Worlds Wrought & Ruined

Chapter 6: From a certain point of view

Spoilers: Buffy Season 7; Angel Season 4; Harry Potter, Books 1 thru 5

Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all associated characters, settings, etc., belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, UPN, etc. Harry Potter and all associated characters, setting, props, etc., belong to J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Inc., etc. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks to my brilliant Beta Lady Lestrange. Lady L Rocks!

More thanks to my fellows at The_Seers_Truth group for reading.

And Benjis VIP, miz, a reader, Jedi Buttercup, Trillium, SygirlVALOR, xmag, Usakura, WITCH WERE, & eth – thanks for all reviewing – it is definitely sisshauss*. Responses to reviews are at the end.

* This word is from Lady L's epic "The Seers' Truth" ~ I highly suggest it as great reading.

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from Chapter 5...

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"Dru, Minerva is upset because she believes you killed their Potions Master."

"Did I?"

"The Potions Master is the dark haired man we asked you about."

"Oh," she said and then paused. "Then I did. Why is she upset?"

Connor just stared at Drusilla, horrified. She had seemed coherent, polite and even nice; it had almost made Connor forget that she was a cold-blooded killer. Almost.

Angel started to growl, but stopped when it only made the nervous woman even more nervous. Spike didn't stop; his eyes changed to yellow as he growled loudly into Drusilla's face, "Damn it Dru—did you have to kill him?!!?"

Drusilla didn't seem perturbed at all by Spike's ire and nodded, calmly saying, "Yes, I did—the stars told me I had to kill him, My Snake, or else he would die."

Her calm attitude irked Connor, wanting her to have some emotion after so casually taking a man's life. Angrily, he spat, "Drusilla, that makes no sense—killing him to keep him from dying?!"

Angel laughed hollowly at this, still holding the teacher who had been joined by another person on her other side, and said sadly, "Dru listens to the stars—does that make sense?" Angel continued grimly, "Why would you expect that anything she does would make sense?"

Continued in...

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Chapter 6

From a Certain Point of View

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Time:           Immediately following

Location:     Edge of the Forbidden Forest, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

                     Scotland UK

~@~@~@~

Spike thought on Drusilla's comment, about the stars telling her to do it. 'Listening to the Stars' was Dru's way of saying she had had a vision. Visions similar to what he regularly had now.

"Sometimes it does make sense to listen to the stars," he murmured to himself and Drusilla nodded in agreement, evidently hearing him. Spike raised his voice and asked seriously, "They are talking to you, aren't they Dru?" She nodded again.

Connor looked to Spike, confused and angry, "What are you going on about talking stars? We should be taking care of the vampire!" He made to advance on Drusilla, but was stopped by a brace held against his legs. He looked questioningly at Spike, who was balancing precariously on his good leg, and asked, "Uncle, wha—?"

"Connor, be quiet! When Dru talks about the stars talking to her or telling her what to do, it usually means she has had a vision. What I want to know is what the stars are saying. A little patience, alright?" he asked, looking into the young mans eyes. Once Connor nodded, Spike lowered his brace.

Then Spike turned his eyes back to Drusilla, her eyes calmly staring back at him. "Dru, what are the stars saying?"

Her face tightened and a small frown appeared as she said seriously, "A great war is coming—if we do not choose sides, it will trample us."

Spike cocked his head to the side, the word 'trample' connecting with something she had said before. What had she said—the magic men wanted to kill all of Darla's family and if we didn't stop them, they would trample us. Family to Drusilla always meant their bloodline, her Grand-mummy, her Daddy, her Little Brother, her Sweet William, her Snake—wait—she had said Her Snake. Oh dear lord.

"Dru, the ones that will trample us, are they the same magic men that want to kill all of Darla's family?" Her eyes lit up. That's a yes.

"Yes, the same—they will trample us. Only now, we have no choice. Our side has been chosen for us—now we must join or be trampled," she said very seriously.

"Our side has been chosen—how?" Spike persisted.

"What side?" Angel asked suspiciously.

"Join who?" Connor also queried.

Spike absently noticed that the witches and wizards remained silent. As if they knew exactly what Drusilla was talking about. He scowled at that thought.

She ignored all three of them, starting to sway with the wind, raising her face to the night sky, eyes closed serenely.

"Bloody great," Spike mumbled in irritation of being ignored and then tried another tact. "What else did the stars say Dru?"

She started humming, seeming to not hear him. Spike ran a hand over his face, frustrated. His headache was coming back full force. He was about to turn away when Dru spoke, eyes still closed.

"That the war has spilled into other things—our world! It cannot be undone. A new world has been wrought – we have no choice but to walk in it or be trampled."

Alarmed, Spike yelled, "War—what war?!"

"Walk in it? That doesn't mean we have to stay, does it?" Connor put forth plaintively. Spike groaned at the thought. He did not want to spend any more time here than necessary, especially with the prospect of an unknown war, but he had a feeling that Connor may be right.

Minerva, while the LA group asked questions, wrestled out of Lupin's arm and stalked up to the insane vampire, getting in Drusilla's face. The vampire opened her eyes and looked at the irate teacher. Angrily Minerva spat, "So you kill one of our kind, one of our best allies, in revenge for someone, definitely not us, pulling you into our world?!"

Drusilla, ignoring the irate witch in her face, took a step back and calmly said, "No, not for revenge, for hope. He had to die to live—to survive what is coming."

Minerva scowled, one that would have made Severus proud, at the vampire and crossed her arms over her chest, intending not to move until she received an answer that made some semblance of sense.

"What is coming?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

Before Drusilla has a chance to answer the Headmaster's question, Lupin stepped forward. "Enough riddles, where is Severus' body Vampire?" The werewolf said loudly, fluidly drawing and aiming his wand at her.

Drusilla stared blankly at Lupin, ignoring his wand. "Severus?" she asked perplexed, her head tilting in question. Spike answered her.

"Your Snake Dru."

"Oh, My Snake," she responded in realization. She then fixed her gaze sternly on Lupin's face, lightly batting his wand away, and stated in a firm voice that brooked no arguments, "I will not tell you." She stubbornly continued, "He needs to sleep."

"Drusilla—" Angel started alarmingly, but Spike waved him away. Angel glared at him and he merely shrugged.

"What done is done and cannot be undone. Who knows, maybe Dru is right and it is for the best," he said resignedly.

Remus whirled on the Seer, his voice low as he tried to reign in his animalistic rage at being ignored, but a growl escaped as he said tersely, "For the Best—Severus being dead is for the best?!" He turned back toward to Drusilla, his rage unabated, and demanded, "The body—"

"I wouldn't—" Spike tried to stop him, but he kept going.

"Where—Is—It?" Remus growled.

She scowled, her face shifting, and she growled back, "You will not disturb my new Childe—he is grumpy enough without being prematurely wakened. He must adjust without your interference."

@~@~@

Minerva took a few steps back, almost colliding with Albus. The vampire couldn't mean what it sounded like. No, he couldn't be one. Why would she? "What is she saying?" Minerva asked faintly.

"That your Potions Master is not dead – well, not permanently. She turned him," The Seer said, shaking his head in frustration. "He's a vampire now—or he will be, when he wakes."

Minerva was shaking, bordering on hysteria, and her voice still faint, but starting to gain volume as she spoke. "But that's just as bad as being dead—you made him a killer, something he hates being more than anything else!" Severus had been a Death Eater, a killer, and he had hated himself for it. He still hated himself for it and it took all the reassurance and affection from her and Albus just to keep him convinced that waking up the next morning is a good idea. She didn't know what she would do now. He was once again the thing he loathed most, a killer, and she didn't know if she had the strength to be with him in such a state. A few tears fell down her face in utter frustration. Severus is a good man and his soul had been through so much already. He had earned his redemption and for it to be taken away so unfairly, so arbitrarily seemed unthinkable, yet it had happened.

Dumbledore stepped beside Minerva, putting his arm gently around her shoulders. "Minerva is correct, Severus would never want…but…" He trailed off uncertainly, but Minerva knew the direction his thoughts were following and, although it broke her heart, she agreed. Yes, Severus would hate being a killer, but without him they had no way to penetrate Voldemort's inner circle. Without him, they were going into the war blind. They needed their spy—no matter what.

Drusilla was once again staring intently at Minerva. She raised a hand as if to touch the witch's face but then dropped it and took a small step back. "Cat-woman, do not cry for My Snake—he is not what you fear." She took another step back and grimaced as if something horrible tasting was in her mouth and spat out, "He is not like me."

The witch and wizard both jerked their heads up at her last statement. Her comment also garnered the attention of the DADA teacher. He asked hopefully, "You mean that he isn't a vampire?"

Drusilla shook her head negatively, "No, he is my Childe, but," she paused and looked straight at Spike, "he still has his spark."

"What do you mean by that Drusilla?" Angel asked.

Simultaneously, Spike drew in a sharp breath, managing to choke out, "His Spark?"

"Yessss," Drusilla hissed angrily as she swayed, "his spark still burns in his chest. It did not leave as it should. It is tied to his body." While saying this, she brushed her right hand over her left forearm. "Pretty marks, like Daddy, but not on the shoulder—on his arm."

It was Albus' turn to be surprised, simply stating, "His Dark Mark."

"The Dark Mark—Severus' spark—what?" Remus asked, thoroughly confused and still extremely frustrated.

Connor stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest and growled in frustration, "What is a 'Dark Mark' and how do we kill it?" Then he cocked his head to the side and said, almost as an afterthought, "This spark, when is it supposed to the leave the body and why?"

Spike was still staring into Drusilla's eyes, seeing what she had said and what was left unsaid. He answered Connor's question without taking his eyes from the vampire's gaze, "She means his soul—that he still has his soul—a soul that should have left his body the moment he became a vampire—when he died." His brow creased in thought, trying to understand how the Potion Master's soul had not left his body upon death. He sighed and asked simply, "But how?"

The witches and wizards murmured in the background, completely lost.

"His soul?" Minerva said weakly to herself, her angering swiftly draining from her body. His soul—he still has his soul. But, if he did retain his soul, would he still be a killer? She could hope. But would it really be a good thing if it had anything to do with his Dark Mark? Nothing good has ever come from that accursed mark.

@~@~@

Angel asked Drusilla directly, "Is Spike right—the spark is his soul? And what about the marks on his arm—a tattoo?"

The werewolf asked the Headmaster, "How is Severus' Dark Mark related to his soul?" Albus, instead of answering, put a finger to his lips and pointed to the vampire who had killed his colleague and friend. Remus growled, but otherwise remained silent, trying to pick some semblance of meaning from the vampire's twisted ramblings.

"My William always understands," Drusilla said, smiling at Spike. But after a moment, it turned into a frown of displeasure and continued unhappily, "Yes – his soul still resides within, it is tied…" She trailed off, continuing to frown, and after a moment, Spike finished the thought for her.

"To his body, yes you said that."

Drusilla affirmed Spike's statement, "Yes, his body." She paused and her eyes lost focus, glazing over sightlessly, before she continued, "Tied to his body and to another." She snarled, "Nasty serpent – feeds on others and enslaves snakes to him. Red eyes trying to break into minds, minds like—"

Minerva and Remus gasped silently, looking at each other and then turning, in unison, to Albus. His face showed no outward emotion, but his eyes had widened and his body tensed as he concentrated on the vampire's strange words.

Drusilla stopped and frowned in thought before looking at Spike, her eyes refocusing on him intently as she tilted her head to the side. She ran her fingertips lovingly down his cheek and said in awe, "One with a heart the size of which I have not met since my dear William—my Spike—so full of love."

Spike tried to follow the shift in conversation and asked, "Who? The man with red eyes?"

"Not him, he cannot love," stated Albus softly. His soft, but resolved voice brought everyone's eyes upon him.

"Then who is he—the one that cannot love?" Angel asked.

Albus sighed, a heavy weight seeming to settle on his shoulders as he answered, "The one with red eyes is Lord Voldemort – the Dark Lord."

Spike eyes darkened with anger and he heard his Grand-Sire's growl. They had walked in blind to a threat, trying to help these people, and they had neglected to warn them of a very real danger. Spike was about to explode at Dumbledore when Drusilla spoke first, looking at the Headmaster, but her eyes unfocused again and her voice deepened.

"He wants to trample us. But it is the heart of the other which will save us."

Dumbledore started, "This other—"

Albus was interrupted by Spike as he whispered sharply, "No, don't interrupt."

"Heart – love. He is full of love. So like my Spike – the same love and the same pain. His greatest strength is also his greatest weakness. Pain is love and love is pain. He has great pain." She lifted her face to the night sky. "He mourns the lost dog star. The howls of pain from the cub echo in the sky, in the stars. He will not release the pain and it is shattering his heart and soul. Family was lost. Now family is found. Remind him that love is never lost, just misplaced and sometimes scorned." She lowered her gaze from the sky to stare, unfocused, at Spike.

"My Sweet William, my Snake brought you here because that is what the stars sang. Why you are here to stay is to help the boy to release his pain. The boy—he is important, it is by his hand the other must die." Dru paused and Spike ventured a soft question.

"The other?"

"The red eyes trying to bore into My Snake's mind." She stopped and smiled smugly, "But now he is safe." Drusilla turned slightly to look directly at the Headmaster and her eyes focused on him and said very solemnly, "No one can break into his mind now. No one—the secret fire-bird is safe."

Minerva collected herself enough to ask a question—the question that she knew was on all her colleagues' minds. "How do you know all this?"

Drusilla swayed her head toward her with a puzzled look on her face. "The stars told me," she said simply.

Minerva nodded, feeling that that was what she was expected to do, but still not understanding the vampire. The Seer chuckled slightly, gaining her attention. She frowned at him, pulling herself to her full height, and giving him the stern gaze she reserved for her most unruly students. The reaction she got was—unexpected—to say the least: he smirked at her. He had the audacity to smirk at her. "And what, young man, do you think is so funny?" she asked sternly.

Spike laughed. This seemed to only infuriate the teacher further. Spike turned to elbow Connor before he remembered the young man had never attended school and neither had his father. And Drusilla, by the simple fact that she is female, most likely had never attended this type of school and even if she had, she was in no condition to reminisce about it right now. So, he instead turned to his old schoolmate, grinning, and said, "Which house is she the head of Albus?"

It took a second for Albus to turn to him and another to register the situation before he too grinned. "How do you know Minerva is a Head of House?"

Spike snorted. "Because that look has been practiced and perfected to instill fear and respect for authority in any trouble maker. Any time that I actually listened to Aberforth, we got that look when we were eventually caught. Especially that goat fiasco." He shook his head at that thought. Albus chuckled, also remembering.

Minerva hurrumphed, her scowl deepening and Spike narrowed his eyes, calculating. "Well, not Slytherin or Hufflepuff—that is a rule-breaking look and the worse Ravenclaw can do is not returning their library books on time. I answered my own question, didn't I?" He turned, grinning at frustrated Head of House and mock-bowed to her, saying, "Greetings loyal and brave Gryffindor. I should have recognized the look of censure, but it has been a long time since I received it from anyone—well," he paused and added with some mirth, "anyone without the surname Summers."

He paused and when he spoke again, it was truly sincere and tired, "I am sorry for laughing, today has not been a good day, but I can imagine the same can be said for you." Minerva nodded slowly, her scowl slowly slipping. "What Drusilla means when she says 'the stars told her' is that she had a vision." The looks he received were incredulous. "Don't get me wrong, Dru is insane, but she is also a true Seer: clairvoyant and precognitive. From the looks you were giving her, what she was saying is right on the mark."

"Yes William, it is," Albus said slowly. "It is just that what she is saying—it sounds very similar to a prophecy made fifteen years ago."

Connor decided to weigh in. "So? Doesn't that just means what she is saying is accurate?"

Angel growled angrily under his breath, "Unlike some prophecies." Spike shot a curious glance at him but Angel just sadly shook his head.

Dumbledore did not hear the utterance and continued, "Yes child, but that is the problem. No one but myself heard that prediction in its entirety all those years ago and it is very important that our enemies do not know."

"These 'enemies' that you are talking about—" Angel started, but Drusilla interrupted.

"They want to trample us: Half-breeds, Hybrids, Abomination. Wipe—Us—Out." She turned to Angel and Spike and spoke solemnly, "They learned their lesson on the Island: Do not underestimate the Abomination. They turned the tide before and may yet again."

Angel and Spike glanced at each other, slightly disturbed. They both started to speak at the same time.

"Please tell me—"

"You don't think—"

They turned back to Dru to get clarification, but her eyes had glazed over again, staring emptily at them. "Hell," Spike muttered. "Wonder what good news we are going to get next." Angel and Connor both snorted at this, stopping as soon as Drusilla began to speak again, her voice low.

"Eyes as red as blood

Heart as cold as stone

Exterminate all the Mud

Because a father's sins

Others' pain must try atone

Loyal swallow the dead

Faces as white as snow

Snakes the skulls are fed

Seek purity and follow

A Riddle that you know

The equal with his mark

In danger to fall the same

Pain of love lost stark

If in righteous anger

His heart he cannot tame

He was thrice defied

By the parents of the one

Born as July had died

Power to vanquish the Lord

In the heart of the son

At the hand of one

The other he must die

It is a contradiction

For neither can live

With the other is alive

Heart, Knowledge, Spirit

Create the killing hand

Together they will fit

The Equal and his friends

To win the final stand

Love will be his guide

Is his greatest strength

The lost family at his side

Knows love and loss true

And always go the length

In each generation

There is but one born

Until the red witch from

Mouth of hell now gone

Not one, now many sworn

To fight the coming dark

Old new are together

The Equal with the mark

His family's love will be

His soul's final tether

Halves must fight the wholes

Beside the many sworn

The One earned his soul

Died to save the many

For love he thought forlorn

Unselfish love of demon

For his Love he died

Mother's love for her son

Same sacrifice was made

And the loved one survived

Many and his loved one

The new guardian was dead

Friends of and marked son

Ancient power will destroy

One with eyes blood red…"

Drusilla trailed off, eyes still wide and unseeing. "My Snake is now safe." Then she frowned, "But the spark hurts and burns…" Her eyes started to focus as she spoke and then she turned to Minerva. "Do not worry Cat-woman, he will wake on the morrow. We will return this next night."

Dru tilted her head, her face changing back to the human mask, and looked at her fixedly and said softly, "He will be happy that you were upset for him. He said that the Magic man would worry about him. He did not think that the Cat-woman would be upset or else he would have sent something for you also."

"Why should we trust you? You killed Severus—" Minerva was cut off by the vampire hissing angrily.

"He was in danger! Soon, the red-eyed man would have breeched his mind and spill all his nasty secrets. Is that what you wanted? My Snake, beaten and bleeding, tortured—"

"Please stop!" Minerva said shakily. She took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to calm her already frazzled nerves and then asked, "This, this would truly have happened?"

Drusilla smiled sadly, "The stars said so—yes. But not now." She rounded, twirling in a circle and giggling, and sang up to the stars, "Now my Snake is safe." After another moment of twirling, she stopped and leveled her gaze at the Headmaster. Her face sobered and her voice had a heavy tone of warning as she spoke, "But no one must know."

The Headmaster nodded in agreement and promised, "Yes, I understand."

Tonks peeked her head out from behind the Headmaster where she had been hiding, frowning, and asked, "Well I don't. What is it they must not know?"

After a moment of her own confusion, Drusilla nodded in understanding, smiling at Tonks as she said, "Ahhhh, my apologies Miss…Police-woman. Sometimes the stars make my head feel all fuzzy-wuzzy and I forget that others cannot see as I do." The smile dropped from her face and she said completely without mirth, "They must not know that my Snake is now like my Daddy and me." She scowled and spat out, "Halfbreed! Abomination!" Then she growled in anger, causing Tonks to retreat once again behind the Headmaster.

"Like you?" Remus asked.

"A vampire," Angel answered for Drusilla.

She nodded in agreement, paused, and then abruptly changed topics. "Ah," jerking her head away from the witches and wizards to the sky, "time to go." Drusilla turned to Spike slowly, cocking her head to the side in thought. "The stars still sing—I hear them." She drifted slowly towards him and softly touched his temple, whispering, "They want to tell you also." The moment her hand touched him, Spike was roughly thrown into a vision.

***

The Vision hit immediately, the pain splitting his head open as he again saw Hogwarts. His vision from earlier that day repeated slower, allowing him to see more details, seeing the potion master in the forest, Drusilla draining him. Here, where the vision had stopped previously, it continued as he saw the feral eyes of a vampire. The eyes shifted to black as two figures left the forest, one male and one female.

Then it flashed forward, focus to a tattoo: a black skull with a snake coming out of its mouth, and then the tattoo was covered by a sleeve falling over it, moving out to show the arm, tattoo and sleeve belonged to the new Childe. Then a flash of angry red eyes trying to bore into those black eyes of the Childe, only to hit a wall—the wall of a vampire's mind, then a hood was pulled up and a white mask covered the black-eyed face. He moved to join a circle of identically dressed men and the red eyes flashed again.

Then the same man, the new Childe, removing the mask, facing Albus he said simply, "My mind safe—he cannot break in." Albus nodded, saying, "Good. Then you are safe." Then a sickening pulling on his mind and he is staring at the stars, lying on the ground.

***

His head was in someone's lap and then Connor's upside down face in his vision, looking worried. Of course the kid would catch me.

"Uncle? Uncle?"

"Ya Con—I'm here."

"What did she do to you?"

He chuckled tiredly at that. "Nothin' bad. She simply delivered the rest of the vision I had earlier this morning. Is she still here?"

"She disappeared right after she touched your forehead. Do we need to look for her?"

"No. She will be with her Childe and it is very unwise to antagonize a Sire before the new Childe awakens. They will meet us tomorrow night as promised."

"How do you know this?" Albus asked from somewhere beyond his frame of sight.

"The vision I just had says so," Spike answered.

After a moment of silence, Minerva voiced her thoughts quietly.

"What then?"

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To the lovely reviewers:

Benjis VIP: Dru's logic makes perfect sense ~ to her at least. And she did have a perfectly good reason for doing what she did, as you can see.

miz: Yes, Severus is dead. Does Buffy know? No. Buffy and co. left Angel before Spike showed up. And there might have been a falling out between the Fang Gang and the Scooby Gang, you know, with one group working for an evil law firm and all. Draco/Ginny ~ hmmmm…I am a great fan of the S.S. Fire & Ice, if that answers your question.

a reader: Yes, Harry will become more involved with the action soon. After all, the one thing that the Trio is great at is uncovering what the adults are trying to hide from them. But not just yet, they are still trying to figure out what the dream meant and why it is important.

Jedi Buttercup: LOL ~ Yes, the rumors are now true about Severus. I laughed so hard when I read your review. Now, do you know where my title for this chapter came from and what I am referring to? I bet you do...

Trillium: Well, Snape isn't killed killed, so everything is good. And having Spike related to Harry instead of Draco, I couldn't just do what everyone else does. Besides, when he was alive, Spike was nothing like he is now. That happens with Vampires quite a bit ~ they see being turned as freedom from being the person that they were and start a new life. Angel was a drunken womanizer who hated listening to his father and behaving alive. Once turned, he became sophisticated. It is one of the reasons that Spike and Angel irritate one another so much ~ Angel trying to follow all of society's rules when Spike wants to break every one of them. Anyway, echo is the only author I have seen do a good job of having Spike as a Malfoy and still stay canon to William being shy and a "Bloody Awful Poet" ~ she made him the family Squib. So, thanks for the compliment.

SygirlVALOR: Please feel free to link to this story.

xmag: Dawn and Catheryn, we will come back to them later. Ginny is pretty strong and Draco, dead? His head is too hard for a bump to kill him.

Usakura: Well, you aren't loosing your favorite character, he is just...different.

WITCH WERE: I'm glad that you enjoy my crossover so much. I know I definitely got Angel, Spike and Connor to Hogwarts in an unconventional manner, but hey, what can I say? I like being different.

eth: Fascinating? Great word ~ Thanks.

~seeya

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