Sorry if the Cordy stuff is wrong, but I don't watch angel properly. Oh and please, please review coz I love reading them!
Chapter 17 - Hogsmeade
Later that evening, Buffy, Angel, Faith and Sirius headed out to the Forest across the school grounds. They were met half way by a giant of a man carrying a crossbow. Buffy looked at him in awe.
"S'nice to meet you," the giant man said, I'm Hagrid. Good to see yeh, back form the dead n'all." They shook hands.
"This is Buffy, a slayer, and Faith another slayer. And Angel, an ensouled vampire," Sirius made the introductions.
"Righ'" Hagrid said, confused, "Dumbledore said yeh'd come, to sort out the vampire, or demon in the forest." They walked off towards the forest.
"Righ' up yeh alley," Hagrid said, "Vampire's and the like. 'Course not yeh." He looked sideways at Angel.
"Actually, Angel fights vampires in Los Angeles," Buffy corrected him.
"Oh righ'," Hagrid said uncomfortably. "I'll leave yeh here, Sirius has been in here before, he can show yeh the ropes. I'll be seein' yeh." With that, he left them, heading back towards his cabin.
"That was strange," Sirius said, puzzled, "He's not normally rude at all. You couldn't find a nicer bloke."
"I think he was uncomfortable because of me," Angel said quietly, "Understandable really, not many people understand the concept of having a soul." They were all silent as they entered the Forest, listening carefully for any movement. Sirius led them, armed with his wand, Buffy followed with the scythe, Angel with an axe and Faith with a sword. They crept through the undergrowth, on a path that was barely there.
A rustling noise came from their left. They all turned and listened. The rustling came nearer and they raised their weapons. Out of the trees came three vampires, running towards them. Buffy, Angel and Faith took one each, dusting them quickly, whilst Sirius looked on, still marvelling at their skills. They turned to leave, Faith dusting off her hands when Buffy froze.
"What is it?" Sirius asked, but she shushed him. Suddenly, out of a bush directly in front of them came a gigantic snake. It faced Buffy and hissed threateningly. It rose up and prepared to strike. But Buffy was ready for that, and swung her scythe through the air, it singing as it sliced off the snakes head.
"What the hell was that?" she asked Sirius. He looked at the remains of the snake.
"I have no idea, but whatever it was, it wasn't supposed to be in here," he declared, "We'd better get to the castle and tell Dumbledore.
Dumbledore listened silently, sitting behind his desk, as they recounted the tale of the snake. He sighed heavily as he rose .
"It is as I thought, "he said quietly, "Spies. Voldemort has the unfortunate ability of being able to talk to snakes. Giant you say? I recall Harry talking of a giant snake at Voldemort's rebirth. It has been watching the castle."
"Well its gone now," Buffy said with satisfaction, "We don't have to worry about that anymore. But will there be more?"
Dumbledore sighed again.
"It's very likely," he replied, "We are going to have to be very careful." He paced the room, then shook his head as if coming to his senses.
"I have some good news for you however," he said, smiling at them benignly. "Miss Chase has been awoken from her coma, with the aid of a mandrake juice potion."
"Cordelia's awake?" Angel exclaimed, "Is she herself? I mean - is she Cordelia or the Beast?"
"Its her, Cordelia," Dumbledore confirmed. "She is sleeping currently, but by the morning you will be able to visit her, with the permission of our healer, Madam Pomfrey."
The next morning Buffy, Angel, Xander, Willow, Giles, Fred, Gunn, Lorne and Wesley went to the hospital wing in order to be present at Cordelia's awakening. Madam Pomfrey let them in, reluctantly. They stood expectantly around her bedside for ten minutes, until, suddenly her eyelids fluttered, and opened.
"Angel?" she said doubtfully, as her eyes focused. He smiled at her softly.
"Xander?" she asked even more doubtfully. "Where am I, what's going on? What happened." She sat up quickly, and Madam Pomfrey rushed forward to push her back down.
"The last thing I remember was a vision and then nothing," she said slowly. She looked up at Angel, "What happened?"
"A lot," he said quietly. "But never mind that now. You are at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the entire Scooby family is back together again." For the first time she took in the entire group standing around her bed. A faint smile passed her lips.
"hey sweetie," Xander said gently, "How are you feeling?"
"Xander," she said softly, "You're all here. Buffy, and Willow and Giles. Just like old times." She settled back into her pillows. Then she sat up again, a look of alarm on her pale face.
"Where's Connor?" she asked hurriedly, "he's not dead is he?"
"No," Angel said quietly, "He's with a family, his own family, a proper one." Cordelia frowned, then relaxed again.
"Quite a lot has changed, Cordy," Gunn said, "We're running Wolfram and Hart now, they gave it to us." He chuckled at her look of mingled surprise and horror.
"And there's more than two slayers now," Buffy supplies, "There's sixty five, to be exact." Cordelia's eyes widened. Then they narrowed.
"But what are we doing here?" she asked.
"Preparing for war actually," Angel admitted.
"Think I'll just go back to sleep….."
That evening at dinner, Sirius told Buffy about the Hogsmeade weekend the kids had.
"Obviously the teachers can go when the want," he explained, "But they normally just go when everyone is allowed. it's the only all Wizarding settlement in Britain. We can just wander round and visit the shops and stuff."
"Sounds great," Buffy said happily, "We can be all touristy."
Harry was also making plans to go to Hogsmeade.
"I was wondering," he said to Dawn awkwardly, "Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow?"
"I'd love to!" Dawn exclaimed. Harry grinned shakily at her. Dinner ended, and they all stood to leave the hall, but Dumbledore clapped his hands, and they all sat down to listen to him.
"The staff at Hogwarts have decided that since the last few years have been somewhat…difficult, for your enjoyment we have decided to hold the Yule Ball this year, for third years and above." Dumbledore announced, to a variety of cheers and moans. They were then dismissed. Ron groaned loudly.
"We have to go through all this trouble again," he said dejectedly. "For our enjoyment, puh." Hermione went slightly pink but said nothing.
The next day everyone lined up by the doors, to have their permission slips checked. Buffy and Sirius bypassed the queue and set off for Hogsmeade. When they arrived, Sirius watched in amusement as Buffy's face lit up at all the shops. Buffy particularly enjoyed Honeydukes the sweetshop, and the free tasters it provided. They spent ages, just testing out the sweets, as Buffy said she needed to have an overall impression before she bought anything. They finally left, then went to the shrieking shack and Dervish and Banges.
"There's this coffee shop that all the couples go to," said Sirius awkwardly, "But it's kind of obnoxious. Do you mind going to the pub instead?"
"I'd rather go there," Buffy said, thankfully. "Hermione told me about, its all pink and frilly. Ergh." They headed into the Three Broomsticks and ordered Butterbeer.
"You going to be my date then?" Sirius asked Buffy casually, "To this ball thing?"
"I'll see," Buffy said just as casually, "You know, see if I get any better offers. But what does a wizard girl wear to one of these things?"
"Dress robes," Sirius answered. Buffy looked panicked for a second.
"I haven't got those," she said worriedly, "I'll have to go to Diagon Alley, when Faith and the others go to get supplies. Dawn and Willow too."
"You'll look great whatever you wear," Sirius said gently. He kissed her softly. Behind them, they heard someone clear the throat loudly, and they looked up guiltily. Ron, Harry, Dawn and Hermione stood behind them.
"Mind if we join you lovebirds?" Dawn said loudly. She slid into a stool at their table, and the others did the same.
"Hey, this Yule Ball thing," Buffy said to Dawn, "We're gonna have to go to London, get some dress robes."
"Way ahead of you Buff," Dawn replied, "I got some when we went the first time. So did Willow, and Xander."
"Looks like its just me going then," Buffy said reluctantly, "I'll have to wait for the others for ages." Sirius picked up her hand and kissed it.
"I'll come with you," he offered, "That's as long as Dumbledore lets me leave Moony by himself. Then we can do more touristy stuff." Buffy smiled and turned over her hand so she could kiss his.
"SO who are you lot taking to the Yule Ball then?" Sirius asked bluntly. They all shifted awkwardly in their seats.
"Well, it was only just announced…." Harry said uncomfortably. Sirius laughed fondly.
"Just like James," he said mistily, "Took him forever to pluck up the courage to ask Lily to our Yule Ball, in our seventh year. She said yes though." He paused for a moment, reminiscing, then shook his head and came to his senses.
"Who did you take to your Yule Ball?" Harry asked curiously. Sirius chuckled.
"Girl by the name of Elspeth Robbins, Gryffindor seventh year. Didn't have much going on upstairs if you know what I mean," he tapped his head, "Not bad looking though," he added speculatively, easily the prettiest that asked me."
"Alright, Mr. Modesty, that will do," Buffy interjected sternly. Sirius grinned sheepishly.
"I can't help it," he said, straight faced. "Its animal magnetism." Hermione giggled and Buffy put on a mock stern expression before giggling too.
"C'mon, you animal," she said playfully, "We've got to get back to Hogwarts. And so have you guys," she addressed Harry, Ron, Hermione and Dawn. They made their way back to the castle.
Angel, Faith and the others decided to go to Diagon Alley, by way of Floo powder that afternoon. This was mainly down to Cordelia who said she had major shopping cravings after being in a coma. Dumbledore gave permission to Sirius to go with them and so after lunch, Faith, Angel, Cordelia, Gunn, Fred and Wesley waited patiently in front of the fire for Professor Dumbledore to give them Floo powder. They had decided to leave the other slayers at Hogwarts, since there would be way too many to all come along. They had agreed to pick up robes for them, however.
Dumbledore arrived in the entrance hall with a jar of Floo powder, which he handed out amongst them. One by one the filed into the fireplace. Buffy fell out of the fireplace in Diagon Alley, just in front of the Wizarding bank, Gringotts, where they first went to change up some money. Buffy and Sirius decided to separate from the rest, since they only had to go to Madam Malkins. They went straight there, leaving the others to get wands, but Buffy made Sirius wait outside.
"I want you to be surprised when you see me," she said secretively. He nodded, knowing the surprise would be worth it.
Ten minutes later, Buffy emerged smiling, and holding a package. She declined his offer to hold it.