Combinations flew as the two men in dark clothes danced back and forth on the moonlit roof, each huffing and puffing from the extended effort. Finally the bald man threw a powerful right jab; his opponent slipped it with ease and landed a left to his chin. The bald man's head snapped back, and he called a halt.

          "That was legit, and there was something behind it. Pretty good," Grey said with a smile, leading Neville over to their gear. "Let's call it there."

          "Okay," he agreed, sweating and breathing heavily.

          Grey pulled a towel out of his bag and tossed it to Neville.

          "Here. Time you had your own."

The Gryffindor caught it and smiled as he looked it over. A yellow lion had been knitted into the dark red cotton, the amateur artistry removing some of its fierceness. He was touched nonetheless.

          "Thanks, Grey. You didn't have to do this."

          "It's okay. I didn't; Tara did. You can thank her later. As for the rest, well, I think you've come far enough that you rate your own towel."

          Neville chuckled, feeling as good as he ever had. He had practiced harder at his martial arts over the summer than he had at anything in his life. The first night of training went spectacularly well, as evidenced by his success at the end. His improved skill drew effusive praise from Grey, and more than that, he no longer worried that he might be embarrassing himself by taking this up. That feeling, he figured, was more a remnant of the battle with Voldemort's army than anything, but it was still nice.

          "I hate to be a jerk," Grey said, breaking his reverie, "but we're stopping early tonight, and you have to get back to bed."

          "O-okay," Neville replied, taken aback. Grey answered with a reassuring smile.

          "It's not you, Neville. We're testing my lightsaber and Dumbledore said I had to get you off the roof and back to safety for that.

          "Oh, I see." His cheeks colored at Grey's easy read of his thoughts. "I guess I'll be off, then. Thanks again." He gathered his things and wiped his face with the towel.

          "No problem." Grey's smile widened. "And Neville?"

          "Yeah?"

          "You're doing great. Better than I expected, and I expected a lot."

          "Thanks." His grin lit up his face all the way to bed.

          Three hours later, in the dead of night, Jess, Willow and Tara met Grey and Giles on the roof. Fall was coming, but it hadn't arrived yet; the clear night air was warm, and they had all traded in robes for workout clothes.

          Giles could feel the tension between the four younger people. He had anticipated some, but he found the reality of it surprisingly thick.

They had planned to meet several times during the past few days to discuss this, but the meetings had all been cancelled. Grey explained to him that the dynamic would probably be a little off for a few weeks, but hadn't said why, though Giles had his suspicions. He understood that Willow and Jess were avoiding one another, having heard all about the magic lesson gone awry. He had no idea, however, why the sorceress and Tara, who were normally inseparable, seemed to run in opposite directions whenever they glimpsed each other.

          "This is gonna be so neat!" Anticipation had Willow a little giddy, despite the ugly episode several days before, and she let it out excessively in a wasted effort to overcome the tension.

          "W-we need to be a little careful th-that we don't wake anybody up."

          "Or fry anybody," Jess added, though she didn't look at Tara.

          "Me included," Grey said sheepishly. "You really want to do it this way, Will?"

          The redhead nodded. "You guys had formal auror training. Trust me, for the real world kind, this is the better way. At least, it never hurt us doing the Slayerette thing." She glanced at Tara and offered a small smile, "You never know when you might have to run from some creepy floating morticians." Tara smiled back. "Besides, they've been in way bigger scrapes before. They can handle it."

          Grey and Giles looked at Jess; she nodded her approval, staring out over the edge of the roof. They hadn't made any formal agreements, but she and Willow had taken charge of planning the training regimen. Fortunately, it had been pretty much set for weeks.

"They spend enough time in the classroom. We'll give 'em something else. Somethin' a little bit scary."

          In Harry's dream, he and Ginny whizzed through the air on parallel brooms, their hands joined, her fiery hair floating out behind her. Her head had just tipped back with laughter when Willow's voice burst in his mind, shattering the dreamscape into a thousand pieces.

          HARRY! RON! HERMIONE!

          If it had been audible, Willow would have been shouting in his ear. He shot straight up out of bed. Across the room, Ron popped up from under the covers, mouth open and eyes wide..

          Willow?

          Harry! The roof. Now. It's Grey.

          Harry felt the panic in her mind as she broke away, her concentration obviously absorbed by casting a spell. With quiet urgency he rolled out of bed, grabbing his wand from the nightstand and jamming his feet hastily into his shoes. Ron did the same and they hit the door running. Hermione joined them in the common room; when the three of them reached the hallway, they dropped the pretense of silence and took off in an all out sprint.

          Four minutes and a whirlwind dash up the stairwells later, they made it to the roof entrance; a lone figure blocked their path to the outside.

          "You! What the bloody hell are you doin' here?" Ron shouted.

          Draco Malfoy waved him down. "You want to wake up the school, Weasley? Quiet down. What do you think I'm doing here? That crazy bitch Rosenberg nearly blasted my head open. The auror's got his rage on, sounds like."

          "But why you?"

          "Do we have time for that, Ron?" Harry broke in as a spell crashed against the door and shook the hall. "We'll sort it out later. For now, let's get out there and find some cover 'til we can figure what to do. Alright?"

          The other three heads nodded.

          "We'll take the door at a run. On three. Ready?"

          "When we get through, go left," Draco added. "That's where the cover is."

They nodded again, looking expectantly at Harry.

          "One … Two … Three!"

          As well as the lesson with Neville had gone, Grey was enjoying the opportunity to really cut loose on the roof a lot more. He hadn't truly lied about testing the lightsaber. He had just left out that it wasn't the only thing being tested.

From the moment the first spell flew, using the sword was unlike anything he had ever done. He finally understood the difference in the living blade, understood it in a way that he was certain its creators never could. It felt like a part of him, almost an extension of his arm. Fighting with it came naturally.

          The first spell Jess cast had been the Daggers of Diphthis; the black blades still inspired a primal terror in him, and the sword responded to it.

          He hadn't been any more ready for the voices than he had been for the visions.

          Daggers of Diphthis, but, duh, you know that, Willow's voice said in his head.

          Roll right, Buffy's voice told him as he slashed the first energy blade. He obeyed her on instinct, the voices feeling as natural as the impulse to move. Another spell whizzed through the spot he had just occupied.

          Jelly-legs, the sword told him, the voices blending together with his movements as he let the flow of the battle overtake him. His eyes came up and he saw Tara clap her hands together. Shockwave, her voice told him as he slid out of the way. A force ripple distorted the air as it hurtled harmlessly past him.

They didn't let up. The three witches pounded him with spell after spell, forcing him to maintain a steady rhythm of blocking and dodging until, in his peripheral vision, he saw the four kids burst through the door.

          Showtime, the real Willow's voice said in his head. Jess and Tara heard her as well, quickly moving into their preplanned attack positions.

          "Tara!" Jess shouted. "Bind him!"

          Tara nodded, her eyes glowing white as a dull gray sphere shot from her hands. Another spell, this one a bolt of blinding red, flew from Jess's outstretched hand at the same instant; both zipped through the air, hunting Grey like deadly falcons.

          His blade moved of its own accord, only mildly nudged by his thoughts. Instead of backing up, the former auror stepped forward and hefted the sword. Tara's binding spell closed on him and met the dazzling blue energy of his blade.

          Then he flicked his wrists.

          The four students watched in shock as Grey deflected the spell back at Tara; the blonde sorceress had no time to react. A look of surprise froze rigidly on her face as her own spell bound her fast.

By the time they looked away from her still form, Grey had already deflected the second spell.

With a loud bang and the smell of burning ozone, Jess took the red bolt square in the chest and flew backwards towards the edge of the roof. She lay there unmoving. On the other side of the roof, Willow stalked forward to face Grey. Black energy crackled at her fingertips.

          "Cor! What the hell's goin' on?" Ron said. The four of them had dropped behind one of the roof's outcroppings to observe the action.

          "Nothing good," Malfoy replied. "I doubt he can sort out Rosenberg, though."

          The night lit up with spell flashes, a rainbow of colors spewing from Willow's hands and temporarily blinding the four students. They heard shouts from both Willow and Grey, but the multi-colored display denied them any view of the battle.

When their vision cleared, Willow lay on the ground unconscious. Grey raised his sword triumphantly in the center of the roof.

          "So we panic now, yeah?" Ron asked.

          Harry turned to look at them, his face grimly determined. "No. We can't let him get loose, not the way he rolled over those three. Dumbledore's probably the only one with more power than them."

          "So let's retreat and get Dumbledore," Malfoy suggested.

          "No time for that. Look, there's four of us and one of him – if we can get the lightsaber away from him we'll be fine."

          "You're insane, Potter. How the hell are we going to do that?"

          "I've got an idea," Hermione broke in. "If you guys can distract him, I think Ron and I could knock him down. When he falls …"

          "Summon the lightsaber," Harry finished. Hermione nodded. "How do we distract him?"

          "Any way you can. We only need a few seconds."

          "Malfoy?"

          "Aww, fuck it. Why not?" He looked at Hermione. "If this gets bollocks'ed up, make enough noise to wake Dumbledore, huh?"

          "I'll do that."

          "Good. C'mon, Potter, let's bag us an auror."

          Harry and Draco burst from their cover, darting across the roof at full speed.

          "Hey, Grey!" Harry yelled. The auror turned to face him. "Hey! Over Here!"

          "Harry? What are you doing here?" Grey's tone carried an edge that Harry had never heard before.

          "What the hell are you doing, you idiot?" Malfoy countered, deliberately baiting him. "Beatin' up your girlfriend and her friends isn't the best way to make her put out, you know."

          "And with Malfoy? Damn, Harry. I expected you'd keep better company. Like, say, these two?" He spun around and gestured with the lightsaber to Hermione and Ron, who had crept up behind him and looked ready to cast. "Don't do anything stupid, Hermione. I'd hate to have to hurt you, too."

          Harry almost asked him what was wrong, but that could wait for later. Instead, he raised his wand, hoping to divert attention from Ron and Hermione.

          "EXPELLIARMUS!"

          Draco followed Harry's lead, loosing the same spell moments later. Grey blocked them easily, but had to turn away from Hermione and Ron to do it. They didn't waste the opportunity.

          "GLACIO!" Hermione shouted. Grey whipped back around, but the spell, a nearly transparent blue arrow of magical energy, landed ten feet in front of him.

          The roof of the building turned to ice. For a circle ten yards around Grey, not a single patch of stone could be seen. The cold seeped through his shoes and nipped at his feet.

          "Just a little short. Next time don't lift your head on the follow-through." He grinned evilly, chilling Hermione to the bone.

          "She wasn't aimin' for you, you squib bastard," Ron said, lifting his wand, "but I am. ASPIRO!"

          The whistling sound started at Ron's wand, spreading out towards Grey; the rush of air hit him in the chest like a mallet, sending him hard to the floor as he skidded along the ice. The lightsaber bounced out of his grip and shot across the frozen roof.

          "ACCIO LIGHTSABER!" Harry shouted. The hilt flew up and into his outstretched hand.

          "RESTRINGO!" Draco cast the moment the hilt left the ground. Ghostly chains spewed from his wand, rattling as they slithered across the roof and caught Grey in a death grip.

          The night was suddenly deathly silent. All four young wizards stared at Grey's inert form in; none of them had any idea what to say.

          The silence lasted nearly ten seconds, punctuated only by their heavy breathing, until the sound of clapping shattered it completely.

          The four of them turned to see Jess, Willow, Giles, and Tara unharmed and offering a rousing ovation.

          "Excellent work," Giles said. He had been hiding behind a parapet. "Most impressive."

          "Definite A's all around," Willow added with a brilliant smile.

          "Huh?"

          Tara smiled. "D-don't worry, Ron. We'll explain."

          "Hey, before you do, could somebody get me out of these?" Grey called from the floor. "It's really cold down here."

The teachers laughed; Willow gestured briefly and the chains disappeared.

          "You let him go?" Harry asked. He clutched the lightsaber tightly to his chest.

          Hermione and Draco figured it out at the same time, catching each other's eyes as they smiled.

          "You're not evil, are you Grey?" She asked.

          "Sorry, Hermione. Not this time. Maybe next year."

          "You do a hell of an evil grin," Draco told him, "an' I've seen some good ones."

          "I'll take that as a compliment, I think. Now, Harry, my lightsaber?" Tentatively, Harry held it out to him. "Thanks. Good moves, by the way. If that had been real, you would have just won. I wasn't playing around."

          "This was a test, wasn't it?" Hermione asked.

          "Yes, Hermione, it was," Giles answered, "and you passed. Now, if all of you would come over here for the moment, we have some things to discuss."

          The four students and the five teachers clustered in a circle near the center of the roof, each of their eyes full of excitement.

          "Good work," Jess said, speaking for the first time. Her voice carried a gravity unfamiliar to everyone but Grey and Tara. "Welcome to your advanced Dark Arts training. Lesson the first: Be ready. Your enemy can be anyone, at any time."

          "Don't we know it," Ron said.

Hermione shushed him, but Jess responded anyway. "Ron's right. You do know it. You have to keep it in mind, though. Always. I'm living proof of that."

          "I think they understand, Jessica," Giles broke in. "You did do exceedingly well. We had some doubts as to how you might react. Tell me, one of you, why you did not summon Professor Dumbledore?"

          "There was no time," Harry said. "We had a plan, but if we waited Grey might have done something to someone up here already."

          "Or he might have fled altogether," Hermione added defensively.

          "Don't misunderstand, I'm not saying you should have. In fact, had you tried, you would have been quite unable to find him. You acted decisively but not rashly, and that was what we hoped for."

          "We didn't know if you'd win," Willow said, "but we wanted you to have a plan and make a decision to use it."

          "So what now? Is this what it's gonna be? Getting' woken up in the dead of night to guard people who don't need guarding?"

          "N-not exactly, Draco," Tara answered. "It's complicated. Will?"

          "Okay. We think you guys will like this, even though it's gonna be kind of hard. We're each taking a different section of your training. Normally I would've written up a syllabus and everything, but since we can't really put things down on paper for this, we'll keep it simple. Classes are two hours after dinner, four days a week. Every day you'll have a different subject with a different one of us. Mondays will be with me. We're going to learn elemental and combat magic."

          "Dueling?" Ron said hopefully.

          "Sorry, Ron," Jess answered. "Not dueling. In the real world, dueling isn't that useful because it doesn't happen that often. There are exceptions, of course; Voldemort, for instance, likes to duel a lot."

          "He does," Harry said quietly, "that's a fact."

          "Most dark wizards don't. So we're going to concentrate on other things," Willow said cheerfully, suppressing her own nervousness. "You'll have fun. Trust me."

          "Moving on," Giles prompted.

          "Tuesdays'll be with me," Jess said. "I'm more into the indirect combat spells than Willow, an' I'll be teaching you illusions, different enhancement spells, charms an' the like."

          "W-Wednesdays I'll be teaching you about other magical stuff you need to know," Tara continued. "Magical poisons, texts, scrolls, and enchanted objects, along with a little bit of defensive and h-healing magic."

          "Finally, Thursdays you will attend our portion," Giles said, gesturing to himself and Grey.

          "We'll be dealing with the non-magical training," Grey added.

          "Yes. Strategy and tactics primarily, but also research methods, investigations and the like."

          "Whoa," Draco said, slightly overwhelmed. "Weekends off, though?"

          "We understand that you must survive the rest of the curriculum, Mr. Malfoy. Besides, you all have commitments that must be kept up for appearance sake. I guarantee you that the training will be more than enough."

          "Willow, tell them about the practicals," Grey said.

          "Oh! Right! I totally forgot. Every once in awhile, we'll be testing you in real world situations, like we did tonight."

          "Unannounced?"

          "That's right, so be prepared."

          "Will they be against you guys again?"

          "Maybe." When Grey's face twisted back into his evil smile, a lump filled Harry's throat. "Then again, maybe not."