The following day was more of the same chaos of planning the engagement party and going over wedding details as Scrooge, Magica, Granny, Hexa, Castandra and Winnicent all sat in Scrooge's study going over various wedding and decorating catalogues and all was quiet for once; until Granny DeSpell cranked the stress and awkwardness up to 100. "You know, it's strange." She said, looking up from the binder of wedding dress photos she had been pouring over to try and find a suitable dress for Magica. "What's strange?" Magica asked, not really wanting to know what her grandmother had to say. "We've been here for a few days now and I have to say that I'm worried." "Worried?" Magica echoed in confusion. "Yes bambina, you two just don't seem to be very affectionate towards each other. You two are soon to be married but you don't seem too happy, is everything alright?" Scrooge choked on the tea he'd been sipping while trying to not think about the situation. Magica stammered. "O-of course we're affectionate! It's just that things have been stressful, what with wedding planning and uninvited guests dropping in unannounced."
"Even so, Granny makes a point. You two don't act like an engaged couple, in fact you hardly even act like a couple at all." Hexa looked at them suspiciously. "True," Castandra agreed. "I mean obviously his money alone is reason enough to marry him; but even I know that a marriage without love is doomed to failure. Why do you think I'm not married?" Winnicent nodded. "It's true you know; I know that only too well… Sometimes I think about my husband and how things turned out with him." "You cast a love spell on him to make him marry you and when it wore off you turned him into a frog!" Magica snapped. "How is that love?" "My point exactly sister. He didn't really love me so our marriage didn't work out."
Magica groaned in frustration and Scrooge just tried to pretend he wasn't hearing this rather terrifying story. "Can we please just get off the subject now? I think we should decorate with some belladonna flowers." Magica said, trying to go back to planning the party. "If there's some kind of problem here then maybe it should be discussed before anything proceeds further." Hexa glared at Scrooge. "Is there a problem McDuck?" Scrooge returned her glare and took Magica's hand. "There is no problem, and even if there was it wouldn't be any of your business." He said irritably. "Exactly." Magica agreed. "There's no problems between us whatsoever; so just drop it." "Somehow, I just don't quite buy that." Hexa remarked.
Magica glared at Hexa, then turned to Scrooge. "There's no problems at all… right Scroogie?" She hoped she was convincing while Scrooge nodded, following her lead. "Not a one Magica dearest." Magica decided a quick peck on the cheek would hopefully do the trick and leaned in to do just that; until Scrooge turned to face her.
Scrooge had intended to say or do something but the moment he turned to Magica he completely forgot what his original intention had been because he felt her beak contact his and his mind was fully focused on the contradictions of the situation. On the one hand she was his greatest enemy and the mere thought of kissing or being kissed by her should be making his skin crawl; but… on the other hand there always been some degree of mutual attraction between the two and now he realized that he may just have a real problem and it scared him, especially when combined with the realization that she wasn't faking the kiss and that, for reasons he was still trying to wrap his mind around, he liked it.
Magica hadn't intended for anything but a quick peck but once their lips made contact she found herself taking advantage of the moment, really kissing him and quickly realizing that she did have a problem, a serious one. Just the idea left her reeling in way that was both terrifying and pleasant. Finally having an opportunity to act on and sort of explore the attraction that had been there for so long made her realize two things: First of all, she had real feelings for Scrooge and secondly, she was foolish for it. He would never see her as more than his enemy and a nuisance, therefore this would never be more than an act until they found a way to put an end to it.
Granny and Castandra giggled while Hexa and Winnicent rolled their eyes. "Okay that's enough you two." Hexa said dismissively as she returned her attention to her décor catalogue. Scrooge and Magica pulled apart and Scrooge excused himself. "Are you satisfied now?" Magica asked, her face turning red.
Scrooge was now more certain than ever that this charade needed to end; That kiss was pushing dangerously close to a boundary that he was feeling uncomfortably close to these days; The boundary between 'pretend' and 'real' and the very idea scared him because if Magica ever knew that he'd even entertained the notion of this charade being anything more than pretend she would see an opportunity to manipulate him to get his dime and he really didn't want to think about that, he just wanted to banish the unwanted thoughts, and witches, and for things to just go back to normal.
When dinnertime came around Granny DeSpell offered to make dinner to make-up for the stress the 'happy couple' had been enduring. However, her idea of dinner wasn't shaping up too well as she had used the wrong ingredients by accident and somehow managed to set Scrooge's kitchen on fire.
"Granny, maybe you should stay out of the kitchen." Lena said, coughing from the smoke. "Yes, please do." Magica deadpanned while casting a spell to clean up the mess. "For once I agree." Hexa nodded, helping Granny to the dinning table. "I'm sorry, I guess I hocused when I should have pocused." Granny said sheepishly. "Maybe you should make dinner bambina." She looked at Magica. "Me? Why me?" "Because, I wanted make an old DeSpell family recipe and I know I taught you the recipe and I think you should make it for your soon to be husband." Granny DeSpell said, looking at Magica with a big smile. Magica sighed, it was almost impossible to refuse her grandmother when she made that face so she reluctantly agreed.
As Magica was about to enter the kitchen something occurred to her. "Where's Rosolio? I haven't seen him in a while." Not that she was particularly concerned about Rosolio himself but she was hoping he wasn't up to something troublesome. "Oh, he left the other day. Around the time the reporter with that really nice gold-plated watch came here. Said something about being unable to bear seeing you with another any longer." Castandra said off-handedly. "Oh well, that's one less headache for me to deal with." Magica shrugged. "Lena would you help in the kitchen? We need to get back to your training anyway. Think of it as part of your potion brewing lessons." Lena nodded. "Sure." "Can I help too? I'm really curious about this recipe and I'm handy in the kitchen." Webby asked. "Can she Aunt Magica?" Lena asked, both of them looking at Magica eagerly. "Uh, I think that depends on whether or not anyone else has a problem with it…" Magica looked at Scrooge and Mrs. Beakley.
Scrooge just shrugged. "I don't have a problem with it, if the girl wants to help she can help." He wasn't sure why he felt so sure he could trust Magica alone with Webby but he did and decided not to think too much about it. Mrs. Beakley took a moment to think it over before reluctantly nodding. "Very well." Webby jumped for joy and ran into the kitchen with Lena right behind her. "There shouldn't be any trouble, right?" Mrs. Beakley asked, an eyebrow raised skeptically and her tone conveying her true message: I can trust you with my granddaughter unsupervised? Magica nodded. "Everything should be fine. I'm certain I handle two little girls and a cooking lesson." With that Magica entered the kitchen.
"So, what are we making?" Webby asked excitedly. "The DeSpell family pasta recipe. What ingredients do you have in this kitchen?" Magica asked, opening the pantry and searching for what she needed. "Well I'm pretty sure we have pasta to boil in there somewhere and we have tomatoes in the fridge…" "No, no, no. We do not use pasta from a box. The recipe is for actual homemade pasta so we need flour and eggs." Magica explained as she pulled the flour from the pantry. "I've never actually made pasta before! So what else do we need?" Webby started rifling through cabinets excitedly.
Both Lena and Magica chuckled a bit as they watched her before Magica chanted some words and all the necessary ingredients floated out the cabinets and refrigerator and onto the counter.
"All right girls, I'll make the pasta and you two handle the sauce." Magica instructed. Lena nodded but Webby looked a bit disappointed. "I wanted to help make the pasta…" Magica couldn't help but smile a bit as she was reminded a bit of herself the first time she helped Granny make the pasta recipe. "I would gladly let you, but you don't have a pasta machine, therefore magic is a necessity for making the pasta and you just don't have the ability for it." Webby nodded. "I see. That makes sense. Um… maybe if you're going to be here for a while longer you could… teach me?" She asked hesitantly.
Magica was surprised that Webby was really that interested in magic, especially being that, Scrooge himself didn't care for the art and most likely wouldn't allow it in his house under normal circumstances. "I don't know… ah I suppose you would have to have Mrs. Beakley and Scrooge's permission first but I don't know how much longer I'll be here…" Magica wasn't too sure about how to handle the puppy eyes Webby was giving her and if she was honest with herself it was kind of making her heart melt a little. "…If there is time and you have permission I could try to teach you a little magic." Webby's whole face lit up. "Oh, thank you! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" She bounced around in excitement. "Hey Lena we could take lessons together!" She squealed. Lena nodded. "Heck yeah Webbs that'll be tons of fun!"
Magica couldn't help the small smile crossing her face; she found herself wondering, as she watched Webby and Lena get to work on the sauce, if being in Scrooge's house this long had made her soft or if she had always been this much of a softie like her sisters always said she was. Or could it be that being in McDuck Mansion was getting to be just that comfortable? After all Scrooge didn't seem to mind at all that Webby was helping her. She shook the thoughts from her head and returned her focus to her pasta.
Between a little magic and a little elbow grease they soon had the pasta dinner prepared and served it to everyone.
Huey and Dewey looked at their plates suspiciously. Louie inhaled the aroma deeply. "Mmmm! This smells great!" "Aye, it does. It looks great too." Scrooge agreed. "Are we sure it isn't poisoned?" Dewey asked, poking the pasta with his fork. "Really? I'm serving to my family too you know." Magica scoffed with offense. "That doesn't mean anything." Dewey shrugged. Magica chuckled. "I guess you're really getting to know me, now aren't you?"
"Hey, you trust me, right?" Webby asked. "Yeah…" Dewey answered slowly. "Well I promise it's not poisoned." Dewey eyed Webby skeptically as he slowly took a bite of his pasta. As he chewed he broke into a huge grin. "Oh my gosh! That is really good!" He said as he started devouring his food.
Magica took her seat beside Scrooge who still studied the food in front of him closely. "It isn't poisoned okay, just eat it." She said. Scrooge took a bite. "This really is good!" He said once he swallowed. "Of course, it is." Magica said as she ate. "It's an old family recipe after all. With a secret twist that makes it so good." "What it the secret twist?" He asked in a hushed tone. "The pasta is homemade with just a pinch of garlic in it." She whispered back, smiling proudly. Scrooge tried to ignore her smile and focused on the delicious pasta dinner.
Soon, the evening of the engagement party arrived and Scrooge was trying to control his nerves as he was anxious about how their plan would work; if it did at all. He paced back and forth, dressed in his finest tailcoat, spats, and top hat, waiting for Magica to finish getting ready so they could head to the banquet hall he'd rented and get all of this wedding business over and done with once and for all.
"Do I look okay?" He almost jumped out of his feathers at the sound of Magica's voice as she entered and tugged at her dress uncertainly. "I don't usually dress up so much…" She was wearing a lovely floor-length red gown that fit her well, a pair of simple small golden hoop earrings and golden necklace with a small diamond hanging from it. She had swept her hair up into a simple but elegant bun that had a few strands hanging down, perfectly framing her face; her eyes where shadowed with a pale coral eyeshadow instead of her usual dark purple, there was a light dusting of blush on her cheeks and a hint of color on her lips. The makeup was less dramatic than what she usually wore but it looked very good on her.
Honestly, Scrooge had to admit to himself that Magica looked more than okay, she looked gorgeous at this moment. Of course; Scrooge hadn't failed to notice that the witch was bewitching in general, a man would have to be blind not to notice her looks but seeing her dressed like this, like the elegant lady that should be on his arm, he knew he should probably focus on breaking off the engagement before that dress made him change his mind and got him into a different kind of trouble.
"You look… beautiful." The word slipped out before he even realized it was on his tongue. "Um… thank you… We should go to the party now and end this craziness." She was stunned at his compliment but quickly composed herself and focused on the matters at hand; although she couldn't banish the faint blush that crept across her cheeks. "Right. Let's be off then." Scrooge nodded and the two left the mansion.
Everyone waited in the banquet hall for the couple of the hour to arrive and the awkwardness and tension that filled the air made the waiting very uncomfortable. The only one who seemed unfazed was Granny DeSpell; who simply enjoyed a few of the treats set up on the buffet tables.
The kids were in a back corner setting up the music and wondering how the night was going to go. "I sure hope this goes well, your Aunt Hexa is really creepy; no offense." Webby whispered to Lena. "None taken, Aunt Hexa is a total creep. She would be the first to turns us all into rats and sell us to a lab." Lena responded. "You think Uncle Scrooge has figured out how get out of his engagement to your Aunt Magica yet?" Dewey asked. "I'm sure Uncle Scrooge has figured something out by now." Huey interjected. "Oh yeah, I'm sure he and Aunt Magica have a plan by now." Lena said, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt. "Hey, not to worry, I came up with a brilliant back-up plan that's sure to work." Louie said proudly. "What did you do?" Webby asked. "I had Launchpad and Gyro help me get a hold of an old friend of Uncle Scrooges who just might be able to help." Louie pulled a letter from his pocket and showed the others. They all read the letter and gasped. "Oh, I hope this doesn't create more problems." Lena sighed. "Well it could actually be just what Scrooge needs to fix the situation." Webby said. Just then the guests of honor entered the banquet hall. "Wow… She looks so pretty!" Webby whispered. "I've never seen her dress like that before… she does look really nice though." Lena looked at her Aunt and Scrooge; they did actually look really good together.
"Okay, we'll talk and eat a little bit first so it doesn't seem too suspicious when the 'spell' breaks." Scrooge whispered. Magica simply stood silent and frozen. "Magica?" He took notice of the frozen and forced smile on her face. "Magica what's wrong?" He nudged her, finally getting a response. "They're all staring at me, I don't like this." Her voice carried a slight quiver. Scrooge looked around the hall and saw that everyone was indeed staring at them and he knew why too. "Well you said it yourself earlier; you don't normally dress the way you are now and right now you look like a proper lady of high society." She finally looked up at him as he spoke. "I imagine they're all stunned by how good it looks on you." Again, the complimentary words just slid out of his mouth before he even knew they were on his mind or tongue. The faint blush from earlier returned to Magica's cheeks. "You really think so?" He just nodded, suddenly feeling betrayed by his own mouth; why was he uncontrollably telling Magica how good she looked right now?
Without another word between them Scrooge and Magica proceeded to play their parts for the evening. They chatted with their guests and enjoyed the buffet and even decided to dance a bit. Then, when he'd felt like it was a good time Scrooge decided they should put their plan into action and put an end to the craziness.
"Whoo… I'm feeling a bit woozy, I think I'll sit down." Scrooge said, moving toward a chair. Just as Magica opened her mouth to say her line another voice came from behind Scrooge.
"What's the matter Scroogie? Old age catching up with you?" Scrooge froze in place; he knew that voice only too well and couldn't help the flood of thoughts and memories the sound of it brought to his mind. "Goldie?" He turned to face his former flame. "What are you doing here?" He looked at the aged but still beautiful face of Goldie O'Gilt; her blonde hair faded but still shining, her emerald eyes still sparkling and her grin just as mischevious as ever. "Your little nephew wrote me a letter explaining your current predicament." She said.
Magica couldn't explain it, something about the way Scrooge reacted to Goldie just… lit some sort of fire in her. "We are fixing the situation, Miss O'Gilt." Her voice was laced with more ice than she'd intended. Something about this just bothered her even more than dealing with Brigitta.
Goldie chuckled. "I can see your nephew wasn't exaggerating all about your situation." She looked at Magica then back at Scrooge. "How in the world did you end up in this, uh, sticky situation Scroogie?" Scrooge sighed. "I don't even really know." "Well how about a dance? For old time's sake?" Goldie asked, still sporting her mischievous grin, and looked at Magica. "If your fiancée doesn't mind that is." Magica didn't like this but couldn't quite convince herself of the reason why, instead she simply decided that this time she would bite her tongue as she didn't want to cause unnecessary ruffling of feathers. "No, not at all. It actually gives me an excuse to catch my breath." She tried to sound sincere and ended her sentence with a light-hearted chuckle. "Okay then!" Goldie took one of Scrooge's hands and they started dancing as the next song began to play.
Magica stood by the kids and watched Scrooge and Goldie dance and tried her best to keep the scowl off her face. Not that her attempts worked all that well. Lena decided to dare asking. "What's the problem? This should actually work to your advantage, right?" Magica forced a smile. "Well yes, of course it will! This is actually better than our plan anyway, I mean 'Scrooge's ex shows up and sweeps him off his feet' works out perfectly as a means of ending our engagement." "Okayyy, but then why do you seem so bothered by it?" "I am NOT bothered by her showing up like this." Lena rolled eyes. "Riiight. That's why you're trying so hard to keep your cool- wait… don't tell me that you-" "Lena, SHUT UP!" Magica spat, cutting her niece off right there and forgetting that there were four others right there hearing this conversation.
"EW!" The triplets groaned in unison. "Really?" Lena rolled her eyes again. "Wait, really? Huh, that would actually explain a lot about why you keep going after Scrooge's number one dime." Webby said. "Yeah, because it isn't the dime she actually wants." Lena added with a snicker. "All right, all of you button your little beaks right now!" Magica demanded, her face turning red either out of anger or embarrassment or both. Lena looked her Aunt over. "That's why you dressed up so much isn't it? Not just to put on a show for everyone but to maybe impress a certain someone?" Magica groaned. "You're not gonna drop this are you?" "Just like you're never gonna tell him, are you?" Magica let out a frustrated sigh. "And what would be the point of that? I mean just look at him; as far as he's concerned nothing and no one exists right now but the two of them." Looking over at Scrooge dancing with Goldie he certainly seemed to have all of his attention focused on her.
Webby looked back and forth between Magica and Scrooge for a moment. "You know, that's actually really sort of sad. Especially because you two would make for one heck of a power couple, an almost scary kind of power couple; his wealth, your magic, both of your minds… Oh man! Nobody could mess with that!" "She's actually kind of right…" Lena said, just imagining the idea. Magica just kind of stared at the two of them for a moment, trying to wrap her head around the fact that Webby seemed to like the idea of her and Scrooge as an actual couple. "You guys are nuts!" Huey and Dewey snapped at Webby and Lena.
"I dunno… that's actually kind of a cool point they make… I mean just think about it, there would be LITERALLY nothing in the world they couldn't accomplish together!" Louie said, his excitement building at thought. "I mean seriously, think about it guys; no more worrying about curses on treasure because Magica could remove the curses! Oh, and just imagine how cool it would be go searching for treasure with the two of them; between Uncle Scrooge's sharp wit and keen intellect and Magica's magic there's not a trap in the world that would stop us!" Huey and Dewey just stared in disbelief at their younger brother. "You're only thinking about the treasure parts." Huey said. "Yeah, the rest is just pure-" Before Dewey could finish his sentence Webby piped up. "Oh yeah! That's totally true Louie! They would be an unstoppable adventuring force to be reckoned with!" "I don't believe what I'm hearing…" Magica was dumbfounded, these kids seemed to be completely in favor of her, Scrooge's greatest nemesis, dating Scrooge. What in the absolute heck was happening here?
"So, Scrooge, this whole thing must have been something of a learning experience for you right?" Goldie asked. "What do you mean?" "I mean Magica; having spent nearly a month engaged to her must have allowed for you to learn things about her you didn't know before." "Well I could have lived life perfectly content with never having met her kooky family." He scoffed as his eyes trailed to Magica for a moment, seeming to be having a lively discussion with kids and surprisingly they all seemed to be getting along quite well.
Scrooge couldn't help but chuckle when she snapped at the kids a bit red-faced. It sort of reminded him of himself and Donald at times. Though the red that kept his eyes on her a bit longer was the red of Magica's dress. She did look beautiful in it.
"Scrooge? Oh, Scrooge… Earth to McDuck!" Goldie chuckled as Scrooge's attention snapped back to her. "I was just watching because things look a bit animated with the kids over there and I wanted be sure she was behaving that's all." "Uh-huh. Sure Scroogie. It's okay to admit it; she is a knockout in that dress after all." Scrooge's face reddened a bit. "I don't know what you're talking about. I've no attraction to Ms. DeSpell, none what-so-ever, no matter how beautiful she is." Goldie chuckled again. "Just keep telling yourself that Scrooge."
Magica sighed and decided to go outside and enjoy the remaining calm before the storm that was sure to come once her family caught on that Scrooge was interested in someone else. The kids didn't even notice her leave; they were too busy fussing amongst themselves about whether or not the idea of her and Scrooge was good or insane. Once outside she leaned against the wall and stared at the moon. It was full and beautiful and seemed rather lonely tonight.
As he and Goldie finished dancing Scrooge noticed that Magica was gone. "Where's Magica? She better not have left me to handle her family by myself!" "Maybe you should go find her and make sure everything's all right." Goldie suggested. "You're right. I'll be back." As Scrooge went off to find Magica Goldie walked over to the kids. "So? How'd it go with Uncle Scrooge?" Huey asked. "Oh boys, I don't think I can help your uncle Scrooge with the situation he's in." Goldie grinned slyly.
"Might we have a word Ms. O'Gilt?" Goldie looked over her shoulder to see Magica's sisters standing behind her, Hexa standing front and center. "Why yes ladies, what words do you want to have with me?" "Just this," Hexa glared suspiciously. "If there's something between you and McDuck then you have two options." "Either you should leave," "Or you leave and take McDuck with you." Castandra and Winnicent finished for their sister. "Exactly." Hexa continued. "We may not always get along but Magica is our sister; therefore, we will not stand for anyone trying to ruin her happiness." Castandra nodded. "After she seems to be happy with McDuck. Really, we're only telling you this to spare you the wrath of a witch scorned."
Goldie laughed. "Okay, stand down ladies. I have no intentions of running away with the groom. Actually, I only came as a friend to offer my congratulations to the happy couple." The DeSpell sisters' expressions softened. "Scrooge and I had a thing once, a long time ago, but I think it's safe to say that we both realized we aren't really as suited to one another as we thought." Goldie explained. The three sisters nodded and decided to accept Goldie's explanation and the four began discussing other topics.
Scrooge, after not finding her inside, decided to look for Magica outside, wondering why he was hoping she hadn't left despite knowing the most likely reason. He found her outside, leaning against the wall and staring at the full moon as it shone in all its glory over Duckburg in the crystal-clear sky. If it wasn't for the brightness of the moon he wouldn't have noticed it; the single tiny tear falling down her cheek.
"Magica?" She startled at the sound of his voice and quickly wiped the tear away before turning to face him completely. "Yes what? Is this stupid charade over now?" She asked, unable to keep from sounding slightly disappointed. "No, not yet. Are you okay? Why are you out here crying?" He asked, not giving a second thought to the concern in his tone or the thoughts of one of her sisters having said or done something to upset her while he was dancing with Goldie. Magica couldn't believe it, he'd seen her crying… and was genuinely concerned. "It's nothing! I'm fine. I guess we should go back in there and set this straight." She started to go back inside but a hand gently grabbing her arm stopped her. "Magica, tears are not something I see from you, ever. Do you want to talk about it before we go back inside?" Scrooge surprised himself again with his desire to comfort Magica. What was the matter with him? Was he really developing feelings for her?
Magica couldn't tell him, she knew that. She couldn't tell him the reason for the tear; that she actually had feelings for him and the knowledge of just how stupid that was had caused her to shed a tear. She felt stupid for that alone, that the whole thing had gotten to her enough to make her cry. "Magica?" His voice pulled her from her thoughts. "I'm fine okay? There's nothing to be concerned about." She said firmly, crossing her arms. Her eyes betrayed her though, he could see there was something bothering her just by looking into them.
Much as she tried to hide it there was a sadness in her eyes, something he hadn't ever seen there before; yes, he'd seen disappointment when she failed to obtain his dime, even fear when one of schemes backfired so badly they'd had to work together to fix it, but never sadness. Scrooge found himself looking into those eyes; dark and deep and uncharacteristically sad, trying to figure out what she wasn't telling him. Magica couldn't help but notice him gazing deeply into her eyes and it both unsettled her and gave her a strange thrill to know that he was concerned and clearly fixated on her at the moment. For second it seemed like they were drawing closer to one another, like something was about to happen; and then it did.
'Love is an open dooooor!' The lyrics came flooding out from inside the banquet hall and Magica groaned, dropping her head back to stare up at the sky. "I hate this song!" Scrooge couldn't help snickering at her over-dramatic reaction. Suddenly, the music stopped and was replaced with screams. "What in blazes?" Scrooge exclaimed as he and Magica quickly exchanged worried glances before running back inside to see total chaos beyond anything they'd dealt with so far unfolding.