Chapter 10- "I had too much to dream last night"
Song title from The Electric Prunes. All rights to Harry Potter and Buffy belong to other people than me. I own nothing but the children, who are figments of my imagination.
It was the ugliest monster she had ever seen, not that she had seen many monsters, but this was the ugliest. Blood was dripping from his mouth and claws and he was fast approaching her. She needed her sister, so she thought out to her but received no response. She started to panic, her sister never failed to respond to her call. She called out again, still nothing. She decided to run past the monster rather than away from it. It wouldn't expect that. Then maybe she could get away to find her sister and get some help to kill the monster. She rushed forward taking the beast unprepared and made her way past it. Now if she could just find her sister, then everything would be okay. She was running hard now and stitch started in her side. She ignored it and kept running until she saw something small lying on the ground in front of her. As she drew closer, she recognized the shape. It was her sister. No movement was coming from her and she was covered in blood. Emily screamed until she felt someone shaking her and calling out her name.
"Em, you need to stop screaming. You'll wake Daddy"
Emily shot up from her bed and grabbed onto her sister hugging her hard. "Oh, Ellie, you're alive."
Eleanor looked at her funny. "Of course I'm alive, you silly goose. Why wouldn't I be alive?"
Emily let go of her sister and shrank back into her bed. "I had the most awful nightmare. Did you have it too?" She asked cautiously, knowing if her sister did, it would come true.
Eleanor shook her head. "No, I was dreaming of riding ponies and begging Daddy to get us one."
Emily sighed in relief, just a regular nightmare then. "Right, sorry to wake you Ellie. It was really, really bad and scary."
Eleanor nodded and yawned. She understood her twin's dilemma. If the dream was shared, it made it real. If not, then just normal stuff that normal people usually dreamed about. "Night, Emily."
Emily let her sister go back to sleep, ashamed to have waken her but still too shaken up to fall back to sleep. She watched the shadows play across the walls of their room, tensing as an unusually large one crossed in front of her bed. She then heard a low meow and relaxed. It was just Sarah's cat, Nostrodamus. She sighed, crawled out of bed, threw on her robe and went to find her father. She was never going to get any sleep in her own bed tonight. She approached his bedroom carefully, not wanting to disturb the rest of the occupants of the house, and found him awake in the room, sitting at the desk correcting papers. "Daddy?" She asked tentatively.
He turned toward the entrance of the bedroom and spotted her. "Yes Sweetheart?"
"I had a really bad nightmare and now I can't fall back to sleep." Emily explained.
He rose from his chair and swept her up into a hug. It made her feel so much better to be in her father's arms. She started to cry from the pent up emotions that came from her nightmare. She explained the dream to him in fits and sobs as he held her even tighter, rubbing small circles on her back until her crying stopped and her breathing evened out until Harry was sure she was asleep again. He tucked her into his bed and let out huge yawn himself. He got ready for bed and soon was asleep in own bed with his young daughter curled up next to him.
The next morning brought a whirl of excitement to the house. Padma went in to wake the twins and found a bed empty. Panicking, she let out yelp, waking the girl in the other bed.
"Morning Nanny Padma, what's wrong?" Eleanor asked her.
"Your sister is missing." Padma replied.
Eleanor yawned and looked over to the empty bed and remembered. "Oh, Em just had a bad dream. She's probably with Daddy."
Padma looked scared remembering the conversation from yesterday. Eleanor noticed her expression and shook her head. "No worries, Nanny Padma. It was just a regular nightmare. I didn't have the same dream."
Padma shook her head confused, "Right then, time to get ready for school. I'll have breakfast and your books waiting for you downstairs. Don't forget you have football practice today after school." The young girl nodded and scurried off toward the bathroom to get ready for school.
Padma exited the room and ran right into Harry. She blushed and looked away, then asked him "Why are you still upstairs? You're usually down in the kitchen reading the Daily Prophet and drinking tea."
Harry nodded "Usually, but not today. I'm working on increasing the wards around the twins' room and the house in general."
Padma looked puzzled, "Is this due to Emily's dream last night? I thought Eleanor said it was just a normal nightmare, nothing to worry about."
Harry raised an eyebrow, "Since when is Eleanor in charge of security around this house?"
"Sorry, Harry, I just thought that if the dream was just a dream, then the girls aren't in anymore danger than they would usually be in." Padma explained.
"Oh, right. Sorry Padma. I'll just go get ready for school then." He said sheepishly, turned and walked back to his room.
Padma shook her head and wondered if this day would get any stranger. After finally getting the girls off to school and Harry back to Hogwarts, she sat down in the kitchen and poured herself a cup of tea. She picked up the paper off the table and started to read it. She must have drifted off because the next thing she heard was the sound of the doorbell ringing. She rose from her chair and looked up at the clock, it was almost noon. She wondered where the morning went to as she walked through the house towards the front door. The doorbell rang again and Padma felt like déjà vu. She yelled that she was coming and muttered dark things about her sister, who she knew was on the other side of the door. She opened the door and saw her sister standing there with a worried expression on her face. "What now, dear sister?"
"Padma, are you alright?" Her sister asked
"Why wouldn't I be alright?"
"Can I come in? I feel better explaining this over a cup of tea." Parvati replied.
Padma sighed and allowed her sister silent entrance to the house. "You're lucky I was just about to go out for a bit of lunch. Now I'll just have Dobby make us something. You can explain your reasons for being here over lunch."
Parvati was relieved that Padma was going to stay indoors. Whatever danger that might befall her would have probably happened outside. In this house, at least her sister was safe. She watched Padma talk to Harry's house elf to order lunch and settled herself in one of the chairs in the kitchen, waiting for lunch.
After lunch, Padma broached the subject of her sister's appearance again. "Tell me again. Why are you here?"
Parvati sighed, "I read it in the cards that you would be in mortal danger today. So I had to come by to see if make sure you were ok."
Padma let out a yawn, quickly covered it and smiled softly at her sister. "I am glad that you care."
Parvati studied her sister closely. She looked tired and worn out in a way she didn't look the day before. "Is everything alright? You're not in mortal danger are you? Harry didn't wake up and decide you were a dark wizard out to harm his children, did he?"
Padma shook her head, "No, nothing like that at all. One of the girls, Emily, had a really bad nightmare last night. To be honest, her scream wasn't what kept me up, but the cat, who kept on nudging me with his head. I didn't even check up on the girl. I felt awful when I went to wake her and she wasn't in her bed. I really feared the worse."
Parvati reached across the table and held her sister's hands. "Padma, you mustn't think you did anything wrong. You are only the nanny, not their mother or father. Still it all goes back to Buffy. That woman apparently lived for monsters. It's a wonder all of the children don't suffer from night terrors." Thinking to change the subject and lift her sister's spirits, she added "Did I ever tell you how I first met her?"
"You mean Buffy? No, you didn't tell me."
"It was just after the engagement was announced in the Daily Prophet. She was pushing her baby in a pram, ogling the shops on Diagon Alley, when that cow Parkinson tried to attack her. I saw her raise her wand and quickly stunned her. Needless to say, Buffy was grateful." Parvati explained.
"Really, Parkinson, did you say? That's ironic, considering that the Harry's boy, Robert, is dating her daughter." Padma said.
Parvati laughed, "Is that so? Does Harry know?"
Padma shook her head "No, he hasn't a clue, or at least he hasn't let on. He did tell me that Robert snogged in front of the entire school in the Great Hall."
"Did Snape take points?" Parvati asked.
"Oddly enough, no. Harry seemed to feel that because the girl is from Slytherin, he was rather loath to take points from his old house." Padma explained.
Parvati sneered "Old hypocrite. He didn't hesitate to take points back when we were in school when he caught Neville and Ginny snogging."
Just then, their quiet conversation was interrupted by the shriek of an alarm and the noise of very loud and profane swearing. Both women quickly rose to their feet, wands drawn and to the ready and moved in unison toward the front door. They were greeted by the sight of a woman, a few years younger than themselves, with dark hair and deep blue eyes swearing up a storm in the hallway. The woman looked up and noticed Padma and Parvati staring at her and swore "Shit! There are two of you. Giles never said there were two of you." She shook her head to clear it. "Which one of you is the Nanny? Never mind, it doesn't matter, we need to get to the school, pronto. B's kids are in danger."
Padma and Parvati looked at the woman with skepticism, wands still pointed at her. Padma finally asked "How do you know this and who are you?"
"Didn't Giles tell you?" The woman sighed. "Fuck. Judging by your faces and the way you're pointing those sticks at me, I guess not. As to how I know that the girls are in danger, I had a dream. As for who I am, here catch." She tossed a small object with deadly accuracy at Padma. She had to drop her wand to catch it with both hands. She looked at it curiously. It was a mobile.
"Buzz Giles, he'll clue you in." The woman told her.
Padma stared at it in puzzlement, trying to remember how to work the thing. An exasperated sigh came from the woman. She quickly walked over to Padma, grabbed the mobile, jabbed a button, waited a second then started to talk.
"Giles, Faith here. Tell Mary Poppins who I am and that B's kids are in danger." She shoved the phone back into Padma's hands and waited.
"He-Hello, Mr. Giles?" She asked hesitantly.
"Ms. Patil, I see Faith has found you. Good. I need you to listen carefully. Go directly to the twins' school and bring them home straight away. What is the spell you use for teleporting again?"
"Apparition?" Padma replied.
"Yes, that's it. You need to apparate with them back to the house." Mr. Giles explained.
"Why? We never do that and actually it is rather dangerous." Padma asked
"The dangers from apparition are less than the dangers that the girls will face if they are attacked by the demons from Faith's dreams."
"Why are Faith's dreams important? Emily had dreams last night and we all discounted them. Why are Faith's dreams different?" Padma laughed then. "You're joking right, just a little prank to play on the Nanny?" But there was no laughter on the other end.
"I assure you Miss Patil, this is no joke. Faith's dreams are relevant because she is a Slayer. Slayers often have prophetic dreams that warn them of attacks. In my experience, I heed what dreams this woman has. Now please hurry, time is of the essence." Silence followed, indicating that Mr. Giles had hung up.
Padma shook her head in disbelief, who would want to attack two little girls? This was all strange to her. She tossed the phone back to Faith. "So apparently I'm supposed to believe you. The girls don't get out of school for another hour."
Faith, grinning like a madwoman, replied "We load up with weapons and head out. We should be waiting for the girls when they get out of school. Oh and we'll have company too."
"Weapons? What kind of weapons?" Padma asked.
"Swords, knives – sharp pointy things." Faith replied. When both twins stared at her in confusion, she sighed. "You don't think those little sticks of you have will do any damage?"
The sisters looked at each other, shrugged and followed Faith to the exercise room, where they watched her as she opened up the weapons cabinet on the wall. Padma started to object. "Aren't those Harry's?"
Faith snorted "Did you ever see Harry pick up an axe or a long sword? These are all B's and she gave me full access." Faith stopped for a minute and stared the wall. "That's odd."
"What?" Padma asked.
"The scythe is missing. I know they never found B's body, but Red should have been able to find scythe with her mojo." Faith replied.
Now Padma was confused. "Who is Red and what did a missing weapon have to do with Buffy?"
"Red is Willow and the missing weapon, lets just say that it's tied to B." Faith explained.
"Does that mean that Buffy's not dead?" Padma asked fearfully. "And if she's not dead, where is she?"
Faith shrugged. "Don't know. For all I know, B could still be dead. But chances are it's just the PTB's playing with her again."
The sisters shuddered at the thought that any one's life could be just a play thing for the gods. "So what now?" Parvati asked. "Do we tell the other and search for her?"
Faith shook her head. "No, tell no one. It's better if they still think she's dead. Hell, for all intents and purposes she probably is dead."
Padma silently agreed. Why give false hope to a family that was just starting to recover from its grief. There was no guarantee that Buffy would return or even could return. She would never do that to Harry. She would not put him through the agony of gaining then losing his wife again. She politely declined the sword offered to her. " I don't know how to use one." But she was surprised when Parvati took one.
"I had lessons." Was all Parvati said.
Faith gave her a sword and chose various weapons for herself. Sufficiently armed, she looked at the two witches and asked "How are the three of us getting to the school?"
Padma smiled, finally something she could do. She pulled out an old teacup and said "Portkey."
Faith stared at the teacup. "How is that going to get me anywhere?"
"By magic!" She replied still smiling. She took out her wand, tapped the cup and pronounced the word "Portus". Then turning to Faith, she said "Now, grab hold of the edge of the teacup and don't let go. Sister, why don't you take the other end"
Parvati nodded, but then noticed something. "This portkey is only big enough for two, how are you getting there?"
"I will apparate after I lock up the house. Now on the count of three: one, two, three." As she spoke the last word, the two women in front of her disappeared from view. Padma collected herself, walked out the door, locking it behind her. After walking past the apparition barrier, checked her surroundings and with a quiet pop followed them by Apparating to the school. She reappeared a half a block from the school in an alley nearby. Parvati and Faith were close by, dusting themselves off and turning to face Padma. Padma took a moment to look over the two women. Faith had a look of a hunter, searching the area, looking for her prey. Her sister, Parvati, was showing her Gryffindor courage, standing with her sword at the ready. Padma sighed approached the school area, waiting for charges to appear and hoping nothing strange or unusual appeared. There was nothing, just a few of the mums of the other kids that she had seen before. Though, there were a couple of the girls that had been at the house a few days before. Were they here to protect the girls too? Did they have the same dream? She turned to Faith, who was following behind her.
"Are you the only one with vision thing?" Padma asked her.
"No. I did say we would have company. I just didn't know who."
Padma nodded to the other girls and waited for school to let out. Time seemed to pass slowly, finally a bell was heard and two small bundles of chattering energy came bounding towards her. They were excited to see her and were eager to tell her about their day.
"We learned loads of stuff today, Nanny Padma." Emily said while grabbing Padma's hand.
"Yeah, loads of …" Eleanor stopped when she noticed the person standing behind Padma. "Em, look, it's Auntie Faith!"
Emily dropped Padma's hand and rushed with her sister to envelope their Auntie Faith in a hug. Faith grinned and hugged the two little girls back.
"Hey munchkins, great to see you two again."
Emily then noticed Nanny Padma's twin and looked back to Nanny Padma "Are we having a tea party?"
Padma hesitated, unsure of what to say and not wishing to frighten the two little girls, replied "Perhaps. We shall see when we get home. Shall we leave now?"
The two girls nodded, each grasping one of Padma's hands, followed her out of the school grounds. It really was a beautiful spring day in London. The sun was shining bright, warming the air around them. Songbirds flitting from tree to tree with their trills and tweets, making Padma relax. She shook her head, monsters, really. Who would want to hurt two little girls? She decided right then and there to walk home with the girls. It was only a half mile from the school to the house, Padma seriously doubted anything could happen to the girls in that time.
But she was wrong. Just as they turned the corner from the school, two rather large creatures, gray in color with a jewel protruding from their foreheads and wielding very sharp swords, descended upon them. The twins screamed in horror, scampering behind Padma, shaking with terror. Padma stood there in shock, clueless as to what to do, not even reaching for her wand. She had never seen anything like this before, luckily for her, Faith shoved her and the twins out of the way before the creatures could attack them. This seemed to give her the impetuous to move. She grabbed the two girls close to her and apparated back to the house. She pulled the twins along with her as she moved quickly into the house, slamming the door behind her and locking it. She then collapsed onto the floor with the two little girls beside her and breathed a sigh of relief.
Except she left her sister back there with those beasts- whatever they were. Panic hit her then. But she can't go back out there and leave the girls alone. She had to think of something else. She was wracking her brain, searching for a clue as to what to due. Then she noticed it. Sitting on the table in the hall was the mobile she used to talk to Mr. Giles before. She leapt towards it, grabbing it off the table and punching the number she remembered Faith punching before they all left for the school. She held the mobile to her ear, listening to the ringing noise and thinking fretfully, answer, answer. After what seemed like forever, a male voice –Mr. Giles, she hoped answered.
"Hello?"
"Mr. Giles?" Not waiting for an answer, she raced on, "You have to help them. It was awful and all my fault. I didn't listen and now and oh…"
"My dear woman, please calm down." Mr. Giles interrupted. "Are the twins there with you?"
"Y-yes, b-but my sister…"
"Is alright. Faith called me a few minutes ago. The demons have been slain and your sister is unharmed. They should be arriving back at the house in a bit."
Padma let out a sigh of relief and regret. Her sister was alright but she failed her charges in a time of crisis. "You must thing I'm awful. You told me and I didn't listen. I-I shall write my resignation and hand it in to Harry today. I put his two little girls in danger, all because I refused to believe."
"You shall do no such thing Miss Patil. The girls are safe aren't they?"
"Yes, but…"
"No buts. It's not as if you grew up with these things. I'm sure if I would have told you an evil magic user was out to get the girls, you would have reacted straight away. Faith and I have a bit of an advantage over you because this is our lives. My ranting must have seemed like that of a madman."
"Well, now that you mention it, it did seem a bit mad. It's just that…"
"I know. Beautiful day, what evil could possibly lurk out there waiting to strike out. Go, look after the girls. I think they might be in need of some comfort now."
Padma nodded and answered, "Yes sir. Goodbye." She closed up the phone, put it back on the table and retreated back into the drawing room where she left the girls. They still had frightened looks on their faces. Padma tried to give them a reassuring smile. "It's alright now girls. Mr. Giles informed me that your Aunt Faith has taken care of the monsters." Relief washed over their faces and their little bodies relaxed. Padma's smile grew broader, "Would you like some hot cocoa? I know it's not too cold out, but I hear that hot cocoa warms the soul." The girls smiled and nodded in unison.
"Right then, back in a few." Padma said as she retreated into the kitchen. She filled the kettle with water and set it to boil. She then reached over to the cabinet and brought down three cups and a tin of cocoa, then dollop out the cocoa into the three cups and waited for the water to boil. She sat down on a chair, blowing a wisp of hair from her face, grateful once again to have survived the day.