Disclaimer etc. in part 1.

Notes: As ever, thank you for waiting. My first note (I do these as I go) is that I borrowed the idea of the 'Potter Turn' from Jeconais' fantastic Harry/Gabrielle fic "Hope" which can be found on his website. I'd try to post the url but we all know the site admin here block us from that. You can find your way there through his author page here. There's some great stuff there. I've also been working on the explanation of Angel's immunity to the sun for a while now, as well as a means of avoiding the curse's "true happiness" clause. Anyhow, if the explanation doesn't make sense I can clarify it in the next instalment. Finally, I hope the quidditch match is all right. After all, what would a Harry Potter inclusive story be without quidditch?

Hermione was indeed good. Within two hours she had plumbed the depths of the Restricted Section and had determined how the killing curse worked. She then insisted on using Buffy's laptop to send an email to Giles describing the complete effects and history of the curse.

Dear Mr. Giles,

I am a friend of Buffy's here at her new school. Angel appears to now recall what I believe may have had a significant impact on him as regards his current immunity to sunlight. Insofar as we can tell, Angel was hit by what is colloquially known here as the "Killing Curse." It is a spell which, when cast at a living target, renders him instantly dead. There is no known way of blocking the curse and there was also only one known survivor until Angel. However, given that Angel is not human or technically alive, this does alter what one might expect of the normal effects of the curse.

The way the Avada Kedavra (this is the incantation used to cast the spell) works is by briefly severing the connection between a person's soul and his body. It was originally created in an attempt at devising a means of assisting seers and the clairvoyant in entering the astral plane. As you may know, if a person is lost too long on the astral plane his body will die, no matter what physical efforts are made to maintain the physical being. Unfortunately, the Avada separated the soul from the body so dramatically and quickly that it usually essentially "tricked" the body into believing the soul had been lost. When the soul returns to the body mere moments later, the body is dead and there is nothing left for the soul to return to.

From what we understand, Angel believes he had reverted to an animalistic state in order to defend his consciousness under the torture he was enduring. He somehow pressed his demonic vampire being forward in order to force it to take the pain instead of his own consciousness, thus explaining one reason why his memories are so very blurry. He was then struck by the Avada and left for dead. My theory is that somehow, being struck with the Avada has sufficiently altered Angel's metaphysical being enough to allow him to stand sunlight and other such things.

As this letter is merely a rapid summation of my research, I have attached to this message the pertinent excerpts of the texts in question as well as a more detailed description from Angel of the precise circumstances surrounding the casting. I hope this is useful to your research as we are all most anxious and concerned about Angel.

Sincerely,

Hermione J. Granger

Buffy could only imagine the look of geeker Giles-y joy on her watcher's face when Hermione's research arrived at his end. In the meantime, Hermione had vanished into the library searching for alternate causes again while Harry, Ron and Ginny prepared for their quidditch match. Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw.

Angel had watched some of the late-night Gryffindor practices and had been suitably impressed. He was less impressed with Buffy's offer to take him flying, informing her that if Man (or vampire) had been meant to fly, he would have had a non-artificial means of doing so. Buffy once more told him, "You know, those new-fangled flying machines are a lot safer than they used to be."

"I would like to point out," he replied, "That you are saying they are safer than they were, not that they are, in fact, safe." Harry, Ginny and Ron were watching this tennis match of words with interest and amusement. "And more than that, just because I admire you all for being able to take a hunk of wood and make it fly while you're sitting on it, doesn't mean I don't think you're all crazy."

"Oi!" was Ron's indignant interjection. Harry just shrugged. "You know they say you're more likely to get killed while crossing the street than a plane crash." Angel had no response to that and Buffy grinned at him.

"I'm not going up there and that's final," he told her.

And so it was. Instead, two weeks later, Buffy, Angel and a reluctantly-dragged-from-the-library Hermione were ensconced on the Gryffindor sections of the stands watching Harry hurtle toward the ground chased by the new Ravenclaw seeker. As usual the whole game had seemingly paused to watch them hurtle downward. Then the Ravenclaw seeker pulled out of his dive, but instead of flying off to look for the snitch, he seemed to just be watching Harry head down. As Harry pulled out of his Wronski Feint those nearby were able to hear the embarrassed Ravenclaw admit, "I thought you'd seen the snitch. I just knew I wouldn't be able to pull out in time if I'd kept up any longer."

Buffy snorted. "Wimp," she murmured to Angel.

He rolled his eyes at her. "That is just the sort of attitude that explains why people are crazy enough to fly around in the first place."

"What? If he can't take the heat he should get out of the kitchen," Buffy told him. "Besides, you'll notice I'm not out there even though I could've tried out for beater."

Hermione finally poked her head up from the book she'd taken to the game that she was pretending to read while she ogled Ron in his quidditch leathers. "You mean there's some school activity you could have done to take out your violent tendencies in a socially acceptable manner and you didn't take it? Typical."

"Hey!" Buffy immediately objected. "The only people I hit can take it or they deserve it."

"Of course. What's important is that you believe that," Hermione said absentmindedly as Ron reached to make a save, thus exposing the aforementioned leathers in all their glory.

While Buffy spluttered in annoyance, Angel watched the game go by. He suddenly noticed the Gryffindor team moving into the very same positions he'd hashed out with Ron several weeks before while he'd still been suffering from amnesia. He watched in anticipation as the beaters moved toward the opposing hoops and the three chasers split apart, each of them coming in from a different angle. When the Ravenclaws closed in on the chaser carrying the quaffle, two bludgers hurtled through their formation driving the blue team off. For a moment the chasers circled the confused keeper while the beaters seemed to form a web blocking the other team from blocking anything or retaking the quaffle. Then suddenly, the constant motion of the quaffle changed direction completely and shot through the centre hoop.

"Gryffindor scores! The lions now lead by 50 to 30. The Ravens take the quaffle back and are heading for the rings – what's this? Potter's seen the snitch!" The crowd focussed on Harry at the announcer's words. "He's heading at straight at the Ravenclaw goal posts!" Suddenly, if you looked really carefully you could just make out the small golden form whizzing toward the Ravenclaw keeper.

Just as Harry caught up with the snitch, so too did the Ravenclaw seeker catch up with him. They shot neck and neck toward the small ball, jockeying for position. Just as they reached the rings however, the snitch came to a halt and hurtled off in reverse. While the Ravenclaw seeker slowed into a more conventional turn, Harry kept going and let one of his legs drop down slightly, hook onto the righthand ring, swing him around at full speed, and he shot out through the ring, catching up with the snitch and snapping a hand out to pluck it from the air.

All this happened in a matter of seconds. The crowd was stunned silent and then they erupted. The announcer shouted over the crowds through the PA system, "It's a brand new move by Harry Potter! A new fast turn! A Potter Turn!"

They all surged onto the field where Harry was making out with Ginny in a triumphant congratulatory snog. Ron was looking torn between being proud of his seeker and nauseated at the display. When Harry and Ginny resurfaced to breathe, Buffy was there with Angel to tell Harry, "You have got to teach me how to do that."

Having been vibrating with impatience beside them, Hermione finally exploded. "Harry Potter! Of all the irresponsible . . . how could you . . . You could have been severely injured and I know I don't know anything about flying the way you and Ron do but even I know what happens when someone flying at top speeds rams into a solid object! What were you thinking? I nearly had a heart attack when you did that . . ." She ranted on for the next ten minutes as they made their way back up to Gryffindor tower. Every possible thing that could have gone wrong with Harry's stunt was raised from the possibility of breaking his ankle to a dire situation involving Harry in a coma and a great many interrupted bodily functions due to spinal injury. The brunette witch was cut off by their arrival at the tower and the crowds of chanting Gryffindors.

Angel let himself be drawn into a drinking contest with Seamus and the two started trading quips in Gaelic while Buffy joined Lavendar and Parvati in a complicated discussion of the finer points of makeup which left Hermione and Ginny quite boggled as neither of them had ever considered that there could be that level of complexity to covering up uneven skin and adding eyeshadow. Ron and Harry joined the boisterous crowd of Gryffindors in an all-night retelling of every point of the game and many rounds of Truth or Dare.

When McGonagall came to break the party up in the early hours of the morning Seamus had passed out on the chesterfield in front of the fire and several of the fourth years were carefully using their ink to dye his hair green. Her lips thinned as she glanced toward another corner where several students were counting down together in front of a cupboard on the far wall. When they reached the last number Harry and Ginny fell out of it still snogging. Another part of the room had Dean telling a story about his brother, a top shelf magazine and some muggle implements that sent her eyebrows to her hairline to an avidly listening audience of sixth and seventh years including Ron and a scandalised-looking Colin Creevey. Hermione was fighting a losing battle to clean up the party and get the House to bed and Buffy was showing off her cheerleading skills to highly interested fifth years and Angel.

"Mr. Thomas! Miss Summers! You will cease this immediately! Mr. Weasley, you and Mr. Thomas take Mr. Finnigan up to your dormitory at once! Twenty points from Gryffindor for this abysmal behaviour I definitely expected better from you all." She glared impartially around the room and sent the students scurrying.

"Oh Professor, I'm so sorry!" Hermione said looking tearfully but gratefully at her much-idolised teacher. "I tried to make them stop but no one would listen and Ron just wouldn't help-"

McGonagall spent a few minutes soothing Hermione's ruffled feathers and reassuring the girl that she didn't blame her in the least for the rest of the House's misbehaviour. "In fact," she told Hermione darkly, "I suspect that the only reason it was not worse was due to your efforts Miss Granger." She sternly ignored the gagging looks and mouthed, "Teacher's pet!" from the other students as she sent them up to their dormitories to bed.

A sudden shout of surprise and a thud behind her had McGonagall turning around in dread. Several students were gathered around a perplexed-looking platypus. The teacher closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "What now?" she demanded of the students.

Ginny piped up, "I think it's one of the twins' new products. Exotic Creature Confections. They've got a whole line that turn you into unusual nonmagical animals . . ." she trailed off at the look of tired irritation on the face of her Head of House. Sure enough, a moment later a startled-looking fifth year reappeared with a pop to replace the platypus.

"All of you to bed at once!" McGonagall thundered. At that point the last of the stragglers hurried up the stairs to their rooms and the common room was finally cleared except for Angel and the professor.

He held out an arm. "Can I escort you back to your quarters professor?" Angel inquired politely. She seemed momentarily torn, then smiled at him and placed her arm on his.

"Thank you kindly," she said with a suddenly sparkling smile. "I haven't had a young man escort me anywhere for a very long time." They walked through the portrait hole and into the halls. "I've noticed you've had some difficulties of late," McGonagall commented a few minutes later.

Angel sighed. "It's just a lot to take in. Some of the customs and clothing of the . . . wizarding world," He paused and shook his head slightly, "Are familiar to me. I was around when they were in common use in the nonmagical world, but parts of the culture now are very different. Being with Buffy again is wonderful, but seeing her in a place that is so very different from the surroundings I've always seen her in and yet to see her comfortable here is startling."

She nodded in understanding. "It's the combination of the alien and the familiar isn't it?" she commented. "When I step into the muggle world I feel the same way sometimes. It might well be easier to adjust if everything were alien. Instead you see something familiar in an unfamiliar setting and it is more jarring than that which you have never seen before."

"Because it isn't the way it's supposed to be," he finished with a smile.

They had reached the central arch of a line of blind arches. She turned to the wall and said, "Porphyry." The stone seemed to melt away leaving a passage visible. "Thank you for the company," she said with another lovely smile.

"Good evening," Angel replied with a slight bow.

McGonagall had just passed the threshold when she turned around and said, "I trust I don't have to remind you not to mention to the students either the location or the password to enter the teachers' quarters?" One of her eyebrows was arched and her expression was severe. But around the corners of her mouth the smile lingered.

"Of course not," Angel replied, then swept into an elegant court bow. "'Twas a pleasure to escort you to your door," he said, letting just a touch of his old Irish accent colour his voice. Then he kissed her hand, sent a debonair grin her way and swept off into the darkness of the school.

Pomona Sprout came up behind her. "Well, that was something," she observed with raised brows. She turned the look to her colleague. "And how did you do getting the lions to bed Minerva?" she inquired archly.

"Hmm?" A slight prod from the herbology professor brought her back to the present. "Oh you know, the usual. Weasley pranks and snogging."

"And?"

Minerva grinned. "And then an incredibly handsome man walked me back."

"He does have a nice arse," giggled Sprout. "Too bad he's too young. Or too old. . . . Something."

The two teachers headed off toward their suites, giggling like schoolgirls the whole way about Angel. After all, just because they were getting on in years didn't mean they couldn't still look.

Angel walked back to his rooms and was startled to find Buffy pacing anxiously. "Buffy? What's wrong?"

She whipped around and flung herself at him, wrapped her arms around him and began to kiss him eagerly. He agreeably allowed her to do so for several minutes before slowly detaching her and asking again what was going on. She grinned and told him about what Giles had sent in response to Hermione's email on the killing curse.

"Basically, Giles thinks that Hermione's right about you reverting to having your demon pushed forward. He said that the demon in a regular vampire takes the place of a soul. That it's in the same spot." She looked briefly confused. "Or something like that. I don't get what he means, but basically it's like if your soul has a spot somewhere, the demon takes it's place when you get turned and the soul goes away."

Angel nodded, "I understand so far, but how does the killing curse fit into this? I mean, so far, all the evidence suggests I should have lost my soul still."

Buffy took a deep breath. "Okay, well Giles said that when you pushed the demon forward, it sort of blocked the spell from detaching your soul because the demon was sort of in front of it. But because it's a demon and not a soul, it left traces behind when it got separated. It kinda provided a magical support so that your body still functions enough that your soul can still stick around."

Angel stared at her. "So, roughly, my soul has now reclaimed the place it's supposed to be because my demon has been killed by the killing curse."

"Right."

"And the demon left enough of itself behind that I won't suddenly turn to dust."

"Exactly," Buffy looked at him expectantly.

"What does this mean in the long term?" Angel finally asked.

Buffy grinned. "Giles says that it means that you're not going to be vulnerable to crosses, sunlight and the invitation thing anymore. The other things that would've killed you before will still be able to and stuff, but you won't have to hide from the sun anymore."

There was a lengthy silence and then Angel scooped Buffy up and carried her off to bed and told her as he did so, "I'll look over what he actually said tomorrow, but tonight I'm just going to enjoy the moment." Then they both stopped talking.