AN: I DON'T OWN IT
Chapter Two
There was a still moment of complete silence in the small room as the three strangers, Giles and the gang and Buffy and Angel stared at each other. There was a small but genuine smile flitting across Angel's lips as he stared at the three Hogwarts professors. Only Buffy could see the hope and joy that sparkled in Angel's normally very guarded eyes.
Giles could only stare aghast at the man with the same face as the monster that had killed the woman he loved. He had tried to tell himself that it had been Angelus and not Angel that had killed Jenny and that the technopagan had actually only come to Sunnydale to make sure that Angel never stopped suffering. But was still very difficult for him to look into the same eyes that had glittered with malicious pleasure as Angelus had tortured him.
Giles had heard of Albus Dumbledore, there were very few who hadn't but he had never been this close to the man and certainly not in this exclusive company. He contained the urge to ask the venerable wizard one hundred and two questions about his experience, but restrained himself to wondering how Angel was acquainted with the man.
Giles chanced a glance at Buffy and Angel. The two sat very close, almost touching but not quite. Every so often one would catch himself looking at the other and would then look in the other direction. Giles felt a wave of pity sweep through him at that moment. The two couldn't be any more in love, that was obvious, but it seemed that their relationship was constantly under threat.
Their very existences were contradictory, a vampire with a soul and a slayer who lived with her mom. The two had been very close, right from the beginning. The two had always respected each other and it had only been a matter of time before that respect and affection grew into the kind of love poets wrote sonnets about. The two had consummated their love together on the night of Buffy's seventeenth birthday, a move which had caused terrible things to happen, yet Giles knew that Buffy had not been sad to lose her virginity to Angel, even if he had turned evil afterwards. Buffy had then been forced to kill her lover and send him to hell. The two were now reunited again but could never demonstrate the physical extent of their love for each other again.
The silence hung uncomfortably in the room for quite a time after Angel's confusing statement. Then, Buffy spoke,
"You know these people, Angel?"
Angel smiled wryly,
"Buff' I'm over two-hundred and fifty- years old. I know someone everywhere."
Buffy smiled slightly at this comment, but Giles was surprised, for neither Angel or Angelus had ever given any indication of knowing Albus Dumbledore, but then Angel didn't like to talk about his past and Angelus had never really been in a sharing mood when they had met. Angelus had always been more of a 'I'm going to torture and kill you' person, rather than a 'let's have a chat over tea and cookies' person.
Perhaps it shouldn't have been that much of a surprise that Angel knew them. When one had lived for two hundred years and had a reputation like Angelus', then one would catch the attention of the wizarding community.
After a time, Angel spoke, his upbringing as a nobleman showing through slightly,
"It appears that I have been remiss. I should have made the introductions. Giles, Buffy, Xander, Oz, Cordelia, this is Professor Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards. He's also the head of the Wizengamot and has a chocolate frogs card."
Albus Dumbledore smiled slightly,
"Actually, I'm no longer on the Wizengamot, but I don't mind as long as they still keep my chocolate frogs card."
Angel smiled slightly then scowled,
"Do you mean that that idiot Fudge still doesn't believe that Voldemort is back?"
Dumbledore nodded sadly,
"Unfortunately, Cornelius refuses to believe me when I say that Lord Voldemort has returned."
Angel scowled,
"Moronic, no-good, pathetic, blind idiot."
Snape smirked, obviously agreeing with Angel's description of the minister of magic. Angel then remembered to continue the introductions that had been interrupted by his vendetta on the personality of Cornelius Fudge.
"The two with professor Dumbledore are Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress at Hogwarts, Transfigurations professor and house-mistress of Gryffindor, which happens to be the best house at Hogwarts. The other one is Severus Snape, potions professor and house-master of Slytherin house, that description explains just about everything. Professors, this is Rupert Giles, Alexander Harris, Cordelia Chase, Daniel Osbourne, Willow Rosenburg, Buffy Summers and Faith. I presume that this isn't a social call."
Dumbledore shook his head,
"Unfortunately not, we have been searching for a missing student and were searching through documents on magical emissions and discovered that you were still around. We have come to dissuade you from joining Voldemort, if you do not agree we will be forced to take precautions to make sure that you do not become a threat."
Angel made a face.
"Damn it, I knew that there would be too much magic given off from that spell, even for a hellmouth. I should have known that you would come here. This is rather unfortunate."
Giles stared at the vampire for a moment before speaking,
"What spell could possibly be that powerful?"
Angel winced slightly before he answered,
"Inter-dimensional apparation."
All three professors stared at Angel, slightly scared of the amount of power that would be required to perform that spell, the idea of this vampire joining Voldemort was becoming even more terrifying by the minute. After a moment, Minerva spoke,
"Why would you require to do that?"
Angel winced,
"I was in a demon dimension and it took me some time to get far enough from the fiery centre to apparate."
The three stared at him in shock and Buffy fought not to let out a sob. There could be no worse punishment than being sent to an eternity of fiery torture. After a moment of silence Angel spoke again,
"Professor, you do not have to worry about me joining forces with Voldemort, there is no possible situation in which I would work with Tom."
Albus Dumbledore was, on a very rare occasion, speechless.
"How do you know Voldemort's real name?"
Angel smiled, but there was a definite edge to the smile,
"Professor, you once told me that the truth us a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution."
Dumbledore stared at Angel for a long moment, then spoke softly,
"Harry?"
Angel smiled,
"I said it was good to see you again professor."
There was absolute silence in the room, so quiet that you could hear everyone breathing. After a moment, however, Dumbledore regained his wits and asked in a cold voice,
"How do we know you're Harry Potter and not just someone pretending?"
Angel rose gracefully from the chair and moved swiftly to a cupboard. He opened the doors and then removed a secret panel. From behind this panel he extracted a large and heavy looking trunk with the words 'Harry J Potter' written on it in faded steel letters. The trunk seemed very, very old. Angel opened the trunk and moved aside a few objects before extracting a short wooden stick. It didn't seem very special to the seven Sunnydale inhabitants, but Minerva and Albus gasped. Angel then raised the stick to his forehead and muttered something in Latin.
A shaft of white light came form the end of the stick and hit Angel on the forehead. Buffy was instantly on the alert for anything that was dangerous, but Angel merely placed the stick up is sleeve and sat down. He leant towards the three professors and pulled away his hair from his forehead. All three gasped in astonishment. There, on the unnaturally pale flesh, was a jagged scar shaped like a bolt of lightening.
"Professor, there are some scars that two-hundred and fifty years of vampirism can't hide."
All three of the strange visitors stared at Angel with indefinable emotion on their faces. Giles had lost what was happening a long time ago, but he knew that, whatever it was, it was very important. A genuine and honest smile was twisting the corners of Angel's mouth. Giles had never seen him looking that happy, but Buffy had, and although she knew as much as her watcher, maybe less, about the situation, she was happy that there was someone who could make Angel smile like that. Buffy reached out with one hand to trace the scar marring Angel's otherwise perfect face, and the two sat frozen in tableau. Buffy's hand traced the scarlet line and then rose to stroke a lock of Angel's hair back from his forehead. The moment was a close to perfection as Buffy had known since her seventeenth birthday. Then, Xander spoke,
"Okay, someone explain. Dead-boy, why are you here and what happened to 'Mr. Wearing leather trousers and being a dick'? Who are the dudes in the dresses and why are they calling you Harry? And how on earth do you have a scar?"
Angel winced when Xander mention Angelus and his recent stint in a hell dimension. Buffy scowled at the boy and Willow hit him for being an insensitive bastard. Buffy rose slightly to give Xander a piece of her mind and make him stop being an idiot, but Angel placed a hand on her arm.
"It's okay Buff', I owe them and you an explanation."
Buffy smiled at her lover,
"I know, but that doesn't give Xander an excuse."
Angel smiled remorsefully,
"You know I deserve it."
It was a statement, not a question. Buffy scowled gently into Angel's dark eyes.
"How many times do I have to tell you that you are not responsible for what Angelus did?"
Angel tried to smile reassuringly but failed miserably,
"Buff' it was my fault. I brought him back and 'cos the last thing I thought of before that was you, I concentrated his thoughts on you. If it weren't for me then none of the people that I killed would be dead."
Buffy was not amused,
"Angel, shut up. You know perfectly well that you weren't the one who was responsible for what happened that night. You were willing to wait, but I wanted to go ahead without thinking of the consequences. Personally I'm flattered that I was the thing that you were thinking of while your soul was leaving your body and this is Sunnydale, many of the people that Angelus killed, would be dead anyway. There's plenty of blame to go around and I would personally leave a lot of it at Darla's door and I have to take my fair share of it as well. Don't even try to blame yourself entirely for this. Understand?"
Angel still looked upset, but Buffy scowled at him and he nodded his head slightly.
"I'm sorry, Buff', but I do feel guilty."
Buffy smiled at him, a smile that was heartfelt but tinged with sorrow,
"I know, that's what makes you so different from Angelus."
Angel smiled at her and spoke softly,
"Thank you."
The two seemed completely oblivious to the world around them, they merely sat there, with their hands clasped, staring into each other's eyes. Giles felt a great sorrow flood through him at that moment. It was obvious that the two were just as much in love as ever they had been and they both knew that there was no way they could ever express the extent of their love for the other.
Xander was not amused. He had thought that Angel was at last gone and Buffy was over him. It turned out that not only was Angel as undead as ever, but he was back with them and the key of a new mystery. It also seemed that the dark-haired vampire had also managed to worm his way back into Buffy's affections.
It wasn't jealousy that made him angry. Although there would always be a part of him that loved the dainty slayer more than anything in the world, he now knew that he and Buffy would have never stood a chance together. He was happy with Cordelia and their relationship was gradually becoming more than he ever thought it could be. No, it was not jealousy that motivated his anger. He loved Buffy as a sister and the idea of Angel hurting her was anathema to him. Before he would have accepted that Angel was just as besotted with Buffy as she was with him, but since Angel had become Angelus again, the threat of him hurting Buffy was suddenly a lot more present.
He was also very confused. Xander didn't like being confused, particularly not in situations that were potentially dangerous as this one was. The three strangers were just that, strange and there was something not right about the whole situation. It was obvious that there was a potential for something to go very wrong, very quickly and Xander was not comfortable with this.
He knew that Buffy had been in much worse situations than fighting against an old man, an elderly woman and a man with serious hygiene problems, but there was something about these three that had set off all the alarms in his system. Before meeting Buffy, he would have just written it off as paranoia and too much caffeine, however, since he had met vampires and demons, he knew that danger could come in very misguiding packages. Also, his nose for danger had been a lot more sensitive since the incident with the Halloween costumes, where he became a soldier. No, something about these three just wasn't right.
Maybe he was simply paranoid, but Xander would not be satisfied until he knew exactly what was going on and how Angel was involved.
TBC.