A/N: So sorry about the lack of updates for this story, I'm just horrible at updating—particularly because of the lack of ideas. This chapter happens to be a filler too, so, like I said, lack of ideas. But hey, the harvest is coming up, and Hermione's been invited to the Bronze… Hmm, what could happen? ;-) Anyways, if anyone has an idea (Or ideas) please suggest them! I'm not exactly a creative soul, here. Oh, and sorry about the shortness.

OOOOOOOOOO

Learning New Things

I sighed as I set my backpack down next to my desk. I looked at the desk for a minute, contemplating starting to work on the day's assignments, before walking away from it, opting instead for comfort and contemplation.

I flopped onto the bed, and stared up at the ceiling. Harmony would be bursting into the room soon, dictating my 'bronzing' outfit (along with hair, makeup, and accessories), but I was just too tired to care. I had forgotten how emotionally exhausting first days were. It was worse at Hogwarts though. At least here, I already knew a couple of people. (Granted, aren't exactly people I could see becoming close friends with, but still—having someone's better than having no one.) I missed Harry and Ron though. I used to be able to talk to them about anything. I miss the library and learning about magical theories and principles and spells. But what I really wanted was a way to research the unusual magical energy that was just everywhere in this town. Best I could figure is that there was probably a major magical ritual done somewhere in town, and it went wrong, creating a surge of magical energy all over. I should really try and figure out where it was centered, but I didn't even know where to start. During the day, I had tried my best to ignore the magical energy in favor of concentrating on school work, especially since I know that I'm going to have to do major catching up.

I knew that now I would need to check the effects on my own magic. After all, it's always better to check such things in a controlled environment rather than an emergency situation.

I stood up and walked over to the door, locking it just in case. Then I crossed the room to find my Hogwarts trunk, now safely stored in my closet. I knelt down, digging through my spell books and potions ingredients, finally finding the box that held my wand. I walked back over to my bed, gently placing the box on top of the comforter. Cautiously, I opened the lid, seeing my wand lying there in the plush velvet. Just looking at it filled me with a sense of security. I instantly felt more comfortable and more stable in my new environment. But while I looked at it, I noticed it had a slight shimmer, something that I only remember happening once. It was last year, in the Ministry of Magic, by the veil. I remember that when I neared it, my wand started sending little shocks through my hand. I looked down and it had an unnatural shimmer. I decided that in the presence of objects of great magical strength—unbalanced magical strength—my wand would react. I think it had something to do with the dragon heartstring core of my wand. Dragons have a natural resistance to magic, and it seemed that that trait carried over to my wand partially. It doesn't react well with certain types of magic, and it reacts very well with other types. That's how I managed to master the flame spell so quickly and why I have such control over it. But the shimmer, that meant that there was some powerful dark magic floating around this town—definitely not a good thing.

I warily reached out and placed my finger on the wand's surface. Immediately, there was a rough scratching that shot down my spine, making me arch my back in reaction. I snatched my finger back. The magicks—in me, around me, and in the wand—were reacting against each other. But still, I needed to know if I could use the wand in case of emergency. I quickly shot out a hand, wrapping it around the base of my wand. Again, I felt that scratching, but once it was over, all that was left was a tingling wand. I pointed my wand at the pillow on my bed,

"Wingardium Leviosa." I said, performing the required swish and flick. The pillow shot off the bed and smacked against the ceiling before falling back down to rest innocently on the bedspread. The way that spell works, I should have been able to get the pillow to move with my wand movements, but after its initial flight, the pillow stayed where it was.

I sighed and went back into my closet, grabbing a scarf off the shelf. I set it down on the floor and took a couple of steps back. I muttered a Stretching Jinx, and watched as the scarf rapidly multiplied in size. It kept going for a few seconds, before abruptly stopping. The particular jinx that I used causes an object to stretch inch by inch, taking it's time, allowing the spell caster to stop it when it reached a desired size. In my new environment, it just shot out a couple of feet on each side, and stopped.

So my magic was amplified by the surroundings. Or at least the power originally is amplified. Then, it seems like the magic will disappear, or die out or something. Or maybe the magicks in the environment overtake it, which could mean that the magic in the air adapts to maintain a state of stability, probably to keep the population from noticing anything off. I read once that areas of mystical convergence—places where magic is performed often and powerfully—sometimes have a way of taking over small spells and charms. They become pointless in the presence of the bigger magicks. Those, of course, work fine, except that they are sometimes heightened by the residual magic in the air.

I sat down on the floor, leaning against the foot of the bed. So, it seemed that Sunnydale was a bit of a mystery, what with the major magical energy and vampires. Granted, most places have vampires, but usually they're really good about covering their tracks. Leaving bite marks out like that just meant that something unusual was going on. It was probably a fledge, I realized, some new vampire who was just hungry— but as I thought about it, I realized that the fledge theory didn't really make sense. If it was a fledge, the body would have been left lying in an alley somewhere, not stuffed into a locker. No, that was carefully decided to incite panic, which would mean an older vampire, quite possibly a master vampire who wanted to play with his food. Once you get over the first rush of blood lust, you learn to control it, to overcome it. Once they reach a certain point, they stop needing to feed so often. Instead, they start playing games with victims, getting less into the 'pop up and bite' kills and more into the 'stalk your victim and traumatize them until it's a mercy' kills. This seemed to be more in the second category. I just know that somehow I'll be roped into dealing with the vampire, too. That's my type of luck. Plus everyone always says that vampires are attracted to power, and, like it or not, I'm a witch.

So, I've got a master vampire, and magic that's not really working all that great. Perfect, just what I hoped my new life would be like.

OOOOOOOOOO