Firstly I am so so sorry it has taken so long to get this chapter up I've just been super busy and had major writer's block over this one. The good news however is that we are now only one chapter from Harry meeting Buffy.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed-it really means a lot to me.
Mouse:Thank you glad you like it!
Gabrieldarke: If you're referring to the bit I think you are Dobby is probably thanking Faith for saving him from Buffy.
Brigurl:I don't think dobby will be mad at her for too long he's just scared of her right now
Tanydwr: Glad you liked the dementors bit-I was quite proud of it. Hope your results were what you hoped for!
The awesome possum: Glad you like it but I don't think I deserve that cookie now.
Codename targeted: yeah she pretty much freaked about the key thing-you'll see more of that this ch. Yay I love Faith too (but she's a little out of character in this bit)
Laura: I'm sorry, I just haven't decided them yet-you'll know within the next two chapters I promise
Angus Hardy: Thank you-I love doing Faith redemption and Dumbledore is such an awesome character it's hard to do him justice-glad you like how I'm writing him.
Ok on with the actual chapter which I must also apologise for 'cause it's not as good as I wasnted-a bit rushed despite how long it's taken. If you've forgotten what's happened go to the last chapter for a summary.
Chapter 15: Blood
"Dawnie." Faith cried and ran to the still figure lying spread-eagled on the floor, brown hair covering her face. Buffy stood still in the doorway, unable to move as she saw her sister bleeding and her sister slayer crouching next to her. It was hardly any time ago when Buffy would have seen Dawn's blood on Faith's hands but the slayer was clean and she seemed to be genuinely moved by the young girl's position. "B," Faith called but Buffy did not respond. "B." she said again more urgently and Buffy forced herself to walk over to the pair. Faith pulled Dawn's hair back, out of her face.
Buffy looked at her sister's deathly pale face and a wave of nausea overcame her, she retched and the contents of her stomach spilled out onto the floor. Faith wrinkled her nose but didn't leave Dawn's side.
"Pull it together B" Faith said roughly. "We've gotta get help."
"Is she-" Buffy whispered.
"Breathing." Faith said firmly. "But bleeding badly."
"What happened?" Faith looked around and saw a small dagger lying nearby, next to a piece of folded parchment. It gave her a sense of foreboding, she knew what that note meant.
"Just go get Dumbledore."
"D-dumbledore?" Buffy repeated.
"Yeah. Snap out of it B and go get him." Buffy turned and stumbled from the room. She ran down the spiral staircase and through the common room, pushing the portrait open and leaving the fat lady hanging open and calling after her,
"Where's the fire?" Buffy didn't answer but ran as fast as she could, almost tripping over her feet as she reached Dumbledore's office. He was descending the spiral staircase and greeted her jovially.
"Back so soon Buffy?"
"Dawn." Buffy gasped. "Upstairs. Bleeding."
"Lead the way." Dumbledore said and with no questions, no fuss began walking towards Gryffindor tower.
Meanwhile Faith rolled Dawn over to find the source of the blood. Her eyes widened as she saw an unmistakable stab wound to the girl's abdomen. Blood was still dribbling out of it and without hesitation Faith tore a piece of cloth from a bedsheet to block the gash. There were more cuts on Dawn's inner arms but they were clearly secondary. Faith stretched her free hand back as far as she could to grab the dagger and parchment, brought them over to where she sat and continued to apply pressure to Dawn's wound. Faith unfolded the parchment with one hand and saw a message on it that made her blood run cold.
'Is it true?' the note began. 'Buffy am I nothing? Am I not your sister? Am I just energy?' there were blood spatters on the parchment, a deep red that was drying crusty brown. 'No, no I have to be real. I'm bleeding, look it's red, it's real. I'm real.' Faith frowned as she read on. 'I have to know Buffy, I need to know who I am? If I'm human? You said to me, you told me I'm real but maybe I'm not, maybe I'm not who you thought I was. I have to know. I can know. I can find out. Buffy, I'm sorry.'
Faith looked up from the note and quickly made a decision. Ensuring Dawn was relatively stable she folded up the note and tucked it in her trousers. She stashed the dagger away too and headed over to the window. She opened it and punched a fist through the pane of glass from the outside so that the handle could be reached through it. Faith left the shattered window open and walked back to Dawn snagging bed covers and knocking over a couple of chairs on the way.
It was not long before Buffy returned with Dumbledore. The second he walked in the room he seemed to take in the whole scene and pulled out his wand. He pointed it at Dawn's stomach which stopped bleeding and then muttered something no one caught because both slayers were too busy staring at Dawn.
"Dawn? What happened?" Buffy murmured softly to her unconscious sister and there was an answer, though it came from Faith.
"Looks like she was attacked." Buffy looked at Faith and saw only worry in the slayer's eyes.
"We must take her to the hospital wing." Dumbledore said and with surprising strength lifted Dawn onto the stretcher. He pointed his wand at the floating contraption and it hovered in front of him as he walked quickly out of the room. Buffy followed dazedly behind with Faith bringing up the rear, glancing behind at the dormitory, hoping she'd done a convincing job.
Dumbledore led the way to the hospital wing and lay Dawn down on one of the curtained beds. Buffy and Faith both flinched as they entered, each noticing the other's involuntary movement. T hey turned to look at each other and together said;
"Way too much time in hospitals" before turning to look at Dumbledore and Dawn…except Dumbledore was no longer by Dawn's side. He was instead at the fireplace and lit the fire with a poke of his wand. He threw something into the flames and they began to crackle. A dark figure appeared, slowly revolving and growing
clearer until a dumpy woman wearing a cloak and white robes stepped out of the grate. The slayers could not hear what Dumbledore said to her but they saw the look of quick decision making which came over her face and watched as she bustled over to Dawn.
Buffy watched, almost unblinkingly, as the woman poked at Dawn's abdomen and administered some of a steaming purple potion. The matron poked her wand at the smoking cut and it healing magically as all four of them stood looking at Dawn's vulnerable figure. It was Dumbledore who broke the silence.
"We should inform your mother." Buffy groaned. " Mum, oh g-d she's gonna freak." She had grown so used to not telling her mum about things like this that she hadn't even thought of it. Since this was Dawn however things were different.
"What do we tell her? That Dawn was attacked?" Dumbledore paused for a moment then looked at Faith. "Miss" Dumbledore checked himself. "Faith. May I speak to you outside for a moment please?"
"Sure D, wassup?"
"Outside please." Faith followed Dumbledore out of the hospital wing a little surprised. He closed the door behind them and turned to Faith. "It is impossible for Dawn to have been attacked."
"How'd you figure?"
"Hogwarts is rather well protected, the castle would not be that easily penetrable. Besides I believe you know that Dawn caused her own pain."
"How?" Faith began but stopped realising the repetition. Dumbledore just smiled enigmatically. We can't tell Buffy."
"You do not think we should tell the truth? It is generally preferable to lies Faith." The slayer looked him straight in the eyes- a thing very few who had ever turned to evil could do- and spoke.
"You tell Buffy then. You tell her that her kid sister tried to kill herself to find out if she was real." Dumbledore closed his eye wearily but Faith continued. "I don't know what the hell's gone on but there is no way you're dumping this on her and neither am I." There was a fire in Faith's eyes that Dumbledore recognised and he nodded.
"Very well. You know the sisters better than I and I will leave it to your judgement. I however know their mother far better and I believe she will wish to know of Dawn's condition."
"Huh?" Faith said open-mouthed but Dumbledore had already turned and re-entered the hospital wing.
"We should go." Dumbledore said to Buffy.
"Do we really have to tell her?" Dumbledore's look was more than enough to convince Buffy (though she already knew) that Lily had to be told and she reluctantly tore herself away from her sister's side. "Stay with her." Buffy said to Faith who had been standing slightly away from the bed, careful not to intrude. On Buffy's words however she moved forwards with a warm glow inside her that Buffy's request had sparked.
"Dawnie." Faith whispered a while after Buffy and Dumbledore left but there was no response. It was a few minutes later when Dawn began to shift and eventually, after what felt like hours to Faith, she opened her eyes.
"Buffy?" Dawn murmured semi-consciously but of course it was not Buffy she saw when the black smudges shifted from her eyes. Instead she saw a dark haired slayer who had multiple murders under her belt, not to mention her sister's attempted murder. "Faith?" Dawn asked in a nervous squeak, her eyes now wide open.
"Hey." Faith responded suddenly nervous. Dawn pushed away the bed clothes and made a move to stand up. "Hey hey no walking wounded act just yet. Stay put." Faith commanded grabbing hold of Dawn's arm.
"Let go of me. You tried to kill Buffy." Dawn cried trying to pull away from Faith.
"And she tried to kill me and you tried to kill yourself so we're square there girl." Faith said with no trace of a grin. "Besides we're on the same side now." Dawn gaped at Faith then looked down at her stomach where a bandage was tightly wound. On looking up again she gazed around the hospital wing, trying to decide which of the multitude of questions to ask first.
"Where am I?" was the one she finally settled on and Faith shrugged her shoulders.
"Some kind of hospital ward."
"At Hogwarts?" Dawn asked and Faith nodded. "Is Buffy here?"
"Nah she went with DumbleD to tell your mum about you." Dawn's eyes widened as she looked at the redeemed slayer.
"What does she…"
"She doesn't know the truth." Faith interrupted. "S'far as she knows you were attacked."
"How do you…?"
"I read the letter you left." Faith said cutting Dawn off once again. "How could you?"
"You read my letter." Dawn whispered, anger in her low voice. "It was for…"
"Buffy. I know, but my gut tells me you don't want her to read it."
"Why didn't you tell her?" Dawn asked, ignoring the truth of what Faith said.
"'Cause you're going to." Faith said simply and Dawn gaped.
"What?" She yelled.
"Hey shush or that nurse woman's gonna come and kick my ass for disturbing you." Faith said, her voice quiet but urgent.
"Faith what am I supposed to tell her? That I'm not real? She's gonna freak."
"As opposed to what you did." Faith commented dryly. "Why'd you do it kid?" Dawn looked away.
"I needed to know. I needed to find out."
"Find what out?" Faith asked confused.
"If I am real."
"You wanna make that just a tad more confusing kid?"
"No." Dawn said but looked at Faith again and realised she needed to say it, she had to tell someone her fears and her confusion. "That hat…it said I was a key, made out of energy…that I'm not really human."
"A hat told you this?" Faith asked cynically.
"The sorting hat. It can read your mind or something."
"A mind reading hat told you you were a ball of energy so you stabbed yourself in the guts." Faith said still surprised.
"It wasn't just the hat." Dawn retorted defensively. "The people at the hospital could tell, they said I wasn't there, that I was just green light."
"People at the hospital?" Faith repeated.
"The crazy people."
"Great, now we have a hat and crazy people. Kid if you're gonna do something like this at least have a decent reason."
"Like Dumbledore saying it's true? Like knowing that the key can destroy the world. It's evil Faith. I'm evil."
"Let me tell you something about evil kid." Faith began. "You're not it. I've seen evil, every day of my life I've seen it; both in human form and demonic-hell I've turned to it for a while remember, you're not evil."
"Maybe." Dawn sniffed. "But I don't think I can be good."
"Sure you can." Faith said perking up her tone of voice. "Remember that time you were out with me an' B and you went bonkers at that demon. It was at Willie's wasn't it? Yeah, B didn't want you to go in but you insisted and you really let him have it when he wouldn't split on his demon mates."
"that never happened." Dawn said softly.
"Sure it did." Faith said with a frown. " I remember you'd had your hair cut so your plaits were about 3 inches shorter than usual and you were wearing those cute dungarees you used to have…" Faith trailed off at the look on Dawn's face.
"It wasn't real. None of it. I didn't even exist."
"Huh." Faith said, unable to think of anything else to say.
"The monks…they gave us those memories. They made me from Buffy and they built all these things in. I've only….I've only been me for a few months. I'm not real. I'm not Buffy's sister, I don't have any family…"
"Sure you do Dawn. Whatever you were, you're you now."
"But I'm not. I'm…I don't know what I am. I wanted to find out."
"By killing yourself?"
"I thought…I wanted to know so badly…I figured if I wasn't real, I couldn't die…I didn't care that I might. Pretty stupid huh?"
"No. Well yeah the whole stabbing thing was kinda messy but hell, I went on a killing spree 'cause I found out I was a murderer ,I'm not judging. Dawn I know what it's like to find out you're not who you thought you were, so does Buffy. Finding out you're the slayer's a pretty big shock. You have to tell her, she'll understand." A new thought occurred to Dawn and she tossed it over in her mind.
"Now more than ever I guess." Dawn said thoughtfully. "Now she's Hope."
"Hope?" Faith asked confused. "She's turned all optimistic?"
"No. She's really called Hope. It's a long story." Faith snickered.
"She's called Hope? Oh that's a good one!"
"Says the girl called Faith." Dawn retorted and Faith straightened her face.
"Touche. So what's this different names deal and how did you end up in magic city? Did they set dementors on you too? Why is your mum in hospital?" Faith shot off the volley of questions at Dawn who resigned herself to long explanations. She made it as quick as possible and Faith sat, stood, walked around but listened intently to every word.
"So basically someone made Hope not exist and turned her into Buffy and made Lily into my mum." Dawn concluded. "Oh and I have a brother called Harry." She added as an afterthought.
"Right." Faith said. "That's…she's really called Hope?" Dawn gave Faith a look which said clearly 'this is serious Faith.' and "Sorry, sorry." Faith said. "So what's B doing for Dumbledore then."
"No idea, we're just staying here until mum's out of hospital. Then I don't know what we're gonna do, I think mum wants to stay in the magical world and they're trying to find a way to lift the curse on Buffy."
"Curse?" Faith asked, interested in something vaguely familiar.
"Yeah apparently the only way to lift it is to kill the person who performed it but since we don't know who did it…"
"You can't lift it. Got it." Faith finished. "So she's still Buffy until further notice."
"yup." Dawn agreed.
"Just like you're still Dawn yeah." Dawn smiled sheepishly.
"I guess. It's gonna take a while though…you know getting used to the fact that things are so different. All those memories…"
"Came from who you are. Dawn, I know B and I have had our differences…our fight to the death differences actually but she's always …always done what she thought was right." Faith smiled thinking of her impersonation of Buffy, telling herself she couldn't do things that were wrong. "Dawn if you had to be made from anyone…you couldn't have chosen better. You'll be a good person." Dawn looked carefully at Faith, so unused to hearing her talk like this but there was only open honesty on her face. 'I guess prison changes you.' Dawn thought.
It was a little while later when Buffy and Dumbledore returned in a hurry.
"Dawnie." Buffy cried and ran over to her sister. "You're ok right?"
"yeah ." Dawn replied perplexed by the urgency of Buffy's movements.
"Buffy." Dumbledore said calmly and Buffy cast a quick glance at him.
"Dawn. I have to go with Dumbledore to London…some Voldie problem. You're gonna come tomorrow and mom'll be there too. Love you. Is that ok?" Buffy gabbled.
"Yeah, what? Huh?" Dawn responded and whilst Buffy explained in fractionally more depth Dumbledore spoke to Faith.
"Faith you should return to Cornelius. I am sorry to ask you to do this but I believe it is necessary for him to believe you are still working for him. I will keep the sword safe and you must tell him you were unable to obtain it but you believe it to be safe. Should you have any problems Fawkes will come to your aid."
"Fawkes?" Fsith asked but Dumbledore continued without pause.
"You may return here at any time. I do not believe I will be in London very long and I am sure Dawn would appreciate your company. You know how to use the fireplace? Very well then. I bid you good day." With that Dumbledore handed Faith a sherbert lemon wrapper and she whirled away still completely befuddled by the whirlwind that had just hit her. Buffy and Dumbledore followed suit leaving Dawn alone in the hospital wing but not for long. Madame Pomfrey bustled over with a large jar of a green potion smelling of rotten eggs.
Yay finally done…please review (it might make me update quicker)