Chapter 2

Wyatt would not allow himself to be ignored by this girl. Other girls didn't ignore him after all, but whenever he wanted to get close to Endora, she would somehow disappear among others or be too busy to even pay him any attention. He needed to corner her in some way. After the tenth attempt- not that he was counting or anything- he found her in the courtyard talking to James. He squinted at the interactions between them and watched as Endora handed James her notebook.

"Those are the notes I took for potions. It might help a little," Endora offered.

"Thanks a ton, Endora. This means a lot. Professor Quintell is getting ridiculous with some of this stuff."

"Eh- I wouldn't say ridiculous. She just wants to make sure we're ready for the tests."

"But that's months away!"

"Months, weeks, does it matter? The more information we get and understand, the better. Anyway, which potion did you have trouble with?"

"Amortensia."

"Oh, that love one? I was surprised she even mentioned it, but I guess it doesn't hurt to learn it, right?"

"I guess not."

"You're not going to try to use it, are you?"

"Me? No, I want to make sure I know how to make it- er- for research reasons."

"Right… research and not totally because you want to do something mischievous with it."

"Mischievous? Me? No! Never!" He looked offended she would even suggest such a thing, but in honesty he was lying through his teeth. James wanted to see if it was as potent as they said.

She raised a brow at him.

He just turned his head and grinned. He looked down at the notebook and through the pages, finding her handwriting lovely. "I've been meaning to ask about your last name."

She sat up a little, "what about it?"

"Well… I had this insane notion but realized it's probably a common name."

"Just ask me." She whispered.

"So, like, my dad has family with the same name, and I had this wild thought that maybe…" He looked up at her and into her eyes. The way she shifted under his gaze, the storm of her gray eyes growing more tumultuous, made him nearly drop the notebook. "So… is it… are we?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

He stood up suddenly and grabbed her shoulders. "Why didn't you say anything before?"

She reached up and touched his hands, "how could I? I barely dared to approach you before."

James fell back to sitting, hands still on her shoulders as he processed, "You know I always played with the idea of it? Dad never really talked much about them or his time with those people."

"Those people are my family, James."

"Yeah- right- sorry. One day, I thought, wouldn't it be karma for them to have another family member be magical?"

She averted her gaze. Given the situation, she probably would have thought the same.

"But then I thought, karma for them but probably torturous to the kid. They're not… they haven't done to you what they did to him have they?"

Endora stared at him for a long time before answering, "No. Actually, my grandparents divorced over it. He wanted my father to dump my mother and me somewhere. Granny stepped in and stopped him from doing any harm to my mom."

"And your dad?" He squinted. "How did he take you being able to do magic?"

"He knew there would be a possibility, seeing as my mom's a witch."

"Hold up, your mom actually is a witch and your dad still married her, like he knew she was one and was okay with that?"

She sighed, "I told you she's a witch on the train. I guess you forgot. I don't know what your dad told you about them, but my dad is a good man. He's not the person he used to be. People, when given the chance, can grow and change. They want to try to talk to your dad and apologize in person, but they've been too scared to reach out on their own."

James finally let go of her shoulders. "So, what, you thought you could approach and get to him by using us?" His tone was accusatory.

"No, that's not it. I want to unite our family." She turned away, "I know there are years of trauma between them, and that just doesn't go away with an I'm sorry, James, but it's a start, don't you think?"

He just got up and held the notebook to her, saying, "Take it; I need to think."

She held it tight, "I… okay." She had feared this would happen, so she shouldn't have been surprised at his reaction.

"Don't mention this to Lily or Albus until then."

"Of course not." She said softly.

"I appreciate that." He picked up his stuff and went off, leaving her sitting there on the bench alone.

Endora sat there silently for a time, her expression as stone, but her eyes filled with a deep sadness. As much as she had mentally prepared for that sort of reaction from James, it didn't make going through it that much better. She sighed deeply. There had been a part of her that said to deny it when he asked, but she knew deep down that if she had done that, it would have eventually come out, and the reactions would have been much worse. She didn't want to deceive intentionally. That wasn't her way. She texted her mother to update her, along with several sad emojis.

Endora: James knows now. 😖

Amisty (Mom): Oh, Dory, what happened?

Endora: Well, he asked me about my last name, and I told him the truth. He said he needed to think about it.

Amisty (Mom): Nothing to do but wait now. I'll manifest that the best will come from this. You'll see it'll work out in the end. Trust in it, Dory.

Endora: Thanks Mum.

Amisty (Mom): Of course, dear heart. Chin up. Hugs and kisses. 😘

Wyatt had been watching but didn't hear anything from where he was. Annoyance was plastered all over his face. What was that? Is the rumor of them being a thing true? No, no, that's not possible. He looked up in time to see her distressed face. He turned and pressed his back into the tree. Crossing his arms, he wondered if there was something more profound than what was on the surface. He saw her walk past him and almost reached out to grab her arm but stopped himself; he had to think this through. He leaned back against the tree again and watched her head off toward the school for classes again. He followed a few steps behind. He was determined to get closer more now than before. The need to know what happened and what was going on between them fueled his curiosity. At least, that was what he would tell himself. A voice was nagging at the back of his head that maybe he wouldn't be in this situation if he hadn't stopped talking to her when they were younger. He rolled his eyes and squashed that annoying voice back into the box.

Endora stopped walking for a moment and turned to look behind her. There were a few students, but she couldn't determine where that feeling came from. Endora frowned deeply and made her way to divination. "Santo," she whispered, "someone's been following me. Find out who it is."

The little shadow peeled off her and slipped into the darkness as it went off on the hunt.

Wyatt let out a sigh of relief that he wasn't seen. What have I been reduced to? I'm following a girl like some stalker because she's not giving me attention. I feel absolutely pathetic. He left where he had been hiding, unaware that the shadow was now attaching to him.