Title: A Place for My Head
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Chapter 3
January, 2005
"Harry! Get up!"
A small body rushed into the second-story bed room and pounced on the bed, giggling. A disgruntled Harry Potter emerged from under the covers. "Ash, must you be so perky at..." He squinted towards the alarm clock. "Six thirty in the morning? Weren't you and Faith out on patrol late last night?"
The sixteen-year old nodded eagerly. "Yep! I killed three vamps! Then we went and got mochas!" She frowned for a second. "Well, I have mochas; Faith had that disgusting black sludge people sometimes call coffee." She brightened again. "I haven't been able to go to sleep yet, and I figured that you being stuffy-Watcher guy, you'd be up early!"
He just glared at her as he pushed his glasses onto his face. "That's it, no more mochas for you after patrol." He flopped back on his pillow and groaned. "Have you ever considered that if you keep coming and leaping into my bed all the time, people will start to talk?"
Ashley just giggled and opened her mouth to start chatting incessantly again, when a voice joined in from the doorway. "You know, it's almost spooky being around her. It's like a freaky combination of perky-Buff and babble-Red." Faith strutted into the room and pulled Ashley out the room by her arm. "Let's go and let the Brit get dressed, mini-Scoob. Some training should burn off the last of your sugar high."
"Merlin's beard, what did I do to deserve this?" His complaining aside, he was very fond of his Slayer. Sure, she was Lavender and Parvati rolled into one hyperactive package at times, but he couldn't help be amused by her. Not that he would ever tell her that.
Actually, she reminded him a bit of Ginny Weasley, all spunk and fire. That where the comparisons between the two stopped. Ginny was red-headed, tall, and pale-skinned, whereas Ashley was brunette and petite. She had been taken from her parents at a young age when she was identified as a potential, and lived with her former Watcher for most of her life.
The death of her Watcher had been rough, and it had taken a while for her to start to trust him. He knew she was afraid to open up, that letting him close then losing him too would be too much to bear. She tried to distance herself, but Harry knew from experience that's the last thing she needed. Even though he had left the wizarding world, he had known that without the help of his friends, he wouldn't have survived the war. He was hoping she'd open up, to allow him to be her support that helped keep her fighting, that helped keep her living.
It had been a month after they had started their assignment that they had started to bond...
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A shrill scream came from the bedroom down the hall, and Harry leapt from his bed, instinctively reaching for his wand on the bedside table. Coming up with a dagger instead, he stared at in confusion until he heard the soft sobbing start. Moving quickly into Ashley's room, he saw her sitting up in bed with her arms wrapped around her knees and rocking herself rapidly.
Dropping the knife, Harry moved forward and touched her shoulder softly. "Ashley?"
Pain exploded in his jaw as his head rocked back from the punch the young girl threw. He stumbled back into the wall, hand instinctively grabbing his cheek in shock. A horrified gasp came from the bed, and a small hand tugged him forward onto the bed. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!" The girl started sobbing again, and Harry pulled her into a hug.
"Ash, it was an accident. You were disoriented from your dream, and you reacted on instinct."
"You're not angry?"
Harry pulled back and turned her toward him. Placing his hands on her shoulder, he spoke softly. "Ashley, look at me."
Her tear-filled eyes turned towards him and she chewed on her lower lip in nervousness. Harry stamped down the homesickness that brought upon, as it was the exact same thing Hermione used to do when she was nervous or scared. "No, I'm not angry. Believe me when I say, I know what it's like to wake up panting, sobbing, and out of your mind from a nightmare. I lived with nightmares for most of my life; I still have them to this day actually." He tenderly tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "I know Emma's death hit you hard, and that you don't completely trust me. I can never replace her, and would never want to. I just want to be the best Watcher I can be, and help keep you alive. You're my priority now, Ash. You're my family, kind of like a little sister I never had."
Ashley smiled a little at that. "Thanks Harry." He got up and watched her as she got back into her bed. Tucking her blanket up around her shoulders, he smiled softly.
"Goodnight, Ash."
He smiled and turned to leave. "Harry?"
Stopping, he turned at looked at her expectantly. "You're my family now. You're all I have. Please don't leave me."
Smiling reassuringly, he just whispered, "Goodnight, my Slayer."
"Goodnight, my Watcher."
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Harry shifted the crossbow in his grip, green eyes scanning the surrounding terrain silently. His slayer sighed, absently kicking her legs from her perch on the tombstone. "Shouldn't he have risen by now?" she asked, popping her chewing gum.
Harry just rolled his eyes. "With your continuing chattering and the continual popping of that sticky gunk, it's no surprise he hasn't risen. He probably could hear you through all six feet of earth."
Grinning to himself at the indignant look on her face, he started to turn away when he heard Ashley screech. A hand had thrust from the earth, grabbing her ankle and yanking her down to the ground. Pulling herself free, she rolled away and came up in a perfect defensive stance, having pulled a stake out sometime during her escape.
The vampire pulled himself out of the ground, snarling at the teenager in front of him. Launching himself forward, he struck quickly with a few punches that were efficiently parried by the young girl before one landed on her sternum, rocking her backwards. The vamp followed up with a kick the sent her down and the vamp moved in for the kill only to be tackled by a black blur.
Harry sprung to his feet, trench coat billowing out as the vampire recovered from his improvised shoulder tackle. "Stupid git, picking on innocent girls. You should be ashamed." The vampire struck with a hard right that Harry spun away from. Grabbing his arm, he moved into a judo throw that should have worked if not for a second vampire jumping him from behind.
Ramming his head back, the second vamp yelled in pain as the head butt dislodged his grip on the Watcher. Ashley had recovered by then and had reengaged the first vamp. Harry spun, whipping a stake out of a pocket of his coat and moved in for the kill. The vampire he had head butted snarled and paced in a circle, eyes raking up and down Harry's form trying to assess any weaknesses. "Are you the one who turned him?"
Not answering, the vampire attacked with a flurry of blows, most being dodged or blocked before one landed squarely in Harry's face and sent him tumbling. Shaking his head to clear it, he barely had time to look up before an ice-cold hand clamped around his throat. "Now you die!" A beastly snarl came from his face just before his eyes widened in shock and he burst into dust.
Coughing, Harry looked up into the grinning face above him. "Ashley: 2, Harry: 0. I'm winning again!"
Allowing himself to be pulled up, Harry brushed dust off of his clothes. "Why, yes you are. Not that fancy superpowers are any advantage or anything."
Ashley just stuck out her tongue in response.
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Harry sipped at his tea silently as he moved into the lounge, pausing in the doorway and groaning. "Must you watch that travesty this early on a Saturday morning?"
Ashley's head flopped backwards over the edge of the couch so she could see her Watcher. "But Harry! It's the Power Puff Girls!"
Robin Wood just laughed as he hurdled over the back of the couch, an apple and can of Coke in his hand. "You just don't know good entertainment, English."
"And you've been hanging out with Gunn too much," Faith mumbled around a mouthful of cereal as she moved into the room with a bowl in her hands.
"Bloody Americans," Harry just grumbled as he moved into the library and opened a large text about North American vampire cults. They had been trying to figure out exactly who has been running the activities here in New Orleans.
"So what's the what?"
Harry looked up as Faith plopped into the chair across from him. "Aren't you going to watch that... thing you three call entertainment?"
"Nah, it's a rerun. Whatcha got?"
Harry moved to the map of the city on the wall and pointed out a group of push pins. "I've been tracking where most of the vampire kills in the city have been, most of them happening here, near a fairly recent club called The Bronze..." He was interrupted by a loud shout from Faith.
"The what?!"
"The Bronze."
"Harry, the Bronze was the only club in Sunnydale, the only kind of nightlife in the town, well any nightlife that wasn't undead."
Harry frowned, staring at the map. "Do you think somebody created the club as some sort of sick memorial?"
"Yeah, a memorial to one of the vampires favorite feeding grounds from the Hellmouth."
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Faith just stood in the doorway of "The Bronze," staring around in abject shock. "Guys, this is freaky. It's almost identical, all the way down to the crappy band."
Harry looked around in confusion. "So, if it's a replica of a crappy club, with crappy bands, why the hell is it this full?"
As they moved further into the club, he noticed both Faith's and Ashley's hands gravitating to the weapons under their jackets. He felt like things were closing in on them, and he also reached for his sword and stake. "Actually, never mind. I think I know how." He glanced around at the faces staring at the small group. "It's a vampire club."
That statement was like a signal of some kind because several vampires immediately charged the group, the leader dusting with a swipe from Faith's sword. "We've got to get out! There's got to be hundreds here!"
Neither Robin, Harry, or Ashley answered as all three were trying to hack their way towards the door. Swords, feet, and fists were flying as vampires fell left and right, some dusting and others just wounded. A punch got through Harry's defenses, knocking him over and his sword clattering away. He was hauled up by a very large vampire who grabbed his hair and yanked his head to the side. "Feeding time."
Harry hit the floor hard as the vampire became dust, and Robin helped him to his feet, dragging him towards the door as he tried to regain his bearings. Apparently Faith and Ashley had cleared enough of a path for them to get out, and they started sprinting down the street towards the car parked a few blocks away.
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Harry hissed as Ashley placed a peroxide-soaked rag to the cut above his temple. "Oh, don't be such a baby," she chided and continued to dab at it.
"Well, that wasn't one of our brightest ideas," Robin quipped as he finished bandaging his sprained wrist. "Apparently recon isn't one of our bright points."
Faith finished her third slice of pizza. "So, what're we going to do about the Bronze?"
Harry took of his glasses and pinched between his eyes. "Obviously, if they've been able to build up that large a group, drastic measures will have to be taken. I say we torch the club." Ashley's eyes widened in alarm, while both Faith and Robin just grinned at the suggestion.
"Well, give it up for Ripper Jr. So, how are we going to go about it? Gasoline, C4, dynamite?"
Harry shook his head, moving to a book shelf and scanning the titles. "No, each would be too easy to figure out what and who. Police tactics for figuring out arson have too much possibility to link us to it. What I propose is several of what I call 'flash boxes.' They are magically charmed items that will explode at the same time a ritual is performed. We place the boxes, come back here and do the ritual at night while the place is full of vamps, and boom."
Faith laughed. "Magical vandalism and demolition? Damn, boy, what did you used to do?"
Harry chuckled, finally finding the book he wanted and pulling it off the shelf. Riffling through the pages, he plopped it down and started scribbling a list out. "Robin, in the morning I want you to call Rosenberg and find out where the nearest magical item shop is. I need several items. Also, ask her to hack into the city planning office and get me the blue prints for the building so I do how many boxes I need."
"No problem, it sounds like it could be exciting."
Harry just grinned. "It's been awhile since I've blown something up."
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Harry looked up from the text he was reading as Ashley knocked and entered the library. "Is there something you need, Ash? I thought you were in bed."
She shook her head and tentatively sat down at the table. "Can I ask you something?"
Harry looked at her for a minute before pushing his book aside and turning to face her completely. "What is it?"
"How do you know about things like those bombs? Were you evil?"
Harry sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Ash, what I'm about to tell you must not leave this room, okay?" At her nod, he continued. "Before I became a Watcher, I lived in a community of people who did magic. There was a war going on with a very evil wizard who wanted to rule the world. It was during this war, fighting against him, that I learned things like the flash boxes. There are some very bad memories there, and I try not to think about it a lot. I'm sorry if I scared you."
She nodded, rising from her chair, and then paused for a second. Seeming to think to herself, she suddenly leaned forward and hugged Harry tightly. "I'm glad you're not evil." She left the library then, leaving Harry with an amused look on his face. Shaking his head, he went back to the text in front of him.
A/N: There you have it, Chapter 3. Thank you for the encouragement. Don't know just when Buffy will come in, probably sometime in the next few chapters.
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Chapter 3
January, 2005
"Harry! Get up!"
A small body rushed into the second-story bed room and pounced on the bed, giggling. A disgruntled Harry Potter emerged from under the covers. "Ash, must you be so perky at..." He squinted towards the alarm clock. "Six thirty in the morning? Weren't you and Faith out on patrol late last night?"
The sixteen-year old nodded eagerly. "Yep! I killed three vamps! Then we went and got mochas!" She frowned for a second. "Well, I have mochas; Faith had that disgusting black sludge people sometimes call coffee." She brightened again. "I haven't been able to go to sleep yet, and I figured that you being stuffy-Watcher guy, you'd be up early!"
He just glared at her as he pushed his glasses onto his face. "That's it, no more mochas for you after patrol." He flopped back on his pillow and groaned. "Have you ever considered that if you keep coming and leaping into my bed all the time, people will start to talk?"
Ashley just giggled and opened her mouth to start chatting incessantly again, when a voice joined in from the doorway. "You know, it's almost spooky being around her. It's like a freaky combination of perky-Buff and babble-Red." Faith strutted into the room and pulled Ashley out the room by her arm. "Let's go and let the Brit get dressed, mini-Scoob. Some training should burn off the last of your sugar high."
"Merlin's beard, what did I do to deserve this?" His complaining aside, he was very fond of his Slayer. Sure, she was Lavender and Parvati rolled into one hyperactive package at times, but he couldn't help be amused by her. Not that he would ever tell her that.
Actually, she reminded him a bit of Ginny Weasley, all spunk and fire. That where the comparisons between the two stopped. Ginny was red-headed, tall, and pale-skinned, whereas Ashley was brunette and petite. She had been taken from her parents at a young age when she was identified as a potential, and lived with her former Watcher for most of her life.
The death of her Watcher had been rough, and it had taken a while for her to start to trust him. He knew she was afraid to open up, that letting him close then losing him too would be too much to bear. She tried to distance herself, but Harry knew from experience that's the last thing she needed. Even though he had left the wizarding world, he had known that without the help of his friends, he wouldn't have survived the war. He was hoping she'd open up, to allow him to be her support that helped keep her fighting, that helped keep her living.
It had been a month after they had started their assignment that they had started to bond...
===============================================================
A shrill scream came from the bedroom down the hall, and Harry leapt from his bed, instinctively reaching for his wand on the bedside table. Coming up with a dagger instead, he stared at in confusion until he heard the soft sobbing start. Moving quickly into Ashley's room, he saw her sitting up in bed with her arms wrapped around her knees and rocking herself rapidly.
Dropping the knife, Harry moved forward and touched her shoulder softly. "Ashley?"
Pain exploded in his jaw as his head rocked back from the punch the young girl threw. He stumbled back into the wall, hand instinctively grabbing his cheek in shock. A horrified gasp came from the bed, and a small hand tugged him forward onto the bed. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!" The girl started sobbing again, and Harry pulled her into a hug.
"Ash, it was an accident. You were disoriented from your dream, and you reacted on instinct."
"You're not angry?"
Harry pulled back and turned her toward him. Placing his hands on her shoulder, he spoke softly. "Ashley, look at me."
Her tear-filled eyes turned towards him and she chewed on her lower lip in nervousness. Harry stamped down the homesickness that brought upon, as it was the exact same thing Hermione used to do when she was nervous or scared. "No, I'm not angry. Believe me when I say, I know what it's like to wake up panting, sobbing, and out of your mind from a nightmare. I lived with nightmares for most of my life; I still have them to this day actually." He tenderly tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "I know Emma's death hit you hard, and that you don't completely trust me. I can never replace her, and would never want to. I just want to be the best Watcher I can be, and help keep you alive. You're my priority now, Ash. You're my family, kind of like a little sister I never had."
Ashley smiled a little at that. "Thanks Harry." He got up and watched her as she got back into her bed. Tucking her blanket up around her shoulders, he smiled softly.
"Goodnight, Ash."
He smiled and turned to leave. "Harry?"
Stopping, he turned at looked at her expectantly. "You're my family now. You're all I have. Please don't leave me."
Smiling reassuringly, he just whispered, "Goodnight, my Slayer."
"Goodnight, my Watcher."
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Harry shifted the crossbow in his grip, green eyes scanning the surrounding terrain silently. His slayer sighed, absently kicking her legs from her perch on the tombstone. "Shouldn't he have risen by now?" she asked, popping her chewing gum.
Harry just rolled his eyes. "With your continuing chattering and the continual popping of that sticky gunk, it's no surprise he hasn't risen. He probably could hear you through all six feet of earth."
Grinning to himself at the indignant look on her face, he started to turn away when he heard Ashley screech. A hand had thrust from the earth, grabbing her ankle and yanking her down to the ground. Pulling herself free, she rolled away and came up in a perfect defensive stance, having pulled a stake out sometime during her escape.
The vampire pulled himself out of the ground, snarling at the teenager in front of him. Launching himself forward, he struck quickly with a few punches that were efficiently parried by the young girl before one landed on her sternum, rocking her backwards. The vamp followed up with a kick the sent her down and the vamp moved in for the kill only to be tackled by a black blur.
Harry sprung to his feet, trench coat billowing out as the vampire recovered from his improvised shoulder tackle. "Stupid git, picking on innocent girls. You should be ashamed." The vampire struck with a hard right that Harry spun away from. Grabbing his arm, he moved into a judo throw that should have worked if not for a second vampire jumping him from behind.
Ramming his head back, the second vamp yelled in pain as the head butt dislodged his grip on the Watcher. Ashley had recovered by then and had reengaged the first vamp. Harry spun, whipping a stake out of a pocket of his coat and moved in for the kill. The vampire he had head butted snarled and paced in a circle, eyes raking up and down Harry's form trying to assess any weaknesses. "Are you the one who turned him?"
Not answering, the vampire attacked with a flurry of blows, most being dodged or blocked before one landed squarely in Harry's face and sent him tumbling. Shaking his head to clear it, he barely had time to look up before an ice-cold hand clamped around his throat. "Now you die!" A beastly snarl came from his face just before his eyes widened in shock and he burst into dust.
Coughing, Harry looked up into the grinning face above him. "Ashley: 2, Harry: 0. I'm winning again!"
Allowing himself to be pulled up, Harry brushed dust off of his clothes. "Why, yes you are. Not that fancy superpowers are any advantage or anything."
Ashley just stuck out her tongue in response.
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Harry sipped at his tea silently as he moved into the lounge, pausing in the doorway and groaning. "Must you watch that travesty this early on a Saturday morning?"
Ashley's head flopped backwards over the edge of the couch so she could see her Watcher. "But Harry! It's the Power Puff Girls!"
Robin Wood just laughed as he hurdled over the back of the couch, an apple and can of Coke in his hand. "You just don't know good entertainment, English."
"And you've been hanging out with Gunn too much," Faith mumbled around a mouthful of cereal as she moved into the room with a bowl in her hands.
"Bloody Americans," Harry just grumbled as he moved into the library and opened a large text about North American vampire cults. They had been trying to figure out exactly who has been running the activities here in New Orleans.
"So what's the what?"
Harry looked up as Faith plopped into the chair across from him. "Aren't you going to watch that... thing you three call entertainment?"
"Nah, it's a rerun. Whatcha got?"
Harry moved to the map of the city on the wall and pointed out a group of push pins. "I've been tracking where most of the vampire kills in the city have been, most of them happening here, near a fairly recent club called The Bronze..." He was interrupted by a loud shout from Faith.
"The what?!"
"The Bronze."
"Harry, the Bronze was the only club in Sunnydale, the only kind of nightlife in the town, well any nightlife that wasn't undead."
Harry frowned, staring at the map. "Do you think somebody created the club as some sort of sick memorial?"
"Yeah, a memorial to one of the vampires favorite feeding grounds from the Hellmouth."
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Faith just stood in the doorway of "The Bronze," staring around in abject shock. "Guys, this is freaky. It's almost identical, all the way down to the crappy band."
Harry looked around in confusion. "So, if it's a replica of a crappy club, with crappy bands, why the hell is it this full?"
As they moved further into the club, he noticed both Faith's and Ashley's hands gravitating to the weapons under their jackets. He felt like things were closing in on them, and he also reached for his sword and stake. "Actually, never mind. I think I know how." He glanced around at the faces staring at the small group. "It's a vampire club."
That statement was like a signal of some kind because several vampires immediately charged the group, the leader dusting with a swipe from Faith's sword. "We've got to get out! There's got to be hundreds here!"
Neither Robin, Harry, or Ashley answered as all three were trying to hack their way towards the door. Swords, feet, and fists were flying as vampires fell left and right, some dusting and others just wounded. A punch got through Harry's defenses, knocking him over and his sword clattering away. He was hauled up by a very large vampire who grabbed his hair and yanked his head to the side. "Feeding time."
Harry hit the floor hard as the vampire became dust, and Robin helped him to his feet, dragging him towards the door as he tried to regain his bearings. Apparently Faith and Ashley had cleared enough of a path for them to get out, and they started sprinting down the street towards the car parked a few blocks away.
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Harry hissed as Ashley placed a peroxide-soaked rag to the cut above his temple. "Oh, don't be such a baby," she chided and continued to dab at it.
"Well, that wasn't one of our brightest ideas," Robin quipped as he finished bandaging his sprained wrist. "Apparently recon isn't one of our bright points."
Faith finished her third slice of pizza. "So, what're we going to do about the Bronze?"
Harry took of his glasses and pinched between his eyes. "Obviously, if they've been able to build up that large a group, drastic measures will have to be taken. I say we torch the club." Ashley's eyes widened in alarm, while both Faith and Robin just grinned at the suggestion.
"Well, give it up for Ripper Jr. So, how are we going to go about it? Gasoline, C4, dynamite?"
Harry shook his head, moving to a book shelf and scanning the titles. "No, each would be too easy to figure out what and who. Police tactics for figuring out arson have too much possibility to link us to it. What I propose is several of what I call 'flash boxes.' They are magically charmed items that will explode at the same time a ritual is performed. We place the boxes, come back here and do the ritual at night while the place is full of vamps, and boom."
Faith laughed. "Magical vandalism and demolition? Damn, boy, what did you used to do?"
Harry chuckled, finally finding the book he wanted and pulling it off the shelf. Riffling through the pages, he plopped it down and started scribbling a list out. "Robin, in the morning I want you to call Rosenberg and find out where the nearest magical item shop is. I need several items. Also, ask her to hack into the city planning office and get me the blue prints for the building so I do how many boxes I need."
"No problem, it sounds like it could be exciting."
Harry just grinned. "It's been awhile since I've blown something up."
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Harry looked up from the text he was reading as Ashley knocked and entered the library. "Is there something you need, Ash? I thought you were in bed."
She shook her head and tentatively sat down at the table. "Can I ask you something?"
Harry looked at her for a minute before pushing his book aside and turning to face her completely. "What is it?"
"How do you know about things like those bombs? Were you evil?"
Harry sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Ash, what I'm about to tell you must not leave this room, okay?" At her nod, he continued. "Before I became a Watcher, I lived in a community of people who did magic. There was a war going on with a very evil wizard who wanted to rule the world. It was during this war, fighting against him, that I learned things like the flash boxes. There are some very bad memories there, and I try not to think about it a lot. I'm sorry if I scared you."
She nodded, rising from her chair, and then paused for a second. Seeming to think to herself, she suddenly leaned forward and hugged Harry tightly. "I'm glad you're not evil." She left the library then, leaving Harry with an amused look on his face. Shaking his head, he went back to the text in front of him.
A/N: There you have it, Chapter 3. Thank you for the encouragement. Don't know just when Buffy will come in, probably sometime in the next few chapters.