Title: Bound by Loyalty
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Harry Potter- Pretty much books 1-4.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer- Seasons 1-5 and some of season 6.
Pairings: Buffy/Sirius Black, Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hermione
Summary: Buffy gets a letter inviting her to help teach at Hogwarts. Dumbledore tells her about the fight with Voldemort, and she agrees to help protect Harry Potter. While there, she learns things about herself that she never knew, and she finds a way to live. Meanwhile, Sirius Black can't stop thinking about the blonde Slayer that has suddenly invaded his life.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of them. Buffy goes to Whedon, and Harry and everybody in the Potter-verse go to Rowling. If you don't recognize anyone, they're probably mine. I do own the plot, though. Don't sue. Please.
Authors Note: Thanks ever so much to Celtic Babe/ Elven Bride and kitty minky for your absolutely wonderful reviews. You guys totally made my day. Seriously. I love you!
Celtic Babe/Elven Bride- You are one of my favorite reviewers. You and kitty minky are just… beautiful. Yes, I am a little obsessed with the whole time sequence thing. I think that it makes it easier, for me and the readers, to understand what's going on and when it's going on. And it helps me keep things organized. Ya know, I wasn't even thinking about Harry's watch and Colin's camera flash. I just wanted her watch to work. But, that gives me an excuse, and it's a darn good one, so thanks! Here's the next chapter, and it should be longer.
Kitty minky- I just might take your advice and quit school! Just kidding. This is a part time gig, just because I like to write and I think that being able to express myself through my writing is more creative and relaxing than doing anything to people that make me mad. At least this doesn't get me thrown in jail. Chocolate can distract even the most stubborn girl… well, at least it can distract me when I'm angry or sad. I think that chocolate is God's way of saying 'Sorry for giving you PMS. Here, this'll make you feel a whole lot better.'
Well, here is chapter 10. Basic summary: Buffy and Severus have a meaningful conversation and Sirius gets jealous. Enjoy!
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'This could be
Your final heartYour final heartbreak'-Jessica Simpson "Final Heartbreak"
---------------------------Chapter 10: Pancakes and Heartaches----------------------------------
It was 1:30 by the time everyone went to bed. They had all sat around discussing Buffy being the Slayer. She had explained to Harry that she was at Hogwarts to help protect the school. Then she told him about the tower and what had happened. Who the girl was and why she had jumped off the tower. Harry liked Buffy. She was nice, funny, and honest. She didn't look at him in pity, but in sympathy, like she understood everything he'd been through. Which he didn't doubt she did. She was a Slayer, wasn't she? He smiled softly as he fell asleep, knowing that somehow everything would be okay.
----------------------------September 18th-------------------------------
As the days passed by, Buffy got accustomed to being a teacher at Hogwarts. Once a week, she used a school owl and mailed everybody in Sunnydale. They in turn owled her back a batch of letters and a picture or other memento. At night, she would go out and slay the occasional vamp or demon. Dumbledore had warned her that there were harmless creatures in the forest, such as Centaurs or Unicorns. So far she had only come across evil things.
The school was really interesting, but very confusing. She still sometimes got lost going to the Great Hall or her classroom. Luckily, she hadn't yet needed to got anywhere else. And the ghosts! Buffy hadn't encountered one face-to-face until her second week teaching.
She had been wandering down the corridor that led to the Great Hall, lost in thought. Once again, she was day-dreaming about Sirius Black…
Buffy's short stature easily let her mingle with the few students still heading to the Great Hall. Only a couple noticed who she was, and they made sure that they didn't say anything to get them in trouble. She wouldn't have noticed, however, because she was once again thinking about her latest encounter with Sirius, which had involved a few blushes and some stammering. Buffy spent her patrols, besides slaying of course, thinking about the conversations they had, mentally correcting whatever she had said, replacing it with something witty to make her seem charming.
She had been changing one of her comments with a funny remark in their last conversation, which had been about the weather, when something big and decidedly wet splashed on her head, soaking her. Startled, Buffy stopped. A laugh made her look up. A ghost was floating about ten feet above her, holding another water balloon. Disbelief and astonishment quickly turning to anger, Buffy didn't notice the students stop and turn to watch. Most of them, those who hadn't seen her when she was angry that is, felt sorry for the new professor, as it seemed that Peeves was going to throw the second water balloon. All of them were glad that it wasn't one of them the poltergeist was targeting.
Placing her hands on her hips, Buffy glared up at the ghost. "Don't you dare," she said in her most no-nonsense voice. The same one she used on her sister when they were younger and Dawn had been trying on her clothes again and trying to sneak one of her favorite shirts away. Or when she had almost eaten the rest of her mint chocolate ice cream. It had usually worked. Grinning evilly, Peeves pretended to lob the balloon at her. As she stepped out of the way, he threw it for real, hitting her squarely on the head. Her shriek drew a few professors from the Great Hall, the rest staying behind to protect the students in case something dastardly was happening.
Those that had gone out had been McGonagall, Hagrid, and of course with her luck, Sirius.
Standing there in wet clothing and a furious look on her pretty face was Buffy Summers. And above her was Peeves, laughing uproariously. Sirius winced in sympathy. He had been about to step forward and reprimand Peeves when Buffy did something unexpected. She smiled. However, it wasn't the nicest smile. It was sort of downright evil.
"You may find this funny now, Peeves, but you wait until I get you back. Then you'll regret the day you died," she said sweetly, before indignantly turning around and gracefully walking to the stairs. The whole effect had been ruined by her squelching shoes and the wet footprints she was leaving behind. Sirius smiled at the now silent and uncertain looking Peeves.
The ghost had left the room whenever Buffy was near.
On Sept. 19, Buffy met her first Centaur. She had been patrolling, and she was just about to call it a night when she felt something to her left. It didn't feel evil, so she turned and waited. A few seconds later, a large… something came out. A Centaur! Buffy looked at the half-human half-horse in something akin to awe. Such a magnificent creature.
The Centaur stopped in front of her, regarding her warily. Buffy was speechless. He was beautiful and fierce. And then he spoke to her.
"Slayer," he began, "my name is Amitabha. On behalf of my race, we thank you for guarding this forest and ridding it of the foul creatures that hunt us."
"Um… you're very welcome," Buffy replied. She was amazed. People didn't thank her for what she did. They just ignored her and her job, choosing to live a life of ignorance.
"In repayment, we would like to offer our services to you for as long as we, and this forest, stand."
"Oh. That's very kind of you. Thank you so much. But, how do I find you?"
"Just step into the forest and yell out 'Twilight Searchers' then whistle twice. Someone will find you. If you are in need of more than one Centaur, or if you need help with a fight, yell out 'Heaven Gazers' then whistle three times."
"Okay. Thank you," Buffy replied, gratified. Amitabha nodded, then cantered off. Shaking her head, Buffy turned around and went back to Hogwarts. Entering her room, she changed into her 'Yummy Sushi' pajamas and collapsed into bed, glad it was Friday.
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Draco Malfoy woke at 6 o'clock Saturday morning cold and exhausted. Swinging out of bed and wincing when his feet touched the cold concrete floor, he rubbed his sleepy eyes. Yawning, he changed into his Quidditch robes. Today was the first Quidditch practice, and Slytherins had the Pitch until 10, then the Gryffindors took over.
"Bloody Gryffindors," he muttered. "Bloody dungeons have to be so damn cold. Bloody Flint waking me up so bloody early." Still muttering, he joined the rest of his team in the Slytherin Common Room. Heading to the Quidditch Pitch, all Draco was thinking about was more sleep.
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Waking up at 8:30, Buffy was disappointed. She had wanted to sleep until the crack of noon. Yawning and stretching, she was resigned to waking up. Getting out of bed, she headed to her personal bathroom and hopped into the shower.
The hot water felt good on her aching muscles. Closing her eyes, Buffy leaned against the cream colored tiled wall. Washing her hair, she smiled. Amitabha's offer to help had really boosted her spirits. Maybe she wasn't the only one that refused to believe that there was not hope.
Drying herself off. She stepped into her closet, choosing her outfit. White pants with a white off the shoulder top. She left her hair straight and put a minimal amount of make-up on. Only powder, blush, and red lip gloss. Satisfied with her appearance, Buffy slipped on flip-flops and left her room.
Managing to make it to the Great Hall without getting lost once, Buffy smiled happily. Entering, she tried to stifle her disappointment at Sirius' absence. Sighing, she took a seat at the Professors table between McGonagall and Snape. Smiling tiredly to McGonagall and Dumbledore, they both nodded back before returning to their own conversation. Buffy looked at the food spread out before her and thought she was in piggy heaven. Grabbing a steaming roll, and buttering it, she bit into it's soft flakiness. Closing her eyes in satisfaction, she swallowed the bite and turned to a quiet Snape beside her.
During her three week at Hogwarts, they had barely spoken with one another except for the occasional "Good morning," "Good night," "Pass the so-and-so, please," and even an "That's my goblet you're drinking out of." Since that night when Buffy had felt was Snape was feeling, she had been watching him closely. Right then he was staring down at his plate of pancakes. Decided to at least be friendly, she said "With pancakes, I always made them with chocolate chips in the batter. Have you ever tried that Severus?"
Snape looked up, startled. As he registered her words, he smiled faintly. It wasn't exactly a smile, more like a quick upturn of lips. But it counted as a smile in Buffy's book, and her book was always well informed. "No, I haven't," he answered. "However, my mother used to put blueberries in mine when I was a child."
"Ah, the whole healthy/unhealthy food trick. The blueberries make it healthy, and the syrup makes it unhealthy, so it balances out. My mom used to do it all the time. Every Saturday it would be chocolate chip pancakes. You should try it sometime." She smiled quickly before turning back to her own pancakes, and Severus to his. After that the silence was more comfortable as Severus contemplated Buffy, and Buffy reminisced back to when her mother was alive.
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Shoving the last of the graded essays from his pile onto Buffy's, Sirius stood up and stretched, glancing at the clock. 9:07. His stomach grumbled, telling him to go to breakfast. He told himself that the reason he was rushing wasn't because of the prospect of seeing Buffy again, but because he was hungry. And he was still telling himself that when he got to the Great Hall.
When he arrived, Sirius felt a flare of jealously erupt as he saw her in deep conversation with, surprisingly, Snape. The evil, foul Snape. 'You have no reason to be jealous. She's not yours!' he told himself. 'And besides, what could she possibly see in Snape, of all people? Slime git.' Immediately reassured, he quickened his pace. Gritting his teeth, he made himself sit next to Snape so he could be close to Buffy. Smiling over at her, he said "Good morning Buffy. How are you?"
"Oh, I'm great. Severus and I were just discussing what should be put in pancakes," she gave Snapes arm a friendly squeeze. Sirius stomped on his envy.
"I like blueberries myself," he said.
Buffy smiled at him. "What a coincidence. Severus here just said he likes his pancakes with blueberries too. You guys might have a lot in common and you don't even know it."
Sirius mentally groaned.
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Severus mentally groaned. Miss Summers certainly was a chatterbox, and she seemed hell-bent on including him in the conversation with Black. He had to admit that he was surprised, and not unpleasantly, when she had first talked to him. Everybody else, besides Dumbledore, seemed to find him somewhat repulsive.
True, he was grateful to her for not right off the bat hating him, but to make him act civilized around Black was altogether too much. She hadn't even said anything, she just looked at him with these eyes that would make even Voldemort want to turn good, just to hear her say one kind thing to him. It wasn't fair that he had no such weapon. He doubted anyone else did.
Severus silently chuckled. It seemed that Black was smitten with Summers. For that one thing, Severus pitied him. She would have him wrapped around her pinkie in no time. Just look at him with her eye trick, and he was eating out of her palm. When there was a lull in the conversation, he politely excused himself. It was 9:30, and he wanted to see his Slytherins practice before the Gryffindors took over the pitch. Robes billowing, he swept out of the Great Hall.
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At five minutes to 10, Harry approached Sirius at the professors table. He was so engrossed in watching Buffy make smiley faces out of the cut up pieces of pancakes that he didn't notice Harry until he said his name the third time. As he turned, Buffy looked at Harry and smiled in greeting. He smiled back.
"Gryffindor is about to practice Quidditch. Do you want to watch?" He asked Sirius.
"Squid-what?" Buffy asked, confused.
"Quidditch. A game played on broomsticks," Harry answered, amused when her eyes widened.
"Broomsticks?" She whispered, incredulous.
"Yeah. Wanna watch?" Harry asked, laughing when she nodded her head enthusiastically. When they reached the Quidditch pitch, Buffy's head swiveled back and forth, trying to take it all in. She stuck close to Sirius and Harry, smiling that the Slytherins that walked past with sneers on their faces. The only one that didn't glare at Harry was Draco Malfoy. He seemed to be thinking deeply about something.
Spotting Snape, Buffy called out, "Severus, hi!" while motioning him to come over. Reluctantly, he made his way to the three.
"Summers," he said in greeting, looking down at her beaming face. Why was she beaming at him? His eyes roamed over a glaring Harry and Sirius, who was standing closer to Buffy as if he was protecting her. He almost snorted at the idea. Black protecting a Slayer? It was kind of funny.
"I just found out about this whole Quit-it sport. You fly? On broomsticks? That is just too cute," Summers fired of in rapid succession, smiling enthusiastically.
"The sport is called Quidditch. And yes, they play on broomsticks. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have papers to grade," he replied, turning away.
"Okay. Bye Sev!" Buffy called out to his retreating back. Turning to Sirius, she was surprised to see he was looking kind of sad.
"What's the matter, Sirius? Why're you so blue?" she asked, looking up into his beautiful eyes that made her forget Harry was standing there, made her forget they were standing in the middle of a field that was meant for a sport played on broomsticks, eyes that made her forget she was at the most beautiful castle she had ever seen.
Immediately shaking off his melancholy, Sirius lied. "Nothing. Just thinking about all the papers that are going to be needed to be graded." He was glad when she seemed to accept his answer and didn't push. Truth be told, he was very disappointed and heartbroken. He knew it was crazy because he'd only known Buffy for a few weeks, but her really liked her. And she seemed to like someone else.
But, for God's sake, did that someone else have to be Snape of all people?
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Well, hope you liked. I'll update in a week or so.
Next chapter: Buffy learns about Quidditch, Sirius goes patrolling with her, and he confronts her about her feelings for Snape.