Salem Falls

Tucking her hair behind her ear, Alexa made her way through the woods, careful not to trip over any loose branches or rustle up too many leaves. Even though the woods were basically empty, she didn’t want to draw too much attention to herself, out of fear of what could happen if she got caught.

She didn’t want anyone to see her and Harry and risk getting both their families in trouble, along with losing him as her teacher. She wanted so badly to perform magic and he was the only one who could help her.

“Alexa?” His voice called behind him and she spun around, instantly being met with chocolate hair. He nearly startled her, so her hand clutched to her chest, while her chest heaved up and down. He smirked at that. “Did I spook ya?”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course not. Just a little out of breath is all.”

“Right,” he chuckled. “Maybe we should hold off on the lesson then. If you’re too tired, that is.”

She pursed her lips, throwing her hands on her hips. Her eyes tightened in a glare, and she could feel him melting under her stare.

“Fine, fine,” he said, throwing his hands in the air. “We’ll get on with the lesson. What is it that you want to learn?”

“Everything.”

“Well, I can’t teach you everything,” Harry said, as he held his hands out at his sides. He smiled at her, as he moved his hands up, the leaves around them moving with them. He gave a twirl of his fingers and the leaves began circling around them. He dropped his hands and the leaves fell with them, landing gently to the ground as if they’d never been moved at all. “I can only teach you what I know, which isn’t much. Just your typical levitation, some advanced potions, and anything involving electricity.”

“And that thing you did with the bird,” she finished.

“Right,” Harry said slowly, his eyes pinching. “That.”

Alexa didn’t know why he was so quick to act like it was nothing, because she thought what he’d done with that bird was incredible. That was what she wanted to do. She didn’t want to move a bunch of leaves around or make potions; she wanted to do the incredible thing that he’d done, and she wanted to do it badly.

“That takes a lot of practice,” he finished. “You’re nowhere near ready for that, and you won’t be for a long time, if ever.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, Alexa nodded. She knew better than to push her luck and figured they could save that lesson for another day.

“What can you teach me, then?”

“Levitation is probably easiest,” he said, as he held his arms out again. “It’s one of the most simple uses of magic and doesn’t even require a spell if you think hard enough. The lighter something is, the easier it is to move. Heavier stuff takes a bit more concentration.”

With that, he shut his eyes, pressing his lips tightly together. Alexa bit her lip as she watched him concentrate. He looked so perfect, with his eyes tightly shut and his curls falling around his face. She thought she’d never seen anything so wonderful in all her life, but of course, she wasn’t going to tell him that.

This time, he didn’t lift his arms into the air, only thought, and a fallen tree to their left rose from the ground. He stuck his tongue out, his teeth nibbling it as he concentrated, and the tree dead tree lifted fully into the air, spinning around, before collapsing back to earth.

When it landed with a thud, he popped his eyes back open, smirking as Alexa stared at him wide-eyed. She’d never seen magic performed before, besides the little she’d seen from Harry, so to see something so powerful happen in front of her nearly blew her mind.

Sure, lifting a tree into the air wasn’t extremely flashy, but it was incredible, nonetheless. She could only imagine the other things that magic that powerful could do.

“I want to do that,” she said quickly, bouncing up on her toes.

“It’ll take a lot of work.”

“I know.”

“You’ll really have to concentrate.”

“I know that, too.”

“It’s going to be hard.”

“I can do it, Harry. I know I can.”

Harry chuckled, giving her a half smile, and she knew she’d convinced him.

“You’re going to have to trust me,” he said.

She nodded, and his smile dropped, as he took a few short steps closer to her, so he was just inches away. He grabbed her arms, holding them out to the side so she made a ‘t’ shape.

“Now, I know this looks stupid, but it helps. Don’t ask. You’ve got to feel the magic inside you. Feel in your fingertips down to your toes. You have to let it wash over you and take control before you can control it.”

Alexa nodded, before shutting her eyes tightly. She tried to do what Harry was saying – to feel the magic inside her – but felt nothing. She let her mind go blank, so she could let whatever force Harry had mentioned wash over her, but nothing happened.

“It’s not working,” she groaned, slapping her hands at her sides.

He grabbed her hands again, holding them out like they were before. “You’ve gotta feel it, Alexa. Just let yourself feel it.”

She shut her eyes again, wiggling her fingers as she willed the magic to pass through her. Her lungs let out deep, steady breaths, as she focused all her attention on the pulse inside her. It started with a small beat, like one in her heart, before it got louder and pounded more quickly. Before she knew it, it pulsed throughout her body, setting her free.

When she opened her eyes, she found Harry smiling at her, with his arms folded across his chest. She glanced to the left, and then to the right, and found leaves floating beside her. They were only an inch off the ground, but that inch felt like a mile to Alexa, and she nearly squealed.

All her life she had wanted to perform magic, and she finally did it – did something – and she didn’t care how small that something was.

Her hands moved from her sides to around Harry’s neck, causing the leaves to drop. She jumped into his arms, holding him as tightly as she could, forgetting for a moment that it went four levels beyond their student teacher relationship.

His hands went around her waist and he squeezed back, both of the too excited to care about what would happen when they let go.