The Phoenix Child by Malli

by Dur'id the Druid

A reposting of the story by Malli. More chapters posted as I edit them for . See my Author Bio for more details. COMPLEATE

5. Chapters 16 to 20

CHAPTER 16: DETENTION

Buffy walked briskly back to her room, desperately missing her friends. She liked the wizarding world and was happy to be back in it, but she didn't think she'd miss her friends this much already. They had been through so much together, both good and bad, and she guessed she took it for granted that they'd always be there. They were a few times when they weren't, like when she got kicked out of her own house, but there were circumstances...

She wasn't going to take lord over them, saying that she had been right, that they shouldn't have kicked her out; however, up until not too long ago, Buffy thought that that went without saying.

Thinking back to the battle with The First, Buffy was reminded of all the potential slayers Willow had activated into real slayers. She honestly had no idea what happened to them all; she had been in such a rush to get to England that she forgot about the slayer issue. It was something she was going to have to talk to Giles about.

Upon reaching her room, Buffy walked straight to the fireplace and decided that maybe a portkey would be best. People could be watching the floo network, and she didn't want anyone to know what she was up to.

Pulling out the books she had brought, Buffy looked up the spell to create a portkey, and quickly read over the incantation. She grabbed a spare piece of parchment, aimed her wand, thought about her destination, and said "portus."

The paper turned blue, causing Buffy to lift an eyebrow, and began to tremble slightly, causing Buffy to step back warily. Then the parchment settled down and returned back to normal.

'Is that supposed to happen?' Buffy thought. She shrugged and picked up the parchment. If it didn't work, she wouldn't go anywhere, no big deal.

As soon as she touched it, she felt a tug behind her navel and only had a brief second for her soft cry of triumph to escape before she disappeared from her room.

She landed unsteadily on the grass outside of her friends' flat, but managed to stay upright thanks to her slayer reflexes. 'Not exactly where I wanted to be, but close enough,' Buffy thought. Next time she'd have to be a little more specific, say the kitchen for instance.

She quickly closed the gap between the door and her current location, all the while getting more excited to see her friends. What if she lost them one day? What would she do?

These types of thoughts were not new to the slayer, but the issue with James, Sirius, and Remus just renewed her fears. They were her friends, come hell or high water, and she wasn't going to let anything happen to them. She couldn't save James, but she was not going to let anyone else die.

She knocked and opened the door, announcing her presence. "Guys? It's me. Thought I'd stop by for a little while."

The gang all came out from the bedroom on the far right, which when open revealed the bedroom covered in books and research materials. "Getting down and dirty, huh?" Buffy joked.

Nobody really heard her, as they were all excited to hear about her first day. Sitting down in the small living room, Buffy shared with them a quick run-through of the day's events.

"So your nephew has a little bit of an attitude problem?" Xander asked after listening patiently, and waiting while Willow and Giles asked the inquiring questions.

Buffy grimaced slightly, remembering her first encounter with her remaining family. "Yeah, we're going to have to work on that."

"I still can't believe you gave someone else a detention. Picking favourites already?" Xander joked.

"I can't believe you gave anyone detention. I thought you'd be more sympathetic after having to sit through so many detentions yourself," Willow said.

"Those were pointless detentions," Buffy said carelessly. "So, enough about my day, how was yours?"

The group glanced at each other for a moment before looking back at Buffy. Giles took off his glasses and Willow walked into the bedroom she had come out of several minutes before.

"We've been researching," Anya said sullenly. "All day."

"I'm fairly certain we've found the cause for why we seem to be five years behind the rest of the world," Giles said, causing Buffy's eyes to widen in anticipation.

"And," she prompted impatiently. Willow walked back into the living room carrying a book in her arms, presumably one she picked up in the bedroom.

"Do you remember these guys?" Willow asked, placing the book open in front of her friend.

Buffy frowned as she tried to place the demon. "Yeah," Buffy said, remembering. "These were those demons that Warren..." Buffy stumbled over the name, glancing ever so slightly at Willow before continuing, "...um, made attack me and blame me for his ex's death."

"Yes, the Rwasundi," Giles said. "In all the rush and excitement that had been going on, I failed to read further into the matter, which it has become apparent that I should have."

"I'm not following you," Buffy said.

"The Rwasundi are not from this dimension, and they're presence causes a temporal disturbance, inducing hallucinations," Giles started.

"And a slightly tingling scalp," Anya interrupted from her spot on the couch.

"Right, we've been through this before," Buffy said confused.

"Remember Halloween? The fear demon?" Xander spoke up.

Buffy's eyes went wide as she remembered the missed description of the demon reading 'actual size'. "What did you miss?" she asked Giles.

"It seems that their presence in our dimension for a few seconds causes the hallucinations, but the longer they stay, the more damage that occurs. How long do you think you fought them, Buffy?"

"Five minutes maybe," Buffy shrugged, unsure. "I can't remember exactly."

"That's what I thought," Giles said. "The demons create a localized temporal disturbance, and the area affected ranges proportionally to the amount of demons. In our case, the three demons, combined with the energy of the Hellmouth, caused the entire town of Sunnydale to be encased in the temporal disturbance.

"For each minute the demons stay in this dimension, a year passes in the area outside of the disturbance. Time slows down with respect to the outside world; since we are all still moving at the same time with respect to each other, we would not notice the difference. I'm not sure if I'm explaining this correctly," Giles said as he looked at his confused slayer.

"No, I think I get it," Buffy said thoughtfully. "We didn't notice the change in speed because we were all going the same speed. If Willow was to start walking extremely slow, while all of us could walk regularly, then we would be at different speeds, and so the difference would be noticeable. But, if we were all going the same speed, then we wouldn't be able to tell a difference," Buffy said slowly.

"Right," Giles said.

"Wow, Buffy," Xander said. "I'm impressed."

"Well, I am living at a school now," Buffy joked.

"You practically lived in the library at school, but that didn't seem to help much," Willow said.

"Yeah, but Hogwarts is magical," Buffy said with a grin.

"What I don't get is how no one else in Sunnydale noticed anything," Anya said. "How can you just miss five years of your life? One day you wake up and you're five years in the future?"

"Ahn," Xander said, "It's Sunnydale. Denial is their mascot, and theme song. Plus, we didn't notice anything."

"Well, that's because we were busy," Anya said defensively. "We didn't have much down time to look at the date or anything. After those demon thingies, Warren tried to kill Buffy, Willow went evil, the world almost ended, and then the First started poking around killing everyone. It all happened so quickly."

"If you think about it, we didn't actually lose five years of our lives," Willow said thoughtfully. She had learned long ago to tune out most of what Anya said. "I mean, we didn't get any older, it's just that everyone else did. It's weird."

Everyone silently contemplated everything before Xander said, "What in our life isn't weird? I mean, it would be weird if nothing was weird."

"That's true," Buffy said. "I wonder what we would do if we were normal." At one point in her life, Buffy longed to be normal, but now she remembered that she was a witch, and if she ever gave up being the Slayer, she'd still never be normal.

"What's normal anyway?" Xander asked. "I mean, Anya's an ex-ex-vengeance demon, Willow's a super-powerful wicca, Giles is a watcher, and you're a slayer and a witch. And I'm a Cyclops. I say normal is overrated."

"Speaking of slayers, whatever happened to the rest of the slayers? I kind of forgot with all the memories coming back," Buffy said.

"Well, Faith took them all back to Angel's place for the time being. Since they got a nice new law agency, they gave us the hotel to use as we see fit," Giles said.

"It's going to be our base of operations," Xander said.

"Faith is going to be the girls' trainer. One of them at least," Willow said. "Kennedy's going to help too, but she has a little power issue she has to get over. The rest of the old potentials are using Wolfram and Hart's connections in order to locate slayers around the world. A new watcher program is being devised by Wesley and we're getting help hiring new employees and what not."

"Why do I think you guys have talked to them recently?" Buffy asked.

"We called to check up on them today. They're doing really well," Willow admitted.

"I installed a new phone," Xander said, indicating the kitchen before Buffy could ask. "Willow helped magic things along a bit."

"You guys have been busy, haven't you?" Buffy said, impressed.

"And tomorrow's going to be even busier," Xander said.

"What's tomorrow?" Buffy asked confused.

"Tomorrow's when we catch up on all the happenings in the last five years. Think of all the things we've missed! All the comic books, video games, TV shows, and movies! My jokes are all old and dated!" Xander complained.

"You're going to be late for detention if you don't hurry up," Giles interrupted, looking at his watch.

Buffy jumped up and raced to hug everyone goodbye. The last thing she needed was to be late to detention; who knows what Umbridge would do to Neville.

Quickly turning the parchment she had used before back into a portkey, she travelled back to Hogwarts, landing on top of her bed. Running into the living area, she saw Celsia sitting on the back of a chair, preening her feathers.

"You found me, good." Buffy said, "But I've got to run. I'll see you in a bit."

Scrambling out of her quarters, Buffy rushed down to her office, which she had found after her second class earlier that morning. Luckily, she was actually a couple of minutes early and Neville hadn't shown up yet.

Buffy walked into her office and sat down behind her desk, waiting for the young man to arrive. She didn't have to wait long before a timid knock came from her door.

Buffy stood and opened the door wide, allowing Neville ample room to enter; she had long since stopped answering, "Come in."

Neville was trembling slightly while he slowly walked into the room. He had heard stories about a quill that carved into your hand while you wrote. He didn't know if he could stand the pain.

"Have a seat," Buffy said, gesturing to the chair in front of her desk. She was just about to close the door when Professor Umbridge appeared in the doorway. Inside, Buffy cringed. 'What could she want now?'

"Professor!" Buffy exclaimed. "What a pleasant surprise! What are you doing here?"

Hem hem. Umbridge cleared her throat as she looked at the still trembling Neville and the overly cheerful blonde girl. "I thought you might be interested in this," Umbridge said, handing her a quill.

"You want him to write lines?" Buffy asked with a raised eyebrow, not noticing that Neville suddenly went pale.

"Yes. You'll find it very effective in getting your point across," Umbridge replied.

"Writing something over and over again can be very tedious," Buffy said, remembering one time in detention she had to copy lines out of the dictionary; certain words like 'responsibility', 'failure', and 'expulsion'. That had been after the Parent Teacher meeting had gone awry; Snyder wasn't too happy.

"It's hard to forget something that you write repeatedly," Umbridge said with a cruel little smile.

"Well, thanks," Buffy said, taking the quill. "I'll be sure to put it to good use."

"And when you decide that the Potter boy needs detention, don't hesitate to make him write. He's gotten better at it, but he still has a long way to go before the message really sinks in."

Buffy started to get a little angry that Umbridge had obviously given Harry plenty of detentions already. It was hardly a month into school! "I will, thanks again," Buffy said dismissively. "Goodnight," Buffy said, closing the door.

She turned around and sat in the chair behind her desk, facing a faint-looking Neville. "Are you alright?" Buffy asked, concerned.

Neville managed a weak nod, but said nothing.

Buffy twirled the quill in her hands contemplatively, letting the silence grow as she studied Neville.

"Do you know why you're here?" Buffy asked suddenly, startling Neville and making him jump a little.

Neville started to shake his head, before changing his mind and answering in the affirmative. "I'm here because of Harry."

Buffy kept quiet for another minute. "Are you friends with Harry?"

"Y... yes," Neville said. "I think so."

"You don't know for sure?" Buffy asked, curious.

"Well, I like him," Neville said, more calmly. He was still cautious of her and what she was going to make him do, and he was eying that quill carefully, but she was so relaxed and calm that he felt himself calm down a bit.

"Do you think Harry likes you?"

"I hope so," Neville said. "I mean... yes, I think he does. It's just, he's best friends with Ron and Hermione. I'd be just like a fourth wheel."

"Do you have your own little group like Harry does?"

"N... no. Not really," Neville said, getting a little embarrassed and uncomfortable with the line of questioning.

"Do you know why that is?" Buffy asked. Before he could answer, she quickly changed the subject. "What is your favourite class?"

Neville almost sighed in relief as he answered, "Herbology."

"Why do you like it?"

"I guess it's always been something that interested me, and it's the only thing I'm good at. There are so many different kind of plants, each with their own adaptabilities, uses, and defences."

"What class is your least favourite?"

"Potions," Neville answered immediately with a grimace.

"Really?" Buffy asked, mildly surprised. She had been expecting that answer, but since his favourite class was Herbology, she found it interesting. "Herbology and Potions go really well together, as lots of the potions contain many different plants."

"I'm just not good at it. There are too many steps, and I'm so clumsy and I always mess something up, or put something in too early, or mix something wrong..." Neville rambled on nervously.

"Why don't you just slow down and take it one step at a time?" Buffy asked.

Neville was silent for a moment, as if arguing with himself, before he said quietly, "It's Professor Snape."

Buffy's Slayer hearing allowed her to catch what Neville had mumbled, but she wanted him to repeat it anyway. "I'm sorry?"

"It's Professor Snape," Neville said with more volume. "My boggart turns into Professor Snape," Neville hinted.

Buffy's mind quickly searched for the familiar sounding term boggart. A little light bulb went off in her head as she correctly recalled that a boggart would turn into the thing one fears the most.

"You're afraid of Severus?" Buffy asked, remembering the younger Severus of her school years. She could only imagine that he had gotten worse. How he became a professor, she had no idea. "He can be a little intimidating," Buffy agreed.

"Everything I do is wrong, even before I do it," Neville said, warming up a little more, now that Professor Fox seemed to be on his side.

Buffy frowned as she heard Neville continue on about what Snape does in class. When he finished, slightly embarrassed at his unusual outburst, Buffy put the quill down on her desk and leaned forward.

"Are you trustworthy?" Buffy asked, looking into his eyes.

"I'd like to think so," Neville gulped.

Buffy picked up her wand and pointed it overhead, casting a silencing charm over the room. Then she locked the door.

Neville was getting more nervous; was she going to have to silence his screams of help? "I don't want to write lines," Neville said. "I'd rather clean the trophy room for you, without magic," he added.

Buffy frowned at him. She knew how big the trophy room was, having had to clean it a couple of times herself, and she couldn't see why he would rather do that then write lines. It was tedious and boring, but it didn't hurt. Unless...

"Why don't you want to write lines?" Buffy asked him.

"I just... I just don't want to," Neville said meekly.

"I won't make you write lines if you tell me why you don't want to."

"Because the quill hurts!" Neville blurted. "I've heard about that quill, and I don't want to be carving into my skin!"

"What?" Buffy said incredibly, looking at the innocent looking quill on her desk. She should have known Umbridge was up to something in the way she insisted on using that quill, but she just dismissed it. She figured Umbridge didn't know she had her own quill; which actually seems pretty ridiculous now that she thought about it.

"I know, I'm not brave, I shouldn't be in Gryffindor, I should be in Hufflepuff, but I don't want to write lines," Neville rambled.

Buffy looked back at Neville, the quill temporarily forgotten. "Why would you think you shouldn't be in Gryffindor?"

"I'm not brave, or daring, or anything that fits a Gryffindor," Neville said miserably. "Everyone says so."

"Who's everyone?" Buffy asked irked.

"Well, Malfoy in particular, but I know everyone thinks it."

"Malfoy?" Buffy asked surprised. "Lucius' son?"

"Yes," Neville said, confused as to why she didn't know that. Everyone knew that.

"Well, if he's anything like his father, which I'm sure he is, then what are you doing listening to him? The sorting hat put you in Gryffindor for a reason. It can see inside you, it can see things that other people might miss; things that you might miss yourself if you're not looking for them.

"And as for what the other people think, for one, who cares? Don't worry about what they think. Just be yourself, no restrictions. If they like you for you, then you're all set, if not, then you don't need to be hanging out with people like them. I doubt that everybody thinks you don't belong in Gryffindor. I was psychic for a while, and I must say that you may think you know what someone is thinking, but ninety nine point nine percent of the time, you're so completely wrong.

"Oh, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone that I was psychic. It was a demon thingy."

Neville sat in astonishment. He never would have expected this from his new professor.

"About this quill," Buffy said, picking it back up. She reached for a piece of parchment and drew a line straight down the paper, starting in surprise when she felt an invisible knife cut into the skin on the top of her right hand. Just as soon as she felt it, the cut and blood disappeared, leaving no trace behind.

Buffy looked up at Neville incredulously. "She actually used this on people?" Buffy asked, while Neville merely nodded. "She actually used this on Harry?" 'Oh, that toad is going to pay,' Buffy thought.

She was about to go storming off after Umbridge, when Neville's words reminded her that she was here for another reason. She could deal with Umbridge later, in a more practical manner.

"I don't have to write lines now, right?" Neville asked hopefully.

"No, no one will be writing lines anytime soon," Buffy said, breaking the quill in half, much to Neville's amazement.

"Who are you?"

Buffy took a deep breath before answering. "Sometimes I don't even know," Buffy admitted. "I'm in the process of figuring that out. When I do, I'll let you know."

Neville just looked confused.

"The most important thing right now, is that you don't tell anyone anything about me, do you understand? If you're friends ask, which I'm sure they will, because they care about you, just tell them that you had to write lines and that you hate me. Understand?"

Neville still looked confused, but he nodded his head in agreement.

"Good. Now we can get onto more practical matters. Such as the real reason you have detention tonight," Buffy said. "Amazingly enough, I didn't randomly pick you out of the class. I heard some people talking about you in the hall, about Potions," Buffy clarified when she saw Neville's face drop a little, "and I thought we could help each other.

"Severus can be a real pain in the ass, I'm not denying that," Buffy said, causing a small grin to appear on Neville's face. "You just can't let him bother you. If he says something to you, so what? If he takes points away, so what? He's not going to kill you, he's just trying to intimidate you so that you'll mess up and he can have a good laugh. Just ignore it. If you let him bother you, he'll bother you. If you don't let him bother you, he won't. He can try, but it won't do any good. Your reactions just egg him on, so stop reacting."

"But it's hard. And I'm not good at Potions anyway; I've blown up or melted my cauldron over a dozen times!" Neville said.

"Well, hopefully I can help you with that," Buffy said. "Can you cook?"

"Pardon?" Neville asked, surprised in the quick shift in topic.

"Can you cook? Have you ever made food before? The muggle way, I mean," Buffy clarified.

"No, my grandmother won't let me near anything in our kitchen. I'm very forgetful and clumsy. I'd wreck the place."

"Have you ever cooked with your mom before? My mom used to let me be her little helper, even though I didn't actually do anything," Buffy said. She stopped when she noticed that Neville's face got sad and closed off.

"No," Neville said.

Buffy recognized that look; she had worn one similar for quite a while after her mother had been sick. She then recalled that he had said his grandmother had forbid him from entering the kitchen, not his mother.

"Neville," She prompted carefully, wanting him to open up a little. "Do you want to talk about it? It can help." When he didn't answer she continued, "When my mom," Buffy stopped slightly as she got caught on the word mom. She had thought of Joyce as her mom for so many years, and she was. Joyce would never replace her biological mom, but she would never be thought of as less than a mother. She had taken care of her like a daughter for about six years.

"My mom got a brain tumour and had to have surgery," Buffy continued. "She got through the surgery well, and everyone thought she was going to be okay. But one day I came home and found her on the couch. She wasn't moving. She had an aneurysm due to the surgery and died; it was so unexpected. I never even got to say goodbye." Buffy was thinking not only of Joyce, but also of her mom and dad and brother. She had never said goodbye.

"My parents are at St. Mungo's," Neville said, opening up to the blonde who opened up to him. He felt a connection of sorts with her; she might understand how he felt in a way that not many people did.

"A Death Eater used the Cruciatus Curse on them so long, trying to get information, that they went crazy. I never knew them for who they really were, and every time I see them, they have no idea who I am."

"I didn't know the Cruciatus could make you go mad," Buffy said, bewildered.

"If you're held under long enough," Neville said bitterly.

"Before the surgery, my mom was going crazy, saying things that didn't make sense, talking to us as if we were someone else. Then my friend went crazy for a while; it broke my other friend's heart. I know what it's like," Buffy said quietly. "They might not show it," Buffy said, "but I know that some part of them recognizes you and are proud of who you have become."

Neville was shocked. He had finally met someone who could somewhat understand how he was feeling, and what it was like. She didn't pity him; that's what he hated the most. People just didn't understand, that's why he never told anyone.

"Enough of this sappy, corny soap opera talk," Buffy said, standing up. "We've got work to do." With a couple of waves of her arm, and a few well placed spells, she had transfigured a part of her office into a muggle kitchen. All that studying on Sunday had paid off, but Buffy felt that there was something more going on. She was remembering spells too easily and getting them to work a little too nicely after having been away for so long, and after not finishing school. Maybe it was her slayer power.

"Wow," was all Neville could manage.

"Once upon a time, I used to be fairly good at Potions; amazingly enough, I am a horrible cook. Two wrongs might not make a right, but hopefully two bad cooks will make a great batch of cookies. What do you say?"

"Wouldn't two bad cooks just burn the kitchen down faster?" Neville asked.

"If you look at it that way!" Buffy said with fake exasperation. "It's all about attitude, now let's get going."

They walked over to the small kitchen corner and lifted the lid of the mixer. "Now what's first?" Buffy asked.

"You're asking me?" Neville squeaked.

"A recipe, we need a recipe," Buffy said. "And a recipe is very similar to a potion's assignment." Buffy opened the cupboard above her head and pulled out a small cookbook and flipped through it to find a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. "A recipe is just a list of ingredients we'll need, and the steps we need to take in order to have a finished product. Just take things one at a time.

"What should we do first?" Buffy asked, setting the recipe in front of Neville.

"Um... set out the ingredients?" Neville said timidly.

"Correct! We must make sure we have all the ingredients, because if you're in the middle of it and find out you've run out of eggs, well, bad things could happen. And if you need to substitute, find out what the correct substitutions are beforehand, otherwise, things could explode."

Neville nodded his head, remembering how many times his cauldron had exploded. "But what if I forget what I've done or not done? I'm horrible at remembering."

"Well, just write down everything you've done as soon as you've done it, or at least check it off." Neville nodded gratefully; he had never thought of that!

One by one, they set out the ingredients that they needed to create the cookies, Neville marking beside each item they had. Buffy actually had to transfigure an egg, which she warned Neville not to do in Potions. Who knew what could happen?

"Next, preheat the oven." Buffy fiddled with the buttons for a while before turning to Neville desperately. "Do you know how to do that?"

Neville shook his head with wide eyes. They were going to blow up the school; he could see it now.

"Okay, I'll figure it out." She prodded the buttons a little more, but a beeping sound emitted from someplace. "Oops," Buffy said. The beeping continued, with no sign of letting up anytime soon. It was starting to get annoying. Buffy didn't like to be annoyed.

She started pounding on all the buttons, trying to get the screeching sound to stop. Finally, she pulled out her wand and pointed it at the stove, and muttered something incoherently.

A flash of yellow light emitted from the wand, struck the oven, and was absorbed inside. For a second, there was blissful silence, as the beeping stopped. But then...

BOOM!

The oven exploded, with flames dancing around the edge and smoke billowing from the door. Buffy and Neville stood covered in soot not too far from the small explosion.

"Did I do that?" Buffy asked, remembering her Steve Urkel from Family Matters.

Neville could only nod in astonishment. 'I knew this was going to happen!'

Buffy once again lifted her wand, causing Neville to flinch slightly. "Oh, don't worry," Buffy said. "I'll fix it." Water shot out of her wand, much to Neville's relief, quenching the fire. The smoke eventually got swept away but they were still covered in soot. The oven was ruined.

"Let's try this again, shall we?" Buffy asked.

"Are you crazy?" Neville asked. "You just blew up the oven!" He had never seen a professor screw up before, and he was shocked.

"I can make a new one," Buffy said. With a few waves of her wand, the oven was as good as new.

"But you don't even know how to work it. You might blow it up again."

"Well, we're not going to get any better unless we work at this, are we?" Buffy asked.

"No," Neville said reluctantly. "At least I'm not the only one who blows things up."

Buffy cracked a small smile as she thought of all the things she had blown up, or burnt down, or caused to sink into the earth and disappear for forever.

"Alright, let me try this time," Neville bravely stepped up to the oven and started pressing different buttons.

The two of them were up until 1:00 in the morning before they were able to successfully create a batch of cookies that actually turned out really well. They had gone through many batches, several more explosions, and a few small fires.

The first time they turned on the mixer with the dry ingredients, they turned it on too high, causing the flour to spray everywhere and cover their corner of the room, and themselves, with a fine layer of white powder. Eventually they got it right; eventually the cookies were edible.

It wasn't until 1:15 that Neville finally made it back to his bed, tired and sore, but happy. He never thought he'd see the day when he was actually happy he got detention.

Unknown to him, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had stayed up as late as they could, worried about their friend and the treatment he might have received at the hands of the new professor. Unfortunately, they fell asleep around 12:30, exhaustion of the first day back overcoming them.

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CHAPTER 17: MEETINGS

The next morning, Dean was kind enough to wake Neville before going down to breakfast. "How was detention?" he asked carefully.

"Awful," Neville said simply, remembering (amazingly enough) that he was supposed to have had a horrible time. He wasn't exactly sure who Professor Fox was, but she definitely wasn't as bad as everyone believed. And she was loads better than Umbridge!

"Sorry, mate," Dean grimaced. "Did you have to write lines?"

"Yeah," Neville said, rubbing his hand believably. Neville was really starting to warm up to the idea. This time, he was the one with the secret; he was the one that knew something the rest of them didn't. It made him feel superior in a way; not cocky, just more confident. For Neville, the boy that lacked all confidence, this was a major development.

"Well, we don't see her today, so there's no way you'll get it again. Not that you did anything last time. That was so unfair!" Dean said, waiting for Neville to get dressed before they went to breakfast together.

Walking down to the common room, the two spotted Harry, Ron, and Hermione all sprawled on the couch and chairs by the fireplace, asleep.

"Rise and shine boys and girl," Dean called out, brandishing his wand with a smile.

The trio awoke from their deep slumber and Harry, with his fast reflexes, was able to dodge the feather pillows headed his way, while Ron and Hermione got battered.

"Hey!" Ron cried out. "What was that for?"

"I thought cold water might be a little too mean, and I had to get you up somehow," Dean answered.

"I think next time a little shake will suffice," Hermione said, a little snappishly.

"Whoa," Dean said, backing up a step. "Next time I'll let you wake up on your own."

"Sorry," Hermione apologized. "I'm just a little tired. We were up late waiting for... Neville," Hermione finished, realizing that Neville was right beside Dean.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked, also seeing Neville.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Neville said, slightly puzzled at everyone's reactions. Maybe they really did care for him more than he thought...

"She made him write lines," Dean said.

Hermione let out a little gasp, while Harry and Ron scowled. Hermione rushed over and took up Neville's hand to inspect it.

"Well, it doesn't look too bad. There's a potion I can make up for you if it still hurts," Hermione offered.

"Er, no thanks," Neville said. He was about to add something else when Ron's stomach growled loudly.

"Sorry," Ron said. "Can we continue this after breakfast? I'm starved." Everyone laughed slightly, the tension broken, and they headed out to the Great Hall, each occupied by their own thoughts of what to do about their lack of Defence lessons. The DA was about to form...

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Sirius sat in yet another room in his old house, surrounded by dusty, and in some cases decrepit, boxes and trunks, whose contents were covering the floor. He couldn't sleep the previous night, and instead had occupied his time by looking for his personal things.

Everything in his old apartment must have been stashed somewhere in the house; they wouldn't have thrown it all away when he was trucked to Azkaban, would they?

Frustrated with yet another useless box filled with his mother's moth-eaten clothes, Sirius tossed the relatively light box across the room, knocking over the tower of brown packing boxes, causing several to bust open upon hitting the floor.

Sirius groaned tiredly as he looked at the new mess he had just made; as if the house didn't have enough he had to clean up already!

He made his way over to the corner of the room, stepping over the boxes as he went. As he bent down to set an overturned trunk upright, a flash of silver caught his eye. He left the trunk and headed over to another pile of mess.

Lifting up the articles covering the silver object, Sirius revealed a knight's helmet. He almost jumped in joy at finally finding something. It was the helmet he and James had once sent to Buffy while they were at Hogwarts and she was stuck at home. He couldn't believe it was here! After Buffy had died, James gave the helmet to Sirius, and Sirius had kept it as a tribute to his lost love.

Sirius was actually surprised it was never returned to Hogwarts; Dumbledore was sure to have known that was where it was from, although he was also sure to have known it was them that had taken it in the first place.

Picking up the helmet, Sirius looked back at the pile of boxes from which that one had fallen. He lifted off the next one, and was surprised by a familiar glimpse of black that showed from behind the tower.

"It can't be," Sirius muttered to himself as he stepped forward to peer over the high wall. This time he did jump for joy, excited at seeing his old motorcycle. He wheeled it out joyfully, running his hand over its dull surface. This would be one thing he would be more than happy to clean up.

Sirius pulled the bike out of the room and set it, and the helmet, out into the hall. He had to find something else first.

With renewed vigour, Sirius dug through boxes, until he finally found the one that he was looking for. Sirius sat down on the dusty floor, a broken picture frame held gently between his hands. A bubbly blonde was wrapped up comfortably in younger Sirius' arms, as they lay on the coach. Lily had taken the picture of them secretly and had presented it to them both as a six-month anniversary gift.

That was before everything had gone to hell and people had disappeared from their lives forever. Sirius closed his eyes as he remembered the good times between the six crazy Gryffindors. Twelve years in Azkaban had changed him, but he found that the more he remembered from happier days, the less haunted he felt by the mere mention of Dementors.

It was ironic that happy memories were the one thing that could overcome the effects of the Dementors, but it was the one thing that it was impossible to come up with around them.

Exhaustion finally overcoming the scraggly man, the last thought he had was that he was going to have to go through the rest of this with Remus.

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Buffy woke up and climbed out of bed. Years of living as a slayer had made it difficult for her to stay asleep for long periods of time, much to her chagrin; she would have loved to stay in bed until two one day.

Getting dressed, she greeted Celsia and was granted a few uplifting notes. Buffy walked down to her classroom feeling good about the night before. Hopefully, Neville would benefit from their 'detention'; the poor boy only needed a little guidance and self-confidence.

Buffy practically bounced through the door, only to have her good mood get shoved down by the anger and rage that arose from the person sitting, yet again, behind her desk. Buffy's eyes flashed golden for a millisecond, before she took a deep breathe to calm down.

"Good morning, Professor," Umbridge greeted with a sour look on her face. "Did detention go well for you yesterday?"

Buffy was about to do something she would probably have regretted, but was interrupted by a group of Slytherins entering the classroom. "It went great," Buffy forced herself to say, carefully controlling her emotions and facial expressions. "Unfortunately, the quill you lent me broke before I could even use it! Flimsy little thing it was," Buffy said, turning away from Umbridge's shocked and outraged look, picking up the role.

The last students had strolled into the classroom while Buffy was talking to Umbridge. Buffy started calling out names on the list, keeping her eyes trained on the parchment in order to keep her temper calm. There was no use getting all worked up in front of the students, Slytherins especially; only bad things could come of losing her temper, and inevitably showing her strength.

"Malfoy, Draco," Buffy called out before quickly realizing this was Lucius' son, the one that Neville had basically said was the school's bully. She lifted her eyes slightly to find the son of the man she had hated at school.

"Here," a voice from the back called out, bored.

Buffy's eyes landed on Malfoy, and she let out a soft, surprised gasp. She didn't know how she had missed the kid earlier; not only did he look an awful lot like his father, but his hair was stood out amazingly well.

"Is there a problem?" Malfoy asked, intrigued at the new professor's behaviour. He had thought that she was a ministry official, and he had to have known his father, and therefore him; there was no need to be surprised.

Buffy's emotions were already running crazy thanks to Umbridge, and she wasn't prepared to see a person that looked like a replica of a dead friend. A friend that had sacrificed his life to save her, her friends, and the world, a friend she thought she'd never see again.

"Professor?" Malfoy drawled with a slight smirk.

Buffy tried to clear her throat and rein back her emotions. He even had the same cocky accent! "I'm sorry," Buffy apologized quickly. "I wasn't prepared for a Billy Idol wannabe in the class, that's all."

In a class full of pureblood Slytherins, no one got the reference, but they were smart enough to know that it was an insult. No one could believe that a professor would insult a Malfoy, let alone a ministry employed official. His family was supposed to have the power and connections to control the ministry, even though it was never said outright, it was just accepted.

"Excuse me," Malfoy interrupted coldly as Buffy continued on down the role.

Buffy looked up slowly, amazed at the boy's nerve. Obviously he had the same attitude problem as Spike as well. "I'm sorry?" Buffy asked.

"What did you say about me?" Malfoy clarified.

"I said you were a Billy Idol wannabe," Buffy repeated. On his confused and outraged look, Buffy continued. "You know, Billy Idol. The famous muggle rock star?"

The class became deathly quiet as they all took in what she had just said. A professor had dared to compare a Slytherin, a Malfoy at that, to a muggle. It was like the worst sin ever committed.

Malfoy was beyond outraged and could barely find the words to respond to her. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Excuse me?" Buffy said, her own outrage coming to the surface. "I am the professor of this class, and I will not tolerate your attitude. Do you understand?"

"I think you're the one that doesn't understand," Draco sneered. "Do you have any idea who my father is?"

"Lucius? Yeah, I know him, and if you think he's going to help you, you're sadly mistaken."

"So who'd you shag to get the job? You obviously don't have the qualifications for it," Draco said, changing the subject and trying to get under her skin in some way. She wouldn't get away with treating him like this.

"Detention. Tonight, 8:00 in my office," Buffy fumed.

"I didn't do anything," Draco snarled.

"You opened your mouth. That's offensive enough as it is, without having to listen to the words that spew from it."

"I'm sure the High Inquisitor won't approve of my detention," Draco said, appealing to the person he thought would get him out of this mess. He was not going to go to detention. Umbridge respected him like he should be respected; some blonde wasn't going to ruin his reign here.

"I don't need the High Inquisitor's permission to give you detention," Buffy said before Umbridge could respond. "Since you've obviously failed to notice, and refuse to listen, I'll tell you one more time. I'm the professor of this class and I will damn well do what I please and there's nothing you can do about it but sit down and shut up. Got it?"

Draco was too enraged, and shocked, that he couldn't say anything for a moment. But he paused for too long, and Buffy took that as a yes.

"Good. Now get the hell out of my class." Buffy walked over to the door and opened it, staring at Draco expectantly. When he didn't move she took out her wand and said, "Do you need some help?"

"Don't think for a second that you're going to get away with this," Draco said unbelievably, still not moving.

"Fine," Buffy said. She muttered a spell, making Draco zoom across the room, through the door, and slam into the wall across from the classroom. Buffy stood in the doorway looking down at Draco. "I don't want you back in my class. Is that understood? Find another course to take, because Defence Against the Dark Arts will no longer be on your schedule. Have a nice day!" she finished with a bright smile and slammed the door in his face. All that rage at Umbridge she had building up was let loose, and it felt good.

Draco stood staring at the closed door in shock. She couldn't kick him out of class; she didn't have the power. He had to admit, she didn't seem to be as much of a pushover as he first thought, but this was ridiculous. First, he was going to write a letter to his father, and then he was going to go directly to Professor Snape.

As he turned around, intent on his new mission, the door opened again, and a smirk came over Draco's face. He was right, Umbridge was going to show the stupid blonde who was boss around here. That line of thought didn't last long, as his books slammed into the back of his head and the door slammed shut again.

Her life was going to be over. Especially with the return of the Dark Lord. She didn't have any idea who she was messing with...

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The entire class was silent. No one said a thing and no one moved a muscle.

That lasted about a minute before the students and High Inquisitor overcame the shock of what Professor Fox just did, and the room exploded in noise.

"Class is dismissed," Buffy said, yelling over the noise. "Obviously no one can concentrate today, so what's the point of even trying?" When no one made a move to leave the room, Buffy yelled again. "Class is over! If you don't leave now, you'll all have detention tonight. Now go!" Finally, people were so outraged that they just left the room in search of someone more understanding, namely Snape, their head of house.

"Do you have any idea what you just did?" Umbridge hissed after everyone was gone. "That was Lucius Malfoy's son. Lucius is a prominent member of the wizarding community and contributes lots of money to the Ministry. The minister is not going to be furious. You've just made a powerful enemy. I suggest you apologize, tell him it was just a joke, and beg for forgiveness. Then maybe, maybe, you'll live to see another sunrise."

"Over dramatic much?" Buffy said flippantly. "He was behaving inappropriately in my class and was questioning my authority. He deserved any punishment he got." Buffy hadn't gone patrolling in so long, and all that pent up energy and repressed anger at Umbridge had just surged out. She didn't realize that she could get that mad at someone, but he had kept saying the wrong things, thinking he was better than everyone else. He had to learn a lesson. "Besides, I don't beg."

"It is Draco Malfoy!" Umbridge practically screamed.

"I know," Buffy said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, I'm going to inform the Minister of your foolish behaviour immediately. Hopefully I can let him know before Lucius finds out. I must say I won't be too disappointed with your removal from the school." With that said, Umbridge left the classroom, leaving Buffy all alone.

Buffy just looked around her happily and sighed. "That felt so good!" she said with a smile. Her good mood wasn't even ruined by the fact that her identity was in trouble. She'd figure some way to smooth the whole thing over. No big deal...

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"You foolish child!" Snape snarled as the cauldron of a fourth year Hufflepuff exploded, covering himself in a blue solution, which began to cause his skin to turn yellow and flaky. He cleaned up the mess with a wave of his wand and quick "Evanesco." "Take him to the hospital wing," he ordered a fourth year Gryffindor, "But don't touch him!"

Ginny watched quietly as two quickly walked out the door and up the stairs. She hoped he would be okay; the potion wasn't very safe.

Just as Snape was about to rant again and take points off of the next person that breathed, the door slammed open and an enraged Draco Malfoy stepped into the dungeon.

Snape took a small breath to calm himself down before talking to the son of his 'fellow' Deatheater. "Aren't you supposed to be in class, Mr. Malfoy?"

"At the moment I don't have a class, sir," Malfoy said, just barely restraining himself.

Ginny was very interested in what was going on. She had never seen Malfoy look this furious, and she had no idea what he meant by his last statement, but it was obviously something very important. She was going to find out what was going on; anything that made Malfoy mad was worth celebrating.

"May I talk to you privately, please? It's important."

Snape bowed his head in assent, and indicated the door behind him. Malfoy walked furiously over to his office and Snape followed behind him, not saying a word to the rest of the class. Obviously, something very important had happened.

Once the door shut, all the whispered quietly, so as not to be heard by Snape, about what had happened. "Quiet!" Ginny whispered. She took out an Extendable Ear out of her bag; one never knew when they would come in handy. The ear her brothers invented extended until it was by the door the two Slytherins were behind, and everyone quietly listened.

"Professor Fox kicked Malfoy out of class!" Ginny informed the class amazed. "He's not allowed to come back!"

The class erupted in whispers again, and Ginny was trying to get them all to quiet down so that she could hear what else was saying, when she heard a loud noise coming from outside the door. She quickly pulled the ear back and hide it in her bag, while the rest of the class went back to work. The loud sound was footsteps pounding down the stairs, and the door flew open, emitting what looked like the entire class of fifth year Slytherins. Professor Fox couldn't have kicked out the entire class, could she?

Snape also heard the loud noise and opened his door to investigate, believing it to be his fourth year students fooling around; he got a big surprise when he saw his dungeon filled with outraged Slytherins. "Class dismissed," he said. All the fourth years hurriedly packed their bags, wanting to be away from an angry Snape; they weren't suicidal.

Ginny tried to take the longest to leave, but she couldn't make out anything from the amount of noise the group was producing. She didn't even know if they were making any intelligent words at all, or if it was just a bunch of outraged noises. She couldn't wait to tell Hermione, Ron, and Harry.

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"Minister, what do you plan on doing?" Umbridge asked. She was currently sitting in the Minister's office after informing him of the new professor's behaviour.

"I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding," Fudge said.

"You're going to remove her, right?" Umbridge asked with a snarl.

"What? Of course not," Fudge said with a small disbelieving laugh.

"Is she even qualified for the position?" Umbridge said desperately. With each passing moment, she was beginning to believe that Sarah Fox had slept her way to the position.

"Are you?" Fudge asked. "That's the whole point. She's not supposed to be. Neither of you have had any experience in the Dark Arts; it's a theoretical course now, or did you forget?"

"How can you be so calm, sir? Do you know what's going to happen? Lucius is not going to be happy."

"It'll be okay," Fudge said calmly. "Sarah's a nice girl."

"Minister," Umbridge almost pleaded.

"Sarah's a nice girl," he repeated. "She might need some help getting out of this mess. I'm sure she didn't mean anything; she's just not used to dealing with students. The guys she used to work with weren't very respectable, if you know what I mean. I trust you'll help her out. Good day," Fudge said dismissively.

Umbridge could only stare at the Minister in disbelief. He wasn't going to do anything?

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It was lunchtime and Ginny raced into the Great Hall to find her older friends. "Ron! Hermione! Harry!" Ginny yelled excitedly as she sat down beside them. "You'll never guess what happened!" she said, and proceeded to retell the events of potions.

"You're joking!" Ron said, spitting out the pumpkin juice he had in his mouth.

"Would I joke about something like this? Everyone's talking about it!"

When the oblivious trio looked around, they noticed that the great hall was filled with students that were more excited than usual, and the noise was much louder than usual. Looking at the Head table, Snape, Umbridge, and Professor Fox were missing, as were several Slytherins from their house table.

All three were staring at Ginny in shock. "Can she do that?"

"I don't know if she can, but she did."

"I bet Malfoy's not happy."

"She's gonna get in so much trouble!"

"I don't know whether I should be happy or not! I mean, I'm happy about Malfoy, but what about Neville?"

"I'm happy!"

"I can't believe she did that!"

"What's going to happen now?"

The doors of the hall opened, emitting a blonde professor that didn't seem fazed by the shocking events at all. In fact, there seemed to be a slight bounce in her step. The hall went silent as they all watched her walk up to the table, sit down and take a roll from the basket in front of her.

"Hungry?" Dumbledore asked pleasantly.

"Starved," Buffy said, biting into her roll. It was delicious. It had been so long since she'd had the delicious food of Hogwarts.

Unfortunately, her meal was cut short as once again the doors of the Great Hall opened and a furious Snape billowed in. "Professor Fox! A word please?"

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CHAPTER 18: SNAPE

"She is pretty, isn't she," Lucius whispered to Severus, who was staring avidly at the Gryffindor table one morning.

Snape turned his head sharply to look at one of his Slytherin friends. "I don't know what you're talking about," Snape said, picking up his fork and concentrating on his meal.

"Don't treat me like a fool," Malfoy spat. "You've been drooling over that blonde since she first arrived at Hogwarts; denial doesn't work unless you are more capable of hiding your emotions."

"I have not been drooling," Snape said grumpily. He didn't think anyone had noticed, but in retrospect, he should have realized he has not been very discreet. How many other people had noticed?

"I'm not mad at you," Malfoy said calmly. "She is a looker, even if she is in Gryffindor. Even if she is a Potter," he spat her name viciously. "No, this could be good. The Potter's need to be taken down a notch or two, and I believe that you're just the man to do it."

"What are you thinking?" Snape asked suspiciously. He was torn; he knew he had to follow Malfoy, there was no question about it, but this was the first time that he found himself not wanting to. In all fairness, he didn't really know Buffy, but he had seen her around and had watched her talking to her friends. She was beautiful, had a gorgeous smile, and a contagious laugh; unfortunately, she was frequently hanging around with her brother and Black.

"Well, she is a girl, and would more than likely be a good shag," Malfoy sneered.

Snape was drinking from his goblet and choked slightly on hearing the 'plan'.

"Oh, you can't tell me you've never thought about it," Malfoy said incredulously. "Hell, I've thought about it, along with just about every other guy in school. It's just nobody would do anything because she's James' younger sister. It's pathetic, really."

"And it has nothing to do with the fact that she's a fourth year," Snape said disbelievingly; however, he couldn't deny that he'd thought about it. He was a teenage boy, after all; looking at linoleum made him want to have sex.

Malfoy just shrugged and took a long draught from his pumpkin juice. "I'm sure it would be quite a scandal for the virtuous Potter girl to be, well, not so virtuous. And I'm sure you're stunt would rack up some points with the people in the higher positions," he said, referring to the Dark Lord.

Malfoy's family served under the Dark Lord, so it was only natural for Lucius to follow in their footsteps. He wasn't a Death Eater yet, there was no skull on his forearm, because it would be a little too suspicious while he was still at school, but he was an important follower. He helped to recruit people best suited to serve under the Dark Lord, and 'take care' of those that would not, or were not good enough. Snape had been one of his first recruits; it was so easy to take a friendless reject in; it wasn't like his parents cared much. He was pretty smart, and exceptional at Potions.

"I don't know," Snape said, once again sneaking a glance at the blonde girl whose laughter was ringing though the hall.

"I'm sure you'll make the right decision," Malfoy said, snatching a roll and standing up from the table.

Snape didn't even acknowledge Malfoy as he walked away; his eyes were still fixed on the young blonde girl that had unknowingly captured the hearts of many men, of all ages, in the school. She might have been two years below him class wise, but there was only a year difference in their ages.

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Buffy got up from the table, planning on walking back to the common room with her friends. As she stood up, she snuck a quick glance at Sirius, catching his eye before she turned around again, hoping James didn't notice. It was hard keeping their relationship secret, but she preferred Sirius alive, so James had no idea. Hopefully, anyway.

Snape was wondering the halls aimlessly, thinking about what Lucius had told him two days before. Ever since their talk, he couldn't get Buffy out of his head. If he didn't know better, he would have said Lucius had put something in his drink. Actually... he didn't know better. Malfoy was sneaky and disloyal; he'd do anything to get what he wanted.

Snape frowned at his train of thought, and seriously hoped that his friend wouldn't, or didn't, do anything to him, but he knew he shouldn't put it past him.

Down the corridor, he could hear girls giggling, and it brought his thoughts back around to Buffy. Amazingly enough, her's was the next voice he heard.

"Oh, wait a minute!" Buffy cried distressed. "I must have left one of my books in the library yesterday. I need it for our next class."

Her friends were about to volunteer to come with her to get it when she waved them off dismissively. "Go on ahead, you guys need to go by the common room and the tower's on the opposite side of school. I'll run to the library and meet you at the tower. Just let the professor know I'll be late, okay?"

Buffy walked off before her friends could object, and so they walked back leisurely to the common room.

Snape was hidden from their view, and was pleasantly surprised at this turn of events. She was alone, and they were expecting her to be late! Now was his chance to do something! Snape shook his head slightly to get stop his train of thought. He'd just follow her and maybe say something, that's all.

Curiously enough, as he followed her down a couple of passages, he realized they were not headed anywhere near the library. 'Where is she going?' he thought.

He decided that he might as well ask her. She was heading in the general direction of the Slytherin common room, so it wouldn't be that weird for him to be there. With that thought in mind, he stepped out from the shadows and approached her.

"Buffy, right?" he asked pleasantly, as pleasantly as he was able, at least.

Buffy turned around suddenly, surprised at the other presence behind her. She thought she was being followed, but she had thought it was someone else...

"What? I mean, yes. I'm Buffy," Buffy babbled. "Sorry, you startled me, that's all." She held out her hand and he accepted it, marvelling at the smoothness of her skin.

"Severus. I've seen you around before."

"Yeah, I suppose you would, seeing as how we both live here," Buffy said with a smile. "Well, not here here, because you're obviously in Slytherin and I'm in Gryffindor, and boys and girls don't share dormitories, at least they don't in Gryffindor, I don't know about Slytherin, not that I'm implying anything, I think I'll stop talking now," Buffy said, embarrassed.

"Well, I've never seen you around this part of the castle before. Are you looking for something?"

"No, not exactly. I've been here a couple of times before, I just like to wander the castle sometimes. It's full of surprises!" Buffy said anxiously. She really didn't want him here right now...

"So, are you excited about the Hogsmeade weekend, next week? It'll be nice to have a break from school."

"Yeah," Buffy said distractedly.

"Do you want to go with me?" Snape blurted. 'Where the hell did that come from?' he wondered. He had no intention of ever saying anything remotely obvious, and then he did something stupid like inviting her on a date.

"What?" Buffy asked with wide eyes, staring at the Slytherin in front of her.

"Come on, it could be fun," he said enticingly. 'What are you doing?' he asked himself. In all honesty, he had no idea. Maybe Malfoy had put something in his drink.

"You know, I don't think that's a good idea," Buffy said. She didn't know Severus very well, but she knew that a) he was a little creepy, b) he was in Slytherin, which wasn't an awful thing, but c) she knew her brother would freak, not to mention d) she was with Sirius, who had a worse temper than her brother.

"Why not?" Snape asked, getting a little angry. 'Why would she say no? What did I do to her?'

Buffy looked at the man in front of her with a confused and startled look on her face. She knew that it wasn't easy taking rejection, but she didn't think he'd get mad about it. "Not that it's any of your business, but I'm involved with someone," she said.

"No you're not," Snape snarled. 'Now she's lying? That little bitch! How could I have ever thought that she was more than a little slut?'

"Excuse me?" Buffy said. This was really getting out of proportion. Frankly, she was getting a little scared; he was older and stronger than her. And she didn't know him, or what he would do. "I really need to go now, I'm going to be late for class, I have Divination in the North Tower."

Buffy tried to slide past him, but he roughly grabbed her arm, startling the poor blonde girl. "Let go." She tried to shake his hand off her skinny wrist, but his grip was too tight; painfully tight.

"I just wanted you to go to Hogsmeade with me, is that too much to ask?" Snape snarled at her, pushing her up against the wall.

"Stop it," she cried.

Snape opened his mouth to say something else, but before any sound came out, he was grabbed from behind and hurled into the wall, and away from Buffy who looked up into the face of her rescuer.

"Sirius," she cried relieved. "You're late."

"Sorry, I had a hard time convincing James I needed to go to the library by myself. Are you okay?" he asked, looking her over for any damage done.

"I'm fine. Thank you," Buffy said, looking into his eyes.

Sirius gave her a smile and a quick kiss before turning back on the boy that was rising painfully from the floor. Sirius punched Snape and then lifted him up off the ground, the black robes clenched firmly in his fists.

Sirius slammed Snape roughly into the wall again, smacking his head painfully.

"Sirius," Buffy called from behind.

"Don't you ever touch her again," Sirius growled, ignoring Buffy's pleas.

"Sirius, stop. Things just got out of control. I'm sure he didn't mean anything."

"Apologize," Sirius yelled, slamming him again.

"I'm sorry," Snape said to Buffy, and amazingly enough he really sounded like he meant it. "I don't know what came over me." It had just been like a blind rage, it was so weird, like his emotions were controlling his body. "Now would you please let me go," he said a little more viciously to Sirius.

"If I ever see you near her again, you'll wish you had never come to Hogwarts, do you understand?" Sirius asked.

"I'm so scared," Snape mocked.

"You should be." Sirius slammed Snape into the wall once more before letting him drop none to gently. "Leave her alone."

Buffy grabbed Sirius' arm and led him away. "Walk me to class?"

"I always knew I hated that guy," Sirius said angrily. Snape had no idea what was in store for him.

"Don't tell James, please?" Buffy's voice pleaded from down the hall as Snape still lay sprawled on the floor.

'What had he done?'

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'What had she done?' Snape thought furiously as he stormed down the isle to the head table.

Buffy calmly put down the roll she had been munching on and ignored her rumbling stomach in order to confront the visibly upset professor.

"Is there a problem, Professor Fox?" Dumbledore said pleasantly.

Buffy looked at him incredulously. How could he not know? The whole school knew! He was supposed to be this all-knowing Headmaster, but he doesn't even know when one of his students gets thrown out of class? Unless of course, he did know and just wanted to see how it all played out. He must know that Malfoy wasn't a 'good boy' type of kid.

Buffy carefully schooled her features and replied just as pleasantly, "No problem, just a little issue that apparently wasn't clear enough. Excuse me." Buffy stood up from the table and made her way down to meet the steaming Head of House.

"Yes?"

"I think we need to talk privately," Snape muttered, noticing that all eyes were on them; there was no use making an even bigger scene than they already had.

"I don't think we need to talk at all," Buffy replied. "I thought I made myself clear last time. He is not welcome in my class anymore. As Head of House, I expect you'll make the appropriate changes to his schedule. I'm sure there are some spaces left in muggle studies, and you don't really need prerequisites for that class." Buffy made no attempt to keep her voice down, causing the entire hall to burst out in disbelieving whispers as the rumour was confirmed, and then laughter as they thought of a Slytherin, pureblood, elitist, such as Malfoy, taking muggle studies.

"My office, now," Snape growled out. How could someone be so attractive and yet so stubborn? The random thought took Snape by surprise, and he turned on his heel to exit before he did something stupid. Over the years he had grown much better at hiding his emotions, using anger and spite to cover up his feelings most of the time.

Buffy gave a sigh and reluctantly followed along. This was taking far too much energy. Why couldn't people just accept her judgment? It was much too annoying, and it reminded her of the time when her friends had kicked her out of her own house, even though she was right.

Buffy obediently walked behind Snape as he led the way towards his office. As soon as they left the Great Hall, it exploded with noise, as everyone had something to say on the matter.

"Bloody Hell!" Ron cried, while Hermione smacked him.

"Don't curse, Ron!"

"Did you just hear that! She kicked Malfoy out of Defence! I think I'm going to savour this memory more than the bouncing ferret one. Oh, if only I could have been there to see his face. Priceless," Ron sighed, imagining it.

"Too bad there were only Slytherins in that class. They won't tell us what really happened," Harry sighed, looking where Snape and Fox had gone.

"I bet it was great!"

"Well, what's he going to do know?" Hermione asked, slightly distressed.

Harry and Ron turned to look at her with unbelieving looks gracing their faces. "He deserves it, the git," Ron said. "How could you feel sorry for him?"

"I don't feel sorry for him, I feel sorry for her," Harry said. "Malfoy's gonna cause a storm. Remember what happened with Buckbeak? And this is real!"

"Maybe she'll get fired and we'll have a proper teacher," Hermione said hopefully. She continued as once again, Ron and Harry looked at her with incredulous looks, "Well, I suppose it's a good thing we have the DA then, isn't it? We have O.W.L.'s this year!"

"I wonder what they're doing now?" Neville added in, also looking off where Professor Fox had gone. He actually wanted her to stay; she was one of the nicest teachers he had ever met. She cared.

"I don't know, but what I wouldn't give to find out," Ron said gleefully, shoving another forkful of food in his mouth. Nothing was going to ruin his mood today.

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Snape pushed open the door to his office, revealing two heads of unnaturally blonde hair. 'Great,' Buffy thought bitterly. 'It just keeps getting better.'

"I'm Lucius Malfoy," the elder blonde said, extending his gloved hand which Buffy reluctantly took.

"Sarah Fox. Professor Sarah Fox," she said with a glare.

"Look, I'm sure there's been some misunderstanding here," Malfoy senior replied easily. "I'm sure if he just apologizes for whatever he did, he'll be allowed back into class, correct?"

"No. I don't know how to make myself any clearer," Buffy said. "He is not coming back to the Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Ever. He is banned for life."

"You don't have the authority to do that," Malfoy spat.

"Actually, I do. I'm the professor. If a student is being disruptive to other's learning environment, he can be removed from class."

"What about Potter, Weasly, Granger, and Longbottom? They're the most disruptive people ever," Draco said with a scowl.

"He does have a point," Snape said with a small smile, thinking he caught her in her own game. "Perhaps next time they're disruptive, I can remove them."

"This is an entirely different situation, as I don't have any prejudices against him," Buffy said. 'His father is an entirely different matter,' she thought. "He was rude and disruptive to me and the class, and therefore he is not welcome anymore. Have a nice day." Buffy started to walk out, but was stopped by Lucius' voice.

"I don't think you understand the consequences your actions will have," he said.

"Are you threatening me, Mr. Malfoy?" Buffy said, taking a step toward the man.

"It's not a threat. It's a warning."

"Sounds the same to me, and I'm sure other people would be more than happy to hear about this. Namely, my boss; I think you call him Minister."

"Like he could do anything. In case you didn't know, I am a prominent member of this society, and I give generous contributions to the ministry."

"I thought that was to buy your way off of a prison sentence in Azkaban," Buffy said matter of factly.

The other members in the room stood still at what she had the nerve to say. "I was cleared of all charges, Miss Fox, and you'll do well to remember that."

"Right, I forgot. You didn't have the balls to fight the Imperious Curse, and were a poor slave to Voldemort."

Everyone in the room was astonished that this slip of a girl had the gall to say the Dark Lord's name. "You'll do well to respect the Dark Lord's name and not use it in vain," Lucius said.

"It's a name, get over it," Buffy said with a roll of her eyes. "I mean, what kind of a name is Voldemort anyway?"

Lucius lifted his wand and pointed it at Buffy, startling Snape. "You should know your place little girl, and not mettle in things that aren't your business."

"This school is my business. If you've forgotten, I'll remind you once again, I'm a professor here. I have power you don't."

"You have no idea what kind of power you're messing with. I have resources and people that will tear you apart. You've chosen the wrong family to mess with."

"Put down you're wand!" Snape yelled for the final time.

Lucius made a motion with his wand and purple beam of light shot out of the tip of his wand, heading straight for Buffy, who quickly lifted her own wand and yelled "Protego!"

A shield erected itself around her, causing the purple light to bounce off the barrier and hit the wall of Snape's office, smashing some of his jars.

Umbridge chose that moment to walk in. "What is going on in here!"

"Nothing," Snape said. "Just a little demonstration, that's all." He had to cover up for Lucius; he'd be in deep with both the Malfoy's and the Dark Lord if he didn't.

"I'm sure the Minister will be very interested to know what kind of spells you use at respected professors at Hogwarts," Buffy said.

"As High Inquisitor, you can force this young lady to allow Draco back into class and cease that ridiciulous ban, right?" Lucius said.

"I do believe that she said that she would back every one of my decisions, isn't that right? I believe that's what we call a magical contract people. Sorry, but my word goes. Draco can find another class. That's final. Have a good day." Buffy walked out of the room while everyone else was stunned by the latest turn of events, including Umbridge herself.

Hem hem, was all she could say.

Snape, on the other hand, walked out the door, following Professor Fox. "Wait just a minute," he snarled, latching onto her arm, attempting to halt her progress.

The fierce pressure on her arm reminded her of that day long ago in the empty corridors of Hogwarts, and of the day not too long ago in the bathroom with Spike. She didn't have control either of those times, and it scared her. But she had the power now.

Buffy flicked her wrist, freeing herself of his grasp and pushed him away, causing him to stumble backwards. "Don't ever touch me again," Buffy said in a low, dangerous voice.

She turned her back on him and walked out, leaving a thoroughly stunned and stumped Snape gawking after her. 'Who is that girl?'

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CHAPTER 19: MOVING ALONG

Buffy was in her room, gazing out of her window and playing with her phoenix pendant. Classes were over for the day, and she was taking a much-needed break. All day she had had to endure people complaining about what she did to Malfoy.

The boy needed to be taken down a notch and besides; it wasn't as if it would hurt him. She was sure that his father was a death eater, meaning that he was probably way ahead of the Dark Arts portion of the class, and the only Defence he would need would be defence against the good guys.

Really, it was only a good thing that Malfoy would no longer be taking DADA; now, if only everyone else could see that...

Buffy sighed, running her fingers through her hair tiredly. Her detention with Malfoy the previous night had not been nice at all. She had put him through mindless labour, hoping that the hard work would make him too tired to talk, but that boy had an extra battery just for his mouth.

She just needed to get away for a while. If only she was still in school, she could fly around the quidditch pitch for a while; flying always helped to clear her mind.

As if she could hear her thoughts, Celsia gave a sharp trill, startling Buffy. Turning away from the window, Buffy faced the bird, giving it a slightly evil look.

"I don't know what you're complaining about," Buffy said. "You can fly! I however, am stuck here." Celsia gave another little trill and flapped her wings a bit, as if trying to tell her something.

"What? Is something wrong?" Buffy asked worriedly.

Celsia took flight and flew over to her friend, picking at the pendant she was still absently playing with.

"Hey! Leave it alone, Sirius gave me that," Buffy said, shooing the bird away. Celsia gave another trill. "Sirius," Buffy said thoughtfully. Her eyes opened wide in sudden understanding. "No... I can't, can I?" Buffy questioned softly. Oh, but if she could...

Buffy looked over at Celsia one more time, who trilled encouragingly. "Okay," Buffy said slowly. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the image of the phoenix, thinking back to everything Sirius had once taught her. She had just been perfecting the transformation when she was taken away, and she hadn't changed since. This was going to be interesting...

At first, Buffy didn't think anything had happened, but then, slowly, ever so slowly, she began to feel the beginnings of a change within her. It wasn't painful, but it did feel very unusual. She started to shrink, and she could feel the organs inside her shifting, sliding and squishing. Some where condensing, others were disappearing, only to be replaced by newer organs. She was only a couple of feet tall now and her clothes began to melt into her skin, which was beginning to turn a brilliant red colour. A light feather outline appeared on her skin, and then everything stopped.

'Oh, no!' Buffy thought worriedly. 'This can't be happening! I'm not going to get stuck like this!' She opened her eyes and looked down slightly, only to notice that she still had a human head on top of a bird-like body. She yelped in surprise and tried to step backward but her proportions were all out of whack and she only succeeded in falling backward. She lay on the floor, trying unsuccessfully to get back up, but she didn't have the mobility she once had. 'I'm going to get stuck as a bird!' Buffy thought, panicking.

As if sensing her distress, Celsia started to sing, slowing Buffy's breathing and racing heart rate and allowing her to think a little more rationally.

'Just focus on the bird, just focus,' Buffy thought. 'It's just like meditation. Focus.' Buffy let her breathing slow even more and she tried to focus once more on the image of the bird.

Once again she began to feel the changes. Her head began to shrink while her arms and legs transformed themselves into the much lighter bones of the phoenix. The feather patter all over her body exploded into bright red feathers some freckled with orange or yellow. She felt a beak protrude slightly from her face, which was getting much narrower and lighter, as her hair was gone.

Opening her eyes, Buffy could now tell that she had completed the transformation as a phoenix. She naturally opened her mouth, no beak, to say something, but instead a little squawk came out. Startled, Buffy stopped trying to say something, before remembering that she couldn't really talk. She opened her mouth once again, but this time, she tested out her new singing voice. A beautiful melody drifted into the room, exciting Celsia who chose to sing along.

Suddenly, Celsia disappeared in a brief bout of flames. Somehow, Buffy knew exactly where she was going and she let her phoenix instincts guide her as she too disappeared in a puff of flames.

The two phoenixes reappeared in a place far away from anywhere Buffy had ever been before. To her left, the mountainous terrain was covered in trees, and on her right was a plain, covering an enormous stretch of land. Buffy herself was perched on top of a large boulder that was jutting out of the earth; she was in awe at the beauty of the land before her.

Buffy spread her wings and gave an experimental flap, before deciding that she should probably just let the phoenix's instincts guide her once more; she had no inclination to plummet to the earth. Buffy took flight and joined Celsia as she rode over the plains. Buffy revelled in the freedom she felt at being completely free; riding on a broomstick was awesome, but this couldn't be compared. The wind that lifted her up flowed gently around her wings; the beauty of the land was far superior to anything at Hogwarts, especially the Quidditch pitch; the ability to control one's own movements as opposed to a broomstick; it was complete independence.

Soaring over the land, Buffy was able to clear her mind and fly peacefully, after rejoicing about her recovered animagus ability. Buffy couldn't believe that she had forgotten about her animagus training with Sirius. She had just successfully completed her second transformation on her birthday, and when they went back to school, Buffy was going to surprise James, Remus, Lily and Peter. She never got the chance to show them, so Sirius was the only one that knew.

A flash of something to her side caused Buffy to turn her head, only to be surprised to find another phoenix flying! Phoenixes were so rare, Buffy was surprised, but happy, that she could now see two! A lot of people never saw phoenixes in their lifetime; Buffy guessed she was just incredibly lucky, but what were the chances of seeing a second phoenix here?

The new bird flew over to Celsia and gave a quick greeting and nuzzle of the head before flying beside her. 'Interesting,' Buffy thought with a small smile. Upon closer inspection, Buffy was able to identify the new phoenix; 'Fawkes?' she thought. Of course, the only other phoenix that she had ever met; one would have thought it would have been an obvious guess.

When doing her project on Phoenixes during her Care of Magical Creatures class, Dumbledore allowed her to study and play with Fawkes, who had taken an immediate liking to the young blonde girl. They had quickly become friends and every time she walked into Dumbledore's office (which was more for seeing the bird than for being in trouble) Fawkes would fly over and land on her shoulder.

Buffy was glad to see her old friend again, as she had yet to go up to Dumbledore's office. Fawkes turned his head to her and gave her a little trill in greeting. Buffy returned the sound and then they soared happily over the ground for a good hour, Hogwarts was nowhere in sight.

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Knock Knock Knock "Come in," Dumbledore answered from behind his desk. The door opened and Snape walked in. "Severus! What brings you to my office?" Dumbledore asked with a surprised smile.

"It's about Professor Fox, sir," Snape began, standing behind the wooden desk.

"Please, have a seat," Dumbledore said. "Would you like a lemon drop?" he asked, offering a small package.

Snape sneered slightly as if repulsed by the muggle candy and politely declined, "No, thank you." But he did take a seat.

"Now, what about our new professor?" Dumbledore asked, folding his hands on top of his desk.

"I'm not here about Malfoy, if that's what you're asking," Snape said. "I'm actually... Professor Fox is very... interesting," Snape said, fumbling for words on how to describe the young professor.

"Yes, I've noticed that myself. I can't put my finger on exactly what it is, but there seems to be something..."

"Familiar about her," Snape finished when Dumbledore trailed off.

"Yes," Dumbledore said slowly, thinking. "Yes."

"She seems to be hiding quite a bit about herself," Snape said. "She pretends to be this blonde imbecile, but then suddenly she's kicking people out of class and cooling handling every situation. She's not who she appears to be."

"No she is not," Dumbledore. "I have also been watching Miss Fox, and I must say that I am confused, amazed, and surprised at this young lady. There is something familiar about her that I just can't seem to place, no matter how hard I try, but I have met many people in my old age. The thing that interests me the most is her attitude towards our High Inquisitor," Dumbledore said with a smile. "I dare say that there is an underlying tension between the two that wasn't there on her first day here."

"Problems within the Ministry?" Snape said with a smirk.

"Possibly," Dumbledore said.

"I find it hard to believe that someone from the Ministry would kick a Malfoy out of class, considering the Malfoys contributions and status," Snape said.

"Are you suggesting that Miss Fox may not be from the Ministry?" Dumbledore clarified. He too had been considering the option, but it didn't seem likely.

"Maybe," Snape said. "But Miss Fox was not yet been reprimanded by Fudge yet, and I have no doubt that Lucius has already taken the liberty of informing him of the circumstances."

"So you believe that she is controlling the Minister somehow?" Dumbledore asked. He was slightly surprised at this scenario, not that he could say he hadn't considered it. If the Minister of Magic was being controlled... well, that was a whole new situation.

"I'm just considering the options. I don't know if I'd call her a Death Eater, as Lucius is one of the more prominent figures," Snape said in a much quieter voice, "and I don't think the Dark Lord would take future generations out of the Dark Arts class, or support his followers decisions to do so."

"Indeed," Dumbledore said, lost in thought. "She has the Minister's approval, maybe she is just trying to shake things up a little bit."

"She's doing a superb job so far," Snape said.

"Yes, it seems like everyone is talking about her, wouldn't you agree?" Dumbledore asked with a wink, watching Snape scowl.

"Thank you, Headmaster," Snape said, standing up. "I just thought you'd like to be informed of the situation."

"Thank you Severus," Dumbledore said. "I shall ponder this issue some more and I'll bring it up at the next meeting," he said, the word 'Order' purposely excluded. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Snape said, shutting the door as he left.

Dumbledore sat back in his chair, thinking about the girl. "Who are you?" he muttered aloud to himself. Her face was so familiar... he tried to think back to different people he had known relatively recently, she wasn't all that old, trying to match faces.

Suddenly, he sat up and picked up the piece of paper he was working on before Snape came in, forgetting completely about his previous search for answers.

A spell cast by a red-headed Wicca went into effect, allowing the true identity of the blonde to be hidden.

Buffy was back at her friends' flat in London, talking comfortably with them. Upon arriving back at her chambers, she had changed back into her human self, at a much quicker pace than before. She decided that she wanted to keep her animagus abilities a secret for now; as much as she wanted to see her friends' faces as she showed them what else she could do, the desire to keep quite was stronger. Celsia was nice enough to give her a ride over to the flat a little while later.

Sitting on the sofa, listening to Willow ramble on about the touristy places they had been that day, Buffy's thoughts wandered back to Sirius and Remus and how she was going to find them. Earlier that day she had snuck into Filch's office, trying to find something that he might have kept of Sirius' or Remus'. Unfortunately, she couldn't find anything that could be Sirius' for sure. There was tons of stuff that littered the office, from bags of dung bombs to stacks of firecrackers, old toys and newer inventions, and amazingly enough, some kind of weird ear-type thing. Buffy stayed far away from that.

Fortunately, she was able to find something of Remus'. When the boys ran around the halls when they weren't suppose to, Remus would carry a small whistle, that they had charmed so only the four of them could hear it. If someone were in danger, or when Remus was feeling very ill, all the boys would come running. Buffy had no idea how Filch had gotten it, but she was glad he did. Picking up the small silver whistle, Buffy had left the room, narrowly escaping before Mrs. Norris came to investigate.

Once Willow had finished rattling away, Buffy brought up the subject of a location spell.

"Well, we'd need something of the person's," Willow said, trailing off as Buffy held up an object.

"Okay, then all I need to do is get the ingredients."

"Can't you just wave your arms or something?" Anya said. "You do that a lot."

"This is a different kind of spell, it'll show us where he is," Willow said, gesturing offhandedly so that a map appeared from nowhere.

"Like that!" Anya said excitedly.

"Different spell," Willow said, collecting all her things. One by one she added the ingredients, stirring and simmering when it was called for.

"Okay," Willow said about a half hour later. "Now the object please."

Buffy handed over the whistle and Willow hung it over the cauldron for a minute before lowering it in slowly. While she was doing that, she was whispering some words that Buffy missed.

Smoke rose from the cauldron and the map in front of them began to glow. "The tell-tale sign that a spell works," Xander joked," something glows."

The smoke ceased and the glowing died down.

"Or not," Xander said.

"Where is he?" Anya asked, looking at the map.

"I don't know," Willow said with a frown. Maybe the spell hadn't worked.

A bright light then emerged from the map, pointing out a location far from any other housing developments; it was surrounded by the woods.

"There it is," Anya said, pointing.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Buffy asked excitedly. "Let's go."

The five friends exited the taxi that dropped them off at the corner of the woods and a slightly worn path leading into them.

"Wow, it doesn't look like he wanted company ever," Xander joked.

They cautiously entered the dense woods, Buffy leading the way. She was so excited at the possibility of seeing Remus again. They might not have been siblings, like her and James, and they might not have been dating, like her and Sirius, but they were still good friends nonetheless. Remus was like another brother to her; he had always helped her when needed, and he was good for a laugh every now and again. He was a marauder, after all.

The path looked seldom used and the trees were leering at them from all sides. What little rays of the full moon were able to penetrate the treetops scattered the ground; most of the light was just swallowed by the darkness everywhere.

"Isn't it a little late to be calling on friends?" Xander asked a little jumpily. "I mean, let's think here. Let's be logical for a minute. We are walking in a very dark, creepy, typical scary movie forest at night. And we know what's really goes bump in the night!" he said.

"Don't worry, I've brought weapons," Buffy said.

"Oh, okay then," Xander said, relaxing a bit. "But if we get mauled, eaten, or otherwise hurt, I get dibs on 'I told you so.'"

"Sure," Buffy said.

"Good, just so we're clear."

The path finally straightened out a little and showed a clearing not too far ahead. At the end of the clearing stood a fairly dilapidated house covered in vines.

"Wow, talk about your fixer upper," Xander said. "If he wants, I can help."

"I'll be sure to let him know," Buffy said, a little upset that he was living in a place so... old. The shutters were hanging off their hinges, some weren't even there, the windows were covered in grime, and the colour was a motley brown. The front door had moss growing on the bottom and rust around its hinges.

Walking up to the door, Buffy knocked three times, her stomach in butterflies. She waited.

And waited.

And waited.

She knocked again. "Remus?" she called out.

No answer.

She tried again. "Remus? Are you home?"

No answer.

"I don't think anyone's home, Buffy," Willow said gently, trying to ease the anxious slayer.

Buffy stopped knocking. She had really wanted to see Remus, and now he wasn't home. "Who isn't home at 11:00 at night?" Buffy asked, frustrated.

"Us," Xander said, but stopped with the look that Buffy gave him.

Buffy turned back to the door and tried the doorknob. It was locked. Glaring slightly at it, she pulled out her wand.

"Uh, Buffy, what are you doing?" Xander asked.

"I'm going in," Buffy said. "Alohomora,"

There was the tiniest click inside and when Buffy tried the door again, it opened.

"Now that's a nifty trick," Xander said. "Does it work with cars too? I hate it when I lock my keys inside."

"I don't know," Buffy said. She walked inside carefully, calling out as she did.

Willow used her own magic to light all the torches/candles that lit the walls. "Creepy," she said.

Cobwebs hung everywhere and some old papers were strewn around the floor.

"It doesn't look like anyone had been here for a while," Giles said.

"Sorry Buff, maybe he moved," Xander suggested.

"Maybe," Buffy said disappointed. "But why would the map lead us here?" She walked around, peaking through stacks of papers. The small cottage had little furnishings, and what it did have wasn't in the best condition.

"Or maybe something ate him," Anya said, looking at the bite marks and ripped up, gnawed at edges on the couch.

"He's a werewolf," Buffy said. "Maybe this is where he goes during the full moon."

"I seriously hope not," Willow said.

"Why?"

"Tonight's the full moon." Everyone was quite for a moment, but then Buffy calmed everyone down.

"If he was here, then we'd know it. He would've smelled us long ago."

Still rifling through old papers, Buffy noticed an old photograph fall out of the stacks. She bent over and picked it up, examining the people waving at her merrily. It was James, Sirius, Remus and Buffy. Tears came to her eyes, as it was the first photograph she had of her family. Lily took this at Hogwarts and presented it to her on her birthday. Knowing her dislike for Peter, Lily had taken it while he was away doing something or other.

Buffy sniffed slightly and pocketed the picture. Remus wouldn't mind.

Buffy walked back through the rest of the house, but nothing else was around. Obviously he hadn't been here in some time. All she had found where a comb and a mirror in the bathroom. She was about to leave, before she had an idea, and she picked up the comb, with hair still stuck in it, and pocketed that as well. She'd have to ask Willow for a favour later.

"Let's go," Buffy said dejectedly. "No one's here."

"Sorry," Willow said. "I'm sure we'll find him. Maybe he's not in England anymore."

"Maybe," Buffy said, but sincerely hoped that wasn't the case.

Anyway, the trip hadn't been an entire loss...

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CHAPTER 20: POTIONS

Around 11:30 that night, members of the Order began arriving at Headquarters for the biweekly meetings.

Sirius stood anxiously in the kitchen, waiting the arrival of a certain greasy-haired git, as he had for the last several hours.

Finally, the potions professor arrived and was on his way towards the meeting room, when he was intercepted.

"Where is he? Is he okay? What happened?" Sirius asked, concerned.

"He's fine," Snape said condescendingly. "I got there in time and he took the potion. He opted to stay and wander the woods anyway, for old times sake."

"Good," Sirius said. Then his anxiety about his friend faded, only to be replaced by anger; he slammed Snape up against the wall. "What were you thinking? You knew it was the full moon and you still left Remus without any Wolfsbane potion! He could have hurt himself, or Merlin-forbid, someone else!"

"He was fine," Snape sneered. "He's been doing this for years, he should know what to do."

"Well, what if something had happened? He does have a mission you know," Sirius said, trying to appeal to the man's sense of duty, as his humanity had left long ago.

"He went to the house like he used to. It's so old and decrepit there no one would ever show up. Besides, he got his precious potion in time." Snape pushed against Sirius, and ripped himself free of the man's grip.

Sirius was about to attack Snape but was stopped by the sudden presence of the Headmaster.

"That's enough," he said. "Snape was having a conversation with me and I forgot that he had a potion to deliver to Remus. It's my fault he was late. Now if you could both stop pestering each other long enough we can get some work done." With that said, Dumbledore glided between them in order to enter the meeting room further down the hall. Snape and Sirius glared at each other, Snape fixed his robes, and they set off down the hall.

"Now then," Dumbledore said. "The first order of business is the arrival of the new ministry professor. Miss Sarah Fox has been an interesting person to have at Hogwarts these past few days; she had definitely shaken things up a bit."

"She kicked Mr. Malfoy out of class, permanently," McGonagall said. Murmurs went around the table.

"Can she do that?" Sirius called out, astonished. "I mean, what exactly did he do?"

"Apparently he offended her, disrupted her class or some nonsense," Snape bit out. "If I had known professors had the power to do that, I'd have done it a long time ago."

"A personal dislike against a student or a student's relatives should in no way compromise that student's education," McGonagall said.

"But we both know that's not the case," Sirius said, snarling at Snape.

"Please," Dumbledore interrupted. "Fighting will not help anyone. The new professor supposedly works for the ministry, but her behaviour has been slightly out of character." Dumbledore began to inform the Order of the professor's behaviour, and of the conversation between Snape and himself. When he was done, the talking began.

"She's probably using Polyjuice potion."

"I don't recall anyone named Sarah Fox in the ministry."

"She really kicked Malfoy out of class?"

"What do you think she really wants?"

"What department did you say she was in?"

"I think we should keep an eye out for her."

"She's really not as bad as Umbridge, but I'm tired of having the ministry butting in."

"What does she look like? Do you have a picture? If you did I might be able to ask a few people at work, see what they know."

"You can't trust them; always got to be on your toes."

"That's enough," Dumbledore said, trying to get everyone's attention. "One at a time, please." Dumbledore went around answering people's questions as best as he could.

Sirius perked up a bit when he mentioned that she was a blonde, but deflated once he found out she had blue eyes. Buffy had always had brilliant green eyes...

"I must sat that I carry no ill feelings towards her, none at all, strangely enough," Dumbledore said. "There's something about her that seems familiar, and somewhat comforting, although I can't figure out what it is. I trust that everyone will look into this matter, but at the moment I believe we have more pressing issues to deal with."

The subject was changed and the meeting continued on, but Sirius' mind didn't follow what else was said. What did it matter? He wasn't going anywhere anyway, and besides, he couldn't keep his mind from drifting to Buffy if his life depended on it. So why fight it? The question was, should he tell Dumbledore about his dream?

No. He would probably tell him the same thing Remus did, that it was just his memories resurfacing after years of Dementors influence.

But how could he know what she looked like years later?

The next couple of days went by uneventfully. Buffy kept trying the location spell for Remus, but she figured it must not have worked. First, they were led to a house that hadn't been used in years. Then, the dot showed up in France, before travelling to Bulgaria and Rome. Buffy just gave up on the spell.

Sure, Remus might be on vacation or something, but Buffy doubted it. It was possible he was on the run with Sirius; at least, that's what Buffy hoped. She couldn't catch them, though. Each time Willow and Buffy left, racing after the dot, the place they ended up at was empty. They weren't ever houses, but just random spots of land, or holes in rocks; however, there was never any sign of life.

Buffy still had to finish the week with Umbridge supervising her class; a surprise call from Fudge made sure that she was keeping to the curriculum, much to Buffy's displeasure.

Soon, it was Friday. The day fifth year Gryffindors had potions; Buffy was keeping track.

During breakfast in the great hall it was time for the mail. Hundreds of owls flocked in from the ceiling, delivering messages to the students. One brown school owl dove down to the Gryffindor table and dropped off an envelope at Neville's seat, disturbing the eggs and overturning a couple of sausages.

No one was surprised at the letter; it wasn't anything unusual, and Neville just thought it was another reminder from his grandma. Upon opening it, however, he was slightly confused. All it said was "Breathe. Just remember to Breathe."

Neville looked up, remembering that Professor Fox had told him that during their 'detention' session. She remembered that he had potions today and wanted to remind him of their lesson! He looked up at the Head table, but found that Buffy was engrossed in a conversation with Dumbledore. Although, he could have sworn that she looked at him for the slightest second and winked, but that could have been his imagination.

Neville smiled to himself. He was going to make it through potions without a mistake.

The students were all seated and were just waiting for Snape to enter. And enter he did, flinging the door open and then letting it slam behind him. "Today's lesson is very dangerous and I will not tolerate any mistakes. If I see anyone fooling around, fifty house points will be taken. Half of you will be brewing the poison, while your partners will be brewing the antidote. They're on page 245 in your books, begin."

Neville was partnered with Harry, while Ron and Hermione were working together. "Ill take the poison," Neville volunteered, his voice a little shaky. 'Just breathe,' he reminded himself.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked.

"Yeah," Neville said, not sounding completely sure.

"Okay," Harry said. "I need to get this right, Snape's determined to fail me, so let's get started." Neville nodded and they opened their textbooks. Reading through all the ingredients, they went to the cabinet and picked out everything they would need.

The room was quiet as people were concentrating extremely hard on their potions; no one wanted to lose fifty house points, or screw up the potentially deadly poison. The chopping of the roots and the scraping of the ladles on the bottom of the cauldrons were the only sound.

But it had to happen. A cauldron had to explode.

The sound startled everyone, causing some to knock over their ingredients, and others to accidentally add ingredients at the wrong time, as they all jumped. Several other cauldrons began to boil over, some had their liquid catch on fire, and others had smoke billowing out of the top. It was like a chain reaction.

"LONGBOTTOM!" Snape yelled, startling Neville, who was trying to clean up the roots that had fallen off the edge of his table when the first cauldron had exploded.

"Y... yes, sir," Neville said slowly. 'He's just trying to get to you,' he remembered Professor Fox telling him. 'What can he do to you? Take house points away? Who cares?'

"I told you explicitly that I wouldn't tolerate any mistakes. Look what you've done!" he hissed, coming over to their table. "I suppose Potter thought he was too good to help you out, figuring that he wouldn't get any blame..." Snape trailed off as he came closer, realizing that their cauldrons were two out of the six that weren't ruined.

"I didn't do anything," Neville said.

Snape was astonished. Neither Neville nor Harry had exploded their cauldrons. He looked over towards Ron and his hadn't exploded either. He turned completely and noticed that it was Goyle's cauldron that had been the first to explode. Beside him, Crabbe's cauldron was spilling onto the floor, while Malfoy's potion was burning and Pansy's was smoking. "Fifty points from every person's cauldron that exploded," Snape said slowly, making true to his word. Moans of displeasure were heard, because most of the screwed up potions were Slytherins, as their cauldrons were closest to the original mess.

Snape waved his wand, clearing up the potions. "Finish your potions," Snape barked at the rest of the class. "I will be checking them at the end of the class. The rest of you will have zeros for this assignment. And if one more mistake is made," Snape left the threat hanging, frightening the students even more.

Neville's hand began to shake as he tried to measure out the dragon's blood and the blood spilt on the table. Neville quickly cleaned up the mess before Snape saw him.

"It's okay, Neville," Harry said softly. "We're almost done."

Neville looked at Harry gratefully and nodded. He took a deep breath and once again thought back to Professor Fox. 'Just take one step at a time.' Neville continued on down the list, following each step precisely. Before he knew it, Snape was talking again.

"Time's up. Let's see how you've all managed to screw up this time." Walking around to the six cauldrons left, one Slytherin and five Gryffindors, Snape was taken by surprise. He awarded Blaise ten points for correctly completing the poison, which was supposed to be a baby blue colour. Dean Thomas had managed to make an antidote, except his was a royal purple, and it was supposed to be a royal blue.

"That's a zero for today, Mr. Thomas," Snape said with a small smirk. He then walked over to Hermione and Ron's table, noticing that their poison was successfully completed, although their antidote was a sickly yellow. "Ten points from Gryffindor; he was your partner Mrs. Granger, I would have expected more from you."

Ron opened his mouth to protest, but Hermione put a hand on his arm to silence him. "No need to get more points off," she whispered bitterly. "He just wants to get a rise out of you."

"The slimy git," Ron hissed. "He takes points off when you do help and he takes points off when you don't help. How are you supposed to know what to do? If only he wasn't our teacher..."

"Ron!" Hermione whispered sharply.

Snape, meanwhile, was wandering over to the last remaining table. "Potter and Longbottom; a deadly combination. Let's see what catastrophe you have brewed up this time, shall we?" he asked with a malicious grin, sure that it was going to be something awful.

Upon reaching the table, he was astonished to see a baby blue potion sitting gently in one cauldron, while a royal blue antidote rested in the other. He had nothing to say at first, but then he furiously turned around and pointed at Hermione. "You!"

"What?" she yelped, startled. 'What could have possibly happened?' she thought.

"Obviously Mr. Weasley's potion is completely wrong because you were helping Potter and Longbottom, weren't you? I will not tolerate cheating in my classroom."

Several people jumped up, protesting the unjust accusation, while others smirked happily in their seats.

"SIT DOWN!" Snape yelled angrily. "I will not tolerate this kind of behaviour. I might have to throw you out of my class," Snape said, thinking happily about Professor Fox's previous behaviour. The students reluctantly took their seats, knowing that it was possible for that to happen.

"Now, all of you will get zeros on this assignment, you will serve detentions, and one hundred points will be taken from each of you; cheating will not be tolerated."

"You can't do that!" Harry yelled angrily. "We didn't do anything wrong! Hermione didn't help us out at all, so you can't accuse us of cheating!"

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that my two worst students successfully completed the potions that stumped so many of your better classmates?"

Neville couldn't believe it. The one time he had actually completed a potion by himself and he was accused of cheating! He stood up angrily. "I didn't cheat, and neither did Harry."

Snape, and the rest of the class, was astonished that Neville was actually standing up for himself, especially to him. "I thought I told you to sit down," he said intimidating.

Snape scared Neville a little and he was about to comply when he heard Professor Fox's voice in his head, 'What's the worst he could do to you? Take off points? Who cares?' He gathered up the little courage he had left and spoke up. "No. We didn't cheat. It's not even possible for Hermione to help us out; she's too far away."

"She may not be right next to you, but I'm sure you've figured out some cleaver system."

"We didn't cheat!" Neville yelled loudly, startling the entire classroom. "We followed the instructions exactly and we made the potions correctly BY OURSELVES!"

Harry, Hermione and Ron sat staring at Neville. They had never seen him so upset before; he was never this confrontational, although he had never been accused of cheating before, either.

"What's gotten into him?" Hermione asked Ron quietly.

"I don't know, but remind me never to make him angry. I didn't realize he could be so scary."

"That is enough, Mr. Longbottom. Fifty more points from Gryffindor for your insolence."

Neville was about to speak up again, when the door opened and in stepped Professor Dumbledore. "I was wandering through the halls and I happened to hear yelling coming from the classroom. Is everyone okay?"

"Yes, Headmaster, everything is fine," Snape started to say, only to be interrupted by Neville.

"He's accused Harry and I of cheating because we've done our potions correctly," he said loudly.

"Indeed?" Dumbledore said, surprised at this turn of events. "And did you?"

"No!" Neville cried.

Dumbledore nodded and looked to Harry, but somehow managing to avoid eye contact. "And you Harry?"

"I didn't cheat!" Harry said indignantly and angrily. "Like Neville said earlier, it's not even possible for us to cheat off of Hermione, she practically across the room."

Dumbledore looked at the seating arrangements and clapped his hands together, "Well, that settles it. No one cheated."

Everyone was taken by surprise at the abrupt announcement, but Neville continued with less enthusiasm. "Sir, he took off points..."

"Of course," Dumbledore said, "All house points taken away on this matter will be returned. Well, I really must be off, I've an important meeting I shouldn't be late for." With a curious smile at Neville, and a nod to Severus, Dumbledore left the classroom.

"Class dismissed," Snape said with a snarl, angry at Dumbledore's interference. Potter always seemed to get off...

"Neville, that was brilliant!" Ron exclaimed as they walked towards the great hall. All the Gryffindors were crowding around Neville, wanting to congratulate him on standing up to Snape.

"I didn't know you had it in you!" Seamus said, clapping him on the shoulder.

"I didn't either," Neville said with a shaky grin. He wasn't used to getting so much attention, but he wasn't upset about it. He did it. He conquered his fear and it was all thanks to Professor Fox.

"What do you think came over him?" Hermione asked Harry quietly. "I mean, he's been scared of Snape for years and all of a sudden he yells at him!"

"I don't know," Harry said, confused himself. It really wasn't like Neville.

"How did you do those potions, anyway?" Hermione asked curiously.

"What do you mean?" Harry said, offended.

"Well, honestly Harry, you and Neville aren't the best students in our class, and yet you did finish the potion, Snape had a point."

"We did it all by ourselves. We didn't cheat," Harry huffed, walking away from Hermione.

"Harry!" Hermione called out. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," she said, catching up to her best friend. "It's just a little strange is all. On Monday, Neville melted his cauldron again, and then today he's not only one of the few that completed the assignment, but he also stood up to Snape."

Harry didn't really want to say anything to Hermione, but he knew she had a point; she always did.

"I'm sorry, Harry, I don't know what I was thinking. I just... I'm sorry," Hermione said when she realized that Harry wasn't letting go of her earlier slip up. She didn't want him to be mad at her and she really didn't mean it like that.

"It's fine," he said, although there was a hint of disappointment in his voice still. "Maybe we just got lucky."

"Professor?" Neville asked, knocking on her office door. He heard footsteps and waited for the door to open.

"Neville? Can I help you with something?" Buffy said.

"I just wanted to thank you, for believing in me and helping me," Neville said rather shyly.

"I take it your Potion lesson went well?" Buffy said with a small smile.

Neville nodded with more enthusiasm. "I was one of the few to do the potion correctly," Neville began, telling her of all that had happened.

"Well, twenty points for the potion, and thirty points for facing your fear and standing up to Snape. He had no right to accuse you of cheating," Buffy said.

Neville smiled gratefully. "I just wish..." he trailed off.

"What?" Buffy asked curiously.

"It's nothing, goodnight," Neville said.

"Obviously it's not nothing," Buffy said. "Now what were you going to say?"

Neville looked at her a moment before dropping his gaze and reluctantly continuing. "I just wondered what my parents would say, that's all," Neville said.

Buffy didn't have much to say to that and Neville walked off after a final goodnight.