Daughter of a Witch

It is fall...I have decided

Y/n Vidal-Harkness was not one for all things summer. Sure, it can be nice not to be in school, and sometimes there are great summer activities, but the town of Westview likes to overload on activities. Not to mention the heat being absolutely unbearable. The young witch was done.

Y/n sat up in bed like she'd just heard a ghost scream in her ear.

Which would've been weird...if that hadn't already happened three times this summer.

But this wasn't ghosts. This was something worse.

Summer.

Sticky, loud, aggressively sunny summer.

She squinted at her window, where a shamefully bright sunbeam had the audacity to break into her room. It danced across her bookshelf like it belonged there. Y/n narrowed her eyes.

Nope.

Not today.

She kicked off her blanket dramatically (then immediately regretted it....what monster invented August heat?).

Then, with all the calm and quiet fury of a girl who had just had enough, she declared:

"It is now fall. I have decided."

Downstairs, the coffee machine sputtered its last drop just as Rio turned, eyes wide. "Did... Did anyone else feel that?"

Agatha, seated at the kitchen table with her third cup of tea and a thick novel on rune theory, didn't look up. "Feel what?"

"That," Rio gestured in the air, eyes darting toward the ceiling. "That sudden drop in temperature. A... shift. In the universe."

"I felt nothing."

Rio gasped and pointed upward. "It's Y/n. She's doing the thing."

"What thing?"

"The fall thing." Rio's grin stretched. "She's declared it."

As if on cue, a puff of cinnamon-scented wind whooshed down the stairs. Agatha's tea leaves flurried in her mug. A tiny bat-one of the decorative ones from the attic-fluttered past her head with a cheerful squeak.

Agatha blinked. "...It is August first."

Rio, already halfway to the stairs, called, "The girl knows what she wants, Aggie! Let's lean in!"

Y/n stood in the living room in her Halloween pajama pants, a Hocus Pocus sweatshirt three sizes too big, and pumpkin socks. She held a small, leather-bound grimoire open in one hand, and in the other her black cat ironically named Binx. Her long wavy brown hair was half up in a messy bun, and her face was deadly serious.

"Mami. Mama." She turned slowly to face them as they entered. "It's time."

Agatha crossed her arms. "Time for what, exactly?"

"Summer is evil and I am declaring it banished from this house. Effective immediately."

Rio snorted.

Agatha raised a brow. "Darling, it's still ninety-five degrees outside."

"I know," Y/n hissed like a Victorian ghost. "That's why it must be destroyed. Halloween begins now. Fall begins now. I want leaves. I want pumpkins. I want questionable themed candles. I want thunder. I want enchantments that make the fireplace crackle even though we don't technically need heat."

Rio clutched her chest. "My girl."

"She's sixteen and dramatic," Agatha muttered, though she was clearly trying not to smile.

"Mami," Y/n turned to Rio, "You're with me, right?"

"I've already summoned the spirit of Halloween," Rio said, snapping her fingers. A wreath of tiny jack-o'-lanterns exploded into existence above the mantel with a cackle. "It's literally hanging out in the kitchen."

"Rio." Agatha gave her a look.

"What?" Rio said innocently. "He was bored!"

Y/n looked between them. "Mama, please. Just a little fall magic?"

Agatha sighed, but her resistance was soft. "Fine. But we do it properly. No summoning talking skeletons again."

"I apologized for that!" Rio threw up her hands. "Larry was very polite..."

"He tried to unionize the ghost mice."

"They needed representation!"

Y/n giggled.

With Agatha's reluctant blessing (and under her strict magical supervision), the Vidal-Harkness household underwent a seasonal transformation.

Y/n waved her wand and murmured an incantation, golden-orange leaves tumbled from the ceiling like confetti. They crunched under their feet, but never got messy. A glamour.

Rio enchanted the entire pantry to smell like cinnamon rolls, which was wildly confusing when you opened it looking for cereal.

Agatha begrudgingly charmed the windows to show cloudy skies and rolling thunder, even if outside it was still 95 degrees and sunny. "Don't mess with the thermostat spell, Rio. I swear..."

"I won't!" Rio said, clearly already doing it.

Y/n stood in the middle of it all, smiling so wide her face hurt. Brown eyes sparkling. "It's perfect."

"You're perfect," Rio said, scooping her into a side hug.

"Too early for mushy nonsense," Agatha said, though she ruffled Y/n's hair on the way to the kitchen. "We still haven't done the porch."

"Oh!" Y/n's eyes lit up. "Can we do the scarecrow?"

Rio gasped. "The evil one?"

"Not evil! Just a little... sinisterly charming."

Agatha sighed again. "You both are chaos goblins."

Y/n beamed. "We get it from you."

By mid-afternoon, the whole house was fully transformed. Cobwebs (enchanted to only tickle, never tangle), cauldrons, lanterns, softly glowing pumpkins, and glowing potion bottles lined every shelf. The air smelled like rain, books, and chai tea.

Y/n lay back on the couch, legs tossed over Rio's lap, her head on Agatha's shoulder.

Agatha was pretending to read. Rio was absolutely not pretending to sneak a spell that played spooky jazz through the house.

Y/n sighed happily. "Best first day of fall ever."

"It's August," Agatha reminded.

Y/n just grinned. "Not in here."

And honestly?

She was absolutely right.