"And if I had never learned magic, if I had no natural skill... you never would have come." He wasn't looking for an answer, he knew the answer. He was useless unless he was a witch. He had memories of his mother before she left, he remembered the sort of things she complained about. Lack of skill, in the way, holding her back, not a girl - he was no idiot. He knew she wanted something from him and that was all that mattered.

But even broken, evil people could play pretend and act like they cared. And he could enjoy that, couldn't he? What spoke against a little false love?

He brushed his mother off and then shook his head. "I want to learn more than tricks. I want to learn the good stuff." He wanted to know how to really hurt people, to commune with demons, to levitate - he didn't want to be a notice any more. "That's why I'm here. Not because of you."