By now, the night of the full moon has long passed and thus did the period the Salvatore School has taken to rest and recover from that night.
On a chilly Tuesday, things had retreated back to what the school considered normalcy. Students sat silently in classrooms, listening to the words of knowledge from their professors.
The sun had long past noon and the sun was now leaving its throne in the zenith of the sky.
Despite hours having passed from lunch, many students still felt their eyes heavy and wished for nothing more but to take a good nap to rest their eyes and mind.
Many resisted and stayed with their eyes wide open, a few didn't and simply let their heads rest over their desks, risking having a notebook fall on their heads from their professor. Meanwhile all of this, there was one single person that didn't feel a drop of tiredness or sleepiness. And to be honest, hardly would John have felt any of it when considering the class he was watching, for he feared a simple yawn could get his attention shaken.
Sitting on the last line of chairs, close to the corner of the room, where the sunrays of light illuminated through the glass of the window, John had his brow furrowed when looking at the blackboard on the other end of the room.
With a black pen on his right hand, he wrote many words on a blank white paper without looking constantly at it. Most of the time, his eyes were on the professor ahead, because every hand movement made by her, every word muttered and every fluctuation of magic when a spell was cast–every single small detail was perceived by him with help of his newfound enhanced senses, with his brain working fully to process every knowledge thrown his way.
During the brief intervals he had during class–when the professor needed to drink from her bottle or simply walk back to the board–John would go over the things he wrote and print the knowledge he came to understand into his brain.
When the professor turned on her heels, John quickly moved his eyes down at his notes. Okay… Magic is a force governed by Nature. Almost every entity, being and object in the world can be said to hold magic, in small to great amounts. I confirmed that myself and few are the exceptions, with Siphoners being one of them. A strange aspect of Magic is that despite being part of Nature, those who have magic past a certain threshold are considered supernatural, not part of the natural order. It can be even referred to as a Paradox. Part of Nature, but at the same time not.
With the tip of his pen hovering over the notebook, John's furrowed brow loosened. Maybe it is related to the fact that Magic is not something that truly belongs to this world. For this reason Nature–the World's Will–doesn't consider magical creatures part of its Natural Order. It sounds possible. But then, if Nature has this prejudice against Magic, why not simply reject it in this universe? And then, why choose Witches to be the guardians of balance instead of something else? Maybe witches are something accepted by Nature? Thinking up to this point made John frown.
And before he could continue his thoughts, Professor Rose, a blonde witch of high heels who was responsible for the class of Theory of Magic, proceeded with her class. "Giving out the good and old reminder; When casting a spell, always give it a second thought and think if they might defy Nature's Laws. For if it's to resurrect even an ant, it defies Nature. And you, as the doer of the spell, will face Nature's recoil."
While these words echoed through the classroom, few were the students that gave them the minimal attention and even fewer were those that let these words rest in their minds and think about them.
John, in particular, listened to these words and had his eyes unconsciously drift to the person who sat by his side.
There, Hope had her eyes moving from her notebook to the blackboard. Just like him, she was someone who seemed to take a lot of notes during classes.
Feeling a pair of eyes on her, Hope lifted her head slightly and caught sight of who was looking at her. Noticing John's look, she smiled at him.
Returning the smile, John made use of the fact no one was paying attention to them and snuck closer to Hope, giving her a light kiss on her cheek before going back to paying attention to the class.
Hope's smile stretched a little bit more, the corner of her lips reaching her cheeks. She slowly dragged her eyes back to the papers ahead of her, the pencil in her right hand writing on the pages with a strange elegance.
Throughout the class, whenever John wished to steal a glimpse at Hope, he would sometimes peek at her drawing instead of writing. She would draw by the corner of the pages, her pencil bringing out the forms of flowers and small animals. Amongst them, one that caught his attention the most was a small bird.
Its feathers weren't straight, but drawn to correspond to how they would've been in case they flew against the wind. Life was brought to its eye by having a simple few shadows drawn in it. Colors could be imagined just by how much her pencil filled the blank spaces.
Looking up from the drawing, John could see Hope resting her chin on the back of her left hand. Her auburn hair fell over to her right, covering her face from the sunlight that peeked through the minute spaces between the strands of her hair.
At this small moment, having eyes graced by the sight of the girl he liked bathed by sunlight, words couldn't be held by the boy about what he thought of her. "You look so perfect at this moment." His whisper was low, enough for anyone but her to hear it.
As the words made way to her ear, Hope halted the movement of her hands and for a brief moment, her eyes seemed shimmer. "Only now do I look perfect?" She asked in an equal low voice, a little teasing in it.
John snorted mutely. "Please, just take the compliment." He whispered back. "Isn't it a good thing we can simply talk to each other this way without interrupting anyone?"
"Remember to pay attention to the class."
"I was, but I got distracted by you."
Stealing a glimpse at him, Hope reached her hand out and grabbed his notebook. "Let's see if you've been really paying attention."
"Try not to steal my ideas." John said, unbothered by her taking his notes.
As Hope read over the notes, John went back to paying attention to the class. Truthfully, he never stopped paying attention to it despite his short conversation with Hope. One of the good things about enhanced senses and mind from the process he went though is that he could easily have his focus divided into many targets around.
Putting down the chalk in her hand, Professor Rose turned on her heels and faced the class. "We all know throughout the world, Celestial Events are used for spells that changed the world of the supernatural and rituals dating before the rise of many nations. One of you can share with me why exactly these events are preferred to be used rather than any other possible ingredient?"
In the front lines, a boy with black glasses raised his hand. "They are great anchors."
The professor tilted her head from one side to the other. "You are not wrong, Matthew. Certainly, they are good anchors to make a spell almost perpetual. However, this is more inherent due to the fact they are celestial bodies." She looked over the class. "There are other reasons as well, come on." She gestured for the classroom to continue.
After a beat of silence, someone else raised their hand. It was a girl in the far left row, close to the wall. "The magic in the ambience is intensified due to their phenomenon. We can make use of the denser magic around us to channel it and amplify the attributes of the spell."
Professor Rose pursed her lips. "Not wrong either. But it can be better. I am certa-" Half-way through her words, she saw someone raise their hands and interrupted her own speech. "Yes… John?"
The young man gave a curt nod. "By utilizing different celestial events, we can achieve different results. For example, utilizing the sunrise to empower a fire-related spell is way better than using the moon in any of its phases to empower it since the innate idea we have of the moon is linked to the night, a time of the day which is cold and dark–a contradictory idea to that of fire."
A moment after the boy's words stopped echoing through the classroom, Professor Rose felt the corner of her lips stretch a little. "You are correct." She stated, her voice slow. "As our new student shared with us, celestial events can also affect magic in such a way. We must always remember that magic is something intricately connected to the very idea and intention we have." She said, turning around again to add a few things to the blackboard.
As the classroom slowly returned to its state of almost silence, with only the voice of Professor Rose echoing in it, John leaned himself on the back of the chair.
From the corner of his eye, John saw Hope pass his notes back to him. When looking at her, he noticed her winking at him. "You did good there."
"Only now did I do good?" John grinned.
Hope held down a laugh, with it constantly trying to escape her. The words from John came with two meanings for her, and both of them made her lips tremble as she pressed them shut tight.
Returning his sight back to his notes while holding a smirk on his lips, John spinned the pen between his fingers for a brief moment before proceeding to write something he had thought.
Hm, is the idea of Nature contradictory to how the universe operates? Every word thought by John was measured as he concoctioned an idea in his mind. What witches have come to understand of Nature is that it is the universe itself. But Nature seeks balance and the universe isn't anything but a space-time continuum that suffers constant change, with its entropy increasing at every moment. Well, until a certain point. But until then, wouldn't the will and mechanisms of this universe contradict themselves or would they be simply ignored since that is something innately part of its foundations? John frowned. Fuck, what fucking idea did I get myself into?
As the class continued, John kept paying attention to it whilst also having his own thoughts. He would note down every single thing he found worthy coming from his professor and add comments around them, comparing his thoughts to the knowledge that was shared with him.
And soon, when John was reaching the bottom corner of another page in his notebook, he listened to the soft sound of the bell.
"End of Afternoon Period — End of Classes."
Quite immediately, everyone in the classroom started to pack their things, preparing to leave it and proceed to do whatever they wanted.
But before anyone could step out of the room, something professors teaching vampires experienced–which was not the case of this class–Professor Rose raised her voice to call everyone's attention to her words.
"Don't forget to prepare the papers for your works on how Nature affects Magic and vice-versa. They must be due by next week." She said, getting her bag and throwing it over her shoulder before walking out of the room.
Whilst everybody in the classroom walked out of it at faster paces, John slowly packed his things into a provisory bag arranged for him. His movements were done as if his mind didn't prioritize heading to the library, something that made Hope raise her eyebrows in curiosity.
"John?"
"Hm?"
Noticing she got her attention, Hope knew he wasn't in too deep thought. "What are you thinking of?"
"About a few things I have no way of acquiring the answer now but I just can't help but think of it." John pursed his lips, releasing a sigh to let a bit of the mild frustration in him out.
"I see." Hope nodded, closing her bag. "So, what did you think of your first class of magic?" She asked.
At the mention of the class, a smile crept under John's lips. "It wasn't bad. Very good, actually. More theory than I imagined, but I like it that way as well. I thought for sure we would be throwing fireballs and lightning bolts left and right for class."
Hope cracked a quick laugh. "Don't even mention that. The fire and lightning spells that you are thinking about reach a level which are considered offensive spells. And you know what that means."
Taking a deep breath, John nodded. "They are forbidden from being used in school and wherever we are whilst we still are students." His eyelids narrowed, but not enough to hide the disapproval in his eyes. "Certainly one of the few things I disagree with about this school. Offensive spells… I can literally think of at least a couple dozen inoffensive spells that could bring harm to someone."
"Like what?" Hope asked, stopping near the room's exit to wait for him.
"I can literally manifest a small amount of water and make it stick to someone's face and mouth so they can't breathe." John, with the bag on his back, approached Hope and rested his right hand over her right shoulder as they walked out of the classroom. "Sure, it takes much more control and action from the witch to bring harm by doing it, but you get what I mean, right?"
Hope slid her hand around John's waist. "Every spell has the potential to do harm?"
"I would understand something prohibited like the 'Forbidden Curses' from Harry Potter, but-" John stopped his words and looked at Hope. "You didn't get to that part yet, right?"
"No, but I know what an Avada Kedravra means." Hope replied. "But even so, don't bring this kind of topic near Dr. Saltzman. He is paranoid about it since this is related to the school's and students' safety. It's possible he will just further add limits to magic."
A school for the supernatural prohibiting magic. The irony. John thought, but he still nodded in comprehension. "Okay. I will try to avoid that." He said, looking down at their legs, trying to match her pace.
Hope, noticing his gaze, looked up at their legs as well before looking back at him. "If you tell me I have short legs, I will probably use an offensive spell on you."
A deep laugh came from John. "If some day I dare utter anything but praises at your legs, Hope, you have my permission to throw as many spells and curses on me as you want. Because-" He pointed at her legs. "these here are perfect."
As a result of his words, Hope found herself stuck between smiling and laughing. "Stop with that. Be serious for once."
John chuckled. "Come on, let's rush to the dining hall before going to the library. I am starting to get hungry."
"Is there a time you are not?" Hope curiously asked.
"Yes, by the end of every meal. But it only lasts around five minutes, then I am hungry again." He said with a serious face.
Hope cracked up a smile once again, shaking her head weakly. "You know, I think-" Abruptly, Hope didn't finish with her words.
Fairly quickly, she reached her hand into her side pocket and retrieved her phone, her eyes immediately going to the name of the person who was calling her and the reason she halted her words.
Curious about her reaction, John tried to see who had called Hope. However, he didn't have time for it before she accepted the call.
"Hello?" Hope said. "No, I just headed out of my last class of the day. What do you want? What?" She sounded surprised. "You are at Mystic Falls? You could've just sent someone else. No, obviously I am not unhappy about it, just surprised. Wait a moment, you…" As Hope continued to talk with whoever she was on the phone, John patiently waited for Hope to finish it.
Also, to give her some privacy, John completely toned down his hearing so he wouldn't hear the entire conversation. However, from her words, he had an overall idea of what the conversation was about.
"Okay, okay… Yeah, I will be there soon. Bye." Hope pulled the phone away from her ear, bringing it in front of her, with the screen revealing very briefly who she was talking to.
Now, John caught onto the name of the person who called Hope and he briefly raised his brow in surprise.
Before he could say anything, Hope turned her head at him, her lips thinned when thinking of the question she was about to ask. "What do you think about meeting someone from my family?"
"I think we certainly are going too fast, but I like the idea." John said. "Oh, and sure, why not meet a thousand-year-old witch? Sounds cool."
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A/N
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