Chapter 4 - Not Alone...
Hermione's head snapped up in confusion. "Me, Professor?" she questioned, just a tiny bit shocked.
"Yes," he replied, eyes still sparkling. "Miss Summers, or Buffy as you know her, will be attending Hogwarts at the end of the summer. I would like you to personally tutor her and prepare her for her seventh year."
Hermione furrowed her brow and nodded her assent, but before she could ask about it, Buffy put a hand on her shoulder. The younger girl jumped, having not noticed Buffy had come up behind her.
"We'll talk about it later," Buffy muttered quietly. Hermione only nodded.
Fred and George were back on Buffy the second that Sirius released them. "We're going into our seventh year as well," one said. Buffy found it impossible to tell them apart.
"We'll get you all settled in."
"Show you the school."
"And the teachers."
"And the best places for..." he paused, looking around slyly. "Things."
"That's enough out of you two," Sirius said, tearing them off Buffy again. The young girl only laughed at it all. Even Hermione and Ron had to admit, it was terribly funny to see Sirius acting like a father. They had always seen him as Harry's Godfather, James' best friend, the man who wanted to have a bit of fun. They had never seen him as the paternal type, and watching him act that way around Buffy was... interesting, to say the least.
---
Later that day, Buffy and Hermione were sitting in Buffy's room. The boys had gone to pay quidditch, and Mrs. Weasley had recruited Ginny for help in the kitchen, which gave the two older girls the bit of privacy that Buffy wanted. Buffy had been rather curious about quidditch (and Fred and George had been more than willing to teach her all about it, much to Sirius' dismay), but she had decided to talk with Hermione. She had wanted to for a while now.
Hermione sat on the bed, looking at Buffy expectantly. Buffy, in turn, stared right back. It almost made Hermione uncomfortable, the way Buffy was looking at her, sizing her up. Almost. But Hermione had a lot more confidence than she used to.
"Well?" she said finally, breaking the silence. "Are you going to tell me what's going on, or are you just going to stare at me?"
Buffy smirked. "I was wondering when you'd ask that," she replied boldly, pulling out some throwing knives from a drawer. She casually lobbed one at a target mounted on the far wall. Looking back at Hermione, she offered her a knife. "You know, I talk a lot more with some friendly competition."
Hermione hesitated for a moment, a bit uncomfortable. Not many people she knew would play darts with throwing knives. But at Buffy's insistent look, she accepted the knife and threw it at the target. About an inch from away from the bull's-eye.
"Again," Buffy said, handing her another knife.
Hermione shrugged and accepted. Buffy's own dagger was sticking out of the double-bull, almost mockingly. Testing the dagger's weight for a second, Hermione threw it at the target. It landed between Buffy's knife and her own, not quite hitting the bull yet. Buffy grinned, passing Hermione another dagger. It grouped with the other two.
Buffy walked over to the target, whistling low. "Not bad," she said admiringly. "Nice grouping."
"Thanks," Hermione said, sounding slightly unsure.
Buffy inspected the knives again, smirking to herself. She removed the dagger she had thrown, and stared at it for a moment, thinking. Then, out of nowhere, she swivelled and threw the dagger at Hermione. The younger girl reacted with pure instinct, her hand flying up to catch the handle of the knife. She looked shocked as she brought it down from the air.
"You threw a knife at my head!" she spluttered.
"And you caught it," Buffy countered smoothly.
"I don't think you understand," Hermione said, her voice rising a bit in pitch. "You threw a knife at my head!"
Buffy nodded slowly. "Calm down alright? Now, I want you to hit that bull's-eye. I know you can!"
Hermione glared at the coolness and utter audacity of the girl in front of her. Who did she think she was? Just because she was two years older, it didn't mean she had the right to throw daggers as people. And that smirk. Hermione had known her for all of an hour and thirty minutes, and already she wanted nothing more than to wipe that smirk off Buffy's face.
It took Hermione a few seconds to realize that she had actually thrown the knife. She could only see her own three and Buffy's sticking out f the target. But then she remembered that Buffy's knife was the one she had just thrown, and it now sat on the edge of the bull's-eye.
"Good," Buffy said, grinning. "Very good."
Hermione sat down on the edge of Buffy's bed, still glaring. "So are you going to tell me what the hell that was all about, or will I have to guess?" she demanded sternly.
Buffy threw a smirk over her shoulder at her, staking all the knives out of the target. "Patience, my young padawan," she said, putting the knives back in the drawer.
Hermione smiled, despite her anger. "So you're a muggle then, Obi-wan?" she muttered.
Buffy's head snapped back to Hermione. "You know Star Wars?" she asked, barely daring to hope that someone might finally understand her.
"Muggle parents," Hermione replied, back in her angry personality. "But I think this little chat is supposed to be about you."
"We're getting there. All in good time," Buffy replied, sitting down. "Tell me about yourself. When did you notice this killer aim you got? And those reflexes - insane."
"I hardly see the point of-"
"When?"
"About a month ago."
Buffy grinned. "That's what I thought. Ok, story time. Into every generation, a chosen one is born. One girl in all the world with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires. To stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers."
"She is the slayer," Hermione finished, paling.
"You've heard the prophecy?" Buffy questioned, a bit surprised.
"I, um, I read it," Hermione replied, suddenly scared. "In a book, last year. We did a unit on vampires and-" she stopped, her entire demeanor changing. "Oh God I don't want to be a slayer. One dies, another is called. I don't want to die." She paused, ad her voice came out barely above a whisper, "I don't want to die alone."
Buffy felt sorry for the girl. She knew what it was like to have the weight of the world dropped onto your shoulders. To have the reality of fighting for your life and an early death thrust upon you. She knew what it was to die alone. But Hermione was lucky. She was not alone. Not now. Not ever.
"I've got some good news and some bad news," Buffy said slowly. "Bad news is, you're a slayer, and there's nothing we can do about that."
"And the good news?" Hermione dead-panned.
"I'm a slayer too," Buffy revealed. When Hermione's head snapped up to look at her, Buffy continued. "Earlier in the school year, shit started happening. The First Evil was trying desperately to cause havoc, awaken an army from the hellmouth, that sort of thing. It was even trying - and succeeding, I might add - to kill off all the potential slayers, and end the prophecy forever. It eventually came down to me, my friends, and a group of potentials. For a while, we didn't stand a chance, not even with Faith, the other slayer - I'll explain that one later. We knew that, if we wanted to beat this thing, we had to do something big. Huge. So Willow - quite possibly the most powerful wicca the world has ever seen - did a spell. We took a prophecy as old as time itself, a system of deaths and callings, and we kicked it right out the proverbial window. Not one slayer, a hundred, a thousand, I don't even know! Every girl who can be a slayer, is a slayer. And all this happened about a month ago. So, in summary, the good news is: yea, you're a slayer, but you sure as hell are not alone."
"And you won?" Hermione asked, incredulous. "You won against the first evil?"
Buffy nodded. "We went down into the hellmouth as slayers, all of us, and we slaughtered an army. A whole big army." Buffy saddened. "We lost a lot of people though. Slayers, friends. It wasn't all roses. But we won. Damn it, we won."
There was silence for a while. Hermione was looking at her hands, and Buffy's gaze was sweeping across the floor. Neither could really think of what to say after a revelation like that. For Hermione, it was still sinking in that she was a slayer, a chosen one. For Buffy, it was still sinking in that she had actually won.
"So, um, about that tutoring thing..."
"Yea, I guess you want a story there too, huh?"
"It would help."
---
It was evening now, and the occupants of the house were all seated around the dinner table, enjoying Mrs. Weasley's cooking. Hermione was seated across from Buffy, and the twins had managed to outrun Sirius and seat themselves firmly on either side of the blonde. Ron and Ginny sat on either side of Hermione, trying desperately not to laugh at the antics of their brothers. Sirius sat at the head of the table, purposely ignoring the twins and staring straight at his food, while Lupin at the other end was grinning madly at his friend. Molly was sitting on Lupin's right, beside George, and Arthur was seated across from her, beside Ron. Those who weren't laughing at something were digging in.
"Great food, Mrs. Weasley," Buffy complimented, swallowing another mouthful.
"Thank you dear."
"Absolutely splendid, mum."
"Superb."
"Delectable."
"Good enough to eat."
"You are eating it."
"Because it's good enough!"
Buffy laughed, clamping a hand over her mouth to keep herself from spitting out her pumpkin juice. Fred and George had done nothing but crack jokes all evening, and she was finding herself powerless to resist the funniness. She found herself reminiscing about the times she and her friends had shared dinner together, laughing at things and pretending they hadn't a care in the world. Giles would say something, and Xander would joke, and they would laugh. It was their time of escape, their time to forget about vampires and demons and apocalypses. It was a time for them to be normal human beings; people who could relax and have fun. It was their time.
Buffy pushed herself away from the table, putting down her fork. "I'm, uh, kinda full," she said, looking down at the table. She knew they were all staring at her. "Great dinner, Mrs. Weasley... I'm um, gonna go... read."
Feeling all their eyes on her, Buffy sent a quick smile and exited the room. Hermione was about to follow, but Sirius caught her eye and shook his head slightly. She relaxed slightly, but stared after Buffy with the rest of the table. The ambience was broken, and no one really knew why.
Buffy was alone in her room, wiping the few stray tears from her eyes. She was never a crier, but thinking about things, the past, her friends, it was bittersweet to her. Thinking about it now, she wasn't sure how she survived that first year of slaying without anyone to talk to. She wasn't sure how she survived the last month without them. Willow, Xander, Giles, Dawn; they were her everything. Thinking at the table, she felt like she was replacing them. She didn't want to replace them, not with Sirius, not with the twins, not with Hermione. Not with anyone.
Her quill scratched across the paper in a few quick scribbles. Giles was the closest, and she knew he could get the message out.
Giles, Xander, Willow, Dawn, Spike, Angel, Andrew, and everyone else:
I miss you guys. Pass it on.
Love Buffy.
"You gonna tell me what that was about?" Sirius asked from her doorway.
"Nothing," Buffy lied, tying the letter to Angel's leg and sending him off. "It was nothing."
"Nothing doesn't usually take away your appetite," Sirius pointed out.
"I just... I don't know," Buffy said finally, giving in. "I was having fun, a real good time, thinking, hey, I could get used to this. And then I thought about it some more, and I thought, you know, I did get used to this. With my friends. And I felt horrible because I felt like I was replacing them. And I don't want to let go of them. And yea, it's only been a month, but I miss them. And Dawnie, oh God, I miss her. My baby sister, Sirius, and I haven't even seen her yet. I'm sitting down there, thinking about how much fun I'm having."
Sirius raised his eyebrows. "That's it? Buffy, be reasonable here. No one's judging you. Your friends don't think you're replacing them, do they?"
"I wouldn't know," Buffy replied quietly. "I haven't talked to any of them besides Angel. I really miss them Sirius. You know that saying, you don't know what you got till it's gone? That's what I feel like."
Sirius sighed, running a hand through his haggy black hair. "I know," he said. "Look, maybe we can talk Dumbledore into arranging a vacation for you before school starts? I mean, your watcher, Giles, he's living in England right? It wouldn't be hard to get you over there..."
"Thanks," Buffy said, cutting him off.
"For what?"
"Everything. Taking me in. Making sure I'm alright. Caring. You know... everything."
Sirius smiled. "You're welcome. Now come on, Molly's serving up dessert."
Buffy jumped up from her bed, grinning. "Definitely of the good," she said decisively, walking out with Sirius.
---
yea, yea I know, the Hermione slayer thing has been done, but I wanted to do it. Plus, I personally think that everyone makes Hermione so two-dimensional as a smart goody-two-shoes and I want to give her some depth. So here I am, giving depth. Plus, Buffy needs a friend who's closer to her age than Ginny (who was original plan for slayer). lol and those of you who saw the original movie will recognize the bit about throwing the knife at her head... I always liked that part...
Anywho, drop me a review, let me know what you think.