Despite her eagerness to get this over with and be on her way to England, at 2pm Buffy was still sitting back in the Lounge she had waited in after her trial. She had been served lunch by a small creature with large eyes and ears that seemed to have been dressed in a tea towel. The creature’s eagerness to please and bring her anything she could think of convinced her of Neil’s ulterior motives when bringing the tea to her and his Uncle. The House-Elf that no doubt made the tea would have been more than happy to bring it to them.

When she finally heard a knock on the door she jumped up, and was surprised to find Neil coming through it. “They finally got you all sorted out. Apparently, someone unwittingly being a magical alien creates a hella lot of paperwork” he waved a wad of paper at her “Uncle didn’t enjoy having to put up with a load of grumpy wizards complaining about work on a Saturday, I can tell you. Half of them wanted to deport you as an illegal entry just to get out of here quicker.” He noticed a worried look cross her face “Don’t worry, you’re all legal. And I got myself the job of taking you to London.” He grinned “I’ve been wanting to visit Diagon Alley for a while now.” He held open the door for her to leave and lead her along the maze of identical corridors that seemed to make up the Bureau.

They turned many corners and went down a few of staircases, before coming out of a small doorway, which seemed to blend back into the wall as soon as it closed, into a room that, like the main entrance hall, was made of the stone of the mountain. It was a long corridor that, like the bank, had a row of fireplaces, this time more than a dozen on each side of the room with three of the larger ones that Neil had named as part of the International Floo Network, one in the centre of the right hand wall and the others at each end of the room. On the left hand wall was a large archway, through which could be seen the ice sculpture in the centre of the entrance hall.

“There probably won’t be anyone there – it’s getting on for 10pm there, but we’d better visit the Ministry before finding rooms at the Leaky Caldron, even if it’s just to tell the night guard we’re here. Those Brits get annoyed if you don’t follow protocol.” He smiled at Buffy, then it seemed to dawn on him that she was technically British. “uh… sorry.”

“It’s okay, I think of myself as an American anyway.” She smiled reassuringly at him “So how does this fire thing work anyway?”

Neil brightened immediately and started rambling on about charming spells on fireplaces and dried potions to start the magic. After five minutes spent getting more and more confused Buffy interrupted “So you’re saying I sprinkle some powder on the fire and say where I wanna go, and I magically get there” Neil blushed

“um, yeah. Sorry, I work for the Floo Network Authority. Write it off as loving my job?”

“Of course. I’ll totally forgive your slip into geekdom. If you gimme that powder” Neil smiled in relief and handed her a pinch of Floo Powder. “Just remember to say the city and country too: ‘Ministry of Magic, London, England’ nice and clearly.”

Buffy smiled and threw the powder into the flames, turning them a brilliant green. She stepped in, announcing her destination, and felt the flames tickle against her exposed skin as she was sucked into the fire. Around her she saw whirls of green flame and fleeting glimpses of fireplaces streaking by until she had to shut her eyes to settle the sickness in her stomach, waiting until she felt the world around her stop spinning to open them again.

She arrived to find that, instead of the quiet, empty place that Neil’s words made her expect, the room was full of both hustle and bustle, with many witches and wizards rushing back and forth. She heard a woosh slightly louder than the others around her that heralded the arrival of her companion. He gasped as he saw the commotion in the hall. “Wait a second, I’ll find out what’s going on.” He rushed off to speak to the security desk, she took the time to look around the hall they had landed in.

The dark floor was polished until it gleamed, in spite of the many people walking over it, it reflected the blue ceiling which was inlaid with streaks of gold that seemed to be constantly changing. The walls on each side housed lots of fireplaces similar to the one that she had emerged from. Opposite her there were queues of people lined up to use the fireplace whilst behind her, more wizards were constantly emerging from the fires. She was startled by a pop as a witch suddenly appeared at her side, before realising that all over the hall, people were appearing or disappearing with a crack. In the centre of the long hallway was a gold fountain of a group of people and creatures all smiling as flows of water sprinkled over them.

Neil came back looking very worried “I’m sorry Buffy, but I have to go” he looked at her anxiously “They’re just sending someone down to collect you. You will be okay on your own won’t you?”

Buffy smiled confidently back at him “I’m sure I’ll be fine. What’s wrong anyway?”

Neil gaped a few times, trying to work out how to put it to someone who didn’t know their world. “There was this power hungry wizard, who terrorised Britain and parts of Europe for a decade. We all thought he was dead, but now there’re rumours that he’s back that The Minister’s been keeping it quiet from the rest of the world. I have to tell Darren.” As Buffy listened to his tale, her hopes of a new life began to drop. Is this the fight that Whistler was trying to get her involved with?

“Hey there he is.” Buffy was pulled, both out of her thoughts and across the hall, as Neil sighted the new person that was to take over minding her. Standing at the security booth was a tall thin man, whose bulky robes hung awkwardly off his angular figure. He had shocking red hair and a pair of horn rimmed spectacles perched on his nose. As he greeted Neil and was bought up to date on her status, Buffy continued her speculation about the irony of her entering this world, just as they had a baddie to fight.

“Do leprechauns exist?” Both men were startled by the question. “Of course. They’re the Irish National Quidditch Team's mascots.” Buffy immediately cheered up. If leprechauns exist, then maybe this was all a coincidence.

“Buffy, I’ve got to go.” Buffy was supprised at how sad she was to see Neil go, considering she’d only known him for one afternoon. “Bye then.” “I’ll write to you, if that’s okay?” He blushed a deep red. Buffy didn’t want to lead him on, but he was the only link, however tenuous to her home, and she couldn’t say no. He grinned and rushed off across the room before she could change her mind. Left alone with the redhead who was now sorting through the large sheaf of papers that documented her return to the country, she turned to introduce herself.

“Buffy Summers” She stretched out her hand.

“Oh,uh” The man seemed to suddenly notice that she was still there, and managed to drop the papers in an attempt to shake her hand while still reading them. When the papers were collected back together and safely stored in his battered briefcase, he shook her hand “Percy Weasley, Junior Assistant to the Minister of Magic” He looked her over and spoke to the security guard, getting a silver badge with her name on that she fixed to her top. He led her over to a smaller hall with a score of lifts behind golden grills. They boarded one that was slowly filling with robed men and women. “We’ll go straight to the Minister. He’s got a slot free at the moment.”

The grills closed with a crash, and the lift started upwards, chains clattering. On each floor a female voice announced the department, and wizards got off and on, along with some paper aeroplanes that flapped out of reach as they waited for the lift to get to their floor. “inter-departmental memos” her guide explained as one swooped out of the lift on ‘Level Three, Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes’ They had started at level eight and were now the only two left in the lift which, after one more pause on level two, jolted to a stop on ‘Level One’ for this there was no announcement, no doubt anyone coming to this floor would know exactly where they were.

She was lead along the hall to large wooden double doors with ‘Minister’s Office’ engraved upon them. Percy knocked discretely and waited for a muffled “What is it?” barked angrily from inside, before leading Buffy into a large ornate office that rivalled the oval office in both size and luxury. The room gave a presence to the figure on the chair that he definitely wouldn’t have possessed outside it. He was a portly man with rumpled grey hair and a bemused indifference in his expression. Buffy stood back as he listened absently to Percy’s abridged assessment of her situation, trying not to cringe when he languidly looked her up and down.

When Percy had finished, he looked at Buffy for a while with an expression of deep contemplation “What shall we do with you then?” he mused out loud.

Fully knowing that it had been intended as a rhetorical question, but not liking the idea of doing anything that might come into this man’s head, Buffy chipped in. “Well, Sir, the Bureau planned on sending me to Salem.”

He took this in and continued nodding thoughtfully. Slowly, a grin crossed his face as a thought entered his head. “yes” he muttered gleefully to himself “That’ll keep the old do-gooder out of my way.” He looked up at Percy “I agree with the Bureau” he smiled, happy with himself “She should go to school. Weasley, write up the paperwork immediately and take her to him tonight. Tell him” his smile, impossibly, broadened “Tell him I want her to be taking her OWLs next summer. And she’d better pass, with flying colours, or we might need to discuss if he’s still suitable for his position.” He looked at Buffy, and she realised that, to him, she was no longer an annoying disturbance, or even a pretty young girl, she was something he could use to get at the man who threatened his world.