A/N: Takes place the day after the incident at Mad Cow and concurrent to Chibi's chapter 6. Ryder's first day as a teacher goes from embarrassing to annoying as the day drags on, while Raven learns it's not a good idea to pick on your older sister when she's the one assigning your homework.
Disclaimer:
Passing the Torch
5. Welcome to the Jungle
Ryder Iacono dragged herself out of bed that fine Tuesday morning with a groan. She really didn't want to go to class today, since the first day was always the worst, but as a teacher she had no choice. When she was just an assistant, she didn't have to worry as much about lesson plans, or getting up early, or many other duties that the faculty of Cloud Tower Academy of Witchcraft had to deal with. This year she was the sole teacher of the class, she was expected to keep some sense of decorum and professionalism. However, her sleep deprived brain refused to even think about class in general before a good cup of coffee. This lead her to shuffle straight to the dining hall for breakfast….in her pajamas.
"Um, Miss Iacono?" Professor Sohma said timidly as the red-headed witch made her way to the nearest coffee pot. The hazel-eyed woman regarded her with a groggy annoyed expression.
"What?" She half-spat, half-groaned.
"Well, you are in your sleepwear…"
"I know." Ryder grumbled. "Now shut up until after I've had my coffee." By now, more professors had entered into the staff area.
"My, is little Miss Iacono in a bad mood?" Moonstone raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. The younger witch growled in return.
"Just keep your flapping maw shut until I'm awake."
"Nice pajamas." Cadwallader snickered, and he wasn't alone. Moonstone openly laughed and Sohma was in a fit of giggles. Whatever they imagined the young teacher to sleep in, a pair of pink flannel pants with stars and moons all over them and a matching pink top wasn't it.
Ryder growled like an angry animal, seriously contemplating splattering at least two of the three laughing hyenas with the scalding hot liquid now poured in her mug. Fortunately (be it for her or the other faculty, we shall never know), Headmistress Arianrhod chose that moment to enter.
"What seems to be so amusing here?" She asked, helping herself to a cherry Danish.
"Miss Iacono's disregard for the dress code." Cadwallader said.
The lime-haired woman looked Ryder over quickly before shrugging. "I do not find it funny. I do find it immature of you to laugh at her, though. Not all of us can be morning persons."
"Clear the way to the coffee pot!" Professor Alexander Farley bellowed as he entered. Some of the older, more tested teachers simply ignored the aging man as he blew in like a hurricane, but a few of the new ones froze at the sight of the old wizard entering in a white tank top, blue boxers, and house shoes. The usually genial man physically shoved Cadwallader out of his way in his quest to reach the percolator. Sensing an impending fight, Ryder wisely stepped aside.
"Oh, I see the breakfast club is all but gathered." Belladonna stated as she walked in with Mr. Grimm. "Where are our darling assistants?"
"Probably eating with the students." Grimm reminded her. "They are not required to keep quite the same hours as we do."
"Lucky." Ryder grumbled, earning a smile from Belladonna and a "Ha!" from Mr. Farley.
After a seemingly uneventful discussion about class schedules, Ryder was off to her first class of the year. Actually, it was her first solo class ever, which made her a little nervous. She tried to keep the dark energy around her at a minimum, however. Too much dark energy in a room where incantations were being spoken was never a good idea, as it typically caused said incantations to backfire.
Her first class of the day was the Sophomores. Not a bad group, except for Amber asking if there was an incantation to burn someone's hair off. Since Ryder had a sneaky suspicion that said person might be her sister, she respectfully declined to answer.
Next were the Juniors. Rambunctious, yes, but not especially dangerous. All they learned today was how to turn ice into fire…well, for some of them. One poor girl never got past a block of ice, and most of the group only managed to melt said ice.
Next, were the Seniors. This was a problem, since all three of her darling cousins attended that lecture. Ok, so no one else in the school (that she knew of) knew they were related. She knew. Whether it be an inborn ability for all descendents of the Ancestresses to recognize each other or simply the process of deductive reasoning, she'd figured it out, and so had they. A fact they were thankfully too cautious to bring up in class.
"Now, an important talent for any witch to develop is the ability to write her own incantations and improve on existing ones." She said, trying desperately to ignore Leila's incessant tapping on the desk. "Your first assignment for this year will be to alter an existing chant. Since I know how cut-throat this challenge tends to be, let me lay down a few ground rules. Rule one, you may not cause injury to another student or faculty member, be they from this fine establishment or another academy. Anyone who harms another student as a result of their incantation will receive an F." She glared straight at the Black Heart girls, knowing they'd be the first to attempt to break that rule. "Rule two, and this was an issue last year, no necromancy! That art is strictly forbidden, as you all should know. Anyone caught using a necromancer's chant will be turned over to the Headmistress for academic probation and possible expulsion."
"You're taking all the fun out of this." A student with long chestnut curls and turquoise eyes pouted.
"Good. I'm here to make you work." Ryder smirked. "You should know that by now, Malvina."
"Excuse me!" Electra raised her hand. "I have a question."
The magenta-headed woman pinched the bridge of her nose. Whatever this was, it wasn't going to be nice. "Yes, Miss Novak."
"How would one go about writing a mind control spell?" The lavender-haired lightning witch asked as innocently as she could.
Ryder's eyes flashed a menacing violet before she answered the question. "And this brings us to rule number three: No mind control spells."
"But why?" Electra tried again. "Wouldn't it make our lives much easier?"
"It goes against school policy," The older witch stated solemnly, "not to mention its side-effects."
"What about an attraction charm?" Leila asked, only to have her eldest cousin turn her cold golden gaze upon her.
"There will be no mind or emotion/attraction altering spells in this classroom or this school!" She stated firmly. "And the next one of you that brings it up will become the test subject for Professor Cadwallader's new amnesia potion!" Needless to say, no one voiced any more complaints that class period.
Next class, however…
"Okay, I think it's time we lay down some ground rules for this class." She said as soon as everyone was seated. After her interaction with her nosy relatives and a bored princess, she felt it completely necessary to lay down a few laws. "First rule: we will not be covering mind control spells, hallucinogens, or spells to make other people ill this semester. Anyone who persists in asking me about these spells will earn the wonderful job of being Professor Cadwallader's lab rat for a week."
"Is that even legal?" Miranda whispered to Fiona, who shrugged helplessly.
"I have no idea." The green-eyed Nature witch murmured back.
"She wouldn't do it anyway." Raven snorted, earning a glare from her older half-sibling.
"Time to move on to our second rule: No necromancy. For those of you who have not taken, or flunked word origins studies, that means no re-animating dead people or talking to spirits of the recently deceased." Ryder looked over the class. Up until last year, that rule hadn't been in play, but after one of the girls in Amethyst's graduating class decided to resurrect a past headmaster (who then proceeded to start attacking students he felt were 'impure' witches and wizards) it was decided that no one else be allowed to attempt anything similar. "I realize this is way over your magical heads right now, but know this: anyone caught using forbidden magik to revive or speak to the dead will be put on academic probation and sent to the Headmistress for an expulsion hearing." Murmured gasps echoed through the room of freshmen. Since most of them had just started school, no-one wanted to hear about getting expelled!
"Then what can we do?" a boy with bright orange hair asked shyly. Ryder smiled down on him.
"Pretty much anything else you want to, so long as you keep to the parameters of your assignments and no-one gets hurt."
"Translation: Boring stuff." Raven smirked.
An evil smirk grew on Ryder's face. "Since you're so eager to get to your homework, Raven, I'll give you an extra in-class assignment."
"The hell?" Raven sputtered.
"And the highest grade you can get on it now is a 90." Ryder replied calmly. "Rein your tongue. Now, would you please come up to the front of the classroom?"
Muttering several obscenities under her breath, the violet-eyed witch stood up and trudged all the way up to the teacher's desk. She turned to face the class, arms folded over her chest and a scowl firmly planted on her face.
"Now, as you will all learn this year, learning the basics of properly reading, analyzing, and constructing an incantation are crucial to your magical training here at Cloud Tower." Ryder stated, leaning casually against her desk. "Since Miss Iacono is a Music witch, she should understand some of the basic components of an incantation."
Raven's eyebrows shot up into her bangs. Was her sister really devious enough to make her recite and explain the essential parts of an incantation/poem? Apparently so.
"Raven, please explain the significance of meter and foot to an incantation."
Sigh. "Meter is the fancy term for the structure of a line of incantation, and is measured by how many syllables there are in the line and which ones are stressed." She paused to glare at her sister. "Most lines have a predictable pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. The specific pattern that repeats throughout is called the foot. The most common type used in both poetry and spell casting is the Iambic pentameter, or the Iamb foot repeated five times."
"Very well done." Ryder praised. "You may return to your seat now." The younger Iacono sister returned, muttering insults and stomping her feet, to her desk while her suitemates shook their head.
"Didn't we warn you to behave?" Fiona asked, inspecting her fingernails.
"Shut up." Raven glared.
"I do believe she's trying to give us all a harder midterm." Jason observed.
"No, Jason, she's just trying to give herself a harder one." Ryder stated, regaining the class's attention. "Now, would everyone open their textbooks to page 6…"
After classes ended and the students dispersed to do their homework or find ways to avoid it, Ryder was once again on her way to the staff room, this time to pick up her grade book from Headmistress Arianrhod. When she entered, she found the lime-haired witch talking to a man she didn't recognize. He had short dark hair, deep blue eyes, and an aura that spoke of dark magic. She felt a deep seated sense of annoyance as his eyes looked her over. "Um, I'm sorry to bother you and your guest, Headmistress." She replied. "If this is a bad time…"
"Oh no!" Arianrhod smiled. "Mr. Bloodstone was just leaving. I have your grade book right here, Ryder."
Trying her darndest to hide her shock, the red-headed teacher stepped forward to claim her book. Really. This guy was the head of discipline at Alfea? She'd expected him to be much older and more gruff-looking. "Thank you, Ma'am." She nodded to her boss. "I guess I'll be on my way."
"Would you mind if I walk with you?" Mr. Bloodstone asked, his voice sounding deep and smooth. "I'm on my way out anyway."
She bit back an annoyed groan. "Fine." She replied tersely, walking to the door. "Try to keep up." It was a fair warning…to shut up an just walk.
Unfortunately, he ignored her. After saying his goodbyes and thanks to Headmistress Arianrhod, Bloodstone kept in stride with the Dark witch and began questioning her. "You look a little young to be a teacher."
"The same could be said of you." She replied. "I wasn't aware that anyone could become head of discipline until they turned 40."
He laughed off her comment, only serving to anger her. "Let's just say that I have connections. What's your excuse?"
"Don't need one." She blinked, continuing to keep her responses short.
"What? A beautiful lady like you must have something more to say."
"You know what? I do." Ryder turned to face him. "Go away!"
He blinked. "But I thought we had a conversation?"
"No, you had a conversation. All I heard was this mysterious buzzing noise." She growled. "Now go fly on your little fairy wings back to Alfea and stay away from me!" And with that, she stormed off, her long red hair flowing behind her like a cape.
Bloodstone, meanwhile, watched her departure with interest. That woman was an enigma. He'd have to hack into the faculty database later to find out more about her. If he could just win her (temporary) affection, it would make enacting his plans that much easier.