Chapter 8

To Hogwarts…

Darkness cloaked the room that Buffy and Willow shared. Both young women lay in their beds, but neither was asleep. Buffy stared at the pitch-black ceiling, lost in her own thoughts. Willow dug her face into her pillow, as she herself tried to organise the jumble that was her mind. After a few minutes she whispered into the dark.

"Buffy?"

"Yeah?" came the disembodied reply.

Willow paused, breathing slowly.

"Are we doing the right thing here?"

Another pause.

"I don't know…"

Willow was not comforted by this answer.

"What if I…?" she started…

"You won't. Giles has faith in you. You can do it. You know you can."

The room fell quiet for a while.

"You think Harry really needs this guy?" asked Willow shakily.

Buffy nodded, and then realising Willow couldn't see her…

"I…I think so. I mean…he seems ok but deep down…and Remus…" she stopped to sigh, "We always want the ones we love back. You guys…you…" Buffy trailed off…not sure how to put the rest.

The silence crept back in the room again.

"You think Remus knows what he's doing?"

"I think so…" answered Buffy.

And again…silence. Then the question that neither could ignore.

"What if we…br-bring him back fr-…?"

"Willow…" Buffy sighed. She really didn't want to go there right now. "We'll have to see…"

Neither girl slept well that night.

By eleven o-clock the next morning, Willow was dressed and ready to go. She had awoken early and silently crept downstairs so as not to disturb the others. Remus and Mrs. Weasley were the only two in the kitchen, and neither was sure about what Dumbledore might want. Willow had only ever heard of this great wizard a few times before from Giles, when they had both been in England. Now was her chance to finally meet him. After breakfast, and much anxious pacing in the hallway, Snape arrived promptly at eleven. He was dressed as he had been the night before, all in black.

"Good Morning Miss Rosenberg…" he greeted her with another stare and Willow merely nodded to him. She bid Remus and Mrs. Weasley farewell before following Snape out into the warm sunshine. Willow had only spent a brief period of time in England the previous year, and so took some time to examine her surroundings. OK – so they weren't in the centre of London where she could see all the wonderful sights, but this was still a whole new world to her. There didn't seem to be many people around on the streets near Grimmauld Place, and Snape remained stonily silent as he stalked along the narrow alleys. Willow had to walk quickly to keep up with him. After a few minutes, they arrived at a wide deserted alley, he stopped and looked around. Willow looked too. There was nobody about. The whole place was abandoned. A few metres away, the rumbling of London traffic could be heard. Snape glanced at Willow.

"Stand back…" he said, pulling his wand out of his pocket. She did as commanded and watched as he shifted it in his hand…then suddenly…he stuck it out in mid-air. There was a large BANG. A gigantic purple bus had appeared out of nowhere at the end of the alley and was rolling their way. It came to a halt where they were standing…

"Welcome to the Knight Bus…" a voice began…

Snape stepped on board pushing the conductor aside. Willow offered the pimply looking man an apologetic smile. He glared at her as she boarded, and so she trembled on past him to find a seat. Inside, she stopped and looked around in wonder. This wasn't a bus! It was like a furniture shop! An assortment of chairs lay scattered around the bus, and Willow saw Professor Snape sit himself down on a garden seat as delicately as possible. He looked repulsed at his surroundings, and had a face like he was chewing on a wasp. The conductor took some silver coins off Snape before asking for their destination,

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…"

After about half an hour of death defying twists and turns, Willow was feeling extremely nauseous. She had seen all kinds of people stumble down the stairs of the three-story bus and practically fall outside upon arriving at the place they wanted to be; each looking very peaky and most thankful to be getting off. The Knight Bus eventually rolled up and stopped with another BANG outside a set of gates. Snape stood up and looked meaningfully at Willow, and they both left the bus, receiving lingering and final glowers from the conductor. BANG! And the bus was gone.

Willow looked up at the amazing castle she could see before her. It was huge. It was bigger than huge. It was gigantic! Turrets rose into the sky, and windows twinkled in the sun like eyes winking at her. This was Harry's school?! It was possibly one of the most beautiful buildings she had ever seen. Snape had set off up the track towards the building. She ran to catch up to where he was.

Once they finally arrived at the huge oak doors that were the main entrance to Hogwarts, Snape turned to address Willow.

"The school is empty apart from the staff…please refrain from touching anything…"

"You work here?" she asked incredulously, still gaping upwards at the massive stone castle. Snape's lip curled into a sort of grimace.

"I do." He replied.

"How do you keep it hidden...?"

"It is unplottable...only magical folk will see it as it truly is."

Snape pushed the doors, which despite looking reasonably heavy, opened easily for the potions master. Willow looked into the entrance hall and gasped. She had expected something as grand as this, but it still took her breath away. Four empty hourglasses stood in the hall, and doorways framed either side of the foyer. She wondered how the children found their way around…if this was only the entrance hall…

Snape walked up a grand set of staircases directly in front of them and headed off to the right. Willow followed. They arrived at the bottom of another staircase. Looking upwards, she saw that there were possibly hundreds of staircases. The whole stairwell was surrounded with portraits, and what shocked her most was that they moved! She could see some maidens in a field frolicking in a meadow. A woman with a baby eyed her beadily as she climbed. Unexpectedly, she was suddenly thrown to the right and gave out a sharp shriek as the staircase she and Snape were on moved around to a totally new direction. Regaining her balance she gawped around her, her brain having trouble taking this all in. Portraits continued to watch the pair of them, and just as Willow was examining one displaying a couple snuggling up to each other, Snape gave a loud cough and she rushed on through a door and along a corridor. They came to a stop at a large stone gargoyle. Snape paused for a moment and sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he racked his brain.

"Sugar Quill." He spoke eventually, and to Willow's surprise, the gargoyle suddenly sprang to life. Snape stepped through a gap in the wall to the foot of a spiral staircase and motioned for her to follow. As she did so, the staircase began to move slowly upward like a very weird escalator, until they were outside a broad oak door with a gleaming brass knocker. Snape knocked once before leading Willow into Dumbledore's office…