Chapter 15:

Buffy entered the library with somebody following her. She saw her sister with Hermione and walked over to them.

"Hi Dawn, guess who I found wandering around?"

Dawn looked up and saw somebody standing behind a grinning Buffy. Because of her sitting position she only could see the top of his receding hair. Buffy's slim body couldn't hide the tweed suit he was wearing. Dawn knew who it was.

"Giles!"

Dawn jumped up and threw herself around Giles' neck. She received a stern look from Madame Pince and she gave her a silent apology. They embraced for a moment.

"Giles this is Hermione Ganger, Hermione this is Giles."

"Please to meet you, Miss. Ganger." Giles put out his hand, which Hermione took. He was giving her a warm smile, which made her blush. "The same, Mr. Giles."

She smiled at him, and then she remembered why he was here. "You brought the Diaries with you? Where are they? Can we read them Mr. Giles?" Hermione was very excited.

Giles was taken back by the assault of her word flow. He turned to Dawn. "I see what you meant her being worse than Willow."

Dawn snickered softly and Hermione glared at her.

Giles turned his attention back to Hermione. "Hagrid was so kind to bring the Diaries safely into Buffy's quarters."

"When can we read them? And did you narrow the search down Mr. Giles?"

"Not really I still brought at least a hundred Diaries. There was a Sara between them, but I hardly believe she is the one."

Hermione looked at Buffy. "Can we go and read them now, Professor Summers?" Her tone and eyes where all on begging mode.

Buffy smiled. "Sure. Dawn knows my password." She turned to Dawn. "You can tell her the password I'm planning to change it anyway."

Dawn nodded and the girls packed their stuff in record time. They said their goodbyes and left almost running like the devil possessed. Before they left Giles gave Dawn something.

Buffy looked at Giles who grinned at her. "What?"

"I still can't believe somebody would call you Professor, Professor Summers."

Buffy playfully hit on the arm. "Jealous."

"Why should I? I have a 3 PhD's, plus a professor seat at Oxford."

Buffy pouted. "Show off."

Giles smiled at her warmly. He had missed her. Buffy's pouting face disappeared. She had also missed her mentor and father figure.

"Shall we go to the teacher's lounge? The house-elves always leave some fresh scones around, and they make some excellent British tea." Buffy put some extra British tone behind it.

"I see you have benefited from the good influence of the British language." Giles was joking at her. It was payback for the all the time she made fun about his Britishness.

"I bloody well have not." Buffy was outrage. Then she noticed her speech and moaned. "Oh, I hope they can understand me, when I go home."

"Don't worry. They understood me." Giles gave her a playful reassurance.

Buffy gave him a mischievous smile. "Most of the time we just guessed what you were saying and later on Willow gave us the cliff notes."

Before Giles could say or do anything, Buffy took his arm and gently dragged him away toward the teacher's lounge. The teacher's lounge was almost empty with the exception of Snape. Buffy ignored him. She didn't even introduce him to Giles. Which Giles thought was weird.

"Sit down Giles. While I'll get the refreshments."

Giles was sitting down on a sofa and Buffy went for some refreshment on the other side of the room. Giles took a look at Snape who snarled silently at him. Giles didn't know where the hostility came from. He wasn't even in the castle long enough to piss off somebody. Buffy saw it.

"Behave Sev. Don't insult my friend or I might insult yours, when they come to visit. Oh wait they never come to visit, because you don't have friends."

The man snarled and took the book he was reading and left. Giles looked at him and didn't like the way he treated his Slayer. He reminded himself to have a little talk with the gentleman.

"Creep."

"I say so." Giles agreed.

"A few weeks ago I had to apologies to him." Buffy confessed.

Giles looked confused. Buffy explained.

"I went a little to far and insulted him with a remark toward his mother." Buffy looked guilty.

"Oh I see." Giles thought best to change the subject. "So how has it been? In your letters you wrote, how would you put it 'a blast'."

This brightened Buffy up. "Yeah, it is a blast here." She gave him a genuine smile. "I'll give you a tour of the castle. I'll give you the Buffy Tour."

"It is good to see the old Buffy back. I was afraid we would have lost her forever."

A little sadness was penetrating her eyes. "I had the same fear."

Giles thought best to change the subject again. "How is Dawn doing?"

"Good, She's in the safest place on earth and I don't have to act like a mother hen around her." Buffy grinned. "She has Harry and his Gang as friends. Oh and don't forget the Weasley twins. A couple of pranksters. They are planning something big for Halloween. And of course I don't know nothing about it." Buffy laughed and changed her expression.

"Of course you don't." Giles responded.

Buffy smiled. "Do you think you can come to visit us at Halloween?"She was looking hopeful at him.

"I think I can find some time off in my busy schedule."

"Cool." Buffy changed subject again. "Did you find something on our little dragon?"

Giles took his glasses and stared to clean them. "Eh.. Yes. He seems to come from the Dre'ano Dimension."

"Can we send him back?" Buffy looked hopeful.

"Yes, but there is danger involved."

Buffy interrupted him. "When doesn't it involve danger?"

"You are correct. He also only could be sent back after each sun cycle."

"Sun cycle? Every day?" This confused Buffy. It didn't sound right.

"I think it means a year. The text I read was a translation of an ancient culture, that I believe thought, that the earth revolved around the sun. I'm going to translate the original text to make it sure."

"How did they know?" Buffy looked thoughtful.

"What?" Giles looked confused.

"That Earth revolved around the sun and not the other way around like most old cultures did. See, I show knowledge and ingenuity." Buffy made fun about her Professor title.

Giles ignored it. "It might have been a higher entity. Or they were good at astrology or simple a madman made it up, but these are only speculation and we'll probably never know."

Buffy made a 'ah' sound. "What's so dangerous about the ritual to send him back?" She has a feeling that she wouldn't like the answer.

"The normal way to open the a portal to Dre'ano is by a blood ritual." Giles was cleaning his glasses again. "A lot of blood." Giles was looking guilty.

"You think you're going to need Dawn's blood to open the portal."

Giles nodded.

"Then it seems our Little Dragon is going to be a permanent guest to our world."

Giles nodded in understanding. "I'll do some more research to be sure, that it is correct translated and that there is no other way. How is our dragon behaving?"

"So far I have no regret letting him live. For a dragon he is well-behaved."

"So there is no real reason to kill him or send him home?"

"The only reason I want to send him home is because he belongs in the place he calls home." Buffy look a little sad.

Hermione and Dawn are in front of Buffy chambers. The painting was asking them for the password.

"Heaven's Gates." Dawn was a little sorrow and Hermione was curious about the password.

"Peculiar password. Are we suppose to find Heaven behind the portal?"

Hermione was looking inside and didn't see Dawn stiffen behind her. She composed herself before saying something.

"It doesn't matter how wonderful she might think her rooms are, I don't think she would 'ever' compare them to Heaven."

Hermione could hear the undertone in what Dawn said. But was distracted by the two trunks in the living room. She sped to the trunks like an arrow. When she tried to open one of the trunks, she noticed that they were locked. She looked stupefied at Dawn.

"They are locked."

"Then it was good of Giles to give me the keys." She was dangling the keys in front of Hermione. She took the key and opened them. She very excited picked one of the diaries. Her excitement quickly disappeared.

"This one is in Latin."

"So." Dawn took another diary, which also seem to be Latin. She looked at Hermione, who gave her a look, that told Dawn enough. "You don't know Latin?" Hermione shook her head. Dawn couldn't believe it and started to laugh.

Hermione looked stern at her. "What is so funny?"

"The Miss. Know-it-all Ganger. The witch. Doesn't know Latin. You don't see that as funny."

"Well, I was busy with other stuff and didn't had time to study it." Hermione looked embarrassed. "How about you? How is your Latin?"

"I picked some up here and there. Enough to skim through them." Dawn kneeled down next to the other trunk and looked in it. "Look! Giles put some dictionaries with them." Dawn showed her the dictionaries.

Dawn opened one dictionary with several piece of paper sheets in it. She skimmed them over.

"What does it say?"

"These are catchwords in different languages." She handed them over to Hermione.

"These would be very helpful." Hermione looked up from them. "Mr.Giles is very efficient."

"I think he is the smartest person in the world." Dawn was looking very proud about it.

"No, Headmaster Dumbledore is the smartest person in the world."

"Oh he might be in the top 10, but he isn't smarter than Giles."

"I haven't seen him do anything special."

"Neither have I seen Dumbledore."

"He is the Head of the greatest school in the world."

"Giles is the Watcher of the Greatest Slayer in centuries, no scratch that. Ever."

Hermione was about to respond, when they heard somebody open the door. It was Harry and Ron. The girls were surprised about their presence.

"What are you guys doing here?" Hermione asked very annoyed.

"That is none of your bees wax." Ron retorted annoyed back.

Harry saw Dawn's look and shrugged with his shoulder. Dawn saw him and shook defeated her head. Harry walked to her and helped her up. Dawn thanked him and with a nicer tone asked him what he was doing here.

"I came here for my cloak. Buffy told me I could get it back." He was happy to have his cloak back. "She didn't have it on her so she send me here, knowing you were here to give it to me."

"Oh, did she told you, where she stashed it?"

"In the closet in the bedroom." Harry answered back.

"Wait here. I'll be back in a sec."

Dawn walked in the bedroom and left Harry behind with the arguing Ron and Hermione. It didn't take Dawn long to find Harry's Cloak. She was curious and put it around her shoulders. She looked into the mirror and saw her head floating around. She smiled and that's the way she walked into the living room.

"This cloak is wicked cool."

Dawn's comment broke the argument Ron and Hermione had. All three turned toward the Dawn's floating head.

"Yeah, wish I had one." Ron was feeling sorry for himself for being poor.

Dawn heard the tone and recognized it. She put her hand on her hips, which was futile gesture for she was invisible.

"Ronald Weasley. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You have no right to feel sorry for yourself." Dawn came closer and put a visible finger on his chest. "You have 3 great brothers I know of, a great little sister and wonderful mother. And I am sure your father and your two other brother are great too."

Ron was taken back by the way Dawn spoke to him, but Dawn wasn't finished. "You have the right to complain about not having stuff. But you have no and I emphasize, 'No' right to feel sorry for yourself. Do we understand each other? Bucko!"

Dawn scared Ron with her tirade. She was seething.

"Sorry." Dawn was making Ron feel very small.

Harry thought by interfering by changing the subject. "Are these the Diaries?"

Hermione saw what Harry was doing plus she liked to go back to the Diaries."Yes, aren't they great?"

Harry took one and his face turned into a frown. He took another one and skimmed this one too. Ron followed his example and grabbed one for himself.

"Bugger, this one is in Latin."

"Most of them are." Hermione explained. "And don't swear."

"Are you going to help us?" There was some residual resentment in her voice.

"I might have helped you if they were in Bloody English."

Hermione gave him a contemptuous look. But didn't say nothing.

Dawn folded the cloak and gave it to Harry. "You can leave if you don't want to help."

Dawn took a diary and searched them for catchword and read them with the help of a dictionary. She ignored Ron on purpose.

"Bloody Yank." Ron mumbled under his breath and left.

Harry saw him go and then turned to Dawn. "Want me to stay and help?"

Dawn could see that he didn't want to do any research and thought about to let him of the hook. She smiled at him.

"Nah, this a two man job or woman in this case." She gave him a warm smile.

"You sure?"

"Better go before I change my mind." There was a hint of warning in Dawn's voice.

She didn't have to tell him again. He put his cloak under his robe, said his goodbyes and disappeared. Dawn was smiling at Hermione who took a diary herself.

"So, how are we going to go through these Diaries?" Hermione began.

"First catalogue them by name and date." Dawn looked for approval to Hermione. She just nodded and took a quill and a parchment to write it down. They worked for a while before Dawn found a list, Giles made of all the Diaries he brought with him in chronicle order. They copied it to save time.

It was time for dinner, everybody gathered in the Great Hall and Dumbledore as always started the dinner. Giles was sitting at the teacher's table. Dawn was sitting at one side of him and Buffy on the other. Dawn was telling him everything about the teacher's assistant position with Snape and the potions she made. And of course she told him about the twins and the pranks they pulled. Only about those they were caught with, she didn't want to get them in trouble.

The dinner continued to be very enjoyable, until Dawn noticed Professor Trelawney the divination teacher. She walked toward the Gryffindor table.

"What is the skeleton doing away from her tower?" There was no sympathy in Dawn's voice. She heard about Trelawney's premonitions, which told about Harry's death and how bad of a seer she was.

Buffy had similar feelings about the Divination Professor as her sister and she expressed them with a death stare in the direction of the Divination Professor. Especially when she saw her walk toward Harry. She wasn't the only one noticing her. Everybody who saw her went silence or whispered with his or her neighbour. At the time Trelawney reached Harry the Great Hall went death quiet and was looking at them.

"Mr. Potter I looked at your star chart."

Harry was wincing. He was really happy, that Trelawney didn't predict his death even once since school started. He had a bad feeling that she was going to do it now. He wasn't the only one. Around him and at the other tables faces were showing, that they had the same thought. Of course at the Slytherin table it were amused faces especially Malfoy's.

Trelawney continued. "I read your death in it and I saw the star of Bethlehem."

Harry shrunk and before one of them could say something they heard a thump from the teacher's table. Harry looked toward it and saw Buffy angry looking at him, no at Trelawney. The second thing he noticed were the white knuckles around a knife that was imbedded with the whole blade into the table. He wasn't the only one who noticed the position of the knife, one of them was Hermione. Buffy stood up.

"Sybil." There was enough venom in that voice to poison a small village. It was a wonder that Trelawney didn't move or she just was to afraid to move. "I have experience with prediction. I had a few prophetic dreams and dealt with a lot of prophecies." The venom was lessened, but it was still cold. "I'll give you two prediction. One; Harry won't die on my watch. And second; If you ever predict his death again without consoling me first. I'll predict a lot of hurt in your future." There was a moment of silent. "Do you understand these prediction? Sybil!"

Trelawney nodded cautiously. Buffy changed her tone to a sickening sweet voice.

"If you are hungry, please sit at the table." Buffy pointed at the teacher's table. "If not, 'leave'."

Trelawney wasn't that hungry to sit at the same table as Buffy at the moment. So she simple nodded a greeting toward Dumbledore and left. Buffy's face softened when she was out of sight. Buffy gave Harry a smile and signalled him to come to the teacher's table. Hermione and Ron followed him. Buffy saw Harry's worried expression.

"Don't worry, Harry. Most prediction can be fought and you shouldn't listen to that old crone." Harry was relieved hearing that from Buffy.

"If he would listen to me he wouldn't have to worry. I told him a thousand time, that Divinity is simple guess work and Professor Trelawney couldn't guess 1 in a thousand."

Buffy looked at Hermione with a knowing smile. "There are those who have the gift."

"You really can predict the future?" Ron was excited about it.

"I had some prophetic dreams, normally when something big is coming and always cryptic. But I have a friend who is a true seer, she gets them from a higher power so that she can help another friend of mine fight evil."

Hermione didn't look convinced, but didn't argue and put the information away for later. She noticed that Duncan, who was sitting next to Buffy was trying to pull the knife out of the table and was miserable failing. This got Buffy's attention.

"What are you doing?"

Duncan looked up. "I'm trying to get this bloody knife out of the table. How the heck did you get it in so far?" Duncan looked surprised.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "I'm stronger than I look and I probably hit a crack in the table."

Duncan was still trying to get the knife out of the table and leant backward.

"For god sake, you're a Wizard." He looked lost at her. "Let me try." Buffy took the handle of the knife and wiggled it a little before she took both hands and acted as if using her full strength to pull it out.

"See you don't have to use brute force to solve a problem."

This comment made Dawn giggle, but she soon had it under control. Buffy gave her a quick disapproval look before turning to Harry.

"Don't listen to the scarecrow. She is a crackpot. She only bats an one in thousand, no one in ten thousand."

Harry smiled. "And what about your predictions?"

Buffy was a little confused for a moment and then she remembered what she said. "Anybody who comes after you has to go through me first. Now go back to your table and let me handle the big baddies."

They said their byes and went back. Giles spoke first.

"I hope you aren't using that tone toward the children. You might scare them to death."

"Think there was a kid who had heart attack and at least 5 fainted in her class." Duncan saw his chance to put one over Buffy.

"That is so not true." She playfully smacked him over the head, before turning to Giles. "He is lying Giles." Buffy used her fake innocent look and pleading voice.

They were interrupted by Dumbledore. "Buffy can you and your guest meet me in my office after dinner."

"Sure."

Dumbledore nodded toward Giles, who nodded back and he left the Great Hall.

"What does he want from you?" Duncan asked to nobody.

"Maybe it has something to do with that Sybil woman." Giles tried to answer.

Dawn looked very proud at Giles. Giles saw it, but didn't understand it.

End Chapter 15.

 

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