UnExpected

Chapter 38

It was unavoidable. The lecturing, the yelling, the finger wagging, and there would've been a grounding, too, if there were any extracurricular activities to actually be grounded from.

"You should've told me," her mother said, after her tirade and with winding down calm.

"I know, but I just..." Buffy took a deep breath and tried to stay focused on the scorning at hand. Her head hurt, and she was tired. Sleep hadn't come to her the night before. Her restless mind kept weaving ideas and memories into her nonstop thoughts, but she knew avoiding her mother the next morning would not the brightest thing to do, so she truckered on and hoped she could go back to bed soon. Whether that meant sleep was still a tossup. "It's not like I've been using it all this time, yesterday was the first time since...since then."

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you could've gotten into if the Ministry had found out about this? Apparating underage and without a license?"

"I know."

"You could've gotten kicked out of school."

"I know."

"You could've gotten hurt."

"I know."

"You could've –"

"Mom," she stopped her impatiently, though her voice sounded more tired than impatient. "I know that what I did was wrong, and illegal, and dangerous, but I...I needed to go. And I wasn't sure how long I was going to be, so it was just better if I went by myself. And I know you're angry at me for going but –"

"You think I'm angry because of that?"

Buffy paused, her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. "Aren't you?"

"Buffy." Joyce shook her head as bits of her anger faded away and she lowered herself onto the bed next to her daughter. "I know why you had to go. Your friends were in danger, you needed to be there, and I'm not mad. Exactly."

"The yelling sure could've fooled me."

"I'm worried," she admitted abruptly. "If the Ministry were to find out about this, then they would want to know how long you've been able to Apparate, and that means..."

Buffy felt a sudden chill run up her spine. "And that means that they'll find out about everything else."

Joyce nodded grimly in agreement. "There's a reason why only a few of us know about what happened, and now, knowing that Voldemort has returned, more than anything, it needs to stay that way."

She didn't like this. Secrets, secrets, and nothing but secrets. She was like a piggy bank. Please deposit one secret and watch Buffy explode. Fun! Nevertheless, she got it. If the Ministry where to find out...well, let's just say, her bright and shiny days would be over – although those days seemed always to be far and few in between.

Voldemort just had to come back, didn't he? He couldn't stay in the little hell he had created for himself. Oh, no, because that would actually be a good thing for Buffy, and we can't have that can we? But what did she really expect. He had even told her he would return, and now here he was. Who knows what other promises he planned to keep. The dreadful things she remembered him whispering.

"I don't need to tell you that things are tough right now, you know they are," her mother continued. "We've already got so much to deal with, and if Fudge were to find out about this...he may be in denial about Voldemort's return, but he still fears him. I don't want you getting hurt."

"I won't," she said firmly.

"You can't be too confident about this, Buffy. The Ministry goes to great lengths to prevent exposure."