Summary: Buffy encounters an unexpected foe, and receives even more unexpected assistance.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or worlds: they belong to their owners/creators.

Rating: PG, for themes.

Time Frame: Several months after "Chosen": an indeterminate amount of time after "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." (spoilers)

ETHICAL TREATMENT

Buffy was irritated. It was supposed to be a nice, quiet trip to England with Giles and Willow--who were in the process of picking up the pieces left over after the annihilation of the Council of Watchers--and she had decided to make a quick patrol of one of the more notorious cemeteries in London for old times sake. Naturally, she hadn't bothered to tell Giles or Willow about the impulsive action; after the Hellmouth, how dangerous could one little cemetery be?

* Yeah, right * The sardonic thought flashed through Buffy's mind as she did a lightning fast backflip to evade the blast from the wand of the small, cloaked figure standing fifty feet away from her. It had been a stroke of luck that she had been looking in the right direction when the creature attacked, blasting a tombstone to flinders as Buffy dodged out of the way of the red bolt of power. The attacker kept at it, and Buffy found that the terrain wasn't helping her: it was too open to allow her to charge her foe without being zapped, and the lack of substantial cover meant that fleeing wasn't really an option either. She had been carrying a stake, and at one point she had flung it at the dark figure with deadly accuracy--only to see it vaporized by a blue discharge from the wand. Her stamina was as good as it ever had been, but Buffy knew that even she couldn't keep this up forever. She decided on a new tactic.

Buffy halted, then sprinted towards a particularly dense group of monuments. The figure followed, still blasting away, but halted when Buffy reached the monuments--only to see her turn and call out, "Hey, what do you have against hard working Slayers, anyway? Did I stake one of your girlfriends back in the States?"

The figure laughed loudly, and shouted, "You poor fool--you have no idea who I am. No matter. Suffice it to say that your body is worth a great deal to my master--in pieces. Don't take it personally; in fact, you should be honored." Buffy tensed as her foe raised his wand, his eyes glinting in the darkness as he concluded, "Know that you will be instrumental in the ascension to power of my Lord Vol-"

"Expelliarmus!"

Buffy was startled to hear the shout from the shadows, and even more startled to see a flash of scarlet light that struck her foe, causing him to gasp and drop his wand. He seemed to recover quickly, but by then Buffy had burst forward--covering one hundred feet in two seconds flat--and delivered a spinning kick to the cloaked figure's head. He flew back twenty feet from the force of the blow, and lay unmoving where he landed.

Buffy glanced back to make sure the deadly wand was still on the ground, then ran over to her fallen enemy. She looked down and saw a middle-aged man with thinning blond hair: his right hand--which had held the deadly wand--shone silver in the light of the full moon. Buffy frowned, and was about to investigate further when she saw motion and whirled. She saw a robed figure, and a glint of moonlight reflecting off of red hair. She sighed in relief and called out, "You really saved my ass that time, Will-- " The figure stepped forward, and Buffy blinked in surprise--her savior was not Willow, or a woman for that matter.

Buffy saw a young man--fifteen or so--with short red hair, plentiful freckles, and an open, honest face. He carried a wand in his right hand, and Buffy noticed that the hand was shaking, and that his face was pale. She smiled reassuringly at him and commented, "Well, mistaken identity or not, you did just save my ass. I'm Buffy Summers--"

"I know who you are, Miss Summers. Rupert Giles is a family friend, and he asked me to find you--good thing I had my wand, and that I'll have a legitimate excuse for using it away from Hogwarts." The young man stepped forward, put away his wand, and extended his hand. "Ron Weasley--it's an honor to meet a Slayer, particularly one as renowned as yourself, Miss Summers."

Buffy resisted the temptation to make a joke about the long and tedious "nowning" process, and shook Ron's hand firmly before turning back and looking at the fallen figure on the grass. "I kicked that guy hard, but he's dangerous--we should make sure he's secured."

Ron nodded, pulled out his wand, and pointed it while uttering a complex phrase that Buffy didn't recognize. The figure on the ground brightened, then glowed dully. Ron put away his wand and commented, "I've never done that one before in earnest, but it should hold him until we can turn him over to the authorities. They'll have some fully trained wizards who will know how to deal with the likes of him."

Buffy nodded--though intensely curious about who "the authorities" were-- and jogged over to pick up the wand lying abandoned on the ground. She walked back to Ron and looked down at her unconscious foe, shaking her head in dismay as she picked him up in a fireman's carry and looked back at Ron. "That guy was bad news--who is he, anyway?"

Ron frowned, and Buffy thought she saw a touch of bitterness in his eyes as he replied in a matter-of-fact tone:

"He's my pet rat, Miss Summers."

Ron turned and walked away without further comment, leading the way back to the cemetery entrance. Buffy stared at him for a moment, then shook her head again and followed, promising herself that Giles would give her a thorough explanation of all of this before the situation was resolved.

As always, comments are welcomed and desired.