The Great Divide (Hetalia x Reader)

The Potionier's

The Great Divide
Chapter Three
The Potionier's Troubles

Sunday morning couldn't have come quickly enough.

The skies were grey and much colder than the day previous, but the influx of students the school was about to see made _____ feel nervous yet hopeful.

Heading out of her house with her bookbag over her shoulders, she made her way towards the library to return all the books she had been borrowing the last few weeks. Once finished with her book related tasks, she made her way to the dining hall to get breakfast.

Inside, she heard the chatter of the professors inside as they gossiped amongst themselves about what could possibly be happening that would have warranted such an action so suddenly. Although curious, she opted to sit at her usual seat and summoned herself some breakfast.

It wasn't too long into her meal before Darby appeared through the doors. Making eye contact, the two exchanged smiles as he passed by and towards his mother who was at the front of the room with the other professors. The two talked for a few minutes before Darby gave a nod and turned back, finding a spot across from _____.

"What was that about?" She asked, taking a bite of some buttered toast.

"I just asked her if everything was going according to usual – prefect duty wise... I haven't thought of a way to ask her about the headmistress being forced to resign without admitting we snooped on that whole conversation." He said, smiling as his food appeared.

"At least we'll have some backup later. I wonder if Gage has been able to come up with anything over the summer."

"Gage Noxx... I'm curious if he knows anything too." He commented.

"At the very least, it'd have been nice if he wrote back to me. I mean, he's the only one who didn't write to me all summer... Even Bliss bothered to send me some books and clothes and she can't even see anymore." She huffed.

"At least you have lots of friends who sent you mail. I think I just got some treats from the nogift world from Analie and that was only as a thanks for my recommendation letter for her." Darby said, causing ____'s ears to perk up. "What recommendation?"

"For prefect title. She's in the Ailat house and she asked if I could recommend her to the old Headmistress for the girl's prefect. I accepted."

"H-How could you do that?" ______ asked, shocked by this news.

"I'm sorry – did you want a recommendation too? I didn't even know you wanted to be a prefect?"

"No! I mean, I wanted to, but I asked Gage to recommend me for the position, but he said no..." ____ explained.

"Why didn't you just ask Bliss or Antonio or Elizabeta or anyone else? If you had even asked me, I'd have helped you instead." Darby spoke.

"It's not that... I don't care... I mean I do, but it's whatever. I just didn't know she wanted to be a prefect given how much of a low profile she kept last year." _____ said.

"Well, it was Lucy who did everything. Analie hasn't been found guilty by anyone, not even the Ministry was able to get anything out of her that could incriminate her." He reasoned.

"I don't care if they weren't able to pin anything against her, I know she was helping her sister, I know she knows something."

"I thought you were over your rivalry with Analie?"

"I am!" She hissed defensively, causing Darby to roll his eyes.

"Well, Miss Over It, I've gotta run but I'll meet up with you for lunch." Darby said, getting to his feet.

"Huh? But you just got here? Weren't you gonna eat?"

The boy glanced down at the plate of food before him, slightly tempted, he took a big bite of the scrambled eggs before gulping it down with some juice and swallowing hard with a nod, "I'm good till lunch."

____ blinked as she watched him disappear through the doors. Despite it being odd, she brushed his actions off and focused on finishing her own food so she could also leave.

Today would be the last day she'd have free time since classes started tomorrow and all the students would be arriving later in the day. She wanted to continue practicing her spellcasting so that if she were to find herself in a tricky situation once again, she would be ready.

As things were, she was feeling semi-confident, but not positive in herself.

Finishing up, she ran up to the top of Ailat tower once again. Reaching the top, a fresh breeze of cool air brushed through her hair, causing it to fly back wildly as she walked towards the ledge of the tower to look over.

The trees flooded the view as far as the eye could see, it was a sight she would never get bored of for sure. Once satisfied, she turned her attention back to her bookbag and pulled out a book on advanced hexes – hexes which were a year more advanced than what she was meant to be working with.

Disregarding her own lack of ability for a majority of the spells in the book, she began with a spell which read as "Quemando." According to its description, it was a freezing spell which caused its targets to freeze up.

She huffed out as her eyes scanned the page for extra information on it, but the only assistance was a small diagram of the wand movements for the hex.

She rose her wand before her, aiming it threateningly at the sky before her. Copying the motions in the book, she shouted, "Quemando!"

But there was no effect.

That was one thing she hated about spellcasting. Unlike potions which just required patience and memorization if you wanted to get really good at it – it was all written down so that anyone could follow the recipe and accomplish the perfect potion on their first attempt.

Obviously there would always be natural prodigies when it came to spellcasting, but she herself was not one. Hence, her grades in that area were only high on account of Alfred assisting her in his free time.

During the summer however, she was alone except for Darby and he would only hang out occasionally as he was always up to something and didn't really want anyone's company.

"I don't need anyone to help me. I can do this." She said through gritted teeth as she focused hard on the wand motions.

"QUEMANDO!" She said, this time with more force in her voice.

But – nothing!

Again! And again! And again – she tried the same hex, failing time and time again. Her failures were overwhelming her so much so that as time went on by, she hadn't even noticed the sound of faint voices filling the air. Just beyond the school's front doors students were finally arriving back to school from their summer vacations - and amongst them, Vladimir and Analie walking hand in hand up the stairs and into the building once again.