Summary: Buffy Summers was born the elder sister of Harry Potter and given up for adoption. Twenty years later while going through Joyce's effects after her death, Buffy finds her adoption papers and taking Dawn along, goes in search of her birth family.
A/U: Set after The Gift with one change. Buffy beat Glory back with enough time to get to the top of the tower and stop Doc from cutting Dawn to open the portal. So Buffy did not die in this story and go to heaven. Also timelines have been adjusted. The end of Buffy season 5 was in May, I moved it forward to the end of June, beginning of July. So that when Buffy goes to England Harry will not be at Hogwarts. And of course the timeline for Harry Potter has been set back six years as Harry and Dawn both are 14. At the start of the story we are in the summer leading up to the Goblet of Fire.
Pairings: Taking suggestions as currently I have none.
Disclaimer: Disney owns Buffy. J.K. Rowlings owns the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
Author's Note: This is partial rewrite and partial new story. Originally a lot of what was done in this story was done for my cancelled Harry Potter: The Dawn Chronicles, where Dawn was to be the twin sister of Harry. Which that plot point is still in the story with an explanation on how that is possible. The other part of the story comes from Buffy being the elder sister of Harry. I took inspiration for that change from a story I re-read recently.
Prologue
January 20, 1981
Sixteen-year-old James Potter looked at his girlfriend with a look that carried all the love he had for her. The hospital room they were currently in was quiet and sterile. It was a muggle hospital, which made things easier for what they were about to do. Lily Evans lay on a hospital bed holding a small wrapped bundle in her arms. She gazed at her quiet newborn baby then looked up at James a tender smile on her face.
Next to them stood Albus Dumbledore. He had apparated them to the hospital when they told him that Lily was in labor and their intention to give the baby up for adoption otherwise he would have taken them to the hospital wing at Hogwarts.
James held his child's hand a look of wonder in his eyes. "She looks like you, Lily."
"Her hair is just like your mothers," said Lily, grinning at James. "And her eyes are like yours."
James kissed his daughter's forehead. "That they are. She will be very beautiful when she gets older. Just like her mother."
Lily lost her smile her face suddenly sad. "We won't even get to see her grow up, James," she said, voice filled with grief. Tears fell freely down her eyes like twin rivers.
James ran a shaky hand threw his windswept hair. His eyes were wet with unshed tears. "Lily, we have to do this. We're only sixteen. We can't take care of a child. We're still children ourselves. Plus, you said it yourself that your parents would likely never let you keep her. If we give her up to a nice muggle family she can have what we can't give her."
"James, I know that!" said Lily, slightly hysterical. "I've been placing concealment charms on myself for months, so no one would find out I was pregnant!"
"The only reason I know is because of the two of you," Dumbledore admitted.
"We know and thank you for your discretion, Professor," James said.
A knock sounded from the open door of the room. They looked up to see the adoption agent, Joan Carlyle, step into the doorway.
Joan wore a sympathetic expression. She had seen many similar scenes like the one she walked in on. These were not the first young parents she had aided and unfortunately, they wouldn't be the last. "Am I interrupting?"
James wiped his eyes quickly. "No please come in."
She nodded and entered the room. She spotted Dumbledore. "Is this?"
"Our professor," James said. "He's been like a rock during this time."
The woman sat down in a chair beside the bed. "Have you made your decision?" she asked politely.
The young couple nodded together. "We have. We're going to go through with it," said James.
February 27, 2001 – Twenty Years Later
Buffy walked through the front door of the Summers' home. "Mom," she called out as she hung her coat on the coat rack and dropped her purse on the table underneath next to a bouquet of flowers. She saw the card and smiled at what she read:
"Thank you for a lovely evening. See you soon (?) - Brian."
"Still a couple of nice guys out there..." Buffy said as she walked over to the stairs. "Hey, flower-gettin' lady!" she called up. "You want me to make dinner? Mom?"
Buffy didn't hear an answer from her mother which she found to be weird. She looked around and spotted Joyce lying on the couch, a notepad in her hand. "Oh! Mom. What are you writing?" she asked as she took a step toward her mother. "Mom?" She stopped when she saw that Joyce's eyes were not looking down at the notepad but staring up towards the ceiling. "Mom?"
Realization began to enter Buffy's awareness as her voice took on a childlike tone, "Mommy?" she said as she stood for a but moment before rushing to her mother's side. "Mom! Mom!" She started shaking Joyce, grabbing her face, feeling her head, listening for breath, an unconscious mantra running under her own breath. Something was wrong and she knew it.
Buffy rushed to the kitchen and grabbed the phone. She dialed 911.
"911 Emergency –"
"Hello?"
"Do you have –"
"It's my mom. She's not, she's not breathing!" Buffy said as her body shook from fear that Joyce might be dead.
"Is she conscious?"
"No, I can't - she's not breathing –" Buffy explained.
"Okay, I need you to give me your address – I'm gonna send an ambulance over –"
Buffy slowly nodded in understanding at what the 911 operator wanted, an ambulance was being dispatched. "1630 Revello. It's a, a house. Revello near Hadley."
"I'm sending a unit right away. Are you alone in the house?"
"Yes," Buffy answered.
"And did you see what happened? Did she fall?"
"I don't know, I just got home - what do I do?" Buffy asked.
"Do you know how to administer CPR?"
Buffy looked toward her mother. "I - I don't remember."
"Okay, it's very simple. You want to tilt your mother's head back. Cover her mouth with yours and breathe into her mouth."
"Yeah, yeah, I know this, God," Buffy said as she put the phone down on the coffee table. She rushed to Joyce's side and tilted her mother's head and began CPR. She blew into her mother's mouth twice and the pumped Joyce's chest rapidly fifteen times, then she repeated. It was during the second round of chest compressions she heard something crack inside her mother's chest. She picked up the phone. "Oh God... Something cracked!"
"Is she breathing?"
"No," Buffy answered.
"Paramedics should be there in a moment. She might have cracked a rib, it's not important."
Buffy looked at Joyce and shivered, "She's cold."
"The body is cold?"
"No, mom - should I make her warm?" Buffy asked.
There is the slightest change in tone from the 911 operator, less urgency. "No, if she's not responding to the CPR, best thing is to wait for the paramedics, okay?"
"Well, when are they coming?" she wondered.
"They're very nearby. You just hang on... it won't be long..."
Buffy slid to the floor, "I have to make a call," she said as hung up the phone and dialed Giles number.
July 4, 2001 – A week after the defeat of Glory
Dawn Summers opened the door to her mother's old bedroom. She looked around the room her heart filled with pain. It had been four months since Joyce had died and neither she nor Buffy had gone through the room yet, let alone actually grieve for their mother. The truth had been they hadn't had time. After all they had to worry about Glory. Then finally came the battle with Glory, Buffy had beaten back the hell god thankfully with plenty of time to get to the top of the tower and rescue Dawn before Doc, the demon who was about to start the ritual for Glory, could cut into Dawn. Buffy had knocked him off the tower to his death, then she had taken her baby sister home.
Dawn opened the closet door and looked at the clothes still hanging there. She had talked Buffy into letting her box up their mother's clothes for Goodwill. Buffy instead insisted they take turns. That way if it got to much for one or the other of them then the other would take over. Dawn had drawn the short straw of who would go first. She fingered the material of a particular dress. "Mom. I miss you so much."
Dawn noticed a metal box on the shelf above the clothes. She got a chair to stand on and got it down. She tried to open it and found it locked. But luckily for her the key was taped to the bottom. "Not very secure, mom," she said as she took the key and opened the box.
She riffled through the papers in the box. There were divorce papers, birth certificates, insurance records, and all sort of important things including an envelope with Buffy's name on it. Dawn set everything except the envelope aside. "Buffy," she called out. "I got that lock box of mom's open. There is an envelope here with your name on it."
Buffy entered the room moments later and sat next to her sister who handed her the envelope. She pulled documents out of the envelope and she scanned them, not believing what she was seeing. In her hands were adoption records that was for a baby called Elizabeth Lilyanne Potter. She picked up another piece of paper and read the words on the page five times. It said that Elizabeth Lilyanne Potter was adopted and name was changed to Buffy Anne Summers.
"Am I reading that right?" Dawn asked as she looked at her big sister. "You're adopted?"
Buffy looked toward the door to their mother's room as she thought about the notepad that Joyce had been writing on when she died. "That must have been what she was writing."
"Hunh?"
"The notepad," Buffy said as she looked toward her sister. "Remember I told you that I found a notepad in her hand. She had started writing something to me. This must have been what she was trying to tell me."
Dawn blinked as she took the papers from Buffy and looked at the paperwork, reading over everything. She then picked the box open and started rummaging through it again.
"What are you looking for?" Buffy asked.
"Mine," Dawn said. "Remember I'm made from you. Which would mean I should have been adopted too, right?"
"The monks may have not known about my being adopted," Buffy said. "Which means they would have likely had no reason to make it so you were adopted."
Dawn looked up at her sister and then nodded. She got back on the bed and hugged Buffy. "It'll be alright, Buffy. I wonder who they were and why they did it."
Buffy looked at Dawn the same questions running through her head. There was one person that might know. She got up and headed out of the room. In the months since the funeral they finally had heard from Hank. He had even left them a current contact number in Spain.
"Buffy?" Dawn asked as she followed her sister.
"Dad might know," Buffy said at the unanswered question. The sisters made their way downstairs and into the kitchen where she picked up the phone and dialed.
"Hello?" came Hank Summers' voice.
"Dad, it's Buffy," Buffy said as she hit the button for speakerphone so Dawn could hear. "We were going through some of mom's stuff. Found adoption records for me. First, I just want to know why I wasn't told. Then second if you knew why they gave me up."
"Your mother was a stubborn one," Hank answered. "One of the things Joyce and I fought on was telling you. I wanted to do it when you turned eighteen. She wanted to wait. I always had the impression she was afraid you wouldn't love us anymore if you found out. Especially after what you revealed to her going into your senior year."
Dawn looked at Buffy and blinked. "You knew, dad?" she said.
"Hello, Dawn. Yes, I knew there were things out there. I've known since you were ten, Buffy. Do you remember when your mother and I asked if you wanted to go to a boarding school?"
"I remember," Buffy said.
"I've known since then that there were things out there. Then when you turned fifteen and said you had been fighting vampires. I tried to dismiss it. After all you hadn't gone to the school, I figured you probably had made it up. Then two years later you revealed to your mother the truth and that was when I knew you hadn't made anything up. I'm sorry, Buffy, for not believing you at the time."
"Thanks, dad," Buffy said.
"About your birth parents," Hank said. "From what I gather they were underage at the time, around fifteen or sixteen. They did love you, that's why your official birth certificate actually has your birthname labeled on it instead of your adopted name."
"Thank you, dad," Buffy said as she glanced at her sister for a moment.
"One last thing, Buffy, before I let you both go," Hank said. "You will always be my daughter. That will never change even if you want to go to England and look them up."
"Thanks," Buffy said as tears came to her eyes. She was glad that Hank felt that way. She hung up the phone as Dawn handed her the envelope and paperwork.
"Do you want to try and find out more about them?" Dawn asked.
"Yeah, I think I do," Buffy said as she looked down at the paperwork, more importantly the adoption papers. She saw the phone number and agency listed:
British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering
Buffy picked up the phone again and dialed.
"British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering. This is Gavina Thomas, how may I direct your call?"
Buffy smiled to Dawn, "My name is Buffy Summers, and I'm in Sunnydale, California. My mom passed away recently, and my sister and I found out that I was adopted. I'm trying find out information on my birth parents."
"Yes, it's Joan Carlyle." Buffy said.
"Joan retired five years ago. I will transfer you over to her daughter, Casey who took over for her."
Buffy waited for a moment that seemed almost an eternity but was in reality only a few seconds.
"This is Casey Carlyle, Ms. Summers how may I help you?"
Buffy smiled at Dawn again, "I'm calling trying to find information on my birth family. According to my adoption records my name would be Elizabeth Lilyanne Potter in your records. My mother recently passed away and my sister found my adoption papers and birth certificate in mom's lock box."
Buffy waited as Casey pulled the information up on her computer.
"Thank you for waiting Ms. Summers. Since you are twenty years old now, I don't have to worry about getting your adoptive parents okay to reveal information. Now I'm afraid though I can only give that information to you in person as I have see some form of ID to see if you're the person in these files. How soon can you be here? You told the receptionist you were in California."
Buffy looked at Dawn for a moment. "Just a second." She muted the call as she looked at her sister. "Do you want to go, I can't leave you hear by yourself; you are after all underage. I won't go without you."
Dawn smiled as she put a comforting hand on her sister's shoulder. "Yes," she said. "Besides since I'm made from you even if I'm not officially adopted it would still make them my birth parents too. I would like to get to know them also."
Buffy smiled at sister as she unmuted the call. "My sister is a minor and I'm her legal guardian, so I can't leave her alone. So, I have to try and get plane tickets for us both. If we can get a flight out, tomorrow, maybe the next day."
"Then we will see you both in say two days' time at 9 am in my office. If for some reason you can't get a flight please let me know and we will push the appointment back."
"Will do, thank you Ms. Carlyle," Buffy replied before she hung up. She looked at her sister who smiled at her. "Do you still have your passport handy from when we went on vacation with mom last summer?"
"I'll go look for it while you get us a flight," Dawn said as she turned and headed for the stairs. She stopped at the door to the kitchen and looked back at Buffy. "You might call Giles too. Let him know we'll be leaving the hellmouth for a while."
Buffy nodded as she dialed the phone. She called first the airlines and managed to find a flight that had a last-minute cancellation for the next day. She then called Giles.
"Hello?" Giles said.
"Giles, its Buffy." Buffy said.
"What is it Buffy?" Giles said.
"Dawn and I are going to be out of the country for a few days." Buffy replied.
"What? Why?" Giles said suddenly concerned.
Buffy sighed, "We were going through mom's stuff. In her safe was some paperwork. I was adopted, Giles."
"Dear lord." Giles said.
Buffy laughed, "My thoughts exactly. Anyways I want to try and find them, meet them if I can. I have a flight booked out of Sunnydale to Los Angeles tomorrow and then continuing on to London."
"Of course, I completely understand. I will see if Angel might be able to swing by and help out with patrolling. I'm sure Willow and Xander at the least will want to help as well and maybe Tara and Anya as well. Is there anything you need?"
"Can you or Willow come over and get the keys," Buffy said. "So, one of you can watch the house while we're gone."
"I will come over this afternoon, Buffy," Giles answered. "And Buffy, just because you were adopted. Never think for a second that Joyce never loved you. I know she did."
"I know," Buffy said. "Thanks, Giles."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
"Harry Potter…" the face whispered.
Harry tried to take a step backward but his legs wouldn't move.
"See what I have become?" the face said. "Mere shadow and vapor….I have form only when I can share another's body…but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds…Unicorn blood has strengthened me, these past weeks…you saw faithful Quirrell drinking it for me in the forest…and once I have the Elixir of Life, I will be able to create a body of my own….Now…why don't you give me that Stone in your pocket?"
Feeling suddenly surged back into Harry's legs. He stumbled backward.
"Don't be a fool," snarled the face. "Better save your own life and join me… or you'll meet the same end as your parents. They died begging me for mercy…"
"LIAR!" Harry shouted suddenly.
Quirrell was walking backward at him, so that the face could still see him. The evil face was now smiling.
"How touching…" it hissed. "I always value bravery….Yes, boy, your parents were brave…I killed your father first; and he put up a courageous fight… but your mother needn't have died… she was trying to protect you… Now give me the Stone, unless you want your mom and sister to have died in vain."
"NEVER!"
Harry sprang toward the flame door, but the face screamed "SEIZE HIM!" and the next second, Harry felt Quirrell's hand close on his wrist. At once, a needle-sharp pain seared across a scar on Harry's head; he felt as though his head was about to split in two; he yelled, struggling with all his might, and to his surprise, Quirrell let go of him. The pain in his head lessened — he looked around wildly to see where Quirrell had gone, and saw him hunched in pain, looking at his fingers — they were blistering before his eyes.
"Seize him! SEIZE HIM!" shrieked the face again, and Quirrell lunged, knocking Harry clean off his feet landing on top of him, both hands around Harry's neck — Harry's scar was almost blinding him with pain, yet he could see Quirrell howling in agony.
"Master, I cannot hold him — my hands — my hands!"
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Dawn woke up screaming.
Buffy was next to her in an instant, "What's wrong, Dawnie?" she asked.
Dawn put her hand to the lightening scar on her forehead. It was screaming in pain. Neither she nor Buffy knew how she had even gotten the scar, she had always had it since she was very little. They had assumed it was likely just a birthmark. "I don't know. I had this weird dream, but I wasn't in it. It was like I was in someone else's dream, a boy named Harry. I think it may have been our brother."
"Why would you think that?" Buffy asked.
"His name was Harry Potter," Dawn answered.
"How could you dream about a brother we've never met?" Buffy wondered.
"I don't know, Buffy," Dawn said as the pain from the scar subsided. "But that's not the worst of it. I think your mom and dad are dead."
Buffy's jaw dropped.