The Lost Line
Author's Note: This story takes place during Harry's seventh year of Hogwarts, and somewhere between Seasons 6 and 7 of Buffy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Jacques, taken from The Gatekeeper Trilogy, any of the lines taken from "Batman", or any songs by Metallica.
Chapter 4: Explain It To Me...
**From Chapter 3**
There was a hole in the air of the Great Hall of Hogwarts.
And there was a boy tumbling through it. A boy who just happened to land at her feet.
"Ruby?!?"
"Jacques?!?"
"What are you doing here?"
Ruby helped up the young boy who had become the Gatekeeper. "I was going to ask you the same thing. Is there a great evil here that I don't know about?"
Jacques shook his head. "No. Not that I know of, anyway. I was trying to get back from Siberia. Giant sand worm there."
"Oh."
"So, what are you doing in Hogwarts? You're not a witch."
Ruby narrowed her eyes at Jacques. "How do you know about Hogwarts?"
"Well, I am the gatekeeper, Ruby. I know about all the magical schools. Hogwarts is very famous for having Professor Dumbledore as its headmaster."
"Okay, I get it. Magic knows magic. How've you been?"
"Good. Lonely, but good."
"Sorry about that. Got called away to London to stop the council from being blown up. Big failure there on my part."
"Well, they know who's behind it. Some crazed priest named Caleb." Jacques saw Ruby's face darken. "He's the First's number one guy."
"Too bad he won't fall into a tank of some chemicals and become the Joker. 'Cause I could really deal with that."
Jacques smiled. Ruby was a big fan of Jack Nicholson and that line ("Jack, you... are my number one... guy.") happened to be one of her favorites.
"So, what's the deal with Hogwarts and Dumbledore? No one feels like telling a Slayer like me anything."
Jacques sat down at one of the tables, and Ruby did the same. "Hogwarts, as I'm sure they told you, is a school where young witches and wizards learn their magic." He paused, and saw Ruby nod. "Well, at one point, a young wizard named Tom Riddle came to study at Hogwarts. He was put into Slytherin house. Slytherin house is famous for turning out dark wizards."
"Explains why Snape was such a bastard," Ruby muttered.
Jacques smiled. "I know Snape. He's a bit of a jerk, but he's got a soft spot for Dumbledore. He's gotten Snape out of a few sticky situations. Anyway, back to Riddle. He happened to be the heir of Salazar Slytherin, the founder of Slytherin house. Slytherin felt that anyone with muggle--"
"Non magic people. They told me that."
"Right. Well, he felt that anyone with muggle blood in them should not be allowed to study at Hogwarts. That's why there are no muggle-borns in Slytherin. Funny thing about Riddle was, he was half-muggle. Anyway, he came to hate all muggles, especially his father, who left his mother after finding out she was a witch. He let out a Basilisk and ended up killing a girl. You might meet her in the bathrooms one day. They call her Moaning Myrtle. She thinks the world's against her. Always crying. Now, Tom Riddle is known as Lord Voldemort. Dumbledore's the only person's he's afraid of. And Harry Potter's the only one who Voldemort wasn't able to defeat. His mother died for him, and it created a shield for her son. When Voldemort tried to use the killing curse on the boy, it bounced off him."
"So... now what's happened? I feel like there's major evil hanging around the area. Especially in those woods."
"The Forbidden Forest. It's possible he's hiding there. Voldemort's risen again." Jacques paused and looked around the Great Hall, then back at Ruby. "Dumbledore's old, and all the students wouldn't know what to do. Even if they all combined their powers, they may not defeat him this time."
"So? I'm only here for the night. I've got to stop the First."
"Yeah, but..." Jacques sighed. "What if the First is using Voldemort? Ruby, they may want you to stick around to fight Voldemort. They'll need all the help they can get, and you're very strong."
"Yeah, but I'm no witch."
"I know, but you're the Slayer. You're strong. You could help them."
"If you're suggesting that I help them fight, you're crazy!"
"Maybe not. Slayers have been known to fare well against witches and wizards in fights."
Ruby sighed. "This won't be your ordinary dance with the devil in the pale moonlight."
*******
Remus stared at Giles in disbelief. "Surely she knows another way to save everyone. What about her Watcher? I'm sure she didn't push him away!"
"No, she didn't. And, he died because of it."
"What?"
Giles put his glasses back on. "She loved her Watcher. In a way that she shouldn't have. He was young (about seven years older than she) and handsome. And he returned those feelings. The Council found this to be inappropriate. The night that the Council tried to take him away from her, another group of radicals attacked her. She ended up killing all but one."
"What happened to Ruby?"
"She was injured badly. She was shot a few times, and she was in shock. She thought she'd become a killer for life, like Faith. You see, when she and Faith had killed vampires together in New Jersey, Faith said that Ruby would come to like Slaying. That she would like the kill. Ruby's greatest fear was becoming like Faith. Well, she learned that Faith had killed a man in Sunnydale, and thought she was going to become like her."
"Did-- did she-- like-- killing those people?"
"No, but just the fact that she had killed was enough for her to think that she would."
"So... what happened?"
"Well, she went to her Watcher. She needed to heal, and he would take care of her. The problem was, the Council was already there with her Watcher. When she entered the room, the Council told her she was to be executed. The one that got away had told them what she had done. They aimed their guns at her; she just stood there, bleeding and crying, in shock. But, instead of being shot and killed, her Watcher jumped in front of her, saving her. He told her to run, which she did. She ran to the nearest hospital, where she was treated. The Council did not bother to touch her there. Caleb took that chance to blow them up. The only reason she still protects them is because they no longer exist. Ruby fights for the people now, not an organization that was blown up because some Radicals caused the Slayer that was keeping them safe to go into shock while a minion of the First was lurking around."
"They killed her Watcher... they tried to kill her..." Remus closed his eyes. "How could they do something like that?"
He opened his eyes and looked at Giles. Giles looked at him sympathetically. He knew who Remus was thinking of. Cecile.
"Remus, Cecile would never do something like that. She would have fought for Ruby. But, she couldn't. She was in South America at the time."
Remus sighed. "So... what do I do now? She needs someone to look after her. And Cecile-- she told me it wasn't my time for a Slayer yet."
Giles took his glasses off again. "She's right. But, someone will look after her. He won't be your first choice, and he's NOT anywhere on Ruby's list, but he'll do for the time."
"You're talking about Severus, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"The world is doomed."
"That's my line," Giles said, a slight smile on his face.
**********
Ruby sighed. "I think I should be getting some sleep."
Jacques nodded as she yawned. "I think that would be wise."
"Can you get back to Boston?"
"I don't think so. At least, not tonight. Besides," here he smiled at her, "I've missed you so much, I don't think I'd want to leave anyway."
Ruby smiled back at Jacques. Even though he was two years younger than she, he was cute for a fifteen year old. And she knew that he did have a slight crush on her. "You can share my room with me."
"I'll sleep on the floor."
"No, you can share the bed with me. It's a queen size."
Jacques blushed and agreed to share the bed with her.
As they made their way back to Ruby's room, they noticed the portraits bowing at Jacques and muttering their welcomes. Jacques nodded to them, and thanked them for their welcomes.
"You're pretty popular."
"They sense all my magic. They also know about my being the Gatekeeper, and respect that."
Ruby nodded. "Makes sense." They stopped at a door. "This is my room."
Jacques opened the door for her. Ruby smiled. "Also the perfect gentleman, are we?"
"Only for you."
"Hey, stop that. We don't want to make the Slayer blush now, do we?"
Jacques continued to smile at her. "Sure."
This caused Ruby to blush. Jacques was cute, sure, but he wasn't Alexander. She suddenly became very upset thinking about her previous Watcher.
Jacques saw this and become concerned. "Is everything okay?"
Ruby shot him a glance that told him she didn't want to talk about it, then smiled. "Peachy keen."
She walked into the room, and plopped down on one side of the bed. Jacques took off his shoes and laid down on the other side of the bed.
******
Meanwhile, in Oz's dreamland, he and Willow were sitting under a starry sky, sharing a picnic dinner of pizza and soda. They were no longer at the ball, and both were in casual clothes. Willow was taking a bite out of the extra cheese pizza, and had just gotten sauce all over her chin. Willow moved to wipe it away with a napkin, but Oz licked it off her instead. She giggled and allowed him to kiss her just as a shooting star passed above them.
******
Jacques woke up to soft singing.
"I'm judge and I'm jury and I'm executioner too"
Ruby hummed the rest of the song as she slept. He wondered if she was singing herself to sleep, seeing as she had been tossing and turning a few times, or if she sang in her sleep. Either way, he wondered why she was singing Metallica's "Dirty Window" and not something... lighter.
He touched her face ever so softly and whispered in her ear, "You're not a killer, Ruby. You never were, and you never will be."
He was not sure, but he thought he heard her begin to sing a lighter song.
******
Remus sighed. "Ruby and Severus won't like this one bit."
Giles nodded. "They will learn to deal with it."
"I'm more worried about them trying to kill one another."
"Well, you have no need to worry. Severus and Ruby both know how to take care of themselves."
"Why can't I be her Watcher for now?"
"Because... you would become too attached. She would push you away. She's already pushed Severus away, so it would not affect Severus. You, on the other hand, would want to know about her past, and that's something she does not want to deal with at the moment, especially since the scars have not begun to fade-- literally, and figuratively. Severus could care less, and that's the attitude she wants right now." He looked at the wolf, who was shaking his head in frustration. "Look, when the time is right, you will be her Watcher."
Remus sighed. "And how will I know?"
Giles smiled, took the other man's chin in his hand, and kissed him.
******
Oz woke up the next morning with a smile on his face. He felt very relaxed, and even thought he smelled the strawberry perfume Willow always used to wear.
He looked at the chair across from his bed to find a set of robes laid out for him. They were plain black robes, but they were a complete set of clothes. Oz got out of his bed, and put them on. They felt like baggy clothes to him.
He sniffed the air, smelled pancakes, and let his nose lead him to the Great Hall.
******
When Remus woke up, he felt as if he had not gotten any sleep at all.
He wondered if his dreams had not been dreams. He wondered if he was somehow taken to another plane of existance that just felt like a dream. That would explain all the interesting facts he had learned from his dream.
Remus frowned, thinking once again of Cecile. Giles had said that she would never try to hurt Ruby, but Remus was not sure. They had all changed since their days in Hogwarts. He could not be sure where Cecile's loyalties lie. Did they lie in the Council, which she had tried to convince Remus to join? Or, were they with the Slayers, who were trapped in destinies they had never asked for?
Cecile had been born the daughter of two Watchers. She was sent to Hogwarts to learn the magic needed to help a Watcher protect the world and find potential slayers. She had been brought up to believe in the Council fully. Remus, on the other hand, had not been. Remus had asked Cecile questions about how the Council worked. As Cecile explained it to him, he wondered about the fairness of taking a girl away from her normal life to be alone in the fight against evil.
He wondered now if his thoughts from school had been the reason why he had been so eager for Ruby to stay the night at Hogwarts. He had hoped she could get some sense of a normal life, or at least what was normal for him.
As he tried to get out of his bed, Remus lost his sense of balance and fell on the cold floor, naked, as he always did.
******
Ruby woke up and rolled onto her other side. Jacques was sleeping peacefully next to her. She figured it was best not to wake him because of the time difference between Boston and... wherever across the Atlantic Ocean she was. No one had told her the exact location of Hogwarts. She put that on her grand list of things to ask about Hogwarts.
She stared at Jacques in silence for a few more minutes. His hair flopped into his eyes, but she did not move it. 'It makes him look so cute...'
Quietly, Ruby got out of the bed. She looked at a chair that had somehow appeared overnight. It had two sets of dress robes on it, both with pants. Ruby smiled as she thought of what Jacques would look like in a skirt, because if one had been there, she would have taken the pants meant for Jacques.
Ruby felt the need to get food and answers, so she moved out of the room just as quietly as she had gotten out of the bed, and walked to the Great Hall, where she assumed everyone would be.
*****
Remus shot up off his cold floor. 'This is not how I need my day to start...'
He looked down at the small table in his room to see that the robes he had discarded on the floor during the night had been cleaned and patched up. 'That must have annoyed the House Elves...'
Remus had just thrown on his boxers (blue with yellow crescent moons) when he heard a female voice singing as she walked past his door.
"A little less conversation,
A little more action, please
All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me
A little more bite
And a little less bark
A little less spite
And a little more spark"
Remus rushed out to find Ruby singing and dancing to a song he had never heard before.
"Ruby!"
She stopped and turned to him. "Remus! Where are going?"
"The Great Hall for breakfast."
"Damn. I didn't know it was that casual."
He looked down and blushed, just as Hermione Granger walked by, looking at him with wide eyes.
"P-p-professor?"
"Hey, kiddo. Going to the Great Hall?"
Hermione nodded, blushing as she stared more and more at Remus in boxers alone.
"Great. I got lost. I really wasn't paying attention to where I was going. Got lost in my singing. Lead the way!"
She pushed Hermione past Remus as he rushed back into his room to finish getting dressed. As he closed the door, he caught Ruby doing a strange dance. He would have to ask Ruby about that later.
******
Jacques slowly got up. The portraits were whispering and giggling to each other.
"The Slayer and the Gatekeeper? How cute!"
"I hear that."
The portraits giggled.
He noticed that Ruby was gone. "Where did Ruby go?"
"The Slayer?"
He nodded.
"She got dressed. We can only guess that she went to the Great Hall."
He nodded once more and got out of bed. He found the robes left out for him, and slowly put them on. The portraits continued to giggle at him.
"He's got a nice body," one whispered, and he promptly blushed.
******
Oz reached the Great Hall at the same time as Ruby and a girl with bushy brown hair.
"Looks like you've recovered," Oz told Ruby.
Ruby nodded. Then shivered. "There's something strange about this place."
The girl with bushy hair spoke up. "It's probably all the magical waves in the air."
Ruby's eyes settled on Snape. "Or maybe it's just Schnoz giving me the Evil Eye."
Oz cleared his throat. "So, who is she?"
"This is... um... what's your name?"
"Hermione Granger."
"There you go."
Oz smiled at Hermione. "Hi. I'm Oz. Daniel Osbourne, actually, but please call me Oz."
Ruby looked at Hermione. "I'm Ruby Fier."
"Are you teacher's apprentices?"
Oz shook his head and Ruby snorted. "No. I'm getting advice, and she's--"
"Not staying for long," Ruby finished for him.
Hermione blushed. "You mean, you and Professor Lupin aren't..." She trailed off, embarrassed to finish her question.
"Aren't what?"
"Well... d-dating?"
Ruby's eyes went wide. "Hell no!"
"I wish you wouldn't use that language around my students," a fully-dressed Remus said from behind her.
Ruby rolled her eyes at him. "You're not the boss of me."
"He didn't give you an order," Hermione said. "He just asked you not to cuss."
Ruby looked at Hermione. She was blushing, and looking down at her feet. She was very protective of Remus Lupin... She acted like Ruby when she told the Council off for Alexander's "unorthodox" training methods. She had thought that the virtual reality crypt was a really good idea. Especially since she could not get hurt.
Ruby smirked and leaned close to Hermione. "You have a crush on Remus, don't you?" she whispered.
Hermione became even redder, and let out a high-pitched "No!" She then rushed off to her table and sat between a boy with messy black hair and a boy with red hair that matched Hermione's face.
'Yup... that's a crush, that is.'
Ruby clapped her hands pleasantly. "So... grub?"
Jacques walked up to the group, and kissed Ruby on the cheek. "Good morning."
Ruby blinked at him. "What are you doing out of bed?"
"The portraits were whispering and giggling."
"Ah." Ruby looked at Remus and Oz. "This is Jacques Regnier. He's the Gatekeeper. He lives in Boston."
Remus lit up like a Christmas tree. "Really? The Gatekeeper?"
Jacques smiled. "Yes."
"Uh, I hate to interrupt, but I'm hungry," Oz announced.
Remus looked up and blinked. "Right. Sorry. You can sit at the staff table for now, I suppose. There's room enough."
Oz and Ruby walked toward the table. Ruby said over her shoulder, "Have fun drooling, Remus."
*****
Harry and Ron looked at Hermione. She had not said a word since she sat down, and they had bad-mouthed the teachers multiple times.
"Hermione, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," she finally squeaked out.
"Why are you blushing so much, then?"
"No reason!"
"No one blushes that much without a reason," Ron said.
"I'd rather not talk about it."
They looked at each other knowingly. Hermione had a crush.
"Who is he, 'Mione?"
"Yeah, tell us," Harry chimed.
"No!"
*****
Albus Dumbledore smiled at the Slayer and young werewolf. "I see Remus has found someone else to be fascinated over."
"Yeah, but Jacques will be leaving soon. I hope." Ruby sighed. "Do you know what could cause the ghost roads to drop someone off at the wrong location?"
"Disturbances in the air caused by magic, a spell that involves the dead..." Dumbledore paused and looked at Ruby. "Or, he could have simply been thinking of something other than his destination."
Ruby blushed slightly as she thought of the kiss he had given her.
Oz put some food on his plate and began eating.
Then, the owls arrived.
Dumbledore smiled at the confused looks on Ruby's and Oz's faces. "Mail. It's carried by owls."
They nodded, still looking slightly confused.
One owl landed in front of Dumbledore, and he looked at the envelope after he removed it from the owl's leg. "Most interesting."
"What?" Ruby asked, out of reflex more than curiosity.
"It's an owl from the surviving members of the Council."
++++++++++++
Well, WG wanted me to leave this as a cliff hanger, and I'm dying in my computer room, so I think I will end it here. Why does the air conditioner have to be broken?!?
Anyway, please tell me what you think. I'd really like to know.
Oh! And I don't own "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis.
And the dance Ruby was doing was the moon walk. Which I also don't own.
-Yoshi
Author's Note: This story takes place during Harry's seventh year of Hogwarts, and somewhere between Seasons 6 and 7 of Buffy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Jacques, taken from The Gatekeeper Trilogy, any of the lines taken from "Batman", or any songs by Metallica.
Chapter 4: Explain It To Me...
**From Chapter 3**
There was a hole in the air of the Great Hall of Hogwarts.
And there was a boy tumbling through it. A boy who just happened to land at her feet.
"Ruby?!?"
"Jacques?!?"
"What are you doing here?"
Ruby helped up the young boy who had become the Gatekeeper. "I was going to ask you the same thing. Is there a great evil here that I don't know about?"
Jacques shook his head. "No. Not that I know of, anyway. I was trying to get back from Siberia. Giant sand worm there."
"Oh."
"So, what are you doing in Hogwarts? You're not a witch."
Ruby narrowed her eyes at Jacques. "How do you know about Hogwarts?"
"Well, I am the gatekeeper, Ruby. I know about all the magical schools. Hogwarts is very famous for having Professor Dumbledore as its headmaster."
"Okay, I get it. Magic knows magic. How've you been?"
"Good. Lonely, but good."
"Sorry about that. Got called away to London to stop the council from being blown up. Big failure there on my part."
"Well, they know who's behind it. Some crazed priest named Caleb." Jacques saw Ruby's face darken. "He's the First's number one guy."
"Too bad he won't fall into a tank of some chemicals and become the Joker. 'Cause I could really deal with that."
Jacques smiled. Ruby was a big fan of Jack Nicholson and that line ("Jack, you... are my number one... guy.") happened to be one of her favorites.
"So, what's the deal with Hogwarts and Dumbledore? No one feels like telling a Slayer like me anything."
Jacques sat down at one of the tables, and Ruby did the same. "Hogwarts, as I'm sure they told you, is a school where young witches and wizards learn their magic." He paused, and saw Ruby nod. "Well, at one point, a young wizard named Tom Riddle came to study at Hogwarts. He was put into Slytherin house. Slytherin house is famous for turning out dark wizards."
"Explains why Snape was such a bastard," Ruby muttered.
Jacques smiled. "I know Snape. He's a bit of a jerk, but he's got a soft spot for Dumbledore. He's gotten Snape out of a few sticky situations. Anyway, back to Riddle. He happened to be the heir of Salazar Slytherin, the founder of Slytherin house. Slytherin felt that anyone with muggle--"
"Non magic people. They told me that."
"Right. Well, he felt that anyone with muggle blood in them should not be allowed to study at Hogwarts. That's why there are no muggle-borns in Slytherin. Funny thing about Riddle was, he was half-muggle. Anyway, he came to hate all muggles, especially his father, who left his mother after finding out she was a witch. He let out a Basilisk and ended up killing a girl. You might meet her in the bathrooms one day. They call her Moaning Myrtle. She thinks the world's against her. Always crying. Now, Tom Riddle is known as Lord Voldemort. Dumbledore's the only person's he's afraid of. And Harry Potter's the only one who Voldemort wasn't able to defeat. His mother died for him, and it created a shield for her son. When Voldemort tried to use the killing curse on the boy, it bounced off him."
"So... now what's happened? I feel like there's major evil hanging around the area. Especially in those woods."
"The Forbidden Forest. It's possible he's hiding there. Voldemort's risen again." Jacques paused and looked around the Great Hall, then back at Ruby. "Dumbledore's old, and all the students wouldn't know what to do. Even if they all combined their powers, they may not defeat him this time."
"So? I'm only here for the night. I've got to stop the First."
"Yeah, but..." Jacques sighed. "What if the First is using Voldemort? Ruby, they may want you to stick around to fight Voldemort. They'll need all the help they can get, and you're very strong."
"Yeah, but I'm no witch."
"I know, but you're the Slayer. You're strong. You could help them."
"If you're suggesting that I help them fight, you're crazy!"
"Maybe not. Slayers have been known to fare well against witches and wizards in fights."
Ruby sighed. "This won't be your ordinary dance with the devil in the pale moonlight."
*******
Remus stared at Giles in disbelief. "Surely she knows another way to save everyone. What about her Watcher? I'm sure she didn't push him away!"
"No, she didn't. And, he died because of it."
"What?"
Giles put his glasses back on. "She loved her Watcher. In a way that she shouldn't have. He was young (about seven years older than she) and handsome. And he returned those feelings. The Council found this to be inappropriate. The night that the Council tried to take him away from her, another group of radicals attacked her. She ended up killing all but one."
"What happened to Ruby?"
"She was injured badly. She was shot a few times, and she was in shock. She thought she'd become a killer for life, like Faith. You see, when she and Faith had killed vampires together in New Jersey, Faith said that Ruby would come to like Slaying. That she would like the kill. Ruby's greatest fear was becoming like Faith. Well, she learned that Faith had killed a man in Sunnydale, and thought she was going to become like her."
"Did-- did she-- like-- killing those people?"
"No, but just the fact that she had killed was enough for her to think that she would."
"So... what happened?"
"Well, she went to her Watcher. She needed to heal, and he would take care of her. The problem was, the Council was already there with her Watcher. When she entered the room, the Council told her she was to be executed. The one that got away had told them what she had done. They aimed their guns at her; she just stood there, bleeding and crying, in shock. But, instead of being shot and killed, her Watcher jumped in front of her, saving her. He told her to run, which she did. She ran to the nearest hospital, where she was treated. The Council did not bother to touch her there. Caleb took that chance to blow them up. The only reason she still protects them is because they no longer exist. Ruby fights for the people now, not an organization that was blown up because some Radicals caused the Slayer that was keeping them safe to go into shock while a minion of the First was lurking around."
"They killed her Watcher... they tried to kill her..." Remus closed his eyes. "How could they do something like that?"
He opened his eyes and looked at Giles. Giles looked at him sympathetically. He knew who Remus was thinking of. Cecile.
"Remus, Cecile would never do something like that. She would have fought for Ruby. But, she couldn't. She was in South America at the time."
Remus sighed. "So... what do I do now? She needs someone to look after her. And Cecile-- she told me it wasn't my time for a Slayer yet."
Giles took his glasses off again. "She's right. But, someone will look after her. He won't be your first choice, and he's NOT anywhere on Ruby's list, but he'll do for the time."
"You're talking about Severus, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"The world is doomed."
"That's my line," Giles said, a slight smile on his face.
**********
Ruby sighed. "I think I should be getting some sleep."
Jacques nodded as she yawned. "I think that would be wise."
"Can you get back to Boston?"
"I don't think so. At least, not tonight. Besides," here he smiled at her, "I've missed you so much, I don't think I'd want to leave anyway."
Ruby smiled back at Jacques. Even though he was two years younger than she, he was cute for a fifteen year old. And she knew that he did have a slight crush on her. "You can share my room with me."
"I'll sleep on the floor."
"No, you can share the bed with me. It's a queen size."
Jacques blushed and agreed to share the bed with her.
As they made their way back to Ruby's room, they noticed the portraits bowing at Jacques and muttering their welcomes. Jacques nodded to them, and thanked them for their welcomes.
"You're pretty popular."
"They sense all my magic. They also know about my being the Gatekeeper, and respect that."
Ruby nodded. "Makes sense." They stopped at a door. "This is my room."
Jacques opened the door for her. Ruby smiled. "Also the perfect gentleman, are we?"
"Only for you."
"Hey, stop that. We don't want to make the Slayer blush now, do we?"
Jacques continued to smile at her. "Sure."
This caused Ruby to blush. Jacques was cute, sure, but he wasn't Alexander. She suddenly became very upset thinking about her previous Watcher.
Jacques saw this and become concerned. "Is everything okay?"
Ruby shot him a glance that told him she didn't want to talk about it, then smiled. "Peachy keen."
She walked into the room, and plopped down on one side of the bed. Jacques took off his shoes and laid down on the other side of the bed.
******
Meanwhile, in Oz's dreamland, he and Willow were sitting under a starry sky, sharing a picnic dinner of pizza and soda. They were no longer at the ball, and both were in casual clothes. Willow was taking a bite out of the extra cheese pizza, and had just gotten sauce all over her chin. Willow moved to wipe it away with a napkin, but Oz licked it off her instead. She giggled and allowed him to kiss her just as a shooting star passed above them.
******
Jacques woke up to soft singing.
"I'm judge and I'm jury and I'm executioner too"
Ruby hummed the rest of the song as she slept. He wondered if she was singing herself to sleep, seeing as she had been tossing and turning a few times, or if she sang in her sleep. Either way, he wondered why she was singing Metallica's "Dirty Window" and not something... lighter.
He touched her face ever so softly and whispered in her ear, "You're not a killer, Ruby. You never were, and you never will be."
He was not sure, but he thought he heard her begin to sing a lighter song.
******
Remus sighed. "Ruby and Severus won't like this one bit."
Giles nodded. "They will learn to deal with it."
"I'm more worried about them trying to kill one another."
"Well, you have no need to worry. Severus and Ruby both know how to take care of themselves."
"Why can't I be her Watcher for now?"
"Because... you would become too attached. She would push you away. She's already pushed Severus away, so it would not affect Severus. You, on the other hand, would want to know about her past, and that's something she does not want to deal with at the moment, especially since the scars have not begun to fade-- literally, and figuratively. Severus could care less, and that's the attitude she wants right now." He looked at the wolf, who was shaking his head in frustration. "Look, when the time is right, you will be her Watcher."
Remus sighed. "And how will I know?"
Giles smiled, took the other man's chin in his hand, and kissed him.
******
Oz woke up the next morning with a smile on his face. He felt very relaxed, and even thought he smelled the strawberry perfume Willow always used to wear.
He looked at the chair across from his bed to find a set of robes laid out for him. They were plain black robes, but they were a complete set of clothes. Oz got out of his bed, and put them on. They felt like baggy clothes to him.
He sniffed the air, smelled pancakes, and let his nose lead him to the Great Hall.
******
When Remus woke up, he felt as if he had not gotten any sleep at all.
He wondered if his dreams had not been dreams. He wondered if he was somehow taken to another plane of existance that just felt like a dream. That would explain all the interesting facts he had learned from his dream.
Remus frowned, thinking once again of Cecile. Giles had said that she would never try to hurt Ruby, but Remus was not sure. They had all changed since their days in Hogwarts. He could not be sure where Cecile's loyalties lie. Did they lie in the Council, which she had tried to convince Remus to join? Or, were they with the Slayers, who were trapped in destinies they had never asked for?
Cecile had been born the daughter of two Watchers. She was sent to Hogwarts to learn the magic needed to help a Watcher protect the world and find potential slayers. She had been brought up to believe in the Council fully. Remus, on the other hand, had not been. Remus had asked Cecile questions about how the Council worked. As Cecile explained it to him, he wondered about the fairness of taking a girl away from her normal life to be alone in the fight against evil.
He wondered now if his thoughts from school had been the reason why he had been so eager for Ruby to stay the night at Hogwarts. He had hoped she could get some sense of a normal life, or at least what was normal for him.
As he tried to get out of his bed, Remus lost his sense of balance and fell on the cold floor, naked, as he always did.
******
Ruby woke up and rolled onto her other side. Jacques was sleeping peacefully next to her. She figured it was best not to wake him because of the time difference between Boston and... wherever across the Atlantic Ocean she was. No one had told her the exact location of Hogwarts. She put that on her grand list of things to ask about Hogwarts.
She stared at Jacques in silence for a few more minutes. His hair flopped into his eyes, but she did not move it. 'It makes him look so cute...'
Quietly, Ruby got out of the bed. She looked at a chair that had somehow appeared overnight. It had two sets of dress robes on it, both with pants. Ruby smiled as she thought of what Jacques would look like in a skirt, because if one had been there, she would have taken the pants meant for Jacques.
Ruby felt the need to get food and answers, so she moved out of the room just as quietly as she had gotten out of the bed, and walked to the Great Hall, where she assumed everyone would be.
*****
Remus shot up off his cold floor. 'This is not how I need my day to start...'
He looked down at the small table in his room to see that the robes he had discarded on the floor during the night had been cleaned and patched up. 'That must have annoyed the House Elves...'
Remus had just thrown on his boxers (blue with yellow crescent moons) when he heard a female voice singing as she walked past his door.
"A little less conversation,
A little more action, please
All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me
A little more bite
And a little less bark
A little less spite
And a little more spark"
Remus rushed out to find Ruby singing and dancing to a song he had never heard before.
"Ruby!"
She stopped and turned to him. "Remus! Where are going?"
"The Great Hall for breakfast."
"Damn. I didn't know it was that casual."
He looked down and blushed, just as Hermione Granger walked by, looking at him with wide eyes.
"P-p-professor?"
"Hey, kiddo. Going to the Great Hall?"
Hermione nodded, blushing as she stared more and more at Remus in boxers alone.
"Great. I got lost. I really wasn't paying attention to where I was going. Got lost in my singing. Lead the way!"
She pushed Hermione past Remus as he rushed back into his room to finish getting dressed. As he closed the door, he caught Ruby doing a strange dance. He would have to ask Ruby about that later.
******
Jacques slowly got up. The portraits were whispering and giggling to each other.
"The Slayer and the Gatekeeper? How cute!"
"I hear that."
The portraits giggled.
He noticed that Ruby was gone. "Where did Ruby go?"
"The Slayer?"
He nodded.
"She got dressed. We can only guess that she went to the Great Hall."
He nodded once more and got out of bed. He found the robes left out for him, and slowly put them on. The portraits continued to giggle at him.
"He's got a nice body," one whispered, and he promptly blushed.
******
Oz reached the Great Hall at the same time as Ruby and a girl with bushy brown hair.
"Looks like you've recovered," Oz told Ruby.
Ruby nodded. Then shivered. "There's something strange about this place."
The girl with bushy hair spoke up. "It's probably all the magical waves in the air."
Ruby's eyes settled on Snape. "Or maybe it's just Schnoz giving me the Evil Eye."
Oz cleared his throat. "So, who is she?"
"This is... um... what's your name?"
"Hermione Granger."
"There you go."
Oz smiled at Hermione. "Hi. I'm Oz. Daniel Osbourne, actually, but please call me Oz."
Ruby looked at Hermione. "I'm Ruby Fier."
"Are you teacher's apprentices?"
Oz shook his head and Ruby snorted. "No. I'm getting advice, and she's--"
"Not staying for long," Ruby finished for him.
Hermione blushed. "You mean, you and Professor Lupin aren't..." She trailed off, embarrassed to finish her question.
"Aren't what?"
"Well... d-dating?"
Ruby's eyes went wide. "Hell no!"
"I wish you wouldn't use that language around my students," a fully-dressed Remus said from behind her.
Ruby rolled her eyes at him. "You're not the boss of me."
"He didn't give you an order," Hermione said. "He just asked you not to cuss."
Ruby looked at Hermione. She was blushing, and looking down at her feet. She was very protective of Remus Lupin... She acted like Ruby when she told the Council off for Alexander's "unorthodox" training methods. She had thought that the virtual reality crypt was a really good idea. Especially since she could not get hurt.
Ruby smirked and leaned close to Hermione. "You have a crush on Remus, don't you?" she whispered.
Hermione became even redder, and let out a high-pitched "No!" She then rushed off to her table and sat between a boy with messy black hair and a boy with red hair that matched Hermione's face.
'Yup... that's a crush, that is.'
Ruby clapped her hands pleasantly. "So... grub?"
Jacques walked up to the group, and kissed Ruby on the cheek. "Good morning."
Ruby blinked at him. "What are you doing out of bed?"
"The portraits were whispering and giggling."
"Ah." Ruby looked at Remus and Oz. "This is Jacques Regnier. He's the Gatekeeper. He lives in Boston."
Remus lit up like a Christmas tree. "Really? The Gatekeeper?"
Jacques smiled. "Yes."
"Uh, I hate to interrupt, but I'm hungry," Oz announced.
Remus looked up and blinked. "Right. Sorry. You can sit at the staff table for now, I suppose. There's room enough."
Oz and Ruby walked toward the table. Ruby said over her shoulder, "Have fun drooling, Remus."
*****
Harry and Ron looked at Hermione. She had not said a word since she sat down, and they had bad-mouthed the teachers multiple times.
"Hermione, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," she finally squeaked out.
"Why are you blushing so much, then?"
"No reason!"
"No one blushes that much without a reason," Ron said.
"I'd rather not talk about it."
They looked at each other knowingly. Hermione had a crush.
"Who is he, 'Mione?"
"Yeah, tell us," Harry chimed.
"No!"
*****
Albus Dumbledore smiled at the Slayer and young werewolf. "I see Remus has found someone else to be fascinated over."
"Yeah, but Jacques will be leaving soon. I hope." Ruby sighed. "Do you know what could cause the ghost roads to drop someone off at the wrong location?"
"Disturbances in the air caused by magic, a spell that involves the dead..." Dumbledore paused and looked at Ruby. "Or, he could have simply been thinking of something other than his destination."
Ruby blushed slightly as she thought of the kiss he had given her.
Oz put some food on his plate and began eating.
Then, the owls arrived.
Dumbledore smiled at the confused looks on Ruby's and Oz's faces. "Mail. It's carried by owls."
They nodded, still looking slightly confused.
One owl landed in front of Dumbledore, and he looked at the envelope after he removed it from the owl's leg. "Most interesting."
"What?" Ruby asked, out of reflex more than curiosity.
"It's an owl from the surviving members of the Council."
++++++++++++
Well, WG wanted me to leave this as a cliff hanger, and I'm dying in my computer room, so I think I will end it here. Why does the air conditioner have to be broken?!?
Anyway, please tell me what you think. I'd really like to know.
Oh! And I don't own "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis.
And the dance Ruby was doing was the moon walk. Which I also don't own.
-Yoshi