I know muggles aren't supposed to be able to see Hogwarts for what it really is, but I'm assuming that Buffy, being magical in the slayer sense and knowing the castle is there would be able to.

Thanks to:

Jenifer

Draco-FutureBf

Becks89 – reading your story 'Per Celare' and it's really good so update. Also started reading 'The Youngest Evans' which I also love so update that too!

Catlimere – thanks for the mega long review

Jubee1

Carmen

Charmedfanatic3000

Alexandra the half-wolf

Charline

Wllw979

Chapter 16 – Disappointment

Sirius padded quickly through the tunnel. It was cold and dark but he didn't mind particularly. After a short while he glimpsed moonlight and ran faster. He burst out into slivery light and the arms of the Whomping Willow weaving crazily. Using one of his paws, he pushed the knot that froze the tree and quickly ran out from under the tree. He was on the Hogwarts lawn and at a long distance he could see the dementors clustered round the Hogwarts drive.
Shivering involuntarily, he padded towards the castle. He knew of a door at the side that took him into the kitchens. Surreptitiously, he pushed open the oaken door, using his paw on the handle. The kitchen was warm and bright and house elves scurried around. He snuck through, ducking under tables until one of the house elves saw him.
 "Bear! Bear!" it squeaked and so he ran for it, pushing though the door and finding himself in the Hogwarts corridors.
They were deserted, understandably as every student and faculty member was at the Halloween feast. Sirius padded along the hall, careful to keep to the walls, in the shadows. He was glad he and his friends had explored Hogwarts so thoroughly; it felt like a home to him. His heart felt lighter now he was in the castle, it was much better than his cell at Azkaban and the Shrieking Shack.

Turning a corner, he headed to the Gryffindor Common Room, a route he knew well. He reached the Fat Lady who was lounging in her portrait, not expecting any visitors. When she saw Sirius approach, she stood up hurriedly and smoothed her dress.

Sirius changed into his human form and she eyed him warily, taking in his filthy robes.
 "Password," she said snootily.

Sirius gaped at her. In all the excitement of his plan, he had forgotten he would need a password to enter the tower.
 "Ummmm……Flobberworms?" he tried unsuccessfully. The Fat Lady shook her head.
 "Look, I need to get in there," he insisted. Somewhere in the castle he heard a loud rumbling. A loud rumbling that meant the students were on the move.
 "It's really important."

 "Not without a password," she said imperiously. Sirius yelled in exasperation as the noise drew closer. Panicked, he pulled out the knife that Buffy had given him.
 "Look, if you don't let me in, well I'll….." he threatened her desperately, making gestures with the knife. The Fat Lady's eyes widened with fear. She shrieked loudly and began to yell.
 "What's this Peevesy sees?" Peeves said floating down the corridor towards them, having heard the Fat Lady yelling. "Little Sirius Black threatening a portrait? He's a bad boy he is."

 "Go away Peeves," Sirius said exasperatedly. He turned back to the portrait. "Let me in. Now." The Fat Lady shrieked again and ran from the painting.

 "Damn it," Sirius cursed as Peeves began to laugh at him. He looked at the knife in his hand and heard the students come ever closer. Quickly, he plunged the knife into the canvas and attempted to tear through it, to make a hole to get into the common room.
He attempted twice, three times, without avail; he could not make a way in. Cursing again, Sirius transformed into his animagus form and ran.

Buffy sat at the kitchen table for a long time after Sirius had left, just watching the second hand on her watch tick round. Every second that passed made her more fearful of the outcome of her actions. What if he had been caught before he had got Wormtail? Buffy got up and paced the kitchen, still glancing at her watch every now and then.
 "I can't take this," she exclaimed out loud to herself. She grabbed her cloak and slung it round her shoulders. Pulling it tightly around her she strode out of the door, into the cold night. She followed the lane round, towards the school. From a long distance, long enough so they wouldn't affect her, Buffy watched the dementors at the bottom of the Hogwarts drive. The windows of Hogwarts were glowing with light, bright with the Halloween decorations Buffy assumed.
She gazed up at the castle; it was magnificent, large and like something out of a fairy tale.

A movement in her eye line captured her attention. The dementors, who were only visible because they were silhouetted against the night, being darker than it, were drifting towards the castle.
Buffy froze, not knowing whether to run towards the castle or back to the Shrieking Shack. She feared for Sirius, in the castle and possibly captured and about to be taken back to Azkaban. As she watched, the dementors clustered around the main entrance. The door opened and a cloaked man stepped out. He spoke to the dementors, though Buffy couldn't hear what he said and then shot something silvery at them. Reluctantly they drifted away; though not back to their original positions, but far enough from the castle. The man disappeared back into the castle, slamming the door firmly behind him.

Buffy hurried back down the lane, eager to get back to the Shack and to use the secret passage to get into the castle and save Sirius if necessary. She pushed through the ivy and entered the kitchen. Hurrying through to the living room, she cast off her cloak so she could travel comfortably through the tunnel.
Entering the room, she stopped dead, Sirius stood brushing dust off of his robes.

 "Sirius!" she exclaimed. "What the hell happened? I was watching and the dementors all rushed up to castle and….." Sirius held up a hand to stem her words and leant over, panting slightly.

 "It was a disaster." he said darkly. "I got in okay; there was no one around so I was doing alright. And I thought I was so clever. So I got to the common room, and I'd totally forgotten that the students have a password to get in. And I tried to beg with the portrait but she wouldn't listen. Then I pulled the knife and she started screaming. Peeves, the ghost, showed up and then I tried to cut through the portrait but I couldn't and the students were coming and so I ran." He paced the room, and ran his hand through his hair irritably. Buffy stood in the doorway, uncomfortable and not knowing exactly what to do or say.

 "Sirius?" she ventured. "What now?" Sirius stopped dead and scowled at her.
 "I don't know," he snapped at her. Buffy was taken aback and he surprise and hurt must've showed in her face because Sirius' scowl softened. "I'm sorry," he said quickly. "It's just I'm so disappointed and I'm such an idiot. I'm gonna go out for a while, chill out. I'll be back by morning." He transformed and padded out of the room, stopping to nuzzle at her hand before leaving through the kitchen.

Buffy slumped onto the sofa. It was obvious, she thought, that he really wasn't interested in her. She had never seen him in that kind of mood and it scared her a little. Though twelve years in Azkaban wasn't going to inspire good temperedness.

She sighed and brushed strands of hair back from her face. She decided she'd just act as if the kiss hadn't happened, it had been a goodbye thing anyway, and it didn't look as if she'd be going just yet, to her delight, as Sunnydale wasn't the most appealing of places.

Yes, she decided, ignoring the kiss would be the best way.