Weeks passed and soon the day came when everyone should have had their partners selected. And most students had, apart from a few. Velvet was one of those few, since she simply refused to pick anyone, hoping still that the Council of Mages would approve Argus' proposal and make an exception for her and Arianna.

Imagine her shock when she was informed that she would be forced to select a partner at the Partner Presentation Ceremony (PPC). The PPC was an event held exactly one month before the practical exams took place and marked the beginning of the examination period. There, all final-year students and their partners walked up on stage to "present" themselves as future graduates. Pictures were taken by the headmaster's assistant, Ralph Gutfield, and there was a fancy banquet with an accompanying dance afterwards.

It was sort of a pre-celebration to ease the tension a bit before the grueling exams start. The following week tasks were to be selected at random by all pairs, which meant everyone who didn't have a partner yet would have to do so on the day of the ceremony or they automatically fail the practical exam. The remaining available post-graduates from all courses would attend this event and would be available for the partnerless students to pick from.

"No way in hell am I just picking someone random!" Velvet announced one day prior.

"You have to," Arianna said sternly. "Do you want us to graduate together or will you fail?"

"I'm not failing...and we are graduating together!" Her friend grit her teeth. "You'll see!"

"How can you be so sure? Why would the Council of Mages vote for this? I'm actually surprised they are even considering it. Argus must be really well respected for them to do it."

"It will all work out in the end." Velvet was adamant. "Have faith in Argus!"

"Just pick someone as a placeholder then. I can still ditch Dan if the vote succeeds. He's been getting increasingly touchy with me lately and it ticks me off! 'No, I do not want to hold hands with you when we walk through the park!' Ugh! He's really getting on my nerves!"

"Wow, I don't think I've ever seen you this riled up before." Velvet was surprised by her friend's sudden outburst. "I thought you two were friends. So you're not?"

"He doesn't want to be that kind of friend." Arianna exhaled tiredly. "He wants more."

"More? Oh, you mean a really close friend like you and me?"

"No...do I have to spell it out for you?" The other girl was getting frustrated with her now.

"I don't get it." Velvet shook her head. "You're saying you're not friends and he doesn't want to be a close friend. What does he want with you then?"

"He wants a relationship, alright?!" her friend finally snapped at her. "He wants me to love him like a wife loves her husband! He wants to kiss me! He wants to cuddle me! Get it?!"

"Oh...I see..." Velvet said quietly, a bit taken aback. She never really thought about these things before. Love. Relationships. For her, there was only one love. And that was her love for magic and adventure. This was a different kind of love, but it was love nonetheless.

"Anyways," Arianna broke the silence after she managed to calm down a bit, "there's nothing to talk about here. I don't like him and I don't want anything to do with him. Really, I just hope this whole graduation thing was over already so I can get on with my life."

"You're not happy with this, are you?" Velvet asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Of course I'm not happy," Arianna answered sincerely and buried her face in the palms of her hands. She was crying. "I hate this! It was supposed to be you and me...together..."

Her friend reached out and gently grabbed her hands, slowly pulling them away from her face, revealing her tear-stained cheeks. She looked her in the eyes. "And it will be! I promise you!"

***

The next day, at the ceremony, after all the pairs have introduced themselves, it was time for the students without partners to pick one for themselves. Velvet was the only one out of the light course who still didn't have a partner, along with a couple of students from other courses. She was to be the last one to pick.

First, the four remaining available graduates from the fire course lined up on stage and one of them was picked by a shy girl without a partner. This process was repeated for the water course, earth course, and darkness course. Everyone in the air course had their partners selected, so there was no need for them to do a last-minute partner selection.

The light course was on last and three young sorcerers, two boys, and one girl lined up on stage for Velvet to pick from. Ralph said a few words about each one of them to make her pick easier, before calling her on stage. Arianna, who spectated from the crowd, was pretty sure her friend would do something stupid like not showing up to the event, so she was pleasantly surprised when Velvet actually walked on stage.

"Miss Crow," the headmaster's assistant addressed her, "please pick your partner for the practical part of the exam. I've told you about their grades and achievements, as well as their personalities, so you should have an idea who would fit you best."

"Yes," the girl nodded, "I know exactly who I am going to pick!"

"That's good," Ralph nodded. "Go ahead then!"

Out of the three, the one that stood out the most was the boy on the left. The other two students graduated with average grades and their resumes were far from perfect. The raven-haired boy, however, was exceptional. He had won several awards and scored the highest possible on his practical exam.

Velvet was left wondering why nobody had picked him as a partner. When she looked at him, the young man smiled back warmly and nodded. "I choose..." Velvet said, pointing her finger at him.

In the crowd, Arianna breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, she came to her senses."

But she spoke too soon. Just then, Velvet suddenly spun around on her heel and pointed toward the crowd. "I choose Arianna Goldleaf as my partner!" she exclaimed, causing an uproar.

Everyone suddenly turned toward the golden-haired girl, who wanted nothing more than to disappear into the ground at that moment. "I...I don't know why..."

The people on stage were just as confused as the ones in the crowd. What is she doing?

"Miss Crow!" Ralph raised his voice. "This is not a joke! You know you can't do that!"

"And you can't force me to pick someone!" Velvet said in retort. "A partner should be someone who understands you, isn't that correct Mr. Gutfield? Someone who you feel comfortable with and can trust! Someone who you know will have your back even in the direst of circumstances! That is what we've been told in class, were we not, Mrs. Weiss?"

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Both the assistant and her teacher were shocked by being put on the spot like this in front of everyone. It felt almost like being accused of some crime in court.

"While that is true, the partner must be someone with more experience!" Mrs. Weiss finally spoke from the edge of the stage. "And above all, they must be from the same course! You cannot just go running around with someone who does air magic, while you do light magic yourself! But you know all that already, don't you?"

"Them using the same type of magic is meaningless if I cannot trust them," Velvet replied.

"This is not up for debate!" the assistant shouted. "Settle down everyone! NOW!"

The crowd fell silent as did the girl on stage. "If you do not wish to pick a partner then I shall not force you to," he continued. "But rules must be followed! And as per the rules, a student without a partner cannot complete the practical part of the graduation exam. Which means," the man raised his hand up in the air, "Velvet Crow has failed her graduation as of this moment!" He turned to the shocked girl. "You may take your exam again next year."

"W-what?" she stuttered. "Y-you can't do this! I am supposed to graduate this year!"

"Well, that's too bad." Ralph shrugged. "You should have picked a partner then!"

Velvet's eyes began filling up with tears. "This isn't fair...it's not fair!"

"Being extremely talented does not make you an exception to the rules," the assistant said coldly. "If we start bending the rules now, soon there will be complete chaos."

After saying this, he turned back toward the crowd. "Well, this concludes the partner selection part of this event! I kindly ask everyone and their partners to now move to the dining hall for a celebratory dinner and after that, we will have some fun and dance a bit!"

Velvet was not having fun at all right now. She ran off the stage and back into the academy, up the stairs, and into her room, locking herself in and crying into her pillow. "It's not fair..."

Arianna saw her leaving but couldn't get to her through the crowd. Despite this not being her fault at all, she felt terrible about it. So they really weren't going to graduate together?

Why did you go and do this, Velvet? I told you this would happen, she thought as Daniel guided her to the dining hall and told her not to worry about it. But how could she not?

***

The next few days were probably the worst days of Velvet's life since she first came to the academy almost five years ago. She spent most of the time in her room crying while Arianna tried her best to cheer her up, despite both of them knowing this was a fruitless effort. Graduation was something they'd both been looking forward to for so long. And now, only one of them will actually do it while the other will be left behind.

"I talked to Headmaster Finkleshore," the blonde girl said, hugging a pile of sheets that Velvet had wrapped herself into. "He's leaving for Everdale tomorrow to attend the council meeting."

There was no answer. "Come on, Vel! It's not all over yet...there's still a chance! He also said that what his assistant said at the ceremony can be overruled by him. He's on your side!"

Pulling the sheets off of her, Arianna expected to see her friend but found out there was nothing underneath but thin air. She smiled. "I know you're here. Show yourself."

Velvet undid her spell and appeared before her, wiping her tear-stained eyes.

"I don't think you realize how amazing it is that you can perform this spell so easily," Arianna complimented her, hoping to bring out the fearless and confident girl she knew Velvet was.

"It's whatever," she replied dismissively and turned away, crossing her arms.

"No, it's not," her friend inched closer to her on the bed and hugged her again. "Light Veil is a grandmaster-level spell! Nobody in your class can perform it but you!"

The brown-haired girl said nothing, still wrapped up in a different veil. A veil of sadness.

"Hey, remember when you used it to sneak into our class picture at the start of this year? That scared me so much! I thought a literal ghost just grabbed me!" Arianna giggled remembering.

Finally, Velvet smiled as well. "Yeah...that was funny, wasn't it?"

"It sure was!" The other girl was happy to finally see her smiling. "I love you, Velvet! You will always be my best friend!" She squeezed her tighter. "I need the real Velvet back, though. That Velvet wouldn't be crying in her room wrapped up in blankets right now. She would be out there practicing her magic and acting like everything will sort itself out!"

"You're right." She lifted her head up and reached to where Arianna's arms were wrapped around her torso. "What the hell am I doing? I am worrying about nothing! We will do this!"

"That's more like it!" her friend exclaimed happily. "That's the Velvet I know and love!"

Suddenly, the reinvigorated girl freed herself from her hug and jumped up on the bed, then proceeded to put on her jacket and her trusted pointy hat her dad made for her.

"Where are you going?" Arianna asked, a bit surprised by this sudden burst of energy.

"Thanks for cheering me up!" she said and ran out of the room. "I am going to see Argus of course! I've been skipping my training with him for days now! That just won't do!"

The golden-haired girl stared after her, shaking her head and smiling. "Never change..."

***

"The Council is now in session!" Grand Magus Tolpenheim announced. "Today's topics of discussion will be new policies regarding the use of magic on foreign soil, the increasing problem of vigilantes using magic for malicious purposes, and the implementation of mandatory registration of every sorcerer above tier two to the authorities in order to keep track of these powerful individuals to avoid abuse of magic. Plus general topics that may come up."

"Ahem!" Argus cleared his throat, looking up at the podium with a stern expression.

"Ah, yes," the leading man quickly realized what he had forgotten. "And we will vote on the exemption of article 13, paragraph 27, for two graduating students at Everdale Academy of Magic." He lowered his voice and spoke under his breath. "Which is total nonsense if you ask me personally, but it is what it is..."

Thank you for reading this part of the story!

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What will the council of mages decide?