Story: Willow's Choice
Author: Luna (aka Luna_del_Cielo on lj)
Fandom: Harry Potter/Buffy the Vampire Slayer – although due to the events occurring in the second book of this series, Crescent and Spike's Most Excellent Adventure, there may be mentions of characters from the fandoms of Supernatural, True Blood/Sookie Stackhouse, Gilmore Girls, and Law and Order: SVU. These mentions will not require details and will be shallow at best.
Cast of Characters: This story will come from multiple viewpoints and the 'main stars' (at least, for now, because some surprises may await you, Dearest Readers) will include:
BTVS: Willow Rosenberg, Xander Harris, Dawn Summers, Faith Lehane, Buffy Summers
Harry Potter: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Harry Potter, Fred Weasley, Bill Weasley, Fleur Delacour

Secondary and Tertiary Characters will include:
BTVS: Spike, Rupert Giles, Robin Wood, Bernard Crowley, Andrew Wells, Daniel 'Oz' Osbourne, Vi, Rona, Connor, Angel, Fred/Illyria, Cordelia, Gunn, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Kennedy
Harry Potter: Buckbeak, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Delores Umbridge, Ginny Weasley, Kreacher, Albus Dumbledore, Minerva Mcgonagall, Severus Snape, Tom Riddle/Voldemort, Peter Pettigrew, Narcissa Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, Andromeda Tonks, Ted Tonks, Molly Weasley, Arthur Weasley, Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Elphias Doge, Dedalus Diggle, Emmeline Vance, Sturgis Podmore, Hestia Jones
Willow's Thief Original Characters:Bach Lovegood (Luna's American cousin), Ida (slayer/werewolf), Amelia McGonagall (Minerva's sister and a squib/earth witch who was Willow's 'sponsor' when she went dark)
Rating: T
Summary: The sequel to 'Willow's Thief': As Willow and Sirius begin to build a new life together, they are besieged by new foes – Voldemort – and old foes long thought to be dead.
Pairings: Willow/Sirius. Xander/Tonks. Anya/Remus. And there will be other pairings that involve Dawn, Faith, Harry Potter, Fred Weasley, Bill Weasley, Fleur Delacour
Spoilers: This is a sequel of Willow's Thief and takes place in July after Sunnydale became a crater at the end of Season 7. For Harry Potter it takes place at the very beginning of Book 5 "The Order of the Phoenix". If you want to read a quick recap of Willow's Thief to refresh your memory, I have posted one on my livejournal here .
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Nor do I own the other shows that may get mentioned throughout the fic.
Thank Yous: This story would not be possible for everyone who read, recommended, and reviewed Willow's Thief. Furthermore, this new story had a great deal of assistance from Greywizard when it came to mapping out the story ideas (11 pages of it) last year. Seriously Greywizard is the best person for beta-ing that I know. Cmilleralso inspired a certain pairing in this fic as well, not to mention was almost annoyingly persistent in requesting this story ;) Thanks to everyone who has provided input over the last year!

"What is the matter, Peter? One would think you would be much more excited," the thin voice hissed in amusement. Here in this abandoned house, his quiet voice barely slithered over the booming noise of the summer thunderstorm raging outside. At the moment the smooth voice seemed to caress his ear, like the flickering of a forked tongue, but Peter knew that the voice had the ability to instill fear instantaneously and he needed to be wary.

The plump man sniffled and shivered a little as he stood awkwardly in front of his lord with a paper sack in his hand. The rain had drenched his clothes and this sparsely decorated house carried a chilling draft that made his teeth chatter – although, the cold draft could also be the effect of its current occupant.

"Yes, yes, of course my Lord," he eagerly agreed as he set the package at his lord's feet.

Icy laughter pierced the air like flying daggers and Peter's heart twisted at the sound.

"You know better than to lie to me, Peter. I can see the truth of your feelings. Tell me, do you judge what I do as unwise?" The speaker leaned forward in his elaborately decorated high-backed chair and red eyes watched him from the shadows of the room.

"No! No, my lord! Not at all!" Peter fervently declared. He bit his lip, almost hard enough to draw blood, as he tried to form his next sentence in his head. "It's just…is this spell necessary? After all, couldn't Nott or someone else be just as useful in implementing your plan? Or, maybe, even me?" he asked, somewhat hopefully.

"Peter, you know how special you are to my cause. After all, without you I would not be alive." A flash of a white, predatory smile glinted in the little bit of light that the room's heavy drapes allowed.

"However, you know that I have been searching for the ingredients of this spell for the last several months and it is necessary that it works. You must put aside your personal feelings, Peter – there is far more important things to think about…like how we must recover that prophecy and ensnare the Dark One."

Peter swallowed heavily and nodded with a jerk of his head. "Yes, Lord Voldemort."

"How much longer do we have, Sirius?" Dawn called to him as she strung up bright green and pink party streamers in the living room of Grimmauld Palace.

"Xander and Tonks are bringing her over in about fifteen minutes," he informed her as a feeling of anticipation shot through him. Hastily he used a magical adhesive spell to hang up the 'Welcome Home' sign and then began to look around the room for anything that he may have forgotten.

Fred and George Weasley were snickering about something as they strung up the lanterns and Sirius rolled his eyes to himself. He liked Molly's kids quite a bit since they reminded Sirius of himself and James but if they pulled any pranks at Willow's party he was going to show them what it meant to mess with a Maurader.

"Sir, you got any tape around here?" Dawn asked as she looked down at him from her place on a dining room chair, "I'm all out and we definitely need more streamers – Willow loves streamers like Harry loves Quidditch."

Two simultaneous popping noises sounded and the twins appeared on each side of Dawn – who, judging by her face, had been violently startled by their sudden appearance.

"Why do you need tape, silly Dawn?" George inquired with raised eyebrows that got lost in his shaggy red locks.

"Yes! You're a witch, after all. We could teach you an adhesive spell, if you like," Fred smiled at her – and the blush that colored Dawn's cheeks was not lost on Sirius.

Dawn let out an exaggerated sigh as she tried to cover up the reaction that Fred's wide smile had caused on her. "Guys! You know I've been studying like crazy for the past two months with Sirius so hopefully Dumbledore will let me into Hogwarts and there's just no wayI can fit in any meaningless spells into my poor, overtaxed brain."

Fred snapped off a charm that hung up the rest of Dawn's streamers for her. Ron and Hermione were just walking in and both were startled by the crepe paper that swished past their heads. "Dawn," Fred sighed sadly. "An adhesive spell is certainly not useless."

"Indeed, it can be most helpful in situations," grinned George as he shared a look with his twin.

"For example—," Fred began.

"–Like this!" George finished as he said a word in Latin and pointed his wand at Ron. Immediately their younger brother flew against the wall, two feet above the hardwood floor, and stuck there like a wet noodle.

"George!" Ron called out in anger, his reddened face almost matching his hair, while both Dawn and Hermione smirked and the twins burst into laughter.

"George! Fred! Don't start trouble," Sirius warned. "Willow's been traveling for two months around the world searching for new slayers and I want her to have a nice time her first day back."

"But of course!" Fred agreed with a congenial smile. "George was just trying to help you decorate, that's all!"

"Let me down!" Ron shouted as he struggled against his bonds.

"Boys," Sirius stated in a warning tone that suddenly made him feel very old. After all, it wasn't thatlong ago that he was the one getting yelled at by adults!

Fred and George sighed dramatically, shrugged their shoulders, and then George released his younger brother. Ron fell to the floor with a loud thump, glaring daggers at the twins. "Just you wait! I'll get you back!" he threatened.

The twins just laughed merrily.

Faith strolled in the living room from the kitchen, saw the twins laughing, and smirked. The newest 'professor' at the Slayer Academy – created by Giles as the destination for every newly called slayer – had visited Grimmauld Palace enough times to know that when the twins were laughing, it was usually something to smirk about. Her doe-brown eyes lit up when she saw Sirius. "Yo Mad Dog! I've been trying to look through your cabinets. Where's your liquor? Ain't a party if there ain't any of that fire whiskey you introduced me to!"

As Faith talked, it couldn't be more obvious how the Weasley boys – Ron, George, and Fred – all stared at the leather-clad slayer. She had that reaction on almost every male.

Sirius laughed and shook his head at Faith's predictability. Besides Willow and Remus, he figured that she was the next person he was closest to. They befriended one another in Sunnydale after bonding over prison stories and guilty secrets, and he was glad that she was here for Willow's party. Of course, he still wasn't sure about her nickname for him – but that's what he got for having a dog as an Animagus form.

"Hidden," he smiled with a nod towards the twins. "Don't want the kiddies getting into it."

"Hey!" the twins shouted in unison.

Molly, who had just walked into the room, glared at her sons. "You two may be of age but you're still in school! You certainly don't need to double up on your vices now, of all times."

"Ah, so after we graduate we can have all the vices we want?" Fred asked with a sly smile.

Molly promptly whacked him in true motherly style upside the head with a rolled-up edition of The Daily Prophet. "Go set up the food in the dining room." When they didn't move right away she raised her newspaper, and they ran off.

"Nice to see you got them trained, Molly," Faith grinned as she lounged back in a chair.

Molly and the children had more or less moved into Grimmauld Palace to help him with housekeeping and (Sirius bet 10 galleons that Dumbledore put them up to it) to keep an eye on him. Apparentlyhe was considered too much of a risk taker and they wanted to make sure he kept 'safe' at the Order of the Phoenix Headquarters. So Faith, regular visitor that she was, had met Molly many times. Unfortunately, the very proper Mrs. Weasley was not a fan of the loud and rather obnoxious slayer.

"Yes, well, it's always important to know how to train the men in one's life," Molly joked with a small smile as she went to work rearranging the furniture.

Faith chuckled. "Trust me, if there's one thing I know how to do, it's how to handle men," she said with a wink and a leer.

Taken aback, Molly pretended she heard nothing and went back to cleaning. Sirius just rolled his eyes.

"If you know how to control them so well, how come you don't want one?" Sirius asked with a smirk.

Sitting up, Faith smiled sweetly. "More of a love 'em and leave 'em type. Besides, who says I only like men?" His eyes widened and she laughed again. "God, you men are all the same. Talk about some girl-on-girl action and you get all wriggly like a worm on a hook."

"Well, no," Sirius tried to defend himself. "I didn't react like that when Willow told me that she was bi-sexual."

"Well, yeah, 'cause you wanted to get with her. Most men don't like to share," Faith snorted. A teasing smile crept onto her face. "Of course, if you're ever into that, you just let me know."

Molly let out a little "Oh!" of horror and muttered something about needed to inspect the cleanliness of the bathrooms.

Leaning over Faith and placing his hands on her chair, he smirked when a surprised expression crossed her face. "Faith," he began in a throaty voice. He tenderly touched her temple and was amused by the deer-in-headlights look on her face now. He leaned in closer. "Besides not liking to share, you're also like a sister to me at this point." The hand tenderly touching her temple snaked up to ruffle her hair obnoxiously while he burst out laughing.

"Jackass!" Faith smacked his hand away. "And geez, thanks. I think of you like a smelly dog older brother as well. And Willow's too book-y for me anyways. I need a hip-swaying hot mama badass," she grinned as she smoothed back her dark brown locks.

"Willow's a badass," he defended lightly.

"Yeah, but I want some kink, ya know? Leather and stuff." A devilish smile broke out over Faith's face and Sirius tried his hardest to get that particular mental image out of his head.

The front door opened and Faith's jaw dropped at the man entering the house. Tall with long red hair pulled back into a ponytail, and a fang earring dangling around his neck, he was wearing a leather vest and looking – in her opinion – damn lickable. Her lips were already curving into a sultry smile, and then someone else, a woman, followed him in. She was almost as tall as the man, slender with long silvery hair, and piercing blue eyes.

Faith couldn't figure out which one to choose.

Willow was fidgeting incessantly in the backseat of Xander's truck trying to figure out if she should wear her hair up or down. "What do you think, Tonks?" she asked Xander's girlfriend.

The metamorphmagus turned around in the passenger seat and peered closely at the redheaded witch. "I think down. Oooh, and do those spiral curls you did once over Christmas break when I visited!"

She ran a hand through her short locks. After getting her hair cut chin-length at a sidestreet shop in Shanghai (goddess, do they have hot summers), she wasn't quite sure what to do with it. It was this short back in freshman year of college and back then she knew how to make it look nice, but the prospect of seeing her lover in a few moments was making her extremely nervous. "Ya think?" she inquired dubiously.

"I think," Tonks affirmed before raising her wand and performing a minor beauty spell.

Willow immediately leaned forward to catch her reflection in the rearview mirror. Her locks were now set in twisted curls; for good measure she shook her head, just to see how they bounced. "You're right! Thanks Tonks!"

"Will! Sit back," Xander warned as she blocked his vision in the rearview mirror. "Just because I have a magic eye doesn'tmean that it's any easier driving on these crazy roads."

Taking in the sight of his white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel of the blue Ford, Willow giggled. "Still not used to driving on the wrong side of the road?"

Xander just glared but remained otherwise focused on the road; even his magical eye refrained from movement.

"Hey, you Yanks are the ones who drive on wrong side," Tonks sniffed with a slight smile.

"So says the witch who doesn't even drive," Xander remarked with a snort of laughter.

"Hey! My dad is a muggle and he drives." Tonks crossed her arms over her shoulders. "And…I can so drive!"

"Right. I think that's what you told me on our third date here in jolly old backwards-driving England. And what happened?" Xander asked as he glanced over with a grin. Willow leaned forward, intrigued.

Tonks answered in a mumbled reply.

Xander held his hand up to his ear. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

Glaring at him, Tonks repeated herself. "I hit a bloody stupid parked car." She sighed forlornly. "Pulling out of the parking space."

Xander started laughing and Willow tried to hide her own giggles. Annoyed, but smiling, Tonks playfully hit her boyfriend. "Whatever! I sodding fixed the dents with a spell! Honestly, you'd think I had killed a bunny – like somepeople I know."

Judging by Xander's guilty expression, Willow knew who that particular culprit was. "You killed a bunny?"

Squirming in his seat, Xander shrugged before parking on the side of the road. "I didn't meantoo," he whined sadly. "It just jumped in the way."

Tonks nodded. "See? You are so not the best driver."

"But at least I'm no Buffy!" Xander cheerfully replied.

"Speaking of, where is she?" Tonks asked Willow. "Xander said that she was staying in Asia for a bit after your guys' search for slayers."

Willow frowned momentarily. She didn't like the idea of leaving Buffy – and goddess knows the plane trip from Tibet to England had been boring without her. "Well, did Xander tell you that we met up with an old friend from high school in Tibet?"

Tonks nodded. "Your ex, yeah?"

Wincing – because their reunion had been kind of weird – she nodded. "Yeah. We found a new slayer in this Tibetan village and it turned out that Oz was there. Apparently he was working for a shaman there who had helped him to control the wolf."

"And Buffy stayed…?"

"She was interested in how Oz was able to calm his inner wolf and stayed to be the shaman's student. Buffy said she shouldn't be gone for too long, though."

"Can you imagine Buffy mediating on top of a mountain all day?" Xander asked with a wry smile as they got out of the car.

"Well, she did that with Giles sometimes. I think she more so wants to control her slayer dreams. With the unleashing of the potentials she's really in tune to all of their thoughts and feelings and doesn't know how to suppress that," Willow informed them.

"That's weird," Xander remarked. "Then again, at least she's not having mind reading problems."

Willow looked at her best friend with interest. "Is it true, by the way, that Luna and Spike recruited a mind reader for the Slayer Academy?"

Xander grinned and nodded. "Yup. Seventeen year old named Sookie from Louisiana who is BFFs with a new slayer."

Willow shivered at the thought of all the baggage that goes with telepathy. As a witch she knew of some telepathic communication spells but thinking of someone reading her mind whenever they wanted gave her the wiggins.

"Anyways, so here we are!" Tonks declared with a grin. Before them stood a row of townhouses, illuminated by the bright overhead sky. The weather was gorgeous, the grass was green, and it was warm out this July – if she squinted she could almostpretend she was home.

Willow hated to admit it, because the Hellmouth had been, well, hell, but she did miss her home. Warm California weather was all she knew. With a grimace, she knew that this year she would have to experience winter.

'But I'll have Sirius to keep me warm,' Willow thought with a naughty smile as she got out of the car.

"Oi, what are you smiling about?" Tonks asked with a knowing smile.

Willow blushed but just shrugged innocently.

"Bloody have to practice my silencing spells." Sighing dramatically, Tonks took Willow's arm and began leading her forward, as Xander followed with her luggage in tow. Oddly, they were facing the middle of two different houses, and Willow wasn't sure which one was Sirius'. One was a light peach color with a white porch swing and looked far too feminine to be the Most Noble House of Black. The other was a white with the windows flung open, and two small children playing in the yard. Hmm, she doubted that was Sirius', either.

Tonks thrust a small piece of parchment paper, clearly torn off.

The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number 12, Grimmauld Palace, London.

Willow read it and then gave Tonks a quizzical look. "What's this mean?"

Grinning, Tonks tilted her head in the direction of the house. Willow followed her gaze, a puzzled expression gracing her face, as the space between the two houses she had observed earlier began moving apart, as if something had wedged between the homes and was pushing them apart. That 'something' sprouted as the space between the houses increased, and suddenly Willow realized she was staring at a foreboding black house.

A shiver ran through her – both at the presence of the mysterious house and the miracle of magic that could do that in the Wizarding World.

"Here we are!" Tonks declared cheerfully.

"Weird, huh?" Xander said to Willow with a raised brow.

"More like amazing," Willow told him with a smile.

As they began to walk into the house, Xander shook his head. "Magic is weird. Give me some solid hammer and nails any day." He smirked and added in a dramatic voice as he raised his arm victoriously, "For I am Thor, god of thunder!"

The girls shared an amused look and shook their heads. Tonks grasped the silver door knocker in the form of a silver serpent, and rapped it twice.

Someone threw the door open – revealing a mob of people and a wizarding banner that blinked Welcome Home, Willow!'A chorus of whispered "Hi Willow!"s met her ears, created a low buzzing noise. The Weasleys were here – Molly, Arthur, Ron, Ginny, and the twins – along with Hermione, Remus, Anya, Dawn, Faith, Andromeda and her husband Ted Tonks, and a couple she didn't recognize.

Willow blinked, taken aback by the congregation awaiting her – she had no idea a partywas being planned! Her eyes immediately sought out Sirius and she found him in the center of the crowd, eyes sparkling and a smile stretched across his face. He was wearing a black blazer over a blue shirt, which brought out his gorgeous cerulean eyes, and black slacks.

Somewhat dimly she noticed that Tonks had crashed into an umbrella stand that resembled a troll's foot and then a loud screaming noise echoed through the room as Molly Weasley and Remus Lupin raced to a curtained portion of the wall; but Willow couldn't take her focus off of Sirius. It had been two months since she had last seen him and Willow had thought of him every day. Sure, they exchanged letters but this…this was so much better.

With that thought she headed towards him and flung herself into his arms, reveling in the feeling of his strong arms holding her tightly against him. His hand ran through her hair, making her scalp tingle, and she tightened her arms over his back. A soft sigh of relief ran through her, as if a part of her had worried that she may never see her Sirius again. After living in constant danger for the past year she had always, in the back of her mind, worried that something may happen again.

But Sirius was here, safe. And now she was here, safe in his arms.

A/N:
Sequels are never easy to write – especially to a story that was so popular. To be honest, I've been scared to start ever since finishing 'Willow's Thief' last November. I hope everyone enjoys this story as much as they did the first one. Since this story features such a large cast right at the beginning of the story, I will warn that the first few chapters may not be action-packed as 'Willow's Thief' was right in the beginning. But I promise you, I have 20 pages of notes and lots of insanity planned. Villains will be climbing out of the woodwork in this fic and some of them will be ones you likely never expected ;)

Thank you for reading. I would love some feedback – this sequel is all for you guys!

...Not to mention, you know I always take requests when it comes to what happens to characters regarding pairings, deaths, and other things, so fill free to leave a note! I won't promise anything (Musie makes the final decision) but you never know…in 'Willow's Thief' quite a few things happened due to requests… :)

References:
*In Book 5 of Harry Potter the Weasley's have moved into Grimmauld Palace for the summer. The reasoning is never given and they are shown in the first part of the book as cleaning out the manor since it is the new Order of the Phoenix Headquarters.
*Mad Dog: Faith's nickname for Sirius, decided after she heard about his animagus form in 'Willow's Thief'
* The Daily Prophet- Wizarding newspaper of Great Britain
*Xander's magical eye – After Caleb punctured his eye in Willow's Thief, Anya used her immense Gringotts funds (turns out her account from the year 1100 was still alive!) to purchase him a magical eye, a'la Mad-Eye Moody.