Disclaimer: Joss Whedon owns BtVS and Ats, and J. K. Rowling owns Harry Potter

Email: angel_of_ice19@hotmail.com

Rating: PG-13

Summary: The Scooby Gang is off to Hogwarts to help teach. Crossover with Ats and Harry Potter.

A/N: Please review or send any comments or flames to my email above :) Words inside * are what the characters are thinking, and ***( )*** is someone having a vision. ~*~ is a letter. Bear with me on the symbols, it doesn't let me do italics :)

A/N2: Thank you to everyone who reviewed, I can't believe I actually have 58 reviews!!!! To everyone who hasn't, come on R&R!!!

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Real Battle

Dawn woke with a start when her hand felt something sharp under her pillow. "Ow," She mumbled, turning the light next to her bed on. She moved her pillow aside, fumbling with the object. "A letter," She realized. She opened it.

~Dear Dawn,

I'm hoping that you're not reading this, if you are then it's probably morning and that means I'm not back yet.~

Dawn looked outside. "Doesn't look like morning," She grumbled.

~We went to go find Cordelia, Angel, and Giles. Voldemort, that wizarding Big Bad, he's got them at a camp. Now if you're reading this, either the fight's just taking a really long time, or I didn't make it.~

Dawn woke up immediately. "Buffy," She whispered.

~I'm hoping to make it, but if I don't Dawn...if I don't...don't bring me back. Don't let them bring me back to life. The hardest thing in this world, is to live in it, especially after you've lived in a perfect place. I can't risk losing that again, I don't know if I could take losing that again.~

Dawn felt a tear go down her cheek. Buffy talked as if she were already dead.

~Dawn, I love you, I always will. You're my sister, key or no key. Be strong, keep loving. Never stop loving. Gotta go fight the good fight now.

Love

Buffy~

Dawn clutched the letter in her hands. She didn't know whether to scream, cry, or both. Get up! She screamed in her mind. She quickly got dressed, in her normal, non-wizarding clothes. Why is it that Buffy has to die all the time? Why can't someone else die besides my family? Dawn wondered. She was just about to slip out, to find someone who could help her, when a loud crash was heard, and the castle shook.

The girls screamed, and Dawn told them to be quiet. They quickly got dressed, while Dawn looked out the window. She froze, muttering, "Holy Shit," under her breath.

Out on the lawn, were dark wizards, demons, dementors, and dragons.

* * *

"Harry, go 'way, it's still dark outside!" Ron protested.

"Ron! Voldemort's here!" Harry shouted.

"He's what?" Ron bolted up, quickly changing into clothes. "We've got the Slayer, and the teachers, we'll be alright!" Ron insisted, as they joined all the other Gryffindors in the common room.

"No, we don't," Dawn said over everyone. The students all froze. "Buffy's gone, they're all gone," She said, looking away.

"Where'd they go?" Lavender schreeched. "We're all gonna die, I'm going to die a virgin!"

"Shut up you twit!" Fred snapped. "Dawn, where's the teachers?"

"I'm going with decoy. They went to battle him, but he wasn't there. Some camp or something. I don't understand," She said to herself.

"Understand what? We've known Voldemort's been on the rise for a while now," George said. "We'll just have to give it everything we've got, and-"

"No, I mean he's early. They're never early," Dawn argued.

"What do you mean he's early?" Hermione asked. "You knew he was coming?"

"It was in a prophecy, Giles found it in the library. It said he wasn't supposed to come for two more days! Big Bads always wait for the moment, the right moment. Not one of them has EVER done it early! Is there some British rule, where it's done early?" Dawn was getting hysterical. "Even Glory waited, and she was a friggin hell god! I don't get it, it just doesn't make any sense," She threw up her hands, and then stared at them.

"You knew that Voldemort was coming?" Harry said, stunned. "And you didn't tell us..."

"I couldn't tell you," Dawn argued. "The Scoobies told me not to. Dumbledore told us not to. Would it help to have the school panicking, like I'm panicking?" She asked. "No, not until the last minute. Trust me, I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't-" She said, her eyes staring at her hands.

Harry spun on his heel, returning to his room to get his cloak. It was gone however. He rushed back to the commen room, to find Dawn missing.

"Where'd she go?" He asked Ron.

"I dunno, I just took my eyes off her for a second, and she dissappeared," Ron looked at him.

"She's got my cloak," Harry said through clenched teeth.

"You don't recken she went to fight You-Know-Who?" Ron asked.

"I recken."

* * *

Dawn liked being invisible. She walked down the corridors. She was going to find Dumbledore, and find out where her sister was.

* * *

Dumbledore's office was filled with demons. Sweet, the singing demon, was talking to a few vengence demons, discussing more entertaining ways of torturing their victims.

Faith was making her way through the crowd. "Hey, where's Buffy?" She asked Dumbledore, who was holding Conner.

Dumbledore cleared his throat, silencing the conversations going on. "It appears that Miss Summers and her friends have gotten tricked into a decoy battle. We are under attack."

"Gramps, you might want a little more inspirational speech," Faith winked at him. "Kay listen up all you horned fellows! We all came, to kick some ass right?" She shouted.

"Right!" All the demons shouted back.

"Now I didn't come all the way from L.A. to sit in an office, and wait for Buffy to show up! Come on, we're all supernatural beings, we don't need the super friends on this! I didn't act good in prison to get cut out of the deal now. So let's go out there, and give em a good fight! Any demon who kicks more dark wizard ass than me, I'll buy you a round of butterbeer if we live through it!"

The demons all shouted their agreement, and Faith winked at Dumbledore, as they ran through the castle, to join the fight.

* * *

Dawn slipped into Dumbledore's office, hoping to catch him alone. He sat at his desk, feeding Conner a bottle of milk.

"Hello Miss Summers," Dumbledore said, not looking up.

Dawn took off the cloak. "I'm the Key," She announced.

"I know that Miss Summers," Dumbledore answered calmly.

"I'm guessing you know more about me than I do?" Dawn asked.

"That would be correct," Dumbledore replied.

"So you wanna let me know what some of my powers are so I can help fight this guy?" Dawn asked.

"How long have you been alive Miss Summers?" Dumbledore asked, finally meeting her gaze.

"Supposed to be alive? Fifteen years. Actually alive, two years," She informed him.

"Fifteen years Miss Summers. If you were alive to those around you, then you were indeed alive."

"Well those were just memories, not real," Dawn reminded him.

"Besides opening hell portals, do you know what you can do?" He asked.

"I wouldn't be here if I did."

Dumbledore chuckled. "Alright. You Miss Summers, can do magic."

Dawn stared at him. "And...blow up cars?" She asked.

"That is magic Miss Summers. However, you've only been alive fifteen years, so I'm suggesting that you take my advice," He stood up, and handed Conner to her. "This boy Miss Summers, he will do a great many things. He is alive, and yet not born, like yourself. He will do a great many things in his day, you have my word on that. Now my advice to you, is to take this child, and protect him. For as the Key, you'll be able to do that. Protect this child, love him, keep yourselves alive.

"Let the 'Gramps' do the fighting, along with the demons and that Slayer, Faith. Stay in my office, protecting him, protecting yourself. Your sister is still alive, and on her way, we may win this fight yet," Dumbledore put on his pointed wizarding hat, and left.

"I better be getting paid five bucks an hour for this!" Dawn remarked, as Conner began to cry.

* * *

Harry would go to Dumbledore, he would know where Dawn went. He said the password to Dumbledore's office, which happened to be 'Chocolate Frogs', and opened to door to find Dawn rocking a child.

"Harry!" She exclaimed. "Look, I'm sorry I took your cloak, it's there on the chair," She said, rocking Conner softly.

Harry moved to get his cloak from the chair. He turned to leave.

"Don't tell me you're gonna go fight Voldemort?" Dawn said to his retreating figure.

"Why, have another prophecy you care to share?" Harry replied sarcastically.

"That's not fair. Haven't you ever known something that you wanted to tell someone, but didn't because you knew it was for their own good?" She asked. "Don't tell me you haven't."

Harry froze. "I tell my friends," He said.

"And if your friend told you a secret, one you couldn't tell, what would you do?" Dawn asked him.

"That's not fair, this is different," Harry argued.

"How?"

"It's to do with the guy who killed my parents!" Harry shouted.

"And my sister can handle it. She's the Slayer, she's handled it before," Dawn's eyes seemed to cloud over.

"With Glory?" Harry asked, deciding to turn the tables. "Glory killed your sister, and then you all brought her back, didn't you?" Harry asked.

"No, Glory didn't kill Buffy," Dawn looked him in the eyes. "You wanna know what did? You wanna know a secret?" Dawn asked.

"How'd Buffy die then?" Harry challenged.

"See Harry I'm not real. Or, I didn't used to be. I'm energy, a key, I open up a hell portals, that can destroy the entire universe. These monks, who looked after me for centuries? They turned me, this energy into the shape of a human. They made me out of Buffy's blood, in the form of her sister. Wanna know how old I am? As the key...I'm older than any living thing on this planet. As a human, I'm two. That's right, two years is all I've really been alive.

"They made memories, so everyone thinks I've been around for fifteen years. They all know that I'm not really Buffy's sister, but to them I am. See, Glory was a hell god bent on getting home, to her hell dimension. She found out I was the key, and was going to bleed me so she could get home.

"After the portal was opened, Buffy came up, I was going to jump. The only way to close the portal after all, was to kill me. But Buffy figured something out. I was made from HER blood, so if she jumped, then it would still close. And that's what she did. After beating Glory to a bloody pulp, Buffy jumped off the tower, into the portal, killing herself, and closing it.

"So that's all I am really. A key without a lock to fit in. But you wanna know something? My sister, she's strong, she'll make it. She's not going to die again."

Harry stared at Dawn, all the pieces of the puzzle fitting together. He did the only thing he could think of, and closed the gap between them, surprising her with a kiss.

* * *