Disclaimer: BtVS belongs to Joss Whedon, Fox Television, etc. Highlander belongs to Panzer/Davis and a bunch of others, Hogwarts and its denizens belong to J.K.Rowling and co.
TtH100 Prompt: #043, Castle.
Word count: 1006
Note: This part is set post-"Faith in Winter"

"Why are we here?" Dawn asked, as they trudged down the worn dirt path under the ancient, gnarled trees. They'd left their car miles back, on the side of an almost non-existent old Roman road.

"We're here about a job." Amanda told her. Dawn noticed her nervously looking around. It didn't inspire confidence in their surroundings.

"What's wrong?" Dawn asked.

"It's not my favorite forest." Amanda murmured, waving at the odd trees.

"You've been here before?"

"Yes..." Amanda said. "It's the easiest to get where we're going."

"Oh." Dawn looked at her speculatively, while keeping her hand on the hilt of her small sword. Before she could question Amanda further, they reached the end of the forest and strode out into a green, sunlit meadow. Young voices echoed in the distance.

"Now where?" she asked curiously, looking around, trying to locate the voices.

"Over there." Amanda pointed towards a large dark object on the horizon.

Dawn frowned. It seemed to waver in the sun like there was a large wall made of frosted glass between her and the object. "What is that?" She asked, following Amanda further down the path.

"Our destination." She told Dawn, grinning about something only she knew about.

"What are you watching?" Hermione asked quietly, looking up from her book. Her friend seemed to be fascinated by something she could see from the window. She frowned. Ginny didn't seem to have heard her. "Ginny?"

"What?" She glanced over her shoulder at Hermione for a moment before returning to the window.

"What are you watching?" Putting her book down, she stood up and joined the red head. Looking out, there didn't seem to be anything special going on. She could see several unidentified students out near the lake. The Hufflepuff quidditch team was practicing over at the quidditch field. And Professor Dumbledore was standing on the path to the Forbidden Forest, almost directly below them.

"Them!" Ginny pointed towards two figures walking up the path towards the school.

Hermione watched them for several minutes. GInny admittedly had much better eyesight than she did but she didn't see anything special about the two women, dressed like muggles. "What about them?" she asked, slightly puzzled.

"There's something odd about them." Ginny answered vaguely.

Dawn stared up in awe at the large edifice. Living in Europe with her sister for several years, she'd certainly seen castles before. She'd even helped Buffy and Faith clean out a vampire nest in one several years before. But none of them had ever looked like this. She was so amazed that she almost missed Amanda introducing her to the old man in the strange clothes.

"Amanda. I'm delighted you could come." His eyes twinkled with humor, apparently not at all surprised when she hugged him. "And this is your new student?" He asked, smiling at Dawn.

"Yes." She answered with a wink in Dawn's direction. "Dawn, this is Albus Dumbledore, an old friend."

"Hi." She mumbled before her attention was attracted back to the castle. There was something about it that seemed to pull at her. Something she felt deep in her chest as it seemed to examine them with an invisible eye. "You know it's alive, don't you?" she blurted out when it suddenly occurred to her what it was that she felt from it.

Amanda stared at her. "Dawn? What do you mean?"

"You can't feel that?" Dawn asked curiously, not really surprised. Amanda was aware of magic, she'd even introduced Dawn to the almost mythical Cassandra the year before. But she didn't seem to have any ability to do even the few tricks Dawn had learned from Willow years ago. "It knows what we are." She concluded, loud enough for the others to hear.

"Albus?" Amanda asked their companion. "What's she talking about!"

Dawn heard the slight panic in her voice and turned to her, wrapping her arms around Amanda in a comforting fashion. "It's not a big deal, Amanda. It wouldn't have let us get this far if it didn't like us." She raise an eyebrow at Dumbledore, looking at him over Amanda's shoulder. "Right, Mr. Dumbledore?"

"Professor." Amanda corrected her absently. "Is she correct?"

"Yes." He looked at Dawn with a curious expression on his face. "Interesting." he commented after examining her for a minute before smiling at both of them and pulling a small back out of his long robe. "Lemon drop?"

The two women, clad in very unwizard-like clothes, quietly talked with Professor Dumbledore. Hermione watched them for a few minutes longer before returning to the table and her book.

"What is it?" She asked, seeing a very puzzled look on Ginny's face as she reluctantly left the window and joined Hermione back at the table.

"I'm sure I've seen one of them before." She muttered.

"Which one?" Hermione asked. They'd both seemed very similar to her eyes. Same black clothes, same height. They even stood the same. And they seemed to be the same age.

"The brunette. In a photograph or painting, maybe." Ginny murmured. "I'm not sure."

"I'm sure if they are important we'll find out." Hermione told her. "Where were we?" she asked, picking up her quill and grabbing a blank scroll.

"Muggle religions." Ginny reminded her. "Why they affect vampires."

"Right." Hermione started writing, chewing on her lower lip as she filled the scroll with the things they'd discussed. "Did you ask 'her' about this?" she asked a few minutes later.

"She's not religious." Ginny told her, giggling at some stray thought.

Hermione looked at her in surprise. "She fights real evil. Demons and vampires. She could die at any time" She shuddered at the thought. "And she's not religious?"

"She says Heaven is a real place and that's all she needs to know." Ginny shrugged. "She doesn't say much."

"Did she say how she knows that?" Hermione asked, thinking about Harry and his godfather.

"Not really." Ginny said, picking up a books. "She got this strange look on her face and wouldn't talk about it."

"Oh."

Additional Note: The 'she' referred to above... does not have blonde hair, and appears in another fic I've written that takes place at Hogwarts. She will eventually appear in one of these parts. When appropriate. Her name isn't important to this story/ficlet.