The day passes with numbers exchanged and Luhan stares down at the little text baring his new student's name in the contacts list of his phone with worry running through his veins. Just how is he going to start these lessons? How far is he going to teach his pupil? There's a lot to think about, a lot to prepare.

“Mom, are you watching?” Luhan asks the empty, stagnant air of the dark basement. “Was this a bad idea?”

A light breeze comes from nowhere in particular to stir the edges of a very worn cardboard box and the boy takes it as a sign to tear it open. Inside, laying just underneath an old framed picture of him and his mother and wrapped in moth-eaten cloth, is a mirror backed in silver. Stamped in the metal are intricate symbols that speak of the tale of Narcissus, a greek god who fell in love with his reflection. It has been a long time since Luhan had seen this mirror.

“This is perfect, mom. Thank you.” he whispers with a smile.

***

Before getting ready for school, Luhan sends a text to Xiumin to bring a raw egg to school, offering no explanation as to why. Smuggling an egg away from his own house, he takes extra care in his every step, nearly missing the bus in an effort not to break it. There are too many people on the bus today and they all seem to be out to get him, he decides, carefully shrouding the fragile thing in his scarf. The cold nips at his neck, but he feels warm knowing that he is mere minutes from learning more of the craft his mother had adored.

Unfortunately, Xiumin comes to school sticky and carrying his sodden winter jacket over his arm despite the cold.

“I figured at least one of us would make it here with an egg intact.” Luhan shrugs at the glare directed his way. “So, you want to do this now before class or during lunch or...?”

“It depends. Is this going to be messy?”

Dark brown hair bobs as Luhan shakes his head. “It would be better to find a place out of the public eye though. You don't want to be named the crazy kid in class, trust me.”

And so they settle for the shadowed stairs leading to the rooftop, poor jacket-less Xiumin shivering in the drafty area.

“We won't be out here for long. This ritual is really simple.” Taking the mirror and a candle out of his bag, Luhan sets them on the ground in front of the door, sitting cross-legged in front of it and gesturing for the other to do the same. He gives instructions to his student while lighting the candle, explaining each step before leaving him to his own devices.

A little cold, a little annoyed, the boy sets the egg atop the mirror as told. He pictures his crush's dimpled smile and charming laugh before Luhan's sneeze crushes the image he built to bits. It's too late; he already let go of the egg and now it spins freely on the reflective surface. With a sense of unease in his stomach, Xiumin stops the egg with a finger. He waits while his mentor sings a quiet song under his breath, but the whole thing feels stupid and he lifts his finger with a sigh.

And then the egg is spinning again, faster and faster until it is a single blurred entity amongst the flickering light of the dancing flame. An image can be seen, choppy as if seen from under a strobe light.

Luhan's own face blinks up at them curiously. This image of Luhan looks startled, as if realizing that the real version of himself is watching. He turns slightly as an image of Xiumin runs into his back, hugging his shoulders with one arm.

“Come on, Lu! The store closes in ten minutes.” he says before fading away.

The image is replaced with a new figure.

“Mom? How-” the real Luhan calls softly and Xiumin sees him completely transfixed on the image in front of him of a woman with long hair cascading down her shoulders and eyes that sparkle like her son's. The woman is beautiful, but she is not smiling. Her eyes narrow on her son's face in a silent scolding. “What am I doing wrong then?”

She purses her lips at the boy's question and opens her hand to reveal a doll much like the one Luhan made. Closing her fist and opening it again, the doll is replaced with paper money and a few coins which she lets drop from her palm as she shakes her head.

The message is clear. Luhan knows he shouldn't accept money for helping others. “But the money wasn't even for me.” he mumbles, fishing the bills from his wallet to hand back to his stunned student.

The woman approves, giving her son a nod before the egg halts in it's spinning and the images stop entirely.

“I thought I told you to think about Yixing.” says the real Luhan, rolling the egg absentmindedly in his palm. His eyes are shining with unshed tears. “Anyways, you want to try again?" he sniffs before chuckling weakly. "That seemed like a really pointless vision, except you know, when my mom intervened.”

Xiumin's mouth is hanging open and he doesn't look ready for another peek at the future, or ready to believe that his money was just returned to him because of a ghost's wishes. “Uhh,” he says quite unintelligibly.

Taking that as a no, Luhan blows out the candle. Since the wax is still melted, it can't go in his bag, so he sticks it in a corner to pick up later in the day. Looking at the egg poised on top of the mirror, he wishes his mother could have stayed a little longer, just long enough for him to say “I love you” or “See you in an indefinite number of years” or anything really, because it felt really nice to see her again.

“Let's get to class.” he suggests, clearing his things and helping the other (shell-shocked) boy up.

***

Despite being horridly creepy and a huge mysterious unknown in this world that had very specific natural laws he seems to have no trouble breaking, Luhan still gives off a kind aura that Xiumin can't help but trust. He feels his fears diminish so quickly when he sees the calm and confident teen before him.

He watches his mentor (and second period classmate) in thought for a while before deciding to give him a small gift. Xiumin thinks of it as an alternate way of payment for all the help. In his notes along the margins, he draws up a simple plan.

Yes, this will do perfectly, he thinks as he runs a finger over the smooth paper.

At the bell for lunch, he takes off with a spring in his step, silently anticipating the kind of praise he will get for such a great idea. He pauses as a thought comes to him that Luhan's mother might not agree with this plan and Xiumin doesn't want a ghost's wrath coming after him. Although he agrees that this fear may be a little ridiculous, he doesn't take chances and makes a mental note to never tell Luhan or anyone else about this.

Real good deeds don't require attention brought to them anyways. Yixing taught him that. Just before his first class, his crush had lent him a jacket after seeing the poor state his own was in. There was no one around to witness it and Xiumin almost thought he was being pranked.

But after a while of sitting in the warmth of Yixing's jacket, he felt like he made the right choice in picking his crush.

***

For reasons Yixing cannot even begin to fathom, he said the name of a student a grade above him randomly in the middle of class yesterday, four times in a row. This event was made all the more strange when he realized then that the one he spoke the name of peered in on him from the classroom door, watching the whole thing with wide eyes. When the teacher asked him what the hell he was doing, Yixing didn't know how to reply, so he made up the excuse of having seen that student first and was simply informing everyone else that he was there. Of course at this time, the peeking student had already disappeared and Yixing just felt foolish.

And again, the same thing happened later that day and again this very morning.

Why can't Yixing stop randomly speaking the name “Xiumin”? He was startled horribly before his first class this morning when the shivering teen of that name bumped into him and in a rush to say anything that was his own words and not a string of names, he offered his jacket. In an odd way, it felt nice to do a small kind thing like that even if his intentions didn't make sense even to himself.

His palms sweat as he enters the waiting line for cafeteria food. At least nothing really bad has happened during school today, he thinks. Yet, he adds bitterly, grabbing a banana and tossing it onto his tray.

Why Xiumin? Why not a pretty girl's name or even someone tall and cool like the exchange student from Canada, Kris? Xiumin... Xiumin was small and someone that faded in the background because he was just so- ordinary. He can't even remember anything about him that made him stand out. His grades are moderately good (or so his senior friends tell him). He seems friendly, but not overly so or even overly a wallflower type; he was simply average when it came to popularity. What is he good at? No, Yixing can't remember.

What is wrong with him that he keeps thinking about some unremarkable male student who wasn't even in his grade?

Searching for this answer (or any answer) as he sits down in his usual spot, Yixing casts a glance at the boy sitting at a corner table nearby, alone. That's weird. He doesn't normally sit alone.

Why do I know this? Yixing asks himself, quickly turning back to his food. His friends join him on either side, discussing loudly about the cute new girl in their history class.

Sometime during their rant about her long legs and shapely , Yixing feels a familiar tingling in his lips that he hadn't felt since this morning. Not again, he thinks as his mouth opens without his permission. “What do you guys think about Luhan?” he suddenly asks, startling the others (and himself) with his interruption. “He's pretty cool, isn't he?” he continues, though this isn't his wish at all.

Why, why, why is this happening to me?

Not wanting the others to see that something is wrong with him, he picks up his banana and peels it, setting his shoulders in a way that it seems he said that entirely on purpose and is waiting for an answer. In his head, he wonders if he's gone completely insane.

“Cool? That magic-obsessed freak?” scoffs a friend from across him.

Yixing cringes because that is incredibly harsh, even if it is a little true. “Don't be like that.” he tells him seriously. Even though he doesn't really know this Luhan guy, he knows that no one should be called names behind their back.

“Why?” sing-songs a friend to his left with a horrible smirk. “You have the hots for the freaky pretty boy now, Xing? I thought it was weird when you didn't say anything about the new girl's y legs. You know, he always did have a thing for older girls and Lulu is older and girly-”

“It's not like that-” Yixing insists when the friend to his right snatches the banana from hand and makes a crude remark about how Yixing always includes a banana with every lunch and it is not surprising he wants to include one with his other meals.

These are my friends? Yixing stands and throws away the remnants of his lunch, suddenly not hungry anymore. Turning back for his bag, he growls above their snickers, “You guys .”

“Not as much as you!” he hears back with a spout of ugly laughter, turning his ears red.

Watching this all with disappointment and regret stirring a gross mixture in stomach, Xiumin stabs at his food, thinking. If Yixing's friends all made fun of gays, then his efforts to turn the teen around to see him were all for nothing. If feelings ever did develop-

Who am I kidding, he asks himself. Feelings will never develop because Yixing will never consider going out with a guy, certainly not a guy like me.

Worse yet, Xiumin feels he might have caused more harm than good when he sees the rowdy group of Yixing's friends ogling Luhan's backside and exchanging whispers and cackles of laughter. His classmate is oblivious to this, going to sit in his usual spot on the ground against the far wall, distanced away from everyone else.

“Lu,” Xiumin calls after him. He might as well spare him from those wolves.

“Oh?” the boy is startled, but joins the table anyway. Luhan stares at the one who called him over as if he can't believe he exists.

“What?”

“Nothing, I've just-” Luhan blinks and wets his lips. “-never sat next to anyone during lunch.”

Xiumin knows this already. Everyone in his grade knows this. It was almost a given that no one invite the strange teen to their table. It doesn't seem right. There is nothing wrong with him, Xiumin realizes. All the other students are cowards and jerks for not even trying to get to know this actually very interesting kid.

“You're welcome to sit next to me anytime.” Xiumin says and means it. All he wants is for his mentor to be treated fairly – that's why he created that failure of a plan: to try to get Yixing and his friends to accept him first. But now, he knows that he could have just accepted the boy himself. He was never one to turn down new friends anyways.

With the ends of his chopsticks pressed to his lips, Luhan smiles, his entire face lighting up. “You want to see my familiar?” he asks out of nowhere.

“Your what?”

A familiar... That is like a demon, right? In the form of an animal and kept as a pet, right?

Yes, Xiumin very much wants to see this. Everything else could be a set of clever tricks, but this kind of thing couldn't be faked easily.

***

Author Note:

I know, I'm mixing different kinds of magic, but that's on purpose.

Who's to say that only one kind of magic is true? :3

Anyways, the mirror and egg thing is part of "white magic" - magic thought to be the only safe kind during the start of the Salem Witchcraft Trials. It's supposed to show you your future spouse's occupation or show bits of the future.

And the kind of voodoo dolls I used in my fic are actually derived from the mainstream concept of sticking pins to cause pain rather than the older idea where they were used to bless others with luck and such.

(I did research and studied this kind of stuff a lot in school, but I am no expert. Don't ever believe me.)