The Eighth Weasley

The Eighth Weasley - Chapter Seven

Family Revelations

Rupert Giles was tidying his files and folders around his living room when a 'ping' from the fireplace made him look around, his mouth falling open in shock at the sight of a head sitting in green flames that he certainly didn't recall lighting.

"A-Art?"

"Rupert."

Dropping all the books he had in his arms on the coffee table in the middle of his living room, Giles crossed the floor and knelt by the fireplace immediately, staring at the face of his long-time friend, which looked a peculiar shade of green thanks to the flames licking around his ears. "Good God, Art, its been forever!"

"And then some, eh, Rupert?" Arthur Weasley smiled a little. "I hear you've been looking after one of ours..."

"Willow," he smiled in return, still studying the face of Weasley. "I don't know how I could have missed that she was one of your brood. She has your nose and mouth and that shocking hair of yours."

"Now, that's good to hear?"

"What?"

"That she's as good-looking as her old man," said Arthur, a twinkle in his eye.

"Poor kid that she is," Giles smirked. It was replaced with a genuine smile. "Art..."

"Yes, it has been far too long since we talked."

The Watcher chuckled, sitting down on the edge of the hearth and removing his spectacles to clean them. "You know me far too well, Art," he remarked. "You still can answer my questions before I ask."

"We were friends, Rupert."

"Were?"

A strange expression crossed Arthur Weasley's face. "You never actually told me if you forgave me, Rupe," he said quietly. "I still see you as one of my best friends, but I don't know if you..."

"Art Weasley, you bloody plonker..."

"Rupert, I am sorry you know."

"I forgave you the minute I saw you together, when you didn't think I was looking, Art," Giles said, looking down at the floor between his slippered feet. There was a note of sadness in his voice. "I saw the way you looked at her and the way she looked at you..."

"It doesn't stop me being sorry for not telling you sooner, Rupe," Arthur said. "You deserved more than that. You were my best mate," he paused, then added with a tired smile. "Our best mate."

A silence fell for a moment.

"How is she?"

"Molly? Wonderful," replied Arthur. "I mean, she's had eight of my kids and she's still as batty as she ever was."

"If having eight of your rugrats didn't make her crazier, nothing would, Art."

"You make eight sound like a big number, Rupert," Arthur laughed. "How many do you have?"

"Well, I do seem to have picked up a few with rather...absent parents. Willow is one of them, along with Buffy and Xander...and I suppose Anya would qualify as well..."

Arthur's brow furrowed. "Rupert, I meant your children. Didn't you ever get hitched and have a flock of mini-Ruperts?"

"Me? Have children? You must be bloody joking!"

"You never settled down?"

Giles shook his head, one hand rising to rub his chest. It was feeling strangely tight and this subject...it was one he hadn't dared to broach for some time. "Never had the urge to, what with watcher training and all..."

"Rupert."

"I'm serious, Art."

"So am I, Rupert."

Giles looked away from his friend's face at the glasses that were dangling from his hand, his fingers absently swinging them back and forwards. "What do you want me to say?" he asked, his voice strained.

"I want to know that it wasn't because of what happened between all of us," Arthur said. "Rupert, if I took away your chance of being happy, when I took Molly, I want to know..."

"Art, don't be a bloody arse! Yes, I loved Molly, but don't think I haven't had my share of women over the years..."

"I heard about you and Ethan getting involved with those...people."

His arms resting on his upraised knees, folded over his chest in front of him, Giles rested his forehead on his crossed wrists. "Yes, I got involved with demons and my choices of additional friends weren't exactly good."

"Ethan always was a bad influence."

"It was my idea," Giles whispered wearily. "I needed to do something...something to piss my wonderful father off and to...to take my mind off the fact that you...that she and you were in love with each other, whereas, I was besotted and had no one..."

"Rupert..."

Turning back to the fire, Giles pointed a finger at Arthur. "You even think about starting to apologise again and I swear I'll come over there just to beat your sorry arse into submission."

"Nice to see you haven't lost your edge, Rupert."

"Sarcastic git," Giles retorted. "And for your information, I have had several women involved in my life since I last saw you, although there was a rather... uncomfortable occasion involving cursed chocolate and a police car..." Giles paused, then grinned weakly. "Somehow, whenever I end up shagging someone in a strange place, it's all down to Ethan..."

"In a pleaze-car?" Arthur laughed. "Good grief, Rupert..."

"Not in a police-car, Art. On. There's a big difference...comfortable seats for one thing," Giles corrected, chuckling. "Do you have time for the full, messy story?"

"I have all the time you need, Rupert. We have a lot to catch up on."

Giles nodded. "Just to warn you, it's going to be one helluva bumpy ride, Art."

"I suspected it might be, Rupert," Weasley nodded. "So, tell me about this incident with the chocolate and pleaze-car."

***

"A Slayer?"

Even Percy looked impressed. "Our baby sister is a friend of the Vampire Slayer?" he grinned broadly. "That'll certainly be something to tell the chaps at work."

The whole Weasley family had gathered again, after the arrival of the letter and photographs from America. Dumbledore had waited until Arthur returned from work before leaving The Burrow, to return to Hogwarts.

By the time all of the children had gathered, Molly had managed to calm herself down, although her smile seemed to be locked on her face.

Most of the family was able to take time off work again, to see what was going on with their long-lost sibling.

Even Harry had finally decided he should get back to Quidditch Training with the England Team, canceling the next two years of the Honeymoon for training for the next World Cup, which meant he and Ginny had been easier to track down.

"She lives in the same dormitory as her at college, actually," Molly passed around the bundle of photographs with a smile. Her husband had his arm around her shoulders and was smiling as broadly as his wife was. "Apparently, she has helped that Slayer - and two other Slayers as well - to save the World several times."

Charlie raised a brow curiously. "She helps the Slayer? She fights against the Dark Arts and everything?" he asked, surprised. "Does she do the fighting or spells and things? With no training or anything?"

"She does a little of both and she's very good at what she does, according to Professor Dumbledore," Molly nodded, her smile widening. "She doesn't even have a wand to use, but she can still do many of the spells and charms through sheer mind control."

"Blimey," Fred muttered, impressed.

"How could she help two other Slayers, as well?" Fleur, Bill's French wife asked. "I thought there was only one Slayer at a time and the next only became a Slayer when the one before... uh... died?"

Molly nodded. "Albus tried to explain it to me, but I'm not quite sure I full understand it," she frowned and then said. "Her friend, Buffy, was destined to die and she did, but their other friend, Xander, resuscitated her."

"Rough deal," Charlie winced.

Molly nodded, then continued, "However, because she actually died, even for those few seconds, the next Slayer was activated and ended up fighting by her side. That Slayer was killed and another one was called. I think they said something about her being in jail now."

"They seem to die off pretty quickly," Ron noted with a grimace. "How long has her friend been the Slayer now?"

"I think they said something about five years to Dumbledore, which is some kind of record."

"What kind of things has Sarah done to help them, then?"

This time, their parents exchanged closed looks. "Should we tell them everything, Molly?" Arthur murmured so softly that they had to strain to hear what he was saying. "We don't want them being afraid of her, do we?"

"And if that doesn't make us paranoid about her, nothing will," Ron noted dryly. "You have to learn to whisper more quietly, dad."

Molly laughed faintly, then nodded to Arthur reassuringly. "Albus did say something about her... er... successfully placing a very powerful curse on a vampire, giving him a soul, when she had just come out of a coma," Several mouths fell open.

"Isn't that...of the Ancient Magic?" Fleur asked faintly. "The kind of magic it takes many years to build up to doing?"

"That it is," Bill nodded. The colour seemed to have flooded from his face. "How old was she when she did this?"

Molly wound her hands together in her flowered apron. "Just after she turned seventeen," she replied quietly. The stunned looks around the living room grew even more so. "Apparently, many of her magical abilities have been developed in the last two or three years and she is almost entirely self-taught."

"Where did she get hold of any of the Ancient Magics, though?" Percy exclaimed, shaking his head in a combination of shock, disbelief and protest. "The spells were meant to have been lost some time in the last century!"

Arthur lowered his head briefly. "It was from a Gypsy, who managed to translate it using a computer. She was killed before she could do the spell herself and, even if she had tried, I don't believe she could have succeeded."

"Uh...how do you know that, dad?" Ron asked.

"I went to school with the Gypsy's boyfriend," Arthur replied softly. "Apparently, he's been watching over Sarah for almost four years, without even realising it. I got in touch with him this afternoon and he told me all about the situation," He looked around at them. "Never let it be said that this Slayer has not suffered."

"What do you mean, dad?" Charlie inquired.

"She fell in love with a vampire who was cursed with a soul," Arthur felt Molly squeeze his hand comfortingly. "He lost the soul, because of their love and he killed my friend's lover, the Gypsy woman," A pained look crossed the man's face. "The Slayer was forced to kill him, to save the World, but not before Sarah had managed to recurse him. None of them believed it would work, because Sarah was so weak, but it did work and Buffy had to send the one she loved to Hell."

"Poor child," Molly murmured sadly. "Sarah must have nearly killed herself doing that kind of spell,"she shook her head and sighed. "That's not all our little one has done, though," she continued. "She closed the Hellmouth on more than one occasion, which even Dumbledore would never have tried doing."

"Why not?" Ginny asked weakly, her head still spinning from the revelations about her twin sister's abilities.

"The mystical energy around a Hellmouth is very unstable, Ginny," Percy replied, a look of stunned awe on his face. "A lot of Wizards and Witches can't control their power enough to perform even basic spells there."

"And our baby sister can close the Hellmouth, without any training at all..." George added, with an awed whistle. "Something tells me that we've got someone who could even rival Bill and Perce's record for O.W.L.S."

"If the Professor was right, she's actually very similar to Hermione in personality," their father said with an indulgent smile. "She's incredibly clever, very quick on her feet, faces danger in spite of fear and is very powerful." A smile of pride crossed his lips. "She faced demons and vampires to save her friends."

"Better make sure those two don't meet up, then, eh?" Ron forced a grin. "I mean, I thought one Hermione was bad, but two...and this one related to me..." He shook his head. "I thought I'd finally got away from that kind of thing."

"I was actually quite looking forward to introducing them," Molly gave her youngest son a pointed look. "She doesn't know anything about our world and who better to teach her about it than Hermione? She also had a Muggle background, remember, and is probably the cleverest witch that we know."

"Good idea, mum," Bill nodded in approval. "Its going to be well weird for her to come into this world, even though she's used to magic," He gave his mother a lop-sided grin. "Mind you, if she can control her power on a Hellmouth, anywhere else is going to be easy, isn't it?"

Ginny had received the handful of photographs and was flicking through them. "She doesn't look much like me, does she?"

"She's taken my stunning good looks," Arthur said with a smile. "You look like your mother, but Sarah...Willow...she looks more like me. She even has the straight hair that I used to have," He fingered his bald scalp and the remaining strands of silky red hair around his crown. "You've got your mum's curls."

"Question. What do we call her?" Harry inquired. "Sarah or Willow?"

Arthur and Molly exchanged glances. "Well, she's used to being called Willow, so I think it would be easier calling her that, unless she wants to be called Sarah," Molly replied. "And Willow is such a pretty name as well."

"Will she becoming to see us soon?" Ginny looked up from the photographs hopefully. "I'd like to meet her."

"She's studying just now, so Professor Dumbledore says she will try to come over this summer. He also said he may let her bring some of her friends over. Her Slayer friend was very interested in Diagon Alley and wants to see what Wizards...er...Malls, I think she called them, looked like."

Fleur received the pictures from the young Mrs. Potter. "Your daughter is a very pretty girl, is she not?" she said, examining the faces in the photographs and directing her words at Molly. She looked at the dark-haired boy and blonde who were hugging the red head in one of the pictures. "Is this her boyfriend?"

Molly peered over at the picture. "Oh, no. That's Xander, one of her best friends. They were best friends since they were toddlers. She's not dating him," she paused for dramatic effect, then added with a wicked smile. "And she says that she's dating a werewolf."

"A werewolf?" Percy spluttered.

"No, an Iranian Mongoose, Perce," Bill put in, shooting an irritated look at the bespectacled brother, who was sitting on the couch next to his parents. "What's wrong with werewolves? Old Lupin is a werewolf."

"Yes, but..." Percy looked around weakly. "You don't DATE them."

Molly chuckled, reaching over to squeeze her third son's knee. "Well, one of her best friends is dating an ex-Vengeance demon, another one was involved with a vampire, so apparently, they're more open about cross-species relationships there."

"Ex-Vengeance Demon? Vampire?" Fred blinked. "Okay, I knew they were brave and all, living on the Hellmouth and everything, but dating vampires, werewolves and demons...isn't that going a bit far too prove a point?"

"You have to remember that werewolves are only like that three nights of a month, Fred," Harry said. "Most of the time, they're really nice people, who can't help what happens to them on the full moon. Just look at Lupin," he shrugged. "Maybe ex-demons are like that too."

"I'm sure her boyfriend is a very nice young man," Molly added. "Albus said he was very quiet, but seemed like a nice fellow," she smiled slightly. "And we Weasley women tend to have good taste in men."

"Seconded," Ginny laughed.

"You have to admit, though," Bill said, eyeing his own wife. "That you can't do better than a Weasley man."

Molly and Fleur exchanged knowing glances, then smiled. "Won't disagree with that," his mother said, reaching up to embrace her husband.

***

"Whatcha thinking, Willow?"

Lying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, Willow's forehead wrinkled. "I'm not an only child."

"I'll say!" Buffy laughed. She was sitting on her own bed, which stood parallel to Willow's, kicking her boots off, having just returned from an hour of slaying with her latest beau. "When you get brothers and sisters, you do it big time!"

"Yeah, but...but I'm the first one of the Scoobies to have any..." Rolling onto her side to look across at her friend, the red-haired witch looked upset for some reason. "I mean, that's kinda part of the reason we were together...I didn't have a family, so I hung out with you and then you kinda became my family..."

"Will, you having an army of brothers and a sister doesn't make you less of a Scooby!"

"But..."

"Will!" Willow's lower lip trembled at the vehemence in the Slayer's voice. "Hey, don't you get all twitchy on me!" Buffy said patiently, crossing the room and sitting down on her roommate's bed. "You're a Scooby. You're one of the first Scoobies and you always will be."

Sniffing a little, as Buffy fondly brushed a loose strand of hair back from her face, the red head nodded. "I'm being weird again, huh?"

"Always, Will. That's why we love you."

Sitting up, Willow scrubbed her eyes with her fists. "Do you think they'll...y'know... like me, Buffy?"

"How could they not?"

The witch had obviously been considering that carefully.

"Well, there's a whole lot of reasons," she began. "I mean, messed up spell with evil skanky vampire and then the whole thing with Faith-the-psycho that might put them in danger, then the whole uber-powerful witchy thing with the Hellmouth and the souly thing and I don't wanna start on the accidental..."

"Will," Buffy couldn't help laughing. "They're going to love you," she smiled, and said. "And if Riley and me don't work out, I could always take one of your brothers and we could be sisters-in-law."

The red head rolled her eyes. "Now that's crazy talk," she said.

"Feeling better, now?"

Willow nodded, managing a weak smile. "Yeah," she replied. "Yeah. I'm good. Part of a super-large King-size family with magic fries on the side, but yeah. I'm good."

Buffy smiled. "You'll be fine, Will," she said. "I know it."