Summer break was officially starting for the fairies of Alfea, and they were all celebrating it in their dorms by packing their suitcases and telling each other's plans for the next month. And the winx were no exception. Since Musa and Flora and Layla were spending the first part of the break at Alfea they had decided to help their friends pack and carry their things to the school's bus stop. However, it was no surprise to anyone that in the end the flatmate that needed their help the most was their favorite blond princess.
The sun fairy was having a difficult time choosing which outfit would go in which suitcase, one destined for her time at her mother's and the other for her stay in the royal palace with her father. A few minutes ago, Musa had made the terrible mistake of suggesting that she just divide her things in two and choose her outfits based on what she'd end up with. That had quickly created a whole argument between the two fairies, since Stella thought the idea was preposterous and contrary to her values as a lover of fashion. Layla and Flora had decided to stay silent during the whole debate and instead silently fold up the clothes that were already chosen in their rightful suitcase.
After a lot of back and forth and hesitation, Stella and the girls were finally on their way to the bus stop. Each of them carried a bag. While Stella and Layla carried the heavier clothes bags, Musa and Flora had the honor of transporting her four slightly smaller makeup bags, beauty product bags, jewelry bags, and schoolbooks' bags. Flora tried not to comment on the fact that Stella's book bag was the smallest. She wanted to avoid starting another argument since they had almost reached their goal.
Many people (who probably did not have six bags to meticulously pack like their blond friend) were already waiting outside for the bus to arrive and saying goodbyes to the few students that were staying. In the middle of the crowd, they quickly spotted Bloom and Tecna and quickly made their way towards them. As they approached their position, they finally noticed that the girls and other students around them were being handed papers by their history teacher.
"Sir, good morning!" Stella loudly greeted him before they had even dropped the suitcases on the floor." He nodded towards her in answer and quickly handed each of them the same paper Bloom and Tecna were holding.
"Good morning, I see you have a group of servants to help you carry your luggage, your highness." Flora chuckled lightly at his words. And stella only smiled unashamedly back. The girl might have been a bit spoiled, but she knew how to take a joke.
When it was her turn to take the paper, flora felt the subtle brush of Dimitri's finger's against her own. And she hoped that no one noticed the small blush that overpowered her cheeks. She tried to quickly focus back on the conversation happening around her before someone noticed her spacing out.
"These are magical forms that you have to fill up before the end of summer break. You need to fill them with the information asked and sign so that you can come back as third year students next year. As soon as you sign, the information will automatically appear in our records and the new list of schoolbooks and school supplies will appear on the back of the paper. I would recommend that you take care of it as quickly as possible so that you have time to buy everything before the start of classes." He said those last words of advice by pointedly looking at Stella that had already carelessly folded up the paper into a ball and had thrown it in one of her huge bags. Dimitri rolled his eyes in exasperation before going to see another group of girls that had just come out of the main building. But he walked past Flora's side and brushed his arm and hand discreetly against hers as a silent "see you later".
The girls quickly moved on to a new topic of conversations.
"Hey, Bloom, Tecna, do you need any help moving your bags? We just finished moving all of Stella's stuff." Musa offered kindly to the girls. While Tecna seemed to have already done everything since all her suitcases were on the ground right next to her, Bloom's two big suitcases were nowhere in sight.
But the red head was quick to confidently decline their offer.
"Don't worry I have everything under control." She followed her words with a graceful twirl of her finger. "Tada!" and they watched as the window of her bedroom opened to let two flying pink suitcases pass through. But what really caught Flora's attention was the two pixies and the small blue rabbit riding on top of the biggest one. Flora instantly recognized the two honey blond pigtails flying on top of one of one of the two pixies' heads. Why did her little pixie always have the worst ideas? One day she was going to die of a heart attack or maybe because of the amount of stress she had to go through everyday looking after her mischievous little darling.
"Chatta! That's dangerous!" but her words were only with squeals of laughter.
However, the happy sound quickly turned into scared screams when Bloom's magic lost control of the flying bag. Flora could do nothing else but watch as the little darlings were thrown off their improvised ride. Lockett and Kiko were lucky enough to be caught by Bloom and Layla. Chatta was not as lucky as she fell through the air over their heads. Out of nowhere, as she was heading closer to the ground, a pale hand caught her by the pigtails before she could hit the floor.
"Nice catch, spike head." The girl smiled at her savior, showing him a thumbs up in appreciation.
"You know I can still let go. A smart pixie would thank their rescuer instead of insulting them." Flora could not stop smiling in relief at seeing her pixie safe and sound in the hands of Dimitri. Even though the two were already trading insults. Furthermore, she swore she saw them childishly stick out their tongues at each other even though she knew Dima would never in his life admit to doing it.
Suddenly, the sky was lit up by a strange light. People around them started whispering to each other.
"What's happening?" Bloom asked worriedly. Everyone was still on edge from the battles. So a strange unexplainable light worried them. The ball of light in the sky transformed into the image of a woman wearing luxurious traditional clothes and holding an official looking scroll.
"It's a royal messenger from Solaria." Stella explained to her friends as soon as she recognized her family's royal seal on the scroll and the messenger's clothes. Everyone quieted down when the messenger started reading the scroll out loud for everyone in the courtyard to hear clearly.
"The royal court of Solaria is pleased to announce the official princess ball. The king during the occasion will make a special announcement."
As soon as the last words were read, the holographic image in the sky disappeared into a ball of light. Conversations around them suddenly started up again. Stella was the first to speak up and react to the news.
"Did you hear that? Cancel all your plans this week girls we are going to a Princess Bal! My Princess Bal." They cheered in excitement at their friend's joy. But while she was happy for her friend and was aware that it was a huge honor to attend these kinds of ceremonies, she could not stop but was disappointed with the timing of the event. She had hoped that she could finally spend time with Dimitri with fewer people in the school and no evil Dark Lord trying to kill them. She instinctively turned around to try and catch sight of the boy in question. She was surprised to find him walking towards her, staring in her direction. But surprised her the most was the dark look and the gloomy frown he was sporting. She opened her mouth to try to talk to him even though she was not sure yet what she was going to say. But Dimitri was faster. He pushed the pixie he has still been holding in one hand in her arms while muttering under his breath:
"I think this thing is yours. I'll see you when classes start again it seems."
And he walked off in the direction of the building not once looking back in her direction.
"What's his deal?" Chatta wondered out loud.
Both pixie and fairy watched him disappear inside the school with a look of pure confusion and a bit of hurt in Flora's case.
Dimitri was stomping in anger and frustration through the corridors. If someone asked him why exactly he was in such a low mood he would not be able to completely answer. He had never felt like this before. And this strange uncomfortable feeling had started as soon as he had understood that Flora would be in Solaria at that stupid ball during the next two weeks. But why was he so ... so... down. Was this disappointment? But of what? For not seeing Flora for another two weeks? Of course, that was just impossible. He was not weak enough that not seeing the fairy would make him react this strongly. That would just be pathetic, right? He was not a lost puppy. He was a Dark wizard. He was once one of the most feared magic users in the magic dimension. Fairies feared him, all living creatures trembled at the mention of his name and his brothers'. But he could not find any other explanation for this feeling in his stomach. What was happening to him? What was Flora doing to him? He hated to admit it, but all these new feelings and new emotions scared him. Especially since they all centered around one single fairy. And what scared him the most was that he was not sure if he really wanted them to go away.