Okay exams are all done for now so hopefully I'll be updating more. I have so many ideas for the second part of this fic that all I do is write that bit. But I'm trying to write more so my updates will be more frequent.

I am contemplating taking on a beta reader so if you are interested in beating this story my email is on my profile. Send me a message and I'll check out some of your stuff.

Please review!

Thanks to:

Zaxxon – sorry about the format, it got seriously messed up when I uploaded the chapter

Thorn of Blood – thanks for the review and the support. Are you doing the Harry Potter MUD for Out- I kinda wanted to do the original thing, there will be no Hogwarts whatsoever in this fic which should be quite a change.

Erak – I'm glad you feel like that because the Harry and Buffy bonding is no where near done. Right now he is trying to insert himself into this life but there are a lot of issues which are going to be stirred up next chapter and the few following that.

Becks89 – glad you liked the chapter and thanks so much for the advice. Still hanging on for the update!

Also: CelticHeiressFiona, Lightdemondarkangel, Mama T, manticore-gurl071134, General Mac, Just Me, Raziel Tepes

Chapter 5

The first thing Harry noticed when he entered the apartment was a black suitcase with wheels dumped in the living room. Other than that the apartment was still apparently empty.
"She's been away," Buffy explained, walking across to stand next to the case. "Visiting the slayers in New York. I'll call her."
Buffy pulled out her mobile phone and pressed a few keys. She lifted the phone to her ear and after a few seconds they heard a tinny ringing sounds coming from one of the other bedrooms. Buffy closed her phone with a snap.
"Looks like she's here," she said brightly. "DAWN!"

A second passed and the door of the bedroom flew opened and a brunette teenager emerged.
"I didn't know you were home," she said to Buffy, and Harry noted her distinctly frosty tone. Then she turned to Harry and a wide smile parted her lips. She bounded towards him and threw her arms around him in a hug. He returned it cautiously, not used to so much physical contact from virtual strangers.

"I'm your cousin Dawn," she said brightly. Then she frowned. "Well not your cousin because Buffy's your aunt and she's not actually my sister, but I guess we're something like cousins anyway…" she babbled, Buffy watching with an amused expression.

"Yeah, okay," Harry said feeling supremely uncomfortable. "Did you have a good holiday?"

He gestured to the suitcase abandoned in the living room. Dawn turned to look at it as if she had completely forgotten.
"Oh, yeah that," she said absently. "Trip home, to America. Stayed with Faith for a while at the Slayer camp in Cleveland. Watcher training, you know." Her eyes widened suddenly and she gasped before babbling again. "I mean…I went on holiday, just holiday…..sometimes I say stuff that's…wrong…"
She broke off, her cheeks reddening.
"It's okay," Buffy put in, smirking slightly. "He knows who we are."
Dawn threw Buffy a dirty look.
"Thanks for the heads up," she said bitterly. Buffy frowned briefly and turned to Harry.
"I've gotta pick up Giles from the airport. You stay here with Dawn and bond or something." She looked at Dawn. "Look after Harry okay?"

"I can tell him all about you," Dawn said scowling at Buffy again. "I think I've got a few interesting stories…"
"Dawn," Buffy said in a warning tone. She and Dawn shared an intense stare until Buffy looked away. She gave Harry a small embarrassed smile then picked up her keys.
Harry felt a sense of inner panic at being left alone with this stranger; albeit he had met Buffy only a few hours ago, but she seemed more, well, sane.

"You'll be fine," Buffy added to him as if she could see his thoughts. She threw him a smile before striding out of the apartment.
Harry's rising panic had locked his feet to their place and he swivelled, giving Dawn an awkward grin. She didn't seem to feel the same discomfort as him and she began to talk to him.

"It must be weird to be here huh?" she said in a friendly tone. "I mean one minute you think you've got no relatives then you find out you've got a family in Italy. Of course, I kinda pity you for being related to Buffy. I mean you're more related to her than I am."
Harry opened his mouth to reply with something placating and diplomatic but Dawn carried on.
"Of course, I can tell you some stuff about Buffy. I mean she was my sister for 18 years and then one day, she's not anymore. Okay so we still have the same blood but not the same parents, and that really changes things doesn't it? You think you know someone but you never really do."
Harry felt increasingly uncomfortable as this girl, Buffy's sister – or not as the case may have been – basically talked to herself. He began to inch away, wondering if he had to time to get to his wand before she attacked him.
She looked at him sharply and he froze.
"Let's talk," she said brightly and Harry nodded immediately, not wishing to upset this crazy girl. She might start crying or something and where would that leave him?

She sat down on the sofa and looked expectantly at him so he followed suit.

"See, the thing about Buffy is that she likes to date vampires," Dawn announced loudly and Harry froze for a moment and then nodded appraisingly, putting an interested expression on his face.
"But isn't she a vampire slayer?" he asked, sure to keep his voice pleasant as this girl was obviously mental.
"Oh sure," Dawn said, waving her hand absently. "But that never bothered Buffy. She's always had a thing for the undead. Can't see why myself….though her boyfriends were pretty hot I guess.
"Really?" Harry said vaguely. Dawn fixed her blue eyes on him.
"See Buffy gets pretty hung up on guys," Dawn continued. "First there was Angel and she was all swoony about him. And then he died so she was all crying and running away. But then he was alive again and he broke her heart by skipping off to LA. And then there was Spike and he was totally in love with her but she was all pain and love and hate. It was really crazy." Harry wondered briefly if Buffy knew Dawn was a pathological liar and if she did, why she had left him with her. "But then Spike died as well and so more with the weepies."

Harry nodded, his eyes wide with feigned interest. Dawn narrowed her eyes at him.
"You don't believe me do you?" she said crossly. "I'm not lying, Buffy dates vampires."
Harry frowned.
"But she's the vampire slayer," he said confusedly. "Isn't that sort of against the rules?"

"Buffy doesn't follow the rules," Dawn said airily. "She's always done things her own way. Marches to the beat of her own drummer you could say."
Dawn shrugged.
"You don't have to believe me, just ask Buffy. She'll tell you." She looked at her suitcase and winced. "Come on, you can tell all about yourself while I unpack."

-

Harry stifled a yawn and forced his eyes to focus through his glasses. It felt like he'd been talking for hours and it had all been about himself.
"But if there's a bloody great castle then don't people try and go in it? Muggles I mean."

Harry wished that for the first time ever that Hermione was present to make use of her encyclopaedic knowledge of Hogwarts, a history.

"Hogwarts has all kinds of charms to protect it against muggles," Harry recited listlessly. "First of all it's unplotable so you can't mark it on a map. It also has anti-muggle spells, like if a muggle sees the castle, all they will think is there is an old ruin with a sign that says 'unsafe' on it. So that keeps out the muggles."
Giles nodded fascinatedly. Harry stifled yet another yawn. He had been answering his questions ever since he and Buffy had arrived back at the apartment. And before that he had been answering Dawn's slightly more quirky, but still muggle-ish, questions. He supposed he had been the same when he had gone to Hogwarts but Buffy's watcher was incessant, asking questions as if he were planning to write a book about it.

"And there's a Ministry for Magic?" Giles asked, cleaning his glasses feverishly. Harry nodded, resisting the impulse to roll his eyes.
"Yep, they act as the government for the Wizarding world. They do the same job as Muggle government, but, obviously, they're wizards."
"Fascinating," Giles breathed. Buffy took the momentary pause as an opportunity to jump in.
"Okay, Giles, you've quizzed him enough," she said quickly, smiling at Harry. "Give him a break and give the rest of us one as well. You're not here for long, let's not make it a complete snooze fest."
"Where are you going?" Harry asked.
"Brazil," Giles answered and Harry was happy to be doing the question asking for once. "Dawn is beginning her watcher training with me. We are going to travel round to the various slayer camps."
Harry glanced at Dawn who was beaming, apparently thrilled with this new arrangement. Buffy glanced at her watch.
"We've got dinner reservations," she said. "Giles, do you want to dump your stuff? I'll just change and we can go."

She moved towards her bedroom and Harry followed her, stopping her just outside the door.
"Is something wrong?" she asked concernedly. Harry shook his head emphatically.
"It's just-" he paused and then decided to just jump in. "Did you used to go out with vampires? Because that's what Dawn said and I didn't know if I was supposed to believe her or not but I just wanted to ask….because then I started wondering – does she have mental problems or something? Not that that isn't okay but I just wanted to know…."
Buffy looked over to Dawn who was sitting on the sofa. Dawn looked up and threw her a contemptuous glance. Buffy bit her lip, deep in thought for a second, and then she lifted her eyes resignedly.
"Okay, it's true. I went out with a vampire or two in my time. Dawn wasn't lying."

Harry was completely bewildered and dimly began to wonder about whether Sirius had a point about the safety of being with Buffy.
"Umm…" he said, struggling to know what to say. "Isn't that a bit…wrong?"

Buffy couldn't help but smile.
"I wouldn't recommend it," she said wryly. "But it isn't what you thought. Your run of the mill vampire has no soul. But both the vampires I dated had souls. They had consciences and they didn't kill people." She paused. "Look this so isn't the time. We can go through the ins and outs of my relationships at another time if you don't mind."

Harry was still confused but he didn't want to make his aunt angry with him on his first day with her.
"I'm sorry," he said hastily. "I just…was confused."
Buffy grinned.
"It's okay," she assured him. "Look Dawn's mad at me right now. Justifiably, since I lied about us being sisters for almost her entire life. But right now she pretty much hates me, and so she told you that stuff to piss me off." She gave him a half smile. "She'll come round eventually. Now I have to get ready."
Buffy disappeared into her room and Harry was left feeling confused and headachy. He was already a bit uncomfortable about being here where he was a stranger but now he just felt like a burden, a complete inconvenience to Buffy and her entire world. A secret which should've just stayed in the closet where it belonged.

His scar prickled and Harry rubbed it irritatedly. It was a regular occurrence nowadays; Voldemort's rise meant it hurt most of the time. But right then Harry felt it was yet another thing to add to the ever growing pile of things that were bad in his life.

-

Harry wouldn't have thought it possible but he actually managed to enjoy the dinner that evening. Sitting around a table listening to some of the best slayer stories the three could come up with was a pleasant way to pass the evening, and even though Dawn was cold to Buffy, she was warm and friendly to him and he began to warm to her, now that he knew she wasn't mad.

In fact, he had really had a good time; Harry decided happily when he snuggled into bed in his own room that night. Maybe this summer would turn out to be decent, if he could just get over the initial feelings of discomfort. He was a lot better off here than at the Dursleys, if he could just feel like he was part of this life. At least he was well out of all the trouble that might be occurring in England.

The moment the thought crossed his mind, his scar prickled again. Not so far out of it, Harry thought sleepily as he drifted off.

-

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