Some of you commented on the lack of Percy in the Weasley line up. That was a genuine mistake, I forgot about him because I was thinking of the Weasleys in Grimmauld Place and obviously he wasn't there. I may go back and slot him in but I haven't decided what his role will be later in this story. I'm not going to concentrate too much on the Wizarding world story, like Redemption, this fic will be about Buffy (and Sirius).
This will be the last regular update now. I had the first five chapters already written when I started this story but now I have to write a chapter at a time so it will take later.
Hope you like this chapter. Read and review!
Thanks to:
Harmoni9
Dreamer Child – I don't know how long. I'm the kind of person who doesn't properly plan a fic; I get ideas as I write it so I really can't say when.
ScruffyWes
Nobody…- lol a crocodile?
Draco-FutureBF
Tituba
Erak
Nimohtar
Vampy the chosen one
Vld
SlayerGirl
Totes_Brot
Alexandra Crowley
Miz- yeah Buffy does still have the ring, she wouldn't have left it
Charmedfanatic3000
Caribear
SPASH Panther
C@rMeiNa – Dung is Mundungus Fletcher
Becks89 – lol yes you did update, it was a good update too, but now I've updated again so I think it's your go!
Chapter 5 – The Gateway to Hell
Buffy
dragged her suitcase behind her up the dilapidated staircase. Here and there
she could see that there had been an effort made to make the house slightly
more habitable but overall, it was pretty grim. The hallway featured a long pair
of moth eaten curtains, closed. Buffy looked them curiously, they didn't look
as if they had a window behind. She was tempted to look, but decided not to
nose. She also saw an umbrella stand which looked like the leg of a troll.
"Gross," she muttered, climbing the
stairs.
She reached the first floor and a few doors lead off of the hall. From one of them she heard snoring, loud snoring that she supposed belonged to 'Dung' whoever he was. A few portraits hung and she watched them for a moment as the inhabitants moved, but then she carried on up. She climbed up four staircases, pulling her heavy suitcases behind her until she reached a floor where she could only see a door. The door was heavy and painted black with a shiny silver doorknob.
Buffy
gingerly pushed it open and walked into the room that had been Sirius' for the
last two years. It was dingy, much like the rest of the house. The focal point
was a large iron bed, now made up with creamy coloured thick sheets. The floor
was the same dark carpet as the rest of the house, stains and all. A large
window was hung with heavy velvet curtains and a trunk lay at the foot of the
bed. There was also a large dark wood wardrobe and Buffy opened another door
which led to a small bathroom, white tiled but cleaner than the rest of the
house. A staircase led off of the room and Buffy supposed it led up to
Buckbeak.
She threw her suitcase on the bed and
just stood in the room. It had been his space and try as she might she couldn't
feel him in her when she stood there. She moved to the wardrobe and opened the
door. Half of the space was taken up by black robes and Buffy clasped them in
her hands, feeling the familiar texture between her fingers. She bruited her
face in them, wanting to smell him, but there was just the smell of dust,
nothing remained of him.
Buffy
removed her coat and hung it on a peg on the wall. She opened her case and
quickly unpacked her things, using the trunk and half the wardrobe. She wasn't
willing to move his clothes out, that would be too final and too much.
She changed from her muggle clothes into a set of the robes she had brought
with her, a dark blue set that Sirius had always liked her in.
Leaving the room, she climbed the staircase up to the attic room to see the
hippogriff. Buckbeak was sitting crunching on chicken bones when she arrived,
but stopped to stare at her with one bright orange eye. Buffy bowed low and the
hippogriff nodded its head at her in response, allowing her to move forward and
hug it tightly. It seemed gratified to see her, perhaps he remembered her she
thought, and the thought pleased her.
She remembered the last time she had seen Buckbeak, when Sirius had left her
after the funeral. She had stood in the park at midnight. Sirius had taken her
in his arms and held her, murmuring into her hair that he would miss her and
think of her and love her. She had cried at the time, but now, it didn't seem
enough. She had told him she loved him but could she have known it was the last
time she would see him? Buffy wished she could've said more, she didn't know
what, just something more. A proper goodbye, a final goodbye. He shouldn't have
left her without letting her do that.
She left Buckbeak, descending to her room and sat on the bed. Blood pumped in
her veins furiously and she felt hot and feverish. She didn't know what was
wrong with her, she was so angry, and so sad at once. She was angry at Sirius
for not being here when it was so difficult, angry for him having left her
without letting her say goodbye properly. And then when she realised this, she
wept because she was angry at herself, because deep down she was scared she
couldn't feel properly, that her heart had been broken one too many times and
what was left inside her was cold and empty.
Just before
seven, Buffy straightened her robes, brushed her hair and checked her
reflection in the age spotted mirror that hung on the wardrobe door. Satisfied
with what she saw, she descended through the house to reach the hallway. The
smell of cooking had filled the house for a while now and Buffy found she was
actually hungry, something she hadn't experienced much lately. She pushed open
the door and was met by warmth, light and an abundance of people. Ron, Ginny,
Fred, George and Remus all sat around the table but so did four people Buffy
didn't recognise.
"Sit down love," Molly Weasley said
kindly as Buffy entered nervously and everyone in the room looked up at her in
interest.
She sat down gratefully between Ron and
Lupin. The man opposite extended a hand, a balding man with red hair like the
other Weasleys and kind eyes.
"Arthur Weasley," he said helpfully as
she shook his hand. "Of course I know who you are. A slayer, my word." Buffy
grinned and shook the next hand offered to her across the table, belonging to a
man, about five years older than her by the look of it with a ponytail and a
small fang shaped earring.
"Bill Weasley," he introduced with a
friendly grin. Buffy smiled, privately thinking that this guy looked like
someone Faith would date, except with a nicer personality. The last man, with
red hair like all the rest and large muscles and a burn mark on his upper arm,
offered a hand which Buffy shook.
"Charlie Weasley," he said and Buffy
nodded. He looked about her age, twenty or so.
"Okay got it," she said. "I've met the
lot now." They all laughed and Buffy grinned, it felt good to be in a warm,
family setting like this. There was one person left, a young woman, just a few
years older than Buffy, with bright pink sticking up hair. She too shook
Buffy's hand.
"I like your hair," she said admiringly,
and she screwed her face up and with what looked like effort, her hair turned
long and blonde like Buffy's. Buffy just stared in amazement and the woman
grinned.
"I'm Nymphadora Tonks," she said. "But
call me Tonks, who in their right mind calls their child Nymphadora, I ask
you?" Buffy grinned, this woman was definitely interesting.
"How did you do that?" she asked,
gesturing to Tonks' new blonde hair.
"I'm a metamorphmagus," she said. "It
means I can change my appearance at will."
"Can you all do that?" Buffy said in
amazement but Remus shook his head.
"No it's
something you're born with, it's very rare," he explained.
From the hallway, there was the sound of people moving towards the kitchen.
"That'll be the others," Molly said.
"Then I'll dish up." The kitchen door opened and two men entered the room.
Buffy stood up as they entered, clutching a knife that had been on the table.
"You," Buffy said levelly and it went
silent in the room. "Someone curse him now!" All the occupants of the room
looked at her in amazement.
"Kingsley?" Arthur said in astonishment.
"What do you mean my dear?" Buffy stared at Kingsley Shacklebolt who stood in
the doorway and he looked back at her.
"We've had a run in before I believe,"
Kingsley said. "Buffy Summers I believe." Buffy stared levelly at him. Remus
put his hand on her arm.
"Buffy it's okay," he reassured her.
"Kingsley isn't after Sirius or you, he knows he was innocent. He's in the
Order." Buffy frowned.
"Oh," she said weakly, beginning to
blush. Kingsley moved forward and extended a hand to her.
"A fresh start perhaps," he said with a
conspiratorial grin which Buffy returned. She shook his hand and they both took
seats at the table, along with the other man who had entered.
Buffy hadn't looked at him before, but when she did she was astonished at what
she saw. The man's face looked as if it had been hacked at repeatedly with a
knife, chunks missing, even an eye which had been replaced with an electric
blue spinning one.
"Alastor Moody," he grunted, shaking her
hand with a gnarled one. Buffy vaguely
remembered Sirius mentioning a 'Mad-Eye Moody' and naming him as one of the
best Aurors to ever work for the Ministry.
"This might interest you Alastor," Arthur said
as Molly began to pass out plates and fill them will stew and potatoes. "Buffy
here is a vampire slayer." Buffy saw surprise register on the face of Moody.
"That is interesting," he growled.
"Where have you been active?"
"Sunnydale," Buffy answered and his face
registered more surprise.
"The hellmouth?" he said, impressed.
"Sirius never mentioned where exactly he'd stayed. Interesting. Do you get a
lot of activity there?"
"Plenty," Buffy said with a rueful smile.
"Demons just can't resist the evil goodness there." There was a silence for a
while except for the sound of cutlery on plates as they all ate.
"How do you know Kingsley?" Bill asked
curiously and Kingsley and Buffy shared another conspiratorial grin.
"I kicked his ass once," Buffy said casually
and the room fell silent.
"It's true," Kingsley said, still
smiling. "In the middle of the street in Liverpool. Three Ministry trained
Aurors taken out by a girl without a wand." Charlie let out a low whistle of
amazement.
"Sorry
about that," Buffy said and Kingsley laughed. "That was a crazy night. Me and
Sirius went to this bar, and it turned out to be a demon bar." Fred and George
looked at her with undisguised amazement.
"Tell the story," Fred begged and Buffy
laughed.
"Well we went in, and the second we got
in I realised what it was," she began. "There was this vampire working at the
bar and I got drinks for us. The barman told me I wouldn't make it out alive as
soon as I sat down, not the best hospitality. We talked for a while about
demons and stuff and he said he'd heard of me which I was pretty impressed by
and then we went to leave. By then pretty much the whole bar had noticed us and
we're waiting to kill us. This vampire was there, one I knew from a while back,
a real jerk called Spike. We talked, I hit him and the fight broke out. Luckily
the demons were too stupid to notice they were hitting each other so we
scarpered. And then I ran into Kingsley and his buddies."
"And then?" George prompted.
"Well they threatened me," Buffy said with a
grin. "They'd been following me and at that point I was pretty pissed off so we
fought. Knocked out the other two lightweights and then broke Kingsley's wand.
Threatened him and then I was off."
"She was terrifying," Kingsley said,
smiling.
"This Spike," Moody began. "He wasn't
William the Bloody?"
"Yeah, a real jerk," Buffy said with
venom.
"You fought William the Bloody?" Moody
said in amazement.
"Yeah a few times," Buffy answered. "But
it wasn't exactly hard; he was all broken up about Drusilla, his ex."
"Did you ever fight Drusilla?" Moody
pressed.
"Yeah, there was this whole thing
between me and her and Spike," Buffy said, helping herself to a bread roll from
the basket on the table.
"Did you ever fight Angelus?" Moody
asked and Buffy smiled, not quite sure what to say.
"Yeah I did," she said. "I also dated
him. He had a soul, he has a soul but he lost it for a while." Moody looked
impressed despite himself.
Conversations began among the occupants of the table, Buffy talked with
Kingsley, Tonks and Moody about the demons she had fought. Molly discussed the
happenings at the Ministry with Arthur, and Bill. Charlie and Lupin listened
curiously to Buffy's stories.
Buffy found herself enjoying being in this
environment, she had been afraid about not knowing anyone but everyone was very
friendly. She missed Sirius though; she knew it would've been better with him
by her side, supporting her, contributing to the stories and telling his own.
She couldn't forget she was a stranger in this house and the reason she was
here.
Once dinner was finished, they moved into the drawing room, a room with a
writing desk and a mismatched collection of sofas and armchairs. Buffy settled
down on the sofa next to Ron.
"Why isn't Harry here?" she asked him as
they helped themselves to the pot of coffee on the low table in the centre of
the room.
"Dumbledore won't let him come just
yet," Ron said, shrugging. "I don't know when he'll be able to come. But I've
written to him loads and he hasn't replied." Buffy nodded.
"Did it hit him hard?" she asked
quietly, and Ron nodded, looking slightly alarmed at the conversation which he
feared could turn to tears at any point.
"Sirius was all he had for family," Ron
said worriedly. "He hasn't been the same since it happened." Buffy nodded
grimly. She barely knew Harry but she had heard so much about him, from what
Sirius had told her through his letters and in his visits. He knew that Sirius
was immensely proud of Harry, and he looked on him like a son and a brother.
Which meant Harry had lost a father and brother himself. A boy that had been
through that much deserved some breaks, Buffy thought, blinking back tears.
Ron looked
away awkwardly. Buffy smiled and cuffed him gently on the arm.
"Don't look so afraid," she said with a
chuckle. "I'm not gonna break down. I'll wait til I know you better." Ron
smiled, though he still looked unsure.
The door to
the drawing room opened and another stranger entered the room.
This man was something else; Buffy felt all her spidey senses tingling as he
swept across the room to greet them all. He had a long silver beard and long
silver hair, half moon glasses perched on a cooked nose and colourful long
robes. His appearance belied the power Buffy felt emanating off of him, he was
literally the most powerful being she had ever felt. Dumbledore, she presumed
and stood up to greet him.
"Miss Buffy Summers I believe," he said,
eyes twinkling and she nodded and shook his hand. She couldn't explain why, but
she felt safe with this man, she trusted him immediately. She also knew he was
mighty powerful, Sirius had told her that.
"Just Buffy will do," she said with a smile which he returned.
"I hope you have settled in well," he said politely and she nodded.
"I wonder if you would give me the pleasure of
talking with you alone for a short while," he asked politely and she nodded.
The headed into the kitchen where they sat at the kitchen table facing one
another.
"Buffy, I am aware who you are,"
Dumbledore began, eyes still twinkling kindly. "The slayer. I have some
contacts in the Watchers Council and when Sirius informed me of your existence,
I did a check on you. Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed."
"You looked
at my past?" Buffy said, swallowing hard, feeling suddenly conscious of the
fact she had destroyed two schools and had been wanted for murder.
"Don't ever feel ashamed of what you
have achieved," Dumbledore said seriously.
Buffy couldn't speak; she was astonished at his words. She hadn't felt brave and loving when she had saved the world, she'd been scared and doing her duty.
"I know you are going through a difficult time at the moment," Dumbledore continued, gravely. "Sirius' death has hit a lot of people very hard."
"I haven't asked anyone this yet, I wasn't really ready but I think I need to know." Buffy began. "How exactly did Sirius die?" She swallowed hard, the lump that was in her throat making it difficult for her to breathe.
Dumbledore
looked at her closely over the top of his glasses.
"Sirius was a brave man," he said
sincerely. "Harry, along with you, was one of the most important people in his
life. When he heard about Harry being in danger, he rushed to his aid along
with others. They were in the Ministry, in the Department of Mysteries. That
department contains all the mysteries of this dimension and the others. Not
even those that work there know about everything there. The fight that Sirius
was involved in took place in a room empty except for an archway. Sirius was
cursed by a death eater and his body was thrown backwards through that archway.
It did not come out the other side."
"Who was the death eater?" Buffy said, a
few tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Sirius' cousin, a woman by the name of
Bellatrix Lestrange," Dumbledore replied. Buffy nodded and her jaw set. That
name was imprinted in her mind, stored away until she needed it.
"The archway, what was it?" Buffy asked
suddenly. "I mean surely if it was just an archway then his body would have
come out the other side." She wiped her face with the sleeve of her robes.
"Like the other items in the Department
of Mysteries, that item is somewhat ambiguous. It is known as the Archway of Lost
Souls." Dumbledore said. "Death is something that no one can fully comprehend.
You only truly know it when you experience it, and then it is too late. But
what we do know is that when a person dies, their soul leaves their body. The Archway
of Lost Souls is for those souls that have been evil, that have killed,
tortured and hurt without remorse. It is, in effect the Gateway to Hell." Buffy
clutched the table tightly between grasping fingers. She felt the colour drain
from her face.
"But Sirius was a good man," she croaked
weakly. "His soul was clean."
"I know," Dumbledore replied with a
sigh. "But his body, with his soul inside was forced through the Gateway."
"Then I have to go and get him," Buffy
said furiously, standing up. "I can reach him, bring him back." But Dumbledore
was shaking his head.
"Many have gone through the Archway, but
none have returned." Said Dumbledore. "There is no returning from hell, there
is no way to make it back. It would be suicide."
"Then
at least I'll die knowing that I tried," Buffy said, through the tears that
poured down her cheeks.
"Please, Buffy listen," Dumbledore said,
still calm. "I did not tell you this because I wanted you to go to Sirius. The
dead leave us, and once gone cannot be returned. We have them left inside of us
through our memories." Buffy didn't move to sit down, but she stood still.
"The reason I wanted to talk to you is because
I think you can help someone," Dumbledore said, eyes fixed on Buffy's. "I know
you're used to saving other's lives, saving the world even. But this is
different, this is about one boy."
"Harry," Buffy stated and Dumbledore
nodded.
"Harry was hit very hard by Sirius'
death," Dumbledore said. "The loss of his parents at such a young age, having
to live with the Dursleys and being 'the boy-who-lived' were troubles enough.
Now he has more to contend with than I think even I comprehend."
"The prophecy," Buffy murmured and
Dumbledore nodded again.
"I had to tell Harry," he said, looking away
for the first time. "Just after Sirius died, he came to my office. And then I
told him who he was and what that meant." Buffy sat down hard as reality came rushing
back to her. A boy, fifteen years old losing all he had in the way of family
and then discovering that it was his duty to save the world, or die trying.
Sirius had told her about the prophecy, a long time ago.
"But you can understand that feeling,"
Dumbledore said and Buffy gulped. "I read the codex, read your prophecy. And
you're still standing."
"That's the combination of a kick ass
dress and CPR," Buffy said, without mirth.
"There is no one that can relate to
Harry anymore," Dumbledore said. "No one can understand his pain. But you can.
You are the chosen one, the Slayer, a prophecy already to her name. And you
lost your mother." Buffy closed her eyes against the burning tears. When she
opened them again, she was angry.
"You don't even know me!" she hissed furiously.
"I come here to get some closure, to try and fix my life, to get something so I
can go on. When I lost Sirius it was like my heart falling out, I couldn't
breathe. And it still feels like that, every second of everyday. And you tell
me that I have to help some boy because both our lives are so messed up. So
once again the weight of the world is on my shoulders, it's on me. I came back
for Sirius; I came back hoping that I would find something here that would let
me have my peace. How dare you talk about my mother? I don't need this; I don't
need any of this. Sirius died while he was here, died while he was in your
care. I don't owe you anything. Give me
one reason why I should help you."
****
Uh oh more angry Buffy. Sorry for all the OotP haters out there but death makes people unhappy.
