Chapter 4
Dumbledore's return owl had been received a scant few hours later, but it held no answers to Buffy's questions. Instead, it had an invitation for her and Dawn to join him for tea, at Hogwarts, the next afternoon if they were available. He would be there to pick them up at 2:00 p.m. once he received her owl to confirm. Scribbling a note on the back of Dumbledore's letter saying yes, she'd like to come and meet with him, and if she could manage to get Dawn away from the other teenagers in the house long enough, she'd bring her along as well.
After the school owl had been sent off, Buffy set out to find Dawn, because she knew the sooner she was able to ask Dawn whether or not she wanted to come to Hogwarts, the better. And if she could get her alone when she asked, all the better.
Besides, if Buffy knew her sister at all, Dawn would probably squeal happily and agree without question to a trip to Hogwarts.
She followed the sounds of young voices to one of the drawing rooms on the second floor. Dawn had soon figured out that the only way she could spend time with anyone near her age, she had to participate in cleaning the house and ridding it of anything nasty. Buffy had been cleaning as well, although this afternoon she had decided that they had been living out of their trunks long enough.
"Hey Dawn, can I talk to you for a sec?" Buffy asked after she had poked her head into the room. The teenagers were spraying the drapes with… something, and little hairy fairies kept falling to the floor.
"Yeah, sure," Dawn replied, putting her spray bottle down and skipping over to the door. Buffy pulled Dawn into the hallway, closing the door behind them so that they couldn't be overheard. "Okay, so what do you need to talk to me about that you can't do in front of the others?"
"I got a letter. From Dumbledore," Buffy replied.
"Yeah, and?" Dawn asked.
"I sent him one first, 'cause I wanted to get some answers to some questions I had, but anyway. He's asked us to come up to Hogwarts tomorrow for afternoon tea," Buffy replied. "You wanna go with me?"
"I think that's a big, resounding duh right there," Dawn replied, grinning manically.
"Okay, great," Buffy replied. "He'll be here to get us around two tomorrow."
"Sounds awesome," Dawn said. "Oh, by the way, Mrs. Weasley was looking for you. I think there was something in a trunk in one of the rooms and she wanted to see if you could help her out with it."
"Okay, I'll go track her down," Buffy replied. As she began to walk away, she turned back to Dawn. "Oh, and Dawn?"
"Yeah, Buffy?" Dawn asked.
"If your friends were eavesdropping, give them hell for me," Buffy said before she turned and headed down the stairs on the search for Molly.
Dawn turned and headed back to the room, closing the door behind her after she had entered. She was faced with a group of British teenagers, clustered around a few of the Extendable Ears. She looked down, and sure enough, the ends of three long, fleshy tubes were placed at the space between the bottom of the door and the floor. She looked up at the Weasleys, Hermione and Harry, her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.
"You guys know eavesdropping is kinda rude, right?" she asked.
"Why do you get to talk to Dumbledore?" asked Harry.
"I'm sure you heard, but Buffy wrote to Dumbledore with some questions, and he invited her to come to Hogwarts, probably so he could answer them," Dawn replied.
"But why do you get to go?" Harry asked.
"No idea," Dawn replied with a shrug. "Could be that Bumblebee man thought I might want me to see where Buffy went to school. Could also be that he wants to see if I have the aptitude to do magic. Could really be that it's none of your business and I feel kinda violated that you, you know, decided that mine and Buffy's privacy was worth squat."
"So, when we're doing it to the Order meetings you're fine with it, but when it comes to your own privacy it's a bad thing?" Harry asked.
"The Order involves you and involves people you care about, and probably what you're going to end up fighting in a year or two, so yeah, you should at least kind of know what's going on. I used to eavesdrop on Slayer meetings all the time," Dawn replied. "Not that they tried really hard to hide it, but whatever. But conversations between me and my sister have nothing to do with you and therefore aren't your business. So back off, hormone bomb. Not everything is about you."
Harry's eyes flashed, and he was about to open his mouth to say something else when Ginny put her hand on his arm.
"Let's just get back to cleaning, all right?" she said. Harry shook her off and, with one last glare in Dawn's direction, went back to spraying Doxycide on the drapes.
To be safe, Dawn stayed on the other side of the room.
XOXOXO
Buffy found Molly in one of the bedrooms that wasn't being used. When she entered, it was a sight that she hadn't ever expected to see. A bloody and obviously dead Arthur Weasley lay in the middle of the floor and Molly cowered in the corner, her want pointed at it.
"R-Ridikkulus!" she said, and the dead Arthur transformed into a dead Ron. Boggart, Buffy thought as she entered the room fully. The Boggart turned its attention to Buffy and immediately transformed into Tom. However, his face was distorted into that of a vampire.
"Riddikulus!" Buffy said, pointing her wand at him. The Boggart tripped over his feet and fell flat on his face, causing Buffy to laugh just hard enough for it to disappear into a wisp of smoke. She turned to Molly, who was still in her corner, her eyes wide. "Are you okay?"
"Yes dear, fine," Molly replied, although she still seemed very pale and shaken as she came out of the corner.
"Do you want me to make you a cup of tea to calm you down?" Buffy asked.
"No offense meant, dear, but I don't think I'd trust an American to brew a proper cup of English tea," Molly said.
"Well, it's been a while, but Terrence made me learn how to do it," Buffy said as Molly led them into the kitchen. "Said no sister of his could get away with not knowing. That, and Giles taught me how to do it."
"Giles was your Watcher?" Molly asked.
"Yep," Buffy replied. "Closest thing to a father I had, after my real dad split with my mom. He's been my mentor for years, and I was living with him with my sister before Dumbledore asked me to come here."
"Why isn't he here with you?" Molly asked.
"Well, I'm pretty sure it's because he has to help rebuild the Watcher's Council," Buffy replied. "After the First blew it up, killing most of the Watchers in residence, there aren't very many senior Watchers anymore. He's trying to round the rest of them up, the ones who weren't killed by the Bringers or were retired before all of this happened."
They reached the kitchen and Buffy set about getting the tea things together, Molly gently guiding her to where the various things in the kitchen were as she regarded the strange little American girl in front of her. There really wasn't much to be found about her, except for that article in the Daily Prophet and a passing reference in some rather obscure books. Nothing that the average Hogwarts student, or even the average person, would read.
"Why are you telling me all of this?" Molly asked, curious.
"I think that being honest about most of the important things up front will save me a lot of trouble later," Buffy replied. "I kept a lot of big secrets during my time in Hogwarts, and it went and bit me in the ass later on. I really don't want that to happen again."
"I didn't catch what year you went to Hogwarts," Molly said mildly.
"I didn't tell anyone," Buffy replied. "And I'm not going to tell anyone anything until I talk to Dumbledore tomorrow. Is it really that important, though?"
"No, I suppose not," Molly replied. "Although, I must warn you, as wonderful those children of mine are, they are very inquisitive, and they like solving mysteries. And you, and your sister, are two of the biggest mysteries to come along lately."
"I'll keep that in mind," Buffy said. "Hopefully I won't have to keep too much from them, 'cause, you know, you guys are supposed to be able to trust me."
"The adults trust you. Your record is enough to do that, even without the endorsement of Dumbledore. We've allowed shadier characters in the Order," Molly replied as Buffy placed the brewed cup of tea in front of her. "Thank you, dear."
"So, shady characters," Buffy said as she sat across from Molly. "You were talking about tall, dark and surly, weren't you?"
"Professor Snape? Yes, he's definitely not known for his people skills," Molly replied. "He teaches Potions at the school, head of Slytherin House. Now, dearie, I don't know the whole story, but Professor Snape was a Death Eater. Something happened, and he turned himself in to Dumbledore. Instead of turning him into the Ministry and sending him off to Azkaban prison, Dumbledore decided to use Snape to benefit the Order. You-Know-Who didn't know that Snape had defected, and now we had an excellent spy for the Order."
"The Death Eaters, they're To- I mean, Voldemort's supporters?" Buffy asked. Molly flinched at the name, and Buffy immediately knew she had said something wrong. "Whoops. I'm not supposed to say that name, aren't I?"
"Not many do," Molly replied. She took another sip of her tea. "This is quite good, actually."
"Thanks," Buffy replied. "So, Nameless Guy's supporters?"
"I don't think I've ever heard him called that," Molly said with a slight laugh. "But yes, the Death Eaters were You-Know-Who's supporters. Mostly purebloods, old, influential families. The ones that weren't were seduced by the power offered by You-Know-Who. They all wanted one thing – a pureblood society and eradication of Muggles and Muggle-borns."
"Huh," Buffy said. She wondered what Tom's supporters would think if they knew he wasn't a pureblooded wizard. Thinking about it, she supposed it didn't really matter. Tom had always been charismatic and manipulative, always getting what he wanted in the end.
"During the height of his power in the late 1970's and early 1980's, it was a horrible time. You couldn't open the paper without reading about the deaths and destruction caused by You-Know-Who and his followers. It was a time of rejoicing when our Harry defeated him."
"How did he do it?" Buffy asked. She wondered how a one year old who was barely able to walk and talk was able to defeat someone as powerful as Voldemort claimed to be. It wasn't anything akin to hero worship – she was just thinking about the facts.
"No one really knows," Molly replied.
"Luck, then," Buffy said.
"Love, actually."
Buffy and Molly turned their attention to the figure now standing in the doorway, watching them. Harry Potter regarded Buffy with a curious expression, one she couldn't read with much ease. The way his green eyes bored into hers made her uncomfortable, and before long she looked away.
"Harry, dear, how long have you been standing there?" Molly asked brightly. "Would you like a cup of tea? Buffy makes an excellent brew and I'm sure she wouldn't mind."
"Nope, definitely no minding here," Buffy replied.
"No thank you, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, offering a small smile to the redheaded woman. She smiled back as Harry turned his attention to Buffy. "I'd like to talk to you, if you don't mind."
"If it's about my meeting with Dumbledore, it's none of your business," Buffy replied quickly. Harry looked at her, mildly surprised. "Please, you can't tell me with a straight face that you weren't eavesdropping. If I were you, I'd be curious too. Did Dawnie give you hell for it?"
"She rightly put us in our places, she did," Harry replied as he took a seat next to Mrs. Weasley, across from Buffy. "Called me a hormone bomb."
"That's my Dawnie," Buffy said with a touch of pride.
"All right, so the Dumbledore meeting is off limits, but I'd still like to talk to you," Harry said.
"Oh yeah?" Buffy asked. "What about?"
"Why are you here?" Harry asked.
"Harry, I don't think –" Molly began, but Buffy waved her off.
"It's fine, Molly," Buffy replied. She turned her attention back to Harry. "I'll give you the same rules as I did Hermione the other day. You can ask me anything you want, but if it gets to personal or I'm not allowed to divulge that information, I'm not going to answer your question. Sound fair?"
"All right," Harry said. "My first question stands. Why are you here?"
"Professor Dumbledore tracked me down and asked me to help out," Buffy replied. "He believes that the stuff I know will help with the stuff you know."
"And what kind of stuff do you know?" Harry asked.
"Vampires and demons, mostly, and how to slay them," Buffy replied. "I'm guessing you didn't learn a lot about demons and stuff in your Defence Against the Dark Arts classes?"
"No," Harry replied. "Mostly spells and dark creatures, but nothing as big as demons. We did do a unit on werewolves, though. What are your views on werewolves?"
"As an someone I know once said, as long as they're not humping my leg, we're five by five," Buffy said. Harry's face broke out into a small smile, but he reigned it in quickly. Molly, who had been watching them interact with a smile, put her teacup in the sink and quietly tip toed out of the kitchen to give the two heroes a little more privacy. Buffy couldn't help the grin that crossed her face when she heard Molly shooing people, probably the kids, from the door. "By the way, you guys really need to stop eavesdropping on every little thing."
"We're bored," Harry complained. "There's not much to do except clean and spy on the Order members. Oh, and homework, but only Hermione really wants to do that."
"I don't know, homework can be fun," Buffy said, before wrinkling her nose a little. "Except Charms. I can live without it. Barely passed my OWL on that one, I think."
"You think?" Harry asked. "You mean you don't know?"
"I got sent home before I got my OWL results so I have no idea what my marks were," Buffy replied. She knew she was giving him more ammunition to the mystery of Buffy Summers, but she hoped that he would use that information wisely and not go out and do something stupid. Like try to figure out her secrets and then regret what he and his friends found.
"How did you know we were eavesdropping on you and Dawn?" Harry asked, curious.
"Besides the fact that I know what curious teenagers do when they can overhear stuff?" Buffy asked. Harry had the good grace to look sheepish before Buffy gestured to her ears. "Slayer hearing. Wonderful thing to have when people are sneaking up on you or if you want to know if there's someone on the other side of the door, probably listening in."
"Why are you meeting with Dumbledore?" Harry asked.
"It's not Order business, so it's not really any of your business," Buffy replied. Harry's face fell slightly and Buffy smiled sympathetically. "Look, I get it. You wanna know everything about everything. But some things you don't need to know. I asked him some questions, and he's hopefully going to answer with them. I have no idea why he didn't answer my questions with an owl, but I'm not going to complain. It's been ages since I've been to Hogwarts, and I kind of want to see if anything's changed, you know?"
"I suppose so," Harry said. "And the reason why he didn't send your answers in the post is that there's a risk of having our letters intercepted. Nothing is safe.
"Fair enough, fair enough," Buffy replied. "So, was there anything else you wanted to ask?"
"Yes, but nothing I think you'll answer," Harry replied. "It was nice talking to you."
"Nice talking to you, too," Buffy replied. "If you ever want to talk about that whole 'destiny hanging over your head' thing, I'm here for you."
"Good to know," Harry said, looking a little confused but nonetheless pleased. "I should go back to cleaning with the others."
"See you later," Buffy said with a wave as Harry got up and, with a small, grateful smile, left the kitchen.
XOXOXO
The next afternoon, as promised, Dumbledore came to pick up Dawn and Buffy for their appointment at Hogwarts. The entire time he was there, Dumbledore avoided Harry's gaze and attempts to catch his attention. It was another something that Buffy added to her ever growing list of questions she was compiling in her head.
"I thought that a side-along apparition would be acceptable for this trip," Dumbledore said when they had exited the house. He held out his arms, one for each Summers girl to hold on to. "Please, hold on tight and whatever you do, don't let go."
He glanced around, making sure that no one was watching, before disappearing with a small pop. Moments later, the trio reappeared at the gates to Hogwarts. Buffy and Dawn were a little disoriented, but recovered quickly when they spotted the castle.
"Home sweet home," Buffy murmured under her breath as Dawn's eyes bugged out of her head.
"You went to school here?" Dawn asked in awe.
"I did say I went to school in a castle," Buffy replied.
"I didn't think it was a huge castle," Dawn said.
"So, is Hagrid around?" Buffy asked. "I was really looking forward to seeing him."
"I'm afraid not, Buffy," Dumbledore replied. "He's on a mission."
"I hope he's okay," Buffy said, chewing on her lip.
"Hagrid is more than capable of taking care of himself," Dumbledore replied. Buffy still looked worried, but trusted Dumbledore's words. For now, anyway. "Come along, the walk up to the castle is a breathtaking one."
They began the trek up the path that led to Hogwarts, Dumbledore several paces ahead of the Summers sisters as Dawn took in her surroundings and Buffy smiled at her sister's amazement. She pointed out different landmarks around the grounds until they reached the castle.
"Wow," Dawn said as she looked up at the large doors in front of her.
"How about we go inside, hmmm?" Dumbledore suggested, gesturing to the doors.
"Good idea," Buffy said before turning to Dawn. "If you think the outside is awesome, you should see the inside."
The doors opened and they were admitted into the Entrance Hall. As soon as they entered, Buffy saw one familiar face, and another, older woman wearing a pointed, vulture topped hat. She watched as Minerva spotted her and whispered something to her companion and began making her way to her.
"Buffy!" Minerva said with a smile as she turned and crossed the Entrance Hall with a smile, wrapping Buffy in a hug. Once she released her, she turned her attention to Dawn. "And who's this?"
"Minnie, this is my sister, Dawn," Buffy said. "Dawn, this is Minerva, or Minnie, one of my best friends while I was here."
"Woah," Dawn said, blinking.
"Woah, what?" Buffy asked.
"It's just weird, you saying that you went to school with her and she's so old," Dawn replied. Minerva huffed, but there was a sparkle in her eye that indicated she was more amused than anything else.
"If you think she looks old, wait until you meet Quentin," Buffy said. "Wait, Alastor. He goes by Alastor now."
"You never mentioned you had a sister," Minerva said as she glanced over at Dawn once more.
"It's another long story," Buffy replied.
"We really, really, need to sit down and discuss everything that's gone on," Minerva said.
"You're telling me," Buffy said.
"Do you have a moment? There's someone I'd like you to see," Minerva said. Before Buffy could say anything, Minerva grabbed her arm and began leading her towards the woman with the vulture hat. She shot an apologetic smile over her shoulder and was met by an amused smile from Dumbledore and a curious expression from Dawn.
The woman in the vulture hat turned as Minerva and Buffy approached. The woman looked vaguely familiar, a lot older than the person she remembered, but that was becoming a normal occurrence around her these days. The woman's eyes widened and her face paled when she saw Buffy, as if she had seen a ghost and wasn't someone who was used to seeing them.
"August, you remember Buffy," Minerva said when they had gotten close enough.
"Hi," Buffy said with a weak wave as Augusta Longbottom's eyes rolled into the back of her head before she fainted dead away. "Huh, I don't usually have that kind of effect on people."
XOXOXO
So here's the latest chapter. And hey, it's a day early! Hope you all enjoy it, reviews are my crack .
