A/N: I decided against having a 3rd slayer 'cos it would screw up the story so I've changed the bit that said there would be one-just in case anyone is confused.
Also to ScruffyWes the reason for the crappiness of the title was that originally I called it Which One? Then I decided that I wanted it to be Harry Potter and the something but I thought it would be a bit confusing if I just changed it so I temporarily combined the 2 and have now changed it as per your suggestion. Thanx!
Sam 453-a chapter you haven't already read-how exciting is that!
Buffy couldn't relax. She had been completely unprepared to see Willow and didn't like the feeling of being surprised, it was becoming all too familiar. She strode down the castle corridors occasionally lashing out at the walls.
"Ooh someone's in a strop" Peeves sang appearing suddenly in front of her. Buffy gritted her teeth and kept walking. Being unable to physically hurt something was another feeling that would never make it to her top 10. When Peeves pulled the carpet out from under her feet however he had gone one step too far. She backflipped to stop herself from landing on her backside and said very restrainedly
"You don't want to mess with me Peeves." The poltergeist's jaw had fallen open and Buffy strode away pausing only to announce that her punning was a far superior form of humour to Peeves' practical jokes. As buffy continued towards the entrance hall her earlier gloom descended again. Her mood was not helped by the vanishing step which she forgot about, nor by the staircase that swung her to the wrong landing. By the time she reached the main doors Buffy was both irritable and extremely miserable. She had wanted to welcome Willow to Hogwarts, to be settled in and ready for her but having seen her best friend all Buffy felt was confusion. Willow belonged to Sunnydale and having her appear in Hogwarts made Buffy all too aware that she did to. Not looking where she was going Buffy walked straight into the bony frame of Dumbledore himself, the man who had brought her to Hogwarts away from the relative sanity of the hellmouth where as a general rule she could kill the things that annoyed her.
"Are you alright Miss Summers?" he asked jovially but this only served as a trigger for a rant of which few full phrases were audible.
"Stupid castle…magic…why didn't tell me…Willow…evil…not finished…want…home…Xander." Buffy's voice faded as Dumbledore watched her closely. Somehow he knew what she meant and led her to a classroom nearby.
"You wish to speak to Mr Harris about Miss Rosenberg's return? That can be arranged most easily." Dumbledore proceeded to demonstrate how Buffy could use floo powder to contact Xander and soon she was kneeling on a stone floor with her head in the fireplace. She felt as though her head was attached to a super size slinky that was being stretched to full capacity and then it stopped. Her knees were still on the cold classroom floor at Hogwarts but her head was protruding from the fireplace she had disappeared from not so long ago. The sight in front of her made Buffy's mouth fall open. The two people on the sofa in front of Buffy looked up guiltily at on hearing Buffy's head appear in the fire. They broke apart and Buffy grinned at how obvious their prior activity had been.
"Nice to see you haven't lost the charm Xan" Xander blushed deeply but the girl beside him stood up tall and pulled a knife from…well Buffy wasn't quite sure where from. "Ok no need for that" Buffy pipped looking at the girl. She was very pretty, tall and willowy with toffee brown skin and jet black hair streaked with red. There was something about her though, something that made Buffy sure Xander's hand would have no success in restraining her from running the knife through her head should she decide to. "Slayer?" she asked looking now at Xander but her voice wasn't the only one saying that. The girl was also looking at Xander and had asked the same question in a heavy Australian accent.
"Yes" he replied but Buffy wasn't sure who he was answering.
"Wow" the Australian girl said but Buffy's eyes had widened.
"Faith is she?"
"Nope the killer is still alive and kicking, well I'm guessing she's kicking, haven't really seen her in a while so I'm pretty much guessing she's still alive too."
"Then how did Miss Overfriendly come to be here?" Buffy was referring to the cosy position she and Xander had been in when she first saw them.
"Jasmine's not an actual slayer, just a potential guess she's kinda reserve if you or Faith get your heads blown of or whatever. Jasmine meet Buffy Summers, the slayer, well part of her. Buffy you do still have, y'know arms and legs and all that don't you?"
"Yes, still all me. All one piece. Actually I just wanted to talk to you."
"Me, you wanted to talk to me?" Buffy nodded and Jasmine slipped out the room leaving Xander to talk to Buffy's head. "So what's up in the land of the cloaks and pointy hats?"
"Willow's here."
"But she's with those witchy people right, y'know learning not to be evil and all."
"Not anymore, she turned up at Hogwarts today and I don't know why but I wasn't happy to see her. Is something wrong with me? I couldn't even talk to her."
"It's ok just a shock" Xander seemed to be talking to himself more than to Buffy. "I mean she wouldn't be there if she was evil girl right?"
"I don't know. Dumbledore said she'd be coming but she definitely hasn't finished with the coven. Don't really know all that much."
"Man I wish I could be there, even if Willow is all hyped up with the dark mojo I want to see her. How'd she seem? Still a redhead 'cos that's a good sign."
"Yeah." Buffy's face brightened slightly as she realised this. "Yeah that is a good sign. Thanks Xan. Listen I think Dumbledore's working on you coming over but 'til then make sure some actual slaying gets done."
"Aye aye to the bodiless slayer. I will never be accused of shirking me duties. Say hi to teed man for me-hey does he have tweed cloaks now?"
Buffy laughed and withdrew her head. When she felt that it was once again connected to her body she stood up and looked at Dumbledore who was waiting patiently for her questions. Buffy opened her mouth to ask about Willow but realised that actually there was someone better to ask and headed upstairs to find her.
MEANWHILEDawn ran out into the corridor her heart hammering wildly in her chest, she had seen many things try to kill her but didn't often have to face them afterwards, usually they were either dust or a corpse pretty quickly but Willow, well she was pretty lively for a corpse. Dawn sank onto a step looking around to check that she was alone. She sat with her head in her hands thinking. It didn't take long for her to come up with a plan and she headed towards the library. Ignoring the majesty of the enormous room Dawn began roughly searching the shelves. "Protection spells, protection spells" she muttered hoping that she could use her new wand successfully but her search was cut short when Hagrid's enormous form lumbered into sight.
"All righ' there little 'un?" he asked and Dawn nodded but too feebly to cover her distress. "C'mon wi' me and yeh can tell me all abou' what's eatin yeh and we'll get yeh some tea and my own rock cakes, how 'bout that?" Hagrid clapped a gigantic hand on Dawn's shoulder and steered her to his cabin. Inside was a roaring fire next to which a black boarhound was sitting. "S a'righ' he wont hurt yeh" Hagrid said putting a kettle on the fire. "Heel Fang Heel" he called but the massive dog paid no attention and continued drooling over Dawn's arms. "Now then whassamatter? Summat's given yeh a right shock an' I don' think it were me this time." Dawn shook her head a smile playing at the corner of her lips as she remembered when Hagrid had found her on the floor of The Three Broomsticks.
"It was Willow. I didn't know she was coming here today."
"The redhead? I didn't know either 'til Dumbledore told me this morning, told me to go pick her up. Thought she was a friend of yours."
"She was 'til she went evil and killed someone and tried to kill… someone else." Dawn felt a little strange talking about events that happened in a whole different world to a giant in a wooden hut, definitely too strange to mention that Willow had in fact tried to kill her. "She's meant to be doing some detox thing over here like kind of magic rehab I guess but she's not finished yet."
"Listen little 'un there isn't anyone in this castle Dumbledore doesn't want. If he trusts this Willow person then there's a fair chance you should too." Dawn listened to Hagrid's words but protested; she didn't fully comprehend the reverence with which Dumbledore was treated. Hagrid was so adamant however that Willow could not be at Hogwarts without Dumbledore's reasoned invitation that gradually Dawn began to believe him. She stayed at Hagrid's until the sun had set. When she caught sight of the blackened sky outside Dawn jumped up and explained that Buffy would worry about her if she wasn't back. As Hagrid walked with her up to castle she couldn't help but ask him;
"So what were you doing in the library anyway?"
"Got a bit of a surprise fer yeh." The game keeper replied tapping his nose. "Don' want the ruin it."
When they reached the Great hall Dawn smelt dinner and sure enough the staff were gathered around the top table, Buffy among them. There was no sign of Willow so Dawn calmly sat next to her sister as if nothing had happened. She was engaged in a conversation with Madame Hooch about the Firebolt and flying when Willow sat down. Dawn didn't notice her until a goblet was knocked over and a clanging sound made her look up just in time to see Willow's face turn almost as red as her hair.
"No matter." Dumbledore said waving his wand and the orange stain that had been spreading down the white table cloth disappeared. Willow gave Dawn a shy smile and the younger girl returned it. She looked at her sister and saw that she too was smiling. Maybe things would be alright at Hogwarts; the food was good, the teachers were mostly nice, flying would be cool. The only thing that could go horribly wrong was lessons….well Dawn'd find out soon enough.
Next chapter: More Harry Potter stuff and the return of 2 characters.
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