Worth It

Title: Worth It

Chapter: Prologue

Author: Pixi (psychopixi@hotmail.com)

Rated: Rated 15 overall, although in the future, depending on how I feel, there may be a few 18-rated chapters. 15 thus far though.

Disclaimer: Things from the Buffyverse belong to Joss Whedon, things from Harry Potter land belong to J K Rowling.

Summary: Voldemort has made the war personal, kidnapping a member of the Order, and when a 100 year old prophecy brings Willow to Hogwarts she finds that teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts brings with it a whole host of problems including unfriendly professors, teenage hormones and an impending apocalypse. Hogwarts must unite if they stand a chance of defeating Voldemort, and the Scooby Gang find themselves helping out in ways they hadn't anticipated.

A/N1: Set after season 7 Buffy, and assumes that the Scooby gang have settled down in L.A. The more experienced slayers, including Faith and Kennedy have left for different parts of the world. Season 4 Angel made my brain hurt, and so as far as this fic is concerned, most of it never happened. Connor was born, stolen by Holtz and came back, Cordelia came back, Holtz died, Angel Investigations turned out okay, with Connor warily fitting in with the rest of the team, Angel took over Wolfram and Hart, and Spike was recorporealised early summer. Events at Hogwarts take place after Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix.

Also, if you read the story previous to chapter nine being posted on 31-07-07, you might want to go from the start again - after being without internet for a couple of months I've gone over the previous chapters, and made a few changes here and there. Nothing that changes the plot in any drastic way, but I think it reads better now.

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.

In a warm and cosy office, at the top of a castle in the North of Scotland somewhere, invisible to muggle eyes, a heated discussion was going on. The participants, unwilling though they may have been, were an old wizard, with long white hair and a beard hiding the wrinkles on his face; a prim and proper witch, with a stern expression masking what could have been pleasant features, her hair scraped back from her head into the tightest of buns, and a greasy, unpleasant looking wizard, robed all in black, a permanent sneer etched on his miserable face.

Albus Dumbledore turned his back on Snape in exasperation. For an hour now they had been arguing the same old point and Severus was loathe to give in. Albus had tried being reasonable, tried being stern and even sunk as low as to cajole the reluctant potions master to come around to his way of thinking, though none of the methods had worked. After looking out of the window and contemplating the colour of the highland sky for a minute he turned back, and found two pairs of eyes boring into him.

“Come Severus,” the elder wizard chided, “it would be most advantageous to have her here. Her magical abilities alone would be invaluable in aiding us in this unfortunate time, yet I feel that she would be the most helpful in teaching our students…” he paused, and smiled as though amused by his own thoughts, “well, shall we say that she will teach the children what they need to know.”

Severus snorted at this, a large part of his displeasure stemming from the fact that the subject the young witch was being called to Scotland to teach was Defence Against the Dark Arts. This was the position he had been coveting for years and sometimes he felt that the headmaster denied him it purely out of spite.

“Severus,” Dumbledore’s tone was reproachful now, “you know that I need you as a potions master, who else is half as skilled as you?” This much was true, although the flattery did little to help ease the scowl on the sinister man’s countenance. Confusion flashed through momentarily as he wondered if the headmaster had known what he was thinking. *Probably better not to insult him in hearing… or thinking distance,* he mused silently, eliciting a grin from man watching him.

“And there is the prophecy to think of too.”

Snape’s scowl set further. “The ramblings of a vampire, trapped in perpetual childhood? Albus, I expected more sense from you.”

“It cannot harm though, to have a young witch who so accurately matches the prophecy,” Albus smiled at him, “can it?” An uncomfortable silence set in, with Snape unable to think of an argument, yet still unwilling to give his support to Albus’ scheme.

“So, it is settled then!” Snape looked up in surprise at this sudden announcement; he could have sworn that he hadn’t agreed to anything. Before he had a chance to protest Albus had hastily handed a sealed letter to Minerva McGonagall and sent her from his office. After closing the door he slowly paced back to his desk, and took up his seat once more, making sure he was quite comfortable before acknowledging Severus’ remaining presence. The potions master was glaring at him once more, annoyed the old man had ignored his protests, and Dumbledore sighed inwardly before addressing the irate teacher. “She will help this school Severus. Give her a chance, she might even help you too.”

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.