One No Longer

Chapter 3- Reports and Recovering

June made her way up the cold stone steps to the Owlery. She would have to use a school owl to send her letter to Buffy, as it was she owned a cat, not an owl. It was all for the better. Then it would make sense for her to keep switching owls, in case anybody cared to notice the strange habit she would have to make for herself. However, as she pushed open the heavy wooden doors to the Owlery, she jumped with surprise. Harry was standing there, attaching a letter to the leg of a snowy owl.

"Harry?" she asked.

Harry turned, after releasing his owl. "June. What are you doing here?"

"Sending a letter to...a friend from my old school. I still have to write it yet, though," she replied.

Silence fell. Harry began to shuffle his feet a bit, then he looked up at his sister.

"Well, here. I've brought my ink, quill, and parchment with me. You don't look like you have any on you. Want to use mine?" he asked, holding out the items.

"Oh, silly me. Of course. Thank you," June said, taking them.

Silence once more. Once again, it was Harry that spoke next.

"I'll just wait outside. I'm sure you want privacy in writing your letter,"

He left. June sighed.

Well, that went well, she thought.

Shaking her head, she found herself a clear spot on the stone floor and began to write. Sucking on the end of the quill for a bit, she thought of what best to report. She didn't want her letter to be too official, because Buffy and she were also friends. Then she had it.

Dear Buffy,

How's life back at Slayer HQ? Things here aren't so bad. Harry seems like a nice kid. His friends are nice too. Anyhow, I'm just writing to report that nothing bad has happened yet, if you catch my meaning. Feel free to write back to me using the owl I send this with.

With love,

JLP

There, that should do it, June thought as she sealed the letter. She choose a small, gray owl and attached her letter to its leg.

"Fly fast, little birdie," she whispered as the bird took flight. She turned, remembering that Harry said he would wait on her, gathered his things, and left the Owlery. Just as he stated, Harry was found leaning up against the wall opposite the door, holding a strange colored cloak over his arm.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"Sure. But, what is that cloak?" June replied.

"It's an Invisibility Cloak. We're going to need it to get pass Filch, the caretaker,"

"Not me,"

Harry stared at her. "Why not?" he asked.

"Because I have permission to be out," she said.

"Yeah, on that subject. I seen the Headmaster let you outside. Most students aren't allowed out after hours. Why did he do that?"

Uh-oh.

"Umm..." June said. Now she was shuffling her feet. She had to come up with some excuse, fast. "I'm...a recovering claustrophobic. Yeah. I need to be let outside at intervals at night. Otherwise, I get panicky."

Harry raised an eyebrow at her. "A recovering claustrophobic?" he asked in a dull tone.

"Mm-hmm. I mean, I arrived a little bit before the students did, and I was fine. But the castle seems smaller now that all of them are here. It kind of wigs me out," she said.

"Wigs you out?"

"Yeah,"

Harry stared at her for a moment. Finally, he shrugged. "Okay. Well, I'm going to get to bed. See you tomorrow?"

"Sure. I think that we're going to have potions together," June said, putting a somewhat excited tone to her voice.

"Don't sound so happy. You haven't met Snape yet," he said. "Well, bye."

"See-ya,"

Harry put on the cloak and disappeared. The only way June knew that he was truly leaving was by the sound of his footsteps descending the stairs.

----------

"That was the stupidest excuse I have ever come up with," June muttered to herself as she made her way to her room. "Recovering claustrophobic? Honestly."

On her way, she passed by the gargoyle that covered the entrance to Dumbledore's office. To her great surprise, it was sliding to the side. She stopped as she seen Dumbledore descend the stairs.

"Ah, Miss Potter. I was hoping to catch you. May I speak with you a moment in my office?" he asked, stepping aside.

"Of course, sir," she said as she led the way back up the staircase.

Once seated in his office, Dumbledore beamed down at her. June wondered what kept this man going. He always seemed so happy to her.

"Um. What is it that you need, Professor?" she asked.

"Ah, yes. Did you find anything on your...patrols?" he asked.

"No. All clear. I sent a report back to Slayer Headquarters via owl. That's were I was coming from,"

"Slayer Headquarters?"

"You know..." Then June paused. When he had spoken to Buffy, she had been with her in America. The Noble Leader of the Slayers wouldn't allow a strange wizard into the Headquarters at the time. "Oh. That's right. Sorry. Slayer Headquarters is were all the Slayers report to and were a great portion of them live. It's a massive mansion in Rome. All Slayers go there at least once. It's were we train. Buffy and her original gang of friends run it. There are several departments. They even teach us minor magics and medical procedures."

"Fascinating. How did Miss Summers come to own such a house?" Dumbledore asked. June found herself admiring this man's pursuit of knowledge.

"Well, when the Watchers' Headquarters was destroyed, we all thought that all the Watchers, save for Giles--Buffy's Watcher and my guardian now--and mine at the time, were killed because there had been a call to headquarters were all the Watchers come back that our two had ignored. But there was one more Watcher that had survived. She was the Watcher involved with the group's finances. Her name was Olivia Brood. She found Buffy and gave her access to the money. Buffy vowed only to use it for the good of the Slayers. She's held true to that," she explained.

"And Watchers, they are those who trained the Slayers?"

"Yes, they used to. Now the few that are left train and advise Buffy,"

"And does Miss Brood still live with the Slayers?"

"Yes. She's now Mrs. Olivia Giles...she and him married last spring,
"Very well. I've learned a lot this evening. More than I planned to, which is always good. But best of all, that there are no threats, as of this moment, to my students. There is but one more problem we need to solved before I bid you good night," Dumbledore said, standing.

"What's that, sir?" June asked, following suit.

"If one of the other professors are see you out and about at night, you and I both shall need an excuse to keep us both out of trouble. Do you have any suggestions?"

June sighed, lowering her eyes tiredly. "Tell them that I'm a recovering claustrophobic and that I need to be let out nightly otherwise I get panicky," she said dejectedly.

"A...recovering claustrophobic?"

June nodded. "Don't ask," she said simply.

Dumbledore smiled. "I wasn't planning on it. Good night,"

"Good night,"

June turned and left for her own room, hoping for a good nights sleep and that her story of being a recovering claustrophobic wouldn't be around the entire school by morning.