Magiana Imperial Academy - Volume 1: Path to Greatness
Chapter 11: January: Perceived Change

Come Sunday afternoon, most of the students had returned. The common room of House Sloane was just as full as always. Dominique was sitting next to Miles, watching the news. He was still busy with his homework.

“You really decided to wait until the last day of break to do your homework? Miles glared at her, but didn’t say anything. “Not having too much trouble?”

“Somehow, I’m doing just fine.” He grumbled.

“Hey, Phillip,” He took his eyes off of the television to look at her. “You didn’t wait like he did, did you?”

“Not at all. Had it all done by the second night.” Miles stared at him. “What’s the problem?”

“I didn’t know you finished it that early!”

“So, are you almost done? Like I said, if you’re not done by seven, I’ll let you copy my work.”

“What?” Dominique leered at Phillip. “Why’d you do that?”

“It’s not like he isn’t doing any of it on his own; it’s not that much of a problem.”

“And if he deliberately doesn’t do a lot of it?” She asked.

“I’m almost done!” Miles assured. “There’s no need to nag us. My work is going to be just fine; wait and see.”

“Hm…” Professor Black looked down at Miles’s homework the next day. “This is perfect,” She said. “But it isn’t what I assigned. Looks like you confused the Simple Invisibility Potion and Befuddlement Brew. Somehow.”

Since she just announced it to the entire class everyone turned their attention to Miles, who sunk in his seat, his face turning pink.

“I’m going to have to give you some sort of consolation for this. Five points from House Sloane instead of ten for this mistake, alright? And your grade won’t be suffering much from this, either.”

“Y-yes, ma’am…”

She walked to the front of the class and taught as usual. That day, they continued work on the Befuddlement Brew, the last thing they started before vacation. Intended to addle the consumer, a lot of the students were working hard on it, hoping to play pranks on their friends. Miles himself seemed very enthusiastic about this potion in particular. Phillip noticed that Miles had a lot less trouble on potions that could be used in pranks.

When the class finally ended, Phillip saw that Miles’s potion was purple, the color the Befuddlement Brew was supposed to be, while his was navy blue. It appeared to be one of the rare instances where Mile did better than him in class. Dominique actually looked rather irritated, while Victoria looked proud as usual.

“Hold on a second,” Miles said. “I want to talk to Professor Black.”

Phillip followed Miles over to her desk. She didn’t appear to notice, having been looking over the homework. It wasn’t until Cait Sith meowed that she looked up.

“Oh, Miles, Phillip, do the two of you need something?”

“I just had a question, professor. It’s about Professor Windsor.”

“Arthur? What is it about?”

“He and Professor Draut talk sometimes, even though they didn’t at the beginning of the year. I wanted to know if you had any idea why.”

“I don’t have an idea.” She replied. “But even if I did, I don’t think it’d be a good idea to divulge information on my friend’s personal conversations to students.”

“Oh, alright. Thanks anyway, professor. See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow, boys. Try not to ask anyone else; they might not take too kindly to your inquiry.”

“Well that sucks.” Miles sighed. “Still no leads to what they could be talking about.”

“Going on about Professor Windsor again?” Dominique was leaning on the sill of an open window. “If you are, you might want to check this out.”

The two joined her to see what she was on about, and saw the man in question near the school’s entrance. He was talking with a young woman who was holding a little boy’s hand. The two looked very happy from where the three watched.

“I wonder who that is.” Phillip said.

“I don’t know,” Said Dominique. “But some people have said that she comes by late. Probably so this doesn’t happen.” She was referring to the throngs of students that watched them, the three of them included.

“To think that Professor Windsor was a dad.” Miles sounded very impressed. “But I must say, his wife seems a tad young, doesn’t she?”

“What?” Dominique scowled at him. “There’s no guarantee that they’re married.”

“She’s right; that could be his little sister or a friend.”

“Either way,” Miles stepped away from the window. “This is pretty interesting, don’t you think? Maybe she has something to do with what Professor Windsor and Professor Draut talk about. Maybe she’s his sister and Professor Draut is asking for Professor Windsor’s blessing or something.”

“Let’s try not to start rumors.” Phillip said. “See you later, Dominique.”

“Yeah, see you.”

A few days later, Miles was doing something he wasn’t often seen doing: studying. Phillip paid him no mind, but Dominique walked into the common room and looked at him as if he were an alien.

“What’re you doing?”

“Studying.” He said shortly, eyes glued to his notes.

“And why? I barely see you doing any schoolwork.” She sat down next to him and glanced at his notes. “Oh, the Befuddlement Brew. Now I know why you’re studying.” She said, upset. “Just don’t go using that on me, you hear?”

“Yeah, I won’t.” He mumbled.

“I couldn’t tell before, but now that we’ve been back a few days, something feels different, don’t you guys think?”

Victoria was talking to some of her friends. Phillip glanced over at her, but turned back to the television. He had been at school during the week off, and couldn’t tell that anything changed at the slightest.

“I don’t think anything’s changed.” Kylie said.

Their other friends agreed with Kylie; they weren’t able to tell that anything changed, either.

“You haven’t noticed? Maybe it’s just me, but I feel that the school doesn’t leave the heat on as long as it used to. And when I go to talk a shower, I feel that the water doesn’t get as hot as usual.”

“Really? If that’s the case, it seems kinda weird.”

“What sounds weird to me,” Miles said. “Is that someone actually pays enough attention to these kinda things to think there’s a change.”

“Well, it’s weird, isn’t it?” She went on as if he didn’t say anything, but Phillip saw her glare at him before continuing. “Why would the school just change things like that?”

“And I think it’s the coldest it’s been all winter, which would make it even weirder.” Phillip said.

Victoria seemed a little surprised to see Phillip agree with her. “That’s exactly my point! You were here last week, right?”

“I was, but I don’t think anything changed. I don’t pay attention to that sort of thing, though.”

She sighed. “I see. I’ll have to observe for a few more days before I can be sure.”

Phillip hadn’t paid any attention to things like the heat or water temperature before, but after hearing Victoria, he became conscious of it all of a sudden. That night, he lay awake in his bed.

“Hey, guys,” He said. “You heard Victoria, right?”

“Yeah, we did.” Miles said, sounding annoyed. “What of it?”

“Do you think that she was right?”

“I don’t know.” Lloyd said. “Did any of you guys know when the heat turned off?”

“No idea.”

“Nope.

“Three in the morning.”

“Why do you know that, Trev?” Asked Miles.

“No real reason.”

“Three, huh?” He didn’t know if he’d be able to do it, but Phillip would try to wake up around then to see if the heat was still on. If what Victoria said was true, the heat wouldn’t be on when he woke up.

When Phillip woke up, he didn’t hear the low hum of the heater, but he had woken up too late to see if anything was wrong. Looking over at his clock, he saw that it was seven.

“Darn…” He sat up and yawned. “I’ll just have to try again tonight.”

Phillip was looking outside of the common room window at night,

having just finished his homework. Miles was still at the table, struggling. He was just looking out into the wilderness when he saw two shapes cross the grounds. They looked very much like people. He couldn’t tell who one of them was, but the handle of a sword poked out behind the head of the other. It had to be Professor Windsor; he went everywhere with his sword.

“What’re you looking at?” Dominique joined him at the window.

“I saw who I think is Professor Windsor walk out there with someone.”

“What would they be doing out there at this time of night?”

“I have no idea. If I had to take a guess, it was Professor Draut.”

“Or that woman he was with.” She bit her knuckle. “But what if it is Professor Draut? The two of them might be talking about something related to that weird change Victoria was talking about. I imagine that the staff would know.”

“So what, should we follow them?”

“Are you sure about that? First-years aren’t supposed to be about of their dorms at this time. If we get caught, it won’t end well.”

“I know, but since I’m going to be king one day, I feel that it’s my responsibility to make sure everything is fine around here. If I could replace out if they’re talking about the school, it could help.”

“You feel duty-bound, huh?” Dominique sighed. “I can’t let you go out there on your own. I’ll follow you.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I’ll head out first. Wait a few minutes before following so people won’t think that we’re up to something.”

“Got it.”

She left him and he just looked outside as if nothing happened to avoid looking suspicious. Some time later, he himself walked out into the night. He found Dominique hiding behind a tree and followed her.

“Still see them?” He asked.

“Yeah, they’re over there.” She pointed towards two black shapes that were much shorter than the other trees. “We’ll move quickly and quietly from tree to tree.”

“Good idea. They shouldn’t be able to see us if we’re careful.”

The two moved from tree to tree, stopping whenever the two teachers ceased their speaking. Before long, they were behind a tree only a few feet from their targets.

“If you don’t mind, Earle, I’m going back to my house.”

“And why is that, Arthur?”

Professor Windsor looked around anxiously. “I feel like we’re being watched.”

“Watched? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Me, ridiculous?” Professor Windsor sounded angry, when he was usually very calm. “You’re the one…” He took a deep breath. “What makes you think that I’d have changed my mind in these last few months?”

“Your sister needs money, doesn’t she?” Professor Draut asked. “I’m sure that you’d have thought a bit more about the matter and realized how useful this would be.”

“I will admit that she needs money, but we will replace another way of getting it. So leave me out of… of… whatever it is you’re doing.”

“Come on, Arthur.”

They saw Professor Windsor walk up to Professor Draut, stopping when there faces were only inches away. He lowered his voice to a whisper, and they could barely hear him.

“Listen to me, Earle, I will not help you. Leave me out of your business. Good night.” He stomped off, leaving Professor Draut, who began laughing. When Professor Windsor was out of sight, he went back to the school.

When Phillip and Dominique were sure he was gone, they made their way back to House Sloane, staying behind the trees just in case someone was outside patrolling.

“What do you think that was about?” Phillip asked.

“Sounds like Professor Draut is up to… something, and wants Professor Windsor’s help. What it could be though, I have no idea.”

“And then there was Professor Windsor’s sister. Why’d she come up?”

“That’s a good question.”

“Should we tell someone? If we go through Isaiah, the headmaster should be able to replace out.”

Dominique shook her head. “That’ll be the same to admitting we snuck out. If we do, it’s after we figure out what they’re up to. If we’re lucky, whatever it is they were talking about will be big enough for them to forget about our rule breaking.”

Just like when they left, they went back inside several minutes apart to avoid drawing attention to themselves. Phillip sat down near Miles, who just lowered his pencil, letting out a large sigh of relief.

“Finally, I’m done…” He lowered his head onto the table. “Where did you run off to?”

Phillip froze up at the sound of Miles’s words. He calmed down, knowing that Miles was too busy with homework to know what they were up to. Anyone would be able to tell that they left and came back, even if they were working.

“I-I just went to the room for a bit. Wanted to check on something.”

Miles gave him a skeptical look, but shrugged. “Whatever you say, Phil. Professor Draut- ” Phillip tensed up, catching Miles off guard. “Okay… Professor Draut’s work is real annoying: I’m not looking forward to his exams.”

“I don’t think anyone is.” Phillip said, the conversation he overheard still playing in his mind. Dominique was also sitting at the table with them. He shot a glance at her, and she did as well. They’d have to wait, but there would definitely be times they speak about it before they found out what was going on. He just hoped that no one would think anything of the two of them talking more often than usual, especially Miles.

As he’d been doing the last few days, Phillip tried waking up early to see if something really had changed. He had failed every night he tried, and was determined to succeed. He finally did, having set his alarm to 12:30 in the morning. When it rang, he stopped it as quickly as he could to avoid waking the others up. He could still hear the heater, and just waited, looking up at the ceiling. Three was the time the heater went off before vacation. When the heater’s hum finally died down, Phillip looked over at his clock.

“It turned off at one.” Trevor said. “Something did change.”