#witch!ofc

“SAM!”  Dean shouted as the younger brother was tripped by an unseen force and then thrown against a wall.  Dean pulled his gun out as he turned around, but it fell from his hand as the force slammed him into an opposing wall.

“Tsk tsk tsk,”  The witch shook her finger as she stepped out of the shadows.  “You boys are in an awful lot of trouble.”  She grinned menacingly.

“What are you waiting for, kill us already,”  Sam groaned as the forcing holding him to the wall got tighter.

“I don’t want to kill you,”  Elayne said looking between the two men.

“No, you just want to bore us with your monologue right, Pussy Galore?”  Dean taunted.

“How about you not talk?”  She brushed her hand over Dean’s mouth.  He looked at Sam, opened his mouth, and then closed it with a ticked off look to the witch.

“I know you’ve been hunting me,”  She said twirling the end of her hair absently.  “But I think you can help me.”

“We would never help you,”  Sam said seconds after Dean’s mouth opened again.

“No voluntarily,”  Elayne agreed, nodding her head.  “But that got me thinking.  You guys give you DNA away like candy.  Why wouldn’t you give it to me?”

“What are you talking about?”  Sam asked confused as he looked to Dean.  The older brother shrugged.  “Why do you need our DNA?”

“I need the DNA of a possessed human for a spell,”  The witch swatted the air in front of her like it was a stupid question.  Dean threw his hands up in the air.  “Fine, you can talk.”

“Thank you!  We don’t just go around throwing our DNA around willy nilly,”  Dean crossed his arm as he spoke, not seeming to care that his feet weren’t touching the ground.

“Oh! Really?  I must have you boys confused with other hunters then,”  Elayne laughed at her own statement.  “I’m sorry,”  She giggled one last time recovering her composure.  “I’ll make you a deal, if you spill your DNA anywhere I’m going to be there to collect it.  So if someone cuts you,”  She walked over to Sam and scratched a nail across his upper chest until there was a bright red line, but no blood.  “You won’t bleed but I’ll come to you and take your DNA then.  Prove me wrong and I won’t cast my spell,”  She looked between the brothers.  “You have one month.  Trick or Treat.”

The brothers fell to the ground and Elayne disappeared.

“What the hell?”  Dean asked when they had recovered.

“I don’t know.  But we should get out of here,”  Sam said.

“We need to stay in the motel,”  Sam said as they got back to their room.

“For the whole month of November?”  Dean asked in disbelief.

“Not only that,”  Sam said quietly as you came running and threw your arms around his neck.

“I was worried about you, what happened?”  You asked pecking him on the cheek.

“Nothing important.  But Dean and I are gonna challenge ourselves this month,”  Sam said feigning chipperness.

“We are?”  Dean asked unexcited.

“We are gonna participate in -ahem- No nut November,”  Sam said awkwardly as he gave Dean a pointed look and pulled himself away from you.

“Wait what?  Why?  You’ve never done anything like that before.  What’s really going on?”  You asked looking suspiciously between Sam and Dean trying to figure out who would crack first.

“No, Sam’s right.  We really want to do this,”  Dean said, trying to cover the monotony in his voice.

“Fine,”  You said with a snarl, hating to be left out.

True to their words Sam and Dean stayed in the motel room all the time.  You went out for food and even slept in a separate room.  Despite your best efforts, Sam would barely even look at you, and when he did he looked sad.  After not seeing the brothers for thanksgiving you’d had enough.  Something was going on and they weren’t telling you what it was.  You knew they had secrets but this was the last straw.  You called Sam’s cellphone and told him you needed him, claiming it was urgent.  You put on a see-through teddy and displayed yourself on the bed.

“I came as fast as I could, what’s wr- oh,”  Sam stared at you and let the door close behind him.  You spread your legs to give him a full view and watched as he swallowed hard.

“I needed you desperately,”  You whispered huskily.

“No- I can’t, I’m sorry,”  Sam said shaking his head.

“November is over tomorrow, I won’t tell Dean.  Just come here and see how wet I am for you,”  You tweaked a nipple through your clothes as Sam took a step toward you.

“Well, I guess the month is up,”  Sam took his shirt off.  

He laid with his face between your legs before lifting your hips.  He licked at your dripping pussy and suckled your clit, forcing a small cry to leave your lips.  You had never cum so hard on his mouth before, and your legs were red and tingling from his slight scruff.  It was obvious that he hadn’t been shaving very closely.

“Sam I want you so badly,”  You said as Sam crawled up your body and kissed you hard.  He groaned as you felt his cock against your leg throb.

“I can’t,”  Sam pulled himself off of your body and grabbed his shirt before running out of the room.

“What happened to you?”  Dean asked as Sam came back into the room panting.

“Nothing,”  Sam said fixing his shirt.

“You went and saw her didn’t you?”  Dean asked knowingly.

“What are you talking about?”  Sam asked looking at his brother.

“You missed a spot,”  Dean said pointing to his mouth and then at Sam’s face.  Sam’s face dropped and he wiped desperately at his face.  “I knew you wouldn’t be able to hold out.  At least she’s not suspicious about our job yet?”  When Sam looked at the floor Dean stood up.  “You get back over there and convince her everything is fine.”

“Fine,”  Sam said walking back out of the room.

“I’m sorry for rushing out like that,”  Sam said as he came back into your room.  You had curled up and rolled to look away from him.  “Can you forgive me?”

“Maybe,” you said twirling the end of your hair.  “Make it up to me?”  You got up on your knees and showed off your glistening cunt and backside.

“Fuck,”  Sam groaned as he palmed his crotch through his denim.

“That’s what I was thinking,”  You giggled.  Sam pulled his pants off and curled himself around your backside letting his cock press at your entrance.

“God you’re so big,”  You groaned as he started short thrusts to ease his way into you.  “Why did you wait so long to fuck me?”  You asked.

“Needed to get through November,”  Sam grunted as you squeezed him tight.  “It’s so close, I promise to make you cum, and then after midnight we can do this for real.”

“What?”  You asked incredulously.  

“What’s the matter?”  Sam asked pulling out and slamming back in.  “Is that not soon enough for you?”  He chuckled at his joke.

You pulled yourself off of him before spinning around on the bed and pushing him back.  He fell so that his head was hanging off the bed as you straddled him to keep him from falling off the rest of the way.

“It’s not soon enough,”  Elayne’s voice came from where you had been a moment before and she took Sam’s cock in her hand pumping him several times.

“You bitch,”  Sam said as he closed his eyes to keep himself under control.

“I’m a witch, thank you,”  Elayne said rolling her eyes.  “Why can’t you just give me what I want?!”

“Cause you’re a witch,”  Sam said breathing hard through his nose as Elayne teased him and did things to him that brought him closer to the edge than he thought he could be.

“You were so close when you were here with your little friend earlier, but then you changed your mind.  Apparently, she’s not enough for you and you need something more,”  Elayne snarled as she bent her head to lick at the crown of Sam’s cock.

“What did you do to her?”  Sam asked temporarily drawn away from his orgasm as you were mentioned.

“Cum for me and I’ll give her back,”  Elayne taunted as she took Sam’s cock all the way to the back of her throat.  Sam yelled in his sexual frustration.  He was so close and felt like he was going to explode, but he knew he couldn’t, even as Elayne moved to slide his full length inside of her.

“Get off of his you bitch!”  You cried from the doorway as Dean kicked the door open.

“Yeah, witch, what she said!”  Dean yelled awkwardly.

“He’s mine, it’s too late,”  Elayne grinned as Sam’s hips rutted up into her heat.

“Shit,”  Sam groaned as his control slipped.

“I’ve got her,”  Dean yelled as he lifted his gun and shot at her.  She disappeared into thin air and Sam cried as his orgasm was ripped away from his grasp with her.

“Sam!”  You sobbed as you ran over and covered him.  “You’re going to be okay.  I’ll help you,”  You whispered so that Dean wouldn’t hear.

“Yeah, I’m gonna go to the bar,”  Dean said as he looked at a clock that read 11:58 p.m.

“Why are we doing this, again?” Harry asked, trying to shove his hands further into the leather jacket he was wearing. He’d much rather have been in a nice comfy jacket, maybe a nice fluffy jumper underneath, but no. Niall had been very adamant about both Harry and their other friend, the only girl in the group, Andie needing to be dressed in dark, “witchy” clothing for this occasion.

Niall was a photography major and needed some fall themed photos for a project. Andie had been his first choice as a model because…well, she already fit the aesthetic so well.

Andie, whose full name was even Andromeda (how much cooler could she get?) dressed year round like the epitome of a modern witch. If an item of clothing wasn’t black, it was blood red or deep purple, and she wore jewelry with symbols of the occult on it, and sometimes cats and bats. But that was because she thought the animals were cute. Whenever anyone ventured to ask why she dressed as she did, she simply shrugged and said, “I look cute.”

And she wasn’t wrong. The dark pallet of her clothes contrasted with the pale smoothness of her skin and flaming red of her hair. Her eyes were the most peculiar part of her, though. While they were most typically a pale blue, nearly grey colour, if you looked at her long enough, her friends would swear they’d turn purple.

So, Andie had been the obvious choice for the female model. Niall had mostly chosen Harry as a favour. Don’t get him wrong, Harry was an extremely attractive man and had the looks for a model, but Niall was especially being a good friend.

For as long as the two had known each other, Harry had harboured a huge crush on Andromeda.

They’d first met their first year of uni in an English class, where they’d been the only two people who’d completed the summer assignment of reading Pride & Prejudice. They’d joked together about the incompetency of their peers, and the rest was history.

Harry had obviously been first taken with her looks, because she had this almost otherworldly quality about her that was hard not to be drawn to upon first glance. But, very quickly, he’d realised her personality was exactly the type to which he responded most. She was quick and witty with enough dry humour to catch him off guard for just a moment before he started laughing. When he’d first brought her around his other mates, like Niall and Louis, they’d initially been a little taken aback by her appearance, but one joke about one of her professors that both Louis and Niall had the semester before, and it was like they’d all been the best of mates for years. She’d been hanging out with them ever since.

It had now been two years, and Harry had still not done anything to make it known that he was interested in her romantically. Everyone except for Andie knew about it, so his other friends had taken to trying to work their magic to get them together in different scenarios that had them spending ample amount of time together. Harry had yet to make a move, though, and he was running out of time. This was their last year at uni and then who knew where they’d all end up?

“Because the wind will do great things for Andie’s hair. And the leaves are pretty. Just stop complainin’ and this’ll go quick,” Niall told him.

Andie chuckled at both Harry’s whinging and Niall’s snappy response. Those two were like and old married couple. Andie found it endearing.

“Oh, perk up, Harry,” she encouraged, shoving her shoulder into his own. The heeled boots she was wearing got them closer to a similar height, so when she looked at him, she didn’t have to look up to meet his eyes. “It’s a beautiful day out, even with the wind. Now, put on your Blue Steel and take some proper photos for our dear Niall.”

Harry grumbled nonsense under his breath until they reached the clearing Andie had suggested to Niall as the setting for his photoshoot. It was a place she liked to come to get away for a little while when the constant happenings of the world for to be too much. It had an energy pulse to it that was calming and cleansing. It was good when she needed a breather.

It was also her prime spot for casting spells that required more than she inherently possessed in her being.

This particular spot in the forest just outside of the bustling center of Surrey was filled with ancient energy that had been infused by witches before her. There was an ancient enchantment placed around it that connected it directly to the energy at the core of the earth, coupled with the ageless magical energy. It was like a safe haven for all witches  of pure intentions and those that needed its protection. Andie had chosen to attend uni here specifically to be close to this magical wonder.

Meeting Harry and Niall had been a happy coincidence. And keeping her status as a certified witch the whole time was nothing short of a miracle.

“This is beautiful, Andie,” Niall exalted, looking around. “It feels so…” Niall took a deep breath and sighed, “good.”

Even mortals could feel the good energy of this place.

This spot in the woods was almost completely cleared of trees and plants, aside from the plush grass. However, sat directly in the middle of the clearing was a large, pitch black rock. It was an obsidian boulder, which was a great medium for harnessing magical energy when more than a witch possessed was needed for a spell. Andie had spent many a full mood with artifacts surrounding the rock, incantations falling naturally from her tongue.

“This is pretty sick, mate,” Niall awed, running his fingers over the smooth surface of the stone. Andie couldn’t be sure if mortals could feel it, but the rock emitted a thrumming flow of energy, like a satisfied cat purring in your lap. She wasn’t even touching it, and the stone was sending a steady vibration through her being. Just standing there was making the magic that flowed through her system surge with the need to be used. This was not one of those visits, however.

“I figured it would be good for the shoot. It’s very autumn-y,” Andie agreed.

Harry joined them and ran his hand over the stone. His eyebrows raised in surprise. “It’s warm,” he marveled. He looked up to the sky. It was completely overcast that day, rain definitely threatening, and it had been since they’d woken that morning. He was confused as to how the stone could be so warm with no obvious source of heat.

“Obsidian is said to have magical properties,” Andie told him, tongue-in-cheek, trying not to laugh at her private inside joke. “Maybe you’re a little magical yourself, Harry.”

Andie watched as Harry’s cheeks tinged pink over her comment. She knew of Harry’s crush on her. In all honesty, she had a crush on him too. And she would have acted on it long ago, but she couldn’t risk Harry’s safety with her magical abilities. By simply being a witch, she was constantly at threat of being found and attacked. Everyone thought the witch trials had ended in the eighteenth century, but they were wrong. There were still the select few that targeted witches because of bizarre religious views, sort of like they prosecuted gays and certain races. And while those witch hunters were few and far between, she couldn’t risk getting closer to anyone than necessary. Even if it was just to prevent him from finding out her secret, it was all for the best.

However, it didn’t mean she would turn down the opportunity to shamelessly and harmlessly flirt with him and get him a little flustered.

Niall quickly called the two to order to get to work. The sun would be setting in about half an hour, and they had to get the whole shoot done in that time. He’d be able to take a set of them while the sun was actively setting, to really capture the essence of autumn, the sun blazing through the gaps in the leaves that were turning colours with the onset of the season. They were going to turn out beautiful.

Andie was trying to help Harry pose in a more causal position against the obsidian rock when an overwhelming sense of dread flooded through her body, nearly drawing her to her knees. She braced herself against the rock and Harry reached out for her, asking if she was alright. Honestly, Andie wasn’t sure, because she’d never felt something so strong and draining before. It stole her breath from her lungs, leaving her gasping. When Harry grasped at her elbows, it was like the contact burned, searing her skin. She looked around them with bleary eyes, sensing there must be something around them that was causing her such a severe reaction, given that she’d never had such an interaction with Harry before.

Just over Harry’s shoulder, she spotted a smoky, dark figure, menacing in just the way it made Andromeda feel, like something was tugging at her heart. It was shrouded in a dark, wispy cloak and the feet and hands that peeked around the edges were skeletal with bits of flesh clinging to it, like a decaying corpse. Andie had never seen one personally before, but she’d recognise the entity anywhere. It was a wraith. There was no telling how long it had been wandering the earth, but it was most likely the result of an immortality spell gone wrong.

Witches were already at a high predisposition to live longer lives than humans—typically around 150 to 175 years—but some sought out to live forever. There were more steadfast methods to achieve this, like drinking from The Fountain of Youth or consuming a tea steeped from the leaves of to Everlasting Tree, but both were rare to come by for the typical witch. There were spells that claimed to cast eternity on the witch who performed it, but if even the slightest mistake was made or the witch did not harness the correct amount of power, a wraith was borne from the offered life force of that witch. These dark entities were doomed to an eternity roaming the earth, seeking out life forces to steal to sate their own need for vitality. Before they administered their final, soul-sucking touch, they’d latch onto their target and slowly but surely submerge them into a crippling depression, priming them for offering over their very soul and all their energy when the wraith was ready.

And this one had just attached itself to Harry’s flourishing life force.

~*~*~*~*~

“Hey, S, I need your help,” Andromeda hushed out into her mobile, Niall and Harry walking a few paces ahead of her, back to Harry’s car. Andie was doing her best to cast the protective spell she’d long ago placed over herself over Harry to keep the wraith at bay. It wasn’t the strongest ward she could conjure up, but it was what she could manage around two mortals without an active incantation or new spell altogether.

“What’s going on?” Sarah asked, sounding like she’d been pulled from sleep, which was entirely possible. When Sarah wasn’t busy being one of the senior witches in their coven, she played in a band that typically took gigs in bars and pubs. She’d probably been out until three in the morning before going straight to her job at the local chemist at five. She typically got off at one in the afternoon and went straight to bed. Given the hour, she was probably only asleep for three or four hours before Andie called. She’d be more apologetic, but this was sort of an emergency.

“Harry’s got a wraith attached to him,” she whispered frantically into the mouthpiece, watching to make sure Harry and Niall weren’t paying attention to her. They were still walking beside each other, laughing about who knew what.

“You’re fuckin’ kidding,” she gasped, suddenly sounding much more awake.

“Obviously not. I’m keepin’ it back with a pretty typical warding spell, but it’s not gonna last. I don’t know enough about this stuff to do anything about it.”

“Keep Harry close for awhile. Do what you can with the warding spells. I’m gonna visit a friend who might be able to help,” Sarah said, already sounding like she was getting dressed. “Maybe ask your mum if she can add some strength tho these wards.”

“No way,” Andie vehemently disagreed. “She figures out I got my friends close enough to magic to attract a wraith and she’ll kill me.”

“Oh, c’mon,” Sarah scoffed. “Anyone can attract a wraith, magical or not. They’re life suckers. They don’t care where the source is coming from. Coulda happened at any time.”

“I took them to the clearing,” Andie told her.

Sarah was silent for a few beats, obviously realising it was no coincidence that Harry had been latched onto by the demon. “Okay, don’t tell her that part.”

Andie choked out a laugh, covering it with a cough so she wouldn’t draw too much attention to herself as Harry held the passenger door open for her once they reached his car. She thanked him and slid into the front seat.

“Alright, I’ll do what I can. Let me know when you figure something out,” she told Sarah. The older woman agreed and they hung up.

Andromeda watched with apprehension as the wraith lingered outside the car, unable to interfere directly with the human world. It just followed alongside the car as it traveled back to the university. The ward that Andromeda cast around the car was keeping it further than it would normally follow, creating a physical barrier that it couldn’t cross. While from what she knew about wraiths, it would linger around Harry for weeks, if not months, before executing its final blow, she was erring on the side of caution. She’d spend every second of everyday with Harry until they figured out how to get rid of this thing if that’s what it would take. She wouldn’t let harm come to her best friend because of her stupid decision to bring them to a magical space. She thought the protections put around the clearing was enough to keep out all the nastiness of the magical world, but apparently the energy emanating from it was enough to attract the desperate ones, too. Her mistake.

Andie was too focused on keeping up the stretch of her spell to notice the silent interaction Harry and Niall were having via the rearview mirror. Niall had initially tickled the back of Harry’s neck between the bars in the headrest to get his attention, and then started making expressions with his eyebrows and mouthing words to his friend in the reflection. Niall was trying to silently convince Harry to ask Andie to hang out further, since it was a Thursday and neither of them had class the following day. It wasn’t unheard of for Harry and Andie to hang out together, separate from the rest of their friends, but Niall needed Harry to make it very apparent that his intentions weren’t just about friendship. They only had this year left to get their shit together, and Niall wanted to see it happen, if not for Harry’s sake, then for his.

Harry eventually rolled his eyes and nodded, relenting to his friend’s insistence. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to hang out alone with Andie, he just didn’t want to make it awkward when she realised he liked her as more than a friend. But he supposed he had to swallow his pride and get on with it at some point, and there was no time like the present. And there was nothing like two years of silent pining to make a guy want to finally make a move.

As they got closer to campus, Harry cleared his throat intentionally to get Andie’s attention, since she seemed pretty spaced out, her eyes focused on some invisible point just beyond the passenger window. She very slowly turned her head away from whatever she was staring at, and only tore her eyes away at the very last second, before looking at Harry. She had an expectant look on her face.

“Was wonderin’ if you and Niall wanted to hang out at mine. Have some beers, watch a movie?” he suggested, already knowing Niall was planning to decline. They obviously hadn’t decided on a concrete plan, but Niall would jump at any opportunity to get those two alone.

“Sorry, mate, can’t,” he declined, genuinely sounding solemn. He honestly probably was, since he wouldn’t get to witness two year’s of handiwork on his and Louis’ part finally coming to fruition. But it was for the greater good. “Need to get to work on editin’. Lots to do before I turn these in.”

Harry nodded. “Right. What about you, A?”

Andromeda had to work to prevent her face from lighting up at his suggestion. The whole ride over, she’d been trying to work up a way to get Harry to keep spending time with her so she could keep her eyes on him while Sarah was of getting whatever information they needed from her mysterious source. However, she hadn’t been anticipating him handing her a reason on a silker platter.

Instead, she gave him a small smile, like she usually would when she was agreeing to hand out with him. “Sounds good. Take me home first, though? I need to get some stuff.”

Her and Harry usually ended up staying at the other’s flat overnight when they did movies, so her request wasn’t odd. While she would get some things to change into, she also needed a few things to complete a protection spell over Harry, so that he’d be safe, even when he wasn’t in her presence. She’d still spend as much time with him as possible until they could figure out how to drive off the wraith, but she couldn’t be with him all day, everyday. They still had classes and jobs to get to and lives to live that made that impossible. She’d cast this more general spell first in order to give him a layer of protection, and then she’d get to work on finding a spell that more specifically warded off dark entities. Maybe her mum would have information on such matters. She was a member of the enclave, so the protection of magical beings and mortals alike was sort of her specialty.

They dropped Niall off first, so that he could get to his editing. Then Harry drove Andie to her flat. She insisted he come up with her, since she didn’t want him left waiting in the car. She had a bunch of things to gather and a cat to feed, after all. Not to mention, the projection of her warding spell only cast so far, and three levels up and two hundred yards away from the car park were a bit out of her range. She was powerful, but no simple spell had that sort of distance, unless it was cast on the other individual.

Harry fed Beelzebub, Andie’s three year old black cat, while she was off in her room, getting a bag together. Bub, as Harry affectionately shortened his name, seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face that sort of begged off anyone new that hadn’t been around him before, but Harry knew better. While Bub’s eyes looked like they were set in a constant furrow, he was a really sweet cat that loved chin scratches and head butted anyone that was at the appropriate height. Which was exactly why he hopped up on the arm of the couch, next to where Harry was sitting, after he’d finished his meal. He dipped his head to bump the top of it against Harry’s chin and promptly began purring. Harry gave Bub a good rub down, starting at his chin, working his way over the top of his head, and down his back, lingering at that place toward his tail that made him arch his back.

By the time Harry had completed the circuit a few times, Andie had rejoined him. She tapped the toe of her boot against his to draw his attention from the cat that was currently impersonating a motorbike on his lap. Andie had never known Beelzebub to purr so loud until Harry had made his first visit to her flat two years previous. He’d promptly sat himself in Harry’s lap and flipped over to expose his belly. He starting purring as soon as Harry scratched his fingers down the vulnerable pudge, and the rest was history.

Bub had been bestowed some magical properties upon his adoption into Andie’s life, as was normal for pets of witches, so he was more sophisticated and intelligent than a typical house cat—which were pretty smart anyway—but that didn’t mean he was above endless scratches and rubs.

“Ready?” Andie asked.

Harry looked from the cat in his lap to his friend stood in front of him. “Why don’t we just bring Bub with us? He’ll be fine at mine for a night.”

“Then who would be here to scare away any potential freaks that try to get into my flat?” Andie argued, sending a wink Bub’s way. He gave a short, succinct mew, as he knew his main duty when Andromeda was gone was to guard all the magical and nonmagical things that resided in her flat. Bub may only be a seven pound cat, but he wasn’t just claws and teeth. Those magical properties had been bestowed upon him for a reason.

“Fine. I just feel bad leavin’ him here by himself,” Harry said. He scooped Beelzebub up from his lap and set him down on the cushion beside him. He rubbed his head against Harry’s thigh as he stood. Andie swore that if the cat wasn’t magically tied to her, he’d have found a permanent home with Harry by now. He loved her, sure, but he had some weird obsession with her friend.

“He’s a tough guy, he’ll be fine,” Andie assured, not for the first time. Every time they went from Andie’s flat to Harry’s, there was always a brief conversation where Harry tried to get Andie to take Bub to his for the night. She wasn’t really sure why Harry didn’t just get his own cat, considering it seemed he wanted one so bad. She had thought about maybe looking into cats for adoption for him on more than one occasion over the years they’d known each other.

The ride back to Harry’s flat was quick. They only lived a few blocks away from each other, which was nice when they were in the need of company at odd hours of the day. She was able to walk to his flat in less than five minutes at any given time of day, and it was a fairly lit path, so it felt okay to walk at night. While she was protected pretty well from all things supernatural, she wasn’t immune to human predators.

Harry was in the process of getting something together for them to eat when Sarah called Andie back. She walked back into Harry’s room, where she knew she could get a bit of privacy, before pressing the green button.

“What’d you find out?” she asked, getting straight to the point. Time was of the essence with this thing, and they didn’t have any to waste.

“I just got into contact with my lady. She doesn’t know anything off the top of her head, but she’s looking.”

“Looking? Sarah, I need answers. I can feel this thing lurking. I got stuff to place his own warding spell on him, but it’s not gonna hold it back long.”

“Well, it’s a good thing he’s got one of the world’s most powerful witches with him,” Sarah told her firmly. “I trust you can keep ahold of this thing. Talk to your mum. And I’ll get to you as soon as my source gets back to me. She’s good, Andie, but there’s barely any literature on wraiths. We’re doing what we can.”

Andie groaned and leaned her head against the door frame of Harry’s room. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s just…he’s my best mate.”

“And you’re in love with him, I get it,” Sarah assured.

“Wait, what?” Andie asked, head shooting up from her slouched position. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh, c’mon, Andromeda, don’t play dumb.”

Andie sighed, lightly banging her head against the doorjamb. “Doesn’t matter. Nothing can happen. But I need him safe.”

Sarah was silent for a few moments on the other end of the line. Finally she said, “He will be. Give me a couple days.”

~*~*~*~*~

When Harry fell asleep that night, Andie went about very quietly setting up all the things she needed to perform her warding spell. Considering Harry was one of the heaviest sleepers she’d ever met—he’d slept through not one, but three fire alarms in their dorm building their first year of uni—, she didn’t bother with a silencing charm for the a spell that wasn’t going to take her longer than ten minutes to perform.

She carefully placed her four stones at the compass points of Harry’s living room, creating a magical energy barrier around the flat and its resident. She then unfolded a small tapestry with the symbol of the three goddesses, the ultimate symbol of protection in her family line. Anyone bestowed with a protective ward by a person of her lineage on this symbol was set against anything that could try to intrude upon their lives. The wraith was a different sort of entity, of course, but it would keep it at bay as long as Andromeda kept up the protection. It wasn’t a fail-safe, but it would have to do until they got a better answer.

Andie set the Harry’s token in the center of the middle moon on the tapestry. She’d been a bit of a creep and found Harry’s hair brush in the bathroom and collected his hair off of it. She supposed she could have found his pair of reading glasses and used those, but there was always a chance that a token that didn’t contain the subject’s DNA could render the spell void, and that was a chance she wasn’t willing to take. So she made sure his little clump of gathered hair was within the center moon before stepping back from her tapestry.

She waved her hand in a sweeping motion over the room, lighting all the ritual candles she’d placed in the room, lighting it in an eery haze. She closed her eyes against the sudden onslaught of energy she felt surge through her body, taking a deep breath to properly channel it. Her body knew when some more powerful magic was about to be used and it rushed through her veins, lighting them on fire in a way that was supremely pleasant. If she had to compare it to anything a mortal would experience, it would be like that feeling right before an orgasm, where every inch of your body was on edge, waiting for that one last thing that finally pushed you over. She could see why lesser witches could get addicted to the act of using magic like this.

Andie rubbed her fingers into her palms, that sensation sparking, and then held them both over the tapestry she’d placed on the floor. With one last deep breath, she began muttering the warding incantation under her breath. It was a slew of Latin words she knew by heart. It was one of the first spells a young witch learned, since it was relatively simple, but powerful when done correctly. She’d memorised the words by the time she was eight, and she was glad to not have to cart around a spell book everywhere she went.

She was only into her second line of incantation when there was a crashing sound from the hallway. She gasped and opened her eyes, her eyes automatically locking on Harry’s wide, shocked ones. Andie could’ve sworn in that moment that they both were not breathing. Harry was frozen in shock but Andie was frozen with the fear of being caught. She was still composed enough to take in the fact that Harry was in nothing but a pair of boxers and an entirely too large jumper that nearly hung off his shoulder and covered down the tips of his fingers. Such a contrast to the tight jeans and leather jacket he’d been wearing earlier in the day. Her heart would have leaped at the sight of him if she wasn’t completely hung up on the fact that her biggest secret had just been revealed to her best friend.

“What the fuck?” Harry finally uttered.

“Shit,” she spat. With a dismissive wave of her hand, the candles all blew out and the lights overhead turned on, bathing the room in a more normal light.

“What the fuck?” he asked again, louder this time, more emotion laced in his voice.

“Harry, I can explain,” she told him, reaching her hand out in a calming motion.

He stumbled back into a small cabinet he had in the middle of his hall. “Jesus. Your eyes were…”

“Purple, I know,” she appeased, trying her best to use a soothing voice. She knew he was more than a little surprised and possibly equal amounts of freaked out, and she didn’t want to exasperate it. She never wanted for him to find out she was a witch, especially like this, right in the middle of a spell. Granted, it was a spell for his protection, and one of the simpler setups that could be going on in his flat, but it was still a shock to mortals witnessing it for the first time.

“What…”

“Harry, why don’t you sit down? Lemme finish this, and then we’ll talk.” At this point, his protection was more important than whatever potential shock he was in. While her heart was sort of breaking from the concerned look on his face, she needed to do this.

Harry stumbled into the first chair in his living room, sort of sliding himself into it over the arm, never taking his eyes off of her. “What is…this, exactly?”

With a snap, the artificial overhead lights went out again, and a wave of the hand brought the candles back up to full flame. “A protective ward. A simple spell, but you can’t interrupt me, Harry.”

Harry nodded his head in a sort of mindless, perpetual motion, muttering some sort of affirmations to himself under his breath. Andie was sure he was trying to convince himself this was all normal, but she didn’t really have time to fret over him in that moment. She had more important business to complete.

Andie raised her hands out, palm down, over the center of her tapestry again, and she began reciting the incantation quickly under her breath. Harry watched as the flames in the candles grew brighter and larger as her chanting went on, admittedly getting concerned when they started flickering violently, like there was a strong gust of wind in the room. Adversely, it felt like all the air had been sucked out of the atmosphere, a ringing taking up residence in his ears. Andie’s eyes were darting back and forth quickly under her lids, lashes fluttering. Sparks of electricity seemed to be erupting from the ends of her fingers, creating a crackling, static sensation in the room. Harry felt like his skin was tingling. He was in too much of a daze to really be concerned about anything, though. His best friend was currently doing what was arguably magic in his living room.

Andie’s volume of muttering rose until she was speaking at regular volume, and the light of the flames seemed to brighten to almost that of natural daylight. Harry sunk himself deeper into the cushion of the chair he’d claimed as the spell seemed to be coming to a head. The energy surged in the room, making the hairs on Harry’s body stand on end. A cold chill flashed down his spine as her chanting stopped and Andie’s eyes flashed open to meet his just before the candles all blew out at once. There was no mistaking it. Her eyes had been glowing a bright purple in that second before everything went dark.

~*~*~*~*~

Harry had remained silent and unmoving the entire time Andie had been cleaning up from her spell. She could have just magically whisked everything into her bag, but she figured one magical happening was enough for the night.

She had gotten him a glass of water and placed it into his amazingly steady hands. Then she’d helped him from his seat and walked with him to his bedroom. He seemed to still be in shock, so she’d laid him down in his bed, back where he’d rumpled the sheets from earlier, and turned to leave. She could understand his despondency, so she was going to give him the night to sleep it off, and if in the morning he wanted her to piss off, she’d leave. But for now, she would stick by him, just in case.

“Wait,” Harry called, his hand grabbing her wrist as she’d turned to walk out of his room.

Andromeda looked down to his hand that was burning into her skin, up his arm and to his face, his head already resting on the pillow. He’d lost that vacant look in his eyes and he was now looking at her like he always had: with a little bit of adoration and a lot of honest interest. The bright green of his eyes scanned over her face, most likely looking for something that would make her look like the monster she was sure he thought she was after everything he’d witnessed. She never wanted Harry to think she was anything else but just herself, but she wouldn’t blame him if he told her to leave and never come back. It wasn’t easy to deal with and accept that your best friend from the last couple years was a witch. Not even Harry could feasibly be that understanding.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t hate you,” he said bluntly.

Andie’s eyebrows furrowed. “How did you…”

“I can see it on your face,” he shrugged. “And I know you. I don’t hate you. I’m shocked as fuck, but I’m okay. We’re okay.”

Andromeda let her eyes roam over his face for several moments, taking in his smooth features. He looked okay, as far as external emotions went, and he was verbally telling her that he was okay. She supposed she had no choice but to believe him. He still had to know why he had walked in on her doing magic in his living room, though. “I’m just trying to protect you,” she whispered.

“From what?” Harry asked. His thumb was now gently gliding over Andie’s wrist where his hand was still clasped.

“It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got time.”

Andie could tell from the look of determination in his eyes that she wasn’t going to get out of this one. When Harry had his heart set on something, it was very hard to get him off the scent.

With a sigh, she gently shook off Harry’s grip and bent down to take off her socks and then her jeans. She should have been more apprehensive about slipping into Harry’s bed without her trousers on, but, honestly, it was a semi-regular occurrence when they had sleepovers. She wasn’t willing to sacrifice her comfort for some weird perception of modesty.

She slid under the covers Harry was holding up, nestling in on the pillow his own head was occupying. He dropped the blankets back over her, and she pulled it up to just under her chin. She felt Harry’s warm feet slide past her own, and she didn’t hesitate to tuck her toes between his calfs. For all the energy constantly flowing through her body, her toes were always frozen. And Harry was always hot. It was a no-brainer.

“Where should I start?”

It took Andie nearly an hour to get through her explanation to Harry, the whole time silently thanking him for remaining quiet and holding off to ask all the questions she could see swimming in his eyes. When she finally sighed after she finished, he surprised her by not asking all those questions she was sure he had been holding back the whole time. Instead, he just slung an arm around her waist, pulled her closer as he let his eyes fall shut, and whispered a quiet thanks. Andie was shocked by his behavior, but not enough to let it prevent her from swiftly falling asleep, comfortably resting in his arms.

~*~*~*~*~

“So the whole witch trials thing in America?”

“I mean, it’s possible someone was actually a witch, but as far as any witch history can tell, they were just victims of a crazy strict Christian society that saw anything that was “other” as bad and dubbed it as witchcraft. There’s a chance someone was practicing hoodoo or something similar, but we don’t think there were any legitimate witches there.”

“And hoodoo is different from witchcraft?”

Andie took a sip from her latte before answering. “They’re both magic, technically, but they garner their power from different sources. Hoodoo is mostly based in the spiritual, sort of like a religion. There’s a lot of tie to the afterlife and the power passed beings can offer. Whereas witchcraft is based on the existing energy in the earth and its creations. Every living being on earth has the ability to harness this energy, witches were just bred inadvertently to have better control. When I cast spells, I can feel it in my every cell.”

Harry nodded, looking thoughtful as he peered down into the hot chocolate he’d ordered. “I sort of noticed that last night. I could physically feel it run through my body when you’d completed the spell.”

Andie hummed. “It’s not uncommon for the recipient of a spell, especially protective ones, to experience an energy transfer upon completion of the ritual. In a nutshell, I’ve connected my magical energy to you in order to keep you protected from any sort of magical harm. As best as I can anyway. Some magical and supernatural entities have a bit more power than I can put into a basic warding spell.”

“And I’m reckoning wraiths are one of those entities.”

Harry and Andie locked eyes, and she was reluctant to nod her confirmation.

The duo had stayed up until nearly three in the morning, Andromeda best explaining what she could about her being a witch and why it was that she was taking extra steps to put a protective ward around Harry. He’d accepted it easily enough, but she was pretty sure it was just because he was starting to drift off into sleep.

When they’d woken that morning, she was expecting to be in bed alone, Harry off somewhere freaking out over everything that had happened in the wee hours of the morning. Instead, she’d opened her eyes and immediately been confronted with Harry’s own green ones, seeming nearly translucent in the morning light steaming through his window. Their legs were tangled together, so tightly that Andie wasn’t really sure who's limbs were who’s. Their noses were nearly touching, both their heads resting on one pillow despite Harry having a pretty spacious queen bed. And while they’d woken up plenty of times snuggled together after a sleep over, they’d never woken up that close.

If Harry was startled by it, it didn’t show. He’d simply smiled at her before placing a soft kiss on her nose. He’d suggested heading to the cafe around the block for breakfast, and here they were, only twenty minutes later.

Andie wasn’t really sure what to make of it, but she was going to act like it was any other day if that was the way Harry wanted to play it.

“Unfortunately.”

“What about them is so special?” Harry wondered, swirling his mug, most likely to mix up some of the chocolate that had settled at the bottom.

“Wraiths are created when dark magic goes wrong. Usually a resurrection ritual. If it’s performed incorrectly or the witch isn’t channeling enough energy from the right sources, something goes haywire, and the result is a manifestation of all that, since it can’t be channeled to whatever resurrection the witch was trying to perform.”

“There’s a difference in magic types?” Harry asked, his brows puckering in confusion. Andie would think it was adorable if they weren’t in the middle of a very serious conversation.

Who was she kidding? She thought it was adorable regardless of the topic.

“Of course. I like to think of magic like the internet.” Andie grabbed a napkin from the dispenser at the end of the table and looked for a pen in her purse. Coming up empty, she glanced at Harry and pressed a finger to her lips, telling him to keep quiet about what she was about to do. She rubbed her fingers together before pressing the tip of her pointer finger to the napkin. It started writing like a pen onto the paper, and Harry emitted a startled gasp before quieting down.

Andie drew out a triangle and then a line through the top of the shape, imitating an iceberg in water.

“The tip is the surface magic. It’s about ten percent of the entire magical ability of the universe.” She drew an arrow to the small section at the top and labeled it. “Hypothetically speaking, anyone can access this part of magic if they really wanted to and dedicated their time to learning how. But all witches can harness this magic pretty effortlessly. Some spells are a little harder than others, but it should be no real strain on a witch.”

She drew a dotted line about halfway through the rest of the triangle that was under the waterline she’d drawn. She made another label for the center portion. “This is what we’ll call advanced magic. This can only be accessed with dedication and an ability to harness energy from other sources, like the earth and crystals and natural phenomena. New moon, blood moon, eclipses, all that. It’s a bit more of a stretch for most witches, but it can be achieved with a bit of hard work. Witches with an inherently stronger bloodline can pretty easily access this portion.”

Andie finally circled the lowest portion. “And this is dark magic. It’s all the stuff that betrays the laws of nature. Necromancy, possession, time travel, teleportation. When a witch fucks it up somehow, bad things can happen. Usually to the witch trying to perform the ritual, but sometimes to nature itself. Thus, wraiths are created.”

“And now I’ve got the result of botched dark magic following me around?” Andie nodded. “Love that for myself.”

Andie couldn’t help the snort of laughter that escaped. Harry wasn’t one to commonly use popular slang or phrases, so when he did, it was startlingly hilarious.

“While I’m glad you can joke about it, it’s not something to take lightly. I’m workin’ on getting some information about how to get rid of it. Either just disconnecting it from you or putting it back in whatever hell hole it came from.”

“Considerin’ that thing was made from dark magic, sounds like gettin’ rid of it is gonna be hard,” Harry sighed, pushing his mug away from him.

Andie paused. How was she going to tell her best friend that she was part of the most pure witch bloodline in the world? That her mother was pretty much the strongest witch that had ever lived? That she herself was bound for that same tier once she hit her twenty-fifth birthday? It wasn’t exactly something you just drop on an unsuspecting mortal. Though, she supposed you didn’t just tell them you were a witch, either. Given the extenuating circumstances, maybe it wasn’t the most shocking thing he’d heard that day. And hopefully all the revelations wouldn’t get her in trouble with her mum or the council. She had an obligation to protect the mortal world from any magical threat, and Harry was her best friend.

“Can we go back to mine?” Andie suggested. She grabbed the napkin she’d drawn on and crumpled it up in her fist before shoving it in her pocket. No need for any curious waitress to come along and see that.

“Sure. Wanna go get my car?” Harry asked.

Andie shook her head. “No, follow me.”

“Andie, your flat is a ten minute drive. That’s nearly an hour walk.”

“Who said anything about walking?”

“Please tell me you’ve got a broom.”

Andie laughed and shook her head, leading him out the doors and into a deserted alley.

~*~*~*~*~

“I thought you said teleportation was dark magic.”

“There’s ways around most of the magical no-no’s,” Andie shrugged, dropping her bag by her front door. “Conjuring a portal is not technically teleportation. It requires an already established ending point. So, this mirror, for example.” She pointed at the mirror right by the front door of her flat that they’d just stepped through. “I’ve bewitched it to act as a portal. I can  arrive to it from any given location, and I can use it to access other portals. But I can’t just decide in the middle of my day to pop into Paris for an afternoon trip. Unless I knew a specific portal location.”

Harry gazed at the mirror for a few moments, probably trying to see if there was anything physically out of the ordinary from any other vertical mirror he’d ever seen. He eventually gave a short nod and said, “Neat.”

Andie started the kettle on the stove as she regaled to Harry the importance of her family line.

“My family can be traced back to, like…the inception of witches,” she told him. “And there’s only three families that can say that. So, those three families have always made up the council, as well as elected witches from prominent covens.”

“You have a council?” Harry asked, tucking himself beside her as she prepared their teas. Her kitchen wasn’t very big, so it wasn’t difficult to be in each other’s space, but this was intentional. He’d pressed himself into the sliver of space between where she stood and the counter, not seeming to have any care that her elbow was brushing against him with every move that she made.

“Witches need governing bodies, Harry,” she said pointedly. “Why do you think dark magic is considered taboo? That wasn’t just something every witch decided on independently. In the early nineteenth century, it was voted on by the council that the usage of dark magic is punishable by death, if that witch hadn’t killed themselves in the process.”

“This sounds a lot like that season of American Horror Story,” he commented.

Andie smirked. Harry and her had watched all the seasons together on Netflix the previous summer.

“Sort of,” she shrugged. “We have rules and laws and our own judicial system, essentially. But the whole competition for Supreme thing and those weird tests aren’t true.”

“So no, like, Queen Witch, then?”

Andie bobbled her head around, a mix between and nod and a shake. “Not necessarily. Some witches are more powerful than others, based on bloodline. But that doesn’t give them superiority over other witches.”

“And I’m guessin’ you’re in one of those bloodlines.”

She glanced over at him while pouring the water in their mugs, trying to gauge his reaction. His face was almost annoyingly still, betraying no real emotion beside his genuine interest. There was no telling what he was really thinking. Considering all that he’d been made privy to, Andie reckoned this stuff was easy.

“Yeah. My mum is the oldest living female of the succession, so she’s considered the most powerful. And as her daughter, I’m second in line.”

“Do men ever possess that title?”

She shook her head. “No. Not unless there are no other females. So like, if I had a brother, and both my mum and I died, he’d acquire that power.”

“What if you never have kids? What happens then?”

“My mum has two younger sisters. The line would fall to her and her children.”

“So, it’s kinda a royal family situation?”

“Pretty much. Except female-oriented.”

“Why is that? Do you know?”

Andie handed off his tea, prepared just the way he liked it, with a dash of milk and one spoonful of sugar. Andie preferred hers plain.

“It’s got to do with females being able to bear children, and their inherent connection with the earth because of it.”

Harry was quiet for a few moments, seeming to finally take a moment to think things over. Andie ushered him into her living room, where Beelzebub was napping contently on the arm of her couch. Darn thing hadn’t even stirred when Andie and Harry had stepped into the room, simply opening one eye to see who it was. When he’d deemed them nonthreatening, he’d closed it and went back to sleep.

After nearly five whole minutes of silence, Harry spoke up.

“Is this all to say that if anyone can get this fuckin’ thing off my back, it’s you?”

Andie paused before giving him a reluctant nod. “Yep.”

He was quiet again, staring pensively into his tea, which he’d only taken a couple tentative sips out of. Suddenly, but with a sureness Andie was almost surprised to see out of him, Harry reached his hand out and grabbed onto the one she had resting in her lap. He slotted their fingers together and gave it a brief, tight squeeze before looking up at her.

“I’m glad it’s you.”

~*~*~*~*~

Until Andie got some answers or leads, she insisted that Harry stay with her in her flat when he wasn’t in class or at work. She was hoping that the ward she’d put up around him, as well as the protections she’d put up around her flat were enough to keep the wraith far enough away to let Harry carry on like normal. It seemed to be working, as she’d never seen the thing more than one hundred yards away at any given time. And when Harry couldn’t be in the protection of her home or in her presence, she sent Bub with him to keep an eye on him and alert her if anything was wrong. Luckily, it’d been a week and nothing tragic or harrowing had happened as of yet. She knew she couldn’t become comfortable in the mundane, but she was going to enjoy it while it lasted.

She’d received a call from Sarah a few days prior, letting her know that she’d contacted someone who might have some insight, and she was just waiting for them to be available to come to the UK. The witch was apparently a pretty prominent facet in a large American coven, so she had her hands full, but she was trying to arrange things to help Andromeda. She was glad to hear that something had panned out, but it seemed like now it was a waiting game.

However, for as anxious as Sia was about getting answers and keeping Harry safe until that time, she was actually really enjoying being with Harry so often. While they hung out regularly before, now it was amplified. They were living together, for all intents and purposes. When she got home from class, Harry was there, revising at the kitchen table. When she got hungry, Harry helped her prepare food or called into a local restaurant to order take out. When she woke up in the morning, it was to the sound of Harry singing in the shower—beautifully, she might add. It was really unfair how amazing Harry was at pretty much everything he did.

Spending all this time together was really playing with Andie’s emotions, though.

Since she didn’t have an extra bedroom, Andie and Harry shared a bed each night, so they fell asleep next to each other, and if neither of them had an early class, they woke up together. Harry was usually awake first, so Andie would wake to his leg brushing against hers and the back of his fingers brushing her hair away from her face. And the way he would look at her when he woke her like that…she couldn’t describe it. She wasn’t sure she wanted to describe it. She was thinking too far into it would leave her with a perpetual migraine.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want Harry to have the feelings she knew he was harboring. She harbored them herself, admittedly. All his little touches and the way his eyes would linger on her when she came or went from any room would make the butterflies in her stomach take manic flight. She loved every second of his attention, but she kept trying to convince herself that nothing could come of it. While it wasn’t uncommon that witches had relationships with mortals, she didn’t want to put Harry at more risk than she already had with the whole wraith situation. With the type of power that Andie possessed, dark forces liked to follow her around. It was only natural that they would sense the weakness of a mortal and latch onto him. She didn’t want that. She had to protect him. Partially because she had a moral obligation but mostly because she loved him.

Her love for Harry had never been more apparent and strong than the last week they’d been in close contact nearly 24/7. And there was no denying that she’d been in love with him for nearly as long as she’d known him. She couldn’t even lie to herself anymore, let alone her friends, both mortal and witch. Sarah never let her forget it, and while they were keeping from Niall that they were currently staying together, he seemed to be picking up on it whenever all three of them were together. Andie could see the knowing look in his eye any time Andie would laugh at one of Harry’s stupid jokes and place a hand on his arm, or when she would reach over and wipe something from his face with no hesitation. She steadfastly avoided Niall’s gaze when she knew he was giving her a pointed look. She didn’t want to give anything away in her guilty look.

“What are you thinkin’ so hard about?”

Andromeda gasped and gave a little yelp, nearly jumping a mile in the air. She whirled around from her spot at the stove where she was browning some ground beaf in order to make some spaghetti for dinner. She slapped at Sarah’s arms a few times in retaliation, groaning out her frustration with her friend just popping in unannounced and scaring the shit out of her.

“Jesus Christ, S! Make some fuckin’ noise, will ya? Gave me a fuckin’ heart attack.”

“Sorry, figured you’d heard me,” she shrugged, peering over Andie’s shoulder to see what she had going on the stove. “Wasn’t tryin’ to be quiet.”

“I wasn’t paying attention, and I sent Bub out with Harry.”

“That’s what I’m here about,” she said. “Why are you makin’ this by hand?” she added as an afterthought.

“Just because I can use magic, doesn’t mean I should,” Andie huffed, rolling her eyes. “Besides, I like cooking. Anyway, what have you got?”

“Got word from my source,” Sarah said, watching as Andie filled up a pot of water to put on to boil. “Said she’ll be here by Wednesday. Wants to make sure your portal will zap her in from America.”

“There’s no restriction on distance, as long as I accept the transportation request. Have her send it over, and I’ll get it done.”

“I’ll let her know.”

“Does she have concrete answers?”

Sarah was silent for more than a few beats, so Andie looked to her after she’d lit the burner under the water. She was chewing on the inside of her cheek, her ultimate tell for her anxiety.

“What is it?” Andie asked, dread filling her stomach.

“She has answers, but there’s no guarantee that it’ll work,” Sarah said hesitantly. Andie was working extra hard on not letting her sinking emotions get the better of her. She didn’t have time to freak out. “There’s no official records of successful wraith banishments.”

“Just because they’re not recorded doesn’t mean they didn’t happen.”

“Exactly,” Sarah agreed with a succinct nod. “My source claims to have witnessed one, and she has a text from the early seventeenth century that outlines a ritual that is supposed to do the job. I haven’t seen what it entails, but it’s worth a shot.”

Andie blew up her cheeks and let out the breath between pursed lips. She turned off the burner for the meat before looking back to Sarah. She nodded.

“Okay. Just let me know what time on Wednesday. I have class at eleven. I’ll skip if I have to. I’m sure Harry would, too.”

Sarah agreed just as the front door of Andie’s flat opened, Harry sort of stumbling in the door with his book bag and a few bags of groceries, Bub sneaking in behind him just before he closed the door. He hung his keys on the hooks near the portal/mirror and toed off his shoes.

“Hey, I know you’re makin’ spaghetti tonight, so I picked up some French bread and a couple bottles of wine. And I also got stuff to make chicken parmesan tomorrow. Oh, and some more coffee creamer. I used the last of it this morning.”

Harry didn’t realise there was someone else in the kitchen until he walked through the doorway, stopping short when he saw Sarah standing beside Andie. They’d never met before, as Andie had always tried her hardest to keep her witch friends and coven away from her mortal friends. It was easier to keep track of conversations that way, and it prevented any slip-ups beyond Andie’s control. While she trusted her coven with her life, she couldn’t control what came out of their mouths, and she couldn’t risk that around her mortal friends.

“Hey,” Harry greeted, eyes glancing between Andie and Sarah, obviously a bit confused.

“Harry, this is my friend, Sarah. Sarah, Harry,” Andie quickly introduced.

Harry and Sarah exchanged pleasantries, and Andie could see that Harry quickly realised that Sarah was also a witch, not just some random friend she’d never introduced or brought around.

“You staying for dinner?” Andie asked Sarah as Harry unloaded the groceries he’d brought home.

“Nah, just wanted to pop in and update you on what was goin’ on,” Sarah declined. “If I don’t see you before, I’ll see you on Wednesday.”

Andie bid her friend farewell and watched as she disappeared through the portal.

“Is she in the same coven as you?” Harry asked? He flitted around the kitchen to get the bread-cutting knife and a cutting board as he waited for her to answer.

“Yeah, she’s a couple years older than us, but we’ve always gotten along really well. And she’s travelled a lot, so she’s got a lot of connections. She’s our go-to when we need contacts.”

“She the one that’s trying to get ahold of someone to help with the wraith thing?”

Andie added the spaghetti to the boiling water as she nodded. “That’s what she was here about. The other witch will be here Wednesday. Hopefully, we’ll have some concrete answers soon.” She didn’t want to tell him about the lack of substantial evidence that any of it would work. No need to stress him out when he’d been handling all of it so well up to that point.

“Well, I can afford to miss a couple classes if I need to,” he assured.

“I figured. I’ll let you know when I get a better idea of when she’ll be here.”

The changed the conversation after that, talking about their days as they finished up dinner. Harry helped her plate the food and take it to the table before pouring two glasses of wine. Harry asked if they could play some music, so Andie asked him what album he wanted. They agreed on the Rumours album, and with a wave of her hand, the record player set itself up and started playing the album softly through the speakers around her telly.

Harry asked her about the abilities she had that weren’t related to specific spells and incantations. She explained that it came with the “powerful bloodline” thing, as not all witches had the sort of telekinetic abilities she did. It could be learned, sure, but it would never be like the natural ability Andie and her family had.

By the time they finished dinner, they’d finished the bottle of wine Harry had opened before they sat down. While Andie was not even close to drunk, she was pleasantly buzzy, and her cheeks hurt from smiling so much at Harry’s stupid jokes and wild stories about people he came into contact with at his job at the record store near campus.

Andie was still chuckling at Harry’s last joke when she took their plates to the sink to rinse them off and load the dishwasher. Harry was quiet, and Andie figured he was going to turn off the record player or something, so she startled when she felt hands on her waist, not gripping, just gently resting.

“I’ll do the dishes since you cooked,” Harry offered, his voice quiet, nearly drowned out by the music that still played in the living room.

“No, it’s fine,” Andie denied. “It’s like three dishes, and I’m nearly done.”

“Then just let me finish.”

Andie chuckled again, turning off the faucet. “Harry, really.” She turned to look at him, and the sound that was in her mouth died when she saw the look on his face.

Harry didn’t say anything, either. His eyes flit over her face, probably taking in the slight widening of her eyes at her surprise and the way her lips were gently parted from the words fading from her lips when she’d turned around. His left hand left her waist and reached up to push her hair back from her face, carefully tucking it behind her ear. He let his fingers linger, tracing over her jaw.

The buzz that had been lingering in her veins quickly dissipated in favor of the static Harry’s fingers were zapping into her skin. Andie gasped lightly as his index caressed her bottom lip.

“So fuckin’ beautiful,” he whispered.

Harry stepped closer to her, pushing the small of her back into the edge of the sink and placing his thigh between both of hers.

Andie thought if Harry ever gathered the courage to kiss her or start anything with her, she would deny him. In the nicest way possible, of course, because Harry was a sweet baby angel who was too pure for this world, but it would still have to happen. She didn’t want to get him tangled up with anything that could be dangerous for him.

But that was the exact opposite of what she was doing now that the situation had actually presented itself. When Harry leaned down and barely brushed his lips against hers, she was the one who leaned forward and pressed harder, effectively pulling them both into a kiss that had both of their hearts racing. Andie was the one to wind her arms around his neck and reach up onto her toes so Harry wouldn’t have to lean down so far. She was the one that sifted her fingers through the cute little curls at the back of his neck and pull him tighter into her. She was the first one to dart her tongue out, swiping lithely at his bottom lip, and gave a little satisfied moan when he opened to her, his tongue meeting with her own.

Though she wasn’t sure who it was that led them down the hallway to her bedroom, their mouths still pressed firmly together. She did know, however, that Harry was the one that closed her bedroom door, shadowing them in darkness. Andie didn’t hesitate to swipe her hand and light the candles that were scattered around her room.

With a light shove, Andie plopped on her bum to the bed. She scooted back further into the center, watching as Harry stood at the edge, watching her closely. Andie was sure she’d never seen Harry so serious and still, save for the light heaving of his chest.

“You sure?” Harry asked, his voice nearly a whole octave deeper than it usually was, a slight growl to it.

Andie nodded.

Harry proceeded to provide Andie with the most scintillating strip tease she’d ever had the pleasure of witnessing. While that probably wasn’t his intention, watching as he shucked his cosy jumper to reveal a plain white t-shirt underneath, then watching him peel that off to reveal every inch of his toned stomach and broad chest, along with all the dark ink that was scattered over his smooth skin was the sexiest thing she’d ever seen.

He paused after removing his shoes and socks, his hands poised at the fly of his jeans. He looked up at Andie from under his lashes, looking her over from head to toe.

“You gonna join me? Or am I gonna be naked on my own?”

Andie swallowed hard, a little surprised and a lot aroused by the commanding tone in Harry’s voice. She quickly reached to take pull her shirt over her head and then wiggle off the skirt she was wearing, leaving her in her knickers and the thigh-high socks. When Andie reached around to undo her bra, Harry finally un buttoned his jeans and pulled them down with his boxers, finally letting Andie see all of him. When she saw his cock, standing stiff and proud from between his hips, she gasped.

“Shit,” she muttered under her breath, but not quiet enough to prevent Harry from hearing. He was big—a lot bigger than any other man she’d ever been with, and while it was a bit daunting, it only served to excite her more.

Harry smirked at her before kneeling on the bed, making his way between Andie’s legs. He ran his hands from her ankles, over the soft material of her stalkings, up to her exposed skin of her upper thighs and hips, before hooking his fingers into the lacy material of her panties. He looked up at her as he leaned down and pressed an open-mouthed kiss to her inner thigh.

He made quick work of pulling her panties off and tossed them off the side of the bed. Andie went to peel her socks off, but Harry caught her hands.

“Leave ‘em on.”

Andie nodded and pulled her hands away, leaning back into the pillows that were propped up on her headboard. Harry followed her, resting his hips against hers and using his elbows beside her head to hover over her. He leaned down and captured her lips in a kiss, swiping his tongue once along her lips before trailing his own across her jaw and down her neck, placing a teasing bite at the junction between her shoulder and her neck. Goosebumps rose along her arms.

She ran her hands down Harry’s back, gently gliding over the muscles as they tensed and relaxed with his movements. He skimmed his lips along her collarbone and down the center of her chest, taking a detour to her left breast, and then her right, laving his tongue and teeth over her erect nipples, pulling little mewls and moans from her mouth. He drug licking kisses down her stomach, stopping briefly to place a kiss just below her navel, but continuing his pace down to her mound.

He pressed a light peck to the hood of her clit before sliding his tongue out to lap at her folds. He moaned as her tangy flavour burst across his tastebuds. She was already wet, despite them not doing much but kissing and lightly touching. He couldn’t wait to get more of her in his mouth.

With that little taste, he couldn’t stop himself from completely covering her with his mouth. Andie shivered as he darted his tongue into her entrance, gathering her arousal before drawing the tip up and flicking lightly at her bud. Andie shot her hands into his hair, pressing his head closer to her center. Harry took the hint and took a broader lick at her clit before pursing his lips around it, giving it a cursory suck. Andie moaned loud, dropping her head back into the pillows. Her fingers tugged at Harry’s curls now, hips thrusting up to meet his pulsing sucks. He wound his arms around her thighs, keeping her close to him as he buried his face into her sweet center. He couldn’t withhold his own moans as more of her arousal flooded into his mouth, her hole fluttering and clenching around nothing. He swapped his mouth for three of his fingers, rubbing swiftly at her clit as he pushed his tongue into her entrance.

Andie took a shuddering breath. She was completely overwhelmed with his attention, on the verge of falling over the edge. His grip on her thighs were preventing her from rubbing more vigorously against his mouth and fingers. She needed more though.

“Harry, please,” she gasped. “Need more.”

He reluctantly pulled his mouth away from her, licking his lips. “What do you need, love?”

Andie didn’t realise when the words, “Choke me,” came out of her mouth. She didn’t have time to process it and be embarrassed, though. Harry’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, before he leaned back down to wrap his lips back around her clit. The fingers that were previously rubbing at it moved to enter her, two sliding in easily with how wet she was for him.

She let her head drop back, reveling in the new sensation of Harry’s fingers rubbing at the soft spongy spot inside her. She hummed when his free hand trailed from it’s place around her thigh, up her stomach and chest, and eventually around her throat. His fingers deftly found each of her veins running up her neck, applying light pressure. That mixed with the weight of his palm resting against the center of her throat was exactly what she needed to finally succumb to her pleasure.

Harry moaned against her center as her walls clenched against his fingers and her wetness coated his chin and palm. He kept rubbing and sucking her through it, Andie eventually having to shove him away by the crown of his head.

He crawled up her body, pressing sporadic kisses as she came down from her high. Her legs bent up to cradle Harry’s hips against her own, bucking up into the feeling of his erection resting against the curve of her pelvis. Harry groaned into the curve of her neck before pressing a kiss to her jugular. He drew his knees up on either side of her hips and wrapped his arms around her back, pressing their chests together and lifting her so she was straddling him.

“Want you like this,” he sighed into her mouth.

“Okay,” Andie agreed. She had no hesitation in reaching between them to take ahold of his cock and place it at her entrance. Slowly, she sank down on him until they were flush against each other. They moaned into each others mouths.

“So fuckin’ tight,” Harry panted.

“So fuckin’ big,” Andie returned smiling into his neck.

Harry snickered as he thrust his hips up into her, causing her to gasp.

Andie got the hint and started rocking her hips against his, groaning each time he hit the deepest part of her. They were in a position that had her clit perfectly rubbing against his pubic bone. She wasn’t sure how long she’d be able to keep up the position, but she was going to really enjoy it while it lasted.

Harry helped her along by gripping her hips and propelling her motion, keeping his head buried in her neck, licking at kissing at her skin between his moans. When he realised she couldn’t keep it up any longer, he laid her back down on the bed, lifting her legs by the back of her knees, pressing her thighs into her chest. His cock was so hard that he had no trouble sliding back into her with no aid.

“Fuckin’ soaked for me,” he grunted. “Like the way I fuck your cunt, darlin’?”

His hips were pounding into her so hard Andie had to reach up to brace her hands against her headboard to avoid bashing her head into it. Of all the ways she’d imagined Harry would be in bed, this was not it. He was always so gentle and kind, so seeing his muscles all bunched with effort and his skin shiny with sweat and the words coming out of his mouth and the strength behind each of his thrusts…it was a lot.

Andie sobbed out a moan when he brought one of his hands down to rub his thumb along her clit in a quick flicking motion. Her orgasm barreled through her, her mouth opening in a silent scream as she lost her breath. Harry didn’t slow through her climax, simply just forced his hips harder to overcome the strong clenching of her walls around him. He was barely keeping it together, since she was so tight, but he was determined to draw at least one more from her before he finished himself.

“So fuckin’ beautiful when you come for me, pet.”

Harry withdrew himself as he tried to catch his breath. He tapped on her hip to get her attention, motioning for her to roll over onto her stomach. She nodded before gracelessly flopping over, only being careful enough not to accidentally knee him in the junk. That would be a tragedy in the middle of all this.

He grabbed her by the hips to lift her onto her knees, keeping her chest pressed to the bed. He asked her for his hands and gathered her wrists in one of his fists at the small of her back. He used the leverage to draw her back onto his cock, his balls slapping against her skin. Her moans were load even when muffled into her pillows as Harry drove into her at a punishing pace. Andie’s hands flailed in his grasp, trying to find purchase on something to grip onto in her haze of pleasure. Harry saw this and released her wrists to clasp one of her hands with his, her other one reaching down beside her to grip at her sheets.

“Harry,” she gasped when he changed positions, angling his hips so he was hitting that sensitive spot inside of her. She got that telltale sensation that she had only experienced by herself before, that full feeling and that tingling pleasure that said she was going to explode. “I’m gonna…”

He reached under her with his free hand and rubbed against her clit, too close to his own orgasm to keep her on the edge.

Andie couldn’t hold it back any longer. With a few sure passes of his fingers and his unrelenting pace, Andie was cumming harder than she was pretty sure she ever had, especially with anyone else. Liquid pulsed from her body in rhythm with Harry’s thrusts. She was moaning out unintelligible words.

It took Harry a few seconds to realise that she was ejaculating all over his thighs and her sheets. If the strong fluttering of her pussy was enough to send him over, then seeing the evidence of her orgasm all over his skin was really overkill. His stomach clenched hard, forcing him to double over on top of her, pressing his chest to her back. He laid sucking kisses to her shoulders as he came down, both of them panting and sweaty.

After several moments, Harry pulled his hips from hers, breaking them apart with a groan. He flopped onto his back beside her, pulling her off her knees and into his chest. Her pale skin was covered in a light sheen of sweat and her pupils were still blown out when she looked at him. She licked her lips before smiling coyly at him.

“Wanted to do that for a long time,” she told him.

“You haven’t said thank you yet,”  Castiel said flatly, as he stood in Myin’s bedroom.

“What are you doing here?”  She asked sitting up in bed, startled by his presence.  She could see the face of the vessel that he was possessing but also the ethereal light that made up his essence as an angel.

“You called for me, ask me for a favor, witch.  You know why I am here.  Now I need you to start paying off your debt.  Starting with Sam Winchester’s infatuation with the demon.  What do you know about her?”  Castiel asked.

“I only just found out that she was a demon.  Sam and Dean knew her before Dean died, but she had a different host I guess.  That’s all I know about her.  That and the blood.  Sam is drinking her blood,”  Myin spewed the words faster than she had planned to.  Then looked around her motel.  It didn’t feel right to her, but she didn’t know why.  “Is this a dream?”

“Yes, very perceptive.  Why did you summon me?”  Castiel asked.  Myin realized this was an interrogation without the torture.

“Dean needed to be saved.  Sam and I were looking for a way to do it, but we only found the spell that I used.  Sam doesn’t know that I cast the spell.  Dean either.”  Myin admitted dropping her gaze.  “How is that I can see you?”

“You gave me your sight as part of your payment. ‘So that I may see what is happening,’ if I recall,”  Castiel said.  He was all business.  Had he been human, Myin would have assumed he would have made a joke about the situation.  

“So you saved Dean? And now I can see you.  An Angel?”  Myin shook her head, she should have stayed out of this entire thing.

“Yes,”  Castiel said.  “You’ve always believed haven’t you?”

“I’ve always suspected there was something, but I didn’t know what it was,”  Myin rubbed her face trying to wake herself to be more aware.

“Don’t do that,”  Castiel said warningly.

“Do what?”  Myin said realizing that her skin was tingling and she had a headache starting.

“Try to wake up.  I’m keeping you here, you are no match for me,”  Castiel said matter-of-factly.

“What do you want me to do?”  Myin asked rubbing her skin trying to stop it from itching.

“Whatever Dean needs you to do.  He needs you to be strong, or he won’t survive Sam’s problem,”  Castiel’s voice echoed in Myin’s mind as she sat up in her bed drenched in sweat.

“Mommy, I have to go potty,”  Dani whispered as she stood in Myin’s room.  “It’s okay Mommy, the nice man will keep you safe.”

“The nice man?”  Myin asked looking at her oldest daughter with concern and confusion.

“The angel,”  Dani said with a small smile.

May 2009

“Dean?”  Myin asked in a concerned whisper as Dean pulled her through the hospital she worked at and into her office.  “What are you doing here?”

“I need your help, and I didn’t want anyone to see us,”  He said before turning the blinds closed.

“What is going on?”  Myin asked hearing Castiel’s words to help Dean in her ear.

“I had to lock Sam up,”  Dean said, squaring his shoulders as he faced away from Myin.

“You did WHAT?”  Myin’s voice jumped two octaves as thoughts of the hunter being in prison flooded her mind.  “Oh God, he’s probably receiving psychiatric treatments as we speak,” She started to ramble.

“What?”  Dean asked shoulders slumping as he turned to face her and grabbed her by the shoulders.  “No, I locked him in Bobby’s panic room.”

“Oh.  Why did you do that?”  Myin asked looking down at Dean’s hands on her shoulders.

“He was so far out of his mind.  He was drinking that demon’s blood.  He wouldn’t stop.  He thought he could… well don’t worry about that.  I’ve got him detoxing, but it’s not going well.  I’m just not sure that I can listen to him suffer anymore.”  Dean said looking at the floor and finally releasing his grip on Myin’s shoulders.  

Myin wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him down to her height as she hugged him.  Dean’s body seemed to almost go limp in her embrace and she could tell he was crying against her chest.

“Life is not fair Dean Winchester,”  Myin said soothingly as she petted his hair.  “It’s harsh and continues to throw us at everything we dislike.”

“I’m sorry that I came here, and bothered you at work,”  Dean said pulling away from her and standing up straight.  He wiped the wetness from his eyes and started to walk to the door.  Castiel’s voice brushed over Myin again, like a command.

“Wait,”  she said reaching a hand out.  “What did you need my help with?”

“So wait you guys have been trying to stop Lucifer from rising?”  Myin sighed at the grandness of the information that had be presented.

“Yeah, listen… something is really bothering me.  I haven’t told Sam.”  He looked at Myin across her motel bed.  “It’s my fault that this is happening.  The first seal that breaks to start all this, is a ‘good man getting out of hell’.”

Myin dropped her eye to the floor as she realized everything was really her fault.  She looked up at Dean, wanting to tell him.

“Please, don’t try and comfort me, I already know the truth.  The angels told me everything about how the seals work,”  Dean silenced her with a hand as he spoke.

“Dean, I did a spell,”  Myin said as she pushed his hand down onto the bed.  “Sam was desperate.  He had found a spell, I was in a bad place when I found him with Ruby.  I didn’t think all the consequences out.  But I summoned Castiel.  I begged him to save you,”  Myin had tears falling down her cheeks as she spoke.

“You saved me?”  Dean asked as his hand covered where Myin’s had grabbed him.  “It’s not your fault.  We have control of our destinies.  Fuck fate,”  Dean growled as he leaned over some open books and kissed her gently.

“Dean,”  Myin whispered against his lips, remembering the last time he had come to her motel and kissed her.

“I want you, but only if you want me,”  Dean said firmly, holding her hand close to his chest.  The pain of everything she had gone through with Sam bubbled close to her heart.

“I do want you,”  She said finally before pressing the next kiss on his lips.

“Condom?”  Dean asked as he pushed books onto the floor and Myin pulled her shirt over her head.

“Pill,”  She responded, knowing she wanted to feel him.

“You’re fucking beautiful,”  Dean said as Myin exposed her breasts from her bra.  He laid over her, covering her body with kissed and gently teasing nips.  When Myin thought she would explode from the anticipation, Dean pulled her into his lap and set a pace to have them cumming all over each other.  “Shit,”  Dean said as he laid next to her in bliss.

“It’s been a little while for me, sorry if I was rusty,”  Myin teased.

“You were fine,”  Dean said, slapping her ass playfully, before grabbing his ringing phone.  “What’s up Bobby?”  He ask as seriously as he could.

“What do you mean he’s gone?”  Dean asked sitting up on the bed, the afterglow shattering almost visibly.  He hung up the phone and got dressed.

“Sam escaped.  I have to go find him.  Stay out of trouble while I’m gone.  We’ll figure this out when I get back,” Dean said as he kissed her and left the motel.

“I free you from your oath to help me.”  Castiel said as he fluttered in the room.  Myin jumped and squealed as she realized she was still naked but the angel paid her no mind as he came over and place his fingers on her forehead. She hit the ground, and woke up several hours later.

“Bobby what the hell is going on?”  Myin left another voicemail on the old man’s phone.  Every fiber of her being was telling her that something was wrong, but she couldn’t figure out what it was.

Harry had class before Andie on both Monday and Tuesday, but they saw each other by late afternoon, controlling themselves enough to make and eat dinner before retiring to the bedroom. However, when Andie emerged from the room to go get a glass of water, she was confronted by the last person she wanted to see, especially since she was nearly naked and there was a mortal in her bed.

“Mum,” she gasped, pulling at the hem of Harry’s t-shirt she was wearing to better cover her bits. She had knickers on, but they didn’t do a great job of preserving her modesty.

The women who’d birthed her stood in her entryway, obviously fresh from stepping through the mirror portal. She was in the witch’s version of a power suit: a dark green, floor length velvet dress that draped around her shoulders and had a slit up to mid-thigh, exposing the spiked heels she wore. There were necklaces shaped in Wiccan symbols layered on her neck, and her earrings were obsidian marbles with amethysts in the center. Her familiar, a big, imposing raven, sat perched on her shoulder. Her eyes, that were the same pale shade of blue as Andie’s, peered on at her in a thinly veiled look of distaste and slight amusement. Annabel had been around long enough that she knew a walk of shame when she saw one.

“Hello, darling,” she greeted, the humour in her voice evident. “Classes going well?”

Andie rolled her eyes. “I went to class. I got out at four.”

Her mum hummed, stepping further into her daughter’s flat. She gave a low whistle and Lenore, her raven, flew to the top tier of Bub’s cat tree, peering down into the little hideout Bub was sleeping in the tier below. Bub hissed half-heartedly, realising belatedly that the intruder was a fellow familiar.

“Who is he, then? Sarah knows that nice boy from the American coven that’s here doing research. Mitch, I think.”

“No offense, but he’s not my type. And besides, Sarah is into him.”

“Then wh—”

Annabel was cut off by Harry’s voice coming down the hall.

“Where’d you go?” he called, spotting her at the end of the hall, peering into the living room. His brows furrowed. “Did someone knock at the door?”

“Uhh…” Andie stumbled, looking between Harry and her mum. This was definitely not the way she wanted her mother to find out she was in an intimate relationship with a mortal. She’d have preferred if it never happened, but she knew it would happen eventually, the way her and Harry were moving. This was just the worst way possible.

As soon as Harry came into her mother’s view, Andie could see the instant recognition that Harry is mortal. Her nostrils flared slightly, but she took a deep breath before arranging a contrite smile on her lips.

“Never took you as one to sleep with your wards, Andromeda,” Annabel said.

“Excuse me?” Harry asked, brows furrowed. The fact that he was only in his boxers made him less intimidating, but he was still the tallest, broadest person in the room.

Andie placed a hand on his chest, silently begging him to not get riled up or say anything else. “He’s my friend, Mum. He just so happened to get the attention of a wraith.”

Annabel pursed her lips as she looked Harry up and down before sighing. “Whatever. Would you two put some clothes on? We need to talk about what’s happening tomorrow.”

~*~*~*~*~

The American witch walked through Andie’s entryway portal at ten in the morning Wednesday. Sarah, Annabel, Mitch, Harry and Andie were already gathered in the living room when the mirror whirred to life. There was a shift in energy in the room when she stepped through the pearlescent haze of the portal, her tall, platform boot the first thing to emerge. Andie held her breath, waiting for the reveal of who this mysterious witch was. Sarah hadn’t ever mentioned her name, most likely on purpose.

When she finally completely tread into Andie’s entryway, her and Harry’s jaw dropped.

“Holy shit,” Harry muttered. Though, it had been completely silent in the room, so it was loud echoing off the wood flooring. “You’re Stevie Nicks.”

Her sage eyes landed on Harry, who was sat on the loveseat beside Andie, and she smiled softly. “Yes, I am. You must be the poor mortal we’re all worried about.”

Annabel made a grunting sound that sounded suspiciously like a “speak for yourself,” that everyone but Andie ignored. She shot her mother an annoyed look before turning back to their guest.

Stevie fucking Nicks was in her flat. No big deal.

“I suppose,” Harry agreed. “I thought the witch thing was just a rumour.”

“Me, too,” Andie whispered, still a bit awestruck. Never in a million years did she thin Stevie Nicks was a real witch.

“And you’re still tellin’ me your life isn’t like that American Horror Story season?” Harry asked.

Stevie laughed. “That was a little nod to my community. Keeping a secret for nearly a hundred years is hard work. Need to keep it fun somehow.”

“Can we get to business, please?” Annabel interjected. Her nostrils were flaring in that way she had when she was irritated. It was the same look she’d given Harry when she first met him a few days prior. It was a look Andie had been on the receiving end of many times in her life.

“Don’t get your panties in a twist, Annie,” Stevie admonished.

Annabel gave their guest a pointed look before rolling her eyes in submission. Andie had never seen her mother give up a fight so easily. They must have known each other pretty well for her mum, the pinnacle of the witch community, to acquiesce so quickly.

“And you must be Andromeda.” Stevie’s gaze turned to Andie, who was sat much more properly since Stevie walked into the room. “Your mom has told me a lot about you.”

“I won’t even ask if they were good things,” Andie grumbled. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Stevie shot her a knowing smile, like she was privy to something that the rest of them weren’t. Andie wasn’t really willing to dive into it right then with a room full of people.

“You too, sweetheart.” Stevie made her way around Andie’s living room, taking up the one free seat next to Andie and Harry, in the big cushy chair that Andie had bought on a whim at a flea market the previous spring. It was gothic and beautiful and definitely an antique, and she just had to have it. Stevie looked just at home in the chair, her diminutive stature looking grand despite the high back.

“Now, let’s talk about this spell.”

~*~*~*~*~

The spell had to be performed on a full moon, and the full moon that month was too close for them to properly prepare. There were ingredients to be gathered that were not exactly something that was sold at the local apothecary, so it took some investigating and some late night adventures into the forest. The had four weeks to get all the necessary items as well as mentally prepare themselves to undertake this task.

Stevie had showed them the spell. It was…intense, to say the least. The ingredient list was nearly thirty bullet points long and the incantation that needed to be said went on for nearly three pages. Not to mention the diagram of the set up was intricate and required Harry to be laid in the center of a giant pentagram thirty feet in diameter mapped out in the branches of an elder tree. The candles that sat at each point of the pentagram had to be made of beeswax and dyed with powdered obsidian (which was not easily come by). The instructions only got more convoluted and involved from there. Andie was already ready to pull her hair out trying to organise who was to retrieve what.

For what it was worth, Harry was cool as a cucumber. When he would come home from work or class and see Andie hunched over her copy of the spell and fifteen different tabs open on her computer, he’d simply come over, drop kisses to her shoulders and neck, before closing the lid of her laptop and pulling her up from her seat. He only ever distracted her when he knew she’d been at it for hours on end, knowing the work she was doing was important. But she needed a break every few hours, and he was more than happy to be the source of her stress relief.

Harry and Andie hadn’t put a label on what exactly it was they were doing, yet. Harry was afraid to ask, worried that he’d freak her out and make her backtrack. Andie was concerned with making it official just for his soul to be sucked out by a wraith if her attempt at freeing Harry from this supernatural connection failed. It was an odd balancing act that they had never anticipated having to figure.

Andie was able to handle a week and a half holed up in her flat, doing her research, aside from going to class, before she finally needed a longer break than the hour and a half her and Harry would be together whenever he tore her away. She’d sent out a fire message to an apothecary in Romania that was pretty good about acquiring rare ingredients for obscure spells about the powdered obsidian. Given the time difference, she knew it would be hours, if not a full day, before she received a response. Then was a good a time as any to take a proper break and get out into the world while she had the chance.

When Harry got home from class that evening, Andie suggested they go out to dinner and maybe take a bit of a stroll. It was a crisp day, but not raining or windy, and it was already beginning to get dark. It was the perfect time to get out, and maybe they’d stumble upon some weird fungus they needed while they walked. Andie wouldn’t be disappointed if they didn’t find anything, but may as well take the chance. Two birds, and all that.

Harry quickly agreed and they headed off to a local Thai place without much deliberation on where to eat. They both had been craving it, it seemed, so they set off, hand in hand, Andie using some of that natural energy she possessed to keep their hands warm while exposed to the chilly autumn air. Harry was thankful, his fingers nearly turning blue the second they made it out onto the street.

As soon as they turned the corner onto the main road, laughing at a story Harry was regaling her with about someone in his Twentieth Century Literature lecture, a chill ran down Andie’s spine, not caused by the dropping temperature. She felt the blood drain from her face as she looked straight on at the wraith attached to Harry, much closer than it had been in the previous weeks. It was getting stronger, she realised, the just passed full moon probably lending to its power surge. Where it had been lingering about fifty meters away since it first latched onto Harry, it was now considerably closer, probably twenty meters, at max. It was close enough for Andie to make out the hallow darkness that occupied where it’s face should have been and the bony, gnarled stumps in the place of hands under the wispy blackness of the cloak that covered whatever form of a body that it had.

Harry noticed the dropped look of horror on Andie’s face as she gazed over their shoulders. He stopped their walk, but Andie pulled them along, beginning to mumble under her breath in a rapid cadence in a language Harry didn’t understand.

“What is it?” Harry asked, but Andie shushed him with a finger to her lips, her own mouth still moving. Harry realised belatedly that she was muttering a spell under her breath, and Harry had a sinking feeling that it was because of the darkness that had latched itself to him those weeks ago.

“Should we just go back to yours?” Harry asked.

Andie shook her head and kept pulling him along. He noticed the heat emanating from her hand in his rise in temperature, surpassing the comforting heat she’d been giving off before. He went to pull his hand away, lest it get too hot, but she kept a firm grip on it, silently telling Harry that it was best if his hand stayed in hers.

They were nearly to the Thai place before Andie relaxed and the heat left their hands. She seemed to still be on high alert, but her hackles weren’t raised anymore.

“Quick update to the warding spell I put on you,” she told him under her breath before Harry opened the door to the restaurant. “It’s getting closer.”

Harry shot her a wary look before turning to the hostess with a smile and asked for a table for two.

When they sat, Harry hooked his foot around the leg of Andie’s chair opposite him and pulled her in closer. “Why can’t I see it?”

“Part of being a witch or other supernatural being is having the Sight,” Andie told him, picking up her menu, even though she knew what she was going to order. She got yellow curry every time. “It’s pretty rare for a mortal to be able to see this sort of stuff. Usually only children can see them, or if there was witch blood somewhere back in their lineage, if it’s close enough to the current generation.”

“I can sort of feel it, though,” Harry added, looking over his own menu. “Like, especially when I’m alone in public. Sort of like I’m being watched.”

Andie nodded and reached her foot out to press up against his under the table. She could see he was a bit anxious about the news that the wraith was closer than normal, so she was offering support in a way that kept her hands free. She could still see the cloaked figure standing outside the big windows of the restaurant.

“I’m not surprised. The energy they give off is…not pleasant. Makes my skin crawl when they get close.” She rolled up the sleeve of her jumper to show him all her little hairs standing on end. “Don’t be surprised if your anxiety starts shooting through the roof. They’re like happiness suckers.”

“Kinda remind me of dementors.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s where the idea came from for those,” Andie agreed. “Except I don’t have a fancy spell to banish them away or whatever. Or a wand.”

“Honestly, when you first told me you were a witch, I was waiting for you to drop one out of your sleeve at any moment.”

Andie barked out a startled laugh as she gave a soft kick to his shin. “Shut up.”

~*~*~*~*~

They skipped their walk that night, for fear of the wraith getting ballsy in the darkness of the night. Harry suggested a day time stroll after he got back from class on Thursday instead, in the hour they had before the sun started to really set. Andie agreed, and they spent the rest of their night curled up on the couch, watching The Nightmare Before Christmas with Halloween only a week away.

By the time Thursday came around, Andie was in a good mood because Sarah had called her earlier in the day to let her know she’d gotten her hands on two more of the ingredients for the spell, and Andie had gotten word from that apothecary in Romania that the obsidian had come in and was ready for delivery. She’d arranged a portal transfer for Friday morning and couldn’t wait to get her hands on it.

When Harry retuned from class just twenty minutes after her, she greeted him with a kiss and pulled him straight back through the door, Harry chuckling at her exuberance. Andie chatted to him about the Halloween party Niall was throwing on Saturday that they’d agreed to attend, as well as the progress they were making in getting all the things they needed for the spell as they walked out of the flat and onto the road. Harry was just as glad as she was that there was only twelve more items on their list after just a little less than two weeks of searching, and one of the items was all the elder wood needed for the pentagram. It was shaping up nicely, and Andie was more confident that everything would pan out alright once the time came.

They stayed on populated city streets where people were still walking around to classes and milling about around shoppes and restaurants, just to be safe. The wraith was still just as close as it had been when they’d gone to dinner on Monday, but it seemed to be more passive now, abated by the extra hulking Andie had padded onto Harry’s warding spell. She wished there was something stronger she could put up around him, but hopefully it would only be another two weeks before they got him free of this thing.

Forgoing a proper dinner, they stopped by the cafe and bakery down the street to get tea and pastries and took them back to the flat. They set up a little faux picnic on the coffee table, sitting on their bums with their backs against the couch. Andie lit her fall candles around the space, filling the room with the comforting scent of cinnamon and apples.

They were quietly munching side by side for a few moments, not really feeling the need to fill the silence. Andie could feel Harry looking at the side of her face as they ate, but she figured he was lost in thought more than anything, so she was a little surprised when he spoke up.

“What are we doing?”

Andie looked at him, furrowing her eyebrows. “Eating?” she offered, more than a little confused.

Harry shook his head and huffed in frustration, though he realised the misunderstanding was due to his own poor word choice.

“No, I mean, like, what are we doing together? Like, I’m not sure if we’re dating or you’re my girlfriend or we’re just fucking or what.”

Andie’s mouth popped open in a little ‘O’ shape when she understood what it was he was getting at. “Oh, got it. Um…” She looked between Harry and the carpet before slowly putting down the fork full of white rice and chicken curry she’d had halfway to her mouth when he’d surprised her.

“I’m not trynna push for anything, I’m just curious how I’m supposed to act with you around our friends. We’ve got that party Saturday at Niall’s, and I’m just not sure.”

It was quiet, save for the sound of Bub licking his paws on the lowest tier of his cat tree. Andie was looking into Harry’s swirling green eyes, trying to decide what the best course of action was in that moment. She didn’t want to lie to him, but she wasn’t sure if either of them were ready for the truth, either. Although, who was she kidding? She was sure Harry would be elated by the truth. The only question really was whether or not she was willing to take that risk and expose Harry to her life that much more. Though, she supposed he was already in as deep as any mortal she’d seen. She reckoned she owed it to both of them to be honest.

“I uh…really like you, Harry, obviously. I have for pretty much as long as I’ve known you. I just never did anything about it because…ya know. The witch thing.”

“But I know about that now.” There was a sort of hopeful glint in Harry’s eyes, one that Andie was really glad she wasn’t about to crush.

“Yeah,” she nodded. “So my reasons for staying just a friend don’t exist anymore. I’m still worried about you, but you’ve handled all this the last few weeks remarkably well.”

“That still doesn’t answer my question,” Harry teased, that smirk the mad her all soft and infuriated her at the same time pulled up on his lips.

She rolled her eyes. “I’d really like to be in a relationship with you, if that’s what you want, too.”

“Andromeda, are you asking me to be your boyfriend?”

She shot him a withering look, daring him to make her rescind her proposition.

Harry snickered before reaching over to cradle the back of her neck with his hand, pulling her closer to him. He pressed a hard, closed-mouth kiss to her lips, smiling.

“I accept.”

“Wanker.”

~*~*~*~*~

Harry and Andie were already in Niall’s small kitchen before they saw the host amongst the throng of bodies already in the flat. Niall saw Harry immediately, his head of dark curly hair significantly taller than anybody else’s. Niall slung his arm around his friends shoulders, a little confused about his billowy, cream coloured shirt and strange trousers until he saw Andie standing on his other side, and everything made sense.

Niall started cackling, his head dropping back on his shoulder. “Oh God, this is great. I imagined you’d come dressed as Morticia or summat.”

Andie rolled her eyes at him. The choice to come as Ariel from The Little Mermaid hadn’t been an easy one, but Harry had pretty much begged her after she’d tried the costume on at the shoppe. He’d claimed her hair colour was perfect with it and that it would be great since no one would expect it from her. She had agreed that it would be pretty fun to be this girly, cute princess, something so opposite of her typical style. So, when she’d gotten dressed that evening, she’d been a little excited at seeing her in something that wasn’t her typical wardrobe. Harry had been appropriately shocked and giddy when he saw her once she emerged from the bathroom, especially with her face done up softly. He’d assured her he liked her how she normally presented herself, but it was novel to see her like she was that night.

Niall took a moment to cackle a little bit more before darting off to get them drinks. He returned only a minute or two later with two red cups, nearly full to the brim with some lightly tinged pink liquid. Andie was almost sure it was fruit punch before Niall completely watered it down with whatever liquor he put into it. When she took a sip, she knew for sure that it was about eighty-five percent rum and the rest of was fruit juice. One would probably be her limit for the night. It was never a good idea for a young witch to alter her senses while in a public place.

Harry, however, had no such qualms. He was a young college guy, ready and willing to let loose at the drop of a hat. And that was exactly what he was doing.

They were there only an hour before Andie realised that Harry was well on his way to being absolutely shit-faced. She noticed about half an hour in that his cup was never empty, but he was getting increasingly more giggly and droopy-lidded. She was sure Niall was behind the constant refills, and she didn’t want to reprimand either of them, but from previous experience, she knew Harry did not have the same tolerance that the Irishman did. She never got a chance to grab Niall and tell him to go easy on Harry’s next refills—or they’d be on their way to A & E before the end of the night—before she lost sight of her boyfriend. One second she had her eyes on him, hanging out with some of his other friends by the kitchen, then she’d looked around to try to find Niall, and when she looked back, Harry was gone.

A cursory glance over the room turned up nothing, which didn’t concern her much. Perhaps he’d gone to the restroom or disappeared into the crowd huddled in the kitchen.

However, after a solid five minutes, Andie started to get antsy, a sinking feeling settling in her stomach. She threw another look over the room, came up short, and then made her way to the hall where she knew Niall’s only restroom was located. Maybe he had finally succumb to the alcohol and was getting sick. That’s what she kept telling herself to try to keep herself calm.

She finally squeezed her way through the living room and to the hall. She knocked on the restroom door, calling out Harry’s name. When she received a female voice back, telling her she’d be out in a moment, Andie quickly moved on, down towards Niall’s room. Maybe Harry had went in to have lie down. Something was telling her that wasn’t the case, though.

Andie knocked on the door and pressed her ear close to the door to try to hear any type of activity on the other side. The only thing she could hear was what sounded like a very upset cat, so she opened the door just enough to peek her head in and look around. The room was empty, aside from Niall’s cat, Oreo, that was stood up on his desk, back arched, spitting and hissing and howling, eyes trained on the sliding door in Niall’s room that led to the small balcony that faced the pool area in the center of his flat building.

“What’s wrong, babe?” Andie cooed, stepping in and closing the door behind her to prevent anybody following her in. “You see another cat on your turf? I’ll go shoo ‘em off.” Andie reached out to try to calm her down, approaching from the front so she wouldn’t startle when Andie ran her finger over the top of Oreo’s head. However, the cat made no move to look away from the glass door, only seeming to get more worked up.

Andie finally turned to look over her shoulder to see what it was that had her so amped, and when she saw Harry stood out there, she gasped.

Harry had his back pressed up against the glass, seeming to be barely holding himself up, his knees bent and his head slumped back. She couldn’t see his face, but she didn’t need to in order to know what was happening. Because she could see the wraith hovering just on the other side of the railing, the blank darkness of its face seeming to take on a sinister glow. A hazy, pearlescent stream of energy connected its face to Harry’s, the physical embodiment of the force it was drawing from its victim.

It took Andie only a split second to turn on her heel and make her way to the door. She pushed the door open with a flick of her wrist, letting a rush of wind gust into the room. Andie felt a rush of energy and adrenaline surge through her veins as she flung her hand out, pushing the wraith away in a way that she had never managed before without casting an actual spell. It was like a gust of wind erupted from her palm and blew it back a few meters, severing whatever control it had on Harry.

He slumped to the ground, obviously dazed as he blinked hard and looked around, eyes trying extra hard to focus on Andie when he finally spotted her. She was sure she looked like a frightened mess. She’d never been so close to something so dark before and it was causing a chill to worm its way under her skin. She grabbed Harry by his elbow and pulled him up, keeping her free palm up and extended out from her, keeping the wraith at bay. A bolt of light was raying out from her hand. She wasn’t sure what exactly it was, but she was just glad it made the wraith wary and keep its distance.

“You’ve gotta get up, love,” Andie urged, using all her strength to haul him up off the ground. “We’ve gotta get back inside. I need to get you back to my flat.”

“‘m so tired,” Harry mumbled, seeming to try to push himself up by his hands, but he was having a hard time maintaining his balance. She knew the wraith had seized an opportunity to start harvesting Harry’s life force, and it wasn’t helped by his state of inebriation.

“I know, Harry, but you need to get up. Fuck, just crawl inside for all I care.”

Harry hummed and bobbed his head lazily. He managed to get his legs under him and slithered his way past Andie, into the safety of Niall’s room. Andie was already summoning a portal under her breath as she slid inside, closing the door behind her and throwing the lock. That really wouldn’t keep a persistent wraith out, but it gave her a sense of security that she needed in that moment.

The shimmering veil of the portal emerged on the door of Niall’s closet. Harry was slumped over on the wall next to it, watching with hazy eyes as is swirled in its magnificent rainbow pattern of colours. Andie leaned down and pretty much shoved him through it before stepping through herself, stumbling over his prone body in the entrance of her flat. She waved her hand over her mirror to close it before sagging to the floor beside her very unconscious boyfriend. Traveling via portal was already pretty trying on a mortal body, but mix that with his run in with the wraith and the copious amounts of alcohol he’d consumed through their night, and he was down for the count. Andie’s fears were only mildly assuaged by the steady, rhythmic rise and fall of his shoulders with every breath that he took.

She considered leaving him in the entrance with a pillow and a blanket, not wanting to disturb him, but she could only imagine how traumatised he’d be to wake up in the middle of the night on the cold wood floor, by himself, after the ordeal he’d gone through earlier.

So, with a sigh, she stood and grabbed him under his arms and started dragging him to her bedroom, glad for her unobstructed smooth floors, allowing him to just glide along in the soft material of his costume. Getting him up into the bed was a bit of a challenge, but luckily he roused just long enough to haul himself into the bed, and Andie had an easy enough time taking his shoes and trousers off before tucking the blankets up around him.

She sat with a tired huff beside him, rubbing her hands over her eyes. She remember belatedly about the makeup on her face, but she was past the point of really caring. She just wanted to curl up in bed beside him and sleep for the rest of her existence. Alas, she had to be responsible, considering she was mostly to blame for Harry being in this situation in the first place.

Andie fished her phone out of the waistband of her mermaid tail skirt, happy that it had somehow stayed pressed against her skin with the excitement of the night. She pressed the first name that popped up on her recent call log and waited impatiently for them to answer.

“I realise it’s Halloween, but some of us are old and like to sleep.”

“Sarah…”

Andie could immediately hear the shift in Sarah’s demeanour at the defeated sound in her voice. “What happened?”

~*~*~*~*~

It took the help of Mitch and Sarah for Harry to finally wake the next day.

If there was any question that the wraith had got its share of Harry the night before, there was none now. The only assurance Andie had that Harry wasn’t on the verge of death was the steady rise and fall of his chest as he breathed deep, like he was peacefully sleeping.

Mitch and Sarah walked through her portal at eight that morning after a semi-frantic call Andie had placed to them only minutes before when Harry still hadn’t woken up. He was the early riser out of the two of them, no matter the circumstance, so Andie was appropriately concerned.

Mitch had worked his magic, having been trained in magical healing. He’d set up a mini apothecary on Andie’s bedside table, liquids and powders of all sorts laid out. Andie watched in a daze as he did whatever potion-making he was trained to do, all her thoughts on whether or not Harry would wake and what on earth she was going to do if he didn’t.

She was a wreck.

Mitch had eventually sent her out of the room, fed up with her constant pacing and her concerned looks. Sarah had corralled her into the kitchen, offering to make her a cuppa so she would sit down and chill out. She assured her that Harry was in the best hands possible and it was just going to take him a bit to get his energy back up from whatever bad juju the wraith had imparted.

“You really love him, don’t you?” Sarah asked after they’d sat together in silence for several minutes. It was the first time Andie hadn’t heard a teasing in her friend’s voice when she was talking about Andie’s secret feelings for her best friend.

That was the first time Andie met Sarah’s eyes that morning. She swallowed hard before answering,” Yeah, I really do.”

Mitch emerged from the room a half hour later, closing the door gently behind him.

“I’ve done what I can for now. He should be awake in the next hour or so.”

So they waited. Sarah turned on Andie’s telly and found some mindless reruns of Call the Midwife to play in the background as she flitted around the kitchen, preparing breakfast for all of them. Andie was glad that Sarah was so comfortable in her flat, because there was no way she was up to being a good host that morning. She couldn’t seem to pull her mind away from the boy laying unconscious in her bedroom.

Finally, around ten that morning, there was a stirring from behind her closed door, followed by a groan. Andie was out of her seat like a shot, already opening her door by the time Mitch and Sarah even got themselves out of their place on her couch.

“Harry?” Andie asked delicately, poking her head in at first and then completely stepping through the doorway when she saw he was awake and attempting to sit up in bed. She made her way to his side, helping him to prop himself up against the headboard. “How’re you feeling?”

“Really fuckin’ exhausted,” he huffed, slumping back against the new support. “What the fuck happened?”

“The wraith got too close last night. Started doin’ it’s…thing.” She grimaced as what little colour he had gained quickly drained from his face. “I found you. You’re gonna be pretty tired for a while, though.”

“That means no class or work until you’re back to one hundred percent,” Mitch told him, leaning in the doorway. “I’ve already forged some doctor notes to get you out of stuff for awhile.”

“And it would probably be best you stay here or with Andie until the next full moon. Now that it’s gotten close, it probably won’t be satisfied lingering at a distance anymore,” Sarah added.

“At home with my girlfriend and no responsibilities for three weeks? What a hardship,” Harry groaned sarcastically, flashing Andie a cheeky grin when she rolled her eyes playfully.

“We’ll leave you guys for now. Ring if you need us,” Sarah said, parting with a soft smile.

Mitch hung back. “Just wanted to let you know that Stevie got her hands on that crystal we need. Think there’s only four things left on our list now.”

Andie nodded. “Thanks, Mitch. What’s left?”

“The wood, which I’m gonna go out and gather the rest of today. Sarah’s got a good lead on the Bauhinia from a Japanese coven, and your mom is going next week to arrange to have a local farmer provide us with a goat.” Andie tried hard to suppress her shudder over the mention of the goat. Poor thing. Thankfully, Harry was too tired and out of it to really put together why they would be needing a live goat.

“What’s the last part?” Harry asked, sounding like he was already drifting off again.

“You,” Mitch stated simply. He turned to Andie. “I left a healing potion in your bathroom. Give him a tablespoon every eight hours or so. You can mix it with food if he can’t handle the taste. Hopefully he’ll regain most of his strength in the next week.”

Mitch saw himself out after Andie thanked him again and she heard both him and Sarah step back through the portal, leaving the flat quiet.

Andie turned to Harry. “I’m gonna go to campus tomorrow and drop of your doctor note. You’ll be safe in the flat for that time.”

Harry shook his head, brows furrowed and his eyes darting back and forth like he was searching for something, though he was staring at various points on the ceiling. “I can’t believe I just…walked outside. I don’t even remember making the decision to walk out there.”

She grabbed his shin through the blankets, offering a comforting weight. “It’s what a wraith does, Harry. It entices you into vulnerability in order to get to you. Not to mention, you were absolutely sloshed. Just a bad combination all around.”

“Safe to assume the blaring headache is from the hangover, then?”

Andie chuckled softly. “Yeah. Want some paracetamol?”

“Please? And somethin’ small to eat? Gonna throw up if I take painkillers on an empty stomach.”

Andie patted him on the leg before going to the kitchen to make him some toast and grab the tablets. She came back with both and a glass of water, and some of Harry’s colour seemed to have come back.

“Get all that down and go back to sleep. Gonna be doin’ a lot of that until you get your health back up.”

“Don’t wanna be lazy,” Harry argued, his eyelids already drooping and his form already slumping back into the little throne of pillows he’d made around himself to stay propped up.

“You’re not bein’ lazy,” Andie assured. “You’re lettin’ your body heal. Now hush, and close your eyes. I’ll come join you in a bit.”

Harry was asleep before Andie closed the door behind her.

~*~*~*~*~

The next weeks leading up to the full moon were full of getting Harry back to his normal self and making all the final arrangements for their ritual. Harry slept pretty much nonstop for three days, aside from getting up to use the restroom and eat, and Andie made him shower once. By the fourth day, he was able to stay up for a few hours at a time and made it out onto the couch to watch the telly and keep Andie company while she was getting stuff together for the full moon. By the end  of the weekend he was staying up all day with a short nap some time after lunch. The day he was finally awake before Andromeda was the day that she knew he had made it through in one piece.

Andie had gotten her mom to add an extra layer to the protective ward around her flat in order to keep the wraith out. There wasn’t a day that went by after the situation at the party that she didn’t see it lingering outside of her windows and the front door of her flat when she left occasionally to go the shoppes or show her face enough in class to not make her professors overly suspicious of her absence.

Harry had been relatively quiet about all of the preparations Andie had been doing, just casting an observant eye. It wasn’t until the full moon was five days away that Harry finally started asking questions. His most pressing one, however, was what the live goat was for. It was the question Andie was dreading the most, but she knew he’d have to be told beforehand anyway. It wasn’t something that you dropped on a person the day of the ritual.

“Part of the ritual is having you bathe in fresh goat blood while we do the incantation.”

The blood drained from Harry’s face, and he swallowed hard over the presumed bile that rose in his throat. He eventually licked his lips and nodded. “Awesome.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. I didn’t want to freak you out unnecessarily.”

“No, I get it. I’m glad I only have five days to anxiously wait instead of a month.”

“Just close your eyes and pretend it’s a nice bath.”

He shot her a look that said he definitely wasn’t amused.

That was the most he’d asked about what was happening. When Andie had asked him if he wanted to know all the steps of the spell, he’d shook his head and told her he trusted her. That had simultaneously made soft butterflies fill her stomach as well as leave a heavy feeling in her chest. While she was very flattered that he trusted her so much—essentially with his life—, she was realistically wary of how everything was going to turn out. It was a daunting prospect.

In the few remaining days leading up to the spell, Harry was more clingy than normal. While he had always been the lovey, touchy type, he practically never left Andie’s side while they were in the flat together. She was sure he was getting stir crazy from being cooped up for so long, and she didn’t mind his undivided attention. But she was worried about his mental state, and she wondered if he was acting like this because he was scared of what would be happening that Friday night. She wanted to comfort him, reassure him that it would all be fine in the end, but she couldn’t lie to him. She didn’t know what was going to happen since she’d never done this before. Stevie had done her best to assure them that she’d seen this spell performed successfully once before. Andie didn’t necessarily like those odds, but considering the spell had only been done a handful of times in the history of witches, she supposed one successful account was better than nothing.

Friday morning, Andie woke up to the startling but very pleasant sensation of Harry’s face buried between her thighs, not yet at her center, but laving his tongue and teeth at her inner thighs, his thumbs teasing at the band of her knickers. He waited until he knew she was awake before pulling them aside and losing himself in the taste and smell of her. She came quicker than she ever had before, and she didn’t hesitate to flip Harry on his back and ride him until they were both sated and sweaty and in terrible need of a shower.

They lazed around until the sun began to barely set. They needed to meet the rest of their little group in the forest before the sun went down in order to set up their space while they still had daylight. The height of the spell wouldn’t be performed until the moon was high in the sky, but it was imperative that everything be in its proper place before that time came.

Andie made sure to bring lots of towels and heavy, weighted blankets for after Harry emerged from the blood bath. It was nearing the end of November, and the temperature was getting nearly to freezing in the middle of the night. While they blood itself would most likely keep him warm while he was in it, he’d freeze his arse off as soon as he stepped out. Andie didn’t want to traumatise him any more than necessary.

They walked hand in hand to the meeting spot in the forest, Andie keeping a wary eye on the wraith as it followed them, at a distance that was much too close for comfort. Although he couldn’t physically see it, she could tell Harry was aware of its presence, too, if not by the guarded stance Andie kept, then the way he shivered every few seconds while perspiring was a good indication. Even though they weren’t in direct contact, the wraith was still doing what it could to suck as much energy from him as it could.

Harry’s eyes were drawn to the large black boulder that had been the center of this whole occurrence. He hadn’t realised this would be the spot they'd be performing the ritual, Andie figured. It was the best place for it, though. The power it offered combined with the innate energy Andie and her mother possessed was their best bet and this going the way it was supposed to. They weren’t taking any chances by performing it somewhere where the harnessable energy was low.

When they got there, everybody but Sarah was already there. When Andie asked after her, Mitch nodded his head in the direction opposite where Harry and her had walked in, and she saw Sarah walking with a goat on a lead. She was sort of sad to have to drain the poor thing of its life, but they would be returning the carcass to the farmer so that he could do what they normally did to slaughtered animals. They would have just flushed the blood down the drain anyway, so it was no hardship on them to lend it out for a night.

Harry pressed his lips together tight when he caught sight of the animal, but he quickly diverted his gaze and watched as Stevie and Mitch worked together to arrange all the elder branches into a pentagram, the leaves and flowers stripped. Those were gathered in a bowl that would be used to mix into the bath Harry would be sat in for the ceremony. The elder tree had a sort of tie to earth in some mythology’s, so he wasn’t surprised by its use in this ritual.

“Oh good, I forgot to tell you to bring some stuff to keep him warm. Glad you remembered,” Stevie noted when she saw Andie with the stack of folded blankets and towels in her arms.

“Is there anything I can help with?” Harry asked, watching as everyone else started going around the pentagram and setting out items.

“Place one of these at each point, just inside the outer circle,” Stevie told him, handing him the black candles they’d made out of the beeswax and powdered obsidian. “They act as a spiritual barrier between you and the wraith.” She turned to Andie with a look of slight sorrow in her eyes. “You’re gonna have to drop your wards on him before we get started.”

Andie swallowed, hating the reminder. “Yeah, I know. Waitin’ until the last possible minute.”

Stevie nodded her understanding before going back to the satchel of goodies they were using in the spell. Harry went off to do as he was told, having a quiet conversation with Mitch, who was finishing the last bits of the pentagram, that Andie couldn’t hear.

Andie’s mum came up beside her as she was reading over the spell instructions one more time.

“If you don’t end up marrying this boy after all this, I will be very disappointed,” Annabel muttered to her as she grabbed more things out of the bag.

Andie looked at her mom from the corner of her eye, not raising her head from the spell book. “Thought you didn’t like him?”

“I don’t like that he’s mortal,” her mother sniffed indignantly. “Don’t like that you’ll be muddying our bloodline, mostly.”

“Who said I was having kids?” Andie asked.

Her mother gasped, affronted. She smacked her daughter’s arm when she smirked at her.

“Kidding. Kidding.”

“Anyway. Aside from him being a mortal, I do actually like him. And I assume you must, too, considering the lengths you’re going to in order to save his life.”

Andie was quiet for a long moment, not taking her eyes off the words printed on the page. Finally, when she was sure her mother was going to give up and walk away, she said, in a low voice, “I love him. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him.”

She felt her mum rest a hand on her shoulder. It was gentle and loving in a way that Andie hadn’t gotten from her many times before. “I know. And that’s why I’m very proud of you for doing this. You’re going to make a very strong Head of Council one day.”

~*~*~*~*~

The butterflies filling Andromeda’s stomach seemed to take on a rapid flight as the moon rose in the darkness of the night, it’s brilliance and luminosity beaming down on their little clearing. She felt the power it leant surge through her veins, making the tips of her fingers and toes tingle like they were flowing with static electricity. The hairs on the back of her neck and her arms stood on end. Everything about the circumstances of the night filled Andie and her witch counterparts with nearly unbridled power.

“We need to begin,” Annabel called out, her eyes trained on the ever-rising moon.

Andie nodded and grabbed Harry’s hand to lead him to the center of the pentagram where a tub was set up, ready to hold Harry’s body and the blood sacrifice. She kept a towel with her, ready to offer it to Harry to cover him when he inevitably had to strip down in the briskness of the night.

“I’m gonna take the ward off of you now,” she told him quietly, helping him out of his jacket and draping it over her arm. “I have to do it before we perform the sacrifice. You’ll be vulnerable until we light the candles, but we’ll all be doing what we can to keep it away until then.”

Harry nodded his consent while he kicked out of his shoes and began peeling off the rest of his clothes. Andie offered him the towel she’d brought along to cover him before he took off his pants, poor thing already shivering in the cold. She wished she could do something to help keep him warm, but there’s couldn’t be any enchantments on him while the spell was being performed.

He slipped his pants off under the towel and handed them to Andie. He let out a breath he seemed to have been holding and looked at her. Acting on impulse, Andie reached a hand out to clasp around his neck and pulled him toward her. She placed her lips on his, letting his sweet, minty taste wash over her tastebuds as her tongue swept into his mouth. Harry bit gently at her lower lip.

Andie pulled her mouth away. They couldn’t waste time, but she couldn’t go into this spell without kissing him. It helped to boost her confidence, and she was hoping it was doing the same for Harry.

“Okay,” Andie sighed.

She looked back at her mother, who had the unsuspecting goat by the lead. Annabel walked it forward until she was beside Andie and Harry, waiting for Andie’s cue to start the ritual. Andie nodded to her before reaching her hands out over Harry, palms out. It was easier to eliminate the ward that she’d placed on him than it had been to place it, so with a few muttered words and less than a minutes time, Harry was as vulnerable as the day he was born. The five witches immediately took up a low stream of chanting, placing a temporary protection around the pentagram to keep the wraith at a safe distance until the obsidian candles were lit at the five points.

Both Harry and Andie looked away as her mother pulled out a sharpened blade made from the bone of wolf and pulled it with ease against the goat throat right above the basin. Harry jumped at the strangled bleat right before it went silent. Annabel magically pulled the blood from the animal until it was bled dry. She nodded her go-ahead to Andie.

“Step in,” she told Harry. She helped him maintain his modesty until he had submerged himself, taking the towel from him. Harry shuddered, both from the cold and from the very fact that he was sat in a bath full of blood. Andie summoned the mixture of herbs and the leaves and fruit from the harvested elder branches and sprinkled them into the bath until the bowl was empty.

She next summoned the large orb of alexandrite Stevie had acquired. “You need to hold this submerged under the blood for the entirety of the spell.”

Harry nodded and took it in both palms, watching it slowly disappear under the liquid crimson.

“Okay, we’re going to begin now,” Annabel announced, her eyes on the moon. It was nearly to its peak in the sky.

Andie nodded and backed out of the pentagram, giving Harry one last reassuring look over her shoulder.

Andromeda took her place at the head of the pentagram, the point that was oriented north. She took a deep, steadying breath as she look up, spying the wraith hovering a a few feet in the air above where Harry was submerged in the tub. The only thing keeping it at bay before the beginning of the spell was Mitch and Sarah chanting steadily, creating a temporary barrier. They had to time it perfectly between the cessation of the warding charm and the onset of the new incantation that would—hopefully—banish the wraith back to whatever hell hole it climbed out of and sever its tie to Harry.

Stevie caught Mitch and Sarah’s eyes, ready to count them down to stop as Andie got ready to begin reciting the new words. With a steady countdown from three, Andie took up the new incantation just a split second after Mitch and Sarah stopped. No magic could be present and active while the second one started, otherwise it would render their efforts useless. One draw back to magic: it didn’t do well to overlap major spells.

In the second between their chanting, the wraith surged forward, ready to dive straight toward Harry and begin its quick harvesting process. Andie’s heart jumped in her chest as she watched the cloaked figure race towards her boyfriend, vulnerable in the blood-filled tub, it’s weathered stumps of hands outstretched, ready to grasp Harry to it to quicken the process. Andie wanted to scream her protest, let anyone in hearing range hear her anguish, but she knew that the real way to keep Harry safe was to begin the incantation.

She raised her arms out to her side, palms up to draw the power of the moon and the soles of her feet tingled as the energy of the earth and the nearby boulder of obsidian. With a rush of breath, Andie started reciting the words she’d memorised in the weeks leading up the spell. Words that translated to a temporary opening of the portal between worlds, creating a tear in the fabric of space to access whatever depraved dimension from which the wraith had been drawn.

Her words felt like they created a tangible ripple in the atmosphere around her and she watched in relief as the wraith jolted back, less than a meter from having made contact with Harry. The wicks of the candles lighted simultaneously, taking up that magical flame that never moved or flickered.

The rest of the witches that made up the other four points of the pentagram began to chant in tandem with Andie after the first two lines, having also committed the words to memory. Andie felt the energy surge through her as they joined in, a buzz resonating in her chest as the brightness of the moon seemed to amplify. She could physically see the shining purple of her eyes illuminate the patches of grass in front of her.

Andie watched in wonder as the blood in the basin around Harry began to boil, rolling steadily. Harry looked down anxiously around him, wary of the sudden movement of the medium that held him. He didn’t look like he was in pain, so Andie’s own anxiety subsided for the time being.

The wind seemed to suddenly whip up around them, everyone’s hair lifting and seeming to be tugged in opposing directions. Andie was overwhelmed by the rush of it in her ears, unable to hear herself or the others chanting over the sound. It seemed to be creating a vacuum, Andie having to force the words out over the lack of oxygen suddenly in her lungs, like it was being sucked from her body from the force of the wind. Her rising panic over the sensation of suffocating was seeing Harry, completely unaffected by whatever was happening on the outer edges of the pentagram.

Suddenly and violently, the wind ceased and the flames of the candles went out, and a rogue cloud covered the moon, casting an impenetrable darkness over the clearing. The blood in the basin stilled. Andie’s heart sank, having the awful feeling that the spell wasn’t working, despite their continued chanting. She let her volume die down until she was just barely mumbling the words, looking first to her mother for reassurance. When Annabel just shrugged, her lips still forming the words of the spell, Andie looked to Stevie, who was already looking back at her. Stevie nodded her head, indicating that they were all to keep up the incantation, despite the sudden lack of activity.

She was terrified that something was wrong. She couldn’t live with herself if something bad happened to Harry if they had somehow performed the ritual wrong. That overwhelming dread of failure pitted her stomach and made her chest tight, like she was nearly to the point of tears. Witches didn’t cry in situations of stress, though, and she was push on until the end.

Even if the end meant the end of Harry. It would wreck her, but she would push on.

With the beginning of the next verse of words, Andie’s stomach dropped with the sudden sensation of floating. She continued her stream of words as she looked down, confirming that her feet were suddenly off the ground, and the distance between the two was ever increasing. Andie wasn’t afraid of heights, per se, but she wasn’t really willing to trust her safety of levitation when she wasn’t the one controlling it.

However, she didn’t really have a choice.

She felt a little better when she stopped rising, her feet about fifteen feet above the ground. She kept up her spell as she looked down at everyone else, still planted firmly in the earth. Despite her physical disconnection with one of her energy sources, she could feel and increased jolt of energy, and suddenly a splintering light shattered the dark veil of the sky. It nearly blinded Andie in its brilliance, and it radiated a heat like nothing she’d ever experienced before. The light that began as a shimmering white turned into a crimson red interspersed with flashes of yellow as the split in the sky broadened. Andie realised with a start that it was the fabric of space and time between dimensions that she was witnessing, tearing in order to suck back in the thing which it had birthed.

It was working.

Upon everyone’s realisation of what was happening, their enthusiasm for the spell increased, and they were all nearly shouting with the force of their words. Andie’s heart beat raced in her chest, and at first she thought it was just her excitement at the prospect of this all actually working and her and Harry being able to go back to their normal lives.

However, she realised after a moment it was caused by some sort of energy line that connected her with the wraith, her end connected in her chest and its connected to the void of its face. The connection drug the wraith up so it was eye-level with Andie, the light shining in her eyes from her magic illuminating it’s darkness. With a gush of wind from magical origins that Andie could more feel than actually know, the head covering of the supernatural entity blew back, revealing dark void of its face. A scream bubbled in her throat at the completely overpowering feeling of despair that shrouded her. No one was meant to look a wraith in its face. To do so meant certain death.

Blood rushed in her ears, her heartbeat reverberating in her head. If she hadn’t trusted Stevie’s account of the spell she’d witnessed, she could have sworn that the wraith had attached itself to her and was now doing what it needed to completely drain her. And the force of her magic would be more power than a wraith knew what to do with, most likely leading to some destruction that no one was prepared for. She hoped to whatever gods could hear her that Stevie’s account was correct.

She could hear Harry screaming her name from down on the ground. She couldn’t see him, afraid to take her gaze from the being, but she knew he was going to try to scramble from the tub, ready and willing to do what he could to get to her. She couldn’t let him ruin the spell, though. They’d put so much into it, and they were close to the end. Andromeda could feel it.

Without breaking eye contact or ceasing her stream of incantation, Andie shot one hand down, forcing Harry back into the basin. She heard his muffled sound of protest but paid him no mind as the spell was coming to the end. She only had two lines of words left and she was praying that something happened.

In the last five words of the incantation, there was a loud ripping sound, so loud Andie was sure she’d have some hearing loss. The once meter long opening in the sky opened into a large gouge, at least fifteen feet in diameter. The light and heat it emitted nearly burned her skin, and she was sure she’d have the shadowed image of it burned on her retinas forever.

The wraith gave a low screeching sound, like it was in pain. Andie would have smiled if she could focus on anything but completing the spell.

Upon the last word falling from her lips, the light that had been emanating from the opening burst with light, spitting out what felt like acid on both Andie and the wraith. She screamed out her pain, finally able to express her feelings with the words of the spell complete. The sound that the wraith gave out was like that of a thousand dying animals, completely drowning out Andie’s sobs. She watched through squinted eyes as the dark mass crumpled in on itself, the dark cloak swallowing its body as the darkness of its being paled and splintered. In some far place of her mind, Andie mused that he sort of looked like Voldemort when Harry Potter had finally killed him. She would have chuckled if anything other than the crippling pain would process in her brain.

A sigh of relief seemed to be breathed by the universe when that rip in the sky sucked the wraith into its depths, another brilliant flash of light surging before closing back up with a pop, like there was a change of pressure.

All the energy seeped from Andie’s body, all of her going limp while still being held in the air by the remnants of the spell. She didn’t even have the energy anymore to scream her agony. Her head dropped onto her shoulder as she started to slip into unconsciousness. She wouldn’t let herself fall completely, too stubborn to let her lights go out without making sure for herself that Harry was alright.

She hardly noticed when she started floating back to the ground. There was barely a register of panicked voices and the feeling of a body catching her before she hit the earth. Above the din of anxiety, she could barely make out Stevie’s voice.

“Get her in the tub with Harry. Completely submerged.”

When the skin of her arms first touched the still-warm blood, she flinched, the sting of her wounds flaring. Harry shushed her, barely keeping in his own sobs. His heart hurt looking at her. Her skin was singed from the heat and there were blotches of deep burns where the universes had spat that…stuff on her. He placed his hand over his eyes as he lowered her head back into the blood.

Everyone seemed to hold their breath as Harry pulled her back up. They way Stevie had instructed them, it seemed like this was supposed to heal her of her injuries. It was supposed to be like the final soothing solve to finish out the spell.

Being submerged in blood didn’t seem to register with Andromeda. When her face parted the surface, Harry was a little taken with her beauty. Even covered in the blood of a slaughtered animal and pale in a way that he had never seen her, she was absolutely stunning. He was sure the effort she’d made to save his life clouded his view, but he didn’t mind.

And behind the haze he was on at seeing her gorgeous face, he registered that the burns that had been there the moment before were gone. All that was left was the perfect smoothness of her skin.

Slowly, Andie blinked her eyes open, and the smile that broke across Harry’s face hurt his cheeks. He gave a relieved chuckle and helped her wipe the blood from her eyes. Her eyes seemed to first focus on the moon that was just behind Harry’s head, and then his eyes, the glowing green warming her soul.

“Hi.”

Harry’s chuckle turned into a full laugh as he wrapped both his arms behind her back. “Hi, darling.”

“You’re okay?” she asked. Her voice was hoarse from all the yelling that she’d done while she was in pain.

Harry nodded. “I’m okay. Thanks to you. And your mum and your friends.”

A soft smile flitted to her face, like she was too tired to do much more. “Good.”

“I love you,” Harry blurted. He was surprised at his candid admission, but he didn’t regret it. He’d been wanting to tell her that since they’d met.

Andie reached an arm out to grip the back of Harry’s head. He knew exactly what she was requesting, so he quickly moved his face to hers, letting their lips brush. He wanted to be grossed out by them both being covered in blood (and he would be later), but he was much too happy to be holding her alive in his arms to care.