~previously~
Would I...meet the one who is like the Queen of Hearts?!
....
"Isn't sealing my magic for stealing a bit of tart going too far?!"
....
"Your necklace will guide you to the book. I've placed a spell on your necklace that can help you find it. Just follow your heart, and the answers will be told."
....
"We've still got time before class! And I'm curious about the other dorms!"
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Through the Hall of Mirrors, our quartet makes their way through the mirror straight for the Heartslabyul dorm.

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In a second, we were right outside Heartslabyul.

I stared in pure amazement. It was so...so...

Queen of Hearts-esque. I stare at the banner. A gold heart with a black and red checker pattern popped out against white. The border was gold, as was the small crown on top, and the four cars symbols stood next to one another on the top right portion. A white banner streamed across with black lettering.

"Hearts...labyul..." I pronounced. Strange name, but cool! Looks like this is the place.

"Ooh! This is gorgeous! It couldn't be more different than ours!" Grim awed.

"Ours is still in development, y'know." I say as I catch up with Ace and Deuce.
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We walk to the gardens, a giant hedge maze entrance, and spot someone scurrying around like a headless chicken. He had orange hair with the top half in a short ponytail, bright green eyes, and a yellow diamond symbol painted under his left eye.

"Ugh, crap! I gotta get these roses finished!" He stressed.

"Oi, someone's here!" We walked closer.

"Best watch out! And splatters of paint and my head's gone!" He warned.

"This is serious déjà-vu...." I mutter exasperated.

"Hm? Do you need something?" He turned to us.

"Yea, uh, what exactly are you doing with that?" Ace pointed to the red paint can and brush.

"This? Well if you can't tell, I'm painting the roses red!" The painter explains.

Not surprising. But I nod just to humor him.

"Huh? Why would you DO that?!" Deuce asked.

The painter laughs. "Oh, your reactions are so cute!" Then he inspects us. "Now that I've had a better look at you, you're the freshmen that busted the 1 billion madol chandelier yesterday!"

Wow! Word got around fast!

Ace shook his head in despair, "We're gonna hear about that damn chandelier until the day we graduate..."

"And you added onto the punishment by stealing our dorm leader's tart last night!"

I busted out giggling.

"I feel so lucky getting to meet the notorious newcomers first thing in the morning! Hey, wait, wait! This calls for a selfie! Yay!" Before I knew it, he had whipped out his cellphone, and snapped a picture faster than lightning. I didn't even have time to react as I looked straight at the camera in confusion. Neither did Ace or Deuce.

"Can I put this on Magicame? Tell me your names so I'll put you in the tags!"

Magicame? Is that like Instagr-

"Deuce Spade."

"Ace."

"Grim and Charlie!"

"Nice! Upload finished!" The painter smiled. "Oh! My name is Cater Diamond, third year!" He smiled. "You may call me Cater, or Cay is fine, too! Nice to meetcha!"

'He's so carefree...' I thought. "Piacere di conoscerti!" I nod my head. "That means 'Nice to meet you' in Italian! I'm Charlotte, but some just call me Charlie!" His eyes widened at my introduction and name.

"Oh! You're the supervisor from the Ramshackle Dorm I heard about! Good on you, living there!" He shook my hand. "It's super dark and you can't get a good Magicame there! You've my sympathy."

"This guy sure likes running his mouth a lot..." Grim complains.

"Oh, forgive me! There's no time for chit-chat!" Cater realizes. "The party's in two days! I don't want to risk losing my head for being late!" He smiles, "Hey, you guys. Since you're here, mind helping me paint these roses?"

"But why would you do something so weird?" Ace asked.

"Red roses at a party are the most photogenic! Maybe?" Cater guesses. "I've also need to change the flamingos' colors for the croquet match! I'm so swamped in all this work!"

"You're changing flamingo's colors? These chores are weird..."

"So the tart Ace ate was going to be used for the leader's birthday party. That's why he got mad."

"Nope. Not exactly."

"No?! Then who's?!"

"It's no ones birthday! The day after tomorrow is our dorm's traditional 'Unbirthday Party'! The dorm leader chooses a random day that's no ones birthday and we have a tea party!" Cater explains.

"The hell is that?!"

"Oh my god, Ace, get with the program!" I smack him on the head again.

"Charlie's right! Worry about reasoning later! Just make sure the roses are Red! Deuce, Grim, you two can help me with your magic! And Supervisor Charlie, Ace, since you both can't use magic, do it by hand!"

"We can change the color using magic?"

"I've never done anything like that."

"It'll be fine! Relax! We'll figure it out! We best hurry if we don't want to lose our heads~!"
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I just carefully painted one rose while singing. Ace was doing the same, minus the singing part.

"Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more.
Men were deceivers ever;
One foot in sea, and one on shore
To one thing constant never;
Then sigh not so, but let them go
And be you blithe and Bonny;
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into 'Hey nonny, nonny'."

"Ah~. You've a very wonderful voice, Charlie-Chan!" Cater spoke up. I jumped as I saw he was close to me. "And a keen eye of artistry too! You paint so fluidly! I can't even see brush strokes!"

"Oh! Thank you." I smiled shyly and go back to my task. "With painting and singing, I've practiced until I've gotten better at it. No biggie!"

"But still! And might I add, you're even better than what's going on with the others!" He pointed at Deuce and Grim who were failing horribly at magic painting.

"Red, red....got it! Gaaah! It's blue!"

"Change colors....take that! Gyaaa! They're on fire!!!"

I tried terribly to hold in my laughter.

"You guys are seriously more terrible at this than I thought..."

"Aren't the roses fine being white? They're pretty like that." Ace recommended.

"It's tradition! Roses are red for the Unbirthday Party!" Cater explains. "And we use flamingos in seven different colors for croquet with hedgehogs as the balls! Then again, the spring garden concert of the flowers use white roses. That's an important fact too!"

"These are such strange rules..."

"But they say these rules were all decreed by the Queen of Hearts from the Great Seven. Riddle's particularly passionate about following said rules. Even when compared to the other dorm leaders. Not gonna lie...he goes a bit too far sometimes..."

Ace's eyes widened in realization. "Oh, right! I don't have time to help anymore! I've gotta speak to him! Is he inside?" He drops his bucket and brush to the ground.

"I think there's still time before he leaves...also, Tart Thief Ace, did you bring a tart of apology?"

"Hm? No, I just stopped by first thing empty handed...."

Cater looked away with a "worried" look. "Oh...is that so? Then this means you're going against Law of her Majesty, the Queen of Hearts. No. 53: 'One must always return what's been stolen'. Naturally, I can't let you back into the dorm."

"Huh?! The hell is that?!"

"I'll lose my head too if I knowingly let you in while you're not following the rules." Cater smiles at him. "I'm sorry to tell you this but I must ask you to leave before Riddle find you." But there was a serious look in his eye.

And with that, I set down the paint stuff carefully, and grabbed my bag. Well, it was fun while it lasted.

"Shit, his face grew serious! Guys help me out!" Ace pleaded.

"Sorry, dude, you're on your own!" I waved slyly and turned to walk out. Might as well let them have their "fun".

"Why me?!" Deuce said.

"Please, I can't use magic now...crap, he's coming!"

I turned and leaned against a wall, watching in amusement. This should be interesting.
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Well that was fight I wasn't expecting! Dunno how to explain it but it was totally-

"Now, return once you've properly gotten a tart and try again! Good day!"
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I smiled to myself as we walked out of Heartslabyul.

"What's his deal?" Ace moans in defeat.

"No matter how many times we took him down, he kept coming back....I wonder if he was using illusion magic...?" Deuce theorized.

"Not to mention, we get turned away at the gate without a tart?! We didn't have anything to begin with! He just wanted us to paint the damn roses!"

"Well that's on you, dumbass. You just didn't think ahead!" I chastised.

"He's a shrewd one..." Grim mumbled.

"Then we'll just have to bring one and try again. We'll go after..." suddenly, his eyes widen. "Oh crap!!"

"What wrong?" I ask.

"The warning bell went off! We'll be late!!"

Oh Fuck.

"My shining school light will be tarnished on the first day!" Grim cried. "We gotta move!"

We took off.

"What class are you both in?" Ace asked, running beside me. "You're first years, correct?"

"Yea! The headmaster said Class 1-A!" I answered.

"Wow, so you're with us! First Period: Potions!" Deuce recalled.

"Woohoo! Sounds like fun!" Grim cheered.

"I can't use magic, so I wonder how it'll go..." Ace murmurs as we kept running.