Yay!! Reviews, even if I did have to stoop to bribery for some of them. Thank you, zayra, rhia, Mouseeee, Sharon, and Enjael1 for you reviews. Anywho, I don't own these stories, so on and so forth, on to chapter 5.

Don't You Two Read Anything?

Hermione opened her eyes. The red drapes on her bed glowed with concealed sunlight. Still slightly dazed from the dream, she twitched the curtains aside and swung her feet out of bed. Dressing quietly, for her roommates were not yet up, she descended the stairs and took a seat in the common room. Not long afterwards, two boys emerged from the boy's tower. Harry and Ron sat beside her, not saying anything. They seemed to sense something was up.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Harry asked curiously.

She took a deep breath. "Yes, I'm fine. But there's something I need to tell you."

"What's that?" Ron asked, a bit sleepily.

"This is going to sound really weird, but here it goes. I'm the Slayer."

The boys looked at her blankly. "The what?"

Hermione fluttered her hand in the air. "Honestly! Don't you two read anything? The Slayer, one girl in every generation born to stand between humanity and the vampires and demon to stop the spread of evil through the world."

"Oh." was Ron's reply, and the two sat digesting her words.

Suddenly Harry grinned. "So, like, you're supergirl. That's cool."

Ron nodded, glumly. "Yeah. But now it's The Boy Who Lived, Supergirl, and Ron."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You say that like being normal were a bad thing."

Ron just shrugged. "Well, since I end up in the same situations as you lot, I just wouldn't mind a bit of the extra edge."

Harry and Hermione laughed. Ron smiled. Then Hermione looked at her watch. "Holy cricket! We're going to be late for class!"

Hermione slammed a fist forward. The wood sliver encased in it slipped between ribs. The vampire exploded, scattering dust across the moonlit grass.

"Nice finish, but you might want to watch your stance going into the roundhouse. If he'd been any smarter, he could have grabbed your leg and I'd be welcoming you to the spirit world."

Hermione spun, searching for the voice's owner. She spotted the petite blonde milling about the lawn about ten feet from her.

"Oh, its just you," she sighed in relief.

"Hermione? Is there someone there?" McGonnagal asked.

"It's just one of the old Slayers, professor." Hermione assured her.

"Pardon?" asked the teacher, alarmed.

"Ah, Hermione, remember, the girls and I are new to the modern watcher's council. They don't know much about us." Buffy explained.

Hermione nodded. "Right, sorry, I meant to tell you sooner. In the envelope Mr. Nilsson gave me was a ring Addy had gotten from her predecessor, who got it from her's. After I fiddled with it for a bit, a few of the past Slayers visited me in my dream, and now they just keep popping up."

McGonnagal stared at her in shock. "Well, what do they want?"

Hermione shook her head. "They don't want anything, past giving pointers and talking about the job."

She nodded slowly, "And who is here right now?"

"Buffy Summers." Buffy said, sticking out her hand at the oblivious woman.

"It's Buffy Summers, from California." Hermione repeated.

McGonnagal frowned. "The rouge slayer? I don't think you should be associating with people like that, Hermione. She disobeyed the Watchers Council on numerous occasions."

Buffy snorted. "Numerous occasions? Yeah? How about the two years or so where I quit? And then, when I came back, it was on my terms. Darn the guy was white as a sheet when I threw the sword at him. But I said no interruptions. . . "

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "You quit the council? I didn't know you could do that."

McGonnagal sniffed. "You can't. It cause much commotion when she did. Luckily, they had Addenya during that time. Someone was doing her duty."

Buffy shrugged angrily. "Dude, its not like I went on a vacation. The Big Bad kept coming. The Mayor. Adam and the Initiative. Glory. Did I mention she was a hell goddess?"

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Buffy says to say that she didn't stop fighting."

McGonnagal pursed her lips. "Regardless, her reasons for quitting were selfish. Her poor Watcher, Mr. Giles, has been quite distraught since her death."

Buffy's angry eyes quickly softened and filled with tears. "I'm sorry, Giles. I had to do it. I couldn't let her die."

Hermione took a quick look around. "Professor, I don't sense any more vampires. Perhaps we can call it a night?"

McGonnagal nodded, and escorted her back to the Fat Lady. As Hermione climbed the stairs to her room, she asked Buffy, who was still trailing her, "Buffy? Would you mind telling me how you died? I mean, you keep mentioning it."

Buffy sighed, and waited til Hermione was settled into bed. "It was last Spring. We'd been fighting this hell-goddess, Glorificus – Glory, she liked to be called – who wanted to use the Key to open a portal back to her dimension of hell."

"All she wanted to do was go home? Why not let her?"

Buffy shook her head. "Because the portal would allow unspeakable evil into our world. And because the Key was in human form, as my sister, Dawn, thanks to some crazy monks. I was suppose to protect her. But Glory found out, and started to open the portal by spilling Dawn's blood. The only way I could close the portal was to either push Dawn in or jump myself. I wouldn't let her die like that. I jumped."

"How did you know you wouldn't end up in the hell dimension?"

"I didn't."

"You were willing to go to Hell for your sister, who wasn't really your sister?" Hermione whispered even more quietly.

Buffy smiled. "It's not like it was the first time I jumped into Hell. Now go to sleep. You may not need much as the Slayer, but it's still nice."