A/N: Chapter 4 is now an actual chapter so read that before you read this. Sorry about

the hold up. Read ch. 4 before going onto this, got it? Good. Read on!

Chapter 5: Hogwarts

Buffy sat in silence with her headphones on, the Hogwarts Express speeding

towards her new school. She was alone, having had another beautiful spat between Ron

and herself, she had decided to be alone on the trip. She was still ok with Hermione and

Harry, but she could tell that they wanted to stick with Ron. She couldn't blame

Hermione for not coming to sit with her. Hermione loved Ron, no matter how biased his

opinion was. He reminded her of Xander, only the bad thing was that she was to Ron

what Angel was to Xander. Too bad. He seemed like a good guy.

It was about ten o' clock in the morning, and the bright sun shone through as

Buffy took out her duffel bag that was now bursting at the seams with her school robes

and supplies. Why did she have to have so much crap? She was wearing a pair of her

new black robes and she realized how unflattering they were. Plain black. *Wizards are

goths, I should've known.* She turned off the disc man and listened to the drumming of

the train and became soothed by its rhythm. Soon she fell into unconsciousness,

dreaming of things in Sunnydale and prophesies that never seem to go away.

She was in a room. She was in Willow's room and she was making the bed. She

had a large bandage across her head, and blood was showing through. It was morning,

early morning with the bright sun shining in the window. She didn't know if this was

real. Had she been dreaming of being adopted. Was she now back where she belonged?

Or was this, in fact, a dream itself?

"Am I dreaming?" she asked Willow. Will turned around slowly as she finished

tucking in a corner of the sheet.

"Yes, but I'm real. I... I think I'm still in a coma. I'm not sure, but I don't need

the answers. You do. You need answers, but you'll never find them until it's too late."

she said cryptically.

"What do you mean?"

"Answers to your questions will never come until he arrives, when it's too late."

"What's the question that needs to be answered?"

"Why. Why you were adopted, why you are a wizard, why you have to choose."

Willow said. Buffy sighed, she would never get a straight answer.

"Choose what? How do you know all of this?" Buffy asked.

"I am not allowed to tell you the choices, they won't let me. The Powers That Be

came to me in my sleep. As long as I am unconscious I have a connection with you.

They tell me what to say, and I do. This will not be the last time I see you. You must

leave now, they say I've said enough."

"But I need answers, wait!" she said as a mist covered her eyes and she woke up

startled. Hermione was standing above her. She looked worried over something.

"Buffy! Thank goodness you're awake! We've arrived at Hogwarts! Get your

things, we have to go or we'll be late, and they're very cross about that!" Buffy quickly

got her stuff and ran off the bus and out into the cold night air where carriages were

waiting. How long had she slept for? It looked late, the sun already not visible across the

horizon, but instead there was a small pinkish glow that radiated out into the dark.

She climbed into a carriage with Hermione, having the boys left already, and they

were off to Hogwarts. When finally the huge castle came into view she looked at it in

awe. It was monstrous, with tall towers that scraped the sky. It was intimidating and

looked like the castle Angel was in only bigger. Much, much bigger.

A sudden image of thrusting a sword into Angel's stomach came into her head,

and she tried to shoo it away. Not ears came, only emptiness. She hadn't cried since

she'd killed him. It wasn't worth it. Tears wouldn't bring him back, and as much as she

wanted too, she couldn't go cry to Hermione. Hermione wouldn't understand. She still

believed in hope and truth and love. In everything that Buffy had come to the conclusion

was a myth.

The carriage stopped, and her luggage disappeared from her hands, and Hermione

grinned at her. They followed the rest of the group onto the steps of the school and

inside. She gawked at everything, from the living pictures to the sheer beauty of the

ceiling which looked like the sky. They filed into the Great Hall and Buffy was stopped

by a teacher, an older, very worn looking woman.

"Are you Miss Summers?" she asked.

"Yes." she managed to say. Had she done something wrong?

"Please follow me so you can be sorted into your house." she said, and walked

briskly away. Buffy followed her, wondering what house she was going to be chosen for.

Hermione had told her the night before about houses and how one was for the bravest,

the smartest, and at one point the weakest and the most evil. Buffy desperately wanted to

be in Gryffindor, but she had to admit that she was curious about Slytherin. Perhaps it

was the fact that she was into mysteries, and it seemed that that was what the Slytherins

were. They kept to themselves and didn't share.

"This is the new sixth year student, Ms. Summers. She is going to be sorted into

her house. I expect you to treat her with respect." an old guy said from somewhere

behind her and above her.

All of the sudden she was standing in front of the entire school, and the teacher

was telling her to put on a hat. She could see Hermione waving to her and crossing her

fingers. Then a voice was in her head. A low whisper that she could barely hear. 'A

Slayer I see. Well, well, well. You are different aren't you? Past love is a demon, you

are a powerful witch, and the Chosen One. Only one house is equipped to handle your

needs, Miss Summers. Or is it Granger? Whatever your choice, you will not follow in

your twin's footsteps, the decision is made...'

"SLYTHERIN!" the hat said loudly. Hermione's face drained, as did the red

headed twin's. One table began to clap wildly, and she was about to walk over to them

when the teacher pulled her aside and told her to talk to the Headmaster before she left to

the Common Room. She said she would, and sighed as she looked at her table, the only

seat left was one next to the guy she'd punched the other day and some girl. She hoped

that 'Malfoy' wouldn't be upset.

"How's your jaw?" she said as she took her seat. He turned to look at her, jaw

practically dropped as he shamelessly checked her out. Then he smirked, something that

made him look like the very essence of Spike.

"Better. It was worth it." he said. He expected her to blush slightly, but she

didn't. She gasped as food appeared on the table and ate quietly, barely talking. Buffy

noticed all of the other girls at the table fawning over him and acting like he was a god.

One girl was trying to feed him while he treated her like dirt. Why did they make

themselves act so low around him?

"Pathetic, huh?" the girl next to her said. She was pretty, pure black hair with

electric blue streaks in it hung around her face in small braids. Her form was small, but

her eyes were large and almost seemed black in the right light.

"Ya. Why do they do that?"

"Because Draco there is the Slytherin Prince, all girls, even in the other houses,

act like they're in love with him. Everyone but me that is. I'm Tru. Tru Mcklay." she

said, holding out her hand. Buffy eagerly shook it.

"Buffy Summers. Nice meeting ya. So, you're the only one who isn't a zombie.

Are there any other heart breakers I should know about?" Buffy asked, raising an

eyebrow.

"Hmm. Harry Potter's rising on the scales. The whole heroic thing makes him

have a lot of admirers. Who else? I'm not sure. Chris Powell does a lot of damage too,

that guy over there," she said, pointing to this Chris guy. He really was cute, "But that's

it basically. You looking for prospects, or do you already got a guy?" she asked.

"Still hung up on a guy that I broke up with back home. Pretty much wondering

what guys to stay away from. The beautiful people always seem to be the most stuck up,

rude, and obnoxious ones," she said loudly so that Malfoy could hear.

"Anyways, I've gotta go see a teacher. See ya back at the common room, ok. [she

knows about that cuz of Hermione] Buffy walked over to the teachers table and went up

to the guy that everyone called Headmaster Dumbledore.

"Headmaster, I heard ya wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes, Buffy. I know of your special abilities, so I took the liberty of getting you a

room to yourself with a gym inside. It is located at the back of the girl's dormitories. I'll

have Professor McGonnagle show you to the Slytherin Rooms. Would you like to go

right now?" he asked. He was so friendly, she didn't even care how he found out about

her secret, she was just happy someone knew who could help her out.

"Yes, please." she said timidly. He motioned to follow the teacher she'd met

earlier, and so Buffy did. They left the Great Hall and went down a windy hallway that

seemed to lead into the center of the earth itself. Buffy memorized everything, every

corner and patch of woodwork or stone so she would be able to find her way back to the

surface if she needed to. Finally they stopped at a portion of the wall that was near a

statue of someone that greatly resembled Michael Jackson [don't ask!], and the Professor

turned to her.

"The password to your common room is 'Fatima Dai Bolar'. It means something

like 'Pureblooded' in Greek. I will leave you to get settled, so good night Ms. Summers."

Mrs. McGonnagle said coolly and rather abruptly. Buffy got the feeling she wasn't

wanted by her.

"Fatima Dai Bolar." she said, and wall moved to the side revealing a very cold

looking living room type place. She climbed up the stairs to what were labeled 'Slytherin

Girl's Dormitories' and went inside. About twenty beds filled the room, ten on each

wall. She sauntered to the end of the walkway to a door located on the other end. Slowly

she pushed the door open to reveal a small room with two doors. Behind one was a very

plain bathroom and behind the other was a huge training room. The walls were made up

purely of bookshelves, and there had to be an assortment of at least eighty different

weapons in a decorative, large, mahogany chest. A punching bag stood in one corner, a

man made of straw was in another, a cabinet filled with herbal supplies was also there,

and so was a target board for crossbows.

"This is so awesome!" she exclaimed, taking a swing at the punching bag. She

went back into the bedroom and closed the door behind her. To her amazement the door

disappeared. She reached for the door handle and it appeared. She twisted it and the

door came back to view and swung open. *how cool is this, super secret headquarters!*

She closed the door again and found that her clothes were already placed in the dresser

where they belonged. A pair of green and silver PJ's were waiting for her. They looked

so doofy, so she took out her white tank with a duck on it and the words 'Hug Me'. Then

she also put on her light blue flannel pants.

She looked through the desk beside her bed to find her schoolbooks. Putting on

her disc-man and taking out her 'Hogwarts, A History' book, she started to read the book

that made her last principal's speeches in his office sound like the best time in the world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had to be late. At least midnight. She had trained until her hands bled,

something she'd been yearning to do since her fight with Angel. She'd finally gotten the

chance to blow off some steam. But she wanted to talk to someone, like Tru. She had

totally forgotten to meet up with her, she was so busy. Maybe she was still out there.

She snuck out of her room without making a sound. All of the girls were in bed.

Maybe one of the guys were out there and would talk to her. Buffy crept down the stairs

and saw Malfoy there. She was going to go back, but hey, he was better than no one.

"Late sleeper?" she asked, twisting around and falling gracefully into one of the

love seats. Draco looked up from his book just in time to see her little stunt and it took

all of his will to not whistle like that stupid coyote in muggle cartoons.

"You're not a pacifist I see." he said, looking down at her hands where the white

bandages were getting weak enough to show the blood.

"Neither are you according to Hermione." she said.

"You're talking to the mudblood? Look, you're new here, so let me tell you the

rules. Slytherins don't ever talk to Gryffs, especially not ones who are mudbloods, got

it?" she looked at him. Her eyes changed to that fiery scarlet again, and he quickly

backed up on the couch.

"No, you listen, you dumb-ass wizard who doesn't have a clue. Hermione is a

person, a human, unlike you. And as a human she has feelings. Did YOU get that, or do

I need to repeat myself?" she said, her tone so not friendly it made the hair on the back of

his neck stand up. She stood up and left in a rush of furry. Sure she had only known

Hermione for two days, but she was still her sister, and sisters looked out for each other.

A/N: You love it, you hate it, you have no opinion? Tell me. R&R!