I do not own the rights to Descendants. AU after first movie.

First Day of School

The Avalon Education Institute couldn't have been more different than Auradon Prep. Auradon Prep was a boarding school, that was located in an old stone castle that looked more like a fortress than a palace—though, it had undergo a major renovation before the students moved in in order to modernize and make it less threatening.

The Institute was made up of several buildings—six main ones, with a few smaller ones—on a campus that could have fit into Auradon Prep's boundaries with room to spare. The buildings were fairly new, at least compared to Auardon Prep, and had been built in a newer style featuring neat red brick walls, tall white columns, and white windows all lined neatly in a row.

The first of the five main buildings consisted of the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Building, known as STEM which featured the titular departments of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, as well as astronomy, biology, anatomy, and agriculture. Out behind the STEM building were greenhouses, stables, and a fishery.

Then there was the Sherman Fine Arts Building, which Julie was surprised to learn her family had contributed to, having never heard of it before. The building was home to the Music Department featuring the Avalon Orchestra, Avalon Band, and Avalon Choir, as well as the Literature Department, and Art Department which covered theater, dancing, drawing, sculpting, painting, and other forms of art. The pride of the building was the large two story auditorium where musical and theatrical performances were put on throughout the year for the community, along with the outside amphitheater which on the backside of the building.

Next was the Scrooge McDuck Business and Law School, paid for (begrudgingly) by said McDuck upon learning the initial plans for the Institute didn't include a business school and had declared it inconceivable for a school to exist without one. The school taught business, law, international relations, and politics.

There was also the Culture Appreciation and Heritage Building. The building housed the history and languages of all the states united in Auradon, along with every other known culture such as the mermaids, fairies, several different types of alien cultures, the giants, and even the goblins. In addition, it kept the heritage of Auradon and Avalon alive, one that the rest of Auradon seemed to determine to forget such as sword making, blacksmithing, candle making, glass blowing, weaving, carpentry, and other trades that had been made obsolete by technology.

The Main Hall was where the Main Office was, along with the cafeteria which doubled as the classroom for the cooking students, classes for the children from the town, and where the gym and stadium were. Dean Mickey, along with his main staff had their offices there. It had a small infirmary which was staffed by nurses and doctors from the hospital in town, fit capable of treating a number of different creatures of any physical, emotional, or magical ailment. The Main Hall was centrally located on the campus, with the five others surrounding it as if they were the points of a star. STEM was located to the northwest, the Sherman Fine Arts Building was to the northeast, The Scrooge McDuck Business and Law School to the southwest, and the Culture Appreciation and Heritage Building to the southeast.

The final building that was directly north of the Main Hall, was Malperdy Hall, which in Maddie's opinion was the best of all the buildings for it housed all classes magic-related. It was also the location 1of her first class.

Not just her first class, but the others as well. They were currently located in a classroom on one of the upper floors away from the main traffic that could cause unwanted distractions. Merlin had specifically requested it as his assigned classroom for that reason—the further away he was from the majority of the people in the building the fewer interruptions in his lessons.

The classroom was a simple square room with wooden floors that had seen better days. There was one wall facing the outside and covered with windows stretching from the ceiling to the floor that allowed a view of the Avalon Forest Preserve that was to the north of the school. Chalkboards covered the remaining three walls, except for the small space left for the door. On the chalkboard were various scribbles of runes and diagrams, along with magical theories.

There was a large wooden desk at the front of the room, that was covered in books and papers as well, barely leaving enough for Merlin to sit at it and get any work done. There were several other desks in the room as well, arranged in a U facing Merlin's desk. In the middle of the floor between them were four chalk circles—each containing one of his students.

They had found the circles nearly completely drawn on the floor when they entered the classroom, and without a second thought Maddie sat down in one, grabbed a piece of chalk and finished drawing the circle.

The three others watched her with confusion, and Merlin chuckled at the expressions on their faces. "Welcome to Practical Magic. This class will allow you to learn how to control your magic, as well as allow you to experiment and dabble with your magic while being supervised in a controlled environment."

Jack rolled his eyes, he already knew how to control his magic. His mother had seen to that as soon as he and his sisters showed the slightest hint of inheriting her icy powers when they were younger. Julie was less sure, she knew that there was magic in her family, but it had always seemed a byproduct of their musical talent, not something that could be controlled or experimented with, and given what had happened with to her brother she wasn't sure she even wanted to learn about her magic.

Miguel was a completely different story. Curious, he raised his hand only for Merlin to chuckle at him. "There's no need for that here Miguel. If you have a question, go ahead and ask it."

Slightly abashed, Miguel lowered his hand. "How exactly are we going to be learning control?"

"Excellent question Miguel, perhaps Maddie would care to answer it?"

Maddie shrugged from her spot in the circle. "Not really, seems like you got things completely under control."

When Merlin raised an eyebrow, Maddie sighed. "Fine. The first step in controlling your power is meditation and learning how to clear your mind. By clearing your mind, you can better control your magic and reduce the chance of having magical outbursts. With time and practice, you will eventually be able to visualize your magical core."

Maddie said it in a flat tone, having heard it so many times from Merlin over the years that she could repeat it in her sleep. Her three new roommates exchanged puzzled looks over her words. "Meditation?" asked Miguel. "How exactly will that help?"

"Yeah, I've been able to control my magic for years without meditation," said Jack with a confident smirk on his face. "Why should I start now?"

"Well Jack, for one this a class and I'm sure your parents would be interested in hearing your explanation for failing it on your first day," replied Merlin, with a slight smile playing on his lips, and the same sparkle in his eyes Jack had seen that first day they met. Jack's shoulders slumped in defeat, knowing how his parents would react to the news. "As to how, as Maddie explained, clearing one's mind helps one better control their emotions which can lead to magical outbursts—something I'm sure all of you have experienced at some point in your life. Now, everybody get in a circle like Maddie."

The three of them complied while Merlin went around and completed their circles with chalk like Maddie done with her own. When he got to Miguel's, he found another question waiting for him. "How exactly do the circles help with control?"

"Another good question, Miguel. If you were to look closer at the edge of your circles, you'll see smaller symbols on the outside. These are runes, and once your circles are completed they'll activate creating a ward, ensuring all magic will be kept inside the circle, and no magic will seep into the circle. You'll learn more about runes and wards as you advance with your magic since they're used in quite a number of rituals and everyday use. If you smudge the chalk line, the circle will be broken as will the ward, so took care until you're done with the class."

Miguel peered over, and sure enough there were a number of squiggly lines around the circle, looking as if they were a toddler's attempt at writing the alphabet. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Julie and Jack taking a closer look as well.

Satisfied, he turned his attention back to Merlin, waiting for further instruction. The sooner he got his magic under control, the better. "Now it's time to clear your mind," instructed Merlin. "I've found the best way is by closing your eyes, and slowing your breathing by counting to ten before breathing in and out. It's hard to do so at first, but with practice I'm sure you'll get it. Put away all thoughts and just concentrate on breathing. Ready everyone? One two…"

Miguel sat cross-legged in the circle and hoped that his feet wouldn't fall asleep in the process. Closing his eyes, he counted to ten silently in his head with Merlin's counts, and breathed in. Another count of ten and he breathed out, before repeating the pattern. Once he got the rhythm down, he tried to clear his mind, which was easier said than done since so many thoughts kept flitting through. Just when he thought he was finally getting somewhere, a snore from his side interrupted his thoughts. He opened one and saw Jack next to him receiving a glare from Merlin.

He closed his eyes and started to count to ten as he breathed in and out. As thoughts faded from his mind, a small sphere started to become clearer in his mind, glowing brightly and crackling loudly. It wasn't a stray thought, but was something else entirely, something that seemed as if it had always been there, but he had never noticed it before. He tried to concentrate on it, and just when—

A loud noise interrupted his concentration, though this time it wasn't Jack's snoring, but was the sound of a gong. He opened his eyes and saw Merlin standing in front of him and the others.

"That's the end of the class. Miguel you did very well for your first time, I think you'll be pleased to find that the lightning bolts which plagued you this morning are gone, and tomorrow you should be ready for the next step. Jack, try harder tomorrow, you're supposed to be meditating, not sleeping. Julie, while you didn't fall asleep like Jack, you weren't trying either. I expect by the end of the week all of you should be able to clear you mind in under fifteen minutes so you can start working with your magic in the remaining time like Maddie did today."

Miguel stood up slowly, stiff from sitting in the same position for so long. Looking down, he saw that the tiny bolts that usually danced up and down his arms were gone, just as Merlin had said.

A smile broke out on his face. If he kept at it, he might actually be able to be around electronics without frying them, and someday he could even join the rest of his family at Whitmore Industries.

He pulled out his schedule and saw that he had Calc I next in the STEM building with a Professor Archimedes. Miguel couldn't deny that there was a part of him relieved to see a normal class with a subject he was fond of and not one involving magic.

If he had a choice, he'd never use magic again.

Once the other three were out of the room, Julie approached Merlin.

"I really don't understand why I'm in this class, I don't even think I have any magic, at least not like the others. So why am I here?"

Merlin peered at her over his spectacles, and she held her breath while waiting for him to reply. Despite the kindness he and the others had shown her over the past couple of days, she couldn't help but feel as if she really didn't belong.

She didn't have magic like the others, and she most certainly didn't want to have anything to do with magic if it meant being like her brother.

So why had Merlin taken her in and enrolled her in the institute?

"Julie, whether you want to admit it or not, your family's magic is more than simply having heroes and royals bursting into song. I told Frank that all those years ago when he sought me out, but he preferred to keep making music rather than learning how to control it, and of course the fey being the fickle creatures they are didn't bother to tell him anything about their gift."

Julie frowned, Alan's last words replaying in her mind about how it was Merlin who kept things back. "But Alan said—"

"I'm afraid your brother was misinformed Julie, and just because he misused your family's magic, doesn't mean you will. While I won't force you to explore your magic, I will insist that you at least try to learn how to meditate and resume playing instruments. Ignoring magic never works out well for a person, just ask Miguel. Even though the Fairy Godmother has sworn off magic, I can assure you she still meditates on a daily basis to keep it in check. If you have more questions, you can always ask them later tonight. Now you'd better hurry before you're late to your next class, which if I recall correctly is in the Culture's building."

Merlin had left her with a lot to think about, and it was only later did Julie remember the other question she had wanted to ask him.

Third period found all of them in the same class once more, this time in their literature equivalent class, Alternative Stories From Around the World with Jiminy Cricket. Given the fact that they were a mixture of different ages—Julie being the youngest as a freshman, Maddie and Jack both being sophomores, and Miguel being a junior—Maddie had a feeling Merlin had pulled some strings to get them all into at least one class together outside of his. While Alternative Stories was a required course to take, it was typically taken while being a sophomore like Maddie was, not as a freshman or senior.

It was all highly suspect, but there was nothing Maddie could do about it since it was a class she had to take anyway, and due to the rather small class size was only offered at one time, and trying to rearrange her schedule would mean possibly giving up her electives which were only offered at certain times.

So she just had to suck it up for the time being and accept that Merlin was going to continue forcing the four of them together whether she liked it not. And while there was nothing wrong with her new roommates, she was used to it just being her and Merlin. Her first class had always been just the two of them. He did teach other classes, but the first class of the day his only student was Maddie. First out of necessity when she didn't have much control over her magic and had just arrived at Avalon and was dealing with other issues as well, and then it just became tradition as the years passed.

And here she was in another class with her new roommates barely two hours later after the last one. Didn't Merlin know there was such a thing as too much togetherness?

Propping her chin up with her elbow, Maddie tried to concentrate on what Jiminy was saying. He was standing on top of the desk at the front of the classroom, with a miniature chalkboard and miniature chalk in hand. The chalkboard was spelled so that the words written on it would appear on the large chalkboard on the wall, the one which the normal size teachers used. He also was wearing a cricket-sized necklace that increased the volume at which he spoke so those in the back could still hear him.

"Welcome to Alternative Stories From Around the World. A bit of a mouthful, if I do say so myself. You can call this class simply Alt Stories if you want, just like I do."

Jiminy was one of Maddie's favorite teachers. At first his constant optimism and insistence on doing the right thing grated on her nerves, but he had won her over with his kind nature and easy going personality. She always enjoyed his classes because while he did teach, it was always more in a laid back way. Sure he could get preachy at times when students forgot to turn in their papers or didn't live up to their full potential (Maddie had fallen into the latter category several times), but he was always willing to give a person another chance as long as he saw them trying.

Jiminy continued talking to the class, and had yet to touch a piece of chalk. If his previous classes were anything to go by, then this one wouldn't last for much longer. Antsy, Maddie picked up her pen and opened to a fresh page in her notebook. She was ready for whatever assignment he was about to give.

As expected, he didn't disappoint. "You'll spend the semester working on a series of assignments and then will turn in a final paper at the end of the semester as well as giving a presentation to the class."

He paused, allowing for a collective groan before continuing. "Now, now, it won't be that bad—and remember you won't be the only one who has to get up to speak. As the name of this class implies, it's all about alternative stories to the ones you typically know. In many parts of the world, Cinderella is told differently. In others, they have a completely different set of stories they've grown up with. Each of you will be assigned a different one to research. Penny?"

He gestured to a girl in the front row who was closest to his desk. She got up and picked up a glass bowl that was on the desk and filled with slips of paper. Those who had taken Jiminy's class before, recognized his usual assignment method and started picking out a slip of paper when the glass bowl was passed to them.

Jiminy continued to speak as the bowl made its way around the classroom. "You're all to spend the rest of the class in the Literature Library researching your story. Tomorrow I expect each of you to have written a brief summary of the most popular version of your assigned story."

It wasn't that hard of an assignment, though Maddie had yet to see what her story for the semester was to be. Eventually the bowl reached her, and she pulled out a slip of paper before passing it on to the person behind her, who turned out to be Jack. Unrolling the slip, Maddie read the words written on it.

Tam Lin.

Maddie was unfamiliar with the tale, but was fairly sure it had something to do with the fey, and that was only because he had been off on some rant regarding Nimue, and the name Tam Lin had been mentioned.

Jack, however, wasn't as lucky. She felt a poke in her back, making her turn around and having the eraser end of a pencil waving about in her face. "What's Rump—" he paused, taking a closer look at his slip of paper. "Rum-peld-stills-kin?"

Apparently Maddie wasn't the only one who needed a trip to the library.

Julie and Miguel joined Maddie and Jack at their table, though Maddie had expected them to do so at this point. They seemed rather intent on keeping to the quartet rather than going about making their own friends.

A loud sigh caused Maddie looked up from her own book, Fire and Hemlock. "What was that for?"

Jack had spun the chair next to her around, so he was sitting on it backwards. "Because I've never heard of this Rumpelstillskin guy and could barely find anything on him. Apparently they've all been check out. What kind of parent names their kid that, anyway? Did they want him to get beat up? Hey, what story did you get?"

"Tam Lin," replied Maddie, not even bothering to correct Jack's mispronunciation or offering any help in finding more books. Given how hard of a time he had with trying to look up his subject using a card catalogue and complaining that a computer would have been simpler, she had a feeling he hadn't really tried that hard to begin with.

"Never heard of that one either. Why can't the cricket have just assigned ordinary stories that we already know?"

"Because that would defeat the purpose of the class," spoke Miguel, from his spot across from Maddie. "Though I will admit, I do have the fortune of already knowing my story, The Ugly Duckling."

A moan escaped from Jack's mouth as he cracked open the only book he had managed to find, which was so torn up and raggedy, he doubted he would get much useful information out of it. "So not fair. What about you Julie, what one do you have?"

Julie didn't even glance up from the book she was flipping through, East. "East of the Sun, West of the Moon. From what I can tell so far, it's a different version of Beauty and the Beast."

"Beauty and the Beast? That's so unfair. Want to tra—ow!" said Jack, rubbing the back of his head.

Maddie, who had given him a slap upside the head, glared at him. "Stop complaining, and start reading."

"Fine," groaned Jack as he peered closer at the page. "But I can already tell I'm going to hate this Rumple guy."

The table descended into relative quiet, aside from the sounding of the occasional page flip or the scratching of a pencil on paper as notes were written. That was until two others classmates approached the table.

"Do you have a second, Maddie?"

Next to the table were two boys. One was tall with sandy-colored hair, and the other was slightly shorter, with darker hair and skin. It was the latter who had asked the question.

"What is it Mowgli?"

The shorter boy shifted on his feet nervously. His companion nudged him with an elbow. "Go ahead, ask her. She won't bite, promise."

"Christopher Robin is right, I won't bite," said Maddie, offering a reassuring smile to Mowgli.

"Hard," muttered Jack under his breath, earning a kick in the shins underneath the table. Though he'd never admit it out loud, he was enjoying the ribbing between him and Maddie; it reminded him of his relationship with his sisters back home.

"Well, my assignment is Camelot. I was wondering if you knew anything about her, or if I could talk to Merlin about her."

Though they didn't say anything, Jack, Miguel, and Julie all stopped reading and turned their attention to Maddie and whatever she was about to say. All three knew the basics about Merlin—he was a powerful wizard who helped King Arthur with Excalibur and Camelot until it fell thanks to Morgana le Fay and her son Mordred after King Arthur was betrayed by his wife, Guinevere, and best friend, Lancelot. The details beyond that were a little murky, other than what they knew know about him—mainly that he had disagreed with King Adam and Queen Belle twenty years ago and moved to Avalon.

Maddie gave a small sigh before speaking. "Look, I really know just as much as you do. He really doesn't like talking about Arthur and Camelot, it's still fresh for him after all these years. You can try asking him, but I can't guarantee that he'll answer. Your best bet is probably opening a book like the rest of us. Sorry."

"That's okay," replied Mowgli. "I had a feeling that's what you would say, but Christopher Robin said I should at least try."

"Yeah, he's nice like that," commented Maddie. She and Christopher Robin weren't friends per se, but he was always willing to lend her an extra pencil or piece of paper in class if she needed it, and seemed to get along pretty well with everybody.

Christopher Robin, living up to his reputation, shrugged off the half-compliment. "Thanks Maddie. Well, we'd better get our books checked out before the gong rings."

The two left the group of four, who had already checked out their books earlier.

Jack lent over to Maddie and whispered, "So, what do you know about King Arthur and Camelot?"

"Like I said, about as much as you do. Merlin doesn't like talking about those days, there's a reason I've never been allowed to have a pet, not even a Class III. It's just too personal for him. Now hush and get back to reading."

It wasn't until fifth period that Maddie finally had a class that didn't feature any of her new roommates, having shared second period, Chem II with Jack, and fourth period, Modern History with Jack as well as Miguel.

Now though, she was sitting back in Merlin's classroom at one of the desks for Runes of the Ancient World with no roommates in sight.

Next to her, a dark-haired girl with a braid trailing down her back, sat down. Her fluorescent green nails flickered to a deep purple, followed by a bright orange, and then back to green once more.

Maddie raised an eyebrow. "Somebody couldn't decide on a nail color today."

"Are you kidding me? I was lucky I was able to do this much today, I wanted to animate them as well, but dad wouldn't let me leave until he had taken the perfect first day of school picture."

Not feeling the least bit envious, Maddie asked, "He still does that?"

"Of course! He's all," and then, in a much deeper and accented voice the girl said, "As a genie I never got a chance to go to school. It was always, 'Yes Master, this', and 'Yes Master, that'. Is it too much for this old genie to ask for nothing more than the simple wish of seeing his little Munya get to have what he never did?"

Returning to her normal voice, Munya finished in an exasperated tone, "And of course mom just goes along with him, telling me to humor him lest he decides to keep me in a lamp for the next hundred years because he can't stand the thought of his only daughter growing up. I swear Mads, you have no idea how lucky you are just living with Merlin rather than parents and four annoying and overprotective brothers."

Munya Evans had been Maddie's best friend since her first day at the Institute. When others had been frightened off by her seemingly random and large outbursts of magic, it was Munya who had taken one look at the shy girl with pink hair and declared that from that day forward Maddie would be her best friend. The magical outbursts didn't scare her because with four older brothers who were half-genie and a father that was, sudden magical outbursts were nothing new around her home taking the form of various pranks and teasing. Even her mother, a regular human, had come up with a few tricks of her own.

For the most part of the summer, Munya had been off with her family on vacation in Atlantis leaving Maddie by herself until her new roommates had shown up. The separation hadn't really been too bad except for the last few days when Munya had been too busy with returning to chat over their mirror communicators—when Maddie needed her most.

"Yeah, about that. If you had actually bothered to check your messages you'd know that it's no longer just me and Merlin. I now have three new roommates—and all are in need of some serious training with their magic."

"Ohhh… come on Mads, dish, you know how I need details."

Before Maddie could respond, there was the sound of a throat clearing behind the two girls. "Ahem," said Merlin, "But I'm afraid the details will have to wait because class has officially started."

Even with her dark complexion, Munya still managed a faint blush in her cheeks. Maddie, who was no stranger to being reprimanded by Merlin and was just happy to be in class with her best friend, wasn't bothered in the slightest.

With that settled, Merlin made his to the front of the classroom and stood in front of the chalkboard with his hands clasped neatly behind him. "Welcome to Runes of the Ancient World. In your other classes you may have already encountered runes, and were probably instructed to memorize the ones you needed and be careful to not mix them up, but you weren't told why.

"In this class, you'll learn the mechanics of runes—why one little misplaced line could make the difference between your rune working perfectly and blowing up in your face. Of the importance of knowing exactly what it is you're naming and spelling out when creating a rune. How to link several simple runes together in order to create a more complex one. And perhaps, most importantly, how to write a rune that will perfectly pop a bag of popcorn—a long sought after task that many have searched for, but very few have succeeded at."

The last line got a chuckle out of the class, and Maddie started taking notes, not wanting to miss a second of what Merlin was teaching.

Meanwhile, in a different part of Malperdy Hall, were Maddie's three roommates gathered in their own magical class—Introduction to Magical Theory taught by Flora, who was busy flying above their heads, herding them all together as they entered the classroom before finally hovering above the desk at the front of the room.

"Welcome everybody to Introduction to Magical Theory. Here you'll be learning about the theory behind magic and how it works. Now, can anyone tell me what magic is?"

A sudden hush fell upon the class and nobody raised a hand.

The lack of hands didn't bother Flora. "Oh come on now, surely there's one brave soul out there willing to venture a guess." When there were still no hands raised, Flora continued. "Very well then, I suppose I'll just have to call on one of you." Her eyes searched the classroom before finally settling on Miguel. "Would you care to venture a guess Mr. Ramierez?"

Miguel would have much rather stayed silent like the rest of the class, but it appeared he didn't have a choice. "Magic is a force?" he ventured.

"Is that a guess or an answer Mr. Ramierez?"

"An answer," replied Miguel, this time a bit more assured in his response. If he thought about it, his magic was a force, one that was out of control most of the time, but he was working on it.

"Very good then Mr. Ramierez. You are partially correct—magic can be defined as a force and certainly behaves similarly to other forces like that of gravity—obeying Newton's laws and what not. However, magic is much more than just a force. Magic is aware, some might even say it's alive in its own way, and therefore has its own unique set of laws and challenges. Now, if everybody would pull out their textbooks in their desks and turn to page five so we can learn the differences between inherited magic and learned magic…"

The tables in the lunchroom were old and wooden, with names, magical diagrams, and other odds and ends such as a half completed game of tic-tac-toe or the instructions on how to make a soufflé. They were the compilation of twenty years of students eating on them, and a tradition at the Institute.

Something that Maddie found herself explaining to Jack and the others upon their questioning gaze at the tables, having expected pristine surfaces to go along with the clean look of the Institute. They had clearly underestimated the nature of academics. Sure, the tables could have been fixed with a transformation spell or an illusion, but that would have defeated their purpose.

The cafeteria at the Main Hall was large and airy, with windows lining the back wall and an assortment of long tables for huge groups, or single tables for smaller groups laid out in a grid pattern, with the larger tables in the middle. Towards the wall opposite the one with the windows was the lunch line, filled with an assortment of hot and cold foods. The food itself was surprisingly good for cafeteria food, at least to new comers who were unaware that the it was cooked by students attending the cooking school which was taught by Kronk when he wasn't at the restaurant.

Jack, Julie, Miguel, and Maddie were seated at one of the medium-sized tables on the outskirts of the room, along with Munya who found Maddie's new roommates rather amusing.

She was busy pushing around with the broccoli on her plate and eyeing Miguel as he helped himself to some mashed potatoes. "So, magic with electricity, huh? Don't see that kinda magic around here a whole lot, usually nature magic is a lot more nature-y. Did you get it from either of your parents?"

"Something like that," muttered Miguel, not wanting to go into such personal details with a complete stranger.

Realizing that Miguel was not ready to deal with Munya's inquisitive nature, Maddie kicked her under the table, causing Munya to flinch in pain.

"You too, huh?" commented Jack upon seeing Munya's pained expression. "Maddie what is it with you and hurting people for no reason?"

Maddie rolled her eyes at him. "It wasn't for no reason, it was for a perfectly good reason—the both of you were being idiots."

"You're words wound me deeply Mads," replied Munya light-heartedly. "Am I right, Jack?"

"Definitely," agreed Jack, nodding as he threw a French fry into his mouth. "It's like she doesn't know us at all. So Munya, you said you're half genie. Does that mean you're related to the Genie?"

While Munya was tempted to pull a Maddie on Jack, she settled for turning the remaining fries on his plate into a squirming pile of worms, including the one in his hand that was just about to enter his mouth. "Gah!" the worm fell down to the plate where his brethren were waiting, but was quickly frozen into a block of ice with the rest of them thanks to Jack.

"What was that for?"

"That was because of incredibly ignorant your question was. Just because I'm part genie automatically makes me part related to the Genie? Do you know how many genies there are in the world? Okay, so it's not really a whole lot like fairies or Class I animals, but it's still a lot more than for all of us to be related to one another!"

Maddie couldn't help but let a snort of laughter at Munya's rant and Jack's sheepish expression at being dressed down. Munya was usually pretty easy going, but Jack had discovered the one thing that would set her off—making assumptions regarding her genie background. It was a sensitive topic, especially seeing as how there weren't very many of them still around, even with Munya's mother using her first wish to wish all genies who would not use their magic for evil or nefarious free. Maddie was in such good spirits that she even vanished the frozen hunk of worms away into a nearby trash can so the cafeteria workers wouldn't be stuck trying to defrost the mess on his plate.

"So," said Miguel, wanting a change of topic. "How was everyone else's first day? Julie?"

Julie, hadn't said a word so far during lunch, offering a smile here and there at the other's exchanges. There was a time when eating food in such a large space would have been an everyday occurrence, but now it was simply overwhelming. She hadn't been among so many people for months, not to mention eating food like a normal person rather than foraging in the woods.

The truth was, the day was far from over and she was still overwhelmed by it all. The people, the classes, even the buildings themselves—she had seen a doorframe stretch and expand to fit an elephant who was walking upright and straight through it, too busy with its head in a book to notice the doorframe grow and shrink back to normal around him.

"Okay, I guess. It's just different here, having to walk all over to your classes rather than having them all in the same building."

Miguel nodded his head in agreement. "It's true, though I did notice no matter how far away the buildings were, I was never late to class—despite only having five minutes of passing time."

"Oh," said Maddie in understanding. "That's because of the spells. They still haven't quite figured out the magic governing Neverland, but did manage to figure out enough to come up with a spell that stretches time out. It doesn't completely stop time, but it stretches time out enough so you can make it all the way across campus in a manner of minutes."

"Yeah," added Munya, who was back to her light-hearted self. "It's always fun to time yourself while crossing from one side to the other and watch the second hand freeze up. You should try it sometime."

The gong rang, signaling the end of sixth period, and the five scrambled to gather their bags and books while putting their lunch trays on the conveyor belt off to the side that led back to the kitchen.

Miguel followed closely behind Julie. "Where's your next class?"

She slipped the new backpack Maddie had bought for with the other day off her shoulder and unzipped the front pocket, pulling out her schedule. "It says Music Appreciation." Julie frowned at the class, not quite sure what to make of the name or completely ready to go back to making music yet.

Sensing her trepidation, Miguel put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure it'll be fine. If I can get through meditation and mastering my magic without any issue, I'm sure you can do the same with music."

Julie fiddled with her hair and sighed. While she was grateful for his words, she didn't quite agree with them. "Thanks, but I don't think it'll be that easy."

"Anything worth doing seldom is. At least, that's what my Aunt Audrey says."

If Julie had any doubts about her family's involvement with the Sherman Building, they were quickly quashed upon the sight of the statue in front. The Hall had an identical one of its own in the entrance, one of her famous ancestor, Frank Sherman with his signature fiddle, the same one he had been playing on that fateful night he encountered the fey. When going to her third pppperiod class, which had also been in the same building, Maddie had led them to a side entrance for the Literature wing of the building (one that she was now wishing she had taken instead) meaning she had missed the statue at the Main Entrance.

Miguel's calm words and advice disappeared in an instant, and her nerves returned as her ancestor's legacy weighed heavily on her mind. Her feet stopped short of the wide double doors that were the main entrance to the building, causing a bit of a roadblock on the pavement as others were forced to part around her in order to enter the building.

Her shoulders were bumped several times from those passing her by (including a rhino, who had probably left a bruise on her shoulder), and she started to receive odd looks. Not knowing what else to do, but still not quite ready to enter the building, she found her feet leading her away from the doors and towards the nearby woods that bordered the building to the right. The backside had a huge amphitheater that made Julie a bit envious and wondering what the outside performances must be like, but given that there appeared to be students there already – some rehearsing and others simply enjoying the performances and studying—the woods seemed like a might safer option to be alone. Growing up she had never been one for the outdoors, but now they seemed like a safe haven, the trees beckoning her towards them with their long branches.

Before she could them however, there was a tap on her shoulder causing her to jump in surprise.

"Sorry to startle you, but I'm pretty sure your next class is not in the woods, and I should know since I'm your teacher."

The owner of the voice was a tall, middle-aged woman. Her brown hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail on top of her head and she was wearing a light blue dress that was enchanted to look like ocean waves rippling on it. She was also holding out a hand for Julie to shake, causing her to blush in embarrassment out of being caught by her teacher attempting to skip on her first day, and by the fact Julie had been more absorbed in the dress she was wearing than the hand she was sticking out to shake.

"Hi, I'm Julie," she said shyly and feeling like an idiot as soon as she said her name. If the teacher could recognize her and knew her schedule, then she probably already knew Julie's first name.

The woman either hadn't noticed, or was pretending not to notice, and shook Julie's hand. "I'm Aquata and I'll be your teacher for the next semester. Merlin said you might be nervous about being around music again—not that I blame you, I more than understand it's hard to be around something that can cause you so many painful memories—but music is such a rich part of our history—and yours specifically—it'd be wrong to give it up completely and ignore all the good memories it brought you."

Julie mulled over her words. Aquata did have a point about ignoring all the good memories she had of music, but still…

Seeing the hesitation on Julie's face, Aquata said, "Music appreciation is just that, appreciating music. The different types and sounds, the history and evolution of music, and even the impact its had on culture. I won't lie, the Sherman Family is brought up a few times, but you won't have to say anything, and you won't be forced to pick up an instrument if you don't want too—though I do think letting musical talent go to waste is a shame."

"Okay," replied Julie quietly. "I guess it could be interesting in learning the history of music from another perspective, and the stuff on my family. I didn't even know about their involvement here until today."

"Fantastic!" said Aquata as she clapped her hands together. "Come on, the time spell on the campus should be strong enough to make sure we're not late to the class—I wish it had been around when I was younger and your age. Oh, and don't mind the band director, Louis—he's a gator, but he won't hurt you. Also…."

Aquata started to lead her back towards the building and through a small side door on the side, continuing on about Louis, and Sebastian the orchestra director (who was also an old acquaintance of hers, and was rather small), and other teachers in the building including herself (Aquata was also the choir director and in charge of the school musical each fall), where the bathrooms where, and half a dozen other details that Julie had difficulty remembering.

And as Julie walked through the Sherman Fine Arts Building taking in the architecture and music that filled its hallways, for one brief moment, Julie felt something inside of her that she hadn't felt in a while, and thought she'd never feel again—she felt at home.

Later that night, before dinner, Miguel checked in with her and Julie found herself honestly admitting she was looking forward to the next class

Jack couldn't help but stare at his gym teacher, knowing full well the scolding his parents and older sister would give him for doing so. In his defense it was so hard not to. He had thought that the novelty of Class I creatures in Avalon had started to wear off, but he was wrong. His teacher was not only a Class I, but a legend as well.

Standing before him on two goat legs was the satyr known as Phil, the very same one who had trained Hercules.

Jack had never met the guy, but he knew his parents had since he was the representative of the Grecian state, and his mother and him apparently bonded over their lack of control issues when they were younger if the stories his father told were true.

Of course, Hercules was more than just a representative with inhuman strength, he was also the son of two gods as well. Not much was heard out of the Greek gods nowadays since they mainly kept themselves limited to the Grecian state (which, was still free from the spread of Christianity that was prevalent in the European states thanks to numerous treaties that had been signed twenty years ago that Jack really didn't know all the details of or care about other than it prevented religious wars from breaking out).

Phil was a legend in his own right just as much as Hercules, so what he was doing here rather than say at Auradon training a bunch of future heroes, Jack didn't know (okay, it might have something to do with him also being a satyr who had a bit of a reputation with nymphs and dryads, creatures that probably couldn't be found at Auradon Prep).

Whereas before seeing PE on his schedule had seemed boring, it was now promising to be his new favorite class especially once Phil started to speak.

"Alright, listen up, because I'm only to say this once," he said from his spot on the gymnasium floor, to the class who were scattered around the bleachers. "You have two options in passing this class. You can either stick to the regular class and do the normal activities—weight lifting, jousting, archery, horseback riding with Class III's—you need permission from Class IIs should you wish to ride them—swimming, and well, you get the idea. Or—"

Jack perked up at the 'or' part. So far the other activities were those he could do at home, and noticed that others around him had straightened up as well.

"Or you can put yourselves in groups of four and compete in the Goalball League. For those of you who've been here before you know the drill. The first week of classes you'll be playing in pre-selected groups to test your skills and scout out members. The rest of the semester is spent training and doing practice games, with the Championship starting up next semester with the Championship game scheduled for the third week of May. Let's all give a round of applause for our current champions—"

Phil paused here, covering his ears as the gym broke into an uproar and four figures who were seated below Jack on the first row stood up and waved to the group.

"Alright, alright, settle down, don't get too excited. If you win at the school level you then get to go to the big leagues, the Avalon Championship which is held on the Summer Solstice. It's a lot of work and effort, so those of you who are delicate little flowers should stick to the regular track. If you enjoy a challenge and getting your butt kicked, along with the occasional hint of danger, join me outside on the Field. The rest of you can stay inside and do laps around the gym for the rest of day."

Jack had no idea what Goalball was, but he was going to find out.

Goalball as it turns out was Avalon's answer to Tourney, albeit with a lot less rules and regulation. Jack had snickered at being told by a classmate (a bear actually, named Teddy) that the entire point was a team to manage to make a goal on the other team's side, and as soon as one was made the game was over. He was promptly told that it was harder than it sounded, and the longest game on record was for 128 days, 19 hours and 37 minutes.

That caused his snickering to stop instantly.

Goalball only had three rules—all gameplay must take place within the boundaries of the field in all three dimensions, no players or spectators were to be seriously or permanently injured/cursed/mentally or physically altered, and game play had to last for at least five minutes (the latter rule being added after the shortest game on record, merely five seconds, occurred when a player simply teleported to the other side of the field ending the game). Each team was given five minutes before game play started to come up with a strategy and implement any defensive spells or traps against the other teams with a silencing spell around them to prevent eavesdropping.

Other than that, anything was fair game in Goalball. Magic, weapons—as long as the three rules weren't broken, each team could do whatever they wanted to make a goal in the other team's net.

It sounded so simple at first, but then Jack's classmate, Teddy—the bear who had told him of the longest game on record—started to go on about how in the Championship game field conditions could be changed at a moments notice from hail and freezing rain weather conditions, to changing the gravity conditions of the field, or turning it into a vast ocean or a field of lava. And that wasn't even going into what the teams could do to the field depending if they were choosing a more offensive or defensive strategy—besides the field they could also magically alter the ball, or even their own net making it harder for the other team to score.

The entire game sounded fascinating and Jack's palms were practically itching to get started making ice and winning a game of Goalball. Finally, a chance to use his magic without having to worry about being scolded by his parents for doing so in public or causing an international incident. Helga and Sonja would be so jealous once he wrote home and told them about finding a new use for his powers.

Jack had originally been concerned about getting a chance to practice seeing as how there was one field, but it was quickly divided into four smaller fields, with two teams of four on each side. It took a while splitting people into teams (some consisted of members who had been together in years past, others considered of a pair of players who refused to split up, and there were a few single new players like Jack), though it did allow time for Teddy to explain Goalball to him.

Eventually Jack found himself on a team with Teddy, a small female mouse, and what appeared to be an alien—due to the four spotted arms Jack was pretty sure they couldn't be a magical creature.

Across from him was a team consisting of a fairy, an elephant, another alien looking creature, and a pretty-looking female fox.

"That's Rowan, Robin Hood's daughter," whispered Teddy. "Watch out for her, she has her mother's beauty, her father's brains, and a thirst for revenge—her team made it to the school semi-finals last year before losing."

The tiny mouse, who was perched on Teddy's shoulder added, a bit enviously, "I heard that she spent her summer in Zootopia—her father has family there."

The alien on Jack's team didn't have an opinion on Rowan, or her team members, choosing to go straight for strategy as their five minute planning period started.

It (Jack wasn't sure if the alien was a he, she, or another gender entirely, so it seemed like the safer option at this point) turned its three eyes on Jack and the others, sizing them up. "What are your skills? My skin is impervious to magic, and I have my alien tech. Mouse?"

The mouse's nose twitched before answering, and to Jack's surprise, not in a high-pitched voice. "I'm fast and small—I can move about the other team without them noticing me. My mind is quick as well, I can notice small details that others might miss."

"Good," nodded the alien, "Perfect for espionage and sabotage. Bear?"

"I'm strong, and have sharp teeth and claws. I can take direct physical hits and act as a shield for other members—I've been on a team with Enola before."

"So you're our tank then. What about you, Human?"

It took a second for Jack's brain to process that the alien was talking to him, and ignore how the word 'human' sounded like an insult when the alien spoke. "How about a demonstration?" asked Jack, and casually created a snowball in his left hand before vanishing it from sight.

Only Teddy seemed impressed by the display. Enola muttered something under her breath about being right about magic but wrong about what kind, and the alien smirked. "Magic user, eh? You can take on the fairy then."

"Wrong," said Enola. "They'll be expecting that—going by the perspiration on her forehead, she's already deduced Jack's abilities due to his foolish display earlier, and added heating spells around herself and the field. It'd be better for you to go after her with your impervious to magic—they won't be expecting that, figuring you'd go after the other alien. The human—"

"Jack, the human's name is Jack," muttered Jack under his breath. In hindsight showing off his powers may not have been the smartest thing and caused him to lose the element of surprise, but was calling him human and foolish really necessary?

"Fine then, Jack," said Enola, her sensitive ears picking up on Jack's muttering, "should go after Rowan—she'll be their lead player with the ball, but won't get too far with a frozen tail and paws. Teddy can be our lead with the ball once we get it since he's a tank, and I'll be busy running interference. Questions?"

The only problem Jack had with the plan was being referred to as 'human', and his mutterings had already corrected it. The alien seemed a bit miffed over being replaced as the de facto leader, but couldn't come up with any faults in Enola's plan, and Teddy seemed used to Enola being in charge.

All in agreement, they started to work out the fine nuances of their plan—ideas for distract the other team and at Enola's suggestion, several red herrings to keep them guessing, as well as choosing a defensive strategy since the main goal for the day was to be scouted by other team members, and going on the defensive would give all four members a chance to shine and impress others. There was no talk of the four making up their own team—the alien made it clear it was looking for more powerful team members than a mouse and a bear, despite their skill sets, and didn't want to risk its chance at advancement on a newbie magic user like Jack (Jack had to remind himself that icing his own team member before the game even started would not be the best way to make a good impression).

When the five minutes was over—all five of which seemed entirely too short—a loud gong noise filled the air, and a ball suddenly appeared on the halfway line on the field. Keeping with their plan, they didn't rush to the ball, allowing Rowan, as expected to snatch it up in her paws and start running on the field towards them.

After that was chaos. The fairy took to the air—though not to far Jack noted, and wondered what exactly the boundary was in each direction, something he probably should have asked Teddy when he had the chance, but it was too late now—the elephant began to charge at them in order to distract them from Rowan, and the alien started shooting—hopefully non-lethal beams—their way.

Teddy began to charge in the direction of the elephant, who if fully grown might have posed more of a problem for Teddy—while Jack's alien started aiming for the fairy inn the sky, and Enola was who knows where.

Jack leapt into action, and started aim blasts of ice and snow in the fox's direction. Nimbly she sidestepped them, and they landed harmlessly on the ground behind her. She shot what appeared to be predatory grin on her face. "Hah, I was right! Babar thought you'd go after Zinnia, but he underestimated Enola's cunning. Well do try to keep up ice boy." She then launched herself over his head, landing deftly on her feet behind him.

You're not getting away that easily, thought Jack and immediately turned around to follow. Barely a step forward, and Jack found himself tripping into a giant hole—courtesy of the alien if its snickering was anything to go by.

Rather than waste time attempting to climb up the hole's steep sides, he created a spiral staircase out if ice running up it slowly, and created an ice shield in case the alien planned attacking once more as soon as Jack reemerged from the hole.

It was for naught though. Its' weapons were sparking and fizzing out, and a flash of brown down his leg left no doubt in Jack's mind as to who was responsible. Looking around the field, Jack's alien team member was shooting at the fairy while dodging blasts of her magic, and the elephant was no longer on the field. Instead he was off on the sidelines and appeared to be nursing a hurt leg.

Teddy meanwhile was trying his best to guard their net from Rowan, but he appeared to be tiring out due to his heavy panting. He may have been larger and stronger than Rowan, but she was more agile, and was using his size against him, changing direction at the last second, which Teddy was unable to do so easily.

Time to make this an even playing field then.

A blast of ice to the back caused Rowan to falter, and another one to the ground caused Rowan's feet to slip out from under her. Not wasting a moment, Teddy fell down on all fours, and snatched up the ball that had fallen from her hands in the process, in his mouth. He then started to barrel down the field to the opposite side, the time for their defensive strategy at an end.

The fairy turned her attention away from the alien and towards Teddy, who also had Rowan following close behind, on all four paws as well, not letting the slippery terrain slow her down for more than a few seconds.

A few blasts of fairy magic were sent Teddy's way, causing him to be knocked for the side and dropping the ball. Rowan and the fairy were the closest, and both made a move to retrieve it. Not wanting to lose the ball, Jack held out his hands in the air.

A blizzard started to cover the field, leaving only one small gap free of snow and ice—a path that led Teddy straight to the net on the other side. Heating spells may have protected the fairy's wings from ice forming on them and weighing her down, but they couldn't protect her from the severe cross wind, or the blinding snow making it near impossible to see where she was flying. Rowan had gotten buried beneath a pile of snow, unable to see the ball or the rest of the field.

A smile started to form on Jack's face, they had this in the bag, they were going to win because of him. He wondered how many team offers he'd have to turn down once the game was over.

The shrill sound of a whistle broke Jack out of his daydreams. "DISQUALIFIED!"

The blizzard died instantly, not because Jack wanted it to, but because of the shock he was in. Phil was off on the sidelines—near the elephant who was still tending to his leg—and he did not look happy.

Not that Jack was either.

"What do you mean disqualified?!" demanded Jack as he marched over to the satyr. "The fox and fairy might be a little cold, but they aren't seriously harmed."

One of the first lessons his mother had taught him and his sisters in regards to their magic was to know when to stop in regards to human limits. Just because they might not be affected by the cold, didn't mean others weren't, so they had to know how cold was too cold and how much snow and ice was too much for others. Despite what Merlin thought, he did know some things about how to control his magic.

"Kid, that's not the rule I'm talking about—look around you."

Jack did so, and realized what rule Phil was referring to. The blizzard may have been confined to the field, but there was still a slight layer of frost on the grass surrounding them, along with trees in the distance. He could make out small breathes of air coming from the team members on the other fields, and the elephant—Babar—was on the sidelines was shivering.

"Oops," he said sheepishly, running his right hand through his white-blonde hair, not knowing what else to do.

"Oops, doesn't even begin to cover it kid," replied Phil and crossed his arms with a scowl on his face.

A small tan head peeked out from beneath a pile of snow. Enola appeared to be too cold to say much of anything, though she did glare in Jack's direction while Teddy picked her up and proceed to let her nuzzle in his fur in an attempt to warm up.

Jack opened his mouth to apologize, but didn't know how. Phil's mouth then appeared to go as dry as Jack's. "Winnie—"

Turning around, Jack saw the source—standing behind him was a short, cranky-looking lady who looked old enough to be his grandmother.

"Do I look like a yellow bear with a honey addiction to you?" she snarked in a low gravely voice. "Just because you decided to shorten your name didn't mean the rest of us did too, it's Winifred to you. Idjit. Speaking of idjits, which one of yours decided it'd be a good idea to create a frost in August? Don't try to deny it, I felt it over by the greenhouses and traced it over here. Well?"

Phil merely pointed at Jack, apparently cowed by the woman, though Jack wasn't sure why. She was short—coming up to his chin, and her dark brown hair was streaked with gray, with crow's feet forming in the corner's of her eyes. She was dressed in loose pants and a shirt that had spots of dirt scattered about. Despite her diminutive statue, her eyes had a fierce look in them, and she seemed rather imposing with her arms folded as she tapped her left foot—which was barefoot, the same as the right—impatiently.

"Er, sorry, I got carried away I guess," shrugged Jack. He didn't see what the big deal was, everybody would be fine once they warmed up, and so would some plants.

"Carried away? Are you or are you not one of Merlin's new students? Did he teach you nothing about meditating and controlling your magic?"

"Well yeah, but it's only been like a day, well, less of a day really—"

Winnie interrupted him, not letting him get very far, and raised an eyebrow. "Let me great this straight, the great bearded one thought signing you up for Goalball despite having no formal training was a good idea. Tch, idjit."

"I've had training—" protested Jack.

"From the queen who nearly starved her kingdom when she decided to 'let it go'. Don't give me that look boy, there's only one family you could have come from with magic like that."

Jack had been scolded before about his use of magic, which he was used to and fine with. What he wasn't fine with were people going after his mother and her use of magic (or any of his family members really), especially after everything she had went through when she was younger because of it. That was not permissible.

"I HAVE CONTROL!"

If Phil's wincing and covering of his ears were anything to go by, along with the crowed that was starting to form around him, the words had come out louder than he intended.

"Oh really? Then why are there icicles shooting out of the ground? Clearly you don't have control you think you do, idjit. From now on you report to me during this hour and will do so until I'm confident you're not a threat to the plants."

She then turned around on the balls of her feet, ignoring the icicles that had sprouted magically from the ground—and were quickly retreating once Jack realized what he had done and got his temper back under control—not even waiting for Jack's response.

Finally, after nobody said anything, he turned to Phil. "Can she really do that?"

"Kid, she just did."

Miguel stared at this schedule intently, as if at any moment new information would appear about his new class. Maddie has said something about the stove working due to magical mechanics, but he hadn't asked many questions at the time. Now he wished he had.

The class was located in a room with several large tables taking up the majority of the space with stools around them. On the walls were diagrams, schematics, and tools such as wrenches, screwdrivers and hammers—ones that Miguel could use without his pesky little problem flaring up. There were also instruments and tools that Miguel didn't know, and from their unnatural soft glow was going to guess weren't electric based—apparently this was the part where magic entered the mechanical side of things.

The table he sat down at was initially empty, but eventually a blonde hair girl sat down opposite to him, pulling out a notebook that was covered in colorful doodles and presumably doing the same to the inside. She gave him a polite smile before doing so, but judging by her face she was quickly lost in her own little world.

Also joining them was an older boy who reminded him a bit of the half-genie girl—Munya if he remembered correctly—who had sat with them at lunch. He proceeded to pull out a book and quickly became as lost in them as the girl was in her doodles.

That worked just fine for Miguel, he wasn't that big of a talker anyway, instead preferring to stick to the background where his problem couldn't cause that many issues. Taking the other seat at the table, and the last arrival of the class, was a dark-skinned girl with sandy hair that was pulled back, and what appeared to be small blue tattoos underneath her eyes. She and the older boy exchanged surprised looks of recognition, before the boy returned his attention back to his notes.

Miguel, figuring it was rude to stare at the display, swiveled his head around looking at the rest of his new classmates, not all of which were human. His Aunt Audrey would be happy to know that about a third of the class was made up of girls—while a female mechanic was no longer quite the rarity it was, getting girls interested in STEM subjects was still hard since a fair number of the population were still stuck in the belief tht girls should be mothers and wives rather than scientists and engineers.

His teacher was female and humanoid—at least she looked humanoid, strolling into the classroom just as the gong sound from earlier rang, signaling it was time for class to begin. Her dark red hair was cut short and hidden by a bandana tied on the top of her head, and if she hadn't positioned herself at the front of the room facing the class, Miguel might have mistaken her for another student due to her quirky graphic t-shirt, pair of jeans, and youthful appearance (she looked older than Miguel, but not by more than ten years).

A flash of light caught Miguel's eyes as a bracelet reflected the lighting in the room at just the right angle as she picked up a piece of chalk and began to write on the board, 'Magical Mechanics'.

Satisfied, she turned back around, facing the class. "As you can see on the board, welcome to Magical Mechanics. If this is the class you're looking for congrats, if not, the door is that way or you can stick around if you want.

"I answer to 'hey you', 'teach', and 'Rosie'. Call me 'Ms. Red' and you'll find yourself in trouble of flunking this class, which is an extremely hard thing to do— and that's including the time a student's project took out a wall.

"The first month will be review—two weeks on science and two weeks on magic."

She paused as a loud groan filled the room (including one from the boy at his table), and held up her hands in an attempt to quiet the students.

"I know there are some old timers in here, but there are newbies too who don't deserve to be thrown into the deep end without some floaties first. There's also plenty of you who've probably forgotten material over the summer, so don't pretend otherwise. If you think review isn't for you, then feel free to do other work or sleep in the class—as long as you don't disturb the rest of us, I don't care. Beware though, if you have issue with the material later on because you thought you already knew it, don't come crying to me about it.

"As I was saying two weeks on the sciences starting with simple machines, statics, dynamics, thermodynamics, magnetics, and circuits. Then two weeks on the magical side of things—runes, wards, spellcasting, and potions. Remember, these classes do not replace those, just act as crash courses for those who haven't had them yet.

"You'll then spend the rest of the semester in groups working on a project—be it one of your own choosing, or one of mine and all must meet my approval. Over the next month you'll be working in different groups on mini projects at the end of each week—first a catapult, then a five step Rube Goldberg machine without any magical aid for the first two weeks, and with magical aid for the last two weeks. Each project you'll be working with new people to get to know who you'll work well with. At the end of the month you can pick your final groups—though I do get final say and can move people around if I want. Each group must have at least one magical and non-magical being per group."

Miguel had been writing down notes as she began, and was grateful he had thought to do so for he didn't know if he could have remembered everything she said. He appreciated the crash courses— he already had a lot of background knowledge when it came to the science side, even circuits (just because he wasn't allowed to interact with them didn't mean he didn't understand how they worked), but would definitely need the magical crash course.

The projects sounded interesting as well, and his mind was already trying to come up with ideas. Who knew, maybe he could even impress his Aunt Audrey and family if he could come up with a device where his pesky little problem could be an advantage rather than a disadvantage.

After taking a break for a drink of water, Rosie continued. "Questions? No? Good. Now, who here can name a simple machine?"

Dinner was a quiet affair, not unlike the night before. Having remembered to stop by the cafeteria to request food for the week, Miguel had decided to go with something simple—meatloaf since it could last as leftovers for the week with vegetables as sides, and was easy to make.

Merlin finally broke the silence. "So, how was everybody's first day?"

"Okay."

"Fine."

"Meh."

"Long."

Not quite satisfied with four different, but similar one word answers, Merlin decided to focus his attention on Jack.

"I don't suppose your meh day had anything to do with a run in with a certain Winifred Miller, does it?

Jack paled slightly, while Maddie perked up at the name and leaned forward. "What'd you do?"

"Nothing," muttered Jack, pushing the meatloaf around on his plate.

"I wouldn't call losing control of your magic during Goalball practice nothing Jack."

While neither Maddie, Miguel nor Julie had been outside during the incident, they had heard rumors about something happening outside, but hadn't heard the exact details, figuring they'd hear more tomorrow.

"I didn't lose control, I'm not the human night-light over there," he said and pointed to Miguel to his right.

"Jack, I believe that was uncalled for, and Miguel deserves an apology," reprimanded Merlin, his voice taking on a sterner tone than normal.

"It's fine," assured Miguel, who was used to being teased and not wanting things to escalate after having one of his better first days at school.

"See, he said he's—ow!"

Jack started to gingerly rub his knee from where Maddie's foot had made contact. "Seriously, what is with you and all the violence? Go take an anger management class or something."

"Maddie, stop hitting Jack."

"Tell him to stop being an insensitive jerk and spoiled prince," retorted Maddie.

"Oh yeah, well—"

"Enough!"

Both Maddie and Jack stop their squabbling instantly, neither willing to push Merlin further. While he hadn't used any magic yet to break them up, there was no guarantee he wouldn't resort to such measures in the future.

"Now as I was saying," said Merlin, this time in a much lower and softer tone than before, "after talking to Winifred, I must say she has a point. You'll spend the rest of your semester during seventh period with her learning better control, and making up for the damage you harm you caused her plants today."

Jack nearly choked on his last piece of meatloaf at the news. "Wha-a-at? Just because I accidentally went beyond the field boundaries I have to spend the rest of the year with a little old lady helping her water her begonias?"

Maddie (barely) stops from spitting out her gulp of milk at the words, and Jack eyed her suspiciously, wondering what he was missing out on.

A sharp look from Merlin discouraged either of them from starting anything up again, before he proceeded to elaborate. "Winifred is more than simply a little old lady who waters begonias, Jack. She has plant magic and oversees the greenhouses on campus—including the carrots that are currently on your plate—"

A clattering noise filled the air as Jack dropped his fork with several speared carrots on it as if it had just grown an extra head. Merlin paid it no mind. "—and was instrumental in helping your mother recover as much as Arendelle's crops as possible from her frozen summer. Crops may have been leaner than usual that year, but nobody starved and Arendelle didn't deplete its treasury by trying to buy up crops from countries who might have charged unjustly in an attempt to take advantage of the situation."

Jack had never thought about the crops or plants in Arendelle that might have been affected by his mother's frozen summer before, never stopping for a second to think of any of the negatives when they had been so many positive outcomes (his mother coming to terms with her magic, Arendelle opening back up again, his Aunt Anna and Uncle Kristoff meeting, the events that led to his parents meeting, adding Olaf and Sven to their family just to name a few).

Maddied nodded along. "And she's one of the few gardeners in the world who's had any success in growing Wonderland plants outside of Wonderland."

"Exactly," agreed Merlin. "She's also capable of giving you the strict magical discipline that you so desperately need."

"Do not," grumbled Jack.

Maddie looked as if she wanted to say something. Deciding that a change of topic was needed he asked, "So, what is Goalball?"

He and Julie then spent the next hour listening to Jack go on with enthusiasm about his newly discovered sport, Maddie then adding in her own commentary and talking about past championship games and famous players, and Merlin then adding in his own commentary on the origins of the game and the prospects for the upcoming season.

By the end of it, Miguel found himself wishing he had chosen a different topic.

*Author's Note*

I had a reviewer ask if I needed more ideas for this story, and as evident by the 13,000+ word chapter, plus the length of this author's note, it should be evident I do not need more ideas, if anything I need less. I took some time off from this story to see if maybe some of the plot points I wanted to get into would be better if I split it into different stories. Eventually I worked things out.

Next chapter will be over the course of a month and hopefully by the end the plot will be kicking in and I'll be done with all the set-up.

Below are additional notes for the characters—their schedules, notes on OCs and including more background information on some that will probably never make it into the actual story. Feel free to continue reading, if not, thanks for getting this far and please leave a review!

Schedules:

Maddie (Sophomore):

1. 8:00 – 8:45 AM: Practical Magic with Merlin, Malperdy Hall

2. 8:50 – 9:35 AM: Chem II, John Darling, STEM

3. 9:40 – 10:25 AM: Alternate Fairytales Around the World, Jiminy Cricket, Sherman Fine Arts Building

4. 10:30 – 11:15 AM: Modern History, Jane (of Tarzan and Jane), Culture and Heritage

5. 11:20 – 12:05 PM: Runes of the Ancient World, Merlin, Malperdy

6. 12:10 – 12:55 PM: Lunch, Cafeteria, Main Hall

7. 1:00 – 1:45 PM: Pre-Calc, Professor Archimedes (Jane's father), STEM

8. 1:50 – 2:35 PM: Beginner's Guide to Curse-Breaking, Flora, Malperdy

Julie (Freshman):

1. 8:00 – 8:45 AM: Practical Magic with Merlin, Malperdy Hall

2. 8:50 – 9:35 AM: Ancient History, Jane, Culture and Heritage

3. 9:40 – 10:25 AM: Alternate Fairytales Around the World, Jiminy Cricket, Sherman Fine Arts Building

4. 10:30 – 11:15 AM: Chem I, John Darling, STEM

5. 11:20 – 12:05 PM: Intro to Magical Theory,, Flora, Malperdy

6. 12:10 – 12:55 PM: Lunch, Cafeteria, Main Hall

7. 1:00 – 1:45 PM: Music Appreciation, Aquata, Sherman Fine Arts Building

8. 1:50 – 2:35 PM: Algebra II, Professor Archimedes, STEM

Jack (Sophomore):

1. 8:00 – 8:45 AM: Practical Magic with Merlin, Malperdy Hall

2. 8:50 – 9:35 AM: Chem II, John Darling, STEM

3. 9:40 – 10:25 AM: Alternate Fairytales Around the World, Jiminy Cricket, Sherman Fine Arts Building

4. 10:30 – 11:15 AM: Modern History, Jane (of Tarzan and Jane), Culture and Heritage

5. 11:20 – 12:05 PM: Pre-Calc, Professor Archimedes, STEM

6. 12:10 – 12:55 PM: Lunch, Cafeteria, Main Hall

7. 1:00 – 1:45 PM: Intro to Magical Theory, Flora, Malperdy

8. 1:50 – 2:35 PM: PE, Phil, Main Building

Miguel (Junior):

1. 8:00 – 8:45 AM: Practical Magic with Merlin, Malperdy Hall

2. 8:50 – 9:35 AM: Calc I, Professor Archimedes, STEM

3. 9:40 – 10:25 AM: Alternate Fairytales Around the World, Jiminy Cricket, Culture and Heritage

4. 10:30 – 11:15 AM: Modern History, Jane (of Tarzan and Jane), Culture and Heritage

5. 11:20 – 12:05 PM: Intro to Magical Theory, Flora, Malperdy

6. 12:10 – 12:55 PM: Lunch, Cafeteria, Main Hall

7. 1:00 – 1:45 PM: Magical Mechanics, Rosie, Malperdy

8. 1:50 – 2:35 PM: Physics II, John Darling, STEM

Christopher Robin and Mowgli: Head canon is that their stories happened recently. The Hundred Acre Woods are a part of the Reserve and leaking magic brought his toys that he would leave outside to life. Mowgli ended up being adopted by Tarzan and Jane, who could understand the whole wild child and best friends with jungle animals bit.

Camelot: This story is AU after the first movie. I know in one of the books Camelot and King Arthur is still around, but that's not the case here.

Munya Evans and parents: Munya was inspired by the idea that there had to be more genies in the Disney universe besides Genie (and Jafar), and wondering why Aladdin didn't wish ALL genies of benevolent nature free (to avoid freeing ones of Jafar's nature).

Munya's mother, Angelica grew up in a middle class household and was taught to have a good work ethic. So when she came across a genie's bottle she didn't want to make any wishes because she viewed it as a form of 'cheating' and wanted to get what she wanted by working and earning it, not by simply wishing for it. This drove Munya's father, Farid, a bit crazy, since he was used to bad masters and was a 'be careful what you wish for genie' and was just waiting to screw up a wish. Eventually Angelica wished him, and all other genies who wouldn't destroy/try to overtake the world/not cause serious harm to others free.

Being free was great at first, but not knowing what to do with himself, Farid sticks around Angelica. After a series of mis-adventures the two eventually fell in love. Angelica goes on to be a lawyer and starts a prestigious law firm in Avalon. Her first big case is defending Farid who gets himself into a sticky situation when he curses a waiter in a restaurant who wouldn't leave Angelica alone after turning him down. She establishes that when the Enchantress cursed Prince Adam and his servants, without facing any legal repercussions (though that was more due to the fact nobody wanted to arrest/prosecute a powerful enchantress) she set a precedence for 'what goes around comes around' or karmic justice as she called it. In essence, it was another form of self-defense aimed at those who without magical intervention might go on to commit more serious crimes in the future. Farid still goes around dosing karmic justice (as do other genies and magical creatures), but is now more careful about it. She also defends The Three Billy Goats Gruff in their case, saw to it that Jack the Nimble received a reduce sentence and treatment for his pyromania after his candle stick jumping burned his neighbor's house down, and defended The Three Bears (more on that later).

Farid is a stay at home who keeps busy teaching his children magic, starting a support group (really more of an excuse to get together and compare exploits while drinking) for free genies. He and his wife took their family to Atlantis for the summer for a well deserved break.

Inherited magic vs. learned: Inherited magic is when magic is inherited through a family line/specie class (Munya inheriting her father's genie magic, Jack inheriting his mother's). Inherited magic can be more powerful and more dangerous than learned magic, and more specialized as well. Learned magic is performed by using artefacts of power (staffs, wands, amulets) and through potion making. Examples include Jafar, Ursula, the Evil Queen. Anybody is capable of learning magic, though some may have more aptitude and talent for it than others.

Aquata: When the Institute was forming, a mermaid expert was wanted to properly represent their culture. Ariel was too busy with her own duties, so Triton asked one of his other daughters to volunteer to become human. Aquata, tired of being the middle sister volunteered and has lived in Avalon ever since, though she does have monthly visits with her father and sisters under the water. Events occurring in The Little Mermaid III: Ariel's Beginning are referenced here—Triton banning music after his wife is killed. There's not much on Aquata's character, so I took a few liberties with her.

Goalball: I wanted a game that would be Avalon's Tourney but with magic, and this was the result. Phil still keeps in touch with Hercules and Meg in Greece, and every year they come to the championship game (both have competed in prior years).

Rowan Hood: Was going to play a larger part in this story but reduced to a smaller role. As mentioned, she's Robin Hood's daughter and has his mind with her mother's looks. Zootopia exists in this world as a place for Class I animals to live like regular humans, away from the magic in Avalon. Through her father she's related to Nick Wild.

Enola and Teddy: Originally I just needed more characters for Goalball, but somehow these characters ended up with their own back story. Enola is related to Basil (who's based on Sherlock Holmes) and Teddy, aka Baby Bear, is her Dawson/Watson.

They met on what Dawson was to call, 'The Poison in the Porridge' case. Upon returning from a walk while their porridge cooled, the three bears found Goldilocks passed out in their bed. Not being able to stir her they called the authorities who rushed her to the hospital where it was discovered she had been poisoned—which was found in the 'just right' bowl. Mama and Papa Bear insist they're innocent and Angelica Evans contacts Basil to investigate. Enola accompanies Basil on the case, due to Basil's assumption she might be able to get Baby Bear/Teddy to open up (up to that point he had barely spoken a word to any investigators).

Basil figures out the poison was actually intended for somebody else. The Bear's neighbor, a Mrs. Wolf (mother of the Big Bad Wolf along with a relation of the Wolf in Pinocchio) knew the Bears always left their house for a half hour on Sundays while their weekly porridge cooled. After her son was released due to his actions regarding Three Little Pigs, he went after Little Red Riding Hood and was killed. In retaliation, she sent Little Red Riding Hood a letter inviting her over for porridge. Due to a slight mix up, the letter was opened by Goldilocks instead—Red's roommate, who was a bit older and bigger than Little Red Riding Hood, hence the poison not completely killing her.

The Three Bears are released from custody, Mrs. Wolf confesses, Enola and Teddy start a long friendship, and Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks move to Avalon City to get away from any more pontential life threatening encounters with animals.

Winifred: Not a character I had in mind when I started this story, but I realized I needed somebody who could be tough with Jack and knock some sense into his head. She's inspired by three different fictional characters.

Rosie: An OC character from the other story I was considering making. More on her in future chapters.

Rube Goldberg Machine: A Rube Goldberg machine is a machine that uses a bunch of complicated steps in order to perform a simple task, and are fun to make (even if they induce several events of hair pulling and stress in order to get them to work properly). The game Mousetrap is an example of a Rube Goldberg machine, Ok Go has a music video with one as well.

If you've stuck with me this far, thanks, and please leave a review!