Chapter Text
"Where's Malleus?" If Lilia didn't get an answer he wasn't above threatening these 1st years. Subtly, of course. Lilia's threats were always subtle.
Yuu had rushed into the Diasomnia dorm, Grim in tow, saying something had happened to Malleus. They'd mentioned Malleus was going to help them with something for class, so they'd headed to the lab together. Two Heartslabyul students had already been using the lab when they arrived, and when Yuu opened the door there had been an explosion. Malleus pushed them out of the way, resulting in the potion affecting him in quite an...interesting way.
When Lilia arrived he expected to see some unique chaos that could only be caused by his little dragon, but Malleus was nowhere in sight.
Yuu had mentioned he'd been breathing fire and creating thunder, so the sight of a calm room surprised him.
Well, he couldn't exactly say calm. The two Heartslabyul students in the room looked petrified. Good.
One of the two students shook his head in response to Lilia's question, while the other pointed to the closet in the back of the room. Lilia sighed. It seemed they didn't have their story straight.
He walked toward the closet. If he remembered correctly this was a somewhat magic-proof closet. If you thought a potion was going to explode, throwing it in there should quell the blow.
Lilia could see ice creeping from beneath the closet door, and growing up the front of the door toward the handle. Clearly, the closet wasn't completely magic-proof.
He opened the door before its handle could freeze, still having to use quite a bit of force to pry it open.
Inside the closet was a toddler. One with large black horns and bright green eyes. Who had chubby cheeks and was drowning in a large lab coat. There was his little menace!
The entire inside of the closet was frozen. Malleus was sitting in an empty box like he was a small cat, using his oversized clothes to try to give himself some warmth. It seemed he was too young to regulate his temperature then. He was shivering and hugging himself, the poor prince was freezing.
When Malleus finally noticed Lilia he looked relieved. He tried to stand up and go to him, but tripped on his long clothes, landing back in the box on his rear.
That of course caused him to start crying, ice spreading out into the room, dangerously close to the Heartslabyul students. Lilia wasn't concerned about them right now, they'd be fine.
"Malleus, you remember what I said about freezing things, don't you?" He gently scolded, scooping Malleus up along with all his clothes and accessories.
Malleus wrapped his arms around his neck and continued crying into his jacket. Thankfully the ice started to recede.
Lilia walked over to the first years with the crying toddler in his arms. He gave the boys a friendly smile, causing the two of them to flinch. They must still be jumpy from the explosion. Lilia was never scary!
"Now, would you boys be so kind as to tell me what happened here?"
"W-We didn't do it on purpose, we swear!" The Heartslabyul student who had shaken his head earlier exclaimed.
"We were doing an experiment and didn't properly measure the ingredients. It exploded and that's when the Ramshackle students and M-Malleus Draconia walked in." The other student explained.
"And he was in the closet because…?"
"He was trying to set us on fire and we were having trouble defending ourselves, so we put him in the closet."
"We're sorry!!" They both exclaimed. He didn't know what they were so afraid of. After all, it wasn't Lilia they had to be worried about.
"It's quite alright boys. Just make sure you report this incident to your dorm leader. You're understandably shaken up, so if you give him any incorrect information I'll be sure to straighten it out for you."
They both paled at the thought of telling Riddle about the incident. Riddle wasn't that harsh, was he? These weren't Diasomnia students, so he'd allow him to punish them as he saw fit.
"I also suggest that you practice your magic some more if you think shoving a toddler in the closet is a good solution for your lacking magical abilities."
Now they were just standing there like deer caught in headlights. That wouldn't do.
"Run along now. I'm sure Riddle will be very interested in hearing your story." Lilia said, shooing them away. They rushed out of the room. He would say he hoped they didn't get punished too severely, but that would be a lie.
"Malleus, you haven't stopped crying this whole time. It's alright now little one." Lilia soothed, patting his back gently.
It took Malleus a bit more time to stop crying. When he was finally finished he pulled his face away from Lilia's coat, sniffling a bit. His face was a mess. Lilia would have to get him cleaned up.
"Where are we?" Malleus asked, his eyes watering again and lower lip wobbling. So he really didn't remember what had happened. Lilia had suspected as much.
"Night Raven College. You're a student here, actually."
That caused Malleus to burst out crying again. He really had been quite the crybaby when he was younger. He still was in some ways. Now instead of crying he just used the weather to express his feelings.
"Why are you crying? You know, you have to be considerably powerful to get chosen to go here."
"So you're not sending me away?" Malleus asked him with watery eyes.
"Of course not! I would never."
Malleus sniffled again in an attempt to rein in his tears. "B-But I have to go here all by myself, right?"
"You think I would leave you all by yourself? I go here as well."
"Like a teacher?"
"No, I'm a student."
Malleus looked at him in confusion. "But you're old."
"Well, aren't you cheeky today?" Lilia said, poking him on the nose. "I'll have you know you're actually a bit older than you remember yourself. You're still young of course, nowhere near what you remember my age to be."
"What do you mean?"
"You're smart, dragonfly. Why do you think you're wearing oversized clothes?"
"I messed up my magic." Malleus answered, looking down in embarrassment.
Lilia couldn't help but giggle, Malleus was so cute like this! "Actually, the two students I was scolding earlier are the ones who accidentally did this to you. Don't worry, I made sure they'll get punished appropriately. For now, I think we should get you cleaned up and something new to wear."
Silver and Sebek would probably be back by now, it will certainly be fun to introduce Malleus to them!