Title: shame and honor, and magic's grace
Fandom: Halloweentown movies
Disclaimer: not my characters; just for fun.
Warnings: spoilers for all four movies
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 365
Point of view: third
It was not an easy decision, no matter how carefree he acts about it. He turned his back on the family heritage, centuries of tradition. For as long as magic existed, a Dalloway had it. For as long as Halloweentown existed, a Dalloway held a position of power there.
But then Dad betrayed them, losing all prestige, all the power accumulated since the world began. And Ethan helped him, Daddy's perfect little slave. Ethan helped torment his friends, just to prove that staying apart was the best course of action.
Magic had been a piece of Ethan from birth, deep in his blood, his memory. Humans were more of a legend than anything else, rumors about hatred and fear and death. Humans were a world away, until Marnie Cromwell opened the portal. Ethan wanted nothing to do with her exchange-student program, but Dad made him go.
Dad made him go, all part of his master-plan to cut off the worlds, but Ethan actually liked the humans. They were fun and fresh, and Cassie's absolute glee was contagious.
It was hard, so hard, to decide to give up his magic. His whole life, his strength had defined him--the only Dalloway son, heir of the magic, of the seat on the council, a fixture of Halloweentown... and Dad disgraced them all, back to the first, when he tried stealing the Cromwell magic. How could Ethan hold up his head when everyone knew he was a Dalloway?
He thought about leaving Halloweentown, vanishing into the human world. He could blend in easily, lose himself, forget the shame. Forget the magic. Dad's magic was bound and he was banished to the witch's glass, and Mom moved on, to another warlock. Ethan alone bore the brunt of Dad's disgrace.
And so, at midnight beneath a full moon, he renounced his magic, locking it away deep inside. He did it for himself, and didn't tell anyone--he needed to prove that ambition and power weren't everything, if only to himself.
Dad disgraced them. With time and patience, Ethan could possibly reclaim the family honor, the prestige of the Dalloway name.
Maybe then, on that day, he would also reclaim his magic.