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“Buffy, what do you know about witchcraft?” he asked, trying to gauge her reaction towards the rest of what he had to tell her by the answer to his first question.
“You mean like the Wicca that Wills wants to learn?” Buffy asked.
Giles shook his head a little. “I was meaning more of the uh…traditional type of witchcraft. With wands,” he clarified.
Buffy’s eyes widened. “Oh. Uh…well…I’ve never…I mean, being the Slayer and all, I kinda believed in the supernatural but…I’ve never really seen anyone with a wand.”
At this point, Giles stood up and walked to his desk. He reached underneath the centre of the table and pushed a small button that popped open a secret compartment. Inside the secret drawer lay a thin piece of wood. Giles removed it from it’s hiding place and seated himself on the couch again, holding the piece of wood out to Buffy.
She took it gingerly, somehow sensing the importance of the item that he had given her.
“This is a wand?” she asked.
He nodded and watched as she examined it closely. It was an eight and a half inch wand made of willow and dragon heartstring. Giles had had it since his first year at the school of witchcraft and wizardry.
“And it’s yours?” she asked.
Again he nodded. He took it back from her and aimed the wand at the empty cup of tea that rested on the coffee table.
He cleared his throat. “Wingardium Leviosa.”
The cup began floating, Buffy staring at it in wide-eyed shock. Giles set the cup down gently and watched as Buffy blinked hard, as though trying to believe what she was seeing.
“Why do I get the feeling you left out a lot of stuff when you told me about you and Ethan?” Buffy asked quietly.
“Probably because I did leave out a hearty amount,” Giles admitted.
Buffy nodded and looked again at the teacup that was now sitting quietly on the table.
“Well…I think you’ve got my undivided attention,” Buffy said, attempting to lighten the mood, but failing miserably.
Giles nodded and set the wand down on the table.
“Do you remember me telling you that I was only ten when I found out I was to be a Watcher?” Giles asked.
“You said that you’d wanted to be a pilot. Or a grocer,” Buffy said, remembering one of the few times that Giles had told her anything of his past.
“Well, that wasn’t entirely true,” he said.
She looked at him, questions in her eyes. She didn’t vocalise them, knowing that he would answer. If she hadn’t have been so damned tired, she probably would have been yelling at him for keeping this a secret for so long.
“I grew up in a wizarding family,” Giles said. “When I was ten, I was accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I started there when I was eleven. I graduated at seventeen. I was uh…rather skilled at research, and…my parents wanted me to become an Auror.”
“Which is what exactly?” Buffy asked curiously.
“Someone who finds those who are practising the Dark Arts,” he replied. “Someone who protects the Wizarding world from Death-Eaters.”
Buffy’s eyes widened. That didn’t sound like a particularly comforting word. “Which are what?”
“People who support the Dark Lord,” he replied.
Buffy looked at him, completely confused.
“Okay, you do realise that this is starting to sound very Star Wars-ish,” she said.
Giles couldn’t help but smile. He understood Buffy’s need for levity when things got too serious.
“I know it does sound a little…unbelievable, but…”
“No, it’s cool. Keep talking,” she implored.
He nodded and went to continue.
“The Dark Lord was a uh…well, a force to be reckoned with. But, I suppose I need to explain a little further about uh…well, the school for one thing. Hogwarts is a school that teaches witchcraft. And, contrary to this world’s thoughts, there are people who practise magicks. Witches and Wizards. And I’m not just talking about you’re average Wiccan spells. I’m speaking of proper magicks. Where people live in a world entirely comprised of it, rather than using non-magick inventions such as electricity and things like that.”
“This is…kind of a lot,” Buffy commented.
“Quite,” he agreed. “The thing is, not all witches and wizards are good. About thirty or so years ago, one wizard went about as bad as anyone can go. Turned completely to the darker arts. He gathered followers and…obliterated hundreds…thousands of people who were, what he considered, well…muggles.”
“Muggles?”
“Non-magick folk. Regular people. The problem is, about a hundred years ago, witches and wizards were slowly dying out. They had to start marrying muggles to keep the bloodlines going. The Dark Lord considered anyone of muggle origin to be tainted.”
“What happened to this…Dark Lord guy?” Buffy asked, feeling a little nervous.
Giles looked at her and gave her a gentle smile.
“He was defeated. About fifteen years ago. By a child who was barely even a year old,” Giles explained.
Buffy’s mouth fell open in shock. “But that’s…how?”
“No one knows,” Giles replied. “Voldemort went to use the killing curse on the child only…it backfired. Bounced off the child and onto him.”
“Voldemort?” Buffy asked. “That’s the Dark Lord?”
Giles nodded.
“Talk about a Darth Vadar kinda guy,” she commented. “So…what happened to the child?”
“He lived. He’s, what…fifteen now?” Giles said.
“Alright…and what does all of this have to do with me not really being the Slayer?” she asked.
“Basically…well…you’re a witch.”
Buffy was having a hard time dealing with the information that she was being told. Had she had more energy, she would have been pacing the room, running her hands through her hair and all round having a nervous breakdown. As it was, she was having a lot of trouble not going completely catatonic.
“A witch? Uh huh…”
“Buffy, you have…an enormous amount of strength. And that strength is something that many people worried would be used for darker purposes. That was why you were trained to be a Slayer. To fight for the side of good,” Giles explained.
“What aren’t you telling me?” Buffy asked, her voice quiet and desperately afraid that she already knew the answer to the question.
“The Dark Lord…he knew that things wouldn’t always last for him. He wanted to leave something behind if anything should happen to him. An heir if you will. He had hoped to have a son, but…he was given a daughter instead.”
He watched as the girl turned pale, her breathing shallow. This definitely hadn’t been the best of times to break this news to her. She’d been fragile enough a it was without learning the truth of it all.
“Buffy…you’re Voldemort’s daughter.”
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By Kattie