"Vampeer. Old-timey for vampire."

"So not even a homophone, then. Thanks for the correction."

"Paranormal horror fantasy fan?"

"Not overwhelmingly."

"...For a certain value of 'wondering'."

"Barbecue forks," Delilah says with exaggerated finger quotes.

"A veritable plague of them. I mean, I suppose outdoor cooking is a reasonable year-round hobby, in southern California. And yet."

"No, nor would I, but I confess comparatively little insight into the motives of, what was it, gangs on PCP?"

"Well, you've gotta find ways of entertaining yourself when curfew is 5, you know?"

"My dad actually lets me stay out till sunset, pretty much on the dot. I'm very punctual."

"Lucky you. My Gran's a little more high strung."

"I'm Bella, by the way."

"Delilah. You're new in town, right?"

"Sort of. I was born here and I've been here summers with my dad my whole life, but now me and my sister are planning to live here year-round. I am new at this school, though."

"Oh, you know it better than I do, then. We came over winter break."

"And what, pray, drew you to Sunnydale?"

"...Personal topic?" asks Bella.

"Long story," Delilah says, waving a hand airily. "It's not permanent."

"Fair enough." Bella closes her vampire book. "Would you describe yourself as a fan of paranormal horror fantasy, or what?"

"I like Maggie Stiefvater as much as the next girl," Delilah says, "but I'm also a witch."

"Congratulations. Where does one acquire witchiness?"

"Some combination of talent and practice, same as anything else."

"With what educational materials, was more what I meant."

"Got it. I mostly learned from my parents - they've got a badass library, but it's in Massachusetts. My Gran's got books, but not much for beginners, and there's a magic shop here but you have to know which books are the real deal and which are so-mote-it-be, put-good-energy-into-the-world bullshit."

"Massachusetts is a bit out of the way. Hmm."

"Interested in learning?"

"Quite."

"I'll introduce you to my brother. I hear patience is a thing one needs when attempting to teach."

"That does sound like an asset, though I'm a fast learner when I'm motivated."

"Still," Delilah says firmly. "You don't want me, I promise."

"As you like. What's your brother like, besides patient?"

"He's a junior, massive bio nerd, wicked smart," she says, overemphasizing the Boston accent. "So kind and dependable you want to hate him but can't."

"I like him already. How quickly can introductions be arranged? Is he gonna charge me for lessons?"

Bella holds her hands up in a placating gesture. "I'm very nice!" she assures Delilah.

"You seem nice! I'm just saying."

"Do you hex people a lot?"

"Nah. Not very often."

"Not very often, not very severely, not very permanently?" asks Bella hopefully.

"Oh, yeah, never permanently. I've hexed a toenail or two off when I'm really pissed, but those grow back."

"Okay, I will not have to disassociate from you on principle, then."

"Cool," Delilah says, more amused than relieved.

"And very convenient, I probably couldn't count on finding another helpful witch so promptly if I ruled the first one out on ethical grounds. Oh, I have a question you may be able to answer - is there a particular reason witchcraft and barbecue forks and so on are not common knowledge?"

"Because most people are morons?"

"Is that just why they haven't tended to notice, or also the official reason to coordinate on not telling?"

"It's definitely why they tell themselves there are gangs of PCP-addled barbecue-fork-wielders roaming the streets after sunset even if they have evidence to the contrary. There isn't a, like, coordinated misinformation campaign going, though. That would require all kinds of nonexistent cooperation."

"Okay, good to know, the Magic Police aren't going to come after me for knowing too much or anything."

"Yeah, they only exist in urban legends, don't worry about it. How'd you find out, anyway?"

"Really, you'd think books about immortal bitey death-monsters would be a little more interesting, but no."

"Well, their existence is highly interesting. Their contents..." She shrugs. The bell rings. "Meet you and your brother here after school? Can I bring my sister?"

"Works for me," Delilah says, standing up. "The more the merrier."

And she is not alone!

And here is Delilah!

Bella blinks at him. "Oh! Yeah, we do. Nice to properly meet you, though, I'm Bella, I don't think the history teacher was one of the ones who made me introduce myself to the whole class. And this is my sister Soph."

"I think I have English with you, and Art!" Soph says to Delilah.

"Lucky me," Delilah says.

"Be nice, Del," Neville says. "I'm Neville, good to meet you, too."

"Supposedly you are a potential source of lessons in witchcraft?" says Bella.

"Bella's way more interested than me in doing it, but I'm curious," says Soph.

Delilah will reward her curiosity by glowering with nominally less intensity.

"Possibly," Neville allows. "I mean, I'm willing to try."

"Did I, like, accidentally knock you over in the hall one time and not notice?" Soph asks Delilah.

"I can just about self-teach, given the materials and someone to ask questions of," Bella assures him.

"Del," Neville says with clear exasperation before turning back to Bella. "I meant if you have the aptitude for magic, not if I can teach it."

Delilah immediately switches on her sunniest smile.

"About how common is this aptitude? Is it a binary condition or more spectrum-like?"

"Definite spectrum. And I don't know how common it is, honestly. I don't think anyone's ever been able to run controlled trials."

"A lack of controlled tests could definitely put a kink in knowing that kind of thing, I suppose. Let me put it this way - how easy is it to tell?"

"Does it run in families?" puts in Soph.

"Definite yes on that one."

"That really depends on you," Neville tells Bella, shrugging.

"Depends on me doing what?"

"It's not just sprinkling herbs and saying the right words. Magic is - you have to figure out if you can access it, and how, and that might happen right away or it might take time."

"There is no do. There is only try."

"Well, this sounds potentially time-consuming, but I'm up for it. Where do I start?"

"Definitely not here, that's for sure. Way too conspicuous."

"Somebody's house? Dad works irregular but predictable-in-advance hours, I don't know what your situation is."

"Okay then. Tonight he's supposed to be gone until eight. I've got a car."

"You have most of a car," says Soph. "I'll get my full license soon though."

"5:00 curfew, remember? But we've got a couple hours, at least."

"We could head to The Magic Box first?"

"I bet I could get Dad to flex on our curfew if I demonstrated some magic... But yeah. Where's the Magic Box?"

"Haven't been here that long, spend most of my time inside, and last summer I didn't have the car," says Bella, starting to lead the way to the parking lot. "I've probably seen it, it just didn't stick."

"We can show you," Neville says. "Shall we?"

Neville gives her directions to the shop - it's only a few minutes drive from school.

Delilah is quiet and definitely not watching Soph out of the corner of her eye in the back seat.

Bella drives in the utterly lawful manner of someone whose dad will inevitably hear about it if she is pulled over.

Soph doesn't seem to notice Delilah's watching or pointed not-watching; she's just looking out the window.

And now they are in the parking lot and out of the car! Where will their fantastic adventure next lead?

"So, 98% of this, total bullshit," Delilah tells Bella.

"Good to know," says Bella, who is scanning price tags and wincing.

Soph is charmed by glowing things.

"Yeah, don't touch that," Delilah says over Soph's shoulder. "Not bullshit, might be cursed, better safe than sorry."

"I wasn't going to pick it up. Are there things it's not even safe to look at, out on display?"

"Excellent." Bella takes the book and starts looking for a table of contents or an index, failing which she just skims.

"Probably not. I guess we'll find out if we look at them."

"Is this the only thing we want from here today? I'd like to make as much progress as I can before you need to go home."

"Trial and error kinda thing?" asks Soph.

"Trial and blinded for life, more like."

"Yeah, that'll probably do it for now."

"Yeesh."

Yes, that is what they do! They are all in the car.

And Bella drives them to the Swan house. It is a smallish, niceish house with a front porch and large windows. Bella unlocks the door and heads in, sister at her heels.

Followed by Delilah and Neville! So here they all are, in the Swan house, ready to try to do some magic.

Here they are indeed! Soph disappears into the kitchen. "Anybody else want chocolate milk?"

"None for me," says Bella, flopping onto the couch and taking her new book out of its bag. "Does magic mix badly with chocolate milk or anything?"

"Nnnnnooo," Delilah says, looking shifty.

"Delilah would like chocolate milk, I can see it in her eyes," Neville calls. "Water for me, if it isn't too much trouble?"

"Coming right up!" Soph emerges presently from the kitchen with four glasses on a cutting board like a platter, two chocolate milks partially stirred with spoons still in them, two ice waters. Bella takes a water.

"Thank you," Delilah says. It's a little begrudgingly, but she says it.

"So," Neville says, already frowning in thought, "accessing magic. I can walk you through the basic steps, but you have to find it for yourself, and that might not happen today."

"Let's hear it," says Bella. "Soph, you gonna play along this far?"

"Yeah, sure. And," she adds to Delilah, "you're welcome."

"It's mostly a matter of - not quite meditation, but you want to try to clear your mind and feel power - or energy's a better word, maybe - flowing to you from somewhere. It's a little different for everyone. For me it's like reaching down into the earth and pulling from something bigger than me, but for a lot of people it's more internal than that."

"For almost everyone," Delilah puts in, and puts a fist against her solar plexus. "I feel it here, but our sister Chloe says it feels like opening her shoulders, which makes no sense to me, but there you have it."

"Clear our minds like - meditating or what?"

"And how does one confirm that one has located it for real and isn't producing a placebo effect?"

"Purposeful meditation, if that's a thing? I mean, you're not just clearing your mind. And once you find it, you try to do things with it, and if you can't, then you didn't really find it, I guess."

"Okay. Any other tips before we start closing our eyes and attempting to do this?"

"Don't set anything on fire!"

Delilah flicks a flame back and forth across her fingertips.

Neville rolls his eyes at her.

"It might. What do you feel?"

"Sort of like - standing under a waterfall. That springs into existence on top of my head." She opens one eye, then the other.

"That's probably it," Neville says, still keeping an eye on Soph.

Soph makes a frustrated noise.

Bella sighs and pats her sister on the shoulder.

"Relax," Neville says. "Don't try to force it."

"Why is it that people don't find these things when they're just zoning out in English or something?" wonders Soph.

"I bet some people do. They just don't know what it is or what to do with it."

"Maybe?" Neville says, sounding a little helpless.

Soph thinks about this question, then says, "First thing in the morning."

"Great. However you feel first thing in the morning, try to feel that, then follow that feeling, okay?"

"Okay..." Soph flops over onto the arm of the couch, possibly for effect, squirms till she's comfy, and then, a minute later, puts a hand on her sternum. "...Maybe I have it."

"Damn straight," Delilah says, and leans forward to take Soph's free hand. She turns it palm up and taps the palm with one finger. "Now put it here. Just a little."

"Del," Neville says in warning.

"Shut up, Nev," she retorts.

"Uh - what am I doing exactly?"

"Yeah, uh, please give us exercise parameters first?"

"You'll make a little ball of light, or maybe sparkles or something, I don't fucking know. Neville's here, which means nobody'll get hurt, because he's a special snowflake magical lightning rod anomaly Mary Sue, okay? Just try it."

"Gary Stu," Neville grumbles, but he also relaxes. "You can go ahead and try too, Bella, if you want."

Bella glances between the Longbottom siblings, then puts her hand out, palm up, and makes a concentrating sort of face.

"See? There you go, Soph. Today tiny cloud thing, tomorrow the world."

"Take a break and try again, maybe," Neville tells Bella. "It's harder if you start getting frustrated."

"My level of frustration is under control. I was psyched up to accomplish nothing today at all," Bella assures him. Her hand stays where it is. "Unless you mean something other than frustration per se?"

Soph pokes her tiny cloudy thing. "What do I do with it?" she asks Delilah.

"If you start thinking more about the fact that nothing's happening than about what you want to happen, maybe," he suggests. "Or if you start doubting it. If you still feel okay, though, you can keep going."

"As long as we aren't going to, like, set things on fire if we get too far away from the, what, lightning rod? Then we could go up to our room," shrugs Soph.

"We won't set anything on fire," Delilah promises. "Come on, let's leave them to it."

Neville waits patiently.

"What's the, like - mean and standard deviation on how long this takes people?" asks Bella.

"So basically if I don't get it today I'm looking at a really long haul but still may get it eventually. Mmkay."

"Well, it took me over five years, so. Everyone else in the sample had it within three weeks."

Bella glances up. "Do you know what kept you?" she asks, tentatively, not sure if this is a sore spot or a point of etiquette or what.

"Special snowflake magical lightning rod," he says, with a crooked little smile. "I'm what's known as a ground. I basically don't store magic myself, but I can channel it one way or the other. You can't teach a kid how to access his internal store of magic if he doesn't have one."

"Okay. And mine is basically a waterfall hat so that... might not be a problem I have to look forward to? What are the effects of having waterfall-hat-style magic?"

"That's pretty individual, so who knows, really?"

"No worries," Delilah says. "I just thought we shouldn't show off if Bella's having trouble."

"Yeah. Like, she doesn't have massive jealousy issues, but yeah." She looks at her hand; at some point the cloud has dissipated. "Should I make another one? Are little puffs of magic useful like that or is the little-puffs step just an easy first exercise?"

"Rather than trying to do something with it, see if it feels like there's something it wants to do."

"Yeah, pretty much just an easy exercise. They don't really do anything. You can totally make another if you want, though."

"It's cute! I wonder if it puts out enough light to be handy if I get up for some reason in the middle of the night." She replaces the cloud, this time without the expedient of mime, and watches sparks of lighting set parts of it brightly aglow.

"Mine works pretty well in a pinch," Delilah says, and calls it up. It glows a sullen red in her palm, coiling against itself like a lava flow, the shifting edges revealing crackling heat underneath.

"Ooh, that's pretty," admires Soph. "Okay. So I have a nifty little lantern. What else?"

"Well, what would you like to be able to do?"

"Are we talking more like, 'heal papercuts', or like 'conjure cupcakes', or like 'teleport to school'?"