"That's one of the most amazing things I've ever seen."

Willow's head was tipped all the way back  Most of the students, especially the younger ones, were doing the same. Above them a wild storm raged in the sky, a swirling mix of blues, purples, and blacks punctuated by the occasional white lightning strike that sent the crowd jumping.

"Definitely," Tara said. "You could watch it all night."

            "When I was twelve we had a storm like this," Jess added. Her eyes had drifted heavenward as well. "Dumbledore let all the students sleep in here so they could see it." She chuckled softly and dropped her voice to a whisper. "McGonagall was all in a tizzy because no one got any sleep. It's too bad he's at the Ministry tonight."

            "You were falling asleep in my class the next day, young lady," Professor McGonagall said, having heard every word. "I was more than justified in my attitude. I do remember, though, that on that particular evening Albus was more gleeful about it than anyone. He slept in here with you."

            "Really? I didn't know that."

            "Yes, well, he brought his rocking chair in from the office and ended up drifting off," she said with a smile.

            "He doesn't have a rocking chair in his office," Willow said.

            "Not anymore, no," McGonagall said; Jess suddenly looked like she wanted to be anywhere else but at the dinner table, "does he, Jessica?"

            "No," she muttered. "He kept it in the stupidest place anyway. It practically begged for someone to break it, don't you know."

            "You broke it, didn't you," Grey said.

            "Maybe."

            "And maybe," McGonagall said, her face still completely neutral but her eyes filled with mirth, "some of us shouldn't throw things when we get upset."   

            "Hol' on a minute," Jess protested as Willow, Grey, and Tara started to laugh, "I was completely justified in bein' pissed off!"

            "You … threw … a chair," Grey gasped out between laughs.

            "Hell no," she said, then mumbled something else.

            "I'm sorry, O'Brien, what was that exactly that you threw?" The oily voice came from beside McGonagall, though Snape never actually looked in their direction as he spoke.

            "Snape, don't even go there. It was your fault in the first place, you and your …" Her voice trailed off; whatever happened in the past, she was clearly still angry about it.

            "Whatever do you mean?"

            Grey put a hand on Jess's shoulder as she started to rise. "Jess, honey, no. Not here." Some of the students, especially at the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables, had started to take notice. "Whatever he did, it was a very long time ago. What did you throw, anyway?"

            "A cauldron," she hissed through clenched teeth. "Cast iron, two-foot diameter. Made kindling out of the chair."

            Grey couldn't stop the laughter from rising again. The sound brought an icy wave of reality washing over her. She was about to hit Snape over something nearly ten years old. She couldn't help but chuckle as she sat back down.

            "Sorry. My temper, you know?"

            "I know," Grey said.

            "So that you're aware," Snape said, his beady eyes and hook nose coming around to face her, "Miss Morris scored exactly as I graded it, whether you wished to believe it or not."

            "You shouldn't've called her out, and you know it. Don't push this, Snape."

            "That's Professor Snape," he mumbled, going back to his meal.

            "Wait, this is about Jace?" Jess nodded. Grey turned back to Tara and Willow and mouthed 'her best friend.'

            "Yeah, way back when we were fourth years." Jess shifted in her seat, ignoring Snape for the moment. "Have you heard from her? Since … well, since I took a powder?"

            "Not since London, no. I heard she and Tonks got assigned to Sydney by my father." To the others, he added, "she's still an auror."

            "You guys must have a lot of friends who are aurors, huh?" Willow asked.

            "Well … some," Grey replied, "though there're more than a few that don't like us much."

            "You can say that again," Jess said. They exchanged a private smile. "Our training group had some issues."

            "Why do I think asses were kicked and names were taken?" Willow asked rhetorically.

            Grey shrugged. "I don't know – because you've met us?"

            "We do tend towards the showy," Jess agreed.

            "We?"

"Oh, come off it. You're just as showy as me. You jus' think that if you don't talk much it doesn't count."

            "Right. That's me, king of the center stage. You, on the other hand …"

            The loud bang cut him off.

Every head in the room rotated, focusing on the entrance. Four sopping wet figures strode in through the wide open doors. Covered head to toe in soggy black cloaks, the four looked like angry wraiths come to feed on the helpless.

            Grey looked them over carefully. Three he knew instantly from their movements. The fourth took him a few more seconds. Once he recognized her, he shot to his feet.

            "It's her," he snarled, his voice unlike anything Willow had heard before. "She's here." He looked down at Jess, his face twisted with fury. "She's here."

            Willow saw his face and gasped.

Jess met his eyes. She knew only one person who could draw that look from him.

"You want me to?" They had planned for this long before.

"Now."

            With no hesitation, she pulled out her wand; a quick incantation sent a burst of yellow into him. He flexed his fingers and his lip twitched upward briefly.

            "Thanks. Slack me?"

            "Always."

            As one, they vaulted over the table. Grey proceeded down the aisle towards the new arrivals while Jess turned and faced the faculty.

            "Jess, w-what's going on?"

            "It's a long story, Tara," she said, "an' I don't have time to tell it. Stay out of this. It's Grey's fight."

            "Fight?" Willow's voice grew panicked. "What fight?"

            Grey walked up to the first of the visitors.

            "Jedi," Spike said as he removed his hood, "you don't look happy to see us, do ya?"

            "Find your soul?"

            "Not yet, no."

            "Too bad." He brushed by Spike, past Xander and Dawn, who had also removed their hoods, and stepped in front of the final hooded figure.

            "You should not have come here."

            The voice from inside the hood was unsteady. "I … I didn't know you'd be here."

            "I don't care. I don't care why you're here, or who you're with. What I do care about is tearing your throat out. And you know why, don't you, Faith?"

            He reached out and ripped the hood completely off her cloak.

            "Grey, I …"

            His elbow smashed into her mouth, cutting her off in mid-sentence.

            "Ohmygodit'sFaith!" Willow said in a rush. "We have to …"

            "Stay right where you are, Willow," Jess said. "Grey can handle her."

            "But how? Why?"

            "I spelled him. He'll be fine."

            "No, why … why does he look like that? Like he's going to kill her? How does he even know her?"

            "Because he does, he's gonna, and we're gonna watch."

            "BUT WHY?"

"That's not fer me to tell you."

            Faith stepped back, letting her cloak fall to the floor as she shook off the blow. She ignored the whispers from students eyeing her tight jeans and tank top. She hadn't been prepared to see Grey, not ever again. A long-buried series of regrets swirled in her mind.

            "I'm going to love this," he snarled.

            "Don't make me hurt you, Grey. I don't want to fight."

            "Slow it down, Jedi," Spike said, "you two know each other?"

            "Oh, we know each other, don't we, Faith?" His eyes were wild. Feral. Completely out of control. He reached out and grabbed her throat, yanking her to him. "We know each other very well. Especially our families. Well, mine, anyway. Someone like Faith doesn't have a family, do they?"

            "Grey, it wasn't my fault," she said. Xander had never heard her sound so timid before. "I swear there was nothing I could do. They moved wicked fast and there were so many…"

            He pulled his fist back to punch her; with vampiric speed, Spike intercepted it.

            "Don't do that, Jedi. One can be a misunderstanding, but hit her again an' I'll be put out. She's with me."

            Grey was beyond reason. He shoved Faith to the ground, then used Spike's grip as a pivot; the whole of Hogwarts watched in awe as he spun around and slammed his open palm into Spike's chest. The vampire flew across the room, cracking mortar and stone as he smashed into the wall and slumped to the floor.

            "Grey, man, that was not …" Grey backhanded Xander, sending him sliding down the aisle between the dining tables. Dawn leapt at him, but he swatted her away like a fly. He had already refocused on Faith by the time she landed in a heap on the Gryffindor table.

            "He's lost it," Willow said, terrified. She had never seen this from him before. Snape, who had, glanced around and edged his wand out from his robe. McGonagall and Flitwick did the same. Willow pushed her chair back and rose. "We have to stop him before he kills someone, even if it is Faith."

            "Sit down, Red," Jess said. Her eyes were black. Willow stepped towards the side of the table. "You take one more step and I will smack you down hard. I mean it. The rest o' you as well," she said to the other professors, who paused with their wands half-out.

            "J-jess," Tara said, her eyes suddenly glowing white as Willow's turned black. She grabbed the red-haired witch's hand. "Don't make us fight you, too. J-just tell us what's going on."

            Across the room, Harry and Ron pulled a dazed Dawn off the table. Every student sitting on the aisle side scrambled out of the line of fire the moment she landed.

            "Don't stand there," Neville said, bewildered by Grey's attitude, "we've gotta break this up."

            He started to climb over the table but Hermione, Ginny, and Seamus hauled him back down.

            "Have you gone nutters, Longbottom?" Seamus asked. "Whoever that girl is, she's freaky fast and strong. So's Grey at the moment. They'll split your head like a melon."

            "Wands. Now," Harry ordered. He and Ron drew the fastest, followed by the other four.

            Don't do that, Harry. It'll go badly for you.

            The Irish-accented voice in their heads sounded deadly serious, and the students froze.

Faith scrambled to her feet. Her hands moved up defensively. "What did you do? How did you hit him like that?"

            "Magic steroids. No side effects. Very useful." Faster than she could follow, he sidestepped and slapped a forearm across her face. A quick left jab cracked on her chin and she staggered.

            "I don't wanna do this, Grey. Not this way."

            "Aw, come on, Slayer." The title came out in a mocking voice. "You expected it to end some other way?"

            He fired a right hook at her eye. She reached up and caught it inches from her face.

            "No. I didn't expect it at all. I'm not going down without my blaze of glory, though." She snapped her other hand out at his face. His free hand flew up and caught it.

            They stood there, hands and eyes interlocking in the silent room. Neither gave an inch.

            "Fine by me." His foot caught her just beneath the breastbone. She released his hand and delivered a thunderous punch to his stomach. They started trading blows and the room hummed with the frightening sound of bone slapping on bone.

At the head table, Willow and Tara faced Jess, none of them wanting to fight but all three drawing on their power until the air practically dripped with it. Jess kept part of her mind tuned to Harry. Any student intervention would start with him.

"Cease this at once," McGonagall shouted, though she stayed still. If she moved, she knew Jess would interdict her and she doubted she could overpower the girl. "Someone is going to get hurt. If there is a single student injury because of this, I will see all of you out of this school in an instant. For some of you," she said pointedly, "that means Azkaban, I believe."

Jess paled but didn't move. "I'm not lettin' you stop him, Azkaban be damned."

"She'll kill him," Willow said, watching as more and more blood appeared on Grey's face.

            "He'll be okay. He knows her moves."

            "Dear lord," Giles said, speaking for the first time. He had been engrossed in the display before him. "Look at them, Willow. Don't you see?"

            Willow tried to focus on something other than the blood on Grey's face. She was torn between wanting to help him hurt Faith and her fear that Faith might kill him. Then she saw what Giles meant.

            Each punch that Faith threw, Grey anticipated. Every counter Grey tried, Faith stopped with ease.

            "With him so speeded up, it's like – it's like watching a mirror," Willow breathed.

            "They had the same teacher."

            "Lucy Grey? That was his aunt?"

            "Yeah, Giles."

            "Wait, what?" Willow was thoroughly confused.

            "Dear lord," he said again, "I can't believe I didn't see it before. Grey's aunt was Faith's first Watcher."

            Willow and Tara both stared at Giles, who spoke to Jess directly.

"Jess, you must understand, Faith is working with us now. And then … what happened with Grey's aunt, it was not her fault. Even the idiots on the Council agreed with that."

            "You … you didn't see it Giles. You didn't smell it. Not like we did. What they did to her… We found the body, Grey and me." They could hear the horror in her voice.

            "I know, there are no words. That's how Faith described it. But had she intervened, she would have been killed. It's how we met her, you see – she came to us for help. She and Buffy killed the ones who did it."

            "She did?"

            "She did."

            Jess dropped her guard. They had been completely wrong.

            "Let's stop him then, before he buys a ticket on the Azkaban Express for both of us."

            "I-I don't think we'll have to," Tara said, pointing to the door.

            "How could you," Grey said, driving his right fist into her stomach. "She took you in and you left her for dead!"

            Faith faltered. "What? Left her for dead? You're high, wizard boy." She tried to sweep his leg but he jumped over it. "Do you have any idea what those bastards did to her? I wouldn't leave someone to that."

            Furious, Grey lunged for her; Jess's spell was wearing off, and she dodged easily. When he moved to chase her down, he felt a tug at the collar of his sweatshirt.

            Suddenly, he was dangling a foot off the ground.

            "You're doing pretty well against a Slayer for someone without magic. Wanna go for the Daily Double?"

            With every ounce of strength she had, Buffy slammed his face into the floor. Grey's whole world went black.