The cold of winter had dragged its way onto the school. Snow laid heavy and students shivered.
Christmas was closing in, and fast. Decorations had changed from pumpkins to colorful lights and warm candles in what felt like overnight.
The Thunderbirds common room really had the Christmas spirit with a big tree in the middle of the room. Underneath laid presents addressed to different students. And the room smelled like hot coco almost all the time.
"Nothing beats a snowy day and some hot chocolate in front of the fire place" June said. She was the type to love the cold and enjoyed freezing.
Calla sighed. "My feet are still freezing." She said with a sad expression.
Fila sat beside Calla. She wasn't really the type to enjoy the snow, but it had been fun playing with her classmates. But she was more focused in the studies of elemental magic.
"Can you drop those books for one day atleast?" Milles said as he sat down. The group had grown tired of Fila always sitting with her books now, none stop since Halloween almost.
She didn't answer and just turned the page. There hadn't been much progress for her, or any at all. she still didn't understand it, according to the books she would need to feel the elements. But, she hadn't felt anything. One day she stood in front of the fireplace for hours to feel the fire, but nothing. Even the water fountain in the middle of the school, nothing.
She grumbled for herself, kind of annoyed by the lack of progress she was making.
Miles leaned back in his chair, watching her with open disbelief.
"You are going to set something on fire one day," he said.
"I have been trying to do exactly that," Fila muttered without looking up.
Calla snorted softly. "At least then the rest of us would be warm."
June, who had claimed the spot closest to the fireplace, stretched her legs toward the flames with complete satisfaction. "You are overthinking it."
Fila turned a page a little too sharply. "I am not."
"You absolutely are," June replied calmly. "You treat it like a charms equation instead of… I do not know. Something you actually feel."
"That is literally what I am trying to do."
"Yes, but you are trying to force it."
Fila finally looked up, eyes narrowed. "And your great expertise in elemental magic comes from where exactly?"
June smiled sweetly. "Common sense."
Theo chuckled from the couch. "She has a point."
Fila sighed and dropped back against the cushions, the book sliding closed in her lap. The fire crackled nearby, golden light dancing across the stone walls. Outside the tall windows, snow drifted steadily downward, thick and endless.
"I have done everything the books say," she said. "Breathing, focus, awareness, patience."
Elliot raised an eyebrow. "Patience?"
"…Enough patience."
Calla shifted beside her, rubbing her hands together. "Maybe it just takes time."
"I have been giving it time."
"For someone else that would mean years," Miles said.
Fila groaned quietly.
Silence settled over the group for a moment, comfortable but thoughtful. The common room glowed with warmth. The Christmas tree stood proudly at the center, its enchanted lights pulsing softly between red, gold, and silver. Every so often an ornament fluttered or spun lazily.
The next day Fila sat in Charms class, she wasn't paying attention. They were going though the levitation charm and she already knew that thanks to Rowan.
The professor had noticed but knew what was going on.
"Ophelia, learning elemental magic wont work without patience." She said while the other students were focusing on making their feathers float, Fila had played with her feather in the air for some time now.
"I know, but it feels like I'm missing something."
Professor Elias Thorne smiled at her, her saw something in her. "You haven't tried all of them yet have you" he said, he didn't ask because he knew she hadn't. "You have a Thunderbird feather in your wand, according to stories and history. They are more likely to help react to that kind of elemental magic. You need to listen to yourself and your wand." He added before stepping away to help Theo who was struggling.
Fila looked down at her wand, she had of course reed about the different wands and their cons and pros. The thunderbird was said to be better than most in weather magic and defensive spells.
"How to I make it thunder in the middle of Christmas…" she said to herself out loud.
June who was sitting beside her looked horrified at what she just heard come from her roommate.
As the class was dismissed they all walked out in a clung, "Fila lets go eat" Calla said and grabbed her arm in a hook, June also joined on the other arm.
The three walked into the dinner hall, and sat down at an empty table.
Today they served turkey legs and roasted potatoes with gravy.
"I'm getting sick of these legs." Fila complained.
The group didn't get to talk long before a boy walked up to their table. The trio looked at the newly arrived unfamiliar boy, or so Fila thought.
"Hello Hugo, what's up?" Calla asked.
Fila looked up properly now.
Hugo.
He was a tall sixth year from Horned serpent, broad shouldered, always carrying himself with a sort of relaxed confidence that made it seem like nothing could truly bother him. His dark curls were as untidy as ever, and there was a faint scar near his eyebrow.
"Evening" he started. "I was just going to tell Ophelia that the headmaster had called for her."
June and Calla looked at her, "Did you do something?" June asked with a smile, but not the kind smile more the mother who is annoyed smile.
Fila stood up. "No I haven't done anything." She said as she walked away. "Thanks for telling me Hugo"
The hallways were busy with students walking into the dinner hall. Some still carrying their books from previous lessons. Fila had to stop several times to give small talk to others who greeted her, she had grown closer to a lot of different students over the months. The herbology nerds, the duel freaks and even the library sleepers.
She finally reached the spiral staircase leading up toward the headmaster's office.
The higher she climbed, the quieter the castle became. The distant noise of the dinner hall faded into a dull murmur. Only the soft echo of her footsteps followed her now.
The air grew cooler with every step.
By the time Fila reached the top of the staircase, the warmth of the castle had vanished entirely. A tall wooden door stood before her, polished to a mirror sheen. Silver carvings twisted across its surface, shifting subtly like living branches.
She hesitated.
Then knocked.
The door opened at once.
"Miss Ophelia,"
Fila stepped inside.
Headmaster Fontaine's office was vast yet strangely uncluttered. Tall windows curved along the far wall, revealing a sweeping view of snow covered treetops beneath a fading winter sky. Shelves of old books lined the stone walls, interrupted only by delicate instruments of brass and crystal that ticked, hummed, and occasionally released small puffs of colored smoke.
Fontaine stood near the window, hands folded behind his back.
He turned as she entered.
"You asked for me, Professor?"
"I did."
His tone was gentle, almost conversational, which somehow made Fila more uneasy than if he had sounded stern.
He gestured toward a chair. "Please."
She sat.
Fontaine studied her for a moment, not unkindly.
"I've heard, that you have grown impatience in your studies." He began but had more to say. "Tell me what troubles you" he said as he sat down in his armchair.
Fila thought about how she would say all his, about how all she wanted to do was to find new ways to use magic. "I want to learn…" she simply said, it was simple but the point was there.
She then rambled on about her pursuit of more magic and knowledge had left her bored with other classes, not only because she already knew this. but also because ones she had her mind set on something, she needed to complete that.
Professor Fontain sat quiet and listened to her explanation about her troubles, he didn't interrupt ones.
Ones Fila finally said everything they sat quiet for a bit.
The winds hit the windows of the office, and it creaked in response.
"A teachers dream is for a student to dream about gaining knowledge." He said, he then stood up and went into the back of his office. He reached for something in a bookshelf. "I brought this book ones I heard about you learning about elemental magic." He put the book on the office desk.
It was old, didn't even have a title on the front and it was worn down.
And in general, it didn't look that impressive.
"Since you are trying to learn something that this school won't teach you, at least right now. This will help" he tapped the book with his fingers before pushing it towards her. "You may bring it home on breaks. And, since I know you have wand at home you won't need to turn in your wand at the beginning of the holiday." He said with a smile.
America had some intense laws regarding wands and magic for students, and in general. Students that were underage had to turn in their wands before break, and were not allowed to bring them home. Fila who had her mother's wand at home was going to use that to train, but now she could bring her own. She just couldn't tell anyone.
Fila had a bad feeling, why would he just give her this book. It felt too easy, did he want something in the future or was this just a way to catch in a favor.
She hesitantly grabbed the book and turned to a random page. The pages were uneven, creased and dirty. It wasn't printed either, handwritten. "Who wrote this?" she asked while turning another page.
"Unknown, its been at this school for a very long time." Fontaine answered, he didn't sound like he was lying. But fila also knew that there was rarely anything that the headmaster wouldn't know.
Fila turned another page, slower this time.
The ink did not sit still.
Lines shifted gently across the parchment, letters rearranging themselves as if stirred by an invisible breeze. Diagrams bled faintly into motion, spirals rotating, arrows flowing like currents of air and water. It was subtle, but undeniably alive.
Her breath caught.
"It's reacting to me…"
Fontaine's voice remained calm. "The book responds to its reader."
Fila's fingers tightened slightly around the edge of the page. "This is not normal."
"No," he agreed softly.
She flipped back, then forward again. Each page settled differently beneath her gaze, symbols sharpening, notes clarifying, as though the text itself adjusted to her understanding.
Or tried to.
A strange warmth pulsed faintly through the cover into her palms.
Fila looked up. "Why is this not in the library?"
Fontaine smiled, though there was something measured behind it. "Because not every book is meant for general study."
That did not ease her suspicion.
"And it is meant for me?"
"It is… suited to you."
The answer came too smoothly.
Fila narrowed her eyes slightly. "That is not an explanation."
Fontaine chuckled quietly, clearly amused by her persistence. He rose from his chair and walked toward the tall windows, snow drifting endlessly beyond the glass.
"You are not like most first years, Miss Ophelia."
"I've heard that before."
"Yes," he said. "But you misunderstand what they mean."
She said nothing.
"The majority of students learn magic," Fontaine continued, hands folded behind his back. "You… understand it, others would be happy with just casting the levitation spell. But from what I've heard you want to learn why, and how the spell works." He rambled on about what her professors had said to the headmaster. About the questions she asked, and how she learnt magic and spells.
And this all wasn't untrue, Fila had a deep interest in not just magic. But the foundation of each spell. By learning this she was more successful in casting the spells faster and stronger. And She had also realized it helped her cast spells without incantations.
Fontain sat in his chair, he had been quiet for a while now. But he saw that Fila was thinking deeply.
"I hope you will have a good Christmas Ophelia." He finally said.
She exited the office with thoughtful steps, in no hurry to go back to the common room.
Fila walked slowly.
The old book rested against her chest, heavier than it should have been. Not physically. Something else. Something she could not quite name.
Her thoughts refused to settle.
Suited to you.
The words circled endlessly in her mind.
She turned down a side corridor, her footsteps the only sound. Candlelight flickered along the walls, casting long shifting shadows that bent and stretched as she passed.
By the time she reached the Thunderbird tower, the noise of the common room greeted her before the door even opened. Laughter. Crackling fire. The unmistakable hum of students enjoying the last days before holiday.
The warmth hit her instantly.
Calla spotted her first. "Finally."
June leaned forward from the couch. "Well?"
Miles straightened. "You are alive, that is a good start."
Fila blinked at them.
They were all watching her.
Theo included.
"I assume," Elliot said calmly, "that this means something interesting happened."
Fila hesitated, then held up the book.
Silence.
Calla frowned. "That's it?"
"It's not just a book," Fila replied.
June was already on her feet. "Let me see."
Fila handed it over reluctantly.
The moment June opened it—
Nothing.
The pages remained still.
Normal ink. Normal parchment.
June blinked. "What exactly am I supposed to be looking at?"
Fila didn't know what to answer at first, how would she even explain this to them. "He just said that I should read it over the break." She blurted out.
The group shrugged and moved on with their previous conversation. As it was the last day before break, the group were discussing what they would do during their break.
Calla was going to Mexico to meet some relative, June going to her family cabin in Canada. The boys were just going home and so was Fila.
She was looking forward to seeing Rowan and Elsbeth again, and even the maids. But the thing she was looking forward to the most was telling all this to her mother. Even if she wasn't there with her, it still felt like she was in a way.
"Fila what are you doing on Christmas?" Theo asked beside her.
"Drinking a lot of coco." She said with a smile.
The next day the school was busy with departing students. Fila and the girls were walking out of the school through the gate. The way back was the same as they got here, a portkey.
"it's really cold" June complained as they walked the cobblestone path down the hill were the school stood.
Calla walked behind June and Fila, "Its winter June, normal thing."
June turned to point her tongue out towards her.
"Stop now children, soon you will not need to bother each other for 3 weeks." Fila said, acting like a mother pulling her two kids apart from a fight.
The portkey was a sign post, there were different signs leading to different locations around the Americas. Fila was the only one going to New York. Theo uses this key too but he was heading home later.
"I quess we will see each other in three weeks." Calla said to June and Fila.
The trio looked at each other and smiled.
"Study some at least." Fila said, she was annoyed that she always had to help with their homework.
"don't study to much." June told Fila. Before she could answer back the girl was gone.
Calla laughed and also disappeared as she touched the portkey.
"Rude" Fila said to no one as she herself touched to key.
The world spun around her and smells and sounds disappeared into nothing.