diff --git a/src/sql/connection.py b/src/sql/connection.py
index 58352f797..f151921fe 100644
--- a/src/sql/connection.py
+++ b/src/sql/connection.py
@@ -653,7 +653,7 @@ def execute(self, query, with_=None):
         Executes SQL query on a given connection
         """
         query = self._prepare_query(query, with_)
-        return self.session.execute(query)
+        return self.engine.execute(query)
 
 
 atexit.register(Connection.close_all, verbose=True)
diff --git a/src/sql/inspect.py b/src/sql/inspect.py
index 1d7cfc103..ada6b16b3 100644
--- a/src/sql/inspect.py
+++ b/src/sql/inspect.py
@@ -239,11 +239,15 @@ def __init__(self, table_name, schema=None) -> None:
         columns_query_result = sql.run.raw_run(
             Connection.current, f"SELECT * FROM {table_name} WHERE 1=0"
         )
+
         if Connection.is_custom_connection():
             columns = [i[0] for i in columns_query_result.description]
         else:
             columns = columns_query_result.keys()
 
+        # TODO: abstract it internally
+        columns_query_result.close()
+
         table_stats = dict({})
         columns_to_include_in_report = set()
         columns_with_styles = []
diff --git a/src/sql/run.py b/src/sql/run.py
index 229334cc7..9e492420e 100644
--- a/src/sql/run.py
+++ b/src/sql/run.py
@@ -662,7 +662,7 @@ def _first_word(sql):
 
 
 def raw_run(conn, sql):
-    return conn.session.execute(sqlalchemy.sql.text(sql))
+    return conn.engine.execute(sqlalchemy.sql.text(sql))
 
 
 class PrettyTable(prettytable.PrettyTable):
diff --git a/src/tests/test_magic_cmd.py b/src/tests/test_magic_cmd.py
index d9b7ef97b..ea524741b 100644
--- a/src/tests/test_magic_cmd.py
+++ b/src/tests/test_magic_cmd.py
@@ -1,11 +1,10 @@
+import sqlite3
 import sys
 import math
 import pytest
 from IPython.core.error import UsageError
 from pathlib import Path
 
-from sqlalchemy import create_engine
-from sql.connection import Connection
 from sql.store import store
 from sql.inspect import _is_numeric
 
@@ -112,8 +111,15 @@ def test_tables(ip):
 
 
 def test_tables_with_schema(ip, tmp_empty):
-    conn = Connection(engine=create_engine("sqlite:///my.db"))
-    conn.execute("CREATE TABLE numbers (some_number FLOAT)")
+    # TODO: why does this fail?
+    #     ip.run_cell(
+    #         """%%sql sqlite:///my.db
+    # CREATE TABLE numbers (some_number FLOAT)
+    #     """
+    #     )
+
+    with sqlite3.connect("my.db") as conn:
+        conn.execute("CREATE TABLE numbers (some_number FLOAT)")
 
     ip.run_cell(
         """%%sql
@@ -150,8 +156,8 @@ def test_columns(ip, cmd, cols):
 
 
 def test_columns_with_schema(ip, tmp_empty):
-    conn = Connection(engine=create_engine("sqlite:///my.db"))
-    conn.execute("CREATE TABLE numbers (some_number FLOAT)")
+    with sqlite3.connect("my.db") as conn:
+        conn.execute("CREATE TABLE numbers (some_number FLOAT)")
 
     ip.run_cell(
         """%%sql