Thanks to the Reviewers:
Tap dancing willow: Glad you liked it, greetings from erm… Old England :)
Juzblu: No story is complete without Buffy butchering names. Thanks for reviewing.
Lucky Shamrock: But then isn't Lily also kinda dead? grin I like it when people put thought into my story. Thanks for reviewing.
Charmed-angel4: Okay so that would make it 8 years right? I'll remember that. Thank for pointing that out- it's will (hopefully) make the story more accurate to read. And also, feel free to copy great chunks of the story into your reviews any time!
A/N: Sorry this was so long coming- RL issues. I'm going skiing for the next week so expect the next update sometime after that! Keep reading!
As always, thanks to Matt for betaing
CHAPTER FOUR: CHECK OUT ALL THE MAGIC JUNK!
"Dawn, are you sure you want to do this?" Jenny asked, watching Dawn go toand fro and put things in her suitcase.
"I don't know, I mean the pink flowy top will go, but not much else and I do already have five pairs of jeans." Dawn held the sequined jeans up to her. "Nah, I mean you've got to draw the line somewhere right?"
"I meant the trip, not the jeans."
Dawn smirked, telling Jenny that she had known exactly what she had meant. "We have to check it out before we send you to war. And I'm the obvious choice to go- we can't spare any watchers, and the slayers aren't trained for this."
"Neither are you." Jenny pointed out.
"Not technically, but I've been around slayers and watchers my whole life and I did the watcher course. There; done!" Dawn exclaimed triumphantly, packing an extra jumper into her case andtrying to do it up.
"I know… I'll just miss you."
"I'll miss you too." Dawn said, still struggling with the case.
"Here, let me." Jenny went over and snapped the case shut without any difficulty.
Dawn pouted. "Show off."
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Hagrid was walking through the streets of Surrey. As he thought back to the last time he was in the county, delivering Harry to his only living relatives, he failed to notice all the funny looks he was getting. If wasn't often, or ever really, that you saw a half giant in a patchy brown over coat
and clutching a pink umbrella walking down the road.
He dug into one of his pockets and pulled out its contents. One of the women sitting on her perfectly mowed lawn glared at him as old biscuit crumbs scattered onto the pavement. A white mouse dropped to the ground causing the woman to squeak and dash back inside; wait until she told Petunia about this!
Hagrid finally found the slip of paper he was looking for and looked at the map drawn on it. He could only be about two minutes from the slaying centre. He stuffed all the items he still held into his pocket and set off down Privet Drive.
As he walked past the tidy houses, noticing one in particular, he thought to himself that these families would riot if they knew about the super natural activity going on just a couple of streets away. He only knew of one family who even knew the wizarding world existed, and they were less than accepting about it as he'd found out first hand when he had to deliver Harry's letter.
He peered through the wrought iron gate he had just approached. This was it. He pushed the gate open with a creak and went up to the door. The slaying centre was actually more of a converted mansion. It looked about four storeys high and had big double doors that could withstand a bit of a pounding!
He banged on the door and it was quickly answered by a young girl who epped when she saw the half giant on her door step and slammed the door in his face.
Well this wasn't going well.
Hagrid scratched his head. That was very rude. He knocked again. Five seconds later the door had opened and there were five crossbows pointed at him.
This wasn't going well at all.
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"Hey guys, what's the commotion?" Dawn said coming down the stairs into the lobby.
"Monster!" One of the slayers shouted.
"What?"
"We heard someone knocking on the door and when Em answered it this guy was standing there."
"What kind of attacker would knock first?" Dawn said reasonably.
The slayers looked at each other. They hadn't thought of it like that.
"So where is this monster?"
The slayer who had first shouted looked embarrassed. "He's err, tied up in the training room."
Dawn raised one eyebrow. "You tied him up in the room that has weapons decorating the walls? What did he have to say to that?"
"He didn't say much really." One slayer said thoughtfully.
"He seemed kinda surprised." Another offered.
Dawn nodded. "Giles!" She screamed without warning, making some of the slayers nearest to her wince.
Down the corridor the door to Giles' office opened and he came out looking annoyed. "What is it this time?"
"Some guy came to the door and the girls locked him up." Dawn summarised.
"We were attacked in broad daylight?" Giles said surprised. "I didn't hear anything."
"Not exactly attacked." Emma, the slayer who first opened the door, replied.
Dawn smirked. "He came to the door and they captured him. Was it even a demon?"
The girls looked at each other. "He looked kind of human."
"Only bigger."
"Like a giant."
"A giant?" Giles groaned.
"What?"
"Dawn, do you remember what I told you about Hagrid?"
"Was that when I was trying on my new coat? Cause if so, then no. You should know better than to tell me something when I'm distracted."
Some of the slayers sniggered at this, but they were silenced by Giles givingthem 'the look'. "He's half giant."
"Which half?" Dawn quipped, before putting two and two together. "Ohhh. Uh oh."
"Indeed." Giles responded dryly, already heading to the training room. "I suggest we free him, don't you? Where did you put him?"
The slayers blushed. "Err the training room."
"You tied a potentially dangerous criminal up where we store half our weaponry!"
"He wasn't dangerous, you just said so!" One cocky slayer said.
"But he could've been."
"But he wasn't!"
"I can't believe you captured my guide!" Dawn groaned, effectively stopping the row. "Way to make a first impression!"
"I didn't know he was your guide, you could've warned us." Emma responded defensively.
Dawn didn't reply to that, she just stormed after Giles who was about to enter the training room.
When Giles entered, Hagrid had managed to free his top half and was working on the rope around his legs.
"You couldn't even tie him up properly!" Giles ranted, alerting Hagrid to their presence.
"Giles, So not the point!" Dawn went over to Hagrid and undid the rest of his knots while he eyed her suspiciously. "Hey; I'm Dawn Summers."
He stood up, rubbing his wrists gingerly. "I'm Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of the keys at Hogwarts. Ev'ryone calls me Hagrid tho'.""
"Huh, perfect." Dawn grinned. "See Giles, he'll look after me, won't you Hagrid?"
Hagrid still looked baffled, Dumbledore hadn't told him the full story about Dawn's origins. "Yes Miss."
"I'm all ready, my cases are upstairs." Dawn took Hagrid by the arm, her chatter distracting him from the fact that he'd just been captured and tied up by a bunch of girls.
"Cases?" Giles asked wearily. "How many exactly do you have?"
"Well I'm going to be there all year! And some of them are really small!"
"How many Dawn?" Giles repeated sternly.
"Mmmff." Dawn mumbled.
"What was that?"
"Fourteen." She finally admitted.
"Dawn! You do not need fourteen suitcases for one year"
"Well I did have thirteen, but it's unlucky so I added one." She saidlamely.
Giles clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes in the manner of an Englishman at the end of his tether. "And how do you plan on carrying them all? You'll have to leave some here."
"But Giles-" Dawn whined.
"Mr. Giles?" Hagrid interrupted cautiously. "We can shrink the cases so they'll fit in our pockets."
"With you wand right?"
Hagrid reached for his umbrella. "Not exactly."
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Half an hour later, Dawn (and her itty bitty suitcases) was walking towards Little Whinging Park with Hagrid.
"Professor Dumbledore has given me a por' key ta get us the Hogwarts. He thought yer may prefer it if we get there quick."
Dawn nodded. "So what's a port key?"
Hagrid frowned. "Have yer heard of teleportin'? Well it's sorta like tha' 'cept with a trigger."
Dawn nodded, happy with this explanation. Although somewhere in the back of her mind it seemed like she had already known that, just forgotten it. "What's Hogwarts like Hagrid? I'd never heard of it until I met Professor Dumbledore and he wasn't exactly forthcoming."
A smile slid across Hagrid's face. He could talk about Hogwarts for hours; it was what he knew best. But where to start? He only had until they got to the woodlands at the back of the park. "Hogwarts is the safes' place in the world."
"Where is it?"
"Nobody knows. Its unplottable yer see. It's in Scotland, but I can't tell yer exactly where."
"Okay." Dawn said doubtfully, already reconsidering this trip.
"Professor Dumbledore is the headmaster, the best we've ever had I'd wager, and most o' the other professors are a'right."
"Most?"
"Yea." Hagrid grunted, not noticing the nervousness in her voice.
She eyed him anxiously for a moment before changing the conversation. "What about Voldemort? What?"
"We don't like to say his name, its bad luck see?" Hagrid said in hushed tones, just in case Voldemort was listening.
"Oh, alright then. It's a bit dumb though; fear of a name only increases fear of an object."
Hagrid gave her a funny look but said nothing more, although he did briefly wonder what Dumbledore thought he was doing bringing a muggle to Hogwarts.
Dawn nearly tripped over Hagrid when he stopped suddenly in the woodland. "Hey!"
"We're here."
She looked around. There was absolutely nothing there. "Where exactly is here?"
Hagrid didn't reply, well he did, but it made no sense. "Jus' in time." He dug into his pockets and pulled out a peacock feather. "Grab onto this an' we'll be off."
Dawn raised an eyebrow. This was a port key? But it was a feather! She took hold of it anyway, as did Hagrid and nothing happened. As she was about to ask what the feather was supposed to do, she felt a sharp tug behind her navel and felt herself hurtling through space.
Dawn landed on the floor outside a large gate, even bigger than the one at the slaying centre. She got to her feet and dusted herself off. "Okay; so with the not loving of that. Please say we're never gonna do that again?"
Hagrid looked confused at the Californian girl's language and took a moment to decipher it. "No Miss, we're here. The school carriages will take us to the doors."
Dawn nodded. "Whoa! What are they?"
"They're thestrals. Only people who've seen death can see 'em, I take it yer've seen it then Miss?"
"More than you could ever imagine." Dawn replied seriously. "And Hagrid, please call me Dawn."
Hagrid nodded and showed Dawn onto the carriage. As the thestrals started off, Hagrid started telling Dawn about the wizarding world. About Hogsmede, Diagon Alley, Voldemort etcetera etcetera and although it was impossible, Dawn couldn't help but think she had heard it all before…
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Bang! Bang! Bang! "Miss Summers?"
Dawn rolled off her bed and opened her portrait hole. "Yup?"
"Dinner begins in five minutes in the Great Hall." Professor McGonagall said.
"Oooh good, I'm starved!" Dawn grinned. She'd changed into a pair of dark jeans and a black jumper since Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall had officially welcomed her to the school in a spectacularly boring fashion.
McGonagall inwardly raised her eyes as the young American clambered into the hallway. She couldn't help but doubt Dumbledore's actions this time, this girl was barely an adult and she acted even younger. "Don't you want to put on your robes?"
"My what? Oh the cape things. Nah, I'm fine. Dumbledore said they were optional for guests. Which way is it?"
McGonagall pursed her lips and headed down the corridors in silence. When they got into the great hall, the students were already seated but the food had not yet been served. Dawn approached the staff table, managing not to gape at the ceiling, as the student's chatter gradually ceased as they each noticed the newcomer.
"Ah, Miss Summers. Glad you could make it! Do sit down." Dumbledore beamed at her and lifted his wand.
"Err, thanks." Dawn hesitantly sat on the chair he had just drawn her in between himself and a greasy looking guy.
Dumbledore stood to address the students. "You may have noticed an addition to our table. This is Miss Summers. She will be teaching a mandatory class which shall be added to your timetables tomorrow; Muggle Defence. I trust you will all make her feel welcome. Tuck in!"
At the mention of what her class would be, mutterings broke out all over the hall, but from one table in particular. Dawn felt students glaring at her from across the room and shifted uncomfortably to look at the professor next to her.
"Hi, I'm Dawn Summers."
The greasy guy turned towards her slowly, looking down his long nose at her. "Professor Snape. Potions" he said before turning back to the meal.
"Alrighty then." Dawn muttered turning to her plate which was piled with food.
She'd been here two minutes and already she'd broken the dress code, had death glares from half the students and one of the professors hated her. It was going to be an interesting year.
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Dawn hummed as she sauntered through the forest. Professor Dumbledore had told her that evil demons only entered the forest very rarely, but she'd still decided to check it out.
She was armed from top to toe, literally. From the wooden chopsticks in her hair to the wooden heels on her boots. Plus she had an emergency port key in her pocket that would transport her back to Hogwarts if things got too dangerous.
The hairs on the back of her neck began to tingle. Demon? Most definitely, it felt like a vampire. You could tell because things went too quiet. She'd heard a group of crickets chirping a moment ago, but they had stopped and the temperature seemed to drop a few degrees.
Dawn continued walking but she slid one of her stakes out of her coat pocket. A twig snapped behind her and a pair of arms grabbed her from behind. Show time.
She struggled, but the arms held her firmly. Time for plan b. She shifted slightly so that the vampire's heart was exposed and swung her stake over her shoulder. There; all dusty.
Dawn shook herself to get the dust off and headed back towards her comfy bed in the castle. She'd needed that; it must be a Buffy thing, the need to kill things every so often. Buffy didn't understand though, well, she might now. When she was younger, Dawn had constantly bugged Buffy to take her out patrolling. But Buffy couldn't see that it wasn't just an irritating little sister thing. It was in her blood; in both of their blood. And you couldn't just turn away from that.
It's always about the blood.
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Dawn was nearly back to her room, near the Gryffindor Tower, when she heard someone talking. A young someone, but it was way too late for the students to be out of bed…
"…Now I'm going to bed before you two come up with another idea that will get us killed…or worse, expelled!"
"What's going on here?"
"P- profess-ssor!" One of them squeaked.
"Shouldn't you be in bed, Mr.…?"
"Neville."
"Mr. Neville."
"No," he squeaked again; "Neville's my name."
Dawn took pity on the terrified boy and turned her attention to the other members of the group. "Who are you three?"
"Hermione Granger." The bushy haired girl said.
"Ron Weasley." He could so be related to Willow.
"Err Harry Potter." The final member of the group said a bit reluctantly and unnecessarily; his scar was information enough as to his identity. Harry felt odd, Buffy would have said that her spider sense was tingling, but Harry didn't know Buffy so he didn't know about her spider sense.
"Well duh! So I repeat, shouldn't you guys be in bed?" The hairs on the back of her neck were standing up again. What wasn't right in the corridor?
They all started talking at once.
"We were just going to the umm, kitchens! That's right the kitchens because we were hungry."
"I, err, I j-just got locked out. I swear it!"
"Well, Harry and Ron were going to a stupid dual and I tried to stop them. But then Filch nearly caught us and there was a trapdoor!"
Dawn held up a hand to get them to stop. "Okay, okay. It's my first night here, I really don't need this. Let's make a deal; I won't ask, and you won't tell me, 'kay?"
"But-but-but." Hermione stuttered.
Ron was giving Hermione a disbelieving look; did she want them to be punished? Neville was looking greatly relieved; he didn't want to be in any more trouble. They hadn't even been there a month and already he'd lost more points than he'd gained, but that didn't surprise him really.
Harry turned gratefully to their teacher. "Thanks Professor."
"Eugh, sorry; the Professor title makes me feel old... I guess I'll have to get used to it. Actually I wonder if I can swing it so I can be just Dawn, Professor Dawn…hmm, maybe not…" Dawn decided.
Harry was giving her a strange look. "Well thanks, err Professor."
"No worries." Hermione, Neville and Ron ducked through the portrait hole and Harry made as if to follow them. "Hey kid?" Harry turned back to her. "No more midnight escapades or fighting or duels or whatever, got me?"
Harry grinned. "Technically there was no duel this time."
Dawn tried to stop her smirk, but failed miserably. "Go to bed. You four better not be dead in the morning... I meant the tired kind of dead, not the dead sort of dead, but you probably guessed that…and I just keep with the talking don't I?"
Harry grinned again. "Goodnight Professor."
"'Night kid." Harry disappeared from sight and Dawn shook her head at the closed doorway.
Sooner or later that kid was gonna get himself killed.
Probably sooner.
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She was running. Running as fast as she could. She tripped over a tree root; it was going to get her.
She tried to get to her feet but stumbled again. No, it was here! A dark shadow loomed over her. This was it. The end.
The shadow shifted. It plunged down towards her in slow motion. "You think you know what you are, what's to come. You've only just begun."
Dawn bolted upright in her bed dripping with sweat. She looked around still alarmed, wasn't prophesising nightmares Buffy's thing?
As her breathing returned to normal, the panic subsided but there was a new thing taking its place, total and utter confusion.
"Are you alright dear?" One of the portraits asked, but Dawn ignored it and spoke to herself instead;
"Well that was new."
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