The Discovery

"I know! Aren't the teachers great?"

"Yeah! I'm kind of looking forward to having Professor Lystra, though."

"Me, too. Who do you think will be the first teacher to let him teach us?"

"I don't know, but I'm kind of hoping it will be Snape."

…

"C'mon, Buff. You need to get back to the castle."

"I'll be fine," Buffy whispered through clenched teeth. Xander gripped his friend around the waist, supporting most of her weight. They had been patrolling in the Forbidden Forest when they were ambushed by several demons like the ones Walsh used to make Adam's arms. (A/N: Anyone who can tell me what that demon is called will get a cookie. Anyone who can give me the name and description – how it kills, etc – of other demons will get a cake.) One of the wooden poles had been shoved entirely through Buffy's stomach.

"You've been impaled, Buffster, that is one of the low on the fine scale."

"I think Spike'll finally be able to teach."

"Great. Deadboy and Deadboy Junior teaching a class together…"

"I thought you and Spike were…"

"Just because we're doing the naughty doesn't mean we can't tease each other."

…

"Welcome back to class. In case you haven't noticed, Buffy won't be in today. She is…"

"A bit under the weather and can't join us. I'll be filling in for her until she's able to walk again."

"What happened to her?" One of the students asked. Spike and Angel exchanged a look.

"She got in a fight and has hospital-phobia. Madame Pomphrey can't patch her up, so it'll take awhile for her to heal," Spike finally answered. The class went by quickly, and all too soon it was time for lunch. The students filed out of the class, but the 'Golden Trio' didn't make it much farther than a foot outside the door when Hermione remembered that she left a book on her desk. They headed back to the classroom, grabbed the forgotten book, and left again, not noticing how silent it had suddenly become when they walked into the room.

…

"C'mon, George. Hurry up!"

"I'm trying! Do you have any idea how hard it is to remember which leaf to scratch of this bloody tree?" The Weasley twins stood on the Hogwarts grounds, trying to get into a tree they had enchanted the prior year. One particular leaf (charmed to not fall off) if scratched would admit the scratcher into a secret room. The twins used that room to invent all of their pranks. Suddenly they heard voices from the direction of the school and both climbed into the tree in order to hide.

"Listen, Buffster, I'm just saying that you shouldn't be patrolling in your condition."

"I'm injured Xander, not pregnant."

"Yeah, 'cause if Deadboy got you pregnant that would be so much preferable."

"The sarcasm is not appreciated."

"I'm just saying, you have a nearly-fatal stab wound in the exact same place the last nearly-fatal stab wound you got. You shouldn't be trying to find and fight the many things that go bump in the night."

"While I appreciate your concern, I have to remind you that, not only is Angel keeping watch over me this entire time using the ultra vamp senses thing; I wasn't stabbed in the same spot. This puncture wound is about an inch more to the left than the stabbing from the uber-vamp."

"Which means it's closer to your stomach, and there's no taunting First here to bring you back to your feet this time." Buffy looked her friend in the face, one eyebrow raised and her eyes widened, as if asking how he could know what happened. "Kennedy and Faith told me," Xander explained. "And just so you know, I can't use CPR to bring you back to life if you die of something other than drowning or choking."

"Don't worry; next time I die I'll make sure you can bring me back to life using normal methods."

"Thank you. I really didn't want to have to drag you out of Heaven again."

"That's good. One less thing to worry about." Buffy and Xander passed under the tree Fred and George were hiding in. If George hadn't sneezed, they would never have been found. But, as he did sneeze, Buffy heard him and looked up. "And that's one more…" she whined, motioning the twins to come down. "So how much did you boys hear?" she asked when they reached the ground.

"Only that you died."

"And were taunted by a first something."

"And you've been stabbed."

"Twice."

"And Professor Harris brought you back to life."

"Twice… I think. That part was confusing."

"And Professor O'Conner has some kind of 'ultra vamp senses'."

"And Faith saw you get stabbed before."

"Well, that's pretty much everything. Xander, stay here with them while I finish my patrol. And don't give me the insulted cow-to-pasture look. I want you to make sure they don't run off before we can talk to them. Besides, you have both eyes back." Buffy took off running toward the Forbidden Forest, leaving Xander with the twins.

"Both eyes…?" Fred questioned. Xander sighed and raked his hands through his hair.

"You'll probably find out soon enough."

…

"What's the big emergency?" Spike asked as Xander led the way into the common room. Before anyone could answer Xander had him in a lip-lock. They finally broke apart when the human needed air. "If that's the emergency, you know I can fix it, pet," Spike insinuated. By that time Buffy and the twins had made their way in, and the students' jaws were hanging open at the public display of affection between the two 'men'.

"What are they doing here? This is like our teacher's lounge," Andrew whined, holding another empty Hot Pockets box. "And tell Faith to stop stealing my Hot Pockets! She does it just to be mean."

"Shut up, Andrew. We have more important things to worry about," Buffy snapped. Andrew sat down on the couch, clasping his hands under his chin as he leaned over the back to listen.

"What's so important? There can't be another apocalypse; I just died in the last one," Anya announced as she entered the room, Giles in tow.

"Or maybe it's another Hell god… No dying this time, Buffy!" Everyone rolled their eyes at Dawn, who sat cross-legged on the floor, playing another game of Black Jack with Faith. Neither had bothered to look up, thinking it was only a few demons coming their way.

"You know, I almost actually wish it was another apocalypse…" Xander murmured, causing everyone to look up in shock. "Okay, I got their attention. You do the big talking, Buffy. Make with the Speeches."

"As you all know, these are Fred and George Weasley. They heard me talking to Xander during tonight's patrol. The conversation concerned… my skill in dying and his in bringing me back to life-"

"And that you're not pregnant!" George piped up. Angel and Spike both raised an eyebrow.

"The statement went something like, 'I'm hurt; not pregnant'." The vampires nodded and motioned for her to continue. Before she could, though, Fred spoke up.

"Just making sure, but is everyone aware that Professor Lystra is sitting on Professor Harris's lap?"

"It's only bad until you catch them sharing a shower… Ew!" Cordelia never looked up from her nail-filing through the entire speech. The twins exchanged a look.

"You have a problem with our preferences?" Spike asked, starting to stand.

"Nope. Just never met people-"

"Who were so willing to accept it."

"That's always been the least of our worries… Well, it has been since Willow went chick."

"And now I'm happily back in the land of dicks!" Willow countered, making a face when she realized what she had said. "Not to say that I didn't…"

"Don't worry about it. I agree," Tara assured her, confusing the twins even more.

Finally, Buffy began talking again, telling the twins everything she could (Reader's Digest version) about the past seven years of their lives. By the time she was done it was almost morning. Both of the twins looked exhausted, and they were jealous of the others in the room, who looked like they could last another fifty hours without sleep and still be fine. They felt it safe to mention this aloud, considering all they now knew.

"Oh, we've gone longer."

"Yeah, that week before the First came Buffy went almost a week without sleeping."

"And then she got that axe/scythe thing from Caleb, and then saved all of the potentials."

"And then helped get them all bandaged."

"While not knowing if she was even allowed in her own house!"

"Hey! I did sleep in between the week and getting the axe!"

"Only six hours," Giles scoffed, obviously not pleased with that little detail in the woman's life.

"Yes, well, these two need to get to bed. Lucky for you, today's a Saturday. We're going to need to tell Professor McGonagall about all of this soon. You two need to keep this between all of us, okay?"

"Sure."

"Promise!"

…

"Heya Peaches," Spike greeted as he walked past the older vampire. Angel grabbed his arm loosely and spun him so they were face to face.

"Why do you always call me Peaches?"

"It sounds better than Vanilla."

"And that has to do with this… how?"

"That's your scent. Peaches and vanilla."

"Really?"

"'Course."

"I guess that works. Yours fits you better, though."

"I have a scent?"

"Of course you do. Everyone has one."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Your scent is honey, cinnamon, and a little bit of baby powder."

"Great…"

"It could be worse…"

"How?" Spike pouted up at the older vampire.

"I once knew a spider demon who smelled like roses and seashore candles."

"I don't even want to know how you know what seashore candles smell like, Sire."

"Sire?"

"Sorry… it just came out…"

"No! I just never thought I would ever hear you call me that again."

"So… you're not mad? I mean, I can keep calling you that?"

"Of course!"

…

"Professor Summers!" Buffy looked up when she heard her name called across the Dining Hall. She turned to see Fred and George waving at her. "When are you going to tell Professor McGonagall?"

"About what?"

"You being the Slayer." Buffy's eyes widened in horror and she turned to her friends to help her get out of it, but her hesitation proved the statement's truth. As if to further prove it, Fred covered his mouth, his own eyes as wide as saucers. Buffy turned to look at Dumbledore.

"Would you do the explaining? I was up until four in the morning two weeks ago explaining it to these two." When she had Dumbledore's assurance that he would, the petite slayer turned on her heel and left the room. Silence reigned for a total of two seconds before loud conversation could be heard. Dumbledore let it continue for a moment or two to get it out of their systems before he held up his hands for quiet. Since it was lunch time, all of the students and few of the teachers were present, making it harder to regain order in the room.

Dumbledore told the whole story, leaving out only the true nature of some of the teachers, and that he was related to four people in the new group: one by blood, one by magic and blood, one by adoption, and one by marriage. Dawn crawled under the table right before he got to the part about her being the key between the dimensions; once used by a hell god to open a gateway to hell, which was closed when Buffy jumped through it and died. When he finished the students were too shocked to resume conversation. At least five of their teachers had died, and most of them had spent time in another dimension. It was too much to think about.

…

"Today we'll be talking about Justice Demons."

"Otherwise known as Vengeance Demons…"

"I told you Xander,it was only to the men who deserved it."

"You destroyed the world…"

"Only because Cordelia wished for it, and none of us have strong memories of that anyway."

"But it still happened."

"And we'll start with what I did to my very first victim!" Anya interrupted, smiling. "At first I still sort of liked him, so I only turned him into a frog. Godric told me to turn him back, so when Jamis was human again I covered his penis with boils and infected him so that the disease would slowly eat away the skin on his b-"

"That's enough Anya. The students are starting to look ill, and I don't think I'll be able to sit down for a month." Thankfully, that class was only for one period, and everyone rushed to their next class.

… …

"Okay, since you now know about our identities and, probably, some of our… adventures, is there anything you feel inclined to learn about?" Angel asked to begin the next DADA class with fifth year Gryffindors and Slytherins. A Slytherin boy in the back raised his hand.

"Mr. Zabini?"

"I wanted to know more about how you defeated Caleb… and what he was."

"Caleb was a man who merged with the First to receive some of it's power. I defeated him by slicing him in half."

"After almost cutting his head off…"

"That was before he got all dribbling black stuff from his mouth and eyes…"

"And before he knocked me out…"

"You were only out for a second."

"It was enough time for you to slice through him… did you go head down or…"

"Nope. Started at the crotch and went up. Anya was so proud when I told her-"

"Buffy, Sire!" Spike rushed into the classroom, looking around wildly until he spotted the Slayer and Master Vampire. "You need to get to the room now!"

"What is it Spike?"

"Darla… she's been… Just come!" He turned and rushed back out of the room. The two professors shared a quick glance before rushing out after him, Buffy calling over her shoulder that Hermione Granger and Millicent Bulstrode were to lead their houses back to their dorms.

…

"Okay Spike; spill. What happened with Darla?"

"She joined Voldemort."

"What?"

"How do you know?"

"Even after I got that chip I had some contacts in the demon world. When I got my soul most of them dropped me, but when I came back after destroying Sunnyhell they wanted to make sure they were on whichever side I was fighting on. They keep me informed on what's what."

"And Darla joined Voldemort?"

"Drusilla, too."

Angel swore loudly, roughly jerking his hand through his hair. Buffy walked over to him and hugged him. Angel looked down at her and smiled, putting his arms around her waist and returning the hug.

"So what do we do now?"

"First off we need to tell Grandad what's happening," Buffy announced, beginning to head toward the door.

"And then what?" Oz asked, drawing her back into the room.

"We wait."

… … … … …

A/N: What do you think so far? I'm still having fun writing it – luckily – so there will definitely be more chapters coming. You people seem to be liking it so far… And don't worry; I'll be bringing the Harry Potter cast more into it in the next chapter.

Thank you:

catseye348: I'm going as fast as I'm allowed! One of my stories was deleted for being in script format, and I haven't been allowed to update in over a week. Before that I had alot of school junk to deal with. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Chara13: I hope this one was up to par.

Black-Raven3: I haven't decided yet if they'll be in the story or not, but even if they are, they probably won't play a major part. I'm trying to have more interaction, but it's difficult with this many characters.

Kyra2: Thanks, and I think it'll be interesting, too. As to your question... One more chapter and you'll find out.

texaswookie: I had to add that in there... Glad you liked it!

xoxox-xoxox: And here's another one! I hope you enjoyed it!

SarahTee: Thanks, and I'm trying to update quickly... Stupid life keeps getting in the way... grins

NixiNox: Thanks, and here's the latest.

GeneralMac: Same to you. I'll write more if you write more in reviews, deal?

UK All The Way: Yeah, gotta have youngish teachers! And you didn't miss anything. It'll be explained in the next chapter. Yeah... Spike and Angel really aren't morning people.