Disclaimer: Buffy characters are the property of Mr. Whedon. Harry Potter characters are the property of Ms. Rowling. I do own the story that I am writing, but I'm just borrowing the characters for a little while. So, yeah, if you decide to sue... I'm uber-broke.

Through the Looking Glass

Author's Note: Yup. Antonin Dolohov is a real character from the Harry Potter books. In OotP he cast the spell on Hermione that made her like faint or something (don't shoot me, I haven't read it in a while). I just loved his name... thought he'd be a good evil dude.

This is not the beta'd chapter, but the beta'd version will be up soon. I just felt that I needed to go on ahead and post this chapter. Updates won't be as quick as they once were, because of school and work.

Chapter 10

And Thus They Travel

"Hey, Buff," Xander looked over his shoulder and pointed to a staircase, "let's go down these."

"What's the point?" Buffy followed him down the steps, and was slightly surprised that the steps hadn't moved. "We're lost."

The two of them had been walking up and down steps for about half an hour. Every now and then they would come to a landing and walk through the floor, but it never turned out to be a good thing. One time they ran into a transparent wall that then began to shout obscenities at them. Xander had shouted some back, when a schoolteacher had walked by, and gave them a sort of odd look.

"Stating the obvious won't help," Xander held up his hand, "only hinder."

"Fine," Buffy huffed.

"Did you think those lemon poppy seed muffins were good?" Xander followed Buffy up a staircase that then switched directions and took them up two floors instead of one.

"They tasted funny, didn't they?" Buffy called back. "I kinda liked those raspberry flavored ones. That elf... thing... said that she had made them herself."

"Those elves are awesome cooks," Xander agreed.

"What are you doing?"

Buffy and Xander both looked up. There was a group of three girls, they had blue robes on, and looked like they thought Buffy and Xander were the weirdest people in the world.

"Oh, just going up to our room," Buffy stated. After hearing their posh British accents, Buffy had perked up her shoulders and had enunciated all of her words very clearly.

"Oh." One of the other girls rolled her eyes. "Having trouble with the staircases, are we?" There was a murmur of giggles.

Xander watched as they took a staircase down and then another up and were walking through a doorway. They continued to look back at Buffy and Xander, laughing the entire way.

"How rude!" Buffy put her hands on her hips.

"Yeah," Xander agreed. "So - which bunch of stairs do you want to tackle next?"

"Does it matter?" Buffy sighed.

"Oh, come on, Buff," Xander patted her on the back. "The glass is half full and it does matter. Go on, say it."

"The glass is half full and it does matter." Buffy rolled her eyes.

"Atta girl." Xander nodded for Buffy to choose the next staircase. Buffy chose the up one, which she swore they had already been on before.

"Y'know, I always wonder how people come up with those sayings. Glass half full versus the glass if half empty. I mean, it's never going to be exactly half full or half empty, because nobody is perfect and all those nanoliters and stuff-"

"Hey, Buff," Xander interrupted.

"Yeah?"

"I think the words I'm looking for are, up and shut."

Buffy gave him a slightly annoyed look, but it was gone as soon as they came to the new floor. Xander looked down the hallway at the new floor they had just reached.

"This hall looks safe and giggling-girl free." Xander pointed out.

"Let's give it a test drive." Buffy looked at the torches lining the halls. She would have thought that it would have made the hall look incredibly spooky, but in fact it did the opposite. The hall looked vibrant and full of light. Buffy wondered where all the light was coming from.

You . . . you . . .

Buffy suddenly stood straight up, all of her senses on high alert. Xander who had been beside her, had slowly slunk back and was behind her.

"Did you hear that?" Xander whispered.

"Yeah," Buffy took another step forward.

Are . . . are . . .

"Buffy, let's turn back." Xander took Buffy by the hand and tried to turn her around.

"I want to know what's saying that;" Buffy ridded herself up Xander's grasp, though it wasn't easy. He must be working out, she thought.

"Curiosity killed the cat," Xander pleaded.

"Not a cat," Buffy replied.

Entering . . . entering . . .

"Look, I'm really freaking out," Xander was not very happy, Buffy could tell.

The . . . the . . .

"Shh!" Buffy walked forward faster.

Xander felt he had no choice but to follow her.

Statue. . . statue . . .

Buffy and Xander continued on without any words, waiting for the rest of the message. They continued down the hall, and finally ran into a door. They looked at each other and then at the door.

"We're entering the statue, huh?" Xander whispered sarcastically.

"We got this far," Buffy huffed.

"If you say-"

"Let's go in."

"That's what I thought you'd say."

"Xander," Buffy grabbed the doorknob. "It can't be that bad."

Buffy pushed open the door and the whispering message flowed from the air.

You . . . are . . . entering . . . the . . . statue . . . garden . . .

"Oh, happy joy," Xander coughed as he breathed in some of the stale air.

As soon as Buffy had stepped into the darkened room lights flashed up all around. Instead of greenery, all that could be seen were statues. Statues of plants, a fountain, and a few people.

"Welcome," a voice to Buffy's right spoke. "We rarely have visitors."

"Wouldn't be that spooky whispering down the hall, keeping all the fun-seekers out would it?" Xander added his thoughts as he stepped in.

Buffy turned to face the speaker, and when she turned all she could see were statues. She took a step forward to find the speaker and when she did a statue of a man turned to face her.

"Two visitors!"

Buffy looked up at the statues as all of them began to turn to face her and Xander.

"Two!" One statue exclaimed and jumped off its post. She ran towards Xander and took him into her arms. "Oh, he is quite lovely."

Xander was rendered speechless as the statue bent forward and kissed him squarely on the lips. His eyes widened and though he tried to push the statue away, there was no way the stone was moving.

Buffy was about to run and save her friend, but a strong arm wrapped around her as well. She was turned around and came face to face with what Buffy could only describe as a Wolf-Man statue. It howled at her and then released its grasp. Buffy then moved quickly to Xander who was still at the mercy at the smoochy-statue.

Buffy grabbed one of the arms and pulled as hard as she could. Nothing. She tried again, and the statue flung her off. When Buffy hit a stone plant, she knew she had a bruise.

"Okay," Buffy said to herself. "Didn't appreciate that!"

Before she could move in again, she was surrounded by statues.

"She's just having fun," one said.

Another said, "She won't kill him."

"Let her be," a small statue complained.

All Buffy could do was hope that none of them decided to make-out with her.

x x x x x

Cordelia was at the base of the staircase leading up to the open doors of Gringotts. She still needed money, and she wasn't going anywhere without her money. Dolohov or no Dolohov.

Pfft, she thought. What a stupid name anyway.

As Cordelia walked in she heard a hauntingly beautiful song drifting through the rather large room. She turned around and saw a man who had a white mask on playing the piano. She sighed and then walked on.

"May I help you?" A ragged voice came from one of the windows.

"Yes, Cordelia Chase," Cordelia passed her slip of paper to the goblin. "Vault number-"

"I can read perfectly well Miss Chase." He turned around and handed another goblin the paper. "100 galleons, 100 sickles, and 100 knuts... correct?"

"Yes." Cordelia nodded.

"Go wait over there." The goblin pointed close to where the piano was.

"Oh, yes," Cordelia mumbled. "Not at all ornery. Damn gob-"

The music began to wash over her again. She sat at the closest chair to the piano that she could find. Cordelia rested her head on her hand as she stared at the master pianist. His voice echoed off the walls, and Cordelia did a quick check around. She noticed that she was the only one actually listening.

This people are insane! she thought. This man is a genius!

"The power of the music of the night..." Cordelia muttered. "Vaguely familiar."

The music stopped and Cordelia applauded, slightly overzealous, but felt it was deserved.

"Thank you," the man faced her, his voice raspy and rather deep.

Cordelia just smiled and then realized who he was. "Oh, my God!"

"What?" The man looked around. "What is it?"

"You're..."

"I'm..."

"You're the-the... Opera Ghost!" Cordelia stood up and stepped closer towards the man.

"No," the Phantom shook his head. "My name is Erik."

"Erik?" Cordelia asked incredulously as the man took off the white mask, revealing a rather beautiful face.

"Yes, I'm a Phantom impersonator." Erik smiled and bowed.

Cordelia rolled her eyes and then sat as far away from Erik, the Phantom of the Opera impersonator, that she could. Finally after hearing that imposter play a few more tunes (that weren't even from Phantom of the Opera - who ever told him that 'Mary Had Little Lamb' should be sang opera style was sadly mistaken), Cordelia heard her last name called.

"Here you are!" The goblin literally screamed at her as he handed her a purple velvet bag, that Cordelia found to be a little on the heavy side.

Cordelia moved towards the door, giving one last look to the Phantom... er... Erik... and walking out of Gringotts. She realized how hungry she was when her stomach grumbled and growled at her, so Cordelia set off for lunch.

x x x x x

"Oh, my God!" Xander spit out some more chunks of rock. "That was so, totally not," he wiped his mouth, "cool. Not at all."

Buffy patted Xander's back as he spit out more rock. "Wow, that was some lovin' she was giving you," Buffy held back a laugh.

"Damn randy rock." Xander cursed as more pieces of rock came out of his mouth.

"They rarely get contact and some cannot contain their emotions." Lupin was standing at the other side of his office, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

Xander nodded his head, "I noticed."

"Thanks, Lupin." Buffy nodded her head. "Will the statues be okay?"

"You actually care about whether or not the statues are going to be okay!?" Xander took a sip of water and swirled it around in his mouth, before spitting it out. "Gross..."

"They'll grow back every part that was destroyed." Lupin nodded. "Very versatile statues."

"Oh," Buffy smiled and patted Xander's shoulder again. She didn't get how Lupin could just waltz into the room with his wand and all of the statues back away from him. Buffy had kicked and punched, to no avail. She did have a few more bruises to speak of, which didn't bother her too much; they'd be gone by tomorrow.

"Perhaps we should take you to Madame Pomfrey, Buffy."

"Oh, I'll be fine," Buffy smiled with appreciation. "I'll be better before you know it."

"Why?" Xander cried as he spat out another piece of rock.

"Well, I must leave you two, but if you take the staircases down to the fifth floor, you'll find your room." Lupin smiled and locked the door. "Just shut the door on your way out, if you would, please."

"Okie," Xander spat, "Dokie."

Lupin left, but not before Xander saw him smile. Xander narrowed his eyes, but didn't have time to hate the guy, as another piece of rock seemed to be stuck under his tongue.

"Why are there so many?" Xander stood up and grabbed his rock cup.

"I told you, she was kissing you for like ten minutes before Lupin got there." Buffy took Xander's arm and led him towards the door. "Come on, let's go."

Buffy led Xander down to the fifth floor, which wasn't as hard as she would have imagined, and they found their room without any problems. As soon as Buffy had collapsed onto the bed, and Xander had removed himself to the bathroom for some more rock spitting, there was a knock at the door.

Buffy opened the door, and the smile fell from her face.

"What do you want?" she hissed.

"I heard from a very reliable source that you and your friend have been running foolishly around the castle." Snape pushed Buffy aside and entered into the room.

"Buff, what's... hey!" Xander emerged from the bathroom and glared at Snape. "What does he want?"

"I only came to help, Harris."

Xander's nose flared when Snape called him by his last name. In fact, it dawned on him, he didn't think that Snape actually knew his last name. The dude was smarter than he let on.

Sneaky bastard.

"You can find a special potion in a shop not far from here that will help with the rock problem;" Snape glared at Xander and then turned his attention to Buffy. He handed her a small glass with a sooty-substance inside.

"What's this for?" Buffy tried not to look too disgusted by the sheer fact that he had touched the glass she was holding in her hand.

"Floo Powder," he said. "Just step into your fireplace, take a hand full, and say the place of your destination and then drop the powder at your feet. Quite simple really, even a squib could do it."

"Look, we don't want your help;" Buffy pushed the powder back into Snape's hands.

"Wait!" Xander snatched it away from Snape, a rock flying out of his mouth. "What's the name of the place?"

"206 Knockturn Alley." Snape cocked an eyebrow at the both of them.

Xander began to whisper what Snape had just told him, trying to remember the address.

"Xander," Buffy shook her head. "I don't think-"

"Hey, you're not the one," Xander coughed and another rock flew from his mouth, "spitting up rocks here, okay?"

"Fine," Buffy turned towards Snape. "Thanks." She didn't look him in the eye.

"We must do what we can." Snape said as he turned around and slammed the door shut behind him.

"So coming with," Buffy said as she stepped into the fireplace beside Xander. She took a handful of the powder and they looked at each other.

"206 Knockturn Alley!" They cried as they tossed the powder down at their feet.

Buffy saw green flames jump up around her face and then disappear as dozens of fireplaces came into view. She began to feel slightly sick, and when she looked over at Xander, she could tell that he was feeling the same too. She saw another rock fly from his mouth.

Then, with a loud thud, they were tossed from the fireplace and landed in the middle of a room. Buffy looked around and already did not like what she saw.

"Xander?" Buffy whispered, but when she looked down at Xander, she noticed that he was unconscious. "I'm gonna kill him..." Buffy's reference to Snape was cut short by the booming sounds of feet running right towards Buffy and Xander.

Buffy had only just pulled Xander a foot from where they had fallen when a wild and crazy man was running right towards them. He hopped over them and ran right into a sword that was on display. He then exploded into dust.

Buffy then heard another pair of footsteps, these slightly slower, and yanked Xander under a table with herself. She pulled the tablecloth as to where they wouldn't be seen. Buffy peeked under the cloth and saw a rather old man sweeping up the dust. He then turned around and went the other way, whistling as he walked.

Buffy watched to make sure that the man was no where to be seen. She turned her attention to Xander and shook him. Nothing happened. She glanced back through the cloth... not a soul.

"Xander!" Buffy screamed as she slapped him. He suddenly awoke and bumped his head on the top of the table, causing the dust to be stirred. Xander felt the sneeze start to form.

It was going to be the sneeze of all sneezes. He tried to tell Buffy, to prepare her for the mighty strength of it, but the sneeze came way too soon.

Both of their eyes widened and locked on to each other's as sirens began to go off. Someone knew that they were there.

x x x x x

Cordelia looked up at a sign.

The Deli-Witch

"Ooh - sounds good," Cordelia said, "Just hope they don't have actual witch sandwiches."

"Hello," a witch at the door was smacking her lips on a sort of candy, "Welcome to the Deli-Witch, home of the real Sand Witch. Just one, lass?"

Cordelia looked around, "Look's like."

"Follow me," she smacked her lips again and sucked her teeth as she sat Cordelia at a small round table. "Here's ya menu, love."

"Thank you," Cordelia smiled at her, but realized that she wasn't paying attention. Cordelia looked around and saw pictures of wizards hanging on the walls. In fact, every picture on the walls the wizard was exceedingly good-looking, and rather scantily dressed. Cordelia then looked around to make sure she wasn't in some strip joint. The place looked deserted, minus a few other witches and the servers. No wizards running around in speed-o's was a good thing.

"Whatcha want?" A witch placed her hand on her hip as she asked Cordelia.

"Um, I'd like some pumpkin juice, and..." Cordelia looked at the name on the witch's uniform - Batilda; "I'd like to try that Pot-Brewed Potpie."

"Chicken or beef?"

"Chicken, please," Cordelia nodded her head.

"HEY MERL!" Cordelia jumped as the witch screamed at the top of her lungs towards the man behind the counter. "Pumpkin juice on the rocks!"

"Right-o!"

"And SOMEONE needs to go and PLUCK a DAMN chicken!" The witch hurriedly moved away from Cordelia's table after that. Cordelia's ears were still ringing. She shook her head, clearing out the echoes of Batilda within her brain.

Merl brought Cordelia her pumpkin juice and as she sipped, she noticed the daily papers were hanging from the ceiling. She reached up and grabbed the Daily Prophet, Witch Weekly, and The Quibbler. She figured that she had a while if the chicken was still running around alive in the back.

The first paper that Cordelia looked at had a headline that intrigued her...

Dolohov Attacks Beauxbatons - No Survivors Reported

After a week of no response from the Headmistress at France's school for witches and wizards, Aurors were sent to inspect the grounds. Not one body was found, neither alive, nor dead.

However, a note from the infamous Dark Wizard Dolohov, revealed that he killed every student and teacher, but that information is not to be leaked out.

Cordelia took in a deep breath. Dolohov was one bad dude.

The next paper, Witch Weekly, had Harry's picture on the front of the page.

Boy-Who-Lived... Real Hunk of a Man Now.

Wow, Cordelia thought. So, he is like a rock star.

The last paper, was more of a magazine, The Quibbler, had a rather odd headline...

More Vicious Flobberworm Attacks. Are Yetis to blame?

x x x x x

Buffy pulled Xander up with a little effort. She yanked him towards, what she believed was the back of the shop. A mirror with a face screamed in their general direction as they ran.

Buffy could barely think with the blaring alarms still thundering around them.

"Buffy!" Xander pulled Buffy in a different direction. "A door!"

Buffy set it in her mind to run into the door, it looked to be made of metal. Buffy smiled to herself. This would be easy to break through. She let go of Xander's arm and ran into the door, instead of breaking, it acted as it was made of rubber and flung her to the ground.

"Ow!" Xander grimaced for her. "Looks like that hurt."

"Yep," Buffy wrinkled her nose as she sat back up. "Help me push it, Xander!"

As the pushed, Buffy looked back to see the old man slowly moving in their general direction.

"Hey!"

"Uh-oh!" Xander looked and saw that the man had spotted them.

Xander and Buffy began to push even harder, but the door wasn't budging. Xander flung his hands in the air.

"That's it, I'm done for." He watched as the man was about twelve feet away. Xander clasped the doorknob and pulled with little effort. "Whoa..."

"Let's go!" Buffy yanked Xander in and slammed the door behind them. She noticed the deadbolt and bolted the door. The doorknob began to move around wildly. Then as if magically told to unlock, the deadbolt unlocked itself.

"We're done for now," Xander moaned as he leaned up against the stone wall. As the doorknob turned, the stone moved to reveal a secret passage. "Whoa..."

Buffy pushed Xander in and followed him, closing the stone right when the door opened. Buffy put her ear to the stone wall and heard the man run down the other passage.

"Good going, Xander." Buffy smiled at him.

"All in a day's work," Xander nudged her with his elbow.

"Look," Buffy ignored Xander's jab and walked towards an opening above them.

"A way out of this hellhole," Xander nodded his head and they both climbed out of the passageway.

"Do you realize who did this to us?" Buffy complained as she brushed her arms and legs off.

"Oh, you mean, Greasy-Hair Man?"

"I hate him, Xander;" Buffy took in a deep breath. "When I see him again, I'm going to kill him."

"Can I watch?" Xander asked hopefully.

"Of course!" Buffy exclaimed.

"Cool," Xander then quickly turned and tripped over a protruding piece of stone. He almost regained his balance, but when he used a wall for support, the wall began to crumble, and without another breath, he had slipped into a dark pit.

"Xander!" Buffy screamed.

There was no answer, as Buffy prepared to follow him.

"Xander?" Buffy then followed her friend into a dark-blackish blue yonder...

x x x x x

Cordelia tapped her fingers. She looked up at the town clock; it read 4:10. Cordelia stood up quickly, made sure she was in front of Flourish and Blotts, and then took in a deep breath.

"He stood me up!" She said rather loudly.

Cordelia grabbed her purple bag, ready to head back to her room. As Cordelia slung to purple bag over her shoulder, she heard a slight thunk.

"Ouch," a redheaded woman cried.

"Oh, I'm sorry..."

Cordelia's eyes widened. It couldn't be. Not in this world. She wasn't supposed to be in this world.

"Willow?"

x chapter's end x

Please read and review. Told you it was rather lengthy; I made it fun like that!!

Isn't the Phantom lovely!? Agh! Of course, I made him an impersonator, couldn't have Cordelia falling for him, wouldn't sit right with the story. Ha ha! But, if you haven't seen Phantom of the Opera - go see it now! NOW! I tell you, "NOW!" See it, and love it my preciousessss! Love the Phantom! Love him! (( cough )) All done with my Phantom ravings, now.

Look forward to Ch. 11 entitled:

And Thus They Meet
Who meets? Where do they meet? Meat market? Maybe so... maybe no.