CHAPTER 19: MOVING ALONG

Buffy was in her room, gazing out of her window and playing with her phoenix pendant. Classes were over for the day, and she was taking a much-needed break. All day she had had to endure people complaining about what she did to Malfoy.

The boy needed to be taken down a notch and besides; it wasn't as if it would hurt him. She was sure that his father was a death eater, meaning that he was probably way ahead of the Dark Arts portion of the class, and the only Defence he would need would be defence against the good guys.

Really, it was only a good thing that Malfoy would no longer be taking DADA; now, if only everyone else could see that...

Buffy sighed, running her fingers through her hair tiredly. Her detention with Malfoy the previous night had not been nice at all. She had put him through mindless labour, hoping that the hard work would make him too tired to talk, but that boy had an extra battery just for his mouth.

She just needed to get away for a while. If only she was still in school, she could fly around the quidditch pitch for a while; flying always helped to clear her mind.

As if she could hear her thoughts, Celsia gave a sharp trill, startling Buffy. Turning away from the window, Buffy faced the bird, giving it a slightly evil look.

"I don't know what you're complaining about," Buffy said. "You can fly! I however, am stuck here." Celsia gave another little trill and flapped her wings a bit, as if trying to tell her something.

"What? Is something wrong?" Buffy asked worriedly.

Celsia took flight and flew over to her friend, picking at the pendant she was still absently playing with.

"Hey! Leave it alone, Sirius gave me that," Buffy said, shooing the bird away. Celsia gave another trill. "Sirius," Buffy said thoughtfully. Her eyes opened wide in sudden understanding. "No... I can't, can I?" Buffy questioned softly. Oh, but if she could...

Buffy looked over at Celsia one more time, who trilled encouragingly. "Okay," Buffy said slowly. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the image of the phoenix, thinking back to everything Sirius had once taught her. She had just been perfecting the transformation when she was taken away, and she hadn't changed since. This was going to be interesting...

At first, Buffy didn't think anything had happened, but then, slowly, ever so slowly, she began to feel the beginnings of a change within her. It wasn't painful, but it did feel very unusual. She started to shrink, and she could feel the organs inside her shifting, sliding and squishing. Some where condensing, others were disappearing, only to be replaced by newer organs. She was only a couple of feet tall now and her clothes began to melt into her skin, which was beginning to turn a brilliant red colour. A light feather outline appeared on her skin, and then everything stopped.

'Oh, no!' Buffy thought worriedly. 'This can't be happening! I'm not going to get stuck like this!' She opened her eyes and looked down slightly, only to notice that she still had a human head on top of a bird-like body. She yelped in surprise and tried to step backward but her proportions were all out of whack and she only succeeded in falling backward. She lay on the floor, trying unsuccessfully to get back up, but she didn't have the mobility she once had. 'I'm going to get stuck as a bird!' Buffy thought, panicking.

As if sensing her distress, Celsia started to sing, slowing Buffy's breathing and racing heart rate and allowing her to think a little more rationally.

'Just focus on the bird, just focus,' Buffy thought. 'It's just like meditation. Focus.' Buffy let her breathing slow even more and she tried to focus once more on the image of the bird.

Once again she began to feel the changes. Her head began to shrink while her arms and legs transformed themselves into the much lighter bones of the phoenix. The feather patter all over her body exploded into bright red feathers some freckled with orange or yellow. She felt a beak protrude slightly from her face, which was getting much narrower and lighter, as her hair was gone.

Opening her eyes, Buffy could now tell that she had completed the transformation as a phoenix. She naturally opened her mouth, no beak, to say something, but instead a little squawk came out. Startled, Buffy stopped trying to say something, before remembering that she couldn't really talk. She opened her mouth once again, but this time, she tested out her new singing voice. A beautiful melody drifted into the room, exciting Celsia who chose to sing along.

Suddenly, Celsia disappeared in a brief bout of flames. Somehow, Buffy knew exactly where she was going and she let her phoenix instincts guide her as she too disappeared in a puff of flames.

The two phoenixes reappeared in a place far away from anywhere Buffy had ever been before. To her left, the mountainous terrain was covered in trees, and on her right was a plain, covering an enormous stretch of land. Buffy herself was perched on top of a large boulder that was jutting out of the earth; she was in awe at the beauty of the land before her.

Buffy spread her wings and gave an experimental flap, before deciding that she should probably just let the phoenix's instincts guide her once more; she had no inclination to plummet to the earth. Buffy took flight and joined Celsia as she rode over the plains. Buffy revelled in the freedom she felt at being completely free; riding on a broomstick was awesome, but this couldn't be compared. The wind that lifted her up flowed gently around her wings; the beauty of the land was far superior to anything at Hogwarts, especially the Quidditch pitch; the ability to control one's own movements as opposed to a broomstick; it was complete independence.

Soaring over the land, Buffy was able to clear her mind and fly peacefully, after rejoicing about her recovered animagus ability. Buffy couldn't believe that she had forgotten about her animagus training with Sirius. She had just successfully completed her second transformation on her birthday, and when they went back to school, Buffy was going to surprise James, Remus, Lily and Peter. She never got the chance to show them, so Sirius was the only one that knew.

A flash of something to her side caused Buffy to turn her head, only to be surprised to find another phoenix flying! Phoenixes were so rare, Buffy was surprised, but happy, that she could now see two! A lot of people never saw phoenixes in their lifetime; Buffy guessed she was just incredibly lucky, but what were the chances of seeing a second phoenix here?

The new bird flew over to Celsia and gave a quick greeting and nuzzle of the head before flying beside her. 'Interesting,' Buffy thought with a small smile. Upon closer inspection, Buffy was able to identify the new phoenix; 'Fawkes?' she thought. Of course, the only other phoenix that she had ever met; one would have thought it would have been an obvious guess.

When doing her project on Phoenixes during her Care of Magical Creatures class, Dumbledore allowed her to study and play with Fawkes, who had taken an immediate liking to the young blonde girl. They had quickly become friends and every time she walked into Dumbledore's office (which was more for seeing the bird than for being in trouble) Fawkes would fly over and land on her shoulder.

Buffy was glad to see her old friend again, as she had yet to go up to Dumbledore's office. Fawkes turned his head to her and gave her a little trill in greeting. Buffy returned the sound and then they soared happily over the ground for a good hour, Hogwarts was nowhere in sight.

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Knock Knock Knock "Come in," Dumbledore answered from behind his desk. The door opened and Snape walked in. "Severus! What brings you to my office?" Dumbledore asked with a surprised smile.

"It's about Professor Fox, sir," Snape began, standing behind the wooden desk.

"Please, have a seat," Dumbledore said. "Would you like a lemon drop?" he asked, offering a small package.

Snape sneered slightly as if repulsed by the muggle candy and politely declined, "No, thank you." But he did take a seat.

"Now, what about our new professor?" Dumbledore asked, folding his hands on top of his desk.

"I'm not here about Malfoy, if that's what you're asking," Snape said. "I'm actually... Professor Fox is very... interesting," Snape said, fumbling for words on how to describe the young professor.

"Yes, I've noticed that myself. I can't put my finger on exactly what it is, but there seems to be something..."

"Familiar about her," Snape finished when Dumbledore trailed off.

"Yes," Dumbledore said slowly, thinking. "Yes."

"She seems to be hiding quite a bit about herself," Snape said. "She pretends to be this blonde imbecile, but then suddenly she's kicking people out of class and cooling handling every situation. She's not who she appears to be."

"No she is not," Dumbledore. "I have also been watching Miss Fox, and I must say that I am confused, amazed, and surprised at this young lady. There is something familiar about her that I just can't seem to place, no matter how hard I try, but I have met many people in my old age. The thing that interests me the most is her attitude towards our High Inquisitor," Dumbledore said with a smile. "I dare say that there is an underlying tension between the two that wasn't there on her first day here."

"Problems within the Ministry?" Snape said with a smirk.

"Possibly," Dumbledore said.

"I find it hard to believe that someone from the Ministry would kick a Malfoy out of class, considering the Malfoys contributions and status," Snape said.

"Are you suggesting that Miss Fox may not be from the Ministry?" Dumbledore clarified. He too had been considering the option, but it didn't seem likely.

"Maybe," Snape said. "But Miss Fox was not yet been reprimanded by Fudge yet, and I have no doubt that Lucius has already taken the liberty of informing him of the circumstances."

"So you believe that she is controlling the Minister somehow?" Dumbledore asked. He was slightly surprised at this scenario, not that he could say he hadn't considered it. If the Minister of Magic was being controlled... well, that was a whole new situation.

"I'm just considering the options. I don't know if I'd call her a Death Eater, as Lucius is one of the more prominent figures," Snape said in a much quieter voice, "and I don't think the Dark Lord would take future generations out of the Dark Arts class, or support his followers decisions to do so."

"Indeed," Dumbledore said, lost in thought. "She has the Minister's approval, maybe she is just trying to shake things up a little bit."

"She's doing a superb job so far," Snape said.

"Yes, it seems like everyone is talking about her, wouldn't you agree?" Dumbledore asked with a wink, watching Snape scowl.

"Thank you, Headmaster," Snape said, standing up. "I just thought you'd like to be informed of the situation."

"Thank you Severus," Dumbledore said. "I shall ponder this issue some more and I'll bring it up at the next meeting," he said, the word 'Order' purposely excluded. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Snape said, shutting the door as he left.

Dumbledore sat back in his chair, thinking about the girl. "Who are you?" he muttered aloud to himself. Her face was so familiar... he tried to think back to different people he had known relatively recently, she wasn't all that old, trying to match faces.

Suddenly, he sat up and picked up the piece of paper he was working on before Snape came in, forgetting completely about his previous search for answers.

A spell cast by a red-headed Wicca went into effect, allowing the true identity of the blonde to be hidden.

Buffy was back at her friends' flat in London, talking comfortably with them. Upon arriving back at her chambers, she had changed back into her human self, at a much quicker pace than before. She decided that she wanted to keep her animagus abilities a secret for now; as much as she wanted to see her friends' faces as she showed them what else she could do, the desire to keep quite was stronger. Celsia was nice enough to give her a ride over to the flat a little while later.

Sitting on the sofa, listening to Willow ramble on about the touristy places they had been that day, Buffy's thoughts wandered back to Sirius and Remus and how she was going to find them. Earlier that day she had snuck into Filch's office, trying to find something that he might have kept of Sirius' or Remus'. Unfortunately, she couldn't find anything that could be Sirius' for sure. There was tons of stuff that littered the office, from bags of dung bombs to stacks of firecrackers, old toys and newer inventions, and amazingly enough, some kind of weird ear-type thing. Buffy stayed far away from that.

Fortunately, she was able to find something of Remus'. When the boys ran around the halls when they weren't suppose to, Remus would carry a small whistle, that they had charmed so only the four of them could hear it. If someone were in danger, or when Remus was feeling very ill, all the boys would come running. Buffy had no idea how Filch had gotten it, but she was glad he did. Picking up the small silver whistle, Buffy had left the room, narrowly escaping before Mrs. Norris came to investigate.

Once Willow had finished rattling away, Buffy brought up the subject of a location spell.

"Well, we'd need something of the person's," Willow said, trailing off as Buffy held up an object.

"Okay, then all I need to do is get the ingredients."

"Can't you just wave your arms or something?" Anya said. "You do that a lot."

"This is a different kind of spell, it'll show us where he is," Willow said, gesturing offhandedly so that a map appeared from nowhere.

"Like that!" Anya said excitedly.

"Different spell," Willow said, collecting all her things. One by one she added the ingredients, stirring and simmering when it was called for.

"Okay," Willow said about a half hour later. "Now the object please."

Buffy handed over the whistle and Willow hung it over the cauldron for a minute before lowering it in slowly. While she was doing that, she was whispering some words that Buffy missed.

Smoke rose from the cauldron and the map in front of them began to glow. "The tell-tale sign that a spell works," Xander joked," something glows."

The smoke ceased and the glowing died down.

"Or not," Xander said.

"Where is he?" Anya asked, looking at the map.

"I don't know," Willow said with a frown. Maybe the spell hadn't worked.

A bright light then emerged from the map, pointing out a location far from any other housing developments; it was surrounded by the woods.

"There it is," Anya said, pointing.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Buffy asked excitedly. "Let's go."

The five friends exited the taxi that dropped them off at the corner of the woods and a slightly worn path leading into them.

"Wow, it doesn't look like he wanted company ever," Xander joked.

They cautiously entered the dense woods, Buffy leading the way. She was so excited at the possibility of seeing Remus again. They might not have been siblings, like her and James, and they might not have been dating, like her and Sirius, but they were still good friends nonetheless. Remus was like another brother to her; he had always helped her when needed, and he was good for a laugh every now and again. He was a marauder, after all.

The path looked seldom used and the trees were leering at them from all sides. What little rays of the full moon were able to penetrate the treetops scattered the ground; most of the light was just swallowed by the darkness everywhere.

"Isn't it a little late to be calling on friends?" Xander asked a little jumpily. "I mean, let's think here. Let's be logical for a minute. We are walking in a very dark, creepy, typical scary movie forest at night. And we know what's really goes bump in the night!" he said.

"Don't worry, I've brought weapons," Buffy said.

"Oh, okay then," Xander said, relaxing a bit. "But if we get mauled, eaten, or otherwise hurt, I get dibs on 'I told you so.'"

"Sure," Buffy said.

"Good, just so we're clear."

The path finally straightened out a little and showed a clearing not too far ahead. At the end of the clearing stood a fairly dilapidated house covered in vines.

"Wow, talk about your fixer upper," Xander said. "If he wants, I can help."

"I'll be sure to let him know," Buffy said, a little upset that he was living in a place so... old. The shutters were hanging off their hinges, some weren't even there, the windows were covered in grime, and the colour was a motley brown. The front door had moss growing on the bottom and rust around its hinges.

Walking up to the door, Buffy knocked three times, her stomach in butterflies. She waited.

And waited.

And waited.

She knocked again. "Remus?" she called out.

No answer.

She tried again. "Remus? Are you home?"

No answer.

"I don't think anyone's home, Buffy," Willow said gently, trying to ease the anxious slayer.

Buffy stopped knocking. She had really wanted to see Remus, and now he wasn't home. "Who isn't home at 11:00 at night?" Buffy asked, frustrated.

"Us," Xander said, but stopped with the look that Buffy gave him.

Buffy turned back to the door and tried the doorknob. It was locked. Glaring slightly at it, she pulled out her wand.

"Uh, Buffy, what are you doing?" Xander asked.

"I'm going in," Buffy said. "Alohomora,"

There was the tiniest click inside and when Buffy tried the door again, it opened.

"Now that's a nifty trick," Xander said. "Does it work with cars too? I hate it when I lock my keys inside."

"I don't know," Buffy said. She walked inside carefully, calling out as she did.

Willow used her own magic to light all the torches/candles that lit the walls. "Creepy," she said.

Cobwebs hung everywhere and some old papers were strewn around the floor.

"It doesn't look like anyone had been here for a while," Giles said.

"Sorry Buff, maybe he moved," Xander suggested.

"Maybe," Buffy said disappointed. "But why would the map lead us here?" She walked around, peaking through stacks of papers. The small cottage had little furnishings, and what it did have wasn't in the best condition.

"Or maybe something ate him," Anya said, looking at the bite marks and ripped up, gnawed at edges on the couch.

"He's a werewolf," Buffy said. "Maybe this is where he goes during the full moon."

"I seriously hope not," Willow said.

"Why?"

"Tonight's the full moon." Everyone was quite for a moment, but then Buffy calmed everyone down.

"If he was here, then we'd know it. He would've smelled us long ago."

Still rifling through old papers, Buffy noticed an old photograph fall out of the stacks. She bent over and picked it up, examining the people waving at her merrily. It was James, Sirius, Remus and Buffy. Tears came to her eyes, as it was the first photograph she had of her family. Lily took this at Hogwarts and presented it to her on her birthday. Knowing her dislike for Peter, Lily had taken it while he was away doing something or other.

Buffy sniffed slightly and pocketed the picture. Remus wouldn't mind.

Buffy walked back through the rest of the house, but nothing else was around. Obviously he hadn't been here in some time. All she had found where a comb and a mirror in the bathroom. She was about to leave, before she had an idea, and she picked up the comb, with hair still stuck in it, and pocketed that as well. She'd have to ask Willow for a favour later.

"Let's go," Buffy said dejectedly. "No one's here."

"Sorry," Willow said. "I'm sure we'll find him. Maybe he's not in England anymore."

"Maybe," Buffy said, but sincerely hoped that wasn't the case.

Anyway, the trip hadn't been an entire loss...