Chapter Three - Toto, We're Not in Kansas Anymore (sorry, I had to put that quote in somewhere lol)

Ron walked off alone to breakfast. He wanted to give Harry time alone to talk to Hermione.

But, as usual, Harry put it off for another day because not even five minutes later, Harry came walking into the Great Hall, chatting with Dawn.

"So, you live with your sister and your sister's friends, both of which happen to be Muggle witches and professors here?"

Dawn laughed. "Yeh. We're all just one big happy dysfunctional family."

"What about your parents?"

Harry knew he hit a soft spot because Dawn's face quickly changed from happy to sad and she flinched slightly.

"Well.my parents split up when I was nine. My dad lives in LA - Los Angeles - and I never see him. My mom - she died. Last year.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you think about something like that."

"Nah, it's ok. Just - I don't really want to talk about it too much if I don't have to, alright?" Talking about Joyce's death always inadvertently made Dawn think about her sister's death, and she had done enough of that last night, enough that she hadn't gotten an ounce of sleep.

Harry nodded. He understood. He understood completely.

"Mornin' Harry"

"Morning Ron. You get our schedules yet?"

"Right here." He handed Harry his. "We have Potions with the Slytherins first, as usual." Ron grumbled a string of nasty words under his breath.

Harry looked at his schedule and Dawn looked over his shoulder.

Potions, Slytherins Break Divination Lunch Defense Against the Dark Arts Break Double Defense Against Muggle Attacks, Gryffindor and Slytherin 6th and 7th Years

"Huh, that's a first."

"What is? Hermione asked walking up to them.

"We have a class with the sixth years. Wonder why."

Hermione shrugged and helped herself to a piece of toast.

"Dawn, do you have a schedule?" Ron asked her hopefully.

"I got it this morning. The only things I don't have with you are Divination - I have Rune Studies - "

"You're with me then." Hermione smiled and Dawn smiled back, nodding.

"And I have to go talk to Buffy - I mean, Professor Summers during lunch every day."

"Why is that?" Hermione asked.

Dawn looked slightly panicked. "Um, no reason." She glanced up at the professors' table, where Faith was calling her over.

"See you later." She walked off, sighing with relief. Ron watched her and sighed.

"Awe, is Ickle Ronniekins smitten?" Ron glared at Hermione, who laughed. "It's so obvious. She likes you too, I can tell these things. Talk to her. It won't hurt."

"You should take your own advice." Ron looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

Hermione glanced at Harry, grabbed her books, and announced, "I'm going to the library." She stormed off.

"What was that about?" Harry asked with a mouthful of bacon.

Ron slapped his forehead.

~*~*~*~*~

So far, the day had gone as it always did. Snape took 25 points from Gryffindor in Potions ("I said Wolfshorn Weasly, not Wolfsbane.") and Professor Trelawny did not hesitate to remind Harry that he was going to die by the end of the year ("My inner eye never lies Mr. Potter!")

All of Gryffindor was anxious to see what the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was like.

"Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts. I am your teacher, Professor O' Flaherty. Professor Giles will not be joining us until tomorrow. Before I begin, does anyone have any questions?"

A single hand went into the air. To no one's surprise, it was Hermione's.

"Yes.Ms. Granger."

Hermione put her hand down. "I was just wondering - well, there were rumors that the new teacher was a vampire. Is this true?"

Everyone was shocked that she had actually asked the question. They were all wondering the same thing, but nobody was comfortable with voicing their concerns.

Leave it to Hermione.

To everyone's surprise, Professor O' Flaherty laughed.

"I knew that question was going to arise some time during the day. I can assure you that I am most certainly not a vampire, and that Professor Giles is also very much human."

The class sighed with relief.

"Vampires will be our first unit, followed by werewolves, which I have heard you all know an astounding amount about, demons, vampire slayers - "

Hermione's hand shot into the air again.

"Yes Ms. Granger."

"Vampire slayers are a myth. Why are we going to learn about something that we'll never encounter?"

Angel smiled and glanced at Dawn who was sitting in the back of the room, smirking. She had warned him that the students believed the Chosen One to be nothing more then a legend.

"I can assure you Hermione that the Slayer is more real and a lot more encounterable then you think."

~*~*~*

"Welcome to your first Defense Against Muggle Attacks class. I'm Professor Morgan, and this is Professor Summers. I know that this class is unusually large, but Professor Dumbledore has requested that both sixth and seventh years have a double period together. And as I'm sure you've noticed, you have this class three days a week."

Some of the students groaned and Professor Morgan grinned.

"Alright Professor Morgan. Enough terrorizing the kids." Professor Summers said smiling.

"Before we get started, there's a few things I want to go over. This is a Muggle Defense class, hence you will be learning Muggle defense techniques. It is your last class because things may get extra grueling for the older students." More groaning and smiling from Professor Morgan and Dawn.

"As you've seen on your schedule, you have a twenty minute break before this class. This is because we are requesting that you change into comfortable clothing when you come to this class, not your uniform. It's not exactly easy to learn this stuff, and it will be a lot easier if you're comfortable. Wear your robes, which you can leave in the back of the room when we start. Is this alright with everybody?"

Most of the room nodded or said a quick yes.

"OK then, let's start with a demonstration." Professor Summers and Professor Morgan shed their robes, revealing sweats, tank tops, and sneakers.

"Dawnie, hold this." Faith pulled something out of her pocket and threw it to Dawn, who abruptly shoved it into her bag. Hermione tried to get a look at it, but she didn't quite look fast enough.

"You ready B?"

Buffy smiled. "Bring it on."

And the two started fighting. Faith threw a punch, which Buffy quickly blocked and landed a kick to her stomach. The class watched in amazement as they blocked, punched, kicked, and flipped.

Buffy landed on her back on the floor, and as the class winced, Dawn smiled. She kicked her legs up, bringing Faith to the floor. Buffy quickly pulled a - 'was that a stake?' Hermione thought - out of her pocket and made it look like she was going to plunge it into Faith's heart.

"I win - again." Buffy smiled and helped Faith to her feet, and was met with applause from the rest of the class.

"Where did she learn that?"

Dawn smiled at Ron. "A little place called the Hellmouth. I'll let you play with that thought for a while." She grinned at his confused expression, and walked up to her sister as the rest of the class filed out of the room.

"The Hellmouth? What the hell is that?"

Hermione shrugged, still watching the two professors intently. "Beats me."

~*~*~*

"Need help there B?"

Buffy grimaced as the vampire she was fighting landed a punch to her jaw. "No, I'm - " She kicked the vampire's feet from under him and drove her stake home. "Fine."

She walked over to Faith, completely out of breath.

"What did they do, follow us here?" Faith asked angrily.

"When did vampires get so hard to beat?" Buffy asked, with her hands on her thighs.

"Easy - we're not in Kansas anymore Toto. These vamps are a lot different from ours."

"And yet they still attack the slayers. Just our luck, huh? We patrol the forest making sure there aren't any kiddies lurking about, and we get attacked.

"Just a day in the life of the Chosen Two I guess."

Faith grinned. "C'mon B. We gotta get back."

As Faith and Buffy walked back to the castle, Harry, Hermione, and Ron shed the invisibility cloak and watched their backs until they disappeared into Hogwarts.

"Does anyone else sense something funny going on here?" Hermione said aloud.

Harry shook his head. "No. But I think I'm going to pay close attention to our so-called professors from now on."