Chapter One

Where the Search Leads.

Dawn tried to concentrate. She knew she was getting no where. She would probably stay that way for a long time.

She really needed Willow for this. But Willow was a bit... ocupied.

It was three weeks since Tara had come back. She liked having the extra witch arround. She liked Tara period.

After Tara had returned the three of them went back to England. Giles was out at the moment otherwise Dawn might have turned to him. She had less than three weeks before her school started. And she had enough catching up to do that she really needed to get this spell done. On the other hand, she knew she would get little else done once the spell was complete. She would want to run around with Giles and Buffy, helping them train the Slayers. But she had other forms of training.

She sighed and picked up her wand from the pile of dirty clothes where she had left it last night and picked her way through the rubble in her room to the door and took the hallway to the special room that was set up for her.

Her head master had contacted her about two months ago. Dumbledore. She liked him. He was a nice old man. He had explained that special circumstances would allow her to enter Hogwarts as a sixth year. She had to study and pass the OWLs before classes started. She felt confident but she knew she could always use some help.

She slipped into the room he had prepared for her. She took out her wand and opened the books on the table. Dumbledore had cleared the room for her to work in as an underaged magician. When Willow had first come to England, on a magical break after almost destroying the world, she had had to go before the Ministry of Magic to be certified. They had given her her credentials and Tara was set to go before the end of the week.

America had no sort of Ministry. It explained a lot really. All the chaos and such.

Dawn opened the book marked Divination. She chewed on her thumbnail as she read the text. It was times like these she was glad she was an interuniverse Key. Willow had helped her a few months ago. The objective was to see if she had any hidden memories behind the ones given to her by the monks. There weren't memories perse, but there was a full history of the world. WIth only a little bit of nudging, Dawn had pulled up enough on Magic that History of Magic and Astronomy were a breeze. Divination was a whole lot of bullshit, but she was pretty good at that anyway. A brief brush with theft left her pretty good at making up stories.

She closed the book and magicked up a tea cup and tea. She poured. She set the tea to cool then opened her Transfiguration text, studying the diagrams and trying out a couple of spells. She pulled out the list of possible spells to be tested on from her notes. She cross refernced them, while sipping the cooling tea. She had most of them down, but there were one or two she wasn't quite ready for yet. Normally she would say ninety percent was good enough, but she knew Buffy, Giles, Willow, and Tara would kill her if she messed this up. Besides she really wanted to get in.

She studied one spell for a few moments. Then she drained her tea and looked at the leaves. She twisted the cup this way. Then that. She closed one eye. She opened both wide.

Anyway she looked at it, it looked like a bat.

She sighed and set the tea cup down. She tried the spell a few times with varying results. She took her cup into the kitchen before she forgot and let the leaves dry to the porcelian.

She nearly had a heart attack as Spike opened the window above the sink.

"Good Lord! Spike! Don't you believe in doors? Giles invited you in!"

He climbed in with a smirk. "Too inconvient. What're you up to, pet?"

She rolled her eyes but showed him the tea leaves.

He sat on the counter and cocked his head. "Looks like a bat."

"Maybe there is something to these after all." She said, giving him a pointed look. He laughed.

"Let me try."

She poured him a cup. He wrapped his long pale fingers around it while she tidied up. "What brings you here?"

He sipped the tea slowly, as though there would be any effect if he drank molten lead. "Got wind of you attending some private school."

She smiled, "I told you. Remember?"

He smiled back, "I knew some lovely lady told me about it."

She let the compliment pass, "Are you here to be my bodyguard?"

He grinned toothily, "Of course."

She rolled her eyes, "I'm flattered. I think." She held out a hand, "Let's see."

He handed her the cup. She looked at the bottom. She frowned. It looked like a stake and a heart. That was an odd combination. Well, if he had been a Slayer, maybe not so, but she hoped it wasn't heralding his death. The dead guy kinda grew on you.

888

"I walk this empty street,

On the boulavard of broken dreams,

And the city sleeps

And I'm the only one,

And I walk alone..."

Greenday blaring in her ears from her ear phones of her tape player, Ginny Weasley ran silently. Her breath showed misty in the early morning air. It was going to be a hot day, but at two AM, she had nothing to worry about just yet.

She took the lane up into town. She skirted around more frequently habited areas. She was running farther each day. Riddle still haunted her dreams.

She hoped this went away before she went back. She had gotten her OWLS results yesterday. Not as good as Hermione, but better than Ron or Harry. She hadn't flaunted it. She wasn't really tired during the day, but at dark she became positively restless. She felt stronger than normal but she didn't feel like talking about it.

She got home well before dawn and got four hours in before she woke. She stuck the ears phones back on and turned Jesus of Suburbia on. She snatched a few peices of bacon and a waffle. She took out one ear phone to ask her Charlie something.

"Charlie? Do we still have those punching bags?"

Charlie nodded and swallowed a mouthfull of honeyed toast. "Yup. Want help setting them up?"

Ginny really didn't but she could see the look in Harry's eyes. He wanted to be near her again. She sighed mentally. She had tried to let him down. Let him know she didn't want a relationship with him. He hadn't gotten the hint. She would have to hurt him.

She smiled indulgently as Charlie helped her.

"I don't know if you can handle this." He said as he hung the biggest of the bags. He swung a fist at it. The bag barely moved.

Harry, who had hung behind, probably trying to get Ginny's attention. Efforts she ignored. He now came forward and swung at the bag. It swung three inches. Ginny was almost impressed. The bag was over a hundred pounds.

Both the boys gave her a look that said it was her turn. She walked up and swung. At the last second she couched her blow, hitting it wit a love tap. The bag swung six inches.

What was going on?

(A/N: I love working on this fic. Really I do. No idea why.

To annonymous: Well of course I will!