Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) own none of the characters from either Buffy the Vampire Slayer or the Harry Potter series. They belong to the geniuses, Joss Whedon and J.K. Rowling. I am not trying to take credit for their works, I am just a poor college student amusing herself by writing some fan fiction! For the timeline and changes I made to both the Buffy and HP fandoms, see Chapter 1!
Alright, I'm getting really bored with this fic, so I've decided to move it along a bit. It's a bit more rushed than I would like it to be, but hey, I want to get it finished so that I can move onto bigger and better things!
Thanks so much to Fritolays, BuffyGirl07, lypsyl, PrInCeSsFBi, shmoo, suzieGeorge, and urangel for your wonderful reviews! I know that it's taking me a looooooooooong time to post these chapters, but I hope that you're still with me and continue to enjoy! I love you all!
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Buffy's brain sputtered, unable to process and formulate an answer to the question that had been asked when the man she had rescued and had been unconscious since she had met him was sitting up in his bed, staring at her.
"Sirius?" Harry said in shock, staring at his godfather for a second before rushing to his side.
"I'm going to go get Poppy and Albus," Buffy informed no one in particular before running out of the room, skidding to a halt in front of Madam Pomfrey's desk. "Poppy!" she greeted, watching as the small woman jumped in surprise at her sudden appearance. "Sirius is awake!"
"Oh my goodness," the woman exclaimed, her eyes widening. "We must inform Albus!"
"I'll get him," Buffy called over her shoulder, already half way out of the door, "make sure he's alright!" Without another look, she sprinted through the castle, down corridors and up staircases to the seventh floor, stopping when she reached the stone gargoyle at the entrance to the Headmaster's office. "Crap!" she swore, realizing that she had no idea what the password was. Knowing the Headmaster's love of sweets, trying to guess it could take hours. "Acid pop! Chocolate frog! Ice Mice! Pepper imps!" she shouted at the unmoving statue, spouting off every kind of wizarding candy she could remember. "Lemon Drops! Jelly Slugs! Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans! Treacle tart!" At the last password she tried, the statue jumped aside, revealing the winding stone staircase that led to the Dumbledore's office. Quickly making her way up the stairs, she burst into the room without knocking, coming to a complete halt when she saw who was sitting across the desk from the Headmaster, looking at her as if she had grown a second head.
"Miss Summers?" Dumbledore greeted, his gaze flicking to his guest before returning his attention to her, wordlessly telling her not to make a scene.
"Oh, I'm sorry Professor," she apologized, composing herself and calmly walking over to the two and fixing the other man with a polite smile.
"Miss Summers," he greeted, standing and taking her hand in his, placing a chaste kiss to the back of it before letting it go. He looked her up and down appreciatively, taking in her jeans and tight t-shirt, and Buffy raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what he was playing at. "Lucius Malfoy." He turned back to Dumbledore. "I urge you to reconsider my offer. Miss Summers." With one last look at her, he was gone in a flash of long blond hair and black fabric, leaving the Slayer staring in his wake.
"What was that all about?" she inquired, plopping down in the chair across from the Headmaster, all thoughts of why she had come to him in the first place having flown out the window the second she saw Lucius.
"Mr. Malfoy came baring an offer from Voldemort," he answered, looking at her over his half-moon spectacles. "That it was our last chance to hand over Mr. Potter before they came and took him by force."
"Since when has Voldy been the diplomatic type?" she asked, an eyebrow raised in confusion. "He's always been a kill first, ask questions later kinda guy."
"Right you are, my dear," Dumbledore said, leaning back in his chair and touching the tips of his fingers together, "but I believe he's trying to negotiate for your safety."
"My... safety?"
"Indeed. You are a great asset to him, and I believe he has developed somewhat of an..." he paused, searching for the right words, "...emotional attachment to you. From what you have told me, he seems to have a great respect for you, something that is completely unheard of. Voldemort trusts no one and there have been no recorded cases of him regarding anyone as an equal."
"Voldemort thinks of me as his equal?" she repeated dumbfoundly, unable to wrap her brain around this particular fact. "And he's... in love with me?" 'Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew.' She made a disgusted face, watching as the Headmaster smiled at her in amusement before his features returned to a serious facade.
"Not love, per say," he answered, trying to lay it out simply for her. "I believe that Voldemort is incapable of love after all that he has done, though yes, I do think that he cares for you a great deal."
"What the fu-..." she started, but was interrupted when the large wooden door behind her swung open and her former enemy sauntered in. In the blink of an eye, she was on the other side of the room, a hand around his throat keeping him pinned to the wall and the stake from her boot pressed against his chest so hard that it nearly broke the skin. "What now, Spike," her teeth clenched in an effort not to shove the stake in her hand into his heart.
"Now, now, pet," he greeted, holding his hands out to his sides in a gesture of surrender. "No need to get testy. I come baring presents. Albus," he continued, giving the Headmaster a curt nod.
"William," Dumbledore greeted with a nod of his own. Buffy's eyes widened and she looked over her shoulder at the man in shock, wondering what the hell was going on. "It's been a long time."
"You know each other?" she asked, not releasing her grip around the Spike's neck. Spotting the fresh bruise on the bridge of his nose, she smirked, content with the fact that she had been the one to put it there.
"I had the... pleasure of meeting William at the Leaky Cauldron many years ago," Dumbledore answered, keeping his eyes trained on the vampire. "He was quite distraught over the fact that his sire – Drusilla, was it? – had run off with Angelus."
"Never have been able to hold on to her, huh Spikey?" Buffy taunted, smiling at him innocently. He growled and made to lunge for her, but she pressed the stake harder into his chest, breaking the skin and causing a couple droplets of blood to seep from the wound. "What do you want?" she asked, the Slayer in her snapping back to business.
"Oi, you mind backing off a bit there, Goldilocks?" he asked, his eyes flicking down to where her hand was wrapped around his throat. Giving him a warning look, she snatched her hands back and replaced the stake in her boot before turning her back on him and walking back over to Dumbedore's desk. Once again dropping into the seat across for him, she waited for Spike to continue, watching as he sat down next to her.
"Voldemort's sending in someone to nab the kid," he informed them.
"Harry?" she asked, perking up at this. "Who?"
"The other Slayer," he supplied and Buffy's eyes widened in shock. "Fine looking bird... Brown hair, bloody amazing rack... Has a bit of meat on her bones. You could learn quite a bit from her, Slayer."
"Faith?" she questioned softly, wondering why she hadn't been informed of this. He nodded. If the other Slayer hadn't contacted her before sighing on with Voldemort, that meant... "Fuck!" she screamed and jumped up, causing Spike and Dumbledore to look at her in surprise. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" She started to pace, feeling both sets of eyes on her.
"Miss Summers..."
"Now he has a Slayer on his side!" she yelled more to herself than to either of them. "Actually on his side! I should have known... She's always been drawn to the power... Enjoyed it... It was only a matter of time before she went completely off the deep end!" She stopped suddenly, a familiar tingling in the pit of her stomach causing her heart to drop. She could feel it clear as day, even over all of the magical energy that the castle was giving off. She could only feel one person this clearly. "Shit, she's here!" she informed them before running out of the room and down the stone steps to the main corridor, shoving her way through a group of students and sprinting to the hospital wing, bursting through the doors and finding it in perfect condition. She stopped so suddenly that Spike, who had apparently followed her, slammed into her, sending her pitching forward. Letting out a surprised yelp, she gasped as he grabbed her waist, catching her before she could fall face first onto the carpet and set her back on her feet. Giving him an odd look, she walked further into the room, making a beeline for Sirius' private room. Wrenching open the door, she spotted him slumped on the ground on the other side of the room, a small trickle of blood seeping from a gash on his forehead. Harry was nowhere to be found.
"Fuck!" she screamed, and in the blink of an eye, she was standing about ten feet in front of Voldemort with five wands pointed directly at her. Looking around, she saw that she was in the drawing room of the Malfoy mansion. He looked about as surprised to see her as she was. Briefly wondering how the hell she had managed to apparate out of Hogwarts, she pushed the thought to the back of her mind and stalked forward a few steps, Voldemort gesturing for his followers to put their wands down. "Where is he?" she asked in a low voice, seeing him raise a non-existent eyebrow at her. Taking a deep breath to calm herself before she completely blew her cover and got herself killed, she closed her eyes, blocking her mind like Snape had taught her so that he couldn't see into it. "What happened?" she continued when she felt sufficiently calm. "I had it under control. I was going to get him for you. It just wasn't time yet."
"I have no doubt, my dear," Voldemort answered, taking her arm and leading her over to the couches, pushing her down onto one before seating himself at her side. "I simply thought that it would be best to have Faith collect him so that you maintain your cover. I still have many duties for you to fulfill, and for you to complete them, Dumbledore cannot have any idea that you are working for me. I know that this happened a bit sooner than we had anticipated, but I wanted to strike when he would least expect it. I was just trying to keep you safe." He stretched out a pale, long-fingered hand and brushed a stray strand of blond hair away from her face, and it took all of her strength to smack it away before it could touch her. Her eyes filtered across the room, and all of its inhabitants looked completely shocked at what had just happened. It was completely unheard of for Voldemort to explain his actions to anyone. Usually, if anyone questioned his authority, they'd be faced with the dangerous end of his wand. But for some reason, here he was, explaining himself to a teenage girl. Turning her attention to Bellatrix, she saw that the older woman was absolutely livid, and smiled inwardly, sending a mental 'nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah' in her direction.
"Of course, My Lord," she said with a slight bow of her head. "I'm sorry I questioned you." She paused for a second, weighing her options and deciding the best way of getting Harry out of there without getting him, or herself, killed. "Can I see her?"
"As you wish," he replied with a soft smile, pointing his wand at the wooden paneling of the drawing room floor and opening a secret compartment to the cellar where Bellatrix had held her prisoner only a few days ago. With another subservient bow of her head, she stood and with one last glance at him, she descended the steep stone steps into a small room, seeing the object of her worry chained to the exact chair that she had been tied to.
"Hey, B!" Faith greeted from where she was holding a long, silver knife to Harry's bare chest. He already looked to be in pretty bad shape: there were various cuts littering the pale skin of his torso, his glasses were cracked and slightly askew, and there was a small trickle of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. Looking at his face, she saw the hurt and betrayal lurking behind his bright green eyes, and she extracted her wand from the waistband of her jeans and muttered 'imperturbatus,' effectively creating a sound barrier so that she could speak freely without being heard from the drawing room. "I gotta say, I was surprised when I heard that you were working for old Voldy up there." She jerked her thumb in the direction of the door before once again lowering the blade to Harry's chest, causing him to wince in pain as his flesh parted beneath it. It took all her strength not to snatch the knife from her sister Slayer's hand, but she forced herself to remain calm. "Miss Little Goody Two Shoes? Working for the big bad? Color me surprised. But I guess it was inevitable." She turned away from Buffy, devoting all of her attention to the task at hand.
"What do you mean," Buffy gritted out between clenched teeth, her eyes still locked with Harry's. He was unusually quiet, the only sounds coming from his mouth being gasps and moans of pain, and that worried her.
"We're drawn to power, B," Faith answered. "And Voldy's got it all. We're Slayers. Why waste all the power we have inside us fighting the good fight when we're not gonna get anything out of it? But working for him... He can give us everything we ever wanted. Fame... glory... more. A better life. We're the Chosen Two, B. Don't you get that? Don't we deserve to have a little fun?"
"You bitch!" Harry screamed, causing both girls to jump in surprise. His eyes narrowed, and he continued to look at Buffy as if she was the most disgusting thing he had ever seen. "I trusted you! And all this time, you're working for him? What was your plan? To get close to me and then just hand me over to him?"
"Oooh," Faith cooed, dropping the knife to the ground and straddling him, taking his face in her hands. "Got yourself a little boy toy, huh, B? A little scrawny for my taste, but damn fine all the same." Her tongue darted out to lick the blood from his lip, and that's when Buffy snapped. Completely forgetting that she was a fully trained witch and could kill the bitch with one flick of her wand, she launched herself across the room, grabbing Faith by the back of her neck and wrenching her off of Harry's lap.
"Get off of him," she growled, easily flinging the younger girl across the room so that she smacked into the stone wall and landed in a heap on the floor. "If you ever touch him again, I'll kill you."
"I knew it was all an act," the brunette taunted, pushing herself up off of the floor and dropping into a fighting stance. "Little Miss Perfect would never join the dark side. Ya know, that's your problem, B. You think being the Slayer is about saving the world. It's not. It's about power. Maybe if you removed that stick from your ass, you'd see it. But I guess it's too late for that, isn't it?" She smirked, causing Buffy to narrow her eyes suspiciously. "Bring it on, I've been itching for a good fight." Without another word, the younger Slayer ran at her, sending a solid punch to her jaw that she easily blocked. Grabbing her outstretched hand, she once again threw her into the wall, watching as small pieces of stone flew off of it at the impact.
"That's your problem, Faith," Buffy started. "Always rushing into things. Never taking the time to plan things out. Stratagize. That's why I'm going to win this." With a growl, the brunette launched herself at her sister, her punch once again being blocked, but this time executing a kick to Buffy's stomach, sending her flying across the room. Pushing herself to her feet, she brought her hand to the small cut on her forehead to check for damages before throwing herself back at Faith. For the next several minutes, the only sounds emanating from the room were punches and the slapping of flesh against flesh, but Buffy finally managing to pin the taller girl to the floor with her hand wrapped around her throat. "Ready to say uncle, Faith?"
"You don't know me at all, do you, B?" the other girl growled, grabbing the knife that she had previously using on Harry.
"Buffy, watch out!" he yelled, having come to the conclusion that she was on his side after all. But before she could react, Faith plunged the blade into her shoulder, causing her to scream in pain and let go of her. Kicking her off, the brunette grabbed the arm that had been wrapped around her neck and pulled her to a standing position, shattering it and making Buffy cry out once again.
"Dammit!" she swore, using her good hand to backhand Faith across the face and sending her sprawling to the ground. "I'm so tired of getting stabbed! What is with you people? A simple punch to the face isn't good enough?" Annoyed and sufficiently pissed off, she felt a rush of adrenaline course through her body and she brought her foot up, slamming the heel of her boot into the side of her sister Slayer's head, effectively rendering her unconscious and leaving a bleeding gash in its wake. "Ow, ow, ow," she muttered, wrapping her hand around the knife and pulling it from her shoulder with a fresh cry of pain. Cradling her broken hand to her body, she rushed to Harry's side, quickly inspecting him for damages. Nothing too serious. "You alright?" she asked, grabbing his chains and easily snapping them in half.
"Yeah..." He seemed transfixed by the wound that was pouring blood from her shoulder and grabbed his discarded t-shirt from the floor, pressing it to the wound to stem the bleeding and giving her a sympathetic look when she winced. "How are we going to get back?" Buffy thought, wondering if she handle apparating again.
"Hold on," she ordered, wrapping her good hand around his wrist. Closing her eyes and concentrating as hard as she could, she cleared her mind, thinking only of Hogwart's hospital wing. When she opened her eyes, the two of them were standing in the destination of her choice with a large crowd of people staring at them. Feeling a bit lightheaded from the loss of blood, she faltered slightly and Harry grabbed her, leading her to the nearest bed and setting her down on it.
"Merlin's beard," Dumbledore said, emerging from the crowd and appearing at her side. "What happened?"
"I think my cover's blown," the Slayer managed to answer before Madame Pomfrey rushed over to her, taking in her wounds and insisting that she needed to be tended to.
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Alrighty, well that's the end of this chapter! I know things seem a bit rushed, but I want to finish up this little story in the next few chapters, so I felt like I had to get a move on it. Hope you liked it, and please drop me a review on the way out!