Magic of a Different Kind

Title: Magic of a Different Kind

Crossover: Harry Potter/ Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Rating: R for now, possibly can go up to NC-17 in the future

Summary: After Chosen, Spike is found, close to death, near Hogwarts. Was it some freak
accident, or is he there for a reason?

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I do not own Harry Potter. I do not own a laptop computer that fucking works... *sigh*

***

The next morning at breakfast found the three friends discussing Hagrid's letter.

"What do you suppose could be so important that Hagrid'd cancel class?" Ron asked around a mouthful of eggs.

Harry shrugged. "It must involve William. I can't think of anything else happening recently worth this excitement."

Hermione nodded, "I agree with Harry. Hagrid must have discovered something new about William..."

"Who's William?"

As if in a horror movie, Hermione slowly turned her head toward her best friend's sister.

"Ginny..."

"Oh, it's a secret," Ginny crossed her arms over her chest, a petulant pout contorting her features, "I understand. I can never get involved in whatever bloody mess you've gotten yourselves into."

"It's not that, it's just..." Harry began, trying to find an acceptable explanation.

"It's just that no one really knows," Hermione said, "and we weren't supposed to know, either. It's not really our place to tell."

Ginny uncrossed her arms, "That's what always happens," she said, "how come you guys are always the ones to find interesting stuff?"

Ron laughed, "We're just unlucky that way."

Harry sent Ron a glare.

Ron paled, "Except when we're helping out Harry, of course."

"Of course," Hermione agreed.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Fine. I won't ask who William is any longer..."

"Thank you, Ginny.."

"However," an evil smirk curved the redhead's lips, "I would like to know why it is I caught Fang sleeping on one of the couches in the common room so early this morning..."

It was Harry's turn to pale, his dark hair contrasting sharply with his complexion, "Fang...? He didn't!"

Ginny nodded sadly, "Oh, yes, he did. And I do believe that Hagrid's canceled all classes today... could it possibly have anything to do with this William fellow?"

"Ginny, we really can't..." Harry began, but he was interrupted by Hermione.

"The truth is," she said, "we don't know who William is. He's a complete mystery."

"So why is Hagrid interested in him?" Ginny asked, suspicious.

Hermione shrugged, "I haven't the faintest."

Ginny looked to Ron, whose stoic features gave away nothing. She then turned to Harry. "Is she right?" she asked.

Harry grimaced, trying to think of something to say. He knew he couldn't lie to Ginny. Although... "I haven't a clue what this William fellow is like," omitting the truth came easily to the Boy-Who-Lived. He technically didn't know what William was like... he'd never even spoken to the man before.

"Fine," Ginny sighed heavily, but seemed satisfied, "I suppose I'll go to the library. I've got a nasty Potions essay due in a few days," and with a wave the youngest Weasley left the Gryffindor table.

Ron let out a relieved sigh, "Can't believe we got away with that."

"Really. She's quite intent on being involved," Hermione added.

Harry was also quite relieved. He'd have detested himself if he had needed to lie to Ginny. And, apparently, that was quite obvious to his companions.

"Hey," Ron asked, his gaze boring into Harry's skull, "just what is it with you and my sister lately, anyway?"

Harry paled, "What do you mean?"

"There's a.. tension," Ron said, "between you two. I don't like it."

Harry sputtered, trying to find an answer, "Well...I... I mean..."

Yet again, Hermione came to his rescue, "What in the world are you blabbering about, Ron?" she rolled her eyes, "Harry's a mess around any girl, you know that."

Ron shrugged, "I suppose you're right."

Though she had saved him from answering the question, Harry glared at his friend, "What's that supposed to mean, huh?"

"Oh, well..." Hermione looked abashed, "it's just that you don't handle girls well. If they dislike you, you immediately dismiss them. And if they like you... well, you tend to avoid them as if they were Voldemort himself."

Ron winced, but nodded in agreement.

"I do not!" Harry defended, "and to prove it, I'll ask the next girl that shows any interest in me out on a date!"

At this proclamation, Ron and Hermione began to laugh.

"What's so damned funny?"

"Oh, nothing," Ron snorted, "just th-thinking you should probably avoid the abandoned girls' bathroom!"

Harry paled at the thought of asking Moaning Myrtle out on a date. "Any living girl," he stated calmly.

Hermione was quick to point out, "What about your stalkers, Harry?"

Harry's pale face immediately turned rosy, "I do not have stalkers!"

"Oh, you do, too!" Ron defended Hermione, "and if any of them heard your announcement, you'll be sure they'll be in line to even glance at you!"

"Fine," Harry muttered, "I'm just going to have to slim down the parameters, then."

Hermione, always serious, said, "We can make a list of characteristics, then. And the first girl to have all of the characteristics that shows an interest in you will be the one."

Ron laughed, "Oh, this is classic!"

Harry glared at his best friend, "Fine."

Hermione quickly grabbed parchment and a pen (she always kept one on her in case she didn't have a quill and ink)out of her robe and wrote in big letters "Harry's Perfect Date."

"Well...?"

Harry squinted, trying to think, "She needs to be shorter than me, with long hair, and nice skin. She should be in shape, and I'd love if she had a nice, firm, a-"

"Harry James Potter!" Hermione coughed, "I don't need to hear these things!"

Harry blushed, "Sorry."

"What about personality?"

"Well... she has to be brave..."

"Obviously..."

"Oh, do shut up, Ron," Hermione muttered.

"And she should be funny. And she should be able to hold her own in a fight," Harry finished, satisfied with his description.

"Well, fine then," Hermione finished writing and passed the parchment over to Harry, "good luck finding this one. You just described the perfect woman."

***

"Any luck yet?" Buffy asked as she took the popcorn out of the microwave.

"Nope," Willow shook her head, "I'm having a bit of difficulty with the locating spell. It would be so much
easier if I had some of his blood..."

"Eew," Buffy complained, scrunching up her face, "that's gross."

Willow shrugged, "Blood makes the magical world go round."

Buffy threw the bag of popcorn to her friend, "Well, I can't eat this now."

"More for me, then!" Willow dug into the bag and shrugged aside the disgusted look that Buffy gave her. "You are way too tense," Willow added a minute later, "try and relax for a while. We'll find Spike."

"I really miss him, Will," Buffy sighed and fell onto the couch unceremoniously, "like how you miss Tara and Kennedy, kinda miss. You know?"

Willow blushed and looked hard at the carpet of their hotel room, "Was it that good?" she whispered.
Buffy's eyes grew wide and she quickly shook her head, "What? No! I mean... yes, it was wonderful, but that's not what I was talking about!"

"Oh..."

"I... I have a connection with Spike. It's not so easy for me to let him go," Buffy's voice was distant, as though she no longer realized Willow was in the same room. "Spike understands me and accepts me. He knows that I have a different side, a... a scary side. But he doesn't care. He lo-," she frowned, unable to finish her thought.

Willow wasn't sure how to respond, so she did what she would do for any friend. She strode over to Buffy and hugged her with all her strength. "I'm here for you," she whispered into her friend's ear, "and I will do everything in my power to see that he gets back to you."

Buffy smiled, "Thanks, Will," she absentmindedly swiped a tear off her cheek. "So... what is the deal with you and Kennedy, anyway?"

Willow blushed, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you..."

"What?"

Willow muttered something underneath her breath.

"What? I couldn't hear you."

"I said she's straight!"

"Whaaa-?" was about the most intelligent thing that Buffy could come up with at the time.

"Well, you know, if she hadn't been all 'Chosen' and 'Potential' and all, she would have been in college, right?" Willow tried to explain.

"Yeah, so?" Buffy didn't understand.

"Well, you know what girls do when they're in college?"

Buffy tried to think back on her college experience. "Avoid soul-stealing roommates, kill crazy mutants and go cave-girly?"

Willow shook her head sadly, "No, Buffy. They experiment."

Buffy's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh.. wow, I'm sorry Willow. That's just... well, that's pretty shitty. But, wait... didn't you have a date with her this weekend?"

Willow's eyes widened, and she hurriedly occupied herself with picking up the bag of popcorn and choosing the best kernels, "Did I say that?"

"Yeah, you did," Buffy answered, "what's wrong?"

"I just..." Willow looked sad, "I was going to try and get her back. Try to be all seductive Willow and stuff. But she had to cancel because she..."

Buffy waited patiently for her to finish.

Willow took a deep breath as she said, "She has a date. With a guy."

Buffy winced, "Ouch."

"Yeah," she nodded, "it kind of hurt. But now I know that she's not coming back..." her face brightened, "and now I have time to work on the Spike thing for you!"

Buffy smiled softly, "Thank you, Willow, really... but, how about we take a day off? Do some girly stuff?"

Willow shook her head, "I'm OK, really. I want to help you find Spike."

"Alright. So, how do we start?"

Willow put on her 'I'm scared to tell you so I'm going to wait until it's absolutely necessary' face.

"Will..."

"We call Angel."

"WHAT?!?!"

***

Harry, Ron, and Hermione headed down to Hagrid's cabin immediately after having finished Potions. Which was, of course, horrifying, as usual.

"Bloody Snape and his bloody potions!" Ron cursed, "why in hell do we need to learn how to make one for the hiccups, anyway?"

"I prefer it over the 'Spooksy' potion," Harry muttered, "at least we weren't forced to test this one on ourselves." He still had nightmares about the time he had become intangible from a botched
potion. "Bloody Snape," he added under his breath.

"That's 'See Spooks' Harry," Hermione shook her head disapprovingly. "Really! A person would think that you two would be happy for a relief from the hiccups! You two get them often enough."

"Do not!" Ron protested, flustered.

"And even if we do," Harry said, "what good will it do us to fix up a potion that'll take forty-five minutes to brew? By then, they'll either have gone away or driven us mad!"

Hermione laughed.

They had reached their destination, and as Harry reached a hand up to knock, the large door burst open, a distraught looking Hagrid behind it. "In, now!" he said, ushering the students inside.

"Hagrid, what's wrong?" Harry asked, worried.

"Does it have to do with William?" Hermione asked, concern evident in her voice.

"Ay," Hagrid affirmed, "I'm not really sure what to do about 'im... you see, I was lifting 'im up so I could move 'im to somewhere move comfortable, but when I glanced at the window, you wouldn't believe what I saw."

"What?" Ron pressed after a moment.

"Nothin'," Hagrid responded, his voice quaking.

"What do you mean, nothing?" Hermione asked.

"Well, I mean, I saw myself in the reflection, but that was it! I couldn't see William, though I knew he was right on top of my shoulder," Hagrid glanced toward his bedroom, where the rest assumed William was still resting.

"He has no reflection?" Hermione mused, tapping a finger against her lip, "that sounds awfully familiar."

"Yeah," Harry agreed, "is this the emergency, Hagrid? The reason that you sent Fang so early in the morning?"

Hagrid nodded, head cast down, "I'm sorry about that, 'arry. I was a tad frightened... I thought it best to keep you three in on the latest news, anyhow."

"But is this why you canceled class?" Hermione asked.

Hagrid shook his head, "No, I canceled class because I needed to help Dumbledore with somethin'... but that's all finished now, so you three can go ahead and say hi to William before you leave if you'd like."

Hermione was the first to stride toward Hagrid's bedroom. Carefully opening the door so as not to wake the occupant (though she doubted he would wake quite this soon), Hermione tiptoed toward the bed.
There, sleeping peacefully, was William. Hagrid had changed his clothing into some gray sweat pants and a dark blue sweatshirt, and he looked much more comfortable. His hair still looked unwashed, but she couldn't really expect Hagrid to have bathed him. "William," she whispered as she sat at the edge of the bed. She studied his face a while, memorizing the sharp lines and soft expression. Last night, she hadn't realized just how handsome the man really was. His bleached blonde hair fell lightly into his eyes, and she felt an immense need to push them out of the way. She took a step toward the head of the bed, her hand reached out, when...

"Are you done yet, Hermione?" Ron asked from the other room.

Hermione jumped, afraid of being caught in the act. She hesitantly retracted her hand. "Y-yes," she responded, "I'm coming out now." She left the room and took one last glance at the sleeping man before Hagrid closed the door.

"You three ought to be off to Defense Against the Dark Arts now, right?" he asked.

Harry nodded enthusiastically, "Professor Dumbledore's been teaching while he's looking for a new professor."

"Right. And I'm sure your headmaster will be awfully disappointed if his three favorite students are late to class!" Hagrid said, pushing them toward the door.

"Alright, alright, we can take a hint," Ron said, swatting at the half-giants hands, "you've got something secret to do. We'll be leaving then."

***

The three Gryffindors took their usual seats when they arrived to class. In the front of the room stood Dumbledore, his hands clasped in front of him and a serene expression on his face.

"I am overjoyed that all of my students were able to make it today," his voice was gentle and his smile grew wider, "and it shall be quite a pleasure to introduce to all of you your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

Harry outwardly groaned. He had been hoping that Dumbledore would continue to teach the class! Harry heard a triumphant laugh behind him, and turned to glare at Malfoy.

"Oh, what's wrong, Potter?" the Slytherin sneered, "are you going to cry?"

"Shove it, Malfoy," Harry hissed, and turned back around.

Dumbledore was busying himself with packing the few personal items he had brought into the classroom. "Thank you all for the lovely experience," he said, "it's been quite a while since I've been able to simply teach again. Quite magnificent.."

A large man stepped into the room, his presence ominous. "Greetings," his voice was accented, though it was difficult to tell where he was from, "I am Thomas Silverwood, the new professor."
The entire class, by this point, was gawking at the newcomer. Thomas Silverwood was extraordinarily tall, with a bulk that wasn't necessarily fat. He had close-cropped hair a shade lighter than Harry's, and a stern face. He was wearing wizarding robes, though they looked awkward on him.

"Welcome, Professor Silverwood!" Dumbledore proclaimed, "welcome to your classroom!"

Professor Silverwood peered at the students dutifully, looking as though he would much rather be doing something else.

"Professor Silverwood is muggle-born," Dumbledore was saying, "which accounts for such a strange name!" he laughed as he carried his large bag toward the door. "Welcome to Hogwarts! I shall leave you to become acquainted with your students."

Dumbledore left, and the new professor strode quickly to the vacated desk. "For today," he said, "I would like simply for everyone to introduce themselves. It is important that I know all the names of my students."

So each student stood and introduced themselves. He asked for their names, their House, and their favorite activity.

"Hermione Granger," she said proudly as she stood, "I'm a Gryffindor, and I enjoy studying," she sat down again, a smile playing at her lips.

"A pleasure, Miss Granger," Professor Silverwood nodded. "And you?"

"Ronald Weasley, Gryffindor, Quidditch," he grumbled, blushing.

"Too bad he can't play for knuts," a voice sneered from behind him.

Ron's face blazed.

"And you are?" attention was brought back toward the front of the room as Professor Silverwood addressed Malfoy.

He stood proudly, "My name is Draco Malfoy, I'm a Slytherin, and my favorite activity is beating the bloody pulp out of the Gryffindor Quidditch team."

"Oh, please, Malfoy," Hermione grimaced, "the only reason you made it onto the quidditch team is because your father bought everyone new brooms."

"And the only reason you're in this school, Mudblood, is because Dumbledore is an old fool whose too senile to realize that your kind will never amount to anything in our world. You're just a little girl playing make-believe," he sneered back.

"That is enough," a loud voice from the front of the class boomed, "I will have no name-calling or insulting in my classroom, and especially no disrespect toward your Headmaster. I will not deduct points because it is the first day of class, but you will learn to treat each other with respect."

"Yes, Professor," Hermione and Draco mumbled together.

Finally, every student had introduced themselves except for Harry.

"Harry Potter," he said, waiting for the name to register. When the professor only stood there, waiting for more, Harry smiled, "I'm in Gryffindor and I enjoy Quidditch."

"Well, I believe that's everyone," Professor Silverwood announced, "so the class is dismissed."

The students hurriedly left the room, lest he change his mind and keep them later.

"Well, he's still better than Snape," Ron muttered after they left.

"He doesn't seem so bad," Harry said, "he didn't know who I was, and that's always nice for me."

"Well, yes, I suppose that is a benefit to you," Hermione said, "I'm just a little curious about-" but she was never able to finish her sentence, for before her stood a rather disheveled Hagrid, who promptly began running back in the direction of his cabin.

The three students didn't need instructions. They followed.

***

A/N: I apologize for the delay. Truth is, I thought I had updated a while ago, but for some reason I forgot to do it on aff.net. So... I hope the wait was worth it. :-)
Thank you to all reviewers. I really appreciate it. I am very sorry that it took me this long to get out a second chapter, but I kinda work full-time and go to school full-time, so I'm just a tad busy.

Thanks a million to my brand, spanking new beta: Kiro-kun. Everyone give her a round of applause, for if it weren't for her, Draco would be incredibly lame in this chapter.