Chapter Text
It was a seemingly endless line in front of him, and Hinata couldn't stop fluttering upwards in excitement, his snow-white wings barely able to keep still, because today was finally the day.
It was finally the day that he graduated from the Academy, and was going to be claimed by a real witch coven.
And become a real witch.
"Hinata, please stop doing that. You're stirring up everyone else behind you with your wings." Yachi said pleadingly, tugging on his shirt in an attempt to get him to settle down, while trying to stop her hair from flying all over the place.
"Sorry, Yachi." Hinata said sheepishly. "I'm just really excited about it. We're finally going to be claimed!" he said in a loud whisper.
The hall had been magically expanded to fit the many coven leaders and teachers and personages, not to mention the hundreds of students that were graduating this year. Hinata's eyes eagerly scanned the crowds, wondering which one was the Karasuno Coven's High Witch.
Witch covens were relatively elusive, and the students rarely got the chance to meet actual witches from covens, since they hardly came up to the school besides for the graduation ceremony of the new generation of witches. Much like a distant cousin to the family, they only got involved when absolutely necessary, and here, tradition called for at least five members of every coven to be present at the ceremony. Witches didn't live together with their families, and young witches were separated from their parents at birth, sent to be taken care of at the Academy. This prevented inter-marriages within witch-families and allowed for diversity of magic and a sense of unity to be fostered amongst the young witches, to stop any future witch wars from occurring.
Not long ago, the witch-world had been torn apart by a series of rather brutal wars, with covens pitted against each other, and unspeakable things done to maintain the purity of one's bloodline. This resulted in inbreeding, of course, and soon they found that magic was dwindling within the covens.
Then, a few centuries ago, a rogue coven had broken onto the scene and overturned everything that the covens of the time had stood for-- blood purity, rare magic, and to be in control. The details of the story were always different depending on which coven told it, but the official version told by the Academy was that the rogue coven had managed to convince everyone diplomatically that fighting was not the best way to solve anything, and the generations that followed were actually suffering from their elders' treatment. The coven had then formed the High Court, which was the seat of power in the witchdom, and things had been prosperous and quiet ever since.
In fact, the Grand High Witch was present at the ceremony today, seated in his seat of honour and smiling a polite, almost enigmatic smile at the newest graduates of his Academy, while his second-in-command looked grimly at them.
Yachi pulled on his shirt again. "I wonder which one is Karasuno's coven leader," she whispered, cheeks red and awe filling her eyes as she scanned the crowd, like him.
"We'll see soon enough," Hinata said confidently. It was almost his turn, and he couldn't stop shaking.
He turned his eyes to the front of the line again as a ripple of voices swept to the back of the line.
"Look, it's The King of the Court!"
"Look at his snooty face. Can't he even look excited like the rest of us?"
"Kageyama Tobio, with this rune you have become a Witch of the Order, and will be able to use your powers for the greater good. Remember that your loyalty is to the Order, and never forget that. May the Being bless you with eternal power."
From Hinata's position, he could see that Kageyama's expression hadn't changed, and he froze in his kneeling position over the embers like a perfect statue, utterly unmoving.
"I hear and I heed." He repeated the words they had all been taught since they were old enough to walk, and did not even hiss as the rune was etched into the skin of the nape of his neck.
He rose, and then he was a witch.
The line of young witches was silent, all waiting to see his judgement.
Kageyama was considered one of the most promising graduates of the year-- he had a talent for mental manipulation that was stronger than most adult witches, and an earth affinity to boot, which was a rare combination for illusionists, since their powers were mostly air-inclined.
"Those who would wish to claim this Witch, speak now or forever hold your peace," the Master of Ceremonies intoned in a deeper voice than usual. Hinata could detect a glint in his eye, which for some reason made him particularly uneasy.
Moments passed without a single coven-leader rising from the audience.
A whisper passed itself down the line and through the watching crowd.
"No one wants Kageyama Tobio!"
"Not even the Shiratorizawa Coven looks interested."
"There isn't a single coven leader standing up to claim him!"
"I thought he was set for Aoba Johsai for sure..."
"It's Kageyama, but no one is claiming him!" Yachi said with horror, immediately wringing her hands in fear. "If they don't want Kageyama, what are the rest of us going to do?"
Hinata watched Kageyama onstage with large, pitying eyes. The "King of the Court" looked suitably petrified, face slowly turning white with fear. Hinata swore that his clenched fists were trembling.
Kageyama scanned the crowd in undisguised panic, frown lines cutting deeper and deeper across his forehead. He glanced over to the line of gossiping witches, and met Hinata's eyes-
— Hinata felt as if a lightning witch had shocked him to the core of his vertebrae. He could only stare back like a deer in the headlights, utterly taken aback.
"I'm afraid I will have to press the coven masters— is there anyone that wishes to claim this witch?" the Master of Ceremonies said, placing his hand on Kageyama's shoulder.
Still, no one stood up, and Kageyama looked away, no longer bothering to panic. Hinata saw that his cheeks were a low flush of dark purple.
"I'm afraid since no one has claimed him, Kageyama will have to return to the academy where he will be further assessed..."
"Hinata, look—" Yachi nudged him and pointed her head towards the lone man standing up in the sea of bystanders. Everyone turned to look at him, but he seemed utterly un-self conscious, looking rather bored of the proceedings as it was.
"That's the head of the Karasuno clan!" he heard someone exclaim further up the line.
Karasuno...
Hinata felt his heartbeat speed up, and it took every ounce of self-control not to spread his wings and flap as hard as he could towards the ceiling.
Karasuno's coven leader looked truly like a crow, standing there in his black cowl and scowling, an intricately carved pipe gripped between his teeth. His hair was bleached a burnished gold that contrasted with the dark ensemble he wore, and every inch of bare skin exposed was covered in a myriad of scars and runes. Right in the hollow of his neck, Hinata realized with a delicious thrill, was the symbol of the Karasuno Coven.
He took the pipe out of his mouth grudgingly and said in a deep voice: "I'll take him in."
A ripple of excitement through the crowd yet again.
"I'm sorry, what was that, Ukai? I'm afraid you did not invoke the sacred words of Claiming and as such are not—" the Master of Ceremonies tittered,
"Sacred words my ass, they're just a formality and you know it. Just let the boy spill his blood and let's get this over with."
“But-"
"Enough." The Grand High Witch put his hand up, and both parties fell silent. "Ukai is right, we have spent far too long in the Claiming of this boy. Allow him to spill his blood in Karasuno's tribute and we shall move onto the other fledgling witches."
Kageyama cut his hand and poured the ensuing droplets into the flaming embers that encircled the stone dais and licked eagerly at the spilt blood, turning the flames a dark ebony. He left the hall to join the other members of his new coven.
Hinata couldn't take his eyes off the Karasuno coven leader and his second-in-command, a diminutive man with a kind smile and silvery-eyeglasses.
Then all of a sudden, his name was called.
"Hinata Shouyou," the Master of Ceremonies said, and he stepped up onto the dais to kneel in front of the simmering central bonfire, trembling.
***
"Ukai, claim him," Takeda hissed under his breath, watching painfully as the young boy with so much potential had to suffer such humiliation, such embarrassment. He knew what shame could do to a person, especially one as talented as this. They didn't want the next Evil coming down upon them, especially in times of peace such as this. Who knew what rogue witches the boy might meet if he wasn't tethered securely into a coven with good values? What was the Grand High Witch thinking?
"Are you sure?" Ukai asked incredulously, their voices lost in the rising murmur of the crowd as no one stepped up to claim the young prodigy. "He scored the lowest in terms of teamwork and empathy, and those are the things our coven prizes the most. Why would we need this troublemaker?"
"I'm sure, Ukai. I'll explain later, but I had a vision about this. Just trust me. Please." Takeda urged, growing more alarmed by the second. "Just claim him."
"If you're sure about this," Ukai shrugged, patting his second in command on the knee gently and standing up.
Takeda relaxed into his chair with a sigh, all signs of impending doom having disappeared from possible futures he could see for the time being. Custom usually dictated that he should be standing up alongside his leader, but he didn't think his knees were up to it.
The proceedings passed quickly after that, Kageyama being whisked through the ceremony and then disappeared into the hall, where Takeda was sure that Daichi and Suga would take care of him while the ceremony continued.
"I hope we're not going to be picking up every explosive witch in this year," Ukai grumbled as Takeda pressed an appreciative kiss to his cheek. "Who else is on our list?"
"Just another four witches," Takeda said placatingly, handing him said list. "And none of them have a history of troublemaking, I assure you."
"Hm," Ukai grunted, scanning the piece of paper. "Hinata Shouyou. He the boy with the wings?"
"Yes."
"Bit rare for a boy to have wings, isn't it? Competition for him's going to be stiff."
"Not really. He did indicate a preference for our coven in his entry form, so I think if you claim him, he will pick our coven. Which you should do so now."
***
Hinata stood onstage, feeling the cool air rush across the newly-burned skin which was just starting to heal.
"Those who would wish to claim this Witch, speak now or forever hold your peace."
"I claim this witch for the Nekoma Coven," an elderly witch stood up proudly, his long robes brushing the floor.
"I claim this witch for the Aoba Johsai Coven."
"I claim this witch for the Karasuno Coven," another voice rang clear and true through the hall.
Hinata glanced at the head of the Karasuno Coven, and then back at the Master of Ceremonies.
"Choose your coven. Choose wisely." came the reply.
Hinata took a deep breath.
"I choose the Karasuno Coven." he said, voice slightly shaky, but the message was conveyed all the same.
And then it was over.
He stepped off the dais, throwing one last glance at the Karasuno coven leader and a last, exhilarating and encouraging grin to Yachi, who was kneeling down but looking anxiously at him from the corner of her eye.
His mind was in a blur- the moment he'd dreamed of ever since he was younger and heard the tales of Karasuno and their magic.
He stepped unsteadily into the hall where he would meet his new coven members and stood there dizzily, frozen in awe at the sheer amount of witches that weren't his age and the magic flying around the place.
And indeed, magic was all around him. In a corner of the room, several witches were practicing their fire manipulation next to a group of uneasy water witches, while sparks flew across the room and several witches raced each other across the rooms in a speedy blur. A whole section of the hall seemed to be dedicated to illusionists, since the magic there was so thick that Hinata couldn't see what was really going on.
"Ohoho?" a loud voice came from behind him. "Ohohohoho?"
Hinata jumped and turned around, only to come face to face with a dark haired witch with a cat's grin and another witch beside him that had an owl familiar on his shoulder, and a shock of blinding silver hair.
"Uh," he stammered, somehow unable to form words clearly. "I'm,"
"What coven did you get claimed by?" the dark haired witch casually threw an arm over his shoulder and his friend did the same on Hinata's other side-- soon they were walking him rather forcibly over to a group of even scarier looking witches all dressed in red and white robes. "I think I recall Nekomata saying that there was a winged-witch boy that he wanted to claim..."
"Well with those wings he should be in Fukurodani!" the witch with the owl on his shoulder exclaimed, tugging on Hinata's left arm. "He could be our new mascot!"
"Well, we need someone to get my fireballs into the air."
"Bullshit, your flames are so weak that they can't stay one second out of your hands without fizzling out!"
"Oh yeah?" the dark haired witch gripped Hinata's arm tightly with one hand and lit a fireball almost effortlessly with his free hand. "Wanna see me burn your hair off?"
"I'd like to see you try..." the other witch had a grim expression on his face, and his entire body seemed to be radiating light.
In that very moment, Hinata knew that he was going to die right there and then, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
"Kuroo. Bokuto. What are you doing?"
The two witches visibly jumped as their respective names were called, and they turned to face a smaller witch with bleached-blond hair, a black and gold jacket slung over his shoulders that looked far too big for him, and a chess manual tucked under his arm.
"Hey Kenma," both of them said, letting go of Hinata and putting their hands behind their backs.
"Shouldn't you be helping Yaku with the new kid?" Kuroo asked, sliding his hands into his pockets awkwardly, shooting indecipherable and weird faces at Bokuto.
"Don't distract me. That's supposed to be your job, by the way." Kenma frowned.
"Well, I'll just-" Bokuto tried to slide off in the other direction with Hinata in tow, but Kenma continued to speak.
"You know how Akaashi gets when he knows you two have been bullying the new witches that aren't even in either of our covens in the first place." He looked pointedly at Bokuto.
If Hinata had thought that the two witches had been slightly scared in the first place, they turned white at the mention of the other witch's name.
"No. Kenma, you wouldn't!"
"Please, no!"
"Yes I would."
"Anything but Akaashi. You know I hate his disappointed face!" Bokuto pleaded, practically getting on his knees and begging the smaller witch.
"If you want me to remain silent, then go back to your coven and help him out," Kenma said in a deadpan tone that brooked no argument.
"I hear and I heed. Bye, Kuroo! See you later!" Bokuto said, and dashed off as quickly as he could, shooting an apologetic face at Kenma once again.
"Right," Kuroo chuckled nervously. “I’m just going to follow his lead.”
He gave Kenma a quick peck on the forehead (which the latter seemed to suffer through patiently), and then dashed off.
Hinata let out the deep breath he didn't realise he'd been holding, and collapsed onto the ground, legs suddenly useless.
"Thank you," he smiled at the witch that had just saved him from death. "I thought I was gonna die!"
"They may be stupid sometimes, but they would never harm you on purpose," the witch assured him. “Well, in any case, congratulations on graduating." He turned and was about to leave, when Hinata called out again.
"Wait! Uhm, I don't know your name?" he asked sheepishly. "I'm Hinata Shouyou... and I'm kind of lost."
"I'm Kenma," the other witch replied uncertainly. "And... what coven claimed you?"
"Karasuno!" Hinata said proudly, standing up and puffing out his chest. "I've wanted to join that coven ever since I was a fledgling!"
"Well, don't worry about that. Someone's already come for you." Kenma nodded his head behind Hinata, and then melted into the air.
"Hinata Shouyou?" the witch behind him asked. He gave off the air of self-assurance, and Hinata immediately felt at home with him.
"Sorry about all that. Nishinoya was supposed to receive you, but he got side-tracked. I'm Sawamura Daichi, the under-general of our coven. Welcome to the Karasuno Coven."
***
Daichi had ushered him back to the area their coven had been allocated, and he'd met the witches he was probably going to spend a good part of his life with. Hinata felt rather nervous, but his elders hadn't seemed too hostile— Nishinoya, the witch that was supposed to collect him in the first place had apologised very profusely, and then offered to give Hinata a piggyback, which he had decided to save for a rainy day.
He was also quite sure that Sugawara Koushi was actually a real-life angel, not a witch, and he wanted to hug him.
Kageyama had been sulking in a dark corner by himself, ignoring everything and everyone except for Daichi, who spent the rest of their waiting time talking to him in tones too low for Hinata to hear.
"So why did you choose Karasuno?" Ennoshita Chikara, another witch with a nice smile asked.
"Well, it's what I've wanted to be claimed by ever since I heard about the Little Giant." Hinata said excitedly. "Do you guys get to see him a lot?"
Ennoshita looked quizzically at Hinata.
"He left a long time ago, even before I joined the coven a few years ago. The last we heard of him, he'd gone to the West to study witchcraft there. No one's heard of him in the last two decades.”
Hinata’s face fell, but perked up again almost immediately. “That’s alright,” he chirped. “That’ll give me plenty of time to get stronger before he gets back!”
Unconsciously, he jumped up and spread his wings in confidence, nearly knocking down an approaching Yachi in the process.
“Yachi?” he squawked with unconcealed delight. “You did it! You got it!”
He grabbed her hands and the two of them began whirling around with glee, shouting so loudly that nearby witches were beginning to give them strange looks.
“We’re going to be the most powerful witches in the world!” Hinata shouted to the domed roof, as they began to rise higher and higher, propelled by giant bursts of wing flaps.
Ennoshita grabbed him by the leg, and carefully held onto Yachi as she descended, since was looking rather pale at the prospect of being so far apart from the ground. “Yeah, yeah, future most powerful witch. You’ll be in big trouble if we don’t go back into the hall soon. The Grand High Witch will have your bones for dinner!”
Hinata let out small squeaking noises of protest and slight fear, but then allowed himself to be ushered back into the hall without much fuss.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sugawara talking in low tones to Kageyama, smiling kindly all the while, a hand placed protectively on the younger witch’s shoulder. Kageyama’s face was impassive, so still that it looked like it had been carved out of stone. It was impossible to know what he was thinking of, or how he felt.
Even though he disliked the other witch, Hinata sympathized deeply with what Kageyama must have been going through at that moment-- hurt, shame and wondering whether he would ever be good enough- those were all things that Hinata himself had dreamt of in his nightmares when he dreamed that he hadn’t been chosen by a coven during the ceremony. He couldn’t imagine having to live through that horror.
The hall had been cleared of chairs and the fires extinguished, the dais already folding itself away tidily under the magic of the teachers, and a simple raised platform set itself in the middle of the witches encircling the centre, the Grand High Witch smiling amidst all the shuffling of witches entering.
Finally, when the heavy doors swung closed once again, he cleared his throat and spoke.
“My witches,” he spoke in a papery voice that sent shivers up Hinata’s spine. His smile was so wide it looked like it had taken on a life of its own on his wrinkled face. “The time has come.”
He stepped off the platform and vanished it with a simple flick of his hands, stepping carefully around the periphery of witches surrounding him.
“Every decade, we compete in a series of trials. Coven against coven, witch against witch. And for what?” he paused, looking around at a sea of rapt faces. Hinata’s wings twitched nervously.
“For glory. For eternal youth, they once said. For the chance to be included in one of the most secretive circles in our world, my own private circle of witches.” he gave a little laugh, ruby-tinted eyes moving across each and every face with an intensity so brilliant that most witches looked away.
“I cannot promise you eternal youth. I cannot promise you power. But I can promise you glory,” he continued. “Glory for your coven and the promise of your name echoing through the halls of our witch-history.”
Hinata trembled in excitement and blood rushed through his ears. The word glory echoed in his head before finally settling down and encoding itself in his limbs.
“We remember The Little Giant, of Karasuno. The glorious winner of the last decade of trials. The most powerful young witch to be seen in decades. The winners that came before. Ukai Keishin. Nekomata Yasufumi. Myself.” he inclined his head gracefully, spreading his arms out in a grand gesture. Hinata saw his coven leader draw back slightly, but his face remained still. Nekomata inclined his head in acknowledgement, and Hinata noticed the scars running across the length of his wrinkled face illuminated by the scarce light.
“The next winner of your generation will be even greater than the last. With the talent that I have seen today, it could be any one of you, witches. And their name will be remembered forever, in our history.” the Grand High Witch stepped back atop his pedestal, turning around slowly. “And with that, I now formally announce the beginning of The Witchcraft Trials. They will be held in nine months’ time, and we will expect every single eligible witch to be prepared.”
“You are dismissed.” and with a wave of his hand, the doors re-opened, and he disappeared.
Hinata’s eyes gleamed with anticipation. He was going to be the witch that had their name echoed through history, passed down through stories and whispered reverently at Claiming ceremonies. He could feel it in his blood.
***
“Is that it?” Ukai surveyed the small, varyingly bedraggled and excited young witches outside the school building. “We didn’t lose anyone on the way, did we? And Daichi knows to bring the rest back before the witching hour?”
“We didn’t.” Hinata saw the other witch with glasses tell him. “And have a little more faith in your understudy, Ukai. He is a very responsible young witch, as you know. And Sugawara is there to help him.”
“Doesn’t stop me from being worried about the rest.” Ukai muttered in a voice that he thought was low enough that no one else could hear.
“Now, listen up!” he barked to the small group of newly-graduated witches— the others still remained in the Hall, mingling and talking with the other witches of their age in the other covens, for the Claiming ceremony was one of the few chances that they got to actually interact with others outside their own coven.
“As you might know, my name is Ukai Keishin, First Witch of the Karasuno Coven. This is Takeda, my Second Witch.” he crossed his arms over his chest and looked each of them in the eye. “We know it’s not easy, transitioning from school into a much more intimate and smaller setting, but we are here to help. We may be the ones who lay down the law, but we need you to tell us if you need help— we don’t need anyone collapsing on us because of homesickness or because they tried to bite off more than they could chew. Got it?”
Hinata nodded shakily, as everyone else did.
He looked around at the cluster of witches— Kageyama stood a whole step behind all of them, head downcast and brooding. Tsukishima, another witch that he hadn’t spoken to often but had a reputation of being particularly dangerous and cutting with his words looked bored. Standing close to him was Yamaguchi, a witch that Hinata considered an acquaintance, since they had had a few classes together and had been on the same house team in school. He met Hinata’s eyes and looked extremely nervous. Yachi looked pale as well, but her eyes were determined, and she had a loose grip on a few of Hinata’s wing-feathers as they stood there.
“Well then, it’s time to take you home.”
The trip to Karasuno was a dizzying blur. Hinata wasn’t used to travelling by transportation spell, and felt more than slightly sick as the magic tugged his unyielding sinews through the minute particles of his surroundings.
When they finally emerged, heads spinning, Hinata collapsed on the cool grass, and wondered at how dark it was.
The trees were arranged in a tight thicket, and they were so tall that they seemed to block out the sun just by reaching out to it and stifling the light with their very branches. The result was a pleasantly cool atmosphere that lay in shadowed land.
“This way.” Takeda led the way when they had regained their balance. Ukai had gone on ahead, too impatient to wait for the green travellers. “We will key you into our wards once you pass our initiation tests and finish the ceremony. For now, you should be accompanied by a member of the coven at all times when leaving it. Not that you should really need to, actually. It’s dangerous out there, and the number of rogue witches roaming around our borders has gotten significantly higher. I’m sure you know the ghost stories.”
Hinata had heard the ghost stories of rogue witches. They were bloodthirsty and cruel, pandering to their needs on a whim and had no structure and order whatsoever. They refused to join the orderly system that the Grand High Witch had enforced, and as such, were to be treated as outcasts.
They approached a clearing, and Hinata gasped out loud.
Karasuno was a beautiful, daring structure of black iron, all hard angles and unforgiving spikes, but there was an air of magic bubbling beneath its surface, beckoning towards him like a mother welcoming back her child. The grounds were vast and Hinata could imagine himself flying all over the place, relishing the air on his wings. They tingled in response to his thoughts.
“It’s beautiful,” he breathed to Yachi. “More beautiful than anything I could have ever imagined.”
She squeezed his hand in response, but did not answer.
Beside them, Yamaguchi had his mouth wide open, and even Tsukishima looked mildly impressed, eyes widened under his thick-framed glasses. Only Kageyama remained quiet, but his face was turned to the coven building, scanning it blankly.
“I’m glad you like it.” Takeda chuckled, eyeing Hinata’s excited response. “This is your potential home, after all. It would be a shame if you didn’t.”
“We also spent a lot of time on it, of course.” he tacked on as an after-thought.
They broke through the barrier after Takeda allowed it to read each of their magical signatures. On the other side, Ukai was already waiting, arms crossed over his chest and cowl thrown off, looking much more relaxed in his home ground than he had outside, surrounded by other witches. He had his pipe in his mouth and a twinkle in his eye as they approached.
“Well, welcome to the Karasuno Coven.”