Chapter12:

The next morning in the Great Hall Buffy and the severed hand of Lucius Malfoy was the topic/talk of the day. There were a few students who still didn't believe that Buffy did it. None of them were Slytherins. They had gotten first hand information from Draco, who saw his father and the severed hand.

And none of them were Gryffindors, because Dawn confirmed it. Most of the students were shocked. Some of them were terrified and some were excited,especially those who met Lucius in person. Ron and Harry were smiling. They didn't forget what he did to Ginny, Hagrid or even Buckbeak. It was not like he would have lost the use of his right hand forever. Madam Pomfrey had attached the hand back without any problems except for a discomfort not having the use of his hand for a week.

The hall went silent, when Draco and his goons entered. Everybody was looking at him.

Ron's voice could be heard first. "Draco." That got his attention. "You should have done what I did."

"And pray what may that be, Weasley." Draco was very sarcastic and in a bad mood.

"Oh, I warned my mother not to make the Professor angry." Ron simply announced.

The hall burst into fit of laughter. Even a few Slytherins joined in. It was sound advice. It didn't make Draco's mood any better.

"She'll be punished for cutting of my father's hand." Draco was smirking at that idea. "It is against the law to cut of peoples hands."

Ron went into the offence in defence of Buffy. "I wouldn't call your father 'people'. I bet you a galleon she gets away with it."

"You don't have a galleon to bet." Draco was very satisfied with his comeback.

"I cover his bet and put 5 galleons for myself." A voice came from behind Draco. It was Duncan.

"Oh the lapdog." Draco mumbled under his breath. "You might watch out you might follow her to Azkaban." Draco smirked at Duncan.

Duncan gave Draco a wolfish smile. "The only way the Little Lady is going to Azkaban is to eradicate those filthy Dementors."

"I would like to see her going up against a Dementor." Draco retorted.

"No you wouldn't, boy." The look Duncan gave the student was clear that he didn't want to witness it.

Harry got the meaning behind that sentence. "Buffy fought a Dementor?" He really didn't like Dementors. Especially with the experience he had with them.

"I would more go for slaughter then calling it a fight." Duncan had a pained expression. "I don't know what the Dementor let her see. But after a terrible scream, she ripped him to pieces and it was a terrible sight. You really don't want to make that girl angry. Oh no."

Draco was impressed, but didn't want to show it. "I really want to see her get out of this hole she dug for herself." Draco was very sarcastic.

"Well, thank you Mr. Malfoy. I didn't think you liked me." It was Buffy with a very sweet voice. Who popped up behind him.

He grabbed his heart. He really hated it when she did that.

"I heard you father will recover fully from the incident yesterday." Buffy went on as if nothing happened.

"He didn't have to recover if you didn't chop off his hand." Draco was getting angrier and it showed.

"The next time he should watch out where he points his wand. He might not be lucky the next time." Buffy face was blank of any emotions.

Draco knew a threat, when he heard one and this was a threat clear as crystal. He didn't know how to response to that.

Buffy didn't wait for him to response and was leaving with Duncan in tow. Buffy stopped in her track, but didn't turn. "Oh, Mr. Malfoy. Next time your father thinks about visiting me. Tell him to make an appointment first and you can retrieve his cane from my office."

When they were out of earshot, Ron spoke to Draco. "Is the bet on or not Malfoy?"

Ron put out his hand to close the deal. Malfoy had no choice, if he didn't want to lose face and took it.

"One galleon, Weasley."

"Six." Ron reminded Draco about Duncan's five.

Malfoy nodded and let go. They went to their separate table and breakfast started.

That evening Hogwarts got a visit from an important guest. The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. Buffy was called to Dumbledore's office. She saw three strangers; one of them had a bowler hat in his hand. He had an aura of importance. Buffy ignored him. She went to Fawkes and petted him.

"Albus if you are busy I can come later." Buffy used her disinterested tone.

"No, these gentlemen are here for you." Dumbledore had a twinkle in his eyes.

"What do they want from me?" Buffy was still petting the phoenix and ignoring the other three people.

"We are here to arrest you Professor Summers." Fudge was getting impatient of being ignored.

One of Buffy's eyebrow went up and she smiled at Fudge. "And you only brought two Aurors. Brave man."

Out of her eye corner Buffy could see the two Aurors were going for their wands.

"Gentlemen. That is the fasted way to lose a hand. Ask Lucy." Buffy was still petting Fawkes. They were smart enough to stop their movement toward their wands.

"What are the charges?"

"Assault with a deadly weapon."

"Self-defence." Buffy fed him back.

"What?" Fudge sounded confused.

Buffy looked at Fudge with a blank expression. "He was going to Hex me, or Curse me? Ah you know what I mean."

Buffy crossed her arms. Buffy wasn't going to let herself be intimidated by this man.

"He told me you attacked him without provocation."

Buffy laughed. "His attitude is provocation enough and him being a lying bastard is a second reason."

Fudge was outraged. "You're talking about a well respected member of the Wizardry community."

Buffy leaned a little forward. "You mean a rich arrogant bastard who thinks he can get away with everything. A Death Eater." Buffy added the last part with a lot of venom.

"He was cleared of all charges."

"You mean he escaped justice."

Fudge puffed. "I will not stand here and let you smear the name of one of the oldest Wizard family."

"Then go." Buffy was dismissing him.

"Do you know who I am?" Fudge sounded very important and annoyed about the way she treated him.

"Yeah, you're Cory. Who is so much afraid of losing his position as Minister, that he is blind to see the danger of Voldy."

All three men backed away and were shocked.

"Do you know, who 'I' am?" They didn't seem to be answering her. "I'm one of the few people who isn't afraid of Voldemort."

"You shouldn't speak the name of You-Know-Who in fain." Fudge was slightly shaking.

"Are you more comfortable, if I call him Tom Riddle or Mr. Riddle or simple Tom?"

"No!" Buffy could see the distress in Fudge's eyes.

"How can I take you serious, if you are afraid to say a simple name?" Buffy shook her head in disappointment.

"If it was a demon who's name you shouldn't say aloud. I could understand. But for god sake, he is just a simple man with a hunger for power and the ego and evil to match it."

Fudge took a step back while Buffy took a step forward.

"And about those bogus charges. I have two witnesses after the fact, who will testify that they saw a wand in the chopped off hand. Mrs. Molly Weasley and Madam Pomfrey. Madam Pomfrey will testify that with great difficulty she had to pry out the wand from the hand. I even think she had to break a few fingers."

That shut Fudge up.

"So we established that he had a wand in his hand, when I chopped it off. The intent on how he wanted to use it, is my word against Malfoy's. And you better not take his word over mine or I'm going to sue for false arrest. And we Yanks like to sue people."

Dumbledore thought that this was the perfect moment to interrupt before it got out of hand. "Cornelius, why don't you send your Aurors to interview Poppy and Molly before you make a mistake by arresting her."

The two Aurors looked confused and didn't know what to do. Buffy helped them in the right direction.

"Go on boys, scram. It's 'me' or the witnesses. If you would chose 'me' it could be very 'painful'." Buffy was grinning at the two Aurors.

Buffy really did scare them, and she didn't have to tell them twice. They were gone before she knew it.

Buffy turned to Fudge. "If you still want to arrest me tomorrow. Bring more Aurors."

And to Dumbledore. "If this is all, I'm going."

"No, you can go."

Buffy left without giving any notice to Fudge. It was quiet for a moment.

"That woman is dangerous."

Dumbledore smiled. "I know."

Hermione and Dawn were sitting in the library to work on the Slayer project. Their progress was steady but slow. They were one of the last students in the library. Hermione had a question that bugged her.

"Dawn, was Professor Baker right?"

"About what?" Dawn asked absentminded

"About ripping a Dementor apart." Hermione explained.

"Maybe, Buffy doesn't always tells me about her staking and slaying. And what is a Dementor."

Hermione was distracted for a second of Dawn mentioning 'slaying'. "Eh, they are foul creatures who guard the prisoners of Azkaban. They force their victim to relive their worst memories of their life and drown them in their own despair."

"Oh my God." Dawn was getting white in her face and then a tear appeared from her eye. "No wonder Buffy didn't tell me about it. It must have been Hell." Dawn was shocked by her own words.

"The worst is still to come." Hermione didn't want to upset Dawn even more, but she thought she should know it. "A kiss of a Dementor will suck out your soul."

Hermione got a very strange respond from Dawn. "We better keep those Dementors away form Angel."

"Angel?"

"Ex-boyfriend of Buffy. He lost his soul once and went all-evil on us. I shouldn't speak about him, they had a terrible break up."

"Okay." Hermione changed the subject. "Did Mr. Giles write when he will come visit and bring those diaries with him?"

"Yeah, the last weekend in September. It's going to be a lot easier when Giles comes here with those bloody Watcher's Diaries." Dawn complained about it.

"Don't swear. You're right. I can't wait to read those diaries." Hermione's eyes were shining form excitement thinking about getting her hands on those books.

Dawn smiled and though about Hermione having a book obsession.

At that moment Harry and Ron entered the library. Harry plumped down next to Dawn and sighed. He didn't have a happy face on. Ron went to sit opposite of Harry next to Hermione.

"What's going on? What happened?" Hermione asked concerned.

"They won't leave me alone." Harry explained.

"Who won't?" This time it was Dawn who asked.

"Everybody." Ron was grinning. "They want to know about the dragon and Harry already told them three times." Ron's grin widened a little."You should hear the rumours going around."

"What rumours?" Both girls asked simultaneous.

"She chopped the dragon to pieces." "Wrestled it to submission." "Cut of his tail." "Hurled it away by his tail. Like a Sling." Ron gave a small demonstration. Harry and Ron went on for a while taking turns.

"Harry why don't you tell me again what happened." Hermione took a quill and an empty parchment to make notes.

"Arh." Harry bumped his head to the table. "Do I have to?" Harry moaned about having to tell it again. Dawn giggled behind her hand.

"Yes, you have. I want to separate fiction from facts. It might be important for the future reference." Hermione gave him stern look.

"You better do it, Harry. I've seen such a 'resolve face' on Buffy and Willow. I would talk and get it over with." Dawn was giving Harry a sympathetic look.

"Okay." Harry leant back. "After the dragon scared the unicorn away."

Harry was interrupted by Hermione. "A unicorn? You never told us about the unicorn."

"I didn't?" All three of them shook their heads. "Must have slipped my mind with the fight and all."

Hermione was curious about the unicorn. "She sneaked up on an unicorn?"

"No, the unicorn walked up to her and let her pet her. Now do you want to hear about the fight or not."

Hermione made a quick note about the unicorn. "Eh, yeah. Tell me every detail, you can remember."

Harry told everything, with the exception of Buffy wielding the small tree. Hermione interrupted him now and then for detailed information.

"Thanks Harry." Hermione was ignoring him now and was looking over her notes. Dawn was smiling, because Harry unintentional gave Hermione a clue. Time for a distraction.

"Did I tell you that at the end of the month Giles is coming?"

"The Watcher?" Harry asked.

Dawn nodded.

"Wicked." Ron burst out.

"Sssh. Children. Remember this is a library." Madam Pince shushed them.

They were quite and only whispered until the library closed and they left.

End Chapter 12.

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