CHAPTER TWO: EXPLANATION

"Your grandfather?" Giles repeated. "According to the Council, your grandparents are dead."

Buffy shook her head sadly. "And according to the Council, my father is still alive," she added. "The Council believes what Papa D wants them to believe. It would be hard for them to locate someone they believe to be dead. If they'd gone looking for my family, they'd have been…well, it probably wouldn't have been pretty."

Willow reached out her hand to gently squeeze Buffy's in comfort. The Slayer smiled softly at her best friend, thankful that she was finally able to tell them the biggest secret that she'd ever kept from them. They knew possibly everything else about her except for the truth in regards to her heritage.

Giles was looking more and more perplexed, and Buffy decided to take pity on him and continue explaining.

"My dad died when I was six-months-old," Buffy explained. "I don't know anything about him at all, except what my grandfather tells me."

"But…you told us that your mom and dad were divorced," Willow said, confused, and feeling a little betrayed that her best friend had been keeping secrets from her.

"My adoptive parents are divorced," Buffy replied. "It's…it's kind of complicated."

"Wait, you're adopted?" Xander asked.

"Mom…Joyce, she's my aunt. Dad's older sister," Buffy explained.

"So…Hank is Joyce's brother. Not her husband as the Council believes," Giles clarified.

Buffy nodded.

"Mom…Aunt Joyce was married to Jim Vincent. They divorced just before we moved to Sunnydale, and Aunt Joyce went back to her maiden name."

"So…where's your real mom?" Willow asked curiously.

Buffy felt tears well in her eyes, and her grandfather put a gentle hand on her shoulder for support and comfort.

"In a hospital. The long-term residents' ward," Buffy replied softly.

Silence fell as Buffy tried to compose herself. Her two friends gave her a moment to herself, realising how painful it must have been to think of her mother in a hospital.

"How long as she been in hospital?" Giles asked gently.

"Fourteen years," Dumbledore answered for his granddaughter.

"And Buffy's mother…she would be your daughter then?" Giles asked Dumbledore.

"Yes. Alice. A very talented…girl. Her second husband is also in the same condition," Dumbledore explained.

"Is that why you live with your aunt?" Willow asked curiously.

"Uh…not quite," Buffy replied. "I uh…just…alright, I'm seriously not allowed to be telling you any of this, so that's why I've never mentioned it before. I'm a witch."

Her two best friends and her Watcher were all struck dumb at her revelation. Whatever they'd been expecting, that hadn't been it. A witch? Buffy?

"Like Miss Calendar?" Willow asked.

"No, no. Miss Calendar's a technopagan. She practises Wiccan magic. Earth magic. With the right amount of focus and faith, just about anyone can perform Wiccan magic. Mine is…well, it comes from inside me. And uh…it gets channelled through uh…" Buffy couldn't bring herself to say it. It sounded too weird, even for her friends who had grown up on the hellmouth.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he produced something else from within his robes. He handed Buffy a sleek, smoothly carved black-wooded wand. Buffy took it from him gingerly and breathed in deeply as she felt the familiar rush of power flow through her veins.

"I thought they made you snap it," Buffy whispered.

Giles stepped forward to study the item that had just been handed to his Slayer. He'd never seen anything like it before, though he knew with perfect clarity what she was holding.

"Holy moses," Xander said softly. "Is that what I think it is?"

"A wand," Buffy replied, still looking down at it. "Willow wood, 11 inches, supple, with a single hair from Merlin's beard at the core."

"I'm surprised you remembered all that," Dumbledore teased gently.

"I'm not about to forget having part of Merlin's beard in my wand," Buffy replied. "And then when I met Willow and heard her name…I knew it was fate."

"Alright, so you're a witch, with a wand, and your mother is in a hospital. Does any of that relate to what happened to you earlier tonight?" Giles asked,

"In a way. The reason my mom is in hospital is because she was tortured for information. A very powerful, very dark wizard, Lord Voldemort was the reason why my mom and Frank were tortured," Buffy explained, trying to keep her voice calm as she spoke about what had happened.

"Frank would be your mother's second husband, then, yes?" Giles asked.

"Yeah. Frank Longbottom. He and mom had a son. Neville. He'd be…Merlin, he'd be fifteen now," Buffy commented. "Half way through Fifth Year."

"Voldemort was…well, not quite defeated, but he was banished fourteen years ago," Dumbledore explained.

"And now he's back," Buffy whispered softly, touching her now completely healed throat. She could still feel the icy cold grip of Voldemort's hands on her neck. It had frightened her badly, and she was still somewhat shaken from the encounter.

"And now he's back," Dumbledore concurred. "Six months ago he returned to power. He is currently gathering allies, and he believed that Buffy would be interested in forming an alliance."

"Why in heck would she want to do that?" Willow asked, somewhat furiously. "I mean, the guy tortured her parents, he's…he's evil, and scary and he hurt Buffy. There's no way that Buffy would join him."

"There's still more to the story," Buffy commented.

The two Sunnydale natives and Giles looked at her curiously, wondering what more there could be to the story. They could only hope that it wasn't nearly so painful as the last parts had been.

"I didn't grow up in America," Buffy admitted. "I grew up in Northern England, in Yorkshire. For nearly five years I went to a boarding school in Scotland. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Papa D is the Headmaster there."

"And I can assure you that I didn't allow my little Phoenix to call me that during school hours," Dumbledore interjected.

The Scoobies chuckled slightly and Buffy blushed a little.

"I started at Hogwarts when I was ten and a half, and…well, everything was pretty normal for the next few years. Then, in Fifth Year…I…well, I was Called. I had no idea what had happened, or why I was suddenly stronger, faster and more skilled than anyone else in my year. I went to Papa D, and…he realised that I was the Slayer."

"Which is why the Council never discovered you until after you were Called," Giles said, with a slight amount of excitement. "You remained at the school."

Buffy nodded. She'd worked that out upon arriving in America as well. The Council had almost immediately forced their way into her life, and announced her Calling as though it had only just happened that week.

"It was kept a secret. Only Papa D and two other Professors knew about it. Professor McGonagall was the Head of my House, so she needed to know where I was whenever I went patrolling, and Severus Snape, the Potions Master," Buffy explained.

"So…why aren't you still at this, uh…Warthog school?" Xander asked.

Dumbledore chuckled slightly at the mishmash of the name. "Hogwarts, dear boy," he corrected mildly.

"And, I'm getting to that Xand," Buffy added. "Like I said, I was Called halfway through my Fifth Year, just after my fifteenth birthday. None of my friends knew about it, and then…well, the guy I was dating at the time found out. Sebastian Fudge."

Xander snorted into his hand, but quietened down at the glare he received from Buffy, Dumbledore, Giles and Willow.

"He was a Seventh Year, seventeen years old. One of the Ravenclaw Prefects. At first, he'd been trying to help me study for History of Magic, but then…well, we both liked each other, so he asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him. After that, we were pretty much inseparable," Buffy explained.

Willow could tell where this was going. The only direction that this was leading was a place of pain and hurt, and she could feel her heart breaking for her best friend.

"What happened?"

"He followed me into the Forbidden Forest one night, maybe two months after I began patrolling," Buffy continued. "Papa D had given me permission to patrol after curfew on Fridays and Saturdays, and Seb was doing hallway patrol, looking for students who were out of bed after hours. I could usually get past the prefects without too much trouble, but instead of reprimanding me…he followed me."

"And he was injured?" Giles ascertained.

"Worse," Buffy replied. "I had no idea that he'd followed me until the next day. He didn't show up for breakfast, which…pretty big cause for alarm. No one misses Hogwarts breakfasts. None of his housemates had seen him, and he missed the Quidditch Game. Later that night, I found him."

"Dead," Willow whispered.

Buffy shook her head, swallowing hard. "Worse. He was a vampire."