Dropping his hands from running through several scanning gestures of enchantment, Rupert Giles appeared distinctly flummoxed while standing in the middle of the wrecked Magic Box. He regarded with growing bafflement the quite sullen vampire surrounded by himself, Willow, Tara, and Buffy holding her stake ready for instant use if necessary upon someone who now resembled nothing other than one of those American dolls – Barbie, that was the name – which had been thoroughly scorched by a sadistic older brother's blowtorch.

Clearing his throat, Giles next uttered something he'd never thought possible: "Miss Kendall not only has her soul back, but she's also now immune to any direct contact with blessed objects, just as any ordinary human would be."

"I already told you that over and over!" Harmony snarled to them all in her raspy voice not yet fully healed from her recent bout of being on fire.

Buffy retorted equally crankily, "Right, like we were gonna take your word for it!"

She shot Harmony a cold, calculating gaze and then took a plain plastic water bottle from her back pants pocket with the other hand not holding the Slayer's stake.

Offering this to Harmony had Buffy receive from the other girl a haughty, "Are you kidding? The generic stuff instead of something a lot more fashionable? Cordy had Perrier mineral water all the time in her purse—"

"Just drink it!" Buffy growled in her most dangerous tone, the pointed tip of her stake jabbing into Harmony's direction as if any second now there were going to be only ten people, a dog, and one collapsing dust cloud crammed inside the Magic Box late tonight.

For once knowing when to shut up and do what she'd been told, Harmony snatched the water bottle from Buffy, twisted off the bottle cap, and drained half the contents in one gulp. Looking a bit more relieved at how this made her throat feel way better, Harmony took her next few swallows much more slowly.

"Yeah, Giles, you're right," Buffy casually declared. "That holy water isn't doing a thing."

The resulting spit-take from Harmony was impressive, causing all four nearest Scoobies to lean away from the spluttering vampire. Harmony, quite unharmed by consuming that consecrated liquid which normally should've melted her entire insides, glared at Buffy who just sneered back towards this female monster.

Buffy had excellent reasons for her uncharitable mood. In all the excitement starting from Amy's frantic phone call to the Revello house about the latest bizarre events at the Magic Box, the complete Scooby Gang plus their visitors from the Disney Dimension had basically invited themselves along to see for themselves. That naturally included Dawn, which didn't make Buffy happy at all, her sister being out on Sunnydale after dark again. Even with the whole Glory thing over and done now, Buffy wasn't thrilled the slightest at the idea of another dimwitted demoness bringing more idiotic mayhem to town and potentially putting them all in danger once more.

Turning to glower at where that same little brat was standing with her new friends, Buffy observed with sudden suspicion how Dawn finished whispering into Mal's ear. In response, Mal nodded and reached behind into her backpack she'd brought along from Buffy's home, producing from out of there a Watcher-type book, all thick and old-looking.

Approaching Buffy now sending her a really forbidding expression, Mal mentally scored that one as a respectable *Five, maybe five point three.*

It still didn't come anywhere close to Mom's truly cantankerous mien lately whenever the prospect came up of her daughter further dating that pathetic Prince Ben who hadn't even razed one single city to the ground and piled high in a neat pyramid the severed heads of its deceased inhabitants.

Rather, Mal announced to the Slayer, "Can I try something?" while lifting up the book she was now holding in both hands.

"What?"

Unruffled by Buffy's curt tone, Mal replied, "Just a little spell to fix her up a bit," tilting her head into a startled Harmony's direction. "You can't say she doesn't need that."

Buffy's glance flickered towards where the vampire in all her blackened baldness and trashed clothes was starting to swell up with righteous indignation. A thin smile played over the Slayer's lips.

"Hey, feel free. It's not like you'll make matters any worse, right?"

Harmony silently swore to herself that someday Buffy Anne Summers would eat those very words. Ooooo, would she ever!

Sourly eyeing the girl with the purple coiffure riffling through the pages of her book of magical spells, Harmony braced herself. Sure enough, just as she'd eavesdropped earlier today from the Summers living room, the younger enchantress chanted, "Beware, forswear, replace the old with new hair! Supplace, displace, remove the grime for a fresh face! Finesse, impress, mend the hurts to my lady's dress!"

Under everyone's fascinated gaze, Harmony shuddered once…and all of a sudden, she grew to her shoulders and past long, golden hair curled and permed to perfection. At the same time, the vampire's smudged face turned sparkling clear plus Harmony's spoilt clothing was restored to its former pristine state. Looking down at herself, all nice and clean now, Harmony squealed loudly in utter delight. However, somebody else there had an entirely different reaction.

From the back of the crowd in the magical emporium, an incredulous voice asked, "Harmony?!"

The heads of almost all there promptly turned to observe how Jay was now gaping at the girl he'd met a few nights ago and several times afterwards, all without ever knowing that young woman was in fact a blood-sucking fiend. A description which did not bide well for Jay, either then or now.

Carefully closing her book, Mal calmly declared to no one in particular, "Excuse me."

She next spun around on one heel to walk towards and then past Jay, only to have one hand dart out and grip between painfully pinching fingers Jay's right earlobe. Towing along without any trouble that much larger boy yelping in agony, Mal headed towards the nearest empty corner of the Magic Box, followed by Evie looking thunderous and right at Jay's heels.

The last of the Descendants, Carlos the hellhound, slunk along after his friends. Judging from how low the beast's ears were drooping, Carlos was absolutely sure that very soon now, the words "BAD DOG!" or some other equivalent would be yelled at his master by their pack's bitches.

Dawn was left standing with Xander and Amy, all of them mulling uncertainly over what could possibly happen next. Their attention was drawn back at the middle of the room where Harmony attempting to join the Descendants had just quailed from Buffy's stake being waved threateningly in front of Harmony's face. Running a nervous hand through her newly-repaired hair, Harmony brightened up at how things could be a lot worse.

She happily called at a certain someone's father, "Hey, Xander, your kid's really nice! Thank her for me, will you?"

Xander had an immensely proud grin appear on his face while he responded with a pleased rejoinder, "Oh, you bet."

In the exact same cheerful tone and bearing the identical fixed smile, he continued, "If you even look sideways at her, vampire, I'll chop off your arms and legs and leave you dangling from the top of the Cushinglee Park flagpole, waiting for sunrise. Understand?"

Her eyes wide open with sudden terror, Harmony frantically nodded. Glancing around at the rest of the awed Scoobies, she risked, "Um…would this be a good time for ask for Santa Claus?"

"What?" came in a confused chorus from Buffy, et al.

Harmony frowned, waving one hand in a vague gesture of trying to recall something. "There's a word, sounds like… You know, some place where you can go for safety."

Giles removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose with the other hand. "Do you mean sanctuary?"

"Yeah, that's the one!" Harmony beamed.

It was at that point when Amy resentfully joined in on the conversation. She pointed an irate finger at Harmony, "You tried to kill me just a half-hour ago! But now, you expect us to forgive and forget like nothing happened?"

Dawn couldn't help speaking up at that point, "Yeah, there's something else I can't figure out either."

When they all looked at Dawn, she went on, "Ah…it's the whole soul thing. I mean, she's still a vampire, and through all that, Harmony must've done some really bad stuff, killing and hurting people. So why aren't you going to pieces about it now?"

This was a good point, most of the Scoobies considered. What they next heard from Harmony, though, didn't exactly clear up things.

"Oh, it's like credit cards."

Quick glances were traded around the circle of people around a blond vampire, before Giles realized he'd drawn the short straw. Damn being the sole adult in the room! Nonetheless, the Englishman wearily inquired, "Could you please be a little more specific, Miss Kendall?"

"Sure," Harmony said sunnily, "Somebody steals your Visa and charges a whole lot of crappy junk to your account, so you just cancel your card and start over. Poof, problem's gone! Whoever did the crime, they're on the hook for it, not you, so who cares about them?"

There was a short pause in the Magic Box while the Scooby Gang attempted to fit that explanation into their Hellmouth worldview without everyone's brains actually short-circuiting. It got quiet enough for Xander to hear from the room's far corner how Mal was hissing fierce imprecations at a cowering Jay while repeatedly poking him hard in the chest with a fingernail, all while Evie grimly awaited her turn.

Rubbing at his forehead, this Sunnydale native eventually snickered to himself.

This unsurprisingly gained him the curious notice of the others there, by which Xander soon explained to them in his bemused tone, "Sorry, couldn't resist. Deadboy, he spent over a century moping around after those gypsies zapped his soul back, perfecting his 'Woe is me, I'm so awful but at least my hair looks good' schtick, but Harmony Kendall, she gets over it in just thirty seconds flat!"

That earned Xander a supremely dirty look from Buffy. She then demanded from Giles, "Just how did it happen, anyway, the soul fixing? You never got around to telling us. Don't you need that Orb of Thingy—"

Unable to stop themselves, the others simultaneously corrected the malapropism-prone Slayer, "Orb of Thesulah."

"—whatever, which Wils used back then?" Buffy finished.

Giles gave his Slayer an approving nod.

"Quite so. There was indeed an inactive Orb stored on the shelf up there," this older man began, pointing at a currently empty space on the second floor level.

Following his gesture, the gang waited for Giles to continue until they realized he wasn't going to for some reason. Instead, they observed him morosely staring at the heap of wreckage on the Magic Box main floor which had earlier fallen onto Harmony after Amy shoved that exact shelf off the second floor area.

Giles now bestowed his best baleful glare upon a cringing Amy. In a voice of doom from Giles, he gritted, "That Orb – which, by the by, consisted of easily a quarter of the value of the entire Magic Box – must've randomly combined with all the other enchanted items when they were smashed together into flinders to somehow return the soul of the closest vampire at hand. Jolly good show, Miss Madison. It's a great pity that there's absolutely no way for anyone to ever repeat the incredibly rare accident."

"Hey, Mr. Funny Talking Librarian," Harmony huffily interjected. "Stop being so mean to Amy! She was fighting for her life then! Did a real nice job, too, with the fireball trick and all," concluded Harmony in an actual approving tone.

"Yes, I'm sure that if your latest adversary tonight possessed a nuclear bomb, she wouldn't have hesitated at using it, either," Giles grumpily countered.

He threw up his arms in genuine exasperation. "Are you people blind? We're going to have to replace everything here, not to mention basically repairing the whole place! What am I going to put on the insurance claim, a witch and a vampire had the biggest punch-up of their lives at a shop I've sunk a pretty penny into?"

Glancing around, Buffy and the rest admitted Giles had a point. What wasn't scorched was in pieces, and that took up virtually everything now in the Magic Box.

"Relax, G-man, it's covered," Xander jauntily reassured his older friend, who glared at the issuance of this detested nickname.

Just when Giles opened his mouth to pour over that little wanker some prime British scorn, he heard from Mal's father, "Don't forget all those gold ingots her mom gave me before we left there. We'll cash them in, or maybe just one or two to keep anyone from wondering too much about it. Will that be enough?"

Taken rather aback by this financial generosity, Rupert Giles soon agreed, "I imagine so, Xander. Thank you very much."

"Excuse me!" Harmony piped up. "Can we get back to the whole sanctuary thing?"

Willow directed a most unfriendly look towards this vampire, who hadn't exactly endeared herself towards the witch at any time of her undead existence or even before when Harmony had tormented Willow since kindergarten as part of Cordelia Chase's clique. "Precisely why should we care?"

"Because you owe me!" Harmony instantly snapped back, angry eyes sweeping around the entire startled group of humans. "I was there at Graduation, remember? Yeah, okay, so I didn't do all that much…but I still showed up anyway! Then, I got killed. That hurt."

Harmony stared down at the floor, her voice sinking into a whisper. "Now, I'm back and stuck in this nasty body that won't let me see myself in a mirror, or have my once-a-month triple chocolate shake, or ever talk with my mom and dad again because they know I'm dead!"

That last word was screamed at the Scooby Gang, who couldn't meet Harmony's teary gaze. This small group dedicated to the protection of Sunnydale dealt with the never-ending danger and occasional tragedies by firmly keeping their minds in the present. Remembering those innocents who hadn't survived was just too hard, but now one of them was here again and rubbing everyone's nose in their averseness to confronting the past.

In the end, Buffy sighed and regretfully told Harmony, "I'm really sorry we couldn't save you, Harm. We did our best, and so did you, on that day. You and the others who didn't make it, you're heroes, too."

"Can I be one again?" Harmony unexpectedly begged, causing all those listening to have their mouths fall open in shock.

Xander compassionately pointed out, "Harmony, how's that possibly gonna work? D— I mean, Angel," he hastily corrected himself without even checking out Buffy's furious expression, "—spent decades fighting his demon to stay in control and even then it sometimes turned to total crap. The only thing that stopped Spike from murdering us all was the chip in his head, and he still sold us out a couple times. We don't know for sure your soul's permanent, or if something else could happen to bring back your vamp to rip out our throats—"

"N-no."

Heads turned, searching for that hushed interruption. They soon all stared at where Tara standing was by Willow, blushing under all their gazes.

The larger witch even so spoke up again in her soft stutter, "I c-can see Harmony's aura. It's just like all of y-yours, with your souls and it w-won't go away any m-more that they w-will. B-but, there's m-more."

Tara looked at the bewildered vampire. "H-Harmony, go to A-amy, and…uhhh…pluck a s-single hair from her h-head."

"What?" burst from that other witch, taking a nervous step back from Harmony.

That same young woman capable of growing fangs was frowning at Tara who was briskly nodding for her instructions to be carried out. Giving a baffled shrug, Harmony prepared to move forward…only to freeze in her tracks.

"I can't move!"

Before anyone else could break in Harmony's panicked declaration, Tara urgently ordered Amy, "S-say to her, 'An' it h-harm none, d-do as ye w-will!'"

Her thoughts whirling, Amy obediently repeated the Wiccan rede, "An' it harm none, do as ye will."

"Eeep!" Harmony choked out, giving herself a nonplussed shake and seemingly also relieved she could apparently move again.

She squinted at Tara now appearing quite pleased with herself. "What was all that about?"

The others there in the room wanted to know this, too. Included in their company were the Descendants who'd settled their business of giving Jay his customary tongue-lashing for doing something even more stupid than usual and came over to stand with Xander, Dawn, and Amy waiting for Tara to answer.

As indeed she did, pointing at Amy. "Y-your aura is l-linked now with H-harmony."

Tara held up her hand to avert anyone's questions for the moment. "I d-don't know h-how or w-why. T-two m-more things, though. B-before, Harmony c-couldn't hurt Amy a-and Amy c-could order H-harmony to d-do anything, up t-to hurting us."

With the light of realization appearing on her face, Willow excitedly came out with, "But you just fixed that with your order which covers pretty much it all! Harmony's trustworthy now?"

Tara nodded firmly, though she yet cautioned, "S-she can freely d-decide whether or n-not to fight or even k-kill, like us."

"Hey, I'll be like, you know, that Xena lady on tv!" Harmony enthusiastically informed them all. "Somebody with a really cool origin story but she can still kick all the bad guys' asses!"

The vampiress frowned in a quick change of her mood. "No leather costumes, though. They all look like they chafe too much unless you shake a whole bottle of talcum powder into them before."

Harmony looked over at where Buffy was presently regarding her in somewhat of a daze. An uneasy expression then flashed over Harmony's face as she then made an anxious request of the Slayer.

"Could you, uh, please come along with me tomorrow night when I'm collecting my stuff from Spike's crypt? I'd kinda like to ease into this whole superheroine thing. If there's any big meanies around, I can watch you take care of them first, and then practice on my own. Is that okay?"

Buffy tried to think of just when her life had turned completely gonzo. She mentioned the first thing which came to mind, "Uh, where are you going to stay afterwards?"

Right after that, Buffy inwardly prayed that Harmony wouldn't suggest settling in at her house's basement—

Harmony pointed at the entranceway behind the battered shop counter. "There's an underground vault there, right? Give me a little time and I'll fix it up all nice and cozy! My unicorn dolls will love it!"

"Actually," Giles mused out loud, "That could work quite well."

He bared his teeth in a mirthless smile towards where Amy was desperately hunting for an effective objection about being forced to share her living quarters with a vampire. "After all, someone needs to clean up this place, and who else better than those responsible for it being reduced to far beyond economical repair?"

"That's not fair!" Amy half-yelled, pointing at a petulant Harmony. "I got tricked by her!"

There was a moment of silence while all there ran that protest through their heads and its sheer ridiculousness. Amy finally slumped her shoulders in resentful surrender.

Someone cleared their throat in a bid for attention. Everyone now eyed how Jay who'd just sidled around Xander to put him between Mal and Evie then addressed the young undead woman giving him a shamed expression, "Harmony, uh…would you like to go on a date with me? Maybe see a movie?"

"What?!" shrieked the two female Descendants while at the same time Harmony's abashed face blossomed into a stunning smile. This also resulted in Carlos dropping to lie flat on his massive torso and putting both front paws over his eyes.

Jay peered around Xander staring up at the Magic Box's ceiling in a determined this-has-nothing-to-do-with-me posture to smirk at his friends. "You really thought I was gonna listen to a single word you said? It's not like back home at the Isle of the Lost I never dated the more—"

The son of Jafar the former vizier remembered just in time that virtually all of the ladies there in the Sunnydale shop could do very painful physical or magical things to him and finished his sentence with, "—quirky girls! They didn't complain either, so just butt out."

"Yeah, what he said," Harmony sniffed at those killjoys.

Ooops. From the sudden glare she got from the one with purple hair, that might've been a teensy-weensy mistake.

Indeed, Mal stalked ahead with an ominous attitude foreshadowing this girl at every step, directly at Harmony. Stopping in front of that vampire, Mal leaned forward and kindled in her eyes the green energy of enchantment which could lay waste to all that existed.

With a voice of ultimate menace, Mal informed Harmony, "Jay's one of us, in spite of being the biggest moron around. You give him a single scratch, and I'll—"

Harmony intently asked those glowing eyes, "You're really Maleficent's daughter? The one from that cartoon who turned into a dragon?"

"Yes. And I learned from the best how to wreak vengeance—"

"Can I have her autograph?"

Mal's energies abruptly vanished in a confused eyeblink. "What?"

Eagerly nodding, Harmony said in an admiring voice, "I really enjoyed her in it. That hat was awesome!"

In her own flabbergasted monotone, Mal repeated, "You…like…Mom's…hat."

"Uh-huh. About that autograph, it doesn't have to be right this minute—"

Ignoring Harmony, Mal had just turned around and walked back to rejoin Evie looking equally discombobulated. Along the way, Mal informed Jay, "She's all yours."

Ten minutes later, Amy and Harmony stood in the Magic Box now deserted save for themselves. All of the Scooby Gang and the Descendants had gone off to their various Sunnydale homes, albeit with Dawn protesting that surely tonight's excitement wasn't over!

Amy glowered at Harmony, who in turn was intently studying this witch.

"What?" eventually snapped Amy, not at all thrilled about, oh, everything.

Harmony didn't seem to be annoyed at Amy's grouchy mood. She just kept on eyeing Amy for a few more moments before inquiring, "When's the last time you had your hair done?'

That resulting in an incredulous glance from Amy, before she snarled, "Eighteen months ago! Right before I turned into a rat, if that's any of your business! Why the hell do you want to know?"

Still in her satisfied mood, Harmony just grinned. "Just checking. I can give you a makeover, if you want."

Taking a deep breath among the wistful thoughts that minutes earlier she could've simply ordered Harmony to shut up and it would've worked, Amy huffed, "What's the whole point? I don't know anyone here who'd care, so just drop it, all right?"

Harmony shook her head. She suggested, "Me and Jay could double date at the movies with you and Xander. I think he'd like that."

Amy froze in her sudden shock, and then an immense blush swept over her entire body. The same body which that genuinely nice guy had gotten an eyeful when he'd found her stark naked in Mal's arms—

"No, no, no, and absolutely no! I'm done talking about this! Are you listening? I'm going to bed, and you can bunk down quietly in the vault!"

A secret smile playing on Harmony's lips, this vampire followed Amy scuttling towards the entranceway to the bedroom and basement beyond. Along the way, Harmony had a worrisome thought which needed to be shared.

"Uh, Amy…you don't poop those little pellets everywhere any more, do you?"

"AAAAAARRRRGGGHHHH!"

Author's Note: And that's it for this chapter about the Descendants in Sunnydale! Perhaps there'll be more when a plot bunny comes sniffling along with his twinkling nose and has a box propped up with a stick attached with a tied string capture this little literary lepus.