CHAPTER THIRTEEN: MEETING
Buffy and Giles met up with the Weasley's, Harry and Hermione at the platform, (nine-and-three-quarters, Buffy's mind was still reeling, Giles was desperate to research how it worked,) and after Bill and Charlie being horribly annoying by dropping not-so-subtle hints about something at Hogwarts being about to change, the group got on the train. They split into two compartments, Hermione, Harry, Ron and Ginny heading towards one compartment, while the twins, Buffy and Giles went to another, and were quickly joined by Lee Jordan, who made a show of bowing low over Buffy's hand and kissing the back of it. He didn't miss the fact that it had annoyed George greatly, and he stored it away in his memory for later abuse.
The train trip took a little over six hours, and during the course of it, Buffy had been introduced to nearly every single Sixth-Year Gryffindor. She wasn't surprised by how popular Fred and George seemed to be, and had tried to memorise as many of the names as she could.
Everyone was gossiping about the possible changes to Hogwarts, most of the students speculating that Snape had hopefully been fired, or the possibility of having a vampire as a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Buffy had always started laughing whenever that possibility had been mentioned.
"D'ya think we'll find someone to replace Wood?" Fred asked as they chomped their way through the shared goodies they'd purchased off the cart.
"Who's Wood?" Buffy asked.
"Oliver," Fred and George replied simultaneously.
"Gryffindor Quidditch captain," Fred explained.
"Batty as a peanut," George explained.
"Nutty as a bat," Fred added.
"Sixteen sickles short of a galleon," Lee piped in.
"But a top bloke," the trio finally said in unison.
Buffy grinned, thoroughly amused by the three Gryffindor boys.
"Cracking Keeper," Fred said. "He graduated last year. Burst into tears when we won the Quidditch House Cup."
George shook his head in sadness. "It just hurts to see a grown man cry."
Nearly half an hour from Hogwarts, Harry, Ron and Hermione came to visit the twins, Lee and Buffy, all of them dressed n their Hogwarts uniforms. Hermione noticed the lack of school robes on the twins, Lee and Buffy and admonished them for it. The four of them sighed and knew Hermione wouldn't drop the matter until they were in their uniforms. Harry, Ron and Hermione waited outside to give the others a bit of room to change.
Outside the train, thunder clapped and lightening flashed across the sky as the rain began pouring down heavily.
Fred, Lee and George had agreed to keep their backs turned while they all changed, though George was sneaking peaks in the reflection of the window at Buffy, trying not to be too obvious about it. When they'd finished changing, Buffy grinned at him and George felt the tips of his ears go red. He smiled back and Harry, Ron and Hermione re-entered the compartment.
"What house do you think you'll be in?" Ron asked Buffy.
The Slayer shrugged slightly. "Not sure. As long as it's not Slytherin, I don't really care. I wouldn't mind being in Gryffindor though."
"Best house there is," George affirmed.
They chatted and laughed until they reached the Hogsmeade Station, all of them getting off the train, leaving their trunks behind to be brought up later on. The group inched their way along the platform with the rest of the crowd. One of Harry's friends, Neville Longbottom joined them, and was quickly introduced to Buffy by George.
Before Harry forgot, he tugged at Buffy's sleeve and whispered a question to her. "What last name will you be using?"
"Summers," she replied sadly. Part of her wanted to use Black, but with Sirius still being a wanted fugitive, it would make things difficult. "And the only people who know we're cousins are the Weasley's and Hermione."
Harry nodded, sad that he wouldn't be able to publicly acknowledge the fact that he had more family than everyone originally thought. But, he loved his godfather/uncle, and there was no way he would begrudge the need for Sirius to stay in hiding.
Students began piling into the hundred or so carriages that were waiting to take them up to the school. As they got closer, Buffy's eyes widened in shock as she saw the creatures that were to pull the carriages. They weren't horses, though they did have the same vague shape of them. They were completely fleshless, their black coats clinging to their skeletons, of which every bone was visible. Their heads were dragonish, and their pupil-less eyes white and staring. Wings sprouted from each side – vast leathery wings that looked as though they belonged to giant bats. Giles stopped short and stared at the creatures as well.
"Good lord," Giles whispered softly.
"What the hell are they?" Buffy asked quietly.
George looked at them in concern. "What? The carriages you mean?"
Buffy shook her head. "The things pulling them," she replied.
George looked towards the closest carriage, but as it had always been, the carriages were horseless. "There's nothing there."
Neville Longbottom sidled up to her. "Not everyone can see them," he whispered shyly.
"See what?" Fred asked loudly.
Neville went bright red as the group all looked at him questioningly.
"Th-thestrals," Neville stuttered.
George, Fred, Lee, Ron and Hermione all gasped. Buffy and Giles looked just as bewildered as Harry, and their looks of confusion were almost identical.
"What are they? Why can't I see them?" Harry asked.
"The only people who can see Thestrals are people who have seen death," Hermione explained quietly.
Everyone's attention suddenly flicked to Neville, then to Buffy and Giles, back to Neville, then back to Buffy and Giles. The three of them squirmed with the attention and Buffy was feeling highly uncomfortable. People who have seen death, Buffy mused, what about people who have delivered death?
The group was suddenly covered by an awkward silence. They were all wanting to know who Buffy, Giles and Neville had seen die, but no one was quite brave enough to ask. They didn't even notice that they were standing in the pouring rain, becoming more and more soaked.
They were suddenly jostled by nearby students, and the eight of them split into two groups and clambered into the carriages. There was silence in both carriages as they all considered what they'd just been told.
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Inside the Great Hall, which Buffy was incredibly impressed by, it was considerably drier, but definitely loud as students yelled out greetings to each other and clambered to get into their seats. Giles was seated beside Madam Pince, the two of them speaking excitedly about books and ancient languages, both of them engrossed in the conversation.
The students and teachers had been dried off magically by one of the Professors, and were just waiting for the Sorting Ceremony to begin. Buffy was sitting between George and Harry again, not entirely certain about where she was meant to be. It was cleared up for her a moment later when Professor McGonagall came and introduced herself to Buffy and took her to wait with the First Years so that Buffy could be sorted into a House.
She waited nervously, bouncing up and down on the spot, listening to the excited gossip of a bunch of eleven-year-olds. They were let into the Great Hall, and Buffy looked quickly to the Gryffindor Table, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Lee, Neville and the Weasley twins giving her encouraging grins.
Professor McGonagall placed a three-legged stool in the centre of the raised dais, and on top of the stool, she placed a battered looking hat. The hall fell silent and the Hat began to sing.
Buffy listened in shock, grinning widely. She hadn't been expecting anything like that, and she just listened to the Hat explain about the different houses, and what qualities each house seemed to value.
"Now slip me snug above your ears,
I've never yet been wrong,
I'll have a look inside your mind
And tell you where you belong!"
The Hall rang with applause, and then the Sorting began. One by one, the First Years were called up, and the Hat was placed on their heads. The Hat would then call out the name of one of the Houses, and the student would go and join that house.
When McGonagall went passed the B section of the alphabet, Buffy breathed a sigh of relief, worried that Professor Dumbledore hadn't known that she wouldn't be using her father's surname until it'd been cleared.
When McGonagall hit the P's however, Buffy was shocked to hear her name called out. "Potter-Summers, Eliza." It took her a moment to work out that was her, but she approached the stool and sat down. The entire Hall had gone silent at the first half of her last names, and were watching intently.
The Hat was placed on her head and Buffy forced herself to relax, using the meditation techniques that Giles and Merrick had taught to her over the course of her training as a Slayer.
"Another Black eh," a small voice whispered in her ear. "Plenty of courage…a Slayer to boot…not had one of those in a long while. There's talent, courage, loyalty. Now, where to put you?"
"Gryffindor," she muttered under her breath.
"Hmmm, you'd do so well in Slytherin though. The last Slayer was in Slytherin."
"Not Slytherin," she insisted.
"If you're sure," it whispered. "Better be – GRYFFINDOR!"
Buffy sighed in relief and grinned as she saw that the twins, plus Harry, Hermione, Ron, Lee and Neville were all on their feet, giving her a standing ovation. She quickly took the hat off her head and walked towards them, taking her seat between George and Harry once more.
"Knew you could do it cuz," Harry muttered.
Buffy grinned and laughed slightly when George winked at her. The Sorting finished and the tables were suddenly magically filled with food. No one wasted any time in digging in, talking around mouthfuls of food and exchanging stories about their summer vacations. Most of the talk was about the World Cup Match, and discussing whom their newest Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor would be, seeing as there was a vacancy at the table. When Hermione discovered from Nearly-Headless Nick that the food at Hogwarts had been prepared by house-elves, she refused to eat another bite.
She was still appalled with the way house-elves were treated. Ever since she'd seen Barty Crouch dismiss Winky his house-elf, she'd been researching the treatment of the house-elves. To find out that Hogwarts had over one hundred of them was something of a shock, and Hermione was too disgusted to allow herself to eat and take part in the abuse of the elves.
Dumbledore began his speech, making a note about the Forbidden Forest, and about a few newly added items that had been banned.
"Reckon any of our stuff will ever be on that list?" Fred whispered to his twin.
George just smirked. "We can hope."
"It is also my painful duty to inform you that the inter-house Quidditch Cup will not take place this year," Dumbledore announced.
"What?!" Harry wasn't the only one to yelp out the astonished question. Fred and George were gaping like fish, and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team were silently mouthing their outrage.
"I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts -"
He was interrupted by a deafening rumble of thunder, and the doors to the Great Hall banged open. A man stood in the doorway, leaning upon a staff, shrouded in a black travelling cloak. Every head in the Great Hall swivelled towards the stranger, suddenly brightly illuminated by a fork of lightening that flashed across the ceiling.
"Now that's an entrance," Buffy muttered, George and Fred nodding their agreement.
"May I introduce our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Moody," Dumbledore said brightly. He cleared his throat a moment later and continued with his speech. "As I was saying, we are to have the honour of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event which has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."
"You're JOKING!" Fred yelled loudly.
The tension that had filled the Hall ever since Moody's arrival suddenly broke. Nearly everyone laughed, and Dumbledore chuckled appreciatively.
"I am not joking, Mr Weasley, though now you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag and a leprechaun who all go into a bar-"
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly and Dumbledore got back on track. Buffy leaned across to whisper in her cousin's ear.
"Is this guy for real?" she muttered.
Harry grinned and laughed. "He's nuts. He's a genius though!"
Buffy just shrugged and continued listening to Dumbledore explain about what the Triwizard Tournament was. Fred, George and Lee were all on the edge of their seats, hanging on his every word, speculatively whispering about entering the Tournament. When the prize money of a thousand galleons was announced, everyone seemed to be talking at once.
Dumbledore held up a hand, and the Hall quietened down again. Buffy was incredibly impressed by the control that Dumbledore had over the students. Principal Snyder had never had that kind of respect, and Buffy could tell that nearly the entire student body respected and liked the Headmaster of Hogwarts School.
"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts, the Heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age – that is to say, seventeen years or older – will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration." Nearly half the Hall was vocally expressing their outrage at this. It eliminated First through Fifth Years, and half of the Sixth Years as well.
Dumbledore continued over the noise of the students. "I therefore beg you not to waste your time submitting yourself if you are under seventeen." After this, most people drowned out the rest of his speech. When Dumbledore dismissed them, announcing it was bedtime, the Hall became once more filled with noise as conversations burst out and chairs scraped across the floor.
"They can't do that!" George said angrily. "We're seventeen in April, why can't we have a shot?"
"They're not stopping me from entering," Fred said stubbornly, scowling back at the Professors table.
They continued out of the Hall and up the large marble staircase in the Entrance Hall, still talking about ways to enter the competition. Fred was suggesting an Aging Potion, and the others were still throwing around ideas of what to do with the prize money.
"Miss Potter-Summers," a voice said softly. The group stopped and turned to face Professor McGonagall who had Angelina Johnson in tow.
"It's just Summers," Buffy said, slightly self-conscious, which was unusual for her.
McGonagall nodded and stopped in front of the group.
"Congratulations on your place within Gryffindor," McGonagall said. "Your parents were both Gryffindors. Joyce was a lovely girl."
Buffy bit her tongue, wanting to defend her father, but that would let the Professor know that she had seen him, when he was meant to be a wanted fugitive.
"Thanks," Buffy murmured.
"This is Angelina Johnson," McGonagall said, gesturing towards the Gryffindor Chaser beside her. "You'll be staying in the dormitories with the other Sixth-Year girls, and Angelina has volunteered to show you around. I look forward to seeing you in class."
Without another word, and without waiting for a reply, McGonagall turned and left. Angelina stepped forward, grinning at her fellow Gryffindors.
"No need for introductions then," Angelina said brightly. "Good…I'm not fond of that awkward stilled getting-to-know-you period."
Buffy grinned, already liking the girl. She held her hand out and Angelina shook it. "Buffy Summers," she introduced herself.
"Angelina Johnson, but I think McGonagall might have mentioned that one," Angelina said. "So…tell me something…what on earth possessed you to hang out with this lot?"
For a moment, Buffy was convinced that Angelina was being serious. She was transported back to her Hemery days when her friends had merely been followers, rather than the real deal. A moment later, Angelina was being swept up into a hug by Fred Weasley, who loudly and dramatically pressed a smacking kiss to Angelina's cheek. The girl blushed bright red, and the group continued up the stairs.
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Sorry for the delay in updating! Kinda got a little sidetracked with assignments and stuff. *sighs* As always, many thanks for your continued feedback and emails and stuff! You guys rock!
Toodles.
DKG.