Chapter 7

"So, I hear you had to be kinda rescued," Dawn said to Harry the next afternoon when they were, yet again, cleaning. In the breaks for snacks and meals Hermione had been hauling her off to teach her about magical theory, and Dawn didn't get much of a chance to talk to anyone else. And she kind of wanted to get to know the only dark-haired boy in the house. Now, Dawn had nothing against redheads whatsoever, but she found something oddly alluring about Harry Potter, and she wanted to figure out what it was.

"I don't see how that's any of your business," Harry said coolly. Dawn's shoulders drooped a little; he must still be a little sore about her calling him a "hormone bomb".

"If it makes you feel better, Buffy's had to save my ass loads of times," Dawn said. "There's kind of a joke – I got kidnapped so much my sister once said 'Dawn's in trouble. Must be Tuesday'."

"Why are you telling me this?" Harry asked, turning his attention away from the window he was scrubbing and focusing on Dawn.

"It's kind of my way of apologizing for calling you a hormone bomb," Dawn replied, chewing on her lip and looking at Harry hopefully. "Look, I'm not saying I agree with what you did, because I don't, but I shouldn't have been such a huge bitch about it. Forgive me?"

"You were right, we shouldn't have been listening in the first place," Harry said, scuffing his feet. "Sorry, I'm paranoid. You would be too, if nearly every new person introduced ended up being out to get you."

"Hello, sister of the vampire slayer and lived on a hellmouth," Dawn said, rolling her eyes. "If anyone knows anything about having people gunning for you, it's me."

"Oh yeah? What's the worst you've had come after you, a demented vampire?" Harry asked, eyebrows raised.

"Well, there was that one time my sister's crazy psycho boyfriend kidnapped me," Dawn replied, trailing off thoughtfully. "But no, vampires are so common they're practically cliché. The worst thing to come after me was probably the Hell Goddess who wanted to use me to get back to her home world."

"How was she going to do that?" Harry asked. Both teenagers were aware of the fact that they were being watched by the Weasleys and Hermione, but Harry was beyond caring. He'd field the questions later – well, maybe not, if their wariness was any indication of how they were going to treat it – but right now he was getting to know Dawn, who, when she wasn't chewing him out for eavesdropping, was actually quite charming.

"My blood opens portals," Dawn replied with a shrug. She was sure Buffy was going to lecture her if she ever found out that Dawn was telling Harry these things, but like Buffy had said, honesty was the best policy if she wanted to gain their trust. "Well, it used to. Not so much anymore. Just regular, California girl now. So, do you have anything worse than a Hell Goddess wanting to use your blood to get home to her hell dimension?"

"Does a crazy, power-hungry half snake, half human count?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Might come close," Dawn replied with a grin. She chanced a glance over at the other teenagers, who had ceased cleaning and were obviously watching them. She leaned in and stage whispered to Harry. "You know, I think we're being watched."

"I'm well aware," Harry replied. He, too, glanced over at the Weasleys and Hermione, and as soon as they realized they had been spotted they hurriedly went back to scrubbing and spraying, causing Dawn and Harry to dissolve into silent giggles.

Meanwhile, in a completely different area of the house, Buffy was exploring a little. Oh, she was cleaning on her way, but she was trying to get the layout of the house while she was doing it. She ended up in a large drawing room with one of the largest and most intricate tapestries she'd seen outside of Hogwarts. Upon closer inspection, she realized that it was a family tree. Emblazoned across the top in stitched script was the title "The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black – Toujours pur". She saw many names she recognized, and while she knew the purebloods were all interrelated somehow, it was amazing to see just how they were interconnected.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Sirius asked from behind Buffy, startling her. She jumped and whirled around, levelling him with a glare.

"Don't do that," she said, pointing her finger at him. Had she known him better, she probably would have poked him in the chest. "You're just lucky we weren't in a cemetery, otherwise you might end up with more than just a finger pointed at you."

"Good to know," Sirius said with a smile. He gestured to the tapestry Buffy was standing in front of. "But it is amazing, isn't it? How interconnected we all are?"

"Yeah," Buffy replied, looking up. She saw a lot of names she recognized, including people she had gone to school with. It was strange, seeing how they all fit together.

"This one is by no means complete," Sirius remarked, coming up to stand next to Buffy. "Every time the family produced someone half decent, my mum would blast them off the tapestry. See, look, Tonks isn't even on here because her mum married a Muggle born."

Buffy looked at where he was pointing, a charred hole with the name Andromeda Black barely visible through the char. On either side of her were Bellatrix Black and Narcissa Black, who had a gold thread connecting her to Lucius Malfoy.

"So you're from one of those pureblood families who think magic should be kept in magical families," Buffy remarked.

"Unfortunately," Sirius replied with a grimace. "Don't worry, I'm not like that. Obviously."

"Obviously," Buffy echoed.

"So, do you see anyone you recognize?" Sirius asked after a few moments of silence.

"A few," Buffy replied, her gaze falling on Abraxas Malfoy. As Dumbledore had informed her, his date of death, neatly stitched into the fabric, was some ten years prior. "The asshole who tossed me into that portal, for one. Abraxas Malfoy."

"Lucius Malfoy's father?" Sirius asked.

"Looks like it," Buffy replied.

"Are you angry with him?" Sirius asked.

"Yes and no," Buffy replied. She turned away from the tapestry and her full attention to Sirius. "I mean, I'm angry that he took me away from the life I was building at Hogwarts and the potential families I could have had, but the only reason why I had to build a life at Hogwarts and get adopted into another family was because Dumbledore said that there was no way to send me back. While yes, I wish I could kick him in the shins and throw a couple of curses his way, I'm also grateful that I got to go back, see my mom before she died and watch my sister grow up. And hey, now I'm young enough to help with the actual ass kicking, instead of telling other people how to kick ass."

"There is that," Sirius said. "Is it strange, being back?"

"You have no idea," Buffy replied. "All of my friends are old, everything's different. Part of me kind of wishes Dumbledore hadn't come to find me, but a larger part of me doesn't want to let this world go now that I'm a part of it again. All I have to do now is find my place in it again."

"Well, good luck with that," Sirius said. "The Order will always be here for you."

"That's what I'm hoping," Buffy replied. There was a noise at the door, and both Buffy and Sirius turned to see Harry and Dawn standing at the door, watching them.

"We weren't listening in, we swear!" Harry exclaimed immediately, once he saw who Sirius was talking to. Buffy smiled; she could tell Harry wasn't a bad kid, even though she'd only known him a few days. She hoped that his friends would keep him from going completely crazy and sacrificial, like her friends had.

"It's okay, it wasn't like we were having some deep, meaningful, super-secret meeting," Buffy replied with a shrug. "What's up?"

"Well, Dawn wanted to escape from Hermione and I just wanted to get away from the cleaning," Harry replied.

"Seriously, Dawn, you need to learn this stuff," Buffy said.

"Hey, look at you, with the studying and everything," Dawn said, poking her sister on the shoulder.

"Hey, I went to college," Buffy replied. "Did pretty well, too, until Mom got sick. I was actually considering going back, before Dumbledore came a'calling. Giles said he'd be able to get me at least a partial scholarship."

"Come on Harry, let's leave them to it," Sirius said, guiding Harry towards the tapestry to explain the familial connections he had with nearly everyone in the wizarding world. Taking the hint, Dawn grabbed Buffy by the arm and dragged her bodily from the room, leaving the wizards to do their thing.

"Please don't tell me you were doing your flirt thing with Harry's godfather," Dawn said when they were out of earshot.

"Wait, what?" Buffy asked, her head whipping around in surprise to see her sister's expectant expression. "No. No, no, no. Definitely no flirtage there. Just talking. Besides, he's old."

"This coming from the girl who used to date vampires," Dawn said with a roll of her eyes.

"Shut up, that was different," Buffy retorted.

"Oh yeah, how?" Dawn asked.

"Well, they didn't look their age," Buffy replied.

"That's the reason you're going for?" Dawn asked.

"Yep," Buffy replied.

"You sure?" Dawn asked.

"Yep," Buffy replied again.

"So, when are we going to Augusta's for dinner?" Dawn asked, curious.

"No idea, why?" Buffy replied.

"No reason, although I kinda wanna see what'll happen if you don't set this up soon," Dawn said with a grin. "She'll probably be able to track you down, no problem. She seems to be the kind of person to be able to do that. And then hey, I'll get to see her smack you with her handbag again!"

"As soon as we get the owl from Dumbledore, I'll send something off," Buffy replied, rolling her eyes. The things her sister puts her through, honestly.

"What?" Dawn asked. "It's not very often I get to see someone get the better of you."

"Cause, you know, that's something I want to hear from my baby sister," Buffy said with a snort.

"Who are you calling baby, shorty?" Dawn asked.

"Anyway," Buffy said, trying to find something that would change the subject and change it fast. "I noticed that you're getting all buddy-buddy with Mr. Potter there. Something you want to tell me?"

"Nope," Dawn replied. Buffy arched an eyebrow at her. "What? There's nothing! He just looked like he needed someone who didn't know his life story to, you know, talk to him."

"Fair enough," Buffy replied. "Is Hermione really that bad about the studying?"

"A bit," Dawn replied. "But I just wanted to talk to Harry. You know, he's kind of funny when he's not being a hormonal asshat."

"And you're hoping that, with you around, he'll stop being an asshat?" Buffy asked.

"One can only hope," Dawn said as someone appeared on one of the upper landings, the noise drawing the attention of both of the Summers sisters.

"There you are!" Hermione exclaimed. "I was wondering where you had gotten to. Come on, I want to show you some of the things we've been learning in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Maybe we could compare some of the creatures with some of the things your sister has dealt with!"

"Buffy, save me, please," Dawn hissed, pleading with her sister.

"No way," Buffy replied as Hermione hurried down the stairs as quietly as she could so that she wouldn't wake up Mrs. Black. "I had to deal with it, and so do you. Quentin practically vibrated when he found something he wanted to learn more about."

"And that's kind of ick," Dawn said, wrinkling her nose as Hermione reached them, her arms loaded with books. "Here, let me take some of those."

"Thank you," Hermione said, once half of her load was gone. "Come on, I think there's room in the kitchen to do this. Don't worry about Mrs. Weasley, she's giving the rest of us the afternoon off to study or, in the case of the twins, create more of those ridiculous trick items. I can only imagine what they would be able to do if they focused their attention on something useful and constructive."

It was very clear to anyone within hearing range that Hermione did not approve of the twins' endeavours, no matter how creative or clever they were

"Don't knock the prank items," Dawn said as she followed Hermione into the kitchen. "Some of the best things to come out of the apocalypses are the jokes."

Buffy just snorted in amusement before she turned and headed back up the stairs to her room. When she got there, a handsome brown horned owl was perched on her headboard, staring at her with large, lamplike eyes. There was a letter tied to its leg, and as she approached the animal it held its leg out so that she could have easier access to the rolled up piece of parchment there. Buffy furrowed her brow when the owl didn't fly off again, but supposed that he was waiting for a response as she sat down on her bed and tore through the wax seal, the Hogwarts crest.

Dear Miss Summers,

This is Mercury, one of our school owls. He will be at your service for at least the rest of the summer. I hope that you are considering my offer of employment. To help you with your decision making, I have taken the liberty of compiling a list of duties you may encounter and some suggested topics to go over.

I hope to hear from you soon. If you have any questions, please send Mercury along and I'll seend a response posthaste.

Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster

Attached to the letter, in Dumbledore's familiar script, was a comprehensive list of what she could expect as a teacher, what she could start off with - the basics, vampires, demons and the like. As she read over the list, she realized that Dumbledore was trying to make this transition as easy as possible for her, as he had done when she had first started at Hogwarts. Smiling a little to herself, she grabbed a pen and a pad of paper from her luggage and composed a reply to him, wondering how amused he'd be by the fact that she had used a ballpoint pen and lined paper instead of quill and parchment.

Before she sent Mercury off to Hogwarts, Buffy had one more short note to write, and she hoped that the owl would be able to deliver them in one go. She scribbled a short note for Augusta, asking that, instead of meeting for dinner, they meet for lunch instead, as she still needed to go shopping for Dawn's school supplies. She said that any time was fine for her and Dawn, and that if Neville wanted to come he was more than welcome.

"Mercury, here boy," Buffy said, and the owl fluttered down so that he was next to Buffy. She folded up Dumbledore's letter and wrote his name on it before she tied it to his left leg. Although she felt a little ridiculous doing this, she had been told, numerous times, that wizarding owls were exceptionally intelligent and would be able to find any recipient and follow directions to the letter. "This one is for Dumbledore at Hogwarts. I don't need a response from him. This next one is for Augusta Longbottom. I need you to stick around until she has a reply for me."

She folded up Augusta's letter and wrote her name on it, much like Dumbledore's, before tying it to Mercury's right leg. The owl hooted, as if to say "I understand" before fluttering across the room so that he would be at the window. With one great beat of his wings, he flew out the window and into the sunset, disappearing from Buffy's view before too long.

Sighing, wondering if she had made the right decision, Buffy made her way down to the kitchen, wondering what her sister was up to. She found Dawn at the table, seated next to Hermione, a book in between them. Buffy stood at the door, quietly watching her sister study for a few moments.

"It's really hard to concentrate when you're watching me like that," Dawn said, not looking up from her book.

"Sorry," Buffy replied as she crossed the room, sitting across from the younger girls. "What's the what?"

"Dark spells," Dawn replied, gesturing to the book. "Curses, hexes and all manner of nasty things. Some of this stuff could give Willow's magic a run for its money."

"Don't let her hear you say that," Buffy said, looking around in mock paranoia.

"I'm actually glad you're here, Miss Summers," Hermione said, looking at her from over her book. "I have a few questions for you, if you don't mind. I trust our previous arrangement is still acceptable?"

"Wha-?" Buffy asked, before remembering what she had said. "Oh yeah, sure. Ask and you may get answers."

"Did you really attend Hogwarts in 1943?" Hermione asked.

"Trust me, if I was going to lie about something like that, I'd make it a lot more believable," Buffy replied with a snort.

"But how did you get there?" Hermione asked. "I mean, I know you said you were sent back in time because a portal backfired, I guess you could say, but do you have any idea how unstable portal travel is?"

"I have some idea," Buffy replied. "Professor Dumbledore refused to try to send me back to my own time because he would have to use a portal. He'd rather keep me alive and in 1943 instead of trying to send me home and run the risk of killing me. Not entirely sure if Professor Dippet agreed with him - he never really seeemed to like me, but I like to think there was some kind of human soul in him."

"What makes you think he was inhuman?" Hermione asked.

"He sided with Tom Riddle instead of the other not evil people," Buffy replied with a shrug. "And we all know how Tom Riddle turned out, don't we?"

"He could have been easily manipulated," Hermione defended. Buffy was certain that Hermione was one of those girls who would not hear an ill word about the faculty, no matter how stupid or corrupt a teacher was. She shuddered at the thought of how the girl would react if she found out how they had gotten rid of the Mayor.

"I guess that could be true," Buffy replied.

"So, you went to school with Professor McGonagall?" Hermione asked, curious.

"I did," Buffy replied, wondering where this line of questioning was going. She knew Professor McGonagall was the Head of Gryffindor House, but she wasn't entirely sure how close she was to her students.

"What was she like?" Hermione asked.

"Serious, a little intense," Buffy replied. "Hell of a Quidditch player, from what I got see in practices, but since she was a reserve I didn't get to see her play in the games. Good student, fair when it came to taking points and giving out detentions. One of my best friends and she would have made a hell of a big sister if I'd stayed around long enough. Although Terrence Longbottom was apparently convinced I'd be Buffy Longbottom before I started my seventh year."

"You knew Neville's grandparents?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," Buffy replied. She was sure she had given this information out the previous evening, but maybe she hadn't given out this much detail. "Terrence pretty much acted like a big brother from the get-go and Augusta was one of my best friends. Speaking of, Dawn, I asked Augusta to meet us for lunch some time this week. I'm just waiting for a when from her. Maybe we could pick up your school stuff while we're out?"

"Sounds good," Dawn said with a nod.

"So, you would have been Neville's great aunt Buffy?" Hermione asked, a hint of a smile on her face.

"Who knows?" Buffy asked. She was beginning to get a little uncomfortable about the direction this conversation was going. It hurt, a little bit, to talk about what might have been, what could have been if Abraxas Malfoy hadn't decided she needed to go. She'd thought she'd put Hogwarts behind her when she had returned to Sunnydale, thought she'd never see the castle or the wizarding world again. "The only way to know is to go back in time, and I'd rather not."

"Hey Hermione, how about you tell me all of the stuff you helped Harry learn last year?" Dawn asked, bringing the conversation back to schoolwork. Buffy could have kissed her sister then, for being able to tell that she was becoming monumentally uncomfortable with the personal interrogation. Any more questions, and she would have put a stop to it, but she was saved from having to deal with the disappointed look she was sure to get by Dawn changing the subject before Buffy had to resort to refusing to answer the questions Hermione asked.

"Oh, you mean for the TriWizard Tournament?" Hermione asked, and she was away again, in lecture mode, reminding Buffy of an odd combination of Willow and Giles, a pang of something stabbing through her heart when she her thoughts focused on the redheaded witch. While not precisely fighting, they hadn't spoken in weeks, mostly due to wacky timezones and spotty communication channels, considering she was in South America. Xander was no better, gallivanting across Africa, searching for Slayers.

Buffy listened carefully to what Hermione was telling Dawn, fascinated at how three fourteen year olds had learned spells and techniques to get through a gauntlet of tasks. These same skills had served Harry in keeping him alive in a duel against Lord Voldemort. While she hadn't seen Tom duel at school, nor had she seen his abilities in Defence Against the Dark Arts because he was in a different class, she had heard that he was excellent at the subject, helping her with her homework when they were taking a break from their Potions tutoring. She knew that, being evil, he didn't play fair, and was impressed that Harry was able to get out relatively unscathed, physically anyway.

Buffy decided that it was time for her to start asking questions. To start, she'd track down Harry and get some answers out of him, as long as he was willing to give them.

XOXOXO

Woohoo, Chapter 7 is here! For those of you wondering why I'm not updating Sunnydale Shinigami, that's because I'd like to get this story caught up to Sunnydale before I start updating that one again. I do have several chapters finished on that one, so updates will be coming weekly when I do start updating again.

An additional note: My computer has been a bit of a PITA these last few days, so I'm not entirely sure when I'll be able to update the next chapter. Here's hoping this will tide you over, eh?