Out of the Blue

Chapter 20 – Say cheese.

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 Eliza had stormed out, it took several seconds before Sirius came to his senses. When he finally did, he shot out of the room like a bullet, cursing himself, over and over again.

When he got down to the common room, people started to whisper. He heard James trying to ask him what was going on, but Sirius just rushed past them all, out in the corridor, wildly looking around for any sign of Eliza.

"Hey, Nick!" Sirius called, as he saw the Gryffindor ghost on his way to sweep through a wall.

"Mr. Black?" Nick turned around.

"Have you seen Eliza?"

"Oh, yes, I did acually. She was running in that direction, less than five minutes ago. If you hurry, you might be able to catch up."

"Thanks!" Sirius hastily sprinted towards the direction Nick had pointed, and soon found he was standing in front of a big glass window. As he looked out, he could see the lake, and someone sprinting towards it. He ran down the stairs, and outside, not caring the cold air was blowing him in the face.

As he got closer, he slowed down, approaching Eliza slowly.

"Eliza?" He asked, carefully. She turned around with a jerk, hastily drying of her eyes on her sleeve – she'd obviously been crying. They justs tood there, for several seconds watching eachother. Dark blue eyes meeting grey.

Eliza finally broke the silence, and also the eye-contact, as she turned her head and looked out over the lake again.

"Go away," she said.

Sirius sighed, and sat down beside her.

"Don't you understand what 'go away' means?" Eliza said, eyes never leaving the water surface.

"Nope," Sirus said lightly. "I'm afraid I was never taught that sentence. Does it have something to do with ice-cream?" He could have sworn he saw a flicker of a smile fly past Eliza's lips, but it must have been his imagination, because when he looked again, it was gone.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," Eliza said stubbornly. "And 'go away' means 'leave'. It can also mean 'take your body-parts with you and go fuck yourself.'"

Sirius winced, and pretended to cover his ears.

"Language, Eliza, language! What would McGonagall say if she heard you?"

This time, Sirius was sure he wasn't imagining the twitch of Eliza's corner of her mouth.

"Please, pretty please tell me, Eliza," Sirius begged. "I think you need to talk to someone. I highly doubt the Giant Squid is a good listener." As if he'd heard, the squid threw up a cascade of water, splashing them both.

"See? He's really tochy tonight."

Eliza smiled, for real this time.

"Sirius…I just…I just don't know what to say that I haven't already told you. You can't understand what I'm going through."

"Maybe not," Sirius said quietly. "But I can listen. It helps to talk, I know that. My family isn't so far away from yours. Except my entire family are bastards, not just my father. Actually, my mother is a bigger hag than he is. Death Eaters, the whole lot of them. The best thing that ever happened to me was getting sorted into Gryffindor, and befriending James. He helped me get through some…pretty rough times."

"Did they hurt you? Your family?" Eliza asked, still not looking at him.

"Not physically, as far as I remember. But you know what they say: Sometimes words hurt so much more than any beating. Not that I care. Them being evil prats most of the time helped me realize they were all idiots. It helped me getting stronger, break free from them."

"You're saying I should be grateful to my father?" Eliza snapped.

"Of course not. Hate him for all you like. Maybe you should just…be happy that you're out of there…free from him. I guess you ran away from home, huh?"

Eiza nodded slowly.

"Yeah…when I found my mother, and my father telling me to lie to the aurors when they came, say we'd been out…I just couldn't take it anymore. So I said I understood, and then I ran."

"How did you get here? France is a sea away from Hogwarts. You can't apparate, right?"

Eliza shook her head.

"No. I borrowed a friend's fireplace…Audrey. I hope she hasn't told my father anything…I asked her not to, but you can never know for sure…"

"I ran away from home too, you know," Sirius said. "Just took my things and took off one night during the summer after my fifth year. James and his parents were quite surprised when I showed up at their doorstep, wearing nothing but a pyjama and my trunk with clothes and school-stuff. I've been disowned ever since. It's a relief, knowing you're no longer a part of that scum."

"You were disowned? I wish I'd been that too…but no. To me, it seemed like I was my father's pet-project or something. Whenever I did something wrong, he would punish me, one way or another, and during the summers, I spent time with a good friend of his…Wilkes. He wanted me to get taught in the 'ways of my name'. I can swear that means the ways of a Death Eater."

"Probaply," Sirius agreed.

They sat there in silence, watching the sun sinking down behind the trees. Eliza sighed, and shuddered.

"Are you cold?" Sirius asked, worriedly.

Eliza nodded.

"Abit. I forgot to bring my coat...I was quite upset."

Sirius grinned, apologetic.

"I'm sorry...I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions...it's just me, you know. I always jump to conclusions...I can't help it."

Eliza smiled.

"Don't worry about it." She shuddered again. As if on instinct, Sirius threw his arm around her shoulders, bringing her closer to him. She stiffened at first, then she relaxed.

"Better?" Sirius asked.

Eliza nodded.

"Much. Thank you." She sighed, finally feeling content with everything. She leant back against Sirius chest, feeling his heartbeat.

"Eliza...?"

"Mhmm...?" She was close to falling asleep.

"Do you...I mean...do you...like someone..."

Eliza smiled, her eyes closed.

"That depends...what do you mean with 'like'?"

"Well, you know...like...as in liking." Sirius said vaguely, feeling how he was slowly growing red.

"Well...there is this guy..."

"Oh," Sirius face fell. He should have known.

"...He can be a prat sometimes, and really insensitive...and he has a really short temper...and has this bad habit of jumping to conclusions..."

Sirius felt himself getting angrier every second. Whoever this wanker was, he surely was far from good enough for Eliza!

"Who is it? Do I know this guy?" Sirius asked through gritted teeth. "He sounds like a total idiot."

Eliza smirked, and continued, pretending not to have heard his comment.

"...But he's really hot, and sexy, and he has this dark thing going on..."

"Wait, you don't mean Snivellus do you?" Sirius asked, horrified.

"...and he's funny, and likes being the center of things...and he can be really nice, and really caring, and he's a good listener..."

Sirius started to go through his mind after guys at Hogwarts fitting the description. He now realized it wasn't Snape, because he sure as Hell wasn't funny

'Unless you count playing pranks on him and making him look funny counts', a little voice in his head said.

And he didn't like being in the center of things...

'Only in potion classes...'

And he isn't nice...

'At least not to me...'

And he isn't caring...

'But what do I know about how Snape acts when not in front of the marauders?'

And he can't listen...

'Or can he?'

"Oh, God, it is Snivellus, isn't it?" Sirius burst out. Eliza laughed. Her laugh echoed through the air, and across the lake, making the squid splash up another cascade of water.

"No, it is not Snivellus." She turned to look at Sirius, and then gave him a small peck on the lips.

"It's you," she whispered in his ear. It took awhile for her words to sink in, and then...

"Really?" Sirius couldn't help it: He grinned like a maniac.

Eliza nodded, blushing.

"Yeah."

Sirius grinned even wider, and took Eliza's face in his hands, bringing her lips towards his once again. As their lips met, the clouds in the sky moved aside, revealing a beautiful moon (it was almost full), and several stars. Eliza smiled, as she heard Sirius' words in her ear.

"I like you too."


When they got up to the common-room, it immediately quieted down.

"Padfoot!" James called from across the room. "Is everything alright between Eliza and you? You were screaming quite a lot, and - " he paused. "Why are you holding hands?"

Eliza and Sirius laughed.

"No reason," Sirius said smugly, and sat down beside Remus and Buffy.

"It isn't fair!" James wined.

"You and Eliza are obviously together, Merlin knows what Eliza is thinking, but still..."

"...Hey!"

"...Buffy and Remus like each other as well, they're just afraid to admit it," James continued, not caring about Sirius input, and not noticing Remus and Buffy giving each other a look: Afraid to admit it- right - They'd just been snogging and been unofficially together ever since before the Quidditch game...typical James not to notice. Okay, they had been discreet, but Lily was right: Prongs could be thick-headed.

"...And even Wormtail got a date tonight, while I'm just sitting here on my miserable butt, being able to do nothing but stare at Lily from afar - "

" - Woah! Easy there, Prongs! What did you say?" Sirius asked.

James looked confused.

"What? Oh, I said I was just sitting here on my miserable bu - "

" - No not that! The thing before that! Did you just say Peter has a date?"

James blinked.

"Well, yes, I guess I did."

"Impossible!" Sirius exclaimed, and stood up. "Peter does not get dates!"

James shrugged.

"Well, he does. He's going to meet Martha Dennison in the Astronomy Tower around midnight..."

"Wait, Martha Dennison? Hufflepuff? About this tall - I mean short - pimples, glasses, rat-colored hair, loves to eat, fails every exam?" Sirius asked, doing gestures as he spoke.

James seemed to think for a moment before nodding. Sirius sat down again with a relieved sigh.

"That explains it..."

In that second, Peter came running down the stairs (or more like falling, because the robes he was wearing was to long for him, and therefore, he was stumbling head first), chewing on some cheese.

"Peter, are you okay?" Remus asked, worried (although he had trouble not laughing- Peter looked like a penguin trying to learn how to fly), as he got up from his comfortable place beside Buffy to help him up.

"Yes, yes, I'm alright," Peter panted. "James, these robes are too big for me!"

James sighed.

"I told you so, but you just had to borrow them."

"Here, let me help," Lily said, coming down from the girl's dorm, obviously having heard everything. She made a swish with her wand, and made James' robes shrink to fit Peter's size.

"Hey!" James said. "You just destroyed my robes!"

"Oh, don't be such a wimp, Jamie," Lily snorted. "I can get them back to what they were in no time."

Sirius burst out laughing.

"Jamie?" He burst out laughing again, making James growl.

"Shut up, Paddy."

"Do any of you guys have a camera?" Peter asked, excited. "I'd like to have a picture I can send to my mum..." James, Buffy, Eliza and Sirius all rolled their eyes, but Remus nodded.

"Sure, Pete. I have a muggle-camera in my trunk...I can go get it...just...chew up that cheese first, will you?"

"It looks disgusting," Sirius agreed.

"And it smells really bad," Buffy put in helpfully.

Peter grew red, and shot Buffy a look from the corner of his eye - she didn't seem to notice though, but this made him even redder.

"And try to stop the blushing," James said. "It does nothing to impress the ladies."

"Well, I think it's cute," Buffy said, making Peter lit up.

"Really?" He piped up.

"Yeah...on certain people. It looks really sweet on Remus for example..." she finished dreamily, making them all snicker, except Peter, who grew red again.

"Well..." Peter said carefully.

"How do I look?" 'Please say I'm cute.'

Buffy regarded him for a moment.

"Like a tomato," she decided, making Peter blush even harder. "But hey, this Martha-girl might like that, what do I know? Oh, here's Remus with the camera!" She finished chirpily, smiling brightly at her still-secret-boyfriend.

"So, Pete, ready?" Remus asked. Peter nodded, and gave Remus a false smile, even though he was boiling inside.

'What does Buffy see in him?'

"Say cheese!" Remus said, taking the picture, which immediately came out. They gathered around it, and looked at it.

"You look...really great," James said lamely. 'Although the cheese stuck in his teeth look disgusting...'

"Yeah...great," Remus agreed. 'But he still looks like a penguin.'

"Have a nice evening," Buffy said. 'Although maybe he should brush his teeth first...his breath is horrible.'

"Give Martha a kiss from me," Sirius said. 'Or maybe not...I really don't want that...girl...to...get any ideas...'

"On a second thought - just say hello," he finished with a grin, throwing his arm around Eliza's shoulder.

Peter nodded, clearly encouraged by their praises.

"Hey, guys, can I borrow the map?"

"No!" Sirius, James and Remus all said at the same time. They had all made a secret agreement not to let Peter borrow the map on his own, no matter what the circumstances. He'd just end up loosing it. Eliza, Lily and Buffy gave them weird looks.

"What map?"

"Nothing," James said. "Just a map of the castle."

"Why can't I borrow it?" Peter piped up again. "I promise I won't lose it!"

"No!" James, Remus and Sirius said for the second time that evening.

"What is so special about this map?" Buffy asked, growing more and more curious by the second. She turned to Remus, hoping he would tell her, but he refused to meet her eyes.

"Nothing. Just a map James father gave to him...it's really special, and James doesn't want anything happen to it."

"But James father hasn't- " Peter started, but got quieted down by Sirius, who stomped his foot, making Peter whimper.

"Just go, Pete, before you get late," he said.

As soon as he left, the others turned to each other.

"How do you think the date will go?" James asked.

"It will be a disaster!" The rest chorused. Suddenly, the portrait-hole flew open again.

"Peter? Back already?" James asked, amused.

"N-no..." Peter said. "I just r-remembered I-I forgot to brush my...hair," he finished, and sprinted up the stars to their dorm.

The others looked at each other.

"Do you think we should tell him it would be better if he brushed his teeth?" Eliza asked, apparently having had the same thought as Buffy about Peter's breath.

"Nah," James said. "That probably would hurt his ego."


Peter made his way back to the common room aroundan hourand a half hour later. The 'date' had been a total disaster. After Peter had said Sirius said hello, Martha had just been talking about him all the time, trying to make Peter fix up a date. Then, when she'd finally given up, she'd started to talk about James, then Remus. When Peter (quite rudely, and- in Peter's mind- in true marauding style) had told her none of them were interested, she'd finally seemed to calm down. Peter finally had thought it was time for the snogging, but as soon as he'd put his mouth even close to hers, she'd screamed about his bad breath, and that he had cheese stuck between his teeth. Peter then had had enough, and told her he'd only agreed to go out with her because he felt sorry for her, as she was both fat, ugly, short, stupid and had very large pimples. Martha had started to cry, then she had smacked him, and left him there, sitting with a quite red hand print on his chin.

Peter sighed. The evening couldn't get much worse. He was wrong.

"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking around a corner...there are always some nasty students out of bed...and we always finds them, oh, yes."

Peter froze with fear. He was so busted! If he'd been with the others, he'd just run in the direction James or Sirius were running, but now he was alone, and Peter had never been very good at thinking by himself. So he just stood there, shaking, as Filch turned around the corner, and saw him.

"Well, well, well," he whispered hoarsely. "Look what we have here...a Gryffindor out of bed...tsk, tsk. And what is that in your hand?"

Peter paled. He had completely forgot about the marauders map! He'd taken it from Remus' trunk, where it had currently been residing, even though the others had told him not to, as he didn't want to risk being busted by a teacher...not that it helped. James would kill him. And if he didn't, Sirius or Remus would.


"Sit," Filch ordered him, as they got into his office. Peter couldn't do anything but obey.

"Give me that," he then said, and pointed towards the map. Peter gave it to him with shaky fingers. Filch took a quick look on it, and smirked.

"So this is how you and your friends have been sneaking around...so many hidden corridors...I was right after all...I always knew you had something like this..." he sneered. Peter whimpered.

"Detention with me, Pettigrew, every night for two weeks. Now go, before I make it twenty."

Peter scurried up from his chair, as fast as he could, almost running towards the door. However, as he saw the map lying on the table, open for the whole world to see its secrets, he got an idea. If he made sure Filch or nobody else could ever read the map...for the first time that evening Peter was really proud of himself for his cleverness.

He took out his wand and pointed it on the map.

"Mischief Managed!" He piped up. Filch didn't have time to react, as the map wiped itself clean, and Peter ran as fast as his short, clumsy legs could carry him, back to the Gryffindor common-room. From behind, he could hear Filch's roar of anger.


"James, have you seen the map?" Remus asked the next evening, as he roamed through his trunk.

"No, why?"

"Well, I was going to meet with Buffy in the library later this evening," he lied (the real reason was to meet Buffy in the Room of Requirement for some much wanted snogging).

"But I can't seem to find it."

"You've lost it?" The panic in James' voice was evident, as he jumped off his bed to help Remus look.

"No! I swear I put it in the trunk! Sirius, you saw me, right?" Remus said, starting to panic as well, as he threw out thing after thing after thing, without any success. The map was mysteriously gone.

"Yep, I did. You put it beside your boxers," Sirius added, trying to be helpful. This, however, seemed to enrage James even more.

"You put the Marauders Map- the invention of our lives- in your underwear?" He asked, incredulously.

"Not in my underwear, beside my underwear! Plus, they're clean!" Remus protested.

"So? You don't put a thing like that beside, or even close to your underwear!"

"Sirius does!"

"Hey, don't drag me into this, mate!" Sirius defended himself, raising his hands in front of him as a shield.

"Well, Sirius doesn't have a choice!" James said. "His things are spread all over his trunk, yours are perfectly sorted!"

"So it's alright for Sirius to have the map by his underwear because they're spread out everywhere, but not for me because my stuff is actually sorted and washed?" Remus asked, clearly not believing his ears.

"Hey, my clothes are washed too!" Sirius protested.

"Whatever," James snapped. "Just make sure it's found."

At that second, Peter stepped inside.

"Hey, guys. What is all the noise about?"

"Remus lost the map," James said, throwing himself back at his bed. Nobody noticed how Peter started to look really uncomfortable.

"Erhm, guys..." he tried.

"It's no use!" Remus said, finally giving up. "I can't find it!"

"Okay, that's it, Moony, you are no longer a part of the marauders! You don't lose a thing like the map, and then get away with it!"

Peter hastily snapped his mouth shut. If the consequence of losing the map was being excluded from the marauders, he was more than happy to let Remus take the blame.

"I did not lose it!" Remus protested. "It's just...gone!"

"So! It doesn't matter why, or how. What matters is that you had it last, and therefore, it's your fault! You're no longer a friend of mine!" James said.

"Ehr, Prongs, mate," Sirius tried. "Aren't you exaggerating a bit?"

"No, I'm not! When you lose something that important, you'll have to deal with the consequences!"

"I DID NOT LOSE IT!" Remus said again, raising his voice quite a bit. "Besides, the map wasn't even your idea to begin with, it was mine, so why are you so upset!"

"Because..." James said, growing redder and redder. "Just...because," he finished lamely.

The door opened.

"Hey, guys, what's wro...holy shit!" Buffy exclaimed as she saw all Remus' things and clothes spread out all over the floor. "What the hell has happened here?"

"It's all Moony's fault," James and Peter said at the same time. Peter wasn't even feeling guilty anymore. Remus had had the responsibility of the map: If he'd looked after it better, then Peter wouldn't have been able to take it. So it was only right Remus took the blame.

"It's not my fault!" Remus exclaimed.

"What's not your fault?" Eliza said, peeking in form behind Buffy's shoulder. She whistled slowly.

"You are in serious need of a cleaning...whose stuff is it?"

"Mine," Remus sighed.

"Remus?" Lily asked, as even she showed up. "But you're always so organized!"

"Well, not as much as we thought," James muttered. "He lost the map."

"The map? That map your father gave you?" Buffy asked, and James nodded.

"Yep, that one."

"I swear, James, I put it in my trunk!" Remus said, his patience slowly starting to fade. Why couldn't James get into that thick skull of his that it was not his fault?

"Well, obviously not! We've checked everywhere, thrown out everything..."

"...that explains the mess..." Lily mumbled.

"...but it's nowhere to be found! Conclusion: You lost it!"

"I DID NOT LOSE IT! SOMEBODY MUST HAVE TAKEN IT!"

Silence. Peter started to make himself as small as possible in a corner, but nobody noticed.

"You know, Prongs," Sirius said slowly. "That would make sense. After all, we know Remus never loses anything."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you for the last fifteen minutes!" Remus said through gritted teeth. "But does anybody listen? Nooooooooooo."

"But why take it? It just looks like a wiped parchment, and nobody knows the password but us!" James said. Buffy raised her eyebrows.

"Password? To a map? Okay, guys, you're clearly not telling us something - and I'd say that 'something' is quite a big part."

Remus, James and Sirius looked at each other, before sighing.

"Fine," Remus said. "The map is a map we created: Me, James, Sirius and Peter, during our sixth year, as we wanted to put everything we have found out about the grounds on paper. We call it the marauders map, because, well, we created it. The map shows every room, every hidden entrance, every hidden passage we've found, plus all other grounds, as the Quidditch Pitch, Hagrid's hut, the Forbidden Forest, blablablablah. It also shows everyone in the castle by names, which is why we manage never to get discovered while pulling our nightly pranks or sneaking to Hogsmeade. You're not going to tell on us?" He then asked.

"Nope," Eliza and Buffy promised.

"After all, what's the point? The map is gone, so there's nothing to tell," Lily added.

"It's not gone! It can't be gone!" James said again. "That thing was the biggest thing that ever happened to us!"

"Except becoming illegal animagi to keep Remus company on the full-moon?" Lily quipped, and then put her hand to her mouth. Everyone turned to stare at her.

"Oops."


A/N:And the cat is out of the wardrobe (or in this case: secret. Or several, depending on how you look at it.) REVIEW!

/Ida