𝐌𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 | James S. Potter

01. Aqua Eructo

    Nothing could have prepared Nora Mercer for today. Nothing. Let alone anyone else attending and residing in Beuxbatons Academy of Magic.

    It was  a gloomy morning, one of those when Nora didn't bother waking up earlier to eat breakfast. It was a bad habit, but she knew she would stuff herself at lunch to compensate. Maybe if she had any mildly interesting friends, she'd wake up to see them and have breakfast together, but Beuxbatons wasn't really a place of many interesting people.

    The corridors were as loud as usual; meaning that perhaps more conversations and whispers could be heard at a funeral than in the hallways of the Academy. Here it was a common practice to keep your fun to yourself—or anything, really. Students didn't raise their voices when they were upset, or when they were laughing. And if you did and if looks could kill, then kindly rest in peace.

    Nora had gotten used to these glares very quickly, perhaps in the first two months since she had left Hogwarts and moved to Beuxbatons. She had to add some fun to the school. The chateau was a beautiful place to live in, meticulously built and decorated, filled with natural light at all times. It didn't make sense for it to feel all gray and miserable, Nora thought.

    It was just after the beginning of her fifth year, October to be exact. Her brothers had graduated, and she was left to exchange jokes and very few laughs mostly with anyone who she's been assigned to sit with.

    Nora had inherited her brothers' legacy from Hogwarts: the tradition of pranking and causing absolute mayhem throughout the school whenever an opportunity presented itself. However, she quickly discovered that her brand of humor was not as warmly received at Beauxbatons as it had been at Hogwarts. Nonetheless, she persisted, knowing that Archer and Thomas had instilled in her the importance of mischief.

    As Nora made an attempt to joke with Clara Perez, a prefect she had grown acquainted with over the past year, she found little success. The girl's lips twitched in annoyance rather than in amusement, casting a shadow over their walk down the corridor. The corridor, normally traversed by Beauxbatons students less than five times throughout their entire magical education, had become a familiar route for Nora, having taken it over ten times in just the beginning of her second year at the school. It led, inevitably, to the imposing doors of the headmistress' office.

Their steps left wet marks on the floor, remnants of the ongoing repairs to the school's entrance and the Dining Chamber. Clara's hurried pace began to unsettle Nora, causing her breathing to fluctuate between states of normalcy and anxiety.

    "I think you might have gone and done it this time," the girl finally spoke after five sole glares. "I mean, nothing less than attempted murder would have tipped Madame off," Clara said sarcastically.

    "Alright, I didn't attempt to kill anyone," Nora defended herself, scrunching her eyebrows at the prefect's words. "It was obviously an accident."

    Their footsteps echoed through the hallway, and Nora could feel her heartbeat quicken—a troubling sign that only heightened her anxiety.

    She really might have done it this time.

    The two stopped before the grand door of Madame Maxime's office, and before Nora could reach for the handle, Carla spoke again.

    "I do wish you luck, nontheless."

    —Meaning, 'I do wish you luck, even though you and your pranks have practically deranged the entire school'.

    "Thanks."

    Clara attempted a smile. "You're leaving, you know? Isn't that what you wanted? I don't understand why you're so anxious now."

Nora, not one to easily succumb to nerves, felt her tall, slender frame shrink under Clara's kind attempt at consolation. Her eyes fell to the floor, avoiding Clara's gaze.