Buffy unleashes some pent-up anger...

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Chapter 9

Farther Away

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Buffy crossed her arms, glaring at her Aunt and Uncle.

"What's going on?"

A thick figure was coming downstairs very slowly, his eyes narrowed at the look of fear on both his mother and father's faces. "Mum? Dad?"

"Hello, Dudley," Buffy said coolly.

"Elizabeth..." he wheezed, stopping his descent. "I-I didn't know you were back..."

"Nice to see you, too," she said, turning around to look up at him. "How have you been, Dudley?"

The boy above her gulped and retreated back up the stairs. She turned to look at her Aunt and Uncle who hadn't moved since she turned her back on them. "That was very rude of your son, do you know that?"

"What are you?" Aunt Petunia gasped.

"I'm Elizabeth," Buffy said, crossing her arms and leaning back against the wall. "And you are?"

"What right have you to come into our home and take Harry away after we welcomed you in with open arms?" Petunia asked in a whimper.

"I am not going to stand here and watch my little brother be abused into submission by two people that I once considered a part of my family," Buffy replied calmly.

Uncle Vernon's eyes narrowed dangerously and he took a precarious step toward her. "Just watch who you're giving lip to around her, Elizabeth." His voice was very cold. "I will not tolerate you acting as though you own my house and act as though you own my family. This is my family and Harry is still a part of it."

"I'm not your sister, though, am I?" Buffy asked carefully.

"Thank God for that," Vernon replied, his voice ending in a soft hiss.

His eyes widened when he realized he had pushed the younger woman too far. Her eyes narrowed dangerously and she stepped forward so that they were eye to eye, or rather, he towered over her and she refused to back down.

Everything after seemed to happen in slow motion. As he lifted his arm in an attempt to feign a strike, her own hand lifted and easily tossed his arm aside. She turned away, one foot lifting up and easily kicking him against the wall. He collapsed against it and fell to the floor in a muttering heap. He glared up at her as she drew in fists. Her eyes were ablaze.

"What are you?" he asked in a dark voice. "Are you a freak like--"

He didn't get a chance to finish his words. Aunt Petunia was crying now, whimpering "Oh, no... oh, no no no" to herself. Buffy lifted him easily from the ground and held him to the wall, her fingers digging into his fleshy clavicle.

Soon, it was all over. Harry walked downstairs, dragging his trunk and Hedwig's empty cage, the Firebolt tucked under one arm. He froze when he saw his sister towering over their Uncle with Aunt Petunia huddled against a doorway, talking to herself in pleading, whispered tones.

"If you touch my brother again," Buffy said, hearing the footfalls and straightening, "I will kill you. It's not a threat. It's a promise."

She turned and forced a grin and looked into her brother's stunned face. "All right, Harry?"

"Er..." he said, glancing from his Uncle, who was attempting to get to his feet. His eyes widened further when he saw his sister lean over and step on the small of Uncle Vernon's back, forcing him down again. "Yeah," he said, trying to add a bit of cheerfulness into his voice. "I'm great."

"Wonderful," she said, getting off of Uncle Vernon. She reached over and took his cage, turning one last time to look at their Aunt and Uncle. "I hope this is the last time I ever see you," she said pleasantly. "Because if it isn't, I might have to do something we'll all regret."

She closed the door sharply behind them.

Harry was staring at her with something like awe in his eyes. "What was that?" he asked.

"I just got sick and tired of the way he was treating you," Buffy replied, looping an arm over his shoulder and leading him to the cab, "that's all."

But, Harry thought as he slid into the cab, was she really telling him the truth?

- - - - -

"... it was bloody brilliant! The Council members just showed up to the hotel and saw that you'd left and you wiped everything clean! All of your luggage was gone... and there wasn't any forwarding address! You'd switched to a private cab company so the instant they tried to contact the actual company, it wasn't there... oh, Buffy! This has made my evening!" Giles let out a resigned sigh, the laughter bubbling up inside of him again.

Buffy grinned as she put her feet against the wall, lying flat on her bed, which was little more than a mattress on the floor. "How did you find out?" she asked, laughing. Giles had called her fifteen minutes earlier and had gabbled on to her about a call he'd gotten from the current Sunnydale Watcher regarding Buffy slipping from the control of the Council. Giles had been highly amused, Wesley was deeply offended and Faith was, well, Faith. She managed a bemused smirk before taking off to Slay, her Watcher grudgingly following her. Buffy had called earlier that day with her new number, so Giles happily called her back the instant Wesley was out of sight.

"Wesley!" Giles replied, his voice dropping slightly. "Quentin contacted him immediately to give even more threats to Joyce and I. Did you know that she's been in contact with this law firm in Los Angeles? That's how desperate we are to bring you back! Wes came over tonight and was just falling all over and tripping over his own words and wow, Buffy... you missed a good Scooby meeting."

"How's the Slaying going?" Buffy asked curiously.

"Faith and the others are doing all right," Giles replied, the mirth dying from his voice. "They managed to slay two vampires last night and found a goat-sacrificing demon."

"How... odd," Buffy said, suddenly well aware of how strange it was to be talking about slaying vampires and demons when her own brother was in the next room. "I still haven't told Harry about the Slaying," she admitted in a voice barely above a whisper. "I don't know how he'll take it. I might tell him at some point, since he's been downright honest with me... but..."

"You don't have to tell him right now, Buffy," Giles said gently. "This has been a difficult time for you. You have lost a sense of identity and with the Council still pulling all of your strings, you've finally had a chance to get a sense of the freedom of it all."

"This isn't a bad world, Giles," she said, sitting up slightly and crossing her legs. "In fact, it's a world I can probably get used to. Did you know that people can just disappear and reappear in a different spot at once? It's called Apparation! It's unbelievable!"

"Can Harry... err... Apparate?" Giles asked, his voice coming through a slight bit of static.

"Not yet," she replied, reaching for a bag of freshly cut vegetables and pulling it onto her lap. "Although he turns sixteen tomorrow, you can't take your Apparation tests until you're seventeen."

"So basically you can go and learn to do it," Giles pointed out.

"If I were completely insane, maybe," Buffy said, nearly choking out the carrot stick she'd been nibbling on. "I mean, Giles... I want to learn to be a part of this world. If I just threw myself into it, I'd be insane! And speaking of insanity, this apartment. It's so... loud! I mean, I've been here exactly two days, but still..."

"You'll get used to it, won't you?" he asked curiously.

"I suppose I can live here for a few weeks until the Council finds me," Buffy said, her voice dropping into a breathy sigh. "I've been thinking about disappearing into this magical system for awhile... a few months or something until you and Mom figure out what to do."

"I'm not sure if the Council has had any contact with this magical world of yours, Buffy," Giles said quickly. "They might have a contract or something. For all you know, a Slayer could be a potentially dangerous creature."

"Harry's Headmaster seemed to sense a bit of that power in me," Buffy said, cocking her head to the side as her thoughts dwelled on the conversation a few days before. "I'm not sure. I could be completely pulling this out of proportion."

"You could be," Giles replied. "But it could make for interesting conversation someday. You'll tell him you're a Slayer when you're ready, I know."

"There's something else, Giles," Buffy said quietly. "I've been having this dream about this man... and he's dead, and then he's alive--"

"Oh, my God," Giles said, interrupting her. Buffy paused in confusion when she heard Giles rustling around in the background, as though searching for something. "Was it about a man named Sirius Black?"

Buffy gasped so loudly that she could hear Harry walk toward her room.

"Is everything all right?" he asked, shouting through the curtain of beads she'd glued over the top of her doorway.

"It's okay, Harry!" she shouted back. "I'll be out in a few minutes!" She picked up the phone she'd dropped and tried to focus her thoughts on that. "How did you know about Sirius Black?"

"Faith," Giles said simply. "She's been having these dreams about him."

"She's been in my dreams," Buffy said, amazed.

"She has said that you have been in hers," Giles replied. "What do you think this means?"

"It's a prophetic Slayer dream," Buffy whispered, "isn't it? I mean, that's the only way Slayers dream of something that's the same thing... if we know something that no one else does... if it's something that is going to happen... like..." She stopped speaking suddenly as her mind fell back on her dream from the night before. "Giles," she whispered suddenly. "I've been having that dream about Sirius for nearly a week now. I keep dreaming of his death... but then... he's alive."

"Faith came by this morning and began to explain her dream to me," Giles said quickly. "She said that he had been buried alive in a coffin."

"That was my dream!" Buffy gasped again. "God, Giles... what is going on here?"

"I think you hit the mark," he replied. "It may very well be a prophetic Slayer dream. And it could be a vision. Was anyone by chance in your family a seer?"

"You're not the first person to ask me that," she groaned. "But no, not."

"I'm going to ask Faith to elaborate more on these dreams," Giles said, and Buffy could hear him writing things down. "And I'm going to let you go. I'm sure you have enough to prepare for. Isn't it Harry's birthday tomorrow?"

"Yes," Buffy grinned. "I hope he likes what I got him."

"I'm sure he will," Giles said pleasantly. "After all, I'm not really sure what his life has been like before this, but from the way you've described it, it has been difficult."

After Buffy had hung up the phone, she jumped up from her mattress and pushed the beads aside, her bare feet creaking across the wooden floor. Harry was sitting on one of the massive window seats, staring out at the London skyline.

"Do you want to go out for dinner?" she asked him as she tossed the vegetables back in the refrigerator. "You can pick where you want to go, if you want."

"Are you sure?" he asked tentatively. He'd been sitting by the window reading from one of his older textbooks. Buffy grinned at him easily.

"Of course!" she said enthusiastically. "Let's go and we'll walk. I can use the exercise anyway!"

"There's this excellent inn over there," Harry said slowly, pointing toward a pub across the street.

"Are you sure you want a smelly, old pub?" she asked him quickly as she slipped into a quick overshirt.

"Maybe not," he said, wrinkling his nose as he marked his page and closed his book. "But let's go. I want to hear more about this woman you keep calling Joyce Summers."

- - - - -

"Happy birthday, Harry!"

Harry blinked and groaned, struggling to roll over. But there was no mistaking the sound of his sister's cheerful voice or the blaring sound of music. He struggled to sit up amidst a small army of sheets and blankets. When he finally untangled himself from his mess of bedding, he glanced up and squinted. In the slightly hazy view, he saw Buffy standing there, holding a small tray. The music was loud and seemed to be emanating from a central sound system from the floors below. "Uh... hi..." he said with a loud yawn.

Buffy playfully pushed him back onto his covers. "You can stay in bed, silly! That is after all what breakfast in bed is all about!"

"Breakfast... in... bed?" he asked slowly as she shoved most of his covers aside and set down the breakfast tray on a separate tray that had been set up next to his mattress.

In the three days they'd lived in this new flat, they had sparsley furnished it. There were two mattresses, one in the tiny bedroom and one underneath a large skylight in the main living area. Buffy had rented a few mismatched chairs and a sofa from the store below and the owner from the store had donated a handsome television set, which Buffy had set on one of the massive window seats.

The only lights in the flat were the ones Buffy had added in. There was one overhead light in the kitchen and the rest were floor and table lamps she'd set up the night before.

They'd gone to a wonderful diner and had a delicious dinner. Afterwards, they'd walked around a home furnishing store and purchased a few lamps. He'd been very interested in the tiny twinkle lights they'd seen in a Christmas clearance section. She'd happily picked them up and overnight had arranged them around his bed. Tiny white lights twinkled on and off around him. He smiled and happily looked at his breakfast.

It smelled wonderful. There were two waffles along with sausages and a large glass of orange juice. Next to the plate was a bowl full of freshly cut fruit and a tiny bottle of syrup. Next to the large glass of juice was a mug of tea and a small vase with a single white lily sticking out of it.

After unsticking his throat, Harry managed to croak out his thanks.

When breakfast was over, Buffy told him they were going shopping again. Harry half-wondered what it was for. But before they could leave, Hedwig showed up, flying up the stairs from the store down below after being chased by a frustrated owner brandishing his broomstick.

Hedwig landed on one of the new floor lamps and hooted, sticking out her leg. She was followed a few minutes later by a second owl. The owner downstairs cursed loudly as a third joined Hedwig and the second.

"Wow, Harry," Buffy said appreciatively, turning to her younger brother. Harry grinned and removed the parcels. The third owl was carrying an official Hogwarts letter. The smile slid off his face as he nervously looked at it. "What is it?" she asked him softly.

"Test scores," Harry replied, setting the letter down on the table. "I'll open it later, maybe." The other packages were from The Burrow, he noted. There was a brightly wrapped package from Mrs. weasley and a second package from Ron and Hermione. There was also a letter from Ron attached to Hedwig. The instant he detached the packages from the other two owls, they started to fly toward the stairs again when Buffy moved to the other side of the flat and opened a narrow passageway, leading onto a small balcony she'd explained to him was like a fire escape. The two owls flew out the passageway and Buffy closed the window behind them.

Harry opened the package from the Weasleys first. It contained a jumper with a large red 'H' stamped onto it as well as several pairs of socks. There were also a dozen homemade mince pies. Harry grinned as he set that letter aside and moved to open Ron's and Hermione's.

A sudden commotion made both siblings glance up. A fourth owl was tapping impatiently on the window leading to the passageway. Buffy opened it and gently removed what it was carrying and it flew off again. She returned with a small package from the Order. She gazed curiously at the names on it but handed it to Harry anyway.

He decided to leave both packages for later. "Want to go?"

"You're not going to open your presents?" Buffy asked in surprise.

"I'll wait," Harry said, shrugging. "It's not like I wanted to open them right away, anyway."

"How about that letter?" she asked, pointing to the letter from the Weasleys.

Harry opened the letter and began to read. Grinning, he passed it to his sister.

Harry --

Happy birthday! I hope Hedwig can find you! From what Dad's told us, you've moved out of the Dursleys. Why didn't you come to The Burrow?

We're inviting you and your guest to stay with us starting tomorrow. You know how to get here. We've enclosed the Floo powder. That way, you can have a proper birthday party.

Professor Dumbledore has told us that your guest is very important. We can't wait to meet her. Even Percy seems excited.

Hermione is still worried though. We can't wait to meet you all tomorrow! See you around midday?

Best, Ron and Hermione

Buffy was glancing at Harry with a surprised look on her face. It was mixed with a fair bit of hurt. Harry felt his heart drop slightly as he glanced at her. She moved and sat on one of the brightly patterned chairs, her arms crossed. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

"I'm fine," she said, forcing a smile. "Let's just go, okay? We'll have a good lunch and I'll get you your birthday gift tonight."

"Right," Harry said, not totally convinced she was all right with the invitation. She was probably curious about the Weasleys, but knowing that she'd be meeting even more of these strange people from a new world, she must have felt even farther away from a world she already knew.

- - - - -

Harry found his sister sitting on a small balcony off the end of their flat. Her arms were clasped around her knees and she was staring at the busy town winding down around them.

"Hey," he said, quickly ducking out the narrow passage. She turned and smiled at him.

"Did you have a good birthday?" she asked softly. "I know that it wasn't what you expected, I know."

"I think it was brilliant," Harry told her as he sat next to her. "Elizabeth... err, Buffy..."

"I don't mind if you go to The Burrow, Harry," she finally said. "I wouldn't care at all if you left tomorrow. In fact, I expect that you should live your life the way you want to."

"They asked me if you would like to come, too," Harry replied.

She looked at him, her eyes widening. "Really?"

"Yeah," he said, turning back to the view. "I would like you to. The Weasleys are great."

"You'll have to tell me more about them in the morning," Buffy said quickly, "especially if we have a bit of a drive."

"Actually..." he said, wondering on whether or not to tell about the Floo system. He decided to go for it. "Do you remember how Professor Dumbledore appeared in your fireplace?"

How could she forget? She nodded. "Yeah..."

"That's how Wizards can travel," he explained. "We use this powder and it allows us to travel by means of a fireplace. You'll see. Tomorrow when we leave for the Weasley's, it'll be your first encounter with the Floo system."

"I'll take your word for it," she said, giving him a strange, searching look before returning her gaze to the building across the street. He could tell something else was on her mind and made to ask her about it, but before he could open his mouth, she suddenly asked, "Where did that scar come from?"

His hand automatically reached up and touched the scar on his forehead. It was small and shaped like a lightning bolt. "This is part of what you asked me before not to tell you about," he said quietly. After all, he'd told her the beginning of the story when he'd been in her hotel room.

"I think I'm ready to hear about it," she said quietly, glancing at him again. She put her hand on his and smiled at him, a true, genuine smile. "Harry, I'm not going to keep asking you painful questions. I know enough to be able to guess that you're still hurting from the death of Sirius Black. I really don't want you to talk about this if it's too painful."

He gave her a tentative smile and glanced at his shoes. "It begins with the death of our Mum and Dad," he began. He didn't want to breach the subject of the prophecy, so he moved on. "There was this dark Wizard, known as Voldemort. Once he decided to kill someone, they didn't stand a chance. One night, he showed up to kill Mum and Dad. He killed Dad first. And then Mother died to save me. And when he turned his wand on me, there was a charm that was left behind. The magic rebounded and it destroyed him instead." He paused. "Mum died to save me and that mark left was--"

"It was love, wasn't it?" Buffy asked quietly. "Love can save so much..." In her eyes, she was reminded of the first time she saw Angel reappear. Drawing in a sharp breath to force the thought away, she turned to her brother. "Continue?"

"The night he tried to kill me, all I had left of it was this scar. That night, he transfered some of his powers over to me."

Buffy gasped and looked at him. "What?"

"He gave me some of his powers the night he disappeared," Harry replied hastily. "See, Voldemort didn't die. He's still alive. He came back about a year ago now... but, that's a different story. Anyway, with the powers that he gave me, I could do things, like talk to snakes."

"You can... talk... to snakes?" Buffy asked faintly.

Harry nodded. "Not only that, but I can do magic I never thought I could." He paused a moment. "I'm considered to be one of the most famous Wizards who ever lived."

Buffy surveyed Harry with a different sort of gaze. There was a look in her eyes that made him slightly uncomfortable. There was so much concern in her eyes that he felt compelled to explain more.

"I don't want that fame," he said quickly, looking away.

"Oh, Harry," she said quietly, squeezing his hand. "I don't mean to be like that. I just meant... I know what it's like to be singled out."

It was his turn to look at her curiously. She looked away and bit her lip. "Do you want to continue?" she asked quietly.

He looked at her again. "Do you want me to?"

"I don't know," she said, bowing her head slightly. "I'm not really sure if I want to hear about how you must have been tortured for the past how many years."

"I'm going into my sixth year at Hogwarts," Harry said proudly.

Buffy beamed at him. "I can't believe it," she said, a hint of pride in her own voice. "My little brother is going to a big school."

"I wish you could see it," he said softly, ignoring that sickly look on her face when she'd called him her little brother. "I mean, it was one of Sirius' favorite places."

She looked back out into the night. The stars were starting to brighten overhead now that the sun had set beyond the horizon. "Do you want to tell me more about Sirius Black?" she asked.

He nodded. "Let's go inside, though," he suggested.

"That's a good idea," she said brightly. "I can give you your birthday present then and we can open your other gifts and get your test scores."

Harry was nervous about his O.W.L. scores, but he wouldn't admit it to her. She had been acting so strangely since the letter from the Weasleys had shown up. He intended to ask her about it.

In fact, he was beginning to have a lot of questions to ask her.

But, as they retreated back inside, Buffy found they weren't alone. "What are you doing here?" she asked, slamming the window shut and maneuvering herself so that she stood between her brother and the two Watchers who were hovering near the stairway.

"We've come to reason with you," the woman said, glancing around the flat. "This is quite nice, really, Miss Summers."

"It's Potter," Buffy snarled, not moving. "Get out of my house."

"Some 'house'," the male Watcher retorted, smirking as he glanced around the dim flat. "I suppose you could have done better setting up shop in a garbage dumpster."

Before Buffy realized what he was doing, Harry stepped out from around her, his hand automatically reaching for his wand. His sister and the two Watchers gasped as he aimed it at them. "You take that back," he said angrily.

"So is this the younger Potter," said the woman, her eyes narrowing as she surveyed him. "He's got a bit of a fancy for magical objects, does he?"

"Harry, put the wand down," Buffy said quietly. Although he hadn't shown her his wand before, she knew exactly what it was when he'd pulled out of his pocket. When he didn't comply, she moved forward and forced his arm down. His eyes widened at the strength she had, but he said nothing. Her eyes were still glued to the two Watchers. "Now, I'm going to say this again..."

"You seem to be awfully protective of the boy," the female Watcher said with a cool smile. "I appreciate that."

"You can go back to Quentin or to whichever monster sent you," Buffy snapped, "and tell them I'm through running. You can bring it on."

"You do realize that if you attempt to go up against us," the male Watcher interjected, "and we might..." his eyes flickered over to Harry, "have to resort to ulterior forces."

Buffy understood immediately. Her fists clenched at her sides and her face reddened as the rage came over her. "You bastards," she whispered. Harry gazed at her in surprise. He'd always seen his sister to be kind, and, well, sisterly. This new version was a taste of what he'd seen at the Dursley's three days ago. She had a temper to be reckoned with. But at the moment, he realized that the two strangers had won this fight. They were looking at the pair of them with what appeared to be supercilious delight.

But Buffy wasn't finished yet.

"You can bring your taunts, your threats and your jabs," Buffy said, crossing her arms and cocking her head to the side, "and you'll still find that I can't seem to care. Just know this: if you come near my brother or anything even close to him, you'll be dead. I don't care if it's one of you or if it's a round dozen. You know who I am. You know I have that strength." Even Harry, still standing to her left, was starting to tremble at the force of her words. "Now, I am going to tell you this one more time before I start getting my moves on. Get... the Hell... out of my house!" Her words ended in a ravage scream.

Both the male and female Watchers were staring at her. "Very well," the male said, with a small bow.

"You have crossed us for the last time, Miss Potter," the female Watcher replied coldly as the male one left. "We will not forget this."

Harry watched as the woman left, giving Buffy one last haughty glare before disappearing down the steps.

He tried to reach for Buffy, only to realize she was shaking.

They had threatened her brother's life, she realized. This had gone way below the belt.

What she needed, she thought, was to disappear for awhile.

Lifting her head, she and Harry exchanged a long, long look.

- - - - -

Chapter 10... Harry gets his birthday present; Buffy's dream starts coming true...

Chapter 11... Weasleys everywhere! And Buffy reveals all...

To the Reviewers...

I added most of the Council goodness in the last chapter. I do hope you enjoy what's here though. Toward the end of the story, Buffy will be taking on the Council once again. But now she's being forced into hiding.

And the Buffyship. Heh. I could threaten to put her with Snape, but some of you might actually like that. Hehe. I won't pair her with Remus or Sirius (if he's even alive) because, well, weird much? They were her father's best friends. I think of dating my dad's best friends and I positively shudder. Too weird. I was thinking of a Weasley but now that I'm writing a few later chapters (just completed Chapter 12), I'm beginning to wonder if that's really appropriate. Let's just say that Buffy develops a little crush to begin with, because you'll start to see it. I promise.

I hope you like the Dursley bashing. It was short, but sweet, in a way. We might see them again, maybe...

As for Faith, her true identity is still a mystery. When she joins Buffy (and yes, she will), they'll find out some stuff about her lineage too.

Thank you guys for reading and reviewing. You guys keep making my nights a little bit brighter!

Chapter 10'll be posted sometime over the weekend.