Extended version includes two new scenes: the Potions final and a conversation between Faith and Professor Snape. The Potions final scene has also been extended.

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Chapter 28
Calm Before the Storm (extended version)
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April died away as May hit with the force of summer. Outdoors, the weather had grown humid and windy, and students longed to spend their afternoons out by the lake with the Giant Squid, but instead found themselves stuck indoors, windows thrown open to tempt inside a breeze, studying for their finals four weeks early.

Ginny and the rest of the fifth years were seen in the library frequently, surrounded by towering stacks of textbooks and heaps of parchment. The seventh years were seen in any quiet classroom they could find, surrounded by books and parchment, as well as charts of complicated runes and huge graphs of star charts.

Harry was studying alone one afternoon, staring absentmindedly at his Potions textbook while examining the notes Hermione had copied for him. The stack was nearly eleven inches tall. As he bent over to pull out his Transfiguration text, he saw a pair of black shoes and his eyes travelled upwards up a set of Ravenclaw robes until he found himself looking into a pair of onyx eyes. "Cho," he said in greeting, his textbook falling with a thud onto the table.

"I didn't know that Professor Summers' classroom was so cool," she said, pulling out the chair next to his and dropping into it. "I'll have to tell the others."

The look on his face made her laugh. "I'm kidding... I know you probably want to be alone..."

"Yeah," Harry said softly. "Now that everyone knows that I'm the only one who can beat you-know-who, I have been trying to duck and cover."

"There's no need for sarcasm," Cho said with a sigh. After a moment of silence, she continued. "I don't blame you for what happened last year."

"It seems so long ago," Harry said with a chuckle as he pulled out a fresh bunch of parchment. "You made my world beautiful, you know... for a while... it was just... beautiful."

She turned to him, her eyes sparkling with tears. "Harry, I'm so sorry for everything I've put you through the past few years. I know that I was stupid and selfish and childish..."

"We're teenagers," Harry replied lightly, leaning over and taking her hand. "You deserve to be happy. And I don't want you to worry about anything."

"I'm not," she said, beaming. "Because I know in my heart that you'll survive this year, and the next... and the one after that. I know you and Ginny will be very happy together."

Remembering his dream, he smiled a strange smile and turned back to her. "We probably will be... really..."

But in his mind, he could see Ginny, the older Ginny, with him and his family and Sirius, all gathered around a beautiful Christmas turkey... and then he saw as plain as day a row of tombstones.

Shaking the violent image from his mind, he saw Cho's shadow as she left the classroom and was too confused to call her back.

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Buffy had just finished rewriting her version of the Defense Against the Dark Arts NEWT-level written exam and turned off the lamp over her desk. With a small sigh, she checked her watch and saw that it was well into the middle of the night. Yet she wasn't tired.

Feeling too wound to be tired, she stood up and walked into the commons area, which was dark and oddly cool. Slipping her robes back on, she pulled open the door and wandered into the corridor, wanting to find her way down into the kitchen.

She didn't count on running into a feline one floor down.

"Mrs. Norris, shhh!" she hissed, walking past the cat, who meowed pitifully and stared at her with amber eyes.

"What is it my sweet?" Argus Filch called out. Buffy paused and turned around as the light of his lantern fell over her face. "Ah, Professor Summers. Burning the middle-of-the-night oil?"

"Couldn't sleep and was feeling peckish," she replied, passing him. "Good night to you, Argus."

He called good night after her, but she didn't hear him.

Before she knew it, she was opening the door to the kitchens and stepping inside. Only a few house elves were scurrying about, surrounding someone in the corner. It was then they noticed her. "Misses! We have a misses!" They all clamored over to her, leaving the person in the corner.

"Excuse me," she said, walking around them. "Faith?"

Faith turned from where she was sitting by the fireplace, staring into the flame. "Hey, B."

"What are you doing up? I thought you went to bed hours ago," Buffy said, sitting down on the other side of her.

"I couldn't sleep," she said, pulling her attention from the fire at last. "I don't know if I can say this, I've been denying it ever since we came on this mission but... I'm scared. I'm scared, B."

"I'm scared too," Buffy said, her own eyes finding comfort in the soft light of the fireplace. "I'm scared that this is a bad decision that will cost too many lives. And I don't know what's going to happen. What happens.. if we all die?"

"There's the Hogwarts Slayer," Faith said. "I've gone through it over and over in my mind... if anyone can pull through this... it's her. If we all die, it's her turn. It's her calling."

"Maybe," Buffy said with a sigh, watching as the house elves brought over a tea cart full of plates of little cakes. "I'm just hoping I can make it through next week."

"You and me both, B."

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Faith was wandering the halls. It was reaching the point toward dawn, but she was still too wound up to sleep. She was almost dying to call Robin back in California to wake him up, but she desisted. She missed him, certainly, but she wasn't the type of girl who made that bold a move.

She spied a movement along the far corridor. Pulling out a stake, she moved along the wall until she spied a soft blue pin light coming from midair and hovering down to her left. She carefully slipped around the corner and moved until the light revealed the person holding the wand that created it.

It was Professor Snape.

"Professor," Faith said, quickly tucking the stake back into her back pocket.

He glanced at her for a moment before recognition gleamed in his onyx eyes. "You must be one of the Slayers that Professor Summers has told me about."

"I am," Faith said, extending her hand. "I'm Faith."

"You already know my name, I presume."

"I do," Faith replied, glancing out the stained glass window to see the beginning sliver of orange along the horizon. "Damn, it's almost sunrise."

"I have found it rather difficult recently to sleep," Professor Snape said from behind her.

"Sucks to be you," Faith replied, before shaking herself out of her stupor. "Sometimes I wonder if I should just stake myself instead of saying something so completely wrong."

As she turned around to face him, she saw him eyeing her thoughtfully.

"I'm sorry, but I should ask if you're all right," Faith continued, not really liking how his eyes kept boring into hers.

"I was thinking about Professor Summers," he said bluntly, his eyes finally leaving her face and looking outside at the new morning.

"Oh my God," Faith gasped. He drew his eyes disinterestedly back to her. "You're sweet on her, aren't you?"

"Thankfully the language barrier is sufficient enough for me not to understand what you just said," he said coldly, stepping around her. "I recommend you get some sleep now, for there are darker days ahead."

As he disappeared down the corridor, once again leaving Faith in darkness, she shook her head in disbelief and laughed. "I'll be damned," she said in wonder. "I wonder if B knows that the good Professor has developed a liking for her."

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Monday started with a cold punch as cool air spiraled out of the mountains.

After breakfast, the fifth and seventh years gathered outside the Great Hall, bidding their classmates farewell as they swept gracefully from the hall.

Harry and Hermione's first final was Potions. As soon as they were done with the written, Professor Summers, who had taken the final over for Professor Snape, pointed her wand at the board, which wrote in large block letters the ingredient for a potion that would see its drinker safely through fire. Remembering Hermione's experience from their first year and grinning, he gathered the ingredients for her.

Hermione glanced up as she carefully stirred the potion counter-clockwise. "So, are you ready for Professor Summers' final?" she asked Harry.

He carefully tipped a few newt eyes into the smoking mixture. "I think so," he said from the corner of his mouth. "I wonder if Professor Snape is taking over for her."

"Have you ever gotten the feeling that something is going on between them?" Hermione asked, regarding Professor Summers coolly. Ever since she'd found out that the Professor was a Vampire Slayer, she'd been almost cold toward her.

Harry shrugged, and they both turned back to the mixture.

Ron and Harry had the afternoon off while Hermione swept off to Ancient Runes. They spent the afternoon in the library, reading up on complicated spells and charts for Transfiguration the next day.

Hermione returned in a brilliant mood that night and pulled Ron aside after dinner, claiming she wanted to talk to him. Harry ignored them both as he concentrated on the incantation that would transform a living flamingo into a lawn ornament.

Tuesday was as sodding hot as it had been the entire weekend. As lunch ended and their first exam was over, all of the sixth years in Herbology trekked down to the greenhouses and spent their practical test sorting out blue plants from their more aggressive violet brothers.

Hermione had Arithmancy on Wednesday morning and they all had History of Magic that afternoon. As Harry left History of Magic, he grinned, feeling as though he'd done really well. That night, he found Ginny looking more relaxed, having gotten through her Potions OWL that day. Cho looked tense, after her Divination NEWT and was slightly pale even when her friends, including Dawn Harris, attempted to comfort her.

Thursday saw the group having both Charms and Care of Magical Creatures. Dawn was relieved that afternoon as she trekked back to the Ravenclaw common room, watching as several other members of her class grunted as they swept into the scorching sunlight toward Hagrid's hut and the forbidden forest.

Friday was what some considered their easiest day, until Professor Summers stood outside her classroom door, her arms folded in front of her as a group of third years scampered away, groaning about the length of their written exam.

"Come in."

In the middle of the room was a large cage. Inside the cage, three vampires were crammed, snarling and taunting the students now gathering in a ring around the group.

Buffy stood at the head, wand in hand. "This is your multi-tiered final," she began. "There will be no useless written test. Just this practical exam. Separate into three groups and lead your two strongest forward."

Grudgingly, Harry found himself in a group with both Draco and Dawn. Hermione and Ron were also in separate groups, although their fellow Gryffindors stood beside them. Harry was the only Gryffindor in his group.

"So what do we have to do?" Hannah Abbott asked in a hushed voice.

"I think they want two of us to go forward and kill a vampire," Dawn replied in a bored voice, fingering her wand lovingly. "Can I do it?"

Draco looked at her with wide eyes. "Don't say it."

"Say what?"

"You want me to take on that vampire with you!" Draco exclaimed.

"I didn't say that!" Dawn protested.

"You were thinking it!" Draco said, his voice getting louder.

"Be quiet, both of you," said Harry in a low voice. "Dawn, you're the first. The second should be-"

"Why don't you just do it, Potter?" Draco sneered.

Harry shook his head. "I would, except it's someone else's turn for the draw. Hannah?"

Hannah paled under her long pigtails. "A-all right," she stammered as she stood next to Dawn, her wand hand trembling while Terry Boot and two other Ravenclaw sixth-years guffawed behind her.

"Teams set?" Buffy asked in a loud voice, lifting her wand and pointing it toward the cage. She gestured the six students forward. Harry wasn't surprised to see Hermione among them, her wand already out, her eyes focused.

"Take only your own," the Professor continued. "And remember, they strike to kill. Alohamora!"

The lock sprang on the cage and the six students recoiled slightly as three vampires charged them.

"Whoa!" Ron cried out as his fellow students nearly stampeded to get away.

Harry saw over the malay that Hermione was trying to start her team's vampire on fire. Next to her, Dawn Harris had just been knocked over by her vampire.

"What do I do? What do I do?" Hannah Abbott was screaming.

"Stake the bloody thing!" Dawn shouted over the sounds of gasping.

Within seconds, it was all over as six students, five lying on the floor, were draped in dust. Hermione, still on her feet, helped Dawn and Hannah both up before returning to her group.

Buffy looked slightly impressed as she stepped forward again. "That was a good show, Miss Abbott."

"Thank you, ma'am," Hannah said, blushing as she took her place behind Harry.

"Now pick your strongest," Buffy ordered, pointing toward the door as another cage seemed to float inside and placed itself next to the first. "These are ubers."

After an hour of fighting various dark creatures, Buffy seemed satisfied enough to wave all of the cages away. But the class grew curious as she went and stood in a small patch of sunlight, and set her wand aside.

"Uh... Professor?" Draco asked in a soft voice.

"Miss Granger, please come forward?" Buffy asked.

Hermione stepped forward, confident, but confused. "Yes, Professor?"

"Put your wand down."

"What?"

"Disarm yourself. Place your wand aside."

Hermione handed her wand to Dawn, who was standing closest, suddenly looking wary.

"What do you want me to do?" Hermione asked in a hushed voice.

"Stand here," Buffy said, stepping aside and taking a blindfold from her desk. Hermione stood on the spot while Buffy gently wrapped the blindfold over Hermione's eyes. "Now... use your intuition. I know you have it. I've been watching you."

Dawn let out a soft "oh, no!" next to Harry.

Hermione tensed slightly. "Yes?"

"I'm going to attack you."

Hermione's face registered panic. "A-All right..." she stuttered.

"Your job is to fight me off. Use your senses."

Hermione placed her hands in the air as the Slayer circled her, finally attacking on the third time around, coming up over Hermione's shoulder. To everyone's surprise, Hermione ducked down, managing to get Buffy's weight over her shoulder, the ending result as Buffy flying ungracefully over Hermione's left shoulder.

Everyone gasped as Buffy attacked again from the front. Hermione could do nothing except allow herself to be knocked to the ground.

Buffy stood up as Hermione ripped off the blindfold, looking shocked about something, ignoring the hand her Professor was extending toward her.

"This exam's over," she finally said, taking the blindfold from Hermione and tossing it aside. "You all passed. Congratulations. But the real test comes soon."

One by one, small groups left her classroom, talking about attacking different creatures. Hermione limped out last, allowing Ron to take her arm as he helped her back toward the common room. But for some reason, Hermione couldn't wipe the look of shock on her face.

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