Ginny The Vampire Slayer

In each generation there is a chosen one.

It is she who must stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness.

She is the Slayer.

Except now there's two......

[Music plays]

Ginny The Vampire Slayer

Season 1, Episode 4: A Slayer Christmas

* * * * *

Ginny leapt happily down the last couple of steps from the carriage, her trunk floating behind her. She waved a reply to Lucy's cheerful "Have a good holiday!", and burst through the clouds of steam surrounding the Hogwarts Express into the light of the station. Looking around eagerly, she spotted her brother's distinctive red head among the crowds of people waiting to greet the returning pupils. Ron waved to her from where he stood with Harry and Hermione.

"So how's the demon-Slaying going?" Harry asked with a grin as all four left the station.

"Yeah, any more bad guys bitten the dust since we last saw you?" added Ron, opening the doors of the Weasleys' new car and climbing into the driver's seat.

"None, sorry." Ginny replied. "What happened to Branford seems to have deterred any more glory-seekers from coming after me, and there aren't any established vampire nests anywhere near Hogwarts. I don't envy Buffy - you know, the other Slayer. According to James, she lives in a town that's on top of a gateway to hell, and the place is absolutely swarming with nasty gribbly things. She has to patrol the place nearly every night just to keep them in check."

"What about your Animagus transformation - have you made any progress?" said Hermione.

"Well, I've read all the material, I brought some with me in fact. I'm pretty much ready to start the adjustment spells." Hermione nodded, but Harry and Ron looked puzzled. "Before you can transform, you have to perform spells to adjust your body chemistry and so on regularly for quite a long time - the exact length ranges from a few months to several years, depending on how well you respond. The literature seems to suggest that people who're strong, fit and healthy respond better - I should do well as a Slayer."

"Wonder what you'll turn into?" mused Harry while Ron started the car. "Is there any way suggested to find out?"

"Well, the animal you transform into is meant to reflect aspects of your personality." Hermione said, forestalling Ginny's reply.

"Oh well, it'll be a toad or something, then!" teased Ron. Ginny started to lean forward to whack the back of his head, but thought better of it - knocking out the driver while they were moving might be a bad idea. She thought for a moment about what her Animagus form might be - she had pondered this at great length already, but had come to no conclusion.

"What do you think?" she asked, addressing Harry and Hermione.

"A nightingale," said Harry softly, grinning. Ginny smiled and kissed him on the cheek, laughing slightly.

Hermione shook her head. "It won't be anything so small, and it certainly won't be a toad." She glared fondly at Ron. "Something quite fierce and powerful would be my guess, though you probably know better than anyone else what fits your personality, Ginny."

"Are you going to tell your mum and dad about being a Slayer?" Harry asked after a moment's silence.

Ginny groaned. "I suppose I really should, shouldn't I? Who else is going to be around for Christmas?"

"Everyone." said Ron. "Even Charlie and Bill are coming for Christmas Day."

"Well, I'd rather tell everyone at the same time to save having to repeat myself, but I suppose I should tell Mum and Dad sooner. Urrgh, I hate to think what they're going to say!"

"Why didn't you tell us sooner... could get yourself killed... totally irresponsible... never heard of these Watchers' Council people..." Ron scolded in a very poor imitation of Mrs Weasley's voice.

"That sounds about right," Ginny sighed. "Well, I think I'll just tell them when we arrive and get it over with, face the music."

They talked about other things for the rest of the journey, the other three filling Ginny in on what they had been up to since their last meeting. As they drew near the Burrow, her stomach began twisting itself into painful knots of apprehension. If her parents totally refused to accept her new calling... She remembered James saying that alienation had led to the downfall of many Slayers. Swallowing loudly, she put her head in her hands, trying to remain calm. Harry put his arm around her, squeezing her shoulder comfortingly.

Ginny smiled at him. "Why am I more frightened of telling my parents what I am than I am of fighting vampires?" she asked.

"Because you're not allowed to knock your parents into the middle of next week?" Harry suggested.

She burst out laughing. "Don't give me ideas!"

At last, they drew up outside the Burrow, which looked its usual ramshackle, lopsided, top-heavy, beautiful self. The four crossed the front yard together, and Mrs Weasley hurried out of the front door to greet them.

"Oh Ginny, dear, it's good to see you again!" she exclaimed, hugging her daughter tightly. "Have you been getting on all right? Are you working hard for your NEWTs? Has that repulsive Flint boy been harassing you again?"

"I'm fine, Mum, I'm fine," Ginny laughed, breaking into the flood of questions. "I've got loads of stuff I want to tell you about, though - let's go in..." She gave Harry, Ron and Hermione a meaningful look as they entered the kitchen. Mr Weasley and Fred and George were there too, and her revelations were delayed by a further barrage of greetings and questions.

At last, however, she managed to get everyone to sit down at the kitchen table. Then she cleared her throat and launched into the long story of her dreams, the incident with Draco Malfoy at King's Cross, her inadvertent breaking of Andrew Flint's arm and subsequent first meeting with James, all the training she had undergone, the battle in Hogsmeade, and the fight with Simon Branford and his minions. Her parents and the twins kept trying to interrupt, but she managed to finish by the simple procedure of ignoring them and talking over their questions. When she finally finished, there was silence for several moments. The people who hadn't previously heard the story were sitting in shock, while those who had watched them warily. Eventually George broke the silence.

"Cool!" he exclaimed.

"Wicked!" Fred added. "Hey, listen, can you come down to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes some time and beat up that guy who keeps trying to eat the Laughing Lollipops when he thinks we aren't looking?"

"Be quiet!" Mrs Weasley snapped angrily at the twins. "Out with you - and the three of you as well!" She indicated Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Your father and I need to speak to you alone." she said to Ginny.

"But Mum -" George began, but he was silenced by a glare. Mr Weasley nodded in agreement with his wife. "Go on, boys, and the rest of you," he said quietly. "And no eavesdropping, please."

Everyone else scuttled out of the room, and Ginny was left facing her parents. She swallowed again, almost wishing she was back in the Shrieking Shack fighting for her life. Then the shouting began.

As it turned out, Ron's prediction of Mr and Mrs Weasley's reaction had been nearly spot-on (perhaps all those years of Divination homework had finally paid off). While they thankfully believed her story, and a call to Dumbledore on the Floo Network convinced them that the Watchers' Council was genuine, they were both terrified at the thought of the terrible danger she was putting herself in by choosing to pursue her calling as a Slayer.

"I don't want to lose my only daughter before she's twenty-five," Molly Weasley said tearfully in response to Ginny's stubborn insistence that she was doing the right thing.

"You won't!" Ginny cried in exasperation. "Look, I'm not in much more danger than the average Auror, and certainly no more than Harry has been all his life. It's not set in stone anywhere that Slayers have to die young."

"Just that most of them do." her father said wryly.

"And besides," Ginny continued, ignoring the interruption, "I have advantages most Slayers never did - none has ever been a witch, for a start, and there's only ever been one till recently - now there are two, so I'm not alone. I'm not going to let myself get killed! And danger aside - I have to do this. I was given these powers for a purpose, just like Harry's parents gave him his for a reason, and I have to carry out that purpose. It's the only way I can live with myself. Please, don't try to stop me - I don't want to have to do without your support." She stared pleadingly into her parents' faces.

For an agonisingly long moment neither spoke. Then her father smiled sadly, followed after another second by her mother. "All right," he said. "We won't try to stop you. Please take care, though, Ginny."

The tense, strained atmosphere evaporated a little, and Ginny hurried round the table to hug them both. "I will take care," she whispered. "I'm sorry about all this."

"Well, it was certainly a surprise," Molly grinned. "I thought when you said you had something to say that you were going to tell us you were pregnant!"

Ginny nearly choked. "What!" she gasped. "How did you kn - I mean why would I be -"

Her mother chuckled with amusement. "Oh, we knew for ages that you were sleeping with Harry, though I was sure you had enough sense to remember about contraceptive potions," she said matter-of-factly. "You can't keep secrets from the person who collects your sheets, dear."

Ginny could hear strangled noises emanating from behind the door to the living room. "Oh." she replied in a small voice. "Then you must know about -"

"Yes, we know about Ron and Hermione, too." There were more curious sounds from the living room, among them two rather familiar laughs.

"And yet we're all still alive?" Ginny asked ironically.

"Yes, of course! You're all pretty grown up and sensible, you don't have to answer for everything you do."

"That's not what you said at first," Arthur put in with a grin. "I believe your exact words were something along the lines of: 'Those sneaky little.... Well I never.... Under our own roof.... I'll skin them alive...'"

Molly coughed embarassedly. "Yes, well, it didn't take me that long to realise that would be a case of the pot calling the kettle black...we were young too once, you know."

"Thank you for the unwanted mental image, Mum," Ginny winced. "So, now that you've found out everyone's secrets, can life return to normal...or as normal as can be?"

"Yes, I think it can," said Molly with a chuckle. "You can come back in now!" she called in the direction of the living room. The door opened and Fred and George came through grinning broadly, followed by Harry, Ron and Hermione, who were looking at the floor and blushing bright red.

"Er...sorry about the...um..." Ron stammered.

"Forget it." Arthur said firmly. This seemed to officially end the awkwardness session, and a long discussion of everyone's recent mundane activities broke out. The Weasleys were interested to hear about Ginny's plan to become an Animagus, and enthusiastic in their support for it.

* * * * *

The next week passed fairly peacefully. Percy, Charlie, Bill and Sirius were informed of Ginny's new situation when they arrived for Christmas, and displayed appropriate amounts of shock. Fred and George derived a great deal of pleasure from getting Ginny to show off her powers, by methods such as throwing fragile objects across rooms at her and getting her to open deliberately tightened jar lids.

Christmas Day was a very happy occasion, a vast Christmas dinner being served up by Mrs Weasley (who had to have the kitchen magically expanded for the occasion to fit everyone in), and the living room floor becoming knee-deep in wrapping paper. Ginny was somewhat less than surprised when Fred and George both gave her stakes as presents, though the hand-carved crucifix James had managed to send to her by owl post both surprised her and touched her deeply. With it was a note:

Dear Ginny, [it read]

First of all, Merry Christmas. I hope you like your gift. Secondly, I owe you an apology. I foolishly told my Council liaison that you were going to be in London after Christmas, and this obviously suggested an idea to someone. Apparently a number of demonic creatures are causing more trouble than usual there, and so the Council has ordered that we deal with them. I suppose we should obey, so I will meet you at Sirius Black's home address in London on Dec. 28th and give you the details. Sorry again about all this!

JAMES

"Oh, damn." Ginny groaned when she had read it.

"What's up?" Harry asked with concern.

She showed him the note. "James told the Council I was going to be with you at Sirius' in London next week, so they took the opportunity to give me some work. Urgh!"

"Bunch of killjoys. Hey, can I come too? On the Slaying mission, I mean."

"Hmm...I suppose so. Your powers will be good against vamps and demons at a distance, but when it gets up close and personal you'd better shield yourself and let me do the work. You haven't got the reflexes to fight things like that close up, never mind the strength, and I wouldn't want you to get hurt."

"Glad to hear it!" Harry grinned. "Maybe Ron and Hermione would like to come, though they'd be in even more danger...oh, wait, they're going to France with her parents, aren't they? They can't really back out of that without unpleasant amounts of explaining and/or lying."

"Yeah...'Hey, Mum, sorry, but we have to go kill undead monsters with our superhero friend!'" They both laughed.

* * * * *

Ginny hurried to answer the ringing doorbell of Sirius' London house, guessing who it would probably be. Her guess was confirmed when she saw James in the hallway, carrying a large bag and looking slightly scared. She burst out laughing. "Don't worry, James, I'm not going to beat you up! Come in, come in."

After the obligatory introductions, James described the problems that the Council wanted dealt with over a cup of tea. [A/N: What else? :-)] "There are two different threats to be dealt with," he explained, spreading several observation reports on the table. "A large and particularly bold vampire gang is operating in Camden Town, preying on anyone who ventures out after dark. The area must be made safe."

"In other words, we have to kill the lot of them - or rather remind them that they're already dead!" Ginny replied jokingly.

"Yes, exactly - stupid euphemism. In addition, there is a Discordium demon living on top of the Houses of Parliament which needs to be eliminated."

"A what?" Harry asked, frowning.

"The name sounds familiar, I think I read about it a while ago - that's the one that feeds on and breeds argument and disunity, isn't it?"

"Precisely." James pulled a book out of his bag and opened it at a marked page, which displayed a picture of a humanoid creature with small, close-fitting grey scales, huge flapping ears like an elephant's and batlike wings. "This is the best illustration of one that I have - it varies in size depending on how much it's consumed recently. The one here will probably be quite large, given the amount of discord available to it in Westminster."

"So how do you kill it?" said Harry.

"The old-fashioned way," Ginny replied with a grin. "Stab it, burn it, crush it, take your pick. So when do we start?"

"I'm tagging along," Harry explained as James looked momentarily confused.

"Ah," he said. "Well, I suggest waiting till nightfall. The vampires will be out and about and easier to catch unawares, and there will be fewer people about to see you or get in the line of fire. Oh, and no pyrotechnics, please, Harry - we can't have half of London enjoying the spectacle of lightning coming out of Big Ben."

"Right." Harry looked slightly disappointed. "Hey, we'll need transport to get to these places - we've never been there and there's no Apparition locators, plus you -" he indicated Ginny - "haven't taken your test so I'd have to transport you with me by boosting the spell. Broomsticks are out, no way we could avoid being seen and my Invisibility Cloak won't cover both of us any more. You don't have a car, I take it?" This last was addressed to James.

"No, afraid not. I took a taxi from the station."

"Well, we can't really do that - it would give a whole new meaning to the old 'take us where the action is!' line..." laughed Ginny.

"Not to worry," Harry said with a secretive smile. "Hey, Sirius!" he called in the direction of the living room. "Can we borrow your motorbike?"

"So this is the infamous flying motorbike!" James commented as Sirius wheeled it out of the garage where he kept it. "The one Harry was brought to his relatives' house on?"

"Ugh, don't remind me," muttered Harry. He had managed to escape the Dursleys' clutches for good the summer after his fifth year, when Dumbledore had finally woken up to how bigoted and hateful they were and taken time out from the battle against Voldemort to place the protective charms that had shielded Harry in Privet Drive over the Burrow, allowing him to live there during the holidays. Since then, Harry had never spoken to them, and rarely mentioned his life there. Looking back, Ginny realised, it had been at that time that their relationship had begun properly, probably thanks to what they had gone through during the previous school year.

Sirius' voice jolted her back to the present. "It doesn't fly any more, I'm sorry to say," he said with regret. "I removed the spells on it after my name was cleared - one brush with the law was bad enough!"

"But it's still really cool to ride," Harry said cheerfully. He and his godfather exchanged grins.

"Umm... you do have a driving licence?" James asked dubiously.

"Yeah, I passed during the summer."

Ginny looked up at the sky. "It's nearly fully dark. We'd better get going - those vampires will be active."

They went back indoors to prepare. Ginny collected her favourite crossbow from James' bag, along with a couple of stakes. To these she added the ones she had received from Fred and George. Harry, meanwhile, hurried to his room and returned with a long black box.

"Thought this might come in handy." he said, opening it and unfolding the wrappings on what was inside. Ginny gasped as she recognised the weapon he lifted out, the rubies on its hilt glittering with blood-red light, it's ancient blade gleaming like silver and untarnished by rust - Godric Gryffindor's sword, presented to Harry by Dumbledore in recognition of his defeat of Voldemort. "For the demon," Harry explained. "It might come in handy for beheading vampires as well, though." He held it out, offering her the hilt, and she took it, unable to think of anything to say.

"Are you sure you want me to use it?" Ginny managed to ask at last.

"Sure," Harry said lightly. "Keep it, if you want. It'll do more good in your hands than in my wardrobe, and I bet you can use it a lot better than I ever could."

"All right...thanks a lot!"

Harry smiled and removed the scabbard from the case as well. Ginny slid the sword into it and quickly put on the leather jacket she had got for Christmas, which she had grown rather attached to (it seemed to suit her self-image as a Slayer), then slung the scabbard on her back, taking a deep breath as she checked her wand was in its proper pocket.

"Right! Let's go!" she announced.

"Good luck!" called James and Sirius as Harry and Ginny hurried to the waiting motorbike, donning their crash helmets. They answered with waves, Harry revved the engine into life, and they sped off, Ginny clinging to his waist.

Hermione shook her head. "It won't be anything so small, and it certainly won't be a toad." She glared fondly at Ron. "Something quite fierce and powerful would be my guess, though you probably know better than anyone else what fits your personality, Ginny."

"Are you going to tell your mum and dad about being a Slayer?" Harry asked after a moment's silence.

Ginny groaned. "I suppose I really should, shouldn't I? Who else is going to be around for Christmas?"

"Everyone." said Ron. "Even Charlie and Bill are coming for Christmas Day."

"Well, I'd rather tell everyone at the same time to save having to repeat myself, but I suppose I should tell Mum and Dad sooner. Urrgh, I hate to think what they're going to say!"

"Why didn't you tell us sooner... could get yourself killed... totally irresponsible... never heard of these Watchers' Council people..." Ron scolded in a very poor imitation of Mrs Weasley's voice.

"That sounds about right," Ginny sighed. "Well, I think I'll just tell them when we arrive and get it over with, face the music."

They talked about other things for the rest of the journey, the other three filling Ginny in on what they had been up to since their last meeting. As they drew near the Burrow, her stomach began twisting itself into painful knots of apprehension. If her parents totally refused to accept her new calling... She remembered James saying that alienation had led to the downfall of many Slayers. Swallowing loudly, she put her head in her hands, trying to remain calm. Harry put his arm around her, squeezing her shoulder comfortingly.

Ginny smiled at him. "Why am I more frightened of telling my parents what I am than I am of fighting vampires?" she asked.

"Because you're not allowed to knock your parents into the middle of next week?" Harry suggested.

She burst out laughing. "Don't give me ideas!"

They parked the bike on the edge of the area where most of the vampire attacks had taken place, and secured it with a Locking Charm and an unbreakable chain. Then they pushed forward on foot. Ginny could begin to sense something ahead with some sixth sense, an ability James had mentioned in her training as something most Slayers possessed to some degree [A/N: This is mentioned in the first episode of Buffy and I don't think it was ever alluded to again. It's quite a useful plot device for me though as it avoids a lot of boring searching around]. Without speaking, she led Harry round a corner, crossed the street they had entered, and walked stealthily towards an alleyway, which seemed to be the position of what she was sensing. Sure enough, they reached the entrance to the alley and saw, halfway down it, a ragged old man in a tattered coat being held down by two vampires, their faces in demon mode. One had his hand over the old man's windpipe, preventing him from crying out, while the other was biting at his neck.

Ginny stepped into the mouth of the alleyway, Harry at her back, both standing silhouetted against the light from the street. "Let him go. NOW." she ordered menacingly. Both vampires looked up in surprise, then grinned with scorn when they saw her.

"Or what?" one asked in an amused, mocking tone. "I'm shaking in my boots, I just hide it well."

"Or you both get new starring roles as Piles Of Dust #1 and #2." Ginny replied coolly. "Actually that's going to happen anyway, but it would be nice if you'd let him go first."

"D'ya hear that, Bob? I think we're being threatened!" laughed the vampire who hadn't previously spoken.

"I don't like being threatened." said the other.

"Neither do I, Bob. It upsets me."

"What happens to people who upset us?"

"They DIE!" The vampires leapt to their feet with that familiar supernatural speed and charged at Ginny and Harry. Ginny moved with her customary faster-than-the-eye-could-see reactions, whipping a stake from her belt and throwing it overarm like a knife to hit the vampire named Bob squarely in the chest, piercing his heart and dusting him. Harry was naturally somewhat slower, but he raised his wand and sent a blast of dull red flames from his wand at the second vampire, who fell engulfed in fire at his feet and crumbled away.

"Are all vampires such complete overblown drama queens and show-offs?" Harry asked Ginny as they hurried to help the tramp.

"Pretty much all the ones I've met are, yeah - uh-oh..." Ginny tailed off as ten more vampires suddenly scrambled down from the rooftops, climbed out of a manhole cover or appeared at both ends of the alley, surrounding them.

"You want our dinner, you're gonna have to fight the lot of us!" one yelled, growls and snarls accompanying him.

"Get them!" shouted another, and the vampires attacked en masse. Ginny and Harry were ready, blasting spells from their wands at their assailants. Another, larger, gout of flames from Harry's wand disintegrated three vampires as it swept across them, and Ginny managed to immobilise two temporarily before they got too close for spells to be much use.

"Shield yourself! Now!" Ginny shouted to Harry, hastily replacing her wand in her pocket as she held out a stake in front of her, killing the lead vampire, before side-stepping the flying lunge of another, ripping Gryffindor's sword over her head in a single fluid motion, and lopping off his head with one blow that jarred her arm as the blade tore through flesh and bone, reducing him to dust as well. Harry, meanwhile, had raised a semi-visible wall of force round himself and the unconscious old man, which the attacking vampires bounced off, hurling themselves to the ground with confused shouts.

Ginny backed up against a wall, trying to fight three vampires at once. She stabbed at one with the stake in her left hand, but he grabbed it and twisted her arm so that she was forced to drop it. Kicking out desperately, she knocked back the one that held her arm, slamming him into the opposite wall. The remaining two continued to attack, one ducking the sweep of the sword to tackle Ginny round the waist, knocking her to the ground. The sword clattered away as she fell. Undeterred, Ginny punched her assailant in the face at point-blank range, hearing a loud crack as the female vampire's nose broke. Springing back to her feet, Ginny pulled out another stake and leapt into the air, slamming her feet into the face of the remaining one of the three, staking him perfectly as she hit the ground. The female, her smashed nose not bleeding due to her lack of a heartbeat, screamed vengefully as she attacked once again, and she and Ginny exchanged furious blows for several seconds until finally Ginny leapt aside from a vicious kick aimed at her midsection and managed to knock the vampire off-balance before finishing her off, unfortunately losing her stake in the process as she thrust a bit too hard and dropped it as she nearly fell over. Straightening up, she was charged by the one she had knocked across the alley as well as the two who had given up trying to punch their way through Harry's shield before she could even catch her breath. Ginny boosted herself high above their heads, landing in a crouch behind them and hastily snatching up Gryffindor's sword. Harry, seeing all the remaining vampires were intent on Ginny, dropped his protective wall and burned one of them as they spun round, and as the survivors stood momentarily confused Ginny called on all her strength and swept the sword round in an annihilating arc that beheaded them both.

Harry regarded her with wide-eyed awe as she picked up the stakes she had dropped, brushing vampire dust off her clothes as she did so. "That was amazing," he said in a slightly hushed voice. "I saw what you did to Malfoy at the station...but what you did there was like nothing I've ever seen before!"

"Jealous?" Ginny asked with a grin, and Harry laughed. "At least this evens the jaw-dropping score a little - after all, I've got plenty to be jealous of you about on the superpowers front. Speaking of which, you were a big help there - I don't think I could have handled the whole lot of them by myself. I'd have had to patrol over several nights and pick them off one or two at a time."

"My pleasure. D'you think we got them all?" "

"If we didn't, there can't be more than one or two left, and they'll probably run for their unlives. The reports said about a dozen."

Now, we'd better help this guy - the best thing to do would be to Apparate him to a hospital, I think. I'll take him - I've been past one that's not far from here - and meet you back where we left the bike."

"Right." Harry laid a hand on the old man's shoulder and they both vanished. Ginny hurried away before anyone who might have heard the commotion came to investigate. She reached the spot where the motorbike sat just as Harry appeared out of thin air, his mission completed. They unlocked the bike, climbed on again and sped off in the direction of Westminster.

* * * * *

They drew up near the Houses of Parliament, careful to avoid being spotted by any security people who might be lurking around it. Ginny could feel her sixth sense tugging slightly at her as she looked up at Big Ben pointing into the sky, high above the rest of the building. "It's up there," she said to Harry, pointing up at the great clock tower. "I can feel it."

"Right - it'll be difficult for us to get up there unseen. We really need the Invisibility Cloak - I'll Apparate back and get it." Harry vanished, and reappeared a few minutes later with the cloak in his arms. "I told Sirius and James about our success with the vampires - they send their congratulations."

"Now - what's your plan? The cloak won't cover us both."

"No, but it'll certainly cover you. I'll levitate you up from the ground - much easier than trying to sneak into the building."

Hermione shook her head. "It won't be anything so small, and it certainly won't be a toad." She glared fondly at Ron. "Something quite fierce and powerful would be my guess, though you probably know better than anyone else what fits your personality, Ginny."

"Are you going to tell your mum and dad about being a Slayer?" Harry asked after a moment's silence.

Ginny groaned. "I suppose I really should, shouldn't I? Who else is going to be around for Christmas?"

"Everyone." said Ron. "Even Charlie and Bill are coming for Christmas Day."

"Well, I'd rather tell everyone at the same time to save having to repeat myself, but I suppose I should tell Mum and Dad sooner. Urrgh, I hate to think what they're going to say!"

"Why didn't you tell us sooner... could get yourself killed... totally irresponsible... never heard of these Watchers' Council people..." Ron scolded in a very poor imitation of Mrs Weasley's voice.

"That sounds about right," Ginny sighed. "Well, I think I'll just tell them when we arrive and get it over with, face the music."

They talked about other things for the rest of the journey, the other three filling Ginny in on what they had been up to since their last meeting. As they drew near the Burrow, her stomach began twisting itself into painful knots of apprehension. If her parents totally refused to accept her new calling... She remembered James saying that alienation had led to the downfall of many Slayers. Swallowing loudly, she put her head in her hands, trying to remain calm. Harry put his arm around her, squeezing her shoulder comfortingly.

Ginny smiled at him. "Why am I more frightened of telling my parents what I am than I am of fighting vampires?" she asked.

"Because you're not allowed to knock your parents into the middle of next week?" Harry suggested.

She burst out laughing. "Don't give me ideas!"

They parked the bike on the edge of the area where most of the vampire attacks had taken place, and secured it with a Locking Charm and an unbreakable chain. Then they pushed forward on foot. Ginny could begin to sense something ahead with some sixth sense, an ability James had mentioned in her training as something most Slayers possessed to some degree [A/N: This is mentioned in the first episode of Buffy and I don't think it was ever alluded to again. It's quite a useful plot device for me though as it avoids a lot of boring searching around]. Without speaking, she led Harry round a corner, crossed the street they had entered, and walked stealthily towards an alleyway, which seemed to be the position of what she was sensing. Sure enough, they reached the entrance to the alley and saw, halfway down it, a ragged old man in a tattered coat being held down by two vampires, their faces in demon mode. One had his hand over the old man's windpipe, preventing him from crying out, while the other was biting at his neck.

Ginny stepped into the mouth of the alleyway, Harry at her back, both standing silhouetted against the light from the street. "Let him go. NOW." she ordered menacingly. Both vampires looked up in surprise, then grinned with scorn when they saw her.

"Or what?" one asked in an amused, mocking tone. "I'm shaking in my boots, I just hide it well."

"Or you both get new starring roles as Piles Of Dust #1 and #2." Ginny replied coolly. "Actually that's going to happen anyway, but it would be nice if you'd let him go first."

"D'ya hear that, Bob? I think we're being threatened!" laughed the vampire who hadn't previously spoken.

"I don't like being threatened." said the other.

"Neither do I, Bob. It upsets me."

"What happens to people who upset us?"

"They DIE!" The vampires leapt to their feet with that familiar supernatural speed and charged at Ginny and Harry. Ginny moved with her customary faster-than-the-eye-could-see reactions, whipping a stake from her belt and throwing it overarm like a knife to hit the vampire named Bob squarely in the chest, piercing his heart and dusting him. Harry was naturally somewhat slower, but he raised his wand and sent a blast of dull red flames from his wand at the second vampire, who fell engulfed in fire at his feet and crumbled away.

"Are all vampires such complete overblown drama queens and show-offs?" Harry asked Ginny as they hurried to help the tramp.

"Pretty much all the ones I've met are, yeah - uh-oh..." Ginny tailed off as ten more vampires suddenly scrambled down from the rooftops, climbed out of a manhole cover or appeared at both ends of the alley, surrounding them.

"Good thinking. I'll try not to sing 'You Are The Wind Beneath My Wings' on the way up." [A/N: She heard about it from Hermione, OK.]

Harry burst out laughing again. "Or 'Fly Me To The Moon'!" He handed her the Invisibility Cloak and pointed his wand at her before she pulled it over her. Then he furrowed his brow and concentrated, tilting his wand slowly upwards. Ginny felt herself rise and saw the ground falling away. She began to move backwards as well, finally bumping against the parapet of the turret above the clock faces. She scrambled over it, alert for any sign of danger. She could sense the demon very close to her now, an oppressive presence at the back of her mind. Tiptoeing down the stairway, she spotted it nestling among the clock machinery like a spider in its web.

It resembled the illustration she had seen quite closely, but this specimen was huge, bloated and swollen with the energy it had consumed. The creature seemed to be asleep or dozing, its head lolling. It hadn't noticed her.

Pulling off the encumbering Invisibility Cloak, Ginny slid the shoulder-strap of her crossbow over her arm and aimed it at the back of the demon's head. Steadying the weapon on top of the bannister, she fired. However, the twang of the string must have roused it and in the split-second before the bolt reached it, it moved so that it was only struck a glancing hit on the shoulder which penetrated only a few centimetres into its scaly armour. Cursing her ill luck, Ginny dropped the crossbow and drew Gryffindor's sword ready to fight while the demon raised its bulk onto its cloven hooves, snarling angrily in a language she didn't understand and probably didn't want to.

God, the thing was huge - at least two feet taller than her and about three times as broad. Its wings spread out behind it like a dark shadow and its ugly visage contorted with hate as it lifted its massive fists (almost as big as her head). Swallowing hard, Ginny strode forward to meet it.

The battle was chaotic and furious, Ginny darting in and out to slice deep gashes into the demon's skin while trying to avoid the slower yet deadly blows it aimed at her in return. This went on for some time, Ginny growing more and more weary while the creature barely seemed to notice its multiple wounds, which were oozing a pale green liquid. It was only a matter of time before one of those punches hit her.

Realising she had to break the deadlock, Ginny slashed at the thing's wrist as it swiped at her yet again. It roared with pain as the keen blade cut into veins, hitting the inner arm where its scales were thinner. Taking advantage of its momentary distraction, Ginny leapt into the air again, being careful not to go too high in the confined space, and landed on the demon's back, grabbing its shoulder with her hands and scrabbling with her feet to get a foothold on its wing joints. As it lumbered about in confusion and roared, trying to reach behind its head and swat her blindly, Ginny raised the sword of Gryffindor above her and stabbed it point first into the back of the thing's head, grunting with the exertion as she drove it deeper, breaking through the skull and through the softer matter inside. The demon gave one last cry, then collapsed as if poleaxed. She fell from its back as it toppled, rolling across the floor and narrowly missing the grinding machinery.

Regarding the creature's body, Ginny checked it for signs of movement and finally prodded it with the sharp end of the sword.

"Yep, definitely dead," she muttered. "Now, what do I do with this whacking great corpse?" She kicked it in irritation, then noticed that it was starting to dissolve into thin grey goo, which in turn began to vapourise into foul-smelling fumes. Mentally kicking herself, Ginny hurried out to the balcony before the air became unbreathable. Of course - the Discordium demon, being composed mainly of energy leeched from conflict and disagreement, couldn't maintain its physical form after death. She had forgotten that passage in the demonology tome where she had read about the demon.

Feeling drained, she retrieved her crossbow, then lit her wand faintly and waved it to Harry standing far below. He waved in answer, and she pulled the Invisibility Cloak over her before he began levitating her down. It was a pleasant sensation, floating freely in mid-air after all her exertions. Harry reached out his arms to catch her, levitating her the last few feet with his mind alone. Ginny laughed softly as she let herself be carried back to Sirius' bike, snuggling close to him.

"I take it the Big Ugly is history." he said.

"Yup - bad case of a sword through the head. The body vapourised, which was nice. I thought I was going to have to incinerate it and risk setting the place on fire or have someone find a suspicious pile of ashes."

"Well done! I think a well earned rest is called for now." Harry set her down as they reached the motorbike and climbed into the driver's seat. Ginny nodded fervently as she took the pillion.

"Yes, twelve hours of sleep sounds very, very good. Thanks for all your help tonight, by the way."

"Don't mention it." Harry put on his helmet and revved the engine. Ginny leaned into him, tightening her arms around his waist as they drove swiftly bedwards.