If the spacing on this chapter goes weird, then I'm sorry. Word kept making it strange and I don't know why. I didn't do any polishing work on this chapter so it might be a little rubbish. Let me know what you think.


Thanks to:

Dreamer Child

Lexinator

Erak

Vampy the chosen one

Anne-Marie

Charmedfanatic3000

Destiny's dragon

Carmelina

Miz

Always krissy

Wllw979

Thorn of Blood – yeah perhaps your right, Hermione does get a lot of comparisons with Willow when she's actually not that much like her. I think people do that because it makes the worlds fit better, if people match, like Harry and Buffy, Willow and Hermione, Ron and Xander, and Dumbledore and Giles. Hermione is a lot more self assured than Willow. But you could take what Buffy said as Buffy's wishful thinking. She's homesick and missing her friends, so maybe she'd be looking for some reminders of home. Let me know if this works for you.

Chapter 12 – The Department of Mysteries

When the grille of the lift slid open and Buffy saw the bare corridor with the plain black door at the end, she recognised it immediately. It had been this door that had plagued her dreams ever since Sirius had died, and she hadn't understood what it was until this point. She knew Harry had dreamt about the door to the department, she knew Sirius had been worried about that from his letters, and she knew they had guarded the prophecies by night. Now, there was a man next to the door, apparently guarding it.
Apprehensively Buffy, Bill and Charlie approached the guard.
 "Can we go in?" Bill asked the stern looking man who had his wand out as he patrolled the corridor. "We'd like to see the prophecies." All three showed him their badges. The man eyed them suspiciously.
 "Note that if you touch a prophecy that isn't yours, you will be stricken with madness," he barked. "There are trained guards present in every room, with permission to curse to kill. When you enter the black room, say loudly 'prophecy room' and the door will be presented to you."

Buffy was taken aback at the man's stern words but after the debacle last year, she wasn't overly surprised. They opened the door and walked into the room, shutting the door behind them. The room was painted black and was circular with blue flamed torches on the walls. As soon as the door was shut, the room began to spin around them. Buffy was unfazed.
 "Prophecy room," she said and the room stopped, a black door directly in front of them. Buffy stepped forward and opened it and they came out into a room filled with dancing sparkling light. The three walked into it and saw that it was filled with clocks, ticking as the time passed. The central piece which caused the dancing light was an enormous bell jar. Buffy didn't dwell on it for too long and approached one of the many wizards in the room.
 "Where can I find the prophecies?" she asked him and he looked at her strangely as if he hadn't been spoken to by another person for a long time.
 "Through there," the man answered, pushing his spectacles up his nose and pointing to a door behind the bell jar. "They're all alphabetised." Buffy thanked him and passed through the door into a room filled to the ceiling with shelves, covered with dusty glass orbs.
 The three walked along the row of shelves until they reached the 'S' section, for both Summers and Slayer. Buffy moved faster, eager to find her prophecy and at last she found a dusty glass ball with a label affixed to the shelf it sat on, bearing her name.
The yellowing label read:

Codex volume 24

Vampire Slayer (?) Buffy Summers

The Master

"There it is," Buffy said, staring at the glass orb. "That was my destiny." Bill and Charlie looked at the orb, and read the label.

 "Do you want to hear it?" Bill asked Buffy, looking at her closely.

 "Why not?" Buffy said, picking up the glass ball and to her surprise feeling it's warmth in her hand. "What do I do?"

 "Tap it with my wand and say the incantation 'aparecium'" Charlie advised, handing her his wand. She looked at it doubtfully but did as he instructed. At once a misty figure burst from the orb and stood before them. The man was apparently a monk, old judging by his wrinkles and from a long time ago.

 "The Master shall be imprisoned underground for three score years, in the house of God. Yet when the planets align the wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf, the lion and the fatling together, and the Anointed one shall lead them. The Slayer will not know him, and he will lead her into hell. The Slayer shall die at the Master's hand and he shall ascend and the Mouth of Hell shall open wide."  The man finished speaking and dissolved into nothingness.

 "Well that was interesting," Buffy said when it was finished. "I've never heard it in full before." Bill and Charlie stood wide eyed.

"And you survived that?" Bill said in disbelief.
"Trust me, surviving High School was much harder," Buffy said with a grin. "Not least of all because of in being on top of the hellmouth."

Charlie whistled and Buffy shrugged.

"Let's go," she said. "I've seen what I came to." They nodded and Buffy placed the orb on the shelf, taking one last look at the label. Bill and Charlie began to walk down the aisle and Buffy turned to follow them but something caught her eye. She stopped, and stared at the shelf before her, reading the label on the shelf next to her prophecy.

 Codex volume 32

Vampire Slayer - Buffy Summers

Sunnydale, California

Buffy stared open mouthed at the label on the shelf. Bill and Charlie didn't notice her absence and kept walking. Buffy made no move to follow, her eyes moved to the orb above the label and of its own accord, her hand reached towards it. As the tips of her fingers were about to make contact with the orb, she stopped her hand

"No," Buffy murmured firmly to herself. "I don't want to know." Buffy pulled her hand away, bringing it back down to her side. Buffy looked at the label one last time and then turned from the shelf and followed Bill and Charlie.

Buffy caught up with Bill and Charlie. She put the prophecy to the back of her mind, she knew she would never forget it but she didn't want to know, she knew she couldn't change what happened so why not just let it happen. If she looked then her life would be out of her hands, at least now she had the illusion of control.

"You okay?" Bill said, looking over his shoulder at her.

"Yeah," she said uncomfortably. "Actually, I wanted to know…if we could go to the archway…I just wanted to see….just to look." Bill and Charlie both stopped and turned to look at her. Buffy blushed but she didn't look away from their stares.
 "Are you sure you want to?" Bill asked worriedly. "I mean, I don't know if it's a good idea really…."
"Please," Buffy said pleadingly. "I just want to see." Bill and Charlie exchanged glances.
"It's up to you really," Charlie said. "If you want to then let's go." Buffy smiled at them gratefully and they led her back through the clock room and back into the black spinning room. Buffy wasn't sure why she wanted to see, maybe she thought there would be something there, or she just wanted to see where he had died.
"The Archway," Bill said gravely and the room stopped and presented them with another door which they moved through. They stood at the topmost tier of what looked like a stone amphitheatre. In the centre was a raised stone dais with the archway standing on it. Buffy climbed carefully down the stone room and stepped up onto the dais, only then noticing that Bill and Charlie had remained at the top of the room.

The archway was tall and old, crumbling and cracked. A tattered black veil hung from it, and it fluttered as if stirred by an unseen wind.

Buffy heard faint whisperings, voices talking to her with words she couldn't quite make out. The veil swung gently and Buffy placed her hand on the side of the archway, feeling the rough stone beneath her fingertips.

She frowned, she wanted to feel something but there was nothing. She looked around the room and nothing here felt like Sirius. That was part of the reason that she had come to England to grasp onto the memory of Sirius, to feel him in his own habitat. But he wasn't there in his room and he wasn't in this room. All that was left was the whisper of voices that she couldn't make out. Buffy's face was dry; she couldn't cry anymore, the energy for that just wasn't in her. She had cried too much lately. Instead she walked around the archway, scrutinising it, looking at the crumbling stone thoughtfully. It would be so easy to walk through right at that moment, just to leave everything else behind and find Sirius, or die trying. She wouldn't have minded dying at that point, what was the point of living, she thought bleakly. The world didn't need her.

 But a tiny voice in her mind contradicted these thoughts, asked her about the prophecy she had seen, didn't that mean she still had a lot to achieve?

Buffy reached her hand out to the veil and the silk of the curtain brushed over her hands. Nothing there either, nothing left. It was time to leave.

With one last solitary glance at the archway, Buffy climbed back up the stone steps to leave the room and the voices behind her. 

Bill and Charlie didn't talk to Buffy when they left the room for a while and it gave her time to collect her thoughts. She was hollow again, she hadn't felt it as much recently but it was there again, an emptiness inside that she knew would never be filled. They got in the lift silently, Bill and Charlie shooting worried glances at Buffy.
 "Thanks," Buffy said with a tired smile. "Just wanted a look." Bill nodded and they got into a lift which descended quickly.

The three walked along the corridor, Buffy staring at the ground and as they passed the golden gates she collided with someone who was carrying a pile pf parchment which scattered around both of their feet.
 "I'm sorry," Buffy said apologetically, looking up at the man she had collided with. He, however, was staring at her companions wordlessly. Buffy studied him and realised with a jolt that he must be the other Weasley, judging by his red hair, Percy. He was different to the rest though, his hair was combed into a style that would've suited a bank manager and he wore prim tortoiseshell glasses.

 "Percy," Bill said finally. Percy did not reply, just stared at them unfathomably. Buffy got busy gathering the parchment, then stood up and handed it back to Percy. The three were still locked in their silent vigil.

 "I-" Percy began but he was broken off by the arrival of Ingrid Albertson.

 "Hello again," she said cheerfully. "And Percy, how are you? I expect you're pleased to see your cousin Buffy again aren't you?" Percy looked momentarily stumped.

 "I- well yes I suppose I am," he replied, looking slightly panicked. "It's been such a while since we last saw Buffy. Must be about two years, right Buffy?"

 "About that," Buffy replied hurriedly.

"Good to see you reacquainted," Ingrid said jovially. "Family is so important at the moment." She waved to them and headed back towards the lifts.

Buffy swallowed and looked at the Weasleys again. They had resumed their staring.

 "I wanted to-" Percy began again, clearing his throat but this time Bill cut him off.

 "Come on," he said roughly. "We'd better go." Without a backwards glance at Percy he walked off and Charlie followed, then Buffy, reluctantly. She stole a last look at Percy who stood still in the atrium, staring into space, clutching his papers to his chest.

"What was that for?" Charlie asked Bill furiously as they joined a queue for an out going fireplace. "He might've wanted to apologise."
 "Are you ready to forgive him?" Bill replied coldly. "After all of that last year, what he put mum and dad through, we don't need him any more. He made his choice." Charlie didn't reply, and Buffy didn't say anything. Their family feud was none of her business, though she wouldn't forget the expression on Percy's face, somewhere between guilt and sorrow.