Good while ago I read through a collection of shelved Buffy: TVS ideas by a fic writer named Diresquirrel. I really liked his ideas and, after rereading a few of them, I came up with the basics for my own version of Diresquirrel's little crossover idea of Harry Potter grows up to become Rupert Giles.

Few little things to sort out before going any further;

I'm changing the date of Harry's birth from 31 July 1980 to 31 July 1954. As a side effect the events of the books move from 1991-1998 to 1965-1972 (I'll leave the rest of the date adjustments to anyone who wants to work it out themselves).

This story runs as close to canon as the date changes allows [ie certain references or terms of phrase would have changed] up to and including the death of Voldemort at Hogwarts but diverts away from canon after the wizard's fall but well before the Epilogue. What changes will be covered in the first half of the chapter.

In relation to magic, particularly the differences between HP magic [henceforth referred to as 'human magic'] and Buffyverse magic [to be called 'demon magic'], human magic is completely safe and has no addictive or mind altering effects on the castor {even the real dark stuff like what Riddle tossed around doesn't eat away at sanity unless that is a side-effect of a ritual performed in exchange for something} while demon magic can be addictive and result in self-destructive actions {tolerance to and side-effects of addictions vary from person to person like with actual drugs}… This serves to explain Harry/Giles' actions during his 'Ripper' phase as well as why Willow could more or less go all the way through seasons 3,4 and 5 before the 'magic as drugs' effects kicked in.

Read, Review, let me know what works and what works not.

Harry Potter Belongs To J.K. Rowling

Buffy:TVS Belongs To Mutant Enemy Productions

Special Thanks To Diresquirrel for allowing me to take and adapt his idea.

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Highgate Cemetery; London, United Kingdom (1972)

Eighteen year old Harry Potter, the vanquisher of Voldemort and currently Auror-In-Training, Apparated to the cemetery entrance alongside Auror Williamson. The pair had been dispatched to investigate rumours of vampire attacks. In the past vampires had been protected by paragraph twelve of Guidelines for the Treatment of Non-Wizard Part-Humans, a document that had been written when vampire attacks on muggles wasn't even worth considering. That loophole had allowed the hedonistic, conscienceless minor demons to pray on the muggles with impunity for decades. A state of affairs that would have continued had acting Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt not used the, mostly false, sense of outrage and shame over the Ministry's treatment of muggles and muggleborns during Voldemort's control to enact nearly sixty Bills reforming or adjusting laws in relation to those not gifted with magic.

That was why Harry and Williamson were there. Evidence of vampire attacks on late night mourners that the Department of Magical Law Enforcement had discovered through their links with muggle police provided sufficient evidence to warrant investigation. Both wore muggle clothing, although Harry blended in better, and set off into the cemetery. Harry took the northern side of the cemetery, Williamson the south, and they slowly strolled about. Harry found them first; four school kids, around his age if not a little bit younger, armed with wooden stakes and crucifixes . Seems some muggles had read one to many serials and decided to investigate the rumours themselves.

The vampire, whose back was to Harry, had already killed three and was advancing on the final girl with clear intentions. Cursing as he drew his wand, Harry launched a tracer into the air to attract Williamson and rushed forward. It took three direct hits from his stunners on the vampire for Harry to realise something was very wrong. Vampires had some level of magical resistance but three powerful stunners should have downed it and this thing didn't even seem to notice the spells.

"Get away from her!" Harry bellowed as he tried a different spell and got some reaction this time. The Banishing Spell knocked the target forward into a large tombstone and away from the terrified girl. Looking to the girl Harry began shouting for her to run.

"B…But it… It was meant to be a vampire…" The girl just whimpered softly as she looked from one dead school mate to another. As her eyes fell on her last friend's corpse the whimpers turned to screams. "IT WAS ONLY MEANT TO BE A VAMPIRE!"

"Meant to be…?" Harry asked before the thing righted itself and turned, revealing it couldn't have passed for a vampire if it tried. Vampires when not disguised as normal humans tended to had distorted faces baring pronounced brow ridges and more fang-like teeth. They also had yellowish, animal like eyes.

This thing had none of them. Dull grey skin covered a nightmarish insectoid head, a long proboscis instead of a nose and mouth. It raised its hands, each finger tipped with massive needle-like claws and let out a hissing challenge before charging.

"Incendio!" A voice called from the side as Williamson finally arrived.

The creature's coat ignited and engulfed the monster is a roaring fireball, but didn't halt it as the thing loomed down on the shocked Harry.

XX No. 2 The Grigori Apartments; Sunnydale California (1996) XX

… With You To The Hard Land Of The Winter. Her Name Is Aphrodite And She Rides A Crimson Shell, And You Know You Cannot Leave Her For You Touched The Distant Sands. With Tales Of Brave Ulysses, How His Naked Ears Were Tortured…

Rupert Giles groaned as his alarm clock kicked in and began playing the local Classic Rock station. Rubbing at his eyes and then patting his bedside locker for his glasses the forty-something year old checked the time and wondered why he'd set the alarm for so early… Oh right, first day of term.

"Whoever thought it a brilliant idea to stick a school over the Hellmouth should be shot." Giles muttered as he tapped the OFF button and get out of bed. The Watcher's Council had decided he would be taking over from Jonathan Rabbit, the man they had placed in Sunnydale overseeing the Hellmouth for years, not long ago and paid for him to be sent out. Even arranged for him to get the recently vacated position of librarian, werewolf attack if what Rabbit had said was correct… Mostly to keep him out of the way.

Rupert Giles may have been one of their best researchers and a leading expert on many magical fields, but he was also a recovering magic addict and former demon summoner… Add those last two to the fact he wasn't from any of the old 'Watcher bloodlines', in actuality coming from a society the Watcher's Council had strained dealings with at the best of times, and it was a miracle he was trusted with anything at all. That he'd once punched Travers while both had been in training most likely didn't help much either.

Stepping in under the steaming hot water of the shower fixture the old bathtub came with Giles let the hot water wash away the knot of tension his dreams, memories, had dragged up. As he wiped the mirror of condensation following his shower, Giles took stock. Messy black hair that thankfully was partly manageable these days, check. Deep and intense jade coloured eyes, lacking the life and lustre they had held in his youth but check. Scar marring his forehead, mostly hidden by time and wrinkles but still there… The tattoo that cost him a dear friend, always a reminder.

Selecting a brown tweed suit, often called his signature back in London and the result of a bet from his training days, Giles dressed for his first day and set off. His 1963 Citroën DS certainly stood out as he crossed the town and pulled into the staff car park of Sunnydale High School. Retrieving his briefcase from the backseat Giles locked the car and turned, only to all but bump into a short bespectacled man.

"Oh eh, pardon me." Giles said as the man stumbled back. "I, eh, didn't see you there."

" No, no. My fault." The man other man said kindly before expending his hand. "Going by your accent, I take it you're our now Librarian? A Mr. Guyles, correct?"

"Giles, the 'G' is pronounced as if it were a 'J'." Giles corrected as he adjusted his grip on the briefcase to shake hands. "And you might be…?"

"Ah, Robert Flutie. The principal here at Sunnydale High." The man boasted proudly as he released Giles' hand to gesture at the school behind them. "We spoke on the phone, about a week ago."

"A Principal Flutie. Yes, yes I'm sorry. Bad phone connection when we spoke, didn't recognise your voice." Giles backtracked and covered, wouldn't do for Flutie to realise it was an entirely different man who had conducted the phone interview. "So very good to speak face to face."

"Yes, yes it is. And call me Bob." Flutie smiled as he set off for the school, beckoning for Giles to follow. "Well come on, I can give you a quick tour before the students arrive. I'm sure you're very anxious to see where you'll be working."

"Please." Giles said, pumping as much fake cheer as he could into his words.

XX Sunnydale High Library; Sunnydale, California (Three Months Later) XX

Rupert Giles; British expat, somewhat respected Watcher and none-practising wizard was almost positive he could have every single book in the library replaced with the unabridged and uncensored works of the Marquis de Sade and not one student in the entire school would notice. Madam Pince would have loved it. The library proved so underused Giles had taken to storing all the reference books and mystical guides he didn't have space for in his apartment over in the mostly empty book cage.

Sitting in his small office and brewing a pot of tea Giles' phone began to ring, breaking the mind numbing monotony of working in the library. Setting aside his copy of the Book of Kelsor, it had some very in-depth research on the Lorophage Demons that Giles was determined to commit to memory, and picking up the receiver he was shocked to hear Quentin Travers of all people on the other line.

"Ahh Giles, good that I caught you." The current head of the Watcher's Council said. "You remember Merrick, died there in L.A there a while back."

"Merrick… Merrick… Oh Merrick, yes." Giles went on before remembering just who they were talking about. "Killed by Lothos… Wasn't he the Watcher assigned to the current Slayer at the time?"

"Indeed." Travers said as if the death of a fellow Watcher had absolutely no impact on him. "Well after his death the Slayer managed to kill Lothos, a large number of his followers as well actually."

"From what I'd heard of the man, Merrick was a gruff but effective Watcher… The girl's success is evidence of that." Giles said before deciding to cut the pleasant chat to a close. "Now… Why have you called me Quentin? I doubt it was to reminisce about a Watcher neither of us ever met in person."

"Your right, I called about the Slayer." Travers told him. "After she killed Lothos and his vampires by setting her school's gymnasium on fire, the girl justified it by saying vampires where inside."

"Oh dear… Really?" Giles groaned, using his free hand to remove his glasses and then pinch the bridge of his nose. Nothing good had ever come from honesty when Slayers happened to be involved.

"The Slayer was taken in for 'psychological evaluation'." The words came out with such venom Giles could swear the only justification was that they had killed Travers' entire family. "The parents are divorcing and the mother is moving to, of all places, Sunnydale… Congratulations Mr. Giles, you are now the Slayer's Watcher!"

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I originally had a completely different idea for this pitch, with it following Harry as he went from Auror-In-Training to Ripper but a few things happened during the writing… 1) I realised that showing bits and pieces here and there while using the flashbacks to flush Giles' past out over time would seem closer to the source. 2) Almost the second I started writing this my mind skipped a beat and all I could think of is the DMC Devil May Cry crossover idea I did a scene for a while back [seriously, I've gone from clichéd Harry gets powers and curbstomps everyone to detailed and interesting plot that has several subplots and interesting developments for many characters].

The Highgate Vampire mistake, the Lorophage Demon [bug thing Harry fought] and kids killed by it all are taken from the Daddy Issues storyline of the Angel & Faith comic series. Those events occurred in flashbacks to Giles' time as a trainee Watcher. How this encounter shapes Harry's life, leads to trouble and split between himself & Ginny, him leaving the Magical World and finally meeting Ethan Rayne to be revealed.

I'm dyslexic, so please point out any mistakes in the spelling or grammar [I use the Irish/English spelling structure, so some may look off to Americans]. Please leave opinions and comments via review or PM, I can't improve without feedback. Well, that's everything I've got to say… Thanks for reading.

PS: Anyone else having a problem where they upload a file to the site and have the formatting changed? Or is that just me?

PPS: Wanna thank Diresquirrel again for letting me adapt his idea and recommend you go look at his stuff if you aren't already.

Highvalour saying thanks for reading.