Disclaimers, etc, see part one.

… … …

Harry had expected Snape, McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore to go with him and the others to meet Xander and his friends. As it was McGonagall collected him, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George and Ginny from the Gryffindor table and lead them to a new door in the corridor.

"How did that get here?" Hermione asked.

"It's always been there," McGonagall said. "You can see it because I've lead you here. You have to do it deliberately, so don't worry too much about giving them away. You'll all be able to go in now."

"You aren't coming, too, Professor?" Fred asked.

"No, Mr Weasley, I will not."

"Are they going to eat us?" George asked.

"No, Mr Weasley, they will not," McGonagall sighed.

Hermione punched George. McGonagall rolled her eyes. She gave them all a glare for good measure before she turned and left.

Harry pushed the door open and lead the others through. The Sunnydale group were scattered about the room, without Giles. They looked up startled at the intrusion. Dawn dropped her arms and ended receiving a punch in the stomach from her sister.

"Hey!" Dawn said.

Buffy shrugged. "You were distracted," she said.

Buffy ignored the new people and went to sit down on one of the chairs. Dawn smiled at her friends and their friends. And introduced herself. The other Weasleys introduced themselves, then the Scoobies and eventually Harry, Ron and Hermione gave their names as well. The Scoobies were uncomfortable because they knew about the prophecy and Harry didn't. The students were uncomfortable because they didn't know who these people were.

"How was your day, Xander?" Harry eventually asked.

"I went to the Ministry," Xander said. "I had to register my birth."

"I didn't tell them," Harry said.

"Aha. I'm Sirius son," Xander said.

Ron blinked a couple of a times. Fred and George shared a grin. If he was anything like Sirius, he might be willing to help them test things. Ginny smiled, because she had been right. Hermione frowned.

"But Sirius isn't old enough is he, I mean…"

"He was seventeen when I was born," Xander said. "I'm twenty one."

Hermione nodded.

"Hey, why don't we all sit down, and work out how we're going to help you guys, or you're going to help us this term. Because there's a lot of magic to learn, I haven't even done as much as Willow and Tara."

"You're Wicca?" Hermione asked. "I didn't believe in magic before I got my letter. No one here knows very much about Wicca, not even Professor Thatcher."

"My mother taught me," Tara said.

Hermione's eyes brightened and Harry knew that she was dying to ask questions.

Xander was staring at the four red heads. "You're all related, aren't you?" he asked. No one has yet given last names except him and Harry.

"Yeah," Ron said. "We're all Weasley's."

"Weasley's?" Anya repeated. "We met your dad at the Ministry today. Arthur?"

"Yeah, that's our dad," Fred said. "Very interested in Muggle things."

Xander rolled his eyes and sighed eloquently. Ginny giggled.

"What were doing at the Ministry?" Harry asked.

They eventually all sat around on the floor while Anya described her mission to the Ministry. Willow and Tara asked a few questions about spells, Fred and George generally made fun of things. Even Buffy laughed at a couple of things. Slowly the groups got used to each other.

Ron manoeuvred himself to sit next to Dawn. Dawn was well aware of what he was doing, and rather pleased with the attention. Buffy watched Ron suspiciously. Spike leaned over to her.

"You'll have to let her go one day, Buffy," he said. "He seems a nice enough kid."

Buffy glared. Spike chuckled, but let her be.

"How long are you going to stay?" Ron asked.

Everyone stopped.

"Until it's done," Buffy said.

"That could be ages," Ron said. "We don't know what You-Know-How is planning."

"I think Dumbledore has some good ideas," Hermione said defensively.

"Until Voldemort is dead," Buffy said.

She seemed so removed and sad, sitting on her chair above everyone else. The other's all turned to look at her properly.

"That is his name, isn't it?"

"Most people don't say it," Harry said. "They can't."

"He can't be as nasty as Glory," Dawn said. "And we used her name."

"Lots of people didn't," Tara reminded her. "We didn't know her name for a long time."

"But once we did, we used it," Buffy said. "It's stupid getting scared of a name. If you can't even say it, how on earth are you going to stand against him in person."

The students paled visibly. Buffy rolled her eyes.

"We won't have to face him, though," Harry said. "It will probably be Dumbledore who fights him."

Buffy sighed. Xander shot her a warning glance, and glared at the reassuring hand Spike had placed on her arm. Ginny noticed the tension.

"Do you any special powers, Dawn?" she asked.

Dawn looked her.

"I mean, Xander, Willow and Tara can do magic, and Anya was a demon. Do the rest of you have special powers, too?"

"Once every one thousand years my blood can be used to suck the world into hell," Dawn said.

"Whoa," Ron breathed, eyes wide as he stared at Dawn.

Dawn grinned at the look on his face.

"What happened?" Hermione asked.

"It's not a good story," Buffy said.

Quiet fell over the room at the gravity of her tone. Everyone felt quiet uncomfortable, especially Dawn. No one had any idea of what to say.

"Spike's a vampire," a voice said.

Spike leaped up and faced the painting on his door.

"What are you doing listening to our conversation?" he demanded.

"I was bored, William. What do you want me to do, write poetry?"

Spike turned his back on the painting. Harry and his friends were staring at him in shock. Fred and George had put themselves between him and Ginny, and Ron had his wand out.

"I'm a good vampire," he said, rolling his eyes.

Buffy giggled and he relaxed.

"Do you think Dumbledore would have let me in if he didn't trust me."

Ron lowered his wand.

"He didn't know about Quirrel or the fake Moody," Hermione pointed out.

Fred and George took their wands out, too. Harry stood up.

"Guys, it's okay," Xander said. "We've all know Spike for a while. The government put a chip in his head, he can't bite humans anymore. He can't even hit them."

"Not that I'd want to eat any of you anyway," Spike said, sitting back down. "Except maybe you," he said, nodding at George, who blushed.

"Buffy?" Hermione asked.

"Hmm?"

"You can't be the only normal person here."

Buffy almost laughed. If it weren't for her 'special skills' the group wouldn't be there.

"I'm the Slayer," she said.

Hermione's eyes widened again. "Wow. That's … that's fantastic. Wow."

"You're real?" Fred demanded. "But, well, wow, that's cool!"

"I wonder if …" George trailed off.

"What's the Slayer?" Harry asked.

"A Muggle given special powers to fight vampires," Ron said. "Most Wizards think it's just a myth."

"Here and alive," Buffy said.

She couldn't keep all of the bitterness, despair, anger and guilt she felt at the situation out of her voice.

"Sorry, guys, it's been long day, I'm going to bed."

She stood up.

"It's only half past six," Hermione said.

"We missed a night," Buffy said quickly and made for her picture.

Spike stood up, too, but only watched as she left.

"Go after her, you idiot," his painting shouted at him.

Spike gave his painting the finger, but followed it's advice.

"We should probably be going, too," Hermione said in the following silence. "We have work to do."

"Yeah," Ginny said.

"I don't want to do work," Ron said.

He did look perfectly comfortable sitting next to Dawn on the floor.

"You could show me your Common Room," Dawn suggested. "Do you play chess?"

"Ron's the best player in the school," Hermione said.

"Well, Willow taught me," Dawn said. "So we'll have to see."

Ron stood up and offered his hand to Dawn. Dawn grinned and let him pull her up. Hermione pulled Ginny to her feet. Everyone stood up.

"If you ever want to come and talk, we'll be here or around somewhere," Xander said.

"Thanks," Harry said. His friends nodded.

"We'll make a date for some theory sessions, Hermione," Willow said. "We're teaching Anya, too."

"I look forward to it," Hermione said.

"It was good to meet you all," Anya said. "Dawn, will you be back for the party?"

Dawn blinked. She didn't really think it would be much of a party now. But there was no way she could tell Anya that in any subtle manner.

"Sure," she said. "I'm sure I can thrash Ron pretty quickly."

"Oh, good," Anya said.

Dawn smiled weakly and lead the others out of the room. Fred and George fell back and began whispering furiously.

Willow, Xander, Anya and Tara shared an uneasy silence as they left.

"I know a very good way to spend the next hour," Anya announced.

Before either Willow or Tara processed what she had said, she grabbed Xander and dragged him to their room. Tara gave Willow an amused look.

"I think she may have a point."

"I agree," Willow said, deciding to ignore everyone else except her girlfriend.