Dawn was awakened the next morning by sunlight shining through the window into the tower room she was sharing with Buffy and Hermione. She rolled over and snuggled herself back down into her blankets, hoping for a few more minutes of sleep before she really awoke. That plan was foiled by her sister.

"Rise and shine Dawnie!" said Buffy. "It's time to get up."

Dawn burrowed deeper into her blankets. "Just give me ten more minutes."

"Nope." The blankets were pulled off Dawn's bed. "Time to get up."

"Oh, I don't wanna!"

"Don't make me resort to harsh measures," said Buffy. "There's ice water available if I need it."

"Whaa!" Dawn sat up in her bed, and saw Buffy and Hermione smiling at her.

"Hurry up," said Buffy. "Breakfast is waiting."

Dawn felt a slight rumbling in her stomach, which kinda surprised her after all she'd had to eat the night before, and she caught a tantalising whiff. A melange of different aromas that made it difficult to pick out any one, but the combination smelled wonderful. "Okay, I'll be down in a few minutes." She crawled out of her bed and went into the bathroom.

Dawn was feeling much more awake after her shower. She went down the stairway into the common room and found that everyone was already there, sitting around a table eating their breakfasts. There was a plate covered by a lid waiting for her beside Harry's seat at the table.

"I told Winky to just let it get cold, to teach you a lesson, but she insisted on keeping it warm for you," said Buffy as Dawn sat down. Dawn uncovered the plate and was hit by the aroma of freshly cooked sausages, and eggs and toast with fruit jam. She started to eat with gusto.

"Once we're finished eating, I thought that we'd give you a quick tour of the castle," said Harry. "Show you around the inside this morning, and the grounds this afternoon. Then maybe give you a flying lesson."

"Flying?" asked Dawn. "Like on a broom?"

"Yeah," said Harry. "You'll love it!"

"Uh, I'm not so sure about that," said Dawn. "I've had this whole thing about heights, ever since a bunch of demons that looked like hobbits with leprosy working for this bitch of a hellgod tied me to the top of this tower, and an old guy who looked like Joel Grey cut me with a knife, and Buffy died and everything. Since then I've tried to keep my feet on solid ground."

Harry and Hermione exchanged a look. "And you thought we had exciting lives," she said.

"Makes our problems with old Moldywart seem pretty tame, doesn't it?" Harry turned back to Dawn. "It's fine if you don't want to. I just thought it would be fun. I love flying."

"No!" said Dawn quickly. "I'm sure it will be. Never mind my little outbursts. Sometimes my mouth just kinda runs off on its own. I'd love to give it a try."

Winky came back with a pot of tea, and a carafe of coffee for Buffy, and whisked away the breakfast dishes. They sat around the table letting their meal settle while they discussed their itinerary for the day. Harry invited Giles to come along with them, but he begged off. Professor Lupin had already offered to give Giles his own tour.

An owl arrived and dropped a rolled up newspaper in front of Hermione. She had clearly been expecting it, since she'd saved some bits of sausage from her breakfast which she fed to the owl. She also placed a Knut into the leather bag attached to its leg, before it flew off again. She unrolled the paper and laid it out on the table. "So let's see what's happening elsewhere in the world."

Dawn read the main headline in the upside down paper: "NO REPORTS OF YOU KNOW WHO FOR FOURTH STRAIGHT WEEK!" over a picture of a group of witches and wizards all smiling and nodding and looking confident. She was getting to the point where seeing that they were all actually moving in the picture didn't surprise her in the least. "So, no news is big news?" she asked.

"When dealing with Voldemort, yeah it is," said Hermione. "Everyone is so afraid of him that the Ministry spends a lot of time trying to reassure the public that he isn't doing anything, and that they're on top of the situation. Of course they aren't on top of it at all, and everyone with a brain knows it." She finished scanning the front page to see if there was anything actually of interest there, and opened the paper. Hey eyes did a quick scan of the headlines, and stopped at a small item near the bottom of page three. "Oh, Harry! Look at this!"

She turned the paper around, and shoved it over in front of Harry. She pointed to the small article, barely noticeable in the bottom corner. Dawn read it along with Harry.

 Sirius Black Exonerated
 
 The Daily Prophet has obtained an advance copy of
 a report to be released Monday by the Special
 Committee of the Wizengamot which was formed to
 reexamine the Black case. The committee examined
 all the evidence from the Black trial, along with
 new evidence, including several eye-witness
 reports that positively identified Peter Pettigrew
 as still being alive and in league with He Who
 Must Not Be Named. Mr. Pettigrew is the wizard
 that Sirius Black was accused of murdering, along
 with twelve Muggle bystanders, fifteen years ago.
 The committee's findings state that it was
 in fact Mr. Pettigrew who killed the twelve
 Muggles and faked his own death, framing Mr. Black
 in the process.
 
 The committee also found that it was Mr. Pettigrew
 who betrayed James and Lily Potter to You Know
 Who, leading to their deaths at his hands.
 
 Sirius Black had been the subject of one of the
 largest wizardhunts in recent times following his
 escape from Azkaban Prison three years ago. He had
 evaded all attempts to recapture him. His
 whereabouts were a complete mystery until two
 months ago, when he reappeared to join in the
 defense of the Ministry of Magic against an
 assault by You Know Who and several of his Death
 Eaters. Mr. Black gave his life in that defense.
 
 In addition to clearing Mr. Black of all charges,
 the Wizengamot Committee has recommended that he
 be awarded the Order of Merlin (Posthumous).

"Little late," grumbled Harry.

Dawn looked at him. "This Sirius Black, he was your godfather?"

"Yeah, pretty much the only real family I had," said Harry, "and he spent all the time I knew him as a hunted fugitive."

"Still, it's good that his name has been cleared," said Hermione.

"I'd rather have him back."

Dawn placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I know you do, but it's good that people are learning the truth about him too."

Harry shrugged under her hand. "I guess so, but I wish…I wish he could have been here to see it."

"I miss him too," said Hermione.

"Will the hurting ever go away?" asked Harry.

"Not entirely," said Buffy. "But it gets better with time. You'll always miss him, but you'll spend more time remembering the good times you had with him, instead of just thinking about how much you miss him."

"Come on," said Dawn. "We have to do something to get your mind off moping. You have a castle to give us a tour of!"

Harry let himself be chivied out of his bad mood, and they set out for the tour. They started at the top, showing Buffy and Dawn the entrances to the various towers. The North Tower where Trelawney held her divination classes, the Astronomy Tower, and the West Towers with the Owlery, and the Ravenclaw dorms. They made there way slowly down through the castle.

They encountered Giles and Professor Lupin when Harry and Hermione showed them into the library, with its rows and rows of shelves, and tens of thousands of books. "Wow!" said Buffy, giving Giles a smile. "Bet you feel like you're in heaven."

"Well, yes, it is a most impressive collection," said Giles.

"And here I thought yours was the only library with a cage." Buffy pointed to a large iron gate. "What's in there?"

"Restricted section," said Hermione. "Students are only allowed books from in there if they have a note from a professor."

"Or if they sneak in after hours with an invisibility cloak," said Professor Lupin.

"You did that sort of thing a lot when you were a student here?" asked Giles.

Lupin smiled toward Harry. "I'm afraid that James and Sirius dragged me along on some of their late night excursions. I understand that Harry and Hermione have also made use of that cloak on several occasions."

"You have an invisibility cloak?" asked Dawn.

"Yeah," said Harry. "It was my dad's."

"Way cool! Can I see it?"

"No," said Harry with a straight face. "It's invisible."

"Harry!" Dawn gave him a light wack on his arm. "You know what I meant."

"Yeah, and yeah, I'll show it to you some time. I was just kidding about that invisibility thing. It only vanishes once you put it on. I guess otherwise you'd never be able to find the thing."

They continued working their way down through the castle, until at last they found themselves down in the dark, cool dungeons. "There's the entrance to the Potions dungeon," said Harry. "And Professor Snape's office is right next door to it." He pointed off down the hall. "The Slytherin common room entrance is over there."

Dawn could tell that Harry didn't like being down here much, and she was getting a seriously weird vibe off the place herself, so she was glad when he didn't actually lead them any farther down the dark hallway. They turned back toward the stairway that would take them back up to the entry hall instead, but found their way blocked by a man wearing a black cloak.

"Potter." The man sounded as if he smelled something bad. "What are you doing down here? I was hoping to never see you down here again."

"Oh, Professor Snape!" said Harry. "We're um…This is Dawn Summers, an American exchange student who's going to be coming here this term, and her sister Buffy. Um…Hermione and I got stuck with giving them a tour by Professor McGonagall. We were just showing them where the Potions dungeon, and your office were."

"Oh yes, I was told about you." Snape looked down his aquiline nose at Dawn. "I expect you'll need a lot of remedial work."

Dawn could tell that Professor Snape was trying to be intimidating, and stifled the urge to laugh at him. After facing vampires, demons, hellgods and the First Evil, a Potions Professor didn't scare her much. "Oh, I don't know," she said out loud. "I might surprise you." She was more worried by the cold feeling she was getting from Harry all of a sudden. She wondered what happened.

"Yes, well, we'll see about that." said Snape. He continued down the hall, and disappeared into his office.

Harry started to hurry off in the other direction. Dawn and the others had to run to catch up with him. "What was that about?" asked Dawn. "If you don't want to be showing us around, just say so."

Harry smiled at her, and the chill she had felt vanished. "Oh, I just said that for Snape's benefit, and yours."

"What do you mean?" asked Dawn.

"Snape hates me," said Harry. "Has from my first day here. Goes back to when he was a student with my dad. He hated my dad too. So now he thinks I don't like you, so he'll give you a fairer shake."

Dawn smiled at him. "Oh, you were being devious."

"I try," said Harry. "Come on, let's go get lunch!"


Harry and Hermione showed them around the outside grounds after lunch. They started with Hagrid's hut, at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Harry went up and knocked on the enormous door. "Hello? Hagrid? You home?"

There wasn't any answer. "Maybe he's off in the forest." Hermione pointed to an empty spot beside the door. "His crossbow's gone."

Buffy perked up a bit at that. "Crossbow?"

"Yeah, Hagrid has a great big crossbow he carries with him when he goes into the forest," said Harry. "Lots of nasty creatures live in it. It's off limits to students without an escort."

"And I'm guessing that you've been in it few times unescorted," said Buffy.

Harry grinned. "Once or twice."

Buffy heard a large dog barking, and turned toward the sound. She saw a huge hound come bounding around the hut toward them, and dropped into a defensive stance. She relaxed again almost immediately when she heard Hermione happily call "Hi Fang!"

The dog ran right up to Hermione, and nearly knocked her off her feet as it licked her face with its big slobbery tongue. Once it had her thoroughly soaked it went and gave Harry the same treatment. It then turned toward Buffy.

"Oh no! You're not licking me!"

"Sit Fang!" said Harry. He gave the dog a pat on its hips to encourage it to settle down. "Good boy! Buffy, Dawn, this is Fang…pretty much the closest thing to 'normal' as any animal Hagrid associates with."

Dawn stepped forward carefully and held out her hand to the huge dog. "Hello Fang." Fang sniffed at her hand for a moment before giving it a big sloppy lick.

Buffy was getting properly introduced to Fang when Hagrid came lumbering around the corner of the hut. "Fang! Why'd you run off— Oh, we have visitors! 'Allo Harry, Hermione, Misses Summers."

"Hi Hagrid!" said Harry. "We were just showing Buffy and Dawn around the grounds." He looked at the crossbow Hagrid had slung over his shoulder. "Is there some problem in the forest?"

"No, no," said Hagrid. "I was just in taking care of somethin'. It's a special treat for your first class."

"Oh?" asked Harry, "Something that will eat Malfoy?"

Hagrid laughed. "Not that special. No this is somethin' Professor Dumbledore recommended that I show you."

"What is it?" asked Harry.

"If I tol' you that, it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it?" Hagrid noticed where Buffy's attention was. "Somethin' about my crossbow bother you Miss Summers?" he asked.

"Oh, call me Buffy, and no. I'm just interested in weapons like that. Can I try it?"

"Really?" Hagrid swung the crossbow down off his shoulder. "Not many Hogwarts students express much interest in such things. Too busy waving their wands around." He held the bow out to her. "Course a bow like this is a touch big for a little slip of a girl like you."

Buffy just smiled, drew the string back, and cocked the bow. She held out her hand. "Arrow?"

Hagrid was too surprised to say anything. He just handed her one of his arrows. Buffy placed it into the bow, and looked around for a suitable target. "What can I shoot?"

"Er…well…" Hagrid pointed to a fence post about fifty yards away. "I use that when I feel I need a little practice."

"Perfect." Buffy swung the bow around, at no time letting it point at anyone or at Fang, brought it up in a smooth motion and squeezed the release lever. The arrow embedded itself in the fence post with a solid thwack!"

"Good one!" Buffy smiled and handed the bow back to Hagrid. She trotted over to the fence post to retrieve the arrow. She handed it to a still speechless Hagrid when she came back. "Good bow! If I could get them to stand in a nice neat line, I could probably take out half a dozen vamps in one shot with that."

"Vamps?" asked Hagrid.

"Vampires." Buffy looked at Hagrid's rather dazed expression. "The undead? They who walk by night, and have a very limited diet?"

"You kill vampires?"

"Only when they annoy me…which being vampires, pretty much means whenever I see one."

"Yer see a lot of vampires then do you?" asked Hagrid.

"Not since we left Sunnydale," said Buffy. "There are hardly any in England right now. I haven't had a chance to check out around here yet."

"T'ain't any vampires within a hundred miles o' Hogwarts!" said Hagrid. "Dumbledore don't allow it!"

"Oh, good," Buffy looked at Dawn. "Be sure to give points for that."

"No vampires." Dawn smiled. "Check!"

Harry looked at Hagrid's face. He hadn't noticed it last night, but now that he could see him in the full daylight he could see that Hagrid had a fading bruise on his left cheek. "So, Hagrid," he asked carefully, "How's Grawp?"

"Oh, he's doin' much better!" said Hagrid. "He twarn't happy here in the Forest, an' he and the centaurs weren't gettin' on at all, so I moved him up to the cave I stayed in in the mountains las' spring. 'E's much happier there. Mountains is the proper place for a giant. I go up an visit him nearly every weekend."

"Giant?" asked Dawn.

"Hagrid's 'little' brother," said Hermione. "Half brother really. He's a sixteen foot tall giant."

"Sixteen feet?"

"Yeah, I brought 'im 'ere ter live with me las' year, cause the other giants were pickin' on 'im so bad, 'im bein' such a runt an all," said Hagrid. "So, why don' we all go inside fer some tea, and biscuits? I made a fresh batch this mornin'!"

Harry and Hermione begged off, telling Hagrid that they had just finished lunch, and they still had a lot to show Buffy and Dawn. They waved goodbye as they headed back toward the castle. Harry waited until they were well out of earshot before he leaned close to Dawn and whispered. "Actually it's because Hagrid is the world's worst cook. You could break a tooth on his biscuits."

The tour took them to the greenhouses next. Professor Sprout was there, watering some plants that seemed to keep trying to snatch her watering can away with long tendrils, and Hermione introduced her to Buffy and Dawn.

"Why are you raising Devil's Snare?" asked Harry.

"Well, after that unfortunate incident at St. Mungo's last Christmas, I decided that all students need to have a refresher on how to recognise the plant, and properly defend themselves from it," said Professor Sprout.

"What happened?" asked Dawn.

"A man in the hospital was murdered with a Devil's Snare plant," said Hermione. "It was sent as an anonymous present, and none of the staff recognised it for what it was." She looked deeply chagrined. "We were there, Harry, and Ron and I, visiting someone else, and we saw it delivered, but we didn't recognise it either at the time, even though we'd seen it before."

"Yes, well, your encounter was with a fully mature plant," said Professor Sprout. "Quite different from a sapling. Easy to not recognise it, which is why every class will be getting introduced to the immature plants this term." While she was distracted one of the plants managed to get hold of her watering can. Madam Sprout had her wand in her hand a moment later and produced a jet of blue flame from the tip of it. The plant instantly released the can and its tendrils all curled in close to its core. "There, see? A little flame and the plant instantly goes into its defensive posture, releasing whatever it has hold of."

"Well, we'll leave you to it, Professor," said Harry. "We've still got lots to show Dawn and Buffy."

"Yes, well nice to meet you," said Professor Sprout. She went back to watering her plants.