CHAPTER SIX: THE SESSION
Once Buffy had the all clear from Dumbledore about using the Room of Requirement for training purposes with Buffy's Watcher as well as Faith and Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, the blonde Slayer didn't waste a moment organising the first of what would be many training and sparring sessions with Faith.
The first meeting with Wesley had been met with some scepticism on the Watcher's part. He'd been schooled at Hogwarts, and he knew that it wasn't possible to apparate into Hogwarts. When Buffy had rolled her eyes, grabbed him by the hand and they'd apparated into the centre of the Great Hall, ("Good lord.") he'd been convinced.
Faith and Dominic had been fascinated by absolutely everything magical, and it had taken a lot of coaxing to get them into the Room of Requirement. Wesley hadn't known of its existence, and was surprised by the items that kept appearing whenever he really needed something to be within reach. He'd brought out his old wand, and had been brushing up on his Defence Against the Dark Arts spells, impressing Faith who had never known that her Watcher could actually be 'kinda cool'.
It had been decided that Faith and Wesley would stay in London a while longer, since Faith and Buffy appeared to be a good influence on each other. The girls actually looked forward to training, mainly so they could train together and learn new moves against each other.
"Faith, you're dropping your left shoulder," Wesley chided from the sidelines.
Faith rolled her eyes, and tried the move again, Buffy ducking beneath her arm and knocking Faith off her feet with a low spinning kick. Faith hit the mats hard, but rolled into it, jumping to her feet and trying to startle Buffy with a spinning roundhouse kick.
Buffy dodged and didn't even see the fist coming at her face until her jaw began stinging. She pushed past the pain of the punch and countered it with her own backhand at Faith's jaw, hitting the taller Slayer accurately.
"Good!" both Wesley and Dominic said in unison.
"Wanna try with weapons?" Buffy whispered to Faith.
Faith grinned wickedly and nodded. Before they even began looking around for weapons, two swords appeared in their hands and the Slayers began their dance, blades swinging and clanging against each other.
Both Watchers jumped to their feet in shock. They hadn't been expecting the sudden appearance of weapons. Dominic went to admonish the Slayers for not sticking to the program of the day, but when he saw how well matched they were against each other, his protests died down before they'd even begun.
For almost two hours on end the two Slayers moved with strength and speed around the training room, different weapons replacing the swords. Bows, short swords, daggers and even crossbows came into play as the Slayers continued their training.
Their Watchers stood to the side, critiquing their forms and telling the Slayers where they were going wrong. Buffy and Faith for their parts were having the time of their lives.
Faith had never had a sparring partner that was her equal before, and it was definitely exhilarating. Buffy hadn't had someone to spar with at full strength since before Angel had lost his soul, and Faith was definitely a worthy opponent.
As the training session drew to a close, the Slayers were covered in sweat and were hyped on the adrenaline rush that the session had provided them.
"Uh.Buffy?" Dominic said hesitantly. "If you would be so kind as to give us.transport home."
Buffy smirked. She nodded and gripped Dominic's wrist, disappearing with a pop.
Faith shook her head, still unable to really grasp the concept of being able to disappear at will.
"Freaks me out every time," Faith commented.
"Yes, it is rather.extraordinary isn't it," Wesley agreed.
Faith looked at her Watcher, an expression of confusion on her face. "Uh.Wes.I thought you could do that whole 'pop goes the Wesley' thing as well."
Wesley looked slightly startled by Faith's phrasing of the question but shook it off.
"I can't apparate or disapparate within Hogwarts," he explained. "Not even the Headmaster himself is powerful enough to do that."
Buffy reappeared with a loud crack, and Faith's eyes were wide with awe.
"Holy shit, B. You're like Luke Skywalker or somethin'," Faith said excitedly.
Buffy groaned and glared at Wesley. "Why'd you have to tell her about him?" Buffy complained.
"Him?" Faith asked. "Him who?"
"Oh, uh.no one," Buffy stuttered. "What were you talking about?"
"About you being able to appetite or applegate or whatever in and out of the school when even your big cheese can't do it," Faith explained.
"That would be apparate," Buffy said, grinning at Faith's mis-wording.
"Yeah that's what I said," Fiath replied cheekily. "And don't try and change the subject."
Buffy sighed tiredly. It wasn't a conversation that she particularly wanted to have. She grabbed Wesley's wrist and the Watcher and Slayer disappeared with a crack. Faith sighed, knowing that Buffy was stalling. Why, she didn't know. All she knew was that she wanted to find out.
She noticed a book suddenly appear on the floor in front of her. She bent down to pick it up, studying the front cover.
'The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts.'
Faith didn't understand magic at all, but she knew the basics of the room she was in. If she required something, it appeared in front of her. What she now wanted to know was why she'd required a book on Dark Wizards.
The book flipped open, the pages moving as though possessed by something until they stopped at Chapter Thirteen. The Rise and Fall of Voldemort.
She skimmed through it, frowning at the various mentions of 'muggle-deaths' and 'massacres' that were sprinkled throughout the pages. She stopped when she came to a bone-chilling paragraph.
'Lord Voldemort believed that leaving an heir behind would solidify his reign of terror. He chose a pure-blood woman and with her, produced an heir. It was not discovered until early 2000 that the child was not killed after Voldemort's defeat. The girl-child was given to a muggle family and taught by hand-picked Ministry of Magic members about the difference between good and evil. Elizabeth T. Riddle was later admitted to Hogwarts. The Dark Lord's daughter has shown to be tremendously powerful with her magic. Within six months she'd been taught nearly six years of spells, and within a year, Elizabeth began taking Seventh-Year classes at Hogwarts. It has been proven by Elizabeth that the impenetrable barriers of Hogwarts to keep witches and wizards from apparating into Hogwarts Grounds are not as impenetrable as it was thought, and it is possible for the girl to both apparate and disapparate on the grounds of the school.'
'Voldemort's final and last defeat came at his daughter's hand, with the help of Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived and Draco Malfoy, the son of a prominent Death-Eater. At this time, the daughter of the Dark Lord, and the Boy-Who-Lived were dating, and currently still are. Elizabeth T. Riddle officially had her name changed to Elizabeth 'Buffy' Anne Summers, to honour the muggle family she grew up with.'
Faith's hands were shaking, which was a first for the dark-haired Slayer. A loud crack sounded in the room, and Faith looked up to meet Buffy's eyes. The blonde Slayer took one look at the book in Faith's hands and knew that the girl had already discovered Buffy's heritage. Something that Buffy had hoped to never have to share with Faith.
"So.now you know," Buffy said quietly.
"Shit B," Faith whispered. "I knew you were powerful as all get-out, but.this is just.heavy."
Buffy nodded. She sighed, resigned to the fact that her past would follow her wherever she went, no matter how much she didn't like owning up to who her father was.
"Does it bother you?" Buffy asked.
Faith paused, her head cocked to the side, regarding Buffy curiously. It was hard to imagine Buffy as the most powerful witch in England, but that was what the book on the Dark Arts had implied about her. And while it was frightening, Faith knew that who your parents were didn't define who you were.
"Nah, we're cool," Faith said honestly. "I mean.it's not like my dad was the nicest guy on the planet either."
Buffy smiled genuinely at the girl, thankful that nothing had changed between them.
"So.patrol?"
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So.if you've read House of Black before this, you're already know, but I'm not gonna be updating again until either Monday or Tuesday due to me moving back to uni. So.you got two updates to kinda compensate. Enjoy, and review please!
Many thanks for all your feedback, you guys seriously ROCK!
Toodles.
DKG.