Reviewer Responses

GoddessofAllDarkness- Thank you! Another person that agrees with me about Ginny and Harry being meant to be. LOL! Please keep reading and reviewing.

NearlyHeadlessNic- Thanks for the lovely compliments. I am glad you'r liking my stroy, please keep reading.

Sara Lila F- Thanks for the advice. I didn't really look up the spell, I just vaguely remembered that the Latin word for flame/fire was flammare and thought it would work. I'll have to double check.

Pilzey the Joker- Oh the horror…being surrounded by munchkins. LOL! Thanks for taking the time to review, even though you were tired.

Lady Solaris- Glad to see you're still with us. I hope you like this next chappie.

Buffy-CrazyaboutAngel- Sorry it was short…I felt like leaving that little cliffy…hehehehehe

Just Me Prime- Thanks for the compliment. I thought Buffy's reaction was in character… especially since it was her younger brother she was talking about.

Radiofreegirl- Thanks for the compliment. And welcome to the list of growing readers.

Arica, Princess of Rivendell- Are you by chance related to the girl with the penname Morwen12? LOL! Here's the next chapter.

Mistressofmetal- Thanks for the ocmpliments, I am glad you are enjoying my story.

Lady Saffron of the Daggers- hehehehehe…I am sooooooo EVIL aren't I? LOL! Well actually I'm really not. I thought I did pretty well in keeping everyone in character. I'm sorry you weren't able to complete your costume. But it sounds like you managed. And can I just say "claiming your Snape's daughter" just…shudders at the thought of Snape having a kid Congrats about the play. I hope you do well. Good luck and break a leg (that's just a figure of speech…not an order. LOL!

Moony'sMate- WOW! Long time no see. And thanks for the compliments. I hope to get more reviews from you in the future. Please keep reading and reviewing.

Kat Hawkins- Here's the next chappie as requested….thanks for reading and reviewing.

General Mac- taps chin with finger It's an idea. I hope you like this chappie.

Toniboo- Thanks for the compliments. Keep reading and reviewing.

Spacehog26- Thanks for the compliments. I hope to get more reviews from you in the future. Keep reading.

Chapter 11:
Introductions and Explanations Part 1

As the group disentangled itself, there was a loud shout of:

"FILTHY MUDBLOODS DIRTYING MY HOUSE! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE YOU BLOOD TRAITORS!"

Buffy turned and looked expectantly at Harry, who replied, "That's the portrait of Sirius' mother, Mrs. Black. She doesn't like anyone who isn't a pureblood, or doesn't believe the same b.s. that Voldemort does."

"Can I slay it?" Buffy asked with a wicked glint in her eye. A glint that only Remus, Willow, Xander, Dawn, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Harry knew to be wary of. It was the glint of a slayer on the hunt.

Harry looked at Dumbledore, who looked like he was about to crack a smile, and Dumbledore replied, "Be my guest my dear. No one has been able to get her off the wall or even shut her up completely."

Buffy grinned ferally and strode off towards the sound of the voice and walked into the front parlor, where the portrait was located.

The rest of the group followed the tiny blonde slayer into the room, Dumbledore, The Golden Quintet (Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Dawn), The Weasley's, and the rest of the order (excluding Snape, much to the Quintet's delight), to watch the show.

Buffy stood in the middle of the room looking at the portrait, seemingly oblivious to its rantings. Then, she did something unexpected; at least for those who knew her well, she spoke calmly and evenly.

"You do know that Sirius is dead right?" she asked the portrait.

The portrait startled, stopped mid rant and looked at the blonde. "What? WHAT WAS THAT YOU SAID MUDBLOOD!"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "I said, Sirius is dead Mrs. Black. His cousin, your niece, Bellatrix, killed him two months ago," she repeated, her words said slowly as if she were speaking to a young child.

"S-s-s-s-s-sirius? He's dead? My son is dead?" she asked, her voice sounding weak and sad.

Buffy nodded her head. "Yep and all because your master, old Moldy shorts, ordered him dead. So I suggest either you shut up and unstick yourself or…actually that's the only way."

A moment later, the sound of something becoming unstuck permeated the house. Buffy strode forward, grabbed the portrait, and made to throw it into the fire. As she was about to heave the portrait into the fire she heard it scream:

"NOOOOOOOOOO! YOU SAID YOU ONLY WANTED ME TO SHUT UP AND UNSTICK MYSELF."

Buffy turned the portrait o look at it and replied, "When did I say that?" and without further ado, the ugly old bat was thrown into the fire. As she turned to the group behind her, she started dusting her hands off. She then noticed the jaws dropping on the newbies, and chuckled.

"H-h-h-h-how did you…" the first redheaded twin began.

"…do that?" the second asked in awe.

Buffy grinned. "I have my ways," she replied, then let her eyes scan the room. She looked up at Dumbledore expectantly and he nodded. Buffy then turned her gaze to everyone and said, "All right, I'm sure you all have questions, right?"

Everyone nodded their assent. Buffy sighed. "Ok why doesn't everyone get a seat, and I'll be right back," she motioned to Xander, Willow, Remus, Dumbledore, The Quintet, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, who followed her just outside the room.

After casting the secrecy charms, Buffy asked, "We need to tell them something," everyone nodded agreement, "However, I don't think it would be advantageous for us to reveal just how Harry is related to me and Dawn," again, another nod.

Willow then spoke up and asked, "Professor Dumbledore, does everyone know of the existence of slayers in this 'world'?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Of course, though most assume it's a legend, unless they've been to the Auror academy, became a member of the Ministry, or met up with one before."

Xander grinned. "Well Buffy, it looks like one less worry. If the people with the magical mojo know about slayers, then you don't have to worry about them knowing about your slayage."

Buffy nodded then looked to Willow. "What do you think Wills?"

"Xander's right," she said, "but you might want to check with Giles and see what he says."

"Can you use cell phones in here?" Buffy asked Dumbledore.

He nodded. "Yes, the only places you can't use any kind of modern technology like that is at Hogwarts."

Buffy, however, had stopped listening after he said yes and was already waiting for Giles to pick up the phone.

"Hello?" the voice of her watcher answered.

"Hey Giles. I wanted to run something by you," she said.

"Buffy," he began. Buffy could tell by the tone of his voice he was already polishing his glasses. "What was it you wanted to run by me?"

"Well, Diagon Alley was attacked earlier today, while we were there, by Voldieshorts' thugs. But we quickly took them out and…"

"…you used a mix of magic and your slayer abilities didn't you?" Giles continued, as he cut her off.

"Yea, anyway, some of the members of the Order of the Phoenix, the group Dumbledore leads that's against Voldie, saw what I did, and found out I was with Harry and now want an explanation," she admitted. "We're not going to tell them who Harry's related to me and Dawn, but we were thinking about letting them know I was the slayer."

On the other end of the phone, Giles sighed. His slayer and her friends got themselves into more trouble than a pack of wild dogs. His thinking about what Buffy had told him was suddenly cut off by her telling him that everyone in the magical community knew about the slayer, as either a myth, or reality.

"You should tell them," Giles said cautiously, "but do not tell them about the other girls, you may end up having to tell them about Faith; but we don't need them to be getting ideas, or for the knowledge the entire slayer line for this generation has been activated to get into the wrong hands."

Buffy smirked. She had thought the same thing and replied, "You know I would do anything to keep those girls safe from having to live the life I did." She paused, then said, "Can you get Faith on the phone? I want to ask her permission to reveal she's the 'other' slayer."

Giles put her on hold and after a couple minutes of waiting, Faith picked up.

"Yo, B," she greeted her sister slayer. "G said you needed to talk with me?"

"Yeah Faith," Buffy then explained the predicament they were all in. "…and now I need to tell them I am 'the Slayer'. I don't plan on telling them about the girls, but if they ask about my life as a slayer…." She trailed off.

"…you may have to tell them about dying and of course that will lead to Kendra, and that will lead to me," Faith finished. "So why did you call B? I know it wasn't just to tell me about what's the what."

"The reason I called was to make sure it was ok to tell them about you," Buffy admitted.

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On the other end of the phone, Faith was shocked. She knew that she and the rest of the Scoobies had patched things up. But she didn't expect them to be so completely considerate of her feelings. A minute later, after the shock wore off, Faith replied, "B, go a head and tell them what is necessary."

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Back at the Black House, Buffy smiled. "Thanks Faith. I'll let you go and get back to training the mini-us's and the new Watchers. Huh, who knows, maybe we will get a few new watchers from Hogwarts in June."

Faith chuckled. "That'll be interesting to see. All right, I got to go before G has a stroke. Later B." And with that Faith hung up the phone.

Buffy turned back to the group with her and said with a wicked grin, "It's a go."

The Scoobies, Golden Quintet, Remus, Dumbledore and Arthur and Molly Weasley all followed Buffy back into the room where Minerva McGonagall, Alastor Moody, Nymphadora Tonks, Severus Snape (who had just flooed in), Amelia Bones (the current Mistress of Magic), Mundungus Fletcher, Hagrid, Bill, Charlie, Fred and George Weasley were all waiting for the explanations.

As Buffy was about to walk in, she felt the sense of something really dark, even more so than the werewolf sense Remus gave off. She turned to Willow and asked, "Can you sense that Wills?"

The redhead nodded her head. Closing her eyes, she faced the group and using her new abilities, those she had gained courtesy of using the slayer scythe to activate he slayer line. As she scanned the group, there was one person, whose aura was 99 dark and only 1 light.

As Willow opened her eyes, she could still see the edges of the auras on the group and her eyes stopped on Snape. She turned to Buffy and said, "That man, the one with the long greasy hair, he's the one with all the dark magicks."

Dumbledore, who had overheard them, looked shocked at that statement. "Are you absolutely sure Willow? Severus has always maintained he stopped using dark magicks. Could they be residue from spells being cast on him?" he asked worriedly. He hated to think that one of the people he trusted, and entrusted the care of children with had lied to him and was still working for the dark.

Willow thought for a few minutes about Dumbledore's question. "It's entirely possible that some of the dark magicks are residue…but the majority are from practicing the darker arts. If I were you I'd suggest you use a truth spell or serum," Willow confessed.

Dumbledore sighed, and suddenly felt ten times older than his one hundred-fifty years. Today has just not been his day. He motioned for everyone to walk in. Once everyone entered, he looked up and finally broke the silence.

"Severus," Dumbledore called out.

"Yes, Headmaster?" Severus asked, casting suspicious looks at the newcomers, Harry and Co. and Remus.

Dumbledore didn't want to do this, but he had no choice. "I want you to take a dose of veritaserum, and I want to make sure you are not under the effects of a spell," he admitted, then turned to everyone else in the room. "That goes for you all as well."

Once everyone agreed, the beginning of the interrogations went smoothly, until they reached Snape. Snape took the required three drops and sat on a chair. As soon as his eyes glazed over, the sign that the veritaserum was working, Dumbledore started to ask questions.

"Which side are you loyal to? The Light or The Dark?" Dumbledore asked the first question.

"The Dark," was Snape's reply.

"Are you loyal to Voldemort?"

"Yes."

"Are you working as a double agent?"

"Yes.

Suddenly Harry decided to ask a question that had been nagging him. "Is Umbridge a member of the re-activated Death Eaters?"

"Yes."

"Ha! I knew it!" Harry crowed. The entire group looked at him strangely. "What? You can't honestly tell me that none of you thought that Umbridge was NOT a Death Eater?" Everyone, except the Scoobies, looked at one another and then back at Harry nodding their agreement with his assessment. "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if Fudge was a Death Eater as well."

Before anyone who knew Fudge could counter the argument, Snape spoke. "He is a Death Eater as well…" he trailed off as the veritaserum wore off.

(To Be Continued in Chapter 12: Explanations Pt 2)