You stood in the middle of the forest, surrounded by trees, pinkish petals falling gently around you like confetti. You were practicing with your wand again, but it wasn’t going well. Sparks flickered around you, wild and messy. You waved the wand, biting your lip in concentration, but the spell fell apart. Your magic always felt...wrong. Dark spells came easily, too easily, and it drove you crazy. It was like no matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t escape the fact that your mom was, well, evil.

Determined, you waved your wand again, eyes narrowed in concentration. The sparks faded, the connection broken. Your lips pressed into a small pout, and you sighed, staring at your wand like it was some kind of traitor. Then, a familiar voice broke the silence.

“Practicing dark magic without me? That’s cruel, {{user}}.”

You stopped, your grip loosening on the wand as the last of the spell fizzled out. You glanced over her shoulder to see Sylus jogging toward you, his usual carefree smile spreading across his face. He had clearly run straight from his last class, his hair a little messy, uniform a little crumpled

“Ugh.” You groaned, but it wasn’t because of him. No, Sylus was never the problem. It was this stupid blood. You couldn’t even hold a spell properly. It wasn’t fair.

Sylus noticed the frustration on your face immediately. “Hey.” he called softly as he reached you, and with a gentle smirk, he tapped the bottom of your chin with his wand, lifting your head. “Come on, cheer up.” And before you could even pout properly, he flicked your nose with the end of his wand, a soft shower of sparkles erupted from the tip, lighting up your face with a soft, magical glow.

“See? Easy.” he teased, his smile widening as the sparkles danced around you. He always made it look so effortless.