Late-night drink

Catrilla knew something was wrong with her drink the second she put her glass down. She stood up and hurried down into her basement to find one of her potion books on the table. The opened page displayed a very strong love potion. Somebody was here and messing with her stuff. She had no time to look for the intruder just yet. Catrilla magically unlocked one of her drawers and took a little blue bottle out of it. Any potion targeted to change a person's feelings had a specific counterpart. Catrilla always had some antidotes for any occasion prepared and ready. She swiftly pulled off the tiny cork and gulped it down. 

Then, Catrilla focused and concentrated. She closed her eyes and could clearly see the aura of the culprit. He was sitting in the living room where she had just taken her drink, and he was very nervous. Good. Catrilla had an idea who this might be and was not surprised to find a young man of her daughter's age there.

"Hello, Nox," she said in a voice that meant trouble when she entered.

He carried a smug smile when he answered. "Hello, Miss Bella. How are you this evening?"

She did not have the patience to deal with this shit. "If you really think you can fool a 150-year-old witch into drinking a love potion made by some child, you really must have lost your mind."

His dumb smile turned into disappointment. "You mean… You didn't drink it?" He was looking at the empty glass on the table. 

She shook her head. "I did, and you owe me a glass of vodka. This potion might have fooled someone your age, but not an experienced witch like me. I took the antidote to your little love potion straight away. Thanks for leaving the book open, by the way, that made things much easier." He frowned at her words, and Catrilla went on, "Now here's what's going to happen: I will drive you over to your father, and we will have a nice long chat about what you did here tonight. Starting with the break-in."

"I wasn't breaking in!" he claimed hastily, "I was just studying with Luna, but she fell asleep, so I… kinda looked around a bit." 

What kind of bullshit story was that supposed to be? He had to spend at least two hours preparing that potion down there. But Catrilla had something more important to do than to call him out right now.

"Wait here and don't move!"

She went upstairs and peeked into Luna's room. Her blonde little angel was sleeping in her bed, a spellbook on her chest. Catrilla entered the room and focused on her daughter's aura. If he did anything to her girl, he would be sorry for the rest of his life. But everything seemed fine. No enchantments on her or in her, no scent of anything magical in the air or on her breath. Luna was not under any spell or potion, just deeply asleep. Catrilla let out a little sigh of relief. She took the book from the bed, pulled up her blanket, and turned off the light.

Catrilla then grabbed her coat and her bag and went back downstairs.

"Let's go!" She grunted at the little devil in her living room. She really hoped his father would whip him for that. Nox certainly looked like he knew he was in deep shit. He didn't get up, tough. 

"Can you just… please not tell Luna what I did… I mean, tried to do?"

"Oh, I'm gonna tell her first thing in the morning," Catrilla huffed. "This was the last time I ever let you close to my daughter, be sure of that. Now get up. Time to go home."

Nox slowly got up and gave her a strange look. As if he still had hope his potion would work. Catrilla rolled her eyes and closed the mantel over her nightgown. Fucking teenagers. 

Breakfast juice

"He did WHAT?!" Luna almost dropped her orange juice. "Nox? Are you sure?!"

Her mother nodded solemnly.

Luna shook her head in disbelief. "I can't believe it." 

"Well, it happened. He must have brewed it after you fell asleep."

Luna blushed and finished her orange juice. She just remembered being super bored with this book and suddenly getting incredibly tired. When she woke up this morning, she just assumed that Nox had headed home and not to her mother's basement to brew a love potion. Ugh, this was so gross, and it was the last straw for Luna. Nox had become more and more annoying over the past few years, and she had considered cutting ties with him for a couple of months now. Once, he used to be her best friend in the whole world, but ever since she made other friends and he didn't, he became increasingly frustrated and clingy. 

"This is it," Luna exclaimed, "I'm cutting him off." 

"Why would you do that, dear?"

Luna looked at her in shock. She expected her mother to be pleased, as she had told her for years that Luna should distance herself from Nox.

"Because of what you just told me, of course!"

Her mother waved it off, "Oh, come on, it wasn't so bad. I noticed it instantly, drank the antidote, and gave him a thorough lecture on the consequences and dangers of these potions on the way home. To be honest, it was so weak it would probably not have worked, anyway."

Her mother laughed. How could she laugh at this? Nox was not the only one who received lectures on love potions. Her mother drilled her regularly on how to behave when something felt off. She even tested Luna from time to time. Last year, her mother made her drink three different potions to see if she could find out which ones they were, just from the taste, and then take the appropriate antidote. That didn't really help in most real-life cases, though, as potions could be mixed with many drinks once they were done and gone cold. 

"Mother, how can you take this so lightly? Nobody hates these potions more than you do!"
Her mother gave Luna a look as if she'd just said something totally stupid. "You're going to wear your corset dress today. The red one."

"What? Why?!" Luna was confused by the sudden topic change, but even more irritated by her mother's instruction. "It's so tight and uncomfortable. You know how much I hate this, Mother!"

Catrilla gave her that glare. If Luna tried to fight this, she'd be in a world of trouble.

"Fine!" she finally groaned. "But why, mother?"

Catrilla got annoyed. "You know exactly why. You'll get to choose today. Have you made a decision yet?"

Oh, that was right! Luna had completely forgotten and felt suddenly awake and excited. She also felt a warm, cozy feeling in her belly.

"I will go with Xander. I thought about it yesterday, and I think he is really nice and respectable. Good family, nice looking, you know? And he genuinely seems to like me. Peter and Josh asked me as well, but I don't really know them. I think they just want me because I'm pretty."

She shrugged and knew how pretentious that sounded, but it was true. She would never say something like that to anyone else, but between her and her mother were no secrets. Luna knew she was attractive, and that just got confirmed more and more over the past few years.
"Who asked you first?"  Catrilla asked, and Luna rolled her eyes.

"I don't think that should be the criterion, mother. I mean, Josh asked me first, but I really don't want to go with him. I want this to be special."

"Do not diminish this," her mother spoke, sounding wise, "If someone asks you for something like this, timing is always a factor to consider. I'd say the earlier you have been asked, the more special he must feel about you." 
"I'll keep it in mind," Luna said, but just to shut her mother up.

She simply couldn't see how Josh was any more special than Xander, just because he had asked her a few days earlier. But then she remembered something else. Something that she had completely forgotten until now. The first one who had actually asked her was Nox. It was about five years ago when they first learned about the ascension ceremony. Luna was touched back then. She reminded him that she was not allowed to decide until a week before the ceremony, but promised she would choose him then. Luna felt good about this memory as the warm feeling in her belly was spreading unnoticeably. And then a sudden disappointment hit her hard as she remembered what Nox had tried to do to her mother just the night before.

It stung. Not that she ever wanted to be the victim of a love potion, but she had not expected Nox to go for her mother when he also had easy access to Luna herself. It was pretty clear that he wanted a bit more than just her friendship, especially recently. Or at least that's what she always thought. She was fully prepared to let him down gently when he eventually asked her out for ascension, but instead, he went and tried to seduce her mother. Luna shuddered and felt lost. It really was a dilemma. Obviously, she couldn't lose Nox as a friend, but she also didn't know if she could ever forgive him for this.

"You'd better get dressed. We don't have too much time, and I want you to look your best!"

Luna rolled her eyes again but complied and got up from the table. She waved her hand, and the plates flew magically towards the sink. As Luna walked up the stairs, she wondered if Nox would also be at the sermon later. In this moment, she felt a sudden jolt of excitement in her belly and a comfortable warmth between her legs.