Disclaimer: See chapter 1 for full disclaimer and notes.

Thanks to my reviewers. Review Chart.Good: 2, Evil: 0.

The HP part will pop up eventually, I promise. Just be ready for this to be a long one.

Chapter 4 on the way.

Chapter 3: The World Gets Smaller

The next week was, while by no means the happiest, definitely one of the most rewarding of Tara's life. She finally got to observe Dawn being truly happy and at ease for the first time since the truth about her origins was discovered. Since the teenage girl had only been in her present form for a short while before the truth was discovered, it was entirely possible that this was the happiest she had ever been.

The two Americans traveled through the French countryside, learning the language and absorbing the foreign atmosphere. Tara knew that Dawn didn't enjoy staying at the cheapest lodgings and only doing things that didn't cost much money, seeing as Tara had spent most of her savings on the plane tickets, but the younger girl quickly adapted, even going so far as to suggest grabbing meals at the market instead of any of the local restaurants.

Tara decided, as an early Christmas present, to take Dawn out to a club when they finally reached Paris. Dawn was so excited, she subjected Tara to more squealing, which made the blonde girl cringe and laugh at the same time. They spent the night dancing and talking, and Tara even went so far as to let Dawn have a bit to drink, which resulted in both girls sleeping late into the next day.

They wandered out of the hostel in the early afternoon, hungry and tired, searching for a café within walking distance to have lunch. Tara trudged after the slightly more awake teenager, who dropped into a seat outside of a seedy looking café that Tara was certain would have ranked an "F" in California. Tara and Dawn were both too hungry to care, however, as they quickly flagged down the waiter and order a larger than usual amount of food.

They ate quickly and silently, finally sitting back and having a look around.

"Wow," Dawn said, squinting and shielding her eyes from the still too bright sunlight, "this neighborhood is of the questionable."

Tara had to agree, as she observed the half burned down shop across the street and the graffiti covering most of the block.

"But look on the bright side," Dawn added after a moment, "at least there aren't any demons hanging around."

"True," agreed Tara. "Actually, I'm surprised we haven't seen anything suspicious this whole trip. I mean, supposedly Europe is overrun with the vampires and such."

Dawn shrugged. "Spike says the demons in Europe like to lay low. He says it's half the reason he went to America. American demons are into the big evil statements and male-type posturing."

Dawn suddenly stopped talking, her mouth dropping open and her eyes growing large. "Holy crap. Speaking of demons," she muttered.

Tara turned in her chair, following Dawn's gaze, and doing a double take herself. The blonde woman who had been the target of Dawn's shocked look finally spotted the two travelers and stopped in her tracks. She took a moment to recover, and then walked quickly over to the café table.

"Anya!" Dawn exclaimed, jumping up to hug the ex-demon.

Tara also walked over to where Anya stood, awkwardly hugging Dawn back.

"Well," Anya said after finally breaking free of the greeting embrace, "now that you two are here, you can help me carry things." She handed her bags over to Dawn and Tara, leaving her own hands free.

"Erm," began Tara, shifting the bag she was holding to her other arm as she gave Anya a confused look, "So you're here getting supplies for the Magic Shop?"

Anya nodded, leading the other two girls down the road toward a more populated area. "Yes, I was picking up a few books from an old colleague of mine who owns a shop a few blocks from here. She was most unpleasant, laughing at my mortality, but she gave me the books for a reasonable price, so I let it go."

Tara just nodded. "Oh, okay."

Dawn began to chat happily at Anya about what she and Tara had done so far on the trip, thankfully leaving out the part about having a bit too much alcohol the night before. Tara knew that if Dawn told Anya, it would get back to Buffy through Xander in no time.

A few minutes later they stopped in front of a small bookshop on a much nicer street that seemed to be full of similarly sized stores selling everything from clothing to souvenirs of the city. Tara practically smacked against Anya's back at the abrupt stop, catching herself and looking around with interest. Her eyes fell upon a man walking towards them from across the street.

"Mr. Giles!" Tara exclaimed, smiling and waving as he acknowledged the extra people with Anya.

"Hey Giles!" said Dawn, also waving.

Giles seemed a bit surprised at the appearance of more Sunnydale residents, but not overly so. Tara got the impression that Buffy had filled him in on her and Dawn's vacation.

"Hello. How nice that Anya has run into you two. I was wondering if we would see you, since Buffy informed me that you would be on this side of the pond." Giles said, embracing Tara and Dawn briefly, and handing a bag of what looked like more old books to Anya.

"They were at a café in a very sketchy neighborhood," Anya told him, looking through the bag, and then handing it back to him, seemingly satisfied with its contents.

"Ah, yes, well, I'm sure they have learned to take care of themselves enough to manage," Giles answered, smiling a bit at the grin that broke out on Dawn's face.

"Yes, well," Anya continued, as if he had said nothing, turning to the girls, "Rupert and I are quite busy with the shop, and I don't think we really have enough time to be tourists with you two."

Giles frowned, "Yes, we are on a tight schedule. But I don't see why you two can't join us. Assuming you don't have other plans," he added quickly as an afterthought.

Dawn looked excitedly at Tara, who grinned and nodded, causing the younger girl to jump up and down and squeal a bit, though not as loudly as she could have. Tara's grin grew and she joined Dawn in a bit of the jumping, finally calming her down enough to find out where Giles and Anya's business was taking them.

"Ah, well, a very exciting place for you possibly," Giles answered, an equally excited look coming over his face. "It'll be a unique learning experience, I do believe."

Dawn groaned, "Only Giles could turn vacation into a unique learning experience."

"Oh no, it is a fascinating place. I'm sure you two will enjoy it." Anya interjected, defending Giles's views on the matter. "And while you're learning we can get the rest of the books and get back to the shop."

At this comment, a frown came over Giles's face and he looked at Tara and Dawn with a bit of confusion. "Actually, I thought Tara was left in charge of the shop. I didn't think to ask Buffy about that when she called."

Tara and Dawn giggled, and then took two steps back, which caused Giles to narrow his eyes and look sharply at Anya. "Xander and Buffy are busy most of the time and Willow is in no shape to be around that many magical supplies unsupervised. That only leaves-" he broke off, suddenly plucking his glasses from his face and pulling a small cloth out of his pocket to wipe the lenses vigorously.

"Spike." Anya supplied, even though Giles already knew the answer.

"Oh dear lord." Giles muttered, placing his glasses back in their place and rubbing his temple in a way that suggested that the mere mention of the blonde vampire caused him great pain.

"Anyway," shrugged Anya, turning back to the two grinning visitors, "we just have the one stop left."

Giles got over his discomfort at the thought of Spike being in charge of his source of income and got a bit of his excited look back. "Yes, well, I suppose we'll have to let them know that we have two more guests coming with us, but I don't see it being a problem."

"Yes," agreed Anya, "Tara is a Wicca and Dawn is the key. It's not as if they're regular people."

Now the two girls were more curious than ever as to what this mysterious location was. A place that didn't look kindly upon regular people visiting was sure to be interesting.

"So what is this place?" Tara finally asked for the both of them.

"Hogwarts." Replied Giles.

"Oh! The school? Cool." Said Dawn, causing Giles and Anya to look at her in surprise.

"You've heard of it?"

"Yeah. Er. It was sorta in one of your books." Dawn said to Giles, looking down at her hands nervously, "you know, in your private collection."

Giles tried to look disapproving, but Tara could see the ghost of a smile on his face.

"I've heard of it too." Tara said, "my mom told me about it when I was little."

"Well then," said Giles, leading them down the street toward another part of the city.

Anya still looked a bit taken aback. "You guys know about everything. It ruins all my fun."