Disclaimer: These characters belong to either 'the god' Joss Whedon, or the wonderful J.K. Rowling. :)

Author's Note: Thanks to all those people who reviewed my first two Chapters, I appreciate it so much, so thank you again.

Selene - Thank you for reviewing. That's why I'm I excited about this story, because I thought it was pretty original. :)

X-Lander - Thanks for your comments, I really don't know how I came up with those ideas, but when I did I liked them too.

Interested - Whoa, that's the longest review I've ever had. Hehe, actually I think lightening might have struck me. :) Well, I'm still working on the Scoobies getting to Hogwarts, so you're questions about Dawn won't be answered just yet. But as for you questions about Tara, most of them are answered in this chapter. Also, thanks for bring up those questions because it made me aware of things I hadn't covered.

pay-day1999 & fairysk8r - Thank you both for reviewing, I hope you enjoy this Chapter. :)



* * *





Chapter 2 - Introductions





Buffy, Giles, Tara, Willow, Xander and Anya all arrived in England after a rather long flight. Even though they were suffering from jet lag, they immediately headed for Kings Cross Station, where a special, small train had been organised by Dumbledore, to transport them to Hogwarts.





Most of them rested on the long train journey there, exhausted beyond words. Tara and Giles, however, were too excited to see the castle again, to get some rest. Instead, they sat up talking about the school.





"What house were you in?" Tara questioned excitedly.





"I was in Gryffindor, but a bit rebellious, I must say." Giles answered with a small laugh.





Tara smiled. "I was in H-Hufflepuff, except I just kept to myself. Made a few friends though, one in Gryffindor. I can't wait to get back there."





"It'll bring back a lot of memories." Giles said, cleaning his glasses. "We'll be first going to speak to Dumbledore, such a wise man, haven't seen him since I was at Hogwarts."





"Those m-monks were smart to send the key to be protected by him, t-there probably isn't a better or safer place." Tara pointed out.





"Well, we better get some rest before we arrive." Giles suggested and Tara nodded in agreement.





Tara turned in her chair and rested her head against the back of the seat and closed her eyes. She soon fell into a dreamless, peaceful sleep.





It wasn't long before she was being shaken awake by Willow. She opened her eyes to see her standing over her smiling.





"We're here!" Willow cheered.





Everyone was chatting excitedly as they gathered up their belongings from the luggage racks above their heads.





The Scooby Gang soon stepped off the train and onto the station platform. It was nighttime and there was a cool breeze blowing strongly.





"Professor Dumbledore." Giles greeted as he noticed the aged Headmaster of Hogwarts standing on the platform to greet the group.





"Please call me Albus," He insisted, shaking Giles' hand. "It has been a long time, Rupert."





Tara also stepped forward shyly to greet him.





"Miss McClay," Dumbledore greeted with a smile. "Welcome back to Hogwarts, I hope you are well."





Tara smiled back. "T-thank you, it is g-great to be back."





Dumbledore turned to look at everyone else. "For those of you who don't know me, I am Albus Dumbledore - Headmaster of Hogwarts."





"Hi, I'm Buffy." The Slayer introduced herself.





"Ah, yes. You're the current Slayer, are you not, Miss Summers?" He inquired.





Buffy smiled and nodded. It took her a moment to notice that she'd not told her last name to Dumbledore, but she just shrugged it off.





Dumbledore turned to face the red head in the group. "You must be Miss Rosenburg. I've heard that you study some wandless magic, I'd be very interested in hearing about that some time."





Willow just smiled and nodded in response, a little thrown off by his knowledge of them, just like Buffy had been a touch.





He looked at the couple standing together on the platform. "And finally, you must be Mr. Harris and Miss. Jenkins, it's a pleasure to meet you."





Dumbledore clapped his hands together. "Well now that the introductions and pleasantries are out of the way, we have some serious matters to discuss. If you'll all follow me up to my office, we can discuss them there."





The group followed Dumbledore into a horseless (A.N - couldn't be bothered putting in the Thestrals.) carriage and were transported to the front entrance of the castle.





"Whoa, would you look at that!" Xander exclaimed as he, Buffy, Willow and Anya gazed up at the castle in amazement.





Everyone shuffled in through the large doors at the front of the castle and into the Entrance Hall, where the Deputy Headmistress greeted them.





"It's lovely to see you again, Professor." Giles greeted Professor McGonagall who'd only been a young Transfiguration teacher and newly appointed Deputy Headmistress when he went there.





Tara smiled at her as way of greeting; it had been a few years since she'd seen McGonagall.





"This is Minerva McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts." Dumbledore introduced.





Willow, Xander, Buffy and Anya all acknowledged McGonagall and then continued to follow Dumbledore to his office.



* * *



Once the group got past the Gargoyle guarding the entrance to Dumbledore's office, they followed him into his large and busy-looking office.





"Please all take a seat." He offered, and they all found their way into a chair.





"Now, I understand that there is an important reason as to why you came here, besides to teach." He started, briefly gazing at Tara and Giles.





Buffy sat up straight in her chair. "Well, I guess the story starts with me. I found this monk guy who told me that there was this 'key' and a god called Glory was after it..."





Buffy continued to explain the situation and how they should find out who the Key is before Glory did.





After Buffy had explained everything, Dumbledore did something that he rarely did; he frowned slightly. "The people who created the Key must have been very powerful and clever because even I cannot tell you who the Key is."





Giles and Tara seemed somewhat shocked at this; they knew how knowledgeable he was. Apparently finding the Key wasn't going to be as easy as they thought if Dumbledore had no idea.





"Well there must be some other way of knowing?" Willow spoke up.





"It'll take some time to find out," He pointed out. "So in the meantime, we must take our moves carefully, try not to draw attention to Hogwarts."





"Won't a large group of strangers, suddenly showing up, do exactly that?"





Dumbledore nodded slowly. "That is why I shall find some jobs around the school for yourself, Mr Harris, Miss Jenkins and Miss Summers."





There were surprised and curious looks around the room.





"Miss Rosenburg, you have experience with wandless magic which would be interesting for the students to see and perhaps even learn if they're in danger without their wands. Miss Summers, you have amazing experience in self defence, which would also be very valuable for the students to know in danger situations. Therefore, a new class for this year, purely for older students to choose, shall be started called Wandless Defence."





Willow beamed with happiness and Buffy couldn't contain her excitement.





Dumbledore continued. "Now, Mr Harris and Miss Jenkins since you both don't have any magical backgrounds, it'll be harder to place you. However, there are a few classes where you could help out, even with little expertise. Miss Jenkins could assist Hagrid, who teaches Care of Magical Creatures class, without much trouble. Mr Harris, could help our Muggle Studies teacher, especially since you have first-hand experience."





Xander and Anya smiled cheerfully, they understood what their jobs would involve as Giles and Tara had told them about all the classes the students at Hogwarts could take.





Dumbledore rose up from behind his desk. "Now, you will all be shown to the rooms you will be staying in, and will also have a chance to explore the school and catch up with the other teachers that you'll be working with before the feast tonight. Also, I hope your search for the Key goes well, please feel free to use the library's resources to assist you, if you need it."





Everyone got up from their chairs and thanked Dumbledore before following McGonagall who wass to show them to their rooms



* * *



"I wonder who's going to be the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher now," Dawn wondered as she took a seat, next to Harry, at the Gryffindor table. "I mean, look at all the new people at the teachers' table."





Ron frowned as her looked over at the newcomers. "That witch sitting next to Snape, the one with the blondish hair, looks familiar."





The other three turned their glances to the nervous-looking witch at the teachers' table. "Where would you have seen her before?" Hermione whispered.





Ron shrugged and they all talked quietly also watching the Sorting of the first years. Once that was over, everyone awaited Dumbledore's speech.





Surely, soon enough Dumbledore stood up and the whole hall went silent upon noticing this.





"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. This year there are a lot of new faces on the teaching staff. Professor Rupert Giles and Professor Tara McClay will both be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts," He said, pointing towards them as he spoke. "Also we have two people who'll be assisting teachers, Miss Anya Jenkins will assisting Hagrid with Care of Magical Creatures, while Mr Xander Harris will be assisting with the Muggle Studies class."





Students whispered quietly, chatting about the newcomers. Dumbledore waited until the chattering died down again.





"Now, there will also be a new class available this year for fourth years and up. It is called Wandless Defence and Professor's Buffy Summers and Willow Rosenburg will be teaching how to defend yourselves without the use of your wands. Now, the usual announcements: The Forbidden Forest is strictly forbidden and classes will start tomorrow morning, as usual. Now, let us eat." Dumbledore finished, clapping his hands together.





Plates and dishes of food lined the five tables and the students began to talk eagerly as they piled up their plates.





Hermione had reluctantly taken food and placed it on her plate. She was still annoyed about the house elves, but during the holidays, Dawn had talked to her and convinced her to give up the SPEW nonsense.





"Gave up on the House elves finally, did you, Hermione?" Ron teased as she scooped up mashed potato with her fork.





Dawn laughed. "I don't know how I did it, but I convinced her to."





That was one of the differences between her and her sister. Dawn saw the logical side, while Hermione disagreed. There were numerous differences between the twins.





Dawn wasn't as fanatical and fastidious with reading or schoolwork, she enjoyed Quidditch and getting into trouble. She had more in common with the two boys, which sometimes made Hermione a touch jealous of her sister.





They finished eating and left the Great Hall. Hermione and Ron had to lead the new first years up to the Gryffindor tower, as they were prefects this year.





So instead, Harry and Dawn walked up to the tower with a few other Gryffindor fifth years.





"Are you going to do that new class this year?" Harry questioned her as they walked along.





"I think so, it sounds cool. Are you?"





"I think so too."





When they entered through the Portrait Hole, saying the new password (Canary Creams), they found a notice on the Gryffindor notice board concerning whether they wanted to sign up for the Wandless Defence class.





Dawn checked the list, Hermione and Ron had already signed up, so she pulled out a quill and signed her name, and Harry did the same.





"Well, night." Harry said, making his way to the stairs leading to the boys' dormitories.





Dawn smiled. "Night."





She made her way up to her dorm and quickly settled into her bed, soon drifting off to sleep. It was going to be an interesting year.



* * *



A.N - Yay, well there's another chapter. I just realised how carried away I got when writing this, but that's a good thing. :) Please Review. - Akalea