Book 1: The First Year (ROTBTD Hogwarts AU) (PREQUEL)

16. Rapunzel's POV: Mid November

A/N:

Above video: Rapunzel vs the education system like

Turns out this chapter wasn't as large as I'd initially thought and the real reason it had felt that way was because I was hyping myself up for the author's end note that goes with this. It got long enough that I couldn't fit all of it into the end notes section and put it in the fic itself. There's a partition that marks off where it starts.

Warning: In the end notes I discuss some things related to childhood abuse and emotional trauma. There's nothing very detailed or graphic in there, but if you are someone who's uncomfortable with this topic then I advise you to proceed with caution.

.°○.♡.○°.

In a hidden recess near the entrance hall a pair of pranksters planned a prank, as they are wont to do. Technically, Jack and Sanjay were involved in an informal contest of trying to one-up the other, but on this occasion they'd come up with something that, if done together, would make for a much more successful and all around entertaining prank. And so they plotted and they watched and they waited for a chance, for just the right moment to strike...

Rapunzel, walking down a separate hallway, was unaware of this.

She was busy puzzling over a thought. It was a thought about another thought, which had originated from a different thought, and all three of those thoughts were for the purpose of remembering something else that had flickered in and out of mind so quickly that Rapunzel was floundering to find it again. It had been a good one, too. Something to do with magic, something about her mindset...

Rapunzel had recently taken up some "supplementary learning". Oh, sure, she was still doing her schoolwork--or at least, enough of it to make it look like she was paying some amount of attention. But no one had technically told her not to go looking for more learning than what she'd been given and she was doing it in her free time, so... no harm done, right?

Her current interest was, of course, magic. Unlike in her classes, her way of going about it focused a good deal less on books and a good deal more on learning magic through her own magic. It made for more work on her end, since much of it involved figuring out how she did what she was doing so she that could do the same thing again if she wanted to. But it was fun work, and she learnt more about herself, too. Like how she interacted with the magic she used. How what she felt or did or said factored into things. Most of all, that much of it had to do with getting her mind right.

While those thoughts went circling around each other, her stomach made a mention that she was getting hungry, but Rapunzel did not notice. Most of her focus was taken up by those other thoughts clamoring for her attention and the steadily building frustration of searching for something she could've sworn she'd seen just a second ago.

It was approaching the lunch hour and the corridors were crowded. Rapunzel wandered into the entrance hall without really realizing it, and it was right about then that the two forces of trickery set their plan into motion.

What exactly they'd initially wished to accomplish was, to this day, still up for debate, seeing as the two responsible had yet to fess up. What they have said on the subject is simply, "Doesn't matter what we'd planned because that was brilliant."

Here are the facts.

As the two cast the magic, a wave of magical energy they and most others were entirely unaware of went hurtling into the hall. This and what was supposed to have followed after it made for the space in the middle of the room right under the chandelier. Were it not for the crowd and her own preoccupation, Rapunzel would have likely passed well beyond that point and been nearer to the doors.