Chapter 8

Buffy ran down the street towards her house in her leather boots and cutesy pink top. Once she reached the house she kicked the door down and ran inside. Andrew was huddled in a corner, still firmly gripping his bat. "Andrew! Are you okay? Where's the guy?"

"He went away."

"What?"

"I asked him to leave, so he left. But Buffy I feared for my life! What if he came back with a big gang of his scary motorcycle friends?!?"

"Andrew, any real criminal or evil guy would not go if you asked him to. What did I tell you about calling me about stupid things? What did he say he wanted?"

"He said he wanted to find Draco Malfoy."

"Have you ever considered that he might be his FRIEND?"

"No."

"Ugh! Come on!" Buffy said, and threw up her arms. She dragged him all the way to the car and drove to the Magic Shop.

* * * * * Sirius returned to Draco's place and flipped through the pages of the books he had borrowed from Giles' extensive library. He sat there for twenty minutes until he finally found it.

"Stella Crux Malignitas Deus." He read aloud.

He knew he had seen that symbol before. The familiar black pentagram and cross had stuck with him for some reason, but he couldn't remember where he saw it. He got up, carrying the large leather bound book under his right arm, and apparated to the Magic Shop."

* * * * * *POP* Sirius apparated to the Magic Shop, right next to the couch Dawn was sitting on.

"Ahh!" Dawn shouted. "Don't do that! That pop thingy whatever that is. We non-magical folk aren't used to people appearing out of nowhere?"

"All right, all right." Sirius said defensively. "So, who's the brains round' here?"

Everyone pointed to Giles. Sirius walked over to the counter and held the book up to his face. "Have you ever seen this symbol before?"

Giles pondered for a while, squinting at the small picture on the crinkled page. "Uh, yes. I believe that's the Stella Crux Malignitas Dues. Yes I remember this one quite well. Why do you ask?"

"Willow's tattoo. That's the symbol. I know I've seen it somewhere before but I can't remember where. What does it mean?"

"Well, if I remember correctly, It's a mark from an ancient prophecy about the daughter of a powerful goddess named Glorificus. In the prophecy, the daughter has sacred blood that when spilled in a ritual, will release all hell into the world. The symbol means, literally, "Star Cross Evil God." Wait a minute, Glorificus. Glory?"

"Glorificus. I knew it. Willow, who was your mother?"

"I don't know, I never met her. My father never talked about her. Do you think I'm-"

"Willow. You are the daughter of the goddess Glorificus. More commonly known as Glory. She went to Hogwarts with me. She lived in the magical world for years before she turned. Her family was proud and power hungry, much like the Malfoys. Many wizards before her time had gained power from extremely important magical objects, but she didn't think this was enough. She decided that to have absolute power, she would have to become a god. She summoned Greek and Roman gods like Zeus, Athena, Hades, Artemis, Apollo, Poseidon, and Hera. She performed ritual after ritual, slowly gaining power until she became a god herself. She decided to test out her new power on your world. But she vastly underestimated the difficulty of her mission. You see, she had a daughter, years ago. That's you, Willow. But because of the prophecy, you were taken away from her and hidden. She searched for you for years. Only her daughter's blood could open the portal. She finally thought she had found you a few years ago. But she was easily deceived by some false information to think that it was a different girl."

"Dawn." Giles suggested.

"Yes, Dawn. Fortunately, Glory was not the brightest of gods and never knew about the symbol. The Ministry of Magic set up the trap because they never expected you to be able to defeat Glory. But even though Dawn's blood would not have completed the ritual, you saved her, and killed Glory. You were the group of muggles that defeated Glory weren't you? You-"

Willow interrupted, still astonished at what she was hearing. "Yes, but Dawn's blood, it worked. The portal opened and evil dragons and things started flying out!"

"Ah yes, that's a bit complicated. There are two portals that need to be opened to release the creatures of hell. The first only requires ordinary blood. Of any person. Those creatures that you saw were only the guardians of the portal. What lies beneath is more horrible than you can even imagine."

"I can't believe I didn't see it before!" Said Giles, also astonished. "The symbol, I knew what it was but I never stopped to think about. I could never explain why Willow had such extra ordinary magical powers. No other human has the power that she has. The magical world and the human world have mixed very little. And no other human has achieved much more than a successful seance."

"So she's a...goddess?" Xander asked disbelievingly.

"Yes." Said Sirius.

Just then, the door opened and Andrew and Buffy walked in.

"What'd I miss?" Buffy said cheerfully.

"Willow's Glory's daughter and a goddess," Draco said and then pointed to Sirius. "And he's my gay Glory knowing convicted but innocent criminal biological father."

"Jesu Maria."

* * * * *