Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer nor Charmed.
Charming the Hellmouth
"Mom, mail," Buffy said as she rifled through the letters in her hands. Bills, a letter from Aunt Arlene, and an unusually bulky envelope from San Francisco. Buffy pressed her fingers around the thick shape in the envelope, trying to figure out what it was.
"Thanks, Buffy." Joyce smiled at her from her seat at the dining room table and took the letters from her, looking just as surprised by the unusual letter as Buffy was.
"What is it?" Buffy asked, propping herself up against the tabletop with both hands and craning her neck to watch Joyce tear open the letter.
"I don't know yet, but it's from Prue. Do you remember Prue, the woman I worked maybe a year or two ago on that acqui– oh." Joyce withdrew from the envelope what appeared to be a little cloth sack, symbols stitched somewhat crudely into it and a knotted drawstring keeping it tightly closed.
"Yeah, Ms. Halliwell, I remember her, but why would she send you something like this out of nowhere?" Buffy asked as she took the object from Joyce and turned it over in her hands, noting that the symbols looked like something that she'd see in one of Giles' books.
Joyce opened up the letter that accompanied Prue's present, and said, "Prue says 'hi,' and it's not 'out of nowhere,' seeing as we've been emailing each other for a while now. I told her a bit about Sunnydale and how odd the crime rate is for such a small town. Apparently this is an apotropaic amulet?"
At Buffy's blank look, Joyce clarified, "A magical item meant to protect. Anyway, Prue says to hang this up in our house and it should keep us safer."
Joyce shook her head with a smile, missing Buffy's shocked look at the amulet.
"I didn't think that Prue believed in this kind of stuff. Either that, or it's her idea of a joke."
"Can I take this to school, to show Giles?" Buffy asked, her grip tightening around the amulet.
"The librarian? Why?" Joyce asked, an eyebrow raised at Buffy's sudden change in attitude.
"Oh, uh, he has a lot of books on magic stuff, so maybe he could tell us more about this apopopo thingy?"
"Apotropaic, and sure; I can't tell the origins of this one, only that it's new and handmade, and Prue didn't clarify in her letter. I wish she had, seeing as her general expertise surpasses mine. I bet she could tell us a lot more about it." Joyce said.
"Cool, cool, maybe Giles will know something," Buffy said distractedly as she rummaged around the kitchen, found a sandwich bag, into which she dropped the talisman and zipped it up before shoving it into a pocket of her backpack.
"Was that really necessary? It's not like it came from a crypt or anything."
Buffy snorted at the thought that something coming from a crypt was enough to deter her, considering her nighttime activities. Magic was a different story, though, it was the one thing that even as the Slayer she had little defense against.
"Yeah, I was just err, making sure that if it came undone that uh, nothing came out of it and ruined my clothes or backpack? I mean, who knows what's in that thing."
"I know quite a few cultures make amulets out of materials like animal bones or grave dust, but I doubt that Prue would actually give us something gross."
Buffy made a noncommittal noise in the back of her throat. Sure, she knew Prue Halliwell–a woman some years younger than her mother, practically as small as Buffy herself, and reserved but not unpleasant–but that wasn't the same as actually knowing her. For all she knew, Ms. Halliwell could be anything from a New Age practitioner to an evil witch out to get her through her mom.
Frankly enough, she'd be an idiot to just let a strange woman give them magical items to put around the house, regardless of her apparent correspondence with her mom. And when had that happened?
"Mom?" Buffy asked as she watched Joyce go through the rest of the letters, "Why didn't you tell me about this whole emailing schtick you got going on with Ms. Halliwell? What do you even do, exchange brownie recipes?"
"Please, have you had that woman's baking? Might as well just eat charcoal. Why are you so interested all of a sudden?" Joyce stood, dumped the empty envelopes in the trash as she entered the kitchen, and opened the fridge to take a look inside.
Buffy huffed as she followed her mother and hoisted herself up onto the kitchen island, swinging her legs through the air. "I dunno, it's just kinda weirdish. Like, since when do you have friends?"
Setting tupperware containing leftovers on the island beside Buffy, Joyce shut the fridge and turned to her with an unimpressed expression.
"What, I can't have friends? Just because I'm nearing forty doesn't mean I suddenly don't have a social life or a desire for one. Are you going to be eating dinner here tonight, or are you going out with your friends again?"
Buffy winced upon hearing Joyce's clipped tone. "Sorry, it's not like I meant it like that. But Ms. Halliwell? We were only in San Francisco for a few days, I didn't think you two had hit it off enough to keep in contact."
"Well, we did spend a lot of time in each other's company, dealing with the acquisition, and it's nice to talk to somebody else with similar interests and knowledge of the arts."
"And magic, apparently. Do we still have any of the chicken from last night?"
"I'm pretty sure that Prue isn't serious about the magic stuff. And yes, with the rice?" Joyce held up one of the bigger containers.
"Yeah. I'm actually going to hit the books with Xander and Willow in a moment, but we weren't planning on grabbing dinner."
Joyce smiled and handed Buffy the container.
"Thanks," Buffy said, hopping down from the kitchen island and heading for her backpack. She slid the tupperware into the largest pocket and zipped it up, then headed for the front door.
"If you're going to be out after dark, be safe!" Joyce called after her.
"I know! See you later, and don't invite any strangers in!" Buffy shouted back.
"Hey, Giles, I have something for you to check out!" Buffy said as she walked into the school library, dropping her backpack onto a table beside Xander's head, which was using the open pages of a large book as a pillow. Xander jerked awake and blinked blearily at the backpack.
Giles emerged from the library office, Willow trailing after him with an armful of tomes.
"Nice to see you too, Buffy," Giles said, waiting with an outreached hand as Buffy reached into her backpack and withdrew a small bag. Once she placed it in his hand, he unzipped the sandwich bag and removed the object within.
"Mom's friend sent it to us, says its an 'apopotoopo' amulet. I thought I'd have you vet it, see if it's legit and not gonna blow up our house," Buffy said as Xander sat up and Willow hovered near Giles to get a better look at the amulet.
"Indeed. Well, I don't know what an 'apopotoopo' amulet is," Giles made a face, "but if you mean 'apotropaic,' then I can certainly help out."
"Yeah, that."
Giles pushed his glasses farther up his nose as he scrutinized the amulet. "The shape of the amulet doesn't tell us much by itself; simple bags are a common vessel to use for spells both benign and malevolent. However, the symbols do indicate protective power. The craftsmanship is somewhat shoddy, but they're still legible enough to function, and indicate a European origin. Or rather, a bastardized version of it that suggests the influence of American practices. Probably from an established magical bloodli–"
"Hey, Antiques Roadshow, I just want to know if this thing'll get me and Mom killed." Buffy said. Giles cleared his throat.
"What I was getting to is that it's impossible to tell the amulet's intent just by looking at it, and opening it up could destroy the spell at best, or unleash an attack if it was made with malicious purpose."
"So . . . that's it? Hey, it's probably fine, but it could also be a bomb waiting to go off?" Buffy scoffed.
Xander startled back. "I like all of my limbs where they belong, so I vote that we toss the whammy bag. Preferably somewhere far away."
Giles ignored the teenagers and roused what magical ability he had to examine the amulet through magical sense. The moment his own energy came into contact with that of the amulet he reeled back with a sharp intake of air.
"Oh, my," he breathed out, staring wide-eyed at it.
"Giles! What is it?" Buffy asked. Giles' head snapped toward Buffy.
"Who did you say sent this to you?"
"My mom's friend, Ms. Halliwell. Why does it matter? Is it bad?"
"No." Giles returned the amulet to Buffy, who looked down at the innocuous-seeming item in her hands. "It's very, very good. The power behind this amulet is simply incredible, and pure in its intent. Your home will be better protected for it."
"Oh. Well, then, that's good."
"Buffy . . . magical power like this . . . no normal witch could match it. Do you know if your mother's friend is the one who made it?"
"I'm not sure, we just got it in the mail today."
"Well, I would appreciate if you could find out. It's important to know about any powerful forces that could have a connection to you, if only to confirm what their motives are should they have any."
"Okay, okay, I get it, I'll get Mom to get me the deets." Buffy stashed the amulet back in her backpack and took out the leftovers, which she set on the desk and opened up. Willow hurried to the office without prompting, returning with paper plates and plastic utensils. The three teens doled out portions and passed them around.
"Thank you, see that you do. And Buffy?"
"Yeah?" Buffy asked after swallowing a bite of dinner.
"An ally of this power could be beneficial to your term as a Slayer."
Buffy knew what he meant, that the short lifespan determined by her destiny could possibly be countered to an extent. She nodded once, a stiff gesture, and resumed eating.
Author's Note: I'd like to continue writing this, but I think I need to rewatch some BtVS first. (And I'll be watching it in German, so I'm hoping that won't throw off my characterization or anything from the English language original.) This was an idea that a friend challenged me to write after I proposed it, and I found it buried in my files and decided why not upload it and see if it garners any reader interest.