Title: Power and Retribution (Sequel to Wishes and Magic)
Author: Shannon
Email: angels_soul_1@yahoo.com
Pairing: Willow/Severus
Rating: PG-13
Distribution: SoG (http://sog.magical-worlds.us/) WLS, NHA, TtH anyone else with previous permission. Anyone else that wants it just let me know first.
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Joss Whedon, ME, UPN, FOX, WB, and J.K. Rowling.
Spoilers: Through OotP for HP and through Chosen for BtVS and Not Fade Away for AtS.
Summary: Willow decides to she must return to Hogwarts to help her friends.
Author’s Notes: Sequel to Wishes and Magic. Wishes took place during BtVS season 4. Which for the purposes of this fic would have been Harry’s 1st year at Hogwarts. This is picking up after the finale of Angel (Harry’s 6th year.) You can read Wishes and Magic here (http://sog.magical-worlds.us/efiction/viewstory.php?sid=228)
Thanks to Emmy, Zoe, and Kris for beta-ing this for me.

Part 4


Spike stood in front of the large stand, only partially listening to the conversation going on behind him, and watched as Fawkes burst into flames. He had heard stories of phoenixes but had never seen one before arriving at Hogwarts. With the bird gone his mind once again tuned into the people behind him, he wasn’t really interested in their conversation. He was here to help Red and would do whatever they needed him to do but he wasn’t interested in the details.

“I don’t believe Miss Rosenberg joining the Order is the best…” Spike groaned as Severus repeated what he had been saying for the past hour.

“Right you think the best idea is for me to return home,” Willow snapped, “That’s not gonna happen. I’m staying until he’s dead, Severus. I can be part of the Order and be useful or I can just wander the school and watch the rest of you fight, but either way I’m staying.”

Dumbledore busied himself with several pieces of parchment to hide his amusement at the argument before him. It had been going on for well over an hour. He had explained to Willow and Spike what had been happening in the last year and the steps the Order had been taking. Willow had asked about the Order and if they could use her help.

Dumbledore was well aware of the power the small redhead held. She would be a great asset to the Order. So would the vampire. He also understood Severus’ need to keep her safe; he didn’t care about many people but would go to any lengths to protect the ones he did. However, the girl’s life had been nothing but a series of dangerous events since she was fifteen. He had followed the girl’s life since she was very small. Voldemort’s interest in her, and then D’Hoffryn comments about Willow’s future had intrigued the headmaster and he had paid close attention to her actions.

“Willow you don’t understand how dangerous the Dark Lord…”

“I do understand,” Willow nearly shouted, “I understand he’s big and nasty because he wants to kill muggles but hey, spent most of my teen years and beyond fighting things that wanted to destroy the whole damn world. One bigoted wizard is not scaring me away.”

“He’s very powerful,” Severus mumbled in defeat. Arguing with her was pointless, she wasn’t going to back down and Dumbledore was on her side.

“So am I,” Willow grinned knowing she had won, “I almost ended the world remember?”

“Yes I do remember. That’s another thing I’m not sure you’ve thought about; the magic overtook you once, how do you know it won’t happen again?”

“I did think about that. It controlled me twice; the second time was white magic Severus. I can do this.”

“So it’s settled then,” Dumbledore interrupted, “Willow and Spike are joining the Order. I will notify the others.”

Ignoring Severus’ frown Willow turned her attention to the Headmaster, “So what do we need to do?”

“Since the prophecy was destroyed last year…”

“I really don’t get that; wouldn’t it be easier to keep prophecies in books or something?” Willow interrupted, still not completely clear on why they would store prophecies in glass orbs.

“We are mostly working on simply diverting Voldemort’s attacks on muggles,” Dumbledore continued ignoring Willow’s question. “We aren’t sure of his next move yet; however, our main concern is keeping Harry safe.”

“I can help there,” Willow grinned happy to be helpful, “What are we looking for?”

“Mr. Malfoy,” Snape replied.

“Lucius?” Dumbledore asked surprised.

“No Draco,” Snape explained, “He blames the golden trio for his father’s imprisonment. Although, I’m not sure that he’ll attack Potter directly.”

“Who?” Spike asked. Protection was something he could help with.

“Miss Granger most likely. I don’t believe he considers Mr. Weasley as much of a threat as an annoyance. Also the easiest way to weaken Potter is to remove the brains of the group.”

“I was concerned with Voldemort entering Harry’s mind again now that he’s no longer studying Occlumency,” Dumbledore said, “Although you may have a point about Mr. Malfoy.”

“Why isn’t he studying it anymore if he needs it?” Willow asked.

“He and Severus had a…disagreement last term.”

“I may be able to help, I don’t know if it’s the same thing Severus was teaching him but I can show him some things to…know…when someone is trying to enter his mind and to force them back out.”

“That would be wonderful,” Dumbledore agreed, “Have you met Mr. Potter?”

“Yeah, I talked to him after lunch.”

“I’ll take the girl,” Spike volunteered. “Bodyguard duty against a sixteen year old will be rather refreshing.”

“It’ll mean spending your days following the girl around,” Severus pointed out.

“Right, I’ll start tomorrow.”

“I’ll get you a copy of her schedule, and I would suggest letting her know what will be happening before morning.”

“We’ll see them both tonight.”

“Then I’ll let you all return to your plans for today,” Dumbledore said nodding, “If there is anything you need let me know.”

“Do you plan on scowling through the entire meal?” Willow asked, eyeing Severus from across the small table in his rooms. “’Cause I did leave Spike to his own devices which isn’t usually good, so the least you could do is act happy that I’m here.”

“I am happy that you’re here, Willow,” Severus sighed, “I don’t like that you’re putting yourself in danger unnecessarily.”

Willow set her fork down and moved to the couch to sit next to him, “I am not putting myself in danger unnecessarily. I’m putting myself in danger to help the people I care about. I wasn’t here to help Sirius or James and Lily; don’t look at me like that, but I can be here to help you, Remus, and Harry. I’m not going to sit at home and wait for letters that the rest of you are gone too.”

“He will come after you again Willow,” Severus turned toward her, “As soon as he realizes who you are he’ll come after you.”

“Maybe he won’t find out,” she suggested.

“Unlikely, Potter figured it out from your name, Malfoy will too. He’ll tell his mother and then it’s only a matter of time.”

“Then we’ll be ready for him,” Willow said confidently, “If we need it I can have a whole army of slayers here within a few hours. Or skip the army and just bring Buffy and Faith here. They’re an army in themselves.”

“Then you would be risking even more of your friends.”

“Not really,” Willow assured him, “We don’t like to lose.”

“It doesn’t mean you won’t.”

“I suppose, but we’ve faced worse. We fought the First Evil and won, Severus, we can handle this. I don’t want to spend the whole evening contemplating my death if you don’t mind,” Willow agreed, “So tell me what happened to Harry’s Occlumency lessons.”

“No.”

“Right ‘cause that’ll make me stop asking questions. What happened?”

“I would rather not talk about it.”

“Okay then why do all the students hate you?” Willow grinned.

“They don’t all hate me,” Snape scowled, “Slytherins…”

“That’s only because you favor them, I know that and I’ve been here a day.”

“They are my house,” he set his fork down and leaned back on the couch, waving his wand. Seconds later the plates disappeared from the table.

Willow thought for a moment she really did have a lot of questions, twenty years worth of questions for him, “Why did you become a Death Eater?”

“What?” Severus looked at her in surprise; he hadn’t been expecting that question.

“You knew what Voldemort was, you knew he was evil and wrong but after I left you went to him anyway, why?”

“It's…,” he stopped and looked at her for a moment not sure how to explain why he had made that choice, “Willow, when you left…not many people believed in me. You know that. The Dark Lord…”

“You really should start saying his name you know,” Willow frowned, “Its just silly to be afraid of a name.”

“Willow,” he warned.

“Sorry,” Willow grinned, “What are you doing Saturday?”

“Grading papers why?” He asked, not following her sudden change in topic.

“Want to go to Hogsmeade?”

“Why?”

“Why?” Willow frowned, “Because I want to go, I never did get to go.”

“Fine, after breakfast then, Slytherin is playing Gryffindor in the afternoon.”

“Right wouldn’t want to interfere with Quidditch, but oh, Harry’s a seeker right?”

“Yes.”

“Look the scowl is back,” Willow grinned, and glanced at the clock, “I’ve got to go meet Harry and the others now, I’ll see you tomorrow right?”

“Yes,” Severus replied as Willow leaned over and quickly kissed his cheek before leaving with a wave.

He scowled as the door closed behind her. She wasn’t the same girl that had been at Hogwarts all those years ago, in many ways she was very different, but in many she was exactly the same. He knew for her it had only been a few years, but it seemed like she had changed even more than he had. She wasn’t even the same woman he had visited two years ago at the Watcher’s house. That girl had been on the verge of total destruction, she wanted to give up and disappear, and her pain had been like a living thing surrounding her.

He hadn’t seen her since then, just occasional letters. Her confidence had grown considerably, in both her magic and herself. He wasn’t sure how to react to her presence here, he had realized by lunch that he still cared very deeply for her. What he didn’t know was if she felt the same? The last time he had heard from her she was living with a woman, a slayer if he remembered correctly, before that there was Tara. Was she even interested in him anymore? What about the vampire that she had brought with her? These were all things he would have to think about later, it was his night to patrol the halls.

“Hey guys,” Willow smiled as she approached the portrait hiding her door and saw the group of kids crowding around it. “Sorry I’m late.”

Willow gave the password and they waited as the portrait swung aside revealing the large sitting room. Willow motioned everyone in ahead of her before following behind them.

“Hey,” Spike said from where he was lounging on the couch, “Did you know they have a whole book devoted to Angelus and Darla?”

“Actually yeah I did,” Willow smiled, “Found it when I was here before.”

“Mostly fiction though, like this part here about the Boxer Rebellion Angelus didn’t…” Spike closed the book at Willow’s frown. Probably shouldn’t be discussing Angelus’ with the kids anyway, “Sorry.”

“Okay so I know Harry, Hermione, and Ron but…” she turned her attention to the red-headed girl standing next to Hermione, “I don’t know you, but I’m guessing you’re related to Ron?”

“I’m Ginny, Ron’s sister.” Ginny offered.

“Well, then I’m Willow and this is Spike,” Spike nodded toward the kids and sat up to free more space on the couch.

Hermione and Ginny both stared at the vampire for several seconds before Hermione spoke, “Are you really a vampire?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s not dangerous,” Willow frowned when Spike growled at her comment, “Okay he won’t hurt any of you but he’s really very dangerous.”

“How was your meeting with the Headmaster?” Ron asked.

“Okay Spike and I are both members of the Order now, and we’ll be staying until Voldemort’s defeated. Which reminds me there are a few things,” Willow responded, “First Harry, Dumbledore wants you to continue with Occlumency but knows you can’t do it with Severus. So I’m going to be helping you, it’ll probably be different than what he was doing but if you can master it, it’ll be just as effective.”

“Right, I mean as long is it’s not Snape again,” Harry agreed.

“This next part probably applies to all of you in some way, but mostly Hermione. Severus thinks Draco Malfoy may try to come after Harry,” Willow held her hands up as Ron and Harry both started to complain, “He doesn’t think it’ll be a direct attack. Severus believes he’ll go after Hermione first.”

Immediately all four teen-agers started talking, most of what Willow could make out were threats directed at the Slytherin. Spike’s voice finally cut through the noise and everyone quieted, “He’ll go after Hermione because she’s the most dangerous.”

“How?” Hermione asked in confusion, “I mean Harry’s fought more and…”

“Same reason if I had ever really wanted to hurt the Slayer I would’ve grabbed Red, or maybe the Watcher,” Spike interrupted, “All of Buffy’s physical strength and power is useless if she doesn’t know where to direct it.”

“I don’t understand,” Harry said, Ron looking just as confused.

“Hermione does all the planning,” Ginny said, “You may be the one that actually fights him but without Hermione you wouldn’t know where to begin.”

“Exactly,” Spike smiled at her.

“What does Professor Snape think he’s going to do?” Hermione asked. Draco hadn’t so much as spoken to her since the term started but she was beginning to realize that may not be as good a thing as she had previously thought.

“He doesn’t know,” Willow answered, “Maybe nothing. Until we know its best you not be alone in the halls though.”

Now Hermione was frowning, “I have a lot of classes that Ron and Harry don’t have, a lot of them are with other houses I can’t…”

“Consider me your new shadow,” Spike smirked.

“Excuse me?”

“I’ll be following you to your classes,” he explained.

“All of them?” Hermione asked.

“Yes, everywhere you go, from Breakfast until your last class I go too.”

“That’s going to be incredibly boring for you,” Hermione frowned, not completely comfortable with the plan.

“After the year I’ve had, boring is called for,” Spike replied, “Tomorrow I need you to point out this kid to me.”

“Right, but only if you’re sure,” Hermione agreed.

“Harry you said you wanted to ask me something about your dad?” Willow asked changing the subject.

Harry frowned, he did have questions but he wasn’t sure how to ask them. He couldn’t just ask her if his father was really a nice guy or if he was as cruel as Snape’s memory had shown him. He had the same questions about Sirius; finally he decided to just tell her what he saw in the pensieve.

“So you want to know if Severus’ memory was accurate or if it was wrong?” Willow asked. Harry nodded and Willow thought for a moment before answering, “I wasn’t here then, Harry, but I know Severus didn’t like your dad and Sirius. They didn’t like him either. I know they weren’t kind to him, for no reason that I could see. Do I believe James and Sirius were cruel intentionally? No. Do I think they didn’t give enough thought to Severus’ feelings? Yes. I can also say that memories can be sort of skewed sometimes. Different people remember things differently. You said Remus was there?”

“Yes,” Harry said, trying to take in what she was telling him.

“Ask him about that day,” Willow suggested, “I know you don’t want to ask him to say something bad about your father, but he was there and wasn’t directly involved. He may be your most accurate source for this.”

“I’ll ask him next time I see him then,” Harry said quietly.

“We better get back to the tower, its already after curfew,” Hermione pointed out.

“I’ll walk you guys back,” Willow offered, “Don’t want you losing points because of me.”




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