Chapter 39
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I claim no rights to any television show, movie, or book. I write for fun not profit. All television show, movie, and book characters are owned by their production studios, television stations, and authors. No copyright infringement is intended. Again, I write for fun not profit. I am not getting paid for this. This goes for all chapters past, present, and future.
Harry and Xander finally got back to their peace of the Congo after a full day of packing up his tool shed at the Guardian Council in Ohio for transport back here. Harry had shrunk everything to fit into a few tool boxes including Xander's table saw as well as most of his other power tools and three of his best generators. Gasoline was going to be a problem out here in the middle of nowhere but Xander was willing to risk one of the generators to see if Harry could get it to turn using magic. This was something that could make or break the situation as magic and technology don't work well together. If it didn't work Xander would have to call in Willow to work her Mojo that had bridged the gap between the two in the past. But that may be by appointment only as it seems everyone was too busy to even stop and talk to them to find out what they missed during the time they had been gone. Only one person saw fit to have a conversation with them and it was more one sided and somewhat loud shrieking at them for purchasing land in the middle of the Congo. After ten minuets of this they came to the conclusion that Dawn might be a little upset with their choice of locations. Since there wasn't anything they could do about it they simply let her vent and stood there until it was over. Now that they were back Xander was getting his tools and supplies put in order. Xander had even had time to run down to the home improvement store to purchase about five hundred pounds of nails and screws. He then ordered all kinds of lumber and bags of concrete to be shipped to the G.C. The order would then be sent to the Congo ether by magic or cargo ship. Xander hoped it was by magic because the small amount of lumber even though it would completely fill several semi truck trailers was only the start of what they would need and only considered a drop in the bucket. Xander had quickly fixed up a place he could safely store his tools and was reassured that it was safe as Harry used his magic to make sure it would be.
"Maybe we should have brought some lumber with us." Xander commented.
"Yeah, even though we now have the tools we don't have any material to work with to build any more than the work shed. I could go out to the other buildings to find more wood I can renew with magic." Harry suggested.
"That would drain you. The last time you did that you slept for hours and what would I do while I wait?"
Just then Harry and Xander heard cracks of apparition outside the shed. They cautiously looked outside when they heard their names being called. It was Katie Bell and Hanna Abbot.
"We're over here." Xander called walking out of the shed.
As they approached them they saw the women looking around.
"Is this it? Is this the place we're going to live?"
"I know it doesn't look like much now but give us some time and we'll have this place looking like a shiny penny." Xander replied.
"A shiny what?" Hanna asked.
"He means a shiny knut." Harry explained.
"Right I forgot about the currency exchange." Xander replied with a shrug.
"What are you both doing here?" Harry asked.
"We tried to reach you before you left the G.C. but we weren't fast enough. We wanted to tell you everything is ready for Xanders eye replacement. So if you're not too busy we can get started."
"Now; that would be terrific and as it stands we're waiting on materials at the moment so I guess now would be as good a time as any. Where are we going to do this? Do we need to go back to the G.C.? Because I got to tell you, too much portkey travel makes me sick" Xander asked.
"Trans-continental one usually does. We could do it in which ever structure you're staying in at the moment. You'll probably need to rest afterward anyway." Katie said.
"Well that could be a problem because at the moment we're staying in that hovel over there." Xander explained pointing to a small one room building that had been half damaged but newly repaired. The doors and windows were non existent and the back still had a gaping hole in it that animals could walk through. "We just put a roof on it yesterday."
"That will be good enough. The procedure doesn't require anything more. Lets give it a try shall we?" Katie replied.
"I'm game." Xander said
"I'll start looking for useable wood while you're doing that. It won't matter if I exhaust myself since you'll be out of it as well." Harry said.
"With a nod Xander and the two women moved off toward the building."
As they entered Katie spoke.
"I hope you don't mind but Hanna will be assisting me today." She said entering the building. "I couldn't risk asking an assistant from St. Mongo's and Hanna has been learning a lot by helping me in buying magical medical equipment and reading through my med witch books. So I have been allowing her to observe magical medical procedures."
"If the world is going to change the way that it's suppose to then I want to be useful and something more than a landlord. Being a med witch seems to be something that was calling to me." Hanna said.
"Well I'm sure it's a very fulfilling occupation." Xander replied as he took off his eye patch. "What made you become a med witch Katie? Harry told me you had the makings of a great quidditch player. Please tell me I pronounced that right."
"Spot on." She replied as she opened the bag to pull out bits and bobs as well as potions and other devices. "The truth is I always had the competitive nature needed for the sport but I came to the realization that professional Quidditch players have short careers. The owners of the teams switch their players as often as they change their socks. I didn't want to find myself forced to switch careers without any other skills before I was thirty. So I studied to be something that I could make a long range career out of. I just happened to notice that our school med witch had everything I wanted power over her peers and respect to the point that she didn't have to take anything from anyone. What she said was law in her domain. So it appealed to my competitive side in that I would be in control like I had been in control of the quaffel on the Quidditch pitch."
"Well. I still have yet to see a Quidditch match but Harry said he had some books I could have a look at." Xander confessed.
"Well once this new eye is in place we'll have to take you to see a real match and you'll get to see what all the hype is about." Katie replied.
"It's a date." Xander replied.
Katie smiled, "but got down to business as she worked on Xander's eye socket."
/Scene Break/
Arthur Weasley had been determined to save his family but had found that some of his immediate family tree had rotted and had no choice in the matter as he was to realize that they would have to be pruned. A process which he would be saddened that the cleansing would take care of. He wished something of his wife's side would survive but she and her nasty aunt were the only ones left of the once noble family of Prewett's. Once the cleansing was over the only thing left of them would be a few of the Weasley children. It wouldn't be quite the same. Arthur had been at the G.C. having something to eat in the cafeteria trying not to sulk about the situation when he overheard a few of the women talk about their families.
"My father is a fisherman he probably caught the tuna this plate was filled with."
"My father probably made the forks we ate it with." Another slayer said.
"I don't know what my real father did as I was adopted but the one I have now wrote the jingle for the cereal we ate this morning." The last slayer said.
When Arthur heard this his head shot up as he realized something he could do. He would need help from the muggles of the Guardian Council but he had every faith that they could help. He would need to find Hermione to get the help of her friend Willow. Things were just so busy, he knew he would have a hard time nailing down the woman by himself. Arthur almost dropped his spoon in his soup when said witch sat across from him her plate laden with food as she simply said. "Hi."
"Miss Rosenberg, I was just thinking of you. I wondered if you could help be find someone I wish to save."
"You mean in the magical community?" Willow asked.
"No, she's a squib on my wife's side. Her cousin, she had been put up for adoption when she was three or four when the family realized she wouldn't be magical. I believe she's an accountant. At least that's what my wife thought."
Willow didn't like the idea that magical families could so readily put there children up for adoption like that but Hermione told her that had they stayed in the magical world they would have a hard time of it and would resent the rest of the family as they watch them complete tasks with ease. Willow knew that had there never been a separation of the magical and mundane people they could have been more easily integrated in the unified world.
"Well with that kind of occupation she might not be too hard to find. We can go up to my office after lunch and you can give me all the information you know about her and I'll see if I can find her. But I can't spare any more than ten minutes on this. I have a lot on my plate today." Willow announced.
Arthur looked at her food.
Willow smiled and explained. "It's a figure of speech; it means I'm very busy. But ten minutes is five minutes more than I'll need to find her for you so don't worry. If your information is accurate we'll find her."
"I hope it is as well. Up until my sons wedding the family wasn't even sure of her gender. We all had thought she was a he. It was Molly's aunt that straitened us out back then. Not that Molly cared much."
Willow was a bit sour about that and her face showed it as well. Poor Arthur's family was beginning to look more and more dysfunctional as time moved on.
After lunch Willow found she needed the full ten minutes to find this woman, because Arthur's information was a little off the mark. The woman wasn't an accountant, however; she did work for one for a time as a temp. A term Arthur wasn't familiar with.
"She's a secretary and/or an office worker; she files papers, that sort of thing. Only she does it on temporary bases. When they no longer need her she goes back to her agency and they place her in another office until they don't need her anymore."
"You mean she keeps losing her job?"
"No, she isn't employed by any of the offices she works at; she works for the agency that places her there. It's a good job and keeps a person fresh. She always meeting new people and learning new things. She's been doing it for so long people request her by name. Here's the information I hacked from the agency computers. That's where she lives and where she's working at the moment.""
"Thank you Willow, you don't know how much I appreciate this. Now all I have to do is tell her about magic without actually doing any."
"Why? Oh you mean because of the trace on your wand. I can help you with that." She said opening her desk drawer and pulling out a gold ring with various semiprecious gems and runes.
"Let me see your wand."
Arthur asked why but was still in the process of handing it over.
"This is how I erased the trace on Harry and his wand." She informed.
"So, you're the reason the ministry is in a tizzy. The wizarding public isn't aware of it but they've been going nuts because they don't know his every move. Wait, did you say they had a trace on him as well."
"Yeah, it kind of sucked to be him. I know I wouldn't want to be put on a leash." She said as she passed the ring over his wand.
"There all done. You can now do magic in the middle of Trafalgar square at lunch time and the ministry wouldn't know anything about it. I think maybe I should set up an appointment to do this for all our friends coming from the wizarding communities."
"That could be helpful during the gathering process. I agree. This will be very helpful in convincing Molly's cousin. I just hope it will be enough to save her life when the time comes." Arthur said.
"I understand saving family is important. Good luck. I'm sorry but I really have to go. I've got an appointment I got to keep." Willow apologized.
"Yes, of course. Thank you for your time."
"Don't mention it. Maybe next time you'll come to me with a real challenge." She said with a smirk.
Arthur smirked back and left.
/Scene Break/
"How does that feel?" Katie asked Xander.
"It's a little disorientating." Xander replied.
"Is it in focus?"
"Yes, I can see very clearly." Xander replied.
"Are you seeing double at all?"
"No, we finally got that right. I'm just a little disorientated because I haven't been able to see anything from this side of my face for so long that I need to get use to it. Is there anything I won't be able to do with it?"
"Since the eye is tied into the movement of your other eye you might not be able to cross your eyes to look at the tip of your nose."
"Well that's a small price to pay." Xander moved his eyes back and forth before saying. "It's just weird that it doesn't feel weird. It's like it's always been there but it isn't even the original. Does the pupil dilate?"
Katie and Hanna giggled at his enthusiastic questions. "Here see for yourself." Katie said handing him a mirror.
Xander was amazed that it looked so real. It was just like his other eye in every way and since Katie was able to mute the scaring you couldn't tell that his eye was ever injured.
"From now on safety glasses, goggles and face shields are my best friends. Not that they weren't before but I thought I should reaffirm that sentiment in light of my new view. I can't wait for my friends to discover that I'm no longer a Cyclops pirate."
"Well you still have some reading to do." Katie said handing him the instruction manual to his new eye, which looked like a telephone directory for at least half of Africa.
Harry dragged himself into the hovel. He took one look at Xander and said. "It isn't electric blue."
"Oh hell no." Katie replied. "I wasn't going to give him a Mad Eye Moody Special. That man had one of the first magical eyes ever made. And it was creepy as hell. Magical eyes have come a long way since then as you can see."
"It looks good Xander, like it's always been there." Harry complimented.
"Thanks, listen how much is this going to cost? I know you said it could be done for nothing if Harry used his clout to get it done for me but I'd like to contribute something."
"It cost nothing because we actually stole it." Hanna said proudly
Xander and Harry were stunned so, Katie explained.
"Eyes get used in order of their batch number but there isn't much call for them. We're lucky if we use between one to three a year. This eye was so far down the line of succession that it wouldn't be used for three years yet so no one would notice its missing since the world would be ending by the end of this year. We even took a couple more."
"Well, I'm defiantly taking you on a date that involves more than Quidditch there will be dinner and dancing involved."
"I accept." Katie said.
/Scene Break/
The next day Arthur found himself standing in front of an office building. This building is where the last of the Prewett worked. Arthur had disillusioned himself and followed her from her house this morning. Since that time he had been mentally working out how he would approach her and tell her what he wanted to say. He knew he would rock her world with the information he was going to impart to her. But it would have to be told to her so he could save her life. It was lunch time now and he hoped that she wouldn't be the type of person that ate at her desk because he needed her to come outside the building for this conversation to take place. It didn't take long before he saw her come out. He made his way up to her and came up on her side.
"Hello, would your name be Donna?" He asked.
"Yeah, who are you?" She asked never breaking her stride.
"My name is Arthur Weasly. It's my belief that we are long lost family."
"You can stop right there mate, I'm not falling for any con game. Besides I don't have that much money. I'm barely making ends meet." She said still walking.
"I can assure you I'm not looking for money." Arthur replied.
"Well, it doesn't matter there are some extenuating circumstances that would make it impossible for you to be my long lost relative."
"Do you mean the fact that you're adopted?"
Donna stopped walking and took a good look at the man.
"How do you know about that? That's not something my family makes known. We prefer to make believe that I've always been related to the family I have."
"Because, the family you were born from had kept an eye on you off and on throughout your life."
Donna took a harder look at the man before her.
"I can't say that I see any family resemblance between us." She said and started walking once more.
"That's because I'm not directly related to you. As a matter of fact your birth family doesn't know that I'm here talking to you and probably would panic if they did."
"Why? Am I next in succession to the family wealth or something?"
"No, you family isn't particularly wealthy. They were at one time powerful but that's something that's long since in the past. Their influence was through the males of the family but they were killed in the war. Only two women are left. One of them is your cousin who is my wife."
"Oh well, that's nice but I'm still not buying it mate."
"The last name of your birth family is Prewett."
Donna stopped walking once more as she reflected to her childhood when the people at the orphanage she was left at would repeatedly ask her what her last name was. She had been positive it had been Prewett but they kept telling her that there was no one in Britain by that name and so the adults put it off that the four year old Donna was too young to remember her real last name. Being told this at such a young age was the start of an inferiority complex that would stick with her, her whole life. Hearing that name now shattered something inside her.
"What did you say?"
"I said your birth name…"
"I heard what you said." Donna interrupted and began walking again. "If that's true then why weren't the authorities able to find the Prewett family in England? Or weren't they from England?"
"They were defiantly from England. They…or maybe I should say we come from a reclusive society. Our isolation is so complete the only person in your government to know of our existence is your prime minister."
"You make it sound like he isn't your prime minister." Donna scoffed.
"We have our own minister and government. Our people live right along side of yours but we may as well be in two different worlds because our people never mix."
"That's not possible. Are you saying your people are a country within a country?"
"Our people are in every country living along side of its people."
"So you pay different taxes than the rest of us?" Donna scoffed.
"Not only that, we have different currency." He said as he pulled out his wizarding coins.
Donna only glanced at the coins as she said. "You're really laying it on thick. You even come with your own props. I'll really have to hand it to you. If you really are from my family then why did they leave me at that orphanage?" She asked as she pulled out her car keys as they came to the alley where her car was parked.
"You weren't magical." Arthur dead panned.
Donna blinked as she came to a stop in front of her car and stared at him like he was something disgusting.
"You mean to tell me that because my birth parents couldn't feel a special connection to me they gave up on a child that had their blood running through her veins?"
"No. I'm saying that they left you there because you weren't magical. You would never be able to fly on a broom or cast spells like the rest of us and that would have been a burden you wouldn't wish to bare. People without magic in our world find it very hard to function and others would openly ridicule you."
Donna looked at him with her jaw hitting the floor. This man she had been having a conversation with, a man who knew her background and that seemed to be intelligent was in fact insane. She began to get angry.
"Right, let's put an end to this right now!" She growled. "Show me some magic right now or get the hell away from me before I call the police!" She said in a deathly angry voice.
Arthur knew it would come down to this and simply pulled out his wand from his sleeve and waved it at her car and the back end lifted off the ground with the front soon following it. The headlights pointed at the ground as it slowly spun in place.
Donna's heart began to beat faster in excitement. "You're a magician, are there hidden cameras are we on 'Mind Screw' tell me we're on 'Mind Screw' I love 'Mind Screw' when will this be on the telly. This is brilliant!" She said with an excited smile.
"We're not on 'Mind Screw' whatever that is and I know nothing about telly. I'm not a magician I'm a wizard. I'm simply here to tell you we're family. Your mother and father died in the war as well. You still have an aunt and your cousin is my wife. Through her we had seven children who are also your family." Arthur said.
Donna was having none of it. She knew she was on television and was trying to spot the cameras.
Arthur decided that the only way to get her to believe was to have her have a hands-on experience with magic she couldn't easily deny.
"Very well please hold onto my arm."
"Why what happens then?"
"I'm simply going to give you undeniable proof that magic is real."
"Okay'" she said playing along still excited to be on her favorite show. "How are you going to do that?"
"I've disturbed your lunch. Let me take you to lunch my treat. Have you ever been to Cardiff?"
"Yeah why?"
"There's a really good restaurants there I think you'll like. It a pub with fabulous seafood near the bay."
"But that would be an all day drive and I still have work, not to mention I just met you so I won't be getting in a car with you even for a TV show."
"Please just grab my arm." He said.
She wasn't sure what to expect but tried to be ready for anything. She grabbed his arm and then her whole world felt like it was being shoved through a small tube. When the feeling was over she found herself in a new location.
"What the hell was that? Where are we?" She gasped in fear.
"We're now in Cardiff as I said." We traveled by magic.
"No we didn't. I don't know what that was but it wasn't magic and this can't be Cardiff."
"Take a look up ahead," He said as they exited the secluded alley they apperated into.
Up ahead she found herself at the Wales Millennium Centre near the Cardiff Bay. Donna was shocked and jumped to the wrong conclusion.
"That feeling I had, like being shoved through a tube. You drugged me. You kiddnaped me and brought me here."
"No, we traveled by magic and you can prove it."
"I can?"
"Yes you can. You'll find that it's the same time it was when we left and the same day. If you called your job you'll find that you just left for lunch. I assure you Donna, Noble magic is very real. While you may not have magic of your own, your children might, or maybe your children's children but sometime down the line your progenies might be magical. I for one don't think you should be excluded from your heritage because of your lack of it which is why I came to find you. I'm only sorry it took this long. Why don't we go to the café across the way and we can discuss it over some excellent seafood. There's just so much I wish for you to see." He said walking off in the direction of the restraint not paying attention to Donna as she just stood there in shock and fear of what she was exposed to. She was in Cardiff and one look at the time told her barley a minuet had passed.
"Magic? Real Magic?" She thought. "How can this be?"
She saw another alley only this one wasn't a dead end. This one went strait out to the next street over. As Arthur continued onto the restraint she ran for it. She didn't know this guys game but she wasn't going to fall for anything until she had a chance to work it out. She needed to get away and think. All this magic stuff was too weird and she needed time to process what to do next. Oh, how she wished her grand dad was still alive. This was his kind of thing, not hers. As she got to the next road over she stopped running in favor of a brisk walk as she looked for a place to hide. She really missed her grand dad. Wilfred Mott was an open minded, kind, and understanding person. He would not be above believing in magic. He had believed in aliens after all and spent a lot of time looking for them through his telescope. It was just last fall when he got a bad case of pneumonia. He was a fighter but it was just too much for him and after a month he lost the battle and moved on to the next great adventure as he used to call it. Her mother complained all the while he had been in hospital about how he shouldn't be outside at night looking at stars at his age and still complained about it after he was laid to rest. It drove Donna up a wall. Eventually they started to have a row about it. Donna hated how her mum spoke ill of the dead and this time it was someone Donna loved to pieces, which was what her relationship with her mother was left in.
As she came to a building she thought she saw a shock of red hair and ducked into the business the building housed. She was confronted by two individuals.
"Hello, welcome to Sparrow & Nightingale investigations, I'm Kathy Nightingale. How may we help you?"
/Scene Break/
Buffy and Willow were just leaving the most recent Scoobie meeting when Peter Caine approached them
"Buffy, Willow, can I speak with you please?" He asked.
"Sure, what's up?" Buffy asked.
He motioned them over to the side for a little more privacy.
"I know you guys have found the safe zone he whispered. And I know you have already purchased land there and I also know that that land is in Africa. What I don't understand is why you haven't told the others yet." He announced a bit angrily.
Buffy and Willow were shocked and a little upset. They motioned Peter back into Giles office. After closing the door Buffy looked to Giles who was going over his paper work and interrupted his train of thought.
"Giles, we seem to have a leak. Peter found out that we found the safe land and where it is."
"Good lord, this is bad. May I ask who told you?"
"No one, I was sitting in your meditation room when I started hearing voices. I traced the sound to be coming from behind a CD rack where I found an air vent. I was going to try and ignore it when I noticed who the people were that were speaking and what they were talking about."
"Everyone looked to the intake vent in the room as if it were going to attack."
"Damn this is bad. This is very bad." Giles said.
"Relax Giles I don't think we have anything to worry about. No one but me uses that room anyway…except Mr. Caine apparently. But we'll have to do something about the vent for future meetings. Maybe stuff a few cushions in front of it or something." Willow said.
"Or we can move the whole love seat in front of it. Buffy added helpfully."
"Don't be ridicules." Giles said.
"Why don't you think it would look good there?" Buffy asked.
"It would throw off the room's Feng Shui." Giles, Willow, and Peter said in unison as if it were obvious.
"Okay you guys need to get a new hobby. Something we plebeians will understand." Buffy said, proud she was able to use plebeians in a sentence.
"Mr. Caine, may I ask what you plan on doing with this information." Giles asked.
"Firstly, I just wanted to know why it was such a big secret. And secondly, if you know where it is you could let some of us go there to clam our own spot. Africa has enough room for everyone."
"Yes of course, I should have realized that. As for why we're keeping it a secret is because even for Africa's size we can't save everyone. We just don't have the resources available. We have narrowed a very long list of Slayers and watchers down to about one hundred and fifty slayers fifty watchers and a handful of Wicca practitioners that will all be living under one roof with limited supplies."
"And don't forget the witches and wizards." Willow added.
"Truth be told, we only kept the information from everyone because we didn't want the information getting back to the mini slayers." Buffy confessed. "We can't even bring their families."
"Well, as the ambassador to the monks I think I should have been allowed to take a delegation to scout for our own piece of property, because we will want to build a monastery and the Native American's should be told as well so they can prepare their delegation as well."
"Please, don't think we were keeping this from you to keep you dependant on us. That would be the total opposite of the situation. We… well we… we simply overlooked telling you because we were so swept up in finally finding that place that we focused intently on obtaining a piece of it and our obligations to you slipped our minds. Please believe me that wasn't something we intended to forget." Willow half spoke half babbled.
"I see, well when do you think we can see the place." Peter asked.
Willow, Giles, and Buffy looked at one another before Buffy spoke.
"The weekend maybe? I mean that would give us enough time to get your delegation and another one from the Cherokee together."
"That sounds good." Caine replied.
"I think we should all go and see the building Xander and Harry were able to secure as we haven't seen it ourselves yet." Giles said.
"Yeah, I'm kind of curious myself. I'd like to see what the local shops have magic wise. I hear they really know how to grow a powerful magic gourd in Africa." Willow said excitedly until everyone else looked at her like she grew another head. "Well that's what I heard." She continued meekly.
/Scene Break/
"You look a fright Maybe you should sit down." Kathy Nightingale said. "What's your name sweet hart?"
"Donna…Donna Noble."
"Well what seems to be the problem Donna Dear?" Kathy asked.
"I… I don't know where to begin. I feel like I've been thrown into the deep end of the quicksand with only my face sticking out."
"I'm sure we've all felt like that at one time or another. Just try your best. Why don't we try from the beginning?" Kathy prompted.
"The beginning starts when I was four years old and my birth parent leaving me at an orphanage, with no one able to find them. It then restarts just about fifteen minutes ago when this man comes up to me telling me some story about my real parents being wizards and they gave me up because I didn't have magic. The thing that has blown me away is that I believe him. I have to because less than five minutes ago we were standing in the middle of London and now I'm in Bloody Cardiff."
"I see." Kathy said.
"You don't believe me." Donna stated. "Figures."
"Actually we do. I'm Sally Sparrow by the way. And we know a lot about Magic as well as the things that go bump in the night. As investigators we've come across things that even the police don't know about. That's why it says in our advertisement that we take on cases others wont."
"Of course you do. Listen I didn't even know this was a P.I. business when I entered. I was just trying to get away from that man…wizard, person, and ran into the first building I saw."
"Is he after you?" Sally asked.
"I don't know. I don't think so. I ran because I didn't want to believe what he was saying and my head started to spin. He may be out there right now or he may have left but I needed a place to think… you said you know about this stuff?" Donna asked.
"Yes, we aren't experts mind you, but we can get in touch with people who have more experience with it."
"I'd sure like to talk to them right now." Donna said in a defeated sigh.
"We can call them if you like. But you must understand that you might see them do some magic as well."
"Are you kidding? I've been exposed to it for the last fifteen minutes. I'm nearly an expert on the stuff by now." Donna said sarcastically as well as a little nervous.
"Magic isn't anything to be scared of. Just like guns, it's the people who wield it you need to worry about. But the people we know are kind of the people who take care of those kinds of people." Kathy said
"I'll call Willow, it'll only take a second." Sally said.
/Scene Break/
Willow just exited Giles office after speaking with Mr. Caine when her cell phone rang. Looking at the caller I.d. she answered.
"Hey Arthur how did it go with Donna?"
"Not so good. I told her about her heritage and showed her undeniable proof of magic and she bolted. I can't find her anywhere."
"Well, I can do a locator spell but we both know that she'll be heading for home eventually."
Just then Willows phone beeped telling her she had another call coming in. when she saw the name with the 999 text that accompanied it that told her it was an emergency. She told Arthur she needed to take the call and switched over.
"Sally, how is everything? What's the problem?" She said.
"It's not so much a problem I'm calling you about as it is an inquiry. I have a woman here that has been contacted by a… well she said he identified himself as a wizard but I thought male witches were called warlocks? She's a little freaked out about it."
"In Wicca they would be called warlocks but wizards are different… Wait a moment this woman wouldn't by any chance be named Donna Noble would she?"
"Um, yes is that relevant?" Sally asked trying not to tip off Donna about Willow already knowing her name.
"The person that contacted her is family, through marriage anyway. It's kind of a long story and needs some TLC in telling it to someone not in the know. I guess I'll have to clear my schedule and come on down to fix this. What state is she in?"
"We have her relatively calmed down for the moment. But her anxiety is very near the surface."
"Okay then I'll pop in down the street at the slayers house and walk over so I don't scare her."
"Good idea." Sally commented.
"Alright I'll talk to you soon. Bye."
Willow then switched back over to Arthur only to find he must have hung up. She then realized that being a wizard and just learning what was possible with electronics he probably didn't know about call waiting and so she called him back.
"Hello Arthur, sorry I cut you off but I found her."
"Really, Where? I'll head there now."
"Not a good idea. She's really distraught from what I understand and I think perhaps it would be better for a third party to explain things to her. Once I've done that I'll call you in."
"Alright I'll bow to you judgment since I bungled it up so badly this far."
"Well, I can't say if that's true at the moment as I haven't spoke to her yet but I'm sure it isn't that bad. I mean it's hard to judge the right way to tell someone about magic let alone that they're family put them up for adoption. Listen, I'll call you when I can, talk to you soon, bye."
"Good bye Willow." He replied as they hung up.
After Willow hung up she made her way to the teleport room when she ran into Dawn and Hermione coming from the practice room.
"Hey, Willow where are you rushing off to?" Dawn asked.
"Oh umm, well you see, Arthur tried to make contact with a family member on his wife's side who was put up for adoption because she didn't have any magic.
"She? I thought Molly's non magical cousin was a he."
"So did the rest of the family up until her aunt Muriel corrected her."
"That's just so wrong." Dawn commented.
"So, you know something about this?" Willow asked looking at Hermione.
"Very little, as a matter of fact I think I just told you the extent of everything I know about it." Hermione said.
"Good enough. Would you be willing to come with me and talk to her? Arthur kind of freaked her out." Willow explained.
"Oh dear, of course I'll help. Arthur's a friend. But why would he try to make contact with her in the first place." Hermione wondered.
"He tried to tell his wife about the main event and he later overheard her talking about sending him to a mind healer and so recanted."
"Oh dear." Hermione replied.
"Molly and her aunt are the last of the Prewiett family nether of who would believe him but he remembered Molly's non-magical cousin. He had me find her for him because he wants to save her when the main event hits.
Only he seems to have scared her even before he got the chance to tell her about the main event. So, I'm on my way to calm her down." Willow explained.
It makes sense he had a lot of respect for the Prewett family especially Molly's parents. Her father encouraged his study of muggles and they both gave their blessing when one of their children married a muggle. Hermione explained.
"Alright well, let's get going. I can only imagine what Donna is going through right now. I would have liked Buffy to come along I could have used her counseling abilities for this but she's busy at the moment."
"Alright Dawn, I need you to study chapter seven and I'll be back tomorrow to check your work." Hermione told her.
"Aright I'll see you two later. Good luck." Dawn replied.
They then went into the teleport room and disappeared.
/Scene Break/
Five minuets later Willow and Hermione walked into Kathy and Sally's place of work and got their first look at Donna Noble.
"Hello Sally, Kathy, and you must be Donna. I'm Willow Rosenberg and this is my friend Hermione Granger. We heard that you're having trouble accepting magic. Is that right?"
"Hard to not accept it when your in London one second and then in Cardiff the next. I kind of get it. There may even be a reason for it but to have someone come up to me and tell me that my blood family gave me up because I wasn't magical is… well it's quite devastating really. What the hell kind of people just gives up there child like that?"
"People have given their children up for much less, Donna. These wizards aren't exclusive in this." Sally said.
"She's right, wizarding society doesn't welcome the non magical and aren't very forgiving when a non magical family member is allowed to stay within their exclusive society. Many are bigoted against anyone or anything that's different. Not only do they not like Centaurs and goblins but witches and wizards that were born ether to a mixed marriage of magical and non magical or someone like me who was born from two non magical parents." Hermione explained.
"Tabling the idea that there are such things as Centaurs and goblins for now, what kind of society is that? And how come you have magic if you were born to non magical parents?"
"It's believed that someone who was born from two non magical parents might have had a squib within their family."
"Squid?" Donna said in confusion.
"Squib, that's a person without magic who were born from magical parents like you."
"So, I'm some sort of wash out is that it?"
"Not entirely, squibs have been known to have just enough magic to be different from muggles."
"Muggles?"
"Non magical people. I bet you can see the oddities of this publication where Sally and Kathy can't." Hermione said as she pulled out today's copy of the Daily Prophet and handing it to Sally who began reading about three dementors of Azkaban dieing off within the past month.
"What's a dementor?" Kathy asked reading over Sally's shoulder.
"Not something you would want to meet in a dark alley." Willow said taking the paper and handing it to Donna.
"Oh my gosh, the pictures, their moving!" Donna exclaimed. "But this is just a newspaper how is it doing that?"
"Magic, and nether Kathy or Sally is able to see it. You can because you have just enough magic within you." Willow explained.
"The point is the man you saw wants to introduce you to our world even at great personal risk to himself. There are secrecy laws that are to be followed by every citizen of the magical community and he is willing to risk showing it to you. He can probably get away with it too seeing as you're a squib and not just a muggle." Hermione explained.
"You know I don't think I like being called Squib and I'm not fond of this muggle word ether. It sounds derogatory." Donna said hotly.
"That about sums up pure blood wizards, but don't let them get to you. There are a lot of wonders in our society that are worth exploring." Hermione said.
"She's right; magic itself is pretty wondrous if it weren't for some wizards. If you get the chance you'll see that they live without electricity because it doesn't work in combination with magic so everything runs on magic." Willow explained
"No electricity? I can see where I would be out of place there." Donna replied.
"When you say society how many people are we talking about." Sally asked.
"About ten thousand in Britain alone, we have our own government, currency, schools, and news media." Hermione announced.
"How is it possible we haven't come in contact before?" Sally asked.
"Magic." Willow and Hermione said in unison.
"Listen, I'll be honest with you." Hermione said. "We know the man who made contact with you. He's a nice man and very well respected in our society. He's a family man but his wife and children have been letting him down recently."
"Oddly enough I can relate to that." Donna announced.
"Well, he's reaching out to you because he's always respected his wife's family because they were pillars of the community. Your parents were Arthur's wife Molly's Uncle and Aunt. Her father and your father were brothers who also had a sister, which would be your aunt Muriel. If they felt you could have handled it I have no doubt they would have helped you to get by in our world the best they could but at the time there were whispers of a dark wizard on the rise and they didn't want to see their non magical child tortured and raped and killed. So a combination of these reasons led them to give you up for your protection."
Donna didn't know what to say. She spent her whole life angry at her biological parents only to find that this was the best way that they could protect her. They did love her in a way after all. Perhaps they planned on contacting her some day once the hostilities were over but they never got the chance because those same hostilities had taken their lives, cheating her of ever knowing them at least in person. This man, Arthur might have known them. His wife's father was her father's brother and she seemed to have an aunt Muriel and a cousin as well as great cousins in the form of Arthur's kids. Was it worth getting to know them? Did she want to? This whole magic thing was weird. Could she live with it?"
"I think I need time… Let me rephrase that, I know I need time. Tell Arthur to see me on Monday for lunch and that seafood in Cardiff sounds lovely. But I need some time to sort things out… oh my gosh, how the hell am I suppose to get home? My car is back in London. I sure as hell don't want to travel the same way I got here. I don't think I can take that right now."
"I can take you home." Willow announced. "At least my way won't make you feel like your getting shoved though a tube."
"What does your way feel like then?" Donna asked.
"It's like jumping from one stone in a pond to another." Willow replied.
"And what about you?" Donna asked Hermione.
"I transport the same way Arthur does." She replied.
"Then why are you different?" Donna asked Willow.
"Hermione comes from the wizarding world where she learned all her magic. I use a different kind of magic because I learned the Wicca way. Many people can do it if they have the will. But it's not something I would advise others to try. Those magic's are very addictive and destructive if you aren't very, very careful. And that's very difficult because some of the magic links itself to your emotions, making each emotion more acute when you have them. Then things can go kind of wonky. So you have to stay in a relative state of calm all the time."
"Well it sucks to be you then." Donna said aloud without thinking as she had been only half listening. Her mind accidentally drifting caught in the turmoil of her family matters. Willow and the others could see Donna had been distracted in her response but were stunned into silence by her comment. The sudden silences brought Donna out of her musings and she realized what just came out of her mouth.
"Oh my god, did I just say that out loud? I wasn't even thinking I'm so sorry. It was a defensive response born out of the state I'm in right now."
"I get it and it's kind of funny but it's just what I was talking about. If I felt anything of what I suspect you do right now I'd probably accidentally call forth thunder storms. Wicca magic isn't of the good when you get as far into it as I have."
"Are you sure it wont be as weird as getting home as it did getting here?"
"If it'll help, Willow can transport me across the street into the abandon office building and back and I can tell you how bad it was." Sally said.
"You're just doing it to experience travel by magic." Kathy said laughing at her friend.
"I can see where magic can be useful but I don't see it as a form of amusement." Sally responded. "You don't mind do you Willow?"
"It's my destiny to travel with beautiful women on my arm." Willow replied teasing every woman in the room.
Hermione and Kathy smiled and turned a bit pink while Donna quirked an eyebrow in amusement.
Without skipping a beat Sally replied. "It's good to know that if I ever went gay I can reel in the cream of the crop."
"Willow couldn't stop the deep red blush creeping into her face."
"Come on sexy lets get this over with; some of us have jobs to do." Sally said in a forced bored tone.
Willow pursed her lips while trying to give her a stink eye but she was too close to breaking into laughter to be effective. Sally grabbed Willows arm and they disappeared from the middle of the group to the front window of the building across the street. Sally and Willow waved at the group left behind and disappeared once again to be in the center of the room once more.
"Well, that wasn't so bad. I don't see what the fuss is about." Sally commented.
"Why don't you take the same ride with Hermione this time?" Willow said.
"Alright, let's give it a try then." She replied.
Hermione stood and Sally grabbed her arm. Hermione looked to Willow and said. "Sometimes you can be so evil." She then disappeared with Sally in tow. When they appeared across the street, Willow and Donna chuckled as they saw Sally's reaction knowing what she experienced. Sally braced herself against the wall trying to catch her breath.
"What's happened to her? Is she alright?" Kathy asked.
"We'll let her tell you herself." Willow replied.
Just them Hermione and Sally came back.
"No offence but I think you should learn Willows method of travel." Sally said to Hermione as she tried to catch her breath.
"Actually in theory Hermione's way is easier and faster. Doing it my way requires a lot of calculations the more people I take. I can take four or five people with me without working out the extra magic I would need to exert for the distance I would be taking them. Hermione's way is almost as simple as point and click. She just needs to think of her destination and then she pulls you along."
"Yes, but my magic drains faster the more people I take and the farther we go because the magic comes from my core where Willow pull hers from the earth and surrounding natural forces." Hermione explained.
"As interesting as this is I'd just like to go home now please." Donna asked.
"Of course," Willow replied. "Sally, Kathy I'll talk to you next week. Hermione I'll meet you back at the G.C."
"I have to do some shopping in Diagon alley first. I need to pick up some potion ingredients for tomorrows class." She replied and Willow nodded.
Donna told Willow what area of London she was taken from and they both disappeared. Willow grabbed her copy of the prophet and was about to leave when Sally asked if she could have the paper for study in case their work ever came across something from her world. Hermione gave it some thought and decided that if they were careful with the information that it might help, if they could report a magical disturbance by phone to the G.C. In many cases the G.C. could act upon the disturbance before Auror were even aware anything was wrong. So with some warning she gave them the paper and told them she would come back with Willow to answer any questions they weren't able to figure out by that time. She believed the list would be quite long.
"Well ladies if you excuse me I have some shopping to do." She said her goodbyes and disappeared.
/Scene Break/
Hermione moved through Diagon alley heading to the apothecary when she heard her name being called. Mr. Ollivander was making his way to her on his way out of the leaky cauldron.
"Mrs. Granger I was wondering if I could have a word with you."
"Sure I have some time." she replied.
"Good, good. Let's go to my shop." He said excitedly.
"Sure." She replied.
As they went into his shop Hermione was shocked to see the store empty of all merchandise, namely wands.
"Mr. Ollivander? Are you going out of business?"
"As a matter of fact I am and that's what I want to talk to you about."
"What would you need of me?"
"You probably don't know this but my niece is one of the people you're saving from the cleansing."
Hermione gasped. "How…how did you know? She couldn't have told you. I mean the contract… everyone had to sign it so word didn't get out to others."
"Yes, well, there was a loophole in your contract we were able to exploit that allowed her to inform me of what was going on. I don't believe anyone else could have found it. You could work for the goblins with your contract writing skills. But that's nether here nor there. The reason I've called you here is to pass on my legacy. Someone should carry on the tradition of wand maker in the new land and as I don't have an apprentice all I can do is hand over the instructions of my family's time honored craft."
"But aren't you going to the safe land now that you know?"
"I'm far too old to start a new life in a new land. Truth be told, I was ready to retire before the war but couldn't imagine myself with that much time on my hands, now I can't imagine myself not taking the time I have left to do the things I've been putting off for ages. Confidentially I've always wanted to go to what the muggels call an amusement park. The one called Disney land."
Originally saddened at the start of his explanation a bright smile was brought to Hermione's lips by the end. "I'm sure you'd love it Mr. Ollivander."
"Call me Edward. We've been friends for far too long for you to keep calling me by my family name."
"Thank you and I do wish you'd call me by my first name."
"I'll do that. It's just a shame that this will probably be the last time we see each other to use them anymore."
"Yes…that it is." She agreed.
"In any case here are all the instructions you'll need to start making new Ollivander style wands. I do hope you find somebody with some skill for it." He said handing over a rectangular box that looked similar to an old shoeshine box.
"I'm sure I will eventually. By the way who is your niece?"
With a smile he said. "Why Madam Hooch of course."
"Holy cricket, why in the world didn't I see the resemblances before now?"
"I'm not sure but no one else has seemed to make the connection ether. So you're not the only one. "
"By the way what was the loophole you found?" Hermione inquired.
"Well you see when Rolanda came to me I knew she wanted to tell me something but she couldn't seem to bring herself to say anything. I eventually realized that she must have signed magically binding contract. So I had her show me her memories."
"But that shouldn't have worked. Her memories were under contract as well."
"Only the information about the cleansing not what the contract said."
"Huh?"
"We looked over the memory of the contract and copied it word for word. Once we had it all copied on new parchment all I had to do was sign it and then I could share in what it was that she was itching to tell me. I can not however tell anyone as I am now under the same binding contract as my niece, at least those not in the know."
Hermione slapped her forehead. "I can't believe we were defeated by such a simple workaround."
"The ministry has been foiled by a lot less in its time. I think you did rather well for not being a professional contract drafter. It's just that my niece and I can be quit clever when we put our heads together. Now Hermione, if you'll excuse me I have an international portkey to take in an hour."
"Where are you going?"
"Why, Florida my dear. Disney awaits."
A bright smile spread across Hermione's face. "Goodbye Edward."
"Goodbye Hermione and good luck to all of you."
A.N. (Reviews can make a story even better.)