Thanks to the Reviewers:
Jules: Thanks for reviewing, as always! The reason Dawn's a paselmouth is because of the key. You know serpents can see her for what she is blah, blah so it makes sense she has something of them in her…or it did when I was writing. Cliffies are fun, but if you don't like them you might not want to read the end of this chapter…
Damia: I might do a accompanying piece about her visit to the Dursley's as there has to be one, but it doesn't really fit in this fic. Yup, big violent smackdown is forthcoming!
Allen Pitt: Sirius Black plotline starts in this chapter (the end) and will pretty much carry on to the end of the fic. There are bound to be some interesting reactions, if I can write them right… Thanks for reviewing!
Clcountry: Thanks for the two reviews- mammoth reading sesh! Feel free to 'nag' at any inaccuracies. I tend to forget that when I write things for what seems like a perfectly good reason, people can't see inside my head to find said reason! Thanks for all your compliments, and for the cookie! I hope you like this chapter as much as the rest of the story.
Buffy Fan: I aim to please! Keep R&R-ing
MaryAnn: I hope the wait is worth it. Thanks for R&R
Kat: All reviews are welcome, even if they are eight chapters late! Keep reading!
Megan (charmed angel4): Nope, never won't work- for one thing it would make the story really short! Prepare for Buffy-y goodness! Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Jase32: Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Sired-by-Spike: I take it you're a fan of all things Spike then? Sorry, not much 'spike-alike' in this chapter, but I am planning a couple of scenes with him in in the near future. Thanks for R&R
Dannie (maleficus lupinus): Thanks for R&R. People always pick the worst conversations to walking on!
Mae: Wow! Thanks for the compliment, but there must be loads of other fics out there way better. Have you read 'Key to Marauding'? If not, you should. It's awesome!
Passionate Darkness: I tried to make it original, I'm glad you think so! There's the next chapter, hope you like!
CHAPTER ELEVEN: …ONE TO GO
"What's going on?" Harry repeated more firmly.
Dawn stared at him in horror. How much had he heard? "N-nothing." She tried nervously.
Harry was shaking. "This is a joke, right? I mean, what you said…you're just joking."
"Harry-"
"No! You're lying! You're not her! You're lying!"
"Ron, perhaps you could go and prepare for your classes?" Dumbledore suggested to the wide eyed Gryffindor who left promptly. "Harry, Dawn, I think it would be best if you took a seat."
Harry took a chair as far away from Dawn as he could get. He was feeling numb and confused. She said that she was his mother, brought back from the dead by monks and then given new memories. How was that possible?
And how could her saying that she was send so many of his emotions into turmoil? Grief for his lost parents; anger that she would lie like this; confusion as to what the hell was happening and a tiny flicker of hope that she actually could be his mother.
"Harry," Dumbledore started; "I know this is hard for you to accept-"
Harry shook his head in disbelief.
"-but I need you to listen to me." When Harry offered no protest he continued. "Your mother died ten years ago to try and protect you from Voldemort, this much you know and this much is true. Her body was buried next to your fathers in the same cemetery as her parents."
Dawn stared down at her lap in silence. Harry seemed to be holding back tears. A strangled sob escaped his throat.
"Not long after that, a hell God named Glorificus attacked a monastery in the former Czechoslovakia that was the residence of the Key. If she got hold of the Key, then the world would end, so the monks made a decision. They would send the Key to be protected by the slayer to prevent Glorificus from getting it. They were to make the Key into a sister for the slayer to love and protect. But they needed a vessel to hold it-"
"No, stop. I don't want to hear this." Harry groaned.
Dumbledore continued anyway. "The vessel had to have enough magical potential to hold the Key, and they chose your mother, Harry. Her life with you and your father was erased from her memory and the way she looked completely altered. Professor Summers is really three beings in one body; the Key, your mother and just Dawn."
Harry glanced quickly at Dawn to see a couple of silent tears running down her cheeks. He looked back to Dumbledore again. "Why are you telling me this? Why are you lying to me?"
"He's not lying." Dawn said softly.
"It's not possible!" Denial was being replaced by anger.
"Apparently it is."
"No! No, no, no! I don't want to know about this. Get her away from me!" Harry shouted, pushing his chair further back so that it hit the book case behind him.
"Dawn perhaps it would be best if I spoke to Harry for a while? I believe your family has arrived and they will want to see you." Dumbledore suggested quietly.
Dawn looked hurt, but nodded and left the room anyway with one last look back at the quivering boy with his back to her. As she went down the stairs, she composed herself. She wiped the tears from her face and took a couple of deep breaths.
As she left the gargoyle behind, Dawn heard a couple of very familiar American accents coming from a room opposite.
"What do you mean, I can't? I want to see my sister now!" Buffy was shouting.
"Buffy?"
"Dawn!" The slayer leapt forward and gave Dawn a bone crushing hug.
"Air." Dawn stammered after a moment.
Buffy let her sister go and turned to Professor Snape who she'd been arguing with earlier. "Dawnie are you okay? You can go now, Sir Scowls-a-lot."
Snape glared at the petite blond. "Dumbledore instructed me not to leave you."
"Do you always do what Bumblewhore says?"
Snape just raised an eyebrow.
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30th October 1994 –5:21 pm
"Honey, I'm hoooome!"
Lily Potter smiled and shook her head slightly as her husband burst into their kitchen and planted a kiss on her cheek.
"Heya. Good day?"
James ruffled his son's hair before opening a cupboard to find a 'small' snack for himself. "Not bad. I managed to sneak the papers ol' Dumbles wanted so we're ready for the meeting tomorrow."
Lily smiled. She knew her husband would prefer to have a more 'active' role in the Order of the Phoenix, but Harry's birth had seemed to curb that particular urge to some extent. "That's good… wait, there's a meeting tomorrow?"
"Yea- you know that Lils. You volunteered our house for it, remember?"
"That's tomorrow?" She squawked. "But the place is a mess! They can't come over when we're practically living in a pig sty!"
James looked around the tidy kitchen in amazement. "Lils, it's fine, honestly. Besides this is a hell of a lot tidier than the Longbottom's."
Lily was working herself up into a state. "But we're not the Longbottom's. I don't want them to think…"
"Think what?" James prompted.
"That we can't cope." Lily admitted.
"Why would they think that?"
Lily shot a pointed glance over to their son who had taken his parent's distraction as a perfect opportunity to cover himself in his dinner. "Oh Harry! What did you have to do that for? Why do you always have to make such a mess?" She was almost crying now, much to James' confusion.
"Lils…Lily, leave it."
"I-I can't. It'll st-stain." She sobbed.
James pulled the cloth she was using to clean Harry up with. "So just leave it, he's got plenty more white t-shirts. You're not super woman."
Lily sniffed. "I know, that's the problem. D-Don't you get it? They're all waiting for us to screw this up."
"Huh?"
"The Order, our friends, everyone! And then they'll say 'oh, they settled down to soon' and 'they're so stupid to have a baby so young'."
"So? We've already said that- we did settle down too soon and we did have Harry too young."
"But I don't want them to know it." Lily whined.
James bit his lip to stop himself laughing realising that his wife was being serious. He brushed her tears away. "Would you change any of it? The house, Harry…me?"
She surprised him by kissing him gently. "Not for anything."
James breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Merlin- I don't know what I'd have done if you said 'yes'. How about you clean Harry up while I start on the cleaning?"
"You?" Lily gaped in shock. He'd never so much as picked up his own dirty towel before and now he was offering to clean?
"Yes, me. I happen to be an expert with the 'scrougify' I'll have you know." He grinned, happy to see his partner smiling again. "It'll be okay Tigerlily, I promise you."
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Dawn twiddled her thumbs nervously. Dumbledore was still talking to Harry, but he had promised to call her back as soon as Harry was ready.
Buffy was engaged in a staring contest with Professor Snape, until he raised his eyebrows in an attempt to look down at the slayer. Buffy snorted unimpressed and turned to have a conversation with Willow.
"Can you believe that guy?" Buffy said haughtily.
"Well you weren't exactly friendly, Buffy." Willow said earning her a glare from her friend. "Sorry about her." Willow said to Snape, ignoring Buffy's deepening glare.
Snape let out a long suffering sigh.
"I mean, she's a bit crazy really; if you're around her long enough you wake up one morning and realise she's driven you completely insane!"
Snape didn't crack a smile. "And this is the fighting force which have saved the world countless times? Those so-called-villains should be deeply ashamed of themselves." He muttered to himself.
"Hey!" Those in the room blessed with supernatural hearing complained.
Snape ignored them. "And they actually run a prestigious council? It's a wonder our world is still standing."
"No need to be all moody, cranky pants." Willow huffed. "I was just being friendly!"
"How much longer? They've been hours." Dawn whined.
"Dawnie, chill. They'll come for you when they're ready." Faith said casually.
"But-"
"Miss Summers, please stop your infernal whining. You're giving me a headache." Snape snapped.
Buffy glared at the Professor. "So take an aspirin, super-goth, in case you haven't noticed she's going through some stuff right now and the last thing she needs is some grease-ball like you on her case."
Dawn smiled. In here with Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles and even Faith and Andrew, things were familiar. She knew that they would protect her and she could almost pretend that none of this was happening… almost.
Snape scowled at the Americans and swept out of the room. He'd had enough of these 'bloody colonials' and wasn't going to be around them for a minute longer, Dumbledore's orders or not.
Willow crunched up her nose in distaste. "Well that was rude."
Buffy just grinned. "Not even here a day and already somebody hates us."
Dawn snorted. "You're not so special; he hates everyone!"
Professor McGonagall who had entered the room when Snape left nodded in agreement. "Severus doesn't much care for company. Dawn; are you ready?"
She gulped audibly. Harry was ready to speak to her. What was she going to say? She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
Buffy hugged her sister. "It'll be okay."
Dawn nodded again and followed McGonagall out of the room.
Buffy shuffled nervously for her little sister. "This is so not gonna be okay."
"It could be, you never know." Willow said without conviction.
"How? Even if Harry automatically accepts her and they turn into the Brady Bunch, and I don't see that happening, how will it be okay? If he rejects her then she's gonna be crushed, but if he doesn't then she'll leave us."
There was a moment of silence as everyone thought about what their lives would be like without Dawn.
"She might be my sister, but she's his mom. And he'll need her more then I do, more than we do."
"She won't just leave, Buffy." Giles assured her.
Buffy looked to her watcher. "You did."
"I moved away for a while, just like Dawn did when she moved to England. Nothing's going to take her away from you."
"But-"
"But nothing. She loves you; she loves everyone in this room. And if you love her as much as I do, then you won't tell her anything that we've said. What's happening, it's going to be hard enough on her as it is without having to worry about how you're taking it. She needs you to be strong for her, Buffy; she needs her sister. Can you handle that?"
She looked up to the man who had been a father to both her and Dawn for so many years. "I, yes."
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When Dawn went into the office, the first thing she noticed was Harry's pale, tired face. The second thing she noticed was Dumbledore's kindly smile.
"Have a seat, Miss Summers."
"I've told you before, it's just Dawn." She mumbled, sitting in the vacant chair.
The group sat in silence for a while. Harry seemed to be shifting through his thoughts. "Is it true?"
"Hasn't Dumbledore already told you that?" Dawn replied.
"I want to hear it from you." Harry said a bit harshly.
"Yes, it's true."
"Then why…why didn't you come back for me?"
Dawn's heart almost broke. She hadn't thought of it like that, but to a child's irrational mind then it would be easy to feel unwanted. "I didn't know, I swear it. When the monks sent me to Buffy, they filled my head with memories so that everyone would think I'd been part of the family for fourteen years and I guess they erased out the memories about Lily's- my old life."
"So you don't remember me?"
"I don't understand it. Ever since I was 're-created', I've had flashes of things that just didn't make sense until now. I lived in the muggle world so there wasn't really anything to prompt those memories to return until I met Professor Dumbledore and came to Hogwarts. I only found out about a few weeks ago."
"I don't understand."
"That makes two of us."
"I found a picture once, at my aunt's house. It was of the two of you just smiling…you look nothing like her."
"The monks changed all that."
Harry nodded, seemingly understanding. "I can't believe it, I though you were dead."
"Everyone did. And I guess I was really, I mean I didn't remember anything."
"How could you just forget like that? Forget this entire world, and my dad…and me. Wasn't I important?" He asked hurt.
"Of course you were! When I found out I was pregnant, I was still at Hogwarts. I was so scared to tell James but I shouldn't have been. He said that we'd be a family, just the three of us and that we'd never let anything happen to you. That year, you were the most important thing in either of our lives."
"Not important enough to remember though." Harry sulked.
"Look I'm sorry, but this hasn't exactly been a walk in the park for me either!"
Harry scowled. "I thought you were dead!"
"And I thought I was someone else." Dawn almost shrieked in agitation. "You think this is easy for me? First I find out that I'm not even real and now I find out I had an entire other life and that I didn't remember. But now I remember it and I feel like she would have." Dawn sighed. "A part of me wants to grieve for the man I loved, but another part of me is saying that I never knew him and it was over ten years ago. A part of me feels like I'm your mother."
Harry swallowed nervously. "What about the other part?"
Dawn smiled slightly. "The other part says I'm your teacher and, one day, your friend."
Harry smiled back at her awkwardly, still totally blown away by this revelation. He thought back through all the encounters he'd had with 'Professor Summers' and then through his time with the Dursley's. Each time he had been knocked about by Dudley and his friends or his uncle had yelled at him he had wished for something like this. But it was still totally unbelievable. He didn't know this woman. What did she expect, for them to become a big family?
As if reading his thoughts, Dawn addressed all Harry's worries. "I know this is really weird, for both of us, and I don't expect for everything to magically be alright between us, I just want you to give it a chance. I can't stop these feelings and I don't know what I'll do if…" She took a steadying breath. "I just want a chance."
Harry thought about it. He wanted it, but what if it didn't work. He didn't feel anything about her, but if it worked out then he would have almost everything he wanted. "I'll try."
Dawn grinned in relief at his decision and Dumbledore smiled in satisfaction. If Harry had not wanted this to go any further then he couldn't have forced him to, but that could've been disastrous for both Dawn and the rest of the wizarding world.
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"So, what's the battle plan for now?" Buffy asked as the group ate dinner in the Great Hall.
"Well, we don't really follow a plan. We just go where we are needed." Dumbledore admitted.
"What? So you just clear up this Voodoo guy's messes? Well there's where you've been going wrong."
"Excuse me?" McGonagall replied stiffly.
"If you're always on the defensive then how do you expect to win?" Faith said through a mouthful of mashed potatoes.
"Exactly." Buffy said passionately. "You have to figure out what the opposition are going to do and then stop it before it happens. Trust me Mr. Bumblebore, I'm an expert."
"It's Dumbledore." Willow hissed.
"We have a spy in Voldemort's inner circle." Dumbledore revealed quietly. "He is currently gathering information for us. He will return to us this evening."
"Right; then let's go and get ready. We could be going to battle tonight; we have to start suiting up." Buffy said rising from her seat.
"Take it easy, B." Faith advised.
"Buffy, there is absolutely no point in preparing for a fight that may not, probably won't, come. We just have to wait for this spy to return." Giles said pinching the bridge of his nose as he often did when he was around Buffy or the rest of his 'family'.
"That could take hours!" Buffy whined, but sitting back down nonetheless.
"Do a crossword!" Giles snipped.
Buffy glared at her former watcher. "Do you always have to be like that?"
"Like what?"
"So British! We'd started to cure you of it but then you come back here and all our hard work is ruined!"
"Err, Buff? If you're gonna insult the Brits, do it when you're not hideously outnumbered." Dawn advised. She had, for the most part, been very quiet that evening so Buffy was glad to see her say something. All she'd said about what was exchanged between her and Harry was that they were going to see what happened, and that they were going to talk tomorrow when 'everyone had calmed down a bit'.
"I'm not outnumbered that much! I've got Xander and Willow and Faith!"
"And me!" Andrew piped in.
Dawn ignored the nerd. "So you four, against twenty teachers and about one thousand kids? Who all know how to use a wand? Yeah, you guys stand a chance!" She scoffed.
Buffy looked around the hall anxiously. "They're all British?"
"It's a British school, Buffy!"
"Oh my God! We're being invaded!"
Dawn almost pointed out everything that was wrong with that sentence, but decided that it was better not to confuse her sister so she settled for a very patronising "yes, Buffy" instead.
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Harry had not gone to dinner. Neither had Ron or Hermione. It didn't seem like it but there had only been about an hour after he had left Dumbledore's office until the meal. Instead, he was telling his friends about what had happened in Dumbledore's office. Ron knew a little, but barely anything and Hermione only knew what Ron had told her.
Harry had told them everything; how Dawn had totally forgotten about everything because some monks gave her new memories and then coming back to Hogwarts had prompted her to remember. Dumbledore had told him a little of Dawn's life including that she was the Key and he told his friends this after swearing them to secrecy, of course.
"So what are you going to do now?" Ron asked.
Harry shrugged. "Who knows? I told her I'd give her a chance, and if that all works then I dunno."
"What's not to know? If she's your mum then she's your family." Ron said simply.
"It's not that simple, Ron." Hermione chastised gently.
"Wouldn't it be nice if it were though?" Harry said humourlessly. "I don't know anything about her... I don't feel anything for her."
"Sure you do." Ron said.
"No, I don't."
"You do; remember you told me that whenever you were around her you felt like there was something you should know? That you felt all tingly and weird?"
Harry frowned. "I guess…"
"Maybe it just takes time. This could be the greatest thing that'll ever happen to you!" Hermione said brightly.
"Well it's defiantly the most confusing." Harry said with a smile.
"Do you want my advice?" Hermione started.
"Do I have a choice?"
She ignored him. "Give it a go. What do you have do lose? If it doesn't work out you just go back to the Dursley's like nothings happened and she can go back to her old family. You'll regret it if you don't."
Harry nodded. "That makes sense. Thanks Hermione."
"Don't mention it." Hermione said, but obviously pleased at being able to help her friend in something other than homework.
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The following morning brought Dawn and Harry's meeting. It was another weekday, but Harry had been excused from that morning's classes for 'personal reasons'. Dumbledore had left the mother and son to get to know each other a bit better. Since then, there had been an uncomfortable silence.
Dawn took a deep breath. "Harry," she started, "I really don't know what I'm doing here. The mother in me has been dead for the last ten years. What do you want from this?"
"Honestly, I don't know. I don't know if we can be…you know."
"Mother and son? It's okay I get it." She said visibly deflating.
"I think I need time to get used to it."
Dawn nodded. "I can deal with that."
Another silence overtook them.
Harry shifted in his seat and decided to take the plunge. "So, professor-"
"It's Dawn."
"Dawn, why did you come to Hogwarts?"
"I used to work at a supernatural lawyer firm and Professor Dumbledore visited one time. He, somehow, found out who I was and invited me to Hogwarts, supposedly to see if the war going on here would be suitable for slayer participation, but I guess they've kinda been dragged into it now."
Harry smiled weakly. "Umm okay. So, you know some slayers? We talked about them in history of magic a few weeks ago. I wouldn't normally remember anything from that class, but I found it quite interesting."
"Glad to hear it. Did Professor Dumbledore tell you about my sister, Buffy? No? Well she was this generation's first slayer until the rest were activated by Willow. Did you cover that in History of Magic?"
"Yeah, there was an interview with her in 'Witch Weekly' that we had to read."
"I didn't know Wills did an interview. Anyway, after the big fight I went with Buffy to Italy and got my high school diploma and then went on to a nearby uni when we moved back to America. But I got sick of just being Buffy's sister so I came to England and moved into the slaying centre with Giles, who's like our father figure. In England, I was far enough away from Buffy to lead my own life, but close enough to still be in the loop- after seeing what I did I couldn't just forget about it and lead a normal life. So I ended up helping out with the slayers every now and then, which is why I got sent here."
"What about your real father?"
"He abandoned Buffy and me a few years after the divorce. And Mom died from a brain tumour when I was fourteen."
"I'm sorry." Harry was surprised. He'd pictured Dawn as having the perfect family.
"Don't be- wasn't your fault. What about you? What's your life been like?"
"Fine." Harry said shortly.
"Well, who have you been living with?" Dawn coaxed trying to draw him out.
"Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon."
"What? But we barely talked since she found out I was a witch."
Harry shrugged uncomfortably. "They were the only ones left."
Dawn was quiet for a moment. Harry had really been left all alone. "I'm sorry. What was it like there?"
Harry paused before answering; something told him that Dawn wanted an honest answer. "It was horrible. They hate me and didn't care if they showed it. They told me you died in a car crash."
Dawn stared in disbelief. Lily's memories told her that Petunia had disapproved of the magical element in her life, but she hadn't expected this. "I can't believe she would do that! You're her family, her nephew!"
"It's okay, really." Harry said embarrassed.
"No, it's not." Dawn said quietly, but she let the subject rest.
The two talked until lunchtime when Dumbledore reappeared to see how everything went. Harry was about to go off to lunch and Dawn to finish preparing that afternoon's classes when he turned hesitantly to speak to her.
"Can we, I mean do you want to do this again?"
Dawn smiled widely. "If you want to."
Harry returned the smile. "Tomorrow's Saturday..?"
"Tomorrow then? But can we make it the afternoon? I've got something I need to do in the morning."
"Sure." Harry said before leaving.
Dawn smiled to herself. It would take a while, but she actually believed that things were going to work out for the two of them.
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"Dawn!"
Dawn turned to see who was calling her. "Heya Buffy. What's up?"
"Nothing. How'd it go today?" Buffy asked. She was more than a little freaked out by all this, but she knew she had to stay strong for Dawn's sake. This was hard enough on her as it was.
Dawn smiled. "Better. I can actually see this working."
"That's great." Buffy said, but she couldn't quite summon up the emotion in her voice.
"What is it? Aren't you happy for me?"
"Of course I am. Just…don't forget you've got a family with us as well, okay?"
"As if I could. You know what I really want? One family with everyone in it- you, me, the scoobs and Harry."
Buffy smiled at her sister. "Maybe one day."
"Would you mind?"
"No." Buffy said after some consideration. They got on much better these days, her and Dawn. Maybe it was because Buffy wasn't as smothering as she used to be, or maybe Dawn had matured. Whatever it was, the Summers sisters got on a lot better when there was an ocean separating them for most the time. "So when am I going to meet my nephew?"
Dawn thought about it for a moment, allowing Lily's instincts to come through as she often did nowadays- her former self was more cautious and tending to think things through more. "Not yet. Can we let him get used to me first before I overwhelm him with the Scoobies?"
"It could be a bit overwhelming, huh?"
Dawn laughed. "Just a little. I may never let him meet Andrew; poor kid's done nothing to deserve that!"
"Have any of us? Seriously though, we're going to do this right, Dawnie; I promise. It's all gonna work out." Buffy assured her sister.
"You know, I think it might."
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Dawn handed over the letter anxiously. She'd spoken to Dumbledore and he'd understanded why she needed to do this. Which was lucky because without his influence she'd never have been aloud to make this visit. She juts hoped it was worth it.
A few eyebrows had been raised at her appearance (well, only two actually due to the lack of humans who worked there), but one of the two with a pulse had lead her down a cold, dark corridor to wait in a dingy room that held nothing but an old table and two wooden chairs.
"Sit at the table. I'll be watching you both the whole time. He'll be here shortly." The guard had said shortly.
He hated his job but he, and the only other human that worked there, were squibs brought up in the magical world. They had no muggle qualifications and no magical ability so this was the only job available for them. The ministry had wanted someone to deal with all the administration work and he'd got the job.
Moments later, a pale, skinny man was lead into the room looking very confused. He went to the table and Dawn stood to greet him.
"Hello Padfoot."
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