Sorry for the mega late update but as I've said loads I'm mid exams so it's the best I can do. Hope you don't give up on me!

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Chapter 27 – Pranks and Propositions

Buffy and Faith left the Great Hall after the majority of students had left for their next lessons. They crossed the entrance hall and walked down a corridor, after Faith assured Buffy that she knew a shortcut.

The corridor was deserted and so Faith began to cartwheel down it.
 "Faith!" Buffy hissed. "There could be someone coming!"

 "So what?" Faith said, righting herself. "Chill out B, I'll just say I'm good at gym." She began to do back flips down the corridor and Buffy watched her, smiling slightly. Faith had always enjoyed her abilities, much more than Buffy had ever been able to. But deep down Buffy knew she loved it, loved being able to do what she did. She was the slayer and it had become a big part of her, a part of her she didn't want to lose.
Buffy ran forward, grinning now and caught up with Faith. Carefully, she extended a leg and tripped faith mid flip, sending her sprawling across the floor.
 "Bitch," Faith remarked with a grin as she got up. "I ought to take you out for that one B."
 "That really would cause a lot of unrequited attention," Buffy remarked. "One of our corpses decorating the hallway."

They walked across the grounds, the sun coming out to shine a thin light over them, though it was very windy. They reached the Shrieking Shack, Faith looking bemused when she compared the outside to the inside.
 "Trust me, it wasn't like this a couple of years ago," Buffy said ruefully, letting them in through the back door. "It was all scabby and dusty. Not of the good at all." Sirius came through to the kitchen to see what the noise was and his face lit up when he saw the two slayers. He moved forward and kissed Buffy.
 "Okay break it up lovebirds," Faith said loudly and they both looked at her with guilty grins. "Everyone needs oxygen sometimes."
 "I thought you were hanging out at Hogwarts today?" Sirius said leading them to the living room.

 "We were," Faith said shortly. "But we thought we'd stop by, hang out with you."
 "Fair enough," Sirius said. "So what's happening at the castle?"

 "Not much," Faith replied with a sigh. "Weird stuff as usual. The teachers all love Willow, as usual." Buffy smiled.
 "You could go back to Sunnydale," she suggested and Faith grimaced.
 "Hang out in the house all alone," she said. "Yeah that sounds like fun. No, I'm just kidding, this place is cool."
 "I miss Hogwarts," Sirius mused. "Best days of my life there….well except for the ones with you Buffy." Buffy smiled and planted a kiss on Sirius' nose.

 "Pass the bucket," Faith murmured with a smirk. "Any who, something's going down in two days time which should liven stuff up a bit."

Buffy sat up and looked at Faith worriedly.
 "Nothing that's gonna get us kicked out of the castle I hope?" she said warningly and Faith grinned lazily.
 "Chill out," she said. "Just me and Xand letting that Snapey guy know who's boss. I'm still pissed you didn't let us kick his ass."
  "That's okay then," Buffy said settling back down. "Just as long as you've got deniability." Faith arched an eyebrow.
 "Of course," Faith said silkily. "Giles did forbid us after all. It could be traced to any of the students."
 "What did you do?" Sirius asked eagerly. Faith shrugged and looked away.
 "I don't wanna ruin it for B," she replied. "She'll fill you once it's happened." Sirius grinned.

 "Make it good," he said. "We played some pretty good pranks on him at school."
 "He won't be happy," Faith assured him. "He'll get what's coming. We were thinking about messing with Scrimgeour a bit. You in B?"
 "No way," Buffy said firmly. "Don't do it, it's too risky. We're supposed to be guests and he's watching us already. We have to keep up the polite front at least."
 "Alright," Faith said grudgingly. "But it pains me to listen to you B, it really does."

Consequently two mornings later, Buffy left the Shrieking Shack early to make sure she was at breakfast on time. She felt a bit queasy again but the walk across the grounds made her feel better and she got to the Great Hall before most of the students and staff. She said hello to Professor McGonagall, who she knew from the Order, and sat down next to Dumbledore.
 "Good Morning Buffy," he said jovially and she returned his greeting. "How are you?"

 "Good thanks," she replied easily. "Me and Padfoot are doing well. But I think we'll all be going soon, we've been at Hogwarts for a week as it is."
 "You're welcome to stay as long as you want," Dumbledore offered kindly. "There's room for you and I know that the Professors have enjoyed having you around."
 "No I think it's time we went back to London," Buffy asserted. "It's not fair for us to hang around for much longer. Besides we can do more back in London, I want to help out the Order, get something done."
 "Certainly my dear," Dumbledore said with a kind smile and Buffy smiled back. "You are always welcome to return."
 "Thanks," Buffy said. "But there's a little too much surveillance here if you catch my meaning. It's too risky." Dumbledore nodded in understanding, both thinking of Scrimgeour.

Faith, Xander, Anya, Willow, Oz and Giles all entered the Great Hall at that moment and sat down at their usual seats at the top table.
 "Morning B," Faith said brightly as she and Giles sat down next to Buffy. Giles was watching Faith with narrowed eyes.
 "Morning," Buffy said cautiously. "Sleep well."
 "Pretty good thanks," Faith replied, apparently oblivious to Giles' accusatory stare. "The kids came to hang out with us last night."
 "Cool," Buffy remarked, watching Giles amusedly. "How are they doing?"

 "Pretty good, general school stuff," Faith replied, completely turning her back to Giles. "He said to tell you to tell Padfoot that his scar hasn't hurt and Occlumency is going well with Uncle Alb." Buffy nodded, filing away this information.
Students began to enter and soon the hall was filled with noise and people eating breakfast. Buffy surveyed the school and smiled to herself. Hogwarts seemed to be such a happy school; the kids really seemed to enjoy coming here. And Dumbledore was a much better headmaster than Snyder had ever been.

Buffy had nearly finished her breakfast when a strange hush made her look up. When she did, she nearly fell of off her chair with surprise. Snape was walking hurriedly down the aisle, wearing a deeper scowl than usual and also a set of hot pink robes.
Buffy looked at Faith quickly who was grinning nonchalantly. She looked back at Snape who could've frozen the meanest vampire in his tracks with the expression on his face. He strode furiously towards the staff table and the hall filled with whispers and sniggers as he passed the students.
 "What do you think you're playing at?" Snape hissed furiously at Buffy as he reached the table and stood before her. "This isn't a playground Miss Su-Giles. You are a guest at Hogwarts." Buffy stared at him, and then shot a dirty look at Faith before replying. The hall was silent and she knew all the students were trying to listen to their exchange.
 "I don't know what you are talking about," she said calmly. "Personally, I like your robes. Brings out the colour in your cheeks."

Snape looked, if it were possible, even more furious.
 "Don't play innocent," he spat. "He put you up to this, didn't he? I bet he did, exactly the kind of thing he would do. Did he tell you he tried to kill me once?"
 "Severus," Dumbledore interjected gently. "You can find some spare robes in the staff room. Miss Giles didn't have anything to do with this, she's been with me the entire morning."
 "Yeah go change Snapey, you're causing a scene," Buffy couldn't resist adding. He looked like he was about to curse her, then thought better of it and stalked out of the Great Hall.
Once he'd left, the Hall broke out into a mixture of laughter and talking, with many curious glances at Buffy.

 Buffy however was looking at Faith who was wide eyed and trying not to laugh.
  "Sorry B," she said, grinning widely. "All we did was dye all his robes pink. Didn't think it'd be such a big deal. Didn't know he'd blame you." Buffy shook her head, barely suppressing her own grin.

 "You totally knew," she contradicted. Faith shrugged.
 "You said to have deniability," Faith replied nonchalantly. "And I did. No one thought it was me/"
 "I thought I told you not to pull anything?" Giles said to Faith sternly.
 "Chill out dad," Faith replied breezily. "It worked out okay." Giles looked skeptical.

 "I see how that worked out okay," he said sardonically. "What must the students be thinking of you?"
 "They probably think Buffy's pretty cool as it goes," Faith replied with a grin. Buffy couldn't help but grin too. She turned and looked to her left at Xander who was on the other side of Dumbledore.
 "Sorry Buffster," he said, more sincerely than Faith. "Didn't know he'd go all crazy."

 "I didn't see you stepping up to take the blame." Buffy retorted. Dumbledore held up a hand in between them.
 "No serious damage was done," he said gently. "Except for that done to Severus' pride. Just try not to do anything like that again. I'd like to have a respectable family if it's not too much trouble."

 "Sorry Uncle Alb," Buffy said apologetically, turning to Dumbledore. "Me and Snape have a history of the ungoodness."
 "I daresay recent matters haven't improved it," Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling. Buffy smiled ruefully.
 "We are really sorry," she said again. "It just backs up what I said doesn't it? It's time we were moving on before too many more questions are asked." Dumbledore nodded.
 "As I said, you are welcome to stay as long as you want," he said kindly but Buffy shook her head.
 "No there's a few things I need to take care of," Buffy said vaguely, looking out across the hall.

Buffy and the others went back to their quarters after breakfast where Buffy filled them in on their immanent departure. They were all disappointed but agreed that it was time for them to leave.
 "Dumbledore said that some of the kids would teach us Quidditch if we went to the pitch at ten," Willow suggested. "It should be pretty nifty."
The group headed down to the Quidditch pitch and was met by Harry and Ron.

 "You guys are teaching us?" Buffy asked in surprise and both boys nodded happily.
 "Dumbledore said we could skip potions just this once – Snape was furious!" Ron said, eyes shining. "Herm's gonna give us her notes."
 "She didn't want to fly?" Giles asked and Harry shook his head.
 "Hermione doesn't really like flying," Harry explained. "She prefers to be on solid ground she says, where it's safe."

The boys ran through the basics of flying, how to control the broom and how to land before placing the Scoobies next to a school broom each.
 "Hold your hand over it and say 'up.'" Harry instructed. "And say it like you mean it." The Scoobies did as told and Faith, Buffy's, Anya's and Oz's leapt straight up into their hands. The other three took a second try to get theirs to jump into their hands.

 "Now mount your brooms and push off hard with your feet," Ron instructed and the Scoobies did so, all shooting off up into the air on their brooms.
Predictably, Buffy and Faith were skilled fliers, learning how to manipulate the broom to get the best results quickly. Anya also proved to be a gifted flier.
 "I used to fly a long time ago," she said haughtily. "When I was a young demon of just a hundred. It got boring after a while, much slower than teleporting."

Xander, Oz, Willow and Giles learnt the ropes, though Giles didn't seem to comfortable up in the air.
Buffy zoomed around the pitch and Harry caught up with her on his Firebolt. They hovered high above the ground.
 "I liked your little prank this morning," he said, cheeks flushed from the wind.
 "Nothing to do with me," Buffy reiterated. "That was down to Faith and Xander."
 "It was pretty funny seeing Snape in pink though," Harry mused. "There's something I thought I'd never see. I figured it was you since you and Snape have never really got on."

Buffy smiled briefly.

"It was on account of me but nothing to do with me," she smiled. "Listen, we're gonna be going back to London tomorrow." Harry's face fell.
 "You've only been here a week," he protested. "I've barely seen you lot. And I haven't even seen Sirius once." Buffy stared across the grounds for a short while.
 "I'll have a word with Dumbledore at lunch," she said finally. "See if there's anyway you can come by the Shrieking Shack this evening; hang out with us for a while. But I'm not promising anything." Harry grinned.
 "It's time for us to leave anyway," Buffy continued. "It's not fair on Dumbledore for us to stick around, especially after this morning. It was pretty funny though," she added as an afterthought. Harry chuckled.
 "Did you like Hogwarts?" he asked and Buffy nodded fervently.
 "It's a pretty cool place, especially since it's a school. You're lucky," Buffy answered. Then after a pause added: "What did Snape mean when he said that Sirius tried to kill him?" She met Harry's gaze unfalteringly.
 "A prank gone wrong," Harry clarified. "When they were at Hogwarts, Remus used to go once a month to transform in the Shrieking Shack. No one else knew about him expect for my Sirius and my dad and Pettigrew and the staff but Snape was always nosing around. Anyway, Sirius thought it'd be funny to tell Snape to go down the Whomping Willow tunnel if he wanted to see what Remus was up to. When my dad found out he went after Snape and stopped him." Buffy nodded slowly.
 "Stupid Sirius," she murmured. "What was he thinking?"

 "He didn't want to kill Snape," Harry interjected. "He just wanted to teach him a lesson, not get hurt, just a bit scared." Harry chuckled. "He was reckless then; he still is I suppose."

 "He's not the only one," Buffy mused with a glance at Harry. She sat up straight suddenly. "Race you back!" she yelled as she sped off towards the others.

Buffy cleared it with Dumbledore and Harry flooed to the Shrieking Shack at seven that evening.
 "How's school doing?" Sirius asked once they were all settled comfortably in the living room. Harry shrugged.
 "A bit harder this year," he said dismissively. "But I don't want to talk about school. What's the news on Voldemort and the Ministry and Azkaban?" Buffy and Sirius exchanged looks of surprise.

 "And here I was thinking that you wanted to hang out with your godfather," Sirius laughed. "Ok kiddo, I don't know much. Word is that Voldemort's planning an Azkaban breakout, wants to get his team reassembled. Fudge has refused to remove the dementors so it won't be too difficult. We don't know when and Dumbledore's not willing to send anyone to stop it, it's much too risky and there's almost no chance of success."
 "They might as well just let them go," Harry said bitterly. "Fudge is such an idiot."
 "No arguments there," Sirius said smoothly. "But other than that I don't know too much." He and Buffy exchanged another look.

"What?" Harry asked, looking between them bemusedly.
 "Well," Buffy said unenthusiastically shooting another look at Sirius. "We've been doing some planning, stuff we want to talk about with Dumbledore."

 "What's that?" Harry asked eagerly.
 "Nothing's definite yet," Sirius said quickly. "But we want to go after Wormtail, me and Buffy. See if we can catch him and clear my name." Harry beamed.
 "That would be great," he exclaimed. "Then you'd be a free man."
 "We haven't spoken to Dumbledore yet," Sirius repeated. "But then when I'm free we want to get married."
 "Congratulations," Harry said and Buffy squeezed Sirius' hand, shooting him a smile.
 "There's something else too," Sirius said slowly. "But it involves you." Harry frowned in confusion.
 "Well I know we could never replace your real parents, and we'd never want to do that," Sirius said in a rush. "But we were thinking we could adopt you, officially. And then we could be your family and take care of you and stuff."

Harry was speechless for a moment.
 "If you don't want to that's okay," Buffy added quickly. "It's just an idea." Harry shook his head, a grin spreading over his face.
 "I'd like that," he stammered, his face reddening. "Who am I kidding, I'd love that!"