Whew. Finally found some time and inspiration between a huge research paper for American Literature to update this. My apologies, but life has this annoying tendency to get in the bloody way all the damn time. Kudos and many thanks to my readers and reviewers. Btw, I'm bringing in a character from the Buffy-verse that happens to be one of my favorites. It doesn't say the name, but I'm sure you clever people can guess who it is. It is so obvious.
--------------------
Sing. That's what their blood did. It sang for her. Pretty little songs that undulated round and round her smooth body until she felt completely encased within their multitude of diverse tunes. She loved to dance in that crimson wrap of melody in complete nudeness under the starry skies.
Their enchanted blood was rare to obtain due to their prior knowledge of beings such as her. Those strange wooden sticks called wands could do so much hurt to the body if one was not careful. But she was quite skilled at the art of seduction and hypnosis. She charmed those wands right out of their delicious little hands before suckling on their necks…or other parts of the body.
Oh how succulent their life-fluids were, almost as succulent as that of a slayer's. She writhed in absolute ecstasy after drinking of their magical blood; her entire body erupted into tingles of delight from the magic coursing through her dead veins. She would have loved to have an endless supply of the magical ones, the witches and wizards with the magical cores, to feed upon. She would have sold her soul for just that had she a soul any longer to sell.
The blood-spattered form wreathed in flowing robes shuddered one last time before life left her body in the arms of the very thing that caused her death. The vampiress released her grip upon the once-living witch and let her corpse collapse to the ground. Upon reversion back to a human face, her dark eyes gleamed almost blood red from the recent feast of magical blood and she swam in the onslaught of pleasure the hunt always filled her with. Her raven hair coiled around her bare, alabaster shoulders atop her red velvet shirt; some strands soaked with blood. A thin stream of blood seeped out of the corner of the vampire's mouth and she swiped a long, slender finger with dark blue-coated nails—extremely long, razor sharp nails—across.
A man stood watching her in mild intrigue from a short distance off. His dark brown hair fell in slight waves to his shoulders, while his dark brown eyes stared out of a handsome, but malevolent face. He was dressed in flowing black and green robes with a few medallions bearing archaic symbols hung round his neck. It was Hastemire, the squib turned dark Wiccan warlock working for Lord Voldemort.
"Now—" the man began.
He was cut off by the upheld finger of the vampire and a loud, "Shhhh! It sings a lullaby for me. Just like Daddy used to." The man rolled his eyes impatiently as the beautiful vampire woman began to sway back and forth; her body oscillating to the tune only she could hear.
Finally, he interrupted her private ceremonial dance and said, "You could have more of them to feast upon, My Lady. In fact, I know where you could find prey even better than slayers and magic-kind."
The vampire stopped dancing and turned her dark, crimson-tinted gaze onto the man. A glint of intrigue formed and she folded her pale arms expectantly, eager to hear his proposition. The man, seeing the creature was now giving him a semblance of full attention plowed forward. "Yes, you would be more than satisfied with the ones I shall bring to you if you do what I ask. You see, these girls are not only witches; they are also slayers…."
--------------------
Dawn rubbed her sore, tired eyes as she put the finishing touches on her two-foot long essay for History of Magic. The one class she had not been able to shoot ahead at an incredible speed had been the one taught by the doddering ghost, Professor Binns. Surprisingly, history of the magical world was not as interesting as she had predicted. In fact, it was more boring than the history of the Muggle world in her opinion. Perhaps it was because of all those damn goblin rebellions. Or maybe it was the fact that it lacked a general mystery to it that was so often seen in Muggle history. Muggles, lacking magic and knowledge of the weird and unexplained in general, had often been unable to explain many things in history completely. Thus they were left free to many, many contradictive theories implicating outrageous explanations. That was the fun of Muggle history.
Another thing Dawn had noticed about wizard-kind no one else seemed to notice was the differences in imagination. Witches and wizards had a subtle sense of imagination, but it was completely dwarfed by the Muggle imagination. She spoke of it to Hermione a few weeks back to which the Gryffindor brainiac had replied, "Why do you think so many of them witches and wizards not born of Muggles read Muggle books, listen to Muggle music, admire Muggle architecture and art? Their own lacks that particular brand of abstract magic, which is rather ironic, don't you think?"
"But wouldn't they think partaking in all those Muggle activities would be…I dunno…degrading?" Dawn had asked.
Hermione had shrugged and answered, "Some would and therefore would never admit to it. But look at Aidan and Mr. Weasley; both are fascinated by Muggles albeit in different aspects. Mr. Weasley loves to collect Muggle knickknacks, mainly technology whereas Aidan loves the art and literature of Muggle culture. Most of the popular wizarding bands are formed by Muggle-borns or half bloods and most of the novelists and artists of the Wizarding World are Muggle-born or half-blooded. Those that aren't have merely…well not copied per se…but have been inspired by Muggle culture, though they would take that fact to their graves.
Secretly, I believe every witch and wizard is fascinated with the Muggle-world and how adaptive and resourceful it is. Muggles rely on logic, skills, and their own resources to survive and the Wizarding World has always relied on its magic. Take the wand away from the witch and you might as well take away her means of living. It isn't something that is talked about much, but many students of magic schools that were expelled committed suicide, in fact over fifty percent of them have done it. Hagrid is part of the smaller percentage, thank Merlin."
Dawn's jaw had dropped at the shocking statistic and it took a few moments for her to completely absorb that fact. "You're kidding!"
Hermione had gravely shaken her head and murmured, "I wish I were, but unfortunately it's true. And it's something only a Muggle-born, a person apart of both worlds, would realize and understand."
Dawn shook her head and weakly intoned, "That's…horrible. I mean, I know of a few cases in the Muggle-world of straight-A students completely snapping over a B grade, but to take their own lives…" she trailed off and Hermione nodded in agreement, her brown eyes large and solemn.
Weeks later, Dawn was still pondering over that serious conversation. Being apart of both worlds did give Dawn, Hermione, Harry, and others unique perspectives on the world around them. But the question gnawing at her since that conversation had been a far more serious one on a personal level and one the young woman could not speak of with her friends. Dawn was not originally human; she was the ancient mystical artifact known as the Key. As such, she did not know precisely where she fit in this world or in the Muggle world. She had buried her misgivings and upsetting doubts for quite a long time with the onslaught of so many personal conflicts outside of herself (i.e. her mother's death, her sister's death and subsequent resurrection, Tara's death, Willow going evil, the First Evil, etc.). Now the question had dragged itself to the forefront of her mind after its two-year hiatus and gave Dawn new troubling notions. Was the reason of her being a witch because she was the Key? When the Key had been transubstantiated into human form had its Wiccan brand magic also been transformed into the other kind of magic? It would make sense considering that Dawn was not merely a part of the Key, but was in fact the Key herself. It only made sense that the power of the Key would come from within her body thereby making her a witch.
Dawn did not know, but her sister often asked herself the same question about being the Slayer. Where did the Slayer end and Buffy begin? Where did the Key end and Dawn begin? If Dawn had been the normal girl that up until three years ago she believed she was, would she still be a witch? It was all far too complicated to answer and Dawn doubted anyone down here carried those answers. So she kept those thoughts to herself and pretended there was nothing troubling her at all.
"Miss Summers?" someone inquired from a few feet away to the young witch's right. Dawn looked up to see her Defense Against the Dark Arts professor standing there with a look of concern on her face. "Are you alright? You looked to have lost yourself in thought from the way you were staring off into space."
"Oh, Professor Pennison, hi. Um…I was just…thinking," she stammered, gesturing to her scroll. "I was just finishing a history essay."
"Ah," the older woman replied in understanding. "My mind often wandered when it came to Binns's class as well. An insufferably dull sod, isn't he?"
For a moment, the way the woman had worded that remark or rather the tone of her voice when she said it was reminiscent of someone, but Dawn couldn't fathom whom. First choice anyone else would have chosen would have been Spike, but that wasn't right, Dawn was sure of it. It was someone else.
"Couldn't have put it any more British…or better," Dawn said, smiling in agreement.
Professor Pennison stood there for a while, her bluish-green eyes—a few shades greener than Buffy's—boring into Dawn's own vibrant sapphire eyes. Her gaze was unreadable to the normally intuitive Slytherin girl and it made Dawn slightly uneasy. Finally, Pennison gave a slight smile and said, "You know, Dawn, I have never seen a student progress so far in so short a time as you. You are most certainly headed towards being a great witch. I wonder what it is that makes you so special…other than being the younger sister of one of the strongest slayers on record."
Dawn's smile fell at the comment intended as a compliment. For just once she wanted to be seen as special for herself, not because she was Buffy Summers, the original and eldest Slayer's, baby sister. Sometimes she wanted to shout to everyone exactly what it was that made her so special and unique; even more unique than a slayer.
Pennison must have seen Dawn's reaction and quickly frowned. "What's wrong?"
Dawn sighed and tried to suppress the rising resentment within her. The poor woman had not meant any offense by her remark and she certainly wasn't the first one to credit Buffy for Dawn's prowess. "Nothing."
Pennison did not seem satisfied by that denial and reiterated her question, "No, please, tell me what's wrong. It obviously must be something I said and I should like to know so I won't make the mistake of saying it again."
Dawn rubbed her temples and finally whispered, "I just don't like it when people always think it's because the Slayer is my sister that I'm so good at…this magic. I kind of want to get out of the shadow I've been living under so long."
"Ah, I see," Pennison said, coming over to sit across from Dawn. "It's hard living in the shadow of heroes then, is it? I wouldn't know. My family is full of anything but."
"Yeah, it is. I love my sister very much and it's not her fault. She can't help it that she's the Slayer, well the strongest one anyway. I mean, she's done so much good for the world and she's saved so many lives, but it is kind of hard to look past all that. It's not that I want to be her, but that I want to be me. You know, not Buffy's little sister or the Slayer's little sister, just me. Dawn Christine Summers." Dawn had no idea why she was suddenly unloading her personal feelings to a woman she barely knew, but it felt good to get it off her chest. It was probably better she told this woman anyway because she would be more than likely to take an impartial view towards the whole ordeal.
Pennison nodded and swiped a lock of dark hair out of her eyes. This girl's confession unlocked the painful memories of living in the shadow of someone far more sinister than the golden-haired Slayer. It scraped the wounds on her heart left over from the bloody, violent expectations she had been forced to live up to and the terrible feud that had ensued between she and her father. Fat lot of good my rebellion did me. It nearly got me killed. Soon she would have to reveal her true roots as Senna Malfoy, daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, elder sister to Draco Malfoy and once-heiress to a tyrannical family of pure, unbroken lineage. A scion of a family of Death Eaters; a family of witches and wizards steeped in the darkest of magical arts. A family of murderers and angels of death. A family of lapdogs to the dark lord. That is all they are…and ever will be unless I do something about it. But she was still at a loss in that aspect. The only person in her family she was interested in saving from darkness was her precious baby brother, Draco. The rest could rot in hell for all she gave a bloody damn.
"I probably sound like some spoiled, attention-starved brat to you." Dawn's voice shook the woman from her reverie.
"Oh no! Not at all! I completely understand how you feel and were I in your position I would probably feel the same way," Senna promptly told her.
Dawn smiled appreciatively and felt a sensation of relief settling over her. Her professor smiled encouragingly at her and squeezed her hand. "Just tell everyone how you feel. Stand up for yourself, cuz in the end, you might be the only thing you have."
With that being said, the woman arose from her seat and bid Dawn farewell leaving the girl to ponder over what she had said. After a while, Dawn gathered up her things as well to leave, but was startled by the arms that swooped around her. She screeched and laughed at the same time when she realized it was her boyfriend.
"Harry! You jerk! Don't do that!" she exclaimed in mock anger.
Harry grinned cheekily and said, "Gee, you would think someone who lived on a hellmouth would be prepared at all times."
"Shut up," Dawn retorted, sticking her tongue out. She felt her burdening thoughts from before magically dissipate for the time being. Harry had that kind of effect on her. "How did you know where to find me?"
Harry took on a sarcastic, omnipotent expression and said, "Oh Dawn, I always know where you are." Sheepishly, he added, "And I also asked Hermione and then Jordan and they said you might be here just to…confirm what I already knew."
"Sure," Dawn replied, giggling slightly as he leaned in to kiss her. "Have a nice Occlumency lesson with Dumbledore?" she asked after the two pulled away.
Harry shrugged. "It was okay. I'm really glad I've been learning all these meditation techniques; it helps me out a lot. And don't tell Jordan or Hermione I said this, but I'm really glad they talked me into doing yoga."
Dawn laughed at that remark remembering how adamant Harry had been that he was only doing yoga so Hermione and Jordan would leave him alone. The two of them had not been fooled one bit because he knew and they knew it was not that big of a deal so they would have left him alone had he refused.
Harry took Dawn's books from her arms and proceeded to carry them for her as any chivalric boyfriend would and Dawn linked an arm around his. They prepared to walk out of the library when a muffled sound caused both teens to pause in their steps. Both immediately looked at each other before Dawn voiced aloud what both were asking, "Did you hear something?"
Harry swallowed hard and tried to put on a casual air, "It's probably just Peeves skulking around. Bloody poltergeist."
Dawn did not seem to accept that explanation, so she walked towards where she heard the sound. She rounded a tall bookcase and stopped short at the scene letting a gasp of surprise. Her eyes widened in shock and her mouth hung open in an O shape. Harry came running to her side saying, "What is it, Dawn?"
Standing there, just as surprised at Harry and Dawn, were the previously preoccupied forms of Dean Thomas and some handsome blonde boy neither Harry nor Dawn knew by name. That he was a seventh-year Ravenclaw was the only piece of information they knew of about him. When Dawn had happened upon them, they had been thoroughly enthralled in an intense make-out session only to instantly jump away at Dawn's appearance.
"Whoa! Dean…what…how…" Dawn stuttered. She would know exactly what to say had it been a girl he had been kissing, but a boy…she was clueless. At least she had been able to get out words, her boyfriend was currently still frozen in shock.
"Harry! Dawn! I…erm…let me explain," Dean began anxiously; beads of sweat rolling down his forehead as evidence of his distress.
Harry blinked a couple of times and croaked out the words, "When did this happen?"
The other boy squeezed Dean's shoulder supportively and said, "We're not exactly sure. We didn't mean for it to go this far…yet."
"What about Ginny? Does she know?" Dawn asked, regaining her calm composure.
Dean and the boy hesitated to answer, which gave the answer to Harry and Dawn louder than any spoken confession could have. Before either of the two boys could answer, Harry exploded in fury. "How could you do this to her, Dean?! She has a right to know!"
"I know she does! And I've been trying to think of a way to tell her, but it's a lot easier said than done, Harry. I love her, I really do. Just not in that way," the miserable boy replied.
Dawn laid a calming hand on Harry's shoulder to soothe the beast just waiting to bust out. She understood Harry's anger over Dean's deception of Ginny. Ginny was the closest thing Harry had to a baby sister and she was a good friend of his not to mention she was the sister of his best mate. He would never want to see her get hurt. But she also understood Dean's own inner turmoil and indecision. She had seen Willow suffer through the same thing when Oz had returned out of the blue just as she was realizing her deep love for Tara. She really had to sympathize with the boy.
Dawn rubbed her temple and looked to the forlorn pair in front of her. She sighed and walked up to the two, putting a hand on each of their shoulders and looking them both in the eyes. "Listen, Dean, and what is your name?"
"Louis Marrison," the boy replied.
"Okay, Louis, Dean, I'm not going to tell Ginny and neither is Harry. Right Harry?" Dawn turned her head to eye her boyfriend sternly. Harry was still reeling from the fact that his roommate was gay and had not yet told Ginny about it. He flinched under Dawn's heated gaze, but nodded faintly.
Dean and Louis's shoulders relaxed considerably. Dawn shook her head, not about to let them off the hook. "But, she does have to know sooner or later. It isn't our place to tell her, it's yours, Dean. You owe her that much."
Dean looked away from Dawn's piercing blue eyes and nodded solemnly. "I know. I swear, I'll tell her soon. I just…need some time."
"That's all I ask," Dawn said, squeezing his shoulder in encouragement. "But don't take too long because she'll figure it out eventually. She's a smart girl."
Dean nodded his head in morose agreement and murmured, "Ron is going to murder me."
Dawn grimaced and thought about that remark. She then shook her head again and said, "If it were a girl, yeah, he would kill you. But in this case, I think he'll be too wigged out by it. I don't think he would understand."
"What will everyone think? I'll be a bloody pariah after the rest find out. It's not like you can keep anything secret for long in our house, especially with Parvati and Lavender living there," Dean moaned, pulling away from Louis and Dawn to lean against the bookcase.
Dawn sighed and held her hands out in a gesture of helplessness. "I don't know, Dean. I don't know what to tell you or any other advice I can give you. All I can say is, do what's best for you and Ginny."
Dean didn't respond, but continued to stare down at his feet in a melancholy silence. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts and Dawn decided that was her cue to leave. There was really nothing more she could do.
"Well, I gotta be heading back to Slytherin dorms. I'll see you both later. It was nice to have met you, Louis, despite the circumstances." She held out her hand and Louis shook it amiably with an appreciative smile.
"Thanks," Louis said.
Dawn didn't know what to say to that, so she merely nodded and went over to Harry. "Come on, Harry. Let's get out of here." She tugged on her boyfriend's arm and led the near-catatonic boy away from the scene and out of the library. Guess it'll take a while for him to absorb it.
Instead of Harry walking Dawn to the Slytherin dorms, she walked him back to his own dormitory. She began to grow concerned at the complete lack of conversation between the two. Harry was being stubbornly quiet. She knew that finding out a boy you had known for six years and shared the same dorm with was gay must have been extremely hard to deal with, but he could at least say that.
"Harry, are you okay?" she asked after the silence became positively unbearable.
Harry took a while to answer. "Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." His tone of voice couldn't have been more contradictive to those words.
"Liar. This is all hard to take in, I know. Just admit you're not fine with it," Dawn said.
"Alright, I'm not exactly vomiting up sunshine over it. I want to be supportive and all that like you were, but I just can't. I can't stand it that Ginny doesn't know and I think we should tell her. Merlin knows that ponce will take forever if he ever does tell her," Harry confessed, letting anger seep back into his voice.
Dawn exhaled in slight disappointment at those words, but she couldn't be angry with Harry for his feelings. He couldn't help feeling that way any more than Dean could help being gay. "Harry, it's not for us to tell her or anyone else for that matter. It's Dean's job. It's not even our business. We just have to let them work it out on their own. Our intervening could end up causing more problems than solving. And please don't hate Dean for this or shun him because he needs friends now more than ever. I'm not saying we should condone Dean's actions, but we need to take the circumstances into consideration."
Harry looked into his girlfriend's pleading eyes and nodded. With great effort he whispered, "I'll try; for you and for Ginny. I'm not so sure for Dean."
Dawn smiled, hugged him, and pressed her lips against his own. "Thank you. And I suppose that's fair enough."
She kissed him again and then left him standing there at the portrait of the Fat Lady patiently awaiting the boy's utterance of the password. Harry stood there in a trance-like state having been buried under the deluge of revelations and troubling thoughts before he changed his mind about going into the common room. He didn't think he could face Ginny or her brother knowing what he knew now just yet. He walked back down the drafty corridor, shivering slightly at the early December air. Not for the first time since his godfather had died, he wished Sirius were here to guide him. It was near to Christmastime and he was missing his psuedo-father more than ever.
After an hour of mindless wandering around the corridors, Harry finally let his exhaustion and shivering from the drafty early December air convince him to head back to the Gryffindor dormitory. He entered the darkened common room feeling the warmth wrap around him. The fire in the fireplace was reduced to a small, crackling flame and shed a scant amount of light. He tiptoed past the sprawled form of Jordan asleep in her day clothes and buried under schoolbooks on the couch. He climbed up to the boys' dormitory careful not to awaken his sleeping roommates. After changing quickly into his pajamas he crawled under his covers and pulled the curtains on his bed shut.
In spite of the fact that his head was full to capacity with thousands of thoughts, he fell into a peaceful slumber quickly. He dreamt of Sirius being alive and playing wizard's chess with him. Only the pieces were replaced with girls…lots of bloodied girls holding stakes. His godfather looked up at him and intoned sadly, "They can't all be saved. Some will have to be sacrificed."
Harry merely hung his head and wept. When he awoke the next morning, he remembered nothing of what he had dreamed.
--------------------
Saxifrage: I only meant I've seen your reviews on my other story lol. Sorry, but I've already planned for Xander and Fleur and I can't bring Anya back now. Hope it doesn't ruin it for you.
Silver Warrior: I never said I was against the pairing of Harry and Ginny. It just doesn't work for me to write it and I just can't see them together personally. Dawn is going to be a bit more devious about getting Slytherins back than coming up and kicking their asses. After all, she is a Slytherin as well.
matt: Oh that would be hilarious. I can just imagine what kind of advice Snape would give that boy. Glad you liked the Ginny tidbit and Jordan's bitchiness. She is a girl after all. We get very bitchy sometimes lol. And you poor guys must bear the brunt of it a lot of the times. My poor father and younger brother know all too well from having to live with three girls.
Wanderingsoul24: Wow, all we got was lots of rain. Hope everything is okay now and I hope your dad is okay. It must really suck. My older half-brother's dad lives in Florida and he lost his cable and phone, so he got satellite and a cell phone.
Vld: Well, Dawn throttling Draco is a very possible thing, but I always thought Dawn carried more control than Buffy in that aspect. She can think of far more sly ways to give those Slytherins what's coming to them, but an ass kicking is never out of the picture.
Yumi Wisakantu: I had an answer about Hermione's reaction and I think it was somewhere along the lines of Hermione already having to deal with her being a slayer and all that had happened that she tried to sort through it all before hearing of Harry's part in the prophecy. That prolly makes no sense, but I forgot what my actual answer to that was.
Chrios: Yes, I do like the Tonks/Willow pairing and I will probably subtly insert that near the end.
Teigra Wolfe: Well, luckily for Willow, she can handle herself. Which is good, cuz I'm gonna put her through a lot in this story.
Halric the Harmless: Oh really? Well, I'm glad my story veered off then. Believe me, I'm not that good. It takes me forever to shape my amorphous ideas on paper…or erm screen. But I'm glad you like the twins and my story. I wish you good luck with your writing.
Naitch03: Yeah, sorry about the gaps between updating. But spyware was invented and it got to my computer among other factors. I had to rewrite this chapter entirely. Pleased to see you liked Ginny's Slytherin ass kicking.
Thanks also to Dragon Doll.