CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE: TEACHING
Monday, 15th March 1999
Buffy had never been a fan of speaking publicly. She was far more confident about it than Willow, though that wasn't really saying all that much.
So, when she found herself standing in front of fifty Seventh-Year students, she was surprised that she was actually trembling nervously. The students were all whispering amongst themselves, and Buffy could make out snippets of their conversations. Most of them were speaking about the events of the previous night's fight.
Harry, Ron and Hermione were seated close to the front, Harry and Ron just now finding out from Hermione about why Buffy was truly at Hogwarts. At first they were horrified by the thought that Buffy had killed someone. When Hermione explained that Buffy had been falsely accused, they both breathed sighs of relief.
Buffy glanced at Draco nervously, and he winked at her encouragingly. She glanced at her friends and her mom, taking strength from their presence. Having them there to support her meant more than she could express. Knowing that they believed her about what had happened was the main part of what had frightened her about leaving them all behind.
She cleared her throat and got immediate results. The entire room went deathly silent. The Scoobies (minus Oz) laughed at the sheer rapt attention of the audience. Buffy glared at them, but they couldn't contain their smiles. She rolled her eyes and looked at the sea of familiar faces.
Blaise was seated next to Draco, grinning widely, and the other Slytherin girls seemed to be as excited to hear Buffy's tale as the other Houses were.
"Well, uh…I guess you all know who I am and what I do," Buffy began nervously. "And seeing as Professor Rayne taught us about the Slayer a few weeks ago, I'm gonna assume that you've realised that a Vampire Slayer isn't actually a myth after all. They're as real as you and…well, me I guess."
"How long have you been a Slayer?" Ron called out.
"Three years. I was Called in my junior year back in Los Angeles when I was fifteen," Buffy replied. "At first I didn't believe it. I know that to most of you guys, magic and mystical creatures are common everyday things. I was raised muggle, so I had no clue that this stuff was even real until my first Watcher found me and told me that I was a Slayer."
"If Slayers are supposed to work alone, why do you have friends who help you?" a random Ravenclaw girl asked.
Buffy looked to Giles for help. He smiled gently and stood up, removing his glasses and shifting into lecture mode.
"Potential Slayers are usually found at a very young age," he began, "and thus, they're training begins during their forming years. Buffy went undetected by the Council, and so when she was finally found, she was living a normal life in Los Angeles. Her first Watcher allowed her to stay in contact with her friends and continue attending school rather than taking her away from it all. When I was assigned to Buffy to be her Watcher, I knew that there was no point trying to enforce the Council's rules onto such a…"
"Free spirit?" Oz supplied helpfully.
Giles nodded and smiled fondly at Buffy. She smiled back at him and grinned at Oz's description.
"You keep mentioning your first Watcher," Harry began timidly, almost knowing the answer, but drawn to asking the question anyway. "What happened to…uh, him?"
Buffy's eyes clouded and Harry immediately regretted the question. Draco glared at the Gryffindor boy, but Harry was used to that sort of treatment from the Slytherin Prince.
"He was killed by a Master Vampire back in LA. I watched him die," Buffy said quietly.
The room went silent for a moment, before Hermione frantically thought up another question to try and lighten the mood.
"What's your favourite weapon?" the Gryffindor girl asked.
Buffy shot her friend a grateful look and Hermione smiled back encouragingly.
"Crossbow, most definitely," Buffy replied, grinning widely. "Flying fatalities."
"If you're the 'one girl in all the world'…why are you at Hogwarts?" a Hufflepuff boy, Ernie MacMillian, called out.
Buffy breathed in deeply. She'd been expecting this question and had decided to answer it as honestly as she could.
"Well…about two years ago, I went up against this vamp who called himself the Master. He's the only vamp who ever beat me in a fight. He killed me…and I killed him," Buffy said.
The room went into hysterics at Buffy's words, nearly everyone beginning to shout out questions as to what Buffy meant by what she'd said. Draco, Blaise, Hermione and the Scoobies were all silent, smirking at the pandemonium in the room. Harry and Ron were looking at Hermione, who had that annoyingly smug look about her that she got whenever she knew what was happening when they had no clue.
Buffy looked to the Scoobies for help. All of them just grinned at her, finding her situation incredibly entertaining. The Slayer in front of a group of kids and unable to do anything to control the situation.
Strangely enough it was Oz who managed to get everyone quiet. A piercing wolf-whistle got everyone's attention and the quiet young man retook his seat. Buffy shot him a thankful look and he nodded calmly, while Willow grinned with pride at he boyfriend.
"Long story short, he drowned me. My best friend Xander Harris, used CPR and managed to get me breathing again," Buffy said.
All eyes swung to Xander who immediately went red under the scrutiny of the entire room. He half-stood and mock-bowed to the crowd.
"So…this meant that I was actually dead momentarily. It was long enough for another Slayer to be Called. Kendra, a Jamaican girl was Called, but she was killed by Drusilla, the vampire that you saw me and the Professors fight against the other night. After Kendra died, another girl named Faith was Called," Buffy said.
The Scoobies all scowled at the mention of Faith, and Buffy had had trouble keeping her contempt for the other Slayer out of her tone.
"Yeah, but why are you at Hogwarts?" Ernie persisted.
It seemed that a lot of the Seventh Years were curious about the answer to that particular question as murmurs of agreement went through the room. Buffy sighed and leant back against the Professors desk.
"That's kind of a long story," she replied.
"She was framed for murder," Xander filled in.
Buffy scowled at her friend. "Apparently not that long."
It took ten minutes to explain the accident in the alley with Faith and the Deputy Mayor and the aftermath of that fight.
Buffy then moved on to other topics, explaining to the students what being a Slayer actually entailed. The nightly patrols, the training sessions, the evenings of research, the prophetic dreams and everything else that came with being the Slayer.
The students sat in rapt silence, taking in every word. The girls were all wondering what it would be like if they were the ones to be Called as Slayers, and the boys were salivating over the thought of beautiful girls fighting in tight fitting outfits.
In the last five minutes of class, a Gryffindor Seventh Year, Seamus Finnigan, raised his hand and asked the one question that had been haunting Draco and Blaise for the last few days.
"You said that you were here for rehabilitation…if you do manage to prove that you're innocent…are you going to be staying at Hogwarts?" Seamus asked.
Draco and Blaise sat up a little straighter in their seats, leaning forward as if to hear the answer better.
Buffy looked to her two closest Hogwarts friends and smiled sadly at them.
"That all depends on what Professor Dumbledore thinks of it all," Buffy replied honestly. "As much as a part of me wants to stay here with you guys…a bigger part of me is telling me to go back home. I've got responsibilities there."
Draco's eyes were downcast and he could feel a lot of the Slytherin girls turning to look at him with pity. They'd seen the changes he'd gone through since meeting Buffy and they could only imagine what would happen to Draco if Buffy actually left Hogwarts.
Giles' attention was caught by movement at the door.
"Speaking of Professor Dumbledore," Giles began, looking at the elderly wizard as the Headmaster stepped through the door, "what can we do for you?"
Dumbledore was not looking happy. In fact, Buffy could tell that the wizard was extremely unhappy about something. Bordering on angry even. She'd only seen that look in her first weeks at Hogwarts. It was reminiscent of her first day at Hogwarts when Dumbledore had explained everything about her situation to her. Whatever Dumbledore was here to say was not going to be good.
"My apologies for interrupting Miss Summers," Dumbledore said politely. "It seems as though you have a visitor who would not agree to wait until after class."
Buffy couldn't help but hope that it was Angel, but then again, if it was the dark-haired vampire, why would Dumbledore be so upset about it.
The Headmaster moved further into the room and three other men followed him. Buffy froze in shock and felt her entire world sink. The classroom fell silent when they saw the look on Buffy's face. They didn't want to know what would have a Slayer of all people so shocked.
"Miss Summers," one of the tweed-clad men said, a smug smile on his face. "It seems as though you have broken the rules that were stipulated to you at the beginning of your stay here at Hogwarts."
Buffy glared at him. "Mr Travers…you have no idea what you're talking about."
"I believe I do my dear," Quentin Travers replied. "You see, you were asked to not reveal your identity to anyone under any circumstance. Your little display the other evening was in direct breach of that rule."
"What, you would have preferred for me not to have done anything?" she asked furiously.
"Regardless of what could have happened, you are in breach of the agreements that were made on your behalf," Travers said looking directly at Giles.
The former Watcher scowled at his old mentor, wondering how anyone could seriously be that heartless.
"So, what now?" Buffy asked impatiently. As flippant as she was being about all of it, on the inside she was terrified. She knew that the Council had ways of doing things that wouldn't end well for her at all. She was terrified of being carted off to the Council property and being re-trained. From the sounds of it, their methods were not something that she wanted to be involved with.
"Now Miss Summers, you pack your possessions," Travers replied.
"You can't make her go!" Draco yelled, standing up to defend his girlfriend.
Buffy sent him a pleading look, wanting him to stay out of this. It was bad enough that the Seventh Years and the Scoobies had to witness this. It was tremendously humiliating, and not something that she would have chosen for them to have to watch.
"And who might you be young man?" Travers demanded.
Buffy shook her head frantically at him. Draco got the message, knowing that these men were not people to be trifled with. In a way, they reminded him of his father and his father's friends.
"That's none of your business, sir," Draco added, sneeringly.
Travers smirked. "And this is none of your business young man," Travers replied.
Draco felt himself about to lose control, but he looked at Buffy's pleading eyes. She was silently begging him to stay out of this. She knew that the Council could make Draco's life a living hell, and she didn't want that for him.
"Miss Summers…I would suggest gathering your belongings," Travers repeated. "We leave in twenty minutes. You're being taken to Council Grounds."
"The hell she is!" Giles yelled, stepping forward.
One of Travers' companions stopped Giles by removing a gun from his jacket and pointing it at the former Watcher. Giles stopped in his tracks.
"It's only a tranquilliser gun," Giles observed.
Travers nodded. "Yes. And no. Tranquilliser in your case," Travers said. The man re-aimed the gun and pulled the trigger. Before anyone could duck out of the way, a small silver dart was sticking out of Buffy's shoulder. She looked at it in shock and pulled the cylinder out of her skin, wincing slightly. "Muscle relaxant in her case."
Buffy felt the familiar effect of the organic compound make its way through her body. She'd been without the drug for nearly two weeks now, and having the drug back inside her again brought her anger to the foreground. Before she could do anything about it, ala ripping apart Travers and his men, she felt the drug take affect in her system.
"You asshole," she muttered.
She looked at the small dart in her hand and decided to test a theory. With accuracy and precision that was slowly waning, she quickly threw the dart at the man with the dart gun, hitting him directly in the chest. Within a second, he'd dropped to the ground completely unconscious.
Travers scowled as he looked at the fallen Watcher. He took a step towards Buffy, but Giles quickly stepped in front of the girl.
"You'll not be taking her," Giles said angrily.
"You cannot stop me Rupert," Travers replied, chuckling slightly at the attempt to stop him. "The Council has its methods you know."
The third Watcher knelt beside the fallen gunman and administered a serum into the man's bloodstream. Ten seconds later, the fallen Watcher was waking up, groaning groggily. He unsteadily got to his feet and took a moment to regain his composure. He glared at the Slayer who he could barely make out behind the ex-Watcher.
"Bloody bitch," he muttered angrily.
"Miss Summers, unless you would like us to begin taking action on your…friends, I suggest you do as we asked and get your belongings," Travers said, his voice raising a few decibels for the last three words.
Buffy scowled. She stepped out from behind Giles, who uttered his protest. She walked past Travers who smirked with satisfaction. The pompous Watcher turned to walk out behind Buffy, but the Slayer wasn't going without a fight. Before either of the two Council lackey's could register the attack, Buffy had decked the already shaky Watcher and had kicked the third Watcher with what was left of her strength. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't stronger than they were, and the third Watcher was able to recover quickly.
He slammed a fist into Buffy's face, sending her sprawling across the floor as Giles raced forward to interceded. The third Watcher pulled a gun from his inner pocket and pointed it at Buffy, stopping Giles in his tracks. He knew that it wasn't a tranquilliser loaded within the weapon.
Some of the students who'd been raised muggle gasped at the sight of the weapon and backed away. Giles finally registered that the students were there as well, and he knew that the Council would have no qualms about killing his Slayer in front of a group of people. The Council could get away with cold-blooded murder, and there was nothing that anyone could do about it.
Buffy sat up, rubbing her cheek tenderly. Her eyes met Draco's which were frantic with worry and anger. She smiled softly at him before turning her attention back to the Watcher who had the gun trained on her. She stood slowly and glared at Travers.
"I think perhaps we should just forgo packing your belongs," Travers said cruelly. "We're leaving."
Giles looked imploringly at Professor Dumbledore who shook his head sadly.
"The Ministry of Magic and the Council of Watchers, whilst their relationship is complex at best, have agreed that we will not meddle in each other's affairs. Having Buffy come here in the first place took a lot of persuasion," Dumbledore explained.
Draco stood and angrily approached the former Watcher and the Headmaster.
"You let her be taken," he said coldly. "And you're the one who's going to get her back."
"And how do you suggest we go about that, huh mini-Spike?" Xander asked, angry at the events that had just taken place.
Draco went silent for a moment. He searched through ever piece of information that he'd ever heard about Buffy, about the Council and about why Buffy was at Hogwarts.
"Easy," he finally said. "We're going to prove once and for all that she's innocent."
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Grrrr…
I never realised how fricken similar this whole thing is to Witch's Family.
I've been trying to think of a diff way to play this out, but nothing's coming, and seeing as how I would very much like to finish this fic, you may just have to live with the similar storyline. Don't worry, it's not exactly the same, but the basics of it kinda is. I am aware of this, so…shhhhh. ;)
If anyone has any brilliant suggestions, I'd love to hear them, cos I have seriously run out of inspiration for this thing. And as a friend of mine pointed out, it'd be cruel and unusual to just discontinue this thing when I've got nearly over 900 reviews (you guys are awesome btw!!)
Toodles.
DKG.
(Oh, go check out Lisette's Equinoxium, it's fricken brilliant!)