#witch!yn

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Y/N kissed Harry.

She kissed him – and he kissed her back, and they kept kissing until their lips had went numb and sore all the same… and then they went inside the house and cuddled each other to sleep. Bodies glued together despite their swimming clothes still feeling quite wet and sticky, and the usual pleasant scents of their skins being tarnished with the chemically one of chlorine. And it felt good. It felt so good… which is why Y/N was surprised when she woke up on aunt Rowena’s guest room all alone. Had she slept past the witching hour? That had never happened before… Well, except for the times she was sick or had one too many boozy drinks before bed.

Which wasn’t the case this time.

So, she’s guessing it can only have something to do with Harry, because that’s the only logical explanation. Maybe not him directly, but the calming capacities of his energy… and the way the smell of flowers, and freshly washed sheets dancing in the wind practically oozes from his pores. Because sure, they’d had a few cocktails last night, but not nearly enough to leave Y/N feeling tipsy… let alone tipsy enough to crash for the whole night without having to get up in the middle to be, well… a witch. Or to go for a wee. Which speaking of, Harry wasn’t in the en suite bathroom having one like Y/N had first assumed him to be…

She had rolled over in bed and clung to his pillow, giving him a few minutes to come back so that she could persuade him into coming to cuddle her for a bit longer… but the room was all too quiet.

She called for him and got no answer.

Her heart leapt at the thought that he might have slipped away in the middle of the night… frightened over what her aunt had told them hours before. Or worse, for regretting what had happened right afterwards… but his luggage was still sitting on the bedroom floor next to hers, so she figured it shouldn’t be that.

Before she got up and went looking for him however, Y/N checked her phone out of habit, only to find 4 missed calls and a bunch of unread texts from her best friend Margery, asking for a call back as soon as possible.

Y/N’s hand flew to her chest as she pressed the call button, already waiting for Margery to tell her that something had happened with Azura. The cat had a bad temper… and could act like a hell born little imp sometimes. Which was why Y/N usually never left her under anyone’s care for longer than a couple of hours… and this time it had been almost 10 consecutive days.

Luckily her worriment didn’t have time to escalate, as Margery answered the call after two rings with her usual cheery, gleeful tone. “Thank fuck you called! We were about to ring up Salem’s assembly and report you as a missing witch…”

Y/N winced slightly. “Where are you? It’s so static-y…”

“Oh sorry.” There was a shuffling noise from Margery’s side, and then her voice got clearer. “We’re at Pam’s house. Axl’s here too…” That got Y/N to smile, of course they were at Pam's house. In the middle of nowhere, where the phone network was horrible, and the internet was even worse. “Axl thought you had lost your mind for good and drove out of the country with some hot lesbian biker you had married in Vegas…”

“What?” She couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought. “Did you guys really think you'd get rid of me that easily?”

“Of course not, - Shit. Hold on, I think I lost you.” Margery's voice sounded robotic and far away, as if she were calling from inside a spaceship. Y/N figured she was probably bending over backwards to try to get even one line of signal inside Pam’s cottage, so she chose not to complain about it. “Sorry, I’m back – I don’t know for how long though so tell me everything! How’s Vegas? Have you gone out already? I bet there are so many hot normies there…”

“Hot normies.” Y/N snorted… and huffed and then biting her lip she mumbled “I’ve sort of met someone magical, so… can’t really say I’ve been looking.”

“Excuse me- WHAT?”

Margery’s shout pierced Y/N's eardrums, making her pull the phone away from her ear before she mumbled lowly, “I can't tell you the details right now because he might listen but-”

“He? Who is he? Is he there with you?”

“Um, well… yeah, I mean - I'm by myself right now but…” Y/N got up and walked to the bathroom, just to double check that she really was alone – and as soon as she realized that she was, the babble gushing began. “I don’t know what came over me last night. I just… kissed him, and I thought – I really thought he liked it at the time- but now I woke up and he isn’t here. What if he regretted it so much that he couldn't even stomach to look at me when he woke up?!”

“You’re freaking out for no reason… he’s probably in the bathroom taking a dump right as we speak.” Margery suggested, but Y/N denied that possibility immediately. She had checked the bathroom after all… – “Well then… maybe he’s an undercover vampire? You know they always have to skip the breakfast in bed part…”

“No, of course he’s not a bloody vampire!” Y/N hissed, trying to keep it quiet. “He works at the hospital, inside a greenhouse - under the sun.”

“Wait… you’re screwing the hospital guy?! Oh my god guys, she’s screwing the hospital guy!”

Y/N’s body froze in alarm. “Did you just-” There were laughs and rustling coming from the other end of the line. “Margery! When I tell you these things you are not supposed to let everyone know!” The girl grumbled, but the only response she got were more weird stirring noises and a shout letting her know that she was now on speaker. “…and I am not screwing him- It’s not like that…”

“It’s not like that?!” Axl’s voice broke through the speakers of the phone, his tone pitched with amusement. “Correct me if I’m wrong but weren’t you just bitching to Margery about having woke up alone? ‘Cause that seems to me like you went to bed… not alone.”

“We just… slept. Like people do. Every night.”

“Oh…” They sounded a little disappointed. “But why was he there with you anyway? We thought you went to visit your aunt because of that weird omen stuff you told us about…”

“No, I did but- there’s some other stuff going on also…”

“What stuff?”

Y/N huffed deeply, “Do you guys remember what went on at the hospital? With that old witch who ran away?”

“Yeah, what about it? You said you didn't know anything…”

“Yeah well… I didn’t, at the time.” That was a lie, but it was a harmless one. “To keep it short, we found out the witch made a deal with a demon before she ran away… and we’ve decided to investigate a little. We’re meeting with a demonologist today, actually-”

“Wait, wait, wait… you’re meaning to tell us you have been messing with demon stuff without us? That’s whack, Y/N! You know how much we love to read about black magic and all that forbidden, creepy stuff…”

“Oh I know, which is exactly I didn’t tell you… No offense but you’d get too excited and end up doing something careless that would get us all killed…”

“When are you coming back? We should meet at Bones and Burgers just so you could run us through everything… and bring your doctor friend too! We’d like to meet him.”

“No, we won't- do that.” Y/N hissed, feeling flustered. “I told you before that he’s shy. I don’t think he would do well in that kind of environment. It’s too crowded.”

“Come onnnn… are you serious? So, that’s how it’s going to be? You get a little boytoy and now you’re going to start putting us aside…?”

“He’s not my-” Y/N wheezed on the defense, but the muffled laughter that followed had her realizing her friends were just trying to get her riled up. She threw her head back and squeezed the bridge of her nose, eager to move past the topic. “Look, unless you guys happen to know any magical ways to discover the old witch's hideout, there's nothing that you can do to help.” The sudden silence on their part alarmed her… because it was telling that they were starting to consider. “It was a joke, okay? You are absolutely forbidden to go poke into the matter!”

“But-” Their voices sounded simultaneously.

“No! I am not doing this with you. I said what I said. I don’t want you guys getting involved, and that’s the end of the story!” A light knock on the bedroom door interrupted Y/N’s speech, giving her the perfect excuse to hang up without further discussion. “I have to go now, someone’s at my door.”

“No, wait-” They still tried, but Y/N cut them off.

“Don’t forget to check Azura’s litter box, she’s very picky about it. I’ll talk to you soon, bye-bye.” She didn’t give them time to reply before pressing the button to end the call. Her shoulders slumped, trying to push back the unnerving thought that had just come to mind. Would she really get to talk to her friends soon?

Another soft knock on the door brought Y/N back to the reality of the bedroom she was in. “Come in.” She called, with expectant eyes stuck on the gaping door, from where Harry’s curl-framed head popped in just the slightest. “Oh, hi. You can come in, silly.” She added, smiling curiously at how reticent he seemed to be from walking inside, even though she’d given him permission.

He finally walked in, closing the door behind him with a delicate thud. “Sorry, I thought I’d heard you talking to someone and didn’t want to interrupt.”

“It’s okay. I was just about to hang up anyway.” Y/N said as Harry sat down on the edge of the bed beside her. “Have you been up for a long time?”

“Just about half an hour, I think.”

“Where did you go?”

“I forgot to charge my phone overnight and it died. It’s why I got up, ´cause I went to check the time on the wall clock. I was planning to come back, but then I bumped into your aunt and uh… I don't know how she knew, but she knew I liked plants, so she offered to show me a few books,” Y/N’s eyes squinted out of strangeness… as far as she knew, her aunt didn't care much for plants, so why should she have- “and then showed me your old photo books as well.”

She groaned, taking her hands to her eyes. “You weren’t supposed to see those photos…”

“Why not?” Harry frowned slightly. “I liked them. Especially the ones from daycare where you were playing outside with a bunch of huge snails… those were cute.”

Y/N laughed a little at the memory. When she was younger, she went through a phase where she was obsessed with snails and slugs - much to her mother's dismay, because she always wanted to take them home to keep as pets. She made moss beds for them, fed them leaves, and even gave them baths. It was a gross little hobby… but she was happy like that.

“See… that’s embarrassing.” Y/N fretted. “No one ever wanted to play with me ‘cause I was always covered in snail goo.”

“It’s not.” Harry averred. “I swear if we were at daycare together, I would’ve loved to play with your snails. I wouldn’t ask obviously ‘cause I was even more awkward as a kid, but I would’ve sat by myself in the corner wishing you'd come ask if I wanted to play too.”

“You aren’t awkward, you’re just quiet… it’s not the same thing.” She told, scooting a little closer to him on the bed before she added, “Awkward would be when I started having a crush on you and asking if you wanted to play house and be my pretend husband – and father of our snail babies, of course.”

Harry smiled bashfully towards the floor, shrugging one shoulder. “I mean… I think I’d said yes ‘cause I would’ve had a crush too - unless you were a mean kid and not anything like you are nowadays.”

“Are you flirting with me?” Y/N asked with a giddy laugh as she fiddled with her fingers - twisting and untwisting them before her eyes jumped up to gawk at Harry, whose cheeks had just mottled a vibrant shade of pink, perhaps pinker than she had ever seen them before. “I’d like it if you were, but if not, then that’s okay too…” She added through a hesitant bite of her lip.

Harry snickered, still looking rather bashful. “I don’t know how to flirt,” His voice wavered, and then came out in a hurried murmur. “But if I did, then I would- with you, all the time.”

As it turns out, the address aunt Rowena gave Harry and Y/N led to a two-story house surrounded by a tall picket fence in a quiet residential enclave of Henderson.

The first thing Y/N took notice of was that the place didn’t look like an evil lair or an abandoned cottage like she thought it would… you know, with the whole skulls dangling from the front porch's ceiling, a spooky pumpkin patch in the back and a scarecrow a little too realistic for anyone to feel comfortable turning their back to it sort of deal. – As far as the second thing goes, it was that this Lord Darkmore persona didn't look nothing like she was expecting a demon expert to.

She had pictured a severe looking man, dressed in black clothes, with maybe some scars or eccentric tattoos on his face and neck that screamed 'Watch out: I’m into some real funky stuff' – Not a toned-looking wizard picking weeds from the lawn of his garden in a piping tracksuit and reeboks.

The brown skin of his face gleamed like bronze under the sun, long braids were tied in a bun atop of his head to keep them away from his face. He was rather attractive and didn’t look a day older than 47 – what put him right up Y/N’s aunt’s alley when it came to her favored choice of romantic flings. Y/N doesn't want to imagine her relative and this man together like that, but her intuition is hinting that they’re both into fuzzy handcuffs and blindfolds for some reason and she’s having a hard time pushing that undesired information back.

“Mr. Bellamy?” Y/N called, what immediately caught the wizard's attention. He straightened his back up and quickly rubbed his hands together to wipe the dirt off what she was assuming would be heavily calloused fingers. Then, at lazy pace, he began to approach the fence's gate, stopping a couple of feet from the visitors. “Hi, um…” The girl greeted a little gracelessly. “My name is Y/N and this is my friend Harry - we’re here because-“

“I don’t do autographs or take pictures.” He interrupted before she could finish. “The two of you can piss right off my property.”

“No, that’s not why-“ Y/N shook her head quickly, following him around from outside the picket fence. “My aunt, Rowena,” She raised her voice an octave, hoping the name would manage to get his attention back. “She recommended your services because – well, it’s a complicated story but we were sort of caught upon an evil-purposed summoning situation and we were hoping tha-”

“Reena has a niece?” The wizard questioned, seemingly disregarding all words spoken in favor of trying to find any physical similarities between Y/N and her aunt. Spoiler alert, he probably wouldn’t be finding many. “I didn’t know she had family around… I could swear she told me she was orphaned.”

Harry frowned at the news, guessing he was about to witness a similar reaction from his friend. “Yeah, I can sort of picture her doing that…” He heard her say instead. Rowena must've had her reasons. There’s no better way out of introducing a partner to the family, than pretending not to have one, right?

“So, um… Mr. Bellamy…” Y/N insisted, taking advantage of the additional moment of attention he had spared them. “I know your schedule is probably very busy, but we are open to pay extra for out of hours consultation if need to. We've been searching everywhere for someone like you, who is highly knowledgeable in demonology and well, since my aunt said you were the best, we thought-”

“You are not going to pay for my services.” Mr. Bellamy said decidedly, and Y/N almost breathed out in relief. They might have saved some money by staying at her aunt’s house, but she knew that an emergency appointment with the uppermost demon expert should cost, at least, about a week's worth of motel stays. “Because I’m not offering services.” The man deadpanned, making Harry and Y/N’s smiles close in an instant. “I've retired from that stuff. I don't have the patience to deal with any more demons or magical circles, so sorry… but you’ll have to go find another door to knock on.” He finished, before turning his back on them and beginning to stumble towards the door of the house.

“What happened to your leg?” Harry inquired out loud, causing Y/N’s eyes to widen. He usually never let out as much as a peep around strangers, so she was quite shocked he had chosen to question Mr. Bellamy on his limp so carefreely.

The man paused midway, not bothering to look back. “Ailments from the past.” He replied drearily. “But that’s none of your business.”

“Actually,” The usual raspy tone of Harry’s voice went slightly sharper from desperation. “I can prep you a remedy that will make it go away if you help us out.” He proposed, knowing this was the last chance the two had before they got shut out for good.

The man guffawed humorlessly, turning around with difficulty. Y/N hadn’t realized just how bad the state of the man’s leg was until Harry commented on it. He limped quite a lot. Judging by his movements, it looked like his leg had been swapped by a tree trunk - Constantly stuck to the ground and refusing to move along with the rest of his frame. “I’ve tried dozens of different meds and analgesics… they never changed a thing. Why would yours be any different?”

“Because you’ve been trying to cure a Maleficium injury with non-magic drugs.” Harry’s sure answer surprised Mr. Bellamy, but oddly, the verdict did not seem all that unforeseen to him. “I’m guessing you know that already…” Harry supposed, “You just haven’t done anything about it because you’ve been marked by whoever evil entity did that to you, and now you’re scared of the repercussions of our people finding out you work with forbidden magic.”

The man’s pink tongue darted out to lick his lips that had gone a little dry from the morning sun, but there was a gleam of interest in his eyes. “Who are you?” He asked Harry. “Some type of witch doctor?”

“I prefer the term botanist, but yes.” Harry said brightly, taking a step closer to the fence and placing his hands in between two spiky boards. “We wouldn't be taking up too much of your time, just enough to ask you a few questions and in return, I'll make you an effective medicine to treat your leg. I will need to go get some ingredients to make it first, but tomorrow it should be ready… all we ask for is a couple of minutes of your morning.”

“And how do I know you're not just saying that to get a free consultation?”

“You have my word, Mr. Bellamy.” Harry said seriously, like he truly believed that should be enough to appease his worries. “Besides, I’m always interested in helping people feel better if I can.”

The man's distrust seemed to melt at the genuineness of Harry's green gaze, and after a moment, with a deep sigh, he gave in. “Lock the gate on your way inside. I’m not looking for any more unexpected visitors.”

Y/N and Harry both couldn't contain a little jolt of accomplishment that rushed through their bodies as they hurried to unlock the gate and follow the man inside his house.

It wasn’t like Y/N was ever not wanting to kiss Harry, but right then the urge to lurch herself into his arms and push their lips together to show him just how much she appreciated what he did was almost uncontrollable. He was so hot – in his own shy, soft, ingenuous ways, and what made it even more endearing was that she had a feeling he had absolutely zero notion of that fact, let alone of how much Y/N had been itching to tell him how remarkably perfect in every sense of the word she thought he was.

She had tried to pay him little compliments at times, but his reactions were always somewhere between embarrassment and apprehension, what admittedly made her heart ache a little - that he doubted himself so much that he refused to accept a compliment with a simple 'thank you'.

Now wasn’t the time to be focusing of that though…

Because they were about to enter the home of a stranger who knew a shit ton about demons and probably a lot of hazardous spells as well.

The home wasn’t as ostentatious and time-honored as aunt Rowena’s mansion, but it was still ritzy enough to make someone feel like they should cross their legs and mind their posture as they sat on one of the green leather sofas of the living room.

“Alright then… tell me what your problem is.” The demonologist challenged as he planted himself on one of the other sofas and reached for the Marlboros perched on the side table. He tried to stifle a hiss of pain as he did so, but the unavoidable wincing of his face let it show that there was likely a sharp pungency running through his leg as he bent.

A short, expected silence followed his question, in which Y/N hem and hawed for a moment whilst staring at Harry, who only granted her a soft nod as silent encouragement. “Um… okay, well-” She spoke first, guessing that Harry would prefer for her to go over the knotty storytelling part. “Basically, what happened was that we found that a dark witch has summoned a demon back at the magic community where we live. We don’t know exactly what kind of deal she made with it – but what we do know is that innocent creatures and people have been hurt.” Y/N took a deep breath and glanced at Harry again. “We need to send this demon back to where it came from, but the catch is that- um… the casting circle has been… wiped out?”

“So?” The expert shrugged, blowing out the cigarette smoke lodged in his mouth.

“So…” Her tongue prolonged the vowel. “…what do we do?”

The man looked confused by the question, until the recognition that he was talking to absolute newbies sank. “You two know jack-shit about demons, don’t you?” He pumped the question, although he had already figured the answer before the two were nodding their heads. “You make a new circle – and then, trick the demon into coming to you with the promise of a better bargain than the one offered by his previous summoner. Demons are not loyal to the ones who work with them. They are selfish and hoggish – a demon won’t hesitate to break a contract if it believes it can chalk up more than they were promised beforehand.”

“Oh.” Y/N’s brows jumped with the realization. “I guess we hadn’t really considered that faking a deal with the devil could be a possibility…”

“If we’re going to be doing that, what kind of deal are we meant to propose?” Harry inquired timidly. “Cause that got me thinking… if the promise should be that much more enticing, won't the demon realize it's a frame-up straight away?” He speculated further.

“Yes, certainly.” Mr. Bellamy confirmed. “Usually, a tribute of magic blood is enough to lure them in. There’s two of you. That means two disparate blood tributes – what should already make it all more enticing…” Harry eyed Y/N for a moment. His see-through expression letting her in on the fact that he thought she was about to balk out on him at the news - that maybe the whole blood tribute part was too much for her to handle.

And granted, maybe having to drain her own blood and offer it to a demon on a silver platter was a bit more than Y/N had been expecting, but still not nearly enough to scare her away. Now that she is thinking about it, there’s nothing really that could have come out of Mr. Bellamy’s mouth that would scare her away from the game plan… Because as long as she’s got Harry by her side, she thinks she can do anything – walk on blazing coals, kayak over a waterfall, swim with great white sharks – you name it, and she’d do in a heartbeat because they’re…

Soulmates?

And well, maybe this is really unideal time to realize that perhaps she has found her soulmate, but doesn’t it also always happen somewhat like that in movies?

Y/N reached between their bodies and locked her fingers together with Harry’s, giving a sure squeeze as a subtle indication that she wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon. He squeezed back. “Let's say we succeed in attracting this demon for bargain… what’s next?”

“You'll have to snare him and perform the expulsion ritual… but first things first –which demon is it that you are trying to send back to the Abyss?” Y/N and Harry traded a panicky look between them at the question, the man sighed with disgruntlement. “You don’t know? What kind of magic people are you?”

The girl swallowed before she replied. “Good magic people?”

“Okay, well – good magic people,” Mr. Bellamy repeated derisively. “You have to know which demon has ascended to send him back. Without a name there is nothing that can be done.”

“But- we weren’t there when it was summoned… how are we going to discover its name?”

His gaze swiveled between the two. “Do you know who the spell caster was?”

“Yes-” Harry answered with more certainty than he truly had. “Or well, at least we think we do.”

“Well then – that’s a good place to start. Track them – cage them – put them through the wringer – torture the name out of them if need to. That’s what I would do.” He said nonchalantly, smiling smugly once he noticed the utter horror that had washed over their features. “But of course, the good magic people aren’t keen on using any torture spells…” His mouth curled mockingly, but when Y/N was about to snap at him for being rude over their lack of knowledge when it wasn’t their fault that black magic teaching has been banned in schools since 1977, he wiped the jeer off his face and went serious.

“Alright. Here’s what you’re going to do… You’ll work on finding that demon’s name… and as soon as you do, you call me. – I have a list with the names of the demons I’ve met or heard of in the past that might be helpful. Now, I can’t guarantee the one you are looking for is in that list, but it may be, since there aren’t that many demons willing to come to our world – the ones who do are usually the ones who once lived among us, as they have a human form to come back to and don't have to borrow someone else's body.”

“You want us to call you? Why? I thought you had retired…” Y/N questioned intently, finding it somewhat strange that Mr. Bellamy was making himself available to carry on helping them through the expelling ritual. She hadn’t been counting on that – hell, after the way he greeted them at the door, she had been expecting nothing but for him to spit out some basic tips and tricks and send them on their way with a mind full of unanswered questions and maybe a threat or two that something bad was going to happen if they failed to bring him his remedy the next day.

“I did retire.” The man huffed heavily, rubbing lazily at his scruff. “But quite frankly, with your lack of knowledge and artlessness, it would be a danger to society for me to allow you to go and perform a ritual without assistance from someone who knows what they’re doing. Else ways, you’ll end up getting killed and devoured before you manage to utter out a single spell word.” His lips twitched into a tight smile at their glowers. That hurt. It really did - but despite the heavy bruising done on their egos, neither Harry or Y/N had the mind or the gut to contest Mr. Bellamy on his, most likely accurate, belief. “If you’re going to stick to that favor you promised earlier, I'm willing to help with your problem until that’s sorted… if and only if that remedy proofs to be as effective as you claim it to be.”

The first thing Harry and Y/N did after leaving Mr. Bellamy’s house was go for a walk around downtown Las Vegas.

The goal was to go and visit some witchcraft shops and plant nurseries throughout the afternoon, so that hopefully Harry could get the missing items he needed to make Mr. Bellamy's medicine.

It wasn't so hard to find wizardry shops in Las Vegas. It was a big city for magic practice, after all… Even despite the large number of posers pretending to be real occultists – like the astrologers and psychics offering miracle cures for all kinds of love and money problems. Those could be spotted at practically every city corner, the real deal witchcraft places, on the contrary, were usually the most clandestine and the ones who didn’t have social media pages washed in witchy vibes, aesthetic-like pictures, and made-up pentagram designs.

Before hitting the shops however, Y/N had managed to convince Harry to go visit the Las Vegas Neon Museum… well, convince might not be the right word, since all she had to do really was let out an excited gasp at the sight and stare at him with her lower lip puffed out a little bit.

It was a fun time of roaming around and taking lots of pictures - Harry even insisted that she would let him take pictures of her next to her favorite signs, and she managed to take some of him as well, although most of them were when he was distracted because he kept hiding his face and claiming he didn't like to get his pictures taken, although he still managed to look adorable in each one.

Speaking of adorable, Y/N had also been secretly hoping she would stumble upon some stones to make matching gem necklaces for her and Harry. She had been aiming for Amethyst, a soothing gem that mollifies negative energy and alleviates feelings of anxiety, something that she had realized that Harry had plenty of, paired with Aventurine, because in addition to being a protective and luck-bringing stone, it also happened to be almost the exact shade of Harry’s eyes – green, with a silvery blue sheen. Just thinking about how pretty it would look on him was enough to make her feel giddy throughout the whole day, so it was no surprise that when she happened to find some at the back of a witchcraft emporium, it became a real struggle not to let her excitement show.

They were a bit expensive compared to the ones Margery usually ordered from her regular supplier, but Y/N wasn't worried about the money… She wanted to have the necklaces done before her and Harry had any sort of contact with this demon, hoping that the extra protection from the stones would help them stay connected and grounded throughout the ritual. She wasn't going to tell him about these plans though, wanting to surprise him with a little gift just like he did with the magic tree he had given her at the hospital.

“Hey, do you think your aunt has a pestle and mortar at home? I’m gonna need some to crush these indigo milk caps later.” Harry wondered out loud behind her, shaking the transparent bag of plump mushrooms in his hand. His voice startled her off her bones a little. She hadn’t heard him coming, figuring he should still be distracted gathering things in the aisle where she had discreetly abandoned him at so that she could come pick her stones.

“Uh… yeah! I think she should…” Y/N stammered, covertly hiding her hands behind her back, since they were thronged with not only the gemstones, but also some complementary beads and wire she was planning to braid into a support net. “I mean, I think all magic people do, don’t they? Even I have one at home, despite never using it…”

“Hm, yeah… you’re probably right.” Harry agreed, glancing back at her with a curious smile as he picked and tossed a jar of something into the shopping basket hanging from his arm. “Why are you perching against the shelves like you’re trying to hide something from me?” He asked with a comical scrunch of his brows.

“It’s ‘cause I am.” She admitted bluntly instead of welshing the topic, leaning farther back so that Harry couldn't get a peek even though she doubted he would try. “It’s just a gift I’m getting for a friend.”

“Oh? Okay.” His voice sounded somber, maybe even a little doleful. “Why can’t I see?” From the way his eyes widened, she realized that the question came to him without thinking and that he immediately regretted having let it slip away. “I’m sorry. You don't have to answer that, I know I have nothing to do with it…”

“No, it’s okay.” Y/N assured with a small laugh, finding it amusing how he had so quickly assumed her secrecy did not concern him. He couldn’t be any more wrong, obviously, but she was glad he wasn't the least bit suspicious. “It’s something I have yet to make… I don't want you to see until the final product.” She told, knowing it would make her life easier if she could tell Harry what she was going to be doing instead of having to come up with silly excuses for sneaking away while he was preparing Mr. Bellamy’s potion. If he agreed not to peek, perhaps she could even make the necklaces while keeping him company in the kitchen. “I promise I’ll show you once it’s finished.” She said earnestly. It was meant for him anyway - he just couldn’t know that part yet.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to…” He said quietly, not averting his stare away from the items displayed in front of him. What ultimately was making Y/N a little worried that he might have taken her secrecy as lack of trust or something silly like that, since there was nothing particularly interesting or attention grabbing in those shelves - just a stack of sand timers and keepsake boxes – and yet, his eyes remained settled on them like glue.

“I want to.” Y/N assured as she began to walk the aisle backwards to the front of the shop, where the cashier was. “I'm just going to pay this, but I'll come back in a second to help you get the rest of your stuff.”

“Okay.” Harry nodded. “I’m almost done too, but I’ll wait here until you get back.”

He stuck to his promise, continuing to wander the aisles at the back of the emporium, picking this and that until the small list of ingredients in his hand had been fully scrawled in check marks. Y/N helped him pack and carry the bags outside, even though he insisted that she didn’t have to.

As they walked the sidewalk away from the storefront, the pair was still quarrelling back and forth over who was to carry whose shopping bags… until suddenly Harry gawked up at the sky, noticing a falling object cutting swiftly through the air – seemingly, aiming right at their heads. “Wow- watch out!” He yelped, right as he reached for Y/N's arm and swung her aside. His free hand raised instinctively to his face to shield it from what he was sure would be a painful strike, but much to his surprise the object flew right into his open palm - as if it were a piece of candy purposely sent into his hands for him to grasp. Y/N winced at first, guessing it had been one of those creepy black beetles that Nevada seemed to be infested with as of lately, but surprisingly, when Harry opened his hand, what she saw wasn’t an icky little bug. It was… a glass pebble? Of the grave covering kind.

The two of them scowled up at the sky, just in time to catch a glimpse of the feathered offender - cawing and hovering at the distance. “…That’s funny.” Y/N stated.

“Funny?” Harry scoffed, going all grumpy in the face. “You would have gotten hurt bad if that thing hit you, Y/N.”

“No, I know but… the pebble. It’s from a gravestone, I think.” The boy frowned at her statement, still looking rather upset over the situation. “I haven’t seen one of those since my grandpa passed away. That’s why I thought it was funny… in like, a bizarre way.”

“Hm.” Harry drawled, moving the stone around. “So what does it mean, then?”

“Huh… that there’s probably a graveyard close by…?”

“No, I know but- what does it really mean? Like, why would it drop it here?” Harry emphasized, rolling the glossy, purple-colored pebble around his palm. “Wasn’t aunt Rowena saying to pay attention to behaviors that are out there? Well then, does this qualify as out there? I mean… how often do crows drop graveyard pebbles over your head?”

Y/N’s lips puffed out in thought. “Never, I guess? But crows like shiny things, and they sit around graveyards all the time, so… my guess is that it picked the pebble because it liked it and then ended up deciding it didn’t want to keep carrying it around all day…” The witch shrugged nonchalantly, continuing to walk alongside Harry on the sidewalk with her shopping bag swinging at her side. “Besides what special could there be about a graveyard anyway? Only human bodies are buried there… not demons. Fine, Mr. Bellamy did say that the demons who come around Earth are the ones who have been human before because-“ She paused, taking in her own words. “…they still have their old bodies to come back to.”

Her body reeled abruptly, and so did her grip on the bags that soon dropped to her feet. “Harry, that’s it!” She bounced, grabbing his face and planting a loud smooch on his lips, leaving him staring back at her with stunned eyes and rosy cheeks. “I could smother you in kisses right now, you whiz! Only we have a demon headstone to go find, so that’s probably going to have to wait a little while…”

Harry’s nod came out befuddled as he witnessed Y/N pick the bags off the floor, grab his hand and usher him into a quieter downtown alley, only letting go so she could fish her phone out the pocket of her jeans. “Alright then, let’s see what Google Maps has to say about graveyards in the area.”

The nearest cemetery was an 11 minute drive away.

There was a gravedigger working nearby, and by the single look he had spared, Harry and Y/N were figuring he had taken them as a duo of tombstone tourists. Perhaps it was just due to their non conservative outfit choices or the wicked energy their bodies gave off, but his gaze felt a teensy bit judging - slightly curious too once he witnessed their eyes bouncing between Mr. Bellamy’s demon name list and the tomb rows ahead of them, possibly looking like two very confused people that had arrived at the wrong destination… but after a few seconds of glancing, the careerist seemed rather unphased by their presence.

“Okay, so-” Y/N soughed out loud as she walked aimlessly around the place. “I was thinking we should compare the names to the epitaphs on the gravestones – also, maybe keep an eye open for the ones with decorations of some kind, because that could have been a hint as well.”

“How many options are we looking at exactly?” Harry asked, peeking over her shoulder to stare at the list. His eyes swelled in size at the long record he was presented with. Y/N hadn’t bothered counting but there had to be more than 150 names in there, without a doubt. “Does this mean we are going to have to run through all these names by each grave looking for a match?” Harry asked diffidently, eyes locked straight ahead at scope of never-ending headstones.

“I know, it’s a lot…” Y/N exhaled harshly, on board with his frustration. The graveyard was huge. This could take ages upon ages, and to make things even worse there were only a few more hours of sunlight until nightfall - and nobody wants to be in a cemetery after dark. Not even wizards. “But I think that in a little while we will have most of the names memorized, and it will become easier.”

“Can I make a silly suggestion?” Harry queried, twisting his body so that he was facing Y/N as he walked. “What happens if you look… inside, and ask your instinct where it is?”

The witch chuckled at the suggestion, shaking her head. “You place way too much trust in my abilities, did you know that? I’ve told you before, I’m not a good Seer. I was never even that much of a talented witch, let alone-”

“Stop that!” Harry scolded, what brought both of them to a halt. “Do you even realize that without you and your abilities I would have never, ever made it halfway to where we are now? You are so clever! And you have the craziest… most fascinating powers! And on top of that you are also so, so incredibly brave - you really are. It takes my breath away. You take my breath away.” He mumbled the last part, as if his heart had been itching to say those words for a while, but his head was still reticent in putting them out in the open. “So, for once just… try to put as much trust in yourself as I do, please.”

There were emotional tears forming in Y/N's eyes at what Harry had said. She couldn’t classify the exact reason why, but she knew the unshakable confidence he was placing in her was to blame. “I’m just scared I’ll get it wrong. I don’t want to disappoint you… or myself.” She admitted, hurriedly wiping at her eyes with her wrist. “I don’t want to screw things up by relying on something so… fractious.”

Harry reached for Y/N's wrist, so that she was facing him. “That could never happen. You could never disappoint me.” He assured, smiling just as softly as his fingers felt tracing the skin of her arm. “I promise that even if you weren't a Seer, I'd still suggest following our intuition first… you know, anything to avoid leg working this whole yard…” He joshed, causing a smile to start pulling at her mouth, regardless of the tears that the sunlight had not yet dried, still shimmering up her features. “But seriously though, if it doesn’t work all we have to do is go back to the original plan, but for now… you’re spearheading.”

“Alright fine.” The witch huffed, handing Harry the list so that she could relax her body to the fullest and focus on her insights thoroughly. She could detect traces of otherworldly energy in the surroundings… uncovering their source, however, was proving to be befuddling like a riddle. Furthermore, she tried pinching her eyes in concentration, guessing that maybe her attraction to Harry was what was messing with her focus.

His face was very distracting, especially so when his pretty green blinders were fixed on her like they were then… but even with her eyes shut tight, no matter which way she turned, the orientations ended up only leaving her more frustrated – if she took a tentative step to the left, her intention said right, but then, right as she went right, it said left. “It’s not working!” Y/N puffed her cheeks, grumbling her way around another unintentional pirouette. “I can feel the stupid energy, but it's not dragging me anywhere!”

She had noticed Harry had gone strangely silent, but thought nothing of it while she blindly did a few more experimental shifts and turns in place. Huffing and puffing beneath her breath each time she tried something new (like diagonals and so) and ended up not getting any decisive results again.

“Y/N, I’m not trying to spook you or anything, but…” Harry started hesitantly, the rasp of his voice startled her some, but there was a weirdly positive intonation to it that made her open her eyes in question. “I think you might have led us to the right place without realizing while you were distracted talking to me…” He beamed, verifying the writing on the paper, despite already having done it multiple times while Y/N had been spinning and turning nowhere and everywhere like a blind dog in a meat market. “I'm not misreading this, am I? This name,” He pressed his digit over it on the print. “Is what’s engraved right there, isn't it?”

“Alastair Krauss…” A chilling, unsettling feeling lodged in Y/N's stomach at the profession of that name. She didn’t know if it was legitimate or just from suggestion effect, but there was no denying that everything was starting to feel much more real now… It might sound odd but, until that point in time, it had been easy for her to ignore the scary, threatening parts that would inevitably come from this demon hunt – hell, there were moments during the weekend where she had almost forgotten that her purpose in Vegas wasn’t just to have a fun, short little getaway. Now that she could finally annex a name to the monster though, all fears had briskly awakened from the subdued slumber they had been in for the past days.

The stone inscription below the demon’s name still made her snort though, finding it to be awfully amusing that someone had picked “Have faith we'll meet again” as a saying to honor someone who ended up turning into an evil spirit who still came back to Earth from time to time to ruin people’s lives. That made her wonder if it ever happened that demons ran into people who had once shared the Earth-life experience with them prior to their passing… even if it did happen though, it was unlikely it should be happening to this demon, considering that according to his headstone, he had died in 1927 at the precocious age of 38.

Therefore, all the people he could have met during his human life should already be dead or old enough not to recognize any of his features anymore. Y/N found herself eager to know what Alastair had been like during his previous life and wondering what beastly events could have led him into becoming the creature he now was… One thing was certain, he must not have been the epitome of a treasure man if his soul ascension rights had been ripped away from him - limiting him into dwelling between worlds as a lost soul until the devil had chosen to welcome him as one of their own.

Y/N and Harry were currently in aunt Rowena’s kitchen.

That wasn’t shy in pink nor in size like every other house space of the mansion. The focal piece of the room was a T-shaped island - a long counter that ended with a perpendicular breakfast area with padded high stools. All of the state-of-the-art appliances in it were tucked to the walls or perched over the room-surrounding counters. They weren’t the latest models in the market, but rather expensive brands known for their excellence and guarantee to last practically a lifetime. Where the counter ended, was the back door that led to the garden and the pool, and right in front of the sink, was a half round window that overlooked the busy Las Vegas Strip.

“Do you think we should’ve called Mr. Bellamy right when we found out who the demon was?” Y/N asked Harry from her seat on the breakfast counter, that she had outlined as off limits for him to cross until she was done with her supersecret matters, like Harry had begrudgingly been addressing them from the moment she refused to tell him what it was. She had also made him swear not to peek behind the long floral centerpiece perched on the kitchen island to check what she was doing, and so far, he had kept true to his promise.

“I don't think he was going to do anything about it until we gave him the potion anyway…” Harry replied from where he stood over the stove, currently grating some ginger into the bubbling concoction he was cooking in a cauldron over the electric stove. “I really hope this works, otherwise I think the demon will be the least of our problems… Mr. Bellamy is a bit scary too, don't you think?”

“Well, yeah but as scary as the demon… or Lucinda. We haven't decided what to do with her yet. Evil witches like her shouldn't be running around loose.”

Y/N's statement was followed by a ringing. Harry's phone that was buzzing over the countertop. He grabbed it, and immediately his eyebrows furled. “Can you keep an eye on the cauldron for a bit? I have to take this call.”

“Yeah, of course.” She confirmed, and so Harry walked past the back door into the garden. Leaving her alone with her eyes stuck on the cauldron, wishing with her entire heart that whatever was brewing in it didn't start acting up now because if it did, hell… she wouldn't know what to do besides screaming for help.

But luckily everything remained calm, so Y/N went back to her crafts again. She was almost done anyway…

And so it was, after a couple more minutes the two pendants laid finished over the marble tabletop. Y/N smiled proudly at them. The nets weren't perfect like the ones Margery made, but they were almost there. Inside each net were two small complementing gemstones: Amethyst – dotted in hues of purple and lavender, and Aventurine – shimmering in shades of aquatic green.

She jumped to hide them in one of her pockets, however, when Harry's voice startled her suddenly. “The hospital called.” He’d said solemnly. Y/N couldn't make neither head nor tail of his expression. His features looked stony, almost impassive… like he was still trying to process something that had been said to him.

“Oh.” She sputtered, a little surprised. “Do they- do they want you to come back to work earlier or something?”

“No- I mean… yes, partly but…” He hesitated for what felt like a prolonged moment. His arms unconsciously wrapped around his frame, seeking for the comfort the latest news had stripped him of. “Something happened.”

The girl’s eyes bulged for answers. “What. What happened?”

Harry took a big breath, leaning against the stove counter just so he was facing her. “They uh… they admitted a witch there last night whose body showed signs of dark magic bewitching… like the ones we found on Mrs. Carrington last week.” Harry briefed, with a crestfallen gleam in his eyes. “Apparently, she was known to have quite a hostile relationship with Lucinda too… a certain Althea Morelli…”

Y/N’s fists closed pressingly over the tabletop. “Hostile in what sense, exactly?”

“I don’t know… but if Lucinda bargained for a demon to attack her, I suspect it wasn’t in the harmless type of way.” He sighed sorely. “They said there have been others… all within a close ratio, which I thought was odd until I remembered that back at the hospital, you’d read from a book that entities usually don’t operate within very large distances.”

Harry rushed to his bag to get a pen and the pamphlet on Nevada’s main attractions that had been given to him at the Neon Museum reception, that happened to include a foldable map of the area. “As far as people from the hospital know, there has been 3 attacks so far… Althea Morelli,” He leant over the island counter and circled the area of Boulder City on the map, where their magic community was located. “One in Paradise, and one other here in Las Vegas.” He scribbled those areas in the map as well. “I’m thinking Althea must have been the first… that Lucinda might have summoned the demon for the purpose of… doing away with her, so to say. And the others, well… they could have been her enemies too, or innocent people who are being tailed as human sacrifices.”

Already fearing the answer, Y/N’s eyes lifted from the map to face him. “…Did they succeed? In doing away with Althea.” Harry’s jaw clenched as he nodded solemnly. “Dear god…” The tragic news prompted the witch to get up from the kitchen chair, hoping the action would help calm the sudden queasiness that had taken over her. “This is insane…” She buried her face in her hands, walking around in circles. “How many? How many more innocent lives could that heinous, hideous witch be willing to take?”

The silence settled for a few beats, the only sound heard inside the room being the steady bubbling coming from Harry’s cauldron. “I keep thinking about it, you know?” He spoke. “And just… wondering what would’ve happened if I had stayed a little longer at the greenhouse that night. And every time I do, I feel horrible… like I could’ve- should’ve stopped Lucinda somehow.“

“Harry…” Y/N’s soft voice attempted to disrupt his speaking, as she rushed to meet him on the opposite side of the kitchen island.

“No, Y/N.” He shook his head, adamantly. “I know what you're going to say. None of this is my fault and there was nothing I could have done to stop it. And I know that, rationally speaking, you’re right. I know, but that is still not how it feels. It’s not how I feel.”

And then it happened… it was sudden and without warning. It started with a dry sob, followed by another. Harry’s heart rate quickened, the wind pipe in his throat tightened, causing his breaths to become quicker, shorter, and labored. His chest started to heave. His hands wrapped tightly around the counter’s edge. The simple act of breathing seemed hard for him… painfully hard.

“This is m-my fault. People are d-dead and it’s my fault.” He spat amidst painful sobs and unregulated inhales. Y/N noticed that his words were almost an exact repetition of those he uttered in between cries on the day of the attack on the hospital. Had he been feeling this way back then too?

She felt terrified. She desperately wanted to do something - anything to make him feel better, but she didn’t know what to do. “Harry,” She called for him, trying her hardest to keep her voice soothing and not panic herself. “Talk to me… tell what you need.” The girl asked, but he couldn't seem to hear over whatever turmoil was happening inside his head. Unthinkingly, she reached for his hand, that was still curled in a tight grip around the marble surface. “Squeeze my hand. Let’s try breathing together, okay?”

He held her fingers in his, squeezing them tightly. “I can’t. I can’t breathe.”

“I know. I know… but let’s try slowly, okay? In-“ Y/N forced a deep inhale, filling her lungs with as much air as they could take. “…And out.” She exhaled slow, repeating the process again and again until Harry’s ragged breathing gave way and began to keep up with hers. “That's it, breathe. It's all right. You’re not alone, I’m here. You’re with me. You’re okay.”

Harry’s eyes turned foggy from dampness once their gazes met. Y/N desperately wanted to say something else - wanted to tell him how wrong he was for blaming himself for something that was so beyond horrid and vile. But the more she stared at him, the more words seemed little. There was nothing to be said. She stepped closer and hugged him tight… and kept on hugging him - until the heartbeats coming from his chest slowed to a steady rhythm and the back muscles that at first had felt stark beneath her fingertips began to soften and turn limber on behalf of her hand’s soothing strokes.

“I- um. Thank you.” Harry gasped after a long beat. “I don't know how you do it, but your hugs always manage to calm me down…”

She simply smiled and placed a chaste kiss on his shoulder before mumbling against his shirt, “Speaking of calming, there’s something I want to give you.” She pulled away from the hug, snickering nervously once she saw that inquiringness had washed over Harry's face. “I can’t promise it’ll feel like anything like my hugs but…” With hesitant fingers Y/N reached inside her pocket, pulling out one of the pendants, though the other came attached in a tangle.

She quickly undid the knots and placed her favorite one around his neck. “They… um… match.” She explained, feeling a little embarrassed once Harry picked at the gemstones falling over his chest to inspect them. “I thought it might help us deal with the demon and also um… if we're both wearing them at the same time I'll get to feel your energy and vice versa, so we'll always know if the other is okay,” Her voice quieted when Harry stared at her wordlessly. “I hope this isn’t too forward or weird. I just thought that maybe…”

“Did you make these…” Harry asked practically inaudibly, still looking rather astonished by the jewelry held in his palm. “…For us? for me?”

“I-uh… I did.” Y/N chuckled nervously again. “It’s what I bought at the store earlier… that's why I didn't let you see. I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“No one-” He practically choked, chest sizzling with emotion. “No one has ever done anything like this for me… I- I adore these! I adore every single thing about them.” With that, Harry initiated a hug for the first time - his arms wrapped around Y/N and pulled her to collapse into his chest. He smelled good. So, so, so good that it made her legs feel like they were melting. Gosh, how was it that hugging Harry felt even better when he was the one holding her? She would stay in his embrace forever if she could, where they both felt safe, and snug and-

Ahem.

The sound of someone clearing their throat made both their heads vault - to Rowena, who stood by the kitchen door, wearing both an ostentatious, brightly colored dress and a self-satisfied smirk. “Sorry to interrupt, my dears, but… does nothing smell a little… burnt to you?” She asked, nodding towards the stove.