Work Text:
Hansel and Gretel watched the wicked witch turn to ash in her oven. They were free, but where could they go?
"I'm not going home," said Hansel. "Even if our stepmother were to leave, I'll never trust father again."
"Then, let's stay here. The witch is gone and we need a place to live."
And so they stayed. Hansel spent his days hunting and learning the ways of the forest, while Gretel tended to the cottage.
That was how she found the book.
She thought at first that it was a recipe book, and in a way it was, but in fact it was the witch's diary.
Gretel read it cover to cover and learned two things: a witch's power comes not from the woman, but from the cottage and the land around it, and that this cottage and all of it's power now belonged to her.