Title: Where Do We Go From Here?
Disclaimer: Hp stuff belongs to J.K. and her people; BTVS stuff belongs to Josh Whedon, and his people.
Authors Note: Newly re-written chapter 9.
Katherine Elizabeth
Chapter 9: The Order
Xander and Faith stood in shock, as they stared at the two strangers in their living room. The younger one, who looked to be about their age, was aiming a skimpy stake at them, while the old man was laughing. The two Scooby's glanced at each other, confusedly.
"What the hell are you laughing at?" Faith asked as she took a step closer to the man, but the young women saw what she was doing, and quickly aimed her 'stake' at Faith.
"IMMOBULUS" The women screamed, and a beam of light shot out of the stick. Faith suddenly felt like she was stuck in molasses, but she fought against the magic, and was slowly able to move foreword a little.
"Bloody Hell," The women exclaimed in shock, as she prepared to fire another curse.
"STOP!" The old man boomed. It seemed that he had gotten over whatever was so funny. "Nymphadora, will you please release the spell on Ms. Lehane."
"Finite Incantatum" she muttered, releasing the spell, as Faith tottered a bit, but didn't fall. Xander rushed foreword, and stood her up.
"Alright now that I have your attention, I must say I think there has been a misunderstanding." The man announced.
"Explain," Faith demanded.
"My name is Albus Dumbledore, and this is Nymphadora Tonks." Dumbledore announced.
"Is that supposed to mean something to us?" Xander asked.
"Are you not Faith Lehane, and Alexander Harris?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yeah, that's us, but how did you.." Xander started, but was cut off.
"Ahh, well then I suppose Mr. Giles forgot to tell you to expect us." Dumbledore stated.
"Yeah, I guess he did," Faith said, grumpily, "So what are you doing here?"
"Nymphadora..." Dumbledore began.
"Tonks." The young women corrected.
"Tonks, as she prefers to be called, is from the Ministry of magic, Mr. Giles filed a request for a visit from an auror just an hour or so ago, and Tonks is here to investigate what has happened." Dumbledore explained.
"Oh, well that was fast, but we should probably wait for Giles, Buff, and Wills to get back, before we start that." Xander told them. "They should be back soon."
"But in the meantime, you didn't tell us what you are doing here." Faith directed her question to Dumbledore.
"I am here to investigate the matter at hand, but also I have a proposal for all of you, but that can wait until you are all present." Dumbledore said mysteriously.
"Okay," Xander said as he looked at the visitors curiously, "So I guess we'll just wait for everyone to get back then?" Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Alright," Faith said, not really sure what to say next, "Um... do you two want anything to drink?"
"We have Fanta!" Xander put in cheerily. Dumbledore and Tonks both accepted the offer, and the two Scoob's went into the kitchen to get the drinks.
No more then ten minutes later Giles returned from Diagon Ally, to find Dumbledore and Tonks drinking lemonade Fanta, in the Scooby living room. He was quit surprised that they had come so soon, but his surprise had worn of by the time Buffy and Willow got home, not more then a half an hour after he had.
"Well," Giles said as he sat down in the living room with a cup of tea, "Now that everyone is here, shall we get down to business?"
"But everyone is not here," Willow said quickly, "Dawn isn't here, and she was very much involved in the whole thing" Several of the scoobs nodded.
"That's weird, she said she would be home by now." Buffy said, after glancing at the watch on her wrist.
"Maybe you should try her cell phone." Giles suggested. Buffy nodded and went into the kitchen, only to come back out a moment later, carrying Dawn's cell.
"She must have forgotten it," Buffy said. "I told her to take it with her when she goes out."
"Don't worry about it, Dawn can take care of herself," Willow assured her friend.
"I know," Buffy muttered, before saying "Why don't we start without her, and fill her in when she gets here?"
"We can't start unless every witness is present," Tonks informed them. At this point Dumbledore stood up, and said he would tell them his reason for being here first, and when Dawn arrived they could go on to the investigation.
He told them all about the current situation between Harry Potter and Voldemort. Then he went on to ask them for their help, but just as he said this they heard keys jingling on the front steps, and the front door opening. Buffy jumped to her feet, and walked into the front hall where Dawn was just coming through the door.
"Hey Buffy," The younger Summers said cheerily.
"Dawn, where were you, you were supposed to have been home 20 minutes ago." Buffy scolded.
"Sorry," Dawn replied, "I lost track of the time, I was at the park."
"Next time your going to be at the park flirting, bring your cell." Buffy said.
"I was not flirting!" Dawn said indignantly
"Oh, so you were at the park all alone?" Buffy asked.
"No I was with Harry." Dawn told her.
"Aha, so you were flirting?" Buffy accused, lightheartedly, with a smirk.
"Whatever," Dawn rolled her eyes, "Is anyone else home?"
"Yeah, they are all in the living room waiting for you." Buffy told her, "The auror people are here."
"Oh," Buffy rolled her eyes and led Dawn into the living room.
When they walked in, Buffy noticed Dumbledore was smiling, as if he knew something they didn't, and when he saw Dawn he took on a slightly confused expression. After a moment, he seemed to have worked something out in his head, and he grinned at them both.
Once Dawn had been introduced to the visitors Faith volunteered to fill Dawn in on the situation.
"So basically this Voldy guy, we heard about before, pulled a Buffy, and now Dumble-D wants us kill him." Faith said, summing up the whole thing in one sentence, where it had taken Dumbledore almost an hour. "Am I right?" Faith asked Dumbledore.
"Well, I'm not too sure what pulling a Buffy is," Dumbledore said. "And I'm not asking you to kill him, I'm asking for your allegience in the coming battle."
"Ok, well I'm in." Faith smiled, "What about you guys?" Buffy exchanged a glance with Giles, Dawn, Xander and Willow, who all nodded.
"Looks like you got yourself a new army." Buffy smiled at the old man with twinkling eyes. "But I wanna make it clear that we're allies, We won't be taking orders, and anything Slayer related goes through us first."
"Wonderful, Of course." Dumbledore beamed, "There is a meeting at headquarters this Saturday, I will introduce you to some of the order members, and we can talk some more."
"Sounds like a plan," Buffy said.
"Very good, now I believe we have an investigation to get to." Dumbledore announced.
Tonks smiled, and got out a note pad, before asking for a detailed description of what had happened, and they told her. Which took almost an hour seeing as everyone was talking at once. When they had run out of pertinent things to say Tonks read her notes to them, to make sure she had everything correct. Dumbledore stood up, followed closely by Tonks.
"Now we really must be going, but I would like to talk to Ms. Summers alone for a moment, if you don't mind?" He directed the last part to Buffy.
"Um...sure," Buffy said, looking at the others confusedly. The rest of the Scooby's excused themselves, and Tonks popped out with a cheerful bye, leaving Buffy alone with the old wizard.
"So you wanted to talk to me?" Buffy asked after everyone was gone.
"Yes, I wanted to ask you about your sister." Dumbledore stated.
"Oh," Buffy said defensively, "What about her?"
"I assume you already know that she is different," Dumbledore asked.
"How did you..."
"I can sense the magic in people." He explained, "and I can tell what kind of magic it is."
"So you could tell the difference between Willow's magic, and other kinds?" She asked.
"Oh yes, and much more then that." Dumbledore replied. "For example today I could feel Willows magic, Wicca, and Tonks's magic, Wizarding, and Mr. Giles's magic, a mix of Wicca, and Wizarding; Then there is Faith and yourself, your magic is that of the slayer; then of course there is Mr. Harris's magic..."
"What!" Buffy interrupted, "Xander has magic?"
"Yes he does, it comes from his growing up on the Hellmouth, so there is not much, but he could probably do some simple spells." Dumbledore informed her.
"Oh, ok I get it, go on to Dawn's magic." Buffy got over her shock, and urged him to continue.
"Well," Dumbledore went on, "Dawn's magic is neither Wicca nor Wizarding, though she can do both, it is more ancient then that, her magic is the magic of the Key to Dimensions, and it is one of a kind."
"Ok, I knew all that, so now all I need to know is what do you want with her?" Buffy asked.
"I want to offer her a place at my school." He said.
"Ok, not really what I was expecting," Buffy muttered.
"Ms. Summers your sister is under age, and I cannot allow her to join the order, so while you are all busy with your council and the order, what will Dawn be doing? I think the best place for her would be at Hogwarts, learning magic." Dumbledore told her.
"Well Dawn might not be joining the order, but she is a member of the council, so don't think she won't know what going on. But I think you're right, learning to control her magic would be a good think." Buffy sai. He nodded. "Dawn would love that, but would I only be able to see her in the summer, and at Christmas?"
"Normally that is how it works, but I think we can allow you to visit her." He informed her. "We could really help her in controlling her magic, she may become overwhelmed with it if she is not properly taught."
"Ok, as long as I can visit, then I think it's a great idea." Buffy smiled appreciatively at Dumbledore. "So when would she start?"
"I think she should come to the school early, to try and catch up on the years she has missed, but you can stay with her up until the other students arrive. We can decide the exact date on Saturday, but I would expect in a few weeks." He said.
"Sounds good, as long as she is ok with it. I'll talk to her about it tonight," Buffy smiled.
"Now I really must be going, I'll send Tonks by to pick you up on Saturday," Dumbledore stood up, and stretched.
"Alright, we'll see you then," Buffy smiled, then their was a small pop, and Dumbledore was gone.
That night Buffy found Dawn in her room, and told her about Dumbledore's offer. Dawn of course was ecstatic.
"This is so awesome Buffy, when do I leave?" Dawn asked excitedly.
"In a few weeks," Buffy smiled, at Dawn's enthusiasm, but then Dawn frowned.
"What?" Buffy asked.
"I didn't realize it would be so soon." Dawn said sadly.
"Well, you have to go early to catch up on stuff." Buffy pointed out.
"Oh," Dawn said still frowning.
"Is this about a certain boy who you don't have a crush on?" Buffy asked.
"What! No of course not. I don't like him that way. That's not it." Dawn said quickly. Buffy laughed.
"Don't spazz, Dawnie, your allowed to have a crush on a guy."
"But I don't," Buffy looked pointedly at her. "Ok so maybe I do." She smiled. They both laughed.
"So I was right then, he is the reason you're sad to be leaving so soon." Buffy said.
"Well, yeah." Dawn said.
"Don't worry about it, you'll have two weeks with him, and then you can always write to each other, and you'll be home for Christmas break, and probably see him then." Buffy reassured her sister.
"Yeah I guess you're right." Dawn sighed, "I'll just have to make the best of the next two weeks."
"Yeah, but if your going to be dating this guy, I'm gonna want to meet him, you know make sure he's not evil or dead or anything," Buffy smiled.
"Haha, very funny, but if I'm not mistaken I'm pretty sure you're the one who has a record for dating dead guys. And I'm not dating him." She added the last part as an after thought.
"Whatever, " Buffy said as she got up and started for Dawn's bedroom door, where she paused and turned around. "Hey Dawnie, I'm gonna go patrol, you wanna come?"
"Sure," Dawn smiled; she hadn't been patrolling with Buffy in a long time. "I'll meet you downstairs in 5."
"K," Buffy closed the door as she left, and headed downstairs to wait for Dawn.
Later that night, Buffy and Dawn had walked through the streets, killing vampires as they went, until they reached the park where Dawn had met Harry. Buffy was very interested in meeting Harry, so they decided to stop by the park, and see if he was there.
"This is it," Dawn said. As they entered the park she spotted something near the swing set, and elbowed Buffy. "That's Harry." She informed her.
"Ahh," Buffy smiled, as she looked over at Harry, who had yet to notice them enter the park. "Are you going to introduce me?"
"That was the point of coming here." Dawn quickly led Buffy over to where Harry sat; he looked up when he heard them coming and smiled.
"Hello Dawn," He said brightly.
"Hey Harry, this is my sister Buffy; Buffy this is Harry Potter." Dawn introduced them.
"Hi there," Buffy said cheerfully.
"Hello," Harry said, as they shook hands. "It's very nice to meet you, Dawn's told me so much about you."
"Really," Buffy smiled but looked suspiciously over at Dawn, who rolled her eyes. "Nothing bad I hope?"
"No," Harry laughed at the expression on Buffy's face, "Not at all."
"Good, there are enough people in this world who know embarrassing stories about me, I would hate to have to add another name to that list."
Buffy talked and laughed in the park with Harry and Dawn for about a half an hour more. Then she yawned and acted sleepy before saying goodbye, and telling Dawn she would meet her at home later. She looked back as she walked out of the park, and saw Harry hanging onto every word Dawn was saying. Buffy smiled at them one last time before leaving the park.
As Buffy walked through the streets she tried to remember where she had heard the name Harry Potter before. She was sure it was something important, but it kept slipping away, and she didn't stop thinking about it until she walked in the front door of the Scooby's house.
Buffy walked through the living room, where she had talked to Dumbledore earlier that day, she had kinda zoned out when he was talking, but knew that it was just an elaboration of the story Giles had told them.
'Hmmm,' she thought, 'what did they call that boy, the boy who lived...' suddenly Buffy's eyes widened, and she gasped.
"Oh Shit," She whispered, before thinking, 'its Harry Potter!'
TBC...
Authors Note: Ok really barely changed anything in that one, but the next few chapters is when it really starts to change… I think.