Chapter 3: Catch-as-Catch-Can Catch-Up Classes

The Scooby's and Mordred began catch-up classes the next day, starting with a wide selection of subjects that ranged from First Year all the way to Fifth Year. Each of them was dressed in their new uniforms, which had nametags on them for better identification.

"Wow, this is way so boarding school." Said Buffy, who had on a red and gold cloak and tie whereas Faith and Dawn had on green and silver cloaks and ties on. Mordred had double-hooded himself, wearing one hood from his robes over the one on his regular coat, which was also a green and silver colour.

"Yeah well, thank God we're hot chicks." Said Faith to Buffy and Dawn. "We make uniforms look good."

"Hey Mordy, a little sun won't kill yah," quipped Buffy, who was laughing at Mordred's way of putting on as many hoods as he could. "You look like a green Wraith with a security issue."

"Yah well, at least I don't look like a overdressed Hulkamaniac," responded Mordred before cupping his hand to his ear and shouting, "Red & Yellow strikes back! At least there's no Pink & Black option."

They went to their classes, which for the first week were History of Magic, Charms, and Potions on Mondays, Herbology, Transfiguration, and Care of Magical Creatures on Tuesdays, Runes, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Divination, and Astronomy on Wednesdays, Muggle Studies, Arithmancy and Flying lessons on Thursdays, and on Fridays they were to take the classes that they had the most trouble with all week as well as one 'special class' with Dumbledore for Dawn. In between classes were breaks and meals. Buffy and Faith were to work on the practical Magic mostly while Dawn and Mordred worked on the written work, since neither had a wand yet. They planned on sharing notes during the breaks and practicing the actual Magic after classes when Dawn got her wand.

The first Monday was rather stressful on the girls, as Buffy and Faith were both still tired and Dawn was agitated due to having no wand. Mordred, on the other hand, was rather hyper about everything.

"It's so unfair I have to wait a whole week before I get my wand," Dawn complained while watching Professor Binns (the ghost Professor) drone on about various historical facts about Magic. "What happens if he's not finished? What if I never get a wand?"

She looked at the others in despair, but Buffy and Faith were both already fast asleep and Mordred was copying everything Binns was saying (or trying to copy everything, as his quill kept on messing up since he wasn't used to it). Dawn went back to writing some of the stuff that sounded important, but since Binns never changed his tone throughout the lesson it was hard to differentiate between what was important and what was just filler.

On the break after class, Mordred shocked the others by running to the moving stair section, and jumping over the railing, where he fell several whole levels before catching another railing, hauling himself up over it with a bounce, and bounding away to the Main Hall. He was bouncing along the walls, ceiling and floor like a ping-pong ball before he got to one of the tables. The others found him sitting on a table and giggling like a loon.

"What in the Hell was that all about?" asked Dawn. "I mean, sure it's exciting being in a Magic school but do you have to jump around like a demented jackrabbit?"

"I think it's all the energy flowing through this place," explained Mordred, "everywhere I go in here just fills me with energy and it makes me want to just run and jump around everywhere. Besides" he added with a smile, "this is just a normal feeling for me to act like this. I don't know why I do this, I just do."

"Hey, I'm five-by-five with it if you are Mordy." Faith said, stretching her arms and back out. "Just don't do that anymore when the other students are here, and don't expect us to play along with any hair-brained schemes you make up."

"Don't worry," assured Mordred, "the only thing I see wigging people out would be me and Dawn talking in Parseltongue, and according to Dawn, if the Weasley Twins already know we're Parselmouths, then half the school probably knows by now."

"Yeah, it'll be a real hoot to be able to talk about stuff with you and not worry about anyone except Harry and maybe Dumbledore listening in on us." Stated Dawn. "So whenever they're around we'll just use hushed voices or not talk about anything dangerous at all."

"Anyways, it's time to get to class." Said Mordred. "I'll let you guys copy my notes after dinner, ok?"

With that, Mordred bounded off to Charms, jumping over tables and bouncing off of walls.

"He's gonna kill himself doing that." Commented Buffy as the three girls got up to get to class.

They arrived in class to find Mordred sitting in one of the seats, grinning broadly while Professor Flitwick, a short Goblin-Human crossbreed, was waiting on a stack of books.

"Now then," began the Professor, "since we're so short on students I'll have to pair the students with wands with the students without wands. Buffy, you sit with your sister, and Faith, you sit with Mordred. I hope the House rivalry hasn't started up yet between you lot."

"As you can see," he said after the four had sat in their arranged groups, "each pair has a feather. Your task is to make that feather float using your wands and the incantations. The incantation is Wingardium Leviosa, but without the proper pronunciation and wand movement, the feathers will not fly. Repeat after me, without using your wands first - win-GAR-dee-um lev-ee-OH-sa."

The others repeated the word, with only Dawn getting it right the first time, and Mordred coming in a close second.

"Alright now," continued Flitwick, "the two people who have wands can practice the swish and flick motion while the others watch. You have to be precise with it, it's a swish and flick." He demonstrated using his own wand several times while Buffy and Faith tried to follow his movements.

"Now, let's see it in action." Flitwick said. "Say the words and make the swish and flick motion while you are at it."

Buffy and Faith both began trying to make the feathers rise, but nothing happened after the first five or so attempts. Dawn then helped Buffy out with the pronunciation, while Faith looked on helplessly at Mordred.

"Maybe I can give it a try?" Mordred said, raising his hand above the feather. He concentrated a bit, and then it began to rise in the air. Smiling triumphantly, Mordred sent the feather over to the center of the room, making it go back and forth. Professor Flitwick looked over, and noticed, speaking at first as if on autopilot.

"Very good, Mister Flaggson, very g-" he broke off, finally noticing that Mordred had no wand of his own and was controlling the feather with his hand, and fell off the stack of books behind his lectern in surprise.

Mordred then used his other hand to lift Flitwick into the air and set the startled Professor back down on his books.

"Well I say, that is very good wandless Magic." Stated Flitwick. "Where did you learn to do such Magic?"

"Don't know; I just can." Answered Mordred a little smugly. "I'm still getting materials for my wand though, so when I get it I should be able to float more than feathers in the air."

He then reached out his hand and lifted up one of the chairs across the room, floating it into the air and twirling it about. He then lifted another one into the air and had the two perform a small dance, adding extra chairs until it was a rather large circle of chairs spinning first in one direction, then another. He then set them down while huffing and puffing at the effort to much applause by Buffy, Faith, Dawn and even Flitwick, who was practically jumping up and down with excitement.

After class, they all went back to the Main Hall (with Mordred now randomly Levitating things while bounding around the entire place). They ate lunch, and then went to the Potions class on the lowest level in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main floor areas, and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.

"Hey, Buffy." said Dawn before they entered the class, "Professor Snape may be a bit harsher on you than on me, Faith or Mordred because you're not part of his House. Just don't take any of his comments personally, and you'll do fine."

"Gee, thanks. Could yah of told me before we got here so I could have skipped it instead?" replied Buffy in a falsely cheerful manner before opening up the door and finding a seat with the others.

Snape looked over the four with a grumpy look on his face, his eyes passing over them as if he could see right through them and hesitating on Mordred's hooded head before beginning. He cleared his throat before speaking, his voice a whisper that spoke louder than any shouting could ever have done in his dank, dark classroom.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making," he began. "I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses . . . I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

He then looked over the group, spotting Buffy's Gryffindor symbol and nametag on her uniform.

"Tell me, Miss Summers, why are you sitting in a group of Slytherins when you are clearly supposed to be in Gryffindor?" he asked in an oily voice. "Go sit over there, where any Gryffindors who may show up can join you, and we'll begin our class."

Dejected, Buffy went over to the other side of the class, while Snape turned his back on the class of four. He then wrote the names of seven types of potions on the chalkboard using his wand, and turned back to the class.

"Here are some potions ranging from First year all the way to Seventh year in regards to skills. I will allow each of you to try to make one potion in order to judge where your skills are at, although I doubt your North American -," he used this term as if it were a mental disorder, "schools have taught you much in the way of practical potion making, let alone advanced potion making. Since none of your are getting points for your House yet, the best potion will earn the maker the right to keep the book that they use."

The four got up and went to the area where the various books were. Buffy and Faith grabbed up Second-Year books, while Dawn grabbed the first Fifth-Year book she could find. Mordred, however, rooted around the book pile without even looking, he was just guiding his hand through the stack knocking over some without even bothering to look at them. But before Snape could get annoyed with him he grabbed a Sixth-Year book called Advanced Potion-Making that seemed to have been covered in writing. He went to the area where the others were grabbing up their various potion ingredients and began getting his own ingredients. They went back to their cauldrons and began cutting and weighing materials before adding them to their cauldrons. After about five minutes Buffy's cauldron exploded, covering her with goop and some small burns. Faith managed to make a passable Swelling Solution, while Dawn was able to make a respectable Draught of Peace. Meanwhile, Mordred had made a Draught of Living Death in less than five minutes, catching Snapes' complete attention and even earning a rare smile from Snape.

"Clearly, one of the select few who have the innate talent for Potions making," stated Snape. "You may keep the book you used, but only until the end of this term. You however," he said pointing at Buffy, "have caused a disaster worthy of Neville Longbottom. You won't be losing any points for your team, much is the pity, but you will however have to come up with the money to pay for the damage you have caused."

Buffy's face was red with shame and anger, but held her tongue. Snape dismissed the four of them early, and they all went to the Great Hall. Ignoring the feelings of sorrow and rage Buffy walked around the Great Hall, staring at the ceiling lined with floating candles and transparent ceiling.

"I really hate that ghoul," complained Buffy. "Is he really supposed to be like that to all the non-slither things or just the Gryffindors?"

"Mainly the Gryffindors," explained Dawn, "but I think he's like that to the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws as well. The books never really say. And it's pronounced Slytherin, not slither thing. You manage to get your own House name correct, you can do the same with the others."

The four ate their dinner in silence, until Mordred suddenly spoke up.

"Hey guys, I was just thinking," he gestured to the book, "maybe I can get some extra copies of spare paper or parchment and add all the info I found in this one to them, so we could all get good marks in Potions?" This got everyone's attention, and Mordred decided to look through it to find out some more information on it. As they all looked through the book, they found that there was barely a page on which there wasn't additional notes on it, concerning with not only potion-making but also various spells. They skimmed through it and found at the bottom of the back cover a scribbling saying This Book is the Property of the Half-Blood Prince.

"I wonder who that could be?" Asked Mordred, looking at Dawn.

"Don't look at me, I haven't gotten the sixth or seventh books yet." Dawn said defensively. "We're lucky we have the fifth book as it is, or any of them at all."

"She's right, let's worry about doing our classes and monitoring the book to see what's coming up." Said Buffy, "we don't want any surprises happening to us if we can help it."

"There's already some changes," said Dawn, "mainly the Ubervamps you guys faced off against last night. And Dumbledore may try using mind reading on us, so before we go to bed each night we have to clear our minds of everything so Dumbledore doesn't figure out what we know."

"Here, I have something that might help." Offered Mordred as he grabbed up some circular wires from his robes. "I think this helps block out intruders if you wear it, although it is a good idea to meditate before sleeping each night. I myself prefer meditating instead of sleeping, as it keeps me from having nightmares." The others looked at him strangely. "Don't ask; you don't want to know what I see whenever I do sleep. Besides, all I need is one good hours worth of meditation, and I'm wide awake for the entire day."

"It's almost time to head back to our dorm rooms." Said Dawn. "How are you finding the Gryffindor suite?"

"It's nice and warm, not to mention high up." Answered Buffy. "But it's lonely. I guess when other students are here it'll be different." She then looked ate the others. "How's Slytherins' dorm room?"

"It's nice, even though it's under the lake and goes down instead of up like some of the others." Dawn said. "Faith and I at least have each other, while Mordred there can meditate all night long if he so chooses. At least," Dawn paused, "until the other students come. Then he'll have to meditate on whatever times he can."

"That's not mentioning us all sneaking out for Patrolling. I take it Rumblerore will have to issue us three night passes in order to keep any suspicion off of us." Faith said as she walked over to one of the suits of armour and liberated a mace and an axe from it.

"We could all just meet up in the library to do our homework, then head out once it gets dark." Buffy offered with a smile. "We might even be able to find a club to party at during our patrols."

"Anyways, I gotta hit the sack." Motioned Dawn, who was getting up to leave, "see you guys later. Happy hunting."

"Wish us monsters." Replied Buffy as Dawn walked off to the Slytherin dorm. Buffy and Mordred then armed themselves with weapons of their own and headed out with Faith into the Forbidden Forest.

They walked out and found Spike smoking nearby the school grounds, and then the four of them wandered into the forest. It took about three hours before they came upon a group of Ubervamps that were clustered around something. There weren't many Ubervamps, only twenty that they could see, not so many that the Scooby's couldn't handle them. It was what they were doing that made the two Slayers gasp in horror and disgust.

A pile of purely white horse-shaped forms were at the center of the Ubervamps' attention and was probably the only thing that kept the Slayers from being discovered by the undead creatures. A ridged horn poked out from each of the creature's foreheads, which identified them as Unicorns. The Vampires were feeding off Unicorns that were mostly still alive, as the poor animals were twitching in agony from the Ubervamps all sinking their fangs into various areas of their bodies all at once and ripping out flesh whenever another Ubervamp butted in to feed.

Faith put her fingers in her mouth and whistled to get the monsters' attention. Only two or three of them turned towards the distraction, as the others were too caught up in the rapture of drinking Unicorn blood to care. The first one to advance got its head shattered into pieces by the mace that Faith had swung at it, while Buffy used the axe to decapitate several others in a single swipe. Spike began picking the ones that had hung back with his bow and arrows, while Mordred threw several large flaming boulders at the Ubervamps that were trying to get their bearings.

Before the last Ubervamp was killed off, it waved its arms in the air and began chanting. Within a minute, a red mist formed and spewed forth thirty BloodGoyles, which are Gargoyles made of blood. They flew about the area, diving at the Slayers and protecting the Ubervamp that summoned them. This Ubervamp was different from the others, as it had a purple aura around it and was covered in fleas.

The Slayers and Spike attacked the BloodGoyles, causing them to burst every time a blow was struck. However, it seemed as though whatever they threw at them, the BloodGoyles just repaired themselves.

"Hey Mordy, a little help here?" Yelled Faith as her mace went through one of the BloodGoyle's heads, causing it to splatter all over her face.

"Ok, here goes nothing." Mordred snarled as he held out one hand.

Instantly, lightening shot from his fingers, hitting one BloodGoyle and chaining it to another. Each one was linked to another by the electricity he was shooting forth, and they were all drawn together into one big massive ball of blood in the air. Mordred's other hand went up, and ice shot from it, freezing the ball of blood into a solid form before levitating it towards Spike.

"Hey Spike." Mordred said while the ball hovered above the Vampire's head. "Here's a free Snow cone for yah, hold the cone."

Before Spike could reply, the Ubervamp howled, sending his Fleas after the four. Although the fleas bit into them, they were easily stomped into the ground before Buffy decapitated the Ubervamp with her axe.

"Ok, how did that Ubervamp use a spell?" Asked Faith. "I thought they were supposed to be dumber than the average Vamp?"

"That wasn't a Turok-Han." Mordred stated while panting. "It was a Grandfather: A Type One Vampire located in different worlds. You can tell one by the fleas it carries on it, those are called 'Little Doctors'."

"Whatever it was, it was nasty." Commented Buffy. "Now we have to fight Magic Vamps as well. I am so not liking this."

"You two have wands as well, and Spike could start using Magic as well if he liked." Mordred said, causing Spike to look at him oddly. "All you have to do is feed off of a Mage, and you'll have a limited amount of Magic for awhile."

"Anyways, it's time for us to head back." Stated Buffy. "Three of us still have classes tomorrow, and I really can't bear the smug look Dawn gets when I have to borrow her notes."

"You guys go, I'll take care of the Unicorns, give them a proper sending off." Mordred said. "Spike can help if he wants to get the funeral pyre going, also I'd like to get some more potion ingredients."

The Slayers then went back to their dorms while Mordred grabbed up stuff from the Unicorns and other items, and Spike and he made a pyre for them which they lit before Spike went back to his cave with his new ball of blood and Mordred went back to the Castle.

On Tuesday, the four new students had Herbology with Professor Sprout, which turned out to be something wands weren't needed for, as it was all just lecture work on dangerous plants and how to deal with them. In between classes, they regrouped long enough to get a head's up of what Professor McGonagall was like as a teacher, then they went to class, Mordred again leading the way via bouncing around the walls.

As they entered, they saw a cat sitting on a desk. Mordred was looking at it funnily, as if he knew there was something not quite right with it. Dawn sat down, hiding a grin while waiting for Buffy and Faith to sit down.

Faith took one look at the cat and started cooing at it.

"Come here kitty, where's your Mommy at?" She said, while Dawn burst into giggles and Buffy looked around in confusion.

"Where's the teacher?" asked Buffy. "Isn't she supp-"

Before she could finish, the cat leapt off the desk and turned into McGonagall. This surprised both the Slayers, while Dawn and Mordred both clapped their hands in appreciation.

"Why, thank you for the assessment," said McGonagall, "perhaps you two could stop imitating fish by closing your mouths and sitting down, and we could begin our class?" She said looking at Faith and Buffy, who were still shocked at seeing her turn from cat into human so quickly. They sat down, and McGonagall looked them over and began her speech reserved for First Years.

"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous Magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "I don't know what you were taught in the schools in your own countries, but anyone who tries messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

"Now, who here knows anything about how Transfiguration works?" she asked as Dawn raised her hand. "Miss Summers?" Dawn lowered her hand.

"Transfiguration is Magic which changes one object into another." Dawn said, remembering what she had read. "It is possible to change inanimate objects into animate ones and vice versa. Some Transfiguration spells alter a part of something, such as changing a part of a person's body from normal into something else."

"Very good, Miss Summers." McGonagall exclaimed. "We will be starting out with the basics today, and working our way up. For those of you without wands, you may watch, but I do expect you to still take notes."

McGonagall went to the blackboard and drew up a diagram of how to change various items into animals and back again. The four students wrote down the diagram and what she was saying, and then when they were finished writing it all down they got the go ahead to start the actual practical work.

"Miss Summers and Miss Lehane, you may now try to do the wand work while your sister and Mister Flaggson watch." She said to Buffy and Faith, who had their wands out. She then turned to Dawn and Mordred. "You may practice the words and movements yourselves, but seeing as neither of you have wands I doubt you will change anything."

Buffy decided to start things off by trying to turn a match stick into a toothpick, but ended up burning the first three she tried on. The fourth one was done quite well however, giving Faith enough confidence to get hers in only two tries.

Mordred and Dawn were both practicing their words and movements using their hands instead of wands, when all of a sudden the item Mordred was practicing on changed.

"Snufflifors!" he said, and one of the smaller books on McGonagall's table changed into a mouse, which ran along the top of the table. Mordred then lifted it into the air using his Levitating skills, and floated it into his palm.

"May I keep this?" he asked a quite stunned McGonagall, "so I can have something to feed my snake?"

"Most certainly not!" She replied sharply, but then added with a stern, "I need the book itself intact, so if you may, can you please Untransfigure it back into a book and I'll get you some small stones to practice on."

They continued on through the class, turning beetles into buttons, mice into snuffle boxes, and Mordred even turned a rock into a sparrow, which flew about the class and out the window, and then he turned his quill into a ballpoint pen, something he could "actually use to write stuff down without breaking it", which he carried behind his ear. By the time they were leaving, McGonagall was looking at them all, but especially at Mordred, with approval that was tampered with her muttering about "lazy Yanks who wait until now to learn the basics".

After lunch, they all went outside for the Care of Magical Creatures class. Here, they found Professor Grubbly-Plank, who had a herd of Unicorns for the students to learn about. The girls were able to go up to and pet the creatures, but the moment Mordred tried to go near them the Unicorns all shied away, leaving him with his hand outstretched and a look of confusion on his face.

"Don't worry," Grubbly-Plank said, "Unicorns just aren't as fond of males as they are of females."

Dejected, Mordred went over to a grassy knoll to sit while the others all petted the Unicorns. After the class, they had dinner and the Slayers (along with Mordred) got ready for their nightly Patrolling.

During their patrol, they split up into pairs, with Faith going with Buffy and Mordred with Spike, and went out wandering. It took only a small amount of time for the Slayers to find some regular Vampires who were hunting.

"Ah, I thought I smelled the sent of fresh blood." Said one in a gruff voice. "It's not often we find humans wandering this deep in this Forest."

"With the likes of you around I'm not surprised." Said Buffy with a smile. She took a step closer, her stake behind her back.

"You know it's been such a long time since I've eaten." Said the second Vampire conversationally as he too took a step closer.

"You know that is really ironic, I was just thinking it's been such a long time since we Slayed regular Vampires." Said Faith with mock thoughtfulness. "So that kinda makes us even, don't cha think?"

The first Vampire leapt towards them with a snarl, but Buffy had been expecting that. She whipped out the stake that she had been hiding behind her back and before the Vampire knew what hit him he was dust.

"What the?" muttered the other Vampire as he involuntarily took a step backward.

"What?" asked Faith innocently, "never heard of the Slayer?" She gave him a swift kick to the chest, which sent him flying into a tree branch, which dusted him. Another one tried to punch Buffy but she caught his fist.

"Well it was good talking to you," Buffy said, "but as you know all good things come to an end. Buh-bye." With that, she staked him.

The fourth and final Vamp swore and ran off. Buffy used her wand to levitate a stick and sent it into his heart, dusting him.

"Wow, check out Witch Fu there," said Faith approvingly, "you gonna give Red a run for her money when we get back or what?"

"Right now I'd just settle for getting back." Replied Buffy. "Let's go find the Gruesome Twosome, see what trouble they've managed to get themselves into."

Grinning, they both went off to find Mordred and Spike. After a small amount of time, they found the two fighting some various monsters. There were walking cages with skeletons inside them, some Fyarl Demons armed with clubs, and some Bugbears who had axes. Spike was fighting them with his sword, while Mordred was busy zapping them with fire and lightening as well as using his various exploding potions, frying the Demons and Bugbears while causing the caged skeletons to shatter into pieces. After destroying the last walking cage, Mordred turned around to the pair of Slayers, who were clapping their hands in mock applause.

"So nice of you ladies to drop by." Mordred gasped in exhaustion, before waving off their clapping. "Please, you're making me blush."

"I guess you'll just stick around and collect stuff while we head home?" asked Buffy rhetorically. "You seem to always be bringing home the strangest of things. What do you need all that stuff for?"

"My wand, mostly, but also food for Taltos, and potion ingredients for other things as well." Answered Mordred. "You'd be surprised at what can be useful when you look for it."

The Slayers then left Mordred to scrounge around while they headed back to the Castle.

On Wednesday, during Ancient Runes Class the four gained plenty of practice interpreting runes, including translating some phrases written in runes into English. Plenty of practice meaning Faith and Buffy slept while Mordred and Dawn took notes. When questioned by their teacher Mordred and Dawn said they were helping the two unconscious girls catch up.

During Defence Against the Dark Arts, Dumbledore himself brought a Remus Lupin out of retirement to help the four students get caught up. When the four met him, it took them about a minute to figure out his condition (less so for Dawn, who had read the books).

"So, you're a Werewolf," stated Faith, as tactful as ever.

"I hope there's not any problems with me being one." Answered Lupin, who had a look of surprise on his face. "And how did you figure that out so fast?"

"Err, just a gut feeling we get occasionally," supplied Dawn helpfully, "and no, none of us have any problems being taught by a Werewolf."

"Hey, as long as you don't go scratchin' at me or humpin' my leg," supplied Faith, "we're five-by-five, ya' know."

Mordred smiled and said he could care less what he was taught by.

"After all, it can't be any worse than being taught by any of the chick teachers who are onna rag once a month," he said, getting a pair of nasty death-glares from Buffy and Faith, and a kick to the shins from Dawn for his comment. Laughing, Lupin continued.

"Excellent, now if you follow me I have something to show you all." He walked out the door and the four followed him. They went into another room where there was a wardrobe that was shaking violently in the corner of the room.

"Can anyone hazard a guess at what is in this wardrobe?" Asked Lupin. Dawn's hand shot up, and she answered.

"It's a Boggart." She sated triumphantly. "It becomes what we each fear the most."

"Correct," Lupin said, with a sly look on his face. "Perhaps you already know of the spell used to banish the Boggart?"

"Actually, I do." Replied Dawn, who was quick to add, "I read about them somewhere. The spell that is supposed to banish Boggarts is called the Boggart-Banishing Spell."

"Good, then I guess we can just see what each of you can do against it." Lupin said, looking at Dawn with admiration. "Yes, even the two people without wands can give it a shot, if you are up to it. First, let us all practice the proper pronunciation without wands. Repeat after me: ri-di-KYOO-lus" he said, stressing certain parts of the word.

"ri-di-KYOO-lus" the four of them repeated, catching on to the right phrase after a few tries . Then they were given a chance to step up to the wardrobe and see what happened. Faith was the first to try for it.

"Hello Faith," Mayor Wilkins said as he stepped out of the wardrobe, shocking Faith into stillness. "How have we been these past few years? I see you wound up in Slytherin. Still as dark as ever, no matter what you –"

"Riddikulus!" Faith shouted, pointing her wand at the Boggart. Immediately, Wilkins was covered in mud and dust. The four laughed and Buffy stepped up to it.

The Boggart swirled around and around, assuming many different shapes, from various Vampires to monsters she had faced, until it became a copy of her.

"I told you that you wouldn't be able to stop me." She said in a dead voice. "You didn't think that a group of little girls could stop me did you? I am the First Evil, the ultimate evil. The thing you fear most." She continued in a mocking manner.

"Your friends will leave you. You will fail them. They will all die because of –"

"Riddikulus!!!" Buffy yelled, causing the fake Buffy to be turned into a cheerleading version of herself who hopped and danced around, waving her pom-poms in the air. Laughter filled the air as Dawn took hold of Buffy's wand and stepped up to it. Buffy kept to Dawn's side as the Boggart changed into a red-haired, scantily dressed female.

"Hi yah Dawnie," the Hell-Goddess Glorificus chided. "Thought you got rid of me for good? Well, your wrong. You never actually thought you could kill a Hell God, could you?" She said, advancing on the Summers' sisters. "We're eternal, we just keep on coming back until-"

"RIDDIKULUS!" both Dawn and Buffy yelled, causing Glory to be put into a polka dot-covered Habit. They all laughed at her as Mordred stepped up to it after borrowing Faith's wand.

The Boggart, however, switched into a great blur and remained that way for about almost an hour before turning into a bright silvery blur. When Mordred hit it with a Boggart-Banishing spell it turned into a light bulb that burst and fell to the ground.

"Excellent, very well done!" Exclaimed Lupin, who was watching them all very intently throughout the class. "You've done quite well for people who've only just begun using Magic."

During lunch they had various items to eat while Dawn and Mordred caught the Slayers up on what they learned. Dawn even taught the Slayers the Rennervate spell to keep them awake after getting up in the morning. After lunch they had Divination class, which turned out to be taught by a very thin, even spindly-looking lady named Sybill Trelawney, who had huge glasses that enlarged her eyes, making her look rather like an insect.

"Welcome to Divination," said Professor Trelawney, who had glided towards them as though on wheels the moment they got into her class via the trapdoor. She had on a green sequined dress, making her look more than ever like a glittering, oversized Dragonfly. "My name is Professor Trelawney."

"You have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all Magical arts," she continued airily. "I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you. Books can take you only so far in this field…" Professor Trelawney went on, "as many Witches and Wizards, talented though they are in the area of loud bangs and smells and sudden disappearings, are yet unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of the future."

She then went over to her board and put up a diagram of a palm with various types of lines in it. "What you will be doing today is pairing up and attempting to read each others' palms and eyes. You will interpret the patterns you find using pages ten through twelve of Unfogging the Future. I shall move among you, helping and instructing."

Mordred teamed up with Dawn, and Buffy teamed up with Faith. Each took turns looking at the other's palms, and then hazarding a guess as to what it meant. None of them knew what they were doing, and Dawn and Mordred had the worst time of it.

"Umm, Miss Tree-lawn-e," said Dawn in a hesitant voice. "Mordred doesn't have any lines in his hands, and his eyes are really wigging me out!"

"That's impossible!" exclaimed Trelawney, who went over to look for herself and then gave a shout of dismay.

"You . . . you have no lines." She said, edging into hysteria. "Your aura is all darkness and chaos, and your eyes, your eyes are empty voids!"

Indeed, when Mordred had finally taken off his wraparound sunglasses, the others were able to look into where his eyes were supposed to be and saw that his eyes were nothing more than black orbs with random clouds of white floating around in a swirl in his head. Each one appeared to look like the event horizon of a black hole or a hurricane, and it took all of their effort for the others to look away from him so he could put his sunglasses back on.

"Hey, now you guys know why I have these things on." Mordred chided as he went back to looking at Dawn's hands.

Trelawney, somewhat shaken by the experience, finished off the class by looking at Buffy's and Faith's hands and predicting the death of one of them. This caused Faith and Dawn to stare directly at Buffy, who only shrugged.

"Again?" everyone cried, throwing their hands into the air and then smacking Buffy in the shoulders.

"You just don't like normal living, do yah B?" commented Faith.

"Hey, Chos-" Buffy began before Faith kicked her in the shin, causing her to mutter, "Sorry."

Later on that night, the Slayers and Mordred went out to meet Spike, who had found a nest of Ubervamps in a cave. They went over to the nest and looked in on it before forming a plan.

"I have an idea." Mordred said. "You three guard any entrances you can, while I fill the cave up with gas. When I give the signal, you guys block up the entrances with boulders and I'll blast the cave with fire. Sound simple enough for yah?"

"Good idea, we have to get this done before class." Said Faith, before shaking her head. "Wow, I'm actually trying to get something done so I can get to a class on time instead of just dropping out right away. That's a switch."

"You're developing a work ethic. Willow told me about those." Buffy said before adding. "There's unfortunately no cure for that except some dedicated class skipping, which would be a bad idea since detention would see us turned into frogs or something."

The four covered up some of the exits that led out of the cave, and began beheading some of the Ubervamps. Mordred used one of his potions as well as some containers of flammable gas he looted from a Muggle gas station to create and shoot a heavy greenish mist into the cave, and when the Slayers had covered all the other exits up with boulders, Mordred sent a fireball into the cave, making it explode and dusting all the Ubervamps. This left only a few of the monsters left, which were easily destroyed when the Slayers used burning swords to behead them.

When they were done, it was almost midnight, so the three students rushed up to the Astronomy tower, where they met Dawn who was with Professor Sinistra, who had them all look at various planets and stars using a star chart and various telescopes that they had. When they were done, the Scoobys used their telescopes to look over the land and have Mordred point out other areas of baddie interest for future reference before heading off to bed.

Thursday's first Class (Muggle Studies) turned out to be a joke to the four students, as they were able to do the final essay on why Muggles need electricity in the first ten minutes of the class. Arithmancy turned out to be a bit tougher, as Professor Vector was a stern teacher who dealt with not only mathematics, but also the Magical properties of each of the numbers. Dawn and Mordred had an ok time with it, but Faith and Buffy were a little lost on some of the concepts as they all dealt with complicated number charts.

Thursday's third Class (Flying Lessons) turned out to be something unexpected for everyone:

"Nope. Your feet are still on the ground, which you both would've notice if you opened your eyes." Madam Hooch said with a scowl.

Buffy and Faith both slowly opened their eyes.

"You're right," Buffy said disappointedly.

"What did you expect? Did you think that if you held the broom tight enough and wished it hard enough you'd Magically be up in the air?" Madam Hooch asked sarcastically.

"Oh stop teasing." Buffy said sliding off the broomstick while Faith remained straddled on hers.

"Well, we've been out here for ten minutes now and you two still haven't been able to work up the courage to fly." Madam Hooch said. "Your friends are doing quite well by themselves."

The two Slayers looked skywards, where Dawn and Mordred were all flying lightly in the air, floating along like they had done this all their lives.

"Are you trying to say we're cowards?" Faith said putting her hands on her hips and glaring while Madam Hooch looked on.

"Fine, be that way," Buffy said with a look to Faith, who nodded back. "We'll show you we've got, won't we?"

They both precariously got back on their brooms and before either of them could lose their nerve, they both kicked off the ground simultaneously like Madam Hooch had showed them and rose up a couple of feet off the air.

"There you go," Dawn said encouragingly from the air, "now just tilt the handle up a little bit to gain more ground."

Buffy did as she said and she flew up a couple more feet. To her absolute astonishment she didn't fall off. Faith quickly followed.

"You're doing great girls," Dawn called out with a cunning little smile. "Now lean into the brooms to go forward but just slightly and remember the more you lean into them the faster you go."

Buffy and Faith started to lean in slowly but in a moment of daring Faith decided to abandon all her fear and lean in all the way. Faith shot forward like a bullet and the last thing she heard was Madam Hooch calling her name. She was going so fast she nearly flew into the stands but at the last minute her Slayer senses kicked in and she turned quickly to the left. It took a couple of minutes for it to actually register but Buffy realized that Faith was actually flying away from her, so she decided to go chasing after her. She shot through the air after Faith, with Dawn and Mordred following closely behind them while Madam Hooch stood her ground and yelled in vain at them all to get back down. Several times, they nearly flew into the various obstacles around the arena only to pull out at the last second. After flying around the pitch twice in a group motion, they took a nosedive towards the ground and landed right in front of Madam Hooch, who had given up yelling at them and was now looking at them all sternly while trying to keep from smiling.

"Well, you four seem to have a natural talent at this," she said approvingly. "All you have to do is learn to follow orders better, and you'll be on your respective teams in no time."

After the class, Mordred surprised the three girls with Nimbus 2001 brooms he had 'borrowed' from the Quidditch pitch, which he said could be used for Quidditch practice and for Slaying from the skies.

"Now we can go farther and from higher up, so that we can attack anything we want," said Mordred, "all we need is some extra spells for fighting and we'll be all set."

That night, the three left Spike on the ground to search out some more baddies while they flew through the air. They came upon a swarm of Cyclops's in the mountains, which roared and threw boulders at them.

"Stupefy!" Yelled both Faith and Buffy, sending out bolts of red light that bounced off of the monsters.

"Why isn't this working?" Buffy asked Mordred, who was a bit more proficient at Magic than they were.

"Because they're like Giants; they have a higher immunity to some forms of Magic than other do." Replied Mordred. "Here, use the Conjunctivitis Curse that Dawn taught you during break."

"The wha?" Asked Faith, while Buffy only widened her eyes as she dodged a thrown boulder.

"For Chaos sake, does either of you two actually learn any of the Magic we're taught in school?" Asked Mordred incredulously. "It's the spell that affects eyesight, since those guys down there have only one eye apiece then it should be easier to use on them."

The Slayers then each used the Conjunctivitis Curse on the Cyclops's, causing them to go stumbling around blindly. Mordred nailed them with rocks he levitated, and pretty soon the Cyclops's were attacking and killing one another. When there was only one left, Buffy flew over it and kicked it in the head until it fell off the edge of the cliff, killing it. Mordred then flew off to get more potion ingredients while the two Slayers went back to the Castle.