A Second Chance
Chapter 10 – Memory of the past.
DISCLAIMER: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon, and Harry Potter to J.K. Rowling. I don't own anything.
TIMELINE: AU. Set ten years before (Around 1988) "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone", during and after Harry Potter book 5, "Order of the Phoenix"(2003). During and after BTVS season 7, "Chosen". Pretend HP book one happened in 1999 during Buffy season three )
SUMMARY: BTVS/HP crossover. After James and Lily reappears, seemingly alive and well, mysterious things start to happen. New allies are made, prophecies revealed...and people keep rising from the dead. What's going on? And what has Voldemort got to do with it? Are the Scoobies and the Potter's second chance at life enough to stop the Dark Lord from spreading darkness across the country? Or is the world in need of more miracles?
PAIRINGS: Too many to count.
Thanks to my beta: Charmed Chick
"Vampires? In the forest?" Professor Dumbledore looked worried. "Are you sure?"
"Well...we fought them, kicked them, staked them, killed them - they became ashes. Yes, we're positive." Buffy said. Professor Dumbledore suddenly looked very old.
"This means lord Voldemort has gathered an army of demons, vampires and other dark creatures. Suddenly, I'm very grateful you decided to come here."
"We're glad we could help, Professor Bubblegum," Faith said. "And oh! We met another Weasley in the forest - did you send him there?"
"You met Charlie? Yes, I sent him there. I wanted him to make sure everything was all right."
"That's our job now, Drummeldrool," Buffy said. "We take care of the big bads for ya."
Professor Dumbledore smiled a little.
"Where is Mr. Weasley now?"
"Umm...I think he said something about visiting 'Ronniekins' and Ginny."
"Oh, yes, of course. I suppose I can speak with him at dinner tonight..."
"Was there something else?" Faith wondered.
"No, no. Go and have fun."
"Thanks!" The original chosen two left.
"Check mate!" Ron said. Harry sighed.
"Why are we even doing this, Ron? You know I can never beat you. No one can ever beat you."
Ron smirked.
"I know."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that," a voice said from behind him.
"Charlie!" Ron jumped up from his seat. "What are you doing here?"
"Helping out for the Order...and Hagrid had some problems.
"Grawp?" Harry mumbled.
"How did you know?" Charlie sounded surprised.
"Oh, you know us. Always putting the nose in the wrong place," Ron said, nonchalantly.
Charlie sighed.
"Anyway, I've managed to convince Hagrid to move him from Hogwarts grounds."
"Thank God," Ron muttered.
"So..."
"So what?"
"Up for a game of chess?" Charlie wondered, and Ron lit up.
"Willow!" Dawn came running.
"What Dawnie?"
"Have you seen Ron's big-brother? He's quite a hottie."
"Nope...but isn't he a bit old for you?"
"You know what I mean!"
Willow giggled.
"Yes, I do. But why do you talk to me about it? Gay, remember?"
Dawn rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, yeah...anyway, there's an assembly in the Great Hall to introduce him."
Willow's face lit up in understanding.
"Oh! Well, what are we waiting for?"
" - and..." Professor Dumbledore was interrupted when the doors to the Great Hall opened, and Willow and Dawn came running through.
"Sorry we're late!" Willow hastily sat dawn beside Faith, and Dawn between Vi and Shannon.
"As I was saying," Professor Dumbledore said, amused. "This is Charlie Weasley and will stay at Hogwarts to help with the Order. Charlie usually works with dragons in Romania..."
"...So that's why he played the hero last night..." Faith mumbled to Buffy who giggled.
"...and will also help Hagrid with his lessons in Care of Magical Creatures."
"That should be interesting!" Harry said, enthusiastic.
"Yes, maybe we could learn something..." Hermione agreed, which earned evil glares from both Ron and Harry.
"...Not that there's anything wrong with Hagrid of course," she hastily added.
James and Lily sat in their bed staring deeply in eachothers eyes.
"James..."
"Lily..." James said teasingly in the same tone of voice Lily had used.
Lily smiled, and put her head against James' shoulder. She sighed happily.
"You know, I am so grateful that I'm alive..."
"Me too...being dead makes you look at life in a completely new way." James agreed.
"Mmm. Makes you live every day to the fullest..."
"I have a suggestion that would make this one more interesting..." James breathed in Lily's ear, and she turned turned around and placed a kiss on his lips.
"Really...what would that be?" James just smiled, and kept kissing her...
"Hey, Harry. Have you seen your parents?" Sirius asked.
"Umm...not since dinner. Why?" Sirius sighed and shook his head sadly.
"The true mauraders are finally together again and Prongs is snogging in a corner."
"What?" Harry looked sick at the thought of his parents 'doing it'. "Too much information, Sirius. Waaay too much information." Sirius laughed, and ruffled around in Harry's hair.
"Hey! Don't make it messier!"
Sirius laughed again.
"Hi. Buffy, right?" Charlie asked.
"Yep. I'm the Buff-ster." Charlie laughed, and sat down, watching her.
"What are you doing?"
"Oh, you know. Doing magic with this stick thing.Or, at least I try."
"I see...care to show me?"
"Umm..." Buffy cleared her throat and pointed her wand at the feather in front of her.
"Wingardium Leviosa.." Nothing happened. Buffy blushed, and tried again.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Nothing happened, and Buffy became redder and redder, pointed her wand over the feather, and switched it furiously, without any result.
Charlie laughed.
"Careful, with that thing! You could poke someone's eye out!"
"Gah!" Buffy raised her hands in defeat. "It's not working! Stupid stick," she muttered under her breath. "I knew I should've kept myself to the bigger stakes."
Charlie laughed again.
"Let me help you. Here." He placed his hand over Buffy's, and she felt a surge of electricity flow through her body. She swallowed nervously.
"Alright. You have to switch and flick. And make the 'gar' in 'gardium' nice and long, and put your soul into the 'o' in 'Leviosa'."
Buffy smiled.
"Ready?" Charlie asked, and Buffy nodded.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" They said at the same time, and Charlie moved Buffy's hand under his own. The feather started to rise and hovered about five feet over their heads.
Buffy breathed a sigh of relief, and watched as the feather soared slowly.
"It's beautiful."
"It truly is," Charlie mumbled, but it wasn't about the feather he said it.
"Psst...Harry!" Dawn wispered, and waved to Harry from where she was hidden behind a corner.
"Dawn? What are you doing?" Harry looked up from the book he was reading.
"I have a plan!"
"For what?" Harry sounded surprised.
"The match-making!" Harry's face lit up in understanding.
"Okay, this is what we're gonna do..."
"You want me to say that?" Anya sounded surprised. "But Xander says I should stop talking about..."
"And since when did you start to listen?" Dawn asked patiently.
"Since we got back together!"
"You and Xander are back together?" Dawn squealed with happiness. "That's soooo great!" Then she got serious.
"But you're the only one who can pull it off without making it sound like a set-up - "
"I don't know Dawn. After all, my job has been to seperate couples and make men's lives miserable for hundreds and hundreds of years! Not to make them happy!"Anya sighed in a dreamy way. "Those were good days..."
"All right. Let me put it this way: You are happy with Xander, right?"
"Well, yes..."
"Don't you want others to share that happiness?"
"Well...yes."
"Then help us with this!"
Anya sighed in defeat.
"All right." She lit up.
"And when he's dumping her - I don't doubt he will - I can always turn his penis into something really nasty. After all, this is a magic school. It shouldn't be too hard to find something...Once, in Russia, I turned this guys penis into a - "
Harry looked slightly green.
" - Thanks!" Dawn interrupted. "Tomorrow, at breakfast?"
She left, Harry followed her as fast as he could, leaving Anya to her own plans.
Willow sat on her bed, meditating. The longer she sat there, the more relaxed she felt. At last she felt strong enough to try some magic. Both Giles and the coven had said it was important to keep doing magic once in a while, so she didn't lose herself in it once she had to do something 'heavy.'
She watched the rose on the bedspread, and remembered the last time she'd done this spell...with Tara.
Flashback.
"I'm glad you wanted to get together. I know it's late."
"I..."
"Thanks."
"I was happy you called."
"We'll start out slow."
"Okay..."
"Willow?"
"Yeah."
"Start out slow...doing what?"
"Oh. We're gonna float the rose, then use the magics to pluck the petals off, one at a time. It's a test of synchronicity. Our minds have to be perfectly attuned to work as a single delicate implement. "
"Cool..."
"...And it should be very pretty."
End Flashback.
She smiled. The only difference now was that she was alone...without Tara. So she would float the rose alone with her own mind. So alone...
She felt so - empty. Sure, she was in a magic-castle...but not even the thought of a whole new world to explore made her feel less empty. She buried her face in the pillow. Suddenly, the thought of doing magic wasn't so appealing anymore.
"...Not alone...not without Tara...," she wispered to herself. She felt her eyes being filled with water at the thought of her now dead lover, but smiled a little. Was this a sign on that she was over her 'magic abuse'? That she didn't want to do magic? She wondered if Tara would've been proud of her if she'd been here. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't notice the fat, grey rat, which was hidden in a book-shelf and stared at her with small, watery eyes.
"Is the plan set?" A voice hissed.
"Yes, my lord," another man answered.
"Were there any problems?"
"No, my lord. She seemed very confused."
"Good, good... And the wiccan?"
"Wormtail has her under close watch, my lord."
"Excellent..." The man mused. "...And the dark Slayer?"
"She will come to us freely - thanks to your brilliant plan."
"Spare me your pathetic tries to please me, Lucius."
"I'm sorry my lord."
"I hope so. We wouldn't want you to get hurt, would we?"
"No, my lord."
"I'm glad we agree. Now, make sure our prisoner has it...comfortable."The mansmirked evilly.
"Yes, my lord." Lucius Malfoy bowed and hurried away. Lord Voldemort mused.
A/N: Ooh...Voldy introduction...and he seems to be after our favourite wiccan, and our Faithful Slayer...what will happen now? Hehe. You just have to wait and see. Until then – REVIEW.
/Ida