Someone told me it was time I posted a new chapter (you can thank Sharie for twisting my arm behind my back). Lol.

Chapter Forty-one
Oh, Owl Feathers!

The next morning found the three women in the kitchen again—Buffy and Sophie working at another potion while Vin started breakfast.

"Now I know why some people buy the more expensive cauldrons...it shortens the brewing time," Buffy said as she waved her wand and frowned down at the book. "Forty minutes in a pewter cauldron!"

Sophie shrugged. "No matter. Now we'll have more time to eat our breakfast," she said with a grin.

Vin had set the table and was now bringing over the pan of sizzling food—then gestured. "Come and eat while it's hot," she ordered.

Sophie grinned. "Everything smells delicious!"

Buffy eyed the overabundance of food on the table. She wanted to say that she wasn't hungry—because they had far too much food in the house—but her stomach growled just as she was about to speak up, so she sighed and sat down instead. In actuality, as they hadn't eaten much the night before and her slayer metabolism was crazy fast, she was beyond famished!

For a short time they ate in silence. Vin and Sophie mostly picked at their food—they rarely ate much—but Buffy wolfed hers down, moaning obscenely as she chewed. No one would have guessed that she'd just been thinking about skipping a meal due to her feelings of guilt.

"Have some more," Vin suggested, pushing the pan at Buffy when her plate was almost empty. "There's plenty."

"Vinny certainly made more than we needed," Sophie said as she nibbled on her toast.

Vin shrugged. "I made extra. I was thinking that maybe Tom would show up," she said, her eyes going to the clock on the wall.

Buffy snorted. "Not before ten-thirty, he won't," she said, frowning. "Not unless he's either been able to convince Mrs Cole to let him leave early or he's sneaked out. Do you think Dumbles got my letter?"

Sophie shrugged. "How would we know?"

Buffy huffed—and then grinned when she heard the sounds of wings flapping downstairs. "Oh! They're back! Good timing."

"You left the front grating open?" Vin asked with a frown.

Buffy nodded. "And my outside door too," she said as she got up. "I thought maybe the McOwls would return while I was asleep and I didn't wish to be awoken after our late night."

Vin hmm'd.

"Plus the doors and windows are warded, so no one could get in anyway," Sophie reminded her sister.

"I suppose," the dark-haired woman said, not liking the idea of Buffy's vulnerability. There were always exceptions to wards. And she was still concerned about that vampire that Buffy hadn't slayed in Highgate on her night out with Edna.

"We could leave the door open in Tom's room instead, since that patio isn't accessible from the ground," Buffy suggested. "I mean, unless he stays over."

Vin nodded. She liked that idea better.

At the door to the hallway, Buffy waited for the owls, then smiled when they swooped up the stairs and flew over her head and around the kitchen. The one with the envelope landed on the table and fluffed its feathers while it waited for someone to take the letter.

"All right, already!" Buffy said as she snatched it from the bird. "Silly Owlbert!"

Quickly, Buffy broke the seal on the envelope and pulled out the letter.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Armando Dippet

Dear Miss Summers

First, let me apologize for allowing so much time to pass without communication and thank you for owling to let us know where you are in your studies. It sounds as if you are doing excellent work and are making great strides in your progress.

Secondly, congratulations on attaining your wand. I always knew that you'd be chosen by one of Ollivanders fine wands! I am sure that it is serving you well.

Third, I have spoken to Headmaster Dippet and, as I assumed he would, he has denied your request to have the Sorting Hat brought to you so that you can be sorted prior to arriving at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, the Sorting Hat does not leave the castle, so you will need to wait just like everyone else.

On the matter of Mr Riddle's restrictions to Wools, I'm afraid there's not much to be done about curfews imposed by the orphanage. That is his home, after all. We do not have the authority to remove him, except for his education.

Lastly, I shall be in the area tomorrow morning (19 July) and will call in to check on your progress. You can expect me to arrive at approximately half past nine.

Hoping that this finds you well.

Albus Dumbledore,

Deputy Headmaster

Buffy finished the letter and frowned. "He won't bring the Hat to me," she said dejectedly.

"You asked him to bring the Hat to you?" Vin questioned.

Buffy shrugged. "I'd really like to know what House I'll be in and...I thought it would put Tom's mind at ease."

Sophie laughed. "Unless you end up in a different House than his."

Buffy continued to frown. "Well, yes...there would be that problem. If I'm in a different House...Tom might not like me anymore," she said, looking down.

"Oh, pish posh!" Sophie burst. "That's just...ridiculous!

"Then why are you so interested to know now?" Vin pushed.

Buffy shrugged again. "I don't know. It was worth a shot, I guess," she said. "And it would be easier to know...and get used to. But Dumbledore said the Hat doesn't leave the castle. He asked the Headmaster and everything." She sighed, then continued. "He's coming to visit today. Dumbledore, I mean. I told him about my progress, but I'm not sure he believes me."

Vin frowned. "Why wouldn't he believe you?"

"I don't know," Buffy said.

From the table, Owlbert squawked.

"I think he wants a treat for his journey," Sophie said.

"Oh! Of course." Buffy sat down again and fed Owlbert a few tidbits from her plate. "Sorry, little buddy."

From the far counter, Owlfred lifted off again, flew around the room—flapping his wings wildly, causing a few downy feathers to fly about—and then landed on the table next to Owlbert. He obviously wanted a treat too!

Smiling, Buffy picked up her toast and ripped off a piece for the owl, then scratched at his head after he'd taken it. She was still scratching Owlfred when a crackling noise came from the cauldron on the counter, causing all their heads to turn just in time to see flames shoot out of it—scorching the wall and ceiling—and then its contents suddenly explode out of it, coating everything in the vicinity with a gooey purple mess.

For a moment everyone just stared—and then they all jumped up!

"Quick, put the fire out!" Sophie shouted as she watched the cauldron burp out another blast of purple potion that was all wrong—a bit of it landing on her head. Reaching up, she touched it, realizing too late that it was hot. "Ouch!"

Buffy's eyes went wide, but Vin grabbed a towel and tossed it to her sister, then she raised her hands and shouted, "IGNIS ABIIT!" causing the fire to instantly go out.

Horrified, Buffy looked at the sisters—both were covered in the purple goo. "Oh my goodness! Crap! I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, not realizing that she too had been hit.

"It wasn't you!" Vin growled. "It was the bloody bird. Its feathers fell into the cauldron and altered the mix."

Buffy bit her lip and glanced at Sophie, who was wiping the mess out of her hair and glaring at Owlfred. "Vin's right, Buffy, it isn't your fault," she said—then started to laugh. "We're all a mess!"

~oOo~

Before they were able to clean up the kitchen or wash up themselves, there came a knock on the front door.

Buffy laughed. "Of course he's on time!" she grumbled, looking down at her potion-covered pajamas.

Both Vin and Sophie looked mortified by the thought of someone seeing them in such a state and dashed out of the room to shower.

"Thanks a lot, guys!" Buffy called after them. "Never mind that I'm in my PJs and one of my teachers is here to see me!" Sighing, she shook her head and went to the front door.

At the door, Buffy sighed again, then reached for the knob, pulled the door open, and smiled up at the older man.

"Hi there, Professor," she said cheerfully—as cheerfully as one could be with purple splatters all over her.

Dumbledore blinked down at the girl. "You did receive my response to your owl...that I was coming...didn't you?"

Buffy bobbed her head. "Yeah, like fifteen minutes ago, but we were having a crisis. Actually, the owl caused the crisis, so...well, a letter stating morning, which came in the morning, isn't really sufficient notice, now is it?" She stopped talking.

Dumbledore hmm'd. "Your owls must have been distracted on their way back. They're delightful birds. May I come in?" he asked when she didn't invite him in.

"Oh! Yes, of course," she said as she stepped aside and gestured that he should enter. "Vin and Sophie have gone up to their rooms to clean themselves up. Our potion exploded."

Dumbledore's eyes widened. "You're brewing at home?"

Buffy nodded. "Uh-huh," she said, closing the front door. "Last night's potions went far better. But this morning...eesh!" She grimaced and gestured at herself.

The man's eyes twinkled. "What were you brewing?"

"Antidote to Common Poisons, but...let me tell you, owl feathers are no bueno for that potion," she told him. "And the kitchen is a complete disaster."

Albus Dumbledore laughed. "I could probably help with the kitchen, if you'd like to show me."

Buffy shrugged. "Sure. Come with me," she said, leading the man to the kitchen. "Though, I was going to search through my books and see if I could find some sort of cleaning charm to get rid of the mess. No sense in scrubbing walls and ceilings and floors by hand if we don't have to, you know?"

"Indeed," Dumbledore said—ignoring the fact that she was still using magic outside of school.

"So, here it is!" said Buffy as they entered the kitchen.

As Dumbledore stepped into the room, his eyes widened when he realized the magnitude of the mess. Approaching the cauldron—which had not itself exploded—he glanced inside, then looked up the wall to the ceiling. Just as he looked up, a giant glob of purple goop detached itself from the ceiling and fell, landing in the cauldron with a squelching plop.

"Such a lovely shade of purple," he commented.

Buffy snorted. "Sophie's not very happy about it being in her hair," she told him. "And it might have ruined my new pajamas. I liked these too!"

Turning to look at the girl, Dumbledore said, "If you'd like to wash and dress, I'll be happy to sort this." He gestured at the mess.

Buffy's eyes widened. "Yeah. Okay. I would like to get cleaned up, but...don't clean the kitchen without me. I want to know the cleaning spells."

Dumbledore smiled. "Of course. I won't clean a thing."

Buffy grinned. "I'll be right back!" she said, then ran out of the room. "Give me like...ten."

~oOo~

In her bedroom, Buffy stripped down, then went into her bathroom to shower—leaving her definitely ruined pajamas in a pile on the floor. She made quick work of cleaning up, vigorously scrubbing herself all over and washing the clumps of purple potion out of her hair. When she'd finished, she towel-dried her hair, then hurriedly threw on some clothing—a lilac floral blouse and one of her new black school skirts—and a random pair of socks—then ran back upstairs to the kitchen where Professor Dumbledore was still examining the potion splattered wall.

"I tried to be fast," Buffy said breathlessly as she reentered the room.

"It's really quite lovely. Very much like a work of art," the older man, his head cocked to the side as he gazed up at the wall and ceiling. "Interesting and...thought provoking. It's a shame it's not on canvas, so that it could be displayed on a wall. You were fast...just seventeen minutes."

Buffy looked at the wall and nodded. "My mother runs an art gallery. She would call this abstract," she said, wondering if Dumbledore had been timing her absence. "I didn't factor in stair travel. Sorry."

"It's no matter." Turning, the older man eyed her blouse—it was quite short, showing a bit more skin than was appropriate—then looked at her still damp hair. "You seem to have missed some of the purple in your hair, but it goes nicely with your blouse."

Buffy reached up and touched her hair, then smiled. She'd noticed that some of the purple had not washed out, but it was lighter now—and it did match her top. "Yeah. It's stained, I think. Sophie's going to have a cow if it doesn't wash out of hers."

Dumbledore chuckled. "I should like to see that," he said, his blue eyes twinkling with mirth.

Buffy laughed. "Well, stick around and you will see it!" she said. "So...is this okay?" she asked with a gesture at her clothing—making Dumbledore wonder if she was reading his mind.

He shrugged. "It's a bit...sparse," he said diplomatically.

Buffy frowned. "Um. Sorry. My brain's still in my time, I think. I dress this way...like this all the time."

Dumbledore shrugged again. "You should probably take note of the fashions for today's young lady, so that you don't make a spectacle of yourself at school. And so that you don't torture the male population at Hogwarts."

Buffy nodded. "I'm afraid I might have shocked Tom a couple times," she said, biting her lip.

The man chuckled again. "I must admit that I pity the boy if you've been going about like that," he said.

Buffy blushed. "So...um...about the cleaning charms."

"Yes, of course. There are several, but for a mess as spectacular as this one, we might need more than a simple Scourgify," he said.

Buffy started to nod her understanding—then shook her head, because she had no idea what he was talking about. "Um. Should I know what you mean?"

Dumbledore smiled. "Not if you haven't read up on cleaning charms. There is also Skurge, but that's mainly for cleaning up ectoplasm."

Buffy's eyes widened. "Oh. Wow. The Ghostbusters could have used that one," she said—causing the man to frown at her.

"What are...the ghost busters?" he asked.

"Just what it sounds like. But it's a movie from my time. It's about these guys that go out hunting ghosts and...they exterminate them," she explained. "It's a ridiculous movie, but super funny."

Dumbledore nodded. "I see."

"What would happen if we used this Skurge spell on a potion instead of ectoplasm?" Buffy asked.

Turning to look up at the purple splatters, Dumbledore humm'd again. "I'm not sure, but...it couldn't hurt." Pulling out his wand, the man cleared his throat and pointed it at the purple Picasso on the wall—but was halted by the girl.

"Wait! I'd like to give it a try, if you don't mind," said Buffy. She'd pulled out her wand too. "I mean, new wand and all. This would be good time to demonstrate of my skill, yeah?"

Dumbledore lowered his wand with a frown. "But you've never tried this spell before. How do you know you can do it?"

Buffy shrugged. "I don't know, but...no better way to find out than trying, right?" she said—then pointed her wand at the mess and said, "Skurge!"

Nothing happened, causing the professor to chuckle.

Buffy turned glaring eyes on the man. "What are you laughing at?!"

"You need to know the correct hand movements in order to cast spells," he said.

Buffy blushed. She knew that. "Oh. Right. I do know that," she said. "I just...got ahead of myself."

Dumbledore hummed. "You're ambitious, I see," he said. "That ought to make Tom happy."

"I've gotten through most of my first year books," she told her professor. She was rather proud with her progress and hoped Professor Dumbledore would be too. "There are a few places where I'm behind. Like Potions...which is why Sophie and I were brewing last night and this morning. I've started reading the second year books too. Some of the subjects are coming easier than others."

Dumbledore nodded. "That's always the way it is."

Buffy shrugged. "I suppose. I used to struggle with history in my time. Mostly because it's all so...yuck! Seems like it's just a bunch of names and dates...and wars."

"This is very true," he said, not mentioning that it wasn't much different in the magical world.

"Anyway, I've been studying daily. I promise," she said.

"I'm glad to hear that," the man said. "Would you like me to show you the proper hand movements for the Skurge charm?"

Buffy nodded and so he demonstrated without saying the spell. "It still might not work," he said. "I've never attempted to clean up a potion mess with the Skurge charm."

"Okay," Buffy said as she lifted her wand again and, this time, waved it precisely as he'd shown her while saying the spell. The end of her wand lit up green and a blue bolt shot from the end of it, but the state of the kitchen didn't change. "Damn!" she cursed. "What am I doing wrong?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "You've done nothing wrong. I'm impressed by the way you were able to copy my hand movements perfectly without any practice at all. Well done."

Buffy frowned. "Yeah, it's so impressive that the purple mess didn't budge off the wall," she said sarcastically. "But thanks."

"Let me remind you that I said it might not work. Now we know for certain that it doesn't," he said. "But it is a good spell to know, should you encounter a ghost at the castle and need to scare it away or...if you need to clean up the sticky green ectoplasm that's left behind when a ghost passes by."

Buffy wrinkled her nose. "Ew."

Dumbledore chuckled.

"Does this happened often...ghosts in the castle that require scaring off?" she asked.

Dumbledore shrugged. "Well, there are ghosts in the castle," he said. "So it could be beneficial."

Buffy hmm'd. "Oh! Hey. Couldn't we just...you know, vanish the mess or something instead, then use a cleaning spell to tidy up if necessary?" she asked next.

Dumbledore's eyes lit up. "A vanishing spell is one of the more complicated spells taught during one's fifth year and will be on your O.W.L," he said. "I'm surprised that you would know about it, since you've only just finished reading your first year books and haven't even started your fifth year yet."

"Oh. Well, I've skipped ahead here and there, because sometimes one spell leads me to think of something else that leads me to search through my books. Plus, Tranfiguation is super interesting. What's an owl?" Buffy asked. "I mean, besides a bird used for sending letters."

"Forgive me. I sometimes forget that you're quite new to all of this," said Dumbledore, realizing he needed to backtrack and explain. "O.W.L. is short for Ordinary Wizarding Level and it's a standardized subject-specific test taken during the students' fifth year. The exams are administrated by the Wizarding Examinations Authority."

Buffy nodded. "A test. Yay. I'd still like to learn some of the cleaning charms, but could we start with the apparently more complicated vanishing spell? It seems really handy."

Dumbledore eyed her, then nodded. "How about I perform it this time and you watch," he suggested. "I would hate to have you vanish something that Vin or Sophie treasures."

Buffy frowned. "Hmm. So...vanished means it's...gone? Like...gone forever gone?"

"Not necessarily," Dumbledore replied. "But anything vanished goes into non-being. It's hard to bring things back unless your skill level is elevated. Conjuring spells are taught in the your sixth year and are required for your N.E.W.T."

"What, praytell is a N.E.W.T? Or do I even want to know?" she asked.

Professor Dumbledore smiled. "Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test," he told her.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Who the hell names these things? Geez!"

"Anyway, you can vanish inanimate objects as well as animate objects," he said to get her back on track.

Buffy's eyes went wide. "Animate objects? Like...living things?"

Professor Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, but it becomes more difficult with the complexity of the animal."

"What about...people?" Buffy pushed.

Dumbledore frowned. "It is possible, but not recommended," he said. "Now, should we get on with this?"

Buffy stared at him for a moment. People could be vanished? That would be horrible for a person! "Oh. Yes. Please."

With relief, the man looked back at the Fairweather's disastrous kitchen and said, "Evanesco!"

~oOo~

So there you go! Two posts in eight days! Haha.