Hi guys! New story for Halloween! I hope you enjoy!

"You will feel better after this," Aubrey told her friend.

"I hope so. I feel like shit. That syrup I had yesterday was useless," Beca murmured without looking up from the book in front of her. She was sitting by the kitchen island wrapped in the thick blanket that usually stays draped over the back of Aubrey's couch. "Can you make this one?" She pointed to the open page, sniffing.

Aubrey turned to her friend and stretched her neck to see to what she was referring to. "I can, actually." She turned back to the small cauldron and checked the texture of the liquid in it.

"Damn," Beca exclaimed. "Can you give me this for my birthday? I'd love to be Beyoncé for a day."

"Polyjuice Potion requires a piece of the individual you want to impersonate. Like a strand of hair." Aubrey informed, stopping stirring the potion in front of her. "Where would find a strand of Beyonce's hair?"

Beca shrugged. "I can buy it on eBay." She frowned before turning the page. "Better not. I don't trust eBay."

The blonde grinned, adding the bicorn horn into the cauldron. "But you trust a witch."

"With my very life. I think I'm going to cancel my health insurance. I have you," Beca said.

"Health-wise I'm limited to simple potions. Don't do that," Aubrey chided.

The brunette smirked and kept turning the pages from Aubrey's old potion book. "I really think I would've had liked school way more if I had gone to a wizard's one."

Aubrey smirked and was about to mention how Beca wouldn't probably survive a day in Ilvermorny without her precious laptop and headphones when they heard a knock on the door. Her eyes grew wide as she turned to search for Beca's own.

"Fuck," Beca cursed slowly. "Are you expecting somebody?"

Aubrey shook her head. They stared at each other in a near panicked way.

It's not like her apartment looked magic or anything like a place a witch would live in, - it has good lightning, nice furniture and there isn't bats in a corner – but its's also not a place no-maj people should be in. For example, Beca and she were in the kitchen with bicorn horns and Mandrake roots on the balcony and a fucking copper cauldron on her cooktop. Some of the books on the shelves, to anyone else, could look like normal ones even if they taught about witchcraft's history, the making of potions, casting spells, wizard's gastronomy and, most of them, herbology – Aubrey's specialty. In her fridge, ingredients and potions stocked in Tupperwares and Mason jars shared space with her food. In the closet in her room, you could find the broom she used to play quidditch as a goalkeeper in school. But still, she needed previous warning if a no-maj person outside from her family was coming over.

(Beca was an exception.

They were roommates at the college Aubrey's father insisted she had to attend after her years in Ilvermorny so she could adapt into the "normal world". It came to a point that the weird stuff Aubrey brought to their dorm could not pass anymore as acceptable, not even if she was a Chemical Biology major.

"Oh my God, what is this?" Beca asked, widening her eyes.

"I'm a witch, Beca," Aubrey said, with her trembling hands, one holding a Mason jar full of rose thorns and the other wielding her wand behind her back, ready to obliviate the girl if things went wrong.

Beca blinked once. "I know that. I'm offended you think I'm dumb enough to not notice." She walked to Aubrey – who was speechless by surprise and relief - and took the horns in her hand. "I'm asking about what are those? I don't recall seeing my grandmother use anything like this in her potions."

It was pure destiny the fact that Beca, even having a grandmother who was a witch, wasn't one herself but that Aubrey – the girl born in the most no-maj family in America - was.)

"We can pretend we are not here," Beca hushed and Aubrey nodded.

The knock on the door continued. Whoever they were, they shouldn't see what was going on in Aubrey's kitchen. That's one of the lows of living in a no-maj neighbor when you are a witch.

The witch was stirring the near finished potion in her cauldron as quietly as possible when Beca sneezed loudly, ruining their plan of ignoring the person on the door until they decided to leave.

"I hate you so much," Aubrey told her Beca who looked at her apologetically. She enchanted the spoon to keep stirring and the kitchen to smell differently from Pepperup Potion. "Keep an eye on this, I'll be back soon."

She checked her clothes and hair at the mirror near the door. Good thing she managed to not get dirty all over her white sweater or jeans – Mandrake roots can be so tricky. She removed a lost leaf from her messy bun, tucked her wand in her jeans' back pocket and opened the door, putting her body in a way that was not possible to see much of the inside of her apartment.

"Hi, I hope I'm not bothering you, I live across the hall and I was wondering if you have a screwdriver to lend me?" the woman on Aubrey's doorstep asked friendly.

The woman had the bluest eyes Aubrey had ever saw. Her hair was thick and trapped in a high ponytail and in a bright orange color that reminded Aubrey of fire.

Aubrey felt sorry she was not a normal human. If she was, she probably would have a screwdriver at home and not use a magic wand as a tool for everything - she proudly put together her Ikea bookshelf with a few waves of her wand. For what screwdrivers were used anyway?

"I didn't know that apartment was occupied," Aubrey observed, looking through the woman and the door open across the hallway with two piles of boxes in the threshold.

The woman followed Aubrey's eyes. "Oh, yes, it wasn't. I just moved here, as you can see," She said in her happy-go-lucky voice. "I'm Chloe, by the way." Chloe extended a hand.

"I'm Aubrey." The witch took the hand extended to her in a handshake.

"Nice to meet you, Aubrey. Your hands are really warm." Chloe took her hand back, smiling, which made Aubrey smile too.

"Sorry, I was-" Aubrey ran her mind as quickly as possible for a action that wasn't 'making my friend a potion to cure her cold'. "-cooking. I was cooking."

"That's nice," Chloe said, and silence settled between them for a moment in which Aubrey felt slightly amused with the blue of the woman's eyes – it was too similar to the crystal she kept in her keychain as an amulet. "So, do you have it?"

"Have what?" Aubrey asked back, with a confused face.

Chloe laughed. "The screwdriver," she said, biting her lip.

"I don't. I'm sorry," Aubrey lamented. If only Chloe had asked if she had orchid's petals or pearl dust…

"That's fine," Chloe said. "Thank you, Aubrey." The redhead was about to walk back to her apartment when Beca stuck her head in the small space between Aubrey's body and the door.

"Is everything alright here?" Beca asked, spotting the stranger.

"Hi. I'm Chloe," the redhead presented herself again.

"I'm Beca," The brunette said in her nasal congestion voice before she sneezed again. "And I have a cold," she laughed dryly.

"And I'm moving in," Chloe said, smiling, seeming pleased with the small talk.

"On your own?" Beca asked and Chloe nodded.

Aubrey stood there awkwardly, looking at Chloe with Beca's head under her arm, thinking about elbowing her back into the kitchen to keep an eye on the potion. "Chloe needs a screwdriver, but I don't have one."

"I see," Beca turned her head up to her friend. "I just came here to tell you that the…the-" she struggled, as the bad liar she was.

"Soup," Aubrey completed her friend before she said something that would be suspicious. "The soup is bubbling?" Beca nodded. "Well, can you turn the fire off?" Aubrey asked and Beca ran back into her apartment.

Chloe thanked her again and walked back to her own apartment. Aubrey watched her for a second or two. It felt wrong to let Chloe with no help, with no one to help her put the boxes inside and with no screwdriver. She unenthusiastically closed her door and went back to her kitchen.

Beca was watching the cauldron with a curious look. Aubrey checked that the color was alright, the density seemed fine and, as she undid the spell, she discovered the smell was just fine too. By tomorrow, Beca would wake up cured from her cold. That's why she loved magic. There were few things in the world that magic could not fix. She passed her friend a mug with the potion in it.

The brunette took it in her hands, sniffing the smell. "She is really moving in on her own, that's tough."

Aubrey looked at her friend, a little surprised that she wasn't the only one thinking about the neighbor. "I moved here on my own."

"You have a fucking magic wand," Beca exclaimed. "And it's not the sex toy, it's like, the real thing." She brought the mug to her face, sniffing the potion again.

"Just drink it," Aubrey rolled her eyes and said.

The brunette slowly put the mug on top of the kitchen island.

"Come on, it's a really simple potion, you will be fine," she tried to reassure her friend.

Beca sneezed and looked at her friend from across the kitchen island. "Can't you conjure a screwdriver?"

"Conjuring is not my thing," Aubrey sighed.

"Accio?"

"That would be stealing."

"Transfiguring?"

Aubrey sighed. She could remember that B in Transfiguration ruining her perfect As.

But she does have a book somewhere. The blonde got up from the stool and flew off to her bookshelf. She came back in seconds with a few volumes, thick and old ones. She opened them and started looking for something, while Beca started sipping her potion.

She ran her fingers through the text and images in the book and paid attention to the post-its added by a much younger Aubrey no the page. (Aubrey is not one to brag, but she turned stationery into a thing during her years in Ilvermorny. Her Horned Serpent housemates from born in pure-blood families had never seen such a thing. She would ask William, her older brother to send her boxes of ballpoint pens, post-its and highlighters and she would resell them to the other students. Soon, the entire school was making use of her products. Aubrey brought some kind of progress to them – and, with the money, some books, herbs and equipment to herself.)

With a quick movement, Aubrey picked up a sharp knife from a set Beca gave her for Christmas ("Why do wizards celebrate Christmas? Was Jesus one of you guys?") from one of the kitchen's drawer and placed it in front of her, on top of the cold surface.

Beca eyed it with an apprehensive expression and took her mug in her hands, taking a step back. Seeing Aubrey use her magic was always a thrill. Specially if her friend was looking at the task in a way that made clear that that was out of her league. And yet she was trying.

It took six attempts to turn the bread knife into a screwdriver. It was silver with a red handle, just like the knife was. It looked a little different from a normal screwdriver but neither of them knew exactly how. It was just different. Its handle still looked too much like a knife's one.

Aubrey shoved her wand in her jeans' waistband and took the tool as she went out of the apartment, knocking on the threshold of Chloe's open door.

The new neighbor was so thankful that Aubrey had found one for her and was even more thankful when Beca joined them soon after and they all ended up helping with moving boxes and furniture around.

Aubrey was slightly enchanted by who Chloe was. By the way she talked about her life like they were old friends and the way she was allowing them inside her place and with her stuff was the opposite of what Aubrey had been doing all these years. Chloe almost made her wonder if she was doing right shutting the world off like that.

They listened intently as Chloe told them she was moving in because she got a job at a vet clinic nearby. It was her first job after vet school and she was excited to start to take care of cats, dogs and birds.

(Aubrey only reluctantly used owls to send letter in Ilvermorny because cellphones were not a thing there. Sometimes one of her magical friends would still send her letter by their owls even if she lived in a big city full of no-majs. Kate, one of her colleagues from the music club, would send Neva, a small white owl with serious problems in landing. She liked animals just the enough and couldn't understand why someone would choose to spend their life surrounded by them.)

Beca shared with Chloe how she was a musical producer and they were all surprised when Chloe revealed herself to be a music enthusiastic too. She told them that as soon as she were settled down properly she would invite them over to dinner and to listen to her LP collection.

"What about you, Aubrey?" Chloe asked the blonde as she used the screwdriver to attach the last screw to keep her bed upright.

Aubrey handled the mattress on top of the bed. "I study plants."

"Plants?" Chloe asked, raising an eyebrow in an amused face, making Aubrey smile.

"Yes," Aubrey said. "To develop medicines, cosmetics, this kind of thing."

Chloe pulled out some bed covers out of a box. "This is so interesting," she commented. Aubrey joined her, helping her set the sheets on the bed and the pillows inside its cases. "You're a scientist! Scientists are hot."

What about witches? Aubrey thought dryly and ended up just laughing nervously. Was that a compliment?

They finished the bed and moved on to pilling up a few boxes with books in the corner of the bedroom. Chloe was chatting and making small conversation, trying to – and succeeding just enough – to take Aubrey out of her shell.

If Aubrey had been a little more attentive, she would know Chloe was flirting. Or if she wasn't too caught up with the idea of what living like Chloe was like: free, no secrets, just someone normal. Her only no-maj friend was Beca, and the woman wasn't exactly a master of social interactions. So maybe Chloe was too new, too different to be true.

It was past eleven when they realized that they had done all the work possible for that day.

"We should really order something to eat." Beca said, looking a little healthier now. She had stopped sniffing and sneezing for a while now.

Chloe looked up from the paper box she was going through in the kitchen counter. "Weren't you guys making soup-" She raised her hands to her mouth in a sudden shocked expression. "-Oh my God, Beca, your ears!"

Aubrey who was very engaged with the task of cleaning the windows like a no-maj, turned on her heels to see Beca steaming out of her ears.

Damn, that's why she kept her life closed.

"Beca!" She growled. "The side-effect of the potion!"

Beca's eyes grew wide as she quickly tried to cover her ears with her hands but retrieved them away when she felt the hotness of the steam.

"Oh my God, what's happening? Potion? Side-effect? What?" Chloe asked, looking back and forth between Aubrey and Beca with squinted eyes.

Aubrey stomped her feet on the floor. "Damn, Beca, why did you drink it?"

"Because you told me to!" Beca argued.

"Yeah, because I thought we wouldn't be around anyone! You should've just stayed inside," Aubrey chided, with her hands on her hips.

She barely registered that Chloe was standing there open-mouthed and taken aback by the argument, with doubt and confusion all over her face. Sweet Chloe, she did not have to deal with that kind of shit in her first day there.

"Quick, make her forget!" Beca fumed, pointing to Chloe.

"What? No!" Aubrey yelled.

"Aubrey, for God's sakes, she saw it!"

"I didn't saw anything! There's no need to do whatever you are going to do to me, whatever this means!" Chloe pleaded, shaking her head. "I'm not going to tell anyone anything, I swear!"

Aubrey didn't want to take orders from Beca but she knew her friend was right. It was the only reasonable thing to do. She could get in trouble for letting a no-maj she barely knew aware of their world. She turned to Chloe, pulling her wand out of her waistband and wielding it in Chloe's direction.

"A stick? What the fuck is happening?" Chloe yelped, taking a few steps back, until her back hit her fridge.

The blonde came closer with a grim expression, sighing when she came to a stop. She did not want to do it. She hated the scared expression in her new neighbor's face. Just when she thought she was properly bonding with the world.

"Don't worry, this isn't going to hurt," she told Chloe. It really wasn't. Chloe would barely feel a thing. Aubrey raised her wand as Chloe tried to mend with her cold surface of the fridge. "I'm sorry, Chloe," she said before casting the spell. "I'm so sorry."

And like that, the memories of that pleasant evening were never the same to Chloe.