grundyscribbling

Title: Next Steps
Author: Grundy
Rating: FR13
Crossover: HP
Disclaimer: Playing with other people's toys. No money is being made here, it's all in good fun.
Summary: Willow reacts to what she has just learned.
Word Count: 1090

Buffy watched in amusement as Willow paced the room.

The wand-users’ magic and Willow’s own spell had both said the same thing. She and Auror Weasley were siblings.

Hard to say which of the two had been more rocked by that news. To be fair, Auror Weasley had at least had some heads up when Willow’s birthdate matched his younger sister’s. But for Willow, it was a bolt from the blue.

“So, no idea you were adopted, Will?” Buffy asked cautiously.

“No,” Willow said, sounding mystified. “And you’d think they would have told me, wouldn’t you? Or had the adoption papers in with everything else? But there weren’t. I had a birth certificate, Buffy! A normal one, with my name and my parents’ names, and those parents were not Arthur and Molly Weasley.”

She paused.

“I’m sure the Weasleys are nice people,” she added.

Buffy kept quiet. She wasn’t really sure what to say. It wasn’t as though Willow and her parents were close these days. They were in Asia now, Mrs. Rosenberg was doing research on different styles of child-rearing. She was pretty sure it was Mongolia, but it might have been Myanmar. Or Malaysia. Somewhere with an M.

“But?” Buffy prompted finally, when the silence stretched out too long. “You definitely have but face.”

“But they’re not my mom and dad,” Willow sighed. “I mean, yeah, they may not be the greatest parents, but they are my parents. And they care, even if they don’t show it in conventional ways.”

Buffy privately considered that an understatement, although she did have to admit Mr. Rosenberg had been interesting to talk to on the rare occasions he was around. Actually, it probably would have been healthier for all of them if he’d been around more. Mrs. Rosenberg’s child psychology was an abstract theoretical type verging on sociological, but Mr. Rosenberg had been the kind who actually worked with kids. A parent figure who actually knew what normal and healthy looked like when not filtered through the Hellmouth would have been great.

Although…

“Will,” she said quietly. “What if they got hit with the mojo? They don’t know either.”

The wand-users were clear that magic couldn’t force emotions like love. Counterfeit it, but not the real thing. Which might explain a thing or two about the Rosenberg family.

Willow’s unhappy face was clearer than any words that she’d already thought about that.

“They probably were,” she said quietly. “I mean, how else do they end up with a kid from wand-users who live in England? They weren’t in England back then, not even for a vacation. They were getting their doctorates. They didn’t have the time or money for fancy trips. If they had, they would probably have used it to go somewhere to do research.”

Whereas the wand-users had been in their first go-round with Voldemort, which the Weasleys had been involved in and would give the pro-Voldemort side ample grounds to want to hurt them.

Willow sighed.

“Maybe I should talk to him more?”

She meant Auror Weasley.

The siblings had boggled at more than just being related – their different takes on how to potentially stay in touch had led to mutual amazement.

Auror Weasley had turned slightly red as he offered them the use of his owl Pigwidgeon, which he’d magic’ed up to meet them. He was the weeniest owl Buffy and Willow had ever seen (not that they’d seen a lot of owls), but Buffy had been seriously worried someone might eat him (demonic Council employees) or slay him (Slayer Council employees).

For his part, Auror Weasley had been astonished by Willow’s magical telepathy.

“But… that’s even more direct than Patronus messages!” he’d exclaimed.

As neither Willow nor Buffy had any idea what a Patronus was, that had required some explanation, and eventually demonstration on his part.

“Why do you bother with owls if you can send messages that way?” Buffy asked, trying not to be too obvious about gaping at the silvery terrier frolicking around the room.

Not only did the dog seem slightly more reliable than the owl, she wouldn’t have to worry about anyone eating him.

Willow, of course, had been more focused on the magic aspects.

“Do you get to choose the form?” she wanted to know. “And how do you do it? Would I be able to do one too?”

The ensuing explanation hadn’t made much sense to Buffy, but Willow had gotten enough from it to try, and she had produced a cat that looked suspiciously like Miss Kitty Fantastico. Getting it to talk had been trivial according to Willow. Auror Weasley had needed to pick his jaw up off the floor.

Willow now had multiple options for how to contact her brother. (Buffy was still worried about Pigwidgeon the mini owl.)

“I mean, talking can’t hurt. And you could pick where to meet up. Maybe somewhere in non-magic London?”

“Definitely non-magic London,” Willow said emphatically. “I attract too much attention in wand-using London, and I don’t think introducing him to the other kinds of magic London is a great plan.”

“Point,” Buffy agreed.

The wand-using community was… sheltered. They’d retreated into their own little pockets of the world hundreds of years ago, and didn’t even interact with the non-magical world much. Introducing the concept of other variations of magic and other magical communities was an advanced subject. And Willow already had ‘deciding how to deal with having a birth family I never knew about who have apparently been looking for me my entire life’ to deal with.

One big thing at a time.

“Maybe a quiet café or pub somewhere?” Buffy suggested. “What about the Dove?”

Magic could ensure the conversation stayed private, and it wasn’t particularly close to either the magic-users patch of London or the Council’s.

“How do I tell him just him?” Willow asked nervously. “I’m not ready for a big ‘meet the family’ thing.”

Unspoken was that she wasn’t sure she’d ever be ready for that.

Buffy shrugged.

“Just say it, I guess? He can talk to you on your terms or not at all. Up to him.”

Willow nodded, and concentrated.

“Ok, he says he’ll meet us for dinner. But he’s assuming I’m bringing you, so he’d like to bring Potter too. In a strictly friend capacity.”

Buffy grinned.

“Good, I can ask him more about that ‘breaking into the bank’ thing.”

She paused.

“I wonder if Giles is back yet. We should probably makes sure he didn’t get hit by the mojo too much.”