darkmoon: duh Oz is in here! He's the best thing that ever happened to BtVS! I love me some Seth Green!
Witchy-grrl: Yeah, I hate Angel/Cordy too. And Angel/Buffy. They were a cute couple and all but... no. I still don't know who all of my ships are going to be. Buffy/Oz maybe? Or not. Don't know yet.
Smile 7499: Thank you. You made me smile. How sweet! I like the Harry parts better too but there are like none (almost) in this Chapter. I hope to get some more in very soon!
Lia: All will be explained... I hope.
Note: Thanks for all your reviews, guys. They mean so much as any author can tell you. Ok, so I wrote this chapter on the plane so any weird things I attribute to airplane air. It's all recycled and stuff... anywho: Just a reminder that this story does contain SLASH for the female kind so if that offends you, go fuck yourself elsewhere 'cause I don't care. I'm glad to see that most of you are mature enough to handle it. I've already begun the next part so it should be up by Weds. I hope. Oh, one more thing! Go join my yahoo group! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DifferentWorldfanfic now on with the fic!
In the Shadow of the Willows
Chapter three: Trains and other such nonsense
The castle was much larger than Angel had remembered it being. Maybe it was the fact that now he had the time to take his time and wander the halls slowly. As it turned out, The headmaster of the school, one Albus Dumbledore, had been a seventh year student when Angel had attacked it with his merry band of vampires. He was even more surprised that he'd been hired after hearing this.
But they both had a good laugh about it in the end, though neither was sincere about it, and Albus showed him to his rooms. Thus, Angel found himself wandering aimlessly about the halls trying not to think about his past. With a wary grin he recalled Buffy and her gang of 'Scoobies'.
It was in the library that it came to him. The room was large and full of every musty old book imaginable. Giles would have loved it. It was just like a larger version of Sunnydale high. He could she that evening clear in his mind now. Xander and Willow were flirting while he sharpened stakes and she worked on the computer. Buffy was in the office arguing with Giles and Angel himself sat in that chair, just over there. Brooding as always. Xander had looked up from his carpentry to ask Angel a question about Willow's research. Something along the lines of ,"Have you ever heard of.....?" But He hadn't heard. So Xander took it upon himself to shout out across the room, "Hey! Broody dead guy!" Giles dropped his glasses which he had been cleaning and Buffy began to giggle. Willow scowled at them all while Xander looked pleased as punch. It was a rare moment of sanity before..... before everything.
Before Angel left. Before Buffy died again. Before Willow and Oz Broke up. Before Willow figured out she was gay. Before Anya or Reiley. Before Jonathan came and tore their lives apart. Before he shot Tara. Before Willow went crazy and killed all three of them. Before Willow disappeared. She didn't ever stop to think. She'd just reacted. She had no idea that Tara was alive. AS far as Angel knew the young woman was still living. But Willow had run. Angel heard later that Anya almost killed herself when Xander left for some tiny town in Texas. Oz was long gone and Spike never did come back as far as anyone knew. He'd been sighted in Africa about that time but since then, not a word.
With a sigh, Angel shook himself out of his reverie. He wouldn't think about it. This was his second chance at everything. At every dream he'd smashed. He wouldn't be just saving some randomly helpless soul on the streets. He would be teaching others to defend themselves and those around them. He could feel it in the air. These children were going to need that.
A soft noise behind him raised the hairs on the back of his neck. In a movement almost too fast for a human to see, he had turned around and when he saw the face of his stalker, he had to check himself before he hauled off and strangled her.
"Hello, Angel. Do remember me?" She looked just as he remembered her. She had hardly aged at all in the thirteen years since their one and only meeting. There were a few more lines about her yes and the robes were different than what she had worn but seemed to be suited to her more so than those muggle clothes ever had. He smiled at her.
"I remember you, Tara." She smiled.
"I hear you got saddled with the Defense against the Dark Arts job." Was she laughing at him?
"Yeah. What are you doing here?" He didn't know what else to say.
"I teach Charms. I have for almost ten years." Yep. She was most definitely laughing at him. She smiled a big smile and threw her arms around him. "It's so good to see you! I haven't hardly talked to any one from the old gang in so long! Buffy will be so glad to hear that I've heard from you!" Angel didn't know what to make of all of this. He hardly knew her and here she was hugging him like an old friend. But her eyes were still laughing with joy.
"Buffy?" He asked after a moment.
"Buffy," agreed Tara. Angel laughed. It was good to be welcome after so many years of having to trick people into inviting him in.
September the first found Seth crammed into the backseat of his parents' car along with everything deemed necessary for him to go off the school. It seemed that somehow they had managed to smash a partridge and a pear tree in there as well but peering around the great box which held a mewing kitten, Seth could only see his little sister and mother in the front seat.
His mother seemed slightly worried. "Now, I want you to write to me once a week, do you hear me?" This was the third time she'd asked him this. It wasn't so bad. She'd asked him how much underwear he'd packed only about a dozen times. Much to Michele's delight.
King's Cross station seemed just a little bit bigger to the two children that day for it certainly wasn't the first time either of them had been there. Their father took to train to work each day and got off at King's Cross to transfer to a bus that let him off a little closer to his office. Jonathan Wiles had been taking Michele and Seth to work with him since they were little. But today, the familiar station looked just a little bigger, as I said. It was a little newer and little bit more exciting. Both of them kept looking here and there for the tale-tell signs of a witch or a wizard. But they saw nothing out of the ordinary.
Suddenly realizing that he had never seen a platform 9¾, Seth's eyes widened as he asked his mother how he was expected to find a place he'd never seen before.
"Well, The letter said that it was right through the barrier." She looked around. "Well, this must be it." Seth looked around. All he could see was a brick column. Just like any other around them. It was Michele who noticed it first. There, on that brick. Just about eye level for a child of eleven years, was a seemingly random scratch in the brick. But upon closer inspection, the ten-year-old had discovered that it resembled very much the wizard's hat which was required of all students entering Hogwarts! "This must be it then," said their mother. She placed her hand on the wall a little above the marked brick and found, to her amazement, that her hand went right through the wall! She quickly pulled it out and stared at it.
"Mummy, can I go first?" Michele asked.
"No, stupid. I should go first!"
"Don't call your sister names, Seth. You can go together." She hesitated. "No. I'll go first." And with at she stepped through the column. The children stared at each other for a moment before following. Now this was what they had been searching for!
People of all ages walked about. Some wore clothes like the Wiles Family was used to seeing but others wore robes and still others wore random bits of both wizard and muggle wear. And then there was the Hogwarts express! The huge red steam engine looked just the way it had to countless of first-years since it had been built nearly two hundred years ago.
A large group of people with bright red hair walked in behind them. Seth watched as the father of the group clapped their mother on the shoulder. "Ginny! Didn't expect you'd be here today! I thought you had to work! Glad you could make it! We'll give Harlen and... Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were my little sister..." The got all flustered. Seth's mother laughed.
"It's all right. I'm Willow." The man smiled at her.
"My name's Charlie Weasley. I'm really sorry. I thought you were Ginny and what with the red hair and all... It's kind of a family trademark."
Mrs. Wiles laughed again. "It's all right."
The man spied the children almost hiding behind their mother. "So, which one of you two is starting this year? By the looks of things I'd say it were you, young man." Seth nodded. "Well," said Charlie. "My brother's son is starting this year and he doesn't know any one. I'll bet you don't either. Here. Let me introduce you." And so the great misunderstanding became a better thing than it wasn't. Charlie walked over to a very tall man who looked about the same age as Seth's mother. A tall boy with bright red hair followed when Charlie Weaseley and the tall man walked over. Tall Man introduced himself as Ron Weaseley and this was his son Harlen. They were both first years. The two boys smiled shyly at each other while the parents talked about the school.
"Oh yeah, Ron here went to Hogwarts. He and Hermi and Harry. They ruled the school. I wish I coulda been there but I was gone by that time. My son's a fifth year now. Gryffindor." Mrs. Wiles was smiling as Charlie spoke and Seth wasn't sure he liked the look in her eye. But his younger sister chose that moment to ask the new boy a question.
"What's your name?"
Seth rolled his eyes. "You heard what Mr. Weasley said. It's Harry."
The boy wrinkled his nose at that. "No. Harry's my dad's friend. I'm Harlen. What's your name?"
"I'm Seth. And this is Michele..." There was an awkward silence for a moment before Seth broke it. "What's Gryffindor?"
And with that simple question, Harlen was off talking all about the houses and the founders. "And my Uncles Fred and George tried to tell me that you have to fight a ten foot mountain troll in front of the whole school with your eyes closed but Mum says all you do is put on a hat."
Michele and Seth listened with wide eyes as the boy told them all about Hogwarts. "When my dad was there, there was this teacher, Snape, and he taught potions. Yeah and he was really mean!" But that was all he got out before the parents realized it was almost time for them to go. Seth hugged his mother and sister while Harlen did the same and then the two boys climbed onto the train.
You have to marvel at the convince of modern travel. Only here in 2015 could it be possible for a plane to carry a person from New Orleans to London in the space of eight hours. Lucky for Spike too because it meant her could be on and off the plane in complete darkness. But that didn't leave him a lot of time to find a place to stay.
But that didn't matter much. He still had his family's ancestral home just on the other side of the city. Taxi cab's ride away. He'd held onto the property for a few years after being turned but had lost it somewhere along the way. In a gamble or something. But he'd brought it back a few months ago. It was his by birth right after all and as the cab sped it's way trough the old parts of the city, Spike could almost see people he'd once known walking the streets.
There was that same group of boys walking to church. Molestation by priests was by no means a modern thing and that group had not been raped. The priest let them do whatever they wanted to in the back room so long as he was permitted to join in. William had known what was going on. Emily told him. His sister made it her business to know everything.
And just there, there was Cecely and her group of giggling friends. Each one of them dressed in the latest fashions as they made their way through the streets and wound their way down to the ice cream shop or to some party or ball. Hadn't it been Emily who first introduced him to the lovely Lady Winchester? Always had it been Emily who had drawn him out of his writings and into the real world.
Just there was his mother. The Lady Holce. In her strictly heavy mourning which she wore after her husband's death until her own nine years later. She too was on her way to the church. To confess the sins of her two nearly grown children.
Along side the cab, the little deaf boy who delivered their milk each morning ran after his dog as it sped down the street. He got run over by a carriage one night. It had been driven by some local boys coming home from a party at which they had all gotten thoroughly smashed. The boy's head and arm had both been found separate from his body and down the street a ways. But each of the young men were young lords and one was a duke so the whole thing was ignored.
That was the way things happened back then. Girls in their long gowns and men with no respect for anything but power. William had grown up among the lesser royals of the city and had hated every moment of it. Emily said that all of them were bitter. Imagine. Being that Rich or royal and yet still not being invited to court! She was appalled by it though in her heart, Emily secretly wanted nothing more than to join them where they wouldn't have to pinch every last dime they had to buy nice clothes or keep the house. There was no money and many of their old clothes were simply altered to be a bit more fashionable. It was Emily's greatest shame.
But Spike knew that those times were long past and that for all of their high ideals and high fashions, they were all dead. They had tried so damned hard to make a mark on the world and now each and every one of them was forgotten by the world at large save for one vampire whom they had all thought would never amount to nothing. Spike grinned in the darkness. "But look at me now, mates." And the cabby muttered to himself about the milk and eggs he had yet to pick up for his wife.
Oz set out from the flat her shared with Buffy Summers about a week after they had moved in to find the Ministry of Magic. He had found the local wizarding community. It wasn't hard. If one knew what to look for, they were fairly obvious. This one seemed just like any other he had seen in Europe. After asking the barkeep how exactly to enter, Oz walked into the narrow alley ways to see what he could find.
Most wizard cities had their ministry buildings right there in the shopping district but here it was different. The British wizards always seemed to be doing things differently. It was well established in the wizarding community that Britain held the top notch for everything magical and that was why Oz was here in the first place but he wasn't seeing what all the hype was about. The shops were the same but the prices were higher. The people wore the same robes but sans rips and rents. The voices were the same but they spoke English. Like Giles.
Oz found that here, more people wore robes. In many communities he had visited, they wore muggle clothing just as often and Oz had always fit in with his baggy clothes. He hadn't changed that much since high school but he'd changed a lot since Sunnydale. He wondered, for a fleeting moment, if his old friends and aquntences would recognize him. But giving it no more thought than that, he continued on.
Stopping only to buy a set of plain brown robes, Oz continued on. You can never have enough plain robes, he thought. They can keep you out of a lot of trouble.
But no where could he find the local ministry. It was as if it had never been there. It was strange to see people congregating on the steps of the back in the place of any other hotbed of political activity. Once he had walked the whole alley from one end to the next, he went back to the pub and ordered a drink.
He sat in a booth by himself in the back of the crowed room and watched as the patrons of the bar wandered in and out of the murky gloom. The old hag in the corner was watching him the same as he was watching her. Their eyes met for a moment and she stood up from her seat and hobbled over to his nearly empty booth. Oz watched every movement she made. The way she limped slightly. Putting most of her weight on her left leg every other step. The way her greenish brown hair hung in limp dreadlocks about her pale face. Her old and worn out robes so much like his own had been during the long months he had worked at the monastery. She was one who had no one to impress and so she cared little for the way she looked.
She did not sit. She stood in front of the chair and kind of collapsed into it. It skittered backwards under her sudden weight but she did not bother to right it. Peering up into Oz's face he knew that she knew what he was. Or something like that. "Your kind don't come here often. Most are known and stay away."
"I'm not from around here," he told her.
"You reek of the slayer but they do not smell it. They were once as I am. I remember. I am older than I look just as you are younger than you look. They too could once catch the scent of a slayer and a wolf. But you do not look as if you have been in a fight. I smell no blood."
"She's an old friend." The hag was really beginning to unnerve him.
"You speak then, of the one they call Demon. In the underworld she is the bane and the master of all those wishing to be great. Strange don't you think. That the demon killer should be called demon yet she is friends with a wolf and a vampire... or two. What think you of this, Wolf?" She hissed the titles of both him and Buffy.
"I think I must be going now." He stood up to leave but she grabbed his arm.
"But you have not found what you sought." Her claw-like hands dung into Oz's skin and he could smell the blood beginning to pool beneath his skin. "I can help you find it. I know things the others will not say. Ask only what you came for. Then you may go."
Sitting down and dropping his voice to a whisper, he asked his question. "Do you know where I ca find the ministry?" And she began to cackle. It was high pitched and carried through the gloom of the pub. People were beginning to stare.
"So, is that all you seek? Do you not also seek the sun and moon. Only those invited and bidden are permitted there. You are mad, boy. Now go home to your Demon girl and sleep away your life for you have set upon a hopeless quest. Do not darken the door of my intelligence again by asking such."
Oz was confused. "But why?" he asked.
"Because, only those who have permission or chains about their necks get in there. Your kind have no hope." And she left with laughter on her lips.
"Don't worry about it," the barkeep called. She's crazy. Here. Have one on me."
"I'm all right, thanks." And Oz stood back up and went back into the alley. He stopped by the local Owl Office and put in an order for a subscription to the local wizards' newspaper. And then he went home. To his demon girl.
When he got home, Buffy was sitting on the couch waiting her him. She was not really reading the magazine in her hand and when he opened the door she was there in a flash with a smile and a pout. Only Buffy could have pulled that one off.
"Where were you? I was bored. I thought we were going to the zoo and you said we'd go when you came back but it's too late now."
"I'm sorry. Things didn't go as I planned."
"Well, where were you?"
"I was in..."
"And what on earth is that?" She pulled the robe out of his hands and picked the newspaper up off the floor where it had fallen. "A robe? And why are the people in the paper moving?" She seemed to think about that one for a moment. "Moving?! Oz what's going on?"
Oz was surprised to find out that with all of Giles' teachings, he had never once mentioned the wizarding world. So he sat down to try and explain it to her. Keeping in mind that he had been followed the whole day once more. He wondered who or what this shadow was.
Harlen Weasely and Seth Wiles made their way through the crowded passage of the train. Students were going in and out and running and screaming about this that and the other thing. The two boys watched them all as if they had completely lost it. Each and every one of them.
Finally, they came to a compartment with a few other boys their own age and plenty of room for the two of them. "Can we sit in here?" Seth asked.
"Sure," said a boy with wide brown eyes. His had messy black hair and tanned skin but it was his eyelashes you noticed first. They were long and every girl he met wanted them. "I'm Frederick Ordonez and this is Frank Veron and that's Josh Ford. We're all first-years." He pointed to a boy who looked very Italian and then to a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes and they each nodded in their turn.
"Well, I'm Seth Wiles and this is Harlen Weaseley and we're both first-years too."
"Cool," said Josh. "Do you know what house you'll bee in?"
"Are you two related?" asked Frank at the same time.
Seth and Harlen looked at each other. It was true, they could pass as relations. The both were taller than the other boys and both had red hair but where Harlen had green, eyes, Seth's were blue. "No, we just met at the station today." Seth grinned and so did the other boys.
"I'm going to be in Gryffindor I hope. My whole family's been in that house forever!" said Harlen.
"I don't know about the houses that well. Harlen was explaining t to me but I don't know which one I'll be in. None of them quite sound like they'd fit me."
"That's OK," said Frederick. "I don't know what house I'll be in either. Maybe Ravenclaw like my dad and mom."
At that time, fate deemed it necessary for the door to slide open once more and the boys looked up to see a girl standing there with long black hair and large gray eyes. "Hi," she said shyly. "Can I sit here?" The boys all nodded and moved over to make room for her. "My name's Mara. Mara Grey."
Introductions were made and they all settled into a long conversation about Qudditch and muggles. Josh was muggle-born and so they all took great delight in telling both him and Seth as much as they could. Mara added little to the conversation but she seemed really smart when she did speak. But for the most part she sat in her seat by the door gazing out the window across the hall from the open door. And so went Seth Wiles' first ride to Hogwarts. But for one among them, it was to be their last.
Hermione Granger was famous. Not just as a witch writing books on magical theory, but also as a muggle writing novels about magical places that every child and adult in the world wished to some day see. But for all her wealth and fame, Hermione was no happy. She was scared.
Jessica had been her friend and lover for years and the thought of losing her sent her into a panic. Jessie would laugh and remind her that she had gotten on fine until they'd met but Hermione didn't agree. "I didn't know what I didn't have." To which Jessie had replied that love is not about love, if that was the case, but instead, it then became about need. "How's it different?" And Jessie had laughed.
But now, Jessie didn't laugh as much. She didn't smile the way she had before. It wasn't a huge change but to Hermione, the change was infinitely greater. It was in the way her hand felt limp and the skin was tight and paper thin over her bird-like bones. It was in her eyes that seemed to drink up everything around her as thought it was the last time she'd every get to see them. It broke Hermione's heart to see her like that.
But, there was an order to things in their relationship. They didn't talk about things like that. Death was too much of a foreign concept. It couldn't happen here. But it was. Looking down at the sleeping woman in her arms, Hermione wondered now why they had let it get this far without comment among themselves.
Jessie opened her eyes but didn't move. Her dark eyes swept to room and came to settle on Hermione's face. "Hi," she said as she rolled over to face her.
"Good morning."
Jessie smiled. "It's afternoon as of about ten minutes ago. Or did you not hear the clock."
Hermione returned the smile. "I was distracted." Jessie kissed her lips softly. "You're not helping." Jessica laughed softly into Hermione's hair.
"Sorry, love." Cocking her head to the side, her eyes took on a more serious look. "Is something wrong?"
"We need to talk." Hermione said at last.
"I know. But can't it wait just a little longer?"
"I wish it could but..." Tears were welling up in her eyes. "Jessie, I can't do this without you."
"You'll do fine without me. And I'm not planning on going anywhere any time soon." Her eyes were clear and glassy but er voice was tight.
"You know what I mean. We don't have forever any more."
"We never did."
"Jessie..."
"I'm sorry Hermi. But some times I wonder if this whole this was a mistake. If we had chosen to never go on that second date. We knew when we started all this that it was only a matter of time. I wonder if I was fair to you... If I..."
"No, don't say that! It was right. We go into life know we're all going to... die some day and still we live and we love and we learn. Jessie, it was right. It was love. It still is."
"Now you sound like a writer. All dramatic and stuff. Hermi, I do love you. But was I just being selfish? Were we... Were we ever really convinced that we could beat this?"
"No. To both. I love you so much. If any one was selfish it was me. I'm so sorry, Jessie!" And they held each other and they loved each other and for the moment, everything was all right.
Seth had never seen anything like Hogwarts. Of all the magical things he had seen, this was by far the greatest. Looking up once more at the ceiling with its great expanse of purple sunset stretched out upon it. Harlen stood beside him with much the same expression of wonder on his face.
The deputy Headmistress was calling out names and Frederick, Frank, Seth, and Harlen were the only ones from their train compartment left. Mara had been sorted into Ravenclaw and Josh was a Hufflepuff.
"Ordondez, Frederick."
"RAVENCLAW!"
A few names later, Harlen became the only Gryffindor of their group and Frank became a Ravenclaw.
"Wiles, Seth"
Seth slowly mounted the steps and sat down on the stool. The hat was dropped over his eyes and a voice came on some place in the back of his head.
"Ahh, I see that you have what others have lost! Well, you have certainly found it but do you want it is the question. No. Of course you don't. But where to put you? You are brave. That's for certain. And loyal as well. But not enough ambition to make in Slytherin. Oh, but what is this? Yes, now I see! For you it has to be... RAVENCLAW!"
Witchy-grrl: Yeah, I hate Angel/Cordy too. And Angel/Buffy. They were a cute couple and all but... no. I still don't know who all of my ships are going to be. Buffy/Oz maybe? Or not. Don't know yet.
Smile 7499: Thank you. You made me smile. How sweet! I like the Harry parts better too but there are like none (almost) in this Chapter. I hope to get some more in very soon!
Lia: All will be explained... I hope.
Note: Thanks for all your reviews, guys. They mean so much as any author can tell you. Ok, so I wrote this chapter on the plane so any weird things I attribute to airplane air. It's all recycled and stuff... anywho: Just a reminder that this story does contain SLASH for the female kind so if that offends you, go fuck yourself elsewhere 'cause I don't care. I'm glad to see that most of you are mature enough to handle it. I've already begun the next part so it should be up by Weds. I hope. Oh, one more thing! Go join my yahoo group! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DifferentWorldfanfic now on with the fic!
In the Shadow of the Willows
Chapter three: Trains and other such nonsense
The castle was much larger than Angel had remembered it being. Maybe it was the fact that now he had the time to take his time and wander the halls slowly. As it turned out, The headmaster of the school, one Albus Dumbledore, had been a seventh year student when Angel had attacked it with his merry band of vampires. He was even more surprised that he'd been hired after hearing this.
But they both had a good laugh about it in the end, though neither was sincere about it, and Albus showed him to his rooms. Thus, Angel found himself wandering aimlessly about the halls trying not to think about his past. With a wary grin he recalled Buffy and her gang of 'Scoobies'.
It was in the library that it came to him. The room was large and full of every musty old book imaginable. Giles would have loved it. It was just like a larger version of Sunnydale high. He could she that evening clear in his mind now. Xander and Willow were flirting while he sharpened stakes and she worked on the computer. Buffy was in the office arguing with Giles and Angel himself sat in that chair, just over there. Brooding as always. Xander had looked up from his carpentry to ask Angel a question about Willow's research. Something along the lines of ,"Have you ever heard of.....?" But He hadn't heard. So Xander took it upon himself to shout out across the room, "Hey! Broody dead guy!" Giles dropped his glasses which he had been cleaning and Buffy began to giggle. Willow scowled at them all while Xander looked pleased as punch. It was a rare moment of sanity before..... before everything.
Before Angel left. Before Buffy died again. Before Willow and Oz Broke up. Before Willow figured out she was gay. Before Anya or Reiley. Before Jonathan came and tore their lives apart. Before he shot Tara. Before Willow went crazy and killed all three of them. Before Willow disappeared. She didn't ever stop to think. She'd just reacted. She had no idea that Tara was alive. AS far as Angel knew the young woman was still living. But Willow had run. Angel heard later that Anya almost killed herself when Xander left for some tiny town in Texas. Oz was long gone and Spike never did come back as far as anyone knew. He'd been sighted in Africa about that time but since then, not a word.
With a sigh, Angel shook himself out of his reverie. He wouldn't think about it. This was his second chance at everything. At every dream he'd smashed. He wouldn't be just saving some randomly helpless soul on the streets. He would be teaching others to defend themselves and those around them. He could feel it in the air. These children were going to need that.
A soft noise behind him raised the hairs on the back of his neck. In a movement almost too fast for a human to see, he had turned around and when he saw the face of his stalker, he had to check himself before he hauled off and strangled her.
"Hello, Angel. Do remember me?" She looked just as he remembered her. She had hardly aged at all in the thirteen years since their one and only meeting. There were a few more lines about her yes and the robes were different than what she had worn but seemed to be suited to her more so than those muggle clothes ever had. He smiled at her.
"I remember you, Tara." She smiled.
"I hear you got saddled with the Defense against the Dark Arts job." Was she laughing at him?
"Yeah. What are you doing here?" He didn't know what else to say.
"I teach Charms. I have for almost ten years." Yep. She was most definitely laughing at him. She smiled a big smile and threw her arms around him. "It's so good to see you! I haven't hardly talked to any one from the old gang in so long! Buffy will be so glad to hear that I've heard from you!" Angel didn't know what to make of all of this. He hardly knew her and here she was hugging him like an old friend. But her eyes were still laughing with joy.
"Buffy?" He asked after a moment.
"Buffy," agreed Tara. Angel laughed. It was good to be welcome after so many years of having to trick people into inviting him in.
September the first found Seth crammed into the backseat of his parents' car along with everything deemed necessary for him to go off the school. It seemed that somehow they had managed to smash a partridge and a pear tree in there as well but peering around the great box which held a mewing kitten, Seth could only see his little sister and mother in the front seat.
His mother seemed slightly worried. "Now, I want you to write to me once a week, do you hear me?" This was the third time she'd asked him this. It wasn't so bad. She'd asked him how much underwear he'd packed only about a dozen times. Much to Michele's delight.
King's Cross station seemed just a little bit bigger to the two children that day for it certainly wasn't the first time either of them had been there. Their father took to train to work each day and got off at King's Cross to transfer to a bus that let him off a little closer to his office. Jonathan Wiles had been taking Michele and Seth to work with him since they were little. But today, the familiar station looked just a little bigger, as I said. It was a little newer and little bit more exciting. Both of them kept looking here and there for the tale-tell signs of a witch or a wizard. But they saw nothing out of the ordinary.
Suddenly realizing that he had never seen a platform 9¾, Seth's eyes widened as he asked his mother how he was expected to find a place he'd never seen before.
"Well, The letter said that it was right through the barrier." She looked around. "Well, this must be it." Seth looked around. All he could see was a brick column. Just like any other around them. It was Michele who noticed it first. There, on that brick. Just about eye level for a child of eleven years, was a seemingly random scratch in the brick. But upon closer inspection, the ten-year-old had discovered that it resembled very much the wizard's hat which was required of all students entering Hogwarts! "This must be it then," said their mother. She placed her hand on the wall a little above the marked brick and found, to her amazement, that her hand went right through the wall! She quickly pulled it out and stared at it.
"Mummy, can I go first?" Michele asked.
"No, stupid. I should go first!"
"Don't call your sister names, Seth. You can go together." She hesitated. "No. I'll go first." And with at she stepped through the column. The children stared at each other for a moment before following. Now this was what they had been searching for!
People of all ages walked about. Some wore clothes like the Wiles Family was used to seeing but others wore robes and still others wore random bits of both wizard and muggle wear. And then there was the Hogwarts express! The huge red steam engine looked just the way it had to countless of first-years since it had been built nearly two hundred years ago.
A large group of people with bright red hair walked in behind them. Seth watched as the father of the group clapped their mother on the shoulder. "Ginny! Didn't expect you'd be here today! I thought you had to work! Glad you could make it! We'll give Harlen and... Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were my little sister..." The got all flustered. Seth's mother laughed.
"It's all right. I'm Willow." The man smiled at her.
"My name's Charlie Weasley. I'm really sorry. I thought you were Ginny and what with the red hair and all... It's kind of a family trademark."
Mrs. Wiles laughed again. "It's all right."
The man spied the children almost hiding behind their mother. "So, which one of you two is starting this year? By the looks of things I'd say it were you, young man." Seth nodded. "Well," said Charlie. "My brother's son is starting this year and he doesn't know any one. I'll bet you don't either. Here. Let me introduce you." And so the great misunderstanding became a better thing than it wasn't. Charlie walked over to a very tall man who looked about the same age as Seth's mother. A tall boy with bright red hair followed when Charlie Weaseley and the tall man walked over. Tall Man introduced himself as Ron Weaseley and this was his son Harlen. They were both first years. The two boys smiled shyly at each other while the parents talked about the school.
"Oh yeah, Ron here went to Hogwarts. He and Hermi and Harry. They ruled the school. I wish I coulda been there but I was gone by that time. My son's a fifth year now. Gryffindor." Mrs. Wiles was smiling as Charlie spoke and Seth wasn't sure he liked the look in her eye. But his younger sister chose that moment to ask the new boy a question.
"What's your name?"
Seth rolled his eyes. "You heard what Mr. Weasley said. It's Harry."
The boy wrinkled his nose at that. "No. Harry's my dad's friend. I'm Harlen. What's your name?"
"I'm Seth. And this is Michele..." There was an awkward silence for a moment before Seth broke it. "What's Gryffindor?"
And with that simple question, Harlen was off talking all about the houses and the founders. "And my Uncles Fred and George tried to tell me that you have to fight a ten foot mountain troll in front of the whole school with your eyes closed but Mum says all you do is put on a hat."
Michele and Seth listened with wide eyes as the boy told them all about Hogwarts. "When my dad was there, there was this teacher, Snape, and he taught potions. Yeah and he was really mean!" But that was all he got out before the parents realized it was almost time for them to go. Seth hugged his mother and sister while Harlen did the same and then the two boys climbed onto the train.
You have to marvel at the convince of modern travel. Only here in 2015 could it be possible for a plane to carry a person from New Orleans to London in the space of eight hours. Lucky for Spike too because it meant her could be on and off the plane in complete darkness. But that didn't leave him a lot of time to find a place to stay.
But that didn't matter much. He still had his family's ancestral home just on the other side of the city. Taxi cab's ride away. He'd held onto the property for a few years after being turned but had lost it somewhere along the way. In a gamble or something. But he'd brought it back a few months ago. It was his by birth right after all and as the cab sped it's way trough the old parts of the city, Spike could almost see people he'd once known walking the streets.
There was that same group of boys walking to church. Molestation by priests was by no means a modern thing and that group had not been raped. The priest let them do whatever they wanted to in the back room so long as he was permitted to join in. William had known what was going on. Emily told him. His sister made it her business to know everything.
And just there, there was Cecely and her group of giggling friends. Each one of them dressed in the latest fashions as they made their way through the streets and wound their way down to the ice cream shop or to some party or ball. Hadn't it been Emily who first introduced him to the lovely Lady Winchester? Always had it been Emily who had drawn him out of his writings and into the real world.
Just there was his mother. The Lady Holce. In her strictly heavy mourning which she wore after her husband's death until her own nine years later. She too was on her way to the church. To confess the sins of her two nearly grown children.
Along side the cab, the little deaf boy who delivered their milk each morning ran after his dog as it sped down the street. He got run over by a carriage one night. It had been driven by some local boys coming home from a party at which they had all gotten thoroughly smashed. The boy's head and arm had both been found separate from his body and down the street a ways. But each of the young men were young lords and one was a duke so the whole thing was ignored.
That was the way things happened back then. Girls in their long gowns and men with no respect for anything but power. William had grown up among the lesser royals of the city and had hated every moment of it. Emily said that all of them were bitter. Imagine. Being that Rich or royal and yet still not being invited to court! She was appalled by it though in her heart, Emily secretly wanted nothing more than to join them where they wouldn't have to pinch every last dime they had to buy nice clothes or keep the house. There was no money and many of their old clothes were simply altered to be a bit more fashionable. It was Emily's greatest shame.
But Spike knew that those times were long past and that for all of their high ideals and high fashions, they were all dead. They had tried so damned hard to make a mark on the world and now each and every one of them was forgotten by the world at large save for one vampire whom they had all thought would never amount to nothing. Spike grinned in the darkness. "But look at me now, mates." And the cabby muttered to himself about the milk and eggs he had yet to pick up for his wife.
Oz set out from the flat her shared with Buffy Summers about a week after they had moved in to find the Ministry of Magic. He had found the local wizarding community. It wasn't hard. If one knew what to look for, they were fairly obvious. This one seemed just like any other he had seen in Europe. After asking the barkeep how exactly to enter, Oz walked into the narrow alley ways to see what he could find.
Most wizard cities had their ministry buildings right there in the shopping district but here it was different. The British wizards always seemed to be doing things differently. It was well established in the wizarding community that Britain held the top notch for everything magical and that was why Oz was here in the first place but he wasn't seeing what all the hype was about. The shops were the same but the prices were higher. The people wore the same robes but sans rips and rents. The voices were the same but they spoke English. Like Giles.
Oz found that here, more people wore robes. In many communities he had visited, they wore muggle clothing just as often and Oz had always fit in with his baggy clothes. He hadn't changed that much since high school but he'd changed a lot since Sunnydale. He wondered, for a fleeting moment, if his old friends and aquntences would recognize him. But giving it no more thought than that, he continued on.
Stopping only to buy a set of plain brown robes, Oz continued on. You can never have enough plain robes, he thought. They can keep you out of a lot of trouble.
But no where could he find the local ministry. It was as if it had never been there. It was strange to see people congregating on the steps of the back in the place of any other hotbed of political activity. Once he had walked the whole alley from one end to the next, he went back to the pub and ordered a drink.
He sat in a booth by himself in the back of the crowed room and watched as the patrons of the bar wandered in and out of the murky gloom. The old hag in the corner was watching him the same as he was watching her. Their eyes met for a moment and she stood up from her seat and hobbled over to his nearly empty booth. Oz watched every movement she made. The way she limped slightly. Putting most of her weight on her left leg every other step. The way her greenish brown hair hung in limp dreadlocks about her pale face. Her old and worn out robes so much like his own had been during the long months he had worked at the monastery. She was one who had no one to impress and so she cared little for the way she looked.
She did not sit. She stood in front of the chair and kind of collapsed into it. It skittered backwards under her sudden weight but she did not bother to right it. Peering up into Oz's face he knew that she knew what he was. Or something like that. "Your kind don't come here often. Most are known and stay away."
"I'm not from around here," he told her.
"You reek of the slayer but they do not smell it. They were once as I am. I remember. I am older than I look just as you are younger than you look. They too could once catch the scent of a slayer and a wolf. But you do not look as if you have been in a fight. I smell no blood."
"She's an old friend." The hag was really beginning to unnerve him.
"You speak then, of the one they call Demon. In the underworld she is the bane and the master of all those wishing to be great. Strange don't you think. That the demon killer should be called demon yet she is friends with a wolf and a vampire... or two. What think you of this, Wolf?" She hissed the titles of both him and Buffy.
"I think I must be going now." He stood up to leave but she grabbed his arm.
"But you have not found what you sought." Her claw-like hands dung into Oz's skin and he could smell the blood beginning to pool beneath his skin. "I can help you find it. I know things the others will not say. Ask only what you came for. Then you may go."
Sitting down and dropping his voice to a whisper, he asked his question. "Do you know where I ca find the ministry?" And she began to cackle. It was high pitched and carried through the gloom of the pub. People were beginning to stare.
"So, is that all you seek? Do you not also seek the sun and moon. Only those invited and bidden are permitted there. You are mad, boy. Now go home to your Demon girl and sleep away your life for you have set upon a hopeless quest. Do not darken the door of my intelligence again by asking such."
Oz was confused. "But why?" he asked.
"Because, only those who have permission or chains about their necks get in there. Your kind have no hope." And she left with laughter on her lips.
"Don't worry about it," the barkeep called. She's crazy. Here. Have one on me."
"I'm all right, thanks." And Oz stood back up and went back into the alley. He stopped by the local Owl Office and put in an order for a subscription to the local wizards' newspaper. And then he went home. To his demon girl.
When he got home, Buffy was sitting on the couch waiting her him. She was not really reading the magazine in her hand and when he opened the door she was there in a flash with a smile and a pout. Only Buffy could have pulled that one off.
"Where were you? I was bored. I thought we were going to the zoo and you said we'd go when you came back but it's too late now."
"I'm sorry. Things didn't go as I planned."
"Well, where were you?"
"I was in..."
"And what on earth is that?" She pulled the robe out of his hands and picked the newspaper up off the floor where it had fallen. "A robe? And why are the people in the paper moving?" She seemed to think about that one for a moment. "Moving?! Oz what's going on?"
Oz was surprised to find out that with all of Giles' teachings, he had never once mentioned the wizarding world. So he sat down to try and explain it to her. Keeping in mind that he had been followed the whole day once more. He wondered who or what this shadow was.
Harlen Weasely and Seth Wiles made their way through the crowded passage of the train. Students were going in and out and running and screaming about this that and the other thing. The two boys watched them all as if they had completely lost it. Each and every one of them.
Finally, they came to a compartment with a few other boys their own age and plenty of room for the two of them. "Can we sit in here?" Seth asked.
"Sure," said a boy with wide brown eyes. His had messy black hair and tanned skin but it was his eyelashes you noticed first. They were long and every girl he met wanted them. "I'm Frederick Ordonez and this is Frank Veron and that's Josh Ford. We're all first-years." He pointed to a boy who looked very Italian and then to a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes and they each nodded in their turn.
"Well, I'm Seth Wiles and this is Harlen Weaseley and we're both first-years too."
"Cool," said Josh. "Do you know what house you'll bee in?"
"Are you two related?" asked Frank at the same time.
Seth and Harlen looked at each other. It was true, they could pass as relations. The both were taller than the other boys and both had red hair but where Harlen had green, eyes, Seth's were blue. "No, we just met at the station today." Seth grinned and so did the other boys.
"I'm going to be in Gryffindor I hope. My whole family's been in that house forever!" said Harlen.
"I don't know about the houses that well. Harlen was explaining t to me but I don't know which one I'll be in. None of them quite sound like they'd fit me."
"That's OK," said Frederick. "I don't know what house I'll be in either. Maybe Ravenclaw like my dad and mom."
At that time, fate deemed it necessary for the door to slide open once more and the boys looked up to see a girl standing there with long black hair and large gray eyes. "Hi," she said shyly. "Can I sit here?" The boys all nodded and moved over to make room for her. "My name's Mara. Mara Grey."
Introductions were made and they all settled into a long conversation about Qudditch and muggles. Josh was muggle-born and so they all took great delight in telling both him and Seth as much as they could. Mara added little to the conversation but she seemed really smart when she did speak. But for the most part she sat in her seat by the door gazing out the window across the hall from the open door. And so went Seth Wiles' first ride to Hogwarts. But for one among them, it was to be their last.
Hermione Granger was famous. Not just as a witch writing books on magical theory, but also as a muggle writing novels about magical places that every child and adult in the world wished to some day see. But for all her wealth and fame, Hermione was no happy. She was scared.
Jessica had been her friend and lover for years and the thought of losing her sent her into a panic. Jessie would laugh and remind her that she had gotten on fine until they'd met but Hermione didn't agree. "I didn't know what I didn't have." To which Jessie had replied that love is not about love, if that was the case, but instead, it then became about need. "How's it different?" And Jessie had laughed.
But now, Jessie didn't laugh as much. She didn't smile the way she had before. It wasn't a huge change but to Hermione, the change was infinitely greater. It was in the way her hand felt limp and the skin was tight and paper thin over her bird-like bones. It was in her eyes that seemed to drink up everything around her as thought it was the last time she'd every get to see them. It broke Hermione's heart to see her like that.
But, there was an order to things in their relationship. They didn't talk about things like that. Death was too much of a foreign concept. It couldn't happen here. But it was. Looking down at the sleeping woman in her arms, Hermione wondered now why they had let it get this far without comment among themselves.
Jessie opened her eyes but didn't move. Her dark eyes swept to room and came to settle on Hermione's face. "Hi," she said as she rolled over to face her.
"Good morning."
Jessie smiled. "It's afternoon as of about ten minutes ago. Or did you not hear the clock."
Hermione returned the smile. "I was distracted." Jessie kissed her lips softly. "You're not helping." Jessica laughed softly into Hermione's hair.
"Sorry, love." Cocking her head to the side, her eyes took on a more serious look. "Is something wrong?"
"We need to talk." Hermione said at last.
"I know. But can't it wait just a little longer?"
"I wish it could but..." Tears were welling up in her eyes. "Jessie, I can't do this without you."
"You'll do fine without me. And I'm not planning on going anywhere any time soon." Her eyes were clear and glassy but er voice was tight.
"You know what I mean. We don't have forever any more."
"We never did."
"Jessie..."
"I'm sorry Hermi. But some times I wonder if this whole this was a mistake. If we had chosen to never go on that second date. We knew when we started all this that it was only a matter of time. I wonder if I was fair to you... If I..."
"No, don't say that! It was right. We go into life know we're all going to... die some day and still we live and we love and we learn. Jessie, it was right. It was love. It still is."
"Now you sound like a writer. All dramatic and stuff. Hermi, I do love you. But was I just being selfish? Were we... Were we ever really convinced that we could beat this?"
"No. To both. I love you so much. If any one was selfish it was me. I'm so sorry, Jessie!" And they held each other and they loved each other and for the moment, everything was all right.
Seth had never seen anything like Hogwarts. Of all the magical things he had seen, this was by far the greatest. Looking up once more at the ceiling with its great expanse of purple sunset stretched out upon it. Harlen stood beside him with much the same expression of wonder on his face.
The deputy Headmistress was calling out names and Frederick, Frank, Seth, and Harlen were the only ones from their train compartment left. Mara had been sorted into Ravenclaw and Josh was a Hufflepuff.
"Ordondez, Frederick."
"RAVENCLAW!"
A few names later, Harlen became the only Gryffindor of their group and Frank became a Ravenclaw.
"Wiles, Seth"
Seth slowly mounted the steps and sat down on the stool. The hat was dropped over his eyes and a voice came on some place in the back of his head.
"Ahh, I see that you have what others have lost! Well, you have certainly found it but do you want it is the question. No. Of course you don't. But where to put you? You are brave. That's for certain. And loyal as well. But not enough ambition to make in Slytherin. Oh, but what is this? Yes, now I see! For you it has to be... RAVENCLAW!"