Disclaimer

All names, places and concepts related to

Buffy the Vampire Slayer are the property of Joss

Whedon.

All names, places and concepts related to

Harry Potter are the property of JK Rowling.

This applies to the entire work.

I own none of the songs that appear in this chapter:

"It don't matter" belongs to Alison Kraus

I have given a rating of PG due to a few swear words,

light adult themes and some violence.

This rating may be increased for later chapters.


The mismatched swirls of colour stopped as abruptly as they had started. Dawn felt solid ground beneath her feet and before she could steady herself she was on the cold ground next to Rona, Amanda and Kennedy. Andrew had found himself – while Dawn thought purposefully – on top of the four of them. Anya it seemed was the only one to have kept her footing, although her hair showed the ferocity of travel.

"How come you stayed on your feet?" asked Kennedy as she and the other girls struggled to push Andrew off them and stand up.

Anya smiled at them.

"A thousand years of mystical travel and you kinda get used to it."

Back on her feet, Dawn finally had a chance to look around. Her stomach plummeted at once. The sky was a grizzled iron and distant thunder brought with it a few flecks of rain. Dawn had thought they would be in some classroom or office at Hogwarts, not in a dingy alley in the back streets of London. She was about to ask where they were when she caught sight of Anya rummaging for something in her jacket pocket. Rona seemed to be thinking much the same as Dawn.

"Ah, I didn't think Hogwarts would be so small," she looked around the dark puddles lining the cracked cement "Or urine smelling."

Andrew clicked his tongue.

"Silly, silly girl," he said as though he, only, knew exactly what was going on.

"This isn't Hogwarts; you're still in the good old US of A."

He smiled blandly at them and admired the broken glass and soaked paper littering the ground. The girls all looked at each other. Andrew had to have a screw loose. Well, in addition to the others.

Anya seemed to have found what she was looking for and pulled her hand back out of her pocket. Dawn looked over her shoulder and saw that the ex demon was holding a small, pyramid-shaped crystal that was glowing very palely. Anya held it out before her and began to walk further into the darkness of the alley.

"Anya?" asked Dawn hesitantly.

"C'mon," she said not taking her eyes off the crystal "Keep close."

Andrew clicked his tongue at the potentials and Dawn.

"We do have a schedule you know."

He didn't seem perturbed by the dingy way and skipped off after Anya carrying his bags.

The girls didn't seem impressed by what lay before them. It did in fact seem earlier to them then when they left Sunnydale. The sky had opened fully now and hazy sheets of cold rain sprinkled down upon them. Anya and Andrew were fuzzy around the edges and nearly out of view.

"Hurry up!" yelled Anya at the end of the bricked walkway, turning back finally to see that Andrew was the only one to have followed her.

The girls all looked scared and cold but there was nothing for it. They hitched their bags a little higher on their shoulders and walked silently into the shadow beyond.

The water was splashing around their feet as they caught back up to Anya and Andrew. Anya still held the gem before her as though it would suddenly start talking of flash large amounts of money at her.

"Where are we?" asked Dawn, looking forlornly at the towering buildings on all sides.

They seemed in some kind of industrial estate or the back roads of a business district.

"LA," Anya replied simply.

Dawn's stomach did a summersault. LA, Angel lived in LA. Before her heart could speed up, or the question form into words and be spoken Anya squashed them right back down.

"And we can't go and see him."

Dawn pouted.

"Why not?"

"Because," added Andrew rolling his eyes "He's busy and we can't go traipsing over the city when we have-,"

He too plunged his hand into his pocket after setting down his bags.

"The schedule."

Dawn saw many instructions written on a piece of paper in what looked like Giles' neat script. She noticed too many annotations in Buffy's untidy scrawl. Andrew folded it back up importantly and after picking his bags back up out of the swelling water continued after Anya with his nose in the air.

It seemed to Dawn they had been walking forever, turning this way and that led by Anya, and strangely her, by the crystal.

Dawn shot a look back at the other girls to see if they looked how she felt. Though summer had melted into a mild couple of days of autumn, the day was uncharacteristically cold. Furls of white vapour spread from their mouths and each clung their jacket to their bodies to keep out the chilly drops of rain. Amanda it seemed was burning to ask a question.

"Hogwarts is in Europe right?"

"Yes," answered Andrew with a quick glance back and another roll of his eyes.

"Well why are we still in America?"

Anya had stopped and the others followed suit. They seemed to be in the dankest, darkest place yet. The buildings were so tall on each side that the clouded sky above was no more then a grey square leaking water atop them. Anya shrugged her shoulders.

"Giles said Dumbledore said he wanted us to go shopping in the US. Something about not drawing attention to ourselves."

Dawn's heart sank. What could they possibly buy here?

The six of them had come to an intersection of drives.

"Left or right?" asked Rona.

Anya still seemed to be lead by the small crystal. She held her arm out to the left and nothing happened. But as she moved it towards the right, the clear stone began to grow steadily brighter, giving off a deeper, more consistent blue sheen.

"Looks like right," said Anya.

Dawn was still looking at it curiously.

"What is that?" she asked.

"It's a locater," said Anya now taking them to the left as the crystal continued to grow steadily brighter again.

"Giles gave it to me before we left. Dumbledore sent it so we could find the place."

"What?" asked Kennedy confused "The Shops?"

"Are they hidden or something?" added Dawn.

She caught from Andrew another click of the tongue accompanied by a small, directed, unknowingly laugh and a slight shake of the head. Dawn felt a small pang of anger but ignored it.

"So?" she prompted again.

"Yeah they're hidden," said Anya, not stopping or turning to talk to them directly "They have to be so muggles don't find them."

Saved from the reproachful clicking of Andrew's tongue again Anya went on.

"Muggle is the name the magic community give to those who don't practice it," she said knowledgeably "Wizards and witches have been persecuted for thousands of years and so they decided to keep their world hidden."

She stopped again at another crossroad and walked straight ahead, following the path that caused the crystal to light the brightest.

"We need the crystal to find the place because it keeps moving. Kinda like Rack's old haunts."

Dawn suddenly didn't like where this was going. The mention of Rack brought back many bad memories.

"The American Ministry of Magic," Anya went on "Put spells and charms on the place so it remains secret. Witches and wizards can find it easily enough but because we're not witches or wizards, we need this."

Anya finally stopped. The crystal had become so bright that it seemed to be a ball of pure radiance. Anya closed her hand about it and stuffed it back into her pocket. They were in a dead end. Before them at the end of the alley was a dirty brown brick wall that had become horribly slimy in the rain.

At one side of the wall was an overflowing skip filled with rubbish and a rotting old lounge. On the other were heaped black garbage bags that had split open and been rummaged through, presumably by cats. Anya walked between the mounds of filth and stepped to the gritty barrier. She turned back to face the others.

"Follow through right after me, okay?"

Dawn thought Anya had taken a leaf out of Andrew's book. How could they possibly follow her through a solid brick wall? The ex demon lifted a hand to the wet rock but as she moved her outstretched fingers toward it, instead of touching the solid structure they disappeared. The wall seemed to be rippling around her forearm. Dawn blinked, but before her eyelids were open again Anya was gone. Her mouth fell open. Andrew smiled excitedly at the girls and turned himself.

Dawn was determined not to blink this time. He stepped up to the wall and without a backwards glance stepped through it, the bricks giving a short eddying convulsion. Dawn looked uncertainly at Rona, Kennedy and Amanda. They had however come to a unanimous decision.

"You first."

Dawn's brow furrowed. It was freezing and wet and only getting worse. There was nothing for it. She hoped perhaps that magic people used dryers and washing machines too. There might even be a Laundromat here, or room service. On the lowly thread of the possibility of having her washing done for her Dawn too stepped up to the bricks. He nose was a few inches from it and she, like Anya, lifted her hand towards the greasy surface. Rona, Kennedy and Amanda shuffled up behind her, looking nervous.

"Touch it," said Rona.

"Yeah," chorused the other two.

Dawn extended a single finger and ran it along the bricks. The tip of it sank a few centimetres behind the stone and Dawn smiled as the wall rippled around her skin. It felt pleasantly warm but realised it only felt that way because she was so cold. On a normal day she expected it would feel like cool water, only less solid.

The other three girls were looking expectant and Dawn turned back to the wall. She took a deep breath, but before her lips had shut in the air the stream rushed out again in a loud scream. A hand had suddenly come through the wall and grabbed her by the shirt at the chest. Before the screech was fully formed she was pulled forward into the wall.

The scream was muffled as Dawn passed through and she thought over her horror that she was walking under water. The scream became loud again and Dawn realised there was a burning light before her closed eyes. Her voice died away slowly and she blinkingly opened her eyes. Anya still had hold of her shirt and was looking at her wonderingly.

"Take long enough?"

Dawn's eyes fell on Andrew where he looked terse and was pointing at the small piece of white paper. Dawn scowled at him.

"Back off camera boy before I tell everyone what I saw you videotaping in the bathroom."

Andrew blanched and hastily tucked the note back into his jacket pocket. Dawn still glared at him but smiled inwardly.

Anya was looking over Dawn's shoulder and shook her head. She pushed Dawn out of the way and stepped up to the wall. Dawn stared at it. Instead of bricks, this side looked like a large pane of glass reaching into the sky. She stopped again. The bright light that had been in front of her eyes was the sun. Dawn looked up at the sky on this side. It was crisp and blue and dotted with a few white, fluffy clouds. As the blue sheen met the glass it melted into the grey, storm pitted sky of the alley on the other side.

"Neato," she said.

Rona, Kennedy and Amanda were each at the wall looking hesitantly at the dark stone. Anya reached through the barrier and grabbed each in turn, the three girls followed by a small yelp of surprise. Andrew's hand twitched towards his pocket but a look from Dawn made it snap back to his side.

The Potentials, as did Dawn, looked around at the world that had opened up before them. The dark, evil looking alley they had all only moments ago been in opened up into a wide, friendly – and spotlessly clean, Dawn thankfully thought – looking one. Either side of the slick, black marble lane was lined with many shops, each with displays out the front and countless customers entering and leaving. Dawn's eyes opened wide.

"Cloaks? They're wearing cloaks?"

She laughed openly as did Rona, Amanda and Kennedy yet Anya and Andrew didn't seem to share the joke. The girl's look of humour turned to horror.

"We don't have to wear cloaks do we?" asked Dawn.

Anya and Andrew shot a quick glance at one another but said nothing and turned quickly on their heel.

"Guys?...Guys!!!"

The four jogged after them and questioned them further.

"I think there is stuff you should be telling us about this school," said Dawn.

"Yeah," added Rona as the troop walked past a shop called 'Sable's Apothecary' displaying a sale of worm bile for three knuts a pint.

"All in good time my fair ladies," said Andrew with a smile of relish "First we must fill our purses," he coughed "Wallets."

Dawn didn't have time to take in much of the street. It all seemed very stylish – despite what the shops were selling – and extremely busy – despite what the shops were selling.

Anya led the way through the street and despite their apparent lack of cloak-age no one was paying them a particular amount of attention. One little lady in deep purple robes covered with silver stars even wished Dawn a hearty "Good morning dearie."

The street suddenly opened up into a huge courtyard. The shops continued around the circle and met at the end at a building called 'Gringotts bank'. All their mouths opened, save Anya's. To say it was beautiful wasn't doing it justice. The black marble road joined seamlessly to its hundred black marble steps leading to great, silver, arched double doors. Lining the ascending stairs on each side were ten, skilfully crafted bronze pillars supporting a gold roof. The whole building in fact was golden, interlaid with countless crystal windows and its walls strung with gleaming silver ivy. Their eyes were drawn to this only due to its size. Their mouths only seemed to open further as they looked around. Four emerald-green patches of grass intersected by a black marble cross lay in the centre of the courtyard. On these were chairs and umbrellas of the surrounding cafés and many people sitting and eating.

In the centre of all was a great model of the solar system, the gigantic sun burning brightly in the centre of all. The girls were unfathomably impressed yet none of the others on the courtyard seemed to pay it much attention. As they circled it walking towards Gringotts they could not remove their eyes.

Without noticing, Anya had stopped and the girls walked into her. They were still transfixed by the glowing solar system and she had to snap her fingers at each to get their attention.

"I just want to warn you now," she said seriously "Don't scream. They don't like that. You will have to be satisfied with staring openly at them."

Dawn on any other occasion would have asked who 'them' were but presently - as seemed Kennedy, Amanda and Rona – was on sensory overload.

By stair forty-eight Andrew was ready to collapse.

"I told you not to bring so much," scowled Anya.

She was about to start another deluge of insults and criticism when a timid old man behind them cleared his voice. He was grey and bent and wore lurid orange robes. He looked at Anya and smiled.

"Excuse me dear," he said, bowing so low his balding head nearly hit the marble stairs "Perhaps I can help."

He pulled from his pocket what Dawn thought was a long, thick stick and pointed it at Andrew's bags.

"Locomotor Trunks!" he yelled hoarsely and Andrew's luggage soared a few feet into the air.

The old man walked a few more steps and offered Anya his arm, the trunks gliding along before him. The girls started to follow when Andrew called out helplessly.

"Girls... Help me?"

Kennedy and Dawn grabbed an arm each and unceremoniously dragged him up the stairs until he complained and decided to walk again for himself. They were falling behind and Dawn sped up to catch what was being said between Anya and the old man. She caught words like "Muggle", "Squib", and "Decree for the restriction of underage wizardry". She understood most of it, or thought she did, but Squib had her stumped.

Without noticing, the stairs levelled out and Dawn found herself at the entrance of the eight story building, as far as she counted by the windows. The old man said goodbye to Dawn, lifting his stick, causing Andrew's bags to fall to the floor with a thump. He mumbled something about a deposit of galleons and shuffled off.

Anya rounded on them again.

"Right," she said "Remember what I told you? No screaming!"

"I'll... Wait... Here..." said Andrew breathlessly.

Anya scowled at him.

"Who would have thought sitting around all day and eating potato chips and playing video games with Xander would make you unfit."

She stormed away into the lantern lit entrance and the girls followed.

The hall inside was floored in the same sleek marble, with deep mahogany benches lining the walls to either side. Dawn noticed above each of these tall desks signs like 'Withdrawals', 'Deposits', 'Information', 'New Accounts' and 'Muggle Money Exchange'. She also felt a hand slip into hers and squeeze it tightly. It was Amanda. She was not screaming but was looking openly, fearfully, at several of the desks and to other points around the room.

Dawn had not noticed the workers until now but when she did there was no mistaking what they were... Goblins. Hours of research for the Scoobies told her this without a second look. These Goblins had distinctive navy-blue skin, characteristic of the region. Dawn also thought there were red, green and Caucasian, but couldn't place them to a country.

Each desk had a line of ten or more people, some being led off through doors, some back towards the entrance, and others to a set of five silver lifts on the wall directly in front of them. Anya joined the withdrawals line.

"So whose shout is it?" asked Rona.

Dawn thought Anya looked as though she was thinking about whether she should answer or not, and what damage the four of them could cause with the information.

"Dumbledore is letting you go to Hogwarts without paying fees. He has also been kind enough to give us a substantial amount of money for your school things."

Dawn noticed a fearful crispness in Anya's voice when she spoke of the Hogwarts headmaster. It unnerved her a little.

"NEXT!"

The Goblin at the withdrawals counter had called them forward. Anya told them to wait in line as she stepped up to the desk. She handed the fat, gruff-voiced Goblin a note in the familiar yellow parchment and whispered a few hurried words.

The Goblin tore open the letter and read it through quickly.

"Very good," he said audibly "Ragnash!"

A tiny, thin Goblin hurried up to Anya.

"Take Miss Jenkins and her companions to vault four hundred and twelve," he growled.

The small Goblin nodded and bustled the girls towards the lifts. He pushed a large purple button on the second lift and the doors opened immediately. The six of them stepped in and Dawn watched as Ragnash keyed in '4', '1', '2' on the keypad. The lift didn't feel to be moving but the numbers above the doors quickly ascended.

400... 410... 411... 412.

The doors chimed open and Dawn was stunned to see a grey stone room filled with gold, silver and bronze coins.

"Vault four-one-two," squeaked the Goblin.

"Convenient," added Kennedy impressed.

Anya stepped out of the lift and began to count out a number of coins of each type. It seemed to Dawn she didn't want to accidentally take more then she was meant to. After five minutes Anya stepped back in smiling nervously.

"You seem to know what you are doing," said Amada arching an eyebrow.

"Well," said Anya "I've had... Dealings, with wizards before."

Dawn had taken that when Anya said "dealings", she meant vengeance.

Not long after they were all out in the bright sun once more. Andrew was waiting happily at the bottom of the stairs.

"He helped me back down again."

Dawn noticed that Andrew said "me" without the addition of "with my bags".

The girls looked around expectantly now that they presumably had a lot of money to spend.

"Where to first?" asked Rona "Back to the worm bile shop?"

"No," said Anya "Uniforms."

Andrew was wining about how heavy his things were. Anya decided to do them all a favour and give Andrew some money to buy himself some lunch while the girls shopped. She took three gold coins out of the bag she had in her backpack and handed them to him.

"Good," added Kennedy with a smile "You can mind our stuff too."

Her, Rona, Amanda and Dawn heaped their bags upon him and set off up the alley road with Anya.

Now they had a chance to look around Dawn saw that there were shops selling many things. Some were selling what looked like cauldrons, others robes and books, and some were selling animals. Anya stopped them outside a shop called 'Occasional Robes'. To Dawn's dislike, the mannequins in the window were moving of their own accord to pose in the different robes they were wearing. The shop door chimed and a plump, red-headed lady rushed over to them.

"Welcome, welcome, how can I help you today?"

She was rather short and had a rather large gap between her front teeth.

"Hi," said Anya "I need to get some school robes for the girls here."

The shop owner frowned.

"A little late for the start of term aren't we?"

It seemed to Dawn that Anya was biting back the urge to tell the lady to mind her own business when she smiled politely and answered.

"Well, they're going on an exchange program see," she told the plump woman "To Hogwarts – international relations and all."

The frown on the shop owner's face turned quickly into a wide toothy grin.

"How lovely, how lovely," she shrieked, pulling a thin, bendy stick from her pocket.

"Accio book," she called in a sweet voice and a large tome flew from a far desk into her arms.

She ran her finger down a page with her tongue between her teeth. She tapped the parchment and smiled.

"Ah yes, Hogwarts," she looked up questioningly at Anya "And what house shall they be in?"

The four girls looked at Anya. She shook her head not to question the assistant and answered again.

"We're not sure; they'll be sorted when they get there."

The common pit of foreboding opened again in Dawn's stomach. Anya REALLY needed to answer some things.

"No trouble, no trouble," chirped the woman. "I can put a charm on them to let them take on the house characteristics once they know."

She bustled off into the back of the shop, taking the book with her to make sure she retrieved all the components of the uniform.

The girls rounded on Anya. She looked at them timidly.

"We can't ask too many questions or show we don't know what we're talking about," she said "This witch seems nice enough but we can't rouse suspicion or awkward questions."

Dawn wondered why but the witch had returned carrying four sets of robes and uniforms.

"Step up here," she asked kindly to Dawn, Rona, Kennedy and Amanda, and each stood upon a low stool.

The witch took out her stick again and gave it a wide slow swish. Dawn closed her eyes as scissors, needles, string and fabric flew around her head. The uniform and robes were being altered by magic.

Dawn thought for a second the witch's stick had looked like a wand, but that was absurd, witches didn't use wands. Willow didn't use a wand.

Dawn only opened her eyes when the assistant called "Finished!" in a singsong voice.

She looked at the mirror before her and her face fell.

"This is the uniform?"

Anya hissed at her as Dawn struggled to undo a tie bearing a coat of arms with a large 'H' in the centre surrounded by a lion, a snake, a raven and a badger.

Dawn turned to the other girls untucking her shirt and hitching up the skirt a little.

"We'll fix them later."

Five minutes later they were back on the ground as the short witch wrapped their school things in brown paper.

"Anything else?"

"Yes," said Anya seeming reluctant to speak her next words "They need dress robes."

"Wonderful!" shrieked the witch "Off you go girls."

The four hesitated. They looked at Anya imploringly for help.

"I'll take them around," Anya smiled.

After an hour and a half of indecision their dress robes were chosen and altered, Anya had payed twenty three galleons, twelve sickles and four knuts for them, and the girls were back on the street.

"So what was she calling that money?" asked Rona "Gallons, prickles and gups?"

Anya's hand dove into her backpack and she pulled out three coins, gold, silver and bronze.

"Its wizard money," she said "Twenty nine knuts to a sickle, seventeen sickles to a galleon."

She pointed at each inturn.

"And what was with that stick?" asked Amanda "That old man outside the bank had one too."

"They're wands," said Anya sighing "And you all need one too."

The five walked back into the courtyard and saw at a distance Andrew stuffing his face and being stared at by several people. Anya shook her head and looked up at the next store. The sign on the front said 'Olivander's – Los Angelus'.

The bell on the door tinkled and the girls were much happier to see the assistant in this shop. A tall, dark and handsome man, with broad shoulders and perfect teeth – or so Dawn thought – stepped out of a back room.

"Hi," said Anya a little too friendly like "I need to get new wands for these girls."

The young man smiled at them and began to take long, narrow boxes down off shelves.

"These wands are of the finest make," he said in a deep, sexy voice – or so Dawn thought – "My grandfather makes them in England and owls them to me."

He handed a wand, a dark sturdy looking one, to Amanda and smiled again.

"Give it a wave," he said happily.

Amanda gave it a small, nervous flick.

BOOM!!!

The entire front of the shop was blown out into the courtyard, the witches and wizards walking on the path thrown onto the deep green grass. Several people screamed, none the least Amanda.

"Oh my," said the wizard shocked.

He took out his own, substantial wand, and muttered "Reparus Maximus".

The pile of smouldering rubble that was the windows and door and roof of the shop repaired itself.

Amanda looked on the verge of tears.

"I didn't mean it," she said hoarsely.

The wizard shook his head and waved a hand to silence her.

"No matter," he mumbled but still he looked highly unsettled.

After an hour which included the complete destruction of the store, Olivander being set on fire no less then seven times, three calls to the accidental magic reversal squad, two conjured hippopotamuses and Anya's near psychological breakdown, Rona, Amanda and Kennedy each had their own wand. The girls had hastened to hand them to Anya for safe keeping. Olivander shook his head.

"I don't understand how witches of this age are doing such powerful magic, quite extraordinary."

Dawn was dreading her turn. Olivander hesitantly handed her the wand and drew away quickly as though he may suddenly catch on fire again or be turned into a pumpkin. Something quite different happened to Dawn though. Her hand began to tingle and suddenly a pulse ran through her that she didn't find all that unpleasant. A green aura was drawn about her and Olivander sighed.

"I think we have a match."

Dawn swore as Olivander turned to wrap the package he muttered the words "Thank Merlin."

After leaving Olivander's to many angry glares, not to mention Olivander's at their retreating backs, they set off to find Andrew. They found him sitting at a table still, the top of which was littered with the finished scraps of a long meal.

"HEY!!!" roared Anya in his ear.

Andrew sat up startled and rubbed his eyes.

"Must have dozed off."

"Dozed off!" shouted Anya, she was at the end of her tether.

"Dozed off with the wand shop being blown up every six seconds and ministry of magic officials swooping down on us."

She threw herself into a chair huffily, pulled the bag of wizard money from her backpack, shoved it into Amanda's hand, a list of items to buy into Dawn's and yelled at them, pointing in the opposite direction

"GO... FIND... BUY."

The four girls turned and shared a hidden smile.

"And nothing for yourselves that's not on the list, except lunch."

Their smiles faded.

The girls crossed the courtyard heading in the general direction of Gringotts.

"This place looks good," said Kennedy pointing to a narrow shop with a bright blue sign out the front naming it 'Mocking Muggle Meals'.

They agreed their safest bet would be to stick to familiar food until they knew exactly what they could be dealing with in the wizarding world. Another quick look around told them that wizarding food didn't span much past confection items anyway.

The shop door opened to a storm of mummers and laughter. All but a few tables were taken up by witches and wizards. A loud crack sounded beside them and Dawn jumped.

"Hi there."

The girl that stood next to them looked not too much older then them. She had pink cheeks and two long, blonde pigtails falling onto her shoulders.

"Can I seat you?"

Before they could answer or Dawn could ask how the waitress suddenly appeared, there was another quick snap and the girl had gone.

"Over here girls!"

Dawn turned to see the waitress standing at a far booth looking expectantly at them. The four were starting to draw attention to themselves and Dawn hurried to lead the way to the seat.

As they sat down Dawn took a good look at the furnishings. It would have seemed like a normal diner except that there were obvious mistakes. On the walls were stuck things like old televisions and blenders, and seats at the tables were oddly mismatched, with corners of each sporting lawn chairs through to comfy recliners.

"Done a good job haven't we?" said the waitress lovingly, taking the shop in.

She clicked her tongue and shook her head.

"Funny people, muggles. But," she sighed "Each too their own."

Rona looked on the brink of laughter but Amanda and Kennedy were managing to smile and nob politely.

A burst of laughter drew Dawn's attention and she saw a group of age worn wizards staring at what seemed to be fluoro yellow, lime green tasselled menus. Some were pointing and sniggering and others were looking warily questioning.

"What will it be?"

The waitress brought back Dawn's focus and she hesitantly picked up her own menu, opening it as though rubber snakes would fly out. To her immense relief there weren't any snakes and the strangest thing that Dawn could find on the extensive menu was beetroot on the hamburgers.

"Chilli cheese fries and cherry soda," said Rona sitting back a little more relaxed and just a little relieved that the list did not include worm bile.

"Peperoni pizza please," said Amanda kindly "And a chocolate milk."

"Large buffalo wings and a root beer," growled Kennedy hungrily.

Rona smirked.

"I bags not sitting next to you for the next few hours."

As with the dress robes Dawn couldn't decide.

"Ummm," she said, drawing out her thought to a wave of indignant sighing from Kennedy.

"Chocolate mud cake, apple pie, lemon pudding, caramel flan and one, no, make it two scoops of honeycomb and almond ice-cream."

The other girls stared, their eyebrows threatening to disappear into their hairlines.

Dawn shrugged.

"Sugar makes Dawn happy," she said.

They had expected to wait a while for the food but the waitress simply took out her springy wand and tapped it four times on the table. In a rush or wind and spinning the four girl's meals were in front of them.

"Enjoy," smiled the witch and disappeared with another loud crack.

Dawn turned to see her at the other side of the shop, point her wand at a dirty table, mutter something under her breath and the table instantly become dazzlingly clean.

The four of them finished their meals surprisingly quickly, their hunger rushing on them after seeing Andrew so satisfied. Dawn looked down at her watch and saw it was three o'clock.

"We better get going guys or Anya will be fuming."

They agreed and Amanda payed the cashier eight galleons, four sickles and a knut.

Back on the street - Anya and Andrew-less - Dawn pulled out the parchment Anya had given her to check what they would need for Hogwarts.

"What do we need?" asked Amanda, a glint of excitement starting to rise in her eyes.

Dawn read down the list.

"Cauldron, potion ingredients, scales, parchment and quills, ink, telescope, dragon-hide gloves and working apron, and a few books."

Dawn paused to read the line following.

"Books and materials for elective study will be purchased in the village of Hogsmead."

"What do you suppose they teach at a wizarding school?" asked Amanda.

"Who knows," shrugged Rona "Card tricks."

The four stepped out of 'Book of Shadows' each holding several heavy texts with names like 'Intermediate Transfiguration', 'The Standard Book of Spells Grade Four', and 'One Thousand and One Magical Herbs and Fungi'.

Dawn sighed. She didn't think she could remember the names of the books letter lone the contents of the countless pages within the hardbound covers.

By habit Dawn looked around to find again the street devoid of Anya and Andrew. She did however see a group of teenagers walking towards them in a tight group. They were wearing robes of navy-blue and on the right chest of each was an eight pointed silver star. Dawn guessed they had to be from an American wizarding school; their robes had the distinctive uniform look of her Hogwarts ones.

The girls were already weighed down by their purchases and Dawn expected the teenage witches and wizards to walk by and even share a small, sympathetic smile. She was wrong. The troop cut through them and one pretty, blonde girl ran hard into Dawn's shoulder causing her to drop all her new books onto the marble pavement. The witch didn't turn back or even acknowledge Dawn was there.

"Cow!" yelled Dawn as she stooped to pick up her books. The girl didn't turn and neither did any of the others.

[Dawn]:

It doesn't matter what I want

It doesn't matter what I need

It doesn't matter if I cry

It don't matter if I bleed

Dawn knelt on the road, everyone content to look without help or not to pay the least amount of attention. Robes and cloaks billowed about her as Dawn closed the pages of her transfiguration book where a fat wizard was turning a caterpillar into a cat.

[Dawn]:

You've been on a road

Don't know where it goes or where it leads

Her mind was on Sunnydale as she got painfully to her feet, rubbing her shoulder. She wouldn't falter though; she wouldn't let Buffy see that she was weak.

[Dawn]:

It doesn't matter what I want

It doesn't matter what I need

If you've made up your mind to go

I won't beg you to stay

A ball of pain rose in Dawn's throat but she quickly swallowed it.

[Dawn]:

You've been in a cage

Throw you to the wind and fly away

Kennedy and the others were looking at Dawn's face, the changes from sadness to defiant chance.

"Are you okay Dawn?" Asked Amanda a little worried.

"What? Oh... Yeah... Fine."

She lied just a little.

Dawn picked up her things again and followed closely behind the other three as they stepped up to a store called 'Star Gazing'. Dawn stopped on the top step and looked out into the courtyard as the door tinkled open.

[Dawn]:

It doesn't matter what I want

It doesn't matter what I need

It doesn't matter if I cry

Don't matter if I bleed

"Coming?" asked Rona.

"Yeah," said Dawn not turning and a little distant.

[Dawn]:

You've been in a cage

Throw you to the wind and fly away

"Yeah," she said again.

Dawn smiled as the orange sun fell at her feet and warmed her face.

"Yeah... I'm good."

She turned and followed Rona, Amanda and Kennedy into the shop.

"Time?" grimaced Dawn lifting her right arm difficultly in Kennedy's direction.

The girls were so heavily laden with things that Dawn couldn't see her watch.

"Hold still," said Kennedy achingly, hitching her head to one side.

"It's five forty."

The sun was beginning to melt into the roof of Gringotts and high, candlelit lamps began to flicker into life along the marble walkway. Dawn stared around them and her stomach gave a horrible jerk. The street that before had been crowded with people was now only dotted with a few seldom witches and wizards. Shops were beginning to close and Anya and Andrew were nowhere to be seen. The sun in the courtyard was glowing brighter in the growing gloom and it spread an eerie radiance over the dark marble and shadowed buildings.

"Where are they?" Dawn asked herself quietly, but the others were calling to her.

"C'mon Dawn, last stop."

Instead of going down their school list in order as Amanda had suggested, the girls searched in the shops that were closest that sold what they needed. This meant that as the haze of evening fully fell the four of them stood outside the dark building of Sable's Apothecary.

Kennedy who least of all of them seemed worried stepped up to the door. This door however did not open with a friendly chime or bell but with a high creak and the smell of mould and damp earth.

Dawn didn't know how it happened, seeing as Kennedy was the first to the door, but she, like at the brick barrier, was shoved forward to enter first.

The floorboards creaked beneath their slow steps and the shop door closed with a horribly locked sound. The shop was dark and cold and damp, and Dawn thought also, strangely silent.

The walls and floor were lined with dark shelves that fell into shadow near the end so that they could not see where they ended or what stood in the darkness. Dawn saw barrels of harmless material like nettles and oak leaves but small, faded labels on outer shelves also revealed things such as wasp venom and adder blood.

"Just in ti-,"

"AAAHHH!!!"

The words of the grizzled old witch hadn't fully left her lips before the four girls screamed and dropped their school supplies which fell to the ground and smashed everywhere.

"Goodness," said the shopkeeper pulling her black shawl tightly around her shoulders "What a start, I apologise."

Dawn giggled nervously and stooped down to pick up her shattered telescope and bent scales.

"Allow me my dear."

The witch took out her wand.

"Reparo."

All their school things reformed and stacked themselves neatly by the door.

"Sorry," muttered Dawn, not looking at the shop keeper.

"No matter," chuckled the witch "It is not the first and by no means the last time people shall scream in this shop."

She returned her wand to her robes and smiled gently at them.

"I am Madam Sable."

She waved her hand and a few more candles dotting the store stuttered into life.

"I was about to say that you girls were just in time, for I was about to close the store. How may I help?"

Amanda, Rona and Kennedy all looked at Dawn. She knew again she was first.

"We-we need to get some things for school."

Madam Sable's eyes narrowed a little, but she didn't question the girls.

The four followed the old witch around the store as she gathered the ingredients at Dawn's request.

Amanda payed again for the supplies and again they picked up their purchases with many grunts and repositioning of cauldrons.

Dawn was feeling quite at ease till Madam Sable called out to them as Rona opened the door and a breeze of cool night air flowed in.

"Be wary my sweets," she smiled "Not all things are friendly in the night."

They stepped back onto the porch and the apothecary door slammed shut behind them, the low light in the store going out at once. The street was completely deserted. It would have been pitch black but for a few lights in store windows and lampposts and a blanket of stars in the sky.

Dawn looked back down the street and saw that it was still raining in the alley in muggle LA and that several stray cats pawed at the rubbish on the ground.

"This is wiggy," said Dawn turning to see three scared faces. "Let's go back to the sun."

They sat on a bench near Saturn, its moons buzzing around their heads.

"Where are they?" asked Amanda worried.

Anya and Andrew hadn't been seen since the early afternoon.

"I don't know," said Dawn slightly whispering.

She didn't feel safe in this new place and she fancied that in the distance, every so often, she caught the swish of a cloak of some dark figure passing.

Dawn seemed to check her watch every fifteen seconds. The hands ticked by slowly in the light of the glowing planets, but an hour passed and there was still no sign of Anya or Andrew.

Amanda sat with her nose in a spell book, Kennedy was checking she had everything against the list, and Rona was handing pens to each of them.

"I'm glad the quill shop had a muggle section," she said "Not too handy with a quill, and besides, these change colour."

Dawn was staring into the distance, her ears sharp for any movement. She looked up at the moon and a dark shape passed over its waxing face. A formless shape swept by again, this time closer.

"Guys," said Dawn, but each was busy with their own thing.

The dark figure was coming straight at her head, swooping silently down.

"Guys!!!" screamed Dawn.

The other three looked up in time to see an owl drop a letter onto Dawn's lap and speed off directly through the sun, its amber structure billowing in the bird's wake. Dawn looked down and read the address:

Dawn Summers

Solar System

Morgan Market

Los Angelus

She tore it open and read speedily

Guys,

We had stuff to get done and Andrew didn't help matters. Sorry I haven't got to you before now. They Portkey to Hogwarts is set for nine.

Dawn looked at her watch. It was fifteen minutes to.

Meet us at 'Hard and Fast Brooms', its right next to Gringotts.

Anya

The girls hurriedly piled their things and ran towards the bank. A small shop sat on its right with a wooden sign on the roof in the shape of a broom. Black lettering across it spelled 'Hard and Fast Brooms'.

Anya and Andrew were not there so Kennedy, Rona and Amanda sat down on the stairs. Dawn stood. She was too nervous to sit and her mother had always told her not to sit on cold surfaces or you will get piles.

All over the windows were huge moving pictures displaying the words:

"IRELAND WIN THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP"

And in smaller letters below:

"Meet Ireland's sturdy seeker Aidan Lynch here, 4th September."

Dawn didn't know what Quidditch was, or a seeker, but her eye was drawn to the picture below the slogans. It seemed to be a corporate box like what rich people sat in at the football or hockey. She scanned the front row to see what had to be a family with horribly red hair, a girl with bushy brown hair and big front teeth, and a weedy, sickly looking boy with untidy black hair and glasses.

Unimpressed, Dawn looked to the top row and saw a few official looking people and then a boy with sleek blonde hair sitting between his obvious parents. Her approving arched eyebrow was short lived as a throat cleared behind her. Dawn turned and Anya and Andrew had arrived.

"Hurry up Dawn," snapped Anya, throwing her her wand and taking a battered old quill from her bag "We're late!"

Dawn rushed down the stairs and picked up everything once more including her duffel bag which was swung haphazardly over one shoulder. Anya took the wizard money back off Amanda with a disapproving glare.

"I'll be checking what you got ladies."

A bell in the courtyard chimed somewhere; it was a few seconds to nine.

"Quick!" gasped Anya.

With little more then a pinky finger touching, the six of them reached for the quill.

Dawn's arm was now at such an odd angle that she saw her watch clearly. The second hand hit the twelve and before she could close her eyes, her feet left the ground and she was spinning once again through a sea of noise and colour.


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