First off I'd like to thank my first reviewers SapphireOrchids and Eden's Echo. Your comments are much appreciated and encouraged me to write more! Thank you!

Chapter 4

Many Meetings

"Shut her up will you!"

A young voice floated out of the doorway and Buffy had to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Two identical young men, both with hair as bright as fire stood in the doorway, and in the background a figure rushed over and frantically moved something in an attempt to make whatever it was that was screaming, stop. Moody hurried on inside with the five bewildered Scoobies in tow. Once inside the strange house, they surveyed their surroundings. Moody limped off down the corridor and headed off into a mystery room. As the door slammed, the noise echoed around them, drowned out by the racket coming from a small space in the wall. Willow had no doubt in her mind that this was this was the house of Harry's dead godfather. It was like the whole house was in mourning. The hallway was dimly lit with the soft and spooky blue glow of old gas lamps, which cast shadows into corners. She could faintly see a few old portraits hung randomly on the walls. The house smelt reasonably clean, like someone had scrubbed hard at the interior to remove an offending stain, but the old musky odour of a building that hadn't been used in a while still lingered. This however, did not hold her attention for long, as all eyes were instantly drawn to the source of the horrendous wailing. A pair of flailing old curtains was caught in an invisible storm, and after a few seconds, the man succeeded in pulling them closed, and the noise ceased.

"Hello!" chirped one of the redheaded boys holding out a hand in greeting, and Willow was vaguely reminded of their driver, "I'm Fred Weasley!"

"And I'm George!" exclaimed the other, following suit and grasping hold of Dawn's hand and shaking it heartily. Xander cocked an eyebrow.

"Twins?" he asked slightly amused. The Weasley brothers nodded.

Smiling, Dawn spoke up.

"I'm Dawn Summers, this is my sister Buffy," she motioned to the still slightly shocked slayer who waved, "and that's Xander Harris, this Andrew…er..."

Andrew looked a little offended.

"And Willow Rosenberg…" Dawn trailed off as she saw Willow's expression. The Wiccan was staring fixedly at the man who had shut the curtains. He stood slightly behind Fred and George, his eyes peering at them through the gloom, full of the tiredness that Willow felt in herself. In his hair flecks of grey shone brighter than the usual colour. He was younger than Giles, but it was hard to tell. She also noted that his clothes were rather shabby and old…but what perturbed Willow most was that certain something she sensed deep inside him. It was something she knew and could now recognise, but had not come in contact with for about three years. Willow instantly acknowledged this man as a werewolf.

"Will?" Buffy said with a small note of worry in her voice. Willow snapped out of whatever trance she had been held in. Her face broke into a small smile and quietly she said "Hi."

"Hello Miss Rosenberg," the man beamed, "and both Miss Summers. All of you. Thank you for coming. I am Remus Lupin. I'm the one who asked you to come here. I suppose you're all exhausted, and I know you probably have hundreds of questions you want answering; but for now I think you should all go and get some rest. Fred and George will take you to your rooms, but, er, Miss Rosenberg could I ask you to stay for a little while please?"

Willow nodded, slightly nervous. The others all offered her an encouraging smile before following the Weasley twins up the stairs.

Remus regarded Willow with interest before beginning.

"Again, I thank you for coming here Miss Ro-"

"Please, call me Willow." She interjected.

"Willow," he said in confirmation, "Before we begin, I-I'd like to clear something up. I couldn't help but see you stare before, and I believe I know what you are thinking from the look on your face. Yes, I am a werewolf. You must be a very talented witch to pick that up…" he looked at her, expecting some form of disgust as was the common case. To his slight surprise, Willow merely shrugged and blushed slightly.

"Th-thanks. An ex boyfriend of mine was one too..."

"Really? That's interesting..." Remus smiled, now knowing she was familiar with his condition. He felt instantly from the way she held herself, and the aura she gave off that this young woman was the one to help them, and he could also see she was full of as much trepidation as he was. He couldn't help but warm to her, and so he continued.

"I understand that this must be very hard for you, I heard about your…previous experiences from Rupert Giles and so, well, I suppose I just want you to know how grateful I am, and how grateful Harry will be. We all are. Without you we'd all have a very long struggle ahead of us. Harry needs Sirius to do this."

"Sirius?" Willow asked, "Was that…?"

Remus shifted uncomfortably and swallowed at the memory of his friend. He scratched his head in a distracted fashion.

"Yes. That was his name. Sirius Black. He was Harry Potter's godfather and-"

"Mr. Lupin," Willow interrupted...

"Remus." He added with a small smile. Willow smiled back timidly.

"Remus, I'm so sorry, I'm really tired, and it's not that I don't-"

"Oh Lord! Sorry Willow, I understand completely. Please…" he began to step away…

"Can ask one question before I go?"

"Of course…go on." He waited for her query.

"How did he die?"

Remus swallowed again and looked up at the ceiling. Sighing he tried to answer as quickly as he could.

"He fell through a veil, a divide between two worlds. It should be…OK to bring him back. If you understand what I'm saying?"

Willow nodded. She'd done cross-dimensional resurrections before. She could relate to him better now. She remembered exactly how worried she had been when Buffy had left them, sacrificing herself for them all. At that point, they had no idea where she'd gone or where she'd been, and so she perfectly understood what Harry, and clearly Remus, was feeling. She nodded to him in thanks, bid him goodnight and turned to head upstairs and find her room. She only hoped deep down in her heart that she wouldn't make the same mistake as last time; and bring this Sirius Black back from heaven.

Spike watched as Sirius paced slightly. He didn't know how he could do it. He himself had been terrified to move from the spot in case he'd fallen from his invisible floor into oblivion. Sirius clearly didn't care though, and muttered away to himself now and then, eyes darting over the white place they both were in. Suddenly he stopped, heaved a sigh and headed over to join Spike where he stood.

"So, I think we're pretty much stuck here. Might as well relax for a while…if this is where I'm staying for the rest of my bloody life…or death" his face crinkled as he pondered this, and he sat down, laying his legs out very casually. Spike's lip curled into a slim smirk, and he sat down as well. He was amused to see his new companion was so utterly cool with the current situation. They both sat lounging slightly and remained silent for a while before Sirius broke the peace.

"So what happened to you?"

"Died." Spike said with a sniff.

"Yeah I know that," Sirius rolled his eyes, "How exactly?"

Spike hadn't thought about it much since it had actually happened. Or well, he hadn't exactly processed it through his mind. He'd thought about Buffy mostly. And how he missed her.

"Well my friends and I were fighting a great evil, and I had on this fancy charm thing. Very Liz Taylor. And well, I don't know. I remember fire, and power going through me. I died, but I think I saved the world..."

Sirius blinked. "By dying?"

Spike nodded. Sirius nodded back in as much sincerity as he could muster, although the idea utterly confused him.

"What about you?" asked Spike, regarding the apparently uninjured man.

"My lovely cousin killed me somehow, I think she stunned me through some sort of curtain…"

Off Spike's look, which mirrored the one he'd kept inside a few moments before, he laughed.

"Sounds ridiculous doesn't it?"

"Not as ridiculous as dying and saving the world…" Spike answered shifting his legs. Then it occurred to him. Frowning he turned to Sirius.

"Stunned?"

"Wizard." Came the reply.

"Oh right…all into the hocus pocus?"

"Well, I was…why? Aren't you a wizard as well?"

Spike shook his head.

"Nope. Vampire."

Off Sirius' look he added, "With a soul."

Sirius nodded and edged away slightly. Spike sighed.

"I'm not going to eat you."

"Oh good. Thanks. That's a great relief. I'm in hell and I'm with a vampire. With a soul." He finished sarcastically. "Marvellous."