parts 2 and 3

The castle was absolutely wonderful. Willow was certain that her eyes must be incredibly wide, and she wasn't sure that her jaw would ever return to normal. Everywhere that she looked, there were things that were just… amazing and magical and unexpected. The stone walls made the place feel old and dignified, and she could feel the magic in them prickling at her skin. There were paintings all over the walls, portraits and landscapes and groups, but the most amazing thing about them was that the people moved. One person, a Knight in scuffed armor mounted on a gray pony was following them, and had been since they had crossed into the school. She had no idea how he'd crossed the gaps between paintings… well, other than magic, of course.

High vaulted ceilings and what looked like stone bowls filled with fire both gave the place a sort of unreal feeling, as if she'd just stepped into the pages of a fairy tale. A school for magic... maybe she had stepped into a fairy tale. As long as it wasn't Hansel and Gretel... Willow’d had nightmares about that mess after they’d turned up in Sunnydale. She still wasn’t certain if Buffy had killed that demon for good or just for a little while. She was impressed by the castle, and wondered how she would ever learn where everything was at and the best ways to get there.

"It's huge... and wonderful," The words emerged in a whisper, falling into air that felt thick with magic and potential.

"Maybe you'll even like the dungeons then." Draco sounded a bit amused. Maybe he was, after all, he'd had five years of attending this school, maybe he'd gotten used to the fabulous architecture, the crowding of moving paintings, the fires lighting the rooms instead of electric lights.

Willow shivered just a little at his words. "Dungeons? There are dungeons? What's... what's in the dungeons?"

Draco grinned, his eyes sparkling as he replied, "Your uncle. Remember how we said he teaches potions? That's down in the dungeons with cobwebs in the corners, and slime on the walls."

"Uncle Sev teaches his class in the dungeon... But why... ?” Willow’s mind was going through all the reasons why chemistry labs would be separate, and thinking that they might apply to magical potions as well. “Oh! Uncle Sev, are some of the fumes from the potions... um, volatile? Or maybe they smell bad? Or are there explosions if things go wrong?"

He smiled at her, his expression pleased. "Yes, some of the higher level potions have potential hazards. There are also certain ingredients that need to be kept away from sunlight."

"I haven't done a lot with potions, but some of the ones in Draco's books looked pretty interesting. Sort of sounds a lot like chemistry... only with bits and pieces of things... and you can turn yourself into a pink elephant. Umm... has anyone ever really... you know, did something sort of bad and um... not lethal?" Her mind was racing in different directions, producing images blended from her knowledge of chemistry and a Xander influenced history of watching horror and mad scientist movies, the sort with mutant things from beyond or escaping from the lab out to create mayhem and terror.

Her uncle chuckled, a dark sound that went perfectly with the dark robes and teaching in a dungeon. Had she ever mentioned how much he looked like a villain? "I teach students, half of which would rather be anywhere but class, some of which don't bother to pay attention at all. There are always accidents. But I haven't actually had a student die in one of my classes."

"They probably look at the swoopy robes and dark hair and think you look like an evil villain. You have the loomy ominous look... Mom can do it some, but normally it's a more professional suited psychiatrist menace. How come I didn't get any menace at all? Did it just decide to skip me entirely? … and I'm babbling again..." Willow's voice chattered on, asking questions about all sorts of things as she was given a partial tour of the school.

Her uncle was laughing, and Draco alternated between giggling in a most undignified manner and trying to answer a few questions, from the perspective of a student, of course. Among other things, he gleefully told her that the other students DID think her uncle looked villainous, and had running speculation as to what went into some of the potions, and whispered horrible stories about bits of student ending up pickled in dark bottles.

The trio didn't seem to notice the old man in blue robes with swooping golden comets and glimmering silver stars who stood on one balcony, stroking his long beard as he watched them. Albus Dumbledore smiled, certain that Severus' niece would be a most interesting influence on the students in this coming year. She already seemed to be a good influence on her uncle, if the sound of what had to be Severus Snape laughing could be used as an indication. He was looking forward to things unfolding.

end part 2.

Willow had been rather worried about the testing, to be honest. She'd never even had a chance to learn most of this, and now that lack of learning would be ripped out into the open for everyone to see. Fortunately, everyone was only most of the teaching staff and Draco instead of the whole student body. But knowledge was the one area that she was used to excelling in. There had apparently been heavy debating before a decision was made to just test her in her knowledge of everything except Muggle Studies and figure out where she fell with her knowledge. Then, somebody would figure up a schedule of classes, some with other students, and some as private instruction from the Professors. It had sounded reasonable enough in theory. Willow had even wondered if this might help her figure out some of the areas of magic that she’d particularly want to study, and maybe some of those electives that were offered.

That was before she'd taken the tests.

Willow had found herself looking through scrolls of questions, as opposed to the typed, copied, and stapled tests that she was used to, seeing detailed questions about things that in some cases, she'd only recently even learned existed, such as this 'Arithmancy' stuff. Charms and Transfiguration were both rather disastrous, and as for the bit on Care of Magical Creatures? She'd grown up on a Hellmouth! She hadn't learned anything about keeping odd things alive, just about how to kill them, as quickly and safely as possible. The teacher for the Divination class was one of the freakiest people that she'd ever met, and she was including cheerleaders and homicidal vampires in that list. Potions with her uncle wasn't too bad, although she did feel like her experiences with potions was woefully inadequate. On the bright side, Defense against Dark Arts was amazingly simple. The mentioned creatures had all been in Giles' books, and she'd even fought a number of them. She was a bit less experienced with the hexes, but... it felt good to finish with that one.

She'd made her way out of the room, feeling drained and ignorant, and given a shaky smile to her uncle. "Well... finished now. And might I add that I've never felt this reluctant to find out my test grades? Most of those... well, Arithmancy isn't taught at Sunnydale, Transfigurations... I caused an indoor rainstorm, four small explosions, and turned a pin into a wooden stake. The only one in there that I actually felt comfortable with was the Defense. Are you sure I'll be welcome here?"

He'd pulled her into a firm hug, stroking her hair soothingly. "Willow... you'll do fine here. This is where you come to learn, and I promise that the other teachers will be delighted to have someone who wants to know what's going on for a change. Most of it is simply the result of no previous experience on your part, and I have faith that you'll rapidly fill in the gaps of your knowledge. The single requirement to learn here is the ability to do magic, and you have a generous amount of that."

"Promise?" She knew that she sounded like a small child seeking reassurance that the bad dreams wouldn't come true, but... This was an entirely different sort of school. The rules were different, the classes were different, and she would have the added hindrance of not quite fitting into any of the established groups. If it weren't for the fact that she'd have her uncle, and Draco, who was at least trying to improve, and that most of the teachers that she'd met seemed awfully nice... well, she'd probably survive school here. Especially since they hadn't had any students die during the school session in, well, not for fifty years. She was having trouble wrapping her mind around that idea... a school where nobody died. It seemed almost like something from a fairy tale, or unrealistic television.

"What could possibly you so worried, Willow? I rest assured that you did not fail your potions exam, you seemed far too cheerful. Though in the future, you need to stir more slowly when adding venom to a potion, you should be able to count at least twenty between each drop. Perhaps thirty for your counting…" Her uncle was trying to make her feel better.

"Well, you weren't the only one to give a practical exam rather than just a test on theory and history., and I still think that there was a potion for detecting demonic possession that I saw in one of those old books that Giles had by a Greek… Theseus or Rhese…. No, not Reese’s Pieces, but maybe we were eating those when I saw the potion… and that’s not the point. The whole scrolls and parchment thing makes everything feel a bit different, you know? But... I sort of caught the Charms teacher's robes on fire, and there was the nightmare of Transfiguration... but the worst was Divination,” Willow shivered as she remembered the woman staring at her from behind those thick glasses, her necklaces rattling as the Divinations instructor swayed. The woman had been incredibly creepy, worse than being chased by zombies or finding an insane vampire in the library. “That woman was scary! Please tell me I don't have a lot of time anywhere near that woman? And are you sure she's not some sort of giant mantis thing in disguise? We had one of those in Sunnydale... and Trelawney's eyes look way freaky."

Draco had apparently decided that she was fretting too much, it seemed. He'd just been there, right behind her and slightly out of range, and spoke up, amusement in his voice. "If I didn’t know better, I'd think you were pacing and fretting, like someone who has something to worry about."

She'd spun around, body tensing at the words, even as she placed the voice and tried to calm down. "Dread might be more like it... I'd never even heard of Arithmancy before you arrived, and there was a test on it. And practices for things that I know I didn't do very well in, and this scary, weird bug eyed person, and..."

"And you need to not worry about it. I'm sure you did fine, and what you didn't know today, you'll learn fairly soon. And that's why I'm here. Today, you are going to learn how to fly on a broom." He'd gotten his smug look again.

Willow felt herself being pulled along by his hand at her elbow, and she was still worried. Then, she remembered the pictures he'd shown her of a Quidditch tournament. "Draco! I can't... I can't fly like that! Those evil bludgen things will smash me to a little red smear, and what if I fall off the broom and..." Yes, she was now panicking over something entirely different.

He grinned at her, a most infuriatingly superior sort of grin. "Everyone can fly on a broom, even Longbottom. Today is just a little basic flying, not a Quidditch tournament, so there won't be any Bludgers. You can do this, and if we start now, by the time everyone arrives for the start of the regular term, they won't know that you'd never flown a few months ago."

"How can you be so sure?" She could feel herself calming down.

Again he flashed that annoyingly superior smile, the one she'd labeled his 'rich snob smile' at her. "I'm Draco Malfoy, child of the Malfoy line. We are never wrong in matters of ability."

For a moment, all Willow could do was blink at him, standing there in his school robes, looking all superior and smug and... arrogant, and then she saw the little twinkle in his eyes. Maybe in the spring, he would have been serious, but now? He wasn't trying to be the arrogant rich wizard, he was trying to distract her from her worries. She found herself trying not to giggle. "Never wrong about abilities, hmm? So, you really think I can do this? Where do I even start?"

She felt better as he explained the very most basic things about broom flying to her, slowly and with the careful expression of someone trying to take apart and explain something that they've long since stopped thinking about. Sometimes looking at what he was doing was as helpful as listening, because then she could see what he meant.

To her great relief, it wasn't nearly as difficult as she'd worried that it might be. Parts of it were rather intuitive, and she could keep the broom from going any higher than she wanted. She was making careful arcs and sweeps when her uncle came out, trying to learn exactly how to move her body when she wanted the broom to do something. Draco had been right, a few weeks of practice, and she'd do just fine. Granted, she certainly wouldn't be ready for the house Quidditch teams, but she wouldn't look like someone who'd never been on a broom before. That would be good enough for her, especially since she’d never been good at sports in her life and she doubted that a magical sport would change that trend.

Flying was fun. The feeling of the air whooshing past her was wonderful, and it gave her this sense of freedom that was almost indescribable. As she made a swooping arc along the wall of the castle, she saw a figure in billowing dark robes emerge from the door. Her uncle was here, maybe that meant they were done with her tests. She smiled a bit nervously, and came slowly down, landing beside him, thanking chance that she could use so much of her geometry towards broom flying.

"Are they... umm, are the tests done?" She felt a bit tense all over again.

He smiled at her, and gave a small nod. "They are indeed. You're doing quite well with the flying. Your test results were... somewhat scattered, as I'm sure you expected. There is some discussion going now about scheduling your lessons... you'll be spared the ordeal of dealing with Trelawney. Seems that she thinks you have a disturbingly noisy aura or some such nonsense and insisted that you shouldn’t take her class. A great deal of work for Charms, Transfiguration, and Herbology. There is the suggestion that you might want to consider taking a class in Arithmancy when you've got yourself caught up, and Hagrid thinks that you most assuredly should take his class, to what was his phrasing? 'Learn to appreciate interesting creatures.' It might be good, that will give you a little time outside every day. But the most unexpected to the grading panel were your potion and Defense results."

Willow felt herself tense. She'd thought she did fairly well in those two. "Were they that bad?"

He chuckled, seemingly amused by her question. "Willow, you did that well on them. You'll be taking potions with Draco and his yearmates, and they've asked if you might be willing to assist teaching some of the Defense Against Dark Arts classes. It appears that the new teacher has very little field experience. I could have filled the position, but..."

"Uncle Sev, if you taught Defense, you wouldn't have time to teach Potions, and that's something that you're good at. There has to be a capable Defense teacher somewhere, and this way, you can make sure that the students can make a proper potion, without causing explosions,” Willow looked at him, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Besides, nothing says that you can't cover the defensive potions in your class or on the homework. Nobody ever told any of the teachers at Sunnydale that they couldn't double cover a topic. And if this guy hasn't had a lot of practical experience... well..."

Her uncle chuckled again, and smiled at her. "I don't think the other students will have any idea how to react to you. I'm looking forward to it a bit, if you must know. Ah, come with me, we'll go see if they’ve finished plotting out your class schedule."

Willow felt better, knowing that her uncle was pleased, and hoped that she could learn what she needed to. Maybe things wouldn't be too bad here. Maybe here would be better than Sunnydale, a fresh start…

end part 3.