Amanda and Diana trudged their way out of the courtyard and into the main halls of the school as Lotte fretted on behind them while Sucy, due to her overly long gown and odd posture, slithered on behind them.

Akko's body held the same consistency of a big, dead fish and sometimes slipped through the girls arms and flopped onto the floor. After a few tries, they figured out that Akko wouldn't move if they squished her between them enough that movement wasn't an option.

The large arched windows bathed the decorated halls of Luna Nova Academy in the golden light of the setting late spring sun. The school opened up to them in a way none of them had really seen before. The halls were usually bustling with people; more so in the recent months. The only times the halls were ever this empty was during class periods, and late into the evening or early morning. The students and faculty typically skittered off to their dorms around this time.

How long were we outside? How long were we practicing spells? Diana thought.

As a benefit though, it meant a clear path straight to Akko's room and less possibility of running into people and having to deal with an awkward conversation.

There were some faculty members dotted around, but they at least appeared to be preoccupied with something far more important than some students shuffling around the place.

Things were going smoothly, Diana and Amanda marched on with Akko's limp feet dragging along the floor., while Lotte and Sucy acted as guards ahead, ready to give signal if anyone approached. Diana felt at ease, at least more so than she had been that day.

After a few false warnings given by Lotte; only because of her brand of hyper caution, which could be anything from 'there's a teacher right behind you' to 'a bird flew past the window, maybe', they left the ostentatious main hall and went into the dingy student accommodation. It was a musky place, sometimes damp, sometimes moldy, but the students were fine with this. Students can survive the most unlivable of conditions. It was left this way because the staff don't really trust the students with anything more.

Diana's mind started to wander; What will we do next? When will Akko recover? Will she recover? How long can we keep this goi-

"What on Earth is going on here?" a shrill voice called out from a corridor to the left of them.

A sharp pang of pure panic froze the girls where they stood. Diana looked over to see the looming presence of Miss Finnelan. Her sharp, rigid features and iron clad posture gave her the impression as less of a teacher and more of a inquisitor or even a Templar. She was the kind of woman who you would think was born old. At least this was the way Akko thought of her. In truth, she was a tall, imperturbable woman who had a fondness for rules, organization, and order, and was not afraid to tell people when something happened which she did not approve of; she absolutely would not approve of what was happening here.

Lotte gave out a sheepish bleat of fear, Amanda, being far more used to situations like these than she should be, froze in a trance like state as her brain processed every possible way to escape or shift blame, Diana let out a stuffed 'errrm' as her mouth started to move before her brain did, and Sucy was nowhere to be seen.

Diana was the oldest, the smartest, richest, and the girl Miss Finnelan trusted most out of the entire group, possibly even the entire school. This made her a perfect target for Miss Finnelan's interrogatives.

"Diana, I'm going to ask you again," she demanded, as she stormed up to the girls, the earth quaking with each step.

Time appeared to stop as Diana's mind went into overdrive.

This is it, Diana thought. She'll find out about Akko; she'll find out about the book; she'll find out where we got it. Akko and Amanda will probably be expelled and never get to practice magic again.

Diana's emotions pushed straight through fear and swelled up into anger.

Well, screw it, Diana decided in fiery defiance. Akko has done so much for us, so much for me. I'm not going to let her be expelled for trying something new, unconventional and risky; isn't that what being a witch is all about?

Consequences be damned, Diana would put everything on the line for her friend. It was about time someone stand up to Miss Finnelan and the way she treated Akko. The thought of unloading all this rage into a verbal assault oddly excited her, if only a little.

She inhaled deeply and opened her mouth ready to unleash a well deserved verbal torrent, then she heard something to her right.

"Akko's sick!" Amanda quickly interjected. "We were just taking her back to her room."

Amanda's quick answer caught Miss Finnelan off guard. Whenever Amanda was in a group that was in trouble, she would try to slink into the background and try and disappear; a technique with an infrequent success rate, but Amanda was too stubborn for it to matter.

"I'm sorry?" Miss Finnelan said. The words themselves would be polite from any mouth other than Miss Finnelans, she had a way of dripping each word with enough venom to kill a dragon. "And why is she wearing those ridiculous glasses?"

After one good lie, Amanda was out of ideas and stood there in a gormless silence.

"She's sensitive to light," Diana added. She was usually against lying to the faculty, but this was a unique circumstance.

The look in Miss Finnelan's eyes was not an impressed look, it was not an understanding or sympathetic look, it was more of a murder look. She obviously knew something was wrong, but she couldn't outright prove it yet, but Miss Finnelan wasn't the type of woman to let something as small as 'evidence' get in the way of a good accusation, especially when Akko was involved.

At least she would till another voice appeared behind them.

"You know that sounds a lot like Hyperphotoatoxia. You should get her to bed."

Miss Finnelan turned to find Miss Ursula standing behind her, the hallway light glinting off her glasses as the large witch hat shrouded her face in shadow.

"You don't really believe that, right?"

"If not, I suppose you have to punish them, but if she really is sick and you neglect that, then you're in far deeper punishment than these girls could be faking it."

Miss Finnelan shot the girls a suspecting look and threw her hands up in defeat.

"Fine whatever, I'm far too busy to be dealing with it anyway. You deal with it."

And with that, she stormed off in a hurry, almost as though her tail was between her legs, but head held high as not to admit it. Miss Ursula went over to look over Akko still hanging off of Diana and Amanda. Diana exhaled and calmed down. In equal parts, she felt relieved and disappointed, all that pent up energy, just uselessly let go. It was probably for the best. Given Miss Ursula's relationship with Akko, she could trust her. Sucy returned from around the corner.

"Where the hell were you?" Amanda shouted.

"Lavatory. Why what did I miss?"

"We got our throats ripped out by Miss Finnelan! You were supposed to keep lookout!"

"I never said I'd be a lookout. Why? Did you assume I was?"

Without a word, Diana took the book from her bag and handed it to Miss Ursula.

"Oh dear," she said, thumbing through the pages. "Best we can do right now is keep her out of sight, get her back to her room and wait till tomorrow."

"Why tomorrow?"

"Didn't you hear? There's an important visit tomorrow. That what Miss Finnelan is preparing for.

"Who's visiting?"

"Mr Parlance, he hasn't been here for hundreds of years."

"I thought most wizards disappeared."

"They did. But one or two still remain out there."

"So why is he coming here?"

"He wrote many of the books held here, including this one."