Title: Witchy Works
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer + Harry Potter
Author:
evil_little_dogCharacters: Willow Rosenberg, Hermione Granger
Words: 299
Rating: Gen
Summary: Willow’s learning potions from Hermione.
Warnings: Post-Chosen
Disclaimer: Joss never writes, never calls - I’m still gonna play in his sandbox, though.
fanfic_bakeoff prompt: “Sticky”; written for
scratchingpost1 for
fandom_stocking.
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Willow stared into the cauldron, frowning slightly at the brew within. “Are you sure it’s supposed to look like that?”
Hermione sighed. “Yes.”
Wondering if she’d sounded like that when she was Hermione’s age, Willow knew she had to, remember Xander’s eye rolls. “I’m not used to working with potions like this,” she admitted, giving Hermione a slight smile. “O-or other witches…I’ve only done that a few times.” She spared a fleeting memory for Tara. “I really appreciate you taking time to meet with me, Hermione, and help me with this sort of thing.” She stirred the potion carefully with a willow stick - how ironic. “I mean, I’ve studied witchcraft, but not to the extent of there being a school, and students, and teachers…if Ms. Calendar had lived, maybe, but even then, it was Roma magic, not something like this.”
Mollified, Hermione nodded abruptly, her bushy hair nearly obscuring her face. “It’s all right,” she said, then startled. “Oh! You need to add the mugwort, right now!”
“What?” Willow looked at the herbs on the tray next to her, then the cauldron, reaching for something and dropping it into the potion.
The explosion left everything sticky, and smelling of, well, poo.
“Oops?” Grinning, Willow offered Hermione a sheepish apology. Hermione sighed, brushing at the sticky gunk on her forehead. Willow helped clean up the room, and washed the cauldron and dried it carefully before returning it to the small flame.
“Let’s try again, shall we? With the right ingredients this time!” Hermione pointed at the fresh batch of herbs another things strewn on the small platter.
Taking a breath, Willow said, “Add one dram of oak water,” pausing to look at the younger girl, who bobbed her head. Well, at least it was better than a scolding from Giles.
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