Disclaimer: See Prologue

A/N: Thank you for the reviews!!! Okay Joyce doesn't know about the Wizarding world, Remus is a half-blood, I'm making his mother and Joyce's mom sisters, and their mothers are both muggles. Explanations will come in later chapters about how Remus and Sirius approached Joyce with Buffy's adoption. I'm using the book timeline making Harry 19 years old being born on July 31, 1980.

Chapter 1
ALONE AGAIN, NATURALLY

Dear Remus,

I know it's been a while since I last wrote to you but I have some bad news. Buffy's run away again and I don't know if she'll be coming home this time, things aren't going great between us, our relationship has been strained since the last time she left. I feel partly responsible for whatever reason she did this, you see, she was involved with a boy that caused her to leave last year, he hurt her friends but she fought back. He disappeared and Buffy ran away. He came back just a few weeks after Buffy came home, they tried to stay away from each other but I suspected that they resumed their relationship.

I thought I was doing the best for my daughter I had a talk with him. I told him that he was the reason why Buffy was being held back from the normal life that she so desperately wanted. After graduation he left and now Buffy's gone too. I'm so sorry for what happened, I thought that given time, she would have forgotten him, moved on with her life. But she loves him more than I could ever imagine, she loves him with her every being. I can't help but blame myself for what happened and now I'm terrified that I won't see her again. She called her friend who told me that Buffy said she'll be coming back, but I'm not sure she'll want to, not after everything that has happened to her.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, please tell Sirius what has happened. I really tried my best Remus; I tried to prevent the inevitable. I still remember how desperate your friend was to find a suitable home for Bethany since her parents were in a very unstable relationship and he feared for her safety. I miss her Remus I really miss her. And I'm so scared.

Joyce

Remus stared at the letter in his hand, reading it over and over again. Once he was able to process everything, he carefully folded the letter in his hand and placed it on the coffee table. "Oh Buffy, if I'd have known..."

Sirius Black walked in with a smile on his face, he's been like that ever since his name was cleared after Voldemort was killed. It was a trying day for all of them, but the fact that there were no casualties on the good side of the war made it all the more bearable.

"Hello Moony, why so down?" asked Sirius as he sat beside his friend.

Remus sighed as he motioned for the letter on the table, "It's Buffy. I mean Bethany."

Sirius' smile disappeared as his expression turned serious, "What's happened to her? Is she alright?"

"Just read it Sirius, it doesn't explain a lot but it does give you insight of how things have been for your niece."

Sirius grabbed the letter and skimmed through it. He read it again and again making sure that he was reading it right. "Merlin..." he gasped.

"I'm sorry Sirius, but Joyce did the best she could, please don't blame her for any of this..." pleaded Remus.

"Stop. Listen Remus, I don't blame Joyce, I guess Bethany just had to think things through, you know, clear her head to try and figure things out for herself." Sirius and Remus sat down in silence.

"I hope she's alright," said Sirius to nobody in particular.

"She will be, she's a headstrong girl. It's such a pity that you didn't get to see her in person, though I did tell her a bit about you when I visited her on her 8th birthday, she asked me to tell her stories about you every night since then." Remus smiled as he remembered the summer he spent with his cousin's family.

FLASHBACK

"Uncle Remmy can you tell me more about my uncle Sirius?"

Remus tucked little Buffy Summers in and slowly began his tale, "Your uncle Sirius was a good man, and he was always happy and made everybody laugh. At school we were best friends, there were four of us. James, Peter, Sirius and I. We were the greatest pranksters of our time and some say even til now, we called ourselves the Marauder's..."

"Where is he now?" asked Buffy as she yawned.

"He's in prison because he hurt some people," said Remus in a harsher tone than he meant for.

Buffy looked at her Uncle intently reminding Remus of an elderly man thinking of something wise to say, "But Uncle Remmy, if you say he was really nice and stuff and he was a good man and almost everybody liked him then why would he want to hurt anybody? I don't think he meant to hurt those people Uncle Remmy unless somebody...what's that word...flamed him!"

Remus chuckled as he corrected her, "You mean framed, Buffy."

"That's what I said!" exclaimed Buffy as she pouted and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I suppose that could be a possibility," said Remus slowly.

Buffy smiled as her Uncle kissed her on the forehead, "Not a poss...a...bi...la...ti Uncle Remmy, I just know he's not a bad man. Goodnight."

"Goodnight little one."

END FLASHBACK

"She's beautiful, she's the carbon copy of Narcissa, except the colour of her eyes are green. She follows her gut feelings," Remus said with a hint of regret in his voice.

Sirius looked at his friend noticing the change in him, "Don't feel bad Remus, and it's in the past."

The two friends sat there in silence as they waited for the night to end.

King's Cross Station...

Buffy stepped off the train and looked around at the quiet station. She had a little bit of money left, just enough for a taxi ride to her Uncle's place. Buffy pulled out a parchment from her leather duster and read the address again, "12 Grimmauld Place. Okay now all I need is a taxi..."

A few minutes later and still no taxi in sight Buffy decided to walk there, she asked the Station Manager how far it was to walk. 20 minutes isn't that far, "I'll take my chances."

Walking down the street, she compared the buildings and houses of Suburban London to that of L.A. and Sunnydale. She walked in silence casually patting Mr. Pointy on her breast pocket just in case a few English Vamps might've sensed her.

"So far so good," she said to herself as she saw the street sign of Grimmauld Place coming into view, but she spoke too soon.

"Well, well, look at what we've got here boys. A pretty little chit walking all alone, how's about we have ourselves some fun eh?"

"Oh great!" Buffy muttered. She turned around to face her opponents seeing five men, "How's about you don't?" Her muscles tensed as she gripped Mr. Pointy.

"Tsk, tsk. You don't know what you're in for," said one of the Vampires as he and the other four vamped out.

"Give me a break. I'm so not in the mood for this, can we just fight already?" she remarked impatiently as they circled around her.

"A Slayer? Well this could get interesting," said one of the vamps.

Buffy readied herself for the attack but fear set in as she heard the unmistakable click of a gun's safety being turned off. "But we're not taking any chances." Two shot were fired at Buffy, she cried out in pain as she felt one bullet pierce her shoulder and the other go through her side.

Black Manor...

Harry woke up to the sound of gunshots being fired and the screams of a girl. He grabbed his invisibility cloak and his wand then apparated out of the house and ran down the street.

"Any last words Slayer?" asked the Vampire that shot Buffy as he pointed the gun at her head. Buffy looked him defiantly in the eye then noticed Mr. Pointy and broken branches aimed at the hearts of every vampire that surrounded her behind their backs.

Buffy smirked and replied, "You're a lousy shot," and sighed in relief as the Vampires around her turned to dust. "You can come out now," she said as she tried to stand up but failed. Before she hit the ground, a strong pair of invisible arms caught her.

Buffy smiled but winced in pain as her saviour accidentally grabbed her wounded shoulder, "Sorry," he said as he pulled off his covering.

The last thing Buffy remembered was seeing a pair of the most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen. "Guns are bad, pretty eyes save me," said Buffy as she fainted.

Harry blushed slightly at her statement as he carried the blonde American inside the Manor, "Sirius! Remus! Tonks!" he shouted as he placed the girl on the couch in the living room.

All at once the residents of Black Manor came stumbling down the stairs and abruptly came to a halt at the sight of Harry Potter with blood on his clothes.

"Harry you're bleeding!" exclaimed Sirius.

Tonks, Remus and Sirius immediately pounced on Harry. Harry swatted them off and pointed at the girl on the couch, "I woke up when I heard gunshots, I found her surrounded by a pack of Vampires, kept calling her the Slayer."

Remus and Sirius immediately ran to her side and gasped simultaneously, "Bethany!" "Buffy!"

Nymphadora Tonks fell over at the mention of that name but Harry caught her in time. Tonks' looked over at Remus as Sirius left the room to get the ready-made healing potions courtesy of Mrs. Weasley and Hermione Granger.

Tonks and Harry were ordered by Remus to grab some bandages and a bowl of warm water. "Sirius, we need to get these bullets out, she's already lost a lot of blood," said Remus as Sirius came back.

"Can't we take her to St. Mungo's?" asked Sirius.

Remus replied, "There isn't time, we have to remove these bullets now."

When Harry and Tonks came back, Sirius had already taken off Buffy's top leaving her in a bra to assess her wound. They all stared in awe as they saw the wound had already partly closed and the blood was beginning to clot. "Tonks grab the bottle of fire whisky in the kitchen cupboard." Tonks ran into the kitchen and came back a few seconds later with a half-empty bottle of fire whiskey, she handed it over to Remus who poured the contents on both of Buffy's wounds.

Remus then told Sirius, "On the count of three we'll pull out the bullets. One, two, THREE!" Remus and Sirius winced as Buffy jerked when they pulled the bullets out. "Harry, come here. I need you to clean the wounds and bandage her up all right? Can you do that Harry?" asked Remus.

Harry only nodded. He sat beside her and desperately tried to ignore the fact that there was a beautiful, half-naked girl in the living room.

A few minutes later, Sirius carried his niece up to a spare room and sat beside her holding her hand as she slept. He watched her in silence as the remaining three sat on the couch by the fireplace.

It was Tonks to first break the silence, "Remus?"

Remus looked away from the flames and turned to Tonks, knowing full well what she was going to ask, "It is her."

Tonks' hand flew on her mouth and shook her head in disbelief, "But they told me she was dead. Aunt Cissa told everyone that she died. How can she be here? What happened all those years ago? And more importantly, if you knew she was alive, why didn't you tell me? Why keep it a secret?"

Harry sat up and gave Remus the same questioning look as Tonks was giving him. Remus sighed and said, "Nymphadora, Harry, you have to understand that it was a very different Narcissa Malfoy I knew back then. Sirius and 'Cissa had grown closer after the death of Regulus, she realised that she was playing for the wrong team. But it was too late for her to back out as she was married to one of Voldemort's biggest supporters, Lucius Malfoy.

When Bethany Black Malfoy was born, members of the Watcher's Council kidnapped her a few hours later. Yes, the Slayer does exist and she's sleeping upstairs in this very house. But Bethany is not just a Slayer she is also a Witch. There has been no record of such an occurrence, but imagine the powers of a Slayer combined with that of a full blooded witch. She'd be unstoppable.

Slayers are immune to our magic but they cannot wield their own magic for their essence was derived from very powerful and ancient dark magic. Bethany would be immune to any hex, spell or curse aimed at her but she would be able to use magic.

Narcissa asked Sirius to find Bethany before she would be taken to the Watcher's headquarters, she also asked that should Bethany be found that he take her to America for Lucius recognized the birthmark of the Slayer on her and wanted to take her to Voldemort.

Sirius knew I had muggle relatives living in America, so we took her to my cousin Joyce who had just gotten married at the time. They took her in and changed her name to Buffy Summers, and 18 years later here she is."

Tonks and Harry blinked owlishly at Remus, it took a while before the whole story sunk in. Harry finally shook off his shock and asked, "Then why didn't you tell us this before?"

"Because we would have put her life as well as ours in danger just by acknowledging we knew of her existence," replied Sirius who had just come down from Buffy's room.

He then continued, "If Lucius found out we knew about her, he would have tried to find her and it would have been disastrous if he was successful. Aside from Lucius there is the Watcher's Council to worry about, if they find out she's still alive they'll take her away and do Merlin knows whatever it is they do to Slayers."

The night wore on as Tonks and Harry were updated on Buffy's life, meanwhile upstairs Buffy was sleeping a fitful sleep, tossing and turning and giving an occasional cry of, "Angel."

Morning came and all was quiet, Buffy sat up in bed wondering where the hell she was when she heard a knock on her door, "Who is it?"

The door slowly opened revealing a sandy haired man with a tray of food, "Buffy how are you feeling?"

Buffy jumped out of the bed and ran straight at him, but instead of a warm greeting, he was met with a loud sob, "Uncle Remmy..."

"Shh, it's alright little one. No one's going to hurt you now." Remus placed the tray on the bedside table as he sat Buffy on the bed, "Now, now don't be ashamed to let it all out, tell me everything."

Buffy didn't say anything, she just cried until her voice croaked and allowed exhaustion to take over. She sleepily thanked him for breakfast though it was left untouched and asked him to just let her sleep in for a little while longer. Remus gave her a quick check-up and when satisfied with her healing he left the room quietly.

Sirius stood by the doorway waiting for Remus, "How is she?"

Remus replied, "Physically her wounds are healing quite nicely but emotionally, I don't know. I just don't know."

Harry and Tonks were downstairs with Dobby hoping to meet with Bethany but were disappointed when Sirius and Lupin showed up.

"Isn't she coming down for breakfast?" asked Tonks.

Remus then said, "We'll let her be for a while, let her come out when she's ready." He then turned to Dobby, "I think it would be best if Dobby keep out of sight for a while, she still doesn't know anything about her heritage or my being a Wizard, when she wakes up hopefully we'll be able to explain everything to her."

Everyone agreed and ate in silence, each and every one of them all thinking the same thing, 'Will she be able to handle the news?'

TBC