Have made a change to the last chapter, I forgot that it was their last Hogwarts year. If you look back, it should say instead of Hermione and Ron getting prefect again, they got Head boy and girl.
Keep reviewing!
Oh and Dragon Faere - I HATED Kennedy, that's why I got rid of her. Might be doing something else for Willow, I'll see how it pans out
Chapter 8 - Out with the old and in with the new
Buffy and Sirius arrived early at Hogwarts the next day, to begin the school year. They managed to grab a few moments together at breakfast, but were forced to separate in order to teach. Sirius had the seventh years, including Harry first thing, and Buffy, who only taught Hogwarts students once a day, was spending a hour training, then working with Giles on various administrative duties for the new Academy.
Harry was running late and he, Ron, Hermione and Dawn practically ran into the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, just making it to their seats in time before Sirius called the class to order.
"Right let's begin shall we?" Sirius smiled broadly, looking around the classroom. "I'm not going to bore you with a long speech on the importance of this year, but I will remind you that it is your NEWT ear, and therefore you will need to work extra hard to make sure you perform as best as you can in your exam. Your exam will consist of a practical section, where you will be required to perform a variety of defence spells, attacking spells and hexes, and demonstrate ability against dark creatures. The second part will consist of a written exam, where you will be asked to identify dark creatures, describe spells and a variety of other things. I'm not going to lie to you, it will be difficult. But I have no doubt in your abilities whatsoever, I am confident you will all perform admirably." He smiled a little at the terrified looks that graced the faces of his students.
"Let's begin with patronus'," Sirius said, "Who can tell me what they can be used for?" Dawn dipped her head to the side, to avoid being impaled on Hermione's hand.
Buffy was having as much success as Sirius was. She had trained with the other slayers for an hour, and then gone into the Academy office, where she had found Giles looking through papers.
"What's that?" Buffy asked, sitting down at the desk next to him.
"Just some records from the Watchers Council." Giles replied, not looking up. "What we've inherited, other than the money. Not much, just some books and a few weapons. Also, it mentions how many Watchers there are left."
"How many?" Buffy asked, apprehensively.
"It doesn't look good, "Giles confirmed her fears, "We are looking at about five. That's five to seventy slayers."
"It isn't all bad," Buffy said trying to be bright, "I mean we've got this place, and we can train new watchers. You and Wesley I mean, could, and maybe me too. We've got Dawn, she's practically a Watcher anyway. And Willow and Xand, and Robin too. "
"We'll manage," Giles said shortly. "Now there's a few things I wanted to discuss with you, firstly the slayers. There's still a lot out there that we haven't found, a lot of girls who are just discovering their powers. From our sources, I have found a spell which can create pinpoints of light on a world map, showing us where there is slayer energy. Willow is going to perform it, but I wondered who you think would be best to go and talk to the slayers?"
"You." Buffy said immediately, "You've done the whole watcher gig, you know the whole one girl in all the world jibe, and you have that kindly English thing going on." Giles smiled briefly. Faith opened the office door at that moment and came in to sit with them, listening to their talk.
"I had hoped you would say that, and in anticipation I have spoken to Professor Dumbledore about learning to apparated, and he has arranged for Professor Flitwick to teach me. Then I won't have to fly everywhere, it'll be easy," Giles explained. "Now we need to look at some kind of rules for the slayers, not training rules, but guidelines for details such as pay."
"Enough for them to live comfortably," Buffy said, "So they don't have to have other jobs. And we don't want any of the rules the Watchers Council had, we want to be better than them. Slayers come into their power at twelve right? So we can induct them into the Academy then, if that's what they want, then they can train until eighteen, when they will graduate. Then they can live where they want, do what they want. Some of them can teach here if they want, for extra pay of course, or they can travel the world fighting evil where they find it. But they shouldn't be sent out alone until they are eighteen, they aren't old enough until then."
"Totally in agreement, B," Faith nodded. "They will then be mature enough to deal with it, mentally and physically."
"I comply with that," Giles said, "They can be assigned Watchers where possible, but we are going to have to give some more thought to that. Also, Albus has informed me of a little spell that we will be able to do. He likened it to the Death Eater mark, though ours will be for good. We can have a small tattoo placed on each Slayer and watcher, so that when a slayer is in trouble, they can touch their mark, and all slayers and watchers will be alerted to his or her situation, and can assist them where possible."
"Wicked plan!" Faith exclaimed, "No slayer will ever be left alone again, she will have her sister slayers all around her."
"Exactly," Giles said, "Each slayer can be marked on entrance to the academy." He stood up and took a decanter and three glass tumblers from the sideboard. Into each, he poured a small measure of amber golden liquid. He lifted his glass, and they followed suite.
"To the Slayers Academy," he announced.
"The Slayers Academy," they murmured and drunk to their new school.
