I am so sorry and I won't bother with excuses about how late this is. I will try not to let it happen again.
This chapter is dedicated to two people. To my pal Sheeti who just celebrated her sweet sixteenth birthday (hmm just like Harry)! Happy birthday! Watch for frogs! (inside joke don't ask) Also to my blonde haired, blue eyed little angel who would be my baby brother Brian who had his second birthday. I love you sweetie and I miss you lots!
Thanks a bunch to my reviewers and Matthew for putting up with me. LOL. This one is dedicated to you too.
dancetdplc: Actually I didn't think about the response I was going for lol. A mystery works. Yeah Xander's story was depressing. I need to get him a g/f. Got any ideas? And don't worry about reviewing late. I mean look how late I posted this.
vampy the chosen one: Hope this cures the antsyness (is that a word?). Glad you like the story and the interaction between Ron and Hermione. As for Sirius coming back I am undecided on that and I have become a fan of Buffy/Sirius stories myself. So that is still on the drawing board.
matt: Hehe. That's funny. I'm sure one of the boys will suggest that. Actually it sounds like fun now that I think of it. I'm glad you liked the new characters and I hope your poor male brain can hang on lol. And the review things were getting all screwed up as I'm sure you have noticed so no worries.
Botticelli'sVenus: Thanks for the address. I'll post it after I'm done replying. Well Ginny and Dean will break up, but not for a while and she and Draco won't get together cuz I just can't see that happening. Yes I was planning on having Professor Binns talk about The Key. Can't wait to write that one and as for Spike and Draco jokes maybe. They seem a bit overdone to me, but I will probably fit a few in there.
Thanks also to becks89, ScruffyWes (hope you like how I'm keeping Wes at Hogwarts for you), matthew, Tiger Tiger2, Jessie6390, and blondi gurl for reviewing.
As for Angel petitions: tvtome.com (submitted by Matthew) and w.kswbtv.com, scroll down and there will be a link (submitted by Botticelli'sVenus). I'm sure you've already found some, but just in case. Enjoy!
BTW I borrowed some quotes from Buffy episode Tough Love in Season Five. So those aren't mine, they belong to whomever wrote them which I think her name is Rebecca Kirshner.
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Birthdays. To most people (younger than 25 because then they just lament about their approach to the age of 30) it is a happy occasion. Filled with presents, cake, friends, family, presents, the wisdom granted to one after growing a year older, and presents. Harry Potter had never looked upon his birthdays with excitement or glee because he was always stuck at the Dursleys' and, well, that's pretty self-explanatory. For the past couple of birthdays he had been sent presents, cards, and even a cake, but he was always alone with that dratted Muggle family of his. He had never had a birthday party. Hell he had never even seen one that he could remember besides his cousin Dudley's parties. And those were anything but joyous occasions for Harry.
It was July 31; his sixteenth birthday and Harry had barely even noticed so wrapped up in his own thoughts he was. But luckily for him Hermione did. A week before his birthday she had brought everyone (minus Harry who was busy flying on the pitch), including the teachers (except for Snape) and the slayers to plan a surprise party for him. She was hoping it would expel the melancholy aura that was forever surrounding the boy. Everyone agreed it was a good idea and now on the day of the party they found themselves at the mercies of the young Gryffindor witch. She was one demanding planner and some were seriously regretting agreeing to the plan.
"Miss Hermione? I has brought all the cakes and food miss. Dobby can't wait to see the look on Harry Potter's face," a house elf chirped.
Hermione sighed. She knew that Ron had gone down to request the assistance of the house elves since they were all angry and terrified at the same time of herself. Honestly you knit a bit of socks for them.... She put on a brave smile and thanked Dobby who beamed with pride. She was rather fond of Dobby. He was the only house elf that didn't run the other way when she approached and he was a sensible creature having Dumbledore pay him for his services and everything. Despite her newly received duties as a slayer she still planned on continuing with the S.P.E.W. stuff no matter how it annoyed Ron. Besides, he looked really good when he was angry. As usual a silly grin spread over her face when she thought of her boyfriend. Her boyfriend. Wow, there was one thing Hermione never thought she would be calling Ron. Ever since they had proclaimed their feelings for one another it would have taken the jaws of life (literally in her case) to separate them. Everyone else was very happy for them. Especially Ginny, she had thought it was about time Ron told her how he felt it about as it had become quite annoying to hear him talk about her all the time.
"Ah Hermione dear, this is a lovely idea. And it is such a relief to be out of the house." Mrs. Weasley draped an arm over her son's girlfriend. She, like her daughter, had been almost relieved when Ron finally confessed his love for Hermione to her and didn't think he could have found a better suitor. Her husband liked it even better because Hermione was Muggle-born.
"And you don't have to do any cooking Mrs. Weasley," Hermione reminded the woman lest she forget and make her way to the kitchens out of habit.
"Oh yes. It's always enjoyable to watch someone else do all the work for a change," the older woman agreed nodding her head.
"But it won't taste the same dear. I love your cooking," Mr. Weasley piped up from behind.
"You obviously don't seem to mind this cooking either Arthur. Wait until the party starts!" his wife admonished as he attempted to snatch a cookie off a platter and one already in his mouth. He instantly drew his hand back.
Hermione asked to be excused as she walked over to where Jordan was setting the last of the presents on the table. The pile was quite large and she couldn't wait to see the look on Harry's face when he saw it. After all this had to be more presents than he had ever gotten from his past birthdays combined.
"I think that's the last of them," her fellow slayer reported.
"I can't believe the rest of the slayers all got him something," Hermione said.
"Well, they had nothing better to do while in Hogsmeade so I figured they could get him something. I mean we are all protecting him so a lot of us got him weapons. Oh the advantages of dipping into Council funds." Jordan smiled mischievously and picked up Fred and George's presents to Harry.
"Oh dear we're going to have to be careful with those. Never know what they've come up with especially now that they have a whole shop's worth," the Gryffindor shook her head. She understood Mrs. Weasley's disappointment in her sons. Such a waste of brilliance being spent on cheap tricks.
"I think it's bloody awesome." Jordan had loved that shop and sent a lot of their products to her friends back in the States. Her fellow slayer, Vi, had loved it even more being a Muggle and all. Of course Vi was probably more interested in the twins themselves.
Hermione smirked and crossed her arms. "You're starting to sound like us."
"I know. Cool isn't it? Give me a few months and I'll be completely Englishized," Jordan replied grinning.
"So where are those two?" Hermione asked nervously.
"Entertaining the other slayers. I believe one of them said something about handing out candy that caused all girls' clothes to miraculously disappear," Jordan said thoughtfully. She bit her tongue to keep from laughing at Hermione's expression.
"I do hope you're joking," Hermione said her brown eyes flickering in distaste.
"I am, but I wouldn't put it past them." Jordan shrugged and walked towards where the Weasley twins were showing off their latest inventions of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.
Now even more of a reason never to accept anything from those two. Hermione watched as the girls clapped and laughed at the antics of the identical redheads. Fred and George were not the typical hot guys, or guy seeing as how they were identical. But they possessed a quirky charm and witty sense of humor and other such endearing qualities that made them a hit with just about every girl they met.
"They are making quite a bit of noise. I hope Harry won't hear," Hermione murmured.
"He's in the library and Dawn is keeping him sufficiently distracted believe me," Jordan assured her.
"He's been in there quite a lot lately. I wonder why. He's never spent so much time in there before." Hermione's voice was full of concern for her friend.
Jordan kept silent although she had a pretty good hunch about why Harry was in the library so much. Instead of actually going to find out she preferred to remain ignorant. Their little conversation in there weeks ago had unnerved her a great deal. She just hoped that Harry wasn't getting his hopes up about his newfound quest.
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"You know if you lived in my country and were a Muggle of course you'd be able to drive now that you're 16," Dawn told him.
"I don't think cars and I go well together," Harry replied remembering Mr. Weasley's flying car.
"How come?" Dawn asked curiously.
"Well, I just don't care for cars that much and one of the last cars I was in was a flying car that Ron and I had to use to get to Hogwarts in our second year. Bloody stupid of us it was, but we were 12 at the time. It crashed into a Whomping Willow and I think it's still running wild in the Forbidden Forest." Harry grimaced when he recalled the branches of that tree just crashing down onto the hood of the car nearly smashing him and Ron to bits.
"Whoa. A flying car. Damn I gotta get me one of those," Dawn said in awe.
"Are you planning on learning to drive?" Harry asked.
"Well, yeah I guess. Even though I'm a witch now I still have to interact with the Muggle world and I do want to be a watcher, so I do plan on learning," Dawn said.
Dawn had asked for Harry's company in the library in order to help her with some History of Magic homework. In reality she had lured him there to keep him from the rest of the castle while everyone prepared for his surprise party. There were two ulterior motives to her actions. One: she was feeling particularly lazy and didn't feel like decorating or anything like that. Two: she wanted to spend some time with Harry; alone. Her books and parchment lay on the desk untouched so far.
"You want to be a watcher?" Harry said clearly surprised.
"Yeah. It's not as boring as it seems. But I had to do lots of research back in Sunnydale and I helped Giles out quite a bit with it. I know a bit of Latin and Sumerian and some other old languages and I know lots of names of ancient talismans, cursed relics, and demon types. I mean, it's not like I chose to do that, I wanted to do the physical work along side Buffy, but she wouldn't let me until just recently," Dawn said.
Harry managed a feeble smile and thought about his own aspirations to become an Auror. Their O.W.L.s had arrived and he was relieved to find he had gotten at least an A in all the subjects he needed for that career although a small part of him wished he had flunked Potions just so he wouldn't have to endure Snape for another two years. Ron had managed to scrape a couple for himself and Hermione got "Outstanding" in everything as expected.
"So what have you been doing in here for the past couple of weeks. You don't seem to be the bookish type," Dawn remarked.
Harry fidgeted in his seat. "Oh well...you see...I erm...have been researching some non-school stuff."
For a minute there Harry strongly resembled this boy Dawn once knew who had been sneaking porn into the school library and selling it. Did the wizard world have porn? She then mentally slapped herself for thinking of it. These were people whose fashion sense went as far as what color robe they were wearing to Dawn's fashion savvy mind. She had recently gotten all her robes moderated for her House with the Serpent crest badge and the normal green and silver accoutrements. Okay so the Slytherin house was sort of evil, but they had pretty colors. Although the red and gold of Gryffindor were pretty nifty looking too.
"Like what? Demon stuff? If it's demon stuff I could help," Dawn offered.
Harry sighed and shook his head. Maybe he could ask Dawn about how Willow brought Buffy back. He was getting practically nowhere with his current research. There wasn't much in Hogwarts on Wiccan magic and what little there was didn't mention resurrection spells at all.
"I was trying to find more on spells for resurrections. When you told me it was possible, that Willow had brought your sister back I just had to find out more. Dumbledore told me it couldn't be done, but it can and I...." he trailed off uncertainly.
Dawn's heart plummeted. This poor guy had been looking for a way to bring his godfather back apparently. She sighed sadly and pulled her chair closer to him and forced him to face her. It would be painful for her to tell him this and painful for her to get it out. But it was best just to get it out and over with before it got worse.
"Were you looking for a way to bring your godfather back? Or your parents?" she probed softly.
"Well, I wager it'd be too late for my parents. I mean it's been fifteen years, but Sirius has only been dead for two months. Do you think Willow could do it? I mean, do you think she would?" His emerald eyes looked so hopeful that Dawn just wanted to tell him yes.
"Harry, I hate to tell you this and I'm really sorry, but odds are she won't. And the only reason Buffy was able to come back was because she died by jumping into a mystical portal which makes that a mystical death and sort of puts a little loophole in the whole magic can't mess with the laws of life and death. And not only that but Buffy didn't come back like they thought she would." Dawn put her hand to her forehead as the memory of her finding her sister on that rickety tower two years ago flitted through her mind.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"If I tell you this, know it's only because I'm doing it for your own good and I'd hate to see someone else go through that much suffering and I know you wouldn't want it for your godfather." Dawn had hoped that she could tell Harry this without technically telling him, unfortunately he wasn't that intuitive because he was staring at her expectantly.
"The reason Willow brought her back was because they thought she had been in hell, but she wasn't Harry. She was in heaven and they ripped her out of there. She was at peace finally after so much sacrifice and fighting and then she wasn't. Next thing she knew she was back in her coffin six feet under and she had to dig her way out, literally. I found her at the place where she had jumped and she looked so confused and scared and lost. Her hands, they were so bloody and torn and she was covered in dirt. Of course I didn't take notice much at the time because I had my sister back, but I remember it now. And for almost a year she was just...not Buffy...it was like she had lost her will to live and couldn't feel anything." Dawn had almost forgotten she had an audience as she became caught up in that painful part of the past. She barely even noticed when Harry had taken a hold of her hand.
He couldn't think of anything to say. He had opened his mouth to impart words of comfort, but nothing would come out so he had grasped her hand and squeezed it instead. If this was painful for Dawn then he couldn't imagine what it must be like for Buffy. Or Willow, the one who was responsible.
Dawn continued, "I know how you feel. When my mom died I tried to bring her back. I just couldn't handle living without her and so I went to this demon guy who gave me a spell and told me how to get ingredients and I did it. I think the spell actually worked, but I tore up her picture, which got rid of what came back cuz it wouldn't have been my mom. She had died because of a brain tumor so bringing her back would be like going into zombie territory and I think I knew that, but I didn't want to believe it."
Harry closed his eyes as his last shimmer of hope dissolved and left in its place a feeling of grief so overwhelming that he thought it would crush him. He put his free hand to his eyes to hide his coming tears. Dawn looked upon him with empathy.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" she asked.
Harry had spent the last two months so isolated from everyone that he feared once he let the wall down on his emotions he wouldn't be able to stop. But the notion of getting it all off his chest was extremely appealing. So he broke down and told Dawn everything. He told this girl whom he had known for little over a month what invaded his dreams at night, how he had watched Sirius fall through the veil and how it was all his fault that Sirius had come to the ministry. He told of the connection he and Voldemort had because of that curse that Harry managed to survive when so many more deserving people had been killed because of it and that it was that the dark lord was able to penetrate his thoughts and had sent him a false vision of Sirius getting tortured so Harry would bravely come to the rescue like a good little Gryffindor and fall right into his trap. Harry had been so sure that it was real because of the last vision of Mr. Weasley getting tortured.
"Sirius came to save me and he was killed because of it. Not only that, but Hermione, Ron, Luna, Neville, Ginny, they were all almost killed because of me. People kept getting hurt because of me," Harry lamented.
"I'm like a lightning rod for pain and hurt and everyone around me suffers and dies."
Dawn had heard this song before once by her own words and she felt even closer to Harry than before.
"It's all my fault," he said miserably.
"It's all my fault."
"No, it's not. Did you ask to be put in this position? Did you ask for Voldemort to target you and give you that scar and some of his traits? Why wouldn't you have thought he was torturing Sirius if the first vision of him torturing Ron and Ginny's dad was true? You couldn't have known that Voldemort was laying a trap. I mean, I would have done the same thing if in your shoes. I know Buffy would have. You're just the victim of circumstance Harry," Dawn said to him as comfort.
Harry's green eyes were reddened from tears and he managed to bring his gaze up to meet Dawn's. She was looking at him not in pity, but in empathy and understanding. Good. He didn't want pity.
"You sound like Dumbledore sometimes," he said.
Dawn smiled. "Well, let's just say your situation is not so different than what mine once was."
Harry looked at her questioningly wondering what she meant by that. Dawn meanwhile was aching to tell him of her own past, but that would mean telling him about her being The Key and she couldn't do that. Not yet anyway. Telling him about Buffy was stretching it already.
"Well, for what it's worth. Thank you. I mean, for telling me," Harry said.
"No problem. It's always good to vent," she replied.
He smiled and grasped her hand again bringing it slowly to his mouth to plant a chaste kiss. Dawn blushed, but didn't pull her hand away. He inhaled the sweet aroma of Dawn's perfume and just let it surround him for a moment before reluctantly letting her hand drop. He had really wanted to be kissing her lips, but he feared what her reaction would be. He didn't even know if she liked him that way.
"You're sweet and really smart. Be careful, don't wanna make Hermione jealous," he said hastily.
Dawn looked at her hand in disappointment. Damn if only that had been my lips. She sighed and stood up and stretched while glancing at her watch which was flashing. Hermione had laid a spell on her watch to flash when everything was ready.
"You know, I'm kinda hungry. Wanna get some dinner?" she asked casually effectively masking her disappointment.
"Sure," Harry said following her out of the library.
As soon as he stepped one foot inside the Dining Hall he was startled nearly out of his wits when over two dozen people jumped out of nowhere and shouted, "Surprise!" right in his face. As soon as he recovered from his slight heart attack he noticed the decorations adorning the large room. The House banners were all replaced with numerous banners saying, "HAPPY SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY HARRY!" and ads for Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes flashed randomly on every banner.
Harry just stood there dumbfounded not fully comprehending what was going on. Mrs. Weasley came over and pulled him into a tight motherly embrace.
"Happy birthday Harry dear!" she cooed affectionately.
After she let him go he took a couple of deep breaths and managed to eke out a couple of words.
"How? What? You.."
"Oh must be the wrong birthday mates, I think it was supposed to have been his third birthday," Fred joked.
"Oh stop it! And you ought to be ashamed putting your ads on his banners! It's his day!" his mother scolded.
"Mum, you and Dad put some banners up for Ginny," George pointed out.
Harry and Dawn looked around and sure enough there were some banners that read, "Congratulations Ginny!".
Mrs. Weasley ignored them and put an arm over Harry and steered him to a table with a huge birthday cake with blue icing on it.
"I hope you don't mind. She's been made a prefect and I thought we could merge the parties," she told Harry her voice full of pride for her youngest child.
"That's alright Mrs. Weasley. I can't believe you all did this." There, he managed to get out a whole sentence.
"It was all She-Giles' idea. But we helped," Faith said.
"Hey now, Hermione is much more of a Willow Junior," Buffy said.
Hermione didn't comment on the nicknames but came over and hugged Harry.
"I wager it's about time you got to know what a real birthday party was like," she told him grinning from ear to ear.
Mrs. Weasley lit the candles on the cake and Dawn made sure to remind Harry to make a wish before he blew out the candles.
"And make sure you don't tell anyone or it won't come true," Buffy said.
"And don't like whisper it out loud, cuz you never know if a vengeance demon might be lurking around." Harry laughed at that, but stopped when he noticed her serious expression.
"Oh. Right then." Harry thought for a while and then the perfect wish came to him. I wish Sirius, Mum, and Dad were alright and at peace now and in no more pain; especially Sirius. Then he blew all sixteen candles out in one breath.
Dobby was given the honor of cutting the cake and serving Harry the first piece. It was the most delicious thing Harry had ever tasted and he quickly indulged in seconds. While eating his eyes kept straying over to the table topped with presents. It wasn't as many presents as Dudley usually got, but it was more than Harry had ever gotten in his entire life. After eating he was pulled from corner to corner and person to person to chat.
"Blimey Harry. I remember when you was just a wee little firs' year and now yer sixteen years old. Course yeh haven' grown as much as Ron has," Hagrid said clapping him on the back.
"We were gonna send you self-detonating dung bombs in the mail, but we figured we ought to be nice. And mum woulda castrated us for sure," George gibed.
Mrs. Weasley had made him a dark blue sweater with no design on the front this time. Hagrid had gotten him some dragonskin boots that were a dark red. Hermione, ever the practical gift giver, had bought him a homework organizer to fit into his bag. The organizer would organize each assignment according to class, date, grade, and type. As Ron was a little lacking in the cash area wanting to save his money to get nice things for Hermione he had to pool his money with his sister. They got him a little miniature glass globe with Quidditch players zooming around in it and a poster book with Quidditch teams. Aidan and Jordan had gotten him a broom case that was dark green leather and lined with black velvet. His name was etched into a gold plate with a golden snitch between his first and last name. Tonks and Lupin got him some books on defensive magic that had more curses, counter-curses, hexes, and jinxes that Harry had ever seen. Dobby had made knitted him some more mismatched socks which had shooting stars all over them. Dawn had gotten him a Muggle gift wanting to be a bit different from everyone else. She had also "dipped" into Council funds and gotten him a portable cd player with a collection of cds of all different types of music since she didn't really know what he liked to listen to and a cd holder.
"You'll have to charm it of course, but I figured I should get you something no one else would think to get you," she explained.
When he opened Fred and George's gift a small explosion of yellow dust occurred and Harry spent the rest of the day with a face the color of a banana. They had given him a lifetime discount on all their products at any location even though now it was just one. A little thank you for being their benefactor. Buffy and Faith along with Willow, Xander, and Giles had gotten him some weapons and self-defense tools. Since he was pretty much holding the entire fate of the Wizarding World in his hands they thought it best he learn to protect himself and have the means to protect himself and that meant not just magically. He had gotten brass knuckles, self-defense manuals, his own cross necklace (although much more masculine than the ones the slayers all wore), a dagger and a sheath in which to hide it on his leg, and a short silver sword. "Wicked," Ron breathed.
"Wow. Thanks," he said very much overwhelmed at the gifts.
"These aren't just for fun Harry. These are for your protection. You can't just rely on your wand," Buffy told him seriously.
As for Ginny, she didn't get as much as Harry. Just a brown and white owl from her parents for her new position as prefect. She named her Hope. Fred and George were already planning some pranks to play on her because it was just downright shameful to them that another sibling, their only sister at that, had managed to become a prefect.
Faith brought out a charmed stereo and soon the hall was filled with the sounds of hard rock. She got right with the dancing and soon everyone's attention (more specifically every male's attention) was turned away from the birthday boy and onto the dark-haired slayer. Some of the other slayers joined her and even Buffy got into the mix. Dawn grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him out to dance.
"What! Dawn no! I can't dance that well!" he protested.
"Oh come on! All you gotta do is just move to the music! Come on it's fun!" she yelled.
While the dancing was going on Jordan watched from the sidelines while half-listening to Andrew speak. It was something about a comic book so he would talk for a while and she wouldn't need to say a thing. She liked Andrew, he was weird and so dorky it was cute and he was a good Dungeons and Dragons player. But normally she could only understand about every third word he said and when he got on the subject of anything with the words "star", "jedi", "spiderman", or "spock" then she was completely lost.
"So you're a witch? And you carry around magic wands? Isn't that kinda cliché?" he asked.
"Huh? Oh yeah I'm a witch. Have been for quite some time," she answered absent-mindedly.
Andrew didn't seem to notice that she wasn't paying much attention. He looked around the Dining Hall.
"This place is nice. Really got the whole medieval Zelda thing going for it and I like the suits of armor. They don't um walk around do they?" he asked nervously.
She shrugged. She had yet to see the things walk around, but it wouldn't surprise her if they did. She laughed softly to herself when she saw Vi drag one of the twins onto the dance floor (which was actually just a spot clear of tables in the Hall) while the other twin was surrounded by a whole gaggle of slayers.
"I'm glad Mr. Wyndam-Pryce is letting me help him out with educating you guys about demons and stuff. As a former summoner of demons I think I have a lot to offer you brave young soldiers," Andrew told her.
She raised her eyebrow and snorted. Before he could retort she grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the dance floor.
"I'm bored! Let's dance!"
"Uh, okay," he stammered uncertainly much too afraid to say otherwise.
Just as Harry was getting the hang of this sort of dancing someone tapped him on the shoulder. He saw that it was Lupin and the man was gesturing for him to come with him. He excused himself and followed the man away from the activities.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your fun there, but I didn't want to give this to you while everyone else was around," the former DADA teacher explained.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"Well, it's not from me. It's er from Sirius. It's a letter for you entrusted to me to give to you on your birthday if something happened to him." Lupin held out a gray envelope with Harry's name written elegantly in black ink on it.
Harry shakily took the envelope from Lupin's hand and just eyed it for the longest time torn between wanting to open it and wanting to discard it. Lupin put laid his hand on the boy's shoulder.
"Sirius would have wanted you to enjoy this day Harry and the rest of the days. He loved you like a son and he wouldn't want you to grieve over him forever," the man said softly.
Harry swallowed and nodded his head. Lupin left him there clutching the envelope. He had just managed to get all of his guilt and pain off of chest, well not all, but most of it. This letter he held in his hand threatened to forge a whole new barrage of guilt and misery. He opened it anyway deciding that if he didn't he would always be wondering what Sirius had had to say to him and that would drive him mad.
Harry,
I did so hope to have a sudden burst of creativity and begin this letter without the usual "if you're reading this then I fear the worst has happened." Well, this is the best I could come up with.
Either I am reading and laughing over this with you at the sappiness or I am no longer apart of the living. Padfoot has gone to doggy heaven. I hope. Well, I hope I have gone to the normal people heaven and not doggy heaven. I know that if that has, indeed, happened, I don't want you to be sad. Well, of course you'll be sad. That's a bloody stupid thing to say isn't it? But don't be so sad that you feel like giving up. And don't blame yourself. None of what has happened in the past is your fault and none of what happens now is your fault. You can't control everything and you can't save everyone. I did my best with what I had and although I do regret some things I know that I have mostly done what was right. I would die knowing I never succumbed to Voldemort and I never became what my family wanted me to be. I am or was my own person.
Keep fighting Harry. Stay alive and please don't do anything rash. I know I have often seemed like I wanted you to be more careless and reckless like your dad, but honestly I'm glad you're a bit more like your mum in that aspect. And don't let that whole tiff with Snape and your dad years ago ruin your image of him. Like I explained, he was a teenager and we are all undeniable prats at one time or another. He really was a good man and you will be a good man one day like him. I hope I shall be there to see you grow up because you are like a son to me Harry. You have no idea how flattered and proud I was when James named me your godfather. I am very proud of you and I know he and Lily are too.
Take care of Ron and Hermione and let them in a little. They're your friends. They won't abandon you. Take care of the Weasleys too because they're good people and the world needs more like them. Take care of Moony. He's the only one left of the Marauders now for we know Wormtail no longer counts. And don't be mad at Dumbledore for withholding information. The man has been alive for quite some time and he knows what he's doing.
Well, if you will look into the rest of the contents of the envelope you should notice that I have my will in there and I have left everything to you. My money, my house, my belongings; it's all yours now unless of course I'm still alive. Use it well and hopefully when (yes I said when not if) Voldemort is defeated you can make the Black manor nice again and find some way to get rid of that dreaded portrait of that wench of a mother of mine.
Don't let the Dursleys get to you, they are after all your only blood relatives left as far as we know. But when you are of age I don't see any harm in giving your cousin Dudley another tail.
Your loving godfather,
Sirius
P.S. If at all possible please give Wormtail a few good knocks for me. Just don't kill him if you don't have to.
Even amidst the tears streaming down his face Harry managed to laugh a little. He had kind of expected Sirius to leave some things for him, but he was sure a bit of it would have gone to Lupin. He didn't care much for the money because his parents had left him more than enough of that. But knowing he had a place to stay after he finally left the Dursleys sometime in the hopefully not-too-distant future made Harry very grateful and relieved.
"Harry?"
Harry looked up and quickly wiped his face and saw Ginny standing before him.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Um yeah. I just got a letter from Sirius." He gestured to the letter in his hand.
"Oh," was her somber reply.
"He's really gone. And he left everything to me," Harry whispered more to himself than to the small redhead in front of him.
"He did?" Ginny wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad about that.
"Yeah, not like I needed more money though." Harry smiled ironically.
"Well, at least you'll have a place to stay," she offered as comfort.
Harry nodded.
"Hey! What are you guys doing over here in the corner? The party is all about you two!" came Buffy's perky voice.
"Oh. Nothing Buffy we were just taking a break is all," Harry quickly explained.
"Well come on Banana Face! Can't have a birthday party without the birthday boy!" she grabbed the two by the hands and Harry scowled at the name she had given him. What is it just him or did the short slayer seem a teensy inebriated?
"Hey your friends are back!" Ginny exclaimed pointing to the entrance to the Dining Hall.
Buffy and Harry saw Xander, Willow, Giles, and Wesley flanked by Dumbledore and a couple of girls that they assumed were newfound slayers. To Buffy's utter surprise Fred, Gunn, and Lorne came following them and Angel and who was that behind him? She barely had time to process the information before Dawn's voice squealed, "Spike!"
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*Laughs Evilly* I'm awful aren't I? I am pretty sure you won' t have to wait so long for the next chapter.