By the time Fila made it to the Great Hall, word had already begun to spread. Students at the Pukwudgie table were whispering, and several Thunderbird seventh-years were casting wary glances at the doors. The "vibration" of her outburst had likely been felt all the way up in the castle towers.
She sat down heavily next to Theo, who was unusually quiet. He pushed a plate of eggs toward her, but didn't make a joke.
"The lake felt... loud this morning," June said softly, leaning over her book. Her eyes were searching Fila's face for any sign of the girl who had been laughing at chess just a couple of days ago.
"I was practicing," Fila said shortly.
"Practicing or declaring war?" Milles asked. He wasn't teasing. He looked at her with a steady, grounding gaze. "Fontaine looks like he's aged ten years in the last hour, Fila. What did he say?"
Fila picked up a fork but didn't use it. "The Congress denied the hearing. Emma is in a 'secure facility.' Basically, they've decided the truth is too messy to handle, so they're sweeping the whole thing and throw me under the rug."
Elliot, who usually avoided serious topics, leaned in. "So what now? We just... take our finals? Pretend she didn't try to turn you into a battery for ancient magic?"
Fila's grip tightened on the fork. "I'm going to find her."
"Fila, that's suicide," June whispered, her eyes darting to the High Table. "You don't even know where 'secure' is."
Fila finally looked up, her eyes flashing that dangerous, crystalline blue. "I don't. But I know something that does."
Back in the dorm later that afternoon, the atmosphere was suffocating. Fila sat on her bed, the curtains drawn. The room was silent except for the rhythmic thump of the ancient book hitting the wood of the nightstand, as if it were pacing.
She reached out and flipped it open.
'That was quite the tantrum,' the book scribbled, the ink dark and aggressive. 'The trees are still shaking. You're leaking magic like a cracked cauldron, Ophelia.'
"Shut up," Fila whispered. "You know where they take 'political inconveniences' in this country. You've been around longer than the MACUSA has had a name."
The book didn't respond with its usual lightning-fast wit. Instead, the ink pooled in the center of the page, forming a thick, dark blotch that looked like a widening eye.
'I am a record of power, Ophelia, not a map for your vengeance,' the book wrote, the letters jagged and unusually formal. 'You think the MACUSA is the only thing that wants you in a cage? If I give you a path to her now, while your blood is boiling, I'm not helping you. I'm just handing you the rope to hang yourself.'
Fila slammed her palm onto the page, her skin tingling where it met the enchanted parchment. "I'm not asking for life advice. I'm asking for a location."
The book shuddered under her hand. For a second, a flicker of a map appeared, a mountain range she didn't recognize, but then it vanished into a swirl of nonsensical scribbles.
'Denied. My pages don't open for those who have lost their grip. You're not wielding that ancient thread right now; it's wielding you. Look at your orchids, little Grindelwald. They're still black.'
Fila looked down. A single black petal had snagged on the cuff of her robe, a silent reminder of the destruction by the lake. She let out a frustrated growl and shoved the book away. It hit the nightstand with a dull thud and clamped itself shut, the lock clicking with a finality that made her want to hurl it across the room.
She didn't stay in her dorm room after that.
Fila stormed through the common room, passing her friends who sat on the couches.
"Fila, wait!" June called out, half-rising from her seat, but Fila was already a blur of cranberry and blue robes.
The tower door swung shut with a heavy thud behind her. She didn't want their comfort, she didn't want their logic. She needed the air to be colder and the space to be wider. She tore through the corridors, her footsteps echoing like a frantic heartbeat against the stone walls. Every student she passed seemed to blur into a faceless smudge of color, their whispers trailing behind her like smoke.
She burst through the front doors of the school, the evening air hitting her face with a sharp, biting chill. The sun had almost entirely dipped below the horizon, leaving the sky a bruised purple, stitched with the first few stars.
She ran down the winding path, her boots skidding on the damp gravel. The forest loomed around her, a wall of ancient, silent observers. By the time she reached the shore of Morny Lake, her lungs were burning, and the blue light beneath her skin was humming so loudly it felt like her bones were vibrating.
The tree guardian emerged from the treeline, its massive wooden feet treading heavily on the muddy bank. It let out a low, mournful creak, its eyes glowing with that unsettled, reddish tint again. It reached out a hand the size of a boulder, as if trying to shield her, or perhaps, to keep her from tearing the forest apart.
"Don't," she hissed, her eyes locked on the dark water. "Don't you dare try to calm me down."
She turned her gaze to the trees she had leveled earlier that morning. They looked like skeletons in the moonlight. She felt a surge of something dark and ancient, a desire to see everything as broken as she felt.
But she sat down on the grass.
The lake sat as silent as ever, it didn't care about her feelings. And neither did anyone else, not the headmaster, not the old wizards and witches who ruled everything.
The grass was cold beneath her, the dampness of the earth seeping through her robes, but Fila welcomed the chill. It was the only thing that felt real.
The tree guardian hesitated, its massive wooden frame looming over her like a weeping willow. Seeing her collapse into the grass seemed to confuse it; the reddish glow in its eyes flickered, dimming back toward a soft, uncertain blue. It knelt, the ground groaning under its weight, and rested one giant, bark-covered hand a few feet away from her, a silent, immovable anchor in the dark.
"It's not fair," she whispered, her voice cracking as the rage finally began to leak out, leaving only a hollow, aching exhaustion.
Fila pulled her knees to her chest, resting her forehead against them. The silence of the lake was heavy. It didn't offer comfort, but it didn't offer judgment either.
The heavy reality of it all was that they didn't see her as a student, but as a Grindelwald. and they wouldn't even let her tell them that neither her nor her mother had done anything to justify treating her like she had tried conquering the wizard world.
A soft rustle of grass alerted her that she wasn't as alone as she thought. She didn't look up, expecting it to be Theo coming to drag her back to the safety of the castle walls.
He just stood beside her, didn't say anything. Just looked over at the calm lake. But then he sat down next to her. "I nicked some hot cider from the kitchen. I think it was suppose to be for the horned serpents, but I wanted it more."
Fila looked over at the flask of yellow-orange liquid. Then she raised her eyes towards Theo who had the smuggest grin on his face. "Is it even good?" she asked.
"Probably better than whatever the Horned Serpents are drinking now," Theo replied, uncorking the flask with a satisfying pop. A cloud of steam billowed out, smelling intensely of cinnamon, cloves, and a hint of something zesty.
He took a theatrical sip, let out a long, contented sigh, and then handed it over to her. "It's practically liquid sunlight. Given that you're currently trying to become a creature of the dark, you probably need the vitamin boost."
Fila took the flask. Her hands were still cold, and the warmth of the glass felt like a shock to her system. She took a small sip. It was sweet, spicy, and so hot it made her eyes water, but it successfully chased away some of the bitter chill in her chest.
"I'm not trying to become anything," she murmured, staring back at the water. "I just wanted them to listen."
Theo leaned back on his elbows, looking up at the stars. The tree guardian, seeing that Fila was no longer a ticking time bomb, let out a low, creaky sound and began to slowly merge back into the shadow of the treeline, though it kept its blue eyes fixed on them.
"They're scared, Fila," Theo said, his voice losing the smugness and turning unusually quiet. "My dad always says that when people in high places stop listening, it's usually because they're afraid of the answer they might hear. They see the name Grindelwald and they see that... whatever that was you did to the trees... and they panic. They think if they ignore you, the 'problem' goes away."
"I'm not a problem to be solved," Fila snapped, though the bite was gone from her voice.
"I know that. Milles knows that. June is currently back in the tower trying to hex a pillow because she's so worried about you," Theo said. He turned his head to look at her. "The Congress can deny all the hearings they want. They can hide Emma in the moon for all I care. But they don't get to decide who you are. Only you do. And right now, you look like a girl who needs to finish her cider and stop being a dramatic forest hermit."
Fila looked at the flask, then back at him. The blue light under her skin had finally settled, leaving her feeling heavy and incredibly tired.
"You're very annoying, Theo."
"It's my best quality," he grinned, nudging her shoulder with his. "Come on. If we stay out here any longer, Fontaine is going to come down here to give us detention, and I really don't want to hear him talk about 'magical responsibility' for three hours."
Fila didn't argue. She didn't have the energy left to be a hermit anyway. She let Theo help her up, her legs feeling like lead as they began the slow trek back up the gravel path. Behind them, the lake remained a dark, unbothered mirror, and the forest seemed to exhale as the two students retreated toward the golden glow of Ilvermorny's windows.
The walk back was quiet. Theo didn't try to fill the silence with his usual jokes, for which Fila was quietly grateful. He just kept a steady pace beside her, the empty cider flask swinging from his hand.
June practically tackled Fila the moment she saw her.
"Don't you ever do that again!" June whispered fiercely, pulling back to check Fila for injuries. "I almost went to Fontaine. I was five seconds away from telling him you'd gone feral in the woods."
Fila sat down on the couch and just leaned back into it. but no she wanted to lay down, so she swung her legs upon the sofa. Calla who was already seated got her feet in her lap.
The death glare she got. "Did you even consider washing your shoes before doing that?" Calla said with an annoyed voiced complain.
"No"
The group sat down and talked about everything, nothing about what had happened. If Fila wanted to talk about it she could. But no, its time for something else.
"Do you guys remember when the last seventh years talked about there being a magical map of the school?" Fila asked the group.
Theo shot up. "Yeah, the one with hidden rooms marked and secret stairs. I remember Karl talking about it."
The others seemed to have remembered by now. and what followed was an hour of talking about finding the map, or even how to find it. the seniors had speculated that the headmaster had it, but fila had her secret book she could ask. It seemed to know most about this school, so why not just ask it.
"So," Fila said, her voice warm and sleepy as she looked at the group. "The Aurelius Map. If we find it, I'm marking the kitchen's secret entrance first. For... tactical cider runs."
Theo raised an imaginary glass. "To tactical cider runs."
"To breaking the rules," June added.
"To not getting caught," Milles finished, looking pointedly at Theo.
Fila closed her eyes, the steady hum of her magic finally harmonizing with the quiet breathing of her friends. She still had a long way to walk, but for tonight, the step she had taken felt like it was on solid ground. Still angry but letting it be on the side for now.
One by one, the group began to drift off. Milles and Elliot headed up to the boys' dorms with a quiet nod, and June eventually nudged Fila's shoulder, signaling it was time to move. Fila stood up, her legs still a bit shaky, and gave Calla a small, apologetic smile for the mud on her lap.
"I'll wash the blanket tomorrow," Fila promised.
"You'd better," Calla grumbled, though she reached out and squeezed Fila's hand for a split second before heading upstairs.
Back in her dorm, the room was cool and silent. Fila didn't turn on the lamps. She walked straight to the nightstand where the ancient book sat, looking perfectly innocent in the moonlight.
She sat on the edge of her bed and pulled the book into her lap. It felt warm to the touch, as if it had been waiting for her. She didn't slam her hand down this time. She didn't demand answers with a snarl. She simply traced the golden filigree on the cover with her thumb.
"I'm not looking for a fight tonight," she whispered into the dark. "I just want to know about the Aurelius Map. If it's part of the school, you must know where it is."
Slowly, the ink began to bloom.
'the map has been hidden for a couple of years now, its not in the headmasters office. He planted it somewhere so that some lucky student would find it.'
Fila rolled her eyes. "Are you going to give some hint or anything?"
'…' and a long pause. 'no, you can find it. just look for it.' the book close, not as harshly this time.
Fila stared at the closed cover, the moonlight catching the gold leaf of the title. "Just look for it," she mimicked in a low, mocking whisper. "Helpful as always."
Still, the book hadn't snapped her fingers or locked itself with a menacing thud. It felt more like a challenge than a dismissal. She set the book back on the nightstand and climbed into bed, her mind already wandering through the castle's corridors. If Fontaine had "planted" it, he wouldn't have put it somewhere obvious like the library. It would be somewhere that required a bit of... spirit.
"A thunderbird spirit perhaps…" Fila muttered to her newly appeared Carnation flowers, pink this time.
The morning light hit the pink carnations on her nightstand, turning their edges into glowing ribbons of soft light. Fila felt significantly less like she was going to implode today, though the memory of the black orchids still sat in the back of her mind like a warning.
She dressed quickly and headed down to the Great Hall, finding the usual suspects already huddled over a breakfast that looked largely ignored in favor of a frantic, whispered debate.
"I'm telling you, it's in the rafters of the West Wing," Theo was saying, gesturing wildly with a piece of bacon. "Why would you hide a map on the ground? Maps are for looking down on things. It's basic logic, Milles."
"Your 'basic logic' is usually just an excuse to climb things you shouldn't," Milles replied dryly, not looking up from his tea.
Fila slid into the bench next to them, reaching for a piece of toast. "The book was... cryptic. But it mentioned Fontaine planted it for a student with 'spirit' to find."
June leaned in, her eyes bright. "Spirit? Like house spirit? Or just... trouble-making spirit?"
"Knowing Fontaine? Probably both," Fila said. "I was thinking about the Thunderbird spirit specifically. Where does our house history actually start? Not just the tower, but the roots of it." fila looked at the others, she had expected them to know the answer. "Adventure, guys come on. Don't you know anything about us?"
"Right. Just what I was about to say." Theo said proudly.
June nodded alongside him.
"I hate all of you. But seriously, the founders made the thunderbirds tower for obvious reason, it's a bird… just a very big one. But its suppose to be able to fly out to locations. And there just happened to be a big ass mountain to the north of the school." She had just explained all that to be met with the most boring faces ever.
"Is that it?" Theo asked, poking at a stray crumb on the table. "Your big lead is... a mountain? Fila, that's just geography. That's like saying the map is hidden in 'the air' or 'the dirt'."
"Think about it," Fila said. "Fontaine loves a metaphor. He wants us to have 'spirit'? He wants us to find the map? He put it somewhere that requires us to actually be Thunderbirds. We don't hike up, Theo."
Theo's eyes widened, his half-eaten bacon frozen in mid-air. "Oh. Oh, no. You want to fly. With brooms. In a mountain draft."
The mountain was famous for their heavy winds, and a strict no climbing allowed coming directly from the headmaster.
As Fila scanned the group she could see that many of them, if anyone. Didn't even want to.
"Alright, we'll think of something else." She said with a smirk. Looks like Fila was going to have to do this on her own. Which she didn't mind, more adventure and map for herself.
"Good," Theo said, looking visibly relieved as he went back to his eggs. "Because I like my bones in their current configuration. Let's just check the library again. Maybe the 'spirit' is in a really spirited biography."