Author's Note: Thank you for all the follows and reviews and such so far! I hope you're all enjoying the ride. I know that Hermione and Malfoy spending so much unsupervised time together is a little unbelievable but I also picture that, every summer, Hermione insists on spending hours studying and I can't imagine Harry and Ron would want to take part in that more than once or twice.
Now onto "Chapter Two" and, finally, the appearance of the good ole Scooby gang! Hopefully I kept the Californians pretty true to character ;)
Malfoy didn't let Hermione out of the house to "patrol" as the Watcher's put it until she could best him in a fight. Of course that only took two middle of the night training sessions in an out of the way room that Hermione had enchanted with sound proofing and anti-Apparition spells . Malfoy may have been a pretty good fighter (he'd trained himself one summer when his father was particularly cruel and threatened to "beat him like a Muggle if he didn't shape up") but Hermione's strength and instinct won out after just a few days of training.
"One thing in your favor," Malfoy said as they slipped out the front door and Apparated to a nearby graveyard they'd found on a map of the area. "You can always fall back on your magic. Honestly, I have no idea why they didn't make it so all Slayers are witches too. Evil wouldn't stand a chance."
"That's probably why," Hermione mused as she palmed the wooden stake in her hand. It really wasn't all that different from holding a wand other than the width. That and the fact that she was supposed to stab it through the heart of an undead creature. "You can't have any light at all unless you have some darkness. Cosmic balance and all that."
She'd just finished her sentence when a figure jumped out from behind a tombstone and tackled her. She instinctively flipped the person and straddled their legs, pointing her stake like a wand. But she hesitated because the thing under her looked human.
"Uh, Malfoy?" she called, seeking reassurance. Before he could respond the thing's face (and now she knew it was a thing) shifted, all fangs and lumpy forehead and it kicked her off its body.
She tucked her body and rolled, not stopping until her shoulder crunched against a low grave marker. The pain didn't put her down for the count. No, it just made her angry.
Hermione jumped to her feet and this time when the vamp lunged at her she didn't hesitate. She jammed the stake into his heart and tried not to inhale when he exploded into a cloud of dust.
She was about to cheer when she heard a dull thump and Malfoy landed near her feet. She leapt over his prone body, landing a kick right in the face of another of the bloodsuckers. She had him staked and turned to dust before she landed back on solid ground.
Malfoy choked and sat up. "Dear god, is every night going to be like that?" he groaned.
Hermione smiled, her heart pumping hard. "I can only hope so."
California
Rupert Giles's announcement was met with first silence and then with a chorus of very loud outbursts.
"This better not have anything to do with the Council. Which I guess it can't because they're pretty much all dead."
"How can I get an education at a magical school? Not that I'm complaining because that sounds awesome but you do remember that I'm not a witch, right?"
"So will this school be like the coven I went to after I went dark that one time?"
"Great. Finally get to do some international travel and see the sights now that I only have one eye."
"It has been awhile since I terrorized someone closer to home."
Giles sighed. "No, this has nothing to do with the Council. Dawn, there will be a few classes you can take with the other students but most of your work will be independent study. These witches and wizards will be very different than any you've ever met before. I am sorry about your eye Xander but even in the magic world there's nothing that can be done to fix it and Spike? You still have your soul so stop acting like an...well to be frank, you're being a right pain in the arse. Any other questions?"
Willow raised her hand. "How do you even know anyone at this school?"
"My great aunt is the librarian there. We haven't been that close over the years but now the wizarding world is facing a foe that is neigh on unbeatable and there are rumors that he's found a way to take magic away from his enemies. They'd be defenseless if that were to happen."
Buffy crossed her arms over her chest. "So you want me to teach a bunch of powerless teenagers how to fight. Gosh Giles that sounds like something I just did a couple of months ago."
Giles took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well they aren't exactly powerless what with the magic and all. And you would not be teaching them alone. Spike and I will be assisting you. And did I mention that you'll be paid? All of us will be paid for doing various jobs around the school, like Xander who will be working with the professor in charge of handling the magical creatures." Whatever else he was about to say was drowned out by Xander's shrieks.
"After dying twice and averting a dozen apocalypses I'm finally getting paid to be a Slayer? Woo hoo," Buffy joked.
"What will they be paying me to do exactly?" Willow asked. "I kind of missed that part since I couldn't hear over Xander's cries of fear."
"Happiness and wonder, Wills. Cries of happiness and wonder," Xander insisted. "I'm super happy that I'm going to be working with monstrous creatures that could easily take out my other eye."
"The current Care of Magical Creatures professor has held the position for over a year and he hasn't sustained any lasting injuries. Of course he's also half-giant himself…well anyways." Giles shuffled through the papers he'd been sent, not looking up to meet anyone's eyes because he knew they'd be staring at him in surprise. "Willow, it looks like you will be helping out the Potions professor. A man named Severus Snape."
Xander snorted. "That's definitely a bad guy name. You'll have to watch your back Willow."
"We leave the twentieth of August so have your bags packed well before then. You are dismissed for now."
He watched as the gang dispersed throughout Angel Investigations where they'd ended up after the destruction of Sunnydale. It was also the place where the locket that had contained Spike, soul intact, had been sent and opened allowing him to reappear whole and well less than two weeks after he'd sacrificed himself to save them all.
They'd survived a lot but now they would be up against something quite different.
"The wizarding world is doomed," Giles muttered.
