19. Good old house

"William, she is coming back."

"Oh, really? Good! Thank you, house." William pulled his feet under him and got up. He had been reading his books on the blanket that still was in front of the now extinguished fireplace.

He walked to the door and as he opened it, he saw Hilda slump down on the grassy patch. Not an elegant landing at all, he noticed. It was not far away from an emergency landing.

Hilda grabbed her broom and almost ran inside, quickly closing the door. Paranoia was creeping, but creeping very quickly. She leaned against the door, as if her weight would keep it closed much more securely.

"Hey, what's wrong?", William wondered about her strange way of coming in.

"They know," Hilda told him as if this would mean the world to him.

"Who knows, and what?" He looked a puzzle.

"The others. About us."

"I am sorry, dear witch, but you are talking in shorthand, so bear with me when I try to analyse this," William said. He put his hands on her shoulders, peeled her from the door and steered her to the large black table. "You are going to sit down, I'll fix you some tea and then-"

"No tea, I need a drink," Hilda surprised him.

"Oh dear." William had never heard her say that. She had not touched wine in the daylight before as long as he had been around, so this was worrying. "Okay, I'll go get-"

"That takes too long," she snapped, snipped her fingers and filled the table with glasses of wine. As she grabbed one (of the diluted ones of course), William held her hand, preventing her to drink it down. He knew he was taking a risk. A big risk.

"Maybe, before you drink yourself into a stupor, maybe there is something you want to tell me?" He spoke calm and kindly.

Hilda slapped his hand. "I need a drink, not a babysitter."

He let her drink and sat down next to her. He took one of the glasses that was not diluted. A quick count of the glasses told him that they both were in for at least five hangovers, if they were going to have a serious go at all that wine.

Without ceremony Hilda emptied her glass in one large gulp. This earnt her an astounded glance from William.

"Argh...", she then said. "Do you know you don't taste a thing when you drink wine like that?" She looked at the man sitting next to her, his brown eyes only paying attention to her. With a sigh she sat back in the chair, trying to relax. The alcohol she had just poured into herself started to work, calming her down.

"Do you want to have another one?", William asked.

"No! Do you want to get me drunk so you can take advantage of me?" She giggled.

"What do you think of me?" William asked, his face straight.

"Not sure, you know, but the idea is sort of exciting." The fast shot of alcohol was really getting to her. She stared at a second glass, picked it up to make sure it would not run away.

"Hilda, perhaps that glass is not a good idea," William tried, not sure if she needed some help to slow down her intake.

"Are you going to try and stop me?" Her wand appeared in her free hand. "See, I am not drunk yet. I can still do my magical trick." She looked at William and saw his worried face. A smile showed on her face and she put down both the glass and the wand. Then she turned round so she faced William and took both his hands in hers.

"I'm sorry, William, I am making a fool of myself, I know. But they all know about you already, and that scares me. Why do they all know about you while we are still getting to know each other?"

By now William had had enough time to add up the digits. "By they you mean your witch colleagues?"

She nodded. "From what Calandra told me, we are the big news all over the crystals." Then she quickly put a hand over her mouth. "I forgot to call you! I'm so sloppy... can you forgive me?"

The book salesman slowly took her hand from her mouth and rested it in his. "Don't worry, Hilda. I was sure you were busy with something. And you had inflated my books, so I had a good time reading."

The witch kept looking at him, but the expression on her face changed to one of incomprehensiveness. "Inflated your books? What do you mean? I had forgotten all about your books, William."

It was his turn to be surprised. "No, really, you haven't. See there, on the blanket? Books. My books. Big books."

Hilda resolutely shook her head. "Impossible. I have not done that, William."

"But," he then wondered with reason, "if you didn't... who did it then?"

Hilda frowned. "Did anyone come to the door while I was out?"

"No. I took a bath and then came down with the books to read. You can ask the house."

"It is true," the house confirmed. "He was in the bath. And he was in the room reading."

Hilda picked up her wand. "That's impossible, I tell you. Only someone with magic can undo the shrinking. They don't just pop back." She pointed her wand at one of the books. "Come here, you."

After a hesitation of a few seconds, the book calmly floated through the room, into Hilda's hand. William was surprised again. He found it hard to believe that she could actually hold the heavy book with one hand. But then, Hilda was magical.

The witch stared at the book, muttering things William could barely hear, let alone understand. Her hair fell around her face as she leaned towards the book, her wand hovering over it. She murmured a few spells, ordering the book to reveal the magical signature of the person who had undone the shrinking.

William stroked her head. "I'm going to fix a simple lunch," he said.

"Oh... right... No, let me," said Hilda. The wand flashed over the table. The wine disappeared and lunch was served. It was hardly a simple lunch. "Enjoy," she added as she kept working on the book that was not easily convinced to give up the secret.

William stared at the table in much the same manner as Hilda was staring at the book. He had thought he had gotten used to her use of magic, but the radical rapid replacement that happened in the blink of an eye put him back in his place. He was not sure if he would ever get used to it.

"Uhm... thank you," he said and started to eat. After a few minutes he peered under Hilda's hair. "Dear little witch, don't forget to eat, okay?"

"What? Oh. I guess you're right. The book isn't helping much..." She made it float back to the others, then got some food herself.

"Did you get anything from it?", William wondered.

"Yes, there was something. Very faint, hard to pick up. It also was very strange. I never encountered that before."

After a while, William asked: "Perhaps it was a powerful wizard or so that came flying over."

Hilda looked at him, a fork of food coming to a full stop halfway from the plate. She smiled. "See, that is so sweet about you. You really don't know about these things."

"Oh. Well, I just thought..." William blushed. He had been called many things in his life, but sweet was one of the things that was very very low on that list.

"Thank you for trying to help, William. You're really a wonderful friend. And.." She did not open up more; instead she quickly returned to finishing her lunch.

With the mystery of the books unsolved, they sat together and went over the pro's and cons of the challenge once more.

"So no outside help from magicians and the likes," William remembered.

"True. Unless they are invited, but who'd do that?"

He nodded. It made perfect sense. "And anyone can send a challenge to another."

"As long as both contestants are equal. So you could for instance challenge Johan the mirror-maker, or the man who sells fruit. Those are ordin- I mean, non magical people. Magical people challenge other magical people."

"Right, that makes sense also. And I don't mind if you call me an ordinary. If that is what I am."

Hilda then did something William would never have expected. She got up and pushed his arm to the side, after which she sat in his lap. "And that is why I am having a problem calling you that. You are not ordinary to me, William. You are very special."

Stumped about her action, he had put an arm around her without consciously noticing.

"Remember when I told you that no one can live with me, and that I can't have anyone around me in my house?"

"Oh, very clearly," he nodded.

"Well, it seems that I was wrong. Because I really like having you here. And if you would tell me that you were leaving, that would be terrible." She raised a hand and gently touched his cheek. "I don't know how you feel about it, William. But when I was gone this morning, I missed you."

He smiled. "You missed me so much that you forgot to contact me over the crystal ball."

"Oh, shush, you," she grinned, softly patting him on the cheek. "You just want to play with the crystal ball."

William then slipped both his arms around her and pulled her more tightly against him. "If you want to know how I feel about it, Hilda... I missed you too. It hurt me to see you fly off alone this morning, in my heart. Even though it was necessary."

The witch put her head on his shoulder, brushing her long hair back. "I'd rather have taken you along." After a few silent moments, she said: "This feels good." A flushing red travelled over her cheeks, but she was not going to take back her words, since they were the truth. "William?"

"Yes, Hilda?"

"Could you pretend I'm drunk?"

He didn't answer. Instead he scooped her up, got up from the chair and went up the stairs.

The house, very considerate, closed the bedroom door.