Lucy had her next class with Juvia and the two girls sat their desks side by side, listening intently to the words of their history teacher Mrs. Kendall.
"In the 1600's, the puritans were very fearful of any culture or behavior outside their own that they didn't understand or recognize." Mrs. Kendall explained. "And because advanced science had not been discovered yet, they would assume that anything strange or unusual had to be the work of the devil."
"Like Juvia." They heard the venomous snicker of Sorano Agria, who's desk was right in front of the two cousins. She was Minerva's right hand woman and arguably the muscle to Minerva's master mind. Rude, ill-tempered, and occasionally violent. Although some would say that Sorano would only act this way to please Minerva and stay in the popular crowd.
Juvia sighed under her breath when she heard the insult, Lucy shot her a glare from behind.
"Very soon fear gave way to mass hysteria and plenty of innocent people were accused of being associated with the devil. Most common cases being women accused of being witches." Mrs. Kendall continued having not heard Sorano's comment. "In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, the character Abigail Williams took advantage of this hysteria in order to remove the wife of her former lover Johnathan Proctor, now while this part in particular is fictional, many real life accusers had the same motive. Using the fear of the people to their advantage by crying witchcraft and devil worship on people whom they viewed as an obstacle."
"Too bad we can't use that to get rid of freaks like Juvia." Sorano whispered to her friend.
Lucy shot Sorano another glare and this time she suddenly felt as if someone had pricked her with a needle.
"Ow!" She screamed.
"Miss Agria." Mrs. Kendall said turning from the chalkboard to look at her. "Is there something that you'd like to share with the class?"
"No but something stuck me." She said. "Like a needle or a thorn."
She checked her hand and the teacher did the same, but they saw nothing. Then Sorano felt something pull her hair hard.
"Ow!"
"What is it?" Mrs. Kendall asked.
"Somebody pulled my hair!" Sorano turned to look at Juvia hatefully. "She did it!"
"No I didn't." Juvia said.
"Yes you did!"
"Sorano I was standing in front of you the whole time and I didn't see Juvia move an inch. She couldn't have pulled your hair." Mrs. Kendall said.
And after that, Sorano felt a bite on her leg.
"Ow! Something bit me!" She cried.
"Sorano if this is a joke, I don't find it particularly amusing." Mrs. Kendall said losing her patience.
"I'm not joking! Something bit my leg!"
"Impossible, there's nothing under your desk. Now enough of this."
"But Mrs. Kendall- Ahhh!"
That time she felt a prick, a pull, and a bite at the same time and it was when Juvia finally caught sight of Lucy twitching her ears with a devious smirk on her face.
"Stop that." Juvia whispered to her.
"I didn't do anything." Lucy denied.
But Juvia knew better. Anna had told her all about how witches can do a little magic just by moving a part of their body. For Erza it was wiggling her nose, for Juvia it was batting her eyes, and for Lucy it was twitching her ears, and they were twitching up a storm right now.
"Quit it!" Juvia whispered to her. "Or I'll tell Nanny."
"Killjoy." Lucy said with an eye roll. "You're as bad as Erza."
The rest of the class went on without any disturbances and come lunch time, Juvia insisted that she and Erza both give Lucy another good talk.
"I don't get what the big deal is." Lucy said. "No one figured out it was me and the bitch deserved it."
"Act normal while you're at my school, that is literally all that I ask of you." Juvia said. "You couldn't just ignore her like I do?"
"Ignoring doesn't always work you know." Lucy said. "Just ask half of the guys I used to date."
"Juvia is right Lucy." Erza said. "You shouldn't have done that. It was immature and reckless. We could have been exposed."
"No we couldn't. No one in this school besides us actually believes in witches. This isn't the crucible."
"Don't be so sure." Erza said. "People are more superstitious than they appear."
"And even if they're not, they'll harass you without mercy if they think you're different." Juvia said.
"We are different." Lucy said. "But I forget, mortals don't like anything different."
"No they don't." Juvia said. "Especially teenage ones."
"Look I don't mean to cause any trouble." Lucy said. "But if there's one thing I can't stand, it's a bully. Why do you let them pushy around like that Juvia?"
"Well it's not like I give them permission."
"But you don't say anything. You need to stand up to them."
"And make them so angry that they'll torment me more than ever? Not happening."
"I'm not saying turn one of them into a worm but what harm is there in giving one of them an unpoppable zit?"
"Lucy that's enough." Erza said. "We are not going to stoop to such levels. That is what got us into so much trouble in the first place. From now on we will handle situations like this with grace and dignity. We are above such juvenile methods."
"Until someone makes you angry."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Come on Erza, you maybe more mature, more well-behaved, and get better grades, but everyone knows that you have the worst temper of anyone in the entire family. Worse than your mother's and Aunt Irene once got so mad that she caused an earthquake."
"Really?" Juvia said surprised. "What made her so angry?"
"Her neighbor said that she was as ugly and nasty as the Grand High Witch."
"My temper is not that bad." Erza said. "And don't turn this around on me. You know, I hardly ever use magic to do anything nasty, because unlike you, I don't forget what happens when a witch doesn't use restraint and points her finger as she pleases."
Now you're most likely thinking that Erza should mind her own business and stop trying to be such a killjoy. You're probably thinking she's a self-righteous hypocrite. And in some cases, you might be right. But in truth Erza had a perfectly valid reason for harping on Lucy so much. You see a witch's magic, appearance, and personality comes from what's deep in her heart. If she has a golden and tender heart than she's among the most beautiful and good-natured women in all the world. And the kinder she is with her magic, the more golden and tender her heart stays.
Now of course good witches aren't expected to be perfect. They make mistakes just as easily as humans can. A few slip ups and poor choices here and there are easily forgiven and doesn't label her as a demon. But that's only if these slips ups and poor choices are on occasion. If a good witch uses her magic to cause mischief and harm too much, if she makes it a habit of using her gifts to cause trouble everyday, then her heart turns black and hard, her mind turns twisted and wretched, and her once great beauty transforms into vile ugliness. She becomes a full-fledged bad witch.
And that's the worse thing that can happen to a good witch because there is nothing more dangerous or more evil than a bad witch. Bad witches have no sense of reason or morality or feeling. They just go around, torturing anyone just for the mere fun of it. They're basically demons in human shape and once a good witch turns bad, it's nearly impossible to turn her back to whom she once was. Erza was particularly afraid of that because her mother had once come too close to turning bad.
At first she only used her magic to punish Erza's awful father for the years of abuse. Tormenting him as he tormented them. But soon she started thinking about doing the same to mortals and monsters. If any of them, even looked at her the wrong way, she would hex them without mercy. Then one day when it was in the middle of Summer and Erza was about maybe six or seven years old, she noticed her mother wearing long black gloves that went up to her elbows.
"Now why would Mommy wear gloves in this kind of weather?" She had thought and later she asked that question to Anna when she came to visit on holiday and she suddenly turned as pale as death.
She bolted right into Irene's study and before her granddaughter could react, she tore off those long and black gloves, revealing that Irene's hands had now changed into nasty claws. The first sign that she was becoming a bad witch.
"Look at your hands!" Irene had screamed. "Look what you're turning into!"
"It's nothing!" Irene snapped in denial.
"If you really thought it was nothing then you wouldn't be trying to hide it." Anna insisted. "What else has changed? Is your hair falling out? Any warts appearing?"
"It's just my hands Grandmother. It'll fade."
"It most certainly will not. You will just be getting worse until you change. I've held my tongue long enough, this behavior cannot go on."
"I am not a child anymore! You cannot say when I can and can't use my magic!"
"Maybe not but the council certainly can. You know what happens when a witch turns bad, she's basically a rabid dog that needs to be put down."
"I am not afraid of them. Not after living with the bastard I married."
"Yes he is repulsive blight who will get what he deserves, mark me. But don't you follow his example."
"I am nothing like him."
"Oh no? You're torturing innocents just as he would."
"Mortals and monsters are useless creatures. A waste of a life if you ask me. In fact they're like little insects who pester and crawl about. Insects that should be squashed and swatted."
"God have mercy!" Anna had screamed in terror, fearing that it might already be too late. "You must stop now! Think of what you'll become! How hateful you'll be! How despised you'll be! How ugly you'll be!"
"I've never cared much about my looks or what others thought of me."
"What about Erza?"
Then Irene paused, for the first time in weeks, remembering her child.
"If turn you bad you won't be able to love her anymore. You'll be too full of hate and selfishness. And what if Erza follows your example? Do you really want your daughter to grow up into such a hideous and loathsome creature?"
That's when Irene finally came to her senses and in about a month, her personality was tame and her hands returned to their normal shape. But since that close call, Erza was bound and determined to make sure no good witch in her family would suffer such a fate.
"I know it's hard not to hex those who deserve it." Erza said to Lucy. "But in the end it isn't worth it to do so. Just ignore them. Or at least try."
"Fine." Lucy said. "I'll be good."
"Thank you."
The girls then ceased their conversation and proceeded to enjoy lunch, hoping that nothing odd would happen again today.