Chapter 3: A Suspicion

*****Weasleys Magical Wonders*****

Buffy and Faith went together to the new magic shop, excited to see what the twins were doing with it. Her father was leasing space in the back for his potion work, and they were selling some of his elixirs. He already knew was the shop looked like and had no interest in joining the madness of an opening day, but Draco was going to meet them there with Cordelia. She had passed around flyers that Willow had made up weeks ago when they had agreed on a name. Willow had sent a mockup with Severus' gift, so the girls had diligently made colored copies at the local Office Max.

There was a full house when they went in there, and both boys were looking frayed. When Buffy and Faith came in George was behind the counter and waved her over.

"Buffy, thank Merlin! Please run the register. Too many people have questions, and there are only two of us. I didn't dream that we'd be so busy," George said. "It's wonderful, but overwhelming. We've not stopped since we opened at ten. There was a line of people waiting before we opened."

Fred was dealing with the customers who had questions about their products.

"I can help," Faith said.

"Why don't you deal with questions about books?" Buffy suggested.

"I will familiarize myself with their inventory," she said, walking toward their selection of spell books, most they had inherited from the previous owner since the twins weren't that interested in Wiccan magic.

A few practitioners were there and engaged Faith in conversation. Fred gave her a grateful look. He and George did not realize that there would be so many people asking about Wiccan magic, just keeping the inventory because it seemed wasteful to get rid of it. Of course, Faith knew very little, but she could bullshit with the best of them. Her watcher, though, had taught her a bit, and she thought that she did know enough to recommend the right book to the two seekers.

George and Fred were in their element when Cordy and Draco brought in several of their school chums. They demonstrated their expandable ears that allowed them to spy on others. They explained what the various candies did, and the boys who came in nearly cleaned them out.

"Money back guaranteed," Fred told them.

The students could not bring out their wallets fast enough. When the group finally let, they received a surprise visit from Mayor Wilkins.

"When I heard that two brothers from across the pond came into town to open up this cursed location, I had to come see it for myself," he said.

"Hello, sir," George said. "George Weasley. That is my brother Fred."

"Hello," Fred said.

"Mayor Wilkins," he said, shaking their hands. "Twins. We don't see many of those in this town. I don't think there is a single set."

"I don't think so either. There's not in the high school anyway," Cordelia agreed. "How are you? Have you met my cousin, Draco Malfoy?"

Draco could sense as soon as the man walked into the building that he was a dark wizard. That the twins didn't react wasn't a surprise. He figured that Buffy or Faith would notice, but neither did. Instead, the Mayor walked over to Buffy. "How is your mother? I was very sorry to hear about what happened to your father. Terrible times we live in," he said, shaking his head in sympathy.

"Thank you, sir," Buffy said. "She is doing very well. She has reconnected with her high school sweetheart and remarried." It was the easiest way to explain things.

"Good for her," he said. He looked around the shop. "So this is a joke shop that you are marketing as a magic shop? Brilliant, gentleman. We need more laughter in this town. I wish you luck."

"Thanks," George said.

"Wow, the mayor. Wait until I tell Mum," Fred said after he left. "She will be thrilled."

The crowd was down to a few shoppers. Draco walked up to the counter where Buffy and the twins were gathering. Faith joined them. "Who was that?" she asked.

"That was our illustrious mayor," Cordelia said. "He is friends with my dad."

"He is evil," Draco announced.

Cordelia snorted. "Whatever," she said, thinking her cousin was kidding.

"I am not joking," he said. He glanced at Buffy and then Faith. "You two didn't sense it?"

A customer came up to the register to pay for something, interrupting them. Buffy rang up the order.

"What time do you close?" Faith asked the twins.

"Six Monday through Thursday and to seven on Fridays and Saturdays," George said.

"This is the hellmouth," Cordelia said. "Don't you think you should open earlier and close early?"

They shrugged. "We'll see how it goes," Fred said. "We can just change the hours in the winter months when it gets dark earlier."

After the last customer left, George put the closed sign on the door. "So tell us why you think the Mayor is evil," he said.

"He felt exactly like my father's cronies felt. Like his so-called Dark Lord felt," he said. "I cannot believe you didn't sense it. I would bet anything that he is a dark wizard of some kind."

Buffy frowned. "He always seems like a big dork. He does smile too much, though," she said.

"That's always a sign. An evil Mr. Rogers," Faith said, snickering.

"I will call Giles and discuss it with him. Let Father know," Buffy said. "I hope very much that you are wrong, Draco."

George and Fred threw themselves down in the chairs at the small table they had in their shop.

"I hurt all over," Fred complained.

"I cannot feel my toes," George said.

"Would you like a pepper me up potion?" Draco suggested, slyly. "The professor and I will be happy to brew more."

"Yes, please!" Fred said, raising his hand.

Draco smirked and took two bottles off the shelf and handed it to the boys while Buffy opened the cash register. "Damn, boys. You made bank," she said.

"Huh?" George asked, looking confused.

"That means you made a lot of money," Cordelia said, grinning.

"First day was a huge hit," Buffy said.

"Thanks for passing out all the flyers," Fred said to Cordelia.

"Wait until we tell Lee and Xander. They're going to go bonkers!" George said, smiling.

"It's good to see you smile again," Cordelia told him.

"Moving here has been good for me and Fred," George admitted.

"Well, we need to clean up and stock up," Fred said.

"I have to get home," Buffy said.

George and Fred exchange happy smiles as their friends left while Buffy went home to tell Severus what Draco felt about the mayor.

"Mayor Wilkins? He is a very nice and caring man," Joyce said.

"Draco was very convinced, and he seemed surprised that Faith and I could not sense his darkness," Buffy said.

Severus considered it. "Draco has spent a lot more time in the presence of evil wizards or practitioners of dark magic than anyone with his father and his father's cronies. Not to mention, he spent more time with Voldemort than anyone of his peers. We cannot ignore his words," he said.

"I want to call Giles," Buffy said. "Can you do a floo call?"

"It is the middle of the night there, so no," he said. "We can at seven in the morning. It will be three in the afternoon then. I will call the Headmaster, and he will have Giles call us back immediately."

"Great. I will set my alarm," Buffy told him. "How did you like your first day?"

"It was fine," he admitted. "I enjoyed the solitariness of the library and having just a few students coming and going."

"So much better than teaching a bunch, right?" Buffy said, with a knowing grinning.

Severus nodded. The way the American students dressed was the most shocking to him, but he knew his daughter would tease him if he mentioned that.

"Do you have homework?" he asked.

"This is America, Father. Teachers don't give homework on the first day unless you're in an AP class," she said with a grin.

"Good. You can work on your magical homework then," he reminded her.

Buffy sighed and went into the kitchen where she kept her magical books and got to work.

The next day, she had her first floo call, finding it very weird, but Willow and Xander were there, too. She told both of them about the success of the twins' first day.

"Yes!" Xander exclaimed. "I will tell Lee the good news."

"First day wasn't as good without you guys," Buffy told them. "I missed you both so much."

"We miss you a lot, too," Willow told her. Willow was staying busy with her Ravenclaw friends, and she and Luna had become extremely close friends. However, she will never forget that it was Buffy who had changed her life and brought her out of her shell.

"I want to thank you, Willow, for your very thoughtful gift," Severus told her.

"Oh, it was nothing," Willow said, pleased. "I just knew you would hate the American tradition of students calling you Mr. Snape."

"You are correct," he said.

"Oh, I met a very cute werewolf named Oz. He is in a band," Buffy said.

"Buffy Anne, please speak to Rupert, who is the reason for this call. You can write to your friends and tell them about all the gossip," Severus said, losing his patience.

Buffy told Giles about Draco's thoughts about Mayor Wilkin.

"Hmm. A dark wizard in charge of the city on top of a hellmouth would explain a lot," Giles said. "You should check out the library archives. There are pictures of all the previous mayors. If he is a wizard, he will live a long time as wizards tend to do."

"Okay. Father will work on that. We gotta jet. Time for school," she said as Severus pointed to his wristwatch his wife gave him for a wedding gift.

"I will look for the information," Severus said.

They went to school, and Severus began to look for the archives Rupert was referring to. It took him most of the morning as he was interrupted several times. Finally, right before lunch, he found what he was looking for.

"Good lord," he muttered as he looked at the photos of the founding of Sunnydale. Then each mayor that followed. Although the images didn't move like the images he was used to, there was no mistaking it.

Mayor Richard Wilkins was the same exact mayor who founded the town in 1899 making him over a hundred years old. He was identical in every photo. Only a wizard or someone adept in the dark arts could manage to slow his aging in such a way.

If Angelus was not yet working with him, he would eventually.

There was no way that this school year was going to be without violence and death.

*****Chapter End*****

I know this is shorter than my normal chapters, but I felt like finding out about Wilkins was where it needed to end.