Hello everyone! I'm glad lots of people like Harry's reaction, it is slightly more realistic isn't it. And no, this is not a dig at Sam-453's story, because you know you rock Sam-453!
Questions and Answer time:
Who will Buffy be paired with?: I'm not telling, but there are definite hints from next chapter onwards.
Will Harry get to meet the Scoobies and everyone? Yes, Faith is going to be coming in soon, 'cos I love her, and Willow will be coming shortly after that, and then everyone else is going to follow, including Angel.
When is Sirius coming back? : Hehe, well, if you just read this chapter…you'll find out…
Note: The spell I use in the last part of the chapter may not be correct, I just searched for a spell on google and it came up with this. I'm hope I'm right with everything in this chapter, because it would suck if things weren't right.
Chapter 12.-Portals and Muggle magic.
The boggart had Buffy in a weird mood. Buffy walked the streets of London, her duster hugging her slim figure, her head bent, focusing on her feet. It was not a way to walk, and she gained curious glances from passers-by. The sun was setting, and there was a purple and red glow across the sky. Cars drove past Buffy, couples walked alongside her and boys played football in the park. Since it was August, London was hot and dry, brown patches on the grass showing the effects of the water drought. Buffy did not need the duster, but she felt comfortable in it. If felt like home, well, it reminded her of it. And she really wanted to be home. The boggart had caused uneasy feelings to stir inside her, and she just wanted them to be washed away. But who was going to do that for her now that she was here? None of the people here knew of her past except for Dumbledore, and Buffy really could not imagine talking to him about it with him over some hot chocolate.
Buffy knew that one day she would have to tell Harry and the others about her past, but not just yet. She was happy being no past girl at the moment, she liked the fact that no one here knew of her fears, of her tribulations and her terrible memories. She did not know when she was going to share her past, IF she was going to. Buffy had been told about Harry's past, about his time at Hogwarts, including Sirius. Harry had been through a lot, but it could not compare to what Buffy had gone through. The problem was, no one knew what it was like to be Buffy. To have been through what she had been through, to have felt what she felt like. Faith was a large help, because only she knew of what it was like to be a slayer. Willow was help as well because Buffy used to tell her everything, and Willow tended to be good with the advice and the consoling. But the thing was, they were not here.
Buffy had never felt so alone in her life.
Sure, she was surrounded by friends all the time, at both sides of the Atlantic, but she had felt, a lot of the time, alone.
When Buffy was taken by the council, she had felt alone. When she had died in the hands of the Master, she had felt alone. When she had killed Angel, she felt alone. When Faith turned evil, she felt alone. When she had found Joyce, dead, she felt alone. When she walked the streets of some city, knowing that her friends were miles away, she felt alone.
The problem was, Buffy knew that most of the time, it was HER fault she felt alone. Because she shunned everyone away, because she kept secrets, because she did not let people in, she was alone.
Buffy was wallowing in a sea of self-pity, and she had never felt more alone.
Buffy slashed at the demon with her special knife, the blade only grazing the skin of the demon.
The demon threw Buffy against a tree, and Buffy quickly regrouped. Behind the demon was a light, a special light. Buffy knew exactly what it was, and she was determined to get the demon back into it. The light was a portal.
Buffy delivered a roundhouse to the demon, and then quickly punched it back towards the portal. The demon staggered slightly, then grabbed Buffy's arm to steady itself. Buffy threw the demon over her head, and it hit the trunk of a tree, snarling at her as it regrouped.
Buffy grinned back, and threw a punch to its chest, then flung it closer to the portal. The demon was on the floor now, and, with the dagger in her hand, she stabbed it on its leg. The demon roared in pain, and Buffy stabbed again.
She did not see the hand that came out from underneath the demon, she did not see the hand rising to hit the dagger out of her hand, and she was not quick enough to catch her dagger as it fell into the portal, the light blinding her as it disappeared. Buffy snapped the demons neck as the portal vanished and she stared sadly at the space the portal had occupied. The dagger had gone, her favourite weapon and her most precious thing.
Bugger.
Considering she had lost the weapon that marked her tenth anniversary of becoming a slayer, Buffy returned to the Order headquarters in high spirits. Thoughts of the Boggart were gone; rather, it was pushed to the back of Buffy's mind and she was trying not to think about it. Buffy knocked on the door of the house and Mrs Weasley answered the knock, and smiling reassuringly at Molly's worried gaze, Buffy darted past her and into the hallway. Mrs Black's portrait was blissfully quiet, and Buffy quietly tip toed down to the kitchen, as Molly had just informed her that everyone was having dinner. Molly swept her eyes over Buffy's thin frame and clicked her tongue disapprovingly.
Heads swivelled round to greet Buffy as she entered, and Buffy sat quickly in a chair next to Harry, ignoring the stares she was given by the younger teens.
"You alright?" Charlie asked quietly, and Buffy nodded vaguely. Everyone had already started dinner, and she reached for the bowl of pasta, her arm outstretched. Harry gasped.
"Buffy…you're hurt." He said, his eyes flickering to meet her eyes. Buffy looked down and saw the large slit in her midriff.
Buffy sucked in breath sharply and fingered the cut. "Damn." She muttered.
"Does it hurt?" Lupin asked, worried.
"This is my favourite shirt!" Buffy said, highly annoyed. "Stupid demon with his stupid portal." She babbled to herself.
"Portal?" Charlie asked, and Buffy looked up to him.
"Yeah, killed the demon, closed the portal, but my dagger got lost in it." Buffy informed.
"Where was the portal too?" Hermione asked, interested. She had not read much about portals, and she genuinely interested.
"Dunno. But I for one did not want to find out. I've already been to hell, and let me tell you, that was not an experience from the good." Buffy replied, and eyebrows rose around her.
"You've been to hell?" Molly asked, shuddering for the girl she had grown to like over such a short space of time. Buffy nodded in response, as she took a sip from her orange juice in the silver coated goblet.
"What happened?" Asked Harry, intrigued. Was that where Sirius was? In hell? Or was he in heaven?
"Long story. Not telling it here." Buffy replied simply and Harry's gaze turned back to his food, his teeth grinding against each other in fury. Buffy never told him anything, and it was highly annoying.
Harry was silent for the rest of the meal, only talking when he was asked a question, and only then it was short sharp answers. Tears formed in his eyes as he forced down his food and soon he found he could not see, as his eyes were blurred by the tears. So when Mrs Weasley told the teens they could go upstairs, Harry leapt up and left the room quickly, hurrying up the stairs to the room he shared with Ron. He shut the door quickly and sat on his bed, burying his head in his hand. He barely registered the door opening and closing again and soft footsteps on the wooden floor.
Buffy sat next to Harry, her hands twisting nervously on her lap. She did not know what to do. She was not good at this aunt stuff! Only friend stuff. Would did you say to you sixteen year old nephew who had suffered as much as Harry had?
"Tell me." Buffy said, rubbing Harry's back soothingly.
Harry looked up and caught Buffy's eye. "It's about Sirius."
Buffy nodded weakly. She knew everything about Sirius now, why he had gone to Azkaban, how he had escaped and how he died. But it still saddened her to think about it.
"I need to talk to someone about it." Harry said, and Buffy nodded again.
"I'm here for you. I always will be, from now on. Don't forget that." She said and Harry smiled weakly.
"Well, I…"
"Lupin wants you downstairs, Buffy." Ron interrupted Harry as he entered the room.
"We'll talk later ok?" Buffy said to Harry, before leaving the room.
Yeah. Later, Harry thought, clenching his fists. Like that's ever going to happen. So far, in the week he had known Buffy, she had not told him anything about her life, her life with Lily and her life as a slayer. No matter how many times Harry had asked her to open up, Buffy had not. It was infuriating Harry and his hatred for her was growing deeper.
"So are we done?" Buffy asked Lupin, and he nodded, a smile on his face.
"Why are you in such a rush to get out? Don't you like my company?" He asked playfully, and Buffy smiled, hugging him tightly.
"Aw…I'm so glad you figured it out."
Lupin hit Buffy playfully on the shoulder and she giggled.
"I gotta see Harry. He wants to talk."
"Dear, Harry is already in bed." Molly said, peering over her cup of coffee to look at Buffy. "Ron told me that he has crashed out, poor dear."
Buffy nodded in thanks. She will have to speak to Harry tomorrow then. "In that case, I'm going to do a little magic."
"What do you mean?" Lupin asked.
"Well, my favourite weapon is lost in some dimension somewhere, and I remember Willow, the Wicca witch, telling me about a spell I could use to find lost things." Buffy explained, and Charlie jumped up from his seat.
"You need any help?" He asked hopefully, and Buffy shook her head.
"But you can watch." She added as Charlie's face fell.
"I'll come too." Lupin said, and Mr Weasley stood up also.
"Muggle magic." He said with an excited voice, and Buffy chuckled. Ever since she had come here, he had been constantly asking her about Muggle things, especially plugs.
Buffy quickly raced up to her room and gathered her incense sticks and candles. She loved doing magic, especially wand magic. Shortly after Dumbledore had met Buffy, he had given her her wand, and told her to practise. With Willow and Tara's help, she had learnt Wicca magic, and through books, she was learning wand magic.
She was going to be performing the spell in an unused room next to the Order's meeting room, and when she got down there, she found quite a crowd. The Weasley's, Harry, Hermione, Lupin and Moody were there, they all wanted to see Wicca magic, as apparently, none of them had seen it before.
Buffy chuckled to herself and placed candles in a circle and Charlie lit them. She sat in the middle of the candles and lit the incense, the smell wafting deliciously around the room. She looked at the crowd at the side of the room, lit by small torches of light which hung from the wall. She tried to catch Harry's eye, but he seemed to be avoiding her gaze, his was fixed on the punching bag that Giles had sent over hanging from the ceiling. Buffy frowned. Harry was still mad at her then. And he obviously was not asleep. She vowed to talk to him after the spell.
"It isn't anything special, y'know?" Buffy informed, and the group shrugged.
"Muggle magic." Mr Weasley repeated, and Buffy giggled again.
"Ok, everyone has to be silent." The crowd obliged, and the room plunged into quiet. It seemed quite magical, the candles created a soft glow with the torches, the incense stick shone red in the dim and the smell travelled up their noses, intoxicating them.
Buffy closed her eyes, and centred herself. She had only done this spell once, with not-so-good results, so she was slightly nervous. She relaxed her mind, and she began chanting.
"Bound and Binding
Binding Bound.
See the Sight
Hear the Sound.
What was lost
Now is found.
Bound and Binding
Binding Bound."
Buffy's chants filled the room, and a white light formed on the ceiling. It seemed to be moving, spinning in a circle, and then the portal lengthened and ended right in front of Buffy, outside the circle. The portal opened, a black hole appeared in the middle. It lengthened and gusts of air blew at Buffy, wind picking up her hair and twirling it around her head. But the flames of the candles grew stronger. Buffy's eyes remained closed as the wind grew stronger, as the hole grew and as the glow of the portal grew brighter.
And suddenly, a body fell out of the portal. It fell next to the circle of candles which enclosed Buffy, and it laid there, the chest of the body moving up and down slowly as the body came back to life. Then Buffy's dagger flew out of the portal, landing next to the head of the body, and the portal vanished.
The room dimmed, the wind disappeared, and the man's long black hair was dangerously close to the candles. Buffy's eyes were still closed.
"Did it work?"
Please review! I'll a cookie for those who guess correctly who the man is!
ATTENTION!!! Ok, I have a slight (large) dilemma. I have absolutely no idea who will be teaching DADA, so suggestions will be accepted. It can be anyone, from Harry Potter realm or the Buffy realm, or you could ask me to make up someone. I just really need you're help with this, and I'll give you an extra cookie if you help me out.
ALSO: Problem no 2. Does anyone want Harry paired? If so, give me a shout, and I'll see what I can do, I originally had not pairing for him, but I think it'll be nice to give him a girlfriend, judging on the things I'm going to put him through, he's is going to need some loving. ;)
