Red Horizon

Chapter 2 – New recruits.

DISCLAIMER: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon, and Harry Potter to J.K. Rowling. I don't own anything…

RATING: PG-13 (T) to R (M) - violence, language, angst, horror, mild sexual interactions, etc. If you can watch BTVS/AtS and read HP, I doubt you'll have any problem with this story.

TIMELINE: Takes place after season two in BTVS, and after the marauders last year at Hogwarts. Sequel to "Out of the Blue."

SUMMARY: BTVS/HP crossover. After Graduation, Buffy's life takes another turn once again. She finds herself being thrown into war againt Voldemortalong with her friends, and not everyone will make it out alive...and not everyone is loyal to the light. Butwho is a friend and who is an enemy? Who can you trustin a time of darkness?

CENTRAL PAIRING: Buffy/Remus

OTHER PAIRINGS: James/Lily, Sirius/Eliza

Special Thanks to: My Beta - CharmedChick


A few days after James' visit to Privet Drive, the wedding plans were going on full scale. Both James and Lily wanted to get married as soon as possible, not only because of the rising war, but because they both felt they wanted to spend as long time as possible as husband and wife, and every minute was precious.

Lily, Buffy and Eliza were sitting in Lily's garden, watching catalogues with wedding dresses, giggling and laughing, while Sirius, James, Remus and Peter took it a bit more easy where they were lying on the grass.

"Hey, James!" Buffy said. "Don't you think you should be a bit more enthusiastic about your wedding?"

James groaned. Yesterday had been spent writing invitations, and theplanning of the menu. Both James and Lily had agreed they wanted a small wedding, with their closest friends and family...but apparently, both of them had many close friends, and much family. So right now, the list was very, very long.

"I am! I'm just tired! And when I tried to help, Lily's mother sent me away, telling me I wasn'tof any use!" James protested, making Lily roll her eyes.

"Right. You know, James, this wedding isn't a piece of cake. It's already much, much larger than we expected, and many of my muggle friends want to come, so we can't do that mix between wizard-muggle ceremony we wanted...things are already out of hand. Have you even thought about asking someone to be your best man yet?" She asked.

James flushed.

"Didn't think so. Well, you can start with that, and when you're done, you can start to close the envelopes, and put stamps on them."

Sirius smirked.

"I'm glad I'm not you, mate."

James groaned again.

"But there must be at least hundred invitations!"

Lily just gave him a glare, and James sighed.

"Fine. All right. Best man. Sirius, do you want to do me the honor?"

"Oh, I don't know, Jamie," Sirius said thoughtfully. "This wedding thing...I'm not so sure."

James gave him a glare. He wasn't in the best mood right now.

"Fine. Remus?"

"Woah, I was just kidding!" Sirius hurriedly said.

"I'm not amused," James snapped.

"Merlin, don't be so testy," Sirius mumbled earning himself another glare. "Anyway, of course I'll be your best man. Best man, best mate, you know, that's the rule. And I'm as loyal as a dog."

"As long as you don't pee in my shoes," James muttered, making Remus and Peter snicker.

"Hey, that was one time!" Sirius burst out, indignantly.

"Boys!" Eliza reprimanded them. "Don't fight."

"Envelopes, James," Lily reminded him. James rolled his eyes, and accioed the letters out of the window. Fifty licked envelopes and stamps later, Remus whispered in Sirius' ear:

"Do you think we should tell him he could use magic?"

"Nah," Sirius said. "Let him sweat." He smirked. "Besides, it's funny to watch."

When James had three envelopes left, Lily came over to them.

"James! What are you doing?"

James looked up, confused.

"What you told me to - closing envelopes."

"I thought you were done with that!"

"Hey, this is a tricky thing!" James protested. "Plus, the glue gets all sticky on my tongue."

"What?" Lily gave her soon-to-be-husband-unless-Lily-killed-him-before-that a disbelieving look. "James, are you telling me, you have spent the last fifty minutes licking the envelopes closed, and put stamps on them the muggle way?"

Now James really looked confused. Beside him, Remus and Sirius were snickering.

"Yes, why?"

"Why? WHY! Because - " she took up one of the still open envelopes and made a motion with her wand, making it close itself. Then, she did a second motion, making one of the three stamps put itself in place above the address.

" - That is why."

James blinked stupidly. "Oh," he said.

Lily just sighed.

"Well, at least you're devoted. Maybe you should start working at the post-office. I'm sure they're looking for a stamp-licker."

James groaned. "I am so sorry...I wasn't thinking!"

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Well, that much is obvious."

James gave her a kiss, but about a second later, Lily jumped away from him, spitting furiously.

"Blergh! You taste like glue!"

Sirius and Remus took one look at each other, before starting to laugh furiously. Peter didn't understood what was so funny, but since Sirius laughed, so did he. Under the tree, where Buffy and Eliza sat, also they were laughing.

Suddenly, seven owls flew down and landed on the ground in front of them. Lily let out a shriek of happiness, as her hands flew up to her mouth and she started to jump up and down.

"Oh, my God! It's the NEWT:s! It's the NEWTS!"

Buffy groaned.

"Great," she muttered. "Absolutely great, bloody fantastic."

"Oh, come on, it can't be that bad," Remus tried to reassure her, as he took his letter away from a brown owl.

"Easy for you to say..."

"Okay," Eliza said. "Let's do this slowly and systematically, one at the time. Sirius, you go first."

"Why me?"

"Because I say so."

"Fair enough." Sirius opened his letter.

"Dear Mr. Black," he read out loud. "Enclosed are your grades for your Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests, blah, blah, blah, blah. They will play a big part in what occupation you can have in our wizarding community, blah, blah, blah."

Then he got silent for a long while.

"Well?" Eliza said, when she couldn't deal with the silence anymore. "Is it that bad?"

"Nope," Sirius said. "I did great. Not that I like to brag."

James raised an eyebrow.

"All right, who am I kidding? I love to brag!"

Buffy snickered quietly behind her hand. Right now, Sirius reminded her a lot of when she'dhad her first fight withSpike when he attacked the Sunnydale High School...She hastily pushed that thought away, though, as memories of her friends started to flood over her, and she got a familiar knot in her stomach as she always did whenever she was thinking about them...although it was a lot smaller than it had been when she first came here. She turned her attention back to...

"...Sirius!" Lily exclaimed. "Your grades? Please, read?"

Sirius cleared his throat.

"Well, O in DADA, Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Care of Magical Creatures and Astronomy. E in Herbology and Muggle-studies."

"Great, mate!" James said. "Alright, 'liza, your turn."

"Outstanding in Charms, Potions, DADA and Ancient Runes. Exceeds Expectations in Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy. I only got an Acceptable in Transfiguration - I was expecting that - and in Muggle-studies."

"Alright!" Sirius said, shooting his fist in the air. "James?"

"Outstanding in Transfiguration - oh, I even got a gold star!"

"You did?"

"Uh-hu. It says something about 'the best practical exam in Transfiguration since 1943, when Minerva McGonagall did the exam.'"

James looked really pleased with himself at this.

"I did better than McGonagall!"

Sirius rolled his eyes.

"All right, we get the picture - you rock. Now, can we hear the rest?"

"What? Oh, right...eh...Right. O in Transfiguration, as I said. Also in DADA, Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology, Potionsand Ancient Runes. E in Astronomy and Muggle-studies."

"That is so great, honey!" Lily gave James a hard hug, and he grinned.

"Alright, Moony, let's hear it."

Remus took a deep breath.

"Ancient Runes - E, Arithmancy - E, Astronomy - E, Care of Magical Creatures - O, Charms - O, DADA - O, History of Magic - O." Remus looked really surprised at this. "Potions - A." Here he made a grimace. "And Transfiguration - O."

Buffy kissed him. "You did great!" She said.

"Yep," Sirius smirked. "It would be weird if you hadn't gotten an O in Care of Magical Creatures - after all, you are one."

"Sirius, do us all a favor, and shut up," Buffy said sweetly.

"Shutting up."

Pause.

"Can I talk now?"

The others rolled their eyes.

"All right, Lils - let'shear what you got."

"Transfiguration - O, Muggle-studies - O, History of Magic - O, Herbology - O, DADA - O, Care of Magical Creatures - E, Arithmancy - O, Ancient Runes - O, and..." she made a dramatic pause. "Potions and Charms - O, with a gold star!"

"Congrats, Lils!" James exclaimed. "You're the best!"

Lily blushed.

"Thanks. At least at Charms - and in Potions since someone called Tom Riddle in 1945."

Eliza frowned as she suddenly remembered something. "Lily - you didn't take Muggle studies."

"I know. But I took the exam. I mean, it couldn't hurt. I'm born muggle, so I had to have some idea about what it was all about."

"You could do that?" Remus said. "Why didn't I do that!"

"Because you aren't muggle-born?" Eliza suggested.

"I know! But I'm a Half-Blood! I grew up around muggle-stuff! I probably would have been able to scrape an E - or maybe even an O!" He sounded really upset.

The others rolled their eyes.

"Remus, it's not important," Buffy said. "I mean, it's not like you planned on working in muggle-relations or anything?"

"Well...no. But it's the principle of things!" Remus said indignantly, pouting slightly.

"Wormtail!" Sirius interrupted. "Let's hear your grades, eh?"

Peter swallowed, and started to speak in his squeaky voice.

"Charms - A. Transfiguration - A. DADA - A. Divination - A. History of Magic - A. Herbology - A."

Silence. Finally, Lily broke it.

"Right...that's...great, Pete," she said brightly. "Lots of A's!"

"Yeah, great!" James said. "At least you didn't fail anything. Buffy, you?"

Buffy gulped. 'I can't possible have done worse than Wormtail...or...maybe I can.'

She looked down on her still closed envelope, before sighing and opened it, slowly, unfolding the parchment inside.

Dear Miss Summers.

Enclosed are your grades for your Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests, the final exam during your basic education in the wizarding world.
They will play a big part in what occupation you can have in our wizarding community, as many jobs are based on how well you know, and how well you are able to use a subject of a special magical area.

We at the Ministry hope the test results are to your satisfaction, and wish you good luck in the future.

Yours sincerely,
Griselda Marchbanks
Head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority
Elder of the Wizengamot
Ministry of Magic

Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests Results

Pass Grades:
Outstanding (O)
Exceeds Expectations (E)
Acceptable (A)

Fail Grades:
Poor (P)
Dreadful (D)
Troll (T)

BUFFY ANNE SUMMERS HAS ACHIEVED:

Care of Magical Creatures: A
Charms: E
Defense Against the Dark Arts: O
Herbology: E
History of Magic: T
Potions: E
Transfiguration: E

Buffy could only stare dumbly at her results, feeling completely numb. This was a joke, right?

"Buffy?" Lily wondered carefully, as her friend made no sign to move, or speak. "How did you do?"

No reaction.

Sirius moved closer, and read Buffy's results out loud over her shoulder - she didn't seem to notice.

"Holy shit..." Eliza muttered when he was done.

"Yeah..." James muttered. "Holy shit."

Lily nodded in agreement.

"I-I can't believe it," Buffy finally said, waking up from her trance, disbelief written all over her face.

"I'm shocked. I-I'm really, really shocked."

"Congratulations, Buffy!" Remus said, kissing her quickly. Buffy was still too stunned to register what was happening. "You are the Best. With a big B in Best."

"This is great, Buffy!" Lily said. "All that studying you did - it must have helped. And I guess the practice sessions you had with me and Remus helped too!"

"Do you realize what this means?" Eliza asked. "You can become a Healer!"

"I-I can?"

"You can," Remus said.

Slowly, a big grin started to take form on Buffy's face.


The rest of the day was spent celebrating their good grades. Sirius and James tried to convince Buffy tojoin the Auror academy with them, but she declined. She guessed it would be cool if she could start hunting after dark wizards and stuff...but she had enough of that in her work anyway. Plus, she didn't want to risk being exposed as the Slayer. And she also had a good reason to want to become a Healer - to help Remus after rough Transformations. And it would be helpful after tough patrols as well, even if she healed fast.

By the end of the day, Eliza approached her with an offer - neither of them had any place to stay, and when James got married to Lily, and moved out, and then Sirius as well to live at the Academy, Eliza didn't want to stay there alone with James' parents - it would feel too weird. So she wondered if Buffy was interested in getting an apartment together. At first, Buffy was unsure, since she was afraid Remus would be offended if she moved out, but he wasn't. In fact, he'd been thinking the same thing, because he was going back to Hogwarts to be an assistant/apprentice teacher in DADA that autumn. So Buffy gladly accepted, and decided to start hunting apartments as soon as possible.


Two days later, Dumbledore approached them, telling them about their first Order meeting, which would take place at Hogwarts. They would meet the rest of the members, and be officially introduced.

After the gang apparated to Hogsmeade, they walked up to Hogwarts and paused in the Entrance Hall for a moment. They could hear voices coming from the Great Hall.

"...New recruits?" A voice said, sounding confused. "But Albus, I thought we agreed not to let in any new members because of the growing risk of betrayal."

"Yes, yes, I know, Edgar. But these are far too valuable for us to ignore. I am perfectly assured they will become great assets for us. And now, I believe, they are standing outside the doors waiting to step in."

Buffy's eyes widened. How did he know that? Only she looked surprised though, so she guessed it was a completely normal behavior for Dumbledore.

She took a deep breath, opened the door, and stepped in, the others following. As they stepped inside, they all reacted differently. Lily's eyes widened in shock, because the Hall looked very different from what it usually looked like.

Banners in red with a darker red and golden Phoenix in them replaced those of thehouses. All the house tables were also gone, and replaced by a single, round table, where the members sat.

Buffy was surprised because she had thought there would be more members. Peter was in heaven because of the food standing on the table, making his mouth water. Eliza, Sirius and Remus became nervous because people were staring suspiciously at them, and James because of two of the people sitting around the table.

"Mum? Dad? What are you doing here?"

"We could ask you the same question," Mr Potter said, giving Dumbledore an incredulous look.

"Albus, what are you thinking? Recruiting my son!"

"Is there any special reason to why your son shouldn't be here, Harold?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"Yes! I do not want him dragged into this war!"

"But he already is," Dumbledore said. "The only question is whether he wants to fight it or not, and that is not your decision."

"No, it's not, dad - it's mine. And I want to fight. I'm sorry, mum," he added, when he saw his mother's expression. "But this is what I want to do - what I choose to do."

"Any more objections to take up James Potter in the Order?"

No one said anything, so Dumbledore clasped his hands together.

"Well, then. Alastor, if you would be so kind and conjure up a chair for Mr. Potter here, and we can move on."

A man, who they all (minus Buffy, and Peter, who was oblivious to everything but the food) recognized as Alastor 'mad-eye' Moody, conjured up a chair for James to sit in.

"Excellent," Dumbledore said. "Now, onto our next recruit - Lily Evans."

Murmurs of voices broke out around the table, and Lily gave them nervous looks.

"Is it true you've been accepted into the Department of Mysteries?" A witch asked curiously.

"Well, yes," Lily said hesitantly, making more murmurs break out. "They'd hoped I wanted to become an Unspeakable..."

Some of the wizards and witches started to talk excitedly to each other, before one of them stood up.

"We have no objections to Lily Evans becoming a member of our Order," he said. Dumbledore conjured up a second chair, in which Lily sat down.

"I thought we already were recruited," Buffy mumbled to Remus.

"Well, yes, but I think Dumbledore just want to make sure he has support in his decision, or maybe find out more about his members and their opinions," Remus murmured back.

"Oh."

"Sirius Black," Dumbledore said. Now several members stood up.

"Albus, you can't be serious!" They said. "His family are known Death Eaters, we all know it!"

"And then you also know Sirius has no wish to join them, and that he was disowned because of it, and raised by Mr. and Mrs. Potter since he was sixteen years of age?" Dumbledore said. This shut them up. Apparently, they hadn't.

"What about her?" A man said. "I recognize her from the papers - Eliza de Mort. You can't let her into the Order when we all know her father is a Death Eater."

"The same goes for Eliza - she doesn't have any wish to join her father, which was why she ran away from home and came to Hogwarts. Any more objections?" Dumbledore asked calmly, but none came.

"Good, good." He conjured up another couple of chairs, where Eliza and Sirius sat down.

"Remus Lupin."

A man stood up, giving Dumbledore an incredulous look.

"You must be joking - he's in the werewolf registry!"

Remus stiffened, and Buffy's eyes narrowed.

"Are you really that short-minded?" She sneered. "It's people like you, people with prejudices, who Vollymort wishes to recruit! It's people like you who make the gap in the wizarding world bigger! Maybe you are the one who should pack up and leave."

"Buffy, maybe I should just g - "

"NO!" Buffy exclaimed. "Just so you know, if Remus has to leave, then I leave too."

The man sneered back.

"And why would we care? You're just a silly little girl - how dare you make fun of the Dark Lord's name?"

Buffy snorted.

"He can't hurt me. Do you really think he will pop out of nowhere and put an axe in my head just because of it? Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself."

"You are still a silly little girl - what can you possibly add to our forces?"

"Albus," Minerva McGonagall spoke up. "I have to agree with Caradoc." She gave Buffy an apologetic look. "I have no problem with Mr. Lupin joining, in fact, I encourage it, but Miss Summers? I have seen her work in class, and I'd say it was not much above an Accaptable, even though I know she got an Exceeds Expectations on most of her NEWT:s, including the one in Transfiguration."

Dumbledore didn't look very happy at this, and neither did Buffy.

"Very well," he said. "I had hoped I wouldn't have to reveal Miss Summers' reason for being here, but if that is the only way...Buffy, if you may."

Buffy rolled her eyes.

"What happened to miss-secret-identity-gal?" She muttered and sighed.

"I'm the Slayer."

Blank looks.

"The Vampire Slayer," she added. "She-who-hangs-in-cemeteries. Ring a bell?"

A small woman snapped her fingers.

"Oh, I know this!" She said excitedly. "Into each generation a Slayer is born. One girl, in all the world, a Chosen One. One born with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires, to stop -

" - the spread of evil, blah, blah, blah," Buffy added. "Yep. And I'm she."

"But she's a myth!" Another woman exclaimed, while the man, Caradoc, who'd opposed Remus because of him being a werewolf, snorted.

"She? The Slayer? That's ridiculous! She looks like she would run away screaming if she broke a nail!"

"Hey!" Buffy protested, even though once upon time, when she lived in LA, before she was called, she probably would have done just that...or at least have been very upset. But that was then, this was now.

"What do you say, Mr-prejudice-guy - why don't we take a sparring match, you and I, right here, right now? If you come out on top, I leave, and so can Remus - if I win, you leave." Buffy said, smirking, her eyes blazing dangerously.

"Sure," Caradoc snorted. "Just don't blame me when someone wipes up your body parts from the floor."

Now Dumbledore looked worried, and so did McGonagall, but for of a different reason.

"You can't let them spar, Albus, that's insane! Miss Summers might hurt herself!"

Buffy snorted, and so did James, Lily, Sirius, Eliza and Remus. (Peter was still too busy staring at the food to notice)

"It's not her I'm worried about," Dumbledore said, drawing an incredulous look from Professor McGonagall, and the raise of eyebrows from the other members, all of which he pointedly ignored. He knew that if they did what Buffy called 'sparring' but in Dumbledore's (and the marauders mind) was called 'kicking ass with the one who insulted Buffy's boyfriend and herself as well', there wouldn't be much left of Caradoc Dearborn.

"Why don't we use swords instead?" He suggested, but immediately recognized that as a bad idea when he saw Buffy's feral look.

"Or maybe not," he hastily added.

"No, no, Albus," Caradoc said. "I don't mind using swords, not at all. You, miss Summers?" He asked, with overused pleasantness.

"Absolutely not, Mr-I'm-trying-to-win-the-bastard-of-the-year-competition-so-people-can-lick-my-boots."

The marauders, Lily and Eliza coughed to cover up their laughter, and so did several other members. Caradoc however, was not amused.

"Albus," McGonagall protested. "You can't let them do this..."

Dumbledore just sighed.

"It's out of my hands now, Minerva, let them deal with it in whatever way they find appropriate."

Caradoc conjured up a sword with a long silver blade. Buffy narrowed her eyes, before taking out what looked like a small knife from her inner jacket pocket. As she enlarged it, they saw it was a big sword. She immediately took a fighting stance, surprising many of the assembled people, including Caradoc.

"We are to witness a duel between Caradoc Dearborn and Buffy Summers," Dumbledore said calmly, but with an air of authority around him."Begin!"

What happened next was a fight the Order members were never to forget. The clashing of swords was so fast they barely were able to keep up. Those who knew what to look for could see who was the better swords(wo)man - Buffy. Before Caradoc knew what had happened, he was on his back, with Buffy's sword against his throat.

"Winner - Buffy Summers," Dumbledore said, making Buffy grin. Caradoc stood up, taking Buffy's outstretched hand with something akin to respect.

"Congratulations," he said. "I guess you do know what you are doing." He started to leave, but Buffy called him back.

"Stay," she said. "You were a good fighter, and the Order needs everyone they can get."

It looked like Caradoc was fighting with himself for a moment, before he nodded to her, and re-took his place at the table.

"Any more objections to Remus Lupin and Buffy Summers becoming members of the Order."

The small witch who'd snapped her fingers and relayed the 'Slayer's tale' stood up.

"No, we would be honored if the Slayer - Miss Summers, and Remus Lupin would join us." Dumbledore smiled, as the other Order members agreed, even if some of them still gave Remus suspicious looks, but muchless so than before.

"Thank you, Dorcas," he said. "Now, onto Peter Pettigrew."

Peter's head snapped up, as he finally were able to take his look off of Buffy, who'd he been staring at since the sword fight started. Apparently, she was more interesting than the food.

"Any objection?"

None came, perhaps because the Order members found it was useless to protest after the display Buffy had showed up. They trusted Dumbledore to make the right decision.

"Excellent! Now, onto the real meeting. Dorcas, have you managed to gather any information from the ministry about the Death Eater activities...?"



A/N:
Hope you liked this secondchapter! Please REVIEW!

/Ida