TITLE:	The Interview (1/1)
AUTHOR:	-Andy- ( see2go4me@yahoo.com)
RATING:	15?
STATUS:	Outline
DISCLAIMER:	All BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox Television, and others. All Harry Potter characters belong to J.K.Rowling
SUMMARY:	Girls in a bar, gossiping
SPOILERS:	All seasons of BtVS. All HP books.
DISTRIBUTION:	TtH and my blog fanfic pages. Anyone else, e-mail me please.

"I'm bored." Dawn complained, looking up at Faith from her position in the low grass. She wasn't really, and she was sure Faith knew that, but after almost a week in London, waiting for her sister and Faith to get back from their side trip to Finland, she was now ready for a little Faith enhanced excitement.

She'd flown to London often enough over the past few years that the trip hadn't been a big deal, though Ginny's obvious inexperience dealing with airports had been mildly amusing and had made her feel like a very seasoned traveller. Normally when she traveled to London it was for official Council business or some important Council social event but this time around it was supposed to be a vacation trip and she planned to enjoy herself as much as possible.

She almost felt sorry for Ginny who had been busy since their arrival, splitting her time between meetings with Giles and assorted Council department heads and consulting with the Council's London magic specialists in preparation for the rest of their trip. Dawn hadn't planned on spending so much time by herself but it had taken her only a day to complete the few things she could find to do in the Council office while they waited for her sister and Faith to show up.

Things had been abnormally quiet in the city the entire week. With the local slayers off on a trip to Ireland she'd been stuck playing single white female tourist. She honestly hadn't expected to spend much time with Buffy during this part of this trip. Buffy had even warned her when she'd invited her along that it would be more working than vacation. She'd hoped Buffy and Faith would be back from the Moscow office by the time she and Ginny arrived but, before their flight from Cleveland had even touched down, Buffy had dragged the other elder slayer off to Finland to quickly check into an emergency help request.

And now, even though they were back earlier than expected, Ginny intended to drag her sister off in the morning to meet her family. They'd be gone until mid-week, and baring an apocalypse, all four of them would be off to Tokyo by the end of the week. Her only consolation was that she'd convinced Buffy and Giles that she needed slayer protection while Ginny and her sister were out of town. Buffy had looked at her suspiciously but, with a little prodding from Ginny, had reluctantly agreed.

And if she could keep Faith away from Giles, it looked like she would have Faith to herself until they returned. Dawn wasn't sure if her sister had given Faith the same lecture about behaving while she was gone. Gazing at her favorite non-sibling slayer soaking up the faint English sun she really hoped not.

"What do you want to do tonight?" Faith asked, finally noticing Dawn's intent gaze.

"I want to see where Buffy met Ginny." Dawn told her with a small smirk.

Faith raised an eyebrow in apparent amusement. "Why?"

"I'm her sister. I need to know these kinds of things." Dawn winked at her. "Bribery material doesn't happen on its own. It requires research."

"What would your sister think about you poking around in her life like that?" Faith asked, gracefully rolling to her feet and holding out a hand to Dawn.

"She doesn't need to know." Dawn said, using the proffered hand to pull herself up.

"And how are you going to keep it from her?"

"She's too stressed about tomorrow. She won't even notice that we aren't here."

"Won't Ginny notice?" Faith frowned. "She seems to have gotten very good at knowing what makes B tick."

"She's too busy keeping Buffy calm right now." Dawn said. "Even when Buffy isn't in full social event panic mode like today, It can be a full time job."

"Buffy still clueless?" Faith laughed, the husky tone sending shivers up Dawn's spine.

"About how Ginny really feels about her?" Dawn nodded. "Yup. Typical Buffy." She shook her head. "I'm not sure she knows how she feels about Ginny herself, either. She's doing the 'really close friend' thing she did with Willow."

"She never changes, does she." Faith laughed. "Does Ginny know she's not going to get any from Buffy if she waits for her to make a move?"

"Faith! Ew..." Dawn shivered dramatically. "That's my sister you're talking about. She doesn't 'get any'... ever." She winked again at the older woman, and giggled. "Willow gave Ginny the 'Buffy Relationship' manual before she left."

"So why's Buffy so nervous about meeting Ginny's family." Faith wondered. "If she's in denial?"

"No idea." Dawn said. "Probably only Willow would know. She wrote the Buffy manual."

Faith shook her head, causing Dawn to laugh when she caught her muttering under her breath that she felt like she was living in one of those 'damned annoying soaps'.

"So, do you know how to get to this place?" She asked Dawn when she'd stopped.

"Sort of. I asked Ginny last week but she said she wasn't really supposed to tell us."

"Why not?" Faith asked, holding the outer garden gate open.

"I can't tell you." Dawn grumbled peevishly. "It's part of this whole secret agreement thing the Council has with some British government committee. Officially, only Buffy, Ginny, and Giles are supposed to know about it. I only found out by accident when one of Ginny's friends accidentally showed up in Cleveland. And Willow..." Dawn shrugged. "She figured it out on her own."

"Okay." Faith nodded, willing to dismiss it. If Buffy needed her to know about this particular secret, she would tell her. She already had too many other things to do to worry about it. "No big deal. But that doesn't get us any closer."

"Well, Ginny said it would be okay if we found it on our own. That was how Buffy found it." Dawn said. "I guess only certain people can see it. There's a place like that near Cleveland."

"And?" Faith wondered why she was dragging it out. "Do we even know what street it's on?"

"Yes." Dawn smirked. "Buffy told Willow, and Willow told me. She said we would know it when we see it."

Faith suspected that Willow's directions had been a bit more direct than she'd thought. They'd found the pub easily, sitting between an old record store and a bookstore that just shouted 'Giles' and 'tweed.' She was surprised she hadn't been sent there by him on some errand yet.

Faith followed Dawn into the dingy looking pub, shivering as she passed some invisible barrier in the entrance. Only her slayer reflexes prevented her from running into Dawn once they were inside. She could hear the rising sound of surprised voices at their appearance. Feeling something unusual in an almost familiar way coming from the other occupants, she stepped automatically in front of Dawn, shielding her from the rest of the room.

She could feel Dawn's hand pressed firmly into her back, urging her to to keep moving towards the bar. Not needing any real encouragement, Faith casually walked up to the bar as if this were something she did every day. Not seeing any clues about the things served in this pub, she kept her request simple. "Whiskey," she said, and nodding at Dawn, included her in the order, "and a beer."

Sliding a twenty across the bar, she waited to see what would happen. Most bars she'd spent time in over the last few years while globe trotting for the Council would accept American money, but there had been a few exceptions.

"We don't take that." the bartender said loudly, pushing the money back at her, a slight undercurrent of hostility in his voice.

Faith just shrugged, looking at Dawn. It had been her idea to come here.

"I've been using plastic all week." Dawn told her. She dug into a pocket and pulled out a handful of change, placing it on the bar. "Will this cover it?"

He picked out several coins. "Two butterbeers." he told them brusquely.

"Okay..." Dawn looked at Faith, retrieving the other coins.

"Sure. Why not." She watched curiously as two mugs were filled with a fragrant liquid, keeping an eye on Dawn who seemed to be in another world, just barely aware of her surroundings. "Is there anywhere I can exchange this?" she waved the twenty before returning it to a pocket.

"Gringotts." he said, sliding the two mugs in her direction.

Faith look at him, waiting for more, but he ignored her, returning to the other end of the bar.

"Thanks." she grumbled, taking the two mugs and elbowing Dawn to get her attention. "Let's try over there." she nodded in the direction of an empty table near the exit.

"What's this?" Dawn asked, sitting down across from Faith. A puzzled look crossed her face as she got a whiff of their drinks.

"Butterbeer." Faith told her.

"Which is?"

"No idea." Faith admitted, taking a sip. "Butterscotch?"

"Oh yeah!" Dawn mumbled after taking a cautious sip herself. "We need to get the recipe."

Taking another sip, Faith looked around, puzzled. If this was a secret, it wasn't a very well kept one. "What's the deal?" she asked Dawn, pointing at the small trickle of people entering the ratty looking pub.

Dawn leaned over and whispered enthusiastically in her right ear. "Isn't it so cool?"

Faith frowned. She'd seen better looking places in Jersey. "Not seeing what's so special here." she grumbled.

"You haven't seen Ginny doing magic yet have you." Dawn said, her eyes darting around the room.

"She's a witch. You see one do magic, you've seen them all." Faith said, keeping her voice low.

"Not true." Dawn objected. "When Willow does it, it's like feeling a fresh breeze. When Ginny does Willow level magic there's a spicy tang to it. But kind of butterscotchy." She took another sip. "This place is full of that kind of magic. I wonder if this is what they all drink," she mused.

Faith stared at her, wide-eyed in surprise. "Does Buffy know you can tell different witches apart by their magic?"

Dawn blinked at her. "Umm... no. Willow does. Sort of. And I can't really. Not like you're thinking. I kind of get it from Buffy. All slayers can sense magic."

"Sure." Faith said skeptically.

"Yes." Dawn insisted quietly. "How do you think you can sense vampires and demons?"

"It's a slayer thing." Faith said with a shrug.

"To sense different kinds of magic. Different magical creatures give off different magical scents." Dawn scrunched up her nose. "I didn't just say that did I?" She took another gulp from her steaming mug.

"Yup." Faith laughed at her expression. "It might be easier to smell these magical creatures without that." She said and without thinking, reached over to wipe off a small fleck of foam that was now attached to Dawn's nose.

She stopped suddenly, shocked at her own actions, staring into Dawn's suddenly large eyes. Before they could both recover, a quiet voice interrupted them.

"Do you mind if I join you?"

Faith was the first to respond. Standing next to their table was a slightly odd looking woman, possibly Buffy's age. Her dirty blonde hair was pulled to one side, revealing several strange looking earrings dangling from one ear. Tucked behind the other ear was an odd looking feather. Sensing nothing harmful in her presence, other than the sure signs of an Andrew level geek, Faith nodded towards an empty chair at the table, opposite both her and Dawn.

She watched bemused as the woman pulled a scroll out of a pocket in her strange outfit, and taking the feather, wrote something down.

It took Dawn a minute to process what had happened. Before she could think of something to say the woman spoke, surprising both of them.

"I didn't think I would ever get to meet a real vampire slayer."

"A slayer?" Dawn squeaked, even as she could see Faith tense slightly.

"Yes." She looked at Faith. "You are Faith aren't you?"

"We haven't been introduced." Faith said, Dawn shivering slightly at the flat tone.

"Luna Lovegood." the woman said, flashing them a bright smile. "You're one of the last real vampire slayers. You would be famous, if they would let us publish everything we know in the Quibbler." She frowned. "Not that they ever will let us. I've always wanted to interview you ever since I found out about Patience!" she said excitedly.

"I'm not interested in being famous." Faith said, grumpily.

"Who won't let you?" Dawn asked, glaring at Faith in an attempt to stop her from saying anything else that would stop the conversation. "Who's Patience and what's a 'Quibbler'?"

"The Ministry." Luna told them, as if it were obvious. "Patience Lovegood was a vampire slayer. My great-great grandfather promised that our family would never tell anyone outside of the Council of Watchers about slayers as long as the Council didn't tell anyone about Patience being from a wizarding family. When my grandfather started the Quibbler, the Council insisted he sign the same secrecy agreement with the Ministry as the Council."

"He must have been very powerful to get them to agree to that." Dawn told her, ignoring Faith's snort. "The old Council never agreed to things like that if they had a chance."

"He was a very powerful wizard." Luna told them happily.

"So... could Patience do magic also?" Dawn asked.

"No. She was a squib." Luna told them. "Great-great grandfather studied slayers and magic very thoroughly. He believed slayers couldn't do wizarding magic."

"Really? Did he have journals or anything like that?" Dawn asked excitedly.

"Almost everything he wrote down was given to the Council when he died. He believed it was too dangerous to keep." Luna said.

"How did you learn about Faith?" Dawn said.

"We still have one of the scrolls he made to show past slayers." Luna nodded. "The other one went to the Council."

"Does it shows all of the slayers?" Dawn said.

"Yes. You can see when they became slayers and who they were." Luna frowned. "Or at least it used to. Father believes something happened to break it several years ago."

"Any chance we could see it?" Dawn asked, just barely staying calm.

"I'll have to ask him." Luna said. She turned to Faith. "I can bring it tomorrow if you agree to being interviewed."

Dawn kicked Faith under the table to get her attention before she answered. "Say yes!" she said in a voice only Faith could hear.

"Okay." Faith told Luna with obvious reluctance. "When and where?"

"Tomorrow afternoon?" Luna asked. "Here somewhere?" She waved her arms around vaguely.

"Shouldn't this be a bit more private?" Dawn asked. "You said no-one is supposed to know that you know about slayers."

Luna squinted at her for a moment before agreeing. "Ask Tom when you arrive. He'll tell you where to find me."

"Tom?"

Luna pointed at the bartender before rising from her seat as if she'd just barely been held down by gravity. Without another word, she wandered off.

"Strange." Faith commented, watching her leave. "Why did you say yes?"

"Can we talk about that later?" Dawn said. "I don't think this is the place."

{In Which Luna interviews Faith and Dawn and etc.}

• This might morph into a separate story about the Luna interview. It might not.