A/N-Thanks for the reviews! Now, finally, we'll get to see some "familiar faces." Wink, wink.


Chapter 9- Darkness Within

Help was taking it's good ol' time getting there. It was nearly a week before Christmas, and still nobody had arrived. And the arguments were just getting worse. It was driving June crazy.

It wasn't like they were arguing over anything important. The most recent one the young Slayer could remember was about whose socks were whose. And each one was just making June angrier and angrier. This, however, was a problem.

She'd seen Dumbledore about it. He'd only told her to be calm and to ignore it all. If her name was not mentioned, don't focus on it. Easier said than done when Harry decided to call Draco a "sad imitation of a ferret" right outside her room. Whatever that meant. June found herself making a note to herself to teach Harry some better insults. If they were going to argue, they should at least do it right.

June hoped that she'd find a better example in some of the older people there, but she hoped in vain. The professors were just as bad as the students. On the third day there, June had to listen--over and over again--that Lupin was a werewolf and that Snape had broomstick issues from an argument between the two said professors.

But now it was exactly seven days until Christmas, and the Slayer found herself burying her head in her pillow to drown out the noise of an argument between Draco and Hermione. June had duct-taped the mouth of the portrait, which had served to muffle the yelling it did considerably.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Mrs. Weasley had mused when she had done it.

Throwing the pillow aside, she ventured downstairs. Harry had come up earlier to tell her that Dumbledore wished to speak with her at her convenience. Now was a better time than any.

It was into the kitchen--the sight of most the arguments (she didn't know why. Probably because it had the most space to throw things.)--and back to her seat at one end of the table. Dumbledore wasn't there, but Harry, Ron, Hermione, Lupin, Snape, Karkaroff, and Draco were. And they were all standing and yelling. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Lupin--June called them Team A--on the right, and Snape, Karkaroff, and Draco--Team B--on the left.

"You're such a bloody idiot, Weasley!" yelled Draco at Ron.

"How'd this one start?" June asked the woman behind her with bubblegum pink hair. She was an Auror known as Nymphadora Tonks.

"Bloody hell, if I know. See you around, June," Tonks said, grabbing her cup of pumpkin juice and leaving.

June sighed, wishing she could do the same. She settled back in the chair and decided to watch the show. Shame she didn't have popcorn.

"I'm an idiot? Look who's talking! Takes one to know one!" Ron retorted.

"Just because Ron thinks that Snape could work his way back into the Death Eater fold doesn't make him an idiot!" Hermione said.

"I think it's a great idea," Harry said.

"And we know how your plans work out, don't we, Potter?" Snape said, waspishly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry asked, his eyes narrowed.

"Well, if you hadn't been a complete idiot and rushed off to the Department of Mysteries…well…" Snape continued.

"I'm sure Black would've made it…" Karkaroff threw in sarcastically.

Now there was no call for that, June thought, sitting straight up in her seat. This one was getting ugly. She stood.

"Hey," she said, trying to draw attention.

But she just wasn't loud enough.

"How dare you!" Lupin growled. If it hadn't been daylight, June would've sworn that he was changing into his wolf form.

"Hey," June said, just a bit louder.

"You filthy Death Eaters, the lot of you," Ron said. "I don't know how Dumbledore could trust any of you!"

"HEY!" June screamed. The table turned to look at her. "That is enough!"

"Keep your nose out of it, Slayer," Karkaroff said harshly.

"I will not. This is so stupid. This argument is pointless. Do you know how easy it'll be for Voldemort and the Ubervamps to defeat us if we stay divided like we are?" she asked earnestly.

"Yeah, you'd know all about defeat, wouldn't you?" Draco said, quietly and dangerously.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"Well, your assignment was to protect the students, wasn't it?" he continued.

"Draco," Lupin said warningly.

He, apparently, already knew where this was going. The others, however, seemed clueless. June knew, but he surely wouldn't have the guts to say it.

"And?" she asked, feeling a heat rise up in her.

"Well, you couldn't save Pansy, now, could you? You're just like your brother! A worthless, no account, would-be hero mudblood!"

June gasped, as well did the rest of the table, but for different reasons. She could feel it. That pain in her chest again. The one that could hurt more than her…Suddenly, she recalled her first conversations with Dumbledore:

"You have been informed…of my past?"

"Yes."

"All of it?"

"Every bit of it. Including the darker corners."

The darker corners…

Oh, no, June thought, grabbing at her chest.

"June, what's the matter?" Harry asked as Lupin reprimanded Draco for his rude and hurtful comments.

"Say you're sorry," Lupin told him.

"I will not. How do we know that she's even capable of her job? You know, that she knows how to fight evil and all. For all we know, she could be just a trainee mudblood with high hopes and dreams!"

And that was it. June couldn't control it any longer. The power she always felt when she extremely angry or sad rushed forward.

With a loud, inhuman scream, June threw her arms forward and large, black wave of pure Dark, Wandless Magic burst forward, washing over Harry, Ron, Hermione, Lupin, Draco, Snape, and Karkaroff, knocking them back.

She was lost again. Lost in that painful darkness with no hope of finding her way back if she was left out there for too long. Thankfully, in the dark, she heard her name.

"June, stop!" called a familiar voice.

The wave ceased. June gasped, a cold sweat breaking over her brow. She looked up to see the damage she had caused this time. They were all gathered around Draco, who appeared to have a broken arm, but they were all staring at June. She shook her head and turned to see who had spoken her name.

There, in the doorway, was Angel, Spike, Illyria, and Willow--who had apparently spoken her name.

"June!" Willow said, walking toward her. "Not again."

June gasped. Behind the group--the apparent "help" that Buffy had sent--was Dumbledore, his blue eyes filled with concern. Covering her face, June broke through the crowd at the door and ran straight up the staircase to her room. There, without bothering to shut the door, she collapsed in the floor and cried.


End Notes: I hoped everyone likes this chapter! The next one, however, is one that I've anticipated for a while now. Please R & R! Bye!