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

6. Chapters 21 to 25

CHAPTER 21: MENDING

Buffy was once again sitting in Fudge's office and it was taking all her willpower to keep herself from reaching over and strangling him, but that wouldn't do. She was in the Minister's office; it wouldn't take long for the entire Auror department, not to mention the rest of the Ministry employees, to come to his rescue. She'd be carted off to Azkaban before she'd even let go.

No, she just had to sit still and listen to the man drone on and on about her performance in their weekly meetings.

"... and so you must see how your actions have consequences," Fudge was saying to her.

"Yes, I'll be less rash from now on," she said with a fake smile, leaning toward him innocently, "but he accused me of sleeping with... people... to get this job! How can I let that slide by, especially after everything that happened with my old job?"

"You're right, of course, which is why he shall stay expelled," Fudge said, wanting to do everything to keep the pretty blonde happy.

"Thank you," Buffy said, sitting back. "I mean, do you have any idea what would happen to my authority if he got admitted back into class? I'd never get any respect."

"Of course," Fudge said again.

"Just one more thing, before I go, don't you think it's time for me to conduct the lessons on my own? I mean, Dolores Umbridge must have more important things to do with her time; I'd hate for her to get behind in her work just because of me."

"You're absolutely correct," Fudge said. "She should get back to her duties as High Inquisitor and you'll begin to teach on your own. Do you think you can handle it?"

"I think I'll be okay," Buffy said with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Good. Just be sure to follow the curriculum I've given you. Should you choose not to, dire consequences will follow. I don't think I need to tell you that, but it's procedure."

"Right," Buffy said tightly.

"We'll continue to have these meetings every Saturday morning at 8:00," Fudge said.

"Good day, Minister," Buffy said, standing up.

"Are you sure there's nothing else I can help you with?" Fudge asked.

"I'm good," she said. "Thanks." Buffy began to walk to Fudge's office door, only to be stopped by his next words.

"Won't you be going back by Floo?"

"I feel like a walk at the moment," Buffy said. "See you next week."

Buffy wanted to stop by the Auror department before she left, just to see if they had any new leads on Sirius. She had tried to do a locator spell with her phoenix pendant, but it didn't work; Buffy assumed it was because he had given it to her and so the spell didn't recognize it as being his.

Walking towards the farthest cubicle, she noticed a red-haired man round the corner, only to bump into another, older red-haired man. Both lost their balance and stood up and were about to issue apologies, only to stop as they lifted their eyes. The younger man straightened up and stiffly began to walk away, while the older man's concerned gaze became angry before he walked away in the opposite direction.

Obviously, something was going on between the two of them, but it confused Buffy because they looked so much alike. They couldn't be father and son, could they?

She walked over to the next occupied cubicle and noticed a man sitting down, studiously ignoring the collision, which was in perfect view.

"Excuse me," Buffy said with a flirtatious smile, noticing no ring on the guys' finger.

The man's black head snapped up and looked at the pretty blonde in front of him. "May I help you?"

"I just happened to notice the accident between those two," Buffy said, pointing in the direction they had gone, "and I was just wondering if you knew what was going on. They didn't look too happy to see each other."

"They wouldn't be," the man said. "You must be new around here."

"Yeah, I'm just here to see one of my friends, surprise her for lunch," Buffy lied quickly. "So what's the deal with those two? I hate to see a family divided. I mean they are family, right?"

"Yep, they're two of the famous Weasley clan," the man said.

"Weasley?" Buffy said, surprised. "Arthur Weasley?" she knew the man looked somewhat familiar; she should have known that Ron's dad was Arthur, she just didn't even think about it. It would take awhile for her to wrap her mind around the fact that all her old friends were grown up and most had kids, many of which were in her classes.

"You know him?"

"Yes, but I haven't seen him in ages. So what's the deal with his son?"

"Percy," the man said, grimacing, "is the Minister's assistant, unfortunately. He is a pompous, I want to say know it all, but the problem is he doesn't know it all, he just thinks he does."

"Ah," Buffy said. "I know the type."

"He's very eager and is an overachiever. Anyway," the man said, lowering his voice. "Dumbledore and Harry Potter had started a rumour that You-Know-Who is back, it's all nonsense, really, or at least that's what the Minister is telling everyone. Arthur and his family have always been loyal to Dumbledore, until now, at least. Percy is aligning himself with Fudge, and therefore against his family. He's basically disowned his own family, so they've disowned him. Although, I heard Molly isn't taking it very well."

It seemed that the man had just been waiting for someone to ask, as he kept giving out information, which Buffy was sure others would be less forthcoming about.

"Thanks," Buffy said absently, walking away from the man, who was very startled at her abrupt departure.

She stopped at the end cubicle, where a big black man sat surrounded by pictures of Sirius. She gazed at them longingly while Kingsley looked up at her.

"May I help you?" he asked.

"Yes, the Minister asked me to come down and see if you've had any progress with Sirius Black."

Kingsley sighed, "I haven't come across any leads in the five minutes it's been since Percy came down and asked me the same thing. I could get a lot more work done if you'd stop pestering me."

"Sorry," Buffy said. 'Ooops!' she thought. She turned to go but the man stopped her.

"Are you Sarah Fox? The new professor at Hogwarts?" Kingsley asked her, recognizing her description from the Order meeting a couple of nights before.

Buffy turned around and stared at him distrustfully. "How do you know my name?"

"You're pretty much the talk of the Ministry; Lucius Malfoy stormed in here a couple of days ago," Kingsley clarified at her confused look.

"Oh, yeah," Buffy said, a sheepish look coming over her features. That one act really was more trouble than it was worth.

Kingsley looked at her interestedly. Who was this girl that had everyone concerned about? She didn't look like she could do anyone real damage, as small as she was, but she did have an air about her that he didn't know what to make of. This young woman in front of him had some strength about her, even though her outer behaviour might have suggested otherwise to some. "Interesting..."

"So, tell me, why'd you kick out Malfoy? Everyone's dying to know."

"His hair was blonder than mine," Buffy deadpanned.

Kingsley looked at her in shock and then began to laugh. He liked this girl.

"I really need to go. Sorry if I've kept you from your work." Buffy quickly left before he could say anything else.

She walked through the Ministry building, stopping only when she came upon a small door marked "Percy Weasley." She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. "Here goes nothing," she muttered to herself.

The door opened after a moment and revealed the young man that she had seen earlier. "Yes?" he asked, his voice betraying his superior attitude.

"Why are you doing this?" Buffy asked him, not taking time for pleasantries.

"I'm sorry?" he asked, completely taken aback.

"Fighting with your family," Buffy clarified. "Why? Why would you do that?"

"I don't think it's any of your business," he said, closing the door.

Buffy stuck her foot in the doorway and used her hand to push the door, keeping it open. "You're right, it isn't my business. I'm not in your family, so I really have no right to tell you what to do, but I do what I want. Amazingly enough, I care about you and your family, even though I don't really know you."

"Please, leave," Percy said, attempting again to close the door. "I'll be forced to call the Aurors and have you escorted off the premises."

"What would happen if they were killed tomorrow? Or today, for that matter?" Buffy said, halting his self-important speech.

"What?" he asked, shocked.

"What if your entire family was dead, by some freak accident or something. Say the house fell down and they were all killed. You'll never have the chance to see them again and you'll always remember how you behaved towards them. They'll have died hating you and thinking that you hated them. How would you feel?"

Percy was completely shocked; where did this girl come from, and what was she saying?

"Huh?" Buffy asked more forcefully. "You're entire family is dead and you never even made up. You'll always regret your actions and your guilt will run your entire life. Is that how you want to live?"

Percy's head was spinning. "They're not going to die," he said meekly.

"You don't know that," Buffy insisted. "It's unlikely that your entire family will be killed, but what about Ron? Or your dad? What about your mother?"

That hit Percy hard. He didn't want any of his family dead, but his mother was his mother. He swallowed hard.

"What if, Merlin forbid, something horrible and unexpected happened to her? You'd never be able to say goodbye, never be able to apologize for your atrocious behaviour," Buffy said, furious with the man in front of her. "Are you happy right now? You've got no one to turn to if you have a problem, no one to go laugh with, no one to joke around with."

Percy was very quite, growing paler with each word she was saying. He didn't believe that they were right in aligning against the Minister, but they were family.

"No one's saying that you can't be loyal to both the Ministry and your family. Personally, I believe family is more important. They're the ones that will be with you through all your good and bad times, should you let them. How can you be so stupid and arrogant to think that you're better than them? You're the same! You might have different beliefs, which is okay, lots of people disagree with their families, but not many people go to the lengths of disowning them."

"They follow Dumbledore," Percy finally spoke up. "I'm loyal to Fudge, as they should be."

"Why should they be?" Buffy interrupted. "Because he's the Minister? Just because someone's in power doesn't make him or her right. Do you even remember Hitler? Voldemort has power, but that doesn't make him right. What matters is what they stand for and what they do to help those around them.

"I know what it's like to loose family and I wish I could've done so many things differently. They're gone and I didn't get to say goodbye," Buffy said, "but at least I didn't end with harsh words. I don't know if I'd be able to live with myself if the last things I said to my family were in anger."

"This is a different situation," Percy said softly, trying to give himself more confidence in what he was doing was right, although it wasn't working well.

"You have to re-evaluate what's important to you," Buffy said, continuing more softly. "The question of loyalty is a big one and if it tears you from your family forever, so be it. I just hope you can live with your choice," with that said, Buffy walked away, leaving a shell-shocked Percy behind.

Buffy walked away from Percy feeling angry that he would have let something so stupid come between his family. He had something so wonderful and he was just going to throw it away. Stupid boy.

Buffy stormed out of the Ministry and approached the floo port angrily. There was no line for the outgoing ports so she grabbed a handful of powder and threw it into the fire. "St. Mungo's," she said loudly.

"It's nice to see that they have some visitors," the nurse said as she opened the door. "Very few people come and see them; it's usually just poor Neville and his grandmother."

"I bet it's hard on him," Buffy said softly, following the kind nurse.

"Yes, I believe it is. They can't even recognize their own son. He's a brave one," she said.

"I'll leave you alone," she said, addressing the group.

Giles, Willow, Xander and Anya had all agreed to meet Buffy at the hospital, after getting directions of course. They might not have been wizards and witches, but no one knew that; no one even suspected. Buffy had given them directions on how to get access from the streets of London and so they were granted access as Visitors. Muggles wouldn't have known how to get inside.

"Thank you," Buffy said. The nurse left the room and Buffy walked over to the wall, pausing before she pulled back the curtain that separated the room.

"Do you really think you're ready, Buffy?" Giles asked, wiping his glasses.

Buffy turned sharply and looked at Giles. "What did you just say?"

"I asked if you were ready," Giles said, confused. "It won't be easy to see them like this."

"Oh, right." Buffy took a deep breath to calm herself down, but she didn't feel right. Something felt wrong. Giles had just said the exact thing her mom, Joyce, once said to her before all Hell broke loose with Angel.

"I'm fine," she said. She pulled back the curtain and walked over to the beds. "Frank? Alice?" The two looked up upon hearing someone approaching. "Hi."

She didn't really get a response. Upon looking in their eyes, it didn't look like much was going on; they looked almost dead.

"Willow?" Buffy asked, turning towards her friend.

"I don't know. I mean, maybe, but I don't think so." The red head walked over to the couple and tried to interact with them, trying to get them to talk. They didn't really say anything and they didn't understand much. After about ten minutes, Willow gave up.

"I don't think so, Buffy; this is a different situation. I mean, Glory took something out of her victims minds. Tara was more responsive than them."

"I don't understand," Buffy said. "I didn't think that the curse could do something like this. I mean, other people have been victims of the curse and theirs is the only situation like this."

"Each case is different, just as each person is different," Giles said. "Some of the victims die, others are just in excruciating amounts of pain for awhile. It all depends."

"But for both of them to be like this? I don't think so."

"Maybe they both got hit with the curse at the same spot, which ended up frying some parts of their brain or nerve connections," Willow suggested.

"I don't know; I don't think so," Buffy said, looking at the couple playing with the bedcovers.

"Buffy, you can't fix everything," Xander said.

"Isn't there something you can do, Willow? You pulled a bullet out of my chest and closed the wound, can't you help them?" Buffy pleaded.

"No. I mean, for one, I was all dark magic mama at the time, and two, the brain is too fragile to mess with; I might kill them."

"You helped Tara!"

"That was a different situation!"

"I just feel that there's something more here. I'm getting this weird feeling, almost darkness, whenever I look at them. I know that it sounds weird, but somehow I know that they aren't like this because of that curse."

"What about another curse?" Anya suggested. "I mean, who's not to say that they're not under another one?"

"The mediwitches check for signs of magic when they're first admitted," Buffy said.

"But not everything can be found by a simple spell. I mean, we're talking about dark magic here, almost anything is possible."

"Willow? Do you think you could check?" Buffy asked, her hope rising once again.

Willow gave a small sigh. "I can try," she said doubtfully. She didn't want Buffy to get hurt again. She closed her eyes and focused on the two people in front of her, searching them over for magic signatures or traces. "I don't feel anything," Willow said.

Buffy let out the breath she'd been holding, but her heart skipped its next beat when she heard Willow.

"Wait. There's something faint. I don't know what it is." The redhead tried harder, looking at the auras of the Longbottoms. There was something dark black slithering this way and that. It was so small that she almost didn't see it within the swirls of colour. "It's something... I don't know what though..."

Suddenly, Willow flew backwards off her feet, as if pushed by an invisible force.

"Willow!" Buffy yelled, running over to help her friend stand up.

"Whoa," Willow said, a trickle of blood running down her nose. "That was some dark stuff."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just, wow. And ow."

"What was that?" Xander asked.

"Someone didn't want them to be messed with. Someone wanted them punished," Willow said.

"Can you fix them?" Anya asked. "They're starting to creep me out; they keep staring at me."

"No, it's too dangerous," Xander said. "Look, you're bleeding."

Willow absently wiped the blood away and stood up. "They're trapped, Buffy. They can't get out."

"You got all that from a little reading?" Anya asked, impressed.

"Yeah. I can help them, but I need help," she said, turning to Buffy.

"Anything," Buffy said. "But you are okay, right? And by helping, you're not going to get hurt, are you?"

"I don't think so, but this might be a little rough."

"Okay," Buffy said. "What do you need me to do?"

Sometime later, Willow and Buffy were each holding one of Alice's hands as she lay unconscious on her bed. "Now, make sure there are no interruptions," Willow said. "I need quiet."

Willow had set up a small room of sorts, separating herself and Buffy away from the rest of the group and Frank. They were to play cover if someone happened to walk in.

"Ready?" Willow asked Buffy.

"Ready," Buffy answered. They both closed their eyes and concentrated as Willow's voice chanted around them softly.

Buffy let the foreign words wash over her as she concentrated on the woman she was trying to help. She hadn't known Alice or Frank all that well, as they were both older than her in school, but she had run into them a couple of times and they were always nice to her.

Buffy let herself enter into a meditative state and she was unaware of anything around her.

Finally, Buffy opened her eyes. It was completely dark and she was nowhere. There was nothing around her, no indication of anything but emptiness. The darkness seemed to grow deeper and a mist of some sort slowly emerged.

"Hello?" Buffy yelled out. "Is anyone there?"

It didn't seem like the best thing to yell out in the darkness, but it was the only chance she had. She had no idea where to go. She held up her hand in front of her face and saw nothing. It was too dark. "Great," Buffy muttered.

"Hello?" Buffy yelled again. This time she thought she heard something very soft, but she had no idea what direction it came from. "Hello?" She yelled again.

"Where are you?"

She listened hard for a reply, but was only greeted with a growing feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. Something else was here.

She turned around slowly, sensing it behind her, but as soon as she did, something hard rammed into her, throwing her backwards. Buffy landed hard and tried to look around. There was nothing anywhere, but she felt that the threat still loomed.

"Okay, invisible girl again," Buffy said. She closed her eyes and used her senses. She had no idea what was down here, but she knew if felt evil. This must have been the darkness that she felt around the Longbottoms. It was actually inside of them, holding them captive in their own minds.

Buffy felt something behind her and gave a back kick, but only hitting air. She let her breathing get slower and let the atmosphere wash over her.

There! On her left. Buffy gave a quick roundhouse kick and felt her foot connect with something solid. Buffy turned to face the direction she just kicked and began to feel with her senses. It didn't seem that her blow had damaged it at all.

She felt something coming at her and she lifted her arm to block, before sending her own punch. The two began to fight. Really fight.

The blows began to get harder and the pace of the fight picked up rapidly. It seemed that nothing that Buffy sent the demon's way phased it, although she was feeling a little sore.

'I need a weapon of some kind!' Buffy thought. 'I can't defeat this with my hands.'

"Use magic!" Willow's voice echoed in her mind. "You have magic within you, use it. You don't need a wand."

Buffy was startled by Willow's voice suddenly in her mind; she paused just long enough for the demon to get another hit in, one that tossed her far in the air. Slamming into the ground, Buffy lost her breath for a moment. She could feel it coming for her and she knew she had to do something.

She looked inside herself and found the magical core that Willow had once showed her. She tried to control her power, griping just enough to do some damage. She could feel the power beginning to radiate off of her and she could feel the demon pause right above her. It was scared.

Opening her eyes, Buffy let light flood the area she was in. The bright light that came from her hands illuminated everything; it was brighter than Buffy had expected and she had to close her eyes against it.

Buffy heard the demon scream in pain and agony as the light cut through its darkness, its home. The demon was pure darkness, no light and no love. If fed off fear and darkness, controlling everything that was within its reach.

The demon continued to howl as the light pierced its dark exterior, shedding light onto every corner of its space and being.

After what felt like an eternity, the howling ceased and Buffy lay back, exhausted by the use of magic. Buffy let the magic coming from her hands die out, and she opened her eyes. The demon was gone and the area she was in was much lighter, but still empty.

She took a breath and looked around her, trying to find something. "Hello?" she called again.

A sound came from Buffy's right, much clearer this time.

Buffy got up and walked in the direction the noise came from. She saw Alice lying on her back and stirring slightly. She rushed over and knelt down beside the woman. "Alice?" Buffy asked.

The woman stirred again, tossing her head to the other side and allowing a moan to escape her lips.

'That's what the sound was,' Buffy thought.

"Alice, come on. It's time to wake up," Buffy said, shaking the woman gently.

The woman's head turned towards Buffy and her eyes slowly opened.

And suddenly, Buffy was back in her own body, watching as Alice opened her eyes in her own bed.

Alice looked around herself, confused, before bolting upright in her bed, gasping.

"Easy, easy," Willow said.

"It's okay," Buffy comforted, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You're back. Nothing's going to hurt you anymore."

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CHAPTER 22: THE LONGBOTTOMS

Alice was breathing heavily and her eyes darted about the room, trying to make sense of what was going on.

"It's okay, calm down," a redhead beside her said.

"You're safe now," a different lady told her.

Alice was so confused. She had no idea what was happening. One minute she was at home with Frank and the next she was in a strange white room. Was it a hospital? Why couldn't she remember what happened? She thought back to the last thing she could remember...

She was at home. With Frank and Neville. Neville! Where was Neville? She tried to say something, but all that would come out was a little groan. She couldn't speak! Why couldn't she speak!

"Here's some water," the redhead said, holding out a glass to her.

Alice took it and greedily chugged it down. The cool liquid felt good against her throat. She handed back the empty glass and tried again.

"Ne... uh, Ne... uh," she said, getting very frustrated.

"Neville?" the blonde asked after a moment's thought. The woman nodded in relief. "He's safe. He's at Hogwarts."

Alice looked confused. Why would her baby boy be at Hogwarts? Maybe Dumbledore decided to take him there for protection. The Death Eaters could be com...

'The Death Eaters!' Alice thought suddenly. She remembered. They had come to her house and demanded the location of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. They had threatened little Neville and the pain... oh the pain... Alice shuddered. It was overwhelming, all encompassing pain.

Alice's breathing was returning to normal and her worry was lessened. Someone must have arrived and saved them. They must have brought Neville back to Hogwarts while she was recovering. But recovering where? Her eyes began to roam around, trying to find clues of her location.

"We're at St. Mungo's," the blonde told her, as if she could read her mind.

Alice's eyes widened in astonishment. Was she really that badly injured? But then, she couldn't be at St. Mungo's because it was too... well, cosy. Not that it was anything special, but the room she was in was far nicer than other rooms she had stayed at. Being an Auror, she had been a resident of the hospital a couple of times, but this didn't look like it at all.

There were flowery curtains drawn up around them and there were dressers around her bed, several plants lining the top. Was that a mimbulus mimbletonia? Those are supposed to be very rare.

Alice's eyes continued on and noticed that she was wearing a rather flimsy nightgown of sorts. How long had she been here? And who were these people?

"Alice, I know you're disoriented and worried, but we don't have that much time here. We're only here to help you, okay?" the redhead told her gently.

"You were under a spell; dark magic," the blonde said, "and your husband is as well. We need you to sit with our friends out there while we help Frank in here, okay?"

'Frank? They got Frank too? Oh, please let him be okay! Please!' Alice thought, tears forming in her eyes. Why did they have to do this? What had they ever done?

Alice nodded numbly. She had to trust them; they had helped her and she'd do anything to make sure her husband was okay as well. Maybe they were new healers, although they looked out of place with their black robes.

"I'm Willow and this is B..."

"Sarah," the blonde said with a smile and a quick glance at the redhead, Willow.

They helped her up and led her out past the curtain. There were several people sitting around quietly, surrounding a bed with an older looking man on it. 'Frank?' Alice thought as she got closer. 'But it can't be! He's too old!'

Alice was frantic and looked at the two helping her along. Her muscles weren't all that strong for some reason and she seemed to only be able to shuffle her feet. What was going on?

"Wh... wha?" she tried to speak, becoming more frustrated with her sore throat. What was happening?

The redhead looked at Alice, trying to understand, then she looked at Frank on the bed and something seemed to click. "Oh," she said with wide eyes.

"What? Is everything okay?" the blonde, Sarah, asked.

"It's just... she doesn't know," Willow said quietly. "She doesn't know anything."

'Tell me!' Alice thought desperately. She saw the blonde's eyes widen in understanding and looked at her with something akin to pity in her eyes.

"Alice? I know this is going to be really hard, but you have to stay calm for me, okay?"

'Calm? Calm! I am calm, now would somebody please tell me what the bloody hell is going on?' Alice thought, although she nodded at the blonde.

"The Death Eaters came, do you remember that?" Alice nodded.

"And they tortured you, right?" Another nod. "They wanted information from you and you wouldn't give them any, right?" Nod. "Do remember what happened next?"

Alice thought back, trying to recall anything. She remembered a girl with long black hair, demanding information that they couldn't give. She had threatened them, tortured them, almost killed them, but decided that they should be punished.

She said... she said... Alice thought hard, willing the memories to come back. Alice could hear the woman's laugh as she said that death would be too pleasant for them, death would be a mercy. She was going to curse them so that... so that... they'd be trapped forever in their own mind.

Alice's eyes popped back open in surprise as the memories of that night came flooding back. She remembered the excruciating pain she'd been in while they held her under the Crucio curse. She didn't think the pain could get worse, but it did. Once they put the spell on her, it was like darkness had crawled inside her. She tried to fight it, she didn't want it to take her, but she was so weak; she didn't have any strength left.

How long had she been like that? How long had she been trapped inside her own mind, alive but not in control. On some level she had been coherent, allowing her body to move and do simple tasks. It didn't want her dead and it didn't want her to be free; it had kept a tight lease on her so as not to arouse suspicion or too much pity. It didn't want anyone to kill her to put her out of her misery, so she had to look alive and somewhat active.

Buffy was watching Alice carefully and she knew when Alice remembered everything that had happened. "You've been gone for awhile," she said.

Alice turned her head and looked anxiously at her; she wanted to know. "Fourteen years," Buffy said quietly.

Alice froze in shock. It couldn't be... fourteen years? No... no! Alice looked around frantically, trying to find something that would tell her the truth. This had to be some kind of trick. Her eyes landed on a calendar that was flipped to the month of September, a unicorn dancing around the year.

Alice backed away frantically as she tried to wrap her mind around all this new information. "Nah, nah, No!" Alice yelled, as tears welled up in her eyes. Her life was gone. Everything that had been hers was gone. Neville! Poor Neville! What had happened to him!

"Calm done, please," the blonde begged. "We can't have anyone coming in here!"

She wouldn't. She couldn't. How would she feel if fourteen years were taken from her? She would never be able to see her baby boy grow up! She'd missed watching over her precious child! All the things she should have been able to do were gone! Forever! She had wanted to give Neville a brother or sister to play with, she had wanted to watch as her children grew older, got their letters to Hogwarts, and developed their magic.

Now he was fifteen and she had missed it all!

Alice was growing more and more frantic, and Buffy could tell she was about to break out into loud sobs. They couldn't have anyone coming to investigate. They weren't done yet. Buffy pulled out her wand and pointed it at Alice. "Stupefy," she muttered. A red spark shot out of the wand and hit Alice in the chest, causing her to collapse suddenly.

"Buffy!" Willow cried. "Was that really necessary?"

"She's going to have to face what's happened sometime," Giles said. "Putting it off won't help anything."

"I know. I just need her to keep quiet so we can help Frank," Buffy said.

Giles looked at his charge, worried. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, you look awful," Anya said.

"I'm fine. I'm just tired," Buffy said. "That took a lot out of me. More than I thought."

"Are you sure you're up to it again?" Willow asked. "We can stop, we don't have to do this."

"Yes we do," Buffy said determinedly.

"Buffy," Giles said quietly in understanding. "You can't help everyone, you know that."

"We know we can help them, so let's do it."

"I agree, but you can't sacrifice yourself. If you're too tired, things can go awry."

"I'm fine. We have to do this now. Neville needs both his parents, not just one."

"Helping Neville won't bring back your own family, Buffy," Giles said softly.

"I know," Buffy said after a moment. "I know what it's like to lose almost everyone you care about, and I don't want that to happen to anyone else. If I can help them, I will." With that said, Buffy magically carried Frank to the bed on the opposite side of the curtain.

"Come on, Willow," she said while Xander put Alice on the now unoccupied bed.

Giles sighed and took off his glasses to clean them and Willow began the spell again.

Buffy was in the dark place again, only she was much more tired than before. How she did this the first time was beyond her.

Out of nowhere, a force shoved her from behind, causing her to fly across the plane and fall hard on the ground. "You really need to work on your manners; that's no way to welcome guests," Buffy said, frustrated and sore.

She knew fighting it would be pointless so she quickly tried to reach inside herself to find the light again. She was forced to roll over before she could, but she wasn't fast enough and a clawed hand swiped her back, causing her to cry out in pain.

Giles, Anya, and Xander all looked sharply up, upon hearing Buffy's yell. They rushed over to the curtain and pulled it back.

Buffy was sitting in her chair, one hand gripping Frank's, the other hand held in Willow's. There were three long marks down her back, dripping blood.

"That's not supposed to happen, is it?" Xander asked, worried for his friend.

"No, it's not," Giles said.

"It didn't do that before," he said.

"Buffy's tired and her strength is waning, causing her to be perceptible to the injuries."

"What?" Xander asked.

"Her strength is what kept the injuries in the plane that she's in; if she gets hurt there, it stays there, her body is unaffected. Now her mind and body are exhausted and the injuries will manifest onto her real body."

"Well, let's stop them. Wake them up."

"We can't," Anya said. "If you stop them or wake them up before they're ready something bad could happen."

"And this isn't bad?" Xander asked, pointing at Buffy's bloody back.

"I mean something worse. They're minds aren't with their bodies at the moment, should you wake them up, you'll disturb the entire spell, safety wards included. You just have to wait."

"I'm afraid she's right," Giles said. "There's no telling what could happen should we disturb the spell."

"What if it kills her in there?" Xander asked. "What will happen to her here?"

"She'll die."

This was not going too well.

Buffy was thrown once again, she flew through the air and landed none too gently, knocking the air out of her.

She had just seconds before it caught up to her again. It had already twisted her ankle and bitten her on the arm, driving its fangs through her skin and fracturing her bone. She couldn't take much more of this. She had to end it now.

She found her magical core, much less spectacular than the first time, and tried to shine some light. It wasn't nearly as powerful and bright as before, and the demon thing wasn't affected as much either. The darkness was still all around her as the light only lit up the immediate area instead of banishing the evil.

It was breaking apart, sure, but slowly. Ever so slowly. Small beams of light on its surface caused it's 'skin' to melt away, but it wasn't enough. Buffy tried to force more light, but she was exhausted. It would eventually melt away, but that was going to take time, hoping it won't do anything in the meantime.

The demon sensed its foe's waning strength and prepared to use it to its advantage. It came charging at Buffy, who was sitting up with some difficulty.

She saw the demon coming, but couldn't stop it, she couldn't move quickly enough. The closer the demon came to her, the more it broke apart, as the light was stronger near its source, but the light was fading.

It wasn't enough.

Buffy braced herself for the impact, but it never came.

The demon dove at her and instead of colliding with her, it went in her, throwing her backwards with the momentum of his run.

Sitting in the room, the gang could only watch as injuries began appearing on Buffy's body. They couldn't even touch her for fear of waking her up.

Her right forearm was a bloody mess; they didn't even know how she managed to stay hand in hand with Willow.

Suddenly, Buffy was thrown backwards, toppling over the chair and slamming into the curtain with great force, pulling it down around her. Frank sat up suddenly with a gasp of air and Willow's eyes snapped open at the sudden loss of contact.

"Buffy!" everyone yelled, rushing to help their fallen friend. They tried to untangle their blonde friend from the curtains but were having a lot of difficulty. Finally they managed to pull her free and help her up.

She didn't look good. She was very pale and her forehead was slick with sweat. "Buffy, are you okay? What happened?" Willow asked, up righting the chair and leading her over to sit down.

"I don't know... I'm really tired," Buffy said as her eyes became unfocused. She just wanted to sleep.

"Buffy, stay with us. We'll bring you back to Hogwarts, okay? You can get treated there," Giles said, remembering what she had told them about the Hospital Wing. "Can you make us a portkey?"

Buffy opened her eyes again. "No, I'm fine," she said thickly. "We're already at a hospital. I don't like hospitals."

"I think it would be a little weird for a visitor to be maimed in the hospital," Xander said. "Giles is right, we need you to get you to Hogwarts. We'll say a dog attacked you."

"A big dog," Buffy said deliriously. "A big, black scary dog. With fangs."

"Yes, that's right." Xander said. "Can you make us a portkey?"

"Uh huh," Buffy said, pulling out her wand and waving it around unsteadily.

"Or, how about I do that?" Willow said, taking the wand. "What are the words again?"

"You can't do it. Only me. My wand. Won't work for you."

"I'm sure it will, what are the words?"

"Pork? Porksus Nope. Not right," Buffy said shaking her head violently. "Can't think. Headache."

"Porksus?" Giles said thinking. "It's based in Latin, so it should be .. "

"Portus!" Willow said, pointing her wand at a bubblegum wrapper. "Here, touch this."

"I'll take her, it won't do well to have all of us show up. Plus, I'm the only British one here," Giles said.

"Okay," Willow said. "Hurry."

Giles grabbed Buffy's left arm and forced her to hold onto the wrapper while he grabbed on as well.

"I hope she's okay. It wouldn't be good if she lost her mind," Anya said.

"She'll be okay," Xander said, wrapping an arm around Anya and pulling her close, as much for his own comfort as for hers.

"Oh!" Willow said suddenly, looking wide eyed at Frank who had been staring at them the whole time. "Hello?" she offered feebly.

Giles and Buffy materialized right in the middle of a long hallway, which was thankfully empty. Willow had never been to Hogwarts and didn't know which place to think about, so she just thought about Hogwarts in general.

"Come on, Buffy," Giles said, picking her up. Her ankle was twisted and she couldn't stand anymore.

"Sarah. Not Buffy," she chided, pointing her finger at him like an adult would at a naughty child.

"Right, I'm sorry. Now, where is the hospital wing?" he asked her.

"Don't know. Haven't been in long time."

"Naturally," Giles said, frustrated with her fear of hospitals.

"I'm fine. Just wanna sleep."

"No. You probably have a concussion. You can't sleep."

"But I wanna," Buffy said, pouting.

"Do stop that," Giles said looking away. He began walking down the deserted hallway, hoping to run into someone when a ghost suddenly flew through one of the walls, startling him so much he almost dropped Buffy.

"Oh, hello," the ghost said pleasantly. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"Can you please tell me where the hospital wing is?" Giles said. He was glad that Buffy had told them all about Hogwarts, as he would probably be running away from the ghost otherwise.

"Oh, is she okay?" the ghost said, noticing the girl in his arms for the first time. "Is that the new professor?"

"Yes it is, now if you don't mind?" Giles asked impatiently.

"Of course, follow me. By the way, my name is Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington. I don't recall seeing you here before."

"I don't work here. I'm just here to drop her off. She got attacked by a big dog."

"A dog? That wouldn't be Fang would it?"

"Fang? He had big fangs," Buffy mumbled. "Big black bad dog. Bad."

"Oh, I guess it's not Fang. Good thing to, otherwise Hagrid would have been devastated."

"Where is everyone?" Giles asked, wondering why he had yet to see anyone.

"They're all at dinner," he answered. They wandered through several halls and up several staircases before Sir Nicholas stopped beside a door.

"Here we are. I hope she'll be okay."

"Thank you," Giles said, rushing into the room. "Hello? Hello?" he called.

"Yes, yes, what is it?" a woman asked, rushing out of her office. "Oh dear," she said upon seeing the battered professor. "What happened?"

"A dog attacked her."

"A big dog. Big dog," Buffy said as she was laid down on a bed. "No. No! No hospitals," she said, struggling.

"She has a fear of hospitals," Giles explained as he held her down, which was considerably easier than it should have been.

"I had a student years ago who was afraid of hospitals also. It was very strange," she said, rushing to get all the potions she needed.

"Here, make her drink this, it should calm her down."

Giles struggled to get her to drink something, which was complicated because she kept struggling. "Oh, do quite being difficult," he said harshly, causing her to stop and whimper.

"I'm sorry, but drink this," he said, handing over the potion. She accepted it without too much more of a struggle and began to calm down.

"Good," the nurse said, coming back into the room with a tray of different coloured bottles. She took her wand and pointed at the right arm and muttered an incantation, causing the bone to heal in seconds.

Giles could only stand back and watch as she worked, wistfully thinking how useful all these spells and potions would have been to them over the years.

"Well, that should do it," she said. "She still has a fever, but I gave her some dreamless sleep potion so she'll rest it off. I don't want her out of this bed yet."

Giles nodded his agreement and watched as she left them before turning his attention back on his young charge. "What happened to you?"

Buffy's pale face was not peaceful as she laid on the bed, twisting and turning every so often. He couldn't be certain, but it didn't look as if the dreamless sleep potion had worked.

A couple hours later, dinner was well over and kids were pretty much all in their dorms, as it was almost curfew.

The large front doors opened and revealed a fully clothed, less ragged and happier looking couple than what was found in St. Mungo's earlier. The quickly walked down the hall together, anxious looks on their faces.

The redhead, Willow, had filled them in on everything that she could. She told them were to find their son and helped them get dressed. They didn't want to make a big scene, not yet, and so they quietly escaped from St. Mungo's. They wanted to see Neville before the media had a riot over their miraculous recovery.

Willow had explained the situation that they didn't want to be hassled by the press, so they asked the two of them not to mention any names. At all. They had just wanted to help them out without any reward, although the Longbottoms were definitely grateful and would show their appreciation somehow.

They had basically saved their lives; they weren't about to go against their wishes.

The couple had taken showers and had taken a potion Willow brew up that would make them feel more revitalized. They weren't younger, they were just healthier; staying in a hospital for fourteen years doesn't do anything for one's looks. Now they looked as if they had aged gracefully, as opposed to suddenly.

Alice's hair was no longer limp and white; instead, it was shiny and blonde. Her muscles weren't as atrophied as they had been and she could now speak again. She had barely spoken in fourteen years and her throat was still a little sore.

The couple had thanked them over and over again, after they had gotten over the initial shock, which took a good amount of time.

Now the only thing they wanted to do was find their son. Everything else could wait. Unfortunately, all they knew was that he was in Gryffindor. They didn't even know what he looked like, but they hoped they'd be able to recognize them upon sight.

They were walking down the hallways, trying to reach the Gryffindor common room when Minerva McGonagall stepped around the corner and froze upon seeing them.

"Minerva!" Frank and Alice cried, rushing forward to greet their old professor. She may have aged in the fourteen years they'd been gone, but it was obvious who it was. The wand that was pointed in their direction stopped them.

"What do you think you're doing?" Professor McGonagall said furiously. "That has got to be the worst thing any of you could have done," she said. "How did you even get here?"

"We apparated to Hogsmeade and walked," Frank said slowly.

"And what did we do wrong?" Alice said.

"How could you?" she spat out. "Alice and Frank? That's just the most despicable... " She started, but couldn't finish. Tears were forming in her eyes, even though a look of hatred shot out from them.

"Minerva, please, just let us explain," Frank said. "It really is us."

Amazingly enough, another professor rounded the corner and stopped dead upon seeing the trio. "What is going on?" he asked, completely taken back.

"Severus, get Albus now."

Snape nodded and quickly rushed off. Normally he probably would have argued, but this situation was far more important...

"Minerva, really, I know this may seem a little strange, but it is us," Alice said. "We just want to see Neville."

"You won't get anywhere near him or any other student," McGonagall said. She couldn't bring herself to curse them because they didn't have their wands up and they looked too much like her students, who later became colleagues, in the fight against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and friends.

"Please," Alice begged. She was so close to her son and yet she couldn't get to him. She felt a comforting hand on her shoulder, and she leaned into her husband's embrace.

"Stop that," McGonagall said. There was no way the couple in front of her could be the Longbottoms, they were just very convincing at their job.

"Fine, we'll just wait," Frank said calmly. He too wanted to see his son, but he knew that arguing wasn't going to help anything. He'd waited fourteen years, a couple more minutes was nothing.

Finally, after a lot more staring and silence, Albus Dumbledore arrived with Snape. And he was furious. "What do you think you're doing here?" he asked. "What do you want?"

"Look, Albus, it really is us," Alice said, even though she was a little frightened by the power emanating from the old man in front of her. "I know this is hard to believe, but we've been under a spell, dark magic for the past fourteen years."

"Really? And now you've just chosen to free yourself of it? I find that hard to believe," Snape sneered.

The couple shared a brief glance that didn't go unnoticed by anyone.

"Actually, we had some help, but they didn't want to be named so we promised them we wouldn't talk about them," Frank said.

"I think after saving our lives, it's the least we could do," Alice said.

"How did you know that you were under a spell?" McGonagall asked suspiciously. "They just suddenly showed up after fourteen years and decided to help you?"

The Longbottoms were speechless for a moment. In all the excitement they had forgot to ask why. The two shared a similar look of surprise and confusion before Alice answered, "I guess so. We really don't know who they are, why they helped us, or how they knew. At the moment, I really didn't care."

"Look, this has been fun and all, but can we please see Neville?" Frank asked.

"I'm still not sure Headmaster," Snape said.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were just heading up to bed when they overheard voices in the corridor; it didn't sound like anything good was happening. They immediately hugged the wall and tried to listen to what they were saying.

Harry looked around the corner and was stunned to see the two people standing there. "It can't be!" he whispered.

"What?" Hermione asked silently. It wouldn't do to get caught; Snape would flay them for sure.

"It's Neville's parents!"

"So, what's so weird about that?" Ron asked. "They probably just wanted to see their son."

"And have three wands pointed at them? I don't think so," Hermione said. "Are they evil?"

"No," Harry said, still shocked. He debated on telling them the news he had promised Dumbledore he wouldn't. It really wasn't their business and if Neville didn't want anyone to know, he wasn't going to tell. But the news was going to come out for sure when word of this situation ran around the school. "They're supposed to be at St. Mungo's. In the terminally ill section."

"So they got better. So what?" Ron asked, and had to control his shout when Hermione smacked him.

"How do you know that?" Hermione asked.

"Dumbledore told me. I was in the Pensive last year and I saw the trial for Crouch and the Lestranges. They had tortured the Longbottoms to the point of insanity, trying to get information about Voldemort. Supposedly anyway," Harry said. He was getting angry with Dumbledore for lying to him, but then he calmed down as he realized that this situation probably backed his word. His wand was levelled at the couple and he didn't look too happy.

"So, that's not the Longbottoms?" Hermione asked. "Who is it?"

"Great, another case of Polyjuice potion," Ron said. "It's very difficult to tell who're the good guys and who're the bad guys if they keep using that stuff."

"I think that's the point, Ron," Hermione said, shushing him so they could hear again.

"Tell us something that only you would know," McGonagall suggested. "If you really are Frank and Alice, you can prove it."

"That's a fair suggestion," Dumbledore said evenly.

The Longbottoms looked at each other, trying to think about what they could say. "The woman who attacked us had long black hair," Alice suggested. "She was really crazy."

"Nothing about that night," Snape said. "No one was there but you; besides, everyone knows Bellatrix cursed you. She got sent to Azkaban for it."

"Good," Frank said.

Snape rolled his eyes and said, "Anything else?"

"The reason why we were targeted," Alice said suddenly, looking intently at Dumbledore. "We weren't sure who it would be; the..." she looked quickly at Snape and McGonagall but figured it was fourteen years ago, surely they had to know. "The prophecy wasn't specific. Neville was born at the end of July too."

Dumbledore looked at her long and hard before lowering his wand. No one else knew about the two potential candidates for the prophecy. The Longbottoms had just been punished because the Death Eaters wanted their master back, not because they knew Neville might have been chosen.

McGonagall and Snape looked at Dumbledore with shock. They were Order members, and even if they didn't know the full extent of the prophecy, they did know that it existed. No one but Dumbledore himself knew what the entire thing said.

"How is it possible?" Dumbledore asked, astonished.

"I told you, these people helped us," Alice said with relief. "I can't really tell you more than that."

"They didn't want any attention," Frank added.

McGonagall was crying in joy and amazement while she stepped forward and embraced Alice. "You're okay! You're back!"

"This is truly special, and I wish that I could thank your helpers personally, but if they wish to remain anonymous, so be it. I'm glad you're back."

"Prophecy?" Harry asked. "What prophecy?"

"I don't know," Hermione said. "I'm sure we could look something up, though."

"Oh great, more time at the library," Ron complained.

After the hugs and greetings were over, Alice looked up at Dumbledore. "Can we please see Neville now?" she asked.

"Of course," Dumbledore said with a smile.

"Oh, he's such a wonderful young man, I'm sure you'd be proud of him," McGonagall said. "I'll just go and get him, shall I? He'll be so happy!"

Just as he was walking away, a horrible, gut-wrenching scream tore through the silent corridors of the castle, startling all its occupants and awakening the others that had been asleep. Everyone jumped, their hearts beating faster as another terrible scream pierced the night.

Buffy was tossing and turning in her bed as Giles looked worriedly over her. She hadn't been sleeping easily at all, and he hadn't left her side. Something was terribly wrong with his slayer.

Images ran through Buffy's head, disturbing her sleep. An evil presence was inside her and was trying to take over her and she was seemingly powerless to stop it. She tried, but it was too strong; she was too weak. It was the thing that had the Longbottoms captive; it was in her now.

She would fight it; there was no doubt. She still had Harry and Sirius and Remus, not to mention Giles, Xander, Anya, and Willow, whom she promised she wouldn't give up. But she was so tired...

Buffy watched helplessly as people fell down dead in a flash of green light, she saw people writhing on the floor as they screamed in pain. There were too many people, young and old, men and women, even little babies. Some fought, others didn't have time. There was so much pain. She could feel the pain as it tried to take over.

The potions she was given healed her and gave her a little more strength to fight back with. The demon thing was making her see things, making her feel things that she didn't want to feel. It was inside of her and it was so painful. Each little second that went by, each time it moved, got itself a stronger hold on her mind and body, a fresh wave of pain wracked her body.

More images came and she had to watch as she saw all her friends die one by one, starting with Willow and ending with Sirius. 'No,' she thought, 'Stop it!' But the evil would not stop its onslaught. She watched as Harry was murdered viciously, she watched as James and Lily were killed, trying to protect their son.

"Take Harry and go!"

'James!' Buffy tried to yell, trying to warn him, but she was unsuccessful and had to watch as her brother died in a flash of green. He had fought bravely, amazingly coming fairly close to getting away, but it wasn't enough.

'You should have been there,' a voice whispered in her head. 'He wouldn't have died if you were there.'

'Stop it!' Buffy yelled, bringing her hands up to her ears. It didn't want her to win; it just wanted to make her mad.

It was working.

The images kept coming, not very clearly, but coming nonetheless.

She saw a dark hooded man talking to a kneeling figure with a silver hand.

"Did you find it yet?" the high pitch voice asked.

"No, my lord," he said shakily. "They are guarding the prophecy. I am unable to get through the door."

"Not even in you're rat form?"

"N... no, the crack in the door is too small."

"Well, I need that prophecy," the voice said angrily. "Find another way in!"

"Y... yes, my lord."

Buffy tried desperately to hold on. It wouldn't take her. She wouldn't let it.

She was fighting a battle with herself and it wasn't turning out so good.

'Think about Sirius!' Buffy said, forcing herself to fight. It was a battle of will, and she had a strong will. But was it strong enough?

'Think about Sirius!' Buffy said again. 'And Harry. Remus. Willow. Giles. Xander. Anya.'

Buffy was gaining some ground; her will was becoming stronger and it's grip on her was receding the tinniest bit.

'Voldemort killed by family, I have to protect them!'

'Neither will live while the other survives,' a voice whispered in her head.

'Harry Potter,' something hissed.

"It's the girl," a voice whispered. "Elizabeth Potter."

"She's the one?"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Buffy yelled. She was on the ground on her knees, trying to get out of her own mind. "Wake up!" she screamed at herself.

"But, you're just a girl," a young man said.

"That's what I keep saying."

The demon's hold slipped again. It tried to send more images at her, trying to break her will, but it had miscalculated. It had underestimated her strength.

"Buffy!" It was James yelling for her, trying to get her.

"James! James!"

"GET OUT!" Buffy screamed, her hands over her head. The evil force was losing it's hold on her; it was almost gone. She just had to push a little more...

"I love you," Sirius whispered, a phoenix pendant around her neck.

Buffy threw her head and arms back and screamed, the pain overwhelming her to such a degree that her physical body reacted. The scream was pain-filled and heart wrenching, causing Giles to grip her arm for support and worry, and Madame Pomfrey to come running out of her office.

"Come on! Fight it!" Giles urged her, as she tossed even more violently.

"What is going on?" the nurse asked as she saw the state the young woman was in.

"Fight it!" Giles yelled at her.

It was almost gone, but Buffy couldn't wait. Her body was dying from the pain it was causing her as she resisted.

Images of her life flashed through her eyes: when she was playing around with James, kissing Sirius, being taken, accepting her calling, finding her friends, defeating the First Evil's army. Her own mind was trying to help her out, giving her power over the demon.

"Who are you?" a demon with a vicious club asked.

Buffy looked up at him and smiled, "I'm Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, and you are?"

"You have no idea who you are, what's to come," Dracula's voice whispered.

"It has begun," Tara's voice said softly.

Buffy's eyes flashed golden as she kneeled, huddled in on herself. She screamed again, pushing with all her might, trying to rid herself of the evil presence within her.

Giles sat by her side as she screamed again, a sound even more horrific than before.

Only this time, her yell was interrupted as she began to cough violently.

Giles rolled her onto her side, thinking she might begin to heave. He watched in horror as a dark cloud began to emerge from her mouth.

Madame Pomfrey held her hand over her mouth to cover her scream. "Merlin's beard!" she exclaimed.

"Come on," Giles said to Buffy once more.

Buffy continued to gag until the dark cloud stopped emerging, and then she lay back exhausted and unconscious.

The cloud hovered in the air above Buffy, trying to find another victim. It began to creep towards Giles when a bubble of some sort surrounded it. Giles turned to look at Pomfrey and noticed she had her wand out and pointed at the cloud.

"Thanks," he said with relief.

Madame Pomfrey just nodded shakily. "What kind of a dog did that?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER 23: FAMILY

Dumbledore knew the castle very well and could somehow sense that the blood curling screams were coming from the hospital wing. As he ran, McGonagall, Snape, Frank and Alice all rushed after him, frightened for the students and themselves, as well as determined to fight whatever or whomever they came across.

Unbeknownst to them, Harry, Hermione and Ron had followed them the whole way, keeping far enough behind to remain undetected. Hermione was insisting that they go back to the common room, although the two boys knew that it was more out of habit and respect for the rules than anything else. She was dying to know what was going on, just like Ron and Harry were.

"You don't think it's an attack, do you?" McGonagall asked Dumbledore quickly.

"I don't know," Dumbledore said honestly, "but I don't believe it is. I think it might just be a student in an excruciating amount of pain, as it is coming from the hospital wing."

"It's not Potter, is it?"

"No, I doubt he would ever go to the hospital wing willingly," Dumbledore said fondly, not realizing that there was a different Potter in pain, one that also despised hospitals. "Plus, the yell has too much of a feminine quality to it."

"Of course," McGonagall said, realizing her worry for Harry had overshadowed some of her rational thinking abilities.

"Do you worry about all your students this much Minerva, or is it just Potter?" Snape sneered.

"I care about the safety of all my students, Severus, as should you."

"Enough," Dumbledore said, interrupting Snape and ending the bickering.

The rest of the trip was made in silence and they finally came upon the hospital wing, bursting through the doors to a surprising sight.

"Well Hermione, all your hard work for nothing," Ron whispered good-naturedly, the trio still quite a bit behind the professors. "Harry's officially the teacher's pet."

"I am not," Harry said defensively.

"The first person McGonagall thought about was you," Ron pointed out.

"That's only because I'm usually the one screaming."

"He does have a point," Hermione said.

"Thank you," Harry said with a smile.

"He's the one that always does the stupid things that get him hurt. He really doesn't have much common sense," Hermione said, causing the smile to disappear and Ron to laugh.

"Hey!" Harry said with a scowl. He paused before adding, "You're just upset because you're not the teacher's pet."

Ron laughed harder while Hermione hit Harry's arm playfully and then smacked Ron upside his head to get him to shut up. "They'll hear us," Hermione she hissed.

"Who are you?" Snape growled at the older looking man wearing glasses. The elderly man looked to be hovering over, amazingly enough, the young blonde ministry employee, with Madame Pomfrey's wand pointing in his direction.

"Is everything all right?" Dumbledore asked, sensing no immediate danger as the man whipped around to look at the five adults that had barged in on the eerie silence of the room.

Madame Pomfrey nodded her head slowly, still trying to understand what happened.

Giles looked at the five wizards and witches and noticed that two of them looked awfully familiar.

Frank and Alice gasped at the sight of the elderly man and young woman that had saved their lives.

That's when it clicked that the two familiar people were the people he had left in St. Mungo's a few hours ago. 'Oh dear lord,' Giles thought with a sigh. This had the potential to be very revealing, and Buffy had made it clear she didn't want that to happen yet.

Assuming they actually believed her crazy story, what if they followed her in order to find Sirius? Buffy was very adamant that Sirius could not be sent back to Azkaban or killed by some crazy self-righteous people. And Giles would not let his Slayer down.

He stared back at the Longbottoms as they recognized his face and pleaded with his eyes not to say anything.

"Is something wrong?" McGonagall asked, turning to the Longbottoms. "Do you know him?"

It was the moment of truth. Giles silently prayed that they wouldn't say anything, while he averted his eyes from them to give up the appearance of familiarity.

"No," Frank said after a, thankfully, short pause. "At least, I don't think so. We really haven't met anyone in the time since we've been awake."

"It's just, she looks awful. Is she going to be okay?" Alice asked, putting her hand up to her mouth. Had she saved them only to end up like that herself? She couldn't live with herself if that had happened.

"What happened?" Dumbledore asked, turning back to Madame Pomfrey.

"I've never seen anything like it before in my life," the medi-witch said. "He came in here carrying her, saying she was attacked by a dog. I treated her wounds, but she wasn't responding to the fever-reducing potion. I went back into my office to put together something else and then she started screaming.

"I came back out here and saw she seemed to be struggling with something and then this, this thing started coming out of her mouth," Madame Pomfrey finished, pointing at the trapped dark cloud.

"That thing was inside of her?" McGonagall asked, surprised and frightened.

"It sure seemed that way."

'Dumbledore walked over to the floating ball and lifted his hand up to pluck it out of the air. "It's warm," he said. He held it up higher and looked inside it and the writhing black mass. "It looks to be a magical parasite," Dumbledore said upon analysis. "If I'm not mistaken, I think it's dying; it doesn't have a host to feed off of."

"How did it get into her?" McGonagall asked.

Dumbledore turned to Giles and lifted an eyebrow in question.

"I think we should start by answering my original question," Snape said at Giles' silence. "Who are you?"

"I'm her father," Giles said on a sudden impulse.

"A name would be nice," Snape drawled.

"Ethan Rayne," Giles said immediately, surprised at how that was the first thing out of his mouth.

"Indeed?" Snape said. "And here I was thinking that Ms Fox wasn't married."

"She's not," Giles said. "I'm her stepfather. Her dad died when she was younger, or might as well have," he added bitterly.

"Did you see what happened to her?" Dumbledore asked, trying to get back on track.

"No," Giles lied easily; perhaps his misspent youth wasn't entirely misspent. "She came over for supper and I had run out of milk, so I ran to the store to get some. When I came back, she was lying on the floor unconscious. She didn't look so well and she kept shaking, so I took her here."

"And how did you get here?"

"A portkey, is it?" Giles asked unsure.

"Are you a muggle?" Snape asked incredulously.

"Yes," Giles said, standing up a little straighter. "Is that a problem?"

"Forgive my colleague, he's just surprised you could get here by portkey if your daughter was unconscious."

"She had an emergency portkey made for me when she first took this job; in case I ever needed anything. Since her mom has died she's overly worried about me."

"How'd she die?" Alice asked despite herself.

"Brain tumour. There wasn't anything anyone could do about it. It was completely unexpected."

"I'm sorry," Dumbledore said seriously.

Giles just nodded thankfully. "It was years ago, but she's still having trouble with it. She was the one who found her."

"That's awful," McGonagall said, looking at the girl in a new light.

"Yes, it nearly broke her but she managed to pull through. She always does," Giles said quietly, looking at her fondly.

"It seems she has a very strong will indeed if she forced this out of her," Dumbledore said, holding up the ball again. "I'm not sure how it found its way to her, as curses of this magnitude are seldom used, but she managed to do what most wizards encountering these curses do not.

"I think with some rest she should be fine," Dumbledore finished, ushering everyone out of the room before Madame Pomfrey did it first. "You may stay at Hogwarts as long as you like," he offered before leaving.

"Thank you," Giles said as he resumed his place beside his 'daughter'.

"What are you going to do with that?" McGonagall asked as they left, referring to the trapped parasite thing.

"I'll keep it in my office until it dies, which shouldn't be long," Dumbledore answered. He turned to Frank and Alice. "I'm sorry we've kept you so long, I'm sure you're dying to see your son."

Frank and Alice smiled and excitedly followed Professor McGonagall.

"What do you make of that?" Ron asked Harry and Hermione. They had listened to the conversation with the help of Fred and George's Extendable Ears, as they had to stay far enough away to escape notice.

"I think we can talk about it later," Hermione said. "They're headed back to Gryffindor Tower and they're going to know something's wrong when we're not in bed. It's already way past curfew."

"One thing's for sure," Harry said as they ran back to their rooms, "There's a lot more to Professor Fox than we first thought."

"What do you make of this, Severus?" Dumbledore asked after McGonagall, Frank and Alice had left.

"He's lying."

"I'm not so sure," Dumbledore said thoughtfully.

"There's definitely more going on than what he said," Snape insisted.

"That I agree with. And how did she come upon this curse?" Dumbledore asked, looking once more at the ball.

"I think there's more to Professor Fox than she lets on," Snape said, echoing a student's sentiments. "She's hiding something."

"But what?" Dumbledore asked. "And why?"

"Do you think she's a threat?" Snape asked, remembering Crouch and Quirrel from years past.

"I'm not sure," Dumbledore said. "But I think we should be cautious, especially since she's here on the Ministry's behalf."

Harry, Hermione and Ron rushed into the common room, miraculously making it ahead of the adults. Although, it wasn't that surprising considering they ran the whole way and knew all the secret passageways.

All three collapsed onto the couches in front of the fire, trying to catch their breath.

"We made it," Hermione gasped.

"Are you guys okay?" Ginny ran over to them, concerned.

"We've fine, why?" Ron asked.

"Why? Why!? Did you not hear the awful screaming?" Ginny yelled. "Everyone came down to the common room, all afraid something bad had happened, and guess who didn't show up? Just like usual, something bad happens and you three aren't around."

"Sorry, Ginny," Ron apologized sheepishly.

Harry and Hermione looked around the common room and realized that in their rush to make it back on time, they didn't notice how full the area was. Some of the students had opted to stay in their dorms, blocking the doors shut, while others had ventured out to be with their friends in the common room.

"Wow," Hermione said quietly. It seemed that in a time of apparent crisis, the Gryffindors could be counted on to stick by each other.

"So, what were you guys doing?"

"We were..." Harry started.

"At the library," Hermione finished. "I was trying to get them to finish their research for our Transfiguration essay and we lost track of time. We ran the whole way back, trying not to get caught by some teacher roaming the hallways."

"Especially Umbridge," Ron added with a grimace.

"Oh," Ginny said. She then reached up and swatted Ron on the back of the head.

"Bloody Hell! Ow!" Ron yelped.

"Don't swear, Ron," Hermione said automatically.

"What was that for?"

"For making me be all worried about you and you were off doing other things. I know you weren't at the library," she hissed before she stormed away.

The three friends just looked at each other in stunned silence. "Well, that went well, all things considered," Hermione said lightly.

"What? I got smacked and you think it went well?"

"Of course," Harry said with a smirk. "We didn't get smacked."

Ron just scowled and sank back into the couch.

Hermione was about to open her mouth when the portrait opened once more, allowing Professor McGonagall access.

Upon seeing the full common room, she stopped in shock. "What is going on? Why aren't you all in bed?"

Students rushed up to her, trying to get answers.

"What was that scream?"

"Is everyone okay?"

"Are we under attack?"

"Did someone get hurt?"

"No one's dead, are they?"

"What happened?"

"Is it over?"

"That's enough!" McGonagall said, not unkindly. "You're obviously worried, but everything is okay. Professor Fox just had an accident," she said, unsure of what she should tell them.

For the most part, students quieted down, talking amongst themselves, until one student yelled out, "Is she dead? Is she going to stay?" All the students laughed, thinking it wouldn't be awful if she didn't come back.

"I'd much rather have her than Umbridge," Fred spoke up.

"Yeah, she's hot!" George said, earning another round of laughter, and several mummers of agreement.

"Now, whenever we don't pay attention in class..." Fred continued.

"We have something interesting to look at!" George finished.

"She's fine and will be back to work on Monday. Now go to bed, all of you." As they all trooped up the stairs to their dormitories, she looked around for Neville but couldn't find him. She must have missed him in the crowd of students.

"Mr. Potter," she called out, as Harry was one of the last to file in.

"Yes?" he asked, pretending not to know what she wanted.

"Could you please send Mr. Longbottom down?"

"Sure, professor," he said and took the stairs as fast as he could with all the people still on them.

"Neville?" he asked, bursting into the room.

"What?" he called beneath his t-shirt he was trying to get over his head.

"Professor McGonagall wants to see you in the common room."

"What for?" he asked, getting nervous. "I didn't do anything, well, not that I remember."

"I'm sure you're not in trouble," Harry said, giving a quick glance at Ron to make sure he kept his mouth shut. "She probably just wants to congratulate you on standing up to Snape."

"Yeah, that was bloody brilliant what you did," Ron said, remembering the look on Snape's face.

"Well, I don't think she'd do that," Neville said with a blush. "Besides, I didn't really do anything."

"Well, go and see!" Seamus urged.

"I'd get dressed first if I were you," Harry said when Neville was about to go out in half his pyjamas.

"Right," he said sheepishly and quickly changed back into his school uniform. It'd be a little strange to talk to McGonagall in his pyjamas. What could she have to talk to him about anyway?

Neville nodded at his friends and left their bedroom.

"Professor?" he asked shakily, still having no clue what this was about. Was he going to get punished? He couldn't possibly get rewarded...

"Neville," she said with a smile. Were those tears in her eyes?

"Yes?" he asked anxiously.

"I have some great news," she said. "You might want to sit down for this."

Neville sighed with relief when he realized he couldn't be getting in trouble, as he hardly thought that was great news. Maybe Snape was getting fired?

"Neville, this may seem hard to believe, but Dumbledore, Snape and I have all looked into the matter, in a manner of speaking, and agree that this is no joke. It's real."

'Well, there goes that dream,' Neville thought when he heard that Snape had looked into whatever matter it was; he wouldn't be getting fired.

"It seems that your parents," McGonagall started.

"My parents?" Neville interrupted. "Are they okay? Is something wrong?" his heart beat rapidly in his chest. What could have happened to them? He might never have known who they really were, and they may not have ever comforted him or been there when he needed them, but it wasn't their fault. It was awkward, but they were his parents and he still loved them.

If anything else happened to them... someone was going to pay.

Eventually. Once he mustered up the courage to track them down.

"You're parents are fine. Better than fine, actually," McGonagall reassured gently. "The thing is, they weren't tortured to the point of insanity as everyone had once thought."

What?

"They've been under this spell that made it look like they weren't in control. Some people helped them out; we don't know who, but we know that somehow, someone finally caught on and undid the spell."

Neville's mind had frozen during her revelation. He had no idea what she was saying or going on about, but he got the gist of it. "They're okay?"

"Yes," McGonagall said with a smile. "They're more than okay."

'My parents are okay!' Neville thought. 'I have parents again!'

"Where are they?" he asked hoarsely. "Can I see them?"

"Of course," she said. "They're waiting for you. We thought it would lessen the shock if I told you before they appeared."

Neville stood up shakily. He was going to see his parents. And they would recognize him! They would know that he was their son.

What if they didn't like him? They hadn't known him in fourteen years; he wasn't a baby anymore. What if they thought he was a failure?

He could handle believing that his parents had once loved him and now didn't recognize him, but he couldn't handle them recognizing him and rejecting him.

Neville stopped in the middle of the common room.

"Neville?" Professor McGonagall asked curiously.

"I can't do this," he said quietly.

"What? Why not?" she asked amazed.

"What if they hate me? What if I'm not good enough? I mean, I'm not athletic, I can't play Quidditch, I'm not good at school, I'm entirely too clumsy and I can never remember anything. Why would they want me back?"

Professor McGonagall looked at the young man in front of her with shock written across her face. She had never realized how low this boy's self-esteem really was. He couldn't even face his parents because he was afraid they'd hate him!

"Neville, listen to me," she said, walking over to him. "You're parents love you."

"They love the baby me. They don't even know me."

"It doesn't matter," McGonagall insisted, loosing her strict appearance with the insecure boy. "They love you anyway. The first thing they did was to come to Hogwarts. They didn't even tell anyone they were okay; they snuck out of St. Mungo's to tell you themselves that they were okay. They wanted you to be the first to know; they wanted to see you more than anything.

"Neville," she continued as she could see her words were making some sense to him, "Your parents might not know who exactly you are, but to a parent, that doesn't matter. They love you no matter what. Who cares if you don't play Quidditch? Miss Granger can't fly at all! And Mr. Weasely isn't that good at school, but I happen to know that you're an exceptional Herbology student. Professor Sprout has come to me numerous times with compliments on your exceptional behaviour and progression.

"You didn't get placed into Gryffindor for nothing," she continued, trying her last tactic as she could tell she was almost through. "Get up your courage and go see your parents."

Neville knew what she was saying made sense. He was just scared by the sudden realization that he'd finally get to see his parents. It wasn't anything to be taken lightly. Deep down he knew that they would love him no matter what, but there were still lingering fears. She was right, though. He was a Gryffindor for goodness sake! If he could stand up to Snape, surely he could face his parents!

Neville nodded and slowly began making his way towards the portrait hole. McGonagall nodded in satisfaction and lead the way.

She opened the door and Neville's parents came through the opening. Neville was frozen in shock, fear and awe. It was his parents! They were there, in the flesh. They looked healthier and younger.

They were okay.

"Mum? Dad?" he asked quietly.

"Neville? Oh, Neville!" Alice said, tears coming to her eyes. She ran forward and wrapped her arms around her son, hugging him closely, not noticing Professor McGonagall stepped out to give the reunited family some privacy.

"Mum!" Neville asked again, happier this time, as he wrapped his arms around her. Tears came to his own eyes, but he wasn't ashamed of them; his family was back!

"My boy! Oh, my boy is all grown up and so handsome!" Alice said, stepping back to look at him properly and let Frank have his turn.

"Dad!"

"Neville!" Frank crushed his son to his chest, holding on tightly to the son he never thought he'd see again. Alice came forward and Frank and Neville pulled her into their hug. They really did love him and Neville was so overjoyed at having his family back.

They were together. No one ever thought they'd see this day, but it happened.

It was a miracle.

"What do you think McGonagall really wants with him?" Dean asked once Neville was gone.

"I'm not sure," Harry lied, "But we might not want to wait up for him. I'm really tired," he said with a fake yawn.

"Me too," Seamus said with a yawn, catching it from Harry.

"Man," Ron complained when he too had to yawn.

"They always sa... ay yawning is contagious," Dean said, his information being interrupted by a yawn.

"Goodnight," Harry said, climbing into his bunk. "I'm sure Neville will tell us in the morning."

"Yeah, goodnight."

It was a good thing that no one decided to wait for Neville, because Neville didn't come back upstairs that night. He and his parents spent all night talking and catching up.

Of course, no one else knew this, as they were all sleeping peacefully in their beds.

Well, almost everyone.

Harry slept on, tossing and turning, as he kept seeing a long dark hall and lots of doors around him. It was a recurring dream he'd been having. Sometimes he'd wake up and forget it, but not this time.

"The prophecy," a voice hissed at him. "It's yours, take it."

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CHAPTER 24: THE NEXT MORNING

The next morning, Buffy groaned softly in her bed and tossed gently, opening her eyes slowly, awakening from her deep slumber. She blinked rapidly, clearing her vision and tried to discern where she was, because she definitely wasn't in her bed.

The place felt vaguely familiar, but her brain wasn't extremely quick that morning. The curtains on the windows were drawn, Giles was sleeping peacefully in a chair beside her bed, and everything around her was white.

Buffy groaned louder this time and flopped her head back on the pillow. She could only be in a hospital of some kind; she couldn't remember how or why, but she felt utterly exhausted.

Giles woke up from the sudden noise and looked down and smiled. "Buffy," he said quietly. "How are you feeling?"

"Did you get the license plate on that bus?" she joked wearily.

Giles chuckled softly, remembering another time when that was said. "I think you'd have gotten new material," he said with a smile.

"Well, I have so many just floating around in here, and at the moment I can't remember which ones have been used by myself or other people."

"That was incredibly foolish what you did last night," Giles reprimanded.

Buffy was startled by the abrupt change of subject and it took a minute for her to answer. "What? What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Giles asked, startled.

"No," Buffy said, confused. "Did I get knocked out?" She began feeling her head, trying to tell if there were any noticeable bumps.

"Not in the strictest sense," Giles said. "What do you remember?"

"Not much," Buffy admitted after a minute. "It's all fuzzy. What happened?"

"We were at St. Mungo's with Alice and Frank; you insisted on helping them, endangering yourself in the process as you didn't stop when you clearly lacked the strength to continue."

"Oh," Buffy said, the memories coming back to her with the reminder. "Are they okay?" she asked anxiously. "Did we do it?"

Giles sighed at his slayer and her priorities; she was always more concerned about other people than herself, which would someday lead to her death. Again. Actually, thinking about it, he realized that she had always put other people first, not that there was anything wrong with that, it was just that she had a tendency to be a little reckless when she had a goal in mind. "We did it," Giles answered her softly. "They're awake and here, actually. I assume they met up with Neville last night."

"Good," Buffy said with a smile. "Good." Buffy lay back on the bed and closed her eyes briefly before answering Giles' next question.

Madame Pomfrey came bustling out of her office and noticed that her only patient was finally awake, and chatting quietly with Mr. Rayne. "Mr. Rayne!" she chastised. "Why did you not come to me immediately when she woke up?"

Buffy tensed up for a moment, thinking Ethan was somewhere close by. She looked around and noticed the chagrined face of Giles and was surprised when he answered.

'"I'm sorry, but she just woke up and I wanted to make sure she was feeling well."

Buffy's eyebrow raised slightly and her gaze seemed to ask the question 'Mr. Rayne?'

Madame Pomfrey left quickly and came back with a handful of multicoloured vials. "Here, drink this," she told the blonde. "You've been through quite a lot. I must be honest, after learning what really had a hold on you, I'm surprised that you had the strength to overcome that thing. I was so shocked, I didn't even realize that the Longbottoms were standing right in front of me, as if nothing had ever happened to them!"

Buffy choked slightly on the potion Madame Pomfrey was stuffing down her throat. The Longbottoms were in the hospital wing with her? Did they give her away? Buffy glanced at Giles and relaxed when he shook his head the tiniest bit.

"Now I want you to stay in bed for a couple of days. You've had a rough time of it and I want you to take it easy," she ordered.

"I don't think so," Buffy said, struggling to get up. "I don't do hospitals."

"Miss Fox, you will stay put until you're better," Madame Pomfrey said sternly. "I am the professional here and I will not tolerate any more nonsense!"

"Thank you," Buffy told her, freeing herself from her grasp. "But I'm fine. Really. And I refuse to stay in a hospital of any kind. I'm a grown woman and can decide for myself if I'm well enough to leave. And I am. So thank you and hopefully I won't see you anytime soon."

Buffy walked out, with Giles following behind, ignoring Madame Pomfrey's orders, pleas, and frustrated calls.

"Was that really necessary?" Giles asked, removing his glasses. "She was only trying to help."

"I know. I also know her, much better than you do at least, and she would have liked nothing more than to keep me there for a week with nothing to do and no one to talk to. Trust me, I've been there before."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Giles asked again.

"I'm fine. Especially after those potions; all my strength returned and most of my soreness gone!"

Giles nodded resignedly and listened while she told him the particulars of her struggle with the beast.

"It seems we have some research to do," Giles said, referring to Voldemort and the mentions of a prophecy.

"Yep. Why don't you get started on that while I teach here?" Buffy said slyly, trying to get out of more research.

Giles looked at her knowingly and Buffy decided to sweeten the deal. "I can give you a tour of this magical castle..." she tempted.

"Well, I should hope you have manners enough to do that anyway, as I am a guest," Giles said, making Buffy feel guilty.

"Fine," she relented, going back to her age-old tactic that had yet to fail.

"Stop that," Giles said, walking down the hallway. "I'm much older and wiser than you and will not be swayed by some silly little ploy of yours," he said. "Don't look at me like that," he said when Buffy only continued to follow him. "It won't work. Pouting will get you nowhere. I'm used to it by now..."

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Down at breakfast, everyone was chatting about the mysterious screams of the night before. By now, the entire school heard that it was their DADA professor that had been the source of the terrifying sounds and there were lots of mixed reactions. Plenty of people were snickering about their 'professors' nerves, or lack thereof. What was she supposed to teach them if she screams at every little thing? There were a couple of rumours going around that she had seen a spider, no, a bunch of snakes, no, a mouse, and that's what had caused her fit. Others were more disturbed by the screams that sounded awfully real, and noticed the absence of the blonde at the head table, as well as the absence of their distinguished Headmaster.

"Where's Dumbledore?" Hermione asked Harry and Ron as they sat to eat.

"I don't know," Harry said, "But I need to talk to him. I had another dream last night," he said quietly so as not to be overheard. He then shared the contents of the dream with his two best friends.

"Prophecy?" Hermione asked, picking up on something. "Last night the Longbottoms said something about a prophecy. Do you think it's the same one?"

"I think it might," Harry whispered. "I mean, prophecies can't be that common, although the prophecy the Longbottoms are talking about had to have been old, as they haven't heard any prophecies in fifteen years or so, right?"

"I think you should talk to Dumbledore, just don't tell him we were eavesdropping on his conversation," she said, a slight blush creeping up on her cheeks. Harry just grinned at her.

"Hey guys," Dean said, sitting down next to Ron, ending any conversation pertaining to the previous conversation.

"Momphin," Ron said through a mouthful of food.

"I think he means morning," Harry translated, earning himself a nod from Ron and a "That's disgusting, Ron," from Hermione.

"Have you guys seen Neville this morning? It didn't look like he came back to bed and I haven't seen him anywhere."

The trio exchanged quick looks, knowing what was happening but unwilling to share it, knowing it wasn't their place. Harry just shrugged noncommittally and Hermione shook her head.

"You don't think anything is seriously wrong, do you?" he asked, worried for his bunkmate.

"No, I'm sure he's fine. Maybe he got up early to do some work in the library," Hermione suggested.

"Not everyone's like you," Dean teased good-naturedly. "Besides, it's a Sunday, no work should be done on a Sunday."

"I'm sure he'll show up eventually," Harry said. "Maybe he just needed some time alone."

"Maybe," Dean said, unconvinced. He looked around once more then shrugged and started piling food on his plate.

"If he doesn't show up for lunch, we should send out a search party," Ron joked lightly. "No one should miss that much food."

"So where's Professor Dumbledore?" Dean asked, looking up at the head table. "It's not usual for him to miss breakfast. Do you think he's with Professor Fox?" Dean asked.

"It's possible," Hermione said with a thoughtful look. "Although, one would think Umbridge would be with her too, but she's still up there. Maybe he has other business," she said, thinking about the Longbottoms.

Just then, the mail arrived and a letter, accompanied by an exhausted owl, dropped down on Ron's plate, splattering the oatmeal everywhere.

"Errol!" Ron yelled annoyed. "Couldn't you have landed somewhere else?" He plucked his bird from the gravy and sat the dripping bird onto a clear piece of tablecloth. "Do you think the house elves will clean him up or throw him away?" Ron asked bitterly, looking at its rumpled and drenched feathers, missing Hermione's disappointed look and Harry's quick thinking in averting another bickering match.

"So, what's the letter about?" he asked.

"Don't know," Ron said, eyeing the letter suspiciously now. "I rarely get letters from home; it's usually bad news, for me anyway," he said. He carefully picked it up and opened the envelope. "At least it's not a Howler."

Ron quickly read through the contents of the letter, his eyes growing wider as he kept reading, before he finally erupted with an outraged, "WHAT?" The great hall became quiet as everyone turned to look at Ron for a minute before continuing on with their own conversations.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, fear gnawing at his heart. Was someone hurt? Did something horrible happen? Was everything okay?

Fred, George and Ginny all came up to Ron, seeing Errol drop and hearing Ron's outburst. "What's wrong?" Ginny asked.

Ron couldn't answer he was sputtering so bad, so Fred grabbed the paper out of Ron's clenched fist. Fred and George pursued the words carefully, making Ginny frustrated, as she wasn't as tall so she couldn't see.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"That git!" Ron finally said, startling everyone at the table.

"Percy," Fred said spitefully.

"He came to mum yesterday, apologizing for his behaviour," George continued.

"Said he didn't want to be on bad terms should anything happen to the family."

"Of course, mum welcomed him back with open arms, so happy to have her son back."

"Isn't that good?" Hermione ventured cautiously.

"No!" Ron nearly shouted. "He hasn't changed views at all; he's still Fudge's loyal lapdog."

"His loyalties don't lie with the family," George said.

"Why would he come back?" Ginny asked, outraged.

"I should think you'd be happy to have him back," Harry said, thinking about himself and Neville.

"What?" Ron asked surprised. "Harry, he basically told me not to be friends with you!"

"I'm not saying he's not the best person," Harry said, "But he is your brother, whatever he believes in."

"He's right," Hermione said quietly. "What if something did happen to your family, Merlin forbid? Wouldn't you rather have everyone together as a family, than separated due to spite or different beliefs? I'm not saying he's right by choosing the Minister over Dumbledore, but it seems like he won't be choosing the Minister over his family anymore."

"But that's what he's doing," Ginny defended. "By choosing the Minister, he's putting Fudge first, over his family. We can't trust him; we don't know if he'll turn us in if we're doing something 'wrong.'"

"You don't have to trust him," Hermione said. "Trust is earned, not freely given, even within a family. But you should love him and accept him; he's your blood whether you like it or not. Personally, I'm glad he apologized; I hated seeing your mum that upset. It was tearing your family apart."

"Me too," Harry agreed. He hated seeing the Weasley's splintered. He never had a family, per se, so he'd always relied on the Weaselys for support and guidance and the hope that one day he could have something that special, hopefully with Sirius.

"All families have problems," Hermione continued. "They don't all have to agree on everything, or believe in the same thing, but they should always be there when needed." Hermione decided she needed to leave them to themselves, so she gathered her books and left.

"Eight Weaselys aren't enough," Harry said quietly, then got up and left the table, following Hermione to class.

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Alice, Frank and Neville were walking along the lake; still talking and sharing different stories, from Alice and Frank's time at Hogwarts, to Neville's own stories. True, they had stayed up all night and were exhausted, but no one wanted to rest, afraid that it might not be true. It was a dream come true and they had a lot of catching up to do.

Finally, the talk died down and they just enjoyed one another's company.

"You should meet Professor Fox," Neville said suddenly. "She's been really nice to me and she's helped me loads, although I'm not supposed to say that," he said.

"Why not?" Frank asked curiously. He thought he remembered the blonde girl's name as Fox, although at St. Mungo's he could have sworn they called her Buffy. Maybe it was just a nickname.

"I'm not sure," Neville said. "I think its because she works at the ministry and no one's supposed to like the ministry people," he offered.

"That's strange," Alice said to herself. She was thinking along the same lines as her husband. It seemed that Miss Fox was hiding something from everyone, although what and why, she had no idea. But she wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to personally thank her savior, just because she was unsure of the woman. Besides, Neville seemed to like her.

"I'd love to meet her," she said. "When's a good time?"

"Um, I'm not sure," Neville admitted. "We don't have classes today, so I think we can just stop by her office."

"Lead the way," Frank said.

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"Professor Dumbledore, sir," a receptionist said, startled by his appearance. It wasn't often he came around; she had heard fantastic stories about him, the most powerful wizard. "Can I help you?"

"I certainly hope so," he said with a smile. "Were you the receptionist working last night, around sixish?"

"No, Hope was. She should be in around nine," the brown haired lady said, pointing to a clock that read 8:50.

"Thank you," he said and looked at the clock. Dumbledore took a seat and decided to wait patiently for the woman to arrive. The time went by quickly as Dumbledore once again sat quietly and mused over his findings. They may have thought they were being careful, but it was fairly obvious that Miss Fox had somehow gotten the parasite that had infected Frank and Alice. For one thing, the couple obviously had recognized Mr. Rayne, even though they shouldn't have met many people if they had just woken up. For another, it seemed fairly strange that two people are freed from a very strong curse, only to have a similar curse show up in another person. Especially seeing as how the curse was very seldom used, as it was so difficult to cast and control. If one was not careful, the spell would backfire on the caster.

"Miss Hope?" he asked politely as said lady sat behind the desk.

"Yes?" she said, looking up.

"I was wondering if you remembered if anyone came to see Frank and Alice Longbottom yesterday evening."

"Yes, they had some visitors," Hope said with a startled look as to where this was going. Why would Albus Dumbledore want to know the visitors of some patients?

"May I enquire as to who they were?"

"Well, there was a handsome, tall brown haired man who was with a brunette that kept glaring at me, a woman with the most vibrant red hair I've ever seen," she said, thinking back.

Dumbledore was slightly disappointed; he had thought for sure that it had been Miss Fox and this mysterious Mr. Rayne.

"And a distinguished older man with a younger blonde lady. Not with with," she clarified. "They didn't seem like they were a couple, they were all just in the same group. I would've thought the older man was a father to some of them, as the rest were all fairly young."

Dumbledore beamed at the helpful lady and thanked her for her help. He had been right. They had been there, along with some other unidentified friends. He had answered one question, but that only seemed to raise a dozen more. Why were they there? Why would they help the Longbottoms? How did they know that they were under a curse? How did they break the curse? Twice, nonetheless? What did they want? Most importantly, who were they?

"Oh, and by the way," he added as he left, "The Longbottoms have been checked out under my care," he said with a twinkle in his eyes.

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"Professor Fox?" Neville asked, knocking on the door to her office. "Are you there?"

"Doesn't look like she's here yet," Frank said, his hand on his son's shoulder.

"Maybe we can come back later," Neville said hopefully.

"Or not," a voice from behind said.

The Longbottoms turned around quickly, surprised to see the young blonde behind them, the same young blonde that had been in their hospital room the night before, and in her own.

"Professor!" Neville said with a smile. "I was just coming to see you."

"I can see that," she said, walking towards them.

"You'll never believe what happened!" Neville said. "These are my parents," he introduced excitedly, "They got better, somebody helped them break the curse they were under!"

"Yes, some very thoughtful people helped us out," Alice said, extending her hand. "I don't know how we'll ever repay them."

"It's truly a pleasure to meet you," Frank said. "Neville has told us so many good things about you."

"I hope its not all bad," she joked. "This is my um..."

"Stepfather," Giles provided, extending his own hand in welcome. "Ethan Rayne."

"I was just giving him a tour of the castle; he's a muggle," Buffy explained. "So, why don't you come in and we can have some tea?" she suggested.

"That'd be lovely," Alice said thankfully while Neville's stomach rumbled.

"Why don't you run to the great hall for some breakfast, Neville?" Frank suggested.

Neville's face dropped slightly at the thought of leaving his parents, even for a little while.

"We'll just talk to your professor here and then we'll meet up with you again," Alice promised. "I just think it might be a little weird to talk about you as if you weren't there if you are."

Neville smiled at his parents, hugged them again, then rushed off to breakfast to quickly eat something before it was over. He didn't have much time left and he was too hungry to wait until lunch.

"He's a good kid," Buffy said quietly, watching him go.

"Yes he is. Thank you so much for doing this," Alice said again.

Instead of answering, Buffy opened the door and ushered them all inside before placing a silencing charm around the room.

"Why did you... no... how did you know?" Frank asked, his mind running a mile a minute with questions.

"Look, I saw Neville had some problems with Potions and confidence so I decided to help him out. I just gave him a couple of pointers. We got to talking and he told me about you two and I could relate. My own family is... well, it's complicated to say the least. The thing is, something just felt wrong about your situation and so I went with my friends to see for myself how you were. My friend, Willow, the red head, is a very powerful Wicca and we helped pull you out of the curse. I did it because it needed to be done."

"But you risked your life for us, how can you be so... well, not quite flippant, but... relaxed, about it?" Alice asked, amazed.

Buffy shrugged her shoulders. "You needed help, I helped you, that's just the way things are. If I died, well, it was for a good cause." 'And I'd probably be brought back anyway,' Buffy thought. Sure, she wasn't wishing to die, but she wasn't afraid of it either. Too many things had happened, too many people she had loved were gone. Sirius and Remus were nowhere to be found, and not for lack of trying. Sure, she still had Harry, but he didn't even know her yet, and she wasn't fit to take care of someone else at the moment; she had to find her own answers. She didn't know what the questions were yet, but she had a feeling there was something else that needed to be done before she told everyone who she was. She had yet to doubt her instincts, she wasn't about to start now.

Besides, Harry was at Hogwarts, perfectly happy. Hopefully she'd figure something out before he left for summer break. One thing was for sure, he'd never go back to the Dursley again.

"Who are you?" Frank asked bluntly. "Your name isn't Ethan Rayne and yours isn't Sarah Fox, at least, that's not what your other friends called you last night. And why are you being so secretive about your dealings with Neville? And why don't you want anyone to know you helped us? I can never repay you for what you've done, but you should get some recognition for your outstanding act of selflessness."

"Frank," Alice said, trying to calm him down, although she really wanted to know the answers to these questions too.

"Look, I could be honest with you and tell you who I was, but you probably wouldn't believe me, or even remember. I'm not quite sure whom to trust right now, although to be perfectly honest, that's only part of it. I have this feeling that I shouldn't say anything yet, so I'm not going to. Things are complicated and you're so far behind with the times, although not as much as I am," Buffy said, muttering the last part to herself.

"Well, I can't say I'm happy," Frank said, as he desperately wanted answers to this enigma in front of him, "But you've saved our lives, so there's not much I can do but respect your wishes."

"I hope you find whatever you're looking for," Alice said, searching the eyes of the young woman in front of her. She was so young, but her eyes held so much pain and sadness, much more than anyone should ever have. She wondered who this girl really was and what she wanted.

"I hope so too," Buffy said softly, more to herself than to anyone else in the room.

Frank and Alice stood up to say their goodbyes. This time, Alice found it appropriate to hug the blonde in thanks. "If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask, even if it's just someone to talk to."

"Thank you again, for everything," Frank said. The couple walked out of the doors and headed towards the Great Hall where they hoped to find their son. Pretty soon it'd be around the school that they were back; kids would write their parents, and then the media would have a field day. They'd need to leave soon to sort things out before rumours abounded.

"Neville! There you are!" Ron cried as he left the Great Hall with Dean and his brothers in tow. "We've been looking for you! What happened with McGonagall?"

"She just wanted to let me know that my parents were back," Neville said happily. "I've been with them all night."

"Good for you, Neville," Ron said, knowing where his parents had been.

"This is good, right?" Dean asked, then let out a sigh at Neville's nod. "I thought something bad had happened! I'm glad you're alright!" He didn't know where his parents had been, now that they were back, but he knew it wasn't his place to ask. Neville only talked about his grandmother, so Dean thought his parents were dead, or had abandoned him. Neither was pleasing to think about.

"I'm better than ever," Neville said. "It's nice to have everyone back together again."

The Weaselys just looked at each other.

After his first class of the day, Harry had a free period, so he decided to use the time to go and see Professor Dumbledore about his dream. He walked to the gargoyle, trying to think of what the password might be, but upon reaching the entrance, he found it was already open.

He walked up the spiral staircase and knocked on the wooden door.

"Come in," Dumbledore's voice cried out from within.

Harry entered the room, much to Dumbledore's surprise. It almost seemed like he thought it was someone else.

"What can I do for you, Harry?" Dumbledore asked. He was walking around to the chair behind his desk, almost as if he had just arrived at his office, which would account for why the entrance was already open. He sat in the desk, and much to Harry's chagrin, picked a point right over his left shoulder to stare at.

'Maybe I shouldn't have come here,' Harry thought angrily. 'He won't even look me in the eyes!'

"Harry?" Dumbledore prompted him.

Harry paused another moment before finally answering. "I had another dream."

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CHAPTER 25: LEARNING

Dumbledore sat in thoughtful silence for a moment, still avoiding Harry's eyes. "And what was this dream about?" he asked.

Harry had always trusted Dumbledore; it used to go without saying that Dumbledore would always be there for him, but now he was having his doubts. Something was going on; Dumbledore had never treated him so, unfamiliar before. It was like he was any other student; worse, as Harry was sure Dumbledore would still look all his other students in the eyes, whether he knew them personally or not.

Now, Harry was beginning to question his mentor. How could he trust someone that was acting as if he were a stranger? If was really frustrating.

"Harry?" Dumbledore prompted again, after his unusually long silence.

Harry hesitated a moment more before finally deciding that it was still Dumbledore, the one he'd always trusted before. Why should now be that much different? "There was a long corridor and lots of doors spinning around. I don't remember much, but that's about it."

"Have you had this dream before?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes," Harry said.

"Why didn't you come to me when you first had this dream?" Dumbledore asked.

"Because whenever I'm around, you seem to ignore me!" Harry yelled suddenly. "You won't even look at me and I'm supposed to come running to you for help or advice? Sir." He added as an afterthought, realizing that he had just yelled at his headmaster.

Dumbledore sighed and leaned back into his chair. "I am truly sorry, Harry," he apologized sincerely. "And you are absolutely right. I will talk to Professor Snape about some lessons in remedial potions."

"What?" Harry asked, thoroughly confused. How did they get on the topic of Potions?

"Once you have finished your lessons to Professor Snape's satisfaction, I will answer any and all questions you might have," Dumbledore said, looking far older than he had when Harry had first walked in. "But not until then."

"I'm not doing that bad in Potions," Harry said. "Why do I have to take Remedial Potions?"

"Just to help you get ahead," Dumbledore said. "Trust me. It will do wonders for you. And I'm sure you'd be able to brew a potion to stop those nightmares."

"But professor," Harry protested.

"Harry, please," Dumbledore said, his voice betraying his emotions for a minute. "You shall receive instructions on your lessons from Professor Snape sometime later today. It is of the utmost importance you try your hardest with these lessons. I will be getting an update regularly."

"What's the prophecy about?" Harry asked suddenly, startling Dumbledore. He had wanted to get back on track with his dream, not talking about some stupid lessons with Snape. He had to have known that Snape hated him, and he hated Snape. What was the point in making them spend more time together? Maybe he really had gone mad.

"Prophecy?" Dumbledore asked. "What do you mean?"

He was playing dumb, Harry realized. He knew exactly what he meant. "I heard it in my dream. There was a voice. It said, the prophecy is mine and it told me to take it. You know what I'm talking about, don't lie to me. I'm tired of it."

"My dear boy," Dumbledore said, "I told you once before in your first year and I will tell you again now, I will not and have not lied to you. Finish your lessons satisfactorily and I will answer all questions you may have. You are dismissed."

Harry stood up angrily, once again frustrated by the man in front of him. He stormed out from the room and practically ran back to the common room. He didn't have classes today, so there was plenty of time to sit and fume. And think.

Later that day, Harry received a letter saying he was to meet Professor Snape in the Potions classroom for remedial potions every Monday at 8:00. Could his life get any worse?

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Monday morning found the trio sitting at breakfast rather lifelessly. The sky outside was cloudy and dreary, causing many kids to move sluggishly from classes.

"I read somewhere that the weather affects peoples moods," Hermione said. "I guess it was right."

"Double Potions first and then DADA with the stupid ministry woman would have anyone grumpy," Ron growled.

"I still have Remedial Potions later tonight," Harry groaned quietly. Not everyone had to know about it.

"Sorry, mate," Ron grimaced. "You definitely have it worse."

"I still think there's something more going on than just remedial potions. You aren't that bad," Hermione said.

"That's what I said," Harry told her. "Not that he listened to me."

"Well, we'll just have to wait until 8:00 tonight, won't we?" Ron said.

"Can we just not talk about it?" Harry asked, and Ron and Hermione agreed, not wanting Harry to yell at them for something ridiculous.

The mail arrived, putting an end to any and all discussion in the Great Hall. Not everyone had a subscription to the Daily Prophet, but enough people did that in a matter of seconds the whole hall was ablaze with whispers over the front-page article.

"Huh," Harry said, not surprised to read ALICE AND FRANK LONGBOTTOM'S MIRACULOUS RECOVERY splattered everywhere over the paper. And GRANDMA FAINTS IN SHOCK was a side story that described Neville's Grandmother's reaction to the news. She is fine and elated, but there was a moment there when everyone thought she died. Everyone was whispering and pointing at Neville, whose face was becoming an interesting shade of red. "I'm surprised it's taken them this long," he said bitterly, tossing the paper away from him, not needing to read it, especially since Neville was sitting right across from him.

"We need to get to class," Hermione said, gathering her books, leading the boys, including Neville, out of the Great Hall and away from prying eyes. When would people learn that it wasn't any of their business what went on in other people's lives?

"How does Snape expect you to pass his class if he does things like that?" Ron asked, outraged that Snape had purposely spilt his potion once he saw Hermione clear Harry's cauldron.

"He doesn't," Harry answered shortly, ignoring Ron's' sudden understanding.

"I'm sure it'll be okay," Hermione said.

"How am I supposed to learn anything from him if he won't give me a chance?" Harry asked. "He's not a very good professor."

"He just has a different teaching method," Hermione said.

"Stop sticking up for him," Ron said, starting another argument with Hermione over stupid details. Neither of them noticed Harry sigh and then continue on ahead of them to the Defence classroom.

The entire class was silent as they set their textbooks on their desks and awaited the arrival of their teacher. No one was in the mood to get any points off, get detention, or get thrown out of class today.

Buffy finally arrived, coming out of the office near her classroom. She had taken Giles back to the apartment yesterday after showing him around the castle, which he found "absolutely remarkable." It was very amusing to watch his reactions to everything, and she had to physically haul him out of the library, as it was another 'astounding collection' that he wanted to stay in forever. She had to promise she'd bring him back again, and she knew that included the others as well.

"Before we start today," Buffy said, not using any greeting as she entered the classroom, "we need to get one thing straight. I'm not here for your pleasure; I'm not here because I like you or because I love teaching. I am here because the Minister thought I'd handle my station well. We can't go any further before you understand, and I mean really understand, that I don't like you and you don't like me. I don't like being talked about behind my back or outside of my classroom; it makes me angry, and you don't want to make me angry. Do I make myself clear?" Buffy asked with a raised eyebrow, leaning over her desk. She hoped they understood what she was trying to get at here. It all depended on it.

She looked around the room at all the sullen faces and scowls coming her way. She could tell, by looking at each person, that only Hermione seemed to understand even a slither of what she was saying, but everyone nodded anyway. Hopefully they'd understand after the lesson.

"Good," she said, raising her wand. The door slammed shut and locked, startling everyone and frightening some. The windows that were open slammed shut as well, and the blinds came down on top of them, blocking out the clouds and the approaching thunderclouds. Buffy ended by placing a silencing charm around the room, effectively protecting the classroom from any outside listeners.

All the students were very nervous. The teacher had just told them she hated them and now she was locking them in a room and making it sound proof, probably to silence their screams. Had they been anyone but brave Gryffindors, screaming might have ensued, but as it was, there was just shifting, glances, and whispers between the students, as well as the subtly wand drawings.

"Relax," Buffy said with a grin, "You look like you're on a one way trip to hell. I promise my teaching's not that bad."

No one moved a muscle. Buffy just rolled her eyes and hopped up on the desk, swinging her feet carelessly. "Put up your books. You don't need them."

The students were shocked. Not moments ago she had seemed like she was threatening them, and now she was calm and happy. What was going on?

Buffy sighed and flicked her wand again, causing all the books to fly off the tops of the desks, eliciting some shrieks from a couple of girls, and a worried Hermione to run after her book, making sure it was okay.

"Do you guys want to learn something or are we just gonna sit here all day?" Buffy asked. "I thought you'd actually want to learn something, but maybe I was wrong."

There was just a sea of shocked faces looking back at her.

"Is there something wrong with my hair?" she asked worried, and she conjured up a mirror to check her reflection. It was fine.

"Are you telling us that you're going to teach us something?" Hermione asked amazed.

"Yeah," Buffy said as if it was obvious.

"Something useful?"

"I should hope so."

"Something about Defence Against the Dark Arts?"

"That is what the class is, right?'

"Something practical, not theory?"

"Yes!" Buffy exclaimed. "We could've been partially through the lesson by now, but you guys keep looking at me as if I've just told you I was going to marry Snape!"

That got them out of it. Several of the Gryffindors started to groan, others began to gag, and some managed to laugh at the idea.

"Finally, now are you ready to learn?" She received hesitant, but eager, nods from the students. "Good. Let's get started."

"Can anyone tell me what makes a wizard turn dark?"

Hermione raised her hand, as did Harry.

"Yes, Miss Granger."

"Well, it's different for every person. Each wizard, or witch, has a different motive, or breaking point if the case may be. It's totally dependent on the person."

"Very good. Ten points to Gryffindor. Mr. Potter," Buffy called.

"It's your choices," Harry said, echoing words that Dumbledore had once told him. "A persons choices define who they are and what they might become."

"That's exactly right, another ten points," Buffy said, shocking the class once more. "Every person has a different set of beliefs and values. Some don't care what happens to other people, as long as they profit. Others think it's fun," Buffy said bitterly. "The thing to know is what your own breaking point is. What your values are. What would it take for you to switch sides? What would it take for you to give up on everything you've once thought was good and right? Imagine yourself in that position.

"You have just lost everything you've ever owned. Everyone you've ever loved is dead. You're all alone and you're currently being tortured by a much powerful wizard. Now you have a choice. That choice is what will make you or break you. You can either choose to keep fighting or you can give up and give in to the darkness.

"I'll be honest with you. It's much easier to give in, that's why there are so many dark wizards. The ones that take the easy road are the cowards. The wizards that become really great are the ones that keep fighting even when there is no possible way for them to win. They never give up. Some might die. Others are able to overcome that pain and defeat the bastards that are causing them the pain," Buffy said, noticing that her language shocked everyone.

"It all comes down to you and how much you're able to take. For homework, I'd like for you to write an essay about what would be the thing that would push you over the edge. Think of the very worse thing you'd hate to happen, then think about how to make it worse, and do it again. And again. Keep doing it until you're not sure if you'd be able to live with yourself anymore. Then maybe you have some idea of what your breaking point is and maybe you'll begin to understand how evil some people can be; how evil the world can be. After you've written your essay, I want you to write another essay on what you'd do to overcome the events of your first essay; how you'd keep on fighting. Find something to fight for and write it down. Don't ever forget what you're fighting for because if you do, even for a second, you might lose sight of the big picture and slip up. Then you're dead. Or worse, you've just switched sides.

"I don't care how long the papers are; in fact, I don't care if you do them. The essays are for you, not me; if you do them, I won't read them. I don't want to know your deepest fears, but I think you should recognize them and come to terms with them. Once you realize what evil is and how bad it truly is, then you'll be able to defend yourselves better.

"Right now, we'll work on familiarizing you with the different demons and magical creatures out there and how to defend yourselves against them, whether it be by magic or other means. You'll learn how to defend yourself in the unfortunate occasion when you're wandless, and in the rare occasion when you're weaponless. I'll tell you right now that you'll rarely be weaponless if you use your resources wisely; improvise, be creative.

"For example," Buffy said, hopping off the desk she was sitting on, "I have nothing on me right now." She placed her wand on the desk and held her hands up to show the class. "But I do have my hands and my feet, my knees and my head, should I ever get close enough to physically hit someone." Several snickers were heard throughout the room as they pictured their small, skinny, theoretically weak professor beating someone. "I may not look it, but I can pack quite a punch," Buffy said, pretending to be offended, but it didn't work as she was smiling. "Even so, there are other things around me right now that I could use as weapons. This book," Buffy said, picking up one of the discarded textbooks. "Or this quill, if you have enough force to, say, ram it into someone's leg or poke at their eyes. Even the desk itself."

"You're gonna pick up the desk?" someone joked from the back.

"Maybe," Buffy said with a smirk, as she knew she was capable of it. "Or, I could break it apart and have several pieces of desk. Same thing with the chair." Buffy went over to the chair, as people wouldn't stop snickering, and picked it up. She looked out at the class who had quieted down some. She brought the chair slamming down into the desk, with just enough force to splinter the chair and cause some damage to the desk; she didn't show off her strength, she used just enough not to be suspicious, as any of the kids could do the same.

Now, pieces of chair and desk littered the floor and the students couldn't believe what their professor had just done.

"That's school property," Hermione whispered with wide eyes, forgetting where she was for a moment. Growing up in muggle schools, she was taught not to damage school property and the professor had done just that.

"For the love of Merlin!" Ron cried. "Do we have to go over this every time? You're a witch!"

"Oh, right," Hermione said sheepishly.

Buffy looked at her and grinned, leaning over to pick up several pieces of wood. "Now you have weapons. You could throw these," Buffy said, lightly tossing one across the room (not in the direction of the students), "beat people with these," she gently knocked the wood against the wall, "or stab people if you feel the need. Maybe in the leg or arm."

"Or heart," Hermione said. Buffy turned sharply to look at her, as did the rest of her class. "If it's a vampire!" she clarified. "Honestly, people!"

"Very good," Buffy said. "Ten more points." It was her old house... "Although not all vampires are bad, just like not all creatures and demons are bad. The thing to know is which ones are good and which ones are bad. Quite a few creatures may be dangerous, several may be harmless, and a few are debatable. Let's take werewolves, for example," Buffy said. "What do you think about them?"

"There's nothing wrong with them!" Harry said vehemently.

"They're people just like everyone else," Hermione said.

"We've got nothing against werewolves," Ron agreed. "As long as they don't bite us."

Buffy was slightly taken aback by the force of their answers. "I take it you know a werewolf?" Buffy asked, and wasn't too surprised when they nodded.

"Our Defence professor in our third year was a werewolf," Lavender offered as an explanation.

"You had a werewolf as a professor?" Buffy asked, intrigued. She never thought the board would agree to that; they went ballistic when they found out Remus attended the school, although ultimately it was Dumbledore's decision.

"Actually, no one knew Professor Lupin was a werewolf until the end of the year, then he didn't come back," Parvati said.

"Lupin?" Buffy asked, surprised. "Remus Lupin? He's still alive?"

Ron, Harry, and Hermione all gave each other looks that were missed by everyone else.

"He's the best professor we've had yet," Dean said.

"Although, Professor Moody was pretty good too," Seamus said.

"Moody? Alastor Moody? I thought he was an auror?" Buffy said. She had been looking for these people and they had both taught at Hogwarts! Surely, someone could tell her where they were.

"He's retired," Neville said. "He used to be an auror, but Dumbledore wanted him to teach for a year, so he did last year."

Harry was getting a little wary of her interest in Lupin and Moody. She was working for the Ministry and now she was showing curiosity about two of the people in the Order, which opposed Fudge. What could she be up to?

"Technically, it wasn't actually him, as Mr. Crouch used Polyjuice potion all year to pretend to be Moody while the real Moody was locked in his own truck, or at least, that's what the rumour is," Dean said. "But he was still a good professor."

"Right," Buffy said. "Does anyone happen to know where they are now?" When no one answered and some of them looked at her funnily, she added, "I'd like to compare notes and look at what they've already covered in their classes."

Still no one knew where they were; at least, no one volunteered the information. Harry, Ron and Hermione looked as nonchalant as they could and didn't look at each other. They'd have time to discuss this new development later.

"Anyway," Buffy said, "back to the werewolves. There are some people out there that hunt werewolves for their teeth and pelts, which is utterly ridiculous. What those hunters don't understand, or maybe they just don't care, is that werewolves are just like you and me all the time except for the nights before, during, and after a full moon."

"When you run into a werewolf, you're not entirely out of luck. A simple tranquilizer will calm them down, although I'm sure not many people carry around tranquilizers. Some spells can be used as well, but some work better on different parts of the body..."

Buffy continued to lecture for some more and then the class began to practice some new spells she had taught them. The day had certainly brightened up after that; although, Professor Fox didn't forget to remind them about the agreement they had come to at the beginning of class. "It's probably because she doesn't want to get sacked," Lavender whispered.

"Why was she so interested in Professor Lupin and Moody?" Harry asked after they were secluded in the common room before lunch.

"I don't know," Hermione said. "Maybe she knows something? Maybe she's trying to look for them and can't find them because they're at headquarters. She works for the Ministry, perhaps she's some sort of spy that's trying to get information from what Dumbledore is doing."

"That makes sense," Harry said thoughtfully. "I mean, why else would she try to teach us all of a sudden? Intimidation didn't work, so they're trying a different route to see if anyone knows anything. They get us to trust her and we tell her things."

"Then why would she tell us not to talk about her and her lessons?" Ron asked.

"Because she doesn't want the other teachers to know," Hermione said. "Maybe she's doing the same thing with all the teachers? Luring them into a false sense of trust and then collecting all the information they reveal to her."

"What have we done to her," Ron asked Harry. "The old Hermione would never have even thought about thinking bad things about the professors, and here she is plotting this whole conspiracy thing."

"We've just opened the door and unleashed the beast that's been dying to get out all along," Harry joked, earning him a glare from Hermione and a hearty laugh from Ron.

"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Hermione asked torn.

"Nothing," Harry said. "She hasn't done anything suspicious yet; let's just keep a watch on her and see what happens, okay?"

Hermione reluctantly agreed, claiming that "We still have O.W.L.s this year and she is much better than Umbridge."

"I could have told you that from the beginning," Ron said.

"I wasn't talking about her looks, Ron," Hermione said with a scowl.

"Must I remind you about Lockhart?" Ron retorted, earning a rosy blush to creep up on Hermione's cheeks.

"When are you going to let that go? That was in second year."

"I don't know, what do you think Harry? How about... never."

"There is something different about her, though," Harry said thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, ignoring Ron.

Harry floundered for a moment, trying to find the words before giving up. "I don't know. It's just this feeling I have. I can't even tell if it's a good feeling or a bad feeling, but there's definitely something about her..."

Later that evening, as the students were making their way to the great hall for dinner, Harry, Hermione and Ron saw Dumbledore walking with Professor Trelawney from the direction of his office.

"What could he want with her?" Ron asked. "Do you think she's going to get fired?"

"I don't think so," Hermione said sceptically.

"It's probably about the prophecy," Harry said. "Don't you think? I mean, she is the Divination professor, no matter how awful she is; maybe she knows something." Harry heard a humph come from Hermione's direction, but he quickly shushed her as they were close enough to make out some of their conversation.

"... of course I knew you'd invite me to dine with you," Trelawney was saying, "and I saw myself accepting your proposal."

"I wish you would see yourself venturing out more," Dumbledore said politely. "It's always a pleasure to have you at meals."

"Yes," Trelawney said, standing up a bit straighter at the compliment. "I do what I can, but it is not always up to me; I must follow my inner eye."

Harry, Ron and Hermione had stopped walking and had huddled together, so as to look less suspicious, as they struggled to hear the conversation. Trelawney and Dumbledore were almost at the door to the Great Hall, which was not too far from where they stood. They didn't notice Professor Fox as she was heading to the Great Hall, but they were close enough to hear her comment.

Buffy was walking down the hall to dinner when she saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione standing together, for some reason not talking, by the wall. 'What are they up to?' Buffy thought. She decided she wouldn't interfere in whatever they were doing, and continued to walk right on by them; however, her eyes moved past the trio and fell on Dumbledore and this creature he was walking with. "What the hell is that thing?" she muttered to herself as the surprise washed over her and made her pause.

Buffy could have sworn Dumbledore heard her, because he looked up from his conversation with the creature and his eyes were twinkling more so than usual. 'But I wasn't that loud,' Buffy thought incredulously as he made his way towards her. The creature still had yet to look up at her.

"Ah, Professor Fox, allow me to introduce to you our Divination teacher Sybil Trelawney. I'm sure that you'll..."

Whatever he was sure she would be, she never found out, because that's when the thing finally turned its eyes upon Buffy.

That's when the screaming began.