Chapter 47: In Which We Meet The Watchers

"Are you all set?" Hermione asked.

The kids nodded. Severus didn't nod, but she knew he had been ready since breakfast. Hermione held out an old Frisbee. "Grab a hold." Six hands grabbed the Frisbee. Long distance Portkey travel was not much fun. The sensation was unpleasant to all but the strongest of stomachs. However, using a Portkey got them to the US in ninety minutes. Flying would have taken hours, and slide-along Apparition wouldn't work with this many passengers.

After a very long hour and a half, they found themselves standing on a corner in a residential neighborhood. The street was lined with old oak trees, and the houses looked like they were built around the turn of the century. All in all, they could have still been in England.

A young woman in a lilac tee shirt and jeans met them. Her hair was long and red. Her body was small and lean. Her smile was wide and bright. Her magical aura was so strong it made Snape want to close his eyes and take a step back.

"Hi. I'm Willow."

Hermione gave her a hug, and then began the introductions: "This is Amber, Rose, Dean and Benjamin. The dark one behind them is Severus." Willow shook hands with each of the kids, and then stopped at Severus.

She smiled brightly. "So, you're Hermione's new guy. Nice to meet you. I understand we'll be getting to spend some time together. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with your wand."

Snape wondered if that was an intentional double-entendre or not. He decided to pretend it wasn't. "And I am eagerly awaiting seeing you without one." He smiled back at her.

"You're a potions master?" Willow was looking up at him, a disconcerting blend of perkiness and power. He found himself thinking no one that cheery should have access to that level of power.

"Yes, for the last twenty years."

"How do they work? Is it like cooking, anyone with the recipe can do it, or does it actually require magic?"

Snape thought about it. Not only had he never wondered about it, but to the best of his knowledge, no one else had either. "I don't actually know. I don't think anyone without magical skills has tried to make one. It would be interesting to test."

"We don't have a potions lab here, but we could try some sort of a test. Some of the girls are almost anti-magic they're so unmagical, so they'd be good for testing. Do you have something simple we could try?"

"I used to teach eleven-year-olds. I've got potions that I can make in my sleep with only a flask, a flame, and three or four fairly common ingredients."

"Wonderful, we'll have to set that up for tomorrow or the next day." Willow smiled, and then moved towards the four younger newcomers. "So, let's see about getting you settled in your new home. What has Hermione told you about us?"

Snape and Hermione followed behind Willow and the kids.

"What do you think?" Hermione asked him quietly when they were a few steps behind.

"It was a very good question. I can't believe no one's ever asked it before."

"They live among the Muggles. We live apart. It's probably why none of us have ever thought to ask. I wonder what happens if we gave a wand to one."

"And now we've got the topic for your book after the great magical comparison."

Most of the buildings around them appeared to be houses, but in the distance they could just make out a larger building. It was tall, at least four stories, maybe more, and looked like a miniature castle. It was very obviously not a house. The property was enclosed by a large masonry wall, and at the front gate a discrete sign said, "The Watcher's Council School for Exceptional Children. Founded 1998."

At the gate two teenage girls in tank tops and yoga pants met them. "Kelly and June will show you to your rooms and give you the tour. They'll make sure you're all settled in," Willow said to the younger members of the party. Benjamin was looking like he was rapidly getting over his dislike of Americans, at least female, teenage ones. Dean looked like he had just fallen into a delicious dream. Amber and Rose looked ready to smack both of them.

As the four younger members of the party left, Willow turned to Severus and Hermione, and spoke to Hermione. "I've got you in your usual room. How about you drop off your stuff, and then meet me in my office. We're invited to dinner at Xander's which should be kicking off any minute now."

"That'll work for us."

"See you there."

Hermione led Severus through the gate to the double doors at the front of the building. He was aware of the noise first. Like any teacher he was familiar with the sounds of a school. This building did not sound like a school: slaps, crunches, crashes, metal banging against metal, and the occasional yelp of pain assaulted his ears. He jumped when he heard the first scream.

Hermione put her hand on his arm, and patted it. "It's just the sound of training. This floor has the gym, training rooms, pool, and combat arena. Once we get up the stairs where the sound is warded off, it'll sound like a regular school." Hermione could see that the part of Snape's mind that had spent too many years waiting to be attacked was on full alert. She hurried him up the stairs.

When they hit the top of the stairs the noise did change. The sounds that came to him were the ones he was used to: talking, laughing, an adult voice with a British accent telling teens to shut up and pay attention. Much more like it.

"This is where the classrooms are and the visitor's quarters. The kitchen is in the back, and it opens out onto the back garden and outside training area. The floors above us are the dorms, the offices, and the library. You'll love the library." Hermione continued to lead him toward the back of the building.

The door she opened led them into a pleasantly decorated room with large windows. Snape walked over to the windows while Hermione dropped her bags on the bureau. From his vantage point, he could see a large garden broken into three sections. Closest to the house was a traditional English garden. Further back and to the right was an outdoor training area, where girls were doing something that looked like yoga, but the positions were a bit more complicated than the ones he was familiar with. To the left was an out building, a patio, and a very green lawn. In the far back there was a much smaller building. Based on the color of the wood walls, it was new.

Hermione joined him at the window. She wrapped her arms around him, and began to narrate the scene. "In the back the girls are doing something Buffy calls Slayercize. It's a hybrid of yoga, pilates, and aerobics. The idea is to keep them flexible, strong, and fast. On the other side is the grill and outside kitchen. It's mainly used for parties, taking advantage of lovely spring and summer nights. Right next to the house is Giles' garden. He's got prize winning roses in there. Oh, and I guess that newer building in the way back will be Dean's workshop. I bet he'll like that."

"Assuming he doesn't cut off any valuable bits of his anatomy while watching the girls exercise."

"Well, that's always a risk for the boys here. But so far none of them have been horribly maimed while girl watching. Smacked upside the head on occasion, but not maimed. Actually, it's very hard to disrespect girls who can break you like a toothpick. Dean and Benjamin will learn proper manners very quickly. I don't envy Benjamin; Rose looks like she's a bit on the jealous side."

"And what about you? Do you trust me among all these lovelies?" He was smiling as he asked. The question was almost a joke, but not quite.

"I trust you. And, I'd be alarmed if you didn't look. They're young, beautiful, in the best shape of anyone's life, and wearing very little clothing. If you don't see the beauty in them, how can you see it in me?"

Severus appreciated that answer to the depths of his soul, and was unsure of how to express it. He leaned down and kissed her softly on the shell of the ear. "I'll always see it in you."

"You're sweet." She kissed him back. Interest in testing out the bed in a way she never had before perked up nicely, along with the realization that they needed to go to dinner. She pulled back regretfully. "Shall we meet Willow and get to dinner?"

Severus looked interested in being late for dinner. But politeness won out. "Certainly."

Willow's office was two floors above them. Her door was open. Severus could see the witch sitting at her desk, reading a very old book. Her office was cluttered with candles, crystals, bunches of dried herbs, and many, many books. A huge map of the building and grounds was located on the right side wall. Little points of light moved around the map.

Years earlier he and Dumbledore had talked about being able to see the trace magic left. Most of the time Snape couldn't do it. Standing in Willow's office he realized that most of the time at Hogwarts, he couldn't do it. Just about everything in this room seemed to glow at him: the magical equivalent of jumping up and down waving a hand in the air. One piece caught his attention beyond the others: a small, blackened rock.

Willow watched him enter her office, and the careful way he looked at everything. He was staring at the charred remains of a crystal she had used in the failed ritual to bring her lover back to life. Interesting, the darkest bit of magic in this room is what attracts him the most.

"May I?" Severus asked, his hand hovering over the crystal.

"Sure."

He picked up the stone and held it. It felt colder than it should: filled with sadness, longing, and failure. When he put it down he made sure to place it exactly as it had been when he picked it up.

"As I'm sure you've guessed, this is my office, the magical hub of the school. At any given time there are only twelve or so Slayers with magical skills, so most of the lessons are done in here as well."

"Which explains the cushions all over the floor?" Snape had been wondering why there were a dozen cushy pillows on the floor in front of the book cases.

"Yep. And the reason we're on the top floor. Most of the Slayers are best with air magic. I'm earth myself, hence all the crystals. We meet by the pool if we need to deal with water or the grill for fire."

"You use elemental magic? Hermione hasn't gotten very far in my training. Mostly we've been dealing with the implementation of will."

Willow looked like she approved. "That's the first lesson. But each person has an element that obeys them more easily. Hermione is earth, with a side of air. I'd guess you're air, with a healthy dose of water."

Snape thought about it. Water made sense, what with a lifetime of potions work. Air he wasn't as sure about.

She led them out of her office. "I'll give you the quick tour as we head toward Xander's place. Up here we have our offices. Giles and Anya are further down the hall. Buffy's over here." She gestured toward a closed door as they walked by. "And Spike has his in the basement." They turned a corner. "Here's the library. I'd show you the inside, but then we'd never get Hermione back out of it. Suffice it to say, there's lots of neat stuff in there. There's usually a few girls in there as well. If you decide you want to explore, they'll show you what's what and where it is. We just got a new translation of the Black Book of Mordicia. It's supposed to be more accurate than the last one."

Hermione's eyes lit up. "I can't wait. There's so much in that book that I wanted to check out further. Mordicia was a British witch who came to the US around the 1850's and began to turn the local magic into magic for a wand, but she didn't feel comfortable committing it to writing, so she wrote everything in a hybrid of nine languages, only six of which were human. It's a most frustrating read."

"She was half bonkers too, that's part of why she's hard to read. Anyway, a colleague back in California took a swing at it, and produced a work that's almost readable," Willow added. She took them past more rooms, (classrooms, guestrooms) and down to the third floor.

"This is the dorm. The girls live here, two to a room. The lack of privacy bugs them, but we have a buddy system here. Someone always needs to know where you are. Dean and Amber will have rooms here. We set up Benjamin and Rose on the fourth floor in one of the suites. Newlyweds deserve some privacy." Willow turned to face them, walking backwards with the practiced ease of someone who had lead a lot of tours around the campus. "Speaking of which, have you two set a date yet?"

Snape answered, "Not yet, but we have until October 31st."

"I was thinking later in the fall. Actually a Halloween wedding has a certain appeal to it." Hermione looked at Snape while she spoke.

"Really?" He looked intensely dubious.

"Yes."

"I wouldn't have thought Halloween was high on the romance factor." He shook his head. Hermione had a feeling there was something else, but whatever it was, it wasn't able to come to the front of her mind.

Willow continued to point out bits of interest, like the fact that all the rooms on the third floor had huge windows that allowed vast amounts of sunlight in. An added protective measure for the girls. They went down another flight of stairs.

"Here's where most of the learning happens. Our girls usually have at least an eighth grade education, so we don't have to spend too much formal classroom time on traditional studies, unless one of us likes to teach it. Anya does math and finance. She's got some of them so well trained that they're paying for themselves on their stock picks alone. Some of the others are planning on opening businesses when they get sent out. Spike still loves poetry and literature, so he teaches it, although his classes look more like jam sessions than anything I took in high school. He does post-Victorian history for the girls who want it. In addition to magic, I teach some science and computer programming. You never know when the ability to hack into the local police database will come in handy."

They once more descended to the first floor. The noises of combat had been replaced with the sounds of laughing, talking girls. Fifteen or so of them walked by in a group, and Snape caught snatches of conversation about fighting technique, dinner plans, and lip gloss staying power. This has got to be the most surreal experience of my life.

"This is what sets us apart from other schools. Our super-duper ninja training stuff is down here. I don't do much down here, but every now and again I'll spar with the girls to show them what a magical opponent can do."

"Sparring?" Snape had a hard time envisioning Willow fighting anything. Yes she radiated magical power the way the sun radiated light, but she also had a deep serenity about her.

"It's kind of like duelling, but less formal, no rules. Well, no rules for them. I figure if I let one of them hurts me, it's my own fault. Hermione got pretty good at it while she was staying here."

Snape cocked his head at her. Hermione gave him a half smile. "There's a certain satisfaction that comes from using your body as well as your mind. I'm not a match for any of the girls fist to fist, but they were nice enough to let me play with them. That's how the idea of fist and wand working together came up. In addition to teaching some basic wanded magic, I usually spend some time in the gym and run the yearly Defeat Voldemort Challenge."

"What's the Defeat Voldemort Challenge?" Snape asked, fairly sure he knew the answer.

Willow smiled at them. "The girls love it. Hermione left us with a description of Voldemort, what his skills and strengths were, and what needed to be done to defeat him. Then, each year, the new girls can enter a plan to defeat Voldemort. We use it to teach beginning tactical thinking. This year the prize is a whole day off, access to one of the cars, and two hundred dollars to go out and have some fun. Some of them have been planning for six weeks. Beth won't tell us what she's up to but she's been in the library every free moment. She really wants to get the car."

They were outside now, heading down the street. Snape was wondering where they were going.

"Xander lives about half a mile away." Hermione told him as he looked over the street and houses around them.

"Which one is Xander?" Severus whispered to Hermione.

"Willow's best friend. He's retired from demon fighting and runs a local construction company now," she responded quietly.

As they walked, Willow told Severus about the first time Hermione came to the Council, and how after several very intense weeks of trying to make the magic obey her and not having much luck at it, she finally snapped, went to the gym, and beat one of the punching bags into a pulp.

"She finally let her fire out, and the next day she was floating pencils with the best of them."

Hermione laughed. "I was beating that bloody pencil in my head. We spent hours with that damn thing, and it just wouldn't move. I had baby Slayers to the right and left, and their pencils are floating about, spiking pretend Vampires, but my pencil just sat there. I hadn't felt that useless since the first day of Divination." Hermione looked rueful. "I realized they all spent time in the gym beating on things, so why not give it a try? Plus I was in a record breaking bad mood. Well, it did help the bad mood. Endorphins are wonderful. One of the girls, Rachel, asked if I'd like to give a live opponent a try. I said sure, and she showed me how to make a proper fist and punch, what kind of stances you use. Then she let me swing at her while she ducked. After several moments of not even getting close to her, I asked if she'd like to try fist against wand.

"I think that was the first fun I had had since the war ended. I wasn't trying to hurt her, and she found ducking spells more interesting than ducking my fist. The rules were simple, if she touched me, she got a point. If I landed a spell, just a minor stunning spell, then I got a point. We played to ten.

"The next day I could float a pencil, and I had three other girls who were interested in sparring with me. You liked duelling didn't you?" Hermione asked Snape.

"I liked showing what an abysmal wizard Lockhart was. Duelling wasn't exactly my favourite sport at Hogwarts, but I could probably be prevailed upon to try my hand at sparring. I don't suppose anyone has tried to introduce Quiddich to your girls."

"Oh God," Hermione moaned. "Not more Quiddich. They really don't have the place to play. Maybe if they opened a school off in the middle of nowhere…"

"Our next school will be in New Orleans, even less of the middle of nowhere then this one is. Plus, knowing our girls we'd never get them off of a broomstick once they got on one. Part of why they're working so hard on the Defeat Voldemort challenge this year is that with a car and money they can get to Cedar Point and ride the roller coasters," Willow said.

They continued to talk of the eventual relocation of the Watcher's Council while walking the last few blocks to Xander's house.

They stopped in front of an arts and crafts style bungalow. "One rule at Xander's house, although maybe rule isn't the right word, guideline is probably better. We try not to talk shop there. General discussion is fine, but what we're going to kill tomorrow isn't. Xander is enjoying an immensely well deserved retirement, and we don't want to tempt him back into demon hunting."

At which point the door opened and a large man, wearing jeans, a dark blue t-shirt, and an eye patch opened the door. "Don't believe a word of it. I just don't like hearing the icky details anymore. I've had more than enough gore for three lifetimes."

"Hello Xander." Hermione went to him and gave him a big hug. He gave her a friendly peck on the forehead. Snape felt himself stiffen. He was looking at a one-eyed, black haired, Ronald Weasley. Does she not see it?

"Hello yourself Herms. This must be Severus." Xander offered his hand, and Snape shook it, still feeling a bit unsettled by this newest member of the gang, but starting to relax as he noticed how different the speech patterns were. "Welcome to La Casa Harris. Everyone else is here. Well, almost everyone. Anya won't be making it; Giles' tells me she's too tired, and even the mention of food makes her want to puke."

Hermione looked from Xander to Willow. "Anya's expecting?"

Both were smiling. "She's eight weeks preggers. You've never seen Giles so happy. She's, well, 'mood-swing,' is the term to keep in mind when you see her. But for the most part she's happy," Xander answered.

They walked through the foyer into a sitting room. A large TV sat on one wall, and beneath it was a sound system. In front of it stood three people arguing in a friendly manner about the music. In the centre was a small woman who looked to be just a bit older than Hermione. She had long golden hair, green eyes, and a sad little pout on her face.

"But we always listen to your music…" she was saying.

To the left of her was a man a bit older than Severus, his hair a combo of brown and gray. He was cleaning the lenses of his glasses while replying to the girl, "We always listen to my music because if we let you choose we'd be listening to Britney Spears or some other painful atrocity that purports to be music." Although he was dressed casually in jeans and a button down, his speech patterns put Snape in mind of tweed and primary school lessons of proper elocution.

Buffy made an indignant squeak, while Xander looked at Severus, "The two arguing about the music are Buffy and Giles. The one behind Buffy, hugging her, is Spike."

"He's right, Luv. You do have tragic taste in music," the man holding Buffy said. He also looked to be about Severus' age, but with bleached white hair, a black tee-shirt, black nail polish, and black jeans, he was dressed in a very different style. And a very different accent, close to what those elocution teachers had been trying to break them of. So these are our ex-pats: Yobbo and the Toff. Interesting.

Xander spoke up: "But as you remember the rule in my house is the guest chooses the music, so, since this is Sev's first visit, hand him the remote and let him pick."

The three turned to Severus, introduced themselves, and then the Toff, Giles, Rupert Giles, but everyone calls him Giles, handed him the remote. Giles and Spike then went off to say hi to Hermione, while Buffy stayed with him.

Snape looked at the remote blankly. He knew how to use a CD player. He knew how to use most stereo equipment, but this was new.

"You'll have to help me out here. I don't know what this is."

"It's Xander's newest toy. Satellite radio. Three hundred channels of commercial free music," Buffy answered him.

The idea of three hundred channels left him gobsmacked. That was too much of a good thing. "How do you find what you want to listen to in under three hours?"

"You tell it what you want, and then it gives you options. I like dance music, not Britney Spears, thank you." She and Giles exchanged looks across the room. "So I go through the menu, and tell it dance, and then it gives me the seven channels that do dance music. Then flip through them, and it's easy to pick." She showed him how to use the menu, and Snape began flipping about. Several minutes later, when the opening notes of Behind Blue Eyes filled the room, both Spike and Giles sighed with relief.

Snape walked over to Hermione, who was helping Xander with something rich and spicy smelling, "That is bloody brilliant, we need to get one of those when we get home." His nose perked up. "What are you making? It smells wonderful."

"I asked my two British authorities, 'What do I make well, but is hard to get in England?' They both recommended Mexican. You're smelling turkey with mole sauce. The tamales are already done. And since I wasn't sure if you'd like this kind of food there's also fajitas warming in the oven. They're pretty mild and gringo friendly."

"Do you need help?" Severus asked.

"Not really, at this point it's a matter of sticking things in bowls and putting them on the table. Go out and mingle with the others. I'm sure you just made Giles' day. That's one of his favourite songs."

Snape went back into the living room to join the others. He caught the tail end of Giles' story about dealing with a hormonally-crazed pregnant woman. He made sure to offer the correct congratulations and then the five of them stood there in a somewhat awkward silence.

"So, another classic rock fan?" Buffy finally said as the music moved to Pink Floyd.

"It's hard not to be if you grew up in the seventies in Britain. I'm sure these two have told you a bit about it," Severus answered.

"I was living in London at that point. I stood in line for three hours to get a copy of Animals the day it came out." Giles eyes were soft with the memory.

"That was a great album," Snape agreed.

"Great guitar, thought too much of itself, otherwise. I was in New York in the seventies. If you wanted music, that's where you needed to be," Spike added. "The clubs…"

Severus thought it was a little odd that Spike, who didn't look that much older was clubbing in New York in the seventies, but maybe he had aged well. The three of them continued to discuss the merits of London versus New York and Punk versus straight Rock and Roll until Xander called out that dinner was ready.

"You liked Rod Stewart?" Spike asked Severus, a disbelieving look in his eyes.

"If you were a skinny kid with bad hair and an unfortunate nose, Rod was a god." Severus answered as they sat at a table groaning with good things to eat. Spike looked thoughtful at that.

Xander presided over the table. "It's pretty informal here, just pass and grab." Snape took a bit of everything, watching how the others ate. Most of the meal was wrapped into tortillas and eaten with fingers. It was spicy, but as a fan of both curry and Thai food it wasn't too hot, just different. Good different.

The conversation drifted about. Everything from food, to some new TV show called House, to the local politics got covered over the course of the two hours in front of the table. By the end of the meal everyone was feeling relaxed, and due to the presence of margaritas, rather mellow, if not outright silly.

Severus was pleasantly full, tired from a very long day, and thinking that he could get used to the idea of going to people's homes for good food and conversation on a somewhat regular basis. This is what it must be like to have friends. Must remember to thank Hermione for that as well…

Willow was watching them more carefully than the others. When she noticed that Snape looked a bit glazed and Hermione hadn't said anything for ten minutes, she said, "I think our guests are tired. Time to get them home."

"Sleep sounds very, very good right about now," Hermione added.

As they walked through the quiet neighborhood, the cool air helped to revive Severus. An idea popped into his head and wouldn't work its way out. "Just about everyone who comes here teaches your girls something," he said to Willow.

"Just about, but don't worry, you don't have to if you don't want to. Hermione mentioned that teaching wasn't exactly your favourite pastime."

"It wasn't worried, but I was thinking: do any of your girls know anything about Occlumency?"

Willow thought for a moment. "Mind blocking, right?"

"Yeah."

"Some have a natural talent for it, but beyond that we don't do much with it."

"Do they fight telepathic or empathic creatures?"

"Sometimes."

"I can teach them all how to get better at it. It's not really magic even. It's just discipline. Any of them who want to learn can."

"That could be useful. Tomorrow at breakfast we'll talk about it and see if anyone is interested. Breakfast is at eight. See you then." Willow had paused at the gate to the Watcher's Academy.

"Aren't you going in?" Hermione asked.

"Not yet. For those of us who woke up in this continent, it's still pretty early." Willow nodded and headed back towards Xander's.

"You want to teach Occlumency?" Hermione asked Severus as they walked up the stairs, past Slayers in various states of relaxation. Hermione waved at Amber who was sitting with one group of girls watching TV. They saw Dean on the next floor playing cards with another group. No sign of Rose or Benjamin, but perhaps they, too had gone to bed.

"I was thinking about what I had to offer them. They don't have a potions lab, so that limits my usefulness there. What I know about spying isn't likely to help people who don't infiltrate. Then I remembered the one time I fought Harry. I knew every move he was going to make before he did because he couldn't control his mind. Maybe these girls have similar issues, and that is something I can help with."

They reached their room. Hermione kicked off her shoes and flopped onto the bed. "It feels so good to lie down." She was quiet while Snape undressed to join her.

"I can't think of a nice way to ask this, so here goes: will you use the same abysmal technique you used with Harry?"

"Merlin, no! I actually want these girls to learn Occlumency. The whole point of working with Harry was to open his mind wide and use him to flush Voldemort out of hiding."

"Oh." She frowned.

"I take it you don't approve."

"Yes, but that wasn't what I was thinking about. I know you were acting on Dumbledore's orders. I was remembering Ron saying that you were trying to open Harry's mind wider, and telling him 'Of course not, don't be silly, Snape's one of the good guys.'"

"Weasley was right on that one. I guess he was more alert than I gave him credit for." He lay down next to Hermione on their bed. "So, you really like the idea of a Halloween wedding?"

"You don't?"

"Not really. Bonfires, ghosts, floating pumpkins, and costumes does not say 'romantic joining of two people in a lifelong bond' to me."

"Do you have a better day?"

"Any other day?" They continued to bounce ideas for a wedding date around until both of them drifted off to sleep.