'Italicized words with single quotation marks indicate thoughts.'

Chapter 3

"Giles!" boomed Buffy loudly as she swung opened library doors and barreled inside with Xander hot on her heels.

Giles walked out of his office with an exasperated expression on his face. "Please do remember this is a library. There is no need to shout at the top of your lungs," admonished Giles.

Buffy and Xander paid the scolding librarian no attention and continued. "G-man, we got a problem. Willow is missing," shouted Xander worriedly.

Giles's forehead creased with worry. "For how long?" asked Giles.

"She wasn't home when I called her last night and I haven't seen her in school all day," answered Buffy.

"That's odd. It's not like Willow to miss school," commented Giles.

"You're telling me. Willow loves school. It would have to be something really bad for her to miss it. I am totally freaking out right now," said Xander his voice filled with concern.

Just than Willow walked into the library wearing a pair of sunglasses over her eyes. Buffy and Xander ran over to her and engulfed the redhead in a warm hug.

"Guys what's wrong?" asked Willow in confusion.

"You missed school," said Buffy simply as if that would explain everything.

Willow yawned loudly. "Uh yeah?" said the tired redhead.

"Wills you never miss school," replied Xander.

"Well I kind of ran into that wizard guy last night," said Willow apologetically.

"You what!" shouted Xander, Buffy and Giles.

"Well actually he saved me from a vampire who went all grr on me and I was like all scared. Then he did this wand wavy thing and the vampire went poof. The next thing you know we were talking and he told me all about the Wizardry World. And Giles it was all so fascinating! Did you know they have schools that teach you magic! And…and he wants me to go. Isn't that so cool! Oh yeah by the way he wants to meet you guys. He'll be by later tonight. We were up all night talking about all sort of things, like what subjects I will have to take if I am accepted, and I kind of overslept. I just woke up an hour ago," babbled Willow excitedly.

"Wait a minute what school and why does he want you to go" asked Giles in confusion.

"Oh, did I forget to tell you. Well I'm a witch," beamed Willow proudly.

Giles spent the last three hours drilling Willow for details about her encounter with the wizard. Occasion he would scribble relevant information into his journal.

Suddenly there was a popping sound behind Buffy. The slayer reflexively swirled around to face the possible threat. She crouched low and kicked out her leg underneath the intruder's feet affectively knocking him to the ground and he landed with a thug on the floor. In a flash Buffy straddle him, pulled out her stake and pressed it against the man's chest.

"Stop Buffy!" shouted Willow and Giles in panic.

Buffy released the man with a flourish and turned to face Giles. "Well how was I supposed to know he was the wizard guy?! I never seen him before, he came out of nowhere and face it he looks like a vampire. Would it kill him to add some color to his wardrobe," defended Buffy.

Willow offered her hand to help Snape up, but his wounded pride wouldn't allow it and he waved her hand away as he gingerly hoisted himself off the floor. "I see that the Slayer is just as unrestrained and volatile as I have been told," drowled Snape dryly.

"Hey," shouted Buffy in indigenization as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Xander strolled over next to Snape waving a donut in the air. "Here's a tip. Don't ever sneak up on a slayer, you live longer that way," mumbled Xander over the donut he was current stuffing into his mouth.

The wizard sneered in disgust. "Well thank you for stating the obvious."

Giles offered Snape an apologetic smile, one that Snape recognized belonging to a man who was use to dealing with hormonal teenagers.

"You must be Professor Snape. I must apologize for the man-handling. We were not expecting you to just appear like that," offered Giles.

"Well I would have expected that from muggles. They tend to be ignorant of wizard's ways," commented Snape dryly.

"What's a muggle?" asked Xander curiously.

"You are or in other words non magical folk," explained Snape.

Buffy raised her hand. "Then what am I? I not exactly a muggle you know since I'm magically endowed with super-strength and stuff," asked Buffy curiously.

Snape cringed when his back twinge in pain as if to remind him exactly how strong Buffy was. "Yes you are a sturdy girl," sneered Snape.

Buffy narrowed her hazel eyes at him for the 'sturdy girl' comment.

"You are what we would call a magical creature, something akin to a giant or a troll maybe. I'm sure Hagrid would love to get his hands on you," replied Snape offhandedly.

"A troll! Why you greasy little ba…," yelled Buffy in outraged.

Willow giggled and placed her hand over her mouth to muffle the sound. Snape was good. Buffy was okay when it came to witty comebacks and banter, but Snape was the master.

"Enough!" shouted Giles as he stepped in front of his enraged slayer as she made a move towards Snape. "I think we have gotten ourselves off track. Let's get back to the manner at hand. What exactly do want with Willow?"

Snape stood tall and clasped his hands behind his back. "Ms. Rosenberg is a witch and it's our custom to educated all potential witches and wizards in the proper use of magic when their powers manifest themselves during their eleventh year, at which time the candidates receive an acceptance letter inviting them to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," explained Snape.

"Wait don't you have to be born a witch or wizard. Wouldn't that mean at least one of my parents has to be a witch or wizard? As far as I know both of my parents are muggles," asked Willow thoughtfully.

Snape quirked his eyebrow at Willow's questioned. It seemed that the girl had done her homework, which was a credit to the girl's intelligence. "True that is usually the case. But occasionally a witch or wizard is born from a muggle family. There may have been a witch or wizard in your family at one point," speculated Snape thoughtfully.

"Why didn't Wills get an acceptance letter when she turned eleven? I just can't believe it got lost in the mail for five years. Why did you wait so long to contact her," asked Xander. Xander had known Willow since they were six and he was sure that he would remember if she got a letter from a magical school.

"There are several factors that make Ms. Rosenberg a unique case. The first and the foremost is the fact that she was born on the Hellmouth, which effectively hid her from the Wizardry World. The truth is we didn't even know she existed until three months ago," admitted Snape as he began to pace the length of the room, his long black robe bellowed in his wake.

"That was when Willow performed the soul restoration spell, if I'm not mistaken?" asked Giles who had been habitually cleaning his glasses as he absorbed the information.

"That's correct. If Willow had not attempted such a powerful spell we would still be in the dark. I was sent here to asses the practicality of integrating her into our school," explained the Professor. 'And to see if she is any threat to our world,' added Snape silently. "The gap between her level of skill and other children her age may pose a problem considering most students start school when they are eleven years old."

"But I've been practicing all summer," whined Willow

"Willow!" cried Giles. Willow cringed at the sound of Giles's voice. She didn't mean to say that out loud. Giles didn't know that she had been practicing and she had attended to keep it that way.

"I am not too fond of the ideal of you teaching yourself magic. It is not something you should play around with. Magic is dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. If you're not careful you can seriously hurt yourself," lectured Giles.

"I concur. I shudder to think what could happen if the child was left to practice magic without proper training and supervision," agreed Snape.

The wizard turned to look Giles in the eye with a serious expression on his face. "As a watcher you must realize the danger of a natural-born witch living on a Hellmouth," said Snape gravely.

Giles pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Yes we had a confrontation with one a while ago. The woman was quite insane and she tried to take over her daughter's body to relive her days of youth," admitted Giles sadly.

"Do you wish a similar fate for Willow? Cause mark my words it will happen or worst if the girl remains here," warned Snape and the wizard stared at the watcher intensely until the man reluctantly nodded in agreement.

"I have already sent my recommendation to the Headmaster. All that awaits is his decision," finished Snape.

As if on cue, a large grey barn owl swooped down from the ceiling, hooted and dropped a letter into Willow's outstretched hands. Willow's large green eyes widen in surprise and she nervously opened the sealed letter. She pulled the piece of parchment out of the envelope with shaky hands and read the elegant print.


HOGWARTSSCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Wizard)

(Supreme Mugwump. International Confederation of Wizards)

Dear Miss Willow Ann Rosenberg,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at HogwartsSchool of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Due to your unique circumstances you will be placed with your peers in 5th year. To ease your transition into Hogwarts we request your immediate arrival so that you may take advantage of the remainder of the summer before the school term begins on September the 15th. Enclosed is a list of all necessary books and equipment.

We await your owl.

Yours Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

A.N. Thanks everyone for the encouragement. :)

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