An HP cross where fem Harry is the main character from Disney: Twisted Wonderland!
Talk about a hectic day. Waking up in that ridiculous coffin, having to chase down an errant familiar that no one would claim (and the headmaster thinking it was hers which made her chest ache at the loss of her owl), only to be told that there was apparently no way home at the moment and that they had no place for her because she had no magic.
Her only thought by the end of it was a nice long sleep. So you could imagine her annoyance when she found out her new dorm was infested with noisy ghosts.
Headmaster Crowley was intrigued, and was 'magnanimous' enough to let them both stay as janitors of all things.
She just wanted to sleep for a week, and it didn't help considering what she had gone through recently.
Ash had to admit, she was impressed with the layout of the college. She honestly had no idea that there were magical colleges. The only thing throwing her were the little clues all over the place that maybe she might be out of place at this particular college due to the simple fact she was a woman.
While there were a few...feminine...looking boys around, she had yet to see another woman anywhere. Even the history teacher's cat was male...and had a rather familiar name.
Ash really should have paid more attention to that blasted cat. Grim was even more hotheaded than Ron, and that was saying something.
Being stuck cleaning over a hundred windows because Grim accidentally torched one of the statues... the one of the Queen of Hearts, ironically enough.
"Grim...you're an idiot."
Grim looked suitably chastised...then again, Ash had a firm grip on his collar.
When it came time to handle the punishment, the red head who was partially responsible for the mess was missing. He clearly didn't intend to help out at all, despite the fact he was the one who set Grim off in the first place.
Ash sighed, and made sure to have a firm grip on Grim's collar. He reminded her all too painfully of Ron, and something told her he would scarper at the first chance to avoid having to clean anymore. The only reason she hadn't voiced a word of complaint was because she was used to far worse and with more annoying supervision on the matter.
And it was a good thing she did...Grim did try to run off, but her grip kept him in place.
Ace tried to back out...but the second he saw the glare Ash was giving him, he wisely thought otherwise.
The second she allowed Grim to stand on his own feet, he managed to make an escape from her.
"Get that stupid weasel!" shouted Ace.
Ash sighed...this would only end in tears.
A few hours later...
"You bloody idiots! What in the name of Merlin, Morgana and Maeve made you think launching someone that high to catch a bloody cat was a brilliant plan?" said Ash. "Did it never occur to you to get some tuna or other fish and lure him to you?"
Ace, Deuce and Grim looked thoroughly chastised as Ash lit into them. Thanks to the ill conceived plan of Deuce, they had wrecked an important chandelier. Headmaster Crowley was justifiably angry over the entire matter.
"I didn't see you getting involved," said Ace childishly.
"If I knew where they kept the brooms, I would have caught Grim myself," she shot back. "I've only been here one day...it's not like I know where the storage shed is and I have no idea where my things disappeared to considering I woke up here without any warning."
Deuce tried to change the subject.
"Are you a good flier?" he asked.
"Do you know what Quidditch is?" said Ash.
"Not really," said Grim.
"I do...that's that weird sport the wizards in Avalon play, right? I've heard of it, but never seen it played," said Deuce.
"I played Seeker, and I was the youngest one to play an official team in a century," said Ash. "I just wish I knew where my broom was."
They spent the rest of the journey discussing magical sports, and the boys were all very interested in learning about Quidditch. If they managed to get out of this mess, they were eager to see how well Ash could fly on a broom.
You could imagine the boy's confusion when Ash managed to create a light ball to guide their way into the abandoned mine.
"I thought the mirror said you couldn't do magic?" said Grim, confused.
Ash had a particularly dry look on her face.
"No, I simply have trouble doing it without my spell focus. My previous one was destroyed by idiots and I haven't had a chance to get it replaced," she replied.
"Why not ask the headmaster for one?" asked Ace.
"For one thing, Grim caused entirely too much of a stir during orientation day," deadpanned Ash. "Add in the fact the mirror refused to sort me into a house and claimed I had no magic, and it would have been incredibly awkward to explain anything to the headmaster."
Grim...looked a tad embarrassed hearing it explained so bluntly.
"Honestly, if I had my focus I could have probably cleaned the place in half the time," said Ash.
Ash was just so done with this entire nonsense, especially when the monster with the odd inkpot showed up. At least the boys were willing to listen to her long enough to get the stone and return to the headmaster.
She was just too exhausted after the entire ordeal to explain about the lost focus, and honestly it didn't really matter in the long run. Until she had this seal removed, her magic was very limited.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Ash got up, a very irritated expression on her face.
The second she opened the door, her glare was enough to freeze ice.
"Yikes... you look terrible."
"Being woken up at unholy hours after next to no sleep will do that to you. Why are you here at this godforsaken hour?" she demanded.
"I got kicked out of my dorm," said Ace.
"Hah?"
After a brief discussion, Ash was slightly more sympathetic. But not by much.
"So because you missed dinner, you decided to raid the communal fridge and ate some tart that was likely being held for a special event. The housewarden busted you and put a lock on your magic, but not before kicking you out. Do I have everything so far?" asked Ash tiredly.
"Yeah, he totally overreacted over a simple tart!"
"Ace...you're an idiot," deadpanned Ash. "You said there were three massive tarts, correct? Did it ever occur to you that the housewarden had them specially made as a treat for the new freshmen and the current students of your house or for some event?"
Ace opened his mouth to respond, thought that over for a moment, then closed his mouth with clack of his teeth.
"So...what should I do?"
"First off, you are going to apologize to the house warden and find out what you can do to make amends. And then you are going to help me get some ingredients as an apology for waking me out of the first decent sleep I've had in over a week," she said flatly.
Ace chuckled nervously at that.
"So...where can I sleep?" he asked.
"The couch," she said without a hint of hesitation. "My bed isn't nearly big enough for two people, and Grim tends to sleep on one of the old cushions."
Ace looked at the couch dubiously, but didn't complain. After all, Ash had let him stay even after waking them up at a ridiculous hour.
The first and only thought Ash had to hearing half the ridiculous rules the Heartslabyul house had was...Luna would love it here.
Then Ash met Riddle and immediately knew that there was more going on here than a simple missing tart.
"You got somethin' on your mind," said Grim.
"I think there's more going on with your housewarden than a simple missing tart," said Ash. "I think he's been under a lot of pressure without an adequate outlet to let his actual feelings out, and it's about to blow."
"You sound very sure of yourself, for someone without magic," said a voice.
It was the vice housewarden, Trey.
"I've seen the signs before in a friend of mine. They foolishly thought it was a brilliant idea to take as many classes as they could because they couldn't decide what career path to take after school. And if that wasn't enough, they were anal retentive about their grades and simply had to be the best at every class. Sound familiar?" said Ash dryly.
"So what happened?" asked Trey, as that did sound like Riddle, just a bit.
"They ended up almost burning themselves out, both mentally, magically and physically trying to keep up with that many magical classes. The entire time they were extremely snappy at everyone including their best friend and dorm mate because we tried to get them that they had time to figure out what they could do once we graduated. And that was on top of the headache we were dealing with that entire year," said Ash.
"Well I might have a way for Ace to make up for the tart fiasco in time to at least attend the Unbirthday party," said Trey.
"Really?" said Ace in relief.
"But you'll have to put in some extra effort," warned Trey. "Riddle isn't going to accept a half-hearted apology."
Ace looked so done with having the collar around his neck that he didn't care what he had to do to get it off.
Ash gave Trey a knowing look.
"Whatever reason Riddle has been pushing himself so hard for, he's going to snap...and it won't be in some distant future. I get the feeling this mess with the tart is going to backfire on everyone, especially him. I saw how the other students in your dorm looked at him...they were honesty terrified towards him," she warned.
Trey would really wish he had taken Ash's words to heart, as the oddball student saw the obvious clues he refused to acknowledge.
Ash just knew Riddle was going to snap, and soon. As such she wasn't the least bit surprised when it happened because they apparently brought the 'wrong' tart according to the infamous Queen of Heart's rules. In all fairness, having over seven hundred rules was a bit too long for anyone to memorize so quickly.
Especially freshmen who had only just gotten sorted the day before.
It took everything out of her to cast those protego spells in an effort to give them a fighting chance. So much so that she didn't hear Riddle's inevitable breakdown, as she collapsed from the amount of spells she used.
"Ash!" shouted Ace, Deuce and Grim.
Crowley was the first to pick the student up...and took note of something he should have picked up earlier.
Namely that the 'misplaced student' was a female.
Crowley was pissed and rightfully so. Miss Black had more than earned the right to stay at Night Raven, misunderstanding about her gender being a relatively minor matter.
So finding out one of his precious students had a seal on her core, heavily restricting her magic and would almost certainly kill her in short order pissed him off. Fortunately it was one they had well documented research on...including how to remove said seal.
It took them several hours, and he was definitely adding this to her bill, but they managed to get the seal off.
The outpouring of magic was ridiculous...he had only felt this sort of thing from the Diasomnia Housewarden when he was still establishing his dominance to the older students second year, and had to duel several before they accepted his rule. And even then, it didn't feel nearly this sentient, which was a fair indicator of how often the girl had to defend herself if her magic felt ready to attack anything that threatened her even while unconscious and exhausted.
Grim, who had managed to sneak into the special ritual room, looked at his 'minder' with concern.
Crowley had a sneaking suspicion about the odd cat...so he grabbed Grim by the collar and dumped him inside the circle. Almost immediately, Ash's magic seemed to settle down as the potential familiar bond kicked in.
Grim could deny his status all he wanted...his magic was still that of a familiar, albeit a very odd and opinionated one. If Ash had no problem with him taking classes, then that was her problem.