Oooh extra long chapter!!

In this fic I'm gonna ignore the existence of the Initiative, so that won't all be taking place in Sunnydale. Things will just be normal for Sunnydale so the Scoobies can deal.

Btw, not trying to make Kingsley Shacklebolt mean. I mean lets face it; he was pretty damn cool in a Lawrence Fishburne as Morpheus kind of way in OotP. But he's not in the Order at the moment, in fact it's not in action, and he doesn't know that Sirius is innocent. So he's just doing his job. Just wanted to say that before I got a review mentioning it. But send me reviews about other stuff!!

Chapter 9 – Diagon Alley

After breakfast in Sirius' room, Buffy went down to reception to sort out the rooms. She and Sirius had decided that it would be best to take just the one room, so it would appear that Buffy was alone. Sirius could sleep on the floor of her room. After speaking to a confused receptionist who had not seen Sirius check out, Buffy went back to her room to visit Sirius.

"What are we going to do today?" she asked him, sitting down on the armchair in the corner.
 "Diagon Alley," Sirius replied, without missing a beat. "I can't buy a wand, there will be too many people watching me, but I can show you the Wizarding world."
 "What's Diagon Alley?" Buffy asked curiously.
 "Wizarding shopping place," Sirius replied with a grin. "I forget how little you know." Buffy shrugged carelessly.

 "How much money should I take?" she asked. "I mean there's the whole pound thing which is just confusing."

 "Pounds won't be much use in Diagon Alley," said Sirius. "We have our own currency, don't worry today is on me." Buffy raised her eyebrow, but didn't protest. She carried Sirius' bag and put it in her room, then followed him, out of the hotel. He was dog shaped, and padded along next to her. Buffy watched him snap at flies and gambol around, appreciating what it must feel like for him to be free. The sun beat down on them as they walked to the train station, and the heat was intense. Buffy felt good, just being a normal girl in England, walking along with her dog and enjoying the freedom that being anonymous gave her.
She and Sirius got on a train into London, departing in the centre of it. Buffy followed Sirius down streets full of tourists like her and random shoppers. London was alive and bustling on the Saturday morning, and they threaded through crowds, perspiring in the heat.

Sirius led Buffy right up to a pub, dark, dingy, unnoticeable and insignificant, Buffy thought. She watched the people around her walk past it without really noticing it, in fact not noticing it at all. Regardless, Buffy followed Sirius into the pub.

They entered and the interior was the same as the exterior: dark, dingy and faintly smelling of whisky. Upon entering the pub, a few people turned to look at who entered, stared for a moment at the blonde stranger and her dog, and then turned back to their drinks. Sirius nudged at Buffy's hand, and she took the hint and sat herself down at the bar, Sirius sitting down next to her.

 "Um, I'll have an um a Butterbeer?" Buffy said unsurely, remembering something Sirius had said. The toothless wizened barkeeper looked at her curiously for a moment before nodding and turning away. Buffy looked around the bar, noticing some very furtive looking characters sitting in the dark corners. It reminded her of Willie's bar, demons and all.
Buffy turned back to the bar and drunk from the flagon placed in front of her. The Butterbeer warmed her throat and her stomach.
 "Yum," she said. She looked down at Sirius and held out the bottle. He nodded, and so Buffy took the empty ashtray off of the bar and poured some Butterbeer into it for Sirius to drink from. 
Buffy got up after finishing her drink, people still eyeing her curiously. Buffy decided it was the clothes, the lack of robes. She followed Sirius out the back of the pub, right up to a brick wall.
 "Okay, so what?" she said to the dog. Sirius reared up on his back paws and tapped a pattern of bricks in the wall. At once, the bricks parted, creating an archway which they could walk through, right into Diagon Alley.

"Shpadoinkle!" Buffy exclaimed. She walked through the archway after Sirius, along the cobble stoned streets that were lined with small Victorian style shops, and bustling with people. Buffy moved towards the windows and looked inside. She gazed into the window of Madam Malkins robes and watched a young boy be measured by a tape measure that was moving all by itself. Then she moved along, gazing in the pet shop window and watching the rats skip with their tails. Buffy shook her head, having not seen proper magical displays yet, and not quite believing what she saw.

Sirius barked at her a little way ahead, and so she followed him again. He led her to a huge white building, emblazoned with 'Gringotts' in gold letters. Sirius had told her about this bank and so she went right in.

Approaching one of the goblins at the counter, Buffy nervously stood in front of him until he looked up expectantly.
 "Um, I have a key for vault seven hundred and eleven," she said nervously. The goblin took the key from her outstretched hand, looked at it, and then clicked his fingers.
 "Griphook will take you," the goblin said in a dry, cracked voice. A goblin sprung up next to Buffy, and guided her towards a tunnel. Buffy glanced back at Sirius who was waiting by the entrance, then followed the goblin. He led her to a cart and she climbed in apprehensively. The goblin pulled a lever and the cart shot off, immensely fast.
 "Woah!" she exclaimed, but the goblin did not stop, until suddenly, they reached the vault and stopped dead.
 "That was some ride!" Buffy said, grinning and feeling sick at the same time. The goblin looked at her and then opened the vault. Buffy was amazed at the piles of gold, silver and bronze that filled the vault. She pulled out the money bag Sirius had given her, and began to fill it, with enough gold for them to survive on for a long time. When she was finished, she climbed back into the cart and they sped back to the surface.
 "That was wicked cool," Buffy said to Sirius when she reached the entrance. He barked in reply, and Buffy showed him the bag of money she had got. He snuffled in the bag, and then licked her hand which she took to be an 'okay' and so Buffy put the bag in her backpack.

"Where to then?" she said, as if she were talking to herself, but really addressing Sirius. He padded ahead of her, into a nearby ingredients shop. Buffy followed him in, and saw the black dog waiting patiently by a display of 'Floo Powder.'
 "We want this?" Buffy said doubtfully. Sirius barked at her and she picked up a package of it.

 "If you say so," she said, and took it to the counter.

They spent an afternoon wandering the cobbled streets in Diagon Alley, going into some of the shops, looking at the various Wizarding products that were available. Sirius bought Buffy a gift, a knife she had admired in the weapons shop. She was delighted with it, and knelt down to hug the dog. Her joy was short lived, as out of the corner of her eye, she saw three figures approaching her.
 "Lose yourself, Aurors," Buffy said out of the corner of her mouth, and straightened up before they saw her. Sirius padded into the darkness of a side alley and Buffy walked with the crowds in the street nonchalantly.

 "Miss Summers," a stern voice addressed her, and Buffy turned to see Kingsley Shacklebolt and two other men she didn't recognise. She gave a little start, as if surprised.

 "Mr Shacklebolt," she said politely. "Of all the Alleys in all the world…." Shacklebolt stared down at her impassively, and Buffy smiled a little grin up at him.

"We received word that you had come to England," Kingsley Shacklebolt said and the men behind him fidgeted. "It was somewhat suspicious, you must admit."

"Don't see why," Buffy said breezily. "Stopped the apocalypse, felt like a vacation. Don't often get the time in my line of work." Shacklebolt narrowed his eyes.

"I'm going to ask you this once," said Shacklebolt. "Only once. Are you in any form of contact with the criminal Sirius Black?" Buffy's smile faded.
 "No." she answered, not breaking eye contact with him. The Aurors behind Shacklebolt shifted again, seeing this little blonde girl facing up to the tall, powerful Auror was not something you saw everyday.

 "Now if you don't mind I have some more shopping to be getting along with," Buffy said, holding up her bags as a gesture. "Unless you want to arrest me?"
 "Unfortunately that is not our jurisdiction," Shacklebolt answered smoothly. "The Ministry has no wish to interfere with the Watchers Council or the Slayer. But Miss Summers be warned, we will be keeping a close eye on you."

 "I don't think that's your jurisdiction either," Buffy said, eyes glittering dangerously. "I'm warning you too. I see any of your little wand friends hanging around, I won't be responsible for my actions or their wounds." With that, Buffy walked away.

After walking away from the Ministry Aurors, Buffy left Diagon Alley. She got on the tube, heading back to her hotel. Buffy knew Sirius was with her, following her, but she did not acknowledge this. She wasn't sure of who was watching.
When she reached the hotel, Buffy left the door open for Sirius, and he ran in shortly after her, nudging the door closed behind him with his nose. Buffy shut all the curtains, then Sirius transformed back.
 "That was bad," Buffy said seriously. "I could be jeopardizing this whole thing. Maybe I should just go home."

 "No, it's fine," Sirius insisted. "They've got nothing on you and as long as they don't see me as me then no one will be the wiser."

 "But what if they catch on Sirius?" Buffy said earnestly. "If they find out I've been harbouring and helping you, then it's Azkaban for the both of us."

 "Is that why you're saying this?" Sirius asked his eyes hardening. "You want out; you want to go back to Sunnydale?"

"No, I want to help you," Buffy said, eyes locking onto his. "But if by being here, I'm making things more difficult, then maybe I should go back. How can I be of use anyway?"

 "You're the slayer," Sirius said. "How could you not be of use? Plus it means I get muggle lodgings instead of caves and forests. Look, it's important to me that you stay. I can't do this all on my own, I've got no one else, everyone's dead or thinks I'm a murderer." Buffy stared at him for a long moment then sighed.
 "Okay," she said. "I'll stay. But anymore trouble from the Aurors and I'll have to go." Sirius grinned and Buffy felt herself smiling back.
 "It's okay anyway," he said reasonably. "We'll start travelling north soon; we've got a long way to go, to Scotland. But there's just something I have to do first."

"What's that?" Buffy asked, sitting down on her bed.
 "I wanted to go and have a look at Harry, see him at his Uncle's house," Sirius said quietly. Buffy stood up.

 "You're really one for taking risks aren't you!" she exclaimed. "You want to go to the house of the boy you are supposed to want to kill and just have a look? Why not."


Much later, Buffy and Sirius, dog shaped again, found themselves walking into Privet Drive from Magnolia Crescent.

"This is crazy," Buffy muttered. "Absolutely crazy." But she followed Sirius through the shadows, into the darkness. They found number four, Harry's home, Sirius had informed her, and Buffy melted into the shadow of number six. Sirius padded forward a little, and Buffy knew he was tempted to jump over the picket fence and into the garden, to attempt to peer through the window. He didn't need to though, as moments later the door was flung open and a boy marched out pulling a heavy trunk behind him and carrying a large cage under his arm. He paced down the street and Buffy and Sirius stealthily followed him. When he reached Magnolia Crescent he stopped, sitting down on a low garden wall and looked up and down the street then gazed down thoughtfully at his wand which lay in his hand. Buffy and Sirius shuffled into the darkness of number two Magnolia Crescent, hidden in a small alley between that and number four. Their shuffling was apparently not as quiet as they had though as the boy suddenly sat up from looking in his trunk and pricked his ears to listen.

The boy stood up and turned staring right at Buffy and Sirius in the alleyway but apparently not seeing them. Buffy could feel goose pimples rising on her skin, if this boy, if harry caught them, she didn't know what would happen.

Harry muttered something and the tip of his wand alighted, casting a bright circle of light around him. He lifted it, in the direction of the alleyway and Buffy and Sirius froze, knowing they had been seen.

A loud bang echoed and Harry turned to shield his eyes from the light of what was apparently a triple decker bus hurtling towards him. This gave Sirius and Buffy a chance to flatten themselves against the walls of the alley. They watched silently, barely breathing as Harry climbed aboard the large purple bus after looking behind him once more but seeing nothing. Then, the bus took off once again, and he was gone.

 "That was close," Buffy said relaxing her tensed muscles and leaning against the wall. "Well was it worth it?" Sirius changed back into his human form and also leaned against the wall.

 "Definitely," he said firmly. "My godson. He's the image of James."

Buffy allowed him a few moments of reminiscing before dragging him away from Magnolia Crescent, towards the train station.