Cuff nervously tapped his legs and glanced around. Papers were strewn across the floor, some tomes were lying flat, having fallen from pecarious perches. The clock ticked, and ticked. Through the window Cuff could see an inky black sky, must be night he thought, as he glanced toward the clock. The moment his vision rested on the clock pain ripped through his eyes, across his head. He shouted, falling to the ground with his head in his hands, twisting madly with the pain.

It tore along the top of his skull in pulses, like a rivulet of pain, seeping into his neck and running along his spine. He grasped madly at the top of his spine, almost as if he wanted to tear it out.

And just as quickly as it started, it stopped. Cuff lay panting on the floor, confused. He slowly got up and looked around, double-checking there as nothing about attacking him. After reaffirming it was just him in the room he decided to leave, he needed help, or answers. Both actually, definitely both. Thinking back to the pain he just felt he began to think maybe he wasn't dreaming. Like what any human does in a situation where it doesn't understand what is happening he tried to rationalise. So, as he walked out of the door he thought on the one hand, raising his right hand, magic is real. And on the other - he closed the door behind him - and raised his left hand, I'm going insane. And it was as he walked through random corridors, in the pitch of the night, with hands waving backward and forward, shoes clacking on the ground, that he realised his satchel was no longer banging off of his leg. He looked around to get his bearings. He was in a large wooden corridor, there was two suits of armor to his right, and on the left was a locked door. There was nothing else along the corridor, other than art running periodically along the left wall, and two suits of knights on the right. Behind him the corridor ran on and on for an age, and in front of him it opened out into a large room.

"Yep, no idea where I am. Fu-" Cuff cut off, a scream ripping through the night silence in its place. He collapsed onto the knights, knocking them off their stand as he curled up in pain, metal showering around him.

Cuff's eyes fluttered open to the bright sun, streaming through his bedside window. The smell of unvarnished wood hit his nose, pine and grass, with the slightest hint of flowers. Lots of flowers. Dreamy. It must've all been a dream, or nightmare. At least it was all back to normal now.

Until the stench of smoke and tobacco washed over him.

"Well, you're not dead," a gruff voice announced.

Cuff's eyes shot open, beside him in a chair that was previously in his apartment sat the headmaster from his dream; although it was clear it wasn't a dream now. Cuff couldn't believe it. Thinking back about what had transpired yesterday really made him doubt if he was sane.

"Ah, hello Headmaster. And, well, naturally?" Cuff responded, shaking his head. At least the pain was gone, "also I think I should tell you, I keep feeling a horrific pain in my pain. It's happened twice now." Cuff said to the headmaster.

"Mhm, well you see it's not all that natural you're not dead, also you can call me Nathaniel in private," the headmaster started, raising his hand and twirling it. A little figure of flame popped up, mimicing the action of splashing some powder on its face, "had a non-magical person taken pixie dust instead of you, they'd have died." The flame figure, dramatically fell down onto an imaginary floor and then poofed into dust.

"Oh," Cuff said, lying onto his back and staring up at the ceiling. He had nearly died. He felt an odd empty sensation deep inside him. And then realised he'd just seen a dancing figure made of flame, magic, in front of his very eyes. Yet he felt so empty. Cuff turned back to face Nathaniel as he began to speak.

"The pain you're feeling is as a result of taking the pixie dust, and you should be feeling a terrible sense of loss, loss of yourself to be exact," and once again a figure of flame appeared in Nathaniel's hand, first splashing some fiery dust onto its face and then spazzing in pain.

"I see," Cuff replied hollowly.

"You should be over the worst of it soon anyhow, but I have something that will help." As Nathaniel finished his sentence two mugs came floating in from the neighbouring room. The smell of coffee permeated the air, almost as soon as the mugs flew through the door.

Grasping the mug that stopped in front of him Cuff gasped inadvertently," Coffee!" He exclaimed.

"I see you have a keen eye. Indeed, coffee should help almost immediately," Nathaniel nodded.

Cuff gingerly sipped at the coffee, and then took a mouthful. It was so fresh he could hardly believe it, he was debating asking what beans there was when he realised something. A non-magical person would die if took pixie dust?

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Cuff turned to Nathaniel, who had a smile stretched from ear to ear, Cuff swore he heard him murmur, "coffee, my only love."

"You said a non-magical person would die if they took pixie dust?" Cuff asked, eyebrows raised.

"Quite," Nathaniel replied, sipping his coffee.

"So, I'm a 'magical person', then?" Cuff asked, mimicing quotation marks, a wry smile on his face. There was silence for a moment, and then a ticking clock filled in the void. The sunlight streamed into the room, giving it an orange glow as the yellow light clashed with the red paint. The smell of coffee and smoke drifting through the room, combined with the wooden floor it felt so peaceful. Nathaniel looked up solemnly, staring straight at Cuff.

"You're a wizard, hairy," and then almost immediately burst out laughing. "My apologies, I've always wanted to say that to someone, but the effect is generally lost on the students," he chuckled once more, standing and walking to the window. Cuff shook his head, the old man couldn't even get the quote right. He felt like headbutting the wall; on the bright side the coffee had begun to make him feel human again.

"Jokes aside, you are indeed a magical person, or you would have died from the pixie dust, so congratulations," Nathaniel said, still staring out the window. He began to stroke his beard with his left hand while he tapped his pipe off the window.

"There are a few small issues, however, we'll leave those for later," he mused, turning around to face Cuff, who was mid-stretch. "Cuff," Nathaniel took a few steps closer, tapping the pipe off his lip now.

"Yes?" Cuff answered, eyes wandering around the room nervously.

He rested the pipe on his lip, "don't give your key to anybody, and don't lose it. Keep it on you, always, although that won't be too hard to do," he began tapping the pipe on his lip again, turning slightly. Frowning, he asked, "may I see it?"

"Uhm, sure," Cuff fumbled with the key in his pocket, holding his palm open for Nathaniel.

The key was black now, while the owl had rubies for eyes. "It's changed," Cuff exclaimed.

"Mhm, that might happen a lot, no need to worry," Nathaniel said, as he poked at the key with his wand, which had appeared out of seemingly nowhere. His wand was a pale wooden colour, almost white but not quite. It was slender and long, only slightly thicker at the bottom where the handle was seperated from the rest by a little circlet.

"How interesting," Nathaniel commented, "it seems there's something else I owe you later," he mused. He straightened up and tapped his pipe with his wand, spreading smoke through the air while he muttered.

"Well-" he began, but was cutoff by a thump at the window. "That damnable owl," he frowned, walking over where an owl was plastered against the window. He tapped at the window with his pipe, spilling tobacco everywhere, "I know you can tell when they're open and not you fool," he shouted at the owl, stuck to the window. He turned back around to face Cuff.

"Well, now I really must be off, it seems there's a few things I must attend to. Stop by my study later, there are some things I've to inform you of, and something I believe I should give you, till then," he smiled, as he tapped his pipe with his wand. As the sound of the tap ran through the room his body folded in on itself, space warping, and then with a snapping sound he was gone.

Cuff lay back on his bed and let out a deep breath. This was insane. All he'd wanted was a job, and now he was in a magical school, apparently a wizard, and suffering the godawful after affects of some magical drug. Well at least he actually had a job, that was good! Positive thinking. And he could do magic now, or well maybe someone would teach him how to, that was also pretty cool. He downed the rest of his coffee and rolled out of bed, spying his satchel in the corner of the room as he did. He looked around and realise he was in his quarters, still in the same clothes as yesterday, or at least he assumed that was yesterday. But there definitely wasn't a bed here yesterday, or his wardrobe that looked suspiciously identical to the one from his apartment, and the same with his bed. Frowning, he walked into the main room, only to find his beloved Schteinway baby grand piano in front of him, alongside some chairs and other piecse of furniture from his apartment. Definitely need to add this to his checklist of stuff to ask the headmaster later. Curiously enough he didn't feel hungry at all, maybe something to do with the pixie dust he thought. Stretching, he figured he mght as well play the piano just a little bit, no harm right. Anyway, he had no idea what to do at the moment, other than to go to the headmaster's study at some point, but he seemed pretty busy so.

Outside in the hallway someone clicked along the wooden floor. Red hair bouncing, a stark contrast to the black clothes she was wearing. As she drew close to the doors the twinkle of piano floated toward her. She recognised this, it was Debussy! Reflets dans l'eau, such a beautiful piece. She paused outside the door, leaning gently against them as she listened. And there she stayed, eyes closed, head hung back. As the piece ended on its final gentle, quiet notes, like the ripples of water dying out, she sighed and raised her hand.