Note: Chapter 12 and 13 has been edited to cut out the prophecy regarding the Marauders. It just does not fit with the story line.

Chapter 49. Drunken Destruction

Christmas at Grimmauld Place passed at a fast pace. For once, Harry experienced a happy Christmas, with not as many deaths and terrible things as usual. It was even better for him because he had his aunt back, who he was not angry with, and who had made up with Sirius. Buffy and Harry had a long talk a couple of days after Buffy came back, and they stayed up the entire night, talking about their lives and experiences. Nothing was held back, Buffy told him everything, including Angel and the death of her real parents and Joyce. She told him about Harry's parents, things that he had never known, and in turn, Harry told her everything about Voldemort, about the prophecy that meant he had to kill him, and about his home life with the Dursley's. Nothing was left out, and they both felt as if they had witnessed each others experiences by the end of it.

Angel arrived soon after Buffy came back, telling everyone of the dream he had, and hugging Buffy so tightly that she couldn't breathe. After a few hours, Hermione had researched the words and found that it meant 'equal light'. She, as well as Ron, still had no idea about the prophecy containing Harry and Voldemort, or the prophecy about the curses. Harry knew however, having been told with Buffy after she came back.

The morning of Christmas day, Buffy woke up early, and was surprised to see Sirius fully dressed and moving around the room they had been sharing. He turned to her when she yawned, and smiled.

"Merry Christmas." He said, capturing her lips in a soft kiss.

"The same to you." Buffy said, smiling.

"I have a present for you." Sirius said, ducking behind the door and disappearing. Buffy smiled, and reached under the bed and collected hers-she had managed to get it when she went to Diagon Alley the day before with Willow.

Sirius returned, carrying something behind his back. "I didn't know what to get you, so I asked Xander."

Buffy grinned, knowing what type of present it would be. Unsurprisingly, Sirius brandished a package in the shape of an axe, wrapped in bright red paper. She laughed, and took it from him, unwrapping it greedily.

"It's pretty useless." Sirius apologized.

"Are you kidding, I love it!" Buffy said, swinging it dangerously. She kissed him, and thanked him once again.

"It more 'Have fun killing things' than 'I love you, merry Christmas' which was more what I was going for." Sirius grinned, and Buffy laughed.

"I think it's perfect." Buffy said.

"It apparently belonged to an old slayer- it's what Giles told me." Sirius commented. "Or it could have belonged to an angry farmer who used it to chase away birds."

Buffy was unable to keep the giddy grin off her face. She quickly gave him her present, dismissing it as silly. But it was a small pendant with a blue stone in the middle. Buffy had asked Willow to perform a protection spell on it, so that as long as Sirius had it on his person, he could never be harmed. Buffy told him this, and he thanked her with a kiss.

"That's not all." Buffy said, smiling. She reached under the covers, and held up a packet of "dog biscuits! For whenever you're feeling a bit hungry."

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After Buffy got dressed, the pair headed down to the kitchen, gifts held in their arms. There, they met Harry, Ron and Hermione, who were talking excitedly. At the sight of the pair, Harry leapt up and took the presents from her arms, placing them on the table.

"These presents aren't for you Harry." Buffy said. "I forgot about you, I'm sorry." Buffy joked, and Harry grinned.

"So I won't bother to give you your present, shall I?" Harry said.

"You don't have to be so mean." Buffy said, pouting. She laughed, and kissed Harry on the cheek, whispering "Merry Christmas" in his ear.

"Here." Harry said, giving her a small box when they separated. Buffy opened it and gasped. Inside the box was a matching necklace to the one Harry wore around his neck-the one Buffy had given him when he was a little child. "It took me ages to get it right." Buffy smiled and asked Harry to fasten on the chain, with a small 'B' pendant.

"It's perfect." Buffy said, hugging him. "Thank you so much. And now for my turn."

She picked up a small box from the pile and gave it to Harry, saying quietly: "It's Lily's engagement ring. I know you won't wear it, but one day, you can make a girl happy like James did to Lily and give her this ring." Buffy said, and Harry's eyes lit up as he opened the box, revealing a gold band with a small diamond in it. "Give it to the right girl." Buffy advised, and Harry grinned.

"I will." Harry commented, smiling and heading back to the table. Buffy watched as he showed Hermione the ring, and she grinned secretly to herself.

"What are you smiling about?" Sirius asked, his arms circling Buffy from behind.

"Nothing." Buffy sighed, leaning back. Sirius followed her gaze, where Hermione, Harry and Ron were laughing.

"What's so funny about them?"

Buffy grinned and turned around in his arms. "Nothing." She said.

"But-"She cut him off, kissing him lightly on the lips. They separated, and Sirius frowned. "I hate it when you do that."

"But you did it first." Buffy said, and Sirius grinned, kissing her again.

"Woah, B, enough, I don't wanna see you guys makin' out ok? I'm about to have breakfast." Faith said breezily and sitting down at the table and eyeing all the presents. Following her were the rest of the Weasley's, including Molly whose eyes were red from crying. Buffy did not say anything, but detached herself from Sirius and hugged Molly tightly, knowing how hard it must be for her for Percy to not be talking to them.

"I sent him a jumper." Molly said tearfully. "And he hasn't sent it back, but he hasn't sent a card or a thank you or anything." She said, and Buffy listened, squeezing Molly's hand comfortingly.

Almost on queue, Lupin entered the room, holding a letter. It was addressed to Molly Weasley, and Molly gasped as she saw the handwriting. "It's from Percy." She announced, and Ron and Ginny glared at the letter, as if it were their brother himself. "I'm going to read it upstairs." Molly said, leaving the room.

"Bastard." Ron muttered, but his angry word was heard in the room.

"Ron! That's your brother you're talking about." Hermione said, shocked.

"He's a bloody prat, Hermione." Ginny said, playing with wrapping paper idly. "I wish he would just leave our family alone."

Hermione looked to Harry, for some kind of support, but Harry just stared at the table, not wanting to get into the fight. Hermione huffed angrily, and turned to Ron.

"Well, what if that letter says that Percy is sorry, and that he wants to come back. Won't you be happy?"

"No, I'll give him a kick up the arse and send him to hell." Ron said gruffly.

"Seconded." Ginny said grinning at Ron and Charlie.

"Well, I think you are all being perfectly unreasonable." Hermione said angrily.

"Good job I don't care what you think." Ron countered, glaring at Hermione.

"Shut it, the both of you." Harry said quietly, interfering before the argument got out of hand. Harry fished underneath the stack of presents for something, while Hermione and Ron glared at each other over Harry's messy hair. Harry emerged from the present pile, and chucked at box at Ron. "Eat it." He said, as Ron glanced at the box of Chocolate Frogs.

"You can't shut me up with these." Said Ron.

"It normally works." Hermione said under her breath. Ron proceeded to glare at her, but ate it anyway.

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By mid afternoon, Hermione and Ron had gotten over their fight, and were happily sharing chocolate together on the couch in the living room. They had had a large lunch which Molly had cooked up, and the Scoobies and many members of the Order had joined them.

Molly was in happy spirits all day, as the letter Percy had sent was an invitation to his wedding to Penelope Clearwater in June. It was not a letter of apology, but the fact that he had decided to invite the entire family to the wedding was a great starting point.

By early evening, everyone was in high spirits and most people were drunk, most of all Spike and Sirius who had, against Buffy's wish, drunk as much as they possibly could. It was strange for Buffy that Spike and Sirius got on so well, while Angel's looks at Sirius held with nothing more than contempt. Out of all the people that Buffy could wish Sirius to get along with, Spike was the last person that she wanted. To make matters even worse and even funnier, Xander soon joined the two men's drinking binge and proceeded to act like idiots for the rest of the evening, even though Xander's drinking was considerably less than the other two's. Despite Sirius' state, Buffy had to admit that she was enjoying herself and Buffy, as well as the rest of the guests, enjoyed the two drunken men's imitations of various members of the group, and she could not stop laughing when Spike had done an impression of Giles.

The afternoon was full of laughter from Spike's imitations, to when Remus pretended to dance with a broomstick, to Harry's shocked and blushing face when Tara pointed out that he and Hermione were standing under a piece of mistletoe. Harry had asked Hermione not to cry when he kissed her, and Hermione grinned as Harry quickly pecked her on the cheek and proceeded to hide behind Remus as he turned a shade of a beetroot.

However, parties had to end, and by early morning on Boxing Day, everyone turned in to bed, except for the Scoobies, who stayed up and talked in the kitchen. Buffy had not had a chance to talk to them properly since she had come back, and they felt now was the time to do it. It was awkward at first, but Giles prompted the questions, and Buffy had no problem answering them. She told them of where she was while she was dead. She did not remember much of it, but she had talked to Sirius earlier about it, and had finally come to the conclusion that she had been in the same dimension Sirius had when he had died.

She told them of her escape, and of Snape, who had turned up at the Order thoroughly tortured and beaten. However, Voldemort did not know it was him who had helped Buffy, as many Death Eaters had the same treatment. Buffy could not stop thanking him for helping her, and even Sirius could manage a small thank you, heartfelt, but clearly not happy about it.

They discussed the prophecy, and told her of Darla's return. Buffy had decided not to voice her feelings on the vampire who had sired Angel and who had tried to kill them many years ago, because she knew that Darla was important to them in finding out the curse. Buffy told Giles of the man called Rack, a powerful Wicca who had brought her back, and Tara had informed them that she had heard of him. He was one of the most powerful and darkest users of magic and he would be incredibly dangerous. Even Willow would not be able to face him and come out of the fight unhurt. They all agreed that with Rack on his side, Voldemort was getting even more powerful.

It was then that Faith decided to tell them about the Mayor, and about how he had visited her a month ago. She had been keeping it secret, but she felt it was the time to tell them. At first, Willow and Xander were angry about her keeping it from them, but after a few minutes, they calmed down, and Willow asked the question that Buffy had on her mind. Will he ascend again?

"No." Giles said firmly, taking his glasses out of his breast pocket and inspecting them. "I don't imagine he will. There was a certain time he could ascend, and that time has passed. I imagine he is now a demon, like before."

"Is he still indestructible?" Buffy asked. "I mean, Giles, you put a sword through his chest and he just took it right out like it was nothing."

"He became indestructible to prepare for the Ascension." Willow said, looking to Giles for conformation.

"That's right. I imagine he is now just a demon that can be killed. Normally."

Buffy glanced at Faith, who was staring at her hands on the wooden table, purposefully avoiding eye contact. Buffy sighed, she knew that Faith had been attached to the Mayor, despite his evilness, and she knew it would be hard for Faith to see him dead.

"Faith, we will have to kill him." Xander said softly, latching on to Buffy's concern. Buffy smiled thankfully at him, glad that he had brought up the subject.

"But technically, he's not doing any harm, right?" Anya said, gently rocking Anne in her arms. "He's just a demon, sitting there with Voldemort, doing nothing. We don't have to kill him."

"But he's still a demon Anya." Tara argued.

"So? Demon's can be valuable members of society." Anya said proudly.

"I know An', but I doubt the Mayor is looking to give back to the community of Sunnydale any time soon." Xander said.

"He's just a demon." Spike said, half asleep. "We let him be. We don't go lookin' for him, and he don't come for us. Problem solved."

"We're not going to go looking for him Spike." Buffy said. "But if the time comes..." She broke off, and looked at Faith, who had remained silent throughout the entire conversation. "You have to be ok if we kill him. Can you do that, can you be ok?"

Faith shrugged. "I don't know why y'all arguing for. He's a demon. He's a bastard. If you wanna kill him, then that's cool. I'm five-"

"By five." Buffy finished, grinning. "But it may not come to that, I just wanna let you know that if it does-"

"Hey B, chill ok? Don't get worked up about this. It's no big deal. Jus' treat the Mayor like you would any other demon. Kick his ass. And y'know what, I think I might jus' join you wit' that, ok?"

"Ok." Buffy said, grinning.

"So, are we done? I got a bed with my name on it upstairs." Faith said, standing up.

"We're done." Giles said, stretching in his seat. "Good night everybody."

"Merry Christmas." Buffy said cheerfully, and Faith scowled behind her.

"Would you stop with the Christmas cheer? It's making me sick."

Buffy grinned, and bade everyone good night; heading upstairs where she knew Sirius would be sound asleep. She was right; he was sprawled across the bed, his right arm draped across the pillow. Buffy rolled her eyes and changed into her pajamas and debated how to get into the bed.

Sirius mumbled something in his sleep and moved to the right of the bed: Buffy's side. Buffy rolled her eyes once more and gave him a shove over to the other side of the bed, where he tottered dangerously over the edge. Buffy giggled and pulled his body towards her, away from danger and settled on the bed. "It's your fault you stupid drunken prat." Buffy whispered to him as he moaned again in his sleep. Buffy grinned as she got an idea. "Go on Sirius, chase the rabbit. Chase the rabbit like a good dog, chase the little rabbit." She found herself saying, and a smile grew on Sirius' lips.

"What are you bloody well saying?" He asked, opening an eye.

"Nothing." Buffy lied, smiling and snuggling up to him. "Good night."

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elsawriter: New story?! Oh, cool. Post that and an update for redeemed soon, ok? Am I being pushy? Hm...don't care, update!

Draco's Slytherin Vampiress: There is going to be no talk about what happened. Snape and Buffy just wanna forget about what happened.

More fluff ...well that was the last chapter of Christmas fluff because the next one goes back to the story line. As always, thank you so much for the reviews! Not long to wait for the end I think! Yahey!

Anyway, that's it for now, please review!