CHAPTER 14: LESSONS

Buffy raced to the classroom that was the DADA classroom when she was in school; she just hoped they hadn't changed it. She flew down the empty hallways, carefully balancing all her books in her arms. Even though she had lived here for the better part of four years, she hadn't walked the halls for years. The more she moved around, the more she remembered, but unfortunately, she forgot about the trick step in one of the staircases.

Her foot sunk in the wood and her hands flew the books up as she tried to keep her balance. She quickly regained her composure, and her balance, as the books started to change direction and come back down. She yanked her foot free, and balanced precariously on the other steps while she reached forward to grab at the books.

Her right hand caught the book falling on her far right while her the fingers on her left hand just barely caught onto the book that was falling right in front of her. She leaped down two steps to slam the folder in between the books in her hands. She just missed her last book as it dropped past her otherwise occupied hands, but with her quick slayer reflexes, she brought her foot up and kicked it before it hit the ground, giving it enough height to soar upwards while she straightened her books in a pile and let the book land flat on top of the pile with a small smack.

Buffy stood up straight and breathed a small sigh of relief as she looked around the corridor to make sure no one was around. It wouldn't do to have anyone witness that spectacular event. Luckily, everyone was in his or her respective classrooms, where she should have been four minutes ago!

She continued her fast paced trek to the classroom after sending a glare at the trick step. She finally reached the location of her old DADA classroom and was slightly worried that the door was closed. Upon opening the door, her worries were only increased.

Yes, she was relieved that there were students in their seats, but there was also someone sitting at the desk in the front of the room. And it wasn't her.

"Professor Fox, I'm glad you could finally make it."

Buffy was extremely disappointed with this turn of events, but she kept a straight face and came up with an excuse. "No one showed me where the classroom was and I was wondering all over the castle until I finally ran into a late student who showed me the way. I didn't realized that you'd be here, but thanks for covering for me." Buffy put on her best innocent looking face and gave a small smile.

"Hem hem... I'll be here your first week to make sure everything goes well for you and that you follow the curriculum. I'm just here to check up on you and make sure everything goes smoothly for you," Umbridge said with a sickly smile.

"Aww, that's so sweet of you!" Buffy said with a cheerful smile and exuberant enthusiasm. "We'll have so much fun!" Inside, Buffy was fuming. She was going to ruin all her plans! She tried to calm down in order to think rationally. It was okay, all she had to do was follow the little toad's orders for a week, and then she would be free to do her own thing. In the mean time, she could annoy the crap out of her and maybe she'd leave even earlier!

"So, what's on the agenda today?" Buffy said, prancing over to the desk and dropping her books on top. She was well aware that all the students in the classroom were staring at her.

"Here's your list of classes, when and who you teach," Umbridge said, handing over a sheet of paper.

Buffy took it up and glanced over it, wondering what year Harry was in and when she would teach him. She didn't know if she could do it yet, as he looked so much like James. It would take some getting used to, but with time, hopefully she would get over it. She really did want to get to know Harry; he was her only family left.

By the looks of things, when she did teach him, he wouldn't like her. At least while she still had to follow Umbridge''s stupid plan. She'd have to think about a way to get around this new development.

Buffy put the paper down and hopped up on the desk, sitting with her legs swinging slightly. "So what do we do first?" she asked, pulling imaginary lint off her robes.

Umbridge was amazed that the minister could hire someone so obviously incompetent to do this important job; they were trying to get Mr. Potter expelled and Dumbledore kicked out of his position. To be honest, maybe it was better that she was so, well, blonde. That way she wouldn't think, she'd only follow orders.

"It's simple, even someone like you could do this," Umbridge said with a sneer. "They open their books to where they left off, and then they read. They must learn the theory. Whenever you feel like it, assign an essay or two on something they have read. That's it."

Buffy sat unbelieving as she listened to what Umbridge told her. She wasn't supposed to do anything! How were they ever going to learn?

She pretended to be really be thinking about what she was told. If only she had some gum... "So, what am I supposed to do?"

"Sit at the desk and make sure everyone does what they're supposed to do. If they're not, or they're making trouble, assign them detention. I'll handle them. Other than that, just sit and look pretty."

"Oh, I can do that!" Buffy said enthusiastically. She smiled brightly and played with her hair, making sure it was perfect.

"Well, hem hem, you should also make sure you're on time from now on, hem hem."

Buffy just stared at her, the hem hemming really grating her nerves. She forced a smile and shrugged. "No problem."

"Get back to reading," Umbridge practically snarled at the first years that were staring with amazement with their new, clueless, professor. They all jumped, some even yelped, and Buffy felt sorry for the poor kids that had to put up with Umbridge. It was like Snyder all over again.

The class dragged on with total silence in the room, as the first years were too scared to say anything. Buffy was incredibly bored. There was nothing to do, so she just sat on the desk and swung her legs and played with her hair. She couldn't even read, because she thought Umbridge might become suspicious.

Finally, it was time for class to be over, and the students all sighed with relief. They quickly packed their books and rushed out of the door, happy to be away from the crazy toad lady and the blonde bimbo.

Buffy picked up her paper and checked her schedule. She had seventh years Hufflepuffs next, then fifth year Gryffindors before a lunch break. She didn't know if she could make it to lunch; she'd probably die of boredom first.

She waited impatiently for her next class to come. Amazingly enough, no one entered the classroom until right before class was supposed to start. It was as if they were savouring as much time without Umbridge as they could get. Buffy didn't blame them.

Buffy didn't think it was possible, but it seemed that this class was even more boring than the one before. She even found herself nodding off at times, only to have her head snap up and wake her up. At the end of the class, Buffy was out the door with the rest of the Hufflepuffs.

She wanted to move around for a while and stretch her muscles before she needed to go back and sit in that supremely boring classroom. This was going to be the longest week of her life.

She walked around for a while and was on her way back to the classroom when she heard some students coming down the hall. Normally, she wouldn't have paid them any attention, except she heard a girl's voice address someone named Harry.

She froze, luckily hidden around the corner, and listened to their conversation. Apparently they were upset about something.

"How can he be so mean? Neville wouldn't have blown up his cauldron if it wasn't for Malfoy."

"It's Snape, what do you expect?" a bitter voice asked.

"He's a git, Hermione, we all know this," a third voice intoned.

"But wasn't it bad enough that he embarrassed him yet again in front of the class?"

"And take off more house points," a boy complained.

"But did he really have to go to such extremes? We all know that Potions isn't Neville's best subject, but there's no need to do what he does. Neville must feel awful."

"Well, when he comes into DADA you can ask him about it," one of the boys said sarcastically.

The other boy groaned and said, "I don't know if I can sit through that now."

"Oh Harry, try not to lose your temper please. Maybe Professor Fox won't be so bad."

"Yeah, anyone that looks that hot can't be bad," one boy said dreamily.

"Ron!" Hermione said, smacking him.

"Hey!" Ron cried. "Anyway, Harry try not to get detention okay? Angelina won't be pleased if you miss practice yet again."

"Okay, okay. I'll try, but I can't promise you anything," Harry said.

The trio rounded the corner and walked sulkily into the classroom. Her classroom. Apparently, Harry was in fifth year. Buffy, from her still hidden spot, mulled over what she had heard. Class was about to start, so she hurried into the classroom; there was no need to be late twice.

Upon entering the room, she found everyone in their seats, waiting. Most were surprised that Umbridge was sitting behind the desk (she hadn't offered the chair to Buffy, even though she was supposed to be the professor).

Harry and his friends, Hermione and Ron, were sitting in the front. Arriving the latest, they got the seats closest to the dreaded Umbridge. People looked slightly happier when she walked into the room, and that made her feel somewhat better.

Buffy walked to the desk, avoiding Harry's gaze. Looking at him was just too hard; instead, she looked at Umbridge expectantly. "Where's the roll?"

Umbridge looked a little confused and then looked around the desk. She opened the top right drawer and pulled out sheets of paper, presumably the roll. It didn't look like she had taken it for a while. She handed them over to Buffy with a hem hem.

Buffy took the papers, possibly a little too violently due to the annoying noise she kept making, and started to read the names off the list. She knew that everyone was here, all the desks were full, but she wanted to know who was who. The boy the trio had been talking about, Neville, was a slightly pudgy boy that seemed a little nervous and upset. Apparently the girl had been right in saying that he would be hurt from the Potions lesson.

She was happy to say that she had assumed correctly that Harry's two friends were Ron and Hermione. The name Weasley rang a little bell in her head, as did Longbottom. She should have known that she would have been teaching kids of her former classmates. Everyone was all grown up now and had families of their own.

She had paused only a half a second longer on Harry's name, she got a little upset attempting to say Potter. She didn't think anyone had noticed her little lapse, and she continued through to the end.

Once she was done, she set the papers down and hopped back onto her desk. "So, open your books and start reading where you left off."

Almost everyone reluctantly took out their books and set them on their desks; however, the trio in the front row did not. In fact, Hermione actually raised her hand.

"Yes?" Buffy asked curiously.

"What exactly are your plans for this class?"

"Plans?" Buffy asked, acting puzzled. Everyone else in class froze, watching the explosion that was imminent. Buffy was actually pleased, maybe someone did have the guts to stand up to the teacher.

"Yes, plans. What do you plan to teach us, what is your agenda. You must have some idea where you want us to be at the end of the year, what is on the curriculum and how to go about preparing for our exams! O.W.L.'s are this year, and you don't have any plans?" Hermione continued, growing more and more frantic, as Buffy continued to look more and more puzzled.

"I just got here this morning," Buffy said, as if that explained it all.

"Do you even know what class you're teaching?" Harry said scathingly, disgusted at the new teacher.

Buffy looked sharply at Harry, surprised at his tone. Behind her, Professor Umbridge spoke up.

"Harry Potter. Our class trouble maker; you want to watch out for him. He's a disrespectful liar. Just give him detention; it hasn't worked yet, but I believe that it will given time."

Buffy carefully watched Harry's expressions while Umbridge continued her speech. He wasn't very good at hiding his emotions; it was obvious he was beyond mad. It seemed like a foreign emotion on his face, because she had never seen James so angry.

The closer she looked, the more she realized that he wasn't really like James. His eyes were what gave him away. Besides the fact that they reminded her of Lily, they held so much anger and disappointment. They were eyes similar to the ones she saw in the mirror when she was first called as a slayer; the weight of the world and all that. Now her eyes held much more pain and disappointment. She wondered what could have happened to him to make him like that. Eyes like that held too much emotion to be caused by one incident. It didn't seem like he'd had a very nice life so far.

"I'm not a liar," Harry said, once again, through clenched teeth. "I'm not the one pretending to be someone I'm not." Harry didn't know how right he was. Buffy was hiding, but he wasn't talking about her identity. "Do you even have any idea what this class is about? I bet you couldn't take on any wizard or dark creature of any kind. There's no way you have any qualifications to be a professor of this class."

Buffy was a little surprised, and upset, at her nephew's attitude and behaviour. Obviously this boy had issues that needed to be solved. And he had no idea what kind of qualifications she had for the job; but he couldn't know that.

"Well, Cornelius was nice enough to give me this job. I was desperate," Buffy said, explaining why she took the job.

"Great, so our future and education is jeopardized because you were desperate for a job?" Harry spat. "Thanks. I hope you'll take responsibility when we run into some dark wizard and get killed."

"Mr. Potter, there are no dark wizards running around, and you'd do best to keep your mouth shut!" Umbridge said.

Harry was getting more and more upset, and everyone could tell he was about to explode. This was exactly what Umbridge was waiting for, and Buffy knew it. She had to do something.

"Mr. Potter, obviously detentions are not working, because you seem to be getting enough of them, yet your behaviour has not improved. Something else must be done." Buffy looked around the room, ignoring the confused yet outraged look on Harry's face. She zeroed in on her target. Neville Longbottom.

"Perhaps putting one of your friends in detention tonight will change your attitude. Make you think about how your behaviour affects those around you. Neville. Detention with me tonight at 8:00 sharp. If you're late, you'll have another detention." Neville's eyes were bulging out in surprise and fear.

Everyone in the class was outraged. "You can't do that!" Hermione exclaimed. "Of course I can do that. I'm the professor and you're the students. You do as you're told or you get punished," Buffy said. She was not playing the blonde bimbo at the moment and was currently scaring some of the students.

"But he didn't do anything wrong!"

"I didn't say that he did, but perhaps it's time that something was changed around here. I say he has detention, do you want someone else to get it at your expense? If so, please, keep talking."

Hermione looked torn between speaking up again and keeping her mouth shut. She opted for the latter and sat back down, defeated.

"If anyone has a problem with the way I'm doing my job, please, feel free to talk to the High Inquisitor. I'm sure she will be willing to take action against any unfairness."

Harry had surprisingly, kept quiet throughout the exchange. There was something off about the new professor. She was supposed to be a blonde bimbo, but she was showing a threatening, darker side. She was hiding something, and he didn't like it.

Umbridge was astonished at this new Sarah Fox. She was acting much more forceful than she was supposed to be. Maybe this was the person Fudge hired and the act was just to throw people off guard. She seemed to be a good person for the job, but now that she was showing some more strength, Umbridge was once again worried for her job.

Buffy was a little upset that she gave away her blonde act already, but maybe all was not lost. Now that silence had once again reigned in the classroom, she put on a smile and said, "Great! Now, open your books and begin reading."

The rest of the class went by fairly quickly. No more arguments were given the rest of the class, but several of the boys kept staring at her. Some were drooling, namely the redhead in front.

Class ended, and it was time for lunch. Everyone filed out of the classroom, and went off to the great hall to eat. Buffy, however, was not hungry, and opted to go to her room for a while and relax before her next class.

"James," she said, reciting the password to the painting and waving at the little girl and boy still sitting on the dock.

She walked into her room and laid on the bed. Before she knew it, she was asleep.

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Buffy was walking down the halls at Hogwarts, on her way to the Quidditch Pitch, when she felt someone's presence behind her. Watching her.

Turning around, she searched for the person in the shadows of the castle. Her eyes fixed upon one location and she watched as a tall, vaguely familiar figure with semi-long black hair stepped from the darkest corner.

He stepped closer to her and she searched his face, trying to place it. "Buffy?" he asked, surprised.

Her eyes widened in realization, and tears of disbelief and happiness rose up. "Sirius?"

He stepped forward and wrapped her in a hug. "I thought you were dead!"

Buffy returned the hug whole-heartedly and nuzzled his neck slightly with her head. "I missed you so much!" she said through her tears.

They pulled apart slightly and he looked into her bright green eyes, filled with love. He bowed his head and captured her lips with his own. The kiss grew in passion as they continued on. They pulled apart for a brief second to get air, but then soon closed the gap again. Sirius slid his hand up the back of Buffy's shirt and Buffy tangled her hand in his hair.

"I love you," he said as they broke apart. "I never stopped."

"I love you too," she said.

He bent down to kiss her once again but his lips never reached her own.

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Buffy bolted up in her bed. She had lost all sense of time and had no idea where she was. She brought her hand up to her lips. She could still feel his lips on her own. Merlin, how she missed him.

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In his room, Sirius Black bolted upright in his bed, breathing heavily. "Buffy?"