I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or anything associated with it. It belongs to its creator Joss Whedon and whoever else owns it. This piece of literature is simply the work of a humble fan.

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:::Author Notes:::

This takes place during Season Four of Buffy. It's after the episode Restless (Where the First Slayer killed all of them in their dreams). For Harry Potter it takes place after the events of book five: Order of the Phoenix.

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I know that everyone uses Elizabeth as Buffy's real name. But Buffy's real name isn't Elizabeth. I repeat Buffy isn't short for Elizabeth. Her whole name is Buffy Anne Summers. Joss Whedon has even said it. It's even written on her tombstone at the end of 'The Gift'.

Thank you everyone who reviewed. I didn't expect that many! This is for all of you. ; )

Stars Not in Heaven

Chapter Two: Some Explanations

By: Mage

Buffy looked at Willow in confusion. "How can I be adopted. Mom never said anything. I don't understand. Willow help me understand," she said, frantically.

Willow wrapped her arms around Buffy giving her a hug. "Its alright Buffy. We'll help you get through this."

Buffy nodded wiping at the tear that fell from her eye. "I'm alright," she said, pulling away from the hug. She went to the phone and picked up the address book beside it. Buffy thumbed through the pages till she found what she was looking for.

"Who are you gonna call Buff?" asked Willow.

"Freakin' Ghostbusters," replied Buffy, smiling jokingly.

Willow laughed glad that Buffy was at least joking. She went to the corner of the room and made a phone call of her own. She called Xander and Giles and told them of the situation. They both promised to come right away. Buffy needed her friends to help her get through this.

Buffy felt like she was waiting forever listening to the phone ring. Finally, a female's voice came through the line. "Hello."

"Can I talk to Hank Summers," said Buffy, politely as could.

"Who is this?" asked the woman snidely.

Buffy felt her temper flare at the tone of her voice. "This is Buffy Summers. His daughter," she said through clenched teeth.

She heard the phone being shuffled around. "Hey Buffy," greeted Hank warmly. "It's been awhile hasn't it."

If her father were in front of her at the moment she would have thrown something at him. He didn't come to her mother's funeral or even acknowledge the fact that she died. Then he had the nerve to greet her on the phone as if they had a real father daughter relationship.

Buffy didn't feel like making small talk with him. She got right to the point. "Why didn't you ever tell me I was adopted?" she asked bluntly.

There was silence on the line for a moment. "We were going to tell you one day honey," he assured her.

"Tell me one day! What in the Nine Circles of Hell! Dad I'm nineteen years old and I'm just now finding out I'm adopted," she shouted. Buffy was squeezing the phone so hard she could hear it cracking under the pressure.

"Buffy please. We were going to tell you. Honestly."

She rolled her eyes. "Dad I want you to tell me the truth. When I was little and you and Mom would argue. I would hear my name sometimes. Why was that? Tell me the truth," she said seriously.

He hesitated for a second. "You want the truth. The truth is I wanted a boy, but your mother fell in love with you at first sight at the adoption agency. She wanted to bring you home and there was no changing her mind. That caused the many arguments we had."

Buffy had steeled herself, but the words still hurt to hear. She always had a feeling deep inside that her father hadn't wanted her. Now she knew why. "I found documents saying that you owe money for back child support payments and back alimony. Unless you want me to take you to court over this, I would suggest you pay up," she said coolly.

Hank sighed loudly. "I'll give you whatever you want. I may have wanted a boy, but you are still my daughter. I do love you Buffy. Don't blame yourself for the divorce. Me and your mother were never quite right for each other."

"Goodbye Dad," she said softly, hanging up the phone. She turned around and jumped seeing Giles, Xander, and Anya seated in the room. She wasn't surprised to see Anya sitting beside her boyfriend. The ex vengeance demon went everywhere Xander went and vice versa. Buffy looked at Willow questionably. The red head grinned and held up a cell phone.

"I guess you all know," said Buffy flatly.

Giles embraced her in a hug. She wrapped her arms around her Watcher feeling the tension melt away. If she had her friends here she could handle anything. Buffy smiled at them. "Thanks for coming guys."

"You know we will always be here for you Buff," replied Xander, giving her a reassuring smile.

She plopped down on the bed. "I feel like my life is a template for an episode of 90210. All I need is for Shannon Dorerthy to come out and bitch slap me. First I find out I'm the Slayer, I fall in love with a vampire that has a soul, my mother dies, Riley and me break up, and now I find that my parents are not my parents."

"Your life does suck," piped up Anya. She frowned as everyone focused their attention on her. "What? It does. If she had a man to give her many orgasms then may—"

Xander covered her mouth with his hand. He grinned at everyone sheepishly, "Feel free to ignore her."

They did precisely that. Giles turned to Buffy. "What are you planning on doing Buffy?"

Buffy shrugged. She didn't know what she should do. A small part of her wanted to just burn the papers and forget she ever found them. But there was a larger part of her screaming at her to get some answers. She wanted to know why her real parents didn't want her. Why did they give her up? Her curiosity won out of course. She could almost hear the small part of her repeat the old proverb; 'curiosity killed the cat'. That old saying wouldn't stop her. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

She looked at their faces determined. "I am going to find my parents."

Giles started to protest. "Buffy these are the people who gave you up."

"I know Giles. But I just want to know why. You know? How come they gave me up and why? I need to find out. Its important."

"If you want to find your parents. Me and Anya will help you," volunteered Xander. Anya started to ask will cash be involved, but Xander shushed her.

Willow nodded. "I'll help too Buffy. There's this great Internet search program we could use."

"I will help too," said Giles, although more reluctant than the others. He didn't want his Slayer to set herself up for even more hurt.

Buffy felt a grateful smile grace her face. "Thanks guys. It really means a lot." She handed the adoption papers to Willow. "It has their names and the name of the hospital I was born in. You can run the search with it."

Willow opened the documents and started laughing. She looked up at Buffy her eyes twinkling mischievously. "Buffy did you know you were born in Canterbury, England. That means your English."

"What! Get out. Really?" she said incredulously.

Xander nodding as if it confirmed something. "I always wondered why you stared at the G-man's tweed jackets. I used to think you stared because they were ugly. Now I see you really wanted to know if they had them in your size."

Buffy gaped. "Did not. My fashion sense is unquestionable."

Giles snorted. Buffy shot him a glare. "Don't you start."

"Let me see that!"

Everyone turned to the source of the shout. Anya had snatched the papers from Willow's hands. "Hey!" The redhead shouted. Xander was about to ask Anya what her problem was, but stopped when he saw the intense look on her face as she read Buffy's adoption papers. Anya looked up at Buffy with a disbelieving look.

"It can't be," she muttered, scrunching up her face.

Willow leaned over to Xander and whispered. "Didn't the little girl on the Exorcist act like this before she was possessed."

Anya gave Willow a withering glare. "I'm not a possessed. It says here that Buffy is the daughter of James Potter and Lily Evans."

Buffy looked at Anya with a questioning gaze. "We're all happy you can read Anya —"

The ex demoness shook her head in frustration. "You have no idea who your parents are do you?" she asked exasperated.

"Should I?"

Anya blew her breath out muttering about the stupidity of mortals. "Buffy you know there are almost two worlds on this Earth. The one that the humans see where everything is normal. And the one that we know about. The one filled with demons, magic, vampires, monsters, and slayers."

"We know all that Anya. What is your point honey?" said Xander.

"Let me finish Xander," she scolded. "There is a community that exists within the world we know about. It's composed solely of witches and wizards. They have their own magic schools, jobs, and homes that exist away from normal people."

"How come I've never heard of this magical community?" asked Willow, genially interested.

"Because your not one of them. They are very secretive. I know about the wizarding community because I was around when it was first being built. That was more than a thousand years ago."

Buffy turned to Giles. None of this had ever been brought up before. It sounded too far out there to be true. "Giles how is it we've never heard of this before."

Giles removed his glasses and wiped them with a handkerchief. He did it a lot when he people directly questioned him. "Well, what she is saying is true. There is a wizarding community. The Watchers Council has only very limited contact with them, so not much is known. They rather prefer to keep to themselves."

Buffy rolled her eyes. It was typical of Giles to keep something like this from them. He really needed to loosen up from his need to know policy. She looked back at Anya. "So, what does this have to do with my real parents."

Anya continued. "We'll there was this wizard who went really evil. He called himself Lord Voldemort. He gathered up followers to try and take over the world." A frown came over Anya's face. "He actually summoned up an army of demons and tried to talk us into serving him. Halfrek and me told him no flat out. We don't serve men…"

"Anya!"

"Oh right. So he started killing a lot of people. It got so bad that people were scared to even say his name. No one could stop him. About fifteen years ago he tried to kill a wizarding family who were hiding from him. He killed the father and mother. He tried to kill the couple's year old child but something unexpected happened. The curse he hit the child with rebounded off the child and hit him. It ripped him from his body and made him a mere shadow of his former self. The little boy is treated as a savior."

"What has this have to do with me again?" asked Buffy, not getting the point of the story.

Anya did something she never did before. She looked at Buffy with something akin to pity and sympathy. "The couple who that were killed names were James and Lily Potter."

Buffy lowered her head clenching her fists. Why did she give herself hope? She had never thought of the possibility of her parents dying. She wanted to mourn for them, but it was hard because she didn't even know them. She was saddened because she would never have the chance to know them. The rest of Anya's story sunk in.

"Wait a minute. Are you saying I have a brother?" asked Buffy, standing up pacing in the small space of the room.

"Yes. Harry Potter."

Xander held up his hands. "Whoa! Time out. If Buffy's parents were magicky, shouldn't Buffy be all Samantha Stevens too? And if they have magic schools how come Willow or Buffy never went to one."

Anya was getting tired of explaining things. But she knew that Xander would be mad at her if she just clamed up. "Yes, Buffy should be a witch. Her parents were both magical. I don't know why she never went to a magic school."

"Would the magic school be like a sort of like a go away school?" asked Buffy distantly.

Anya nodded. "That's right. There are only about forty in the whole world."

"I remember when I was about ten or eleven. My parents asked me if I wanted to go off to a special boarding school. I laughed at them and told them no," said Buffy faintly.

Anya may be blunt and strangely unsympathetic. But the girl was never wrong with the facts she gave. Even as strange as her story sounded she believed Anya. Being a witch was a bit much though. The more she thought about it however the more it made sense. It would explain why when she was slaying her weapon would be kicked far away, but she would find it lying near her when she truly needed it. Giles gave her a concerned look asking if she was alright. She nodded easing his worrying.

Willow crossed her arms. "Why wasn't I given the chance to go to a magic school. It would have been cool to have someone to actually teach me spells and stuff."

Anya was almost ready to leave. She was rather tired of being Anya Magical Encyclopedia. "You're a Wicca witch Willow. You borrow the magic around you and transform it to do spells. These witches and wizards use wands to channel the power that comes from within them."

Anya stopped talking as Buffy walked out of the room. They shared looks with each other collectively deciding to go and follow her. Buffy went into her closet and pulled out her suitcase. She began taking clothes and other items and placing them within the luggage in a rush.

"Buffy where are you going?" questioned Giles, wondering what had gotten into her.

She didn't stop packing or even look up. "I'm going to find my brother. Don't try and stop me. I'm doing this."

"You haven't even completely thought this over?" asked Xander. She didn't even respond, so he tried a different approach. "You don't even know where he is."

Buffy stopped mid step. Her face flushed in embarrassment. "Oh yeah. I kind of forgot about that."

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That's it for this chapter. I hope you all liked it as much as the first chapter. I don't know about pairings. I don't usually plan those out. If they happen they happen. You can send in suggestions.

If you have any questions put it in a review and write Answer in front of it. I will try my best to answer the question. = )

Friday, July 25, 2003