Guppy’s excitement drained a bit when she had a sudden dreadful thought, following someone to breakfast was one thing, but that wouldn’t work for getting to class, she glanced around and saw students exiting out of the many doors along the curved wall of the dining hall.

They all seemed to know their way, but Guppy knew neither the way, nor any of her classmates. She hesitated before choosing a door at random. All too quickly she remembered that the hallways may run straight, but they turned at strange angles and would easily render her lost, and worse, late for class.

As she stood biting her lip in indecision and watching students disappear, Guppy heard three sets of soft footsteps stop behind her, followed by a soft cough. She spun and then looked up from chest to face to see emerald green eyes, a head of red gold curly hair, and features hardening from youth to adulthood.

She did not hear the first few words he said, but as he repeated them the meaning crawled into her head.

“Excuse me, I asked if you were lost? You certainly look it miss..”

Guppy surreptitiously pinched herself, yup that hurt, but it brought her wits back before the pause grew too strained. His eyes were so very, very green.

“Cooper, Henrietta Cooper.” She replied, successfully stating her assumed name as she gave a brief curtsey.

“Well miss Cooper, are you new here? I must confess neither my friends nor I recognise you, and with your striking features I assure you we would have had our paths previously crossed. Which class do you belong to?” The youth continued.

It took a moment to remember the detail, but guppy felt through her pockets and retrieved a small golden button she had received from Emily. In her haste this morning she had forgotten to attach it to her blazer. It read 1A.

She quickly pinned it to her left lapel, not missing how the boy’s face split into a grin when he saw it.

“Ahh, splendid, as chance would have it we seem to be headed the same way, I too belong to class 1A.” The boy pointed to his own pin on his chest, his broad chest.

Guppy pinched herself again and caught his next sentence with only a slightly pained smile.

“My name is Duncan Goldthorne, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance miss Cooper, now come, we must hurry or we’ll be late for our homeroom lesson.”

Guppy nodded her acceptance, grateful both for the direction and the company. She finally noticed the two other boys that stood a step behind Duncan, twins it seemed, for all they bore different expressions, one hiding a smirk while the other a slight frown. Guppy decided she couldn't care less what they thought of her right now.

She quickly fell into step with Duncan as he turned back into the dining hall and together they made their way to one of the hall’s doors near the top left.

“It takes a little while to get used to the passages here.” Duncan said, “While they may for the most part run in straight lines, there are many intersections where they twist sharply and you can easily lose your sense of direction and wind up on the other side of the academy. Ah, here we are, homeroom 1A, after you miss Cooper.”

Duncan opened the door and gestured for Guppy to enter. Guppy inclined her head slightly as thanks and entered the room.

The room was large with a vaulted ceiling, and had five corners, though she saw a small side door next to the large chalkboard at the narrow end, much of the room seemed to be open and prepared with magic arrays and devices that she recognised as shield emitters, both for the area and one that generated a localised shield for each person who entered the zoned off circle. Fifteen chairs and desks sat facing the teacher, a fat bushy bearded man who seemed to be nursing a hangover with the contents of his hip flask.

Guppy took all of this in at a glance within her first few seconds, so it was only then that she noticed how the other students had gone awfully still and quiet when she walked in. She froze herself at the chilly attention she was suddenly getting from the assembled students.

The teacher looked up from his notes as he felt the disturbance overtake the room and took stock of the situation.

“Ah prince Duncan, so kind of you to spare time from your flirtatious pursuits to join us lesser folk, take your seat if you please.”

Guppy wanted to smack herself with an iron pan, tie on blocks of stone, and throw herself in the river right then. Of course she had to go and crush on the son of the very man she planned on killing. The man who saw her as a tool to use and abuse, the man who-

Guppy stiffly walked to the desks and took the only one free of an insignia. She focused on breathing, mastering the sudden spike of fury that had risen and threatened to overwhelm her. What a fool she was. His hair colour and eyes were not the standard royal gold and blue, but who had two attendants follow them around? Everyone here was of noble birth, but she had seen no other grouping like Duncan’s. His eyes were just so, so-

“Miss Cooper! Please respond!”

Guppy looked up and realised the whole class was still looking at her, barring prince Duncan whose gaze was firmly fixed on his notebook when she looked his way. Too firmly, she thought, but Guppy turned to focus on the professor who had been calling out to her.

“Pardon? I didn’t catch that.” She replied.

The teacher sighed and massaged his temples, “I asked if you will come to the front and introduce yourself properly Miss Cooper.”

Guppy rose in response and walked to the front, steeling herself and finding her inner balance of control. She turned at the lectern and gave a textbook curtsey, looking up to gaze each student in the face as she spoke.

“My name is Henrietta Cooper, my family's estate borders the nations of Fhur’ ma and Imperyn. I hope to get along with everyone during our years as students here. Please take good care of me.”

Guppy saw masks, smiling faces that would be perfectly polite if not for the tiny creases she picked up, miniature crinkles of disdain, and breath that held in laughter. Only two were different, Duncan avoided her gaze as a light blush rose in his cheeks, and the other, sitting next to her seat in fact, was a boy with messy black hair whose eyes and expression held open curiosity.

Guppy felt a small frown form on her face, wasn’t he that boy she had-

“Yes, thank you miss Cooper, you may take your seat.” The teacher instructed.

Guppy realised she had been staring and gave another quick curtsey before moving back to her seat. She did not listen as the teacher rambled on about some upcoming tournament in the next few months and instead bent over and hissed to the black-haired boy.

“Not a word to anyone, we need to talk later, in private.”

She ignored the boy’s blush and waited until he murmured his acceptance before she leant back in her seat, intentionally avoiding the prince’s gaze from two seats over. He was a landmine, and someone she would probably have to kill sometime in the next few years. She could not fall for him, no matter how broad his shoulders or tangled his reddish locks begged to be straightened-

Guppy pinched herself again. She was going to have one sore leg if she couldn’t learn to focus properly. This whole affair was such a mess, she wanted to head back to bed and curl up. She didn’t need to see their faces to smell the hostility flooding of most of the students here. Somehow she had made enemies with each one in the first few minutes of their acquaintance.

But then something happened that helped distract her from her present cares. The professor started teaching magic.