CHAPTER NINE: THE APPARITION

Buffy couldn't sleep.  That wasn't entirely unexpected, considering the crazy day she'd had, but even secreted away in the Room of Requirement with Harry's arms wrapped protectively around her, Buffy still couldn't drift into unconsciousness.  She sighed tiredly and gently extracted herself from Harry's embrace.

She walked over to the window overlooking the Forbidden Forest.  She'd done a quick patrol earlier, only to find a single demon that had been lurking in the shadows.  It wasn't any demon she'd seen before though, and she wondered what it was doing so close to Hogwarts.  It had been clothed in a black cloak and hood, covering it's face.  Buffy had only got a good look at the creatures face when she'd kicked it to the ground.  The strange thing about the demon was that it looked almost human in appearance except for its eyes and its mouth.  Its eyes were shut completely, looking as though they'd been sewn together, x's crossing them to keep the lids closed.  Their mouths were similar, and Buffy had wondered how it had managed to fight with her considering it was blind.

The kill had been surprisingly easy and somewhat disappointing, and Buffy was left feeling somewhat unfulfilled.  She didn't like thinking about her desire for the hunt, and it was something best left to the back of her mind.

"Can't sleep?" a voice whispered from behind her.

She swallowed hard and turned to face the woman standing only two feet away.

"Can't stay dead?" Buffy replied.

Jenny Calendar grinned and chuckled slightly.  "I remember why I liked you."

"And I remember that you're not meant to be here.  So, whatever the hell you are, you can go out the way you came in," Buffy said firmly.

Jenny sighed and folded her hands neatly in front of her.

"I'm afraid I can't do that Elizabeth," Jenny said, sadness tinging her voice.

"Why's that?" Buffy asked.  "And don't call me that."

Jenny stepped forward slightly and looked down at the Slayer.

"I'm here because of you," Jenny whispered softly.  "It's you who pulled me here.  It's you who can set me free."

"Me?" Buffy repeated.

Jenny nodded.  She began slowly circling Buffy, the Slayer turning so that Jenny was always in her line of sight.  Buffy hated not knowing what was happening, and the sudden appearance of her Watcher's dead girlfriend was not something that would help her sleep at night.

"You called me here Elizabeth," Jenny explained.  "You are the one that brought me into this world again."

"Giles tried calling you," Buffy said, thinking back to the incident with the ghosts of the long-dead lovers James and Grace.  Giles had been convinced that the spirit had been Jenny, but after being possessed by a different spirit, Buffy was very certain that it had not been the techno-pagan that had been haunting the halls of Sunnydale High School.

"He did," Jenny confirmed.  "But he could not bring me forth.  He was not powerful enough.  He wasn't dark enough."

"I am not dark," Buffy insisted.

Jenny just shrugged as though the comment meant nothing to her. 

"Believe what you want.  But it's you who made this possible," Jenny said.

"How?  Why?" Buffy asked.

Jenny smirked.  "Oh, but that would be telling," she said tauntingly.  "Just know that we're always watching you."

"We?"

Jenny nodded.  Within the blink on an eye, Jenny had disappeared and James Potter was standing in her place. 

"James," Buffy whispered. 

James looked past her, towards the bed, where Harry lay, one hand thrown across his eyes to keep the light out as he slept.

"You still haven't heeded my warning," James said.  "I thought you said you loved him."

"I do," Buffy replied.  Tears were forming in Buffy's eyes, and she knew that whatever was happening to her was not something that she could handle.  She was tempted to wake Harry and explain about the things she'd been seeing.  The problem was that Harry would be desperate for contact with his family, and Buffy was desperate to try and stop the spirits from speaking to her.

James disappeared and Buffy was left alone in the silent room, Harry's soft breathing the only indication that she wasn't alone. 

She stayed completely still for several moments.  She sighed with relief when the room stayed silent, and began walking towards the bed.

"I love you," a voice whispered.

Buffy stopped and turned, looking around the room to see who had spoken.

"I try not to, but I can't stop."

The words were far too familiar for her.  The voice belonged to the first man she'd fallen in love with, and the phrase was when Angel had first told her that he loved her.

"Stop it," Buffy whispered into the darkness.

"This isn't some fairy tale.  When I kiss you, you don't wake up from a deep sleep and live happily ever after."

"Stop it," she repeated, her voice slightly louder.

Buffy was looking into the darkened corners of the room, trying to see the owner of the voice.  She knew it was a cruel thought but she didn't want to see Angel.  She had her closure with him, and she didn't want to go back to the relationship that she'd had with the handsome vampire.  She was more than happy with Harry, but that didn't mean that the words being whispered weren't still having an effect on her.

"Oh…god Buffy…I feel like I haven't seen you in months."

"Stop it!" Buffy yelled.

Harry awoke with a start, instinctively reaching for his glasses.  He scratched at his forehead quickly, brushing his hair off his face as he raced towards his shaking girlfriend, quickly grabbing hold of her.  He was startled when Buffy tried to push him away from her.

"Buffy, stop," he said forcefully, trying to break through her haze of fear.  "It's just me!  It's Harry.  Buffy…Buffy, it's Harry."

Buffy finally stilled and let herself fall completely into Harry's arms.  The two teens collapsed to the ground, Harry rocking his girlfriend gently, whispering soothing words into her hair, trying to get her to calm down.

"What happened?  What did you see?"

"I didn't…I couldn't…I couldn't see him," Buffy whispered.  "I could hear him, but…"

"Who?  Hear who?" Harry asked.

"Angel.  And Jenny.  But I saw her.  And…and…him.  Your…your…"

"My what?" Harry prodded.

"Your father," Buffy admitted.

Harry inhaled deeply.  Out of everything he'd expected to hear, Buffy's statement had not been it. 

"You saw my father?" Harry asked, his voice clogging with emotion.

Buffy nodded and buried her face into Harry's chest. 

"Did you see my mum?" Harry asked.

Buffy shook her head.  "Only in my dream," she replied.  "But…it was bad.  The nightmares…they're…they're bad.  Worse than usual."

Harry pressed a kiss to Buffy's temple and continued rocking her slowly.  He was trying to wrap his mind around what his girlfriend had just told him.  On one hand, it was a little disturbing that Buffy had seen Harry's father, since James Potter had been dead for nearly seventeen years.  On the plus side, Harry had never had a chance to interact with his father, and the only times he'd even seen the man was in photographs, and in the Mirror of Erised in his first year at Hogwarts.

"What frightened you so badly?" Harry whispered.

"They're dead," Buffy replied sharply.  "Jenny and James and…and…and Angel.  But he's not…"

"You saw Angel?" Harry asked.

Buffy shook her head.  "I heard him though.  Saying things that he said to me…back in Sunnydale."

Harry sighed and held on to Buffy a little bit tighter.  He should have known that the quiet streak that he and Buffy had been having over the last week was too good to be true.  Something was always trying to come between them, and Harry was incredibly unhappy about it.

They sat in silence for several minutes before Harry pulled Buffy to her feet and led her over to the bed.  They lay down side by side, their arms and legs entwined.  Buffy sighed tiredly and closed her eyes, wishing she could drop off to sleep.

"What do you think they want?" Harry asked.  "The ghosts, I mean."

Buffy shrugged.  "So far…to freak me out."

"But…it's my dad.  I mean…I'd…I'd kill to see him.  It can't be that scary," Harry said.

Buffy couldn't bring herself to tell Harry what James had been saying about the two of them.  She couldn't let Harry know that James was adamant that Harry shouldn't be dating her, and she couldn't let Harry know that James Potter scared the hell out of her.

"No…no he's not that scary," Buffy replied softly.

Harry smiled and kissed Buffy's shoulder.  He closed his eyes, trying to imagine what it would be like to see his dad again. 

Buffy's eyes opened, and she stiffened slightly as she saw the silhouette of a figure standing at the end of their bed.  She'd seen enough of James Potter in the last day to recognise his outline.  She closed her eyes and when she opened them again, James was gone.

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