Ch 11 Can I take it home? Part 3

The clock struck 3 O'clock, the time of her appointment and she immediately felt the telltale sign of a portkey trying to enter her wards, and after a momentary inspection, she let it pass through straight to the entryway.

She stood up and went to the entryway, to welcome her guest, and after a second the man who she was supposed to teach appeared in a swirl of colors. And the moment the portkey stopped spinning him he, instead of standing straight like expected of any adult wizard, fell ungainly on the floor.

She thought that he must have made a blunder or was just a muggle-born not used to Portkeys, so she expected him to at least hurriedly stand up and try to apologize for this unseemly display.

*HeHe*HeHe*

But her eyes suddenly widened at the sheer gall of him, as he just lay there on the expensive rug at her entrance and suddenly started giggling loudly as if he had just heard the funniest joke of his life.

He tried to get up but his hands slipped under him and he once again fell down and started chuckling even harder, all the while she stood there with her eyebrow twitching at the spectacle in front of her.

He got up after a few tries and looked around her home in fascination without even glancing at her, and seemed to look at the various interesting objects placed around her home with his eyes opened completely wide and a wide grin on his face.

"What is the meaning—"

"The vase is so colorful..." Sirius slowly said in wonder while ignoring the woman and moving toward an ancient-looking vase placed beside him, "there are two of them and they look the same, Did you get it from a buy one get one free? Hey, Can I take one of these home with me?" he said while extending his hands toward the empty space beside where the vase was actually placed.

"Ooh it's even passable—look my hands can pass through," he said while running his hands through empty air all the while the host looked on with a stoic look on her face, "Is the other one magical too, " He said while stretching his hands toward the actual vase this time instead of a hallucination, which obviously looked like an expensive relic.

"Huh, what happened... " But his hands seemed to have encountered an invisible barrier of sorts in mid-air.

"Enough!" Beth hissed with her wand raised slightly, finally losing her patience with the insolent fool, "I don't know what you think you are trying to achieve—"

"Oh Wow! You are so old," Sirius said while looking at his host with surprise as if he just noticed her, before he approached her with a dopey smile, "Are you a grandma? I used to have one and she had soft gelly like cheeks, Do you have them too? Can I touch them?"

Sirius didn't wait for a response and immediately started poking the older woman's cheek with a happy grin, all the while the stoic face of the older woman turned more and more murderous as her wand hand kept twitching, wanting nothing more than to erase this foolish creature from the face of the earth.

Beth closed her eyes and took a long deep breath, and when she opened them she flicked her wand, but instead of turning the idiot into a frog, like she wanted to, she just knocked him out, and with another gesture of her wand, he was sent flying straight toward the sofa, which he fell onto *Thump* not gently.

Beth sniffed the air where the idiot had been standing a moment ago, and her eyes suddenly lit up with recognition, and she immediately snorted when she identified the magical herb the smell belonged to, and it also cleared up her confusion about the spectacle she had seen just now.

She stood there for a moment pondering her option before she sighed in annoyance and went toward the fireplace all the while muttering obscenities about a crooked-nosed old goat.

She threw a pinch of floo powder into the fireplace before announcing clearly, "Headmaster's Office,"

The fire flickered for about half a minute before it changed colors and the headmaster's face appeared inside it with his beard struggling to be contained inside the limited space.

"Ah! Beth, I was just about to call you," Dumbledore said while looking at the "young" curse breaker in front of him, "How did your first lesson—" Dumbledore stopped mid-sentence when Beth stepped aside and he saw Sirius lying on the bed, snoring with a dopey grin on his face, "Oh...I see you met Mr. White,"

"He arrived here completely high—on one of the most potent magical drugs I had ever smelled and almost knocked over a 1000-year-old vase which I excavated from a centuries-old Egyptian tomb, and also wanted to take it home with him because it looked pretty," Beth told him with a straight face before she raised her eyebrow and asked, "How do you think the lesson went?"

"Oh..." Dumbledore was a bit speechless for a moment, which wasn't a frequent occurrence by any means, but he quickly gathered himself and tried to salvage the situation, "I am sure there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for this— I mean... look at the way he is dressed—It is obvious that he was actually very serious about this and just happened to run afoul of some unfortunate circumstances. It happens to the best of us..."

"I only agreed to your request because you said that he was very sincere about this and that a young kid's life was on the line, but," Beth paused and looked at the idiot drooling over her sofa, "...from the way I see it, it doesn't seem as if he cares too much about this,"

"Surely you can forgive him this one time?" Dumbledore persuaded, "I am sure we all had some bad experiences when we were young— I clearly remember there was this one time when you were stranded in—"

"You have already called in that favor, you can't use that one again," Beth interrupted with a frown before she continued in a pondering tone, "I can still consider teaching him... if in exchange you promise to teach my granddaughter "That" trick,"

"Ah! That... *Sigh* As I already told you, that is not a trick—it's a very advanced form of magic," Dumbledore shook his head, "And as I said to you before, she is too young to have the amount of magic necessary for that—besides I don't think her mind would be able to handle the load required,"

"My granddaughter is a genius of the highest caliber," Beth said proudly, "You're just saying that because she didn't attend Hogwarts... She is one of the youngest Curse Breakers out there and is already leading a team of her own at such a young age—I am sure she can handle whatever you decide to throw at her,"

"But—"

"No buts," Beth interrupted, "Either you accept the deal or I throw this idiot out of home right now,"

"Ahhh...." Dumbledore sighed and after considering for a few more moments, he conceded defeat, "You drive a hard bargain as always. Alright, I agree with your request, but I will warn you right now. I will not be free for quite a while—What with the tournament and everything,"

"That's alright. Celine is on an expedition right now anyway," Beth said with a small triumphant grin on her face.

"Now, do you need me to send you the antidote for this..." Dumbledore asked her, "Flower he sniffed,"

"No. That's fine," Beth said standing up from where she was kneeling before the fireplace, "I am sure I have some bezoar lying around here somewhere,"

"Alright then. I leave Mr. White here in your care and..." Dumbledore said with sincerity in his tone, "For what it's worth I wasn't lying when I told you that he is very earnest in his desire to learn," Dumbeldore finished and his face disappeared as the fire dimmed.

Beth turned to the nincompoop lying on her sofa and mumbled, "Now what should I do with you," She looked at him for a few moments before a wicked idea appeared in her head, "This is either going to be traumatizing for you or a very good learning experience..." Beth said to the sleepyhead with a mishevious grin the marauders would be very proud of.