Harry Potter and The Key, Chapter 9 -- The Conclusion
By: PepperjackCandy
Disclaimer: All things Buffy are owned by Joss Whedon, Alien Enemy, 20th Century Fox, etc. The Harry Potter universe is owned by J.K. Rowling. I'm just putting them in the same bowl and mixing them up a bit. 8-)
Once again, SPOILER WARNING for those who haven't seen the first five seasons of Buffy or read the first four Harry Potter books.
A/N: Wow! Was that Season 6 premiere something??? And the return of Buffy was *nothing* like what I'm doing here. :whew!:
I know that Harry comes off a bit Wesley Crusheresque in this one, but I figure that he should come up with most of the solution, not because he's smarter than the rest, but because he has a fresher perspective than the others.
=========
The room exploded with denials and admonitions. Harry couldn't tell who was saying what, but he got the general impression that everyone in the room agreed that resurrection spells were a bad idea.
"Could everyone *please* calm down?" Harry asked.
Finally, they quieted.
"I didn't mean that I want to reanimate her." Harry explained. "That's Dark magic, and," he fixed Giles with a you of all people should know exactly what I mean look, "I wouldn't dare dabble in that.
"No. It's just that. . . well, I hope you don't mind that Dawn told me, you know, about the whole vengeance demon thing." He spoke to Anya.
Anya was a little flustered as she responded, "No problem."
"But how, exactly, did it work?"
"Well, a woman would be slighted, and I would open up a passageway to a timeline where her fondest wish came true. Of course, sometimes that wish turned into a nightmare, which is why I'm a demon, not an angel."
"And you'd send her to that timeline?"
Anya nodded. "What are you thinking?"
"Could you bring someone back from another timeline?"
Anya and Willow looked at each other. "Yes. Well, it's possible to bring someone from there. I never did it myself."
"What are you thinking, Harry?" Giles's tone indicated that he had a suspicion, and he didn't like what he was suspecting.
"Well, I was thinking that Anya could find a timeline where Buffy's job is done, but that she's still alive. Then we ask her to come here and be our Slayer."
"Can you do that?" Willow asked the vengeance demon.
Anya nodded. "Well, I could have. Back when I had my necklace. It both focused and boosted my power. Without it, I can sense other timelines, but not interact with them."
"What do you need in the way of a focus?" Giles asked.
"A gemstone, orb, crystal, something like that."
"Is there anything at the shop that you could use?" Giles asked.
She shook her head. "If there was, I would have used it and been out of here a long time ago." Belatedly she realized that wasn't the best thing to say and she added, "and I would have missed out on the adventure and friendship and romance," she kissed Xander, "that I've found here."
Xander looked unconvinced, so she kissed him again, longer this time. This seemed to placate him.
"Well, there's no time to order something from a supplier." Giles fretted as he started pacing.
"What about Diagon Alley?" Harry asked.
"Diagon Alley?" Anya asked.
"It's a street full of wizarding shops and the like - places where they sell wands, and spellbooks. . . ." He saw Willow's and Tara's eyes light up with excitement. "And we're not going to make a field trip of it. Anya and I will be going and coming straight back." He said pointedly to the two witches.
Giles felt his pockets and pulled out a wad of bills. "Does Gringott's change American Muggle money into wizarding money, do you know?" He asked Harry.
"If you don't know, I certainly don't."
"Right. Well, I'll just have to hope that they do. If not, well, we'll think of something."
Anya gave Xander a farewell kiss and then Anya and Giles left for his apartment, and the fireplace that was still hooked up to the Floo Network.
"How long do you think they'll be gone?" Willow asked.
Harry shrugged. "The Floo trip here from Hogwarts took about five minutes, but there's lots of shops on Diagon Alley. And some on Knockturn Alley, too, which is the other street of the wizarding district."
"So it could be anytime from ten minutes to several hours."
"Basically. Why don't you," he looked from Dawn, to Willow, to Tara, to Xander, and noticed that Spike had left the room at some point, "go and get some sleep. I slept last night. I think I can keep an eye out for Giles and Anya by myself."
Xander retired to Buffy's old room, and Willow and Tara took Joyce's. Dawn kissed Harry briefly on the lips and asked, "will you be all right?"
"Yeah. I'll just watch the telly for a while. We'll be sure to wake you up when they come home."
Yawning, Dawn went up the stairs to her own room.
Harry watched talk shows for a while, then a couple of soap operas, then more talk shows. Finally, Giles and Anya returned.
"Where is everyone?" Giles asked.
"Upstairs. I sent them all to get some sleep a few hours ago."
"Could you get them, please?" Giles seemed dismayed somehow.
Minutes later, the group was assembled in the living room and Giles began to speak. "Anya and I came up with a few . . . problems we hadn't foreseen before. First, the jewel we found will work to focus Anya's ability, but it won't provide enough power."
"Couldn't we do that somehow, Giles?" Harry asked.
The Watcher seemed intrigued. "How so?"
"Well, I mean we have two wizards and two witches here. There must be *some* way to lend that power to Anya, right?"
"Quite possible." Giles said, approvingly. "Now, the second problem is that I remembered that once the final vampire has been slain, the power of the Slayer will dissipate. It was a sort of failsafe to keep someone with that level of power from being at loose ends, as it were."
"So any Slayer whose job is done is just a normal person." Xander said.
"But what if we were to pull out a Buffy who's on her last vampire?" Willow asked. "We could send someone in that Buffy back while the vamp's still alive, and send someone in to take out that last vamp for her."
Everyone nodded, indicating that they agreed with Willow's plan.
Giles concluded, "And that would have to wait until after sundown. So, that gives us plenty of time to prepare for the ritual that will allow Anya to access our power."
A couple of hours after sunset, Anya sat in lotus position in the middle of a circle, holding a jewel in her hands. At each of the compass points on the circle sat Giles at due north, Willow at due east, Harry at due south and Tara at due west. Xander, Spike and Dawn sat outside the circle. The two witches and two wizards slowly fed magical energy into Anya, who sorted carefully through the timelines for exactly what she wanted.
Finally, as midnight approached, she called out. "I have it! A timeline with only one vampire left, and he and Buffy are about to have their final confrontation. The person who needs to talk to her is Tara!" And with that, Tara disappeared from her position in the circle.
~~~~~~
Tara walked through the dark cemetery, looking for Buffy. She's got to be here, Tara reassured herself. Anya's been doing this for more than a millenium. She couldn't possibly have sent me to the wrong timeline.
She heard a growl and turned to face a vampire in full vamp mode. Before she had time to respond, Buffy threw herself in between Tara and the vampire. "Run!" Buffy admonished her.
"No. I can't." Tara responded softly.
"What? Why not?"
"Because I've been sent to find you. I'm from a parallel . . . a parallel timeline and we've lost our Buffy and aren't getting another Slayer. We need you."
Buffy threw a flying kick at the vamp. "But I'm needed here."
"No. This is the last vampire in your timeline. If you agree to go, I'll stay behind and take care of her."
The vampire threw Buffy over a headstone. "You sure you can handle it?"
"Um, yeah. Pretty sure. Just leave me the stake."
Buffy handed the stake to Tara. "I hope you're telling me the truth."
"I am." Tara promised as the vampire came after her.
"All right. I'll go." With that, Buffy disappeared.
~~~~~~
Scant minutes after Tara had gone, Buffy appeared in the spot that Tara had vacated. She stood and looked around, a slightly disoriented expression on her face. Just as she stepped out of the circle, Tara returned, out of breath, with rents in her clothing.
Anya's eyes opened and suddenly the witch and two wizards found themselves freed from the joining spell. Willow ran to Tara's side. "Are you all right?" She asked, alternating between hugging Tara to herself and examining her partner for injuries.
"I'm fine." Tara assured her. "The vampire was just a little more than I was prepared for. See to Buffy."
Buffy stood in the center of her assembled friends, an expression of mingled horror and awe on her face. She slowly walked from one apparently-familiar face to the other.
"Xander?"
"Willow?"
"Giles?"
She stopped in front of Dawn and raised her hand to cup her face gently. "Dawnie?" She said softly, tears spilling from her eyes.
Then, without another word, Buffy ran from the house.
Dawn screamed, "Buffy!" and ran for the door, but Giles restrained her.
"Dawn! You can't go after her." He admonished her.
"But I have to! You saw! She recognized me. . . ." Dawn burst into tears in Giles's arms.
Giles went to talk to the others, gently passing the distraught Dawn into Harry's arms. Harry helped Dawn sit down and continued holding her, one ear on Giles's conversation with Willow and Xander.
"She obviously recognized us." Giles began.
"And something tells me we aren't exactly in the best of shape there, either." Xander responded.
"I think we shouldn't go after her."
"But, Giles, she's in distress!" Willow insisted.
"Yes. Tara?"
Tara joined them.
"Did Buffy seem distressed when you saw her in the other timeline?"
The blonde shook her head. "No."
"So it was probably seeing *us* that did it. I just can't shake the thought that it'd be best to let her adjust to the idea and come back to us in her own time."
"Or not." Willow said.
"Yes, or not, as the case may be. But remember, we brought her here, not for us, but for the world. If she chooses not to return, then that's her choice to make. Though I really hope she does return."
They stayed up all night waiting for Buffy to return, but she never did. As the sun began to rise, an owl from Dumbledore arrived bearing a note for Harry to return to Hogwarts immediately, and Harry knew that if he wanted indulgence from the headmaster in the future, he'd best not press him on this.
"Do you have to go?" Dawn asked as he packed up his bag.
Harry sighed. "You know I do."
"I know. I was just hoping the answer would be different this time."
Harry walked to Dawn and pulled her into a tight hug. "We'll still write, you know."
"Yeah, but it won't be the same."
"And maybe I can come back for a proper visit over the summer, like we'd planned. I might even be able to get you an invite to visit with some friends in England this summer."
Dawn's eyes sparkled. "Will you take me to Diagonally and everything?"
Harry chuckled. "Diagon Alley and we'll see. First I have to talk to the Weasleys about whether they'll have room for you. There are seven children in their family, you know."
Giles drove them back to his apartment, where Harry and Dawn exchanged one last hug and chaste kiss, then Harry took a pinch of Floo powder, pitched it into the fireplace, called out "Hogwarts," and was gone.
=========
A/N II: Well, that's it. I planned to go through the return of Buffy and then send Harry back to Hogwarts.
I know, you're asking "Will Buffy ever come home? What about the Third Task?" Well, there *will* be a sequel to this, probably entitled "Harry Potter and the Key II" which will be mostly Buffy and not so much Harry Potter, and if I can keep my own interest up enough, I'll round this out with "Harry Potter and the Key III" which will be mostly Harry Potter and not so much Buffy. At least, not that I can tell you about now. :maniacal laughter:
By: PepperjackCandy
Disclaimer: All things Buffy are owned by Joss Whedon, Alien Enemy, 20th Century Fox, etc. The Harry Potter universe is owned by J.K. Rowling. I'm just putting them in the same bowl and mixing them up a bit. 8-)
Once again, SPOILER WARNING for those who haven't seen the first five seasons of Buffy or read the first four Harry Potter books.
A/N: Wow! Was that Season 6 premiere something??? And the return of Buffy was *nothing* like what I'm doing here. :whew!:
I know that Harry comes off a bit Wesley Crusheresque in this one, but I figure that he should come up with most of the solution, not because he's smarter than the rest, but because he has a fresher perspective than the others.
=========
The room exploded with denials and admonitions. Harry couldn't tell who was saying what, but he got the general impression that everyone in the room agreed that resurrection spells were a bad idea.
"Could everyone *please* calm down?" Harry asked.
Finally, they quieted.
"I didn't mean that I want to reanimate her." Harry explained. "That's Dark magic, and," he fixed Giles with a you of all people should know exactly what I mean look, "I wouldn't dare dabble in that.
"No. It's just that. . . well, I hope you don't mind that Dawn told me, you know, about the whole vengeance demon thing." He spoke to Anya.
Anya was a little flustered as she responded, "No problem."
"But how, exactly, did it work?"
"Well, a woman would be slighted, and I would open up a passageway to a timeline where her fondest wish came true. Of course, sometimes that wish turned into a nightmare, which is why I'm a demon, not an angel."
"And you'd send her to that timeline?"
Anya nodded. "What are you thinking?"
"Could you bring someone back from another timeline?"
Anya and Willow looked at each other. "Yes. Well, it's possible to bring someone from there. I never did it myself."
"What are you thinking, Harry?" Giles's tone indicated that he had a suspicion, and he didn't like what he was suspecting.
"Well, I was thinking that Anya could find a timeline where Buffy's job is done, but that she's still alive. Then we ask her to come here and be our Slayer."
"Can you do that?" Willow asked the vengeance demon.
Anya nodded. "Well, I could have. Back when I had my necklace. It both focused and boosted my power. Without it, I can sense other timelines, but not interact with them."
"What do you need in the way of a focus?" Giles asked.
"A gemstone, orb, crystal, something like that."
"Is there anything at the shop that you could use?" Giles asked.
She shook her head. "If there was, I would have used it and been out of here a long time ago." Belatedly she realized that wasn't the best thing to say and she added, "and I would have missed out on the adventure and friendship and romance," she kissed Xander, "that I've found here."
Xander looked unconvinced, so she kissed him again, longer this time. This seemed to placate him.
"Well, there's no time to order something from a supplier." Giles fretted as he started pacing.
"What about Diagon Alley?" Harry asked.
"Diagon Alley?" Anya asked.
"It's a street full of wizarding shops and the like - places where they sell wands, and spellbooks. . . ." He saw Willow's and Tara's eyes light up with excitement. "And we're not going to make a field trip of it. Anya and I will be going and coming straight back." He said pointedly to the two witches.
Giles felt his pockets and pulled out a wad of bills. "Does Gringott's change American Muggle money into wizarding money, do you know?" He asked Harry.
"If you don't know, I certainly don't."
"Right. Well, I'll just have to hope that they do. If not, well, we'll think of something."
Anya gave Xander a farewell kiss and then Anya and Giles left for his apartment, and the fireplace that was still hooked up to the Floo Network.
"How long do you think they'll be gone?" Willow asked.
Harry shrugged. "The Floo trip here from Hogwarts took about five minutes, but there's lots of shops on Diagon Alley. And some on Knockturn Alley, too, which is the other street of the wizarding district."
"So it could be anytime from ten minutes to several hours."
"Basically. Why don't you," he looked from Dawn, to Willow, to Tara, to Xander, and noticed that Spike had left the room at some point, "go and get some sleep. I slept last night. I think I can keep an eye out for Giles and Anya by myself."
Xander retired to Buffy's old room, and Willow and Tara took Joyce's. Dawn kissed Harry briefly on the lips and asked, "will you be all right?"
"Yeah. I'll just watch the telly for a while. We'll be sure to wake you up when they come home."
Yawning, Dawn went up the stairs to her own room.
Harry watched talk shows for a while, then a couple of soap operas, then more talk shows. Finally, Giles and Anya returned.
"Where is everyone?" Giles asked.
"Upstairs. I sent them all to get some sleep a few hours ago."
"Could you get them, please?" Giles seemed dismayed somehow.
Minutes later, the group was assembled in the living room and Giles began to speak. "Anya and I came up with a few . . . problems we hadn't foreseen before. First, the jewel we found will work to focus Anya's ability, but it won't provide enough power."
"Couldn't we do that somehow, Giles?" Harry asked.
The Watcher seemed intrigued. "How so?"
"Well, I mean we have two wizards and two witches here. There must be *some* way to lend that power to Anya, right?"
"Quite possible." Giles said, approvingly. "Now, the second problem is that I remembered that once the final vampire has been slain, the power of the Slayer will dissipate. It was a sort of failsafe to keep someone with that level of power from being at loose ends, as it were."
"So any Slayer whose job is done is just a normal person." Xander said.
"But what if we were to pull out a Buffy who's on her last vampire?" Willow asked. "We could send someone in that Buffy back while the vamp's still alive, and send someone in to take out that last vamp for her."
Everyone nodded, indicating that they agreed with Willow's plan.
Giles concluded, "And that would have to wait until after sundown. So, that gives us plenty of time to prepare for the ritual that will allow Anya to access our power."
A couple of hours after sunset, Anya sat in lotus position in the middle of a circle, holding a jewel in her hands. At each of the compass points on the circle sat Giles at due north, Willow at due east, Harry at due south and Tara at due west. Xander, Spike and Dawn sat outside the circle. The two witches and two wizards slowly fed magical energy into Anya, who sorted carefully through the timelines for exactly what she wanted.
Finally, as midnight approached, she called out. "I have it! A timeline with only one vampire left, and he and Buffy are about to have their final confrontation. The person who needs to talk to her is Tara!" And with that, Tara disappeared from her position in the circle.
~~~~~~
Tara walked through the dark cemetery, looking for Buffy. She's got to be here, Tara reassured herself. Anya's been doing this for more than a millenium. She couldn't possibly have sent me to the wrong timeline.
She heard a growl and turned to face a vampire in full vamp mode. Before she had time to respond, Buffy threw herself in between Tara and the vampire. "Run!" Buffy admonished her.
"No. I can't." Tara responded softly.
"What? Why not?"
"Because I've been sent to find you. I'm from a parallel . . . a parallel timeline and we've lost our Buffy and aren't getting another Slayer. We need you."
Buffy threw a flying kick at the vamp. "But I'm needed here."
"No. This is the last vampire in your timeline. If you agree to go, I'll stay behind and take care of her."
The vampire threw Buffy over a headstone. "You sure you can handle it?"
"Um, yeah. Pretty sure. Just leave me the stake."
Buffy handed the stake to Tara. "I hope you're telling me the truth."
"I am." Tara promised as the vampire came after her.
"All right. I'll go." With that, Buffy disappeared.
~~~~~~
Scant minutes after Tara had gone, Buffy appeared in the spot that Tara had vacated. She stood and looked around, a slightly disoriented expression on her face. Just as she stepped out of the circle, Tara returned, out of breath, with rents in her clothing.
Anya's eyes opened and suddenly the witch and two wizards found themselves freed from the joining spell. Willow ran to Tara's side. "Are you all right?" She asked, alternating between hugging Tara to herself and examining her partner for injuries.
"I'm fine." Tara assured her. "The vampire was just a little more than I was prepared for. See to Buffy."
Buffy stood in the center of her assembled friends, an expression of mingled horror and awe on her face. She slowly walked from one apparently-familiar face to the other.
"Xander?"
"Willow?"
"Giles?"
She stopped in front of Dawn and raised her hand to cup her face gently. "Dawnie?" She said softly, tears spilling from her eyes.
Then, without another word, Buffy ran from the house.
Dawn screamed, "Buffy!" and ran for the door, but Giles restrained her.
"Dawn! You can't go after her." He admonished her.
"But I have to! You saw! She recognized me. . . ." Dawn burst into tears in Giles's arms.
Giles went to talk to the others, gently passing the distraught Dawn into Harry's arms. Harry helped Dawn sit down and continued holding her, one ear on Giles's conversation with Willow and Xander.
"She obviously recognized us." Giles began.
"And something tells me we aren't exactly in the best of shape there, either." Xander responded.
"I think we shouldn't go after her."
"But, Giles, she's in distress!" Willow insisted.
"Yes. Tara?"
Tara joined them.
"Did Buffy seem distressed when you saw her in the other timeline?"
The blonde shook her head. "No."
"So it was probably seeing *us* that did it. I just can't shake the thought that it'd be best to let her adjust to the idea and come back to us in her own time."
"Or not." Willow said.
"Yes, or not, as the case may be. But remember, we brought her here, not for us, but for the world. If she chooses not to return, then that's her choice to make. Though I really hope she does return."
They stayed up all night waiting for Buffy to return, but she never did. As the sun began to rise, an owl from Dumbledore arrived bearing a note for Harry to return to Hogwarts immediately, and Harry knew that if he wanted indulgence from the headmaster in the future, he'd best not press him on this.
"Do you have to go?" Dawn asked as he packed up his bag.
Harry sighed. "You know I do."
"I know. I was just hoping the answer would be different this time."
Harry walked to Dawn and pulled her into a tight hug. "We'll still write, you know."
"Yeah, but it won't be the same."
"And maybe I can come back for a proper visit over the summer, like we'd planned. I might even be able to get you an invite to visit with some friends in England this summer."
Dawn's eyes sparkled. "Will you take me to Diagonally and everything?"
Harry chuckled. "Diagon Alley and we'll see. First I have to talk to the Weasleys about whether they'll have room for you. There are seven children in their family, you know."
Giles drove them back to his apartment, where Harry and Dawn exchanged one last hug and chaste kiss, then Harry took a pinch of Floo powder, pitched it into the fireplace, called out "Hogwarts," and was gone.
=========
A/N II: Well, that's it. I planned to go through the return of Buffy and then send Harry back to Hogwarts.
I know, you're asking "Will Buffy ever come home? What about the Third Task?" Well, there *will* be a sequel to this, probably entitled "Harry Potter and the Key II" which will be mostly Buffy and not so much Harry Potter, and if I can keep my own interest up enough, I'll round this out with "Harry Potter and the Key III" which will be mostly Harry Potter and not so much Buffy. At least, not that I can tell you about now. :maniacal laughter: