Chapter 1

Shanell Pierre was easily the most advanced witch to walk Ilvermorny. But what else do you expect from the top scholar of Horned Serpent?

And now she had to leave all of that behind to start at Hogwarts… she sneered at the thought. There were so many thoughts racing through her head. She needed a break.

She pulled out her enchanted notepad and jotted down quickly:

Need a break, heading to the cloud bank.

-Nell

She tucked away the pad and ran for her favorite spot on Ilvermorny's massive campus.

As she walked up the hill, she turned off to a more secluded spot that she enchanted back in her second year so that it can only be accessed by two people other than herself. She pushed through the shrubbery that hid the entrance and walked to her spot under the snakewood tree near the edge of the cliff, overlooking the cloud bank. She cast a warming charm, reached deep into her hip clutch bag pulling out her favorite water pipe, and sat down. She touched her finger to the bowl lighting her special strand of indica and lavender, and pulled the smoke into the orb. As she inhaled the smoke, she thought of the events of the past hour.

She had a week left in her favorite place on the planet. It's been her home for the last three years and she's not quite sure how to deal with it being ripped away from her. She took another pull and looked out over the cloud bank.

"Nell?" came a deep voice through the brush. Shanell turned to see her two best friends walk into the small clearing.

At the sight of them, tears welled up in her eyes and spilled over. She hadn't yet processed the fact that in leaving Ilvermorny-in leaving America-she'd inevitably be leaving her two favorite people in the world. Shawn and Sade had been Shanell's best friends since the first year right after the sorting ceremony. They had bonded over the fact that not only did they share the same last name, despite a lack of relation, but they were all even sorted into the same house one after another. Even their names sounded similar.

They rushed over to her and gathered her in between them.

"Nell, please talked to us." Sade pleaded with her. Shanell only comes to the cloud bank alone when something heavy is on her mind, and Sade and Shawn had only ever seen her cry one other time in the three years that they've known her. The fact that she came up here alone AND was now crying was alarming to them to say the least.

"Come on babe, who are we hexing?" asked Shawn in an attempt to make fun.

"Yeah, you know we like any excuse to wreak havoc so seeing you in tears only amps that feeling all the way up," Sade said rubbing her back.

Shanell gave a watery laugh, "You remember when Tammy and Teri Arbor mixed bubotuber pus in Shawn's hand sanitizer when someone outed him? I think they're still dealing with the side effects of our mixed curses."

"Or when Riley Orr spread that rumor that Sade went down on him behind the greenhouses," Shawn added. The three outright laughed. Riley refused to come back to school due to the permanent wart in the middle of his forehead. He's home schooled now.

"The point is, you've had our backs on countless occasions so now it's our turn," Sade said gently. "What's up Shanell?"

Shanell took a deep breath and relayed all the information Headmaster Jones gave her earlier that afternoon.

"Can you hand that over?" Shawn asked reaching for the water pipe.

"Same," Sade agreed.

The three friends leaned back against the tree passing the pipe around mulling over the information.

"I can't believe this is reality. You're just supposed to uproot your whole life and move across an entire ocean all because that's where you were born?" Sade asked her anger peaking through the concern.

"And there's no way for you to stay? Like a foreign exchange program or something like that?" Shawn asked quickly going through all possible options in his head. Sade nodded in agreement and they went to work discussing different options that they've heard about or studied up on in their own reading.

Shanel smiled at her friends. She loved that even amidst their tragic split, they were level headed and diligent in finding a solution for the problem at hand. Her smile turned sad, however, because she had to break to her friends that there truly was no other rational way for her to stay at Ilvermorny.

"Guys, listen," Shanell started, turning to face her friends. "I swear, I've brought up every option to Jones. All of the ideas that you are discussing and some of the slightly irrational ones that you aren't. Each and every one of the ideas, he shot them down with a reason why they either wouldn't work or would have MACUSA's Aurors here in a second to arrest me."

The looks of sadness that crossed both of their faces broke her heart. "Look, I have about a week, to get my fill of the two of you until we're restricted to owl post. I'm not going to waste those seven days wallowing. You two are going to help me go out with a bang."

Shawn and Sade looked at each other then turned back to Shanell and nodded in agreement. "We're in."

They had since finished the bowl of weed, so Shanell waved her hand to clean it then stored it back into her the clutch fastened around her hips. The three friends then made their way down the hill to their lobby to plan out the week.

-(_1_)-

The week passed in a flurry of activities. By it being the last week of the term, the trio were done with all classes and tests by Wednesday, which left two whole days for their last hoorah.

They snuck into the other three houses and charmed everyone's clothes to run when the owner tried to put them on, they managed to sneak past the Puckwudgies and set the Doxys loose in the hallway, they spelled the faculty water supply so that it wouldn't get hot unless each of their students passed with at least a C, and the locked Headmaster Jones out of his chambers unless he twirled like a ballerina for the school to see.

By Friday, they all but forgot that Shanell would soon be leaving them. Sade rose early Friday morning and met Shawn downstairs to get Shanell's gift ready. She was leaving on Saturday morning so, they planned a huge party in the lobby and invited the whole school. They still had to find the perfect decorations and finalize the food provided by the house elves. Shanell had to pack literally all of her things, so they figured they'd have plenty of time to finish everything since she'd be upstairs for a while

Shanell was such a force of chaotic good that it was hard not to love her. Even the Puckwudgies, who don't like anyone, had a soft spot for her and were always letting her slide when they caught her out past curfew.

They tasked the juniors and seniors with bringing in all of the fun stuff since no one else was old enough to leave campus without a staff chaperone. They got the help of the sophomores to charm the lobby and the entire hallway outside with a mix of the muffliato and concealment charms so that not only will uninvited people not hear what's going on, their attentions won't be drawn to the lobby or hallway for any reason.

This party will be one for the books.

-(_1_)-

Sade went up the stairs as Shawn was putting the last touches on the lobby and letting everyone in to surprise Shanell. She poked her head through the door to their shared room to see Shanell sitting in the window seat with a half empty bottle of Jameson in her lap. The boxes with all of her stuff were lined up near the door, the only thing not packed was the outfit she planned to wear in the morning.

Sade stepped in and sat next to Shanell grabbing the bottle and taking a shot. She turned to her best friend.

"You ready for tomorrow?" she asked tentatively. She didn't know how sensitive the topic was right now, in addition to being drunk.

"As ready as I'll ever be," she replied putting the bottle to her lips to take another swig. She wasn't as drunk as she knew Sade thought she was. She's had this same bottle since the beginning of this summer and only now, at the end of the fall term, she's gotten it down to half full. She was a smoker more than a drinker, but the whiskey seemed more appropriate for a memorial.

Sade took the bottle and capped it. She set it aside and grabbed Shanell's hand, "Come, on. We're not in mourning. You're moving, not dying." She pushed her to the boxes and waved her hand so that boxes opened and her wardrobe floated before them. "Pick something cute, we're doing something fun tonight. And I don't want to hear anything about you wanting to be alone tonight. You and I both know that's bull shit."

Shanell watched with her jaw dropped as Sade turned and went over to her own closet and waved her hand again. She shook her head and turned to her clothes thankful for her friends and their ability to read her so easily. Truthfully, the last thing Shanell wanted to be was alone, and she was so grateful for her friends' intuition.

She flicked her finger making her wardrobe carousel before her and and mentally going through an extensive list of combinations. She halted on deep teal top, picking it out because it was her gift from her friends on her birthday last year. It had gold vines and pale fuchsia flowers. Shawn had charmed the designs to dance with every movement, and Sade had charmed it so that no matter what she paired with it, everything matched and she looked amazing.

She picked out her favorite black, curve hugging jeans and her black, leather knee high boots to go with it. Shanell wasn't sure where they were going, but she knew that they were going to be causing trouble so she wanted shoes she'd be able to run in comfortably and look amazing doing it.

The two girls turned around at the same time and appraised the other. "Nice!" they said together, looping arms and turning to walk out the door.

-(_1_)-

As they stepped off the staircase and rounded the corner to walk into the lobby, Shanell jumped pushing Sade behind her ready to defend her friend from the noise.

"SURPRISE!" everyone in the lobby yelled together.

Shanell's jaw dropped. She looked around. Before her stood what seemed like the the entire school in the Horned Serpent lobby. On the wall to the left was a large flashing poster that read 'Farewell Nell!' embossed in the letters were moving pictures of some of the many great memories she's had while at Ilvermorny, from the moment she, Sade and Shawn were sorted into the same house to the most recent prank they pulled just two days prior. A slide show of the last three years of her life was playing on the poster. She turned to her two best friends with tears in her eyes.

"You guys!" she hugged Sade fiercely silently sobbing as she did so. "I love you both so much! I'm not sure how I'll survive without you there."

"I'm sure you'll manage," Sade said.

"Yeah," Shawn added rubbing her back, "no one will be able to resist your pull once they meet you. You're like a fungus that you just can't get rid of."

They all laughed and then melted into the party. It lasted well into the early hours of the morning. It wasn't until the muffliato and concealment charms wore off, which brought their house sponsor in to shut it down that everyone to their respective dorms.

With a wave of her hand, Shanell had set the room to clean itself while she sat on the sofa with Sade and Shawn. The party was amazing and it was just what she needed to cheer her up before the inevitable heartbreak that was coming the next day.

As she sat down between her two favorite people in the world, she sighed leaning her head on Shawn's shoulder and grabbing Sade's hand in hers. "I'm going to miss you both terribly," she whispered.

Shawn tapped the sofa and transfigured it into a large enough bed for he and Sade to cuddle Shanell for what they hoped would not be the last time.

She curled into Shawn's chest as Sade snuggled up to her back and she drifted into a dreamless sleep as a single tear escaped her eye.