Interlude
- - - - -
Dear Giles,
I know that I probably should have written this a few months ago, but for some reason, I couldn't. A lot has happened since Faith left, and things are still quite chaotic. As I sit here and write this, I'm in the library being hounded over by my protection. I think Faith used to call him Peter.
I can't believe it's almost June. It's so warm here. After this past winter, I never thought I'd live to see the day when there wasn't a foot or two of snow on the ground. I'm getting ready to take the hardest two tests of my entire life. I'm really hoping that whatever luck that got me through the PSATs will get me through my NEWTs. Percy's been trying to talk me into easing myself into the Ministry, but I don't think I'll be that lucky. He's also trying to talk me into taking the Apparition test, but I love travelling by fire.
The past few months have been hard. I'm sure by now that Faith has told you everything, so you can understand why it's been hard for me to write to anyone back there. I haven't had any sudden urges to harm anything, so that must be a good sign. I'm hoping to become a vampire hunter through the Ministry. That way, Harry's godfather can take care of him while I'm off chasing my calling through the woods in Europe. This is finally my chance to see the world!
I'm also taking the notion of going under cover very seriously. I have four weeks of this school left and then I'm done. No college necessary. The rest of my life has become an open road. You see my dilemma, right?
I've taken the liberty of buying a small flat in London so that Harry and I can live there during the summer holidays. I've already decided that I won't do anything this summer so Harry is at least protected. If I'm called away to do anything, I'll just have Harry stay with Sirius for awhile. I'm really hoping you remember him!
My social life has probably been the hardest hit from my break-in to the dark side. Most people act like I'm about to filet them alive when I talk, so I've learned to keep my mouth shut. A true Potter first, let me tell you. I still have a few close friends though, and those evil snake worshippers keep thinking I'm like some deity or something. It's a little scary sometimes. I mostly ignore them.
But I can't pretend that anything is really the same anymore, because it isn't. Since I haven't gotten any letters from home recently, I can only hope Wesley is coping well. I really hope Faith did what she was intending to do and take Wes under her wing. It's what she does best, or so her brother says. He really misses her and cannot wait until she returns to England
Onyx finally had her baby owls about two weeks after Faith left. There were five, and they were the most precious things. I've enclosed two with this package, because I believe Willow wanted one. You guys can give the other to whomever you want. I gave one to Sirius, who seemed to miss taking care of things. I let Ron keep the other two, although I think he's given them away by now.
On a more personal note, I miss you and miss Sunnydale immensely. You have no idea how hard it is to wake up in a hostile world and wish I was home, only to realize that home is where I happened to be. I'm counting down the seconds to when I can see you all again at the end of July. I'll be arriving July thirtieth. The Ministry has already cleared me for this trip and Harry will, of course, be coming with. I think we leave on the ninth of August.
Give my love to my friends and I'll see you all very soon.
Yours,
Buffy
P.S.: Give this other letter to Faith.
- - - - -
Buffy set down her hairbrush and picked up a band. Wrapping her hair up in a ponytail, she stared at her somber reflection in the bathroom mirror. She could hear the voices on the other side of the door, since no one was really too eager to keep quiet around her anymore. They all thought her to be some demon spawn, but, what did she care? She had lived with her lack of popularity when Cordelia willed it. Why should she care that there were a great many students who thought she was about to jump off her rocker?
Sighing, she lifted the last item from the vanity top and slipped it around her neck, enjoying the way the blue stone caught the light. Never in a million years did she ever think she'd wear these horrid stones.
It had been Emma's idea to clip them off and put them on a chain instead of wearing the entire chunk of stones. They were quite lovely on a silver chain, and Buffy was getting used to them now.
They had made her all drowsy and sluggish before.
Packing up her things and stuffing them inside an old bag, she retreated from the bathroom and headed back to her bedroom, ignoring the sounds of five other girls getting ready for their late May classes.
- - - - -
Dear Faith,
I finally decided to write to you, because facing you with this decision in person is the hardest thing I've had to do. While I'm glad we left on at least speaking terms, it feels odd because you're the only other person in the world who understands what I'm going through.
I hope you're doing all right and taking care of Wesley as you said you were going to do. I'm doing my best to check up on Sirius, although I can only have limited contact with the outside world. It took the Ministry all of one more attack to realize I'm not a Death Eater. Over a hundred Muggles were killed. It was a terrible tragedy and it struck us on Valentine's Day. It makes me long for the old Angelus days, almost.
Sirius included the postscript on the letter. I really wanted him to say something to you, instead of just, "what has my Yankee sister done to get herself in trouble this time?". So typical of a male, don't you think?
Percy says he misses your wit and sarcasm. I think Oli does too, but he wouldn't admit it even if you were handcuffing him. Don't get those dirty thoughts, we haven't gone that far yet. Far enough, but not to the point where toys become games. I think I'll stop right there.
Harry wants to know how you've been. He's had it rough. The death of all those Muggles really shook him. How can he save a world that really can't live? I'm almost afraid of what's to come, but I know that I can stand beside him to the end, if I have to. And I do have to. I made a promise and as Slayers go, those are sometimes touchy to keep. I intend to see it through to the end, I'll say it again. And again. And again.
I'm coming back to Sunnydale the 30th of July and leaving the ninth of August. That should give you enough time to prepare. I don't want you to tell Joyce, but I don't want to give her a heart attack either. I'm coming home because I need to make sure I still have a home to go to once this war is over. It's time I hung up my boots and rested for a while. I think we both know we've been fighting in this world far too often.
I've given your brother one of the baby owls. Feel free to take its brother. At least, I think it's a boy. Didn't really check too carefully on that. Onyx had a litter of five, or whatever a pack of owl babies is known as. They're all black and white, too. Pretty little things. I want Onyx to have more, but there's only so many things you can make that owl do.
All the best,
Buffy
- - - - -
Harry closed his Transfiguration book shut with a snap and glanced across the table at Ron, who was still poring over notes twelve inches high.
"Do we really have to know all of this?" he muttered as he flipped a page over and stared disinterestedly at another.
"Probably," Harry said darkly as he glanced through all of his old assignments, finally choosing one and unrolling it.
"I hate end of year exams," Ron said darkly as he continued to stare at the notes without much interest in his eyes.
Harry found his own attention span ebbing as he glanced across the Library, where many of the fifth and seventh year students were preparing for their O.W.L. or N.E.W.T. tests. He caught sight of his sister in the far corner with two of her roommates, including Katie Bell. His eyes continued to drift until they stopped at a table occupied by sixth-year girls from Hufflepuff and Gryffindor.
His heart started fluttering when he saw Hermione sitting with them, her usual stack of books hiding her from most views, but Harry could see her hairline behind the topmost of the stack. His eyes softened as he watched her talk quietly, describing something to both Parvati and Lavender. It was then that Ron let out a snort of impatience and look up, running a hand through his hair, setting most of it on end. He followed Harry's gaze and his jaw set.
"You're going to have to talk to her sooner or later, mate," he said quietly.
"I'd rather have my teeth pulled or spend another year at the Dursleys," Harry snapped as he forced himself to look back down at the table in front of him.
Ron kept staring across the room, and to his surprise, he caught Lavender's eye. She gave him a tight smile and looked away.
It had been the girls versus the boys in so many things since March, and now that June was right around the corner, it made things all the more painful. Things had gotten so bad that Gryffindor had lost the House Cup, something Ron had won for the team the year before.
But the dynamic with the team had been terrible. The Chasers, as usual, were quite good, since Katie and Buffy were such good friends, and Ginny wasn't really at odds with any of them. The Beaters had been occupied though, especially since it had been Slytherin they played. The heartbreaker though was the fact that Harry's heart just wasn't in playing anymore. He'd seemed to lose his focus and his drive.
It had been happening for months now, ever since Faith had left and Buffy had gone from being a shining beacon to an introverted outcast. It hurt seeing how much pain she was in, day after day, and knowing he couldn't help her. She'd stopped going to D.A. meetings because a lot of the other students were so afraid of her. She'd stopped eating in the Great Hall, preferring to eat alone or in the company of her friends. She no longer strayed in the Common Room, and was often seen in her corner of the Library with a stack of books or else bits of parchment. He knew she was writing home, since Faith had told him in her last letter.
As much as Harry loved his sister, it was putting him through hell to see the change that had come over her.
And it was beginning to affect him, too. He hadn't been able to look Hermione in the eye for some weeks. Ron, as usual, stood by Harry's side, refusing to watch his best friend be overcome with emotions over a girl, who just happened to be Ron's other best friend. The rest of the Gryffindor boys, who were all oblivious to the natural tension rising in the room, found it difficult to study and when they discovered what the tension was, they had automatically joined Harry's side.
Sirius had been sending him letters weekly. He didn't seem concerned that hardly anyone knew he was alive, and was waiting for the perfect time to tell everyone.
Harry could tell that Sirius missed his sister more than anything, and Harry knew this, because he deeply missed her too.
Buffy just wasn't the same without Faith around. There was always Percy or Oliver or one of her girlfriends, but it wasn't quite the same.
Harry forced himself to open his Transfiguration text a little more forcefully than normal, his eyes reading and rereading the same passage over and over again.
Across the room, Hermione glanced at Harry and Ron's table before sighing and returning to her own notes, which she was using to show Parvati and Lavender the simplest way to transform their arms into tree limbs.
But it seemed like Lavender had caught Hermione's sad face. "You really should talk to him, you know."
"I know," Hermione said quietly. "I never knew I could feel this bad about something, and I really didn't do nothing wrong." Her face wore an expression of mingled frustration. "I just wish I could make him see that."
"And I wish Ronald Weasley would perform the act of self-cannibalization," Lavender said abruptly, her eyes darkening as Ron scowled at her. The tense smile slid right off of her face. "He's even worse than Harry."
"Someday, when we're older, we're all going to look back on this and laugh," Parvati told them both. "I promise."
"I hope so," Hermione said, casting one last look at her former two best friends, one of whom happened to be a former boyfriend, before returning to her notes.
- - - - -
B,
Things have been tense here, with the big-bad and all. Sorry I haven't written much, it's not really my thing. I've been trying to keep up with your bro since his destiny is a little more important than ours right now.
We had to fight a giant demon robot. How cool is that? Spike came back, too. The government took him his first night in town and started doing all of these weird experiments on him. If he comes back with three biting heads, I'm staking him. He seemed to remember your name right away.
I've actually missed you. And your little friends, but your Sunnydale friends are cool too. Say hi to Padfoot and give him a hug. See you in a few weeks!
Faith
- - - - -
Random Notes
All right. Back at it again, I've decided to include this little piece before jumping into the next part of their lives. That part will answer many questions, while this one sums up everything that happened in the first 50 (dear Lord!) chapters.
I was THIS close to calling it a story and writing a 'continuation', but I chose not to. Basically my big story is about to become so-much-bigger. And since I have enough projects going on at the moment, well... heh. The next "section" begins Harry's 7th year. I'll answer more questions in the next chapter, since this is a double update (considering the length of this chapter is almost nill).
I wanted to make a few comments, too, since all of you have been so WONDERFUL reviewing. I really do love you guys (rather platonically, however)!
But, to the comments...
John -- See, I thought you'd stopped reading after the 37th chapter. It had to have been you reviewing, since your grammar and style are almost exactly the same. And the bashing, whoa, be still my little heart. There's a thing like being cordial to the reviewer while slamming the story and I'm afraid you failed to do that. Why you chose to continue reading, I don't even want to guess. I'm going to stop writing now, because I won't waste any more of your time.
joey -- I'm trying to make it better, really! You did remind me of one thing though, and I thank you for that. I hope you can offer suggestions with your critiques; thank you for your honesty.
green falcon -- Does this section make it clearer? Thanks for reviewing.
Nobody -- French fries... hmmmm... what I wouldn't give right now for some nice yummy french fries... it sure beats all the darned seafood I've been eating all week!
Emba -- Vacation was well worth the effort to get there. I don't think I've been happier to get home though. While island life is fun and lazy, well... it's not my favorite. Sirius is wise. I forgot to include that part in, so I added a nice wise-Sirius thing. One of the reasons I brought him back was not just for Faith, but for Harry. Buffy's gonna be pretty much out of the picture in the next "section", because of her job. So Sirius is gonna do the Harry-watching. Buffy's friends are running hot and cold, and they probably always will, depending on the weather. That's just the way teenage girls are, or so my family lovingly reminds me. I really didn't have any of that normal teenage woman crap since I went to private school and it was really too small to be all clique-y and stuff. And I'm glad you enjoyed the B/O scenes. More to come, I promise. Thank you for being such a wonderful reviewer!
Goddessa39 -- I'll have you know I was writing a B/A pretty much my entire plane trip. I had to do something, since planes make me nervous... I can't tolerate freefall really well! They're mostly one-shots, but they're fun. I invte you to check out "When The Time Has Passed", an old one-shot, but one worthy of the sequel I've been planning on. Mmmmm... chocolate sprinkles...
AnitaBlake / BuffyFan -- Thank you, dear :)
Kel -- Draco's gonna get caught in the middle... it makes you feel sorry for him, but also not. I feel bad that he's trapped between his father and the one person he's actually come to respect in the Slayer. It's going to lead to friction, that's for darned sure. I'm glad you enjoyed the B/O. I salute you.
can-i-help -- awwwww! I'm putting pieces back together. Of course, not all of them fit... thank you for taking the time to read AND review.
DarkAngelMali-- One of the fun things I did when I was riding was come up with really horrible situations and decide which characters could survive them. I'm using some of them, too. I hope you enjoy the next section, because I do promise a nice amount of B/O (I'm really glad I decided to do that now). I just had to end this fic though, because... well... it just felt like a good place to end it. And a nice place to pick it up again would be when they're all in Sunnydale. So that's where the next one begins.
CodeNameTargeter-- Thanks for reading :) I don't care about the reviews. It's nice to know where I'm going wrong (within reason for all of those really cantankerous people trying to push the whole ure-a-sucky-righter on me - misspelt intentionally). But it's nice to get a little bonus praise, too!
StarBella -- No matter how many times my significant other threatened to throw my laptop from the airplane, it still remained. I'm glad I took it with me. I didn't get MUCH writing done, but I did a lot of brainstorming. And the DVD capabilities on that thing were SO nice to have around. Anyway... you read my mind! Buffy gets into a few shouting matches in the next section's flashback chapter with her usual flair and grace. What little she has, in other words. Heh... and I have to catch up on all my reading, too!
SilverWarrior -- Yes, they're marked. They'll stay marked. A sign of how strong Buffy really is is when she's able to repel the calling she'll get. Will she go? Or will she refuse? The possibilities are endless... now you can see why Faith ran for the nearest airlock. Thanks for your reviews, both on this story and my other series. :)
Evilelvengoddess -- Your handle is hard to type. I have elevengoddess before I was reminded your name had an evil... so it was evilelevengoddess, which was too long, so, long story short, I need to do this when I'm not half asleep. The next section begins the journey home. Enjoy :)
Melanie -- Thank you :) I hope you're not suffering from bright lights syndrome from staring at the monitor too long. The glare is a little hard on the eyes sometimes. The next section is what happens when Buffy leaves Hogwarts and Harry's there alone facing the imminent threat of battle, so I hope you read and enjoy it. Buffy'll be there, she'll just be away a lot. Such is the life of a vampire huntress.
jumping-jo -- Thank you :)
electric pancake -- I technically have two. I'd love a third, or a fourth... that'd look really nice on my driver's license. And YES this story was titled from the Evanescence song! I remember having about five chapters nicely written and having absolutely no title for the story. I was looking at the back of my Evanescence CD and chose one randomly, which happened to be 'Where Will You Go'. I probably should've mentioned that, but since this isn't a songfic, I chose not to. Either that or I just forgot, which tends to happen lots nowadays. Some of the chapter titles are song titles. You just happened to stumble on the one that was Evanescence.
Lightdemondarkangel-- It took me forever to come up with something to update. Just think, there's much MUCH more to come... and it's sad Faith's gone, but she'll be back. Sort of.
jim hawking jr -- Thank you! I hope you continue reading it, even though it's like... a lot more.
Kara Weasley -- Actually, both Faith and Buffy are marked. I can't kill Buffy yet (it's so freaking hard for me to even begin to describe how bad it was for me to kill her off in my other fic) and Faith leaving is just a sign of things to come.
SarahE.Horton -- um, tonight actually. Enjoy :)
To all of you who have been reading this, you have my eternal thank you. It has been an honor to write this and all of my long, boring nights sitting in front of a computer have been made much more gratifying when I was writing with a purpose. To my reviewers, you just made the nights that much better. Thank you muchly :) I hope you read and enjoy the next part of this story.
The next journey is about to begin... in Sunnydale.