Introductions

Spike grinned when he finally got a decent look at his surroundings. They had managed to land in the middle of the entrance hall. The giant double doors leading to the dining area were closed, presenting an imposing impression on Lorne and the muggles. Buffy helped everyone stand up and get their bearings. She also explained where they were before leading them toward the door.

"Buffy?" Tara spoke up. When the smaller blonde gave Tara her attention she continued. "Shouldn't we take our stuff?"

"No, the house elves will take them to our suite. I don't know where it is yet, but we can ask Grandad when we say hi."

"House elves?" Willow whispered to Oz. The werewolf shrugged, showing that he didn't know either. All conversations stopped when Buffy pushed open the great doors revealing five long tables and about seven older people, one of whom had a long white beard tucked into his belt and merrily twinkling blue eyes.

"Buffy, Dawn," the old man greeted. "It's so good to see both of you again. And these must be your friends," he continued, looking over the rest of the group. His eyes came to a stop when they rested on Spike. "William Lystra, I presume?" Spike nodded, suddenly feeling like a small child who had done something wrong somehow. "You don't look a day over twenty, and yet I know for a fact that you must be over a hundred years old."

"I… uh… got turned into a vampire a week after I turned twenty-one," Spike admitted, running a hand through his hair.

"That would explain things. Buffy, would you care to introduce your friends? I will do likewise with the professors when you finish."

"You know Dawn, Spike, and myself. The knowing Spike thing is a little freaky- "

"I was there at his birth; of course I know him. His mother was one of my best friends in our school days."

"That's cool. Oh, and Angel and Anya both attended Hogwarts, too."

"When did you attend?" a greasy haired professor sneered.

"I graduated 446 years ago. I'm the one who turned Spike." ()()

"I was the fifteenth person accepted into this school. Godric's son, Jamis, asked me to our fourth year's Yule Ball. He stepped on my toes and I poured punch over his head. Then he dumped me for some slut and I turned him into a toad." Everyone stared at Anya with blank looks. The Scoobies were the first to recover.

"Was that before or after you became a vengeance demon?" Andrew asked.

"Way before. It wasn't until I turned my husband Olaf into a troll that I became a Justice Demon. Salazar laughed when he saw Jamis; none of the Slytherins really liked Jamis since he broke Salazar's daughter Evie's heart."

"And back to the introductions," Dawn broke in, glaring pointedly at Buffy.

"Right! These are our friends Willow Rosenberg and Tara Maclay; they're Wiccans. Oz, short for Daniel Osborne, is a werewolf, Andrew Wells is a geek, and Rupert Giles and Wesley Wyndam-Price are ex-Watchers. Giles attended school here back when he was young. However long ago that was…" As she said each of their names, Buffy indicated the person or people she was introducing with a wave of her hand.

"Cordelia Chase is a seer, and Alexander Harris, known as Xander, sees things. He's not a seer, but he notices things that nobody else does. Or he did until Caleb punched out his eye. Do you think we could make him a new one?" Dumbledore nodded with a small smile while the rest of the professors looked on in shock at this unique group of people. "Charles Gunn is a kind of… freelance demon hunter, and Faith Summers is a Slayer like me. She's mine and Dawnie's cousin. We're just starting to get along.

"Finally there's Winifred Burkle, but she prefers Fred, who's really good at Chemistry… Potions stuff. I mean, she's uber-good! And last but not least is Krevlorneswath of the Deathwok Clan. He's a demon who can read a person's emotions when they sing. He's going by Lorne Krevswath while we're here. You're turn."

"Would you like to give us the ages of these… children? For that is what they are."

"For your information, you greasy, winged rodent, Dawn is the only one of us young enough to be considered children! Me, Xander, Tara, Willow, Cordy, Oz, Andrew, and Faith are twenty-three. Wesley's twenty-nine, Gunn's twenty-seven, and Fred's twenty-six. Giles is forty-five, Spike's 121, Lorne's 392, Angel's 463, and Anya's 1,023. So shut up." Snape's lips snapped shut with a pop, his eyes wide in shock.

"Thank you, Buffy, but from now on, let me deal with problems amongst the staff. The man you seem unwilling to tolerate is Professor Severus Snape. To his right is Madame Agetha Hooch, followed by Rubeus Hagrid. To my left are my Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall, Professor Ebenezer Binns, and Madame Poppy Pomfrey. Severus is our Potions Master, Agetha is the flying instructor and Quidditch Professor. Minerva is the Transfiguration professor, Ebenezer teaches History of Magic, and Poppy is the nurse."

"Um… is there a reason we can see through Professor Binns?" Xander asked quietly.

"He's a ghost. He is the only professor who has been here longer than I have. And in case you're wondering, there is a tapestry in the main hall to the left of these doors. If you say a password, which I will leave to you to decide, you may enter to find your suite. Unfortunately you will have to share rooms; two people to a room, though I doubt that will bother any of you over much. Dawn will need to be sorted, and will be bunking with one of you until school begins. During the year she will stay in her dormitory with her fellow house members."

"Thanks Grandad," Buffy chirped, earning another round of shocked looks from the professors up and down the table.

"Yes, I realize that you thought me to be a single old man, which I am, but once I had a wife and daughter. Joyce was my only child, but through her I got two beautiful granddaughters, and through them an adopted granddaughter in Faith. Oh, and Buffy, you must tell me exactly how many of your group are married?"

"Giles and Anya were married about a month ago, then Angel and I got married. About two weeks after we got married Gunn and Cordy had a double wedding with Wesley and Fred. You said in your letter that you could find teaching jobs for each of us, so none of us will be changing our last names just yet."

"Thank you, my dear, and congratulations all of you on joining together in wedded bliss. If you would like to take seats and eat?" Everyone nodded and quickly found a place to sit. Food immediately appeared on the table in front of them, as did plates, cup, and utensils. "I will have the list of your classes ready for you tomorrow. And when you decide which room to claim, just concentrate very hard on what you want the decorations to be, and I am sure the room will accommodate you."

…

After eating everyone headed to their suite. It was decided that the couples would share rooms, as would Dawn and Faith. Lorne would be the only one with his own room until Dawn moved into a dorm.

"What should the password be?" Dawn asked, looking at the golden tapestry.

"Joyce," Spike replied, looking to the others to see if they accepted it. Buffy smiled and nodded at him, and the others followed suit. They moved the tapestry aside and found a cozy room with a large fireplace, four doors, and a spiral staircase in it. The carpet was cream colored, and the furniture consisted of several small tables, three four-person couches, two loveseats, and two armchairs.

The farthest door proved to be a bathroom, while all three others were bedrooms. Wesley and Fred claimed the bedroom to the right of the bathroom, and Dawn and Faith took the one immediately to the right of it. Lorne took the room next to the main door. Each of them settled into their rooms and began to decorate it to suit their personality. The others headed up the stairs.

On the first landing were another four doors, one on either side of a hallway, and two side-by-side on the far wall. Each door led into a bedroom. The bedrooms on the left side of the hallway were connected by a bathroom, as were the ones on the right. Buffy and Angel took the first room on the right, while Giles and Anya took the room opposite it. Oz and Willow claimed the room connected to Buffy and Angel, and Andrew and Tara took the final bedroom on that floor.

Xander, Spike, Cordelia, and Gunn headed up another flight of stairs to the final floor. There were only two doors; one to the right, and one to the left. Xander and Spike took the left, and Gunn and Cordelia took the right. Once again the two bedrooms were connected by a bathroom. After the rooms had been decorated to taste, everyone gathered in the common room. Xander sat in one of the armchairs, pulling Spike into his lap. The vampire curled into the human's warmth and almost immediately fell asleep.

Faith and Dawn sat on the floor in front of a roaring fire, both seemingly mesmerized by the flames. Lorne settled himself into the other armchair and pulled a book out of his jacket. Giles and Anya settled on one loveseat, while Buffy and Angel took the other one. The other eight people sat or laid down on the three couches.

An hour later saw only Xander, Angel, Anya, Dawn, and Faith still awake. The others had fallen asleep in their earlier positions, not waking even when Lorne's book hit the floor. Dawn and Faith sat facing each other, a look of concentration on each face. They looked back down at their hands, then quickly looked back up.

"Hit me," Faith ordered. Dawn pulled a card off the top of the deck and handed it to Faith. "Nineteen," the slayer announced proudly.

"Twenty-one," Dawn countered smugly, showing the ten and the ace.

"Hey, why don't you two get to bed so Dead-boy and I can do likewise," Xander suggested, fighting back his third yawn in five minutes. "We still need to wake the others up and get them to bed."

"It's hard to believe dinner lasted five hours."

"Not really. We spent an hour doing the whole My Story, Your Story thing, then two hours on dinner, one to digest, another hour for dessert, and another hour and a half just drinking tea or coffee and chatting."

"I can't believe you just said chatting."

"I'm about to fall asleep after possibly the best meal I have ever tasted. I'm bound to say weird stuff. Now, off to bed. Faith you've been losing ever since Dawnie got the hang of the game. Call it a night and try again tomorrow." Everyone was woken or carried to bed then, and they settled in for the night.

…

"Good morning. I trust you all slept well?" Nods and various grunts answered Dumbledore's question.

"You can trust that few of us are morning people, too," Willow commented, grinning at the kind old man.

"I see that. Well, after breakfast I will show you your classes. Dig in."

Nearly an hour later everyone had eaten their fill. Even Angel and Spike were completely full, since the house elves had been told to prepare blood for two people. Spike had almost choked when he realized he was drinking human blood. He only calmed down when he was assured that no one had to die to provide him with his meal. Buffy had had the forethought to mention it to Angel the night before.

When they finished eating Buffy stood and took the list from Dumbledore. She walked back to the table and sat down in her seat.

"Buffy and Angel are teaching Defense against the Dark Arts," Buffy read. "Willow and Cordelia have Divination. Oz and Andrew will take over the job of Caretaker, since Mr. Filch has resigned. Tara will work with Hagrid in Care of Magical Creatures. Fred will have Potions with Snape, and Giles will teach History of Magic with Professor Binns. Xander and Anya will be teaching the new class of Demons 101. Faith and Gunn will have another new class called Muggle Defense. Oh! You guys get to actually fight!" Buffy complained before going back to her list. "Lorne and Wesley will teach Muggle Studies, and Spike will be a sub if any of us need it."

"Why is Spike the sub?"

"Because he has a pretty broad area of knowledge. He'll do great in any of our classes."

"So everyone's okay with what they teach?" Buffy questioned.

"I think so, but I'm not entirely sure what Divination entails," Cordelia admitted.

"I'll explain all of the classes to you guys later."

… … … … …

A/N: I know this chapter was mainly detail stuff, but I felt that it was needed. Oh, and the next chapter will be insanely long... Trust me on this... Please review and let me know what you think of this chapter? Thanks a bunch. Oh, and no one gets the special treat. Sorry. No one gave me the title/author of that story, so I'll let you guys know what it was: "Escape to Survive" by Anessa Ramsey. Great fic.

()() - Yeah, I'm twisting Angel's age around a little. Just making him a couple centuries older, nothing big…

Thankyous:

FOR CHAPTER ONE:

Kyra2 - Nope. As far as I know no one else is reappearing.

biteme - You did not read wrong. Xander and Spike are happily in love.

manticore-gurl071134 - Okee!

FOR CHAPTER TWO:

MeoW03 - I don't quite get what you were asking, but I hope you enjoy this fic.

manticore-gurl071134 - Thank you!

FOR CHAPTER THREE:

Kyra2 - Good, I was worried that I had lost a reader... My muses like to surprise everyone... me included

Miracle Angel Summers - I'm working on it, but it's a little slow coming.

ElisaCollette - Thanks so much! I always thought Willow was more an Oz person too.

UK All The Way - Thanks. I like Oz, too. Don't really know much about him as I have yet to watch seasons one through three... oh well.

General Mac - Okay.

texaswookie - That's just how this fic is going to be. Sorry. I hope the other stuff is enough to keep you reading it.

FOR CHAPTER FOUR:
Kyra2 - Apologizing is like a way of life for me. Ever seen Fruits Basket? I'm like a mixture of Ritsu and Kisa... Anyway, thanks for reviewing!

UK All The Way - Think about it. In season seven Willow tells Giles that he went all Dumbledore on her. In season five Dawn comments that she's going to high school; not Hogwarts. I'm just saying, they wouldn't know that kind of stuff. That's what I mean by ignore it. Part two: You're right. What I meant to say is that Wiccans are witches, but a different variety. Like dentists and neurologists are doctors, but they use different things to DO different things. That's all that comment was supposed to mean. Finally, thanks for bringing that lack of insight to my attention. There were probably others out there who thought I was totally dissing the Wiccans. And I hope you enjoy this story!

Goddessa39 - What exactly is a BA person? I like the Buffy/Angel thing... so there might be more, but most of my BTVS fics will revolve around Spike, as he's my favorite character. I know it's a bit fast right now, but I'm trying to work through the intros and get to the good stuff. I hope you like it enough to sit through it. I should have more details soon.

General Mac - In time.