A Dead Man and a Wandless Witch

Disclaimer: I wrote it, but I didn't create the stuff that someone else did. I claim no rights to copyrighted material.
Feedback: Very much encouraged! Also, I've done the editing myself, so if you spot any typos or inconsistencies, please let me know so I can fix them. Thanks!
A/N: This takes place after the ends of BtVS and AtS and just before the HP movies. This story will not have any blatant sex stuff, just a few hints here and there. Some of those hints are slashy, but don't let that scare you off.

Enjoy - and please review!

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Willow donned her robe and slipped her wand into the secret fold of her sleeve. She didn't always carry it with her, but it did help her focus her magic. She hadn't accidentally made anybody blind or made anybody's socks catch fire in over a month. With a final glance in the full length mirror standing in the corner of her room, she stepped to the flue.

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Spike still felt a right prat in his robe, but he had gotten used to the feeling in the past two months since they had first come to Hogwarts. Dumbledore had broken his long silence and owled Spike with his message of dire need.

"'Course no one calls for tea anymore - always Hellmouth-this and Evil Beast-that." He grumbled under his breath as he stared into the empty fireplace, his hands buried deep in the pockets of his black robe.

"Still complaining about the injustices bestowed upon your noble soul, Spike?"

Spike's hated robes swung prettily as he swirled to face his favorite witch. "Bloody hell, Red - I thought you were going to start using the flue like the rest of 'em."

Willow shrugged. "Well, I always get so dirty in there and I wanted to look nice for Dumbledore."

"Oh, like he'll even notice - the old wizard's been smoking so much lately you'd think he had glaucoma." With a mocked bow, he waved Willow ahead of him down the hall to Dumbledore’s rooms.

"Come now, Spike. You know very well he's not been smoking anything odd - he's just a little absent minded since we killed Zaffron. I'll hate to leave him." Willow's constant smile faded for a moment as she thought of leaving her new friends. "Still, it will be nice to get back to the world I know " she said unconvincingly. Then, with a ring of truth, "I miss Dawny and Giles and the others, even if we don't see them much anymore. And I can't help but miss Xander."

"Well, we'll be home soon" Spike said with a falsely chipper note. He had been ignoring thoughts of those he had lost over the past few years. Anya, Dru, Fred, Gunn, Wesley, and even Angel were gone. Best not to think on it. Spike cleared his mind as he looked at Red. They had gotten to be good friends over the past year they had been working and living together, keeping the nasties to a minimum in LA. Although, with the Sunnydale Hellmouth closed, there were few apocalyptic battles to fight anymore and things had gotten a bit ... run of the mill. Neither of them was really looking forward to facing their version of reality. But if they didn't get back to their jobs, they would loose their apartment and have to start all over with nothing. Again.

They stood for a moment outside the door, neither willing to walk through. Both knowing that it was time to face the truth and tell the Wizard it was time for them to go. At "the peak of night at the place twice seen by one from each side of power's waking" they would seal the death of Zaffron. Tonight. Then, they would leave. Tomorrow.

Willow clasped Spike's hand for a moment, then turned from him and opened the door.

Dumbledore greeted them with a distracted smile. "Willow, William, please come and sit. It is time we discussed your leaving. Tea?" The tea appeared and poured itself as Willow and Spike glanced sideways at each other - just enough for their friend to see. "Yes, I know you two must leave soon. You know you are both welcome to stay. I have enjoyed our conversations Willow, and my dear William - when you are not threatening my staff your presence is also bearable."

"Oi - that was 60 years ago you daft old ..."

"Now, now, Spike. I said it was forgiven, didn't I?" Dumbledore said with a wink at Willow. She had loved the story of Dumbledore's first introduction to Spike. He had been causing a row in dragoon alley with his drunken ranting about "his princess" who had gone off with some cat that turned out to be a student's familiar. Dumbledore had helped him find Drusilla and in return Spike had promised to come to Dumbledore's aid if ever he should be needed.

Which is why they were all together at Hogwarts 60 years later, surrounded by the tomes they had been studying for the past month in preparation for this night. Snape had come to Dumbledore with the impossible need for a dead man that could fight a hell beast and a witch that could do magic without a wand.

After some thought on the wisdom of inviting the evil undead to help them out, Dumbledore had done a bit of research and found that William had actually been busy saving the world off and on for the previous 8 years with a group of humans that usually included the Vampire Slayer, Buffy. Looking into it, he had learned that Willow was perfect to play the part of the witch in the coming battle.

At just that moment, Snape knocked and entered Dumbledore's chamber with his usual dour expression. "Albus, although I appreciate the invitation, I really must complete my preparations for this evening."

"Oh Severus, relax. We've done all we can. We're ready. Now come and sit and have some tea. Willow and William will be leaving in the morning and you will be going with them."

"What?!" All three exclaimed at once.

"This school has no professors familiar with the sorts of evils that you two have so very much experience with. Therefore, Professor Snape is going to return with you to your lives in Los Angeles. He will apprentice with you for a time and then return here to teach our students of vampires and demons with a focus on classification, interaction, and defense. The muggle world may not be willing to admit such things exist yet, but we are already familiar with various changelings. I see no reason to maintain our general disbelief in things that we all know to exist."

"But..." Severus began with a look of horror in his eyes.

"I will hear no quarrel on the matter. It is decided. Besides, Severus, you can continue Willow's tutelage in the use of her new wand."

"Fine" Snape snarled, secretly intrigued by the adventure to come. "I'll go pack." With that, he left Dumbledore to explain to Willow and William exactly the sorts of things they should be sure to teach Snape.

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The hours past and 11:45 PM found Dumbledore, Snape, Willow, and Spike standing at the edge of the lake deep in the forbidden forest. With wands drawn and at their sides, Dumbledore and Snape stood at two of the three points with Willow, wandless, at the third point. Spike was in the center, ready to do battle with claw and tooth as the prophecy dictated. No one knew what to expect. The prophecy had only indicated the triangular pattern, the players, and the importance of having a fighting dead man in the center.

The beast, Zaffron, had been picking off wizards one by one for years but had only recently become known to the staff of Hogwarts when he had started attacking the most proficient students. The main battle had been fought 5 days prior when they, with the help of the other professors, some of the ghosts, and even a group of students, had killed the beast. They had fought for hours before they were finally able to inject Zaffron's heart with a potion that Severus made from a splinter of a unicorn's hoof and the feather of a Griffin, along with several of the more lethal ingredients he kept on the highest shelf of his potions closet. That battle was fought by dozens, but the sealing of his death would be completed in secret. It was a forbidden act, to seal a soul, but the Dementors would be infected by the tainted magics of Zaffron if they even tasted his soul. There was no other option after the thousands of wizards that the beast had devoured over the 1500 years of his life.

At midnight, the three corners began their chant:

"Formidonis nox noctis,
Nex veneficus animus,
Adveho ex vestri terrenus nex.
Nos dico vos nominatim ex regnum silenti etc pugno per victus quondam.

Adveho Zaffron!
Adveho Zaffron!
Adveho Zaffron!"

As they chanted, a spectral version of the beast they had fought a week prior appeared and tried to run from those he recognized as his killers. He galloped on his four feet, his two-fingered hands slashing at he invisible barrier as he found himself trapped in the triangle cage they had formed. Trapped with Spike, who was at that point trying to figure out why he was supposed to be there. But Spike knew better than to interrupt the chant that continued even as the beast turned to him with bared teeth and hell-breath, his body translucent except for his claws and teeth.

"Filiolus quod dea totus monastica
Redimio malum animus bestia Zaffron."

Zaffron's claws slid through Spike's arm as he reached for (and through) the intangible beast. Cringing back, Spike changed to game face and bared his own teeth, charging to battle with gusto. The beast closed his teeth inches from Snape's cheek just as Spike grabbed hold of the claws of Zaffron's back set of feet.

"Redimio is ex vulnero illud per vita.
Redimio is ex subterlabor nex.
Redimio is ex recidivus.
Subsisto suus vox quod attero suus animus."

Zaffron turned on Spike and, claw to claw, they battled. A chunk of Spike's cheek hung by a thin piece of flesh as he howled, blocking the beast's next biting attack with his own teeth in a dangerous parody of a hateful kiss.

"Redimio Zaffron!
Redimio Zaffron!"

The beast reared back on his hind feet, his howl turning to a echoing roar as his body became solid then began to burn.

"Redimio Zaffron!"

The final line spoken, Zaffron's new-formed body exploded in a pelting of ash, tooth and claw that was embedded in trees and flesh alike, leaving the combatants alive but bloody. Picking tooth shrapnel from their faces and arms, they came to stand together, smiling and enjoying the rush of the Win.

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The next morning, in the train station, Willow, Spike, and Snape said their goodbyes to Dumbledore and the other professors. They had all gotten close in the last couple months, but the battle was done and it was time to go home. Hugs all around (except for Snape, of course), the trio boarded the train that would begin their journey to Los Angeles, California. For Spike and Willow, they would return to what had become monotony. Willow to her work as a free-lance computer geek; Spike to his daily patrols.

They felt a renewed interest in their own lives, however. Now they had the duty of teaching the man who would begin to teach the wizarding world. With a sense of hope for what the future might hold, they were all three ready for their next adventure to begin.