Leilani picked up her discarded tea from the table, using a warming charm to bring it back to her preferred temperature before she settled down in one of the armchairs, just watching the other arcobalenos.

Fon had already destroyed way too many pens and Lal and Nello had only succeeded in making each other sleepy. Reborn for the most part just stared at his match but he had indeed snapped a few of them already… not with his flames though.

Verde was muttering under his breath and Viper still only let small illusions dance in front of them.

Leilani sighed as she leaned back. She knew it would need time and… she wasn't sure how she could help them either. They knew it theoretically worked and there was the possibility… What else could she give them? It was all she had at the beginning as well. Just the knowledge of it working…

As harsh as it sounded, she had no idea if this would work. It all relied on their flames… would they be able to grip the concept? Were they still able to become sentient? Even after decades of them just following orders? Were their flames curious enough?`Sharp enough? Willing enough to break out?

Especially Reborn… he was so stubborn, so completely certain of everything… would he let his flames really roam free enough to experiment? To build themself up to a degree where they started to actually be aware?

Leilani had no clue but… at the same time she had no other idea how to get rid of the separation problem.

She had no interest in being stuck with them for the rest of her life… even if she would manage to brew a growth and age potion, which already was more than impossible with her skills and bad memory of potion class well… she feared without sentient flames it wouldn't work.

Would the animagus transformation even have worked? Sure, she had used her magic to make the leaf adapt magical properties but… it was still poisonous and all of it relied on the leaf collecting the magic power from the wizard over the month…

She pulled her blanket closer around her, just snuggling into it and making use of the refilling charm to have a steady supply of tea.

Reborn pushed his Fedora down, clearly annoyed when he set his eyes on Leilani again "Where did you even learn all of this?"

"Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry." she instantly answered.

The whole room turned silent as they turned to her.

Lal blinked a few times "Witchcraft?"

"And wizardry." Leilani added, taking another sip "You know the boarding school I went to."

Fon looked equally bewildered "You… want to say you're a…witch?"

Leilani noded "Obviously."

"You… what?"

"You never considered it? Come one, should have been obvious."

"Witches don't exist." Reborn just shook his head.

Verde agreed, "Witchcraft is completely illogical and against nature."

Leilani couldn't help but snort into her tea "And flames are that logical? Flames are magic."

Verdes' mouth dropped open, clearly struggling to put it together or find a counter argument.

Leilani was almost amused at the sight "So… I guess congrats. You're all witches and wizards… well Hedge wizards and witches. A witch or wizard can use all aspects yours are too limited… which means a full harmony set makes one capable wizard."

"this… this is no. I'm not a wizard." Verde protested.

"You are. A wand wielding… well if you had a wand but as I can't get you one you have to use wandless magic. But still a hedgewizard nonetheless."

Viper seemed to have problems wrapping their head around it as well "A wand? You have a wand."

Leilani sighed "I had one."

"You had one?"

She bit her lip looking at her rain who seemed a bit stunned as well "Nello? You remember the box in my nightdrawer?"

"Yeah?" he hesitantly answered.

"The one with the pieces of wood in it?"

"Yeah…"

"That was my wand."

Lal still seemed to struggle with the revelation "What happened to it?"

"Checkerface."

"What?" Fon's eyes were narrowed.

"When he pulled me to Romania my wand exploded. I'm fairly certain that he drew the power from my wand core. A phoenix can travel through fire after all… and my core was completely burned up when I arrived here."

"Phoenix Core?"

"My wand core was a phoenix feather."

"You want to tell me Phoenix do exist?"

"They do. I knew one. Fawkes was actually the one who gave the feather for my wand. He was my Headmasters Phoenix."

Reborn groaned "I need an espresso… or a drink. Both. Definitely both." he stood up, completely abandoning his matches to head straight into the kitchen.

Lal nodded "I couldn't agree more."

Actually all of them quickly followed the hitman into the kitchen and Leilani was alone on the couch.

The witch still cradled her mug but pulled her legs closer. Maybe she shouldn't have said anything. She buried herself more into her blanket, actually setting her mug down to pull the blanket even higher.

The moment Fon stepped back towards her she acted on instinct, transforming into her racoon form and getting completely swallowed by the blankets.

She couldn't see anything anymore but it was for the better.

She was uncertain, more than just that. Maybe she should have thought that through. Maybe she shouldn't have answered, maybe she should have lied.

But… all of it had relied on them accepting their flames for what they were, for magic. She still thought they should know. That they had to know and it should have been a good start to get them away from their limitations. If they accepted flames as magic then they were different after all.

Still she couldn't help herself from burrowing herself in her blanket cave. She didn't like the uncertainty. Would they despise magic too? But they had flames, they… they weren't normal muggles. They were magical. They shouldn't, right? They shouldn't be disgusted or revolted or… they were the same as her just… partly. They had magic.

Her frantic thoughts were interrupted when she felt her blanket bundle getting lifted. She recognized her rain by his flames, which were already washing over her to get her grounded again.

She could feel how he sat down and how she was placed on his lap. She still stayed hidden though, only listening to the still ongoing silence.

It took a while until Fon started laughing "All those years. All those years of the blatant bullshit Skull put us through and not one of us ever came up with any proper explanation. She cursed people… I… oh god. We're so blatantly stupid."

Lal's laughter was next, almost sounding hsýsteric.

Viper chuckled "Mou. Don't forget the fact that it took us decades to even find out her age or gender… She never really hid anything from us."

Reborn actually couldn't stop his laughter either "The animal transformation? We should have known."

Actually all of them were laughing at this point, about themself and the absurdity of this situation. That they repeatedly had been thrown out of their denial in such a manner didn't help, same as the increasing drunkenness everyone started to acquire. Several empty bottles littering the table already.

The arcobalenos, only being able to deal with the absurdity, with their helpless stumble with humor.

Leilani finally pulled some of the blanket away, her head peeking out.

Colonnello looked down, his free hand slowly wandering down to scratch her behind her ears "What were Skulls words back then? World's greatest my ass? Couldn't fit the situation more, kora."

Lal snorted, lifting her glass for a toast "To us, the most delusional world's strongest group. To even more ridiculous times and to us being hedge wizards and witches."

Fon laughed but raised his glass as well "And to our own menace. The most chaotic and world breaking sky there ever was."

The rest of the day had been spent in the kitchen, most of the arcobalenos at this point clearly intoxicated. Verde at one point had even started to feed Skull grapes, in his defense he claimed it to be only to observe if she ate differently from a normal raccoon and what her stomach capabilities would be.

Leilani stayed in her raccoon form until Colonnello carried her up to their bedroom when night broke in. He just smiled at her when he found her sitting on the bed edge, casually grabbing her to pull her completely in the bed and induce their normal cuddle routine.

Leilani carefully turned around to rob onto her rains chest, The soldier just interrupted his former activity or playing with her curls to look at her expectantly, one arm behind him as a headrest.

The sky almost nervously tapped on his chest, only lurking up at him "Nello?"

"Yes?"

"Are you alright with it?"

"With what?"

"The witch apart."

"Why wouldn't I?" He raised an eyebrow, raising his hand to place it under her chin to lift her face up so that he could actually look into her eyes.

She shrugged, her fingers playing with his necklace.

"Skull?"

She swallowed and bit on her lip, clearly unsure "Do you think I'm a freak?"

He paused, pulling his other arm behind his head to place both of his hands on her cheek "Skull? You're not a freak."

"I'm just asking."

"You never were and never will be a freak."

He probably would blame the alcohol but with the clear uncertainty in her eyes he could do nothing else but push himself slightly up to place a kiss on her cheek "You're perfect Skull. Absolutely perfect. Even if I wanted to, I could never imagine someone better than you."

The sky could feel her blush rising up especially when she looked in his eyes, the deep blue so close to her and completely serious.

Her heart fluttered and she almost stuttered out her question "So we fine?"

"Always Skull, always."