August 31, 2014 - Heads of House
August 31, 2014 - Heads of House
Alt Title: Day 31 - Heads of House
Author: mmooch
Chapter Summary: **For the 2014 LiveJournal’s Twisted Shorts FaD** challenge. The ease of finding these choices should make Buffy feel more concerned than she is.
Chapter Crossover: Gilmore Girls; Charmed; The Cosby Show; Happy Days; Leverage; Harry Potter
Rating: FR-13.
Word count: 2506
Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.
Timeline: post-series for GG, TCB and HD; pre-series for Leverage.
Warning: Scriptor ex machina is necessary to bring in one pair for sure (‘writer’ instead of ‘god’). Sad event in part one.
A/N: While the month is technically at an end, I may add a couple chapters to this story if they fit in more with the hiring process than the settling in process which I plan to be the theme for next year’s FaD. Some of the new chapters will probably include failed interviews.
Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Gilmore Girls characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB. The Cosby Show characters belong to Ed. Weinberger, Michael Leeson, Bill Cosby, Carsey-Werner Productions, Viacom Productions and Carsey-Werner Distribution. Happy Days characters belong to Garry Marshall and Paramount Network Television. Leverage characters belong to John Rogers, Chris Downey, and TNT. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.
Woodbridge, CT
Buffy looked around at the crowd in the lobby of the inn. This place and every other place for a twenty mile radius were booked solid. They had to drive in from Hartford. She grabbed a passerby and asked, “Is there a fair or convention going on in the area?”
“No, sweetie,” the large woman in bright clothing replied. “We’ve all been evacuated from our homes. It was horrible; they say the town can’t be lived in for several years now.”
“Oh my god, what happened?” Buffy asked. “If you don’t mind talking about it, that is,” she added belatedly.
“It’s no problem,” the woman assured her. “Let’s go grab a cup of coffee and sit down. My name’s Miss Patty, by the way.”
“Buffy Summers.”
“Just visiting?”
“Actually here on business; looking for someone. A couple of someones, actually,” Buffy answered.
“If they’re from the area, I could probably help you find them,” Miss Patty offered. “Should we do that now or later?”
Something about Miss Patty told Buffy that the woman wanted to share her great story about her town’s tragedy. “After you tell me about your town, please,” Buffy said.
The smile she got in return was proof she was right. It wasn’t that the woman was happy about her town being devastated by a disaster; more like she had juicy news to share with somebody.
When they were settled, Miss Patty started her story, “It was just like the pickle disaster a few months ago, only this time it was in the heart of town and a more toxic substance. It was a train derailment. At first they didn’t notice the leak because was a clear liquid and we were in the middle of a month-long rain.”
“The train people didn’t realize the car was empty?” Buffy asked in shock.
“They’re saying it was a paperwork screw-up,” Miss Patty said with a shake of her head. “Somebody listed that car as empty for the trip. It wasn’t until they went back to the station of origin that they learned about the contents. Apparently it was something that could cause erratic behavior through prolonged exposure.” She laughed, then explained, “It took us over a month to realize because most of our community is fairly colorful.”
Miss Patty sobered and said, “Then the next symptom struck. People started to get sick. We were fortunate that the doctors figured it out before anyone died. But the damage was done to the land and it will take years for it to be cleaned up to the point where we can go back.”
“I’m sorry about your town, but you just have to remember that the important thing is everyone’s safe now,” Buffy tried to comfort her.
“Yes, but we won’t be a community anymore. People have already started to move to other places with the settlement money we got from the train company and the company the chemicals came from. I’ll even miss Taylor,” Miss Patty said with a wry chuckle.
They sat in silence for several minutes before Miss Patty remembered Buffy’s mission. “So who were you looking for?”
“Lorelai Gilmore and Luke Danes. Do you know either of them?”
“I know both of them, sweetheart,” Miss Patty answered with a happy smile. “They are our town’s super-couple. We’ve been pulling for years for them to realize they’re right for each other. There were a couple serious bumps in their road, but they finally seem to be working things out. I hope whatever you want with them won’t jeopardize that.” Her voice turned oddly menacing.
“Not at all,” Buffy assured her. “I want to offer them both jobs at my school; that’s all.”
“Okay…they’re at the next inn over towards Woodbury - the Fall Colors Inn. I’ll walk you over and introduce you,” she offered.
“Thanks, I just need to grab my colleague and then we can go.” Buffy went, found Cole and brought him back.
She was amused at the slightly panicked look on Cole’s face when Miss Patty purred - literally purred - and latched onto his arm.
“Lucky you for being able to look at this dark hunk of man all day,” Miss Patty cooed.
Buffy couldn’t stop her giggle. “He does make for a nice distraction sometimes,” she admitted, much to Cole’s embarrassment. He vowed to get even with Buffy later.
The visit with Lorelai and Luke went far easier than expected. Without Stars Hollow to tie them to the area - and both their daughters were not in their day-to-day lives anymore - they were willing to try something new. Well, mostly it was Lorelai willing to try something new and Luke was grudgingly dragged along, only on the condition that if it didn’t work out, their expenses to move back to the States would be covered by the school.
Brooklyn Heights, NY
There was something magical about the house where the Cosby family lived. Literally magical; it caused a physical reaction in both Buffy and Cole as they approached it. For Buffy, it was like being in her mother and father’s embrace again, like when she was a child. For Cole, the human half of him craved the feeling while his demon side was repulsed by it.
“I can do this by myself,” Buffy offered.
Even though Belthazor wanted to leave, Cole Turner wanted to stay more, so Cole shook his head. “No, it’s a good pain. I enjoy it more than it hurts me,” he explained.
“Alright, but I’ll try to make it quick…for both our sakes’. It can’t be right to feel a house, even a good feeling,” Buffy remarked as she rang the doorbell. It gave a bizarre, strangled kind of tone…like the battery was dying. That was strange.
From inside they could hear a woman yelling, “Cliff! I thought you said you fixed that thing!” Seconds later, the door opened and an attractive, middle-aged woman greeted them. “Hello. Can I help you?”
“Professor Michaels sent us here,” Buffy said. Michaels was a Muggle-born who lived in New York and straddled the magical and non-magical worlds. After graduating magical school, she went on to graduate from Hillman College a few years after Cliff Huxtable. Both were active alumni of the college and talked on a fairly regular basis.
Claire smiled brightly at the name. “How is Janine?”
“She looked very happy with her retirement when we visited her,” Buffy answered. “She also mentioned that you and your husband are feeling a little restless. Thought maybe you’d like a new challenge in your lives now that your house is finally empty.”
“After all of Cliff’s moaning and groaning about getting the kids to leave and stay gone, you’d think he would be happy that it’s finally happened,” Claire said with a rueful grin. “Now he just sighs and says stuff like how it’s too quiet around here. And the worst thing about it is he’s right.”
Buffy turned and smiled at Cole; this was good news. “So you think maybe you and he would like to hear the noise of teenagers again? Coming to you for advice and direction?”
“What are you talking about?” Claire asked. They were getting to be too old to become foster parents.
“I’m talking about being dorm parents at a boarding school,” Buffy explained. “The houses range from 11-18 years old. What we want are people who can act in their best interests when it comes to any conflicts with other students or with the staff. Teach them to make responsible decisions when they leave school. Professor Michaels said you excelled at that.”
Claire snorted. “Obviously she hasn’t heard about some of the crazy things our children have done.”
“But they’re not criminals, are they? And for the most part, they’re independent?” Buffy persisted.
“For the most part,” Claire agreed. Was she willing to go through parenthood again - even if it was just in a substitute setting? “Where is your school located?”
“Scotland,” Buffy replied hopefully.
Colorado Springs, CO
“Walter, do you know why we’re here?” Buffy asked her assistant.
He shook his head. “All I know is that General Hammond said there was an incident in the mountain that we would be better equipped to deal with than them.”
“So I’m guessing demons, then,” Buffy murmured to herself as they cleared the guard station.
Daniel met them at the elevators and escorted them to the conference room. Because of the security issue, only Walter and Buffy were allowed to make this trip. Cole was waiting back at the hotel so their recruiting trip could continue.
“Walter!” Jack exclaimed as they entered the room. “We sure miss you around here! How’s academic life treating you?”
Walter appeared nonplussed by his welcome, but brushed it off to Jack’s unusual personality. “Just fine, sir. Ms. Summers isn’t nearly as demanding as some bosses I’ve had,” he replied with a tiny smirk.
“Was that a joke at my expense?!” Jack chuckled. “Your life must be good if you’ve loosened up enough to make fun of me.”
“I’ve always made fun of you, sir,” Walter admitted cheekily, “…just not to your face.”
“Don’t feel bad, General, he doesn’t make fun of me to my face either,” Buffy said before tackling the matter at hand, “So what’s the situation that we’d supposedly be better at handling? Got baddies that need slaying?”
“We have Goa’uld that need slaying, but that’s not the problem. A few days ago, the wormhole opened. We couldn’t shut the iris before two people came through,” Daniel explained.
“Tollan?” Walter guessed.
“Nope!” Jack answered. “Tau’ri. Specifically Tau’ri from the 1950s.”
Walter leaned forward in confusion. “I’m sorry, sir. Are you saying they’re from our past?”
“Milwaukee, Wisconsin to be exact,” Jack confirmed.
“Whoa…freaky,” Buffy remarked. “I’m guessing you can’t send them back?”
Sam shook her head. “They’re not even sure how they ended up here,” she said.
“Are you sure sending them to our community is wise? It’ll be a rather big culture shock for them,” Buffy asked carefully. She knew that Jack was cleared to know about magic, but she wasn’t sure about everyone else in the room.
“Not that much more than if we set them loose in modern Milwaukee,” Jack retorted.
“I don’t know…” Buffy hedged. “It still seems rather risky. Maybe if we ease them into things?”
“What’s your community like that they’d need to be eased into it more than modern America?” Daniel inquired with his usual curiosity.
“Sorry, it’s classified.”
“I’m working on getting at least SG1 cleared,” Jack interjected. “Do you want to meet them now?” he asked Buffy and Walter. After they nodded, he gestured towards one of the guards, who left the room and came back with a middle-aged couple.
They were obviously confused and off-kilter from recent events, but their faces showed decades of smiling and laughing on them.
“Howard and Marion Cunningham, I’d like you to meet Buffy Summers and Walter Harriman. Guys, these are the Cunninghams,” Jack said. “Buffy has a place that you can learn about what life is like now without being overwhelmed by all the changes.”
“They’d just be overwhelmed by other stuff instead,” Buffy muttered softly. Louder, she asked, “You don’t have a heart condition or anything, do you?”
“No…why?” Howard asked.
“There’ll be some surprises,” Buffy replied. “Just thought you should know.”
“Well, it’s hard to think of anything more shocking than what we’ve seen on the television,” Marion complained. “Some of those clothes don’t even look like clothes you’d wear under your clothes!”
“You’ll be happy to know that people dress far more conservatively where we are,” Walter said.
“What do you think, dear?” Marion asked her husband.
Howard looked at Jack, then at Buffy. “I’m not sure we really have a choice, Marion…at least not at first. We’d stick out like sore thumbs if we tried to mingle into today’s world. Maybe we wouldn’t stick out as much with Miss Summer’s group.”
“Oh, you’d stick out,” Buffy interjected, “But in some ways, you actually might fit in better than I do.”
Los Angeles, CA
“I don’t know, Cole…he has a lot of anger and grief left to work through,” Buffy commented as they watched their latest ‘search result’.
Nathan Ford was storming out of the headquarters of his now-former employers, I.Y.S. and practically ripped the door handle off his car as he got in. Then he sat there for several minutes pounding on the steering wheel.
“Do you blame him?” Cole asked rhetorically. “He’s one of their top investigators and they reward him by denying payment on medical treatments for his son, which led to his son’s death. They’re lucky. If it were me, this building wouldn’t still be standing, demon powers or not.”
“Touché,” Buffy replied. “And losing his wife in the aftermath couldn’t have helped things either. Still…”
“The spell must have considered him for a reason,” Cole reminded her. “Maybe it’s so you can save another person, like you did with me.”
“You’re just gonna keep throwing that in my face every time I hesitate on somebody, aren’t you?” she asked with a grimace.
“Why not? It works so well at bringing you around,” he answered with a smirk. “I think offering him a new purpose in life will lessen his anger considerably.”
“Okay, but I reserve the right to say ‘I told you so’ if he doesn’t work out.”
Hogwarts
End of August
“So have you made your final decisions about the Heads of Houses?” Minerva asked. “Classes are starting in less than a week,” she reminded Buffy unnecessarily.
“Given that the transitions have been successful - for the most part - I think so. I wanted to keep couples together, but some just worked better in different houses to promote the kind of qualities we want.
“To care for the Hufflepuff students, I picked Amanda Stetson and Luke Danes; they embodied active friendship rather than blind loyalty. Lee Stetson and Lorelai Gilmore, on the other hand, can teach the Ravenclaw students about putting knowledge into practical use instead of just learning for learning’s sake.
“The Gryffindors need a gentle, yet strong guiding hand to keep them from running off half-cocked. The Cunninghams feel like they can handle the more rebellious personalities while also nurturing the introverted ones as well. Both of my choices for Slytherin are a risk, but one I feel better with now than I did when I brought them here last spring. They can teach that ambition doesn’t have to come at the cost of somebody else.”
“Who?” Minerva asked nervously.
“Nathan Ford and Veronica Mars,” Buffy said. “That leaves the hardest house left. The ones in charge of those last steps from childhood into adulthood. I think anyone that has spent any time with them knows who is perfect to be in charge of Merlin House.”
“The Huxtables,” most of the staff in the room said in unison. Even if it wasn’t a matter of elimination, Cliff and Claire would be almost everyone’s choice for guiding the oldest students into adulthood.
A/N: Professor Michaels is an OC that I made up to serve as a bridge between the people.
Now we are at the end. Like I said above, I’ll probably be adding some more successful and failed interviews to cover the positions I missed earlier. Plus I’d like to add a side story to handle the new rules/guidelines of Hogwarts. After I post the first chapter, I’ll be asking for suggestions of things you’d like to see, so start thinking. Thanks for being such awesome readers/reviewers this month. You’ve made it a pleasure to write this challenge.
Alt Title: Day 31 - Heads of House
Author: mmooch
Chapter Summary: **For the 2014 LiveJournal’s Twisted Shorts FaD** challenge. The ease of finding these choices should make Buffy feel more concerned than she is.
Chapter Crossover: Gilmore Girls; Charmed; The Cosby Show; Happy Days; Leverage; Harry Potter
Rating: FR-13.
Word count: 2506
Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.
Timeline: post-series for GG, TCB and HD; pre-series for Leverage.
Warning: Scriptor ex machina is necessary to bring in one pair for sure (‘writer’ instead of ‘god’). Sad event in part one.
A/N: While the month is technically at an end, I may add a couple chapters to this story if they fit in more with the hiring process than the settling in process which I plan to be the theme for next year’s FaD. Some of the new chapters will probably include failed interviews.
Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Gilmore Girls characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB. The Cosby Show characters belong to Ed. Weinberger, Michael Leeson, Bill Cosby, Carsey-Werner Productions, Viacom Productions and Carsey-Werner Distribution. Happy Days characters belong to Garry Marshall and Paramount Network Television. Leverage characters belong to John Rogers, Chris Downey, and TNT. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.
Woodbridge, CT
Buffy looked around at the crowd in the lobby of the inn. This place and every other place for a twenty mile radius were booked solid. They had to drive in from Hartford. She grabbed a passerby and asked, “Is there a fair or convention going on in the area?”
“No, sweetie,” the large woman in bright clothing replied. “We’ve all been evacuated from our homes. It was horrible; they say the town can’t be lived in for several years now.”
“Oh my god, what happened?” Buffy asked. “If you don’t mind talking about it, that is,” she added belatedly.
“It’s no problem,” the woman assured her. “Let’s go grab a cup of coffee and sit down. My name’s Miss Patty, by the way.”
“Buffy Summers.”
“Just visiting?”
“Actually here on business; looking for someone. A couple of someones, actually,” Buffy answered.
“If they’re from the area, I could probably help you find them,” Miss Patty offered. “Should we do that now or later?”
Something about Miss Patty told Buffy that the woman wanted to share her great story about her town’s tragedy. “After you tell me about your town, please,” Buffy said.
The smile she got in return was proof she was right. It wasn’t that the woman was happy about her town being devastated by a disaster; more like she had juicy news to share with somebody.
When they were settled, Miss Patty started her story, “It was just like the pickle disaster a few months ago, only this time it was in the heart of town and a more toxic substance. It was a train derailment. At first they didn’t notice the leak because was a clear liquid and we were in the middle of a month-long rain.”
“The train people didn’t realize the car was empty?” Buffy asked in shock.
“They’re saying it was a paperwork screw-up,” Miss Patty said with a shake of her head. “Somebody listed that car as empty for the trip. It wasn’t until they went back to the station of origin that they learned about the contents. Apparently it was something that could cause erratic behavior through prolonged exposure.” She laughed, then explained, “It took us over a month to realize because most of our community is fairly colorful.”
Miss Patty sobered and said, “Then the next symptom struck. People started to get sick. We were fortunate that the doctors figured it out before anyone died. But the damage was done to the land and it will take years for it to be cleaned up to the point where we can go back.”
“I’m sorry about your town, but you just have to remember that the important thing is everyone’s safe now,” Buffy tried to comfort her.
“Yes, but we won’t be a community anymore. People have already started to move to other places with the settlement money we got from the train company and the company the chemicals came from. I’ll even miss Taylor,” Miss Patty said with a wry chuckle.
They sat in silence for several minutes before Miss Patty remembered Buffy’s mission. “So who were you looking for?”
“Lorelai Gilmore and Luke Danes. Do you know either of them?”
“I know both of them, sweetheart,” Miss Patty answered with a happy smile. “They are our town’s super-couple. We’ve been pulling for years for them to realize they’re right for each other. There were a couple serious bumps in their road, but they finally seem to be working things out. I hope whatever you want with them won’t jeopardize that.” Her voice turned oddly menacing.
“Not at all,” Buffy assured her. “I want to offer them both jobs at my school; that’s all.”
“Okay…they’re at the next inn over towards Woodbury - the Fall Colors Inn. I’ll walk you over and introduce you,” she offered.
“Thanks, I just need to grab my colleague and then we can go.” Buffy went, found Cole and brought him back.
She was amused at the slightly panicked look on Cole’s face when Miss Patty purred - literally purred - and latched onto his arm.
“Lucky you for being able to look at this dark hunk of man all day,” Miss Patty cooed.
Buffy couldn’t stop her giggle. “He does make for a nice distraction sometimes,” she admitted, much to Cole’s embarrassment. He vowed to get even with Buffy later.
The visit with Lorelai and Luke went far easier than expected. Without Stars Hollow to tie them to the area - and both their daughters were not in their day-to-day lives anymore - they were willing to try something new. Well, mostly it was Lorelai willing to try something new and Luke was grudgingly dragged along, only on the condition that if it didn’t work out, their expenses to move back to the States would be covered by the school.
Brooklyn Heights, NY
There was something magical about the house where the Cosby family lived. Literally magical; it caused a physical reaction in both Buffy and Cole as they approached it. For Buffy, it was like being in her mother and father’s embrace again, like when she was a child. For Cole, the human half of him craved the feeling while his demon side was repulsed by it.
“I can do this by myself,” Buffy offered.
Even though Belthazor wanted to leave, Cole Turner wanted to stay more, so Cole shook his head. “No, it’s a good pain. I enjoy it more than it hurts me,” he explained.
“Alright, but I’ll try to make it quick…for both our sakes’. It can’t be right to feel a house, even a good feeling,” Buffy remarked as she rang the doorbell. It gave a bizarre, strangled kind of tone…like the battery was dying. That was strange.
From inside they could hear a woman yelling, “Cliff! I thought you said you fixed that thing!” Seconds later, the door opened and an attractive, middle-aged woman greeted them. “Hello. Can I help you?”
“Professor Michaels sent us here,” Buffy said. Michaels was a Muggle-born who lived in New York and straddled the magical and non-magical worlds. After graduating magical school, she went on to graduate from Hillman College a few years after Cliff Huxtable. Both were active alumni of the college and talked on a fairly regular basis.
Claire smiled brightly at the name. “How is Janine?”
“She looked very happy with her retirement when we visited her,” Buffy answered. “She also mentioned that you and your husband are feeling a little restless. Thought maybe you’d like a new challenge in your lives now that your house is finally empty.”
“After all of Cliff’s moaning and groaning about getting the kids to leave and stay gone, you’d think he would be happy that it’s finally happened,” Claire said with a rueful grin. “Now he just sighs and says stuff like how it’s too quiet around here. And the worst thing about it is he’s right.”
Buffy turned and smiled at Cole; this was good news. “So you think maybe you and he would like to hear the noise of teenagers again? Coming to you for advice and direction?”
“What are you talking about?” Claire asked. They were getting to be too old to become foster parents.
“I’m talking about being dorm parents at a boarding school,” Buffy explained. “The houses range from 11-18 years old. What we want are people who can act in their best interests when it comes to any conflicts with other students or with the staff. Teach them to make responsible decisions when they leave school. Professor Michaels said you excelled at that.”
Claire snorted. “Obviously she hasn’t heard about some of the crazy things our children have done.”
“But they’re not criminals, are they? And for the most part, they’re independent?” Buffy persisted.
“For the most part,” Claire agreed. Was she willing to go through parenthood again - even if it was just in a substitute setting? “Where is your school located?”
“Scotland,” Buffy replied hopefully.
Colorado Springs, CO
“Walter, do you know why we’re here?” Buffy asked her assistant.
He shook his head. “All I know is that General Hammond said there was an incident in the mountain that we would be better equipped to deal with than them.”
“So I’m guessing demons, then,” Buffy murmured to herself as they cleared the guard station.
Daniel met them at the elevators and escorted them to the conference room. Because of the security issue, only Walter and Buffy were allowed to make this trip. Cole was waiting back at the hotel so their recruiting trip could continue.
“Walter!” Jack exclaimed as they entered the room. “We sure miss you around here! How’s academic life treating you?”
Walter appeared nonplussed by his welcome, but brushed it off to Jack’s unusual personality. “Just fine, sir. Ms. Summers isn’t nearly as demanding as some bosses I’ve had,” he replied with a tiny smirk.
“Was that a joke at my expense?!” Jack chuckled. “Your life must be good if you’ve loosened up enough to make fun of me.”
“I’ve always made fun of you, sir,” Walter admitted cheekily, “…just not to your face.”
“Don’t feel bad, General, he doesn’t make fun of me to my face either,” Buffy said before tackling the matter at hand, “So what’s the situation that we’d supposedly be better at handling? Got baddies that need slaying?”
“We have Goa’uld that need slaying, but that’s not the problem. A few days ago, the wormhole opened. We couldn’t shut the iris before two people came through,” Daniel explained.
“Tollan?” Walter guessed.
“Nope!” Jack answered. “Tau’ri. Specifically Tau’ri from the 1950s.”
Walter leaned forward in confusion. “I’m sorry, sir. Are you saying they’re from our past?”
“Milwaukee, Wisconsin to be exact,” Jack confirmed.
“Whoa…freaky,” Buffy remarked. “I’m guessing you can’t send them back?”
Sam shook her head. “They’re not even sure how they ended up here,” she said.
“Are you sure sending them to our community is wise? It’ll be a rather big culture shock for them,” Buffy asked carefully. She knew that Jack was cleared to know about magic, but she wasn’t sure about everyone else in the room.
“Not that much more than if we set them loose in modern Milwaukee,” Jack retorted.
“I don’t know…” Buffy hedged. “It still seems rather risky. Maybe if we ease them into things?”
“What’s your community like that they’d need to be eased into it more than modern America?” Daniel inquired with his usual curiosity.
“Sorry, it’s classified.”
“I’m working on getting at least SG1 cleared,” Jack interjected. “Do you want to meet them now?” he asked Buffy and Walter. After they nodded, he gestured towards one of the guards, who left the room and came back with a middle-aged couple.
They were obviously confused and off-kilter from recent events, but their faces showed decades of smiling and laughing on them.
“Howard and Marion Cunningham, I’d like you to meet Buffy Summers and Walter Harriman. Guys, these are the Cunninghams,” Jack said. “Buffy has a place that you can learn about what life is like now without being overwhelmed by all the changes.”
“They’d just be overwhelmed by other stuff instead,” Buffy muttered softly. Louder, she asked, “You don’t have a heart condition or anything, do you?”
“No…why?” Howard asked.
“There’ll be some surprises,” Buffy replied. “Just thought you should know.”
“Well, it’s hard to think of anything more shocking than what we’ve seen on the television,” Marion complained. “Some of those clothes don’t even look like clothes you’d wear under your clothes!”
“You’ll be happy to know that people dress far more conservatively where we are,” Walter said.
“What do you think, dear?” Marion asked her husband.
Howard looked at Jack, then at Buffy. “I’m not sure we really have a choice, Marion…at least not at first. We’d stick out like sore thumbs if we tried to mingle into today’s world. Maybe we wouldn’t stick out as much with Miss Summer’s group.”
“Oh, you’d stick out,” Buffy interjected, “But in some ways, you actually might fit in better than I do.”
Los Angeles, CA
“I don’t know, Cole…he has a lot of anger and grief left to work through,” Buffy commented as they watched their latest ‘search result’.
Nathan Ford was storming out of the headquarters of his now-former employers, I.Y.S. and practically ripped the door handle off his car as he got in. Then he sat there for several minutes pounding on the steering wheel.
“Do you blame him?” Cole asked rhetorically. “He’s one of their top investigators and they reward him by denying payment on medical treatments for his son, which led to his son’s death. They’re lucky. If it were me, this building wouldn’t still be standing, demon powers or not.”
“Touché,” Buffy replied. “And losing his wife in the aftermath couldn’t have helped things either. Still…”
“The spell must have considered him for a reason,” Cole reminded her. “Maybe it’s so you can save another person, like you did with me.”
“You’re just gonna keep throwing that in my face every time I hesitate on somebody, aren’t you?” she asked with a grimace.
“Why not? It works so well at bringing you around,” he answered with a smirk. “I think offering him a new purpose in life will lessen his anger considerably.”
“Okay, but I reserve the right to say ‘I told you so’ if he doesn’t work out.”
Hogwarts
End of August
“So have you made your final decisions about the Heads of Houses?” Minerva asked. “Classes are starting in less than a week,” she reminded Buffy unnecessarily.
“Given that the transitions have been successful - for the most part - I think so. I wanted to keep couples together, but some just worked better in different houses to promote the kind of qualities we want.
“To care for the Hufflepuff students, I picked Amanda Stetson and Luke Danes; they embodied active friendship rather than blind loyalty. Lee Stetson and Lorelai Gilmore, on the other hand, can teach the Ravenclaw students about putting knowledge into practical use instead of just learning for learning’s sake.
“The Gryffindors need a gentle, yet strong guiding hand to keep them from running off half-cocked. The Cunninghams feel like they can handle the more rebellious personalities while also nurturing the introverted ones as well. Both of my choices for Slytherin are a risk, but one I feel better with now than I did when I brought them here last spring. They can teach that ambition doesn’t have to come at the cost of somebody else.”
“Who?” Minerva asked nervously.
“Nathan Ford and Veronica Mars,” Buffy said. “That leaves the hardest house left. The ones in charge of those last steps from childhood into adulthood. I think anyone that has spent any time with them knows who is perfect to be in charge of Merlin House.”
“The Huxtables,” most of the staff in the room said in unison. Even if it wasn’t a matter of elimination, Cliff and Claire would be almost everyone’s choice for guiding the oldest students into adulthood.
A/N: Professor Michaels is an OC that I made up to serve as a bridge between the people.
Now we are at the end. Like I said above, I’ll probably be adding some more successful and failed interviews to cover the positions I missed earlier. Plus I’d like to add a side story to handle the new rules/guidelines of Hogwarts. After I post the first chapter, I’ll be asking for suggestions of things you’d like to see, so start thinking. Thanks for being such awesome readers/reviewers this month. You’ve made it a pleasure to write this challenge.