Andrew Hanbridge (The New Witch at School)

The iteration of **Andrew Hanbridge** (アンドリュー・ハンブリッジ, *Andoryū Hanburijji*) in AztecGoth (formerly known as eli-shaanne)'s *The New Witch at School* and its ongoing sequel *A Brand New Beginning*.

## Personality

As with his canon counterpart, Andrew is a quite reserved and indifferent educated young boy who is also compassionate and kind at times, as well as treating everyone with etiquette and manners. The stark difference between the two however, is that this version of Andrew eventually (albeit reluctantly) turns against his father as opposed to the canon, in which he managed to improve his opinion about magic, something which attributed to the fact that Paul was raised to resent magic in the same vein with canon iteration of Louis Blackwell. The same resentment greatly costed Paul his marriage with Ophelia Oxford, Andrew's mother, adding further strife between father and son. Not wanting to grow into the same horrible man as his father, Andrew opted to maintain ties with his magical lineage, starting from becoming the world's mute yet skilled Wild Hunter under the alias of "The Magnificent Ace" and later, becoming one of first wizard students after the reconstruction Luna Nova Academy.

Andrew has adopted following alter-egos throughout his life where he learned his genderfluidity in the process:

* **The Magnificent Ace**: Andrew's first alter-ego as the anonymous mute top Wild Hunter. He deeply cares towards his fellow Wild Hunters who in turn, respected him enough to help conceal his identity. He temporarily stopped assuming this alter-ego after his team got arrested due to an incident that led to Paul banning the sport in Great Britain.
* **Andrea**: Andrew's second alter-ego as a girl. He originally created her to join the girls' night out at Daisy's residence in the United States. Much to Amanda's chagrin, he discovers the perks of living as a girl, including the freedom to behave and speak in the manner contrasting to his usual reserved self, such as goofing around, and shamelessly clumsy like Akko does.

By doing so, however, Andrew learned that he must balanced all of his identities in the process, otherwise this leads to him having an identity crisis.

## Background

Andrew is born to Paul Hanbridge and Ophelia Oxford-Hanbridge. Ophelia Oxford is a Luna Nova Academy graduate who was arranged to marry Paul after graduation. Andrew had a divided childhood, for Ophelia and Paul's differences would often result in them having constant fights on his future. Ophelia taught Andrew the beauty of magic, which fascinated him during his childhood. Paul disapproved of this, only adding more to the tensions between him and his wife. Ophelia Oxford eventually left the Hanbridge household when Andrew was 7 years old, the only way the Hanbridges could find common ground was in her departure. Andrew was left to be raised by his father, where he learned to dismiss magic and ignore his magic lineage.

> *"Magic is so fascinating to me, but having the weight of the world over my shoulders has kept me away from it. Not long ago, I decided to try for the British Wild Hunt team. I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to keep in contact with my magic side. I knew my father wouldn’t approve, so I made up a new personality: Ace.”*
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--*Andrew Hanbridge to Daisy Eaglenest; The New Witch at School (2018), Chapter 79, "The Secrets That We Hide"*

## Relationships

Andrew has never been the type to fall in love, until he meets Daisy Eaglenest. He became deeply enamored with her the moment he met her. However, Daisy did not feel the same way. Because past lovers had hurt her, Daisy was afraid of a third failure. Andrew was patient with her, trying to win her heart as much as possible. The main reason why Andrew fell in love with Daisy was because she was different from the other girls he had met--she was so uninterested in him that she even punched him in the face--she was not desperate to date him, in fact, she would even try to avoid his attention as much as possible.

Daisy eventually gave in to the feeling. Ever since, Andrew has helped her heal from the trauma she has been through, helped her combat her cigarette addiction, and also has helped her control her anger issues. Both have found comfort within each other, which led them to create an unbreakable bond.

> *"I’ve told you before,” Andrew replied, “you’re not like the other girls. All of them just focus on my looks and social status. When I met you, I knew you were the one for me because you just didn’t care. The moment I met you, I fell in love with you. Tell me, does my social status matter to you?”*
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--*Andrew Hanbridge to Daisy Eaglenest; The New Witch at School (2018), Chapter 51, "Not Ready Yet"*

## Blood of Oxford

Contrary to the canon, Andrew in the *New Witch* series, especially during *A Brand New Beginning*, comes from a lineage of magic users. The Oxford family, which both Andrew and his mother Ophelia belong to, are the descendants of a powerful witch named Augustine the Wise. Augustine was part of an ancient organization of witches and wizards known as the Order of Merlin. The first few generations of the Oxford family settled deep within the Forbidden Forest of Arcturus, where the Temple of Augustine now lies in ruins. Within the temple, there is a magical artifact known as the Staff of Augustine, a magic staff forged by Augustine herself that was later passed down to her descendants, however, when the Oxfords moved out of the forest, the staff was left behind. The Staff of Augustine contains the spirit of the ancient witch inside, and it calls the Oxford family every certain time. Only those of Oxford blood can hear the call and wield the staff.

Many generations of Oxfords have been called, including Ophelia. She first heard the call of Augustine shortly after Andrew's birth. Years later, Andrew heard the call. Because Ophelia rejected the call, Andrew is the only Oxford that can retrieve and therefore wield the staff. He is granted the power of Augustine, known as Augustine's Blessing. To continue the tradition, Andrew must pass the power down to his descendants.