Luna Nova Sports Field
Preparations for the Banquet has already finished earlier in the day, and with the Banquet itself set to start in less than an hour, all the staff and students of Luna Nova have retreated back to their rooms so they can dress up for the event.
The Red Coven, on the other hand, went to the Sports Field with the Cinderella Magic Set in tow, with the Green Coven accompanying them so Amanda can give the Red Coven assistance on how to use the Set. Mary-Ann Lait stood at the side as an observer to the event going on.
"Let's see..." Amanda read through the instruction manual for the Set. "It says that step one is to draw on the ground the spell circle as depicted-" The redhead gestured at Constanze, who then pressed a button on a small device that then projected a large hologram of a spell circle, which Amanda then pointed a finger at. "-here."
The Red Coven drew a copy of the spell circle shown in the hologram (or rather, Lotte and Wispy did, as Akko's drawing was so shoddy it had to be corrected, and Sucy wasn't even drawing to begin with) on the ground.
"Step two is to put the box right in the center of the spell circle." Amanda continued reading off of the instruction manual.
Akko went to grab the Set and placed it in the middle of the spell circle. Though Lotte had to adjust its position a bit as it wasn't exactly centered.
"Step three says that three witches need to position themselves around the box." Amanda went on.
This step went perfectly smooth, as the required positions are already marked by the spell circle itself. The Red Coven girls stood themselves on the marked positions.
"And now, the last step is to-" Amanda read the last line in the manual, but then suddenly paused as she bought her face right up to it. "Uh... it says to recite this spell..." Amanda then walked up to the Red Coven and passed the manual to them.
The Red Coven girls took turns to read the spell as indicated on the manual.
"You are embarrassed to say this spell yourself?" Sucy asked Amanda.
"Who knew it would be something this silly-sounding?" Amanda retorted.
"Whatever..." Sucy deadpanned as she passed the manual back to Amanda.
With that, Amanda moved away from the Red Coven to give them room to perform the spell.
"You two ready?" It was Akko who went on initiative.
"I'm ready." Lotte said, with Wispy sitting on her head, giving a thumb up.
"I am..." Sucy said with her usual disinterested tone.
Nodding at each other, the Red Coven girls then took their wands out, and pointed them at the Set.
"Bibbidy!"
"Bobbidy!"
"Boo..."
The box reacted by letting out a small spark of magic for a brief moment.
And then... nothing.
The Cinderella Magic Set just sat there afterwards, looking like it just fizzled out without doing anything.
"Is that... it?" Akko asked, confused as to what was supposed to happen.
Amanda looked at the instruction manual, then at the box, then back at the manual, all while just as confused as Akko is. "Beats me. The manual didn't say what was supposed to-"
All of a sudden, a beam of light shot down from the sky into the box, which then illuminated the spell circle before erupting in a bright flash of light.
The bright flash lasted for a few seconds before fading away.
"-happen?" Amanda finished what she had meant to say.
It turns out that the Cinderella Magic Set did something after all. Before, all of the girls are simply in their Luna Nova uniform. But now, all the girls found themselves wearing fancy dresses that had seemingly replaced their uniforms in a similar fashion as the Metamorphie Veistesse spell.
"Wow, it did work!" Akko exclaimed as she started checking out the frilly pink dress she now wore.
Lotte shyly checked out the pretty yellow dress on her, while Sucy remained indifferent about her pretty demon(?) getup (that even included a horned headband).
Constanze instinctively reached for the goggles she always had on her head, only to find that it had disappeared when the Cinderella Magic Set put her in her dress. Jasminka seemingly paid no attention to her dress as she continued to eat out of a bag of chips.
Amanda, on the other hand, is dismayed at being put in a dress. "Seriously, why me as well?" She complained while tugging on the neckline of her dress. "Couldn't it have been a suit instead?"
Mary-Ann was the only one who seems to be unaffected, as the Luna Nova uniform she wore as a disguise to sneak into the campus is still on her. "Maybe I can use that for my next story..." She took note of what she just saw.
...
Front Gate
Meanwhile at the front gate, Ursula was charged with greeting all the guests as they arrived at Luna Nova.
"So, uh... Senator Paul Hanbridge and his son, Andrew Hanbridge, correct?" Ursula asked the next set of guest while looking at the list of guests in her hand to make sure she was right.
"That is correct." Senator Hanbridge confirmed, with his son standing next to him.
"Welcome to Luna Nova, Senator." Ursula greeted the man. "Although might I ask why he is here as well?" The blue-haired professor, with a venomous tone without sounding rude, asked the man while pointing at another man behind him. "His name is not on the guest list..."
"I understand that the wizarding community wants nothing more than to see him dead because of his Muggle supremacist views." Senator Hanbridge explained politely, as he is aware of Ursula's suddenly venomous tone and fully understands the reason behind it. "Which is why I forced Robert Blackwell to come here to remind him that his views were wrong."
Ursula shot the former Defense Minister of the UK - who is also the former headmaster of Appleton Academy - a glare that looked like it could kill.
"I told you they don't want to see me, Paul." Blackwell told Senator Hanbridge.
It was the senator's turn to shoot the former Defense Minister a glare, though this one just spells out "shut up", which Blackwell understood, making him deciding to keep his mouth shut for now.
"Good. Luck. With. That." Ursula said, trying very hard to remain polite in the presence of the world's most infamous Muggle supremacist.
Senator Hanbridge let out a sigh as he ushered Andrew and Blackwell to come with him.
Ursula kept her venomous glare on Blackwell until he has disappeared into the entrance hall of Luna Nova with the Hanbridges.
With that, the blue-haired professor put her guest-greeting face back on as she greeted the next guest.
"Welcome to Luna Nova Witchcr-"
"What a cu- What a Jennifer-damned bastard, that Blackwell is, don't you agree?" The next guest in the line, which is the last one right now, is a hooded woman who interrupted Ursula and asked her a question.
"Y-yes, that is correct." Ursula responded to the woman. "Uh, your identification, miss?"
The hooded woman said nothing as she then raised her hands up to pull her hood down, showing her face to Ursula.
"Oh! My apologies, Madam Doctor!" Ursula nervously greeted the woman who she now recognized as someone famous. "Please, come right in!"
...
Auditorium
About an hour later, after the opening ceremony celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Luna Nova-Appleton Friendship as well as the introduction of the Hanbridges as special guests (with Blair passing out at the sight of Andrew's handsomeness, much to Avery and Mary's worry), all the witch students of Luna Nova are waiting for the next and last part of the opening ceremony - the introduction of notable Luna Nova alumni - to start and then end so they can get to the fun part of the Banquet (they did have fun pelting Former Defense Minister Blackwell with shoes, though).
On the stage where Headmistress Holbrooke spoke from as she introduced the special guests, the faculty of Luna Nova stood at the side, all of them in whatever presentable clothes that represented their respective homelands' magical cultures save for Professor Nelson who is dressed in a military suit decorated with patches and medals from her old days in the US Air Force. The Broom Flight instructor seems to be proud of her military background.
"Ladies!" The headmistress started speaking for the final part of the opening ceremony. "...And gentlemen..." She added upon remembering that the Hanbridges and Appleton's student body are present too (she deliberately ignored Blackwell as even she loathes him). "Over the years, Luna Nova Witchcraft Academy have produced what you might call the cream of the crop. As graduates of this magnificent school for witches, they have used their knowledge and skills to make the world a better, more enjoyable place in all sorts of careers."
Like Shiny Chariot! Akko thought. Maybe she might show up soon!
The Japanese girl then caught a glimpse of Diana standing with Hannah and Barbara at another spot in the auditorium. The ace student who usually looked pretty managed to be even prettier in that elegant blue dress she wore. Although that dress also made Diana's waist look very thin in an unnatural way, which to be honest creeped Akko out.
For some reason, Diana looked like she isn't looking forward to meeting the past graduates of Luna Nova.
The headmistress coughed into her fist before continuing. "Anyway, without further delays, allow me to introduce some of the most notable witches to have graduated Luna Nova. Although some of them couldn't make it here tonight..." She then took out a scroll from behind the podium that she is standing behind. "First up, we have... a popular rockstar with dozens of equally popular songs published under her name: Marjolaine Villard, also known by her stage name of Miss Marjolaine."
After the headmistress has introduced her, Marjolaine walked up to the stage, with the headmistress stepping away from the podium so she can use it.
"Greetings to the students of Luna Nova!" Marjolaine greeted the students. "As a former student of this wonderful academy myself, I have a few words of encouragement for you: 'Strive for the ideal place!'" She then announced.
Some of the students of Luna Nova (and a few from Appleton) cheered at Marjolaine's words. Avery practically melted with glee at it.
"And not to make a shameless self-promotion, a new album will be coming out soon, from your one and only... Miss Marjolaine!"
The same students from before cheered even louder at that.
Marjolaine then retreated from the podium, with Holbrooke taking over again. "Well, what an amazing person Miss Villard has become! I, for one, would like to have a listen of that album too."
That garnered a few giggles from one of the faculty members, though it's hard to tell who it came from.
"Anyway, for our next notable graduate of this school... the Vice Chancellor of the East Morgiana Republic: Dora Dorlin."
An old but professional-looking East European woman walked up to the stage and took over the podium from the headmistress.
"On behalf of the government of the East Morgiana Republic, of the staff and students of Luna Nova Witchcraft Academy, and of the entire wizarding world..." Dorlin said with her Slavic-accented professionalism as a politician. "Good riddance, Robert Blackwell."
All the students of Luna Nova and some of the staff laughed out loud at the speech Dorlin made at the expense of Blackwell, with the man himself fuming at the thought of getting indirectly humiliated by another country's government straight to the face.
"Ooh, you just got burned, Mr. Blackwell!" Heather took the opportunity to loudly mock the man.
Having nothing else to say, Dorlin retreated from the stage, with Holbrooke taking over again.
"If only I still have my laughing bone in me." The headmistress joked. "But up next, we have someone who chose a bit of an unusual career for a graduate of Luna Nova... a well-celebrated American heroine: Eileen Bradley."
The next alumnus to take over the headmistress's position behind the podium is the so-named Eileen Bradley... who is an honest-to-Jennifer, actual high-ranking general of the US Air Force.
Bradley took to the podium with the professionalism that is to be expected from the USAF. "In the name of all the servicemen and women who risked their lives in defense of our civilization, as well as my fellow witches of Luna Nova, I have only one thing to say..." She gave her speech in a manner that sounded like she rehearsed it. "We should all celebrate Robert Blackwell getting sacked from his position." And just like that, the professionalism went out of the window, even despite the general saying it with a professional-sounding tone.
Blackwell boiled at the though of getting insulted like that by a high-ranking USAF general, with his inner Muggle supremacist making him boil more at the fact that said high-ranking general also happened to be a literal witch.
Bradley then saluted the audience before stepping away from the podium, letting Holbrooke take over again.
"I guess that is an American for you, being able to drop their professionalism on a whim while still sounding professional." The headmistress made a humorous remark at that. "On the other hand, our next graduate with notable achievements is..."
At that moment, Akko noticed that Diana seemed to have tensed up, with the ace student clenching both her fists really hard.
"Our next graduate is what you could possibly call the most successful witch to have ever graduated Luna Nova." Holbrooke continued speaking, just as a woman in a white hood walked up the stage, and stopped behind the headmistress. "She successfully developed the cure or vaccine against many diseases that were previously thought to be untreatable by both Muggle and Magical medicine. Her internationally recognized success eventually got her a position in the World Health Organization, and even eventually become its Director-General..."
Akko remembered seeing an online news article about the head of the WHO being a Luna Nova graduate and that she will be coming for the Alumni Homecoming. But just what kind of person she is? Someone like Diana?
"May I introduce to you, the pride of Luna Nova and the most successful witch the magical world has ever seen..." Holbrooke announced, just as she stepped aside so the hooded woman can step up to the podium.
Then the woman pulled her hood down, showing her face to everyone in the Auditorium.
"Ladies... and gentlemen, let us welcome... Doctor Bernadette Cavendish."
And thus the Banquet begins.
It sure sucks to be Robert Blackwell, eh? First, the British government gets sick and tired of his Muggle supremacist rhetoric, and straight up fired him as soon as he spoke his mind about it, on a live news broadcast, even. Then we find out that the entire world's population hated him for his being a Muggle supremacist, such that even the kind and friendly Ursula felt like she had to treat him with utmost rudeness, and even Holbrooke deliberately pretended he doesn't exist. And then he gets mocked and insulted by the Vice Chancellor of another country as well as a high-ranking general of the US Air Force, both of whom are Luna Nova graduates and thus literal witches. Moral of the lesson? Don't be a racist/speciesist, and especially don't be a racial/species supremacist.
Now let's get to the elephant in the room: Bernadette Cavendish. Yes, that Bernadette Cavendish, aka Diana's mother. Here, she is still alive, and her relationship with Diana will be very different. How so? Read the next chapter to find out.
"Just remember: a believing heart is your magic..."
Afterword ends here.