Hi, have fun with the new update, I'm too tired right now to write much.

The Wizard and The Slayer

Harry hit and kicked the dummies the room of requirement had provided for him. He had asked for a training simulation in weapon less combat to get the frustration at Dumbledore out of his system. The man had the gall to try and legilimens him. He should know better than to use mind arts on a minor. Thankfully he had learned Occlumency very early into his training to keep his profession as a secret agent secret. The room sent wave after wave of midlevel fighters at him. They were the equivalent of adults who had basic training in martial arts. Harry himself had the black belt equivalent in four arts and was only getting stronger the older he got. His body was finally developing the way he had waited for it to do.

When he had defeated the last opponent, he had a déjà vu having a towel thrown at him. He turned around, drying his face of the sweat while doing so.

"This seems to be a habit of yours to beat the shit out of dummies or punching bags whenever Albus enrages you." He heard a familiar voice saying.

He looked at the face of his visitor and was met with the smiling face of Remus Lupin.

"Professor Lupin?" He asked surprised.

"Just Remus, or if you need to be formal Agent Lupin, Harry. I'm one of the werewolves that have been hired after your turning over the anti-werewolf legislation." His former teacher explained.

"When was the first time I managed to produce a corporeal patronus?" Harry asked.

"When you were twelve, to be specific 18 August 1992, after you returned from your first year at school and accepted to join the MI6. It was one of the first defence spells Sirius taught you, just after boggarts. Good that you're taking security serious."

"I have to in my position. I can't be uncovered. You really joined? That's great. I wasn't informed you had joined the department. I presume that you being here means you have been told to either give me new orders, important information or train with me?" Harry said.

"All of it actually. Aurora has reported that Dumbledore found out about you having left Privet Drive years ago." Remus confirmed.

"Yeah, he already confronted me about it. I told him that he didn't have any say in my life besides my education here as a student. He knows that because of a law that has been made at the time of the founders Sirius is cleared of all charges already and therefore my official guardian in the magical and muggle world."

"Yes, that was a big surprise for me finding out that he was innocent and had been working for the MI6 all those years. I'm just glad he didn't have to suffer at Azkaban while being innocent. Well, the information I have for you is that we finally got the last horcrux out of Bellatrix Lestrange's vault. She recently died in her cell at Azkaban. As she was a Death Eater, the Ministry has used the law for keeping inheritances from the beneficiary for a month. They inspected all the contents. We managed to smuggle one of our men into the team and he secured the cup. It has already been destroyed."

"So the last horcrux is gone. That's really good. Now Voldemort just has to die and that episode is over." Harry said. "How did Bellatrix die?"

"Heart failure." Remus replied.

"Did we get any others?" Harry asked.

"All intended targets are infected. They will die in intervals of a few weeks. It will look like a decease that has befallen Azkaban, but nobody will really care except for the relatives of their victims and they will just be relieved that they are finally dead. It worked perfectly and nobody could find any traces of the cause in Bellatrix body. But I don't think they really searched thoroughly."

Harry nodded. Their department had sent a package to Azkaban that had contained some sweets for the guards. The sweets were perfectly okay but in the wrapping of the package was a temperature volatile chemical that would infect anybody who bore the Dark Mark. They had found out by interrogating Voldemort that he used a combination of a potion and a charm to brand his followers with his mark.

Their potion master at headquarters had analysed the potion and broken it down into key ingredients. Together with the chemists he had developed a chemical that would react badly with two of the potion's ingredients. For all those who would investigate the deaths that would follow it would look like a normal heart failure.

"So what new orders do you have for me?" Harry asked.

"You're to clean the room of hidden things where you found the diadem of Ravenclaw of anything that could be valuable or useful for the MI6. You'll meet with one of our agents next Hogsmeade weekend and deliver the first load. We think by the end of the year you should be through everything."

"You can't be serious, the room is huge." Harry protested.

From the look on Remus' face he was serious. At least until a big grin came through.

"Damn it, Remus, I don't appreciate that kind of prank, not when I think, you're all business." Harry complained.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist. But we really want to get our hands on the treasure in the room, but we think a couple of house elves would be better suited to do the job. No, your real mission is to protect an exchange student from America that has been sorted into Ravenclaw at the beginning of the year. The girl's name is Julia Thornston." Remus said and handed Harry a shrunken file.

"Second year, red hair, blue eyes, parents have moved here from Oklahoma due to them having inherited a small fortune from relatives that lived in Britain. Attended Salem Institute before transferring to Hogwarts." Harry immediately summarized the data he had collected and took the file.

"Good research on your part, Harry. That's the cover story the American CIA came up with. Thornston is a name she got from the witness protection program. Her real name is Julia di Fances and her father is one of the big players in the American underworld. Deals with different dark creatures that live up to their name and gets them out of trouble with the law. Vampires who don't restrict themselves to donated blood but enjoy the thrill of hunting their prey, mostly former muggles, the magical vampires are a bit more cautious, werewolves like Fenrir Greyback, you get the picture."

"I do. How comes she got into the witness protection program?"

"Her mother found out about the crimes Antonio di Fances helps to cover up and about his methods. She couldn't take it and went to the police who involved the CIA. Like the MI6 the CIA has magical agents and they contacted us to help hide the two. Virginia di Fances will testify against her husband in two months at court but she made it an obligation that the CIA helped her get her daughter out of the country to be sure she wouldn't be used by her father against her." Remus explained.

"Damn. Does Dumbledore know anything about this?" Harry asked.

"No, he just knows the official story. The man isn't suited to provide protection in such a case."

"Okay, I understand. Am I right in the assumption that the girl doesn't know about my position?"

"Yes, you're to maintain your cover. As you are who you are, it won't seem strange if you helped her in case something happens. We hope that erasing all trails that could lead di Fances to the hiding place of his daughter will be enough, but we are not sure. Dealing with vampires is always tricky. And the violent ones are hard to beat."

"I know, I got the training unit already. I'll look out for anything strange and keep you informed. Do you by any chance know how the wards of the castle are working against vampires?" He asked.

"They should keep them out but I'm not completely sure. Why do you ask?" Remus wanted to know.

"Because I have remembered something Slughorn said during one of his little club sessions. I avoid a majority of them, but attend one or two a month to keep Slughorn happy. He told us about an author who wrote a biography about a vampire called Sanguini. I never really thought more about it, but Slughorn often invites one of his contacts to his club meetings to give us opportunities to make contacts in the world. I don't mind him doing that at all, but if he invites that author and Sanguini it would be a security risk."

"True. I don't know if all vampires feel obliged to help di Fances with his plot or if only a certain group of them does. We would be safest if Albus would reinforce the wards."

"Or we could ask for back-up by one of the slayers. From my studies the only thing a vampire fears is sunlight and the slayer."

"You're right. That isn't a bad idea. The more Albus is kept out of the loop the better it will be. He tends to try to manipulate things too much. While he may have good intentions he loses sight of the individuals. I'll try to contact one of the watchers I met while I lived in the muggle world." Remus said.

"I didn't know you knew a watcher." Harry said interested.

"Where do you think my expertise on vampires and demons comes from? Or dark creatures in general? For a werewolf like me it's really hard to find employment in the magical world because of all the prejudices. So it's much easier to just work in the muggle world. While I couldn't hold permanent jobs there because I have to get back on my feet the day after the full moon, I can manage to work on hour basis. Not optimal but now it isn't a problem anymore. I have after all been hired because I'm a werewolf this time. I have to say it feels really nice."

Harry smiled. He was glad that his father's old friend now had a job that made him happy and that the people didn't care about his furry little problem.

"Well anyway, I met Rupert Giles when I was traveling in California. We soon became friends over talking about dark creatures. When I had to leave we exchanged addresses to keep in contact. From what I know he has a new slayer under his watch. I think she has been a slayer for two years now. They have been terribly busy in Sunnydale too." Remus told him.

"Sunnydale, I know that name. It was mentioned in History of Magic for some reason, but I don't remember why at the moment. Damn, why has Binns to make it so hard to stay awake in that class?" Harry complained, thinking hard about the connection Sunnydale had in magical history.

"It's the location of the hellmouth." Remus helped.

"Oh shit, well that slayer has to be really good to survive there for two years. The hellmouth is a nest of vampires." Harry groaned.

"From Giles' letters I presume she is. I'll write Giles if they can help us with this case if M agrees." Remus said.

"That would be good. I'm not an expert on vampires and while I'm sure I could fight off one or two of them, if they really attack in masses like the position of the girl suggests, I'd be in over my head."

"Okay, now that we have solved that, let's see how good you're with a sword, Harry." Remus said, summoning one of the swords that had appeared at the wall to him.

"No problem, Remus. Brace yourself." He answered, copying Remus' action.

Both circled each other, before springing in action.

Harry sat at the meeting of the Slug club and observed the other students that had been invited. He knew Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Susan. He recognized Blaise Zabini from Slytherin as he was in his year, the prick McLaggen from Gryffindor, Edwin Goodworth, the head boy from Ravenclaw, his counterpart Jenny Walters from Hufflepuff and Melinda Quant from Slytherin.

He also knew the names of the younger students who looked like they were really surprised to be here. The reason for Harry attending this meeting was that Slughorn had invited Julia Thornston too. Following his instructions he tried to unsuspiciously watch over the girl when she was outside of her classes and her common room. A check of the wards by team gamma had shown that the wards wouldn't keep out vampires and werewolves. This worried Harry. While he could understand that Dumbledore would key in certain individuals like Remus, who had proven to be safe, he didn't like the thought that other dark creatures could just walk into the castle.

The problem was that Harry couldn't do anything about this fact. Only the headmaster, the deputy headmaster or the heirs of the founders could change anything about the wards and Harry didn't descend of one of the founders despite the rumours of the Potters being descendants of Gryffindor. It was just that, a rumour. The Potters had been allies of the house of Gryffindor, but never intermarried. And he didn't know if any heirs were attending Hogwarts.

So he was stuck with his normal options. He was relatively sure that as long as the girl was in her classes or in her common room she would be safe. The common rooms were warded against dark creatures. It was a little known fact that the founders had wanted to keep their students absolutely safe while they were in their houses. The only magical creatures that could enter the common rooms and the dormitories were the house elves. So any attack against the girl would happen in the corridors or out in the grounds.

Fortunately she was only a second year so he didn't have to worry about Hogsmeade visits. He wondered how she came to Slughorn's attention. Nobody knew of her importance after all.

"Well, let's greet our new members to the club." Slughorn started the meeting officially. "These fine young witches and wizards have impressed me with their skills in class."

He continued narrating what kind of impression they had made. Turns out that Julia was quite good at Potions and the other teachers were also praising her skills during meetings. So Slughorn, ever the talent scout, had invited her to his club.

The meeting was more or less boring to Harry. Just at the end he heard an interesting announcement.

"So Christmas is coming up and I'll have a nice Christmas party for the Slug Club. I have a special treat for all of you. I'll invite some special guests for you to meet; I think Eldred Worple will be there with his friend Sanguini, Gwenog Jones probably as well. I'm sure you'll all have a great time. You're encouraged to bring dates to the party." He said smiling.

Harry was not so sure he would have a good time at the party. If Slughorn was really that stupid to invite a vampire into the castle he would have to be prepared. Christmas would be in two and a half weeks. That wasn't much time to prepare. Thankfully before the party would be, there was a last Hogsmeade weekend. He needed to send an owl to Remus. Perhaps he could get that slayer to accompany him to the party as his date.

Harry had told his friends that he would meet with them later at the three broomsticks. He wanted to meet with a friend from outside in the morning that he hadn't seen for some time. Neville and the twins had grinned at him and made not so subtle jabs if this could be his secret girlfriend he was meeting.

"You know the saying. A gentleman keeps his silence. As I'm meeting somebody that deserves me treating her like a lady I should behave like a gentleman. Don't you think?" He replied smirking neither denying nor confirming the suspicion.

Harry walked away from his friends leaving them pondering what was going on with Harry. He walked towards the Hogs Head. He liked the fact that there were rarely other students. And he would meet his contact in a private room so nobody would be able to overhear his conversation. He opened the door and walked over to the barkeeper.

"I'd like a bottle of butterbeer and ask if my meeting in the private room I reserved is prepared, Aberforth." Harry said.

"It is, Harry. Your date is already here." Aberforth answered him.

While Harry knew that the barman was Albus Dumbledore's younger brother, the two weren't on good terms with each other. So reserving a room in Aberforth's pub was not going to reach the older Dumbledore's ears automatically.

Harry took his bottle of butterbeer and went to the private room. There he saw a young blond woman, who was probably a little bit older than he was. Pretty young for a slayer he thought.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you. I'm Harry Potter." He introduced himself.

"Buffy Summers. Nice to meet you too. I'm curious why you would ask me to meet you all the way over here in Scotland."

"I'll gladly explain it. Did you already order something to drink?"

"No, I'm not that familiar with those drinks they sell here. And the glasses are suspect." She said.

Harry chuckled.

"True, they are. Up at the school they advise the younger kids to bring their own ones if they go here. The more popular pub in the village is the Three Broomsticks but as it's frequented by the students on Hogsmeade weekends I thought it better to set our meeting up here. I can recommend butterbeer as a drink or if you like juice better, pumpkin juice would be good. If I miss something about the muggle world here it's the drink variety you have. Sometimes I'd really love a coke."

"Okay, can you get me some of this butterbeer?" Buffy asked.

"Sure. I'll just ask Aberforth, I'll be right back."

Harry went out of the room again and got another bottle of butterbeer. Then he went back and conjured two glasses for them. He also warded the room against eavesdropping and scanned for any hidden persons before he started with the conversation.

"Neat little trick." Buffy commented his charm.

"Well, there are advantages that come with being a wizard. You asked me why I asked you to come over here. Have you been informed about my status?" He asked.

"Yeah, it's a bit hard to believe that all those James Bond movies are based on reality, but then again being a slayer and killing vampires regularly is as well. How comes you're a fully-fledged agent at fifteen?"

"I was born with a lot of power. I also have a godfather that worked for the MI6 since the time my parents were killed by a wizarding terrorist. After I returned from my first year at school and had already proven my skills during that year by saving a powerful magical artefact, he contacted me and informed me that the MI6 was interested in recruiting me. As I lived with my abusive relatives at the time, there was nothing that stopped me from leaving my old life behind.

"Before I was born there was a prophecy made about me that I'd be the one to be able to kill the wizarding terrorist that killed my parents. I temporarily stripped him of his powers in 1981 due to a sacrifice my mother made that allowed me to rebound a killing curse at him. He tried to come back in June but we managed to catch him and his followers and imprison them. The problem was the headmaster of my school is kind of manipulative and interferes in things that are not his business so he decided to have me raised at my aunt's against the wishes my parents had made before they died.

"My relatives hate anything they regard unnatural so I was miserable there all my life."

"Uh, sorry to hear that. Must have sucked to grow up like that." Buffy commented.

"It did. Well, turns out one of my primary school teachers was an MI6 agent placed to keep an eye on me for my godfather who had been framed for a crime he didn't commit. Severe miscarriage of justice, but the Ministry officials didn't care; they just needed to be seen doing something in the eyes of the public. Well, my surviving that killing curse made me famous overnight. I have a stupid moniker, The-Boy-Who-Lived, because all the others that the terrorist wanted to kill died. The agent observed my study progress and caught me at dumbing down my marks to not get into trouble with my relatives. They hated me doing better than their 'precious Diddydums'." Harry told mockingly.

Buffy snorted.

"They really called him Diddydums?" She asked laughing.

"Oh it gets better, there is popkin, Dudders, Duddy, sweetums, Dinky Duddydums, Ickle Dudleykins and I'm sure I'm forgetting some." Harry counted on his fingers, making Buffy laugh harder.

"Oh my god, they sure are crazy. You seem to be relatively normal for growing up like that."

"Well, I try to be as different from them as I can be. I left after my first year at school and then started living with my godfather. The headmaster only found out two months into this term. So what about you? I have a basic briefing on your achievements but nothing really concrete."

"Well, my career as a slayer more or less started after I moved to Sunnydale with my mom. There I met Giles, the librarian at my high school, who is also my watcher. Each slayer has her own watcher. He trained me in the use of weapons, taught me about the different ways to detect and kill demons and vampires and the like. I mostly terminate vampires. There are just too many living in Sunnydale."

"Obviously if there is a hellmouth." Harry said.

"You did your homework, Harry." Buffy said glad she didn't have to explain everything.

"Well, my friends and I got a lot of practice over the two years since I awoke as the new slayer. The Master was the most horrible vampire to fight until now."

Harry nodded. That she had experience with a vampire of that level made things a lot easier.

"Well, the situation we have here is as follows. The daughter of an American criminal is currently attending Hogwarts under a false name. Her father is helping dark creatures like vampires and werewolves that use their condition to intentionally harm others to get away from any form of punishment. As long as they can pay his prices he gets them out of trouble by any means necessary. His wife caught up to what he was doing and was disgusted. She left him and told the CIA everything she knew about the dirty deals her husband made in the underworld.

"She will testify at court but she needed to get her daughter to safety so she could concentrate to help convict her husband. Now the girl is a witch and has attended Salem Institute before coming to Hogwarts. I'm tasked with protecting her. If the wards of the castle would work like they are supposed to do, I wouldn't have any problems, but our dear headmaster didn't see the necessity to refuse dark creatures entry. And we have a lot of them living in the Forbidden Forest."

"Wait a moment. Vampires can only enter buildings if they are invited." Buffy stopped him.

"Normally you would be right, but this is a public magical school. As long as you don't ward off something it's allowed to enter. The common rooms have such wards but the rest of the castle doesn't. Normal vampires aren't my main concern. I can take out one or two of them on my own. The problems start with higher ranking ones and greater numbers. Our Potions professor announced that he would invite an author who wrote a biography about a vampire named Sanguini. He is old, magical and strong. I don't know if he is with the girl's father, but I don't really want to risk it. So I wanted to have a professional with me when he has immediate contact with the girl at the Christmas Party our teacher is holding."

"Let me get this straight, Harry, you want me to be your date to this Christmas party to make sure an old vampire doesn't get ideas about the girl you're tasked to protect. You're not sure if he will attack, but you want to better be safe than sorry." Buffy asked.

"That sums it up nicely. I'll introduce you as my pen pal from the States that is visiting relatives over Christmas. Nobody needs to know that you aren't a witch. In case somebody asks if they find out you can't use magic we'll tell them you're a squib. But I don't think it will happen. If all goes well, you just get to visit a nice party without any incident, if not, then there will be a vampire less on this world. Both favourable outcomes if you ask me."

Harry grinned.

"Alright, I'm in. Sounds like a nice way to spend the evening. But I only can stay for the party. My mom wants me back for Christmas at home. I also can't leave Sunnydale unprotected for too long. At the moment Angel is taking care that not too many of the dark ones get any ideas but I have to return soon." Buffy agreed.

"Is this Angel part of your team?" Harry asked.

"More like a partner that helps out from time to time. He is a vampire that had his soul restored by Gypsies after he killed a girl of their family. He feeds on blood bottles and is all around a nice guy."

Harry blinked. Then he shook his head.

"I never thought I'd hear about a vampire like that. But I guess having a trustworthy vampire at your side in a fight is an advantage. Wow, talk about contradiction." He shook his head.

They then went over the details of the evening and Harry gave Buffy some galleons to get herself some wizarding dress robes in Hogsmeade for the party. He knew she would know best which kind of clothes would be best to hide her equipment and still look nice.

The evening of the Christmas party Harry waited for Buffy in the entrance hall of the school. When she finally came through the doors, he was very pleased with what he saw. Buffy had decided on a dark blue dress with long sleeves that were tight on the upper arms and wider on the lower arms. Harry suspected she had some kind of weapon in the sleeves. The skirt was long but had slits on both sides that would allow for good mobility. Her hair was done in a knot with a strand falling down each side of her face.

"You look wonderful, Buffy." He complemented her.

"Thanks, you're looking good yourself, Harry. Shall we?" She answered.

Harry held his arm out for her to take and she followed his invitation. Harry led her through the castle, pointing out some landmarks. Both got many stares from other students that wondered who the young woman on his arm might be. They reached Slughorn's office where the party was located. Harry opened the door and let Buffy go inside first. Harry soon noticed that the room had obviously been enlarged.

"Harry, my boy." Slughorn greeted happily. "How nice to see you. And who might this stunning young lady be?" He asked.

"Professor Slughorn, this is Buffy Summers, my pen pal from the States. She is visiting family here in Britain over the Christmas holidays so I invited her to accompany me to the party. Buffy, this is Horace Slughorn, my teacher in Potions."

Buffy and Slughorn exchanged pleasantries. Then Harry was shown around by Slughorn. He had invited Gwenog Jones, who Harry had a pleasant talk about Quidditch with and then he saw Eldred Worple in the company of Sanguini. Harry sighed.

After the introductions, thankfully Sanguini didn't realize that Buffy was a slayer; Harry looked around and found that Julia wasn't here yet. That was good; Harry had come early on purpose so that Buffy and he could get a good impression of the room. He led Buffy over to the buffet.

"There is more than one vampire here." She said quietly.

"I know. They are hiding in the shadows. Two others. Seems like they really have planned something."

"You're armed?" She asked.

"Always. I have my wand, the sword of Gryffindor can be called immediately and I have a dagger in each of my boots."

"No stake?" Buffy asked doubtfully.

"Wizard here remember? I can transfigure anything I need at a moment's notice. And as far as I know beheading works well enough."

"Point taken."

Harry and Buffy took some drinks and then mixed with the others that were already there.

Till next time.