"I'm going to fine you all!" the headmaster shouted. "Your parents are going to suffer by having to pay off incredibly large fines! Plus it'll raise tuition next year!"
"Tuition is set by the Wizengamet," Ginny said simply and calmly.
"And if you fine us we can contest it," Luna said.
"No you can't!"
"It's in the student handbook, all students have the right to contest any punishment." She stared at him. "By going to the school board and then the courts if you must." He spluttered. "I think you have mother issues."
"I doubt he's Oedipal," Hermione quipped from her seat reading something for fun. "Though with how he acts he might be." She turned the page, going back to her story. "Once you're following the rules already set down we'll go back to class. Until then...." She shrugged. "We all needed a day off anyway."
"I'll see you held back," he sneered. "You'll never get into any of the colleges! I know everyone up there and the school board!"
She stared at him. "I'm not applying to any of the magical schools. You and others have proven how far behind you are. While I am provisionally accepted at Oxford it's the muggle portion not the magical portion." She went back to reading. "I doubt they'd have any sway and if they do, there's a lot of other fine colleges in the UK and the mainland has a lot more.
"Hell, there's a few very nice ones I could go to in Australia. Pretty country down there. Traveling is good for a being, very broadening." She sneezed off to the side then went back to reading. He tried to snatch the book but she glared at him. "Didn't you learn the last time you tried that?" The man stomped off to have aurors come arrest them.
Madam Bones followed her aurors into the great hall. "Children," she noted. "You're disturbing the lawful school day."
"No, he's banned women from going to classes again," Hermione said bluntly. "So we're all having our period today. As that's his rules...." She smirked at her. "By the way, we've been taping all his rants at dinners, Madam Bones."
She blinked a few times. "No electronics works up here."
"The French and Americans have solved that." She smiled. "I've used Harry's house elf to deliver a copy daily to my mother. She suggested we start with this period sit in before a great many of us walk out."
Madam Bones sighed. "What's going on in exact detail, children?" Luna handed over her copy of the demands. She read them and then looked at the smirking headmaster. "This isn't a good reason to arrest any children." He looked horrified. "This isn't illegal. It's peaceful protesting and thoroughly legal under the laws of both Scotland and the magical community."
"We think he may have mommy issues," Ginny said with a grin for her.
"I was thinking he wasn't Oedipal but with some of his supposed ways, you can't really tell," Hermione agreed, going back to her book. "He's also threatened to keep me from going to college." She smirked a bit. "I pointed out there's muggle colleges."
"Which a lot of the old thinking ones hate," Madam Bones warned.
"Yes, I believe that's why I had to fight back against those who were going to kidnap and auction me off." She stared at her. "We women just get stronger the more we're pushed on. Some may have to yield for their family's safety but some of us don't. Mine already know that the ministry is screwed up against women and back me fully making it an equal institution, as it should be."
"It should be," Madam Bones agreed. "We've had female Ministers for Magic." She looked at the headmaster again. "You claimed a riot. Where is it?" He pointed. "That's not a riot. There's not even a fight." She looked around at the guys helping in there. Then she looked at Granger. "The rest in classes?"
"We have no idea. We've been here since breakfast and will stay here for at least a few more days, pending bathroom breaks." She got back to her book.
"He wanted us to not take care of our cycles," another girl said. "Which is disgusting to think of."
"The older ways meant that you banished it," Madam Bones said.
"That's disgusting and unclean," she shot back.
"Yes but it's handy in times like this so you don't have to leave the room." She looked at the headmaster, who was still looking livid. "They will walk out and the school will close. Every last student will do that, even the very traditionally raised ones."
"I was hired to turn them into proper women!"
"No you were not. You were hired to see to the education of the students," Lucius Malfoy said from the doorway. He had the school board behind him. "Miss Granger, thank your mother for finding me," he said blandly.
She grinned. "Did she show off the copies of the tapes we've been making?"
"Yes. How did you do that?"
"My mother ordered a camera from the Americas. One of us hid underneath a cloak of invisibility each night with the camera to tape his ranting at us. And yes, Madam Bones, if this isn't fixed and things turned to a more equal footing without all the stupid rules against us being women, we're leaving the school on Halloween." She went back to her book.
"Who's that on?" Luna asked her.
"It's about the notable figures in the British suffragette movements." She smiled. "Their stories and accomplishments."
"Oh." She nodded. "I would've joined them."
"Good women didn't," the headmaster sneered. "They made fun of such women."
"And yet, we won," Hermione said dryly, smirking at him. "Because we persevered in the face of unequal and heinous odds and men." She went back to reading. He tried to snatch it again and she sent him flying by kicking him. "I believe we've noted it's rude of you to snatch things from someone's hand. You're not a toddler, quit acting like one." She went back to reading.
The aurors helped him up. "Miss Granger, they could charge you with assault for that."
"Such arrests are seen as badges of honor," she quipped. She stared at him, making him shiver. "Even if he killed me I'd just become the newest ghost and make sure the girls were protected." She went back to reading. "Arrest me if you want. I'm nearly done with this chapter."
"No we will not," Madam Bones said. "That was a warning, Miss Granger. We're here."
"Not like we can whine about things to the adults," Ginny said. "They never handle anything so we've learned to do it on our own."
A few more guys walked in and sat with them. "The test in Defense is pushed back to next week," Harry told them. "The teacher's mad that this is going on but one of the muggle-born guys reminded him of the civil rights movements." He looked at Hermione, who was smiling.
"There's two reporters here who tried to bother me." Lucius stomped off swearing quietly about that. Hermione took a copy of the demands to send out there. Parkinson charmed it to fly out on its own. Harry grinned at her for that. Then at Hermione. "Thank you for sending those for me too," he said quietly.
"Welcome." She looked at the aurors. "Is it true that the headmaster has the right to search our mail? Or to keep some of our mail from us?"
"No," the male auror said, looking at her. "It's not."
"Because I had to get some personal mail taken from whatever room it was stuffed in and it was people who kept going 'I'll expect to hear back from you soon'," Harry mimicked. "With official paperwork."
Madam Bones looked at him oddly. "Was it the 'marry my daughter' paperwork, Potter?"
"Yes it was. I had Hermione help me figure out what to send back and Luna helped by writing it more neatly. Is there a quill that can do that?"
"No. We all wish." She looked at one of her aurors then at him. "How many?"
"Eight overall. I knew about three." He stared at her.
"I had to bodybind the headmaster to keep him from harming the owls by summoning them back to get the letters he sent out and one to my mother," Hermione said dryly. "Lost five points. And what is this about banning girls from playing sports?"
"No, he cannot," Madam Bones said. She took the demands to look over and sighed. "That man's a pain."
"Yes he is," Hermione said with a nod. "He tried to ban cards for snap and solitaire. My fun reading books. A lot of other things." She stared at her. "And I'm sorry but I'm not going to give up my menstrual cup now that I've found out how great they are."
"I've never heard of that but it seems like it might be handy?"
"Reusable, washable, works like a tampon. Bit messy but comfortable."
"Huh." She nodded. "That's good." She went to stop the fit she could hear from the headmaster. "Let him," she told Lucius quietly. "Did you read the list?"
"Yes. Once it floated out."
"They have a point."
"We've reviewed his decisions a few times and undid most of them."
"Well, sounds like another time's in order. And perhaps a calming potion. The kids will walk out and leave the school completely."
The headmaster stared at her. "They're being fined! For each day they're not in class they'll owe the school a thousand galleons!"
"I doubt that," Lucius said dryly. "As that's not within our abilities to determine and there's no allowance for fining students. If the school gets a penalty it'll be through the courts." He looked back at the school board coming out. They knew how he'd vote. "What say the board?"
"We say the headmaster has overstepped himself again," the spokesman said. "Greatly overstepped himself and his position is tenuous at best." He stared at him. The man huffed off. "We've also been told they're keeping mail from the students?"
"So Potter said. House elf," Bones ordered. One appeared, looking at her. "Why do you look like you've been sobbing?"
"Miffy cutting onions. Madam Bones needs tea?"
"No, we need to see where the stored mail is and why it's been put in there," Madam Bones said.
"White Beard did that but not much left after students call out for it. Miffy can show."
"Show us all, Miffy," the spokesman for the board ordered. "Because that's against the laws too and we had no idea. We can undo it as the board." She nodded, taking them down to the back corner of the castle and that room. The elves had created a massive sorting and storage area. They all stared in awe. "Are all these for current students, Miffy?"
"No. Some have left." She pointed. "Graduation is there."
Bones sighed, looking at the board. "I'd like to smite Dumbledore."
"Me as well," Lucius agreed dryly. "We should have it handed back."
"Sorter will be sad," Miffy said. "Will not have work."
"He can find another job like sorting socks," Madam Bones said patiently. She had a headache. She looked at the board. Who all nodded. "Make sure all the students get their mail, Miffy. Today if you can. If you have to you can send a house elf to them to deliver bigger items or bigger packs of mail." She nodded.
"The board agrees," Lucius told her. "Most of the current students are in the great hall protesting the headmaster."
"Are there other hidden places?" Madam Bones asked, making them stare at her.
"Many. Is Hogwarts, all sorts of hidden things."
"From the current headmaster?"
"Only two areas." She led her to there to show them. Madam Bones had the new headmaster brought down so he could explain why there was a room for a student with chains. And a potions cabinet that contained compulsion potions. "Get Snape to come destroy these." Miffy went to get him for her. He walked in a few minutes later. "Get rid of the illegal compulsion potions," she ordered with a point. "Properly please. Make notes for us on what you find."
"I can do so. Is this an official inquiry?"
"It is now," she said. He was up the hall ranting that it was for the uppity witches who would be married by their last year. She looked at the board. "There wasn't a mass murderer who could do it better?" she asked.
"We got two who applied but he had the best credentials." They went to talk to him about this version of stupid. He went to interrupt the new screaming in anger. "What are you doing, young lady?"
"Taking evidence, sir. Because no one will believe us if we don't have it. As we do during his nightly rants at dinner."
He blinked. "That's muggle."
"It's American magical," she said smugly. "Granger's mother found it."
The headmaster tried to grab it but she avoided that. He sneered as he summoned all the metal things in the school. The camera, being mostly plastic, didn't summon They all heard a student screaming in pain and hurried back there.
Harry was holding pressure on one of the boy's legs and Hermione had the other. "Get Madam Pomfrey! The pins in his legs just came out for some reason."
"Fuck," Hermione said bluntly. "He's going to need an orthopedist. Those sort of pins are to keep the bones together." Madam Pomfrey came running in. "He had permanent pins in his legs that just flew out like the tracker I wear did."
"The headmaster summoned all metal things in the school," Bones said, turning and arresting him. "Get him to the hospital, Pomfrey."
"We don't have one there who can help!"
"Yes you do. Dr. Ricanda does. I did a bit of volunteering around his office to see if that's a field I wanted to go into. He does work through the hospital."
"Oh, blessed be," she muttered, having Harry help her pick up the stretcher to take the boy to the floo that could leave the school.
"He's not leaving!" the headmaster said.
Hermione glared then stomped over to him. One of the aurors tried to keep them apart but Ginny got around him and punched him. "That boy's going to be lucky if he walks again thanks to your stupid problems," Ginny sneered. "Wait until my mother hears about this!"
Ron looked at his sister then wisely got out of the way of her stomping back to the in-room floo for calling. "Call Dad first," he suggested. "Let him handle it within the ministry since they'll have to find his parents, Ginny."
"Like fuck! This is for Mothers to handle, Ron."
"Okay." He sat down again.
Draco looked at him oddly. "Calming charm?"
"Don't work on Ginny. Bill overused it when she was a baby. It'll just make it worse." Ginny was ranting loudly and her mother was promising to be right up there to help the young women with their sit in.
"Go banish the reporters," Lucius told an auror quietly. He nodded, going to take that wise advice. "Miss Granger, you seem to be bleeding?"
"I had a tracker implanted recently, Mr. Malfoy. It was French magical made. It came out. While it hurts, that young man's injuries were worse and I'll put some pressure on it in a moment when it doesn't hurt as much to do so."
Harry looked and numbed it. "Topical numbing charm, 'Mione." She sighed in pleasure as she put pressure on it. Harry summoned it back. "Maybe your mom can have it put back in."
"I hope so. Thankfully no one had a brain stent or internal staples or anything like that." Draco looked at her oddly. "The muggle hospitals can do some amazing things. Including seal off aneurysms for years with metal staples meant to be in there permanently. I had an aunt who had one. It lasted for thirty years before she had another unexpectedly burst in her abdomen one night."
"I didn't know that." He considered it. "They do surgery? Like opening the body?"
"Yes." She nodded. "They're moving to less invasive methods via small cameras and smaller probe holes but yes."
"That's barbaric."
"They have sedation for the patients," she told him.
"Still. Barbaric."
"Barbaric versus survival?"
"Survival," he admitted. "Point I suppose." He looked at his father.
"We have surgeons but we don't do such surgeries. We rely on specialists who do it for us." He looked at Potter.
"Mine's a great one. Very nice to me. His assistant doctors were pleasant, and the nurses were great to me while I was in there. Let me have all the soup I wanted because the IV's made me so hungry and thirsty."
Lucius blinked a few times. "No potions?"
"In the IV's. They said they do it that way or pills, not potions anymore."
"Oh, I see." He nodded at that. "So medicine-like potions. Interesting." He left the aurors to handle the misbehaving-for-a-good-reason students while he went to talk to the rest of the board because he had heard Molly Weasley show up.
Ginny stomped out with Hermione's notes to hand to her. "Here, Mum. All his bullcrap he's tried to push on us for being women. I thoroughly thought I could control and clean up any monthly bleeding I did but he thought we're too stupid to be able to do that." She looked at the reporters. "He's also banned girls from sports because it might harm our future fertility."
"It shouldn't," one said.
"We know that. He's stupid and we all think he's got a real problem with someone like his mother. Hermione doesn't think he's Oedipal, whatever that means, but she said she's not an expert." She looked at one. "Did that poor kid get to the hospital okay?" They nodded with a smile.
"That's good. The headmaster summoned all metal things to try to get the camera and got the pins in his leg bones." She winced at that. "Thankfully Harry and Hermione knew how to handle the emergency." She looked at the school. "It's a fine old place but if it falls in, oh well." She walked back inside.
Molly sighed. "Let me calm her down." She went to do that, shaking her head. "Dear, sometimes you have to put up with men and just do what you want anyway."
"No, Mother, there's a time and a place for that. This is not it," she said firmly, staring at her. "This goes well beyond all that. For this we have to stop it." Her mother stared at her oddly. "I'm not going to be told I'm too stupid to know how to clean my own arse up when it's bleeding!" she said more loudly.
"And to take us out of classes for it? No! We need what little education we get in this school! Even though it doesn't compare to what the French girls were getting last year. They complained often enough about that." She put her hands on her hips. "You can support us or not, Mum."
"Of course I support you but there must be a more gentle way of handling this."
"We tried that." She walked off. "Go complain for me please." She waved a hand. "Before I have to go complain and punch someone. I really do need more practice doing that."
"Just don't hit me," Ron complained, jogging out. "Hey, Madam Bones," he called. "One of yours was just knocked out by his sister. He nagged her and she got up and punched him then sat down with a huff." She came to check her auror and nag him about nagging his sister. He looked at his mother. "They're right and it's not reasonable, Mum. Don't really care if you think we're too loud. At least it's not an attack." She glared. He walked off again.
"All those women will be married off their last year and they will leave this school after the graduation ceremony pregnant!" the headmaster called.
"I doubt that," Hermione said, coming out with the girls behind her. "Because doing that is rape and we'd have the right to kill our rapists." He sneered and loomed over her. So she hit him. Didn't hit him hard enough to do more than make him flinch but she got him a second time and he fell down. "That's what rapists get and stabbed on top of it."
She stared down at him. "You're in the wrong century for your viewpoints. Welcome to the modern age." The girls cheered. "Ladies, let's get some stuff done. I'm sure we all have things we can do ahead so we have more free time at night." They groaned but did summon down things to do while they were at the sit-in. She looked at Molly, who was looking horrified.
"Women have the right to make their own decisions and I heartily encourage any young woman to stick up for her rights. Especially her autonomy and ability to make her own choices." She went back in there with a few of the guys who had been outside the great hall but not in classes to support them.
"No meals are going to be served until they get out of there," the headmaster sneered, standing up. "I'm having her fined and arrested."
"I didn't see a thing," the nearest auror said bluntly, staring at him. The man glared at him. "And if you try that on my sister I'll expect her to stab them and then you. It'll save you from our mother. They're always the most dangerous." The headmaster stomped off to make that order but Harry led a few of the kids down to cook dinner for everyone. That way the house elves weren't put in harms way. The kids cheered up at that.
Lucius looked at the board. "Things have gotten out of hand," he noted.
"Then remove the headmaster," one of the aurors quipped.
"We don't have anyone to put in his place."
"Do we need one? Seems to not be doing anything. The board can remove the new rules without one. Punishments are usually done by the teachers instead of the headmaster. You can do without one for a bit."
"We may have to."
Draco saw him coming back with a weapon this time, a sword, and stood up to get in his way. He was closest to the door listening to his father's plots while he was not exactly supporting the women but if there was a huge incident he wanted to be part of it. "I don't believe anything needs a sword." The man tried to stab him so he cursed him. A few of the girls did too. Draco looked at the aurors, who were shaking their heads. "I believe he's a mess."
"Yeah, he is," Ron said, coming over to look at the sword. "That's not Gryffindor's sword."
"No it's one off one of the suits of armor up on the third floor," a Hufflepuff said. She came over to grab it properly and put it back into the scabbard on the display. "Sorry, putting it back after he brought it in. Someone might want to go put him back together."
Madam Bones looked then sighed, going to clean up the mess. "That's a lot of curses. All non-lethal. Thank you for that but if he presses charges we'll have to see who did what."
"I did the body binding," a first year said happily. "I don't know as many spells as the others, Madam Bones."
"That's reasonable. Nice job as well."
"She's a really quick draw," Ron joked. "Quicker'n Ginny is." Ginny stared at him. "She was."
"She is and I'll teach her the bat bogey hex I know soon so she can defend herself." She looked at her. "It really will stop most people when bats fly out of their nose and make it hurt a lot." The girl giggled and nodded at that.
Draco looked at her. "Don't practice on your housemates," he ordered. She rolled her eyes. "Unless they deserve it." She was one of his house, she would randomly go around cursing them. She was mean that way.
"I got him once when he tried to pick on me." She sat beside the girl to teach her that hex.
Madam Bones nodded. "It's very hard to do anything when your nose is torn open by bats flying out of it."
Ginny grinned. "Charlie taught me."
"That figures. He must use it on the dragons fighting each other to stop it." She looked at the headmaster. "Madam Pomfrey?"
"I have no room for him up there as no one's on duty. We're all down here," she said.
"I'll have him taken to St. Mungos so I can check on that poor kid." She got a few of the aurors to do that and followed. The board had it, the students were fine. The reporters were still there and watching, taking pictures, and shouting questions as they walked out. "We're taking him for medical treatment after he tried to physically assault Draco Malfoy," she noted patiently.
Lucius looked over at her. "My son?" She nodded. "Son?" he called.
Draco strolled out, looking calm. "Yes, Father?"
"He tried to attack you?"
"With a sword."
Lucius blinked a few times. "Did you curse him?"
"No. The girls got him for me." He grinned. "Including one very fast little Slytherin first year who did the body binding."
"I'm sure her parents would be proud," another said dryly.
"I would," Lucius said. "Quick drawing abilities are a good thing." He looked at his son.
"I'm still working on it, Father. Anything else and can we have a boggart to come run the school? It has to be better than what we've had."
"Yes, perhaps," one said. "He was the best applicant."
Draco looked at him. "Talk to the other schools? See if they have a teacher who's about to retire?" He walked off.
"Not a bad idea," the board members decided. They went to write letters that night while the former headmaster was packed up and sent off to save his life before the girls got him again.
***
Hermione looked at the Wizengamet panel for the court. "What did you need to speak to me on?" she asked calmly.
"It seems you've been very loud about witches rights," one said, a female.
"Yes I have been. Mostly because it would save myself and others." She stared at her. "I won't be auctioned off. I won't be sold off. I won't be given away. I won't allow myself to be kidnaped. Why would I stay silent when so many other young women could face the same thing? At least now they know so they can take precautions to protect themselves."
She blinked. "We don't do that, Miss Granger."
She pulled the information from her bag to hand to her. "Really?"
"What is that?"
"Evidence that you do do that. Especially to muggle born witches." She smiled a bit. "I went looking after they came to my house to tell my parents they were going to memory charm them to forget me so they could put me in a foster home that would teach me to be a more subservient witch and the auror mentioned the auction."
"You were very loud about going to a muggle college," one said.
"Yes, I have plans on medical school and possibly being one of the doctors who comes back as a specialist." She stared at that man. "And frankly, even if I'm arrested it's a badge of honor." The man laughed. "As I said before, if I have to help start a civil rights moment I will." She looked at the woman again, who was looking over all of it. She had pulled out two pages. "I found those off the French educational system's webpages."
She looked at her. "They have computers?"
"Yes, they do." She smiled. "In the schools as well."
"Oh, I see. Are you going to transfer?"
"If they make me. I've also got admissions granted from six other day schools and a few other foreign schools."
"Oh, I see." She went back to the information. "Why have we not heard of this?"
"I have no idea as it's been noted in these chambers before now," Hermione said. "Are you newly in your seat, ma'am?"
"No, I'm not, Miss Granger. I've been here for years."
"The last time this came up you were on vacation," the old man told her. She nodded once at that. He looked at her. "That headmaster...."
Hermione pulled out her copy of the notes on that one. "From his own hand but copies of what he sent. The originals are in a safety deposit box in case we have to go back to refute things."
He looked at them. "Girls should be able to handle that, outside of accidents."
"Yes, we thought so too," Hermione said dryly. "That was just one thing that caused the peaceful sit-in that day."
The woman cleared her throat and held out a hand, taking them from him. She read them and burst out laughing. "He did what?"
"Yes, many wrong things. Including stating, in front of reporters and the school board, that he was going to forcibly have the girls married off and raped so they left pregnant. That's not in my lifeplan, ma'am, and I've noted before that if I have such an incident happen they'd be dead by my hand as soon as I could."
She nodded. "As I feel most of the time. And nearly managed it once early on in my marriage."
"Yes that can be a problem with an arranged one or a husband that's hiding actual mannerisms," Hermione quipped, smiling at her. "One of my distant cousins felt the same way when her husband pretended incompetence to get out of doing household chores."
The woman nodded. "Mine tried that too. He lost." She went back to both files. "I see that the anger may be reasonable." She looked at her. "But we would rather not have the magical community go through the civil rights movement, Miss Granger."
"Then help us fix it so it's equal, just, and reasonable, ma'am. If we're not doing it by ourselves it can only help things change faster and easier."
"True. Do you see yourself sitting up here some day?"
"I've thought about law school. I've thought very hard about it. I'm torn between that and medical school but I think if I went to law school it would be in reaction to what was going on so I could help stop it and I'd probably end up in medical school later on somehow."
She nodded. "That makes sense. You do argue very well." She handed the notes back. "You have valid points but being more quiet and ladylike...."
"Will get nothing done and more young women will have to defend themselves from people like that headmaster and me from the aurors this last summer. Including in the Alley."
She blinked. "Do we have a report on that?" she asked the others. They looked in the book to find it. "Oh, I see we did. And some fired aurors protesting the loss of their jobs. Which your headmaster has done. The court has said he could be reinstated for a bit."
"If he keeps up on us, most of us are going to leave the school. Completely." She smiled. "We have it planned for Halloween if the unreasonable things continue."
"The courts did say that he could not enforce any of the rules he had tried to put in as they were unnecessarily tilted against the female students. I had wondered why." She looked at her. "People like you often end up a martyr, young lady."
"Not the first time someone's tried to kill me in my school career, ma'am." She spluttered at that. "Including a troll and a basilisk." She shrugged. "We do as we must to be safe and healthy."
"Point." She stared at her for a moment. "I remember being your age and quite opinionated. Mostly the same ones."
"Then why did you switch?" Hermione asked her.
"That's a very good question I'm wondering myself." She looked at the older men on the panel.
"You were an arrogant little girl but right about many things. As this one is," the old man that was their spokesman said. He looked at her. "I know who you are. Some compare you to Potter's mother."
"Lily Evans was apparently an outstanding student and quite firm in her belief that things happen when they do and you handle it from what I've head about her through the stories told to her son. I think I'll accept that comparison well, sir."
"I think she would've liked you. Are you and Mr. Potter dating?"
"No, and Harry's said plenty of times that he's not going to even consider taking a girlfriend until after the war's done with."
"That makes sense. He wouldn't want to leave someone behind. Are you close?"
"I see him like a brother most of the time, sir."
"Oh, I see." He nodded. "Friendly marriages can be good."
"Then when he's ready to date and asks we'll see if we can date if he wishes. I'm not going to be the sort of girl to throw myself at his feet at the end of the last battle."
"No, I didn't expect you would. I've heard you nag him?"
"I'm known to help a lot of students in my house with their homework and I do have to nag a few now and then. I'm not dating them either before you can ask."
He smiled. "That's good to know, Miss Granger. Others have put forth to have a mandatory marriage by the age of twenty-five."
"Which is illegal and against free will. It won't make happy marriages, no children will come of them, and the community will die off faster," she quipped, staring at him. "Is that their wish to start?"
"No." He sighed. "He thinks our birth rate is falling."
"Well, yes, not many families want multiple children these days. Kids are expensive and a lot of work. In most of the country around us, it takes both parents working to afford to raise a family and live in a home you own. I'm not having children until I'm well established in my career and then plan a single one or maybe two."
He tipped his head. "You've thought on that?"
"To make sure I won't do it early and ruin my chances? Yes." She smiled. "And muggles have a number of ways of preventing that, from medicines on."
"Oh, I didn't know that." He nodded once. "Interesting. You got a camera from the States?"
"The magical community."
He blinked a few times. "Can they do that?"
"Yes, it worked quite well at the school. We taped the ranting at us women every night for months on end."
"Oh. That's good. Gives you proof." She nodded. "I didn't know they could do that."
"Technology is changing quickly but it's ever expanding and of course someone wanted to make them work together. Muggle borns are used to more technology in our lives. Hogwarts doesn't even have typewriters and I was using a computer in my primary school for papers and research."
"I hadn't thought about that. Is there a big divide?"
"It's not yet insurmountable but it's a definitely learning to lower our skills moment. It can take muggle borns up to a month to learn how to use a quill. Less if they were warned to learn how to use a fountain pen first so it's an easier transition. I wasn't and my mother sent me a nice fountain pen that I use for many things as long as the teachers don't see it."
He hummed. "I hadn't thought about that either." He looked at the others.
"Is this a problem all muggle borns have or just you?"
"We run a fast clinic that first night after classes," Hermione said. "Usually one's got a regular ball point pen that's confiscated from them or they're warned and have to get used to the shedding, breaking mess of a quill instead. Many of us read regular books so that's not a problem but many would like regular bound notebooks instead of folders to hold parchment sheets.
"Especially as Professor McGonagall hates that we have them. Said it's not how it should be. I told her it meant I could keep my notes together and organized plus keep my classwork separate and neat looking. She showed me how to hole punch magically. I showed her the hole puncher I bought. I use a three ring binder system for my notes."
"Ah." He nodded. "Common?"
"I'd guess. That's up to each student how they organize their notes."
"Oh." He grimaced. "Do you think that the students who get memory charmed still do that?"
"I think that the memory charms don't work very well on muggles. Our minds are full of static and noise all the time. Someone's tried on me a few times and it didn't work. I'm not completely technological and I don't tend to pay that much attention to the tele at home. We're used to a lot more noise in our daily lives. I also think that it doesn't work exceptionally well on those who learn to control their emotions via meditative works. It's very compartmentalized."
He gaped. "So the memory charms...."
"May not have worked. We may not let on, but they may not work." She shrugged. "Looking at that spell last year when someone tried and failed it was created in the late eighteen hundreds. Since then the muggle world has gotten a lot more active and noisy."
"Cities are noisy."
"You should go visit a muggle born's house, sir." She smiled. "It's not city noises. It's electronic noises, it's city noises added in, it's family noises, it's our own thoughts and readings and doings. It's our sports and activities. We're used to a lot more mental noise."
"Do you think the total removal would work?"
"No. Because you can't erase all memories. The brain doesn't work that way. It keeps a memory of everything you've ever seen, every second since you were born. You have to work to access it but it can be done by most everyone. Or you'll cause brain damage and that's foul and illegal."
"But it does happen," he said.
She nodded. "And it's still wrong, illegal, and foul. Is the government in the business of supporting torture?" He grimaced at that. "Which it would be."
"Someone could do that to your friend Harry so his nemesis could win."
"He's only Harry's nemesis because he made it so. That has nothing to do with Harry really. He made Harry his threat." They all winced at that. "And trying to brain damage Harry would probably bring Molly Weasley and my own mother down on your heads. Mrs. Weasley may sniff and say it's for the greater good," she said blandly. "But I doubt that as it'd probably harm her youngest son as well."
"I hadn't thought of that," he admitted. He sighed. "It could be done."
"Yes it could be and we'd instantly get Harry to someone who could fix it." She nodded a bit. "Even with damage, the muggle world has ways around most of it. Unless he's dead." She stared at him. "I'd encourage them to come up with a better plan. Especially as Harry does wear a few rings on his hands that have pretty crests on them."
"There's other heirs."
"To the Potter family?" she asked. "Why hasn't Harry met them then?" The man's eyes went wide. She looked behind her. "Dumbledore," she said with a nod.
"It is Headmaster, Miss Granger."
"Not unless they've reinstated you, Mr. Dumbledore." She stared at him. "By the way, thank you for holding the letter that meant one of my cousins died. I'd like to punch you for that since she noted in it that she was worried her spouse was going to kill her and he did."
"One muggle does not outweigh the greater good."
"That wasn't for your greater good, that was for you messiah complex and your need to be in charge."
"I can punish you."
"Did they reinstate him?" she asked the counsel.
"No. He's in for another civil trial."
"Ah." She nodded, staring at him. "Then you're not the headmaster."
"I can have your whole family punished. Have you expelled."
She shrugged. "I'll go to muggle college, become a doctor, and all that I already have planned, Mr. Dumbledore. Me leaving Hogwarts today won't matter one bit to my future." He sneered. She stared back. "I've already been through all the seventh year books as well. I got bored last year." She looked at the panel again, getting away from him. "Anything else today?" she asked politely. "I wouldn't want to hold up a later court case."
"No, Miss Granger. Just please be a bit more quiet," the female said. "Subtle is better."
"Yes but subtle got an auror to try to kidnap me," she said dryly. "Then I quit being subtle and quiet." She bowed. "Have a nice day. Thank you for asking." She left, going back to the Leaky to floo back to town. She came out the other side and found a teacher waiting. "Professor Snape, I ran into Dumbledore there. He was up for another civil trial and told me that the greater good meant that people can die. Insinuated that I'd be sacrificed," she said dryly.
He stared at her. "I doubt that would work. You, like Potter, do seem to stubbornly survive."
"I plan on keeping doing that." She walked off with him. "The counsel asked about memory charms and I pointed out that they're failing frequently due to the clutter in our minds." She smiled at him. "They tried to suggest brain damaging people like Harry but I pointed out we had ways around it. And if it got Ron they'd have to face Mollly Weasley."
He considered that as he escorted her back. "Well, yes probably."
"I know."
"Clutter?"
"Professor, have you been in a muggle home in the last decade?"
"No."
"You really should. Our houses are full of things that fill our minds with noise. They've put out papers internationally that the memory charm the Ministry and others use are failing ever more often. One put it at a three-quarters failure rate." He sighed at that. She smiled. "It came out of the conference in Italy on spellcrafting."
"I need to look at that." He tried to read her mind and found it indeed cluttered. "What is that?"
"The song? It's a television theme song that gets stuck every so often," she sighed. "The static is a shield." She looked at him. "Due to meditative work for emotional control." He groaned. "And the rest...well, my mind's full of a lot of things that may not be homework. My favorite fun reading series has a new book out."
"They can make your parents forget you," he warned quietly.
She stopped to look at him and laugh at him for that. "My mother nearly died, Professor. Her uterus ruptured during my birth and she had to be rushed to surgery, without any painkillers, to save both of our lives. She still has nightmares about that surgery." He winced. "I doubt that they could and my mother's the one who taught me how to learn the emotional control. My father learned it from her too because he used to have a temper like Ron's."
"I did not realize that."
She nodded. "Otherwise I would've had a sibling." She shrugged but smiled again. "There's a lot of people they've tried that just ignore that it happened to keep them from trying again. Even among the magicals. Also, that conference someone came out with a way to reverse it that didn't require a potion."
"I will look into that." He pointed and they walked off again. He still couldn't fully get into her mind but she clearly felt him. He sighed in displeasure. He'd try later with some of his younger students and found that many of them couldn't. The Hufflepuffs either. Only a few were truly open and if he tried to push them more open they realized it and stared at him. They were learning to defeat the ways they had to control them.
Hermione looked at Harry once she met up with him in class. "One said that there was a thought that they'd blank your mind out completely to make you more vulnerable and possibly do brain damage," she said in his ear as she sat next to him in Charms.
"That's charming," he hissed back.
"I warned them we had ways around even that in the muggle world." She smiled. "And pointed out that memory charms are failing to work."
"Why?"
"So much mental clutter and more people meditating."
"I hadn't thought of that." He considered it. She handed over the papers from that conference. She had looked up one for a later paper in muggle studies.
He looked it over and winced. "I can see that." He handed it back.
The professor stared at them. "What is that, Miss Granger?"
"A paper presented at a conference on spellcrafting in Italy, Professor. On how memory charms are failing to work." She smiled. "There was one on methods to reverse it without a potion too." She let him see it when he stomped up there.
"Oh." He skimmed it. "Oh, well." He handed it back. "Why do you have that?"
"I'm using it to compare and contrast a paper in muggle studies on muggle medicine versus ours."
"Oh. I see. That's actually an interesting topic." He went back to the front of the class to get back to work. "What happened there?"
"They wanted me to be more subtle if possible and I ran into Mr. Dumbledore in for a civil trial. Heard that some of the ministry believe in giving brain damage instead being just fine. Got hinted at that someone may come after some of us students that way." He winced at that. "I pointed out that paper and a few other facts, like more people meditate today and do yoga. Plus our minds are used to clutter and noise."
"I hadn't thought of that." He considered it. "There are reports from our own that memory charms don't work as well."
"They probably intentionally forget or ignore it so they don't have someone trying to mess with their minds again," she said.
"Probably," he agreed. "I would."
She smiled and nodded. "So would most people." He nodded, getting back to the charm of the class. She took notes.
Harry looked at her. "You're scary."
She grinned. "Thank you, Harry. That's sweet of you to say." He snorted but got back to his own notes. Ron looked down at them but shook his head with a sigh. They got asked to perform the charm and Hermione's went sideways but that was normal for this class of charms and she could control it. The teacher just sighed. "Sorry, sir, but it does happen with all this class of spells."
"I remember, Miss Granger." He let her end it and went to the next student. All the girls went sideways with it because it's something only men mostly do. He was used to it.
***
Xander looked at the letter he had gotten earlier but hadn't had time to read. He snorted in amusement at Harry's complaining.
"What's that?" Willow asked.
"My cousin, distant cousin I found this last summer. He stayed over for a few weeks."
"We didn't meet him," Buffy said.
Xander looked at her. "I didn't let him out of the house, Buffy. Why would you have?" She sighed but nodded. "Anyway, his school got a new headmaster who's very down on women. He was complaining that the girls were planning on how to do another sit-in or just abandon the school in a walk-out. Plus that people are annoying him." He smiled at the last part complaining about the marriage contracts still coming so he'd help with that. Willow snatched it and he took it back. "Not yours."
"I never got to meet him."
"I didn't let him out of that house," Xander said.
"That magical house?" she guessed with an evil smirk.
He stared at her. It figured the memory charm hadn't worked on them. "Yes, that magical house. I was housesitting for a few weeks. It came visible because someone broke in. I made sure it was okay that night." He tucked the letter into his front pocket after folding it a few times.
"You could've told us," Buffy complained.
He frowned at her. "Why would I have?"
"We're friends!"
"Are we?" She glared. He stared back. "You haven't talked to me in a week until you needed me for something, Buffy, so are we?" She huffed off. Willow glared and followed. He rolled his eyes and shook his head with a sigh. "I hate girls. I really do."
Giles cleared his throat. "That magical house, who does it belong to?"
Xander looked at him. "A wizard. Just like you are, Giles. Spotted the wand a few times." He got up to look at him. "But I know so it's cool and they're ignoring everything that's not their hair. Again." He left, going back to the hidden house. Willow was trying to break in and being eaten for it. She was sobbing as she tried to get the tentacles off her and Buffy, who was unconscious at the moment. He walked up to them and petted a tentacle. "Breaking and entering is illegal and wrong," he told her. "Quit."
"This isn't right and it's not like you can do magic, Xander!"
"So? I can still housesit. Not like the house runs on magic. I can cook and all that on the very normal appliances."
"The owner probably charmed you or something to get to Buffy!" she shouted with a point at her.
"I doubt it. The wizard it belongs to, the wand waving sort, doesn't give a shit about her. I made sure first. Some of us are smarter than you give us credit for, Willow." She glared and shot a spell at him so he let the house's protections work, which sucked at her magic until she passed out with a scream. "Hmm. Guess he didn't want you to do that." He kicked Buffy on the foot. "Quit pretending, you're a bad actress." She blinked at him. "She did it to herself. She could've quit and didn't. It's reactive to a threat."
She got up, looking around then at him. "Then why can't we go in there?"
"Because he didn't want people in there, Buffy. He didn't want his house invaded by bimbos and bitches." She took a swing at him so he blocked it and kicked her back, making her moan. "You're a user, the same as Willow is. I'm helping you because it shouldn't be just one girl saving the world. Not because you're friends. You guys have proven that repeatedly."
She huffed off. "Take your bitch with you," he called and waved at her. The tentacles threw Willow that way at his point. "Have a better night!" He grinned and waved then went inside. "Merlin, the stupid people are growing too hard."
Giles showed up later with Buffy, knocking on the door. Xander opened it to stare at him. "Apologize."
"For them trying to break in here and getting punished for it? Nope." He shut the door and walked off again. He got something to drink and came back for the next knock. Which was clearly her since they pounded and the tentacle came out to pet her again to calm her down. Xander opened the door, staring at her then at Giles.
"They tried to break into the house, Giles. Like right now, the house will react to threats to it. She became a threat, the house stopped her. Willow became a threat and threw a fire spell, the house sucked at her magic until she gave up. If she hadn't it wouldn't have touched her." He shrugged, sipping his soda. "All their own fault."
"I can see that." He stepped in and looked around. "This does seem rather normal."
"It should seem more like home," he said dryly. "The wizard's back in England again dealing with the stupid going on in the school."
Giles looked at him. "Hogwarts?" he asked quietly.
"Yup."
"Oh, dear."
"He's got a relative up there and they got a new headmaster, who hated women."
"Ah." He nodded once. "As do you."
"Same relative actually." He sipped his soda. Buffy couldn't get past the tentacle.
Giles pulled off his glasses to stare at him. "Which family?"
"None of your business," Xander said smugly. "But they are ancient. And kinda mean. And a few cursebreakers thrown in for salty toppings." Giles winced but nodded once. "Want some tea, Giles? We have unicorn cream."
"No, thank you, Xander."
"He taught me how to make it properly."
"I've had some." He looked out there then at him. "They're going to complain."
"It's not their business. They're nosy and complaining and not actually friends. They're users, Giles. They only care about what I can do for them and instead of them. I wouldn't want them in his house."
"No, I can see that point. What about Cordelia since you two are ...close."
"She has not a clue either. Because she didn't want to look. Even my oldest friend, the redheaded menace, didn't want to look, Giles." He stared at him then grinned suddenly. "By the way, have you noticed she's stealing books again?"
"I hadn't."
"That's because the house shows that you're spelled to hell, Giles." He pointed at a mirror. "It's got a telling spell on it."
Giles stepped in front of it and moaned. "Oh, dear."
"Yeah. And only one's from this house." He pointed at it when it lit up. "It's a momentary guest key basically." He stared at him. "So how are you going to deal with her this time? Because she's going wrong."
"She is." He put back on his glasses, looking at the boy. "Do you have magic?"
Xander grinned. "Not like I'd tell you if I did, Giles. Though I'm told there's a curse on me that's twisted what I look like magically. The cousin had to talk to an auror since a healer had sent him over here by accident."
"Oh, I see." He nodded. "Potter then?"
Xander nodded. "Potter. Harry's a good kid but I didn't let him out of the house."
"Ah." He nodded. "What happened to Dumbledore?"
"A lot of court cases. Him, Fudge, the bank...." He smirked a bit. "They were all going wrong and Harry had to enforce a stop it order. Dumbles got it civilly and criminally. So did Fudge. The bank ended up changing hands completely. Like new king of the horde change." Giles winced at that. "Because they were trying to steal from Harry and others. Including this cousin's family things."
"Oh, dear." He nodded. "All right. I'll calm Willow down."
"Remove the magic blinding you first, Giles. And quit trying to hide the Ripper side. It shows."
Rupert grimaced. "I'd rather not be him any longer."
"I know that feeling." He looked out there at the shriek. Willow was back and trying to get Buffy free. "It's reacting to threats," he called. He looked at Giles again. Who went out to calm Buffy down and make her leave the house alone. Willow tried to burn it with gas but he knocked her out again. Xander came to get the gas and use it in the mower. Buffy huffed again.
"The house has ways of knowing threats and it thinks you are, Buffy. Because you tried to break in and because you're threatening the house. So is she." He stared at her. "That's your choice and your problem, not ours. For that matter, you're not allowed inside. The owner of the house said so. He doesn't want girl germs and he doesn't want user germs infecting his safe place. Which you're violating."
"It's not right and you're probably under a spell!" she sneered.
"I've been under a curse since I was five," he quipped. "It's twisted how people see me, especially magically. It's like me but twisted to the right."
"I can see that," Giles agreed, looking him over. "That's most weird."
"Yup." He nodded. "It's slowly wearing off. Soon it can be broken." He looked at Buffy again. "I'm still helping you but I'm not going to let you into the house to violate it because you're being bitchy about things not being yours. I don't care what Willow thinks, as she doesn't, and I don't care what you think, because you're not. You've never been in the other house either. Neither has Willow. What makes you think I want you in this house?"
"You're our friend!" she complained loudly.
"Then when's my birthday?" She looked horrified, shaking her head. "Yeah, I have one. I wasn't hatched from an egg. When is it? Do you even know what month?"
"June?"
"No." He looked at Willow. "Do you know?"
"Of course I do! I filled out a lot of paperwork for you!"
"Yeah, you did it wrong," he said dryly. "When's my birthday, Willow?"
"June eighteenth!"
"August, not June." She glared. He stared back. "It's always been August. You decided it was June." She got up and stared at him. "You've done that a lot, Willow. Especially since getting into magic." She tried to slap him but he stopped her. "Don't try that. You know I'll hit you back."
"Giles would stop you," she sneered.
"No," Giles said, shaking his head. "Because you had started it, Willow." He stared at her until she quit looking horrified. "Also, I've noticed some books missing. Have you stolen them?"
"Didn't you nag me and Jesse about stealing a piece of candy?" Xander asked. She tried to hit him again and he stopped her again. Then she tried with magic and he just slapped her down. She burst out crying. "I warned you," he reminded her. "You started it and therefore you could handle it." He looked at Buffy, who was wincing.
"The same as you did. You intentionally, knowingly, decided to break into a house you knew wasn't yours and wasn't a problem to snoop around because things aren't what you decided they should be. When it doesn't even concern you. You're worse than Cordelia." She slumped at that. "Now, kindly take your witch and go for the night. I'll see you in school tomorrow. When we're all calmer and maybe your mom can remind you that breaking and entering is wrong when it's not an emergency situation."
"You're not Xander."
"I am Xander. I've been Xander since I was born here, Buffy." He stared at her. "Really, still the same me. I'm just tired of your shit. Been tired of your shit for a while." She grimaced at that. "So, yup, have a great night at home." She huffed but helped Willow up to take her to talk to her mother. Xander looked at Giles. "You want to go talk to Joyce too?"
"I believe I should, yes." He stared at him. "Which family?"
"None of your business," he quipped with a grin. "Though I'm not a Potter. I'm related to him on his mom's side."
"Oh." He went to drive to Buffy's house, getting there long before the girls. He got out and knocked, getting let in. "We really must talk, Joyce. Xander just put Buffy back in her place after she tried to break into the house he's staying in for no reason. Willow tried to assault him for daring to be himself and tired of them being nosy and not friends but pretending to be." He sighed, looking at her. "What has she told you about what's going on?"
"Not a lot. That Xander forced Willow to kiss him."
"No. That is not what happened." She grimaced at that. "It was mutual and they've all decided to blame him." She nodded once. "The girls have been using a lot of things to push him away, even though he's still helping them, and she only finds him useful when she doesn't want to do things or needs something like a ride somewhere."
"Crap. She's turning into her father." She opened the door when she saw the girls. "Let's talk, ladies." They came in and winced when they saw Giles. "So what went on tonight?"
"The tentacles petted me, Mom!"
"Tentacles?" she asked Giles.
"The house's resident is magical and it's part of his home security system. It reacts to threats. It didn't do more than pet her and keep her from breaking in a door. Mostly petting when she got upset at being thwarted."
"Xander shouldn't be around magic," Buffy said. "It goes wrong around him. That's probably why they ended up kissing."
"No, it wasn't," Giles said. "And it was mutual so quit just blaming him." She slumped again. He looked at Joyce. "He also noted that friends would know his birthday, not the one Willow made up for him in June."
"It is! I've seen his birth certificate!"
Giles stared at her. "Truly?" She piped down again. He looked at Joyce, who was shaking her head. "I have no idea why Xander is still helping her. Or why I'm missing magic books." He looked at Willow, who shrank down further. "But I fear that a mother's touch may be needed to impart sense."
"Yes, it seems to be." She looked at the girls. "Explain it to me. Tonight first, ladies." They both sighed and told her. Buffy didn't lie, she just minimized her intent. Willow outright lied. Giles cleared his throat and Buffy winced. Joyce looked at her daughter.
"The one thing that broke your father and I up the most, outside the cheating, was he was a user, Buffy. He had acquaintances that were useful. They did things for him. They owed him favors. He could borrow from them." She looked at her mother. "Does that sound familiar?"
"I..." She swallowed and nodded. "It may."
"Do we think that's the way you should treat a friend? One who's still standing beside you for some unknown reason. No matter how often you try to send him away."
"He's not a slayer or a witch."
"So?" Joyce asked. "Giles is just a guy with some training and I doubt he's given Xander any training. Neither have you. And that's a choice he made to make sure you're backed up. Which I believe meant you got revived." Buffy's head popped up, giving her mother a horrified look.
"You had nightmares, Buffy. I thought it was about you drowning when you were six." Buffy shook her head with a sigh. "You clearly need to figure things out. Tonight. Before you see him at school tomorrow, where you will apologize for trying to break into whatever house he's living in for whatever reason."
"Yes, Mom." She went up to her room to sulk and think.
Joyce looked at Giles. "What happens if she steals books and gets into magic that she can't understand?"
"It could kill her. Leave her a living husk of a being. I've seen magic doing that before." He looked at Willow. "You're not ready for spells beyond floating things, Willow. There's a progression to do things safely."
"I can do so much more than that!"
"So?" He stared at her. "You don't need to. You're endangering yourself and others. Especially around here, where magic is even more dangerous from the hellmouth's radiation."
"But I know how to do that!"
"No, you've figured out a slight way of avoiding it but that won't work for everything," he said firmly. "Scanning your aura means that I'm seeing a lot of darkness from what you've sucked up from the hellmouth itself. The magic here isn't clean or pure, it's warping. That's why almost no one does magic here if they can help it.
"They do rites instead of on-the-fly casting to make sure what they do isn't warped. You're just making things up and letting it go as you want. And it is intent based, so there's no mistakes." She slumped again. "My books will be back by the morning when school starts," he said quietly.
"You will not cast a single unneeded thing for a week to let yourself heal." He waved a hand. "That thing on your arm is where magic is starting to break down your skin and eat you. It often keeps going until you're literally walking undead and may not realize it. Do you want to make Buffy take you out?"
"No," she said, looking at the back of her arm. "It gets itchy if I don't use it."
"Then it's using you and not you using it," Joyce said. "Would you let a power tool do that to you?"
"No," she sighed. "But it's easier."
"So?" Joyce asked. "Is that the best way to do things? Giving yourself a challenge is good for you, Willow. It makes you expand and grow as a person. Frankly, I'd say to lose the magic all together unless it's something that requires it."
"We have seen witches who have went wrong here," Giles told her. "Amy Madison's mother comes to mind, and Amy herself as she's overusing it and causing herself problems." Willow grimaced but nodded, looking down.
"I will be monitoring you more closely, Willow. Because if the magic uses you as a channel the only way to save others is to end you." She flinched, staring at him. "You could become an open conduit for the hellmouth to use as it wills. A walking one that would endanger everyone. Is that what you want?"
"I have shields."
"That doesn't mean much and they're weak," he said. "I have better shields and I don't practice any longer."
She slumped again but nodded. "I understand."
"Thank you. Do you want a ride home?"
"I'll be fine," she pouted. She looked at Joyce.
"I fully agree and you're scaring people, Willow. Including me and probably Buffy."
"She doesn't mind because it helps."
"Do things by hand," Joyce ordered. Willow sighed and went home. She looked at Giles. "They're young."
"As we once were," he agreed with a nod. "We learned because we survived being young and arrogant."
"True." She looked up then at him. "I'll have a mother-daughter talk with her again. Is Xander going to abandon her?"
"I don't believe so but I have no idea. I just found out he has a magical relative. That's whose house he's staying in. Hence the tentacles."
She grinned. "Must be very annoying to vampires."
"Usually the house is completely hidden. The girls hated that."
"Ah." She nodded. "Have fun with them."
"I doubt it. Not for many days." He left, going home to think about things. Xander clearly knew about the magical community in England. He really did want to find out how. Maybe he'd call a few friends over there.
***
Giles looked up as Xander walked in the next day carrying a stack of books. "Willow's'?"
"Yes," he sighed. "She tripped outside and it was better if someone else didn't look in them." He put them on the desk. "Cordelia with magic would be horrible but Harmony does have some." He grimaced.
"Dumass?" he asked bluntly.
Xander grinned. "No comment."
"They...you mentioned curse breakers."
"Yeah, he was back in the family line. I'm one of the last ones left." He shrugged and walked off. "It doesn't really matter over here at all."
"Fine." He looked at the books, grimacing at what they contained. He went to find Willow, finding the principal nagging her. "She's bringing back the books she checked out." The principal sneered but stomped off. He helped her up and helped her get the rest of the stack. A few he'd swat her for in a few minutes, when they were out of view of normals.
***
Story notes:
For the Memorial Day holiday weekend we're having in the US.