And they finally found themselves alone, standing in front of a smoldering, barren landscape that stretched as far as the eye could see. They were missing important people from their lives but incredibly thankful for those who were still there. Basking in the hot California sun, perhaps reminiscing of other times or perhaps, looking towards a future that included new ones, the scoobies reflected. The First Evil had been defeated. The question was, had they ?
The group had dubbed themselves the scoobies long before they knew what was going to be in store for them, long before they knew that they'd be a team for longer than the duration of the cartoon. They hadn't a clue of the ferocities they'd have to witness during the first quarter of their lives and maybe that was a good thing because if they had known that they would have lovers and friends violently taken from them they mightn't have signed up for the job. Luckily they had signed up, and together conquered demon after demon, situation after situation.. But would they continue to fight?
In another part of the world a totally different group of young adults were only beginning the final chapter of their fights against the Latest Evil. They would have identified with the scoobies had they watched cartoons. As it was, they had no clue. It was a strangely localized war that was to erupt, with global repercussions that had no business being on the news. After all who would believe in a power hungry sorcerer who was planning on creating a supremacist world; a world divided into those who were magic, and those who were not. Hitler would have been impressed. So once again the genocide and extermination had begun, but on a whole new level. And no one was going to step in to help…no allies would come to the rescue because (of course) wizards "just don't exist". The golden trio was frightened.
The Bus that the slayers and scoobies were in, trundled down the highway to LA seemingly taking more than the average 2 hours to get to their destination. Of course their destination was Angel Investigations. Where else would twenty new slayers, two old slayers, a key, a watcher, a carpenter, a very powerful witch, a mad scientist, and a principle be headed? Anywhere else and it would be the start of a very bad joke.
They arrived in front of the old hotel that functioned as a base for AI, dirty, exhausted and to some degree, relieved that their struggle was over. Hearing a tired knock, Angel let the Sunnydale survivors in, noting the varied state of brokenness and immediately commandeering the more severely hurt. Although he knew that he could have these people patched up at their new office - the old Wolfram and Hart building, he felt that it would be better if they were in an environment that they trusted. So, Wesley and Angel cleaned and wrapped the wounds, and Gunn and Fred tended to their emotional states making quiet comments here and there to both grant comedic relief to the all pervasive grief, and to generate a feeling of calm after the storm.
After all those who were in pain had been tended to (at least physically), the LA group left them to sort out rooms. Fortunately most of the rooms were in excellent condition due to the Goddess that they held court to and then killed the previous spring, and all they had to do was pick up some trash here and there and the rooms were ready.
Oddly enough, the slayerettes were quick to appropriate a succession of only four rooms for themselves this first night. Though they had complained about the cramped space of Revello drive, they were quick to admit that in the aftermath of the battle, they wanted the comfort of many breathing bodies surrounding them. As the cumulative breathing slowed, the young women slept.
Willow was ushered into the first room across the hall from the slayers. Though the LA people hadn't known about her and Kennedy, she had expected a knock on the door later on in the night. The interruption came, but instead of a short brunette, it come in the form of a tall one. At that moment, she could think of nothing better to do than sleep beside her best friend
Buffy and Dawn were settled into the next room and though Dawn had been one of the least damaged physically, she was one of the most emotionally ravaged. She finally got to sleep after crying in her sisters' arms until she passed out. Buffy slept for the first time in weeks.
Giles simply welcomed the gentle oblivion guaranteed by a bottle of Jack Daniels as he toasted to life. He slept.
Faith carried Principle Wood into her rooms at the hotel so she could watch him recuperate. Her alarm was set to go off every hour on the hour to check up on his head condition so, needless to say, her first night back at the hotel was about as restful as those prior to the war. Xander…well, Xander was alone. That was really all that went through his head that first night as the darkness dropped on LA. He sat looking out of his windows and if no one saw the tears furiously charging down his cheeks they would have thought he was a statue. He was alone. Anya was dead. Spike was dead. twenty some-odd slayers were dead, Cordelia was dead. Tara was dead, Buffy's mom was dead, Ms Calender was dead, Jesse was dead, and he was alive. In a room with Andrew. Xander was alone while Andrew slept.
Xander slowly got up and walked out the door ignoring Andrew's sleepy attempts at comforting words. He ambled down the hall and reluctantly tapped on Willows door. When they laid down on the bed together, they looked like calico cats. Red, white and dark brown splotched against the plain white of the sheets, looking innocent. They had sacrificed their own youthful innocence in order to preserve it in others and now, they finally slept.
Of New Beginnings and New Battles
The next morning everyone woke up to the smell of food. Angel and company had roused themselves early in order to buy and cook breakfast for the small army. Finally having had some relatively peaceful rest, the scoobies and slayers were ravenous. Though the conversation started out light at breakfast, by mid afternoon everyone was slowly realizing reality. It felt like a rock in their stomachs. They had all lost someone close - some, more than others, and they knew that they would eventually have to continue on with life.
Rather quickly, the slayers went back to their hometowns and families, hoping that by surrounding themselves with familiarity, the pain would lesson. They also realized that they had a duty to train and guide any slayerettes that they lived by. They promised to write, to email and to call, but as the summer wore on, the letters came fewer and far between.
Giles went back to his mother country and took Kennedy with him. She had expressed an interest in starting a program that would integrate watchers' training with slayers and she had to be close to the new council to afbenefiial change. Giles was happy to oblige her, and, more personally, was happy to get her away from what he perceived was an ill-timed relationship with Willow. Willow needed stability and strength, so a relationship that blossomed in strife was not fit for the powerful Wicca girl.
So life changed. No longer were they an army -they were once again a family..
Xander was the first Scooby to move out of the Hotel, claiming the excitement of Angel's crew coming and going from their latest adventure was a distraction from his work. He had, on Anya's advice two years ago, began wisely investing every spare cent he had made in stocks. Within two years, he had happened to make quite a bit of money. When he was informed by a lawyer that Anya Emerson had left him everything, he didn't think much of it until he found out she had "liquid assets" worth up to millions of dollars. After kindly donating to charities he decided to go back to school to study architecture and art history. Once again, making some wise investments - but this time, within himself. He bought and moved into an old house that he could spend his spare tim fixing up, and by the middle of the summer, not only had Willow moved in, but so had Dawn and Andrew. Buffy stayed at the Hotel catching up with Angel, until their relationship became toxic and then she moved in as well.
By the Winter, their lives had finally settled down to a nicely dull routine. They went to school, they worked, and they did very little slayage. They each dealt with their own grief, aided by the thought that they were still a family and they were not alone. It took a while for the laughter and peace to finally came back however, when it did, it was oddly restful.
It was Spring when Willow caught news of a group of xenophobes that were killing families in Europe. The local coven, though too frightened of her power to grant her membership, valued her participation in fighting evil enough that they tended to pass on news that they thought pertinent to the cause. This group killed whole families, and had destroyed a small village for no apparent reason. The deaths were criminally investigated of course, and the scientific community at large thought it was a widespread poison that was put in the water to be the cause of these horrifying, unexplainable deaths. Willow thought they sounded a little more supernatural. So, she searched the internet, and made some calls to the coven that she had been reformed by in England and was informed of the bit known. All the victims had been killed by a powerful bolt of magical energy, and a magical sign could be felt around the bodies which felt like some sort of signature. The killers called themselves death eaters and hid themselves from all detection. No one would do anything because they either didn't believe in magic, or were afraid. It was time to call the scoobies together once more. She would talk to them that night.
It was 10:00pm and Dawn and Andrew sat playing poker for pennies in the upstairs living room when Willow popped her head in the room. "Hey guys, I hope I'm not interrupting a scintillating game of penny-poker, but could I talk to you in the Den in about five?" Willow asked.
"Okaaaay" they both intoned glancing at each other. Before they could find out what Willow was so excited about, she was already off to find Buffy and Xander.
As it so happened they were both in the Den, watching TV and doing homework, respectively. She didn't know if she would ever get used to Xander the student but she did know that she was proud of him.
"Hi there, I need to talk everyone in the Den in about five, is that okay?" Willow asked. She focused on Xander and continued, "Do you have time to talk or are you extremely busy with homework?"
Xander smiled and assured her that yes, in spite of the masses of homework threatening to bury him, he would always have time to talk to his best friend.
And within minutes, everyone was migrating to the Den downstairs while Willow prepared herself for a crappy night. After all, the Scoobies had expected that they wouldn't have any more battles to fight. And she had to bring up another one. 'Fuck' she thought to herself, ' I just hope they forgive me' and then she launched into her story.
As she finished Dawn raised her hand and asked if anyone else noticed the similarities to the stories by JK Rowling, and if that had any bearing on the situation. Though they all laughed at first, quickly their laughter died out. Weirder things had been known to happen. And they knew from experience that it was better safe than sorry. So, not knowing the answer herself, Willow had Buffy phone Giles.
"Giles, is there such a thing as a Wizarding School?" Buffy asked, forward as usual. "Uhhh, why do you ask, Buffy - has something happened?" Giles sounded unnerved. "No-nothing, unless you count the sixty innocents killed by a group of people that decided to call themselves Death Eaters, a group that is found in the Harry Potter series that does the exact same thing," Buffy replied caustically, "Giles, please…just tell me. Is there a Wizarding School? Is Hogwarts really in existence?"
Giles paused before he answered, figuring he might as well get it all out in one foul swoop. "Yes, there is a school named Hogwarts but no one who is not magic knows about it. What those of us who are, or were, a part of the wizarding world have been told, is that the tale was sold to a muggle by a squib who needed some quick money. The muggle was quite brilliant and expanded the original story into a profitable series. Though it deviates after the fourth or fifth book, (I must admit, I can not remember which) the novels are quite true, and thus are a danger to the wizarding world's reality. Those of us who are living on the periphery of the magical world are to ensure that they are considered complete fiction by the general population." Rupert paused to take a breath, sure the phone had been placed on speaker phone by now, "Indeed, Ethan and I attended Hogwarts, that is where we met." He was met with more silence, so he went on. "I have recently been made aware of the resurgence of death eater activity in and around Scotland. I was going to send a contingent of watchers and slayers to Hogwarts but…."and here he paused for a length, "They may be ill-equipped to handle a situation so unique. If it is possible, would a group of you be willing to investigate these deaths?"
Xander, Dawn, Willow, Buffy and Andrew looked at one another, and all became aware of a new light in each other's eyes. There curiosities' were piqued and they realized that it had been almost a year since they had had any sort of challenge. Grins broke out on their faces and they all said yes, contingent on the fact that they could have magically altered laptops in order to continue on in their studies, that Giles would find work and living arrangements for them, and that transportation and apparel funds were provided for by the council or the ministry. They were all a little worried about what exactly fashion was going to be like in this strange alternate reality.
Meetings and Marvels
Within the month they all had received large ups packages with travelers checks specific to Gringotts bank, certifricites to Madame Malkins, and more information pertinent to work and housing. Though they all would be living within Hogwarts, they would be taking different assistant teaching positions. The positions would be decided upon arrival at Hogwarts. Each packet contained a flat port key in a separate envelope with the date of arrival and the destination: front hall, Hogwarts, August 1st.
Unfortunately, it took them a few weeks to get everything prepared for their unique adventure. Since they were going for an unspecified amount of time, they had to sell their house, they had to make arrangements with their universities and they had to quit their jobs. The house was sold to a young couple who decided to rent it out to students, much to Xanders chagrine. As for the question of how they were going to continue their schooling, it was lucky that they had the council's backing: even though mostly decimated, the council still held "influence" in university circles. They convinced UCLA to educate Xander, Willow, Andrew and Dawn over the Internet. They then all gave two weeks notice and said goodbye to the mundane jobs they had held. Well, all of them except Buffy. She had finally gotten a job that she loved as a personal dresser. She would be sorely missed by all of her clients. After all of their preparation, they were finally ready, and on the first of August, they all activated their port keys and landed rather forcefully in the front foyer of the deserted school
Dawn was the first to start breathing normally. And then a giggle escaped as she spotted the man in front of her and his companions. He was wearing very loose royal blue trousers and a sort of loose matching jacket/robe thing overtop a matching shirt. It was sort of eastern in functionality and design, and made him look rather eccentric. He had no pointy hat, but at least, he had the expected white hair and beard, although his beard was neat and closely cut. He was nothing like what they were all expecting when they thought of their new Headmaster. To the left of Dumbledore was a older woman who was wearing a beautiful deep maroon dress with sensible shoes and her hair neatly pulled back in a chignon. They all suspected that this was Professor Minerva McGonagall, but once again, they really weren't sure if it was her because of their expectations of what Prof. McGonagall was supposed to look like. Finally, to the right of Dumbledore was a man in black sleek slacks, a classic thick black ribbed turtleneck with short black stylish hair. He was very good-looking in a James Bond kind of way. The only character that had jet black hair and eyes in the Harry Potter books was Snape so they were a little bit confused once again.
All the speculation was cleared up when Dumbledore introduced himself and his two companions as indeed, Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape. They were all shocked at how different the books were from reality, but the surprise did serve a purpose: the Scoobies could not assume that the books were reality.
After putting a shrinking spell on the luggage of the unsettled group, Albus invited the newcomers in to his inner office for tea. Prof. McGonagall transfigured Dumbledore's desk into a large sofa, and they all warily sat down as the headmaster asked a house elf to bring tea.
"Welcome to Hogwarts" he said with a bit of a flourish, "I hope you will join us for some tea?" The scoobies politely accepted, just glad to sit down after experiencing the wonder of traveling by port key. It was a rather unnerving way to get from one place to another. As their stomachs calmed down, they began to unwind and their attention was slowly drawn away from the people they were supposed to be conversing with. Xander was staring at the flying buttresses, the arched windows and doors and the high ceilings of this castle he was in. It was an amazing sample of Gothic architecture and he wondered if he could duplicate some of the designs in this future. Willow however, found herself entranced by the magical energy that leaked through every surface and permeated the air, it seemed to be drawing wreaking havoc on her controls. She knew that she was easily the most powerful in the room and strove to hid that fact. The petite red head did not want to become ostracized or worse for her powers when she had finally found a place where magic was accepted. Though Dawn could also feel the magic, her focus was divided between the gorgeous Snape and the cutie Andrew. She had, as of late, discovered that her feeling towards Andrew were a little more than just platonic and she hoped that he would return them. If not, she could always just stare at Snape. She wondered why he was portrayed as such an ugly character. Her mind wandered back to Andrew Andrew was obviously drawn to the phoenix and the phoenix seemed to notice this. The bird flew up from the perch it was sitting on, landed on his shoulder and a tear dripped from Fawkes' eye to Andrew's head. A peace finally fell on Mr. Sills that he had previously never known. He had been evil once, but was atoning, just like Angel. He would get his redemption as well. Now Buffy was just enchanted by the moving portraits. They simply adored this blonde beauty and kept complimenting her on her hair, her makeup and her rather daring outfit. When they found out she was the slayer, the gossip mill started up for the pictures on the wall. Buffy was happy to oblige with a few juicy details of her life, but left it there.
All this…newness was simply too much to handle even for the usually conscientious young adults. They had, seemingly abandoned all professionalism. Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall traded glances that basically questioned whether or not these people were actually the ones that defeated the First Evil. They were acting positively...childish.
The tea arrived and the three professors took this time to look over the newcomers. The man who introduced himself as Xander had almost black hair with crimson highlights, obviously not natural. He was wearing a pair of trendy jeans with a slinky blue button down shirt, an eye patch, and two black plugs in his ears the width of a pinky. The blonde - Buffy, she said - was wearing high heeled boots, a black pencil skirt and a champagne colored ballet sweater. She had a magical creature aura...she wasn't magical per se, but she wasn't a muggle either. The youngest and most entertaining of the group was Buffy's sister Dawn, who was wearing a pair of fitted jean shorts with a maroon and gold striped polo shirt that had - what's this? - a crest sporting Gryffindor Quidditch on it. When she turned around they were shocked to read the name Harry Potter and the number 32 on the back. It was mostly inaccurate, but still unsettling. She winked at each of them as they noticed her shirt and then laughed. She gave off quite a bit of magical energy. The blonde boy exuded nervousness, but there was an aura of magic about him as well. He was wearing a pair of jeans similar to the ones Xander wore with a white shirt that had the Chinese character for peace on the front in the same deep blue that was streaked through his longish wavy golden blonde hair. But it was the redhead that everyone was stuck on. Her hair was long layered and full, and she wore an Asian inspired silky tank/bustier in red, green and black, and wore green silk fitted pants that were tied off midway between her knees and ankles. On her feet she wore a pair black simply strapped high heeled sandals. And on both of her arms she had black tattooed arm bands. On one side it was the Celtic band of knowledge and on the other it was a succession of designs that seemed to be the phases of the moon.
This woman…Willow emanated magic and power, and yet had the strength to not leave magic imprints anywhere. It was astounding. The only person who was even remotely that strong was Voldemort. Not even Harry was this strong. And yet…there was darkness in her. Hopefully, they had a chance to end the war quickly after all.
The odd thing about this group was that the group had such presence. It wasn't as if one was more forceful than the other. They all seemed to have such knowledge of each other and themselves. Something rather awful must have happened to them to force such senses of self. The headmaster saw this trait occur only in people that had survived strife, no - not just survived it, beaten it and conquered it. If Dumbledore was a betting man, he'd bet that these people had some stories to tell.
After tea, Dumbledore proceeded to update the story of Harry Potter and Voldemort. He told them of the attacks on muggles, and the Order of the Phoenix. He told them of Voldemort's plan of genocide and explained how powerful the man - creature was. Snape and McGonagall added when they could, but Dumbledore did most of the telling. Harry, Hermione and Ron had graduated and were pursuing careers while waiting out the scheming Voldemort. Ron was an auror, Harry played international Quidditch for the Deutschland Dragons, and Hermione was studying to be a lawyer. It had been about 6 years since their graduation from Hogwarts and so the Scoobies were surprised to find out that they were the same age as these characters were.
Dawn took this opportunity to find out information about the other, lesser known characters of the book. She had been the most addicted to the Harry Potter series, having seen all the movies in the theatre at least twice, and having owned all of the books. She liked the lesser characters - they added a realistic dimension to the books. She was informed that Neville was assisting Professor Sprout, Seamus and Dean were sports casters for quidditch national, Sirius and Lupin were together and recently married, Peter Pettigrew having finally been caught, and Draco was an auror with Ron. She and Andrew exchanged incredulous looks at this bit of knowledge. Draco an auror? How was that possible. Last they had read, he had gone missing in the final battle while fighting alongside his father. Weird. They were both avid J.K. Rowling fans, and to find out that everything was real….but quite unlike she portrayed it was both horrifying and exciting. These people weren't supposed to be real… They were characters in a book and that was why it was okay to despise Malfoy and Snape or laugh when something happened to Neville. Now they felt guilty; these were real people, not merely characters in a best selling series. Dawn let out a sigh and said , "Well fuck me sideways, it's real" to which Buffy replied "Dawn!" in a scandalized sort of tone, while everyone else heartily agreed.
Now that the mood was lightened, McGonagall took this opportunity to have the people sorted into houses. It was a fun activity that was instigated to put smiles on the guests faces and a frown on Snape's.
They were quite surprised at the results of the sorting hat, to say the very least. Xander, and Dawn got sorted into Ravenclaw, the house usually attributed to the intellectuals and book nerds. Apparently Xander was book friendly now, and the hat decided to encourage that and Dawn had always been intelligent, learning different languages while doing impressive loads of research for the Scooby cause. Andrew, however, was sorted into Gryffindor, the house associated with bravery, and though a little surprised, the Scoobies agreed that, considering his past with Warren and Jonathan, it had taken a lot of courage to face his past transgressions head on and accept and change them. Then Buffy and Willow were sorted into Slytherin.
For Buffy it was her gift of power and death that drew the hat to that conclusion. It was her talent for leadership that landed her in the infamous house. For Willow it was the fact that she was not afraid of the demons in her heart. The hat seemed to appreciate her power and her shadowed Light quite a bit. Willow was a Slytherin.
After the sorting, they had to discuss the arena of work. After much deliberation, Xander was placed as the Muggle assistant teacher, Andrew was the assistant for Potions due to the fact that he had excelled at chemistry, and Snape figured that with strict summer training he should be ready by fall. Willow and Buffy decided to take over the Defense against the Dark arts position, and Dawn would be assisting the lower grades of transfiguration.
The house-elves then lead four out of the five companions to their rooms. Since Buffy and Willow were the first to be dropped off, the rest of the scoobs decided to meet in front of the portrait that served as a door to both of their rooms' in 2 hours time. This would allow them time to accustom themselves to their rooms and unpack before getting back together. After all, they had some things to discuss…or more importantly, get excited over.
Willow unpacked and then proceeded to perform extra meditations. The profusion of magic in the castle was a tad overwhelming and she needed to be sure she had total control. Make no mistake, she saw the worry in all three of her hosts eyes when they alighted on her. She also saw the suspicion in the man, Snape's intelligent dark eyes. She would have to deal with that. In the past, a situation like this would have made her nervous, but since the defeat of the first she had refocused her time into gaining the confidence and esteem that a witch of her power simply had to have. Control, control control. That was what was needed when in possession of this much power.
After unpacking, Andrew found Dawn's rooms via the house-elves and the two of them went exploring. They were a little creeped out when the ghosts flew through their heads and left them shivering, but on the whole they thought the hallways, portraits , and moving stairways were cool. Even though they sometimes had to wait for the stairways to come back. And it didn't seem like calling the stairways bad puppies worked.
Buffy had brought the most stuff out of everybody. She had brought a plethora of clothing, unsure of what to expect and hoping for the best. She wasn't as comfortable as she had once been of taking other people's money, and she didn't want to depend on the council for shopping money even though it had been a provisional. After unpacking, she changed into some comfortable gray sweat pants, a white sports tank shirt, and a white hoodie with the word "angel" in white stitching across the back. It was a gag gift from her sister, and it reminded her of LA. and the comfortable life she had been living for a while. Buffy went into the hallway and started doing some light sparring with an imaginary opponent. She missed Angel.
Xander, however was not lead to his room; for some reason he was lead to the infirmary and greeted by Snape, Dumbledore, and Madame Pomfrey. "Mr. Harris. I understand that you lost your eye in a battle with the First. Is this true?" The young man swallowed the surge of grief that welled up and nodded his head. "Would you like to try to repair it with our aid?" Dumbledore kindly asked. "Um, there's nothing really there to fix. It's just flesh and scar tissue." Xander finally answered after pausing to collect himself. "Nonetheless, would you accept our help?" Dumbledore repeated again. Xander felt torn and with a pained look said "Did you know my ex-fiancé died in that fight along with countless young innocent girls in that battle? What's my eye compared to all of that?"
Strangely, it was Snape who understood the man's reluctance. He motioned for Mme Pomfrey and Dumbledore to leave the potions and let him talk to the young man. "Mr. Harris, I know you have read the books about Harry Potter. Do you recall the Mark that I received?" Xander nodded slowly. "It was a black skull with a snake coming out of it's mouth, wasn't it?" As he spoke, the professor pushed up his sleeve. Indeed, the Mark was still there, black and ominous. "Mr. Harris, though I may have made the choice to receive this at one time, do you doubt that now it is a scar to me?" Xander grimaced and answered "No. I've had friends who've made mistakes, but the mistakes usually ended up teaching them something. The scar probably just reminds you of the mistakes you made, and maybe helps you to fight harder" Xander tentatively speculated. "Very astute, Mr. Harris. Now, If I were to tell you that I would love to get rid of this mark, would you think that I was no longer aware of my past mistakes? Would you think that I'd ever forget the people who died beside me, fighting against what this mark stood for?" There was a silence fraught with collective grief of the two men. Snape spoke again. "Would it be so terrible to get rid of the external scar? A scar that, I might add, actually impedes your ability to fight for the light, Mr. Harris?" Snape placed his hand on the young man's arm gently, "you certainly have enough internal scarring, Xander. Let someone take care of the external." Xander nodded. Though he was worried about the other scoobies' reactions, he felt that Professor Snape was right. He would never forget the people who died, and he was tired of the pity that still, one year later, occasionally flashed in his friends' eyes. Snape handed him the two potions. One was a body-part-growth serum that actually worked with his DNA codes to determine the specifics of the body part to be regrown. One was a healing serum, to heal and shrink the skin around the eye and take away the scar tissue. He took those right away. The other was a painkiller that he was to take a spoonful of every two hours throughout the night. He unfortunately had to stay in the infirmary for the rest of the day and night. Snape reassured him that he would check on him every two hours to remind him to take the painkillers. It would take a full 12 hours to regrow and heal the eye and then the boy would need some real sleep.
It was 6:30 and Dawn, Andrew and Buffy began making their way to the very Mona Lisa like portrait. The woman's name was Aleksandra and she seemed reluctant to open up for them. Willow quickly came to the rescue and invited the group in. They sat down and looked expectantly at each other.
"Uh I just got a letter from an owl, guys" Willow said in surprise. Well, it was surprising to find a huge owl tapping at your window when you're meditating. "This place is so cool" Dawn squealed in response and Andrew and the others nodded their assent. "What did the letter say?" Buffy asked, finally getting to the point of the matter. Willow then handed the note over.
Miss Willow Rosenberg This is to just assure you that though Mr. Harris will be occupied for the duration of the day and night he will join you tomorrow at breakfast. I'm sure he will tell you why tomorrow. I ask that you be understanding. Professor Severus Snape.
"Okay that's a bit weird. I'm sure he's okay, though. Right guys?" the blonde girl wanted reassurance. "Buffy, I'm sure Xander is just fine. I'm sure I would be able to feel if he was in trouble. Let's just be patient until the AM, okay?" Willow smiled calmly and hugged her friend tightly. "So did every body find there rooms okay?" Buffy asked in a feeble attempt to change the topic. "Yeah, but it's pretty confusing getting around" Andrew replied, "I wonder if I could get a map"-his voice trailed off while speculating about creating a digital tour of the place. "Just ask the portraits for help - they seemed pretty helpful to me, critiquing my fighting style and stuff.. Although, they may be a little too helpful at times" she said with a rueful grin, remembering a particularly feisty portrait of an old man that was commenting on her "assets" She giggled and there was a pause in the conversation as everybody realized just how odd the situation they were in was.
Willow broke the silence with a stream of babble speak. "So I hope you all like your rooms - I like my room, it's really nice with a great view even though I guess I live in a dungeon - at least there are no chains and shackles eh Buffy? I really hope you guys are okay with this. I know I kind of signed us up but they really need us and we have been able to rest for the past year so I thought that we could at least help other people and maybe the powers that be want us here, even though Angel didn't get a sign or dream or whatever." Here she took a deep breath and looked at Buffy, " and please don't be mad at me for all the magic, this is controlled magic so I should think that it will be okay..."
"Wills!" Buffy interrupted, "it's fine, it's fine. Don't worry" "What I am a little worried about is the fact that you and I are actually going to be teaching a class!" The two young women shared a mischievous smile. "I wonder what it's like on the other side of the classroom," Buffy continued with a rather devilish little grin. "I wish I was taking on defense against the dark arts," Andrew whinged, "I'm a little intimidated by Mr. Snape" Dawn rolled her eyes but then smiled kindly. The last thing Andrew needed was a disparaging comment. "Andrew? You do realize that you fought the Very First Evil, a group of centuries old icky vampires, and you did it while alongside a girl who has been wreak vengeance for the past millennia, right? Snape is nothing to that" She squeezed his shoulder and he grinned back at her. "You're right, I really didn't think of it that way." Dawn and Andrew had become quite close and were perhaps as inseparable as the older trio of scoobies was. Andrew then glanced down at his watch and said, "It's time to go to dinner and meet the rest of Hogwarts" They all nervously glanced at each other, than slowly found their way to the dining area.
Upon entering the Great Hall, they did the first year thing and gawked at the ceiling, which inspired some indulgent smiles from the staff. Because hey, they were just kids, right? This couldn't be the entourage that was going to save them from Voldemort, could it? They hoped not. As the group got closer, the staff's opinion changed. The power emanating from this group was almost tangible. They all had magic, and the red head, Willow, had the most power they had ever felt.
The head table was arranged so tonight, people could sit on both sides. As soon as the Scoobies sat down, formal introductions were made, excuses for the lack of Mr. Harris were promised and the food appeared and everyone started eating.
Slowly, a conversation started up, mostly consisting of the staff describing aspects of wizarding life, like the importance of house elves (which the scoobies found questionable), and the lack of electricity (though their laptops would work due to a complex spell written by Flitwick). They asked if they could meet the 3 musketeers, and D'artagnan, if at all possible. The referral went over all of their heads except for Snape who thought it was a clever analogy for the original Golden trio, even though Draco as D'artagnan wasn't quite accurate. Snape smirked at the thought of his favorite student being referred to as a musketeer. Draco would be outraged. After all, he didn't really want to follow them, he just wanted to stay safe. They clarified, "We would like to meet the stars of the Harry Potter books, if possible." Willow offered to explain further, until Dawn interrupted, "Yeah, the books all portray Harry as this kind of introverted Hero-type, and Hermione as this totally bossy book nerd. Ron is sort of the side-kick, he's written off as being kind of weak and not as bright as the other two, and Draco is written as a whiny, spoiled, egotistical brat - we kind of want to know if we're going to get along with the other young Order of the Phoenix members, or if we're just going to have to take care of the problem ourselves, like always." There was silence, as the Hogwarts staff took in the utter confidence of this young girl, and the fact that she had the audacity to believe that they could wipe out the problem by themselves. Snape raised an eyebrow and in a tone entirely too controlled, remarked on the innocence of children, pointedly looking to the new group of young adults. The scoobies collectively groaned, knowing that Dawn was going to go off on him for making such an ignorant comment. She took a moment to compose herself (that was a bad sign) and then arched an eyebrow condescendingly back at Snape. "Severus, you don't mind me calling you Severus, do you?" Not waiting for an answer she went on. "Severus, we defeated the Very First Evil and his band of Demons and Vampires. Can you even comprehend the meaning of that? I know you were informed of it . Please note the fact that Willow is the strongest witch alive and was able to recast as spell originally cast thousands of years ago with earth magic. As for me, I'm a ball of focused magical energy and that enables me to fight and do magic as well as open portals, and on top of that I'm a pro at research and know about 10 different demonic languages. My sister here is the longest surviving slayer twice over, Andrew has both fought and been a part of evil magic and come out of it pretty much unscathed which is a feat that even some of the strongest men have not been able to achieve, and Xander is a warrior of the first degree." She was not so enamored of this man that she would not stand up to him.
You could hear a pin drop.
Andrew coughed, and said, "So, who can explain quidditch to me, I'm dying to get my hands on a broom. In the movie it was so cool! They were going so fast and there were bludgers flying all around, and hey! How about those Chudley Cannons..." As he peppered the different professors with questions about the art of flying a broom and the skill involved in playing quidditch, the table began to slowly pick up the conversation. Willow breathed a sigh of relief and looked over at the man who had so angered Dawn. He was handsome in a dark and foreboding way. Not that that was unusual around Sunnydale, she thought to herself. She sensed controlled power and found she desired to know more about his past, it undoubtedly had Dark in it. She blushed as she realized she was staring pretty blatantly, but then winked at him when she realized he was staring back. He blinked slowly and then turned back to his food. That was strange, she was pretty sure he was checking her out. Maybe he was just drawn to her magic.
As the food and conversation dwindled, Dumbledore commanded attention once more. "Would you like to meet Harry, Ron and Hermione tomorrow? We've arranged for you to floo to Diagon Alley to meet them where they will then help you pick up supplies and whatever else you would find yourselves needing. They also have offered to take you to lunch at the Three Broomsticks and offered to tell you the things that a young witch or wizard needs to know, undoubtedly something I would not know" He said this last part with a gentle smile and a sparkle in his eyes. "Would this be to your satisfaction?" he asked. The Scoobies brightened at this question and said that "yes, it would be just fine." The staff then departed to their rooms, Willow and Buffy went to find a place to spar, and Andrew and Dawn went off to find the library and to start research on the Newest Evil, Voldemort.
It was midnight when they finally retired to their separate quarters to sleep and dream of the next big adventure.
However, at midnight Xander was going through the most excruciating pain that he had ever experienced. Apparently, growing an eye would hurt just as much as losing one would. The bi-hourly painkillers took the edge off of the pain, but they were not enough to help to him go to sleep. Snape decided that a higher dosage was in order and administered one immediately. The growth was coming along nicely, and the boy's system was working well with both of the serums. The young professor was pleased to see Xander fall into a deep sleep.
When Xander woke up at 6:00AM he felt rested but sore. He got up and made his way to the bathroom and was surprised when two brown eyes stared back at him from the mirror. He turned to find Snape observing him. "Professor" he started awkwardly, as he tried desperately not to cry in front of this man, "thank you so much...if I can do anything for you, to repay this, please tell me." Snape smiled inwardly. "Ah Mr. LaVelle, I have this feeling that you will be doing great things soon enough but thank you anyways." With that statement, he turned and left, his black coat billowing out behind him. "Why do all tall dark and handsome men have to be cryptic?" Xander thought to himself with a grin. Tears began rolling uncontrollably down his smiling face as he truly realized that he had his eye back. He ran back to his room to get an extra hour of sleep, knowing he would need it to deal with the scoobies reactions tomorrow.
The next morning the Sunnydale crew woke up and got ready to meet up again; this time in the great hall for breakfast. Just outside of the hall, Xander managed to catch up to them. He just managed to pull them to an open corridor when the questions started. "Xander! Where were you last night! We were worried about you even though Snape said not to... Omigoddess-Xander..." Willow laid her hands on his face, sure it was an illusion. She sent a warm pulse of magic through her fingertips and into his skin to check if it was real. It was, Xander had a new eye - but how?. By now, Andrew and Dawn had noticed. "Xander, you have your eye back! Oh my God. How did this happen?" they both cried out. "I took a couple of potions last night, felt like my head was being ripped open, and woke up this morning with what you see here." He paused and looked around expectantly. "Guys are you okay with this? I decided that it was what I had to do last night, but I hope you're not mad at me….Buffy are you ticked?" Buffy had become very quiet. She turned her face to Xander, and he noticed the tears welling up in her eyes. "Xander, you're you again. I'm just so sorry I let it happen to you in the first place." A brilliant smile lit her face "I just can't believe it! You have your beautiful eyes again and I mean that in a strictly platonic way" She added the last part on with a very chicanerous grin. She then hugged her friend tightly. Willow hugged them both, and Andrew and Dawn stood there with goofy smiles on their faces holding on to each other. Xander's healing didn't remove the memories but eased some of the hurt that they all still felt once in a while.
After each Scooby profusely thanked Dumbledore, Mme Pomfrey and (mostly) Snape for healing Xander, they nabbed one end of the front table and talked together about various things they had to take care of, such as contacting Giles, the coven, and Angel Inc. in order to trade information. Xander suggested a list serve where they could write one email, and everyone could get the information needed. Dawn set her computer up at the table, and began composing the update while she casually munched on some toast. Once and a while they again commented on Xanders eyes, but they didn't want to make him feel odd. They also didn't notice the stares of the rest of the table. The rest of the staff was fascinated by the order and swiftness of this new group. They realized with complete clarity that this, indeed was a team, a veritable force to be reckoned with. These Americans knew what they needed to do, and then did it. After breakfast the staff left and the Sunnydalians were left doing research on the web and skimming the scores of books Dawn and Andrew had brought. Andrew himself was reading "Hogwarts, A History" and kept on interrupting whatever they were doing to let them know one interesting tid bit or another. There research was quite preliminary, but they really just needed a feel for the magic that pervaded this niche of the world. And yes, they were each a little worried about looking too ignorant. After all, they didn't want to look dumb in front of the people they were going to meet
Later that morning, they gathered in front of the fireplace in the main foyer and listened while Snape explained traveling by floo. He first demonstrated and then all five of them followed, albeit reluctantly. When they arrived in the flue room at the back of the Three Broomsticks, they were a bit dusty and a bit unnerved at the weird mode of traveling, but no more worse for wear. The desperate dusting of clothes stopped abruptly when they took note of the three people in front of them. In the middle was a red head that they, from the books, knew had to be Ron. He was about 6'2, had a swimmers body and the most disarming grin. His hair hung in his eyes and he was wearing a pair of black leatherish (dragon hide) pants and a white long sleeved fitted shirt with orange and black tribal designs up and down the one arm, and Chudley Cannons down the other. To the right of Ron was a young woman who looked very put together. She was slim and tall - easily Dawn's height - and wore white sneakers, low cut blue jeans, a white tank top with an orange and white sweatshirt overtop that sported the logo of Harry Potters Quidditch team on it and had very fashionable sunglasses on. Her teeth were perfect and so they deemed this Hermione Granger, daughter of dentists. To Ron's left was a young, tired looking man with longer, messy, hair that made him look like he had just been well shagged. He had green eyes, sure, but they were largely hidden behind the glasses he was wearing. He had on a pair of dark khakis, and a white t-shirt, and was pretty normal looking except for the crazy scar on his forehead. The trio looked at each other warily, while the scoobies did the same. Snape, having had enough of this quiet posturing, turned around and left with a quick dismissive nod to each party.
It was obvious that each group was trying to discern the "type" of group the other was. Hermione broke the silence, "So, shall we start with shopping, or are you hungry?" Knowing that shopping would create conversation, they all decided to start with that.
As they walked from one store to the next, Dawn noticed that she was getting some pretty odd looks. She leaned over to Andrew and asked him if anything was wrong with what she was wearing. Hermione overheard and explained that the punk movement had never quite made it to Hogsmeade, and that her outfit; a pair of docs, plaid bondage pants and cuffs, and black tight Ramones t shirt was shocking, to say the least... To top it all off, Willow had charmed Dawn's brown hair into a wild main of black and platinum locks. Andrew then took the moment to tell them that, "according to Hogwarts, A History, school uniforms had been instigated in the early 1800's to promote house awareness, and equal opportunity" and Harry and Ron groaned rather loudly. Hermione was impressed.
The last store they were headed into was Ollivanders. Dumbledore had recommended that they go there to get a wand for Dawn, Willow and Andrew and they were pretty excited about getting their own wands after seeing Ron, Hermione and Harry's. The very first wand Dawn waved gave off a shower of fireworks. It was made out of cedar and contained the scales of a mermaid and was inlaid with mother of pearl on the handle. It was very beautiful, and it seemed to somehow 'fit' her. Willow was next, but, after trashing the store and frightening the pants off of Harry, Ron and Hermione four times with the small swishes of a wrong wand, she decided to take matters into her own hands. Willow sent out a call to the wand that needed her. A wand floated right into the palm of her hand and as soon as she wrapped her hand around it, she could sense that it was a wand created out of the base of an ancient redwood with a core of the hair of a chimaera. It was an odd combination, but indicated balance which she took to be a good sign. Andrew went through a stack of wands and finally found a birch wand with the feathers of a hippogriff in the core. When he swished it, a rain of red rose petals came floating down. Andrew was unimpressed, but everybody else thought it was a riot, being that it oddly resembled something that would happen in a movie. After calming down they paid for the wands and were half out the door when Ollivander called out to them from the back of the store.
"Doesn't the mage need his wand?" "