Potter in Forks

Chapter 4

"I don't like being gawked at. It's one reason I left England."

Seth shuffled embarrassedly. "Sorry. It's just...you're about the coolest thing to happen around here." He finally blurted out, flushing a dark crimson.

Reese stared a moment before her sense of humor kicked in. "I've been called many things, but never cool." She drawled with a small quirk of her lips.

Seth ducked his head. "Yeah, well...you semi-froze Jake...in wolf form."

"Told you that, did he?"

Seth gave her a mischievous grin and shook his head. "Nessie did."

Reese found herself warming up to this young boy was really about her own age. Besides, this could be a roundabout way of showing the Jerk that she wasn't a witch to mess with. "Want to see some really cool stuff?"

Seth's eyes went round. "Like spells and stuff?"

Reese nodded. "I was going to head down and practice. And magic – that is so much cooler than me."

"Yeah," Seth agreed eagerly.

Reese put her soda can in the sink and waved to him. "Come on, it's downstairs. Safer that way."

Seth followed her eagerly. Jake had ranted about the 'evil witch' and how she was just as much a threat as the cold ones until Nessie had ripped him a new one and refused to let him come near her or speak to her for a week. Jake had been clearly showing signs of Imprint attrition before he admitted that he could possibly be wrong and just wanted to keep her safe from all dangers. Nessie relented only after Jake agreed to tone down his distrust of her future best friend.

Seth grinned as the witch led him into a large room. When he said he was going to check her out the others had said it was a waste of time. She was a recluse and she probably wouldn't give anyone the time of day much less a young squirt like him after all she was twenty-two to his fifteen. Well, he would rub it in their noses tomorrow!

"Okay," Reese murmured and dropped her wand down from its hidden holder into her hand. "I'm going to conjure a strong shield over this corner of the room. That way if anything does get past me or ricochets it won't be able to harm you." She drew a glowing line on the floor. "Behind the line please."

Seth rushed behind the line eager to see 'magic'.

Reese grinned at him. It had been a long time since magic had been...well, magical...to her. Over the years it had become a survival tool and nothing more. Maybe Seth would be able to teach her to find the wonder and awe again.

She murmured a spell and flicked her wand and a shimmering wall of magic rushed up from the glowing blue line to the ceiling. "I'll send a few at the shield so you can see what will happen."

At his nod, she sent a few hexes and jinxes at the shimmering wall. The wall sparked and absorbed the spells sending flashes of color splashing across it.

"Usually, the shields are invisible so not to alert your enemy, but I thought you'd enjoy the light show."

"Oh yeah," Seth was grinning from ear to ear.

Reese shook her head at him, but grinned all the same. She moved over to the middle of the room and swirled her wand, "Activate," she murmured and the training dummies sprung to life.

For the next hour she dodged, ducked, shot spells and shields at the dummies increasing the level of aggression until she was exhausted covered in sweat and minor injuries. She finally deactivated them and summoned a healing potion and a pain reliever before releasing the shield protecting Seth.