Chapter 3
Dedication: To my reviewers! Thanks for the constructive criticism and the ideas you didn't know you gave me. It helped developed this chapter and the upcoming one.
The dinner was a quiet affair except for murmurs of appreciation for the food and talks of the college and the courses being taken that semester.
Soon though dinner neared an end. Arthur was the first to excuse himself, saying he had to use the lavatory. Once upstairs he sent a Patronus message to Bill who was at the Burrow with Fleur. The two had settled there for a short while after all that had gone on the past year. He told Bill not to worry, but something… "interesting"… was developing, as such, Molly and himself were going to stay for a few days. He'd let Bill know if anything came up.
A few minutes later, he returned to find Harry about to address the group as they were finishing up their desserts. Molly placed a piece of pie in front of him as he sat. He smiled his thanks, noticing the Willow girl eyeing him though he was not quite sure why.
Harry's strong voice broke the silence. "Willow spoke to me earlier saying that we had, basically, a lot to learn about each other," Harry looked around at the faces. He almost felt like he was at a DA-Dumbledore's Army meeting. "We did a toast towards a potential hopeful friendship," Ginny reached out and grabbed his hand, Harry squeezed it smiling down at her.
"I have this feeling that while our information could shock most, it quite possibly won't you. I'm betting we each have a tale to tell," he focused his questioning gaze to Willow. "Your eyes grew wide when Arthur had gone upstairs," Harry sought Arthur eyes, asking if he was going in the right direction. Arthur nodded encouragingly, knowing Harry was the best person for this.
"I'm pretty sure he had used the time he was upstairs to send what we call a Patronus message. Probably letting his son, Bill and daughter-in-law, Fleur, know that Mrs. Weasley and him would be longer than they'd anticipated---"
"Is a Patronus message some English version of a text message?" Xander asked, he had a tendency to come up with questions like that.
Hermione choked on her pie as she smothered laughter, Ron tapped her on the back. She waved his hand away but reaching out to hold that hand again under the table. Her eyes turned an apologetic glance towards Xander, "Sorry but that's what my father asked---not exactly, as we are British, but," she blushed. "He asked if it was some version of text messaging."
Xander smiled, his pirate eye mask shifting as his expression turned boyish, "No Prob..um Hermione?"
She nodded in acknowledgement with a smile, then waved for Harry to continue. He smiled at Xander liking the man for his laid back attitude, though Harry was pretty certain he'd be a formidable opponent in a battle, even with one eye. "Well its more like a video voice message," he explained vaguely looking back towards Willow. "The thing is, a Patronus, in simplest terms is the result of a powerful magical spell--" the whole room grew tense as they realized what Harry was saying. "it's a charm to ward off what we call Dementors. It takes a lot of concentration as you have to gather good thoughts usually in the most dangerous moments."
"As Arthur was just using his to send a message, he wasn't using the full strength of his power, plus he's had a lot of practice. Nevertheless, you…Willow, felt the powers being used. Though us who know the power, are so use to it, we don't usually feel it."
Surprising everyone, including his fellow witches and wizards, he pulled out his wand and said, "Expecto Patronum", his wand steady with long practice, a willowy white substance came out of it, forming the shape of a white stag. It galloped harmlessly around the room before it slowly dissipated.
The room was so silent you could have heard a pin drop. Harry glanced around then turned back to Willow, whose face was still turned towards where his white stag had disappeared to. She must have felt his gaze for she turned back to him, her eyes wide with wonder but a slight fear.
He smiled trying to show they weren't something to be afraid of. "Each wizard or witch has their own Patronus, though this can change depending on the wizards' moods," he thought of Tonks, "or desires," he thought of Snape. "Mine has always been the white stag. Hermione's is an otter, Ginny's is a horse, Ron's…a Jack Russell terrier, Arthur's…a," he grinned, "weasel and so on," he paused allowing his gaze to go around the room to each neighbor. Xander's mouth was literally hanging open. Buffy looked like she was trying to figure out whether to start fighting or recruit them. Giles was fingering his books, Dawn and Willow seemed simply to be in awe. Hermione and the Weasleys seemed to have realized what he was doing and had settle back comfortably into their seats, Arthur still finishing up his pie.
"We're wizards and witches--although Hermione and I didn't find out till we were invited to Hogwarts, a wizarding…the best wizarding school based in England. We belong to a whole wizarding world governed…more or less…by the Ministry of Magic, though Kingsley Shacklebolt just stepped in as the Minister, so things in that regard should start getting better. Your President, the Prime Minister and other world leaders know of our existence. Besides Muggle…nonmagical beings…muggle family members of witches and wizards not many people know of us. If by chance they find out through spells used in front of or against them, a mind eraser spell is used to keep our secrets," Harry took a breath and stopped unsure of what more to say, afraid he was saying too much but also not enough.
"If I may? Harry?" Giles spoke up. Harry sat down, gratefully. Giles looked towards the scoobies then the what he now knew for sure were wizards and witches. "To put it simply, until it comes to a time to tell our story, I have some interesting ties, especially in England, though I've only been there briefly on and off the past seven or so years." He picked up a book, "I had this book sent to me from my ties in England. I had remembered something when Willow had mentioned her feelings about the house and we heard about the rumors that the owner of the house's name was Potter. That jogged my memory and I remembered these journals by another Watcher…I'll explain later what that is…about twenty years ago…well probably more like eighteen," he let that significance settle in, noticing the whole group was listening attentively and tensely. "I talked to the watcher about some of what's in this journal before this was written. He mentioned he knew something about this world that the watchers didn't. He said he was a Squib…"
Harry and his friends gasped… "Really…a Squib?" Ron said, his eyes wide.
"So that does mean something in your world?" Giles asked, he'd been unsure before now whether to believe everything the journals had said, now he knew he was heading in the right track. "Last night was the first night I actually read the whole journal. The Watcher Counsel had deemed it impertinent to our purpose and had said it very unlikely that a group, such as themselves, that had been around for a very long time had never heard of this world of witches and wizards," Giles shook his head in disgust. "We have learned that the Watcher Counsel isn't always the smartest blokes in the world. Don't get me wrong they are very book intelligent but thinking beyond the realms of their dusty books they have in their library is quite hard for them."
He paused, glancing around at the proof he ignored long ago. "Since I hadn't had the experience I do now being Buffy's Watcher, back at that time I had ignored the man as the rest of the counsel had done. 'He was just mixing reality with fantasy.' They had said. 'We know witches, wizards sorcerers, Wicca, demons, vampires, Slayers, and many other things exist out there'…as we knew it there were only a relatively few number of wizards and witches out in the world…not a whole large population that lived among us, a whole world the existed in and of itself."
Giles looked at Harry, "He was right though, the watcher. Short as it is, his story was real. He was at a place called Godric's Hollow--" Harry's eyes widened, Giles noticed Ginny squeezing his hand in a comforting gesture. "He was keeping an eye on a roaming bunch of well…vampires," Harry flinched remembering his own encounters with them. "The watcher…squib…his name is…was Chet Riley, was distracted by a green light flash in a building." Molly's soft gasp interrupted, but she wave him on even as she leaned into Arthur, her eyes worriedly glancing at Harry. "He explains that he knew what that flash was. He had written, 'just because he was a squib didn't mean he didn't have the knowledge or ability to know and see through the veil that Muggles would have seen'. The house was the Potter's home, a family that was well known to the wizarding world, according to him. He'd just been about to try and go help, though not sure how besides using his Watcher abilities…which since the spells and everything we know has never been tested …or so he and I believe, on a wizard and witch of your world…was going to be a dare and a serious risk on his life. However the vampires he'd been seeking found him and he was distracted trying to save his own self."
He paused, taking a breath and a sip of his now cold tea. He must have made a bitter face at the taste because suddenly a teapot was in front of him, pouring a hot batch of warm tea. Giles wasn't quite surprised to see that the teapot was moving on its own, refreshing anybody's cup who had tea. Soda cans and bottles of water emerged from the kitchen going to the people who'd asked for it before. He automatically looked at Willow though he knew it wasn't her. She grabbed a soda that had gently bumped her hand. She caught his gaze and smiled…hesitantly, popping the tab on the soda with a shrug.
"Please continue Mr. Giles," Molly said after everyone had their refreshments they hadn't realized they needed.
"Please just Giles, Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Giles reminds me of my Dad and trust me, this isn't a good thing."
Mrs. Weasley nodded, "Then please call me Molly." She smiled, "And please continue."
Giles focused on the rest of group realizing they were all waiting, patiently for him to continue. Even the ones he was sure knew the story, well at least a side of it, seemed intrigued as to what he knew through Chet's journals. His gaze finally fell on Harry's scar, then down to the young man's green eyes. They reminded Giles, sadly, of Buffy's eyes--not the color but the hurts and sorrow they held hidden deeply within.
"In his journal, he explained that in your world, he was only a squib, as I've said, however I need to explain to the Scoobies what that is…according to Chet it means he was of magical descent, so not a muggle, but he couldn't do magic. Usually they don't function in either world that well since they know about their world but can't do any magic, but what they know doesn't help them in our world either. As a Watcher he bugger upped the Squib status through different means, it was strange for him to live in the Muggle world as something that he couldn't even be close to as a Squib."
Molly nodded her head sadly, "Many squibs are kicked out of their families. They try to survive in our world, many are shop owners or work at Hogwarts and possibly the other schools, but others are stuck kind of between this world and the Muggle world, having no education from either source because their magical parents didn't want to bothered with them or didn't, quite simply, know how to handle them."
Giles nodded his understanding and thanks, but continued on without much more pause. "After seeing the green light in the Potter house, he wasn't able to survey the damage until the next day and realized that rumors from his birth world were true. That a man--he had a very hard time saying this…you could tell because he kept crossing out phrases like "He-who-shall-not-be-named" and "You-know-who", finally he said that Voldermort, a dark Lord, must have done it…Desperate for news he sought out a newspaper from your world and saw that the Potters had died, their son, Harry Potter, had lived--this boy had become a hero, being a mere baby, because he had survived a death curse and this man, Voldermort, had been defeated." Giles paused as he realized the room had grown very quiet, everyone was staring at him or the journals intently. Harry was staring at them, but his eyes were far away, Ginny held his hand tightly, rubbing his arm with her other hand.
Giles softened his voice, "That Harry Potter was you? Wasn't it Harry?"
Everyone turned their gaze to Harry who nodded slightly in reply. The wizards and witches gazes were in sympathy for they already knew the whole story, even more than the Giles could possibly know. The scoobies sat in awe, going from gazing at Harry's scar to his eyes.
"This was all that Chet wrote, he died an unexplained death in his hotel room in London while he'd been finding out information from his old…your world…we couldn't even find anything from what we knew to see how he would have died."
Giles ended his tale, sitting down, pushing the journals into the middle of the table as if offering them to anyone who wanted to read it. No one reached for them though Harry looked at them…the title on the front of the top journal said, "The Journal(s) of a Watcher Squib." His mouth turned up in a slight smile at that.
"I bet…Voldermort or a Death Eater found out about him. A wizard who functioned in the world even without powers," Ron said, he'd been saying Voldermort's name easier now that he was dead. He turned to Giles, "I'm guessing a Watcher, from what you've said and hinted at, would have certain skills, even in magic," at Giles slight nod, Ron turned back to the group as a whole, feeling slightly uncomfortable with all the eyes on him. "This would be the ultimate betrayal to Voldermort. A blood traitor, squib no less, helping muggles and able to do magic though not in the traditional sense."
Giles seemed to be thinking about it, "Is there such a curse that exists that kills without a reason why?" he asked, thinking of spells he learned as a watcher, knowing none of them were the same as this crew's.
This time Harry spoke up, his voice quiet but firm, "Yes. Its considered one of the three Unforgivable Curses, in fact, the top unforgivable curse…the Killing Curse, it would have been the cause of the green light Chet had seen through the windows. The one that caused...in a never happened before or since incident that caused the scar on my forehead, instead of my death. No one is supposed to survive this curse…I have twice, well I guess, three times were a direct hit. Once that night, twice only a few months ago," Ginny squeezed his hands again. "Voldermort died using that curse on me…he'd been using a wand meant for me. A wizards wand," he pulled out his from earlier. "Will not be used against its rightful owner. So a long reign of terror, with a slight pause from my baby years to my first year at school, ended but not before we lost many friends and…" he glanced at the Weasleys, "..family. There's still those out there who believed in Voldermort. However, right now they're in hiding…To end the story, that is why we're here to regroup, its been a long seven years, many good memories but also many bad."
Giles nodded somberly…" I guess it has…" was all he could think to say. He paused glancing towards his group. "Now that you have told your story or at least the basics, I think we should explain our side--- I believe we came here all at the same time for a reason," he was also thinking of the nearby vampires that were more than they sounded like. "Though I'm unclear as to what that reason is. However I feel we should at least start to get to know each other before that reason comes to light."
Sniffling, sad from the memories of the past year, thinking of George's twin, Fred, Molly stood up, "Why don't we freshen our drinks and head into the living room?" she suggested. Everybody agreed, stretching as they stood.
They took a quick break, silent but working together to clear the table. Since everyone knew of the magic, Molly simply cast one of her cleaning spells, Willow looking on in awe, Harry had a smile on his face remembering his first time at the burrow. Molly let her magic do the work while she joined the somber group in the other room. She joined her husband who sat next to George, who was awfully quiet, she patted her son's knee in an overt comforting gesture. Ron, Hermione, Harry and Ginny had taken up the sectional again. Giles sat in a chair alone and the other four were squeezed on the other large couch.
The girl named Buffy spoke from her spot next to her sister, the two sat sandwiched between Willow and Xander. Molly wondered idly what had happened to the boy, thinking of her own sons. George with his one ear and Bill slashed badly by a werewolf. George now had a scruffy hairstyle she had to stop the urge to trim up because it covered his lack of an ear.
"We just wanted to say thank you for sharing your side of the story," the young blonde hair woman's voice was strong and steady. Molly could tell this was the actual leader of the group. She felt a slight pain that it seemed one of the youngest of each group were the leader-like figures. She could see the young lady had a lot of trial in her relatively young life…Molly was a mother, she could sense these things…and they were about to hear the reasons why, if not some of those trials.
Buffy smiled around the group, "There's a legend… 'In every generation there will be one in all the world, one who will fight evil…A Slayer'…I'm technically the one though, through reasons I'll explain soon, we do now have a lot more. I found out when I was in high school about eight years ago," she smiled again her face growing young and carefree.
Humor was in her voice when she continue, "My mom and I had just moved to Sunnydale because of an incident at my last school involving a blown up gymnasium…My sister, well she hadn't quite existed yet, but I'll get to that as well," she put her hand on her sister's knee as she said this, patting it gently. "I was a bratty, trying to be preppy girl who was trying to fit in a new school but soon I found out I was the slayer--that I was destined to put my life at danger, I had the strength to fight the evil of the world and Giles, the librarian, fittingly enough, was my Watcher. Which, as we have talked about them a lot already tonight, is the person every slayer has, our guardian, our trainer, our...watcher. There's a council of them for all the potentials...well now actual slayers out there. I don't like the counsel that much, if you couldn't guess by Giles' comment, they aren't the best group in the world and need some street lessons--"
George smiled, chuckling next to Molly, interrupting Buffy. "Like our Ministry of Magic?"
"Watch it son," Arthur spoke up in a false offended tone, smiling. He turned to the rest of the group, "I'm technically a Ministry employee, I've been promoted since Kingsley became Minister, but like we've said before the Ministry has had some bad years…like your counsel they have been quite set in their ways and easy for manipulation…and in the magical world…this is even more of a bad thing."
Giles nodded, "Yes, in our part of what you call the Muggle world, being easy for manipulation isn't good either, especially when you're a Watcher."
Arthur nodded in understanding agreement then turned to Buffy, "Continue on love."
Buffy smiled, it kind of looking reminiscent, "You just reminded me of a…a person when you said that…Anyway…moving on…" she paused as if collecting her thoughts. "So I find out I'm a slayer and I soon find out that the very high school…the very library where I had trained with Giles was right over a Hellmouth--a place where vampires and evil beings congregate around because it's a portal for them to go through, it's a place where the most evil of things can come through, the vampires and demons on this side of the seal wait in places like Sunnydale for the day they can join the fight…us who are on the good side stay around the Hellmouth to prevent the fight from beginning…"
"Back then we had another Scooby member, Cordelia, she's working with Angel…or rather was…actually that's a whole 'nother story," Buffy paused again, shaking her head, Molly could tell she was trying to focus on the important factors of her story. "Well we've been through quite a many battles. I met Angel, a vampire who long ago had his soul cursed back into him. Imagine someone doing many evil things then suddenly having a conscience and remembering all those things…He had lived a hard life for a long while before he started using his strength and knowledge for good. He and I had some rough times and I won't go into too much detail at this moment because tonight is just basics, but know he is a good vampire and is doing a lot to help those in LA."
"That first year I met Xander and Willow, neither of them knew of their potential but helped me anyway with what I had to do… My daily life is slaying vampires, occasionally demons come into play. That first year it was The Master and I was part of a prophecy…which slayers tend to be…to not be too descriptive the Master tried to kill me, Xander used CPR, revived me, and I killed the Master."
"Blimey.." George murmured.
Buffy smiled, she liked the boy, though, perhaps, young man was a better description. "That first year was actually not too bad, it was just the first year of many years through many battles and many almost apocalypses. Willow found she was a witch, obviously not as you all are, but a witch nonetheless. She had her fun moments, her unbelievably grand moments...one most recently, and some very bad moments. Xander is our strong protector keeping us grounded in the real world. Angel helped a lot, until well I killed him…He's obviously made it back since he's in LA continuing on with the battle there. Giles has guided us all, breaking many counsel rules, and finding out he has his own unique abilities as a wizard, though I would say a more quiet wizard…its hard to explain," she smiled at Giles, her eyes glowing warmly. "He's like a father to me and I really don't know what I would do without him, though he's tried to prove I can survive without him. I," she laughed, "don't believe him."
She turned to her sister, squeezing her hand. "Dawn is a little harder to explain, she's my sister, I remember holding her as a baby. And yet I never really truly knew her as a baby. She was created by monks to hold in a secret mystical power within her, she was considered a Key. We had memories planted inside us to make us believe she'd always been part of the family, only people who were…not all there, could tell who she was. The being she was hidden from found out Dawn was the Key, the Key into another Dimension where this evil being wanted to go back to, Dawn would have had to sacrifice herself to safe the world…"
"Instead Buffy did it for me," Dawn cut in. "Even though she knew I wasn't her real sister. Well in the truest sense of the word at least. However, we're sisters at heart and to her and I that's all that matters," Dawn said…knowing the next part of her sister's story would be close to the hardest, trying to give her a moment to get it all figured out. Ron, George and the rest of the Weasley's looked at Harry and knew what it meant to have family, though they weren't technically family. Ginny squeezed his hand, Harry smiled reluctantly, knowing he had a family in the Weasleys but still finding it hard to believe sometimes. "I was kind of a rough sister to have though, even after the whole 'my sister sacrificed herself for me' thing," she sighed. "…I should have gotten the hint, but I didn't. I had abandonment issues and some serious kleptomaniac issues. Even after explanations were given later I was basically a brat, even this past year I've had my moments but I'm slowly growing up."
Buffy threw an arm around her sister, hugging her close, "She's just a normal younger sister who can be slightly annoying to her older sister but also loved very much by her older sister and the rest of us…and she has grown up, I tried to send her away before this latest battle with Xander but she would have none of that."
Dawn smiled, "Love you too sis."
"If you sacrificed yourself, Buffy, to open up another Dimension, how did you return?" Harry asked after a few minutes, everyone had been letting the sisters have their moment, but he was wondering. Thinking all his near deaths and his time, especially, with Dumbledore not long ago.
"Well," Willow spoke up, her already naturally pale face becoming paler. "I was kind of an obsessive witch at that point and I knew this powerful spell that could bring back someone. We thought she might be stuck in some Hell Dimension, not thinking of anything else but that we wanted her back. Well we did the spell…I did the spell, with another witch's help," her brown eyes grew sad. "Xander and Anya, she's a long story as well, helped as well."
Buffy cut in, her free hand grasping Willow's entwined hands, "She brought me back, but hadn't realized the spell had worked because it had been interrupted. Sunnydale was in a chaos when I came back…I had been in my grave, dug out…as a slayer I have strength that quadruples those of normal…um Muggles," she used the word thinking it was nice to finally give a word to other humans, though knowing she technically was a Muggle.
"I didn't know why I was back in the world, I didn't know what was going on, I was scared. It took me a long time to come around. I didn't tell my friends, who had been feeling guilty enough as it was because of my confused state, that they had taken me from what I believe was Heaven or like it at least," a couple of gasps from the witches and wizards emitted. Molly's face, the mother in the group, the saddest looking. Almost as if she wanted to run over to the girl and give her a very big hug. Only Arthur's grip of her hand kept her seated.
"Well Blimey," George murmured again, his voice a mixture of awe and sadness. The ones close to him knew he was thinking of his own lost one, so was everyone actually. All the lost souls they hoped were in better places.
"The only…um person, he was another vampire, who well helped us because he had a chip in his head and couldn't harm us, and he was kind of obsessed with me…anyway…I told him when I couldn't tell my friends. Then this dancing and singing demon came and casted a spell that lasted about a day, but it made us tell things we would have usually kept quite." She waved her hand in very none Buffy like way, but in a way that reminded all the scoobies of her mother.
"Anyhow, that vampire that, um sort of, helped us was Spike. He towards the end fought to gain a soul, though not what he'd been searching for at the time. He has, had a soul," Buffy's eyes grew very sad, but she was determined to go on.
"And that, in a way, leads us to basically why we're here. There's many other stories and tales, people, beings that we haven't included but that have been important parts of our battles and lives. Many enemies that we have fought from human to vampire to demons to something in-between. Many apocalypses. However, none of that compared to this latest battle. It involved the ultimate evil… "The First Evil" who was trying to start a large army of ultra strong vampires, called Ubervamps. We weren't sure if we were going to survive this one, we only had us, our friends and the few potential slayers we had gathered for training, their potential status giving them strengths that if honed could be useful…but really not powerful enough to fight off the evil army."
"I'm not going to go into details right now, lets just say that we found a weapon meant for me and with Willow's help we used it to make all our potentials…which though there are thousands in the world, we only had about twenty or thirty potentials, who turned into actual Slayers after Willow did a spell to reverse the one that had invoked the whole one in every generation blah blah blah crap," she gave a soft laugh.
"With the help of this power, and an amulet given to me by Angel, but meant for Spike," she choked on the word, remembering… "Spike sacrificed himself," she smiled sadly, "He was always a little crazy. He might have been a vampire, and even with a soul, an annoying vampire but he loved me in his own way and he knew this about me--my friends meant a lot to me, so he did it. And the amulet's power, with Spike's sacrifice, killed off the Ubervamps and totally destroyed the cavern where The First had risen up its army. The Hellmouth at Sunnydale is no longer in existence…as the town is now a large crater that scientists are finding hard to explain," she sighed. "But there are other Hellmouths out there, so the evil is still out there. But for now we have a what we can weakly call a break."
As Buffy took a large gulp of her water she now had, Giles finished off for her, "She's shortened the story by a lot, as we all have, but she's gotten the basics out. She's a slayer, I'm a watcher, Willow is a witch though she's careful with her power…well at least nowadays, Spike and Angel were and are vampires, the very beings she's trained to attack but both have souls and have helped in our battles--"
Harry nodded, "--and we're witches and wizards of a large wizarding world even you didn't know about. I think we learned a lot about each other, though I know you're right in that we have a lot more to learn. Similarities exist in our stories and I agree there must be a reason we've all come together…"
"Well there's more, I haven't even told my people this, but there's a group of vampires nearby" gasps emitted across the room. "I don't know how vampires are in your world, but in ours, they can't exist in the sunlight, they can be killed by a wooden stake to the heart, sunlight, fire, and can be affected by garlic, crosses and holy water. But apparently there's another breed, the leader heard of us being near their town and contacted me. I've heard of rumors of other breeds but like witches and wizards like you I've never seen proof."
"There's vampires near here?" Arthur asked, automatically drawing his wand but not really threatening, just in seeming preparation. Everyone seemed to have tensed preparation but disbelieve mode, as if they couldn't believe their holiday/vacation from past battles were already at an end.
"Yes there are, in the next town over, Forks," Giles remained talking calmly, trying to ease the tension in the room. He had to kind of smile to himself because it looked as if this group were already ready to head into battle together. "But put your stakes and wands away. While these vampires are vampires, they're a different breed entirely. The one who came to me, his name was Carlisle, lives among humans, he's apparently a doctor in town…I've researched this and there is Dr. Cullen, very respected man. Apparently, Carlisle says, his family…yes that's right family…are a group of vampires but they don't feed on human blood. Like Angel and later Spike, they feed off animal blood. But unlike Angel and Spike, Carlisle approached me in the daylight, it was a cloudy day but it would have been bright enough to affect the vampires we know. He said he would explain in detail…if we would come to Sunday dinner at their house," he grimaced at what those words sounded like.
"He said if we felt more comfortable doing so he would understand if we felt the need to bring weapons, some would affect them, but apparently not all of them. Again he said he would explain and there would be another there who could vouch for them." Giles sighed, the group still was tensed, though the witches and wizards had hidden their wands he was sure not all had known they had pulled their wands out in the first place…He actually had been scared for a moment, something very hard for him to do. He hadn't been scared for himself because he knew the witches and wizards would never harm him unless he did something to prove them otherwise but he had seen the intent look in their eyes, it was the same eyes Buffy and the other scoobies got when ready for a hunt…
"I told him I might be inviting some more people that seemed to have their own story," Giles looked towards Harry. "If you and your group would come, I have this feeling that this meeting is important…just as important as this one tonight had been."
Harry glanced at the rest of the group, his gaze resting on Ginny, she squeezed his hand and spoke the answer for him and all of them, "I think we should, if Giles trusts this vampire enough to at least see what he has to say. I think we should go. We've already discovered that none of us know everything about the magical, evil, 'normal' world. Like others have said tonight, I think there's a reason for all of us to come together and I think that if these vampires prove to be on the good side, they might prove to be formidable allies."
The room was tense, but slowly, one by one, they agreed that they would all go, on Sunday, to the Cullen's.
"I'm definitely bringing a stake," Buffy was the last to murmur her agreement though she knew there were good vampires out there. She believed there were only two with souls and one of them had died.