Chapter 9
Liasions
- - - - -
The door to the suite burst open and Buffy burst in, Willow in her arms. Tara turned away from the large fireplace and stepped aside. Buffy suddenly gasped as she saw the green flames flickering, but the bigger surprise was two men standing next to the fireplace, both looking relieved to see her.
"Giles?" she panted, setting Willow down as the cat scampered into the hallway. "What are you doing here?"
"I wish we would have come under different circumstances," Wesley said in his quiet voice. "But we seem to have a problem."
Suddenly the green flames erupted and another figure stumbled out. "Damn!" Faith cried as she hit the floor face-first. As Giles bent down to help her up, Buffy was amazed to see that Faith's face was a patchwork of cuts and bruises.
"Is this the problem?" Willow asked, arriving in her long robes, rolling up the sleeves.
"Those bastards ambushed us," Faith said as Tara settled her down on one of the squashy sofas. "There wasn't much we could do except trust your barrier, Wil."
"That is a problem," Buffy muttered, dropping on the chair next to the sofa before turning to Giles and Wesley. "Was that your problem?" she asked hopefully.
They both looked down. Buffy sighed and rose to her feet again. "What happened?"
"It hasn't happened yet," Giles replied. "I am sure that the Headmaster has told you about a certain Sibyll Trelawney. She was the one who made the prophecy before the Potter boy was born. She has since left the castle and has been in the custody of the Ministry of Magic. For her protection, she needs an armed guard to go from her current location to the Ministry."
"That's great," Buffy agreed. "What does that have to do with us?"
"We need Slayer strength to ensure that it's not intercepted," Wesley replied softly. "And considering that the prisoners have already revolted once, Faith might be unwilling to go along with losing any more of her girls."
"I cannot go," Buffy said tartly as she sat down again. "I'm needed here."
"We weren't suggesting you," said Giles, his eyes traveling from Buffy to Willow. "We were suggesting a certain witch. And now that another witch is alive, perhaps her too."
Willow and Tara exchanged an uneasy glance before turning to Buffy. "I'll be fine," she assured them. "You've worked out my lesson plans until Christmas. I can handle everything, really."
Faith was nursing her bloody elbow when she tuned into the conversation. "I can spare a few Slayers if you recharge the barrier spell," she bargained. Buffy leaned over and gently picked up a towel and wrapped it around her elbow.
"Then it is settled," Wesley said. "It is most urgent that she arrives safely to Hogwarts. Once here, she will be protected the ancient magicks until we can get an armed guard to ensure her safe arrival at the Ministry."
"Let's do it," Buffy said softly, rising up. Faith rose on the other side of her, looking around the room for the first time.
"Nice home, B," she said appreciatively. "Certainly makes my prison cell look comfortable."
"Are you sure you'll be okay?" she asked Faith in concern.
"We'll be fine," Faith assured her, before taking a small bag from her pocket and removing a pinch of the floo powder. "Watch your back, B."
After she disappeared, Buffy turned to Giles and Wesley. "When do we need to do this?"
"Tomorrow," Giles admitted. "We should have come to you earlier, but this was your first day of class."
Tara stepped forward. "I will go to Azkaban to replenish the barrier and hopefully collect some Slayers then."
"I'll pack," Willow said.
"I'm just going to go down to dinner," Buffy finally decided musingly. "Severus and I never had a chance to finish our conversation."
And they all went their separate ways.
It was Friday afternoon, with the sun glimmering overhead as about twenty students had gathered outside on the Quidditch field. Ron was walking back and forth, broomstick in hand, instructing the crowd of second and third years about the essentials of Quidditch.
Harry sat on the grassy pitch between Ginny and Katie, the other two members of the team. Since the last two beaters had decided that Quidditch wasn't for them, they essentially needed to find three more players, two beaters and a chaser.
"This ought to be good," Ginny said, stretching her legs out on the grass.
"They look so young," Katie commented from his other side.
"They certainly do," Harry replied, wiping the fingerprints off of his Firebolt.
"Our first match is the third Saturday of November!" Ron was saying, walking in a circle around the new recruits. "And it will be against Ravenclaw."
"Ravenclaw should be a pushover," Katie giggled. "After all, they have that new Exchange student in Roger Davies' old position... keeper. They must've been really desperate."
Ginny scoffed. "I don't know... I went to the Ravenclaw tryouts with Luna, and she looked pretty good. She definitely knows how to fly." A gloomy look came over her face. "Fred and George would be proud."
"No doubt," Harry said again, setting his broomstick aside.
"All right, all! Into the air!"
It was the best order Ron could have given. Soon, the air was filled with broomsticks as Ron marched over and set down the trunk containing the quaffle, the bludgers and the snitch. "All right then, Katie?" he shouted upwards, kicking the trunk open. The bludgers obligingly remained restrained. "We'll check out for a chaser first, then?"
She nodded in the air, before giving him the thumbs up. "Let's do this!" she shouted back.
Ron grinned as he threw the quaffle in the air and released the snitch, before grabbing his own broomstick and rising into the air toward the goals. "Take them on rounds!"
Within an hour, Harry was astonished at the goalkeeping efforts of Ron around the chaser recruits. They all appeared to have some skill, and he could tell that Ginny and Katie, the other two chasers, were impressed. He knew that it would be better to give them a chance to get to beater tryouts, considering the sun had already dipped below the line of trees in the Forbidden Forest.
It was dark out before the crowd of excited Gryffindors trooped back inside the castle toward their common room. It had been an exciting few hours, and Ron and Katie couldn't stop talking about the amazing talent many of the new players had. After claiming they had to pick three new players before morning, Ron and Katie retreated to the corner, leaving the rest of the group to crowd in with the rest of the Gryffindors.
Hermione was sitting in one of the most comfortable chairs by the fire, her Arithmancy book propped on her knees, staring at the pages while making notes on parchment.
"Homework on a Friday night?" Harry breathed as he dropped in the chair next to her.
Hermione's eyes never left the book. "If you haven't noticed, we were given a lot."
Professor Summers, realizing she had errored in not giving them work on Monday, had given them an overload of work to do that weekend, including an essay on tactics to take down a vampire, as well as practicing a spell to create a blast of fire. She also told them that there would be a student-lead demonstration that week, because she was ready to see what a student could do against a vampire.
Despite his newfound respect in her stand against Professor Snape to allow Neville Longbottom back into Potions, he couldn't help but feel reluctant whenever he stepped into Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"I know," Harry grumbled, realizing the amount of work given to them in other classes and feeling a slight hit of panic strike him. "But we have the weekend."
"We do," Hermione replied in her simple voice before turning a page. "I have to read thirty more pages tonight."
Ginny sank down on the chair next to him, wiping off her sweaty face with a towel and grasping two bottles of butterbeer, which she handed over to Harry. "Good practice," she said, clinking the neck of her bottle to his before drinking.
Before Harry could compliment her on her skills as a chaser, Dean stepped around the crowd and shouted out: "Ginny!"
Ginny stood up, her face brightening as Dean hugged her off her feet. "I heard you were amazing out there!"
Harry watched as they disappeared into the crowd with a wistful sigh. Hermione even glanced up from the book to follow his line of gaze and turned her eyes back to him. "You're an idiot, Harry."
"What?" he gasped, turning to her.
"You heard me," she finally said, snapping her book shut. "I'm going to bed."
"Hermione!" he sputtered, rising to his feet. "What did you mean?"
But Hermione was hurrying away, leaving Harry with his very confused thoughts.
She had just spent the night grading the essays the first and second years had turned into her, and found their work to be quite satisfactory. But deciding she needed breakfast before packling the next stack of parchment from the fourth years, she rose and pulled on her robes.
The Great Hall was almost empty except for a few scattered upperclassmen, who had risen for an early breakfast before tackling their homework. She spied Harry Potter and his friends gathered around the center of the Gryffindor table before she marched on.
The staff table was relatively empty too. Only Professors McGonagall and Vector had braved the early morning breakfast crowd. She quickly took her seat and poured hot tea into a cup.
After tipping eggs and bacon onto her plate, she began to eat.
The food was delicious as always, and renewed her strength to finish those papers before she allowed herself any entertainment.
But that was before the chair next to her became occupied.
"I trust that everything is okay?" a cold voice asked at her elbow.
"All is well in wonderland, Severus," she replied softly, sipping her tea and pushing her empty plate aside.
"Your friends were not in distress, were they?"
"Your compassion is honorable," she snapped back, wishing she could drain her tea without burning her throat and get out of the Great Hall.
"I was merely expressing my concerns," he said, in a deadly soft voice, yet it was said with venom.
"How touching," she said sharply.
He turned to face her, his eyes reproachful under curtains of long, greasy black hair. "You wouldn't want them taking any uncalculated risks."
"They're not," Buffy retorted, perhaps more sharply than she had intended. She rose, deciding to take the teacup with her. "Good day to you."
"Before you dance off into the fields," he said snappishly behind her, "do remember we have a faculty meeting after lunch."
"I won't forget it," she replied crisply before walking out of the hall.
As she stormed by, Harry turned to Neville, who was staring down at his empty plate, his eyes wide. "She's just a Professor, Neville," Hermione said, patting his arm.
"I don't know what she said to Snape, but he let me back into Potions," Neville whimpered, his eyes wide and fearful.
"Really?" Ron asked, his fork frozen in mid-air.
Their looks were of confusion as they stared at the staff table. Neville had easily been the worst Gryffindor in Potions, yet he had been allowed to take the post-O.W.L. class. Something strange was happening, Harry figured, because he, too, had been allowed to join the class and Snape loathed him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hermione's face darken as Snape walked behind them to the entrance. "Git," Ron muttered darkly next to her.
"Something's up," Hermione finally said, speaking Harry's thoughts. "Something someone's not telling us."
They all rose as one and started for the entrance, hitching their overloaded bags onto their shoulders.
"We need to find out what it is," Harry whispered over Hermione's shoulder.
"Oh, you can count on it," Hermione replied, narrowing her eyes as the Slytherins all stalked in. "We will."
Chapter 10 -- time montage.
For the reviewers...
I never mentioned anything about Ron and Hermione NOT being prefects... they just said they weren't that year's new ones. I appreciate the constructive criticism, considering there may be facts wrong. Quidditch may be an international sport, BUT how could they know that Dawn would know what it was? They were right to question it. I know that they are in different classes too, but I figured that since some students may not have passed some O.W.L. tests, that all four houses in the sixth and seventh years could be together. There IS a reason however as to why Neville and Harry are in Potions. There were other things, but they will be explained later.
As to what happened to Dawn... Neville's cauldron exploded. And they're just beginning to piece together the polyjuice potion... as in the part that needed be heated and stirred, without any additives. And apparently it causes a lot of damage.
I've said enough... now stepping off my soapbox.