DISCLAIMER: The characters aren't mine. I'm borrowing them from the esteemed Joss Whedon and J.K. Rawling.
SPOILERS/BACKGROUND: Everything from BtVS Season 1 to Season 6, AtS Seasons 1 to 3, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Reviews always welcome!
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CHAPTER 22:
A PUNCTURED SOUL
Buffy sat precariously on her windowsill. It had momentarily occurred to her that there was no way open windows like this would be allowed at UC-Sunnydale, but she was grateful for it. The night was cloudless, and the breeze was cool and refreshing.
A shapeless mass of light hovered in the air in front of her. Willow had taught it to her just before she had left, as a focusing exercise. Maintaining it without releasing it built concentration. Changing its color and shape built the capability for meticulous, measured thought. Watching the changes occur, slowly, almost mesmerizingly, according to the ebb and flow of one's thoughts, also had a calming effect.
At least, it was supposed to.
With a frustrated wave of her hand, Buffy dismissed the illusion. There was no settling her nerves tonight.
Lupin had not returned.
He should have been back on Monday morning. He would have changed back into a human at daybreak. He would have had to come back to get his potion. But he had not. Buffy had tried asking Moody about it on Sunday afternoon, but had gotten a noncommittal response. Snape had filled in on Lupin's classes, much to the chagrin of the younger Defense Against the Dark Arts students. Tuesday night had been the last night when Lupin would have transformed. He should have been back Wednesday morning at the latest.
It was Wednesday night … actually, Buffy thought, it was probably Thursday morning … and he still had not come. Flitwick had encountered another layer of protection against the Recall Charm, something he hadn't seen before.
A light out of the corner of her eyes caught her attention. At first, she thought it nothing more than an after-image of her own spell. But then it came again, and again … faint sparks of light in the distance. It was coming from the Dark Forest.
Buffy whispered "Binoculate." Her vision streamed out in the direction of the woods.
Several hooded, cloaked figures were visible within the first few rows of the trees. For some reason, the sight of them made Buffy's skin crawl. Every so often, a ray of white light would flash from deeper in the trees, and the dark figures would flinch away from it. Then they would move towards the source of the light, until it came again, when they would flinch away. The light came from a different angle each time, and the hooded figures moved with it. With a mental leap, Buffy realized that they were moving to cut whoever was shooting that light off from the edge of the Hogwarts grounds proper, and the person shooting the light was running quickly from side to side, trying to break through the line.
She pointed her wand sideways at her broom, across the room. "Accio," she said, not taking her eye off the scene. Her broom leapt into her hands.
Suddenly, whoever was shooting moved back in the other direction, and emerged into view a moment later … he did not make it out of the woods before the dark figures closed and drove him back, but he made it out to the third row of trees.
It was Lupin.
Buffy was in the air before she even knew what she was thinking, streaking towards the woods. There would be no time to get anyone else; if no one else had seen what she had, then no one else would come.
She made a beeline for the creatures, but suddenly found herself slowing down. She could feel her bone marrow growing cold as she approached, and she was still at least fifty yards away. For the first time, she wondered what exactly she was facing.
"Dammit, pull it together, Slayer," she hissed to herself as she pushed her broom forward again. A moment later, she swerved away again, gasping for breath as though she had just run a great distance. The feeling got worse the closer she got. It was like they were sucking all the warmth out of the air. Or worse.
"All right, Plan B," she growled. It was time to go back to her roots. At least, sort of. She pointed her wand at the ground. "Accio rock!" she snapped. A small boulder, at least a hundred pounds, floated into her hands. She caught it like a beach ball.
"Catch," she said with a predatory grin as she launched it at the cloaked figure nearest the edge of the woods. It sailed fifty yards as if nearly weightless and crashed into the base of the nearest creature's spine, crushing it to the ground and rolling up its back, flattening its neck and head as well. She noticed that the creature made no sound; were they mute? Or did it have no time to cry out?
The other creatures gave no sign they had even noticed the fall of their compatriot. They continued working to cut Lupin off. Buffy noticed with alarm that the rays of light from his wand were getting weaker. A moment later, he was forced deeper into the woods and out of sight.
Buffy cursed. Hadn't he seen her? Didn't he know she was right there? Then she saw what he had: more of the creatures, moving up along the edge of the woods from the other direction. It looked like at least five more.
She urged her broom forward and higher, to keep some distance between her and the creatures, but nonetheless get closer. The forest was still thin enough that she could see the light from Lupin's wand through the branches, but if he retreated that much farther, that wouldn't be the case. He had to have seen her. But even if he had, he couldn't know where she was, couldn't know she was following …
Her mind flashed back to her duel with Peter. "Luminaris solaire!" she cried. A brilliant burst of sunlight filled the night sky, just for a brief moment, but there was no way he could miss that. With any luck, she thought, it might even catch some eyes at the castle. Thanks, you bastard, I owe you one, she thought grimly.
A moment later, an answering light blossomed in the trees below, a simple Lumos charm, but enough for Buffy to keep her eye on him better; either the things chasing him were blind, or Lupin was past caring. The rays from his wand were getting weaker, and she saw the shadows as the creatures closed in. They were moving more quickly and not flinching as much from his rays. She wished she could hear what he was using, but the words were too faint to make out.
A moment later, she came over a small clearing, and her mind raced. She could make a dive for him if he came into the clearing, but from the movement of his light, he was going to pass several yards away from it.
"Lumos solaire," she said, pointing her wand at the clearing. A ray of sunlight shone forth from her wand like a searchlight.
Lupin's light began to move in that direction. Buffy felt relieved for a brief moment, until two of the creatures following him began to move in that direction as well.
Dammit, they're going to cut him off! she swore silently. No, he's going to make it … no, he's …
"Reducto!" she snapped, aiming at the base of a great tree at the edge of the clearing. The tree shattered just above its roots, and collapsed with a thunderous crash across the path of the black-robed figures. A moment later, Lupin appeared, running down the fallen tree trunk like it was a runway into the clearing.
Buffy dove.
She was still too close; her hands started shaking on her broom as she got closer, and her vision clouded. She wasn't going to be able to get to him. She swerved back.
Lupin leapt into the clearing. The black-robed figures were right behind him. He aimed a ray of light over his shoulder, but it was no brighter than a candle, and he was moving slowly, and shivering as he did. The creatures didn't even appear to feel it.
Lupin's legs gave out a moment later, and he fell to the turf with a weary, desperate cry. The nearest creature reached up with one pale, cadaverous hand and pushed back its hood.
Buffy fought the urge to retch, but she couldn't bite back a terrified scream. The cadaverous face, if it could be called that, was uglier than any demon she had ever faced. But the way it was leaning towards Lupin's neck was all too familiar.
Time seemed to slow down, every movement, every leaf and blade of grass etched into Buffy's thoughts. Burning with fear and anger and revulsion, Buffy dug deeper than she had she had ever dug, throwing all caution to the wind, burrowing into the deepest reaches of her soul for her last reserves of strength.
What she found there surprised even her.
A wall somewhere within her spirit crumbled against her attack, and behind it, so deep within herself that for a few moments the world around her seemed to blur in a fog of color and sound, Buffy found a blazing well of power that she had never fully grasped, a fiery well of mystical vigor and pure predatory passion that she hadn't felt since dueling with Adam. As soon as she touched it, it roared up through the rest of her body like a gale, and her eyes snapped back into focus. The wind erupted around her as if stirred by the rising force within her, but she didn't even notice.
"Accio Lupin!" she roared, in a voice that rang from the very stones.
The limp form of the professor tore free of the creatures grip and rose into the air. Buffy swooped and caught him lightly, gasping in surprise and fright at the feel of his flesh; it was icy cold, colder even than a corpse … and she had felt enough of them to know.
Her wrath only blazed higher. She clutched Lupin with one arm and leaned her broom sideways to aim her wand downward with the other. Her wand and the hand that held it blazed like a small star as she built her power again, and she could almost feel the wood and core quivering with anticipation.
This phoenix feather was soaked for three days in holy water imported all the way from Sunnydale.
Oak and phoenix feather make quite a fighter's wand to begin with.
"Iluvio ignis," she snarled. She wished she knew a better parting shot than this, but it was the most advanced spell she and Willow had studied so far. Waves of liquid fire streamed forth from Buffy's wand and cascaded downward like burning rain, only this rain stuck to the flesh of the creatures below. Four of the creatures were already completely into the clearing and had no cover; three more were caught at the edge of the woods, and fled, their cloaks and pieces of their bodies aflame. The mute creatures could not scream, but greasy smoke and a sickening stench filled the air as those unfortunate enough to be caught in the blazing waterfall writhed and burned, their bodies catching fire like deadwood.
For a few brief seconds, the awakened Slayer in Buffy wanted to give chase. Destroying creatures like that was the reason for her existence. Even the wand in her hand seemed to be urging her forward. Then the icy feeling of Lupin in her arms returned to her consciousness, and the adrenaline of battle faded.
"Damn," she spat, turning her broom towards the castle as fast as she could manage with the professor's limp form in her hands.
As she turned, she spotted a figure flying toward her, and a few more a few hundred yards farther behind. The closest figure, however, was that of Minerva McGonagall.
"Professor!" she shouted.
The Transfiguration teacher drew alongside, her face already white. She pulled back the fold of Lupin's robe at the neck. A faint bite mark was visible there. Buffy cursed again, though only to fight off the fear that was threatening to choke her.
"The infirmary, quick!" McGonagall cried. "As fast as you can fly that thing, forget the rules, fly in the school!"
Buffy nodded and darted forward, aiming for the castle door she knew to be closest to the infirmary. She recognized several of the others that had been trailing McGonagall as she approached … Ron and Ginny were there, and a few others she recognized that often sat near them at the Gryffindor table … but she had no intention of stopping to chat.
"Infirmary!" she shouted as she screamed past them. They banked off as quickly as they could, turning and heading back for the castle. Buffy noticed Ginny Weasley was a surprisingly good flier; she hadn't expected that from the rather unassuming youngest Weasley, but the young redhead turned much faster than anyone else, though Buffy was still ahead of her.
"This way!" Ginny cried from above her.
Buffy slowed reflexively and looked up. "What?"
"Window!" Ginny shouted, passing Buffy and darting for a second-floor window.
The infirmary, Buffy realized. The girl was sharp.
"Alohamora!" Ginny cried as they approached the window. Buffy darted through only a heartbeat after the opening opened wide enough for her and Lupin to get through.
"Good heavens!" Madame Pomfrey exclaimed as they flew in the window. A moment later, however, she let out a piercing shriek. "Remus!" She was off her chair in an instant. "Get him inside, get him inside!"
Where the hell did you think I was going, lady? Buffy thought irritably, but she was off her broom in a flash, carrying Lupin like a baby and laying him in the closest bed inside the hospital wing. Ginny was already inside. Ron appeared through the window a moment later, followed by a few of the other fliers. A moment later, Hermione appeared from the corridor, breathless. She had clearly been running.
"What happened?" Madame Pomfrey asked.
"An attack. Black-robed figures. Demons of some kind, I think. They made the air all cold around them, and one of them bit him, like a vampire."
"The Dementor's Kiss?" Ron asked, a look of horror on his face.
"No!" a powerful voice answered. McGonagall had just landed. "I don't think they had time to finish it. I've seen a Kiss victim before."
"But it was dementors?"
"Yes, Poppy."
"And they tried …" Madame Pomfrey didn't finish the thought, pushing Lupin's robe collar down in answer. There was a frightened gasp from the others.
"All right, everyone out, let me work!" the nurse barked a moment later. She and McGonagall quickly cleared everyone out into the waiting room. McGonagall left last, and shut the door behind her. No one had moved an inch beyond the door.
"What happened?" she asked.
"You sure you want me to say … here?" Buffy asked.
"They can handle it. They've all seen dementors before."
"Sounds like you should be storyteller here, then. They looked like vampires, but …"
"I'm afraid they're quite worse," McGonagall spat. "But go on."
"I spotted him from the Tower. He was almost at the edge of the woods, trying to get onto the grounds, driving them off with some kind of light spell."
"The Patronus Charm," Hermione explained.
"Quiet, please, Miss Granger," McGonagall said curtly.
"Sorry, professor."
"Anyway, he … couldn't quite make it. There were five at first, but then another group of them showed up and drove him back. He made it to a clearing, though, so I sort of … well, I used a Summoning Charm to pick him up without getting too close, and flew back."
McGonagall's eyes widened imperceptibly, and several of the others in the room controlled their reactions far less. "And the light that Miss Granger saw?"
"A Sunburst, I think."
"You think?"
"Willow described it to me, but I'd never used it before. I remembered it from when Peter used it on me in Hogsmeade."
The others' expressions were growing even more amazed, but McGonagall had managed to get regain her businesslike mien. "And your little parting shot? A fire spell of some kind?"
Buffy nodded. "Willow and I just learned it Friday. The Flaming Flood."
"That's what I thought it looked like," McGonagall said. Most of the others simply looked at each other at this, and shrugged, but Hermione's eyes widened even further, and she gasped. McGonagall continued. "Did you see if you caught any of them?"
"Four," Buffy answered immediately. "And three more barbecuing as they left, but I couldn't see what happened."
"Four dementors," Minerva repeated to herself.
Buffy looked around at the other students. "You know, no one else seems to feel like talking, but please, professor, why is everyone looking at me like that?"
The other students in the room, mostly Gryffindors, had mixed reactions to that.
A faint hint of a smile touched McGonagall's lips. "I think they're a little impressed, actually. Where did you learn that?"
"Willow picked it out. We practiced elemental stuff a lot last week."
"But you don't know where she found it?"
Buffy shrugged. "A book. Either the library, or one of the basic ones we bought at Diagon Alley, or one Lupin leant us."
"Lupin was loaning you books?"
"Not really, just letting us read them in his office while we practiced."
McGonagall relaxed slightly. "I'm guessing it's the latter, then. Remus would have had Sirius' old books, and he was the last Hogwarts student to learn that, more than twenty years ago now. I seem to remember Mr. Black invented it, actually. That is not in any of your textbooks for fall, you know."
"No, it was … well, sort of like conditioning. Willow thought if we could do that, we could do all the lower fire spells better."
"Your friend is quite a teacher."
Buffy laughed. "I think your hat got it right. I think the words were 'bloody brilliant.'"
"Are you sure they're destroyed?"
"Well, I think so."
"We'll have to go check in the morning. Actually, now. If so, we'll have to add that into the curriculum for advanced students. It takes a lot to destroy dementors. Lots of fire, a supernova of positive emotional energy, or the Killing Curse. Maybe Godric's sword and a few other weapons, I don't know."
Buffy shrugged. There was not much she could say to that. She had questions of her own, however. "Professor, what was it trying to do? Are they like vampires?"
"Worse," McGonagall spat. "A vampire will only drain your blood and kill you, generally. The Dementor's Kiss sucks a person's soul out of its body and digests it, slowly. Painfully. I've never quite understood all of how a soul can be digested, but it's not pretty, I assure you. The body is left alive, but an empty, mindless, soulless husk."
Buffy fought down the urge to vomit. It looked like several of the others in the room were doing likewise.
The door behind Buffy opened then, and Madame Pomfrey emerged. Buffy was instantly forgotten, as all the students pressed her in hushed but forceful voices for information.
Madame Pomfrey held up her hands. "Minerva, can I talk to you?"
McGonagall looked around at the others for a moment, then nodded, striding back into the sleeping quarters with Poppy, closing the door behind her.
Buffy slumped as soon as the two teachers were out of sight, collapsing on a soft bench against the wall. The other students crowded around her anxiously; without McGonagall, she was the best source of information left, which bothered her, because she really didn't have anything to tell them.
"You heard pretty much the whole story," Buffy explained above the hushed clamor of voices. "I'd never seen a … dementor … before. But I'm firmly deciding I don't like them."
"Truly horrible things," Hermione agreed. "They suck all the warmth and happy thoughts out of a person, and it gets worse the more of them there are, and the closer they get. They make people relive the worst memories of their lives, over and over."
Memories of Angel and Acathla, and the other things she had done, flashed back through Buffy's mind. Glad I didn't get too close, she decided.
"Oh, yeah, Hermione, you looked like you knew this one … what exactly was Lupin doing?"
The others quieted as Hermione explained. "It's called the Patronus Charm. Basically an incarnation of … well, good feelings. That's normally what they feed on, but the Patronus kind of overloads them. It's really useful, actually; I once saw Harry drive off about a hundred of them at once with it."
"Lupin didn't seem to be working it so well."
"Which means two things," Hermione agreed. "First, something or someone was really pushing the dementors to go after him, and two, Lupin was already tired and worn down."
Buffy nodded. That made sense.
McGonagall emerged from the sleeping quarters a moment later. Her face was somber, but determined. The other students immediately crowded around her, pressing for answers. The teacher held up her hand for silence.
"Professor Lupin's soul was not removed from his body," McGonagall explained. "But he will probably be out for some time. He needs rest, and time … and … well, it might be a good idea if some people would stay with him. In turns, and not all the time, but just being there. Poppy thinks it might help him come back sooner."
"I'll take first shift," Buffy said immediately.
"Me, too," Hermione added. There was a chorus on top of that, but McGonagall raised her hand for silence again.
"Well, we can't have everyone here at once. Miss Summers, stay with him tonight, but don't stay up too late. Hermione, the rest of you, please, get some sleep. You'll all have plenty of time tomorrow. Probably for several days." From the look on McGonagall's face, Buffy had a disturbing suspicion it might be even longer, but she waited patiently as the rest of the students filed out of the room. McGonagall turned once at the outer door, and reminded her to go to sleep eventually, then turned and left. As the other students had faded from view, the older woman suddenly looked like she was about to fall asleep on her feet.
Buffy entered the sleeping quarters and returned to sit by Lupin's bed. Lupin's skin was still cold, and his breathing was shallow, but it was regular, and the cut on his neck didn't look quite as fearsome as it had less than an hour earlier.
Buffy had not only asked for the first shift out of wanting to be with Lupin, however. She wanted to know what had happened. Madame Pomfrey was nowhere in the room. She concentrated. She was already drained, but she had to do this now; from all she had heard, it got immeasurably more difficult as time went on. She made a few concise motions with her wand.
"Historia proxima, appareo."
Misty visions of McGonagall and Pomfrey appeared. She focused her mind on moving the images back, until the moment when they both appeared in the room. The images were nowhere near as good as Flitwick's; they were out of focus; but the sound was there, and though the words crackled like a radio with bad reception, they were understandable. That was all Buffy really cared about at the moment.
"What happened, Poppy?" McGonagall asked earnestly. Her stern expression had dropped the moment she had closed the door on the students outside.
"Another few seconds and he would have been gone," Pomfrey breathed. "But I think he might make it."
"Might?"
"You see, the dementor bit him," Pomfrey explained. "But it was stopped between the bite itself and sucking the soul out."
"There's a gap?"
"Certainly not much of one," Pomfrey empathized, "but apparently, there is. I've never felt anything like it. His soul has been … I can't even describe it. Almost like it's punctured."
"Punctured?" Minerva said sharply, but there was tightly controlled apprehension in her voice.
"Yes."
"And what does that mean?"
"The connection between his soul and his body was partially severed. Partially. Not much, actually, but not much is a lot."
"Can it be healed?"
"It can," the nurse said wearily, "but not entirely by us. He's going to have to do most of it himself, from within his dreams."
"Within his dreams?"
"His conscious thought has been cut off from his body, cast back into his unconscious mind, possibly even deeper. If his mind finds its way back to where it belongs, he comes back to us … with whatever he happened to learn from his struggles along the way, and without whatever he forgets in the process. Time in dreams can be peculiar."
"What will he be feeling?"
"I can only guess. But judging by what was happening to him when he fell, I don't think many of his dreams will be fun." Pomfrey's voice was cracking.
"How … how long will it take? In our time?"
"I don't know. A week, at least. Probably more. Maybe months. Maybe never." She choked on the last word, but she forced her back to straighten a moment later. "He could use people around him … just someone nearby, sometimes people can sense that when they're asleep."
"I'll take care of it," McGonagall promised earnestly. "Is there anything else I can do?"
"Not unless you happen to know someone who can enter someone else's dreams."
McGonagall hung her head helplessly. "Harry used to enter You-Know-Who's dreams, but that's different. The last real dreamweaver was generations ago … Trelawney's great-grandmother."
"I was being facetious, Minerva. I don't know if even Selene could help us here, if she were still alive. This may be the first time in history a Dementor's Kiss has been interrupted."
"I'll speak to Dumbledore," McGonagall promised. "Mind magic was always a specialty of his, maybe he can help."
"Of course," Pomfrey replied.
"I'll go do that now," McGonagall said. "I'm not going to fix anything standing here. And when I'm done, maybe I'll go beat up Trelawney and see if any of her students actually ever seemed to have anything resembling truly powerful dreams—as if she'd know, but it'll make me feel better."
"She probably wouldn't even know," Pomfrey said resignedly.
"This is where the part where 'it'll make me feel better' comes in," McGonagall said bitterly as she made her way to the exit. Madame Pomfrey left the room by the back door a moment later.
Buffy dispelled the Recall Charm with a quick flick of her wand.
She took several deep breaths, and moved slowly over to kneel by Lupin's bedside. She had to concentrate on every step; she had spent more of herself that night than she had in a long time. She leaned her head wearily on the side of Lupin's chest.
Someone who can enter someone else's dreams.
Truly powerful dreams.
It was something to think about until morning.
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AUTHOR'S NOTES: I've always missed seeing a little bit more of the Über-Buffy from the end of Season 4, so I figured I'd bring her back for at least a scene or two. (Also, I figured if the dementors could bring out the darker side of Willow, it would only be consistent that they help bring out the darker, primeval side of the Slayer, too.)
W00t! I never expected so many reviews for last chapter. The Dumbledore-Moody scene got more comments than Harry asking Willow out, too. You people are a strange crowd. ;-) Thanks for all your support!
Also, special thanks to those of you who commented on the "Harry's eyes" errata; Harry does indeed have green eyes, so I don't know where that brown came from. Grrr.
COMING SOON: Chapter 23, "News." Willow returns to Hogwarts, and she and Buffy both get caught up with what's been going on with each other and get their first exposure to what it's like to have to deal with being in the Daily Prophet.
SNEAK PREVIEW:
Buffy spread out the front page. "Aw, man, you stole my front page!" she pouted.
"If I could give it back to you, I would," Willow promised.