DISCLAIMER: The characters aren't mine. I'm borrowing them from the esteemed Joss Whedon and J.K. Rowling.

SPOILERS/BACKGROUND: Everything from BtVS Season 1 to Season 6, AtS Seasons 1 to 3, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Reviews always welcome!


CHAPTER 31:

UNEXPECTED GIFTS



The sound of the dinner bell woke Willow, but she decided to forego her meal. She still had some food left over from breakfast, and she wanted time to work some more counter-charms and protective enchantments on her bedroom before she had to leave. She had worked a few before she had gone to bed, figuring that people were still a little worried about trying anything against her at the time, but she did not intend to come back to any nasty surprises.

She worked for close to an hour, until the Willow in the painting on her wall made a motion at her wrist as though pointing to a watch. Willow nodded. It was time to go visit Professor Moody.

She shook her head sadly as she passed out through the Slytherin common room. There were a half-dozen people in the room; most drew out of her way nervously as she passed. Vincent Byron, just returning from dinner, gave her a polite smile and a formal bow, which she didn't understand until he explained that her actions that morning had restored his place at the table by weakening the coalition that had been forcing him downward. She shook her head sadly again as she passed from the chamber.

Moody's office was larger than most professors', and was as messy as any boys' dormitory Willow had ever seen back at UC-Sunnydale. He was sitting at his desk, with his back to her, poring over a book of some kind and casting occasional glances into a hazy mirror in which misty shapes drifted about.

"Willow," he said, without turning around. "Come in, lassie."

Willow stepped in hesitantly and closed the door. "Um … you wanted to talk to me?"

"I remember," Moody said. "Have a seat."

Willow lowered herself onto a simple wooden chair by the door.

"Do you want the bad news first?"

"Might as well," Willow replied glumly.

"Dumbledore and I spoke with the board of directors this morning. Unfortunately, our right honorable Minister is basically a pawn of the families of some of your playmates from this afternoon, so the odds were pretty good that he was going to be leaning on them by sundown if we didn't talk to them first."

"Oh, wonderful," Willow groaned softly, remembering the short man who had appeared in Buffy's living room all those weeks ago and who had been rather … uneasy … about her attending Hogwarts. He had been more inclined to send her to some kind of prison somewhere. Azkaban, she remembered now, and after several weeks at Hogwarts, that name had more meaning to her now than it had in May.

"Politics can be a rough business," Moody concurred. "But we got the board to promise that they would tell Fudge that they'd already been informed of events, things were taken care of, and didn't want to be bothered with it anymore.

"Taken care of?"

Moody sighed. "We had to tell them that you'll be confined to Hogwarts for the remainder of the summer, save for Hogsmeade visits. No more trips to Diagon Alley, and if you had any plans to go visit Buffy or Harry again, they'll have to get put on hold. The directors are worried that something might … provoke … you again, and this time somewhere where Dumbledore and I and the rest of the staff aren't around. The directors feel that it might look … unpleasant … if a student under their care became an Auror-level incident."

Willow groaned and buried her head in her hands. She supposed she would feel the same way if she were a member of the school board, but that was harsh. She had indeed planned to go visit Buffy as soon as possible, probably that Friday, and she and Harry had been planning another trip to Diagon Alley to coincide with another one of Harry's Uncle Vernon's business trips just a week later. She had quickly grown to love Hogwarts, but nonetheless the thought of not being able to leave while her two best friends here were kept away seemed to make the space inside the walls shrink.

Something occurred to her. "They aren't sending me away? But all the people I ended up fighting with are still here! Are they going anywhere?"

"Oh … no," Moody answered casually.

"Isn't that … well …?"

"That kind of stuff happens all the time at Hogwarts. I'm sure you've heard a small fraction of the exploits of the Weasley twins by now. You know the stairwell. You've probably even seen other students dueling from time to time. The rules for what is … normal … are a little different here."

"Quite an exciting day for you today," Moody noted.

"Not my word for it," Willow breathed wearily. "I just spent the last hour working counter-hexes on my room, and I'm probably going to have to go to the library tonight to find more."

Moody smiled, as though she had said something that he had been hoping she'd say. "Actually, that's one of the other things I wanted to talk to you about. Two of them, actually."

"Oh? Is this a good or bad thing?"

Moody shrugged. "It probably would have been a good thing if you could have stayed out of sight, but since it's happened, I guess this is a good thing from where you stand now."

"Oh. OK."

Moody took a pair of books off his desk and handed them to her. "You could go to the library to look for some stuff for your room," he said, "but I think you might find some excellent ideas to begin with in here."

Willow's eyes widened as she took the books. She thought he was bringing her here to discipline her for fighting. He was loaning her books? She took a glance at the titles of the books: Constant Vigilance, Vol. I & II.

"They're my old books from the Auror Academy," Moody explained. "You look like you're absorbing this stuff like a sponge. If you get through all the stuff for the summer, you might want to start on some of those. They go up to volume twelve, so you can come back if you finish these."

"If I get through … professor, I'm barely at the third-year material."

"In some of your subjects," Moody agreed. "But what about in Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"Well, I guess I'm a little ahead there … I mean, I came in knowing some stuff, you know." That was a bit modest even for her, she realized, but she had always been a little uncomfortable talking about how fast she could learn things when she really pushed herself.

"Oh, I know," Moody agreed. "That's half the point. The other half is that you write to Harry more than any of us on the faculty have time to. He's always itching for things to do during the summer."

Willow thought about that for a moment, then realized where he was going. Her eyes widened. "I can copy things out of here," she concluded.

"Precisely. He wants to be an Auror more than anything, and Buffy said that you were a good teacher." Moody said. Willow couldn't suppress a surge of pride at that. She had always thought she would be a teacher herself someday before discovering her Wiccan side. "So you can learn things from here, use them yourself, and also send them to him. I'd learn the mail-encryption charms quickly, though. After today, if your mail wasn't already watched, it will be."

"Oh, great."

Moody shrugged. "Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. Others, you have to punch back, but I think we'd all be happier if you stuck with rolling for the moment."

"No argument," Willow agreed earnestly. "Me and the punching don't go so well together."

Moody laughed. "Caution is the highest virtue of an Auror," he said loftily. Then, less formally, "believe me. I know."

"And what was the second thing? You said I'd reminded you of two things to talk to me about?"

"Ah, yes," he said. "You were talking about looking up room enchantments in the library. I've sent word to Madame Pince. The restricted section of the library is open to you."

Willow's eyes widened. That was not something she had expected to hear here at all. "Wha … why?"

Moody shrugged. "Just in case you need something that isn't in one of my books or the unrestricted section," he said. "Don't let it go to your head. Abuse it, and the privilege can be taken back. But Dumbledore trusts you, and I might, too, if I trusted anyone."

"Well … um, thanks, I guess …"

Moody smiled. "Don't mention it."

"OK," Willow answered, a little overwhelmed. She had more than enough work to do trying to catch up six years in twelve weeks. And yet, Moody did have a point; she was well ahead of the sixth-years already in Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts, since those built on a lot of her previous learning. Furthermore, even she understood the Slytherin political game well enough to know that she had made a target of herself that morning.

"There's one more thing," Moody said, and for the first time, Willow heard a hint of uneasiness in his voice.

"Yes?"

"Lupin is still out of commission, …"

"Um … I really don't think there's anything I can …"

"Of course not," Moody cut her off. "That wasn't what I was asking. He'll have to make it through that on his own. But he was also my best sparring partner at Hogwarts."

Willow's jaw dropped. "You aren't serious!"

"If you can radiate multiple Shield Charms in rapid succession and weave an Obliviate into a Soundburst, you're already good as some Aurors."

"Did I mention the whole me not being with the punching and dueling thing?"

"Aye, that you did," Moody confirmed. "But if it becomes known that you're training with me, people also might be more inclined to leave you alone. I do have a reputation in certain quarters."

"Um … can I think about it?" Willow asked, not really wanting to accept but also not really wanting to refuse.

Moody chuckled. "You can just turn it down, girl, I'm not going to revoke your library privileges just because you won't spar with me."

"No, no, it isn't that," Willow said. She sighed resignedly. "I'm probably going to have to learn … you know, that kind of thing … eventually. But it's just … well, it's really not me. I'm much more the read-the-book-and-do-it-like-it-says type."

The one-eyed professor grinned patiently. "I know. But practical Defense Against the Dark Arts is something you can't just learn from a book. You've already progressed passed Lupin's level, which means I'd have been teaching you anyway, if you were in class. And," his voice softened a note, "I think some people who care about you might feel better knowing you know how to defend yourself."

Oh, that is just not fair, Willow groaned inwardly. It was true, though. Harry was not only a fighter, but one who wanted to be an Auror someday and had already started teaching some of his fellow students Defense Against the Dark Arts outside of class. Also, people who got involved with him had a strange tendency to get involved in battles.

"I think I can do all right," Willow said defensively.

"Aye, that you do, lassie, that you do," Moody agreed. "And never forget that you have friends in case you get into trouble, too. It's good to have people you can turn to—take it from someone who knows the reverse. Anyway, if you ever want to take me up, you know where to find me."

"Uh … thanks," Willow said.

"All right, go on, run along," Moody said, seeing that she was waiting to see if he had anything else to say. Willow quickly made her exit, taking the two books with her.

Why do I need more reading material? she wondered. I've already got so much more than I can handle. I don't have the time for anything new. I'm already doing too much. I'm …

She suddenly stopped and smiled self-depreciatingly, as she realized where her feet were taking her.

I'm on my way to the restricted section of the library.

Moody had been right. She was only still on the third-year books on the subjects she had no background in: Care of Magical Creatures and History of Magic, mostly. In most things, she was already at the fifth-year material. What the wizarding world classified as Charms and the Dark Arts had basically been her forte before coming to Hogwarts, and she had been a quick study even with the limited resources of Giles' collection to work with. With the Hogwarts library at her disposal, and freed of the need to worry about things like Muggle schoolwork and paying bills, she had been able to move forward even more quickly, and that had been before Hermione had shown her the Speedreading Serum.

She entered the library. Madame Pince was seated at her usual place behind the circulation desk.

"Um … excuse me …" Willow said hesitantly. She had no idea what the procedure was for going into the restricted section.

The generally stern-looking librarian smiled understandingly. "First time in the restricted section, eh? Go on ahead, Alastor said you'd be stopping by."

"That's it … no cards or anything?"

"Cards? We don't play cards in the library … though I always did like a good game of whist …"

"Never mind," Willow broke away with a wan smile and made her way back through the main stacks to the entrance to the restricted section. She had seen it dozens of times; it was nothing more than a roped-off entrance. She had always wondered if it were magically warded or if the honor system simply held at Hogwarts.

She unhooked one end of the barrier and stepped through, tentatively. Nothing happened. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Willow quickly realized that she could spend hours here doing nothing but gaping at some of the books Hogwarts had squirreled away. The restricted section was a lot larger than it looked; from the outside, it appeared to be a small corner of the main library, but it sprawled through several other rooms whose entrances were invisible from the barrier between the restricted and unrestricted sections. Eventually, however, she remembered what she had come here for. She browsed through the shelves until she found a section on specialist charms for shielding rooms and residences, and picked up a couple of the most advanced books she could find.

As she carried them to the circulation desk, she saw once again that the Baron had been right: in order to avoid playing politics, she had to play politics. All she wanted was some privacy in her room from the Slytherins and their power games. Yet in order to do that, she had just used a privilege she had been granted largely because she had been drawn into those very games that morning on the stairs of the Entrance Hall. The Game was like quicksand. The more you struggled against it, the more it pulled you in.

Now, almost in spite of herself, she had just taken on five of Slytherin's best at once and won, had amassed forty-two points since coming to school, had gotten access to the restricted section of the library, and had a standing offer to be a sparring partner with an elite ex-Auror. That was without anyone even knowing that she was dating the wizarding world's biggest celebrity, or that she had captured Peter Pettigrew, or about any of the things she had done back in Sunnydale.

She groaned as she reached the Slytherin common room. She had never paid much attention to the fact that her bedroom was on the prefects' floor. Four of the five people she had squared off against that morning were prefects, meaning they lived right down the hall from her, and she had to pass all of their doors to get to her own, as the double she and Buffy shared was at the end of the hall. In addition, the bathrooms were corridor baths, meaning that she was going to have to share a bathroom with the three female prefects. She sighed as she ascended the stairs, Moody's books and her new books from the restricted section all clasped under one arm, to leave room for her wand if she needed it. She was becoming more of a Slytherin than she was comfortable admitting to herself.

It was going to be a long few weeks.

Author's Notes: Sorry for having gone on a long time with the Willow scenes without switching back to Buffy; the last three chapters were originally two; I split them to keep them in the 8-10 page range. The next chapter will be Buffy-centric.

Thanks again for all your support!

ShadowElfBard, Angus Hardie, organized-chaos: Thanks for the props on the Moody-Dumbledore scene; I've always liked trying to imagine how the semi-major characters act when Harry isn't around, that was how I'd always pictured them.


Coming Soon: Chapter 32, "The Possibilities Are Endless." Buffy and Voldemort have a conversation or two, and Buffy has a flashback to her experience with the boggart and dementors.


Sneak Preview:

"What do you want with me?"