Chapter Text
Hecate swallowed heavily as she touched down on the packed earth, still in two minds whether or not to just fly home. She still couldn’t believe that she’d been allowed to come at all. When presented with the neatly written letter from Pippa’s parents formally requesting Hecate’s company for the summer, her mother had raised both eyebrows.
“Pentangle?” She’d queried, the syllables elongating with disapproval “I’ve never heard of them”
Despite the obvious eye-rolling and disapproval, Hecate had been allowed to swap her school things for summer things and fly off to Pippa’s alone. She tried to convince herself it wasn’t just because her parents were happy for any reason to pack her off for the summer. With every metre between herself and her parents she felt freer and freer, like the bruising weight of their expectations was lifting from her shoulders. Unfortunately her anxiety returned as she stood in front of Pippa’s gate, leaving her broom hovering while she gathered her courage. This was silly, she knew Pippa liked her, she’d given her every excuse to retract her offer and she’d still insisted. Hecate wrapped her fingers around her bicep absentmindedly, taking comfort in the feeling of her thumb easily touching her fingers. She quite badly wanted to measure her thighs as well, but she understood that measuring her own bicep was weird enough. She knew everyone would look at her defensive posture and not immediately think she was making sure her arm wasn’t any bigger than the circumference of her fingers. There wasn’t much else she could be doing when she wrapped her hands around the top of her leg. Having just about gathered the five seconds of bravery she required to actually open the gate, Pippa and her parents apperated on the long path leading through their extensive front lawn to the gate. Pippa barrelled ahead of her parents, thrilled Hecate had been allowed to come. Her mother waved a hand, muttering a short incantation Hecate could sense from where she was standing, and the gate opened with a creak. Hecate allowed them to believe she just hadn’t known how to open it, rather than allowing them to know how shaky she was feeling. Pippa’s parents startled slightly at the young witch standing just outside their large garden; she was thin to the extreme, all spindly long limbs, jutting bones and deep hollows. Paired with her paleness, dark features and serious expression she gave off an eerie, otherworldly vibe. Pippa’s mother tried to not judge the young girl's parents for letting her get so malnourished and reminded herself that not all families were as lucky as them. Noticing the lack of any luggage she chastised herself further, it wasn’t her place to judge those less fortunate.
“Hiccup!” Pippa shouted excitedly, running to hug Hecate with so much force it mildly resembled a tackle.
Hecate had never been met with so much enthusiasm, felt so wanted, so necessary. She wrapped her arms around Pippa and inhaled her flowery scent, the anxiety falling away from her. She didn’t even count the seconds, allowing herself this small comfort until Pippa’s parents caught up with them.
“Hello... Hiccup?” Her father greeted with a smile
“Hecate” she corrected with a wry smile “my name’s Hecate”. She rolled her eyes at Pippa, but she couldn’t find it within herself to feel anything other than fondness.
“Well met, Hecate” Pippa’s mother greeted, raising her hand to her forehead
“Well met, Mrs Pentangle” She replied, mirroring the gesture.
“No formalities necessary dear, I’m Penelope and this is Percy” she corrected with a warm grin.
As hard as she tried, Penelope couldn’t get a handle on Hecate. While her malnutrition and lack of belongings had initially suggested poverty, her clothes were made from expensive fabrics and well fitted, like they’d been tailored or even hand made. Hecate reached into her shoulder bag and pulled out a small piece of parchment.
“This is the incantation to summon my things from the transportation post at home” she explained shyly, extending it out in offering. Penelope took it with a smile, masking her growing confusion. Personal transportation posts were expensive, Hecate didn’t come from poverty if she had a personal transport at her beck and call. She looked down at the incantation, not entirely sure what would happen and then looked at her husband for confirmation. Percy shrugged almost imperceptibly in response to his wife, they had both been raised in typical upper middle-class comfort, nowhere near well off enough to even encounter a private transport. Penelope recited the incantation carefully, making sure to enunciate every syllable correctly, unsure what would happen otherwise. With a crackle and a flash, Hecate’s large black trunk materialised in the middle of the path, shocking everyone except Hecate who was used to the spell. She wasn’t sure why Penelope had summoned the heavy trunk to the middle of the garden when they could have just done it inside. She was definitely feeling too skittish to say so.
“It’s fine, this is a good learning moment” Percy reassured and raised his hands over the trunk with drama.
“gravitate carentibus” he boomed, taking on the same careful tone Pippa and Hecate’s teachers used. The trunk immediately jumped into the air with ease, and Percy lowered his arms. He motioned for the girls to follow him and walked off down the path, the trunk following them like an obedient dog. When they reached the steps leading through the front door, he halted suddenly and manoeuvred the trunk to float about waist height at the foot of the short staircase.
“Come, come girls” Penelope invited, ushering them over “now normally, you would need to do some chanting to achieve this effect, but you should be okay to take over the established incantation” she explained “don’t think you’ll be able to do this as easily as Percy, you’re not strong enough, but if you keep your hands close to the trunk it should be fine” she finished.
Hecate immediately warmed to her fast, informative teaching style. She had converted her parents' easy use of levitation for years, and was desperate to imitate them, desperate to take home a skill they would quietly approve of.
Pippa and Hecate both moved to stand either side of the trunk and extended their arms out, suddenly feeling nervous. Hecate reached for her magic, feeling it spring up to meet her with anticipation, pooling in her belly and flowing to her fingertips.
“My incantation is currently holding the trunk up with a brace of magic beneath it” Percy told them once he saw the telltale glow of magic settle over them “I want you to reach out with your magic and slowly take the weight a little at a time” he finished, leaving them to settle into the communication.
Hecate reached her magic out and tried to take over some of the strength Percy was giving to the spell. She was embarrassed to see that the effort wasn’t even causing him to look strained and yet she was pouring almost all her strength into it and barely making any difference. She’d never failed before; she was good at magic, she had so much raw power it often terrified her. How could she not lift the damn trunk? Hecate was about ready to cry until she glanced up and saw the same dent between Pippa’s eyebrows that formed during transfiguration theory, she selfishly felt better knowing her friend was struggling too.
“Maybe this is too mu-“ Penelope started to excuse them, Percy moving forward to finish his spell.
“No.” Pippa stated decisively “we can do it, come on Hecate” she finished, moving around to grab her friend's hand. Pippa’s magic had always felt light and effervescent, dancing under her skin, making her feel powerful and full of light. But when she grabbed Hecate’s hand, she felt the darker, rawer feel of her friend's magic mix with her own and a rush of golden warmth flood over her. Hecate’s power seemed to come from her very bones; a deep, smouldering inferno that complimented Pippa perfectly. She instantly felt euphorically powerful, ready to do anything. Working together they began taking over, the trunk sagging towards the ground even through their combined strength. They struggled up the stairs regardless, straining so much it probably would have taken less effort to have carried it; they only missed the ground by a centimetre at most.
“God, Hiccup, what’s in here?” Pippa accused teasingly
“I think mother packed half the library” she replied, her voice strained “you know, if you keep calling me Hiccup I’m going to have to come up with an equally embarrassing nickname for you, Pentangle” she teased back.
They dropped the trunk just outside of the door with a heavy thump, smiling at each other with pride.
“There’s nothing embarrassing to call me” Pippa rebuked with a sly grin, crossing her arms.
“If you say so Pipsqueak” she replied, patting Pippa once on the top of her head.
“Oh you’ve been sitting on that, Hardbroom!”
Penelope and Percy smiled at the warm, easy space that existed between them, glad Pippa had finally found someone she could just be herself with. They’d both worried that, while their only daughter seemed to attract people like she was magnetic, she very rarely appreciated constant company. They were curious if this would be the case with Hecate.
“Well now we’ve managed to tackle the steps out here, you only have to get it up to the top floor” Penelope told them, a mock serious expression covering her face.
She couldn’t help but laugh as she saw them both look at her with panicked exasperation.
“I’ll do it” Percy interjected with a laugh, planting a kiss on top of Pippa’s head as Penelope began to usher them inside “no need to tease the poor girl to death before she’s even though the door” he directed towards Penelope, winking playfully at Hecate who couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this welcome. Everyone was smiling and laughing as she shrugged her summer cloak off and allowed herself to be led inside, finally understanding what home was supposed to feel like.
—
The next morning Hecate awoke with startled panic, not sure where she was or what had just landed on her bed. She quickly discerned that she was not in her bed, and the thing that landed on her was not a thing at all, but Pippa, lying on her front a little further down the duvet. Knees bent and ankles crossed, she looked up at Hecate with a smile, her pyjamas still rumbled from her own bed.
“Summers for sleeping, Pip” Hecate groaned, her eyelids still heavy.
“Summers for fun” she corrected, displeased with her friend's noncommittal hum in response.
“You know, maybe if you ate more you’d have more energy” Pippa broached as Hecate shifted around a little so their heads were closer together.
“It’s not that easy” she whispered back, heart constricting in her chest.
“I know” Pippa mumbled back “I just worry about you” she admitted, lightly tracing her fingers up the indentation in Hecate’s forearm.
“Nobody else does”
“I’m not anybody else”
“I know”
Sunlight streamed in from the window behind Pippa, transforming her hair into messy strands of liquid gold. Looking at her, bathed in the promise of the day, Hecate supposed she’d never met anyone less like everyone else in her entire life.
“Can you swear and promise something for me?” Pippa proposed, eyes warm and lips quirked up into a lazy grin.
“I don’t know, I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep” Hecate pointed out, every cell of her body telling her to just agree and not be awkward for once in her life.
“Promise you’ll try” Pippa demanded, not needing to explain further “swear and promise”
“Swear and promise” Hecate vowed.
“Sorted, then” Pippa stated with a smile, standing up and throwing the covers off Hecate
“Come on”
Hecate rolled her eyes and got up, liking that her bare feet didn’t instantly take a chill as they would at home. Rather than enduring bare flagstones, Pippa’s parents had carpeted the house with an assortment of homey looking rugs that Hecate found she quite liked. The care the Pentangles had taken to make their home less severe had the opposite of a calming effect on Hecate, it felt like the world was slightly off kilter. She felt like she’d walked into an alien world instead of a kitchen; the room she hated the most everywhere else suddenly seemed welcoming here. She felt like her own sombre home was a slower, greyer version of the happy chaos she stepped into. Hecate was used to the cold easily permeating her papery skin and chilling her bones, she’d have never dreamt of walking around in just her pyjamas at home. But there were large French doors on the far side of the spacious kitchen thrown open to clear out the chill that settled so easily in old houses. She was used to Alberta’s lonely welcome rather than the bright chatter between Pippa’s parents. As they sat at the large oak table Percy rose, wearing dark, serious robes.
“Good morning Hecate” he smiled “did you sleep well?”
“Yes Mr- Percy” she corrected herself hastily, smiling back at him
“Good, I’m glad” he replied, bending down to pick up a sleek briefcase “Good morning doughnut” he teased easily, leaning down to playfully kiss Pippa’s temple while she squealed indignantly, trying to pour a glass of orange juice.
Hecate poured herself a glass of water from the pretty jug already sat on the table as Percy quickly pecked Penelope goodbye and transported himself out of the room, unable to stop herself grinning.
“He’s insufferable” Pippa insisted, rolling her eyes, but she couldn’t stop herself smiling even while she said it.
The easy love and affection seeped into Hecate, it felt sweet, like sugar dissolving on her tongue.
“I don’t know Pipsqueak. I think doughnut’s quite fetching”
“Don’t even joke, Hiccup”
“I’m sure Ursulla Hallow would think it’s just as cute as I do”
“You wouldn’t dare”
“Try me”
Pippa giggled, her eyes flashing with teasing menace as she reached into her glass and lightly flicked a few drops of orange juice at her friend. Hecate gasped as the few, sticky drops landed on her face and reached to flick a few drops of water back at Pippa. Her eyes widened in surprise that Hecate had really just flicked water at her over the breakfast table, and she laughed with shock. Pippa reached over to gain the upper hand by taking the water jug- Hecate would never get a glass of orange juice out of her hair- but it was shifted just out of reach by the tiniest flick of Penelope’s fingers.
“Now, now girls” she chided lightly “do you think total warfare can wait until after breakfast?” She finished, placing a bowl of porridge with strawberries and honey in front of each girl. Hecate wasn’t giggling anymore.Porridge 142 or 255 or 291 or 377What liquid did she use?Honey’s pure sugarDon’t eat thatOh god please no
Hecate’s heart started beating so hard she was sure her skin was vibrating with it, her mind span and she could feel the breezy excuse about not eating breakfast ready to burst out of her mouth, like a bird waiting to be set free. She picked up the spoon, fidgeting it in her hand, all too aware of the unnatural noise it caused. She focused on the movement rather than on her rising anxiety.
Don’t make it weird
Don’t make it weird
It’s nice here don’t make it sad and awful like everything else
She noticed Penelope had sat down with her own breakfast, pouring herself a mug of coffee to go with her toast.
Just eat it
Pippa had struck up an animated conversation with her mother, grabbing her attention every time she started to look over at Hecate.
Put it in your mouth, chew and swallow it’s not that hard
She scraped the honey off a slice of strawberry with the edge of her spoon and then scooped it up.
Anything Pippa can do I can do
She shoved the slice of fruit into her mouth and chewed, the sharp sweetness invading her taste buds. She could feel the world closing in, the edges turning black, the colours dimming to grey. Nothing felt real and she couldn’t breathe. The calories from the strawberry unsheathed their claws, burrowing into her system like a virus, ripping her cells to shreds. She felt dizzy.
Calm down
Pippa was starting to look concerned. If she wasn’t careful she’d have to tell Penelope and then she’d decide Hecate was more trouble than she was worth and send her home.
Breath
Hecate thought of Percy conjuring a whole bed for her in Pippa’s room because he thought they’d want to share, of the sunlight filtering through Pippa’s messy hair this morning, of Penelope fondly calling her Hiccup when she said goodnight, of Percy kissing his wife goodbye before he went to work. She allowed herself to be comforted by Pippa’s family, because they knew how to love and just did, like it was easy, like she was easy to love. The strawberry didn’t feel like a virus anymore, and it felt a little easier to silence the voice chanting mean words between her ears. She didn’t finish the whole thing, she probably didn’t even finish half, but she didn’t want to cut her stomach open and take it all out. She even managed to join in the conversation, her contribution a little thin and quiet, but real all the same. She was grateful for Pippa taking this time to regale her mother with stories from school. Hecate might care more about being thin than most- if not all- the things in her life; but today, Pippa leaning over and squeezing her hand when Penelope turned her back to wash pots felt like it might be a close second.
“I’m proud of you, Hiccup” Pippa whispered, and Hecate decided she was glad that she’d tried.
—
A few days later, Hecate was lying on her stomach in the back garden resolutely Not Thinking about how she could feel her bloated tummy pressing into the ground. She was drawing a wildflower in front of her to take her mind off it, pencil light on the page. Pippa’s back garden more resembled a wild-flower speckled meadow than a traditional garden, but Hecate loved it. It was nowhere near as big as the grounds surrounding her own home, and the sparse woodland at the bottom perimeter looked almost comical thinking about the large, dense wood on her parents land; Hecate knew which one she preferred all the same.
“Stop doing that” Pippa stated as she put down a small, oddly shaped suitcase and a book and flopped down next to her friend “I can hear you thinking about calories all the way from the house, Hiccup”
She easily plucked the small drawing pad out of Hecate’s hands and went to go and put it down. In the process she saw a glimpse of the skilled wildflower sketch inside and took a moment to look at it properly
“This is impressive, Hiccup” she complimented and laid it down.
“It would be more impressive if you would let me finish”
“Hush” Pippa demanded and Hecate rolled her eyes, pushing herself up to sit cross legged.
“Today I thought we could get ahead. Show Ursulla Hallow who’s boss” she offered cryptically, opening the weird looking, almost suitcase. Hecate peered in but was immediately confused as to how this would help them show their school nemesis anything. Inside the suitcase was a matte black disk with a silver arm hovering above it.
“What is that?” Hecate asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
“It’s a record player. It’s meant to plug into electricity but dad modified it with magic so now it’ll play anywhere” she explained “it plays music” she elaborated, seeing Hecate seemed none the wiser.
There was something deliciously illicit about using an illegally modified, non-magical item that Hecate loved. She unabashedly stared as Pippa set a record playing and smiled when it produced sound. It was faster, messier and more melodic than chanting, more like a musical broom crash than anything her parents would approve of.
“That’s so cool Pip, but how will it help us get back at Ursualla?”
“Oh no, that’s not for getting even, that’s just because I had to go all year without listening to Blondie and I was about to come out in a rash” Pippa reassured, laughing lightly “this is for getting ahead” she finished, reaching over and dumping the book on Hecate’s lap. Pippa then proceeded to put her sunglasses on and flop back onto the grass, quietly humming along to the record player. Hecate would want to read more than the title and why should she waste good sunbathing time?
“On using witchcraft and magic to control the elemental forces” Hecate read aloud, opening the book with trepidation. Hecate read the first few pages rapidly, intending to look over to her friend afterwards to try and avoid an awkward silence, but she was immediately drawn in. The magic detailed in the book was like nothing she’d ever seen: simple but so fundamentally divergent from what they’d already learnt that Hecate felt like she was trying to pick through Ancient Greek.
“I think this is older than my grandparents” she wagered.
“I tried to do some of the spells last year but I was nowhere near powerful enough” Pippa offered, not bothering to take her sunglasses off.
“Yeah, I don’t think one year’s gonna be enough, Pip. Where did you even find this?”
“In the attic last summer, it’s not complicated magic”
“No, but it’s like trying to learn English by reading Shakespeare” she rebutted weakly, her natural curiosity already piquing.
“You’re right, Hiccup. I’m not good enough and you’re not good enough either. But together?” Pippa sat up, reaching out to ghost her fingertips across Hecate’s with the lightest touch, making sure her magic was awake and concentrated there. “Don’t you feel it?” Pippa asked, her voice barely above a murmur.
Hecate felt her heart stutter in her chest, her magic reaching up to touch Pippa’s instinctively. She’d felt like the levitation trick had been a fluke, but Pippa’s magic complimented hers so perfectly. It drew it outwards, allowed her to access all the power that so often scared her while keeping it all in check. In the tiny space where her fingertips lightly brushed against Pippa’s was a power that was greater than the sum of its parts.
“Yes. I feel it.” She murmured back
“Well then. Let’s get ahead, Hiccup”
—
Time passed in the way it so often did, ebbing and flowing like a river in the mountains. Pippa and Hecate would eat breakfast with Penelope every morning, just catching Percy before he headed off to work; he did something important sounding that neither girl really cared about. After a few weeks, Hecate finished her breakfast more times than not, and on the days she couldn’t, Pippa would squeeze her hand as she pulled her outside, and smile at her anyway. Eventually, Hecate started to let go of her old belief that love had to be conditional. On one of these days, when the voice had been too loud and persuasive, Pippa led her down to the bottom of the garden, hidden behind the smattering of trees around the perimeter of their land.
“I think you’ve had enough time to read the book, and I’m inpatient” she stated simply, once they found a small clearing to flop down in “oh, and don’t mention it to mum or dad; they would go mad if they knew I was trying magic from the old books in the attic”
Hecate gave her agreement; everyone knew old magic was either extremely powerful or extremely unstable and sometimes both. She couldn’t imagine that caring Penelope and Percy would allow them to take a risk like this.
“Lets try something easy first” Hecate suggested and Pippa nodded in agreement. She stood up and drifted over to a patch of wildflowers almost ready to bloom. The book was clear about how to perform the spell, Hecate needed to use her magic to sense the energy in the roots of the plants and push her own power into them. The only problem was that no modern magic needed them to ever sense power in the natural world. Witches incited herbs to do their spells for them, they wound their magic off and pushed it off. There was no finesse like this anymore, no witches could remember how to do elemental magic and the practice had died out centuries ago. She lifted her hand and hovered it over the flowers, pooling her magic into her palm. Her magic always made her skin tingle, so she hoped that the increased sensitivity would help her discern the strings of energy linking the flowers to their roots.
“I can’t do it, Pip” she eventually admitted, her face crumpled into a cross scowl. Hecate was not used to failing, never mind with such utter totality. She had no idea how she was even meant to find this energy to aim her magic at.
“That’s what happened to me last year, I tried and tried and all that happened was I eventually singed mum’s rose bush” she told Hecate with a wince; Penelope felt very strongly about her roses. She offered her hand out to Hecate, who took it with slight trepidation, and they pooled their magic together. They weren’t yet used to the raw power that raced between them, it caused them to flinch when they encouraged it. They cautiously reached out their magic towards the flowers, trying to feel for the strings of energy around them, yet still they sensed nothing. Hecate made a frustrated sound and sank to her knees, pulling Pippa down with her. She splayed her hand out on the ground in frustration and suddenly understood why they couldn’t feel this energy the book talked about. They had assumed it was in the air, but it was in the ground.
“Put your hand on the floor, Pippa” she told her friend “can you feel where the roots are? I can feel where the roots are”
“Yeah, it’s like they’re pulsing under the ground” she affirmed “we could just kind of, shoot some magic off and see what happens?” she finished, knowing Hecate would want to try a more elegant approach but not knowing what else to try.
When Hecate shrugged and nodded, they both sent blasts of magic off in the general direction of the roots they could feel. Nothing happened at first, but after a few minutes one of the flowers bloomed very suddenly and then proceeded to wither, overloaded by the power it was flooded with. When they lifted their hands from the ground, there were scorch marks on the grass, but it was a start. Hecate couldn’t shift the smile off her face for the rest of the day.
---
Summer passed in a haze of magic and laughter. Whenever they weren’t practising spells, they would be listening to records or drawing or running around. Pippa was shocked to discover Hecate had never heard non-magical music before the Blondie she had played and took it upon herself to educate her friend. Hecate’s penchant for trashy pop gave her no end of amusement as she flipped through her rock records, trying to find a compromise. In the interest of Hecate’s non-magic education, when they happened across a chest full of dusty, non-magic books Pippa insisted they read some. After that Percy would find them, without fail, tangled up in the late afternoon sun reading old paperbacks when he came home. Hecate proclaimed The Great Gatsby was the best book she’d ever read. Pippa maintained that Alice in Wonderland was the best book ever written to the truly enlightened. The weekends passed in a blur of sports-related activities in the back garden, hosted by Percy and begrudgingly participated in by Penelope. Hecate expected to do nothing more than tolerate the activities, but found she started looking forward to the funny, four person tournaments. Percy decided it would be a good idea to teach the girls how to play rugby, which Hecate displayed shocking finesse in. She could dodge past anyone, fast as a whippet. One day Percy decided he’d had enough, and playfully threw her over his shoulder to get her back down the other end of the pitch. Hecate laughed so hard her sides hurt, bouncing around as Percy pretended to score a try with her. Pippa allowed it, much to Peleope’s chagrin. The next day she wondered what it would have been like if she had been born here instead of at home. She wondered who she would have become growing up with Percy’s teasing and Penelope’s affection. She liked the idea of being their child, but she didn’t want to be Pippa’s twin. The twins in their year often quarrelled and bickered, her and Pippa were much better at being best friends.
After noticing that Hecate seemed so anxious around food, Penelope started keeping an eye on her. She could rarely tempt her with anything stodgy particularly, lunch and dinner were a battle, but she’d gotten into the habit of finishing her breakfast more times than not. In response to this she’d started stirring cream into Hecate’s porridge whenever she could get away with it. She didn’t understand why Hecate never ate anything without radiating anxiety, but she wasn’t a naturally judgemental person, and she trusted if there was anything badly wrong, Pippa would tell her. They didn’t keep secrets. She felt an intense responsibility to send Hecate back to school in better shape than she had arrived. She didn’t know if it was because she was a mother or because Hecate had quite thoroughly stolen her heart, she just knew it hadn’t been difficult considering the state she’d turned up in. From what she could discern from asking around, and the scarce information Hecate offered up about her family, the Hardbroom’s were astronomically wealthy aristocrats that were every inch old money. Realistically, Hecate should have been friends with Pippa at all. But when she thought of Hecate jumping to attention at Percy dropping a book, of her apologising profusely when her fire starter spell had spluttered out, of her wistful gaze whenever they laughed at an old family joke, she sadly thought that all the money in the world couldn’t replace love. She glanced out the large window above the sink to the back garden and smiled despite her sombre train of thought. The girls had taken it upon themselves to learn some trick magic she was sure Heacate’s parents would despise, and were running around using it to cast water spells at each other. They were far away but she could still hear their shrieks of laughter and the music of the record player drifting through the open French doors. She cast a quick zoom spell to check up on them, thinking back to the pale-faced, terrified waif that showed up at their gate nearly 2 months ago. Hecate may still be pale and thin, but she wasn’t thin enough to make Penelope’s chest hurt just to look at her, which was an improvement. She didn’t jump at loud noises anymore, she didn’t startle when Penelope or her husband showed her affection. In this moment she was wearing a wide smile, her wet hair spinning out behind her as she pivoted to cast a counterspell. She probably shouldn’t have laughed when it hit Pippa square in her damp, little face, but she did. Hecate’s improvement was nowhere near enough, or as much as she wanted to give, but Penelope decided it would have to be enough for this year. They were going back to school tomorrow after all.
That night Pippa climbed out of her own bed and padded across the room.
“Shift up” she whispered and slipped under the bedding as Hecate shuffled to make room for her in the narrow single bed.
They pulled the duvet over their heads, curling up together naturally. Hecate muttered a quick lighting spell which enveloped them both in warm, low light. It felt good to make this kind of impromptu den, they were going back to third year at the academy and knew their days making duvet forts were numbered.
“Have you had a good summer, Hiccup?” Pippa couldn’t help but ask, thinking of records, wildflowers and paperback novels. Hecate replied without pause or hesitation
“The best ever”