Lunchtime came around. By that time, Grim had decided that he didn't want to go to school anymore and tried to skip, but Serena, Ace and Deuce caught him and chewed him out over it.

"Do I need to bind you to my leg just so you won't run off for five minutes?!" Serena scolded, pulling Grim back into the building by his ear. Despite his ears looking like there was blue fire coming out of them, Serena didn't get burned. The "fire" was more like really thin, glowing fur.

"Mwraah! Let go!" Grim whined. Serena let go of him. "If I catch you skipping class again, I swear I will get a rope and put you on a leash." She warned. Ace and Deuce cackled at the image.

"You sound like my mom when she was angry with me as a child." Ace commented. Serena huffed. "I'm not anybody's mom!"

They went to get lunch. Of course the scolding Grim received earlier was completely nullified at the mention of food. Serena was quite impressed by the quality of the food here. She was used to schools having barely edible meals in small portions that couldn't even get you through the day, so when she saw the wide variety of snacks and meals, she was baffled. There were even multiple options for vegans and people with gluten intolerance.

"Damn, this is a Hogwarts level buffet." Serena said. "What is Hogwarts?" Deuce asked. Serena giggled embarrassedly. Of course Harry Potter wasn't a thing in this world. "Well, in my world there's this book series that takes place at a school for wizards and witches called Hogwarts. They always have giant banquets for breakfast, lunch and dinner."

"A magic school, huh? Like NRC?" Ace asked. Serena pondered. "I suppose there are some similarities. Like your magic pens being practically wands and having different dorms for different qualities. But Hogwarts is a co-ed school, and the entire magic system is completely different to Twisted Wonderland."

As they talked, Grim bumped into another student, who then lashed out at them for breaking the yolk on his carbonara. Like what the hell? That was not worth getting angry over. It was about to escalate into a fight when Serena stepped forward. "If you're that desperate to break an egg, you have two of them in your pants. So how about you use one of them and leave us alone!"

"The fuck did you just say?!"

"Oh, I'm sorry... Do you need help?" Serena swung out, kicking the boy square in the groin. The boy howled and whimpered, quickly limping away and grumbling something about she'll pay for this.

Deuce looked at her in shock while Ace barely held it together. "Serena... please tell me when I piss you off beforehand so I can fix it." Deuce said. Serena just giggled as they sat down to eat.

Shortly after, Cater, Felix and another boy with green hair and a clover under his eye joined them. The green-haired boy introduced himself as Trey Clover and he was a third-year like the other two. Felix asked where Naomi was and Serena explained why she was in the infirmary. They decided it was better to wait with the new uniforms until she was well again. The conversation then shifted to the different dorms:

Heartslabyul was an homage to the Queen of Hearts, so they lived by her rules and wore black and red armbands around their upper arms. Savannaclaw had the colors black and yellow and was filled with sporty guys and beastmen. Octavinelle was gray and purple and Scarabia was red and gold. These dorms were both "smart kid dorms", as Cater described it. Pomefiore was purple and red, and they were known for their potions and curses. Ignihyde was quite introverted, so they didn't see any of them, but they had the colors blue and black and were quite tech-savvy. Lastly, there was Diasomnia in green and black. They looked very unapproachable, with grim faces and haughty attitudes. They noticed a short boy with black and pink hair, to whom Ace commented looked like a child. Trey assured him that he wasn't.

Suddenly, said boy was floating over their head like a bat, introducing himself as Lilia Vanrouge. "I understand my apparent age interests you? As this bespectacled fellow accurately noted, despite my fresh-faced, boyish good looks, it would be inaccurate to call me a child."

"He sounds like a nobleman from 18th century England..." Serena thought to herself, noting how confident he appeared. Lilia assured them that they were free to approach them directly. Serena looked over to the table once more, noticing the girl among them. She was pale, with long, black hair and a pair of black horns on her head. That must be the other girl Crowley told them about.

"That girl over there... Who's that?" Serena asked Lilia. He didn't even need to turn around to know who she meant. "You mean Darcilia? She's a second-year. Feel free to approach her, I'd be glad if she made some friends outside Diasomnia." Lilia said. Why did he suddenly sound like a dad? "Though she's not very talkative. She doesn't easily open up."

"I get that." Serena said understandingly. Lilia apologized for simply appearing above them and said goodbye before returning to his table. Ace whispered about how creepy it is that he overheard them from the other side of the cafeteria. Trey just says that Diasomnia is full of special students, and mentions that their dorm leader, Malleus Draconia, was considered one of the five best mages in the world.

"Malleus is reeeal bad news. Though I suppose the same could be said about our dear dorm leader." Cater said. Ace agreed, ranting about how Riddle's "rule obsession was outta control", which Riddle just so happened to overhear. Riddle got pissed. He wanted to take the collar off already, but given Ace hadn't learned his lesson yet he decided to let him keep it on for a while longer.

"Now, if you finished your meal, you should quit gossiping and prepare for your next class." Riddle said. "Rule 271 is quite clear: 'One must leave the table within 15 minutes of completing their lunch.' You DO understand what happens to rulebreakers, I trust?"

Serena cocked her head to the side. "Why?" She just asked. "What do you mean why?" Riddle asked, getting irritated. "I'm just asking the reason behind that rule. Rules are supposed to have reasons, after all."

Riddle opened his mouth, then closed it again. "Because it's in the rulebook!" He huffed, stomping off and mumbling something about having to get sugar cubes for his lemon tea.

Serena just shook her head. "That's like a parent saying "Because I said so". He doesn't even know the reasons for his rules?"

"I know he can come off as harsh, but he's not a bad guy. Everything he does, he does because he thinks it'll improve the dorm." Trey defended him. That didn't change that he was doing more harm than good, in Serena's opinion.

Ace then brought up the tart again, and Trey offered to help him if he gathered 300 chestnuts for it. Ace agreed, not thrilled but as long as he'd be allowed back in the dorm. Trey told them there were chestnut trees behind the school, so they decided to meet there after class.