Chapter Six
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"I'm, Buffy, The vampire slayer. And you are...?
Dear, Minerva McGonagall
We have received your letter and we will be on our way to England as soon as possible. Myself, my Watcher and the other people that help me have been booked onto a flight from Los Angeles to London's Heathrow Airport. We should be arriving on Wednesday the 24th of August on United Airways flight 21. I do certainly hope we can help you.
Buffy Summers
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Hermione was in a state of excitement as she burst through the basement door and bounded down the stairs. Unfortunately by doing so she had distracted Harry just as Phoebe swung into a roundhouse kick, causing her foot to forcefully connected with his left-arm. His feet left the ground and he flew into a pile of boxes that all seemed to be full of heavy leather bound books, so his landing was not as cushioned as he had hoped it would be.
"Oh, Harry!" Hermione rushed over in wide-eyed astonishment. "Are you hurt?"
Harry groggily stood up and dusted himself off. "I'm fine, Hermione. I just failed to block the kick properly"
Hermione examined a deep purple bruise that was beginning to form on the boy's arm. "That looks sore," she said as she gingerly touched the skin around it.
"Nah, It's not that bad, believe me," he frowned. "Er…not that I mind or anything but why exactly are you down here?"
Hermione smiled up at him. "We have received a letter from the Slayer. She's on her way here with her Watcher"
Harry swung her into a hug and laughed in sheer joy. "Really? That's so great! When does she get here?"
"On the twenty-fourth"
Phoebe came over to them and handed Harry a towel. "I think we are done for today," she said as she wiped the sweat off of her face. "Sorry about the kick just then but you need to stay focused and block all distractions from your mind"
Harry nodded to indicate that he understood. "Ok, I will work on it. Thanks, Phoebs"
The two of them left Phoebe and made their way out of the basement. Once they were in the foyer Hermione turned to Harry. "I think you should try having therapeutic massages"
"Therapeutic massages?" Harry questioned.
"Yes. To help you relax"
"I don't know, Hermione," Harry said apprehensively.
"Come on. It can be a big help when things become to hard to handle"
Harry rubbed the back of his neck. "What do they do?"
"Well, they help you relax and they also relieve pain and tension in your muscles"
"But, I dunno anyone who is a masseuse"
"I can do it," she said. "My mum's friend taught me how to over the summer"
"Hmmm, OK. I'll try it out but only if it doesn't require reading extensive textbooks and writing essays," he grinned.
"Ha, ha," Hermione said and hit him playfully on the arm.
"Hey, there's no need for violence," he laughed.
"Oh, yeah?" she said in a silky voice. "Whatya gonna do about it, huh?" she hit his arm again.
Harry grinned down at her with a mischievous sparkle in his eye. "Come here," he grabbed her and started tickling until tears of mirth rimmed her eyes.
"Ok, ok, stop," she held up her hand as she tried to breathe through her laughter. "You win"
She tried to catch her breath but was suddenly pulled towards Harry again, but what she was expecting never came. Instead he put his hand under her chin and turned her face toward him. Her lips found their way instinctively to his and kissed him, lingering, savouring every moment.
"Erm…excuse me," said a soft voice.
Harry pulled away and turned his head towards the stairs where Ginny was standing, looking in the opposite direction. "What is it, Gin?"
Ginny came down the last couple of steps, blushing furiously "Ron's on his way down. I thought you'd like to know"
Harry felt anger slowly beginning to rise inside of him. Ron was still acting like a prat and would not apologize to Hermione for yelling at her and he was still refraining from telling anyone why he had acted strangely on the train, whatever the problem was it seemed to be of great significance to Ron. Needles to say, Harry, Hermione and Ginny had granted Ron's request to but out, hoping that it would rekindle their friendship but to no avail. Ron instead had become more distant and had taken to staying up in his room or in the backyard and away from the people in the house. Ginny had become worried to the point that she thought he was suffering from depression but Tonks had told her that whatever the problem was it had nothing to do with depression.
Hermione had felt Harry tense up at the mention of Ron so she pulled him away from the stairs and ushered him into the kitchen.
"Just let it be, Harry," she said soothingly. "Just let it be"
They took a seat opposite Piper who was playing a funny game of peekaboo with her son Wyatt. "Hey, guys," she said happily. "How was training, Harry?"
"It was alright. I got a bit bruised, though" He pulled up his shirtsleeve to reveal the deepening purple bruise.
"Ouch. That looks really sore…" Piper was going to say something else but the soft creaking of the kitchen door interrupted her. Harry turned to see who had entered but all he saw was the door silently closing behind a tall, red-haired boy.
"You guys still not speaking," Piper stated rather than asked. "You know what? I think he is jealous"
Harry tilted his head and looked at her questioningly. "Jealous? Of who?"
"Of you," Piper rose from her seat and disappeared into the pantry.
"Who in their right mind would ever want to be jealous of me?"
Piper returned back to the table with a can of custard and set to the task of feeding her young son. "I know it seems hard to believe but I think he is more jealous of your relationship rather than jealous of who you are," she wiped a custard smear of off Wyatt's chin.
"Harry's relationship with me?" Hermione asked her quizzically. "But why would he be jealous of that?"
Piper sighed. "Because Ron likes you, Hermione. Im suppressed the pair of you haven't noticed it before"
Harry stared at Piper in utter disbelief. "How do you know?"
"Because he told me," she stated simply.
Training had become Harry's number one priority after his conversation with Piper and he had purposely scheduled longer and longer sessions with Phoebe just so he could keep his mind away from the knowledge of Ron's crush on Hermione. The week flew by and before Harry knew it the twenty-forth of August had arrived. After dinner he, Hermione, Lupin and Mr. Weasly drove across London to Heathrow Airport. Lupin did well finding his was to the airport but once they arrived there he had no clue as to where to go so Hermione took over, as she had been there before.
To, Hermione, Airport Terminals always seemed to be the busiest places on earth. People rushing to and from gates, clambering around the baggage claim carousels and not to mention the massive ques of people at the check-in counters as well as the large groups of people at the many cafés and lounges.
And they all seem to have a place to be. Hermione thought to herself as she, Harry, Lupin and Mr Weasly walked towards the Arrivals board.
Mr. Weasly was thoroughly enjoying himself. "I've never been to an Airport before," he exclaimed happily, looking all around him. "Look at all these people".
Mr. Weasly as a wizard had never needed to be in an airport because he, like most of the magical community travelled using magical alternatives. But others liked the old fashioned way of travelling. Which was fine by Hermione's standards. Ron on the other hand didn't know why magical people had to travel the way muggles do. "A waste of time and money," was what he had said earlier when Lupin asked him if he wanted to come with them and get the slayer from the airport.
"Ron would have liked this," Harry said as he moved up beside her. "At least Mr. Weasly is enjoying himself"
Mr. Weasly was looking up in amazement at the massive black arrivals board and watching the flipping letters intently as the information was continuously updated.
"Which flight are they on," Lupin asked?
Hermione scanned the board. "Buffy wrote that they would be on United Airlines flight 21 from L.A," as she said this the words ticked over displaying the most recent information, the word landed was next to their flight number.
The announcement chime rang out over the terminal, and then a female voice came over the PA system. "Attention please. United Airlines flight 21 from Los Angeles has landed and will arrive at gate 17 in a few minutes".
"That's us," Hermione said gleefully.
They all walked through the security barrier bordering the arrival lounge that catered for international flights. The lounge was a spacious room with rows of seats and a small coffee bar pushed snugly into a corner. Coffee was being made and the steam was fogging up the glass windows that separated the gates from the lounge. The floor to ceiling windows of the barricade gave the waiting people a fordable view of the gates and out through to the tarmac. Before the terrorist attacks on September 11 people could have gone directly to the gates, now for security measures you were no longer allowed to go to the gates unless you were getting on a plane.
Hermione surveyed the crowd or what there was of it. "Must be the only plane that's landed," she said to Harry and Lupin. Mr. Weasly had gone over to study the coffee percolator at the coffee bar.
"It is pretty late," Lupin, said. "Maybe they don't have late hour arrivals"
Harry and the others had been waiting in Heathrow airport for nearly two hours because the flight had been delayed in Los Angeles. Harry, himself didn't really mind. He had enjoyed browsing the bookstore with Hermione and sitting at a café and watching the people go about their lives.
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Buffy Summers looked out of her window at the distant lights of Heathrow Airport as the plane forcefully touched down onto the runway and rumbled along the tarmac. The last time she had been in England was when she was still in high school and the reason for her trip then was the same reason for this trip, to stop the spread of evil. The last couple of months had been really hectic on the 'saving the world' side of things. Buffy had been involved in the greatest battle that she had ever been in, a battle that not only saved the world but also destroyed the very powerful first evil and the hellmouth that lay underneath her home town of Sunnydale. After what happened she and her friends all set off for Cleveland, another city that was home to a hellmouth, but because of a letter-carrying-owl they never made it there, instead they turned around and headed to Los Angeles.
Buffy, Giles, Dawn, Willow, Xander and Angel waited until they were the only ones left on the plane before they made their way out into the terminal.
"Do we know what they look like?" Xander asked.
"Nope," Buffy answered matter-of-factly. "That's why we waited to get off last because the people that are still waiting in the lounge should be the ones we are supposed to meet"
When they exited the air-bridge they found that most of the people had cleared away, just as Buffy had said, except for two teenagers and two adults.
"Are you Buffy Summers?" one of the men asked her and stuck out his hand. "I'm Remus Lupin"
"Yes. That would be me. Hi," she shook his hand then introduced the others.
After they made their introductions the all headed back to the main part of the airport and towards Baggage Claim.
"We're so glad that you could make it," Lupin said. "You've got no idea how much this means to us"
Buffy smiled. "Its not a problem," she said, lifting her bag from the conveyor belt. "Are there anymore people helping you guys out?"
"Oh, yes. We have an array of powerful wizards and witches as well as the Charmed Ones"
Buffy looked at him with a blank expression on her face. "The who?"
"Three sisters," Giles explained. "The most powerful witches in the world"
"Oh, I see. Thanks, Giles," Buffy said. "You're like a walking textbook"
They got back to Grimmauld Place well after midnight due to the fact that they had to drive extra slow in the dumping rain. Once they were inside Lupin directed the new arrivals up the dark wooden staircase to the third floor and to their respective quarters. Once they said their goodnights Harry and Hermione went down to their rooms. Harry hesitantly reached for the door handle and sighed. "I wounder when Ron will start talking again?" he whispered to Hermione. "When ever I wake he has already gone or he's pretending to be asleep"
"I don't know what's going to happen but I don't think he's gonna stay mad forever. Just give him time," she wound her arms behind his back and pulled him to her. "Why don't you sleep with me tonight?"
Harry stared at her, complete surprise on his face. "What! Hermione…I…do you think…do you think we're ready?"
"To sleep! Honestly, Harry!" she batted his arm, unable to keep the laughter from her voice.
Harry sighed in relief and silently went into his room to put on his pyjamas. Then he silently went down the hall, into the room Hermione shared with Ginny and slide under the warm, crisp sheets. Hermione returned from the bathroom a few minutes later then slid in next to him. "Ginny's going to get a surprise in the morning," she whispered and nuzzled close to him, savouring the warmth of his body. "Goodnight, Harry"
"Goodnight"
Authors Chat
Hello. Buffy had arrived! YAY! I'm sorry it took so long. Oh, I have no idea what Heathrow looks like so forgive me if the details are wrong. I've tried to keep conversation down to a minimal so the story could get on quicker. They'll be going back to Hogwarts very soon, I mean very, very soon. So please hang in there. Sorry for the spellings, if any, but I wrote most of this chapter in an exercise book on the plane to and from Melbourne. Please Review as this helps in speeding the updates along! Thanks to all of you who reviewed the last chapter, much appreciated. Oh, and please don't forget to read Distant Memories! Thanks.
