Chapter 8.
"What Happened?"
by OldScout
The Slayer's boredom came rushing back at her. That big Auror had just come and fetched Tonks now Buffy sat in her chair fidgeting. She looked toward the "Observer" as Tonks had called. "Hey, Guys, where's the ladies' room?" Without giving anytime for anybody to respond, Buffy got up and waived her hand in front of the spot she could feel being watched from. "Hey, hello, ah, nature calls here. Surely you people have restrooms." She said loudly.
Nothing.
Buffy shrugged and tried the door. Using normal strength, the door wouldn't budge so she gave the old crystal door knob a little extra strength. It sill wouldn't turn now she was an annoyed, bored slayer who had to use the ladies room. Not a good combination. She tried one more time before resorting to the TV cop method of opening a locked door. Putting two hands on the door knob she twisted and put her shoulder into. Suddenly the door popped open and Buffy leaped into the hallway. She didn't notice the hail of splinters from the magically enhanced door frame scatter across the floor around her.
--
Auror Dawlish returned with Tonks in time to see the Minister reading a message from the reception desk in the visitor's Atrium. Apparently, the Minister, Director Bones, and Amos Diggory were already heading out of the conference room when the message arrived.
"Auror Tonks," Minister Fudge said. "In your report, you listed friends Miss Summers had mentioned in your conversations. Do the names Willow Rosenberg, and Faith, ah, Potter sound familiar?"
Tonks thought for a second. "She mentioned her best friend Willow, who's a witch, and another friend, Faith." Tonks stopped apparently replaying some conversations in her head. "I think Faith is the same friend she mentioned having trouble with and was glad she wasn't a witch."
A voice came from the observer glass "Hey, Guys, where's the ladies room?"
Director Bones turned to Auror Dawlish, "Won't you escort Miss Summers to the ladies' Lavatory?" She turned to Tonks. "You come with us, you know Miss Summers best, and perhaps you will be able to talk to her friends better than we could."
--
Auror Dawlish walked down the Hall Of Interrogation in time to see the door to Miss Summers's room burst open in a shower of debris. 'Don't these doors swing in?', he thought. Miss Summers had jumped into hallway following the door out.
She looked at him. "Hey, where's the ladies' room?"
Seeing the look on Auror Dawlish's face, Buffy looked at the mess around her. "Did I do that? Sorry." The look of surprise turned to annoyance then self-righteousness as he reached inside his robe.
Most people seeing an Auror reach for his wand would have fled or surrendered, but most people weren't a slayer who had seen a child killed by a wand and a word just hours earlier. Buffy charged.
Auror Dawlish's wand had just cleared his robes when a strong hand gripped his wrist and twisted his arm behind his back. Suddenly the nearest wall slammed him in the face.
With one hand pushing against Dawlish's back to hold him against the wall Buffy twisted his wand arm up his back to near breaking. "I know what you can do with these things." Buffy said quietly. "You can kill with a word. Anybody can, from a child in a school yard to a little old lady pushing all her belongings down the street in a shopping cart." She gave his wrist a squeeze causing him yelp and let go of the wand which Buffy grabbed, letting go of his arm. "You spread the word. As far as I'm concerned, this is a deadly weapon, if anybody points one at me or mine I'll respond accordingly." She then let Dawlish go and stepped away from him.
"How dare you assault an Auror in the very halls of the Ministry of Magic." Dawlish said indignantly. "You could definitely do time in Azkaban for this. Now return my wand and I will not press the matter." He held out his hand.
Buffy could see the perspiration on the man's forehead. She knew fear when she saw it. She held the wand up in front of him and snapped it in half with one hand.
Dawlish's eyes went wide and he stuttered. "How dare you?" She handed him the pieces.
"Now, the ladies' room?" She demanded.
"Down," he pointed to the opposite end of the hallway. "Left, right, left and left again."
Grabbing the front of his robes, Buffy pulled him with her. "You show me." She glared back at him. "You'd better not be playing with me because the longer this takes the more irritable I'll get."
--
Faith and Willow walked through the long Atrium to the golden gate and security station at the far end. Neither knew what to make of the fireplaces on either side or the strange fountain in the middle. Truth was, at the time, they just didn't care. Sitting at the security station was an extremely bored looking middle aged witch. She was wearing a well worn dark blue uniform robe and matching pointed hat. The witch looked up from her knitting.
"Miss Rosenberg and Miss, ah, Potter." She said staring at Faith. "You must register and leave your wands here."
"I don't have a wand." Willow responded with her best shy, pixie voice and look.
"Humnph." The watchwitch turned to Faith. "What about you?"
Faith produced a wooden stake from the back of her jacket and placed it on the desk with a heavy thunk. "This is the closest I got."
The watchwitch picked up the stake and examined it. It was a finely carved heavy piece of oak. Around the top of the handle was carved the name 'Mr. Woody'. "This isn't a wand." The witch scowled as she registered the weapon.
"No, but it works magic for me." Faith responded with a leer.
"And what is the name of the lawyer you work for?" The watchwitch continued, ignoring Faith's comment.
"Charles Gunn." Willow answered pushing herself in front of the smirking Faith.
Just then a lift inside the gate arrived. It was carrying four oddly dressed people. The most un-remarkable was a middle aged woman with graying hair cut short and curled. She was wearing a long black robe and black pointed witches boots. Next to her stood a balding portly man with a mustache who was wearing a pin-striped robe and purple pointed boots. Next to the man with the mustache was another with a shabby looking old black robe. He was slightly taller than the first man and had a scrubby brown and gray beard. The fourth person was about the same height as the other three but looked significantly smaller because she was a lot younger and thinner than the other three. She looked about the same age as Willow and Faith but with bright blue short spiky hair and was the best dressed of the three with a crisp clean black robe that was more like a uniform than what the others wore.
The four new arrivals approached the security desk. The man with the mustache and purple shoes appeared to be in charge since the others followed and stayed behind him. Ignoring Willow and Faith the man picked up the log parchment the watchwitch was making. He read it then picked up the stake and showed it to the other man. Both exchanged looks and finally turned to the two women.
"Miss Rosenberg." He said looking at Willow then turned to Faith "and Miss, ah, Potter. I'm Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic."
"Hello, Minister Fudge," Willow replied. "I'm Willow Rosenberg and this is Faith Potter. We understand you have Buffy Summers here we'd like to speak with her."
Glancing at Willow like she'd made an indecipherable noise Fudge continued. "It states here that you work for an Attorney Gunn. I know all advocates registered with the Ministry and I am not familiar with an Attorney Gunn."
"Attorney Gunn is not registered with the Ministry." Willow replied. "He's formerly with the Walfram and Hart L.A. office and has recently relocated to London."
"Hmph." Fudge replied and turned to the older woman behind him. "A muggle, of course."
As Fudge spoke, Faith stepped to the side and approached the woman with blue hair. "Hi, I'm Faith." She said holding out her hand. "It appears your Minister has lost manners."
Tonks looked horrified at the breach of protocol but held out her hand. Fudge frowned back at the women. "My apologies." He said through clenched teeth. "This is Auror Tonks," then indicated the others. "This is Amelia Bones, Director of the Ministry of Magical Law Enforcement and this Amos Diggery, of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."
As Fudge introduced each of his companions, Faith stepped up very close to them and shook each person's hand with a strong grip. To everybody but Tonks, it was a very intimidating gesture. She didn't know anything about Slayers and was used to Buffy's dominating behavior.
It was time to take control of this meeting. As soon as Faith stepped back she looked at Tonks. "So where's Buffy?"
"Excuse me young lady, you will address your questions to me." Fudge practically growled.
Faith side stepped and glided in front of Fudge but continued to look at Tonks. She leaned in as if she was going to whisper but spoke in a normal voice. "I can smell Buffy's scent on her." She said. "Auror Tonks has been with our friend very recently and we came to..."
"See her." Willow interrupted knowing Faith was about to say "Get her".
"How can you smell her?" Tonks asked amazed. "She wasn't wearing any perfume that I could smell."
Faith grinned and it wasn't pleasant. "Shampoo, conditioner, deodorant and the oil she uses to sharpen that katana her sister bought her make for a very unique scent."
"You can smell that on me?" Tonks was amazed. She had actually had very little physical contact with Buffy.
"I have many talents." Faith dead panned.
--
She had to be The Slayer. Amos Diggery was amazed. He'd never met The Slayer, the rarest of all magical creatures and purported to be the deadliest. She was dominating and intimidating. The five Ministry personnel would never admit it, but every one of them knew who was in charge of this little meeting and it wasn't the Ministry or the Slayer's handler. Was the proper term 'Watcher'? He'd have to look that up when he got back to his desk. It was the Slayer.
If this Faith Potter was the Slayer, who or what was Buffy Summers? The spell said she was The Slayer as well. But there was only one Chosen One; one Slayer at a time. How could there be two? He knew he'd done the spell correctly. He knew it worked. He felt it. The spell had pointed out two Slayers, not just two random women, but two who were extremely close. It wasn't coincidence, there were two Slayers and one came to fetch her sister home. Amos started to perspire, if Fudge didn't let Miss Summers go soon, things were going to spiral out of control very quickly.
A lift arrived from an upper level and a thin balding man rushed to Director Bones. He whispered something to her and she went pale. She turned and said something to Minister Fudge who suddenly got very nervous. He looked at Willow and Faith. "You two stay right there." He pointed to Auror Tonks and Amos Diggory. "You two watch them."
Fudge turned to the watchwitch. "Code Raven, lock this place down, nobody gets in or out without my say so." He took hold of Director Bones's elbow and ushered her toward the lifts.
Willow turned to Faith. "What happened?"
Faith was grinning from ear to ear. "Buffy escaped."
To be continued.................