The entire group boarded the train and prepared for their journey to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Willow, Xander, Andrew and Fred explored the cabins and spoke to the little old witch pushing the food cart down the corridor. Having no knuts, sickles or galleons, they ended up buying nothing, but the little old witch gave them each a cauldron cake, a chocolate frog and a box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans. Like kids in a candy store, they giggled over their good fortune while the others looked on, with amusement. Tonks, Lupin and Moody were riding alone in the first train car, presumably to discuss the secret plans the wizarding community had for them all. In reality, they were not doing much of anything at all.
As they approached the castle, the excitement level rose.
“I only wish I had a school robe to change into,” Fred said to Faith who, surprisingly enough, had joined them in their giggling fits. Buffy had given her a curious look to which she responded:
“I can’t help it, B. The excitement is too much. Plus, I figure if you can’t beat it out of ‘em, join ‘em.”
They arrived in Hogsmeade in the middle of the night where they met Hagrid.
Buffy leaned towards Giles and whispered, “I think Willow’s going to have a heart attack.” Giles looked at the girl who had turned bright red and did not seem to be blinking.
“Professor Dumbledore wanted me ter take yer ‘cross the lake ter the castle. He thought yer’d enjoy it.”
“If you don’t get Willow into the boat pretty quickly, she’s likely to fall in the lake,” Cordelia said as a way of consenting for the group and hurrying things along. They boarded the boats Hagrid usually used to transport the first year students to the castle and set off on the final leg of their journey.
“You realize this is the fourth time we’ve set off somewhere on the fourth different mode of transportation in less than twenty four hours?” Gunn asked Cordelia who simply nodded. She was feeling slightly nauseated being on a boat. They got to the castle and were lead through the front doors where the some of the Hogwarts staff was waiting for them.
“Ah, we’ve been expecting you,” Albus Dumbledore said as he strode to shake hands with each of them. “Welcome to Hogwarts.”
At this, Professor McGonagall and the other teachers came forward to meet the strangers from California.
“Allow me to introduce our visitors. This is Miss Willow Rosenburg, Miss Winifred Burkle, Mr. Charles Gunn, Mr. Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, Mr. Rupert Giles, Miss Faith Johnson, Mr. Xander Harris, Miss Cordelia Chase, Mr. Andrew Wells, Mr. Angel O’Brien and Miss Buffy Summers. Also allow me to introduce the Hogwarts staff. This is Professor Minerva McGonagall, Professor Severus Snape, Professor Samantha Sprout, Professor Harry Potter, Professor Hermione Granger and Professor Ron Weasley.”
“Wait! I didn’t know Harry and Hermione and Ron were teachers! When did that happen?” Buffy hissed at Willow.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, you could try asking us,” Ron smiled, knowing that they had expected Hermione, Harry and him to be gawky
teenagers instead of adults.
“We are actually just temporarily team-teaching the Defense Against the Dark Arts Class. We graduated last year,” Hermione explained, managing to look pleased with herself while shooting Ron an annoyed look.
“Now that we have made the introductions, we need to talk to you all about something rather serious. But first, you must be famished. Pleased, come with us.”
They moved from the Great Hall into the dining hall where the teacher’s table was set with a feast that, while small by Hogwarts standards, would have fed an entire third world country for at least a year.
As soon as they were all seated, Dumbledore stood to toast their visitors.
“To our guests, who we hope will become our friends, we welcome you and thank you for coming.” They all drank to each other and then began to eat. Upon finishing, Dumbledore spoke again.
“We in the wizarding community are hesitant to ask for your help, but we need it. There is no other way. A great evil, even greater than Lord Voldemort, has risen to threaten our way of life. We will be able to tell you more on that tomorrow. In return for your help in this matter, we want to help you start a Slayer school. I know it must seem strange that we were not involved in your fights with the First and Jasmine this past year, or in any of your fights in the past, but International Magical Law prohibited it. We were only permitted to recondition Miss Rosenberg due to a loophole in said law. Now that you have discovered our existence on your own, we would like to help in any way we can. We can discuss this further, in addition to several other things I’m sure you will all be very interested in, tomorrow as I expect the jet lag is hitting you right about now. So, we will get you off to bed. The students are on summer holiday, so you’ll be staying in Gryffindor house.”
Professors Spout and Snape both looked a little disgruntled for a moment since the visitors would not be staying in the Hufflepuff or Slytherin dormitories before they remembered that Gryffindor house had been cleaned and the others had not. Over the summer, the house elves began cleaning the castle from the top down. Since Gryffindor house was in a tower, it was the first dormitory cleaned each year.
Ron, Harry and Hermione took the now-exhausted visitors through the castle to the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. They paused before the door to make sure that everyone knew the password - chocolate torte. Then they moved into the Gryffindor common room where a fire was burning as, despite the warm summer weather, the room was quite cold. As they walked, Hermione began talking.
“Professor Dumbledore figured you would want to have the authentic Hogwarts experience, one similar to what you have read about. Miss Rowling is actually one of the Ministry of Magic’s Wizard-Muggle Relations Agents, so while you all think you have been reading fiction, you’re actually reading a true account of what happened. However, it’s taking her quite a while to check her facts and make sure everything is correct, so you’re all a bit behind the times. I don’t know why they didn’t just have Harry write the books, but no one asked him. Isn’t that right, Harry dear?” Hermione paused in her tirade about the so-called Harry Potter novels to ask her friend a question.
“That’s right, honey. No one asked me. I really don’t mind, you know.” Harry responded.
Willow, Fred, Cordelia, and Buffy all noticed the pet names both Harry and Hermione used for one another and were slightly confused. They ignored it and listened to Ron continue what Hermione had been saying.
“Anyway, since you still think of us as children, when in reality we are much closer in age to some of you, I’m afraid you might find this whole thing awkward. I really hope you can get to know us in real life instead of just through the books. If you want, we can fill you in on the things that will occur in the next two installments, but I would encourage you to read them anyway when and if they do come out.”
“In any case, we figured that as former students who got into our fair share of trouble, we’d give you a tour of the castle tomorrow, although no one will ever know all of its nuances. For now, we’ll get you settled in for the night. We’ll meet you here tomorrow to show you the way back down for breakfast before the tour. Dumbledore an’ the others have a meeting to go to in the morning, but they told us to stay here and show you all around. Now, the girls dormitory is up the right set of stairs and the boys is up the left. You’ll find all of your things are already there and the bathrooms and what not are through the doors in the back of both rooms,” Harry explained as he pointed them in the direction of their beds. As soon as their tired guests plodded up the stairs and off to bed, the three young teachers headed to their rooms as well.
******The next morning, Harry, Hermione and Ron made good on their promise. They met their guests in the common room in time to escort them down to breakfast. Having spent the last few years jetting back and forth between California and England, Giles was able to recover rather quickly from the time difference. Everyone else, however, looked bleary eyed and tired as they meandered down the stairs, out the portrait hole and through the castle. After another magnificent meal, most everyone felt awake and ready for their tour.
“I think it’s ‘cause we never really ever kept any kind of normal schedule at home,” Willow explained to no one in particular as they filed back into the Great Hall.
“Is there anything specific you all want to see?” Ron asked.
“The Library,” Giles said.
“All the classrooms,” added Willow.
“The Kitchen,” Xander suggested.
“Moaning Myrtle,” Andrew proposed.
“Hagrid’s Hut,” Cordelia included.
“The Forbidden Forest, all kinds of nasties in there,” said Faith.
“The Chamber of Secrets - or at least the entrance?” Buffy asked.
“The giant squid in the lake and the ghosts,” Gunn said.
“Professor Dumbledore’s office?” Wesley inquired.
“The Quidditch field!” Fred exclaimed.
“Well, that’s quite a list. Anything you want to see, Angel?” Hermione asked.
“Nothing that hasn’t already been said, but I have to -”
“Stay inside, yes we know. We’ll take you all to see the outside things when it gets dark,” Harry explained. “And we’ll all go to Hogsmeade at some point if you’d like. For now, let’s walk this way.”
As the group began to make their way across the Great Hall into the depths of the school, the front door slammed open and a tall, pale bleached-blonde young man came storming in.
“Potter? Where’s Dumbledore,” Malfoy asked
“Wouldn’t you like to know, Malfoy,” Harry responded.
“Hey, what’s all this then?”
“Visitors, Malfoy. Shouldn’t you be off harassing someone else?” Hermione inquired sweetly.
“Why bother when you’re right here Granger?”
“That’s it!” Willow said under her breath. “I’m sick of him treating them like crap.” She closed her eyes and concentrated. Fred turned toward her friend only to find her muttering in Latin. All of a sudden, there was a loud pop and a small black mouse wearing a tiny version of wizard’s robes scurried around in a circle where Malfoy had been standing.
Harry, Hermione and Ron turned to stare at Willow with horrified expressions on their faces.
“What did you do that for?!” they demanded.
“I’m sorry. I just get so mad at him. He’s so mean. I didn’t know it would make you angry.”
“Well, Willow, it probably wouldn’t have bothered them too much, except that Draco Malfoy is not who you think he is any more and was just playing around.”
Everyone turned to see Amy Madison walking towards them having followed Draco through the front door. She was dressed in witches’ robes like Hermione’s and looked rather bemused.
“I can’t believe it took you so long to figure everything out. I put two and two together months ago. Of course, I actually fell through the shielding separating the Leaky Cauldron from the rest of London. That’s beside the point. It’s good to see you all though. And that,” Amy pointed at the mouse, “sure does bring back memories.” She scooped up the little guy and carried him over to Willow who quickly recanted her spell leaving a rather confused looking Draco Malfoy crouched on the floor twitching his nose.
“First a ferret and now this? Why do people like to transfigure me into animals?” he whined.
“Draco, dear. You know that the first time was because you tried to curse Harry, and this time Willow didn’t know any better. Plus it gives us all a good laugh,” Amy explained as she helped him up and linked her arm through his.
“Hold on a second. What’s going on and what are you talking about?” Xander asked, just as confused as everyone else.
“We’re dating and ‘Moody’” Amy used her fingers to make air quotes around the name “turned him into a ferret in his fourth year. So, can we join you on the tour? I would love to see your faces when you see some of the stuff that’s here.”
With that, the Hogwarts professors lead their guests throughout the school. They met Moaning Myrtle and Dobby, heard Harry speak in Parseltongue, ducked the water balloons Peeves hurled at them, and saw almost everything they had asked to see that did not require moving through the sunlight. Harry lead them all to the entrance to Dumbledore’s office where the headmaster was waiting for them. He gave the password,
“Moon Pie.”
And they all headed up the stairs into his inner sanctum. Someone, probably the house elves, had managed to fit enough chairs in the already full space for the visitors, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Draco and Amy.
“I would like to apologize; it seems like all you’ve been doing is sitting around and listening to us talk. In a few moments, we will be traveling to The Leaky Cauldron by way of Floo powder, spending the remainder of the day on Diagon Alley and then traveling to the Ministry of Magic from there. Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Madison and Mr. Weasley will go first. Then you all will go and Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger and I will follow you.”
Ron, Draco and Amy carefully demonstrated how to use the Floo network before disappearing.
“I hope I don’t end up on Knockturn Alley like Harry did,” Fred whispered to her friends before taking a small handful of Floo powder, stepping into the hearth and closing her eyes.
“Just speak clearly and try not to inhale too deeply,” Harry told her over the roar of the flames, trying to allay her fears.
Fred called out “The Leaky Cauldron” and disappeared. Her friends and coworkers followed her, each speaking as clearly as possible and trying to follow Harry’s advice. Within mere moments, all of the people who had been in Dumbledore’s office were standing in the Leaky Cauldron in London.
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