To be a Wizard

Firstly, Spike was not an idle girl-kisser and although he had spent some time considering what he would do in exactly this situation, those idle plans felt about as wishy-washy as his knees did. Secondly, Spike was an observant sort of chap, even in a crisis, and to his gut churning dismay he had noticed a rather fancy ring on Apricot’s engagement finger and a distraught looking Graham Graham collapsed in a corner. But then Apricot kissed Spike and he forgot all about everything for an extremely lengthy fifteen seconds or so. When the kiss finished Spike began to look around for another monster to slay in the hope that he might give the whole thing another go. He noticed Graham trying to explain to a couple of the boys how exactly he’d come to be collapsed in a corner of a wizarding laboratory while some sort of demon tried to make its dinner out of a perfectly decent sort of girl. This explanation was being hindered somewhat by the thorough shaking he was getting.

‘Look, stop it, God I’m sorry Apricot.’ Said Graham, Apricot extracted herself from Spike’s arms.

‘I had just asked Apricot to marry me, and she’d said yes.’ He gave her a soppy sort of look.

‘And I was trying to give the ring a charm so that it, like our love’ the soppy look again ‘might never be lost. And something went wrong.’ Spike eyed Graham, he was looking a bit iffy and the spell gone wrong story would explain a certain amount of corner bound unconsciousness as Spike well knew, Spike had never accidentally summoned any six legged carnivores but he was sure it could be done.

‘I’m just not a very good wizard.’ Graham was offering by way of explanation.

‘Well it doesn’t matter, Graham Graham.’ Apricot said, welling up a bit. ‘You nearly killed me, and I will never marry you!’ She took off her ring and threw it at Graham.

There was general approbation from the assembled sword wagglers, a few of them muttered things like ‘Bloody sensible too.’ And sentences with the words ‘real man’ in them. But not Spike.

‘Urk.’ said Spike. Apricot gave him a quizzical look. She was not used to boys she had recently kissed going ‘Urk.’ Spike was flummoxed, the girl of his dreams seemed within his grasp, yet she couldn’t love a wizard, and that was what Spike wanted to be most in the world. Spike gave Apricot a nod and strode out of the room. Several people assumed that this hasty exit was to get out of the clearing up, but it wasn’t. Spike had an idea, one he hoped might mean he’d end up, with the girl, living happily ever and all that. He headed off in the direction of the library, remembering something he’d read in ‘Ensorclements’.

It was late, so late in fact that if Spike had been inclined to guess, he would have said it would be dawn in just a few hours. He would have been wrong, the sun had already risen, and he wasn’t inclined to guess as he’d spent all night preparing his spell. The walls to his chamber were shimmering with enchantments and on the floor was a carefully chalked wizard’s circle in the centre of which he himself sat.