A/N: Hiya and welcome back to Shadows of a Spare! Once again, I am over a month late with the update, which... I apologise for. However, I do have a valid reason for it, one that has ultimately affected The Owlcast and Ghost of a Kind as well, but not because of writer's block this time. If anybody wants to know the reason for the delay, please see my FF profile for the writer's update I posted on there if you haven't already, because I'm not going to go into detail about it here. However, please note that this particular problem is going to cause chapter update delays going forward (at least until I can sort it out), meaning that updates to this fic could potentially wind up taking a couple of months instead of one. I am hoping it's only temporary, but it depends on when the people I need to resolve the issue with can be bothered to take me seriously.
But enough about me! As of the posting of this chapter, we have now entered the second episode of Little Witch Academia, and I won't lie: I rewrote this introduction chapter so many times. XD I wish I was kidding, but between me being indecisive about what to include, Delila having nothing to do with Akko at this point being an issue, and the episode itself giving me very little to work with in the beginning... It was bad. There'll be more on that at the author's notes at the bottom. But I think I've finally reached a point where I am happy with the end result, so I hope the rest of you are too.
Thank you to everyone who has been reviewing, favouriting, following and reading this fanfic. Your continued support is greatly appreciated. And remember, this fic is also cross-posted onto AO3 under the same writer's username, should anyone need to find it elsewhere. In the meantime, I hope you guys enjoy the introduction to Episode 2.
Chapter 6: Awkward Adjustments
Light shakes of her shoulder roused Delila from her slumber from where she was lying on her back, flickering her eyelids a few times. Delila couldn't for the life of her remember when she'd managed to doze off, but it didn't matter. In response to the disturbance, she groaned and rolled over onto her left side towards the wall, hunching her posture underneath the covers while lazily waving a hand about.
"Five more minutes, Anna…" she mumbled and squeezed her eyes shut, pulling the quilt a little further over her head in the process.
A loud and disapproving tut sounded behind her, followed swiftly by a quiet and familiar British accented voice that sounded nothing like Anna. "Still not an early riser, I see."
Delila's eyes snapped open wide at processing the speaker's words, taking a moment to adjust her vision to the faint golden light enveloping the former darkness cast about her. Partially sitting up and supporting herself with her elbows, the young Cavendish's gaze began haphazardly darting about her unfamiliar surroundings. From the plain blue walls that contrasted the white walls of her usual bedroom, to the dark brown frame of the bunk bed she was apparently sleeping on instead of her four-poster bed, and then to Diana in a green dressing gown and matching slippers standing calmly next to the bed's ladder—
Oh.
Delila's gaze froze on her older sister bathed in the faint sunlight streaming in from the window at the far end of the room, the events of the day before flooding back to the forefront of her mind like an overflowing dam.
She wasn't at Cavendish Manor. She was at Luna Nova Academy, the magical boarding school she'd enrolled at to fulfil her childhood promise with Diana.
"Well, good morning, Delila," Diana said lowly after a prolonged moment of intense staring between the pair, finally prompting the younger Cavendish to shake her head sharply and snap out of her daze.
"Sorry," she apologised sheepishly and sat up properly in her bed, rubbing a hand at the back of her neck. "Forgot where I—"
"Sssh," Diana gently shushed her sister and placed an index finger close to her lips, only to slyly point it in the direction of the bookcase as she elaborated in a hushed tone. "Hannah and Barbara are still asleep."
Ah, of course. Delila had forgotten they weren't alone.
"Sorry," Delila reiterated in a whisper this time, only to direct her gaze over to the window behind her head upon proceeding to smooth out her mix of platinum blonde and yellow streaked hair strands. A quick glimpse outside revealed the sun partially peeking its way over the treetops of the surrounding forest, making the younger Cavendish squint. "What time is it?"
"Half past six in the morning," Diana replied in kind, drawing Delila's attention back to her sister with a bug-eyed stare.
"Half past six? I thought classes don't commence until eight o'clock."
"Correct; however, we are granted very little time to prepare for classes, including getting breakfast, so it is crucial to wake up early." Delila frowned at the older Cavendish's explanation like her sister had just spoken to her in a foreign language, prompting Diana to raise a brow out of disbelief. "Did you forget you have to get your own breakfast from the cafeteria?"
It took several seconds for Diana's comment to properly hammer home into Delila's brain, but when it did, the realisation of her stupidity smacked Delila across the face hard. The younger witch ended up answering Diana's question by slowly turning to the nearby wall and gently—very gently—hitting her forehead off it, making the older Cavendish sigh heavily, briefly close her eyes and lightly palm her own forehead.
"It appears you still have some adjusting to do to the new routine. Good thing I took the liberty of thinking ahead." Diana waited until Delila was facing her again before she pointed in the direction of the bathroom. "Your uniform is already waiting for you in the bathroom. We can talk more about your first day at Luna Nova once the two of us are dressed and at the cafeteria."
"The two of us?" Delila repeated and tilted her head to the side. "What about your roommates?"
"What about them?"
"Don't you normally eat breakfast together?"
Diana shook her head and sideways glanced the bookcase. "They usually awaken a little later, which is just as well. As this conversation will involve your illness, it is not one meant for their ears. Though speaking of your illness…"
Diana trailed off and shifted her eyes between Delila's pillow and her face twice, prompting Delila's matching own to droop at quickly catching on to her sister's subtle gesture.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Delila grumbled and rolled her eyes, restraining her annoyance as much as she could. "I'm surprised you remembered where I keep it," she added more sincerely.
"Where else would it be if not within close reach?" Diana quietly argued as she watched her sister stick a hand under her pillow.
The younger Cavendish felt around for a few seconds and then fished out the small and thin shaped glass vial the same length as her palm, taking a moment to admire the watery and ominously glowing red liquid trapped inside by a cork with a tiny metal ring attached to it.
The staring eventually prompted Delila to blurt out a question that suddenly popped into her head. "Am I going to have to hook one of my vials onto my sash?"
Delila only just remembered their uniform didn't have any pockets.
"I'd recommend doing so to avoid accidental spillage." Diana turned away from her younger sister. "But don't worry. I doubt there's any students at Luna Nova who would recognise what your medicine is at a mere glance. Your condition is rare, after all." Delila hummed lowly in agreement and watched her sister walk off round the bookcase. "Hurry up now. You don't want to be late on your first day."
Delila waited for Diana to disappear before shuffling to the edge of the bed and uncorking her vial, being mindful not to spill its contents as her legs dangled over the bedside.
"Well then," Delila muttered under her breath, pinching the bridge of her nose between her index finger and thumb. "Down the hatch you go."
Reacting quickly, the younger Cavendish tilted her head all the way back and proceeded to pour the vial's contents into her mouth, swallowing the thick and lukewarm red liquid in one gulp. Upon straightening up again, though, she scrunched her lips like she'd just licked the inside of a lemon, the foul and yet familiar taste she'd grown accustomed to lingering on her tastebuds despite her attempt to avoid it.
Iron flavour. Disgusting.
Delila got cleaned up and dressed as discreetly as she could, changing into a clean uniform matching the one she'd worn yesterday, minus the cape coat and hat, and now with the addition of her blue sash, which she tied around her waist and knotted at her left hip after slipping the cork ring of a new unopened elixir vial through it.
After making sure the vial was secure and her outfit was in order, the younger Cavendish met with Diana in the corridor outside of the dormitory. However, she'd barely closed the door before she saw Diana cock a brow at her waist.
"Did you forget your wand?" she enquired, prompting Delila to glance at the knotted ends of her sash, where she was told by Professor Finnelan she was supposed to be carrying her wand when it wasn't in use.
"No," Delila answered honestly, jabbing a thumb at their dormitory door. "It's still on the desk where you left it last night."
"Then why not bring it with you?"
"There's no point. It's not like I need it right now." Delila made to walk past Diana and shrugged her shoulders. "We're going to have to come back after breakfast anyways, so I'll just collect it then."
From her peripheral vision as she passed her by, Delila saw Diana's brow lift a little higher out of disbelief, a strong indicator that the older Cavendish suspected there was more to the younger Cavendish's words than what she was letting on. A few seconds later, however, she heard her sister sigh loudly and then walk after her until they were side by side.
"Very well," Diana replied quietly, showing she wasn't going to push the matter any further.
This Delila inwardly sighed at; she didn't want to admit out loud that she was afraid to touch the wand, even though she was sure Diana probably already knew that. After all, she was the one who had collected it from Professor Finnelan last night.
Upon arriving at the cafeteria, the Cavendish twins were met with the sight of only six occupied tables in total, by Delila's count. That was less than what the younger Cavendish had expected, but at least getting a table and waiting in line wasn't an issue, allowing the two sisters to get their serving of the full English breakfast (consisting of bacon, sausages, baked beans, toast, grilled tomatoes and eggs—scrambled in Delila's case, because that's how she preferred hers) that had been prepared for the day and then sitting down at a table closest to the stairs without delay.
Though despite the tranquil atmosphere offered by the distance put between her and the small number of students quietly talking amongst themselves behind her, Delila was having a difficult time eating. Her eyes continuously flitted between her food tray and her elixir vial with every bite of her food or slight movement she made, constantly checking it was still there, or staring at it long enough to ensure it wasn't damaged or that the cork didn't look loose. She blamed this newly conjured habit on how often she was used to carrying her medication in a more discreet fashion, such as in a pocket on her clothing or in a bag, sometimes even inside of her socks if she was desperate enough.
Luckily for the younger Cavendish, Diana, sitting to Delila's left side this time, finally provided her with a much-needed distraction once the pair had gotten through a good portion of their meal.
"How are you feeling about undertaking magic classes for the first time?"
"Is this a trick question?" Delila deadpanned with a straight face, pausing mid-cut of her bacon to peek at her sister. "It's too early for riddles, Diana. I haven't even finished my tea yet."
Of course, as Delila expected, Diana didn't buy into her humour for a single second, evidenced by the weary droop of her eyes. "So, you are nervous, then?"
"What makes you say that?" Delila asked sarcastically, prompting Diana to shake her head and look away when she replied in kind.
"I think you know."
The younger Cavendish fell quiet in favour of taking another bite of her food, purposely avoiding her sister's gaze to focus on her plate instead. Delila waited for her sister to say something, but all she heard was the scrape and light clattering of Diana's cutlery resume against her plate, an obvious sign that the older Cavendish wasn't going to indulge her further. Delila chewed and swallowed her food before releasing a small and irritated huff.
"It's normal for me to be nervous, isn't it?" she spoke lowly, keeping her eyes fixed on her plate while her hands remained occupied slicing up her food into ridiculously tiny pieces. Though, from within her peripheral vision, she caught Diana's cutlery hovering above her plate, her blue eyes intently watching her sister's every movement. "Until now, all the knowledge and practice I've acquired came from self-study and research. Why wouldn't learning magic from qualified teachers alongside other students be daunting?"
"Which is to be expected. However, before I left for Luna Nova, you hadn't resumed your studying, and you've scarcely mentioned it in our past letter correspondences either."
Delila halted mid-scoop of some baked beans onto her fork. "… So?"
"So, have you done any magical studying since?"
"Indeed, I have." Diana's brows rose sharply as Delila continued. "Aside from meticulously reviewing the books we already have living in our library back at home, I also read through the books you sent to me." She pointed her knife upwards at the ceiling. "Those are currently in my rucksack back in the dormitory."
Diana gave a perplexed blink. "You bought them with you?"
"It doesn't hurt to have extra reading materials, does it?" Delila lightly shrugged her shoulders. "I thought you'd be more surprised that I actually read them."
The younger Cavendish shovelled the baked beans from her fork into her mouth when Diana didn't reply to her jesting, taking her sister's stunned silence as the perfect opportunity to push through her meal a bit. And much to Delila's confusion, that was how Diana stayed, just intensely staring at her younger sister as if she'd spoken gibberish. It wasn't until Delila cocked a brow at her that the older Cavendish shook her head back and forth and loudly cleared her throat, taking another mouthful of her own food to give herself a moment to regain her composure.
Had Diana not expected her to take her book recommendations so seriously, Delila wondered.
"Well, I'm glad you've still been refining your magical knowledge," Diana said once she'd swallowed her food. "And what of your spell practice?"
Delila lowered her eyes to her almost empty plate and kept them there, staring at her food like it was the most interesting thing in the world.
At least ten seconds passed before Diana calmly addressed her. "Delila."
"Hm?" Delila hummed without looking up.
"Have you also resumed your spell practice?"
Delila scooped up the bacon she'd previously dismembered into tiny pieces onto her fork and put the bits straight into her mouth, still refusing to make eye contact with Diana while purposely grounding her food into mush until she was forced to swallow it. Eventually, Diana shattered the silence with a soft sigh, with Delila catching a glimpse of her returning to eating like nothing had happened.
"… I see." Her prolonged avoidance to answer the question was all the older Cavendish needed to know where Delila stood on the issue, it seemed. "Although, speaking honestly, I expected it."
Delila's head snapped up to meet Diana's gaze again with a scowl. "What's that supposed to mean?" she hissed.
Diana, however, remained unfazed, merely closing her eyes and lowering her head a little. "I mean in terms of your symptoms flaring up," she clarified, her eyebrows knitting into a thin line with a slight twitch. "You often mentioned the terrible conduct of Aunt Daryl and our cousins towards you in your letters. I'd understand if it was difficult keeping your magic under control in their presence."
Diana sounded so composed and rational with her tone and words, yet her sister's wrinkled forehead suggested otherwise to Delila. She could only imagine the anger that was bubbling away under Diana's stoic mask.
"Still, your lack of practice is nothing to be concerned about." Diana opened her eyes and allowed her expression to relax as she turned Delila's way. "You're perfectly capable when it comes to spell casting. Your illness meddling with your magic control has been your only obstacle." The older Cavendish paused to collect her teacup and take a sip of her beverage. "I'm certain you'll have no trouble overcoming it once you settle into life at Luna Nova."
Easy for you to say, Delila sarcastically thought and slyly rolled her eyes, her fingers lightly brushing the front of her vest.
But then she frowned and dropped her hand away at the sudden thought that struck her. "Will we be expected to do any spell demonstrations in class?"
Diana shook her head. "Aside from broom flying, spell demonstrations are only required during magical examinations. They won't be taking place until a little later in the term."
Delila sighed quietly and allowed her shoulders to sag. That was one less thing for her to worry about, she thought.
"And speaking of classes," Diana continued. "Did you get a chance to review the timetable for our magic lessons today?"
"I did." Delila tapped the side of her right temple a couple of times. "Memorised it too."
"Good. After we've collected our belongings from the dormitory, I'll take you to our first class a little early. That way you can get your bearings with few students about."
"And will your—" Delila stopped mid-sentence upon processing what she'd said, forcing a cough after a couple of seconds. "Sorry, will our teammates be accompanying us like yesterday?"
"Hannah and Barbara have the same classes as us this morning, so they should be joining us once they—"
Diana was abruptly cut off by two familiar voices shouting her name at the same time from the cafeteria vestibule, voices Delila immediately recognised to belong to Hannah and Barbara. "Diana!"
The two sisters turned their heads to the right set of stairs, where they saw the other two members of the Blue Team jogging towards them dressed in their school uniforms and carrying two identical thick, brown leather-bound books in their arms. Delila and Diana watched with raised brows as Hannah and Barbara slowed to a stop in front of their table, respectively stuttering out their greetings between heaving breaths.
"D-Diana, w-we're here!"
"S-Sorry we're late!"
Diana dismissively waved her teammates off with one hand while reaching the other for her teacup. "On the contrary, you're early. Classes don't start for another hour."
When Diana took a sip of her tea, Hannah and Barbara blinked at the same time in confusion, the former of the pair immediately shaking her head.
"Oh, we didn't mean for classes!" The auburn-haired girl smiled widely, a smile the younger Cavendish saw unnaturally stretched the skin on Hannah's cheeks. Why did she get the feeling that wasn't genuine? "We meant for breakfast!"
Diana lowered her cup to the table and cocked a brow out of confusion. "The two of you don't usually join me for breakfast."
"We know!" Hannah closed her eyes and directed her smile at Delila, the latter of whom rolled her shoulders back and forth at the uncomfortable tingle that crawled down her spine. "But now that Delila is part of our team, we wanted to help her feel welcome at Luna Nova!" She held up the two textbooks in her arms a bit for the Cavendish twins to see. "Including by helping her prepare for her very first class!"
Barbara copied Hannah's actions with a wide smile of her own; although, unlike Hannah's, Delila noticed it was a little smaller and made less of an indent in her cheeks. "We collected yours and Diana's belongings from the dormitory so you could head straight to class after breakfast!"
Delila felt her stomach drop at this revelation, prompting her to speak up with a squint after straightening in her seat. "And when you say everybody's belongings, does that happen to include—?"
"Your wand?" Hannah interjected, proceeding to place a thin, silver and stick-like object with a half-circled tip and a wooden handle on the table beside Delila's food tray. "Right here!"
"We saw you'd forgotten it!" Barbara proudly added, making Delila press her lips together into a thin line to stop the words I left it there on purpose from leaving them.
Meanwhile, Diana frowned and lowered her head a bit with her eyes closed, the tell-tale sign to Delila that Hannah's and Barbara's actions had made her uncomfortable as well. Luckily, it didn't stop the older Cavendish from politely addressing the matter with them, giving Delila the necessary time she needed to calm down unnoticed.
"That's very kind of you. But it really isn't necessary—"
Barbara cut Diana off by placing one of the books she was carrying beside Diana's plate, putting the other book down in the empty seat opposite Delila. "We don't mind!" she reassured sweetly; sickly sweet to Delila's ears.
"It's the least we can do!" Hannah agreed in a saccharine tone, plopping one of her textbooks down next to Delila (with the younger Cavendish glimpsing the title 'Magic Linguistics' printed in gold lettering on the cover) and then the other in front of the last empty seat at the table. "It's not fair to leave all the responsibility to you, Diana!"
"So, you two enjoy the rest of your breakfast! We'll be right back!"
Delila's eyes drooped as she watched Hannah's and Barbara's swift departure for the serving stations, catching Diana opening an eye of her own in her peripheral vision to watch them leave. Once the twins were sure the two girls were out of earshot, however, Delila returned her attention to the older Cavendish at the loud and weary sigh that left her lips, her body visibly sagging a bit as she folded her arms across her abdomen.
"… I apologise for that," she eventually muttered.
Delila let some of her annoyance slip with an exasperated huff. "Don't. You're not responsible for their behaviour."
"I should have expected it still." Diana gave her Magic Linguistics textbook a short glimpse, her own blue eyes drooping a little. "Hannah and Barbara mean well, but they revere me just like the rest of Luna Nova do. I'm not surprised they've started to do the same to you because you're my sister."
"Neither am I." Delila pursed her lips and scowled at her wand, making a mental note to either take her belongings with her or hide them next time. "Regardless, there's no need to dwell on it. Let's just take this as a lesson learnt."
"Hm," Diana hummed in agreement, only for her gaze to lock with Delila's right hand at seeing her fingers twitch.
The younger Cavendish stared intently at her wand for a moment, trying to decide if she should risk picking it up to put it in her sash while Hannah and Barbara were away from their table. In the end, Diana decided for her, reaching over to grab it and then pushing the tip back inside the handle.
"Don't be afraid to let me know if they're making you uncomfortable, however," Diana added. "We can't have you suffering a medical emergency in the middle of the lesson."
"Sure."
Delila gladly received her wand into her right palm with a tiny and relieved exhale, wrapping her fingers loosely around the handle.
Thank goodness that Luna Nova's provided wands could do this, she thought. It made her less nervous to carry it around on her person.
The remainder of the Blue Team's time in the cafeteria went by painfully slow. Or at least, it felt painfully slow to Delila. Since she and Diana had gotten to the cafeteria long before Hannah and Barbara had, it was no surprise they finished their meals by the time their teammates returned to their table with theirs. However, because of the 'unofficial' tweaks Hannah and Barbara had made to their original plans, both Cavendish sisters were forced to stay seated and listen to the two girls engage in animated and (in Delila's opinion) nonsensical conversation whilst they ate, occasionally attempting to pull either Delila or Diana into the discussion. Had it not been for Delila's lack of confidence in navigating the corridors of the main building alone at this time and the fact she'd been raised with manners, she would have used some flimsy lie to politely excuse herself from the table. Instead, she opened up her textbook and pretended to be preparing for their first class of the morning, a crafty tactic that successfully kept Hannah and Barbara at bay until it was time for the four of them to return to the upper floors of the main building.
Upon arriving to their classroom for Magic Linguistics, Delila was met with a small and long room behind a pair of large, wooden double doors, partially illuminated by the sunlight flooding in through ceiling-high windows lining the back wall. On the room's far right, close to the entrance, was a wooden and uniquely shaped platform with steps on either side of it, almost reminding Delila of the stage from the auditorium because of the small wooden podium placed at its front. To the room's far-left side were three rows of raked desks split into sections by two sets of stairs in between them, some of which were already occupied by students who'd arrived to the classroom sometime before the Blue Team had. A quick skim of the occupied desks helped Delila to figure out quickly that they were expected to sit in their teams; although for the Blue Team, this was easier said than done.
Like they did for the opening ceremony, Hannah and Barbara chose for the four of them to sit on the third desk up in the middle rows, seated in the same arrangement they'd been the day before—Delila on the far left, followed by Diana beside her (which her sister did intentionally to keep Delila separated from their teammates, just as a precaution), then Hannah, and then finally Barbara on the far right. However, as the desks were clearly designed to only occupy three people, Delila ultimately found herself almost elbow-to-elbow with Diana, also leaving very little space between them for both of their textbooks to be open at the same time, a fact that left the younger Cavendish awkwardly eyeing the desk with her book held between her hands.
Luckily, it didn't take long for Diana to come up with a convenient solution, plucking Delila's closed textbook out of her hands without warning and slotting it on the seat between their sides spine-up.
"Here," Diana said as she placed her opened copy of the textbook on the desk and pushed it close to Delila. "We can share one textbook to free up space."
Delila frowned as her eyes flitted between Diana and the open textbook a couple of times, noting her sister had placed the textbook close to the desk's farthest edge to leave some space in front of them. "What about with notetaking?"
Diana had informed her that the teachers provide students with notebooks, quills and ink at the beginning of each class, yet based on the restricted space they had, Delila wondered if they'd even be able to do any notetaking at the same time…
"That shouldn't be a problem," Diana stated bluntly, causing Delila's brows to raise a little higher. "According to the lesson timetable, this class is an introduction to Magic Linguistics. You and I are already familiar with the basics of the subject, so I won't be taking notes." She folded her arms across the desk and closed her eyes. "However, if Professor Finnelan says anything you believe is worth jotting down, please don't hold back on my account."
Delila blinked widely at Diana's words, a little surprised that her sister remembered her past studying habits. But then again, thinking about it a little more, Delila concluded she shouldn't have been too surprised. After all, the sisters had spent most of their childhood 'joined at the hip'—as she recalled Anna once putting it—which included with their magical studying.
Though, that surprise quickly faded when she was distracted by Hannah and Barbara leaning forward in their seats to look at what Diana was doing, the former of the pair gaping in awe.
"Oh! That's a good idea, Diana!" Hannah exclaimed in a honeyed tone as she went ahead to place her copy of the textbook on the seat beside her, leaving Barbara to open up her copy between them. "You're always so resourceful!"
"And smart!" Barbara added saccharinely.
Diana held up a palm in response to the unprompted praise without opening her eyes, remaining unfazed in the face of her teammates' behaviour. "I'm just trying to make sure everyone is comfortable."
Delila, on the other hand, was forced to turn away and avert her gaze to the rest of the students filing into the classroom, discreetly wrapping her arms round her middle at feeling her breakfast slowly rising to her throat.
Delila had encountered her fair share of flatterers and sycophants when she was younger. It was inevitable for witches of their social standing, after all, and the younger Cavendish had learnt to handle these interactions well enough to ignore them. And yet in the case of Hannah and Barbara, she was struggling to understand why their behaviour was sending her insides topsy-turvy, to the point where she was mentally praying to her family's ancestor to give her the strength to not throw her guts up all over the desk. It had been happening from the moment they'd met, and she couldn't help wondering what it was about these two that conjured such violently inward reactions, reactions she was struggling to keep physically masked.
Fortunately for the younger Cavendish, her attempts to search for a convenient distraction was about to bore fruit. Amidst the swarm of girls and vibrantly coloured sashes that entered the classroom and made their way to the empty desks, Delila's sharp eyes caught a trio of girls bearing red sashes on their uniforms walking into the room at the back of the herd, three girls whom Delila instantly recognised despite their change in attire and straightened up in her seat to focus on.
They were the three girls who'd disrupted the opening ceremony in the auditorium yesterday—the girl with crimson eyes whose brunette hair was tied into a half-ponytail and curtained the left side of her forehead and draped in front of both ears; the freckle-faced and semi-rimmed spectacled girl named 'Lotte' with short and bright orange hair and turquoise blue eyes, and the pale and greyish skinned girl with shoulder-length lavender hair that covered the left side of her face and an exposed and droopy red eye.
The brunette girl led the charge with a wide smile and her copy of the textbook tucked under her left arm, her uniform appearing to match the majority of the other girls' uniforms at Luna Nova in terms of appearance. Lotte, who was a couple of inches shorter than her teammate, followed behind her with her textbook held to her front in both hands, wearing a blue headband in her hair (Delila also noticed that she was walking normally and without aid compared to yesterday, indicating she'd recovered well from her injuries). And then finally, the lavender-haired girl slouched after her teammates at the back of the line with her shoulders drooped and her textbook dangling along with her arms towards the floor, wearing a longer skirt that stretched past her knees and blue tights instead of the blue socks everyone else wore.
Delila wasn't at all shocked to see them. She remembered seeing Lotte with a red sash on her uniform in the auditorium yesterday, and the headmistress had mentioned during Delila's and Diana's meeting with her that the Red Team was going to be made up of the two other new students and the team's only returning member, so the younger Cavendish was already aware these three were staying, the same naturally applying to Diana. Of course, the same couldn't be said for Hannah and Barbara, who Delila warily glanced at when the Red Team were approaching the stairs to Delila's right. Thankfully, her teammates had their focus on each other, prompting the younger Cavendish to release a soft sigh and close her eyes with a visible slump. At least she wasn't going to have to endure more of their silly slander.
But as Delila prepared to switch her focus to the front of the room to await their teacher's arrival, her eyes were once again drawn to the trio when she heard the brunette girl's familiar and distinctly accented voice standing out amongst the inaudible chatter bouncing about the classroom, the three girls now ascending the stairs.
"I can't believe I'm about to take my first ever magic class!" she exclaimed excitedly through a bright grin, red eyes wide and sparkling with a child-like glint as she gripped her textbook tightly in her one hand and balled her other one into a fist close to her middle. "My heart is pounding from the excitement!"
To the brunette girl's left, Delila saw the lavender-haired girl roll her exposed and droopy eye out of annoyance, looking to be on the complete opposite end of the 'enthusiasm' scale in contrast to her teammate.
"Like you haven't told us that a hundred times already," she remarked monotonously, her voice also bearing a distinct accent different to the girl's and Lotte's; Delila was unsure of its origin.
The brunette girl's excited expression swiftly soured into a pout, her shoulders sagging.
"Aw, c'mon, Sucy!" she whined and roughly shoved her free hand against 'Sucy's' shoulder, eliciting a subtle yet telling eye twitch from her teammate in turn. She did not like that; Delila would know. "This is your first day at Luna Nova too! Aren't you excited?!"
"Oh? It wasn't obvious?" Sucy replied sarcastically, retaining a chronic wearied look on her face all the while. "I'm so excited, I'm close to bursting."
The brunette girl crossed her arms and faced forward again with a displeased grumble, reminding Delila of a child who'd just been denied sweets. Lotte, who was walking on the girl's other side, gave her teammate a pitying smile and pat on her closest shoulder.
"It's nice that you're excited, Akko, but you can't expect Sucy to share in that," she said in her own distinctly accented and softspoken voice. "Magic isn't as new to her as it is to you, after all."
Akko? What an unusual name, Delila mused. At least that was one mystery inadvertently solved for the younger Cavendish, thanks to Lotte clueing her in; Akko was the first-generation witch, making her the one subject to Hannah's and Barbara's (silly, in Delila's opinion) scorn.
As Delila slyly watched the Red Team head for the desk in the middle row one step above the Blue Team's desk, Akko frowned at Lotte's words and pursed her lips, humming in contemplation. Once Lotte had moved to take her seat on the desk's left side, though, Akko followed straight after her shorter teammate and replied in a mumble.
"… I guess you're right, Lotte." Upon reaching the middle seat, Akko shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, well!" She directed a wide smile at Sucy from over her shoulder as the taller girl took the far-right seat of the desk behind Delila. "I can just be excited for the both of us then!"
"… Hurrah," was Sucy's unenthusiastic reply, seeming to bring the conversation to a close and prompting the trio to take their seats.
It was at this point that Delila chose to tune out the Red Team's interactions and return her focus to the front of the classroom, cupping her cheek in the palm of one hand while lightly tapping the fingertips of her other hand against the empty desk. Yet try as she might to occupy her thoughts with the upcoming class, Delila could not stop herself from sneaking glances at Akko, observing the brunette girl unpacking and arranging her textbook on her desk alongside her teammates.
Delila recalled telling Diana during their conversation in the leyline that she was surprised a first-generation witch would want to enrol at a magical boarding school. But having witnessed Akko's excitement and enthusiasm both today and when she was cheerily rambling and laughing at her entrance into the auditorium yesterday, she was beginning to understand why the headmistress had chosen to let Akko stay, despite technically breaking the rules.
"Those who desire to learn magic deserve to be given the opportunity, don't they?"
Those were the headmistress' parting words to her yesterday, weren't they?
A quiet titter slipped past Delila's lips upon turning her gaze to her textbook, the younger Cavendish catching Diana cocking a brow at her from the corners of her eyes.
"What's amusing you?" she questioned in a low voice.
"It's nothing," Delila muttered, eventually shooting Diana a faint and almost reminiscent smile. "It's just been a long time since I last saw anyone excited to learn magic."
At first, Diana squinted a little at her younger sister's words, appearing to take a moment to understand what Delila was getting at. When the realisation finally registered on the older Cavendish's face, however, Delila watched Diana's eyes widen a little and her mouth open a bit, that recognisable child-like glint flashing across her eyes momentarily.
The tranquil moment was disturbed by a thundering clap from the entrance to the classroom, causing a hush to descend and the Cavendish sisters to instinctively straighten up and look in the direction of the noise.
"Settle down, girls!" the strict voice of Professor Finnelan barked as Delila saw her strolling into the classroom, her immediate destination being the podium in front of the blackboard. "Class is now in session! Take out your textbooks!"
A chorus of textbooks thumping against desks and pages turning bounced between the stands as the students obeyed the given instructions, reminding Delila what it was she had been waiting for. With their stoic outlooks restored, Delila and Diana adjusted their postures in their seats and faced the blackboard, shoulders straight and heads held high. But whereas Diana kept her hands flat on the desk, Delila clasped hers together close to her front, her fingers twitching at how clammy her skin suddenly felt.
Thanks to Diana's reassurances earlier, Delila hadn't been as nervous about beginning her first magic class at Luna Nova as she probably should have been. And yet sitting here now, surrounded by rows of other witches her age whom she didn't know, gave rise to her own heart pounding in her chest, but not from excitement. In fact, Delila was sure her heart was likely trying to make a jailbreak from her body, based on how its heavy and quickened thumps felt like someone was smashing a hammer against her ribs.
The sneaky glances and exchanged inaudible whispers she saw from some of the other desks close to where her team sat certainly weren't helping. Delila had hoped her classmates would be too distracted to notice her presence, but unfortunately, it appeared she still managed to stick out like a sore thumb. Whether it was because she was Diana's sister, or because she was breaking tradition, or both, she didn't know, and frankly, Delila didn't want to know.
Sucking in a shaky breath, Delila stole a look at her elixir vial resting at her left hip, its contents ominously glowing from underneath the desk.
She mentally prayed to Beatrix Cavendish that she wasn't going to have to use it.
A/N: So, as you guys can see, this chapter wasn't very eventful, even with character interactions. Because of how the beginning of the episode mainly plays out in focusing on the Red Team and naturally jumps between different scenes to establish context for the sake of the viewer, I had very little to work with, especially as Delila comes from a witch family. Everything that Akko is learning about Delila already knows, so I had to get creative and try to focus on other aspects I thought needed to be established or expanded on, such as Delila's Grieving Heart Syndrome, Delila's magical capabilities, and Luna Nova's routine. I should clarify (because I realise I did not do this last chapter) that Delila's illness isn't canon to the show, nor is it actually mimicking a real-life illness. Grieving Heart Syndrome is a fictional illness that I loosely inspired from my own chronic illness and also a curse-like infliction used in The Owl House (which is just as well, seeing as The Owl House is inspired by Little Witch Academia, from what I've read. XD). So, please keep that in mind going forward.
When it came down to Hannah and Barbara, I originally tried writing a bunch of different interactions to try to set the tone for how Delila's classes are going to go, especially due to their sycophantic behaviour in Magic Linguistics and Magic Numerology when Diana 'shows off'. But in the end, I kept it very tame, as it seemed to be a little out of place for Delila to start butting heads with them this early into the episode. After all, Delila still hasn't quite made the connection to her cousins yet, and she's not going to until she witnesses Akko being bullied a little later (just 'cause it makes more sense that way). Not to mention Delila is as mature as Diana in the sense that she's not just going to go starting petty arguments because they're making her uncomfortable, especially with people she doesn't know that well. They are her sister's teammates, thus she is going to make an effort to get along with them until she can properly discern their characters. I also did try to write scenes where Hannah and Barbara were openly mocking Akko prior to their encounter in the cafeteria, but considering the actual episode shows they don't seem to take much notice of Akko until Diana says something to her, I thought it was best to leave it for now. Best to save the interactions for when they actually happen. XD
And speaking of Akko: yes, I went ahead to slip a scene in to sort of introduce the Red Team to Delila. Obviously, in the actual anime, we're aware the Red Team escape punishment long before Luna Nova do, and Diana and Delila were inadvertently told about this by Holbrooke during the previous chapter anyways. But it didn't make sense for Delila to not notice the trio after their previous antics, you know? Again, I had originally planned for Delila to get a brief interaction with them this chapter before the events that occur later, but I decided against it in the end. At this point in time, Delila's focus is on herself and her team, and I couldn't include such without dragging the rest of the Blue Team into things, you know? Hence why I decided to just have Delila eavesdrop on a Red Team interaction instead. Thought it was a good call back to what Holbrooke told Delila last chapter, as well as the fact that Akko's excitement and enthusiasm for magic would have reminded Delila of Diana when they were girls. I did my best to keep all three of them in character using bits of their interaction in the beginning of the episode (Sucy especially, because I was trying not to make her too sarcastic. '), so I hope I did them justice.
And then we have Delila's wand: I'm not sure if the wands can retract into their handles, but whenever I looked at anime stills or official art at the girls' sashes, it did look like the tip of the wands were always closed up in the handle whenever not in use. I could be wrong about that, and if I am... well, it doesn't matter too much. XD Either way, this is canon in my fic, and it acted as a loophole for Delila to not be so jittery about holding a wand.
I think that covers everything. But if I've missed anything, I'll either add it here or mention it in the next chapter.