I wanted to say thank you to those who reviewed including Narias, FrequencyQueen, and 123Omg123.

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Chapter #2: Different Conversations

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Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny looked at each other as they listened to the conversation going on downstairs. People from an entirely different dimension? That was a little weird and they lived in the wizarding world where weird was pretty much standard. Then, hearing the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs, they hurriedly pulled the Extendable Ears up from where it was hanging and the four of them rushed back to Ron and Harry's room. Listening through the door, they could hear Mrs. Weasley's voice as she apparently showed the two dimensional travelers to a room a couple doors down from Ron and Harry's.

"I'm sorry, but we only have the one room left. There are others, but we haven't managed to get those rooms cleaned just yet and so they may be a bit dusty and who knows what dark objects we'll find back there. There," she said, probably performing the charm to make one bed into two. "Now you won't have to share. Will you two be alright?"

And then they heard the voice of one of the "guests", the American one that seemed to do most of the talking, "Oh that is so cool. Thank you! Sharing a bed with blood-breath here has always been one of my secret fears." He sounded a little excitable for someone who supposedly already knew about magic.

Then came the voice of the other one, the British one that was supposedly a vampire. "Like I'd want t' sleep with you either, whelp." The voice was nearly drenched in derision and Harry wasn't sure he actually wanted to meet that one. He sounded far too much like Snape.

Then they heard the door close and Mrs. Weasley walk away and everything was quiet.

"So?" Ginny asked, walking away from the door and settling herself down on Ron's bed. "What do you think?"

"It's a little suspicious, don't you think?" Harry replied, following her back to the beds and sitting down on his own. "Two men just happening to appear when they're trying some other spell?"

"You're right," Ron said, nodding. "They could be Death Eaters."

"I don't know," Hermione said, looking hesitant to proclaim anybody they didn't know a Death Eater. "The vampire maybe. He is a dark creature and we know that Voldemort (She had been practicing saying his name for months now) is trying to recruit them. But the American?" Here she looked especially skeptical. "He seemed too cheerful and open to be a Death Eater. And did you hear them? They were practically giving away secrets about themselves."

"They could easily be lies," Harry pointed out. "They're probably not from another dimension at all. Why should we trust anything they say?"

Hermione nodded, a thoughtful look on her face. "True."

"But what if they are from another dimension?" Ginny asked, obviously not wanting that idea to be immediately tossed out. "What if they are exactly what they say they are?"

"Oh come on, Ginny," Ron said, giving her the look he always gave her when he was acting like the all-knowing big brother and she was just the naïve little sister. "When was the last time anybody that just appeared magically was who they said they were?"

She looked straight back at him with her own 'you're being an idiot' look on her face. "Accidents can happen, you know. Not everything is one of You-Know-Who's plans."

"But they weren't trying to get anybody at all," Harry said, trying to explain how it couldn't possibly be an accident. "They were just trying to summon a spirit to ask it a few questions. Why would a spell like that bring two people from another dimension straight into our base?"

"Maybe the spell decided to give us what we needed instead of just answering our questions," Ginny replied. All she got were two incredulous looks as if she were mental. Hermione looked like she was taking the whole argument in and thinking.

"Oh come on," Ginny said, sounding frustrated by what she obviously saw as stupidity. "You heard Dumbledore. He was obviously trying to figure out how they could be useful to us."

"And they obviously can't be that useful," Ron said, "They don't have any special powers at all. So they can't have been brought here for that." He sounded triumphant, as if he had proven his point so well it couldn't be refuted, and Ginny gave him an annoyed look.

"Not everything is special powers like the books," she said, irritation lining her words. "Maybe they're here for some other reason that will help us."

Harry shook his head. "I still think they're Death Eaters."

"Well we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" Hermione said, coming back into the conversation and giving Harry an arch look.

"What we need to do is hurt them before they hurt us," Harry said, determinedly ignoring Hermione's look.

Ginny looked a little shocked by this logic. "We don't even know if they're evil yet!"

"Well, one's a vampire, so we know he's evil for sure," Ron said, seeming to be just pointing out the facts. "And the other one seems pretty chummy with the vampire bloke so he's obviously evil too."

"Ron!" Hermione looked disappointed in him. "Just because somebody is different than you that doesn't make him evil."

"He's a dark creature, Hermione!" Ron exclaimed as if that was all it should take to explain his reasoning.

"And what is Remus?" Hermione responded smartly.

"Remus is our friend!" Harry said, sounding like he couldn't believe Hermone would bring the werewolf up in this context.

"But he's also a dark creature," Hermione said. "So are you saying that all dark creatures are evil?"

Ron looked like he didn't know how to answer that and Ginny smirked at her brother, glad somebody could knock him off his high horse. Harry wasn't going to give up though.

"But this one said he was a demon!" Harry said.

Hermione raised a brow. "So you believe their story then?"

"I . . ." Mouth open to respond to that, Harry found he didn't have anything to say. She'd effectively killed his argument.

Hermione nodded as if satisfied. "So we'll wait and see how they act. They're rooming not even two doors down. It should be easy enough to spy on them."

Harry, Ron, and Ginny all looked surprised. "Spy on them?" Harry asked.

"Well, of course," Hermione responded, as though this course of action should be obvious. "We do have to figure out if they're evil or not."

More than happy about that, Harry and Ron exchanged grins over the girls' heads, each pretty much confidant that they had gotten what they wanted.

Ginny rolled her eyes. Boys.

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While Molly had gone to show their two visitors to their room for their stay, everyone immediately turned to Dumbledore.

"So what was with the questions?" Sirius asked. "You made it sound like our little accident might be something other than an accident."

Dumbledore sighed. "I had thought that, yes. But it appears that it may simply be an accident after all. The two show no sign of being anything of any particular note."

"Not even the vampire?" Tonks asked.

"Not even the vampire," Dumbledore said, looking up at the blue-haired girl with a small smile. "He was telling the truth when he said he did not have the ability to hypnotize and he, furthermore, seems to have no magical talent whatsoever. He can fight, yes," Dumbledore allowed, "They both can fight, but that can do little for us."

"And you are sure they aren't Death Eaters?" Remus asked curiously. "You know how You-Know-Who is trying to recruit the dark creatures to his side and the American did seem quite chummy with the vampire."

Looking like he despised having to agree with someone he hated, Snape still nodded. "I have not heard of any such plan, but then I am not exactly privy the entirety of His schemes and the fact that they knew of our plan to summon the spirit could have been hidden from me." His face stayed emotionless, but everyone knew how he could only hope that his suggestion wasn't true. It would mean he had been discovered as a spy.

Dumbledore shook his head. "No. I have looked into their minds and they have told no lies. They have both lived lives drenched in violence, but they are who they say they are."

"Still," Moody grumbled, "Constant vigilance. They may not be Death Eaters but they could always go over to His side. Especially that vampire. I don't trust that one."

"What he said was true though. The vampire cannot hurt anything human," Dumbledore said, looking into his tea with a thoughtful look on his face. "Though I don't know how the technology works or if it will continue to work once we are back at Hogwarts, so I cannot know how his allegiances may change in the future."

"Back at Hogwarts?" McGonagall asked, looking alarmed. "Surely you don't mean to bring them with us."

Dumbledore smiled slightly again at the woman's worry. "Why of course I do! Where else will I be able to find them the help they need?"

"Plus it would keep them close just in case they do turn out to be spies," Sirius noted with a small smirk.

Dumbledore turned his smile on the younger man. "Exactly."

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"So they seemed nice," Xander said as he plopped down on the bed he had claimed as his own. He wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic are not and Spike just raised a brow in his direction. "What did you think of the old dude?" Xander continued, wondering what Spike had thought about the careful questioning.

"He's suspicious," Spike answered as he prowled the room, looking in all of its nooks and crannies. Xander had no idea what he was looking for, but felt he should probably leave the vampire to it. "He thinks we're with that Voldemort bloke."

"Well I would too if two people I didn't know suddenly appeared when I hadn't been trying to summon anybody. Especially in the middle of a war." Xander looked a little embarrassed. "Plus the fact that I said you were a demon probably didn't help us."

Spike gave him a droll look. "No," he drawled sarcastically, "Y' think?"

"Hey!" Xander said, wanting to defend himself. "They would have found out eventually. They already thought you were evil because of the whole dark creature thing vampires in this world apparently have going on."

Spike just looked at him like he was an idiot. A familiar look. "Y' sat there an' gave away almost every secret we 'ad. Whatever chance we 'ad over them is gone because you 'ad t' go play 'appy families."

Xander frowned at that, about to say that Spike hadn't been any better, but he was starting to rethink how he had acted in the kitchen. "But they're the good guys right? So what does it matter what we tell them? They might need it if they're going to help us."

"The old 'dude' as you call 'im was lookin' at us like we were choice meat," Spike said, sounding as if he was explaining something to an idiot as he went back to his investigating. "He wants more soldiers fer his war, not t' help lost little boys find their way home." He picked something up off the ground and put it to his ear, giving it a good shake. Obviously not hearing what he wanted, he put it back where he'd found it, apparently no longer interested.

"Yeah," Xander said a little irritably, starting to glare at Spike's back. "I got that. I'm not completely oblivious, you know. But now he knows that we can't help him, he should leave us alone."

Spike looked a little shocked here and turned away from the corner he had been investigating. "You don't want t' jump into their war and make everythin' okay again? I thought y' were th' good little white hat."

Xander gave Spike a dirty look. "Just because I play an idiot on TV doesn't mean I'm an actual idiot. This war is a magical war and me? Not so good with the mojo. I'd get maybe two feet and then somebody would toss a spell at me and I'd be dead."

Spike shrugged and turned back to his investigating again. "Didn't think y' cared about that. Y' certainly charge ahead during patrol like yer stupid enough not to."

"That's because demon's don't usually go all in with the mojo," Xander tried to explain irritably. "I learned early on that me and magic are non-mixy things. I try to stay as far away from it as I can."

"Smart," Spike said, obviously grudgingly. Then he picked something else off the ground and turned it over in his hands. "Wot do y' think this is?" he asked, holding the object out for Xander to see.

Xander looked at it. It was box-like in shape with weird bits that extended and a handle sticking out. He shrugged. "I dunno. A Jack-in-the-Box?"

Spike frowned down at the thing in his hands and gave the handle a spin. There was the sound of some tinkling tune and then something, Xander wasn't sure what, jumped out of the box just like a Jack-in-the-Box. Spike poked at the thing that had appeared. "Wot th' hell is that?" he asked curiously.

Xander shrugged again, not really caring. "I dunno," he repeated. "Probably some magical creature we don't know about. Put it down, will you?"

Spike put it down, still frowning at the creature that had popped out. "Yeah, alright." Then he turned back to Xander with a smirk. "So 'ow much y' want t' bet that they spend th' whole time we're here spying on us an' not doing a lick of work t' help us out?"

Xander frowned and leaned back on his elbows on the bed. "They'll help us. They have to."

Spike snorted and went to sit down on the only other bed in the room. "Don't be daft. They don't 'ave t' do a thing if their magical arses don't want to. An' they're busy with a war. We'll probably 'ave t' do all th' work fer them."

Here Xander started to look a little concerned. "But we have to get home."

Spiek shot him a scornful look. "I think yer little gang can last without donuts fer a while."

Xander tried to ignore him and grit his teeth before saying patiently, "What I mean is, neither of us can do magic. You're afraid of it and I'll just mess it up."

"Oi," Spike said, looking indignant, "I am not afraid of it. I just prefer t' not be around it when it misfires. An' it always misfires."

Xander just gave him a pointed look. "So you volunteer to be the one to do the spell?"

Spike frowned deeply, looking like he was considering whether he should say what he had to say next or not. "The last time I tried t' do a spell by myself I ended up with blue hands fer a month," he eventually admitted.

"And what were you trying to make happen?" Xander asked cautiously.

"I was trying t' bleach my hair without all th' peroxide," Spike said, before going on the defensive and explaining, "That stuff gets in yer nose an' doesn't leave."

Xander groaned and flopped back on the bed. "We're doomed."

"No," Spike said, "Not doomed. We just have t' make ourselves useful, yeah?"

Xander looked up and over at him cautiously. "You have a plan?" He wasn't sure if this scared him or made him feel better. Any plan would be of the good, but Spike's plans had a tendency to go off in bad directions.

"Not a plan exactly," Spike said, "We just make ourselves useful. Or not useful. Whichever. Keep up their noses till they have t' send us 'ome either 'cause they feel obligated or 'cause they just can't stand us anymore."

Xander frowned and thought that over. "We should probably be helpful then because if we're annoying they might just shove us off into some corner to get us away from them. Or they might spell us to death. Who knows with those magic types."

Spike sighed, but he obviously understood what Xander meant. "Just means more workin' fer th' white hats, I s'pose," he noted almost morosely, but then he nodded. "Alright, but that doesn't mean I have t' be nice."

Xander rolled his eyes. "Like you could ever be nice."

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TBC