Hi everyone thanks for all the reviews, I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while.  But here it is…the apocalypse!

Darla56:  Do you mean Spike?  Because Sirius is already in England.  Spike will be coming to England and Hogwarts soon, with almost all of the Scoobies.

BIGHARRYFAN: Chapter 19 is working now, sorry I did not e-mail you back…slipped my mind…sorry.

Jespheonix05:  Harry knows how much Sirius likes Buffy, and I don't think that he wants to get on bad terms with his godfather.  Sirius didn't get pardoned in the end of OOTP; at least, I hope he didn't.

Kandice:  Yep, he does know.  

Miz:  Charlie's in Romania, he'll be back soon.  I didn't do much for Harry's reaction, I should have, but I didn't.   I added something about how he took though in the beginning of this chapter.

SPASH Panther:  Just a random boy.  The demons need him because one of the sacrifices is the blood of a human.  I based him on my brother; he really wanted a cameo, so I wrote him in.    

Anyway, on with the chapter!

Chapter 24.  The Storm

Sirius was pacing.  Five steps up the room, five steps down it.  He was pretty sure he had worn the carpet down.  But he didn't care.  Buffy was in trouble.  And he was not doing anything.  Every fibre of his being wanted him to run out of the door and to the Hellmouth, but Willow's glare stopped him.  Man, that girl had some glare.  It could have frozen fire. 

"Padfoot, sit down.  You're making me dizzy."  Lupin complained, and Sirius glared at him.

"She could be dead!"  Sirius shouted.

"Could be, but knowing Buffy, she's alive."  Willow reassured, but it did not seem to work with Sirius. 

"We should go soon.  It's almost time."  Sirius said.

"We've got to wait for the others."  Lupin replied.

Sirius finally sat down, but he continued to look at the door of the hospital wing, waiting to go.  Faith and Willow exchanged grins, knowing how much Sirius liked Buffy, and vice versa.  It was a pity Buffy was set not to do anything about it.

The four sat in silence; Faith healed of her wounds and twirled a stake in her hand, Willow sat on a bed, unconsciously biting her nails, Sirius looking to the door every second and Lupin grinning at the insane behaviour of his friend. 

When the door opened, revealing many wizards and witches, Sirius jumped up immediately.  The members of the Order poured into the hospital wing and Dumbledore faced Sirius.

"Where is Harry?"  He asked.

"Bed.  He put up quite a fight though."  Sirius said.

"That kid's got some set of lungs."  Willow agreed.

"He was way upset about not going with us, to help B."  Faith explained.

"May I have everyone's attention?  This is Faith, a slayer, and Willow Rosenberg, a Wiccan Witch.  They have dealt in circumstances much like this, so they shall be in charge."  Dumbledore instructed, and all eyes turned to the young women.

Willow grinned nervously and gave a small wave of the hand.  "Hi…um…well…we uh…"  Faith rolled her eyes.

"Look, here's the deal.  World's gonna end at midnight.  We gotta stop it.  B's a sacrifice, so we gotta save her.  Vampires are killed by decapitation, or a stake through the heart, and demons should be killed like a human.  Things are gonna get rocky, if the hellmouth opens, demons and other shit will come out.  It won't be pretty.  Be careful. No one should go near the opening, otherwise you'll be sent to hell.  Got it?"  The group nodded and murmured in response.  "Right, well we're gonna have two teams.  One's with Red, others with me.  My team's the largest, we're gonna kill the bad guys and save B.  Red's team is gonna be small, and they're gonna help Red close the hellmouth if it gets opened.  If it doesn't, then you fight."

"Faith…"  Willow started, but Faith cut her off with a wave of the hand.

"Red, you'll be great.  I have faith in you, you can do it."  Faith reassured, and Willow nodded weakly.  Her hands were shaking with nervousness; she did not think she could close the hellmouth without going out of control.  While Willow was improving, she still had miles to go, and closing a Hellmouth was tricky business.  But, like Faith had said, she had faith in Willow, and Willow did not want to let anyone down, especially Faith and Buffy.

"Please crowd around a port-key."  Dumbledore instructed.  Willow took one port-key, and Faith took another, and the wizards crowded around the two girls.  Dumbledore smiled at them, standing apart from the group, as he would not be going.  Someone had to look after the school, and Dumbledore had a feeling about tonight.  He felt he would not be needed at the hellmouth.

And with a 'pop', the two groups were gone.

***

The clearing was filled with demons and vampires.  The vampires were lined at the back, in front of Buffy and the boy, and demons of all sorts of species were in the front, surrounding the hellmouth.  The three top demons were next to the hellmouth, a dead demon on the floor next to them.  They looked like the demons Sirius had shown Buffy before. 

Buffy looked to the boy next to her, and gave him a weak smile. "We'll get you out of this, kid."

"Aaron."  He said.

"Aaron?  Your name?  Cool.  I'm Buffy."

"Seriously?"

"Hey!"  Buffy said indignantly. 

"Sorry mate." 

"You ready slayer?"  The blonde vampire said, walking up to Buffy.  Buffy squirmed on the post, trying to get free, but to no avail.  The vampire laughed.  "Guess what, you're going watch all the action."  He said, and Buffy looked at him confused.  "The kid's going first.  You can watch him die."  Buffy and Aaron's eyes widened simultaneously, and the vampire laughed.  "Cut him free."  The vampire ordered and another one took a knife and cut Aaron free.  He held Aaron's hands behind his back, and Aaron found he couldn't move.  Buffy tried to get free even harder, twisting and turning as she looked helplessly at Aaron.  His large brown eyes stared fearfully at the vampires and demons around him, and together, the creatures of the dark started to chant in an ancient dialect unknown to Buffy.

"From the dark,

At the turn of day,

Except our offering,

Bring us another

To take the place,

Of the already dead."

Buffy felt her bonds being broken, and two vampires held her tightly as they lifted her from the pole.  One of the top demons lit two candles, and another lifted a small sharp knife.  It glinted in the light and it was raised to Aaron's throat.

"No!"  Buffy yelled, but before she could do anything, the demon swiped at his throat, and red blood poured from Aaron's neck onto the seal.  Buffy choked, as Aaron's dead lifeless eyes were focused on hers, and Buffy looked away, her eyes watering.  The chanting increased and the ground shook as the seal glowed and once Aaron's dead body was laid onto the seal, the blood still flowing onto the symbol.  A demon stepped forward; he had large brown horns, deep green skin and hooves for hands.  The top demon that had killed Aaron stabbed the other demon in the gut, and black blood fell onto the seal.  The chanting increased again and the ground shook once again.  The demon dropped dead to the floor, and the demons motioned for the vampires to bring Buffy forward.

"Hey!  Ugly!"  A shout broke the demons attention, and only a few continued to chant.  Faith grinned manically as she stepped through the trees, a large sword in her hand.  "You forgot me."  She said. 

Wizards and witches came out from the behind the trees, and Buffy, having found confidence, flipped her two captives to the floor and dropped to a defensive stance.

Faith stood next to Buffy, dropping into a defensive stance also. The handsome vampire snarled.

"I'll have such pleasure in killing you."  He said, and Buffy backhand punched him, then caught a stake Faith threw her.

"So will I."  Buffy said.  And all hell broke loose.

Curses were muttered, vampires and demons dropped dead and Buffy and Faith worked side by side, Faith taking on two vampires while Buffy took on her kidnapper.  She ducked a punch and delivered a sweeping kick to the vampire's legs, sending him tumbling to the ground.  He flipped back up and kicked Buffy in the chest, causing her to stumble back, but she ducked quickly as the blond vampire tried to grab her.

Next to her, Faith had decapitated her two vampires and was locked in a fight with a large demon with an axe.  She dodged and rolled as the demon struck with the axe.  The axe came down again to strike her, but she blocked it with her sword and kicked him in the chest and then drove her sword into his chest.

Willow and Lupin were working together; Lupin fought the vampires while Willow staked them.  A vampire punched Lupin, and then backhanded Willow.  Willow fell to the ground, and looked up just in time to see the vampire lift Lupin up in the air, his hand tightened around Lupin's throat.  Lupin struggled, and accidentally pushed his wand through the vampire's chest and it exploded to dust.  Willow grinned at Lupin's surprised look.

Unfortunately for Sirius, he was working with Snape who seemed just as unhappy about the arrangement as he was.  But, they seemed to work well together, despite their differences, for when Snape 'wingardium leviosa'-ed a vampire into the air, Sirius deftly staked it. 

"Such a pretty one."  The vampire said to Buffy again, and Buffy rolled her eyes.  She punched him in the gut and then flipped him to the ground, her stake poised on his chest.

"Thanks for the ride, it's been fun."  Buffy said, before staking him.  Buffy quickly looked over to where Aaron's dead body lay and saw the three top demons standing away from the fray.  "Faith!"  Buffy yelled, holding out her hand.  Faith threw Buffy her sword and returned to her fight.  Buffy caught it quickly and ran to the demons, sword gripped tightly in her hands. 

With one quick easy motion, she decapitated on top demon and moved to the next, Aaron's blank face in her mind.  She was angry, and the demons were on the receiving end of her rage.  With two more furious swings, the top demons lay dead.  Buffy grinned to herself and quickly threw the sword back to Faith, who having caught it, decapitated her vampires quickly.  Buffy looked around her, vampires and demons were fighting wizards and witches, and she could tell that Buffy's team was going to win.  She grinned at Moody when he staked a vampire and she helped Tonks with another. 

"Buffy!"  Sirius ran to Buffy, and stopped, breathless in front of her.  "Are you ok?"  He asked, concerned.  Buffy nodded her heart fluttering as she looked into his blue eyes.

"Great."  She said with a small smile.  Sirius grinned, and Buffy was reminded instantly of a younger Sirius from her childhood.  Sirius took her hand slowly, and Buffy looked curiously at Sirius.

Then a shout distracted her, and she quickly whirled around, and searched for the person who had given the shout.  Away from the fray were two men, battling furiously. 

Snape had a deep cut to his back, and seemed to be weakened.  Buffy watched, horrified as the vampire grabbed Snape and pulled his neck back.  The vampire bared his teeth, and his game face showed.  His yellow eyes glinted dangerously as it smelled pulsating blood, and his fangs sank into Snape's pale skin.  Buffy quickly ran through the vampires and wizards fighting to reach Snape, at each second Snape's body became limper, and his efforts to get free were weakened.  With an angry yell, Buffy jumped onto the vampire who in turn dropped Snape to the ground.  Buffy and the vampire fell the ground and Buffy found herself on the bottom, the vampire's bloodied teeth on top of her.  With another yell, she kicked him off her and flipped up.  She cuffed him and then delivered a high kick to his head that sent him flying into a tree trunk.  Buffy quickly strode up to him and staked it, dust flying onto her clothes. 

Looking back, she rushed over to Snape, where he lay moaning on the floor.  She smiled at him and he groaned.

"Summers."  He said between his teeth, and Buffy grinned.

"I bet it's just killing you that I saved you."  Buffy said, and Snape moaned again.

"That was not a pleasant experience."  Snape said, gingerly touching the side of neck where blood was trickling out of two puncture wounds.

"You'll be ok."  Buffy said reassured, taking his hand.

"So why are you still here with me?"  He asked, and Buffy looked around.

"We won."  Buffy said with a smile, and Snape lifted his head to see.  It seemed they had.  Sirius and Diggle were staking the last vampires and the rest seemed to be tending to their wounds.  The most serious wound was Kingsley, who had a deep wound on the side of his chest.  Buffy grinned at Snape and helped him stand, his hand firmly clutched in hers. 

"I think I shall be fine."  Snape announced.  Buffy looked up to him, her green eyes dancing.

"You sure?"

"Yes."  He answered, frowning as an unfamiliar feeling settled in his stomach as he looked into her eyes. 

Buffy smiled one last time and let go of his hand and hurried to Willow who was tending to a hurt Lupin.  Snape watched her go, Buffy's loose blonde hair flowing behind her.  He had never noticed how beautiful Buffy was before.

I'm sure most of you are going 'ew' right now…so I will be nice and tell you that Buffy and Snape will not be getting together.  Can you imagine those two together?  *Shudder*Ew.

Anyway, please review!