Title: A Veritable Cornucopia - STA 2

Author: C-Man

Disclaimer: You can't sue me, I'm broke! Ha! But I still don't own these characters. In fact, I stole the story concept too, so I own nothing!

Rating: PG-13, I think

Summary: Living through sophomore year in high school was never something Xander wanted to repeat, but at least he knows what's coming. Doesn't he?

Spoilers: Basically all of season one, with references from throughout the series.

Distribution: Hey, get your grubby hands away from my fic!!! Actually, I could care less. Want? Take. Have.

Feedback: Absolutely. It's like a drug. umrohrig@cc.umanitoba.ca

Notes: This is Part Two of the "Second Time Around" series. This part will encompass all the events and stuff that happens between "The Harvest" and "Prophecy Girl".

... - thoughts

* * * * * - time passes



Chapter VII - Bewitched



January 27, 1997

4:00 PM

SHS Library



Rupert Giles stepped out of his office carrying his late-afternoon cup of tea in one hand and balancing an open book in the other. As he did most days after classes had let out, he put aside the regular work of a high school librarian and delved into his collection of occult lore. Whether researching an immediate threat or merely expanding his already impressive knowledge of the supernatural, it was one of the few joys in his life.

The Slayer assigned to him by his overseers on the Watcher's Council, Buffy Summers, was late arriving for their regular after-school meeting. Which was not surprising in the least to Giles. Buffy showed great potential as Slayer, but she was much too cocksure and individualistic for his tastes. She insisted on maintaining a healthy social life while carrying out her sacred duties at the same time.

It had to do, Giles guessed, with the fact that she had not been trained beforehand by the Watcher's Council. Normally, potential Slayers were identified well before they were called, and brought over to the Council's drab way of thinking. Miss Summers, however, had been called out of the blue, at a much younger age than most Slayers. Her normal 'American teenager' way of thinking had not been quashed. As a result, she'd tried to integrate her Slaying into her current life, instead of letting it become all-encompassing, as the Council dictated.

Of course, Buffy's track record was all but proving the Council guidelines wrong. She'd been Slayer for less than a year and had already racked up more kills than most Slayers get in their unfortunately short lifetimes. She'd slain three vampires over three hundred years old in that time, a nearly unprecedented feat. It was all starting to shift Giles' opinion away from reprimanding Buffy's 'oversocialization,' as the Council called it, toward just accepting it.

He still had a long way to go on that score, though.

Giles set his tea to the side as he sat down at the table, still engrossed in the old tome he was reading. He was looking for information on a binding spell for a certain demon the group had discovered soon after the Harvest. A demon whose existence Xander had clued him in on.

The day after the Harvest, Xander had paid Giles a visit after school. Giles was slightly uncomfortable around the young man at first. In their first meeting, Xander had called Giles 'Ripper,' a nickname known only to his less than respectable former compatriots back in England. As 'Ripper,' Giles had committed acts of which he was not proud, and he'd tried to bury his past when he joined the Watcher's Council full time. Xander had put him at ease, however, when he said he wouldn't tell the others what he knew about the Watcher's past, until the time came. Xander wouldn't say what he meant by that little addition.

Xander did, however, make one thing clear. Giles would only have his help under one condition: he didn't tell the Council about him. Xander said he didn't trust them as far as he could throw them. Giles had a sneaking suspicion why that was. If he was from the future, and Buffy survived past her eighteenth birthday, he would know about the Cruciamentum. It was a test of the Slayer's natural skills that went back centuries in Council tradition. Three out of every four Slayers ever to undertake it had perished. It was not an exercise Giles was looking forward to. With a little less reluctance than he thought he would muster up, Giles conceded the point.

After his reassurances, Xander had told Giles about two future threats that could be nullified quickly and easily. The first was a demon called Moloch the Corrupter, who had been banished into a book centuries before. Xander explained that the demon had broken free in his timeline when the book was scanned onto a computer. Giles had scoffed that those 'dread machines' were nothing but trouble, anyway. They had spent the rest of the night searching for the book, and eventually found it. Giles took it home with him and locked it in a safe place until a binding spell could be found to permanently tie Moloch to the tome he possessed.

The second problem was one Giles had a hard time believing. A giant praying mantis in human form running amuck biting the heads off virgins? It sounded ludicrous. Or, at least it did until Xander reminded Giles of an old associate from Oxford with degrees in entomology that had encountered such a beast before. Chagrined, Giles contacted his old friend Carlyle the next day and had gotten the information out of the institutionalized old man to confirm Xander's story.

A few days later, after Xander had found the creature's home (his memory had become a bit foggy after four years), Giles, Xander and Buffy went in after it, armed with a machete and a tape player with recorded bat sonar. Giles had knocked on the door, with Buffy and Xander flanking him, their hands behind their backs concealing their weapons. Giles was struck dumb by the tall beauty that answered and felt an almost instant, lustful attraction to her. He kept telling himself afterwards that it was only the pheromones the creature was giving off.

When he saw Ms. French, Xander brought the tape recorder out and pushed play. A high-pitched, almost inaudible screeching filled the air, and the woman before them ... for lack of a better phrase, morphed into a six foot tall, green insect. Paralyzed by the sound, Ms. French could do nothing when Buffy leapt forward and kicked her back inside the house. For the next minute or so Buffy hacked the monster to pieces with the two men looking on, grimacing. That done, Xander led them downstairs, where they found a nest of huge eggs and several human-sized cages. They chopped the unborn offspring into mulch, and then went on their way.

Giles sighed over his reading. It had been a very strange month.

Just then, the library doors opened, and Giles looked up to see Buffy walking in. His jaw dropped at the sight of her. She was practically skipping into the library, waving red pompoms around. She wore a short red skirt and a yellow long sleeve top. Giles had been in this country long enough to recognize the general ensemble of a cheerleader. Those pea-brained, well-endowed girls that pranced around the sidelines at basketball and American (American he emphasized in his head) football games. His Slayer wanted to be a cheerleader.

Giles stood up from his reading, staring at Buffy incredulously. "What in God's name do you think you're doing?"

Buffy stopped skipping and gave her Watcher an odd look. "Showing school spirit?" she asked hesitantly.

Giles walked over to the other end of the table still glaring at her. He shook his head disbelievingly "This is madness! What can you have been thinking!? You are theSlayer. Lives depend on you!" Giles said, exasperated. He started pacing in front of Buffy at this point. "I make allowances for your youth, but I expect a certain amount of responsibility, and instead of which you enslave yourself to this-this ... Cult!?"

Confused, Buffy looked down at her outfit. "You don't like the colors?" she asked innocently.

"I'd," Giles sighed, aggravated. "Do you, um, do you ignore everything I say as a, as a rule?"

"No, I believe that's your trick."

Giles would have moaned out loud if his dignity would have allowed it. He tried a tack he knew almost immediately would fail. "You have a sacred birthright, Buffy. You were chosen to destroy vampires, not to ... wave pompoms at people. And as your Watcher, I forbid it."

Buffy glared at him. "And you'll be stopping me how?"

Sighing again, Giles responded. "By appealing to your common sense, if such a creature exists."

"Sorry to say, Giles," a voice called out from the door. Slayer and Watcher turned to see Xander standing there. "But I think Buff slayed that creature a looong time ago."

Buffy cast a narrow eyed glare his way, placing her hands on her hips. "Speak for yourself Mr. Can't-Tell-An-Insect-From-A-Woman."

Xander gasped in betrayal, and angrily pointed at her. "That's the last embarrassing moment of my past I'm ever sharing with you, you ... pompom-waving hussy!"

"Oh yeah, you ... fashion-victim of the year!?"

"Yeah!!" he shouted back. They glared at each other for a few more seconds. Suddenly, Xander perked up and his look of anger vanished instantly. "So, ready for tryouts Buffster?"

Buffy's expression also completely softened, and she grinned back. "You better believe it!" she said, then turned to leave and jauntily walked toward Xander. "Oh, and Giles," she threw over her shoulder. "Don't get your tweed boxers in a bind. This won't affect my slaying."

Giles simply stared at the departing duo, marveling again at the insanity that was teenage behavior.



Xander could not believe how well things had been going lately. Since the Harvest, Buffy had not encountered a single vampire on her nightly patrols. It seemed the Master's forces had been hurt even more than he'd thought. They'd also taken care of two of the biggest mistakes he remembered the Scoobies making in sophomore year: Bug Lady and the book demon. Xander himself had gotten back into his old high school routine, and, wonder of wonders, he was actually *coasting* through his classes. All the carpentry work he'd done made geometry easy, and all the reading and researching on demons-of-the-week made history and english tolerable.

He had gotten back into best buddy mode with Willow and Jesse. Having Jesse back was great. After he had died, Xander never really made any guy friends. Oz and Riley being exceptions, but they left before he could bump them up to best friend status. They talked about guy stuff that Willow or Buffy never understood or cared about. The number one topic, of course, was chicks. Xander had wondered if he could set Willow up with their life long best friend, but that idea was squelched by Jesse's obliviousness to Willow as anything but his best friend. When he'd asked Jesse about it, he'd been given a look that said, 'Are you insane?' It reminded Xander of his own obliviousness to Willow's crush on him in those early years.

The last, and most important, reason for Xander's current happiness was, of course, Buffy. They'd been hanging out with each other more than they had with anyone else since she'd come to Sunnydale. The initial awkwardness had been surpassed after a few days, and they'd become fast friends. And both had been hinting at more. Innuendoes were hurled back and forth. Furtive glances taken when one thought the other wasn't looking. Buffy wore her short, short skirts and tight, tight shirts, and Xander spent three months allowance on a half-decent wardrobe and a little gift he was about to bestow. The situation had really hit home to Xander last Thursday when Buffy bumped into Owen Thurman in the hallway and not even given him a second glance. That's when he realized it.

She was infatuated with him. She, Buffy Summers, was infatuated with him, Xander Harris. He was giddy for the rest of the weekend.

So, as they walked down the hall to the gym, (actually, Xander walked, Buffy was bouncing and shaking her pompoms) Xander decided to move things forward.

"Hey, Buff, I've got somethin' here for ya," he said, reaching into his backpack.

"Oooh, give it to me, Xand," she said with a smirk.

He almost tripped over his feet when he heard those words come out of her mouth.

"First day with your new feet?" she asked.

"Fine," Xander said. "Mock me. Now, you're not getting your gift."

"Gift?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah, a good luck present for your tryouts. But now..."

"Oh please, Xand, please! It would mean ever so much to me," she begged, batting her eyelashes and pouting.

That combo never failed to break Xander's resolve, even though he was going to give in anyway. He smiled and pulled a small box out of his bag.

"Are you gonna propose?" Buffy asked.

"Nah, that's next week," he answered, and handed it to her.

Buffy eagerly accepted it and opened it. She gasped and her eyes widened at what was inside, before breaking out in a wide smile. Check and Mate. The White Knight checks the Black King

Buffy carefully extracted the stylized gold cross necklace from its box. Light glinted off it as it twirled within her grasp. Xander had purposely picked out something that would put Angel's silver cross necklace to shame, even if they would never be compared.

"Xander, it's beautiful," Buffy said in a breathy tone.

"Well, then it's got the perfect owner," Xander stated with a soft smile. Buffy blushed and smiled shyly at that. "Besides, it's as practical as it is becoming. Think of it as your last line of defense against any vamp that tries to put the bite on ya."

She was smiling her heart-attack-inducing half-smile at Xander as he tried to lighten things up. "Thank you, it's the best 'good luck in your cheerleader tryouts' gift I've ever gotten." Buffy stepped closer to him, stood on her tip toes and gave Xander a lingering peck on the cheek.

Xander was surprised at her show of tender affection, but there was not the slightest possibility in perpetuity throughout the universe that he was going to complain. He smiled down at the blond beauty as she clasped the necklace together behind her neck. "All right. Go knock 'em dead, Buff! Not literally though. Unless you wanna take out some of the competition?"

Her laughter at his stupid joke just made his day.



* * * * *



4:30 PM

SHS Gymnasium



Jesse was in heaven. Or what he hoped heaven would be like when he died. Watching the hottest girls in school dressed in short skirts and clingy sweaters bouncing, flipping, stretching and rolling around would certainly be an ideal way to spend eternity.

"Jesse, pull your tongue back in your mouth," Willow said, standing beside him.

He was started out of his drooling trance by his friend's words of warning. "Yeah. Yeah, I know."

"Did you even hear what I said?" Willow asked, smirking.

"Yes. Yes I did." Jesse said.

"Whatever," Willow said rolling her eyes. The cheerleaders were winding down their warm-ups. "Where's Xander?"

"Oh, uh, he went to get Buffy from Giles at the-the Library. She was running a little late," Jesse saw Willow's face drop a little at the mention of their new friend. Or rather the mention of Xander being anywhere near her. Jesse wasn't as blind as everyone thought. He knew how Willow felt about Xander. It was obvious to everyone who cared to look, except for the object of her affections himself. Jesse also saw the way Xander and Buffy acted around each other, and it was equally obvious that they were headed towards 'datesville' pretty soon. Unfortunately, that meant Willow was going to get hurt, as she so easily did.

How does he do it? Jesse wondered to himself. Xander somehow managed to get two great girls to want him, while he was barely a blip on the radar of Sunnydale's female population. Not that Jesse was jealous of who Xander had jonesing for him. Willow was his friend, always had been. And Buffy, well, Jesse could see why Xander was so interested in her, but she just seemed like one more pretty girl in a sea of them. He must have a history ... uh, future history ... whatever, with her that he'd want to shower her with attention instead of someone like...

Cordelia walked out of the woman's locker room in her cheerleader get-up, a superior aura surrounding her as she looked down her nose at her competitors.

Jesse honestly didn't know what he saw in Cordelia that made his heart race every time she was in spitting distance. What a crock! You know exactly why! It's because she's the hottest girl in school! In town, even! She could, and does, insult you every chance she gets, but you still worship the ground she walks on

"Hey, guys," Buffy said, walking up to them with Xander behind. Jesse noticed she had on the gold cross Xander had showed him. She was also grinning from ear to ear, so it looked like his friend's gift had been well received. Oh, yeah. He's gonna score

"So, how'd it go with Giles?" Willow asked. A melancholy look passed over her face when she saw Buffy's new necklace. Wow, she figured that out fast. But then, she's always been the smart one

"He totally lost his water. We haven't seen a vampire in a week. I'd say he should get a girlfriend if he wasn't so old." Buffy answered.

"Well, we're behind you," Willow assured her.

"Yeah!" Jesse piped up. "Who's he to say you can't live your life and kill evil fiends at the same time!"

"Are you losers on something?" Cordelia asked, walking up. She'd overheard Jesse's 'evil fiends' comment.

"Hey, Cordy," Jesse said, smiling from ear to ear. "Love the outfit."

Unfortunately for Jesse, his praise went unheard, as Cordelia had once again zoned him out. "Just look at that Amber," she scoffed. "Who does she think she is, a Laker girl?"

"I heard she turned them down," Willow put in, at which Cordelia rolled her eyes.

As the cheerleading coach blew her whistle and tried to get the girls organized, Jesse was bemoaning his taste in women, again. I am an idiot. I like Cordelia, but to her I am less than the dirt on her shoes. Why, oh why, can't I like a nice, yet still hot, girl?

"Amy! Hi!" Willow exclaimed to a blond girl who had just walked up to stand beside her.

"Hi," Amy said, somewhat reticently.

Amy!?!? But she ... I mean ... where'd the rest of her go!? Jesse's thoughts were swirling and he couldn't take his eyes of the new, well-proportioned Amy Madison.

"I didn't know you wanted to be a cheerleader. You lost a lot of weight," Willow complimented.

And how! The last time I saw her she was like, a hundred seventy pounds!

"Had to," Amy said, smiling.

"Do you know Buffy?" Willow asked pointing to their new friend.

She didn't, so they exchanged 'Hi's.

Amber had started her routine on the floor, and Amy sighed, discouraged. "Oh how I hate this. Let me count the ways."

While they watched Amber's performance, and the cheerleaders talked shop, Jesse kept stealing looks at Amy. Wow, she looks ... hot. Plus, she's really ... nice. Hey! That's just what I wanted! It must be, like, a sign from the Hellmouth, or something! I'm gonna ... I'm gonna ... what the heck am I gonna do? She may be just what I'm looking for in a girl, but I'm still me. Jesse, the woman repeller! OK, here's an idea. You haven't said a word to her yet. Start off with 'hey, how's it goin' or something

Jesse walked around behind everyone, and made his way next to Amy. He saw Xander look at him curiously, which turned into a smirk when he saw what he was doing.

When Jesse was finally standing next to her, he cleared his throat, and opened his mouth to speak. "Hey, Amy, ho-"

"What the...!" Buffy interrupted, staring at the scene on the gym mats.

"That girl's on fire!" Willow shouted, pointing at Amber.

Jesse looked up and his eyes almost popped out of his head. Amber's hands were smoking. A second later, they actually burst into flames. The girl was screaming and shaking her hands around, trying to put the fire out. Everyone was too stunned to move.

Except for Buffy. Those Slayer instincts sure come in handy Jesse thought. She jumped onto the bleachers and tore down one of the few school banners hanging around the gym. Running back to the gym floor, she barreled into Amber, knocking her down, and proceeded to use the banner to smother the flames.

Everyone was still in shock. "Well that's something ya don't see every day," Jesse finally pointed out.



* * * * *



5:00 PM

SHS Library



"Ah, good, you're back," Giles said as the group entered the library. He had, as usual, an old dusty book in his hands. He was still perusing it and didn't see the somber expressions on their faces. "I've found a binding ritual that should keep the-the demon Moloch tied t-to..." he trailed off as he glanced up when the usual inane chatter hadn't accompanied the quartet into the room. "What's wrong?"

"Girl ... gym ... h-hands on fire," Willow stuttered out, looking quite shaken.

"Beg your pardon?" Giles asked, perplexed.

Buffy sighed and clarified for her tongue-tied friend. "One of the girls at cheerleader tryouts was doing her routine when all of a sudden, her hands burst in flames."

Giles cocked his eyebrow. "Burst into flames?"

"Like an ant under a magnifying glass," Jesse confirmed.

"Well, that's ... quite unusual," Giles stated.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Ya think? So, any ideas, professor?"

Xander cleared his throat abruptly and drew everyone's attention to him. "Um, hi. Guy from the future here."

Buffy glared at him, and the others looked a little upset as well. "You knew that was going to happen and you didn't tell us!? Amber could have been killed!"

Xander held his hands out in appeasement. "Woah! Woah! Before you all go jumping to conclusions, hear me out, all right?" He took their silence as permission to continue. "Now, first off, I'm not always going to tell you everything that's gonna happen. Some things you have to discover on your own, or else, well, things could get outta whack. You'll just have to trust me when I say that I'd never do anything to hurt you guys, or anyone else. OK?" A lot of the tension drained out of the room, and Buffy smiled apologetically at Xander.

"All right. Second of all, I didn't tell you about Amber, because you all had to look surprised, because the person responsible was in the gym with us." His friends' heads perked up.

"Who was it?" Willow asked.

"Well, it was kinda Amy."

"AMY!?" Jesse blurted.

"Kinda Amy'?" Buffy asked, more under control.

"Yeah," Xander said, sheepishly. "Wills, Jess, you know how Amy's mom is a real witch?" His old friends nodded. "Well, the thing is, she's a real witch."

"There are witches, now?" Jesse asked. "Like, fly-around-on-a-broomstick, pointy-hat-wearing witches?"

Giles broke into the conversation. "A-and, what does this Amy's mother have to do with this?"

"She cast a spell that switched her body with her daughter's. Mrs. Madison used to be a big-time cheerleader in high school, and now she wants to relive her 'Glory Days'."

Giles looked like he was having a hard time believing what he was hearing. "Y-y-you're saying that a witch i-is casting spells on innocent people so that she could become a-a cheerleader?

"Yeah, that's about the size of it."

"Right. Well, that settles it. You Americans are all out of your bloody minds."

"Well," Buffy put in. "She did sound pretty obsessed with the whole cheerleading scene when I talked to her..."

"B-but, Amy was never like that!" Willow continued, excitedly.

"All right!" Jesse said, anxiously. "Let's saddle up! Scooby Gang to the rescue!"

"Whoa, pardner," Xander said with a smile. "It's not really that simple. First, we've gotta switch their bodies back. Then, we've gotta decide what we wanna do with Mrs. Madison."

"Whaddaya mean?" Jesse asked. "Buffy's the Slayer, she'll slay her!"

"Look, Amy's mom may be an evil psycho, but she's still human, and Buffy doesn't kill people. That's called 'murder'."

"I agree," Giles concurred. "It is one of the Slayer's cardinal rules that she can harm humans only in self-defense."

"So, what did you do?" Willow asked. Xander looked at her, confused. "I-I mean what happened the last time?"

"Well ... no one really knew," Xander said slowly. He cut off the chorus of exclamations before they could come. "What happened was, we switched their bodies back, and Catherine, that's Amy's mom," Xander added to Buffy and Giles. "freaked out and tried to kill us. She cast a spell, but Buffy reflected it back at her with a mirror, and she just ... vanished into thin air. We never found out where she disappeared to, and I don't remember what the spell was."

"And since we don't know the spell, we can't be sure it'll happen that way again," Buffy finished. Xander nodded. "So, Giles," she asked, turning to her Watcher. "any suggestions?"

Giles looked thoughtful for a moment, and took off his spectacles to give them a good cleaning. "Uh, well, a-a banishment ritual of some sort, I-I suppose c-could be useful..." he trailed off, deep in thought, and then blinked as he came to a realization. "The ritual!"

"What ritual?" Jesse asked, pretty much lost, by this point.

"T-the ritual I found before you came in! The one to bind Moloch indefinitely to the book! It's a-a fairly general incantation, a more powerful derivative of-of the original spell that trapped the demon there. It may work on other supernatural, um, creatures."

"Can you work it?" Buffy questioned.

"I-it's fairly straightforward, yes," Giles confirmed, but then frowned. "Although I will need a second when I perform the casting."

"A second what?" This from Jesse.

"Spell caster. That is required for some rites and ceremonies and such. It is just reciting a few phrases in Latin, though."

"All right," Xander interrupted. "Here's what I think we should do. Tomorrow at lunch, when tryouts are going on, again, Jesse and I'll go to Amy's place, pick her up and get her spell book. We'll need that to switch their bodies back. Buffy will be at tryouts too, so she can keep an eye on witch-girl. Giles and Willow can stick around here and get the spells ready, so we can cast them right after school tomorrow. How's that?"

His friends aback by Xander's slightly commanding tone. It was seemingly uncharacteristic of the witty, silly teen. But no one could find anything wrong with his plan, and four heads nodded.

"OK," Xander said, then decided a little stress relief was in order. "You guys wanna hit the Bronze tonight?"



End VII