For disclaimer, etc. see Chap 1.
Author's Rant: At the end of the Philosopher's Stone, did anyone else wonder why there were ways to get through everything? In the room with the fires and the potions, why give them potions and a scroll of help? Aren't they expecting that anyone who doesn't already know how to get through them to be evil? Don't they want to catch the evil person? Think about it.
Also, think about this: The Mirror or Erised only gave the Stone to anyone who didn't want the stone for themselves. If Harry had never gone, it would never have come out of the Mirror in the first place because Voldemort wanted it for himself. JK Rowling, think through your plots more carefully!
Author's Beta's Rant (idolsgirl's): In CoS, when Harry & Ron found the entrance to the Chamber, couldn't they have just gone to the staff? I mean, McGonagall was there, the logical thing to do would have been to go tell someone with more magical ability (Lockhart surely can't be considered as possessing any at all) rather than do some heroic/mad/stupid thing like going in there alone...
Author's Notes: Apologies for the rant. It just bugged me :P Also, I've figured out the problem about the italics. No more asterixes (or asteri)! Also, a cookie for the person who spots the sentence or two I borrow from one of the Harry Potter books! *grins*
Also, another apology. When I wrote the previous chapter, I put 'Detox' somewhere. I meant Botox! Very sorry.
When reviewing, please comment on whether you think that the characters are in character. It's my main aim for the moment.
***
That evening, the Headmaster met them again in his office to check on the effects of the age potion. The Scoobies were sprawled, leaned, or slumped on various chairs in the room. Dumbledore removed a gold pocket watch from his ropes and inspected it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. He seemed to understand it though, and perused it cheerfully while he informed them, "The draught I had Severus make up is very exact. You should shift back into your older bodies in, oh, 12 seconds... 11... 10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1!"
He looked them up and down expectantly, and frowned slightly when remained just the same. They exchange bewildered and slightly worried looks. The white-haired wizard went to the exquisite fireplace, tossing a small handful of some sort of powder in and calling, "Severus! It seems something has gone awry with the potion I wrote you a note asking for... The one to make our American guests grow young temporarily."
The gang jumped as a sallow head topped with greasy black hair appeared in the flames. It said, "Temporary? I am most certain the note said permanent. I have it here."
A hand flitted through the fire, letting a slip of parchment flutter to the ground. Dumbledore picked it up, and, unfolding it, sighed deeply. He turned to the young demon-fighters with grave eyes. "I am very regretful to tell you that the potion is irreversible. Some owl droppings on the memo I sent our Potions master, obliterating one of the words, which sadly made it tell him to brew a permanent concoction. I'm most sorry; this is not the first demonstration of Hogwarts magic I would like you to have seen. If there's anything I can do..."
The face in the fire twisted at the very idea that anything had been his fault in any way. BUffy took an instant dislike to it, writing on a mental sticky in her head: 'Watch out for Potions teachers: stern? Resentful?'
Remembering her manners, she cheerfully announced her own feelings on the mistake. "Actually, I'm not bothered at all. It gives me a few more years before wrinkles squiggle their way onto my face."
Willow and Xander chorused their agreement, and the benevolent Englishman looked greatly relieved. Dawn remarked, with a sly smile, "Yeah, Buff, but it's not like grey will be in your hair soon; at least, not as long as you keep dying your hair blonde."
The Slayer tugged Dawn's hair. "Hey!" She looked at Dumbledore anxiously. "It's natural, it really is. She just gets a kick out of telling people it isn't."
The Key snickered, but conceded the truth in her sister's words. Xander commented wistfully, "I remember Ahn used to change her hair colour at least once a week." He looked sharply at Dumbledore. "Speaking of which, don't ya think we should be sure-making that she'll lend us her little doo-dad? We didn't exactly break up on the best of terms."
Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, I suppose we ought to."
He fished about in his pockets for his wand, and taking it out, he traced a pattern on the floor with it. "Blessed be the name of D'Hoffryn. Let this space be now a gateway to the world of Arash Ma'har, where demons are spawned..."
Eventually his eyes misted, and he apparently heard something no one else could, because he respectfully incanted, "Great D'Hoffyrn, Lord of demons who act in the name of vengeances, hear my plea, and grant to me the presence of the demon Anyanka."
He listened to a reply, and inclined his head, a pleased smile on his face. "I am honoured by your attention. Thank you. Blessed be the name of D'Hoffryn."
He stepped away from the invisible design on the floor as it showed itself in watery lines of light. Everybody started as Anya popped into the room, a bright smile on her face. "How can I be of service? Anybody need an ex-boyfriend's feet curled around a pencil? A fork..."
She trailed off, her let-me-take-your-money-or-grant-your-wish smile replaced by a grumpy frown. "Oh. It's you lot. What do you want?"
Dumbledore said clearly, "I wish that you would lend us your amulet tomorrow at 9 am to use in a Know-It-All ritual for an hour."
Angry understanding flashed in Anya's eyes. "WHAT? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT IT DOES? NO WAY!" she exploded.
"You have to. It's one of the rules by which you have the amulet in the first place." Dumbledore reminded her simply.
Fury and resignation rampaged across her face. "Fine. Wish granted. Tomorrow at 9, for no longer than an hour."
She evaporated. Xander quipped, "Honey! I'm glad to see you've forgiven me for all that bad business a while back. Oh, and thanks for noticing the magical Detox."
Willow noticed a shadow pass across his face though, and conceded that he wasn't completely over Anya. Her helping when Willow was hyped up on magic gave him hope, which has not only been dashed, but run the whole marathon. Still, Xander was bouncy. He'd spring back, full of the bounce. It was Xander, after all.
***
That night, all of the Americans slept deep and long, and so were all heavy-eyed and drowsy when they drifted into the ritual room in the flowing dark blue robes they'd been told to wear. None had eaten, due to the necessity of fasting for the spell, and so were all cantankerous with hunger. Anya appeared promptly at five to nine and relinquished her pendant without too much resistance. Willow and Giles helped Dumbledore prepare it, while Buffy and Dawn chatted. Xander and Anya were left standing awkwardly. Xander filled in the silence, "So, uh.. you look good."
"Thank you. You look young. And also good. How are you doing?"
"Oh, great. Fabulous. Yep. Everything's rosy in Xan-land. I just have a few eensy-weensy worries about the spell. They don't tend to go well for me. Remember the demon magnet one? And the singing-demon one?"
He stopped, abashed that he'd brought up the point in time that their relationship really began to go bad. Anya's face had softened though. "Xander. I miss you. But this is who I am. A demon. A vengeance demon. A stint as a human can't change that."
She smiled at him. "But I don't kill them anymore. I used to twist even the littlest wishes- if someone wanted their boyfriend turned into a worm, I'd turn them into a giant man-eating worm. But now I just turn them into worms.
Xander couldn't help smiling, even through his disapproval about wormboys. "I've missed you, Ahn."
Her smile vanished. "My name is Anyanka."
With that, she turned away, and leaned against the wall as the ritual started.
"Saraswati, embodiment of knowledge, we call to you for your benediction..."
Almost three hours later, it was over. Xander, Willow, Buffy and Dawn were slumped on the ground like vegetables. Giles, dusting his hands off worriedly, asked, "They are supposed to be like this, aren't they?"
Dumbledore nodded in affirmation. "Perfectly normal." He summoned stretchers and levitated the unconscious Scoobies on to it, sending them to deposit their passengers in their rooms.
***
Three days later, Buffy was the only one strong enough to be up and about. It took two more full days for the others to return to full strength, and it was that evening, a Monday, that they were going to be introduced to the students.
Buffy was reclining on a heap of pillows on the floor in Willow's bedroom, where they had gathered. She was saying, "...it's really wiggy. I can remember learning normal stuff at Sunnydale High, and then I kind of blink, and I remember learning about all this other stuff- magic and wands, and a wizarding school in Oklahoma. My brain's all wacked out."
Xander bobbed his head, grinning, and put in, "I'd say the same, Buff, but for me, the learning normal stuff at Sunnydale just never happened. I feel so enlightened now. Lyra, can't you see the Dust around me?"
"You've read Philip Pullman?" Buffy asked, surprised.
Xander nodded. "When you were... gone, me and Dawnie read it together, to keep us occupied. Didn't we?"
He reached out to affectionately ruffle Dawn's hair. She batted him away. "Stop it! You're messing up my hair! We're going to meet everyone tonight, and I want to look good."
She grinned mischievously. "Besides, there might be some cute boys."
Xander, unperturbed by the scolding, gasped in mock horror. "What? Dawn, speak to us lowly old folks, about boys? I feel faint!"
Buffy beamed, tucking a strand of Dawn's hair behind her ear. "Your hair's fine. You're so lucky, it just falls back into place. And, yeah, how come you actually said that to us?"
"Well, I don't know, since you've been in those bodies, you act a little younger as well. I just get the feeling you won't go all overprotective any more, and will actually help me with my make-up and clothes and stuff.
Buffy laughed, and replied, "I hope you know that you can always tell me anything. Especially boys. I want the low-down. I know I was an overprotective, trying-be-responsible, pseudo-mom, but I've calmed down since then. Calm as a cucumber. That's me!"
Dawn grumbled, "Yeah, well you would be calm and cool and everything. You're the Slayer and a witch. I'm not real, just a ball of green Gatorade, and nearly get sliced open like a loaf of bread, and I don't even have enough magic in me for a wand! How unfair is that?"
"Look on the bright side. You don't have the weight of the world on your shoulder, and no one is gunna come after you to kill you- well, anymore- especially now that you have double-power and would be the perfect supernatural caffeine boost. But, you still get to do magic, because of the imbued wand. You're a lucky little Dawnling." Buffy said grimly.
"Well, I was your big gun for Glory, and I failed," Willow vehemently shook off Buffy's immediate denials, "and now I'm the big gun for Voldemort, and it's all on me, not you this time." She paused, and then brightened. "Hey, how 'bout these new bodies then? It's not my body from high school..."
"Ah-ha! Professor Xander to the rescue." He adopted a stuffy, incredibly bad British accent. "So, old beans, the reason behind this absence of change is all in the spell. It doesn't change scars, or nail polish, or haircut because you could have had them in high school, you just didn't. It's just the basic body."
The gang stared at him. "I asked Gandalf," he admitted.
"Not a bad attempt, Xan, but you didn't manage the unpronounceable un
-understandable words. You nixed the slang though," Buffy encouraged. She looked at the clock. "Damn it! We have to get ready for our grand entrance!"
All three girls dashed simultaneously for the bathroom.
***
That evening, decked out in their new black Hogwarts robes, they waited nervously outside the doors to the Great Hall. Inside, Dumbledore was saying a few words before dinner, amid a buzz of interested whispering. The floating candles burned brightly; the Gryffindor colours shone in the elaborately woven tapestries on the wall; the crescent moon was lovingly pouring its silvery rays down from the enchanted ceiling. The students were all itching with curiousity; it was almost unheard of for Dumbledore to speak to them at dinner. Even at feasts he usually only said the necessities. But this time, he was making a grand announcement.
"In this perilous time, we need to band together, we each other, and those from farther afield. Tonight, we have special guests- exchange students from America, who have come to observe our magic, and inform us of theirs. It is a great moment to unite two countries and two continents. I expect you all to make them feel welcome."
He flicked his wand, and somewhat ominously, the enormous doors swung open slowly, admitting the five people behind it. They proceeded in, feeling like rare animals being paraded around at the zoo. They ascended the steps to the dais and lined up next to the Headmaster. He introduced them all by their real names, and told the students that they would all be joining sixth year except Dawn, who was fifth year. Finally, the teacher who they had learned was called Professor McGonagall brought out a small wooden stool and a tattered wizard's hat. They watched curiously as a tear near the brim seemed to shudder, and then sang,
In times of danger and great fear,
We need to stand united all,
We all have loved ones we hold dear,
So our to friends across the seas we call.
They join us here to help us now,
And stay with us in faith and trust,
We need to not quarrel and row,
\But now sort them into Houses we must.
Hufflepuff, for the loyal and kind,
Slytherin, who have ambition and stealth,
Ravenclaw, for the sharpest of mind,
Gryffindor, who have of courage a wealth.
One of these houses you will be in,
You family, in good times and bad,
To help you through the thick and the thin,
There is plenty of fun and friendship to be had!
The hall sat in silence. They'd never heard it welcome visitors like that before! These must be really special ones...
"Xander Harris!" called Professor McGonagall.
Xander darted a nervous look at his friends and made his way towards the hat. He pulled it over his head, and the brim drooped over his eyes.
Well... Let's see, shall we? Not the most intellectual of people, though you definitely are clever... it was a great idea to destroy the Judge with a rocket launcher. Not really ambitious, but you like to be useful... You're loyal through and through, but the house you'd fit in best with would be...
"GRYFFINDOR!" roared the hat. Xander went to join the red and gold table who were cheering the loudest, and beckoning him over welcomingly. He grinned as he slid onto the end of the bench, next to a boy with messy black hair. He heard the boy with flaming red hair across the table complaining, "How come their names aren't called surname first? Made me look like a right idiot, being called Weasley, Ron..." He drew his attention back to the up-raised section where Willow was perching on the stool now.
Hmmm, well you're an interesting one, aren't you? Recently had a brush of power... could excellently in Slytherin if you hadn't renounced it... Loyal enough for a Hufflepuff, and brave enough for a Gryffindor, but you've always truly loved learning, so you're best suited to..."
"RAVENCLAW!" bellowed the hat. She smiled bashfully as the squeezed onto a table decked out in blue, and turned to face Buffy, now donning the hat with effortless grace and style. She tensed her muscles apprehensively as the hat whispered to her,
"This has got to be the most
difficult so far. So much loyalty, a fair amount of brains if you gave them the
chance, one of the bravest hearts I've seen in my existence... but your power,
your calling, is rooted in darkness. I think I'd better make you a...."
"SLYTHERIN!"
Buffy rose to her feet, feeling embarrassing and confused as to why the other three houses stayed mostly silent for her. Willow and Xander had received a big round of applause from the entire hall each. She got a few polite claps. She held her head up, and strode with fake confidence to a gap in on the bench at the Slytherin table. It was pathetic... she was a twenty-two year old quaking at the opinions of some sixteen year olds! She thought she'd out-grown this, but it must come with the teenaged body. Damn it!
Dawn slowly lifted the hat to her head, and prayed silently, "Let me be with Buffy, or at least one of the others. I don't want to do this on my own..."
But my dear, although you have the qualities needed for all the other houses, you would by far do your best in Hufflepuff. You're full of love and joy. You need to be with others like you. Besides, it would be beneficial to your mission to have someone in each of the houses. Yes, you'll do just fine in...
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
Dawn blinked, and was suddenly furious. She'd been dragged across the world to stuffy old Britain, had a bunch of knowledge shoved into her, seen her OLDER sister and guardian shrink to only a year above her, and now she wasn't even going to get to stick with her friends! She stalked over to the table, and plopped down onto the bench sulkily. She smiled stiffly at the girl with bright yellow cornrows who was shaking her hand enthusiatically. She was pissed off, but it wasn't their fault, after all...
With the Scoobies at their separate tables, the food appeared, and the feast, and much more, began.