Step 3: Mix the Potion & Cast the Spell

Arthur spent most of the early evening of October 30th greeting the guests he'd invited for the party the next day on Halloween. The first nations he'd asked were his friends or nations who were or had been part of the UK: Wy, Hong Kong, Seychelles, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. He invited France (ugh) but only because he was friends with America (France had invited Prussia along, much to Arthur's chagrin).

Arthur also invited everyone else he thought might be America's friend: Finland and Sweden (who brought along that brat Sealand), Germany (and North Italy, of course), Japan, Taiwan, Spain (and South Italy), Belgium, Switzerland and his little sister, Liechtenstein, Austria, Hungary, China, Poland, and Lithuania.

"What's he doing here?" Arthur asked pointing at Russia.

Lithuania trembled and looked over his shoulder. "I had no choice but to let him come," he said.

Russia clamped a hand on his shoulder, causing the Baltic nation to jump.

"Russia's such a good friend after all. He said he'd promise not to do anything creepy or bad," Lithuania continued.

"I, like, keep telling you to leave him alone!" Poland said, running over to Russia and Lithuania. He grabbed the trembling Baltic's hand and positioned himself between Russia and Lithuania.

"I wasn't going to hurt him," Russia said.

The front door to Arthur's house burst open as lightning flashed behind the figure who opened it, silhouetting the nation at the door. Everyone let out a startled scream, except for Russia who merely smiled.

"Brother, you left me behind," Belarus said, stepping into the light inside the house. She was wearing a wedding gown and veil.

This time it was Russia's turn to let out a scream. "I didn't know you wanted to come along," he said, backing up and holding up his hands.

Arthur tried his best not to laugh.

"I want to go everywhere my future husband goes," Belarus said, smiling up at him.

Russia turned ashen, and he looked like he was about to faint.

Arthur stared. He'd never seen Russia look frightened before.

"Natalia, I keep telling you your behavior is inappropriate," Ukraine said, walking up behind her. She was dressed as a shepherdess. She started crying into a handkerchief. "I'm sorry, Ivan. I accidentally let it slip where you and Toris had gone."

Lithuania smiled at Belarus and stepped from behind Poland. "You look beautiful," he said to Belarus.

She glared at him, then looked down at her wedding gown and blushed. "I didn't dress up for you," she said. "I thought this was going to be a fancy dress party§, but it appears no one else is wearing a costume."

Everyone else looked at each other.

"Ve~ I thought so too, but isn't the party tomorrow night?" Feliciano said.

All the other nations nodded their heads.

"Wow, you look great!" Alfred said, walking up to the Russian sisters. "You sure are lucky to have such pretty sisters, Russia." He grinned and grabbed Ukraine by the hand. "Are you some sort of farm girl?" he asked.

"No, I'm Little Bo Peep," she said, holding up a plush toy lamb.

"Well you look really sexy," Alfred said, winking.

Ukraine blushed deeply.

"You look cute too, Belarus. Have you got anyone in mind with that outfit?" Alfred asked, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

Belarus narrowed her eyes but blushed.

Russia glared and started to take out his faucet-pipe, while muttering "плейбой".

I'd better stop this before things get violent, Arthur thought as he cleared his throat. "I believe I have room for all of you to stay here tonight, but please claim your room before we have our evening meal," he said, gesturing towards the entrance to the rest of his home from the front room. "Please respect any 'Do Not Enter' signs," Arthur said, looking directly at Alfred, Prussia, and France as he said it. "Those are my private rooms."

France looked offended.

Prussia shrugged.

Alfred was chatting up Belgium and Taiwan (the latter to Kiku's aggravation; although, he'd never admit it).

All the nations began filing out.

I hope no one breaks any of my antique furniture while they're here, Arthur thought. His mind wandered back to the velvet bag, and he reached into his pocket to look at the list of ingredients again.

There was an item at the bottom he hadn't been able purchase and Seren hadn't mentioned. "Piece of the moon," the pretty, script writing said. "If this is unavailable, mix the potion under the moonlight."

There's a full moon tonight; I'll just mix the potion up by a window in my private study, he thought. I'll make it tonight at midnight and give it to Alfred tomorrow on Halloween morning. That way, I'll have the whole day to watch the ghost torment him. Arthur chuckled at the thought.

After it appeared that every nation had gone to sleep, Arthur donned the cloak he wore for magic and went to the study. He pulled the cauldron he planned to use for the potion over to the window so that moonlight could fall on it. He poured the 946.35 milliliters of pomegranate juice into the cauldron and then lit three candles under it to heat it. Then he mixed in the 256 grams* of sugar the list asked for and let it dissolve into the juice. Arthur then mixed in each herb from its little plastic bottle, followed by the red rose petals from the rose he'd used the other night.

As the mixture started bubbling, Arthur stirred it and checked his watch. Five minutes to midnight. Almost time to start casting the spell, he noted as he picked up his notepad and flipped to the page he'd written it on. The grandfather clock in the room struck midnight, and Arthur began reciting the spell. "Alfred drawsnewid i mewn i hardd," The words echoed through the room, and the potion started glowing a pinkish-red color. "merch ddeniadol ar gyfer n—"

"Hey Artie, are you in here?" Alfred called as he threw open the door, his voice booming over Arthur's and covering up the last few words of the spell. The younger nation peered into the darkness and then flicked the light switch.

Arthur blinked at the sudden brightness from the many lamps that immediately lit up.

"Do you have an Xbox 360? Mattie and I wanna play some Halo," Alfred stated.

Arthur turned towards Alfred, his eyes wide. How in the hell? he thought. I thought I'd locked that door.

Something caught Alfred's attention above where Arthur was standing. "What the hell is that?" he said, pointing above Arthur.

Arthur looked up and saw an opaque cloud hovering above him and the cauldron. It fluctuated and glowed a pretty pink and purple color. "Um, I'm making my costume, and it required a spell?" he lied.

Alfred scratched his head. "Okay, so long as you weren't trying to cook up some spell to scare me with some monster or something," he said.

Arthur bit his lip. "You know we agreed against all that," he lied again.

"Hey Alfred, did you find out if he had one?" Matthew said, coming into the room.

The cloud glowed brighter at the sound of Alfred's name and swirled through the air toward Alfred. It smacked into him with a force that knocked him over.

"Holy crap!" Matthew said.

Arthur ran over to Alfred.

The younger nation was out cold.

"Are you all right?" Arthur asked. Did the spell have something to do with this? he wondered. Was the ghost going to start haunting him after he woke up? . . . Wait . . . The potion.

"Here Bro," Matthew said, holding a steaming teacup to Alfred's mouth.

Alfred moaned as he came to. He sniffed the liquid and then eagerly drank it. "Thanks for the coffee, Mattie," he said after finishing it and wiping his mouth. "I didn't think Artie had any in the house."

Coffee? "Where did you get that?" Arthur asked.

Matthew pointed at the cauldron. "That stuff smelled like coffee," he said, "so I assumed that's what it was. I found the cup on that table over there."

Arthur cringed. That cup was one I used earlier to drink some tea this afternoon, he thought, but actually it's sort of amusing that Alfred just drank out of my used cup.

"What kind of costume were you making?" Alfred said, getting up. "Juan Valdez?" He laughed at his joke. "That smoke was dangerous." He laughed again and then hugged Arthur.

"Alfred . . . can't breathe . . ." Arthur managed to gasp out. Is he trying to crush me? he mused, feeling uncomfortable by the undertone he sensed in the hug. Why does this feel the same as his hugs when he was frightened as a child?

"I'm glad it hit me instead of you," Alfred whispered in Arthur's ear. "If something had happened to you, I wouldn't know what I'd do."

"What the bloody hell are you saying?" Arthur said, blushing and pushing him away. "You don't really mean that. Stop being so flippant."

Alfred released him, tears peeking at the corners of his eyes. "Do you hate me, Artie?" Alfred asked, his lower lip quivering.

"Of course I don't, but you're acting strangely," Arthur said, straightening his tie.

"I just don't want to see you get hurt," Alfred said, wiping his eyes. "Magic is dangerous. I must be okay because I'm a hero, but maybe you should go buy your costume instead of make it. You still have all day tomorrow before the party." The younger nation smiled, and then he stumbled a little. "Whoa! Um, we're going to have to cancel that Halo-fest, Mattie," he told Matthew. "I'm feeling a little sleepy all of a sudden."

"Even after drinking that coffee?" Matthew asked.

"Yeah, I don't get it either," Alfred said. He walked out the door and into the room he'd called "dibs" on earlier. America had found the best room in the house: the one closest to a bathroom across the hallway.

"Guess I'll go to bed too then," Matthew said. He wandered out the door and into the room he was staying in.

Arthur sighed and walked over to the cauldron. Luckily, Canada had finished what he was supposed to do after reciting the spell: give the potion to Alfred.

Wait. Why hasn't the ghost shown up yet? Did I get the whole spell out? he mused, carefully trying to recall what had happened. I did manage to say the whole spell, but Alfred's voice overlapped mine. Will that make a difference? He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Madam Irfon. Never hurts to be sure, he concluded.

"If you are getting this message," Ceridwen's voice said, "I'm either unavailable or on the line with someone else. Please leave your number and a message."

"Yes, this is Arthur Kirkland," he said after the message beep. "I have a question about the spell you sold to me. Please call me as soon as you can." Arthur hung up and poured the rest of the potion into a spare bottle he had on his shelf.

Why hasn't the specter shown up yet? Arthur wondered again. Ceridwen's spells are guaranteed to work. Then he remembered that Seren had specifically asked him when he wanted the spell to stop working. Maybe it's only going to be haunting Alfred for Halloween night since that's when the spell was requested for, he concluded, somewhat disappointed that he wouldn't be able to enjoy the whole day. Oh well can't be helped now.

Arthur blew out the candles and went to bed. Just before he fell asleep, Arthur thought he heard someone walking past his room toward his study muttering, "I need to get the rest of that coffee for tomorrow." A thought crossed Arthur's mind to stop whoever it was waking him up, but he was so exhausted that he drifted off to sleep before acted on that thought.

A/N

*946.35 milliliters = 4 cups. 256 grams = 2 cups (1 pint) for non-metric users. ;P

§ fancy dress party (British English) = costume party (American English)

Language Translations:

плейбой = playboy

I am specifically not translating "Alfred drawsnewid i mewn i hardd, merch ddeniadol ar gyfer noson Calan Gaeaf" because it's a spoiler for the next chapter. You could go to a translation machine online to find out what it means, but why do that? The next chapter is already available! Go read how the spell worked on Alfred!

BTW I "invited" a lot of nations to Arthur's house but not all of them will have speaking or acting roles. That's just too many "voices" and personalities to deal with. I will have quite a few who will be players in this little story though so don't worry. ;)