"I think it's a bad idea," said Severus as he walked into the Great Hall with Dumbledore. "Is there nothing I can say to dissuade you from this?"

"I'm afraid not, Severus, my mind is quite made up, and the rest of the staff agrees with me. I think it's an excellent idea, besides, you could use some revelry."

Severus "harrumphed" & swept off to his seat.

It was Saturday evening and students were trickling into the Great Hall for dinner. When the hall was filled, Dumbledore clinked his fork against his goblet and stood up. "May I have your attention, students, before you start another delicious meal? I have an announcement to make. After much discussion, the staff and I have decided that Hogwarts will have a dance."

The room erupted in excited chatter. Dumbledore cleared his throat to regain attention.

"Yes, I know, Hogwarts does not usually host dances except under extraordinary circumstances such as during the Triwizard Tournament, but we've decided that considering the unfortunate events of the world, the school could use some levity. The dance will be held on Halloween night and it is a costume ball. It is open to all ages. I'll leave you to discuss this undoubtedly exciting news."

Dumbledore sat down with his eyes Twinkling™.

Everyone at the Gryffindor table was talking. Ron looked at Hermione and noticed she was smirking.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"You knew about this, didn't you?" asked Harry.

Hermione laughed. "Yes, he told Ernie and I, and we were sworn to secrecy. Dumbledore wanted our opinion."

"What did you say?" asked Ron.

"I said I thought the school could use something cheerful. These are difficult times, you know that. We could use something happy. It will be fun, that is if some of us remember to ask us not as a last resort," she finished, looking very smug.

"Some of us aren't sure if we should, after all, you did keep this a secret," said Ron.

"I had to! I was sworn to secrecy, Ronald."

Ron sighed. "Hermione,willyougotothedancewithme?" he asked very quietly and very quickly, flushing to his ears.

Hermione gave him an appraising glance. "I'll think about it," she said.

"What!?" Ron fairly shouted

Ginny and Harry laughed at Ron. Normally, Dawn would have joined in but she seemed preoccupied and wasn't paying attention.

"Of course I'll go with you, Ron," Hermione said, blushing. "But we're going to have to work, too, we're supposed to help the professors chaperone."

Ron groaned. "Harry, want to be a prefect?"

Harry grinned. "No, Ron, I have enough work to do as the Boy-Who-Lived."

Harry acted light-hearted but worry was gnawing at him. He wanted to ask Ginny to the dance but he also worried about his increasing affection for her. He was dangerous, a literally marked man or at least a marked teenager, and he didn't want to do anything that would put Ginny in danger. Voldemort would do anything to get to Harry, including going after the ones he loved.

But, it's just a dance, he thought. How much can that hurt?

How could he get attached to Ginny when he knew he would be facing some very real danger? Every moment that he wasn't working on school and quidditch was spent trying to figure out the location of Voldemort's horcruxes. Harry thought of Dumbledore's withered, blackened hand and wondered if the ring was easy to find and defuse.

It's a little late to worry about becoming attached to Ginny, he thought. If someone told him in second year that he would feel the way he felt about Ginny he would have laughed.

Harry realized that he had stopped eating entirely while Ron and Hermione continued to talk and hastily started to eat again.

"Are you ok, Harry?" Ginny asked as if on cue.

"Yeah, I'm just thinking," he said.

"About…you know?" she said. They had taken to calling the horcruxes the "you know whats" in public.

Ginny didn't say anything but lightly brushed his hand with hers.

Now it was Harry's turn to blush.

He made his decision. It was just a dance and he deserved some happiness. He was going to ask Ginny, it was just a matter of finding the right moment.

Later that night, Dawn was sitting with Lavender and Parvati in the common room. Their charms homework was spread out on a table but they weren't so much working as gossiping. Dawn wasn't worried, she had agreed to study with them because she needed help. She was having trouble finding some ingredients for her spell. The ginger, string, and rose quartz had been easy enough to find, and she had ordered lovage and a peacock feather from an herbal catalogue that she had found advertised in The Daily Prophet, but she was having trouble finding ashwinder eggs.

"Lavender, I have a question," Dawn began. "Do you know where I could get ashwinder eggs?"

Lavender and Parvati exchanged glances.

"Someone's working on a love spell," said Parvati. "Who's it on?"

"Guess," said Dawn.

Parvati nodded but looked anxious. "Are you sure you want to do a love spell? They can be really messy and they're really illegal."

"It's not really a big spell," said Dawn, "Just something to get his attention, make him see that I'm alive."

"The only place I can think of to get ashwinder eggs is Professor Snape's personal stores. They're highly regulated because they're so commonly used in love spells. Who knows what he would do with them," said Lavender.

"They're used in some heating potions and I think they can be added to Pepperup Potion," added Parvati.

"So I'd have to steal from Professor Snape? Yeah, I'll get away with that," said Dawn. Professor Snape seemed to hate Dawn as much as he hated Buffy.

"Or…," said Lavender.

"Or what?"

"There's this girl in fifth year, Romilda Vane. She tried to use a love potion on Harry and I've heard that she has some experience with love spells. Romilda might have some ashwinder eggs," explained Lavender.

"Just don't tell her it's for Harry or she'll jinx you," said Parvati with a giggle.

"Like I'd tell anyone who it's for. Well, besides you guys. Thanks for the help!" said Dawn, bouncing out of her seat.

"Wait, Dawn!" said Parvati.

"Hmm?"

"Be careful," she said.

"I will, don't worry, this will be great!" said Dawn.

Dawn ran up to the fifth-year girls' dorm and knocked on the door.

"Enter," someone said from inside.

"Hi," Dawn said as she walked in. "I'm Dawn Summers, I'm in seventh year. I'm looking for Romilda Vane."

There was a dark-haired girl sitting on one of the beds, reading a book, but it didn't seem like anyone else was in.

"You've found her," said Romilda, glancing at Dawn appraisingly. "What do you want?" she asked, picking up her book again.

"I need your help with something, I heard you have experience with these kind of…things," said Dawn.

Romilda stared at her and Dawn continued.

"Do you have any ashwinder eggs?"

"Nope," said Romilda. "They're illegal, anyway."

"I heard about what you did," said Dawn. "I'm pretty sure you have what I need. What do you want?"

Romilda finally put her book down.

"Let me see the spell."

Dawn reached into her pocket and pulled out the now crumpled piece of paper. Romilda scanned it.

"I used a love potion by Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and that worked well, at least it would have if he'd actually eaten the damn chocolates. Why don't you just order a bottle?"

"Because I don't want a love spell, I just want Ha—Neville—to know that I'm alive."

Romilda's eyes narrowed. "Who is this for?"

"Neville. I said Neville. I just had to cough," Dawn broke off in a fit of coughing.

"Neville? Neville Longbottom? You could just ask him out, I'm sure he'd be thrilled if a girl noticed him," said Romilda.

"No, I'm too shy," said Dawn.

Romilda shrugged. "Twenty galleons."

"Huh?" asked Dawn.

"I'll give you what you need for twenty galleons."

Dawn quickly did the calculations. "That's 100 pounds!"

Romilda thought. "I'll go down to ten galleon if you do two-weeks of my potions homework."

Dawn groaned.

"Hey, it wasn't easy to get them!"

"How did you get ashwinder eggs, anyway?" asked Dawn.

"My dad owns an apothecary mail-order business. I nicked some from the warehouse, but you have to be careful. Ministry regulations say you can only have so much at one time so it's easy for him to notice if any is stolen."

"Fine," Dawn said. "I'll get you your money."

"I'll get you your eggs."

Dawn left and ran into her room. She kept her money in a jewelry box in her trunk. She was left with five galleons to do Christmas shopping with. Dawn hoped that she wouldn't have to ask Buffy for money.

Dawn returned to the sixth year dorm and gave Romilda her money. Romilda counted the money and slipped it into a silk pouch. She handed Dawn a small metal box. Dawn opened it and found a bit of bright red powder.

"Keep it away from fire, or you'll burn the dorm down. And don't let anyone know you have it, we both could get into a lot of trouble," advised Romilda.

"I won't tell if you won't tell," said Dawn.

"Deal," and they shook hands.

Dawn went back to the seventh years' dorm and tucked the metal box into a corner in her trunk.

The lovage and peacock's feather would arrive in about a week. That would bring her to the beginning of October. It would be nice if Harry would take her to the Halloween dance. Dawn got out her planner and marked a day, one week into October.

"You see, that's what I hate about you vampires. You have no respect for the dead," said Buffy.

The vampire in a black tunic turned around, surprised.

Buffy used her advantage and staked him before he knew what happened.

The crypt had been pried open with a crowbar, which Buffy picked up. She entered the crypt and found two more vampires in the black tunics, ransacking one of the tombs. Buffy hit the second vampire on the head with the crowbar, hard. Then she staked him as he sagged forward.

The light in the crypt was dim but Buffy was able to see that the remaining vampire seemed fairly young, recently changed. He was wearing a black tunic like the others and was clutching an amulet.

"Ok, we can do this the hard way," she said. "Actually, there only is the hard way but sometimes it's the fun way."

Buffy swung at the vampire with the crowbar but missed.

"You don't scare me," he said. "I will proudly give my life for my master."

"Ok, we'll play it your way. Who's your master? I did not just say that," said Buffy.

The vampire made a move to leave the crypt. Buffy let him out, then slammed him into a tree that stood immediately outside. She grabbed the collar of his tunic, easily lifted him, and impaled his shirt to the tree using the crowbar.

"I will never betray him!"

"So, I know it's a 'he.' Let's try again, who's your master?" Buffy punched him in the face.

He spit out a mouthful of blood and sneered at her. His arms flailed as he tried to free himself.

Buffy noticed that he was still holding the amulet.

"What's this?" She grabbed his hand and started to squeeze it. He cried out in pain and as she let go of his hand he dropped the amulet.

The amulet consisted of a deep green stone with red flecks and it hung on a heavy silver chain.

"It's nice," said Buffy, "But girls usually like something a little more subtle." She pocketed the amulet and the vampire howled and desperately snatched to get it back.

Buffy punched the vampire in the gut.

"Now tell me who you work for and I promise, I will stake you nice and quick."

The vampire glared at Buffy insolently.

Buffy sighed. "Why do you want to make this difficult?"

She took off the silver cross that she wore and dangled it by the chain in front of him. Then, she quickly pressed it against his forehead. There was a sizzling sound and a wisp of smoke. Buffy held the cross there for ten, twenty seconds and then took it off. There was a black scorch mark on the vampire's forehead. Beads of sweat dripped down his face.

Severus was returning from an evening stroll—a regular evening stroll, not a walk from a meeting with Voldemort--when he heard a commotion at the cemetery. He followed the noise to where Buffy was torturing the vampire for information.

"Now are you ready to tell me?" asked Buffy as Severus walked towards her.

She seemed to be doing a good job torturing the vampire but she was also making enough noise to wake the dead. Subtlety was clearly not her forte. Yet, there was something fascinating about watching Buffy work. Clearly, there was more mettle to her than her ditzy, blonde exterior exposed, he admitted grudgingly.

The vampire shook his head sullenly.

"Ok," Buffy said, "I hate to do this to nice jewelry but—" she reached out and pinched his nose.

The vampire opened his mouth and Buffy jammed the cross in, then slammed his jaw shut. Smoke instantly started to pour out of his mouth and nose. Buffy held the cross in until she sensed he was breaking.

"Who do you work for?" asked Buffy.

"I'm a Knight of Walpurgis! That's all I'm telling," said the vampire, who no longer struggled against his binding.

Buffy sensed something moving behind her and instinctually turned, her stake in hand, totally prepared to face another vampire. She didn't stake Severus Snape, she stopped about an inch from his heart. To Severus's credit he didn't flinch.

"Do you ever just walk up to people and say 'hi?' That's how humans usually do these things."

"You were busy. Also, you've made enough noise to raise the dead. I'm surprised that you haven't attracted every vampire in the village."

Buffy shrugged unconcernedly, although he noted that she did look around nervously.

She returned her attention to the vampire, who was trying to wriggle his way free again.

"I don't think you're going to get anymore out of him," said Severus.

"You're probably right," said Buffy. She staked the vampire and pried the crowbar from the tree.

"You just hurt that tree, have you no regard for property?" asked Severus, irritatedly.

He walked over to where there was a large gash in the tree, took out his wand and whispered something softly. A green light began to grow within the gash and slowly the tree knitted itself back together.

"That's the problem with you muggle-borns, you have no respect for nature. That tree was yew, it's very useful in potions and in wand-making.

"I'm sorry," said Buffy, "I didn't—"

"Know, of course."

"Look, I'm doing the best I can here. Dumbledore saw fit to hire me, I don't even know why. You're right, I am ignorant about the magical world, but you could at least respect Dumbledore's decision. I'm here to stay," said Buffy with finality.

She walked back to the crypt.

"Where are you going?" asked Severus.

"I want to find out who the vampires were stealing from."

Buffy said "lumos orbis" and an orb of light emerged from her wand and hovered above her. She directed it into the tomb and it illuminated the corpse.

"I don't see any more artifacts," said Buffy.

"Let me see the amulet," demanded Severus.

Buffy looked at him and said, "Rude much?" but she took the amulet out of her pocket.

Severus laid the amulet on top of a tomb in the middle of the crypt.

"Did you even attempt to ascertain if this was cursed before you pocketed it?"

Buffy opened her mouth to answer but Severus cut her off, disgustedly.

"No, of course you didn't. Let's hope you remember to teach your students better."

Buffy turned to the plaque that had sealed the tomb, her cheeks burning with embarrassment. Of course he was right. She had been caught up in the moment and had forgotten entirely about safety.

She bent over the broken bits of the plaque in an effort to conceal her embarrassment.

She said "Reparo" and the pieces reattached and the cracks smoothed out. Buffy picked it up easily and laid it next to the amulet.

In the light she read "Septimus Weasley."

"Do you know who that is?" she asked Severus.

Severus shook his head "no." "I just know the surname. He's a Weasley, as if we don't have enough of those wandering Hogwarts."

"Ron and Ginny, they're in my classes. Are they a very old family?"

Severus snorted. "They're a very old pureblood family, notorious muggle-lovers, not very well-to-do like some pureblood families."

"Well," said Buffy, "If whoever wants this amulet is using vampires as workers, then they're probably not a good guy. Why would a Weasley be buried with something like that?"

Severus shrugged.

"What is that, anyway?"

Having decided that it was safe enough, Severus picked the necklace up by the chain and let it dangle in the light.

"It's a bloodstone, fairly common in amulets to alleviate fear," Severus frowned. Nothing was making any sense.

"I don't think we're going to find anything more in here," said Buffy, replacing the plaque over the tomb.

Severus nodded. Buffy moved the crypt door back into its frame and murmured "Reparo." The pry marks from the crowbar disappeared and the door solidly protected the crypt again.

Buffy and Severus walked back to Hogwarts together. Buffy swung her crowbar back and forth.

"Why are you carrying that with you?" asked Severus.

"Oh," said Buffy. "I guess it never hurts to have a crowbar around. What's a Knight of Walpurgis?"
Severus stiffened up and looked at her. "Where did you hear about that?"

"The vampire said he was a Knight of Walpurgis, you know who or what that is?"

Severus sighed. "It's a very old name for Death Eaters, what they were called when they were first formed."

"So I guess Voldemort's been able to recruit some vamps to work for him."
"This is happening much faster than we anticipated," said Severus.

"If it's any comfort, these vamps were very young. They had to be made recently."

"He may have a vampire siring new vampires just to work for him."

"I guess this is one of those things we take to Dumbledore," said Buffy.

"You guessed correctly," said Severus.

They walked to Hogwarts in silence. The halls were empty because it was after eleven.

Severus said "sugar quills" to the gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office and stepped on the staircase without looking to see if Buffy was following him.

"Does Dumbledore ever sleep?" asked Buffy.

"Not that I know of," said Severus.

He knocked on the door and opened it when he heard "come in."

"Severus and Miss Summers, another evening visit?" asked Dumbledore, inclining his head.

"We found something while I was patrolling," said Buffy.

"You were patrolling together?" asked Dumbledore.

"No," said Severus quickly, "I was out for a walk and I heard Miss Summers making enough noise to raise the dead."

"I will try to be more polite the next time I have to torture a vampire for information," snapped Buffy.

Dumbledore cleared his throat and they both shut up.

"What did you find?"

"This," said Severus, taking the amulet from one of the pockets in his robes. "It's safe," he added.

Dumbledore picked up the amulet and let the silver chain slide through his fingers. The stone was large, about the size of an egg. Dumbledore felt along the stone, and then pushed down on the clasp that held the stone to the chain.

The stone flipped open like a pocket watch. Buffy and Severus both gasped in surprise. There was a folded piece of parchment in the stone. Dumbledore touched it and it started to unfold by itself, over and over again, until it was the size of a map. It was covered with strange writing.

"Are you familiar with this language, Severus?"

"No, I've never seen anything like it before."

"Neither have I," said Dumbledore. "Severus, I want you to do some research into who this Septimus Weasley was. He may hold a clue as to what this amulet is for and what this means. I will try to solve this parchment."

Dumbledore moved to fold the parchment and it folded itself back up and nestled itself in the amulet. With that the stone closed.

"Oh, and the vampires I got this from were all wearing tunics and said they were Knights of Walpurgis," said Buffy. "Severus said that that's an old name for death eaters."

"Indeed, it is," said Dumbledore. "It seems that Tom has convinced some vampires to work for him."

"Why would they work for Voldemort?" asked Buffy. "The vampires I've dealt with are pretty self-centered, they don't really like having bosses."

"I can only imagine," said Dumbledore, "That Tom must have made them promises of power in the new world that Tom would create. Plenty of muggles and muggle-born to feed on and no more living on the edges of society."

"What can I do to help?" asked Buffy.

"Keep patrolling," said Dumbledore. "Do you read the newspapers?"

"I read The Daily Prophet to look for suspicious deaths in the area."

"I don't think that Tom would create vampires from muggles, I imagine he'd only use witches and wizards. Keep scouring the paper."

Buffy nodded.

"Goodnight, Headmaster," she said as she left.

"Goodnight, Miss Summers, goodnight, Severus," said Dumbledore before she shut the door.

Buffy was dead tired. Teaching her incredibly demanding classes and patrolling at night was beginning to catch up with her.

"Goodnight, Severus," she murmured before turning and leaving.