Timeline Harry Potter - after Order of the Phoenix. Buffy the Vampire Slayer - after Chosen.
Disclaimer None of these characters belong to me. All Harry Potter related characters, settings etc belong to JK Rowling; all BtVS characters etc belong to Joss Whedon.
Author's Note This really should have been before Chapter Five, but it doesn't affect the story greatly, so I've just added it in here.
Author's Note ii Sorry that this update took so long. Updates should be more frequent as I now have about eight further chapters written. Thank you to everyone who reviewed.
Harry sat on his bed, propped up against the headboard. He was the only one in the room, so did not bother to draw the drapes. Instead he sat holding a snitch in his hand, releasing it then catching it again, over and over, as he stared off into space. He was faintly aware of who he reminded himself of: his father, as he had seen in Snape's Pensieve, playing easily with the snitch.
However, thoughts of James Potter only led to thoughts of Sirius Black. Harry's summer had passed in a numb daze, from the first day to the last. Moody's warning had obviously still been resonating in the ears of the Dursleys, who had avoided Harry like the plague. He was thankful for small mercies though.
For their part, Ron and Hermione had kept in regular contact with him, although neither really knew what to say to ease the sharp pain of Sirius' death. His listless replies to their letters had worried both of his dearest friends no end, but they persevered, desperate not to repeat the previous summer's drama.
Now Harry's thoughts turned to Lord Voldemort. Worryingly, there had been, from Harry's point of view, very little activity where the Dark Lord was concerned. He had no idea what the Order of the Phoenix was doing, and he could barely bring himself to care. Sirius was dead, and it was that which consumed him - particularly his guilt at his role in Sirius' death. Part of him, the rational part, knew that his godfather would have come to the Ministry anyway, but ...
There was anger, too, at Bellatrix Lestrange. Thinking of her laugh as she killed Sirius and her cold mirth at Harry's failed attempt to hurt her made his blood boil. But he pushed his anger deep down inside, because it would not help Sirius now. Nothing could.
Harry returned to idly releasing and catching the snitch. Ron came in at a that point, interrupting his thoughts. Harry studied his best friend's face briefly as he approached his own bed, checking for any sign of apprehension at being alone in the same room as Harry. There was none, and Harry felt a slight weight being lifted - after the events of the previous term, some people treated Harry as though he were swaddled in cottonwool, but neither Ron nor Hermione had treated him like this, and so Harry liked it best when it was just the three of them. Speaking of which -
"What d'you reckon's the matter with Hermione?" Ron asked, puzzled. "She won't talk about what Dumbledore wanted the other day, and I think she's avoiding us."
Nodding, Harry puzzled this over too. He was sure it had something to do with his dream, which he had told neither of his friends about.
"I asked her just there and she got really grumpy and stomped off to the library." Ron sighed. "Women." Harry laughed, but at the back of his mind, he couldn't help but worry and wonder about Hermione, and his dream.