The Student Council

I had survived.

I had survived when I barely thought it possible.

The hours that followed were a bit of a blur. Overexertion and a sore ankle were no justification for being sent to the hospital, but the dragon had ripped through the dormitories and the school infirmary, so that's where I was sent.

I slept through the night, although passing out from overexerting your power can hardly be considered a restful sleep.

"How is the school?" was my first question. "Are they repairing the buildings? Can they repair the buildings?"

My mother and stepfather were the first and only visitors that day.

I was sitting up with the breakfast tray in front of me. Hospital food was actually better than the food in the school canteen - pancakes with maple syrup, the bacon was super crispy instead of limp and soggy, and the eggs were cooked sunny-side up which I preferred over hard yolks. I had my mouth full of food, and in lieu of greeting my harried looking mother, couldn't help but ask.

I must have looked the perfect picture of health.

She opened and closed her mouth like a fish, and then promptly burst into tears.

"You stupid, stupid girl!"

Now it was my turn to blink in surprise. She ran over and crushed me in a hug so suddenly that I almost choked on my food. Gosh, I thought to myself, she was being uncommonly affectionate this morning.

"How can you ask such a thing after what you've endured?" she was wailing in my ear.

You see, my mother was never the feeling type, if you know what I mean. I didn't doubt that she loved me, but she always seemed uncomfortable showing that love. She was the same with my stepfather.

Now she was stroking my hair, her arm locked around my neck, blubbing into my ear. I was still holding my fork and was awkwardly trying to find a place to put it but couldn't see the breakfast tray on account of being smothered.

I really did want to know about the school though and was a little annoyed.

I didn't doubt that it would be back up and running again in a few days. The combination of teachers and students working around the clock would see to that. I kind of wanted to be there, though.

Once I was out of the hospital, I would go back to being Isolde - back to being overlooked and outright ignored. I at least wanted to show the other students that I wasn't completely useless. I could repair walls and lace books back together just like anyone else. My magic was nothing to write home about but I could, at the very least, do that.

And yet here I was, stuck in hospital, waiting to be discharged while the others were breaking their backs putting the school back together. 

When my mother let me go, I inadvertently let out a huge gasp of air. I hadn't even realised that I had been holding my breath.

I looked up and finally noticed my stepfather had been stood there watching the scene play out. He was usually quite stern and emotionless - the perfect husband for my mother - but he was staring at me silently, his eyes full of.. pride?

"My dear child," he said softly, "I hardly believed it when we heard the news."

He was a professor at one of the magical universities but was on sabbatical right now. I guessed that was the only reason he was accompanying my mother. My father and stepmother were overseas on one of their month-long jaunts, so it's not like he would have had to mediate in any conflicts.

My biological parents were polar opposites. Whenever they were in a room together, it always ended in a duel. 

"What news?" I asked, blinking.

"You defeated a dragon!" my mother reminded me in exasperation.

"Ohhh. That news. It was a complete accident, though."

"A complete accident?" she repeated bewildered. "I know you were never a boastful child, but you don't need to be modest now!"

"But I'm- I'm not-"

I didn't know what to say. My shot had missed and just so happened to topple the clock tower. It's not like I had some great strategy I had thought up on the spot while under pressure. 

I cut another piece of pancake with my fork and put it in my mouth thoughtfully.

Now I had remembered my magic ripping the bricks of the clocktower and causing it to topple, I realized that willful destruction of school property was probably going to result in an expulsion. I silently prayed that they blamed that on the dragon too.

---

I was sent to my mother and stepfather's cottage for three days to rest, but I spent the entire time sulking. I mean, it's hard to convince people you're not useless when you are quite literally useless.

My ankle had been washed in healing magic, and it wasn't like I was under any strain. I could feel the magic, fully restored, swirling around inside of me. I knew that I would have been more useful at the school. 

The headmaster contacted my mother just to inform her that the other students, teachers, and volunteers from town were working day and night to repair the damage, and that things would be back to normal by the time I returned.

"I wonder what they did with the dragon..." I murmured to myself while idly staring at a shelf in the pantry, looking for something to eat.

I wasn't hungry. Just bored.

Finally, on the fourth day, I was able to don the bottle green school uniform for Luminara Academy. At this point it was too late to do anything, and I was dreading going back to class, but dutifully I hopped on my broomstick and began the hour long journey through the skies.

Some students at Luminara Academy live in nearby towns, but most, like me, stay in the dormitories. Magic can make aspects of life more convenient, but sometimes it's just better to let nature do its thing. I couldn't commute to school everyday in the middle of the rain showers and thunderstorms needed to make crops grow. So I lived there for most of the year.

Besides, I hated flying.

The wind was cold as always, but the school's branded coat and flying gloves were enchanted to offset it. I let myself fly a little higher than I normally would, and landed clumsily on the school grounds about ten minutes earlier than anticipated.

I let out a sigh of relief. "No major mishaps today," I mumbled, and turned around to get a good look at the school.

You could hardly tell that just a few days some of the buildings had been completely levelled, and the ones that had been left standing had taken significant damage. The clock tower was back to its former glory, with the seconds hand turning smoothly

It was almost time for morning assembly. 

Usually at this time, you'd see students tearing across the courtyard, still fixing their school tie or wolfing down cereal bars. They'd probably make it to assembly before the bell rang, but this was the one day you definitely didn't want to be late. The headmaster would be present, and he would take note.

Strangely, I didn't see anyone. At least, not at first. I guessed seeing the destruction and reconstruction of the school had bolstered everyone's morale a little.

I turned towards the main building, carrying my broomstick under my arm, and that's when I finally noticed that there was a group was approaching. 

"Oh," I mumbled to myself.

It was an ominous sight. Even from the short distance between us, I could tell these were not regular students. They had their own elite uniforms to differentiate them from the general student body - still trimmed with gold, but instead of bottle green, they looked sleek and stylish in black.

The student council.

They were walking in formation with the president at the centre. 

Inwardly, I began to panic. It was rare to see them walking together like this outside of school events, and they were heading straight for me.

"Isolde Greystone - she is a member of Class 1-E and the leader of the magical cartography club," a girl in glasses was informing the others as she referenced the binder she was holding. 

No way... was I late?

I felt like I was about to get the scolding of a lifetime.

She looked directly at me. Her expression was not exactly kind. Vivienne Graves was infamous, even among the first years. Everyday she meticulous parted her long hair in the middle and tied it into twin braids of exactly the same length and width. From morning to evening, you never saw a single hair out of place, and her uniform was always impeccable. She practically repelled dirt.

"G-good morning," I mumbled timidly as they came to a halt in front of me.

Ugh, what a crowd. The student council had seven members, whose jobs ranged from coordinating events to disciplining difficult students. Every single one of them was here.

Silently, I prayed to the ground as I made the deferential bow expected of younger students to student council members. Please just let me go! I'm sorry if I'm late but there were extenuating circumstances and the clock tower is clearly still broken because I genuinely thought I was on time!

And then when I looked back up, ready to blurt out my excuse, I could hardly believe my eyes.

They were smiling at me. Even Vivienne Graves had let her face relax into a prim but visible smile. 

"Good morning, Miss Greystone," Alaric Silverhart, the student council president, said warmly. "I can see you have arrived safely. Allow us to escort you to morning assembly."

Huh? I wasn't in trouble?

I stammered out an uncertain, "Okay," as a boy with slicked back hair offered to take my broomstick, and followed them back through the entrance. Initially I had intended to hang back, but the student council members adjusted their speed and formation so that I somehow ended up walking alongside Alaric Silverhart. He smiled down at me gently, but that only made my anxiety worse.

He's way too good-looking!

And that wasn't the only reason he had been unanimously voted student council president. His family, being of old noble stock, were financial backers of the school, and Alaric had used that as leverage to meet the requests of students.

Like, for example, he had convinced the headmaster to keep the library open till late at night. Before I arrived at the school, it had closed at six, which meant students were completing their assignments in noisy dormitory rooms. Now students had somewhere to go when the rest of the school closed so they could write or study in peace.

Ugh, I feel like a toad. 

"I had assumed your injuries were going to be far worse than they were," he was saying, "I'm glad you were able to return to school so quickly."

"Yeah... me too," I replied, averting my gaze. "Err... thanks for... rescuing me."

I had completely forgotten the detail that he had been the one to carry me out of the wreckage when the dragon was down. I felt my cheeks reddening as I remembered how he had lifted me from the ground and practically cradled me in his arms.

Luckily the conversation ended there, as he merely nodded in acknowledgement.

It wasn't like a had a lot to talk about with Alaric Silverhart of all people anyway.

Morning assembly took place every Monday in the auditorium. In a normal week, it was the only time the entire student body was assembled in one place. Across the three grades, there were around five-hundred students, chatting and clamoring as always, so it would be easy to sneak in undetected and take my regular seat... 

Only...

Wait a minute.

I looked around me uncertainly.

I was with the student council.

Don't tell me they expected me to walk in with them?

My heart began meeting erratically.

"Um..." I began, "I'm honestly completely fine, I just overexerted myself, but I'm all rested up now. I don't really need escorting-"

"Don't be silly," a cheerful voice said behind me, "it's the least we can do."

I swallowed, turning my head to look at her. I didn't know her name, but I recognized her from the dormitories. Her blonde hair was always tied in a high ponytail and today she had paired with with an elaborate black bow.

We were almost at the auditorium. 

"The least you can do?" I repeated, shrinking back slightly.

"Of course!" said the tall, red-haired boy next to her. "You saved the day!"

He smacked my shoulder, probably with more force than intended, and I staggered slightly. 

"I didn't- I just-"

God, it was embarrassing to admit it in front of Alaric Silverhart, but I had no choice!

"It was an accident!" I blurted out.

They all stopped and looked at me.

"An accident?" the blonde girl echoed.

"Nobody came to tell me to evacuate, so I didn't even know what was going on until it was too late! I twisted my ankle running away, and the dragon was in front of me. I knew I only had one chance, so I summoned up everything I had, and I ended up hitting the clock tower."

They all looked at me in stunned silence.

It had been a rambling explanation, and I felt breathless when it was over, so all I could do was look away. My heart was thudding noisily in my chest. 

"You mean..." someone started.

"No way..."

"I'm sorry..." I mumbled sheepishly.

It was better for them to know the truth. I hadn't saved the school. I had just narrowly escaped being incinerated by a dragon so massive that it was actually laughable that I had missed it.

"...A one-shot kill..."

This time it was Alaric Silverhart speaking. I looked up at him in surprise. He was staring down at me in amazement.

"What? I mean, yeah, it was just one-shot but-"

Suddenly the other six members of the council lunged at me. I felt them tugging at my clothes and slapping me on their back, their faces and voices full of admiration. They were speaking all at once.

"Greystone, that's amazing!"

"You must be such an powerful mage!"

"I'd kill to have that much latent power!"

I looked at them, my mouth agape. Didn't they hear me? I didn't actually hit the dragon!

Vivienne Graves pushed her glasses up her nose. "This is a truly remarkable development, everyone, but I must remind you that morning ceremony begins at eight-forty-five on the dot. We have only three minutes to take our seats."

With that, Vivienne, who appeared to be just as meticulous about keeping time as she was about braiding her hair, grabbed me by the arm, and marched me the remaining distance to the doors of the auditorium.

"Alaric," she prompted.

He nodded silently, and pushed open the auditorium's heavy double doors.

Of course, the student council president walked in first, and usually he was followed by the remaining members of the council, but Vivienne pushed me forward. I stumbled through the doors into auditorium, which brimmed with golden light pouring in through its vast windows.

I was walking next to Alaric Silverhart.

To the sound of roaring applause.