Disclaimers, etc, see part one.

… … …

Dawn appeared again a few minutes before eight. The lounge area was empty and she fell into one of the chairs with a sigh. The Gryffindor common room had been large and noisy in an excessively comforting way. She considered knocking on Spike's door, or Willow's to get them to play chess. But Spike's door was glowering at her and she was sure that Willow was doing much more interesting things with Tara.

Eight o'clock came and the door was pushed open. Dawn leaped up and relaxed only slightly when she was that it was Giles. She then saw that it was Giles carrying a large pile of food and rushed to help.

"Thanks," Giles said, trying to balance the food, plates and drink on the table.

"You brought food," Dawn shrugged.

"I'm sorry about earlier. But if you are on good terms with Harry, and I'm on good terms with Fudge and Malfoy, than we've got both sides covered."

"I got it," Dawn said. "I'm not sure about Buffy, but well, hopefully Spike will help her get over that."

Giles raised one eyebrow at her slowly. Dawn grabbed one of the doughnuts he'd gotten from wherever and bit into it. She ended up with jam on her nose and grinned at him cheekily.

Giles decided to leave her be with her disturbing notions and glanced around the still empty room.

"We did say eight, didn't we?"

"Yeah. But they thought that you were evil, so… Guys! Food!" she shouted.

Spike threw Buffy's door open and bounded into the room.

"You don't eat," Giles said.

"Not going to pass up a good party, now, am I?"

"And what were you doing in my Slayer's room?"

"One, she's not your Slayer, now is she? Two, it wouldn't be your concern anyway. Three, the total weight of what I know that you don't would stun a team of oxen, so back off."

Giles sighed. "You've been watching too much television, Spike."

Spike shrugged and grabbed a mini apple tart. Buffy appeared from her room. She spared a small smile for Giles took her chair again. Dawn quickly took a plate and filled it with food for her sister she collected a glass as well and presented them.

Buffy accepted both with affected grace and smiled when Dawn giggled.

The others appeared in various states of neatness which everyone else politely ignored.

"I told you they'd be a party," Anya said. "It what happens when there's happy news to celebrate. Oh, chocolate!"

"That's right, it's a party," Willow said. "So we need decorations."

"Are you sure?" Tara asked. "Aren't we pretty enough as it is."

"Just some sparkles?" Willow said.

She pointed her wand at the ceiling and a sudden puff of green sparks appeared and hung in the air. Tara added her own her own multicoloured collection.

"How did you do that?"

Tara grinned enigmatically. Willow raised a questioning eyebrow. Xander felt he had to butt in before the non conversation became too suggestive. He tried to produce his own decorations, but while he could make red sparks shoot into the air they quickly disappeared.

"You just need to practice more," Willow said. She tried again and was able to create red and green sparks at the same time.

Spike pulled his wand out of the his robes and pointed it at the ceiling too. The generally haze of sparks now included some black ones which collected the other colours and began to glow faintly.

"Well done, William," his painting said.

Buffy craned her neck to look at Spike.

"Who is that?" she asked.

"No one important," Spike immediately said.

The painting scoffed. But when Giles turned to look at him, he buried himself in his cloak again.

"Does anyone want to say anything?" Giles asked.

Dawn began to cough.

"Sorry about the sparks?" Willow said.

"To mark the occasion, I think he meant, Red."

Xander cleared his throat.

"Thank you all for coming … out of your rooms to spend time with Anya and I and eat the food that Giles got … from somewhere."

"The kitchens," Giles supplied.

"We probably could have done it without you, but than it wouldn't be as much fun. Here's to us, even Spike."

He raised his glass and everyone drank.

Giles was relaxed, Buffy had spent over an hour talking through things with Spike, and Xander had accepted the vampire as a good guy, or at least not as bad as Voldemort. Anya was finally having her engagement party. Tara was pleased with Willow's control over her magic, Willow was pleased with her progress and Dawn had her family back.

And they were, of course, going to beat the big bad and be victors once again.

…

Ron moved a pawn to block Harry's bishop. Harry ran his fingers through his hair and tried to remember why this was easier than divination homework.

"Do you think Giles might just be pretending," Ron said. "He doesn't seem evil."

"Dawn seemed to miss him," Harry said, staring at the board. "And seeming has nothing to do with it.

He went to pick up his knight, but hesitated.

"Still, I think …" Ron began.

"Oh stop it," Hermione snapped. "There is still homework to be done. You can't copy mine."

"But Dawn did seem sad."

"I don't want to hear about Dawn!"

Hermione closed her books and stood up.

"Hermione," Harry said. He thought he knew more than Ron about what was happening.

"It's okay, Harry. I just remembered where I saw Spike and Buffy's photos together. I'm going to bed, we have potions tomorrow."

Harry nodded like that made sense and took Ron's rook with the knight.

Ron stared after Hermione, quiet perplexed.

"She did seem sad when she was here, didn't she, Harry?"

"Mm."

…

Snape flipped the page back to make sure that he had instructions in order before adding the powered bicorn. He stirred the potion carefully and reviewed the effect that bicorn had on the mixture.

The ingredients of Veritaserum were deceptively simple. It was the combination that made them so effective. The next stage of the plan would be finding someway of getting it into the Slayer and asking her some pointed questions and about her association with Rupert and William.

He'd have to keep a careful eye on her sister, too. What ever effected one would show itself to an extent in the other. And the girl would probably be in class too. His heart leaped with joy at the thought.

"You dark, sarcastic man," he scolded himself. "You know that something is happening."

…

Sirius wandered through his house in the dark. It seemed less threatening in the almost black. It seemed more familiar, too. He hadn't got any more used to the idea of having a son in the five days since he had found out. He thought that it was five days, what with the trans-Atlantic travel.

The house, though, was already preparing itself. Alexander Black had been written onto the tapestry, although not Mariana. He would have torn the name off with the grief, except that he liked the boy, and he did have something of his mother's sweetness in him.

It wasn't grief as much as white hot anger at Peter, which was itself tempered by the hope that he might be proved innocent.

He cracked a laugh.

"Kreatcher! A bottle of wine for the christening!"

It was the least destructive thing he could throw. It was probably the happiest thing that had happened in the house for a long time. Mother would hate it, it felt good.