Author Notes - This chapter was originally going to be about 7.5k words and cover a longer period of time. However, through editing, it reached over 10k words. Since I've been trying to get a chapter out every week, that was just too much so I cut it in half. Next chapter will probably be longer(if I don't have to cut that one up too)

As always, thank you all for your reviews. They are appreciated. Even the critical ones.

Chapter Five

Harry was debating whether or not to begin his first attempt at a wand when his magic flashed with a warning from within his mind. Harry recognized the feeling immediately. His proximity ward had been breached. Someone was trying to get inside.

Harry swore under his breath as he scrambled hastily to prepare for the intruder. First, he quickly vanished all of the tools lying around that he had conjured for the staff's creation. He then ran to retrieve the same staff that he had only just put away a moment before. He mixed it in with all of the wooden debris from the broken furniture that was still scattered around the place. Hopefully, the staff wouldn't be distinctive enough from the rest of it in to attract any attention. At a casual glance, it appeared to just be another piece of badly mangled wood from the fire which had destroyed everything else. Harry thought about extinguishing all of the candles that he had conjured earlier but thought better of it. Whoever had breached his proximity ward would have already seen them. If he got rid of the candle light now, then the intruder would know right away that someone was inside. If Harry left the candles lit, they'd hopefully just assume that he had stepped out.

He Disillusioned and silenced himself with a wave of his wand. He then masked his scent with a third spell and once again thanked his Auror training. Masking his scent was something he had not learned how to do until quite a few months into training when all the recruits were taught lessons on how to safely capture and detain werewolves. Although those three spells combined would have hidden his presence from everything within his own world, he was worried that it wouldn't be enough to hide him from a demon.

The Disillusionment Charm wasn't as easy to use as an invisibility cloak, and many people didn't bother to learn it past basic camouflage proficiency. For the few who took the time to perfect the charm, complete invisibility was definitely possible. Harry had, after months of practice, achieved what only a few people would even bother attempting and could now boast about his mastery of the charm. Even with a perfect cast, it still worked like camouflage in the way it perfectly blended your presence in with the background.

But just because it was perfect invisibility to the human mind, didn't mean it was perfect invisibility against a demon. Would it even work against them? Could they see through it? Could they detect magic? Could they detect heat? Harry didn't know, but he thought that he was probably about to find out.

He positioned himself in a corner of the room and not a second too soon. There was a loud bang as something collided with the metal door. The door remained firmly in place; the attempt had failed. The intruder's second attempt wasn't so fortunate. The hinges bent under the strain, and the lock fell into two pieces. In doing so, any doubts on whether or not the intruder was human was answered. No human other than a Slayer could possibly have achieved such destruction by hand and neither Slayer had a reason to barge into the place in the middle of the night without any warning.

Harry remained still and silent as two males entered the room. One was over a head taller than Harry with a bulky figure. He appeared to be the brute who had dismantled the door. The other was much smaller in stature with a slim build.

"It's empty," the large one observed.

"Perhaps," the slim one said as he scanned the room. His eyes swept past the corner that Harry was standing in as if it was any other corner and Harry let out a noiseless breath of relief. The two moved further into the room, scanning for any occupants.

"What's with the candles?" the brute asked before kicking one of them across the room.

"He must use them for his magic," the other reasoned incorrectly. He spat the word magic out as if the very word caused him to become enraged.

"I don't like warlocks," the muscled vampire snarled. His fists clenched in anger.

"No?" the other asked with a wicked grin, "I find that their magic adds just a hint of spice."

His companion appeared confused for a moment before he let out a large laugh.

"Quiet!"

"Sorry."

"Does the boss want us to wait for him?" the muscle asked.

"The warlock wouldn't leave flames burning if he wasn't coming back." The vampire looked thoughtful for a moment. "Unless he's still here."

"They can do that?" the other asked in concern.

"Boss said that this one was unlike the others. Stronger," he answered, "We do not know what he can do."

"Then why didn't the boss send his pet?"

"Shut up Curtis!" he hissed as he looked around the room suspiciously.

"Right. Sorry."

The two made their way back to the door. "I wish you left the door in better shape," the small one admonished. "Even a warlock isn't dumb enough to stick around after seeing that," he said, pointing to the door that was warped and hanging pitifully from only one of its hinges. He glanced around one more time before sighing in disappointment, "Let's go."

As the two were preparing to leave, Harry began to debate the pros and cons of engaging the two in a fight. He had waited this long because he was curious as to how they knew who and where he was. He was hoping they'd reveal more than they had. As he watched them walk towards the door, he knew he was about to lose his chance. He decided that he would have to risk engaging them in a fight. If he didn't at least try to bring the vampires down, then anyone they fed upon or they turned from that point on would undoubtedly weigh on his conscience. If it came down to it, Harry could simply Apparate away from the fight.

Since it was two on one, Harry needed something that could take one of them out of the fight during an initial surprise attack. However, it was a risk to cast any directly offensive spell at either vampire. The books had cautioned that vampires were very magically resistant. It wouldn't be a good idea to test just how much magically resilient they were unless he had an opening to do so.

Finally deciding on a strategy, Harry sent a quick beam of light at the door that the two were making their way towards. As the light left his wand, his Disillusionment Charm failed. The Charm required a constant level of focus to maintain, and his focus had instead shifted to casting another complex spell. The two vampires did not have the time to react to his sudden appearance because the light found its target. It smacked right into the center of the door. The two vampires smiled as they seemed to think he missed his target, but realized their error when the door morphed into a large black bear. As it went on its hind legs and let out a roar, Harry followed the Transfiguration up with a Blasting Curse aimed at the slim Vampire. The vampire dodged it with ease. It flew past its intended target and instead slammed into the wall. An explosion went off that blew a three-foot wide hole into the side of the factory.

"Oh hell no," the slim vampire said as he realized what he was up against. He shoved Curtis right into the path of the roaring bear and fled out the door. "Sorry, Curtis!" He shouted out. The bear pounced on Curtis, burying the vampire under its weight as it began to shred him apart.

After hesitating for just a moment, Harry Apparated outside of the building to chase down the fleeing vampire. He scanned the area and quickly spotted him; he was running towards the forest, where the cover of the trees would make a magical battle far riskier. Harry carefully aimed and sent an Incarcerous Spell. The vampire somehow seemed to sense it coming, and tried to move out of the way. However, the spell still managed to graze his arm and he stumbled to the ground as he fought off the wave of conjured rope. Harry Apparated closer and immediately conjured an ax. The vampire had broken free from the loose rope and was bringing himself to his feet when Harry swung the ax at the vampire's neck. The vampire rolled out of the way and charged at him. Harry threw the ax with the blade heading towards his opponent's throat. The vampire was too quick and side stepped it in one smooth motion. Harry responded with a magically conjured barrier, and only just in time. The vampire collided into it and bounced off. The shield held, but Harry was forced to take a step back as it harshly vibrated and visibly weakened. Thinking quickly, he decided to let the shield fall. The vampire saw his opening, assuming the magical shield failed. He leaped at Harry a second time but didn't notice the large wooden stake that Harry had conjured until it was too late. The vampire face grunted in shock as he impaled himself. Harry watched in victory as the surprised vampire evaporated into dust.

Quickly recovering from his first slain vampire, Harry Apparated back into the factory, preparing to counter the transfigured bear and possibly finish off the second vampire.

Instead, he was shocked to see the bear dead in the doorway with its head twisted gruesomely. Its neck had been snapped cleanly, and there was no sign of Curtis. Harry swore and quickly repaired the door and wall before taking a careful look around in order to make sure Curtis hadn't chosen to hide inside and surprise him. There didn't seem to be anyone there. Curtis had taken a page out of his partner's playbook and had hastily fled after he had taken care of the bear. Harry thought about trying to track the vampire down, as it was no doubt bleeding heavily from its injuries, but he thought better of it. Once he got out of the range of his burning candles, the woods would become pitch black and the vampire, injured though he was, would have the advantage. Harry grabbed his staff and his bundle of feathers and Apparated to the library. He could still feel his heart pounding in his chest and his hands shaking as he popped into the school.

He smiled to himself, for he knew it wasn't the brief rush of fear that was giving him the shakes. It was the aftershocks of the large burst of adrenaline. It was a sensation he had experienced many times in the past, and a sensation that he had greatly missed. It was the first time since his deal with Whistler that he thought that perhaps he had made the right decision in coming to that universe.

No one since the war had put up even close to the same level of a fight that the one vampire had shown. Harry's fame was so wide spread throughout Britain, that anyone he caught doing any sort of crime tended to surrender to him rather than try to fight. The only reason he had even been able to progress his combat abilities was the sparing that he was able to constantly convince his fellow Aurors into.

The short battle with the two vampires had been strangely refreshing in an adrenaline junkie sort of way. Harry placed his staff against one of the aisles as he prepared to head into the main floor of the Library.

Harry knew he had just been attacked and most likely betrayed by someone in this group of theirs. No one else could have possibly known about his arrival or his abilities. Still, he thought it best to try to appear calm rather than charge in and demand answers as to who had betrayed him. He desperately wanted to Legilimens each and every one of them until he found the traitor or traitors, but knew that it would be a terrible idea. Harry tried for a full minute to collect himself.

Once he thought he had taken care of the anger that had been visible upon his face, he rounded the corner. An expected sight greeted him. Xander, Willow, and Buffy were chatting away while Giles seemed to have tuned them all out and instead had his head in a book. Wesley sat along side him with his own large tome.

"Do you people do anything else?" Harry asked, mocking them and their hang out habits as he tried to hide his shaking hands in his pockets.

Buffy looked offended, "I'll have you know I saw a movie today."

"Have you guys been here long?" Harry asked, trying to sound nonchalant. It didn't seem to work, as both Giles and Wesley looked up from their books. They both seemed to have immediately suspected something. Apparently, Harry's face was less calm in appearance and more haggard and twitchy.

"What happened?" Giles asked as he closed his book and gave Harry his full attention.

Harry ignored the question."Who have you told about me?" he asked as he tried to remain calm. He needed to know who had just tried to kill him. However, letting his anger overwhelm him would more than likely just kill any sort of trust that was between them.

"Nobody that you haven't met," Giles answered with an intense stare. He seemed to already suspect that something had happened because of Harry's pointed question. Harry looked at the others, who all just shrugged.

Harry turned his attention to Wesley. "What about The Council? Did you blab to them about the dangerous wizard that needed to be put down?" Harry asked accusingly. He reasoned it was possible that The Council had vampires on their pay roll. Perhaps they offered them protection for other services? Wesley looked up from his book and turned red at the accusation.

"What happened?" Buffy asked, repeating Giles's earlier question. The query had the benefit of stopping Wesley's angry retort. Wesley struggled with himself to remain silent but eventually succeeded. He settled for a glare.

"I was just attacked," Harry said plainly, "two vampires broke into the place I had been staying." He paused for a moment before admitting in embarrassment, "It was probably stupid of me to stay in the one place that I was connected to." It reasoned that anyone looking for him would first inspect the area that he had magically appeared out of.

Buffy stood up, "you escaped? Are they still there?"

Harry shook his head. "One of 'them' escaped," Harry corrected, making sure to emphasize that he was not someone that fled from a fight and was quite capable of taking care of himself, "the other is dead."

"You're not hurt?" Willow asked in concern.

"No. Just pissed off," Harry answered honestly with a slight growl. Being attacked by vampires was something he had of course expected to happen in this universe, but being betrayed by one of the 'good guys' had not been. The others grew somber as they realized the same thing that he did. Someone must have betrayed them.

Xander seemed to think of something, "Do you think it was Anya? She was there when we first met Harry."

Giles appeared thoughtful, "She didn't strike me as someone who cared all that much about Harry, she left the first chance that she could. Though I suppose it's a possibility."

"I will speak with her tomorrow," Xander said grudgingly. It didn't appear as if he was looking forward to it.

"The Council wouldn't send vampires," Wesley said, finally answering the accusation that Harry had leveled. "Besides . . . I haven't yet been able to get in touch with them," he admitted quietly.

"Their two Slayers seem to be at the top of their list of priorities," Giles said sarcastically.

"I'm cool with that," Buffy said with a smile, "they can continue to stay out of it."

"Faith," Willow said quietly and blushed when it earned everyone's attention. "We were all thinking it. She's been acting strange lately," she said as she defended herself.

"My Slayer would never . . ." Wesley began.

"Your Slayer has a few screws loose," Xander corrected him.

Giles sighed wearily, "I think we all know that Faith is capable of just about anything, but that doesn't mean we should jump to conclusions. She is mentally fragile right now. I fear it wouldn't take much to set her off,"

"Well, I'd rather like to know if she's who's been trying to kill me as soon as possible," Harry rebuked. He forced himself to calm down as he thought of another suspect and turned to Buffy "you sure Angel is still Angel? I haven't seen him today."

"Yes," Buffy said, leaving no room for argument, "I just saw him. He was completely normal."

"How do you know he wasn't putting on an act?" Wesley said as he too tried to find an alternative suspect in order to divert attention away from Faith, "you said he pretended last time."

"He wasn't that good of an actor," Buffy said sadly, "I was just blind."

Giles too didn't seem convinced that Angel made a good suspect. "Sending two vampires to kill an enemy isn't Angelus's style. Angelus isn't a pragmatic vampire. If he can't have fun and get his own hands bloody, then to him, it isn't worth doing," Giles informed them. Buffy looked like she couldn't decide whether or not she was happy with the way that Giles had agreed with her.

The accusations abruptly died as no one else could offer up another reasonable suspect, nor had any other evidence as to who it could be. Harry could see that the conversation wasn't heading anywhere and decided that a change of subject was in order. Instead of wondering who had betrayed them, it was time to wonder why. He hadn't really shown any one of them what he was truly capable of. Anya knew that he could teleport and Angel and Faith probably knew everything that Buffy and Wesley did. However, he hadn't done anything yet that could be considered such a large threat to an outsider. Why would any one of them come after him at all? If their goal was to take out an adversary, why not go immediately after Buffy, Angel, or Faith instead?

"Why bother coming after me at all?" Harry asked as he voiced his thoughts out loud, "It's not like I've done anything worthy of attention."

Buffy raised an eyebrow at Giles with a questioning look. Giles shook his head negatively and Harry understood immediately what had just happened during their small interaction. Giles had just denied Buffy's intention of telling him something. Harry sighed and got up to retrieve his staff. The rest followed his movement with their eyes. Harry placed the staff on the table.

"Quid pro quo," he offered as he sat back down.

"Excuse me?" Giles asked as he grabbed the staff in interest. To him, it probably just looked like a large stick.

"You're keeping stuff from me," Harry said as a matter of fact "and I'm keeping stuff from you."

"You'll stop hiding things from us if we start being more open with you?" Giles asked as he figured out what Harry was implying.

Harry nodded and waited for an answer. Giles appeared lost in thought as he placed the staff back on the table.

Wesley looked eager, "you'll answer any question we have? Truthfully?"

Harry gave him a shrewd look. "No. I'll answer any question she has," he said, gesturing to Buffy, who's jaw dropped open in shock. Harry found himself trusting Buffy more than the others for some reason, but didn't think it was wise to extend the trust much further than that.

Wesley didn't like that answer. "No offense, but she doesn't have the knowledge nor the foresight for that kind of responsibility."

"Gee thanks," Buffy grumbled under her breath.

"No offense" Harry bit out sarcastically, "but I've seen Buffy fight and die for the same war that I am now a part of. That earns my respect far faster than someone barking out orders." Harry remained firm.

"Buffy?" Giles asked calmly as he interrupted their spat. It was enough to keep Wesley from continuing.

"You trust me?" Buffy asked Harry skeptically, looking for an alternative motive.

"Honestly? No," Harry replied with a weary chuckle. "I don't trust easily," Harry admitted, "however, I'm starting to suspect that that's no longer an option. I can't have my only allies keeping secrets from me when I'm being attacked in the middle of the night. And I can't demand information when I've obviously been keeping things to myself."

"Full disclosure?" Giles asked intently, "no half-truths, omitted facts, misleading answers, etc?"

Harry couldn't help but grin as the man tried to cover all the bases, "if you agree to the same."

Giles shared a glance with Buffy, who seemed to give the agreement her consent with a nod of her head. Giles turned back to Harry and relented. "Very well. However, just so you know, we were not hiding anything of value to you. We only have some speculation brought forth because of a sensitive matter," Giles said before he began to explain what he had chosen to keep secret earlier.

While Harry was being attacked by vampires; Buffy and Faith had been having their own encounter with a demon. A friendly demon apparently. The demon had offered them a series of tomes simply called "The Books Of Ascension". The interesting part was that the Demon was under the impression that the Mayor would be angry if the books were seen by them and the demon had even implied that the Mayor himself was taking part in an Ascension of his own. The group later discovered a reference to an Ascension which wiped out a whole town. Whatever an Ascension was, it didn't appear to be a good thing, and it led the crew to believe that the Mayor was up to something big, and had been for a long time.

"You think that this Mayor was the one that sent his minions for me?" Harry asked, pleased that it appeared as if they were finally getting somewhere.

"Everything seems to be connecting back to him. If this 'Ascension' is a magical ritual of some kind, it would make sense to try and kill the mysterious wizard who just happened to show up. If he thinks you can stop it, then I imagine it won't be the only time he comes for you," Giles reasoned before reminding him, "we still don't know how he knew about you."

"Perhaps," Harry said diplomatically. He had his suspicions and he was pretty sure that his suspicions were shared by at least a few others at the table.

"What about this?" Buffy asked as she took the staff from Giles and twirled it around. Harry winced at her unexpected use of the weapon but refrained from saying anything about it.

"It's a magical staff," Harry answered. He watched in amusement as she stopped moving it around and carefully placed it back on the table while eyeing it suspiciously.

"This is your big secret?" Buffy asked skeptically, "we already saw you use a stick of some sort, why make such a fuss about a staff?"

"The big deal," Harry started reluctantly, "Is that without a wand or staff, I have trouble doing most magic. If you all managed to break both of my weapons this instant, there is very little that I could do about it."

"That 'is' a pretty big deal," Willow said seriously. Harry nodded, pleased that at least someone had acknowledged that he was putting himself out there. He just hoped that in doing so, he hadn't given Wesley any ideas. Harry hadn't shown any of them his combat abilities just yet, so Wesley would be a fool to try to force a battle. Harry, however, didn't rule out the possibility.

"I was going to ask if you could hold on to this one for me," Harry told Buffy as he gestured to the staff in front of her. Her eyes widened in shock at his request and bit her lip in thought.

"You plan to make more?" Willow questioned. She had caught the way he had phrased his request.

Harry laughed, "I'd be a fool not to, but a staff is very limited. They are easy to craft, but what I really need to do is make some more wands." He took out his wand and spun it around for a moment in order to remind the others what it looked like. "They aren't easy to create and it may take me some time. I needed the staff as insurance," Harry paused a second before admitting, "and I couldn't think of a safer place for it. It would be a bit too risky trying to keep it near me at all times."

"And what do those bird feathers have to do with any of it?" Buffy asked as she thought about their trip to the zoo.

Harry noticed that she kept the staff close. A positive indicator that she seemed to accept the task of protecting it for him.

"The feathers are part of the staff," Harry answered. He went on to explain how the two components interacted with each other, and why the staff would have been completely useless without the feather or the ability to infuse it into the wood. The group looked like they kind of understood what he was saying. Or at least Giles and Willow seemed to.

"What are we going to do about The Books of Ascension?" Wesley asked impatiently, changing the subject. He didn't seem to think Harry or his magic was something that should be discussed.

Xander brought himself to his feet, "I'll go ask around for the location of the demon." Giles and Wesley looked skeptical but didn't object as Xander left.

"You three figure it out," Buffy said as she too got up from the table. "I'm going to hide this," she paused to pick up the staff, "and then check on Angel."

"Be careful," Giles advised as she walked out of the library.

"You think that's wise? Letting her go off on her own? Angel might not be . . . well, Angel," Willow asked.

"Buffy can handle herself," Wesley stated.

Giles frowned. "Though perhaps not when it comes to Angel," he too looked worried.

"She'll be fine. We have other things to worry about. Like the fact that even if Xander finds the demon," Wesley said doubtfully as he clearly did not expect such a thing likely. "We don't have the cash to buy the books off of him. Buffy and Faith may need to take the books by force," Wesley said.

"How much did he want?" Harry asked thoughtfully.

"Five thousand dollars," Giles scoffed, "what happened to requests of virgin blood, or the hearts of children? Demons these days have no standards." His outrage at the price tag on display evident.

Hary smiled at the librarian's bizarre point of view before thinking back to the problem at hand. Harry knew that conjuring up that amount of Muggle money wouldn't technically be a problem for him. It was only when he thought about the possible ramifications that could occur that he hesitated. "These books could perhaps prevent the destruction and deaths of hundreds of people?" Harry inquired, making sure that he understood the situation.

"Undoubtedly."

"Leave it to me then. Do you have a note on you?" Harry asked quietly. Giles raised an eyebrow but seemed to understand where Harry was going with it. He took out his wallet and handed Harry a twenty dollar bill. Harry looked at it and sighed at the thought of what he was going to do.

He studied the bill for a full minute. He had never actually seen one before and wanted to make himself familiar with it. The Duplication Charm didn't need a perfect visual to work properly but it never hurt to have one.

Harry sat the bill on the table and flicked his wand at it. "Gemino," he said. The incantation wasn't required, but it helped to make the copies flawlessly identical. The one twenty dollar bill turned into five bills. Harry stacked each bill on top of one another before casting the charm again. The one stack turned into ten stacks. He repeated the process one more time and the larger stack multiplied by five. A pile of money now sat in front of him. He pushed it over to the two gobsmacked Watchers and one envious young witch.

"I hadn't thought of that application earlier," Giles admitted.

"They'll all have the same serial numbers, and all but the original will start to degrade over time," Harry said tonelessly. He did not like doing what he just did. "But I want to be there during the exchange," Harry declared.

"What for?" Wesley asked suspiciously.

"I want to counter the duplication charm once it's over. I'd feel better ripping off a demon than whoever found themselves with useless currency once it started to degrade," Harry confessed.

The two Watchers gave each other a telling glance. Wesley nodded, "Very well."

Harry didn't hide his amusement when he noticed both Wesley and Giles testing the bills for any faults. It seems to pass their inspection because neither of them said anything. Harry watched as Giles used rubber bands to stack the bills in a way that made them easier to handle.

Deciding that he didn't want to waste any more time doing nothing but waiting for something to happen, Harry Apparated back to the factory in order to quickly grab another piece of maple wood and set up another perimeter ward. Even from a large distance away, he would be notified if someone else decided to try and enter the factory. He did this so he would be able to know before hand if it was safe to pop back in. He no longer had plans of living there after that night.

Back at the library, Harry sat down with another conjured knife and began to whittle down the small piece of maple. He made sure to regularly vanish the small shavings that fell to the floor every time that Giles sent them a disapproving glance. While Harry was doing this, Giles, Wesley, and Willow went back to trying to find more information about The Ascension. They each grew more and more frustrated as each hour went by without success. Harry felt a wave of drowsiness hit him as the piece of maple finally began to resemble a wand.

Eventually, Willow gave up and headed home. She had Oz pick her up.

Harry decided that it would probably be wise to get some rest in order to be better prepared for the potential meeting with the demon. He put down his tools before casting a quick perimeter ward around his chair. Also, just in case, he also set up a simple physical barrier around himself. Nothing would be able to easily get in, and the first time someone tried, the ward would alert him enough to wake him. The two Watchers watched him work but didn't bother to ask what he was doing.

He put his head on the table and closed his eyes.