A/N: Phew! Well... this chapter has caused me the biggest headache yet. XD I kid you not when I say that trying to write this chapter, especially the second half, had me trapped in a two-week long writer's block. Like, for the second half of the chapter alone, I had multiple word document drafts of different versions of the same scene, because I could not decide how everything between Diana and Akko was gonna go down with Delila's presence. But you'll get to know more about that at the bottom of the chapter.

But anyways, the long awaited chapter has arrived! As promised, you will finally get to see the Red Team interact with Delila for the first time, along with a certain astrology teacher... So, I think you guys are really going to enjoy this one. I did my best to keep the Red Team and Ursula as in character as I could (another reason why this chapter took so long, in fact. ^^'), but after a lot of rewriting and debates with myself, I think I wrote them pretty well. I know some of you were probably expecting The Owlcast, but don't worry! That fic is next on my list.

But in the meantime, thank you to everyone who has been favouriting, following and reading this story. Your continued support is greatly appreciated. I don't know when I am going to have the next chapter out, though once again expect at least a month or so delay. Hope you enjoy the latest update either way.

Chapter 8: Niggling Nostalgia

Blinding sunlight from the late morning sun spread across the bedroom that belonged to Bernadette Cavendish, bathing the dark walls and carpet in an inviting warmth. Amidst the room's tranquillity, Bernadette, in her nightwear, was sat up in bed, leaning back into the propped pillows and reading through the book currently open in her lap. Three gentle knocks on her bedroom doors soon pulled her attention away from her reading, however, her head turning just in time to watch the left door creak open a little.

"Mother," the voice of her youngest daughter greeted her as the door was pushed open a little, revealing young Delila stepping inside and carefully closing the door behind her.

Unlike her mother, Delila was already dressed for the day ahead, wearing a dark blue sleeveless vest over a white short-sleeved and buttoned shirt, blue jeans and brown boots. But what stood out to Bernadette the most was the sight of a certain teddy bear tucked into the crook of Delila's left arm, one she recognised to belong to her oldest daughter. Though she wasn't surprised to see it with Delila. She remembered watching Diana give it to her younger sister before she left with Carter yesterday, so Delila 'wasn't lonely' until she came back, as her oldest had told her.

"How are you?" Delila asked as she approached the bed and stopped at the bedside, observing her mother moving her still open book to the empty side of the bed for now. "Are you feeling better?"

"I'm feeling much better, thank you, dear," the older Cavendish answered with a warm smile, prompting Delila to furrow her brows and tilt her head to the side with a squint.

"Really?" Blue eyes darted about her mother's face. "Anna said you had to stay in bed."

"Only for today," Bernadette reassured. "It's just to make sure I get plenty of rest. Nothing to worry about." Delila relaxed at that and nodded in acknowledgement, which the oldest Cavendish took as her cue to change the topic of the conversation. Bernadette's eyes flitted to the teddy bear her daughter was holding. "Are you missing your sister already?"

Delila immediately shook her head in response, though it became evident that Bernadette was right when the younger Cavendish hugged the teddy bear closer to her chest to hide her mouth behind it.

"… No," she mumbled, earning herself an amused smile from her mother as the latter patted the empty space beside her, inviting Delila to sit on the bed if she so wished to.

"You could have gone with her and Carter to Japan, you know," Bernadette remarked while watching her daughter climb up. "It would have meant a lot to Diana to share that experience with you."

Delila's eyes drooped as she settled on the bed's edge so her feet dangled over, sitting her sister's teddy bear in her lap and glancing over at her mother.

"I know," she sighed, resting her chin on top of the teddy bear's head and pursing her lips with a faint scowl. "But I promised Diana that I wouldn't leave you alone." Bernadette blinked in surprise as she watched Delila squeeze the teddy bear a little. "She didn't want to go to see Shiny Chariot 'cause she was worried about you. So, I said I'd stay here and help Anna look after you." She closed her eyes and tilted her chin up to the ceiling. "I didn't want Diana to miss it."

Delila remained oblivious to the small smile that appeared on her mother's face, only opening her eyes at feeling Bernadette's hand gently ruffle at her multicoloured locks. "That's very sweet of you, Delila."

"Well, Shiny Chariot makes her happy. I want her to be happy."

"And I'm sure she will be."

When Bernadette pulled away, however, Delila took notice of the book her mother had been reading beside her, prompting the young Cavendish to lean forward a little to get a closer look.

"What are you reading about?" she asked.

"Revitalisation magic."

Delila briefly looked up to her mother and cocked her head to the side. "What's that?"

"Magic that heals and restores life."

"Like what Beatrix Cavendish had?"

"Yes."

"… Ooooh," Delila mumbled in awe and shuffled closer to the book, wide and curious blue eyes becoming drawn to the handwritten pages like a moth drawn to light for the first time.

Delila squinted a little at the inked and cursive lettering, naturally struggling to understand most of it; she was still learning about cursive writing. However, near the bottom of the right page, she soon spied a hand drawn image. It depicted a wilting plant shoot surrounded by a circle of small stones, with four large stones positioned behind, in front and to the sides of the plant. Delila pointed at the image as she leaned against her mother's side, prompting Bernadette to loosely wrap her arm around her daughter.

"What spell is that?"

"Louperial Ral."

Delila knitted her brows together, pressing her lips together a little to try to repeat the spell's name. "Louper… Louperi… Uh…"

"Louperi-al Ral," Bernadette repeated through a small chuckle, causing Delila's brows to furrow a little more out of determination.

"Lou… perial… Ral…" The younger Cavendish briefly met her mother's eyes upon looking up at her, her frown deepening. "And what does it do?"

"It provides nourishment to dying plants using magic stones. It's a secret technique that's been passed down through our family for generations."

"A secret spell…" Delila quietly repeated, returning to looking at the image while absentmindedly tracing her fingertip along the circle of stones. "Do you know the spell?"

"Yes."

"And Aunt Daryl too?"

"Mhm."

"Does that mean Diana and I could use it?"

Bernadette chuckled light-heartedly at the innocent question, failing to muffle it behind her knuckles. "I think you and Diana are a little young for this spell." She gently tapped the tip of Delila's nose with her fingertip. "Maybe you should wait until you're both a little older, hm?"

Delila's shoulders visibly slumped at this revelation, but she was quick to brush it off with a small huff. "Okay…" She lifted her head back to look Bernadette in the eyes from an upside-down position, her finger pausing on the paper. "Can I still tell Diana about it when she comes home?"

"Of course you can."

In response to the confirmation, Delila said nothing more, though she did offer her mother a small smile of acknowledgement. A rare sight on her youngest daughter to be sure, usually only cropping up around herself or Diana. Yet it acted as a strong indicator that Delila was genuinely happy, making it infectious enough that Bernadette couldn't help smiling back. It was a relief to know both of her daughters were happy right now, despite their current distance.

An awkward stare down ensued between the student and the teacher standing and sitting in the middle of the west corridor of Luna Nova's first floor. The latter appeared momentarily stunned from her little tumble, her recovery slow as she gave Delila the occasional slow blink. The younger Cavendish, on the other hand, couldn't bring herself to move, stuck in her bent down pose while her sharp eyes darted about the teacher's face.

Back-length dark-blue hair tied into a low ponytail, black-framed oval shaped glasses, a single red feather tucked into her hat band, a youthful-looking face… Wasn't this the teacher Delila had seen speaking with the headmistress during the opening ceremony yesterday? The one who had drawn attention to Lotte's injury? Although that realisation paled in comparison to her eyes. The younger Cavendish recalled she hadn't gotten a good look at her face because of the auditorium's lighting catching the woman's glasses. But now that they were here face to face, Delila couldn't look away. Those eyes… Staring into them gave rise to a warm flutter in her chest, one of nostalgia, of a time where she was happy and everything was right with the world.

An oxygen-sucking gasp left the teacher's lips as she smacked her palms over her mouth, pulling Delila abruptly out of her reverie and ridding her of her newfound and comforting warmth.

"I-I'm so sorry!" the teacher hastily apologised in between her stammering, her strange and primarily British accented voice muffled behind her hands. The teacher snatched her book from the ground, scrambled to her feet and bowed forward repeatedly with her hands in the folds of her skirt, prompting Delila to step back out of alarm. At her full height, the younger Cavendish noted the teacher was only a few inches taller than her. "I-I wasn't paying attention to where I was going!"

A bead of sweat trickled down Delila's face as she looked the jittery teacher up and down. She remembered how nervous she was acting when speaking to the headmistress yesterday, so her behaviour right now wasn't too much of a surprise. Although, at the time, Delila had chalked it down to the unexpected entrance of the Red Team. Now she was starting to see that wasn't the case; this teacher was just naturally nervous, apparently.

Delila swiftly cleared her throat to regain her composure, pressing her fist to her mouth and closing her eyes. "Neither was I, Professor. You don't have to apologise."

The professor stopped mid-bow and snapped her head up at registering Delila's voice, her nerves washing away like a wave from the sea swooping over its sandy shore.

"Hm?" The unknown professor blinked perplexedly a couple of times and stood up properly, scrutinising the younger witch's face with a small squint. "Are you a new student? You look familiar, and yet I don't recall seeing you around here before…"

Delila shook her head, already getting an idea of who the professor was thinking of. Because who else was it going to be? They essentially shared the same face!

"I've just enrolled at Luna Nova. I think you have me mistaken for my sister."

The teacher frowned and cocked her head to the side. "Your sister?"

"Diana Cavendish."

The name seemed to turn on an imaginary lightbulb above the teacher's head, her eyes widening behind her glasses with the sharp raise of her brows.

"Oh! Of course!" she suddenly exclaimed. "You're Delila, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"The headmistress did say we were expecting you." The professor smiled politely and held her palm out for Delila to shake. "I'm Professor 'Ursula Callistis', Luna Nova's Magic Astrology teacher. It's a pleasure to meet you."

'Callistis'? Ah, yes, now that Delila thought about it, she had encountered that surname and subject on her lesson timetable, hadn't she? Magic Astrology was one of the classes she was obligated to take in her first year, if she recalled what Diana had told her correctly…

"Likewise, Professor Callistis."

Delila went to reach out her own hand to initiate the handshake, only to pause at seeing the professor's smile fall and her gaze zone in on her outstretched hand. A few seconds later, the professor gasped and recoiled her hands to her chest, bringing her book up to her mouth to try to hide the embarrassed pink flush that rushed to her cheeks.

"O-Oh dear! I'm sorry!" she quickly apologised again, her words rushing out of her mouth at the same pace as a waterfall. "I forgot we were told you don't shake hands!"

The younger Cavendish's eyes drooped as she slowly retracted her own hand back to her side, giving the older witch another quick look up and down. Delila had had very few interactions with the teachers of Luna Nova so far, and while the ones she had interacted with appeared more professional, intimidating and put-together… Professor Ursula was the complete opposite—clumsy, jittery, and a little all over the place. Perhaps it was because Professor Ursula looked and sounded much younger than her colleagues and thus lacked the teaching experience that they had? Delila couldn't tell.

"There's no harm done, Professor," Delila reassured, prompting Ursula to slouch her posture and sigh in relief.

It was here that Delila's blue eyes glimpsed part of the obscured title on the front cover of the book Professor Ursula was holding. A brow arching out of curiosity, the question left Delila's tongue before she had a chance to fully comprehend what she was saying.

"Are you interested in magical botany, Professor?"

"Hm?" Ursula blinked a couple of times in confusion, prompting Delila to point at the front cover of said book.

"The book you're holding. It mentions 'plants' in the title."

"… Ah!" Ursula cried out in realisation and pulled the book away from herself to check the front cover. "Actually, this is research I'm doing on behalf of the headmistress." Ursula smiled sheepishly and rubbed a hand against the back of her neck, oblivious to Delila's brows abruptly lifting at the mention of 'research'. "I was just on my way to the library to continue it before bumping into you… Heh…"

"Research?" Delila repeated, her interest piqued. "What kind of research, if you don't mind me asking?"

The enquiry instantly rid Ursula of her earlier embarrassment. Like Delila had accidentally flicked a switch on the back of her head, the Magic Astrology teacher furrowed her brows and hugged her book tightly to her chest again, a sombre expression settling on her face upon directing her gaze to the carpet.

"It's for the memorial tree," she answered lowly, causing Delila's eyes to widen a little.

"… Oh," was all the younger Cavendish muttered, triggering her conversation with Diana in the botanical garden yesterday to come to mind. Delila closed her eyes and stroked her fingers at her chin. "Diana showed it to me in the botanical garden yesterday. It's sick, isn't it?"

Ursula sighed heavily and nodded in confirmation. "Uh-huh."

"Do you know what could be causing it?"

"Not yet. I need to look into things a little more to be sure." Ursula raised her head and adjusted her glasses with a hand. "But based on my findings so far, I think something is draining the tree of its nutrients."

Delila perked up with a slightly raised brow. "Draining, you say?"

"That's right." Ursula's gaze wandered to the windows overlooking the school's courtyard, red eyes soaking in the lush and square patches of grass scattered between the cobbled paths cutting through the courtyard's middle and its borders. "We originally thought the tree was rotting because of its dying leaves and discoloured bark. Yet it's been like that for a while now. No other symptoms have appeared. Discolouration and dying leaves are also signs of an insect infestation or lack of nutrients, so I suspect it could be a combination of both."

"… Hm." Delila lifted her gaze to the high ceiling as she pondered on the state she last saw the memorial tree in yesterday, subconsciously tapping her fingers against her chin. "I suppose it's possible. Normally with an insect infestation, you'd expect to see physical damage to the tree and its foliage. But I don't remember seeing any. Furthermore, Diana said the tree has been around since the Golden Age of Magic, meaning if it's lasted this long, it's obviously been placed in a thriving environment. That does point towards something potentially draining the tree through its roots—"

Delila stopped talking as she returned her gaze to Professor Ursula, going quiet the second she saw the older witch gaping a little at her and slowly tilting her head to the side. Why was she looking at her like that? Was it something she said—?

Oh.

Delila had voiced her thoughts out loud, hadn't she?

"Ahem!" Delila loudly cleared her throat and swiftly averted her gaze away from Ursula, feeling the tingle of a potential blush creeping to her cheeks. "M-My apologies! P-Please excuse my ramblings!"

A small giggle was the only response she got from the Magic Astrology professor, prompting the younger Cavendish to blink widely out of surprise and look over to see Ursula hiding a smile behind her fist.

"I see Diana isn't the only student at Luna Nova very dedicated to her magical studies. You must be breezing through your first day of classes."

Delila ignored the pools of sweat gathering at her temples at being reminded of her earlier classes. Though she didn't choose to dwell on it for long, purposely sniffing and clearing her throat to move the conversation along. The professor didn't need to know the reason for her wandering the corridors alone, after all.

"In any case, Professor, are you hurt? You took quite the tumble."

"Hm?" It took the older witch a couple of seconds to understand what Delila was referring to, only to swiftly perk up with the sharp shake her head back and forth. "O-Oh, no!" She waved off Delila's concern for her wellbeing with a hand. "I-I'm fine! Happens all the time, believe it or not! Heh!"

You don't say, Delila sarcastically thought as Ursula forced a nervous laugh and turned to look at the windows, failing to hide the pink tint Delila could see creeping to her cheeks.

"Then if you don't mind, I shall take my leave. I do not wish to keep you from your research."

Professor Ursula whipped her head back to Delila and nodded. "O-Of course! I-I understand!"

Delila gave the Magic Astrology professor a short curtesy. "Good day to you, Professor Callistis. I hope you find the cause of the memorial tree's illness soon."

Ursula responded with a small, polite smile, her eyes closing momentarily. "Good day to you too, Miss Cavendish. Good luck with the rest of your classes."

"Thank you."

Quickly straightening up, Delila swivelled to face the north corridor and strode away without sparing Ursula another glance, holding her head high and keeping her back straight. She failed to hear the professor's footsteps following behind her, yet she paid it little heed as she rounded the corner and out of sight. Perhaps she was waiting until she'd made herself scarce before heading to the library, Delila concluded. Either way, at least the younger Cavendish had some good news to tell her sister the next time she saw her.

The courtyard was empty upon Delila's arrival, a welcoming sight that the younger Cavendish willingly basked in. Pausing in front of the steps she'd just descended, Delila closed her eyes and cupped her hands round her ears, loudly inhaling the clean and fresh air of the outdoors into her lungs. The silence was practically music to the younger Cavendish's ears, the smell of freshly cut grass clearing the negative shroud formerly entrapping her mind. It was almost reminiscent of the secluded land of Wedinburgh that the Cavendish Manor was situated upon, its vast and lush hills and countryside Delila had spent countless hours traversing. During happier times, it was whenever she and Diana needed somewhere private to practice their magic. But in more recent years, the scenery became a means of a temporary escape for Delila whenever the walls and inhabitants of her home drove her insane. Almost like what was happening now with her teammates, in fact.

Releasing a controlled exhale through her nostrils, Delila opened her eyes again and allowed them to wander, deciding to use her alone time to get her bearings. Luna Nova's courtyard had two entrances on the ground floor—one in the north corridor directly opposite the cafeteria's entrance and another in the south corridor directly opposite the school's main entrance. As such, multiple cobbled pathways cut through the courtyard like a complex design for a maze, covering the courtyard's borders around the steps for the canopies connected to the school's east and west sides and any gaps between the grass decorating the area. Square and rectangular patches lined its sides, some of which housed wooden benches for students to sit upon, while a lone oblong patch stretched through its centre, containing two stone statues situated at either end. It was the latter that eventually drew Delila's attention, coaxing the young Cavendish to move towards it until she heard her feet touch the grass with a satisfying crunch.

The statue at the north entrance to the courtyard depicted three women in long, sleeveless dresses standing in a circle and holding each other's hands, their backs resting against the pillar towering in the middle of them. The women bore the same serene expressions, yet they each were carved with differing hairstyles of varying lengths, granting them clear distinction between each other. It was a peculiar little detail, Delila noted, as a quick glimpse over the statue's base revealed no sign of a plaque, confirming its purpose to be purely for decoration. Delila found that decorative statues of people were usually lazy in design, repeating the same generic appearance for each person sculpted. Furthermore, the statue was in pristine condition, lacking any marks or small plants one would have expected to come from the natural elements of nature, such as animal excrement or moss, for instance. They were well maintained, making Delila wonder if these women were actually meant to resemble important figures connected to Luna Nova's history somehow. She couldn't think of a reason why the school would go to such effort to display and look after these statues otherwise.

The same seemed to apply to the other statue by the courtyard's south entrance as well, which Delila attempted to get a glimpse of by walking around the north entrance's statue. But she swiftly halted when her temples began to pound again, her eyes squeezing shut. Delila groaned and massaged the sides of her forehead with her fingers, breathing in and out sharply through her mouth to fend off the pain. She felt her earlier exhaustion slowly creeping its way to the surface, the effort to reopen her eyes more than palpable. The younger Cavendish was beginning to suspect this wasn't just the result of her first three classes of the school term taking its toll on her. The lack of sleep from last night was likely also playing a part.

With heavy blinks and a small yawn slipping past her lips, Delila carefully scanned the empty courtyard again. Perhaps she should take advantage of the peace and quiet and nap for a short while, she thought.

However, the slamming of wood into stone from behind her jolted Delila back to reality with an electrifying spasm, her heart briefly leaping into her mouth. Well, that had woken her up.

"Hey, Diana!" yelled a familiar voice with a distinctive accent, the sound of approaching footsteps snapping the teenage witch from her daydream with a forced blink. "Getta load of this!"

Delila barely got all the way round before a beige, pointed and blurry object was swung into her personal space, causing her to cry out in shock and instinctively lean away.

"Gah—!"

Delila's slight stumble allowed her to narrowly dodge getting hit in the face, her eyes growing wide when the object halted an inch away from her nose. A bead of sweat rolled down her temple at her pulse violently pounding in her ears, the shock of the close call she'd had having not quite worn off yet. Though her attention was quick to switch to the object's wielder when she heard them speak up in evident confusion.

"Huh?"

It took several seconds for Delila to register the pair of wide and befuddled red eyes of the Luna Nova student standing three inches shorter than her, gripping the base of the object tightly between her palms. Her brunette hair with the green plant shoot sticking out of the top of her head and curtained fringe cemented the wielder's identity almost instantly, leaving the two students staring at each other in dumbfounded silence.

Wasn't that—?

"Akko!" another familiar voice with a distinctive accent shouted from the north entrance to the courtyard, followed by two new pairs of footsteps running towards them. "That's not Diana!"

Delila looked up and blinked in surprise upon seeing the second speaker was Lotte staggering to a stop at the edge of the grass with a loose fist placed to her sternum, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath back. Sucy was revealed to be the owner of the other pair of footsteps, appearing in Delila's view line as she slowed to a stop behind Lotte not looking even mildly winded. Up close, Delila noted there was at least two inches between herself and Sucy when the latter stood straight, making her the tallest of the trio but still shorter than Delila.

Meanwhile, with her mouth hanging open a little, Akko turned to look at Lotte for a few seconds and force another blink, repeating the same process with Delila. It took couple of glances back and forth for the realisation to properly register, yet once it did, Akko instantly shrieked and leapt backwards, bringing the stick-like object upright and hugging it to her front.

"Oh, gosh! I-I'm so sorry! I thought you were someone else!" she stammered. But then Akko paused and narrowed her eyes at Delila's face, flickering them between Delila's eyes and hair a few times. "You do sorta look a lot like Diana up close, though..."

Delila's eyes momentarily drooped in dismay, yet she refrained from commenting. She didn't blame Akko for not catching on straightaway. After all, in the affectionate words of her cousins, Delila was the 'oddball' of the Cavendish family when it came down to her appearance, the only indication she was even related to them being the fact she and her sister shared a face. Had she possessed the signature tea-green highlights her relatives and founding ancestor were well-known for, her resemblance to her sister would have been more obvious, especially to someone like Akko, who was ignorant to the magical world.

Sucy, however, wasn't going to let Akko's obliviousness go that easily. She rolled her visible eye out of disbelief.

"Yeah, from the front," the lavender-haired witch stated matter-of-factly, earning herself a glare from Akko as she peeked back at her.

Before the shorter brunette could retort, however, she was drawn back to Delila at hearing the other girl's exasperated huff, a displeased frown and pursed lips finally replacing the shock she'd had a short time ago.

"Can we please get back to the matter at hand?" she questioned sternly, placing one hand to her hip and gesturing her other one to the stick object still held in Akko's hands. "I'd very much like an explanation as to why I almost had my eye taken out."

Akko scowled. "Hey! I said I was sorry!" she bellowed defensively.

"Sorry doesn't excuse you recklessly swinging that death trap around," Delila retorted at regular volume, a complete contrast to the ever-rising volume that was, apparently, Akko's voice.

"I was showing it off!"

"By nearly hitting me in the face?"

And, as if to prove Delila's exact point, Akko thoughtlessly pointed the tip of the object within range of the younger Cavendish's personal space, spinning it round in a circle while Delila instinctively recoiled. "It wasn't my fault you weren't paying attention!"

Delila's eyes shifted to the plant shoot that had temporarily replaced Akko's ponytail atop her head.

"Like it wasn't my fault you've been walking around with a sapling sticking out of your head?" she asked sarcastically.

"What's that got to do with—?" Akko started to shout, but then she halted mid-sentence upon properly processing what Delila had said, her brows raising sharply. "Wait, wuh?"

Wordlessly, Delila tapped a fingertip against the top of her own head, hoping Akko would get the message without her having to vocalise it. And luckily, Akko did. The brunette furrowed her brows and stroked her fingers through her hair until her fingertips brushed the stem of the plant.

"Hah?!" Akko shrieked at the top of her lungs, her hand continuously feeling along the vegetation apparently sticking out of her head as if to ensure she wasn't imagining things. "How long has that been there?!"

"Since Magic Numerology," Delila answered calmly, remaining unfazed by Akko's little outburst.

"Who put it there?!"

Sucy's ominous cackle answered Akko's question. "It really took you this long to notice?"

Akko gaped and then swivelled round to face her currently smirking teammate, oblivious to Lotte cringing and sticking a finger in one of her ears when she noisily addressed the lavender-haired witch. "Sucy! Why would you do this?!"

"To kill off some boredom in Badcock's class," Sucy answered honestly, only to snort a little in amusement. "But you also made for a good guinea pig in the moment."

Delila's left eye twitched out of discomfort at the term 'guinea pig', not liking how easily it rolled off the other witch's tongue.

"Guinea pig?!" Akko furiously growled and waved a fist in the air, her nostrils flaring like an angry bull. "Dang it, Sucy! Get rid of it right now!"

Sucy's smirk fell from her face then, restoring her to the weary look that Delila had seen primarily plastered on her face in previous encounters. "Gee, I wish I could,"—Delila practically heard the sarcasm dripping from the lavender-haired witch's tone here, only for it to fall monotonous at the next thing she said—"but I can't. The potion I used on you was an original recipe. There isn't an antidote to go with it yet."

Oh? Sucy specialised with potions? That explained a lot.

"No antidote?!" Akko loudly repeated.

"Yet," Sucy corrected. She looked down at the assortment of empty vials she had hooked to her sash and tapped the closest one with her fingertip; how did Delila not see that before now? "I could make one, but it'll take some time."

"How long?!"

Sucy casually shrugged and closed her visible eye. "Hard to say. Could be days. Weeks." She gave Akko a toothy grin and lowered her voice a little. "Years."

"Years?!" Akko tugged harshly at the roots of her hair, looking about ready to pull them out. "I can't wait that long!"

"Well, what else can you do?"

And, as if the answer to Sucy's obviously rhetorical question magically sprung to her mind, Akko abruptly swirled to face Lotte.

"Lotte, you can fix this, can't you?!" Akko got right up in her teammate's personal space, making the shorter and bespectacled witch hunch her shoulders and inch backwards a little. "There's got to be a spell for this, right?" She moved her face closer to the shorter witch's face until their noses were almost touching. "Right?!"

"Uh…" Lotte hesitated and furrowed her brows, eyeing the plant shoot on Akko's head with a bead of sweat appearing on her forehead. From Delila's perspective, she got the impression that Lotte did not want to partake in this conversation. "I… I don't know, Akko. I don't think there is a spell that can get rid of it." Lotte awkwardly scratched a cheek with a finger, her tone cracking a little with her next words as she lowered her eyes to her shoes. "S-Sorry…"

Akko's body slumped backwards like she'd just been given a life-threatening medical diagnosis, whatever hope she had left literally draining from her face and freezing her slacked jaw in place. The brunette shakily crumpled to the ground on her knees with a loud thump, the medium-sized, stick-like object falling from her palms and landing with a gentle thud into her lap.

"Noooooo!" Akko wailed, ducking her head down and burying her face into her palms to muffle the rest of her speech. "What am I going to do?!"

Delila tutted and shook her head in disapproval. "There's really no need for the dramatics."

"But I can't spend the rest of my time at Luna Nova with a plant growing out of my head! How am I supposed to become a witch like Shiny Chariot stuck with this?!"

Delila's head snapped towards Akko so fast, she honestly thought she was close to breaking her neck.

"Shiny… Chariot?" Delila repeated slowly, causing Akko to remove her hands from her face and look at the taller girl from over her shoulder. "Did you just say Shiny Chariot?"

"Uh-huh," Akko confirmed with a nod, smiling sheepishly and rubbing the back of her neck with a hand. "I've been a fan of hers since I was a little kid. She's the one who inspired me to come to Luna Nova and become a witch in the first place." But then Akko frowned despondently and turned her eyes to her lap, her voice growing quiet as she gave the stem of the sapling on her head a light tug. "But I guess I don't stand a chance if I can't even get rid of this stupid plant by myself…"

When was the last time Delila had heard anyone aside from herself mention Shiny Chariot, let alone speak about her so positively? She couldn't recall. But Akko's words did succeed in giving rise to that warm fluttering in her chest from earlier, leaving the younger Cavendish frozen to the spot and fixated on Akko's forlorn expression. Akko's earlier excitement before Magic Linguistics was suddenly starting to make a lot of sense now.

Akko's quiet whine and quivering lips brought Delila back to reality with a blink, in turn dispersing the familiar warmth like an extinguished flame. Releasing an irritated sigh and creasing her brow, the younger Cavendish stepped up right behind Akko and grabbed hold of the plant shoot by the stem in her right hand, giving it a single, harsh yank without any warning.

"Yowch!" Akko's eyes instantly teared up with the loud screech of pain she emitted, her body visibly jolting upright.

Lotte widened her eyes and covered her mouth with her palms at Delila's actions, while Sucy had to hide an amused smile behind her hand upon finding Akko's reaction rather comical. But it didn't take long for the pair's attention to be drawn to the top of Akko's head when the brunette girl leapt to her feet and whirled round to face a stoic Delila, a scowl gracing her brow while awkwardly balancing the stick-like object between the crooks of her arms.

"Hey, what's the big—" she started yelling, only to interrupt herself at catching something small and green held up in Delila's right hand. The rest of Akko's question trailed out of her mouth as a quiet mumble. "… idea…?"

"As I thought," Delila began as her blue eyes shifted to the rooted sapling now lying flat in her palm, ignoring Akko frantically patting a hand on top of her restored ponytail. "The potion utilised transformation magic. Luckily for you, fixing the effects of this magic type isn't always reliant on spells or antidotes."

Delila ignored the awe filled eyes of Lotte and Akko as she carelessly tossed the plant shoot aside, watching the now lifeless flora glide until it gently hit the grassy ground.

"Now then, where were we, Miss—?" Delila paused and frowned at remembering she didn't know Akko's last name. Delila had briefly forgotten that this was the first time the four of them were encountering each other formally. "… Ah." Delila awkwardly cleared her throat and lowered her head a little, restoring Akko's reality with the vigorous shaking of her head. "My apologies. We haven't been properly acquainted yet, have we?"

Akko perked up and released a small gasp, smacking a fist into her palm. "Oh! That's right!" She smiled widely and placed a hand to her chest. "I'm Kagari Atsuko! But you can just call me 'Akko' for short!" The brunette's brows furrowed shortly after, however, her head turning back to look at Lotte and Sucy. "Wait, was that the right way round?" Akko crossed her wrists and pointed an index finger on each hand off to the sides. "That's how I usually say it in Japanese."

Lotte answered by shaking her head and smiling a little. "Native English speakers would say 'Atsuko Kagari'." She lightly waved her hand about out of reassurance. "B-But it doesn't matter! It's still technically right for you!"

Japanese? That explained the accent, Delila thought.

"Ah! Thanks!" Akko replied gratefully and gave her a thumbs-up, facing Delila again with a goofy grin. "But anyway, I'm Akko!" She gestured to Lotte and Sucy with a hand. "And these are Lotte and Sucy, my friends!"

Lotte acknowledged Delila with a shy wave, while Sucy rolled her eye at the last thing Akko said.

"Friend is a strong word," she grumbled, which Akko ignored by the time Delila politely bowed her head.

"How do you do." Delila placed a hand of her own to her chest, moving her other arm behind her back. "You may call me 'Delila'."

Upon hearing the name, Lotte blinked widely out of surprise and adjusted her glasses at the side of her frames.

"Delila?" she quietly repeated, daring to take a step towards the taller girl. "You're Diana's younger twin sister, right?"

"Correct."

Akko's jaw nearly hit the floor when it dropped open. "Wait a sec! Twin sister?!" Delila nodded stiffly as she lifted her head again, causing the shorter brunette to go bug-eyed for a moment. "No wonder you knew what to do about the plant on my head!" She nervously chuckled and averted her gaze to the ground, lightly tapping the fingertips of her index fingers together. "Thanks for that, by the way."

"You are very welcome," Delila acknowledged, in turn breezing past the implied compliment. "Though speaking of my sister, may I ask why you were shouting her name earlier?"

And why her sister was the reason Akko almost whacked her face, Delila wanted to add, yet she decided to keep that comment to herself. She was in the presence of strangers, after all. She had to remember her place.

"Akko and Diana got into an argument over Shiny Chariot and Akko got offended," Sucy bluntly answered.

"And why wouldn't I be offended?!" Akko tautly retorted as she whipped round to face Sucy, crinkling her nose and twisting the object she was still holding tightly between her fingers. "Diana called her a 'disappointment' and a 'has-been' just because she doesn't think Shiny Chariot can do real magic! What does she even mean by that?! I wasn't even talking to her in the first place!"

Delila felt her heart skip a beat inside of her chest at this revelation, reaching a hand to her throat at feeling a lump suddenly spring there. This wasn't news to Delila, yet hearing it from Akko made her heart ache, the painful reminder of how much her older sister had changed from their youth rising to the fore.

But then the younger Cavendish frowned and arched a brow upon properly processing what Akko had said.

"One moment, Miss Kagari." Akko looked back at Delila from over her shoulder at being addressed. "Did you say you weren't conversing with Diana about Shiny Chariot to begin with?"

"I did! She butted in when I was talking to Lotte and Sucy just to insult Shiny Chariot! And then she had the nerve to say that no one cares where she disappeared to ten years ago!" Akko puffed out her cheeks and tipped her nose up to the sky, briefly closing her eyes as she did so. "It was so rude!"

So, Diana intentionally interrupted a conversation between the Red Team just so she could state her opinion about Shiny Chariot, Delila concluded. That was… odd.

"Maybe she wouldn't have heard you if you hadn't been shouting to the whole cafeteria," Sucy deadpanned, but her remark was swiftly ignored by the shorter Japanese girl.

"Yeah, well, it doesn't matter!" Akko grinned triumphantly and held out the beige stick-like object in front of her again, both hands gripping at the base. "'Cause once Diana sees this, she's going to eat her words!"

With Akko now keeping the object still and close to Delila, the younger Cavendish took the opportunity to move a little closer and folding her arms, managing to get a good look at it. The object in question was medium sized and long in length, possessing curvy sides separated by two sets of pointed edges at its middle and top, an arrow-headed and golden coloured ornament adorning its head, and seven circular, blue crystals embedded into its body: three near to the head and four near the base. Its appearance was very distinctive, a fact that made Delila squint suspiciously.

"My apologies, Miss Kagari, but what is that?" Delila enquired.

"It's Shiny Chariot's staff, of course!" Akko proudly declared, her grin widening and her back straightening.

Delila's head snapped up so suddenly, it was a wonder she didn't hear her bones snap in two. "… I'm sorry?"

"It's Shiny Chariot's staff! The one she used during her performances!" Akko reiterated for Delila's sake, but of course, it did nothing to clear up the younger Cavendish's confusion and shock.

Staff? Is that what Akko had been carrying around since yesterday?

So many questions sprung to the young Cavendish's mind in that moment, the notable one being why Akko apparently had what Delila could only presume was a magical artifact in her possession (because what else would Akko have meant?). But the longer the younger Cavendish fixed her gaze on the staff, the more she found her thoughts flitting back to Diana's reaction in the auditorium—that trance-like and mesmerised stare, the one Delila knew so well from that one time when they were little.

Had Diana recognised the staff and that advanced spell from—?

"That is not the staff of Shiny Chariot," a familiar and disembodied voice stated matter-of-factly from the courtyard's north entrance, disrupting Delila's train of thought. The group of four turned to face the Blue Team as Diana emerged into the courtyard and stopped at the top of the steps with Hannah and Barbara flanking either side of her, looking down at the Red Team and Delila with a stare that was as cold as ice. "It's an obvious imitation."

A/N:

I'll admit that the flashback with Bernadette wasn't originally planned. That one flashback at the beginning of the fanfic was the only one I planned to use. But upon pondering on it, I realised that in terms of adding context to Delila's and Diana's childhoods and also what happened during the five years after Bernadette's passing, sprinkling flashbacks like these in on occasion would be useful from a storytelling perspective. Writing Bernadette was difficult, because there is very little we know about her character aside from what other characters have said and the glimpses we caught of her in Diana's flashbacks. But I think I wrote her okay here. I hadn't planned on exposing Diana's love of Shiny Chariot so early into the story, but considering the argument Diana and Akko have and with Delila knowing a lot more about Diana than Akko, it was inevitable that secrets like these would come to light early, especially because the context is necessary for what is going to occur in the next chapter. Also, as Delila isn't going to be present for what Diana does with the memorial tree, I thought the flashback acted as a good way to establish context with the revitalisation spell Diana uses, and also show how Diana and Delila differ from each other as children to boot.

It was the same thing with Ursula, really. Outside of giving Ursula a moment to shine, I thought it was a good idea to give her and Delila a natural introduction before episode three comes along. Not only to show how Delila differs from and is similar to Diana, but also to prepare for the plans I have in store for later episodes. Originally, I'd contemplated having Ursula and Delila interact for more than one scene, but considering how closed off Delila is as a character when it comes to her personal life and feelings, I thought this would have been out of character for her to do at the moment. I also thought it acted as unintentional foreshadowing for Ursula's real identity, because this is the first time Delila has seen her eyes, and she would have likely seen an image of Shiny Chariot somewhere (not so much the Shiny Rod), so... XD

And then we have the Red Team. As mentioned above and in previous author's notes, I couldn't have Delila present for the ensuing argument between Diana and Akko because she would have put a stop to it, and that argument is needed for the altercation in the courtyard, which I think perfectly shows the parallels to the behaviour of Delila's maternal relatives and will cause friction between her and Diana. However, the trouble that I had with this was that I could not for the life of me figure out how this scene was going to unfold naturally. I wrote out different versions of the scene in separate documents, ranging from Delila being an unfortunate eavesdropper to Akko's and Diana's argument over the staff, to Delila unintentionally being pulled into the argument and having no idea what was going on, among other ideas. But in the end, I ended up going with the scene you've currently read, that being Delila meeting the Red Team in a rather... comical manner. XD Reason being because I felt it was necessary for Delila to get to know Akko for herself and found out through a third party about Diana's behaviour before the actual altercation plays out. Up until this point, Delila and Akko have been strangers, so I don't think Delila would have been impacted by the bullying as much had she just been a confused witness not understanding the context, especially because she doesn't know Akko is a fan of Shiny Chariot. I don't want to say anything more than that, because I feel it will spoil the stuff that is going to come in the next chapter. But if you guys gathered anything from the flashback and the hint I dropped in Chapter 6, I think you all know where Akko's added link to Delila's family parallels is going... XD

Also, side note for Sucy: canonically, she doesn't have vials on her sash. I just added those because she specialises in potions and I think it would make sense that she has vials on her due to how often she goes ingredients scavenging. Would be especially useful in case she encounters any ingredients she wasn't actively looking for.

That's all I can think to say for now, but if you have any further questions, feel free to leave them in the reviews.