Red Horizon
Chapter 37 – Innocent.
DISCLAIMER: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon, and Harry Potter to J.K. Rowling. I don't own anything…
RATING: PG-13 (T) to R (M) - violence, language, angst, horror, mild sexual interactions, etc. If you can watch BTVS/AtS and read HP, I doubt you'll have any problem with this story.
TIMELINE: Takes place after season two in BTVS, and after the marauders last year at Hogwarts. Sequel to "Out of the Blue."
SUMMARY: BTVS/HP crossover. After Graduation, Buffy's life takes another turn once again. She finds herself being thrown into war against Voldemort along with her friends, and not everyone will make it out alive...and not everyone is loyal to the light. But who is a friend and who is an enemy? Who can you trust in a time of darkness?
CENTRAL PAIRING: Buffy/Remus
OTHER PAIRINGS: James/Lily, Sirius/Eliza
Special Thanks to: My Beta - CharmedChick
November 1, 1981.
Remus Lupin yawned tiredly as he ventured into the kitchen from his bedroom and put the tea kettle on the stove. The day was gray and foggy, which went hand in hand with himself- he was feeling a bit under the weather. Suddenly, a bird tapped on the window, and Remus opened it with a wave with his wand, letting the post-owl inside.
"Oh, you have the paper for me, girl?" Remus asked, patting the owl's head at the same time as he pulled out five knuts from his robe pockets and gave to the hooting owl. "Here you go."
The owl dropped the 'Daily Prophet' at the kitchen table before flying off. Remus stared after her for a few second before sighing "what if I was just as carefree as an owl..." and picking up the paper - and promptly dropped it again. For on the front page was a picture of a pile of smoking rubble and a large headline in green letters.
YOU-KNOW-WHO DEFEATED!
LILY AND JAMES POTTER DEAD!
PRAISE TO THE BOY-WHO-LIVED!
"No..." Remus whispered hoarsely, falling to the floor on his knees, where he picked up the paper with trembling hands once again, hoping it was just a big joke. But the more he kept reading, the more he realized this was the truth. Voldemort had come to the Potter's house...killed James...then Lily...and then he'd tried to kill Harry...but somehow, the curse had been repelled,hitting the Dark Lord who'd died - while Harry lived, with nothing but a scar in the form of a lightning bolt. "No..." Remus moaned, tears streaming down his face. They were gone. Both of them. And Sirius..."What have you done?" He whispered to himself.
Suddenly, the tall figure of Dumbledore appeared in the door, watching Remus with sad eyes. "How?" Remus asked brokenly, without looking up. Dumbledore bowed his head.
"Lily and James were under the Fidelius, as you well know. The only way Voldemort could have found them is if the Secret Keeper willingly gave up their location to him," he said quietly.
"Sirius..." Remus hissed, his glistering amber eyes blazing as he turned to Dumbledore.
"I am afraid so..." Dumbledore said.
"Where is he?" Remus demanded. "Where is that son-of-a-bitch!"
"I do not know."
"Well, then find out!" Remus exclaimed. "Find out so I can rip him to pieces, I'll- "
"- Do nothing of the sort," Dumbledore said, his voice stern. "Seeking revenge is not going to help any. You need to calm down, Remus. The full-moon is only a few days away- "
"- Do you think I care about the full-moon?" Remus hissed. "They're DEAD, Dumbledore! All because of HIM!"
"And in every darkness shines a light," Dumbledore countered. "Harry survived, Voldemort is gone. Try to see the good in their sacrifice."
"They were my FRIENDS!"
Dumbledore sighed. "I see there is no reasoning to calm youdown right now, but please, do not do anything rash. Come to my office in a few days, and we'll talk more then. Now, I have business to take care of." And he silently apparated away, destination, Privet Drive, leaving Remus by himself. Alone. And broken.
November 2, 1981.
Petunia Dursley was a woman with little patience for the abnormal. She lived a happily secluded life with her son and husband. The only remotely exciting thing in her life was spying on the neighbors, and she liked it that way. Because that meant she would not have to deal with anything, well, freakish, such as her sister and her world of magic. Petunia scoffed as she thought about it, and thanked her lucky stars that she had cut off all contact with her sister. A smile graced her horse-like features as she opened the door to put out the milk bottles- and was met by the biggest shock of her life. For there, on the steps, a small boy with tufts of messy black hair was sleeping, his small hand clutched around a letter. And Petunia screamed. And screamed. And screamed. This woke the little boy (and the rest of the street) up, and he promptly joined her. This made Petunia stop, and she narrowed her eyes before peering around carefully, hoping no one had seen her. She bent down and pried the letter out of the boy's hand, and opened it carefully, reading its contents with growing dread. After she finished reading, she pursed her lips together, before lifting up the baby in her arms harshly, and went into the house, slamming the door closed behind her.
"VERNON!" She yelled. "VERNON!"
A big, beefy man with hardly any neck and a large moustache came down the steps, grumbling. "What is it, Petunia?" That's when he noticed the baby in his wife's arms, and the letter in her hand, and he promptly froze.
"We have to take my nephew in," Petunia said, sounding displeased. "Here. Read this." She thrusted the letter in her husband's arms, and he read it, his eyes narrowing for every line. When he was done, he looked up at his thin wife. "Who is this Dummydore person and why should we do what he wants? Just throw the boy out, I say. I want nothing of that sort happening under my roof!"
"I cannot do that, Vernon. He might be one of them, and I do not want this any more than you do,but he is my sister's son."
"He would be better off dead," Vernon hissed. "Those good for nothing freaks, getting themselves blown up...better if he joined them, I say."
"Vernon!"
"Alright, alright," Vernon grumbled. "But nothing; nothing - about that freaky world will be mentioned under my roof! The boy will know nothing about his sort."
Petunia nodded. "Good. Then we are agreed." She pursed her lips together once more. "I may have to take him in, but it will be on our terms, and not...theirs." And with that, she lit a match, and burned the letter to ashes, signaling the end of that discussion. Nothing more would be mentioned about magic, or acknowledged of anything abnormal, until ten years later, when a mysterious letter in emerald-green ink would arrive, addressed to Mr H. Potter, The Cupboard under the Stairs...
Eliza appeared with a loud 'crack' in an alley in London, and immediately winced, her hands going to her back and legs. "Note to self: Apparating cross borders when you're still not healthy, and without the extra aid from a wand; not a good idea," she muttered to herself. She had spent the last six days bedridden; after she'd been found beside the motorway by a French couple, who'd immediately brought her to the closest hospital. The muggle staff had been horrified at her wounds and had hovered around her constantly, and Eliza had soon been annoyed with them, and had demanded her release, but they wouldn't let her leave the bed, let alone leave the hospital. So that was why she had apparated out of the hospital bed as soon as she had been left alone, and that was why she was currently wearing nothing but a hospital gown and several bandages- which were in need of changing.
"Right..." Eliza muttered. "A plan...I need a plan...What does a wandless seriously wounded witch do in the middle of London, wearing next to nothing? Find her fiancé of course," she added, a smile breaking out on her face as she halted out of the alley.
Sirius was a man on a mission. Some would say a mad man on a mission, and Sirius would not have cared. He wanted one thing, and one thing only- to find and kill Peter Pettigrew. And he was about to succeed. A grim smile spread across his features as he saw Peter, stand in the middle of a muggle street, as he was looking wildly over his shoulder. He would not live much longer. Sirius took a step out of the shadows he'd been hiding in, and gave Peter, who was trembling in fear, a menacing look.
Peter was a dead man. He just knew it. One way or another, Peter Pettigrew's life would end, today, at this street. He became even more convinced of that fact as he saw Sirius step out of the shadow. Peter gulped and raised his wand, before rushing towards Sirius, praying to whoever was listening that this would work.
Sirius' eyes widened in shock as Peter came running straight at him. A second later, he was pushed up against a wall by Peter's heavy weight. And...did he hear correctly? What was Peter going on about?
"Lily and James, Sirius! How could you?"
Sirius blinked stupidly. What was he doing?
Eliza stopped around the corner, frozen in shock as she stared at the scene in front of her. Sirius, backed up against a wall, by Peter, who was going for his wand, screaming something about Lily and James...what had happened here?
"SIRIUS!" She yelled, taking a step forwards, hoping to catch his attention, so she could get some answers.
Sirius suddenly heard someone calling his name, and he turned his head, his throat dry, as he saw the woman there, staring at him in confusion.
"Eliza?"
He turned back to Peter, only to see him cut off his own finger before lifting his wand - and then the street exploded.
Eliza's eyes met Sirius' for a split second, and she could see his lips moving. And then, he turned back to Peter... and the street blew up. Eliza's eyes widened in shock as she was lifted up in the air from the heat wave and explosion pressure, before she fell onto her back in the street with a painful crack â- debris from a building nearby was raining down...she saw a huge stone block - and then- nothing.
Sirius stared in shock at the spot where Peter had stood only seconds before. Now, it was the beginning of a huge crater which stretched across the entire street and so deep it cracked the sewer below. A squeak from the right made him turn his head- and he saw the edge of a tail slip down into the sewers. He turned his eyes back towards the crater- the street was covered in debris and dead bodies. People were screaming. And by his feet, Peter's finger lay, along with his robes in a bloodstained heap. And Sirius laughed. It was a laugh from someone who'd just lost everything. Completely without humor, only hysterical and filled with despair. He still laughed as the Department of Magical Catastrophes appeared, along with twenty members of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad. He still laughed as he was taken away. What else could he do?
The Junior Minister in the Department of Magical Catastrophes, Cornelius Fudge, wiped his sweaty brow as he stared at the scene in front of him. Black had been taken away, and the muggles had been interrogated and obliviated. Peter Pettigrew's finger had been placed in a glass box, to be sent off to his mother along with an Order of Merlin First Class. And now awaited the clean up.
"Sir!" A man called. "We have another victim over here: Male, late thirties."
"Muggle?"
The man nodded. "Yes. Muggles, the entire lot of 'em."
"How many dead?"
"With this one? Eleven."
Fudge nodded. "Right..."
"Sir!" Another man said a bit away from the worst scene. "We have a crushed victim under here."
Fudge went over, and raised his eyebrows. "Well? What are you waiting for? Remove the stone block so we can get a look at him!"
The man waved his wand in a swish and flick motion, and the stone block hovered up from the ground, and he directed it to land a few feet away. As Fudge looked closer, he realized it was not a man, as he'd thought, but a woman, with long, black hair. Her face had been crushed to a bloodied and bruised mess, and she was wearing some kind of muggle gown and bandages. Fudge wrinkled his nose. What kind of taste did muggles have? If she had not been dressed so horribly - and had not been crushed into an unrecognizable mess- she would have been quite beautiful.
"She's obviously a muggle," Fudge muttered. "We're going toget real trouble identifying this one." He sighed. "Well, let's just leave her to the muggle authorities, along with the rest. They're all muggles after all, and it spares us the trouble of having to find their families." He smirked. "And it was their 'gas-leak' which caused all this in the first place." And with a loud 'crack,' Cornelius Fudge apparated away.
November 3, 1981.
Azkaban island. Hell on Earth. The fate that waited every wizarding criminal that was caught and sentenced. The fate that awaited Sirius Black.
Sirius walked down the long stone corridor, his gray fathomless eyes staring straight ahead, as he was lead towards a small cell at the end by Bartemus Crouch Senior and several guards. As they reached his cell- his new home - he was pushed roughly inside, and the cell door shut closed behind him.
As the night approached, Sirius started to feel the effect of the hovering Dementors outside. He curled up in a corner of his cell, and rocked back and forth, closing his eyes.
Flashback
"HOW DARE YOU!" Walburga Black screamed, her yellow skin stretched taut, her eyes rolling, and a trail of saliva running down her mouth . "TURN YOUR BROTHER BACK TO NORMAL THIS INSTANT!"
Sirius snickered. "Sorry, mother. I can't do that -I don't know how he turned into a pile of mud in the first place. Maybe it was something in the food?" He snickered, only to be promptly silenced by a hit in the face from the saucepan his mother held in her hand. His nose immediately started to bleed, and a loud sound was ringing in his ears.
"THAT'S IT!" His mother yelled. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH!" She grabbed Sirius by the ear, and flung him inside the study, where his father, Orion, was reading the 'Daily Prophet.'
"What has he done this time?" He sneered.
"HE TURNED HIS OWN BROTHER INTO MUD!" Walburga yelled, making Orion's eyes narrow at his son.
"Is that true? Did you really do that to Regulus?"
"OF COURSE IT'S TRUE! WHY WOULD I LIE!" Walburga screamed. "I DEMAND THAT YOU DEAL WITH HIM WHILE I TRY TO SORT REGULUS OUT!"
And with that, she left the room, slamming the door shut, leaving Sirius alone with his father in the study. Orion picked up his wand and fingered on it. "I'm disappointed in you, Sirius." He pointed the wand on Sirius, and he found himself soar upwards, and unto his stomach. He winced as he felt shocks of painful, dark, magical energy enter his body. He screamed.
End flashback
Sirius hit his head with his fists and winced as he remembered the first time he'd been punished by magic. It had not been the last time. He desperately tried to come up with a happy memory...
Flashback
'Ahh...' The hat whispered in his ear. 'Another Black...but...something is different with you...you are not...like the others...of course, you'd do well in Slytherin, no doubt...but...no...yes, I see it now...it better be...GRYFFINDOR!'
The hall fell silent, and then the whispering started. "A Black? In Gryffindor?" "Preposterous!" "How can this be?" "We don't want a Death Eater in our house!"
Sirius did his best to ignore the whispers as he stalked over to the table dressed in red and gold, and sat down, not caring that those who sat closest to him moved away. That left more space to him.
Several more people where sorted into Gryffindor, among them a redhead with emerald green eyes, who was introduced as Evans, Lily. Following her was a slightly sickly looking boy with light-brown hair, called Lupin, Remus. Soon, Sirius grew bored, and he started to play with the silverware: He turned the glass upside down, and with a wave of his wand, he had his fork and knife dancing on the plate, occasionally letting out a loud screech. The boy called Remus turned to look at him with interest.
"You know magic already?"
Sirius shrugged and turned to him with a grin.
"Some. You want to try?"
The boy hesitated, and opened his mouth to answer, when Potter, James, was called out, and Sirius looked up as a boy with messy black hair and glasses sat down on the chair. The hat had barely touched his head before it yelled 'GRYFFINDOR!'
James threw the hat to McGonagall with a wide grin and walked over to the Gryffindor table, where he promptly high fived Sirius, before turning around and glaring at everyone who was staring at them with open mouths.
"What are you lot looking at?" He demanded.
"B-but...he's a Black! And you're a Potter. Potter's and Black's don't mix," someone protested, making James' eyes narrow. "Says who?" He asked. "Besides, he's Sirius," he countered. "And I'm James. Plus, he's a Gryffindor. Just like you. So shut the hell up!"
Sirius grinned at the boy he'd befriended on the train. "Thanks, James."
James shrugged. "No problem. Us ruggedly handsome must stick together."
Lily Evans snorted at them. "Ruggedly handsome? Allow me to laugh."
"What got your knickers in a twist?" James smirked, making the girl's green eyes narrowbefore sheturned away in a huff. James turned his attention to the boy who'd been sorted into Gryffindor before him- he was rather fat, and had been sitting at the chair for an awfully long time.
"Hi, I'm James," he said.
"P-Peter P-Pettigrew," the boy stuttered, staring at James with wide, watery eyes.
James nodded. "Right." He groaned. "When do we get to eat?"
The sickly looking boy turned to look at James. "Well," he said hesitantly. "After the sorting, the Headmaster is supposed to say a few words, and then the food appears."
James groaned, followed quickly by Sirius. "I'm going to starve before that!" He exclaimed, making the red-headed girl, Lily, roll her eyes at him.
"If a human is to die of starvation, he must first suffer from it for about one to two months, which causes permanent organ damage, and then you die. I highly doubt the Headmaster is planning to keep talking for that long."
Sirius and James gawked at the girl, his mouth opening and closing, while Remus snickered. Peter just looked dazed at the red-head, blinking stupidly.
"What is she talking about?" Sirius spluttered, giving Remus and James highly confused looks. "Is she out of her bloody mind?"
James nodded slowly. "Yeah...I think so..."
Lily rolled her eyes again. "Boys!"
Later that day, Sirius sat down for dinner, along with James, Remus and Peter, who he'd quickly befriended, when a black owl swooped down and dropped a red letter on his plate. Sirius paled.
James' eyes widened. "Is that a - "
"- A howler? Yes."
"Well...you better get it over with," Remus advised him. "My parents got several howlers once- it was not pretty." He shuddered. James gave him a curious look.
"Why would your parents get howlers?"
Remus' eyes widened, and he gulped. "Never mind," he said quickly. "It's not important."
The truth was, they had got several howlers from 'friends' who'd heard their son had been bitten. The howlers had contained threats on Remus' life, mixed with 'advice' on how they should go about "putting him down."
Sirius gulped, and opened the now smoking letter. Immediately, a loud, screaming voice sounded in the Hall, and Sirius quickly backed several steps so he would not go deaf.
"SIRIUS ORION BLACK! DISGRACE OF OUR FAMILY NAME! A GRYFFINDOR! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO US! YOU ARE TO IMMEDIATELY BEG DUMBLEDORE FOR A RE-SORTING! AND WE WILL HAVE A SEVERE DISCUSSION ABOUT THIS WHEN YOU GET HOME FOR CHRISTMAS TO DISCUSS YOUR PUNISHMENT FOR EMBARRASSING US! TOUJOURS PUR!"
The letter went up to flames, and Sirius' cheeks burned red as he listened to the following applause and laughter coming from the Slytherin table.
"Uhh...James," he said. "Do you think I could go home with you over Christmas?"
End flashback.
Sirius whimpered in his cell as the happy memory made him remember the repercussions of ignoring his mother's howler and going home with James for Christmas. His welcome when he stepped of the Hogwarts express after the year ended had been anything but warm... He groaned in pain. The Dementors made the memories become almost real; it was as if he relived them. Gasping, he used the remaining energy to turn into Padfoot, and he curled up into a ball, whining slightly. To his surprise, the Dementors did not affect him as much as Padfoot, and he was able to escape the memories. Slowly, his mind returned to him, and he put his heavy head on his huge paws, closing his eyes.'I'm Sirius Black. And I'm innocent. I'm Sirius Black. And I'm innocent. I'm Sirius Black...'
A/N: Yes, I know, I know! I'm so sorry for torturing you (and my characters) so! I'm really sorry! Please forgive me!
/Ida