Mystery Egg patreon reward for Snowheart
As she’s the only patron at the mystery egg level now, she might be getting a story every month. XD
Snowheart is offered a probational scholarship at an esteemed school of magic. Should she show promise at the end of the week then it will be extended to a full scholarship. Things are going well, it’s the last day of the week, but then Snowheart finds a stolen book that puts her in a difficult position.
Teacher’s Pet
By CalexTheNeko
It wasn’t often Snowheart got an opportunity like this. Thanks to her ‘inherently magical nature’ as a kitsune, the pink furred three tailed fox had been invited to a school of magic on a one-week probational scholarship. The idea was that if Snowheart studied hard and showed enough dedication and talent in the study of magic it would be extended to a full scholarship and she could stay. There were so many different types of spells that they taught at the school. Some used books, some wands, others circles and runes, some incantations and in some rare cases just silently manipulating the natural magical energy that was interwoven with the world. Snowheart wasn’t going to learn a lot of magic in one week, but if she made the cut who knew what she’d be capable of by the end of the year.
This was why she was going the extra mile, not just in her studies but to make herself helpful around the school. She had volunteered every day of the week to stay after and help clean up the classrooms after school was out. This usually wasn’t too bad. Except for the time that someone’s potion exploded, became sapient and refused to move from the ceiling.
Today was the last day of her probational scholarship. And like on the many days before Snowheart had stayed after to help clean up. Sure, she might have been coming off as a teacher’s pet, but every little bit of effort helped to secure her that full scholarship. With the week over, Snowheart hadn’t actually learned any new spells. But she had grasped the basic fundamentals of many different schools of magic. She was fairly confident, with the knowledge she possessed and the little bit of extra work that she put in, the scholarship was hers. All that was left was to tidy up the classroom, head home and wait for the call to find out if she was coming back on Monday.
One might expect a magical classroom to have a certain whimsical nature to it. In fact, as Snowheart cleaned the classroom she noticed that there was very little different from it and a normal high school classroom. Heck, even the entire school seemed normal. But, maybe that was to help blend in better to avoid the eyes of those who didn’t know about the nature of magic. The cleaning of a magical classroom was also quite mundane. Students were forbidden from practicing magic without a teacher present to watch over them. And since Snowheart spent most of the afternoons alone that meant she couldn’t try to enchant a broom to sweep for her or anything like that. Had to do it all the old-fashioned way. But, it wasn’t difficult. And once she got into the rhythm of it there was a certain join in knowing that even if she didn’t get in she had helped out.
It was just about time to go. Snowheart was adjusting all the desk to make sure they were lined up properly. It was amazing how every day they managed to start as a series of straight lines and end in a coherent mess. As she slid one desk into position a book slid out of the inside of it and fell to the floor with a loud thud that startled Snowheart.
“Heh.” She had a laugh at herself when she realized she had just been spooked by a book. She picked it up to put it back in the desk but paused. She recognized the book. Well, not the individual book but the type it was. It was from the school library. Snowheart had been there more than a couple times over the week to get extra study sessions in and so knew the layout. Most of it was like a normal library, but there was a second floor that was off limits to most students. It was a section intended for alumni only who after graduating wished to further their education. The books were all marked with a special rune that was supposed to prevent them from being taken from the second floor without permission. Said rune was what made Snowheart realize what she was looking at. But someone had scratched it up, broken it, and she understood at once. It was one of the basics she had learned. For rune magic, for the spell to function the rune had to be whole. Even minor damage to the shape of the rune could break the spell.
And if someone had damaged the rune on purpose, it likely meant they had stolen the book from the library. Suddenly, Snowheart had a minor crisis of conscious. Someone had taken the book from the library. If she returned the book to a teacher, the student who stole it would likely be identified and expelled. On one hand they had stolen from the library. On the other, the book hadn’t left school grounds, meaning they likely hadn’t used it for anything and just wanted to study it. Was curiosity really a justified reason to expel someone? But… If Snowheart didn’t turn the book in to a teacher, then she was now complicit in the theft. And were that not bad enough, if the student who had stolen it was caught, the teachers would likely use a divination spell to see who else might have handled the books and Snowheart was holding it right now.
If she turned the book in, she risked ruining a student’s life over what was really a small transgression. If she did nothing, she risked being held complicit and responsible for the crime herself. Now that she had found it she couldn’t just pretend she had never seen it.
There was a third option. Return the book to the library without informing any of the teachers. It was doubtful anyone but the librarian and a few students would be there this late after school. If Snowheart hid the book in her bag she could easily slip in, then when no one was looking go up the stairs find where the book belonged and shelve it. No doubt the thief would be disappointed, but they would be spared any possible punishment. Of course… If Snowheart was caught on the second floor she would lose any chance at that scholarship. She had to be in and out before anyone saw her. Which meant that she had to know where the book belonged first.
There was no title or author on the cover of the tome. That wasn’t uncommon for these types of books. But it was annoying. She’d have to read a little bit of it to figure out what the main topic was so she’d know where it went on the shelf.
Snowheart glanced at the classroom entrance to make sure no one was coming. Then she opened the book up. It was written in runes. That was bad. She understood the basics of rune magic but she couldn’t read it as an actual language. She could only pick up a few basic runes here and there. Maybe there’d be some diagrams or pictures that would let her figure out what it was. She turned through the pages and stopped when she came to a picture of a magical circle drawn in the book with six runes drawn around it. This was a spell! If she could figure it out then she’d know what the book was about. She studied the runes seeing if she could identify any of them.
In the end, she could only identify two of the six runes used in the spell. ‘Transmute’ and ‘Matter.’ That could belong be a lot of things, but Snowheart was going to place her guess on alchemy. Even if she got it wrong, if someone found it there, they might simply assume it was mis shelved. Snowheart prepared to head to the library but paused. As she had been closing the book up she had shifted its position to be upside down, and suddenly she recognized a third rune. It was ‘Self.’ What did that mean? Snowheart opened the book back up, realizing that she may have just not recognized the runes because they were oriented wrong due to being in a circle. Maybe she could identify the spell after all. She tried turning the book at random angles, and as she did her paw slid over the picture of the runs and the circle.
The runes suddenly lit up. There was the feeling of an intense wind being blown through the classroom as the runes glowed brighter and brighter. These were touch activated! The diagram was a perfect replica and Snowheart was naturally magical. The second she had touched the picture it became a real magic circle.
Suddenly, the book began to feel a lot heavier in her arms, and Snowheart was forced to drop it to the floor. At the same time, two of her tails seemed to melt into her spine while the third lost all of its fur. Snowheart began to shrink rapidly, disappearing into her dress as it fell down over her. Some squeaking could be heard, and after a few seconds, a pink mouse climbed out of the dress that had one fix a fox.
“Squeak?” Snowheart was no different than a normal mouse now. She couldn’t talk or stand upright. Though she hoped the pink fur was enough to give away who she was. But… What was she supposed to do now!?
She didn’t get to think about it long when the classroom door swung open and she saw her teacher sitting there.
“What was that? I felt a spell go off?” The teacher asked as she looked around the classroom. Then she spied the book and pink mouse on the floor, as well as the discarded clothing. “Snowheart? And… The missing tome. We’ve been looking for that since we found the student who had snagged it two days ago. To think it was in the classroom the entire time.” The teacher walked over and bent down and held a hand over Snowheart. “Must have given you a shock. It certainly gave the thief one, but sadly we couldn’t ask him where he hid it. Let’s get you back to normal.” The teacher gave Snowheart a warm reassuring smile that made her feel safe. And it was good to know that they knew she wasn’t at fault.
However, after a few seconds passed nothing happened and the teacher’s smile turned to a scowl. She began to mutter different incantations and nothing happened.
“Well… Have some good news and bad news…” The teacher looked down at Snowheart. “The good news, is that you have a remarkable magical talent hidden inside of you. The bad news, it’s so remarkable that I can’t break the spell you put on yourself.” She picked Snowheart up off the ground and held her in a palm. “I guess studying at the school isn’t much of an option for you.” She paused. “But… If you want to learn, I know a way you can still hear the lectures, and you’ll have company so you won’t be alone.”
The teacher moved over to the far side of the classroom where a terrarium was set up. She opened it up and lowered Snowheart into it. Then she closed it and went over and grabbed the book off the ground.
“Sorry I couldn’t change you back to normal… But you’ll be able to hear all the lectures from there, and I’m sure you’ll get plenty of attention and love as the class pet. So you know it’s not all bad.” The teacher did her best to give a reassuring smile. It wasn’t great. “I need to get this back to the library. Oh, but you should know you have a roommate. The class got another per two days ago.’
“Squeak?” Snowheart watched as the teacher walked off. Then thought about what she said. Another pet two days ago.
“Squeak.” Another mouse made a noise from the corner of the terrarium where it had been asleep. As it slowly climbed out of the hammock it had been in and crawled closer to Snowheart she could see that it was a mouse with uniform brown fur and blue eyes. Didn’t see too many like that, especially with its fur such a dark shade.
“Squeak?” Snowheart tried. She didn’t really have anyway to formally introduce herself. But… It looked like her and the other mouse were going to have to get along.
“Squeak!” Luckily he seemed amicable. He sniffed at her, then playfully pawed at her ears.
The scholarship was gone and Snowheart was stuck as a mouse. But, it wasn’t too bad. She would still learn about magic listening from here, she had a playmate, and the students were sure to spoil her. This wasn’t the way she would have chosen to attend magic school. But it wasn’t all bad.
“Squeak!” She pawed back at the brown mouse, letting him know she was ready to play.