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The next month and a half flew by. Giles had taken to teaching her everything that she needed to know so that she could get by for the year. Buffy couldn’t believe that she was actually finding magick a lot easier to learn than all the other subjects she’d been forced to learn at home. Perhaps Giles had been right. She had been born for the magick world.

In the six weeks before term started, Giles had taken her through every spell that the other fifth years would now know. She’d picked them up with ease, pronouncing the incantations with confidence and ease. She had a particular interest in potions, enjoying the preciseness that came with making them.

Giles encouraged her to practise as often as possible, and soon, the month and a half had flown by.

“They’re all arriving tomorrow,” Giles said, taking his seat next to her in the dining hall.

“I’m kinda nervous,” she admitted.

“You’ll be fine,” he assured her. “Trust me.”

She nodded and took a sip of water from her goblet. She was still getting used to having her meals appear magically at certain times of the day.

She’d met every single teacher by now, though none of them knew who she really was. She intended to keep it that way. She didn’t want people knowing who she was, who her father was. The teachers all just assumed she was an American student whom Dumbledore had decided to bring across to England.

“What time will they arrive?” Buffy asked.

“Sometime in the evening. There’ll be a feast for dinner while the first years get sorted into their houses. After that, they’ll retire to the dormitories, unpack and then begin classes the next day,” he explained.

Buffy nodded and went back to her food, taking her fill before sitting back in the seat. It had been intimidating to be eating with all of the teachers at first, but she’d found that most of them had keen senses of humour. Except, for one teacher whom she found particularly creepy. Severus Snape, the Potions master.

Snape didn’t seem to like Giles too much, which, in Buffy’s books, made him a horrible person. But, Giles had been nice enough to Snape, and Buffy knew better than talking back to teachers. Snape reminded her a little of Snyder. Except with hair.

One of the reasons that Snape hated Giles so vehemently was due to the fact that Dumbledore had asked Giles to take the position as Professor for the subject of Defence Against the Dark Arts, a position that Snape himself had been vying for.

“I think I’m gonna head up,” Buffy said, yawning a little. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Giles nodded and watched her leave, the other teachers conversations going on around him. All Giles could do was hope for the best. That no one would discover who Buffy truly was, and that she would be safe within Hogwarts grounds.

Buffy knew the second that the other students had arrived at Hogwarts. She’d been lying on her four poster bed in the girls dormitories, reading through one of the texts for the year. She’d heard tremendous amounts of noise in the corridors, and before she knew it, the door to the room had burst open and four girls had stormed in, all talking loudly, excitement in their voices.

A brown haired girl was the first to notice Buffy lying on the bed. She stopped and the room suddenly went silent. Buffy felt herself go red under their inspection.

“Uh…hi,” she said nervously.

“Hullo,” the brown haired girl replied. “Not to be rude, but…uh…who are you?”

Buffy sat up off the bed, standing. The girl was slightly taller than her. Buffy noticed that most of the girls were taller.

“Buffy,” she replied. “Buffy Summers.”

The brown haired girl nodded and looked to the other three. The others just shrugged. The girl looked back at Buffy and smiled genuinely.

“I’m Hermione,” she said. “This is Lavender, Parvati and Ginny.”

Buffy smiled at them, trying to memorise the names that had just been thrown at her.

“Nice to meet you,” she said.

“So…who are you?” Hermione asked again. “Are you a transfer student? You’re American aren’t you? How old are you? Did you go to one of their wizarding schools?”

“In order…I’m Buffy Summers, no, yes, sixteen and no.”

Hermione tried to wrap her mind around the answers she’d just been given.

“So…you didn’t go to another school in America?”

Buffy shook her head. “This is my first time in a school like this,” she replied.

“Are you a muggle?” Ginny asked.

“Not really. I was raised muggle, but…my parents were wizards.”

“So, where are they now?” Lavender asked.

Buffy noticed the look that she was getting from Lavender and felt incredibly self-conscious. She resisted the urge to fold her arms in front of her in a defensive position and instead kept them at her sides.

“They’re dead,” Buffy replied. Or should be.

Hermione gave her a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

The other girls moved around the room, beginning to unpack their belongings. Hermione moved closer to Buffy’s section of the room, looking at the orangey-red owl that was perched near the window.

“Is he yours?” she asked curiously.

“She. And yeah.”

“She’s gorgeous,” Hermione sat, touching the soft feathers of the owl. “What’s her name?”

“Willow,” Buffy replied with a smile.

“So…are you coming down to the Feast?” Ginny asked, approaching them. Hermione looked at Buffy wanting to know her answer as well. Buffy just nodded, her stomach growling as though on cue.

“Come on then! You should get into your uniform,” Ginny said to Buffy with enthusiasm. “It’s going to start soon.”

She ran out of the room and down the corridor. Buffy couldn’t help but laugh. The smaller red-headed girl reminded her of Willow, with her bubbling enthusiasm and fiery hair.

Buffy moved to her trunk and took out her uniform. She slipped the skirt over her jeans and slid the pants down her legs, revealing finely toned flesh. She pulled on the knee-high grey socks and black lace-up shoes. She threw her jumper off and quickly put her blouse on, buttoning all but the top two buttons, and leaving it untucked. She did a half-hearted tie-knot, leaving it a little loose. She pulled on the black cape with the Gryffindor crest embroidered on the breast and began following Hermione down the hall.

“Is that girl…Ginny always that excited?” Buffy asked.

Hermione laughed a little. “Not always. I think she’s just looking forward to a new year. Everyone’s usually like that at this time of year. And she’s only a fourth year.”

“I thought the rooms were divided by grade,” Buffy said as they made their way down to the Great Hall.

“Oh, they are, depending on how many people are in each house for each grade. We were down two people in our dormitory, and there was one too many in Ginny’s year, so she got moved up with us. Now we’re full,” Hermione explained.

They made their way down the moving staircases, arriving on the ground level. They entered the Hall, and Buffy couldn’t help but gasp at the sheer amount of people that the room suddenly held. She’d known it was big, but there were now hundreds of students seated at the four long tables.

Hermione led her towards the Fifth years section of the table, sitting down and pulling Buffy down next to her.

“You’ll love it here, I’m sure of it,” Hermione whispered excitedly.

There was a sudden burst of commotion as someone entered the Great Hall. Buffy strained to have a look, as did Hermione. When Hermione caught sight of her two best friends, she rolled her eyes and sat back down.

“What’s everyone so excited about?” Buffy asked curiously.

“Just Harry. He was champion in last year’s Tri-Wizard Tournament, and well…he was pretty famous before that. He’s just got girls swooning all over him,” Hermione explained. “He hates it.”

“What’s he famous for?” Buffy asked.

“He’s Harry Potter,” Hermione said, as though that would explain everything for her.

Buffy just looked at her, wanting a better explanation.

“You’ve never heard the name Harry Potter?” Hermione asked incredulously.

Buffy shook her head.

“Wow. You really were raised as a muggle weren’t you?” Hermione said with a laugh.

Buffy just shrugged. “So…who is he?”

“The Boy Who Lived,” Hermione replied. “You-Know-Who killed his parents. He tried to kill Harry, but the spell backfired. Destroyed You-Know-Who completely. Well, not completely seeing as he’s back and all, but…you get what I’m saying.”

Buffy swallowed hard. The boy that Hermione had just spoken about caught sight of Hermione and made his way through the crowd. He grinned at her and sat on the opposite side of the table with a tall red-haired boy with lots of freckles.

“Hey ‘Mione,” Harry greeted.

Buffy stared at the boy in shock. Her father had killed this boy’s parents. She could barely breath, could barely even think let alone speak.

“Hey Harry, Ron,” she greeted.

“Who’s your friend?” Ron asked.

Harry finally turned his attention to the girl next to Hermione. His breath caught in his throat. He hadn’t had that sort of a reaction to a girl since he’d tried asking Cho Chang to the Yule Ball the year before. She was beautiful, a tiny blonde girl with a heart shaped face and green eyes with flecks of blue sprinkled through them. He’d never seen anyone manage to look halfway fashionable in the Hogwarts uniform before.

“Oh, guys this is Buffy. Buffy this is Harry and Ron,” Hermione said.

They exchanged hand-shakes, Buffy hesitant about it, but knowing if she didn’t pretend to be somewhat normal, they’d get suspicious very quickly.

Before they could exchange any other pleasantries, a loud tapping against a glass goblet filled the room and silence descended. Every head in the room was turned towards the Teacher’s table, Dumbledore standing.

“Welcome back students,” he greeted them. “We’re beginning a new year once more. So…let’s give a warm welcome to the new first year students.”

The door at the back of the room swung open, and about forty first years entered the hall, all of them looking around with nervousness and trepidation. Buffy really couldn’t blame them.

The new students were taken to the front of the room and gathered around the small platform. On the platform was a three-legged stool with a large brown hat sitting on it. The Sorting Hat.

Buffy and the First Year students jumped when the hat began to sing.

Welcome to Hogwarts
My dear friends,
Let’s start the New Year
No curves or bends,
Just place me up
On your head,
Whether your hair
Be blonde or red
You cannot hide
Your thoughts from me
I’ll sort you out,
And quick I’ll be
You might be
In Gryffindor
Brave and loyal
And so much more.
Or maybe you’ll be
In Hufflepuff
If you’re hard working,
That’s enough
Or perhaps
In Ravenclaw
The cleverer the better,
That’s the law
Or else you’ll be
In Slytherin
They’re cunning and shrewd
With much ambition.
So put me on,
Don’t be afraid
I’ll sort you out,
It won’t be delayed
And then we can start
A brand new year
So step right up
And have no fear.

The room burst into applause, several students given standing ovations. Buffy couldn’t help but grin at the display that hat had just put on. Truly bizarre, but incredibly entertaining.

They sat through the students being sorted, applauding each person as they were given a house.

“So, when did you get sorted?” Hermione asked, loud enough to be heard over the din of noise.

“About six weeks ago,” Buffy replied.

“Six weeks?” Hermione asked, beginning to applaud when the rest of the room did too. “Why’ve you been here that long?”

Buffy just shrugged. “I needed to catch up on some learning,” Buffy replied vaguely.

Hermione just nodded and went back to watching the sorting. As the final student was sorted, and the First Years had all taken their seats, Dumbledore stood up again.

“Let the feast begin,” he said grandly.

Plates of food appeared on the table and the Great Hall was once again filled with a burst of noise, people grabbing food quickly as though they hadn’t been fed in months.

“God I love feasts,” Ron muttered through a mouth full of food. “Brilliant way to start a year.”

“You think anything involving food is brilliant Ron,” Hermione teased.

Buffy bit back a laugh. Ron glared at the brown haired girl.

“You’re not gonna start up that spew stuff again, are you?” he asked.

“It’s not ‘spew’, it’s S.P.E.W, and I still don’t agree with it, but…I’ll not mention them again,” Hermione said.

Buffy wasn’t sure she wanted to know, but she just knew she had to ask. “Spew stuff?”

Hermione went a slight shade of pink.

“Oh, what’d it stand for again? Stupid Pixies and Elves in Waiting?” Ron quipped.

Hermione glared at him. “No, and you know better than that. It stood for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare.”

“Right. Spew stuff,” Ron said, stuffing his mouth with a piece of chicken.

Buffy couldn’t help but grin. These two reminded her of Cordelia and Xander. There was no way these two would last the year without having some sort of an explosive reaction to each other. Harry saw Buffy’s grin and couldn’t help but smile too. He knew what the grin was about and he agreed with it as well.

“So, Buffy,” Ron said, swallowing his chicken. “Where you from?”

“California,” she replied. “In America.”

“Is there a Wizarding School there?” Harry asked curiously. After the discovery of other wizarding schools like Hogwarts such as Durmstrang and Beaubaxtons, Harry had been interested in finding out where the others schools were located.

“Uh…not that I know of,” Buffy replied. “I never really heard about this whole wizarding thing until a few months ago.”

“You were raised as a muggle?” Ron asked curiously. He, like his father, had a fascination for muggles.

Buffy nodded. “Yup. Born and bred in a muggle world, and I am a muggle girl,” she said with a grin.

She was met with two grins and a confused look. Ron looked at his two best friends, wondering why he hadn’t got the joke.

“Muggle joke,” Hermione said.

Ron just nodded and went back to his food.

Harry turned his attention to the teacher’s table, scanning over the faces. He tried not to flinch when he saw that Snape was looking at him with disgust, and kept searching down the line.

“I wonder if that’s the new DADA teacher,” Harry said.

Both Hermione and Ron turned to look at who Harry was pointing at. Buffy too turned, so as not to be left out.

“He looks nice,” Hermione said.

“Better than Snape, I reckon,” Ron added. “But that wouldn’t be too hard.”

“Wonder who he is,” Harry mused.

Buffy saw that they were pointing at Giles. Giles managed to catch her eye and smiled at her, a silent question in his eyes. She grinned and nodded at him. Hermione didn’t miss the exchange.

“You know him?” she asked.

“Yeah. And, yeah he’s the new teacher. I’m assuming DADA is the Dark Arts subject,” Buffy said.

“How do you know him?” Ron asked.

“He’s my guardian,” Buffy replied.

“What, like a bodyguard?” Ron asked.

Buffy couldn’t help but laugh. She shook her head. She didn’t need a bodyguard. But, at the same time, Ron’s question also held a fair amount of truth in it as well. Giles was there to protect her. “He looks after me.”

“What about your parents?” Harry asked.

Buffy swallowed hard. My dad killed your dad. “They’re dead.”

Harry gave her a sympathetic smile. “I know what that’s like.”

The tinkling of the glass goblet sounded again as people began finishing their meals. Silence descended once more as everyone turned their attention to Professor Dumbledore.

“I must once more ask for your attention,” Dumbledore said. “Once again, I’d like to remind you that the Forest in the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year. The good news is that the Quidditch House Cup will be taking place again this year.”

This announcement was met by loud cheering from all four tables. Buffy looked on in bewilderment, surprised that the cheering took over a minute to die down. Whatever this Quidditch was, it must have been popular.

“We’ve also got a new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor,” Dumbledore continued. “Professor Giles.”

The announcement was met with applause, Buffy joining in. She grinned when she saw her mentor got a slight shade of pink at the attention he was gaining.

“Now that the formalities are over, I’d suggest retiring to your dormitories. You’ll all need to be rested up for your lessons tomorrow morning.”

The room burst into a noisy din once more as people scrambled to leave the room with clusters of friends, full of news to share from their summers. Grabbing one last handful of cakes, Ron and Harry stood up to leave. Hermione just looked to Buffy who followed her lead.

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