Out of the Blue

Chapter 19 – Set fire on a bookshelf.

DISCLAIMER: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon, and Harry Potter to J.K. Rowling. I don't own anything…

RATING: PG-13 (T) to R (M) - violence, language, angst, horror, mild sexual interactions, etc. If you can watch BTVS/AtS and read HP, I doubt you'll have any problem with this story.

TIMELINE: Takes place after season two in BTVS, and during the marauders last year at Hogwarts.

SUMMARY: BTVS/HP crossover. Life sucked for Buffy Summers. After taking her refuge to LA, she had hoped she would finally have some of that peace the Hellmouth couldn't provide. She should have known she was hoping for the impossible. When she gets propelled into another dimension, her life changes forever - but is it for the better or for worse?

CENTRAL PAIRING: Buffy/Remus

OTHER PAIRINGS: James/Lily, Sirius/OC

Special Thanks to: My Beta - CharmedChick


After making their way out of the Three Broomstick (it had lost its charm after Lucius interruption), James got an idea.

"Hey, why don't we show Buffy and Eliza the Shrieking Shack?"

Remus was shaking his head wildly, but James pretended not to notice. The others quickly agreed, and Remus had to tag along, although he was glaring daggers at James from behind his back.

"What's so special about this Shrieky-thingy?" Buffy asked, as they got closer to their goal.

"Well," Sirius said. "It is supposed to be the most haunted place in Britain..."

"Haunted?" Eliza snorted. "Yeah, right, Sirius..."

"No, I'm serious!" Sirius promised.

"We know," James and Remus chorused. Sirius growled at them.

"Fine, I mean it, then. Look, we're here."

From where the gangwas standing, they could see a dank, overgrown garden, and a dark, slightly rotten house with boarded windows that looked like it could fall in on itself any second.

"It started when we entered Hogwarts," Sirius continued. "You could hear all these weird noises and howls on the nights of full moons," he said with a pointed look at Remus.

"Oh!" Buffy said, as she realized what Sirius was talking about. So this was the place where Remus where spending his nights as a werewolf... She gave Remus a reassuring hand squeeze, and smiled at him. Remus was pale, and looked like he more than anything wanted to run away from there. Obviously, the memories the place held where painful for him. Buffy really didn't want to know how much it hurt him to transform...

"'Oh' what?" Eliza asked, curious.

"Nothing, just...enthralled," Buffy said nonchalantly. "So, Sirius, anything else you can tell us about this place?"

"Well, the Hogwarts ghosts avoid it like the plague...not that they can catch the plague, since they're dead, but - "

" - Sirius, get to the point," Lily said, clearly irritated.

"Fine, Lily-kins, no need to get testy..."

"Don't call me that!"

"Anyway, as I said, the ghosts avoid it...it is said the Shack is the home of a rough crowd...must be a pretty rough one if the ghosts are afraid of it," Sirius finished with a smirk in Remus direction.

"Okay," Eliza nodded. "Have you guys been there?"

"Of course!" James and Sirius chorused. "After all we are the famous Marauders...there are no place we haven't explored!"

"Maybe you could show us?" Eliza asked.

The boys suddenly looked uncomfortable, and threw cautious looks at Remus.

"Well...we don't really have the time...we haven't showed you and Buffy 'Dervish and Banges' yet..." Sirius said.

"Oh, who cares? This is much more exiting!" Lily said, a slight shake in her voice. Obviously, she had realized what the place meant too, because she was looking in Remus' direction, giving him apologetic looks.

Remus was growing paler every second - apparently this was not something he wanted to do. Buffy understood him- it was probably enough to be locked up in that place once a month, but having to see it in broad daylight as well...

"Come on, guys, let's go back," Buffy said. She was curious about the place as well, but it clearly made Remus uncomfortable...if she had to, she could always check it out during a patrol or something, but right now, she just wanted to leave, if not for hers, then for Remus' sake.

"What? You're saying no to this?" Lily said, confused. She had thought Buffy would say yes immediately - after all, she was the Slayer, and this could prove to be quite the expedition. Plus, didn't she want to see where Remus spentone night out of the month? Buffy gave a short nod in Remus direction, and Lily turned to look at him. Remus was pale and his hands were shaking, even though he was doing his best to hide it.

"Oh...right...well, if Buffy doesn't want to, then I guess..." Lily trailed off.

"But...please," Eliza begged. "Sirius?"

"Well...it's up to Remus, really..."

If Eliza was confused to why it was up to him to decide whether to go or not, she didn't show it. Instead, she turned to Remus expectantly.

"Well..." Remus swallowed, and took a deep breath.

"I guess we could...if you really want to," he finished, apparently, he didn't want Eliza to think he didn't dare to.

"Great! Let's go!" Eliza skipped ahead of them, down to the Shack.

Remus and Buffy trailed a bit behind the others, taking it slow.

"Are you sure about this?" Buffy mumbled to him. Remus nodded.

"Yeah. It's no big deal...it's just a house."

"Don't lie to me. Clearly, this place makes you uncomfortable...maybe we should wait outside...?" Buffy asked worriedly.

"No," Remus said hastily. "Don't worry. I don't want Eliza to wonder..."

"Well, maybe we should just tell her..."

"No!" Remus shot out. Buffy looked a bit surprised at his outburst, so he said it again, this time a little bit calmer.

"No. Really, no. Eliza comes from a very old, respectable, and very noble, pureblooded wizarding family. It's obvious what she would think of me if she found out...what I am." He finished.

"Well, she doesn't have any problems with muggle-borns..."

"That's different," Remus said. "There are many purebloods who have no problem with muggle-borns...werewolves on the other hand...almost everyone in and out of the wizarding world thinks they're evil beasts, who should be shot with a silver bullet as soon as possible."

'Maybe Eliza is one of those that doesn't think so...' Buffy thought, but didn't say anything else, she didn't want to make Remus more upset than he already was.

As they entered, Buffy was met by a heavy smell of dirt, dried blood, rotten wood, and mold. She soon had to sneeze, as the air was filled with dust, flying around, tickling her nose, and making her eyes water.

'Is this were Remus is every month?' She thought. 'No wonder he didn't want to go inside...'

She shot Remus a concerned look, but noted he seemed fine, except that he was still pale, and he was breathing heavily. But he had stopped shaking, and Buffy took that as a good sign.

"You okay?" She whispered, and he nodded.

"Yeah."

"So," Sirius said brightly. "Shall we see if the rough crowd is home?"

They made their way up a rickety staircase - Buffy noted thatthe walls were full of dried blood.

Once inside, James and Sirius showed them the bathroom - the floor was covered in peels of water, and the toilet seat was covered with water as well, as though someone had splashed it there, or tried to take a dive down in the toilet.

'The wolf was probably thirsty, and came here to drink,' Buffy thought, but then brushed the thought aside. She did not want to think of her boyfriend drinking toilet water...even if he would be a wolf and had no control of it at the time.

The group then made their way over to a big room that obviously had been some sort of gathering room once upon a time. Cushions, couches, chairs and tables, had been thrown over and destroyed, all over the place: Splinters of wood where laying everywhere. In a corner an old piano was standing, slowly rotting away. You could barely see the piano keys with all the dust and spiderwebs lying over it.

They gave the other rooms a quick run through, and then left, as there wasn't much left to see. Everyone (especially Remus) was glad to be out again, being able to breathe fresh air.


When they got back to the castle, the group started to make their way to the common room. Sirius, however, seemed to have something different in mind.

"Sirius, where are you going?" James asked, confused.

Sirius, who had turned left where the others turned right, stopped, and turned to look at James.

"The library," he said.

"The library?" Buffy said, voicing what everyone else were thinking. "Are you sick or something?"

"No, can't a guy go to the library without his friends asking questions?" Sirius said.

The others looked at each other.

"No," they chorused. "Not if his name is Sirius Black," James finished.

"Are you sure you're not ill? Maybe we should take you to Madame Pomfrey...?"

"I'm fine!" Sirius snapped. "Merlin, do I look ill to you?"

Eliza regarded him closely, feeling on his forehead.

"Well, now that you mention it...you do seem a little warm," she said.

"Haha, really funny. I'm serious guys, I'm just going to check on something...and don't you dare pull one of the 'Sirius is always serious' jokes, James!" Sirius said warningly, as he saw his best friend being on the edge to retort something (probably something stupid). James hastily closed his mouth.


Three hours later, Sirius was still sitting in the library, looking for any references to the 'de Mort' family. He couldn't get what Eliza had said out of his head...more than once he'd heard her starting a sentence with 'my father', and then she would just shut up. He was slowly starting to get tired. Nothing of what he had found was even remotely interesting. The only thing the books mentioned was how her family had come to England from France sometime during the thirteenth century... He shut 'Old Wizarding Families Through the Ages' with a sigh, groaning in his hands, miserably looking at the big pile of books in front of him.

"Mr. Black," the librarian, Madam Pince, said, (she'd been part of the Hogwarts staff since four years back - Sirius hated her with passion. Just because he had happened to set fire to a bookshelf (and several old books) when he'd been waiting for Remus once in his fifth year, didn't mean she had to hate him, and make a 'humphing'-noise whenever they saw each other.

"We close in ten minutes. Put the books back on the shelves."

Sirius sighed, and got up, putting the books back (he couldn't help but make a lot of noises).

"She could at least have said please..." He muttered to himself. Suddenly, he lit up. Why hadn't he thought of it before!

He ran up to the desk.

"Mr. Black! No running is allowed in the library!"

Sirius ignored her.

"Do you have any Daily Prophet paperclips from the last month or so?" He asked.

"We close in five minutes," Madam Pince said. "Come back tomorrow."

"No, I won't. You said it yourself: You close in five minutes not five seconds! Plenty of time to look it up!"

Madam Pince sent him a glare, but still walked towards a shelf behind a desk, and brought out a thick binder.

"Here." She said.

"See!" Sirius said brightly. "That wasn't too hard, now, was it?"

Madam Pince only gave a grunt in response.

Sirius took the binder, and started to leave, when he heard Madam Pince's voice behind him.

"Mr. Black! You aren't allowed to take that binder out of the library."

Sirius sighed, and took the binder to one of the tables furthest from the desk and Madam Pince's glares. He hastily started to leaf his way through, when a name caught his attention: Mr. De Mort. As he saw the headline, he felt his heart leap up in his throat.

'DEATH EATER ATTACK AT HOME IN FRANCE.'

He threw Madam Pince a cautious look, making sure she was busy, before tearing out the entire article from the binder. He then put it in his pocket, closed the binder, and threw it at the desk, before running out.


Sirius didn't stop until he was standing by the tapestry of Barnabas the Balmy at the seventh floor. He stood there for awhile, catching his breath, before walking past the blank wall three times. The door to the Room of Requirement opened, and Sirius found himself standing in an exact copy of the Gryffindor common room. He hastily sat down in one of the chairs, and pulled the (now creased) article out of his pocket, starting to read.

'DEATH EATER ATTACK AT HOME IN FRANCE.'

September 15, 1977.

Early this morning, there was a reported attack at a home in wizarding France,
Mr. de Mort came home to find his wife brutally murdered on the floor, and his daughter missing.
"She was supposed to come home from the hospital after a fall from some
cliffs at the beach. I can only pray the Death Eaters didn't get her too," Mr. de Mort says, clearly shaken.
Mr. de Mort belongs to one of the eldest and most respectable pureblood
wizarding families in Britain, and has his roots in France.
"My family came to England from France during the thirteenth-century."
The de Morts decided to move back to France six years ago, as Mr. de Mort wanted his now missing daughter to attend Beauxbatons school for Witchcraft and Wizardry, like his ancestors once did.
"I am also a good friend to the Headmaster, and Beauxbatons is a beautiful place. Only the very best for my little girl.
She is my everything. I wouldn't know what to do if anything happened to her."
If you know anything of Miss de Mort's disappearance, please report to this newspapers editorial staff immediately,
or floo Mr. de Mort directly. Mr. de Mort is currently residing at the place of his very close friend, Lucius Malfoy.'

Vera Skeeter
Reporter

The article ended with a black and white photograph of Eliza, a description on her personal appearance and so on. Sirius put down the newspaper with a shock. Why was Eliza here if her father was looking for her, and obviously worrying?


"Eliza, can I talk to you?" Sirius said through gritted teeth, as he entered the Gryffindor common room.

Eliza looked up from where she'd been sitting, doing an essay for her muggle studies class on electronics.

"Sure."

"Not here. In my dorm."

Eliza looked confused, but followed Sirius up to his dorm anyway. When they got there, Sirius threw the door open.

"Out," he told Peter, who was sitting on his bed eating some cheese he'd gotten from the kitchens. Peter stared at him with wide eyes, and hastily hurried out. Sirius closed the door behind them with a bang.

"What is this all about?" He asked her briskly, holding up the article.

Eliza paled.

"S-sirius..." she stammered.

"Why did you lie to us?" Sirius continued, his voice getting a bit louder.

"You're not a bloody transfer student! So what are you doing here? Your father is obviously worried sick, and you are here, pretending nothing is wrong! LOOK AT ME WHEN I TALK TO YOU!" Sirius screamed, as Eliza let her eyes sink to the floor.

Eliza looked up, tears in her eyes.

"You don't understand..." she whispered.

"Oh, what is it I don't understand!" Sirius said. "Explain it to me, Eliza!"

Eliza looked down.

"I-I can't..."

"THEN LET ME!" Sirius screamed.

"YOU OBVIOUSLY PRETENDED TO HAVE SOME SORT OF ACCIDENT, SO YOU WOULD GET A REASON TO GET OUT OF THE HOUSE, THEN YOU RAN STRAIGHT TO VOLDEMORT OR SOMEONE, AND TOLD THEM TO GO TO YOUR HOUSE, FINISHING YOUR FAMILY OFF! THEN YOU PROBABLY CAME HERE, WITH SOME PRETTY LITTLE STORY, AND MADE DUMBLEDORE TAKE YOU IN!"

Eliza looked up again. Her eyes weren't only filled with tears this time, but also rage, and hate.

"YOU'VE GOT IT ALL WRONG!" Eliza screamed. "I DID NOT BETRAY MY FAMILY TO VOL...THAT SNAKE GUY! I'D NEVER DO THAT!"

"THEN WHAT?" Sirius screamed.

"MY FATHER KILLED MY MOTHER!"

Silence.

Sirius realized he must have gotten to the wrong conclusion somewhere down the line, because he could only gawk at her.

"What?"

"My father killed my mother," Eliza said again, a little calmer. Her voice was shaking. If it was from rage, or tears or both, Sirius couldn't tell, but he didn't care.

"I had been at the hospital, yes. That's pretty much the only thing that Skeeter woman got right. But it was far from a fall from some cliffs at the beach. You want to know the truth?"

Sirius could only nod, still gawking.

"Because of my father. You want to know how long time it takes for a whip to cut through your skin? One. You want to know how many cuts it takes for a knife to leave a scar? One. You want to know how long you can hang in chains from the roof, bleeding, without passing out? Very long. That's what I went through, Sirius. I had to experience all that. And my father did it. Just because I didn't want to hold fast by his old wizarding beliefs of muggle borns being less than purebloods. Just because I didn't want to become like him."

Sirius could only stare. Not even his own family had hurt him physically...with violence.

"You think you know so much, Sirius. But you don't know anything. Do you want to know what it's like, to come home, and find your mother murdered on the floor, and your own father openly admitting he did it, because she didn't obey him? Do you want to know what it's like, having a father like that? Until you do, don't you dare come and judge me. Because you have no idea what you are talking about." With that, she turned around, leaving Sirius standing there, too shocked to move, too shocked to say anything at all.


When Eliza got down, everyone stared at her with big eyes.

"What was all that about?" Lily asked. "We could hear you screaming."

Eliza didn't answer, but just left. As she went through the portrait hole, she almost crashed into Remus and Buffy, who were on their way in.

"Hi, Eliza."

Eliza didn't even gave them as much as a look, as she walked past them

Remus and Buffy gave her weird looks, before stepping inside, taking in the grave scene of shocked, silent people in front of them.

"Okay, who died?" Buffy asked.


A/N: There you go! Please REVIEW!

/Ida