WOW! Ok, this is the first chapter to be written (of this story or any of my others) on my new laptop! (Which I'm currently grinning widely about!!) I love my parents. They rock. Just thought I'd note that before I started. So on with the story…
Up in Dumbledore's office, Hermione was pacing while Dumbledore sat still, his chin resting on intertwined fingers.
"Hermione, would you sit down?" Ron said finally. Hermione hesitated before taking his advice. However, moments later, she was up again. "Hermione!" Ron exclaimed.
"I'm sorry, Ron." She spat back, "But I can't just sit back and relax as if nothing has happened! First Harry… then you went after him- I thought you were gonna die, Ron! And then Dawn… I can't just sit…"
"I'm sorry." Ron cooed, standing up, and enveloping the shaking girl in a hug.
"I thought I was gonna lose you!" She breathed.
Faith joined them a few minutes later, with Draco tagging along, reluctant to leave Dawn, but feeling that it was important to be at this meeting.
"So what we got, Dumbledore?" Faith asked.
"I honestly don't know." The old man sighed. "I've sent for professor Wyndam Pryce to aid us."
"You don't know? Jee-sus Dumbledore! All I hear is that you're he great and powerful wizard that even Voldemort fears, but I've seen no proof that you're even vaguely capable! Polgaras in the forest, kids getting kidnapped and nearly killed on school campus! I thought this place was meant to be protected!"
"It is!" Dumbledore exclaimed. " I don't know what happened at Halloween, and the forest incident was a mistake on my part, but today, the spells held. No one entered the school grounds… Harry flew too high."
"You're saying it's Harry's fault!?" Hermione cried indignantly, shocking them all.
"No Miss Granger, that's not what I'm saying." Dumbledore verified. "I simply want to affirm that the school defences held. At that moment, Wesley burst in,
"What the hell was that!?" he asked.
"We don't know." Dumbledore said.
"Dawn does." Hermione corrected, now fully aware that she was countering the headmaster once again, and really not caring. "Dawn said something about a wiccan spell…"
"A teleportation spell." Faith agreed.
"Teleportation?" Wesley asked with a frown, "there are few witches capable of magic that advanced. Where is Dawn, anyway?"
" She collapsed." Faith said. "When that idiot went after Harry."
"She fainted?" Wes asked.
"No. She collapsed. I think she did something."
"You think she was the one that stopped me?" Suggested Ron.
"Could be." Faith said. But Wesley shook his head,
"That would take a great deal of power. I don't think Dawn could do that. Floating small objects is one thing, but… did she even have her wand out?"
"No." Faith conceded, "But Dawn is stronger than you'd think. She knows how to access Wiccan powers, and when she grabbed my hand… it was like she was, kinda borrowing my strength." She finished weakly, knowing how silly it sounded. But a dawning look had crossed Dumbledore's face.
"A slayers power would give someone great strength… if Miss Summers wanted to stop Mr Weasley fast, and acted on instinct, the quickest reaction would be Wiccan telekinesis, rather than a wand aided spell…"
"But she knew she wasn't strong enough on her own." Wesley finished.
"I was right?" Faith said disbelievingly.
"Yes." The two men replied.
"What about Harry though!?" Hermione interjected, "As much as I love Dawn, she is safe, down in the hospital wing. Harry could be anywhere!"
"Yes yes." Dumbledore agreed. "What was this about a spell?"
"Wiccans can teleport things, objects, people, from one place to another with a relatively simple spell, but in all it's simplicity, it takes a great deal of power to perform, and getting the object to appear in a specific place is near impossible."
"So we're saying, only a majorly kick ass Wicca could do this?" Faith translated.
"Yes."
"Someone like, say, Willow?" Faith continued, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Willow? You think Willow kidnapped Harry?" Wes interjected. Faith rolled her eyes,
"No, Wes. We think that whoever teleported him, saved him from a couple of wand blasts."
"Green wand blasts!" Ron confirmed.
"Yes, I was wondering if anyone else saw that." Dumbledore said. "I have to agree, the teleportation probably saved Harry's life… you say Miss Rosenberg could perform this spell?"
"She bought Buffy back from the dead, dude." Faith's respectful language to Dumbledore had finally disintegrated back into her normal speech. Her fear of him had seriously decreased over the past weeks. "If she can navigate different dimensions, I think a little teleportation within our on dimension would be piss." Hermione couldn't help grinning at Dumbledore's blatant difficulty in understanding the slayer.
"From what Dawn has said, I think she could do it." Hermione said to make Faith's meaning clear.
"Then I think we need to contact her." Dumbledore decided. He went to the fireplace, and threw some floo powder into the flames. Faith, having never seen floo travel before, raised her eyebrows as the wizard stepped into the fire.
"Sunnydale." He said. Nothing more accurate was needed, as the Summers house was the only one in the town connected to the floo network- most witches and wizards avoided hellmouths as the mystical energies disrupt ordinary magics. As Dumbledore disappeared, Ron and Hermione stepped forward, ready to go too. They were disappearing in the flames before either Faith or Wes could say a thing.
"I'm gonna stay." Draco said. He'd barely contributed, and felt he'd be better off watching over Dawn. Faith nodded to him, and stopped Wes just as he reached for the powder,
"Erm, how do we…" She gestured into the flames.
"Oh! Of course you've never travelled by floo before… here." He gave her a handful of powder and told her what to do. Faith did as she was told, and gasped as the world began to spin.
Faith found herself thrown out of the fireplace at the other end onto the Summers living-room carpet, covered from head to foot in soot.
"I totally understand why you don't just use planes." She choked sarcastically.
"Hi Faith." Buffy said grinning.
"Hey B… Sorry about the carpet."
"S'ok."
"Erm, Dumbledore…" Faith said, looking down at her clothes, and then at his perfectly neat, clean ones.
"There's no point in cleaning them now." The headmaster told her, "They'll just get dirty again on the way back."
Faith scowled. He was getting pay back.
"So what's up?" Buffy asked, then, "Where's Dawn!?"
"Dawn's fine." Faith told her, as Wesley tumbled from the fireplace, just managing to stay standing.
"So why…" Buffy began.
"We're actually looking for Miss Rosenberg." Dumbledore told her.
"Will? Why?"
"It's a long story." Dumbledore said. Faith rolled her eyes,
"Screwy stuff happening, Wicca involved, Will's a major Wicca, need to ask her stuff." She summarised. Buffy knew Dumbledore was thinking [apparently not that long.]
"Ok." Buffy said, and yelled up the stairs for her friend. There was no answer. Buffy tried again- no reply. The Hogwarts group exchanged glances, wondering what that implied. Buffy frowned, and they all followed as she started up the stairs. At Willow's door, they all smelt a strong herbal smell. Buffy knocked. No one answered. Buffy turned the handle, and pushed the door open. Willow was lying on her bed, typing away at her computer, headphones on, blaring music they could hear metres away, and incense sticks burning on the bedside table. They breathed a communal sigh as the tension was relieved. But the Hogwarts group knew that this could in fact be bad news. At least if it had been Willow they'd know Harry was safe.