CHAPTER 4: LONDON
Once the surprise of Buffy's roots wore of, details were once again discussed, and then Buffy decided that they had talked enough. The shock was wearing off and she was getting restless.
She wanted to see her family.
Right then.
Unfortunately, the best she could do was have Giles call the airport and secure the soonest flight for five passengers. Buffy had never learned to apparate and didn't want to try after over ten years without practicing magic; she had no desire to become splinched.
So, after many planes, a few transfers, various airports, countless disgusting airplane meals, and several days later, the group was finally in London.
Willow had desperately wanted to see the sights, but understood that she was here for her friend. There would be time later to look around, so she contained her excitement, with much difficulty, and followed Buffy.
At the moment, she was following Buffy down the bustling streets of London, with stores lined up on either side.
"So where are we going again?" Xander asked.
"It's a pub called the Leaky Cauldron."
"You said pub," Xander chuckled.
"Buffy, do you really think it is appropriate to drink now? It's not even noon yet," Giles said, disappointed in her. "Besides, you've been drinking three times before and everyone knows how those turned out."
Buffy winced as she remembered the time when she'd gotten drunk at a college party and almost got sacrificed to a snake god, then when she'd gotten drunk over Parker and was turned into a cavewoman, and then when she got drunk with Spike, who played poker for kittens, and was sick in the bathroom that night.
Buffy smiled a bit and decided to relax his fears. "It's a wizard pub," Xander chuckled again, "and we're not drinking." Xander stopped chuckling; Willow noticed and swatted him on his arm. "Behind it is the entrance to Diagon Alley, a place that's like a wizard mall," Buffy told them. "If we're going to go into the wizarding world, we need to fit in. Wizards tend to dislike muggles, and we're dressed like them. Plus, I need to get a wand." Buffy said all this fairly quietly, understanding that there were muggles all around.
"They dress differently?" Willow asked, dodging around a person carrying five shopping bags.
"Oh, yeah," Buffy answered, grimacing as she thought of the robes she'd have to wear again. She preferred her muggle clothes, especially for slaying: there was more freedom to move, they were more comfortable, and it was much easier to show off the essentials. 'If Sirius could see me now…' Buffy thought suddenly.
"They have the worst fashion sense." Realizing what she'd said, Buffy chuckled softly to herself, but Anya overheard.
"There is nothing funny about the stupid robes we'll have to wear. I'll bet they're all hot and itchy," Anya complained.
"I was just remembering something," Buffy explained. "I once told James to kill me if I ever became one of those vain girls, obsessed with clothes, and here I am, brooding about them." Buffy lapsed into silence, lost in her thoughts.
"We'll see him soon, Buffy," comforted Willow, who correctly interpreted her friend's silence.
"I know, it's just…" Buffy lifted her head to look at Willow, but her eye noticed that they were passing the pub. "Oh, wait, we're here."
"I don't see it," Xander said.
"You're not supposed to. It's magic, remember? Just imagine the Leaky Cauldron between that book store and that record store," Buffy instructed.
"Whoa!" Xander exclaimed, jumping back slightly. "Now that was cool," he said with a goofy grin, referring to the way the building seemed to squeeze in between the two stores.
Buffy started to walk forward, but Giles stopped her. "You were essentially kidnapped eleven years ago; to suddenly appear as if nothing has happened would shock a lot of people. It would probably be best if you were the one to let James know of your return, not a stranger that is simply circulating a rumour."
"So, I become secret-identity gal again? Okay, not a problem," Buffy said.
"I believe that a more drastic change will be needed, as you… um… tend to stand out," Giles said carefully, unsure of her reaction. At Buffy's blank stare, he continued, "First, you need to sound English. Americans are too noticeable."
"Right," Buffy said. "Get back my English accent." She closed her eyes and thought back to how she had sounded for fifteen years. Living in America for over ten years, and believing herself to be American, had made her lose her accent. Back in England, with everyone speaking with an accent, she would be able to pick it up fairly quickly.
"How's this?" Buffy asked, attempting, and succeeding, at sounding English. It came back to her much easier than she thought it would. It was a little flawed, but soon it would be second nature to her. "Is this okay? Do I sound alright?" Buffy asked again, getting worried at their silence.
"That is just wrong on so many levels," Xander said with wide eyes.
"Indeed," Giles agreed, removing his glasses to clean them. He never thought he'd ever see, or rather hear, Buffy - the typical Californian - become a proper English woman. It was quite disturbing. "Just make sure you talk properly. Leave out any American slang."
"I'll try, but I can't promise you anything. I've been an American for so long, it's hard to remember how to speak English English."
"Yes, well…" Giles started, but then decided not to bother. "Next, you need to change your appearance some."
"You could become a brunette!" Anya suggested with a grin. The comment didn't surprise anyone, as Anya was known for constantly changing her hair colour.
"Actually, that's not a bad idea," Willow said. "Here." She spread her hands and before Buffy could say anything, her hair was a deep brown.
"Wow!" Xander was amazed at the sudden change. "You look…"
"Evil," Anya interrupted. "Change it back."
At Buffy's noise of protest that she could look evil, Xander continued, "What I was going to say, was that you remind me of Cordelia."
Buffy's eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped slightly.
"And the difference is…?" Willow asked, changing the hair back to blonde.
"Can we leave my hair alone? There are blondes all over the place," Buffy replied grumpily, grabbing her hair and inspecting it, making sure it was okay.
"You're absolutely right," Giles said. "Your eyes are your most noticeable feature," Buffy straightened proudly, "They'll have to be blue."
"Why not brown?" Xander asked, oblivious to the deflating Buffy and the magic Willow was performing.
"Blonde women with brown eyes are uncommon. And now your name," Giles said, looking over Buffy.
"Not Joan!" Willow, Xander, and Anya all exclaimed at once.
Giles blinked at the force of the statement, and was confused as well.
"What is wrong with Joan?" Buffy asked exasperatedly, placing her hands on her hips.
"It's just…"
"Well…"
"I mean…"
"I wasn't going to be Joan anyway," Buffy said, satisfied with her friends' lack of response. "I've already been Joan. Her ego was too big. I didn't like her."
At this, her friends raised their eyebrows. "Ah, Buff…" Xander started to point out, but was interrupted by Buffy's next sentence.
"I want to be Sarah. Sarah Fox." There was a pause, then...
"Foxy lady. I approve," Xander said, forgetting about his previous comment.
"Thanks," Buffy said dryly, using her accent once again. "Not that I really needed your approval."
"I can't believe you're English," Xander said for the billionth time.
"Yes, well, unfortunate and unexplainable things happen in life," Giles said.
"Hey!" Buffy cried, offended.
"Shouldn't we be going?" Willow asked in an attempt to break up a likely argument. It worked, as everyone grew somber, thinking about the task ahead.
"We should," Buffy said at last, striding towards the pub door. Opening it, the group stepped inside a dark and shabby looking place. The low chatter stopped immediately at their entrance and all eyes turned on them.
"Why do I feel like we're in a zoo?" Xander asked quietly.
"We might as well be," Buffy replied. "To them, we're just muggles."
"May I help you?" asked an older looking man behind the bar.
"Tom?" Buffy asked without thinking.
The bartender's eyes narrowed slightly, and he looked upon her with suspicion. "Yes?"
Thinking quickly, Buffy said, "I've heard so much about you and your place. My friend used to come here and since I'm back in town, he insisted I stop on by. I'm Sarah Fox. These are my friends. We've been out amongst the muggles; can't let them know about us, can we?" Buffy asked, referring to their weird dress. When she uttered the word muggles, everyone relaxed and began talking once again. The atmosphere warmed up quite a bit.
"Well, it's a lovely place you have here. I need to stop at Gringotts quickly; otherwise I'd stay for a drink. It was nice to meet you." Buffy quickly ushered everyone away before anyone could ask questions.
"What's Gringotts?" Willow asked once they had exited the bar and entered into a courtyard with not exit.
"And where are we?" Xander added, looking around at the only items scattering the place: a trash can and a few weeds.
"Gringotts is a bank, and we're at the entrance to Diagon Alley," Buffy said distractedly. "Unfortunately I don't have my wand. Willow, do you think you can open this door?"
"What door?" Willow looked at Buffy as if she was crazy; a brick wall surrounded them.
"It's hidden. Three up, two across from the trash can. I think. Just give the brick a little push with your magic; a tap of some sort." Buffy pointed out the bricks and encouraged Willow, who did as she was directed.
To everyone but Buffy's surprise, the brick began to jiggle and a hole appeared at its centre. With each passing second, the hole grew bigger and bigger until a massive archway took the place of the once solid brick wall.
"Awesome," Xander breathed, breaking the silence.
"Come on, it gets better inside." Buffy led them down the cobbled street with shops on both sides. There was a cauldron shop, and Apothecary, an Owl Emporium, a bookstore, a quidditch shop, etc. Standing out amongst the smaller shops was a massive white building.
"That's Gringotts," Buffy said, pointing to the huge structure. "And those are the goblins that run it," she added when she saw Willow give a little start. "Don't mess with them - they're nasty little creatures."
Because Buffy didn't have a vault, she decided to open an account. She was sure it would come in handy later. The goblin, a mean looking one named Griphook, gave her a key, emphasizing that she shouldn't lose it.
Then, she changed some of her American money into Wizarding money, much to the surprise of the goblin. She didn't have any British pounds yet; she hadn't found the need for them as it would have been two exchanges. This way she saved time and money. Amazingly enough, the US dollar had a better exchange rate.
Buffy didn't have to worry about money anymore because the insurance company paid her nicely after all her belongings were in the hole that used to be Sunnydale.
While she was busy with the transactions, her friends stood mesmerized by the whole place. Xander was flat out staring at the grumpy goblins while Willow tried to look anywhere but them. Anya, on the other hand, was much more fascinated with the large jewels and precious gems that were being measured along various countertops.
"Look at that Ruby…." She moaned, grasping Xander's arm. "So much money everywhere… I think I'm going to go into banking. Retail is over."
Giles was more focused on the transaction Buffy was dealing with than anything else. Although he did keep sneaking glances at the goblins when he thought no one was looking.
Once everything was in order, Buffy led her friends to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "When in Rome…" Buffy said gloomily.
"I thought Romans wore togas," Xander said.
"No, it's a saying. 'When in Rome, do as the Romans,'" Willow explained.
"So, no they don't wear togas?" Xander asked, ignoring the latter part of her sentence.
"Yes they do, I mean, did, wear togas," Willow said.
"I thought we were getting robes," Anya interjected. "Not togas."
"We are," Buffy said, confused as to where this was going.
"And since when are we in Rome?" Anya asked. "This is England."
"Land of the Gileses and tweed." Xander said. "And now Buffy," he added snickering.
"What?" Giles, who was completely baffled, asked.
"When you're in Rome, you wear togas, and if we're in Rome, like Buffy said, but we're clearly not, than why are we buying robes?"
"It's a saying!" Willow yelled frustrated. "We're not actually in Rome and people in Rome don't even dress in togas anymore!"
"We could go into the store and get the robes so that people out here would stop looking at us," Buffy said, ending the confusion.
They each got fitted with a few robes, because they didn't know exactly how long they would be there. Giles and Xander stuck with basic black, not daring to chance much else.
The girls, however, chose a black one and two coloured ones, each suiting their own tastes. Buffy had been forced into choosing a blue one, to bring out her eyes, and a green one, to bring out her real eye colour when she changed them back.
When Buffy pulled out the money to pay for everything, Anya's eyes went wide. "Is that gold?" she asked, scooting towards Buffy.
"Yes," Buffy said slowly.
"Real gold?" Anya asked, reaching her hand out towards the money before Buffy quickly snatched her hand away and handed it to Madam Malkin.
"I'm sorry," Buffy apologized to the storekeeper. "My friend is crazy. She can't control herself sometimes; it's a sad disease."
"Hey!" Anya said, disappointed when the gold disappeared and then offended with Buffy's words.
"Look, there she goes again. Thank you so much!" Buffy said, dragging her friends out the doors.
Xander took his cue to calm Anya down while they headed to the one store Buffy desperately wanted to go.
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Olivanders.
Buffy pushed open the door and stepped into the small, dark, and dusty room. A bell jingled, announcing their arrival.
There wasn't much room, but all five of them squeezed together. Giles sat on the single chair, leaving more room for those standing.
"It reminds me of the library," Willow whispered quietly, gazing at the shelves full of long rectangular boxes.
The back of Buffy's neck tingled, just like it had when she'd first come here. There was something about the magic in this place…
She felt someone in the shadows near her right and she turned, looking into the darkness.
"Good afternoon," an old man greeted softly, emerging from the shadows that Buffy was staring at.
The other four occupants of the room jumped at the sudden arrival of the man.
He stepped toward Buffy, his pale eyes searching her blue ones, searching her soul. What he was looking for, no one knew, but he always seemed to find it.
He gave a startled gasp and took half a step back. "It cannot be," he exclaimed. "But it is you. It must be you. Elizabeth Potter."