Harry Potter and the Other Slayer by TruSlayer

Chapter 3: Becoming - Part One

Previously:

"So, What are you going to tell him about me?" asked Buffy, with enthusiasm.

"Knowing Tom, I shouldn't need to, he will be here soon," answered Giles, as he prepared to leave, "Besides, I have a meeting with the archeology department at UC Sunnydale. Supposedly, they recently dug up an old stone box with an ancient form of writing etched onto the surface. They are hoping that I could decipher it."

Waiting for a few moments, Jenny's face turned into a victorious grin as she saw something on the screen and said, "This is it..."

HOGWARTS - THE HOSPITAL WING

Silence. The room was full of it.

Everyone in the wing was either asleep or unconcious due to some magical malady, except Harry, he was the odd one out of the group, he was as wide awake as humanly possible. With everything that had gone down tonight, nobody would expect anything less of him.

Like everything and everyone in the room, Harry was completely silent, save a breath he would take every couple of seconds.

As the minutes ticked on, visitors came and went, each one wishing him a speedy recovery, but he had no visit from his mysterious rescuer, at least not yet. It was curious, his life had been saved by this boy but he still did not know his name, or anything about him personally. Harry was still waiting for a visit by the time Madame Pomphrey put out the lights for the night.

Harry was waiting in the night, hoping for sleep to come, when the hospital wing's doors squeaked open to reveal the figure of his handsome hero, still clad in black.

Tom crept silently through the room, his boots not making one sound on the floor, towards Harry.

"Hello Harry," Tom greeted, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you supposed to be asleep?"

"I can't sleep," said Harry, "Not after tonight."

"I heard about what happened," the young slayer replied, "I can't believe someone actually manage to capture and contain Mad-Eye. I'm even more surprised that Professor Dumbledore did not figure it out soon enough. He knew Alastor Moody better than the rest of us...well maybe except me."

"How's that?"

"Moody and I go way back," Tom started, ready to drop the bombshell, "I was in my third year when he first attended this school."

"But then you'd have to be--" Harry remarked.

"--I'd have to be older then him," Tom finished for the confused wizard in front of him.

At Harry's nod he replied with a shrug, "What can I say? I look good for my age."

"But how...?" Harry gestured to the boy in front of him.

"...am I looking so hot at my old age?" Tom finished.

When Harry blushed he continued, "Well, when I was your age, the first time I mean, I was -for the lack of a better term- killed."

Harry who was at a loss for words, just stared in confusion.

"I better give you a full explaination," Tom said, and told his tale of how an older student came to him and handed his destiny to him. Every moment, Tom portrayed some battle to the younger wizard, who was in a daze from the stories. Suddenly things started to change as Tom told the story of the battle that ended with him losing his life, of the struggle he had to bear as the demon within him grew stonger for neverending weeks until his soul was eventually killed, and the demon obtained full use of his body. But Harry noticed one major detail missing. Every story was carefully edited so Tom did not mention any names, including his.

"For decades he wandered our world, making a name for himself as a powerful wizard, and gaining more supporters every day," Tom continued with his story, "Until one day came when he got word of a prophecy telling of a powerful baby that was recently born at the time. The newborn baby alone would have the power to vanquish him. One Halloween night, he approached the family and told them to hand the baby boy over. The parents refused, and they both were killed, the demon cast the killing curse on the boy, but it rebounded, and both the demon and my body were gone, and the boy was left only with a lightning bolt scar."

Harry's eyes widened in realization of who the man in front of him was, "Tom Riddle."

"That's right Harry," Tom remarked as he stared at the wand pointed at his face point-blank, and look Harry in the eyes and said, "I know that you have know you have no reason to trust me, not after the pain that he put you through. I might be Slytherin's Heir, but remember, first and foremost I am the Vampire Slayer, duty bound as a warrior for the people, and as long as I live, Voldie won't be able to get his hands on you, not if I have my way."

A look of understanding swept across Harry's face as he lowered his wand, "Besides, Dumbledore wouldn't have let you in here if you were a danger."

"That's right," Tom said, "But rest assured, you don't have to worry about me for now. I'm goin' to take off and track down my Watcher. Knowing Rupert, he's in a heap of trouble right about now and needs my help, desperately. He's going to freak when he sees me fourteen again."

"Will I see you soon?" asked Harry.

"Oh yeah," Tom replied, "You'll be seeing a lot of me, especially since we should be sharing a few classes next term."

With a smile, Tom walked out, leaving Harry to watch him leave.

SUNNYDALE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

It was a big day in the museum's history, a few days earlier, a constuction site dug up a rectangular chunk of rock and transferred it to the museum. A technician carefully cleaned off the artifact using a jet of compressed air to blow away the dust along the rock. Dr. Doug Perren, one of the curators, who was interested in the artifact, checked on the technician's progress.

"Careful, now," Doug said to the technician as he pointed out a place on the stone, "Concentrate on this area. There you go."

Then the door opened behind him to reveal Giles saying, "Hello."

"Rupert Giles?" Doug asked as he went to greet Giles.

"Yes."

"Doug Perren," Doug introduced himself as he shook Giles' hand, "Thanks for coming."

Giles replies with, "Oh, not at all. It's...flattered to be asked."

"I spoke with Lou Tabor at the Washington Institute," Doug commented, "And he told me we had the best authority on obscure relics right here in Sunnydale."

"Oh..." Giles laughed a little, "He may have, uh, exaggerated a little."

Now Giles saw the large obelisk in the center of the room, "Ah, is this the..."

"This is our baby," Doug said as they both approached it, "Construction workers dug it up outside of town. Don't have a clue what it is. Any ideas?"

"A few. None I'd care to share until I can verify," Giles said as he touched and inspected the runes on the rock, "You have, uh, carbon dated it?"

"The results'll be back in a couple of days," Doug replied, "I'll go out on a limb and say old."

"Yes, it certainly predates any, uh..." Giles said as he picks up a jar and scraper, "settlements we've read about. Um, may, may I?"

"Yeah. Sure."

Giles leant in and began to scrape at the corner of the obelisk, catching the debris in the jar. He kept scratching until he found an apparent groove in the stone. A few scrapes later, he stopped and tapped the scraper clean on the jar.

"I assume you've, uh, you haven't tried to open it," Giles remarked.

"Open it?" Doug asked as he leant over to see what Giles discovered, "Ah, I'll be damned. I figured it was solid. What do you think is in there?"

Giles stared intently at the groove and said, "I don't know."

"Well...I guess we won't know until we open it up," Doug responed.

Giles considered this for a moment and said, "Yes, but could I ask, um...would you wait? I, uh...I'd like to work on translating the text. It-it-it might give us an indication of...what we'll find inside."

Doug asked, "You don't want to be surprised."

"A-as a rule, no."

"Alright. You're the expert," Doug replied, "But I'm pretty damn curious, though."

Giles removed his glasses and said, "Yes. Yes, so am I."

ANGELUS' MANSION

Drusilla gracefully walked down the stairs to the garden below, where Spike was sitting in his wheelchair, pretending to still be injured and silently reading the newspaper.

"Nice walk, pet?" Spike asked as he noticed his sire had entered the room.

"I met an old man. Didn't like him. He got stuck in my teeth," Drusilla held her stomach as though she was sick, and then turned to Spike with her eyes closed and her head leant back, "But then the moon started whispering to me...All sorts of dreadful things."

Angelus walked into the garden behind Spike and asked, "Well, what did it say?"

"Oh. Look who's awake," Spike remarked.

Angelus bumped Spike's head with his fist as he walked past him.

"What did the moon tell you?" Angelus asked as he walked around Dru, "Did you have a vision? Is something coming?"

"Oh yeah," Drusilla whispered, "Something terrible. Psst, psst, psst..."

"Where?" Angelus asked.

"At the museum. A tomb..." Drusilla said with a toothy smile, "with a surprise inside."

Angelus held up a hand to Dru's head and asked, "You can see that all in your head?"

"No, you ninny. She read it in the morning paper," Spike remarked dryly as he handed over the newspaper.

The headline of the Sunnydale Press read, "Mysterious Obelisk Unearthed: Excavators Discover Ancient Artifact."

"That's what's been whispering to me," Drusilla said in a small voice.

"Oh, yeah. Don't worry though. Soon it'll stop," Angelus said to Dru, then turned his head to Spike, "Soon it'll scream."

Angelus throws a smile to Spike while Drusilla waves her head around open-mouthed and playfully snaps at Angelus' cheek.