Rating:  PG, just general Buffy-ish type things a-happenin'

Feedback:  I'd like that very much, thank you.

Spoilers:  If you know about Tara and Spike's Chip, you're good to go.

Distribution: Here.  If you're interested, please let me know.

Summary:  Willow's magic has backfired again, and this time she's so upset she decides it would be better if she leaves Sunnydale.

Author's Note:  Set sometime during Season 4.

Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Mutant Enemy (Joss Whedon), a wonderfully creative company whose charcters I have borrowed for a completely profit-free flight of fancy.  Kindly do not sue me, please, as I am terrified of you.  Thank you.

Dedication:  For Joe, who is going to have a great future ahead of him.

Chapter 3

            Slowly, the abandoned factory dissolved around the pair and was gradually replaced by the living room of the Summers's home.  At first glance everything seemed to be perfectly normal, but Willow could almost sense that something was different.  Suddenly, a very dejected Joyce came bustling into the room, a feather duster in hand, flour smeared on her nose, and a look of exhaustion on her face.  She began cleaning the room as though her life depended on it.

            "He'll be here any minute," Buffy's mother muttered to herself as she dusted with a vengeance.

            "Ooooh, who's 'he'?" Willow asked Jenny with the shadow of a smile.

            "Joyce's boyfriend.  They've been together going on five years now."

            "Let me guess.  She met a certain gentleman because he worked at Buffy's school, didn't she?"

            "Right in one."

            Willow couldn't help wondering two things.  First, why wouldn't Jenny look a little more upset that Giles was dating Buffy's mother?  The second thought was what on earth she, Willow, could have done to keep the two of them apart.  Her questions were immediately answered when the front door burst open.

            "What is that ungodly smell?" wheezed an unpleasant voice that made Willow's blood run cold.  "That had better not be my dinner."

            The redhead's eyes widened in shock as she realized who had just entered the house.  Glaring at the obviously overworked woman who had always acted more like a mother to Willow than her own mom was…

            "Principal Snyder!  What is he doing here?"

            "He lives here, Willow."

            If it had been possible for Willow's eyes to actually pop out of her head in horror, the green spheres would have been rolling on the floor like a pair of marbles.

            "Buffy's mom is living in sin with Principal Snyder!" she shrieked.  "I don't care what kind of alternate universe this is; that has got to be the sickest thing I have ever heard!"

            Jenny motioned for her to be quiet and listen to the scene before them.

            "I'm sorry, dear.  I tried to make that peppercorn steak you like, but the phone rang and the whole thing went up in smoke.  I really did try."

            "Try?" he spat out.  "That's about all you can do.  Like mother, like daughter.  Failures the both of you."

            "Buffy isn't a failure," Joyce said quietly with a spark of rebellion.

            "Oh, isn't she?  With one tiny letter to the college admission board, I can have her kicked out on her too-short-skirted behind and into the ghetto where she belongs.  You had better remember that." 

            Joyce looked as though she wanted to say something, but instead she hung her head in defeat.  "I didn't mean to upset you."

            The invisible Willow walked up to Snyder and stood only a few inches from his face.  Out of nowhere, she punched him as hard as she could in the jaw.  Her hand simply passed through his self-satisfied smirk.

            "Drusilla can figure out we're here, but I don't get to pummel that overgrown weasel?" Jenny shrugged in response.  "Why did this happen?"

            "You weren't here to tutor Buffy all through high school.  Her grades weren't hideous, but Snyder was able to convince the teachers that she should actually be failing.  Joyce went to him and begged him not to expel her daughter.  She said she'd do anything to keep her in school.  And she did."

            "I am going to be violently ill.  Wait a minute…  Buffy's out of high school, so why does Joyce keep seeing the big creep?"

            "Because he still controls her school records.  He's told Joyce that if she dumps him, he'll trump up a charge of cheating on Buffy's placement tests that will be so iron clad she'll be thrown out of college."

            "He's just the type to do it, too." Willow glowered at the man.  "Why didn't the mayor-slash-snake eat him?"

            "Snyder was in his office during graduation, falsifying records so it looked like that jock you tutored in history actually passed."

            Willow groaned.  This was getting worse by the second.  Snyder looked like he was actually preparing to kiss the poor woman.

            "Can we please leave now?" Willow squeaked with a note of panic.

            "Yeah, think I'd rather split, too," Jenny agreed with a look of intense distaste at Snyder.  "You know, compared to that guy, Angelus had a heart as pure as the driven snow."