the usual disclaimers apply.

Thanks and chocolate chip cookies to my loyal readers. Double chocolate chip cookies to my reviewers.

Chapter 18

Friday, September 23, 2011

There was another owl waiting for me in that staff lounge when I stopped in for lunch. The house elves always make fish and chips on Fridays, my favorite. The owl waiting for me was a rather big fellow, in his talons was the package I'd been waiting for. I didn't the way it was eyeing Pitch, who was sitting on my shoulder, as usual. I handed him off to Neville, and went to the window. "Thank you," I said to the owl, as I took the parcel.

"Hoot," it replied. I took a handful owl nuts from the jar next to the window ledge, and dropped them in front of the visitor. The owl took off with his treats.

"That's some love letter," I heard Nott mutter sarcastically, I'd been trying to discourage his interest since the beginning of the year, and he'd gotten the point finally. He seemed to take my rejection as a personal insult, and had turned rather hostile. He went out of his way to be obnoxious.

To be honest, I liked the new Nott better.

"Stuff it, Nott." I retorted, I was in too good a mood to banter with a jackass.

I sat down between Neville and Theresa, and transferred Pitch back to my shoulder. I studied the top of the package, the return address was that of an owl order company back in the states.

"What's Factory of Fabulous?" Neville asked, as he studied that box.

"It's a place in Boston, they specialize in all kinds of magical goodies. I ordered a pair of compact two-way mirrors." I opened the box, and wrapped inside were two circular folding compacts of about six inches in diameter. They were silver, and engraved with scroll work. I'd had a 'G' engraved on one, and a 'W' on the second. They had small green jewels embedded in the center. "Would you help me test these?" I asked Neville.

"Sure," he said.

I handed him the 'W' mirror, and said, "just go right outside the door and open the compact."

"All right," he agreed, the got up and followed my instructions. I opened my unit, and two seconds later, Neville's face appeared in the mirror. "Can you hear me?" he asked.

"Perfectly, it works great."

Neville came back into the room and put the second compact down next to me. "These gadgets are brilliant, I'd love to get a set for Hannah and I."

"It's just a set of two-way mirrors," Nott sneered.

"Actually," I explained. "These are a little more advanced than that. Regular two-way mirrors only have about a two-hundred mile range. The range on these is five thousand. They're designed to work coast to coast in the States. Plus," I just grinned and pressed the green jewel on my unit, the second unit rang like a muggle telephone, and it's green jewel glowed brightly.

"How much were they?" Neville asked.

I checked the invoice, "with shipping I payed 17 galleons."

"That's not bad, can you get me the ordering information?" Neville asked.

I handed him that catalog that came with the box. "Just return the catalog when you're done.

"Thanks Glinda," he said. Two seconds later the bell signaling the end of lunch rang. I picked up Pitch and pocketed the pair of mirrors. My third years were waiting.

***************

"Ok guys," I said as my third years filed into the classroom. "Hand in your essays, then we'll discuss your research. Did you guys work together?" Fourteen heads nodded simultaneously, "excellent," I continued, "then who can explain what the incantation in question is?"

Miranda Sloan raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Sloan," I said.

She read from her notes. "It is more commonly known as The Peace Charm. It removes the,

pardon me Professor, but what does the term 'Taint of Violence' refer to?"

"Can anyone answer that question?" I asked the rest of the class.

Christopher Rovener raised his hand. I nodded to him. "The 'Taint of Violence' is the residual after a battle or murder, or other violent act."

"Very good, can anyone tell us why we'd want to cast this incantation?"

"Yes, Teddy," I said after noticing his raised hand.

"Because the dark energy attracts dark magic, and more violent acts will happen. It's almost like the very ground becomes infected. I think that's why it's called a taint. It becomes..." he looked at his notes for a second "a focal point for evil. And things like redcaps are attracted to these places."

"Very good Teddy, now class, why would casting this charm repel redcaps?"

Hufflepuff, Eleanor Flount raised her hand. "Yes Miss Flount." I was quite surprised to hear from Eleanor, she was easily the quietest student in her year, she was very shy, a bit on the plump side, and quite well developed for a thirteen year old. She had long light brown hair, and bright blue eyes.

I noticed that she spent a lot of time looking at her house mate, Michael Reed.

"Redcaps live on violence, and places with he taint are more likely to have even more bad stuff happen," she said quietly. "This charm cleans away all the evil stuff, and the redcaps won't want to live there anymore."

"Excellent, ten points to each house." Everybody in the class smiled. "Ok, the charm itself has two forms, the first version works on a personal level, when you're angry, it's good for calming. The incantation for that is 'Meopaximum'" I put the word on the blackboard. I saw fourteen sets of eyes fall to their notebooks and the scribbling commenced. "This works on yourself and one or two other people. The area effective charm is actually an exclusively inscribed charm. It requires at least three experienced wizards to work a very small area, say about a six foot square. The engraving on the memorial obelisk was accomplished by one hundred thirty five wizards and witches.... We spent the rest of the class going over other methods of repelling redcaps. When the bell rang I could tell that we were al ready for our weekend.