A/N: I'm messing with the timelines a bit. I'm making Willow the same age as Ron and Harry instead of Ginny. JK puts Harry birth year around 1980 and Joss puts Willow's around 1981.

Part 1

Willow lay on her bed absently staring at the Pez witch that Oz had given her, twisting it in her fingers as she reflected on the past events. She cursed the fates that had brought Cordelia and Oz to the warehouse at the exact time that she and Xander shared their last kiss. And it WAS their last kiss. Sure she'd had a crush on Xander for what seemed like her whole life and he had finally noticed her but they had realized they were better friends than anything more. Xander would always be a part of her life but in a platonic way. She sighed as she turned over and lay on her stomach. She just wished Oz would forgive her. She had never meant for him to get hurt.

Who would have thought little nerdy Willow was the cause of such pain?

God, when did her life get so complicated? What she wouldn't give for a good evil demon slaying right about now. Black and white, good verses evil and no stupid teenage hormone emotions getting in the way.

Ooooh better idea, a trip away somewhere. Buffy took off when things started getting rough why couldn't she? Get the heck out of Dodge and let the dust settle so to speak.

Maybe her mom and dad would take her on their next seminar? Her parents were in the let's-show-how-good-a-parent-we-are-by-paying-attention-to-Willow phase. Every time they went to a child psychology seminar they came back with brilliant ideas in which to enrich Willow's life. Mostly the ideas were a pain but over the years she'd learned to let it flow in one ear and out the other. The last time they'd gone through this phase was the No Boys Allowed in your room rule. They had come back from a teen sexuality seminar and had been determined Willow wouldn't fall into the statistics. Not that they ever noticed that no boys but Xander and Jesse were around their daughter anyway.

Willow sighed and got out of bed. She slowly walked over to her dresser and picked up the photo of her and Oz. A sad smile graced her features as she softly caressed his cheek. "I'm so sorry, I never meant to hurt you." She opened the top drawer and gently put the framed photo and the pez dispenser into it.

A soft knock interrupted her thoughts. "Willow? Are you in there?"

She put on a smile and turned to face the door, "Yeah, mom. Come on in."

Sheila entered Willow's room carrying the mail. "This came for you. It was lying on the front porch, the mailman must have dropped it when he delivered the other mail. Are you getting acceptance letters already?" Sheila turned the envelope over and saw a crest for Hogwarts. She'd have to check it out with Ira. Only the best for their daughter.

Willow took the envelope from her mother and curiously flipped it over. "I don't remember applying to this one but the counselor had me apply to so many." She bit her lip as she looked up at her mother. "A thin envelope can't be a good sign."

"There's always Harvard or Oxford." Her mother said as she closed the door behind her.

Best to get it over with, Willow sat on the edge of her bed and with shaking fingers opened the envelope.

Dear Ms. Rosenberg,

As part of a premiere program for bringing a more diverse student body to Hogwarts a search was conducted for natural born witches and wizards in the Muggle world. Your name appeared on a list of possible candidates from Muggleborn families with no prior magick in their ancestry. If you are interested please fill out the enclosed form with the pen provided.

Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

Headmaster, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Willow sat dumbfounded staring into space with a million questions whirling in her mind. Was this real? Was there such a thing as a school for witches and wizards? Did Giles know about this? Had Jenny?

JENNY! Willow totally forgot that she had found a CD that contained her notes on spells and the magick world. She had just been interested in the spell to restore Angel's soul. It had been too hard to go through her notes. It brought back too many memories of late night talks on being a technopagan.

She scrambled off her bed and looked through the trunk where she kept her magick supplies. Moving her Book of Shadows out of the way she spotted the CD. She eagerly put it in her laptop and waited impatiently for it to come up.

Willow typed in Hogwarts in the search box and crossed her fingers. Her eyes brightened when a result popped up in the box. Well at least Jenny had heard of it. She held her breath as she double-clicked on the icon. Willow hit the find button and typed in Hogwarts hoping there was more than just a one-word reference. She breathed a sigh of relief when the word appeared in a paragraph.

'Grandma Arianna told me of a school of magick in Scotland where Witches and Wizards are taught magickal skills from a young age. The Rom have been discriminated against ever since I can remember and I got very upset when Grandma told me that no Rom had ever gone to Hogwarts. When I asked her why she told me that the Rom didn't need Gadji Witches and Wizards to tell them how to practice magick. So it seems for once the Rom were the ones doing the discrimination.'

Willow hit the find again button and hoped that that wasn't the only reference in the document. Further down it was highlighted again.

'I did some research on Hogwarts when Willow began to show an interest in witchcraft. I found out that the four greatest witches and wizards of the age founded the school over a thousand years ago. They shared a dream to create a school where young people of the Wizarding World could study and be trained in the magickal arts so that they could become fully trained wizards and witches. I wonder if Giles knows if there are American equivalent schools for Willow.'

Curious as to when Jenny wrote these notes Willow hit the properties button. Willow blinked back the tears that threatened to fall as she read that she had written this a couple of days before she was killed. Ms. Calendar had been researching a place for her to learn more about magick. Guilt fell heavily on Willow's shoulders when she realized that while they had been excluding Jenny she had still researched Angel's curse and a place for Willow to learn her craft. She closed her eyes and hung her head, "Oh Jenny. I'm so, so sorry I never got the opportunity to tell you that I was never mad at you."

A soft breeze entered her room through the open window and softly caressed her cheeks. Willow wiped her tears away with the back of her hand and hoped that the Greeks were right in their belief that the dead could hear your thoughts.

Willow began to make a list of the pros and cons of going through with the exchange program. When she began to write helping Buffy she hesitated. Did Buffy really need her help anymore? She had Faith now and Giles was getting more proficient with the computer. With two Slayers guarding the Hellmouth did they really need an amateur witch? Besides after she finished the year at Hogwarts she could come back an even bigger asset.

"Well, I guess my mind is already made up." Willow crumpled her list and reached for the parchment and pen provided by Dumbledore in the letter.

A shocked gasp escaped Willow when she saw the words that she had filled out on the form slowly fade away to nothing. She picked it up and turned the parchment over. The other side was just as blank.

"Huh. Guess that answers that. I wasn't meant to go anywhere."

Willow flipped the parchment back over and dropped it in shock. Where it had been blank just a moment before words now appeared.

Miss Rosenberg,

We are pleased to inform you that you've been accepted into the exchange program at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scotland. Your arrival date is two weeks hence.

Exchange students will be met from a representative of Hogwarts in London, your port of entry. The representative will have your list of requirements and aide you in acquiring them in Diagon Alley. We very much look forward to receiving you as part of the new generation of Hogwarts.

Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

Headmaster, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Two weeks! How was she supposed to get her parents to let her be an exchange student in Scotland! Willow paced back and forth trying to come up with ways to ask her parents to let her go. It wasn't like she could say, hey mom and dad you don't know this but I've been practicing witchcraft in my spare time and now a school in Scotland wants to train me in it. Oh yeah, that would go over big with her psychologist parents. Then when she crossed that hurdle she had the hurdle of telling Xander that their final year at Sunnydale will be spent apart.

Willow stopped pacing and sat down with a thump. She'd be going to Scotland, alone. Without friends and not knowing anyone. God what had she been thinking?! She couldn't do this!

She took a deep breath to calm herself. She could do this. She wasn't a little girl anymore. Besides if she got into Harvard or Oxford she'd be going away by herself and not know anyone.

With resolve face firmly in place Willow went down the stairs to ask her parents about letting her go on a cultural exchange to Scotland.