Three Witches (Harry Potter/Good Witch Crossover)

No Mystery Seen

Everything Cassie owned arrived in a small handful of boxes the next day, which she brought in with the help of George. Most of the boxes they placed in the front foyer, but one package, in particular, she carried into the kitchen, something telling her she would need that specific box sooner than the others.

"That's the last one," George said, standing straight.

"Are you sure that didn't strain your back?" Cassie asked.

"Given you don't own that much," the older gentleman said, "No." He nodded at the box she'd personally carried into the kitchen. "There are other boxes designated for the kitchen, so why bring that one into the kitchen already and leave the others in the front foyer?"

"I'm not sure yet," Cassie said. A knock on the back door made her look up, her head tilting upon seeing a girl with blond hair standing there on her tiptoes, looking in. "It looks like I have a guest already."

"Sorry," George said. "That's my granddaughter Lori. She's curious about you because you've moved into Grey House and all."

"There's no need to apologize." Cassie opened the back door, and Lori stepped in. She held her hand out to the young teen. "Hi. I'm Cassie Nightingale, the owner of Grey House."

Lori stood there, her green eyes widening as her mouth opened in surprise. She then took Cassie's hand, shaking it. "So it's true then? That Gray House wasn't abandoned by its owners."

"Well." Cassie turned and looked at George. "Someone was certainly paying for your grandfather to care for the place until I could get here."

"Did you know it's haunted?" the young teen blurted out.

"Lori," George sighed. "Don't bother Ms. Nightingale with that."

"Oh," Cassie said, turning to look up the stairs. "I think that if Gray House is haunted, it's by a very nice spirit rather than a scary one." She turned and smiled at Lori. "So, there's nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about?" Lori said. "The ghost being nice isn't any fun."

Cassie walked over to the box on the counter, taking in the space in the relatively open kitchen with a lot of space, which wasn't usual for houses built when Grey House was. She planned on grabbing a pocket knife from her purse, only for George to hand her one. "Oh, thank you." She smiled at the box. "It's not any fun? Having a nice spirit in the house rather than a scary one?"

"No! It's not!" Lori sighed. "There's no air of mystery to it, but why does this town's mystery have to turn out to be nothing at all?"

"Oh?" Cassie asked. "What other mystery's turned out to be nothing?"

"The Grangers," Lori said.

"I told you they would return to Middleton, that their daughter hadn't killed them," George said. He reached a hand up to rub his jaw. "And while I do not require a dentist at this point, it will be good knowing that they're back and can hopefully open it back up for those who need it." He nodded his head. "Martha hates having to go to Blairsville."

"Blairsville?" Cassie asked, opening the pocket knife.

"Our nearby rival, apparently," Lori said. She walked over to the counter. "Don't you think it would be more interesting if there were a mystery surrounding the disappearance of the Granger family last summer if it had been a double homicide?"

Cassie frowned, slicing through the tape and opening the box to see the contents inside. Her smile deepened, and one of her eyebrows opened up. "I think," she said, reaching into the box. "It's nice that they're alive, and we can do the neighborly thing of welcoming them back."

"But you're new here," Lori said, a frown appearing. Her hand brushed a strand of blond hair away from her face. "Shouldn't people be doing the neighborly thing and paying you a visit?"

"Yes, well, the Granger's have arrived back from a long trip," Cassie said, pulling out one after another the various herbs she used for making her teas. "So I think it would be nice to bring them some tea to welcome them back and help them relax."

"That does seem nice," George said, laughing. "But I'm sure they'll appreciate it, given they always take time after returning from trips to relax before returning to work at the clinic. A vacation from the vacation, I guess."

"Possibly," Cassie said, carefully putting together a blend of tea she knew would calm the nerves while adding things she knew would make the tea taste good while not countering the effects of calming the nerves. "I suspect the reason for needing this isn't because of the Granger family needing a vacation from a vacation."

"How boring can you get," Lori sighed, leaning into the counter, watching and observing Cassie make the tea before saying, "So, is that some kind of witchcraft."

"Lori," George said, tilting his head and frowning at his granddaughter to admonish her.

"Natural remedies," Cassie said, smiling at the teenager. "It's a kind of magic anybody can do, honestly."

George let out a laugh. "Well, I'm going to get to work around here." He turned to look at Lori. "And you don't bother Ms. Nightingale."

"Nightingale," Lori muttered, as if mesmerized by the name. Still, she'd been hoping for the macabre, a haunting of Grey House, or even a murder mystery with the Granger family, possibly not realizing the implications of such things, being unaffected as the young Muggle girl was by the war. Or at least Cassie assumed the girl was a Muggle, given that Lori's father told George not to encourage conspiracy theories.

Cassie finished making the tea mixture and slipped it into the bag, not saying something when she saw yet again the strange occurrence of a young wizard peeking out at her, a reminder of things the war took. And next to the picture was the newspaper article where she first saw the Granger name mentioned, reminding her that this generation didn't fare much better than the previous generation. "At least this might help a bit."

"Nightingale is a rather interesting name," Lori finally said, having thought it over.

"Perhaps," Cassie said. "There are also people with the last name of Crow, Crane, and Sparrow, so it's likely in the same vein as those."

"Oh." Lori frowned, sounding disappointed again.

"Could you do me a favor?"

The girl brightened up, a smile returning to her face. "Sure."

"I don't know where the Granger family lives, so could you show me?"

"Sure," Lori said, almost as if she'd been permitted to snoop. She hurried away, walking quickly as she did so as Cassie shook her head in amusement.

"This is certainly going to be an interesting town to live in."