20 years later

Lena closed her eyes, head tilted towards the sun as she relaxed against the Rowan tree near the Chi Omega Sorority House which had been her home for the past 3 years. Some days she still couldn’t quite believe that she belonged to a Sorority but Shawna had been pretty damn persuasive. To be honest, she was rather glad that she was since she gained a small circle of friends from it. A shadow fell over her, making the brunette open her eyes.

“Harrison…hi”, she said, a smile working its way onto her face as she looked at the guy she’d been crushing on, well…ever since they met in Ancient History class back in the first year.

“Hey, Lena”, the black haired young man greeted back “I’m not disturbing you, am I?”

“Definitely not”, Lena replied. She patted the grass next to her and he sat down.

“It’s a nice spot”, Harrison remarked as he looked around. It was a little out of the way but you could still see one of the main paths, where students bustled back and forth. The two of them winced when they saw Tyler Greer bump into Shawna and Casey and an altercation ensued. “You know, I kinda feel sorry for Tyler”, Harrison commented “never had an easy time here”.

“No offense but most of those situations…” Lena  nodded to the arguing pair “wouldn’t happen if the weasel wasn’t such a creeper around Casey”.

“That’s a good point”, Harrison conceded “so, you got any plans for tonight? The Alpha Kappa’s are throwing a party if you’re interested”.

“Nah, not really my scene”, the young witch told him and the green eyed man nodded. He figured she’d say ‘no’ but it didn’t hurt to ask. Deep down he wished she had said ‘yes’ as he was kinda asking her out on a date. “I got a paper to finish and then a well thumbed Harry Potter book to read but thanks anyway”.

“Maybe next time”, Harrison said. He got up from the grass “I’ll see you around”, he added giving her smile. The 21 year old returned it.

“Yeah, see ya”, she said. As soon as he was gone, she sighed, resting her head against the bark of the tree. “Should just tell him how I feel”, she muttered.

“I should’ve told her how I felt”, Harrison said to himself as he walked down the path towards the library.

~0~

Lena cracked open her red leather bound journal, flipping through the handwritten pages until she reached a blank one. She uncapped her pen and started to write.

Dear Diary,

Apologies for not keeping in touch as often as I should but I’ve been majorly busy trying to finish up my final pieces of work before I finally graduate from this place. I honestly can’t believe its come around so fast, seems like only yesterday that I started Cranmoore University.

I feel…

Lena paused in her writing when her alarm went off, signalling for her to stop journaling and start one of her final pieces of coursework. She closed her journal and slid it into her desk drawer. The twenty one year old then booted up her laptop and proceeded with the paper on the Salem Witch Trials of all things. Yeah…she nearly snorted at the irony of it too. A witch writing about the persecution of witches.

An hour blended into two. A couple of hours became several until Lena had reached a good point in her work where she could leave it for the next day. She powered down her laptop and took out her journal to pick up where she left off.

I feel both excited and nervous at the same time. Excited as it meant no more exams and coursework. No more pulling all-nighters to get work done. I’m nervous as I have no clue what my future will hold. I mean, I’ve taken so many different classes…mostly with history so I guess that’s what I’m leaning towards.

But honestly? I’m not entirely sure what career in history I want to do. Well, one thing’s for sure. I’m steering well clear of anything to do with hunting or subjugation of my people. Perhaps I’ll go the same route as my Godmother and an Occult Studies Professor.

Hm… might have to have a good long think on that one.

Lena closed the book after finishing up the entry and put it back into its place in her desk drawer. She tugged the band out of her shoulder length brown hair, running her fingers through it. The young woman then moved over to her bed where on the nightstand, was a very worn copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. She got comfortable on her bed, picked up the book and started to read. She got through about 10 pages before there was a knock on her door. "Come in!" Lena called. She glanced at the door when it opened and fellow sorority sister, Casey Grant, walked in.

The 5.2 ft young adult with curly honey blonde hair was wearing a short denim skirt and a pink halter neck top which made Lena eye her curiously. That wasn’t the kind of thing that her friend usually wore. It was more Shawna’s thing. “So you’ve either been body swapped with Shawna or you have a hot date”, the brunette joked.

“It’s a date”, Casey confirmed, trying to look confident but failing. In truth she was a bit scared. Dates were meant for the likes of her roommate and resident party girl Shawna Davis. Not for her, the Principle’s daughter. She had to have a slightly different image so it would reflect positively on her father and the University in general. “You wouldn’t happen to have anything less revealing by any chance?”

“As a matter of fact, I do”, Lena answered, setting her book aside. Casey watched Lena walk over to the drawers, open the second one down and rifle through it. The brunette pulled out a purple vest top with butterflies on it from the drawer and held it out to Casey.

"Try this one", Lena suggested. The blonde took it from her and headed into the small ensuite bathroom to try it on. She smiled at her reflection in the mirror. Yes, she liked this one better as it was more…her compared to the halter top Shawna had made her wear.

"It's much better, thanks Lena", she said as she came out of the bathroom.

"You're welcome", Lena said "Casey if for whatever reason you feel like you don’t want to be on your date anymore, call or text me and I’ll come get you”.

Casey couldn't help but smile at that. Lena often said something along those lines whenever Shawna had dragged her out to some party or shindig. At every single one she always ended up leaving early and would call Lena to come get her. When the brunette came, she never asked any questions. She never pushed to find out what happened. Lena would wait until she was ready to talk, if she wanted to share that is. It was one of those many things that she liked about the twenty two year old and why she was grateful that the young adult was her sorority sister/ friend. 

"I will", Casey promised and left the room. The blonde headed down the stairs and out of the house to where Bryce Marsden was waiting for her in his red Dodge Ram pickup truck. The young man whistled in appreciation as she slid into the front passenger seat.

“Wow, you look amazing”, he remarked.

Casey blushed at his compliment “thanks”, she said, tucking some blonde hair behind her ear.

Up in Lena’s bedroom, the brunette had settled back onto her bed and picked up where she left off in her book. She had literally gotten to the part where Harry had received his letter to Hogwarts when the door to her room opened again and this time it was eighteen year old Dawn Smith who bounced into the room.

“Do you mind if I hide out here?” she asked, pushing the door shut “the other girls in my dorm are having this…ugh…slumber party” she made a face “and I don’t want to be hanging around while they  gossip about boys and braid each other’s hair”.

“Of course you can stay”, Lena said, knowing how much Dawn hated all things girly. She was very much a tomboy and it showed in her dyed hair, clothes and scuffed combat boots. Her friendship with the eighteen year old was one that had been highly unexpected. It was only through the buddy system, set up for new students, that they’d even met at all.

The two of them had hit it off straight away. Lena didn’t know what it was about Dawn but she honestly felt like there was a connection between them, like they were kindred spirits or something. Whether that was something she was imagining or not, there was one thing she knew for certain. Dawn Smith was the little sister she never had. 

“Great!” Dawn said, happily “ooh, Harry Potter!” she added as she flopped down onto the bed, her black and purple striped hair fanning out over the bedspread. She snatched the book from Lena’s hands “I prefer Goblet of Fire” she glanced up at the older woman “it had dragons”.

“So does Philosopher’s Stone”, Lena pointed out. Dawn blew a raspberry at that.

“Hardly. It has an itty bitty baby dragon named Norbert but that’s it”, she said “nothing like the badass Hungarian Horntail” Dawn rolled over onto her stomach “hey, you do think dragons are real? That would be so cool”.

Lena shrugged “I dunno. It’s possible that they existed at one point but I doubt they are still around today”, she said. As a witch she liked keep an open mind about these sorts of things. Dragons weren’t featured in any of the Godmother’s books nor her mother’s grimoire which had been given to her when she turned sixteen. That didn’t mean that they weren’t around in the past. “If you want to read Goblet of Fire you know where to find it”, Lena added, taking her book back.

Dawn pouted “but I don’t wanna get up”, she mock whined making Lena nudge her with her foot.

“You know that doesn’t work on me, Dawnie”, she said.

“Was worth a try”, Dawn grumbled, getting up from the bed and shuffling over to Lena’s bookshelf. She plucked the 4^th Harry Potter book from it and came back to the bed where she made herself comfortable. To two of them read their respective novels in silence, only making the occasional comment. 

~0~

Tyler walked through Ravenhill Cemetery with a rucksack slung over his shoulder, shovel over the other and a torch in his hand, lighting his way. He stopped by a gravestone marked with simply with two letters: MD. The young man set the rucksack and the torch down, making sure to angle it so he had enough light to see by. He glanced around to make sure that no one was watching him before he started to dig.

As he did so, his mind flashed back to all those times he had been pushed around. All those times that Shawna told him there was no way that he would ever be with Casey. His grip tightened on the handle of the shovel as he remembered the last time. It had been about a couple of hours after his altercation with her outside…

“Seriously Tyler?” Shawna asked after bumping into him on her way out of class “loitering in the hall like the stalker you are? Have you seriously not learned your lesson yet? Or maybe you’ve got a gold fish memory since I said something similar to you only TWO hours ago!”

“S-Shawna I’ve not come here to fight…I-I just wanted to talk to you”, Tyler stammered “I really think I could have a shot…”

Shawna laughed at him nastily “yeah you’d have a shot…” Tyler started to smile “…in Bizzaro world” the young man’s smile dropped “read my glossed lips. Not. Gonna. Happen. Ever”, she said slowly emphasising each word “so forget about it”. The black woman shoved past Tyler, the curly haired twenty one year old watched her go trembling with anger, hands clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

“Well, she’s pleasant”, a female voice spoke up behind him. Tyler turned around to see a rather attractive young woman standing there with firey red hair “someone should really teach her a lesson”.

“Yeah, someone should”, Tyler agreed.

“Do you want to be the one to do it?” the young woman asked “cos I can show you how” she stepped closer to him “I can show you how to get rid of all the obstacles in your way so you can have Casey all to yourself. You interested?”

Tyler nodded “yes. I’m very interested”, he replied “how do I do it?”

“I see you decided to go through with it after all”, a very familiar voice spoke up. Tyler glanced upwards to see his red headed friend standing over the grave.

“Yes, I have, Yaz”, Tyler confirmed, climbing out of the hole “did you doubt me?”

Yasmin smirked “not for a second”, she replied, producing the grimoire that she’d very briefly showed him weeks ago “I’ve marked the page already for you. The incantation is very straight forward but you have to recite it word for word otherwise it won’t work”.

“Don’t worry I will”, Tyler promised, taking the book from her “thank you Yaz”.

“You’re quite welcome Tyler”, Yasmin said with a not so genuine smile.

“Where are you going?” the young man called when the red head started to walk away.

Yasmin turned back “I have some other business to attend to”, she replied “enjoy your revenge”. She continued on her way, smirking triumphantly, her eyes flickering red. It was so easy to corrupt that the poor little human. She was going to have fun collecting his darkened soul later.

Back at Drummond’s grave, Tyler was still busy digging down to the coffin. Eventually after a good ten minutes, he reached the coffin. He pried it open and grinned when he looked upon the skeletonised remains of Mathew Drummond.

Tyler opened up the grimoire to the page that Yasmin had marked. She was right in it being pretty straight forward, though he needed candles. His shoulders slumped as he didn’t bring any with him. The young man closed the book and climbed out of the hole only to find the grave surrounded by candles, already lit. Since there was nothing holding him back from getting his revenge on those keeping him from Casey, starting with that no good jock Bryce, he opened up the Grimoire. 

“Time to prove that Bryce doesn’t deserve to date Casey”, he said to himself and began to chant.

~0~

Over at Lover’s Lane, things were getting starting to get a little heated between Casey and Bryce. “Stop”, the blonde said, breaking off the kiss when the young man’s hand started to slide under her shirt. As soon as Bryce removed his hand, the making out resumed. “I said stop!” Casey exclaimed, pushing him away.

Suddenly there was a loud screech, like nails on a chalk board, as something was being dragged along the side of the vehicle. “Whoever that is, is dead”, Bryce declared. No one messed with his truck and gets away with it. He got out of the vehicle and glared at the long thin scratches that had ruined the paint work. He then heard a movement behind him and turned around only to scream.

Inside the car, Casey screamed loudly too as she watched him being brutally murdered by an unseen force. She fumbled with the door handle, in a blind panic as she wanted to escape the gruesome sight. Eventually she managed to open the door and bolted from the car. For some inexplicable reason, when she was about a foot away, the blonde faced the car.

Her eyes widened in horror and she screamed again.