UnExpected

Chapter 5

"Is she still sulking up there?" Sirius asked, casting a glance at the floor above.

"Unfortunately," frowned Joyce.

"She can't be that upset about it. The house –"

"It's not the house. It's the people. She was looking forward to going back to her old house, with her old friends. At first, she was just worried that they might give her the cold shoulder for a few days, but now...she said they would consider it as crossing over to the other side. Like she was betraying them," she informed him, relaying what Buffy had grumpily explained after Joyce tried convincing her it wasn't so bad.

"That's understandable. It's not hard to remember how competitive the houses had been toward each other, especially those two," Remus reminded them.

"True enough, but she'll be all right. From what you've told me, she was never one to follow the crowd," said Sirius with shrug and Joyce smiled.

"It still amazes me how've you managed to gain so much confidence in her after only knowing her such a short amount of time," she admired aloud.

"It's hard not to. After hearing all her stories of what she's had to face every night. It makes a person believe she can face anything. Besides, she's had one of the strongest women I know as a role model."

Joyce blushed at the compliment, and Remus had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. They were being as obvious as a Hippogriff in a china shop. And it was a shame they never had the true chance to explore those feelings. Sirius had stalled too long, and Joyce had moved on. To a bastard of man who had left his wife and daughter for an assistant at the Ministry, where Hank had been working in the Archives Department, just when Buffy had turned thirteen. They hadn't heard from him since, but knew he and the mistress were in the tropics somewhere. And in Remus's opinion they were better off. Hank was never much of a supportive father, especially after discovering what had occurred at Hogwarts. He was afraid of going near his own daughter. But even before that day he had been distancing himself from his family as much as possible, meaning working late hours at the office, which lead to the inevitable affair. But now, looking at the pair before him, with their secret smiles and fleeting looks, it may be that Hank's selfish act was really just a blessing in disguise.

Upstairs, Buffy was laying on her bed, still pouting over the news. Her stomach tied up in knots over the upcoming school year that was months away. She should've known it wouldn't have been so easy as to just walk through those entrance doors and pretend everything was back to normal. Now, it wasn't only going to be uncomfortable, it was going to be a disaster. She remembered being a kid and looking over at their table, wrinkling her noise at how they behaved. Thinking they were so noble and better than everyone else. That was of course back then, and everything was different now. She was different – as the Hat so lovingly pointed out. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. She might even get along with a few of them...

Groaning loudly, she flopped onto her stomach and huffed. Who was she kidding? It was going to be nothing but a bitca of a year and she knew it.

*****

For the next two weeks, Buffy could've sworn her brain had been slowly leaking out of her ears. Remus was hell-bent on getting her caught up as soon as possible, meaning every minute of every day, when she wasn't sleeping, was spent studying. Even on the night when Remus had caught the full moon disease, as he liked to put it, Sirius had taken over. At first, she believed that to be a stroke of luck, after all Sirius was Mr. Relax Guy, the cool one (something she'd never admit while Remus was around), but, oh, how wrong she was. Sirius was nothing more than a dictator in disguise. Pushing her almost as hard as Remus had been. What was it with these people getting her to achieve her full potential? Who does that?