Chapter 13
One Small Step
- - - - -
After a rousing game of Quidditch on the back hill, the four Weasleys and Harry returned to The Burrow. Harry was curious as to whether or not anything had been heard from his sister. When he asked Mrs. Weasley, who was making lunch with Hermione, she shook her head.
"No, dear, I haven't heard anything yet."
It had been nearly four hours since she'd disappeared. Certainly a meeting with Cornelius Fudge wouldn't take that long, unless he was really going into Harry's troubled past. He grit his teeth, almost steeling himself for those long, haughty glares he knew were coming. His older sister was about to get one of the most biased views of his life and he could hardly stand it.
Sure, he could have told her more. He could have told her that Voldemort was still alive and was chasing after a prophecy, one no one would ever be able to find since the glass orb holding it had smashed, and the only other person besides the seer who had conjured it who knew was the most powerful Wizard in the world. He shook his head, almost laughing. He hadn't even told his friends about the prophecy yet.
The laughter died in the back of his throat as he sat next to Ron and across from the twins, who had their heads bent together and were fighting with two of their fake wands. Ginny was giggling from Ron's other side, while both Hermione and Mrs. Weasley rolled their eyes far behind them.
Mrs. Weasley served them lunch quickly. As they finished up their plates of ham and potatoes, an owl approached the table and dropped a letter at Harry's plate. It then took off and flew away.
"That'd be a Ministry owl," Mrs. Weasley said with concern, turning her attention to Harry. "Go on, open it."
Harry gently opened the envelope and read the contents inside. By the time he set it down, there was almost a strange look on his face.
"What is it?" Ron asked him quietly, leaning over to read the letter. But Harry quickly folded it up against his chest, protecting it from view.
"It's from Elizabeth," Harry said quietly. "If you'll just excuse me for a moment..."
He stood up and left the Kitchen, hearing the stunned silence behind him as he walked halfway up the first set of stairs and sat down, staring at the letter again in semi-darkness.
Elizabeth was in the Department of Mysteries. The letter was simple, if vague.
Harry --
I have just had the most interesting conversation with the Minister of Magic. I think we'll both agree we have a lot to discuss once I return. I must also inform you that I will be staying at the Department of Mysteries for at least the next several hours. Minister Fudge has recommended this to me and I think you'll agree that this is what I need to do. I shall return back to The Burrow when I am finished.
Buffy
He smiled when he saw that she'd signed it using her given name. He really hoped she would relax that 'Elizabeth' rule and just let everyone call her Buffy. It really was a very pretty, if unique name.
He returned downstairs and handed Ron the letter silently. Hermione quickly moved behind him to read over his shoulder and her eyes widened. They both turned to look at Harry as he sat down solemnly. Even the twins were staring at him with a serious expression.
"What's she doing at the Department of Mysteries, mate?" Ron asked cautiously.
This caught the attention of both Ginny and Hermione, who had been with Harry, Ron and two other Hogwarts students in their attempt to rescue Sirius from the Ministry. The rescue had gone horribly wrong and it was there that Sirius had fought his last battle.
"I-I don't know," Harry said, confused. "But I intend to ask her."
Mrs. Weasley was looking at him. Arthur had told her the reason why she had wanted to speak to someone about her dreams. Apparently her dreams were pointing to the fact that Harry's beloved godfather was still alive.
"I think you should wait until she tells you," she advised Harry carefully. "If you ask her when she returns, it'll only make her uncomfortable. And we want her to feel welcome in this house."
Harry certainly didn't want her rushing back to the flat where a group of Council members knew where she lived. If she did that, she could very well be dead within a few hours. That thought scared him more than anything.
"All right," he agreed, turning back to his lunch. "I'll leave her be until she decides she wants to tell me something."
- - - - -
Buffy sat in a black leather chair deep inside the basement of the Department of Mysteries, staring at the black ceiling in a very dark room.
"Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket," she started singing in a quiet voice, "and never let it fade away..."
It had been over an hour since she'd sent Harry the owl. The man she'd been recommended to had immediately given her a bit of parchment and a large feather, instructing her to inform whoever she was staying with that she would be occupied for the next several hours.
And then they'd locked her in a black room.
Oh, they'd given her the warnings and the instructions to the entire procedure. She was going to be forced to dream a dream again. She didn't mind. She only wished that Faith was there to share it with her. When she asked if she could contact Faith since they had shared the dream, they had refused. She found it strange, but relented. The last thing she wanted to do was piss off this Ministry, especially after the way she'd pissed off the Watcher's Council.
There was a soft knock on the door and it opened, revealing a young man. "Come on out," he said, holding the door open. Buffy walked into the light, suddenly feeling drowsy.
"I'm tired," she said quietly to herself as he led her over to the strangest looking chair. It wouldn't look out of place at a dentist's office, she decided. He marched her over to it and asked that she sit down. As soon as she did, he handed her a tiny bottle of completely clear liquid. And there was a smoking silver goblet that he handed her after she'd sipped down the first bottle.
"The first is a truth potion, Veritaserum," he said, taking the empty bottle and nodding at the goblet. "The other is a potion for sleeping."
She finished drinking it and immediately felt drowsy and drugged. All of her Slayer senses were telling her this was wrong, but Buffy knew that if Sirius was alive, she would have to endure these tests.
Her eyelids shut and she fell into a restful sleep.
The man stood up and glanced at two others, who entered into the room and began circling around her, muttering. The young man pulled a small orb out of a crushed velvet bag and held it up to the soft blue light filling the room. "If this dream is indeed a prophecy," he said, setting the orb on a small black pedestal, "it will be recorded here as a dream."
The Slayer's eyes suddenly snapped open. The two people circling her stopped.
"She's dreaming," one of them whispered.
Inside her head, Buffy was walking through a graveyard. There was a stake in her hands and she appeared to be hunting. Spying a figure moving up ahead, she ran toward it. "Hey!" she shouted out.
But the instant she took off, a second figure pummeled into her. With a cry, she was thrown into a gravestone and jumped up, the stake tumbling from her hand. She found herself facing the other Slayer. "Faith?"
"B?"
"What are you doing here?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing!"
"Are we dreaming?"
"We have to be. I'm unconscious or something."
"What is that?"
"What is what?"
"That!" Buffy pointed across the graveyard where a dark figure ducked behind two separate trees, as though moving parallel to them.
"It's him, isn't it?"
"This is his grave," Buffy realized, glancing at the shattered headstone she'd fallen against. Although it was cracked, the large black letters on it said everything.
Sirius Black.
"They never found his body," Buffy said, repeating what Fudge had told her hours before.
"There it is," Faith said, pointing to the deep hole suddenly sitting in front of them. Inside was a black cloak. Buffy got down on her knees and reached into the hole, pressing on the cloak.
"There's nothing here," Buffy said, her voice echoing again.
"I wouldn't be there, would I?" a voice said from around them.
"Sirius," Faith breathed.
"I know you're here," Buffy whispered, both in her dream and in her trance-like sleep. "I know you're alive."
"I am," Sirius finally said, pulling off his hood. He looked at both women. "You're seers?"
"Slayers," Faith muttered.
"If you exist here and you're not in the waking world, where are you?" Buffy asked cautiously.
"You know where I am," Sirius said, giving her a lingering look. "You truly are your father's girl, Elizabeth."
Buffy could feel tears in her eyes as everything melted away.
But before she could wake up, her eyes closed and her voice came out, strange and dark, "He who fell two moons before will rise with the dawn of the blood of his kin. He was taken by the darkest of powers when he was not ready to have gone. He will rise and more will fall before the war is over. A hero will return as the sun rises and the blood of his kin shall become..."
In California, Giles and Willow huddled over an unconscious Faith who was muttering something under her breath.
"... The hero will return and the war will be won as he who fell two moons before will rise with the dawn of the blood of his kin..."
Willow gently prodded Faith. "Come on, wake up!" she whispered desperately. But Faith kept repeating what she was saying.
Back in the Ministry of Magic, a small blue glow surrounded the orb as the Slayer repeated her message for the third and final time. As the voice died away, the soft blue light melted into the orb, leaving the room in total darkness.
- - - - -
Faith suddenly sat up, gasping. "What the hell was that?" she muttered, putting a hand to her mouth. She'd heard the words coming from her mouth, only it wasn't her voice and it sure as hell wasn't her thoughts.
"What the hell was what?" Willow asked, looking slightly afraid of the second Slayer.
"A prophecy," Faith said, suddenly touching her lips. "Yes... it was a prophecy." She glanced up and looked at Giles. "Sirius Black is still alive and I said that the blood of his kin will return to stand by him." She paused a moment and glanced down at her shaking hands. "Giles, what if I'm part of that blood kin? Wouldn't it make sense if I was having a dream about someone I'd never met? What if we are kin?"
"You and Buffy?" Giles asked in confusion.
"No," Faith said, standing up and stretching out her stiff arms. She apparently had just collapsed when giving last night's vampire report. "I meant myself and Sirius Black."
"That's a hell of a lot of assumption to be making," Giles replied, returning to his diary he was writing up for her.
"It's one small step," Faith replied, "in explaining why Buffy and I are sharing these weird dreams."
"Well," Willow replied, sitting down on the chair across from the former Watcher. "You got us there."
Faith frowned as she started pacing.
"The war shall be won," she muttered under her breath, shaking her head and turning around, her hands clasping behind her. "The blood of the kin... it doesn't make any sense!"
Across the Atlantic in England, Buffy was voicing the same opinion. She was sitting on a bench outside the small room where she'd been locked. She ran a hand through her wild hair and sighed in frustration.
"Miss Potter," came a quiet voice from the other end of the corridor, "Arthur Weasley's here to escort you back to his home."
Buffy stood up, still slightly shaken from what she'd just endured. As she joined the man at the end of the hall, she looked into his eyes. "Can you tell me the truth?" she asked in a hushed tone. "Was that really a prophecy?"
He nodded, swallowing hard. She gave him a half smile before leaving the Department of Mysteries behind. Arthur Weasley was looking deeply concerned until he saw Harry's older sister emerge from a black door which disappeared back into a wall. He immediately stopped at the look on her face.
She looked as though she'd just seen a ghost.
"What did you find out?" he asked her curiously as they rode the elevator back to the Atrium.
"I found out that Slayer minds work way too well together to be just coincidence," she said quietly. "I also found out that Sirius Black is alive."
"He is?" Arthur said, jumping slightly at this news.
Buffy nodded glumly and repeated the entire prophecy, word for word. "He who fell two moons before will rise with the dawn of the blood of his kin. He was taken by the darkest of powers when he was not ready to have gone. He will rise and more will fall before the war is over. A hero will return as the sun rises and the blood of his kin shall become. The hero will return and the war will be won."
Mr. Weasley looked stunned as they walked back out into the Atrium. "I must say that for whatever it is worth, you have an incredible talent as a seer."
"I never knew it was much of a Slayer trait," she replied despondently.
"Is there something wrong?" he asked, suddenly noticing her hesitation to join the queue lining up for the fireplaces. Buffy had walked away and had gone to a chair, sitting down, her head in her hands.
"How am I going to explain any of this to Harry?" she asked warily. "We've both left so much out of our lives... I've known him eight days, Mr. Weasley. I've known my brother exactly eight days. I just found out that Voldemort is still alive. I know that his godfather is alive... and God! I'm so mentally challenged. I'm so lost..." She pulled her face out of her hands and glanced at the senior Weasley. "You must think I'm just an emotional wannabe," she said in a whisper.
He handed her a tissue. "Not at all," he said, his voice very concerned. "You and your brother both have a knack for having dreams. His saved my life. And yours may very well save the life of a man who's been trapped in an endless circle of terror for the past sixteen years."
Buffy nodded, dabbing at her eyes. "Minister Fudge told me about him... I'm glad I heard his version. Now I don't have to look upon him with such bias."
"He was cleared of all charges," Arthur said quietly, patiently waiting for the younger woman to pull herself together.
"So now I have this knowledge," she said quietly. "And I know that I'm running for my life... so what happens now?" She turned to look at the older man. She'd only known him a whole twenty-four hours, yet she felt she could trust him.
"Harry returns to Hogwarts in a few weeks time," Arthur replied, sitting on the bench next to her. "If you are concerned for your life as well as his, I recommend you accompany him. How old are you, exactly?"
"I'm eighteen," she replied, wiping her eyes and looking back at him. "I graduated from high school about two months ago."
"Right," he said with a firm nod. "Well, you may have just been introduced to a world of magic, Elizabeth, but I'm sure you realize you have a lot to learn. I wonder if you wouldn't mind taking one last year of schooling."
"An entire year?" she gasped, horror struck. "I thought surviving four years of high school was bad..."
"At least then you'd finally get to learn about this," he advised. "Then again, I'm not your parent and I'm hardly considered to be a bearer of advice."
"I appreciate it all the same," she said with a dark smile. "After all, I don't really have anyone here. Except Harry, of course."
A group suddenly passed them, wearing long gold robes with large red emblems splashed on the chest. There were fourteen of them, all carrying broomsticks and wearing glum expressions darker than hers. Buffy watched as they passed, her eyebrows knitting in confusion.
"They're Quidditch folk," Arthur explained, pointing at them as they, too, stood in the queue. "The Ministry has been has requested that this year's Quidditch circuit be canceled because of the upcoming war."
"This is the one with Voldemort, right?"
He flinched at the name, but nodded nonetheless. "That would be correct, yes."
Her eyes glazed over the players. There were three women among them. They were talking quietly amongst themselves, and most of them wore an expression of deep disgust.
"They asked all of the English teams to make an appearance today at the International Quidditch League. From the looks you can see on their faces, their matches have been canceled. This will kill my children... they really love the sport."
Buffy knew she should be listening to him, but her eyes fell on a single figure near the back of the line. He was talking to one of the women, and she kept tossing her long dark hair, catching the light.
It was the guy from the elevator, she realized, a sudden smile appearing as she rested her chin on her fist. Now that his attention was captured by another, she could silently observe him from twelve steps away.
He really was adorable, even in that long, dorky robe. And he had a fantastic smile, she realized, seeing a shaken smile on his face as he turned to the front of the line, where two players had suddenly disappeared into the fireplace.
Arthur had continued talking, not realizing the younger girl had stopped listening to stare at one of the Quidditch Players. She forced her attention back to him.
"... of course, the Ministry has asked that significant action be taken in granting these players a leave of absense if they wished to take up guard duty at the Ministry..."
He was standing up now and offered her his hand. She let him help her up and, to her horror, they joined the queue behind the stunning boy in the Quidditch robes and the girl he couldn't take his eyes off of.
He didn't even notice her until he glanced back to make sure the rest of the players had gone. She wasn't looking at him. Rather, she was in a deep conversation with Arthur Weasley. He shook his head as he turned to the Floo powder pot and took out his small handful.
She really looked out of place. Surrounded by many wearing long black cloaks, she stood there, wearing black and red. It was refreshing to see a bit of color in the Ministry, but he had the sneaking suspicion the girl had been raised as a Muggle.
He stepped into the fireplace and an instant later, he vanished.
Buffy followed Mr. Weasley to the fireplace and he offered her the pot. She stepped inside first, called "The Burrow!" and disappeared in a wave of green flames.
- - - - -
Harry watched as his sister approached him. It was near sunset again and he found it slightly funny that he was the one sitting on the hill now while she was the one walking up to get him.
"Hey," she said, stopping in front of him.
"Hi yourself," he said, shielding his eyes from the last remainders of the sun.
She sat next to him, wrapping her arms around her legs, staring out onto the horizon. "Isn't it beautiful?"
"Gorgeous," he replied quietly, turning to her. "Elizabeth..."
"Call me Buffy," she finally said, glancing back out. "Harry..."
"What did he tell you?" Harry asked curiously. "I mean, what did he tell you about me?"
"He told me that you had a hell of a year last year," she said seriously, staring at him. "He also said that he was a cause for a lot of those problems and may have very well been the cause as to why your godfather died."
"At least this time he's going after the truth," Harry mumbled bitterly.
"I threatened him if he didn't," Buffy said with a quiet grin. The grin fell off her face as she continued. "He also told me that you witnessed Voldemort's rebirth and that a lot of people within this Ministry didn't believe you until Sirius died. I wish you would have told me that the man who killed our parents is back."
"He isn't a man," Harry said, eyeing the ground darkly. "He's a Dark Lord. In order to be a man, you have to have a soul."
"In any case," Buffy said, reaching over and taking Harry's hand, "I realize we have a lot more in common than I originally thought."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked curiously.
"Minister Fudge said, and I quote, 'That boy always has an affinity for getting into trouble. Him and those two best friends of his'. I was a trouble maker, too. I have so many stories to enlighten you with."
He was surprised that she was finally going to open up her life a bit. "At least it's one small step," he said, squeezing her hand back. "What was the worst thing you ever did?"
She paused. "I burned down my school's gymnasium," she replied quickly. "And if you want really bad, I helped blow up my last high school."
He turned to her with a shocked look. She was far too used to this to care anymore. She grinned at his reaction and laughed. "I told you I was a bit of a trouble maker."
"Is this why the Council is after you?" he asked gently.
She nodded, biting her lip. "It's also the reason they'll never stop looking for me."
"Would you ever consider coming to Hogwarts?" Harry asked lightly. "I think it's the safest place for the both of us. And you'll already be revered. Your parents were famous and your brother, well..." His voice trailed off as he followed her gaze. She was staring at the Weasley brothers dragging out a large dinner onto two long tables outside. "Please tell me that you're not falling for one of them."
"One of what?" she asked sleepily, turning to him. Her eyes were slightly glazed over and a dreamy expression had crossed her features.
"Was I interrupting one of your fantasies?" he asked in alarm.
She shook her head, laughing softly. "No, no... I was just thinking about what you said about Hogwarts. Mr. Weasley reckons I might be able to take a year there."
"You'd go into seventh year?" Harry asked in surprise. "I thought you'd graduated school!"
"I have," she replied with a grin. "But that doesn't mean I can't find out what my magic is made of."
"It has to already be strong," Harry told her. "After all, you're a Slayer and you've got those dreams..."
Her face darkened. She had really been hoping he wouldn't bring that up.
"I hope you don't mind that I told Ron," Harry said quietly. "About you being a Slayer and all."
She looked surprised for a moment before glancing at her feet. "I don't mind," she said softly. "I'm used to it now. You can tell your other friends too if you'd like. They probably should know who they're hanging with. And I really suck at going undercover."
She had decided not to tell him about the prophecy, at least until they knew more. She decided to steer the conversation back to clearer waters. "I'd actually probably love going to your school," she said quietly. "Besides, you said it was one of Sirius' favorite places."
"He would really like you," Harry finally said. "I wonder if he knew you existed."
Buffy shuddered. In her dreams, he knew. He really knew.
"You know," she said, standing up when she noticed the rest of the Weasleys and Hermione were seated at the table and eating the large dinner Mrs. Weasley had prepared for them, "this is the first night that I haven't missed home."
He smiled, taking that as a compliment as he followed her down to the tables. There was just something about her, he thought. And yet he still couldn't put his finger on it.
- - - - -
"You truly are your father's girl, Elizabeth..."
"Buffy! Buffy!"
"You're going to hell."
"Save me a seat."
"I am not going to stand by and watch my friends die. I can't. I won't."
"They're going to take you away from me, Buffy. Don't you get it?"
"I love you."
"Close your eyes."
"I'll always be here, even if you kill me."
"It wasn't real. I'm not real?"
"You truly are..."
"I love you, Mom."
"I'm not really your daughter, am I?"
"You sent that thing after my mother."
"I'm out. I quit. I'm fired..."
"... your father's girl..."
"It wasn't our world anymore... they made it theirs. And they had fun."
"I can't believe you're leaving me."
"You don't have a lot of time left."
"You're going to die, you know that, Slayer?"
"You truly are your father's girl, Elizabeth."
"Elizabeth..."
"Elizabeth..."
Buffy sat up with a sharp gasp, bringing a hand to her throat. It wasn't the first time she'd awakened from a seriously disturbed dream. But it was the first time in a long while she hadn't dreamt of Sirius Black, except for the few words he'd said to her in some dream.
She got out of bed, realizing it was still in the dark of night. She'd gone to bed early complaining of a headache. The truth was, the potion the Unspeakables had given her to dream were making her drowsy. She had gone to bed. From the looks of it, it was still early enough. Hermione and Ginny weren't even in their rooms.
She wrapped herself in her scarlet robe and crept to the door, peering out. There were voices coming from upstairs, where she knew Fred and George's room was, now being occupied by the two eldest Weasley brothers. She stepped out onto the landing and quickly moved downstairs.
Although she was incredibly tense, she knew from Giles' experiences that tea was soothing. She didn't want to be tense anymore.
The only people in the Kitchen were the senior Weasleys. They both glanced up from their whispered conversation when she entered the room. "Elizabeth!" Mrs. Weasley said in surprise.
"Hi," she said shyly. "I hope you don't mind if I'm... awake."
"Of course not," she said in a friendly voice. "Can I get you anything? A snack? some tea? You barely had any dinner!"
"Tea would be fantastic," Buffy said, taking the seat that was next to the older woman's. Mr. Weasley held his own mug of tea between his hands and was regarding her. A sudden suspicion hit her. They had been discussing her visit to the Department of Mysteries. Instead of being angry, she was suddenly curious as to what they thought.
She didn't even have to ask. Molly returned to the table with her tea and sat down with a small sigh. "You would have given many seers a great run for their money," she said, taking her own mug.
Buffy wrapped her hands around her mug, enjoying the warmth that spread to her fingertips. "I wasn't really expecting a prophecy my second week here," she said with a chortle. "But I'm glad I had it, too, you know? I haven't had a lot of bright spots here these past few days."
"Does that include nearly knocking your Uncle unconscious?" Arthur asked with a sparkle in his eye.
"How did you know about that?" Buffy asked, laughing. "Oh, he's a great bully! He was threatening Harry... I just had to show him that there's still one Potter who won't back down." There was a look of steel in her eyes now, and it scared her, she knew. Without the Slaying, all of her anger and power was going to be building up, and the only way she was going to unleash it was on someone like her Uncle. Too bad she'd been in front of Harry when the Council representatives had shown up. She would have beat them both to a bloody pulp. "I guess without the Slaying, things get complicated."
"We could always get you a boggart," Molly said cheerfully, adding a bit of cream to her tea.
"A what?" Buffy asked, trying to figure out what exactly a boggart was.
"It's a magical device," Mr. Weasley explained, "that takes the shape of whatever you fear the most."
There was a shiver that went down her spine. She didn't like it. Not at all. "I don't fear the forces of darkness," she said softly. "There are far worse things to fear." Like the Council and what they would do to her if they ever caught up with her and Harry. And Angelus. And all of those other horrible demons, such as The Master. "If you put me face-to-face with one of those, all you'd see is a group of men in tweed throwing insults."
"Sounds dangerous," Molly teased gently.
Buffy smiled at her. "Thank you so much for letting me stay at your home. It's been awhile since I've been at a place that's even felt close to one."
"It must have been a hard transition," Arthur said, choosing his words carefully.
"I'm still transitioning," she said with a confused look. "Transitioning... is that even a word?"
"We've only known you two days," Molly continued, watching as the younger woman sipped at her tea, "but we can already see how devoted you are to your younger brother. He has been like a son to us for these past five years. I just want you to know that although your Aunt and Uncle are, well, unorthodox... we treat him well here."
"Thank you," Buffy said genuinely. "It's nice to know that amidst all of this darkness, Harry's been happy. He's had a tough life." Her thumb circled the rim of her cup as she stared dolefully into her tea. "Amidst? God, I feel like a she-Giles."
"Just wait until September," Arthur chuckled, "and you'll be talking just like one of us."
Buffy looked so mortified that the Weasley parents laughed. "Oh, no... if that's what I have to look forward to, I'd rather have another round with the Council." Her face fell slightly as she looked back down at her cup and choked down another long drink.
"This Council doesn't sound very friendly," Molly said with concern as Arthur excused himself.
"They're really all right people when you don't make them angry," Buffy replied quietly. "I told Harry last night that I quit the Council once they put Joyce, the woman I thought was my Mom, in danger. She could have been killed, and it was all because they wanted to test my abilities. They fired my Watcher, the man who supervises my training... and then I quit. I refused to back down so the truth of my parentage came out."
Molly looked thoughtful as she surveyed the younger girl for a moment. "This... Council, you say? What is their function?"
"To train and watch over the Slayer," Buffy said evenly. "Except now there are two of us. I had... a bit of an accident two years ago and well... I could go into the details of my entire sordid past, but I wouldn't want to bore you."
"I heard that the only way another Slayer is called is if another one dies," Molly said slowly. "Is this true?"
Buffy nodded. "I died two years ago... but my friend managed to bring me back my giving me mouth-to-mouth. It was quite the rush."
"Hmmmmm," Molly said, surveying the girl in a new light. She certainly had come around the bend and back. "Well, Elizabeth, that's one thing I would recommend you not tell your brother. He might have a slight breakdown if he realized his sister had been, well, dead."
"I couldn't agree with you more," Buffy said with a chuckle. "And please, call me Buffy."
- - - - -
Chapter 14... Buffy makes a life-altering decision for both her and Harry...
Chapter 15... A little bit more into the private life of the Slayer.
To the Reviewers:
I think those of you who like Wood'll be happy. I'm keeping him in my story now. Those of you who said he'd be a good guy kind of hit at my beta, who actually wanted him in my story. So, yeah. Those of you who gave your thumbs up got your wish.
Oh, and these are the last two chapters of insecure Buffy... because she's now integrated enough into this world... that and she has some better things to be happy about. And some such nonsense.
Fact Man -- I'm sorry, too. Your reviews were constructive. I just felt the need to defend this.
Faith, no matter how evil she appeared in canon, will not be evil in this story. I can't make her evil. Well, depends on your definition of evil... hehe. And as you can see, extra Faith moment in this past chapter. She'll be returning in Chapter 17. Again. I'm excited about that chapter. Her lineage will be an issue far later in this fic.
mj -- You know I'm going to torture you by going at it worse, right? I'm kidding, but I hope you realize that these were already written by the time you commented. Trust me, she becomes almost human by Chapter 15.
Why do I have the feeling it'll be about 90 chapters long? Oi...
Currently writing Chapter 17 at the moment. Hopefully I'll get more done this weekend. Additional author note next chapter along with the rest of your questions answered.
Thank you readers! Thank you reviewers! Thank you Grace!
I'll be gone for the weekend. Double update now. And you might get an update when I return Sunday night. I hope to get a lot of writing done... and hopefully post a lot of it once it's all converted!