October and November came and went like dry leaves in the autumn breeze. Somehow, Evergreen managed to make it all the way to the next full moon with the small mandrake leaf underneath his tongue. He and Aaron were a little apprehensive about the evening of that next full moon that they got together. This was because the day had been pretty cloudy, and they feared the night would be just like that. Unless one spits the mandrake leaf into a phial with the other ingredients under the full moon, the magic wouldn't work. They waited in the dark for almost 3 hours until the light of the full moon peeked through the clouds. They quickly got to work and managed to complete the mixture of the animagus potion. Evergreen was thrilled! His friend was literally a wizard at potions, and he couldn't be more grateful.

Unfortunately, this just meant more waiting. Every day at sunrise and sunset, Evergreen knew that he would need to recite the animagus incantation until the night of a lightning storm where he could finally imbibe the potion. However, he no longer had to keep a super bitter leaf in his mouth all day every day. He was also grateful that he didn't have to hold it in his mouth any more for Halloween or the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

When Thanksgiving did come, after all, Evergreen was happy to be going home for the week. Classes were really picking up as they were preparing for their placement tests for their high school years. At the end of eighth grade, they were able to choose which electives they wanted to take and they also took placement exams to stick them in the correct level of core classes. That made Evergreen nervous because he didn't want to be stuck in a class that he would sail through and at the same time, he didn't want to be doomed to fail at the level he got set in.

While Evergreen, Seta, and Dad fixed up their candied yams, their pie, and their apple stuffing (Mom's recipe, apparently), they talked just a bit about that.

"The thing is," Evergreen said to Dad, "I just want to land in the right place."

Dad popped a handful of mini marshmallows into his mouth and bagged up the remaining marshmallows after he checked on the candied yams again in the oven. Marshmallows burn quickly, so he knew he had to be careful.

"I know you do." Dad had replied, "But if you get all high strung about it, you're just going to crash. You're kind of like your mom in that way. You worry and worry and worry and it doesn't do anything but make you crash into yourself. You're a good student, just keep studying and get help when you need it. We talked about this."

Opening up the fridge, Evergreen pulled out a pumpkin pie, set it on the counter, and then closed the double doors of the fridge before turning back to Dad.

"I know we did. I just can't help thinking."

"E.E." Dad said, "I have a question for you, man-to-man."

"Okay."

"What do you do to get out of your head for a while?"

"I like to fly."

"Perfect. So, for every 2 hours of studying, I want you to fly for a half hour, OK?"

Evergreen couldn't help but smile at Dad who always seemed to take charge.

"Okay. I can do that."

"And I'll hold you to that." Seta said with a wry smile, bounding into the kitchen, dressed in a smart, cappuccino-brown waistcoat and trousers.

They continued their foods and got them all packed up in Dad's truck and got on the road. Because uncle Ian's and aunt Bonnie's was the biggest house, that's where everyone was to meet that year.

As they cut through the large, familiar field off one of the only paved roads in that part of the state, the scent of farm animals came up on all sides. It almost overpowered Dad's candied yams. Almost, but not quite. It was dark as they pulled in front of the large, oddly shaped house. There were miles and miles of cultivated land in every direction leading to dark, distant mountains and sticking out like a lighted stick of dynamite in a haystack was Ian and Bonnie's home.

When the Quandary men and the rabbit came to the white door with light shining through the window in its upper panel, they were met by Evergreen's, curvy, straight-haired eldest cousin and one of only two girls within the cousins, Eva. She always took charge and pretty much raised her little brothers because uncle Ian worked all the time and aunt Bonnie got easily overwhelmed by things. Why she decided to up and have seven kids was kind of beyond Evergreen. She was lovely and had a big heart, but she had some issues she had yet to deal with. Many of the cousins, including her own little brothers all called her 'ma' because of how she just felt the need to make sure everyone was taken care of. She had always been such a sweetie to Evergreen, especially, as she knew that he had no brothers like the rest of the cousins did.

"Why if it isn't Ev, Peter, and the rabbit." She stated, as she left the top step leading through the door that opened into the central room.

"Hey Eva." Dad replied, "are your grandparents here yet?"

"They just barely arrived. Also, Ev, Mira was looking for you."

"Okay. Thanks, I'll go find her." Evergreen replied with a firm hug between the cousins.

Once inside of the house, they made their way off to the left of the huge entrance room into a small hallway that spilled off into a media room and the kitchen and dining room there at the end. They put their food down and proceeded to start to mingle. Grandpa was talking to both Ians about something that must have been quite important. Unfortunately, it was hard to understand because he spoke exclusively through his mustache. Evergreen looked around a bit for Mira. She was usually pretty easy to spot because she always wore bright, hot colors, reds, oranges, and yellows, that worked perfectly against her creamy, caramel complexion. Plus, even though her brothers usually straightened or braided their thick hair, she never did any such thing and was always in a thick, curly fluff ball around her head, only occasionally tamed with a scrunchie or some other hair tie or clip. Ahh, there she is!

Almost right on cue, the tall, slender figure of Mira appeared wearing a bright orange dress that went down past her knees, a pair of black boots laced halfway up her calves, and her hair doing its wild thing. She and Evergreen were always the closest out of all of the cousins. Sure, Jude, aunt Bonnie's youngest, was just under two years older than Evergreen and Mira was a month or so older than Jude, but Evergreen had always shared a special connection with Mira he couldn't describe. She had been one of his best friends growing up, other than Bucky and Lynne, of course, despite them living so far north. She had always been a whole head taller than Evergreen and was still on that day.

"Hiya Ev!" she said, with her dizzyingly bright smile.

"Hey Mira. What's up?" Evergreen followed up.

"Not much. I'm on a short break from the Institute to be home for the holidays, much like you, duh."

The thing about Miracle was that she may have only just turned 16, but she had skipped middle and high school and had been going to her Institute off on the east coast for several years. No one ever really heard about where it was or what they studied there, only that she managed to pass their entrance exam with one of the most impressive scores in many years. She was smart as a whip and Evergreen would have felt quite intimidated by her if he didn't already adore the very ground she walked upon. Her older brothers were all also prodigies themselves, although all in vastly different ways.

"And Seta is looking quite spiffy in that vest and cravat, if I do say so."

Seta eyed her curiously, but didn't reply of course. She winked with a weird grin at Seta before Evergreen put his arms around the tall, slender girl and she replied in kind, holding his ear against her chest. Her strong heartbeat was a wonderful sound, so strong and perfectly rhythmic. She wasn't just named Miracle after all, she was one. According to the stories told to Evergreen by Dad, Aunt Hannah, and Mira herself, when she was born, she was literally stillborn. It was a difficult pregnancy and there were many complications. They tried to have Mira naturally, but they had to resort to an emergency C-section. When they saw her little, prone form, Hannah and Ian were devastated, naturally, as she was their last chance at a daughter and held her close, praying to whatever Being was listening to give them back their little girl. At that moment, one of the machines in the hospital room got agitated somehow and exploded. From that, a bolt of pure, red energy entered straight into the baby's head, and she let out her first blood curdling scream. She was alive and no one could explain what had happened. It was like magic.

"Eva said you were looking for me?" Evergreen asked her, taking her attention away from his conspicuous, long-eared familiar.

"Oh, I was. Don't give me that look, honey." She said with a laugh; "this won't take long. I'm just fixin' to show you something."

"Okay. Lead the way." He replied, holding up his hands in surrender with a slight head bow.

Mira then proceeded to lead Evergreen through the house. They went from the kitchen to the large entrance room to the adjacent hallway, to the laundry room, and then they were outside shivering only slightly in the cold, evening mist. Mira briefly overlooked the landscape, barren with winter before the sound of dry dirt clods started popping beneath her boots. They went across the field behind the house all the way to a small shed that probably held gardening tools. It was locked, but in a moment, Mira was opening it with a rusty creak. Like Evergreen had suspected, there were rakes, shovels, gloves, and a few large apparatuses that he didn't recognize. It was dark, but in another moment, the door was closed, and the single, overhead lightbulb was on.

"What's going on with you, Mira?" Evergreen asked his cousin, briefly glancing at Seta, who was standing kind of between them, also unsure of what was going to happen next.

"That's not exactly the question that I would be asking in this situation, honey." She replied with a restrained laugh in her throat.

"Well, what question would you ask, I suppose?"

"What's going on with you, Evergreen?" she asked, pulling what looked like a newspaper from somewhere. Her dress had no pockets, and she wasn't holding it earlier.

"What do you mean?" Evergreen asked, suddenly nervous.

"I mean this." She said, tossing Evergreen the newspaper. "Is this the way I learn that my favorite cousin is a wizard?"

Evergreen looked down at his hands and then carefully opened up the folded newspaper. It was an October edition of the Salem Starr wizard newspaper. It had an obviously moving picture of Evergreen standing next to his friends, Professor Woods, Miss Agatha, and of course Seta. Everyone was smiling and the pictured Evergreen glanced toward Professor Woods, and they shared a quiet conversation that Evergreen treasured.

How could this be? How did Miracle get a hold of this specific newspaper and how did she put two and two together that he was a wizard? The article just mentioned him as a "student of Ilvermorny School" who was given a special award for finding and fixing the cause of all of that years' earthquakes around campus. How could she have guessed wizardry?

"Miracle, what is going on?" Evergreen asked, already anticipating her answer.

"Can't you see, Evergreen?" she asked, pulling a red wand out of pretty much thin air. "You're obviously a wizard, and I just happen to be a witch!"