Title: Wishes and Magic
Author: Shannon
Email: angels_soul_1@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: W/Snape
Disclaimer: BtVS stuff belongs to Joss Whedon, ME, UPN, WB, FOX; Harry Potter Stuff belongs to J.K. Rowling
Distribution: My site http://dr.shadesofgrey.us/ NHA, WLS, TtH
Spoilers: Through Season 4 “Something Blue” of BtVS, and OoTP of Harry Potter
Summary: Willow makes a wish, which we all know never goes well.
Author’s Notes: Don’t know when exactly Willow’s birthday is so we’re going to assume she is 18 during season 4.
Thanks to Emmy, Zoe, and Kris for beta-ing.

Part 9


Willow, Sirius and Remus spent most of Sunday in the library researching time travel spells. They didn’t find much other than time-turners but those only appeared to go back in time. She needed something to move her forward. They worked until dinner and then planned on going back to the common room to finish their homework for Monday morning.

As they were leaving the Hall after dinner Dumbledore stopped Willow, “I need to speak to you Miss Rosenburg.”

Willow followed the Headmaster to his office, after telling her friends she’d meet them back in the room. As they stood on the stairway to the office and waited for it to reach the top it struck her once again that leaving here would mean leaving her new friends and as much as she missed Buffy and Xander, she wasn’t as eager to return as she thought she would be. It was nice to live in a place where she could use her magic without having to hide it from everyone.

“Have a seat,” he motioned toward a chair as he moved to sit behind his desk. “I’ve heard from Anyanka.”

“Can she help us?” Willow asked.

“D’Hoffryn can. However he’ll need a few days to make preparations.”

“How long?”

“He should be ready within a week. He’ll contact me before he takes you so that you will have a chance to say good-bye to your friends. He also wished for me to apologize to you, and assure you that the one responsible will be dealt with accordingly.”

“So he can time travel then?” Willow asked.

“Yes,” Dumbledore responded, “I understand that you’ve been spending a lot of time with Mr. Snape.”

“Yeah, we’ve been working on a project together.”

“I suggest you tell him the truth soon,” Dumbledore said, “He doesn’t trust easily and he won’t take your sudden departure well.”

“I’ll tell him tomorrow. We were going to work on our project after dinner anyway.”

“Very well, I’ll let you return to your friends then.”

The next evening, Willow met Severus in the Potions lab after dinner to begin brewing their first attempt at a mind reading potion. He had been doing most of the work but was carefully explaining each step to Willow as he performed them. Now they were waiting while the potion simmered. It had to simmer for an hour before they could add the next ingredient.

“Severus I need to tell you something,” Willow said after watching him check the potion, “I’m afraid you’re not going to like what I have to say though.”

“What is it?” He asked impatiently. He was very aware that he was probably better off not knowing. The Dark Lord was very adept at Leglimens but he couldn’t get information that Severus didn’t have.

“Remember how I said I wasn’t from here?”

“Yes, you’re American, it’s fairly obvious.”

“Not just American,” Willow explained. She then continued in one long breath, “I’m not from this time. There was this Vengeance demon who wanted to impress her boss and convince me to become one too and she sent me here and now they have a way to send me home.”

“You’re leaving soon then?” Severus asked trying to hide his disappointment.

“I’m sorry, I wanted to tell you about all this before but you were always so angry and I thought you would think I was crazy and …”

”When?”

“This weekend maybe,” Willow sighed, “I’m sorry.”

“Am I interrupting?” Willow and Severus both turned at the sound of the voice in the doorway.

“What is it Narcissa,” Severus asked scowling at the other Slytherin.

“You’re needed for that meeting now,” she said and then to Willow, “Sorry about disturbing you.”

“That’s fine we can quit for the night,” Severus said as he extinguished the flame and began gathering his things.

“Bye,” Willow said and leaned over to kiss his cheek before she left. She knew it would do no good to ask where the meeting was or even what it was. So she figured it involved wherever he went when he snuck up to the tower so she would just find a way to be waiting for him in case he was hurt again.

“Have you convinced Miss Rosenberg to join us?” Voldemort hissed from behind the mask.

“No Master I haven’t,” Severus replied standing in the center of the circle facing the older wizard.

“I understand she plans on leaving soon?”

“Yes sir, I don’t know when but she believes it will be next weekend,” Severus kept his head down, he knew the Dark Lord would not be happy about the news although he did seem to have already known about it. Although there hadn’t been anything he could do to prevent the girl from trying to return home.

“I don’t want her gone, I want her here,” Voldemort said angrily. “Her power will be valuable to us.”

“She isn’t ready to agree to come here yet Sir.”

“I no longer care if she’s ready,” he hissed, “I want her here Friday night, voluntary is preferred but not necessary.”

“Yes Sir,” Severus sighed. His only hope to keep Willow safe now was that she would leave sooner than planned.

Severus pulled himself through the small window in the vacant tower. He spotted Willow curled up in a large chair in the corner as soon as he came to his feet. Keeping her safe would be much easier if she would stay away from him. He changed back to his school robes letting her sleep for a few more minutes. Walking over to her he knelt beside the chair and touched her shoulder gently. “Willow?”

“Hi,” Willow mumbled opening her eyes slowly. “You’re back.”

“Yes, and you shouldn’t be here,” he insisted.

“I was worried you may be hurt again,” she said sitting up, “You’re not are you?”

“No, I don’t always come back injured,” he answered. “Willow you need to stay away from me.”

“Why?” She frowned. “You are mad at me for leaving aren’t you?”

“Of course not, I want you to be safe and you’ll be safest back where you belong and away from me.”

“Okay you’re the only person ever to think I’d be safe in Sunnydale,” Willow grinned, “Why am I not safe with you? I feel safe enough and I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Does it have something to do with these meetings?”

Severus sighed, why couldn’t she just accept it and stay away from him. He would be punished for not delivering her but if she stuck with Black and Potter he would have an excuse. No one ever wanted to be around him, why did she have to be the first. “You don’t understand, I don’t know what he wants from you.”

“What who wants from me?”

“The Dark Lord,” Severus responded as he stood and began pacing the large room. “He knows you’re your from another time and he wants you brought to him. He originally said to convince you to join him, but now he says he doesn’t care if you wan to or not. I’m just supposed to bring you to him on Friday.”

“Who is this Dark Lord,” Willow asked. “And why can’t I get the hell away from big evil things that want to kill me. It’s years before I’m even born and not on the Hellmouth and something wants to kill me.”

“I’m not sure he wants to kill you, he believes you’re more powerful than you realize and he wants that power,” Severus explained. “The Dark Lord wants to purify the wizarding world and believes you can help him.”

“Purify?” Willow frowned again. “I’m not a pure blood how can I help him?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted, “And I’m not sure he won’t end up killing you. That’s why you need to stay away from me.”

“We need to tell someone,” Willow said as she also began pacing, “We should tell Remus he may be able to—oh and Dumbledore he could help right he’s really powerful.”

Severus watched her pace for a few moments. Telling Dumbledore was probably a good idea, he may be able to arrange for Willow to leave sooner than Friday. If she was gone he couldn’t be blamed for not delivering her. He wasn’t anxious to tell her friends though, he still didn’t know who was working for Voldemort.

“I’ll go see the Headmaster Willow but…” Severus began not sure how she would take the news that one of her friends had been giving the Dark Lord information about her, “You can’t tell Lupin or any of the Gryffindors.”

“Why not, they may be able to help?”

“Someone in Gryffindor works for the Dark Lord. I don’t know who it is, but that’s how he found out about you and how he knew you had found a way home.”

“I can’t believe Remus would…”

Severus agreed with her, he doubted it would be Lupin but without knowing precisely who had been passing information to the Death Eaters it would be prudent to avoid telling any of them any more than necessary. “Just be safe and we can go see Dumbledore in the morning. You should go back to your dorm before you get caught.”

“Aren’t you going back?”

“No, my head of house is monitoring the dorms tonight,” Severus explained, “He suspects someone is sneaking out and plans to catch them returning.”

“Can’t imagine why he would think such a thing,” Willow smiled, “I’ll stay with you. We don’t have that much time left anyway.”

“Willow you don’t have to…”

“I want to,” Willow said as she leaned over and kissed him, “Now can we conjure up some blankets or something?”




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