"Don't you think it's a little... rough?" One of the House Heads said, quietly, to the Headmaster. He shook his head, long beard gently rustling.

"Oh, it seems so, but I only wish we could offer them the education they will get where they're going."

The pair of elder professors gazed at the group of eight students, once prized by their Houses and the school itself. They looked so dejected, a bit angry, sullen, afraid. Where would they be going? What had they done wrong? In his typical fashion the Headmaster hardly raised his voice at their concerns, instead lifting his spindly fingers for them to be silent. His office was filled with tension, even then.

"You eight shall find... that your destiny could not be contained by one school." He told them, and their various expressions of disbelief, worry and curiosity changed with each passing moment. "Your future will rely on your cleverness," he glanced at the Ravens, "your strength of will," he said of the Griffs, "your persistence," he remarked to the Huffs, "and of course on your desires," he finished with a glance at the two Snakes. "What's more," he stood up and the other House Heads did likewise, but they were as confounded as the students themselves at all this, "you will be doing so together."

The Snake pair took a look at their Griff counterparts and sneered. "Not bloody likely," the white-haired girl muttered.

"Now now," the Headmaster said, voice like quiet silk, "you will see how it all turns out. Think of it as ... a new sort of Multi-Wizard contest. You will no longer be parts of a separate House, but instead form a new one. And the world itself will be your competitor."

"With all due respect, Headmaster," the Snake Head spoke up, "I am sure that the rest of us would have wanted more say in all of this."

"Indeed... Indeed," the Headmaster replied with that ever-so-faint smile of his, concealed mostly by his beard, "yet if you had, they would hardly be on this new adventure of theirs, would they. Tut tut!" He interrupted any other discussion with a clap of his hands, and several servants came with the students' things borne on the air with their innate magic. "It's time you were on your way. Fear not!" He finally raised his voice, almost jubilant where everyone else was still confused. "Your adventure will I am certain, eventually be of your liking."

***

They sat in one large carriage, drawn by huge non-magical horses along a path that had hardly been traveled by foot in decades. It had been quiet for a long time, after their initial arguments about seating arrangements and how angry they were at being expelled from their school.

"It's not so much 'expelled'," the Griff girl said, "he never said that word."

"Well what would you call it then," the Snake boy grumbled, "getting the boot, right out into the woods? Least he could have called our parents."

"I don't think so," the Raven boy said. "I mean... Look at us? We're not heading back home, we're being transferred to another school. I wonder what it's going to be like?"

"I don't even know what the name of it is," the Huff girl moaned.

Instead of bickering with the others, the dark-skinned Griff boy pounded on the front wall of the carriage and yelled, "Oi! Where're we headed?"

The elf servant that was helping to drive the large carriage peered down into the main area, his floppy ears dangling. "It's called House Domina, sir. We've got quite some traveling ahead of us, if you need anything just say so! We are here to help you!"

"Oh well that sussed it," the Huff boy sighed. "Never heard of it."

"Wait, wait, I have!" The Raven girl got all jittery. "House Domina... yeah, it was like, years and years ago. Our folks might have been at [redacted] then. Split off from the school, took some weird students in and they've been around ever since."

"We're not weird," three others said at the same time, and suddenly the tension in the carriage was lifted. They laughed hard at that - they weren't really weird, but individually perhaps they weren't all that mainstream.

"Okay, introductions all round then," the Griff girl said, pulling out a quill and paper, glancing at each of them in turn. She sat in the backwards-facing seat, between the other Griff, and the Huffs. Across from them were the Snake and Raven pairs. "You know I was on the school paper, right?"

"We can't forget," the Snake girl muttered. She however, went first. "Cressida Whateley, Snake 5th year. Pursuer for the Snake broomball team." She was rakishly pretty, tossed silver-white hair that formed a mop over her narrow pale-yellow eyes. She was slender, tall and lean. If she'd been a mundane - god forbid - she may have wound up being a supermodel with her looks. But she was obviously not into that kind of 'thing' - she'd rather be out in the air with her tiny owl, chasing after a pod.

She glanced at her House-mate, had to nudge him as he seemed to be checking out the Huff boy. "Oh... Heh, Cepheus Graves at your service. Snake 5th year, Arithmancy and Runes are my specialties." He was as dark as Cressida was light, and muscled well for a bookworm type. His smile said volumes, however - he was a charmer that was for sure.

It looked for all the world like he'd halfway charmed that Huff boy, too, who blushed but perked up. "Gideon Fleetwood, Huff 5th year. I, um... I work with Charms and um, Dueling." He was red-headed and well-built, it suited him that he looked the part of a duelist. At least all the Huff girls thought so, and it really did look like Cepheus did as well. He wasn't sure what to think, so instead he passed the 'introduce yourself' glance to his House partner.

She pushed her heavy glasses up her short, flat nose, and annunced, "Lyra LaPaine, Huff, also 5th year. I'm ... I was, I guess, planning on specializing in Care of Creatures and Herbalism, sciences and stuff..." Her appearance said she was more Asian than the Griff boy, with jet black hair cut short and stylishly, but she had extremely pale, almost moon-white eyes that matched the large crystal earrings dangling from her ears.

The Raven girl said, "Daphne Mockridge, Raven 5th year, and I'm a Potions buff. I do a lot of research into health and healing too." She was slender in the way that Cressida was thin, but not very sharply cut. Her dark skin was paired with red braided hair and equally red eyes. She had a ready smile, and eager, wide eyes.

Her companion spoke up, "Ambrose Tuckett, Raven 5th... I work on Wards, Hexes and Curse-breaking. My dad's an Enforcer you know." He had the look of a scholar on him, short and full hay-colored blond hair, brown eyes sporting glasses, and freckled skin that said he hardly could put a tan on if he tried.

The Griff boy leaned back and sighed, "Adrian Liu, Griff 5th year, undeclared major..." He added a moment later, "I could probably beat you to that pod though, Whateley. I'm a good flier." Though his laid-back seeming attitude while talking was accentuated by what looked to be his 'surfer' style brown shaggy hair and hooded amber eyes, it was obvious by his actions in getting things done had landed him in Griff.

That left one more, their 'reporter', who spoke up with, "Joseline Jones, Griff 5th year - isn't that funny we're all fifth years - History and Divination buff. Now that that's all settled," she let her quill finish up the notes she'd taken on each of them, "I want to find out why we're here..." Joseline was more of a honey blond than the Raven boy, but shared his freckled creamy skin, and had brightly blue eyes.

Their discussion topic was a hot one. Things they hadn't dared speak while in the Headmaster's chambers came to the surface. Yes, they were a bit intrigued by this all but it seemed so arbitrary! Why take a bunch of students out of their perfectly good studies and toss them out into another school? They were not all first-ranked students, but neither were they in any way failures. Obviously Joseline and Cressida were the 'top notch' kids, highly competitive and willing to try hard to get what they wanted. And equally obviously, Adrian was the 'middle of the road' kid who neither specialized nor neglected anything in the school. As a kind of jack-of-all-trades, that kind of thing could be of use in the real world, far more than, say, Cepheus' Arithmancy grades. He was an intellectual by chance, not by design - it just so happened he had a knack for both subjects he enjoyed.

However much they tried, obviously they couldn't resolve the basic question about their sudden transfer until they got where they were going. Thus, their topics started to drift a bit. Standard gossip, all the way down to hidden secrets. And to her credit, Joseline put her quill and paper away when they got to that point, just in case it wrote down things that the others might fault her for.

"My family had a history of curses put on it," Ambrose said, "which was why da' went into the Enforcement business. I figure I'm not really as good as him to get into that line of work, but at least I know me' curses."

"Who would possibly want to curse you?" Cressida muttered, and while Ambrose was about to say something, he realized she was just being caustic and let it slide. "My family ... well, my family are idiots," she admitted. "Half of them got themselves arrested as fucking nazis during the war, and the other half let them. I mean, if you're going to be a stupid bigot, why not just do it right." She flourished her hand in the air and rolled her eyes, "Show off your tattoo and kill mundanes in the street while you're at it. Morons."

"I'm... mundane-born, my folks are doctors, and my uncle's a science professor at a university." Daphne said, trying to avoid anyone's eyes and waiting for the inevitable Snake laughter, but Cressida merely nodded, and Cepheus said nothing.

"That's okay with me. You're way too smart to just be a plain mundane. They wouldn't know what to do with you anyway." Cressida said, eliciting a bit of a surprised look from the Griff. "What, just because I'm in Snake means I have to be blinded by it?"

"No, no, it's just ... sort of a surprise is all." Joseline said. "My family's pureblooded, but..." she dropped her voice, "a lot of them were mundies." At the mention of the word, almost everyone leaned back and gave her pitying looks. "Yeah. I know. My aunt, and uncle both. My mom's the only one who's a proper Witch. She was really glad when I started showing magic signs."

"Mom and dad didn't do much magic," Adrian muttered, "I mean, they're wizards and all, but not to see our house or anything. Course, they treated my great-uncle like he was the 'idiot in the family' whenever he'd come over, and he did magic all the time. I didn't even know what [redacted] was when I got my invitation. I was lucky Uncle Zaphram dropped by when he did or I'd still be at home in a mundane school or something."

"No you would probably be ditching mundane school or something," Daphne said, and the others laughed - it was true, he was known to be a bit of a dead-head at times, but always pulled through with reasonable grades. But that was with magic courses to keep him occupied.

"My dad's a wizard," Gideon said, "I don't know my mother, he won't talk about her." The others got silent, unsure of what to say about that. "But at least he's proud of me, I'm glad I'm good at ... things." He shifted under the attention, for such a good looking and talented boy he certainly wilted in the spotlight.

Cepheus leaned back and put on his most charming smile, and was clearly about to say something entirely inappropriate, when Cressida smacked him on the shoulder and gave him her most horrifying glare. "Don't you dare mess with his mind like that, you pervert," she spat.

"Hey I wasn't going to say anything! I just wondered what all the things are he's good at..." Cepheus said it anyway, getting him pummled by Cressida's hard fist and on the other side by Ambrose who suddenly felt like he wasn't sitting far enough away from the young man. "Well, if you'd let me get to my family beefs, it's that they don't know."

That calmed the rest of them down a bit, until Gideon tilted his head down and said, "they... don't know you're--"

"If they did, they'd have my wand broken... It's stupid," Cepheus said, suddenly a bit less full of himself and more trying to distract himself with his fingers forming knots. "[redacted] is where I can really just be myself, like most folks... Could, I guess." **LOLLOLOL YEAH RIGHT BOY

"Well I'm sure that House Domina will be okay for you," Joseline said, "I mean, given the name and all."

"That doesn't excuse his behavior," Cressida said and then turned back to Gideon. "Don't you let him mess with you. He's great at leaving a trail of angry ex's behind him."

"Now you sound like a den mother," Cepheus muttered and slumped back into the well-padded seat.

Quiet and pretty Lyra looked at the others, and said, "well, you know your families, but I don't... I think there were a number of shapeshifters in my history, given how animals kind of ... affect me." She glanced away when the others looked at her, "I was orphaned as a young child, thankfully not in mundane territory. I ... sort of ..."

"You were raised by wolves or something?" Adrian said, "cool."

"Not as cool as you'd like to think," Lyra sighed. "There are ... well, there are unregistered shifters running around all over the place, but there are also unregistered weres out there too. Please don't tell anyone about that," she whispered. "It would be the death of me."

"Can you shapeshift?" Joseline asked, genuinely curious. "It's such a rare talent, really, people practice for ages and hardly get it right."

"Even if I could, I don't really want to..." Lyra gazed up at the complicated inlay in the ceiling tiles, "I saw too many of my foster family wind up injured or worse when they couldn't change back Human quickly enough. I'm kind of afraid I'd get stuck. I like having thumbs... You know, to get out of traps and stuff."

"Ew, that's awful," Daphne said, "imagine getting caught in a trap? I don't understand why the Weres aren't better represented in the Ministry, there are a good number of them around these days."

"You're one of those political activists in your spare time, aren't you," Cressida said, and Daphne rolled her head around.

"Well, yes. I mean, out in the mundane world, they're trying as hard as can be to get some kind of equality for everyone, right? Well in the Magical world, what have we got? Humans Humans Humans. Even though we're not even the first - or even the best at magic..."

"If we didn't have wands, we'd be sunk," Ambrose said. "It's true."

Cressida flicked her eyebrow a little, and casually said, "I'm pretty sure that there's a nymph or two in my family line. So I can't really fault you for wanting to ugh free the Elves or something." She gave an exaggerated shudder, and the others laughed. They didn't question her statement either, there were other folks at [redacted] who had weirder blood.

They didn't realize what kind of weirdness would meet them at Domina...

"So we've got a lot of different skills and backgrounds," Joseline said, putting her feet up on Ambrose's knees, where he immediately started fiddling with her booted toes. Might as well get relaxed with each other, she'd said earlier, and thus this was her way of doing just that. "We don't have any kind of Dark Arts around, which is good."

"Oh and why is that good? Wouldn't we be more well-rounded with one?" Cepheus said.

"Because it would tear us apart," Cressida said, "and that's obviously not what our former Headmaster wants of us."

"True, true," Daphne said, tempted to put her feet on someone's knees too, finally settling on waggling her toes in her sandals until Adrian took notice and bundled his arms around her feet when she did. "They said that 'his' best tactic was to keep people from trusting each other."

"Noseless was an asshole," Adrian said, his usual drawl belying the simple truth of the statement as it sent shudders down the other's spines by the mere mention of 'his' name. "I'm glad he got what was coming to him."

"It really does show that isolation doesn't work very well, they lost, right?" Gideon said. "Teamwork and all."

"Teamwork saved the day," Cepheus said, and was just about to start lifting his own feet up onto Gideon's lap, but Cressida's glare put an end to that. Gideon laughed at them, waved her off, and allowed the intrusive, well-polished shoes onto his slacks. "See, teamwork," Cepheus smirked at Cressida. Thankfully, Cressida had no intention of putting her feet onto Lyra's lap, and likewise from the Huff's side.

"So many lives were lost," Lyra said, and they sobered a bit. "I wondered how they even got the school functional afterwards. But at least the world is a better place now." ** pffffffffff

"Let's hope so," Ambrose nodded. "Let's hope that there aren't any other sociopathic murderers in charge of death cults out there..." *COUGH*

In the way that was only ever possible by being fifteen, the group took a collective deep gulp of worry, and an exhale of relief when nothing seemed to be ready to prove him wrong. It took another hour or more of rolling, slightly bumpy travel to reach their destination. In that time, they learned a little more about each other's expectations out of life. But also, something seemed to be ticking in Joseline's mind. They were together for a reason. And they weren't expelled, really.

But what were they going to be heading into?

Their journey finally ended with half the students asleep leaning on their friends' shoulders, and the other half fighting off that same slumber. Adrian's sleep was more naturally inherent to his condition, Cressida's was all business - she wanted to be well-rested when they got there. Lyra fitfully dozed, and Ambrose gave off adorable light snoring.

It seemed that Gideon and Cepheus would hit it off on a deeper level than just mindless attraction to one another: they spoke very quietly about what their lives had been like 'before they knew' and 'while deciding what to say' and at least for Gideon, how life had been since he was reasonably accepted at home.

Cepheus didn't hold any jealousy toward the red head. In fact he wanted to get some kind of pointers for how he could break his own news to his family - someday. That day might never come, but at least he knew now that he'd have a very friendly face helping him along if he needed support. That that friend was an expert duelist was not going to hurt things either!

Daphne and Joseline chatted about school elections, Elves, the Ministry, and all manner of other things. Both were pretty energetic when the carriage finally halted, and they spotted the floppy ears of their transportation Elf as he scuttled down to get their gear and open the doors. Gideon gently nudged Lyra awake, and noticed Cepheus very carefully doing the same for Cressida. They could only imagine what she'd be like if she were awakened rudely.

As they stretched, stumbled down the steps of the carriage onto the turf below, all eight of them noticed that it was just barely evening. They'd been traveling all day long, and none of them could say quite where they'd wound up. Particularly not since it could have been magical travel as well as conventional even with the horses drawing the carriage. The surroundings were getting dim, but they could make out plentiful trees, oak and birch mostly, as well as the distinct outline of the little keep which served as House Domina's main structure. ** hint: it was magical

"House Domina," the Elf said, as his companion organized their luggage and pet cages. "You should be greeted any moment now by--"

"There you are!" A boisterous woman of indeterminate age appeared from the gates nearby. Her dress and hat said she was a Witch, piles of green and grey material with the occasional bright orange patch sewn on for good measure. However, her hair was also bright orange - as were her eyes once they'd gotten a look at them. "I was begining to wonder whether that old coot would be sending anyone or what!"

As a group, the students looked at one another in turn, realizing that indeed, there was an adult conspiracy afoot and they were the subject of it all.

"Excuse me, miss, but... Sending us for what purpose?" Joseline perked up. Cressida held her tongue, knowing that anything she had to say at this point after her short nap would sound far more acidic than intended.

"Oh and he's still the same as ever," the woman said, unhitching the iron fence's lock and throwing the gate wide open. "I am Zora Domina, of House Domina. We're a school, you see, a school of wizardy."

"We know that much," Cepheus said.

"But what are we doing here?" Lyra asked.

All this seemed to just make Zora giddy. "You're perfect!" She said. "I'd say 'all in good time', but that's something he would say, so I won't. Instead, I'll just tell you that there's hot dinner on the tables, and our staff will take your stuff inside. Once you're sitting and stuffing your faces full, I'll talk at you and you'll grunt and nod. Okay?"

Daphne laughed first and loudest, and followed the woman into the pathway that led into the keep. It wasn't a big place, but then magical buildings had a way of looking far smaller on the outside than their interiors could boast. This one was no exception at all. The trees that framed the entrance and dotted the whole of the small enclosure were old, very old, but well-maintained. There was a thigh-high stone wall enclosing the entire place, though it looked like it had seen better days hundreds of years prior.

The gates swung shut behind them, the carriage left in a jangle of hoofbeats and tack noise, and their 'stuff' had been moved out from behind them without any one of them even noticing. Zora walked quickly in the direction of the dining hall, which wasn't nearly so grand as the one at That School. Yet, they all found themselves gawking at this new place just like they were first years. Zora's typical flurry of motion was so unlike most of the instructors or staff at that other school, she seemed so much younger and more lively. She urged them to eat, so she could get on with her monologue.

Zora wasn't kidding: there was hot food being shoveled into their mouths as fast as they could, it had been since well before lunch time that they had been in that carriage, and for whatever reason hadn't stopped for food - even though the offer for it was extended several times by the driver. The kids just hadn't bothered expecting it, and by the time they were talking or sleeping comfortably with feet on laps opposite, they just forgot they were hungry. But now? The smells and sounds of a busy kitchen were nearby, no such hidden workings as in That School here. Four tables were joined up as one massive square just now, but it looked like the room could handle the same tables spread a bit for a large group of students or staff to sit and eat together. Even so, the food was gathered mostly on the one corner where they sat.

"Now it's true that the whole of my House could fit easily inside the Great Hall at That School, don't get me wrong, I know that much," Zora said. "And, the entire student body would fit on a third-year roster list of Griffs. But we've got some... interesting studies here that the old man figured would be good to let some of his brats in on. He can't have these studies there, and you'll see why."

Other students could sometimes be seen darting around in the back of the room, swiping a second or third roll and some jam, or another chicken wing. But none of them stayed in the dining chamber, per Zora's obvious request. She cleared up the transfer students' worries, by telling them, "your parents will believe you to be at [redacted] all this time, and you haven't been kicked out of the program yet."

"Well that's a relief," Ambrose said. "But why the secrecy? I mean, it was kind of ... well, kind of rude of them to just kick us into a carriage and not even say what was going on."

"Because if anyone else knew," Zora said suddenly more sedate and eyes narrowed, "they'd probably try and stop you from coming." That left a strange heavy sensation in their guts, and it wasn't just the potatoes. "We aren't a 'dark arts' academy if that's what you're wondering. That's up to some of my old students." She tossed her head and indicated part of a wall which was decorated with numerous small portraits and plaques below each. Apparently several of them had gone on to make their own school? Zora was obviously proud of all her students - she wouldn't have put those images up at all if she hadn't been. In fact no one at That School would ever have done so - too many images would be up on every surface!

"So this place is just starting out, still?" Joseline said, having to resist pulling out her ever-present quill and paper.

"Well, compared to them or the other schools around Europe and the States, of course. I'm the founder of House Domina, after all, and I haven't had much time to become a legend or anything." She gave a bold, silly grin. Her hair was bright red now, with violet at the tips.

"Oh you're a metamorph?" Daphne said, and suddenly clamped her mouth shut, that kind of thing was often considered rude elsewhere, particularly if someone was cursed or had a magical accident and then had to explain why their appearance wouldn't stop shifting around.

"Of course, dear," Zora said. "I'm very fashionable today." She glanced at her dress, and sneered at it. "Wait, that was yesterday. What is this I'm wearing?" She flounced about, her clothing changing from the layered and raggedy look, into a far sleeker and modern skirt and blouse in black and purple. "School colors, get used to them," she said. "Oh and," she nodded toward the emblem on the center of one wall, "our octopus has its tentacles in everything."

As dinner wound down, and it looked like the attention could be placed on exploring rather than explanations, Zora bade them to take whatever munchies they needed and look around the place. Before she left though, she held up her hands and warned: "Don't take anything that doesn't belong to you, and don't try opening locked doors. Knock first, wait for a reply if one's shut. Don't summon anything you're not capable of controlling, and lastly, own up to anything you wind up doing by mistake. Those are the rules. Have fun." She vanished into the broad, dark hall beyond the dining room, and the double-handful of transfers wondered what they should do next.

"I ... think I'll have a look around!" Gideon said, and it was very obvious that Cepheus would be going with him. Adrian asserted that he'd want to find somewhere to sleep, and with that said a sprite servant appeared to help him out.

There weren't as many of them here, and only one which recognized the 'SPIN'* button that Daphne wore. She didn't want to step on toes about it, so she finally wound up taking it off and putting it into her pocket for later. She and Cressida strode about the place like they were the best of friends, though it felt odd to both of them when they thought about it. A Snake and a muggle-born becoming friends? *(sprite pride is needed)

Ambrose, Lyra and Joseline took some time looking at the old students in their portraits - some of them were actually just snapshots made by mundane cameras, while others were magical portraits and one or two were actually cartoons with a distinct style that Joseline recognized first. "Those must be collectors items," she said, "that's the artist who makes that one comic book."

Lyra wasn't familiar with it at all, Ambrose only barely - so Joseline set about finding her stuff, and located not only her bags but the girls' room. She pulled out a comic, it was folded up in weird ways, but un-did itself with the touch of her wand. Before them, a silly sequence of 'wizard running from a scary beast' played out, and then she closed it up. "It's cool that maybe they knew the artist or something."

"Or the artist works here," said an adult voice, from their dorm's doorway which was still open. The brown-haired woman there waggled her eyebrows and walked away - and was followed by a man who looked suspiciously like the one in the comic book.

A few moments later, Joseline - eyes wide and smile wider - giggled madly to her friends and said, "this is going to be great."

They'd gone upstairs into one of the two south-facing towers, and shortly Cressida and Daphne arrived yawning. They shooed Ambrose out, he met up with Cepheus and Gideon who'd gone back to the kitchen for the aforementioned munchies and not as one might have suspected, to make out somewhere quiet, and then back upstairs to the room near the girls' dorm. There were other students about, but not many, and most merely nodded and smiled on their way to their own rooms.

Adrian was sound asleep in his bed, and that sounded like a terrific idea for everyone else too. Their day had been blown on sitting around, but exhausted them anyway.

***

"Since the fifth years joining us are coming in a little later in the semester than I expected," Zora said at the morning meal - a large gathering of students and one or another adult staff member hanging around the hall nearby - "I will bring them up to speed until they're ready to join everyone else. You'll be in your normal types of classes, I've got it on good authority which ones those will be needing tutoring or able to help out others catching up. But then there are some more ... specialized classes that we have three times a week that you'll need to prepare yourselves in different ways to attend."

They were still a bit confused. But the food was good, their rest had been wonderful, and they were being greeted on all sides by friendly faces. One or two of the younger students had actually shown up at That School before being sent off here, Joseline noted, remembering them from their Sorting. Or, lack of Sorting, as the case may be, since they didn't find a place there... The kids there were just like those at That School except they sometimes had the more colorful purple and black outfits, or ... well, other things that distinguished them. Joseline swore she saw someone with horns, but they vanished into the hallway before she got a better look. Lyra heard the distinct babbling of a water-bug somewhere.

Zora introduced them to their professors as the day went on, they were as colorful a bunch as she could have prepared them for. Potion making, Astronomy, Runes, Divination, Flight - everything was covered. They did have some manner of Dark Arts instruction however, and it was when Zora passed by that classroom (which doubled as their Necromancy and Taxidermy area, and smelled a little weird) that the eight students all but froze in their tracks.

"Miss... Domina..." Ambrose said, and Zora immediately corrected him with a 'Just Zora, Please', "that... that woman, the Necromancy teacher? She's a rabbit? Is she a Shifter?"

"No, dear, she's a Usagi. A queen, actually, so be polite when you meet her properly." Zora breezed them by that chamber where the others caught a glimpse of a brilliantly white furry shape, behind numerous stacks of books and devices. "And, she has children here too, so they'll be underfoot I'm sure. She's always got children here," Zora muttered to herself, laughing a little.

"But... a rabbit?" Ambrose was still a bit confounded.

"Of course, dear. Our Transformation and Shift instructor is a dragon-mage. Our Undead Recognition and Communications professor is a ghost, herself, sort of. The Care of Magical Creatures instructor is somewhat... unicornish..." She went on, there certainly were a good number of different people here.

"Isn't it illegal?" Asked Daphne. "I mean, I know it is, what I mean is, how are you letting them teach? Should they even have wands?"

"Some of them don't need wands," Zora said, while escorting them toward the back of the keep, where their Broom patch was. "Photha and Kate need to get down here so I can have them show off something..." Zora bade the kids to wait on the wide stone balcony which overlooked the Broomball area. It was a smallish patch, kind of disappointing to Cressida and even to Adrian. But both of them noticed something a little odd about the whole place. There were rugged, short cliffs surrounding the back of the Keep's forested lands, dotted with dark patches. It looked nothing like they thought the Scottish countryside could be - they'd only traveled a few hours by horse carriage right?

"Ah there you are," Zora said, startling the group and showing up with the professors of artistry and dueling. "Come come, down to the patch."

There was clearly some kind of visual spell over the patch, because by the time they got down to it, it was obvious there were people and creatures all over it. Big and small, furry and feathered and...

"Those are dragons," Lyra said, stopping in her tracks and just staring with wide eyes.

"Yes, they are dear. That's why you're here. To learn about them properly." Zora waggled her fingers, pushed her now-yellow hair behind her ear, and got the group to catch up.

Photha's tiny little rock-lizards stood on his shoulders, playing with his head-wings. Kate's nebula-colored reindeer-horned whorling danced around the featherwolves and other smaller sized critters. Then there were the big ones, up to and including a huge fire-orange colored queen that responded to Zora herself. There were also... people. Different people - Lyra immediately took in a quick breath when she spied Kalkin and his ... dragon mount? Mate? shapeshift from human forms into large dragons. Several winged people, some with four legs in addition, were lined up next to the students.

"They really are dragons!" Daphne laughed, joined by the others with amazed looks on their faces.

"Yes, and this is why we couldn't just tell you what was going to happen," Zora said, happily, dangling from the uplifted paw of her gigantic fluffy golden dragon.

There was a great big black dragon with long swept back horns, strangely glowing glass-sharded things which creeped the group out, Fu-dogs, even some skeletal horses and other undead creatures.

"You'll be finding your own dragon, some time soon," Iris, one of the instructors who also stood before her own incredibly beautiful white and pale blue colored dragon, said. "We'll help you, we're ... trying to make some headway with offworld contact among the Wizarding realm. It's uphill work."

"You've got dragons," Adrian said with his lopsided grin on, "you can fly over hills."

The normal studies of potions and charms went by achingly slow. But in the afternoons on Tuesdays and Fridays and then almost all of Sunday were occupied by dragonry issues. What kinds of dragons there were, their needs and care issues, how to ride them, how to bond to them, how not to get yourself squished by them... It was like a whole other world opened up.

"Just like becoming a Witch," Daphne said, her big red eyes still wide with pleased wonder. "It was like when I first saw the Alley, first held my wand. My wand. And now ..."

"And now," Cressida said, having become genuinely good friends with her and the others in the two months they were there together, "now it's like that again... I remember my first broom ride."

"Me too," Adrian let his slow smile do the talking.

"I do too," Ambrose said, and his expression said it all. Cepheus laughed.

"I suspect my first flight was worse than yours, Ambrose," he held up his dark arm, which displayed a jagged pale scar. "You won't find me on one, that's for sure..."

"Well what about a dragon though?" Lyra said, "are you going to be afraid to fly on a dragon?"

It was clear that Cepheus didn't want to look like he was a coward, but Gideon came to his rescue - as he'd been doing a lot lately when his dark partner would stick his foot in his mouth.

"There are flightless ones, too," the duelist said. "Runners, creepers, leapers... Burrowers!"

"I don't think I want to go underground on one," Cepheus said, "what about you Joseline? Too busy taking notes?"

She was a bit distracted, but gave her little finger-wave indicating she was listening, just concentrating on something else.

"I would put her on a fast, little one," Daphne said. "She could be in plenty of places quickly."

"Oh no, no" Lyra smirked and looked at their blonde reporter companion. "A hydragon would be good for her, if only it'd be a good kind."

They often chatted about what might come their way, and unlike some of the places which they studied about regarding dragons, they were encouraged to do so. Rather than taught that disappointment was the norm, it was true that they might have to wait a bit or go from nest to nest, but Zora proclaimed that she wanted them in particular for a reason, and that reason turned out to be a bit of scrying into the future. But she only said she could see that they had the potential for riding or bonding, befriending or being caretakers. Not which kind or where, or for that matter, how many.

"Magic is convenient," Zora would say, "but it's not perfect. No one can really see into the future, and be right one-hundred-percent."

Two other students had come from faraway lands as well, just after these arrived, and were getting settled into the weird routines of schooling and 'extra-curricular' activities with dragon kind. One who had been at Domina for a few years was selected from a lineup early on, and had returned with a young dragonet already - so the group from That School knew they stood a chance.

The one thing they did agree upon was that they hoped they'd all befriend their dragons right around the same time. It would be sad for one or a couple not to, or be in the spotlight while the others waited. Apparently, though, there was a way to get around that somehow, involving one of those weird Pernese dragon tricks of heading through time. But though they knew about this, since some of the mixed-breed dragons they'd met could do it, they weren't going to count on something as iffy as time travel to keep them together! If they bonded apart, they bonded apart.

"It would give us time to learn more too," Lyra said. "I mean, helping out and getting closer, while still waiting for your chance." They all figured that Lyra might bond first, anyway, given her animal-types of spell and class concentration.

While they were now used to each other and the other students to an extent, they were still learning the ropes of this weird little school. The professors were ... odd. Photha who taught a very sharp dueling class and his Dark Arts Defense training was second to none... He also had those adorable little fluttery head wings, and collected plushy toys in his campus roost. Professor Kalkin often left campus on longish trips with Iris in tow, and they came back looking a bit worse for wear. Daphne asked once, what it was they were doing, and got an answer that she really didn't want to hear. Then there was Queen Sean, the bunny girl and her handful of bunny-eared and tailed kids (and some others who weren't her children, coming to this school from across the dimensions from their own world?) who could bring dead things back to life at whim but also looked like she could kick some ass sparring with traditional weapons. Urbane who kept the wolves and dogs was a flight fanatic, an excellent Broomball player who was encouraged by both Adrian and Cressida to get up in the air with them to practice.

The school would never quite be the same as their home of four years. But it was going to be a great place to stay while they waited for dragons.

** 2025 **

They did wait, some quite a lot longer than others, but by that it meant 'months' rather than 'years'.

They learned a lot in those months, both with and without dragons to help train and raise. For one thing: how ugly and awful their prior school and its entire system really was. That was why, Zora explained as she brought out some very, very weird maps, why they'd moved from that Earth to another.

"There's another magic school down the coast a ways," she said, "called Wonder's Wonders, Wonder being the town, and Wonders the school, you get it." As she would, Zora rattled off numerous tidbits of important information, knowing that if it was that important it would stick. Not everything she said would land the same: how would they tell their folks? To which she responded, quite seriously, "if they need to know where you are, they will be here instead of there."

Magic of convenience, certainly, but not all of their families did 'need' to know. And at long last, the former warty students were comfortable in the fact that their new home had furries on an entire half of the planet, dragons all over the place, and magic wasn't the hidden thing that it had to be in their own dimension.

"It's just rancid," Daphne muttered, "they.... really are slaves there. Just up and out slaves." She looked at her 'SPIN' button, "fat lot of good this ever did when the entire thing was endemic. Humans suck."

"Humans don't suck all the time," Cepheus tried to lighten the conversation, "only when you ask them."

They found places, a couple before hand, but the bulk headed off to a very special hatching of Dracanian Elemental dragons!