Author's note: This is the first chapter to go out in November, which is a big month for me. I'm the co-ML for my region during NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month for those of you not in the know. You write a 50,000 words novel in 30 days. This monster is just 70,000 words and it took me three years to write. You might ask how I can do NaNo. I've done it the past five years, and I've won every year. What I've written is crap, and I put a lot of thought into this. I urge anyone who wants to give it a go, to seriously go for it. It's a lot of fun. I met some of my closest friends through NaNo, and I'm part of a writing group that's been meeting every week for two years.

*ahem* So, that was a shameless plug. Onto the fanfic!

This is a pretty light chapter compared to the last three. It ends on a humorous note, and this light tone stays for a couple of chapters. For those wanting to see Harry and Pansy, they will come in chapter 11. You'll just have to wait until then. You have a bit of Tonks to hold you over until then.

Thanks for the feedback and comments, and as usual, Jacy gets lots of love. *haggles*

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Buffy slowly opened the door of the master bedroom and smiled when she saw Willow beginning to stir. It was like Draco had a strange sixth sense, able to tell him when people were waking up. Maybe it was his magic, or the remnants of his curse, but it was nice. When the witch turned over and opened her eyes groggily, she looked dazed.

"Hey you. Feeling better? You had us a bit worried."

Willow took a few deep breaths. "I feel fine. I don't remember much."

The slayer walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. She reached over and swept some red hair out of Willow's face and put her hand on her forehead. "Well, you aren't running a fever anymore. Draco said that the magical burn, or whatever it was, was making your temperature rise. We had to give you a cold bath, and you were really tired. Magical exhaustion, I guess. You haven't been out long, though. Draco and I have just been outside talking."

Willow slowly sat up. She was still a bit sluggish, and didn't remember much, but she did remember the screams. She couldn't remember if the screams had been because they were caused by physical or magical pain. It was painful for her, but only because she felt like she had been burning from the inside out. After hearing what Buffy had said, it sounded like it was true, though, and she was glad it was in the past. "What did you and Draco talk about?"

"Him," she replied. "About his past. About why he acted the way he did. About the reason he was so cold to touch when he brought Amy in—the curse that was put on him."

"Amy," Willow said dully. She could remember the screams, and remember how completely horrified she was when she actually ifelt/i Amy's intentions when she took Willow to Rack. After feeling that and seeing the planning the two had done, she almost didn't feel as bad about making her suffer so much. "Is she dead?"

Buffy's mouth smoothed into a line and she shook her head. "No, but she's as good as. Her mind was shattered, or so Draco said."

She didn't like knowing exactly what Draco meant when he talked about the magic, or what Willow was going through, but she would just learn to deal with it. "Someone will be coming soon to pick her up and take her to a facility in England."

Willow took a deep breath and closed her eyes in pain. Even though Amy had wished her dead, Willow would never be able to wish that upon her. If she deserved a second chance, then everyone did. It really hurt her that Amy wouldn't get it now.

Pushing those thoughts from her mind, she focused inward. She was going to take a mental inventory of her magical and physical state when her stomach growled loudly. Blushing, she started to get out of bed. "It seems food is a vital part of the recovery process." She looked at Buffy with a small embarrassed smile. "Help me down the stairs?"

Buffy nodded and offered her arm as Willow scooted to the end of the bed and put her feet on the floor. When she stood, she seemed surprised.

"I'm stronger than I thought. I thought I'd be really weak."

The blonde helped Willow walk slowly out of the bedroom and to the top of the stairs. She always had a hand on Willow's arm, ready to catch her if she fell. "Remember that Draco told you because you had just a high magical core right now that you'd heal quicker? He said it would be normal for you right now."

Willow was about to respond when she heard a set of voices talking that she didn't recognize. When one started laughing, her eyebrows shot up. There were three voices, and two were female. She turned her head to look at Buffy, but she just shrugged and started to head down the stairs by herself. Willow grabbed the railings, but made it down just fine. At the bottom, she joined Buffy and together, they made their way to the kitchen.

Draco was outside with two women. The first was slightly taller than Draco, with black hair that was coiled up into an elaborate twist on her head. Her eyes were also dark color, but her coloring was somewhat pale with a light rose color on her high cheek bones. She was standing tall and had a small smirk on her lips.

The woman next to her was talking quickly and gesturing with her hands wildly. Her hair was cut into short spikes and was dyed bright bubblegum pink. She was younger, closer to Draco's age, but she looked more like the other woman. She said something to Draco, who laughed, and the other woman rolled her eyes. Draco motioned towards the house, and they both nodded.

When they moved, Buffy and Willow got a better look at their clothing. While the older woman appeared to be wearing some sort of robe over a dress, the younger one was wearing a mismatch of different fabrics for pants, a shirt, and a long duster. Her boots made dull 'thuds' on the wooden deck. Draco looked up and grinned when he saw Willow and Buffy standing in the kitchen.

"Hello there. Buffy, Willow, I'd like you to meet my Aunt Andromeda and her daughter Nymphadora. Tonks, Aunt Andi, this is Buffy and Willow."

Tonks glared at Draco and her hair quickly faded to dark red. "Even in introductions, cousin. One day you're going to wake up swimming with the giant squid at Hogwarts." Draco just laughed and went to stand by Buffy while Tonks' hair went back to pink. She walked up to Buffy and Willow and stuck out her hand. "Wotcher. Call me Tonks."

Buffy looked at Tonks' hair curiously. "How did you—"

"Do that?" Tonks finished, and at Buffy's nod, she grinned. "I'm a Metamorphagus. I can change my appearance at will. Rare find, but a lot of fun."

The grin was contagious, and both Willow and Buffy were smiling along with her. Willow's smile dimmed when Draco's aunt stepped up.

"Willow and Buffy, it is a pleasure to meet you both. Draco's told me a bit about both of you. I hate that we had to meet under such dismal circumstances, but we're meeting nonetheless."

Willow nodded sadly. "You're here for Amy then?"

Draco's aunt nodded in reply, her eyes conveying understanding. Willow quickly dropped her gaze to the wooden deck, and Buffy grabbed her hand and squeezed. She was grateful for the comfort and let Buffy's strength carry her through the sadness.

Sensing the change in tone, Tonks nudged her cousin. "Where is she?" Draco just motioned them forward and led them to the basement.

Willow teared up when she slowly descended down the steps and saw Amy's body secured to the small mattress. The witch's eyes were staring blankly at the ceiling. The lack of recognition in her eyes made Willow shiver. They were completely void of life.

Draco put his hand on Willow's shoulder and squeezed gently, sensing the trouble she was having with the sight. She had been so out of it after the tunnel on her magic was removed she hadn't paid any attention to Amy.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Tonks immediately walked over. "Cor, cousin. You really did a number on her, didn't you?"

"You try breaking an iincendia substrictus/i through a third party and see how well you do."

Tonks immediately took a step back and hissed. "What?"

Buffy was surprised at the amount of venom in the young woman's voice when she had been so genial the moment before. She hadn't understood the gravity of what Amy had done to her friend, even though the tense moments in the kitchen when Amy had been brought here were a good indication.

"That was very dangerous for you, Draco. Your mother would be sorely put out with you if you died trying to heal that." Andromeda slowly walked towards Amy. "Severe brain damage, I take it? She's twitching like Mr. Carmichael was when you used him for a buffer between you and Dolohov."

Draco snorted as he went to stand by his cousin, nudging the mattress Amy's body was on with his foot. "Carmichael should have done a lot more than twitch—"

Willow jumped out of her mournful stupor when Tonks put her hands over her ears and backed away from Draco and her mother. "I can't hear this! I'm not listening!"

He rolled his eyes. "Aunt Bella may have been quite insane, but at least she was a thorough teacher when it came to Occlumency. Will you relax? No one's going to go poking about in your brain. Why would they even want to?"

"Hey!" Tonks shouted, her hands still on either side of her head. Her mother rolled her eyes and turned to Buffy and Willow.

"Blacks are notorious at keeping what they want a secret a secret. I only wish that had been passed along. Instead of an iron fortress for a mind, my daughter can make a pig's snout grow on her face."

Tonks took her hands off of her ears and glared at her mother while Draco snickered. He left them to discuss what to do about Amy and focused on Buffy and Willow. Both were standing near the foot of the stairs and watching the newest arrivals.

"Believe it or not, they're the sanest side of the Black family."

Buffy laughed. "Wow. And I thought our little family of friends was crazy."

Draco snorted. "I mentioned Aunt Bella, right?" He made a circular motion by temple. "That was one of the craziest people I've ever met. Slightly brilliant when it came to mind torture, but crazy."

Andromeda walked over to the small group. "I'm curious, Draco, why you didn't kill this young woman. It certainly would have made this whole situation easier to deal with, and there would be less chance of getting caught."

He sighed as he looked at the twitching body Tonks was leaning over, glaring at them.

"I can't hear this!" she said, covering her ears again. "You all talk about fortress for a mind, well I don't have the luxury! Stop talking about killing people where I can hear you!"

"Tonks, will you shut up? You know we won't get caught. If we did, do you really think that Fudge will charge us with anything?" His cousin huffed and went back to casting spells on Amy while he turned back to his aunt. "And I tried."

Buffy's eyebrows shot up in shock and Willow gasped, her eyes going wide. "You what?"

"You heard her, Willow," Draco replied heatedly, gesturing to Andromeda. "We wouldn't be iworrying/i about a body if I had succeeded. She's as good as dead anyway, but you just couldn't leave it alone!"

The red head stood completely still, her face showing confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean your magic stopped mine from killing her. I did everything I was supposed to do to reverse the dark magic on yours, but I came up against an iron wall when I tried to finish her," Draco explained. "Your magic literally stopped mine from getting any closer to Amy than I had to."

Tonks sat back and let out a low whistle. "That's impressive."

Buffy looked over at Draco's cousin. "Why do you say that? And why would Willow's magic save Amy when it went after Rack and the rest of the world?"

Before Tonks could respond, Draco whirled around with a glare. "Could we possibly hurry this up a bit? The more time you're both here, the more I'm worried you'll be detected. Even though I can talk my way out of this, I'd rather not have to."

"Ease up, Cousin," she replied with a grin. "Kingsley knows I'm visiting you, and that Mum was coming for a short visit as well. Of course, that means I'll have to stay a few days, but you don't mind, do you?"

Draco smirked. "Giles is going to love this."

Tonks returned his smirk and motioned to Amy's body. "She's ready to go back. Are you sure you can handle the trip by yourself?" she asked her mother, who glared at her. "Fine! I was just making sure. I don't want you to collapse in your office from the strain of carrying and masking the body!"

Andromeda just shook her head and walked over to Amy, securing a small silver hoop around her wrist. "I had a special portkey made specifically for masking the magical signature. Do not worry." She walked over to Draco and he kissed her cheek. "I'll send your mother your love. Be safe." With a final touch to his shoulder, she made her way back to Amy and leaned down, tapping her wand to the silver bracelet and whispering the activation charm on the portkey. Both were gone without a sound, much to Buffy and Willow's surprise.

Tonks turned to Draco with a grin. "So! I'm dead tired. Where can I crash?"

Draco looked to Buffy. "Think she could stay in Dawn's bed? It'll be easier than transfiguring the couch. We're both dreadful at it."

The slayer nodded and smiled. "I guess you don't want dinner then? Since it's probably really late in England."

"Four in the bloody awful morning. I can finally catch up on some much needed sleep, too. Can someone point me in the direction?" Tonks yawned and stretched, blinking blearily. Buffy motioned her up the stairs.

"I'll show you and get you oriented. Will you be okay?" she asked Willow, who nodded with a small smile. Gesturing up the stairs, Buffy followed Tonks and the basement door closed after them, leaving Willow and Draco alone in the basement. The witch looked to Draco, her smile disappearing.

"I really kept you from killing Amy?"

Draco nodded. "You did. I was irritated, and I would have pushed it, but I didn't know how that would affect your magic, so I let it go. She's being taken to a facility in England that will take care of her. She won't hurt anyone ever again."

Willow sighed, remembering Draco's insistence that it wouldn't be a problem if she had just let Amy die, but part of her refused to let another human die if she could help it. "I hate being such a bother."

"You're not a bother," Draco insisted. "You were pushed into stressful situations that you needed help out of. You've excelled so far in your healing it's amazing. No more negative thoughts. You're doing too well for that."

His reassurances calmed Willow, and together they walked up the basement stairs to the kitchen. Tonks was looking through the refrigerator and Buffy was putting up the silverware and dishes that had been left out earlier.

"You are not going to come here and eat all of the food," Draco said with a glare. Tonks just stuck out her tongue at him.

"You know that I get a bit hungry in the early morning." Draco rolled his eyes. Tonks pulled out some juice and levitated a glass in front of her, pouring the juice. Draco caught the glass just in time when she went to put the juice back into the refrigerator. Tonks just ruffled his hair and accepted the glass. As she took a seat in between him and Willow at the island, she looked to Buffy and Willow. "So, which one of you is the one with the shattered aura?"

Buffy glared at Draco, crossing her arms. He held up his hands with an innocent expression. "She's just going to help! I'm not going around blabbing it or anything. She has aura eyes."

"She has ore eyes? What the hell is that?" Buffy asked.

Tonks snorted. "Aura. As in your aura that's broken? Part of the joys of being a Metamorphagus. I once met an old Seer who told me the trick about how to change the specifics of my eyes to match that of what a Seer could. With a little twist, I can see auras. Draco wants me to make sure what he originally thought he found was right."

Willow leaned forward when Tonks closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them, Willow jumped back, her jaw dropping. Tonks' eyes were now creamy white. But though she expected Draco's cousin to turn into the Seer stereotype and groan in a strange voice, she was the complete opposite. Tonks propped her chin on her palm and looked Buffy as though she was a piece of art on the wall.

"I see what you mean. It's like shattered glass in there. What you ido/i need to do is get those old auras out of there. I don't know why her body decided to create a third one though." She turned to Draco and before he could answer, she whistled low. "Whoa, cousin. Someone went off the deep end earlier, didn't they?"

Buffy and Willow exchanged a look. Tonks' voice had changed from light-hearted to slightly cold.

"Bugger off," Draco replied firmly and started to make a cup of tea. "Her body made a new one because the spell Willow used to bring her back was designed around someone whose soul had been sent to another magical dimension. Auras don't tend to survive the trip." He looked up and huffed when he noticed Tonks still glaring at him. "Will you lay off? I'm not a kid. I know how to handle myself."

"I worry about you," she snapped before turning her eyes back to bright amber. "So does mum and Aunt Cissa."

"Stop it, would you? I'm fine. Nothing happened, obviously. Now, you were complaining about being so tired earlier, so go to sleep!"

Tonks grinned and leaned back. "Easy, cousin. Just saying. Now, about little Miss Back-From-the-Dead…"

"Twice," Buffy added. Tonks blinked and stared at her strangely.

"Twice. Do you have a plan for getting rid of the auras and fixing the new one?"

Draco stopped drinking his tea and observed Buffy. She crossed her arms, a bit unnerved with the intense staring. "I think I do. I'll have to do a bit more research. It'll be hard to make a connection strong enough to do all that at once though."

Tonks' grin became a bit sinister. "Why don't you get to shagging already then? Don't bodily fluids help you connect to auras easier or something? At least snog her or something."

Draco started to choke on his tea. Buffy backed up away from him. "Whoa. No way am I making out with him, let alone having sex with him. Buffy plus blonde British men don't mix."

"At least this one is breathing," Willow said, only to shrink under Buffy's glare because of the strange looks Draco and Tonks were giving her.

"Where the hell did you hear that?" Draco asked Tonks, after switching his glare from Buffy to Tonks. She just shrugged with a grin on her face.

"Pansy. She said it made her tingly." Tonks turned to Buffy as she grabbed an apple from the fruit display on the sideboard behind the island. "Just don't break my cousin. He's delicate." As she took a large bite out of the apple, she waved and headed into the dining room. Her footsteps could be heard going up the stairs.

It was quiet in the kitchen. Draco was burying his face in his hands, while Buffy and Willow tried to look anywhere but at him. Finally, Willow broke the silence.

"Sex isn't part of my healing, is it? Because you're pretty and all, but I like girls."

Draco removed his hands and glared at her.