Chrysalis


AN: This is my first story. Feedback is more then welcome. I am not extremely familiar with The Angel series or with the details of later BtVS episodes so I will be taking some creative license with things. It's a fan fiction accept it.

Pairing: Willow / Severus, others unknown yet

Rating: Earlier Chapters will most likely be around PG, but it will evolve into a higher rating so I'm going to start with that right off the bat.

Disclaimer: This piece of fiction was created for sheer fun, no profit is being gained from it. The non original characters contained within belong to their respective owners.
'thoughts'


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Chapter 5

'It is simple just swish and flick. Swish and flick and swish and flick! If it is so simple then how come I can't seem to get it right?' Willow was fuming. She was frustrated. She had been enjoying her lesson in wand magic. She wasn't quite sure why exactly someone would want to solely use a wand. It seemed kinda silly to her to rely on a point stick that could be broken, or lost, or dropped or forgotten or taken away or any various other kinds of things that would be bad and would leave a witch with out any protection.

They didn't even seem to focus on more physical forms of protection. Granted when did her school teach weaponry? Okay school for kids, but still teaching kids to rely heavily on wands was like teaching kids to rely heavily on calculators. Much badness happens and lazy dumb brain develops!
She found the whole thing interesting. A whole new world of learning to explore, but it was frustrating and daunting.
Transfiguration was difficult. She could do it really well . so long as she wasn't using a wand. Reach out with a tendril of magic(k) while it was being demonstrated and then get her magic to replicate what was being shown. Great, easy, simple! Get her to do it with a wand and that was where things started to go wrong.

She had managed to figure out how to transfigure a button into a pin and back again. The problem was she seemed to turn every button in the building into a pin and back again. They had to ward the room they were using for testing to try and contain the impact. The other people staying in the Hotel didn't seem to like the punk look. Apparently though for Spike the safety pins brought back fond memories of being a punk. Professor Mcgonagall kept telling her that all she had to do was control and focus herself. The problem was the longer they went on the more frustrated Willow found herself and the less focused her spells were.

History of Magic was okay. She didn't really have a broad base, well any base in the History of the Wizarding world, but her non wizarding prophecies and ability to interpret them was that of a student at the equivalent of their University system. Mcgonagall had suggested divination might be an interest of hers if she attended Hogwarts. Though the professor had suggested she take up that subject in a tone that was less then amused and more then skeptical. By the end of the conversation Willow made a point of warning the other woman that bad mouthing seers might not be the best of ideas around Angel. She was pretty sure that anyone bad mouthing something related to Cordelia wouldn't go down to well. She had heard stories from some of the others about the seer's out of body trip shortly before dying. She suspected Angel would still brood over it. She also suspected that it would be upsetting for him and the others to hear something like sight that had crippled Cordelia so much being talked about flippantly.

Herbology was patchy like the rest. Plants were usually ordered in to the Magic Box prepared so she had never needed to learn to identify many magical plants ahead of time. Some of the common plants she could manage just fine with. The sorts of plants though that the wizarding world kept under wraps and stopped from growing in muggle areas left Willow at a weakness.

She found it all rather odd. Wizard's and witches seem to keep themselves so isolated from the muggle world. Apparently muggle studies was an option at the school, but since she had the most experience living as a muggle than any of the other students she wasn't even being tested in that area. Though Professor Mcgonagall had warned her if she went with her father for a portion of the summer she might be quizzed by a man called Mr Weasley. Apparently this Mr Weasley grew up in the Wizarding world and was fascinated by muggle devices. Willow made a point to show him her computer if she met him.

Charms went much the same way. She could do them by replicating magically with her power with out a wand, but with the wand things started to go wrong. She had been assured that time and practice would fix that, but it was so hard to not just ignore the wand. It had been going well until now. And apparently she was being stared at. What has she done wrong now! "I know I am meant to be learning about the wand, but really it would have taken us hours to find every piece of charmed furniture and get it to stop moving. I think I spilled over the wards with that one and I just wanted to save us a little time." Willow flashed an unsure smile.

"Well since it seems we are done for now, run along for the moment and see me tomorrow when you've finished with Severus. I'll have put together some material for you to look at and learn from to start moving towards the level we expect from someone of your age. Willow grimaced, she really didn't want to go though this all again tomorrow she was feeling the drain of tapping into her magic to much to often from today. Maybe there was something to this wand thing if it didn't leave her feeling like her life's energy had slowly been siphoned out of her body. She couldn't afford to get drained. She was really going to get herself grounded again if she was going to have to continue testing tomorrow. She didn't think she'd tried to use that much magic for small things so often since she stopped drawing magic in to use on everything. Since she had her problems with it. Since she lost Tara. It still hurt.

Willow moved though the building slowly her body tired heading towards a small court yard near the centre of the hotel originally meant for guests to enjoy some privacy while out doors she suspected. When she had moved in it was over run with weeds and over growth slowly she began to manually and magically take care of the place creating a peaceful retreat in the middle of the city for her to escape and connect with nature. Aware of the nocturnal nature of her host when adding in new plants she tried to select those that flourished and were the most beautiful at night.

A few hours later Willow was stirred from her thoughts by a familiar aura moving towards her though the vegetation. No sound came out of the growth that could lead her to suspect her senses were telling her the truth, but this was a game that they had played before. "You may as well come out now. I know you are there" Willow waited a moment and was greeted with silence. "Fine Spike you can skulk behind a tree sneaking up in the shadows on girls like Angel or you can come out..."

"I am nothing like The Pouf! I do not sneak up on girls or brood in shadows!" Spike glared and pouted just a touch as he came out of the shadows behind a tree. "What's wrong Red you look drained"

Willow just gave him a small smile "I used to much magic(k) today. Apparently it's not as bad with the wand, but today I was using both and it got a bit much on me. I need to build up my energy reserves I'm meant to be meeting with the other Professor tomorrow to continue the testing." She paused "Spike? Do you think I'd be doing the right thing to go with them? To go back to England and go to this school with them?" Willow worried her lip looking up at him.

"Red, luv, don't you think this is a talk you should have with the Slayer? That responsible watcher friend of yours? What about that irritating best friend?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth and he saw her wince he realized she had tried to have this conversation with all three of them. All three had brushed her off being to absorbed in their own thing to realize that the little witch needed her friends. They had sent her here over six months ago to recover from the grief of losing her girl friend, in that entire time he had yet to see any of them visit her. They would call every few weeks to check in on her and they would always apologize and make promises to visit soon. As usual though it seems the quiet witch had been brushed off and passed over. She was an amazingly powerful witch, but at the same time she was very delicate and fragile. She was intelligent and strong, but she was a fragile little girl at times who wanted to be told things were okay. She needed her friends and they were gone.

Spike sighed hating to see the broken look in her eyes "Alright luv, you know I'm not good with the advice Red, but this is how I see things. You have a chance to learn something new that's never been anything you have ever ran away from before. You can always come back here, come back home if you hate it there. Plus you didn't get me a present the last time you were in England so you owe me something really good this time. I expect something really good and something that will annoy the Poof to no end." Spike wasn't sure when he went soft, but he blamed the Bit and Red for it.

Willow's giggled laughter filled the entire court yard and Spike breathed out a breath of relief. He didn't like seeing her eyes dead and drained she was fiery and she was meant to be vibrant. His relief was short lived because the laughter died and the little witch spoke up again "Spike? Can I tell you something? Something that I haven't told Buffy, or Giles, or Xander, or Angel? My magic isn't just white."

"What do you mean Red?"

"The darkness? It's inside of me too, it will always be inside me. I can feel it moving around me, moving through me. It is always there. There's the good, white magic, the neutral magic and then the darker magic all moving around me. I'm not one or the other instead I'm all three all at once. I'm scared Spike, what if I go there and I cannot control the darker side of me? What if I go Darth Willow for real on them?" Willow looked at Spike with wide worried eyes.

"Red you know how to control yourself how to balance yourself out. There is a Big Bad out there right? He's probably looking for you from what I hear. You think he's not going to want your darker side? This way you stand a chance of knowing how he might attack you of understanding him and more ways to defend yourself from him." Spike flopped down next to her.

Willow thought about what he was saying for a few minuets before smiling "Plus you have a vested interest in me going to make sure you get a good gift this time" Willow hugged the vampire tightly and whispered quietly "Don't worry I wont let them know what a good listener you are." She stood and left the vampire outside to think as she went to get some rest.

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Spike pounded on the doors in front of him loudly not caring if the people in the room were sleeping or not. Eventually the three doors were opened and he was greeted by a witch and two wizards. "Alright, the name is Spike and if you upset or hurt red in any way you all will personally get a demonstration of how I earned the change from William the Bloody to Spike." Spike stormed away his leather duster trailing behind him leaving a group of very confused wizard's.