I am extremely sorry for the long wait and this is sort of a short chapter, but my teachers seem to want to give me more homework, which since I do plan on going to college and into the medical field I should do. And family members and friends have been in and out of the hospital, but luckily nothing too serious. Mommy is sane and back home again with her rotten husband her turned her insane in the first place. Just so you know that rotten husband is not my father thank God. So it's been a hellride. Thanks to my reviewers and Matthew for being patient and barely mentioning my belated updating at all. Also thanks to David for iming me and giving me his thoughts. Really appreciated that.
Cesium: I think you might be the only person that caught that. So kudos to you!
matt: Aww you're sweet. But it was just Matthew messing with me. He got bored. Wait till you see how Ron reacts when he actually sees her training. Glad you liked the worm thing. Poor Jordan though. Thanks for the support.
A Watcher: Well I couldn't make them perfect, cuz that's just no fun at all. Glad you liked it.
becks89: Yes major blowup (and not just worms lol) coming up soon. This trailer was actually on the internet which my sister had to keep watching over and over. It was the Macbeth thing that was the trailer reference.
benny2000: Yes it will. But good things come to those who wait; a long time.
Nerwen: Oh yeah you're right I forgot about that episode. Well Willow doesn't know what it's like to be a ghost for 500 years and to be doomed for eternity into that existence. Thanks for pointing it out.
Tiger Tiger2: They're canceling Angel this sucks! No more Spike. And yeah Joyce kicked ass in that episode.
dancetdplc: Yeah I was having fun with the spidey sense. Hope to have more fun with it and Ron in the future lol. Yeah I always thought it was in England too, but it makes sense that it's in Scotland since Scotland isn't as populated and everyone is more spread out.
ScruffyWes: Well he's already got them up pretty high and it's not gonna be pretty when Willow and Buffy burst his bubble, but that is yet to come. More Wesley to come also as you wish.
Thanks also to Silver Warrior¸ and eth for reviewing. You guys rock! Keep it up! Oh and Matthew, you are not the only one who thinks that although from what I saw in the movie I can't say I agree with you.
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"They're all dead?!" Buffy asked incredulously.
All of the eight Aurors, some the Scoobies recognized and others that they didn't, nodded their heads grimly. Professor Dumbledore was sitting behind them watching the scene. His jolly countenance was gone; replaced with something akin to worry. If Dumbledore was worried, then that made the Scoobies very uneasy.
"So you guys got nothing outta them?" Faith ventured.
"Well, we did manage to learn some things," Tonks said.
"But how did they die? Surely you all had nothing to do with it," Giles said.
The dark-wizard catchers exchanged meaningful glances. What had happened completely flummoxed the lot of them. They thought that the group from Sunnydale might be better at shedding some light on the issue.
"Truthfully, we have no idea how it happened. We were questioning them and fifteen minutes into the interrogation they all simultaneously started having violent spasms and then they all died," explained Kingsley.
"You didn't happen to accidentally give them poison or something?" Willow asked.
"Merlin no! We would never be so utterly careless!" a middle-aged woman by the name of Emmeline Vance replied indignantly.
"Okay so the demons are dead and we don't know how, but what did you manage to learn from them?" Buffy asked.
Every witch and wizard in the room sighed and whispered among each other before answering the Slayer's question.
"We administered Veratiserum, the truth potion. Only on some demons it won't work, so we had to do truth spells instead. We developed many of those specifically over in America and Canada for demons because we have more of a problem with them than Death Eaters," Mr. Firewell told them.
"That's great, but what did you learn?" Xander asked impatiently.
"Well, they aren't working for Voldemort. Which is good and bad," Tonks said.
"How is that bad. I see that as good. Very of the good," Xander exclaimed.
"Xander, do please listen to what they are saying. If those demons that attacked us in London were not working for the dark lord, then it would seem we have another foe on our hands," Giles said to him.
"Oh. Not good. Definitely not good," Xander's face paled.
"This is why we didn't want the children to know about this just yet," Mrs. Firewell said softly.
"But that demon told me to stay out of the fight and that it wasn't my business. Last time I checked, this fight with Voldemort was the only one I joined recently. So they must have something to do with him," Buffy said her hands on her hips as she paced.
"Miss Summers, calm down please. It is not time to panic yet," Dumbledore spoke up.
Buffy took some breaths and ran her hand through her hair. She didn't even want to think about having another foe to fight. From what she had learned in these past few days about Voldemort and his infamous Death Eaters he was going to be difficult to defeat. Not only that, but according to that prophecy Harry was the only one who could kill him, which meant he needed to be kept alive at all costs. She stopped her pacing as a thought came to her. It had something to do with what Jordan's brother Aidan had said after the demon attacks.
"It means he could have just been testing Buffy out. Seeing how good she was."
She was about to speak her thoughts when Willow beat her to it.
"Are there ways to work around the, uh, Veratiserum and truth spells? People have been known to take sedatives like valium to fool lie detector tests in our world. Your ways are probably really good, but they can't be foolproof."
"I like this girl. Like the way she thinks," Moody grunted in approval.
"Yeah, I was just thinking about that, well not exactly that, but I was getting to it. What if they were testing me out? Maybe they were supposed to get caught. The big bads I've fought before didn't seem too concerned about the well-being of their servants. It sounds like this Voldemort guy is the same," Buffy pointed out.
"You're right about that. You-Know-Who is mostly out for himself," Tonks said.
"And Miss Rosenburg is correct about Veratiserum and truth spells not being infallible. There are indeed methods to counter the effects," Dumbledore said.
"Perhaps we should contact Angel at Wolfram and Hart to get his people on this," Giles suggested.
At the mention of the notorious law firm's name several of the Aurors loudly protested against the suggestion Giles had made.
"Merlin's Beard! Have you lost your wits?!"
"Absolutely not!"
"Are you barking mad?!"
"Well gee, don't all agree at once," Faith spewed sarcastically.
"I'm right with you all on that one," Xander piped up. Willow smacked him in the arm.
"Wolfram and Hart has had numerous dealings with suspected and convicted Death Eaters and other dark witches and wizards. Every Auror in North America has brought in at least one witch or wizard that has worked with Wolfram and Hart. They are not to be trusted," Mrs. Firewell replied coolly.
"But Angel is CEO and he's a good guy. He and his friends are working to change it," Willow said.
"Oh yes, Angel. One of the four Scourge of Europe; probably the worst of them. My daughter told me that you knew him. Can you honestly say you trust this vampire?" Mr. Firewell's voice was filled with venom. He was disgusted at the thought of anyone having association with a bloodsucker.
"I would trust Angel with my life. He has a soul and he is working to make up for what he did when he was Angelus. He would never betray us. Ever," Buffy angrily came to the defense of her ex-lover and the look in her eyes made Mr. Firewell's own stern gaze falter.
Mrs. Firewell laid a calming hand on her husband's arm. He relaxed at his wife's touch and tore his gaze from the Slayer. He knew he was being irrational about this. His daughter did inform him that this Angel did have a soul and wouldn't harm any good human being. But ever since he had found out about his precious little girl being a potential vampire slayer he developed an intense hatred for the undead. They were the reason she might die an early and brutal death; that she might be taken away from him too soon. When she had gone to fight at the Hellmouth in Sunnydale he never got a good night's sleep and was constantly imagining scenarios of her falling at the hands of a demon or vampire each one worse than the last. He of course never let Jordan know about his feelings and put on a proud, brave front for her sake. Aidan had been the only one to voice his true feelings on his sister's predicament.
"Honey, she's right. From what Jordan has told us and after meeting him he is trustworthy. We need him and his resources," Mrs. Firewell whispered to her husband.
"I know," he admitted.
Even Xander had to finally admit that calling on the vampire that he had once tried to compete with for Buffy's affections was necessary. He thought it rather noble of himself to go along with the plan.
"Shouldn't we tell the rest of the slayers? And maybe Harry and his friends ought to know," Tonks said.
Dumbledore chuckled with newfound merriment. "Oh I don't doubt they would find out soon enough anyway whether we told them or not."
"Yeah I guess so. Dawn will bug me all night and day about it anyway," Buffy sighed.
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"So let me get this straight, you had the surviving demons in custody and were interrogating them and fifteen minutes into the interrogation they started spasming and all that good stuff and flat-lined on you. Not only that, but with the truth spells and theratserum whatever stuff you found they don't work for Voldemort," Dawn recapped more to herself then to everyone else gathered in the room after the teenagers were allowed inside to hear what had happened.
"Pretty much," Buffy confirmed smiling sardonically at her sister.
"Go figure," Jordan muttered while shaking her head.
"Willow and Buffy had a theory though. It's both bad and good depending on how you take it," Giles said.
" It is possible that the demons were caught on purpose or whoever sent them knew they would get caught so they took precautions against truth spells and Veratiserum," Tonks told them.
"I still think all those stupid interrogations and protocol are lame. You shoulda just let me and B deal with em. Guarantee you those precautions wouldn't have done shit," Faith said.
Hermione had no doubt about what Faith meant by "dealing with them", but she had a feeling that the raven-haired slayer was right. She was a little shocked that she was agreeing with Faith's more aggressive suggestion of getting answers from the demons. The clever Gryffindor girl tended to abhor all manners of violence whether it be on those who deserved it or not. She deemed her new take on violence another aspect that came with the Slayer package and she was not sure if she was exactly happy with this one.
"Miss...Faith, I'll have you know our manners of extracting information are highly sophisticated and we do not sink down to the level of blatant physical torture!" an Auror named Sturgis Podmore exclaimed.
"But you deal with mostly human beings. Demons are our territory; we should have dealt with them whether they had connections with Voldemort or not," Buffy replied coldly.
"Well, it's a bit late for either of us to do anything about it," Tonks said.
"Is that all you guys talked about?" Aidan asked.
"Um....we were going to contact Angel at Wolfram and Hart and request his help, but other than that yes," his mother answered.
"You're kidding? That was it?!" Jordan hissed as she stood up and crossed her arms over her chests. "Why didn't you tell us all this the first time around. Or did you just sugarcoat everything?"
"Well, you all are rather young Miss Firewell," the Auror named Emmeline Vance said.
Jordan laughed derisively and put her hand on her forehead. Some of these Aurors still thought of them as children. It was absurd really considering everything they had seen or experienced. The ridiculousness of it suddenly made it all very amusing to the auburn-haired slayer.
"And your point is?" Harry asked, speaking up for the first time since he had entered the room.
"Oh their point is that since we can't count as many years as them we're much too delicate to hear the full story straight and true. Been there done that. We're not kids so stop treating us like it. We were there when the demons attacked too and some of us even fought them. We do need to know what's going on," Dawn clarified as bitterness filled her voice.
Almost every adult in the room stared at the tall brunette in shock that was slowly turning to respect and understanding. Dumbledore nodded his head in approval at the girl. The corners of his mouth turned up into a smirk at the expressions of guilt on some of the Aurors' faces.
"Go Dawn! I'd love to add on to that, but I'm due in Potions class in about five minutes. Aidan, I expect a full report on everything I miss," Jordan said before walking out of the room.
Dawn grabbed her things and departed for her first Transfiguration class, but she made sure to make Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles promise to tell her everything as well. Buffy watched her sister walk out of the room and couldn't suppress the awful sinking feeling that made her suspect the bitterness in Dawn's voice was partly because of herself.
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The Lord Voldemort sat in his silver chair encrusted with emeralds (colored in honor of his ancestor Salazar Slytherin) as he awaited for his servant to bring him news of how their latest plan came out. His snake, Nagini, lay by his feet coiled and ready to strike at any that dare threatened to come within five feet of her master. A year ago he had arisen thanks to Harry Potter himself who had been the reason of his downfall nearly fifteen years ago. Now everyone in the Wizarding World knew he was back. And the fear that had erupted and spread like wildfire gave him the utmost satisfaction. They shall learn to fear more than my name. He would make Potter bleed once more and he would make him scream in agony until his throat became too hoarse to even whisper. The boy would not escape him again.
His chamber echoed with the raps inflicted onto his door. Nagini lifted up her flat head and hissed.
"Enter," Voldemort answered loudly and slowly.
The door opened to reveal Wormtail, shaking and cowering as always and another who showed a great deal less fear. Wormtail guided the young man in and they both approached the dark lord. The shorter of the two, Wormtail, was no longer balding but now bald and where his robes use to be snug now hung loose. Service under the dark lord was a stressful, if not downright terrifying task. It was made all the more terrifying to someone who had been weak and cowardly to begin with. The taller, dressed in red and black robes, strode almost languidly down the carpeted aisle. He was pale of skin with dark chestnut colored hair that hung slightly above his shoulders. His dark brown eyes spoke of an ever-present lust for power and gleamed with unbridled malice. He was just like any Death Eater Voldemort had in his service. Only this man was not a Death Eater. He was a wizard born to two magical parents. In fact he was born into one of the eldest and most revered of all pureblood families left in the world. The family of Hastemire had been faithful servants of the Lord Voldemort in his efforts to cleanse the Wizard world of the Mudblood cancer that was growing larger by the year. Yes, the young man was definitely prime material for receiving the dark mark. There was just one problem. Unlike the rest of his brothers and sisters, this particular young man had been born without magical powers. He was a squib and therefore an utter embarrassment to his whole family. But he had other powers and though Voldemort despised all things Muggle; Wiccan magic did have its uses.
"My Lord, Hastemire has sssome news for you," Wormtail stuttered as he bowed low before Voldemort.
"I see. Leave us," Voldemort ordered.
Wormtail bowed again and skirted out of the room slamming the large oaken doors shut behind him. Disgusting fool, if he had not helped to raise me I would be done with him.
"Well Hastemire?" Voldemort asked impatiently.
"My Lord, I have some new reports from my demon contacts on the Slayer situation. One of the demons, Kralug, is a renowned seer in the Underworld and he sensed a great disturbance among the Slayer line. I should be getting a clearer report soon, but from what I was able to discern this doesn't look entirely well for you," the young man replied calmly.
"And what of your demon servants? Did they go after that girl and her friends from the recently destroyed hellmouth?" Voldemort asked.
The young man smiled maliciously. It marred his handsome face into an ugly hateful semblance of a man.
"Yes, My Lord. The Aurors took into custody those that survived. My spell worked perfectly and the demons were dead soon after. Although I am sure the Aurors managed to get in some questions," Hastemire quickly added when he saw his Lord's eyes blazing with fury. "But no matter. If they were to question if they worked for you they would answer truthfully 'no' since they work for me."
Voldemort stood up and walked down the stone steps to where his servant stood. This news of disturbance in the Slayer line was not something he was pleased about. Dumbledore had already joined forces with the Slayer, Summers, and the other one, the one who had once joined the dark side but had redeemed herself. Voldemort knew of these latest slayers because of his newest servant. Hastemire told him they could pose a threat. The young women imbued with powers rooted in darkness were very intriguing to Lord Voldemort. How powerful indeed he would be if he could harness that mysterious magic that made the Slayers.
"Very well. You shall inform me the moment you receive word with this demon seer of yours," the dark lord instructed coldly.
Hastemire bowed and said, "Yes My Lord."
"You are dismissed," Voldemort told the man.
Hastemire instantly turned on his heel and left the room in a much more dignified manner than Wormtail. What a cowardly little rat. He walked briskly down a long stone hallway and went down dozens of flights of stairs until he came to a black doorway with a hexagram invisible to all but him on it. He whispered some words in Romanian and the door creaked open. It opened to a dark, dingy, room filled with all the Wiccan paraphernalia one could find in a magic shop. Most, however, one had to acquire in the Black Market of the Underworld. Hastemire threw some herbs into a bowl and whispered some more words, this time in Latin. Then in English he uttered,
"Show her to me."
The smoke eddied and swirled to form a picture of a pretty, young redheaded woman. Hastemire watched as the woman's red hair became ebony colored and her fair skin was marred by blue veins. And her eyes changed to liquid black and burned with anger, and unspeakable pain. The young man smiled at the picture.
"You wanted to end it all my dark angel. You have no idea of the powers you possess do you?" he whispered lovingly to the picture as if she were actually able to hear him.
Ever since he had heard of the powerful Wicca Willow, one who had managed to bring a person back from the dead, he had become obsessed with her. Long had he searched for someone to aid him in overthrowing Voldemort and taking the Wizarding World for his own. Willow had passed the test with flying colors only she didn't know it yet. He cared little about the slayers and whatever might have happened to disturb the line of the Chosen. Voldemort is a fool for not seeing her power, her darkness. Hastemire could not boast that he was the most powerful warlock for he wasn't. Although he did have access to powers many others didn't. Willow was far more powerful than him, but she was far more vulnerable and less willing to use her magic. He knew that she shied away from using her powers to their fullest potential. But you shan't have to worry about that because I will teach you to not fear the black magics. Such gifts they give to us.
All his life he had been shunned and ridiculed for being a squib. His family was the worst. His father had beat him repeatedly; his mother had flat-out ignored him; his siblings had viciously taunted him; and he had to watch with growing hatred as they went off to Hogwarts while he was left at home hidden away from the world. When he grew into adulthood he left his home and pursued another path of magic. He learned all there was to know about Wicca just to spite his family since they were ardent Muggle-haters. His hatred of his family continued to fester until the spark finally became fully ignited. Under the influence of dark magics already he had concocted a plan to be rid of his family once and for all. Oh and carrying out the plan; he had never felt so powerful as when he took his young niece and snapped her delicate little neck. That he knew he hadn't needed to do, but he couldn't resist it when the young girl had just awoken and walked down the stairs of his brother's home to get a glass of water. She had looked so innocent with her blonde curls and baby blue eyes it had been almost sorry to watch the light go out of them as she died. And the look on his brother's face when he had found his daughter lying at the foot of the stairs dead was priceless. Years had passed since then and he knew some of his family still survived, but forever fearing the day when he would come for them too. He would make them pay soon enough. But first he would claim the redheaded Wicca as his own dark bride.
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Boy he's a sick twisted psycho isn't he? Damn he turned out even eviler than I planned. Looks like trouble is headed Willow's way.