Sophia Brandt and the Ilvermorny Fountain of Youth

A Trip to the Library

It was officially winter at Ilvermorny. 

Mount Greylock was covered in a blanket of thick snow and all of the students had been given their own thick wool blankets to keep them warm at night. Sophia had snowball fights with her friends almost every day and if Callum Black was involved, she'd no doubt end up with snow down her pants. 

Luckily, Professor Sandrina had installed heat-locking charms over all the entrances to the castle. When Sophia and her friends went back inside the snow instantly melted, leaving wet patches all over their robes. 

To Sophia's delight, the Great Hall also had a hot cocoa and tea station that was stocked at all hours of the day. It was perfect for all of their late night study sessions as they studied for their first round of midterms, since it was a short walk between the Great Hall and the library.

"Let's start with going over the 1912 Magical Convention," Rosie said, flipping through her thick notebook. Sophia had to admit that her friend was a great study buddy--she had planned out their reviews for the next week to ensure they were fully prepared and showed up early to get them a table at the library.

Callum, on the other hand, was not the best study buddy. He was already late to their first study session. But he did promise that he would bring some of the snacks that his older brother Michael had smuggled into the castle, so that was a definite plus. 

"There you are," Rosie said as Callum sat down across from her, his cheeks flushed. "What, did you run here from the other side of the castle?"

Callum set his notebooks down on the table. "Yes, I did." He turned to Sophia. "Michael says that the Wampus clue was solved this morning."

Sophia's heart plummeted. "Really? Who solved it?"

"His team did," Callum said. "And he says that they're going after Thunderbird next." 

Sophia buried her head in her hands. This was very bad news. 

Right before Thanksgiving break, Sophia overheard that Maeve Braithmore's team was close to solving the Thunderbird clue. While everyone was gone over the break, Sophia spent the entire time pouring over books and wandering the Ilvermorny grounds to try to find something. She'd even consulted a few of the castle ghosts to see if they had any leads. But no matter what she tried, she still couldn't seem to find any leads.

If they were going to solve the clue before Michael and Maeve's teams, they would need to do it quickly.

"I think we're due for a study break," she announced to the group.

Rosie's eyebrows furrowed. "But Callum just got here!"

"I won't be able to tell you anything about the 1912 Convention unless we make some real progress on solving the Thunderbird clue," Sophia remarked. And with a loud squeak, she pushed her chair back and got up from her seat to go take a look around the library. 

With a sigh from Rosie, she and Callum both got up from their seats to follow her.

"What are you thinking, Sophia? I've been over the Thunderbird section a thousand times and we haven't found anything new." 

Sophia didn't want to say anything while her classmates were still within earshot, so she ducked down a row of books before answering. 

"I know we've looked through the Thunderbird section already," Sophia said, turning to look at Rosie. "Well, it's mostly been you reading all the books. But I was thinking we might want to look through the Horned serpent section to see if we could find any more clues."