Title: Detour in the Roadway
Chapter: It's Only a Model
Author: TigerTiger02
Spoilers: nothing is sacred!
Timeline: HBP, fifth season for Angel, and post-"Chosen" for Buffy
Disclaimer: I only own Lucia and Sio, you can borrow them with my permission
Summery: Buffy is James Potter's sister…. Harry is James' son… sound familiar? Oh and they just got to the castle
Dedication: for all of you who have reviewed! If you hadn't I probably wouldn't have reached my first ten chapters!
Buffy stared at the immense castle before her, god it had been so many years since she had seen it. She glanced back at the Thestrals and gave a shiver, when she had been a child she had thought that the carriages were horseless, she found she was wrong. Beside her Willow was shivering with anticipation.
"Oh my god… Buffy can you feel that?"
"What?"
"The magic… it's all around this place, and there's so much…. And it's all pure."
"I can feel it too… it's thrummin' in my blood, and hummin' in my bones." Spike said as he glanced around. Even in darkness it was a sight. Beside Spike Doyle studied the castle.
"I don't see what the big deal is. It's just a castle." Doyle shrugged.
"I would have to agree wit 'im." Kendra said as she eyed the castle wearily.
"What are you guys waiting for? Let's go already!" Dawn said impatiently.
"Alright, let's go." Buffy said, slowly everyone followed her. Just as they got to the doors they swung open to reveal Minerva McGonagall. She stood there regally, her hair pulled back into a severe buns, she wore robes of emerald.
"Buffy Summers I presume?" she asked and then added, "and company?"
"Yep, that's me. This is Rupert Giles, Willow Rosenberg, Xander Harris, Spike, Doyle, Kendra, Dawn my sister, and Daniel Osbourne, but we call him Oz."
"It is a pleasure to meet all of you; I am Minerva McGonagall the school's Transfiguration teacher. Now if you will all follow me, I will lead you to your rooms."
Buffy could easily get lost in these hallways but somehow she remembered how to get everywhere. 'Must be the Marauder in me,' she thought wryly. Suddenly McGonagall stopped in front of a portrait of a couple having a picnic.
"This will be Mr. Harris, Mr. Doyle, and Mr. Osbourne's room." She said, "The password as of this moment is chocolate frog, if you would like to change it please tell the occupants of the portrait. Now, if you three need anything just ring the House Elf bell, if you need directions just ask any of the ghosts or portraits and they will tell you. Dinner is in an hour in the Great Hall. We have little time, so shall we?" The remaining people left the three men.
"So…" Oz said as he looked at the portrait, "Should we go in?"
"Yeah… uh… hello?" Xander asked. The man in the portrait looked up.
"Password?" he asked. Xander jumped as Doyle took a step back and Oz raised an eyebrow.
"Cool." Oz said. "Chocolate frogs." The portrait swung open to reveal a lavish room done in varying shades of green, cream, and brown. From the common room there were three doors. On gold plates on the doors was each man's name. The three looked at each other and shrugged.
"Here goes nothing." Xander said as he stepped in and strode across the room. He wrenched the door open to his room and stopped in shock. His room was done in shades of blue and gold. The various pieces of furniture had an antique quality and were made of mahogany. There was a two doors, Xander assumed one was a closet and the other a bathroom. He strolled out and paused at Oz's room and whistled lowly.
Oz's room was similar but rather then blue and gold it was done in deeper colors of red, blacks, and browns. Somehow it managed not to clash. The furniture in his room was oak and has a more simple touch. Both men moved to Doyle's room.
The deep forest green and chocolate brown gave his room some class, and the oak furniture in his room brought out a woody sense. Neither men saw the Irishmen but both assumed he was in the bathroom, especially when there was a yelp.
"Doyle? You alright?" Xander said as he stepped into the other mans bathroom.
"The mirror talked!" He said in a high, nervous voice.
"What? Are you stoned? Mirrors don't talk."
"We most certainly do, honey." An indignant voice said. Both Xander and Doyle yelped and ran out of the bathroom into Oz who was standing there with a bemused expression.
"Cool." He said, "I'm going to unpack, later." And with that he was gone.
"I uh… I'm going to do that too." Xander said and backed out of the room slowly. Alone in his room Doyle glanced around, and then sneezed. Immediately his face turned blue and erupted in shiny red spikes. Quickly he shook his head and he went back to normal.
"Well that was odd."
"Who're you callin' odd?" the mirror asked. Doyle jumped.
"I need a drink." He decided.
Meanwhile the smaller group made its way through the halls. Finally after what seemed like endless walking through corridors that all looked the same they stopped in front of a portrait of two witches huddled over a cauldron.
"This is Miss. Rosenberg, Miss Kendra, and Miss Dawn's room. The password is wolfsbane. I assume you remember what I told the others?" Willow nodded, "Right then, we still have two more rooms, and dinner is in 50 minutes." Buffy gave Dawn a squeeze.
"I'll see you guys at dinner, have fun." Buffy said and then turned swiftly and left.
"Wolfsbane." Willow said with authority to the witches. The witches glared at her, apparently not liking the fact that she had interrupted their gossip time, but the portrait swung open.
Their common room was done in serene blues, greens, and cream. Instead of gold plates on the doors they had delicate silver ones with scrawling, fancy lettering. Dawn immediately dashed to her room and flung the door open.
"Awesome…" she murmured, her room was done in light non-offensive, pinks, purples, and cream. The bed was a canopy bed; with light purple curtains surround it. There was a hope chest at the foot of the bed, and the furniture was made from mahogany. Dawn turned around. "I'm going to go freshen up in the bathroom. See you guys later."
Willow's own room was done in purples, blues, and cream. Other then the slight difference in colors her room was pretty much similar to Dawn's the only different was that there was a large cabinet against the wall that had many jars, and other things associated with Wicca magic. Next to the cabinet was a large bookcase that held many books that would be useful to Willow. Also there was a third door that opened up into a sanctuary for Willow to do her own brand of magic without the school's magic interrupting.
"Whoa… I have some serious exploring to do." Willow said as she stepped inside.
Kendra turned to her room and frowned at the door. She hoped her room wasn't overdone like the others had been. She flung the door open and gaped in surprise.
Her room had a Spartan quality to it; the paint was only brown and cream. The bed was simple, no frills or curtains, just a simple large bed that looked comfortable. There was a simple wardrobe with drawers on the bottom and then a small space for hanging clothing. There was a small bookcase with a few books that might have interested the Jamaican girl. But then the thing that captivated her the most was the weapons on the wall. There were various axes and knives fixed to the wall, and special case used for swords.
She flung open a chest at the foot of her bed. Inside there were three various sized crossbows with many bolts to fit them. In additions to those there were stakes and small bottles labeled with things like, 'Instant Sunshine' and 'Instant Fire'. Kendra let the top drop with an audible thump and sat down hard on the bed. She felt so alone at that moment. So isolated… maybe she shouldn't have come? With a sigh she let herself fall back onto the bed and curled up for a good nap.
It was another five minutes before they stopped at another portrait. Buffy immediately burst out laughing.
"Dear god Spike is that you?" she asked incredulously. If Spike wasn't dead he would be blushing.
"Oh William, seems this girl knows you." Darla purred out viciously from her place in the portrait. Angelus sniggered and pulled Darla closer in a sloppy kiss. Drusilla was babbling from her spot, her doll in her lap and an insane glint in her dark eyes.
"Do I know you?" William asked.
"Oh sod…" Spike muttered, "I look like a right arse pirate." Buffy laughed again.
"Look at your outfit! That's wild! And your hair… oh god Spike this is just too funny." Even Giles was trying to hold back snickers. Buffy was bent over by now and gasping for air as she laughed so hard it was silent.
"Shut your bloody gob." Spike grumbled.
"Fair lady, you are not implying that this scoundrel is me, are you?" William said tentatively.
"Oh my god!" Buffy wheezed out as she continued to stare and laugh at the painting. "It's like a really bad perm… oh my god…"
"Really Buffy… after all that Spike has done for us you should really try to contain yourself." Giles said, barely containing his smile all the while.
"Watcher's got a point, I might just have to ignore the soul and good back to me wicked ways." Spike said, "I mean it would be so easy to just off you right now." Spike said as he loomed over her. Eventually McGonagall was the one who managed to silence Buffy with a charm.
"This is Mr. Giles and Spike's room. The password is Scourge. We have 35 minutes until dinner, do either of you have any questions?"
"No, thank you." Giles gave Buffy a brief hug and she and McGonagall walked away. "Shall we go inside?" Giles asked the sullen Spike.
"Yeah whatever." He pulled out a cigarette and lit it up.
The common room was small and intimate. There were several overstuffed chairs and couches. There was a large bookshelf that contained books that either man would like to read, though Spike would never admit it. There were weapons on the walls and in chests. It was done in blues and browns. Spike immediately strode to his room and flung the door open. He smirked and turned to Giles.
"Oy! Come and have a look." Spike said and stepped inside his room.
His room was his, it was clear by the coloring and the posters and the music selection. There was even a guitar.
"Haven't picked up one of these since just before Christmas of '89," Spike murmured and picked it up.
"I didn't know you played." Giles commented.
"I've played since the '70's, only in '89 Dru and I had to flee the country and I just never got around to nicking a new one." Giles nodded and glanced around the black room. The only colors in it were on the red chair and the pillows on the overly large bed.
"Journals? Why would you need journals?" Giles asked as he spotted Spike's ebony desk.
"Oh come off it Rupert, you can't pretend to not know what I was like when I was a human." Spike scoffed, he went to the bookshelf and pulled out a slim book. "This is the journal I had when I was first turned. My first one." He tossed it to Giles who caught it with ease. "Go ahead, have a read. Maybe then you Wankers would understand what it was like to be newly turned." Spike growled out. He turned back to the small bookcase and frowned. "Most of these are mine. Always wondered why the Wankers Council never had any of my journals. Wait a mo…" Spike muttered and pulled a larger journal off the shelf. "It is his!" he said in apparent delight. "Look at this Ponce's drawing!" he shouted in glee. He shoved the opened book under Giles's nose. The elder man's (or younger if you really think about it) eyes widened in shock and then her let out a torrent of chuckles.
"Is that really something Angelus drew? Ballerinas?" he chucked out.
"I remember that night well. Dru wanted to go to the ballet, see she wanted a ballerina to keep; you know to dance for her. Anyway at the beginning of the night Angelus was talkin' big, 'bout how it was gonna be a massacre and no one would survive. By the end of the show the bloody pillock was weepin' like a newborn and saying, 'It was so beautiful…' Darla got all bent out of shape and we had to leave immediately, we didn't even get to feed that night." Spike shook his head. "Oy! Lookit this!" he shouted as he finally spotted a small box made of freezing cold stone. He opened it and picked up a bag, "Mmm… otter…" he murmured. He turned toward the stereo system and went through the CD's, "Got all of my music right too… Well Rupes, I have some catching up to do. So if you'll pardon me." Spike shooed Giles out of the room.
Giles found himself once more in the common room with what he was sure a dumb expression on his face and the book in his hands. It was only when the Sex Pistols started to make the door rattle against its frame that he even thought to move. He took five steps to his own door and wrenched it open.
"Oh my…" he murmured before taking off his glasses and rubbing them clean. He put them back on and frowned. His room was much like Doyle's, done in deep greens and rich browns. He had an overly large desk and bookcase. In addition to those were anatomy drawings of various demons on the desk. He toed off his shoes and went to a cabinet where he found on Pensieve as well as various tools for magic. "Well… I suppose I should unpack…" Giles murmured to the empty room.
Meanwhile Buffy was trying to keep from complaining as McGonagall led her up yet another flight of stairs. Her feet were killing her, well she supposed it was partially her fault, she just had to wear the stiletto heeled boots. Finally they stopped in front of a statue of an angel. Buffy couldn't help but smile at the irony.
"We have about twenty minutes until dinner, I trust you will be able to find your way back Miss Potter." Buffy's eyes snapped to McGonagall.
"How did you… but Professor?" Buffy gaped out.
"Miss Potter, I never forget any of my students, especially one as gifted as you were in Transfiguration." Buffy flushed at the compliment.
"Well I highly doubt that I'll be able to do any of that anymore with the same proficiency…" she murmured.
"Nonsense I'm sure Sirius can get you back into tip-top shape. He was the best student wizard I had ever seen after James and Lily." McGonagall flushed slightly, "I'm sorry m'dear I shouldn't have said that." She said.
"It's all right, it's true though." McGonagall nodded thoughtfully.
"Well I suppose I should let you go now, the password is marauder." Buffy caught McGonagall's almost nonexistent smile and knew. She turned to the angel and spoke the password. It moved to the side to reveal a set of downward spiraling steps. She gave her former teacher one last look and descended.
The common room was done in calming dark blues, dark purples, and stark against the vibrant colors, cream. The furniture was comfy looking, and upholstered with black fabric. There were a couple of paintings and a shelf of useful and interesting books.
She strode to a door and flung it open to reveal a training room much like the one she had in the back of the Magic Box. She marveled at the multitude of weapons, some she had never even seen before. And what was that? A dummy sat against the wall with a booklet around its neck. Buffy skimmed the booklet and surmised that it could be charmed to spar with her. She walked out of the room and went to another door.
It was her room. It was done in lighter colors then the common room with green thrown into the mixture. It had an overly large bed with a dresser, wardrobe, and large desk. The bed had silk sheets and a curtain made of heavy velvet with sheer curtains underneath, depending on how much privacy or light she wanted. She opened the door to the bathroom and gaped; it looked exactly like James had told her the Head-Boy bathroom looked. Only instead of manlier scents there were scents like rose, lavender, and honeysuckle. She backed out of the bathroom and smiled.
"Now… what to wear?"
Sirius rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed deeply. How could he have been so stupid? He glanced at Sio, who was bouncing on the balls of her feet.
"So can we go?"
"Get dressed." Sirius said shortly. She pouted.
"I am dressed." she stressed the words and gave another pout.
"That is barely enough clothing." Sio glanced down and studied the calf length gypsy skirt and the plunging neckline of her tight fitting, sheer shirt.
"I think it's plenty, and have you seen the uniforms. I mean hello Britain, hello Brazil!" she said with a giggle, and then sighed when Sirius clearly didn't understand it. She shook her head.
"How many of those did you have?" he finally asked as he pointed to the wizarding equivalent of Pixie Sticks which he was now lamenting even giving her one.
"Erm… dunno…" she muttered.
"Are you going to change? We have twenty minutes before we have to be there."
"Fine. I'll change."
Buffy smoothed her silk shirt and nodded, yep white silk tunic and black cotton pants. She looked good, at least she hoped so… oh my god! What if Sirius went for Drusilla-like girls! What if he was gay! What if-
"Buffy?" her train of thought was cut off by Willow who appeared at her side. "What's wrong?"
"More like what's the hold up? I'm starving!" Xander said, quietly Oz followed him. Not so quietly Doyle brought up the rear.
"The boy's got a point…" he murmured. Buffy blinked at the half-demons back and sighed. Next to her Dawn smirked.
"Too bad he's old enough to be my… okay maybe not father but sure why not." Dawn said just before slipping through the doors. Buffy blinked after her.
"What?" she asked belatedly.
"Shouldn't be surprised Slayer… after all she is made from you." Spike commented as he slipped past Kendra who was glaring daggers at him.
"Why must he stay 'ere?" Kendra growled out. Buffy shook her head.
"A lot has changed since you died Kendra."
"Then tell me! Explain to me why!" Kendra shouted desperately, she was feeling so out of sorts, so out of place.
"I don't have time right now, maybe later." Buffy said distractedly as Sio and Sirius made their way towards them. Sio broke away from Sirius and came to stand beside Kendra.
"Hi!" she said chirpily, the only thing different about her attire was that the shirt wasn't as low cut and it was a different color. "You must be Kendra, I'm Sio."
"Are ye a witch too?" Kendra asked lowly.
"Me?" Sio laughed, "Probably but I can't do any magic… I'm a slayer." Kendra's eyes widened.
"Are you da one who came after me?" She asked with her head cocked.
"Nope, that was Faith… I'm just a new one out of hundreds."
"What? Buffy never told me any of dis." Kendra said gloomily, clearly she did not like being out of the loop.
"Oh well then I guess we have much to talk about, I'll fill you in the best I can."
It was late into the night and Buffy and Sirius were having a cup of coffee in the kitchens.
"So we should probably start to go over lesson plans…" Sirius murmured. Buffy pushed away a pout.
"Yeah I guess you're right. Let's go back to our office." She stood and stretched, her shirt riding up to reveal her smooth, tone stomach. Sirius immediately had trouble looking away. Fortunately he managed to think about a naked Dumbledore and was able to turn his eyes back to her face.
"So… after you…"
Twenty minutes later they were hunched over a piece of parchment with their quills poised.
"No, no… we should do Succubi before the Incubi." Sirius said.
"What? Why?" Buffy asked.
"Well because… well I don't have a good reason!" Sirius said. Buffy laughed and shoved him lightly.
"Ah! Buffy you wound this old man."
"Oh come on Sirius, you're only 33." Buffy said as she leaned in to scribble that Incubi would be covered before Succubi. He tried to shove her quill out of the way with his. This ensured in short battle and ended with them leaning in slowly.
SLAM!
Sio stood in the doorway.
"Oy! Lovebirds, who's patrolling with me?"
"Isn't Kendra going with you?" Buffy said angrily, she had hit her head when she had jerked away from Sirius.
"Yeah but we've got a whole forest and the village to cover. Two Slayers can't possibly cover that much and have a quarter-way decent night of sleep." Sio complained. Buffy sighed.
"There are other people out there, like Giles and Spike and Xander."
"Are you implying that you want me to get laid?" Sio asked out of the blue.
"What? No, why?"
"You've listed all available males."
"Not true I never said Oz or Doyle." Sio snorted.
"Oh puh-lease, Oz is totally buggering some she-wolf from his clan and Doyle is obsessed with some Cordy bint." Buffy glared at her.
"Just go get Spike, Oz, and Willow. They can help."
"Maybe you had better go Buffy. I would feel better if you were with Sio." Buffy turned hazel eyes to Sirius.
"Fine…" she sighed out. "We'll get the whole sexual being thing sorted out tomorrow."
"It's a date." Sirius said. Unbeknownst to either they were both thinking the same thing, oh I so wish.
A/N: wow that took a long time to update… it's been like over two weeks. Sorry guys! I wrote most of this the weekend after I updated but then I couldn't bring myself to work on it… I've been reading The Crucible… ugh… it made me all weird about writing about magic… no clue why but here it is! This is the first time I have ever reached the tenth chapter of writing anything! You people gotta give me props for sticking it out!
Review Responses:
Toniboo: oops? Sorry I made you all afraid of Uni. I'll try and make the updates come sooner… I'm hoping to have Sirius/Buffy kiss maybe within the next two chapters… their characters are being so stubborn about it and it doesn't help with Sio barging in or slamming doors.
Just Me Prime: the paint fight was one of my favorite scenes to write, I never actually planned it and it kind of wrote itself. At first I thought about taking it out but I just loved it too much. I'm so happy that you like how I'm having them move slowly, it wouldn't be right for them to pull a Parker/Buffy and jump right into the sack.
nursechrism: don't worry they will get together… maybe even within the next chapter or two!
gaul1: huh?
Arica, Princess of Rivendell: oh it's alright, I even got confused!