Name: Kristen
Title: Twin Destinies 2?
Website: http/magical-worlds.us/scribblings
Disclaimer: I do not own anything mentioned in the Harry Potter books. That honor goes to J.K. Rowling. I also don't own anything on the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That belongs to Joss Whedon and whoever else has a piece of that pie. No infringement is intended and no profit is being made. This is just for my own amusement and only the plot is mine.
Rating: PG-13/Teen
Pairings: Dawn/Blaise and Harry/Ginny eventually
Spoilers: General Season 5 Spoilers for BtVS and spoilers for all of the Harry Potter books, especially for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Summary: Answer to one of my own challenges posted a long time ago, what if the monks had sent Dawn to someone else? Voldemort is after the key for purposes better left alone and the monks send her to Harry Potter for protection.
Feedback: Is always appreciated. It's what keeps me writing and I'd love to know what you think of this. I don't get many reviews any more so any comments would be appreciated. Let me know where I'm going wrong or what you think I'm doing right. And if you haven't reviewed before now's your chance.
A.N. I'm trying to stay true to canon (well as true as I can be with Dawn involved in an AU story) so I borrowed a few events from the end of book 5 namely the confrontation with Malfoy on the train and the gang finding out about Cho and Michael Corner. I changed things for the purposes of this story but if it looks familiar that's why.

Part 2

Harry and Dawn spent most of the time remaining in the school term together interspersed with visits to the hospital wing to see Ron and Hermione. Despite their vows to each other to talk about what Dumbledore had told them and where to go from there, they spent a lot of time in silence brooding over it all. Harry was consumed with guilt over Sirius's death and anger at Dumbledore and Snape. If not for Snape and the way he treated Harry in his occlumency lessons, or Dumbledore's deliberate silence on why he was having occlumency lessons, and a million other important issues Harry felt he needed to know, that whole mess at the ministry could have been avoided. And yet, every time the memory of Dumbledore's face swam in his mind's eye he could see the tear that had slowly fallen down the Professor's face. Every time it happened Harry was filled with shame over his actions and a wish to just go up to Dumbledore's office and talk with him with the ease that he used to do so.

Dawn was busy worrying over whether any of the feelings or friendships in her life were real. She had had the same nightmare for a few nights now that whatever magic the monks had used to place her with Harry and include her in everyone's memories broke and no one could remember who she was. Then she started to fade away like a ghost because she wasn't real; but it was worse than being a ghost because she wasn't a person, just a magical object, so she wasn't going to heaven or hell. She just knew in her dream that when she disappeared it would be completely. Just disappearing into nothing like she was never there. She'd wake up screaming with terror at the realization.

The other girls in her dormitory assumed the dreams were because of the attack by Death Eaters and Voldemort at the Ministry, though Dawn hadn't said a word to them about what happened. She couldn't talk about most of it even if she was inclined to say anything to Lavender or Parvati. Hermione, who was in the know about everything that happened since she was there too, assumed the nightmares were about Sirius. They were all partially right. Because while Dawn was waking up screaming from nightmares about what she was, they weren't the only nightmares she had. She had dreams about what the Death Eaters had done and about what Voldemort had done to Harry. She woke up sweaty and trembling from those with her wand clenched in her fingers.

But, she also dreamed about Sirius and seeing him fall in slow motion toward the veil trying to save him and knowing she wouldn't be able to even in her dreams. Those she woke up from crying silently as if her heart would break and feeling conflicted about crying. Would Sirius feel the same way about her if he knew he wasn't really her godfather? Was her grief and love for him real or programmed into her by the monks? As if that wasn't enough to deal with she felt guilt too. Because of what she was, Voldemort was after her and he hadn't stopped at killing to try to get her. Innocent people would probably be hurt because of her and she couldn't help but feel that she was another burden to Harry, another life he was expected to save even though he had told her otherwise.

She wasn't the only one having nightmares either. She knew Hermione and Ginny had them, and Ginny had mentioned Luna was the same. Neville wasn't immune and neither was Ron. Everyone who had been there that day at the ministry was having nightmares. Harry too, though his were in addition to his regular ones. She had overheard Ron whispering to Hermione about Harry's nightmares and knew they had gotten a lot worse than they usually were. Not that Harry had really slept well for a long time, anyway. Still, she knew things were just as bad for Harry as they were for herself. More so probably, when you took into consideration what had happened to Cedric last year, the mistakes of this year, and the information in the prophecy. If Harry hadn't had any nightmares it would have been a miracle.

So it was a rather morose set of siblings that boarded the Hogwarts train home. No one had called them on it yet, assuming that their demeanors were attributed entirely to Sirius' loss. That was part of it, true, but not all of it. Neither of them had told their friends what Dumbledore had told them. It wasn't exactly news you could drop into casual conversation and both of them had gotten into the habit of holding their troubles close.

They did perk up a bit after the traditional confrontation with Malfoy had been gotten out of the way. Besting Malfoy and his goons was always a bit cheering if you didn't get caught. Dawn had dragged Harry with her to say goodbye to a few friends, who happened to be members of the DA, and had just left their compartment when Malfoy and his incredibly stupid sidekicks strolled up.

"You're going to pay, Potter. My dad will get out and you'll be sorry," Draco spat.

"Wow Malfoy, I'm trembling in my boots at the thought of you running to your daddy to tell on me," Harry smirked. "I've already beaten him and put him in Azkaban. I think I can take him again, should be easy don't you think?"

Incensed Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle drew wands, but Harry and Dawn already had theirs out and both hit the trio with hexes. At the commotion, members of the DA had spilled out of the compartment and joined their hexes to Dawn and Harry's. Surprisingly, the compartment on Dawn's left slid open and a hex shot out as well. Dawn whirled when she saw the light of a spell being shot past her. Her wand came up in defense and pointed straight at…Blaise.

Stunned, Dawn saw that he wasn't aiming at her or the DA but at Crabbe who was trying again to take her out. She turned back around and fired off a quick spell. Blaise shot another over her shoulder at the same time. Crabbe didn't really have a chance at succeeding since Dawn was nearly as good at DADA as her twin Harry. Her curse and Blaise's hit him at the same time. Crabbe was down, and seconds later Malfoy and Goyle joined him on the floor. Dawn tuned out the other students' excited babble and glanced back at Blaise curiously. Why had he helped her? She had noticed he hadn't been hanging out as much with the other junior Death Eaters in Slytherin House this year after Christmas Break but she still had no idea what he was doing there. It was so un-Slytherin, and unexpected. What was next, Pansy sharing beauty secrets with Lavender and Parvati? Snape giving points to Gryffindor? Blaise shifted his gaze to Crabbe then back to Dawn. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine," Dawn answered automatically, still a little shocked and suspicious.

His lips lifted briefly in a small smile before saying, "Good." He gave her a lingering once over as if to make sure of that himself that ended with a smirk.

Dawn blushed at his perusal.

His eyes gleamed in amusement. "You look fine to me too." He drawled. "See you around Potter." Blaise turned around and slipped back into his compartment.

Dawn tried hard not to blush again. The last thing she needed was anyone to notice and suspect the reason why. Sure, Blaise was very attractive. For a Slytherin anyway, but any girl would feel a bit flustered by attention like that. It didn't mean anything and it was best not to get the boys riled up about it. Ron would explode rather dramatically and Harry probably wouldn't be far behind.

She turned her attention back to what was going on. Thankfully, no one was paying any attention to her and she didn't hear anyone mention Blaise's name so he must not have been noticed.

Everyone's attention was focused on the floor as they discussed what to do with the three Slytherins. They had taken so many hexes and curses that they were an unrecognizable gooey mess and bore a slight resemblance to oversized slugs. It was almost impossible to differentiate exactly which curses had hit them. Their parents would probably have a great amount of difficulty determining what had happened to them and fixing it.

Dawn spared a moment's thought for imagining their faces when they saw the Slytherins and nearly laughed out loud. When Harry turned and grinned at her Dawn knew he was thinking the same thing. It was times like this, since she found out what she was, that made her feel like the deep connection between them was real and Harry really was her brother. Who else but her twin would know what she was thinking and be thinking it too?

As if to prove her last thought, Harry's eyes glowed with brotherly affection and he gave her a lopsided smile before he turned his attention back to the problem.

It was finally decided that Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle would be stuffed into the luggage racks for their parents to find later. Harry helped to hoist their bodies into place before he and Dawn went back to their seats.

When Cho walked by their compartment later and Hermione mentioned that Cho was seeing someone else, namely Michael Corner, Dawn looked at Harry in surprise. She didn't know that. Of course Ron immediately demanded to know what was going on and Dawn listened with curiosity to Ginny's explanation of their break-up.

Apparently Michael was upset about the way Ginny and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team had beaten them. He thought Ginny should have lost the game and went to console Cho. Hmph, if that was the way he acted she supposed he and Cho deserved each other. Dawn was put out with Cho still for her actions all year with Harry. Thankfully, Harry didn't look too upset at the news. She'd have to question him later about it.

She tuned back into the conversation just in time to hear Ron say to Ginny with a furtive look at Harry, "Just choose someone… better, next time."

She rolled her eyes. Ron was so far from subtle. Typically though, Harry didn't even notice what Ron was hinting at. Boys.

It was an interesting idea though. Harry and Ginny; the possibility had some merit. She glanced between the two. Ginny was stubborn and energetic enough to drag Harry out of his brooding when he needed it. They were both Gryffindors and had shared some pretty terrifying experiences together. The latest being what happened at the Ministry.

She knew they had something else in common. Harry didn't like to speak of it and Ginny rarely mentioned it herself, but Voldemort had possessed them both now. Dawn had a sneaking suspicion Ginny had a few lasting reminders of it. Reminders like the ability to speak Parselmouth, for example.

Unfortunately, Dawn didn't know Ginny that well with her being a year younger than Dawn. The bulk of Dawn's time was spent with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. She should get to know Ginny better if she was thinking of setting her brother up with her.

She glanced speculatively at Harry. She knew Ginny had had a crush on him in the past. A crush she wasn't sure was gone completely, but how did Harry feel about Ginny? Was there any interest there? If there wasn't, then the idea didn't have a chance of working. She'd have to feel him out carefully.

There was time enough for that. They had way too much going on to even think about dating right now. Dawn sighed. Stupid prophesy, stupid monks, stupid Death Eaters following stupid psychos with pretentious names.

What was she going to do? She didn't even know what Voldemort wanted to use the Key for, but she had no doubt it wasn't good. She almost wished Hermione knew what she was and didn't care. Hermione could find practically anything in books. She should have asked Dumbledore when he was in such an information-sharing mood. Unfortunately, Dawn had been too upset to even think of it. She had her doubts that Dumbledore would be as forthcoming with information in the future.

If she wanted to have any chance at stopping Voldemort from doing whatever it is he wanted or finding out where the Key was, she'd have to be prepared. And being prepared meant finding out all she could. Unfortunately, she and Harry would be spending their summer with the Dursleys and wouldn't have any opportunities at all to find out anything. This summer looked to be nearly as frustrating as the last in that respect.

Words couldn't describe how much she and Harry hated being forced to return to the Dursleys. Knowing the reason why hadn't made the prospect any more palatable. The protection hadn't seemed to make a whit of difference anyway when the Dementors showed up last summer.

With a pang of grief she remembered Sirius' offer to stay with him when it looked as if she and Harry would be expelled from Hogwarts. Oh Sirius. Her throat felt tight as she fought back tears. She didn't want her friends to see her cry. They'd want to talk about it, and Dawn wasn't ready to talk about everything that made her upset at this point.

She bent her head over the chess game Harry and Ron were playing, letting her hair hide her face as she pretended to study the board. She missed Sirius so much, never mind the fact that she hadn't really known him nearly as long as she thought she did.

Tears fell as she desperately tried to rein in her emotions. A hand reached for hers and held it gently. A wave of comfort, understanding, and shared grief seemed to flow into her where their hands met. Harry. With his help she reined in her emotions. She could cry tonight when she was alone in bed. She clasped his hand tightly. Her twin knew how she felt because he felt it too. How could this not be real? The monks couldn't have faked this, could they?

She knew from Hermione that twins in the wizarding world were much closer than muggle twins. There was a deep bond shared between them. While some muggle twins could at times feel their twin's emotions, wizarding twins could do it at any time and even send emotions if they wanted to. Most wizarding twins could share dreams, which she knew to be true having shared a few of Harry's. If the bond was exceptionally strong they could even send or share thoughts, and in some cases call on the other's talent if needed.

She and Harry weren't the only twins she knew of who could communicate mentally. She had a strong suspicion Fred and George could too from their habit of finishing each other's sentences.

Surely the monks couldn't have manufactured the bond twins share, right? It had to be something between her and Harry. She didn't know if that was true or not, and she was afraid to find out. Dawn was desperately trying to hold on to something real and her bond with Harry was what she was clinging too. If the monks had just created it too, she'd rather not know.

She laid her head on her brother's shoulder. She had managed to gain enough control to stop crying but her emotions these last few days had exhausted her. There was just too much to deal with. It was all too intense, and maybe a summer at the Dursleys unable to do anything would be just what she needed. Hmph, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry when she realized she had considered staying with the Dursleys a chance to get away from it all and rest.

When Harry yelled out in protest at Ron's destruction of one of his just moved pieces he had considered a good strategy, Dawn welcomed the chance to laugh. She laughed a bit longer than anyone considered normal, but Harry was the only one who didn't give her a weird look for it. Sometimes you just had to laugh or else break down crying.

End Part 2