After their trip to E. Taylor’s ends, Nurcan goes to the bookstore next door, Button and Straub. With a language course, English for Language Learners, or ELL, tacked on to her schedule, she now has 5 books to get as opposed to 4 initially.

  She knows which 5 books to get: Chadwick’s Charms, volume 6, as well as one for ELL, which is the only book she knows both Emmanuelle and her have to buy for sure, since they’re both in ELL, one for Divination, one for Potions and finally one for History of Magic. The same, however, cannot be said of Emmanuelle.

  Hurry up, Nurcan, we must get to Mt. Greylock; I have 7 HAREs to take, starting tomorrow, one per day! Emmanuelle starts to be displeased by Nurcan seemingly taking a bit too long to buy her own books.

  Yet, Nurcan needs some directions so that they can get to Ilvermorny. She asks the clerk before leaving the bookstore:

  “One question: how to get to Ilvermorny from Washington?” Nurcan asks.

  “You can’t actually get to Ilvermorny directly from the city; Adams is the closest point you can get to Ilvermorny using Floo Network since the school itself has no access to it!” the clerk answers her.

  “Where’s the city’s Floo Network station?”

  “The city’s Floo Network station is at the corner of I Street and Twenty-Third!”

  “Thank you!”

  “You’re welcome!”

  It’s only when the pair gets out of the bookstore that they can actually see more clearly how Washington differs from, say, Visigny or Hogsmeade. Whereas Hogsmeade and Visigny both seemed to harken back to Medieval architecture, Washington, on the other hand, feels much more modern to them, since the entirety of wizarding Foggy Bottom, and the nearby Muggle newbuilds, are built in either Georgian or Federal style, depending on how old the building is.

  But because they can’t use their wands until they get to Ilvermorny, and neither know wandless magic yet, they’re forced to rely on Muggle means to get to the corner of I Street and Twenty-Third. They tramp through the snowy streets of Washington just to get to the entrance of the city’s Floo Network station.

  Once they arrive, they descend the stairs. Each fireplace at the bottom of the staircase is clearly labeled with the destinations: Boston, Montreal, Quebec City, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Williamsburg, Charleston and, of course, Adams.

  After taking the Floo Network chimney to Adams, a wizarding village on the slopes of Mt. Greylock which differs from Visigny by its architecture. Which is built much like the wizarding part of Washington is, while the Muggle part of the city is under construction.

  They look at the signpost at the crossroads to see in which direction Ilvermorny is from there. The faster we get to Ilvermorny, the better, Emmanuelle sighs as they both get on their way to Ilvermorny.

  But getting from Adams to Ilvermorny means meandering through a forested trail, leading to a granite castle at the very top.

  Once at the gate, the Pukwudgies standing guard over the school’s security ask the pair of witches about their names and purposes.

  “State your name and purpose please!” one of the Pukwudgie guards ask them.

  “Nurcan Topkara, and this is Emmanuelle Rictus, we’re both exchange students here for six months, and we arrived here early!”

  “Please be advised that your room assignment is provisional, and your real room will be assigned after sorting!” the other Pukwudgie warns the duo before they get their temporary room assignment.

  “When will we be sorted?” Nurcan asks the Pukwudgies.

  “You lot will be sorted the day before the holiday break ends!”

  Their temporary room assignment leads them to share a room with Durmstrang’s sole female survivor of the Triwizard Tournament who’s on exchange at Ilvermorny, presumably under a similar arrangement to France’s, but from Poland-Lithuania.

  “Who’s this?” Vaidilute asks the pair.

  “Do you recognize me from the Triwizard Tournament?” Nurcan asks Vaidi. “It’s me, Nurcan!”

  “Emmanuelle. You are?”

  “Vaidilute, but you may just call me Vaidi!”

  “I have a test tomorrow!” Emmanuelle then starts reviewing the material for the first HARE on her schedule.

  “What happened to Relja?” Nurcan asks Vaidilute.

  “He transferred to Karakalem, apparently…”

  Nurcan also retreats to her bed, and starts lamenting as she tries to resume writing about the French Revolution post-July 14, 1789:

  When the whole cahier de doléances deal started, I was full of enthusiasm for the reforms of the Revolution, and that it would lead to something bigger in the long run. And the Irad-I Cedid being the Ottoman expression of it, which is what I’m known for among the Ottoman wizarding world. But I knew that, since the implementation of said Irad-I Cedid was out of my hands, the Muggles running the Irad-I Cedid might end up being just as corrupt as the rest of the government! And yet, this isn’t even the worst of it: I landed myself here, with the Bab-I Humayun sending me where no Muggle Royalist could get to me, because of the monster the Revolution has created! A monster that might kill even its own children, and indiscriminately! Nurcan starts crying a river when she starts reviewing the content related to the latest events. If only I could go back to those days prior to July 14, 1789! These were much safer days for me, and much less unpleasant, too!

  However, for some reason, she seems to have paid relatively little attention to the religious aspect, and the Constitution civile du clergé. The latter’s core issue being the secular control over religious matters, but also highly contentious was the seizure of clergy assets.

  “Why are you crying?” Vaidilute asks the Ottoman witch.

  Nurcan feels the lingering magic from her English-French dictionary’s charm. “I adhered to a more pacific vision of Revolutionary reforms, which I assumed for years at home, but it’s because of that vision that I no longer feel safe at Beauxbatons… and I thought Beauxbatons was the lesser evil compared to Hogwarts. But that was before the Revolutionaries radicalize!”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “How do people at home feel about the Revolution?” Vaidi asks her. “You obviously were an exchange student at Beauxbatons!”

  “They treat it as an internal French problem, which might have greater impact on their enemies than on them. But they also know they can ill afford to antagonize Revolutionary France, especially when France is the best vehicle for their own reforms!”

  Vaidi freezes in place, trying to process what Nurcan told her about Ottoman attitudes towards the Revolution. About the distance making it safer to observe from afar.

  At the same time, Nurcan resumes her inner monologue. Alejandra understood the reforms the cahiers called for, more so what made the student body unable to grasp them, though. She probably understood them better than anyone else at Beauxbatons other than Christine or maybe Nacien, despite her then-unwillingness to discuss them in front of wizards. At the same time, I don’t think wizards would have been approached by the sans-culottes, and neither Alejandra nor Nacien feel like one. Speaking of sans-culottes, I feel like their proximity to the seat of power made them more influential in Revolutionary radicalization, along with the hardships they endured, which make them push for measures unheard of in the wizarding world.

  “Then why did they send you here?” a puzzled Vaidilute asks her. “You could have returned home!”

  “The Bab-I Humayun is very much in for an akce, in for a tryrinat…”

  “Bab-I Humayun? Akce? Tryrinat?” Vaidilute gasps upon hearing these Turkic terms.

  “The Ottoman Ministry of Magic acts all-or-nothing around publicly funded exchanges. They must send a certain number of students abroad by the start date, and, under no circumstances I’d be allowed to return to my home institution until year-end if I go on exchange under Nizam-I Cedid. Oh and akces and tryrinats are Ottoman wizarding money!”

  Damn it: there are two core issues I didn’t take a position on because I believed them to be the most contentious and dangerous issues: war and monarchy. War? I feel like it would have been better to take a stance of not launching the first strike. Which, by and large, is a position I could see most Revolutionary wizards taking, but divided Muggle ones, she starts thinking.

  She then goes back to check against the various factions’ positions on the issue of war: whereas the Feuillants and Jacobins were both opposed to war, but for different reasons.

  The Feuillants opposed war because they feared war would cause the Revolutionaries to radicalize, the latter prioritize internal affairs, and claimed not only the military was unprepared, but also no one liked armed missionaries. Finally, war carries risks for freedom. Girondins, on the other hand, see in war an opportunity to export the Revolution, while also ignite patriotic fervor, and force the King and his supporters to reveal their treason, she summarizes her notes about the various factions’ stances on war.

  The following morning, she’s reminded of how she mistakenly believed Alejandra of being a Royalist, even though she took no real position on the monarchy issue, when trying to think about where she stands on the topic of monarchy. It seems that, these days, you can’t be a Revolutionary, even the kind I am, without opposing monarchy. Yet maybe Alejandra, whom I once treated like a closeted Royalist, could become a Revolutionary, albeit in secret, depending on how she feels about the reforms advocated in the Cahiers. I could tell she understood them, but took no position. Then again, maybe I’m better off keeping quiet on that: it might put me in a bind at home. Then again, maybe the Ottoman wizarding community would be OK if I advocated for Republicanism in the French context, but I said Republicanism might be unapplicable at home!

  But, after breakfast ends, Emmanuelle seems to have forgotten about something important that, unless she could take the HAREs in French, could mean the difference between success and failure.

  “Here, Emmanuelle, take my English-French dictionary!” Nurcan hands her English-French dictionary to Emmanuelle.

  “I need one, too!” Emmanuelle retorts.

  “Just buy one after your HAREs end along with your other books, and return this one to me then!”

  So while Emmanuelle is off taking HAREs in a separate room, Nurcan continues to write about other aspects of the Revolution. Such as the flight to Varennes, its planning and especially the consequences of its failure. About the loss of royal credibility.

  And, of course, it seems like she doesn’t have much of an opportunity to meet with the other regular students. They seem to keep to themselves, both the other exchange students and the locals. So she could spend the rest of her time prior to the sorting ceremony to acquaint herself with the campus, as well as finish writing what she has yet to title.

  On the day of Emmanuelle’s final HARE, she has finished writing the second memoir, she double-checks the manuscript to see what might feel appropriate, considering that it has two parts, one about the Triwizard Tournament, the other about the evolution of the French Revolution post-July 14.

  I ought to keep in mind that, while I might be known under the name Miss Irad-I Cedid among Ottoman wizards, the Irad-I Cedid would be meaningless to a non-Ottoman. So what about A Revolutionary at the Triwizard Tournament? Nurcan struggles to find a suitable title that wouldn’t be too long, but at the same time, would be able to get both core themes across: the TT and the Revolution.

  The day after Emmanuelle takes her final HARE, the sorting ceremony gets underway, along with a handful of students, who are either TT survivors or children of employees of their countries of origin’ wizarding authorities. But Nurcan seems surprised to see Jace among them. Did Ilvermorny’s agreements with the TT schools somehow include all Hogwarts students as TT survivors, which they technically are?

  There seems not to be anyone else she readily recognizes, except for another guy with whom the pair took English lessons, under Mélisande, but never interacted with much.

  Atateken, an Iroquois Charms professor, greets all students going into the January sorting ceremony:

  “On behalf of the faculty of Ilvermorny, let the sorting ceremony begin!” Atateken greets, while speaking in an Iroquois accent, calling the first student. “Jace Bascom!”

  The other students look at the exchange students from a balcony above the main hall as they are called upon to stand on a Gordian knot on the floor. Like Jace, for whom the wings of the Thunderbird statue flap.

  And then the next student sees the arrow on Pukwudgie’s statue being raised, so he would be sorted into Pukwudgie. A few more students get sorted until Vaidilute’s turn arrives:

  “Vaidilute Marcinkeviciute!” Atateken calls on Vaidi. “Did I mispronounce your name?”

  “Just call me Vaidi if you have me in your class!”

  I was used to people mispronouncing my name during my time at Hogwarts, whose houses don’t translate to theirs, Vaidi then steps on the Gordian knot, with two of the statues reacting to her: the Pukwudgie raises its arrow, while the Thunderbird flaps its wings.

  “Vaidi, the choice is now yours!” Atateken signals to Vaidi.

  “Better be…” Vaidi freezes in place before choosing. “Pukwudgie!”

  As there’s only one student between Vaidi and Emmanuelle, she knows her turn comes momentarily. When Emmanuelle’s turn arrives:

  “Emmanuelle Rictus!”

  Emmanuelle steps on the Gordian knot, feeling like the others could laugh at her. But, at the same time, she lets out a rictus when the Wampus cat statue roars in her direction. Nice, I’m in Wampus…

  “Nurcan Topkara!”

  Now that it’s Nurcan’s turn, as the final exchange student for the ceremony, she steps on the Gordian knot, and the horned serpent statue’s gem glows. To Horned Serpent I go.

  But because everyone already has a wand, the next step of the ceremony is skipped; for first-year students, they would have been taken in an adjacent room to get their wands. It’s then that Emmanuelle receives her HARE report card and finally completes her course selection:

  “I got Bs in Charms and Divination, so I’ll take these two on top of ELL…” Emmanuelle tells Nurcan before she leaves campus for Adams’ bookshop.

  Meanwhile, Nurcan, with the manuscript of A Revolutionary at the Triwizard Tournament in hand, looks for an envelope large enough to fit a quire of paper at the owl room, and then writes down the recipient on it.

  Once that is done, as Emmanuelle did earlier, she puts her wand at the security desk before going to Adams’ United States Owl Mail (USOM) office to send the manuscript to Kitap Ayraci’s publishing arm in Istanbul. Using USOM first-class international mail, that runs her 49 sprinks.