Chapter 12 and 13 has been edited to leave out the prophecy regarding the Marauders. It just doesn't fit with the story anymore.

Edited 30/10/04

Chapter 13.

Things seemed to be on a high at Sirius' house for the next couple of days. Dinner was always a joyous affair, now that Sirius was back; he seemed to be like the young man Buffy had known when she lived in England. Everything seemed to be looking up. Harry was noticeably happier, and much to Buffy's surprise, Ron and Hermione had actually embraced her and thanked her for bringing back Sirius, apparently, there had been a strain on their friendship since Sirius had died, and now the strain had disappeared. It was the last night until Harry and his friends went back to Hogwarts, and Molly had cooked a special meal for the teenagers. Molly had prepared cakes, meat dishes, vegetables and had bought Firewhisky and Butterbeer, courtesy of Mundungus Fletcher. Molly had produced a large banner that issued congratulations to Ginny for becoming a Prefect and congratulations for the excellent results Harry, Hermione and Ron had received for their O.W.L.S. Harry's desired career of becoming an Auror was in reach, he had achieved Outstanding for all the subjects he needed, much to his delight. Hermione had received Outstanding for all her subjects and Ron had only failed Divination. Everyone was in high spirits, Molly had taken the kids to Diagon Alley to collect their equipment and they had all returned on a high.

All the Weasleys (save Percy who was still not speaking to his family), Harry, Hermione, Buffy, Sirius, Lupin, Dumbledore, Tonks, Moody, McGonagall, Snape (much to the Weasley's displeasure), Fletcher and Diggle were seated at the table, which was a squeeze, but they managed. As usual, the conversation was split into little groups, and Buffy found herself next to Sirius and Charlie, with, unfortunately, Snape opposite. Sirius and Charlie seemed to be competing for Buffy's attention, while Snape was sending glares at Sirius. Unfortunately, Snape had not taken Sirius' arrival from the dead well, he had simply stared at Sirius, muttered a 'god help us' and had swept from the room.

Sirius' reaction to Buffy's slayer status had been amusing also. Buffy had told him the night he had been brought back, and Sirius had muttered 'Bloody hell' causing Buffy to laugh because he reminded her of Spike when he said it.

It was ten minutes into dinner when Dumbledore had looked at his pocket watch from his seat at the head of the table. He had smiled secretly, glanced at Buffy shortly and then had made an apologetic excuse to Molly and had left the house.

The dinner continued without him however, and the topic of the conversation among the young adults and Harry and his friends turned to Sirius' days at Hogwarts. Sirius and Lupin had great pleasure in talking about the pranks and chaos they had caused at school, Harry was engrossed in the stories, anything that involved his parents, he was willing to listen. But the subject soon fell off the Marauders' doing at school (much to Snape's delight who was being forced to listen to the conversation as he was too far away to partake in the older adults' conversation) and turned to Buffy's time at school.

"All that training we gave you, you must have done some pranks at school." Sirius argued and Buffy shook her head.

"Nope. No pranks to speak of."

"No pranks? No school property damage, nothing?" Sirius asked, astonished. Buffy grinned.

"Well, there was a tiny bit of school property damage, but that wasn't because of a prank."

"What happened?" Asked George eagerly.

"Well, there were two major property damages. One happened in my school in LA, which caused me to be expelled from that school, and the second in my school in Sunnydale, at my Graduation."

George and Fred were listening with open mouths and wide eyes. "You were expelled? Wow, that's amazing!"

"Twice." Snape visibly bristled across Buffy.

"Why?" Asked Sirius, curious.

"Well, the first time was because of property damage and the second time…well…I was accused of murder. Plus, the principal did not really like me, with my criminal record and everything."

"Criminal record? Murder?" Harry asked, his eyes wide.

Buffy nodded, wincing. "It's nothing to be proud of, trust me. I have a pretty long criminal record, mostly for causing fights and property damage, but the second time I got expelled, I found my friend dead on the floor, and the cops assumed it was me who killed her."

"So what were the property damages?" George pushed on and Buffy grinned.

"Well, the first one was for burning down the gym of my school, and the second was for blowing the whole school up."

The group was silent, the Weasley boys, Sirius and Ginny gazing at Buffy in amazement-in the twins' case, it was adoration and idolization. Hermione was had an appalled look on her face, and Lupin was torn between looking shocked and amazed. Snape could not help but overhear Buffy's conversation and revelation, and could not hide a look that almost mirrored Hermione's.

"Why did you burn down the gym?" George asked.

"Vampires."

"And the school?"

"Demon."

"You are a goddess." George blurted out, causing every to laugh. But his face was serious, as he looked on adoringly at Buffy. "If only you were at Hogwarts with us…imagine the things we could have done then, Fred!"

"Goddess or no goddess," Buffy said in between laughs, "I still got myself into a lot of shit I am not proud of."

"You blew up a school! How wicked is that!" Fred proclaimed.

"Yeah, but I also had a hundred foot demon snake following me through the school before I blew it up." Buffy added. "That was not of the fun."

The group laughed, but then they fell silent as they realized Buffy was telling the truth.

"What else did you go through at school?" Ron asked, in between bites of a bread roll.

"If you want to know everything that's happened to me, we're going to be here for a long time." Buffy said.

"Or, I could help you B. That's gonna take less time." A voice interrupted the group and Buffy turned her head to face the woman in surprise. There she stood, wearing tight black leather trousers and a fitting black top, her brown wavy hair falling onto her shoulders and her purple painted lips pulled into a smile. "Long time no see, B."

"Faith!" Buffy jumped up from her seat and hugged her tightly, with extra slayer strength. They parted and Buffy frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"You invited me." Faith said plainly.

"I did?"

"In your last letter, you said I should drop by some time. And here I am." Faith said.

"Here you are." Buffy agreed, and Faith winked.

"Ok, so you didn't say come straight away, but LA is officially dead, B. I got in need for a fight, and I decided to come here. You know how it is when you just wanna ugh."

"Faith, the grunting." Buffy said, grinning. "And that's not the reason, is it? Remember when you just happened to bump into me in Chicago, and you just happened to be in the neighbourhood in New York? You got lonely, and you missed me, didn't ya?" Buffy exclaimed proudly, and Faith rolled her eyes.

"'K, you got me B. I'm a softie. Just don't tell Xander, I'll never live that down." Faith said with a scowl.

"How did you get here?" Buffy asked, and Faith gestured to Dumbledore behind her.

"Big D hooked me up. Food!" Faith sat down in Buffy's place, and generously helped herself to some chocolate cake, much to the surprise of the others around her. "So, can I stay B?"

Buffy looked helplessly at Sirius and he grinned. "It's not my house, but I'm sure Sirius won't mind."

"I'm Sirius." Sirius said, introducing himself, and Faith raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously?" Faith joked and Sirius scowled. After sending a grateful smile to Dumbledore, Buffy sat in between Sirius and Faith.

"How do you two know each other?" Lupin asked, and Faith grinned.

"We're the Chosen two."

"Chosen Two?"

"We're both slayers." Buffy explained.

"But…that's impossible. There can only be one slayer at a time." Hermione argued, and Faith rolled her eyes.

"B, you do the Giles thing, 'k?"

"When a slayer dies, another is called." Buffy said, hoping that would make it plainer.

Ginny looked horrified. "So one of you died?"

"It was B. She was the one who got bit and then drowned by a vampire, then another was called, then she died, then I got called."

The group looked at Buffy horrified, even Snape was shocked. Buffy reddened under their attention and glared at Faith.

"Thanks a lot Faith."

"No problem B."

Looking at her friends expressions, Buffy decided to tell them the truth. "It was only for a minute. Then my friend Xander brought me back with CPR, a muggle thing. I was sixteen and the Master was going to end the world, I was supposed to stop it, there was a prophecy ("Always a damn prophecy" Muttered Harry under his breath, but no one heard him.) saying that I was going to die at the hands of the Master. I threw a big tantrum when I found out, but I went anyway, and the Master killed me. I was brought back to life, I saved the world, and then we partied." Buffy explained to a silent and fixed audience. There was silence; they appeared to be taking everything in. Then Harry asked a question.

"You found out you were going to die, but you went anyway? Why?" Buffy shrugged.

"It was the right thing to do. My theory was, if I died, I hoped to take him with me. And I kind of did, in a weird way."

The group was silent, taking in what Buffy had just told them, until Faith got bored.

"Who wants to hear about the time Buffy faced Dracula?"

Snape visibly tensed, and he growled.