Many million thanks to Azarath111, Hidden in The Darkness and jupitersthunder for their fantastic reviews. Hopefully you'll all keep reviewing and everyone else will follow the example :)

To the story!

"Bowtruckles guard wand trees. If you want to get wand wood, how do you get the Bowtruckle to go away?"

Dawn lifted an eyebrow. Buffy had slipped into the teaching groove pretty quickly.

"Miss Granger?"

"Placate them with a gift of woodlice or fairy eggs, Professor Summers?"

"Exactly. 10 points to Gryffindor. And please, like I said, call me Buffy."

Even her sister had to admit she wasn't bad at this, although several students, Hermione amongst them seemed to be having trouble with the whole first-name basis thing.

Then again, even the best teachers fall back into their instincts, she noted in amusement as she watched a scene play out in front of her.

Harry had been squeezing his Bowtruckle way too tight and as a result it had bitten him. Buffy, probably unlike most good Care of Magical Creatures professors, had hurried over, not to tend to the Bowtruckle but to tell Harry the best way to remove a Bowtruckle that is trying to bite you.

"Care of magical creatures, Buffy?" she smirked. "Not how to kill them."

Apart from that, the lesson went pretty well, although the homework Buffy set was less than welcome. Dawn hung back at the end to talk to her sister.

"If it's about the homework, I'm not letting you off."

"Such a cruel sister. No, it's about my flying lesson this afternoon. Are you guys coming?"

"I am. I think Xander has a lesson though. Funny though it'd be to see Giles fly, he turned down the offer. Personally I can't wait. Actually flying!"

Even if Dawn hadn't been excited herself, Buffy's enthusiasm would have been infectious.

"See you after lunch then."

Dawn hurried back down the path after her friends.

Dawn waited impatiently on the Quidditch pitch. Ron and Harry, since they had free periods, were with her. After a wait that seemed to last an age, at least in Dawn's eager-to-fly mind, she saw Buffy approaching across the grass with a tall, brown-haired man who was presumably her flying instructor. As the two got closer, Harry gasped

"Oliver Wood!"

The man looked over.

"Hey Harry, Ron. You must be Dawn."

"How come you're not with Puddlemere United?" Harry asked

"Dumbledore wanted my help. Plus, it's not Quidditch season at the moment. So I'm teaching these lovely ladies to fly."

The ladies in question grinned.

"Hang on, we don't have brooms" Dawn suddenly realised. "How can we learn to fly without them?"

"Well, I was going to borrow school ones, but since Harry and Ron are here they could lend you theirs."

Harry and Ron agreed to do so and Summoned their brooms. Dawn was close enough to grab the Firebolt, so Buffy had the Cleansweep, which was apparently still a pretty good broom

"Just hold out your hand over it and say 'Up!'"

Both girls did so. Dawn's jumped right into her hand; Buffy's rolled over slightly.

Dawn smothered a giggle. "Bit lazy yours, isn't it."

Buffy sent a death glare at Dawn and then at her broomstick. "Up or I'll turn you into matchsticks!"

The broom clearly didn't have a death wish; it leapt into her hand so quickly that it knocked her hand up slightly.

Oliver grinned. "Right, so sit astride the stick and just push off."

"Whoa!" Buffy gasped as her broom shot off with more force than she was expecting. Dawn had already zoomed ahead of her on the faster Firebolt. Oliver flew up on his own broomstick.

"Okay, so just turn the front of the stick left or right to go in that direction. If you want to stop, push it backwards. Exactly!"

Buffy, with her sharper reflexes had got the hang of it already and was soon having fun twisting and spinning in the air. Dawn had a little more problem but got it quickly. Oliver soon had the brain wave of fetching the Quaffles and starting a game with the two of them. Even he had difficulty stopping some of Buffy's throws. Dawn eventually had to go to transfiguration but Buffy and Oliver stayed out there until it began to get colder and darker.

"Thanks for that. Best thing I've ever done." Buffy still felt euphoric after her afternoon's experience.

"No problem. I actually enjoyed it."

Buffy suddenly shivered.

"Cold?"

"No! Well, kinda. But I never get cold."

"This is England. In September. Trust me, everyone gets cold."

"I don't like being cold."

"Here, take my cloak."

Buffy was in the process of taking it when she realised that her actions could be construed as starting a romantic relationship. She was about to refuse when she thought again. Oliver was actually normal. Alive, check. Not centuries old, check.

"You're not part of a secret military operation, are you?"

"Excuse me?"

"Doesn't matter."

Little did the two of them know, but they were being watched from the window of the Gryffindor Common Room. Neville was trying to tutor Dawn on Herbology, but her attention kept being distracted by the world around her.

"Looks like that is one more of you lot paired off, Dawn." Ginny grinned.

"Just Xander and Willow left then," Dawn agreed.

"Don't you mind Buffy going out with someone?"

"Better Oliver than some of the other guys she's dated."

They looked suitably intrigued, but Dawn shook her head.

"You don't wanna know."

Neville frowned. "What do you mean, one more of you?"

5 minutes later, he had been enlightened.

"So they're actually going out?"

Dawn sighed. "No. McGonagall's too stubborn."

Ginny looked thoughtful. "We'll have to get them together somehow. And if Buffy and Oliver end up together too that'd be great."

"You couples," Dawn teased. "You want everyone in a relationship."

Hermione glanced up, surprised. "Who're you dating Ginny?"

"Michael Corner," she replied, embarrassed.

Their conversation descended into gossip and chatter so girlish that Neville made an excuse to vanish, which just gave the girls a chance to gossip about him.

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Next chapter: Willow returns and more is revealed about prophecies