Chapter 15: Vampires, a Stag, and a Rat.
Buffy screamed as Harry's broom lifted them into the air, the wind almost instantly sucking the air from her lungs and whipping her long blond hair into her face. Instinctively, her arms tightened around his chest and held on to dear life. It wasn't until Harry turned to her and squeaked out a message that he couldn't breath that she realized that she'd nearly killed him with Slayer strength.
Loosening her grip, she murmured an apology and leaned her head against his back robbing his body of heat as well as blocking her view of the fast-moving town of Sunnydale beneath her. In the quietest parts of her mind, she wished it was Angel her arms were wrapped around right now. Those few moments right when she'd woken up, when he'd held her, had been too full of euphoria to describe. Every nerve in her tingled when Angel was around, made her heart feel lighter.
Suddenly, Harry dived and Buffy shut her eyes against the onrushing ground below them. "Are you trying to get me killed again?" she shouted over the din of hissing wind.
"Sorry," he replied only marginally abashed. "I haven't flown in a while and I've been itching for a good dive."
"I hope you got it out of your system," Buffy chastised. "I really don't want to go through that again. I felt my stomach in my forehead."
"Are you sure no one is going to pay attention to us?" Harry asked, as he looked down at the night darkened town. "Two people flying on a broomstick isn't exactly justifiable behavior."
Buffy pulled a strand of her hair from her mouth, it came away sticky with her lip gloss. "When I first got here, the Master tried to use a ceremony called the Harvest to rise from the Hellmouth. One of his servants, a lug of a vampire came into the Bronze and started feeding on everyone in there. After I dusted the guy on stage, everyone explained it away as gangs on PCP."
"Ron and I flew an enchanted car over London and every Muggle managed to see that," Harry told her. "We were almost expelled."
The Slayer didn't know what to say about that. A car was a whole lot bigger then a broomstick and Sunnydale wasn't your usual 'Muggle' town. Whatever they saw, they were all too happily inclined to ignore the more eccentric parts of their home.
"Is that Angel?" Harry asked suddenly, pointing one hand down few yards away from the vampire horde that held Willow and Giles in their grasp and were currently following after Harry and Buffy.
She had known he was down there, following almost immediately after they had taken off from the window. There had been no need to look down and verify his presence, she could always feel when he was near now.
"Yeah, that's him," Buffy said softly, the sound just barely carrying to Harry's ears. Looking over his shoulder, he gave her a curious look. Buffy quickly decided to change the subject. "Are they still following us?"
"Hmm? Oh, yes," Harry stuttered, caught off guard by her divergence off the subject path. "Do I just lead them to the warehouse?"
"That's the plan, they want you there anyway," Buffy explained. "I just got to make sure that they don't get you. I don't like this plan, I should have come alone."
Harry shook his head, as he dipped them below a cloud. "You can't fight a Dementor. They can only be repelled by a patronus."
"What is that exactly?"
Harry shrugged. "A Dementor feeds off darkness, but a patronus is nothing but our happiest memories. There's nothing to fuel them and they eventually have to flee. Not many can produce a patronus it's very difficult magic."
"And you can conjure one of these things?" Buffy asked, a bit dubious, a bit awed.
A reddish hue touched Harry's cheeks. "It came out more from necessity then anything else."
"How is that?"
"They have a sort of vendetta against me. Two years ago they came to Hogwarts searching for an escaped prisoner, but spent a lot of time feeding off me. Professor Lupin taught me how to produce one for fear that they would eventually do me further harm," Harry explained with a pained expression. "Whenever they were around I could hear my mother screaming as Voldemort killed her. I almost grew to like it, because I could hear her voice, could see her in my minds eye."
"Then why did you learn to use the patrony thingy?" Buffy asked, seeing Harry in a new light. The boy hadn't just been targeted, he'd been hounded. Voldemort forever ruining his life with one spell to destroy both his parents.
"It got too dangerous when the Dementors came around, especially when they broke Dumbledore's rules and crossed into Hogwarts. I was playing Quidditch at the time and passed out while on my broom," Harry explained uneasily. "If Dumbledore hadn't been there, I would have died."
"I'm sorry," Buffy said sincerely. "It must have been rough." Was that why she'd seen Merrick die in her mind so often of late and why the Master continued to hound her, even when his bones had been laid to rest?
Harry stiffened on his broom, the muscles in his back straining like steel. "They can't hurt me now. And I'll make sure they don't hurt you."
"We'll watch each other's backs," she agreed, thinking of the vampires that were waiting to bleed him, her Watcher, and her best friend. "You'd be surprised how often this sort of thing happens."
"I think, I'm beginning to adapt," Harry replied wryly. "At least Voldemort comes annually."
Buffy went silent as Harry touched down on the roof of the warehouse. She was in stealth slayer mood and her 'spidersense' was tingling. Like a cat, she padded across the roof to the doomed skylight and peered over the edge, Harry walking slightly less coordinated along side of her.
Down below, Cordelia and Ms. Calendar were already hanging upside-down above the bones of the Master. Each clearly unconscious, their arms dangled below very much like the wind ruffling the branches of a tree. Harry leaned forward and placed a careful hand against the window pane.
"We've got to help them," Harry breathed quietly, his eyes trained on Cordelia.
Buffy watched him shocked. She had recognized Cordelia's attraction to Harry, but hadn't thought it was reciprocated. In fact, Buffy was having a hard time not having major wiggins right where she stood. Cordelia, Miss I'm-So-Popular herself, was being crushed on by Giles' nephew. Burrr!
"That's my job," Buffy said. "You look out for the invisible ones."
Harry nodded after a moment, he was smart enough to know that he still wasn't ready to go up against that many vampires. Buffy wasn't even sure she could do it herself, when Angel leapt onto the roof and walked over to them.
"You know, being stalked isn't exactly a turn on," Buffy snapped at him. Why did he have to be here? Why couldn't he just leave her alone and make her life that much more simple?
He ignored her attitude. "Somebody needs to be watching your back."
"Don't you mean my neck?" she asked.
"Buffy?" Harry brought her attention to him.
"We've got work to do," Angel said between clenched teeth. "And you're wasting time."
His coldness didn't help the matter, she still wanted to rush into his arms and let him chase away the darkness. "You're right. I have work to do. Just stay away from me."
Angel's dark eyes glared at her. "Happy to oblige." He said and vaulted himself off the edge of the warehouse roof.
Buffy turned around and returned to the skylight. "We wait for Giles, Willow, and the others to come through before we start. I'll jump through first and then you follow on your broom. I don't think you could make the jump and I'm going to be a little busy killing."
"I thought you liked Angel," he said softly as they waited.
"He's a vampire, I'm not supposed to like them, I'm supposed to kill them," Buffy recited in a monotone. "It's clearly stated in the title, Vampire Slayer. Can we drop it, okay?"
"Sure, sorry," Harry apologized, turning his gaze back to the two prone women. "Do you think they're okay. They wouldn't have killed them already, would they?"
"No," Buffy was quick to assure him. "If they just needed their blood they could have killed them easily and just brought them here. No, I think it has to be fresh."
Harry paled and gave a weak smile. "I miss Voldemort."
"No you don't," she said evenly.
He nodded gravely. "You're right, I don't."
"Show time," Buffy said, as she saw Willow's flaming hair and Giles' tweed coat. "Now, remember, stay out of the fight. You come anywhere near a vampire purposefully, and I'll put you in the hospital."
"Isn't that kind of counter productive?" Harry asked wryly.
"Not as much as if you get yourself killed," Buffy reminded. "See ya below."
With that Buffy took a running leap through the glass skylight landing in the middle of the vampire lot. She pulled her stake from her coat and cocked it next to her ear. "Who's first?"
The first vampire to emerge was caught by his coat and thrown back, as Angel made his way into the battle. Somehow she knew that he'd be right alongside her when the fight began. Buffy didn't take the time to appreciate Angel's battle abilities, instead she focused on her own. There was more then one vampire in this warehouse and Buffy planned on causing each and everyone to be nothing more then allergy inducers.
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Harry floated down to the floor on his broom and instantly edged toward the nearest wall. Chaos had broken out, with Buffy and Angel cutting a swath out of the vampires as they went towards the Master and the two women dangling precariously over the decrepit bones. Buffy had made him swear on pain of injury that he would stay out of the fight, but that didn't mean he couldn't help release the others.
Looking around, he paused to watch Uncle Rupert dust a vampire with surprising strength and agility. Harry had watched Uncle Rupert and Buffy train, and had seen his uncle effectively placed on his backside a number of times without Buffy even breaking a nail, but it looked as though he had discounted his uncle's abilities to readily.
It was only a moment later that he saw Ron and Hermione, helping Willow and Xander with a rather large brut of a vampire, Ron and Xander holding the vampire's arms back, while Willow and Hermione searched frantically for a sharpened piece of wood. Tonks stepped forward to save the day.
Remus came further into the battle, perhaps to test out everything he knew about Defense Against the Dark Arts and sent flames from his wand at several vampires behind Angel's back. Harry made a mental note to take private lessons from both Uncle Rupert and Professor Lupin. Especially since Sunnydale had become more like a home then just the place he was forced to reside.
Harry stopped when he suddenly felt the temperature in the room plummet and knew that his chance of rescuing the damsels in distress had just been trumpeted by keeping everyone from oncoming Dementors. He pulled his wand out and did another quick survey of the room.
"Professor Lupin," he cried out.
"I feel them, Harry. It shouldn't be too much for you," Lupin called back. "Just keep them as far back as you can."
Harry's teeth began to chatter as the air around him crackled with the cold, sending ripples of gooseflesh all up and down his exposed arms. He had long since gotten used to the Dementors' manipulation of the elements, but he had no defense against them, save for that of his patronus. Harry began to draw happy memories to himself.
Professor Lupin had once told him it only took one happy memory, one strong moment of joy to produce a patronus. He had several of them now, as complicated and mixed as any flutter of happiness, but they were his and he wove them together in a fine gossamer strand of magic. Harry felt the power rise inside of him and almost was afraid to let it out. After the Department of Mysteries and what had happened with Bellatrix Lestrange, he had been hesitant to use any sort of magic.
But Uncle Rupert's words reminded him that he choose how he used his magic, that the person inside of him dictated the magic as well and he let it burn clean and pure. It was a liberating feeling as he turned his wand into the mass of cold unyielding Dementors and cried the words to powerful charm.
"Expecto Patronum," and almost immediately from his wand tip a silver essence poured out like molten steel and solidified into the shape of a stag, the form of his father's animagus transformation.
Harry watched with a shine of joy in his eyes as his patronus ran through the leagues of Dementors, scattering them as a dog herded sheep. "Go get them, Prongs," he whispered.
The stag crossed closely to Buffy as one of the Dementors rushed to get at the girl whose terrible ordeals were waving deliciously at them. Her chosen victim starred at the silvery charm and Buffy took the initiative to stake it through the heart, causing it to explode like a firework umbrella.
Buffy didn't even waste time dusting the ash from her clothes as the vampires dwindled to an elderly looking man who might have once been a preacher. Harry lost track of what happened afterwards as Dementors began to sneak past the defense his lone patronus was giving. He needed help and scanned the area. Lupin and Tonks were engaged with a vampire each, Uncle Rupert, Willow, and Xander were making their way towards Ms. Calendar and Cordelia. Ron and Hermione were slowly making their way to him, cautious to not interfere with the vampires that still needed slaying.
Buffy shivered and swayed on her feet as a Dementor ventured too close and before Harry's patronus could chase it away. Harry turned to his two best friends, hoping that last years teachings had not been in vain.
"Ron, Hermione, I need you're help. There are too many Dementors. They're getting past my charm," Harry called out.
Both the young wizard and witch froze at his words. Of course, Hermione had managed to create a patronus of her own, but she had never done it with a Dementor looming over her, waiting to prick at her worst memories and Ron had only contrived to create a silvery mist. But Harry had to have faith in them, until Lupin and Tonks could add their help.
He saw the hesitancy in both their eyes, the fear that they wouldn't be able to pull it off. He gave them a reassuring nod, gently splitting his attention from his magic to give them the encouragement needed. "Just remember what we did last year. You can do it."
Hermione's hand sought out Ron's and they clasped them together for reassurance and strength before each turning their own wands to the throng and crying the incantation. Harry's heart leapt with another joy as not only Hermione's otter leapt from her wand, but Ron's bear lumbered towards the Dementors. He fed the euphoria into his own patronus, his pride in his friends accomplishments.
The Dementors began to retreat and Harry felt his tension roll off of him as they exited the warehouse. Warmth again filled the abandoned building and Harry felt the chill escape his body along with the Dementors. As soon as he was sure that they were gone, he let go of the flow of his magic and the stag that he always wanted to remain afterwards evaporated.
Suddenly Ron and Hermione were at his side, each with a ecstatic expression on their face. "Did you see that, Harry?" Ron asked, pummeling his back with good humor. "I did it. It was bloody brilliant, mate." He hugged Harry and then he hugged Hermione, something he never did. The two blushed as he pulled away.
Harry couldn't help his grin. "You both did wonderful."
That's when Xander, Willow, Uncle Rupert, and two sluggish dark-haired women made their way to the wizards and witch's side. Uncle Rupert surveyed them all, getting a gauge of their health. "Are you all alright?" he asked worriedly, his question spoken more pointedly at Harry.
"We're okay," Harry assured him.
Lupin and Tonks joined them. "You know, I'm beginning to reconsider moving to Sunnydale, Rupert," Professor Lupin joked as he dabbed sweat away from his face with a handkerchief.
"I didn't know you were so adept with this sort of thing, Remus," Tonks admired. "Blasted Ministry."
"What about Buffy?" Harry asked and searched the room for the slim Slayer. He caught still facing against the preacher-like vampire who now held a sledgehammer in his hands.. The dark-skinned once-man, continued to threaten her, but Buffy paid him no mind.
"Are you going to kill me or just bore me to death?" she asked cocky, but still not as Harry had seen her that first time out Slaying.
Angel stood to the side, watching this with wise patience. After living over two hundred years, Harry guessed that this moment in time seemed incredibly fast to the vampire but to the wizard he wished Buffy would just kill him already. The vampire rushed her the sledgehammer high in the air. and Buffy held her ground, seemingly unmoved by the threat. When Harry was sure the vampire was upon her, she sidestepped and grabbed a candelabra that had been standing just as unassuming at her side, and pressed the flames into the vampires chest. The dark-skinned vampire was reduced to ash and the sledgehammer clattered to the ground.
For a moment Buffy looked shell-shocked, as though she'd suddenly been petrified and Harry moved to console her, but Uncle Rupert held him back. Buffy picked up the sledgehammer and walked over to the neatly laid out Master bones. He jolted, nearly leaping a meter in the air when she angrily pounded the hammer into the bones, crushing them into dust.
"What is she doing?" Willow whispered.
"Working out her issues," Xander guessed.
It was a horrible tableau, causing all around her to silence, even Cordelia and Ms. Calendar who undoubtedly had questions. Tears streamed down Buffy's face and Harry feared for a moment that the Dementors would return with just the tantalizing smell of her agony. It was a short lived fear as Angel finally moved from his place of patient observation and walked to her side, Buffy dropping the hammer and turning into his embrace.
Heart-wrenching sobs emitted from the tiny Slayer, as she burrowed into the ensouled vampire's chest.
"Are they?" Tonks asked, confused.
"Yes," Uncle Rupert and Professor Lupin answered together.
"But isn't he..." Tonks drew off.
Xander nodded disparagingly, while Willow answered, "Yeah," with a dreamy tone.
"I'll explain later," Professor Lupin said with a grin.
Harry couldn't help but feel sorry for the ironic couple, doomed from the first but each seeking comfort from the other. He had yet to find someone like that and by the way Ron and Hermione were looking at each other, they had just discovered it.
"Okay, what's going on here?" Cordelia asked, haughtily after a moment. "And do you have any idea how difficult it's going to be to get this blood out."
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
"Tonks and I will walk the kids home," Remus told Giles as the night activities began to calm down. "I don't think Buffy should have to deal with anything more this night."
Giles nodded, thankful that both Buffy and Harry had made it through this ordeal, relatively unscathed. "I would appreciate that, Remus. Are you sure you're feeling up to it?" The full moon was only a few days away and usually left Remus weak just before and just after.
"That would be the upside to Sunnydale, I don't feel nearly as drained as I have in the past," Remus answered. "This Hellmouth of yours is doing remarkable things for my health."
A chuckle escaped the Watcher but he soon sobered. "Ah, Remus, I wanted to ask you about that animal Harry conjured."
"It was a patronus charm, Rupert. The best way and to my knowledge the only way to repel a Dementor."
"It looked incredibly like James' animagus form," Giles continued, knowing that for some reason Remus was redirecting him from this conversation. And not caring to be diverted. "In fact I could have sworn it was James' animagus form."
Remus shook his head and swallowed hard. "Rupert, James is gone. I saw the body myself, unmarred, but motionless. Don't grasp an illusion."
"Right, yes, of course, you're right," Giles said, feeling slightly flustered and frustrated. "I'll make sure Jenny and Cordelia gets home if you get Willow, Xander, and Buffy back."
Remus studied him dubiously before nodding. Giles was relieved, not wanting to get in a philosophical discussion about the realities of magic and what he had hoped was a real if only slight manifestation of his brother. "I miss him too, Ripper, but you can't let yourself be fooled by magic. You know that as well as I do."
Giles nodded and brushed past Remus, heading towards his Slayer. She looked at him with a chagrined expression. He was glad that the smile that touched her lips wasn't as forced as it had been in the last few weeks and knew that the Buffy he'd become acquainted with was well on her way to appearing.
"How are you?"
"Aside from feeling like a complete jerk and utter idiot, I feel pretty good," Buffy said with a cheerful shrug. "I don't know how to begin to apologize."
"They understand," Giles assured her. "They're your friends."
"I meant to you," Buffy said, suddenly very serious. "What I said at your apartment earlier was uncalled for. I know I can be a selfish wench at times Giles, but I'm happy you have Harry in your life now. It makes this job a lot less awful when you have a family to go home to."
Giles smiled fatherly at her and knew that the feelings he was beginning to harbor towards his Slayer were not ones that Council would condone. A working relationship was all well and good, but he'd offered to trade his life for hers a few weeks ago and that was something a Watcher should never do.
"Remus and Tonks have offered to walk you and the others home," he informed gently.
Her reaction was a defensive one. "They don't have to. I can take care of them now Giles."
"Frankly, I've begun to suspect that Remus has become addicted to the thrill of this life. He assumes he'd meet another vampire following alongside you, then with me," Giles said in a droll tone.
"So will he be staying her when Harry goes back to school?" Buffy asked.
"I'm not sure. It would be nice to have someone around I can actually converse with," Giles jibbed softly.
A soft smile played on her features and it was the first time in a long time Giles remembered seeing her happy. "Thanks Giles."
"Take care," he replied. "And don't forget training tomorrow."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll be there," Buffy answered flippantly, before joining her friends.
Giles turned to the three young wizards in his charge, Jenny, and Cordelia. "Let's leave shall we?"
Ms. Calendar instantly engaged him in conversation, demanding answers to what had just occurred in her typical straightforward fashion. Cordelia had found her way to Harry once again and Giles couldn't discern whether he was please or annoyed by her presence. He certainly wasn't like his father in that respect, James had been a rather roguish ladies man, taking after his older brother of course. While Ron and Hermione hung back, seeming suddenly uncomfortable in each other's presence.
It wasn't long before they had Jenny and Cordelia home safely and the foursome headed back to Giles' flat. Harry stood next to him, giving his friends a certain amount of space that Giles' didn't understand. He had a pensive look on his face and didn't speak much until they were almost at the flat.
"What about your car? You going to finally abandon it to the junkyard where it belongs?" Harry abruptly asked.
"No," Giles drew out the word wearily. "I'll retrieve it in the morning." Harry's face was overly pale in the moonlight and his stride was less then its youthful bounce. "You should eat when we get home. Those Dementors must have taxed you."
Harry shrugged affecting indifference. "It isn't too bad. I've gotten strangely accustomed to it all."
"We'll discover who they were meant for and who sent them," Giles tried to assure him, wondering if it was really the Dementors that troubled him.
"Uncle Rupert can I ask you a question?" Harry stuttered out.
Giles nodded emphatically. "Of co..."
With an abruptness of a sharp wind, Giles felt that he couldn't talk, that his breath had frozen in his lungs. He looked around wondering what could have possibly caused the sensation when he was suddenly hit by an onrush of dark memories, a replay of the dark ages of his life. His knees gave out and crashed to the pavement with a painful crack. As he fell forward, he caught himself on the palms of his hands. The gravel from the road, cutting into them, drawing blood. But it was nothing next to the pain inside his head. The frightened cries of Randall when they had not been able to exercise Eyghon from the young man.
Through the din of flashing pictures and mingled screams, Giles heard Harry shout out something and the cold dissipated along with the cacophony in his head. He slowly opened eyes that he hadn't realized he'd closed and was met with the visage of a silver stag, the one his brother had worked so hard to transform into.
"James?" he asked in a staccato voice. "Is it truly you?"
The stag or patronus, as Remus had called it, butted it's snout against Giles shoulder, urging him to his feet. The Watcher in him was surprised to find the magic corporal and he ran a hand along the long neck. Warm fur, meet the tips of his fingers and he remembered the first time he had ran his hand in a similar fashion when James had succeeded in his transformation. It had been Giles who had suggested a stag or hart as it was known in rural mysticism. And here was the mystical manifestation of his brother right in front of him.
"Do you recognize me? Or do you just obey Harry's whims?" Giles asked in a soft awed tone.
There was a reply, a low guttural sound that came from the throat and vibrated towards Giles, though the Watcher couldn't begin to decipher its meaning. The stag pranced on its articulated legs as though dutifully trying to relay the answer to Giles' questions. 'It's magic, Rupert, only magic,' he told himself as his hand suddenly went through the once solid form.
Harry ran up to him and knelt beside Giles. "They must be after you."
"Hm?" Giles asked, wishing that Harry had held onto the magic just a little bit longer. "Oh, yes, that would make sense. We best get in doors. They seem rather tenacious about getting to someone this night."
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Peter Pettigrew watched as for the second time, Potter dispelled the Dementors from getting at Rupert Giles or himself. He shivered as he thought he would have to do this the hard way. Ripper would die along with his brother and Harry would be vulnerable to the Dark Lord's desires. Peter's nose twitched as he shrunk down and into the rat that he truly was, scurrying into the shadows of Sunnydale.