A welcome break, some training, a meal, and a big jump scare later, Amity and Luz settle in for a comfortable night, which is interrupted early by a sudden growth spurt~
Part 2!
I hope you guys like this part as well!
Let's just get right into it and not waste any time on notes xD
They remained silent like this, and it was about ten minutes until Hooty announced some visitors. Sighing, Amity unzipped the sleeping bag and sat up, careful not to jostle the baby in her arms too much, but Luz didn't even care. Apparently, as soon as she was being held, nothing could wake her up anymore. Shrugging, Amity cradled her safely before getting up and opening the door for her siblings, reassuring Hooty that they were okay to let in.
Edric waved while they approached and Emira interlaced her fingers to tilt her head against them, whining at the sight. Amity glared at her.
"Don't. Say. Anything.", she growled, but of course, her siblings wouldn't be stopped by that. Just barely after stepping aside to let them in and closing the door again, she – or rather, baby Luz – was already under the attack of whisper shouting teens.
"She is absolutely adorable!", Edric started.
"How did that happen?", Emira had always been a bit more factual than her twin.
"How is she so tiny and adorable?!", Edric would not shut up about this.
"Why are you alone with her?"
"Her little hands are so tiny!"
Stopping them with a gesture, Amity walked back to the couch in front of which the unzipped sleeping bag was still spread and sat down to keep Luz safe, then she began.
"Well, I just wanted to drop by to give Luz her book back and the Owl Lady basically just, threw me into the situation and dashed. When I came in, I didn't find Luz, but instead this baby here. It's-… It must be Luz. She reacts to her name and I wouldn't know of siblings. But I don't know more.", she sighed, softly brushing over the baby's head, and her sleeping face made her smile, "No, I do know it's Luz. She acts so much like her."
Emira softly sat down next to her and reached out with a softness she wouldn't have thought possible for her sister.
"And-… You're just alone with her now? The Owl Lady just up and left?", she asked while softly cupping Luz's head, brushing her thumb over her temple. The baby shuffled closer to Amity's neck and she couldn't help but feel a little pride swelling in her chest, and a smile beginning to form on her lips.
"Yeah. Just ran, basically. I think she would've left the baby in the care of this bird tube thing. So, I'm kinda glad I came here to watch her.", she sighed as Edric sat down as well, then she hummed.
"Feels super weird, though, that I'm the babysitter out of the three of us."
Her brother chuckled at that and shrugged.
"I mean, I'd absolutely take her, but she'd actually clinging to you. So I wouldn't dare.", he explained and Emira nodded, before asking.
"What do you think happened to her?", she asked and Amity shrugged.
"I noticed she doesn't seem to have kept her age but rather aged down with her body. So I suspect a potion, that's the only thing strong enough to alter age like that."
She tried prying Luz's arms off of her neck but the baby complained and whined in her sleep, so she let go again, going back to cradling her while leaning back a little more, so she wouldn't have to exhaust her arms.
"Looks like you got this, though.", Edric remarked and Amity grumbled at him.
"Well, I already fed and bathed her, I don't know what else I'm supposed to do until the morning. She's easily entertained but also easily distracted. And I have no idea how to handle human babies."
Rolling her eyes, Emira shook her head.
"I remember when you were a little baby like that. Our nanny didn't do much more than that with you, honestly."
Amity deadpanned but decided not to comment on that. She knew babies didn't do that much more, but she didn't exactly know where to with all that responsibility. And she certainly didn't want to be alone here, with Luz and nothing but her instincts.
She was just a teen, she wasn't supposed to improvise like this with a baby that was also her crush when grown up. But she couldn't deny the warm feeling. Somehow, it felt good, caring for a tiny life like that. Call her crazy, but she actually liked the baby snuggling up to her. It was almost like a puppy. Only that Luz was a lot more fragile.
They remained seated like this for a little while, Edric and Emira cooing about Luz being so small and adorable until the baby stirred.
"Great, you woke her up.", Amity almost wanted to sigh, but she found herself getting excited to spend more time with tiny Luz. She'd had a lot of fun with the tiny human already, and she honestly wanted to see what the evening would still bring.
"That's not a bad thing!", Emira protested when the baby yawned and buried her face on Amity's collar, then she lifted her up and put her feet on the couch to lean Luz back against her thighs, softly brushing her cheeks while she gave the baby a little time to wake up.
"Heya, sleepyhead.", she chuckled and Luz clumsily rubbed her eyes, "We have visitors!"
When Luz spotted the two grinning faces to either side of Amity, she immediately began squealing as if she had never slept. Fondly, the witchling rolled her eyes, then she bopped her nose.
"You're a sweet one. Who wants her?"
Immediately, Edric dived for the baby and scooped her off on Amity's lap, and cradled her in his arms, smiling widely.
"Hello, little cutie! I'm the coolest brother of the Blights!"
"You're our only brother.", Amity deadpanned but he paid her no mind. Giggling and already playing with the still a little groggy baby, he ignored her protest. Sighing, Amity got up, then she stretched and rubbed her back.
"I'll see what I can find for dinner. You two don't, uhm-… Don't kill her."
Emira slipped on her seat now that she was gone and both twins began entertaining the baby, with a lot of giggles and grins, so Amity supposed it'd be fine. She had never seen them as gentle with anything before that, and for a brief moment, she wondered if she had been treated the same when they had still been little.
With a huff and another sigh, she rubbed the warm spot where Luz had slept and trudged to the kitchen, where she began searching for food. Well, she could make herself a sandwich, she wouldn't have much more time for anything else, anyway. And for Luz, she still had enough of the fruit stuff she had made earlier. She supposed that'd have to keep her alive until the next morning because she did not want to try mashing up more things than necessary.
The twins were getting louder from the living room, but she supposed it was okay. As long as she could hear the baby laughing, they couldn't be doing much wrong.
"Oh man, what have I gotten myself into…?", she summoned up her scroll phone and went through her penstagram for a little while, then she replied to Willow's question if everything was alright with a short update, before opening her gallery. A few new pictures that she had taken with baby Luz. One where the baby was sitting in her lap, another where she was splashing around in the sink, a hairstyle of bubbles sitting on her head, another one where she tried shuffling away, and the last ones, of Luz sleeping on Amity's chest while she pressed a kiss to her head.
Honestly, if she squinted her eyes and imagined herself being about ten years older, and baby Luz to have slightly pointier ears, she could totally imagine that being her with hers and Luz's daughter in the future.
She decided to keep this picture saved in a special place in her heart. Maybe she could recreate it someday if she had children at some point in her life. Smiling, Amity put all the baby pictures into a folder and returned to the living room, leaning against the door frame and watching the twins – who had migrated to the sleeping bag by now – cheering on Luz to shuffle around and get her plushie.
Amity giggled when Luz caught it like she was some sort of predator, curling around the little plush and laughing hard when Edric joined her on the ground and Emira reached out to tickle the toy out of her hold again. Thus, the game began again. Emira placed the toy a little distance away and cheered on her to crawl, but Luz would just shuffle and pull her way to the plush where she would catch it again and kick her little legs in excitement.
She supposed she could have a little time to herself before her siblings would leave again.
Sneaking into the room, she settled down on the couch and took a few pictures of the twins goofing off with Luz, before she realized how fast the time had passed. They only had ten minutes left to make her curfew.
"Uhm, guys, it's getting late. You should go now.", she announced and Edric looked up with a pout that almost made her think he was about to cry.
"Already?", Emira whined and she stood up, putting her hands on her hips. If she had to pretend that she was the older sibling she would absolutely do that.
"Yeah, or our parents will be super mad and figure out that you have an illusion with you.", she glared at the twins and the baby on the sleeping bag, all three had grown quiet, but while the twins pouted, Luz was happily chewing on her plush.
"Okay, she's right.", Emira finally said and got up, brushing some dust off her clothes. Shortly after her, Edric moved to blow a raspberry on Luz's tummy – Hey, that was her thing! – and got up as well.
"How do we do this illusion?", Edric asked and Amity chimed up while getting down on her knees next to the baby.
"Maybe make me sleep? That way mother and father won't ask for my homework or a demonstration.", she proposed and in the flick of a wrist, Edric was carrying an illusion of a fast asleep Amity on his back, snoring and drooling on his shoulder. Deadpanning, the real Amity sighed, then she furrowed her eyebrows at Emira.
"I don't look like that when I sleep.", she grumbled and her sister shrugged with a grin.
"That's what you think, mittens!", she cheerfully replied and went to open the door for Edric, who looked back at the baby on the sleeping bag longingly.
"… How are the chances that she'll stay that way for a little while at least?", he gingerly asked and promptly received a slap on the back of his head from his twin.
"Edric, just get lost.", Amity replied laughing and watched as Emira shot her the last wave before opening the door and leaving after Edric, "Thank you for covering me!"
The twins called back something but Hooty had already closed the door and Amity was alone again with Luz. Smiling, she turned back to her and brushed over the bridge of her nose, leaning to the side so she was propped up above the baby.
"And what will us two do now, that we're alone again, hm? What do you wanna do?"
The tiny baby squealed and once again tried to reach for Amity's gem, making her laugh and lean down so Luz could grab the necklace, inspecting it like she hadn't explored this about five times already.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. You have fun with that. I mean it, though, we could play a game! Or I could teach you crawling, how's that sound?"
At that, Luz listened up and looked back up to her. She hadn't understood a word, but Amity's voice going up at the end of her question had intrigued her. Giggling, Amity bopped her nose again.
"C'mon, let's be productive!", she cheered and decided to use the same trick as her siblings. She tickled the little plush out of Luz's hands and put it about a step away from her, before nudging her to turn over and get it.
Luz was puzzled at first, after all that wasn't Amity's game but Emira's, but after a second she spotted the toy and excitedly tried making her way to it. Amity laughed.
"Noo, get up! Get your bum up, come on!", she got on all fours and exaggeratedly began crawling so the baby would see how it worked.
"It's easy, Luz, promise! Look!", she chuckled and the baby squealed before shuffling her way over to Amity, completely ignoring the toy, to pap her little hand at her arm and laugh. Amity had to laugh as well when tiny Luz shuffled again to sit down, laughing and stretching out her little hands to be scooped up. Instead, Amity nuzzled her nose against the baby's and began crawling again, showing her how it was done.
"C'mon! See? It's easy, you just gotta try!", she crawled a little ways ahead and the small baby laughed before getting down on her tummy again and shuffling over to her, her face pulled into laughter the entire time she chased after Amity. The teen had to laugh at that and shake her head, letting Luz reach her to flick her super soft human ear. She then reached down to the baby's hips and pulled them up, so Luz would get the feeling of being on her knees. Instantly, the baby stopped laughing and stared at her in enlightenment and Amity cheered.
"Yeah, like that! Now follow me!"
Once again, she crawled ahead and the human giggled and laughed loudly, dropping back on her tummy and pulling herself to Amity to softly jab at her hand. Laughing, Amity dropped to her back and put the back of her hand to her forehead.
"Oh no! I've been slain!", she exclaimed and the baby laughed louder, starting to pull herself up and crawl on top of Amity's chest, at least with her arms, to drum on her chest, making Amity laugh even more.
"Okay, let's try crawling again, though! Come on, I'll show you."
The girl got back up on all fours and set the baby up the same, crawling ahead and sitting down to spread her arms for Luz to crawl towards her, gesturing.
"Come on! You can do it, I believe in you!"
The tiny baby seemed to consider dropping back down to her tummy to shuffle again, but after letting the gears turn in her head in concentration, she just dropped back to her bum, now half-kneeling. Amity giggled, then she spread her arms again and gestured for Luz to move towards her.
"Come here, Luz! You can crawl, I know you can!"
The baby huffed as she watched her with wide eyes, before pushing her hips back up again and wobbly balancing herself on all fours. Then she crawled.
She only managed a few paces before losing the rhythm and dropping her bum back down on her feet, but she had crawled!
Unable to contain her excitement, Amity squealed and got up, scooping up the baby and swirling around with her, giggling and laughing loudly while she cradled the baby close and swirled through the room.
"You did it! You did it, I knew you could! I'm so proud of you!", she exclaimed and stopped spinning, placing a big kiss on the baby's cheek, "You did really well, Luz!"
The baby had squealed and flailed all the way, and patted Amity's cheeks when she had kissed her, then she seemed distracted by something else, though, and tried leaning down so Amity put her back down on the sleeping bag and chuckled, sitting down next to her. At the thought of what she had done mere seconds ago, she had to giggle while watching the baby shuffle again to investigate some seam on the sleeping bag. Her, the composed, rule-following Blight offspring, elite student of Hexside and Emperor's Coven protégé, was crawling around on the floor to teach a baby to crawl. Chuckling to herself, Amity shook her head, then she softly brushed over Luz's head while the baby was just barely propped up on her elbows, inspecting a loose thread.
She wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
Luz shuffled a little further, just out of reach for Amity, before pushing herself up into a sitting position. Amity watched her, back turned towards the teen, before the baby suddenly lost her balance and fell backward. Surging, Amity dived to catch her in time and cradled her back and neck, while propping herself up on her elbows. The adrenaline was rushing through her head but the baby hadn't noticed how much that could've gone wrong. Instead, she caught her gaze and grinned and giggled at her upside down. Amity sighed exasperatedly, before pushing Luz over to the side, rolling her to her tummy.
"I swear, you scare me like that again and you'll be the death of me.", to that, the baby just laughed and shuffled back towards her, to prop herself up on her shin and pull herself up to sit while leaning on her knee, smiling sweetly.
"Oh, I can't stay mad at you."
Amity tried crawling with her a few more times until she had to change Luz's diaper – which went less awkward than she would've thought – and then she moved on to dinner. Luckily, Eda had some food she didn't have to cook, and some fruits were also left. So she decided to eat something first.
Which was a bad idea.
Luz immediately noticed Amity had a plate of sandwiches when she returned from the kitchen. She had tried not to leave the baby alone for more than five minutes, and when she came back, Luz immediately looked up and rolled to her tummy to make her way towards her as fast as she could. Amused, Amity watched the baby shuffling across the floor, then she giggled.
"You're in a hurry, huh?"
Finally, the baby reached her and sat down by her leg, reaching up with her little hands to be lifted up. Amity put the plate she held on the next available surface, a windowsill, and scooped Luz up, then she grabbed her sandwich again and took a bite, to which the baby gave her a quizzical look.
After chewing her bite down, because she was raised not to talk with a full mouth, Amity raised her eyebrow at her.
"… What?"
Luz reached out to grab the sandwich but Amity put it back on the plate which was out of Luz's reach. The reaction of disappointment was immediate. Her chin began quivering and suddenly, tears shone in her eyes. Rolling her eyes, Amity bopped her a little.
"Luz, that's grown-up food. You can't eat that yet. Besides, that's my dinner. You'll get dinner in a bit.", still, the small human wouldn't let the teen console her. Humming, Amity finally broke off a part in the middle of the bread where she had cut the halves apart and let Luz lean back a little, so she could feed it to her.
"Okay, I know you like peanut butter and jam sandwiches, so open up.", as soon as the baby had realized that she would get a bite, she opened her mouth as wide as she could and Amity almost laughed, "Here we go."
She put the crumb in Luz's mouth and the baby closed her mouth before trying to chew on the new sustenance. The bread was very soft, so Amity didn't worry about her that much, but she was very eager to see the reaction of the baby.
After swallowing the bite, Luz opened her mouth again and Amity had to laugh.
"I don't have anything else for dinner, Luz!"
She stayed relentless, with her mouth wide open. The witchling sighed, then she gave her another crumb, before taking a big bite for herself. While the baby was concentrating on swallowing, she stuffed more of the sandwich in her mouth, so she would have a chance of finishing as much of it as possible. Yet, Luz wanted more.
"Oh, come on. That's my food, you can't possibly want more of that.", the baby ignored her. So, since she didn't exactly have another solution, Amity fed her another little crumb before trying to stuff the rest of the sandwich in her mouth, coughing and choking but finally managing while the baby was still distracted by the new taste. By the time Amity had finished chewing and swallowing her part, Luz had already opened her mouth again. So she held up the plate with her other hand and held it between them, shrugging.
"Empty. No more sandwich.", she smugly smirked at the baby closing her mouth again and papping her hand on the empty porcelain, then she looked back up to her. Her brown eyes filled with tears.
Great, whatever she did, she got tears back.
"Time for your dinner, then!", Amity cheered, in the hopes of distracting the baby from the sandwich, and sure enough, Luz's ADHD didn't disappoint her. At her cheering, the baby reacted like a puppy and squealed with her, the sandwich already in the past.
Relief flooded the teen and she smiled at that, putting the plate away before fetching the fruit goo again and sitting down with Luz to feed her.
Yet, as expected, dinner went just as messy as lunch. Luz had a whole lot of fun with smearing the goo everywhere she could, and Amity was just glad she had learned from the last time and taken off Luz's hoodie and instead draped a towel across her chest, since she had to place the baby in her lap again, as a substitute for a baby chair. Unfortunately, the baby had also figured out how to throw the goo now, if she moved her tiny hands fast enough. In the end, the teen found herself sprayed with much more sticky baby food than she would've felt comfortable with, and had trouble keeping her temper in control.
At least she had managed to feed Luz most of it.
Deciding against a bath, Amity just changed Luz's onesie again – she was glad she had found another clean one in the crib – and put her back on the sleeping bag to play some more while she would clean up. Some smudges around her collar were still dried in from lunch. But she didn't mind them for now. Instead, she wanted to rinse her face and hair, before getting back to Luz. She didn't really mind being sticky and dirty, because she knew she had to care for the baby. It wasn't like she enjoyed being covered in food, but there was humor to it, a sort of necessity not to care in favor of all the sweet moments she's had with Luz until now.
After cleaning her arms, she took off her ponytail and let her hair down, then she began with her collar, neck, and face. Luz had managed to get the food absolutely everywhere. She would not be surprised at all if she found some in her top beneath the shirt she wore.
While scrubbing her cheeks, Amity made a plan for the next few hours. She should probably keep Luz occupied for a little longer, still, before letting her sleep. Maybe that'd allow her some rest this night. She didn't expect to sleep through the night, not with Luz being so small, but maybe she could hope to get as much sleep as possible.
She never thought looking after a baby could be so straining. At that moment, she had the most respect for her nanny. That witch had made it her job to look after babies and little witchlings, not only if they were from rich families but also if they were a handful and their parents couldn't master raising them alone anymore.
And at just fourteen years old, Amity was sure she did not have to necessary endurance yet to look after a child, still being a child herself. But it was fun for an evening, that much she could say. And even if Luz was a lot smaller than Boscha's little sister, she enjoyed spending time with the baby.
Just as she was finished with her face, she looked up again to see her shadow dancing in front of her. Furrowing her eyebrows, Amity watched the strange phenomenon.
The outlines of her shadow seemed to blur and move erratically as if there was a different light source-…
Turning around, with the towel in her hands with which she had just rubbed over her face, she spotted a small ball of light floating in the air in front of her. It was dancing around, just about the size of a palm, and innocently floated towards the far end of the room. Amity furrowed her eyebrows further, squinting her eyes.
She hadn't cast a light spell. She wasn't using magic at all, right now. Was Eda back? But why would she cast a light spell?
Huffing, Amity approached the ball of light, feeling it shying away from her touch when she reached out, then she heard the baby giggling from the living room.
In an instant, the switch inside her head clicked.
Breaking into a sprint, Amity made it out of the kitchen and skidded around the corner, to see Luz sitting on the floor next to her school bag that she must've thrown next to the front door when she had come home from classes yesterday. She innocently giggled and sucked on her hand, while the other flailed before going pap on another glyph.
She had found her notepad. On which she had already scribbled out a few glyphs. A few balls of light already floated around the room and Amity felt her breath hitching in her throat. She had never, ever, heard of a baby that young casting magic. Usually, their magical abilities started developing once their bile sac was fully functional at the age of three, and when they learned to cast their spell circles most witchlings were around the age of four to six. Luz was just about four to five months old, with her aged down body. Amity hadn't even thought this to be possible, but then again, Luz was using glyphs to summon magic.
Her gaze wandered down to the baby again. Only now, after the first shock had faded, she saw that baby Luz had already cast a few spells. Besides the balls of light floating around, she also spotted a few flowers and small ice pillars around her. Only now she also recognized the thing Luz was sucking on not to be her hand but a small ice rod that was slowly melting but thankfully big enough for the baby not to swallow it.
Again, Amity looked around. This was a lot of magic for a child, and even more so for a baby. Did Luz not use her concentration to alter the glyphs and shape them into what she wished? Apparently, the glyphs already gave her a baseline to work with and Luz only needed to activate them. The rest came with her own imagination. Since a baby couldn't think abstract yet, she supposed all she created was the glyphs magic, which was a lot less than Amity had imagined, after seeing Luz do quite a few impressive things with her glyphs.
Lightly chuckling, the witchling turned back to the small human, and an unbelieving smile spread on her lips. She was about to say something when she saw the next glyph her friend had prepared on her notepad.
She wasn't entirely sure how the glyphs looked in absolute detail, but after hanging out with Luz and playing grudgby with her, she sure could recognize the general shape of the four glyphs had discovered so far. And if she wasn't wrong, the next glyph was a fire glyph.
The smile slipped from her face as Luz lifted her hand, still looking at the teen. Then the baby squealed and let her hand rush towards the glyph on the floor next to her.
"Luz, no!"
Amity leaped.
She felt her legs catapulting her forward while her hands already stretched out to grab the baby. But it was already too late. Luz had touched the fire glyph and it began glowing, as Amity felt time slowing down. Her hands managed to grab the baby's middle and pull her away from the glyph and towards Amity when she turned and kicked the notepad with the glyph away. As soon as she had the baby in a firm cradle, she cast a spell circle and an abomination's hand surged from the ground, trying to cover the activated fire glyph, but it was already too late.
A flame erupted from the glyph, a good foot tall, and singed Amity's sock that was still too close to the glyph. The abomination's hand slapped down on the paper and the flame was quickly distinguished while the teen pulled her leg back, rubbing at her foot to put out the gleaming fabric on her sole.
And then it was over. As quickly as it had happened, the situation was diffused already, and Amity found herself shivering, sitting on the floor and cradling a very quiet baby to her chest, while her sock was still somewhat smoking, and the abomination goo on the ground slowly sunk back into the circle where she had summoned it from.
But as quickly as the scare had happened, and as quickly as it had gone quiet after that, just then the baby in her arms began screaming.
Right. Scary, fast movements and she could imagine she had not exactly grabbed her gently. The baby headbutted her collarbone and began wailing into her shirt, desperately clinging to the fabric while the shock still had both of them shivering.
After another little moment of hesitation, Amity hugged Luz close, grateful that they both weren't injured, and moved from side to side, softly swinging around so Luz would calm down again.
"Shhh, shh, it's okay. That was scary, but I'm here. I'm here, Luz, nothing bad happened. It's okay…", she turned her face to the baby's head and snuggled her in, sighing while calming her racing heart and pressing a little kiss to Luz's small, round ear, "It's okay, Luz, it's okay… I was there in time, it's okay."
The baby was still shivering, as was the teen, and she slowly got back up to her feet, testing the burned sock. It had just turned a little brown but the heat hadn't even reached the inside of the cotton. Suddenly she was super glad that her mother had insisted she wore these socks to accommodate the colder temperatures in the evening outside.
When she was sure her foot was okay and no fire was left from the glyph, she began pacing and talking to the still wailing baby who was inconsolably clinging to her and soaking her shirt in tears. If Luz kept that up she'd have to see how to keep her hydrated, because she wasn't too sure if the human already knew how to drink from a glass.
Slowly, very slowly, Luz's screams died down and she settled against Amity who had entered the kitchen again, still cradling her close and talking to her in the most reassuring voice she could muster, while trying to calm herself down.
If the flame had already singed her sock like that, she didn't want to imagine what it could've done to Luz if she hadn't been in time. She sighed and shook her head, then she searched for a substitute for a bottle. She had to get some water into Luz at some point, she knew that. And she didn't care if she was doing something wrong here, she was left to care for the baby and she would care for the baby whatever that meant.
Finally, she found a sort of rubber glove in Luz's things. She didn't know why exactly Luz was carrying this around with her, or really what it was for, but it was there and just what she needed.
Cutting off one of the rubber fingers, she thoroughly rinsed it and put it on a small glass that she had filled with water, and poked a small hole into the tip of the rubber. Then, Amity used her hairband to keep the rubber firmly in place and tentatively turned the glass upside down above the sink. Sure enough, the rubber held in the water, and a little stream of water exited the tip of the rubber finger on top.
She was a genius.
As soon as Luz had calmed down enough from the shock to stop hiding her face in Amity's chest – which took a whole lot of convincing and snuggling to get her to peek at least – the teen managed to lie her down in her arms and give her the makeshift bottle. Luz's lips closed around the rubber and Amity held her breath, but it kept the water from spilling.
Well, it worked less than she would've wished, but the baby seemed to get enough liquid to be happy with it.
Feeding her with a bottle was an entirely different feeling, Amity realized. She held the baby close and smiled when Luz reached up to hold the glass herself, her tiny fingers wrapping around Amity's. She hummed when Luz fixated her and continued breathing heavily while drinking, making the witchling chuckle.
"You don't have to drink as fast, it's okay. I have more water where that came from, though I doubt your tiny body needs more than this."
Luz got half the glass down before her thirst was quenched, so Amity put the glass away and hugged Luz close to her chest to burp her. That's what she had heard about caring for babies at least. She wasn't entirely sure what it was about burping them, she just knew they had to be helped.
It wasn't long until she grew tired, then. Her eyelids seemed to grow heavier and heavier with each deep breath she drew, and Amity had to smile fondly. Sleepy Luz was just so adorable.
The baby cuddled close to her again, as she had before after the scare with the fire glyph, and seemed to settle down. Finding herself tired as well, Amity just got a blanket from the backrest of the couch and stuffed some pillows around them.
She knew Luz would fuss if she tried putting her in the crib Eda must've summoned just before leaving, and she didn't want to fall asleep on the floor in the sleeping bag.
But she did want to put on her hoodie again after this ordeal, so she risked putting Luz down just for the moment and pull over the hoodie, for both their comfort.
After that, she just put Luz in her arm with her shoulder safely nestled into the crook of her elbow and her head leaned against her biceps, propping her against a pillow Amity secured next to her, then she draped the big blanket around them and cuddled them both in, smiling once she was comfortably lying against one of the armrests.
Luz barely kept her eyes open and huffed from time to time, so Amity softly let her finger wander over her tiny face and brush from her cheek up to her forehead and down the bridge of her nose between her eyes, before passing her tiny lips and turning on her chin to wander up the other cheek and pass over her nose to get back to where she started. She continued to Luz's ear and softly brushed the super soft skin of her round ear shell, then she brushed back to Luz's forehead and wandered down to her cheek, smiling all the while.
The baby quickly fell asleep to her ministrations and Amity breathed through deeply.
The fire glyph had been scarier than she had thought. Not only was the adrenaline only now dying down, but also her fear of something happening to Luz. Well, at least nothing did happen.
But the anxiety of something that could've happened still made her shiver from time to time. She had been awfully close to that glyph. If Amity hadn't reacted, maybe hadn't even known, her entire side would've been burned, badly. Breathing through, Amity shook her head, then she leaned back on the pillow she had pushed behind her and sighed.
Nothing had happened. A sock at the expense of no injuries, she could absolutely live with that.
Baby Luz breathed deeply and cuddled a little closer to her. Amity felt another smile growing on her lips, then her hand found back to Luz's head and softly brushed over her cheek. The baby suckled sleepily but didn't react otherwise.
What a day, today…
Amity breathed through once again, then she felt all the exhaustion, responsibility, and anxiety melt from her shoulders as she relaxed and felt sleep slowly taking her.
One last time, she opened her eyes.
Luz was safely cradled in her arms. She couldn't fall, no matter how much she may flail or move in her sleep, and Amity couldn't hurt her either. Humming, she closed her eyes again and gave into a sleep that embraced her warmly and softly.
A whimper woke Amity up rather fast. Normally she was a heavy sleeper, but with a baby in her arms, she'd found she was awake instantly once she heard Luz fussing.
Their position on the couch hadn't changed, which she was thankful for because relief immediately flooded her veins, and even if Luz had tried to kick a little, she hadn't managed to move out of Amity's safe arms.
Humming, she let herself wake up properly but still remained a good bit sleepy, before sitting up a little and yawning while softly beginning to rock Luz in her arms.
The baby had most likely woken up from a nightmare because she seemed distressed and not quite there yet. Amity merely waited until she had fully woken up and smiled at her, summoning a little ball of light like Luz always did with glyphs, creating a soft pink light to shine on them. The baby just needed to orientate, but she still whined and protested against being woken up by her dream.
Chuckling, Amity held her closer and softly kissed her forehead, too sleepy to register that she had started kissing Luz casually now, then she smiled.
"It's okay, I'm here… It's okay. You're safe, Luz."
She hummed a little tune while the baby slowly settled down again and lied back down in the former position after shaking out her arm, to settle back down for the night. She was lucky she had found out Luz could sleep rather deeply in her arms, otherwise, she wouldn't have had as much a calm night as she was having now.
The small baby whimpered some more before huffing and letting herself be snuggled in again, letting a grateful smile grow on Amity's lips.
"I'm here, Luz, I won't go…", she mumbled, her eyes already closing when she hummed and let herself relax again.
This was actually very nice. Holding Luz like that, warmth surrounding them and a faint owl hooting in the forest outside. In the manor, Amity didn't hear many sounds from outside, due to the windows being magically enhanced to create silence, but here, she actually enjoyed the noises from the woods just outside the door. The faint owl was momentarily interrupted by a gust of wind blowing past the house, but then she heard it again.
Her eyes fluttering close, Amity breathed deeper, then she settled back down to sleep, the baby had fallen asleep before her already. She liked to think that Luz was sleeping through the night because she was actually already fourteen years old, but thinking about it exhausted her too much. Instead, she just settled for gratefulness that she wasn't screaming.
It was in the early morning hours when the sun already peeked through the treetops.
Eda was dead on her feet. She had used the whole night to search high and low for all the ingredients that she needed for a reverse spell after Luz had drunk the last little gulp of her aging down potion.
Her apprentice hadn't known how potent this potion was, Eda just used it in the direst situations – like when a wrinkle appeared – and had gulped down the entire thing.
Presumably, she had thought a small rest like this would only age her down by minutes, maybe days, but little had she known that the smallest drop already drew drastic changes with its power. It was no surprise that this potion had been outlawed long ago.
One reason had probably been that children pushed their snoopy noses into adult business and that too many had been aged down too much.
With an annoyed huff, Eda touched down in front of the Owl House and stretched her back, before pushing away Hooty and entering her house.
For a second, the sight of the sleeping Blight on her couch startled her, but then she remembered she had put that Titan-sent child on babysitting duty when she had rushed for the ingredients. And to get away from that baby, honestly. Having Luz around was fun because she was a teenager, but Eda had never really clicked with small children or even worse, babies.
Besides, Luz would've been fine for a night. Probably. Most likely.
Maybe Hooty would've fed her some chewed-up bugs or something. A light grimace of disgust washed over her face, then she groaned again.
Eda was too tired to care. She trudged over to the sleeping pair and admittedly, it did look kind of cute how they were passed out like this. Without further ado, Eda took off the straps of the baby carrier around her middle and took King out of the straps, before placing him on Minty Green's feet. He just kept on sleeping as if nothing had ever happened.
The teen and the baby were still sleeping. Honestly, the Blight kid did look a little exhausted. Maybe she had put her up for too much when she had left a baby in her care. On the other hand, at least she didn't have to look after that baby. So she didn't exactly care.
Humming, Eda closed the kitchen door to let them sleep a little more while she would make the potion. Titan, she was tired. Here was to hoping she'd get the potion right.
But she had the utmost faith in her brewing abilities. After all, she hadn't been on the potions track for nothing. Yet still, she would much rather sleep now. But on the other hand, Luz would be thankful to have her normal age and body back.
Rolling her eyes, Eda got to work to prepare the potion. How much she wished for her nest right now. Oh man, she would just curl up in her trash and sleep like a baby…
Shaking her head, she began preparing the various ingredients needed for a reverse potion. Luz needed her body back.
Checking in with the recipe again, Eda furrowed her eyebrows.
Weird, why did she remember to bring the teeth of a four-legged clover? She definitely did, they were right here on the table. Oh well. If she didn't need them, she could always use them for something else later. Though, she did make a note to bring them. She had checked the recipe before leaving and everything.
Shrugging, Eda pushed them aside. If she didn't need them it was all the better.
Within an hour, the reverse potion was done. On the counter, she found the makeshift bottle the Blight kid had crafted, with a little water left inside. Smirking, Eda inspected the bottle and nodded. She was smart, that much was given.
Exchanging the water for just a bit of the potion inside, Eda opened the door to the living room and saw that the baby had already woken up and was squealing softly while Little Miss Perfect was still fast asleep. She looked pretty knocked out. Apparently, Luz had done quite a number on her.
Not minding her, Eda just unceremoniously gave the bottle to the baby and held the glass while she was drinking eagerly. It didn't even take a minute and the whole gulp was gone. Satisfied, Eda leaned back and crossed her arms. In just a second, her fully grown Luz should be back to her normal, cheerful, optimistic, fourteen-year-old self.
A sudden weight on her chest pressed all air out of Amity's lungs. She had just been dreaming about Hexside when suddenly, she was ripped out of her sleep to a much larger person sitting on her, rather than the tiny adorable baby she had fallen asleep holding.
Wheezing, Amity tried catching her breath and waking up properly when the one on top of her already screamed.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!", she heard and furrowing her eyebrows, she looked up to the woman on her chest. Luz didn't talk… Like… That…
On top of her, in her arms, where she had cuddled in and held the tiny baby Luz for the entire night, sat a grown woman, roughly twenty-four, and screamed insults. She looked a lot like Luz, actually.
Except that she was, well, way older.
Amity wheezed again, then she felt the woman getting up and taking the blanket with her, the sweet, sweet warmth she had just felt a second ago. Wait.
Where was her baby?!
Now that oxygen reached her brain again, Amity looked around, before her gaze finally fell on the woman standing in front of Eda.
She had the blanket wrapped around her, covering everything but her very bare shoulders, toned arms, and calves from what Amity could see, but a tiny piece of cloth on her back attracted Amity's attention. It was the same fabric Luz's onesie had-…
Panicking, she sat up.
If it was ripped, then where was-…
Suddenly, the stranger turned to her, with her eyes blown wide.
"… Amity?!", she asked and her heart sank when she looked at those eyes. Those were Luz's eyes. That was Luz. Just. Way older.
Choking, Amity coughed a few times and doubled over, clasping her hand over her mouth. This wasn't teenager Luz, no, this was young woman Luz.
In an instant, the woman screamed again and Eda finally stopped being completely apathetic to the situation.
"Listen, Luz, if you hadn't drunk the age potion-"
"HOW THE FUCK SHOULD I HAVE KNOWN, EDA?!", she yelled and Eda shrugged.
"Though it does seem weird you're so much older. Let me check something.", without even batting an eye, Eda left the room and went back into the kitchen, leaving the older Luz with a still wheezing Amity who had discovered that her nose was bleeding by now. It did not help that Luz went back to her and kneeled down by her, the blanket still wrapped around her body.
"Oh my gosh, I am so fucking sorry, Amity. I didn't mean for this to happen, I thought that potion was just-… Nevermind. Are you okay?"
Huffing, Amity nodded, then she reached for a tissue on the table before leaning back.
"… Wh-Why are you old now?"
"Older.", Luz corrected with a huff, grumbling, "Not that old. But that's a good question. I don't remember anything after drinking the potion from Eda. Why are you suddenly here?"
Amity stopped the blood coming from her nose, then she looked at Luz quizzically.
"It's been half a day since that happened, I think. Yesterday in school everything was normal, and when I wanted to come by in the afternoon to give you back your Good Witch Azura book, I was suddenly thrown in here to babysit you by Eda.", she explained, which only left more questions on Luz's super handsome mid-twenties face.
"Babysit me?", she asked and Amity nodded, trying not to look at her too much. Her hair was still short but she had grown out two long strands in front of her ears. And oh Mama, she was still super naked, even if she kept the blanket pulled around her.
"Yeah, you were-… You were a small baby. Just. Moments ago.", Amity explained, fixating her left foot. She could not look at Luz or else she may explode.
Unfortunately for her, despite taking on the appearance and habits of a woman in her mid-twenties, Luz was still the touchy fourteen-year-old. A hand appeared on her knee and Amity couldn't help but let her gaze follow these toned arms up to her shoulders and back to her unfairly handsome face, resulting in a small 'eep' from the teen.
"I'm sorry you had to babysit me. I suppose that was hard. Mami always told me I was quite the active baby.", she grimaced and Amity thought she had to die. Her crush was back with full force and boy did she have it bad.
"Hah, haha, yeah! Kinda, uh, kinda active, yes! You figured out how to use glyphs so I had quite a handful with you, I-I mean-", her face blazing, Amity shut herself up, then she looked down again, "… It was okay."
Luz slanted her lips, then she sat down next to Amity. She couldn't help to notice how much taller she was than her and tried her best not to look at the very adult version of her friend, gulping.
"So-…", Luz began while Eda was clattering around in the kitchen, "Sorry for causing you all this trouble. I didn't know what the potion would do."
Huffing, Amity nodded, then she turned to look at Luz which she realized was a mistake. From next to her, she could see Luz's profile, which flustered her even more. She hadn't realized she was staring until Luz turned to look at her.
"Ah! Right! Don't worry, that potion is long outlawed and we don't learn about this anymore. You couldn't have known.", she quickly rambled, then she rubbed over her face and sighed, "S-Sorry, I'm just-… Tired?"
"Yeah, don't worry. Sorry for the rude awakening, by the way. Eda just had to give me the potion right on top of you, huh?", she chuckled and Amity nodded mutely. In fact, sleep was the farthest thing from her mind right now and she felt very awake after this disaster. She was just glad they didn't have school today.
"D-Don't worry about that, you took my breath away before.", she dazedly replied, and only at the questioning expression of the older human, she realized what she had said, "I-I mean! Yesterday I was left out of breath! Be-Because watching babies is hard! Haha!"
Luz merely grinned at that, then she softly bumped Amity's shoulder.
"Are you nervous around me because I'm older than you now?", she smugly grinned, and just when Amity had thought older Luz couldn't get any hotter, she proved her wrong.
"N-No! This is just-… Very confusing!", she quickly defended herself and the young woman laughed.
"Yeah, right! You're nervous about something! Did it have to do with baby me?", she inquired and Amity only felt her face burning more, her ears starting to flutter. Not because Luz was right, but more because her being smug broke the poor witchling's mind.
"N-No!"
Gasping, Luz laughed, then she poked her cheek. stopped working.
"It does! You cuddled with me! That's why I woke up on top of you! We cuddled aaaaall night long, isn't that right?", the human cackled, then she fixated the blanket on her chest and leaned over to take Amity in a playful chokehold, ruffling her hair, "Bet you even kissed my chubby cheeks!"
At Luz's cheers, Amity just felt herself blacking out. Especially when she guessed everything because Amity had in fact kissed Luz a lot and cuddled with her.
"N-Not true! I-… I had to keep you quiet somehow and-"
"So true!", Luz sang and finally let her go, while Amity was trying so badly to keep her composure, "So, how's it feel to be younger than the baby you watched last night?"
At that, Amity rolled her eyes and hid her face in her hands, huffing, before Luz squealed again.
"Hey wait, did you take any pictures?", she asked and at that, Amity felt her face blazing even more.
"Y-Yes?", the teen stuttered and Luz slid closer to her, grinning eagerly.
"While we wait you can show them! Pretty please?" she pouted so adorably, it almost matched the baby's face when she had done that last night. Amity felt her heart speeding up so fast she thought it might break out of her ribcage and throw a dance party.
"Y-Yeah, sure.", she summoned her scroll phone and tapped the folder with the baby pictures she had taken. It wasn't that much more than a dozen, but Luz was enamored immediately. Squealing, she laughed at the silly pictures Amity had taken and cooed at herself sleeping in the sleeping bag. Wait, that meant-
"I was right!", Luz suddenly exploded, and Amity nearly fell off the couch with how hard she flinched, "You did kiss me!"
At that moment, Amity wished desperately the ground would open up and swallow her whole, but it was about to come worse. Luz swiped again and a selfie appeared. Amity with a grumpy face, holding a very cheerful Luz in her arms, while the food was smeared all over both of them. The tiny baby was holding out her arms to grab Amity's food-encrusted hair but was unable to, due to the teen leaning away. Oh, right. She didn't remember taking this one.
"Oh my gosh, did I do that to you?!", Luz cackled and nearly threw herself off the couch, then she bumped Amity's shoulder again, "I'm literally so fucking sorry, but this picture is gold, Amity."
The teen just hid her face in Luz's hoodie by pulling up the hood, not realizing that the older Luz only now noticed that she was wearing her hoodie. She had grown so used to wearing it yesterday, she hadn't realized Luz would find that adorable.
"Hey, wait!", she exclaimed, a shit-eating grin on her face that could have matched Edric's and Emira's yesterday, "That's my hoodie you're wearing!"
There went her composure, all the way out the window and into the woods, never to be seen again.
"I-I-… It was the only way to get you dressed!", she tried reasoning as she had tried to with Willow as well, but Luz only smirked more.
"You undressed me?!", she asked and Amity found this point in time right here absolutely suitable for her disappearance, never to be seen again.
"I-I had to bathe you! You saw how much you enjoyed playing with your food!", she tried again and Luz just nodded, with the silliest smug grin she had ever seen anyone do. It looked kinda dorky.
"So your first solution to get me back into clothes was to put on my clothes.", she factually stated and Amity just wanted to faint now. She was absolutely ready to begin a new life under a new name in Glandus High.
"I-It was what I could think of, back off."
Still cackling, Luz checked out the rest of the pictures, stopping at the last one which showed her sleeping in Amity's arms, only illuminated by a soft, pink light, then she gave her back her scroll phone and still grinned. Amity was very sure she would not live this down, ever.
"Aww, Amity, don't be cranky! I think it's very sweet you cared for me yesterday and you look good in my stuff.", grinning more, Luz leaned closer, "Though, you do look like it's very warm in here. Want me to open a window?"
The human was obviously referring to her very obvious blush and for Amity, that was the last straw. Stiffly, she stood up and bowed (?) at Luz, before giving her a strained grin and talking way too loudly.
"No, thank you! I will go to the bathroom now! Bye!", she exclaimed, then she walked to the upstairs bathroom mechanically before shutting the door with a forced calmness before collapsing on the floor and hiding her face in the hoodie. She needed a moment.
Laughing to herself, Luz got up and pulled the blanket tighter around her again, before making her way to the kitchen. She was almost as tall as Eda when she stood next to her, she noticed.
"So, what was wrong with the potion?", she inquired and Eda looked at her with a grumble.
"I stayed up all night searching for the ingredients to reverse the potion you had no business drinking.", then she turned sheepish, "But in my sleepiness, I accidentally just made a potion to age you up. It should be fine after I add the teeth of the four-legged clover, though, that should reverse all effects by aging potions."
With that being said, she added the ground teeth to the potion that was still bubbling on her counter, before casting a spell and taking a very, very old-looking wooden spoon – that Luz recognized as the brand new one they had just bought last week – to stir it.
Just a moment later, when Eda removed the spoon, it looked brand new again, making the older witch smirk.
"There we go. Now it just has to cook a little bit more before you can drink it and you'll be back to your mischievous fourteen-year-old form."
Luz crossed her arms.
"I'm not mischievous!", she exclaimed and Eda grinned.
"After drinking that potion and calling your action 'shenanigans' just before turning into a little baby right in front of me, you definitely are.", she clarified and Luz huffed at that accusation.
"Okay, fine, so maybe I was a little short-sighted and rash, but, that's no reason to call me mischievous."
"Imma call you what you want. And now scram, search some clothes, you're naked in front of your guest.", Eda chuckled, making Luz smirk before playing along.
Indignantly, the young woman grabbed a corner of the blanket and threw it over her shoulder like a toga, huffing.
"Excuse you, I'm wearing the latest.", she playfully snobbishly answered and sauntered towards the living room.
"Ripped onesie and blanket?" Eda questioned with a snort, getting back finger guns from her apprentice. It seems Luz would not lose a single bit of dorkiness with age. Somehow, that made her feel happy.
"If you have a problem with that, you can take it up with my designer.", Luz replied, "Or you can simply go fuck yourself."
"Just get lost already!", she shouted after the young woman with a chuckle and earned laughter from Luz. Boy, she was glad she had adopted a kid with some humor at least. And she could not wait for Luz to turn old enough to swear.
When Amity dared to leave the bathroom again, she was as composed as she could ever be in this kind of situation. Walking down the stairs, the still aged up Luz greeted her from her blanket and Amity nodded at her.
"How's the potion coming along?", she asked and sat down next to her on the couch, gratefully grabbing some snacks Eda had brought in while waiting for the potion to boil a little longer.
"Eda says it'll be done in a moment.", Luz said with a smile, then she looked up and down on Amity. She was still wearing her hoodie and Luz found that very adorable. She wouldn't comment on that, she decided, not to fluster Amity again. They fell into a comfortable silence before Luz leaned back and smiled.
"Hey, seriously though. Thank you. You could've just turned away yesterday but you didn't. Instead, you sacrificed your day to watch me as a baby. Not everybody would've done that.", she sincerely said and Amity blushed a little, but recognized the honest tone of her voice.
"… Not a problem. I couldn't just leave you alone with Hooty. I wouldn't have felt right with that."
Luz nodded, then she smiled.
"Thanks for not giving me that trauma, even if I wouldn't have remembered.", she chuckled and Amity couldn't help but laugh a little as well.
"You're welcome.", she mumbled, even feeling comfortable around Luz, before Eda entered the room and brought a small cup of the potion with her.
"Time to turn back to normal, kid. Even if I'm gonna miss the swearing.", she grinned and Luz furrowed her eyebrows.
"I've been swearing?", she asked and Eda chuckled.
"Just drink the potion.", she lifted a hand, "It's for real this time. No more aging up or down. It's a simple reverse potion to lift spells. You'll be an awkward teenie again."
Luz nodded at that and smiled, before looking back at Amity. Then she gripped the blanket around her tighter and took the cup from Eda, downing it in one gulp.
It took a second, before a glow emitted from her and the normal, fourteen-year-old Luz sat in her place. Amity slowly breathed out in relief. Finally, she had her Luz back. Even if she was still naked. But Luz had already put on some underwear before Amity had even had the time to remark that, and before she knew better, a cheery Luz in her normal leggings and shorts and a sports bra sat beside her while Eda had gone to wash up, grinning as she gestured for her hoodie.
"I'd like that back now if you don't mind?", she grinned and Amity chuckled with a faint blush on her cheeks. At least she could properly talk to this version of Luz.
"Yes, right. Sorry.", she pulled off the hoodie and handed the still warm fabric back to Luz who put it on, then they grinned at each other.
"So…", Luz began, stretching as she enjoyed having her normal body back, "I still don't remember baby me. But older me seems kinda nice! Even if it bothers me that she swears. Maybe I'll keep an ear out for that, and instead not start swearing."
At that, Amity had to laugh.
"Yeah, maybe that'd make you nicer. You were kinda pushing my buttons as older you.", she admitted and Luz blushed. Amity almost rubbed her eyes when the pink shade dusted across Luz's cheeks.
"Sorry. I remember I enjoyed that, though it seems like last week, not a few minutes ago.", she giggled awkwardly, then she hummed, "What're you still planning today? It's a free day, so, we could maybe hang out?"
Was that a date?
Amity felt giddy at the thought.
"I'd like to spend a day with normal you now."
Let me know if you liked it!