Chapter Text
"Rio! Rio!"
Rio glanced up from her copy of Pride and Prejudice just in time to brace herself for her small but incredibly strong best friend, Alice Wu Gulliver, from tackling her to the floor.
"Hey, Ali," Rio laughed. "Good to see you, too."
"Sorry. I tried to stop her," Alice's girlfriend, Jennifer Kale, laughed.
Rio rolled her eyes. "When Alice wants to do something, nothing can stop her."
"Yeah, except graduating. The new professor can definitely stop me doing that," Alice muttered. "I've heard she's a nightmare."
Jen snorted. "You said the same thing about Professor Calderu, and she's fine. Just a little off her rocker."
"Teen says they know each other," Alice exclaimed. "Old lovers or something like that!"
Rio made a face. "You know Billy hates it when you call him that."
"Well, then, he shouldn't have skipped two grades and made friends with us," Jen pointed out. "That's a hundred percent his fault. He has the entire rest of the campus to make friends from."
Rio rolled her eyes. "So how does he know that the new professor and Calderu know each other?"
"I dunno. How does he know everything he knows? He's a genius and an FBI agent on the side," Jen muttered.
Alice chuckled. "Wouldn't surprise me at this point. Anyways, apparently, this new professor is like some huge deal. They were, like, waiting for Old Flannagan to retire so they could offer her the job."
"And for good reason!" Billy Kaplan exclaimed as he bounced over, practically vibrating in excitement. "We found out who she is! She's Evanora Harkness's granddaughter!"
"WHAT?!" the other three screeched.
"THE Evanora Harkness?" Jen cried. "That's impossible!"
Billy shook his head, the dangling earrings he had picked out bouncing with every move. "Oh, it's possible! Eddie and I saw her walk out of the café with Professor Calderu!"
"She was in the café?!" Alice squealed. "Oh my gosh! We might get to see her if she frequents it!"
Rio was the first to pull herself together. "I though you heard she was a nightmare? And anyways, she's not gonna want to be around us if we're fangirling every time we see her. You do realize we have to sit through her two hour lectures, right?"
"Yeah, but they're gonna be given by the daughter of the leader of the original Salem coven! I'll sit through anything if it means we get to listen to Evanora Harkness's granddaughter speak!" Alice exclaimed.
Jen made a face. "Wait…granddaughter…how old is this chick?"
"She just turned thirty-five. Apparently, Evanora and her daughter both gave birth at pretty old ages because of their longevity spells, Evanora at a hundred sixty-five and her daughter at a hundred twenty. That makes her around twelve years older than Rio and Alice and thirteen years older than you," Billy answered immediately.
"Why do you just know that right off the bat?" Jen asked.
Billy just smirked and held up his phone. "Not my fault you're not with the times."
"Oh, shut up," Jen muttered, smacking him upside the head. "So what's her name?"
"Agatha Harkness. She's famous in her own right for writing the Witches' Road textbook series, and she's a genius when it comes to spirit magic. I've even heard she's a siphon!" Billy exclaimed.
Alice hesitated. "A siphon?"
"Oh, don't worry. She's the one who found out siphons could draw their magic from totems so they don't drain a whole witch. I read all her works a couple years ago. She really is an extraordinary writer," Billy told them.
Rio hummed. "I dunno, guys. She sounds great, but don't you think something like that sounds a little too great to be true?"
"No, really! She's a genius in her own right! It'll be absolutely thrilling to learn about the elements of spirit magic from her," Billy insisted. "Just give her a chance."
Jen rolled her eyes. "Who's the fangirl now?"
"Right, like you and Alice aren't both gonna melt into a puddle when you meet her," Billy teased.
Rio winked. "Well, I get first dibs. I get to go see her now."
"Tell us everything after class!" Alice begged.
Rio nodded. "I will."
"Don't embarrass yourself," Billy warned.
Rio raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"Just…she's very pretty. And we all know how you get around pretty witches," Billy explained, shrinking back when Rio's eyes narrowed.
"I swear, I spend half my time babysitting you lot," she muttered.
Alice placed her hand over her heart in mock indignation. "I'm literally only a month younger than you are."
"Yeah, yeah. Go to class," Rio said, pulling Alice into a quick hug and waving at Jen and Billy.
"Good luck," Jen sang.
Rio rolled her eyes and headed off to her first class of the semester. She was, in truth, curious about this new professor who had swooped in so quickly after Professor Flannagan's sudden retirement not long after open house. This meant that none of the students really had a chance to meet her. So Rio's class would be the first.
Professor Harkness was nowhere to be found as Rio entered the already student-filled classroom. Unfortunately for her, most of the seats were already taken, forcing Rio to sit in the front row to avoid being near the group of kids smoking a definitely illegal set of magical cigarettes, who the rest of the class had also given a wide birth.
But the second the bell rang, the lights went out, and the whole room fell silent as a glowing purple orb lit up in the center of the whiteboard. They watched in wonder and apprehension as the orb grew and grew until it revealed a slim figure emerging from seemingly inside the wall. The lights flickered a bright purple before lighting up with a brilliance that had most of the students blinking as their eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness.
But Rio's eyes were trained on the woman that had suddenly appeared. She had on a white button down and black slacks, and over it all, she was wearing a blue cloak that the whole class watched shift into a fitted trench coat that reached down to almost her ankles, molding itself around the witch like that was all it had ever come into existence to do. Her brunette hair was pulled into a bun that was somewhere between messy and ballet, a few tendrils falling down to frame her face.
And Billy hadn't been lying…it was a gorgeous face.
Piercing blue eyes took in the students gaping before her, and Rio knew she wasn't the only one swooning at the red lipped smirk that took over the woman's perfect plump lips.
Rio was so fucked.
"Welcome."
That singular word, spoken with such power and authority, had half the class shivering.
"I am your new professor, Agatha Harkness, here to teach you all there is to know about spirit magic and the history of those who practice it. Your syllabus has been uploaded to the class drive. I expect you all to read it thoroughly, and just in case you think you can get away with not doing so, we'll be having a test over it on Thursday. It will be a heavily weighted test."
Normally, this would elicit groans and complaints around the room. However, it seemed that the class was in complete and total agreement that this woman had power beyond what any of them could even fathom, so they stayed silent, a few of them even going so far as to nod along a little too eagerly.
"Good. I don't do a syllabus day, so this should get you all to actually go over what I expect in my class. Now, everybody get out something to take notes on. And yes, it is required. You'll be turning these notes in at the end of the year, and it'll be worth a substantial amount of points on the exam," Professor Harkness announced as she headed back to her desk.
That did elicit some groans, but her head snapped around, eyes searching for the culprits, who fell silent the split second she started to move.
"Rolfe, Perkins, and Greenshaw, see me after class, and we'll decide whether or not this class is a good fit for you, or rather, whether you are a good fit for this class," the woman said calmly.
And that was somehow worse than any yelling she could have done.
Nobody else dared to make a noise for the rest of class, practically holding their breaths as they rushed out the door. Rio had honestly never seen a room clear out so fast. And what was even more interesting was that Professor Harkness didn't wait to see her students out like most professors did. As soon as the bell rang, she had slipped through the door in the corner that led to her office.
Alice, Jen, and Billy were waiting for her in the café at the usual booth, just as they'd done every day for the past three years, but there was an edge of excitement that was unfamiliar.
"So? How'd it go?" Alice immediately asked.
Rio sighed, setting her knapsack down on the chair. "She's both terrifying and incredible."
"Oh, come on. Give us more details than that!" Jen exclaimed.
Rio chuckled. "Alright, alright. Keep your panties on. She started off with a grand entrance to show off her power, then announced a syllabus test for next class, and then finished her introduction by calling out the kids that dared to complain about her notes being mandatory. I honestly won't be surprised if I don't see them next class."
"Don't complain about workload. Got it," Alice mumbled.
"But what about her lecture? I know she doesn't do a syllabus day. How was the first day of lecture?" Billy asked, bouncing up and down on his seat in his excitement.
Rio laughed. "Okay, calm down, kiddo. It was great. She's very knowledgable. You can really tell she's done a lot of research on the things she's talking about."
"Do you think she'll like me?" Billy asked.
"Who wouldn't?" Rio chuckled. "She'll love you, kiddo."
Jen rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. Don't boost his ego any more than you already have. Before you know it, you'll have turned him into a hot air balloon with how big his head will be."
"Nah, he deserves the praise," Alice chimed in, reaching over to rustle the boy's hair.
"Alice! You'll mess up my curls!" Billy whined.
Rio snorted. "Yeah, you signed up for that when you became friends with us."
"Worst decision I ever made," Billy joked.
"Hey!"
Billy yelped as three different hands smacked him. "Proving my point. Pretty sure that constitutes a report of child abuse."
"Oh, please. You're four months away from being eighteen," Jen pointed out.
Billy shrugged. "But I'm not eighteen. Which makes me a minor."
"I'll remember that next time you argue against having a curfew," Rio warned with a playful wink.
"You're never home in time to enforce the one you keep suggesting anyways," Billy teased. "Logically, it makes no sense."
Jen snorted. "Logically, your mom."
"That's not even a valid response," Billy protested.
Rio grinned. "Exactly. That's why she said it."
"You guys are ridiculous," Billy muttered.
"Yeah, but you love us."