It was sunny with only a few stray clouds in the sky. The summer weather was beginning to cool down some, so it was what one could describe as 'nice'. There was a slight breeze, and the morning temperatures stayed in the mid-60s. Evergreen and Dad had got Evergreen all packed up the night before, so he was good to go in the morning. Arriving at Union Station didn't take as long as typical, somehow. Evergreen was thinking deeply the whole way there. He hadn't had a vision in weeks, and he was basically OK with that, but he still had an odd feeling. He knew somehow that the school year was going to be different from his previous ones. Here's for hoping he doesn't blow up the school again. That was really getting old.

Once they passed through the back wall into the secret train platform, Evergreen's trunk was almost immediately taken by one of the Ilvermorny pukwudgies. Like all pukwudgies, he was about two feet tall and had grayish skin with sharp quills all over his head. All pukwudgies seemed like they were always in a bad mood, but part of Evergreen was quite fond of the little guys.

"Thank you, sir." Evergreen told the little guy brightly.

The puwudgie's eyes widened slightly, likely at Evergreen's earnest, genuine statement. He didn't reply to Evergreen though, he just grumbled something under his breath and Evergreen could have sworn he got a grin out of the creature. According to Miss Agatha, one of Ilvermorny's history professors, other beings, like elves, pukwudgies, and vampires, like Miss Agatha herself, weren't generally treated by wizardkind with the same respect that they would give another wizard. It was something Evergreen had become increasingly aware of and something that he hoped one day to have the power to change. If the individual was able to think with reason, they were a person as far as he was concerned.

"E.E." Dad said, "huddle up."

Evergreen did as was told and he and Dad rested the crowns of their heads against each other and held each other by the shoulders. It was something that Dad had done occasionally during Evergreen's growing up years. The man was an athlete, after all. One could take the man off of the field or the court, but one could never take the field or court out of the man. However, Evergreen was not an athlete. Not at all. He wondered how Dad was an excellent runner, football player, basketball player, and dancer in his younger years, but Evergreen still tripped over thin air fairly often.

"Okay, so here is our gameplan." Dad continued, "As soon as either of us hears from Boq, Brr, or Fiyero, we use our pocket watches to call the other, then we get together and follow them. I have a bag packed complete with clothes, non-perishable food, a first-aid kit, and a gun and ammo if needed to leave at a moment's notice. We are to take the fireplace directly to the other and then we'll go and do our thing."

"Sounds good, Dad. Anything else?" Evergreen inquired.

"That's about it, oh, also, try and stay out of trouble. I know you've been lucky so far, but I need you with me when we leave. I can't do magic, and you don't have the street smarts I do. We need each other to pull this off. Get it?"

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. I'm 13 and you're like 300."

Dad smirked at Evergreen's cheek.

"Sometimes it really does feel like that. Okay. Study hard, and I guess I'll see you at Thanksgiving. I love you, E.E."

"I love you too, Dad."

"That goes for you too, Seta." Dad said, addressing the bunny directly, who was standing beneath their heads that were still together.

"I love you too, Dad." Seta replied with a funny look on his face that made Evergreen and Dad reply with laughter.

Once on the Pacific boxcar, Evergreen started down the corridor. Before too long, however, someone grabbed ahold of his yellow necktie and pulled him into a compartment. He fell on his backside onto one of the benches and noticed that it was Bianca. Her chocolate brown eyes danced with a playful energy. She hadn't yet changed into her uniform like Evergreen had but was wearing a blue dress that fitted wonderfully and really emphasized her beautiful tan. With her in the compartment were two other people. He recognized them from being sorted the previous year but couldn't remember their names.

"Hey Ev." Bianca laughed, pushing Seta's sword aside, as he had unsheathed it when Evergreen got pulled in. Seta lowered his sword and put it back in.

"Hey Bianca. You surprised me."

"Yeah? Cool. Do you remember Stormy?" Bianca asked, pointing toward a girl with straight, black hair, and skin glazed with a honeyglow. She was dressed in all black from her ripped band T-shirt to her jeans so skinny, they looked painted on.

"Can't say we were ever introduced. Hi Stormy, I'm Evergreen."

"Yes, you are." Stormy replied, pushing the hair from her eyes. "Bianca. You were right. He is cute!"

Both Evergreen and Bianca blushed at this admission, but Stormy just laughed. It was someplace between a giggle and a cackle. It wasn't entirely unpleasant to hear.

"Hello? Am I chop liver?" came the voice of the other girl who Evergreen realized he knew. It was Patty something or another, she was also a Thunderbird. She was the shortest out of all of them, with bright sapphire eyes and the bushiest brown hair imaginable. Bianca was very curvy; Patty was as well. Stormy, however, was as thin as a rail.

"Patty, right?" Evergreen asked.

"Patricia. But you can call me Trish. I'm good with either."

"Trish then. How do you know Bianca?"

Trish moved Stormy's black cat from her lap and pulled her wand out from behind her ear. With all of that hair, Evergreen couldn't even tell that the wand was there! She started making sparks fly out of her wand and the black cat immediately started chasing after every one that it could see. What is it with cats and chasing lasers and things?

"Well," Trish replied, "We actually went to a No-Maj school together."

That was weird. I thought that no one ever really left the settlement. Seemingly, Bianca must have read Evergreen's thoughts.

"My dad insisted. He knew that there was more to the world than the Tututni Settlement of Magic, so I went to a No-Maj school from K-5."

Prudent. That was a good word to describe Bianca's father. It was true that there was more to the world than the magic that many took for granted. Not Evergreen, he would never take it for granted. He knew how it was to live without magic, but he appreciated it for what it was, a lifestyle. Some things, he understood, couldn't be done without magic, other things very well could. Plus, not everyone would grow up to have a magical career as an auror, teacher, author, magizoologist, or something similar. Some people would prefer to eventually live amongst No-Majes and there was nothing wrong with that.

They continued to chat. Apparently, Trish was an only child and had two No-Majes for parents. Stormy had an older sister who was a year older than Evergreen. Tabitha. She and Stormy were both in Wampus house like Bianca and Beatrice. Trish continued to torment Stormy's cat, but she didn't seem too bothered by it, so Evergreen decided not to mention it.

Eventually, they all got some food from the boxcar's snack wizard. Evergreen was enjoying a cauldron cake as he noticed Bianca's hand slip quickly and deftly into his own. His cheeks burned with a combination of embarrassment and something else he couldn't name. Looking over at her, her cheeks were also reddened, despite their tanned color. She smiled and he didn't really know how to respond, so he just turned back to his cauldron cake. Trish was preoccupied with Stormy's cat, but Stormy was watching the two of them with a funny look on her face. Evergreen wasn't sure if he was enjoying holding Bianca's hand, but it sure seemed like Stormy was enjoying it.

In no time, they met with the other boxcars in the familiar crash of metal on metal, at hundreds of miles an hour. Yes, it was dangerous, but there was magic, so everyone was safe, if not just a little jostled about. After all the boxcars were together, they had a straight shot back to Adams Massachusetts, to Mount Greylock, for their return to Ilvermorny. Because Evergreen was already wearing his robes, he didn't need to change, so he just briefly left the compartment for the girls to change into their uniforms. Stormy, however, told him with a laugh that he didn't need to leave on her account and had already begun to change before he was even at the door. He took one look at her then exposed collarbones, and he left quite quickly before she got any further into it.

Once they disembarked, Evergreen remembered that the girls he shared his compartment with likely didn't know where to find the glass elevators that would take them to the school grounds. He would just need to lead them toward that area, he guessed. Their little group mixed in with a group of others, including Link and Diva, good friends of Evergreen and fellow Thunderbirds.

"Hey nerd." Link said, noticing Evergreen with Bianca.

They had been holding hands, but the moment Link made his appearance, Evergreen let go of Bianca's hand. He didn't know why, but it was just super awkward to consider any affection with Bianca while Link was around.

"Hey Link. How was the rest of your summer?" Evergreen asked.

"Well, ya know. I'm getting a special award from Washington-Frost and Fontaine, no big deal." Link followed up by flipping his hands every-which-way.

"Well, ya know. Me too." Evergreen replied with a wink.

They continued on, from the cobblestone road to a dirt road that led to a familiar grassy knoll. On the other side of the knoll was a large field, up against the sheer rock wall of Mount Greylock. There were tempered glass cylinders everywhere with 16- and 17-year-olds directing people to where they needed to go. Evergreen entered one with Link, Diva, Bianca, Trish, and a few others. They lost Stormy in the throng of people, though. It was fine. She was quite spirited, and something told him that she was the sort of person that one really needed to warm up to.

Arriving at the commons, their massive dining hall, Evergreen and his friends quickly found seats, mostly at their own house's table. Evergreen looked up at the teachers' table and saw that everyone was in attendance. The sun was low enough now that Miss Agatha was seated with the other professors. Seated by her, however, was a very curious individual. It was Professor Woods, only she looked quite different. Her skin that was scarred and burned in some places, was then completely unblemished and untouched. It was also as pale as Miss Agatha's vampiric complexion. Her eyes that were bluish before were then a shade of deep gold. Her light brown hair with a wave was also chocolate brown and quite straight. She was smiling at something Professor Fangholder was saying to her and Miss Agatha which exposed her sharp, vampiric bicuspids. She had never looked more radiant.

Professor Woods had to drop out of her teaching position at the semester mark during the previous year because she was turned into a vampire in the Land of the Banished. According to Miss Agatha, human bloodlust always develops within the first few weeks of the change. It was really good to see Professor Woods back in the school. Evergreen didn't realize how much he cared for her until he was no longer seeing her each and every day.

At some point, Headmaster Washington-Frost stood and said a few words. It was the normal thing, just a welcome and a promise of more words later. He also called upon Deputy Fontaine to begin the sorting process. During the first dinner feast of the year, the four wood carvings of the Thunderbird, Wampus, Pukwudgie, and Horned Serpent are moved from the Ilvermorny annex into the commons for sorting. Each person needed to stand in the center of them and wait for one of the carvings to react. Whichever did so, that was the house that they were to enter. Sometimes, more than one carving did its thing, thus allowing the student to choose for themselves. Evergreen was the first one in 30 years, apparently, that made all four statues move.

"Evergreen, we missed you on the train." Andie, Evergreen's No-Maj born close friend and birthday twin said with a grin as she adjusted her black glasses.

"Oh, sorry, I was pulled into another compartment." He replied.

"I bet you were." Glade, Andie's partner in crime and also a close friend said, "Would you say that you were… tied up?" she followed with a wink.

"I-uh… I –" Evergreen managed, intelligently with a burning pink color coming to his nose and cheeks.

"How cute." Andie said. "That confirms it. He was with a girl."

"Was it Bianca?" Link asked. "It was probably Bianca."

"Who's Bianca?" Glade asked.

"A girl I grew up with. She's a Wampus."

Well, this was embarrassing. Evergreen couldn't really get a word in edgewise and here all of his best friends were talking about his relationship with a girl he really liked. She wasn't his girlfriend or anything, so what was the big deal? It's not like they were kissing or anything. Then again, Evergreen wouldn't mind kissing her. Such a thought caused a shockwave to go through his system and he felt a funny feeling that he remembered feeling the first time Bianca held his hand. He shook his head at that and stabbed his New York Strip steak with his fork with great prejudice. The feelings dissipated with the act of violence against the poor, defenseless steak.

"We are just f-friends. She's not my g-girlfriend or an-anything." Evergreen managed, his childhood stutter briefly surfacing.

"Whatever you say." Diva, Evergreen's shortest friend said, putting her small hands up. "We believe you."

They definitely did not believe him.

So, they continued their meal with a few new Thunderbirds here and there. Evergreen glanced over to the Wampus table briefly and saw Bianca sitting with Beatrice, an enemy turned friend whose mother was a friend of Evergreen's mom in Oz. They in Oz called Beatrice's mom Dorothy "The Traveler", because no one had ever been able to so easily cross the gateway from Earth to Oz. I guess that's what happens when you grow up in the south. There's a certain honesty that's there. It was true that only the pure of heart could open the gateway. Evergreen had never met Dorothy, but he would really like to, eventually.

"Good evening and welcome back to Ilvermorny!" Headmaster Washington-Frost began, "To begin, I would like to call a few individuals to come and stand before you all. When you hear your name, please come and stand before me." The headmaster cleared his throat, "Professors Agatha Shadowmend and Tempest Woods—" the vampiric women stood from their seats and strode in front of the headmaster, "Beatrice Gale-Larson, Aaron Talbot, Valerian Bonus, Link Blackguard, and Eminent Evergreen Quandary!"

All of the named kids stood up and walked toward where the vampires were standing. Link looked like he was having the time of his life, Evergreen though, could not have been less comfortable. Hundreds of eyes were on him, and he heard his name whispered among many of them.

"These individuals performed a great service to us as a school last year. Together, they tracked down the cause of the earthquakes and used the power of 7 to destroy it and to bring peace once again to these grounds. It was a dangerous feat, but it was accomplished, and they all stand here today as a testament to us that we are indeed stronger together. For their heroism, I and the school board wish to present this plaque that will be placed above the annex door to the subterranean levels for the rest of time!"

Headmaster Washington-Frost then unveiled the plaque which was black with gold lettering. It had each of their names and their house affiliation and a title which said, For great courage and for amazing teamwork, this commemorates the aforementioned individuals becoming saviors of Ilvermorny, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, August 23, 2008.

When the applause came, Evergreen felt a strong hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Professor Woods. She smiled at him and said simply,

"I didn't get to properly thank you for leading the charge."

"You're welcome." Evergreen said quickly.

"Your mom would be so proud of you."

"Thanks, Professor."

And it was that thought that he carried for the rest of the night and was the last thing he could think before drifting off in his comfortable dorm.

A/N:

Good day all. Here's just another chapter and a shoutout to .soul91 for following this story so religiously. This chapter is dedicated to you.

-EQ