AN: CHAPTER SIX, I FELL SO SELF-ACHIEVED. AM TRYING NOT TO THINK ABOUT THE TWO-HOUR EXAM I HAVE THIS AFTERNOON. THIS IS DISPLACEMENT THERAPY.

DISCLAIMER: DON'T OWN AND NEVER WILL. AM TOO MUCH FEMALE TO EVER BE JOSS WHEDON

RATING: PG-13, MAYBE MORE LATER ON

Chapter Six

The party disappeared from the mansion on Crawford Street to reappear in a small and dark room. The three older wizards kept their feet, but the young slayerettes fell to the grown. Buffy, Angel and Giles, who had also kept their feet, helped the others to stand. Angel looked around and then turned to Professor Dumbledore,

"Where are we?"

Professor Dumbledore smiled and then answered,

"Number 12 Grimmauld place. This is the Order headquarters and also the family home of your godfather."

To the surprise of those from Sunnydale, Angel paled, if that were even possible for a vampire,

"Sirius, he's here."

Dumbledore smiled and nodded,

"Yes, he's been very frightened for you."

Angel smiled,

"Can we go and find him?"

Dumbledore nodded,

"I am sure that that would be pleasing for him and Remus."

Angel suddenly became nervous, unsure if his friends would accept him for what he had become. Buffy sensed this and wrapped her arms around him. Nuzzling against his broad chest, she whispered so that only she and he could hear,

"If he really cares about you, he won't care what's happened to you. And if he hurts you, I'll kill him, human or not."

Angel smiled down at his petite blond lover,

"That won't be necessary, I'm just really apprehensive. For him it's only been a few months since I last saw him. For me it's been two-hundred and fifty-three years here and then all that time in Acathla's dimension, I can barely remember what they look like."

Buffy smiled at him,

"It will be okay, Angel."

Dumbledore couldn't help but smile at the dynamic between the two. It was obvious that they were completely in love with each other. He then asked his student,

"When do you want to meet everyone?"

Angel thought for a moment,

"If you summon everyone to a meeting, we'll introduce ourselves then. If I come in last, the others will have slightly broken the ice a little."

Dumbledore nodded, it was a sensible idea. He sent the two other professors to make sure all the windows in the house were closed and then went himself to arrange the meeting. He hoped for Harry's sake that his friends would understand everything that had happened over the summer.

Ron and Hermione were in the kitchen with the other young Weasleys, all trying to work out where Harry might have gone. The two other members of the golden trio hadn't heard from the boy-who-lived since the end of July, when his last letter had arrived. They hadn't been told much about the progress being made by the order into finding out where he was. They were told that this was confidential order business.

Their theories as to where Harry might be became more and more fantastical as the summer progressed. Now it was almost a competition to see who could come up with the most ridiculous idea as to where he might be, now it was Hermione's turn to guess,

"He's run off to join a monastery in Outer Mongolia."

Run smirked, having decided that he had the best idea yet,

"His cousin confused him for food and accidentally ate him."

The other youths around the table groaned and threw chunks of cauldron cakes at the youngest male Weasley. Fred, or it might be George, came up with his own suggestion,

"He's gone to Las Vegas and become a showgirl."

This idea was greeted with more groans from the group and more bits of thrown cake. Ginny was just about to give her idea, involving a giant man-eating pumpkin, when the door swung open. Professor Dumbledore entered the kitchen. Many other members of the order entered behind him. Mrs Weasley, who had been standing by the stove, listening to her children's' ridiculous ideas, turned to tell the students to leave,

"Children, Hermione, go to your rooms and don't even think about using those ears."

The Weasleys and Hermione groaned at the order, but stood to leave anyway, Professor Dumbledore intervened before they could leave the room,

"No, Molly, they need to be here for this meeting."

Mrs Weasley looked as if she might protest, but a stern look from the headmaster curbed any complaints she might otherwise make.

Once the entire Order was sat in the room, including the four youngest Weasleys and Hermione, Professor Dumbledore spoke,

"We were searching through the magical emissions documentation from this July, when we came across a highly disturbing piece of information."

Many questions arose from this comment, but Dumbledore dismissed them all by waving his hand slightly. He then continued,

"The danger did not seem to be relevant to the disappearance of Mr Potter, but it was almost as important. There was a very high magical output from the Hellmouth in Sunnydale, California. Checking previous magical records proved that this emission was indeed from an identical magical signature as the infamous vampire, Angelus, who was thought to have disappeared at the end of the 19th century."

Many more questions were shouted at this point, the vampire Angelus was well known to all the order members. The idea that he might still be around was terrible. The chances that he might join forces with Voldemort were high and the prospect terrifying. Dumbledore once again raised a hand for silence and continued with his story.

"Professors Snape, McGonagall and I apparated to America and located the place at which the magic reading was identified. We entered the mansion, to which we were admitted by the slayer that killed the master. We asked to see Angelus, and we were eventually allowed to meet him. To our astonishment, we discovered that Angelus regained his soul at the end of the 19th century, thus explaining his disappearance. Even more astonishing was what happened when we met Angelus. He told us he was now using the name Angel and was willing to return with us to help in our fight against Voldemort. The slayer was willing to teach a course of muggle self-defence at Hogwarts and some of her friends, as well as her watcher, accompanied her."

With that, the door to the kitchen opened once more and a group walked in. Most of the group was about seventeen, but one was much older, this one could only be the Slayer's watcher. When they were seated, Dumbledore continued,

"The most astonishing thing was the information Angel was able to give us about the whereabouts of Mr Potter."

This time there was silence greeting Professor Dumbledore's remark. The aged wizard continued,

"Angel was able to inform us that Harry had not left his relative's house. There was an accident on his fifteenth birthday that caused a rip in the fabric of space and time. Harry woke in Galway, Ireland in 1743. The magic used in such transportation was so intense as to have a significant affect on Harry's physical appearance. Harry was found and raised by the Duke of Galway and given the new name, Liam O'Connor. Ten years later, Harry was turned by a vampiress known as Darla. Harry became known by his middle name, which was now Angelus. For one hundred and fifty years he travelled with Darla, and two other vampires later on. His exploits during this period are infamous and can be read about in most volumes on vampires. What is not well known is what happened after that. In 1898, Angelus fed from a gypsy girl. The girl was the favourite daughter of the Kalderash tribe. The tribe elders cursed Angelus with his soul. After many years, Angelus, now known as Angel, came to Sunnydale, to help the slayer. The story after then is complicated and not mine to tell. But Harry, now Angel has agreed that he must return with us to fight against Voldemort."

A stunned silence settled over the entire room and then the door swung open. All eyes turned to the open door. There, framed by the door, stood Harry Potter, now the ensouled vampire known as Angelus. Dumbledore's comment about changed appearance was correct, Angel was tall, with dark brown hair and eyes, but he still possessed the infamous lightening-bolt scar on his pale forehead. He was dressed all in black and there was great grief and suffering in his dark eyes.

Nobody moved. The entire room was filled with silence. Then the blond stranger, who could be the slayer, rose from her seat in the corner and approached Angel. She wrapped her arms around his chest and led him to where she had been sitting. She sat him down and then placed herself in his lap. She glared at everyone who dared as to so much as look at them. All the females in the room couldn't help but gaze at the startlingly beautiful vampire who used to be a young wizard that could only be described as cute at best.

Then, Ron stood; he scowled at the others in the room and yelled,

"I can't believe this. You just let him come back after everything he's done, after all the people he's killed. He should be killed."

Stunned silence settled over the room. The look of guilt on Angel's face was terrible to behold. The English witches and wizards seemed to be too shocked by Ron's instant betrayal of the man who used to be his best friend. Then Buffy rose from her position on Angel's lap. She stalked across the large kitchen to where Ron stood and slapped him across the face.

The sound of flesh hitting flesh resonated throughout the room. Colour rushed quickly to Ron's smarting cheek. But Buffy wasn't finished yet. She kneed him in the groin hard. Ron bent over and clutched at his stomach. Buffy brought her elbow down on his lowered head with a sickening crack. This final act brought the others in the room back to reality. Angel rose from his seat smoothly and ran over to where his lover was beating the shit out of the boy who used to be his best friend.

He caught Buffy's arm just as she was about to deliver a solid right hook to Ron's back. She struggled against his iron hold on her arms and spat down on Ron's twitching form. Gently, Angel pulled her away from the red-haired wizard and sat her down in her chair. He then knelt on the floor besides her.

"Buffy, you shouldn't have done that. He didn't deserve that."

Buffy shook her head,

"He shouldn't have said that. It's not true."

Angel smiled sadly at her,

"Buffy, everything Ron said was true. I do deserve that."

Buffy shook her head violently,

"NO, you don't. Angel, if I have to say this once people will be able to accuse me of being repetitive. What Angelus did was not your fault. Angelus was a demon and you're one of the best people I've ever met. I love you so much."

Angel smiled up at the woman he loved more than anything else in the world.

"How can you say that, Buffy you know what I did."

Buffy stroked her lover's dark hair,

"Angel, if you can't forgive yourself you'll never be able to do anything."

Angel once again wondered what he had done to deserve this beautiful and understanding woman. Then Buffy turned on Ron,

"As for you. You're lucky Angel decided for some reason to let you live. Because I would have quite willingly broken all the rules about not killing humans for what you just said. You have no idea how much Angel has suffered for what Angelus did. Angel spent five hundred years in hell this summer. If I ever hear anyone saying that again, then not even Angel will be able to stop me from ripping their head off with my bare hands. Is that perfectly understood?"

The look on Buffy's face was so serious that no one would have dared dispute her. Then Charlie Weasley asked the question that was on all of their minds,

"Who ARE you?"

Buffy smirked as she answered,

"Me, I'm the Slayer, I think you might have heard of me."

The jaws of everyone in the room dropped. If it had been possible for a jaw to actually fall from their head without the use of a knife, it would have happened. Buffy smirked even more. Angel gave her a small half smile that made all the females in the room go all wobbly around the knees. Buffy proceeded to glare at each one of them before smiling back at her lover. Then Dumbledore cleared his throat, gesturing at Angel to begin with the introductions,

"This is the Order of the Phoenix I presume professor?"

The entire room gaped at the vampire, after a moment, Tonks asked,

"How'd you know about the order?"

Angel smiled bitterly,

"Well, they, or rather their predecessors, tried to kill me in the 1850s, I kept an eye on them ever since."

The order members then truly realised the meaning of what had happened over what had seemed for them to be only a month. It had been centuries for the immortal vampire that used to be known as Harry Potter. They realised that it was a miracle that he still remembered their names and wanted to help them. Then, Angel began to introduce the gang from Sunnydale, gesturing to each one as he spoke,

"This is Rupert Giles, from the Watcher's Council, he is Buffy's watcher. The redhead is not a Weasley; she's Willow Rosenburg, a highly talented Wicca with potential to become even more powerful. That's Daniel Osbourne but everyone calls him Oz, his secret is his to tell as he wishes. The slayer also goes by the name of Buffy Summers. The other girl is Cordelia Chase; she's a cheerleader and a valuable member of the gang. And, as every village needs to fill its idiot quota, this is Sunnydale's resident moron, Xander Harris, but feel free to ignore and generally abuse him."

Buffy attempted to look annoyed with Angel, and failed miserably. She laughed instead, whilst Xander carried himself with the air of one with injured pride. The other Scoobies stared at Angel however and after a moment Buffy commented on it,

"I think you just used your entire quota of words for one entire month."

Angel shrugged and attempted to look innocent. Buffy's heart soared as she looked at him. She had been worried about what his reaction might be to returning to the life he had left behind a long time ago, but it seemed to be doing him a world of good. Then Buffy spoke to him,

"If you don't mind using up next month's words, can you introduce us to the others here."

Angel nodded and introduced the wizards, taking much less time than he did for the gang from Sunnydale.

"Everyone, this is Charlie, Bill, Fred, George, Ginny and Ron Weasley and their parents Molly and Arthur. That's my godfather, Sirius Black and my former Defence Professor, Remus Lupin. That is Hermione Granger, the resident Willow. You know the professors, but the others are Mundugus Fletcher, Nymphadora Tonks and Alastor 'Mad-eye' Moody. And finally, that is Fleur Delacour, Beuxbatons graduate and TriWizard competitor."

The Scooby gang nodded at the others in the room, whilst some of the Phoenix members wondered how Mr Potter knew their names without ever being introduced. Angel almost laughed as he watched Buffy eye each of the order members and judge their fighting capability. Even more amusing was watching Harris gape at Fleur until Cordelia hit him on the head and clamped his jaw shut. However, he did not laugh, he doubted some of the party from Sunnydale were adjusted to the idea of him smiling yet, not even to think about laughing. Then he saw Dumbledore looking at some of the other senior members of the order and he rose to his feet, Buffy slipping out of his lap as he did so.

"I presume you wish for us to leave now, Professor?"

Dumbledore nodded and the Scooby gang left the room, followed less eagerly by the younger Weasleys and Hermione. Once they were upstairs, Hermione led them to a large room, where they all proceeded to find seats, although Willow and Buffy chose to sit in their respective boyfriend's laps. Cordelia lounged on a sofa and Xander arranged himself at her feet. Once they were seated, Fred Weasley decided to begin the conversation,

"So, Harry, how was Vegas?"

Tbc.