Nothing's Fair In Love And War | Zarry

Part Two

Taylor had a close relationship with her family, especially her mother Andrea, who had been the leader of the clan before Taylor was born. The Salem Witches were strongly admired by sorcerers all over the world after the tragedy in 1690s. A pair of twin sisters fled from the jail before the trial, running away from their hometown and settling down at a small town in central Pennsylvania. The Salem lineage was protected till nowadays.

Legacy, that's the essence of Taylor's coven.

However, her mother fell down when Taylor was seventeen. Andrea was diagnosed of cancer. A peach-sized tumour was inside her left lump, resulted from the smoke she inhaled in everyday from boiling potions. The chance of being cured was impossibility.

At the very moment, Taylor made a hasty and irrational decision to save her mother's life. Even with the power she had, Taylor was just a teen witch with poor amount of experience. She was too young and too relentless to care about the price she's going to pay in the future. There wasn't another decade for her to run away from the debt.

A life to a life – Magic is always a fair trade.

Harry was sitting alone on the porch, without noticing the book in his hands was upside down.

It had been a week since they declared the bad news to the rest of the coven. Nobody was prepared for the distressing announcement, not to mention that they're going to lose their own leader. The cruel thing was, they didn't really have time to recover from the grief. The coven would get weaker as Taylor's life gradually flowing away from her. Before her power could no longer support the whole coven, they needed someone to fill her blank as soon as possible; a never member, or even a new leader.

Caroline contacted Harry the night after she learnt of the situation. To Harry's surprise, she was as shocked as everyone who was informed. Harry thought she was one of the keepers of the secret, but apparently Taylor never shared the story to anyone until Ten of Swords stabbed right into Harry's temple in his sleep.

But the urgent issue didn't allow them to spend the night mumbling their condolences. Harry knew that it's impossible for him to convince Gemma to be part of the coven, and his students were too young to make their vows. They did not have much time left. The size of the hall could represent an entire month or the next two minutes, and the dead body was still lying stiffly in Harry's dream. There's still no way for Harry to reassure.

At the end of the conversation, Caroline gave him the one last suggestion.

"I know someone who's suitable for this coven."

"If you're talking about the Irish witch –"

"I'm not talking about Niall." Caroline's steady voice came from the other side of the wire. It was so clear that Harry could already smell her perfume next to him. "Niall is a great boy, but you know him – he wouldn't like to be restricted by covens. And I'm not talking about anyone you know."

Harry didn't interrupt, waiting for Caroline to explain. "It may not be the best timing or best way to state that, but the coven needs new blood," she made a brief pause, pondering over her words, "The girls – and you, boy – in the coven are all grown adults, yet still not mature enough as witches. You understand why?"

"Um, power?"

"Knowledge, experience, and visions." Caroline corrected him, "Power might be born in your soul, but it won't grow up without your wisdom. You can't be a great witch by swallowing every magic book."

"So what does that have to do with..."

"What I'm saying is, Harry, your knowledge is restrained by the world you put yourself in." Harry could hear her fingers knocking frequently on the table, "I'm not just talking about the place you live in, but everything around your life. Culture, custom – they are all too similar in your coven. You need different points of view."