“They’ve arrived.”

Professor Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmaster, had barely entered the office when she heard Albus Dumbledore’s words.

“How can you be so sure, Albus? They would have only just arrived at the airport.”

“I know that we were advised to send them alone, so as not to attract undue attention, but you don’t honestly think that I would have left them unaccompanied until they were actually in the hands of their new protectors, do you? Harry has already lost far too much to this war. I won’t have him losing his life as well. Nor would I willingly allow anything too happen to any of my students. I sent one of the Order to keep an eye on them until they were safely settled in America.”

“Are you sure that we can trust these people?” The transfiguration professor had yet to sit, and her posture conveyed her apprehension. “Albus, we don’t know these Americans at all. The tales of the things that they have done have been thought of as nothing more than myth. Most of the people of our world don’t even believe that the Slayer exists.”

Dumbledore rose form his seat, circling his desk to lay a comforting hand on her arm. “But those of us in the highest positions have affiliations with the Slayer’s Watcher’s Council, as you well know.” He paused for a moment, a frown passing over his face, vanishing as quickly as it had come. “Had would actually be a more appropriate word, I would imagine.” He led the other professor to a chair, and returned to his own.

“The simple fact of the matter, Minerva, is that our world does not have the resources to deal with the tactics we fear that Voldemort will use this time. The things that have been foreseen, the aurors can not deal with alone. The children are not prepared for the dangers that are coming. We have not been able to keep a Dark Arts teacher, and those that we have had have yet to discuss anything anywhere near this kind of a threat in their classes. Our world has not had to deal with such a thing because of the presence of the Slayer, and the confidence that the Ministry of Magic has always had in her abilities. We are ill equipped to handle the things that have always been considered the things of nightmares.” He paused, folding his hands over each other on his desktop.

“But these people are more than prepared to handle what we fear is coming. Even if half of what they are said to have done is myth, they would still be better at protecting those children than even I would be in the same situation.”

“You do think that some of it is a myth, then?” McGonagall was now wringing her hands in an outward display of her anxiety.

“Not for one moment,” the headmaster answered soundly. “In fact, I think all of the tales we have heard tell only a portion of the things those young people have accomplished, of the evil they have faced.”

“You do believe.” The woman seemed in awe. “You believe that not only this Slayer, but her friends, that they have been chosen to help win this war.”

“There is no doubt in my mind, Minerva, that they have been hand picked for this by a power far greater than us. Have faith in them to be up to the task, for I do.” He picked up his candy dish and held it out to his fellow professor. “Lemon drop?”

And with that Minerva McGonagall knew that the discussion had come to an end.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Giles was pacing around the library of the Hyperion Hotel. The hotel had once housed Angel Investigations, but the company had moved to the offices that they had been given by Wolfram Hart. As such, the hotel had been empty when the busload of survivors from the destruction of the hellmouth in Sunnydale had needed a place to call home. And home it now was. The home of Champion Industries, the company formed by those who had lived through the battle with The First.

The pacing of the one time librarian had been brought about, as usual, by worry for his young associates. This time, it was worry for two of the youngest, who had set out to start a mission handed over to the Scoobies by Angel

There were certain things that Angel could not bring himself to trust his staff at Wolfram Hart with. One of those things was the messages that he still received from The Powers That Be. But Buffy had always been someone that he could trust. So he came to her when he needed help to respond to the visions.

Lorne had found that he could read the visions that Cordelia was still receiving. Even though she remained in a coma, she was still Angel’s link to The Powers.

In fact, she was receiving even more visions in her comatose state. So many that even with Angel’s people and Buffy’s working on them, forcing Buffy to finally accept that Dawn could hold her own, and be part of the team. After all, as busy as they had been, they had needed all the help that they could get. Dawn was finally a full fledged member of the Scoobies, instead of just a tag along.

After Draco had shown up, it had been increasingly harder for the blonde slayer to convince Dawn that she was too young to go into battle with them. With the threat of the first, Buffy could no longer leave the teenagers out completely, but she had tried to keep them off of the “front lines” of the battle and the danger. She had been fairly successful at keeping both the wizard and the key involved in the safer side of the fight, doing the research that had always proved valuable in their fight against evil.

That had been until Angel had entrusted them with the visions and they had formed Champion Industries. After Angel had recruited them to help protect his city, Buffy thought long and hard about how to support herself, her charges, and still due her duty. She thought about how Angel had had Angel Investigations, and how Anya had once told her to charge for her services. The Slayer decided that maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing, and Champion Industries was born.

It was when they had started the business that the slayer found that the teens were no longer satisfied staying on the sidelines doing research. Buffy fought it until Draco’s wand and Dawn’s aim with a crossbow saved the others at a critical moment during an important case. They were now as much a part of the team as anyone.

This was, however, their first official solo mission in the field. It made Giles nervous. Add to that that it was a vision, from The Powers, a thing they had learned to be wary of. The result? Giles wearing a path in the library floor with his pacing.

It wasn’t unusual to find the watcher pacing in the library when he wasn’t out fighting with the others. It was even more common for him to be found there when his ‘children’ were out on a mission for The Powers.

The fact that they had been given the mission through a vision by the mighty powers may have been reassuring to Dumbledore. But would the Headmaster of Hogwarts have had second thoughts about blindly trusting a ‘higher power’ if he knew that the very people meant to be chosen by that same ‘higher power’ had very large misgivings about ‘The Powers That Be’?

The group that had once been known as the Scoobies were still adjusting to the things that had happened in the last year, and they were no longer blindly trusting the PTB’s, as they called them.

The memory of Jasmine, and her claim that to be one of those very powers, yet proving to be anything but on the side of good, was still fresh in the mind of Angel Investigations.

And although the group that now occupied the hotel had heard the stories second hand, their trust of the PTB’s had vanished almost completely. What had happened caused them to wonder and worry every time they followed up on a vision. They would always wonder if the Powers were setting them up for another “takeover” as Buffy put it. But they were there to “Help the Helpless” as Cordelia had always said. So, they did as AI had always done, and followed through on the visions.

But there was always that chance . . . and that what made Giles worry. And pace.

Usually.

But not this time.

The watcher paused in his movements, turning towards the table and reaching for the notes that lay there. He read them over, sighing as he laid them down. They were proof that this time was different. Proof that the people in this vision were really in trouble.

All it had taken to know that this vision was genuine was one look at Draco’s, better known to the group as JJ, face to realize it. As soon as Lorne had said the name Voldemort and described the teens being attacked in the vision, all of the color had disappeared from the boy’s countenance, a look of dread settling into his eyes.

After recovering from the shock, JJ had told them why the vision had affected him in that way. The teens were real. JJ identified them right away. And it had been no surprise to him that they were being attacked, and that Voldemort had been involved.

He had haltingly told the tale of Voldemort. Of the path of destruction the Dark Lord had left behind him. Of the wizard’s obsessive desire to kill Harry Potter.

Giles had taken notes, knowing that he would rather not have to ask JJ to repeat any of the story that he found so hard to tell.

JJ told them things that he had never told them before. He told them about the dark side of the wizarding world where he had been born and raised. They learned about his years at Hogwarts, about all of the attacks by Voldemort on Harry Potter, including the one that had gotten Lucius Malfoy imprisoned. The whole truth of how he had ended up in Sunnydale came out, as opposed to the watered-down version he had told them when first arriving. His past had been something that he had been very reluctant to talk about. But JJ was a team player, and the rest of Champion Industries needed to know all they could of they were going to stop Voldemort.

So he told them. Everything he could think of. Including how he had been brought up to be a Death Eater. How he had been taught to hate mudbloods, and muggles, and all things good. How he had learned from his father to hate Harry Potter above all.

The very boy who was on his way to L.A., with three of his best friends, in order to be protected. Dawn had been delegated the job of picking them up. And she had talked JJ into going with her. To meet up with a boy he had been taught to despise.

On this occasion, it was JJ’s past that had Giles worried.

Would the old enmity between the boys send the children who needed protection running the other way? Would they refuse to comply with the plans their headmaster had made when they found out that their old arch rival would be one of the ones trusted to protect them?

Giles could only hope that the teenagers would look give JJ a chance to show them that the time he had spent in America had changed his beliefs as much as it had changed his appearance.