Holy crap Silver Warrior! That was the quickest review I have ever seen! I just submitted the chapter and less than an hour later my email alert pops up. Here is the chapter everyone has been waiting for. The heroines meet up with our hero! And of course Buffy will be coming along. Someone has to put Uncle Vernon in his place. And I sorta fudged up the timeline a tad. Let's say that all the events in season 7 ended at the beginning of June so as to coincide with the school year ending and all.
becks89: Yeah poor Ron. I doubt that Sirius will be coming back. In the physical sense anyway.
Jillian Ryn: Yeah I thought that would be funny having her dream about Harry. I'm really glad you like the story and the characters. I was afraid of creating Mary-Sues (or whatever the male equivalent to that is), so I based them on actual people in my life and mixed the personalities together. It's actually kind of scary to think about if you knew the people I was basing them on. Well we know Jordan has to be a good fighter because she's a slayer, but she's definitely not as good as Buffy or Faith I'll say that much.
wyredsisters: I appreciate the grammar help and I was actually going toward having Willow go with one of the HP characters. I do remember the thing about no periods at the end of quotes. There is no way I'm going back to correct it all, but I've started doing it right. At least you all can understand it. And I think Aragorn is a hottie too. Jack Sparrow came across as hot not so much for his looks but for his bad boy appeal. And Johnny Depp is hot hot hot! And the dude is like 40!
BTVSfreak: Hermione is going with Ron and Draco is technically not going with anybody in this fic. Later on in the year I will develop a budding attraction between him and a certain auburn-haired slayer. He will gradually change his ways and plus all that pressure from his father will push him to fly in the face of his authority. The gang from LA will visit Hogwarts from time to time. They will mostly hang in LA and keep up the defense for the Muggle world and that will be where the slayers who are staying to make sure no demons run amuck in the Muggle world stay. But they'll show up, especially Lorne. I love Lorne!
Imp17: Next chapter or one after it will be from the other side of the fighting.
Happy New Year everyone! I sympathize with all who are forced to return to school. It really sucks doesn't it? My thanks also to Chrios for reviewing.
***********************************************************************************************
Sometimes Harry Potter wished he were dead; that he had been killed by Voldemort when he was a year old. Death had to be better than whatever he had now that some people had the nerve to call a life. This so-called life filled with the uncertainty that death lurked in every corner and every shadow and where people were continually getting hurt because of him. Of who he was and what had happened to him.
Even the Dursleys who were so wrapped up in their oh-so-perfect existence noticed a change in the boy they pretended didn't exist. He was so morose and quiet that it was beginning to unnerve them. Not that they cared, but they didn't care for change. Dudley even lost his enthusiasm in insulting the "freak" as he liked to call him because it failed to elicit any reaction from Harry. What was the point in insulting people when they didn't respond?
Harry now laid down on his bed staring up at the ceiling. His thoughts drifted to Sirius and Cedric, two people who were now dead because of him. Cedric's death had been painful, but not as painful as Sirius'. Sirius had been his friend, godfather, mentor, confidant, and father figure all rolled into one. Now he was gone and it was all his fault. He had fallen in Voldemort's trap and Sirius had valiantly come riding to his rescue and what did he get for it. Death.
He read the letters from Hermione, Ron, and Hagrid diligently and read the Daily Prophet for news of the Wizarding World. His responses to his friends' letters were quick and short. What could he say to them? How could they know what he was feeling? How could they understand? Harry knew in some subconscious part of his mind that talking about this would ease the aching in his heart. But his stubbornness held out and he kept his emotions, his hurt inside and never asked to talk to his friends.
At the lowest points in his depression he had even contemplated ending his life. He would think that his friends would be better off without him but in reality he just wanted to end his pain. But then he would wise up and pull himself out of it. It would be the coward's way out and it would mean that Sirius' sacrifice had been in vain. And then there was that prophecy. Harry was the Wizarding World's last defense against Voldemort. He didn't understand it. He was only a sixteen, well fifteen right now, year-old boy and a rather skinny one at that. How could he possibly hope to defeat Voldemort?
Pulling him out of his dismal thoughts was the sound of something breaking and shouting from downstairs.
"Who do you people think you are?! You can't just come flying out of fireplaces whenever you ruddy-well please!" shouted his Uncle Vernon.
Coming out of fireplaces? No, they wouldn't. Not now. The curiosity of what witch or wizard (and he was hoping it was one of his friends) had flooed to his house won out over his wish to wallow in his grief in his room. He went to investigate.
"Jeez I am so sorry I hope that vase wasn't too expensive," an unfamiliar female voice that sounded American to his ears said.
"Is this the right place Hermione? It's very umm-" said another American voice; male this time.
"Clean?" now there was a voice he recognized, his best friend Ron's.
Harry's heart thudded with excitement in his chest as he ran down to meet his friends. In the living room, which was now very dusty and one of the tables had been overturned and his Aunt Petunia was picking up the pieces of her antique vase while half glaring, half staring at with slight wariness at a pretty girl he didn't know with auburn hair. Standing beside her was a similar looking boy. His friends were standing off to the side and he could see that Ron was trying not to laugh at the auburn haired girl trying to help Aunt Petunia clean the pieces up. There were also two other people he didn't know. A young, petite blonde woman and a taller, but younger looking beautiful brunette.
"Harry!" Hermione shouted when she saw him enter the living room.
Harry had no time to react as she launched himself at him and wrapped him up into a fierce hug.
"Don't hug him as hard as you did me. We need him," Ron warned.
After Hermione released him Ron came over and gave him not as fierce as a hug.
"How you holding up mate?" he asked.
"Okay I guess," Harry replied.
The other four people were studying him very carefully. The auburn-haired girl suddenly smiled and stepped forward and held out her hand.
"Harry Potter, we finally meet at last. Although you probably never heard of me. I haven't actually done anything famous. I'm Jordan Firewell. This is my brother, Aidan," she gestured to the boy beside her.
Harry looked at her suspiciously and didn't take her hand. What if she wasn't what she appeared to be?
"It's alright boy. They're not Death Eaters. Glad to see you're on your guard though," grumbled a rough voice from the other side of the living room.
Mad-Eye Moody was standing against the wall swiveling eye, scarred face, scraggly hair and all. Having him there dispelled of little of Harry's suspicions but he had to be sure.
"Okay then, what form does my Patronus take?" he asked.
Jordan shrugged and looked around.
"How the hell should I know? I just met you," she said.
"A stag," Hermione answered.
He nodded his head, but still didn't extend his hand.
"I won't bite you know. It's my job now to kill those that bite anyway. Besides, if we were Death Eaters we woulda killed you by now or kidnapped you and tortured you or something," Jordan said cheerfully.
"My you are one to make a lasting first impression aren't you?" said the tall brunette.
Jordan grinned mischievously at that and winked at Harry. The corners of Harry's mouth turned up into a smile and he shook Jordan's hand.
"Now see, that wasn't so bad was it?" said the blonde woman.
"What the ruddy hell are you people doing in my house?! I demand an explanation!" Uncle Vernon bellowed.
Everyone's attention turned to the big guy who looked like he was about five seconds away from having a stroke. His skin was turning into a mottled purple and a vein was popping out of his forehead.
"Wow. With skin that color and that vein popping out you could almost pass for a demon," joked the brunette.
"Which would mean I would get to kill him," the blonde woman joked back.
Harry almost laughed at that. His uncle didn't seem to enjoy the jibes and stomped up to the two. Harry felt a sudden desire to run to the defense of the brunette, but he stayed where he was.
"Is that a threat?" his uncle snarled.
"Well it will be in about five seconds if you don't stop leering at me," the blonde woman said pulling herself up to her not-so-impressive height but still managing to look intimidating.
"You know if you value your bits and pieces and all you might wanna listen to her," Aidan warned the man. He turned to Harry and added, "That's Buffy Summers, the blonde, and her sister Dawn by the way," Aidan told Harry.
Buffy pushed aside Harry's uncle and with the brunette following her came to greet Harry.
"Hi Harry. Nice to meetcha," she said.
"Hello. What are you guys doing here anyway?" he asked.
"Oh we've come to take you to head-" Jordan started.
"Ahem! What did I say girl?" Mad-Eye cut her off.
Jordan groaned and rolled her eyes. "Sorry. Scarface doesn't want me saying the name out loud here although I don't see how just saying the damn name would harm anything." she shot Mad-Eye an annoyed look as she said this.
"FYI the name is Jordan by the way," she added as a retort.
Mad-Eye glared at her in return with his eye rolling in its socket. He didn't seem to like the nickname.
"We'll explain everything there mate. It's quite a story," Ron assured him.
"Do you need help getting packed?" Hermione asked.
"Um no. I can manage," Harry said his heart lightening that he was leaving this place.
"Hold up there boy! I didn't say you could go anywhere," Uncle Vernon sneered.
"What is it with you people? You can't use names?" Jordan said.
Buffy walked over to the man and put her hands on her hips.
"Harry will go with us if he wants to and if you want to stop him you'll have to get through all of us. And believe me you don't wanna go there pal," she said dangerously.
Jordan and Aidan stood beside Buffy and Hermione and Dawn stood on either side of Harry. Harry didn't think they all looked that threatening. Mad-Eye maybe, but the others didn't exactly register in the cold sweat department.
"You're joking right? You expect me to be scared of you?" he sputtered.
"No. But I expect you to keep your distance after I do this," Buffy said and she kneed Uncle Vernon in the family jewels so hard all the other males in the room cringed.
"Vernon!" shrieked Aunt Petunia as she ran over to him.
He had sunk to the ground and was laying in a fetal position moaning in a high-pitch voice. Harry couldn't help himself; he burst out into laughter and was soon joined by the others.
"Oh I wish I had a camera," he said.
"That was for the hell I heard you put Harry through almost his entire life. He's been through enough hell without you people making it worse," Buffy snarled at Harry's aunt and uncle.
Jordan looked at Buffy and stepped away a bit because, truth be told, she was a little frightened of the slayer right now. Note to self: Never piss Buffy off. Ever. She was suddenly more grateful than ever that she was a girl.
"Hey it'll be alright, just put ice on it and whatever swelling there is should go down," Aidan suggested while trying to suck in air after laughing so hard.
"You're luckier than the last guy she got there," Dawn pointed out remembering Buffy's account on how she killed Caleb.
"Come on mate, let's go pack," Ron clapped a hand on Harry's shoulder and the two boys went up to his room with Hermione following.
It didn't take long for Harry to get his things ready. He had never removed any of his belongings from his trunk and he didn't really have that many clothes.
"You haven't even started on your homework!?" Hermione exclaimed.
"Come on Hermione, give him a break. He's been having a tough time," Ron said.
"Oh of course. Sorry Harry," she apologized.
Harry smiled at her. He really had missed his friends and he was very grateful that they had come to bring him out of this god-forsaken place.
"It's okay Hermione. You know, if you want to show you're really sorry, you could do it all for me," he suggested innocently.
"Ha ha! That's a good one Harry!" Ron said heartily.
Hermione just shook her head and muttered,
"Honestly, you two."
***********************************************************************************************
"Got all your stuff ready Harry?" Buffy asked as Harry, Ron, and Hermione descended the stairs with his stuff.
Harry nodded in affirmative and stood next to Dawn. Aidan threw some floo powder onto the fireplace and Buffy flooed back to HQ first.
"So you're the famous Harry Potter everyone has talked about?" Dawn asked, her beautiful blue eyes sparkling.
Harry was rendered speechless by her beauty. He hadn't thought any girl could be prettier than Cho Chang, but apparently he stood corrected. She had a clear pinkish complexion and shimmering brown hair with blonde streaks. Her long lashes accented her dark blue eyes. He found himself staring at her full lips, which were perfectly shaped in his opinion and were right now smiling at him.
"Oh yeah, that's me," he finally answered as her question penetrated the membrane of his brain.
"Looks like we're going to be schoolmates. Me and the Firewell twins are coming to Hogwarts," she said.
"Really?" he asked, clearly happy with the prospect.
"Yeah, turns out I was supposed to have been trained as a witch years ago. But living on the hellmouth blocked my signal I guess," she replied.
"Hellmouth? You lived on a hellmouth?" he asked in alarm.
"Yeah, it's nothing but a huge hole in the ground now," she said casually.
Harry dimly remembered reading something in the Daily Prophet about a hellmouth in America being destroyed. He didn't pay it that much attention. Now he wished he had taken a better look at it.
"We'll tell you the full story and everything when we get to, um, you know." she told him eyeing Mad-Eye warily.
My God he is cute. Even more so in person. Dawn wondered what troubles were hidden beneath those startling green eyes behind the glasses. He looked normal on the outside, but then again so did she. What made him so special? She resisted the urge to pat down his unruly black hair. When he spoke to her she felt little shudders run down her spine that she knew had nothing to do with the cold even though the Dursleys had the air conditioning set at arctic temperatures.
"Only seven more months. Only seven more months. Only seven more months," Jordan repeated over and over again to herself before she stepped into the fireplace.
"What's that all about?" Harry asked Dawn after he heard Jordan's mantra.
"She hates flooing. I don't know what the seven more months is about though," she replied.
Mad-Eye hung back until everyone else had left. With a last half-amused, half-threatening glance at the Muggle couple he disapparated.
As soon as Harry left the fireplace he was pulled into the tight motherly embrace of Mrs. Weasley.
"How are you Harry dear? Hungry? I've just made some supper," she said while smoothing down his hair.
"Wotcher Harry!" came the bubbly familiar voice of Tonks.
"Hi Tonks!" Hermione said behind him.
The young female Auror came over to them. Her hair (which no one knew the natural color) was colored in all the shades of blue there were. She even had on blue robes to go with it.
"I just got here not too long before you did. Apparently we have some new allies," she said.
Jordan was staring at her with a comical expression on her face.
"Nice hair," Harry commented.
"Really? I don't know. Maybe I'll try green instead," her hair instantly changed to match the color of Harry's eyes.
"Holy freakin' crap! You're a Metamorphmagus!" Jordan gasped coming forward to shake her hand.
"Hi there. Nymphadora Tonks, but please just call me Tonks. I hate my first name," she said.
"Jordan Firewell, one of the slayers," Jordan said.
Harry's head snapped in her direction. Did he just hear what he thought he heard?
"You're a slayer?" he asked incredulously. "I thought there was only one,"
"Yeah there was, until like three days ago. Gee it seems like a lot longer. We'll explain it all to you. But I want to eat," Jordan told him.
Everyone was handed plates full of steaming food and while everyone was eating Harry, Tonks, and all who had not been told the story listened in rapt attention as the Scoobies explained about the destruction of the hellmouth and the activation of all the new slayers. Harry's jaw dropped when he heard that Hermione was now also a slayer.
"I wrote to Professor Dumbledore asking of his thoughts and then he showed up at my house and brought me to Jordan and Aidan's house where everything was explained. I must say I am rather relieved that I am not the one and only Chosen as I had previously thought," she explained.
"I can't believe-" Harry couldn't finish his sentence. It seemed so surreal that Hermione was now one the beings they had once studied in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Hermione the bookworm; Hermione the teacher's pet was one of the most powerful mortal beings on Earth now.
"I know, it's quite a bit to take in isn't it mate?" Ron said.
"So could you throw, say, Percy through a wall?" one of the twins asked hopefully.
"Well I am certain I could, but I haven't actually been trained in the arts of fighting yet. That is why I will be staying at Hogwarts during the summer. Buffy and Faith want to train me then so it won't interfere with my studies," she said.
Hours passed in which they all exchanged stories about their lives and just generally got to know each other better. Harry didn't talk much, but the silence from him was all Dawn needed to know to infer that he was in great emotional pain. Something had happened to him that Hermione had failed to mention. Maybe she didn't mention it for a reason, but Dawn could tell he was hurting badly. Maybe all he needed was someone else to talk to. She made her personal mission to try to get the elusive boy to speak of his pain and perhaps find some way to alleviate it. Dawn hated to see people suffer.
"Alright now. You all can talk tomorrow. Time to get to bed," Mrs. Weasley announced at 10:30.
"But Mum!" Ginny and Ron pleaded.
"No buts. It's late," she said and when she settled her gaze upon her two youngest children they instantly quieted.
"Uh, well, it's actually only like 3:30 where I live in the states. I'm not tired," Jordan said.
"But what about that shopping trip you were planning to take throughout London tomorrow? You guys should get some sleep for that. Dawn was born with my ability to shop people into the ground," Buffy said.
Dawn couldn't hide her proud grin at that.
"Hey! Newly acquired slayer stamina, remember?" Jordan replied.
"Obviously you have never been shopping with Dawn," Willow said remembering how exhaustive the girl could be.
"I guess we'll just have to use tomorrow to get used to the time-zone. If Dawn is as serious a shopper as you claim then we should all be worn out enough to sleep a good sleep tomorrow night," Aidan said.
"He makes a good point," Jordan said.
"Harry, you wanna come shopping too? Those clothes look way too big for you," Dawn asked him.
"I er.......um........guess that would be okay. I mean if you girls want me there," his speech wavered at the thought of spending so much time in a company dominated by the fairer sex.
"Absolutely not! Harry, I'm sorry, but we can't have you traipsing around in the open unless there is proper security. I presume you shall be shopping in the Muggle parts of London?" Mrs. Weasley fixed her scrutinizing gaze on Buffy, which almost made the brave Slayer shudder.
"Well that was the plan. Me and my gang lost just about everything we own when our town sunk and Muggle clothes is what we're used to," she explained.
Mrs. Weasley's gaze softened a bit. She looked to the group of Aurors, which had grown in number due to the arrival of Jordan and Aidan's parents.
"My husband and I could accompany them. We know a good deal of the Muggle ways and our children know even more. Especially Jordan. Harry would be sufficiently protected in the company of at least three slayers or four if Miss Granger will be accompanying. My son trained along side his sister in many arts of defense and both are well adept at magical defense if the need arises. Not to mention, the rest of Miss Summers' group including her sister are probably able protectors. And I daresay that young Harry is quite capable of protecting himself," Mrs. Firewell said.
Dawn felt an uprising of gratitude towards this woman. She had just made known that she thought she was an able fighter and not a little girl and the woman barely knew her. It had taken Buffy a good long time to recognize that. Harry was also beginning to like this woman for saying that he could take care of himself. He didn't want all these people putting themselves in danger just so he could get new clothes. Although the thought of wearing clothes that weren't at least five sizes too big had its appeal.
"Come on Molly, if Harry wants to go he should go," Mr. Weasley said.
"Well if it's alright with Professor Dumbledore," Mrs. Weasley replied finally.
Every one of the teenagers turned their gazes onto Dumbledore. He smiled at the faces of pleading that they were putting on.
"I can see no reason why not," he answered.
"Harry? You wanna come? Ron can come too and my brother will be there so you won't be the only guy," Jordan said.
He was still a little unsure, but the look on Dawn's face made his mind up so he said, "Alright. I could use some new clothes anyway."
"That's the spirit!" Jordan piped up.
"I'd love to come, but I wanna get back to LA and see how Robin and the girls are doing," Faith said.
"Okay. We'll see you later then?" Buffy asked her fellow slayer.
"You know it B," Faith replied before making her way to the fireplace.
After Faith flooed back to the Hyperion Mrs. Weasley ushered everyone into bed; even those who had come from America and were not tired at all. Jordan, Dawn, and Hermione stayed with Ginny in her room. Buffy shared a room with Willow. Aidan bunked with Ron and Harry with the twins occasionally popping up to ask questions of their new American friend; mostly if any of his female friends (including his sister) were available. Much to Giles' displeasure, he had to share a room with Xander who would not stop calling him G-man. It seems everyone has a cross to bear.