A Second Chance

Chapter 27 – Promise.

DISCLAIMER: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon, and Harry Potter to J.K. Rowling. I don't own anything.

TIMELINE: AU. Set ten years before (Around 1988) "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone", during and after Harry Potter book 5, "Order of the Phoenix"(2003). During and after BTVS season 7, "Chosen". Pretend HP book one happened in 1999 during Buffy season three )

SUMMARY: BTVS/HP crossover. After James and Lily reappears, seemingly alive and well, mysterious things start to happen. New allies are made, prophecies revealed...and people keep rising from the dead. What's going on? And what has Voldemort got to do with it? Are the Scoobies and the Potter's second chance at life enough to stop the Dark Lord from spreading darkness across the country? Or is the world in need of more miracles?

PAIRINGS: Too many to count.

Thanks to my beta: Charmed Chick

"Sirius?"

Get out.

"Sirius!"

Leave me alone.

"Siiiiiiirius!"

Go away.

"SIRIUS! DEATH EATERS ARE ATTACKING!"

"WHAT!" Sirius flew up from where he'd been sleeping, and found a smirking Amy stand over him. Sirius scowled.

"Let me guess: There are no Death Eaters."

Amy just smiled.

"No."

"And I fell for it again."

"Yes," Amy stated, still smiling widely. Sirius sighed, and got out of the bed. Amy had been here for a week, and she'd seemingly taken it to be her responsibility to wake Sirius up every morning. For the past four days, it had been with the message "Death Eaters are attacking" - and he fell for it every time.

"I actually found the waking on the first morning much more comfortable." Sirius said grumpily, as he got dressed.

"Was that the cold water, or the spiders?" Amy said innocently, and Sirius glared some more.

"No. The morning I woke up on my own."

"Oh. Was that a hint?" Amy smiled, and Sirius moaned.

"Why am I even bothering? What was Dumbledore thinking, sending you here to let me suffer?"

"Suffer? Oh, from what I've heard, you were quite the marauder when you were young. Ickle little me shouldn't be enough bother you."

"Well, you do," Sirius muttered. "I'm not young anymore - I'm old. And tired. And - "

" - very cranky," Amy finished, and giggled as she was met by a glare. "Sirius, you're not old," she then said. "Tired, maybe, but not old. When you say old, I think about ol' grandpa- and you're not even half his age."

"Fine. Tired. Then why don't you let me sleep?"

"Aww, where would the fun be in that?" Amy cooed. Sirius gave her the finger.

"Demons. Lots of them. Everywhere." Those were the words meeting Harry and the 'gang' when they entered Anya's lesson.

"I've faced demons all my life. And I know what nastiness they can give you. In fact, I was one of the worst. So if you don't obey me, I might turn you into toads, or make all the boys lose their penises."

Harry, Ron and Neville gulped, but the rest of the class laughed. They didn't know that Anya was probably serious.

"You don't believe me? Well, let me tell you one thing: I was a vengeance-demon, but because of some reasons, I was made mortal. I'm eleven hundred and twenty-four years old, and wherever I went, I brought destruction and mayhem- on men. I was the saint for all woman scorned. This one time, I made a man's penis get stuck in his face. It wasn't a pretty sight."

This time, the wholeclass gulped.

"Yes...so, if you girls ever feel neglected, or need a little vengeance on one of your exes, you know where to find me! I still have many active demon friends out there that would do anything to cause a little mayhem in a wizarding school."

This time, every guy gulped, while the girls smirked.

"Anyway, onto the lesson. I'm an ex-vengeance-demon. I've faced more demons than you will meet in all your lifetime, which is very short. I know the human life is very short, so since I am mortal, I spend all my time earning money, and fighting demons. But mostly making money. Because money is good. If you look at money, it calms you down. Or at least, it calms me down. When I'm not earning money, or forcing Xander to buy me pretty things, I'm having sex."

Everyone in the class started to flush, except Dawn, who was used to Anya's bluntness.

"Sex is really good, and nice. And orgasms is very relaxing. As I've already mentioned, McGonagall need to get some more orgasms."

The class looked green. They all remembered that. Ron especially looked really green.

"...ride them like ponies. Yes, that's how you do it. And a bed is, of course, most comfortable, but a closet works too. And the bathroom, stairs, corridors, chairs - whatever works. Me and Xander once did it on the kitchen table at Buffy's old home."

This time, Dawn got really green too.

Hermione raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Granger? Do you have any need for some sex advice? Yours and Mr. Weasley's orgasms aren't working out?"

Hermione flushed.

"I just thought this lesson would be about demons?"

Anya blinked.

"Oh. Yes, yes, of course...demons..."

The class let out a breath they didn't know they'd been holding.

"Alright, this is how we're going to do this," Xander said. "Since I have no experience of teaching, I'll just let you ask questions for this first class and I'll answer them. Yes?"

A third year Ravenclaw boy had raised his hand.

"Why are muggles interesting? They don't have any magic, or anything. If they saw a vampire, they would probably run screaming."

"Why are you taking this class, Mr. Dennis?"

That shut him up.

"Anyway, since you were asking, I will answer. Yes, most muggles would run screaming - but that is not because they are weak, but because they wouldn't understand what they were seeing. Muggles are an important part of society, and have their own strengths. You don't need magic to survive."

The class looked horrified.

Xander sighed.

"I will explain it to you. If a wizard came to the muggle world to live for a year, he wouldn't have access to anything magical or supernatural. Pretend you are that wizard - or witch. Do you think you would have survived without magic for so long?"

The class seemed to think about it for a moment. After awhile, their thoughtful looks was switched against one of misery.

"See my point. Yes, Mr. Dennis?"

"Well, doesn't that mean muggles are less? I mean, you said it - we wouldn't survive without magic."

"Yes! We! But still, the muggles manage to do it without any problems. No magic, nothing supernatural. And still, they live a life just as good as ours. What does that tell you?"

The class was silent.

"Maybe the muggles are more than us." Xander said. "We rely ourselves on the magic, and would be lost without it, while muggles are fine without any magic at all. No magic mojo. Now, I turn the question the other way. If a muggle came to live in the wizarding world...would they be just as lost as we in the muggle world? Answer, no. They wouldn't. Why? Because they still don't need the magic to survive in the wizarding world either. Then they would be like...ehrm...squibs? Muggles are without magical powers, just like squibs. But is the squib a muggle because of that? No, he's still being counted as a wizard or a witch. Then why aren't a muggle the same thing as a witch or wizard who was born without magical powers - the same thing as a squib? Is it because the muggle isn't born in a magical family?"

The class nodded.

"No," Xander said, and the class looked surprised. "How can you be sure the muggle you see on the street doesn't have any magical powers? How can you be sure there hasn't been a witch one time in his or her bloodline? Maybe, the muggle is a part of a strong magical family, but once, there was a squib born. And that squib married a muggle. And they got muggle daughters and sons. No magical powers, it seems. But still, they are magical - even if it's far away, there is magic. Everyone has magic inside them. It's just a difference between how much. Willow, for example. She's a wicca, a witch. If you saw her doing magic, wouldn't you call her a witch? But still, she's just as much a muggle as I am. Maybe the difference between muggles and wizards and witches are less than you thought."

Willow was standing in front of her mirror. She sighed. Things were bad. Dawn avoided her like the plague, and Tara did too. Buffy refused to look at her, Charlie looked like he was ready to kill...Xander was avoiding her as well, and that hurt. The only ones offering her the slightest sympathy (not that she wanted that either) were Faith and Spike. And, on occasion, Remus.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. She turned around, and found...

"Tara?"

"Hi. I-I just thought...we need to talk."

Willow nodded.

"I know."

Tara sat down. She fiddled with the end of her sweater nervously.

"Well...I-I just thought...how are you holding up?" She finally asked.

"I'm fine...I guess..." Willow said quietly. Then...

"I miss you," Tara confessed.

"I miss you too."

"D-do you think that m-maybe we...maybe there's a chance to...you know...start over."

Willow smiled a little.

"I hope so."

"It's just...s-so hard you know? We can't just h-have coffee...or skip it this time. We have so much to work through. Trust has to be built up again...and you need to redeem yourself... I wish it was easy...but it's not. I-I don't know if I can trust you. It...it doesn't feel like I know you."

Willow felt her eyes starting to fill with tears threatening to fall.

"Y-you know me. You have to know me." She sounded almost desperate.

"I thought I did. But...when you fell back into the dark...I just don't know anymore. It's like...we're slipping away. If it had only been a question about you having dark magic inside of you that you couldn't control...but it's not. You chose to turn dark this time, Willow. You almost killed Buffy."

"I thought she'd killed you!" Willow cried.

"It doesn't change the fact that you hurt her. You hurt everyone, Willow. And somewhere, you must have known Buffy wouldn't kill me. She's not a killer."

"I know I did wrong, okay? And I'm sorry! What do you want me to do!"

"Saying you're sorry isn't good enough, Will," Tara shook her head sadly."You need to prove it. And not by baking cookies, o-or crying. You need to prove to us...and maybe yourself too...that you're really sorry. And you have to start working on controlling your magic."

"I do! Dumbledore helps me!"

"T-that's good. Good. You just need...t-to...be sure this time. That you are really in control, and don't trick yourself into believing it."

"I am trying." Willow said quietly. "I am trying so hard it hurts. But no matter how much I try...you're still avoiding me. If I knew I had friends that...that counted on me to be okay...that supported me...it would be a lot easier."

"Maybe it isn't meant to be easy, Willow," Tara said, giving her a sympathetic look. "Maybe you have to earn their trust and love the hard way, this time. So they know that you really want their friendship...and love. Redemption isn't meant do be easy. It's supposed to be hard, and painful. But in the end, when you're through...it will feel so much better than if ithad beeneasy. You will feel like you really deserve their friendship. Like it was worth it. Like all the trouble, pain and sleepless nights meant something."

Willow looked up.

"You promise?"

"I promise." Tara smiled.


A/N: Yay! I managed to find time to write a chap for this story too! -Does a happy dance- Tell me how you like, and REVIEW!

/Ida