Harry Potter and the Vampire Slayer
Potions
Chapter Nine
by: Miss Witch
Rated PG
Summary: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what's going on by now.
Disclaimer: I know nothing, I own nothing. Blah, blah, blah. Don't sue!
Spoilers: This takes place before Season 4 of Buffy, and after -Goblet of Fire
Distribution: If you've had my permission before, knock yourself out. If you don't have my permission, you've just to ask.
Feedback: Does the word "Duh!" mean anything to you?
Notes: Thanks to Keith for the potion. I certainly couldn't have come up with it.
Breakfast was a rowdy affair. Everyone one was talking about the Defense against the Dark Arts classes. Seamus Finnigan had started writing a list of vampire related questions to ask during the next class. Buffy was pleased that she'd made Giles' class so popular.
Hogwarts was so different from Sunnydale High School. No one was pretending that nothing strange ever happened. Here the strange was something to be celebrated. It was nice not to have to hide who and what she was. Buffy wasn't ridiculed here, no one thought she was weird. It made for a nice change.
There was a flurry of activity in the air above her and Buffy was startled when she realized that the air was filled with owls. They began swooping down and dropping letters for their owners. Hedwig dropped two letters into Buffy's lap, hooting softly as she landed on the table. Buffy looked at her, astonished.
"For me?" she asked the owl in surprise. Hedwig ruffled her feathers and scooped up a beakfull of Buffy's pumpkin juice. She nipped at Harry's finger, hooting thankfully when he fed her a piece of bacon.
"I asked Hedwig to stop by your house." Harry admitted sheepishly. "I figured that Hedwig would enjoy the trip." Hedwig hooted happily, as if ensuring him she had, before leaping from the table and flying from sight.
Buffy studied the envelopes. One was in her mother's handwriting, and the other in an unfamiliar feminine scrawl. Curious, Buffy opened that one first.
Hey B,
How's the wonderful world of magic? The Hellmouth is fine. It's the Hellmouth, how different could it be?
Your mom's great. Thanks for inviting me to stay here. It's kinda nice to have someone to worry about me.
No apocalypses lately, and ya gotta love that.
Faith
Buffy smiled as she read the short missive. It had taken some doing, but Buffy had convinced the rogue Slayer to stay with her mom while she was in Sunnydale. Buffy thought her mom would be a calming influence on Faith. Buffy handed the letter to Willow for her to read as she opened the one from her mother.
Dear Buffy,
I hope everything is going well at Hogwarts. I can't tell you what a relief it is knowing you're safe and out of danger there.
Buffy snorted with laughter at that line. [Note to self: Don't tell Mom about boggarts.]
I think Faith is settling down nicely. Despite what she says, I really think she likes having someone worry about her. What a shame she was treated so poorly by her own mother.
Buffy could all be hear her mother's voice, lamenting over the way kids were raised these days.
Write soon and tell me all about Hogwarts.
Love,
Mom.
Buffy looked up from her letter and caught Harry watching her.
"A letter from your mum?" he asked, a hint of longing in his voice. Buffy nodded.
"She thinks I'm safer here than in Sunnydale." Harry laughed into his eggs.
"Your mom doesn't know much about Hogwarts, does she?" he asked. Buffy folded up the letter and slipped it into her bag.
"My mom has this amazing ability to ignore any evil going on around her. I think it's a Sunnydale thing." she told him. A movement at the front of the hall caught her eye, and Buffy turned to watch Giles enter the room. "I gotta go." she told Harry, as she slid out of her seat. "I'll catch you in class."
Buffy jogged to the front of the hall, linking her arm with Giles' before he knew she was there.
"Giles, I need to talk to you." she told him quietly. Giles looked down in surprise at Buffy's sudden appearance on his arm. She was looking up at him with wide serious eyes. He nodded.
"Of course. Do I have time to eat breakfast?" he asked. Buffy nodded. "Then I will meet you in the training room in thirty minutes." he promised.
Thirty one minutes later, Giles strode into the training room where he found Buffy sitting on the vaulting horse, pouring over a book. Stunned by the sight, Giles stopped in his tracks.
"You're studying?" he said in disbelief. Looking up, Buffy grinned. She held up the book so that he could see the cover. The Monster Book of Monsters.
"Just checking to see if I fought any of these." she told him. Smiling, Giles shook his head.
"Demons, Buffy." he reminded gently. "You've fought demons, not monsters." Buffy shrugged, tossing the book aside.
"It was still interesting." She hopped down from the horse. "I need to talk to you about a dream I had yesterday. " Giles immediately snapped to attention.
"Do you think it was prophetic?" he asked. Buffy nodded.
"Oh yeah." she told him. "Unless waking up in a cold sweat, with my heart pounding and gasping for breath has suddenly become a good thing."
Buffy leaned back in her chair, wrapping her cloak around her for warmth. [The dungeons were freezing.] she thought, rubbing her hands together. At least she was wearing pants, which was more than she could say for Hermione and Willow. Both were wearing the short skirt of the school uniform.
"What ever you do, don't antagonize Snape." Harry whispered. "He loves to take points from Gryffindor." Buffy nodded. As much as it irritated her, she realized that this was one classroom where being the Slayer wasn't going to get her anywhere. Snape was the head of Slytherin house, and since Draco Malfoy was looking positively smug, Buffy figured she should try and go as unnoticed as possible.
She pulled out a pen and quill, ready to take notes. Doodling absently on the parchment, she thought about her nightmare.
Giles had agreed with her when she'd told him about it. He'd said that the creepy red-eyed figure had sounded like Voldemort. Especially since the bound and gagged figure of Harry had been in the dream.
"Be on your guard, Buffy." he'd warned her. "Voldemort has powers we can't even dream of."
Buffy had been unbelievably frustrated with Giles. The dream had scared the hell out her and she'd wanted nothing more than to curl up in Giles' arms and have him soothe away her worries. Instead, he'd studiously avoided any physical contact. It had been damn annoying, and only made Buffy more determined. Especially now that she knew he was attracted to her.
Giles could deny all he wanted, but she knew the truth. He definitely saw her as a woman, not as a daughter. Buffy smiled. Now that she knew that, it was merely a matter of time.
Harry reached out and stilled her hand mid-scribble as a tall figure swooped dramatically into the room.
"Put it down." he mouthed at her. Buffy dropped the quill onto her desk and slid a clean piece of parchment over the doodles she'd drawn. Folding her hands, Buffy pasted an attentive look on her face.
[Ew! Has the man never heard of shampoo?] Buffy wondered. Professor Snape had greasy hair that fell into his face. It covered the majority of his features, with the exception of his very hooked nose. Snape stopped in front of Buffy's desk.
"Once again, we find ourselves graced with the presence of a celebrity." he said snidely, staring down his nose at her. Years of practice from dealing with Principal Snyder had given Buffy the ability to bite her tongue. She met Snape's gaze steadily, but remained silent. Snape began to pace the front of the room. "Let's see if this celebrity knows any more than the last one." he said with a hard look at Harry. Draco snickered and gave Crabbe a smug smile.
Buffy continued to stare innocently at Snape. She knew that she was probably about to enter a no win situation, but she would be damned if she'd make a fool out of herself in front of Malfoy.
"Tell me, Miss Summers, what are the medicinal properties of Jimson Weed?" Snape asked, whirling towards Buffy.
"Well, actually…" Buffy began. Next to her, Willow's hand shot up into the air. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Hermione raising her hand as well.
"Or perhaps you'd be able to tell us about Angel's Trumpet?" Snape demanded, all but pouncing on Buffy.
Harry and Ron looked at each other in dismay. To Harry, it was like watching a repeat of his first class with Snape, when Snape had asked him questions he'd known Harry couldn't possibly answer.
"They belong to the Nightshade family." Buffy said quietly. "They're both hallucinogenic. When correctly brewed with Morning Glory and yellow Lady Slipper, it'll create a potion that will enable the user to become invisible."
Snape narrowed his eyes.
"And if it's brewed incorrectly?" he asked.
"It will cause hallucinations unless an antidote is administered." Buffy replied. Snape stared hard at her and then stalked away.
"Why aren't you taking notes?" he yelled at Neville as he passed. Poor Neville. He was so startled by the sudden attention he knocked over his inkwell.
"Five points from Gryffindor for Longbottom's clumsiness." Snape declared with relish. There were collective gasps of disbelief from the Gryffindors, but no one dared say anything. Malfoy grinned widely and Buffy gave him a nasty look behind Snape's back before turning her attention to her notes.
"God, that sucked on so many levels." Buffy sighed as they climbed the stairs from the dungeon. "I'm pretty sure my toes are frozen."
"How can Snape get away with taking off so many points for no apparent reason?" Xander demanded. He had lost Gryffindor a point for writing too slowly. The injustice of it still stung. Here he was, working harder in school than he did when it actually mattered and he was penalized for something stupid.
"Everyone knows that Snape has it in for us." Ron said matter-of-factly. Seamus nodded his agreement as he passed.
"We've just gotten used to it." he said in an Irish lilt.
"It's not right." Xander declared angrily.
"At least he didn't take off points for knowing the answers." Oz pointed out. Xander nodded.
"Speaking of knowing answers," he said. "I didn't know you knew all about those plants, Buff."
"Impressed, were you?" she asked, looking around. Harry nodded.
"He did the same thing to me my first day." he said. "Although I didn't know any of the answers." Harry added. Buffy grinned.
"Neither did I." she said softly. Everyone but Willow looked shocked.
"But you answered his questions." Hermione pointed out. "Obviously you knew the answers." Buffy shook her head.
"No. Willow knew the answers." she corrected softly. The gang looked at each other, puzzled. How could Willow have given Buffy the answers? Snape had been standing in front of her, there was no way Willow could've whispered the information or written it on a note.
"Hermione told me about Snape, and I figured that he'd pick on Buffy." Willow said. "So, I dug out a spell I'd been working on in Sunnydale. A telepathy spell." she added, before anyone could ask.
"Brilliant." Ron muttered to himself, as the gang continued to their next class. "Absolutely brilliant. We're totally going to kick their asses in the House Cup competition."
"What's the House Cup competition?" Xander asked. Ron quickly explained about the year long competition between the houses for the most points.
"We get the most points by winning the quidditch matches, and we have one of the best teams ever!" Ron boasted proudly. "Harry here is the youngest Seeker in Hogwarts history." Xander looked from Ron over to the rest of the gang.
"Ok, I've already made myself look stupid, it's someone else's turn to ask the obvious question." Willow smiled and took pity on him.
"It's a game played on brooms, Xander." she explained. "It's a wizarding sport."
"How do you know this stuff?" he asked in awe.
"It's called studying." she told him, walking passed him.
"Oh." Xander said. "I've heard of that. Never tried it though."