Willow and Tara move into the Summers house to take care of Dawn in Buffy's absence. Believing that Buffy was sent to hell because she jumped into a portal when she died, Willow convinces her friends to help her resurrect her, keeping it a secret from Giles and Dawn. They actually succeed, but in reality Buffy had been in heaven, something she keeps to herself as well so as not to make her friends feel more guilty. Giles calls Willow a rank amateur and tells her that she has no idea what she's doing, that what she's done is incredibly dangerous, but Willow is arrogant enough to not only ignore him but insult him back.
This is a prelude for the addiction to magic that will herald the rest of the season for her. Tara, who saw this coming the year before, warns her again that she needs to stop using magic for every little thing, and Willow erases her memory of the argument altogether. The next day Tara finds evidence of the spell and threatens to leave her if she doesn't change, and challenges her to go a week without any magic at all if she wants her to stay, but Willow almost immediately casts another memory spell. This one goes awry and causes everyone to lose their memories entirely. After the spell breaks, Tara realizes what's happened and breaks up with her, moving out of the house and leaving Willow crying in the bathroom.
Without Tara's influence, her addiction worsens. She turns Amy, a minor character from seasons before who had been stuck as a rat, back into a human, and they go partying, high on their magic and using it recklessly. They get a kind of magic hangover and are completely drained. Amy suggests the next day that they visit someone called Rack, a warlock who can enable them to use spells without any recovery time at all, and they visit him. She achieves an extraordinary high and wakes up the next morning in her own room, only to cry in the shower, revealing that she's covering up her pain with the magic. Willow shapes some clothes that Tara left into an invisible body and curls up with it on the bed.
Yet that pain makes her seek it out more - despite having promised to take Dawn to a movie that night, Willow takes her instead to Rack's, where she gets extremely high again and very nearly gets Dawn killed. Once things have been sorted out, Willow, sobbing, tells a furious Buffy that she's terrified and needs help. She agrees to give up magic for good and fights the withdrawal on her own.
Despite having broken up with her and moving out, Tara remains in Willow's life and is devoted to her recovery. After the incident with Dawn, Willow has learned her lesson, and stays away from magic; several episodes later finds her and Tara chatting more or less amiably on a coffee date. Eventually Tara states that repairing their love would be a long process, and she'd just rather skip it, and the scene cuts on them kissing.
In the background of all this addiction and relationship drama has been the rising threat of the Trio, who are three college age boys, immature and deeply nerdy. Nevertheless, their attempts to become a threat to Buffy have been gaining more traction, and Willow discovers that they've been spying on Buffy's life with hidden cameras at her house, her job, her classrooms, and the local bar. As Buffy starts to close in on them, the ringleader of the Trio, Warren, decides to take things directly to her, and goes to her house with a gun. After shooting Buffy, he shoots again and accidentally kills Tara through a window, directly in Willow's arms. Willow tries to resurrect her but is told by the gods that it can't happen, as Tara died a natural, non-mystical, death. Enraged, she vows to kill Warren.
4/?
This is a prelude for the addiction to magic that will herald the rest of the season for her. Tara, who saw this coming the year before, warns her again that she needs to stop using magic for every little thing, and Willow erases her memory of the argument altogether. The next day Tara finds evidence of the spell and threatens to leave her if she doesn't change, and challenges her to go a week without any magic at all if she wants her to stay, but Willow almost immediately casts another memory spell. This one goes awry and causes everyone to lose their memories entirely. After the spell breaks, Tara realizes what's happened and breaks up with her, moving out of the house and leaving Willow crying in the bathroom.
Without Tara's influence, her addiction worsens. She turns Amy, a minor character from seasons before who had been stuck as a rat, back into a human, and they go partying, high on their magic and using it recklessly. They get a kind of magic hangover and are completely drained. Amy suggests the next day that they visit someone called Rack, a warlock who can enable them to use spells without any recovery time at all, and they visit him. She achieves an extraordinary high and wakes up the next morning in her own room, only to cry in the shower, revealing that she's covering up her pain with the magic. Willow shapes some clothes that Tara left into an invisible body and curls up with it on the bed.
Yet that pain makes her seek it out more - despite having promised to take Dawn to a movie that night, Willow takes her instead to Rack's, where she gets extremely high again and very nearly gets Dawn killed. Once things have been sorted out, Willow, sobbing, tells a furious Buffy that she's terrified and needs help. She agrees to give up magic for good and fights the withdrawal on her own.
Despite having broken up with her and moving out, Tara remains in Willow's life and is devoted to her recovery. After the incident with Dawn, Willow has learned her lesson, and stays away from magic; several episodes later finds her and Tara chatting more or less amiably on a coffee date. Eventually Tara states that repairing their love would be a long process, and she'd just rather skip it, and the scene cuts on them kissing.
In the background of all this addiction and relationship drama has been the rising threat of the Trio, who are three college age boys, immature and deeply nerdy. Nevertheless, their attempts to become a threat to Buffy have been gaining more traction, and Willow discovers that they've been spying on Buffy's life with hidden cameras at her house, her job, her classrooms, and the local bar. As Buffy starts to close in on them, the ringleader of the Trio, Warren, decides to take things directly to her, and goes to her house with a gun. After shooting Buffy, he shoots again and accidentally kills Tara through a window, directly in Willow's arms. Willow tries to resurrect her but is told by the gods that it can't happen, as Tara died a natural, non-mystical, death. Enraged, she vows to kill Warren.