Talking to a book had become normal for Ophelia, but seeing someone talk to a book did look strange. That's what June thought as she stood in the door to their dorm.
Fila and June looked at each other. "Sooo, having good company?" June asked.
"The best," Fila rasped, her voice returning to its usual dry, sarcastic edge. "It doesn't snore, it doesn't steal my hair ribbons, and it actually knows how to keep a secret. You should try it sometime, June. It's a very attentive listener."
June walked passed towards her bed. "HaHa." She let out and fell onto her bed. "You know there is this guy in the snake house, he looks at me weird, probably obsessed by my beauty." She said proudly.
Fila looked at her. "Have you even talked to him, and who is him?"
June didn't answer and just looked out of the tall windows towards the setting sun. and than she sat up. "I don't even know his name."
Fila let out a short, melodic bark of a laugh, the sound vibrating through the lush greenery she'd grown around the room. In her sapphire vision, June's aura flared with a bright, bubbly pink that signaled a classic case of wishful thinking.
"So, let me get this straight," Fila rasped, her head tilting as she leaned back against her desk, the heavy book still resting beneath her hand. "A mysterious boy from Horned Serpent looks at you once, and you've already decided he's drafting poems about your beauty? June, your ego is starting to outgrow the dormitory. It's a miracle the roof hasn't popped off."
"He looked at me twice," June corrected, though she sounded a bit less certain as she flopped back onto her pillows. "And he had that look. You know the one. Intense. Like he was trying to solve a complicated potion."
"Or like he was trying to remember if he'd left his cauldron on," Fila chirped. "That's the Horned Serpent default setting. They always look like they're calculating the square root of a headache. If you want his name, I could always have Munin 'reflexively' trip him in the hallway tomorrow. You can introduce yourself while he's picking up his ink bottles."
Hugin let out a low, wooden creak at the mention of his name, his eyes glowing a faint violet in the dimming light.
June groaned, pulling a pillow over her face. "You're ruinous, Ophelia. Truly. Not everything needs to be a tactical maneuver involving wooden predators."
"In my experience, everything is better when it involves tactical maneuvers," Fila said.
She looked toward the window where June was staring. Fila couldn't see the sunset, but she could feel the change in the light's frequency, the way the world was cooling and sharpening into shadows.
"Just be careful with the 'obsessed' ones, June," Fila added, her tone shifting just enough to make June peek out from under her pillow. "Sometimes people look because they're curious. Other times, they're looking for a weakness. Don't give them one for free."
June sat up, her magic flickering with a touch of sobriety. "You're doing that 'dark and mysterious' thing again. We're just talking about a boy, not a duel to the death."
Fila's smirk didn't reach her ears this time. "I know. Habit."
"Right, sorry." June realized what she had said. Considering Fila's history of getting to close to a death eater.
And than a knock came from the door, Fila just flicked her finger. Making the door open. And in the door stood Millies.
June and Fila looked at him confused, "Can I come in?" he asked politely.
"The door is open." June said as she leaned back into the bed.
Millies didn't come into their room often, or ever. Since all girls room had a lock, so that boys couldn't just enter. But the boys room were unlocked for all. kind of funny to Fila, as she could remember how many times she had barged in while they were changing.
Milles sat down on one of the chair by a desk.
And to Fila this was a great opportunity. "Milles, do students die often in these tournament duels?" she asked him.
Millies didn't have to think long. "Yes, I think last school who had it, had two students die. It doesn't happen often, but it happens."
"Two students," June whispered from her bed, her bubbly pink aura turning a sharp, jagged violet. "Miles, that's... that's not just an accident. That's a tragedy. Why would Fontaine let our champions go if it's that dangerous?"
"Because it's not supposed to be," Miles said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "The rules are semi strict. Medi-wizards on standby, ancient protection charms on the platforms... but when you get the best students from four different continents in one room, things get heated. People try things they shouldn't. Spells collide and do things no one expects."
Basically saying that shit happens.
"So what are the rules, because Professor Hale has not told me anything." Fila asked while siting down on the edge of her bed.
Millies leaned back and sighed. "Until surrender or until unable to go on."
Fila looked at him with a deadpan face. "SO there are basically no fucking rules. Except probably dark spells?"
He just shrugged. "pretty much."
June looked worried. "I feel bad for the poor boy meeting Fila."
Fila let out a low, raspy chuckle that sent a slight ripple through the vines on the ceiling.
"Don't worry about the 'poor boy,' June," Fila chirped, "I'm sure whoever he is, he's spent his whole life being told how brilliant he is. A little time in the dark will be educational for him. It's a very grounding experience, really."
"Surrender or unable to go on," she repeated, the words lingering. "That's quite the margin for error. It means as long as they don't use the Unforgivables, the 'creative' stuff is fair game."
Millies nodded slowly, his eyes tracking the way Hugin tilted his wooden head toward the conversation. "Fontaine and the Board of Governors call it 'testing the limits of magical endurance.' Everyone else calls it a blood sport with better marketing. Just... don't lose yourself in it, Fila. The goal is a trophy, not a body count."
As Fila dove deeper into thinking about it all, another knock took her out of it. this time June opened the door.
And there stood Theo.
"Is this the designated meeting room for today?" June said with a sigh.
Theo shrugged. "The common room is packed, and Calla and Elliot are cuddling in our room."
"Sounds like our room has officially been declared the only sanctuary left in the tower," June said, making room on her bed as if she hadn't just been complaining about the crowd.
Theo stepped in, his presence immediately filling the space with a familiar, grounding energy. He took one look at the vines creeping across the ceiling and the serious expressions on Miles and Fila, and the slight quirk of his mouth vanished. He settled onto the edge of Fila's desk, avoiding the heavy book she'd been consulting.
"You look like you're planning a coup," Theo noted, his eyes drifting to Fila. "Or a funeral. Which one is it?"
"Neither, yet," Fila rasped, her head tilting toward him. "Miles was just explaining the rules of the tournament. Or the lack thereof. Apparently, the goal is to keep going until someone simply can't. It's less of a duel and more of a test to see who breaks first."
Theo's posture stiffened. He looked at Miles, then back to Fila. "That's the normal." And than Theo thought for a moment, looked at the two panthers laying on the floor. "Oh I feel bad for who you are going against."
"THEO, don't encourage her!" June said.
Theo just gave a small, lopsided shrug, though his expression remained more serious than his casual posture suggested. "I'm not encouraging her, June. I'm just being a realist. Most duelists at this level are used to traditional stances and predictable spells. They aren't used to fighting someone who sees the world as a sapphire garden and has two wooden predators waiting for a reason to snap."
"Exactly," Fila chirped, her fingers absentmindedly tracing the grain of the desk. "If they wanted a polite exchange of sparks, they should have invited the charm club. This is Brazil. It's a jungle. And last time I checked, jungles aren't known for their manners."
Miles shifted in his chair, his eyes moving between Theo and Fila. "The problem isn't the manners, it's the aftermath. 'Unable to go on' is a very broad term, Fila. In some cultures, that means a stunner. In others... well, it means you don't wake up for a week."
"Then I'll just have to make sure they're the ones having the long nap," Fila rasped. She turned her head toward Theo, sensing the familiar weight of his focus on her. "You think I'm going too far, don't you? You have that 'I need to protect the fragile girl' look again. It's very distracting."
Theo let out a dry snort. "Fragile is the last word I'd use for you, Fila. I'm just wondering if you're actually ready for how people are going to look at you after this. If you go in there and play the 'Grindelwald heir' too well, you aren't just a champion anymore. You're a threat."
"I'd rather be a threat than a victim, Theo," she replied,
"Yeahyeah. Lets talk about something less depressing. The first years are scared of you" he said with a smile.
Fila looked at Theo "What?"
He picked up a pices of paper from the desk and started folding it. "Yeah, I overheard them talking, and think your scary. Being blind and champion seems to give that effect."
Fila facepalmed. "How is that less depressing?"
"Because its really funny." Millies cut in.
Fila looked at June for support. "I have to agree, that's funny. Knowing you are usually the teddy bear, and they see some thunderbird monster."
Fila groaned, though a faint, jagged smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth. "A teddy bear? June, please. Teddy bears don't turn people into coffee tables, and they certainly don't manifest four-meter-tall tree golems just to watch a bully's ego implode."
"To them, you're a ghost story that walks and talks," Theo added, his fingers deftly finishing a small paper bird and setting it on the desk. "The blindfold doesn't help. It adds a certain... 'I don't need to see you to end you' aesthetic. You can't blame them for being a bit jumpy when you click-clack down the hall with your personal security detail."
Good dammit, he's right.
Hugin let out a low, wooden rumble that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle, while Munin simply rested his chin on Fila's boot.
"It's the aura of mystery," Miles noted, leaning back and looking far more relaxed now that the talk of death had subsided. "Most champions are all flashy sparks and loud shouting. You're just... quiet. Until you aren't. That's far more terrifying to a eleven year old than Aaron's vibrating cactus routine."
"See?" Theo chirped, giving Fila a playful nudge with his shoulder. "You've already won the psychological war without even trying. You're a legend before you've even stepped onto the plane. I'd say that's a pretty good start for a 'humble servant' like me to manage."
Fila shook her head, her raspy voice softening. "I suppose it is a bit funny. I'll have to make sure to lean into it. Maybe I'll start whispering in Latin whenever a first year passes. That should really seal the deal."
"Don't you dare," June laughed, throwing a stray sock at her. "I already have to live with the vines and the humming lilies. I don't need 'creepy prophet' added to the list."
Fila smiled, the heavy weight from her conversation with the book and Miles finally beginning to lift, replaced by the familiar warmth of her friends. She looked toward Theo, sensing the way he watched her, not with fear, but with that steady, charcoal-toned loyalty that made the dark seem a lot less lonely.
"Fine, no Latin," Fila conceded. "But I'm still taking the panthers. I'd hate to Disappoint my fans."
As the group continued to banter, the looming threat of Brazil felt a little further away. They were still just students in a tower, making jokes in the dark.
The next day brought Fila back into the normal school life, with charms, potions and defense against dark art.
Its funny how she had been cursed twice by the cruciatus curse, and only just now learning about it. and during the whole time professor Hale seemed to shot an eye towards her. Probably thinking she would have some relapse of sort.
But Fila didn't think about that, her mind was still on the fact that all first years thought of her as some mysterious witch. And she had seen it first hand just this morning during breakfast. They all gave her side eyes and seemed to go as far away as possible.
Fila had pleaded to Calla to convince them otherwise, but Calla had told her to do it herself. She had even tried the puppy eyes, but the problem laid in that this puppy didn't have eyes, so the best she could do was a sad lip. Which to her surprise didn't work. Who would've thought.
"The sad lip was a solid effort, Ophelia, but I think the two-meter wooden predators kind of offset the 'vulnerable puppy' aesthetic," Theo said later that afternoon, falling into step beside her. "It's hard to look harmless when your furniture looks like it wants to hunt for sport."
Fila huffed, the sound raspy and dry. "I told them to look friendly. Hugin even tried to wag his tail, or whatever that wooden flapping sound was."
"It sounded like a door being ripped off its hinges," Theo noted helpfully. "The first years in the corridor nearly jumped into the suits of armor. You're not helping your case."
Fila sighed in defeat.
But through her flower she saw an opportunity. The boy who had talked with Fila in the commonroom on the first day.
She approached him slowly. Trying not to scare him away, but he looked at fila and didn't seem to react. "Hello senior." He said calmly as she stood in front of him.
"Why are all first years scared of me?" Fila asked in a serious tone.
The boy's name was Kevin, looked confused. "We aren't, or one of us are but not I the scary way. More in the respectful way."
Fila looked confused. "But why is everyone avoiding me, and side eyeing me?"
Kevin tilted his head, looking at Fila with an expression that was surprisingly analytical for an eleven-year-old. "Because you're a champion, senior. And because of the way you walk. Most people stumble or look around when they move, but you just... move. Like you already know where everything is before it's even there."
He glanced down at Hugin, who was standing perfectly still, his wooden grain polished and imposing. "The side-eyeing isn't because we think you're going to hex us for no reason. It's because we've heard what you did to Aaron in the training hall. Word gets around. You made him fight a giant that wasn't there."
That hit Fila, they weren't scared because of nothing. They we just not used to how things worked around here. most of them grew up in an environment with no magic, and now magic were all around them.
"But also, Theo told us how scary you can be." Kevin said after, and that made fila twitch.
She felt Theo trying to sneak away.
His right foot suddenly yanked backwards, and suddenly he hung upside down from the ceiling. She walked up to him lowering him to her eye level. Her arms crossed and a not so fun smile on her face.
"So, mister Carter. Care to explain?" she said in an stern voice.
Theo chuckled lightly.
Theo swung gently in the air, his hair falling toward the floor, but he didn't look particularly bothered by his sudden change in orientation. If anything, he looked like he was enjoying the view.
"Fila, it's called brand management," Theo said, waving a hand casually while blood rushed to his face. "Kevin and the others needed a healthy dose of reality. If they keep treating you like a porcelain doll, you'll never get any peace. I just... highlighted your more 'efficient' qualities."
"His version of highlighting involves telling everyone you can smell fear and that the panthers eat souls for dessert," Kevin added helpfully, looking up at the upside-down Theo with a grin.
Fila's "stern" face flickered for a second before she pulled it back. "Smell fear? Really, Theo? That's so... uninspired. You could have at least said I dream in ancient prophecies or that I keep a list of student names inside my wand."
Fila started walking back to the tower, with Kevin following close on her right. "Hey Fila, don't let me hang here!" he shouted from behind, but she didn't stop. She had decided he needed some time for himself. She raised him higher towards the ceiling.
Fila didn't even turn around as she heard Theo's indignant squawk from behind. "It's good for the circulation, Theo! Think of it as a perspective shift. You can spend the next ten minutes managing your own brand from up there."
Kevin trotted along beside her, clearly delighted by the sight of one of the school's most laid-back students dangling like a holiday ornament. "You know, he told us that if we ever got lost in the corridors at night, the vines would lead us to the kitchens, but only if we said your name three times in a respectful whisper."
"He really is a creative liar, isn't he?" Fila rasped, her head tilting slightly toward the boy. She could feel the lingering warmth of Theo's presence even as it receded into the distance. "Don't believe half of what he says. I don't sleep in a coffin, and the panthers only eat souls on Tuesdays."
Kevin let out a genuine laugh. "I figured. But senior? Good luck in Brazil. Everyone in the first year is talking about it. We're all hoping you show those other schools why Ilvermorny chose a Thunderbird champion."
Fila stopped at the base of the tower stairs, her "vision" catching the vibrant, hopeful light of Kevin's excitement. It was a strange feeling—being looked up to not for the tragedy she had survived, but for the power she now held.
"I intend to do exactly that, Kevin," she said, her voice dropping the sarcasm for a moment of rare sincerity. "And tell the others they don't have to walk on eggshells. If they need help with their charms, they can find me in the common room. Just... maybe wait until the panthers have had their nap."
When she reached the common room, she found June and Calla already debating the merits of different travel cloaks.
"Where is Theo?" she asked.
Fila sat down, "He's hanging around." She just said.
Everyone looked at her knowing what she meant.
"For how long?" June asked.
Fila took a walnut from the bowl on the table and carked it with the help och Munin. "Until i feel like dropping him."
Elliot and Millies stood up, and collected pillows from the couches. They had been through this sometimes now. Knowing exactly where to place the pillows.
The sight of Elliot and Miles methodically stacking pillows in the north corridor had become a tower tradition—a silent testament to the fact that while Fila was merciful, she was also consistently thorough.
"You're getting too good at that, Elliot," Fila rasped, her head tilting toward the sound of soft thumps as the boys prepared the landing zone. "It's almost like you're expecting me to make a habit of this."
"Expect? No. Prepare? Always," Elliot called back with a grin. "We've learned that the 'Theo-Chandelier' phase usually lasts until your second walnut."
Fila cracked the shell in her hand, the sound sharp in the comfortable hum of the common room. "He's managing his brand," she chirped, popping the nut into her mouth. "I'm just providing the atmospheric lighting to match the 'mysterious champion' stories he's been spinning."
Calla looked up from a swatch of deep emerald silk. "You know, the first years are actually listening to him. I saw a group of them today trying to walk 'predatorily' near the trophy room. They looked like they were having a collective leg cramp."
"As long as they aren't looking at me like I'm about to shatter, they can walk like crabs for all I care," Fila said, her voice dropping some of its bite. She leaned back, the presence of Hugin and Munin at her feet feeling like a living extension of her own will.
About twenty minutes and three walnuts later, the heavy thud of a body hitting a pile of pillows echoed through the hall. A moment later, Theo trudged into the common room, his hair a mess and his face a vibrant shade of pink from the inverted blood flow.
"I hope," Theo panted, dusting off his robes and falling onto the sofa beside Fila, "that the 'perspective shift' was satisfactory for everyone involved."
"Very," Fila replied, not even turning her head. "Did you solve any world mysteries while you were up there, or were you too busy practicing your 'humble servant' face?"
Theo let out a dry, dizzy snort. "I decided that the next time I manage your brand, I'm doing it from a seated position. My ears are ringing in three different languages."
'Like that is going to save you' Fila thought.
The rest of the evening was spent doing nothing. Relaxing is the tower was something truly special. Fila had always thought there must have been some sort of charm place don the whole tower, making everyone feel cozy and comfortable.
Even her panthers seemed to relax more than usual in the space.
Across the room some second years had started a water fight, they had just learnt how to shoot water out of their wands.
And not to her surprise, Theo was already aiming his wand at her face. He tried to do it sneakily. But nothing gets past the all seeing Ophelia Grindelwald.
She waited for the water to shoot out, the magic tarted forming at the tip. And than. Just as the water began to swell at the tip of Theo's wand, Fila didn't even lift her head. With a casual flick of her wrist, a thick, waxy vine shot out from the leg of her chair, curling around the end of Theo's wand like a tight green nozzle.
Instead of a stream of water hitting Fila in the face, the pressure backed up instantly. With a muffled thwip, the water redirected, spraying backward through the gaps in the vine and drenching Theo squarely in the chest.
Theo spluttered, jumping back as the cold water soaked through his robes. "I should have known," he gasped, wiping a stray droplet from the tip of his nose. "I forgot that trying to ambush you is like trying to sneak up on a hurricane."
"Your brand management really needs work, Theo," Fila chirped, popping another walnut into her mouth. "A 'humble servant' shouldn't try to drown his master. It's bad for the resume."
The common room erupted into laughter, even the second years stopped their water fight to watch the tower's most chaotic duo. Theo looked down at his ruined robes and then at Fila, who was sitting there perfectly dry and smug.
She twirled her finger and helped Theo dry of and clean up with the spell. Scourgify. "That's a one time use for you mister." Fila said while pointing a finger at him.
But while Fila had been busy with helping Theo, she was betrayed.
A small water bullet hit her in the back of the head.
She stopped, Theo Tried holding a laugh by biting his lips together. Fila looked up at Theo, "Who. Was. It" her voice dropping to an ice cold level.
Theo didn't answer. He couldn't. He was currently turning a very interesting shade of purple as he struggled to keep his ribs from vibrating with laughter. He simply pointed a trembling finger toward, Elliot.
Fila looked at him and than at Calla, as if asking for permission. "He asked for it," she simply answered.
Fila slowly set her walnut down on the side table, the motion slow and deliberate. She didn't need to turn around to feel the exact moment Elliot's smug grin began to falter. In her sapphire-tinted world, the air around her started to hum, a low vibration that made the tea in nearby cups ripple.
"Elliot," Fila rasped, her voice a dangerous, velvet purr. "I appreciate the initiative. Really. It's important for a team to keep its champion on her toes."
Elliot took a cautious step back, his hand tightening on his wand. "Now, Fila, let's be reasonable. It was a tactical assessment! I was testing your blind spots."
"Assessment complete," Fila chirped, a sharp, jagged smile spreading across her face. "Now, let's discuss the results."
She didn't reach for her wand. Instead, she simply tapped her foot twice on the stone floor. The vines that decorated the common room walls moved. Suddenly, the floorboards beneath Elliot's feet sprouted thick, emerald runners that acted like a high-speed treadmill.
Elliot let out a yelp as he was suddenly whisked backward toward the center of the room. At the same time, the vines from the ceiling dropped down like vertical bars, trapping him in a moving cage of greenery.
And than as final. A giant rose unfolded above him. "And last dry words Elliot?" she asked.
Elliot looked up at the massive, velvet petals trembling above him, his eyes wide. He tried to scramble toward the edge of the vine-treadmill, but it just accelerated, keeping him perfectly centered under the target.
"Wait! Fila! Think of the team morale!" he yelled, though a hysterical laugh was already bubbling in his throat. "I have a reputation to uphold! I'm an elite duelist!"
"A very soggy elite duelist," Fila chirped. She didn't even look at him, her attention seemingly fixed on the texture of a walnut shell. "Farewell, Elliot. May your next tactical assessment involve a raincoat."
She snapped her fingers.
The rose started shooting out water. Like a burst dam, a torrent of icy, magical water crashed down, a localized monsoon that swallowed Elliot's yelp. For three straight seconds, the center of the Thunderbird common room looked like a botanical water park.
When the vines finally snapped back to the walls and the floor became solid wood once more, Elliot was sitting on the rug, his hair plastered to his forehead and a single rose petal stuck to his cheek.
The room had already turned into a mess of laughter and water by this point. Calla slowly made her way towards Elliot, still laughing as she went to hug him.
Calla didn't even try to avoid the dampness, wrapping her arms around a shivering, dripping Elliot and letting out a bright, melodic laugh that seemed to harmonize with the dripping water.
"You look like a very sad pond lily," Calla managed to say between giggles, pulling back just enough to pluck the stray rose petal from his cheek.
Elliot let out a sputtering, watery cough, but he couldn't help the wide, sheepish grin that broke through his soggy state. "Tactical... error," he wheezed, wiping a stream of water from his eyes. "Note to self: the champion's blind spots are actually just more traps."