 |
|
Chapter Twenty-Five
Fire, Fights, and Homework Oh My! Dawn anxiously sat in the wicca classroom waiting for Willow and Tara to arrive. The thought of learning to access the powers that she had inherited from Nerdanal scared her a little. She knew that elemental magic was tricky and that the wiccas steered away from it. It was very different from the type of magic she was learning at Hogwarts. Her wand magic was very focused and controlled. But most witches didn’t have enough power to truly control the elements. If she wasn’t careful she could literally blow up the school. At least she knew Buffy couldn’t yell at her about that since she had done it herself. Twice. “Ready?” Willow’s cheery voice stirred her out of her thoughts. “I guess.” “Dawn, you’re going to need more confidence if you’re going to make it work. I read your translation and it said you have to believe it will work in order for it to work.” The teen fought the urge to roll her eyes. Of course she knew that, she had been the one to translate it. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it.” “Now, Tara and I are only here to walk you through the steps and give you things to try. This is unlike anything we’ve seen, heard, or read of.” “But it seems pretty simple, Dawnie. With as quickly as you picked up using your wand, you should be fine.” Tara said with a smile. Dawn nodded and said, “All right then. How do we start?” “First, close your eyes and just relax. Take a couple of deep breaths.” Willow waited until she had done this before continuing. “Ordinarily this is where I’d tell you to find your magic center. But that’s not how yours works. What you can do isn’t exactly magic.” “Then what is it?” “You think of what you want, build your will, and then say it.” Dawn opened her eyes. “You’re kidding right?” Even though she remembered that from her translation, it seemed too easy. There had to be a catch. “No, I’m not.” Tara pulled out a candle and set it on the table in front of Dawn. “Try lighting it.” Closing her eyes, Dawn thought about the candle and pictured it lit in her head. She searched inside herself and suddenly came across something. She heard Willow and Tara gasp, but she ignored them. She could feel something build and it seemed as if her skin was tingling. Her image began to slip, but she pulled it back. Dawn suddenly realized the catch. Balancing the image and her will was tricky. If she concentrated on one, the other began to slip. “Burn,” she said. She opened her eyes and looked hopefully at the candle. But it just sat there, unlit. Her lower lip stuck out, “Phooey.” Then she noticed a green haze on her surroundings. Willow and Tara sat across from her with their mouths hanging slightly open. “What?” She asked self-consciously. “You’re glowing,” Willow whispered. The teen looked down at herself, and sure enough a green fire emanated from her. She could still feel her skin tingling. “I’d say she accessed it,” Tara said in awe. “Then why didn’t it work?” Dawn asked. “Maybe you need to say it in elvish,” Tara mused. “Makes sense,” Willow said. “The gift came from your elvish past. It must only respond to that language. Try it again in elvish.” Dawn nodded and closed her eyes again. She pulled up the image of the candle once more. Concentrating hard, she said, “Ustëa.” There was a hot blast in front of her large enough to knock her backwards out of her chair. She opened her eyes to see the table in front of her on fire and the two wiccas on the floor. Tara stood quickly and said, “Existinguo.” Then the fire died. “Well,” Willow said as she stood, dusting herself off. “I’d say the language needs to be elvish. What do you think?” “So what the hell happened?!” Dawn yelled. “I was only trying to light the candle, not the whole table!” “Relax sweetie, you just need to learn control,” Tara said gently. “Relax? Relax! I could have hurt you guys!” “Honey, that’s why we’re going to help you with your control.” “No. I don’t want to learn.” “Dawn,” Willow said sternly. “You have to learn control, otherwise you might really hurt someone. This is part of who you are, you can’t shut it away. It will leak out whether you want it to or not. Remember the forbidden forest?” The teen reluctantly nodded her head. But where this had merely scared her before, she was now absolutely terrified. She had known this was a volatile form of magic, just not quite this volatile this quickly. But since she truly didn’t want to hurt anybody, she was going to have to accede to Willow and Tara’s teaching. “Fine, help me,” she whispered sullenly. ********* The next morning, Dawn was quiet as she stretched before muggle defense. She was so lost in her thoughts that none of her friends could draw her into their conversation, no matter how hard they tried. ~What’s wrong?~ She looked up into Draco’s gray eyes and saw the concern for her in them. She gave him a small smile. ~Rough night. I’m not sure that Nerdanal really gave me a gift.~ ~You’ll get it. By the way, Ginny looked a bit worried during breakfast.~ ~I’ll talk to her later.~ Buffy and Spike then entered the room and everyone got quiet as they waited for them to start class. They both gave Dawn and Draco a quick smile as they headed to the front of the room. “Today we start sparring,” Buffy announced. “I don’t want any force behind the punches and kicks yet. Just mark and block them.” A hand went up in the back of the room. “Yes, Blaise.” “What do you mean mark?” “You swing or kick, but you stop before you actually hit anyone,” Buffy explained. “I am going to call out your pairings, and no switching of partners.” The petite blonde went quickly through the list and the students grumbled as they found their partners. Buffy had followed Dumbledore’s advice and paired them with students from the other house. Hermione looked warily at her partner Millicent Bulstrode. The last time she had been paired against her was their second year during the dueling club. That had been an absolute disaster. She only hoped no hair pulling would be involved this time. Ron wasn’t particularly happy with Buffy’s choice either. He looked over at Goyle with nearly undisguised hatred. Not like the slow-witted Slytherin would have recognized it if he saw it. He glanced over at Harry who seemed fairly calm for someone who was paired with Blaise Zabini. The redhead had heard that she was one tough girl. Draco and Dawn seemed to be the only ones pleased with their pairing. Of course, this could have to do with the fact that they were paired with each other. They were more experienced than the rest of the class, with the exception of a few Gryffindors, and Buffy just wanted to give them some extra time to work together. “Remember, don’t actually hit each other. This is just to get you used to fists coming at you and to learn to block them. Understand?” After a chorus of yeses. Buffy nodded her head to indicate they could start. She stopped by Draco and Dawn. “You guys can spar like usual. Just don’t get over enthusiastic.” Dawn grinned in reply. “We’ll try.” Buffy and Spike began walking through the room stopping to help those who needed it. They would gently correct form or guide students through the motions. Class was going smoothly until everyone heard Hermione shout from the corner of the room “You’re not suppose to actually hit me!” “You think I care?” Millicent replied. Then the sound of a fist hitting flesh was heard. “That’s it! You asked for it!” Then Hermione swung with all her might and busted her partner’s lip. Then she kicked Millicent in the stomach, who doubled over and fell to her knees. “Way to go ‘Mione!” Ron yelled. Before Millicent could stand, Buffy and Spike had reached them. “Fifty points from Slytherin for not following directions, and three nights of detention for Miss Bulstrode for attacking another student.” Buffy said. She turned her attention to Hermione. “As for you, Miss Granger. I am aware that you were only protecting yourself. However, you also did not follow directions. Twenty points from Gryffindor and one night of detention.” Hermione just stood there in shock. She hadn’t received detention since her first year and she had never been responsible for her house loosing points. Buffy turned to address the class. “Fighting back isn’t always the correct response. It should only be used as a last resort. I want two feet on ways to avoid a fight due next Monday. Class dismissed.” The students could only stand there in mute horror and watch Buffy and Spike leave the room. She had never assigned homework before. The entire class, including the Slytherins, gave Millicent the evil eye. ******* Ron couldn’t help but grin like a fool during potions class. Hermione never ceased to surprise him. He felt his heart expand in his chest, he was so proud of her for defending herself. He was sure that the story would spread through the whole school by the end of the day. Most students would now think twice before offending his Hermione. He looked over at the object of his affection. His smile faltered as he saw her troubled expression. The redhead hoped she wasn’t still upset over receiving detention. He was sure Buffy wasn’t too upset with her, she probably just didn’t want to show favoritism. Merlin, she was still beautiful to him though. To him, nothing could mar her perfection. He didn’t like to see her upset, however. He was going to have to find a way to cheer her up. Hermione, on the other hand, was in no mood to be cheered up. She was too busy mentally berating herself for loosing control. She hadn’t done that since their third year when she had slapped Malfoy. Plus, she had caused Gryffindors to loose points and got detention. She was a prefect for goodness sakes! She was suppose to set an example, not cause trouble. How could she have done something so stupid? The bushy haired brunette looked up in time to see Ron looking at her with concern in his eyes. She felt her expression soften at the thought of being comforted in his arms. But it hardened just as quickly as she reminded herself that it would never happen, they were only friends. ****** Harry was oblivious to his friends’ internal struggles during lunch; he was too wrapped up in his own. He continually stared at Dawn and Ginny who were sitting with Seamus, again. More correctly, he was staring at Ginny. He couldn’t quite figure out why he couldn’t stop doing it either. True, his stomach had done some strange things since she had arrived at the beginning of the school year. But ever since Halloween he just couldn’t stop looking at or thinking about her. His green eyes couldn’t help but narrow in jealousy as he watched her laugh lightly at something Seamus said, and then laid a hand on his arm. Why was she even down there? She was spending less meal times with them and more with him. He just didn’t get it. Harry looked back at his food, nearly untouched. He poked at it a couple of times, but nothing seemed to make it to his mouth. Could he really fancy Ginny? But she was Ron’s little sister! The one he saved from Tom Riddle her first year at Hogwarts. If he did truly like her, as he was beginning to suspect, Ron would probably kill him. Not to mention the rest of the Weasley brothers. They were all fiercely protective of their baby sister. He sighed and continued to watch her. “He’s starrin’ again,” Seamus said. “Are you sure?” Ginny asked, not daring to look. Dawn looked over without turning her head. “He is. He’s glaring at Seamus.” “Why?” “Because look where your hand is Gin,” Dawn said in a voice full of humor. The redhead looked down and realized she hadn’t moved said hand from Seamus’ arm. She went to pull it away but Seamus stopped her. “You move it now and he’ll know you saw him.” “Seamus, are you sure you’re ok with this?” “Ginny, I’ve told you a hundred times, yes. You’re like my little sister and I want you to be happy. And if it requires me to flirt with you so Harry will take note of it then that’s what I’m gonna do.” “As long as you’re sure,” Ginny said with a smile. Previous Chapter The Slayer... Menu Next Chapter |
