Chapter 10

"What are those?" I pointed at the horse-dragon-bat things that were hook up to the carriages waiting to take us to Hogwarts.

"Threstrals." Harry looked over at me. "Hold on, you can see them?"

I nodded.

"Were not supposed to or something?" Buffy asked.

He seemed little uneasy, but not scared. "Only those that have seen death can see the Threstrals."

Xander bumped into me. "Well I guess we should be seeing about a thousand of these things.

Harry looked a little weirded out by what Xander said and kept to himself once we loaded into the carriage. I wasn't used to wearing robes and I had to reseat myself several times before I was comfortable. I'm guessing the experience was much worse for Xander.

"I feel like I'm wearing a dress. How can you guys stand it?"

Buffy snickered. "Just make sure you cross you legs at the knees so nobody sees your panties."

Xander was about to follow Buffy's advice before he remembered that he was still wearing jeans. Then he switched to a more manly style of leg crossing. "I'm such an easy mark these days."

Once all of the kiddies were loaded up we moved on. Faith was hanging out one of the windows when Xander slapped her on the butt.

"Hands and other body parts inside, ma'am."

Faith didn't even flinch. "Don't tease unless you're gonna do something about it, Harris."

His hands went promptly to his lap and his eye twitched uncontrollably.

Harry smirked. "Still got that twitch?"

Xander's eyes widened in shock.

The castle came into view moments later and it was a sight to see. This thing was gigantic with a lot of turrets and towers. It was very Old English, or Scottish, I guess. The moon and starlight reflection off of the many windows made our approach seem surreal.

The carriages came to a halt in front of the castle's main doors. A small gnome-looking guy was at the top of the steps welcoming the older kids back as Harry explained the first years had to be taken around the side for sorting in their various houses ... whatever that meant.

"The students are split up into four groups, each living in a separate part of Hogwarts. We call them houses." He held out the crest that was embroidered on hic robes. "I'm in Gryffindore."

"Ah, Harry, welcome home."

I watched as Harry met the eyes of a elderly man in colorful robes standing just inside the doorway.

"Hello, Professor." Harry said weakly.

The old man turned to us. "Am I to take it these are our guests that Sirius brought back with him?"

I didn't know Sirius was right behind me. "That, they are."

His hand found its way to my shoulder. "Professor Dumbledore may I present Willow Rosenberg, Buffy Summers, Xander Harris and Faith."

The old man smiled and nodded his head once. "It is a pleasure to meet all of your acquaintance." He paused. "Sirius, I wonder if you might escort our guests to the sitting room in the east wing. The house elves have prepared a small feast in their honor. I will be along after the sorting and announcements."

Sirius' hand pressed warmly on my shoulder. "Of course."

He pointed out which way to go, but before we had a chance to leave the Professor had something else to say.

"And Sirius ... welcome back."

*******************

"This castle is something else." I said in muted awe.

Buffy looked past me at one of the pictures hanging on the wall. "You can say that again." She pointed. "Did the lady in that painting just wave at me?"

Sirius nodded, "You might want to be on guard in the wizarding world. Things are not always as they seem and the furniture tends to talk back."

The lady in the red dress that Buffy was talking about huffed, "I am not furniture. Really!" She said with distain.

Xander backed off a little. "And she talks, too! This place is getting really high on the bizarre-o-detector."

Faith was still bright-eyed. "Are you kidding? This place rocks!"

We made a couple of turns and Sirius point out a door. "Right over there."

Xander was ahead of the rest of us and he opened the door, peeking inside first, I guess to make sure more weirdness didn't jump out at him. His on-guard face slipped into a bright grin.

"Oh, yeah! I think I'll change my vote on this universe. Ebert and Roper give it two thumbs up!"

He opened the door for the rest of us to see. Apparently the sitting room had been redone for our arrival. Most of the room was done in a royal red and forest green. It was large as rooms go, maybe twenty by thirty feet with a ancient dinner table down the middle loaded with every conceivable type of food there was.

I heard Faith's stomach rumble.

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about."

*******************

We were almost done with our meal when the Professor arrived. I looked over at Faith and Xander, each gnawing on a roasted chicken bone. Well, Buffy, Sirius and I were almost done.

"Good evening. I hope everything is to your liking?"

Lots of yummy sounds and yes, thank you's were uttered.

"Excellent." He pulled out the last empty seat at the head of the table.

Xander set his stripped bone down on his plate and looked forlornly at the chocolate cheesecake at mid-table.

The Professor smiled. "Please Mr. Harris, continue. the house elves will be very pleased that their sugary efforts have not gone unnoticed."

Buffy reached him a large slice.

Sirius didn't waste any time on pleasantries. "Any word on You-Know-Who?"

I don't know if the Professor ignored him or not. "Sirius would you be so kind as to hand me that decanter of red wine. It has been ages since I've sampled Professor Sprout's efforts."

Sirius did as instructed and The Professor poured himself a small glass then delicately sipped its contents. He smiled under his extraordinarily long silver beard. "Just as I remembered."

He set his glass down and looked up over his glasses. "Down to business, then."