Morning somehow didn't make things feel better. Willow had that stiff feeling of not enough sleep, accompanied by the feeling that she'd had unpleasant dreams, not that any of them remained in her mind. Spike was in the forest, had tried to eat some of the students, and wanted to kill Lucius Malfoy and Voldemort. Alacia's grandmother had been kidnapped, possibly by Lucius and Dru. And she was pretty sure that she was going to be in trouble for going into the Forbidden Forest and talking to Spike. Maybe even for breaking curfew if her uncle remembered that detail… and he probably would.

Eventually, Willow managed to pull her clothing on, and grabbed one of the black robes, gesturing for it to button itself up. She decided to just brush her hair out and leave it loose, not quite feeling up to messing with it yet, and grabbed some of her books before stumbling down the stairs.

Collapsing into a seat, she flipped open the Charms book, thinking that it might be easier to try some of these without her wand, since it had helped so much with the Transfiguring beetles to buttons. As she flipped through the pages, Willow sighed, wondering why on earth they felt the need for so many specific spells. Why not just learn to do a bit of general telekinesis to move this or that, or to summon things instead of that accio object? 'Accio broom' might be nice, but what if you wanted a list? Or if you knew what the thing you wanted was but didn't know the name of it?

"Scowling at the book won't help you figure the Charms out." Alacia's voice sounded a bit different than her usual cool mocking, tighter, as if she was trying to keep any emotion from emerging at all.

"It's more like trying to figure out why you have so many specific things and not more general ones. What if you need an object, and you know it's the third one on the shelf, but not the name of it? You can't accio it over then, and if you need it really badly right now, you're toast." Willow looked at the other girl, noticing the way that her hair looked a bit less perfect, and the way that Alacia's face had waxy look of someone who hadn't slept much, if at all.

"And did your private tutor have a way around that?" There was almost a sneer in her voice, but no true malice. Maybe she just didn't have the energy for it. She looked like she was taking her grandmother's kidnapping hard… it made her seem more human.

"Actually, yes. Generalized telekinetic movement. I will it to move, and it moves. Not as limited as leviosa or accio, and all you have to do is watch the weight. Anything from quills to teacups to swords and books. I've actually moved a…" Willow glanced at her audience, and amended her words slightly. "I've moved a person with it before."

"How?" Alacia's eyes were locked onto her, entirely focused.

"Because magic isn't about little sticks or old books. It doesn't depend on cauldrons or herbs – though they can help. Magic is about using your will and inner power to make things happen. Wands help you focus that power, but without the will, nothing happens." Willow closed the Charms book, dropping it into her satchel. Looking over, she pointed her wand at a chess set, and gently floated it over to the table.

"And when someone takes your wand away?" One of the seventh years, a rather solid looking boy who was a beater on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, asked.

"The wand isn't where the magic comes from. The magic is mine… well, it's inherent in the witch or wizard. The wand is a focusing tool, sort of like using binoculars to look at something. It helps, but it isn't what makes you see." Willow looked at them, wondering if she could actually make them understand what had always seemed so obvious, or at least, had seemed obvious since she'd learned that magic was real. "If they take your wand, well, you'd probably hit them with your bludger bat, and that would solve that problem. Lots of problems can be solved by hitting things until they stop bothering you. But the point was that it's possible to do magic without a wand, just a bit harder."

"Prove it." There was something in Alacia's voice, something hinting that the possibility of wandless magic was suddenly important to the other girl. It could be that Alacia wanted something – anything – to distract her from her grandmother's kidnapping.

Shrugging, Willow tucked her wand into her satchel, and meandered across the room, far enough that it would be obvious that she wasn't using it. Glancing around at the room, Willow smiled and reached her hand towards a fallen embroidery hoop with someone's fallen cross-stitching. It lifted into the air and sailed over, just like the accio summoning charm, and hovered there, the edges unfolding so that it was more clearly visible. There was a large raven, with gleaming blue and black feathers, the eyes still not sewn in, perched on a mostly finished Ravenclaw crest, part of the letters placed in, so that it proclaimed 'Ravenc'. Looking at it, Willow smiled. "This is very nice, and probably shouldn't stay on the floor. With another gesture, she floated it over to the same table that held the chess set.

"But… no wand." One of the second years protested, his eyes wide as he stared at the embroidery. "You can't just… that's controlled! Only accidental magic happens without a wand."

"Isn't real wandless magic… only in faerie tales?" Jasmine's voice was uncertain. "And I was looking for that last night. It must have been kicked under the chair."

"Magic just is. There's probably at least a dozen different ways that people use it now, and who knows how many have been used in the past. Magic without a wand is as real as people turning into cats or vampires or flying on a broom." Willow smiled a little, remembering watching as Professor McGonagall had turned into a very ordinary looking striped cat. "It's just a bit harder to control."

"Well, maybe we should all think about that over breakfast. Let's go, everyone." Jasmine shook her head, fingers brushing over her Prefect's badge.

With assorted mutterings and comments, people started on their way towards the great hall for breakfast, not being curious enough to skip the meal. Willow found herself wondering just what Alacia might be planning, and the question nagged at her – if it had been Drusilla and Lucius Malfoy who had kidnapped her grandmother, why? Drusilla might be crazy, but there would be a reason why she'd kidnapped someone, even if only as a snack for later… eeew. Willow just hoped that they managed to figure it out in time. Alacia's grandmother suddenly had a lot less of it than she'd had last week.

End part 26.

Breakfast was quite normal, right up to the point where the morning owls arrived with letters, packages and a few Howlers. The whole hall learned that one very embarrassed small Hufflepuff named Aurora Marie Halloway had utterly appalled her mother as a result of several letters sent home about her conduct at school, and she 'had best keep her school books presentable this year, as they would NOT be replaced!' Another person from the Gryffindor table had grabbed their Howler and bolted from the hall, actually making it out the door before there was the sound of a loud detonation, with wisps of reddish smoke drifting into the Great Hall. Three owls dropped letters in front of Alacia, one of them being an official looking document with a green wax seal that caused her to tense and grow very pale.

Willow watched as Alacia had dropped her toast, and lifted one of the normal looking letters with shaking hands. She opened it and actually became paler as she read, her face taking on an unhealthy waxy color that Willow had previously only seen on vampires and corpses right before she lurched to her feet and stumbled out of the hall. Willow wasn't certain how much Alacia was actually noticing, but knew shock when she saw it.

Glancing at Jasmine, she floated Alacia's other two letters into her hand and left the table also. "I'm going to see if I can help her out."

As Willow hurried after Alacia, she tried to figure out why she was so worried about Alacia. The British girl wasn't her friend, and she reminded her more of early Cordelia than anyone else. But… Maybe it was a leftover effect of helping Buffy, or maybe it was her near certainty that Alacia's grandmother had been taken as part of some nasty plan of Drusilla and Lucius Malfoy. All she knew was that she felt the need to help out, and Alacia could be in danger stumbling around like that. Drat, maybe Draco was right, and Sunnydale had given her all the wrong reactions to trouble involving vampires.

"Alacia!" Willow tried to get her attention, and then broke into a run, actually grabbing her sleeve to drag her to a halt. "You can't just go around like this."

"She… they…" Tears were forming in her eyes, and Alacia's arms wrapped around herself.

Willow pulled Alacia into an empty classroom, pulling up a chair for the other girl to sit on. "What was in the letter?"

Alacia just pushed the slightly crumpled page to Willow, dropping it as if it would turn and bite her. "Read it."

Willow glanced at the page, her eyes skimming over it. There were comments about relatives, which she tried to ignore, although apparently an aunt had been having horrible dreams about snakes and porcelain dolls. What jumped out at her was the word 'vampire'. Heart pounding, Willow reread that section. The investigating Auror had found signs that a vampire had been present when her grandmother had been abducted, and a silencing spell had been placed to mask the event. Her mother felt certain that this could only mean that Granmere was dead.

"A vampire and a wizard… Dreams about snakes and porcelain dolls…" Willow let the letter fall, looking at Alacia. "I think I know who's responsible for this. If I'm right, your grandmother's not dead. There's this vampire – her name's Drusilla. She's gotten involved with a Death Eater, and they plan to do something to put Voldemort in a position to rule England."

"Don't say his name. He's not back, he can't be back, and he can't rule England… it would be too awful." Alacia's protest seemed equal parts habit and fear. "Why would she take my grandmother for that? She's violently opposed to the Dark Lord."

"They probably found some sort of ritual. There's a plan, or else they would have just killed her and left her body with her dogs." Willow paused, realizing how harsh that must have sounded. "Alacia… I didn't mean… I don't want anything to happen to your grandmother. But she's slightly safer for now if they have a ritual that they need her for, even if we don't know what that could be. Maybe they just wanted a sane Seer."

"Sane?" Alacia frowned, her color looking a bit more human and less waxy. "My grandmother is sort of eccentric, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Drusilla's insane. She has been for over a century, as a result of what her Sire did to her before he turned her. She's pretty enough, if you like girls, and she was brought up to have nice manners, but she's an insane vampire, and they're all pretty big with the blood and the violence and the scaring people. Now she's got herself mixed up with an evil wizard. Maybe they wanted a Seer who didn't always have tea parties with her dolls." Willow held out the other envelopes, "These are yours."

"Dolls?" Alacia looked at her, eyes narrowing slightly. She ignored the other letters, demanding "What about dolls?"

"Drusilla collects porcelain dolls. Apparently, she thinks that they talk to her." Willow offered, wondering if Alacia was thinking about the nightmares of her aunt or just wondering about the absurdity of discussing porcelain dolls in the same breath as vampires.

"How can we save my grandmere? If we tell the Auror investigating…" Alacia stood up, looking as if she wanted to go charging to the rescue herself.

"They probably wouldn't believe us. And I don't really have the sort of evidence that would hold in a muggle court, so I doubt it would hold with magical judges either." Willow sighed.

"What is your evidence?" Alacia looked curious now, and slowly sank back into her chair.

Willow paused, trying to figure out the best way to explain this without airing Draco's family troubles. "I knew that Drusilla is in Bath, and that she's having an affair with a wizard. Her wizard is a Death Eater who's tried to help V – oh, fine, tried to help the Dark Lord regain his strength before. You remember the fuss over the attacked students? The vampire in the forest is Spike, who's been involved with Drusilla for over a century. He's really angry that she left him for this wizard, and he wants the wizard dead, Dru back with him, and the Dark Lord squished on general principle."

"Is that a good thing?" Alacia looked fascinated. "And how do you know all the names involved?"

"They were in Sunnydale, where I'm from, last year. It's also the home of a Hellmouth, or maybe it's the Hellmouth, Giles wasn't quite clear on that part. But they were there, and we learned a bit about them as we were trying to keep from getting killed. Spike is not a good guy, and I don't think he's a Malfoy either," Willow shuddered, disliking the whole mess. "If the Death Eaters weren't planning to kill as many not magical people as they could, he wouldn't care. A few deaths and a bit of torture of a house full of people here and there would probably be completely normal to him. But they're threatening his food supply, and he doesn't like that sort of thing. Same reason he didn't want the world to get sucked into hell. No more people to eat."

"That's why he's wanting to do this? So he can keep eating people? Eeww…" Alacia looked pale again. "Do we… should anyone interfere? I don't know enough to try to get rid of a vampire, even a sane one."

"I think we should help make sure Dru's plan to raise his evil snakyness fails. I don't really care if Spike is happy or not, I just don't want the nasty plan of the worse guys to succeed." Willow sighed, thinking that things could get so complicated. Life was easier when everything was in black and white.

End part 27.

"How do we ensure that they fail?" Alacia's soft question revealed that she was pulling herself back together.

"We… actually, I don't know. That's why we're going to go talk to my uncle and see if he has any plans. When in over your head, ask someone who has experience in the subject. I don't know how to stop a fully trained evil wizard, so we're asking another fully trained wizard for advice. Maybe two if Professor Flitwick's there." Willow stood up, tugging on Alacia's sleeve. "And you're coming with me to explain about your family."

She tugged Alacia all the way down to the dungeon, where her Uncle was busily brewing up something orange and shimmery through a range of orange, gradually getting darker and closer to red. She wasn't quite certain what it was, but she recognized a couple of the ingredients as things used in healing potions. Waiting until he wasn't slicing or adding anything, she spoke up. "Uncle Sev, we have a complication."

"Since it appears that Miss Clearwater still has her lips and presumably all other parts, shall I assume that you aren't coming to mention a fight?" There was a hint of sarcasm in her uncle's voice, and his eyebrow raised a little. He continued to stir the still shimmering potion, which was now giving off thin wisps of reddish orange steam and a scent like cinnamon and rust.

"Her grandmother's been kidnapped. Not only that, but according to… well, according to a letter explaining what the Auror found, there was a vampire and a silencing spell. I don't quite know why anyone would want to kidnap an aging seer, but I don't think it's anything good." Willow tried to hurry the words out before he could protest.

"Miss Clearwater, where does your grandmother live?" His voice was as smooth as it seemed to go, and almost non-threatening.

"She lives in Bath." Alacia's voice was slightly curious. "You… You know about this vampire that Willow mentioned, don't you?"

"Indeed." He looked positively grim in that moment. "More telling, I know who her wizardly paramour is. Your grandmother is in danger, Miss Clearwater."

"How much danger is she really in? An insane vampire seeking to restore the Dark Lord doesn't exactly…" Alacia swallowed, as if trying to control her emotions. "She sounds dangerous, but I'm not certain how successful her plans would be."

"Her paramour is my father." Draco's voice was filled with tension as he stepped into view, carrying a handful of pale green leaves. "The vampire in the forest is her lover, or maybe it would be closer to call him the jealous discarded lover."

Alacia swayed on her feet, one hand reaching out to lean on a table. "My grandmere has been kidnapped by… by Lucius Malfoy and a lunatic vampire? Merlin help us all."

"Merlin hasn't been very helpful lately." Draco dropped placed the leaves on a table near Uncle Sev, his hands shaking just a little. "So, my father the Death Eater is having an affair with a vampire, whose scorned lover is lurking in the forest and further tarnishing my reputation. Now he's kidnapping old witches. Mother always did tell me that my final years of schooling would be memorable."

"And you're not working with your father on this?" Alacia looked doubtful.

Drawing himself very straight, Draco put on his most haughty expression. "I am Draco Malfoy, and I refuse to become a minion to somebody that can be defeated by a baby."

"After years of you taunting the muggle born, and going on and on about how pure-bloods are better, I'm expected to believe you don't want to join up and get yourself a new tattoo?" Alacia arched one eyebrow and tried to sneer.

"I still don't like muggles, I still think that bringing in all the muggle born and raised is eroding the traditions and history of the wizarding world, and I'm still sure that most of the time, pure-bloods are better," Draco sighed, seeming to crumple inwards, even though was still sitting mostly straight in the chair. "My father was planning to do… something to me over the summer, as a sign of his loyalty to the Dark Lord. It would have destroyed… what made me Draco, maybe killed me. There's a big difference between not liking muggles and demanding that people destroy their children because you say so. I don't like muggles, and probably never will. But the Dark Lord… no. Just… no."

"Lucius didn't even hesitate," Uncle Sev whispered.

" Oh… I didn't… I'm sorry," Alacia mumbled, her cheeks turning pink.

Several moments of awkward silence passed, with Willow watching as Draco chopped up the leaves and her uncle slowly stirred them into the steaming potion. This caused it to change from a reddish orange to a deep plum color, though it still shimmered and steamed.

Alacia fidgeted a little, her fingers tracing over the hems of her sleeves before she blurted out, "Is somebody doing something about the vampire in the forest?"

"Vampires can be pretty hard to deal with." Draco's voice was quiet, and his fingers brushed the top of his shoulder, where he'd been bitten in Sunnydale. "Those eyes, and the teeth… they're a lot scarier up close."

"Dumbledore has insisted that he shall be able to handle Spike, though he neglected to share his plan with me before he left." Uncle Sev's voice was a bit sharper than usual. "I hope that this isn't the time that his tendency to trust people leads to tragedy."

Alacia shivered, and folded her hands together in front of her, perhaps to still the fidgeting. Her eyes apparently focused on a silver ring set with a moonstone and a piece of jet. "I just want Grandmere home safely. The aurors should be able to deal with this… Drusilla, they're trained to handle vampires and dark wizards and nasty spells."

"The complication is that to get Grandmother Clearwater safely home, someone will have to go through or around my father and an insane vampire." Draco leaned against a table, and glared at the cauldron. "For her sake, I hope they sent an Auror who isn't impressed by money or politics."

"I don't know, the name isn't one that I recognize. Someone called Enyos Kalderash?" Alacia sighed, her hands dropping to the pocket where she'd stuffed her reclaimed envelopes, still unopened.

Willow blinked at the name, certain that Kalderash had been the name of Jenny Calendar's gypsy family. They weren't known for being easily intimidated, and if this Auror was from that curse-wielding clan, then things might be okay. "I knew a witch with that last name once. She… it turned out that she was a gypsy."

"That might actually help. There's supposed to be some gypsy blood in mother's side, it's where the Sight was supposed to have come from. Apparently, a century or so back, a pair of sisters ran away from their clan. One of them was killed by a vampire, and the other married a wizard and became our ancestress. Grandmere's mother. It's supposed to be where Grandmere got her visions," Alacia sighed, looking very tired.

"What happened to the vampire?" Draco's question was soft.

"I don't know. I don't even know if they ever knew which vampire had done it, or if she was killed, or killed and turned." Alacia frowned, "At this point, how would we ever find out anyhow?"

"It was Angelus. They cursed him with a soul, and he has a detective agency in Los Angeles now. Of course, now days he uses the name Angel." Willow murmured, wondering at the coincidence of it all. Alacia didn't look much like Jenny at all, though maybe there was a bit of a resemblance around the eyebrows, and maybe her chin.

"That's the Angel that your friend…" Draco's voice squeaked. "But… you said… well, you did say, actually. I just didn't realize how dangerous he could be."

"You know him?" Alacia blinked, looking at Willow. "You know a vampire?"

"Sort of. We weren't particularly close, although he did date one of my friends, and he helped us fight demons." Willow smiled faintly, deciding not to go into explaining the whole soul mess. "For what it's worth, he didn't turn her. The Kalderash gypsy girl that he killed."

"Your life in California must have been very strange."

Willow fought the urge to sink into a chair and shake like Draco, or to laugh hysterically at the idea of things crashing together like this – Spike, hung over and heartbroken again, someone else affected by Angel's past, her own still half trained magic, insane vampires, evil mages, and a bad guy who wanted to remake the world in accordance to a crazed, blood soaked vision…. It was just like Sunnydale. "You have no idea."

End part 28.

"Is there anything else that needs done? Something besides sit here and shake and worry. Other than Professor Snape brewing up healing potions and having me fetching him ingredients… as part of a punishment for being out past curfew," Draco's question betrayed his frustration.

"We can't make a complete plan yet, we don't have enough information." Willow sighed and pulled a scrap of parchment and a quill from her bag and started writing. "We need to learn how Dumbledore's talk with Spike went, and… wait, Draco, does your father have a place near Bath, something he's had for a while?"

"Yes. It's been in the family for several generations. We used to go there in June for a while. Why…" Draco paused as his eyes suddenly lit with understanding. "Oh, you think that he's more likely to be staying in something he already owned than to get a new place. Which means that Alacia's grandmother is probably inside."

"Exactly. It's easier to do big rituals and workings when you not only know you've got a space that will work and won't be interrupted, but all the ingredients are already there. He's a traditionalist wizard who doesn't have to hide what he is, he's probably got most of everything that he might need already." Willow nodded, and then passed Draco a scroll. "Can you draw up as much as you can remember of the floor plan, any passages, wards or traps that you know of as well?"

"I suppose so. But there were parts that I've never been into. Some of them would be perfect for keeping ingredients… or a prisoner." Draco began to sketch things out, his quill scratching over the paper.

Alacia looked at Draco and his poorly concealed dismay, and the scowling figure of Severus Snape before glancing at Willow. "Why do you look so calm about this? And why do you sound like you don't trust the aurors to handle things?"

"You mean, why aren't I panicking?" Willow glanced up at her, putting down the feather that she was using to list the things that a fully trained wizard could do, knowing that her list wouldn't be complete. "It's a terrible thing, and I am worried, but… I've faced worse things. This isn't bad enough to make me panic anymore."

"Why not? Don't you know what will happen if they bring He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named back to power?" Alacia's words were filled with worry and anguish.

"I've been kidnapped by vampires and found dead bodies in my school. I've had people that I cared about die. I've faced attempted apocalypses on a deadline, although never alone. Yes, Voldemort is a scary guy. But he's NOT the end of the world, and if he got defeated and weakened once, it can happen again." Willow sighed, curling her feet underneath her. "We're going to come up with a plan, and we're going to stop them. And no, I don't want to just sit back and hope that the aurors can handle the problems… trying that would drive me crazy."

Willow tried to ignore Draco's mutter of "Crazier, you mean."

"Based on what?" Alacia sighed, her hands running over her letters. "How can you be so confident about all of this?"

"Well, I could say that it's because we're the good guys, so that's a big help. But if we give up, then they've won, because you can always try to fight back against the evil." Willow gestured, even as she wondered how Xander and Giles and everybody were doing back in Sunnydale. Had Xander and Cordelia…well, maybe she didn't want to know. What was Buffy doing now that she'd be back from the summer with her dad? "I refuse to give up just because the bad guy has more money, more magical training, and minions on his side."

"Personally, I'm glad of that stubbornness. I just hope you aren't going to get us killed with it," Draco sighed, glancing back at the scroll. "I know some of these rooms are warded. What I don't know is what's in them, and how nasty the wards are. Father's more than willing to use a ward that would kill."

"Somehow, I'm not comforted." Alacia's words lacked their usual bite.

"Draco? Willow? There you two are." The soft voice held a bit of old fashioned flavor. "The Headmaster asked me to pass on an assurance that he is perfectly safe, and has returned from a conversation with someone called Spike. He's also asked… ah, Hello, Professor Snape. The Headmaster wishes to speak to you in his office."

Willow smiled at the ghost, thinking that her gown looked quite similar to the one that Buffy had worn for Halloween. Except for the fact that it was all in silver and gray, from being a ghost. "Thank you. That's very reassuring to know."

The ghost drifted out through the wall, looking as if she was already thinking about something else. Willow smiled, looking over at Draco. "Dumbledore's okay. Spike didn't…. This is looking better."

"He didn't get killed talking to the fellow shouldn't be considered an improvement. An improvement would be oh, maybe the plan is this? Here's a portkey to the house?" Draco scowled at the table. "On second thought, maybe not to the house. Maybe just to Bath?"

"Would you trust a portkey into your father's chosen lair?" Alacia's eyebrow raised as she asked the question.

"Ummm…." Draco paused, the feathery end of the quill brushing over his chin before his shuddered and mumbled, "No. It would probably take us to the dungeons. Or somewhere equally nasty. I just keep feeling like I should be doing about this."

"But what? It's not like there's a handy prophecy that says you will triumph over them." Alacia glanced back at the letters, her hand shaking as her finger traced over the wax seal. "The idea about a prophecy concerning ordinary… well, almost ordinary witches and wizards is ridiculous. Those are for great heroes and Slayers."

There was a snapping sound and Draco's wide eyes focused on Willow. He seemed not to realize that he'd snapped the quill in half, and he swallowed twice before he managed to croak out "What about the people who associate with Slayers?"

Willow glared at Draco, feeling herself shiver from the emotions, the tension, and just plain fear. "Draco, this is already enough of a mess without adding in any prophecies. Do you happen to know how long it takes an owl to fly around the world? Well, to California, wait for a response, and then fly back? Or do we have a faster way to ask Giles?"

"Who's Giles?" Alacia asked, looking at the two of them.

"There are faster ways. But students aren't allowed, and you probably don't know them. Not that he's probably on the Floo network anyhow," Draco shrugged, and then looked very thoughtful. "Didn't you say that Professor Wyndham-Pryce used to be a Watcher as well? Would he know anything about prophecies?"

"Oh!" Willow straightened, blinking in surprise. "That's a great idea! Why didn't I think of it, of course Wesley was a Watcher… Okay, maybe he still needed a lot of… but still, books, he was good at the book part."

"In complete sentences, please?" Alacia's voice could almost have frosted glass.

"Wesley – Professor Wyndham-Pryce. The Council sent him after Faith got to town, and… well, that doesn't matter. What does matter is the fact that he's a Watcher. A fairly junior Watcher without a lot of time out in the field, but still a Watcher. So, he'd got all sorts of knowledge about rituals, demons, spells… and especially prophecies. Watchers are big on prophecies," Willow was almost smiling now. "Someone else to help with the researching…"

Draco threw a crumpled bit of paper at her while Alacia just groaned. "Stop sounding so enthusiastic."

"But Draco, we have lots of big old books, a Watcher, and we know just who the baddie is this time, and we already know what the baddies are, so there's no identify that demon. I don't even know if there are any demons involved. Things are looking up." Willow smiled as she jumped to her feet. "I'll just go find him."

Draco scowled, his arms crossed over his chest. "She's forgetting the part where we have a bloodthirsty vampire lurking in the forest giving me a bad name."

Alacia smirked, looking back at her letters. "You say that as if you'd had a good name to start with, Malfoy."

"It was better before people started to think that I was a vampire." He sighed, and tried to consider their options. "I suppose the question becomes how much faith do we have in the Aurors assigned to the matter?"

End part 29.

Willow made her way to Wesley's classroom, a corner of her mind surprised that the conversations hadn't taken longer. People were still in the Great Hall having breakfast, going on as if everything was normal. As if there wasn't a vampire lurking in the Forbidden Forest, as if that vampire wasn't Spike, as if… But they didn't know most of it. They only knew that there was a vampire, that they were inside in the daytime, that there were adults around. It gave Willow a pang as she tried to remember if she'd ever been that confident that the adults in her life could fix everything. Fortunately, Wesley was in the Defense classroom, one hand holding a cup of tea as he glanced at the pages of a book.

Waiting until he'd put the teacup down, she tapped one hand on a desk to make a bit of noise and spoke. "Wesley? We need some research."

"What sort of research? I'm afraid that most of the demon books… well, I don't have the whole set anymore." He looked a bit unhappy, possibly ashamed by the admission.

"Wizarding and ritual research. We've got a Dark Wizard and Drusilla kidnapping Seers in Bath, and there has to be a reason. Their big plan, according to the scary vampire in the woods that turned out to be a hung-over Spike, is to bring the great snake back to power, which we're all pretty sure means Voldemort, the guy who's name freaks out everybody in Wizarding Britain. And we don't have enough information, and I'm not quite sure where to start, and Lucius probably has a gazillion nasty wards and defenses on his house and I don't know what to do about them all, and Alacia started asking about prophecies, and she said her great-great grandmother was a Kalderash and…"

"Willow, breathe!" Wesley raised one hand, looking disturbed by her flood of words. "I can find the books to research. The same with the wards. But surely you realize that the Ministry will send Aurors to deal with the situation?"

"Yeah, well…" Willow paused, trying to figure out how to explain their concerns. "Alacia mentioned that the Aurors near Bath don't run into this sort of thing. Draco said that his father has a long history of buying his way out of trouble. And I'm sort of… well, I want to think that they'll send capable people, but I can't quite convince myself of it."

"Do you have any names of any of the Aurors involved?"

"Apparently the Ministry or whoever tells Aurors where to go…" Willow paused, considering how that had sounded. "um, gives the Aurors their professional orders, that is… They sent one guy to deal with the kidnapping of an old lady. According to Alacia's letter, it's a guy named Enyos Kalderash."

"Kalderash… Where have I heard that name before?" Wesley muttered, sipping at the tea as he tucked a ribbon into the book before closing it, and pulling a handful of slender volumes from a drawer. "No, not there… no, that wasn't it either…"

"The gypsies that cursed Angel. And umm… the computer teacher that Angelus killed." Willow sighed, for a moment wishing that she had her own cup of tea. "If he's anything like she was, then he won't be impressed by the Malfoy fortune. I just hope he's got better luck."

"mmmm. I can see how that would help him. But surely if he's an Auror, he must have had better luck so far," Wesley asked, returning the books to the drawer.

"Hopefully. But the thing is... After Sunnydale, after helping Buffy, I can't just sit back and tell myself that someone else will take care of it. I can't do it. Because too often, I've seen the someone else bungle things and then more people die. And Draco can't just sit back either, I think it's some sort of guy honor thing. Or maybe something about trying to redeem the family name, but I'm not sure how well that would work, and it's really… We don't quite know where to start." Willow sagged, leaning against a student desk. Maybe she was getting a bit wound up about this?

"Yes, well… We can research. Perhaps wards and counters for Dark wards should be the next unit for the Defense classes to start?" Wesley had pulled out another sheet of parchment, and was already scratching notes into it with his left hand.

Willow blinked, momentarily confused. "Wesley? Aren't you right handed?"

"I can take notes with either hand - the result of a few too many injuries while training in my youth. Several casts, and numerous sprains… It simply wouldn't have done to not take notes, so I was forced to learn." He paused, frowning at a darker spot on the wood of his desk. "My father insisted, and well… It's legible enough."

Willow had the feeling that there was probably a lot more to it than what he'd mentioned, but asking more would be prying. Wesley didn't look like he wanted to talk about his family. "Okay. I think I'd better go, I have to gather my books for class anyhow."

Transfiguration went about as usual, with a few complications at figuring out how to use a wand for something and some delays as she tried to sort out the reasons why a spell worked in addition to how it worked. She'd come to the conclusion that part of her delay was that she spent as much or more time trying to figure out HOW the magic could turn a goblet into a bird or a button into a beetle rather than making certain her pronunciation was right, or the exact angle for the swish and flick. But she didn't break anything, and there were no explosions or smoke, or anything worse than a metal-feathered bird that chirped with the sound of water dripping.

Herbology was fun, although it was the sort of fun of something interesting, slightly dangerous and entirely new. Wizarding plants were a whole new type, and while she'd been able to successfully kill Muggle potted plants for years, it was just fascinating to learn about them. She recognized a few of the names as things that Giles had ordered for a few rituals, and something that the Zoo-Keeper had used in his possession ritual, but this was a whole new way to see them. This wasn't some chopped dried bits of green, or some twigs in a bottle, but living plants, dark soil and humidity.

Then, it was time to go help Wesley with a First-year Defense class. It should be simple things, and maybe Wesley'd figured out a few things, or at least a couple places to start? With a sigh, Willow realized that it was almost good that she had so many demands on her time. It didn't give her very much free time, but it kept her from sitting and fidgeting herself into a fit of hyperventilating babble, or walling herself behind a stack of old books until three in the morning.

End 30.