"So Ambrose Academy is out." Annabel says after I relay the message about both my guests of the day. "Then how about Smokey Woods?"

I shake my head. Unlike me, Annabel went to Smokey Woods, a magic school located in the mountains of Tennessee. The school brought in children from all over the southeast united states, minus the southern half of Florida and the bottom edge of Mississippi. I spent a couple years there as a teaching assistant after I graduated from Ambrose Academy. It's how I got Annabel as an assistant.

"I'm going to try and give Principal Abernathy a call in a bit. But I'm not sure. He's had a sudden influx of students in the last few years and I don't know that he'll have an open spot." I take a sip of my iced tea and close my eyes. "Plus...well Lee might not exactly...fit in."

Annabel gives a begrudging nod. Lee's very Asian features would stand out starkly at Smokey Woods. He'd probably be the only Asian student in the whole school.

"But I wanted to get him a staff." Annabel whines. Unlike most of the wizarding world the wizards and witches that came through Smokey Meadows all used staves instead of wands. There were certain benefits to having a big walking stick instead of a small wand.

Like being able to smack a bitch upside the head.

"It's still possible. Plus I'd love to see Lee get a southern accent." I grin madly at the image. Lee would hate it.

"A posh British one would suit him though." Annabel adds, immediately making my mood sour. Annabel's own face grew somber at my reaction. "Why do you hate England so much?"

That was a tough one. I have never gone over my meta knowledge with anyone else. Aside from a drunken night that still had people looking at me like I'd grown a second head. At this point is was more the fact that I had never brought it up before that keeps me silently. After all, to do so now begs the question of why I didn't trust them enough to tell them earlier and I'm just not ready for that question.

Conflict avoidance at it's finest.

"I have certain information." I finally admitted. "Their Dark Lord, Voldemort, he's not dead. He became some sort of lich. He's there still lurking and wanting to hit it big again. No one can beat him unless they gather his McGuffins. Plus, ya know, all the racism." I admit in a dry tone, like one talks about earthquakes happening in other countries.

"Oh." Annabel responded in kind, though hardly flinching at the subject. The southern belle had experienced the power of two different Dark Lords with me and a more personal hatred than racism before I came around. This wasn't anything particularly impressive to her. "That is a pickle."

"But their whole thing was blood purity right?" Annabel asked rhetorically, "Lee would be fine. He's pureblood."

"Yeah. And they'd call you a mudblood." I say with a shake of my head. "I don't need some pompous so-and-so getting me in trouble for asking me to punch him in the face."

"You won't have to." She says, picking up her cypress staff. The gnarled wood comes up to her chin when she is standing and is about two inches thick. The staff is topped with an egg-shaped geode that has a holes drilled in the seven places to give just a peek of the purple crystals inside. It also has the foot of a jackalope somewhere inside it, which acted as it's core. "Lucky here can change the minds of anyone stupid enough to say that around me."

"You would be both a foreigner and a muggleborn. Lots of the elites there will hate you for just being yourself."

"Right. And you just being yourself will work just as quickly." Annabel says with an eyeroll. "You put a bee in the bonnet of every upper crust snob we've ever crossed paths with."

"I still want to see if we can get Smokey Woods. If we can't it's basically no decision at all." I say in lieu of acknowledging the flagrant exaggeration of my apprentice. Upper crust snobs have only swore a blood feud with me a few...dozen times. Hardly worthy of note. I made plenty of them very happy with me and my work.

"What? No Ilvermorny?" She teases.

"God no." I reply, which results in a slap on my arm. "Oh come on. That's not in vain."

She glares at me.

"If there is a God that cares about me swearing by their name I'm going to be going to hell for plenty of other reasons well before that."

It's an old argument. One neither of us are ready to rehash currently.

"And you're sure he HAS to use a wand or staff?" She asks me.

"Yes. Our past is going to catch up with us eventually. He needs the combat abilities that comes with a staff or wand." A wizard doesn't always need one of those. Plenty of wizard communities don't use them. But those same communities tended towards long ritual like magic or potions, which historically do a poor job of stopping a wizard from apparating behind you and cursing you when you step outside for a smoke or to get groceries.

"Well if that's the worry you can always have him go to" Annabel slows as she she says the next part, Spanish didn't mix well with southern country accents, "Isla del Triangulo."

"Really? You are suggesting he go learn Hoodoo?"

"Of course not." She shakes her head, "I'm just sayin' that if combat mattered most to you, that's where you'd send him. You're looking for more than that."

I wince. It was a fair assessment. Isla del Triangulo was an odd mix of African, Native American, and European traditions that made for something very potent and impressive. If only it's magical community could stop from all killing each other. Grudges ran deep and old in Ile de Triangulo, and it had a bad reputation for good reason. Learning, and even using the Dark Arts was not optional. Being able to cast the Killing Curse was on the final exam for graduation.

"Fine. Yes. If only because he only knows English and his Mandarin has atrophied, Lee needs an English speaking school. So with all that it amounts to either Smokey Woods or Hogwarts."

"Well then why you sitting here like a bump on a log? Call Principle Abernathy and see if we can get Lee in." Annabel said excitedly. "I'd love to show him the Crystal Falls."

"Fine, it's what, 9 PM there? He's probably about to head to bed. I'll see if I can get ahold of him. Can you handle starting dinner?" I ask.

"Sure 'nuff." She responds as she hikes up her sleeves. "I think this will be a great pulled pork night."

I give a wave a agreement and waked away. I trusted most anything Annabel made in the kitchen. Being a first class potions maker seemed to pair well with being a chef.

I move with purpose to my study. There was a very real risk I couldn't contact the Principle if I didn't hurry. The man followed the creed "early to bed, early to rise" zealously, and it took some real convincing to get the man to allow students a curfew later than six o'clock. That's what you get when the head of your magic school spent most of his life as a farmer I suppose.

I open the top drawer of my desk and start to rummage through the various papers, knickknacks, paperclips, a few pieces of gum, and one or two items that should NOT have been in a drawer a child could poke around in. Finally I just lean down and put my head and the top of my torso into the seemingly small containment space.

"Ah ha!" I cry as I pull free the horn of a stag the length of my arm and the width of my torso. Unlike a normal deer horn though, this one was a transparent blue, almost as if made from glass. It was an interesting bit of enchantment in this thing. Deer shed their horns every year and the Ghost Deer lived indefinitely. Principle Abernathy had figured out to link every pair of horns that a single Ghost Deer shed so you could use it like a phone.

The feat was damn impressive, and it really made a name for old Jabidiah Abernathy. Still trying to figure out why he didn't just use an actual phone though.

I twist the antler's horns a bit, fanning them out for a better signal, then finally tap my wand against it's base and muttering "Communicus."

The base of the horn peeled up and away, exposing a dark abyss that had no business being in the semi-transparent material. The sound of banjo music and the crackle of a fire poured through.

"Mr. Abernathy, are you there? It's Septima."

The banjo suddenly cut out. There was the sound of things being moved around before finally an old voice that spoke with the very essence of Tennessee came through.

"Lil' Sepi! That you? What in the Sam Hill are you doin' callin a man this late. You ain't trying to start nothing is ya? Cause I'm still plum perfect with the missus."

"But Jeb. My love is pure, and burns in my loins with the fires a thousand suns." I state dryly.

"Oh. Well ya hear that Edna! Sepi's calling to steal me away from you!" He calls away from the horn.

"You can have him." I heard as a distant reply.

"You hurt me Edna, right here." The old man's voice moves back closer the horn, "So what can I do fer you sweetie?"

"Well, I've run into some trouble. It's about Lee."

"That youngin' you picked up?"

"Yeah. The school I was planning on taking him to has grown-" I hesitate for a moment. Jeb was the sort of man that moved mountains for children. If the stories are to be believed that was true in a very literal sense. The man wasn't meant to be trifled with. He also had the subtlety of a hammer to the face. If I wasn't careful he'd fly here and try and drag Abrose Academy's headmaster out of the school by his ear.

"It's grown inconvenient for us to go there." I finally decide on.

"Inconvenient? Do I need ta kick down doors and tan some hides?" He asks.

I hear vague muttering in the background. "I can too woman! I have the stamina of an ox!"

I shook my head. How this man ended up in any sort of political position was very much in question to me.

"No. Don't think you're there yet. But I was wondering if you had an opening for Lee there? I know this is a little last minute."

The line went worryingly silent.

After a full minute of tense silence the voice came back on.

"I'm sorry Sepi. I can't. I used every last one of my favors this year already. It's been a bad batch for some o' the firsties this year. I'm already over capacity by a mile." The voice on the horn sounded like he just said he had to put his own dog down. For all his faults, Principle Abernathy cared deeply for his charges.

I didn't have to ask what the issue was. It was a constant problem in Smokey Woods. Most of the students come from homes that were in the bible belt. Homes that were raised being told "Suffer not a witch to live." Most students were fine, but many others...well they needed someplace to go to get away from their parents.

"I figured that might be the case." I say with disappointment.

"Sorry Sepi. Though my ol' checkers buddy was askin' fer someone of your skill set recently. I pointed him yer way. He runs a fancy pants school in England. He might could help ya out."

I take a moment for the dial up tone in my head to clear up as my mind slowly caught up with what he just said.

"You're old checkers buddies with Albus Dumbledore?" I ask in shock.

"Sure enough am. He used to trade knitting tips with Edna first tho. Ain't that right Edna?"

That...sounds perfectly in line with what I know of Dumbledore actually. Though I'm not sure if the combo of Dumbledore and Abernathy being friends is cute, weird, or terrifying.

"I spoke with him already." I say. "He is willing to give Lee a spot, but I just wanted to see if I could get him into Smokey Woods first."

"I'd be pleased as punch to have you around again Darlin', but I think the old Pimple Pig school is your better option."

I give a laugh. I had never once heard Jeb ever call another Wizard school by it's correct name. I am certain he did it on purpose.

"Alright. Thanks Jeb. I'll send you some fresh fire-nuts before I leave California."

"No problem Sepi. Edna will probably have a pie waiting for you wherever you end up. You take care now. I gotta take my frustrations on your rejecting me out on my wife."

I roll my eyes. "You do that Jeb. Bye."

The connection breaks and the hole in the bottom of the horn closes up.

Well. That was it then. Annabel will be disappointed. Still, there were a lot of positives for this. This was only the first year anyways, that was nothing. I could handle any of the trouble from that easy.

A 12 year-old managed it. I think I can get by. Besides, it's not like the Midas Order would travel half-way across the world for just one little key.