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Title: The Middle of Nowhere

Spoilers: all four HP books, Buffy up to the end of season six, and my three fanfics Twins of Peace books one, two, and 'two and a half'.

Category: General, Supernatural, Action/Adventure, and Romance

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: All things Buffy belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and UPN. All things Charmed and Angel belong to the WB and their respective creators. All things HP belong to JK Rowling and the WB. Jonah, James, Lydia, and Cleo (whom you haven't met yet) belong to me.

Summary- Chapter Two:

Authors Note:

Chapter Two:

When the driver turned off the highway and into the woods my first thought was 'maybe this won't be so bad'. The forest surrounding the house was beautiful. The trees were different shades of red and gold and the leave scattered the ground. Before leaving San Francisco I'd stolen back my bow and arrow and I couldn't help grinning. This would be a perfect place to play around.

Lydia was sitting next to me in the back of the limo sulking as she'd done for the complete two-hour flight and the drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles. She'd come down stairs with a scowl this morning, hugged her parents good bye with a glare, and boarded the plane with a frown and tension cracking around her like a whip. She scared flight attendants. There was one who wouldn't serve her. Now she sat glaring at the bald spot on the back of the driver's head. I was surprised he hadn't felt her eyes yet; you didn't have to be psychic to see that she was angry (the driver was most defiantly human, I could tell).

Then there was James who was amusing himself by making flames jump around on his fingers. I swear this kid has some sort of demon hyper activity disorder. He came into his powers about a year ago and now you'll always see fire on his hands. He can't sit still without it. Anyway James faced the move with anger at first but then indifference. He'd said little during the trip, but at least he was acting like he was pissed at the world.

The car finally pulled up a long driveway made of loose gravel and stopped in front of the mansion. Piper Malfoy was hurrying down the front steps with two small tornados running around her ankles. I could only assume they were her youngest children, Remy and Kyle.

"Be pleasant," I muttered to Lydia out of the side of my mouth as Piper approached. She said nothing and her demeanor didn't change. "Hello Piper."

"Jonah!" She almost squealed, grabbing me in a hug. Piper grabbed each of us with the same enthusiasm, and stepped back to grin at us. "I'm so glad to see the three of you! Eric, have the maids bring in their bags. Come on!" she was already dragging us up the steps.

Our aunt is still young at thirty-six and most certainly acts it; her energy was engaging. Piper looked almost exactly the same as she had when I last saw her almost a year ago. As always she wore her long black hair pinned up in a loose and messy bun. She was dressed in clothes that showed her thin form, which according to mum, was much different than the way she used to dress about fifteen to thirty-two. Piper also seemed untouched by passing time. There were no gray streaks invading her hair and her face hadn't wrinkled where the usual laugh lines would be, though she was smiling and laughing all the time. She looked like her was in her mid twenties, not her late thirties. It was just one of the benefits of being half vampire. Piper didn't flaunt her youthfulness but I had to imagine that she was the envy of plenty of mothers who'd given birth to three children.

When we walked into the front hall of the mansion the two boys ran away up the stairs leaving us alone with Piper. She continued at a quick pace through the hall and into the back of the house. "Are you three hungry? Airline food hasn't improved much over the years." James and I nodded as we entered the kitchen (which, by the way, was humongous). Lydia seemed intent on staying silent.

"Help yourself," Piper continued. "You've got free reign of the mansion and the grounds. Basically as long as you stay out of trouble you can do anything."

"Sweet." Said James with a grin.

"Just stay out of Draco's office. He keeps all his nasty stuff in there." She proceeded to open a bag of Lays and start wolfing them down. Lydia still said nothing, but got up and poured her self a glass of water. "Of course there are some more serious aspects of your stay here, but I want to wait until Draco gets home to talk about any of those. He's in South America at the moment. After you guys eat you can explore a bit 'till dinner."

When she mentioned explore I looked out the expansive windows to the forest. "Are the woods yours?"

"Legally some parts belong to us, some parts to the state. It doesn't really matter. In my opinion they don't belong to anyone and anyone is free to roam them as long as they do them no harm." Piper shrugged pensively then seemed to shake the thoughts away. "But yes, outside we have the woods, the stables, and the barn. Inside really bares no attraction except for the library where you'll be most likely to find your Aunt Hermione or Uncle Remus."

"L-Library?" Lydia's voice was dry from hours of silence and the scowl that had been burned into her face made it hard for her to form the word. When I looked at her face had almost returned back to normal. "You have a library? Where?"

"It's on the third floor. I'll take you there." Piper set her bag of chips down the came down from the counter she'd been perched on. She looked to James and I. "If you boys do plan to explore, keep a lid on the supernatural happenings. Jonah keep your glamour up and James don't set things on fire. Some of the servants don't know, only the trusted ones do, but you'll learn more on that tonight." Lydia and Piper set out of the kitchen. Lydia didn't say anything else but at least she seemed happier.

"So going into the woods I assume?" James asked when the girls were gone. Like he hadn't heard Piper's last words he lit his fingers on fire.

"I don't know," I said honestly. "Maybe the stables; I remember the horses. You?"

"I want to burn something," He said grinning and looking very much like his father. "But I'll just walk around; get my bearings again. I've only been here once. I'll try not to incinerate anything."

"You do that." I said dryly, and walked out.

There were servants all over the property. Somehow they seemed more obvious than I remembered from the past. Most were gardeners, but some looked like maids. One or two also looked like nurses or patients, but they were closer to the hospital grounds than the mansion. As I moved towards the barn and stables the number of people dwindled to none. Then as I approached the stable door signs of life started again.

Cursing and music were highly audible even before I entered the stables. Surprisingly I didn't see anyone and the cursing soon stopped, but the music got louder. The walls were decorated with medals for riding, drawings of horses done by a small hand, and muggle pictures of a young girl standing next to various farm animals. Two of the medals bore the name Kyle Malfoy while the rest were divided between Lucien (the oldest brother who was at Hogwarts) and someone named Cleo Young. I decided that Cleo must've been the girl in the pictures.

"Uh...hi."

A small tentative voice spoke from behind me. It was the voice I'd heard cursing before, just softer now. I turned around to face a grown up version of the dark haired girl in the pictures. She was holding a shovel and had hay sticking out from random places in her hair, shirt, and pants. Where her hair wasn't covering her face I could see dark freckles dotting everywhere. Her skin was very tan, like she was of Arab descent. As the silence continued I searched and found the humanity in her aura, verifying that she wasn't vampire, witch, or anything else like that.

"Hello?" Cleo asked again. Her voice grew stronger but now she was playing with a piece of her hair.

"What are you doing here?" I blurted out. It sounded much harsher then I'd meant it to, and from the look on her face Cleo obviously thought so too. I started again, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

She just shrugged and put the blank look back on her face. "Are you Jonah or James?"

"Jonah Winthrop, Piper and Draco's nephew." I answered

"I'm Cleo, actually Cleopatra but I go by Cleo." She finished and saw my gaze gliding towards the shovel and the hay. "I work for the Malfoy's."

"You live here?" I raised an eyebrow. Even if she was my age she was probably to young to be a live on maid.

"N-no," when she shook her head hay flew everywhere. "I live with my aunt, down the road. I just come here afternoons to ride and give Kyle his lesson, and I muck out the stalls. You're from California aren't you?"

She'd changed subjects quickly, which left me wondering more about her. "Yes, Sunnydale and then San Francisco."

"Did you move from England?" Cleo asked, still sounding nervous. "You h-have the accent."

"Mum's from California, dad's from Britain."

The girl nodded and kept her eyes downcast until she spoke again. "I'm half Egyptian. My mom was from Egypt and my dad lived here. I lived there for a while but they both died when I was young. Now I'm here, though I think I'll always prefer home in Cairo."

"I'm sorry, so did mine. My parents are my adoptive one's." I said. "I'd also prefer to be home, but our parents sent us here on punishment. They want us away from the cities."

"Well they certainly picked a place with no cities." Cleo looked out the spacious windows to the woods. "But you're lucky to be here. Especially living in the house with Piper and Draco. For me they were like saviors."

"What did they save you from?" I asked, tryin to hold her eyes with mine. She still wouldn't look directly at me.

She sighed, "Oh a few things, some from which I-I still haven't been saved. But life has been better. I crept up here one day when I was ten, just to see the horses, and I've been here ever since." He face lit up when she mentioned horses. "Do you ride?"

"No, I'm an archer. My friend Lydia could probably be persuaded to pick up from where she left off when she quit lessons. She quit a few years ago; something about not liking the instructor when she moved to San Francisco."

"Will you be going to school in Cunberwood?" The question was innocent enough, but she'd switched subjects yet again. Her expressions had changed again, now she looked almost hopeful.

"Yeah, I'm starting Monday. I'm a junior." I said, groaning inwardly at starting at a new school again. The transition in California had been easy enough with all of the Halliwell kids running around, but here all I knew were Lydia and now the girl Cleo. And I didn't know the latter well enough to call her a friend yet.

"I'm a junior too," she suddenly looked shy again. "I could, uh, show you around if you want, in-introduce you to some people. Mostly my group. A-another girl just joined us, she's from San Francisco too. Maybe you know her, Chrissy Forman. She just moved here about a week ago with her dad. He's a banker of some sort; they want to make a new start."

I'd been glancing at the decorated wall while she spoke, trying to decide what I though about Cleo. My thoughts had been jumbled enough as she offered her shy hand of friendship, reminding me of old stories of my Aunt Willow. Then the name Forman hit home like one of Lydia's arrows. Forman's Insurance was the company who'd had bags filled with hemlock, and pendants. They were the ones who'd been able to keep our enchanted arrows. I didn't know anyone named Chrissy Forman but I was willing to bet that her 'banker' father had something to do with the corrupt insurance company. It could be coincidence that they'd moved here directly after our attack on their company. But it wasn't, and Cole and my dad would've laughed at me for even thinking so.

I managed a smile for Cleo, who was eyeing me and biting on her lower lip. "Thanks, I'd actually like that. I don't know Chrissy though, but maybe I'll recognize her when I meet her."

"You might have met her before, just not remember," Cleo offered. "She's the type that blends into a crowd very easily. Brown hair, brown eyes, five five. She's nice though, that stands out. You'll fit in with us though. O-our group is mostly the kids from out of state, out of the country...that sort of thing. Some of them are bit weird though, b-but it's g-good weird, not bad weird."

"Weird isn't a problem." I assured her, thinking of some of my very good demon friends I'd met in Sunnydale, and the ones I'd grown up with from the daycare at Angel Investigations.

She gave a small grin, the first I'd seen. It completely changed her face around, and for the better. Cleo had looked younger before, but smiling she looked the sixteen or seventeen she should be. The smile continued as she opened her mouth to say something else, but at that moment the barn door flew open and a small blond haired blur in riding gear came speeding in.

"I'm ready for my lesson! Hi Jonah!" My cousin Kyle yelled, attempting to drag Cleo back to the horses. The eight year old had strength like my sister's and was halfway succeeding. Cleo stopped struggling with him and gave me a slightly apologetic look.

"I'm sorry, I lost track of time. I'll, I'll be here tomorrow around now i-if you want to talk some more. I understand if you don't."

"No, I'll be here!" I said quickly. I did want to know her, so I'd come back.

"That's great!" she smiled once more. "Maybe I'll bring some of the gang. I'll introduce you." She then disappeared into one of the stalls.

I turned and headed out of the stables, listening to Kyle's yells mingle with the still playing music. Outside the sun had begun to set. I figured I must've been in there a good hour. Another hour and it would be time for dinner. I wanted to call Angel, Cole, and my father about the Forman's sudden moves. I realized that I didn't know for a fact that this girl's father was actually the owner of the Insurance Company, but a quick look on the computer would fix that. Then I'd talk to Piper and Draco, and convince them that things looked suspicious. The two of them could then help me convince everyone back home that Lydia and I weren't completely insane when we said something big was happening