As Strong As We Are United
Chapter 8 – Confrontations
Cat and Wesley Disapparated from headquarters to pick up the pizzas that Cat had ordered, while Buffy, Charlie, and Narcissa went down to the basement kitchen to investigate the shouting. They entered the kitchen and stood in the doorway, quietly watching the scene unfold in front of them.
Ron and Hermione were by far the loudest of the group. Many of the others were silently staring at them. "Little miss perfect, who knows everything about everything, can't even make a treacle tart right," taunted Ron. "But then I guess there are some things that you can't learn out of a book." Shannon was behind them, removing what looked like the remains of the treacle tart from the oven. It looked like it had exploded.
"Oh shut up, Ron," ordered Hermione. "For your information, there are plenty of books to teach people how to cook. They're called cookbooks."
Ron rolled his eyes. "Fat lot of good those cookbooks did you." He walked over to the table, where Hermione and Shannon had prepared the dessert and began throwing ingredients haphazardly into the large mixing bowl. A large quantity of flour soon coated the table.
"Ron, you're making a mess," complained Hermione. He glared at her. She huffed and turned her back on him, which only further aggravated him.
Ron pulled out his wand and pointed it at the bag of flour. "Wingardium Leviosa," he whispered. The bag floated into the air, and he guided it toward Hermione, who was purposely ignoring him. "Just remember that you're the one who taught me how to do this," Ron told her. As Hermione spun around to see what he was talking about, he flipped the bag of flour. The contents poured down over Hermione's head.
Hermione's eyes flashed dangerously. Ron looked at her smugly. Ginny, Luna, and Andrew began giggling to themselves. "Think that's funny?" Hermione asked. Ron smiled, rather pleased with himself. "Think this is funny?" Hermione asked, pulling a glob of shortening from the jar nearest her and throwing it at him.
Ron ducked out of the way, and the shortening slammed into the back of Draco's head, coating his hair in grease. "Hey, what did I do?" he asked indignantly.
Shannon started laughing loudly. "Better wash that out, Draco – unless of course you want to sport the same greasy look as Snape," she said between giggles. Dawn looked from her best friend to her boyfriend and started laughing too.
"You two think you're funny?" Draco asked, grapping a handful of husks from the corn he had prepared. He threw the husks in the direction of the girls, hitting Hermione as well as Dawn and Shannon.
Ron spun around and threw an egg at Draco. "Don't throw things at Hermione," he warned.
"You started it in the first place," commented Draco. He pulled the glob of shortening from his hair and threw it at Ron. This time Ron did not duck fast enough and the shortening smacked him in the head.
Hermione, Dawn, and Shannon began picking up anything they could find and hurling the objects at the boys, who began to return fire with anything they could get their hands on.
"Think we should put a stop to this?" Charlie asked Buffy.
She shook her head. "Let's just see what happens." Narcissa pulled her wand and whispered an incantation to repel anything that came flying in their direction.
As Dawn, Shannon, and Hermione continued to battle with Draco and Ron, several pieces of food accidentally hit the other teens. Soon Ginny, Neville, Andrew, and Luna had joined in the food fight. The teens continued to exchange insults, as they flung food items at each other, but the insults all had the air of teasing. The only person who was not participating was Harry, who backed himself into a corner and watched silently.
Hermione was having no luck hitting Ron with anything too messy. He, however, was a much better shot. Several smashed eggs now covered the front of Hermione, turning the flour with which she had first been hit into a chunky mess. Ron began laughing so hard at her that her next actions caught him off guard. Hermione flung herself at Ron pulling him into a tight embrace and wiggling in such a way as to cover him in the same mess that covered her. "Ew," said Ron making a show of trying to get away from her, but he was not trying too hard, as her laughter joined his.
The food fight went on for several more minutes, until Shannon stopped suddenly. "Oh, shit," she said. Everyone stopped and looked at her, before turning to see what she was staring at. All eyes came to rest on the three adults who were still standing in the doorway. The teens immediately tried to look repentant. There were several mumbled apologies.
Buff waved her hand in the air. "Don't worry about it."
"Just don't do it again," added Charlie.
"Why don't you all go get cleaned up, while we take care of this mess," suggested Narcissa. "Cat went to get something called pizza for dinner. I assume it's some kind of muggle food."
The teens trooped out of the kitchen. "At least most of them are talking again," noted Buffy, as Charlie and Narcissa raised their wands and began cleaning. "Scourgify."
****************
As the teens left the kitchen and climbed the staircases to their rooms, Ron grabbed Hermione's hand and forced her to lag behind a bit. When everyone else was out of sight, he turned to her. "I'm sorry that I've been crowding you. I really only wanted to help," he said softly.
Hermione looked into his eyes. "I'm sorry too. I just. . . I just want us to help each other. Ron, I don't know what I would do without you. You're all I have left."
Ron pulled her into a hug, their food covered clothing sticking together. "I'm not going anywhere," he assured her.
He felt her head shaking from side to side. "Ron, you aren't really here now. Ever since. . . Ever since that night, you've been shutting me out."
"I don't mean to shut you out. I'm just not ready to deal with everything yet," Ron explained. "Can you just give me a little more time?" he asked pleadingly.
"Of course," replied Hermione.
"And for now, I'll give you whatever space you need," added Ron. He gently kissed her flour-covered forehead. "I guess we should go clean up." Hermione nodded, and they ascended the stairs.
****************
Less than an hour later, everyone gathered in the kitchen for a dinner of pizza and butterbeer. Draco, Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Luna had never had pizza before and could not seem to get enough of it.
Everyone happily chatted, while eating. That is everyone except Harry. He sat at the end of the table, quietly nibbling on a piece of pizza. He was not very hungry and was uncomfortable sitting among the large crowd of apparently happy people. Ron and Shannon tried to engage Harry in conversation several times to no avail.
When the group finished eating, Buffy suggested that they all adjourn back to the drawing room for coffee and dessert. Cat had brought back two trays of Italian cookies from the place she had gotten the pizzas.
Once everyone was settled, Willow turned her attention to the teens and spoke. "We know you've all been through a lot lately. For the most part, you're handling things pretty okay – better than some of us have. Unfortunately, those of us who have chosen to fight against the big bads, don't always have the same luxury of time to grieve that other people do." The teens all stared at Willow, except for Harry who was looking down at the mug of coffee in his hands. He normally did not even drink coffee, but it gave him something other than his friends on which to focus.
Xander spoke up. "We've all suffered losses because of fighting the big bads. And, thought that maybe if we shared some of our experiences with you, it might help."
"Sometimes it helps to know that other people who understand are here for you," added Buffy. She looked at the adults in the room. "So, who wants to start?" she asked.
"I will," said Xander with the air of someone who wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. "At the same time that Willow and I met Buffy, we also lost a close friend of ours. Jesse was killed by vampires. I didn't take much time to grieve over Jesse, because suddenly Willow and I were thrown into a world with vampires and demons and apocalypses, and dealing with that was enough for any sixteen year old to handle."
"We've lost some others over the years," Xander continued. "But there were two that seemed worse than the others, probably because for me it was like losing family. The first was when Buffy died in the battle against Glory. She was the one who held the group together, and the months without her – it was like nothing would ever be right again. We were so lost in our grief and watching Sunnydale become overrun with the evil undead that we did something we probably shouldn't have. We brought her back." Xander looked at Buffy. "I'm sorry, Buff. I know things were really hard on you, but I can't say that I'm not glad we did it." Buffy smiled slightly and nodded her head.
Xander returned his attention to the teens. "The second was losing Anya in the battle against the First. With Buffy, I was sad, but she did what she had to do to save the world. Anya's death just seemed pointless." Andrew cleared his throat loudly. Xander shrugged. "Okay," he conceded. "It wasn't pointless. She saved Andrew. But for me, pointless was how it felt at the time."
"I had so much to deal with when she died. I was sad because I had lost the only woman I ever truly loved. I was angry at myself for not valuing the time we had more than I did. There were even days when I was angry at her for leaving me in the world without her. Part of me even felt guilty that I couldn't protect her, even though I knew logically that she had made her own choice to fight. But mostly, I just felt lost without her."
"I don't think I could have made it through losing Anya, if it weren't for Willow. She would sit up with me at night and just let me talk or sit silently or cry – whatever I needed at the moment. And, I knew that Willow understood because she had lost Tara the year before. By the time we came to Hogwarts, I had accepted that Anya was gone. I still felt the loss and broke down a few times and I knew that I wasn't ready to move on, but I finally realized that eventually I could."
"You cried for me?" Anya asked, her voice soft.
Xander turned to her. "Of course I did," he replied, putting his arm around his wife's shoulders. "I couldn't imagine my life without you."
Willow was looking at Anya with an expression of puzzlement. "Why are you surprised?" Willow asked. "You've seen him cry before – when Mrs. Summers died and especially when Buffy died.
"I know," said Anya, "but I didn't realize how much my death had affected him. I mean, I know that you cried when Joyce and Buffy died, but I just didn't realize with me . . ." Her voice trailed off.
Ron was very interested in what Xander and the others were saying. Here was a man, who had been through more battles than any of them who faced Voldemort. And yet, Xander had no problem admitting to the group that he had cried by his best friend's side, when Anya died. For some reason, this seemed more significant to Ron than knowing that his brother had cried.
Ron's thoughts were interrupted by Spike. "Of course he cried for you," Spike was saying to Anya. "Hell, if I weren't dead at the time, I would have cried for you."
Anya gave Spike a strange look. "Somehow, it's hard to picture you crying," she commented.
Spike looked insulted. "Why is it so hard for you to understand? Even before I got my soul back, I still had feelings. I cried when Joyce died and again when Buffy died, though not as much with Buffy because I was focused on keeping my last promise to her and protecting the Nibblet." Spike's voice grew louder, "And at the time, I was evil."
Spike's voice softened again, as he looked first at Buffy and then at Dawn. "Your mother was a great lady. She used to listen to my problems with Drusilla, and she would make me cocoa with those little marshmallows." Buffy and Dawn smiled at the memory of Spike pouring out his heart to their mother in the kitchen of their house on Revello Drive.
Willow jumped into the conversation. "Well, since Xander mentioned about me losing Tara, I'll go next," she said. "I don't know how much of the story you know; so, I guess I'll start at the beginning. Tara and I had broken up because I was relying too heavily on the magicks. After playing around with some serious dark arts, I almost got Dawn killed. I realized that I needed to stop, and for awhile I did."
"Tara and I got back together. I was so happy being with her again that night. The next morning, a stray bullet meant for Buffy came through the window and killed Tara right in front of me. I tried calling on the forces that I used to bring Buffy back, but Tara had died a natural death and there was nothing I could do."
"I was filled with a rage that I had never experienced before. All I could focus on was killing Warren – the guy who shot her. I filled myself with the dark magicks, more powerful than ever before. I killed Warren and then went after his friends."
"She was really scary," Andrew said.
Willow ignored Andrew's comment and continued. "Thankfully Andrew and Jonathan got away. But losing Tara hurt so much. I couldn't deal with the pain. I tried to end the world to make the pain stop."
The students sat in a stunned silence. Only Hermione spoke. "That was you? I read about a witch in California who tried to end the world, but. . . That was you?" she asked again.
"That was me," replied Willow. "You all have Xander to thank for saving the world that time. No matter what I did, he refused to leave me alone in that kind of pain. I finally broke down in his arms. Suffice to say, Giles took me back to England with him to help me recover from my dependence on the dark magicks. Unfortunately, my recovery was cut short because of the First, which is why I spent the past month at that retreat, trying to work on it some more."
"I'm telling you all this because hopefully you can learn from my mistakes," Willow told the teens. "There are two important lessons here. First, no matter how much pain you're in, you have to deal with it. You can't just end the world to make it stop. Second, no matter how hard things are, your true friends will always be there to help you work through it. Let them in because it will make it easier."
The teens continued to stare at Willow. "Willow is right," stated Giles. "When Angelus killed Jenny, I went off half-cocked to seek revenge and kill Angelus. My state of mind at the time probably would have gotten me killed, if Buffy hadn't come after me."
"I had to," Buffy said to Giles. "Jenny never would have died if I had been strong enough to kill Angelus when I had the chance. I couldn't let him kill you too."
Harry's eyes shot up from the cup in his hand, and he searched Buffy's expression for the truth behind her words. 'What did she mean, she wasn't strong enough?' Harry wondered. Buffy was the Slayer. She had saved the world more times than anyone should have to. From what Harry had seen, she never hesitated to eliminate a threat.
Buffy noticed Harry staring at her. She pointedly looked at him, as she told her story. "For those of you who don't know, Angel lost his soul because of me – part of the gypsy curse. If he ever experienced a moment of true happiness, his soul would be gone forever. Let's just say that I gave him that moment."
"Angel was my first love. Everyone has a special place in their heart for their first love. Angel will always have that place in my heart." Charlie squeezed Buffy's hand reassuringly. "Angelus – what Angel was before he was cursed with a soul – was known as the Scourge of Europe."
"Oh," said Hermione, her eyes widening as she put Angel together with the information she had read about the four worst vampires in the history of Europe.
Buffy quickly glanced at Hermione. "Angel, his sire Darla, Drusilla who Angel drove insane before turning her, and William the Bloody terrorized Europe for a century."
"Drusilla, as in the one that Spike used to talk to your mother about?" asked Ron.
"That would be the one," replied Spike. "She was the love of my life for a century."
"What happened to her?" asked Ginny. "And the others?"
Spike answered the question. "Well, as you know Angel got his soul back and is working for the side of good in LA. Darla's dead. I don't actually know where Drusilla is. For as insane as she is, hopefully she'll be smart enough to stay away."
"What about William the Bloody?" asked Hermione.
Spike could not help but chuckle. "You mean you lot don't know?"
"Know what?" asked Neville.
"I'm William the Bloody," stated Spike. Hermione's eyes widened further. "I thought you knew," he added with a shrug.
"We can talk vampire history later," stated Wesley, who had noticed that Harry had not seemed as withdrawn, when Buffy had first spoken. "We should let Buffy continue."
"Oh yeah," said Buffy. "So Angelus was back and more evil than ever. He began taunting me and terrorizing my friends. I couldn't deal with it. I knew he was Angelus, but when I looked at him it was the face of the man I loved."
"So, Angelus, Spike, and Drusilla brought back this demon, the Judge. He fed off of humanity."
"I'd just like to state that at the time I was still evil," interrupted Spike.
Buffy rolled her eyes, before speaking again. "Right, Spike was still a big bad back then. Though he was recovering from a previous fight with us, and let's just say that a vamp in a wheelchair is more funny than scary."
Spike glared at her, but she ignored him. "So, Angelus and Drusilla take the Judge to the mall to feed off of people. I got to blow up the Judge with a rocket launcher, which was cool, but Angelus ran. I went after him, and we fought a while, but when I got the upper hand I just couldn't kill him. I kept thinking about Angel."
"Miss Calendar figured out how to recurse Angelus with a soul. So, he killed her and left her for Giles to find. If I had killed him when I had the chance, she never would have died." Buffy looked pointedly at Harry again. Their eyes locked. "I'm supposed to keep the world safe from vampires. It's my destiny. A prophecy was even written that I would face a master vampire and die at his hand. It took me a long time to accept that I had no say in what my future held. It seemed so unfair, but I had to do what I had to do. It was my responsibility, but I wasn't strong enough to handle it. I failed, and a friend died because I couldn't kill Angel.
"Later he lured me away from my friends. They were attacked. Willow almost died. Giles was kidnapped and tortured by Angelus. Kendra, the Slayer who was called after I died the first time, was killed. So many people were hurt before I finally accepted that I needed to kill Angelus. Before I had a chance, Willow managed to return his soul. But it was too late. Angelus had started a sequence of events to end the world. The man I loved was returned to me, and I had to send him to hell to stop the world from ending. Even with everything we've faced since, killing Angel was the hardest thing I ever had to do."
"When it was over, I couldn't face my friends. They had all been hurt because I wasn't strong enough. I ran away to LA to start a new life alone. Eventually I came back, but things were really tense for awhile. The thing is that though I hated myself for being weak, my friends didn't. They were angry, not because I failed them as the Slayer, but because I failed them as a friend by running away. They needed me, just like I needed them. I just wish that at the time I had given someone a chance to tell me that."
A single tear slid down Buffy's cheek. Realizing that his Slayer was unable to say more, Giles spoke. "Like it or not, you all have a battle facing you. Harry may be destined to defeat Voldemort, but he can't do it alone."
"Your fight has already cost you more than anyone should ever be asked to give," said Genevieve. "None of us can promise you that you won't lose even more. But if you can't come together to help Harry defeat Voldemort, then the evil we've all spent years fighting against will win. And, we'll all lose everything."
Harry finally spoke. "I can't ask anyone to help me fight Voldemort. Like Buffy said, it's my destiny, no one else's. I've already asked too much of all of you. Look what's happened because of me."
Ron was the first to reply. "You didn't kill my parents," he stated. "Vol. . .Voldemort killed them." Hermione squeezed his hand, surprised and proud that he had finally used the name.
"And, Harry," Hermione added vehemently, "you never asked us to help you fight. It was always our choice. And I for one am going to keep on fighting. That bastard is not going to win. My parents didn't die for nothing." Ron's eyes widened. He had never heard Hermione freely swear before.
"Bloody hell, Harry, not only did you not ask us to help, you insisted that we stay safely behind," said Ginny. Neville and Luna nodded in agreement. "Not only did Voldemort kill my parents and brother, but he used me to terrorize the school. I agree with Hermione. That bastard is not going to win."
"We're behind you, Harry," added Neville. "We all know what's at risk, but this is the right thing to do. My parents fought against Voldemort even before we were born. Even if they had known what would become of them, I'm sure they would have fought anyway. I'm also sure that they'd want me to continue to fight in their place."
"And we are going to fight," stated Luna matter-of-factly, "whether you want us to or not."
Harry seemed surprised by the show of support from his friends. He glanced over at those who had not spoken. Draco shrugged his shoulders. "I just want my life back, and that isn't going to happen until Voldemort and his supporters are gone."
"And as for us," said Dawn, indicating herself, Shannon, and the assembled Scoobies, "Fighting evil's what we do."
Shannon moved beside Harry and placed her hands over his. "It may be your destiny to deliver the final blow to Voldemort, but I believe that we're all destined to help you get the chance. Come on, a bunch of us were already part of a prophecy about him. And the rest. . ." Her voice trailed off as she turned her attention to the core Scoobies. "Even though you have all suffered losses, do any of you regret joining Buffy in her fight."
"Absolutely not," said Willow with conviction.
"We did the right thing," added Xander.
"The world would have ended more than a few times if they hadn't been there to help me," said Buffy.
"So, that's that," stated Hermione. "We're all going to help you fight Voldemort."
"So you better just get used to it," added Ron.
Harry smiled for the first time in weeks. "Alright then," he said.
"Now that's settled, we have some important things to discuss about Voldemort's plans," said Faith. The Scoobies proceeded to explain their theory on the reason for the recent attacks. They also informed the teens about the information that Ethan had given them.
"So, Voldemort's going to try to take Hogwarts. And, he's hoping that by dividing us, we won't be able to stop him," Hermione summarized.
"Yes, but we have some ideas about how to make you even closer," said Cat. "For starters, we need to build the trust between you. Make you into a single force."
"We also need to step up your training," added Genevieve. "Both physical and magical."
"If you'll let us, we can help you prepare for the fight. It'll be several months before Voldemort is strong enough to try and take Hogwarts. We need to make sure we're ready by then," explained Wesley.
"Voldemort thinks we're weak right now, right?" asked Ron. The adults nodded. "Good, then we have the advantage. An opponent who's too confident makes mistakes. We need to make him think that he's winning. It's classic chess strategy."
"Are you saying that we should pretend to be divided?" asked Hermione, cottoning on to what Ron was thinking.
"It won't be easy once we're back at Hogwarts, but if everyone thinks that we're having problems with each other, especially me, Hermione, and Harry, it'll get back to Voldemort," explained Ron.
"He'll never expect us to come together in the end to defeat him," said Shannon smiling. "I like this plan."
"Ron's right," said Robin. "This won't be easy."
"But we can do it," stated Hermione. The other teens all agreed and planned to further discuss how to pull it off later.
"It's been a long night," said Buffy. "We'll start working on some of your training this week. But right now, I'm ready for bed." She said, "goodnight," to everyone and left the room, followed closely by Charlie. Willow, Cat, and Wesley also decided to call it a night.
Spike, Genevieve, and Faith decided to do a quick patrol. Robin, Xander, Anya, and Andrew headed to the kitchen to floo home. After kissing Andrew, Luna went up to bed. Giles Disapparated, and Narcissa promised to follow shortly. She needed to talk with Draco first. The remaining teens adjourned to Dawn and Shannon's room to discuss everything that the Scoobies had told them.
****************
Narcissa and Draco sat alone in the drawing room, after everyone else departed. "You had questions about my family?" Narcissa asked.
Draco stood and walked over to the Black Family Tapestry that hung on the far wall. He knelt down and placed a finger over the burnhole to the right of his mother's name. "You have a sister, other than Aunt Bella," Draco stated, turning to look at his mother.
"Yes, Andromeda. She was disowned from the family because she married a muggle-born wizard. I would sneak out from time to time to visit her. After I married your father and the first war with Voldemort started, it was no longer safe for me to see her. Your father would not have approved, and I didn't want to call any attention to her family, especially since they had a young daughter."
"After Voldemort was gone, I visited Andromeda once. Your father found out." Narcissa closed her eyes, a pained expression on her face. "He forbade me to see her again and threatened to take you away from me if I did. So, I didn't visit her again, and her name was never mentioned in our home."
Draco sat beside his mother and placed a hand on her shoulder. "But now that father is gone, why haven't you contacted your sister?"
"I have," said Narcissa. "When I first moved into Hogsmeade last spring, she came to see me. We had a lovely lunch. She and I have written a few times since, but I haven't had time to see her with everything happening at the Watchers Council."
"I never meant not to mention her to you. Honestly, I didn't even think about it. You were still at school, when I saw her." Narcissa smiled at her son. "We talked quite a bit about our children. Andromeda has heard some very nice things about you from your cousin, Nymphadora."
"Cousin?" asked Draco. He was wracking his brain, trying to remember ever meeting anyone with that name. "Is she a student at Hogwarts? I don't even know who she is."
"No, she's an Auror. You know her. She dated Willow briefly and helped with the battles last year."
"Tonks? She's my cousin?" asked Draco. He was astonished.
"I thought you knew," replied Narcissa. Draco shook his head. "Well, now you do," said his mother. "I'm sure if you want to know more about her family, she would be happy to tell you."