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estamos-destinadas · 5 years

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I saw some people’s headcanons about JULIANTINA’s Hogwarts Houses and it seems a lot of us are agreed that they’d either be in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. I want to think that both of them will be in Gryffindor because a) they’re both very brave, and b) think how cute they would be just cozying up in the Gryffindor common room together.

But...

Here’s the thing...

If they were magical, they wouldn’t go to Hogwarts. They live in the Americas. They’d go to one of the two biggest magical schools in that continent: Ilvermorny (USA, North America) or Castelobruxo (Brazil, South America). In this essay, I will--

(Sike, because I am subverting that meme)

WARNING: LONG POST AHEAD

Ilvermorny

I think that between Ilvermorny and Castelobruxo, Val and Juls would go to Ilvermorny.

(Before I continue, it needs to be said: JK Rowling coming up with a school in North America that is just a copy of Hogwarts is problematic because it ignores Native American history. In my headcanon, there are several magic schools all over the Americas with a format/system that is more based on Native/Indigenous American cultures. However, Ilvermorny just happens to be the biggest school in North America. It’s an unfortunate side effect of colonialism.)

Valentina, as a Mexican, would have had the option of going to a school in Mexico that teaches a magic system that is more connected to the land’s indigenous magic and harks back to the Aztec Empire. León Carvajal sends her to Ilvermorny because that’s where he went and that’s where he met Val’s mom. His family has always gone to Castelobruxo, but he broke tradition and chose Ilvermorny, in a way setting up Val and Juls’ meeting in that same school. In any case, the Carvajals have always chosen the big European-based schools over the smaller magic school in Mexico because the Carvajal family could trace its lineage directly back to the Spanish conquerors. Like it or not, the Carvajals chose to be educated in a system introduced by European colonists. Your fave is problematic.

Juliana, on the other hand, was born to No-Maj Muggle parents in the USA. While she is Mexican through and through, the small magic school in Mexico simply do not have the resources to find her. Had Chino not dragged Lupe to the US, Juls would have have been invited to study in Mexico’s smaller magic school. In a way, Chino’s actions also set up Juls and Val’s meeting in Ilvermorny. And so Juls goes to North America’s largest magic school, reluctant because she does not want to leave Lupe alone in Chino’s abusive hands, terrified because everything is completely new to her, but also a little bit excited because magic is real.

Their Houses

Like Hogwarts, Ilvermorny has 4 houses: Horned Serpent (mind), Wampus (body), Thunderbird (soul), and Pukwudgie (heart). I think that JULIANTINA could be in Thunderbird or Pukwudgie, and I really really want them to be in Thunderbird but ultimately I think they’d both be in Pukwudgie. (Ridiculous spelling, I know.) Ilvermorny first years are sorted in the middle of the entrance hall with the older students watching them from a balcony on a higher floor.

First glimpse

Valentina is in her third year (13 years old) when Juliana starts her first (11). This is how their first glimpse of each other goes:

From her spot on the balcony, Valentina watches curiously as Juliana shyly steps up to be sorted. It takes a several minutes for a decision to be made -- the same thing had happened with Val 2 years ago -- but finally she is sorted into Pukwudgie. The older students from her new House cheer, Valentina among them. Juls looks up at the balcony and locks eyes with Val, who gives her a smile which she managed to return nervously before shuffling away from the middle of the room.

A couple of months pass before Val & Juls become friends, but more on that later.

Life in a Magic School

In my headcanon, Mexico has one magic school. Most Mexican wizarding families send their children to this school. However, most of the old money families who are direct descendants of the conquistadores (or those who want to seem old money) send their kids to either Ilvermorny or Castelobruxo. In Ilvermorny, these rich or at least well-off Mexican kids form a glamorous circle, set apart from the rest of the students by the language they speak and the wealth of their families.

In Val’s year, the circle of wealthy Mexican kids consist of herself, Sergio, Lucho, and Nayeli. Sergio is also in Pukwudgie and she considers him her best friend, at least until she and Juls start to bond. Lucho and Nayeli are both in Wampus. (Val is not dating Lucho, they’re only 13 years old. In this story, she will never date Lucho.)

Guille and Eva are also part of that glamorous circle. Guille is in his 5th year, a Pukwudgie like Val. Lots of girls have crushes on him because he’s handsome and nice. Eva is in her 6th year and is in Horned Serpent, like her father before her. She is a prefect, has been since her 5th year, and will undoubtedly be the next Head Girl when she’s in 7th year. She’s that brilliant, overachieving student that everyone knows and respects or fears.

There are other cliques of course: the WASP-y kids, the Latinx kids who live in the US or Canada, black girl magic, etc overlapping with the Transfiguration nerds, the music lovers, the jocks, etc overlapping with the Muggle-borns.

The first few months

Juls doesn’t really feel like she fits in any of the established cliques/groups; she’s Mexican but she’s dirt-poor, she’s a US-born Latina but she’s Muggle-born, she’s Muggle-born but she’s not white. She’s an 11-year old daughter of a sicario who had to leave her mother, the only person she trusts, and she’s thrust into a completely new environment where she feels different from everyone else. She feels like a sore thumb in that school full of happy kids who’ve known about magic all their lives, so she does her best to keep her head down.

She makes friends anyway. Or at least a couple of her fellow 1st year girls who have been “best friends since birth” sort of adopts her because it’s Juls and the right kind of people can’t help but want to take her under their wing.

Juls meets Jane first. Jane’s family has always been magical and her grandmother came to the US from Venezuela. (Yes, it’s Jane the Virgin.) Jane is in Horned Serpent, but she and Juls have a class together and they pair up on an assignment during the second week of school. She thinks Juls is interesting so she tries to draw Juls out of her shell, inviting Juls to hang out with her and her best friend Lina who is in Wampus. But as friendly as Jane and Lina are -- and Juls really likes them -- they’ve been best friends for so long, both their families are magical, and they’re both straight so sometimes they talk about things that Juls simply can’t relate to. It’s fine, of course, they still become good friends with Juls, but no matter how inclusive they are, Juls will always feel like the odd one out with them.

Often, Juls goes off on her own, exploring the grounds outside in the very early morning or searching for secret nooks and crannies inside the castle. She’s trying to learn everything she can about magic by experiencing it even as she continues to keep out of everyone’s way.

Valentina, on the other hand, roams around Ilvermorny like she owns it, the way all the Carvajals do. But whereas Eva struts through corridors expecting everyone to get out of her way, and Guille ambles through hallways seemingly untroubled by anything, Valentina runs around the school like it’s a playground.

Val and her group of friends cause a lot of trouble for themselves, sneaking out after hours, skipping classes, sometimes even pranking other students. Val of course never goes too far as to be actively bullying, but Lucho and Nayeli do. She doesn’t like it and she stops them whenever she can, but she still hangs out with them anyway. Guille quite obviously doesn’t like them, but he never voices his disapproval. Eva doesn’t really care about whether Val’s antics inadvertently hurt someone else, but she does care that Val, in her words, “isn’t living up to her potential”. The thing is, Val doesn’t think of Ilvermorny as a place to learn so much as an escape from the Carvajal house, which has been cold and gray ever since her mom’s death.

So for the first several weeks of Juls’ first year, Valentina and Juliana have no interaction. Still, they notice each other. Of course they do. They are in the same house after all. But that’s not the only reason they notice each other. For Juls, she can’t help but be interested in the pretty older girl with a loud and easy laughter and sky-blue eyes that seem to cloud over when she thinks no one’s looking. For Val, she can’t help but be intrigued by the pretty new girl who rarely breaks out into a genuine smile but whose dark brown eyes twinkle whenever she does.

El Dia de Muertos

Eventually, a little over two months after school started, Valentina and Juliana meet properly on el Dia de Muertos, when Mexicans celebrate their dead.

Valentina, Guille, and Eva forego dinner at the Great Hall. Instead, they go to a small trophy room near the Thunderbird dormitories, bringing traditional food and offerings with them. Their late mother was in Thunderbird and she had a lot of achievements at Ilvermorny; a lot of plaques in that Thunderbird trophy room have their mother’s name on it. Even though none of them are in their mother’s house, Thunderbird students know to avoid the trophy room on el Dia de Muertos, giving that room to the Carvajal kids for that one day. The Carvajals sit on the floor in front of a shelf containing their mom’s trophies as they talk to their dad, contacting him through magical means of course. After they hang up Eva and Guille tell Val stories about their mom. Eva and Guille stay until curfew, but Val has always insisted to stay behind and, in this one instance at least, Eva lets her.

Juliana, even though she grew up in the US, has always celebrated el Dia de Muertos with her mom. Chino is never around on said day so, in a way, it belongs to her and Lupe. After having dinner with Jane and Lina that night, Juls goes to contact her mom. It’s not easy to contact anyone by Muggle means in a place as full of magic as Ilvermorny, but several years ago one resourceful Muggle-born student had set up a room where anyone can contact the Muggle world through phones that are also provided in the room. So Juls goes to that “Phone Room” and calls Lupe. In her 2 months at Ilvermorny, Juls has always missed her mom, but she has never missed being back at their small trailer until that day. She impulsively talks about quitting school but of course Lupe stops her. They talk for a long time and when they hang up, Juls realises that she’s broken curfew for the first time ever.

Ilvermorny’s “Phone Room” is right next to the Owlery which is near the Thunderbird dormitories. Juliana has to pass by the Thunderbird trophy room to go back to the Pukwudgie dorms.

As Juls walks by the trophy room, she hears sobbing from inside floating through the slightly ajar door. Concerned, she peaks around the door to see a girl at the far end of the room, her back to the door. Juls can see that it’s Valentina and her concern grows.

Before she can stop herself, Juls asks, “Estas bien?” (In Spanish, because Juls knows Val speaks Spanish. And they will always speak in Spanish to each other unless the situation necessitates otherwise.)

Val sits up straight, but doesn’t turn around. “Fine. I just want to be alone.”

“Sorry,” Juls says. “It’s just that I heard you crying, I thought-- but you’re right.”

Juls makes to withdraw from the room just as Val turns around to see who the interloper is. When she realises it’s Juliana, she calls, “Oh, wait, sorry. Don’t go.”

Juls takes that as invitation to enter the room and join Val. She sits on the floor next to her and looks up at a moving portrait of a woman that looks like an older version of Val.

“That’s my mom,” Val says candidly even as she wipes away her tears. “She died when I was a kid.”

“I’m sorry,” Juls says sincerely, hating the grief she can see in Val’s expression even as she thinks of her own mom. “I can’t imagine...” she trails off, not knowing what to say.

“It was a long time ago,” says Val, shrugging.

Juls takes in Val’s watery eyes and thinks, but you’re still hurting. She doesn’t say that out loud. Wanting to take Val’s mind off of it, she says instead, “Your robe is really beautiful.”

Val’s not wearing her school robes. Instead, she’s wearing a white robe-like top paired with a billowy pants. The white robe has that typical el Dia de Muertos design of a skull and flowers but from time to time, the flowers would bloom and spread around the shoulder area, covering it with colour. Juls has seen moving portraits and pictures in the two months she’s been in Ilvermorny, but this is the first time she’s seen moving images on a robe.

Val looks over at Juls, who is also not wearing her school robes. Unlike Val’s magical clothing, Juls’ casual attire consists of Muggle jeans and a red shirt that has a skull and flower design which she painted on herself as a nod to that day.

“No, don’t look at me,” Juls says self-deprecatingly. “I-- I’m new here, my parents are No-Maj. I didn’t know about magical clothes, or anything about magic really.”

“Well, I think you have plenty of style,” Val says, genuinely liking Juls’ clothes. “Anyway, magic isn’t everything.”

“You don’t think magic is amazing?” Juls asks.

“No,” Val replies surely. To her, it’s just a fact of life. Magic couldn’t even save her mom.

“Well, give me your wand then,” Juls says in her best threatening voice, producing her own wand out of her back pocket and pointing it at Val.

Val stares at Juls in shock until Juls bursts out laughing, saying it’s a joke. Val hides her face in her hands, half-laughing and half-sobbing, so Juls puts down her wand and pulls Val to her, telling Val not to cry.

After they both stop laughing, Val straightens up and offers her hand to Juls. “Valentina,” she introduces herself properly.

“I know,” says Juls, and that makes Val smile widely. “Juliana,” she says, taking Val’s hand.

Val also replies with an “I know,” and they laugh again, both amazed that the other already knows their name, and happy that they have finally properly met.

They continue talking, mostly about their House sorting experience, because Val originally wanted to be in Thunderbird like her mom but she was sorted to Pukwudgie. They also recall Juliana’s sorting, when Val was watching her from the balcony. They soon decide to call it a night because it’s way after curfew. They try to be quiet as they head back to the Pukwudgie dormitories, but they keep bursting into giggles for no reason that it’s a miracle none of the roving prefects catch them.

A friendship blooms

The next day is a school day and Juls drags herself out of bed even though she didn’t get enough sleep. She goes to the Great Hall where, unlike Hogwarts, the seating arrangements aren’t segregated by Houses and students can sit anywhere they please. Juls sits with Jane and Lina, trying but failing not to look around for Val. But Val, who was never a morning person, is running late and hasn’t gone down yet. It isn’t until Juls is leaving with Jane and Lina for their first class of the day that Val hurries into the Great Hall. Val sees her and gives her a wave, which Juls returns along with a small smile, but Val gets called over by Eva so she doesn’t approach Juls. Lina, who has witnessed the exchange, interrogate Juls, walking with her and Jane even though she has a different class.

“Did Valentina Carvajal just wave at you?” Lina asks.

“Um, yes?” Juls says, confused at the awe in Lina’s voice.

“How does she even know you?” Lina presses on.

Jane pipes up then. “They are in Pukwudgie together.”

“Yeah, but still, Valentina Carvajal.”

Jane shakes her head and rolls her eyes good-naturedly.

“What, it’s a big deal!” Lina says defensively.

"Why is it a big deal?” Juls asks.

Lina looks at Juls in disbelief. “Why...?” She starts to explain, but then thinks of something else. “Are you friends with Guille too? He’s in Pukwudgie. Can you introduce me to him?”

Jane laughs at that. Juls is still waiting for Lina’s answer on what the deal is, but they have arrived at hers and Jane’s class. Lina leaves them, but not before asking Juls again to introduce her to Guille.

“Why does Lina think it’s a big deal that I know Valentina?” Juls asks Jane as they take their seats. “Is it because she has a crush on Guille? Because I don’t know him. I’ve only spoken to Valentina last night.”

Jane gives her a sort of pitying look before replying. “See that book you’re holding? Open it to the copyright page.”

Juls does so and she sees that the book is printed by Grupo Carvajal Publishing.

“Grupo Carvajal publishes most of the textbooks used here,” Jane explains. “They’re the biggest publisher in Latin America, but they also publish a lot of English books. I’m pretty sure they have their own newspaper in Mexico too. But it’s not only that. The Carvajals are one of the oldest wizarding families in the Americas, at least of the ones that originated from Europe. They’re definitely one of the most powerful and influential. And, if what I’ve read is true, Valentina and her siblings are descended from Isolt Sayre through their mother.” Isolt Sayre is the founder of Ilvermorny.

“Oh,” is the only thing Juls can say. She knows of course that the Carvajal kids are rich and popular, but she had no idea until now of the extent of their family’s wealth and power. Lina was right, it is a huge deal. She previously hoped that she and Val could be friends, but right now she’s feeling the huge gap between their status in the wizarding community, in any community really.

Sensing Juls’ thoughts, Jane says that just because the Carvajals are rich and powerful, it doesn’t mean that they’re better than everyone else. “Besides,” she adds, “from what I’ve seen, I think Valentina doesn’t care about stuff like that. She’s really nice and friendly with everyone.”

For Juliana, that doesn’t take away the fact that she’s like mud to Valentina’s sky.

Juls tries to avoid Val after that, tries being the operative word. She only manages to do so for a day, and only because Val, who has no idea Juls is even avoiding her, is serving detention for some trouble she got up to a couple of weeks ago (to Eva’s annoyance). On the weekend, three days after they first spoke to each other, Val finds Juls.

Juls is by herself in a quiet and half-secluded area of the castle grounds, not doing homework but practicing a spell that ought to make her drawings move. So far, she has only succeeded in lighting her sketches on fire.

On another part of the grounds, Val is with Eva and Guille laying flowers at Isolt Sayre’s tomb, which has been part of the castle since the founder’s death. They’re walking back to the castle when Val catches sight of Juls. She hurriedly excuses herself from her siblings, checking out halfway through a conversation about their dead ancestors. Eva and Guille can only stare curiously after her as she practically skips towards Juls.

“Señorita,” Val says mischievously, sneaking up on Juls from behind.

Juls, who is just about to cast another spell on her drawings, jumps in shock, accidentally sending a stream of magic towards the ground.

“Ai, me asustaste,” Juls breathes out.

“Hi,” Val greets her properly, giving Juls an almost shy smile.

Juls can’t help but smile back, forgetting for a second about what she’s learned about the Carvajals. “What’s up? How are you?” she asks eagerly.

“Better,” says Val, nodding. “My siblings and I were just at the tomb because we didn’t get to drop by the other day.”

Everyone knows that “the tomb” can only mean the school founder’s resting place; just like that, Juls is reminded about how different their families are. “Oh, right,” she says, losing her enthusiasm, but still putting on a smile for Val.

Val scrambles to prolong their conversation. “I like that,” Val says, pointing to Juls’ Muggle sketchbook, which has fallen closed on the ground. It’s a little singed at the edges after Juls’ experiments, but there are pretty and colourful patterns on the front which Juls drew on herself.

“Really?” says Juls.

“Yeah. I-- I want something just like that,” says Val, meaning the drawn patterns.

Juls thinks Val means the sketchbook itself and she doesn’t believe her. Val’s family publishes magical books; her sketchbook is old, not at all magical, and now singed in places.

“I should--” Juls begins vaguely, picking up her sketchbook. She stands back up only to come face to face with Val’s eager smile.

“Wanna come with me?” Val asks, an idea forming in her head. “I wanna show you something. Please,” she adds in a barely audible whisper.

“I’m trying to learn this spell,” says Juls.

"What spell? I-- I’ll help you.”

“Really?” says Juls. She actually believes that Val knows the “animation spell”, but she doubts that Val will really want to take valuable time out of her day to teach her something.

“Yes, I’m-- I’m a great teacher,” Val says. “But like... what spell are we talking about, because I might not know. But I can still help you! I-- I’ll help you look up stuff or something.”

Juls laughs. Val’s willingness to help is making her forget about their different status in life; or rather, she’s starting to think that maybe it doesn’t matter so much. She likes Val and it seems that Val likes her too.

“I’m trying to make my sketches move like in those moving pictures in books, but they just keep catching on fire,” Juls tells Val.

“Oh!” says Val, surprised that she has an answer. “I know that needs potions, but I’m actually not great at potions at all.” In fact, her last disaster in potions class happened earlier that week; thankfully, it was not quite as bad as that time she accidentally turned all her classmates’ hair into flashing rainbow colours.

“But this book says I only need to use this spell,” Juls says, meaning a book on “recreational spells” that she borrowed from the library.

Val eyes the book suspiciously. It’s thin and doesn’t look reputable at all. “Yeah, if you drew it using quills with special ink.”

“Oh, I only used these coloured pencils, they’re not magic,” says Juls, disappointed. She doesn’t have special quills and she’s sure she’ll require money to get those.

“That’s fine!” Val says bracingly. “You just need to soak it in a potion. I don’t know how it’s made, but I’m pretty sure you can order it from apothecaries.”

Juls thinks that she doesn’t have money to buy anything, but that’s a worry for another day. She wants to spend time with Val now. “You know what, I’ll leave it for later. What were you going to show me?”

Val brightens even more. “It’s a room in the castle, but it’s better if you see it than if I explain it.”

“Ok,” Juls says agreeably as she gathers her things.

Val grabs her hand and leads her towards the castle and Juls follows willingly. Behind them, flowers start to bloom on the ground at the spot that Juls’ spell hit earlier.

Val brings Juls to this abandoned room full of old magical artwork. Val found it during one of her explorations when she was still a first year. She loves finding hidden treasure in that room in the form of magical drawings and even some non-magical ones. She even showed the room to her friends, but none of them is as interested in it as Juls clearly is now.

They spend a couple of hours in that room, Val showing Juls her favourite pieces as they talk about magical art and the process of creating it. Juls even talks about non-magical art, and Val listens to her intently partly because she’s taking No-Mag Muggle Studies but mostly because she thinks Juls has really interesting ideas.

Later, they go to lunch at the Great Hall together. Their respective friends wave them over, but Val only waves back at her friends while Juls tries to convey something like “rain check, I’m having lunch with Val,” in improvised sign language. Val’s friends -- Lucho, Nayeli, and even Sergio -- look at them with raised eyebrows because “is Val really hanging out with that poor first year?” Juls’ friends have a different reaction. Lina is like, “she really is friends with a Carvajal,” while Jane is just like, “I’m glad, that girl seems nice.”

It will be a few years before Vale & Juls get together, they’re still very young after all, but after that day they become each other’s best friends.

Juls still hangs out with Jane and Lina of course but she spends most of her time with Val and they don’t hold it against her.

Val actually stops hanging out with her friends for a while because they said something she didn’t like about Juls, but Sergio apologises to her and Juls after a few weeks so she continues hanging out with him. It’s impossible to avoid him anyway, they are both in the same year and in the same house. Lucho and Nayeli take longer to apologise; Val decides to let what they said slide just that once, but she doesn’t hang out with them that often anymore because she prefers hanging out with Juls.

Guille, who never liked Lucho or Nayeli, greatly appreciates seeing Val spend her time with the nice first year girl in their own House. Eva approves because Val's grades have started improving and she has stopped getting into trouble by breaking curfew.

It’s not that Juliana’s studiousness is influencing Valentina, because she’s not studious at all. She’s just so curious about magic that Val ends up learning more because she wants to help answer Juls’ questions. And unbeknownst to anyone else, Val still continues sneaking around the castle after hours, this time with Juls. It just so happens that Juls, who knows how to be sneaky and stealthy from years of dealing with her dad and his associates, is so much better at not getting caught than a bunch of rich kids who’ve never known danger in their whole lives.

Thus, Valentina and Juliana learn magic together, and actually have fun while doing it. But that is just the beginning.

(Aaaannnnd... that’s it for now, because this has gotten way too long. I’m thinking that Vale & Juls will get together when Val is in her 6th year and Juls is in her 4th, but I don’t know if I even have the mental juices to think about it now, or even write it later. This post exhausted me.)

#juliantina #magic au #this better go in the tags #warning this is long #au #harry potter au #stories #mine

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