Gwen awoke to the sound of birds singing cheerfully.
"Ugh," she grumbled. Nothing, she thought to herself, should be so cheerful at this ungodly hour.
She considered opening the window and greeting the jolly songbirds back with a burst of flames. Still feeling groggy, she looked around her small dorm room. Her room mates' beds were still made and unused. Empty, she thought. She hugged her blanket close and let out a weary sigh. She tried to recall the previous night. The headmaster had healed and teleported her to her dorm room and then went to see to Hieronymous' injuries. She wondered how he was feeling; he'd been very pale the last time she had seen him.
A knock at the door caused Gwen to jump in surprise.
"Good morning, my little hummingbird! May I come in?" Professor Potsdam called brightly.
"It's open," Gwen called back. She pushed her blanket away and rolled her legs out of bed. The hardwood floor felt cool under her bare feet.
Professor Petunia Potsdam entered the room with a flourish of her pink robes and diaphanous cuffs. Her multicolored wooden bracelets click-clacked in rhythm as her white, heeled boots hit the floor. Gwen guessed she was somewhere in her late 40s or early 50s, but it was hard to tell through her skillfully applied make-up. Her light red hair curled in the front and hung just below her shoulders. She looked more like a fashionable aunt to Gwen than the headmaster of a magic academy.
Petunia looked Gwen over with deep, emerald eyes.
"How are you feeling, poppet? Any problems with your leg?" she asked, resting her cheek in her hand. Besides being the headmaster, she was also a master of green magic, making her a talented healer. She taught the green, black, and white magic courses at school in addition to performing her duties as the headmaster.
Gwen put some weight on her left leg, cautiously testing for pain. "No, it feels fine now."
"Excellent," she twittered. "All in all, one fractured femur after a teleportation that far is extraordinary, especially for a first year student."
Gwen felt slightly sick, "Um, how many bones could a first year break that way...?"
"All of them," she smiled, still looking cheerful.
"Ah..." Gwen said lamely, eyes wide. Professor Potsdam's casual attitude to danger was always unnerving.
Her professor sighed wistfully, "Such a romantic, daring rescue. Have the seeds of love finally begun to blossom between the two of you?"
"Professor... Aren't you supposed to discourage this kind of thing between professors and students...?" Gwen had wondered this for awhile. The headmaster never seemed to waste an opportunity to encourage her and Hieronymous into a romantic relationship. Hieronymous had voiced suspicions to Gwen in the past that his father might be bribing her into playing match maker. Gwen, rather, suspected the headmaster was just a romantic at heart.
"Tsk. There are no rules against love of any kind on this campus. If my professors were chasing students as a rule, I would put a stop to it of course. But Hieronymous is hardly the type. Quite the contrary!"
Gwen shook her head. "How are my parents?" she asked, dreading the answer.
Professor Potsdam frowned. "Well, I made them think you needed to return to school abruptly. They're drawing their own conclusions as to what that implies... I'm sorry, but you'll have to remain here for at least a day or two while we sort this all out."
Gwen placed her forehead in her hand. Things had been improving at home, but this would be a set-back. White magic was more of an art than a science. It could cause parents to forget that their son or daughter was at a magic academy. However, it sometimes resulted in causing parents to forget about their children entirely or assume the wrong things about their absence. For some students it came down to a choice: keep their magic powers and stay in the world of magic, or return to a normal life with their family, lose their magic... and lose their memories.
"How is Professor Grabiner?" Gwen asked, changing the subject.
"He's a bit weak yet, but he'll make a full recovery. And please, you don't have to call him 'Professor' in front of me," she chirped.
"Uh, I'd rather not push my luck," Gwen said, imagining the glare she might get from Hieronymous if she used his first name casually with, what she assumed qualified as, his boss.
"Well, suit yourself, crumpet. Come along, let's get some breakfast," she said, then looked Gwen up and down. "Oh dear, you can't come to breakfast in your pajamas. All of your clothes are at home, too, hmm..." she circled Gwen for a moment.
Gwen, feeling self conscious, wriggled her toes, but did her best to hold still. After a moment she felt a wave of black magic and her pajamas transformed into a sun dress of the same cream colored material and blue flower pattern.
"There we are," the professor beamed.
Gwen smiled, feeling refreshed. The dress fit like a glove. "Aren't you supposed to say bibbity-bobbity-boo when you do that spell?"
"That only applies to fairy godmothers," she said with a wink.
Gwen laughed, then wondered if she was serious. She did go to school with a fairy after all. After some digging under her bed, she found a pair of sandals she'd left behind due to a lack of room in her suitcase.
Professor Potsdam and Gwen joined Hieronymous in the banquet hall. He was just finishing a piece of toast as they sat down. His pallor was gone, replaced by his usual complexion. Gwen helped herself to some buttered toast and strawberries. They exchanged pleasantries, then the three of them sat in uncomfortable silence.
After taking a few bites of her breakfast, Gwen looked across the table, trying to guess Hieronymous' thoughts. "I've been listening to the Four Seasons at home. It's beautiful," she said, breaking the silence.
Hieronymous steepled his fingers together and rested his chin on his knuckles. "What makes it beautiful?" he asked.
Gwen was surprised by the question. She had been aiming for casual chit-chat. After sitting for a long moment in concentration, she finally answered passionately, "The music steals you, transposing all thought to a state of euphoria. And then it tricks you," she said, wistfully, "evoking absolute sorrow. Finally, transforming you to absolute catharsis."
A dead silence fell at the table.
Gwen's cheeks burned and she wondered if her impromptu monologue had sounded poetic or sappy. She squared her shoulders and returned his stare with a smile; she'd given an honest answer and it was too late to take it back now.
Gwen saw a look she had never seen from Hieronymous before. He appeared stunned.
"Uh... I, uh..." he said, his defenses momentarily penetrated.
Professor Potsdam smiled wickedly, "Come now Hieronymous, is that all you have to say? Surely you can muster more than that."
Hieronymous attempted to regain his composure. "Well, um, yes..." he sputtered a bit. He gathered himself continuing, "I've never heard it described quite like that before..."
"I've never heard anyone," Professor Potsdam interjected, "talk that way about anything!" she said trying to illicit more from him.
Hieronymous shot Professor Potsdam a venomous look and cleared his throat. "Forgive me for being out of touch, how do you listen to the music? Do you use a phonograph, or one of those new record players?"
Gwen gaped a little. She knew the magic world was out of touch with technology, but she hadn't realized to what extent. "Um, actually technology has progressed a little further than that. I have an MP3 player I use at home. They're devices that store information digitally and can be accessed at will."
"Makes it sound like magic, doesn't it?" Professor Potsdam commented. "Well," she interjected, "I'll leave you two to discuss the finer points of classical music. Please excuse me."
Professor Potsdam left the table and the banquet hall.
Hieronymous shook his head, tossing his thick curls of hair and muttered, "Meddlesome woman..."
Gwen smirked at him, but her stomach sank as she thought again about her parents. Would they be disappointed in her for unexplained reasons? Or would they look at her in confusion, as if they couldn't quite remember who she was and why she was there?
She shivered, imagining a cold, dead-eyed stare from her own parents.
"Are you not feeling well?" he said, giving her an inquisitive glance.
"I guess I'm not eager to get home."
"Still having troubles at home?" he asked with a frown.
"Things have been much better at home, actually. But..." she didn't want to finish the sentence.
"Disappearing to come to my aid, may have changed things for the worse," he supplied, his usual scowl present.
Gwen tried to speak positively, "Professor Potsdam thinks it might be alright. Maybe I can tell them I had to come back to school because I just really, really missed my..." she thought for a moment, "lucky umbrella."
Hieronymous snorted, but she suspected he was stifling a chuckle.
She smiled at him but then felt her blood run cold. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end as she felt the familiar tingle of blue magic. Someone was scrying her. She looked to Hieronymous, her face full of discomfort.
Gwen didn't need to explain what was wrong, from her professor's stiffened expression she gathered he could sense exactly what was transpiring.
The fires of rage lit in Hieronymous' eyes. He quickly made several gestures and recited an incantation she couldn't recognize. His eyes glimmered red and white and a wave of heat emanated from him. He frowned at nothing as the magic dissipated.
Gwen blinked as the air around them cooled back to room temperature. "What was that spell?"
"A counter-spell. It attacks the mind with red magic," he said still frowning.
"So, you just attacked someone's mind with fire?" she asked, impressed.
"No, regrettably, I only tried. They broke the connection."
Gwen frowned, "This happened yesterday, too. I should have mentioned it before, but I forgot with everything else going on."
"You..." he began angrily, about to launch into a lecture, then stopped. "...had a lot on your mind."
Gwen blinked. Hieronymous being nice, she thought. Huh...
"Whomever it was will think twice before trying it again," he said with a sinister smile.
Gwen relaxed a little. Her peeping tom was probably scared out of his or her wits. Her feeling of safety was cut short as she reflected that a peeping tom might be exactly what had an eye on her.
"Isn't the school supposed to have wards? Tough ones, I thought?"
"Indeed. Whoever that was, just brushed them aside."
A small squeak escaped her throat and she looked at him incredulously. "People can do that?"
"Not many. They have to be masterfully good at blue magic."
"How many people are that good?"
He scoffed at her question, "It isn't something one advertises. Presumably there are few of us in number."
"'Us'?"
"Were you under the impression I was hired to teach blue magic for my charming personality?" he said, his dark eyes holding the hint of a smile.
Gwen couldn't help but chuckle.
"I must take my leave and discuss this development with Petunia," he said. He nodded his head at her and departed the hall.
Gwen watched him leave. Finding herself alone in the oppressively large banquet hall, she finished off her breakfast quickly and left. She settled on passing the afternoon in the library. Grabbing a stack of books from the blue magic section, she set out to improve her understanding of teleportation magic. Focusing heavily on safety.