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A/N: THE WORDS ARE THE SAME, BUT THE SPELL IS DIFFERENT! I won't tell you where, but you'll know when you get there!
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: HERE WE GO AGAIN…
"Lil- Dawn! Dawn, snap out of it!" Sirius took hold of his room mate and shook her.
She stopped screaming, but the fear was still in her eyes. "Sirius?"
"It's me, its okay."
"Buffy?"
"You want your sister?" Dawn nodded slowly. "I'll get her, I'll be one minute. Don't move."
And he was off. He forgot that he was a wanted criminal and speed through the thankfully empty corridors of Hogwarts until he reached Buffy's door.
He whacked on the portrait loudly, hearing groaning from behind the door.
"Wha?" Buffy moaned sleepily.
"It's Lil- It's Dawn."
It had the effect of emptying a bucket of ice water over her. "Is she okay?"
"No."
Buffy ran towards Dawn's room, still dressed in her pink bunny pyjamas, which made Sirius smile. When Sirius returned to the portrait, a few minutes after Buffy, he found her hopping about outside.
"What's wrong?"
"Damn portrait won't let me in." She grumbled.
Sirius smirked. "Poodle."
"I am not a poodle- oh. Poodle's the password? That's so lame." Buffy said as she clambered in and went to Dawn's side. "What's wrong?"
"She…I…she was resurrected…I remember." Dawn stuttered.
"We already knew that, sweetie."
"I remember it…there were the monks and they watched as she…woke up in the coffin…I dug out of her grave." Dawn whispered. "They took her somewhere, and then I was with you."
Buffy growled. Speaking from experience, she knew it was not pleasant to wake up in a coffin and then have to dig yourself out of your own grave. Not pleasant at all. Especially if you were formally in heaven. "Dawnie, I need you to tell me…was she in heaven…do you remember?"
Dawn nodded.
"I'm so sorry, but it gets easier, I promise." Buffy hugged her sister and didn't let go until she'd sobbed herself back to sleep.
When she was sure Dawn was asleep, she put her back into her bed and walked over to where a very confused Sirius was standing. "Poor kid."
"She's not a kid." Sirius said absently.
"Yes, she is. She's only been alive for ten years in this life and sometimes it catches up on her. Or that's what Giles said. Sometimes she's twenty four, sometimes she's ten and I guess sometimes she's nineteen. There are all these different personalities in there and it's hard to keep track. Sometimes she loses herself." Buffy revealed sadly, her eyes not leaving her sisters sleeping form.
Sirius nodded. "That makes sense I guess. There had to be some repercussions to what they did to her. So what was all that about?"
Buffy eyed him carefully. Could she trust him? "Dawn remembers when they resurrected Lily. All of it."
"Okay- and that's bad, right?"
"Very bad. This Lily, she was in heaven, totally at peace and then she was ripped out. Dawn woke up in her coffin and then had to dig her way out while the monks watched her."
"Shit." Sirius swore.
"Exactly; I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Trust me when I say it's gonna screw with her head for a long time."
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"Dawnie! Let me in." The voice echoed throughout her sub conscious.
"Tara?" Dawn got off the bed she was lying on. She went to the door and opened it to reveal Tara standing in the hallway of her home in Sunnydale.
They both entered her old room and sat on the bed.
"Dawnie, you have to stop it."
"I'm too tired." Dawn said wearily. "Stop what?"
"You have to get it out your system. I know that it's difficult, but they need you."
"It's not that simple. I feel it, Tara; I feel everything about heaven and then coming back."
"I know you do; and it's hard to carry on, but Harry needs you." It was a dirty trick and dream-Tara knew it, but she had to get through to Dawn. Dawn was more like Buffy than she'd ever admit and when Buffy had been going through the same situation, protecting the people she loved had been all that mattered.
Dawn reacted as expected- worried and protective. "What's going to happen to Harry?"
Tara put a hand to Dawn's forehead and images flashed before her eyes. There was so much blood, so much pain- more than she had ever felt in her life.
Dawn turned to Tara with a horrified look. "Is that what's going to happen?"
Tara smiled. "Only if you can't stop it. The PTB owe you a favour Dawnie, well, your sister technically, but she isn't sleeping so well tonight. But you have to sort this, understand me?"
"I think so. I have to tell them?"
Tara nodded.
Dawn sighed. "That isn't going to be easy."
"I know. But you'll do it."
Dawn sighed. "So why is it always you? You're always the one to come into my dreams and tell me things, why you?"
"Isn't it obvious? I'm your link to the powers. You'll see me again soon, I know that much. I still need to tell you something, but you're not ready to hear it yet."
"What is it?" Dawn asked, paying no attention to the fact that Tara just told her that she wasn't ready to hear it.
"I can't tell you yet, besides you have to go back now."
"Not yet, just a little longer."
"No Dawnie." Tara said firmly, but with a smile still on her face. "You've seen who you are and what's to come but you've barely even begun."
Dawn awoke back in her own bed at Hogwarts. "That line never gets old." She muttered to no one in particular.
A sudden wave of nausea overtook her body and she dashed to the bathroom and threw the contents of her stomach down the toilet.
Is this what Tara had meant by 'getting it out of her system'? The powers had one sick sense of humour… no pun intended.
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"You don't understand!" Dawn shouted at the headmaster.
"You know what, I believe you're right: I don't understand!" Dumbledore said, sounding both surprised and a little excited by the prospect- it hadn't happened in so long so it was rather a refreshing change.
"We've got twenty-four hours, tomorrow afternoon Voldemort is coming here; what part of that don't you get, you stupid, stupid old man?"
Dumbledore paused, not offended in the slightest. "There are some people downstairs who I believe should be part of this discussion. Shall we wait for them to arrive?"
Two minutes later there were several confused people and a dog talking/ barking in Dumbledore's office. The list went as follows: Dumbledore and Dawn; Buffy, Xander, Willow, Faith, Giles and Andrew; and Snape, Hagrid and McGonagall.
"Quiet!" Dumbledore said, not particularly loudly but it had its desired effect. "Now Dawn has something to tell us, and Sirius, please turn into your human form."
He did so much to Xander and Andrew's delight and Snape's irritation.
"You!"
"This is not the time for this, Severus." Dumbledore said sternly as the two men glared at each other.
"I had a dream." Dawn started. "Basically, we have twenty-four hours to prepare for some kind of strike from Voldemort...here"
The noise broke out at once. They weren't equipped to deal with a strike from Voldemort; this was a school for crissakes! Voldemort wasn't even supposed to be rising to power this quickly- Dumbledore had said it would be May at the earliest, not early December!
"Quiet!" Dawn shouted, much louder than Dumbledore had but with the same effects.
"This is nonsense!" Snape said the minute silence came. "You want to believe the Dark Lord is coming here by a girl's dreams?"
"Dawn's dreams are very accurate and nobody asked you, draculike." Buffy retorted immediately.
"Calm down Buffy," Willow soothed, "he does have a point."
"What? Willow-"
"Just listen a sec; you were always the one that got the dreams not Dawn, one dream doesn't make a seer." The white witch reasoned.
"Tara was there."
"What?"
"Tara; she was the one who told me about the fight." Dawn revealed. "She came to me and showed me what could happen if we didn't prepare."
Willow nodded; that fact that Tara had been the one to warn them settled it for her. "We can trust this vision." She said simply.
"Great, any more questions? No? Then what's say we prepare for this apocalypse then?" Faith said jauntily.
Snape bit back a comment and nodded curtly. Truth was, he'd suspected something big was going down soon but he had been unable to find out what it was. Something like this sounded like something the Dark Lord would do.
"He knows about me." Dawn said quietly.
"What? How?" Buffy tightened her grip on the chair arm causing a thin crack to split up the mahogany.
Dawn spread her arms helplessly. "I don't know, I just know he knows."
"Then he must be stopped, right B?" Faith said simply, but anyone could hear the steely resolve in her voice.
"Right, we have to be ready, Professor Dumbledore." Buffy said grimly.
"You called him Dumbledore!" Dawn said surprised.
"Oh right, sorry; Professor Crumblecore." Buffy uselessly tried to correct.
Dawn rolled her eyes. Buffy had definitely taken too many hits to the head. "Why do I even bother?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well you have to admit that-"
"What do you propose?" McGonagall said, sensibly ignoring the bickering sisters.
"We need to get your order thing here now!" Dawn injected.
"And the slayers." Buffy added.
"Are you sure you want to bring them into this?" Giles said with caution.
"Definitely; it's their next big bad and without backup we don't have a chance." Buffy said after sharing a look with Faith who nodded her head in agreement.
"We still won't stand a chance." Snape muttered.
Faith elbowed him, not hard for her, but enough to make him stumble. "Hey, less of the negative energy."
"We do stand a chance," Buffy insisted, clearly on the verge of one of her speeches (much to Dawn's dismay). "We always have a chance. Faith and I took an army of thirty or so girls into hell to fight the original evil."
"Madness." Snape commented. "To beat the army of the First with thirty muggles is impossible."
"I'm glad no-one told me that before we did it!" Buffy grinned.
"Oh I did." Giles said. "You listened very politely and went ahead and did it anyway, proving that it was, in fact, not impossible."
"Whatever. But point is we've got a baddie to squish."
"Can't you see?" McGonagall said flustered. "We're not ready and we only have one day! The wizarding world is doomed!"
Xander laughed. "Hey! She sounds like Giles!"
"Must be a British thing."
"I can't help but fell we may have gotten a little off topic." Dumbledore interrupted. "We have just twenty-four hours to prepare ourselves as best possible. We must notify the parents immediately, the students have to be evacuated."
"Wait a sec, some of those parents are death eaters; we can't let them know we know." Dawn said.
Dumbledore smirked secretively. "I dare say that I can 'forget' to inform those parents and take those particular children to another safe haven. Professor Snape; you should perhaps be the best one to help those students?"
"Yes sir." Snape agreed. Due to contrary belief, there were fewer than thirty students in his house that were related to death eaters and it would be easy to put them somewhere safe.
"I will start the emergency contact floo the moment we are finished here and advise parents to collect the children either tonight or tomorrow morning leaving us time to prepare for the fight in the afternoon. I will also contact the Order of the Phoenix and a few select aurors who, although not members, have shown their dedication to the cause repeatedly. I need not remind you of the severity of the situation, but we must insure that there is no panic amongst the pupils. Now I suggest we prepare ourselves, because my friends, war is truly upon us."
As she and her friends left the room, Buffy sighed. "Here we go again."
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"Are you sure you want to tell him, Dawnie?" Buffy asked.
"I'm sure."
"It's not a good idea."
"Oh? And what is a good idea? Not tell him the truth for months and then let him sneak out and find out all alone?" Dawn said harshly.
Buffy inwardly winced. "No, but Dawn, he's just a kid."
"It's not like-" Dawn broke off as Quirrell walked towards them.
Quirrell briefly nodded his head in acknowledgement to the deputy head mistress. As he walked past the suddenly silent trio, he knocked into Buffy.
"Geez, walk much?" She muttered as he continued without an apology.
Quirrel smirked out of sight. There was a muggle needle in his hand, filled with a red substance. He had what he needed.
Dawn continued with their previous conversation. "It's not like I'm going to let him fight, I'm sending him away somewhere, but I want him to know the truth."
"You'll try to send him away, but if he's anything like you he won't stay away for long even if it's for his own good."
"That was different. I was five years older than he was and, no matter what you thought, I could take care of myself and I still can." How many times had they had this argument in some shape or form?
McGonagall looked at the sisters. "Why do I get the impression that this isn't just about Harry?"
Dawn glared at Buffy, so the older Summers girl answered. "I tried to keep Dawn safe from the fight with the First by sending her away, but she came back. "
"Of course I came back, what would I have to live for if you all died? My family and friends were fighting so why wouldn't I? And that goes for double this time!"
"Dawn, I just think it would be best if you went somewhere safe-"
"No, Buffy. I'm twenty-four years old; I've been looking after myself without you even in the same continent for the last two years so I think I can manage one more day!"
Buffy held her sisters glare for a long time. "Fine. But if you get killed I'm telling."
Dawn nodded. "Thank you. But I think you're the one we need to worry about there, little miss 'died three times'. Honestly Buff, you'd think drowning once would be enough, but no…"
"I only drowned twice, and they so weren't my fault! I mean, hello, fighting vampires!"
"Fine, I'll give you the Master 'cause you were new and he was way old, but come on Buffy, the other one was only a fledgling and you'd been a slayer for ten years!"
"I tripped!" Buffy said defensively.
"Into a pool of ice cold water and nearly gave poor Xander a heart attack!"
McGonagall watched as they went from being mad at each other to bickering playfully. "We're nearly at Harry's class now." She interrupted.
"I'll go then. See ya Dawnie." Buffy about turned, her heels clicking on the stone floor as she walked off.
Professor McGonagall knocked on one of the large wooden doors. "May I borrow Mr. Potter, Serena?"
"Of course." She seemed quite surprised to see the deputy headmistress in her classroom, but offered no objection knowing that Harry would most likely get the lesson notes off Hermione.
Harry exited his class, his surprise turning into a scowl when he saw the other person waiting outside. "What does she want?"
"Harry!" McGonagall warned, sending a sharp look to Dawn; what had gone on between those two? "Professor Summers has something of great importance to tell you, and you have to listen to her."
Harry looked to Dawn suspiciously. "Fine."
"You can use my office." McGonagall offered; leading them to the room in silence and then leaving the duo.
Harry sat opposite Dawn glaring at her.
"Harry, I'm sorry I upset you, but right now there are more important things at stake than you and me." Dawn began firmly. "You know Voldemort's gaining power, well he's about to begin his first attack."
"So?" Harry said sullenly.
"It's at Hogwarts. I don't know how, but he found out about me and he isn't happy. There are two people in the room right now and he wants his revenge on both of them." Dawn stated. She'd planned on easing into it, but didn't really see the point when she got started, especially when he was being so uncooperative.
She watched the emotions on the young boys face change from shock to fear. "The reason I'm telling you this is because, well the thing is there's a prophecy. I don't really know what he wants, but I think Dumbledore wants us to activate the Trojka."
"The what?"
Dawn groaned. "I'm not doing this right. Okay, the Trojka is three people who together can form a really powerful team. You with me so far? Good. Well part of the prophecy says the first is chosen, the second is fate and the third is the link. The first is Buffy, my sister and the third is me."
Harry felt a pit of dread in his stomach. "Who's the second one?"
Dawn looked down. "It's you. But I'm not going to let this happen, I promise."
"How can you stop it?"
"Tomorrow morning you're leaving. I don't know where, but somewhere safe. I'll find somewhere."
"What about you? Are you coming with me?"
Dawn got up and knelt down beside Harry's chair. "I'll be okay."
Harry looked into Dawn's eyes fearfully. "No, you can't stay here, please don't."
"I have to. I'll be fine; trust me. I've faced bigger baddies than Voldemort and I'm still here." Dawn smiled falsely.
Harry grabbed her arm. At that moment she was his mother, he forgot all about the mess with Sirius, he wasn't angry anymore, just scared. "You can't leave me again."
"It's only going to be for a couple of days. Then you'll be back."
"He's already taken you from me once, he'll do it again. Please…"
"Harry, this is what I have to do. All I can do is make sure you're safe-"
"What? Like last time? I don't want to go back to that!" Harry interrupted.
"Harry-"
"No! It'll be worse this time! You can't come back to me and then leave me again, it'll be worse than if you never came back."
She knew how he felt now. After Willow brought Buffy back, there was that demon thing that they created and Willow said that they might have to send Buffy back. She knew how he felt, but there was nothing she could do. "Harry, I promise I won't leave you ever again, I promise."
Harry held her stare for a moment longer before launching himself into her arms. They'd never hugged before, but then there's nothing like a war to make you see what's important. It felt right and Dawn wished that he never had to pull away.
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"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!" A slop as a dirty bone was swallowed by the mixture.
"Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master!" A scream as Wormtail added his sacrifice.
"Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe!" A splash as the blood from the oldest living slayer was poured in by Wormtail, him cradling his bloody stump of a hand inside his robes.
The death Eaters continued to chant as the liquid inside the cauldron turned a blinding white and sent diamond sparks against the velvet sky. The sparks suddenly stopped and the potion stilled.
Quirrell/ Voldemort went forward. The professor lifted a vial of the potion to his lips and drunk it. Nothing happened for a minute, but then white steam began to spray from his body. His screams could barely be heard over the whistling mist.
As suddenly as it had started, it stopped and Quirrell fell forward…dead. But the moment he hit the ground, another body rose from beside him.
Voldemort stood up and looked down. He had his own body back! Everything had gone perfectly to plan!
He felt stronger than he had ever felt before; the Potter's wouldn't stand a chance! Voldemort began to laugh evilly, but he wasn't prepared for the reaction of his loyal-ish followers.
"My Lord, your face!" One of them gasped.
"What about it?" Voldemort asked angrily. He began to move towards the death eater but stopped. When had he developed a lisp?
He raised his hand to his forehead and ran them over the skin there. It was cool, like he remembered. But it was no longer smooth like a snake's skin. It was tough and bumpy…really bumpy. His hands moved down his face. The lumps weren't on his cheeks, but the skin was still tough. He reached his mouth…something definitely wasn't right there, what were those pointy things? They couldn't be fangs…could they?
Okay; so maybe everything hadn't quite gone to plan.
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The remaining students were having their dinner in the great hall. Dumbledore had suggested that parents pick up the children after breakfast the next morning, but most of the parents had wanted their children safe with them as soon as possible. There were little over a hundred children still left, including the Weasley family and Harry as Molly Weasley had offered to come to the school when her husband joined the rest of the order to fight and pick them all up. The Slytherin's with Death Eaters as family had been among the first to leave so that they wouldn't get the chance to mail their parents about the school's knowledge of the attacks.
The now empty Slytherin table (the only two Slytherin's still to be collected were sitting with Ravenclaw) was occupied by the back up which had already arrived. Some of the Order, a few aurors and the slayers from England (Giles had wanted the students from his slaying centre where he could keep an eye on them- twenty seven teenage girls left in a house on their own for longer than necessary didn't sound like a great option to him). The rest of the Order, more aurors and several more slayers from around the world were also joining them over the next few hours.
There was a distinct feeling of 'the condemned man's last meal' among the adults, and to some extent with the students. By Dawn's dream, they had only thirteen hours to prepare for Voldemort's attack and nearly all the slayers had never fought against a wizard before. It could be a disaster, or a success; at this point it could go either way.
"…but if nothing else works we can try this prophecy thing." Buffy finished. She had been trying to explain to Andrew what the plan for the following day's battle would be.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Dawn, who had been listening in, said.
"It's only a last resort. Besides how do you know it's a bad idea if we've never even tried it?" Buffy reasoned.
Dawn snorted in a very unladylike fashion. "I've never danced in the fast lane of the London ring road but I know it's a bad idea. I have a really bad feeling about it, Buffy, and I don't want to put Harry in any danger."
Buffy smiled slightly. "Okay- I get that, but-"
She was interrupted by a crackle and the lights flickering. No-one would usually pay much attention to that, but everyone was on edge so each sound was magnified. Two girls even screamed when a door banged in the distance.
They were laughed at of course, but they had good reason to scream for there were hundreds of figures backed up at the main door- figures in black robes wearing inhuman masks.
The slayers got to their feet, but everything else was still- children to scared to move and adults in a stunned silence. It was too soon! The children were still here and not all their fighting force had arrived.
"Looks like your timing was a little off Dawnie." Buffy said dryly.
Dawn looked around at the masses staring back at her. "It does look that way, doesn't it?"
Andrew looked around nervously and gulped audibly. "They're fond of the dramatic entrance I take it."
Xander leaned into his friends. "We're not ready for this, half the back-up doesn't arrive until later."
"We know that." Buffy said evenly, her eyes still trained on the death eaters around them.
Willow shuffle over to her friends, careful not to draw any attention to them. But she need not have worried as one of the masked death eaters gave the apparent signal and raised his wand to the ceiling. He muttered a charm causing the sky there to turn from the clear night sky to blood red, the stars that were previously bright silver now pure black.
This had the effect of a starter firing a gun at a dog race and all the students milled about frightened. There was a panic and in this state it would be easy for the death eaters to slaughter everyone.
Willow gulped audibly at the chaos that surrounded them. "What are we going to do now?"
She received no answer. Her fellow Scoobies looked around the school hall. This had blood bath written all over it; there was the potential for over a hundred innocent young lives to be wiped out within mere minutes. Willow had raised an excellent point:
What the hell were they going to do?
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Review; you know you want to!
Only two chapters + epilogue to go folks! Thanks for reading!
Kiara
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