A/N: First off, thanks to everyone who has favourited, reviewed or followed this story. Second, no one has guessed correctly how Buffy has information she shouldn't have. The truth shall be revealed next chapter so get your guesses in. Remember whoever guesses correctly gets to choose a pairing.
A few months had gone past since the troll incident. Buffy had continued to teach and continued to have trouble with some of the pureblood followers of the so called big bad Dark Lord. She and Faith had also met with Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix. The members were nice enough to them, but suspicious of her place there until Dumbles announced their status as the oldest and second oldest living slayers. Then they got shock and awe, then even more shock when her past with Severus was revealed.
On the plus side, she got to meet the cousin that had turned Oz. She smiled as she remembered meeting Remus Lupin. It had been obvious that the werewolf was nervous about meeting a slayer since the slayers before her were known for their slay first, ask questions never methods. She assured him that as long as he had a way of controlling himself during his 'time of the month' she had no problems with him. Around her, she heard the other release bated breath that she wasn't going to slay one of their own. Soon after the meeting broke up as it was only really called to introduce her to the group. That night, she sent an owl to Oz telling him of her meeting his cousin.
That had been a couple weeks ago, now was the first week of winter break and she was meeting with her family as well as Severus to discuss the prophecy Dumbledore had reluctantly revealed to her after the meeting. Buffy sighed as she snapped her fingers, calling Dobby. She had to be careful about using the house-elf that had cared for her as a baby since nobody could know about her connections yet. Severus was already suspicious of her ability to command a Malfoy house-elf. She had just finished ordering refreshments when she heard the portrait guarding her door swing open.
"Hey B." Faith called. Behind her, Ken and Dawn entered before the painting swung shut. Before she had a chance to greet anyone, Dawn announced
"Incoming" as the fire behind Buffy flared green. Buffy turned around just in time for Giles to step out of the flames, behind him two other stepped out. Buffy stared at the bleach blonde dusting the soot from himself, barely giving him a chance to look up before she practically flew into his arms.
"How?" She breathed, as she hugged him as tightly as she could.
"Turns out, after I was burned I became tied to the amulet which ended up with Peaches. Was less than solid for a few months until one of Captain Forehead's people figured out how to make me corporeal again, then a couple more months after Fred's single use solution had to be used on a wanna be big bad ghostie so he could be imprisoned. A better part of a year after I was back in body, I spent on a wild goose chase with Peaches over a prophecy dealing with the 'champion' vampire with a soul. Dru found me after that, the stars had told her she needed her soul for what was to come. We got her soul back, and I spent the next several years helping her cope. She's never gonna be completely sane but she's stable now." Spike explained, pulling Drusilla from where she was standing behind him.
Buffy stared at the dark haired vampiress for a moment before nodding,
"As long as your soul's intact, you have a second chance here….. but if you hurt my brother again, the most sadistic torture you've ever endured will be a walk in the park compared to what I'll put you through." Buffy said as she offered her hand to her brother's sire. A breath of relief sounded among those in the room as the familiar threat was issued and Buffy's peace offering was accepted. Just then a knock sounded through the room. Buffy went, opened the door and silently stepped aside to allow Severus entrance. Even in Hogwarts, ingrained habits stuck. Walking back toward the group, she said,
"Sev, I believe you know everyone here but Rupert Giles, Spike and Drusilla." Pointing to each person as she introduced them. "Giles, Spike, Dru, this is Severus Snape."
"Snape as in Dawnie?" Spike asked, an evil gleam in his eye.
"Yes, Spike. Sev is Dawnie's father." Buffy confirmed, then said, "Standard family threat only, no letting William the Bloody out, and no railroad spikes. I'd like for Dawn's father to stay in the land of alive, well, and in one whole piece." Buffy said.
"Take my fun why don't you?" Spike said, pouting.
"I'm sure you'll find other fun." Buffy smirked. Buffy gestured toward the sitting area, inviting all to sit. Then she snapped her fingers and an assortment of drinks and snacks appeared.
"Okay, now that everybody knows everybody, it's time to get down to business, Giles, Ken?" Buffy said.
"We've discovered what the prophecy Mr. Snape partially overheard and the gist of it is that a child would be born to someone who had thrice defied the Dark Lord at the end of July. The child would be marked as the Dark Lord's equal and one has to die at the hand of the other. However, our own resident seer has assured me that by bringing the war to our attention Dumbledore has effectively canceled out this prophecy by activating another." Giles said, before gesturing for Drusilla to speak.
"Heirs of the founders four, sorted to ancestors once more, light and dark sides unsure, heirs of the founders four, victory secured."
"Well, that's rather clear cut for a prophecy." Buffy said, laughing when she got confused looks from everyone but Spike, Dru, and Sev.
"Well Heirs of the founders four would be the heirs of Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw, Godric Gryffindor, and Helga Hufflepuff, the four founders of Hogwarts. Sorted to their ancestors means that the heir of each line would have been sorted into their ancestors house. Light and Dark sides unsure, while a little unclear, obviously speculates that the sides in this war are not as clear cut as some would have you believe. Then the last bit, heirs of the founders four, victory secured clearly means whichever side the four heirs are on is the side that will win." Buffy explained.
"So the question is who are the four heirs?" Faith asked.
"I so hate to be the bearer of bad news but the last known living heir of Salazar Slytherin is the Dark Lord himself and he has no heirs." Snape said. Buffy rolled her eyes at the sarcasm dripping from the potion master's tone. Then she smirked at the fact that Sev was clearly not as informed as he thought he was.
"Well obviously you're missing something because Dru's vision are rarely if ever wrong." Spike said.
"Regardless of previous successes, this one is obviously wrong." Snape said, his tone telling exactly how he felt about seers.
"Let's put Slytherin aside for a moment and see if we can't figure out the other three." Buffy said as she shared a looked with her family before glaring at Spike and Sev.
"My mother was the heiress of Hufflepuff back when I was alive. I, of course couldn't continue the line but I think my brother married at some point after my death." Spike said.
"Likewise, my family descended from Helena Ravenclaw, my elder sister Anne was married to Edward Prince shortly before Angelus targeted me" Drusilla said. Buffy looked at Sev for a moment before asking,
"Isn't there some way to trace heritages back?" When he nodded, Buffy continued, "Can you perform it?" Severus summoned some parchment, and a knife. Explaining as he went, he charmed the parchment to show bloodlines then quickly nicked his finger and smeared it on the paper. After a moment, the parchment absorbed the blood and began to slowly form a family tree. Drusilla leaned over, watching the lines and names form for several moments before pointing.
"There. That's my sister, Anne Prince (nee Keeble) and there's me. That makes me your great great great aunt." Dru said to Severus.
"That would make me the Ravenclaw heir." Dawn commented, snapping everybody else out of the shock they were in.
"Will this Family Tree charm work down as well?" Giles asked.
"No, see how Dawn is listed on mine. It'll show anyone connected by blood." Severus answered.
"Can you do one for Spike?" Buffy asked. Severus nodded, summoned another parchment, and charmed it before handing it and the knife to the blond. Spike nicked his finger and smeared it across the paper before Dru took his bleeding finger into her mouth. They all watched as the blood was absorbed and the lines began to spread. Finally, a recognizable name appeared.
"Spike, it looks like you've got a four times great nephew currently in Hufflepuff by the name of Neville Longbottom." Buffy said, slipping the paper in her pocket before it got tossed into the fireplace like Severus did with his own.
"Longbottom is the Heir to Hufflepuff?!" Snape exclaimed. Buffy giggled at his shell shocked expression. Soon Kendra, Faith and Dawn were giggling along with Buffy. Giles cleared his throat as he cleaned his glasses.
"So we've got two heirs, both of which are currently in the right house for the prophecy. Now we need to find the heirs of Gryffindor and Slytherin." Giles said.
"Except the last Slytherin heir, the Dark Lord himself, while a Slytherin at Hogwarts graduated in 1945 and has no heirs." Snape said. Buffy shared a look with her sisters and step-father.
"Son of the King of Snakes family hides in front of his enemies eyes." Drusilla said. That sparked a debate between the potions master and the two vampires. Meanwhile, Buffy shared another look with her family that was in the know. Before looking away, Faith winked at Buffy, then said
"Well it's obvious that Moldywarts would hide his family from his enemies but why from his followers?" Faith looked pointedly at the potions professor.
"That's rather obvious as well. The man realizes he has a spy, he's just not sure who." Buffy said, also giving a pointed look to Severus.
"That's all interesting an' such but shouldn't we be focusing on who the other heirs are and finding out what side their on? Also, we need to figure the truth of the two sides and what side we're gonna back?" Spike asked.
"That's true. Based on what we know of Voldemort, his followers and what he's done, we can assume Neville is on Dumbledore's side. I know that Dawnie will reserve judgment until the sides are clear. But the other two are wildcards." Kendra pointed out.
"Giles, Ken, I want you two to research Gryffindor's bloodline, trace it as far forward as you can. I'll have my classes do a family tree project." Buffy said, dismissal clear. She stood to walk Severus to the door, talking to him about the family tree charm. When she closed the door behind him, she went back to her family so they could continue the discussion.
"Buffy, how are you planning on doing that without revealing everything?" Giles asked.
"Easily enough, Tom Riddle is thought to be gone so he's not a concern until he comes back if he comes back, and my connection here isn't on Dumbledore's side. I doubt they'll go running to tell him so if I reveal myself to them before I assign the project, surely we can find a way to get the student in question out of the class. Besides, I imagine it'll take you two the rest of the year to research so I don't even have to worry about this until next school year." She said, before pulling the family tree out of her pocket.
"Check out what other name came up." She said, holding the parchment out in front of her, her finger pointing to the cousin of Alice Longbottom. Being the first to see the name, Giles said,
"Oh dear lord." He took his glasses off to clean as the parchment was grabbed from Buffy's hand so the others could see who she was talking about. Tara.
"Do you think we should write her?" Dawn asked.
"I had planned to as soon as I saw the name. Just as I wrote to Oz after I met his cousin." Buffy said.
"Does she know about Willow, for that matter since you've written to him, does Oz?" Giles asked. They were all silent for a moment, thinking about the redheaded witch they had all known and loved. After the final battle, she and Kennedy had moved to Brazil to recruit and train minis from that area. Five years later, a mini named Yazmin came to Guardian Headquarters to report the death of both Kennedy and Willow as well as a handful of minis. From what Yazmin said, Kennedy and Willow had both grown overly confident with their abilities and rushed into something they weren't prepared for. Yazmin and some of the others decided they needed help. They gathered as much information as they could and Yazmin brought it with her to England. Kendra and Giles eventually identified them as Creeper Demons. Buffy, Faith, Kendra, and Xander, who'd come back from Africa just for this, went down to destroy them. They eventually got the entire clan but they lost Xander.
"Not that I know of. I didn't want to tell him via letter. If I get a response, I plan to invite him to visit. If he doesn't want to visit, then I'll tell him in a letter. Just as I'm going to do with Tara."
After that, the meeting broke up and the ones who lived at Hogwarts said goodbye to Giles, Spike, and Drusilla before they flowed back to Giles' flat in London. The next morning, an owl brought Buffy a response from Oz. Reading his letter, she happy to learn that he was coming to England even without her issuing an invite. Buffy finished her breakfast, then went to see Dumbledore about allowing Oz to visit. After dinner, Dawn brought some of her friends who had stayed over break to hang out in Buffy's quarters. When they arrived, Buffy opened the portrait to five awed expressions and Luna who wore her typical serene expression.
"Hello Harry, Hermione, Gred, Forge, Neville, and Luna. You can call me Buffy while you're in here. Dawn's room is through here." She said, leading the way, then knocking on Dawn's door to let her know her friends had arrived. Dawn opened her door and greeted her friends. Buffy reminded her daughter that the door could be closed but no silencing charms, leaving her daughter's friends confused. Coming back to the sitting room, Buffy had just sit down with a book when a knock sounded at the door. Getting up, she opened it to find Severus standing there with a short purple haired man.
"I found this wondering the halls near my office. He claims he knows you." Severus said. It took a moment then,
"OZ!" She shouted and charged at the newest Hogwarts arrival.
"Need air Buffy." Oz gasped. Buffy released him then grinned sheepishly. She held the door open allowing room for Oz to enter, then looked questioningly at Severus. The taller man shook his head before striding away, his robes billowing. She looked after him for a moment, then closed the door and turned to her guest.
"Oz, it's great to see you. Although I wasn't expecting to see you this soon, I only got your letter this morning."
"It's great to see you too Buffy. Who was that guy though? I think he's hot for you." Oz said.
"What? Sev? No, besides we've already been together." Buffy explained. Oz just raised his eyebrow. Just then, a door down the hall opened and a head poked out.
"Mom, was that Dad?" Dawn asked, then seeing the stranger, asked, "Who's this?"
"Yeah sweetie, that was your dad. As for this, this is Oz. Oz, this is my daughter Dawnella Eileen Joyce Snape. Anyway, Dawn, your dad didn't stay so you can go back to your friends. Remember curfew's in about two hours."
"Daughter, Buffy?" Oz asked once Dawn had went back into her room. Buffy invited him to sit as she responded.
"We haven't talked in so long. Yeah, uh, back before Sunnydale collapsed I got kicked out of my own house after making a mistake and losing some of my potentials as well as Xander's eye. As I wondered around looking for somewhere to go, I found Sev in a graveyard. Given how he looks, I figured he was a vamp and I confronted him. Turns out he was collecting rare potion ingredients that you could only get at that particular hellmouth. We hooked up a couple of times, nothing serious. Well, at least not until I found out I was pregnant after the final battle. Unfortunately, with no contact information and the ingredients he would come for now part of a crater, I didn't see him again until the headmaster here asked me to come help with a supposed Hitler wanna-be big bad. I found out Sev worked here when I was introduced to the rest of the staff but I didn't have time to warn him. He found out about Dawn when her name was called during the sorting." She laughed at the memory.
"Wow, Buffy. So how's the rest of the Scoobies?" Oz asked. Buffy bit her lip then said,
"Giles, Faith and Kendra are great. Giles is in London running Guardian, our version of the watcher's council. Faith and Kendra are here. Ken is apprentice to the mediwitch, and Fay is the school's first counselor. Um… we lost both Willow and Xander about eight years ago to a clan of creeper demons in Brazil." Buffy said, looking for Oz's reaction. She watched as he closed his eyes for a few moments then opened them and offered her a sad smile.
"I'm sorry to hear that." He offered.
"Thanks, it was hard at first especially on Dawn as she loved her 'aunt and uncle'. Not to say it wasn't hard on me as well but we had grown so far apart with Willow in Brazil with Kennedy, Xander roaming around Africa looking for minis and me at Headquarters helping Giles run Guardian and raising Dawn." She said, wiping a stray tear away. Oz took her in his arms. She hugged him back then pulled away.
The two old friends continued to chat long after Dawn had shown her friends out and went to bed. Finally as both yawned, Buffy said,
"Dumbledore didn't get back to me about a room for you since I only talked to him after breakfast this morning. But umm…" Buffy trailed off, unsure of where to offer him.
"The sofa is fine Buffy." Oz said. Buffy nodded, grabbed her wand and transfigured a couple throw pillows into a real pillow and a blanket. Then she handed them to Oz. They said their goodnights and Buffy headed off to her room.
The next day, Buffy, Oz, and Dawn met up with Ken and Faith on the way to breakfast. After breakfast, Buffy introduced Oz to Dumbledore whose eyes twinkled as he told them he'd be inviting Remus over to discuss something later today around four. Buffy spent the day showing Oz around the school, then at four headed to the headmaster's office. Buffy gave the password then knocked to announce her presence.
"Yes Buffy?" Dumbledore asked.
"I was wondering about the rooms I requested for my friend whose visiting. He's here." Buffy said.
"Show him in, I'd like to meet him." Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling. Buffy stepped aside, allowing Oz to walk into the room. Buffy smiled as the younger of the two werewolves recognized his cousin.
"OZ?! Remus exclaimed, jumping up to greet the new arrival.
"Yeah, Rem it's me." Oz said.
"What are you doing here?" Remus asked, as Oz joined him in sitting on the couch the headmaster had just transformed his chairs into.
"Visiting an old friend." Oz said, gesturing toward Buffy who remained in the doorway.
"You two know each other?" Remus questioned.
"Rem, I told you the last time I talked to you that I knew the slayer, that I was dating said slayer's best friend." Oz answered in his calm manner, again gesturing toward Buffy.
"Of course. I remember." Remus turned to Buffy, "that's way you kept glancing at me at the meeting. I thought it was because you were anxious at being so close to something you were meant to slay. Then you assured me, you wouldn't hurt me until I gave you a reason to. I couldn't figure it out, but this is it isn't it. You knew who I was." Remus asked.
"Yup." Buffy said, popping the p. Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"How about I show Oz where he'll be sleeping while he's here then you three can chat." The three of them nodded and followed the headmaster out of his office and down the hall. Soon he stopped in front of a door which opened without him speaking a password and they all entered. Before leaving, Dumbledore said,
"Oz, you can set a password for while you're here. Remus, I do hope you'll think about what we discussed."
"I'll leave you two to catch up. I'll see you at dinner Oz?" She questioned, then left when he nodded.
Buffy headed up to her rooms where she sat down to write to another friend she'd not talked to since Sunnydale who also had family here in wizarding Britain. Tara had been a good friend, and good for Willow until Willow got so caught up in the power she possessed that it controlled her rather than her controlling it. Then the fateful day when Warren had come with the gun, both she and Tara had been shot. Thinking Tara was dead, Willow lost it. She saved Buffy before going after Warren, killing him ruthlessly then going after the other two in the Trio or Triad or whatever those pains in her ass had been calling themselves. Meanwhile, Kendra had walked in and found Tara still alive but barely. She quickly healed the damage just enough to get Tara to the hospital. A couple days later, Buffy went to see Tara and explained about Willow. Tara cried at what her Willow tree had turned into and told Buffy that to have Tara talk her out of her grief just to turn around and leave her wouldn't help Willow. Buffy said she understood and agreed to let Willow believe that Tara had been killed. Buffy shook herself out of her thoughts and quickly finished her letter before handing it off to Sineya, the owl she'd bought.
The rest of the days of winter break pasted quickly and too soon the students were back and classes began again. Oz had stayed long enough to find himself an apartment in London then left but not before promising both Buffy and Remus that he'd visit and that they were always welcome to visit him. Dawn's friends visited often, and Dawn kept her in the loop. Recently Dawn had revealed that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were researching Nicolas Flamel. Dawn, being Dawn, then told her exactly who Nicolas Flamel was and why the three pre-teens were looking for him as well as their theories for which teacher was trying to steal the stone. Buffy thought about what Dawn had told her, about how the three first thought Snape was the culprit. Then Dawn had come home in tears, apparently Harry and Hermione were coming off that idea seeing as Snape is Dawn's father but Ron had said he didn't trust the greasy git and why should he trust the daughter of an overgrown dungeon bat. Buffy had briefly considered feeding the youngest Weasley boy to Spike and Dru. Then realized it wasn't fair to make the two vamps sick.
Shaking her head, Buffy thought about the stone and what Dawn had told her. Buffy knew it wasn't Snape, personally Buffy thought it was Quirrell. Something about that professor set off her spidey sense. Actually Buffy thought something was fishy about the whole thing. Giles had finally gotten back to her with the information about both Dumbledore and Tom Riddle aka Lord Voldemort. There wasn't much and what there was had clearly been written by someone biased toward Dumbledore. What was more interesting was Giles' notes from going to see the current Dark Lord's predecessor. Gellert Grindelwald was able to shed a new light on the leader of the light. Giles had also contacted a friend of his for notes on Tom Riddle from when he was in Hogwarts. Ethan hadn't had a lot of information as Tom had been extremely private but did mention that Tom had a twin sister named Jossalyne who was in Ravenclaw. This sister had not only disappeared sometime after marrying Abraxas Malfoy, but had also apparently disappeared from everyone's memory as she's not mentioned once. She wondered if Lucius or Draco even knew they were related to their Lord.