Chapter 35

35

C ampus was chaos. When we finally left the potions building, I was shocked to see so many people in the courtyard. Friends held each other, couples wiped tears, and furious witches and wizards stood at the taped-off line, yelling at the enforcers behind it.

A medical team had shown up and checked us, treating a minor cut on my forehead I must have gotten when I fell. After a lot of promising that we were both fine, they released us. One responder insisted we go to a nearby hospital, but neither Noah nor I wanted anything to do with that.

As soon as we stepped into view, others started screaming at us, not knowing it was us who saved them, not put them in danger. Campus enforcement escorted us, so I understood others wouldn't know. Still, Noah pulled me closer and guarded me from their view. We'd given our statements to enforcement before we'd left the building, and Noah turned over the remaining vial of antidote.

"Miss Baker! Mister Lawrence!" The campus dean stepped away from two officers, and surrounding crowd went silent as he stretched out a hand to shake. Noah returned the gesture first, and Dean Arnold shook his hand violently. "Thank you! We can never thank you enough for what you have done for this academy!" He reached out to me and gave my hand the same shake.

"I'm glad it's over," I breathed, but I couldn't stop my smile. The dean looked at us warmly before turning to the crowd. With a quick spell, he amplified his voice as he spoke to everyone gathered on the lawn.

"Members of Forrestbriar Academy. It is with the utmost gratitude that I thank Miss Henri Baker and Mister Noah Lawrence for their heroic actions. Without their efforts, what happened today would have ended in catastrophe." Dean Arnold went on to explain that we'd managed to formulate an anti-potion for the love potion and translated that into an antidote for the poison that Noah had spell-cast to the entire campus. I assumed he got his information from the enforcers we'd given our story to.

A beat passed once Arnold finished talking, and then the masses erupted in cheers. Students and professors were waving at us, yelling their thanks or otherwise just screaming. I noticed reporters furiously scribbling, and I knew my name would be in the papers tomorrow.

Hating the attention, I slouched as though I could make myself smaller. But Noah put a hand on my back, forcing me up. "No, Henri. You should be proud. This wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for you."

Photographers flashed their cameras at us, and Noah encouraged me to smile and stand tall for them.

"You're the one who thought to add the Pratbane."

"All of that was for you. My motivations for the potion antidote were entirely self-serving too."

I rolled my eyes at him. "It still wouldn't have happened without you."

"It really wouldn't have happened without you, darling. I wouldn't have needed the anti-potion if I wasn't hopelessly in love with you for the past eight years."

I gasped, and Noah bent down to capture my lips with his own. For a moment, everything around us faded to nothing, but the clicks and flashes from the cameras coupled with the heightened cheers from the crowd had heat crawling up my neck, and I gently pulled away. I smiled to the reporters, waving shyly.

"Henri!" I heard my name called out and saw Ivy running toward me. I crossed the short distance between us, meeting her in a hug that nearly sent us to the ground. Noah's hand pressed against my back, keeping us upright.

"Ivy, I'm so sorry!" I was sobbing again, my face buried in her neck. Her tears coated my neck as well, and I squeezed her harder. One of those metallic medical blankets enveloped her shoulders, crinkling with our movements.

"I wanted to tell you! I-I couldn't. She—" Ivy hiccupped, and I cut across.

"Shh. I know, I know. You couldn't tell me. I know everything. I'm so sorry I didn't understand sooner."

Ivy pulled back, her eyes rimmed red. "You couldn't have known. It's not your fault."

"I should have known. You would never do something like this." I could throw up again. I was right to be so shocked, sickened to think she would do something like this. She wouldn't.

Ivy just shook her head. "Remy found out, and she compelled him, too. I'm so sorry. I swear I never told her about you looking for the antidote."

"I know. She caught us somehow."

"I'm so glad you're okay," Ivy whispered, holding my face like she couldn't believe it.

"We're okay," I corrected, pulling her back in for a hug.

"Miss Weatherford." An enforcer's voice pulled us apart, and I stared at him as he approached us.

"Do they know?" My gut twisted to think Ivy could be punished for this.

"As soon as they stripped Aster's magic, I told them everything. They're going to use a truth potion on both of us to confirm my story. And yours, I suppose." When she saw the uneasy look on my face, she smiled. "I'll be okay."

Then, she was gone, walking back to the mass of enforcers and their vehicles.

"Miss Baker! I'd love to get a statement from you for tomorrow's headline." I cringed at the sound of Carter Springfield's voice.

"Not today, thank you," I said as politely as I could.

"It will just take a few moments—"

"She said no," Noah cut across, stepping between me and Carter, giving him a glare. Carter Springfield's eyes grew wide, and he scurried away.

"You are a bloody genius!" Came another voice, my head spinning.

I laughed as Lukas practically jumped on Noah to give him a hug. After a prolonged embrace in which Noah patted his best friends back, Lukas stepped back to then pull me in for a hug. He squeezed much too hard, but I just let it be.

"Alright, enough touching my girl." Noah pulled Lukas away from me with a chuckle.

"I'm just so glad we're all alive! Magic knows what would have happened without you saving us all!" There was a tone of jest in Lukas' tone, but I could see the real fear that lingered in his eyes as he looked between us. "Now that this is all over, why don't we all go out for some drinks? I'm buying."

Lukas threw an arm around Noah, which Noah kindly pushed off. "Another time? I'm going to take Henri home.

Nodding a bit too aggressively, Lukas patted Noah on the back before sauntering off.

As soon as he stepped away more flashes and clicks and calls came our way from the thirsty reporters desperate to get inside information.

"Can we leave?" I asked quietly, ready to be away from the news and the spotlight. My heart rate was high again just from our surroundings, and I needed nothing more than to be home alone with Noah.

"You read my mind."