Here's the chapter eight. Hope you all enjoy it!
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"Whoa! That was so cool!" Dawn sputtered as Aidan helped her to her feet after rolling out of the Firewell fireplace.
"Really?" Jordan asked skeptically.
"Yeah! I wanna do it again!" she exclaimed.
"I guess it's cool the first time around. After the third time it gets old and boring and tedious." Jordan mumbled.
Buffy came gracefully out of the fireplace and immediately got to her feet mid-roll.
"That was bracing." she remarked breathlessly.
Xander came tumbling out right afterwards and Buffy had to catch him before he ran into the couch. He stood up shakily and shook the soot off of him.
"I think I'm gonna be sick." he put his hand over his mouth.
Jordan turned pale and started backing out of the living room in case he had to toss his cookies.
"Floo-sickness. It happens." Aidan said casually as he handed Xander a green vial.
"What's this?" Buffy asked.
'It's a potion to get rid of the Floo-sickness. My sister made it for our cousin, Luke. He used to suffer from Floo-sickness real bad. Now he can apparate so he doesn't have to floo." Aidan said.
"Give it to me." Xander snatched the vial out of Aidan's hand and gulped it down.
It worked instantaneously as color returned to Xander's face and he stopped breathing so hard.
"Wow. It tastes good too." he commented.
Giles stepped out of the fireplace and brushed himself off.
"Interesting." he said.
"Um Giles, you might wanna move." Dawn warned.
Giles moved out of the way in time for Willow to appear. She seemed to like flooing as much as Dawn did and happily asked if she could do it again.
"At least it's got her mind off of Kennedy." Buffy whispered to Xander, who nodded in agreement.
"Oh good you're here." Jordan's grandmother said from the kitchen.
Springer came into the living room carrying a tray of coffee, tea, and cookies.
"I is Springer the house elf sirs and misses. I is at your service." he squeaked and bowed after he set the tray on the coffee table.
"Oh he's so cute!" Willow cooed.
Springer beamed at her and bowed again.
"Is he like a servant or something?" Buffy asked Jordan.
"Yeah. He's been with the family since before Aidan and I were born." she replied.
"Cool. I want one." Dawn said.
Jordan's parents came into the living room to greet their guests.
"Miss Summers I am glad you and your friends could come." Mr. Firewell greeted as he shook their hands.
"Yeah so are we. This is quite a place you got here." Buffy remarked.
"Thanks. My wife's family and my own have always been pretty well off. And her taste in decor isn't too bad either eh?" Mr. Firewell said.
"Where is Hermione, Jordan?" Mrs. Firewell asked.
"She had to floo to her parents first to let them know what's going on. Then she's coming back." Jordan answered as she helped herself to a cookie.
"Holy crap! Are the people in these pictures moving?" Dawn exclaimed after examining a picture of Jordan and Aidan when they were five.
The young twins were waving and splashing around in a pool.
"Oh yeah. That's how pictures are in our world." Aidan said.
"Well so they are." Giles noted as he examined some pictures too. "Remarkable."
"Your world is so cool." Dawn commented for like the fortieth time that day.
"Yeah it's okay." Aidan said while grinning at Dawn's delight.
Hermione finally arrived and everyone entered the dining room. Dawn and Willow wanted to do more exploring so Jordan and Aidan promised to give them a tour of the manor when dinner was finished.
While they ate they spoke of many things. Mostly the Firewell family along with Hermione answered questions about the Wizarding World.
"Whoa you mean that the stereotype is true? Witches do fly brooms?" Buffy asked.
"Not all of us do. I know a couple who are scared shi-I mean really scared of heights. They wouldn't get on a broom if their life depended on it." Jordan said.
"So do you guys fly on brooms?" Xander asked.
"I don't, but my friends, Harry and Ron, are on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Gryffindor is the house we are in at school." Hermione said.
"Jordan and I are Chasers on our team. We don't exactly call it 'house', we call it the Phoenix group." Aidan said.
Buffy and the rest of the Scoobies looked at each other with confused expressions on their faces. Xander finally spoke up,
"I think I speak for everyone here when I say, huh?"
Hermione sighed as Jordan and Aidan launched into their explanation of the sport known as Quidditch with an excitement akin to the excitement of Harry and Ron whenever they spoke of it. They ended up explaining it about three times because it was a bit confusing to the Muggles.
"So you actually have these balls that go around hitting people? That's kind of dangerous isn't it?" Willow asked.
"The bludgers don't hurt too bad when you get used to it. If you got good beaters on your team, then they really aren't much of a problem." Jordan replied.
Springer came around to refill drinks. Hermione gripped the glass she was holding in her anger at the slave labor being demonstrated that she forgot her new slayer strength and squeezed it so hard it shattered into a dozen shards. The sharp pieces cut into her hand and the rest flew all over the table.
"Whoa! Something wrong Hermione?" Aidan asked with concern while wiping bits of glass off his shirt.
She looked down at her bleeding hands and almost smacked herself in the head at her carelessness. I need to be more careful from now on.
"You're bleeding. Here." Jordan took a napkin and ripped it in half. She wrapped the two pieces around Hermione's hands.
The bushy-haired witch just blinked back tears of anger and humiliation at herself and allowed Jordan to press down on the cuts. She winced in pain when she pressed a little too hard.
"Sorry. Sometimes I forget my own strength, which I'm guessing just happened to you. Were you upset about something?" the auburn-haired slayer asked softly.
Something landed on the table beside Hermione and she jumped when she saw the beautiful golden plumage of a phoenix. The room was filled with "oooohs" and "aaaahs" at the beautiful bird.
"You have a phoenix?" Hermione asked.
"Yep. Her name is Jinx. I think she wants to heal you." Jordan said as she extended her arm for Jinx to hop on.
Jordan brought Jinx over to Hermione and she took off the napkins covering her cuts. The phoenix craned her neck and let some glistening tears drop on each of Hermione's hands. As soon as the liquid made contact with her cuts, they healed up instantly. The rest of the table was silent. The Scoobies were staring at the spectacle in amazement.
"She must like you. She doesn't normally do that to people she's just met." Aidan remarked.
Hermione smiled at Jinx and scratched her head affectionately.
"Thank you." she whispered.
Jinx nodded her head like she understood and fluttered away leaving Hermione to stare at her newly healed hands.
"That was mine and Aidan's pet phoenix. She was a baby gift to our parents when we were born from our Godparents. Phoenix tears have healing powers." Jordan explained to the Scoobies.
"Wow. She was so pretty." Willow breathed.
Springer cleaned up any remaining pieces of glass and dinner continued. No one said much of anything during the last half of dinner. Jordan watched Hermione out of the corner of her eye to see if she was going to have anymore mood swings. She resolved to ask the girl what was bothering her later.
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"This is one hell of a training room." Buffy commented.
The Scoobies, Hermione, and the Firewell twins were standing in a large room filled with mats, punching bags, an assortment of weapons and other training equipment.
"Yeah. My parents had it built when they first found out I was a potential." Jordan said.
"Your parents were actually in the know of this whole slayer thing?" Buffy asked incredulously.
"Just about everyone in the Wizarding World knows of the slayer. I learned about her in my Defense Against the Dark Arts class." Hermione said.
"How much do you know?" Xander asked.
"Oh we learned about the whole legacy. The 'she alone will stand against the forces of darkness...' and all that." Aidan answered.
"Damn. I wish someone woulda told me before I got called." Buffy huffed.
The group left the room and walked into a hallway, which was covered wall to wall with moving pictures. The Scoobies had to take a couple moments to look at each one and marvel at the people moving in the photographs.
"Aidan, I'm going to show Dawn and Hermione my room. Give the rest the outside tour." Jordan said.
Aidan nodded and led the others onto the balcony and down the spiral staircase to the grounds.
Jordan brought the other girls into a bedroom that they were guessing at its messy state belonged to Jordan.
"This is my humble abode." she gestured to the huge room.
There was a four-poster bed with purple and silver blankets by the windows. Posters of the Netherworld Avengers, phoenixes, unicorns, and Quidditch teams plastered the walls. There was a shelf hanging above a desk littered with parchment, quills, books, and little knickknacks. It was adorned with Quidditch awards, potions competition awards, and little figurines. A huge bookshelf full to the brim with books and other things stood by a dark wooded wardrobe. Jordan's school things were in a chest by her bed.
"Wow. Looks real cozy." Dawn remarked.
"It certainly is quite big." Hermione said.
"I know it isn't that clean. I've been away from it for four months and I kinda left it in the exact same state it's in now." Jordan said.
Dawn wanted to go through all of Jordan's wizarding paraphernalia, but she didn't want to snoop. This world fascinated her and the thought that she might really be a part of it was almost too good to be true.
"Miss Jordan? I has some cookies that your grandmother made. She thoughts you might be wanting some." Springer said from the doorway while holding a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies.
"Thank you Springer. I haven't eaten some all day." Jordan said happily as she relieved the small house elf of his burden.
Dawn noticed that something was bothering Hermione. Her face was red and her hands were clenched into fists.
"Hermione? What's wrong?" she asked cautiously.
"Slave labor." Dawn heard her mutter in anger.
Jordan's sensitive ears picked it up and she turned to Hermione with a look of confusion. She quickly swallowed the cookie she had shoved in her mouth before she spoke.
"Slave labor? What is that supposed to mean?"
Hermione pointed to the house elf dressed in a patchwork quilt.
"Slave labor! He is nothing but your slave!" she cried angrily.
The look of confusion passed from Jordan's face to one of understanding.
"Oh that's what's been eating you." she said.
Springer was twisting his hands in a nervous gesture and he looked pleadingly up at his young mistress.
"You can go Springer." she dismissed.
He bowed and quickly exited the room.
"What you mean you don't pay him?" Dawn asked in surprise and anger.
"House elves don't wanna be paid. They love their jobs. Paying them would be like insulting them." Jordan explained.
That seemed a good enough explanation for Dawn and her anger quickly dissipated. It didn't seem to calm Hermione though.
"That's because they're brainwashed!" the bushy-haired brunette yelled. "Honestly you sound like my friend Ron!"
"Well it's true. It may not be something you find fancy, working for a family your whole life for no pay, but they like it just fine." Jordan said.
"Have you ever considered that Springer's attitude might change if you freed him?" Hermione asked.
"Free him? Are you nuts?" Jordan laughed. "If I ever freed him, he'd probably hang himself in shame with whatever piece of clothing I gave him. His family has been serving the Firewell family for generations. You don't just free house elves Hermione, the little guys have feelings."
Hermione huffed and walked out of the room. Jordan just shrugged and sat on her armchair.
"She'll get over it." she said to Dawn.
"I don't know, she seemed pretty pissed off." Dawn replied as her worried eyes remained on the doorway.
Buffy appeared in the doorway.
"What's wrong with Hermione? She seemed mad about something?" the blonde slayer asked.
"Oh you know, just the fact that Springer isn't paid and that he's like a slave." Dawn said casually.
"He's your slave?!" Buffy exclaimed.
Jordan sighed and shot Dawn an annoyed glare.
"Okay, from the top."