I would have posted this sooner, but going back to school and trying to cram all the things I learned from every class to take exams next week got in the way. We're starting a new semester and it's been like hell. Thanks a bunch to my reviewers!
matt: Yeah I liked Vi and the others. The surviving slayers from the battle at the hellmouth that have joined the fight against Voldemort will probably be at Hogwarts assisting Buffy in training new slayers and all.
Draco-FutureBF: I am glad you like the story and I thank you for the compliments. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
gyver21: Oz was a great guy, but since I'm keeping Willow gay there isn't much chance the two will get back together. I may bring him into the story though.
dancetdplc: Yeah seeing it from a different p.o.v. it doesn't seem rather tasteless, but I was a little out of sorts while writing it. Hopefully you can overlook that part. I don't agree about Jordan though, she seemed the same to me. Even if she did get a bit immature she's a teenager. We all get immature at times.
ILuvSexySevvy: Sev and Buffy? Now that is a weird pairing. Sorry though, I don't see it happening in this fic. Thanks for the suggestion though.
Gabby: Yeah Jordan's parents do know a good deal of the Order members having fought alongside them against Voldemort. And damn! I didn't see that interview! I hope I'll get to see a rerun sometime.
Imp17: Yeah I think that is one of the things everyone dreams about while reading the books.
Silver Warrior: Your review made me conjure up some weird and disturbing images. It would be pretty disturbing if Dudley had a sister. It doesn't seem like the Dursleys are intent on expanding their family anytime soon. Thank God!
Thanks also to Kristy Marie, CF28, and Destiny's Dragon for reviewing.
Big thanks to my pal, Matthew, who gave me suggestions and helped me out when I was stuck. He was the one who came up with the "family jewels" remark. This one is dedicated to you.
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"So this is like a wizard mall?" Dawn asked as she walked the streets of Diagon Alley beside Harry.
"I guess you could put it that way," Harry answered.
Their first stop of the day had been to Diagon Alley so Dawn and Jordan could get all their school supplies. Tomorrow they would leave for Hogwarts to begin their summer lessons. Jordan hadn't been to Diagon Alley that much in the past so she relied on Harry, Ron, and Ginny to show them where to get all their stuff. Buffy and Giles going to various weapons shops with Hermione to get her all the things she would need for her training as a slayer.
"What are you going to get first?" Harry asked.
"Um, a wand would be cool. Where can we get wand?" she asked.
Harry led her to a shop called Ollivander's.
"Right here," he gestured to the store.
They all stepped into the dimly lit shop and Harry noticed that it hadn't changed much since he had been in here almost five years ago. It was still wall-to-wall boxes crammed together filled with the magical instruments known as wands. Dawn let out a small gasp of wonder and delight. Her blue eyes sparkled with happiness. I'm going to buy a wand! I really am a witch!
"Ahh Mr. Potter, how nice to see you again. I see you have friends with you," came Mr. Ollivander's voice as he came to greet his customers.
"Mr. Weasley. Miss Weasley. How is everything? Your parents and brothers doing well? I heard some rather strange stories about the Weasley twins," he said to Ron and Ginny.
Harry, Ron, and Ginny shared amused grins. Dawn glanced at Jordan and the girl just shrugged.
"We'll tell you later. It's a real good story," Ron said.
"Who might you lovely young ladies be?" Mr. Ollivander asked Dawn and Jordan.
"Two new students from America transferring to Hogwarts. This is Dawn Summers and Jordan Firewell," Harry told him.
"Firewell? You wouldn't happen to be related to Christopher Firewell?" the old man asked.
A wave of sadness flickered over Jordan's features. Christopher Firewell had been her grandfather. He had been one of the best Aurors in the Wizarding World. He had been killed on duty when she and Aidan were not even six months old.
When she was younger she wanted to be an Auror just like him and her parents when she grew up, but she found that one had to be good in some of the subjects she sorely lacked talent for.
"He was my grandfather. But he died before my brother and I were a year old," she said softly.
"Ah yes. Great man, he was. I only met him once or twice, but he was a great man," Mr. Ollivander said.
He walked into the back room and came out with two boxes.
"So will both of you be needing wands?" he asked.
"No, just me. Jordan already has one, I think," Dawn said.
"Which one is your wand hand Miss Summers?" Mr. Ollivander inquired.
"Um, well I'm right-handed it that's what you mean," Dawn replied.
After he measured her arm, he handed her a wand that had unicorn hair at its core and told her to flick it. She did as told and after she shattered his glass globe he snatched it away and handed her another one.
"This one has the feather of an Aethonan flying horse," he mentioned while handing her the wand.
Dawn immediately felt warmth spread through her fingers and silver sparks shot out of the wand when she swung it. Jordan, Harry, Ron, and Ginny clapped.
"That was quick. It took forever for me to find a match," Harry remarked.
They had already made a trip to Gringotts where Buffy opened up an account and exchanged their money. There was a lot of money left over from the Watcher's Council and Giles said that they should use some of it as compensation for the hell the Council put them at times. Since he was the oldest surviving member of the Council he was now in charge of it. Dawn paid for her wand and they set out to get fitted for robes next. After getting their robes, the two girls went to Flourish and Blotts to get their schoolbooks.
Aidan and Mrs. Firewell were already in there. Aidan had bought all the required schoolbooks, but he had increased his load by buying many fiction novels and books on Quidditch. Harry had already offered to let Dawn borrow his standard spell books that he used in his first five years of Hogwarts, so she didn't have to buy as much.
"You know, this whole book thing is making the idea of studying magic not as glamorous," Dawn complained after she purchased her books.
"At least we do the things out of the books. Just wait until you're in History of Magic. That class is the epitome of boredom," Harry told her.
"Well it should be more interesting than Muggle history, right?" Dawn said hopefully.
That was what Harry first thought back in his first year at Hogwarts. Boy was he disappointed after his first class with their dull, dead teacher Professor Binns. One would think having a ghost for a teacher would at least raise the interest, but the novelty wore off, quickly.
"Hmmm. Any chance I could, um, not take that class? I have this weird habit of zoning out when things get boring, which means I do it an awful lot in history class. Unless your history class is more interesting than mine," Jordan said.
"No chance there. Our teacher is as dull as they come, despite the fact that he's a ghost," Ron replied.
"Damn," Jordan muttered.
"He's a ghost?!" Dawn exclaimed.
"Yeah. Hogwarts has lots of ghosts. The ghost for our Gryffindor house is a chap named Nearly-Headless Nick," Ron said.
Dawn didn't like the sound of that. She hadn't had good experiences with the dead, non-solid type. Jordan, on the other hand, didn't care because there were ghosts at her school too.
"Nearly-Headless Nick?" Jordan said inquisitively.
"Well his real name is Sir Nicholas, but everyone calls him Nearly-Headless Nick because he is nearly headless. Apparently the axe used to behead him was not very sharp," Ginny said.
"Who's beheading someone?" came the voice of Buffy as she, Hermione, and Giles joined the group.
"They were just telling us about this ghost at Hogwarts that had his head nearly cut off," Dawn told her sister.
"There are ghosts at your school?" Giles asked.
"Oh they're harmless. We have a poltergeist too, his name is Peeves. He mostly just plays harmless pranks," Harry explained while Ron and Ginny snorted. Some of Peeves' pranks were not very harmless.
"See Mom? They got a poltergeist. Didn't you used to be interested in studying them?" Aidan asked his mother.
"Well yes, until one dumped cow dung all over me. I kind of lost my passion for the work after that," Mrs. Firewell said.
The rest of the people around grimaced in disgust at the thought of having cow dung dumped on them.
"Yep, that'll do it," Buffy remarked.
"So where are Xander and Willow?" Dawn asked. "I wanted to show them all my new stuff."
"I was just about to ask you guys if you had seen them. I think we lost Will right around the magical pet shop and Xander, I have no idea where he went off to," Buffy said.
"So Hermione, what slayer equipment did you get?" Jordan asked.
"Well we went to this store where they actually sell things specifically for fighting the demon kind. I got a crossbow and a few stakes for my own and Buffy bought me this lovely cross necklace as a sort of initiation present. She said it was like a necessity for every slayer. I decided that I shouldn't go overboard on the weapons since I haven't had any training," she said showing them the silver necklace around her neck.
"Where's yours Jordan?" Ron asked noticing that Jordan wasn't wearing one.
"Good question. It must've gotten ripped off when I was fighting at the hellmouth," she said.
While they were chatting Mr. Firewell showed up with Xander. Mr. Firewell looked like he had just heard the most amusing joke in the world and Xander was looking like a kid who just got his lunch money stolen.
"Rescued him from the Leaky Cauldron," Jordan's father explained.
"How was I supposed to know what kind of knut they wanted?" Xander said.
"Xander, didn't we go over the basics of wizard money this morning?" Giles asked in an exasperated tone.
"Well who names their coins knuts anyway?" Xander retorted.
After the school shopping was completed they set out to do some serious clothes shopping. They managed to drag Willow away from the magic pet shop, but then Dawn decided she wanted to peruse the aisles full of strange, wonderful creatures as well.
"You use owls to send mail?" Dawn asked Harry who had been sticking rather close to her the entire time. Of course she wasn't complaining.
"Yeah. My owl's name is Hedwig. She was out hunting when you guys came, but she'll find her way to me. She always does," he told her.
"Neat. Buffy can I get an owl?" she asked her sister.
"I guess it could be useful. But you're cleaning up after it," Buffy replied.
"Deal," Dawn said immediately.
She chose a chocolate brown male owl and named him Will in honor of Spike. She didn't think Spike was a proper name for an owl, so she used his real name instead. As she and the others walked out of the store with Dawn's new pet she felt the familiar painful twinge of the loss of the vampire who had been like a big brother to her. With that twinge came other twinges for everyone else she lost. Oh don't start blubbering now in front of everyone. Let the tears come later. She sniffed and blinked back the sudden invasion of the salty liquid.
"Dawn? Are you okay?" Harry asked her.
She wiped her eyes and laughed nervously.
"Uh...yeah...it's just the name I gave to my owl. Big time connections with someone I loved," she said.
This didn't make Harry too happy. The last girl he was interested in had also been suffering from the grief of losing her boyfriend and he had a feeling Dawn was going through the same thing.
"Was he your...er...boyfriend?" he asked awkwardly.
Dawn shook her head.
"I did used to have a crush on him, but he was always like a big brother to me," she said softly. "He died saving the world. He died a hero," as she spoke Harry could detect the sadness ebbing away and pride taking its place.
"I'm sorry. I lost someone recently too. My godfather," he said sympathetically.
"Oh. I'm sorry Harry. It's never easy to lose a person you love. Especially if that person died protecting you," she said remembering Buffy's own sacrifice to save her.
Harry found himself wanting to pour his heart out to this girl he had only met less than 24 hours ago. Keeping his pain inside was beginning to wear down on him, but he just couldn't bring himself to talk to his friends. They just wouldn't understand. But he knew Dawn would.
After Dawn, Jordan, Aidan, and Hermione sent their supplies along with Mrs. Weasley to take back to headquarters they left Diagon Alley. Ron and Ginny, after begging their mother almost a thousand times, were allowed to go with them to Muggle London. Mr. Weasley, in an attempt to make his wife feel better, also went along. Those that knew him better, however, suspected that his ulterior motive was to explore the world that he had always held in such fascination. Tonks was coming as extra protection for Harry. After the Scoobies gave her some pointers on Muggle clothes she had effectively changed her appearance to that of a Muggle Goth. Although that hadn't been what they had in mind the disguise worked well enough.
"You know, I wanted to be a Metamorphmagus when I was little, well that and a unicorn. It kinda got shot down when I got to school and found that I was horrible at transfiguration. You have to be a born one anyway don't you?" Jordan said to Tonks as they walked into a store.
"Yeah. I'm dead-awful at stealth and tracking though. You won't find a clumsier girl than me I'd wager," Tonks replied.
The females of the Scooby group instantly started trying on all sorts of clothes while Xander just found his size and filled his bag with the bare essentials. Harry had no idea what he should get. He had more than enough Muggle money with him after exchanging some Wizard money at Gringotts, but he had never been clothes shopping before. Everything he wore was just handed down from Dudley. Aidan and Xander, after finishing his shopping rather quickly, agreed to help him out. Mr. Firewell would have, but while knew many things about the Muggle world, the way they dressed was not among them. His daughter had advised him and his wife on what to wear that day. So he settled for just following his son and Harry around as protection.
"I'm not the expert on fashion I warn you," Aidan told him.
"I don't care, I just don't want to look like I've stepped out of a time portal or anything," Harry said.
"I think Dad would buy the whole store out if he had the money. He would love all these shirts with these weird Muggle sayings," Ron remarked as he held up a shirt that read, Dyslexics of the World Untie. "What do you figure that means?" he added.
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"Hey Dawn, wanna get this hair product for Harry? Might help his hair flatten," Jordan said to her friend as she held up a black container.
"I kinda like it like that," Dawn replied.
Jordan stared at the girl suspiciously and then she grinned.
"Uh huh, and I bet you just wanna run your hands through that untidy hair of his doncha?" she teased.
"Shut up," Dawn retorted, her face reddening in embarrassment.
"Dost thou have rosy cheeks? Thou musteth be infatuated with the boy who lived," Jordan teased some more.
"Okay, so I think he's hot and I think he's really nice. Can you blame me?" Dawn said.
"He seems pretty cool," Jordan said.
While they spoke, Dawn kept handing all sorts of cosmetic products to Jordan.
"I don't know what it is. It's just, when I talk to him I feel the butterflies going crazy in my stomach," she admitted.
Jordan didn't say anything to that. She was looking at the products Dawn was handing her.
"You could have gotten stuff like this in Diagon Alley," she said examining a can of hair spray.
"I know. I'm more used to this stuff though," Dawn said.,
"Are you going to be finished anytime soon? Cuz I'm starving," Jordan said.
Dawn rolled her eyes and took the load from Jordan and took it to the counter to pay. After she paid for them she and Jordan went to meet the others in a restaurant down the street.
"Well it's about time," Buffy said.
"Sorry, Dawn had to get her feminine products and stuff," Jordan said taking a seat next to her brother and after noticing the looks on most of the boys' faces she added, "Oh jeez, not that kind. Makeup and hair stuff."
Dawn sat down next to Harry, much to his delight and handed the bag to her sister, who was sitting on the other side of him.
"Hold that for me, will you?" she asked.
"What am I to you? Your wheelbarrow?" Buffy said in mock indignation.
Tonks sat beside Buffy across from where Willow, Ginny, and Hermione sat. She was amusing the three by changing the shape of her nose. Even though Ginny and Hermione had already seen it countless times it still succeeded in making them laugh. Giles was smart in requesting a separate dining area for reasons being that he had a large group coming.
"That's amazing!" Willow exclaimed.
Tonks grinned at her and changed her hair from the spiky red and black to long and red like Willow's.
"Do try to exercise more caution," Giles admonished the young Auror.
"Yes, we are in a public Muggle place Tonks even if we are in a separate room. What if a Muggle were to walk in here and see you like that?" Mrs. Firewell said.
"No worries about that Aurora, I charmed the room. No one approaches the door without my knowing it. And no one can get in by magic either in case one of Voldemort's cronies decides to pay us a visit, which is doubtful," Mr. Firewell said.
Everyone's heads whipped around towards the door when screams sounded from outside their room. Jordan glared at her father.
"You just had to say that, didn't you Dad?" she said.