CHAPTER THREE: SEBASTIAN

Hogwarts: Forbidden Forest

Saturday 11:43pm

March 23rd 1996

Buffy Summers was not a worrier by nature. Most everything that came along she was able to take in her stride. She'd learned from an early age that life sometimes dealt you a bad hand, and you just had to roll with the punches. Lately though, she'd had more than her fair share of punches to deal with.

Discovering you were the Slayer was something that she'd had to adjust to fairly quickly. Her grandfather, and the Headmaster of her school, Albus Dumbledore, had been quick to discover why she'd been feeling out of sorts, and why she'd begun having nightmares so vivid that she had trouble differentiating them from reality.

She was the Slayer. An unfound Potential that the Council had missed, probably because of the wards on her house in Yorkshire, and the protection surrounding Hogwarts as well. Dumbledore had stepped in and had begun training her in the art of Slaying vampires, taking Professors McGonagall and Snape into their confidence as well.

None of her friends knew about what she did. They just believed that she was having problems sleeping. Her room-mates, Angelina, Katie and Alicia were all convinced that she was just sneaking out of the Gryffindor Tower to meet her boyfriend Sebastian Fudge, the grandson of the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. Sebastian, or Seb as he was known to mostly everyone, was a Seventh Year Ravenclaw Prefect who played Chaser for the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team. He was well liked, and incredibly intelligent, as most Ravenclaws were wont to be.

It was no secret that Seb and Buffy were completely smitten with each other, despite the two years difference in their ages.

The Fifth Year Gryffindor, despite the ups and downs of her insane life, was not a worrier. She had her moments of panic; usually before the exams and whenever Seb took risky dives during Quidditch, but other than that, she was the student that was always in control of whatever situation she was in.

Except, suddenly she wasn't in control. Seb hadn't shown up for the entire day, and Buffy had the uncomfortable suspicion that when he did show up next, it wouldn't necessarily be a good thing.

She breathed in deeply and entered the dark forest, her eyes adjusting to the barely there light, her ears pricked, listening for the slightest sound.

The Forest wasn't a place that she'd been eager to go into before being Called as the Slayer, but ever since she'd discovered her true Calling, she'd been drawn to the darkness of it, revelling in the humming sensation of being surrounded by so many mythical and magical creatures. She'd had to do a full month of reading up on the creatures within the Forest before Dumbledore would let her enter so that she knew exactly what was a danger to her and the school, and what was helping the Forest to remain a place of growth.

She gripped her stake more tightly, heading towards a section of the Forest that held a cave where evil creatures tended to surround. She had made plans to destroy the cave entirely until she discovered that some of the creatures that were neither evil nor good resided in there as well. Which mean that she'd had to take each creature as they came to her, rather than just flushing out the entire area.

She approached the cave cautiously and heard the snapping of a branch behind her. She whipped around quickly, stake raised, poised and ready to attack whatever came at her. The air was completely still and silent, not even the leaves rustling in the gentle breeze.

Another twig snapped, and again she turned, trying to work out where the noise was coming from. Again, a noise behind her sounded, and she turned, only to bump into the chest of a very familiar person.

"Seb," she breathed. Her instinctive reaction was to drop her stake and hug her boyfriend as tightly as she could. Unfortunately, her Slayer instincts were telling her to plunge her stake into his chest before he had the chance to attack.

"Buffy," he whispered softly, saying her name as he'd always said it, his soft British accent passing easily from his lips.

She looked up at him with wide eyes, feeling something unfamiliar stirring in the pit of her gut. Guilt, pain, agony, despair. She swallowed with difficulty and blinked back her tears.

"I'm sorry," she whispered softly, unable to believe what had happened to innocent boy who should have had the rest of his life ahead of him.

"For what?" Came the cheerful response from the usually serious boy. She'd heard him at his happiest, after Ravenclaw had beaten Slytherin at a Quidditch match, but what she'd just heard from him was far more joyful. It had a sinister sound to it that made Buffy's blood run cold. "I'm not."

"How…"

"How'd it happen?" Seb finished her question. He put one hand under his chin, striking a thoughtful pose. "Hmmm…let's think about this shall we? What possible reason would I have had to make me come into the Forest last night?"

And the guilt began seeping into Buffy's mind. She'd been in the Forest last night. She thought she'd heard something, and she'd gone to investigate, but there hadn't been anything there. There'd been signs of a struggle, but the tracks had disappeared, and she'd been unable to follow. Seb had followed her into the Forest, and he'd been drained, turned, and was now a vampire.

"I followed you of course," he replied. "Love-sick pup that I was, I thought maybe you had another bloke on the side. After all, you and Lee seemed to be real chummy lately. I was about to call out to you when I got grabbed from behind."

"Merlin, Seb…"

He smiled down at her, a smile that used to comfort her so easily. He put a hand to her cheek and gently traced the curve of her face. She flinched away from his cool touch, trying to get her hand to come up and shove the stake into his heart. She couldn't move. She was completely frozen in place. Seb, her Seb, was a vampire.

"Do you have any idea how in love with you poor little Seb was," the vampire taunted. "And, I don't mean just smitten, or puppy-love, or crushes or any of that. Seb was head-over-heels, down-on-one-knee in love with you. He was making plans for these summer holidays, hoping that your Gran would let you stay at his place for a few weeks."

Seb took a step closer to her, and Buffy found herself stepping backwards until she was pressed up against a tree trunk. Seb pressed himself into her body, a position they were both used to, and Buffy was having trouble remembering that this wasn't her Seb. This was a vampire that she was going to have to kill.

"I had such big plans for you, my love," Seb whispered, his cold breath tickling Buffy's ear. He leant forward and suckled at her earlobe, sending shivers down her spine. She brought her hands up to push him away, but she lacked the strength and the willpower to do so. Her hands remained on his chest, his muscles tightening under her touch. "I was going to decorate my room with candles and seduce you so tenderly. I couldn't wait to slide under the sheets with you and make love to you until neither of us could walk. I wanted to worship your body for hours, kiss every inch of your skin and watch your face when I made you come for me."

His soft words in her ear were making her mind retreat into a dark corner. All she could hear, see, smell and feel was Seb, his body pressed to hers as he whispered his desires into her ear. Seb had often whispered things to her when they'd been in that position, but never anything so delectably tantalising before.

He pressed a soft kiss to her neck, his human teeth scraping over her jugular.

"But seeing as those plans were ruined, I had to make new plans," he whispered. "Can you just imagine, a day old fledgling being the one to sire a Slayer?" he asked. "We'll rule the world together, be more feared than Voldemort himself. We'll be mates…eternal lovers. I'll be able to show you the world…starting tonight."

Without giving Buffy even a chance to reply or react, he kissed her fiercely, pressing her further into the tree as he leant his weight against her. For endless moments, Buffy allowed herself the luxury of pretending, of allowing herself to completely forget who she was and whom she was with. Tears pricked at her eyes, and the kiss continued until Buffy pulled back, breathless and panting. Her arms snaked around Seb's waist, her stake hanging limply in her right hand, completely forgotten.

It was Seb's lack of breath that sharply reminded Buffy of what had happened. She couldn't allow herself to become lost in the fantasy. And no matter how cruel reality was, she couldn't allow herself to forget what Seb now was.

With a shaking left hand, she touched Seb's face, committing every detail to memory. She leant up on her tiptoes to brush a soft kiss on his cold lips, gracing him with a gentle smile.

"I'll never forget you…I swear it."

Seb's eyes went wide, betrayal and accusation filling the deep cerulean blue depths as the stake entered his heart through his back, and Sebastian Cornelius Fudge disintegrated into dust. She heard her name come out, a strangled whisper that died on the lips of ashes, and the Forest was silent once more.

She slid down the tree trunk and sat with her knees curled to her chest, staring blankly at the dust at her feet, tears falling until she broke down into a sobbing heap.

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Many thanks for the very positive feedback that you guys have left. Just so you know, this fic stemmed from a sort of unofficial challenge. A mate asked me to write a HP crossover that was a 'Long Lost' fic, but to have Buffy be related to someone she's never been related to before. I thought Neville really kind of fit the bill. grins Enjoy the double update and Happy belated New Year.

Kattie.