Harry Potter and the Key of Dagon, Chapter 35
Don Sample
Author: Don Sample
Disclaimers: #include <std.disclaimer>
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: All of BtVS, and Order of the Phoenix
Archive: <http://homepage.mac.com/dsample/Fics/>
Chapter 35: Wiccan Magic
Dawn stood shivering on the platform of the Hogsmeade train station
with Ginny, Harry, Ron and Hermione. It was late October, and the
temperature had dropped sharply as soon as the sun had set. The moon,
just a day past full, was rising in the east. Dawn could see her breath
as she exhaled. The others didn't seem to be noticing the cold nearly
as much.
"Why aren't you guys freezing?" asked Dawn.
Harry had already given her his robe to wear over her own. He looked at
her holding her arms around herself. "It's really not that cold." He
stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her anyway.
"Hey, California girl here!" said Dawn. "This is just about as cold as
it ever gets there!"
"Well, you won't have to put up with it much longer," said Hermione.
"There's the train."
Dawn looked and saw the headlight of the Hogwarts Express coming toward
them out of the darkness. That was another thing that got her. Here it
wasn't even 5:30 yet, and the sun had set half an hour ago.
Dawn leaned back against Harry, feeling his warmth, as she watched the
train pull into the station. It was just the two coaches again this
time. It came to a stop with the steps for the passenger coach right in
front of them.
"Dawnie!" cried Willow as she jumped down out of the train. Harry let
go of Dawn as Willow came toward them, and Dawn stepped forward to
exchange his arms around her for Willow's.
"God, it's good to see you again!" said Dawn.
"You too, kiddo!" said Willow. She looked over Dawn's shoulder. "You
must be Harry."
"Oh yeah!" Dawn released Willow and pulled back a bit. She saw that
Willow wasn't alone either. "Everybody, this is Willow Rosenberg, a
kick ass Wiccan, and that girl behind her is Kennedy, an ass kicking
Slayer."
Kennedy smiled and hopped down off the train. "Hi Dawn." Her eyes moved
over the others on the platform, and settled on Ginny. "Hi."
"I'd like you to meet Ginny Weasley," said Dawn. "Who is also going to
be an ass kicking Slayer."
"Are all Slayers so short?" whispered Ron to Harry.
"No, but we all have very good ears," said Kennedy.
"The over tall, tactless one is Ginny's brother Ron," said Dawn, "and
that's our friend Hermione. Professor Lupin couldn't make it. He's all
wolfy tonight."
Kennedy looked around. "So where's this castle I've been hearing about?"
Willow pointed to the north. "That way, about half a mile."
Harry, Ron and Ginny all looked surprised. "Er, yeah," said Harry.
"How'd you know?"
"I can *feel* it," said Willow. "An incredible concentration of magic."
---
Willow felt the power growing as they approached the castle. She hadn't
felt so much magical energy concentrated in one place since she left
Sunnydale. She felt like she wanted to immerse herself in it. The
feeling exhilarated and scared her. She clutched at Kennedy's hand, and
squeezed it tightly as she looked up from the boat at the castle
looming above them.
"You know, if I wasn't a Slayer, I'd be in danger of having broken
bones right now," whispered Kennedy.
Willow released her hand. "Oh, Goddess, I'm sorry. I didn't mean--"
Kennedy took hold of Willow's hand again. "Hey, it's okay. I *am* a
Slayer, and that means you can squeeze as hard as you need to. What's
the matter?"
"It's just...there's so much power here...I feel like I could lose
myself in it."
"Never," said Kennedy. "You're stronger than that. You could never lose
yourself, and if you did get pulled off track a little bit, you've got
me to pull you back."
Willow smiled at her lover, taking in the supreme confidence in her
eyes. She knew that Kennedy put people off a lot sometimes with her
attitude, that she could do anything, but Willow loved it. She knew
that part of it was an act, she'd seen Kennedy's confidence get shaken
a couple of times, revealing an inner vulnerability that she rarely let
anyone else glimpse. In a strange way it reminded her of Tara. The two
girls seemed to be polar opposites in so many ways. Tara was shy,
Kennedy was brash. Tara was haunted by self doubt, and Kennedy was
supremely confident. Tara's shy exterior hid an inner core of great
strength, and Kennedy's brash exterior hid an inner vulnerability.
"I know you will, baby." Willow gave Kennedy a kiss, their tongues
meeting...the pierced tongue was a bonus too. She heard a strangling
sound coming from behind them, and looked back.
Ron, Ginny and Hermione were in the boat behind them, and Hermione and
Ginny were shooting Ron a very annoyed look.
"What?" asked Willow. "Never seen two girls kissing before?"
"Not like that," said Ron.
"Well, get used to it," said Willow. She went back to kissing Kennedy,
until Harry called out for them to duck before they entered the passage
into the cliff.
---
Willow followed Dawn and Harry up multiple flights of stairs, with
Kennedy by her side, and Ron, Hermione and Ginny following along
behind. They were led into a corridor on the sixth floor, to a painting
of a couple of mermaids sunning on a rock. "Wiccan magic," said Dawn.
Willow felt the magic ripple through the painting. The mermaids
giggled, and the painting swung open.
"This is your room," said Dawn. She led them through the doorway into a
large, comfortable room with an enormous four-poster bed in it. "We
considered having you bunk with me, Hermione and Ginny, but we decided
we wanted to get a little sleep tonight." Ron made a strangling noise
again, and Willow blushed. "Dinner starts soon, so we'll let you get
settled in. Be back in fifteen minutes to show you down to the Great
Hall. There's a bathroom through there..." Dawn pointed at another
door. "...so you can freshen up a bit. If you want to change your
password, you just have to call the mermaids into that painting..."
Dawn pointed to a seascape on the wall, complete with waves crashing
against the rocks. "...and tell them what you want it to be. If you
need us, we're one floor up. Turn left, and ask the Fat Lady in the
pink dress to announce you." She gave Willow another hug. "God, it's
good to see you again!"
Willow hugged back. "And you Dawnie!"
Dawn let go, and moved toward the door. "Okay, see you in a quarter
hour." She waved for the others to leave ahead of her. She backed out
the door, and gave Willow and Kennedy a wave. "See ya!" She closed the
door.
Willow turned to Kennedy and saw the grin on her face. Kennedy's eyes
flicked to the bed. "Oh no!" said Willow. "Dawn's going to be back in
fifteen minutes!"
Kennedy grabbed Willow and carried her to the bed. "Lots of time!"
Willow squealed and giggled as Kennedy threw her onto the bed, but then
she was silenced by Kennedy's mouth on her own. Their hands started to
pull at each other's clothes.
---
Willow brushed her hair quickly, and checked out her face in the mirror
for any lingering signs of how she and Kennedy had spent most of the
last fifteen minutes. She had cleaned off all the smears from Kennedy's
lipstick. She was thankful that she often didn't bother to wear much
makeup of her own, so she didn't have to go through the touchup job
that Kennedy was doing beside her.
Willow adjusted her blouse. She almost hadn't managed to get dressed
again. Once Kennedy had seen their bathtub--the perfect size for
two--she had wanted to blow off dinner completely. She went back out
into their bedroom, and sat in a chair to finish putting her shoes back
on. "You have visitors," said a giggling voice from the seascape
painting.
Willow looked up, and saw one of the mermaids bobbing in the surf. "Oh,
uh, just a minute."
She ran around the room gathering up Kennedy's clothes, which seemed to
have been thrown pretty much everywhere. She tossed them into the
bathroom with Kennedy, and closed the door. She looked around for more
evidence. There was no way she could fix the rumpled blankets on the
bed, so she pulled the curtains closed around it. She glanced around
the room one last time. "Okay, I guess you can let them in now."
The door swung open, and Dawn and her friends came back in. "So, you
guys ready for dinner?" she asked.
"Kennedy needs another minute I think," said Willow. She saw a startled
expression suddenly appear on Ron's face, and looked where he was
looking. She saw that she had missed Kennedy's panties. They were lying
across the arm of a chair. She hadn't noticed their black on top of the
black leather during her quick inspection.
Kennedy came out of the bathroom. "So, we all set?" she asked.
"Uh, if you are?" asked Willow. Her eyes flicked briefly toward the arm
of the chair.
Kennedy glanced that way too, and smiled. "I'm good to go, and really
hungry." She turned away, and walked out the door. Willow couldn't help
looking at her girlfriend's ass, even smoother than usual under her
tight jeans.
---
Willow followed Dawn down a long corridor, looking around in wonder,
and feeling the magic flickering about her. She clutched at Kennedy's
hand again, and felt butterflies in her stomach the size of bats. She
was beginning to think it hadn't been such a good idea to eat so much
at dinner...but the food had been so good.
Dawn looked back at her friend and smiled. "Relax. Professor Dumbledore
is a real sweetheart. A skinny Santa."
"But remember what Anya told us about the real Santa?" asked Willow.
"There's a real Santa?" asked Kennedy.
"Yeah," said Dawn, "But according to Anya, he's more into eviscerating
children, than giving them presents."
"And Dumbledore has so much *power!*" said Willow. "I've never seen
anyone I felt so much power in before!" She had only seen him from a
distance during dinner, but even then she could feel it.
"Sure you have sweetie," said Kennedy. "Every time you look in a
mirror."
Dawn stopped in front of the gargoyle statue. "Chocolate Frog." she
said.
Willow felt the same magic pulse through the gargoyle that had passed
through the painting over the entrance to their room. It stood up,
moved aside, and more magic made the stones in the wall pull aside. She
saw the spiral staircase twisting upward.
"Come on," said Dawn, and stepped onto the stairs.
Willow followed Dawn into Dumbledore's office, and looked around in
amazement. She had been steeped in magic ever since she had entered
Hogwarts, and here she was in what she knew was the heart of it. She
could feel it flowing around her. She wanted to reach out and suck it
all in.
She saw Dawn glance back toward her, with a smile on her face, that
quickly became a look of startlement. "Willow...your hair...?"
Willow looked down, and saw that her long red hair was shot with white.
"Whoa!" She closed her eyes, and concentrated, releasing the magic she
had been unconsciously drawing into her, letting if flow freely around
her again. She staggered, and would have fallen if Kennedy wasn't
holding her. "Sorry about that."
"I've seen your hair go black, but it's never done that before," said
Dawn.
"Yes it has," said Kennedy. "She looked just like that when she made me
a Slayer."
"Most extraordinary," said a soft voice.
Willow looked up and saw Professor Dumbledore smiling at her. "Oh,
sorry about that. I didn't mean to...whoa, I need to sit down."
"Quite all right." Dumbledore made a nice comfortable love seat, just
right for two, grow out of the floor. "Do sit down, both of you." He
produced two more chairs, and pointed to one of them. "You too, Dawn."
He waited for all the girls to be seated before he sat himself in the
remaining chair. He turned his attention back to Willow. "*Most*
extraordinary!"
Willow shook her head. "No, I'm not--"
"Modesty is all well and good, Miss Rosenberg, but when it gets in the
way of someone recognising their own abilities, it should be cast
aside. Your friend was very nearly correct downstairs when she said
that you needed to only look in a mirror to see power greater than
mine."
"*Very* nearly?" asked Kennedy.
"At the moment, Miss Rosenberg has a great deal of potential power, but
it will take study, and time for her to fully master it, make it real
power. Learn to be able to control it, without it controlling her. She
has already made great strides in that direction. I have never met
anyone so young who could do what she just did."
"Um...what did she do?" asked Dawn.
"She absorbed a great deal of magic into herself, and then she
simply...released it," said Professor Dumbledore. "She let it flow back
out into her environment, with almost no effect on it, and very minor
effects on herself. It takes an enormous level of control to be able to
do something like that, and an enormous level of talent to be even
aware of the energy flowing around her."
"It's all over," said Willow. "I can always feel a little, no matter
where I go, but the concentration here...I haven't felt anything this
strong since we left Sunnydale, but the energy here...it's so
much...cleaner!"
"And that makes you doubly extraordinary," said Dumbledore. "Growing up
around all that dark magic, and not succumbing to it."
Willow hung her head. "I nearly did...if not for Xander."
"Yes, well, in the end, we pretty much all would succumb to something,
if not for our friends," said Dumbledore.
"So do you want me to come to school here?" asked Willow. "Like Dawnie?"
"No, Miss Rosenberg," said Professor Dumbledore. "No. I would have been
delighted to have you for a student ten years ago, but now, I'm afraid
it's too late."
"What do you mean?" asked Willow.
Dumbledore pointed to a large book, lying open on a stand. "Could you
fetch me that book please?"
Willow frowned, and started to get up. "Okay."
"No, no!" said Dumbledore. "Stay seated. Use your magic."
Willow looked puzzled. "I don't like using magic for little
things...that's what led me into trouble last time."
"I am aware of that," said Dumbledore, "but I want to illustrate a very
important point. Go ahead."
Willow shrugged. "You're the Headmaster." The book rose off the stand
and floated across to Dumbledore. He caught it in his hands.
"You see?" said Dumbledore. "There isn't a student, or professor in
this school who could have done what you just did. They all would have
had to use their wands, and most would have had to use in incantation."
"I started out having to use incantations for everything," said Willow.
"But once I've done something a few times, it becomes unnecessary. I've
never used a wand to do anything."
"Incantations work the same way with wizards," said Dumbledore. "They
don't *actually* do anything, magically speaking. The magic is done in
the mind. 'Hocus pocus' would work as well as 'Accio' in a Summoning
Charm, if you learned it with 'Hocus pocus.'"
Dawn frowned. "So why is Professor Flitwick always correcting my
pronunciation, if the actual words don't matter?"
Dumbledore smiled. "The words have a Pavlovian effect on your mind.
Professor Flitwick isn't *correcting* your pronunciation, he's
*changing* it. Making subtle adjustments until you find the
pronunciation that has the desired effect for you. Pay attention next
class to the way all your classmates pronounce their spells. No two
will do it exactly the same. But once they have learned the spell,
repeating the words helps put their minds into the right state to
perform the magic. But with greater practice you learn to put your mind
into the correct state without the crutch of saying the words."
"Okay, but what about wands?" asked Willow. "Why won't a wand work for
me?"
"A wand is a tool," said Dumbledore. "A conduit. It channels the magic
from within the wizard, and focuses it outward. But your magic doesn't
work that way. You don't use your own internal magic. You reach out
into the world around you, gather magic from it, and you channel it
yourself. In effect, you are your own wand. For you, using a wand would
be like putting water wings on a duck.
"What you do is a very rare form of magic. It is ancient and powerful,
but very few have the ability to do it, and fewer still learn to
control it before it consumes them. There is only one student in
Hogwarts now who may have the ability, and the potential to control it,
and he is the first I've seen in many decades."
"Who?" asked Dawn.
"It is best that I not say," said Dumbledore. "It is a talent that must
be nurtured very carefully. To push him along too quickly could lead to
disaster."
"But what I do isn't that rare," said Willow. "There are several
witches in the Devon Coven who can do it too."
"Nearly anyone can learn to play /Chopsticks/ on a piano," said
Dumbledore. "Very few can become concert pianists. The Wiccan way of
doing magic, is very much like teaching people to play /Chopsticks/. No
one else in the Devon Coven comes close to your ability, though there
are not a few who do have some talent. Miss Harkness was considered for
admission to Hogwarts during my predecessor's tenure as Headmaster, but
it was decided at the time not to admit her. I have met her since, and
I believe that a mistake was made, but she has done a very fine job of
finding her own way."
"So, why did you want me to come here?" asked Willow.
"Firstly, I had to meet you for myself, to see if everything I had
heard about you was true," said Professor Dumbledore. "I had to find
out if Miss Harkness, and your friends were exaggerating your
abilities."
"And were they?" asked Kennedy.
"If anything, I think they underestimate her," said Dumbledore.
"So now that you've seen me, what do you want from me?" asked Willow.
"I want you to teach me," said Dumbledore.
"You want *me* to teach *you?*" asked Willow. "Do you think you can
learn to do my sort of magic?"
"No," said Dumbledore. "I am too old a dog to learn that new trick. But
I need to learn as much as I can about how you successfully learned to
control your magic. As I said, it has been many decades since anyone
with your abilities has passed through Hogwarts, and now I have a
student who may need to learn to control magic as you do. I was the
Transfiguration Professor last time we saw someone like you, and quite
frankly their education was botched, badly. I hope to avoid the
mistakes made in the past."
---
Dawn accompanied Willow and Kennedy back to their room, and they sat
around for an hour talking about old times, and how all their friends
were doing. Dawn had only had sporadic contact with Buffy since she'd
left Hogwarts. The easiest way to contact her once she left on her
world tour had been via Willow, who was keeping in touch with her by
email.
"Speaking of," said Willow. "Time to see if there's anything new from
her." She pulled her computer out of her bag, and opened it up.
"Uh, that won't work here," said Dawn.
"That's what you think," said Willow. She pushed the power button, and
Dawn heard the startup chime.
"*How'd you do that?*" asked Dawn.
Willow wiggled her eyebrows. "Magic, of course."
"Yeah, but Hermione and I have gotten almost nowhere with our project.
How'd you do that?"
"If I told you, it would be cheating," said Willow. "I can recommend a
couple of books though." She dug into her bag and pulled out a large
volume. She handed it over to Dawn.
Dawn looked at the book. "_Principles of Quantum Mechanics_?"
"Yeah," said Willow. "After thinking about it a bit, I realized that
the problem with getting electronics to work in a magical environment
had to do with magic's effects on quantum level interactions. And don't
worry too much about the math. You just have to read the introductory
chapters, that give an overview of just what QM is. The other book
you'll need is _Magic vs. Quantum Mechanics: Two World Views Collide_.
I found it in /Flourish & Blotts/, but they said that the library
here should have it."
Willow's computer finished booting, and she logged in. She opened up
her email application. "Oh! A new message from Buffy. She says she's in
Costa Rica...Caridad says to say 'Hi!'"
"You've got internet working too?" asked Dawn.
"Oh yeah." Willow reached into her bag and pulled out something that
looked like a pen. "Here, once you get your computer working, plug this
into the Ethernet port, and you're online. Configure your system just
like you would for a regular Ethernet connection. Uh...you'll have a
fixed IP address. It's on the dongle."
"Uh...isn't this cheating too?" Dawn looked at the device Willow had
given her. It had an RJ45 plug on the end of it and was hinged so it
wouldn't stick straight out the back of her computer.
"No, your project is to get your computer working, and you have to do
that for that to work," said Willow. "It's also has to be one of a
matched pair. The mate to that is plugged into a hub in Althenea's
cottage, and from there you've got a DSL link to the internet."
Dawn left after using Willow's computer to send an email message to
Buffy. It was getting late, and she had to get up for classes next day.
Kennedy turned to Willow as soon as she was gone. "So, you wanna try
out that bathtub now?"
-Andy-
Don Sample <dsa...@synapse.net> wrote:
> Title: Harry Potter and the Key of Dagon
> Chapter 35: Wiccan Magic
Nice. (Again. You are spoiling us by giving us another well written and
thought out chapter :-).)
Nice touches/details:
- the difference between Willow's magic usage and wizard magic
and NOT having Willow becoming a Hogwarts teacher.
- the 'getting a computer to work at Hogwarts' sub-plot. Just enough
detail to seem plausible but not so much that it is boring and not
so easy that anyone could have done it. Dawn's going to have to use
her brain to get her laptop going.
I am curious is you'll spend any time on what other students will
think of the whole thing. But not finding out if you don't go there
won't ruin my enjoyment of your story.
Thanks. Looking forward to the next installment :-).
-Andy-
Nopporn Wongrassamee
anout the students' reaction to her. I guess we'll get that in later parts.
I'll
just have to settle for Ron's reactions.
From: Don Sample dsa...@synapse.net
>Willow smiled at her lover, taking in the supreme confidence in her
>eyes. She knew that Kennedy put people off a lot sometimes with her
>attitude, that she could do anything, but Willow loved it. She knew
>that part of it was an act, she'd seen Kennedy's confidence get shaken
>a couple of times, revealing an inner vulnerability that she rarely let
>anyone else glimpse. In a strange way it reminded her of Tara. The two
>girls seemed to be polar opposites in so many ways. Tara was shy,
>Kennedy was brash. Tara was haunted by self doubt, and Kennedy was
>supremely confident. Tara's shy exterior hid an inner core of great
>strength, and Kennedy's brash exterior hid an inner vulnerability.
It's nice to see *someone* sticking to Buffyverse canon, that Willow's
current lover hasn't died, mysteriously disappeared, or broken up with
her "off-screen".
Also it's nice to see that Buffy and Potter characters aren't instantly pairing
off with each other. The only exceptions are Harry and Dawn which I can
accept since neither has canonical signifigant others.
>Ron, Ginny and Hermione were in the boat behind them, and Hermione and
>Ginny were shooting Ron a very annoyed look.
So, don't Ginny and Herm have an oppinion about Willow/Kennedy or is
their annoyance at Ron covering things up?
>Willow felt the magic ripple through the painting. The mermaids
>giggled, and the painting swung open.
I like how Willow is sensing the Castle magic in operation.
>"You have visitors," said a giggling voice from the seascape
>painting.
>
>Willow looked up, and saw one of the mermaids bobbing in the surf. "Oh,
>uh, just a minute."
Um, is there a seascape painting in Willow's room? Because I don't think
door paintings are two sided.
>"And Dumbledore has so much *power!*" said Willow. "I've never seen
>anyone I felt so much power in before!" She had only seen him from a
>distance during dinner, but even then she could feel it.
>
>"Sure you have sweetie," said Kennedy. "Every time you look in a
>mirror."
I don't think regular or even magic mirrors reflect magical auras. Do
they? :)
>"I've seen your hair go black, but it's never done that before," said
>Dawn.
>
>"Yes it has," said Kennedy. "She looked just like that when she made me
>a Slayer."
Yes! The characters AREN'T omniscient about each other's trivial little
details!
>"So do you want me to come to school here?" asked Willow. "Like Dawnie?"
>
>"No, Miss Rosenberg," said Professor Dumbledore. "No. I would have been
>delighted to have you for a student ten years ago, but now, I'm afraid
>it's too late."
Another cliche torpedoed!
>"What you do is a very rare form of magic. It is ancient and powerful,
>but very few have the ability to do it, and fewer still learn to
>control it before it consumes them. There is only one student in
>Hogwarts now who may have the ability, and the potential to control it,
>and he is the first I've seen in many decades."
>
>"Who?" asked Dawn.
It's Harry Potter, right?
>As I said, it has been many decades since anyone
>with your abilities has passed through Hogwarts, and now I have a
>student who may need to learn to control magic as you do. I was the
>Transfiguration Professor last time we saw someone like you, and quite
>frankly their education was botched, badly. I hope to avoid the
>mistakes made in the past."
It was Tom Riddle, right?
>"No, your project is to get your computer working, and you have to do
>that for that to work," said Willow. "It's also has to be one of a
>matched pair. The mate to that is plugged into a hub in Althenea's
>cottage, and from there you've got a DSL link to the internet."
Hmm, gizmos have to be used in linked pairs. Quantum modems. Cool.
- Nopporn Wongrassamee
Homepage: http://hometown.aol.com/evilauthor/myhomepage/index.html
Morpheus
news:20030913185809...@mb-m02.aol.com...
>
> It's Harry Potter, right?
>
conventional magic but he has an affinity for plants and herbology. Maybe
that's a sign that his magic works in different ways from the
run-of-the-mill wizards and witches.
> >As I said, it has been many decades since anyone
> >with your abilities has passed through Hogwarts, and now I have a
> >student who may need to learn to control magic as you do. I was the
> >Transfiguration Professor last time we saw someone like you, and quite
> >frankly their education was botched, badly. I hope to avoid the
> >mistakes made in the past."
>
> It was Tom Riddle, right?
Or Hagrid? He has an affinity for living things too.
Morpheus
news:see2go4me-52CCD...@east.giganews.com...
> In article <130920031301527454%dsa...@synapse.net>,
> Don Sample <dsa...@synapse.net> wrote:
>
> - the difference between Willow's magic usage and wizard magic
> and NOT having Willow becoming a Hogwarts teacher.
I should think not! A Hogwarts teacher snogging in front of the-the
s-t-u-d-e-n-t-s? If I were a Hogwarts trustee, I'd be prostrate with the
vapours at the very thought of it!
Don Sample
Wongrassamee <evila...@aol.com> wrote:
> I like this. Willow finally comes to Hogwarts. I would have liked to see more
> anout the students' reaction to her. I guess we'll get that in later parts.
> I'll
> just have to settle for Ron's reactions.
>
> From: Don Sample dsa...@synapse.net
>
> >Willow smiled at her lover, taking in the confidence in her eyes.
> >She knew that Kennedy put people off a lot sometimes with her
> >attitude that she could do anything, but Willow loved it. She knew
> >that part of it was an act, she'd seen Kennedy's confidence get
> >shaken a couple of times, revealing an inner vulnerability that she
> >rarely let anyone else glimpse. In a strange way it reminded her of
> >Tara. The two girls seemed to be polar opposites in so many ways.
> >Tara was shy, Kennedy was brash. Tara was haunted by self doubt, and
> >Kennedy was supremely confident. Tara's shy exterior hid an inner
> >core of great strength, and Kennedy's brash exterior hid an inner
> >vulnerability.
>
> It's nice to see *someone* sticking to Buffyverse canon, that
> Willow's current lover hasn't died, mysteriously disappeared, or
> broken up with her "off-screen".
>
> Also it's nice to see that Buffy and Potter characters aren't
> instantly pairing off with each other. The only exceptions are Harry
> and Dawn which I can accept since neither has canonical signifigant
> others.
There have been a lot of "What does Willow see in her?" type posts
about Kennedy, and that paragraph was my attempt to answer that. Willow
sees a lot of the same things she saw in Tara. Kennedy and Tara are
alike in their differences.
>
> >Ron, Ginny and Hermione were in the boat behind them, and Hermione and
> >Ginny were shooting Ron a very annoyed look.
>
> So, don't Ginny and Herm have an oppinion about Willow/Kennedy or is
> their annoyance at Ron covering things up?
Ginny and Hermione are sharing a bedroom with Dawn, and they've spent a
lot of time in 'girl talk' sessions that I haven't included. They have
already been briefed on how close Willow and Kennedy are.
> >"You have visitors," said a giggling voice from the seascape
> >painting.
> >
> >Willow looked up, and saw one of the mermaids bobbing in the surf. "Oh,
> >uh, just a minute."
>
> Um, is there a seascape painting in Willow's room? Because I don't think
> door paintings are two sided.
You missed a bit of an earlier paragraph:
"If you want to change your password, you just have to call the
mermaids into that painting..." Dawn pointed to a seascape on
the wall, complete with waves crashing against the rocks.
"...and tell them what you want it to be."
Subjects being able to move freely between paintings is well
established in HP canon.
> >"What you do is a very rare form of magic. It is ancient and powerful,
> >but very few have the ability to do it, and fewer still learn to
> >control it before it consumes them. There is only one student in
> >Hogwarts now who may have the ability, and the potential to control it,
> >and he is the first I've seen in many decades."
> >
> >"Who?" asked Dawn.
>
> It's Harry Potter, right?
Well, duh! But Willow, Kennedy and Dawn haven't read _Order of the
Phoenix_.
> >As I said, it has been many decades since anyone
> >with your abilities has passed through Hogwarts, and now I have a
> >student who may need to learn to control magic as you do. I was the
> >Transfiguration Professor last time we saw someone like you, and quite
> >frankly their education was botched, badly. I hope to avoid the
> >mistakes made in the past."
>
> It was Tom Riddle, right?
I haven't made up my mind. I'm making a lot of this up as I go along.
When I wrote that paragraph I was thinking "Tom Riddle? Nyah, too
obvious!" In OotP Dumbledore tells Harry that he has powers "you
possess in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all." I
haven't decided yet if it was Tom's education that was botched (and
thereby burned out his ability to do that sort of magic, and gave him
complete disdain for what it can do) or if it was someone else's.
Whichever way it goes, it will turn out that Lily Evans had some of
that power too, which has been protecting Harry for all these years,
but nowhere near matching that of Willow (and maybe Harry.)
Jillun
story are fundamental differences between the HP and Buffy 'verses.
In Buffy, everyone and his other brother Fred (hahah) can do magic.
Xander accidently set a book on fire. A bartender amused himself with
cursed beer.
In HP, only wizards and witches are capable of magic. Well, and the
assorted magical creatures. Muggles have no capacity whatsoever in
that area.
There are Squibs, and surely there are non-Muggles out there who have
not had any training, they made a big thing about how Hogwarts is one
of the few schools which accepts everyone.
The thing that always bothered me was why Tom Riddle's mother died. A
lone witch has an affair with a rich Muggle, gets pregnant, and is
still alone when her baby is born. What, was he born at home? And
Tom himself, grew up in a very unpleasant orphanage, to which he was
sent back between every quarter. *sigh*
JLB
about the books. I liked what you did with Willow and was wondering
if you'll mention Willow's addiction? I always thought it could be
explained as to much energy because she was holding her magic in
rather than withdrawl. ANd would Rack have been a candidate for
Azkaban.
JLB
Nopporn Wongrassamee
>Well, the major canon catch-points we have to ignore to enjoy the
>story are fundamental differences between the HP and Buffy 'verses.
>
>In Buffy, everyone and his other brother Fred (hahah) can do magic.
>Xander accidently set a book on fire. A bartender amused himself with
>cursed beer.
>
>In HP, only wizards and witches are capable of magic. Well, and the
>assorted magical creatures. Muggles have no capacity whatsoever in
>that area.
Actually, HP wizards can and have made any number of magical
artifacts that can be used by muggles. Heck, Mr. Weasely's whole
job is to keep these magical artifacts away from Muggles.
Xander setting the book on fire can be explained in two ways:
1) The book itself was magical and voice activated by the holder.
2) Xander himself is an untrained Wizard. For whatever reason, he
never went to any Magical learning institution and has no inclination
to actually learn magic. Random manifestations of his power tend
to be dismissed as pure luck and tendency to attract homicidal
females. (hey! story idea!)
The cursed beer was made by a Sorcerer who we've never seen,
not the bartender. This guy could be an HP-style wizard and the
cursed beer is a specialty potion. Potion making in HP doesn't
require wands and doesn't require the maker to be present when
used.
>The thing that always bothered me was why Tom Riddle's mother died. A
>lone witch has an affair with a rich Muggle, gets pregnant, and is
>still alone when her baby is born. What, was he born at home? And
>Tom himself, grew up in a very unpleasant orphanage, to which he was
>sent back between every quarter. *sigh*
This don't sound like a crossover issue. As for Riddle's mom, we'll have
to trust Rowling to cover this in some future HP book.
Stonewar
I got the impression that Riddle's parents were married and His father
discovered she was a witch during her pregnancy and abandoned her.
Since she was descended from Slytherin her family were probably
pureblood bigots and had more than likely disinherited her for
marrying a muggle.
Too proud to turn to the wizarding community or thinking all wizards
were like her own family she went to a muggle charity hospital to have
her baby. She died as a result of the trauma of childbirth living just
long enough to name the father and name her child Tom Marvolo Riddle.
The middle name is either her Maiden name or her father's christian
name since "Her father's name" could be either one of those
possiblities.
Since Riddle Sr. would not acknowledge the child and the maternal
relatives could not be found by muggles, off little Tom went to the
Charity Orphanage.
I know a majority of this is only inferred by COS and not directly
stated but that is what I got by connecting the dots.
That Help?
Peter Cowan
"Stonewar" <ston...@alltel.net> wrote in message
news:6df6d486.03091...@posting.google.com...
> evila...@aol.com (Nopporn Wongrassamee) wrote in message
news:<20030914191603...@mb-m03.aol.com>...
> > From: jil...@hotmail.com (Jillun)
> ---snipped----
>
> > Xander setting the book on fire can be explained in two ways:
> >
> > 1) The book itself was magical and voice activated by the holder.
> >
> > 2) Xander himself is an untrained Wizard. For whatever reason, he
> > never went to any Magical learning institution and has no inclination
> > to actually learn magic. Random manifestations of his power tend
> > to be dismissed as pure luck and tendency to attract homicidal
> > females. (hey! story idea!)
> >
>I'd go with either scenario....in particular OMWF strongly suggests that
Xander raised Sweet...so if not magic, then certainly some demony raising
powers
Peter
Nopporn Wongrassamee
An amulet was required to summon Sweet. So it can still go either
way.
Sam James
wrote:
>>>I'd go with either scenario....in particular OMWF strongly suggests that
>>Xander raised Sweet...so if not magic, then certainly some demony raising
>>powers
>
>An amulet was required to summon Sweet. So it can still go either
>way.
I'd go with the Hellmouth itself causing magic to work for non-magical
muggles. On the Hellmouth *everything* works -- weird science,
Egyptian magic, Wiccan magic, D & D, etc. -- as long as it can be
twisted for evil.
This also explains the inconsistency with Willow's power. I often
wondered why Willow was presented as being especially talented in
magic when even Jonathan could cast world-altering spells while Willow
had so much trouble. The answer under this explanation is that
Willow's problem was keeping control of the magic to use it for good
despite the Hellmouth trying to twist the magic for evil. Willow was
powerful not because she could do magic (even Xander could do magic by
reciting Latin near the books) but because she could control it (at
least till the end of S6)
This doesn't explain the magic addict storyline but I don't really buy
that. Willow's problem wasn't using magic because it felt good but to
try to make her life easier. She was resorting to magic to solve her
personal problems as far back as S3 (with her de-lusting spell). That
was what the writers were building toward with her increased use of
magic, her forget spell, and everything up to the introduction of Rack
(perhaps the biggest mistake in S6).
Jillun
> evila...@aol.com (Nopporn Wongrassamee) wrote in message news:<20030914191603...@mb-m03.aol.com>...
> discovered she was a witch during her pregnancy and abandoned her.
>
> Since she was descended from Slytherin her family were probably
> pureblood bigots and had more than likely disinherited her for
> marrying a muggle.
I never got the married impression, however, I do remember it being
said that Riddle is the very last of the wizards who are actually
descended from Slytherin...
Stonewar
I assumed married because in my state you can't name a father on the
birth certificate unless he is the spouse of the mother or
acknowledges parentage in writing at time of issuance.
Jillun
> birth certificate unless he is the spouse of the mother or
> acknowledges parentage in writing at time of issuance.
Sounds logical to me.