Professor Park's talent show auditions were held the week of Halloween and the performance itself was to be carried out the week before everyone, or at least whoever wished to, left for the week of Thanksgiving. Evergreen, with Link's persuasion, auditioned with one of his funny songs. The one he did was about quirky little things he found surprising in the magical world when he first entered it. Why can't I ever say no to him?
Obviously, because Evergreen must have some of the musical talent that Dad had in spades, and also because Professor Park was quite partial to Evergreen, despite saying that she had no favorites, he ended up making it on the program for the show. He let Dad know that he tried out for the show with one of his funny songs that Dad knew he often sung to himself. "You're a regular wizard Weird Al!" Dad had said, when they spoke briefly via magic pocket watch after the audition.

They both enjoyed the music of Weird Al Yankovic, and his pop parodies and polka mixes, and he considered using one of Weird Al's songs for his audition, but it was a wizard school. For one, wizards probably didn't listen to him and for another, they wouldn't get any of the pop culture references that he used in his music. They knew nothing of eBay, Capitan Crunch, and Segways after all. They used wizard mail, classic oat cereal, and broomsticks. Using such music would definitely cause some of his fellow No-Maj raised peers to tell him to "read the room". But being raised by a musician, he was a fairly proficient musician himself.

He planned on auditioning A-capella, but the little fairy that was giving him so much attention there near and within the theater had for some reason gotten some of her friends together and they made fun background music with their little voices. Sure, they couldn't speak English, but they could sure carry a tune and stay exactly on beat. Evergreen was surprised at first that they joined in his song, but it was a wonderful surprise. Professor Park and Cal were the only beings in the room for the auditions and they both had to brush away their tears from laughing so hard at the lyrics Evergreen wrote. Where he started the thing kind of shaky, he ended it with a sense of confidence that could only be explained away by magic.

As promised, Aaron met up with Evergreen after rehearsals for a number of days. Aaron looked over Evergreen's notes on the wand repair potion and the text involving the animagus potion. He didn't ask any questions regarding Evergreen's purpose, but he did ask how he attempted, or if he attempted any of the potions yet. It was probably a given, but the issue with the wand repair potion was that it wasn't simmering non-stop for the full lunar cycle. Had it been, Aaron said that there would have been no reason for it not to work. Duh! You gotta keep the magic momentum going!

Aaron was quite kind and quite patient with Evergreen. The boy was apparently a half-blood like Evergreen, only he was raised in the wizarding world. His dad worked in a magical hospital somewhere in Illinois making various cures and remedies. No wonder he was so good at this sort of thing. He grew up with it. It seems like potions came just as naturally to him as music came to Evergreen. Seta said that Evergreen ought to keep Aaron close. Not only did he have just a natural kindness to him, but with his help, Evergreen could fly to the top of his class with his struggle class potions becoming more manageable.

"—the thing to understand here, Evergreen, is that it doesn't actually matter what stage the moon is in. It's not about the phases, it's about the elapsed time." Aaron had said during one of their meetings. Evergreen had started the potion anew on November 1st which was a quarter moon, meaning that he would need to add another ingredient and stir every Friday until the end of that month. He would need to get back to Ilvermorny somehow the Saturday morning after Thanksgiving. He would manage.

"Like you said." Evergreen replied, stirring the potion there in an unused classroom near the Pukwudgie Den. "Also, we need to sprinkle the salt, yes? Not pour it?"

"Evergreen, when doing something like this, never pour!" Aaron's face looked as if Evergreen had insulted his dog or something.

"Okay. No pouring, got it! Why would anyone ever do something like that?"

It was November 9th and daily highs sat in the low 40s with nightly lows plunging quite a bit below freezing. The day was overcast and to many of Evergreen's classmates, it was the cause for some seasonal depression. In his case though, he actually quite enjoyed the overcast conditions. It was just like being at home. Growing up in the Northwest, he found it quite comforting to be completely surrounded by greenery with a gray sky overhead. Sweater weather made anything better.

Evergreen walked into the library to find Valerian sitting at a table up against a window that showed the Bascom Lodge thousands of feet below, appearing as a gray smudge on the green forest floor. A small car was pulling away from the hotel at that moment. "Hi Evergreen." Valerian said quietly, looking around the library.

"Hey Valerian. What are you working on?" Evergreen asked, taking a seat opposite of his acquaintance.

"Defense. Your mom wrote our book, right?" Valerian asked.

"Well yeah, the rumors are true. Do you need some help with something? I'm decent with defense."

"Yeah, it's the part about vampires. They are described as mortal, yet undead at the same time. What does that mean?"

This was something that took Evergreen a bit to understand too. The thing was, that some beings are both mortal and undead, meaning that they could be killed, but as long as they stayed physically safe and well fed, they could likely live forever. Someone like a True Alchemist, however, was immortal, meaning that they would live forever and couldn't be killed by any means as long as they had the Elixir of Life in their system. He explained this to the other boy who was scribbling quickly upon a piece of parchment. Evergreen liked Valerian and could definitely see them as friends. They'd have to spend time together outside of class though, so he figured he would ask him.

"Would you like to study defense with me a few times a week? I pretty much live here in the library."

"Yeah, that would be helpful. Thanks."

"You're welcome. Plus, if you had any more vampire questions, we could always pay Miss Agatha a visit."

Valerian's eyes widened almost comically and his jaw fell. The whole expression made Evergreen giggle in a way he hadn't for a little while.

"You mean the vampire professor?" he asked, positively shocked, dropping his quill on his parchment, leaving a small ink splotch.

"Yeah, she's great. She is actually quite open about the whole vampire thing."

"She's my head of house, but she is terrifying with her golden eyes and sharp fangs!"

This elicited another laugh from Evergreen. He too used to be put off by Miss Agatha. She was a being who had a natural thirst for blood and at the same time, was pretty much older than America itself. However, she was also extremely lovely, with her flawless complexion, long hair, and red lips. Kind of lie Snow White without the dwarves. Plus, she just had the nicest personality and was quite warm despite being a creature of the night.

While they sat there talking, there was a slight tremor, but nothing that could really be described as an earthquake of any real magnitude. Valerian didn't appear to be too shaken. Apparently, he had some family in the Midwest who trained Gricks. Apparently, if fed certain things, they turn quite docile, but still travel at impossible speeds, thus causing earthquakes there near America's Great Plains. Possibly it was a Grick or a Grick colony that was behind these tremors. Who knows?

That evening, under the watch of Aaron and in the empty classroom they had previously used, Evergreen added a few more bay leaves and a pinch of salt to his still boiling cauldron. It was a new moon, so it was a slightly darker evening than it was before. The potion kept its proper color and Evergreen was overjoyed. The smell was kind of terrible though, like microwaving sweaty socks. No, he had never microwaved sweaty socks himself, but he just guessed that it was a similar scent to that wafting from his cauldron.

Thanks to Aaron's help, Evergreen was beginning to do much better in his potions class. Professor Killian mentioned how his technique had improved quite a bit over the past month. The potions that they were working on at the time were a few variations of strengthening potions. One that improved eyesight temporarily, one that sharpened hearing temporarily and one that made one's muscles capable of carrying ten times their normal limit. It had been interesting, being able to count the freckles on the faces of some of the Horned Serpent girls from clear across the room, as his eye strength potion was especially potent, according to the professor.

"Evergreen!" Aaron had exclaimed as the potion went from a lime green back to its natural olive. "You are so close with this one! Are you sure you were raised No-Maj? Cuz you're doing great!"

"Not sure how to take that. You're as much a wizard as I!" Evergreen quipped with a grin.

"I know. I just can't believe you struggled at all last year."

"Now, that I can take as a proper compliment, thank you very much!" he said with a laugh.

The two young wizards continued stirring the potion while Seta looked on, keeping watch, to make sure that no one undesirable made a sudden appearance. Aaron briefly glanced at the bunny dressed in grieves and a tunic with a bow tie, for some reason, and looked toward Evergreen with a suddenly uncertain expression. It was like he wanted to say something, but wasn't sure if he really should.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Evergreen asked.

"What? Oh, I mean…" Aaron trailed off, appearing to try and form a coherent and careful thought. "So, your familiar."

"Seta? Yeah. What about him?"

"Is it true that he came back from the dead last year?" Aaron asked, looking Evergreen in the eyes with his own slightly twitching away ever so often.

"Yes it is true." Evergreen replied, sitting back down on the stool pulled slightly away from the tall table. "I don't know the details only that my family's magic apparently put some kind of protection on him making him touched by light magic in a way that most could only be touched by dark magic. Usually, scars and markings left behind after magic are evidence of darkness, according to Professor Fangholder, Seta has a full bill of health. I don't know. Like I said, I can't really explain it."

That seemed to satisfy Aaron, who just looked thoughtful as he returned his attention to the potion before them. It wasn't long after that they packed up their things and Seta once again used what he referred to as a "hidden things talisman" to shield the boiling cauldron from view and from anyone who would try and disturb it. It was a curious piece of magic, that was for sure.

The boys separated at the annex and Evergreen and Seta ascended the spiral stairs toward the Nest. He was feeling positive about his potion that he was brewing. He had a feeling that things were going to start getting a lot better. He didn't have any proof, just a feeling. The weekend was finally there and it meant that they could enjoy some time outside until the heavy rains began anew.

The landscape was flat and desolate, like a large desert at night. There was smoke coming from somewhere and it was nearly impossible to see more than 100 paces in any direction. Great winds were whistling and there were what sounded like small voices murmuring from every direction. There was perhaps sand below one's foot, but any footfall was silenced the moment it was made.

A large lion was stalking across the nearly barren terrain, hiding himself within a skeletal forest. It appeared that nothing was alive, except of course for him and a few random, scattered creatures. He was apparently watching a group of fox-looking things. Only, their legs were both too thin and too long. Plus, if one were to look them in the eyes, they would see that the eyes were all wrong and actually had a vaguely human quality to them. In a moment, one of them grew to the size of a wolf, its fur turning from a burnt orange color to black. The beast was different, but its eyes were exactly the same. Up ahead in the distance, there was a group of six people wearing robes. Wizards, possibly. The voice of one prevailed above the landscape's eerie melody.

"How far in do you think this goes?" it sounded like Link's voice.

"It's hard to tell." Replied another voice that sounded like Valerian's.

"We should be quieter until we're not quite as exposed, guys." Whispered a voice that sounded like Evergreen's.

The lion looked over in the direction of the voices. He stood up and started watching them intently. They were unaware of him, but they had made themselves quite apparent to him. He crouched down, his large, yellow eyes surrounded in black were staring, unblinking at the group. It wasn't long until the group got fairly close to the skeletal forest, still mostly concealed from view in the dark mist. It was at that moment that the lion made his move. With one leap he launched himself toward the group and Evergreen awoke in his bed with Link standing over him.

"Hey nerd, you never mentioned that you were a seer!"

"What are you talking about?" Evergreen asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"You woke me up and your eyes were open and all purple speaking some kind of prophecy."

"What kind of prophecy? What did I say?"

"Six of the living travel far below. Five of the living return. The key to the enemy's downfall lies within the heart and mind and nerve."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Evergreen yelped.

"I don't know. I think we should go to Woods."

"Good idea," Evergreen replied, pulling himself out of bed.