The Eighth Weasley

Notes: Gyah! I had a nice set of notes written for this and what was meant to be one tiny little scene became six pages. So, here we are - Willow´s arrived at Hogsmeade and its just a lil bitty chapter about getting from there up to the castle and her finding out what it is to be famous.

SORTED (which was originally this chapter - I really have to stop adding them) will be the next chapter :)

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"We´re going to leave you with Hagrid, so you can go across the lake on the boats, if that´s all right with you, Willow," Hermione was helping Willow straighten her new, dark robes, which she had just donned, the red-haired witch´s face white as she tried to do up the buttons with shaking fingers over her neatly tied tie.

"Yeah...yeah, that´ll be good...I´ve heard the castle is neat with all the lights and towers and cliffy stuff and..." she whimpered suddenly, her green eyes widening. "Oh god...what if the boat sinks on the way over the lake? What if I don´t even make it to the school? What if the sorting hat doesn´t like me? What if it tells me to go home because I´m way too old to be starting? What if the other first years think I´m a whacko cos I´m starting late? What if everyone laughs at me and..."

Lupin´s rough hands came down on her shoulders, his touch as reassuring to her as Oz´s touch. "You´re going to be fine, Willow," he soothed reassuringly, his voice a calming murmur. "You´re a pure-blooded Weasley and no Weasley was ever rejected from Hogwarts."

"Fred and George almost got themselves kicked out a few times," Hermione volunteered, reaching up to smooth Willow´s slightly mussed hair. She smiled at the red-haired witch. "But I don´t think you´re quite like them. Something tells me that you aren´t the type to go around, blowing up toilets."

"You really think I can do this?" Willow asked hopefully, staring at Hermione.

The older witch nodded with a smile. "Willow, with you, I believe you could do anything you wanted," Brushing a loose lock of the red hair back from Willow´s face, she touched the younger witch´s cheek gently. "They´re going to love you. I know we do already and that`s saying something, considering I despised Harry and Ron the first time I met them. Everyone will love you."

"Even Snape?" Willow´s brows rose.

Lupin coughed. "That might be asking for a miracle."

"Well, Mister, you´re looking at the famous Willow, the missing Weasley! She who can do anything!" Her over-acted enthusiasm made them both smile. Willow looked down at herself, touching her robes. "Oh God...I´m actually doing it...well, not it it," she corrected herself hastily. "But it! I´m actually going to Hogwarts!"

"That you are," Lupin murmured, as the train shuddered to a halt. "But now, come on. We´ll take you down to meet Hagrid. He´s been dying to meet you ever since he heard you would be coming to the school."

"Uh-huh?"

Willow´s nervous squeak made Hermione laugh and she caught the younger witch´s fingers, squeezing them reassuringly. "Don´t worry about Hagrid, Will. He looks terrifying, but he´s an angel."

"Right...giant, great, big, hairy angel...got it..."

"Firs´ years!"

They heard the booming voice before they had even exited their private compartment, Hermione keeping a grip on Willow´s hand in case the youngest Weasley froze, as she had when they suggested she should get her robes.

"Firs´ years, this way!"

"C´mon, Willow! We have to keep moving or we´ll get left behind!" Pulling her friend out of the carriage, the muggle-born witch quickly led Willow out onto the bustling platform.

Above them, the sky was clear and dark as deep blue velvet, stars spotted here and there, a few wisps of cloud swirling around the moon, which shone like a new penny high above them. It was fairly cool, because it was so clear, but Willow´s robes were thick enough to keep her warm, although the breeze was chilly on her cheeks.

The station was fairly small and looked like it had been taken right out of an old-fashioned movie, fields and hills visible in the distance, beyond the tracks they had just travelled down.

Willow stared around in awe, almost knocked off her feet by pupils of various ages hurrying towards the horseless coaches that stood just outside the station, chatter and the sounds of feet tinted wit the flapping of robes.

"A´ righ´, Hermione?" the thunderous voice of the giant reached them , distracting her, as she was dragged along the platform towards the main light, which turned out to be a large lantern held aloft by an enormous, hairy man.

Willow fearfully blinked up at him, wondering if she was allowed to whimper in sheer terror at the guy. He was really, REALLY big. He was hairy. He looked kinda dangerous and...BIG. Again with the big.

"Hello, Hagrid! Great to see you again," Locking her hands around Willow´s arm, Hermione hauled her forward, Willow making a faint whimpering sound as she tilted her head back to stare UP at the giant man.

Brilliant black eyes twinkled behind the wiry mass of hair that stood in all direction around his head and fixed on Willow´s pale face, a huge hand the size of a dust bin lid reaching out towards her. "Is...surely this can´ be..." He bent a little closer and stared at her. "Good grief!"

The lantern was thrust into Hermione´s hands, almost dragging her to the ground with it´s weight, as Willow was lifted off the ground in a giant´s embrace. The red-haired girl managed to utter a squeak, her face buried in thick, bristly beard.

"By `eck Sarah...Willow...I `aven`t seen yer since yer were a baby...yer mum brought yer ter visit..." He placed her back on her feet carefully, his massive hands still on her shoulders. "They told me yer would be comin´ ter Hogwarts but they didn´ tell me how much ye´d grown...or how pretty ye were..."

Willow blushed to the tips of her ears. "Um...yeah...that´s me...all-grown-up Willow. no more weeny baby Willow anymore. All big and grown and everything... not so much with the pretty, but hey..."

Hagrid chuckled a deep, booming laugh, as he clapped her shoulder, making her legs buckle. "Yer just like yer sister was," he said, the expression in his dark eyes warm and friendly. Willow found herself liking him already, despite the...big.

"We´ll be off now," Hermione said, giving Willow a quick hug. "We´ll see you at the castle, all right?" The youngest Weasley nodded, swallowing hard, as Lupin and Granger both melted into the crowd of pupils and vanished.

"Any more firs´ years?" Hagrid bellowed, keeping Willow close beside him, his hand light, but a comfortable weight on her shoulder. Several more children hurried along, looking terrified. "Firs´ years, this way! Follow me!"

They started out of the gates and Willow felt Hagrid squeeze her shoulder, surprisingly gently considering that she was sure he could probably crush her head with one hand, had he wanted to. Raising a small hand, she grabbed his, barely able to even wrap her whole hand round one of his large fingers. He beamed down at her.

"Mind yer step," he called back to the group following behind them, then lowered his voice for her. "Stay close ter me, Willow. I´ll make sure that ye get to the school all right." She nodded, as he lead them on into the darkness and suddenly the path seemed to plunge out from beneath her.

Hagrid´s arm stabilised her and she heard him yelling cautions back to the other first years, as they descended a rough, rocky path. She was sure she could feel roughly-hewn steps beneath her feet, but didn´t want to risk looking down in case there was no side to the path and she plunged over the edge.

Gravel rattled beneath her stumbling feet and her hands were starting to go numb with the cold, as she pressed against Hagrid´s side, when she felt him squeeze the hand that was still held in his.

"Look ahead," he murmured as quietly as he could, his beard tickling her ear. "Yer just about ter see Hogwarts."

Reluctantly raising her head, she opened her eyes fully and looked up as they came around a shadowy crag and her mouth fell open in wonder as Hogwarts came into view for the first time.

It had been described amazingly in the books, but nothing, not a word of what Rowlings had written, had prepared her for how incredibly the building looked, even from a distance, her breath sucked out of her body in awe.

Across a black lake, upon which the reflection of the round moon rippled, the castle - spiked with turrets and towers of all shapes and sizes - perched on top of a high mountain, pinpricks of light shining where windows were, the black silhouette strikingly clear against the deep blue of the sky.

"Wow..." she managed to whisper, as they continued down the path, ripples of awe and exciting reaching her from the huddle of excited eleven-year-olds who were crowding behind them.

"S´pretty impressive, eh?" Hagrid murmured appreciatively. "I´ve seen it every year for years, but ye have to admit its somethin´ special seein´ it just like´ that," He cast a twinkling looked down at her. "Yer lucky it isn´ rainin´ this year."

"I´ll say," Willow answered, shivering a little, her teeth clattering together.

They made their way down towards a small fleet of boats that were bobbing gently at the shoreline, each with a small lamp at the prow, the giant calling out that only four people were allowed to a boat and he reluctantly informed Willow that she would have to sit with someone else because their combined weight would be too much for the small boat.

"No biggie!" She cast a feather-light charm on herself with a quick gesture. "See! I weigh the same as a feather now." Hagrid gave her a dubious look, but when she held out a hand, he tugged lightly and hoisted her off her feet.

"Blimey, Willow, where´d ye learn a trick like tha´? I doub´ half the Professors at Hogwarts´ll know tha´ spell, specially without an incantation or summat," he said, as he let her clamber into the boat and onto the seat in front of him, her body sandwiched between his immense knees.

The boat started to move with a gesture from the giant and she tilted her head back to look at him.

"Oh, it´s an easy one. I found it in a book in a magic store in Sunnydale," She grinned up at him, her eyes twinkling mischievously. "Kinda useful for when I was sneaking out of the house to help Buffy and the rest of the Scoobies. I was so light no one could hear me creeping out."

The giant looked down at her disapprovingly. "Ye could have got hur´ doin´ that, Willow," he said, the genuine concern for her in his voice making her feel guiltier than knowing she had disobeyed her adoptive parents so many times.

It wasn´t even like they had cared.

"But I didn´t," She leaned back against his chest, a little surprised when he wrapped his arms around her. With his heavy, furry coat adding another layer of fabric over her robes, she felt warmth returning to her cold arms and legs, as they neared the cliffs at the base of the mountain.

"Heads down everyone!" Hagrid called out loudly, ducking down over Willow as they swept through a trailing curtain of ivy into an opening in the dark cliff-face, bobbing into a dark tunnel.

The narrow, gloomy tunnel didn´t seem too long, opening out into a small, enclosed harbour built into the rock, which Willow guessed was somewhere deep beneath the castle´s foundations.

Ahead of them, a flight of stone steps opened up into the castle´s grounds, the grass washed a silvery blue in the moonlight, as Hagrid lead the way towards the enormous oak front door.

Raising an immense fist, he knocked twice.

Immediately, the doors swung inwards, revealing the person who Willow had been expecting, Professor McGonagall. As Hagrid introduced the group as `the firs´ years´ and departed, Willow could feel the Professor´s intense green eyes on her face.

She remembered McGonagall from her reading and from what her father and Giles had told her about the formidable Professor. Both of them had claimed she wasn´t as bad as she looked, but Willow wasn´t sure if she believed them.

Those eyes remained on her face, making the red head feel slightly uncomfortable as she and the rest of the first years were informed that they would be taken into the Great Hall and sorted into their houses, leading them into the waiting hall.

Even just hearing the names Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin being spoken by the witch in front of them made the swarm of hyperactive butterflies, who had taken up a permanent residency in her belly over the last few hours, restart their dance marathon.

Having memorised the speech from the Harry Potter books, Willow looked around in wonder, at the walls and windows of the building above them. Everything looked like it was magical, even the shapes of the arched windows and domed ceilings which towered high above them, so high they disappeared into the shadows.

Faces moved around in the pictures on the walls and she almost reached out to pet a small cat that was pawing at the frame of the picture it was in. A wizened witch was staring at her, so she stuck her tongue out, moving on to the next picture.

The witch darted through the frame and stared at her from there as well.

Turning her attention away from the witch, Willow glanced at a landscape painting where a short Knight in rusty and grass-stained armour was chasing after a fat pony and she giggled, remembering he was Sir Cadogan, notorious because of his role in the whole entry-of-Sirius-Black-with-a-knife-to-Gryffindor-Tower, years before.

Her eyes were trying to take in everything: the black and white checked floor, the marble staircases and banisters, the colours, the smells. She didn´t know how she could tell, but the place even smelled of magic.

The aura of the place...

Closing her eyes, she inhaled a breath.

Not only was there power - fresher and cleaner than she had felt on the Hellmouth, almost like fresh laundry that had been dried outside on a Spring day - but there was such a sense of wondrous peace.

She just wanted to immerse herself in it, let it wash over her draw her into it, as it tingled through her skin, an expression of bliss on her face.

Yes, there had been power on the Hellmouth. Incredible power, but it was nothing like the feeling of Hogwarts´ magic. She was convinced that if she touched anything, even the walls, the paintings, the windows, she would be able to feel the very magic that made the place so...

So...

Something!

She didn´t know how to describe it, but the place gave her the most incredible feeling in the world.

By the time McGonagall returned into the Hall, to assess whether they were ready or not, many of the first years were staring at Willow, wonderingly, as if longing to ask why all of the teachers they had seen so far were acting so oddly around the solitary, red-haired adult in the midst.

"Are you retarded?"

Several of the children gasped as someone in their group spoke up, the question directed at Willow. No doubt it was the same question that they had all been wanting to ask it, but they were still surprised to hear someone voice it so bluntly.

Shaking herself out of her meditation on the place, Willow looked around to find a small boy studying her. He wasn´t staring at her as if she was a freak, but more as if she were a genuine curiousity. "Wh-what?"

"Are you retarded? Were you kept back? Is that why you´re starting late?"

Willow shook her head. "N-no, actually. I was meant to start nine years ago with my sister, but I kinda...couldn´t," A nervous smile crossed her face. "They didn´t know where I was...I-I was living on a Hellmouth so they couldn`t find me."

"I know who you are!" a chocolate-skinned boy with glasses and an excited expression on his face said, eagerly pushing his way forward. The red head was immediately reminded of Hermione´s attitude in the first Harry Potter books. "I´ve read all about you! You´re the missing Weasley!"

Gasps went up among the other pupils and Willow suddenly understood how Harry felt, when people reacted to his name. She could feel the burning blush rising in her cheeks as she nodded in assent.

"I-I-I prefer to be called Willow cos, hey! Not missing any more."

"You...you really lived on a Hellmouth?" a girl demanded.

"Was it scary?"

"Did you see demons?"

"Have you been bitten by a vampire?"

"Are you really dating a werewolf?"

Willow raised her hands, trying to fend off all the questions at once. "Whoa, whoa whoa! Hold on!" she pleaded, looking around at them. "Just plain, old, ordinary speak-one-line-at-a-time Willow here...I can answer questions, but one at a time."

They immediately all started to ask at once, again.

"Okay, yes, I lived on a Hellmouth and it was pretty scary, but not as scary as I heard Snape-guy here can be," A few giggles sounded from her audience, who apparently had heard all about the various teachers at the school as well. "Yeah, I´ve seen a lot of demons... fought a few as well. I was bitten once, here, by a vampire who was a girl I went to school with," She patted the left side of her neck. "But my boyfriend was there and pulled the vampire off and yes, my boyfriend is a werewolf."

"Wicked," a small, dark-skinned boy whispered in awe.

"Actually, good. I´m not wicked...accidentally saw wicked, skanky vampire me once and..." she pulled a face. "Its not of the good and homely variety."

"Ahem," All faces turned back to the doorway, where McGonagall stood once again, an odd twinkle in her green eyes. She smiled specifically at Willow, which was as scary as her stare. "We´re ready for you now."