Disclaimer: Now why on Earth, would I want to own any of this? Who needs to be ridiculously wealthy, when I'm a prospering high school student? Personally, I feel bad for Joss and J.K., having all that money, and not knowing what to do with it? The stress. I'm glad to be without it. Seriously.
A/N- I hope no one minds, but this is where I start to make up spells. So go along with whatever I say, it's less painful. It's get even more cliché, I fear I'm making a parody without even acknowledging it myself. Prophecies, prophecies…
TO MY REVIEWERS:
Herald-Mage Brianna- Don't worry, Giles being an old Hogwarts student wasn't even an option. In fact, you probably shouldn't have mentioned it, cuz now its in my head. But I'm still not doing it.
Malli- Don't ask me, I don't know why I got two reviews. I'm taking it as a good thing, send as many as you like! And I realized that I have sometime to figure out where Cordy comes into play, the gang still has like six weeks of summer, and she is still away.
Imp17- Good guess.
And on the contrary- You're too smart for your own good.
Tanydwr- Soul mate theorist? That's sounds vaguely like a religious belief, therefore, not my area. I'm going to say more of a magical bond if anything.
Silver Warrior- Don't worry about the questions of Buffy and Draco, things will sort themselves out. I liked the entrance myself.
Odevine1- Who doesn't like Oz? There will be Willow action, but it won't be till later, both need to do some things on their own before I let them make with the cuddles.
Saber's wings- More you ask? Who am I to deny? Enjoy.
Chapter 6
Giles looked at seven children spread around the Rosenberg's living room. Each looked up to him with wide eyes, though four seemed more confused than excited. Giles himself was confused, there were three redheads, two with raven hair, and another two with brown locks. He was fairly certain that when he left there had only been one of each. So in true Giles' form, he removed his glasses and began to polish them.
"Giles!" Willow squeaked, jumping off the converted couch. She threw her arms around the librarian, who returned it uncomfortably, "You're back! How was New Mexico? Any Buffy?" Willow prodded hopefully.
Giles smiled sadly, "Unfortunately not, Roswell was, how you would say, a bust. Not even a little alien running about," Willow giggled at the joke. "Who are your friends?" The watcher inquired, nodding to the group.
"Oh!" Willow exclaimed, realizing they weren't the only two in the room, "These are our new friends, Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione," she explained, pointing out each as she said the names. They nodded in return.
"Ginny and Ron are Oz's siblings," Xander added, a humorous gleam in his eye. His statement had it's intended effect on Giles, as the man's mouth hung open. "He does the most amazing impressions of fish," Xander told the others. Giles snapped his mouth shut.
"Would someone mind explaining? Other than Xander that is," Giles responded, deflating Xander at the same time. Hermione, being the ever helpful girl that she is, opted to do the informing.
"Well in all actuality, it was rather like a big coincidence,' She started, the others bobbed their heads at her insight, "We met up by chance, and well, I'm not quite sure why we told each other everything…"
"Oh, Hermione, do get on with it," Ron whined, not giving a dam n how much of a coincidence everything was, and so he told her that. Hermione huffed at her friend, but continued her story.
Giles remained silent through the tale, with the occasional nod and further polishing of his bifocals. When Hermione concluded, he decided it was an excellent time to speak, "Well I must say I'm rather disappointed that I missed the whole fiasco, nevertheless, congratulations on the new relations, Oz," Oz gave a small smile to the watcher.
"If I may do so," Giles continued, "I would like to ask you four," he gestured to the newcomers, "for a favor. As you might know, my charge has gone missing. Well, run away actually, and it would be a great service to me if there was anyway you could help us find her?"
"We were planning on it anyway, Mr. Giles," Ron informed the man. "There are locator spells that can be done. It's mainly used to locate magical creatures, and as Buffy is a slayer, we should be able to find her without a problem. If you could just provide us with a map, it would take less than a minute."
"I've got a map, be right back" with that, Willow ran up to her room, only to return several seconds later. She spread what appeared to be a rather detailed map of the United States onto the sofa-sleeper where Ron and the rest sat.
"I tend to botch things up, so maybe it would be better if you did it, Mione," Ron said, nudging the map towards the bushy haired girl. She nodded in agreement, and withdrew her wand, and held it over the map.
"Acclaro Slayer," Hermione cried out, waving her wand a bit. Two glowing green dots appeared from the wand, and moved over the map, each settling on either coast. Hermione furrowed her brow, "I did it wrong? I never do it wrong? First the books, and now this! I hate Sunnydale!"
"As much as I have the same opinion of this town," Giles declared, "I'm relatively certain that you did the spell correctly," everyone in the room looked at him funny. "There are two slayers now," they all 'ahh-ed' at this, "so it would make sense that would have two markings."
"So which one's Buffy?" Oz asked the watcher. The same question seemed to be one all their minds.
"There's no way of knowing," Hermione answered him, with a touch of sadness. Giles didn't seem as discontented, in fact he seemed almost cheerful.
"Well, we'll just have to go to both then. Won't we?" it was more of a statement, than a question, and all there seemed to be happy with his decision. "Two of us will go to," he paused and looked at the map, "L.A., while the other goes to," another pause, "Boston." Harry was following Giles train of thought.
"One wizard, and one friend of Buffy to a pair," Harry spoke, glancing at Giles who nodded, "I'd like to go with you Mr. Giles, if you don't mind." The man smiled at the dark haired wizard.
"Funny you should say that, I was just about to ask you to accompany me to L.A.," Both men smiled. Willow cleared her throat from behind the group, and the turned to look at her.
"If it's okay with everyone, I'd like to go to Boston," she offered, mostly addressing Giles, who smiled back to her.
"I'll go with you, if you like," Ron suggested, eager to be somewhere other than the Hellmouth. He also was excited at the prospect of meeting a slayer, whether it was the one they were looking for, or not. Willow beamed at him.
"That'd be fantastic, maybe you could teach me some magic on the way there," Willow looked worried at her last comment. She turned to Giles, "How are we getting there?"
"We could use the Floo," Ron answered for the man, knowing that Giles and Harry could just drive to Los Angeles, "your fireplace is still hooked up, and there's a Floo port in Boston. After all, that is where the American Ministry is located. We could be there as soon as you're ready to go."
"I'm ready," Willow said excitedly, she looked to the watcher beside her, "Can I go? The sooner we leave, the sooner Buffy's home. Can we go now Giles?"
"Actually Willow," The watcher responded, "I was hoping to get a few things in order before we left. Even if you and I aren't going to the same place, I still want us to set out at the same time. Also, neither you or Ron have ever been to the Boston area. Needless to say, I would feel a lot better about the trip if you did some research about it. Like the subway system for instance, it's probably the most efficient way to get around in those parts."
Willow nodded, a little put off that thy couldn't leave straight away, but understanding nonetheless. "Ron, come on, we should search the Net for the amount of demon activity Boston gets." Giles smiled at his protégés comment, proud that she would know enough to look for such things without being told.
"The net?" Ron asked, confused. Willow nearly had a heart attack.
"Oh, my dear Ron, you have so much to learn. So, so much," with that Willow took him by the hand and led then upstairs. Hermione was on the couch, in a state of giggles, that is until she caught Xander's eye and they both blushed a deep red. Xander moved closer to the girl, and they started a timid conversation, exchanging anecdotes about their lives and friends.
Oz and Ginny say on the couch as well, neither taking much of an initiative to involve themselves in the current topics. Ginny knew that with Willow leaving for Boston in the upcoming days, she would have more of a chance to spend time with her Brother. She liked Oz's girlfriend just fine, but it would be extremely difficult to get anytime alone with the werewolf if Willow was always around. She started to think back to her dream from that night, which led her to think about her and Oz's new found gift. 'It would probably be best for us to bring that up now…' Ginny mused.
'But we didn't even have any fun yet,' Oz turned to his sister, giving her a sad face. His puppy-dog face wasn't quite up to par, and Ginny went into a fit of laughter, reminiscent to the way she was earlier that morning. The guffawing grasped the attention of the four others still remaining in the room.
"I'm beginning to worry that Oz is getting funnier than me," Xander confided to Hermione in a mock-whisper. She rolled her eyes at the boy.
"Funnier than I," she corrected, and he stuck his tongue at her, "and I doubt anyone could be funnier than you, Xander." He beamed, forgetting his temporarily bruised ego. "Anyways, he does raise a valid point, what's so amusing?"
Ginny and Oz gave identical, and somewhat chilling, smirks, "Nothing at all," they replied in unison. Hermione gaped at them, while Xander expected them to laugh because they said the same thing. They didn't, they only kept that same smile on their lips, as Oz began to speak once more.
"I'm sorry, you have to forgive us," he started.
"We only just realized last night that we could hear each others thoughts," Ginny continued.
"So we decided to have…"
"A bit of fun." the female twin concluded, each shrugging their shoulders, smile intact. Giles and Harry had been listening to the conversation, and both were trying their best to hide their shock. Amusement hinted in their eyes, and strong intrigue as well.
"I know we've all said this several times," Harry said, looking at the others, "But I think things are about to get a lot more interesting." Ginny smiled at him, remembering what he was talking about.
"More than you bargained for Harry?" she questioned the dark haired wizard. He shook his head.
"No, not even a little," he chuckled, then explained, "No one's tried to kill me. Yet. I'm not the center of attention. For now. In all honesty I would have been less surprised if Oz had turned out to be MY brother."
"Kind of odd when the world's not revolving around you, isn't Har?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, but it's also very enjoyable."
~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~
Three days had passed since the wizards' arrival in Sunnydale, making it two since Giles' return. Over those days the seven teen and librarian went into research mode. The Hogwarts crew were already used to this sort of thing, having to do reconnaissance during many of Harry's past adventures. Willow and Ron were still learning all they could about Boston and it's sub-cities. Giles and the others resigned themselves to figure out the gift that Ginny and Oz now had. Hermione, as always, proved to be quite adept, finding a reference to Celeres Geminus, or the Noble Twins, in one of Giles many tomes.
"It says that the Noble pair will arise, the balance between them will prove to be a great power to them. One will be their link to Mother Earth, and all her children, the animals. While the other will be the link to human civilization. They are to be opposites, and equivalents. They are destined to stand by the Rulers of the 'Occisors.' The Roman Celeres, were apparently the bodyguards to the King and his family. I can only imagine this is the same case," Hermione finished.
"Occisors?" Giles asked to no one in particular, "that means Slayer, does it not?"
Hermione nodded, "Yes it does, but it also means murderer. I'm not sure if the Celeres were meant to be the instruments of good, or evil."
"I vote good," Oz said from his seat on the floor at Giles' apartment. "If we get to choose, I think I'm gonna go for good." Ginny nodded her head, her eyes wide with worry.
"We all vote good, Oz" Giles replied, a soft smile on his lips. "Prophecy, or not, you two could never be evil. In any event, I still feel that this pertains to the Slayer, Buffy has already held a prophecy to her name, why not another?"
"If we're going to base things on that alone, then the prophecy is about me as well," Harry said, adding, "we shouldn't jump to any conclusions." They all agreed, and continued their now refined search. Only two of the books were at all helpful, the first where Hermione had found the Celeres Prophecy, and the one Xander now held. It was, in fact, a more vivid account of the foretelling, written by the Seer himself. Xander read the passage of Nikolas Filipedes aloud to the group.
"After the deposing of Sinister beings, by the Prevailing Wizard. The Lady of the Day will meet the Holder of the Moon. Together brother and sister, beast and divine, shall close the Jaws of Torment, and combat along side the Assassins of the Dark. Armed with foresight, conjuring, and might, these four bonded will protect the Human and Natural worlds. The Noble Ones will forever triumph," Xander sucked in a breath as he concluded, his face flushed from talking so much.
The space was still, allowing the words to settle in before moving on with the discussion. Ginny looked fairly worried, biting on her lower lip and wringing her hands. Hermione was equally troubled, looking from one twin to the other, as if she was contemplating an Athrimancy problem. Giles and Xander were clearly distressed by the news, while Oz was just as stoic as ever. Harry however, was pissed like all hell.
"That's the prophecy?" he questioned in an outraged voice. "No cautions of death? No consequences? That is the least deadly divination I have ever heard. Why the hell did I get screwed with the 'Kill or be killed?'" He was like a drunk at last call.
"Harry," Ginny started, hoping to smooth things, "every prophecy is different, some are completely insignificant, others hold the fate of the world. Yours was special, you were destined to destroy one of the darkest wizards our world has ever seen. Oz and I seem to have something rather important as well, something that we'll need your help with. Let's not go around deciding who got the worst deal of prophet yet."
"Yea, Buffy isn't even here to compare notes," Xander quipped, relieved that some of the tension had left the room. While they all smiled as his funny, Ron and Willow decided to make their appearance, walking right into Giles home without knocked. Each bearing a huge grin.
"Good news," Ron stated taking a seat at the couch next to Hermione and Xander, "We're finished. After spending far too many hours on that vile mechanism, Willow and I know everything there is about Boston, Massachusetts." Willow nodded her head in agreement, though she was upset that he had insulted her computer.
"Everything?" Giles questioned, with a disbelieving tone. "How would one get from Quincy to Commonwealth Avenue, using public transportation?" Asked Giles, having spent a couple of summer's in the city during his twenties.
"Easy," Willow tucked her hair behind her ears, "Hop on the train from Quincy Center Station, which you can get to by any of the buses in the area. From their take the Red line to Park Street, switch over to the Green line. Take any trolley there to Copley, and walk two streets over. Satisfied?" Willow solicited with a smirk.
"Not yet, where's the best place to get drink in Boston?"
Ron decided it was his turn to answer, after all, this was his specialty, "Several choices. If you're looking for something with a tad of class, you could always try El Panino, but it may be hard to get into. My favorites, from what I've read, would have to be Clark's of Faneuil Hall, or J.J. Foley's in the South End. Those are the true Boston bars."
Giles was highly impressed, not only could they find their way around the city, they also knew all the best places to be. But he had one more test, "Why not Cheers? It had its own Television program."
"Overrated," Willow said, "and the best way to enjoy Boston, is to avoid tourists at all costs."
"You're quite right, I went there once with a few of my chums," Giles stated, shaking his head, "it was ghastly." Giles grimaced, clearly not fond of the Boston pub. Shaking his head once more to clear his mind from unwanted memories. "Well the two of you are clearly prepared, so I can't see any reason for prolonging this trip any further. We'll leave tomorrow, if that's alright with everyone?"
"Fine by me," Harry replied, Willow and Ron saying things along the same line.
"So how `bout you guys?" Willow asked, looking around the room, "Come up with anything useful?" The others avoided her gaze, none really wanting the honors to tell Willow about her boyfriends new destiny. Ginny outright refused to be the one to break the news once more, she was sick of speeches. Harry and Hermione didn't feel it their place, while Ron had no idea what they were all on about. Giles, being the eldest and most frequent bearer of bad news, took it upon himself. Gathering up the book Xander had read from, he handed it to the Wiccan. Confused at having a large leather tome in her hands, Willow began to read the marked section.
Willows eyes ran over the page, soaking it all up, slowly a smile began to twitch at her mouth. By the time she was finished, she was out-and-out beaming, "This is fantastic," she exclaimed, which earned Willow several of bewildered looks. "Well you do know what it means, right?" Silence. "Oh come on! Fine, I'll translate. The Sinister being is Voldemort, Harry is the Prevailing Wizard. Oz would be the Holder of the Moon, and Ginny the Lady of the Day. The two of them will shut down the Hellmouth, and fight alongside Buffy and however the other Slayer is. Giles, you've disappointed me. You too Hermione, why was this hard?"
"Well we had only just found it before you and Ron showed up," Harry defended, though somewhat half-heartedly, as he agreed that they should have figured it out. Willow raised an eyebrow in question, but said nothing else.
"Oh, sod all this, we're going to Boston!" Ron hooted, pumping his fist a bit. The rest of the gang broke into laughter at the redheads childish antics. To Boston indeed….
A/N- I hope no one minds, but this is where I start to make up spells. So go along with whatever I say, it's less painful. It's get even more cliché, I fear I'm making a parody without even acknowledging it myself. Prophecies, prophecies…
TO MY REVIEWERS:
Herald-Mage Brianna- Don't worry, Giles being an old Hogwarts student wasn't even an option. In fact, you probably shouldn't have mentioned it, cuz now its in my head. But I'm still not doing it.
Malli- Don't ask me, I don't know why I got two reviews. I'm taking it as a good thing, send as many as you like! And I realized that I have sometime to figure out where Cordy comes into play, the gang still has like six weeks of summer, and she is still away.
Imp17- Good guess.
And on the contrary- You're too smart for your own good.
Tanydwr- Soul mate theorist? That's sounds vaguely like a religious belief, therefore, not my area. I'm going to say more of a magical bond if anything.
Silver Warrior- Don't worry about the questions of Buffy and Draco, things will sort themselves out. I liked the entrance myself.
Odevine1- Who doesn't like Oz? There will be Willow action, but it won't be till later, both need to do some things on their own before I let them make with the cuddles.
Saber's wings- More you ask? Who am I to deny? Enjoy.
Chapter 6
Giles looked at seven children spread around the Rosenberg's living room. Each looked up to him with wide eyes, though four seemed more confused than excited. Giles himself was confused, there were three redheads, two with raven hair, and another two with brown locks. He was fairly certain that when he left there had only been one of each. So in true Giles' form, he removed his glasses and began to polish them.
"Giles!" Willow squeaked, jumping off the converted couch. She threw her arms around the librarian, who returned it uncomfortably, "You're back! How was New Mexico? Any Buffy?" Willow prodded hopefully.
Giles smiled sadly, "Unfortunately not, Roswell was, how you would say, a bust. Not even a little alien running about," Willow giggled at the joke. "Who are your friends?" The watcher inquired, nodding to the group.
"Oh!" Willow exclaimed, realizing they weren't the only two in the room, "These are our new friends, Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione," she explained, pointing out each as she said the names. They nodded in return.
"Ginny and Ron are Oz's siblings," Xander added, a humorous gleam in his eye. His statement had it's intended effect on Giles, as the man's mouth hung open. "He does the most amazing impressions of fish," Xander told the others. Giles snapped his mouth shut.
"Would someone mind explaining? Other than Xander that is," Giles responded, deflating Xander at the same time. Hermione, being the ever helpful girl that she is, opted to do the informing.
"Well in all actuality, it was rather like a big coincidence,' She started, the others bobbed their heads at her insight, "We met up by chance, and well, I'm not quite sure why we told each other everything…"
"Oh, Hermione, do get on with it," Ron whined, not giving a dam n how much of a coincidence everything was, and so he told her that. Hermione huffed at her friend, but continued her story.
Giles remained silent through the tale, with the occasional nod and further polishing of his bifocals. When Hermione concluded, he decided it was an excellent time to speak, "Well I must say I'm rather disappointed that I missed the whole fiasco, nevertheless, congratulations on the new relations, Oz," Oz gave a small smile to the watcher.
"If I may do so," Giles continued, "I would like to ask you four," he gestured to the newcomers, "for a favor. As you might know, my charge has gone missing. Well, run away actually, and it would be a great service to me if there was anyway you could help us find her?"
"We were planning on it anyway, Mr. Giles," Ron informed the man. "There are locator spells that can be done. It's mainly used to locate magical creatures, and as Buffy is a slayer, we should be able to find her without a problem. If you could just provide us with a map, it would take less than a minute."
"I've got a map, be right back" with that, Willow ran up to her room, only to return several seconds later. She spread what appeared to be a rather detailed map of the United States onto the sofa-sleeper where Ron and the rest sat.
"I tend to botch things up, so maybe it would be better if you did it, Mione," Ron said, nudging the map towards the bushy haired girl. She nodded in agreement, and withdrew her wand, and held it over the map.
"Acclaro Slayer," Hermione cried out, waving her wand a bit. Two glowing green dots appeared from the wand, and moved over the map, each settling on either coast. Hermione furrowed her brow, "I did it wrong? I never do it wrong? First the books, and now this! I hate Sunnydale!"
"As much as I have the same opinion of this town," Giles declared, "I'm relatively certain that you did the spell correctly," everyone in the room looked at him funny. "There are two slayers now," they all 'ahh-ed' at this, "so it would make sense that would have two markings."
"So which one's Buffy?" Oz asked the watcher. The same question seemed to be one all their minds.
"There's no way of knowing," Hermione answered him, with a touch of sadness. Giles didn't seem as discontented, in fact he seemed almost cheerful.
"Well, we'll just have to go to both then. Won't we?" it was more of a statement, than a question, and all there seemed to be happy with his decision. "Two of us will go to," he paused and looked at the map, "L.A., while the other goes to," another pause, "Boston." Harry was following Giles train of thought.
"One wizard, and one friend of Buffy to a pair," Harry spoke, glancing at Giles who nodded, "I'd like to go with you Mr. Giles, if you don't mind." The man smiled at the dark haired wizard.
"Funny you should say that, I was just about to ask you to accompany me to L.A.," Both men smiled. Willow cleared her throat from behind the group, and the turned to look at her.
"If it's okay with everyone, I'd like to go to Boston," she offered, mostly addressing Giles, who smiled back to her.
"I'll go with you, if you like," Ron suggested, eager to be somewhere other than the Hellmouth. He also was excited at the prospect of meeting a slayer, whether it was the one they were looking for, or not. Willow beamed at him.
"That'd be fantastic, maybe you could teach me some magic on the way there," Willow looked worried at her last comment. She turned to Giles, "How are we getting there?"
"We could use the Floo," Ron answered for the man, knowing that Giles and Harry could just drive to Los Angeles, "your fireplace is still hooked up, and there's a Floo port in Boston. After all, that is where the American Ministry is located. We could be there as soon as you're ready to go."
"I'm ready," Willow said excitedly, she looked to the watcher beside her, "Can I go? The sooner we leave, the sooner Buffy's home. Can we go now Giles?"
"Actually Willow," The watcher responded, "I was hoping to get a few things in order before we left. Even if you and I aren't going to the same place, I still want us to set out at the same time. Also, neither you or Ron have ever been to the Boston area. Needless to say, I would feel a lot better about the trip if you did some research about it. Like the subway system for instance, it's probably the most efficient way to get around in those parts."
Willow nodded, a little put off that thy couldn't leave straight away, but understanding nonetheless. "Ron, come on, we should search the Net for the amount of demon activity Boston gets." Giles smiled at his protégés comment, proud that she would know enough to look for such things without being told.
"The net?" Ron asked, confused. Willow nearly had a heart attack.
"Oh, my dear Ron, you have so much to learn. So, so much," with that Willow took him by the hand and led then upstairs. Hermione was on the couch, in a state of giggles, that is until she caught Xander's eye and they both blushed a deep red. Xander moved closer to the girl, and they started a timid conversation, exchanging anecdotes about their lives and friends.
Oz and Ginny say on the couch as well, neither taking much of an initiative to involve themselves in the current topics. Ginny knew that with Willow leaving for Boston in the upcoming days, she would have more of a chance to spend time with her Brother. She liked Oz's girlfriend just fine, but it would be extremely difficult to get anytime alone with the werewolf if Willow was always around. She started to think back to her dream from that night, which led her to think about her and Oz's new found gift. 'It would probably be best for us to bring that up now…' Ginny mused.
'But we didn't even have any fun yet,' Oz turned to his sister, giving her a sad face. His puppy-dog face wasn't quite up to par, and Ginny went into a fit of laughter, reminiscent to the way she was earlier that morning. The guffawing grasped the attention of the four others still remaining in the room.
"I'm beginning to worry that Oz is getting funnier than me," Xander confided to Hermione in a mock-whisper. She rolled her eyes at the boy.
"Funnier than I," she corrected, and he stuck his tongue at her, "and I doubt anyone could be funnier than you, Xander." He beamed, forgetting his temporarily bruised ego. "Anyways, he does raise a valid point, what's so amusing?"
Ginny and Oz gave identical, and somewhat chilling, smirks, "Nothing at all," they replied in unison. Hermione gaped at them, while Xander expected them to laugh because they said the same thing. They didn't, they only kept that same smile on their lips, as Oz began to speak once more.
"I'm sorry, you have to forgive us," he started.
"We only just realized last night that we could hear each others thoughts," Ginny continued.
"So we decided to have…"
"A bit of fun." the female twin concluded, each shrugging their shoulders, smile intact. Giles and Harry had been listening to the conversation, and both were trying their best to hide their shock. Amusement hinted in their eyes, and strong intrigue as well.
"I know we've all said this several times," Harry said, looking at the others, "But I think things are about to get a lot more interesting." Ginny smiled at him, remembering what he was talking about.
"More than you bargained for Harry?" she questioned the dark haired wizard. He shook his head.
"No, not even a little," he chuckled, then explained, "No one's tried to kill me. Yet. I'm not the center of attention. For now. In all honesty I would have been less surprised if Oz had turned out to be MY brother."
"Kind of odd when the world's not revolving around you, isn't Har?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, but it's also very enjoyable."
~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~
Three days had passed since the wizards' arrival in Sunnydale, making it two since Giles' return. Over those days the seven teen and librarian went into research mode. The Hogwarts crew were already used to this sort of thing, having to do reconnaissance during many of Harry's past adventures. Willow and Ron were still learning all they could about Boston and it's sub-cities. Giles and the others resigned themselves to figure out the gift that Ginny and Oz now had. Hermione, as always, proved to be quite adept, finding a reference to Celeres Geminus, or the Noble Twins, in one of Giles many tomes.
"It says that the Noble pair will arise, the balance between them will prove to be a great power to them. One will be their link to Mother Earth, and all her children, the animals. While the other will be the link to human civilization. They are to be opposites, and equivalents. They are destined to stand by the Rulers of the 'Occisors.' The Roman Celeres, were apparently the bodyguards to the King and his family. I can only imagine this is the same case," Hermione finished.
"Occisors?" Giles asked to no one in particular, "that means Slayer, does it not?"
Hermione nodded, "Yes it does, but it also means murderer. I'm not sure if the Celeres were meant to be the instruments of good, or evil."
"I vote good," Oz said from his seat on the floor at Giles' apartment. "If we get to choose, I think I'm gonna go for good." Ginny nodded her head, her eyes wide with worry.
"We all vote good, Oz" Giles replied, a soft smile on his lips. "Prophecy, or not, you two could never be evil. In any event, I still feel that this pertains to the Slayer, Buffy has already held a prophecy to her name, why not another?"
"If we're going to base things on that alone, then the prophecy is about me as well," Harry said, adding, "we shouldn't jump to any conclusions." They all agreed, and continued their now refined search. Only two of the books were at all helpful, the first where Hermione had found the Celeres Prophecy, and the one Xander now held. It was, in fact, a more vivid account of the foretelling, written by the Seer himself. Xander read the passage of Nikolas Filipedes aloud to the group.
"After the deposing of Sinister beings, by the Prevailing Wizard. The Lady of the Day will meet the Holder of the Moon. Together brother and sister, beast and divine, shall close the Jaws of Torment, and combat along side the Assassins of the Dark. Armed with foresight, conjuring, and might, these four bonded will protect the Human and Natural worlds. The Noble Ones will forever triumph," Xander sucked in a breath as he concluded, his face flushed from talking so much.
The space was still, allowing the words to settle in before moving on with the discussion. Ginny looked fairly worried, biting on her lower lip and wringing her hands. Hermione was equally troubled, looking from one twin to the other, as if she was contemplating an Athrimancy problem. Giles and Xander were clearly distressed by the news, while Oz was just as stoic as ever. Harry however, was pissed like all hell.
"That's the prophecy?" he questioned in an outraged voice. "No cautions of death? No consequences? That is the least deadly divination I have ever heard. Why the hell did I get screwed with the 'Kill or be killed?'" He was like a drunk at last call.
"Harry," Ginny started, hoping to smooth things, "every prophecy is different, some are completely insignificant, others hold the fate of the world. Yours was special, you were destined to destroy one of the darkest wizards our world has ever seen. Oz and I seem to have something rather important as well, something that we'll need your help with. Let's not go around deciding who got the worst deal of prophet yet."
"Yea, Buffy isn't even here to compare notes," Xander quipped, relieved that some of the tension had left the room. While they all smiled as his funny, Ron and Willow decided to make their appearance, walking right into Giles home without knocked. Each bearing a huge grin.
"Good news," Ron stated taking a seat at the couch next to Hermione and Xander, "We're finished. After spending far too many hours on that vile mechanism, Willow and I know everything there is about Boston, Massachusetts." Willow nodded her head in agreement, though she was upset that he had insulted her computer.
"Everything?" Giles questioned, with a disbelieving tone. "How would one get from Quincy to Commonwealth Avenue, using public transportation?" Asked Giles, having spent a couple of summer's in the city during his twenties.
"Easy," Willow tucked her hair behind her ears, "Hop on the train from Quincy Center Station, which you can get to by any of the buses in the area. From their take the Red line to Park Street, switch over to the Green line. Take any trolley there to Copley, and walk two streets over. Satisfied?" Willow solicited with a smirk.
"Not yet, where's the best place to get drink in Boston?"
Ron decided it was his turn to answer, after all, this was his specialty, "Several choices. If you're looking for something with a tad of class, you could always try El Panino, but it may be hard to get into. My favorites, from what I've read, would have to be Clark's of Faneuil Hall, or J.J. Foley's in the South End. Those are the true Boston bars."
Giles was highly impressed, not only could they find their way around the city, they also knew all the best places to be. But he had one more test, "Why not Cheers? It had its own Television program."
"Overrated," Willow said, "and the best way to enjoy Boston, is to avoid tourists at all costs."
"You're quite right, I went there once with a few of my chums," Giles stated, shaking his head, "it was ghastly." Giles grimaced, clearly not fond of the Boston pub. Shaking his head once more to clear his mind from unwanted memories. "Well the two of you are clearly prepared, so I can't see any reason for prolonging this trip any further. We'll leave tomorrow, if that's alright with everyone?"
"Fine by me," Harry replied, Willow and Ron saying things along the same line.
"So how `bout you guys?" Willow asked, looking around the room, "Come up with anything useful?" The others avoided her gaze, none really wanting the honors to tell Willow about her boyfriends new destiny. Ginny outright refused to be the one to break the news once more, she was sick of speeches. Harry and Hermione didn't feel it their place, while Ron had no idea what they were all on about. Giles, being the eldest and most frequent bearer of bad news, took it upon himself. Gathering up the book Xander had read from, he handed it to the Wiccan. Confused at having a large leather tome in her hands, Willow began to read the marked section.
Willows eyes ran over the page, soaking it all up, slowly a smile began to twitch at her mouth. By the time she was finished, she was out-and-out beaming, "This is fantastic," she exclaimed, which earned Willow several of bewildered looks. "Well you do know what it means, right?" Silence. "Oh come on! Fine, I'll translate. The Sinister being is Voldemort, Harry is the Prevailing Wizard. Oz would be the Holder of the Moon, and Ginny the Lady of the Day. The two of them will shut down the Hellmouth, and fight alongside Buffy and however the other Slayer is. Giles, you've disappointed me. You too Hermione, why was this hard?"
"Well we had only just found it before you and Ron showed up," Harry defended, though somewhat half-heartedly, as he agreed that they should have figured it out. Willow raised an eyebrow in question, but said nothing else.
"Oh, sod all this, we're going to Boston!" Ron hooted, pumping his fist a bit. The rest of the gang broke into laughter at the redheads childish antics. To Boston indeed….