New Wands

Ms. Shirtliffe marched the three girls to the administrative wing, where the Deans and Assistant Deans all had their offices. The life-sized portrait of Miss Marmsley, who had been the school secretary for over half a century while she was alive, and for three-quarters of a century as a painting, looked down at them, and at Alexandra in particular, and sighed.

“Is the Dean busy, Miss Marmsley?” asked Ms. Shirtliffe politely.

“She always is, but I'll let her know you wish to see her, Mary,” replied Miss Marmsley. She rose from her high-backed chair, gathered her skirts, and stepped outside the frame and disappeared. Alexandra knew she would now be reappearing in a much smaller portrait frame on Dean Grimm's desk. This entire scene was drearily familiar to her.

A few moments later, Miss Marmsley stepped back into her portrait frame. “You may go on in, Mary.”

“Ms. Shirtliffe, or Colonel Shirtliffe, if you don't mind, Heather,” Ms. Shirtliffe corrected her, smiling.

Miss Marmsley smiled back. “Of course, Ms. Shirtliffe.”

Alexandra wondered what the stretched, exceedingly polite smiles were about, then looked down when Miss Marmsley's severe, disapproving gaze fell on her. She heard the secretary tut-tutting. When she looked up again, Miss Marmsley had picked up some stationery on the desk painted next to her, and resumed writing with a very large, old-fashioned quill.

Anna looked like she was about to cry. Tomo was trembling – whether with rage, or fear, Alexandra couldn't tell.

“We've been here before,” she whispered to Anna. “We'll get stuck with detention. No big deal.”

“Be quiet!” Miss Marmsley snapped, from her portrait.

A few minutes later, Ms. Shirtliffe emerged from the Dean's office and rejoined the three girls.

“The JROC is waiting for me,” she said. “You've taken time away from me, and them, and I intend to get it back.” She strode away, her boots making a solid click-click-clicking sound with each step on the polished floors.

Alexandra thought that was an odd and ominous thing to say, and then Miss Marmsley announced, “The Dean will see all three of you, now.” The three girls wordlessly walked down the short hallway to the Dean's office. Alexandra pushed open the door, which Ms. Shirtliffe had left slightly ajar, and led the other two inside.

Dean Grimm sat behind her desk, elbows resting on the arms of her chair, hands steepled together, waiting. Her expression was dead calm and icy. Hanging on the wall behind her, portraits and photographs of previous Deans and other Charmbridge alumni gave the three girls disapproving stares. Ms. Grimm's black cat, Galen, was sitting in a basket by her desk, and adding a disapproving stare of its own. The girls all stood on the thick carpet in front of the Dean's desk, and Anna and Tomo immediately looked down.

“Well,” observed the Dean, in a deceptively pleasant tone. “You went almost an entire week without finding yourself in my office, Miss Quick. That's an improvement over last year.”

“It wasn't Alexandra's fault!” Anna blurted out.

Dean Grimm stared at Anna, who immediately gulped and looked down again. Tomo was already staring at her feet. Only Alexandra stubbornly kept her head up, trying not to flinch when the Dean looked at her.

“So,” the Dean inquired, “whose fault was it, then, Miss Chu?”

“She started it!” Tomo and Anna pointed at each other and uttered the same accusation simultaneously. Grimm tapped her wand on her desk and warned, “The next one of you who speaks out of turn will be Tongue-Tied until at least the end of the day. Miss Chu, explain yourself.”

“Tomo called me a name in the hallway. I... I called her a name back. We started yelling at each other, and then, we –” Anna looked down. “Well, Alexandra tried to break us up.”

“Miss Matsuzaka?” asked Dean Grimm, raising an eyebrow.

“She put the Medusa's Curse on me! Everyone knows it!” hissed Tomo. “And then she was acting all innocent, like she could just get away with it...”

“So the two of you thought it was appropriate to begin screaming derogatory names at each other in public, followed by hexing and fighting like a pair of cats. I see.” Dean Grimm looked at Alexandra. “And you, Miss Quick? Merely defending your friend, I suppose?”

“I suppose,” Alexandra replied sullenly. She had only been trying to break them up, but of course it didn't look that way to Ms. Shirtliffe, and she wasn't about to try to dump all the blame on Anna.

“Do you need a refresher on manners, Miss Quick?”

“I suppose, Ms. Grimm,” Alexandra repeated, clenching her teeth.

“The Medusa's Curse is not an easy spell to cast, and it's certainly not taught in school. I am quite sure neither Miss Chu nor Miss Quick was directly responsible for casting it on you, Miss Matsuzaka. I don't suppose either of you knows who was?” The corner of the Dean's mouth twitched when Anna and Alexandra both looked down. “No, I didn't think so.”

Grimm laid her wand on her desk. Alexandra had been eyeing it warily, and now she glanced at the Dean's cat, who last year had chased her after one of the Dean's punishments had turned her into a rat. Galen was now yawning disinterestedly.

“I'm appalled at all three of you,” Ms. Grimm declared. “Miss Chu, Miss Matsuzaka, Charmbridge Academy welcomes students from all over the Confederation. I do not tolerate bigotry. I doubt that either of you even knows why your respective cultures dislike each other. You probably just parrot whatever nonsense you hear at home.” The two Asian girls both bristled at that, but kept their mouths shut.

“I can't do anything about your parents' prejudices, but if you bring those prejudices here, I'll send you back to your parents. Do you understand me? I will not have these sorts of incidents at Charmbridge!”

Tomo and Anna gulped and nodded, and now both of them had tears in their eyes.

“And you, Miss Quick.” Dean Grimm frowned at her. “When your friends get in a fight, you just dive right in, don't you?”

No prejudices, right, Alexandra thought resentfully, but didn't say anything.

“I'm quite sure you know, as does Miss Chu, who cursed Miss Matsuzaka, but I suspect nothing short of Veritaserum will get the truth from you.” All three girls' faces turned red, for different reasons.

“I won't tolerate fighting in my school. All three of you are on probation for the rest of the semester. One more incident, and you will be suspended.”

Next to Alexandra, Anna and Tomo looked pale. Dean Grimm went on. “As for punishment, in Miss Matsuzaka's case, I'm going to leave that up to Dean Price. You may go see her now.”

Grimm gestured at the Japanese girl, who bowed and murmured, “Yes, Dean Grimm,” and backed away, before retreating out of the Dean's office, leaving Anna and Alexandra behind.

“Normally I'd send you two to Dean Black,” Grimm continued, after Tomo had gone, “but Ms. Shirtliffe made a suggestion, which I rather like. I understand she asked you to consider joining the JROC last year, Miss Quick.”

Alexandra blinked. Ms. Shirtliffe had suggested that. She wasn't sure why, but suspected it was because Shirtliffe liked the idea of making Alexandra march around and follow orders like the rest of the Junior Regimental Officer Corps. Alexandra had absolutely no interest in wearing one of those stupid uniforms or doing broom and wand drills all afternoon after class.

“I think it's an excellent idea, for both of you. Miss Quick, you could certainly use the discipline, and Miss Chu, you could use some more spine.” Anna gasped indignantly, and Grimm scowled at her. “I know you didn't cast the Medusa's Curse on Miss Matsuzaka. Therefore, someone else did. Not only did you escalate your childish feud, but you used someone else to do it.”

Anna looked down, with tears running down her cheeks. Alexandra was furious on her behalf.

“You can't make us join the JROC!” Alexandra argued. Anna winced.

Grimm's eyes narrowed, but she nodded. “You're right, Miss Quick, I can't. I can, however, suspend you both immediately. So, the JROC or suspension. Which is it going to be?”

Alexandra glared at her, and then stood up straight and raised her hand to her temple, in a sarcastic salute, like she'd seen on TV.

Ms. Grimm wasn't amused. “You can also have one week of detention, Miss Quick, for insolence. And it won't be spent in the library. Dismissed, both of you.”

They had two more classes that day. In Alchemy, they told David, Constance, and Forbearance what had happened.

David found it amusing. “So you're gonna have to walk around the school in uniform? Can't wait to see that.” Alexandra's incendiary look didn't wipe the grin off his face.

Anna just looked glum. “I don't want to be in the JROC,” she groaned.

“I don't know what you're whimpering about, Miss Chu, but it doesn't sound like measuring or mixing,” growled Mr. Grue, stomping over to Anna and Alexandra's desk. They had three piles of metallic dust in front of them – copper, tin, and zinc – which they were supposed to mix in their cauldrons in the correct proportions to use Base Metal Transformations to produce objects of brass and bronze. With all the metallic dust floating around the room, students were all wearing face masks. Mr. Grue, who had probably been breathing metal dust and even more unpleasant things for years, hadn't bothered putting on a mask, and his long hair and bushy black beard were glittering with metal particles. His black wool cassock, which made him look like a Russian Orthodox priest, was also sparkling.

Anna looked down and added another pinch of copper to her cauldron. Grue looked inside and snorted, which sent more dust flying. “Your bronze is going to be soft as clay,” he scoffed, and stomped over to inspect Darla's work. “If you spent half the time preparing alchemical combinations that you do on your face and hair, you'd be at the top of the class, Miss Dearborn!” he barked at her. Darla put away the little brush she was using to sweep dust off her forehead, and started to apply heat to her cauldron with her wand.

He passed by the Pritchards, and shook his head, grumbling something about Ozarkers' lack of education, which made Constance and Forbearance both look ashamed as they remeasured their zinc. Alexandra scowled, both because Grue was bullying her friends, and because she suddenly noticed that it was mostly girls that he was criticizing – he just looked at David and grunted – but Anna nudged her and shook her head.

Alexandra gave her a resentful look. “I wasn't going to say anything,” she muttered, from behind her mask. She didn't think Anna was in any position to be worrying about her behavior right now.

Alexandra transmuted the basic elements into a bronze bowl that earned a grudging scowl from Mr. Grue. Anna's bowl was more shapely and symmetrical than Alexandra's, but Grue picked it up and squashed it against the table, and bellowed, “What did I tell you!”

He looked even more annoyed when he could find no fault with the Pritchards' brass rings, even after tugging at them and trying to twist them. As the bell rang to end class, he waved his wand, sweeping all the dust out of the air and into a pile in the corner. Students began pulling off their masks. Someone opened the door, and two pieces of parchment which had been fluttering against the outside of it came flapping in, flying through the air until they were almost plastering themselves against Alexandra and Anna's faces. The two girls snatched the papers out of the air, and read the flying notes which had been dispatched from the Registrar's Office.

“Our electives have been changed!” Alexandra exclaimed indignantly.

“Practical Magical Exercise? But I'm taking Geomancy! My father will be furious!” Anna wailed.

Alexandra saw that a box had been checked, below her revised schedule: 'Junior Regimental Officer Corps (P.M.E. required).'

“We have to go to the gym, now,” she groaned.

David, who had chosen P.M.E. in the hopes of making the Quidditch team, accompanied them. Charmbridge Academy had a huge gymnasium, which could be magically converted into anything from an indoor Quidditch field to a broom-and-foot obstacle course to a dueling range. The last class of the day usually saw many students playing sports and games there. P.M.E. was mandatory for all sixth graders; Alexandra saw Tomo Matsuzaka listlessly practicing wand gestures with her classmates under the supervision of Miss Gambola. She looked away quickly, hoping Tomo and Anna would have enough sense to just avoid one another.

“There's Shirtliffe,” David said, pointing. “Good luck.” He walked over to join the other would-be Quidditch players.

Anna and Alexandra trudged over to where Ms. Shirtliffe, still in her Regimental Officer Corps uniform, was standing in front of about thirty students, including the six Stormcrows from Blacksburg. Charmbridge's JROC company was made up of students of all grade levels. Most were boys, though Alexandra saw about half a dozen other girls besides herself and Anna.

“Fall in, new wands!” ordered Ms. Shirtliffe.

Alexandra and Anna both stared at her, uncomprehendingly.

Shirtliffe gestured at the four ranks of students standing at attention. “Get in line!”

The two girls shuffled over to stand next to one of the boys in uniform.

“Stand at attention!” Shirtliffe snapped.

Alexandra and Anna stood up a little straighter.

Shirtliffe shook her head. “King, Hawthorne, you're in charge of the new wands. Smith, Franklin, Nguyen, take charge of the other squads.”

“Yes, ma'am!” replied the students she had addressed, and they all made a gesture like a salute, though it was different from what Alexandra had seen on TV.

Most of the kids promptly followed one of the senior JROC students, but Alexandra saw there were four other students besides her and Anna who were 'new wands.' The other four had uniforms already. Maximilian King gave Alexandra another long, unfriendly look, then said, “You'd better take these two to get uniforms, Bea.”

Beatrice Hawthorne nodded. She gestured to Alexandra and Anna. “Come with me.” And when they began following her, she snapped, “Walk in step!”

After walking a dozen paces, Hawthorne pointed her wand at the two girls, who were trying, without much success, to stay in step, and barked, “Gleichschritt!”

Alexandra and Anna stumbled, then found neither of them could take a step unless the other one was stepping with the same foot.

“We use Cadence Charms on new wands who can't even walk properly,” Hawthorne lectured them.

They marched awkwardly through the hallways, always on the verge of falling over, until they reached a room with a sign on it that said, 'JROC Headquarters.'

Despite the officious-sounding name, it appeared to be nothing more than a converted classroom, with several rows of hard wooden chairs, and only one table, sitting in front of a magical whiteboard. A diagram of some sort of broom-flying formation was still written on it, and the small symbols representing brooms and riders were moving about in an animated two-dimensional demonstration. Below the diagram were more notes: 'Physical exercise, 0600. Wand drills/every Tues. Field ex. monthly.' Alexandra eyed these notes warily, and then Hawthorne tapped her wand against a cloakroom door. It opened, and she stepped inside.

“You're expected to maintain your own uniforms,” she told them. “But Charmbridge has loaner outfits you can use for now. They may not fit without tailoring. You'll also need dress shoes, boots, a wand-cord and holster, and your own broom, one that conforms to JROC requirements, which means none of those sport brooms or extra-cushioned, fall-proof lady-brooms.” Hawthorne sneered, as she tossed two bundles at the younger girls.

Alexandra stared down at hers. It was heavy blue-dyed wool, and smelled like it had been lying amidst other musty old cloaks and uniforms for a long time. A leather belt creaked stiffly as she squeezed the contents of the bundle.

“Well? Go ahead and change!” snapped Hawthorne. Alexandra and Anna stared at her.

“You mean, in here?” squeaked Anna.

Hawthorne rolled her eyes. “No one else is going to come in here. Do you want to go to the girls' bathroom?” And when Anna continued staring at her, she snorted and shook her head. “Fine, act like a child. I'll step outside.” The older girl opened the door to the JROC classroom and waited on the other side, in the hallway.

“Dean Grimm isn't really going to make us stay in the JROC, is she?” mumbled Anna, as she and Alexandra began undressing, and unfolded the uniform bundles.

“What do you think?” Alexandra replied glumly. She held her uniform out in front of her. It consisted of blue trousers, a black leather belt with a silver buckle, a blue long-sleeved shirt, and a high-collared blue overcoat with silver around the sleeves and collar. She began putting it on, and found the trousers were too loose on her, so she had to cinch the belt tightly. The shirt fit, though the sleeves were too long, so she had to roll the cuffs back. It was extremely stiff; Alexandra guessed either it had been heavily starched, or some sort of charm had been applied to make it practically able to stand up by itself. The overcoat was no more comfortable; it hung loosely on her, and it was heavy and scratchy. The shoes were hard and uncomfortable.

She turned to Anna, who was looking down helplessly at her coat sleeves. They reached past her fingertips. Her pants were even baggier than Alexandra's, and much too long.

Hawthorne rapped on the door, then reentered the room without waiting for a response. Alexandra found herself resenting how neatly the other girl's uniform fit. It also looked much nicer than the Charmbridge uniforms. Hawthorne had more insignia on hers, and the black crow on her chest looked cool, almost as if it were about to flap its wings and take off.

The Stormcrow shook her head. “You'll have to tailor those. Do it the Muggle way or use charms, it doesn't matter, but you can't walk around school looking like that.”

“Guess I won't be able to wear a uniform, then,” Alexandra retorted, “since I don't know how to tailor clothes, either the Muggle way or with magic.”

“Learn.” Hawthorne gave her a hard stare. “And while we're in uniform, you'll address me as 'ma'am' or 'Witch-Corporal.' Got that, wands?”

“I'm not a wand.” Alexandra stared back.

Hawthorne walked over to Alexandra, until she was looking down at the younger girl.

“Listen, Quick. I know about you, and your reputation. Don't think any of us are thrilled to have a couple of unwilling brats in our company, let alone Abraham Thorn's daughter.”

Alexandra glowered. Everyone at Charmbridge Academy knew who her father was. Of course the BMI students would have heard about her by now as well.

“Colonel Shirtliffe seems to think it will be good for you,” Hawthorne continued. “But I guarantee, she'll also make your life hell if you don't lose the attitude. So go ahead and keep being smart. Now pick up your clothes and march.” She pointed towards the door, and Alexandra and Anna sullenly preceded her out of the room, with their 'civilian' clothes now folded up and carried under their arms. Out in the hallway, Hawthorne cast a Cadence Charm again, and they half-marched, half-stumbled their way back to the gymnasium, in their ill-fitting uniforms and dull matte black shoes.

Alexandra didn't smart off to Ms. Shirtliffe that day. She and Anna and the other 'new wands' had it hard enough, being forced to do wand drills, which consisted of drawing and sheathing their wands the 'correct' way, rendering proper courtesies to superior officers, and marching, running, and sitting with wands out and in their sheaths. Alexandra couldn't believe how much attention to detail was involved in holding and carrying a wand. She thought it was ridiculous, and worse, boring. Shirtliffe commented at one point that every rule had a reason, even if it seemed to be a bunch of needless formality. Alexandra was skeptical.

There were only three other seventh graders and two sixth graders in the JROC. One of the seventh graders had joined last year, which meant he was now a Mage-Private. All ranked students were called 'mages.' Alexandra, Anna, and the other four youngest were merely 'wands'; they had no rank and, according to the older JROC students, no rights.

“Mages only have to wear their uniforms on drill days,” Mage-Sergeant Major Franklin informed them, before dismissing them. “But wands have to wear their uniforms every weekday, during school hours. And stop making faces, Chu. We wear our uniforms every day, too.”

It was true; unlike the Charmbridge JROC students, Alexandra had never seen any of the Blacksburg students out of uniform. They also outranked most of their Charmbridge peers of the same grade level. JROC was just an extracurricular activity to the Charmbridge students, but to the Stormcrows, it seemed to be as much a part of their identity as their school.

David teased Alexandra and Anna at first, especially the first morning they arrived at breakfast in their uniforms. “You look like Nazi Girl Scouts,” he quipped.

Alexandra glowered. “Not funny.” She felt like everyone in the cafeteria was staring at her.

Anna didn't look amused either. “Weren't Nazis bad guys?”

“What's a naught-see?” asked Constance.

David found himself trying to stammer out an explanation, and Alexandra took some satisfaction in the fact that the Ozarkers didn't find the joke funny either, once they got the gist of it.

“I didn't know JROC uniforms came dwarf-sized,” snickered Larry, loudly, from his table full of ninth graders, as Alexandra and her friends sat down. Anna turned red. Alexandra almost stood up again, and Anna caught her arm.

“Please don't, Alex!” she whispered in a high voice.

“At ease, Witch-Cretin Quick!” Larry sneered mockingly, and his friends all laughed.

“Don't you let unmannered boys aggerpervoke you,” Constance chided. Her disapproving gaze fell on David. He flushed and offered an apologetic grin.

Constance and Forbearance assured the two new wands that they looked quite 'splendant' in their uniforms. David became more sympathetic, and less amused, when they pointed out that they would no longer be able to attend ASPEW meetings, now that the JROC would be taking up so much of their free time.

Older JROC students took extra electives in Confederation history and martial magic. Alexandra and Anna's only JROC obligation on their class schedules was P.M.E., but there were extra drills at least two afternoons per week, and three days a week they had to get up early to exercise at 6 a.m. Ms. Shirtliffe (or Witch-Colonel Shirtliffe, as Alexandra now had to get used to calling her), made them do calisthenics and run around the school. Sometimes she conjured an obstacle course in the gym, and the students had to crawl, climb, roll, jump, and slide their way across precarious constructs made of walls, beams, poles, ropes, and nets. Shirtliffe kept threatening to summon a few Dark creatures to motivate them to run faster or move with more alacrity around the obstacle course. Alexandra was actually curious to see what Dark creatures looked like – or find out if Shirtliffe was bluffing – but she kept her mouth shut and ran, for Anna's sake.

Mage-Sergeant King was in charge of training the younger wands, and he was even harsher than Beatrice Hawthorne and Ms. Shirtliffe combined. He had Anna in tears practically every day. He would stop both girls in the hallway, and dress them down for any deficiencies in their uniforms, right in front of all the passing students. He berated them for their postures, their attitudes, even their hair. (Tomo's hex had left Anna's hair unmanageably frizzy, even after repeated applications of straightening charms and potions.) He was the strongest and the fastest at all physical activities, and he drove the smallest and weakest kids (particularly Anna) mercilessly.

This was worse than Vacation Bible School, Alexandra thought. And it was going to last all semester. She had almost forgotten how much she'd been looking forward to returning to school.

Her week spent doing detention with Ms. Gale was relatively easy. Alexandra was very suspicious of the new custodian at first, but the large, round woman spoke to her very little, and gave her simple chores like polishing the Clockworks, and removing posters and other things stuck to the walls with Glue Charms. Usually she let Alexandra go back to her room by eight o'clock.

On mornings when they had to exercise, Alexandra and Anna returned to their rooms tired, sweaty and dirty, with very little time to shower and dress before breakfast. This led to fights with Darla and Angelique, who always spent too much time in the bathroom in the morning. Darla in particular had become very cold towards them.

Alexandra merely resigned herself to enduring the grueling discipline for the remainder of the year. Anna never stopped being miserable. Alexandra tried to comfort her, but she had to admit to herself that she wished her friend would stop crying and just get used to the running and the marching and the wand drills. They were supposed to start broom drills at the end of the month, which Alexandra hoped at least meant they'd be able to fly.

This was not exactly what Alexandra had been hoping for, when she had started her second year at Charmbridge. But she swore that she was going to persevere, and not get in any more trouble, no matter how tedious the routine.

It was on a Friday evening, halfway through September, that something dramatically interrupted that routine, shattering both her tedium and her vow.

A breeze from outside stirred their room on Charmbridge's second floor. These were the fading days of summer, and soon the weather would turn colder, but for now, Anna and Alexandra still left the window open for their familiars. They were doing their Transfiguration homework together, and they'd sent the birds out after losing two of the little green tree frogs they'd been given to practice with to Anna's hungry owl.

Alexandra was looking out the window, as Anna blinked away tears of frustration. They were supposed to transform frogs into erasers, and they had a test on Monday. Anna had already received a scathing letter from her father over her schedule change; she was terrified of not turning in good grades at the end of the semester. Right now, there was a small green eraser with legs hopping around on her desk.

“Just calm down and take a deep breath,” Alexandra suggested, for the third time, and before Anna could reply, Charlie came flapping through the window. Alexandra smiled and held out her arm, and her familiar landed on her wrist. Alexandra's smile faded when she saw something shiny clutched in the raven's beak.

“Not again, Charlie, you kleptomaniac!” she shouted, and snatched the object away. Charlie squawked in protest, snapped at her, and then made a long, derogatory croaking sound, while Alexandra frowned and studied the metal disk in her hand. At first she thought Charlie had found a Lion or an Eagle lying on the ground somewhere, but this coin was lighter and didn't look like either Muggle or Confederation coinage. It also had a reddish tint to it.

There was a bird crudely stamped on one side, but not an eagle. It looked more like a crow, or a raven. Alexandra looked up at Charlie suspiciously, and back at the coin. The only other thing on that side were the letters 'MMS,' printed beneath the bird's talons. She flipped it over, and saw an empty septagon on the reverse face, with writing printed along the edge of the coin. Squinting at the tiny letters, she read: “If this coin be stolen, a Thief's Curse be upon you!”

She looked up at the raven again. “Now what have you done, Charlie?” The bird only looked at her reproachfully, and cawed.