The Invasion of Buffyverse: Chapter Three
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Buffy sat down on her bed and sighed.
What could she possibly have in her closet chic enough to bring to England?
As she got up and started towards her closet, she had another thought.
Who was going to take care of the Hellmouth demon sitch if the entire Scooby Gang was away?
Just then, there was a sound from downstairs, the ringing of the doorbell.
She started down the stairs to see that Harry was sitting on the couch in the living room and Dawn was at the door, talking to a girl with big brown eyes and long, strawberry blonde hair. The girl was tall and looked about the same age as her sister.
"Hey," Buffy said, starting down the stairs.
Dawn looked up at her "Buffy, this is Emma. She's from school, she came here about three months ago."
"Hey." Emma said, and Buffy smiled at her, then raised her eyebrows to Dawn.
"Oh, Emma, I'll introduce you to..." she faltered, " Harry."she suddenly was going as white as a sheet.
"Oh, alright." Emma said, smoothing her tight shirt. Buffy realized that she had a rather different voice, an English accent.
When Dawn led Emma into the living room, Harry sprang to his feet, and his mouth dropped open.
"Harry?!" Emma whispered in awe, looking as though she was about to faint.
"Her~" Harry started, his eyes just as wide.
"Emma, this is~"
"Oh, Dawn, I know who it is." Emma said miserably, and Dawn looked confused.
"You know that this is Harry Potter?"
"Of course I know."
"Hermione, what are you doing here?" Harry asked bluntly, and the room went silent.
Then Buffy spoke, "Am I the only one here who seems to not know what's going on?"
Dawn seemed to be speechless.
Once she found her voice, she spluttered, "Hermione? Harry, why would you call Emma Hermione?"
Harry stared at Emma, hard. She was staring at the floor and wringing her hands. Something was not quite right, Buffy sensed.
"She is Hermione. Hermione Granger. She...she's been gone from Hogwarts for three months~" said Harry, his voice suddenly very sad and confused.
"No, Harry. I am not Hermione. Not anymore." Emma said, finally meeting his emerald eyes.
"What do you mean, not anymore?" whispered Dawn, looking at her friend as though she had three heads.
"I...no matter what my past is, I am not anything but Emma now." Emma finally said, and Harry opened his mouth to speak.
"No." she said simply, and he shut up.
"Look, Emma~" Buffy began.
"I'm going home." she declared, and turned on her heel to leave when-
"Hermione!" Harry called, and she turned around once more, tears flowing freely down her cheeks.
"No, Harry! No! Not Hermione! Not anymore, it's Emma now! Emma! Do you hear me? Emma! The old me is gone, Harry!" she shouted, trying to wipe her damp face.
"Why?" he said simply, "Why did you leave us? Why, without any note, anything? We thought you kidnapped, hurt...dead even. We didn't know anything, Hermione. Why didn't you tell us you were leaving?"
"You would have talked me out of it, that's why. And it's not Hermione."
"Yes, it is. You can never change so much as to not be the girl that had a loving family, and loving friends. Not to mention a loving boyfriend."
Dawn suddenly looked very uneasy.
"You left a boyfriend, Em?"
Hermione's eyes were flooding now, and she sat down on the couch, head in her hands.
"I did."
"Was it...."
"It was Ron, Dawn."
"Oh, Em. Why? Why would you do such a thing?"
There was silence for a moment, then they heard Emma-or rather, Hermione- give a racking sob.
"Do you want to know why I left England, and magic and love? Do you truly want to know? Dawn? Harry?"
"Yes." Harry said, sitting beside her.
She turned to him, her eyes suddenly ablaze.
"My parents," she started, pronouncing every syllable with more rage than the next, "died, Harry. They died. You want to know how? They weren't murdered, or drowned, or killed by anything painful. They were killed by the bite of an undead. They were killed by something that had been killed. They were made into creatures of the night, they became zombies that sucked the life out of innocent victims. Do you know how it feels, Harry, to wake up in the middle of the night after saying goodnight to your mother and father, dentists for goodness sakes, to see them hovering over you, fangs exposed and yellow eyes? Do you have any idea what terror, pain, fear is? Have you gone through anything as bad as I have in the past few months? Do you understand? You're the boy who lived but I knew even you wouldn't understand. You go to bed every night knowing that you're parents are at rest, that they're watching over you. I go to bed, knowing I'll have the same dream I've had for the past three months. That I'll wake up to see them hovering over me again, waiting to turn me, their only daughter, into a creature as horrible and loathsome as themselves. I go to bed wondering what they're doing at this moment. Striking horror into how many hearts? Sipping how many's blood? Killing how many tonight? Do you have any idea?" she hissed, watching the faces of the three people in the room.
Buffy was as white as a ghost, and Dawn was staring at the girl with wide eyes.
Harry looked down at his hands.
"I'm sorry, Hermione."
"That doesn't make it better, Harry. I decided that I'm done with that world. Done with all of it. I knew of a thing called a Slayer. I wanted to know it. I wanted to feel it. I wanted to do it. Dawn, why do you think that I even came to school? I live alone, illegally, without magic, without anything. I just had to know that I was in the town that all that evil crap would be killed. I moved to the Hellmouth for a reason. That's it. I knew Buffy was the Slayer as soon as I saw her. And I knew that I needed to stay close to her. I watched her patrol, hunt, fight, kill. I've killed a few so far too. I always carry a stake. I'm here to avenge my parent's death, and to me, that means killing every single one of those creatures. It's their fault that I'm an orphan, living alone in a country that I don't belong in. And they know it, too. They know exactly what I'm up to. They've taunted me about it, which is good. I get more ammo, they die faster. It's quite the rush."
"You've watched me? You've killed vamps? You could be killed!" Buffy gasped, but Hermione waved it off, "I don't care. Better to be killed than turned, and they wouldn't be able to turn me unless I begged for it. I would never."
Harry started to speak, "Herm, we're all going to England. Why don't you come with us? You have to get back to Hogwarts, as do I."
Hermione started to shake her head, but when she saw the faces staring at her, she just sighed.
"Why? There's nothing left for me there."
"There's me. There's Ron. There's everything. That's where you belong, Hermione. You and I both know it."
Finally, Hermione surrendered.
"How are we going to get the cash to get her there?" Dawn wondered aloud, but Hermione shook it off.
"Here, the Appirition Age is much lower. I'm allowed here, don't worry. I got tested when I got here, it was the only skill I wanted to have, just in case I got in a spot of trouble during that hunting."
Buffy nodded thoughtfully, "That would be helpful..."
"Look, Giles booked the tickets last night. The flight leaves in five days. You pack up your stuff and be ready, you wait for us to call once we've arrived and appear at the Airport in London, ok?" Dawn said, and Hermione agreed.
Just then, there was another knock at the door. Buffy opened it to see Spike.
He smiled at her and looked over at the still white faced Dawn, the blank Harry and the tear stained Hermione, then gave a quizzical look Buffy's way.
She merely smiled and took his hand into the kitchen.
"Long story." she said when he sat down, "So, you all packed?"
"Yeah...but where am I going to stay while we're in the old hometown? I mean, hotels with windows are a no-go." he raised his eyebrows, but just then the rest entered the kitchen.
"You all can stay at Hogwarts, I'm pretty sure. It's not as though you're really Muggles." said Harry thoughtfully.
"Non-magic folk" Dawn translated, and Buffy started to smile.
This trip was starting to sound very, very complicated. She couldn't wait.
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A/N: I just wanted to say that I promise they'll be on the plane next chapter! I just had to put this part in, it came to me when I was watching an old Buffy, Grad P2. I don't know why. LOL thanks for the feedback, be back with the newest chapter soon!