1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer- I don't own Buffy or HP, or even the idea for this story, it's Malli's.

If you haven't read The Phoenix Child by Malli (rest in peace), this won't really make sense, so I suggest you read that first : )

CHAPTER 37: UNDERSTANDING

"Faith, duck!" Vi screamed as she hurled a dagger at a grotesque demon sneaking up behind Faith. Faith rolled forward without hesitation, coming up under the guard her axe-wielding foe and stabbing it through the heart. Vi's dagger brought down the second demon.

"Thanks!" Faith yelled, grabbing the axe. Vi grunted in return, blocking yet another demon from advancing. Faith took a moment to glance around to see how the battle was going. Getting the scoobies had been a smart move, though they were still outnumbered. She fought her way over to Willow, and yelled above the din, "Got any spells for this, Red?" Willow bit her lip, racking her brain before her face lit up.

"Got it! I'll need some cover though…" Parrying a strike from an abasax demon, Faith nodded and called over some nearby slayers to form a circle around Willow. Giles saw what was going on and pushed his way inside, twisting sideways to avoid a spear from a polgara. One of the Slayers quickly eradicated it. Willow sat down and crossed her legs in the middle of the circle

"What are you doing?" Giles demanded. Already slipping into trance, Willow waved a hand absently in his direction and said,

"Shhh!" Giles harrumphed and joined the circle of Slayers around her. Within a minute, the room was blanketed by a rose-colored haze. Faith felt her breath leave her, and she clutched at her chest, looking around. All the demons surrounding her keeled over, all Slayers were on their knees and the only ones left standing were Xander, Anya and Giles.

"Jeeze, Will. What the heck did you _do_?" Faith demanded, staggering toward the Wiccan. Willow opened her eyes and smiled timidly.

"Um…I did a spell to exorcise all demons in a half-mile radius…"

"Willow!" Giles cried. "The essence of a Slayer is a demon! You could have eliminated all the Slayer's in the room! What were you thinking?!"

"…was hard to…differentiate….but I did… it….didn't I…?" Willow was panting, sweating and as she fell back onto the floor, a drop of blood made its way out of her nose.

"Oh, dear Lord, she's overtaxed herself," Giles said, kneeling next to the unconscious red head.

"What should we do, Giles?" Faith asked. Giles looked up.

"Willow has eliminated all the demons in the immediate area. I suggest that we get all non-essentials to Cleveland immediately, and the rest of us should head back to London. Take everything that's here—after Willow is taken care of, I will meet you and Kennedy in Cleveland to regroup…" Faith nodded tersely, walking to give direction to the Slayers. As she walked away, she heard Giles mutter, "Silly girl, could have _killed_ them today, never in my _life_…" Faith smirked and got the Slayers moving dismantling the entire headquarters. She didn't even see the scoobies leave in flames, clutching the tail feathers of Buffy's remarkable bird.

……………………………..

Alastor Moody had never in his life thought that he would put the well being of his mind into the hands of a werewolf and an ex-con (even if Sirius _was_ innocent). But there were just too many coincidences to ignore, all things pointed to something seriously amiss. He focused both his regular eye and his magical one on the two men before him, one looking desperate and the other just daring to hope.

"Are you sure?" Remus asked, looking at the old auror with a serious expression upon his face. Moody saw Sirius give Remus a look of incredulity and exasperation.

"Aye, laddie. Best get on with it, I don't think Sirius can take much more." Remus nodded, his hand gripping his wand more tightly before aiming it directly at Moody and saying,

"Memento recordatio." The spell that shot forth was an iridescent gray, and it hit Moody square between his eyes. His eyes closed for a minute and Remus felt a little anxiety that he had somehow wounded the wizard. Sirius looked ready to pounce on Moody, so Remus put a hand on his arm to steady him. Presently, Moody opened his eyes, a tear escaping and rolling down his cheek. Sirius would not be held silent any longer.

"Well?" He demanded. Moody was silent a moment, and only Remus' hand on his arm held Sirius back from outright shaking him in sheer frustration.

"You were right, Sirius. She didn't die that night." Sirius let out a whoop and threw his fist in the air. Remus and Moody both shushed him, glancing around nervously for any people in the halls. Remus turned to Moody.

"So what _did_ happen?"

"Minister Fudge ordered me to kill her that night—"

"What?!" Barked Sirius and Remus at the same time.

"—but I couldn't bring myself to kill an innocent girl because of something she may or may not become…there was a prophecy concerning her, see, that had only been discovered that very evening. I don't know what it contained, but Fudge seemed to think that the lass would be the next Voldemort if she was allowed to live."

"Not Buffy!" Remus exclaimed. Sirius was at a loss for words. His girlfriend-James' sweet, innocent (okay, not _entirely_ innocent), brilliant, beautiful sister, the next _Voldemort_? It was absurd, completely ridiculous. And Fudge had ordered her death, because he feared something that wasn't even possible. Buffy _did_ have power, but she wasn't capable of being corrupted like Tom Riddle had been. Moody and Remus were still talking, and through the haze of his hatred of Fudge, Sirius tried to focus in on their converstation.

"…I brought her to America, found her a family to live with, and obliviated the both of us."

"So she _is_ alive!" Sirius exclaimed. Remus looked from his friend to Moody.

"But you haven't seen her since we have, since that night?" Moody shook his head, then his magical eye swiveled downward.

"Looks like ther's trouble in the great hall: Professor Fox is surrounded by Aurors…" Moody pushed past the two younger men and started toward the excitement. As he rounded the corner, Sirius called after him.

"What did you name her?" Moody paused.

"Buffy. Buffy Summers." Then he was gone. Sirius and Remus stood in the hall together for a long while, each lost in his own hopes and fears.

"She's here, Remus. I _know _it." Remus looked at his long-time friend.

"How could she be here, Padfoot? Moody said that he took her memory, there's no way she'd remember this world at all!"

"Well then, I say we try to find her!" Sirius said vehemently. Remus arched a brow. As Sirius led the way back to the headmasters office, in his dog form of course, Remus kept on muttering to himself,

"Buffy Summers. _Buffy Summers._ Now _where _have I heard that name before?"

………………………………

Dolores Umbridge was not one to engage in the frivolities of human nature. She had little patience for those inferior to her, and tolerance to those few beings of a higher rank. Standing in the Great Hall, behind Minister Fudge and his band of merry Aurors, Umbridge heard Sarah Fox (or whoever she may be) scathingly accuse the Minister of Magic of being the cause of her own deception. Fudge was stunned, the _idiot_, as was the rest of the audience looking on, staff, student, Auror alike.

"_Hem hem_." Most heads turn their attention to her. Sarah Fox was not one of them, and Dolores frowned. "I fail to see how the Minister is at faul—" Before anyone could blink, Sarah Fox had rushed forward and grabbed the Minister by the front of his robes. The Aurors tried to send harmless spells that would debilitate her (they, after all, did not want to be charged with injuring the Minister of Magic), but hardly anything seem to hit her, and what did had no effect.

"Unhand me, you madwoman!" Fudge spluttered, and Buffy saw, to her satisfaction, that he was genuinely frightened of her. Whether it was because she had so easily manipulated him or because of her appearance from fighting the boggart, it didn't matter.

"Minister, your time has come. You made a decision sixteen years ago that changed the course of destiny, and not for the better. It's time you paid for what you've done." Her voice was soft, but everyone heard her. Dolores frowned. This wasn't going how she'd imagined it at all.

"Arrest that woman for impersonating and Ministry official!" She screamed at the Aurors. Sarah Fox suddenly remembered there were people around her, and she finally took her eyes off the Minister. The Aurors finally sprung into action and started to close in on her, and Umbridge saw a few students (Potter, of course, included), step towards the defense professor. Before she could order them back, Sarah Fox had leapt into the air backwards over the head of one of the Aurors, bringing her to the center of the hall.

"Celsia!" She called moments before not one but _two_ phoenix appeared in the air above her. On the ground, people stared. Most had never seen one phoenix before, and to see two at once was extremely rare. Harry recognized one as Fawkes, but he had never seen the other. Sarah Fox lifted one arm to the sky and Fawkes swooped down toward her. Harry realized that she was going to get away and made a mad dive at the pair, catching his Professor around the ankle as Fawkes spirited them away.

Harry could not possible have heard the panicked screams as the Boy-Who-Lived disappeared from Hogwarts.

**a/n: What do you guys think?**


	2. Chapter 2

Buffy reappeared in her friends' flat with an uncharacteristic stumble. She quickly let go of Fawkes, who trilled and then disappeared. As he left, Buffy felt the hushed silence of the air around her and immediately tensed: something was going on. In that instant, Anya walked out of the kitchen with a bowl of steaming water and a towel. She paused at the sight of Buffy, slightly surprised, but recovered quickly.

"What's going on?" Buffy asked, taking in Anya's appearance. The blonde woman was sporting a nasty-looking bruise on one of her cheeks, and a deep gash on her shoulder. Her clothes were extremely rumpled, and Buffy could see that she was extremely tense. Anya shrugged.

"Fought some nasty demons-the attacked the HQ. Faith used your pokie thingy to get here…"

"Portkey," Buffy mumbled automatically, moving toward the bedroom, where she heard whispered conversation.

"…yeah, that's what I said. So we had a nasty fight, and after it was over your bird gave us a lift back."

"Everyone okay?" Buffy asked.

"Willow did some weird mojo, she's still out in the bedroom…" Buffy reached to the doorknob, but it swung open to reveal Giles.

He blinked, ushered Anya into the room, and then turned back to Buffy and asked, "Dear Lord, what happened to you?" Buffy knew she probably looked terrible-magical exhaustion and then fighting herself was not what she would call a good day. Nevertheless, she waved off his concern. Giles frowned, then asked, "Were you successful in locating Sirius?"

"I knew it!" Buffy turned around in surprise to see Harry standing behind her. He had his wand pointing at them with a murderous look on his face. His eyes were narrowed, his brow furrowed in a scowl as his wand trembled in his hand.

"Harry! What…"

"No! I deserve an explanation! This whole year you've been trying to get me to trust you, then I find out you're after Sirius! You want to hand him over to the dementors, and you want me dead!" Buffy was getting slightly annoyed at her nephew's outburst, but Harry still had his wand pointed at her. She could have disarmed him easily, but Giles might get in the way, and she could also feel the energy in the air around the boy. Harry went on. "You've been lying to everyone, but now I know you were only looking to use me to find a _criminal_!" He spat the last part out bitterly, and Buffy couldn't keep silent any longer.

"Harry, I don't know what people have told you, but Sirius would _never_ betray James!" Giles put a hand on her shoulder and found that his charge was shaking. Harry blinked stupidly, his wand dropping slightly as he cocked his head, trying to form words.

"Giles!" Xander yelled from the bedroom. Buffy and Giles turned back toward the bedroom without a second thought. Willow was convulsing on the bed, Xander and Anya trying to at least keep her on the bed. Buffy ran to her friend's side and put her palm against Willow's forehead, closing her eyes.

"What's wrong with her?" Xander asked, looking at Buffy's face for any sort of clue. Buffy didn't answer, but her hand started to glow a pale yellow. After a few moments, Willow relaxed and Buffy opened her eyes, her hand turning back to normal

"She just overreached herself with a combination of our earlier spell breaking and whatever spell she did. She'll be a-okay in a few hours. She put herself through a shocker, though…" she trailed off, stroking her friends hair.

Harry remained in the doorway, taking in the whole scene.

In hindsight, it had been a very stupid thing to dive after Professor Fox. He didn't even know why he'd done it: perhaps to find out the truth. A nasty voice in the back of his head, sounding remarkably like Professor Snape sneered at him. _Stupid Potter. Never thinking things through, diving in headfirst without a plan_. He shook the voice away. Then he had found out that she thought Sirius was innocent, and he was confused again. Didn't she work for the ministry? If so, shouldn't she believe that Sirius was a killer and why would Fudge want to have her arrested? These questions and many more circled around in Harry's head, and none of them made a whit of sense. Either way, Harry was somewhere (who knew where), with some people (none of whom he'd seen before), and no idea what was going on.

Harry had watched Sarah Fox glow, using some sort of obscure healing magic on some girl who's hair was so red that she could be a Weasley. After she'd answered the older man's question, she turned to the rest of them and asked about some sort of battle that went on. Harry was still tense, but took time to listen to their conversation and observe the other people in the room.

There was a couple in the corner with their arms around one another. The woman had blonde hair and was alternately looking at her fingernails as if bored, glancing at the bed, peeking at Harry, and hugging the man she was standing with. The man was easily the tallest person in the room, was sporting a small scratch on one forearm, and an eye patch over one eye. His good eye was glued to the bed, a frown marring his features.

There was the older man with the glasses, his hair thinning on top and graying on the sides. He sat by the red haired girl and held her hand as she breathed evenly. He was the one answering most of Professor Fox' questions, and as he talked, his voice registered with Harry. He had heard this man before-if only from listening through Fred and George's Extendable Ears, the night that Neville's parents had returned. He remembered that he had introduced himself as Ethan Rayne, a muggle, and Sarah Fox's stepfather.

The strange blonde woman was the one to bring Professor Fox's attention back to him, as she was answering one of her questions and happened to look at Harry while speaking. Professor Fox noticed her eyes focusing on something, and turned, looking annoyed.

"It was incredibly stupid to follow me here, Harry." Harry narrowed his eyes and felt a flash of anger course through his body. Then it was gone.

"I had to know," he simply said instead. Professor Fox looked at the other people in the room and motioned him to head back out into the living room. Seeing his hesitation, she withdrew her wand and placed it on the floor before walking out before him. Harry cast one last glance at her companions before following. He would finally be getting some answers.

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The great hall was in an uproar-everyone was yelling at once. Some students were speculating on what had occurred, some were openly worried-staring at the spot that Harry Potter was last seen, a few of the youngest were crying. Teachers were all turning to each other, hoping that one or another of them had some plausible explanation. Umbridge was fuming, trying to order the aurors to arrest Albus Dumbledore, who was, after all, now the only one available for arresting. Fudge was completely flummoxed: this was not at all how he had planned for his evening to go. Dumbledore was the only one noticeably not saying anything until he stood up.

"Silence!" he boomed. Everyone in the room fell silent, looking at the Headmaster. He began to speak in a softer tone. Minerva McGonagall, who knew him better than anyone in the room, heard the undercurrents of tension and even panic in his tone of voice, but doubted anyone else could tell how shaken the wizard was. "Prefects will please lead your houses back to your dormitories and remain there until your head of house arrives." The students reluctantly started to file out, save two ashen-faced fifth years. "Severus, if you could please escort Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger to my office?" Said professor swooped down from the dais with a scowl and led the two teenagers away after minimal cajoling. Dumbledore then turned his attention to Fudge and his undersecretary. "Now, Minister. Let's sort this all out, shall we?"

Fudge, who had been enraged not a moment before, looked pale and a bit baffled. He had certainly lost most of his gusto, that was for sure. Umbridge gladly took it up for him.

"Albus Dumbledore, you are hereby stripped of your title of Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and are to accompany these aurors to a holding cell within the Ministry of Magic for the deception of the Minister of Magic." She finished with a smug smile, but Dumbledore simply smiled back benignly.

"And what, pray tell, am I accused of?" Fudge regained control of himself.

"For planting that harlot in the Defense Against the Dark Arts job!" Dumbledore blinked, as did the few professors whom were still milling around. Umbridge cleared her throat with a loud _Hem hem_.

"Not only that, _Headmaster,_" she said with as much scorn she could muster, "but dear Professor Fox seems to have been controlling the Minister of Magic himself! I was the only one to notice this fallacy, a grave offense indeed, worthy of Azkaban!" Dumbledore looked at her calmly.

"Dolores. Cornelius. I had no voice whatsoever in your decision to appoint Ms. Fox to the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts. In fact, if you recall, I argued against any Ministry involvement in my posting of that position, and was continually overruled when I stated that Ms. Fox was inadequate for the position. To which you, Minister, said that it was the Ministry's right to fill the position as it deemed fit. That Ms. Fox seems to have had her own agenda all along is not any fault or plot of mine, let me assure you." The aurors were all looking a bit shifty, but Dolores was incensed.

"Liar! Vile lies! You've been poisoning the minds around you for too long, Dumbledore! You and Potter are in it together! Arrest him!" Before anyone could move, Dumbledore raised a hand.

"As you've all witnessed, I _do_ have a student missing. Had Mr. Potter and I been scheming in conjunction with Ms. Fox as you've guessed, would he have so valiantly dove after her as she made her escape?" Fudge completely deflated, and turned to his undersecretary.

"Dolores, you take this too far." She opened her mouth to protest, but in a rare moment of authority, Fudge said, "that is enough!" Umbridge sent a scathing glare at Dumbledore and stalked out the hall.

"Thank you, Cornelius. Now, if you don't mind, I must turn my attentions to finding Mr. Potter. Might I suggest that you use the resources at the Ministry to rectify this situation, and I head up the search here. Should I encounter Ms. Fox, I shall, of course, notify you immediately." Fudge nodded curtly and he and his contingent of aurors left Hogwarts.

"Now that that is taken care of," Dumbledore said, turning to McGonagall, "I think we have a serious problem. Let us reconvene in my office."

**a/n-you're not dreaming, here we go again!!**


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