In their spellsteracy class, Professor Lorraine Bloom was addressing the New Bloods students in her class.
"Students, I'm very well aware that Aphrodite Day is less than ten days away, but we must not let that distract us from our lessons. Now, we are going to learn a simple spell. Reveal the truth or Revealius il veritas, a simple spell that reveals the truth of anyone the spell is cast upon. This can prove to be useful when you've caught someone in a lie or even as members of important governments like the Fates or the Emperor's council."
As Professor Bloom droned on about the spells and the linguistics of the spells, Claire wrote a note and passed it to Ember, as she was next to her seat. Ember passed the note to Iris since she was next to Iris, who in turn passed it to Marina who sat in front of the weather witch. The water witch handed it to Azalea who was next to her and Azalea handed it to Blanche, who was in front of her, and quickly placed it on Evelyn's desk and resumed her work.
APHRODITE DAY = DAY OF LOVE
(Whatever you call it back on Earth!)
XOXO CDL
Evelyn crumpled the note and tucked it into her bag, concealing the note from Professor Bloom's sight.
"You will find some spells can be said in English such as Repairis and Revealius il veritas, whereas others will be spoken in a combination of three languages, Latin, Italian and Greek. Now, I want you all to study on the languages used in the spells, Latin, Italian and Greek, and begin practising spells, but only in this classroom." Professor Bloom exclaimed.
The University's bells rang loud, indicating the class was over. Professor Bloom sighed with relief as she slumped into her chair watching the students leave. As soon as Evelyn and her six roommates left, she looked to face the girls
"So Aphrodite Day is Hecatia's version of Valentine's Day."
"Is that what your Aphrodite Day on Earth is called?" Blanche asked.
Evelyn nodded "Yep. It was called Saint Valentine's, but people just call it Valentine's Day. It's on the 14th day of February."
"So's Aphrodite Day." Azalea added.
"It's named after the Greek goddess of love. Appropriate to name Valentine's Day, Aphrodite Day." Evelyn stated
Evelyn was particularly fond of Greek mythology, she could go on and on about it for days if you let her. She found the tale of Hades and Persephone a weird and darker spin on a Disney fairy tale, while she believed Hephaestus was quite handsome, and not ugly like the Internet and resources claim. She believed Hephaestus deserved a real love who saw his inner beauty, not his exterior and judged based on that.
"Yep. There's a rumour that if you haven't found love yet, Eros, Aphrodite's son, will shoot an arrow at you and whoever you have feelings for, but only if the feelings are mutual." Claire said, breaking Evelyn out of her thoughts.
"Really? Golly. It'd be tough if you like multiple people." Evelyn replied
"I'd love to be matched with someone by Eros or Aphrodite." Azalea sighed dreamily, looking like a little girl wishing her Prince Charming to swoop her off her feet.
Blanche rolled her blue eyes "How do you know you haven't already? No one has ever seen either Aphrodite or Eros at their infamous work."
Claire shook her head "Whatever. Headmistress Spellmont has an assembly for the 2021 class."
The seven girls walked into the main hall and sat with the other New Bloods in the front section. Headmistress Spellmont stood up and spoke at the podium.
"Ladies, gentlemen and professors. As you know, Aphrodite Day is fast approaching, so we have decided to throw a party to not only celebrate going back to school but to celebrate Aphrodite Day. Some of you may meet your mate on this sacred day, I met my husband at this very university when I was a young witchling and he a warlock, but we were matched together on Aphrodite Day."
Evelyn leaned in and whispered "I didn't know that Headmistress Spellmont was married."
"Yep. This coming Aphrodite Day will be her and Mr Spellmont's 30th anniversary of their meeting." Claire whispered.
"…And since we are moving rapidly towards the future, we will also be celebrating all love, whether you love boys or girls, or both, we will celebrate you. If that is all, good day, everyone."
The students all jumbled as they exited the Main Hall.
"Hey, Ember and I are gonna go to the Library, before class start." Iris informed her dorm mates.
Blanche nodded "Okay. Evie's gonna teach us this game on Earth called Go Fish."
There was no doubt that the ice witch was excited for this Earth game Evelyn told her about.
"You coming, Azalea?" Evelyn asked.
Azalea nodded, looking back and forth from her friends to the contents of her bag "Yeah, sure… oh I forgot my notebook. I'll be right back."
"Okay. See you back at our room." Claire responded.
Azalea waved them off "See ya."
The nature witch waved her roommates/friends as they walked back to their dorm.
Azalea walked back to the Main Hall where she found a cleaning guy who was about to begin cleaning, but the nature witch ran up behind him and snuck in, as he was cleaning the backstage first. Azalea climbed up to the chair she was sitting in, grabbed her notebook, and quickly dash out of the hall before the cleaning man found her.