Chapter Three

Introduction To The Wizarding World



Buffy felt a tug and all of a sudden she found herself landing in a room. She felt slightly off balanced when she landed, but her slayer reflexes kept her from falling. She looked around her to see Dumbledore still standing, but Giles landed on the floor. She laughed at the sight of her watcher looking so ridiculous sprawled on the ground. “Giles, are you okay?” She asked, her voice full of laughter.

From the ground, Giles looked up to see both his slayer and Dumbledore looking at him with amusement in their eyes. He glared. “Yes I am. Thanks for your concern. I can see that you were really worried.” He responded full of sarcasm.

“Sorry Giles. It was just so hard to keep myself from laughing. You looked absolutely ridiculous!” Buffy told him while still trying to hold back her laughter.

Dumbledore noticed Giles’ face start to turn bright red and came to the rescue. “Alright, that’s enough, my dear. We still need to get you your robes and school supplies. We can get those in Diagon Alley.”

Buffy had started to notice the room and wondered at the pictures she saw. ‘What the hell! They’re moving!’ “Are those pictures doing what I think they’re doing? Where are we?” She asked.

“Yes, they are moving. In the wizarding world, the pictures move because the witch or wizard whose picture it is has put some of their magical essence into it. We are in a room in a place called the Leaky Cauldron. We will sleep here tonight and then go to Diagon Alley to pick up your supplies. Then we will go to Hogwart’s to get you sorted into a house and make sure you are settled. Buffy, this is the room you’ll be staying in. Rupert, you will be next door, and I will be across the hall from you.” Dumbledore answered.

“Fascinating.” Giles had also gotten up from the ground to take notice of his surroundings.

“Sorted?” Buffy was curious.

“Yes. There are four houses at Hogwart’s. They are Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin. These houses were named after the four founders of the school: Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, Godric Griffindor, and Salazar Slytherin. They all had different qualities that they wanted in their houses. Hufflepuffs are known for their loyalty and kindness, Ravenclaws usually have the most intelligent students, Griffindors are known for their courage and bravery, and Slytherins are cunning and ambitious. Most pureblooded wizards came from that house, as it was a standard set by Salazar himself. Also, many of the darkest wizards came from there as well. Many of them are now Death Eaters.” Dumbledore explained.

“Cool. So what do I do to get sorted?” Buffy asked.

“Not to worry. You will be sorted with the sorting hat. It is a magically enchanted hat that allows it to look into your mind to properly place you into your house. The founders made sure to put what they wanted for their houses into the hat so that way it knows which house is right for a witch or wizard. Now how about we put our things away and meet downstairs to get something to eat. You must be hungry and tired. Plus we have a busy day tomorrow.” And with this, Dumbledore walked towards the door.

Buffy looked at Giles, shrugged. After they got settled, Buffy and Giles made their way down the stairs and found themselves in a dingy bar. They saw a man approach them with a smile and slight curiosity in his eyes. “Hello, you must be Professor Dumbledore’s guests. I’m Tom, the innkeeper of this place. How do you like your rooms?”

“Hello, I’m Rupert Giles and this is my ward, Buffy Summers. The rooms are fine, thank you. May I ask where is the Professor? We are supposed to meet him for dinner.” Giles answered.

“Just follow me. We have a room set up for your meal. Professor Dumbledore is already waiting for you.” Tom walked ahead and showed Buffy and Giles a private room with a table full of food ready to be eaten and Dumbledore already seated. “ Well, I hope you enjoy the meal.” And he left.

“There you two are! I took the liberty of ordering for everyone. I’m sure everything will be to your liking. Please sit and enjoy the food.” Dumbledore gestured to the table and the other two took it as their cue to eat. After their meal, they went to their rooms and went straight to bed.


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The next day, they made their way to the back of the Leaky Cauldron, only to stop in front of a brick wall. Both Buffy and Giles looked at Dumbledore in confusion. Buffy asked, “I thought we were going to Diagon Alley?”
“We are.” The old wizard responded. Buffy looked at him skeptically and stared at the wall. He then took out his wand and proceeded to tap on the bricks. The wall began to shift and opened up to allow entrance. Both Buffy and Giles looked through the alley in amazement. Dumbledore just smiled at them and gestured for them to walk with him.

“First thing we need to do is go to Gringotts. It is a wizarding bank that is run by goblins and I am sure that your parents had a vault opened up for you, Buffy. Rupert, since you are now a teacher at Hogwart’s, I have opened up an account for you. Now we just need to withdraw some money for the two of you to buy your things. Then we will go and get you fitted for robes. After that we will get Buffy’s supplies and anything else she might want like a broom or a familiar. Lastly, we will go to Ollivander’s to get Buffy’s wand.”

They head through Diagon Alley towards the bank. As soon as they got inside of the bank Dumbledore handed one of the goblins keys and asked to see the two vaults. They were escorted to a cart that took them underground at an incredible speed. When it stopped, Buffy jumped out of the cart with an enthused, “Wow, can we do that again? It was like riding a rollercoaster!” Giles, on the other hand, looked pale. They stopped at vault 617.

“Buffy, this is your vault. Just remember that wizarding money is different from American money. We have galleons, sickles, and knuts.” When they entered the vault, Buffy saw piles of gold, silver, and bronze coins. Dumbledore handed her a pouch to put her money in and she just grabbed several handfuls of different colored coins. He explained to her the value of each coin, which she managed to understand and decided to grab a few more galleons. Afterwards, they went to vault 918, which was Giles’ vault. He withdrew what he needed from his sizeable pile of currency and they left the bank in search of robes.

For the next few hours, they got fitted for robes, which Buffy complained about how they were a complete fashion disaster. Giles just shook his head in exasperation. Dumbledore just chuckled at the young girl’s antics, amazed at how someone who reeked of such power and responsibility, could still manage to act like that. After that, they went to Flourish and Bott’s to pick up Buffy’s books and anything else she might have needed. She ended up finding a book about the history of slayers, which she decided to buy. They also bought the rest of her supplies before heading into the Quidditch supply store.

Buffy looked around and found a beautifully polished broom in a case. The handle was made of a dark colored wood, which was practically black. It connected with what looked like golden threads bound together, but the tips flared out and looked like fire dancing. There was a sign above the case that read: Golden Flame. She wanted it immediately. The shopkeeper explained that it happened to be the newest model of brooms and it was supposed to be the most balanced, fastest, and responsive broom on the market. She ended up buying it.

Next, they went to Eeylop’s Owl Emporium. Buffy walked around the shop looking for a pet. While there were several beautiful animals, none of them caught her interest. She was about to head out when something landed on her shoulder. She turned around to see a gorgeous phoenix had perched itself on her shoulder. It had golden feathers mixed with reddish colored ones. It’s eyes were a deep green that looked back at you with intelligence.

“Oh my god, you’re such a beautiful bird.” Buffy told the bird.

Both Giles and Dumbledore looked at the bird with amazement. Giles couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Dumbledore’s reaction was more because phoenixes were rare creatures and they just didn’t fly out of nowhere. “I dare say. Is that a phoenix?” Giles asked Dumbledore.

He responded, “Yes, they are very rare, magical creatures. They can carry many times their weight and their tears have healing properties. They are also very good judges of character and are extremely loyal to whom they choose to own them. As you see Buffy, this particular bird chose you as its owner.”

Buffy asked the shopkeeper how much the phoenix cost, but the shopkeeper just told her to take the bird because it only just arrived a few days ago and wasn’t originally to be sold. The phoenix wasn’t hers to sell. Buffy took her phoenix, which she named and left the shop. They all headed to Ollivander’s for her wand

When they entered the wandmaker’s shop, Buffy noticed that there were a bunch of dusty boxes, stacked everywhere. Out of the shadows, an old man with pale eyes approached them. Buffy assumed that this was Mr. Ollivander, but because he managed to set off her spidey senses, she automatically was on the defense. She just looked at him suspiciously.

Dumbledore sensed her unease and said, “Not to worry my dear. He is the owner of the shop and will not attempt to harm you.” Then he addressed Ollivander and told him that they needed a wand for Buffy.

Ollivander looked at Buffy and asked, “Which is your wand arm?” Buffy just stuck out her right arm for Ollivander, who brought out a tape measure that started making all sorts of measurements on Buffy’s arm before finally stopping and dropping on the counter. Ollivander brought out several boxes and took out one of the wands for Buffy to try. “Every wand here is made with a core of a powerful, magical substance like unicorn hair, phoenix feathers, or dragon heartstrings. The wand chooses the witch or wizard. Also no two wands are alike. Here try this one: 10 inches, Yew, and the core of a dragon heartstring. A powerful wand. Give it a wave.” Buffy took the wand and waved. The boxes that were in the general direction of the wand just crashed onto the floor. Buffy apologized immediately, but Ollivander told her it was a common occurrence. He handed her another wand, “11 inches, mahogany, unicorn hair core. Give it a wave.” Buffy waved the wand a small sparks shot out of the tip. “Hmmm…not powerful enough for you. No, no, definitely not the wand for you.” They went through twenty other wands and not one of them matched Buffy. She was starting to lose her patience.

“Look, we’ve been through so many wands already and I’m starting to get tired. Maybe there isn’t a wand for me.” She said tiredly.

“Nonsense, there is a wand for everyone.” Ollivander looked at her for a minute and smiled. “Of course! You are far too powerful to have just any wand. I think I need to get out my most unique creations because none of these wands a strong enough for you.” He walked to the back and came back out with a few more boxes. He took out a wand that was a mixture of polished red and black wood swirled together with a golden tip. “10 ½ inches, a combination of cherry and ebony woods soaked in holy water, and the core of a phoenix feather dipped in the blood of the first slayer. The wood has been hardened over time and the tip of the wand has been dipped in gold. Very powerful indeed. Give it a wave.” Buffy grabbed the wand and felt a surge of warmth flow through her arm. Then with a wave, a burst of a bright light shot out of the wand and lit up the store. “Ah, there you are. This wand was made by one of my ancestors, specifically for a slayer. It cannot be used by anyone other than the wand’s owner. It has also been made so sturdy that it is very hard to break. This is a fighter’s wand. Extremely powerful wand.” He then took the wand and wrapped it up for Buffy. Finally after such a long day, they headed back to their rooms to gather their things before going to Hogwart’s.


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A couple of hours later, Buffy found herself in Dumbledore’s office waiting to be sorted. She sat on a stool and watched the old wizard grab a worn, old, and tattered-looking hat. He placed it on her head and to her surprise it began to talk.

‘Hmm…what have we here? Oh yes, a slayer witch. Where should I put you? You would do well in any of the houses. Enough loyalty to do any Hufflepuff proud. Plenty of courage and bravery for Gryffindor. Also very cunning like a Slytherin. Your parents were in also in Slytherin. An absolutely brilliant mind worthy of Ravenclaw. You manage to pull off that dumb blonde act very well that even your closest friends don’t realize how much you are really fooling them. It does tend to be used to your advantage, but the drawback is people don’t expect you to be serious. You would do your best in either Ravenclaw or Slytherin. Oh, I see such power and intelligence in this mind.'

Buffy started to get impatient and said, “Just put me wherever, but hurry up!”

'Well, a lot of your power is rooted in darkness so it better be…' “SLYTHERIN!” The sorting hat shouted out.

“Excellent. Professor Snape is the head of your house and the Potions master. I will send for him so he can show you to your room. Because of who you are, all of the professors have been informed on your true identity. I advise you to tell no one else of your being a slayer. I also know that you will feel the need to go slaying so I have authorized that you will not have a set curfew like the other students and you are free to slay in the Forbidden Forest. Just be careful because not all of the creatures in there are evil. I have also let the prefects know that curfew doesn’t apply to you. Now the only thing left to discuss is your class schedule. I think that we should work on it at the end of the summer before classes start depending on how far you have come along in your studies. All of the professors will be here to tutor you through the subjects and you will also have to take your OWLs: Ordinary Wizarding Levels. Because you are entering as a seventh year, you will also need to make sure your spells are up to NEWT standards: Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests.” Suddenly, the was a knock and a man with black, greasy hair and a sneer on his face walked in. “Ah Severus, meet Buffy Summers, your newest addition to Slytherin. Please escort her to her room.” Dumbledore addressed the cruel looking man in black robes.

“As you wish, Headmaster. Come along Miss Summers.” Snape responded. He turned and walked out of the door with Buffy following.

As they reached the Slytherin common rooms, they stopped in front of a painting and Snape said, “pureblood.” The door opened up and Buffy saw a room on the other side of the picture. They stepped into the room and Snape led Buffy to a hallway. At the end of the hall was her room. When she stepped inside, she noticed that it was much roomier than it looked. There was a little living room area with a couch and a table with some chairs. The bed was on one end of the room with all of her things already set beside it. “Miss Summers, as you’ve just heard, you need to know a password to get into the common rooms. All of the houses have a common room and passwords are needed to get in. Every house has a different password. You mustn’t tell anyone out of your house the password. I know Dumbledore has decided to give you special treatment because of who you are just like Potter, but I refuse to do the same. In my classes, you will be treated the same as everyone else. Do you understand me?” As he said this, he loomed over Buffy’s head to try and intimidate her like the rest of his students. Of course, she wasn’t.

She looked up at him and said, “Look, you don’t know me so don’t try and make me out to be someone looking for favors. I didn’t ask for this shit so fuck off. You don’t know the kinds of things I have faced every night for the past two years, things that would probably make you piss yourself.”

“How dare you talk to me like that? I am a professor. I demand your respect!” He sputtered.

“Oh I dare because in my world, you are hardly worth being intimidated by. I only give respect when it is earned. Just because you are a teacher doesn’t mean I will bow down to your bullshit. Now I suggest you leave my room before I have to throw you out.” She snarked.

Snape stared at her hard in disbelief that such a little girl refused to cower to him. It intrigued him. Finally, he turned around and left.