!" he was snarling. "It's horrible, it's ghastly, it's disgusting - in other words, it's the best!" His snarl became a grin. "Well done, you three. Great start to the year."

"Thanks, Professor," Babet said silkily.

Thénardier got up from his desk and began to pace down the room. "Don't let me down," he warned.

"You can trust us, Professor," Claquesous reassured him.

Cosette hurried back to Musain with about 20 minutes to spare. She dashed into her room; Jehan was nowhere to be seen, but Wolter was asleep on her bed. She chatted to him while she searched for a pair of scissors. "Putain de merde, Wolter, I have 20 minutes to fix this dress! It's way too long." Giving up on the scissors, she pursed her lips in thought. "Well… I guess it's worth a shot," she decided. She concentrated, and suddenly a narrow beam of light was shooting from her pointer finger. "Booyah!" she whispered, and carefully directed it along the hem of the dress. It was like a laser cutter in its precision, melting the threads together so they wouldn't come loose - but it worked a little too well. The dress was beginning to smoke around the hemline, and Cosette yelped and smothered it with the duvet. The fire out, she opened the window to clear the room of the smoky smell, and groaned when she recognised the boys who were currently walking through the courtyard with their classmates. Grantaire, Bahorel, Combeferre and Prince Marius were all there, and her dress was charred and still too long, Goddammit! Cosette decided to leave her room and search the art department for a pair of scissors.

In a tunnel somewhere underneath Musain, Babet was leading Patron-Minette down it with the aid of a flashlight. "This is it," he grinned. "What did I tell you? These tunnels have been abandoned for centuries, or at least since the invention of phones. Back then, they were used to move between the three schools in emergencies."

Claquesous squinted at a map. "The entrance to the Musain tunnels are right up ahead. We're almost there then."

"Let the fun begin," Gueulemer chuckled. He'd been much more on board with the plan since he'd found out what it would involve.

Cosette opened what she hoped was the door to the art department and found a set of stairs going down. She tentatively started down them, but stopped abruptly when she heard voices.

"How much further?" a girl groaned.

"Don't ask me," a boy snapped. "You're the one with the map."

Cosette recognised the voices with a mounting horror. They were the Witches who had attacked her in Magix City! She darted back up the stairs and hid behind the door.

The three Witches exited the tunnel and headed down the corridor, Cosette silently following them. They stopped next to a chest stamped with a triangular symbol. "The Corinthe coat of arms," the girl said. "I wonder what those simpletons are going to give the Faeries?"

"Whatever they are, we'll use them to wreak havoc and spread panic," the white-haired boy said. "That will give us a chance to get the ring. Go on, Claquesous, show us where it is."

The girl, who Cosette now knew to be called Claquesous, grinned coolly. "With pleasure, Babet." She closed her eyes and focussed hard, creating a bubble in front of them.

Enjolras appeared in the bubble. He slid his sceptre-ring off his finger, and carefully shut it in a jewellery box, before tucking the box into a chest of drawers.

The bubble vanished, and Babet grinned. "Excellent work, Claq. Now we know where the ring is." He turned to the third Witch. "Gueulemer, time to do your thing."

Gueuelemer grinned. "At last!" He blasted the chest open, revealing several beautifully crafted Fabergé eggs. Claquesous touched one with a gloved hand.

"Aww," she hummed. "They're enchanted to decorate themselves to match the Aura of the Faery touching it."

"How tacky," Babet rolled his eyes. "I much prefer our plan. Ready?" The three Witches raised their hands, and Babet spoke. "These eggs will become Snakerat eggs…"

"That will hatch at the touch of a Faery," Claquesous continued.

"And spread terror all over!" Gueulemer finished.

The eggs glowed, and their beautiful white shells were suddenly yellow and orange swirls. Cosette shook in horror from her hiding spot behind a heavy velvet curtain. Patron-Minette cackled as a group - Cosette wondered if Votirlu offered a lecture on group-cackling - and headed off down the corridor.

When they reached a dead end, Claquesous snapped her fingers and the wall briefly vanished, long enough for them to leave the building and hurry around the side of it. Babet led his cousins into a thicket, and crouched among the bushes. "We'll hide back here so we can enjoy the show," he grinned, pointing to the huge yellow stained-glass dome of the Musain dining room.

Cosette herself entered the dining room, which was now devoid of tables and benches and instead had several white-clothed buffets lining the walls. It was full of Faeries and Wizards mingling. She darted through the crowd, searching for her friends, when she bumped into a Wizard. Cosette stumbled backwards and then blinked in recognition. Grantaire!

The tall, freckly redhead smiled at her in greeting. "Cosette! Hi!"

"Hi Grantaire," Cosette smiled.

"I'm so relieved to see you here," Grantaire laughed. "At least I know someone from Musain already."

"It's nice to see you," Cosette smiled awkwardly. She'd just spotted Enjolras' red suit across the room. "Sorry, Grantaire, I have to go."

"...OK," Grantaire said in confusion as she darted away. "See you later?"

Cosette found the Amis and dragged them out into the corridor. "Cosette, what on Magix -" Courfeyrac began.

"This is an emergency!" Cosette explained. "Those Witches from yesterday, Patron-Minette, were here! They've cast a spell on the presents from Corinthe, I saw them! Apparently it will involve something called a 'Snakerat'."

"Snakerat?" Courfeyrac said in thought. "Let me just consult my database." He raised his palm and a holographic image formed of a small spiny creature with sharp fangs. "They're of the genus Morsus Foeda, they live in swamps and eat mainly toads, and they're highly aggressive. Their teeth are venomous -"

"Slimy, aggressive and venomous, like the Witches," Enjolras said in disgust. "But what's in it for them?"

"The Witches want to provoke a huge panic and create a diversion to get their hands on your sceptre," Cosette explained.

Éponine narrowed her eyes. "That's so underhanded, sounds about right," she muttered to herself, then louder, "We've got to stop those eggs from being handed out."

"Too late," Jehan groaned, pointing back into the dining room. Combeferre and Prince Marius were carrying the chest to the centre of the room.

"Surprise Eggs," Éponine murmured.

"Yes, and the surprise is a very cuddly Snakerat," Cosette groaned.

Enjolras took charge. "We have to perform a counterspell, fast! Quick, join hands and form a circle." They did so, and Enjolras closed his eyes in concentration. "Repeat after me, quae quondam iterum fiat."

"Quae quondam iterum fiat," they chorused, focussing hard on the eggs. They felt a ripple pass over them, and opened their eyes. Prince Marius was handing out the white eggs, and they were changing colour for every Faery! The Amis breathed a sigh of relief, and listened to the chorus of "Wow!"s and "Aww, beautiful!"s.

A voice nearby made the Amis all turn. Dark-haired Prince Marius was offering Enjolras an egg, with a shy smile on his face. "I hope this egg brings you luck," he said. His cheeks were flushed.

Enjolras blushed a little. "T-thanks," he stammered, taking it. It glowed golden and suddenly its shell was black in the centre, fading to purple, then scarlet, then orange, then yellow and at the ends were little blue and white swirls.

Jehan smiled at Marius. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to have a spare one, would you?" they asked. Marius glanced around.

"I think so," he replied. "We brought a spare in case any of them broke."

"Could I borrow it?" Jehan requested, batting their ridiculously long eyelashes. Marius nodded with a smile and went to find the spare Surprise Egg. He returned and handed it to Jehan, who didn't hold it, but rather made it levitate before dropping golden dust over it.

"What did you do to it?" Cosette asked. Jehan smirked.

"I left a nice little surprise of my own for those three Witches. Now hurry up and go change!"

Cosette smiled fondly and headed back to the apartment.

Outside, a great deal of the foliage surrounding Patron-Minette turned to ice and shattered. Babet could barely contain his fury. "I don't believe this!" he snarled. "The spell didn't work!"

"Calm down, Babet," Gueulemer smirked. "So the spell didn't work, big deal. Sooner or later that ring will be ours."

Cosette entered the apartment and made to unzip her jeans. "Sorry, Wolter, no time to play," she told the little Dutch rabbit, who was offering her his tummy in a 'please stroke me!' sort of way. Suddenly, a thud from the living space made her jump, and she darted out into the main room of the apartment. Enjolras' bedroom door had burst open, and his jewellery box was floating towards the main door! Patron-Minette must have enchanted it! She chased it out of the apartment and down the stairs, and out into the courtyard. "Hey! Come back here!" she yelled at it. The box paid her no mind, and continued out the gates. Cosette pursued it around the side of the building. "Hey, where are you going?" she yelled at it.

In the foliage, Babet narrowed his eyes. "Someone's coming this way," he muttered, then squinted through the branches and saw the telltale glint of gold. "And so is the ring!"

As she reached the foliage, Cosette pounced and captured the little golden box. "Gotcha!" she said triumphantly.

Babet grit his teeth in annoyance, as did his cousins. "Unbelievable!" he hissed. "She's walking away with the ring!" He grabbed Claquesous by the hair and Gueulemer by the collar, and yanked them out of the bushes. "Nosy little missy," he snarled at Cosette. "Why can't you mind your own business?"

Cosette turned on her heel, her face going pale with shock. Gueulemer didn't waste any time this time. He blasted lightening directly at her head. Cosette jumped to avoid it, and it hit her exposed side. She fell to the ground, pain blooming up her side. Babet snatched the jewellery box off the ground. "Let's go, dumbasses," he muttered, and the Witches vanished in a cloud of black smoke. Cosette slowly got to her feet, groaning quietly, and headed back into the castle.

As she passed the wishing well in the centre of the courtyard, she met Jehan. "Cosette! Are you OK?" they asked worriedly. "You were gone so long, I got worried!"

Cosette nodded. "I ran into Patron-Minette and we had a little spat. I tried to stop them, but they got away with Enjolras' ring!"

Jehan shook their head and smiled. "Nah, they didn't," they reassured her. Suddenly their eyes widened. "Jeez-oh, Sette, what did they do to you?"

"Nothing, I mean, I took a lightening bolt to the side, but…" Cosette glanced down at her side and gasped softly. There was a pale, oddly shaped mark on her waist. "Whoa," she said softly. "Lichtenburg figures."

"I have a poultice that can make them disappear -" Jehan started, but Cosette shook her head.

"Not right now. We have a party to go to!"

Jehan insisted on helping Cosette finish her dress. Turns out, they were a lowkey expert on dressmaking. "A little snip here…and tie here…" they murmured. "And…done!"

Cosette felt like Cinderella entering the party late. Jehan had lent her some shoes that perfectly matched her dress, which was now really more of a top and skirt with cool fingerless gloves that had dark blue thread woven around the wrists. They had made a kind of braided belt, and had added a matching choker. With her hair in an elegant high ponytail, Cosette felt like a fairy princess from one of her storybooks back on Earth. Flushing a little at the mix of envious and enamoured stares, she walked through the crowd until she found her friends.

"So, Jehan, you never did tell us what you did with the egg," she smiled.

Jehan laughed. "Oh yeah! I just did a simple switcheroo. Enjolras has his ring back, and the egg's in the jewellery box."

Cosette giggled delightedly. "Man, I'd love to see Babet's face when he opens the box and the egg turns black to match his heart," she joked. Jehan smiled serenely.

"Well… it won't go quite like that," they said cryptically. "It'll be funny though!"

In his room at Votirlu, Babet carefully prised open the jewellery box. To his surprise, a little white egg sat on the velvet lining. He picked it up, wondering if the ring was inside, then nearly dropped it in surprise when a deep crack appeared in it. "What the -!" he gasped, as the egg hatched. A little grey duckling sat in his palm, staring up at him. It snuggled into his hand.

"Mummy!" it quacked loudly.

"What?!" Babet yelled in shock. "'Mummy'?"

The duckling hopped onto his shoulder and snuggled up to him. "Mummy!"

Cosette smiled as she watched her friends enjoy the gala. Someone tapped her shoulder, and she turned to Grantaire blushing the same colour as his hair. "W-would you like to dance?" he asked her, stuttering a little.

She smiled delightedly. "I'd love to!" Cosette grinned, and took the hand he offered her. Grantaire twirled her under his arm, and led her onto the dancefloor in an elegant waltz.

"You're not going to run away this time, are you?" he teased.

"I promise," Cosette laughed. "As late as I was to the party, I'm not actually Cinderella, so there's no time limit on my shoes."

Grantaire looked adorably confused. "Who's Cinderella?" he asked.

Cosette laughed and shook her head. "Never mind." She'd had quite enough excitement for one day, and was perfectly content to simply dance the rest of the night away.

NOTES: Thoughts? :D The pairings might seem odd now, but all will be revealed in time!