A/N: And here we have it folks, the start of the revamped (no pun intended) season 7.

Please read and review!

Lessons

Buffy and Dawn went out on patrol a few weeks later, this being the first time Dawn was actually invited to go. Buffy is fighting a battle in her own head over the whole situation, Maybe this isn't a good idea, she's probably not ready. Oh get over it Buffy, she has been training with you, Tara, and Xander to hone her fighting skills, and she's beaten you more than once. She's been training with Tara and Willow, now that she's back, to become a pretty powerful witch in training. Will and Tara told you that she could defend herself quite well with shields and they said she was good at using fire as well, but what if they're wrong. Oh come on, you know if either of them had doubts they wouldn't have let her come yet, or at least one of them would've come along as well.

Buffy was so lost in thought that she didn't notice the vampires until Dawn had already staked the first one and kicked a second in the side of its knee, sending it to the ground. Buffy quickly assessed the situation and saw that Dawn was firmly in control of the fight so far. So the slayer took a seat on a nearby tombstone to watch the show. The vampire on the ground was struggling to get back up, while Dawn's kick hadn't broken or dislocated anything, she had lucked out and hit a nerve deadening the vamp's entire leg, leaving her free for the moment to face the remaining vamp. This one was much more cautious seeing how the tall brunette has taken his buddies out of the fight. They circle each other for a short time, trying to get a read on their opponent. They start throwing punches, but neither is able to land a solid blow, the vampire is stronger, but Dawn is a little faster. So for a few short minutes it's punch/block, kick/dodge and so on, the downed vamp starts to regain his feet. Buffy seeing this tenses, ready to help if needed, but relaxes again when Dawn feints a charge at her opponent before spinning and delivering a solid roundhouse kick to the other vamps temple, "Hey Buff. You wanna handle that one?" Dawn asked still facing off with her current opponent.

"I am going to enjoy draining you little girl, then I'm going to entertain myself with your little friend there." The vamp spoke exposing his fangs in an evil smile.

His words made Dawn see red and she attacked viscously and violently, though still controlled. She feinted a left hook, but this time followed her feint with a real punch immediately after. Then followed through by closing the distance and strking his left jaw with her right elbow immediately followed by striking the other side of his jaw with a right hammer-fist. While he was dazed she pulled out her other stake and then drove the vamp to the ground using a double-leg takedown. "By the way that's my sister you were talking about." She said still raining down blows, "Just be happy you got to face me and not her. She's the slayer." Dawn whispered as she drove the stake through his chest, dusting him.

She stood up brushing the dust from her clothes, "So are we ready to head home? Vampire dust does wash out right?"

"You know you did better than I did my first slay. I missed the heart." Said Buffy truly impressed with how well Dawn performed.

"No way!"

"Yep. Only the one time though."

"Well in your defense, I had longer to train with multiple amazing people and have known about the dark world longer than you did at my age. Plus I have this awesome slayer for a sister who I share blood with…so I'm sure that helps too."

"Thanks for the pep talk Dawnie, didn't know I needed one." Buffy said wrapping her arm around her sister as they walked, "So how're things goin with Willow?"

Dawn sighed, "It's goin good, it's probably a good thing that I'm still underage, so we can work out what issues we still have from what she did while under the influence of dark magic. You know so we can rebuild our friendship before try a deeper relationship. At least that's what Tara and my rational mind tells me. The other part of me just wants to go ahead and confront her about how I feel. I see the way she looks at me sometimes and I'm pretty sure she feels the same for me, maybe it's just nerves, but something tells me neither of us is ready yet." The teen finishes and her shoulders sag a bit.

"Hey it'll all work out okay." Buffy reassures her sister with a hug, "And you know you can talk to me or Tara whenever. Just remember that sometimes you can stand there and direct the flow of things, but other times you have to stand on the sidelines and wait for the right time to jump in."

Dawn looks at Buffy with one eyebrow raised, "When did you become "advice gal" and what have you done with my sister?"

"Ha ha, very funny, I can be very insightful when I wanna be. Now let's get home and get this dust washed off."

They walk in the door and Willow and Tara are both still awake watching TV, curious to know how Dawn did on her first slay. After hearing the tale Tara is impressed, "Wow Dawnie, two on your own? Nice job!"

Buffy and Tara go into the kitchen to get something to eat and Dawn flops down on the couch next to Willow, "You didn't get hurt or anything did you?" Willow asked in a slightly worried voice, her hands clasped together, resting on her lap to keep from touching Dawn.

"Nope, no injuries here, I think the adrenaline finally wore off I feel exhausted. Not like I need to sleep, but I feel like I need to relax. You know?"

Willow nods understanding, "Well we could watch some TV if you want, or your hungry we could get something to eat."

"Well I am a little hungry I guess."

"I could make you something. What do ya want? Just remember I'm a better cook than Buffy, but not as good as Tara, or you for that matter."

"I want an extra order of a certain, juicy, red headed Wicca to nibble on, and OH MY GOD! I said that out loud didn't I?" Dawn asked her and Willows face turning color to match the young witch's hair.

"You certainly did Dawnie!" Buffy shouts from the kitchen, "And I add EWWW! Did not need that image in my head!"

Dawn quickly snaps out of her embarrassment to shoot back, "Oh come on Buffy I here worse than that from your room most nights, or should I say from your "Mistress's" room."

Buffy turns to Tara, "I thought you put a sound proofing spell on our room?"

"Oh she did, what she didn't realize was that that particular spell only works until you open a door or window. So it needs to be redone afterward." Dawn answered for the blonde witch as she and a still flushed faced Willow joined them in the kitchen.

Dawn walked over to the refrigerator and got out the ingredients to make herself a sandwich. They talked for a while and Buffy and Dawn relaxed after the slayage. With the adrenaline no longer flowing Dawn realized how tired she was and decided to take a shower then go to bed, "Good night guys." She said giving each of them a hug and Willow a kiss on the cheek, causing the red head's thought process to freeze once again.

Dawn left the room and Buffy and Tara shared a look and a smile. "Willow? Willow? Come back to us Wills." Buffy said waving her hand in front of her best friends face.

"Huh? What?" Willow sputtered regaining her composure.

"You know Buffy? I may be wrong, but I think our witch friend here has a crush on a certain brunette sister of yours." Tara said smirking at Willow.

Willow's eyes went wide, "What? No…I…um…it's not…" She tried to explain to Buffy that nothing was going on, but started to hyperventilate, worried about what Buffy might do if she knew her red haired friend liked her sister.

"Will, calm down and breathe." Buffy advised, placing her hand gently on Willow's shoulder, "It's ok Willow, I know you like Dawn. I'm not completely unobservant. And I know you would never do anything to take advantage of her if she likes you too. If it turns out that there's something there I'll support you both."

Willow is a bit dumbfounded, she stares at Buff, then looks at Tara who is smiling at her, "I think we should call it a night and let you sleep on what you were just told Willow." Said Tara as she stood, pulling Buffy up with her, "Come on baby lets go get you washed up." She added as they made their way upstairs.

Willow remained seated, still a bit stunned by what Buffy told her. She smiled and shook her head, Damned Summers women. They always find a way to surprise you, no matter how long you've known them. Well I guess I should take Tara's advice and sleep on it, not gonna get anything else accomplished tonight. She thought before making her way up to her room.

The next day Buffy dropped Dawn off at the newly opened Sunnydale High, for her first day of her sophomore year. She handed Dawn a small gift box, "What is it? Is it a weapon?" Dawn asked almost bouncing from excitement.

"It's kind of a weapon." Was Buffy's answer.

Dawn opened the box and squealed after seeing what was inside and promptly hugged her sister, "I hope I got you the right one. I had Willow help me pick it out, so it's guaranteed to be top of the line."

"It's great Buffy, perfect actually." Dawn assured her and gave her another hug as she began exploring her new iPhone 5 and all that came with it. "Did you have Willow pre-load it with my music? You guys are awesome!"

"I'm glad you like it Dawnie. Just remember, with all those cool apps it really is still a phone too and I know you can handle yourself, but if there's ever any problems call or text any of us."

"I will I promise. Well I guess I better get to class, don't wanna be late for the first day at Hellmouth High."

"Ok have a good day. Avoid any hyena people, , or any loser athletes, or if you see anyone who's invisible..."

"Buffy, I think it's safe to say, I'm not going to SEE anyone who's invisible."

"Right, well, have a good day."

Dawn went off to meet up with her friends before heading to class. Buffy wandered through the halls of the school and eventually met up with Xander where his crew was still working on part of the school. He showed her a few points of interest then laid out a blueprint of the old building. "Now, we know the hellmouth was located underneath the library right?" He asked rhetorically while pointing out the libraries location on the blueprint. "Now here's a transparent copy of the current design." He said laying the clear sheet over the old blueprint, "Guess where the principal's office is?"

"Wow, sitting in his office over the gateway to Hell all day. That's gotta pass on some bad mojo. I think it's time I paid the principal a visit."

After her short meet talk with principal Robin Wood, a bald, African-American man, young, but a little bit older than her, he was far different from the previous two principals that had been the stewards of the halls of the high school. She did learn that Robin was keeping a close eye on Dawn due to his knowledge of Buffy's spotty record.

Buffy went into a nearby restroom to gather her thoughts, she knew she had to learn more about this new guy. As she was about to leave to see visit Willow, who had gotten a student teaching position in the computer class, before she left she saw a bundle of herbs tied together with string sitting by the sinks. She picked it up to examine it, it smelled strongly of sage, from the way it was bundled she recognized it as a talisman, like those that Willow, Tara, and Dawn would make on occasion. She was going to take it with her until she saw a figure behind her in the mirror, Weird, she thought, I didn't hear the door open, and there was no one in here earlier. She took a second look at the figure, it was a girl, but she appeared to be badly malnourished, her eyes were sunken and her skin was a pale grey color with spots that appeared to be decaying. "YOU LET THEM THINK YOU PLAY THE HERO SLAYER, BUT I KNOW THE TRUTH. YOU DIDN'T SAVE ME, YOU WERE TO BUSY TRYING TO GET YOUR PRECIOUS ANGEL BACK TO SAVE ME AND SO MANY OTHERS. YOU DIDN'T SAVE ME AND YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO SAVE YOUR SISTER EITHER!" As soon as she finished speaking the girl vanished again. Buffy shrugged it off as the hellmouth messing with her mind and went to speak with Willow and Xander before heading to the dojo.

Later that day between classes Dawn and Amanda were in the same restroom Buffy had been in earlier checking their make-up and talking about how their day was going when Kit walked out of one of the stalls with a half smoked cigarette in her hand. "Really Kit? Smoking in the restroom? Way cliché and too easy to get caught, I've told you the basement is the best place to smoke, just don't go down there alone." Dawn said while rolling her eyes.

"Yeah I know, I thought I was caught for a minute earlier, but it turned out to be some weird pale chick. I think this qualifies as one of those things we're supposed to tell your sister or one of her friends about." Kit answered.

"Yeah, kinda sounds that way, well it's lunch period, let's go see if we can catch both Willow and Xander at the construction site." Dawn replied and the three head for the door, but before they get halfway the floor collapses beneath them and they find themselves in the basement.

The three girls find Carlos down there as well and Dawn manages to call Buffy before they are attacked by the same zombie/ghoul that Buffy and Kit saw along with two others, a male student and a janitor. Dawn is able to hold them off with Carlos' help for long enough for the foursome to make it to a supply room and barricade the door. Dawn surveys the room and finds weapons for them all, utilizing metal pipes, pieces of rebar and finding a large pipe wrench for herself.

By this time Buffy had made her way to the school and the basement by way of the same hole Dawn and the others had fallen through. She searched for her sister and her sister's friends through the maze of the basement all the while being sporadically attacked by the zombie people who seemed to be trying to keep her away from one door in particular. She managed to get through the door only to find Spike crouched in the corner talking to himself, she tried to question him, but his utterings made less sense than Drusilla on her worst day. She managed to ascertain that the zombies had been created via the talisman. She called Xander and told him to find the talisman and destroy it. She then left Spike when she heard a scream that sounded like Amanda. She got to the four friends and they managed to hold the zombies off long enough for Xander to break the talisman and end the spell, while fighting off a zombie himself.

After getting them all back up from the basement Buffy addresses Dawn and her friends, "You guys know what goes on around here you've been told by all of us and today you've seen for yourselves how dangerous and unpredictable this school can be. You can make it through though, Xander, Willow, Oz, Cordelia, and I did, but you have to stick together and watch out for each other. You have a responsibility to the other students, and to the teachers even, you know why weird things happen so it's your job to be the next "Scooby gang" if you will. You don't have to call yourselves that, but stick together, protect each other, and defend your school. And remember if it's too much for you to handle you know where to find a slayer, two powerful trained witches, and one bad ass carpenter with the memories of a soldier and instincts of a hyena. Now you guys better get to class before you get in trouble."

"Wow, you actually managed to get Carlos and Kit to willingly go to class. I'm impressed." Said principal Wood from behind Buffy, "Their records are second only to your own Miss Summers. And that was meant to be a compliment in some obscure way. Anyway you seem to have a way of connecting with these kids, and I want to offer you a job, it would only be a couple days a week, we could work around your schedule, and we can't offer you much in the way of pay, but we have a position open for a counselor, someone for the kids to talk to with whatever problems they have. Most of the staff we have here is much older than the student population, but you and your friend Miss Rosenberg, who will be taking a counseling position during her free periods and after school, are close enough in age to the students that I believe they will open up to you and listen to what advice you can give them."

Buffy thought about it for a moment before agreeing to take the job.

Back in the basement Spike was still crouched against the wall muttering "The thing is…I had a speech. I learned it all. Oh, God. She won't understand, she won't understand."

A figure appearing as Warren spoke, "Of course she won't understand, Sparky. I'm beyond her understanding. She's a girl. Sugar and spice and everything...useless unless you're baking. I'm more than that. More than flesh ..." The creature shifted into Glory's form, "... more than blood. I'm ... you know, I honestly don't think there's a human word fabulous enough for me. Oh, my name will be on everyone's lips, assuming their lips haven't been torn off. But not just yet. That's all right, though ..." It changed again, to Adam this time, "... I can be patient. Everything is well within parameters. She's exactly where I want her to be. And so are you, Number 17. You're right where you belong." Now as the Mayor, "So what'd you think? You'd get your soul back and everything'd be Jim Dandy? Soul's slipperier than a greased weasel. Why do you think I sold mine? Well, you probably thought that you'd be your own man, and I respect that, but ..." Then it switched to Drusilla, "... you never will. You'll always be mine. You'll always be in the dark with me, singing our little songs. You like our little songs, don't you? You've always liked them, right from the beginning. And that's where we're going ..." Then it became the Master, "... right back to the beginning. Not the Bang ... not the Word ... the true beginning. The next few months are going to be quite a ride. And I think we're all going to learn something about ourselves in the process. You'll learn you're a pathetic schmuck, if it hasn't sunk in already. Look at you. Trying to do what's right, just like her. You still don't get it. It's not about right, not about wrong ..." Finally taking on Buffy's form, "... it's about power."