Buffy yawned while waking up the next morning. She had never felt so beat in her entire life and if she could, she would have slept the whole day, but she couldn't. An older girl came into every room and said it was time to get up. Breakfast was to be served in the Great Hall, which was what the big room with those long tables. She got up and noticed that all of her stuff had been brought up and opened her trunk. Shortly after she went up the stairs to her common-room, dressed in one of her black robes and met the rest of her house, wearing the same type of robes. Not wanting to be alone, she quickly located Angel who was sitting alone in a corner. He smiled gratefully when she came and sat down beside him. It seemed like most of the kids in their house was waiting for someone, as only few left through the opening, but little by little fewer and fewer people was left. Buffy and Angel then decided to get up, following the rest, making sure they weren't lost. This all looked like a huge school.

Shortly after they were sitting at their house table, laughing as one told another a joke. Buffy spotted Willow and Amy, which she now counted as her friends, waving at her from the Ravenclaw table. Shortly into breakfast owls started to appear through windows carrying letters and packages, dropping them in the laps of the kids owning them. A dark-brown and black spotted owl dropped a letter in Amy's lap. But she was the only one of them who got post. Willows owl didn't bring her anything, neither did Angels. Xander didn't seem to be expecting mail, come to think of it, Willow didn't either. Buffy suddenly wished for a letter. Gaia had flown in with the owls, but had nothing to Buffy. But instead of feeling left out, Buffy borrowed a piece of parchment and quill from a Gryffindor student who appeared to have brought it.

"Dear mom and dad (and Dawn, although she can't read),

I remember reading on that piece of parchment that sending post with birds is usual for witches and wizards. It's the first day here and we're eating breakfast. Some of the other kids got post and it made me think of you. I miss you all. The school's awesome, it's kinda built into a mountain and guess what, the statues here are moving… I also got some friends here. Some that aren't jealous or scared, but understands. I've also learned a bit more about witches and wizards… I just wanted to say… I miss you, but I'm ok, I thought you wanted to hear it. I don't know where we are… we're somewhere south and near the sea because I overheard someone talking about swimming. Anyway, hope you're all good . I miss you…

Buffy

PS: They have some pretty weird types of sweets here, could you please send me some candy that doesn't hops around?
PPS: Tell Dawn to stay away from my things while I'm gone…"

She folded it and tied it onto Gaia's leg and Gaia stroked her head at her hand and took off. Buffy stared after her, but then they all was told to look at a board and copy down their curriculum and she completely forgot about her letter. The first lesson she had was in half an hour and it was transfiguration. She didn't copy down which teachers she would have, but didn't know why she didn't. Anyway, half an hour later she was sitting in a classroom waiting for the teacher, when suddenly the headmistress entered the room.

- Morning class, she said standing in the front of the desks. - In case you have a bad case of memory or slept through last night's feast, I'm Ms. Calendar, you headmistress, but I'm also your transfiguration teacher. Transfiguration is the most complex type of magic and is not done with just waving your wand and mutter some well-chosen words. It needs discipline, concentration and accuracy.

She pulled out her wand and aimed for the first desk. Buffy, who sat at that desk, watched it disappear to leave a big glass orb in her lap, then before she managed to do anything, the orb was gone and the desk was back.

- Cool, she muttered.

Ms. Calendar then continued to write a lot of notes on the blackboard as she spoke and then they were to try change a match into a needle. Nothing happened to Buffys needle, didn't matter how much she tried. Angel didn't seemed to get anywhere either. The only one in the class who actually managed it, was Amy, where you could clearly see a big needle. Willow was the only other person who had made a difference to hers. It had become slightly silvery and pointy and looked more like a toothpick. Together the girls earned 15 points for Ravenclaw.

But even though Buffy hadn't managed to get it right, she came to like transfiguration. It was interesting and even better was the fact that she had it with Willow and Amy as well as Angel. Charms was also very interesting and it was with the Hufflepuff's meaning, she had it with Xander. History of magic was the most boring subject she could imagine, although Angel was fascinated by it, but her most favorite subject was flying. As a little kid she had always dreamt of being able to fly and now she could and for some reason all four houses were to have flying lessons together. Their teacher was also cool. Darla Burke had long blond hair, twisted up in a knot, with small locks of hair hanging from it.

- Good afternoon, class. Welcome to your first flying lesson.

She looked from student to student until settling her eyes on Angel. She looked down on a piece of paper, which had to have pictures on it.

- Mr. O'Connor, she said. - Would you like to be the first to try?

Angel walked towards her. He seemed quite shy, but who wouldn't having to walk up in front of his whole class and try something he had never done before. She told him to hold his hand over the broom and say "up" and he did, the broom came straight up in his hand. He mounted it on command and kicked off, levitating before turning his broom down and landing. Ms. Burke smiled and gave him 5 points for Gryffindor.

- Someone else who wants to try?

Feeling particularly brave, Buffy walked up to her. Ms. Burke eyed her and looked at her paper.

- Ms. Summers. You saw what Mr. O'Connor did. Try to do the same, but please be careful when you kick off, she said, the last thing in a slight whisper.

- Um, why didn't you tell him that?

- Ms. Summers I know all about your strength. You might rise to high if you kick to strongly. Although your strength is perfectly natural and you will understand it all when you're older, not everyone else has that type of strength in this class and therefore I don't need to tell them the same.

Ms. Burke said it all in a whisper, while leaning over Buffy as though she showed her how to hold the broom correctly. Buffy mounted the broom as Angel had and kicked off. The broom rose easily and Buffy felt like taking it out for a spin instead of just rising and getting back down. She lead the broom forward, but instead of just going straight down, she flew it downwards and landed about ten feet away from the teacher. Ms. Burke didn't seem to be too happy about her student not following instruction, but she didn't say anything. Instead she nodded approvingly, but gave no points to Buffy, nor did she take some. More kids tried, some as Buffy and Angel, had it natural and rose and fell as they should, some had problems rising, other with falling and one time Ms. Burke herself had to fly up and lead a mislead student down. But all in all the students left her class wanting more of it…

The next morning, Buffy received an answer from her parents along with a box filled with chocolates, caramels, lollipops and other normal, muggle sweets.

"Dear Buffy,

It's nice to hear from you and we miss you too. The school sounds interesting and we're sure you'll tell us all about it when you come home. The box we sent is to last the month and more so don't eat it all at once. Send us more letters about what the school's like and if you're ok. We miss you…

love,
mom and dad (and Dawn, although she can't write)"

Time passed more quickly at Luna than at any other school, before they knew it, it was Halloween. Buffy, who had always liked Halloween had gone as little Red Ridinghood the previous two years, but this time she wouldn't dress up. She didn't have to. Instead she and her friends enjoyed themselves out on the grounds testing out spells and charms they had found in their books. As Buffy's first spells, some of them worked, while others wouldn't even make sparks. Buffy and Xander had also gone steady. He had asked her two weeks earlier and flattered as she was, she had said yes. She liked him, he made her laugh. Willow had also gone steady with someone. He was a Gryffindor and had the name Allan, but preferred to be called Doyle, so they did and he had joined their group of friends. Willow helped him with his problems in transfiguration and he helped her overcome her fear of heights in flying. As Amy and Angel had been the only one not going steady, they had hooked up, making the group complete. The six of them now spent all of their time together.

The Halloween feast shortly separated the group as each house had to dine together, but straight afterwards the group rejoined each other and headed back out to the grounds, not caring about the time. They headed to one of the caves they had found exploring the grounds. The mountain Luna was built in was wider than any mountain they had ever seen, and the grounds were tremendous. One couldn't see from one side to an other. The rock ground was so uneven that instead of being school grounds it looked like outside hills. There was even caves in the middle, going down a bit before ending in dead-ends. The group liked to explore these. Some of them everyone knew of, but others were really hard to find. This cave they were going to, was one of those, being hidden behind a round, big stone and five trees. The six of them went the only way possible to enter it, lights at the end of each wand and they settled down around the middle in pairs. Willow, being one of the two most clever witches in the group, held out her wand towards the middle of the circle.

- Calippo, she said loud and clear, sending sparks, which made a fire in the middle.

- Cool, Doyle muttered, placing his arm around her.

- Yeah, how come you know such good spells, Buffy wanted to know.

- Simple, I have no life…

- Yes you do, you're just more clever than us, Xander said, getting nods from everyone.

- I read it in a library book I use for bed-time reading…

The six of them stared into the fire, if they hadn't been witches

and wizards, they would probably have commented on how magical the fire seemed.

- I wish we could have had marshmallows, Buffy muttered. - Then we could have roasted them here.

- What's marshmallows, Doyle wanted to know.

Being a pure-blood wizard, he hadn't heard about marshmallows, or any other muggle invention. He had grown up with his parents in Ireland away from muggles, not that they didn't like them, but more that it was easier being near witches and wizards. One didn't have to hide magic from their neighbors, like one needed with muggles, so therefore Doyle had never met a muggle, not even a muggleborn witch or wizard. That was why he was glad he had gotten in touch with muggleborns, as Buffy, Willow, Xander and Angel were. Buffy gave him a smile, sitting on the opposite side of the fire.

- It's a muggle sweet, she explained. - It's white and fluffy, not like sugar clouds… come to think about it, it is like sugar clouds, only it doesn't float or swell in your mouth. We put them on spears or twigs and hold them over the fire, making the outside crispy and the inside running. Each Halloween I usually roast them with my parents and my little sister… I kinda wish we had some here…

Suddenly Willow smiled and held triumphly up two large bags filled with marshmallows.

- Will, where did you get them?

- Amy's parents sent them, figured we missed it.

- And you've been hiding it from us?

- Well, we wanted to surprise you, the two girls said, grinning.

- Too bad we don't have spears, Xander stated, when it was Amy's turn to triumph.

- I brought them, figuring mom and dad would do exactly this. There are only three though. I hadn't figured us for becoming so many.

- That's ok, Buffy suddenly said. - We're six people, but three couples, that makes it one spear to each couple.

- When did you become the brainy one, Xander said, jokingly.

- Hey! No insulting your girlfriend, she exclaimed.

- Sorry oh wise one, please tell me what's to come, he continued.

- Shut up, she answered, punching him playfully in the arm.

- Ow, he stated. - I didn't think you would take it so hard.

- Oops, sorry Xand, I kinda forgot to control my strength.

To keep them from arguing, Amy handed out the spears and Willow opened a bag of marshmallows holding it so everyone could grab a few. Soon words and punches had been forgotten and the six kids had fun roasting marshmallows, trying not to burn them, which wasn't easy. Doyle, being the new-beginner that he was in marshmallows-roasting had three burnt in a row until he managed a semi-burned one. For that one the rest of the group gave him an applause. Not too long after he managed his first not-burned marshmallows and was declared a real muggle…

After a while marshmallows became boring and the group found out they wanted to tell ghost stories. Well, the guys wanted it the most, but the girls said all right and so the scary stories began… Well, they weren't so scary, some of them were just ridiculous that they became humorous stories and after a while they had a competition in which one could come up with the best joke-story. Xander won, not so surprisingly, but the second place was the surprising one, which was Willow. And the more surprising thing was that she hadn't used anyone of those Xander had been telling her up through time. Everyone clapped for Xander and Willow. After a while they all felt slightly tired and realized how long they had all been out, not exactly how long, but that it must be long after lights out, because when they got out of the cave, there was no lights from the school windows. Each of them pulled out their wands.

- Lumos, they all whispered and their wands were lit again.

They all realized how dark it all was. The moon had been hidden behind thick clouds and so were the stars. Buffy couldn't help, but feel a slight worry. Something wasn't right. It was like a sixth and seventh sense mixed. It was that strong. They went towards the school in pairs, when suddenly they were stopped by someone.
Willow raised her wand to get a look of the whole figure and froze in fear, when she saw what it was. Amy tried to back up, bumping into Buffy, who didn't know what to do.

- It's a vampire, Amy whispered, carefully, so that the vampire itself wouldn't hear her. - I read about them last night… there was a picture…

Even though, Buffy had seen lots of weird creatures both alive and on pictures, she had never imagined there to be vampires in the world. They only

existed in books. How had it gotten here… Oh God, how dumb was she? There were several entrances to the school grounds that didn't go through the school… the mountains for starters. Everyone knew that the mountains weren't safe and Buffy now understood why. This was it, she guessed. There was no way they would escape from a vampire with only a couple of months with self-defense lessons that hadn't been practical or involved a spell at all… just notes… Up in front Willow came to herself.

- Calippo, she said loud and clear, pointing her wand at the vampire.

Like before, sparks came bursting from the wand and hit the vampire, but nothing happened. It didn't even catch on fire. Instead it attacked her. Doyle was frozen stiff next to her, but came to himself, trying to push the vampire off her. Buffy didn't know what happened as she suddenly found herself attacking the vampire, managing to push it off Willow, when Doyle couldn't.

- Run, she screamed.

And they ran. Buffy and Doyle each took one of Willows arms and tried to drag her with them. The vampire however was quick and grabbed Buffy pulling her back. Doyle dragged Willow on. Angel, Amy and Xander stopped, not knowing what to do. Buffy did everything she could to get out of the vampires grip and sent a well aimed pick for it stomach, making it let her go and she ran, but stumbled over a root. The vampire was over her again. Her head had hit a small rock and she was bleeding. The five others were frozen. Then suddenly Angel yelled at Doyle to get Willow safely into the castle and Xander to go find a teacher. They did as he asked. Then he launched himself at the vampire, yelling at Amy to try coming up with a spell that could work on a vampire. He didn't affect the vampire as much as he would have liked and was thrown into a tree, with his head first. He wasn't knocked out, but he was both bleeding and had lost his general motor skills. Buffy was on her back, with a hard rock making it even more painful than it had been. The vampire got ready to bite, but Buffy got her legs in between and kicked it off, but she was getting tired. The vampire had the upper hand and if Xander didn't hurry up, she would fall to exhausting and would loose. Amy could see what was going to happen and gave a solid scream hoping it would attract someone to help them, then picked up a rock running towards the vampire and throwing it, when she got near enough. Buffy rolled over to the side and got to her knees before she felt fangs pierce her skin and soon it all became black…

[ Part 4 | Fic index ]