It was Sunday morning, the first full day at Ilvermorny. It was a beautiful, clear day, and it promised to be quite warm. There on the mountaintop, whenever the current weather came, they were, of course, always the first to know. In winter, the whole mountain became an icecap; in summer, the castle's inhabitants definitely made use of the sunburn repair potions found in the medic station.

Evergreen awoke with a stretch. He had gotten one of the best nights of sleep in months. The thrill of coming back to Ilvermorny and seeing Professor Woods back and upon her feet was enough to get him out of his head and to distract him from the terrible things he had seen in the Land of the Banished. He glanced over to Seta who had been resting, as he typically did, on a pillowed nest set up on Evergreen's bedside table. He was already up but he hadn't changed, yet.

"Morning." The bunny said as Evergreen let out a yawn.

"Morning." Evergreen attempted back

The Summerhill twins, Tokala and Maza Blaska were sitting at the window located right smack dab in the middle of their beds just chatting. Every morning, for as long as they had been at Ilvermorny, they began the day with their sunrise prayer, thanking Order for that day. It was a little later in the morning, so they must have finished earlier.

As far as Evergreen understood and according to the magic tomes that he had been pouring into over the past few years, the universe was once a thing composed entirely of Chaos. It was Chaos that took stardust from another universe into a place without space and time. That spaceless and timeless void became their universe when Order entered it, subduing Chaos and creating a place of change and organization. Growing up in an American suburb, Evergreen was always surrounded by religious people. For that reason, he grew up believing in universal intelligent design. His magical studies proved this to be true. Order was indeed someone to be grateful for.

The teenage wizard made his way across the room to their shared bathroom. He briefly looked at his reflection in the mirror which covered the whole wall with four sinks sticking out of it. The stones below his feet moved ever so slightly, massaging his soles. He stripped down, quickly showered, and then got dressed. He had learned a charm during his sixth-grade year that would keep an article of clothing warm during the cold months. He did some research that summer at the Underhill Market's bookshop Word for Word and found a simple charm that had the opposite effect. He always found it was quite warm on the grounds and in the commons during August and September and also in May, so he figured he would test out the garment cooling charm he learned. He pointed his wand at his robes which were navy with a deep cranberry red lining and spoke the incantation. Psyxte to rucho!

A blue bolt of energy came from the tip of his wand and engulfed his robes. Just as quickly as the energy came to be, it dissipated, leaving the robes looking to be unaffected. He then put the robes over his trousers and button-up shirt. Immediately, he noticed a change in temperature. It wasn't a shocking change, but there was a noticeably cool breeze swirling within his robes. It was quite nice. He came across the charm in a book called Convenient Charms. The charm was invented and used originally around the Mediterranean Sea. Their summers were some of the most brutal in the world, it only made sense to make and use such a charm.

When he left the bathroom area, both Summerhills had left and Seta was changed into his tunic and chainmail. With a bound, Seta took his place on Evergreen's shoulder. Evergreen took a glance at Link and their other roommates who were just getting up, he smiled briefly at Link when he sat up and then left the dorm room.

Down in the Nest, a familiar voice was speaking loudly over the crowd of people who were gathered around the fireplace area. A fire wasn't going because it wasn't needed yet. However, a girl was standing there on a stool or something near the hearth. It was Victoria Snow, a girl in student leadership. If Evergreen wasn't mistaken, she was entering her last year at Ilvermorny. It was a shame that he wouldn't be seeing her next year with her thick eyelashes, full figure, and sharp, yet conservative haircut. He had always looked at her as kind of an older sister or something. She did kind of remind him of his only girl cousin, so that was probably why.

"Now, this project I won't be doing alone –" Victoria explained. "I will have Lilith and Ava Caldwell of Pukwudgie house and Amaya here."

Victoria gestured to a girl standing on her left side. She was thin as a rail, had dishwater blonde hair that was cut to a bob, and was pretty, albeit quite intense, by the looks of things. Her robes were hitched up slightly, showing quite a bit of leg. It was her style, perhaps. The crest over her breast showed a Thunderbird. Evergreen wondered why he felt like he had never seen the girl before. He also wondered what kind of project this was that would garner so much attention.

"And this project is meant to take all year, so it doesn't disrupt anyone's studies, of course," Amaya said. Her voice was low and raspy like she was a rockstar or something. "Tori here is our lead director while the Caldwells will take care of music and dance. However, I –" she paused for effect. "will be taking care of costuming!"

"Exactly. Thank you Amaya. Auditions will be held next weekend because we would like to get things started as soon as possible!" Victoria said with a sideways smile at Amaya.

"What are they talking about?" Evergreen asked the dark-haired, built Kristoff Jerrod, who was standing nearby listening in.

"A few of the seniors are putting together a middle school musical for their final project. Alice in Wonderland. Ever heard of it?" Kristoff informed and then asked.

Of course, he had heard of Alice in Wonderland. Any suburban American kid had watched the Disney film an inordinate number of times. With what he knew of the wizarding world, Alice in Wonderland was the perfect choice in something to perform. Bright colors and magical things were the central conceit of the story, after all.

"Middle school musical?" Evergreen asked.

"Yeah. Eighth graders and below. You and your friends will actually be able to do a musical before you can join the theater club in ninth grade." He said with a grin.

"Neat." Evergreen replied, turning back toward Victoria and Amaya.

The girls continued telling those within the sound of their voices about the show that they would be putting on. A short time later, the little crowd dispersed and everyone started making their way down to the commons for breakfast. Link and Diva had met up with Evergreen by that point. Passing through the annex, Evergreen noticed his plaque set up in the far corner of the annex over that dark door they had entered the previous year. He looked away from the door quickly because he felt a strange sudden guilt sitting in his gut.

Breakfast was the same delicious affair. Thick French toast was pockmarked with confectioner's sugar. Bacon sizzled invitingly down each table with eggs prepared half a dozen different ways. There was also a large amount of fresh fruit that gleamed with a slight misty glaze of water in the sunlight. Evergreen helped himself to a biscuit and gravy while he looked toward the Wampus table. Bianca instantly locked eyes with him and smiled in a way that made him feel all gooey. He started smiling stupidly, completely unaware until Diva piped up.

"Wow. You got it bad."

"Huh?" Evergreen asked, realizing he had just dipped his apple quarter into his milk instead of the syrup he had used to cover his toast.

"What's her name… Bianca? Yeah. She's giving you those hungry eyes and you're just melting right before our eyes!"

"Yeah dude, it's a little weird too. She's kinda like my sister." Link had said with a small grin.

Evergreen's cheeks and nose burned with a flush at such a comment.

"You aren't making fun of Link and Grace, though." Evergreen complained to Diva.

"No need. They only get more disgusting with the PDA when I say anything." She said with an odd dark expression.

They continued to enjoy their meal, Grace who was sitting next to Link had submitted to Link's desire to feed her little pieces of fruit. Like Diva said, it was really a ridiculous sight. Evergreen really liked Bianca and she gave him butterflies, but he wouldn't be caught dead in a situation like that. How embarrassing for both of them.

When the old headmaster stood before the student body as he did for every first breakfast of the year and only a few after, he was wearing yet again another matching robe and pointed hat, this in electric purple. It had some orange paisley designs near the hems of his sleeves and around the hem near his feet. It was quite startling, but it looked great against his wrinkled, milk chocolate-colored skin and his salt and pepper beard that covered his chest. His words were many, as the man must really like the sound of his voice and gave them a few announcements. It was all the same ones he had said for all the years before. Evergreen could almost recite the words he was saying word-for-word at that point.

After breakfast, everyone but the new sixth graders were to head straight over to the Steward Courtyard for the club fair. The sixth graders had to attend the wand ceremony before they could join the older students. Evergreen passed through the round room where he had first met Diva back when they were in sixth grade and came out into the sunlight. Just like every year, the whole courtyard was covered with tents and booths. Next year, Evergreen knew that he could officially join any of them, so this year, he took a quill and parchment to take a list of all of the clubs and groups that he found interesting.

Looking over, Evergreen saw the familiar Professor Highmore at the music booth. He was definitely joining that one! She had, at the time, a violin playing like a fiddle, levitating above her head and every time the bow struck the strings, a flash of light was emitted, exactly like the instrument tower he and Dad had observed in Seattle two years ago. He figured since he had done some magical music before, albeit accidentally, he should definitely be able to do it again. Perhaps Professor Highmore could teach him a thing or two before he could enter her club or her classes. Perhaps.

He then looked over at the W.I.T.C.H. which stood for the Wizard Initiative to Cooperate as Humans, a society of magical people who wish to learn more about No-Majes and also those raised in No-Maj homes who wish to learn more about the magical world. Why people can't join that club the moment they entered Ilvermorny was beyond Evergreen. It sure would have been helpful for him, Diva, and Andie when they first entered, that was for sure.

"Hey Evergreen," Diva said, "can we go watch the Dance Grimoire?"

"Yeah, sure. I was just gonna—" Evergreen managed before Diva pulled him forcefully by the arm. Sure, he was almost two heads taller than her, but her strength belied her size.

They then watched several older students gracefully dance across a small stage in long dresses and suits. Some of the couples were actually floating above the stage, twirling their dresses to a spicy-sounding, Latin beat. It was mesmerizing, to say the least. Evergreen had spent much of his childhood falling into things and getting hurt, not hurt enough to last, but hurt enough to make him feel stupid for the day. The idea of entering such a club as the Dance Grimoire would have been terrifying to 11-year-old Evergreen, but with Professor Park's theater exercises over the past two years, he really felt like he was moving in a much more graceful manner. It had been months, after all, since he was involved in a physical altercation with the ground. He hadn't fallen up the stairs since the summer after his sixth-grade year. With Professor Park's help, his clumsiness really got under control and so did his stutter. He was feeling a sense of confidence that he never thought possible.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Diva asked.

"Yeah it is. I mean, look at how their dresses flare about like they're in water or something!" Evergreen replied softly.

"I know it sounds silly, but I've always wanted to dress up like that." Diva replied and Evergreen noticed she was looking across the way at Link who was with the tall and beautiful Grace being super nauseatingly cute.

"It's not silly." Evergreen said, putting his arm around her to shock her from her reverie. "How about this, next year, we'll join the Dance Grimoire so we can both dress all fancy and frilly?"

"I would love that!" Diva said with a huge smile, looking up at the girls who were spinning in their dresses in midair.

"I'm also joining Music, Theater, W.I.T.C.H., and maybe the Native American or Transfiguration, I know that Professor Graves would want me to."

"The clubs are to help us develop ourselves and for us to build a network, Evergreen." The small girl said, furrowing her brow, almost completely covering her eyes. "It's not to change you into what some teacher wants you to be."

She really did hit on something there. Evergreen had spent his life worrying about others and what others thought of him. During his childhood, he would often make unnecessary sacrifices just to make someone else's life easier. Sure, his heart was in a noble place, but with how much he did that during his everyday life, it was borderline self-abuse. Living a life where one cannot live genuinely isn't really a way to live at all. He thought back to Professor Woods and Miss Agatha. They kept their relationship a secret from everyone because of some backward law. Evergreen just hoped that he wouldn't have to turn into a vampire to make someone else's life better, in the way he did. NO! he thought, I won't ever get to a point like that. I just need to learn to better follow my heart and my instincts, and use my 'inner eye' or whatever Professor Diablo said. Plus, as the first four-statue-student in decades, who's to say I couldn't start helping rewrite some of the accepted rules?

"Thanks Diva." He finally said, "I get so lost in thinking about expectations of me."

"Me too." Diva admitted, "When I first got my letter, my parents were thrilled. I was the first ever person to have magic in my family since at least the Han Dynasty of China, according to my mom. I have an ancestor through her who was the personal magician and physician to Emperor Gaozu."

Evergreen watched his friend talk and he didn't even realize that his mouth was hanging open.

"Do you mean, you knew about magic before Ilvermorny?" he asked, as they walked toward the Foodies booth to try some of their baked goods.

"Kinda. My great great great grandmother or whatever was rumored to be very powerful and famous during the dynasty. It wasn't until after the death of Gaozu that it was revealed that she was actually a woman, though. The condition that killed him was treatable, we like to think that he refused treatment because he found out she was a woman or something like that. We thought that it was all just a folk story until I got my letter. You're not the only one with big shoes to fill, Ev."

This made Evergreen smile and let out a chuckle. Sure, Mom may be a powerful Ozian witch, but Diva had an ancestor who worked personally with one of the mightiest emperors in known Chinese history! He figured it was as good a time as any to hug Diva. So, he did and she reciprocated warmly. To Evergreen, it was just a friendly thing to show her that he was there and that they felt similar things within their separate situations. However, an odd feeling fell upon him as his body reacted to having hers pressed up against him. He sprung back and his face was burning with a deep blush and Diva just had a confused smile on her face at his weird jump.

"Did I shock you?" Diva asked, innocently, "I have been known to generate a lot of static electricity. Sorry if I shocked you."

Evergreen was glad that she didn't know the reason for his jumping back. He would have been humiliated if she had been able to tell what happened. He was just glad to be wearing a very loose and not-at-all form-flattering robe. He considered the feeling he had and suddenly felt kind of guilty. Sure, he and Bianca weren't really together, but he still felt a sense of weirdness about having some level of attraction to one of his best friends, namely Diva. He figured if he left it alone, it would go away.

It was then that Evergreen felt a familiar hand loop its fingers with his. Looking to his side, he was thrilled and only a little bit embarrassed that it was Bianca.

"Hey!" she said, "Have you checked out Dance Grimoire?" she asked.

"I d-did. Diva and I were j-just c-coming from there." Evergreen managed, a nervous feeling causing his childhood stutter to surface.

"I'll of course be joining as soon as I can. What about you, Evergreen? Merlin knows you need the practice."

Letting out a laugh that dissipated all of his nervous energy. He decided to pull Bianca with him as he and Diva made their way over to the Dueling Club's stage. Two students were currently blasting multi-colored light at each other and expertly blocking every attack by the other. It was a stalemate, by what Evergreen could tell, but it was still pretty exciting.

"Do you want to join the Dueling Club next year?" Diva asked.

"Well, you are the better dueler, if I recall correctly." Evergreen replied good-naturedly.

"All the more reason for you to join with me!" Diva replied with glee.

The three of them continued on their way, just checking out all of the booths and doing their best to dodge the little pukwudgies that were making their way here and there across the courtyard. Evergreen recognized Waldon as the pukwudgie that had saved him from falling from a hot air balloon and had directed him to get to Beatrice to save her during his sixth-grade year. He, like all pukwudgies, was always in a grumpy mood, but he still really enjoyed seeing Waldon.

"Hi Waldon!" Evergreen shouted, upon seeing the little guy.

"Quandary. Hello. Can I help you?" he grumbled, however politely.

"No thanks. I just wanted to ask how you were."

Letting out a sharp laugh, the pukwudgie scrutinized Evergreen with a curious expression.

"Fine, as to be expected." Waldon replied, "You are a peculiar child, do you know that?"

"I prefer the word weird." Evergreen replied.

Waldon left without another word and left Bianca a little confused about the conversation. Evergreen was talking in a familiar, yet polite way toward a pukwudgie. She explained that Evergreen's treatment toward the pukwudgie was just a little weird because typically, wizards treated them like children, so without the basic respect that they deserved. Seeing the young wizard treat such a creature in such a kind way gave her butterflies. Her little spiel caused Evergreen to blush, once again, this time from the praise.

They continued to watch the duelers do their thing. At one point, one of the duelers, who Evergreen recognized as a girl who spent some time in the Nest, despite not being a Thunderbird. She was a Freshman as far as he knew and she had straight, black hair that went all the way past her thin waist and skin the color of virgin copper. She had some Middle-Eastern features and was dressed quite brightly. Her hair was tied up and she had an intense look on her face. He was pretty sure that she was in Wampus house, but he wasn't sure.

"Hey you." The girl said to Diva with a deep, smooth, almost sultry voice.

"Who me?" asked Diva, using her hand to gesture toward herself.

"Yeah you. You've been watching the stage for a while, why don't you come up here and show me what you can do?"

Diva looked positively shocked at the invitation. If Evergreen was in her shoes, he would be leaps and bounds more than intimidated. This Wampus girl, or whatever else she may have been was fierce and vicious in the duel they had witnessed previously. He looked toward his friend to see what she would do.

"Okay. We can go for a bit, until you knock me on my butt, of course." Diva said thoughtfully, "I'm Diva."

"Iris." The girl replied, gesturing to a spot on the platform opposite of her.

Remembering that they had seen Flax on that platform last year, Evergreen looked around for him. He didn't see him, but he did see the professor who had told him off last year. He couldn't remember his name. It was something old-sounding. That much he knew. Perhaps he was the advisor. It would make sense, considering how he was closely scrutinizing the action up on the platform.

Iris then explained to Diva the proper rules for beginning a duel. They were to stand back to back and walk ten paces before turning, bowing, and then assuming their best body position to channel their magic. In an official dueling situation, both individuals would need a second person to take over the duel if one person couldn't continue, but in this case, seconds were apparently unnecessary as it was single elimination. Diva and Evergreen nodded as the girl explained.

The girls both did as Iris explained and got into position at opposite ends of the platform. Iris' body position looked like she may have had some dance training while Diva's looked like she had some experience in some kind of martial art. Diva shook off her robe in the process, leaving her in her skirt and button-up shirt, likely to give her better maneuverability. The wizard robes definitely didn't offer that. Evergreen thought he remembered her mentioning that she was involved in martial arts and instrumental music before coming to Ilvermorny. Her body language would suggest such.

Then, their duel was officially underway. Iris, of course, was the first one to send an offensive hex toward Diva. She put up a shield that wasn't particularly strong, because some of the hex still got through, but it was strong enough. Thereafter, Diva fired off a hex of her own that Iris ended up redirecting. Diva ended up going down into a split, causing the ball of redirected energy to fly clean over the top of her head, the energy sent a current through her hair making it stand on end kind of like when one rubs a latex balloon against their head. This made Evergreen smile out of amusement.

While they went back and forth, Bianca held tightly onto Evergreen's arm. He understood what she was feeling because it was indeed an exciting duel between the girls. It was as much a battle as it was a dance. Diva did a few flips while Iris expertly dodged the blasts of light sailing in her direction with a simple spin of her hips and a slight roll of her shoulders.

"Now, that's a dance, if I've ever seen one!" Evergreen whispered to Bianca.

"Yeah. I can't believe that they are incorporating different No-Maj fighting styles and dance along with their magic. That is something I'd love to learn." Bianca replied.

"You and me both, pretty girl." He replied, in a rare moment of daring.

She smiled brightly at him and he felt super lucky in that moment that he had her clinging to his arm. Their eyes returned to the duel that was going on before them.

A flash of pink light enveloped Diva and she burst the cocoon it made with a blasting curse. Evergreen wasn't sure when and how she learned that one, but it worked. She then sent a blast of energy toward Iris that made her massive ponytail whip up into her eyes. She briefly lost her balance and when Evergreen thought Diva was going to deal the winning shot, Iris spoke a simple expelliarmus followed immediately with a knockback jinx. Diva's wand went flying and she landed on her butt with a great THUD.

"That was a lot of fun." Iris said, helping the younger girl back to her feet.

"Yeah, until the end part." Diva replied, rubbing her backside with her other hand.

It was then that the advisor got up on the platform where Iris and Diva were. He quickly approached the girls and held out his hand to Diva.

"Professor Maleficum." He said. "You are Diva what?"

"Diva Rash, sir." She replied.

"Well, Diva Rash. You have promise in becoming a proficient duelist. How old are you?"

"I'm only 13, sir. I won't be able to join the club for another year."

"A shame, but I'll be here next year, eagerly awaiting your chapter application. Good day Miss Rash." Professor Maleficum then turned toward Iris. "As you were, Miss Prasad."

He resumed his position down behind the platform and Diva bid her goodbye as she replaced her robe and picked her wand back up from the ground. Even though she didn't win, she looked exhilarated. Evergreen knew from personal experience that that feeling comes in droves when someone with a lot of life experience, like the ancient Professor Maleficum, tells you that you have promise in one discipline or another. He was quite happy for his friend. He just knew that within the next couple of years, anyone at the receiving end of her wand would be in for a world of pain.