"Daddy, I need help." The words hung strangely in the air. The entire room was silent save for the slight hitch in Buffy's breathing as she tried to calm herself down. She honestly hadn't noticed any other people in room until they gasped. She had been so intent on getting away from the cagey man in the café she hadn't noticed much of anything really.

"What?" the order seemed to scream in unison. Remus seemed most taken aback by the news because in all the time he'd known Dumbledore he was certain they'd formed a deep enough friendship that Albus would have told him of something of this magnitude.

"What happened, my dear? Where is Joyce?" Dumbledore appeared unflappable in the face of such a surprise and immediately wanted to know what was bothering his daughter.

"She kicked me out! I refuse to go back there and be treated like that again! Who does she think she is! She's not even my mother!" Buffy was so angry at Joyce for treating her as such and so, in reliving those final moments between the two of them, she missed her father's wince.

"Now Buffy, Joyce is a good woman. She agreed to take you in after we felt it was too dangerous for you to stay here. You know with what happened to your mother… it was impossible for me to protect you on my own."

"Protect me! She and Hank locked me away. They put me in an asylum! I was so scared there… and then I had to lie so that they would let me out. Hank left us and so Joyce thought it best to send us right into La Boca Del Infierno where I died and then had to go and kill my boyfriend only to be expelled and kicked out of my own home. So then I head out to LA and get a crappy job in a dirty café and have this totally-freaky-blonde-haired-dude come after me…" and here is where she ended her Willow-like babble.

The rest of the order had been in a continuous state of disbelief for her entire tale… Asylum? Boca Del Infierno? Died? Killed her boyfriend? But strangely it was Snape who found his voice first.

"This blonde man, what do you remember about him?" he pried.

"I don't know… he had that power buzz that you all do. He seemed really nice for a while, almost posh manners like he was well-bred, you know? And, and he had something face."

"He had what face?" Arthur had to ask – maybe it was some muggle term he didn't know.

"She means he had a purposeful look," Albus supplied knowing his daughters odd way of speech. He already had an idea of who the man was and by the look on Severus' face so did he.

"Malfoy!" Snape jeered.

"Malfoy… isn't he the one who keeps trying to get you fired?" Buffy asked her father.

"Yes, my dear. Now I think you've had quite a bit of excitement for one day, you should rest. I should have someone take you up to a room…"

"I want him to take me," Buffy announced as she pointed to Lupin.

Remus looked as puzzled as everyone else felt. 'Why would she pick me? She doesn't even know me…' he wondered.

"My dear, are you sure you don't want Molly to take you? I'm sure she'd love the chance to hover and see to your comfort."

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Remus, would you mind terribly…"

"Not at all Albus, I shall enjoy this chance to acquaint myself with your daughter."

---------------------- / ---------------------------- / ---------------------------------- / ---------------------------- /

On the stairway up to the rooms, Remus still pondered about this girl, Buffy, and all the excitement she brought. The girl in question was following him slowly, the adrenaline having worn off the minute her father took control.

"Have you come to England often, Buffy?" Remus asked, hoping to learn more about her. "Buffy…" when she still had not given him an answer, Remus turned to find her stopped three stairs down. She was staring at him with a little too much enjoyment for his taste.

"Do they know you're a lycan?"

"Some of them know. How did you? Did your father tell you?"

"No. You are unmistakable. I can see the resemblances between you and Oz already. I wonder if all of you are that way, or if it's just you two."

"I don't understand what you are saying Buffy…"

"I get that a lot more than you would think."

"Who is Oz?"

"Another lycan; I don't know him too well but I'd like to think I can read him well enough."

"Maybe we should just get you off to bed…" he volunteered uneasily. If she could tell he was a werewolf… could others?

"Sure," Buffy sighed and once again began following him. Silence was not something she was used to, even though she'd been in hiding for the last few months. That was a different silence – there she just had no one to talk to, here no one knew what to say.

"Who do you think was most surprised by my visit?" she asked gleefully. Buffy wanted to know little things about these people. She knew most of there names well enough, even if she did butcher them, because her father talked about them often but she didn't know the intricacies that made them up. The slayer wanted to know who was most skittish and who could be trusted but she couldn't ask such questions and get straight answers and so she decided to try Giles round-about method of questioning.

"Snape I suppose," Remus sighed. 'Hadn't the girl been exhausted mere moments ago? Where did she get her energy?' "He hates not knowing things and the fact that Lucius was involved probably irritates him greatly."

"Tell me more about him…"

"Why do you want to know about him Buffy? I can tell you he's not the most welcoming person."

"He's probably just uncomfortable around other people and hides it behind a mask of bored annoyance…" Buffy thought Cordelia was like that in some ways.

"Yes, I suppose that could be it. He was terrorized quite a bit in his days at Hogwarts. You wanted to know about him? He's the potions professor and Slytherin house-master. He demands perfection. He was once a death-eater but now helps out Dumble… your father." He wondered if he should have added that last part, but seeing as she was Dumbledore's daughter he didn't think it too unwise.

Snape sounded like a grumpy Giles, and to that affect, Buffy decided that she would make him become her new best friend!