EPILOGUE

PENNY

I call Simon the second he arrives back at his flat. A part of me can't quite believe he's finally made it home after all this time, after all the shit he's had to go through, but the rest of me is so bloody happy for him I feel like I'm the one that's been un-banished. I'm not even too bothered that I've picked up Simon's stupid word for this.

Simon and Baz didn't leave Paris straight away, which I thought was a bit odd but Baz said Simon absolutely refused to pack or make travel arrangements before the decision was announced. I suppose I understand Simon's hesitation; after all this time away from home he was so sure the Coven would vote against him again. I think a part of him didn't believe that this could be fixed peacefully and legally, that everything we've been working towards had finally come to fruition and without him flying headlong into battle, brandishing his wand. I swear if he still had that sword of Mages he would have pulled that out ages ago.

I tap my foot as I wait, rather impatiently, for him to answer his mobile. What's taking him so long? I timed it precisely so they should have arrived and be inside their flat by now, taking into consideration their flight arrival time, the time they'll spend waiting at the luggage carousel, time for Simon to deliberate and then finally choose something to eat from one of those disgusting airport cafes and their drive home (allowing for the reckless way those two drive). Finally, he answers.

"Hiya Penny!" he yells into my ear.

"Welcome home Simon!" It comes out as a squeal because I'm so bloody happy for him, and because I've spent more time that I care to talking with Trixie lately. (Micah thinks it's becoming a habit.) (The squealing, not the talking.)

"Thanks."

That's all he says so after a beat I demand, "So? How is it?"

"How's what?"

"Home! How is it being home Simon?" I swear I could throttle him sometimes.

"I dunno," he says. "I've only just made it inside the door."

"Simon!" I yell this time, because I'm so exasperated with him and because I'm so bloody excited for him. I know he's just messing with me but it's infuriating nonetheless.

"It's great Penny! Really good. Fucking brilliant actually," he laughs, and this time I note he sounds out of breath. He's probably jumping on that fancy couch of theirs already.

"I wish I was there with you. To help you celebrate," I tell him, and Micah takes my hand. We're sitting at the table finishing off some work.

We've been making some very promising inroads into our research lately, and Trixie has been able to give us quite a bit of data regarding the disease's origins and evolution through her species. She's even provided her Aunt's medical history so we could look into the progression of her case. It's been very enlightening.

Micah smiles at me and I smile back at him and squeeze his hand. He knows that while I miss Simon a lot, and home a little, this is the place where I want to be at the moment. With him, doing interesting and hopefully world changing magickal scientific research.

I push all thoughts about work away and go back to my call, with Simon. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"Um, unpack?" he huffs.

I try not to roll my eyes. He can play dumb so well it's hard sometimes to know when he's being serious. "Don't try to be cute with me, it won't work. I mean with the Coven, and your job and Baz's studies, and–"

"Slow down Penny! I just got home." he laughs again into the phone. His voice is fading in and out, he must have me on speaker. "I think I'm going to have a pint at the pub, followed by some fish 'n chips and then a bit of a lie down. That should do it."

"Yeah yeah okay. But tomorrow? You can't just sit around and do nothing Simon, we've worked too long and hard to get you home you know. You have to start sorting–"

"Give it a rest Bunce," Baz says in the background. "Simon has only just made it home."

"No one's talking to you, Basilton," I huff at him.

"And yet, I can still hear you," Baz mutters into the phone.

I can hear Simon in the background now, laughing and whooping and making a load of noise. "Hey Penny, thanks. For everything. And Micah too," he says, closer now. "Thanks. For putting up with me all those months, for getting Trixie on the Coven, for keeping me in line when I got a little lost back there . . ." He gets quieter as he trails off. "I couldn't have done this without you."

That makes me smile. If he were right next to me, he'd bump my shoulder and I'd bump his right back, and then lean into him just to let him know we're good.

"I talked with Agatha today," I tell him, more to change the subject than anything. He hates getting too maudlin.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. She'll probably ring you tomorrow. She's really happy for you, and she said Josh is looking forward to catching up with you next time they visit London. Must have liked having you stay with them that time."

"Yeah it was good. He's cool," Simon says easily. "When are you coming back Penny?"

"I'm not sure. We're really busy and we're trying to secure another grant to keep our research going for the next few years. But we'll come to visit of course!"

"You'd better. I'm done travelling for a while so you have to come here," he says. "And I reckon Trixie wants to catch up with you too."

"Ha ha, Simon."

We chat for a while longer– about our research, Agatha, Micah's baseball and our Christmas misadventures in Hampshire. He tells me he won another 'who could last the longest without shaving' bet with Baz.

"Again?" I ask. "I thought you already did that after Christmas."

"Nah, it was a draw that time. I won outright this time. Baz only lasted three weeks."

"Three and a half," Baz yells from the background.

"Three and a half then. It was still a piss poor effort. I'm still going strong though Pen, got myself a full on beard now."

I hear Baz snort. "You can hardly call that a beard."

"I think it's pretty good Baz." he quips happily.

I remember back to that time I gazed into my crystal ball and saw the two of them, their chins covered in stubble and big grins on their faces. They looked so happy wherever they were (and whenever). I never told Simon or Baz or anyone else about that, and I suppose I don't really need to tell them now that Simon is home. Still, it's good to know my crystal ball skills are still on the mark.

We talk for a little longer and finish up having a bit of a laugh as we remember Fiona's drunken tabletop dancing, and then all too soon it's time to say goodbye.

"Simon okay, Pen?" Micah asks after I hang up. He's smiling slightly and his glasses are askew and his brown wavy hair is messy from running his fingers through it absently while he works. He looks as handsome as ever.

"Yes. He's fine." I answer, waving at the phone dismissively. "He's trying to grow another beard." Micah snorts at that and I push my glasses up my nose and peer back at my laptop. "Now where were we with our test results? These Pixie Sticks are not going to cure themselves."

He grins at me and turns back to his laptop, letting go of my hand. We both get back to work. We've got a lot to get through before dinner.

AGATHA

My final semester at veterinary college is almost over. It's been a long slog but I'm nearly there, I'm actually quite proud of myself. And with that dreadful banishment business sorted I can finally concentrate on my studies rather than worry about Simon. I suppose I'll always worry about Simon – it can't be helped. He's been through so much in his short life, and I've witnessed so much of it so I guess worrying about him is part of my DNA now. Still, it's nice not to have to think about him and the Coven and England so much anymore.

Mum and dad mention Dr Natterjack's veterinary practice at least once a week these days. Father's backed off a little but Mother is relentless as ever. Even Helen sent a few texts, filling me in on his retirement plans, along with her usual magickal gossip.

I accidentally let it slip to Joshua about Dr Natterjack and now he's on at me about it as well. He keeps going on about the career opportunities for mages in the UK. I've half a mind to tell him to move to England himself if he feels that strongly about it!

I don't know if I'm ready to move back to the UK yet, or ever. I'm quite happy here and I think I'd like to try my hand at a Normal veterinary practice first. Josh is teaching at a Normal school and enjoying well enough, so I think I'd like to give the Normal working world a try for a while as well.

That's the thing I love about living here, most American mages don't give two hoots about magickal careers, they just get on and do whatever they want. I don't think they have a Coven, I don't even think they keep track of dark creatures over here or anything. They just go on their merry way, being mages in the Normal world. It's all so easy.

I pop the kettle on for a fresh pot of tea. I think I'll give Penny a call when I finish studying.

BAZ

I'm voted onto the Coven the very next month. There's only one other candidate but I outvote her easily. You can guess who voted for her. Once on the Coven, Professor Bunce and I immediately start tabling our amendments. Many are agreed immediately while some of the more contentious ones are discussed at length, with most of the opposition coming from Reggie and Alfie. And Simon.

Simon decided to join the Coven almost immediately after I was voted on. He says he joined so he can keep an eye on me, to keep me in check and make sure I don't fall back into the "Elitist ways of the old families." I don't mind. I was secretly hoping he would join, but I know Simon had to come to that decision on his own and no one could push him into it.

I enjoy being on the Coven together, and I especially delight in when we're discussing something magickal. It's not all smooth sailing though, we disagree on practically everything and argue all the time – I don't think the rest of the Coven quite knows what to make of us.

He's completely honest and infuriating forthright, and he won't be swayed or bullied by anyone if he believes something is right. And most of the time he and that damnable pixie pit themselves against me. It's annoying as all hell but it does give us a whole new realm of topis to fight about. (Sometimes I think he does it on purpose. The make-up sex is unbelievable.)

Naturally he and Trixie get along like a house on fire. They agree almost all of the time and bounce ideas off each other like they're the only two in the room. And after only a few meetings they decide we should catch up with her and Keris at the pub. Of course Simon wants to socialise. Socialise. With a pixie no less. I should have known this would happen. He makes friends with practically everyone he meets.

He agreed with Bunce when she said joining the Coven was the best way to stick it back to Reggie and Alfie. And I must say it worked brilliantly because they both resigned the following month, allowing two younger members to join. The Coven hasn't had such a rapid turnover of members since the plague.

We spend most of our weekends at Oxford with my family now. It's largely Simon's idea. He loves being able to fly when the staff aren't around, and he spends a lot of time with his sketchpad either in the library, or outside when the weather permits, and even more time talking with Daphne or playing with my brother and sisters.

At least they managed to talk him into shaving that ridiculous growth off his face. He kept it for another couple of months after we returned home, (more to drive home the fact that he won the bet than anything else) and it wasn't until Fiona said he looked a little like the Mage that he finally got rid of it.

I start my pupillage in October so I still have a few months to myself. I spend the summer playing violin in our flat or tennis at the club. Simon joins me at the club most weekends. He's reluctant at first, but he receives so many well wishes from his supporters that he feels immediately comfortable with it. Alfie and Reggie are yet to make an appearance, however I think that has less to do with Simon's victory and more to do with Dev and Niall's spell.

When I'm not at the club I work with Professor Bunce, finalising amendments to the magickal laws and Coven by-laws as they're passed. We've had many a good discussion on Latin prefixes and Greek conjugating verbs and magickal medieval history in between limiting the Coven's powers. I think she's sizing me up for a job at Watford down the track.

We manage to push through a range of amendments in the first few month– bland, outdated minor changes that no one on the Coven is particularly interested in. The Dark Creatures Act of 1658 is updated to include a whole range of dark creatures that were previously excluded, and this is where I slip in that change to read that vampires are only considered dark creatures if they bite a human.

Fiona was brought in to verify the changes to the Act and she strutted in wearing a tight black pencil skirt, fitting blazer, crisp white shirt and black stilettos. A pair of thick black glasses and her long dark hair twisted into a chignon completed the look. It was rather unnerving to see her like that – so Normal. She gave me a wink and then proceeded to explain the benefits of the changes to the Act to the Coven, completely skipping over that rather significant clause. It was approved unanimously and without question, even Simon kept his mouth shut that time.

Simon went back to work soon after we returned. It was the right thing for him to do, he needed to do something meaningful after months of doing nothing. And he needed to be back earning his own income, creating his safety net as he confessed to me that night in Paris. I understand it now – I understand his need to be self-sufficient with the life he's had. But I still want to provide for him, give him everything he needs as well as a whole range of things he'll never need but I want to give. He thinks I'm being daft when we talk about it, but that's how I feel and I make no bones about it. He's the love of my life after all.

I miss him when he's at work – if I had my way I would have kept him home with me until October. We could bury ourselves under the duvet like old times and I'd kiss him endlessly and coil my fingers through his soft golden curls and listen to his sweet voice. He'd give me a running commentary of every thought going through his mind as I'd slowly and deliberately run my tongue along his golden skin, trailing lower until he stops talking once and for all. . .

We've just returned home from another Coven meeting. Tonight's amendments were particularly contentious and Simon and I were on opposing sides, again. I'm surprised this time because I thought he was with me on these.

We prepare dinner together and it's not until I finish eating that I drop my cutlery onto the table and stare at him. "I thought you agreed with me on this Simon?" I'm more than a little irritated with how long it took to get this one passed.

The Magickal Instrument Registration Act of 1594 is outdated and useless and smacks of oppression. It's never been put into use, even though it was sanctioned by the Coven at the time. It was rumoured that the Mage was going to reinstate it under the guise of his 'reforms' but most likely just another way of keeping the magickal community under his control. Almost everyone on the Coven agreed except for Simon, who challenged me point after infuriating point. It passed eventually, but only after a long winded debate on the perils associated with keeping the outmoded, authoritarian act.

"I do," he shrugs. He's already finished eating his dinner and is eyeing mine. I hand it over and wait for him to finish. (It doesn't take him long.) When he's done he stands and waves his wand to clear up.

"Then what was all that about?" I stand to face him, my frustration clearly showing. We spent a good hour or so debating the merits and dangers of the act before he finally agreed it should be abolished.

He shrugs again, which infuriates me even more. "It's good to discuss these things thoroughly Baz," he says with a serious air, "and I like watching you get riled up. It's kinda hot." He raises his eyebrows just a little.

I place my hands on my hips. "Is it now?"

My mind drifts, fleetingly, to some of our more notable fights back at Watford, where we would rile each other up so much that he would eventually start to shimmy and blur with magic to the point that he could no longer think. And when he would reach that point where he ran out of words and his anger would turn physical, pouring off him in waves as the room filled with the smell of smoke. I move closer to him and stare down at him, he pushes his chin out resolutely and stares back at me, the twinkling in his blue eyes the only thing that gives him away.

"Uh huh," he nods, taking a step towards me until we're face to face. He's biting his bottom lip and trying not to smile now. Simon's face is an open book so I know that look, I know exactly what it means.

I take him by the waist and crash my lips into his and kiss him long and hard. He's with me all the way, threading his fingers into my hair as he crashes into me, and we barely make it to our room before he's pushing me onto our bed and ripping at my clothes. Our love making, like our kissing, is hot and urgent. And ridiculously fast.

"Crowley Simon . . ." I manage to whisper between kisses. After all this time, it's still just as good as ever.

"Merlin Baz . . ." he says in a breathy tone.

"Do that again," I demand. "Right . . . there."

"This?"

"Fuck yes!"

Aleister Crowley, I'm living a charmed life.

SIMON

It takes me only a month to go back to work. I thought about taking the rest of the year off like Baz said, but in the end I knew I'd drive both me and Baz around the bend if I stayed home any longer.

Baz and I eventually get back to some sort of routine. We take up running again and even go to the club for a game of tennis sometimes.

We spend a fair bit of time with his family these days. It's relaxing at Oxford, and I like hanging out with Daphne and the kids, and once the weather fines up we spend more time outside, sitting on the lawn or walking through Daphne's lovely garden. I find it peaceful.

I make a point to catch up with everyone who helped bring me home. The Wellbeloves and the Bunces have me and Baz over for dinner almost as soon as we get back, and Baz and Professor Bunce spend most of that time discussing how they're going to roll out the changes to mage law once the Coven approves them. Those two can spend hours discussing mage law and history, so the other Professor Bunce and I usually head up to his study to go over his latest expeditions to the dead spots. (There's never any change.)

I debate telling him about the dome shape of the holes but then I remember I broke a fuck load of laws. And it wasn't only me, Baz and Agatha and Micah and his own daughter did as well, so I decide to leave it until we next visit the holes. That way we can make the discovery together. I think he'll get a kick out of being part of it.

We catch up with Gran and my uncle and Fiona as well. Gran and Fiona have been instrumental in getting me home and when I thank them, Gran smiles happily like it was no big deal but Fiona decides we all need to get sloshed. It ends up a messy lunch and I reckon Gran would have given Fiona a run for her money in her early days.

We manage to catch up with our friends too, magickal and Normal. Dev and Niall organise drinks at The Headless Goblin – that magickal pub in the east end. We congratulate Dev's fiancé and three other couples who tell us they're getting married now that I'm no longer banished. We get invited to every wedding.

I see Gareth and Rhys at the pub a few times. They're there with their partners, as are at least half our year from school. Trixie and Keris join us often, and Keris usually ends up cornering Baz for ages, debating social justice for all magickal creatures. Whenever Baz doesn't agree with her take on magickal fairness, he redirects the conversation to how we've exceeded the diversity and inclusion goals for the Coven, and he doesn't even have to include the vampire or the mage with dragon wings part. He's always smiling when they get into one of their debates so as much as he complains about it, I think Baz doesn't mind it one bit.

We see Dev and Niall whenever we go to the club, and Niall still loses every match he plays against Baz. I'm usually stopped and congratulated by mages that supported me during my banishment whenever we go there, and I feel a bit naff when they come up to me but I just thank them and get on with things. Niall hasn't brought up Lana since Paris, much to Baz's relief, but I don't think we've heard the end of it yet, I reckon Niall's still working up the courage to ask her out.

Baz makes such a name for himself with his magickal legal and historical knowledge at the Coven meetings that a whole bunch of mages regularly ask him for legal advice now. I reckon he's going to end up as a magickal lawyer as well as a Normal one. Professor Bunce is so impressed with his magickal knowledge I reckon he's a shoe in for the top job at Watford one day.

After a few weeks I start flying again and I renew my membership at our local gym. Baz starts playing his violin again and he decides to join his uni's old scholar's football team. I go to watch him play every weekend. We keep busy.

And Baz agrees to get a dog. I'm still shocked as he drives us out to the shelter because I always thought he wouldn't want a pet, what with being a vampire and all, so I never brought it up again. But he says he does, and he promises not to drain it dry.

After I snog him in the car a few times I drag him inside the shelter, and after discussing our home situation with the staff and looking at a lot of suitable dogs, I pick one out. She's small and pretty and has a soft grey coat that reminds me of Baz's eyes. She's fairly timid but playful, a bit stubborn and very sensitive. I want to name her Tyrannus but Baz won't let me.

He rolls his eyes at me. "Over my dead body. Tyrannus is my name. You cannot name your dog after me." He runs his hand over his chin, scratching his unshaven jaw. He's not shaved again this week because he's worked out that he looks good with a bit of stubble. He also knows it drives me a little mental.

"Yes I can," I argue. No one actually calls him that, not even his dad. "I mean, it's not as if you're using it–"

"No you can't. And besides, she's a she. She has to have a female name."

"It's not as if she's going to know the difference Baz. Where does Tyrannus even come from anyway? It sounds like an evil emperor. Or an immortal supervillain."

"It's a family name," he snaps, staring straight ahead. "You can't use it." He's getting annoyed so I decide not to push him.

"Okay, how about Gampire?"

He rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "That's not even a word Simon. Next."

"Venom?"

He doesn't bother answering, just gives me a sideways look and raises that annoyingly perfect eyebrow at me.

"Okay, okay. I'm calling her Cherry Cheesecake then."

"You're going to name your dog after food? When there's a vampire in the flat?"

It's probably a good point but I'm not backing down. He vetoed my first three suggestions point blank. "Um, yeah. It's not as if I'm calling her something you'd eat, like Bacon or Cinnamon Bun," I shrug. "She'll be fine. I mean, you'll be fine."

He rolls his eyes again but I can just make out a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Not Cherry Scone then?"

"Nope, that sounds stupid doesn't it?" I shrug again. "It's Cherry Cheesecake."

"All right. Cherry Cheesecake it is." He tries not to smile as he says it.

"Cherry Cheesecake Snow-Grimm-Pitch."

"All right," he says, rolling his eyes. "Cherry Cheesecake Snow-Grimm-Pitch it is then. At least I no longer have the most ridiculous name in this family."

And I can't help grinning like a complete idiot at the word family. So I have my first pet (or Cherry has a part dragon human mage to be more precise) at the ripe old age of twenty three, almost twenty four.

Baz is rather taken by a snooty looking cat while we're choosing my dog. She strolls right up to him and stares at him, all haughty and arrogant like, until Baz rubs his nose right into her fur. He just scrunches up his nose and rubs it right on her head like he's not a posh git, and the cat starts purring like they're old mates.

She has shiny short hair that is as black as pitch and she has green eyes and he wants to name her Snow. That makes no fucking sense at all but he said it suits her. (And I think he's paying me back for trying to name our dog after him.)

Anyway I said there's no way in hell he's ever going to name anything Snow, (Or Snowball, Snowdome, Snowflake, Snowman and Snowdonia which he also tries.) so he decides to call her Ophelia.

"That's a bit posh isn't it?"

"Yes it is," he agrees. "She has a regal air. It suits her."

"Okay then, what about a middle name?"

"I'm not giving our cat a middle name Simon, she's a cat."

"But she has to have a middle name. Everyone should have a silly middle name." It's something my gran said once, I think it makes a load of sense. "Otherwise she'll feel left out. Cherry has a middle name."

"Yes, pity for her. I'm not giving Ophelia a middle name."

I huff at that, but she's his cat so I can't make him give her a middle name. And as long as she's not called Snow I really don't give a toss. "Okay, Ophelia Snow-Grimm-Pitch it is."

He rolls his eyes again but doesn't say anything. I can see he's chuffed.

"O'fee for short," I add cheekily.

Baz's narrows his eyes at me and tries to scowl. It comes out as a pout. "Ophelia."

"O'fee."

"No."

Baz makes a big show of calling Ophelia as soon as he gets home from anywhere. He loves saying her full name out loud. O'fee usually ignores him unless she's hungry or wants to sit on him. She ignores everyone, she's a cat.

Cherry on the other hand runs up and jumps all over him and leaves slobber marks around the knees of his jeans. Baz pretends to hate it.

He also pretends to hate it when Cherry and I chase each other around the apartment, climbing over furniture and playing tug o' war with her dog toys. (And Baz's socks, and once his very expensive red cashmere scarf.) (He's learned to put everything away nowadays.)

We take both Cherry and Ophelia with us whenever we go to Oxford, whether it's just for the evening or for the weekend. The kids love them and Daphne is a bit partial to Cherry. (And I swear Baz's dad has a soft spot for O'fee.) Baz also takes Cherry to the dog park while I'm at work, but he absolutely refuses to take her off her lead.

"It's in all of our best interests," he says. "If she runs away I'm not calling 'Cherry Cheesecake Snow Grimm-Pitch' ever."

-oOo-

It's been seven months since I got back to London, seven months of me and Baz living back at our flat, working and running and dog walking and playing tennis at the club and flying. In the evenings we cook and clean up with magic and I draw and Baz studies and we argue about Coven issues and then make up in the best and most creative way possible. It's so normal and easy all blissfully domestic and I love it. I don't think I'll ever tire of it.

Baz and I are sitting next to each other on the Chesterfield tonight, as we do most nights. O'fee is curled up on a blanket on his lap, (He casts warming spells on it, otherwise it'd be like sitting on a block of ice.) and Baz is scratching absently at her neck. She's purring so loud it sounds like there's a freight train running through the lounge room. Cherry is curled up the sofa next to me with her head in my lap, licking my tail. I'm patting her head absently with one hand.

I have my old wand in my other hand. Baz is holding the other end in his.

"Ready?" Baz asks, locking eyes with me. His eyes are dead serious as he holds my gaze.

"Ready," I nod.

We don't know if this will close the holes or not. We don't know if Fiona's theory is just that, a theory, (Or a crackpot theory according to Baz.) but there's only one way to find out if she's right; if this wand was actually used by the Mage to give me my power, and if snapping this wand will close the holes in the magickal atmosphere.

"On three," he says.

We're both members of the Coven now so we can do this. Baz once said that the Coven members have to truly believe that the wand was used for dark magic in order for this to work. And we do. He may not be convinced that the holes will close when we snap it but he believes without a doubt that the Mage used this wand to give me all that power, and that's all we have to believe in order for this to work.

I have to admit, this is a much better plan than anything I came up with back in Paris. After our failed attempt at closing the holes with magic spells, I was ready to fly home and provoke the Coven into snapping this old wand without any idea what would happen next. I'd probably be locked in the tower right now if I'd gone ahead with that stupid plan. Thank magic Baz was around to talk me out of it.

". . . One. . ."

We've even talked about what will happen if the holes do close one day. He asked me straight out if I'd want to move to Hampshire if the magic ever returns there.

When he asked I just stared at him like he was a bit mental, but in my defence, the place is haunted. And it's a mansion. Like, a mansion of epically huge proportions, complete with scary looking gargoyles on the furniture and weird floating lights and a library that has more books than any I've ever seen, including Penny's parent's or the library at Watford. And it has more rooms than you can poke a stick at and a barn that's been converted to a garage that's bigger than any place I've ever lived in. And it probably has a black-tasselled cord somewhere that you could pull and a trapdoor will open and drop you into the dungeon. (I don't know if it actually has a dungeon or a black-tasselled cord to open it but it looks like the sort of place that does.)

It even has its very own private forest next to it. Its own fucking forest.

And it's all the way out in nowhere Hampshire, five miles from the nearest main road. Hardly the easiest place to get to when we're both working in London.

But he was serious about moving there, really serious. It's the House of Pitch after all, so it's his, or it will be his when he turns twenty five.

So I thought about it, like really thought about it. It was the first place I thought of when I had to get away, when I found out that the Mage was my father. I went there partly because there was no magic there, so no one from the magickal realm would think to follow me there, or even if they did follow me they wouldn't be able to find me with magic. But I also went there because it felt right. It felt safe.

I stayed there a long time so I must have felt comfortable enough, and it didn't even bother me that it was haunted. As long as I stayed in Baz's room and limited myself to that and the kitchen and occasionally the attic, the wraiths didn't come anywhere near me. (And I didn't bother them.) (It was a sort of unspoken truce.)

Baz said we'd only move if the holes close and the magic returns. And that could still take years.

And only if I really want to.

And he said that we'd at least wait until he finishes his studies and is working for a bit. (Because he'll need to work to pay for all the fucking staff that place needs to keep running.) He said he won't mind the commute and I already know it won't bother me because I can fly whenever I want.

It will be good for Cherry and O'fee to have all that space. And it will be great for Baz to be close to the deer in the forest. (No more rats, ever. I reckon that's the real reason he wants to move there.)

And he promises to get rid of that fucking bed with all the creepy gargoyles on it. (He promised after I told him he has to get rid of it if he ever wants to have sex again.) (He said yes immediately.)

So in the end I told him yes, one day we would move there if the magic returns. As long as he gets rid of the bed and maybe even has a go at getting rid of those fucking wraiths as well. He said it's a deal.

". . . Two. . ."

It's been long enough now that if the holes do close once we snap this wand, no one will suspect that it has anything to do with me. I've been home for almost as long as I was banished so no one will work it out. And we're never telling anyone what we're about to do.

I'll have to tell Penny one day, but this isn't the sort of thing you discuss over the phone, or by text. And she won't Face Time me anymore, ever since that time she interrupted me and Baz–

". . . three."

And with that we snap the old wand. The one the Mage gave me, the one that never worked for me like it was supposed to, not like the way my mother's wand works for me. The one that always made me feel like a shit mage. A fake.

It makes a loud cracking sound as it snaps in half, leaving two splintered halves in our fists. We stare wordlessly at our hands, at the two broken pieces. Now it just looks like two halves of a broken stick, nothing sinister or evil at all.

I look up to see Baz staring back at me, his eyes wide, as if he's waiting for a big bang or something to signify the magnitude of what we just did. But nothing happens. There's no sound at all other than my loud and Baz's somewhat softer breaths, O'fee purring and Cherry licking the end of my tail. (She does that, she thinks it's another toy.) I suppose all we can do now is wait to see if the holes do close in time.

In the mean time we'll just carry on like we always have. I'm home now, and I can't ever be sent away again. The Coven's powers have been restricted so that they can never do what they did to me to any other mage ever again. I'm with Baz (and Cherry and O'fee) and I'm home. This is our place and we're not going anywhere.

—fin—

Well, that certainly came out a bit longer than expected...

A/N:

The title of this fic is taken from on the song No Place by Rüfüs Du Sol.

Thanks for reading and leaving comments. Have a fab day.