CHAPTER EIGHT: THE DISCOVERY
Hermione awoke with a start, and she looked around the room, trying to pinpoint what it was that had startled her out of sleep. Her eyes adjusted to the small amount of light, and the Gryffindor girl slipped out of her bed and shrugged on her dressing gown. She had an inkling that it had been Buffy who had disturbed her sleep, and as she crept towards her best friends bed, she was even more sure of it.
Lying on top of the covers, fully dressed and trembling fiercely, her arms wrapped around herself, tears streaming from her eyes. Hermione gasped and raced to sit next to Buffy, pulling the other girls head onto her lap and gently stroking Buffy's hair.
"What happened?" Hermione whispered. "Are you okay?"
Buffy shook her head, keeping her eyes closed.
"Was it a nightmare?" Hermione asked.
"No. Maybe. I don't know," Buffy replied, her voice pitifully soft and trembling as badly as her body was.
"Do you want me to go and get Harry?" Hermione whispered, desperately worried for the girl. She'd never seen Buffy in such bad shape before. Frankly, it was scaring her to death.
"No!" Buffy yelped.
Hermione froze worriedly.
"Has something happened to Harry?" Hermione asked.
Buffy shook her head. "No. Not yet. I don't know. I hope not. Oh god, what if he's right?"
Hermione couldn't even begin to understand what Buffy was talking about. Instead, she just kept stroking Buffy's hair, trying to get the girl to calm down. Several minutes later, the trembling had sopped, but Buffy was still incredibly upset.
The Slayer toed off her boots and shrugged out of her coat, discarding her unused weapons. Hermione's eyes widened a the sight of the stakes that Buffy tossed into the trunk at the end of the bed.
"What were you doing outside?" Hermione asked.
Buffy sighed, knowing that there was no point in keeping her identity secret from her best friend any longer. She knew that the brilliant girl would figure it out sooner or later, and she knew that there would be less anger if she just confessed to it now.
"Patrolling," Buffy replied.
Hermione sighed. "Buffy, you know you're not as strong as you used to be," Hermione said gently. "You can't go out patrolling."
"That's where you're wrong," Buffy replied. "I am as strong as I used to be. Stronger actually."
"What?"
"Remember when Faith was in the hospital? She died…momentarily. Long enough for another Slayer to be Called. And that Slayer is me," Buffy explained.
Hermione's eyes widened. "You're a Slayer? For real now?"
Buffy nodded. "Yup. Half of the Chosen Two," she explained.
"Good lord," Hermione whispered softly.
Buffy giggled slightly. Her friend definitely reminded her of Giles.
"Does Harry know?" Hermione asked.
Buffy nodded. "He was there when I found out," she admitted. "I was gonna tell you and Ron, but…I didn't want you guys looking at me any differently."
"And Dumbledore's alright with you going into the Forest every night?" Hermione asked.
Buffy nodded. "Yeah. And he's letting Faith and I use the Room of Requirement for training and stuff," Buffy explained.
"Oh…uh…well, Ron and I will have to be careful about when we try and go in there from now on," Hermione said.
Buffy giggled slightly, the normal conversation calmly her frazzled nerves. She breathed in deeply, allowing herself to completely calm down. Now that she was in the comfort of her room, speaking with one of her best friends, she couldn't help but wonder if speaking with James Potter had been a dream.
Hermione saw the change in her friend. "Alright there?" she asked gently.
Buffy nodded. "Yeah. I'll be okay. Thanks."
"It's what I'm here for," Hermione reminded her. "Did you want to talk about what made you so worked up?"
Buffy shook her head, her eyebrows furrowing together. She didn't even want to think about it let alone talk about it.
"Just a dream," Buffy whispered.
Hermione nodded and moved back to her own bed.
Buffy laid her head on her pillow and closed her eyes, allowing the pull of sleep to drag her into unconsciousness.
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//"Harry!" Buffy yelled, running towards her fallen boyfriends side.
Harry reached up, his hand trembling. He touched Buffy's face, the blood from his wound staining Buffy's already dirty cheek.
"Oh god, hold on," Buffy whispered frantically, her fingers clutching the crossbow bolt that stuck out from Harry's chest.
Harry shook his head. "Too late for me," he replied softly.
"This shouldn't have happened," Buffy whispered. "It wasn't mean to happen like this."
"You did it Buffy," he whispered softly. "You killed me."
"No," Buffy protested.
Buffy felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw her father standing behind her, a proud smile on his face.
"My Elizabeth," he said. He took her by the hand, and pulled her to stand beside him. "You've done me proud."
"It wasn't meant to happen!" she yelled.
Voldemort's hand strayed to Buffy's face, touching her cheek in a fatherly gesture.
"It was always going to happen. I always knew you would follow the path I set for you," he told her.
Buffy tried to take a step back, but she felt as though her feet were glued to the floor in front of the evil man that was her father.
A hand grabbed hold of her arm and spun her around. She looked up into James Potter's angry eyes.
"Wasn't it enough that your father killed Lily and I? Why'd you have to kill my son as well?" he demanded.
"It…it wasn't meant to…it was an accident," Buffy protested.
"I told you to stay away from him," James said angrily.
James swung his gaze to look at his now dead son. Buffy looked over at Harry and felt tears well in her eyes. Kneeling beside Harry was Lily Potter, cradling her dead son in her arms, sobbing heavily. The redheaded woman looked up at Buffy, her green eyes identical to Harry's, cold and accusing.
"You killed him."//
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Buffy awoke with a gasp. She threw the covers off her body and stumbled out of bed, her legs failing her. She fell to the ground and found herself heaving into a bucket that had magically appeared in front of her. She threw up until her stomach was completely empty. She closed her eyes and lent back against the side of her bed, her knees brought up to her chest.
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In the boys' dormitory of the Gryffindor Tower, Harry awoke, his scar aching for the first time in nearly a year. He couldn't remember what had awoken him, and, if he remembered his dream properly, it wasn't anything that should have caused him pain. Well…at least not in his head…
He rubbed at his scar absently before laying back down, making a mental note to ask Professor Dumbledore about it at a later stage.
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Buffy tried to calm her breathing, her mind involuntarily going back over the dream that she'd just awoken from. She wiped angrily at the tears in her eyes. She could only pray that the dream she'd just had wasn't prophetic, but merely something that her subconscious was afraid of.
After a few moments of composing herself, she stood and donned her school uniform before making her way down to the Great Hall, not bothering to wait for Hermione or Ginny.
The Hall was mostly empty. The majority of the Hall's occupants were Professors, most of whom were looking over books as they ate breakfast. She spotted Giles and smiled weakly at him, hoping that he wouldn't worry about her.
She took a seat at the Gryffindor table, thankful that no other Sixth-Years seemed to be awake yet. She propped her head on her hand, leaning her elbow against the table. A cup of coffee appeared in front of her, and she sipped at it thankfully.
Her eyes closed tiredly, only to see Harry's dead body behind her closed lids. She opened her eyes, and saw an image of a seventeen-year-old James Potter sitting opposite her. He grinned at her cheekily.
Buffy blinked rapidly, trying to clear her vision. When she looked again, he was gone and all that was left was an empty seat.
"Way to have a breakdown, Summers," she whispered to herself.
"That's one of the signs of madness you know," a voice said from beside her.
She looked to her right at the girl who sat beside her. She looked oddly familiar, but Buffy couldn't place where she'd seen the girl with gentle blue eyes before.
"What is?" Buffy asked.
"Talking to yourself," the girl informed her.
Buffy just shrugged. She took another sip of her coffee before remembering an important detail. The girl sitting beside her had been dressed in the Hufflepuff house insignia. She turned back to the right to ask the girl who she was, but the person speaking to her had mysteriously vanished.
Buffy closed her eyes, trying to convince herself that she wasn't going crazy.
"You okay?" asked a familiar voice.
Buffy opened her eyes, thankful to see Harry taking a seat beside her. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, and Buffy gratefully leaned her head against his shoulder, taking comfort in the solidness he provided for her.
"Going crazy, but otherwise I'm okay," she informed him.
"Going?" he repeated, grinning cheekily.
Buffy sighed, but forced herself to muster up a smile for his sake. Harry looked down at her worriedly, wondering what was wrong with the girl that he loved. He'd never seen her look so tired before, and it was definitely a worry when she wouldn't even smile at Harry's jibes.
"Are you okay?" he asked again, his voice more serious.
"Didn't sleep well," Buffy replied.
"You wanna spend tonight in the Room of Requirement?" he asked. "Just to sleep maybe. I know I have trouble sleeping without you sometimes."
Buffy smiled and nodded. She could only hope that spending the night with Harry would erase the ghosts of the past that continued haunting her. She didn't know if she would be able to cope with James Potter popping up every now and then to haunt her.
"That'd be good thanks," Buffy replied.
Harry smiled and brought an arm around Buffy's shoulders, pulling his girlfriend closer, trying to offer her what comfort he could.
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Awww, mushiness. Loving the feedback guys, thank you!!
Toodles.
DKG.