Extended version includes an extended conversation between Dawn and Draco and Dawn's heritage and an extra Professor Summers and Professor Snape scene.

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Chapter 26
The Ties That Bind (extended version)
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"HEY!"

Harry watched, paralyzed at the knees, as the vampire swung around to the sharp male voice.

The peroxide-haired vampire Professor Summers had introduced to them just a half hour before suddenly sprang forward.

"You kill our kind," the vampire growled.

"It's. Bloody. Fun," Spike said with a grin, before his face morphed. He launched himself at the vampire and they both fell aside as a female shriek sounded down the corridor.

"Amanda!" a voice screamed. "Amanda!"

And Harry and his friends got their second shock of the evening as Dawn came ripping through the small group of Ravenclaws moving together. She collapsed next to her body and reached for her hand.

Behind her, other students ran in, curious as to the source of Ginny's scream. Ginny was now wide-eyed and shocked, one hand clinging to Harry's robes, the other one her wand, which was down at her side.

To their left, Spike had no problems dusting the vampire and rose up, his face morphing back into his human one. He quickly started toward the girl lying on the ground, his face full of concern. "Is she..."

"She's dead," Dawn said, looking up with tears in her eyes as she slowly rose.

Suddenly Spike jumped as though a sudden thought had occured to him. "There may be more," he growled. "Get back toward the wall."

The students had no problems following that order.

"You should go get--"

"What is going on here?"

"Don't bother," Spike finished under his breath as Buffy flew in, surrounded by Hogwarts Professors Vector, Sprout, Snape and McGonagall.

"Get all of your students back to their dormitories," Buffy said in a low voice, her eyes on the body of the dead girl. As the teachers hustled forward to move their students along, Harry was curious to see that Dawn hadn't moved. Professor Vector was giving her a sympathetic glance as she shooed the rest of the Ravenclaws back toward their common room.

"What happened?" Buffy asked when all of the Professors save Snape had disappeared. He stood behind her, his face an impecable icy mask of concern. Spike stood slightly behind him, a look of pure loathing on his face.

"Potter," Snape said in his icy voice.

Buffy swung around. "I beg your pardon?"

"You sent him on patrol here. There was obviously a vampire lying in wait for someone to approach."

"It didn't have to be him," Angel said, arriving finally. Finally, his eyes fell on the girl. "One of yours?"

"She was my friend," Dawn said, trying in vain to wipe her tears away.

"Will she rise again?" Snape asked, for the first time a hint of fear in his voice.

"Unlikely," Buffy snorted, standing up. "Slayers are candy for a Vampires soul, or lack thereof." She turned toward Dawn. "Dawnie, are you okay?"

But Dawn was looking at Spike. "If you hadn't gotten there, that vampire would've killed-"

"I know," said Spike, putting up his hands. But he wasn't looking at the Slayer. He was looking at the statue behind her.

"What is it?" Buffy asked, following his gaze.

"That statue has a passageway," Angel piped up from behind both of them.

Buffy whipped out her wand and stepped forward, running the tip of her wand all along the outer edge of the statue of the one-eyed witch. Nothing happened.

"It still has a passageway, no matter how many times you close your eyes and keep thinking there isn't," Spike said in an irritated voice.

"We have to find out how to get in there."

"It goes to Hogsmeade," Snape said suddenly.

Buffy turned slowly back toward him. "What did you just say?"

- - - - -

The next morning, classes resumed, but everyone was talking about what the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors had seen the night before.

Right after breakfast, Draco caught up with Dawn, who was determined not to speak to anyone and just kept walking, trying to ignore the sinking feeling of panic rising like nausea inside of her.

"Harris!" he shouted, running faster to catch up with her.

"Draco, please," she said, turning to him. "I'm really not in the mood---"

"Dawn, tell me the truth, please... they keep saying that you knew that girl..."

"I did!" she cried out, the threatening tears starting to spill again. "We went to the same school. She lived at my house for six months. She fought in the last battle of evil..."

"Dawn?" he said gently, his hands clasping her shoulders. "What is it?"

"You want the truth?" she said in a weak, defeated tone, glancing up at him with big, tear-stained eyes. "The truth is, Professor Summers is not only a vampire Slayer. She's my sister."

His eyes widened slightly, and when it had all sunk in, he gasped and let go of her. Dawn made to turn and move again, when he suddenly took her arm. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know how," she sniffled. "I just… I wanted to tell you, but I've been living this secret for so long… and I'm so lost… and I can't tell you how much it means to me that you're here because I really care for you."

"Oh, Dawn," he said softly, stroking her face. "You can tell me anything."

"Really?" Dawn asked, stepping into his arms. "Because I really, really wish I could."

Instead of pushing her away, he wrapped his arms around her and the crushing weight of hiding her true identity for so long came pouring out as she cried into his shoulder.

Across the courtyard, Harry, Ron and Hermione were hurrying off to double Herbology.

"Now does Ginny's theory make sense?" Hermione was saying as the marched down the fields toward the greenhouses.

But Harry's thought were elsewhere. "I don't know... she knew that girl. You could tell. And she knew her name."

"And that vampire recognized her," Ron added. "I don't think she's telling us something. If she were the Slayer that Professor Summers was searching for, don't you think that her friends wouldn't know Dawn? Or that Dawn wouldn't know them?"

Hermione bit her lip, thinking. "But if the Slayer isn't Dawn, who can it be?"

"I don't know," Ron said with a shrug. "It could be anyone. It could even be you, Hermione."

"Me?" Hermione squeaked. "Did you see me last night? I was so scared I could barely move."

"That was because that vampire had taken out a Slayer," Harry replied softly. "Anyone would have been scared. I couldn't move, and that thing was going for Ginny."

"She seemed awfully grateful last night," Ron grinned, changing the subject.

And they argued more about who was thanking who when suddenly they noticed two Professors waiting for them by the Greenhouses.

"Ah," Professor Summers said, crossing her arms, "Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, and Mr. Weasley. Just the three people I wanted to see."

Behind her, Professor Snape scowled.

"Up to Dumbledore's office," she ordered in that brisk voice again. "We need your help."

Shocked that they were being called away from such an important lesson, the three turned around and trekked back into the school and past the gargoyles leading up to Professor Dumbledore's office.

The doors in front of them opened, leading the way into a crowded and very dark atmosphere. Violet flames shot out of the fireplace, casting the room into an eerie glow with looping shadows draping the faces that they couldn't quite make out.

"Sit down, you three," said Professor Summers, gesturing toward three chairs near the center of the room.

As Harry moved inside, he could see the two vampires they'd met at last night's DA meeting. He also saw Willow, Tara, Faith, Cordelia and two older men, both dressed in muggle suits. On the other side of the room were five very tall men wearing black suits bearing the crest of the Auror, and two men and a woman in long white coats.

"It's about what happened last night," Professor Summers began, "I--"

The door burst open again as Dawn appeared, out of breath. "Am I late?"

"You're on time, Dawnie," she said, gesturing toward a chair next to the fireplace. "Sit down."

"Dawnie?" Hermione asked, puzzled.

"What's going on here?" Harry asked, suddenly feeling angry at so many people standing around him. He was starting to feel smothered. "You're not all here to protect me, are you?"

"No, we're not," Willow replied, stepping out of the line and standing next to the Slayer. "It's time we told you the entire truth Harry. About who we are. About what we came here to do."

"You were never our top priority as much as finding the Hogwarts Slayer," Buffy replied in her crisp voice. "You became our priority when we realized that the Slayers fate was connected with yours."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, and immediately his eyes found Dawn.

"Nobody in this room is the Hogwarts Slayer," Buffy said quietly. "Dawn isn't a Slayer. Dawn isn't even a witch. She's a muggle. And she's my sister."

Harry's eyes widened as he glanced from Dawn to Professor Summers and back again. The resemblence was suddenly striking.

"Why do you need our help?" Ron asked, bringing Harry back into the present.

"Because we found a vulnerable spot in the castle," Buffy replied. "That statue you were guarding last night. There's a passageway beneath it. Professor Snape says that it leads to Hogsmeade. Is this true?"

With both Ron and Hermione looking at him, Harry nodded. "Yes, it came up from under Honeydukes."

"Then that's where we draw our lines," Buffy said thoughtfully, turning to Willow.

"What lines?" Harry asked curiously.

"Our battle lines," Willow replied.

The intensity in the room seemed to crackle with electricity as Willow stepped forward. "The Slayer that was killed last night, she was new and inexperienced. We have over a hundred Slayers that will go out in full force."

"What about the other creatures?" Hermione asked. "There are giants, and trolls, and goblins, and---"

"We're all set," Buffy said, cutting off Hermione. "We know what we have to do now, because all of our people have been involved in the Ministry so much these past few months." As she turned away, she grinned at Xander, Giles and Wesley before turning back to the students, her face a perfect mask of chipped ice. "The only question is when."

"Can't it wait until after finals?" Hermione asked in a tiny voice.

"The finals have been moved," Professor Dumbledore said, rising to stand next to the Slayer. "The OWL and NEWT exams will also be moved in advance of this coming battle... er, apocalypse. The students will also be informed when the time comes about what the Slayer and her army are planning next."

"Army?" Ron asked in a distant voice.

"It's the only one that Hogwarts has," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling. "Aside from the DA of course."

"We'll be counting on the DA to protect the school in case our lines fall," Buffy said briskly. "But I do have one concern."

Her eyes fell on Ron.

"They've tasted you, and now they know what your blood is like. They will hunt you, to kill you."

Hermione reached for Ron's hand in the darkness.

Ron gulped.

"You're out of the battle," Buffy said, turning her back on them. "I'll inform you further when and if I have more information that you need to know. You three can get back to class now. Dawn, I need another word."

Wordlessly, speechlessly, Harry, Ron and Hermione stood up and walked out.

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"Do you really think that was wise?" Dawn asked lightly after the door had closed.

"It doesn't matter," Buffy said with a sigh, taking the chair that Harry had vacated. "None of it matters anymore... he thought you were the Slayer!"

"So did I," Dawn said quietly, "and yet when the Bringers came for Amanda..."

"You handed over the torch of power," Xander said. "You gave her that hope."

"It was never mine to take," Dawn replied.

"Well," Willow said, glancing around the dark room, noticing that the vampires hadn't said a word so that all of the darkness was ridiculous anyway, "boo hoo, we screwed up. This isn't about what they thought of Dawn. This isn't about Dawn at all. She was made in your image and that means she can fight, too. She may not be a Slayer, but she's still strong."

"I'm sorry," Dawn replied, turning to her sister. "I'm sorry I blew your cover."

"It was about time it was blown anyway," Buffy said kindly. "I don't want the students to see what we saw last year. I dug too many graves. That's not going to happen this time around."

"So what do we do now?" Giles asked from his corner.

"Gather them," she said, her face reflecting the violet flames. "Gather them all."

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A knock sounded at the door. Professor Snape moved and opened his office door slowly to admit Professor Summers. "Professor," he greeted, lifting his arm to gesture her inside.

"Professor," she said quietly with a smile as she sat in the only chair in the office. "It's coming," she continued, seeing the pensive look on his face. "It's coming and it's time we do something about it."

"The darkness is spreading," Snape observed with a frown.

Buffy nodded. "I wish there was some hope I could give to the students, but it's such a lost cause. There are so many of them. And if we fail, all of them will die."

Professor Snape paused a few long moments before continuing slowly, as though reluctant to speak for anything he'd been against for so long. "I realize that you think the situation is hopeless, but it isn't. Potter won't stop until the school is safe. There are many who would die to protect the students, myself included."

Buffy's smile was sad as she glanced down at her trembling hands. "I just wish I had the strength to tell them that what they're fighting for is their very lives."

"The strength is there," Snape replied, reaching over and covering her shaking hand with his cold one. "I can see it in your heart."

Buffy let out a tiny sob as tried to find the words to express what his words meant to her. "I just wish that I could…"

"You will, because I believe you can," Professor Snape replied softly. "And if you cannot trust me to believe in you, then you really have no faith in yourself."

"Since when did this become a question about faith?" Buffy asked him, her voice as soft. "Severus… hundreds of people are going to die. I can't do this alone, not again."

"You won't be alone," he said, moving his hand to her tear-stained face. "The entire magical world is behind you. Just trust that you're making the right decision for all of us."

Buffy smiled and covered her hand on his. "Since when did you become all insightful?"

"I always have been," he said curtly, pulling his hand away. "But it takes an extraordinary person to see that I'm not all about Dark Arts and evil."

"No," Buffy said softly, "you're really not."

And the two just stared at each other over the top of his desk, his hand on hers as she slowly began to formulate a plan.

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"Odd," Ginny said, shaking her head in wonder at both Ron and Harry, who were tripping over themselves to talk about their meeting that morning. "Very odd."

"It's different than that," Hermione added, as the four swept into the Great Hall. "It makes it seem more real."

"They're bound to us," Harry agreed. "They've kept telling us that, but we had no idea how much was at stake for them. They're only girls."

"Seeing a girl's body doesn't change anything," Ron said.

"It changes everything!" Hermione gasped. "Do you realize that we just watched someone die?"

"At least now we can see those horses," Ginny muttered under her breath as the four sat down.

As the students tucked in, there was a strange tension in the air.

It was broken when the double swung open, admitting a long trail of people, lead by Professor Summers.

Willow, Tara and every other person from that morning, including the vampires, marched down to the silent buzz erupting around them.

And behind them was Faith, leading line after line of girls in long navy robes.

All of the Professors stood up.

The students, who had been expecting dessert, turned in confusion to the Headmaster, who's face was unusually terse and grave. Even Snape didn't have an evil look about him, but his jaw was set uneasily.

"May I have a moment or two of your time!" Dumbledore announced.

The buzz died immediately. There were still students standing or craning their necks to see who had arrived, but oddly enough, the Slayer's group filled the entire aisle.

"You will direct your attention toward Professor Summers. She has an announcement to make."

And Buffy took a deep breath and turned toward the student body, preparing to speak.

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