Chapter 6

Everyone looked at one another at Buffy's question. Obviously, no one knew what to do next. Looking at them, Buffy rolled her eyes and muttered to herself, "Now that the emergency is over, everyone acts like an idiot." Stepping up towards Laura, she said, "Why don't we start with the introductions. I'm Buffy, the slayer"

There was another startled gasp from the wiccans and Dumbledore's group, although their reactions weren't as obvious as before. They seemed to be becoming numb to shocks.

"The Slayer," Remus mumbled dazedly. "I thought she was supposed to be a myth."

"You and everyone else," Buffy chuckled. "Believe me, It would save me a whole lot of trouble if the slayer didn't exist. But then again, if I didn't exist, the world would have ended several times over."

Snapping out of their daze, Laura and Shawn introduced themselves, Dumbledore's group and a few wiccans. In turn, Buffy introduced the rest of her friends. Willow and Tara were introduced as powerful wiccans. Xander was a non-magic person as far as the wiccans were concerned. Anya's vengeance demon status provoked a startled "WHAT!" from a few wiccans, and when they learned that a vengeance demon had married a mortal, they looked at Xander with more respect, evidently admiring his bravery – or stupidity – in agreeing to be wedded to a vengeance demon.

Dawn was introduced just as Buffy's sister and not the Key. As far as Buffy and her friends were concerned, the less people who know that little tidbit of information, the better off they were. When Faith was introduced as a second slayer, there was another startled reaction from the assembled group in front of them.

"I thought the legends said that there was only supposed to be one slayer," Remus said in his quiet voice. "For another slayer to be activated, the original slayer has to die."

"I know," Buffy responded. "But I'm very bad with following rules that other people have set. Come to think of it, I hate rules with a passion." Buffy briefly thought of a certain Council who had planned to strip her of her powers and lock her in the same house with a drug-crazed vampire on her eighteenth birthday. Not only that, they had been willing to let Angel die, even though he could still be saved, and then still had the gall to order her around. Mentally flipping an imaginary finger towards the Council, Buffy continued.

"A few years ago, I drowned. Xander brought me back using CPR. I was only dead for less than a minute but apparently, it was enough for the next slayer, Kendra, to be activated. Kendra was killed by Drusilla, a vampire seer, and thus Faith was called."

Faith noticed that Buffy made no mention about her unsavory past and she was grateful for the fact. The wiccans accepted Buffy's explanation and turned towards Angel.

"And this is Angel. He's a vampire, but he's on our side," Buffy finished the introductions.

At the word vampire, most of the wiccans and Dumbledore's group tensed up and prepared to attack. Willow and Tara stepped up in front of Angel and fixed them with a steely glare.

"STOP!" Buffy yelled at the top of her lungs. Those closest to her winced at the volume that slayer lungs could produce. "Are you deaf or something? Which part of 'he's on our side' do you not understand."

"But he's a vampire," Snape said, his wand still pointing towards Angel, although he was clearly reluctant to do anything, due to the fact that two of the most powerful wiccans he had ever seen seemed to be protecting him.

"Yes he is," Tara said, so annoyed that she forgot to be nervous. "But he has a soul, and that makes him different from other vampires."

"How would you know that he has a soul," Snape demanded.

"Because I was the one who gave it to him," Willow responded, also irritated by the response of the wiccans and Dumbledore's group. She continued in the same tone, "Besides, if he had wanted to hurt you, none of you would have stood a chance against him. Once, he was known as Angelus, the Scourge of Europe. Unlike those amateur vampires who almost managed to overrun you just now, Angel is a professional. If he had wanted you dead, you would be dead."

Many of them blanched at the name, Angelus. Hermoine had turned pale for she had read about the reign of terror that Angelus had caused in one of her books. Even more than anyone here, maybe with the sole exception of Dumbledore, she knew the truth of Willow's words. Angelus was the most feared vampire in existence for a reason. His reputation rivaled and probably even surpassed Voldemort's when it came to torturing victims. However, she had also read that Angelus had vanished over a century ago and was believed to have been killed by a special task force appointed by the Ministry. Evidently, the Ministry had lied. She wasn't even particularly shocked by the fact. She was under no illusions regarding the Ministry. In fact, she was beginning to understand that books could give misinformation, especially when the Ministry was involved.

When everyone had been persuaded not to kill Angel – not that they could if they wanted to, with Willow and Tara protecting him – they settled down again. Most, if not all of them were amazed at the group of individuals; each of them unique in his or her own way, and banded together, became a force to be reckoned with.

"Well, I suppose we have to elect a new coven," Laura said tentatively. "We definitely need some leadership now that the previous coven have been banished. Any nominations?"

Everyone looked at Willow and Tara.

"What!" Willow exclaimed. "Nononono. I know what you're thinking and the answer is no. I've no intentions of becoming one of the coven." Tara nodded her agreement with Willow's view.

"But the two of you are the most powerful wiccans here," Shawn protested. "If you were to become one of the coven, no one would question your qualifications."

"Look Shawn," Tara interrupted before he could expound on why they should take up positions in the coven. "I admit that we may be more powerful than most of you..."

In the background, someone snorted.

"...but power isn't the most important factor in deciding a leader," Tara finished smoothly.

"That's true," Buffy decided to put in her two cents worth. "Willow, Tara and Anya could probably kick my ass without breaking a sweat but I'm still the recognized leader of the group."

"I've a suggestion," Willow added. "Why don't the previous year's coven carry on with their positions for another year? Since they already have experience working with each other, as well as knowing what's been happening in the world, I see no reason to break up such a good team."

Although Willow did not know it herself, her name and deeds had circulated among the supernatural world. Her status in the world of the supernatural had become legendary when she had fought one-on-one with Glorificus. When she cast her resurrection spell, her name had gone beyond legendary status to become a godlike icon in the supernatural world.

Being a modest girl, Willow did not notice the slight touch of reverence that accompanied every voice that addressed her. The way that everyone kept a respectful distance away from her also seemed to have escaped her notice. However, the fact was that her words had more authority than anyone in the supernatural world. Whatever she said was taken as gospel. Therefore, it was not surprising that her suggestion was implemented without much dissention.

"I believe we were talking about Voldemort before we were ah... interrupted," Shawn said. "Since Laura was the one who brought up the topic, why don't we let her continue with her motion."

"Thanks Shawn," Laura said as she stood up. "Some of you know this but for the benefit of those who don't, let me say that there is another world out there. A world of witches and wizards who use wands to cast spells and fly on broomsticks. Our world and their world usually stay clear of each other. However, certain events are threatening both our worlds and I think that it would be wise to face the problem together. My job is only to bring up the topic of Voldemort. I will let Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, to use his eloquence to persuade us to ally with him."

Everyone gave Dumbledore their full attention when he stood up. "Ladies and gentlemen. As you all know, I'm Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts. However, I'm also the leader of the group against Voldemort. As Voldemort has been rising in power, we are in need of help to fight against him. The Ministry of Magic, the august body that governs the wizarding world, has refused to acknowledge the return of Voldemort for the past year. Even now, when the signs are more evident that Voldemort has returned, many people at the ministry are more interested in maintaining the status-quo instead of actively doing something to stop him. Even worse, some of the ministry members are Death Eaters as well."

"Death Eaters?" someone asked.

"Death Eaters are the witches and wizards who have chosen, or are forced to follow Voldemort" Dumbledore answered. "They have a mark of a coiled serpent on their left forearm. That sign is called the Dark Mark."

"It looks like this," Snape interrupted, rolling up the sleeve of his shirt and showing his forearm to the assembled people.

Ignoring the people who were now regarding Snape with suspicion, Dumbledore continued. "Severus has worked for Voldemort before, but he has returned to our side in the battle. His part in the battle was to spy on Voldemort. However, due to recent events, his loyalties have been made known to Voldemort and he can no longer infiltrate Voldemort's meetings."

Dawn raised her hand timidly. "Umm... for those who don't know, could you possibly tell us who this Voldemort guy is and why he is so dangerous?" she asked.

"Why certainly," Dumbledore responded. He then followed up with a brief history lesson about Voldemort. Interrupted by various questions, he finally managed to complete the lesson on Voldemort. What his real name is, why he hated muggles, and his plans for the world in general. Most of the wiccans winced when Dumbledore described what Voldemort did to the muggles who crossed him. All the descriptions included torture of some kind before the inevitable deaths. Then he explained how Voldemort met his demise at the hands of a baby, Harry Potter, and how he was revived, using the blood of the very same person. Dumbledore described in great detail what had happened during Harry's years at Hogwarts up to his fifth year, when his godfather, Sirus Black died.

"If he is allowed to continue his reign of terror, none of our worlds are safe from him. All of us will suffer. That is why I propose an alliance between both our worlds," Dumbledore added.

When he had finished, Dumbledore quietly sat down while the wiccans conferred amongst themselves. The coven arranged themselves into a circle to discuss the matter with each other while the other wiccans either participated in that discussion, or talked about it with their friends.

Buffy's group was conspicuously silent as the discussions were going on, but the mental link that Willow had set up among them was very busy. All of them kept an ear attuned to the coven's discussion as well as carrying on their own conversations. However, their own conversation was not about whether or not to join the fight against Voldemort. They had already decided to fight him even before Dumbledore's appeal, regardless of the decision made by the wiccans. What they were discussing was how they could fight him. Between them, their experience with evil far outstripped that of Dumbledore's, especially with Angel and Anya in the group. The conclusions they had come up with were not encouraging.

Finally, Laura stood up and addressed Dumbledore. "We have decided to assist you in you fight," she began. There was an audible sigh of relief from Dumbledore's group when she said that. "It is true that if left alone, both our worlds will suffer and it makes more sense to fight alongside each other rather than trip over each other's feet if we were to launch separate campaigns against him." She looked around her. "I hope that every one here will agree with our decision."

She was met with nods and looks of agreement. The more intelligent wiccans had come to that conclusion themselves. Voldemort would not turn a blind eye towards them even if they kept out of his way. In fact, if they did not band together, Voldemort would find it easier to kill them off one by one. That dire thought was communicated to the rest of the wiccans and none of them wanted it to become a reality. The logical choice was to join their forces in order to fight.

Laura continued. "Shawn and I will be the ones acting as the liaisons between Dumbledore and the wiccans. If anything comes up, we'll inform the rest of the coven who will then inform you all."

There was a murmur of agreement from the wiccans. As they were still contemplating the oncoming fight, a silver of light broke through the darkness of night. Willow turned to Angel and recast the aura of darkness on him. Everyone watched, mesmerized, as the sun rose up, signaling the approach of dawn. It had been a long night and the events were catching up to them. As the sun continued to rise, everyone made preparations to leave.