CHAPTER 21: MENDING

Buffy was once again sitting in Fudge's office and it was taking all her willpower to keep herself from reaching over and strangling him, but that wouldn't do. She was in the Minister's office; it wouldn't take long for the entire Auror department, not to mention the rest of the Ministry employees, to come to his rescue. She'd be carted off to Azkaban before she'd even let go.

No, she just had to sit still and listen to the man drone on and on about her performance in their weekly meetings.

"... and so you must see how your actions have consequences," Fudge was saying to her.

"Yes, I'll be less rash from now on," she said with a fake smile, leaning toward him innocently, "but he accused me of sleeping with... people... to get this job! How can I let that slide by, especially after everything that happened with my old job?"

"You're right, of course, which is why he shall stay expelled," Fudge said, wanting to do everything to keep the pretty blonde happy.

"Thank you," Buffy said, sitting back. "I mean, do you have any idea what would happen to my authority if he got admitted back into class? I'd never get any respect."

"Of course," Fudge said again.

"Just one more thing, before I go, don't you think it's time for me to conduct the lessons on my own? I mean, Dolores Umbridge must have more important things to do with her time; I'd hate for her to get behind in her work just because of me."

"You're absolutely correct," Fudge said. "She should get back to her duties as High Inquisitor and you'll begin to teach on your own. Do you think you can handle it?"

"I think I'll be okay," Buffy said with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Good. Just be sure to follow the curriculum I've given you. Should you choose not to, dire consequences will follow. I don't think I need to tell you that, but it's procedure."

"Right," Buffy said tightly.

"We'll continue to have these meetings every Saturday morning at 8:00," Fudge said.

"Good day, Minister," Buffy said, standing up.

"Are you sure there's nothing else I can help you with?" Fudge asked.

"I'm good," she said. "Thanks." Buffy began to walk to Fudge's office door, only to be stopped by his next words.

"Won't you be going back by Floo?"

"I feel like a walk at the moment," Buffy said. "See you next week."

Buffy wanted to stop by the Auror department before she left, just to see if they had any new leads on Sirius. She had tried to do a locator spell with her phoenix pendant, but it didn't work; Buffy assumed it was because he had given it to her and so the spell didn't recognize it as being his.

Walking towards the farthest cubicle, she noticed a red-haired man round the corner, only to bump into another, older red-haired man. Both lost their balance and stood up and were about to issue apologies, only to stop as they lifted their eyes. The younger man straightened up and stiffly began to walk away, while the older man's concerned gaze became angry before he walked away in the opposite direction.

Obviously, something was going on between the two of them, but it confused Buffy because they looked so much alike. They couldn't be father and son, could they?

She walked over to the next occupied cubicle and noticed a man sitting down, studiously ignoring the collision, which was in perfect view.

"Excuse me," Buffy said with a flirtatious smile, noticing no ring on the guys' finger.

The man's black head snapped up and looked at the pretty blonde in front of him. "May I help you?"

"I just happened to notice the accident between those two," Buffy said, pointing in the direction they had gone, "and I was just wondering if you knew what was going on. They didn't look too happy to see each other."

"They wouldn't be," the man said. "You must be new around here."

"Yeah, I'm just here to see one of my friends, surprise her for lunch," Buffy lied quickly. "So what's the deal with those two? I hate to see a family divided. I mean they are family, right?"

"Yep, they're two of the famous Weasley clan," the man said.

"Weasley?" Buffy said, surprised. "Arthur Weasley?" she knew the man looked somewhat familiar; she should have known that Ron's dad was Arthur, she just didn't even think about it. It would take awhile for her to wrap her mind around the fact that all her old friends were grown up and most had kids, many of which were in her classes.

"You know him?"

"Yes, but I haven't seen him in ages. So what's the deal with his son?"

"Percy," the man said, grimacing, "is the Minister's assistant, unfortunately. He is a pompous, I want to say know it all, but the problem is he doesn't know it all, he just thinks he does."

"Ah," Buffy said. "I know the type."

"He's very eager and is an overachiever. Anyway," the man said, lowering his voice. "Dumbledore and Harry Potter had started a rumour that You-Know-Who is back, it's all nonsense, really, or at least that's what the Minister is telling everyone. Arthur and his family have always been loyal to Dumbledore, until now, at least. Percy is aligning himself with Fudge, and therefore against his family. He's basically disowned his own family, so they've disowned him. Although, I heard Molly isn't taking it very well."

It seemed that the man had just been waiting for someone to ask, as he kept giving out information, which Buffy was sure others would be less forthcoming about.

"Thanks," Buffy said absently, walking away from the man, who was very startled at her abrupt departure.

She stopped at the end cubicle, where a big black man sat surrounded by pictures of Sirius. She gazed at them longingly while Kingsley looked up at her.

"May I help you?" he asked.

"Yes, the Minister asked me to come down and see if you've had any progress with Sirius Black."

Kingsley sighed, "I haven't come across any leads in the five minutes it's been since Percy came down and asked me the same thing. I could get a lot more work done if you'd stop pestering me."

"Sorry," Buffy said. 'Ooops!' she thought. She turned to go but the man stopped her.

"Are you Sarah Fox? The new professor at Hogwarts?" Kingsley asked her, recognizing her description from the Order meeting a couple of nights before.

Buffy turned around and stared at him distrustfully. "How do you know my name?"

"You're pretty much the talk of the Ministry; Lucius Malfoy stormed in here a couple of days ago," Kingsley clarified at her confused look.

"Oh, yeah," Buffy said, a sheepish look coming over her features. That one act really was more trouble than it was worth.

Kingsley looked at her interestedly. Who was this girl that had everyone concerned about? She didn't look like she could do anyone real damage, as small as she was, but she did have an air about her that he didn't know what to make of. This young woman in front of him had some strength about her, even though her outer behaviour might have suggested otherwise to some. "Interesting..."

"So, tell me, why'd you kick out Malfoy? Everyone's dying to know."

"His hair was blonder than mine," Buffy deadpanned.

Kingsley looked at her in shock and then began to laugh. He liked this girl.

"I really need to go. Sorry if I've kept you from your work." Buffy quickly left before he could say anything else.

She walked through the Ministry building, stopping only when she came upon a small door marked "Percy Weasley." She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. "Here goes nothing," she muttered to herself.

The door opened after a moment and revealed the young man that she had seen earlier. "Yes?" he asked, his voice betraying his superior attitude.

"Why are you doing this?" Buffy asked him, not taking time for pleasantries.

"I'm sorry?" he asked, completely taken aback.

"Fighting with your family," Buffy clarified. "Why? Why would you do that?"

"I don't think it's any of your business," he said, closing the door.

Buffy stuck her foot in the doorway and used her hand to push the door, keeping it open. "You're right, it isn't my business. I'm not in your family, so I really have no right to tell you what to do, but I do what I want. Amazingly enough, I care about you and your family, even though I don't really know you."

"Please, leave," Percy said, attempting again to close the door. "I'll be forced to call the Aurors and have you escorted off the premises."

"What would happen if they were killed tomorrow? Or today, for that matter?" Buffy said, halting his self-important speech.

"What?" he asked, shocked.

"What if your entire family was dead, by some freak accident or something. Say the house fell down and they were all killed. You'll never have the chance to see them again and you'll always remember how you behaved towards them. They'll have died hating you and thinking that you hated them. How would you feel?"

Percy was completely shocked; where did this girl come from, and what was she saying?

"Huh?" Buffy asked more forcefully. "You're entire family is dead and you never even made up. You'll always regret your actions and your guilt will run your entire life. Is that how you want to live?"

Percy's head was spinning. "They're not going to die," he said meekly.

"You don't know that," Buffy insisted. "It's unlikely that your entire family will be killed, but what about Ron? Or your dad? What about your mother?"

That hit Percy hard. He didn't want any of his family dead, but his mother was his mother. He swallowed hard.

"What if, Merlin forbid, something horrible and unexpected happened to her? You'd never be able to say goodbye, never be able to apologize for your atrocious behaviour," Buffy said, furious with the man in front of her. "Are you happy right now? You've got no one to turn to if you have a problem, no one to go laugh with, no one to joke around with."

Percy was very quite, growing paler with each word she was saying. He didn't believe that they were right in aligning against the Minister, but they were family.

"No one's saying that you can't be loyal to both the Ministry and your family. Personally, I believe family is more important. They're the ones that will be with you through all your good and bad times, should you let them. How can you be so stupid and arrogant to think that you're better than them? You're the same! You might have different beliefs, which is okay, lots of people disagree with their families, but not many people go to the lengths of disowning them."

"They follow Dumbledore," Percy finally spoke up. "I'm loyal to Fudge, as they should be."

"Why should they be?" Buffy interrupted. "Because he's the Minister? Just because someone's in power doesn't make him or her right. Do you even remember Hitler? Voldemort has power, but that doesn't make him right. What matters is what they stand for and what they do to help those around them.

"I know what it's like to loose family and I wish I could've done so many things differently. They're gone and I didn't get to say goodbye," Buffy said, "but at least I didn't end with harsh words. I don't know if I'd be able to live with myself if the last things I said to my family were in anger."

"This is a different situation," Percy said softly, trying to give himself more confidence in what he was doing was right, although it wasn't working well.

"You have to re-evaluate what's important to you," Buffy said, continuing more softly. "The question of loyalty is a big one and if it tears you from your family forever, so be it. I just hope you can live with your choice," with that said, Buffy walked away, leaving a shell-shocked Percy behind.

Buffy walked away from Percy feeling angry that he would have let something so stupid come between his family. He had something so wonderful and he was just going to throw it away. Stupid boy.

Buffy stormed out of the Ministry and approached the floo port angrily. There was no line for the outgoing ports so she grabbed a handful of powder and threw it into the fire. "St. Mungo's," she said loudly.

"It's nice to see that they have some visitors," the nurse said as she opened the door. "Very few people come and see them; it's usually just poor Neville and his grandmother."

"I bet it's hard on him," Buffy said softly, following the kind nurse.

"Yes, I believe it is. They can't even recognize their own son. He's a brave one," she said.

"I'll leave you alone," she said, addressing the group.

Giles, Willow, Xander and Anya had all agreed to meet Buffy at the hospital, after getting directions of course. They might not have been wizards and witches, but no one knew that; no one even suspected. Buffy had given them directions on how to get access from the streets of London and so they were granted access as Visitors. Muggles wouldn't have known how to get inside.

"Thank you," Buffy said. The nurse left the room and Buffy walked over to the wall, pausing before she pulled back the curtain that separated the room.

"Do you really think you're ready, Buffy?" Giles asked, wiping his glasses.

Buffy turned sharply and looked at Giles. "What did you just say?"

"I asked if you were ready," Giles said, confused. "It won't be easy to see them like this."

"Oh, right." Buffy took a deep breath to calm herself down, but she didn't feel right. Something felt wrong. Giles had just said the exact thing her mom, Joyce, once said to her before all Hell broke loose with Angel.

"I'm fine," she said. She pulled back the curtain and walked over to the beds. "Frank? Alice?" The two looked up upon hearing someone approaching. "Hi."

She didn't really get a response. Upon looking in their eyes, it didn't look like much was going on; they looked almost dead.

"Willow?" Buffy asked, turning towards her friend.

"I don't know. I mean, maybe, but I don't think so." The red head walked over to the couple and tried to interact with them, trying to get them to talk. They didn't really say anything and they didn't understand much. After about ten minutes, Willow gave up.

"I don't think so, Buffy; this is a different situation. I mean, Glory took something out of her victims minds. Tara was more responsive than them."

"I don't understand," Buffy said. "I didn't think that the curse could do something like this. I mean, other people have been victims of the curse and theirs is the only situation like this."

"Each case is different, just as each person is different," Giles said. "Some of the victims die, others are just in excruciating amounts of pain for awhile. It all depends."

"But for both of them to be like this? I don't think so."

"Maybe they both got hit with the curse at the same spot, which ended up frying some parts of their brain or nerve connections," Willow suggested.

"I don't know; I don't think so," Buffy said, looking at the couple playing with the bedcovers.

"Buffy, you can't fix everything," Xander said.

"Isn't there something you can do, Willow? You pulled a bullet out of my chest and closed the wound, can't you help them?" Buffy pleaded.

"No. I mean, for one, I was all dark magic mama at the time, and two, the brain is too fragile to mess with; I might kill them."

"You helped Tara!"

"That was a different situation!"

"I just feel that there's something more here. I'm getting this weird feeling, almost darkness, whenever I look at them. I know that it sounds weird, but somehow I know that they aren't like this because of that curse."

"What about another curse?" Anya suggested. "I mean, who's not to say that they're not under another one?"

"The mediwitches check for signs of magic when they're first admitted," Buffy said.

"But not everything can be found by a simple spell. I mean, we're talking about dark magic here, almost anything is possible."

"Willow? Do you think you could check?" Buffy asked, her hope rising once again.

Willow gave a small sigh. "I can try," she said doubtfully. She didn't want Buffy to get hurt again. She closed her eyes and focused on the two people in front of her, searching them over for magic signatures or traces. "I don't feel anything," Willow said.

Buffy let out the breath she'd been holding, but her heart skipped its next beat when she heard Willow.

"Wait. There's something faint. I don't know what it is." The redhead tried harder, looking at the auras of the Longbottoms. There was something dark black slithering this way and that. It was so small that she almost didn't see it within the swirls of colour. "It's something... I don't know what though..."

Suddenly, Willow flew backwards off her feet, as if pushed by an invisible force.

"Willow!" Buffy yelled, running over to help her friend stand up.

"Whoa," Willow said, a trickle of blood running down her nose. "That was some dark stuff."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just, wow. And ow."

"What was that?" Xander asked.

"Someone didn't want them to be messed with. Someone wanted them punished," Willow said.

"Can you fix them?" Anya asked. "They're starting to creep me out; they keep staring at me."

"No, it's too dangerous," Xander said. "Look, you're bleeding."

Willow absently wiped the blood away and stood up. "They're trapped, Buffy. They can't get out."

"You got all that from a little reading?" Anya asked, impressed.

"Yeah. I can help them, but I need help," she said, turning to Buffy.

"Anything," Buffy said. "But you are okay, right? And by helping, you're not going to get hurt, are you?"

"I don't think so, but this might be a little rough."

"Okay," Buffy said. "What do you need me to do?"

Sometime later, Willow and Buffy were each holding one of Alice's hands as she lay unconscious on her bed. "Now, make sure there are no interruptions," Willow said. "I need quiet."

Willow had set up a small room of sorts, separating herself and Buffy away from the rest of the group and Frank. They were to play cover if someone happened to walk in.

"Ready?" Willow asked Buffy.

"Ready," Buffy answered. They both closed their eyes and concentrated as Willow's voice chanted around them softly.

Buffy let the foreign words wash over her as she concentrated on the woman she was trying to help. She hadn't known Alice or Frank all that well, as they were both older than her in school, but she had run into them a couple of times and they were always nice to her.

Buffy let herself enter into a meditative state and she was unaware of anything around her.

Finally, Buffy opened her eyes. It was completely dark and she was nowhere. There was nothing around her, no indication of anything but emptiness. The darkness seemed to grow deeper and a mist of some sort slowly emerged.

"Hello?" Buffy yelled out. "Is anyone there?"

It didn't seem like the best thing to yell out in the darkness, but it was the only chance she had. She had no idea where to go. She held up her hand in front of her face and saw nothing. It was too dark. "Great," Buffy muttered.

"Hello?" Buffy yelled again. This time she thought she heard something very soft, but she had no idea what direction it came from. "Hello?" She yelled again.

"Where are you?"

She listened hard for a reply, but was only greeted with a growing feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. Something else was here.

She turned around slowly, sensing it behind her, but as soon as she did, something hard rammed into her, throwing her backwards. Buffy landed hard and tried to look around. There was nothing anywhere, but she felt that the threat still loomed.

"Okay, invisible girl again," Buffy said. She closed her eyes and used her senses. She had no idea what was down here, but she knew if felt evil. This must have been the darkness that she felt around the Longbottoms. It was actually inside of them, holding them captive in their own minds.

Buffy felt something behind her and gave a back kick, but only hitting air. She let her breathing get slower and let the atmosphere wash over her.

There! On her left. Buffy gave a quick roundhouse kick and felt her foot connect with something solid. Buffy turned to face the direction she just kicked and began to feel with her senses. It didn't seem that her blow had damaged it at all.

She felt something coming at her and she lifted her arm to block, before sending her own punch. The two began to fight. Really fight.

The blows began to get harder and the pace of the fight picked up rapidly. It seemed that nothing that Buffy sent the demon's way phased it, although she was feeling a little sore.

'I need a weapon of some kind!' Buffy thought. 'I can't defeat this with my hands.'

"Use magic!" Willow's voice echoed in her mind. "You have magic within you, use it. You don't need a wand."

Buffy was startled by Willow's voice suddenly in her mind; she paused just long enough for the demon to get another hit in, one that tossed her far in the air. Slamming into the ground, Buffy lost her breath for a moment. She could feel it coming for her and she knew she had to do something.

She looked inside herself and found the magical core that Willow had once showed her. She tried to control her power, griping just enough to do some damage. She could feel the power beginning to radiate off of her and she could feel the demon pause right above her. It was scared.

Opening her eyes, Buffy let light flood the area she was in. The bright light that came from her hands illuminated everything; it was brighter than Buffy had expected and she had to close her eyes against it.

Buffy heard the demon scream in pain and agony as the light cut through its darkness, its home. The demon was pure darkness, no light and no love. If fed off fear and darkness, controlling everything that was within its reach.

The demon continued to howl as the light pierced its dark exterior, shedding light onto every corner of its space and being.

After what felt like an eternity, the howling ceased and Buffy lay back, exhausted by the use of magic. Buffy let the magic coming from her hands die out, and she opened her eyes. The demon was gone and the area she was in was much lighter, but still empty.

She took a breath and looked around her, trying to find something. "Hello?" she called again.

A sound came from Buffy's right, much clearer this time.

Buffy got up and walked in the direction the noise came from. She saw Alice lying on her back and stirring slightly. She rushed over and knelt down beside the woman. "Alice?" Buffy asked.

The woman stirred again, tossing her head to the other side and allowing a moan to escape her lips.

'That's what the sound was,' Buffy thought.

"Alice, come on. It's time to wake up," Buffy said, shaking the woman gently.

The woman's head turned towards Buffy and her eyes slowly opened.

And suddenly, Buffy was back in her own body, watching as Alice opened her eyes in her own bed.

Alice looked around herself, confused, before bolting upright in her bed, gasping.

"Easy, easy," Willow said.

"It's okay," Buffy comforted, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You're back. Nothing's going to hurt you anymore."