"Explain to me exactly what happened." Giles instructed as soon as the group arrived in the Library.
"I asked for a napkin, he passed it to me, I reached for it and it caught on fire." Xander explained. "Oz dropped it and Buffy dumped her pop on it. Spontaneous napkin fire, that's a new one, right?"
"Possibly." Giles cautioned. "The last time we encountered someone using fire -"
"Catherine - I just want to be a cheerleader again so I'll steal my daughter's body, curse Buffy Summers, make Cordelia Chase blind and set Amber Benson's pompoms on fire while she's holding them - Madison." Xander snarked. "Hence why we're a little spooked G-man. Do we have a runamuck witch on our hands, Literally, since Oz got slightly singed?"
"Are you alright, Oz?" Giles turned his attention to the short guitarist.
"Fingertips are a little pink, but they don't even hurt, it happened too fast." The normally laconic little guitarist assured him. "Timing?"
"The timing of the fire, you mean?" Giles looked thoughtful. "You were handing the napkin to Xander and he was reaching for it. If it was on purpose, was one of you the target? Or was it an accident? We did discuss that possibility when we were investigating the attacks on the cheerleaders, that someone could be accessing power they are unaware they have."
"Is there some kind of spell we could do to trace this person?" Willow asked, eager as always to try a new spell. She hadn't had an opportunity since doing the reensoul curse on Angel and she didn't even know if that had worked, Buffy hadn't said anything about it since she got back.
"Possibly, I believe there are spells for tracking power, I'd have to check."
"Can power be inherited?" Xander asked. "Could Amy have power like her Mom did?"
"Catherine Madison was a practitioner witch, not a natural born witch." Giles answered. "It's rare for the child of a practitioner to inherit power, but that is how a natural born witch occurs. At least I believe it is, a practitioner who's child inherited some small amount of power that can grow. Miss Madison also spent a prolonged period of time in her mother's body, held there by Magic, some of which her soul may have absorbed. Such power may follow her into the next life as her soul would retain it."
"Her next life wouldn't have any idea her soul had power." Willow frowned, concerned, Amy was an old friend.
"Witches are assigned whitelighters to guide them, Willow." Giles told her. "Especially natural born witches. Except witches that live near Hellmouths, I'm afraid. The energy leaking from one tends to corrupt them and turn them into the demonic version of their kind."
"What's a whitelighter?" Willow asked. "I don't remember reading about them in any of the Magic books I've studied so far."
"A whitelighter is someone who was born human and died in the service of good." He explained. "After death, they may be invited to continue in the service of good and become a type of guardian angel to guide witches, champions, future whitelighters."
"Do Slayers get assigned one?" Buffy asked.
"As far as I know, no." He shook his head. "As the Watchers Council was created to be guides for Potentials and Slayers. But I suppose some might have, many of a whitelighter's charges aren't aware there's even a whitelighter around them, as they try to remain anonymous. Seeing their role as support, encouragement and occasionally healing. If one was assigned to a witch or Slayer living near a Hellmouth, for instance, they'd encourage them to move as the Hellmouth can corrupt a witch's powers as well and of course, the demons and vampires drawn to it endanger lives. Unlike witches or whitelighters, a Slayer isn't corrupted by the energy of a Hellmouth, making it easier to station a Slayer near one."
"Decreasing the already short life span." Cordelia stated bluntly. "If she can't have a witch or a whitelighter as part of her support team."
"Am I in danger of being corrupted doing Magic?" Willow asked, the idea was disturbing, to say the least.
"I'm sorry to say, but yes. Magic is already dangerous, Willow, doing it around a Hellmouth is even more dangerous. You must be extremely careful, avoid dark Magic's, be aware and certain of your intent and proceed cautiously if you are determined to continue learning Magic."
"This isn't getting us closer to figuring out the flaming napkin." Xander pointed out. "Extremely useful as all that information is, would Willow doing a spell to track power be dangerous to her?"
"Such a spell is neutral and I would advise she do it away from the immediate vacinity of the Hellmouth, regardless of that fact, to avoid the ambient energy as much as possible."
"My house is several miles from here." Willow told them. "I could try a power tracking spell after school, it would show everyone in the area who has power, wouldn't it?"
"A spell like that is very general." Giles nodded. "I'll search for a spell and gather the ingredients, I suppose it is a good idea to have some idea who in Sunnydale has power and determine if any of them have malicious intent. A precaution if nothing else, but even with such a spell being neutral Magic and distance from the Hellmouth, it's not entirely without risk, Willow. Do be careful." He warned.
"I will, not wanting to be corrupted here." She assured him. With nothing else to discuss and lunch period ending, the group headed out. After school finished for the day, Willow stopped by the Library and Giles handed her a book with a spell marked and a list of ingredients. Willow headed home and once there, cast the spell. Finding out there were several other Magic users in Sunnydale wasn't surprising, finding one in City Hall was a shock, who could that be?
But finding out the spell indicated her best friend Xander Harris' house, that was a total shock on an epic scale.