A Second Chance
Chapter 30 – Sirius & Amy.
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
"Okay, lis'en up, people. You've all been paired up. Me and B are gonna show some easier moves, and then you'll practice on each other. No killing, remember? I don't want to send you to the hospital-wing...yet." Faith smirked, and Buffy rolled her eyes as the class gulped.
Buffy placed herself in front of Faith, and gave her a silent look of understanding. Simultaneously, they moved and started sparring. Slowly, so the students would have a chance to see what they were doing.
"See how I lift my arm to hit Faith, and she blocks it? That's what you're going to practice today. Blocking hits and kicks towards your head, and face. Two of the most important places to protect. You can either duck, lift up your own arm, catch your opponents fist and crush it...whatever you wish. Best thing is to go with your reflexes, follow your senses and first thought. Improvise. Don't try and do something complicated like in the movies. It may look cool, but it is less cool when you end up on your butt, probably dead or badly hurt because you want to show of and impress some guy, or girl. If you get to fight, it will be for real, the matter between life and death. One mistake, one look the other way, one blink, one hesitatation, and it could be over. You're dead."
Draco snorted.
"Please, like we would ever need these things in real life. No one would attack us in the open. And we've got our wands, right?"
Buffy's eyes narrowed. Faith simply raised an eyebrow, a habit she'd been doing more and more lately, just because Remus did.
Draco smirked with that arrogant Malfoy smile. However, it wasquickly erased as someone suddenly blurred towards him, grabbed his wand, and snapped it in a half.
"You were saying?" The blurring figure, Buffy, said. "Wands aren't a good enough defense. It is so easy to destroy a wand, as I just proved, and then you are defenseless. Mr. Malfoy here wasn't even aware of what I was doing until it was too late. Demons, vampires and other forces of darkness do not get intimidated by someone waving a stupid stick."
Malfoy, who'd woken up of his shock, stood up.
"YOU DESTROYED MY WAND!" He bellowed.
Buffy gave him a look.
"So? It should teach you a lesson to pay attention to everything. Constant vigilance. You can never know who's the enemy. One of your classmates or me, or Faith could be under Polyjump or the impervious, right now without you knowing. Or there could be someone standing in the corner camouflaged or under an invisibility clock."
The class snickered, except Malfoy who stilled looked outraged.
"Eh, B?" Faith said. "It's polyjuice. And imperius. And invisibility cloak, not clock."
Buffy blinked.
"Oh. Right. I knew that. Did Rem tell you?"
Faith nodded.
"Right. Moving on..."
The class continued without further problems, as the paired up students started to spar. However, Faith soon realized that her hope about no one being sent to the hospital-wing was just that: Hope. Already had two students had lost two teeth each - Dean (Goyle might be a big idiot, but he hits kind of hard), and Lavender (same goes for Millicent). Plus, what Pansy and Hermione were doing looked more like a cat fight than sparring. Ron and Blaise were doing pretty well, except that they were throwing insults at each other back and forth.
"Wimp!"
"Prat!"
"Poor bastard!"
"Dung-horse!"
Crabbe and Neville were engaged in some kind of rat and cat game: As soon as Crabbe attempted to hit Neville, he would let out a whimper, back away and run across the entire classroom, just to end up behind a confused Crabbe, kick him in the ass and run back. And so the game continued.
'Well,' Faith thought. 'At least Neville is doing some kind of escape and evade. Works like a charm.'
Buffy looked around, hoping to see someone sparring for real. She was hoping her sister would show the class how it was done, but no. Dawn and Draco were just glaring at each other.
Buffy sighed, and clapped her hands.
"Alright, listen up."
No one listened.
"I SAID LISTEN UP!"
The students stopped whatever they were doing, and turned to look at Buffy and Faith with big eyes.
"This obviously isn't working. You're doing everything we told you not to.
Pansy, Hermione. The kind of 'sparring' you're having might work in a bar-fight, but in the heat of a battle against a bigger and more experienced fighter, you'd end up dead after less than a minute. I know I said improvise, but yanking on each others clothes and hair is not what I meant."
Hermione looked embarrassed, and Pansy glared.
"Ron, Blaise, throwing insults can work to get your opponent out of rhythm, or make him enraged and loose focus. But the risk is big that you do the same. Insults are good, and I can throw off one or two puns while fighting, but that is not what matters. Some might be able to talk and fight at the same time, but when you're just beginners, it isn't the smartest thing to do. Throw insults when you feel you've got everything under control, which you clearly did not have, or when you can catch a break, or just before you defeat your enemy just to make himknow he'sthe looser. However, make sure you've got him were you want him first, and that he isn't playing you."
"Neville, your avoiding style works pretty well, and I guess that's a kind of blocking in a way...however, your opponents in a battlefield will not stand around waiting to be kicked in the butt. So Crabbe, more movement from you, and Neville, be less insecure. Face your opponent, don't turn your back to him - in fact, never turn your backto him."
Buffy took a deep breath, and turned to her sister.
"Dawn, Draco. I don't know what you're doing, but I'm sure glaring is not fighting in any way, unless you can make each other crash into a wall by just thinking it. This is a fighting class, not a staring contest. That's what you do to the Crystal-balls in Trelawney's class. It won't help you here."
Dawn pinched her lips hard together. Buffy's criticism hurt. It wasn't her fault Draco wouldn't fight! However, she knew Buffy was right as well.
She sighed.
"Fine, ferret-boy, let's get this over with shall we?"
Draco growled.
"I'll tell my father about your sister. She destroyed my property!"
"Oh, you mean your wand?" Dawn snorted. "You mean you're helpless without your stick? Oh, wait, I forgot. It's Fifi you're helpless without."
Draco narrowed his eyes.
"Are you insulting me?"
"So what if I am?" Dawn challenged. Next thing she knew, was Draco launching himself on top of her.
Buffy sighed. Well, at least they were fighting...
"Okay, Harry, let's see what you can do." Buffy smiled at the green-eyed boy, looking at him closely. He needed to get more muscles, fill out a bit, but other than that, he seemed fine.
She threw her first punch. Harry, who hadn't been prepared, was a bit shocked as Buffy's fist came flying towards his nose, but thanks to his Quidditch reflexes, he reacted in time, and could duck. Buffy smiled.
"Good. You've got nice reflexes."
Harry grinned.
Buffy then did a round-house kick towards his head, but Harry ducked her again.
"Nice," Faith commented. Buffy agreed.
"Okay, Harry, you seem quite good at ducking, but that is not enough. How do you feel about blocking?" With that said, she let another punch fly. Harry had been about to duck again, but changed his mind, and caught her fist in his hand.
"Good. Put some strength behind it as well."
Faith watched the class, while Buffy keptfightingHarry. Thirty minuteslater, shecalled to a stop.
"It looks better," she commented. "You're getting better. It's good you'vedropped the cat fights. It means you've learnt something."
"Dawn, Draco, why don't you give us a display?" Buffy asked. Dawn looked at her sister, surprised. She had not fought well or, even decently this lesson. The fight she'd had with Draco had been more like wrestling.
Draco glared at the blonde Slayer, but followed Dawn to the middle of the classroom nonetheless.
"Okay, a nice, fair fight. Just sparring. No killing. Killing is for later."
The class laughed nervously, not knowing if she was serious or not.
"You're going to get it, Mudblood," Draco sneered. Dawn just raised an eyebrow and shrugged.
Draco threw his first punch, which Dawn blocked easily. Another, same thing happened. The longer the fight continued, the more Draco got mad and frustrated, as he didn't manage to get a single hit or kick behind Dawn's blocking. Suddenly, he thought he saw an opening to theright. He threw out his leg, and found himself unable to get out. Dawn had caught his foot in a hard grip.
"What the...? Let go of me, you damn psycho!"
Something blazed alive in Dawn's eyes, and before Draco knew it, his leg was thrown backwards, and he landed hard on his back, head first.
Buffy started to applaud.
"Good work, both of you," she said. "Dawn, you showed us all that defense can be the best offence, as you made Draco loose focus. Then you left an opening, tricking Draco into trapping himself, and therefore, you were able to defeat him easily."
Draco looked ready to kill, but also humiliated, as he was called 'easy' to defeat.
"Okay, I think that was enough for today. Draco, you should get your head checked out unless you want a bump on that pretty blonde-head of yours," Faith said.
"For homework -"
The class groaned.
" - I want you to think about this, and write an essay on what it means: Offence is the best defense, and defense is the best offence. I want you to think about this. You might find references in books," Buffy gave Hermione a pointed look.
" - But best thing would be if you figure it out on your own. Write down a fight, if you want, where you show how this can happen in real life. Or, if you want, just write what you think we mean. Just try to put down your thoughts. We won't grade your papers, we won't even ask you to turn them in."
"Then what's the point of doing it?" Someone muttered.
"Whether you do it or not is up to you, but I think it will help you on the way to a good fighting technique, and if you take this class seriously, and really want to be able to defend yourself, I really recommend you to do this. Class dismissed," Buffy finished.
Luna Lovegood, called loony by her classmates, hurried down towards the Astronomy tower. Suddenly, she crashed into someone.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said dazedly.
"It's alright," the one she'd crashed into said.
Luna looked up, and recognized him as Andrew Wells, one of her Research and Documenting skills teachers. She smiled.
"Didn't see you...was in a hurry to Astronomy..."
"Astronomy? As in stars? Do you compare different universes?" Andrew looked so excited, and Luna giggled.
"Well, not really." She said dreamily. "I guess we could, though. Our teacher is very good."
"Really? Do you think she can tell me if Star Wars were real?"
"Star Wars? Really? I've heard you mention it in classes...what is it?"
Andrew looked surprised. No one had showed any interest in him and Star Wars before...
"A movie. Or several movies. They take place a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away."
Luna nodded. "I see...what are they about?"
As Andrew babbled away, Luna was listening, completely enthralled by this boy...man...who seemed so different from anyone she'd ever met. He didn't think she was weird- he had this own weirdness around him, and was so caught up in a subject that was probably as close to him as the Crumple-Horned Snorkack was to her. Maybe she'd finally found someone who understood her... she smiled.
Amy's POV.
"Amy..." Sirius sighed, and looked at me. I can hear he's sorry. But that doesn't make me hurt less. The 'prank' he played on me...it was going too far. The Boggart made memories I'd hoped were buried forever come back to me, like a hard stone in my stomach. I'll never get that picture out of my head now. It took a long time to forget it...push it away to the back of my mind. I won't be able to repeat that. It's glued in front of my eyes like a mask.
These last few weeks have been a blessing to me. To spend time here with Sirius...playing pranks. It made me feel like I was finally alive again...like the war wasn't out there. Like Voldemort was gone. I could have the childhood I never had- the childhood I lost that day...that night...so many years ago...but right now, it feels like it was just a few minutes ago...because in a way...it was...
"Amy..." Sirius tries to catch my eye, but I refuse to meet his face. I already know what it looks like. Regretful.
"I'm so sorry - if I'd known...do you want to talk about it?"
No. I don't. I really don't. He wouldn't understand...the reason I feel broken...it isn't because I had to see my father in his death once more...it is because it's Sirius fault.
I admit it. The weeks here...he made me feel safe. Loved. I could trust him. Okay, we were arguing and fighting almostall the time...but it wasn't for real. We both knew that. At least I knew that. And I think I was slowly starting to...fall for him. Me, falling for someone, and Sirius Black of all people. Sure, I've had my share of guys...but no one has ever seen me for who I am. They just heard my last name 'Dumbledore', and then I'm suddenly perfect... even though I know I'm not.
Sirius doesn't care about that. It doesn't matter. And that's why I love him. And that's why this hurts so much more than if someone else had made me face that Boggart. Because it was Sirius. Because I felt betrayed. But I still love him.
"Amy?"
I finally look up, tears in my eyes. I thought I'd spilt them all, but obviously not.
"Sirius...I..."
"Amy?"
"I...I can't..."
He sighs, and stands to leave. I want to tell him to stay, but my throat is dry.
"Okay." He sounds defeated. "I'll be in my room...if you need anything..." he leaves the sentence hanging in the air, and turns around.
"Sirius..." I hear myself speak up. He stops, but doesn't turn around.
"...I was six." I start. No...I wasn't going to tell him. I'd decided not to. So why can't I stop myself?
"We'd been on a picnic...me...mum...dad." Sirius has his back turned to me. It makes is easier to speak.
"When we got home, mum remembered she had to do something at work. So she left, and me and dad where home alone." I'm silent for awhile, searching for the right words.
"We'd just finished reading a story. And then the lights went out."
Sirius POV.
As she speaks, I feel more and more guilty. What was I thinking, releasing that Boggart on her? Even if her fear had been something much less frightening...it still wouldn't have been right. No one should have to face their worst fears more than necessary. I am a prat. But it's too late to think about that now.
"I was so scared. But dad just told me it was nothing. That it was nothing to be afraid of. He was always so brave. So strong. Never afraid of anything."
As I listen to her quiet voice, words barely above a whisper, I feel myself get filled with something...memories of my own childhood, when the marauders ran strong. Before Azkaban. Before Lily and James' "deaths". Before Peter's betrayal.
"I was so sure he'd always be there...to protect me. Say goodnight...kiss me goodbye before leaving for work. Sing "Happy Birthday" with that horrible voice at my birthday...he was a terrible singer."
Her words reminds me of our own recklessness. We always acted like nothing could ever harm us. We learned the opposite the hard way. My memories start to drift from the good ones, to the bad ones. Those I relived every night in Azkaban.
"I heard voices," Amy continues, and I'm pulled out of my thoughts.
"Dad said it was nothing. I thought it was weird he said that, because a second later, he told me to hide, and not come out until he said it was safe."
Her voice is hoarse and thick with tears now. I wish I could take her in my arms, and comfort her. Wipe away the tears falling from her eyes...kiss that beautiful nose and thoselips...remove her pain, making all the troubles go away.
"I did what I was told...after all, I always did what dad told me. Because he was always right."
"But not this time. Maybe if I'd stayed...helped somehow. Distracted them." She sobs now.
I know how she feels. Like she could have stopped it from happening. Like it's her fault. If she'd done something different. I've felt it too. After Peter betrayed Lily and James, those were the only thoughts flying through my head. That, and revenge. But I know it doesn't help any to rely on those thoughts. You can't make things undone. And that's probably the best. What is meant to happen happens, no matter what you try and do to stop it.
What can I say to comfort her? What can I say that will take her pain away? What can I say to not have her hate me after this?
"I hid in the wardrobe. It was in the last second, because soon they came rushing in...Death Eaters."
She's quiet now. Obviously reliving that night. Silent tears are falling from her face.
"It felt like the fight went on forever. I remember being so proud of my father as I saw one Death Eater after another fall. Then there was only one left. They fought for a long time. The Death Eater was teasing my father about me, and my mother, I think. Making him mad. Then my father slipped. And it was over."
Another pause.
"He fell down on the floor. I could see his face. He was watching me. Pleading with his eyes to be quiet, not give me away. The Death Eater took off his mask, probably sure he would win. I'll never forget his face as he kneeled down beside my father. He was smirking. He looked so sure of himself, so arrogant. He made some sweeping gesture with his wand, and my father was suddenly hung up in the air, by some invisible ropes. He was teasing him still. Taunting. Then he took his finger and buried it in his eye. I was crying, but the Death Eater didn't hear me because of my father's screams."
I swallow. I can only imagine the pain she must have gone through. I feel worse than ever. I'm a monster, I should be shot.
"He conjured up a knife. He played with it in his hands for awhile. And then he used my fathers face as a board. Cutting in his skin, his flesh. I don't know how long I sat there, just watching. I don't know when my father's screams stopped. I don't know when the Death Eater apparated away, leaving my father there, hanging. I was just watching, stupidly enough waiting for my father to turn around, look at me, and say 'surprise, I really tricked you this time.' I was waiting for him to tell me it was alright to come out. But he didn't."
A/N: So watcha think? This took longer than I wanted it to, but I hope it was woth the wait. I'll send next chap of OOTB to my beta as soon as I've posted this, so next chap of that one shouldn't take too long... This used to be a'part-song' chapter, but I erased them since has started to pull out authors/stories with those kind of fics...oh, well...It will come more soon - some chaps will from now on be focused on one or two characters. Tell me how you liked...REVIEW! (Btw, thank you so much for all your reviews! Love them!)
/Ida