With my gaming group i'm currently about to start running a Buffy RPG, while bouncing plot ideas with a different friend we stumbled upon the fact that Buffy and Harry Potter actually line up quite well timeline wise. And while that idea was being joked about i ended up getting a story idea.

I'm mainly posting this up to show that although i haven't been working on Constants and Variables as much as i should, i am still writing. As i upload this i have the current chapter open to continue to add more and i've restarted playing Bioshock to just try and get my mind back on focus.

Chapter 1: Meeting at the park.

He sat on the swing watching the stars above, there was silence at the moment, The Dursley's had to leave town suddenly, Aunt Marge having apparently taken a nasty fall over one of her dogs, breaking a leg. Vernon with little choice but to head off to take care of her, had taken Petunia and Dudley with him, turning it into a holiday for the two while he took looked after his sister. He had been hesitant to leave Harry but with the warning that had come at the beginning of his fifth year, he felt it was the lesser of two evils. So, Harry had the house to himself under the warning of not making a mess or he would 'suffer a fate worse than death.' This coming from a man that was quite successfully going through multiple shades of purple as he continued to rant about different things kind of had less of an impact than he was probably hoping for.

So now he was sat in the park, it was the middle of the night and he knew there was a risk to it, Voldemort being back among other potential problems, but he found he didn't really care. The quiet and the freedom that came with it was relaxing to him. The cool breeze of a summers night causing a slight rustle in the leaves of the trees that surrounded the park. the slight creaking of the broken roundabout as it slowly caught a bit of the wind and shifted. It had long fallen into disrepair after Dudley and his gang had broken it with cricket bats and just general misuse. The climbing frame had been removed after several of the bars had been broken and bent to dangerous situations. He looked over the park again, towards the path that led to his home, the light near the street flickered every now and again, no doubt it was coming to the point that it needed changing.

A rustling in to the side in the grass put him on edge but then he stopped, realising it was probably one of his watchers. His hand drifted to his wand for a moment before he stopped himself, if he got any worse he would be as paranoid as Mad Eye. He lifted his hand up, studying it, looking at the words that had been carved into it over the past year during every detention that he had suffered through at the hands of Umbridge. 'I must not tell lies.' the words were sharp in his skin, barely having faded over the time. Yes, the essence of Murtlap had helped a little bit but the marks were still there, clear as day to anyone that looked at his hand. he shifted his arm, the baggy sleeve of his jumper covering his hand again as he closed his eyes. He sighed, leaning his head to the side, listening to the clicks in his neck. It's probably be time for him to return home soon... he used home in the loosest of terms, but it was his current home. He opened his eyes, taking off his glasses and rubbing at his eyes, he should probably be getting back. He stepped away from the swing, the chain links clinking together at the sudden shift cutting through the silence.

He glanced over at the direction he believed the person watching him was before shrugging and walking away, they wouldn't say anything to him even if he started speaking. He walked off making his way back to the house. behind him a dull thud was heard, he stopped, glancing back but didn't see anything, his hand instinctively going for his wand, he waited for a moment, holding to see if anything happened, muscles tense and he was ready to jump away from any spell that came in his direction, nothing happened so he continued walking, his hand still resting near to where his wand was kept, ready to act. He reached the street, glanced back one more time before dismissing it and continuing to make his way home.

If he had stayed even just a few more moments, perhaps he would have seen just what that thud was, the person who had been watching him was revealed as the cloak slid away, revealing another standing over him, a woman in a white Victorian style dress, black shoulder length hair and a very pale complexion stood, watching the direction Harry had gone, a small trail of blood running down from the side of her mouth onto her chin. She reached up with both hands, removing a glove from one, her hand slowly brushing up the blood she looked at it for a moment before bringing it to her mouth and licking it off slowly before returning the glove to its previous place. She smiled, one that held no comfort too it, one that to any outside looking would probably want to run away as fast as possible. She turned, walking in the opposite direction, swaying as she did as if to some invisible breeze or some music that only she could hear as she walked over to the roundabout, her hand running over the slightly rusted handle, turning it as much as it would, pouting as it didn't move very far.

Harry arrived back home, stopping at the door, his hand resting on the key that sat in the lock as he looked around, it had been quiet on the last bit of the trip, normally even with their attempts to stay hidden he could hear them walking on the pathway, doubly so on the last couple of nights he had been able to pick them out in the silence. He shook his head to dismiss the thoughts, chances were they had just remembered to cast a silencing spell on themselves this time so that they didn't get spotted, after all their main goal was to watch, not be found. He turned the key, pushing open the door, stopping and straining his ears to listen for any kind of movement or breathing or anything. Most of the people here weren't professionals, they were civilians recruited by Dumbledore, they were anything but subtle, assuming that because they were out of sight, they were out of mind. Sure, they knew how to keep quiet, but not to completely remove their presence.

He opened the door, walking in, flicking the lights on to the hallways as he closed the door behind him, locking it just as quickly as he made his way upstairs. He entered his room, walking over to his bed, and sat down, looking at Hedwig who was still on her perch in her cage watching him with curiosity. "I don't Hedwig, I'm getting that feeling something has gone wrong..." Harry muttered, knowing full well his familiar wouldn't be able to give him an answer other than a look. "Do you ever get that feeling that something is going on an you've just walked away from it?" He asked, getting a slight tilt of the head from Hedwig and a small hoot of confusion. "Yeah, I know... stupid question," he said dismissively as he pushed himself back to his feet. "I'll send a note to Dumbledore and then go check it out." He said, though he still didn't hold Dumbledore in that high of a regard, he was still going to respect the fact that he was something that even Voldemort feared. Checking his wand was still secure in its holster as he attached the note to Hedwig, letting her fly out of the window, he turned walking out of his room again, moving down the stairs two at a time and almost crashing into the door as he skidded to a halt. He took a calming breath, there was no need to rush into it like a mad man, he turned the key on the lock and stepped out, pulling the door shut and walking towards the park, he didn't lock it, there was no one around to worry about it being broken into while he was gone, it never happened around here. Not only that, it gave him a quicker way to get back inside instead of stopping, fumbling with keys, and then getting through the door.

"If you're there, just say something so this little bit of paranoia I'm feeling can just go away." Harry said quietly, but with enough volume that another person that should have been following him would hear him. "If I don't get a response, I'm going to assume you're not here." he held up a hand, three fingers lifted, then two, then one and then none as he lowered his hand, drawing his wand as he hit the end of the road. No answer meant no guard, which meant something was wrong. he walked into the darkness that was the park, looking around, eyes scanning the ground where he had believed that the person had been standing guard.

The roundabout creaked, drawing his attention straight to it. A woman in an old-style dress stood, almost oblivious to anything else as her hand ran over the bar that the kids would hold onto. She was humming a tune to herself, Harry stood his wand in his hand as he studied her, trying to decide whether or not she was a threat or not He looked around, checking for other threats and that was when he caught sight of his watcher, half covered by the cloak that they had been hiding under. Throwing caution to the wind he ran over, kneeling down and pressing his hand against their neck trying to find a pulse but only coming away with blood coated fingers. He flinched away, quickly pointing his wand back at the woman he had seen, his hand shaking slightly but a quick calming breath managed to steady his grip. "Who are you?" Harry asked her, taking a few steps forward, she continued to hum, turning the roundabout around as she moved, the metal protesting the movement. Harry frowned, Dudley and his gang had managed to almost wreck that would hardly turn, or it would but only with a lot of effort and yet here she was turning it with little to no issue.

Another step closer, she still didn't pay attention to him. "Who are you?" Harry repeated the question, his eyes tearing away from her to look around at the surrounding area to make sure it wasn't a trap, that others weren't ready to jump out of the bush at him but there wasn't anyone that he could see.

She looked up at him, blue eyes locked with his green and she smiled, her head still swaying to whatever tune she had been humming as her hand slipped away from the metal bar. "Little child of lightning." She said softly, her voice cutting through the otherwise silent night. His breath caught in his throat as she said this, she knew who he was or at least she could see his scar and was making a comment on it... part of his mind screamed at him to cast a spell and run but he pushed it back, she didn't look like she was too much of a threat... though looks can easily be deceptive, he knew that from dealing with Polyjuice Potion in his second year, the angry Veela he had witnessed at the World cup in his fourth year, the Bumbling Professor Lockhart who was actually an expert of Memory Charms. Things could look harmless without actually being so. "They sing and tell stories about you." She said, looking up at the stars. "Child of Lightning, feared by the Dark One." There was no doubt about it, she knew who he was, "he's looking for you, he's tearing heaven and earth apart to make sure you vanish." She said with a small smirk as she looked back at him. A cold chill ran down Harry's spine.

"Where you the one who killed this person?" Harry asked, feeling slightly bad at not properly checking who it was. She pouted, it should have made her look innocent, but it only managed to send another chill down Harry's spine. Something was horribly wrong here, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"I got hungry and she smelled like strawberries." She practically whispered, Harry only just catching on to what she said.

"Hungry?" He whispered in surprise and horror, glancing back down at the body. the blood on the neck, no other sign of a mark... he should know what that meant. He looked back at her, she had moved in that split second and almost half the distance between them had been covered. "Don't move." Harry said back pedalling slightly. Was it panic that was stopping him from thinking? If she made another move, he'd defend himself.

"She didn't taste like she smelt though, she tasted like champagne, it made my nose tickle." She explained, with a slight scrunch of her nose.

'Keep her talking Harry, it shouldn't take too long for Hedwig to get that message to either Dumbledore or someone from the order.' He wracked his brain trying to find a topic to talk about. "So why are you here? there's nothing of interest around here..." He trailed off weakly, he was probably the reason that she was here if he had to hazard a guess, her knowing him meant that had to have been the reason she was here.

"Have you seen my Spike?" She asked and Harry's grip on his wand tightened, was Spike a weapon? a person? another kind of object? He didn't know and to be honest he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to find out.

"No, I haven't." Harry said diplomatically as she looked past him, down towards the way he came. He strained to listen to the area around him, he wasn't going to take his eyes of her when she had managed to close the distance that quickly when he had only taken his eyes from her for a second.

"He's always wandering off, my Spike, such a naughty boy." She said with a growl and Harry took a step backwards, away from her. "But you, you're a good boy, aren't you?" She asked, and Harry frowned, not sure where this was going as she seemed to lose all sense of dreaminess her expression turning serious. "A man surrounded by fools who cannot see his strength, his vision and glory." She said sharply, and Harry was dumbstruck by the comment and the clarity of it. "That... and all the angels that weep around you," her voice trailed back into an almost dreamlike state as she took another step forwards. Harry backed away again, raising his wand further, pointing it directly at her chest.

"Don't make another move. I don't want to have to hurt you." He warned, a reducto spell on the tip of his tongue if she made another move. She looked at the wand in his hand, letting out a small gasp of surprise as if only seeing it for the first time as a grin crossed her lips and she clapped her hands with an almost childlike innocence.

"Magic... are you going to show me a trick?" She asked with an innocence that almost made Harry hesitate to act. Another step and he backed off a bit more, "or is that just a stick, playing games that you can't understand?" She questioned, and Harry stepped away again, she giggled. "Naughty little lightning child, trying to bluff when the rules are known." The laughter died away and the innocent smile was replaced with an almost predatory grin.

"Redu..." He was cut off as he tried to cast the spell, she closed the distance faster than he believed possible, one hand grabbing his wrist, twisting it painfully and forcing him to drop the wand, the other grabbing his throat. He gasped at the strength of the grip, struggling to catch his breath, his free hand grabbing at her arm trying to pull it away, but it was like trying to shift a steel bar. "Get... off... me!" He managed to choke out as she continued to study him.

"Dru... love, what have I told you about picking up strays?" Another voice, a male voice with a thick accent spoke up, Harry couldn't move his head, but he could tell it had come from behind him. "Especially these scrawny ones, I mean look at him, he barely has anything to him." The voice said as the woman... Dru, released her grip on him, he stepped backwards, and Harry felt himself bump into someone.

"He had to learn the risks, it's not safe to wander out after dark." She spoke almost condescendingly about Harry as he tried to catch his breath.

"But you're still weak, you haven't regained your strength since that mob..." The man's voice carried concern for the woman and Harry chanced a glance backwards. The man would have passed for a Malfoy, slicked back, bleach blonde hair, if it wasn't for the vastly different accent Harry would have assumed he was, but there was no way that he could be.

"I got hungry." She said to him and the man looked over to the side.

"And you left a mess." He finished, chiding softly as he walked over, looking down at the half-concealed corpse. "Wand user... huh, haven't seen one of them in a while." He said as he shifted the cloak, so it covered the entirety of the body. "Ah, Ah." He called out sharply, turning around sharply and looking at Harry who had started to make a move for his wand but froze as he spoke. "I wouldn't make a move to that stick unless you want to lose an arm." He threatened, and Harry stopped, straightening out to make it clear he wasn't going for his wand. "See that shows intelligence... Ravenclaw right?" He asked drawing a surprised look from Harry. "What? a guy can't know about THE school of magic? I may not have gone there but I've snaked on a few over the years." The man, that Harry assumed must be Spike commented with a laugh. "I mean it's been a few years and my memory isn't the best but that was the house of the smarty pants wasn't it?" He asked as he walked back over to Harry. When he didn't respond Spike frowned, kneeling, and picking up the wand he waved it tauntingly in front of Harry "So tell me, little wizard, was I right? Because you see, I don't like being ignored and this little stick may have a bit of an accident if I don't get an answer." He held it between both hands, clear as day for Harry to see and after a second pause, started to give it a slight bend.

"Fine, okay, yes, it is the right house, but no, I'm not a Ravenclaw." Harry spoke sharply, almost pleadingly to prevent his wand getting snapped. Spike relented and relaxed his grip on the wand.

"Really? but then again, you did come into the night to fight something you didn't know." He tilted his head studying Harry. "Hey... I think you're that kid... is he that kid you've been going on about?" Spike questioned glancing at the woman that stood to one side of Harry. "What did you call him? Child of Lightning? supposed to be scaring that big bad that turned up on our doorstep about a month or so ago?" Spike questioned and then glanced at Harry again, studying him curiously. "Don't see why he's so worked up about you. Looks like a strong gust of wind would knock you over let alone someone throwing a bit of magic around."

"You've met Voldemort?" Harry asked in surprise and Spike nodded his head.

"That's his name? to be honest I never listened when he was speaking, likes the sound of his own voice a bit too much... especially with the tales about him that circulate the underworld. Defeated by a baby. As if anyone could listen to someone that couldn't even kill a baby... hell it's why the line is 'like taking candy from a baby' it's supposed to be that bloody easy."

"Just who are you people?!" Harry finally snapped in frustration, there had been no definitive answer and the way this man talked was getting on his nerves. "Why are you here and what do you want?" Harry questioned, and Spike stared at him for a moment.

"Wait, you don't know who I am? What are they teaching you at that school?" He asked with indignation, almost as if he was unable to comprehend the fact that he was unknown by someone with magic. "I'm Spike..." He trailed off seeing no comprehension other than the fact it was a name. "William the Bloody? part of a group called the Whirlwind... or more commonly Scourge of Europe?" He looked surprised at the cluelessness of Harry. "Really? My God, what are they teaching at that bloody School nowadays, I mean, I should be covered in History and your defence class surely?" He commented and after getting a shake of his head from Harry he let out a small cry of frustration. "What about if I did this?" He asked as his face shifted, his eyes turning yellow, fangs appearing in his mouth and just generally becoming a lot scarier in a matter of moments.

And then it clicked with Harry... Vampire. They had not covered anything about them in class, at least not fully, other than a brief covering of them while Snape was continuing his not so subtle attempt to get the students clued onto what Lupin was. Harry moved backwards, bumping into the woman behind him, she quickly grabbed his arm preventing him from moving away. "Ah see, at least you recognise that." He said, his face returning to normal. "I'd be worried for you if you didn't. But I suppose introductions are only polite. I'm Spike, the lovely lady behind you is Drusilla and I'm afraid, you're just a late-night snack." He said dismissively, and Harry tried to break free of Drusilla's grip, but she held on securely.

"No," Drusilla interrupted and Spike stopped, looking confused at the other Vampire. "I want to keep him." This stopped Spike in his tracks, the deadpan look he gave her partly making Harry smile, but he did his best not to show it. Though at the same time a feeling of dread ran down his spine at her words.

"Love, no, you can't keep him..." There was a small whimper from behind him and Spike pulled a face, letting out a small sigh of frustration. "No, you didn't feed the last one," he persisted, trying to hold a stern look but failing as she continued to whimper sadly. "Besides, do you really want to take someone along who's got a target on his back, you know that will just draw more attention to us... not that I'm concerned but we don't really need to deal with that extra bit... No, I'm not giving in this time." He finished with his arms crossed, looking at her with a serious look but Harry could see that it was a token gesture. "Fine... you can keep him, but you have to make sure he's fed and taken care of." Spike finished, sliding the wand into his pocket. "I guess you're not going to be a snack after all... at least not straight away." Spike joked and before Harry even realised what was happening, his world went black as Spike's fist connected with his face. "Now... what's the time?" He asked before cursing as he checked his watch, "hope you didn't have anything back where we were, this little conversation has taken too long, and our little escape is about to activate." He said as he pulled a silver bracelet out of his pocket, holding it out to Drusilla and reaching down to pick up the unconscious Harry. "It'll activate in a minute." He said and when he saw the look that crossed her eyes, he realised what she was concerned about. "Your dolls will be fine, he's going to send them over soon." He said comfortingly to her, drawing a smile.

Around them, half a dozen cracks and pops were heard. the two looked to see people in cloaks and robes, all pointing wands at them. "Sorry, I'm afraid you're a bit too late." Spike said as the Portkey that they held onto activated and they disappeared.

Dumbledore lowered his wand, along with the others. This was not good. "Find Hestia, she should have been watching over him now." He said as he continued to stare at the spot the two mystery figures had been with Harry, moments before.