Chapter 12
"Did you
see that Alastor?" Dumbledore said, seemingly to no one. A man wearing a pork
pie hat stepped out of the shadows and approached the three. Buffy raised her
stake again, and he laughed.
"I did, Albus," Mad Eye Moody replied,
stepping into a pool of light that came from the neon sign of a shop opposite
them. "Most impressive." Harry and Buffy gaped at this unexpected arrival.
"Alastor and I felt it would be
necessary to have more protection for Harry," Dumbledore explained, noticing
their expressions. "He arrived a few minutes before us, and will be staying
with us." Harry and Buffy accepted and collected up their belongings.
"We've got to go to Giles' house right?"
Buffy asked Dumbledore as they began walking down the street, which was
practically deserted. Dumbledore nodded, looking around in interest at the
Californian town.
"What time is it here?" Harry asked
curiously, "It was seven when we left so it must be about….." He trailed off
expectantly.
"Approximately five past eleven on Friday night," Dumbledore
replied. Harry raised his eyebrows.
Buffy led them through Sunnydale, not one pausing for any of them. She was now
desperate to see her friends, it was so strange to be in Sunnydale again and
see people that she knew littering the streets.
After ten
minutes they reached the stairs down to Giles' house, and Buffy could no longer
wait, running down them. She hammered on Giles' door and almost instantly it
flew open.
Giles stood on the threshold and gazed at his slayer. She smiled at him, a tiny
smile loaded with meaning. He pulled her in to a tight hug, and she hugged him
back, crying against his chest and making his sweater vest damp. He let her go,
and held her shoulders.
"It's so good to see you," Giles said, a
little misty eyed himself. He brushed away her tears, and moved so she could
enter the room. Buffy walked in and almost immediately was hit by two thumps,
sending her falling backwards onto the wooden floor.
"Hey guys," she said happily, hugging Willow and Xander. They helped her up and
grinned at her happily. Cordelia and Oz stood a little way off.
"Hi Buffy," Cordelia said. "It's good to
see you finally back, do you know I've broken two nails doing your job while
you were off gallivanting in Europe." Buffy laughed.
"Good to see you too Cordy," she said,
still laughing. "And you, Oz." Buffy nodded at him and he nodded back with an
enigmatic smile. Behind her Giles was ushering Harry, Dumbledore and Moody into
his apartment.
"Albus, Alastor, so good to see you,
it's been what ten years?" he said absentmindedly. "And you must be Harry
Potter, nice to meet you." He shook Harry's hand, and Harry stood awkwardly feeling
somewhat separated from this scene. Buffy, noticing this, went over to the
Hogwarts visitors.
"Guys," she said, addressing Xander, Willow, Oz and Cordelia. "This is Albus
Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, Alastor Moody, an Auror with the Ministry
of Magic and Harry Potter, my friend from Hogwarts." Xander was gazing in awe
at Moody and his spinning blue eye, which was currently fixed back at Xander.
"Sit down, sit down," Giles blustered. He
fetched a pot of tea from the kitchen and poured out for everyone. Buffy picked
up the cup and drunk a deep gulp, tea being something she'd acquired a taste
for when she was at Hogwarts. An awkward silence fell over the group, something
Buffy hadn't expected.
"So you guys have been slaying?" she
asked politely.
"Only until the new slayer arrived," Willow replied. "But we were getting
pretty nifty at it, if I do say so myself, which I do." Buffy smiled briefly.
"What's the new slayer like?" she asked.
"She's alright," Willow admitted. "Not like you at all,
more….slutty…..and kind of wild." Buffy raised an eyebrow. She drunk some more
tea and silence fell again.
"What's school been like?" Giles said,
breaking the silence.
"Good," Buffy said smiling, "Not like
Sunnydale High, kinda fun actually. I've been learning magic."
"Wow, can you turn us all into frogs or
something?" Xander asked the disbelieving tone in his voice apparent. Promptly,
Moody raised his wand and transfigured his into a toad. Toad-Xander sat on
Xander's chair and croaked once, before Moody transfigured him back. The
scoobies were all taken aback, except for Giles.
"That was wicked cool," Xander
exclaimed. "Make me a bee this time!" Moody raised his wand, but lowered it at
a look from Dumbledore. Buffy drunk some more tea, then she burst out:
"Can I go see my mom?" she asked, having
wanted to since she arrived. Giles smiled gently at her.
"She said she would be waiting for you."
Buffy got up, putting her tea cup on the table. She turned to leave, and then
turned back to the others.
"Xander, Will, will you come with?" she asked
uncomfortably. "I need some moral support." They nodded and got up. The three
left, leaving the others to get acquainted.
Once again, walking down the street, awkward silence fell. Willow broke it this time.
"Can you turn us into toads too?" she
asked. Buffy smiled, glad for the conversation.
"No, I'm nowhere near human transfiguration.
Even Harry isn't that far yet, and he's been learning since he was eleven. I'm
doing ok though, turns out slayers have a lot magic in them."
"Can't be worse than me," Willow shrugged. "My one spell and it
didn't work." Buffy didn't answer and looked at the floor, and they continued
walkin in silence. Suddenly Buffy stopped, and Willow and Xander stopped, looking at her
bemusedly.
"What is with you guys?" Buffy said,
annoyed. "I though you'd be happy to see me, but y'know you're not." Xander and
Willow exchanged glances, which infuriated
Buffy even more.
"Well, you left without a word to
anyone," Xander answered, in a cool voice Buffy had never heard him use to her
before. "Left us to wonder whether you were even alive, left your mom to panic,
and us to take care of your job. Yeah, we're happy to have back, but that
doesn't make us forget the fact that you left in the first place." Buffy gaped
at her.
"Oh I'm sorry," she said sarcastically.
"That I wasn't much of a people person at the time. Yeah, let's all blame
Buffy; it was her fault this happened in the first place."
"Buffy, that's not what he meant," Willow said calmingly, casting a warning
look at Xander. "It's just that we were scared about you."
"Well I didn't have the greatest time!"
Buffy yelled. "I didn't leave just top go on vacation, that's for sure. You
thought your spell went wrong, but it didn't. Angel got his soul back, but it
was too late. I had to kill him, give him up so I could be the slayer and save
the world, again. And then I have to come and tell you guys about that, because
if I don't I'm being selfish! Forget it; I don't need this from you. I thought
you were my friends!" Angrily brushing away the tears that had fallen during
her outburst, Buffy stormed off, leaving Xander and Willow standing in the middle of the road
together.
Furiously pacing, Buffy reached her house in a short time. Hr anger left her as she gazed at the house that had been her home for the last two years. Gingerly she walked up the steps and placed her finger on the doorbell, taking a deep breath before opening it. It opened and her mother stood wordlessly in front of her. She opened her arms and Buffy flew into them, hugging her mother with all her strength.
"Woah, I have ribs Buffy," Joyce said, and
Buffy released her gently.
"I missed you," Joyce said softly, and
Buffy saw a tear slip down her mother's cheek. She reached up and brushed it
away.
"I missed you too," Buffy answered
sincerely, "But I'm here now." She entered her home, closing the door behind
her, and followed Joyce into the living room. They sat on the sofa.
"Where have you been? What were you
doing?" Joyce demanded immediately.
"England," Buffy answered. "I told you. At
Hogwarts."
"But before that, where did you go?"
Joyce persisted.
"LA," Buffy answered, a note of impatience making
its way into her voice.
"Why?" Joyce asked. "Why didn't you
write?"
"Well you were exactly forthcoming with
the welcoming me home," Buffy snapped. She recomposed herself. "Look, I needed
to get away; there was nothing for me here. As far as I knew, you couldn't care
less about me, and didn't want me home."
"Well you should have come home, you should have talked to me," Joyce insisted.
"Right, because that worked so well the first
time. I told you that I was the Slayer and you completely freaked. Admit it,"
Buffy answered.
"You just threw it at me and expected me
to accept it," Joyce protested angrily. "What was I supposed to do, rejoice in
the fact that my daughter was as strange as people had told me?"
"This is why I left," Buffy said in a
controlled voice.
"I missed you Buffy," Joyce admitted. "Every time the doorbell rang, I ran to it, hoping it was you. And you didn't write, no word nothing."
"I didn't think you wanted to know," Buffy said honestly. "You told me not to come back, and so I didn't. I can't stop being the slayer just because you say so."
"It does explain a great deal," Joyce said, with a smile. "The late nights, blood on your clothes and the burning down the gym,"
"I was full of vampires," Buffy said quickly. They laughed.
"What have you been doing in England?" Joyce asked, changing the
subject, and letting Buffy know that the matter was closed.
"Learning magic mostly," Buffy said
conversationally. She showed her mother her wand.
"And you can do spells with that?" Joyce
asked, trying to be the understanding mother.
"Yep," said Buffy proudly. "Not many,
but I'm learning. Soon I'll be able to do more."
"Soon?" Joyce said suddenly. "What does
that mean?"
"Well generally it's thought to mean close
to the now," Buffy replied playfully. Joyce's face didn't smile.
"You're not going back?" she said incredulously. "But you've just come home, you can't go back."
"I was back for a visit," Buffy reminded her. "I never said I was going to stay."
"You're not leaving again," Joyce raised her voice. "This is your home, and I'm you mother. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
"Of course it does," Buffy said through gritted teeth. "But I have to go back to Hogwarts. I'm doing good there, I'm finally dealing and healing, and I've got to stay to look out for Harry. Part of the slayer-gig, taking care of important people, and helping them get rid of their big bad. They can use my ability, and Sunnydale has a slayer now."
"How can you be so selfish?" Joyce exclaimed
angrily. "You obviously don't care about anyone but yourself." Buffy laughed disbelievingly
and mirthlessly.
"You don't know the first thing about
me," she said darkly. "You don't know what I've been through; you've been so
busy pretending it's not happening. I have to go back; I have to do my job.
Maybe I don't want to and maybe I do, it's not a decision based on that. All
Sunnydale holds for me is bad memories, and friends and family who chew me out
for things they don't understand."
Buffy got up, and once again stormed out, leaving her mother open mouthed.
