Disclaimer: Still don't own it

A/N: I'm totally patting myself on the back right now…I wrote That Old Black Magic and now this last weekend I saw a preview for a movie called Succubus about Lilith. See, I can think like the media folks….the movie looks like it sucks azz though. Hope that my episode didn't. Cross those fingers, the lottery is up to 53 mil, if I win there may be a shiny new spin-off for you. (Hey, if I didn't have a good imagination I wouldn't be much of a writer)

(X)

"Wow!" Phoenix exclaimed as she stepped through the portal and into Magic School. "Who needs a potion…or a car?" She gave Parker a thoughtful look then called out, "Sorry I'm late…"

"Late?" Psyche echoed, "If anything, you're early. Though since it's only about five minutes opposed to your usual fifteen, maybe in the land of Nix, it qualifies as being late."

"But, I thought…" Phoenix looked confusedly at Parker who gave a grin.

"I couldn't have let you be late on my account."

"Well, it was really the demons that made me late," Phoenix reminded him.

"Yeah, but have you ever known a demon who helped anyone?"

"Can't say that I know many demons," she bantered.

Psyche watched the two in confusion, her sister comes in with some guy, a first to say the least, and they seem to have some private joke going. "Who's your friend?"

"Parker, this is my sister Psyche." The two shook hands, "Parker is going to be joining the training sessions," she informed the room at large, which held almost all of the students expected; not everyone was as punctual as Phoenix. "Now let's get started," she commanded. Even though she still had minutes to go before class officially started, she knew that they all needed as much practice as they could get!

The following hour was grueling. This practice session was more for the older students at Magic School who had wanted to train with Nix, although family did show up to these ones on occasion. They'd practiced fighting against each other, one on one, one on two and so on. Phoenix tried to make her practice sessions as close to realistic as she could and demons usually didn't show up alone. She went through every combination that she could think of but the trouble was, as far as demon fighting was concerned, she was still a relative novice. She found herself relying on Parker's suggestions.

"Great job, everyone!" Phoenix called out to signal the end of class. She headed towards a shy teenaged girl and said quietly, "Amelia, I'd like you to work on your timidity," she softened her voice, "just a bit. Your spells are flawless but you need more confidence. You could easily be my best pupil." Phoenix liked to compliment someone when she was being critical; she'd learned that it helped the other person accept the criticism better.

"Hey, Teach; what about me? How am I doing?" asked a red faced teenaged boy.

"You're coming along fine, maybe a tad overzealous," she told the boy, meaning his training sessions and his obvious adoration of Phoenix. 'Sheesh, she really needed to find a potion to counteract the pheromone thing!' She turned, "What did you think, Parker?"

He grimaced wearily, "That I signed up for the right class." He groaned, "I can definitely learn a lot from you. But, Teach," he mock whined, mimicking some of her younger students, "you might want to take it a bit easier on those of us that aren't bruise proof," he laughed. "Do you need a lift out of here?" He offered.

"No, thanks. You go on ahead; I've still got a few things left here to do. See you on Wednesday?"

"Absolutely," he answered and spun into a small portal.

"How cool is that?" Psyche asked, clearly playing matchmaker.

"Way cool," Nix agreed.

"He's a hottie," Psyche noted, knowing that it wouldn't do any good. The Cooper sisters did not just have magic from their mother, Phoebe, but from their father as well. Like the Goddess she was named after, in honor of her father's 'job'; Psyche could sense soul mates, so she knew that her sister had not just found hers', however, there was nothing wrong with a little flirtation…

Phoenix sighed, "He is, but I don't think he's interested." She shook her head, "I'm not too sure I'm interested." At her sister's less than shocked look she continued, unnecessarily, "I know, contrary, right? Here I always claimed that as soon as a guy didn't become a slobbering puppy I'd have found the one I wanted to spend some time with. I've met two recently," she shrugged.

"You don't want to spend time with Parker?" Psyche asked.

"I do," Nix assured her sister, "But he feels more like the brother type."

"We don't have a brother," Psyche grinned at her sister.

"Okay then, another cousin, maybe. I just don't get that tingle mom always talks about. He feels comfortable and friendly to me, that's all," she stressed. "I'd love to hang with him, work with him, he makes a good ally," she admitted, "And I am thrilled that he doesn't seem affected by the pheromone thing, which makes him a welcome change and almost family." Only family members had ever seemed immune to Phoenix's amped pheromones; even witches from other families were not immune, she wondered vaguely why Parker and his brother Pace seemed so unaffected.

Leo walked up to his nieces then. "Girls, do you have a moment?"

"Of course, Uncle Leo," Phoenix gave him her full attention. He might be family but here he was kind of her boss.

"Some of the parents have heard of these practice sessions…" he began inscrutably.

"Oh no! Are they angry or something?" Psyche asked.

"On the contrary; they're thrilled. The elders are pleased and have authorized me to offer you both teaching positions. They'd like to add these sessions to the curriculum." He beamed at his nieces.

"Wow! That's amazing!" Nix exclaimed while giving her Uncle an enthusiastic hug.

"So that's a yes?" He teased.

"Yes!" Shouted both girls in unison.

(X)

Leo walked away from the encounter with his nieces very pleased. He had one more teacher to hire and his day would be done and he could get home to Piper. He opened the door to his office, "Hello, Priscilla, I'm Leo. I'm the headmaster here…"

(X)

still short but all done