CHAPTER EIGHT: CELEBRATION

On the walk up seven flights of stairs, Buffy was slightly surprised that she and Professor McGonagall were able to keep up a conversation. She'd never been particularly close with any other Professors, except for her grandfather and Professor Snape of course, so actually being able to discuss anything with a Professor seemed somewhat strange to the Slayer. Perhaps it was because she was so used to talking about everything with Giles.

"The House Cup's still in your office I hope," Buffy commented as they reached the sixth floor flight of stairs.

"Thankfully yes," McGonagall replied. "Professor Snape's been horrified by it all, I can assure you of that."

Buffy grinned and chuckled slightly. "Only because we've got a decent Seeker on the team," Buffy replied. "I swear, I don't know what Williamson was thinking letting me be a Seeker for a year."

"He believed that someone of your stature would be an asset. Plus, you do have to admit that you're a reasonable flier," McGonagall said, coming about as close to giving a compliment as she ever did.

"Yeah, except I haven't flown since Flint knocked me off my broom in the Quidditch Final in Second Year," Buffy replied. "I'm still terrified of heights. I swear, if you hadn't discovered Harry's talents for Quidditch, Wood was gonna rope me back into being Seeker again."

"Well, it seemed to turn out for the best," McGonagall replied. "Gryffindor has not lost the House Cup since young Mr Potter's induction into the Quidditch Team."

"True. Even with Uncle Sev trying to take off as many house points as he can get away with," Buffy added with a grin. "I don't see why he even bothers, he knows Papa D's just gonna give them back."

"Yes, but that wouldn't be so much fun would it?" McGonagall asked with a small smile.

"I had no idea that you Professors were so…evil," Buffy commented.

"Well, we must find pleasure everywhere we can," McGonagall replied. "Even if it is in tormenting the students."

"Has Uncle Sev managed to scare Neville out of his shell yet?" Buffy asked curiously.

"Not a chance. If anything, I believe your poor brother's even more terrified of Severus than ever before," McGonagall replied. "Young Neville's boggart actually turns into Professor Snape, I'm afraid."

Buffy couldn't contain the burst of laughter. "Are you serious?" Buffy managed to gasp. "Nev's that afraid of Uncle Sev?"

McGonagall tried to keep the smile off her face, but was somewhat unsuccessful. "I believe that your 'uncle' seems to take pride in scaring the poor boy."

"I'll have to try and fix that. Uncle Sev's a complete kitten underneath it all," Buffy said.

"I wouldn't use that phrasing to his face, however," McGonagall suggested.

Buffy grinned and they stopped at the portrait of the Fat Lady. Buffy took a deep breath, looking up at the familiar portrait.

"It's good to be home," Buffy whispered softly.

McGonagall patted Buffy's arm softly. "You'll be fine, I assure you," the Professor said encouragingly. "The password is mimbulus mimbletonia. And I believe the house-elves have placed all your belongings in your room with the other Seventh Years."

McGonagall reached into her robes and pulled out a piece of parchment. Buffy took it gingerly and glanced over her class schedule.

"I suppose I'll see you tomorrow then," Buffy murmured as Professor McGonagall turned and walked down several flights of stairs to her own living quarters.

Buffy looked up at the Fat Lady and grinned, remembering how often she'd raced up the stairs, and yelled the password halfway to the portrait so she could get inside more quickly.

"Welcome back Miss Summers," the Fat Lady said with a small smile.

"Thanks," she replied with a grin.

"Password?"

"Mimbulus mimbletonia."

The portrait door swung open, and with a feeling of finally being back where she belonged, she stepped through the door and just stood in the entrance to the common room, taking in the sights, sounds and smells of a room she hadn't seen in nearly two years.

There were so many familiar faces, and so many newer ones as well. Half of the students were already in their pyjamas, some still in their uniforms, and others in regular clothing. Shouts and cheers came from all over the room, games of Exploding Snap and Wizards Chess taking place at various tables, while others were sitting doing homework, trying not to let the loudness bother them.

She spotted her old group of friends, and with another deep breath, she silently walked towards them, being as unobtrusive as possible. She looked around for her half-brother, but was unfortunately unable to spot him among the crowd. No one paid her any attention, and even when she took a seat next to Lee Jordan, who was leaning across, reading off Fred and George Weasley's piece of parchment, they still paid her no mind.

"If I were you, I'd try setting off everlasting fireworks in the corridor," Buffy suggested, trying her hardest to regain her British accent, rather than the American one she'd worked so hard to achieve. "Can't you just imagine the Professors trying to get rid of them, only to accidentally create more?"

"That's brilliant!" Lee cried, looking over their initial ideas.

"Fantastic," George agreed.

"Inspired, really," Fred added.

Buffy grinned, waiting for the trio to catch on. Lee was the first to realise that it hadn't been Angelina, Alicia or Katie to give them the suggestion. Lee looked up and across to see a smirking Buffy beside him.

"What? How…when? Oh, bugger it all!" he yelled, lunging towards her and hugging her tightly.

Buffy laughed and returned the hug. Fred and George had looked up at Lee's exclamation, and then turned to each other grinning. They both stood and raced around the table, converging on the blonde Gryffindor girl in a tight group hug.

"Not even we went so far as to get expelled!" Fred yelled, as they pulled away.

The sudden burst of loud noise had grabbed the attention of most of the students, and anyone in third year and above all grinned in recognition. Angelina, Katie and Alicia, their fellow Seventh Years raced towards her, grabbing her in a tight hug.

They were all babbling at full speed, shooting off questions at a high speed and a higher pitch than should have been legal. The hugs continued, and the questions kept flowing, regardless of the fact that Buffy hadn't answered a single one of them.

It seemed as though anyone who'd been around Hogwarts when Buffy had left wanted to come and greet the girl, and only when everyone had received their hug did the room quieten down.

"Where's Neville?" Buffy asked, looking at her Seventh Year friends.

"In his room probably," Lee replied.

"We can go grab him," George offered.

Buffy nodded absently as most of the room began dispersing, seeing as no answers were forthcoming from the blonde girl. Or at least, no questions would be answered until Neville was there with them, and they hoped that the twins would return quickly from their mission.

Several moments later, Fred and George returned, dragging a confused looking Neville down the stairs, followed by Harry, Ron and Hermione, who had been drawn to Fred and George's hyperactivity over who knew what. As a prefect, Hermione had felt the need to make sure nothing nefarious was happening, and Ron had been dragged along for the ride. Harry, not wanting to be left alone in the dormitory, had followed behind them.

"What's going on?" a rumpled looking pyjama-clad Neville asked, looking completely confused. He suddenly came to a halt in the centre of the Common Room. His eyes widened, and his mouth gaped open in shock. Buffy bit her lower lip before grinning at her younger brother. Neville managed to overcome his shock and raced towards her, picking her up slightly and twirling her in a hug.

He set her down, grinning with more enthusiasm than anyone had ever seen in him before.

"Merlin, I can't believe you're here," he said quietly.

Buffy grinned and placed a hand on his cheek, unable to believe that the young man in front of her was her brother. "You're so tall," she said, blinking back tears, hating that she'd missed so much of her brother's life. It hadn't even been a full two years, but it felt like a lifetime since she'd seen her younger brother.

"And you're so little," he replied with a grin, straightening to his full height, which was nearly four inches taller than his older sister. "You look…amazing."

"I'll second that," Lee commented from the sidelines, reminding the siblings of everyone else's presence in the room.

"Third," Fred added.

"Fourth," George continued.

"How are you even here?" Neville asked. "Gran said you were never coming back."

"Let's just say I had a redefining moment, and leave it at that," Buffy replied with a secretive grin.

Seeing that the siblings reunion was over, Harry, Ron and Hermione stepped forward. Hermione gave the older girl a tight hug.

"Hey 'Mione," Buffy greeted her young friend. "No trouble with trolls recently I hope."

"Except for Umbridge, no," Hermione replied with a smile.

Buffy's jaw dropped at the slight against a teacher. She was shocked that Hermione had it in her to be so callous towards an authority figure, but seeing as Buffy had met Dolores Umbridge years ago, she wasn't inclined to have any sympathy for the toad-like woman.

"We'll have to chat later," Buffy said. "I want all the goss."

Hermione nodded, casting a slight glance at Ron, then towards Harry before looking at Buffy. The Slayer had seen the glance and couldn't wait to hear what had developed between the famous Gryffindor trio.

Ron's ears tinged red when Buffy stepped forward and kissed his cheek, earning two loud wolf-whistles from George and Fred.

"Oooo…shiny," Buffy commented, gently touching Ron's Prefect badge. "I'm surprised Gred and Forge haven't disowned you for this."

"Oh, we nearly did," George assured her.

"But ickle Ronniekins strayed from the path we tried to show him," Fred added dramatically, a hand to his forehead.

"So shameful," George finished.

Buffy grinned at their antics, suddenly remembering why she'd always got such a kick out of Xander. And while her Sunnydale friend hadn't had the twins penchant for mischievous pranks, he still reminded her of the Gryffindor Seventh Year boys.

"Congrats Ronniekins," Buffy said with a grin.

"I'm never going to convince you to stop calling me that, am I?" he asked with a groan.

"Not a chance," she replied easily.

Harry stepped forward, and Buffy very nearly didn't recognise him. Oh, he still looked exactly the same. Dark black hair, glasses and stunning emerald eyes, but the way he carried himself was strikingly familiar. He had the look that she'd often seem in the mirror. It was the look of pain and guilt and the weight of the world resting on your shoulders.

Buffy hugged him tightly, hoping against hope that she would be able to help him in some way. It was one of the reasons her grandfather had brought her back here, and she hoped she would be able to perform that job to the best of her abilities.

"We'll talk later, okay?" she whispered for his ears only. "Tomorrow before breakfast."

Harry looked confused, but the tone in her voice left no room for arguments. Baffled, he nodded his head and looked slightly downwards at her.

"Where?"

"Name a place," Buffy replied.

"Quidditch Pitch," Harry replied easily.

Buffy groaned and rolled her eyes. "Should have known. I'll meet you there at six."

Harry nodded and they pulled away from the hug.

The rest of the night was spent with the other Seventh Years, plus Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville filling Buffy in on what she'd missed of the last year and a half. She'd had suspicions about Remus Lupin being a werewolf, but she'd never confronted the DADA Professor, or asked her grandfather about it, so it didn't come as a surprise.

The entire explanation of the Tri-Wizard Tournament was insane, and there was something that everyone had left out towards the end of the explanation, casting sympathetic looks towards Harry, who had closed up tightly on the un-named subject. Buffy made a mental note to ask Harry about it the next morning.

She then heard about the return of Voldemort, again with missing details, and the subsequent slandering of Harry through the Daily Prophet. She'd known that Dumbledore had been expelled from the Wizengamot, but she was shocked to finally discover why. She'd also known that most of the wizarding world seemed to have come down with the Sunnydale Syndrome of denial, but she was surprised to hear that so many of their peers considered Harry to be a liar.

She then heard all the complaints about Umbridge, and the sudden introduction of a High Inquisitor for Hogwarts and the subsequent inspections of the other classes. She also heard about the 'evil Quill of death' that etched words deep into the skin whenever you wrote with it. Lee had complained long and loud about the use of it, and several others had absently rubbed their hands in remembrance. The twins and Harry had moaned about their life-long ban from Quidditch, that had Buffy completely baffled by the complete harshness of the punishment.

As a clock struck midnight somewhere deep with the towers of the castle, the students disbanded and blearily made their way to their bedrooms. Neville gave his half-sister a tight hug, and Lee pressed a quick kiss to Buffy's cheek, surprising her slightly. It wasn't a gesture she would have expected from the dread-locked boy.

"Six o'clock," she whispered to remind Harry, who nodded his agreement before moving up the stairs towards his dorms.

"I'm really glad you're back," Hermione said with a grin. "My idiot friends actually seem to listen to what you say."

Buffy smirked slightly. "That's cos Ronniekins knows I can kick his ass any day of the week."

Hermione chuckled as they headed up the stairs, Angelina, Alicia and Katie following behind. The girls said a quick goodnight to Hermione before continuing down to the Seventh Year dorms.

Buffy opened the door and grinned at the familiar round room, the beds evenly spaced. All of her belongings were placed carefully around the desk, her uniform on a chair, and her new textbooks piled at the foot of her bed. Her trunk, containing both clothing and weapons was next to the books, and Buffy couldn't help but feel as though she'd never truly left Hogwarts at all.

The other girls saw the look on Buffy's face and all grinned at each other. It hadn't been the same since Buffy had left, and they were all sorely disappointed that she hadn't remained on the Quidditch Team, seeing as all of them were Chasers for Gryffindor. But, there were just thankful she was back with them.

Across in the boys' dormitories, one Fifth Year student couldn't keep the grin off his face. Ron nudged Harry and pointed at Neville, the usually quiet boy's good mood rubbing off on the others.

"What's with the grin then, Neville?" Seamus asked curiously, having missed the commotion in the Common Room in favour of finishing his Potions essay that wasn't actually due for a few more days, but he and Dean had wanted it out of the way.

"Buffy's back," Neville replied happily.

"Your sister?" Seamus asked.

Neville nodded, still grinning happily as he folded back the covers to his bed. He shut the curtains and quickly got changed behind them before opening them again. "She's here to stay. Well, until she graduates, I suppose."

"That's brilliant Neville," Dean commented. "She doesn't seem too bad for an older sister."

"She's great," Neville replied.

"To you maybe," Ron replied. "Fred and George had her calling me Ickle Ronniekins from the first day she met me!"

Harry grinned suddenly, laughing at the memory. "I'd forgotten about that."

"Lucky you!" Ron replied, grinning. He had to admit, the twins' friends were good fun, even if they did tease him. Plus, Buffy had always done so in a manner that showed she held him in a warm regard.

The others quickly changed for bed and slid beneath the covers, talking quietly until one-by-one, they all succumbed to the seduction of darkness.

grins Again, I apologise for the lack of updates. And a cookie for anyone who spotted the less than subtle promotion for one of my other fics…which was also updated. grins

Toodles.

K.