I knocked on the Bennett house's front door one afternoon. I hoped Bonnie didn't have any after-school plans that day. It felt strange — awkward even — to be here without C. But I needed to see Bonnie on my own, to figure out some things.

Bonnie answered the door with a surprised look on her face that she was quick to replace with a friendly smile. "Ri? Hey."

"Hi Bonnie. I'll get straight to my point: I have a probably strange request to ask of you."

"Said the vampire to the witch. Strange has become a relative term, these days."

"I was wondering if you could show me some magic. I'm sorry if that's rude or pushy; I don't know what the social protocols are when it comes to the supernatural. Six months ago, I thought witches and vampires were creatures of fiction, and now…" I trailed off. "I just want to learn as much as I can. And I'm fascinated by the idea of magic."

Bonnie, such as sweetheart, smiled at my rambling. "Sure. This way." She closed the front door and led me around her house to the backyard. I'm not sure if that's because Bonnie wanted to keep her house vampire-free or if she just didn't know me well-enough to trust me. Either way, I can't blame her.

As we stepped onto her back deck, she asked "What sort of spell did you want to see?"

"Oh. I don't know; I hadn't thought of that."

"That's okay. How about I show you some simple ones?"

I nodded. Bonnie went inside and brought out five candles and a glass bowl. She sat on the deck and placed the candles in front of her. She set the dish aside. She swept her hand in a small arc over the candles and they lit up. She closed her eyes and inhaled slowly. The flames on all the candles grew taller — impossibly high.

Good thing there is not a breath of wind or those flames could do some serious damage.

Bonnie opened her eyes and the flames went back to normal candle flames. She smiled.

"Wow," was all I could say.

"Now this was the first spell I showed Elena," she said as she reached for the glass dish. She put her hand inside it, pulled out a handful of potpourri bits, and dropped them onto the deck. The bits scattered. Again she closed her eyes and inhaled slowly; her hand was out-stretched, palm down, over the bits. One or two of the bits slowly rose into the air. Soon, they were all in the air, floating around us. It was actually quite beautiful.

"This is so cool," I said, almost absent-mindedly. Bonnie opened her eyes and smiled, but her hand remained out in front of her, so the bits kept floating. When she lowered her hand, the bits floated back down onto the deck.

"Wow," I said again. "But these are probably just parlour tricks to you now."

"Yes," she replied. "But it's nice when the simple things are appreciated."

"Would you mind horribly if I asked some more questions?"

"Not at all."

"How did it start? How did you realize you were a witch?"

"Well, my Grams always told me I was a witch, but I never believed her. It wasn't until things started happening that I began to believe."

"What sort of things."

"Premonitions, I guess you could call them. I could sense things when I touched a person or an object: I'd get a good or a bad feeling. And I started getting these visions of numbers. I would constantly see a set of numbers in my head and they would mean nothing to me. I'd only figure out what they meant once something happened — then everything would fit into place. It terrified me, at first, but once I accepted that I was a witch, my Grams started helping me, and I was able to get the premonitions, or visions, under control."

"Your Grams? So witchcraft is hereditary?"

"Yes," Bonnie nodded. "My mom was a witch. And my Grams. Our ancestry dates back centuries."

"Does that affect your power? The length of your lineage?"

"Yes. The older the witch bloodline, the stronger we are because we have access to more ancestors to help us with strong spells."

I didn't stay much longer with Bonnie. My request was probably strange to her, and I didn't need to creep her out more than I probably already had. I was incredibly grateful to her for what she showed me and also what she told me. As I walked home from the Bennett house, I thought about everything she had told me, about how she started with magic. It gave me a lot to think about.

I saw C's car parked out front as I walked up to the house; apparently she was home. Instead of going straight to my room, I went to C's bedroom door to say a quick hi. I found her sitting on the edge of her bed, looking at the slightly rolled up piece of paper in her hands. A piece of parchment. I knew what she was looking at. I stopped and stood in her doorway. "Did he really offer to show you the world?" C had been telling me more about the supernatural events of Mystic Falls, prior to my arrival, and of course, she could not skip over mentioning Klaus.

She laughed, "Yeah."

"I can't believe you turned him down."

"Why does that surprise you? It's Klaus. Mass-murdering, psychotic Klaus."

I sighed and shook my head. I walked over and sat down on the edge of C's bed, facing her. "You're wrong about him, C. He's not as bad as you think he is."

"What?!"

"He's more than just the manipulative, psychotic serial killer you see."

"What is with you two? It's creepy how much time you're spending with him."

I shrugged. "I don't see him the way you do."

"If offered, are you saying you'd go with him to see the world, Ri?"

"I'd love nothing more than to get out of this town and go see the world. When the time is right. Who wouldn't?!" I laughed. "But I didn't get the offer."

"You've been spending enough time with him, Ri. You'll get an offer soon enough."

"Gosh, C. You make it sound like he offers trips to every female he comes across." C gives me a look. "Klaus and I are friends. Something he doesn't have a lot of in this town. Something I don't have a lot of either."

"That's not true. What about Bonnie and Elena? And Stefan? Matt?"

"They're your friends, C; they only tolerate me because I live with you. And maybe because I know the supernatural secrets of this town. But don't turn this around on me. We are talking about you and Klaus."

C huffed, but didn't say anything. She went back to looking at the drawing in her hands.

I tried approaching the subject from another angle. "You know that he stuck around town for you, C. You know that, right?"

"No. You're wrong, Ri."

"Think about it. After Elena died, ending the doppelganger bloodline, what reason did he have to stick around Mystic Falls?"

"His family."

"With the exception of Rebekah, they had all left. Elijah came back after Klaus was dessicated but he wouldn't stay. He didn't stay. And after killing Elena, the whole town hated Rebekah. She'd surely want to leave. The only reason she hasn't left is because Klaus hasn't left. And why hasn't Klaus left?"

C didn't answer.

"Because of you, C. Because he fancies you. He stayed to win your heart." I could see C rolling her eyes, even though she didn't look up at me. "Look at me, C. Can you look me in the eye and honestly tell me that you don't feel anything, at all, for him?"

"No, I don't," she responded, but she didn't look at my face.

"Not even after everything he's said to you. Shown you. Given to you."

"I can't be bought, Ri!"

"I know. But that drawing is amazing. And priceless."

C didn't say anything.

"I don't know if you're just lying to me, or if you're lying to yourself, C."

She let out a frustrated noise. "Okay, is there a part of me that thinks there might be some part of him that isn't the uber bad guy? Yeah. And maybe I'd even like to get to know that guy. But I can't."

"Because of Tyler?"

"No, because it's Klaus. Yes, there's Klaus who drew this and who saved my life. But there's also Klaus who killed Jenna, who made Tyler into a hybrid, and who made Stefan into the ripper again and turned off his emotions. The Klaus who tried to kill Elena, more than once. The Klaus who was going to sacrifice Tyler and me. And I just… I can't…"

"Get past it," I said, understanding.

We were quiet for a few moments. "I don't get you, Ri. You're able to look past all he's done?"

"Ugh. I really don't want to argue with you over with, C. Again."

"I don't want to argue either. I'm just asking you to explain."

"I told you; I don't see what you see. I know he has done some truly awful things, but I cannot judge him too harshly for those; they were before my time here. What if he's a different person now?"

"Trust me, he's not."

I had to end this conversation before C gets me too mad and I saw something I will regret. "Look. I am not asking you to like him, or to forgive him, or to forget what he's done. But I am asking you to please let me determine, on my own, who my friends are."

C nodded. "I don't like it, but I can see that you're going to be just as stubborn as I am and not want to change your opinion, so okay." She let out a sigh.

"Good."