1Summery: It's another Buffy/Harry crossover...minus Buffy. It's only Giles and Xander and the rest of the Harry Potter people. Takes place after Season 3 of Buffy and after HBP in Harry Potter. I suck at summery's so just read it. Any reviews would be good, be it flame's or good.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not even the idea in my head are my own. They belong to the government who has been sending me signals through my dog Spot. Which is really quite a trick being that I don't even have a dog.
"Coming Home"
Rupert Giles had been sitting in his car for nearly twenty minutes, replaying the past few days events in his mind over and over again. In the past forty-eight hours so much had happened. Faith and Buffy had fought, resulting in Faith being put in a coma. Buffy had defeated the Mayor, blowing up the school to do so. Which, he realized, left him unemployed. Finally getting out of the car, the man known simply as "Giles" made his way to his apartment.
Much too tired to do anything at the moment, he merely walked into the kitchen, poured himself a glass of scotch, and sat down in an armchair to relax. He had not even been sitting down a minute when he heard a barely audible popping sound coming from the trunk where he kept most of his rarer items. Sitting forward he inclined his head toward the trunk making sure he heard what he heard. He stayed like this for almost five minutes, hoping that he had been mistaken. Then, the sound came again, louder then before but still soft. At this he jerked his head, staring at the trunk. 'It can't be.', He thought to himself.
It took fifteen minutes and three more pops, each getting steadily louder, before Giles opened the trunk and took out a small wooden box. It was no longer then a sheet of paper and had two locks in the front. There was nothing fancy about the box, no one would have given it more then a glance had it been lying out on a shelf. However, Giles had kept it in the corner of the trunk, wrapped around heavy green cloth. After taking off the cloth the box gave one more pop, louder then any of the others since the cloth was no longer muffling the sound. Carefully Giles opened the box and took out one of the two identical looking keys and placed it into one of the keyholes but hesitated before turning it.
Letting out a breath he did not even know he was holding, he turned the key and heard a click. Returning to the chair that he had been sitting on before, he placed the box on the coffee table, leaned back and stared at it. After several moments, he leaned forward and tentatively opened the box, still keeping as far from it as he could as if he was afraid something might jump out of it and attack. Although, being on the Hellmouth, that was a possibility.
Although he could not see inside from the angle he was at, he was certain that there was nothing harmful inside. Or rather, there was nothing that would be attacking him on the spot. With almost greater care that he had been using the whole time he was handling the box, he pulled it forward peered inside. It did not surprise him to see that the one key, which had been inside before he turned the lock, was now gone replaced with what appeared to be an envelope. Turning over it over to examine it, he saw his own name written in script. He couldn't place the writing but it pulled on something in his memory.
Slitting the envelope open he pulled out the heavy paper and scanned the heading. "Dear God.", He said out loud, slumping back into the armchair. He read through the letter twice, making sure he understood everything written. He drained the last of the scotch in his glass and got up to pour himself a second, then, read the letter a third time. He needed to write back as soon as he could with an answer, at least that's what was asked of him in the letter.
Pulling the phone next to him he picked up the receiver but stopped short of dialing. Was he really doing this, he thought. This was insane. After all this time to suddenly be pulled back into it, just like that. Besides, this wasn't te sort of thing you called a person about. Throwing down the phone, he grabbed his keys and headed back out to his car.
"So, you sure about doing this? I mean, this is big. Really big.", Xander said sitting in the car staring at the passenger.
"Yes, Xander. I've told you all this already. Please, do you really think that I'm gonna spend the rest of my life in a dinky little town like Sunnydale?" Cordelia shot at him. "Besides, it's not as if this place holds anything except . . . bad memories and a probable painful death."
Turning back to the front window Xander sighed, "Yeah, don't let anything hold you back. Smart move." He had agreed to this before they fought the mayor. He and Cordelia, if both of them had made it through, both would leave that night. Her to L.A. to start her life, him to wherever the road took him. Now, the two of them where sitting in his car waiting for Cordelia's bus to come in. Neither of them believed for a second that they would be able to survive Xander driving her to L.A.
"Please, Xander. It's not as if your not doing the same thing. You're running out of town, same as me."
"Maybe so, but I'm coming back at some point."
"You really are an idiot, aren't you?"
"Hey! Remember who's giving you the ride here."
"Yeah, cause your night was full of fun times. What exactly was your big plan then? Watch Will and Oz make out or try and comfort Buffy with Angel gone?", Cordelia said with more then just a hint of venom in her voice.
"You know, I don't need this? I could be out and actually having a good time before I leave. Just because your still crying because daddy lost all his money doesn't mean you can take it out on me.", he spat at her.
They sat there for a few moments, neither wanting to give and be the first to speak. Finally, after five minutes, Cordelia's bus rolled into the station. "Well, this is me."
"Sure is.", Normally he would be making some kind of snide remark, some sort of bitting retort but his heart just wasn't in it. The past few months had been harder on Xander then anyone knew, including Xander.
Cordelia gathered up her bag from the back seat and got out. Going around to the driver side, she leaned into Xander's window. "Look, Xander . . . I meant what I said."
"Yeah, I know, everyone has a place to be but me. I get it Cordy."
"No, you idiot.", She snapped. "About this place, this town. It isn't good for you to be here. Face it, you've been lucky this past few years, but your luck is going to run out fast."
"Hey, I'll have you know that I happen to be an important part of this team.", he said half heartily.
"I know.", She said seriously.
"Yeah, without me bringing the doughnuts, how else would they have the energy to fight, right?", he smiled at her sadly.
They stared at each other for a moment before they heard the driver shouting out for the passengers to board. "Look, if you feel like coming with me..." Cordelia started to say.
Raising his eyebrows, Xander did smile for the first time that night. "Yeah, thanks Cordy, but I think I'll take my chances with the blood thirsty fiends here."
"Take care of yourself Xander, really.", She said smiling at him and with that, she turned and left for the bus.
'Yeah, Harris, you provide a valuable resource for everyone.', he thought to himself turning the car around and heading back to his house. He had packed everything up that he was taking with him on the trip already, but had left it at his place when he knew he was driving Cordelia to the bus. He had been expecting to need a lot of room in the car for Queen C's luggage but was surprised to find her carrying on a normal sized duffel bag. She had changed in the past year, hell, all of them. 'Damn cliche's.', he thought to himself.
The drive to his house was short and he pulled into the driveway, killing the engine but didn't get out. 'She's right, you know.', he thought to himself. 'You stay here any longer and you really are going to end up getting killed.'
He thought that he was actually doing good here. He fought along side Buffy for three years now, but that had changed recently. In the past few months, he had been left out more and more. The most memorably was when the Hellmouth had reopened. Everyone had been so busy to keep him out of the way. He was able to hold his own though, wasn't he? 'Hell, I was able to take on those zombies without them, wasn't I?'
After hitting his head on the steering wheel lightly out of frustration, he got out and headed toward the front door. Putting his hand on the door knob when he heard the yelling from inside the house. 'Great, that's just what I need.' He has been hoping that he could just go in, grab his things, and make his way out without being drawn into another Harris Friday night.
The yelling kept getting more and more heated, but there was something different about it. The one voice was definitely his father, he would be able to hear that voice anywhere, but the other wasn't his mother, it was another man. Had the cops finally been called on them? He had always wondered when it would happen, 'Just thought it might have been all the times when he should up to school with bruises', he thought darkly.
Opening the door, he found out what the argument was about. "AND I TOLD YOU IT IS NO BUSINESS OF SOME NAMBY PAMBY BRITISH ASSHOLE WHAT HAPPENS BETWEEN ME AND MY WIFE!" he heard his father yelling. It took his brain a moment to figure out who he was yelling at. He couldn't seem to understand that it was Giles who was there, standing between his father and mother, looking extremely angry and red in the face.
"If you even try to lay one more hand on her, I swear to you, you will not use that hand again.", Giles told him with forced evenness.
"Get the hell out of my way.", His father grunted trying to push past Giles. In one swift movement, Giles grabbed him by the throat and shoved him down onto the floor.
"Stop it! Stop!", his mother yelled moving past Giles and kneeling down next to her husband who was coughing and trying breath.
"OK, I'm guessing I missed something here, didn't I.", Xander said speaking for the first time. Everyone turned to look at Xander standing in the doorway, but did not move from where they were.
After a beat, Xander spoke up, "Well, Giles, it's been . . . fun. Not as much as say, blowing up a school, but . . . what exactly are you doing here?" He didn't even acknowledge his parents. He had been through enough of these scenes with them that it didn't even phase him.
Giles looked down at Xander's parents on the floor, "Can we talk? In private?", he said, seething with anger.
"Uh . . . yeah, sure.", Xander said slowly. Turning toward the door.
"Wait just one Goddamned minute! What the hell do you want with my son? Xander, you get your ass back in her, now!", roared his father, getting to his feet.
"You would do well not to interfere.", Giles said, glaring at him.
"Listen, I'll do whatever I damn well please with my family!"
"You simple minded, arrogant, prat! You don't think I've seen what you've done to your son?", he exaggerated the point by pointing at Xander. "For years I've watched him come into my library with bruises that he tries' too hid. Limping when nothing has happened that should have caused him to do so."
Xander paled at what Giles said. He had hid everything that had happened in his house from everyone, even Willow. They all knew that his parents drank and fought, but never that he had, that he still, suffered from the drunken fights his father would cause.
"You think you can come in here and tell me how to raise my boy? How to treat my wife? Everyone needs to be put in place once in a while.", His father said with a sick smile.
The two stood they're, staring at one and other for a moment. "Yes, I believe you're right.". Giles said. Then, without so much as a warning, he punched him right in the face. When he hit the floor, he didn't get back up. Not even giving the man on the floor a second glance, Giles turned and walked toward Xander, motioning for him to go outside with him.
"Giles, what the hell is going on?", Xander asked once they were outside. As much as he liked seeing his father on the other side of a fist, he knew that things where only going to be worse.
"Xander, listen, there is not much time and I need you to listen to me, understood?", Giles said.
"What? What happened? Is Buffy or Willow? Did something happen?", Xander's mind raced through different scenarios, each worse then the next. He had only left them a few hours ago, things had gone fine during graduation, well, as fine as attacking a giant snake and blowing up the school could go.
"Xander! Will you stop and just listen to me. Buffy and Willow are fine.", Giles knew he would never be able to get to explaining anything, and time was running very short. Xander, hearing the urgency in Giles voice, stayed quiet, waiting for him to continue. "I came here tonight looking for you and found . . . your father," he spat the last part out, "arguing with you mother. You came in for the rest of it.
"But, that is not the important part. What matters tonight is this.", he finished pulling an envelope out of his pocket and handing it to Xander.
"What's this?", Xander asked taking the envelope. It felt heavy, not the usual envelopes that you get at a stationary store. He noticed his name written on the front and that it was sealed in wax. "Giles, what is this?", he asked again.
Before he could answer, he heard the sounds of Xander's father coming to. "Xander, listen to me. I will explain everything, as much as I can, but we need to get out of here. Understand?", Giles said, eyeing the doorway. He wasn't afraid of another confrontation with Xander's father. But in order to get where they needed to be, they needed to leave sooner rather then later. The doorway that they would be able to use would only be open for a limited time.
"Yeah, sure.", Xander made a move to head back toward the car when his father stumbled through doorway tackling Xander.
"You think your leaving with him? The man that attacked your father? You're own flesh and blood not good enough for you, boy?", his father roared slamming him into the porch again and again.
Suddenly there was a flash of red light, and Xander felt the weight of his father leave him. He turned toward Giles to see him standing there, pointing something, a stick, at him. Giles, stood there for a moment, with a look in his eyes. A mixture of joy, fear and excitement. After he blinked, he put the stick away, placing it in the inside pocket of his coat with great care.
"Xander!", Giles called to him, indicating that they had to go.
Getting up, he moved swiftly toward Giles car which was parked out front. Giles was already in it, and had started the engine. Jumping into the passenger seat, Xander turned and gave a look at his house and the motionless body of his father. His mother had rushed outside to make sure he was all right, just like every other time he had hit one of them. She had to make sure that he was OK. Somehow, the feeling that he wasn't going to be seeing this place again didn't bother him.
"He'll be fine. He'll just be . . . unconscious for a little while.", Giles said pulling away at, albeit, slow pace. Xander didn't respond, he didn't really care if his father was all right or not. Instead, he looked down at the envelope in his hand.
"You might do well to open that. I can't promise that it will explain anything to you but . . . it will at least let you know what is going on. Any questions you have, Xander, I promise I will try to answer them as best I can. But, to be honest with you, there are a lot of things that I still don't know yet.", Giles told him making a particularly sharp turn.
Slitting open the envelope with his finger, he pulled out a piece of folded parchment.
Mr. Harris,
I hope this letter finds you well. While you may not know who I am, I however know a great deal about you. Your mentor, Rupert Giles, and I have been in contact for a great many years. Unfortunately, I now must ask him to take up a great charge that I myself can no longer do. Equally unfortunate is that I must ask you to do the same. It seems that you are an anomaly, Mr. Harris, and I hope that you understand the fullness of what I mean when I say that. You have a great power inside of you, one that you may not understand and, from what I am told, you do not even know you have. The only thing I can hope is that you will trust this foolish old man when I say that you are needed. The rest, as is often the case, is up to you.
Albus Dumbledore
Xander read the letter again. Then, a third time. He had no idea who this man was, what he was asking of him or what the hell was going on. "All right, strange letters, your beating up my family and we're rushing off to . . . somewhere. So, what exactly does the Hellmouth have in store for us tonight, Giles?", Xander asked.
"Not the Hellmouth, Xander. I fear this is something much worse.", he replied pulling up to his apartment complex. The two got out, Giles leading the way to his apartment as Xander turned the letter around and glancing at it again, hoping that it would give him some sort of an answer. Seeing if he had somehow missed something.
"So, what exactly is it that's being asked of me? And when do you become 'my instructor'? You're Buffy's Watcher, not my, well, anything.", Xander stepped into the apartment after Giles watching as he ran about picking up a few things, throwing them into a bag.
"Yes, I am still her Watcher.", Giles stopped as he said this, as if he was trying to plan something on short notice. Shaking his head, he started moving again. "But, this is something that Buffy cannot do. Something that, she would be powerless to stop."
"And what exactly is that? If you haven't noticed, Buffy can pretty much handle anything that's been put against her."
"That may be so," Giles called going up the stairs, "but not this time. Xander, have you ever wondered, how you happen to always escape everything that you have been through? All of you have been extremely lucky but, what's more, is that all of you have been put into these situations where your luck has been pushed. Have you ever why that is?"
"Well, Giles, if you haven't noticed, our company of friends includes a slayer, a witch, a vampire and a werewolf. Not exactly the most normal of groups I would imagine. Oh, and one more thing, we live on a Hellmouth. Just thought that, I don't know, maybe that was to explain why we happen to have rather interesting social lives.", Xander said smiling a little. He was put off by the fact that Giles had told him that he had been lucky that he had survived this long, but still had to laugh at the question. After all, this was Giles who was asking him about a subject he had reminded them of almost every single day he had known him. Anything weird was attributed to the power of the Hellmouth.
"Yes, your absolutely right.", Giles said coming back downstairs. "And it is exactly that which you just said that explains all of what I'm about to tell you. Every one of us is connected to the supernatural, to the darker side of magic's and the like. It explains why every one of us has had things happen, the very power that draws the dark here also happens to induce actions. To make the very creatures drawn here interact with one and other."
"Wait. That doesn't make any sense. Your saying that the reason why all of us are attacked by the supernatural things that tend to go bump in our town is because we are supernatural? But, I mean, what about you and me? We're not 'connected' to any dark force. And what about Willow? She was being drawn into things long before she became a witch."
"Yes, but Willow had that power in her the whole time. She just needed to tap into it.", Giles said still rushing about.
"OK, fine, but then what about us. I mean, sure you can work your mojo but, you've even said it. You've dabbled. You're not a witch."
"Wizard, Xander. A male witch is called a wizard.", Giles stopped and rubbed his temple. "And, as for not being connected.", he stopped a few feet away from Xander and pulled out the piece of wood he had placed in his coat before. Waving it in front of his trunk and assorted bags, things inside of them started to move around, organizing themselves and making more room.
Xander just looked oddly at the bags and trunk. "OK, so you have some tricks we haven't seen."
"Xander, this is not any magic that exists in this world, or rather, had existed in this world. Have you ever seen Willow or myself, or anyone for that matter, use a wand before in any of the spells we have performed?", Giles flicked the wand toward back room and heard the door shut.
Jumping a little at the sound of the door shutting suddenly, Xander started to get a bit concerned. "Wait, so, everything your doing right now . . . is because of that little stick?"
"Yes."
"And what you did before at my house?"
"A stunning spell."
The stood there for a moment staring at one and other. "So, you're a wizard?", Xander said slowly.
"Yes.", Giles sighed. It wasn't that he felt tired from Xander. He was tired in general. The day had been long and it wasn't even close to being done with.
"So, anything else I should know? Is Buffy really some evil hell demon out to destroy the world or is she still the same?"
"Yes . . . ", Giles began.
"What? Giles I was kidding."
"No, not about Buffy.", he said weary. "I meant there's more. More that you should know." It was then that he heard the box click. The same click it hade made when the letters had arrived. "Unfortunately, we do not have time to go over them. I need to know, right now, are you willing to come with me."
"Come with you where, Giles?", Xander said skeptically.
"Home. I'm heading home, Xander. And, for reasons I don't know, it seems as if you would be of a great deal of help.", Giles eyed the box, hearing the clicking getting louder and louder.
Xander took only a moment to think about everything. Something wasn't right. But then again, when where things ever right here? "When do we leave?"
"Right away. Xander, I want you to get over into the circle and try to brace yourself." Giles told him indicating the large white circle that had been drawn on the floor. His bags and chest were already in it.
"So, expecting a fight when we get there?", Xander joked after grabbing a sword from the collection Giles had placed in the circle. It felt right to be holding some sort of weapon since he didn't know what to expect.
"Yes, I believe we should.", Giles murmured heading closer to the box. Opening the box, a blinding blue light erupted from it and then, there was nothing but black.