Chapter 31

Aftershocks

x.0.x.0.x

"Oh, sure, you'd say that if you were the product of some accident!"

The sounds of the Great Hall seemed to disappear as Harry turned with stunned eyes to regard his sister. "What?" he whispered in a voice of deadly calm.

She was staring at him, her eyes pleading with him, asking him to understand. He ripped his gaze from hers and felt the anger, the humiliation and the coldness settle in. "I... I trusted you!" he said, his voice rising. The few students in the Great Hall turned to stare at them. "You're my sister! I bloody trusted you!"

"You can trust me, Harry," she said in a voice full of anxiety. "Please..."

"I can trust you?" he asked, an odd spiel of laughter bubbling up from him. "Oh, please, Elizabeth! You've done nothing but shut me out of your life!"

"It's not like you were so open either," she said, a faint trace of a sneer in her voice. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "How come you told your two best friends about your prophecy without the intention of ever telling me? I'm your sister, your bloody kin! For God's sake, Harry, your bloody nemesis told me the damned truth!"

"Because I don't trust you!" he shouted back. "And I trust them!"

"Harry, Buffy," Ron said in an urgent tone, "it might not be a good idea to--"

Buffy put up her hand, turning to Harry with hurt eyes. "When did you ever get the feeling you couldn't trust me?" she asked in a dangerous voice. "I have been nothing but honest to you, and you threw it back in my face. You--"

"You died!" Harry shouted. The entire Great Hall was silent now, watching as the Potter siblings openly rowed in public. "You bloody died and you never would have told me if they hadn't! And your prophecy!"

"Harry, please," Hermione said in a desperate voice.

"I was trying to help you," Buffy snarled, cutting off Hermione's plea. "I was trying to make things right."

"By lying to me?" Harry asked coldly. He glared at her and realized she wasn't backing down.

"If you feel like you couldn't trust me, why should I tell you anything?" she asked, her voice quiet, but her eyes were full of fury and, to his surprise, sadness. "I know your life wasn't sunshine and roses, I was just trying to protect you from that."

"Well, you can protect me now," he said sarcastically. "I have to face the Dark Lord or I die. There. You tell me how you can just swoop in and save me, now. You're a hero, right?"

Hermione let out a low whistle as Buffy leapt to her feet. Her face was anything but warm and friendly now. She looked like she was about to beat the living hell out of some formidable opponent, who just happened to be her younger brother glaring at her from the table. "Why do you think I died?" she asked him coldly. "What makes your definition of a hero, Harry? Is it sacrifice? Is it courage? What is it, Harry?" Her voice was echoing through the silent Great Hall. Even the Slytherins were watching her in shock. "I died to fulfill my own prophecy. Three years ago, I drowned. I have been fighting for my life ever since..." she broke off, not wanting to continue.

"A hero is someone who has the courage to tell the truth," Harry snarled. "It's not someone who pretends to hide from it."

"You're one to talk!" Buffy shouted. She didn't notice that Professor Pryce kept sending her warning glances, nor did she care.

"I told you the truth and if you can't handle it--"

"Will you two stop this?" Ron asked, gaping from one Potter sibling to the other. "This is insanity!"

"No, Ron," Buffy said, turning to him with a sarcastic look. "This is reality. This is the reason I never wanted to find the truth. Maybe they knew about this all along and they didn't want me to have to face this. I'd rather take on a Council full of bastards than watch my brother throw his life away."

"What makes you certain I'll lose, dear sister?" Harry asked, his voice quiet again.

"Because you didn't tell me," Buffy said, her voice losing all anger. There was a lot of sadness in her tone now, and she turned hurt eyes to Harry. "I'm your sister, Harry. I'm all you have left of your family. And if you couldn't tell me, you're obviously afraid it wasn't going to work. Maybe that's why I never told you the truth, I don't know."

Harry wanted to desperately reach out for her and hug her, and tell her everything was going to be all right, but he couldn't. He was still too hurt and too angry.

She had died, he realized numbly. Three years ago, she had drowned. Died. Dead...

And then there was the prophecy, and if that wasn't bad enough, she had withheld from him the information that his godfather, the most important person in his life who'd been ruthlessly murdered, was still alive.

"You..." he whispered. He glared up at her. "You could have told me... but you lied to me... you lied..."

Buffy swallowed hard. Even Ron and Hermione looked stunned by his reaction.

"You've been lying to me since you've met me. For all I know, you're not even real!" he said, his voice rising again so that he was shouting. Her hurt eyes turned to a gaze full of indignation. "You're not my sister," he finally hissed, feeling as though he could never take back these hurtful words. "You really should have stayed with those Muggles."

Her jaw dropped slightly, but she held her ground. "Maybe I should have. And you would have no family except for our dear Aunt and Uncle. But that would be too easy now, wouldn't it? I'm already here, Harry. You can't shut me out."

"Watch me."

"Harry, please," Hermione said, her eyes sparkling with tears.

"Harry, mate, don't do this," Ron said in a weak voice.

"Stay out of this!" he shouted to his two best friends, standing up. He was facing her now and part of him wanted to strangle her for making him feel this way. The other half of him wanted to hold her tightly to make that look in her eyes go away.

"Don't you dare take this out on them," Buffy snapped, the hurt look disappearing from her eyes at last. "Don't you dare--"

"Don't tell me what to do, Elizabeth," he sneered sarcastically. "They're my best friends, not yours. If you want to stay here and pretend to live in this reality, fine, be my guest. But you are not my sister. My family is dead. My parents and my sister."

There was a firm resolve in his voice. She looked at him for another minute before lifting her bag and walking from the Great Hall, her shoes clicking on the cold floor. As soon as the doors banged shut, he felt the intensity in the room recede.

"What are you all staring at?" Harry yelled, looking from one stunned face to the next. His eyes finally fell on Draco's, who was smirking. Turning back to his two best friends, he sat down.

"Harry..." Hermione said in a tiny voice.

"No," Harry snapped, glaring at her. "I'm not going to go after her. I need some time before I can ever go to her... I need time."

He turned back to his plate and began moodily picking at his food.

Outside the Great Hall, Buffy had taken two steps away from the door before she felt her weight start to collapse. She moved quickly to the stairs and sank onto them, feeling as though her spine had been ripped from her body.

What just happened? What did I do? What have I done?

The tears were starting now.

She didn't hear a door open. She didn't hear footsteps approaching her. She glanced up when she saw a handkerchief dangling in front of her. She lifted her head further and looked into the concerned, dark eyes of Professor Pryce. "Elizabeth," he said, moving to sit next to her. "That was a very brave action for you to take in there. Very brave or very stupid, I have yet not been able to decide."

"You don't have to tell me twice," she said bitterly, dabbing at her eyes. "I don't know what just happened, but I don't like it. Harry and I have never fought before. I've known him for four months and yet..."

The harder tears started now, drowning out her voice. "I feel like I can't breathe," she said in a soft voice. "I feel like I'm not even here, like I'm dead again... I can't breathe... I just can't breathe..."

x.0.x.0.x

Harry angrily walked to Defense Against the Dark Arts an hour later, feeling as though his blood was beginning to boil. But the instant Professor Pryce walked into the room and sent him a scathing look, Harry felt his stomach drop.

What had he just done?

Had he really just condemned his own sister?

Ron and Hermione were talking in a hushed voice behind him and he turned to see their startled expression, as though they were expecting him to start yelling again.

"Do you think I was too harsh?" he asked tentatively.

Hermione exchanged a worried glance with Ron before turning back to him. "Harry, don't get the wrong idea, but..."

"I know," Harry said in a dark voice. "I shouldn't have said about half of the things I said."

"And she shouldn't have gone off on you, either," Hermione told him, laying a hand on his arm, a gesture not lost on Harry or Ron, who looked slightly surprised.

"I know why she did it," he said with a heavy sigh. "Maybe I should talk to her."

"Give her time," Ron advised as the three sat down. Professor Pryce was still glaring at them all. Harry knew he was worried about Buffy. So was he, no matter how angry he was with her. He was also afraid he had just driven the only family he had left away.

But lost underneath his hostile anger was the joy in discovering that Sirius was alive. How did she know? He had to ask her, he had to know! That would be the first thing he would ask her when he talked to her again. After apologizing, of course.

Forcing himself to turn back to the lecture Professor Pryce was giving them, he took notes here and there, but his thoughts were on the fight that morning and just how much he really had hurt his sister.

x.0.x.0.x

The rest of the day passed by in the blink of an eye. Professor Pryce had gone to the Headmaster immediately, asking that Buffy was excused from all of her classes.

It was fine with her. Even her roommates were throwing her scathing looks, as though determined to shut her out. And I thought these girls were my friends, she thought bitterly. They probably just saw her as another person determined to bring the boy-who-lived to within an inch of his sanity.

The only problem was, the Ministry had taken their row to a whole new level. Before she knew what was happening, she was back in Professor Dumbledore's office, talking to representatives from the Ministry of Magic. She was shocked when she saw Percy among the representatives. She knew she looked terrible, with puffy eyes and her blonde hair tugged back into a slim ponytail, but she didn't care. She just wrapped her arms around herself, desperately trying to warm herself from the chill that seemed to have permanently settled into her stomach.

To her horror, Percy followed her as she left the Headmaster's office a few hours later. "Elizabeth!"

She stopped. She turned to him. His eyes were full of concern as he stopped in front of her. "Are you all right?" he asked in a voice full of worry.

She shook her head, not daring herself to speak. If she spoke, she would cry again, and she didn't want that to happen. She was strong enough to face this. She had to.

Percy looked at her with a look of brotherly concern before sighing and taking her by the hand, leading her away from where students were roaming the hallways between their last class and led her into an empty classroom, closing the door behind them.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked her gently, offering her his handkerchief. She took it, smirking.

"What is it with you Wizards and your bloody hankies?" she asked, dabbing dramatically at her eyes.

"We just prefer to be prepared," Percy said unblinkingly.

"I swear I'm either going to kill that Malfoy or give him a metal," she said brutally, not really caring whether Percy was listening to her or not. "I don't know how he overheard Ginny and Hermione, but... but..."

"Something tells me that you think all of this is better out in the open," Percy said quietly.

"You already knew the truth about me, Perce," she said, eyeing him wearily. "I never hid anything from you."

"That's because you're my friend," he said easily. He sat down across from her, his hands on her knees, almost begging her to look at him. She finally met his gaze boldly. "I don't know you that well, but I can tell you that you're happy things are out in the open and although he despises you now, it'll tame down eventually."

"You're right, Perce," she said, blinking at him. "You do know me too well."

"He needs time," Percy replied earnestly. "You've been trying to tell him these important, life-altering events and he hears them from his biggest rival, who overheard his best friend and my little sister talking about them after you decided to confide in them. How do you think you'd feel if you were in his position?"

"I'd try to understand," Buffy muttered, crossing her arms. "I've been in this situation before and I was forced to deal with it. Do you remember when I told you about Angel? I forgot to mention the fact that he was a two hundred and forty year old vampire. I dealt with it the best way I could."

"You... loved a vampire?" Percy asked in a hushed, almost awed voice. "Does Oliver know?"

Buffy shook her head. "And you're not going to tell him either. God, I can't wait to see him again. One more week..."

"I'm not going to pretend things are going to be easy, Elizabeth, but... I can't believe you dated a vampire," he said, a revolted look crossing his face. "Was he evil?"

"He was cursed with a soul," Buffy said, smirking at Percy's blushing face. "He killed this gypsy girl so this girl's family cursed Angel with a soul. He traveled around, met me, fell in love and then... and then..."

"Do I want to know how this story ends?" Percy asked her in a cautious voice.

"Nobody knows except my friends in California," Buffy said sadly. "But you're like the closest friend I have here, or at least the guy I'm not dating, so if you really want to know, I can tell you."

After a moment's thought, he finally nodded.

"I fell in love with this man before I even knew who he was. He was just a friend, just another person to help fight the evil on the Hellmouth. When I found out who he really was, I freaked out. I almost killed him until I discovered he had a soul. A year and much teen angst later, I realized that I wanted more. It scared me. We faced this one, er... monster... and it almost killed us. And that night... we..." She rolled her eyes, really hoping he'd catch on. She could tell by his quick intake of breath and his widening eyes that he did. She could also see the faint blush creeping up his neck. "The problem was, that was the curse. If he had one true moment of bliss, he'd turn into his soulless, evil self again." She shuddered, remembering that just two years ago, she had faced that.

"He was evil before he was cursed. Pure, total evil. He took pleasure in torturing others and he was an artist when it came to the brutal beauty of it all. He made it fun, the killing. All of a sudden, I had to face that again. I was forced to kill the one person I loved more than anything. And I couldn't. I just... I needed time. The curse that the gypsies had used had disappeared, but one teacher I had managed to come up with the restoration. Before she could act on it, he killed her. And... and...

"The worst night of my life came a few weeks later. I was at the Library when the other Slayer showed up. I was about to leave and fight Angel. We fought and he told me he'd set a trap. I returned and saw that the other Slayer was dead. Giles, my Watcher, was gone. And my friends were seriously hurt. My best friend was nearly killed.

"I had to face him one last time. My worst enemy was the man I had loved so much... and yet... one of his minions turned on him and came to me. We made an alliance. See, Angel was at his most ruthless side when he had something powerful to work with. He'd found this statue of Alfalfa... err... Acathla. He wanted to destroy the world. I stopped him. We fought. With pretty swords, even. And then... my best friend did the spell again, the restoration. It worked. But it was too late. The statue of Alfalfa had already opened and was about to suck Earth into a vortex of hell.

"He was there again. He was my Angel. He was the cursed vampire I had loved for so long. There wasn't a lot of time, so I did what I had to do. I kissed him. I told him I loved him. And then I killed him."

Percy stared at her as though he'd never seen anything like her before. He'd just sat there the past ten minutes, listening to her painful story. Instead of judging her differently, it only helped him to understand her more.

"What happened then?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"I ran away," Buffy admitted. "I ran as far as I could go, just to escape the pain and the guilt and the remorse... my mother had just found out I was a Slayer and she told me that I wasn't welcome back. My friends were nearly killed because of my vendetta with a dead bloodsucker. And then I had to kill him. Running away only worked for a few months, because then I came back home. It was only last year," she said with a fond, affectionate smile. "It was the hardest summer of my life, before this one."

She scowled suddenly. Percy lifted his hands from her knees and sat back, crossing his arms.

"It seems to me that the Potter siblings act exactly alike," he said in his quiet tone. "You dealt with that the same way he's dealing with the truth now. He's running away from it. Just like you did. His words will make him regret his turning his back on you. You'll see."

"Seeing as you're someone who turned his back on his family and was welcome back with open arms, I understand it completely," Buffy said, smiling at him. "I just hope that Harry understands why I didn't tell him everything. Especially about the prophecy!"

"That's a whole new scenario," Percy said in a low voice. "I mean, it is quite bad to tell him you've been dead and that you dated someone you killed, but... to actually know that Sirius Black is alive? You never even told me about it!"

"I'm sorry about that," she said, giving him an apologetic smile. "But I had to know if Sirius had any other blood relatives before we could begin to figure out how to bring him back alive. The other Slayer believes she's a blood relative of Sirius Black."

"Is she?" Percy asked quietly.

Buffy shrugged. "From what I've been able to gather from our dreams, yes," Buffy said in her strong, confident voice. "But that doesn't mean anything. I wish she would come to England, but her new Watcher has practically forbid her to do anything outside the Watcher Council's control. If she does, then Faith could be killed."

"There is another way, you know," Percy said slowly. "Sirius Black had a family home in London. When she gets to England, she should visit."

"I'd love to ask Harry about it," she said in an angry tone, "but he isn't exactly speaking to me right now."

"Is there no one else you can ask?" Percy asked her in a light voice. "Like, perchance, Lupin?"

"I suppose," she said in a grudging voice. "I can probably contact him again. But, who knows... he'll probably treat me the same way the Gryffindors are... as some ugly person just waiting for a chance to shoot their hero down..."

"That's the thing, you see," Percy said, offering her a hand as he stood up. "You are both heroes already. Your parents would be proud of you, secrets and lies or not."

"Thanks, Percy," she said, accepting his hand and rising, stretching. "I should probably go back and face the music and see how many people I managed to piss off this morning."

They left the classroom together and walked into the empty corridors. She turned back to him and hugged him tightly. "Thank you for being such a good friend," she said, stepping away and smiling up at him.

"I've had friends before," Percy said honestly, "but not one like you."

They broke apart and separated, Percy returning to the Headmaster's office and Buffy making her way slowly to the Gryffindor Common Room.

She had just reached the portrait of the Fat Lady when she heard a cold cough behind her. She turned and saw Katie Bell leaning against the opposite wall, looking as though she'd been waiting for the Potter girl to arrive.

"I suppose you want me to sod off," Buffy said in a cool voice as she regarded the taller, athletic girl warily.

"Actually, no," Katie said, her voice equally cool as she regarded the tiny, older girl with a trace of suspicion in her eyes. "I just wanted to tell you something. Harry has always been protected in our House and before you came, he was a hero. Until Draco stood up this morning and called you one. I realized something. We don't know the first thing about you."

Buffy opened her mouth to talk, but Katie held up a slim hand to quiet the other girl down. "You may have lied to Harry unintentionally, but I thought we were friends, Buffy. I thought I could trust you."

Buffy leaned against the wall, feeling as though her heart was going to burst out of her chest out of frustration. "There are things in this world I have to keep secret," she said quietly. "My true identity is one of them, but if you do want to know, and I suspect you do, since you're wearing that look on your face, I'm a vampire Slayer."

Katie's eyes widened slightly, but before she could comment, Buffy hurried on.

"I'm not supposed to tell anyone because my Watcher's Council is threatening to kill both Harry and me if I even expose myself here. I have to live with my secret identity."

"You really are a hero then," Katie said, her cool voice dissolving into a voice filled with awe. "All this time, I just thought you were some normal girl."

"I've never been normal," Buffy said with a sigh. "I've always been singled out. You don't know how long I've waited for my life to go back to normal... and I guess now with Harry's prophecy and all, it never will."

"It took guts to do what you did today, Buffy," Katie said honestly. "You really are a Gryffindor."

"Try telling that to Harry," Buffy said with a slight smile.

"Just give him time," Katie said quietly. "He'll get used to the idea his sister is a reincarnated seer sooner or later."

Buffy frowned slightly when she noticed the look the other girl was giving her. "Can you promise you won't tell anyone about my identity? Not even Tess or Emma, who I know are your two best friends. There's maybe ten people who know who I am, and I--"

"Is Professor Pryce one of them?" Katie asked, her brows knitting together as she began to realize something.

Buffy nodded. "He's a father of a Watcher I was unfortunate enough to have."

Katie suddenly brightened. "It makes sense then! I knew he knew you. He keeps looking at you in class, as though daring you to ask questions or something."

Buffy shrugged. "I'm used to it. He's a good guy, Katie. I know that you don't particularly like him, but he's a good man. Not like his son," she finished with a deep scowl, anger flashing in her hazel eyes.

"How did Draco find out about this?" Katie asked suddenly.

"I asked Ginny Weasley to help me in researching information I needed for the prophecy," Buffy explained. "When she was explaining it to Hermione, Malfoy must have overheard them. Now I know what all of his cryptic hints were about. He was just trying to warn me that he knew and if only I had asked him to keep his tongue..." She sighed again. "Does it really matter, though? It's all out in the open, anyway."

"Harry's just not used to you, yet," Katie said slowly. "I mean, you died. Everyone he's ever loved has either died or left him. And you had a prophecy saying that his godfather may still be alive and I have heard that man meant everything to him!"

Buffy nodded, feeling a headache starting to work up from her tense shoulders and neck. She lifted her hand and began tensely massaging her shoulders before grimacing in pain. "Hopefully someday he'll be able to forgive me for not telling him," she said in an aggravated voice. "I know I just met him a few months ago, but I love him, Katie. He's all I have left."

Katie gave her a slight smile. She could see the love for the younger Potter shining brightly in the eyes of his elder sister. She loved him.

"I would die again for him," Buffy said quietly, pulling her hand away from her neck. "I just..." She didn't want to talk about the prophecy in Harry's name. Harry would tell everyone when he was ready, and she respected him for that. "He's had a hard life. So have I. It's just fate that would bring us two troubled hormone-bombs together now."

Katie gave the girl a comforting smile. "For all it's worth, Buffy... even if the rest of the Gryffindors and the rest of the school hates you for what you've done, you still have a friend here."

"That is really comforting," Buffy told the other girl, taking a step forward to hug her, until she noticed a shadow moving behind the girl. "Katie!" she gasped, pointing quickly. "Look out!"

Katie barely had a second to register as a hand came from nowhere, knocking her harshly on the side of her head. Katie collapsed, hitting the wall hard before crumpling to the floor.

"NO!" Buffy screamed as more voices sounded in the corridor. She turned to see the attacker, a figure in a long, black cloak. A black gloved hand was reaching for her. Before Buffy could react, a cold hand was clamped over her mouth and she felt the sweet surrender of darkness overtake her.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were walking to their common room before dinner that night. Just as they reached the top of the moving staircase, they heard a piercing scream from the corridor. Harry's brain immediately leapt into action and the three teenagers ran to the portrait to find a gruesome scene before them. There was a dark figure in a long cloak holding something in its arms. At its feet lay the unconscious form of Katie Bell. In the blink of an eye, the figure disappeared, but not before Hermione saw what it was holding.

Elizabeth Potter.

But Harry was kneeling beside his fellow Quidditch player, prodding her gently. Hermione pushed him aside and bent down, pulling out her wand. "Ennervate," she whispered.

Katie gasped and looked around, feeling as though her head was going to explode from the intense pain. Pressing a hand to where the figure had struck her, she glanced up at Harry, Ron and Hermione with a panic-stricken look. "Oh, my," she gasped, clapping a hand to her mouth. She looked over their shoulders. She looked around the small area.

"Where is she?" Katie asked, in a voice dulled with pain but edged with anxiety.

"Where's who?" Harry asked patiently.

"Buffy," Hermione said, noticing the look in Katie's eyes. The older girl nodded slowly. She turned to Harry. He looked as though he had just awoken from a long sleep.

"Where is my sister?" Harry asked in an even, controlled voice.

She had told him the truth that morning. Or, rather, Draco Malfoy had told it for her. She had stood there, taking his anger, his pain and had not once thrown it back at him. Until his own stupid prophecy had come out of his mouth. And then all hell had broken loose.

Hermione had announced that Buffy missed Ancient Runes while Laurel Wood had asked them at lunch why Buffy hadn't been in Transfigurations. Harry was able to put two and two together and figured that his sister didn't want to be seen.

She was angry with him. He couldn't blame her. He was still irate over the fact she'd held this from him. She'd bloody died. She'd been dead. Just like his parents. And just like Sirius.

But not anymore, he thought bitterly. Sirius wasn't dead. His sister had told him that much. And if he could ever talk to her again, he could get the whole truth. He had to. But she had kept the truth from him for some reason. He believed she thought it was for his own good.

But now he was standing in front of Katie Bell, who was gazing at him in incredulity. "Harry, your sister was just taken by whoever that was!" Katie choked out. "Aren't you going to do anything?"

"Don't let your pride get in the way, mate," Ron said urgently, feeling suddenly helpless. He knew that despite the anger and animosity between the siblings, underneath all of this hostility they really did love each other.

"Harry, please," Hermione begged. "She would do the same for you..."

"Just stop it!" Harry shouted, backing away from his friends. His eyes were full of frustration as he turned his back on them, willing himself to think. "How... who...?"

"Dumbledore," Hermione said softly from behind him.

"Right," Harry said, struggling to control his emotions. "Right. Ron, you and Hermione should get Katie to the hospital wing immediately."

"I don't need any sodding..." Her protests fell silent when she saw the near-manic look on Harry's face. "All right, I'll go," she said, feeling defeated.

Before they could say anything else, Harry turned on his heel and walked swiftly towards the Great Hall, where he knew the Headmaster would be settling down for dinner.

This wasn't going to be good.

x.0.x.0.x

Chapter 32... Buffy was taken by... whom?

Chapter 33... Quidditch.

To the Readers / Reviewers:

This is a shorter chapter, I KNOW! It had to end on sort of an "uh oh" track. Really, it did!

Besides, this'll give me ample opportunity to do another doublet. Both this chapter and the next chapter are relatively shorter chapters, so this bodes well (right?). Besides, it'll ease the cliffhanger blues.

I think I killed kped...

kped -- Oh, my dear... I hope these two chapters help appease what I assumed was a very freaked out three word review. It wasn't exactly what I was going for, but I'm glad it had that sort of affect! Or, not really glad... more alarmed! See, Draco needs redemption. It's never an easy path and when he does something like this... he has to make it up. That's just my theory in things.

Naitch03 -- No, no, no vengeance demons in my story. I just had to include it is a comic interlude, which sort of worked against the really dark theme of the chapter. No Anyanka or Halfrek or anyone, I promise. As for Draco, he was the spy. He admitted his guilt and then, in some show of insanity, started blabbing about her in front of everyone. I think that answered your questions!

StarBella -- I decided to borrow your nice!Draco for about three seconds before I turned the tables on him. I think the reason Harry was so pissed off is because his worst enemy knew about his sister, and he himself didn't. And there won't be any vengeance demons. That much I can guarantee.

BuffyandDraco -- See, it wasn't meant to be in there much at all... it was just sort of a really off-point attempt at humor because, well, the chapter needed some.

Lady Cinnibar -- I know what you're saying. I've heard all of this before. I'm just saying that the Council has considerable power, and as Giles pointed out in Checkpoint, they're the best politicians in the world. Buffy could have contested everything she wanted. BUT I wanted to prove that Buffy WANTED to know more about what the Council had kept from her, and that is one of the ONLY reasons she went to England. The others will fall into line, too. I'm pretty sure you're correct and I thank you for all of your information. But, for the sole purpose of this story, just pretend the Council has that sort of power. That way, it'll make sense when the Council goes down. Capice?

Next update will be Friday and a much happier chapter. Draco is going to have to work for his redemption now that he's let the cat out of the water and hypothetically drowned it. He was waiting for so long to put Harry down that, in the end, he made himself look like an idjit.

Some of the later chapters are REALLY long, so I hope you enjoy this couplet. You'll need it for the up and coming migraines I'm about to offer you all.

Next update is coming right up... and ignore the x.0.x.0.x. They won't let me use the hyphen anymore... so this is all I have left!