Disclaimer etc. in part 1.

Notes: Coffee Crisps are chocolate bars. There's a coffee flavoured toffee in the middle and chocolate around the outside. Yes, they're a real candy bar. As usual, it's been forever between updates, and it will no doubt be forever until the next one. However, I refuse to apologise for my cliffhanger ending to the chapter. Have fun!

The morning after, everyone from Gryffindor looked like they'd been on a three-day bender. Harry's hair was worse than usual, Ron appeared to be simultaneously sleeping and eating, a feat which impressed many in the Great Hall to no end as his ability to unerringly find the various food items he wished with his eyes closed and then shovel them into his mouth at his usual rate suggested some sort of paranormal ability to locate food. Colin still looked shell-shocked and all it took to make his eyes bug out was the word from Dean, "Hammers."

Dean and Seamus merely looked woozy and green despite their attempts to maintain their usual morning banter on girls, sports, girls, classes, girls and girls. Lavendar, Parvati and the other girly-girl types were whispering to each other and fiddling with makeup and hair in an attempt to disguise the fact that they'd had no sleep while Harry was providing Ginny with a pillow by letting her lean her head on his shoulder and Hermione was looking terribly anxious and shushing everyone while sending repeated worried looks to the head tables as though every movement and sound from the Gryffindors would send their house points tumbling into the negatives.

Angel and Buffy were nowhere to be seen until breakfast was nearly over, and the pair of them came strolling in, through the patchy sunlight streaming in through the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall, much to the surprise of those in the Hall. Everyone in the school was aware of Angel's "allergic" reaction to the sun, whether informed directly by Buffy or Harry's gang, or through the constant efforts of the Hogwarts gossip grapevine.

Harry was the first one of his group to spot Buffy and Angel. He raised an eyebrow and nudged first Hermione, then Ron, then Ginny. Ron blearily opened his eyes for the second time that morning, (the first had been locate a troublesomely evasive necktie) Ginny looked at the couple, rolled her eyes, lay back down, then abruptly sat up straight as it hit her that Angel was no longer avoiding the sun. Hermione stopped shushing and started fidgeting madly as she waited for the pair to get to the table so she could find out about the details, whys, wherefores and whatnots of this new development.

"Well?" the brunette witch exploded when they finally got there. "I must assume Mr. Giles has said something that brought about your confidence in Angel's new immunity to sunlight." She looked on expectantly.

Buffy laughed. "Giles didn't even address the email to me. I think he likes you better." Hermione visibly twitched at this nonanswer. Finally the Slayer took pity on her. "I'll show you the email, it has all of Giles' research and stuff in it, but you were pretty much right."

"So how does it feel to not have to worry about the sun anymore?" Ron asked.

It took a moment, but Angel came up with the response he wanted. "It makes me feel like I might truly deserve happiness. As though, in some way, it shows that the penance I've been trying to do over the years actually means something."

Hermione and Ron looked a little confused at this statement, but Ginny and Harry both nodded. Hermione raised an eyebrow at them but Harry just gestured that he'd try to explain it to her later. Ron shrugged it off as one of those things he hadn't the emotional depth to understand and was perfectly happy not understanding.

At that moment several things happened. A late-arriving owl dropped a letter off at Harry's place, Hermione exclaimed, "Oh no! We're going to be late!" Ginny jumped in surprise sending several plates and glasses flying and their contents plunging into the laps and bags of several Gryffindors and Snape and McGonagall came sweeping in to harass the students, getting into an argument with each other over who had what jurisdiction over the altercations which had erupted at the slightest sign of trouble.

In all the furor Harry's letter got shoved into a pocket and forgotten. For the next couple days it was completely missed until Dobby arrived in the Gryffindor common room in search of Harry, waving the letter in the air. "Harry Potter sir! Dobby is having a letter that is being found in the laundry for you!"

Harry had a vague memory of stuffing a letter into his uniform pocket a few days previous and never reading it. He frowned at the envelope. It was, before landing in the laundry, a crisp, white, muggle envelope. Further, he couldn't recognise the handwriting at all. He carefully tore it open and started to read. It was a short letter, but he found himself reading it over and over again in disbelief. Certain it could not say what he thought it was saying.

It was a letter from his Aunt Petunia.

As Harry stood there, staring at the sheet of paper in his hand, Ginny came over and prodded him. "Harry? Harry. What's going on?" He didn't respond to her, still simply staring in disbelief at the letter. Finally Ginny got annoyed and snatched the letter from his hand and started to read it aloud.

To my nephew,

I realise how very ungrateful you are for our kindness and hospitality, but I feel that even you will not ignore the bond of family between us. Several things have happened since you left for school this year and now we require your help. After all we have done for you, allowing you to bring your unusual proclivities into our house, you owe us the favour of assisting us with this problem.

There have been several unusual people visiting us recently and your uncle and I wish for you to rid us of them. How you do it, we do not care. All either of us wants is for them to no longer come by. The neighbours are beginning to talk and Vernon has a very important promotion upcoming if we make the right impression.

Understand that I would not be contacting you if there were another way to keep these people away.

Sincerely,

Petunia B. Dursley

When she finished Ron, Hermione and Ginny were all looking as perplexed as Harry. "She's kidding right?" Ron demanded. "Kindness? 'Bond of family'? Who does she think she is?"

"A shallow, selfish, petty woman who is too stupid to know how to ask a favour," Hermione said acidly.

Watching all this with interest, Buffy had reserved her opinion until now. But hearing the ever-objective Hermione's unvarnished dislike of Petunia Dursley made the Slayer's eyebrows shoot up. "She's that bad?"

Ginny's response was unequivocal. "Worse." As Harry opened his mouth, seemingly about to protest, his girlfriend continued. "And despite whatever Harry may say to try and make it sound not as bad as it is, it's that bad." He shut his mouth, clearly deciding that, if he was picking his battles, this was one worth not picking.

Out of the corner of her eye, Buffy spotted the resigned look on Harry's face. "You're going to go help her anyways aren't you?" she asked.

"Well . . . I . . ." he stammered. Ginny's forbidding basilisk stare only compounded his nerves. Her look spoke volumes of how she would make him suffer if he let his guilt and hero complex overtake what she saw as the only reasonable action.

With a sigh Buffy set out to rescue Harry. "Of course he's going to. He wouldn't be himself if he didn't," she said. "Besides, that's why we're better than the Petunia B. Dursleys of the world. We will help people if they need it, whether or not they deserve it."

"And because we can feel smug we were better than them?" Angel said with a resignedly suspicious look on his face. No one was quite sure how he managed to look both at once, but he did. He fixed Buffy with said look until she flushed and looked away.

"Maybe," she mumbled.

A moment of consideration later and Ron said, "I like that. We'll go and help her and rub it in her face that we're better than her."

"Ron!" Hermione furiously began to lecture Ron about his attitude until Ginny said, not quietly enough unfortunately, that she thought Ron's plan was a good one. However, it was eventually agreed that they would go as group and get permission to go with Harry to help his aunt with whatever had forced her into the dire straits of asking her 'freak' nephew for help.

So they made their way to the gargoyle marking Dumbledore's office and stared at it. "Nickel Naks," Angel finally said. Naturally the password had changed.

Five minutes of candy names later, Buffy pulled out a potions vial from her jacket pocket and started to pour it over the gargoyle and spread it on the wall behind. "What are you doing?" Hermione asked.

"Pouring a dilatory erinaceous potion over the wall and the statue," Buffy replied.

Ginny, Harry and Ron all stared. Hermione frowned. "Why are you doing that?"

"A what potion?" Ginny interrupted.

"'Dilatory' means to be not prompt, and 'erinaceous' means like a hedgehog," Hermione said, "It's a time-delay potion that turns smaller animals into hedgehogs after about ten minutes." She turned to Buffy. "But the only possible effect it might have is if Mrs. Norris comes by and some drips on her accidentally." She paused and something else occurred to her. "Why do you have that anyhow? It's notoriously hard to make."

Buffy shrugged as she splashed the last of it onto the wall. "A couple reasons. Romilda Vane's cat shed all over my $300 new suede boots and I was planning on changing it into a hedgehog. Those don't shed." Ron and Ginny nodded in understanding about the expense and revenge. Harry stared.

"You're getting revenge because there's cat hair on your boots?" he asked incredulously.

"It's not the only reason," Buffy replied defensively. "I said there were a couple."

Angel looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Does this have to do with the lacertiform demon we ran into yesterday evening?"

"You said we need to make it melt," Buffy said as she hunted through her pockets for something. "Ha! Found it!"

Her boyfriend was not to be deterred. "And how is something that makes small animals into hedgehogs going to make a demon melt?" he asked. The other four turned to her expectantly, waiting for an answer.

The Slayer had just pulled her hand back to toss whatever it was she had just retrieved from her pocket onto the potion-covered wall and gargoyle when Snape appeared behind them and made her drop the bag. He picked it up, sniffed it, and then said, "Witch hazel Miss Summers? Twenty points to Gryffindor for such a clever use of available materials." As the other students gaped at him, he continued. "And fifty points for attempting to melt the entrance into the Headmaster's office." He smirked at her. "You didn't honestly expect me to believe that story about Miss Vane's cat was the sole reason you wanted the dilatory erinaceous potion."

"Then could you let us in to see the headmaster so we don't have to stand around trying to guess every single candy ever invented?" she asked.

He raised an eyebrow. "Or so that I don't have to put you in detention for the rest of the year and leave Gryffindor in negative points for melting the wall of the headmaster's office?" the professor inquired.

Shrugging, Buffy replied, "That too."

Hermione hid her face in her hands, Harry winced and Ginny and Ron just rolled their eyes. Snape merely turned to the gargoyle and said, "Coffee Crisp."

At that there were confused glances exchanged among the members of the group. Even Angel looked a little confused. "Is that some sort of wizard candy I don't know about?" Buffy asked. The others shrugged.

They made their way up the stairs to the headmaster's office and waited as Snape knocked on the door. "Come in Severus," Dumbledore said from within the inner sanctum. Just before Hermione looked to properly awed at his omniscience, Angel jerked his head at the tiny mirror set in the wall just outside the office. Harry caught the motion out of the corner of his eye and smirked, nudging Ron and Ginny. The two just looked at Harry in a distinct lack of comprehension before he rolled his eyes and gestured that he'd explain later.

A moment later they were inside, facing Dumbledore and explaining Harry's necessary trip to Surrey. The headmaster frowned slightly in thought for a moment after their explanation. "I agree that Mr. Potter must determine what his aunt believes she requires of him. However," and here he raised a hand, cautioning the students. "I believe it would be most prudent for only Mr. Potter and Miss Granger to go," as the voices of the teenagers began to rise in protest, he simply paused and watched them until they subsided, Ron and Hermione flushed in slight embarassment and Ginny looking mutinous.

Buffy looked at them, slightly surprised at their insistence that they should be going with Harry to visit those people they all seemed to agree were really quite unpleasant. She shook herself internally. She was thinking all Giles-y again. Must be exposure to all the Britishness at the school.

"I do realise you wish to accompany Mr. Potter for . . . erm . . . support," Dumbledore finally continued, "But I do believe that he would be better served if Mrs. Dursley was not antagonised by the presence of wizards in her home. Thus I will allow Miss Granger to accompany Mr. Potter and we will send an escort with you to ensure your safety."

And that was the best they were going to get.

So it was that the next day, Harry, Hermione and several members of the Order of the Pheonix they had never met before touched an old Coke can and portkeyed out to a park near to Number Four Privet Drive. They landed and Harry fell over before climbing to his feet and quickly walking toward his childhood house. "Harry, slow down," Hermione said as she was forced to half-run to keep up with his rapid pace.

He slowed slightly and turned to her. "The faster we get there, the faster we can deal with whatever the problem may be and get back to Hogwarts." He continued before Hermione could say anything in reply, "And the faster I can gloat with Ron, Buffy and Ginny that I'm a better person than the Dursleys."

At that Hermione rolled her eyes and just concentrated on keeping up with Harry.

They arrived at Number Four and Harry rang the doorbell. Hermione took advantage of the momentary break to glance around the yard and the front of the house. The lawn was still perfectly clipped, not a leaf in sight. The outside of the house was utterly spotless, the shutters on the windows matching the paint colour on the door to utter perfection. It was like an idyllic postcard scene of complete suburban perfection.

Except for the scratches on the door, reminiscent of claw marks and the enourmous swathe of turf that had been ripped out of the front lawn.

Before she could categorise anymore of the disturbing signs of violence, Petunia Dursley answered the door and practically dragged the two inside. "Stop standing at the door," she hissed, "People will wonder what freaks like you are doing visiting here."

Harry just rolled his eyes. He was used to Petunia's overreactions to anything and everything he did. No matter that he was dressed in jeans and a blue t-shirt, both of which were brand new and fit him perfectly, in no way too tight or too loose, and a pair of crisp new Nikes. Nevermind that Hermione was wearing a pair of khakis and a green long sleeved t-shirt herself. Petunia still acted as though somehow his mere being broadcasted his . . . "freakishness".

"What are we doing here Aunt Petunia?" he asked.

She glared at him. "I want you to keep them away. I don't care if you use that stick of your or if you turn into one of them, you will keep them away."

At that, Harry was completely baffled. She wasn't talking about wizards, it was clear, she was talking about something else. "Them? Who?" He glanced at Hermione in the hope that she would have picked up on something he hadn't noticed. She looked as puzzled as he did.

"Does this have something to do with the marks on the doors Mrs. Dursley?" Hermione inquired.

The older woman snarled. "As if you people didn't know." Harry was about to say something when he recognised the look and tone of voice. It was the same one that had exploded from Petunia that night when Hagrid had come to get Harry. The sound of her voice was of some violent dislike, bubbling just beneath the surface, waiting to explode outward. She continued, "When my parents tried to explain about the freakishness in our family I didn't believe them. And then Lily became a witch. Why the hell that bitch got to be pretty and smart and all our parents attention, and all I got was this!" She had turned away, from them as she ranted, but now she turned back, and the shock as much as anything made Harry pull away.

Her skin had developed scales and claws were on the tips of her fingers. A look at her mouth revealed fangs. All in all, she looked very snake-like. The patterning of the scales was very lovely however, and if it weren't for the rage and hatred on her face, she could have been quite beautiful. As it was, however, it was clear Petunia felt revulsion for her appearance.

"I don't . . . understand," Harry finally managed.

His aunt sneered at him. "Let me make it clear then. My grandmother was a demon spawned freak. Because of that, we're part of some sort of clan. And they've been coming by and harassing me even though neither me nor Vernon want anything to do with them. You're a freak, you get rid of them."

At that moment, there was a banging on the door and a moment later, several snake-people, bearing a close resemblance to Petunia's scales and claws came bursting in. "So," said the one in the lead, "Is this him?"