Sorry all spike fans but he won't be included. I find him hard to write, and he wont work with the story that I have in mind. But Angel will appear.
Chapter 3 - OWLs
Harry stared at the unconscious form of his godfather before him. He was paralysed by what he had just seen and just sat there. He could hear noise from upstairs, the happenings in the living room had not escaped the others notice, but he wasn't fully aware of anything, until Buffy burst into the room , followed by everyone else, including Moody, Tonks, Lupin and Dumbledore who had stayed in the house that night.
"Sirius?" Lupin whispered disbelievingly. The Scoobies gasped as they realised who is was on the floor. Lupin pushed past the others and ran to Sirius, lifting him up and turning him over.
"He's still breathing," Lupin whispered, "He's coming around." The room waited in anticipation and Sirius eyes opened slowly.
"Remus?" he muttered hoarsely again, "Where am I? What happened?" Everyone looked at Harry and Willow expectantly.
"Willow did a spell," Harry said, "Sirius was in pain and we had to bring him back. I needed him."
"Willow, how could you?" Buffy broke in angrily, " Don't you remember what you did before? How could you be so stupid, what were you thinking?" Willows eyes flashed.
"I was helping Harry," Willow replied coldly, "He needed his Godfather, and I felt his essence and it was in pain and so I did what I had to do. You don't understand what its like for the rest of us, needing someone back like that, you don't need anyone."
"How can you even say that?" Buffy asked bitterly, " I needed my mom after she died, but that didn't mean I brought her back with some weird Wicca tricks. I think you're the one that doesn't understand."
Xander looked between them awkwardly.
"Look you guys, this kinda isn't the time. We don't have to argue about this, because its already done."
Dumbledore moved forward and helped Lupin move Sirius from the floor, to the threadbare sofa. Sirius' eyes were already starting to come alive.
"Grimmauld Place? I'm back here," he asked croakily. Harry sat beside him, and Sirius gave him a shaky grin.
"Where were you?" asked Harry. Sirius swallowed hard.
"A dark place," he answered, staring into space, as if envisaging it. "It was a dark, bad place. There was something there, but I don't know what but it was evil. There were other people there, people like me, who were stuck there, but they had been there a long time. They weren't people anymore, they weren't anything." His eyes were blank and hollow, as they had been since his time in Azkaban.
"But I'm here," he continued, "how, why am I here?"
"The spell," Willow said, "It found you, whatever dimension you were in and brought you to us. When Harry told me about what had happened, and asked me if I could help, I found a spell that would find you, from Harry's memories of you. And so you came back."
Sirius grabbed Harry in a hug. Willow shot Buffy a triumphant look.
"Thank you both of you, Willow and Harry…God that place, the people and the screaming. How long was I gone here?"
"About two months," Harry replied, "We couldn't just leave you when Willow found out what pain you were in."
"It was less where I was, like one of those days that seems to never end."
Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"Sirius I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say we are so pleased to have you back," everyone nodded, "now lets all get some rest and we can talk in the morning. Your old bedroom is as it was, and I do not doubt that you are tired." Sirius nodded and the group trailed back to bed, but not before everyone greeted Sirius with hugs.
Harry climbed back into his bed sleepily, as it was well past two.
"That's amazing!" Ron exclaimed, "You brought him back, Sirius is back!"
Harry exulted in the felling of knowing this, before he drifted to sleep.
Harry woke up in the morning and for a moment thought everything was normal, but then he remembered the events of last night. He had brought Sirius back! Harry pulled on his clothes, and ran downstairs, leaving Ron asleep. The smell of bacon filled the house and he rushed into the kitchen. To Harry's disappointment, Sirius was not in the kitchen. Mr and Mrs Weasley were cooking, and Tonks, Lupin, Dumbledore, Giles and Buffy sat around the table. As Harry entered, Lupin looked up hopefully, but on seeing Harry looked disappointed. Harry knew he was hoping to greet Sirius.
"Guess what Harry?" Buffy said excitedly, "We've been talking about things with Professor Dumbledore and we've decided to join in the fight against Voldemort. We've heard about his gathering of the forces of darkness, and the Professor has extended an invitation for us to spend the year at Hogwarts!"
"Wow that's great!" Harry exclaimed, "Will you be taking magic?"
"Maybe." Buffy said glancing at Dumbledore, "Willow will anyway, and the rest of us are going to wait and see. We'll probably be bringing in some other friends though, the other slayers, maybe a vampire and a demon or two."
Harry stared at her in disbelief.
"Oh no its ok," she said, noticing his expression, "Angel, the vampire, has a soul. He's all good and kills bad stuff too."
Harry nodded, he was looking forward to this year at Hogwarts. It would be interesting with these American guests.
Ron and Hermione entered the kitchen, followed by the rest of the gang.
"Harry!" Hermione said excitedly, "Its OWLs day!" The twins rolled their eyes. As they did this, a tawny owl appeared on the window outside the kitchen, tapping on the glass to be let in. Hermione leapt up and grabbed the envelopes it was delivering. She passed them out.
"So this is like your SATs right?" Dawn asked. Harry nodded as he carefully opened his envelope. He looked at the parchment it contained and swallowed hard. He had managed to do pretty well, getting O's in Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology and Transfiguration. He had got E's in Charms, Care of Magical creatures and , and getting A's in Astronomy, Divination and History of Magic.
Harry grabbed Hermione's results, and saw what he had expected, Outstanding in every subject.
"How did you do?" Harry asked Ron.
"Not bad," Ron replied, "O in Potions and Charms, E in Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology and Astronomy and A in Divination and History of Magic."
Mrs Weasley hugged them all in turn and everyone else congratulated them on their achievement, with some prompting from Mrs Weasley on the twins part.
"Well looks like another trip to Diagon Alley," Mrs Weasley said, consulting the letters that had come with their OWLs.
"Diagonally?" said Dawn wrinkling her nose.
"Diagon Alley," Harry corrected, "Its an entire wizard community, with shops and a pub. Its impenetrable to muggles, but since you're with us you should be okay to go in. But what about Sirius?" Harry said to Dumbledore.
"He probably needs some time alone," Buffy answered gently, "Being in a hell dimension isn't easy. It doesn't make you Mr. Fun at parties that's for sure."
"Well, we can go by Floo," Mrs Weasley said, "it's the quickest since there are so many of us. Obviously you all will have to go to the Ministry," she said looking at her husband, Moody, Bill, Charlie, Tonks and Dumbledore.
"Yes unfortunately, Molly," Dumbledore said, "Fudge won't let me have a moments peace, now he's finally stopped proclaiming my madness. His moustache twitched.
"We'll come with you though, mum," said George, "We've got to go to work." Mrs Weasley shook her head.
"Right so that's me, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, the twins, Remus, Mr Giles, Xander, Willow and Buffy."
"Actually, I'd like to stay here," Buffy broke in, "I need to contact a few people, if we are gonna wage a war on this Voldemort guy. Will I be able to use my mobile here?" Dumbledore nodded,
"Providing I put a spell on it," he said tapping it with his wand.
Mrs. Weasley picked up a jar from the mantelpiece above the large blazing fire.
"Now just grab a handful and say 'Diagon Alley' nice and clearly," she said. The Weasleys, Harry and Hermione did so, then the Sunnydale group followed, a little unsurely. Buffy had the bizarre experience of seeing her beat friends wreathed in flames. After they had left, Dumbledore, Tonks, Moody and Mr. Weasley bid their goodbyes to Buffy, before disappearing into thin air with a loud crack. Buffy shook her head smiling then went into the living room.
She dialled the number for Wolfram and Hart in LA.
"Angel Investigations, How can I direct you?" a voice chirped.
"Umm, I'd like to speak to Angel please," Buffy said, "It's Buffy Summers."
"Hang on I'll put you through. Have a nice day," the voice chirped again.
Buffy heard some violin music playing before Angel came on the line.
"Buffy," he greeted her warmly, "How are you? I thought you were holidaying in England?"
"I was," she said but we stumbled across the weirdest boy when doing some off-duty slayage." She explained about Harry and the world of wizards, and about the threat from Voldemort.
"So they want us to help them, and I think we should," she finished, "I mean its same old army of darkness, nothing we haven't handled before."
"I think we should definitely do it," Angel replied firmly, "I've got that whole army of slayers you sent me, just tearing up my offices, with the help of Faith. They keep complaining they're bored, since the battle with the First, there hasn't been much activity beyond the usual vamps. Even Wesley is complaining. Though I think that might have something to do with Andrew constantly beating him at Dungeons and Dragons. I think we should give them something to do."
"Great," Buffy said smiling, "We're going to be at this place called Hogwarts, a big Wizarding school apparently. But the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, said he'd be in touch with you soon, and you can come and join us there. He also said he might be able to help with Cordelia, maybe get her out of the coma. Look out for a man with the coolest beard."
"Ok, will do. Speak to you soon, bye." Angel hung up, and Buffy tucked her phone in her pocket. She was glad that she would be fighting with Angel again, the gang would finally be all back together, with the exceptions of those they had lost, Anya, Spike who were sorely missed.
The door to the lounge opened and Sirius Black entered the room.
"I'm sorry," he said, "I thought everyone had gone out. I'll just.."
"No," Buffy said quickly, "Its your house, if anyone should go its me." She stood up.
"No please stay," Sirius said, "I just couldn't face everyone this morning, so I hid til I thought they had left." He and Buffy sat on the sofa.
"Buffy Summers," Buffy said extending her hand, "We didn't really meet last night on account of you being in a hellish dimension."
"Sirius Black," Sirius said smiling, " but if you don't mind me asking, who are you?"
Buffy grinned, "a vampire slayer" she answered.
"You're kidding," Sirius exclaimed, " The Vampire Slayer?"
"A vampire slayer," Buffy corrected, " There are a lot of us now." She looked at Sirius and their eyes met, making her gasp.
"Your eyes," she said, " the torment in them. Just like Angel." She touched his face with her hand wonderingly, then quickly withdrew it.
"Sorry, its just an ex of mine spent a long time in a hell dimension, and his eyes were just like yours when he came back. The had the same horror in them," she said shaking her head, "I think maybe Willow was right to bring you back."
Sirius nodded. "It was bad, and painful and horrible and I'm glad I'm back. Harry needs me, we've got a war to fight and he has to bear most of it. I suppose you can understand that," he said, gesturing to Buffy.
"Its not easy being the chosen one," she said, "No matter what happens, you are always alone, always different to everyone else. But you need people and Harry is gonna need you. You have to take care of the people you love. I died for my sister and I would do it again."
"You died?" Sirius asked, "And I thought I was special." They laughed.
"Yeah but Willow brought me back. But I had been in heaven so my return wasn't so good," she said, "It takes a while to adjust to being back, I know all about that."
"Then maybe you can help me. Though I suppose you are going back to America," He said regretfully.
"Nope," Buffy said grinning, "Dumbledore said that this Voldemort guy is building an army, of vampires and demons, so we are going to be spending some time at Hogwarts, maybe with the other slayers, training and teaching others about how to defend themselves physically. Maybe doing some magic too," she finished mischievously.
Sirius broke out into a grin.
"Hopefully we will be seeing quite a lot of each other then," he said hopefully. But his grin faded, as he said, "But I'm a wanted fugitive so I'll probably be stuck here again."
"Whoa, we have so much in common," Buffy said smiling, " I was a fugitive too! Besides that Moody guy said you'd been pardoned, by Fudge or someone."
Sirius grinned again, and Buffy thought not for the first time how fantastic he looked when he grinned.
"Looks like I'll be a upstanding pillar of society again then," he said, "Well maybe not upstanding…"
A loud crack echoed in the room, and Dumbledore appeared in the corner of the living room.
"Ah, Sirius," he said, "I thought you would emerge when we had all departed. I would have left you to get acquainted with Miss Summers but I needed to speak to you about a few things. His eyes twinkled at them.
"Sure," said Sirius, " Me and Buffy have just discovered how much we have in common, she died too!"
"Indeed" Dumbledore said jovially, " Now first of all, I need to ask, are you felling all right?"
"I'm ok," said Sirius, "Been better, but I'm glad to be back, and hopefully I'll feel better soon." He glanced at Buffy.
"Good, good," said Dumbledore, "Now I have to ask you, is it possible for us to remain her for the Order of the Phoenix?"
"Yes, yes, certainly" Sirius said, " Of course, can't think of a better use for the old dump."
"Thank you very much," Dumbledore said, " Now an important matter, as you probably know, I have a vacancy for the Defence Against the Dark Arts teaching position. I have asked Remus, but now I would be very much obliged if you would consent to take it, as well as Remus, and you could teach together. There will be more lessons, in light of recent events"
"That would be fantastic!" Sirius exclaimed, "I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing."
"We would be thrilled to have you," said Dumbledore. Then he turned to Buffy, " Miss Summers I also have a favour to ask you, would you be willing to assist in these lessons from time to time, to help the students learn about physical defence as well as magical?"
"I'd love to," said Buffy sincerely, "And Angel has agreed to come, so he can help, show the children what a vampire looks like?"
"A vampire?" Sirius said, "You know a vampire?"
"Yes," she grinned at Sirius apologetically, " He's the ex I spoke about. But don't worry, he has a soul."
Sirius nodded, feeling he wouldn't like this vampire.
"Well, now everything is sorted," said Dumbledore, "perhaps you'd like to join the others in Diagon Alley. You need some teaching materials, and you could look into getting a wand, and some wizards robes, Miss Summers, to see if we can harness some of the slayer power into magical power. Harry really wants to see you," he added to Sirius.
Sirius and Buffy nodded, and followed Dumbledore into the kitchen. Buffy watched Sirius transport to Diagon Alley through the fireplace, then grabbed a handful of Floo powder to do the same, hearing the crack of Dumbledore disapparating behind her. She stepped into the fire place and felt the flames like around her warmly.
"Diagon Alley" she said clearly, and felt a jerk behind her navel as she was lifted off her feet and carried away from 12 Grimmauld Place.