I knew high achievers in even my own mold tended to fall into two camps: either they try to get validation via grades and test scores, at any cost, or they tend to cut their losses early. Yeah, I couldn’t have known about how terrible the divination department was, but am I going to let this black mark stand? Vaidi starts thinking of how she feels about having failed a test that was supposed to comply with international standards. But why was I reminded of the worst academic aspect of Durmstrang here? What’s for sure, though, is that life at Ilvermorny is much more comfortable than Durmstrang ever was. Especially dorms, but food too.

  “If I may, Divination might still be useful as a way to reduce stress, or perhaps help you read rooms or people better...” Nurcan tells her about the main uses of Divination for non-Seers.

  “Oh?” Vaidi starts thinking about how to approach divination differently.

  “Do you remember, for example, if you struggled equally on the written or the practical part of the test, or you struggled more on one vs the other?”

  “Probably in equal measure. They tried to test for a lot of different methods!”

  Mektaq overhears the two. “If Dorcus could somehow…”

  Vaidi interrupts Mektaq. “Dorcus? Who’s Dorcus?”

  Mektaq explains to Vaidilute. “Long story short, Dorcus was a dim-witted girl, yet, for some reason, she managed to pass the Divination EAGLE! With a C, but she’s Cs get degrees, personified!”

  “It could be that astrology is the only method that might fit you!” Nurcan adds.

  “As much as the ICW’s academic standards might tell you otherwise, there’s nothing wrong with being good at only one method of divination, even though it has its limitations!” the Micmac student adds. “But, as I was saying, if Dorcus could pass Divination tests set against ICW standards, then so could you!”

  So I might be wondering what the worse joke is, the ICW divination standards asking so much of students, said standards being so low that a Muggle idiot could meet them, or Durmstrang running afoul of these? Vaidi can’t help but laugh at Mektaq’s estimate.

  “You might have been smart enough to make it to the Goblet of Fire, but intellect isn’t everything in divination, and neither is studying. But you’re still smart enough to at least make the written part of the Divination HARE work!” Nurcan explains, but he sees Mektaq rolling his eyes upon mention of the Goblet of Fire, his lack of knowledge of Triwizard Tournament qualification process clear to her.

  “Thank you, I guess…” Vaidi sighs.

  “Are you OK with not getting the best grades in Divination at this point, and just passing it?" Mektaq asks her.

  “I knew others like you sometimes wanted to retake a test as often as necessary to achieve the results they want. Even when the desired result isn’t perfect. There are things for which it’s ok not to get it right the first time, and divination is one such area!” Nurcan comments about Vaidi’s failures in Divination.

  “I know what you think: people as smart as even I might be left to feel like grades reflect one’s abilities, when it may not always do! It feels like I could get fives in Divination with only a little effort on the homework, only to have failed the final so spectacularly, with a one!”

  “How do grades work at Durmstrang anyway?” Mektaq asks.

  “For us, grades go from one through five, with three and up being considered passing, one and two being failing… a two at Durmstrang is like a D here!”

  I don’t think Dorcus was the kind of person to invite people to parties specifically to get help in class from the guests… Mektaq is reminded of one such party. But I never heard of a discrepancy that size between one’s pre-final grades and the grade on the final before Vaidi; Dorcus was struggling to just pass all year from what I could make out back then.

  Yet, the next day, before the History of Magic course, Nurcan goes to the library to look for what periodicals Ilvermorny might have. The Washington Ghost, Spellbound, The Witch’s Friend and the Yorker in English, the Gazette des Sorciers in French. She starts to read them, starting with the Washington Ghost.

  Which turns out to be an American version of the Cri de la Gargouille or the Sihirli Gasitesi. However, there’s no trace of any Muggle event that could affect the wizarding world. Why does the American wizarding public seem more interested in the House Cup and the various extracurricular intramurals than in Muggle goings-on that could impact the wizarding world? The Sihirli Gasitesi, on the other hand, was willing to cover things such as the Treaties of Sistova and especially Iasi. Or what the Nizam-i Cedid, as well as the Irad-i Cedid, mean to wizards, with respect to their Muggle assets and income for the latter.

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  When the time comes for her to read the Gazette des Sorciers, she’s left wondering about... Canada? And an article, in French, about the challenges faced by refugees of Rappaport’s Law living in Haileybury, in Upper Canada’s north-eastern wilderness, seems to pique her interest.

  Is that what wizarding New France became after the British MoM rejected the goblins’ peace plan in 1760? At Beauxbatons we were told only about the loss of wizarding New France and its zoning implications. To Hogwarts’ eyes, New France is reduced to a goblin bargaining chip in a revolt... They seemed to present history as primarily wizards vs magical creatures! Nurcan summarizes the differences in attitudes towards New France in History of Magic. But then you have these refugees claiming that the Muggle Constitutional Act, 1791 introduced big changes in how Canadian wizards live among, and interact with, Muggles, on a territory that the goblins once coveted.

  When the History of Magic course rolls around, there seems to only be one section of it, with Jace and Nurcan seated side-by-side. As per usual, the instructor introduces the newcomers to the preexisting students.

  After the introduction is made, the instructor turns to Jace:

  “As for you, Jace, since your records indicate that you previously attended Hogwarts, this is a warning that’s worth being issued. Don’t go around expecting that the course is mostly memorizing facts and dates about the wizarding world’s relations against magical creatures, with a dash of the Statute!” the sixth-year History of Magic instructor warns him.

  Now I’m not sure anymore: is History of Magic truly Hogwarts’ weak spot? If so, that explains how Alejandra made me look like a fool among Slytherins for a month’s time! My grades in History of Magic with vs without her were like night and day! Jace gets a flashback of how Alejandra was seemingly that one girl to whom everyone in Slytherin asked for aid in History of Magic while the Triwizard Tournament was underway. At least so long as one considered a Muggle-born good for being a last-resort resource. It seems that, at Hogwarts, house considerations were a major consideration to ask for help, and, at least until OWLs, Slytherins would rather fail than ask for help from other houses; there was less of a stigma attached to asking help across houses at the NEWT level. Would I be able to ask for help across houses, and not just from Nurcan?

  But, at the same time, one of the other Horned Serpent students laughs at him upon hearing how the instructor described Hogwarts’ History of Magic curriculum, and how it differs from what to expect at Ilvermorny:

  “Ha ha! There’s more to History of Magic than just giant wars and goblin rebellions!” A Horned Serpent jeers at him.

  “That’s not nice to Jace! He deserves to be here as much as anyone! Minus three points to Horned Serpent!” the instructor punishes Nurcan’s fellow house member.

  The whole lecture starts with Animagi in pre-Columbian America, about how various cultures of that era came to view Animagi. And how wizards in these societies held a much more revered position than it did today, along with the various reasons why, and how it varied across time periods.

  Notwithstanding that large-scale destruction occurred there during what is known as the Renaissance in Europe, and how their magical knowledge was unable to save them from near-total destruction wrought indiscriminately by Muggle hands, not to mention conquest and disease.

  About how cultures as varied in time and space as Mayans, Aztecs, Incas and Olmecs all came to consider the entire natural world as alive to varying extents, and how that vision of the world affected their use of magic. And certainly in herbology and potions.

  When they learn about how their worldview and its evolution came to affect pre-Columbian America’s vision and uses of magic, the assignment is given to them for the next lecture. Jace then comes to Nurcan:

  “Here’s the plan: we have a lot of material to cover that the prof assumes we know but we don’t. It’s going to be much, much more complicated to make up for it than it might have been for you, or for your friend Alejandra when you two first came to Hogwarts!” Jace explains to her.

  “I mean, our English was very basic back then…” Nurcan sighs.

  “But you two learn very fast!”

  “Maybe we should team up with someone else as well! Someone more familiar with the local realities!”

  “I don’t mind asking for help outside of Thunderbird any more than I did asking outside of Slytherin back home! But do you know why Alejandra isn’t here?”

  “She seems to like Care of Magical Creatures, but Ilvermorny doesn’t offer it! Yet, what do you like about her so much?”

  Don’t tell me it’s about how you, or your fellow Slytherins, leaned on Alejandra perhaps a little too much in History of Magic! Nurcan starts feeling a cold shiver down her spine. It’s only at Hogwarts that I began considering her as my friend…

  “For sure, she is pretty resilient, but just a few days in, she showed just how good she could really be! So good that she became the go-to for Slytherins needing help in History of Magic, especially for Statute stuff!” Jace answers her.

  “Something’s not right: when you first met her, she was struggling to get her ideas together. Now you say that, for a month, she became the go-to for History of Magic among Slytherins? At Beauxbatons, she never got Efforts Exceptionnels in it… then again, the prof seems to be implying that History of Magic is going to be harder here than at Hogwarts!”

  “To be fair, we got the most difficult assignment in History of Magic right as you guys arrived!”

  What’s the Hogwarts equivalent to an Effort Exceptionnel at Beauxbatons anyway? Not even Alejandra or Nurcan told me about what these were! Jace is left wondering if there’s anyone else taking History of Magic they could ask for help. But she seems to be implying that getting an Effort Exceptionnel requires an exceptional effort to achieve.

  Especially as it relates to pre-Columbian America, about which they know next to nothing beyond the sociology of Animagi and how it fit their worldview of considering the natural world as alive.

  So the duet spends an entire afternoon reading about the various societies pre-Columbian America, until another one comes around to help them:

  “I’m Sabrina, you seem lost in these books…”

  “There’s just so much we both need to learn just to function in History of Magic here, we’re here on exchange!” Jace explains to Sabrina.

  “Poor you! Maybe you try too hard to get to the bottom of the material!” Sabrina exclaims.