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Dumbledore's offer

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Albus Dumbledore." Dumbledore stepped forward, his hand outstretched for her to shake.

Holding the wand away from him, Buffy took his hand. "Sorry about kicking you in the stomach," she said. "I'm not big on the personal space invasion and it tends to freak me out."

In the few seconds it took to shake his hand, she noted that his skin was warm and he had a pulse. Her Slaydar confirmed that despite his presence causing her an odd tingle, he was definitely human. Not that being human made him any less dangerous, it just took him off today's to-slay list.

Dumbledore rubbed at his beard, giving her a rueful look. "Ah, I am sorry about that. I'm a bit of a bibliophile, you see, and when I saw you absorbed in your reading I became consumed with curiosity to see the book's title."

As if to prove it, he picked the book up from the floor, his eyes taking on a mischievous twinkle as he added, "You'd think I'd know better than to tickle a sleeping dragon."

Buffy mouthed, "Dragon?" and her stare hardened.

Dumbledore lifted the book to hide his grin and flipped to the title page. When he saw what she was reading his brows lifted in surprise. "Oh, this is an interesting choice. The Time Machine by H. G. Wells."

Buffy shifted uneasily. She didn't want to talk to discuss books, she wanted to ask him what he was here for. "It's a classic," she said, not wanting to be rude.

"Indeed it is," he continued flicking through the pages. "Travelling through time has always been a popular concept. Many people have researched the subject over the centuries and these days we have the Time Turners."

He peeped over the top of the book to see if he'd tempted her curiosity and met watchful, green eyes. Dumbledore smiled placidly, allowing his mind to touch hers. Sensing suspicion, and growing hostility, he quickly wrenched his mind away.

Buffy didn't ask about Time Turners or time travel, instead, she asked sharply, "What do you want to see me about, Mr Dumb...?" Her nose wrinkled as she sought to remember his unusual name. "What did you say your name was?"

"Dumbledore, Professor Dumbledore." He took a seat on her bed, taking care to leave a gap between himself and the wardrobe. Boggarts could be highly territorial, and he'd no wish for it to spring out again portraying another of his nightmares. He let his eyes trail over the contents of the room, seeking clues to the girl's interests and personality. There were no personal mementoes on display, no photos or knick-knacks that she'd collected over the years. He concluded that she was either an intensely private person or had no interest in making the orphanage feel like home. Apart from an odd item of clothing lying around, and a stack of suitcases in the corner, he'd have thought the room unoccupied.

"You're a professor?" Buffy asked. She ran her eyes over his attire, silently assessing him.

Dumbledore bore her scrutiny, knowing that she'd find nothing amiss or too unusual. He'd made a point of dressing down since he was visiting a Muggle area and wore a very plain, plum-coloured suit.

Something that Buffy saw worried her. "Has the hospital sent you? Are you a psychiatrist? Have they sent you to see if my brain is working again?" Buffy waved Dumbledore's wand and a puff of dark smoke blew out the end. "I'm not some kinda psycho-loony that needs locking up for everyone's safety. I only kicked you because I thought you were a dem-demented rapist here to ravage my body."

Her eyes widened, realising that mistaking him for a demented rapist wasn't exactly a compliment.

"Honestly, I don't think you look anything like a demented rapist." She smiled apologetically but then spoiled it by adding, "Well, the long beard and the straggly hair don't do you any favours, but no harm, no foul, right?" Buffy waved the wand some more. "You're not gonna tell the hospital that I'm, er, mental?" She glanced at the wand and the sparks that had begun pouring from it. "Here, you'd better take your Mr Pointy back, there are green sparks coming from it."

Dumbledore had no idea how he was stopping himself from laughing. He hadn't been quite sure what to expect with Buffy Summers, but she was turning out to be very different to all that he'd imagined. He'd bet anyone ten galleons that she'd turn out to be something highly original in life.

"Let me put your mind at rest." Dumbledore took his wand from her and put it into his jacket pocket. "I'm an academic professor, not a medical one. You aren't in any trouble and you haven't hurt me." He shuffled a little on the bed and gave an exaggerated wince. "Beyond bruising my pride, that is."

She watched him, still uneasy, a small wrinkle of confusion between her brows.

Dumbledore smiled back reassuringly. "Miss Summers, I am here to talk about something else entirely. If I may explain?"

"Sure." Buffy picked up the chair and placed it so that she sat facing him. With a regal wave of her hand, she instructed him to, "Make with the 'splainy."

Dumbledore's lips twitched. "I'm a professor, a teacher if you will," he explained.

Buffy nodded, her face curious.

"Your name came to our notice after you developed a certain set of abilities. Normally, we'd have found you earlier. However," he looked down at his clasped hands, unable to meet her eye, "we weren't aware of your existence. I am here to ask if you'd be interested in developing and learning to control those abilities?"

The silence dragged on. When he looked up, he found that Buffy looked... the only word to describe it was 'panicked'. Dumbledore replayed his words, trying to work out what he'd said that could have scared her. Not finding anything, he made another attempt to delve into her thoughts. This time he got a little further, but only far enough to know that her mind was shadowed and her thoughts unreadable. He filed away the information that she had a natural talent for Occlumens, hardly surprising knowing her parentage.

Unable to work out how he'd upset her, Dumbledore reached over and patted her hand. "It's nothing to worry about, my dear. Whilst most come to us at eleven, I'm sure that with diligence and hard work you'll soon be at the same level as others. In fact, I'm happy to provide private tuition over the next few weeks to bring you up to speed."

"These powers..." Buffy's voice was so low that he could hardly hear it. "Are you... are you here to train me how to fight?"

"Fight? Absolutely not!" Dumbledore replied, astounded that she'd even think it. But even as he voiced the denial, he couldn't help thinking that with her fast reflexes she'd be a major asset in the fight against dark wizards. Not that he'd let her go against Grindelwald. They had to keep Buffy as far away from that charming trickster as possible.

Buffy looked relieved. "Phew, that's good news. Not that it's any clearer why you're here."

"Hmm, let's try this another way," Dumbledore replied, "Has anything has happened to you recently that was unusual?" He glanced at the wardrobe. "Apart from the boggart, that is." He'd ask about how she'd become friends with that some other time, now he wanted to find out when and why her magic had sprung to life.

She huffed, staring off into the far distance before shooting him a sly side-long look. "This one time I had a building collapse on top of me."

Dumbledore let out a bark of inappropriate laughter. He'd not expected that answer, and when she smiled back at him, he found himself becoming quite delighted with her. "No, I meant something more unusual, something out of the ordinary."

The arched look she gave him in return, clearly told him that she doubted his sanity. "Collapsing buildings are definitely not of the normal, Mister Dumble, er, Bore."

"It's Professor Dumble-DORE," he corrected, having heard all the variations from children over the years. He went on, "I agree, that definitely wasn't normal. However, I mean something on a smaller, more personal level. Something that you might have accidentally caused." He decided that it might be wise to provide examples of accidental magic that sometimes occurred around young children so that she'd know what he was asking. "Have any small objects moved around you or did your hair turn a strange colour?"

Buffy massaged her temples as if thinking too much gave her a headache. "This isn't easy for me because I've very few real memories from before the accident."

Dumbledore wondered what she meant by real memories. Not that now was the time to ask. He remained silent and didn't rush her.

Buffy sat quietly, her face turned towards the window watching the rain beat against the glass. She turned back to him. "Um, yeah, I think I've got one. It's the hair thing. I remember bleaching my hair before we left the States and it went this nasty shade of green."

"Ah! I was thinking more along the lines of it changing without cause," mused Dumbledore. He'd begun to wonder if he should have stuck to the original plan and launched into a lecture on the history of Hogwarts. Her magic must have flared to life very recently if she hadn't noticed anything. There was the nasty incident with Von Kendrick. Since it was likely the dark wizard had used an unusual hex on Joyce, he'd most likely done similar to Buffy. Whatever it was, it could have unbound her magic.

"It was without cause!" Buffy cried. She was still pouting over his lack of hair sympathy. "I'd followed the instructions carefully and it was supposed to go a beachy blonde not a grassy green." The memory, probably because it had been so traumatic at the time, was a strong one and Buffy felt put-out that he dismissed it so easily. "Mom wasn't happy with me, she'd said that she had enough to deal with without taking me to the beauty parlour to get it fixed."

Dumbledore didn't hear her. His thoughts were in the past. Remembering a late summer evening when Joyce Summers had appeared on his doorstep with a baby in her arms. The combination of her mounting panic, his own fear, and the thought of an innocent child used as a pawn in the war had been his undoing. With hindsight, he wished that he had not done it, especially after what happened with Ariana and Credence. A fool he'd been, twice now he should have left well alone and both times there had been blonde involved.

Suddenly Dumbledore had a craving for something sweet, something to remove the bitter taste of regret from his mouth. Taking a bag of lemon drops from his pocket, he offered the bag to Buffy. "Lemon drop?"

Buffy hesitated, then gave a little shrug, and took one. There was a war on, and in the Muggle world sugar was hard to come by. She made sure Dumbledore unwrapped his and put it into his mouth, before doing the same.

"Let's try this another way," Dumbledore said thoughtfully, crunching on the sweetness of the candy. He swallowed, cleared his throat, and started again, "The world is much older and very different than you might think – ."

Buffy took a sharp intake of breath, swallowed the wrong way, and began choking. Dumbledore sprang up, giving her several vigorous slaps on the back until she waved him off.

Sitting back down, he continued to talk while Buffy wheezed. "As I was saying, Buffy. There is far more to this world than meets the eye. There is magic and as you and I are both magic users–."

"Huh? I can use magic? When? When did this happen?"

He ignored her, he'd already tried to go down that avenue and it had proved to be a dead-end. "In order to learn how to use and control our magical ability we must attend a special kind of school where – ."

"A school?!" she squeaked, eyes going round. "There's a magic school?"

"That's right. Hogwarts was founded to teach magic to each generation of magical children. I went there myself."

"No way!"

"Oh, yes! I had a merry time, learning all about magic and -."

"No, I'm not doubting you were there. It's..," she chuckled, "you're here to tell me that I have developed magical abilities and I'm invited to attend magic school?"

He nodded, dreading her asking why her abilities hadn't developed earlier.

"Get out!" Buffy couldn't stop the grin on her face. "Are you sure I'm a...a..."

"Witch," he supplied.

"It's not some mistake? I don't want to go there and find out that I can't levitate a pencil. Because that, would be like real embarrassing."

"There is no mistake," Dumbledore assured her. "Your name was written into the Book of Admittance by the Quill of Acceptance only a few days ago. Usually, a name appears in time for your eleventh birthday so this came as quite a surprise."

He didn't tell her that he'd done a double-take when Headmaster Dippet had handed him the list and he'd seen her name staring back at him. Instead, he added, "And if that is not proof enough, my wand produced sparks and smoke in response to your innate magic."

Buffy bounced on the chair, buzzing with excitement. "This is so cool. Willow would be so proud of me!"

"Who?" Dumbledore asked.

Buffy's eyes lost their focus. Seeming to forget all about him, she rose to her feet and walked over to lean on her desk and stare blindly out the window. Belatedly, she remembered Dumbledore and his question. Her cheeks reddened, and she perched on the desk rather than returning to the chair.

"I think Willow is or was my best friend in America," Buffy explained. "My amnesia has taken away most of my memories, but some things are coming back. I'm hoping that once Mom comes out the hospital things will start to improve."

"Oh, that reminds me!" Dumbledore fumbled in first one pocket, then another, searching for something. "Dear me, I am becoming most forgetful, I must have left his note behind on my desk. Your Uncle Peregrine owled me to say-."

"Whoa, wait! Uncle Peregrine? Mom has a... Peregrine is Mom's brother?" Buffy remembered the note she'd found signed by the mysterious 'P' asking her Mom to owl him.

"Indeed he is Joyce's brother." Dumbledore beamed. "You'll be meeting him very shortly. When I told him that I was coming to see you in order to invite you to Hogwarts, he wanted to be here. Unfortunately, he was needed at St Mungo's to fill in forms ensuring your mother's transfer goes smoothly." Seeing Buffy's worried expression, he quickly went on, "Now, now. You mustn't worry. She might be a Squib, but Joyce will receive much better treatment in a magical hospital than in a Muggle one. The Healers in St Mungo's are used to dealing with magical maladies and the like. They'll soon have her up on her feet and back with you"

"It's a relief," Buffy admitted. " Those doctors at the hospital didn't know what was wrong with her and I've been worried. Oh, wait... What's a Muggle and what's a Squib?" She'd heard those words before.

"A Squib is a child without magical ability born to magical parents. It's rare, but it happens. Some Squibs choose to remain within the magical community while others seek a life outside it. In your mother's case, she married a Muggle and left the Wizarding world behind her. A Muggle is our word for those without magic." Dumbledore's eyes lost the twinkle and his face became stern. "Miss Summers, I must warn you..."

Buffy's heart skipped a beat. Had she done something that she shouldn't have?

Dumbledore went on, "You must never reveal the existence of magic or the Wizarding World to a Muggle. Should they find out, the Ministry will have no alternative but to ensure the Muggle is obliviated-."

Buffy was horrified. "Oh, my god! They kill them? That's horrible, why –."

"Obliviated not obliterated. It means they have their memories altered to protect us." He gave her a stern look. "The Wizarding World is a secret one and breaking its rules means you could face imprisonment. Do you understand?" Dumbledore knew that now was not the time to speak of Grindelwald and the war he waged. He'd leave that, and talk of many other things, for her family.

Buffy nodded. "Okay. You're looking at Secret-Identity girl here." A memory teased and she pushed it away. Whatever it was, it could wait. This was her new life and she intended to embrace it. "So my Uncle Peregrine is on his way? What's he like?" She wasn't sure what to make of the smile Dumbledore gave her or his reply.

"Distinctive. He is one of those people that you can't miss."

"Can you vague that up for me?"

"You'll see." Dumbledore rose to his feet and taking a thick envelope from his coat pocket, offered it to her. "This is for you."

Buffy slipped from the desk and took it. Written in an ornate cursive script was her name and address.

Miss Buffy Summers

Room 86,

Cole's Orphanage

Stockwell

London.

"That is your official Hogwarts acceptance letter and also a list of items needed for the start of the school year. You'll find everything listed in the shops in Diagon Alley. I'm sure your uncle will help you to obtain them." He stood, placing his trilby back on top of his head, and gave her another smile. "I'll be off now, Miss Summers, but we shall see one another again very soon."

Before he'd moved another inch, Buffy was on her feet and pulling him into a tight hug. Taken aback, Dumbledore patted her shoulder, feeling a little embarrassed by both the display of emotion and who was giving it. Buffy hugged him tighter, then stepped away, tears on her cheeks.

"Oh, and here I was believing that I'd brought you good news." Dumbledore produced a large, red-spotted handkerchief from his pocket and handed it over to her.

Buffy wiped her cheeks and gave a small, self-deprecating laugh. "You have. It's the best news. It's just-." Buffy swallowed, fighting tears, determined to speak and not break down. "Before you came... I was... alone. Having to deal. Worrying over Mom and..."

She shuddered, an involuntary gesture that made Dumbledore realize how hard the last few days had been for her.

"I've done my best to hold it together, but, honestly? It been kind of like living in a hell dimension." She sniffed again, wiped her nose on his hanky and gave him a sheepish look. "Bet ya think I'm crazy?"

"Not at all," he said. "You have borne it with great fortitude." With a crooked smile, he went on, "The spirit of a true Gryffindor. I may be biased, but I'm hoping that you'll be sorted into my house once the term starts."

Buffy looked confused, and he explained, "There are four houses at Hogwarts, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Gryffindor. I look after the students in Gryffindor house. Should you be sorted elsewhere, I want you to remember that my door will always be open to you, should you require help."

As she thanked him he stole another look at the wardrobe. "Before I go, shall I banish the boggart for you?"

Buffy shook her head. "No, thanks. I've sort of become used to him being around."

He merely smiled at her, already getting used to her eccentricity. As he was at the door, Dumbledore stopped and gave her a searching look. "One of the orphans that lives here also attends Hogwarts. His name is Tom Riddle. Have you met him?"

"Tom? Tom is a magic user?"

He felt a flash of surprise at her familiar use of Riddle's first name. "Tom Riddle is an intelligent and talented young wizard." That much was the truth.

Buffy grinned. "Ha! I knew there was something different about him! Prancing around, acting all secretive, and refusing to show me his schoolbooks."

"Has he... treated you well?" Dumbledore pressed.

"When we first met, he acted as if he had this giant stick up his ass." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at her language and she gave him an apologetic look in return, which quickly morphed into a full-on grin. "But, after I'd bugged him for a while, he sort of gave up and we hung around together. If you want to speak to him, you're out of luck. He's gone out buying more school books."

"No, I don't wish to speak to him. I just wondered what your impression of him was," Dumbledore replied, he made eye contact and looked at her steadily. For a moment, Buffy thought that he was about to say more about Tom, but he only flashed a quick smile at her and said, "I shall see you in a few days to start our lessons. Until then, goodbye."

The door closed behind him, and Buffy looked down to see that she'd forgotten to return his handkerchief. She yanked open the door and looked out – to find an empty corridor. Professor Dumbledore was gone, but the air shimmered with something that made her skin tingle. And now she knew what it was - it was magic.

…...

A/N;

Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon is the motto on Hogwarts coat of arms.

So Dumbledore is keeping secrets (he is good at that) and Tom is going to have a surprise.

Thanks to those who left a review on the last chapter. I am so pleased that you really liked it!

Next Buffy meets her Mom's family... Can you guess who they are? Let's just say that she will fit right in.