by Lisette: Lisette_1@lycos.com

Legalese: The television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all related characters and material belong to Joss Whedon and UPN.  All things Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling.  I claim ownership solely of the story idea - no profit will be made by this.

Author's Note: To start, you guys completely overwhelm me with your amazing support for this venture!  I wasn't planning on posting the next chapter quite so soon, but I couldn't hold back after so many of you reviewed to offer your support!  And I feel like I have so much to live up to just by your reviews that it's somewhat daunting!  All in all, I hope that nothing disappoints!  

Also, many of you have speculations as to where I'm taking this - this chapter should help to clear up a few of your questions and show you a direction that I hope you will find as unique as I.  There are a lot of BtVS/HP crossovers out there, many of them absolutely wonderful, but I think you'll find that this story takes a bit of a different direction - a darker direction.  After all, if you've learned anything from Twist of Fate, it's that I can tend towards the dark side of things. ;p 

Also, as pointed out by a review, I may not have made this clear in my first chapter, so let me reiterate here.  This story is a sequel.  Therefore, in order to avoid beaucoup de confusion and to give you some much desired common ground, I suggest reading the previous story, Twist of Fate.  The characters that you'll find in this fic may seem slightly AU or OOC if you don't have the previous fic to explain how they got to where they are. ;p Oh yes, and on with the fic...

"Living in the modern age, death for virtue is the wage.  
So it seems in darker hours.  Evil wins, kindness cowers.  
Ruled by violence and vice we all stand upon thin ice.  
Are we brave or are we mice, here upon such thin, thin ice?  
Dare we linger, dare we skate?  Dare we laugh or celebrate,
Knowing we may strain the ice?  Preserve the ice at any price?"
-The Book of Counted Sorrows->

    "So what's with the all-important meeting?" Faith asked, sauntering into the room as though she owned it, pausing long enough to take in the stranger who stood quietly off to the side.  "And who's the suit?" she added as she dropped onto the couch, playfully shoving Xander over to make room as Willow practically tumbled from her position beside him and to the wood floor.

    "God, what have you been eating?" Xander asked, as he scooted over slightly to make more room for the dark-haired slayer, Willow sending them both pointed glares as she slowly dusted off her clothing before settling on the couch once more, wishing now more than ever that Oz was back and beside her instead of out of town.

    "Only the good stuff for this girl," she chirped, a large grin spreading her painted lips as her dark eyes skipped over the rest of the room.  Giles' call had stated that the meeting was urgent, so like a good little Slayer, she had come a runnin', even though it was ungodly early, only nine in the morning - only to find the rest of the Scoobies already gathered... well, all of the Scoobies but one.  "Hey, where's B?" she asked, unable to mask her concern as Giles slowly joined them from the kitchen, a glass of tea in one hand.

    "She wasn't with you?" he returned, a small frown pulling at his lips as he was reminded of the fact that his Slayer never came home last night.

    "If she was, do you think I would have asked?" Faith retorted, arms crossing over her chest, eyes narrowing.  "She begged off of patrol and I haven't seen her since.  That was around mid-" she broke off as the door opened one more time, admitting the final Scooby into their midst.  "Speak of the Devil," she said, her smile warm as Buffy paused in the doorway, large green eyes taking in the assembled group.

    "Hmm, this can't be good," the blonde slayer murmured, a small smile tugging at her lips as she slowly closed the door behind her, ignoring her Watcher's questioning gaze.  Damn.  She had intended on being back before he awoke.  Then again, one look at the clock confirmed that time had, once again, gotten away from her.  "I thought it was too good to be true," she continued, attempting to draw the attention away from herself and her obviously rumpled appearance.  "Which is it this time?  Prophecy or apocalypse?" she asked, moving forward until she folded her petite form into an open chair.  "Or prophecy foretelling an apocalypse?"

    "Uh, neither, actually," Giles murmured, his eyes darting over to lock with Samuel's.

    Catching the movement, Buffy turned slightly, her eyes narrowing on the familiar face.  "Mr. Fellows," she acknowledged warily, a frown pulling at her lips.

    "Mr. Who?" Faith quickly retorted, eyes once more skipping back to the stranger.

    "Mr. Samuel Fellows," Samuel quickly stated, striding forward and extending a hand to the brunette, a hand that was dutifully ignored.  "We, uh, didn't get a chance to be introduced last I was in town," he finished as he nodded at the girl before slowly backing away.

    "New Big Cheese at the Council," Xander added in a mock-whisper, leaning conspiratorially towards the slayer.

    Rolling her eyes, Faith's attention quickly snapped back to the aging watcher.  "Well, if there's not a new Big Bad on the horizon, what's the what with the urgency?  'Cause some of us have were up late working last night."

    Sighing softly, Giles set his tea on the counter behind him as he slowly took off his glasses and began to absently polish them on the hem of his shirt.  Ignoring the snickers that this gesture brought him, he turned his thoughts over in his mind, seeing it from every angle before deciding on a course to follow.  "There... there are are some things that you should know about our world, things about myself that I've never shared," he said, his gaze drifting until it locked with Buffy's eyes - eyes that contained the barest hint of curiosity - a good sign.  Anything was better than the apathy she had been displaying of late.

    "If it has anything to do with strange British customs like the full monty, then no need to share," Xander quickly interrupted, only to be silenced by a sharp elbow from his redheaded best friend.

    Ignoring Xander, Giles slowly tore his eyes away from his Slayer.  "Three months ago Mr. Magnus Fletcher used a magical wand to help Buffy return to her body," he began, seeing that he now had everyone's full attention.  Fletcher, and his subsequent murder, was just one of those things that the group never talked about.  It was as if they didn't talk about it, it would somehow lessen the fact that an innocent man had died - someone who just happened to get in the way.  "I speak of him," Giles continued, "because in the eyes of those like Mr. Fletcher, the world is divided into two types of people: those with magic, or witches and wizards, and those without, those called muggles."

    "Muggles?" Willow murmured, her nose scrunching as she tried out the unfamiliar word.

    "Yes," Giles nodded, slowly returning his glasses to their usual perch.  "You see, magic is everywhere, and in the case of Europe, magic users have established several wizarding communities, hidden from the rest of the world.  Some wizarding families, purebloods, can trace their line back for centuries to the oldest and most well known of wizards, like Merlin himself.  Others are born into muggle families, like myself."

    "Whoa, hold up!" Faith protested, shaking her head slowly.  "Merlin as in the round table Merlin?  And you're a wizard, G, and you never told us?"

    Ignoring her question for now, Giles allowed his gaze to drift to Buffy once more, so silent in her chair.  "I was born to a muggle family," he explained, his voice soft as he thought back on those times, so many years ago.  "And when I turned twelve I was invited to attend Hogwarts, the premier wizarding school in all of England - the world, some say."

    "There are schools for wizards and witches?!" Willow squeaked, her eyes growing wide.

    Ignoring her question as well, Giles pushed on.  "My father was opposed to the idea... very opposed," he murmured, thinking back to his father's blinding anger, his obsession with him following in his footsteps to the Council.  "My mother, however, was able to convince him that such skills could only help me later in life as a Watcher."

    "So the Council knows about this stuff?" Faith asked, her gaze ticking to the head of the Council, having moved back to the shadows once again.

    Smiling wryly, Giles slowly nodded his head.  "I can guarantee you that there is nothing in this world that the Watcher's Council is unaware of."

    "In fact," Samuel added, sending an apologetic glance to his friend for the interruption, "many Watchers come from the wizarding world - Giles and I were in the same graduating class at Hogwarts, the class of '71.  For many muggle-born wizards, joining the Watcher's Council is the best way to blend the muggle and wizarding world."

    "Would that be 1871?" Xander quipped, earning him a slap upside the head from the dark-haired slayer beside him as well as a light punch from Willow.

    "Yes, well," Giles murmured, his thoughts drifting back once more to his tale.  "My time at Hogwarts opened my eyes to a whole new world - one that I became quite taken with.  As I've told you all before, I didn't want to be a Watcher.  The part I didn't mention was that I really wanted to stay in the wizarding world, perhaps to be an auror or to enter the Ministry of Magic," he murmured, oblivious to the group's confusion as he met the understanding eyes of his old friend.  "So after graduation, Ethan and I and some other wizard friends, in an act of rebellion, began experimenting in the dark arts, playing with forces that we never should have touched-"

    "-summoning Eyghon," Buffy surmised, her green eyes meeting his as she finally joined the conversation, her hand unconsciously drifting to the back of her neck.

    "Yes," Giles murmured, his shame at the role he played in so much tragedy obviously still weighing heavily upon his aging shoulders.  "And as a result my wand was broken and I was expelled from that world... and right into the arms of the Watcher's Council," he added, his eyes drifting to his old friend once again.  "Since then I've lost contact with that world," he continued, his tone soft, "and as Mr. Fellows has informed me, much has changed since then."

    "And not for the better, I'm afraid," Samuel added, stepping forward once again as he recognized his cue to continue with the story.  "Our world is at war," he explained, eyes skipping around to the young people that filled this room - the young people that had so much courage and strength and that had saved this sorry world from damnation time and time again.  "A war unlike anything that we've faced before," he added, his frown deepening.  "You see, not all wizards and witches are good," he explained, "just as not all muggles and demons are good," he added, intending to make references to the escapades of Angel versus Angelus.  But at the way the petite blonde slayer seemed to withdraw into herself at his words he knew that she thought not of those dark times, but of even more recent and even darker times when a few cruel muggles had taught her first hand how humans could be so much more cruel, so much more evil than any demon she had faced.  Sighing, he sent his old friend an apologetic shrug before nodding once more.  "In our world, a dark wizard has risen into power, a man so feared than many of my kind are unable to even say his name-"

    "Which is?" Xander interrupted, his brows arching into his messy hairline.

    "Lord Voldemort," Samuel replied, unable to stop the shudder that swept through his limbs at the mention of that simple name.  "This wizard was born to muggles and yet his hate lies against all muggles and those muggle-born.  He believes that wizards are superior to those without magic and that we should take our place as rulers over this world, ruling over those he considers inferior to us.  He and his followers, a group of dark wizards that call themselves Death Eaters, cast our world into darkness for many years.  Then, on Halloween over sixteen years ago, You-Know-Who-" 

    "Who do we know?" Xander interrupted once again, his confusion evident.

    "-was stopped when his killing curse was rebounded upon him by a toddler," Samuel finished with an exasperated look at the lanky teen.

    "So he's dead then," Willow added, her face crinkling in confusion, "killed by a kid when we were only kids."

    "Not quite," Samuel continued, a frown pulling at his lips.  "For years after the wizarding world lived in peace, believing that the threat was over when in fact, You-Know-Who was really regaining his strength.  He made his first reappearance almost seven years ago when his weakened spirit took refuge in one of his followers at Hogwarts-"

    "The crazy school you attended?" Faith interrupted, shooting Giles a questioning glance.

    "Yes, Faith," Giles returned, trying to hide a smirk behind one hand.  The group's short attention span was obviously something that his old friend was quite unaccustomed to, as demonstrated by his thinning patience.  "And the school where it seems the boy who defeated him is currently attending in his seventh and final year." 

    "Thanks to he and his friends," Samuel quickly continued, shooting an irritated glare at the group, "the stone was saved.  But since then You-Know-Who has become more and more of a threat, especially since he was resurrected to full body and strength three years ago, using the blood of that boy."

    Startled by this revelation, Giles nearly dropped the cup he had been holding.  His old friend hadn't mentioned this fact when they had talked earlier that morning.  "Then he's-"

    "No," Samuel quickly stated, understanding his friend's question before it was even asked.  "No, that child has more lives in him then even you, Rupert," he murmured, risking a small smile before it once more faltered under the grim news that he was forced to deliver.  "In any case, all-out war has been declared in our world, the Light, as it would seem, against the Darkness led by You-Know-Who," Samuel continued, a frown pulling at his lips.  "Unfortunately, there are many Death Eaters and not nearly enough of us fighting against them.  In fact, many from our world have refused to take a side, unwilling to endanger their families by openly supporting either, and are instead merely waiting it out to see who will emerge victorious in the end-"

    "We get a lot of that around here in Sunnydale," Willow commiserated absently.

    "Hogwarts," he continued, "has always been a stronghold against You-Know-Who, its Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, being the only wizard that he has ever feared.  However, by having both Dumbledore and the boy who defeated him at the school, everyone in our world knew that the school had quickly become one of You-Know-Who's main targets.  Thus, when the war became public knowledge this past October, Dumbledore officially closed its doors, the majority of its students returning to their families in hopes of finding safety there.  Since then, it has become a refuge for the most targeted families of You-Know-Who - those who are outright supporters of Dumbledore and against You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters."

    At the silence that fell over the group once again, Faith felt herself shifting uncomfortably on the couch.  She was used to action and all this talk just wasn't cutting it for the Slayer.  "Okay," she finally said, giving in to her impatience, "so where do we come in?"

    "You don't," Giles said softly, catching her eyes briefly before turning to once more face his first slayer.  "Buffy does," he finished, watching as Buffy finally seemed to push away her thoughts, a small frown pulling at her lips.

    "We're in a war," Samuel explained, slowly stepping forward and then kneeling until he was at the same level as the diminutive Slayer, "that could use any help that our side could get - especially the help of a Slayer," he added, not noticing the way the blonde blanched at the word.

    "Wait, wait, wait," Xander quickly protested, pushing off of the couch and moving until he was standing over Buffy, one hand resting protectively on her shoulder.  "Buffy can't go!  We need her here on the Hellmouth!" he argued, his dark eyes flashing.

    "The Hellmouth already has a Slayer," Samuel countered as his eyes drifted over to the dark-haired slayer who watched the proceedings with narrowed eyes.

    Stunned by his words, Willow felt the beginnings of panic threaten to consume her as she jumped from the couch.  She quickly looked to Giles, waiting for him to argue with the man and tell them just how much they needed Buffy.  How they couldn't take her best friend away to the other side of the world - not when they had only just gotten her back a few months before.  But at the resigned look on Giles' face, she knew that she'd get no support there.  Horrified at this realization, she quickly turned to Faith, seeing that she too seemed resigned to the idea already, contented to sit back and watch the proceedings.  Shaking her head, it quickly became apparent that only she and Xander were going to fight for their friend.  And by the way that Xander's eyes narrowed even more, she realized that he knew that as well.  

    "Okay," she murmured, her mind trying to grasp a logical argument - any argument to see reason and to forget this stupid idea.  "Well, here's a thought," she said quickly, green eyes lifting to stare defiantly at the man who wanted to take her friend away.  "While yeah, I've only dabbled in the whole magic thing a little bit after Miss Calendar died," she murmured, sending an apologetic glance to Giles for the mention, "and... well, not a whole lot since everything... well, everything last summer," she babbled, her frown intensifying, "I still know enough to know that you're sending Buffy on a suicide mission!  I mean, what can one of us, even if she is a slayer, do against magic like that?"

    Smiling slightly at the slender girl's fierce loyalty to her friend, Samuel seemed to ponder her argument for a moment before slowly nodding his head in agreement.  "There is nothing that a muggle can do against such magic," he admitted, watching as the girl flashed Xander a triumphant grin.  "However," he added, his smile growing, "a Slayer isn't a muggle."  As the girl's mouth dropped at his statement, Samuel allowed his attention to drift once more back to the girl that was the center of this fierce debate, the one that they would ultimately have to convince in the end.  To her credit, her face was impassive, giving none of her thoughts away.  "Instead," he continued, "she's what my kind call a magical creature.  The very nature of her strength, speed, skill and healing capabilities are a source of strong magic, so different from a wizard's magic."

    Stunned, Xander slowly withdrew his hand as he cast a curious gaze at the girl that sat below him, and then over at the brunette that watched everything through heavily shadowed eyes.  "So Buffy and Faith can be all witchy and cast spells and stuff?" he asked, slowly scratching his head.

    "Will she get a nifty wand?" Willow asked despite herself.

    Laughing, Samuel slowly shook his head.  Now he could see why his old friend was so fond of these children.  Not only did they love and support the slayer, giving her the strength she needed to keep fighting and giving her a reason to fight, but they also had a curiosity and humor that were compelling - even if it was damned irritating when trying to carry on a serious discussion.  "No, not that kind of magic," he finally continued.  "Slayers can't cast spells or do anything that we would consider magical.  However," he added, his eyes twinkling, "their magic is so powerful and so different than wizarding magic that our magic won't affect them - at least not to the extent of other wizards or muggles," he corrected, nodding at Giles.  "It interferes with it."

    "Oh yeah?" Willow quickly countered, her lip jutting out as she quickly crossed her arms across her chest.  "Then how come magic has worked on Buffy before?  Huh?" she demanded, green eyes sparkling as she flashed her resolve face.  "Buffy was turned into a frightened damsel in distress on Halloween a few years back-"

    "What?" Faith interrupted, shooting Buffy an amused grin.  "So need to hear that story!"

    "-and then," Willow continued, "you guys did that whole spell thing to put Buffy's brain back in her body!  How do you explain that?"

    Sighing, Giles slowly and reluctantly joined the conversation, saving Samuel from Willow's anger.  "We can't," he said simply, shrugging his shoulders, "except to say that the Hellmouth has something to do with it.  For some reason," he continued, "the forces on the Hellmouth strengthen spells and magic here, giving people the power to do such things that shouldn't be possible anywhere else, especially without a wand."

    "Which is why I was able to restore Angel's soul," Willow murmured, her expression falling as she read between the lines of Giles' statement.  "Because I'm a muggle and I shouldn't have been able to do something like that," she added as she settled dejectedly back on the couch.

    "No, Willow," Giles countered with a sympathetic smile.  "You practice Wiccan magic, which is an entirely different form of magic than wizarding magic.  Wizards call upon magic that is already within themselves while wiccans call upon magic from the world around them.  Being on the Hellmouth, there is much more in the way of magic for you to use, which is why you're able to cast the strong spells you have.  However, such magic wouldn't be possible in non-magical areas."

    "Hey, you're still a wicked witch in my book," Faith said softly from beside her, her expression uncommonly soft and understanding.

    "I know," Willow murmured, tears burning in her eyes.  But they weren't tears for herself and her shattered ego, but rather tears for her friend.  Sighing softly, she slowly lifted her pale face and met Buffy's shadowed green eyes.  They weren't the same eyes that she remembered, not at all.  Everything else about Buffy was the same, right down to the clothes that she had purchased to replace the ones lost in the fire, and even the way she wore her long, blond hair.  But the eyes... the eyes were so different.  Sniffling, Willow realized for the first time why Giles wasn't fighting this - why Faith wasn't.  They were losing Buffy, day by day, and they all loved her too much to allow that to happen.  Buffy was trying, Willow was certain of that, but she was losing focus here, caught up in too many painful memories.  While running away after sending Angel to Hell hadn't been the brightest thing she had ever done, Willow had to admit that the time away had helped Buffy somehow to face what she had done.  To face what she had lost.  Now, she was being offered that same opportunity, and it was up to them to show her how much they loved her by letting her go.

    "But this isn't our war," Xander protested weakly, slowly allowing his knees to fold beneath him, bringing himself to the floor beside Buffy's chair.  "It's not her war," he amended, dark eyes turning until they locked on Buffy's green eyes.

    "Not yet," Buffy murmured, speaking softly as she slowly scooted forward and gently rest one hand against his cheek.  Sighing softly, she saw the pain echoing in his dark brown eyes.  He loved her so much.  They all did.  To think that their love would be enough to make her whole again... but it wasn't.  In the end, she didn't know what she needed to do that, but whatever it was, it wasn't enough in Sunnydale any longer.  Perhaps Sunnydale itself was the reason for it.  How could she keep going as though nothing had happened when she saw her mother's touch everywhere she turned in this town?  "But if this Voldie guy wins... Xander, you know he'll turn his eyes to the rest of us.  And what if it's too late to stop him then?  Besides, you know I have to go," she murmured, feeling the tears beginning to burn, begging to be released.  "I can't stay here anymore.  I need to... I need to get away for awhile and see if I can get my head back straight," she whispered before slowly turning her head to meet the eyes of her Watcher.  "But I can't do this alone," she whispered, her voice a strangled plea.  After all, in many way Giles was the only thing she had left when it came to a parent - and every child, no matter how old, needed their parents.

    "And I would never send a Slayer on a mission without her Watcher," Samuel interrupted with a small smile.  "Should you accept, Mr. Giles will be accompanying you to England."

    "Hey, what about me?" Faith quickly interrupted, speaking for perhaps the first time in quite a long time.  Crossing her arms tight across her chest, she felt her eyes spark with heat.

    Meeting the girl's fiery gaze head on, Samuel only smiled.  "I believe that it's high time for you to have a Watcher of your own," he replied.  "One that would be, perhaps, better suited to your distinct personality."

    Grinning, Faith straightened and shot Buffy a triumphant grin.  "I like the sound of that," she admitted before forcing a bored expression to replace her excitement.

    "So I take it that you accept, then?" Samuel said, sighing slightly as he turned his eyes once more back to the blond that was inadvertently a new hope for his world.  It was amazing to think that this small girl could somehow help to turn the tide.  Then again, Samuel Fellows had learned long ago that there was much that Dumbledore saw and knew - much more that would guarantee that he would never question one of his requests.  If Dumbledore wanted a Slayer at Hogwarts, Samuel would do his damnest to see that he got his wish.

   "When do we leave?" Buffy asked by way of response, slowly climbing from her chair and moving to stand beside her watcher.

   "As soon as you're packed and ready," he replied, noting idly as more tears seemed to trickle down the redhead's cheeks.

   "Well, not much to pack," Buffy returned with a wry smile, thinking on how little indeed she now owned, "but I do have to make a stop before we go.  Twenty minutes?" she asked, waiting for their nod before making her way to the stairs to the loft, Willow, Xander and Faith following quickly behind.

   Soon, only the two Watchers remained, both staring at each other pensively.  "Well," Samuel finally sighed before easing himself into a recently-vacated chair, "that went better than I had imagined.  She's a brave girl."

   "They all are," Giles returned, smiling wearily before slowly casting his eyes around the room.  He didn't know how long it would be until he saw his home again.

   "Don't you have to pack?"

   "Already done," Giles admitted before slowly moving to the kitchen.  "Tea?"

   "Of course," Samuel murmured, arching an eyebrow at his friend before slowly joining him in the kitchen.  "So you knew that she would say yes, then, all along?"

   Sighing softly, Giles slowly leaned back against the fridge before meeting his friend's eyes.  "Buffy has endured far worse than anyone should have to.  Yet no matter what's happened to her, no matter how much it has affected her, it will always still be Buffy.  There was never any other answer for her to give," he murmured absently before returning to his task, the sounds of the chattering teens drifting down from the loft above.

To be continued...