Hello everyone and welcome!

I would like to thank all of you who favorited and followed the story, you guys make me so happy! If you are still enjoying the story, leave a review and let me know what you like or don't like?

Anyways, my cast for the chapter is the following:

Simone - Portia Doubleday

Eve - Beth Riesgraf

Dan - Beau Mirchoff

Griffith (skater girl) – Jessica Parker Kennedy

Rebecca Harlowe (Harley) – Jamila Thompson

Enjoy

Chapter 10: Witch Godmother

Simone woke up to the sweet, familiar scent and the gentle sounds of old music. She got up, checking her phone, which brought a sick feeling to her stomach at the sight of the vertical, neon crack on it. Regret from yesterday's cafeteria disaster was still present in high quality. It was six thirty o'clock and the sun still wasn't up. The teen got onto her feet, noticing that Minuit was missing from the room and hurriedly threw on some clothes, not even bothering. The braid in her hair reminded her of the night before, when Dan had comforted her. Somehow, in the morning warmth, the first day of school and the storm that had followed seemed like a faraway nightmare. Despite the crack on her phone.

The Inn was filled with a sweet, familiar scent and Simone followed it all the way to the kitchen. She supposed that the guests were still sleeping, because when she got downstairs, it was only Dan and Eve. The blonde witch was wearing a short, indie dress with a colorful, mandala design. Her shoulders were bare, and her bangles were all in place. Whenever she moved, a gentle jingle followed her. Her hair was in a loose bun, still a tad sweaty from morning yoga.

Daniel, instead of his usual position on the couch with an arm over his eyes, was fully dressed and functional. He wasn't padding around barefoot in his boxers or jeans, as Simone had somehow (not really) managed to get used to. Instead, he already had his pants on, along with a fit T-shirt with 'Everybody lies' written on it. And, however cool he looked, the warlock was doing something much unexpected.

Dan twirled Eve who was laughing with joy as Vaya con Dios played in the background. It was a quick succession of salsa moves which the two executed quite well, at least in Simone's sleepy opinion. Now that she actually paid attention, Daniel was a really good height for Eve as a dance partner. He was much too tall for Simone, as she was rather short, but Eve was a tad taller and plus, she was wearing high heels.

Dan twirled Eve, leaving her to dance on her own as he went to quickly flip a couple of crepes over, so that they wouldn't get burned. He saw Simone and gave her a wide grin, beckoning her over. As she sleepily stumbled towards the cheery, and fully awake warlock, the song in the background switched. Nah Neh Nah began playing and Dan grabbed Simone's arm, pulling her into an unexpected and rather clumsy dance. Eve took over the pan, still moving her feet and hips in the rhythm, singing.

Dan clearly knew what he was doing with the dance, but Simone was utterly lost. She stumbled and stepped on his feet with her bare ones as she attempted to follow. Dan was singing along, grinning, and twirling the confused and now awake witch with ease. He dipped her quickly, making her laugh as well. Then, the warlock switched out with Eve, who readily caught her Goddaughter for the second dance. This time, Ain't No Mountain High Enough began playing, each line and note familiar to the teenage witch, who joined into the morning cheer.

When they finally sat down for breakfast together, a rarity at the Inn, Simone was fully awake, exhausted and quite content. Her cheeks were hurting from how much she had been smiling and laughing and she felt like nothing could bring her down. Crepes were eaten rather quickly, the meal full of Dan's jokes and Eve's stories of weird guests from the Inn.

"Now then, shall we get you ready for school?" Eve grinned, getting up and skillfully evading the dishes duty. Simone got up as well, following the excited witch who rushed upstairs. She could hear Dan protesting the dishes duty all the way to the third floor.

When Simone opened her room door, she could see Eve rummaging through her wardrobe, her heels clicking as she moved and all the bangles jingling. The witch was sifting through the various outfits on different hangers, a myriad of expressions changing on her face.

"Hop into the shower, why don't you?" The blonde suggested, her voice a tad muffled from her position almost inside the girl's wardrobe. "You still have fifteen minutes for that." Eve's head appeared once more with a wide smile, her gentle aura spreading. Simone found herself mute, only nodding and taking her towel to obey.

When she returned a little later, her Godmother was missing, but there were some clothes on her bed. There were plain black nylon tights, a tank top in the same color, along with her Dr. Marten's next to the bed. A short leather jacket, in black, was positioned there carefully as well. A small bottle was on her nightstand, in her favorite pale, cornflower blue.

As soon as Simone slipped on her underwear for the day, in black, Eve entered without knocking. "Oh, good." She exclaimed happily and hung a hanger on the wardrobe door, displaying the dress. "I found something that I bought some years ago and ended up never wearing. What do you think?" The dress was adorable. It was short, not even nearly reaching the knees. The dress was in burgundy, with double fabric in the same color, a layer of lace on top. The sleeves were long, completely in lace.

"It's beautiful." Simone exclaimed, forgetting for a moment that she was almost nude. She walked over and touched the dress gently. It was like from a magazine. Like directly from a model. But, Simone knew better. The clothes on the model and the clothes on her didn't look the same. The dress was beautiful, but she wasn't. She couldn't carry it properly. "I really can't." The young witch said, pulling her hand back.

"Nonsense." The blonde witch waved off the polite rejection, smiling gently. "Shall we do it like this," When Simone didn't respond, Eve softly compromised. "I'll put everything on and get you all dressed up, leaving enough time for you to change if you don't like it." There was a small pause where Eve simply beamed, spreading her joyful Disney princess aura shamelessly. Simone caved.

"Alright." The girl finally said. Eve perked up, hopping up and down with joy and clapped her hands a couple of times in excitement.

"Here, tie up your hair." The blonde witch passed her Goddaughter a hair tie, rushing outside the room. "Put the tights on, too!" Simone obeyed the yell, pulling her hair up and then going over to her bed. By the time she was struggling with the nylon tights, which weren't her first clothing choice, as they tended to slide down a lot, Eve came back. She was carrying a metal chest of sorts, which she placed on Simone's desk.

"Isn't this a tad too short?" The teenage witch asked, attempting to pull the tank top further down. Unfortunately, it barely reached her hips, much less went over the rim of her underwear like she preferred.

"It's fine, trust me." Eve commented, taking the dress off the hanger and taking it to her Goddaughter. She slipped it on as soon as Simone put her hands up. Then, the witch zipped it up carefully and let the teen's hair down. "Oh, just beautiful." Eve whispered, smiling. "I'm so jealous that your mom got a daughter first." The witch smiled, running her fingers through the long, blonde hair before she begun braiding it.

"How did you meet my mom?" Simone asked, waiting for the hairstyle to be ready. The dress was comfortable, despite the fact that it was quite snug. The tulle underneath the skirt made the dress flare out naturally, which was quite fairytale like. Simone felt like a princess, which wasn't something that the witch could often say about herself.

"We got to know each other during high school." Eve spoke as she continued braiding. "Cath was a right pain in the ass, I tell you. She was a know-it-all, goody two shoes." With a sigh and a smile, the witch finished the braid, tying it off. "But, I loved her. It was because we were so different that we got along so well." Eve fumbled with something before tugging at her Goddaughter's hair a tad and then exclaimed happily. "There, perfect."

"Should I put my shoes on?" Simone asked and after receiving a nod, bent down to do so. It took her Godmother around fifteen more minutes of fussing around her, doing her make-up (light with natural products) and choosing jewelry from the metal chest, to finish the whole 'second day of school' project. When the witch finally stepped away, Simone let out a sigh of relief. Her mother had done these kinds of things quite a long time ago, when Simone had been a child. She couldn't really say that she missed it.

"Here we go." Eve picked up the blue bottle from the table, spraying the perfume on the teen. "Take a look." And the witch pushed Simone in front of the mirror on the inside of her wardrobe's door, the cloud of perfume following the young witch.

Simone gasped. She couldn't believe that that girl in the mirror was her. The tights and the sleeves covered her gangly limbs, making them look rather elegant. The scoop neckline was soft, accenting her medium sized chest nicely. Her hair was neat, falling loosely down her shoulders and back. The waterfall braids that Eve had made were tied together with a maroon ribbon in the back. The dress was snug on her, yet she couldn't see the fat on her stomach that she usually did. Simone turned, looking at her waist from the side and then made a sitting motion. It was just to prove her point, she assured herself. If she went to school in this she would have to spend some time sitting, after all. The dress bunched up, but not in an ugly, size too small, way.

The teen straightened once more, looking at her face now. Her eyes were accented gently and her lips were redder, but still without any lipstick. Even her skin seemed not to be that pale. The only piece of jewelry that she had on was a simple necklace with a blue gem on the chain, matching her icy eyes. It was perfect. She felt confident. Powerful. She felt like a witch.

"What do you think?" Eve brought Simone back into reality, the warm vanilla scent still strong in the air. Her Godmother touched her shoulders gently, coming up behind her and smiling at their reflections.

"Thank you." Eve grinned even wider.


Daniel was waiting in the hall next to the entrance when he heard them. The girlish giggling that he had become quite accustomed to hearing from Eve, but not really from Simone. Daniel liked the teenage witch exactly like she was. Meek, shy and more than a little embarrassed. But, when you dug a little deeper, you found that she also had sass and sarcasm, along with an iron will and a fiery temper. The warlock had only experienced Simone's rage once, and thankfully, it hadn't been directed at him.

It was in the first few days, when she had been frequently phoning her mother and father. She had spent at least an hour describing the journey to Mrs. Jones, before carrying the phone around, showing the older witch the inside and outside of the Lighthouse Inn. What Dan, an unsuspecting passerby at the time, hadn't expected was a shouting match which occurred after the grand tour was done. He couldn't really remember how the fight between mother and daughter had started, but it had ended with a cut-off call and an angry teenage witch stuffing her face with honey as the lights flickered in the kitchen.

So, yes, Dan liked Simone just how she was. She wasn't a shallow, 'look at me', kind of girl, which he was so used to seeing. Nor was she the gothic and rock boyish type, which he was used to hanging around with. Simone was Simone, and he would do anything to make sure that she kept her gentle and sweet side while living in Beacon Hills.

"So?" Eve piped up and Daniel realized that he had been staring at his phone aimlessly. "What do you think?" He looked up and wow. The awkward, overalls girl that had arrived to their home was no more.

"Damn." He commented with a whistle. "You look hot." The warlock smirked at the blush that colored Simone's cheeks, but she didn't avert her eyes, like she usually did. Instead, she stared right at him with her icy eyes, as if to prove that she was strong. Well, after the disastrous first day at school which both Eve and Dan had guessed happened, she needed a bit of a confidence boost. This morning's pampering also wasn't doing any harm.

"Thank you." Simone said, her voice strong and even, but her fingers were twirling a piece of her hair. It was giving her nervousness away. She was absolutely adorable, Dan decided. More footsteps sounded from the stairs and the Meyers family came downstairs, along with their son Thomas, a young lad who was rather enamored with Simone.

"Oh, Simone, darling!" Mrs. Meyers commented in her high-pitched, sugary tone. She urged the witch to turn in a circle, so that she could see the full outfit. Simone seemed a tad uncomfortable, but she did obey, twirling. Eve smiled in a way that Daniel recognized. She was itching to do this again sometime soon. "Off to school, are you?" Mrs. Meyers continued, grinning happily. When Simone nodded the lady grabbed her husband's arm and pulled him towards the kitchen. "Well, we shouldn't hold you up then, darling! Let us grab some breakfast, honey." When her son didn't follow she hissed. "Thomas!" The boy rushed after them, telling his mother how he was going to marry Simone.

"So, I suppose that you aren't going incognito anymore?" The warlock asked, twirling his bike keys around his finger.

"Signor Ezio is ready to have a bounty." The witch replied, shocking Daniel with her gaming reference.


Simone didn't know why, but she didn't feel awkward. Maybe it had been the bike ride? Or all the looks and hushed whispers when Dan had helped her off Tomoe, his precious Kawasaki? She felt like she did while doing a spell or a brew. She knew exactly what she was doing. Her magic was thrumming in the back of her head, a strong assurance that she was safe. She remembered what her grandmother had told her while they were cooking, their favorite activity together. There is magic in everything. In this cake. In your school. In everything. You simply need to know where to look. In the end, magic is simply a higher understanding of Nature.

She was ready.

Simone pushed the metal double doors of the school building open. She walked to her locker first, choosing to leave most of her stuff in there, along with her lunch. This time, she was going to keep those sandwiches safe. They did look more than delicious, after all. The trip to her Trig classroom was full of looks and glances, but Simone took a deep breath and raised her head, as if she was on a walkway. She imagined herself back at the Foresters' library, reading about spells and potions. There, she was comfortable.

Surprisingly, the day went rather normally, or, as normally as Simone wanted it to go. Mr. Roberts, her math teacher, had finally remembered to introduce her as the new student and she had gotten her three seconds of introduction before sinking back into her seat. She had felt the gaze of the skater girl in front of her, but it wasn't too menacing. Rather, it seemed like the girl was contemplating something.

It wasn't until her third period, chemistry with Mr. Hellish that Hell really descended. Professor Snape really seemed to be out to get her. First, he had given a syllabus on the things that they were already 'supposed to know. Cue, input just about every single formula for chemistry that you can think of. But, Simone was smart. At least, smart about Chemistry.

The actual destruction came about forty-five minutes later, when Mr. Harris decided to assign the first homework of the semester. It was a group project and he began reading names off of a list, making those teams. Unluckily for Simone, her name was read together with Griffith, Martin and Harlowe. She recognized only one, but even that was enough.

The skater girl from Trig had turned in her seat, on the opposite side of the classroom and given her a look that Simone really couldn't identify. After the period was over, everyone went over to their groups, including the young witch. She uneasily stumbled over to the skater girl's desk, attempting to look as small as possible, despite all the confidence that she had gotten with her Godmother's makeover.

"Hi!" The black girl with a ponytail who was talking with the tan skater greeted with a smile. "You're in our group, I take it?" Simone managed a nod.

"She's in my Trig class." The tan skater girl said flatly.

"You already know each other? Great!" The black teen seemed enthusiastic, but generally friendly. Mrs. Jones wouldn't approve, Simone knew. Her mother always said that the Craft and Voodoo should not mix under any circumstances, but the young witch didn't share her views. Being black didn't mean that one was a Voodoo practitioner. "I'm Rebecca Harlowe." The girl extended her hand, shaking Simone's. "But everybody just calls me Harley."

"Simone Jones." The witch murmured. Harley and the skater girl continued their chat, something about a girl named Emma and her boyfriend. Simone felt like the ultimate third wheel, not really sure what to do with herself. She had no idea who Emma was, much less anything about her boyfriend.

Then, another person joined them. "When are you meeting to do the assignment?" A girl with red hair successfully interrupted the chat, killing it. Before anyone had had the chance to say anything, she continued. "It can't be tomorrow, because I have an appointment at the salon, and it can't be Friday."

"I'm sorry, I have-" Harley began, but didn't get far.

"Oh, and Thursday is lacrosse practice!" The redhead giggled to herself, as if she had just made a silly mistake and shrugged cutely. There was a clattering sound on the other side of the classroom, causing Harley and Simone to look, but the newcomer and skater girl remained in a deadly eye lock. "I suppose that you will have to do it by yourselves then?" Somehow, the weekend wasn't even in this girl's plans as a schoolwork day. The redhead gave them a quick, fake smile, and then turned around with a flip of her hair, walking off. A cloud of expensive perfume was left in her wake.

"Lydia fucking Martin." Skater girl commented. "Just our luck, right?" Harley nodded, a little sadly. She gave a sigh and then grinned brightly at both girls.

"I guess it's just us then?" She pulled her bag onto her shoulder and gave a nod to both of them. "We can meet tomorrow at my place and start working?" But, before Simone could ask about her address or phone number, Harley rushed out. Skater girl gave her a look and then stood, taking her stuff.

She lingered at the door, noticing that Simone was still standing next to the desk. "Well? Are you coming to Economics?" The tan girl asked in an irritated tone. Simone scrambled to follow her.


After dinner, Simone couldn't help it. She had spent two days working on school things. Well, less than two days. Let's say a day and a half. After finally being able to scratch the surface of magic, she was hungry for more. After all, she had dreamed of that for years. Years of her mother and grandmother quarrelling about whether Simone would or wouldn't become a member of a Coven. It was suffocating. But now. Now the teen was living with a witch, a warlock, a myriad of different supernaturals coming and going, and most importantly, she had free access to a basement library full of magic books.

The Forester library. It was by no means complete, but it was still vast. The room was the size of almost the whole basement, filled with old bookshelves and rows and rows of tomes. Some were about magic, some were about life, and others were popular books of the century. Simone had been shocked to find a whole Harry Potter series, signed by the author herself, among the fantasy genre.

The young witch had become familiar with the place since her arrival to the Lighthouse Inn. There was an old, heavy desk in the middle of the library, where she preferred to do her reading and note-taking. The two comfortable sofa chairs were positioned perfectly under the lamp, so that one could read in absolute peace.

Simone had waited for everyone to fall asleep. She had always felt awkward around people. She felt like she was being watched and judged. She would spend more time staring at something and wondering if she should do it or not, than actually doing the desired action. But, as soon as she was alone, it was like someone would pull off a heavy curtain of anxiety off of her and she was able to be herself. So, the young witch waited for the night to fall before creeping down the stairs and into the basement. Minuit hadn't been too happy about being left in her room alone, but he had complied.

The young witch wandered through the rows, looking for a book that she wanted to start with. Then, one caught her eye. It was a book which she had already looked at. And, it had been on her mind ever since. "Battle magic." Simone slid the tome off the shelf placing it on the table and began reading.

The first ten pages spoke of some sort of energy which was inside each witch or warlock. Simone understood only parts of it, as some of the text was in Latin, as well. But, there was a hand-written note on the side and she managed to decipher the scribble. Magicka, it said. Simone had surely never heard of that before, but, she wasn't really the expert. She considered going to Dan or Eve about the book, but it didn't feel right. Battle magic did not sound like something that her Godmother would approve of. Even Dan, who was a really cool guy, had his moments of over-protectiveness. He even insisted on helping her off of his precious bike, Tomoe, for Simone's own or Tomoe's sake, she wasn't sure. Regardless, she was keeping the little infatuation a secret.

She continued skimming through the readable parts of the book. A couple of pages were missing, she could see the ends of them where they had been ripped out. The teen skipped that and continued. The book next spoke of the origin of the battle magic within the martial arts somewhere in the East. Simone was so involved in the tale that she didn't notice the passage of time. When she finally looked up, her eyes stinging from the long reading, the sky was slowly lighting up though the tiny, basement window.

She cursed inwardly, a thing that wasn't really in her vocabulary and scrambled to put the book back into its place. Tomorrow, she told herself. She would continue reading tomorrow. After all, she was only on page forty, and the book had at least two hundred by the size of it. Hopefully, after reading the introduction and explanations, the battle magic would work when she tried it.

Her thoughts wandered to the night before, when her own body had betrayed her, leading her to the literal edge. She could still see the hunched form in the clearing, illuminated by lightning. She knew, by the size of the trees around it just how big it was. Just how dangerous. The mere thought of it made hairs on the back of her neck stand. And that did not happen often. It had happened only once before. An event which she had been too young to understand but would follow her forever. Simone would never doubt her instincts. And her instincts, her magic, it was telling her that the time for battle magic would come soon.

That's all folks! I hope you enjoyed!

Some random info, as always:

- Simone has anxiety

- Harley (Rebecca Harlowe) was supposed to be a character in TW, she appears in the 1st episode and then some

- Evangeline and Catherine are not the same age, Evangeline is younger

- 'Signor Ezio' refers to Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a character from Assassin's Creed II

- Evangeline forced Daniel to take salsa lessons with her, that's why he can dance so well

Extra

Scott was talking to the two other members of their Chemistry project group, planning how and when they were going to start the work. Fortunately, Martinez, a sophomore in the team was also a lacrosse player, hence, he was able to convince the group to meet when it was convenient for everybody.

Just as the other two left, he turned to Stiles, only to find him more than occupied. The boy was looking, well, staring actually, at the girls across the room. Scott, bless his soul, didn't even need to look to see the object of his best friend's obsession. Well, Stiles would argue that it was a simple attention, but the teen werewolf knew better.

"Stiles." He hissed. "Let's go."

"I wasn't staring." Stiles defended, his eyes still glued to the wonder that was Lydia Martin. "I'm not staring." He repeated, once Scott rolled his eyes, as if he could see it.

"I'm leaving you, Stiles." The teen werewolf called out, smirking in amusement when his friend began packing blindly, his eyes still glued to the object of his affections. Scott had finally had enough and pulled his best friend out of his seat, the latter's limbs flailing comically, gaining quite a few looks.

"I will have you know that I was not staring." Stiles repeated for good measure as they left the classroom.