CHAPTER TWELVE: THE MEETING
As first days went, it was shaping up to be incredibly horrible. Snape had attempted to deduct the Gryffindor's house points until they were in the minus figures, he'd already given Dean Thomas a detention for an incorrectly brewed potion, and the amount of homework set by all of the teacher's had been far too much for a first day.
By the final period of the day, the exhausted Sixth Year students slunk out of the DADA classroom, just grateful that Giles hadn't been horribly harsh in the homework assignments. Buffy hung back, wanting to ask Giles why he'd been so distracted during the lesson. Harry, Ron and Hermione had offered to wait for her, but Buffy had told them that she would meet up with them later at dinner.
"Giles?" Buffy asked quietly as her mentor and father figure slammed one of his textbooks loudly onto his desk. "Are you okay?"
Giles looked up, not having noticed that Buffy had lingered.
"Oh…Buffy. Uh…yes, yes. I'm fine," he replied.
Buffy just looked at him with one eyebrow raised. "And you know I don't believe that," she replied. She laid a gentle hand on his arm. "What's wrong?"
Giles sighed and sat heavily in his seat. He removed his glasses and ran a hand over his face. Buffy, who had mastered reading Giles' facial expressions over the last three years was now especially worried.
"Giles? What's going on?" she asked again.
"Cornelius Fudge is here," he replied. "He wishes to have a meeting with you after dinner."
"Alright…Fudge isn't my favourite man in the world, but…why is that so terrible?" she asked, a feeling of dread creeping up into her stomach.
"I just have a bad feeling about this, is all," Giles explained.
Buffy sighed and swallowed hard. It wouldn't do her any good to sit around wondering what Fudge had in store for her this time. Her dislike for the Minister of Magic had compounded last year, not just because the man clearly despised her, but also because it was Fudge's fault that her heritage had been revealed to the entire Hogwarts population.
"Well…it can't be much worse than what happened last year," Buffy said confidently. "Whatever it is…I'll deal."
Giles could only give her a weak smile as he stood up and walked his charge to the Great Hall.
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Buffy knew from the moment that she walked into Dumbledore's office for what seemed liked the millionth time that the meeting between herself and Fudge was not going to go well. She took a seat across from the Headmaster, Giles standing behind her in a show of support.
"So…what's going on?" Buffy asked curiously, addressing Dumbledore rather than the Minister of Magic who sat in the seat beside her.
Unfortunately, it was Fudge who replied.
"There have been many…meetings, between myself and the other governors," Fudge began. "There have been a numerous amount of complaints about…well, about-"
"Me," Buffy finished for him, glaring at him contemptuously.
Fudge just nodded and kept his eyes averted from Buffy's gaze.
"After much talk, it was decided, and agreed upon-"
"By barely even half of the Ministry," Dumbledore added angrily.
Buffy felt her nervousness increase. If Dumbledore was angry, then it could only mean trouble. She hated seeing the Headmaster angry, upset or frightened. It tended to make Buffy worry even more than she usually did.
Fudge just cleared his throat, trying to ignore Dumbledore's outburst.
"That you possess entirely too much power," Fudge continued.
Buffy just stared at the man blankly. Whatever she'd been expecting, it definitely hadn't been that.
"Ooookay," she said slowly, not really comprehending what was being said. "And you want me to do what about it?"
Fudge couldn't quite bring himself to reply. He knew that the answer would anger the young woman in front of him, and after hearing testimonies of the power that she possessed, he knew that this was not someone that he wanted to be angered.
Giles scoffed as he realised exactly what Fudge was trying to say.
"They wish to take away your slaying abilities," he said. He glared at Fudge. "Don't they?"
Fudge just nodded. He'd been the recipient of Giles' patented Ripper-glare many times before, but none of those times had it seemed so ferocious.
There was a sudden silence in the room as Buffy digested what Fudge had just suggested. She turned in her chair and looked up at Giles. When she saw his angered expression she was just grateful that the hatred she saw in his eyes wasn't being directed at her.
She turned back to the Minister of Magic who was trying his best to appear calm and confident.
"Why?" Buffy asked.
"Surely you must understand our position," Fudge said. "Ever since your identity was revealed, we've had numerous owls regarding people's safety."
Buffy looked at him with barely disguised disgust.
"So, basically what it comes down to is that you don't trust me," Buffy said.
Fudge swallowed hard. He'd been given no real reason to trust the girl in front of him. Dumbledore sighed and looked to the student who was most frequently in his office.
"I believe what the Minister is trying to say is that power frightens people," Dumbledore explained. "When you were untrained in your magic, you were still powerful, but now that you have both your slaying abilities and your magical abilities, your power is even greater. It is understandable that people would be worried that that power could be used for nefarious purposes."
Buffy sighed and considered Dumbledore's words carefully.
"Weren't you the one who told me that I needed to stay in situations where people were uncomfortable with who and what I was so that I could get people to trust me?" Buffy asked, remembering his words from the previous month.
Dumbledore gave her a wry smile and inclined his head. "Indeed I did Miss Summers. But…consider it from this angle, that power was never really yours to begin with. It is something that you were given in order to aid you in learning the difference between good and evil. And now that you have firmly established what those differences are, returning the power that you were given should not be a problem."
Buffy hadn't really thought about it from that angle. Even though she'd been told all throughout the previous year that she wasn't really a Slayer, she still had the strength, healing abilities, speed and extra senses that came with the Slayer package. Now that those extra abilities were being threatened, she felt an odd sense of panic.
She'd been strong and fast for over three years now, and to suddenly find herself about to lose what she'd grown used to was a frightening concept.
As always, she looked to Giles. He didn't look particularly happy about it, but she could read the understanding in his eyes at the Headmaster's words. She sighed and wondered what differences would occur when the spell was reversed.
"Giles?" she questioned.
Giles moved to kneel in front of her, taking her hands within his larger ones.
"Buffy…you know that I trust you unconditionally. But if agreeing to the removal of the spell will enable people to trust you, then I don't believe you should fight this," he advised her.
She sighed heavily and considered all of her options. She knew that one way or another the spell would take place. Having her powers stripped voluntarily would look far better than if they had to be taken by force.
"Alright. I'll agree to it," she finally said.
Fudge sighed with relief and stood up, reaching for his wand.
"But," Buffy said suddenly, her voice raised, a note of authority within it. "I want Giles to do it."
Giles' eyes widened in panic. He withdrew his hands from Buffy's and looked at her curiously.
"Me? Why me?"
"Because I trust you Giles," she replied as though the answer was only too obvious. "I don't want him pointing his wand at me and doing some funky mojo. Who knows what other spells he's likely to do if he's given half the chance."
Fudge looked vaguely insulted by Buffy's words. He wisely decided to stay silent however, knowing that a single wrong word would only cause Buffy to change her mind about the spell.
Giles quickly weighed the options. Buffy did make a good point. Now that it had been mentioned, he wasn't entirely certain that he would want anyone pointing a wand at his 'daughter' and taking away part of her power.
Giles looked to the Minister of Magic. "Will you agree to letting me perform the spell?" Giles asked.
Fudge nodded without hesitation. He handed Giles a slip of parchment with an incantation written on it. Giles read over it and committed it to memory. With shaking hands he removed his wand, trying to mentally prepare himself for what he was about to do.
Buffy closed her eyes as Giles brought his wand to rest, pointing directly at Buffy's heart. With a few carefully phrased words in Latin, Buffy's entire world exploded in pain.
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Madam Pomfrey had been fairly certain that her services wouldn't be required on the first day back of term. Unfortunately for her, she was dead wrong. A cry of her name tore her away from her book, and she looked up, startled to see Professor Giles running into the infirmary with a familiar small, blonde figure in his arms.
Pomfrey's eyes widened and she was on her feet in an instant, gathering potions and ingredients in order to help out the familiar looking blonde girl. The one and only time that Poppy Pomfrey had treated the American girl had been after Buffy had been hit with the Killing Curse at the end of the previous school year.
"What happened?" Pomfrey demanded, looking between an absolute frantic Giles, and an equally worried Dumbledore. Cornelius Fudge stood behind them, his face blank, though anyone who looked at him could tell he was worried. Although, anyone who knew him really well could tell that he was more worried about what Giles or Dumbledore would do to him if Buffy Summers was not alright.
"She had a significant amount of her powers stripped," Giles explained succinctly. "She passed out after screaming bloody murder."
Pomfrey paled under Giles' description. She could hear the fear in his voice, tinged with a fair amount of anger. Pomfrey quickly checked on the pale girl, ensuring that she was indeed alive.
"She seems to be alright," Pomfrey said quietly. "Just unconscious. Undoubtedly she'll hurt like hell in the morning."
Giles scowled angrily and plopped down into the seat beside Buffy's bed. It was fairly obvious from his entire posture that he was not about to move from his spot unless an apocalypse came. Even then it would have been doubtful.
Dumbledore turned cold eyes towards Fudge. "I believe we're done here," the headmaster said coolly.
Fudge nodded and left without another word. He wasn't about to stay for the aftermath of the spell that had been performed. He was suddenly very grateful that he hadn't been the one to perform it.
Dumbledore watched him leave, tail between his legs. He turned to Giles and laid a fatherly hand on the DADA Professors shoulder.
"Try to get some sleep," Dumbledore advised. "I'll find someone to take over your classes for tomorrow. You'll probably wish to stay with her, help her to adjust."
Giles just nodded absently, barely hearing anything beyond 'stay with her'. He took a hold of his daughter's hand and continued watching her well into the night.
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