Chapter One: So This is England
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Dawn sat on the plane in silence. She had been quiet a lot lately. She hadn't complained when Giles told her about her uncles. She had jut focussed on packing; it was something to do other than think about Buffy. She knew the others had had an argument over whether or not she should go, she had overheard it all. She was torn between wanting to go and not. On the one hand everything in Sunnydale was familiar, it was Buffy. The house was safe and warm and full of Buffy, helping her remember her sister. On the other hand the house reminded her of Buffy.
The same thing that made her want to stay made her want to leave, even trying to focus on happy memories of Buffy like everybody told you to do when you're grieving didn't help. Thinking of the happy times made her smile for a moment, but only served to remind her of all the good things she was missing, everything she had lost, everything that was her fault.
With all this going on inside she sat in silence for the very long flight. She stared out the window at the dark night sky, remembering when hell was literally flying from that sky, then she thought back to the tower. She kept reliving that moment on the tower, thinking that if she had only ran first she could have saved Buffy. It was meant to be her not Buffy. She was the key, so why did Buffy have to die?
"Are you alright?" asked the woman next to her kindly, seeing the tears running down her face.
Dawn looked up as if waking from a dream. She couldn't even manage a small fake smile so she simply nodded, but turning back to the window she whispered "No, I'm not alright"
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"There she is" said Petunia, looking at the picture in her hand and then up at the tall brown haired girl that looked lost in the airport.
She didn't seem to see the Dursleys, but she didn't really see anything else either. It was as if she was in her own world as she walked into the arrivals lounge. She jumped when she heard somebody call out "Dawn"
She turned to face her aunt, uncle and cousin. 'So this is my new family' she thought. 'Petunia looks nice, a little too thin with a very long neck, but nice enough' Vernon on the other hand was huge and the couple didn't quite look right together. Dawn was reminded of a rhyme Xander had once told her, 'fatty and skinny went to bed, fatty rolled over and skinny was dead' Despite the joke in her head she still couldn't return the smiles they were giving her.
"Aunt Petunia" Dawn greeted as she was pulled into a hug. "It's been so long", she could hardly say it was good to see her.
"Dawn" greeted Vernon, opting to shake her hand rather than hug her. "You're right; it's been far too long, shame about the circumstances of course"
"Yes dear, are you alright?" added Petunia, "It must have been so hard for you; you're mother passing away just a few months ago, then Buffy and now your father"
Dawn imagined what Buffy would have said had she been there; she would have made some comment about her father never being around anyway. But Buffy wasn't there and the truth was Dawn was not unaffected by her father's death. It didn't help that she hadn't even be notified until after the funeral that he had died of a heart attack.
"It's not easy" said Dawn quietly. She looked around, so this was the land of Giles. It was way too much like America, she always thought everything would be small and quaint and English with tea and tweed everywhere, instead it seemed pretty normal.
"Well come on, let's get you home then. We spoke to, I think he said he was a friend of your mother's, Mr Giles is it?" at the nod she continued. "Well he said you like purple, so that's the colour of your room" said Petunia in a high cheery voice as she led the way back to the car.
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The car journey was long and reasonably quiet after a while. Petunia had tried making conversation when Dawn pretended to fall asleep. That night Dawn excused herself from dinner, not sure if she could stand anymore attempted conversation.
Up in her new room she sat for a few minutes looking around her new room. It was purple, not quite the shade she would have chosen but it wasn't bad. It seemed cold and bare though, like a hotel room or a guest room, not a long term place to stay. There was a desk and a wardrobe and some empty shelves, there was also several stacks of boxes that had been shipped over before she got here. If she unpacked she could probably make the room look more like her own but she really didn't have the energy right now.
She didn't want to sleep even though she was tired because she knew the nightmares would come, so instead she picked out one of the books she had 'borrowed' from home. Lately novels had seemed so boring and fake to her, full of happy situations that she couldn't relate to, so she settled on reading a book on demons.
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Dawn fell asleep eventually. She woke up screaming Buffy, just as she watched her sister jump again. She hated sleeping now, it was like pressing play on the nightmare leading up to the tower and then it always ended when Buffy jumped.
Dawn didn't go down to breakfast that morning, even though she was hungry. She didn't want to face anybody yet. Instead she started unpacking all her stuff. A lot of it wasn't actually hers; she had taken it from Buffy's room and around the house. For this reason she had a few too many pairs of leather pants and the makings of an occult book store. She hid these books away in a box under her bed, knowing they wouldn't make the best impression on the Dursleys.
A knock on the door made Dawn push the book she was reading under the bed and pull out a magazine before calling, "Come in"
"You're up then?" said Petunia with a smile. She had a looked around the room. "You've unpacked? We thought we'd let you do it so you could get everything the way you wanted it, and you probably didn't want us going through all your stuff anyway. Well Vernon's at work and I'm just about to pop down to the shops to make sure I've got lots in for little Dudders coming home tomorrow. I swear they don't feed him enough at that school"
Dawn found that phrasing quite interesting. She had seen pictures of 'little Dudders', and there appeared to be nothing little about him. If his report that was pinned to the fridge was anything to go by, they perhaps his brains were small, but other than that the boy was built like an overgrown hippo.
"Would you like to come?" continued Petunia
"No thanks, I think I'll just stay in. I'm still kinda tired, jetlag I think." Said Dawn, "If that's Ok" she quickly added.
"No, that's fine" said Petunia, still overly cheerful. "Well, help yourself to anything if you get hungry, you missed breakfast. The television is in the lounge, just remember, this is your home now"
Dawn managed a weak smile. She turned back to look at the magazine as Petunia left. She listened as the front door shut and then a car drove out of the front drive. She threw the magazine onto the desk and stood up.
Dawn walked into the first room on this floor. She knew she shouldn't be snooping around in other people's bedrooms but she just wanted to get a feel fro the place and maybe learn some more about her new family. This room was clearly Vernon and Petunia's. There was a large double bed against one wall with matching bedside tables. A large dressing table with mirror was covered in various cosmetics and pictures of Dudley. There was a chest of drawers and double wardrobe. All in all, it was a pretty standard room.
The next room she assumed was Dudley's. It was cramped with all the computer games, toys, games and everything else Dudley had. He was clearly spoilt; it probably came from growing up as an only child.
The next room was a bathroom, but the last room on this floor was the strangest. There was a large bolt on the outside, with space for a padlock, obviously for extra protection. Bizarrely enough there was also a cat flap even though she was sure the Dursleys didn't have any pets.
Opening the door she found it was quite small and reasonably bare, although there was some broken junk, like a TV with a whole in the middle of the screen. It must have been somebody's bedroom because there was a wardrobe and an uncomfortable bed in there. The wardrobe was full of old clothes in large sizes and on the wall there was a flag with Gryffindor written on it next to a picture of a lion. Dawn assumed this must be an English soccer team.
Determined to find out whose rooms it was she looked for clues under the bed. All she found was an old book. On further inspection the book turned out to be a spell book, but not one like she had seen. The incantations were all Latin based and could have been legitimate, but they were followed by different direction on how to swish and flick your wand. She dismissed it as some cheap novelty book that had probably come with a plastic wand and starry cloak and hat.
With no more clues to be found, the room remained a mystery.
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Dawn had a quick breakfast consisting of a bowl of cereal and flicked through the channels on TV a few times before deciding to go out for some fresh air. She left a quick note for Petunia and hoped her aunt got back before she did because she didn't have a key.
The whole street was just a row of identical houses with neat lawns and hedges, all lacking any personality of their own. The curtains were all similar flowery patterns with net curtains on the ground floor, and Dawn briefly wondered if they all had the same magnolia walls inside and the same coloured carpets.
Dawn walked for about an hour until she seemed to be in the town centre, or at least somewhere with shops. She didn't have much money, but Giles had given her some English pounds to start her off. She found an Internet Café and went in, settling down in front of a computer to write an e-mail.
Hey Will, (it read)
I'm in England. It's kinda weird, not as much tea and tweed as you would have expected. Actually a lot of things aren't that different, they even have MacDonalds and Starbucks. I always thought he would fit in perfectly, but I think Giles would probably be just as stuffy over here
My aunt and uncle are nice. They're trying but Petunia is just being overly cheerful al the time and it's actually getting quite scary.
My cousin is coming home from school tomorrow. He goes to some boarding school. I think I've met him once before but I don't remember him at all, I was too young. Buffy told me about him once, she described him as a beach ball with arms and legs and said she'd been severely tempted to knock him over and give him a push to see how well he rolled.
So how's everyone back in Sunnydale? Say hi to them all for me, I'd write separately but they'd all end up the same and I think you're the only one who checks their e-mail regularly. Just read this out loud for me.
How's the demon situation in Sunnydale? They usually lie low after a big apocalypse aversion don't they?
Well e-mail me back soon, I want to hear all the gossip from Sunnydale
I'm missing everyone loads
Love you all
Dawn
She checked it over before reading it, amazed at how cheerful she could sound when she actually felt the complete opposite. She headed home not long after that, it was late afternoon already and she didn't want anybody to start worrying about her.
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Dawn had picked up a sandwich while she was out so she managed to avoid dinner that night as well, claiming she was tired. Once again she sat reading until sleep finally claimed her, pulling her into that nightmare once more where her world fell apart.
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AN: It just occurred to me that if Vernon and Hank were brothers then they should have the same last name. So I'm going to say that they were only half brothers, with the same mother. Hanks parents divorced shortly after he was born, his mother remarried and Vernon was born. Hanks father is American and he spent a lot of time with him so that's why he is American and Vernon is English.
I realise that this is complete rubbish but I just made it up on the spot to fix that little problem. The truth is they're brothers because it makes my plot work.