Scarlet and Alexis made their way to the seventh-floor corridreeting everyone along the way who called out to Scarlet.

  “Hi Scarlet!”

  “Good m, Scarlet.”

  “Where are you off to, Scarlet?”

  “I’m just searg for inspiration for my book,” Scarlet replied with a polite nod every time she was asked.

  By the time they reached the seventh-floor, Alexis already felt exhausted, even though she wasn’t the one doing all the greeting. She looked at Scarlet with admiration. “Oh my god, you’re like, so popur! And you handle everyone so smoothly! How do you even do it?”

  Scarlet blinked in surprise at the question. “Popur? I don’t know about that.” She paused, sidering. “I don’t think I’m popur at all. pared to Harry Potter, you should’ve seen him being chased by his fans on his first day here.”

  “I totally picture that, for sure,” Alexis nodded in uanding.

  “Right, now try to open the door to the room,” Scarlet instructed, her tone suddenly serious. “You have a clearer picture of what the diadem looks like.”

  Alexis noticed the shift in Scarlet’s demeanour and gulped nervously. “Okay...I totally do this. I gotta find the pce where that diadem of Rowena Ravencw is hidden.”

  She muttered the senteo herself a few more times before stepping up to the opposite wall of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. Alexis began pag in front of the bnk stretch of wall. Owo...three times she walked bad forth, trating harder with each pass.

  Ohird pass, a door materialized in the wall where there had been none before. Alexis gave an awed gasp, reag out to grasp the handle.

  She waited for Scarlet to stand beside her before swinging the door open, revealing a vast room filled with chaotic array objects hidden by geions of Hogwarts inhabitants. They stepped inside, and Scarlet immediately ged into her battle attire.

  “OMG, magical girl transformation!” Alexis excimed, her excitement bubbling over. Scarlet turo her with a calming look. Alexis practically vibrated with enthusiasm. “Are you, like, a legit magical girl? Did you bond with some cute magical mascot and bee destio fight evil? Like Sailor Moon and Pretty Cure?”

  Scarlet sighed deeply. “Alexis, drain the useless water from your brain, will you? This is the Harry Potter universe. We’re already been using magic. Why would I o bond with some mascot to acquire magic powers and fight evil?”

  “ht.” Alexis g the jade pendant Scarlet tucked beh her battle suit. It looked far more delicate and much rger than the one Scarlet had given her, w if she could get a pendant that ges outfits as well. “But like, I don’t think that kinda charm exists in this story...Did you, like, i it yourself?”

  “No, I just use it. Remember? I’m a caster. I don’t bond with a spirit anymore, but I still have all the knowledge.” Scarlet poked Alexis’s forehead lightly. “I’ve told you before, this is a dynamic world. St to frame everything inside a box.”

  “Okay, okay, I’ll try. But it’s like, super hard, you know.” Alexis pouted. “It’s not easy for us normal people to break through our ihoughts and stuff.” But then her expression shifted as she took in Scarlet’s fully transformed appearance. Her eyes widened wheiced the spear Scarlet was now holding.

  “What does the diadem look like?” Scarlet muttered as she sed the byrinth of fotten treasures. The room was a cathedral of junk, so immense she couldn’t see its walls or ceiling. It acked with objects hidden by geions of Hogwarts inhabitants, cavernous, with walls and ceiling swallowed in shadows. The nterns seemed to float in midair, casting long beams of light over hundreds upon hundreds of items lost in a sea of darkness.

  “I’m not, like, 100% sure - probably like a tiara or something?” Alexis replied absentmindedly, still distracted by the sight of Scarlet’s spear. “You know, I’m starting to think we’re in some kinda fanfiiverse. Like, how else do you expin Snape being so hot? If that’s the case, I ’t guarantee everything I remember will match our sitch.”

  “I don’t care,” Scarlet said, sing the room ily. “As long as I destroy these vile horcruxes, nothing else matters. I wouldn’t even mind if Harry ended up in love with Snape.”

  “You ship them?!” Alexis excimed, her previous fasation with the spear fotten in her horror.

  “NO!” Scarlet felt a headache ing on. Ever since Alexis had beore fortable around her, versations like these had bee...routine. “Just focus on finding the diadem first. We’ll discuss everything else ba my training room.”

  “ht. Gotcha.”

  The two girls began searg through the cluttered room. Alexis muttered to herself, “It’s gotta be somewhere he entrance or something. When Harry hid the Half-Blood Prince’s Potions book, he like went straight to the cupboard he entrance...and he saw something like a ...Scarlet!”

  Scarlet rushed to her side, and Alexis poi a tarnished old sitting on a dusty bht o a chipped bust of an ugly old warlock.

  “This is totally it! Rowena Ravencw's lost diadem!” Alexis whispered, as if fearing her voice might disturb the soul fragment hidden inside. “Don’t touch it - it , like, corrupt anyone who es in tact with it.”

  “Okay.” The tight space limited Scarlet’s movements, but she mao flip her spear for a better grip and stance. “Stay back.”

  Once Alexis had taken a step back, Scarlet immediately ting, “O Great Guardian of the Shadowy Land, the Queen who draws the liween life ah, your humble follower summons yuidance. A shattered soul seeks darkness, cowardly evading the call of death--”

  She didn’t notice Alexis’s shocked expression as the blonde girl heard her t.

  The deity was summoned, Her presence gazing through the fabric of spad time. A light pressure desded upon them, and Alexis’s eyes widened i the deity’s aowledgement.

  “--In the name of Scáthach, the soul fragment that should have crossed into the nd of death shall now perish! Gáe Scáil!”

  Scarlet’s red spear glowed as it struck the diadem’s stone, shattering the a artefact. To her surprise, a blood-red liquid trickled from it, followed by a thin wisp of dark smoke with a pair of glowing eyes that swiftly evaporated into the air. The pressure from the deity’s presence faded, and Scarlet thought she might’ve heard a faint scream as the soul fragment dissipated.

  Nothing grand or dramatic happened, save for the diadem breaking under Scarlet’s spear. Only the two girls standing there had felt the unseen force press upon them for that brief moment.

  Scarlet exhaled, feeling relieved that she had destroyed another soul fragment, tig off yet aask from her list. She g Alexis, who stood with a bnk expression. “Don’t worry,” Scarlet assured her, “the a magic I ied deals with death and souls. I sent that fragment straight to the realm of death – there's no way it’s ing back.”

  Alexis was stunned for a moment, then suddenly grabbed Scarlet’s hand, pani her eyes. “Tell me we’re not about to have a Holy Grail War.”

  “...What?” Scarlet blinked, caught off guard.

  “The Clock Tower isn’t gonna ahe war, right?” Alexis looked increasingly desperate.

  “Wait, what war? Who’s the Clock Tower?” Scarlet was bewildered. “I thought you said the Sed Wizarding War wouldn’t happen until the book Order of the Phoenix?”

  “No, not that - the Holy Grail War!” Alexis shook her head frantically. “Seven Masters summon seven Heroic Spirits as their Servants, and they have to fight to win the Holy Grail, which grants any wishes!”

  Scarlet stared at her, still not prehending. “Is this some kind of ritual? Why have I never heard of it?”

  “You’ve never heard of it?” Alexis blinked in disbelief. “But...how did you get the Gáe Bolg? You even summoned Scáthach!”

  “...What does summoning the Queen and wielding Gáe Bolg have to do with any war?” Scarlet was even more fused now. “And wait, how do you even know about Gáe Bolg anyway?”

  In this era, with no i or Wikipedia at their fiips, very few people knew about Celtic legends and heroes – uhey were enthusiasts or schors in folklore, or those who lived in Sd. Yet here was Alexis, a girl from America, casually naming the on with plete fidence, as if she could reise it immediately.

  Had Alexis ever shown an i iic mythology? Scarlet couldn’t recall any suent, a sense of unease began to rise within her.

  “Because in the Holy Grail War, a Master summon Scáthach or Cú n as their Servant!” Alexis tinued, seemingly calmer now. “Wait, if you’ve summoned Scáthach, then we’re like, totally in the upper hand – whether she’s a Lancer or an Assassin.”

  “No, Queen Scáthach is a great Rune ter. She’s definitely a Lancer, but she’s not an Assassin.” Scarlet frowned, eyeing Alexis with growing . “Alexis, do I o take you to the hospital wing? You're starting to soually disturbed.”

  Or...is there something you haven’t revealed yet?

  Alexis finally let go of Scarlet’s hand, her thought slowing down as she processed what she’d just said. “ I at least ask how you got ected with Scáthach?”

  “Well,” Scarlet said, ging bato her school robe and putting away her spear, “I thought you’d have figured it out, since you’ve read my books. I used to bond with a fox spirit, remember?”

  “Yes...Oh!” Alexis’ eyes lit up with sudden realization. “So now you’ve bonded with a legendary deity and not an animal spirit like you used to! But...I thought that Scáthach wasn’t dead yet. Does that still t as something you bond with?”

  Scarlet narrowed her eyes, scrutinising the girl. “You seem awfully familiar with the Queen’s details. How do you know all this?”

  “Um...because I’m like, also a total fan of the Fate series?” Alexis admitted sheepishly.

  “...What?”

  Qiya