AN: FIFTH CHAPTER UP NOW, AND I KNOW THAT THE TIMELINES ARE A LITTLE OUT OF PATTERN, BUT IT WORKED BETTER FOR ME THIS WAY. SPOILERS FOR ANYTHING UP TO EPISODE FOUR OF SERIES THREE, FROM THERE IT SEPERATES ALMOST ENTIRELY FROM THE CANONIC UNIVERSE. OH, AND MY NAME'S LUCY, NOT JOSS OR JOANNE, NOTHING YOU RECOGNISE BELONGS TO ME.
PAIRINGS: Buffy/ANGEL Xander/CORDELIA WILLOW/OZ GILES/TONKS Ron/Hermione
RATING: PG-13, MAYBE R LATER ON
Chapter 5
Buffy walked out of the Sunnydale Mall into the bright summer sunshine. Her blond hair shone like spun gold in the warm light. She walked through the park enjoying the warmth of the sun on her skin. She approached a small fountain in the centre of a bright clearing. A figure dressed all in black stood against the fountain. His back was turned and Buffy fought to control the joy that sprung up inside her chest at the sight of his dark brown hair and black leather duster.
The figure turned to face her. It was Angel. The midday light shone on hid unnaturally pale skin a sparkled in his dark hair. He held out a hand for her. She ran towards him. They wrapped their arms around each other and Buffy buried her head in Angel's broad chest. Then she heard it, the steady thump of his heart. It was the most beautiful sound that she had every heard. She stood on tiptoes and arched her lips up to kiss him. Then, a bell rang, loudly and noisily….
Buffy brought one hand down on her alarm clock to end the shrill beeping that had roused her from her dream about Angel. It was just getting to the good part too, she swore softly as she heard the crunch that signalled another smashed alarm clock. That was the second one this week as well. She knew that it was easier to explain to her mother about the broken alarm clocks since Joyce Summers had found out about the whole slayage thing, but her mother had made her views on the subject perfectly clear. As far as Joyce was concerned, slaying was the worst thing that had ever happened to her daughter and was probably a punishment for the tube of lipstick that Buffy had shoplifted from Macy's in junior high.
Buffy sighed as she remembered the days before she was the slayer. Even though it had seemed so difficult to keep on top of fashion, Buffy reflected on how simple her life had been then. The worst thing that could happen to her then was if someone turned up at school wearing the same clothes as her. Then she had met her first watcher, Merrick. Now, she spent her nights out slaying vampires and other demons from hell. Her most important concern was staying alive long enough to stop the next apocalypse.
Not that she always was alive. She had died once. The master had drained her of almost all her blood and then thrown her face down into a pool of water. She had drowned. Not much later, Xander and Angel had found her and Xander had used barely remembered CPR skills to bring her back to life. The master had died by her hand that night. She tried not to think about those minutes of her life when she hadn't been alive. She could not remember what it was like when she was dead. She sometimes wondered whether being a slayer gave you a ticket into heaven or a one-way pass into hell.
After she had been kicked out of Hemery high in Los Angeles, she and her mom had moved to Sunnydale. She had thought that she would be able to forget about being the slayer. She had been wrong. It was her 'destiny' to be the 'chosen one'. Of course, living on an active Hellmouth never really helped with the whole normal life thing. Sometimes she used to wish that she had never been the slayer. Now she wasn't so sure. Slaying had brought Angel to her. She remembered what he had told her about last night, about the demon from the powers that be that had shown her to Angel.
FLASHBACK
Buffy looked Angel straight in the eye and asked him,
"What did Whistler tell you that made you come here."
Buffy was annoyed, not at Angel, but at Whistler and whomever it was that he worked for. They were always interfering with their lives and it disturbed Buffy. Angel sighed and began to tell her the story.
Taken from Angel: city of, novelisation of the series premier by Nancy Holder
Manhattan 1996
A rat a month, that's all Angel ate. He was crazed with hunger and isolation, and he didn't even know it.
Then Whistler had shown, in his cheesy bowling shirts, and dorky hat and his Queens accent, and started the conversation with a real opener:
"God, are you disgusting."
Angel jerked, completely unused to being talked to. He started to crawl back into the shadows of the alley.
"This is really and unforgettable smell," Whistler continued. "This is the stench of death you're giving off here. And the look says crazy homeless guy." He shook his head. "It's not good."
"Get away from me."
Whistler feigned terror. "What are you going to do, bite me? Oh, horrors! A vampire!"
Angel stared at him. He had no idea who this person was, or how he knew what Angel was. But he did know.
"Oh, but you're not going to bite me because of your poor tortured soul," Whistler continued, mocking him. "It's so sad, a vampire with a soul. How poignant. I may physically vomit right here."
"Who are you?" Angel demanded.
"A demon, technically. But I'm not a bad guy. Not all demons are dedicated to the destruction of life. Someone has to maintain balance, you know. Good and evil can't exist without each other, blah blah blah. I'm not like a good fairy or anything. I'm just trying to make it balance. Do I come off defensive?"
Angel had no answer for that. But Whistler had plenty more to say."You could become an even more useless rodent than you are right now, or you could become… someone. A person. Someone to be counted."
Angel's voice was filled with self-loathing "I just want to be left alone." He meant it, truly. Yet he couldn't help wondering how this demon had found him, and why. Maybe it was self-preservation, and maybe it was egotistical curiosity. He wasn't sure.
"You've been alone for what, ninety years? And what an impressive package you are. The stink guy." Whistler wrinkled his nose.
Angel was the one who came off defensive. "You don't know what I have to deal with. What I've done."
Whistler rolled his eyes and sighed. "You're annoying me! The self-pity thing is not gonna bring in the chicks. It's a bore."
Knowing he was playing right into the hands of the obnoxious stranger, Angel asked, "What do you want from me?"
Whistler was clearly pleased. "I want you to see something. It's happening very soon. We'd need to leave now. You see, and then you tell me what you want to do."
What Angel saw was a younger Buffy, a bit younger than when they finally met. Different in some way, very much the same in others. She was popular, surrounded by cute, superficial girls who could have been clones of her. They were chatting and laughing about boys and clothes.
Until Merrick arrived.
Merrick had been her first watcher. The man had told her of her destiny: one girl in every generation is the Chosen One; she and she alone will fight the demons, the vampires, and the forces of darkness. She is the slayer.
She had not believed Merrick. But then he had taken her to a graveyard and shown her a few basic fight manoeuvres. That very night she dusted her first vamp.
She'd come home later without calling, and had to lie about it; and as she listened in the bathroom with tears streaming down her face, her parents argued about what a terrible job each was doing of raising her.
Whistler stated the obvious, but it was exactly what Angel was thinking.
"She's gonna have it tough, that Slayer. She's just a kid. And the world is full of big bad things."
Angel was filled with concern. "I want to help her," he said sincerely. "I want to… I want to become someone. I want to help."
Even then, Whistler had gotten off one last jab.
"Jeez, look at you. She must be prettier than the last slayer."
Angel looked down. He had killed Slayers in his day. Whistler must know that.
"It's not gonna be easy. The more you live in the world, the more you see how apart from it you are," Whistler warned him. "And this is dangerous work. Right now you couldn't go three rounds with a fruit fly."
Angel accepted his cutting remarks. He wanted to help that young girl. "I want to learn from you."
"Okay."
They walked together. Then Angel said, "But I don't want to dress like you."
Whistler had acted mildly insulted. "See? Again you're annoying me."
End extract from Angel: city of, the novelisation of the series premier by Nancy Holder
Buffy smiled waveringly at him,
"I remember that night. I came home late and said I'd been out with a friend. It was one of the first times I heard my parents arguing. I woke up the next morning and hoped it was all just a bad dream. But Merrick came into the locked room at school that afternoon and threw a knife at my head. I caught it and hit him. He died not long after that."
It was true. Buffy was certain that no matter how many demons she slew and however long she stayed alive, she would always remember those first few days, when she had been so inexperienced.
END OF FLASHBACK
Shaking herself out of her daze, she jumped out of bed and got dressed quickly. She automatically put on clothes that she would have usually worn to go out patrolling, black leather trousers and a red velvet top. She pulled her hair into a bunch applied a little mascara and lip-gloss. She then pulled on a leather duster and headed downstairs.
Her mom was still in that morning, it being a late opening at the gallery. Joyce Summers also seemed to be trying to bond with her daughter at the time, as if in an attempt to make up for the years of her daughter's life in which she had been completely oblivious of her only child's calling and destiny.
Buffy smiled at her mother and took a seat at the kitchen table. She poured herself a tall glass of orange juice and took a pot of yoghurt. When she had finished the yoghurt and taken a few sips of the juice, she placed the cup down on the table and spoke to her mother,
"Mom, you remember Angel, right?"
Joyce Summers seemed slightly startled by the question but she replied anyway,
"Angel, wasn't he that student who was tutoring you in history and that you…?"
The end of the question trailed off, but was obvious to both of them. Buffy flushed slightly as she answered,
"Yeah, well it's a bit more complicated than what you think…"
Joyce stared at her daughter, it was hard enough to find out that her seventeen year-old daughter had slept with a college student, but now it appeared that there was even more to it than that.
"Continue."
Buffy was unsure as to how to begin, so she went for what seemed an easier way in,
"I know that I said that Angel was a student right, but he's a bit older than that."
Joyce paled rapidly,
"How old exactly is he?"
Buffy paused for a minute before she answered,
"Well, he has been a vampire for two-hundred and forty three years and he was turned at the age of twenty-five, so that would make him two-hundred and sixty-eight. But I've just found out that he was technically born just over fifteen years ago and is therefore legally fifteen, but he went through this time vortex thing and ended up in Galway in 1754. And I'm not making any sense at all am I?"
Joyce shook her head mutely and Buffy tried to think of a good way to phrase what she was about to say and then just blurted it out,
"Mom, Angel's a two hundred and sixty eight year old vampire, but he was born Harry James Potter in England on the 31st of July fifteen years ago. Apparently this time vortex opened on his fifteenth birthday. He was sent back to Galway in 1743, where he lived until he was twenty-five, when a vampiress named Darla changed him."
Joyce stared at her daughter,
"Angel's a vampire. I thought you were supposed to kill all the vampires?"
Buffy sighed, wondering how to explain this to her still mostly ignorant mother,
"It's complicated. Vampires are basically soulless corpses with demons. Angel was like that once. He was called Angelus then, the one with the angelic face. He became known as the Scourge of Europe and many other terrible things. For over one hundred years he maimed his way across Europe and other places. But then he ate the wrong girl. She was the favourite daughter of a tribe of gypsies. They took revenge on Angelus by giving him back his soul."
Joyce interrupted then,
"What, were they all out of boils and painful torture?"
Buffy shook her head,
"It's different. The thing about being a vampire is that you have no conscience, no morals. Vampires enjoy suffering. Angel killed his family and tortured and murdered countless others. For over one hundred years he offered a bloody death to everyone he met and he did it with a smile in his heart. He turned a young girl named Drusilla once. She had visions and he pretended to be a priest at her confessional. He told her she was evil and killed everyone she told him about. She finally went into a convent and was about to take her vows when he turned her. She went insane. When Angel had his soul returned, he remembered all the things he did and felt the guilt of one and a half centuries. He told me that the worst part was that those memories were good ones."
Joyce stared at her daughter,
"When did Angel receive this curse?"
Buffy smiled,
"1898, he then spent over ninety years alone with his grief and regret. Then a demon named Whistler showed me to him and he prepared to come here. He saved my life many times and I was already attracted to him when I found out he was a vampire. I still loved him after I found out about his past and his curse. On my seventeenth birthday, we… we… we made love for the first time. It was beautiful. But, his curse was more complicated than we thought. There was a break clause. If Angel ever experienced a moment of true happiness, if he ever stopped suffering, even for a moment, then his soul would vanish into the ether once again."
Joyce interrupted her daughter,
"So, when the two of you… slept together, he had this moment of true happiness?"
Buffy nodded,
"Yes, his soul disappeared. I told you that he changed, and he did. He became Angelus once more. He was the Scourge of Europe and the master of the Aurelius clan, one of the most powerful vampire clans in the world. He was truly evil. But I couldn't kill him. I always loved Angel too much. It was too hard to try and kill the person who wore the face of the only one I'd ever loved. It reached an impasse for a time. Then Angelus tried to pull the entire world into the hell dimension of the demon, Acathla. Willow had been trying to restore his soul. I fought Angelus and was about to kill him, when his soul returned. He didn't remember what had happened over the last few months. He just told me he loved me. I held him. But it was too late. The portal was opening. The only way to close it was to kill Angel. I kissed him, told him I loved him, told him to close his eyes, then I put a sword through his stomach and sent him to hell."Joyce gasped, but Buffy was not finished yet,
"He returned a couple of nights ago. He came back from hell for me. He suffered unspeakable torment for approximately five hundred years and he never forgot me. Then, last night, these witches and wizards came from England to look for him. I found out about his life as Harry Potter. He has to go back, to take revenge on the evil wizard who murdered his mother and father. And, I'm going with him. The headmaster of his school offered me a job teaching defence at his school. I'll be earning a full wage and will be able to continue my studies and take my SATs at the same time. I want to go. I can't be away from Angel any more."
Joyce stared at her daughter,
"You love him." It wasn't a question. "But what about his curse?"
Buffy smiled jubilantly,
"That's the best part. He told me that there's this enormous library at his school. Apparently just about every book on magic ever written is there. There should be one on gypsy magic. We'll be able to find a cure to the break clause; we'll make his soul permanent. Then we're going to get married. He loves me and he wants to marry me. In one way we already are. He gave me a claddagh ring on my seventeenth birthday and we made love that night. In Gaelic culture, we're already married."
Joyce stared at her daughter, it was one thing to find out your daughter was in love with a vampire, but quite another to find out she was married to said vampire.
"But, you won't be able to have children."
Buffy's smile faded,
"Mom, I don't want children. I'm the slayer. I don't want to bring innocents into my world. They'll never have any peace because of who and what I am. And, I wouldn't want my children growing up without a mother. I'm the slayer. Everyone dies sooner or later, but with me it's more likely to be sooner. I wouldn't want anybody forced into my world. There could never be anyone else. Part of me will always be bound to Angel. If I tried to be with anyone else I would never be happy and I would never be whole."
Joyce was stunned; she had never truly realised the implications of what it meant for her daughter to be the slayer until now. Buffy spoke again,
"So, can I go?"
Joyce looked into her daughter's eyes and saw the hope there and the love she knew shone for Angel alone. Separating her daughter from this man would be the cruellest thing she could ever do. She nodded,
"Yes, you can go. But you have to write and keep up with your studies and invite me to the wedding. And I want your father and I to go out for dinner with this Angel. I have never really met him and your father simply hasn't met him. Understood?"
Buffy smiled jubilantly and hugged her mom,
"Thank you. Thank you."
Joyce smiled faintly,
"That's alright Buffy, but breathing is kind of becoming an issue now."
Buffy flushed,
"Sorry, sometimes I forget my own strength."
Joyce smiled slightly at her daughter's embarrassment,
"That's okay. Now get off to school. And talk to that horrible Snyder rat man about getting your work sent to you."
Buffy sighed,
"Give me strength."
Joyce smiled as her daughter wolfed down her breakfast and grabbed her bag before running out of the door. It would be difficult when Buffy went to England, but her daughter had not been this happy since January. If Angel made her this happy, then he had to be all right. The vampire thing she would eventually come to deal with. Buffy deserved that.
Buffy ran all the way to school that morning, using her slayer speed to make it there on time. She groaned slightly when she remembered having to talk to Principal Snyder, but the fact that her mother had agreed to her being with Angel even made her feel almost good about Principal Snyder. Almost. She waved at Willow, Xander, Cordelia and Oz as she ran up the steps and towards the principal's office.
She came to a halt outside the door behind which lay her doom. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door. Principal Snyder's grating voice sounded after a moment,
"Come in."
She pushed the door open and stepped inside the office. When Snyder saw who was at his door he smirked malevolently,
"Ah, Miss Summers. Only just back at school and already making trouble. What is it this time?"
Buffy resisted the urge to scowl and merely rolled her eyes.
"Nobody sent me here, Principal Snyder. I came here to talk to you about continuing my studies abroad."
Buffy would have sworn that Principal Snyder smiled at that comment.
"Well, what is it?"
"Well, I have been offered a position at a highly exclusive English boarding school, teaching self-defence. I have accepted, but I would like to continue my studies and take my SATs. I was wondering if it would be possible for me to have the necessary work sent over and for me to sit my SATs abroad."
Buffy could see two emotions warring on Snyder's face, anger that she had been offered a position at an exclusive school and pleased to get her out of his school and hair. Pleasure won out,
"I'm sure that will be fine Miss Summer's. I will inform your teachers to give you the necessary work and will arrange for you to have your SATs sent over."
Buffy thanked him and quickly exited the office. It was very hard to stop smiling like an idiot, so happy was she at the prospect of her future. Only a few days ago it had all seemed so very bleak, no Angel and only slaying and an early grave to expect in her life. Now Angel was back and they would find a way around his curse. Her mother had given her approval and she was going to be teaching others what she was best at. All she could hope was that her friends and Giles were not too upset about her not telling them about Angel immediately.
That was the only real worry that she had left. She knew that it would be hard for Giles and the gang to see the difference between Angel and Angelus, but Buffy also knew that Angel would be torturing himself enough on his own without having to deal with the others' animosity.
She expected that Oz would not hold what Angelus had done against Angel. This was because she suspected that Oz could relate to Angel's problem, what with his full-moon issues. Cordelia would probably be more forgiving as she had never really known Angel before the events of Buffy's birthday and also thought that Angel was a complete hotty. Which, of course, he was. Willow would accept Angel. She could relate with Buffy, as her boyfriend became very hairy three nights a month. Even if it weren't for that, Willow would try to understand, as she had been the one who had always been there for Buffy all during the time when Angelus had been tormenting her.
No, it was Giles and Xander that Buffy was worried about. Mostly Giles. There was no love lost between Xander and Angel and Xander might need a swift kick up the ass, but he would be no worse really than he normally was to Angel. No, the only one Buffy was really concerned about was Giles. She knew that her watcher was an intelligent man, and he had always been the one to tell her how separate Angel was from Angelus. But Giles had also loved Jenny Calender very much; her murder would always be difficult for Giles to forgive. Then there was also the more pertinent issue of what Angelus had done to her watcher personally. The torture that the master vampire had inflicted on him was unimaginable. She hoped that the tentative friendship she had sensed between her soul mate and her father figure would ease some of the tension between them.
Faith was also an unknown quantity. Buffy hoped that she would not have to stand between Angel and the other Slayer, as she was developing a sister-ship with the other Slayer. Buffy tried to take it as a positive side that Faith had accepted her word for Angel and not attacked him the previous night. Maybe Buffy could set Faith up with someone. Her sister-slayer had always shown some attraction to Scott…
Buffy paled and halted in the middle of the corridor. How on earth was she going to explain this to Scott? She knew that, now Angel was back, it would not be fair on either of them to attempt to keep up a relationship. But she also understood that it would not be fair to Scott to break it off with him without any explanation. She'd have to ask Willow what to say. Somehow she didn't think that saying; 'Scott, it's been fun, but I'm going off to England with my two-hundred and sixty-eight year old undead boyfriend' was really going to cut it in the breaking up nicely stakes.
Buffy's musings were forcibly curtailed by her arrival outside of her history classroom. She pushed on the door and stepped inside. Her history teacher, whom she had only met a few times and whose name she couldn't quite remember, scowled and said,
"Miss Summers, you are late, as usual. I hope you have a reasonable excuse this time?"
Buffy flushed slightly at the laughter this comment attracted. Then she remembered that she had an excuse that was not 'I was slaying vampires last night and something weird came up. I had to go talk to my watcher about it, who happens to be the librarian here'. Smiling, she regained her composure and replied to her teacher's subtle jibe,
"I was in Principal Snyder's office, talking to him about continuing my studies abroad whilst teaching self-defence in an exclusive English boarding school."
Flicking and imaginary speck of dust off her duster, she took her normal seat at the back with Xander and Willow. Once the teacher had regained their composure, they continued with the lesson.
Buffy cast a quick glance at Willow and Xander, attempting to work out how mad they were with her. To her luck, neither of them seemed that annoyed. Willow looked slightly confused, but Buffy suspected that had more to do with the fact that there were magical schools where magic was an everyday thing and those who used it were normal, not special. Xander looked a bit annoyed with her at first, but then gave her a quick grin.
Opening up a notebook, Buffy tore out a page and wrote on it:
'I'm sorry about not telling you guys about Angel immediately, but he was not all there at first and I didn't want you getting hurt. Hugs and smoochies. Buffy.'
She passed the note to Willow and Xander and received it back a few minutes later, with another message written on it:
'We understand Buffy, but we should talk in the library later when everyone's there. We need to work out how many of us are going with you. X and Willow.'
Buffy smiled and bent her head studiously to her History work. Her friends really were amazing, not only were they supporting her in this, but they were also willing to go to England with her. Suddenly, history didn't seem as tedious as it usually did. If her friends didn't hate her for everything that had happened, she could survive anything. All she could wish for now was Giles support and the answer to Angel's curse in the Hogwarts' library. All of them had a free next period, even Cordelia, so they could go to the library then and talk to Giles.
When the, now extended to five, Scooby gang arrived at the library, Faith was there and Giles was sorting through a large pile of books, placing some in a case. Giles looked up as his slayer entered the room with her entourage. He smiled as she entered and stopped sorting through the books. Buffy spoke as soon as she saw her watcher,
"Giles, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you. But I didn't know how you'd take it and I wasn't sure if Angel was okay. I didn't know whether he was still alright, 'cos he was not at his best when he came back and…"
Giles held up a hand to forestall the flow of words and approached his slayer and wrapped her in a hug. Buffy froze for a moment and then returned the hug to the only father figure she'd ever really had in her life. She buried her head in his shoulder and cried. She didn't know exactly why she needed to do this, but she did. She had cried a fair share of tears last night with Angel, but she needed this connection with her watcher.
When she had moistened the shoulder of Giles' tweed suit, she sniffed and wiped her eyes, pulling away from her dignified English watcher. Giles seemed slightly embarrassed by the episode and coughed slightly. Then he asked, unable to curtail his scholarly curiosity any longer,
"How long… was Angel… there?"
Buffy shuddered slightly as she responded,
"If by there you mean Acathla's hell dimension, the answer is the equivalent of five hundred of our years."
Giles gaped in astonishment, a sight that Buffy would have found amusing if it weren't for the severity of the situation and the fact that she had to remember that she had sentenced the only person she had ever really loved to half a millennium of endless torment. After a moment, Giles recollected his jaw and murmured to the room in general,
"It's a miracle that he retained any vestiges of sanity and memory."
Buffy winced and then answered,
"He didn't remember much, only my name. He came back the night after the whole episode with Kakistos as far as I know. He arrived in the mansion, in the same place as was Acathla's statue. He ran from the mansion. I didn't find him 'till that night when I went on patrol while Faith was watching Oz. He was in the park. He wasn't quite himself. I chained him up in the mansion with some chains I found in Drusilla's fucked up room. Then I came back here to take up Oz watch and read up on possible reasons why Angel might have come back. You found me like that the next morning, Giles. That night was the whole Pete and Debbie fiasco. I followed Pete. He had killed Debbie. He was going to kill me, Giles. Then Angel arrived. He killed Pete and saved me. Then he came towards me. He looked at me. He said my name. He remembered everything then. Over the last few nights he's been recovering and regaining the last of his missing memories. That's the story as far as I know it."
All six of the other people in the room stared at her in astonishment. Although she had not said it in words, it was obvious that Angel had attacked her when he had first returned. To have lived through Angelus' stalking and having to kill the person she lived and then having him return and try to kill them, they doubted that they would have been able to survive. They had always admired Buffy's physical strength, but it was only now that the true extent of her mental strength was made clear to them. Then Giles remembered that Buffy and Angel had been on patrol the previous evening and he had to ask her how it went,
"Buffy, were there any mysterious disturbances that I should know about last night?"
Buffy smiled and nodded,
"Yeah, there was one. It terrified everyone in Willy's. Apparently the slayer walked in with a dark-haired vampire that everyone in the demon community is still afraid of and is supposed to be dead. By all accounts they ordered a diet coke and some double O neg. My sources tell me that they were there talking most of the night. Other than that, it was pretty quiet. I staked a couple of fledglings but that was about it."
Giles couldn't help but chuckle slightly at that. It seemed that despite all the upheavals going on in Buffy's life, she still had her sense of ironic humour. The scenario that she had described also amused him. He could just imagine the effect of Buffy walking into Willy's. Combining that with the shock of Angel walking in, as alive as a vampire could be, when he was reported dead and still thought of as Angelus. The effect of this would be highly amusing, but for the two to act like they were just normal customers of that bar, was highly entertaining as a concept. Giles almost wished he had been there to see it.
Just as he was about to make this observation, the door swung open. The first one to walk in was Angel, his sleeve smoking slightly but otherwise okay. Behind him walked in the two wizards and the witch from the previous night.
Silence fell over the library as Angel locked eyes with the Slayer's friends. He was unable to keep eye contact with them for very long. Then, Buffy broke the tableau by going to embrace her undead lover and check his injuries from the sunlight were merely superficial. Willow moved as well, going to the door to place the 'closed for re-shelving' sign outside of the library.
With one arm still around Buffy, Angel turned to the three Professors and said,
"Do feel free to take a seat, we may be here a while."
The dark haired wizards, whom Angel had introduced as Professor Snape, scowled and took a seat as far out of the light as possible. This was easy for him, as Oz had moved to close all the curtains when Angel had entered the room. The stern looking witch that Angel had addressed as Professor McGonagel merely sat in the nearest chair, whilst Albus Dumbledore sat down, his eyes twinkling constantly.
Buffy disentangled herself from Angel's grasp and approached the three visitors.
"I thought we weren't to leave until this evening. 'Cos I've got important stuff to do and people to talk to before I can go anywhere."
Professor Dumbledore smiled amiably at the young girl.
"No, we are still to leave this evening, however, there are certain details that must be discussed before we can depart."
Buffy was not appeased and scowled at the venerable old wizard,
"What kind of details?"
Dumbledore was slightly shocked by the strength of the seventeen-year-old's gaze. Even though he knew that she was the slayer, he hadn't expected this kind of psychological power in one so small. From what he knew of slayers, this attitude was not common among them. Even more unusual was the slayer's relationship with a vampire. Although he was not privy to the exact details of their relationship, it was obvious the two were deeply in love with each other and also completely devoted. Their feelings for each other were plain in their body language, the way they stood as close to each other as possible, the way they stared into each other's eyes when the thought the others in the room weren't watching. And also in the not so casual arm Harry, now Angel, had wrapped around the slayer's waist.
Dumbledore remembered then that the slayer had asked him a question and he replied to it,
"Nothing serious, just the extent of what we inform the other students about Mr Potter's transformation and sunlight allergy. Also, what exactly your position entails."
Buffy subsided at this and approached the table. Angel immediately moved to hold out a chair for her and, smiling, she took it. Once she had seated herself, Angel then took a seat. Unconsciously, they leant slightly towards each other once they were seated, as if trying to make up for months of separation in that moment. Albus smiled, he was very glad to see his favourite student so much in love with someone.
Angel turned his piercing gaze on his former professor. Dumbledore then remembered what his purpose there was,
"Ah, yes. Mr. Potter. I presume you will need to rejoin the fifth years to continue your education?"
Angel shook his head,
"No, professor, I attended Hogwarts back in the 1740s. I completed my magical education then. I went under the name Liam O'Connor and was in Slytherin and head-boy in my time. However, it might be more prudent if I returned to my fifth year of education. That would raise fewer eyebrows at the ministry."
Dumbledore nodded,
"You are quite correct, however, it will be difficult to explain your new appearance, Harry."
Angel jumped slightly,
"Sorry, I'm just going to have to get used to being called that name again. As for my appearance, we shall merely tell a slightly abridged version of the truth. We shall explain that I had an accident involving a rip in the fabric of space and time. The magical energy such transportation requires is so great as to have a permanent affect on aspects of the physiology. We shall say that I was transported back ten years in time and was unable to return until after I had left, otherwise the space-time continuum would have been obliterated and the fabric of the universe entirely destroyed."
Dumbledore processed this theory and nodded his approval of the plan. Angel continued,
"As for the sunlight issue, I will not say anything. I will have to stop playing quidditch and get my Care of Magical Creatures notes from Hermione. I will use the tunnels and avoid windows. If it would be possible for there to be some kind of arrangement that meant I didn't have to be in any classrooms where there are windows, that would be greatly appreciated. If you could think of some reason for me to have a room in the dungeons, that would also be very useful."
Dumbledore agreed that this plan was both realistic and the most sensible thing to do in the circumstances. Then Snape spoke silkily,
"These ideas are possible, however, I wish to know how we can guarantee the safety of the students. Soul or none, all vampires require blood to exist."
Angel flinched and Buffy started to rise from her chair to show the sarcastic potions master just what she thought of him. Angel placed a restraining hand on her arm and gently pushed her back into the chair. He then turned and faced Snape himself,
"I can guarantee that I will have an entirely safe blood supply. I have no doubt I will be able to locate a butcher to do business with as I do here. If worse comes to worst, I will steal blood from a blood bank or hospital. I will not harm anyone voluntarily."
Snape glowered and then jumped on this last word,
"Voluntarily?"
Buffy interrupted before Angel could reply,
"He gets a bit cross if you wake him too early, greaseball."
Snape started to retort but Dumbledore shot him a look. Resisting the urge to kiss Buffy, Angel answered for himself,
"My reflexes are honed from two-hundred and fifty years of combat here and another five hundred in another dimension. If I am attacked by surprise, I cannot guarantee the safety of the attacker. It would probably be advantageous if this message was insinuated among the students, particularly among those such as Malfoy who aren't fond of me."
Snape was forced to accept this answer and advice from one of his most despised students. Dumbledore then turned to Buffy,
"I trust you are still amenable to taking a teaching post at Hogwarts?"
At Buffy's nod, Dumbledore continued,
"Unfortunately, my hands are tied by the ministry and I cannot offer you the post of teaching magical defence. However, very few of our students have any concept of self-defence once they have lost their wand. If you would agree to teach this new subject, it would very advantageous to us."
Buffy smiled her acceptance of this, then Dumbledore asked,
"How many of you are going to be joining us in Hogwarts?"
Buffy turned to face the group, also interested in how many of her friends would come. Faith shook her head,
"Sorry B, I have to stay here and play stake the vamps on the hellmouth."
Buffy accepted this reason, knowing that it was imperative for a slayer to be stationed on an active hellmouth. The others all seemed to be united in their decision to go with her however. Before she could open her mouth to protest, Xander spoke.
"Buff, I know you-re probably going to tell us not to come. We've made up our minds. The four of us are going to continue our studies abroad with you. We've already arranged it with Principal Snyder. Will wants to study different magicks, Oz wants to see if he can do anything about his body hair issue and Cordy and I want to increase our life expectancy to anything above the next few days. We're your friends and we don't want to lose you again. And frankly we have better chances of staying alive over there than we do if we stay in good old Sunny-hell. Oh yeah, and G-man's your watcher, he has that whole, 'where the slayer goes I follow' thing going on."
Buffy smiled. Her friends never ceased to amaze her. It was somewhat of a shock that Cordy wanted to come with her though. Then she looked at Cordy and Xander and the way they looked at each other and it made a lot more sense. However much 'Queen C' might try to deny it, she had fallen hard for Xander Harris and was not going to risk losing him. Buffy's opinion of the cheerleader was raised a few more notches.
Just then, Buffy remembered exactly who had the real final decision when it came to who was allowed to come to Hogwarts with her and Angel. She turned to the headmaster Dumbledore and gave him her best death glare. She spoke in tones of ice,
"If that is amenable to you, Professor?"
The seemingly unflappable professor was, Buffy was pleased to note, slightly disturbed by her glare and voice. However, he regained his composure at record speeds. His answer was vastly acceptable,
"That is perfectly fine, Miss Summers. I do believe we may be able to assist your friend Mr. Osbourne and Miss Rosenburg's knowledge of magick will prove invaluable. As your watcher and a pure-blooded member of the wizarding community, even if he is a squib, Mr. Giles is more than entitled to join you. Mr. Harris and Miss Chase are also welcome to accompany you. Their introduction to the wizarding community will be permissible, as they are friends of the slayer. Also, they will go to reassure the ministry that it does not seem that we are planning a war against them."
Buffy accepted this answer, although she didn't like the idea of her friends being used as a political tool. Then something Dumbledore said jumped out at her and she turned to her watcher,
"You never told me you were a squib."
Giles flushed slightly and then answered,
"Yes, well. My mother was the eldest daughter of a very powerful magical family. My father's family also had magical connections as well as a heritage in the council. Because of these connections my parents were given permission to marry. As I was born a squib, I was not recognised by the family. This was what prompted me into some of my actions with Ethan Rayne. My mother was murdered not long after Voldemort first came to power. I have not been to the wizarding world since I was fifteen and went to Knockturn Alley with Ethan."
Buffy nodded, accepting Giles' story. Angel had told her about pureblood prejudices the previous night. She then returned her attention to the three Hogwarts professors,
"Well, if that's everything, I have to go and break up with Scott. I'm sure you all have things to do. Do them, and if you don't think of something to do. Angel, I'll see you this evening. Don't get burned or anything on your way back."
With that, Buffy swept out of the library.
Buffy found Scott sitting outside. He was sitting on a bench doing a calculus assignment. He looked up and smiled when he saw her. Feeling like she was just about to kill a puppy, Buffy say down. She smiled apprehensively at her boyfriend.
"Scott, there's something I need to talk to you about."
Scott looked at her and put his pen down when he saw the serious look on her face.
"What is it, are you okay?"
Buffy smiled slightly, Scott could be really sweet. She would have fallen for him under most circumstances, but he just wasn't Angel. Then she remembered what she was there to do and her smile faded,
"Scott, I don't want to do this. I'm going to England tonight."
Scott stared at her and it looked like he wanted to say something, but Buffy continued,
"Scott, I've really enjoyed going out with you and everything. You've been really nice to me and under most circumstances I would really like to be with you. But, things were really complicated for me when we got together and they just got more complicated. I want you to be happy and to have a normal life. I know that if you stay with me you'll never be able to have that. It's really complicated, but there are these people who want to kill me, I don't want you getting hurt. And there's this guy. He's one of the people whose supposed to be killing me, but he's a friend and he's more than that. He kinda fell in with the old crowd and we broke up, badly. But he's back now. I love him. I may never be able to have anything resembling normal with him, but I could never be with you knowing that I wouldn't be able to care about you like you deserved. You need someone who won't have to always have to stop themselves from thinking about someone else. I hope I haven't hurt you too much. I thought it was better that I tell you now instead of just going off to England and leaving you to wonder."
Scott had that look that was common amongst all men, that they wanted to cry, but were far too macho to do it in public. Buffy then reached her hand into a pocket of her duster and removed a small jewellery box. She placed it in Scott's hand and closed his fingers around it.
"I'm sorry Scott. I hope you can find someone who deserves it more than I do."
With that, Buffy gave Scott one last hug, stood up and walked away.
Buffy, Giles, Willow, Xander, Oz and Cordelia all met outside Angel's mansion as the sun sank over the horizon in a blaze of glory. They had already said good-bye to Faith, who was moving into to Buffy's house. Apparently Joyce needed someone to mother now that her own daughter had moved out and the younger slayer was the perfect target. Buffy was happy for Faith, the dark-haired slayer hadn't had a very happy childhood and it would be good if she could have something resembling one now.
They had all packed everything they thought they would need, which was a lot in Cordelia's case, or rather, cases. Buffy carried the suitcases into the hall, seeing the looks of gratitude she was given for such an action. They then all entered the mansion together. They found Angel waiting with the three Hogwarts professors in the entrance. Angel removed his wand and muttered something softly and suddenly the cases were the size of a quarter each. They gathered round a piece of parchment that Dumbledore held out and all made sure they were touching it, before the entire group, and their luggage, winked out of sight.
Tbc