Title: Where Do We Go From Here?
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize.
Authors Note: One of my favorite chapters so far newly edited and ready to be read.
Katherine Elizabeth
Chapter 11: Visitors, Surprises, and a Rogue Slayer:
The next weekend, on Saturday morning, the Scooby's gathered at the airport to say goodbye to Willow and Faith. Xander would be picking up Andrew from L.A., and returning home, as soon as he could. After they boarded the plane Dawn, Buffy, and Giles watched it until it was out of sight, before they went home. Upon entering the house they got a phone call, it was Lisa, one of the original potentials, who was in charge of a Slayer center in L.A.
"Lisa, what is it?" Buffy asked when she answered the phone.
"I've got news about a newly risen slayer that we missed, right here in L.A." All in the room could hear the younger slayers voice through the phone.
"So, why didn't you send your watcher to talk to her?" Buffy asked confusedly. They now had enough Watchers to have one at each Slayer center, watching out for the girls, and it was the watchers job to talk to the new slayers, when they were found.
"Because our Watcher is looking for another slayer in a town 2 hours away from here, and Andrew is the only one around. Buffy we can't find her ourselves, and we think she might be dangerous; Wolfram and Hart is after her." Lisa told her.
"What?" Buffy almost shouted, "Why would Wolfram and Hart be after her? I'm guessing there is more to this story?"
"You guessed right," Lisa began, "She was kidnapped when she was really young, and tortured by some man, we don't know who. She was found some time later, and put into a mental institution, where she has been for the past ten years. Doctors say she got increasingly violent since a few months ago, the same time as the battle with the first. Two days ago she broke out of the hospital, and killed several people in the process. We have no idea where she is now, but we know that Wolfram and Hart are looking for her, we were told that Angel, and a blonde man were at the hospital asking questions. Andrew has already paid Angel a visit, and he's been trying to find out where the girl is."
"Whoa that's a lot to digest," Buffy sighed, "Ok, I want you to get together a group of girls and have them ready in case you have to go after her. Now let me talk to Andrew, annoying or not he's still a watcher, I'm putting him in charge on this one."
"Ok," Lisa said, "Whatever you want, I'll get him now."
"Thanks," Buffy said. The line was silent for a moment before Andrew came on the phone.
"Buffy, oh my god it's so good to talk to you," he said in his high-pitched girly voice.
"Yeah, whatever," Buffy rolled her eyes, "Andrew, I'm putting you in charge on this one, I want you to go see Angel and see what you can find out. Let Wolfram and Hart find the girl, but I want you to follow them, with the group Lisa is getting ready, and you will have the girls get her before they can get her back to their offices." Buffy sighed, and hoped she was making the right decision, "Do not trust anyone from Wolfram and Hart, not even Angel, I don't think he'll hurt you or anyone else, but the people who work with him might. Get the girl, and get out, and don't tell Angel that you're taking her, until you have her."
"Yes sir," Andrew replied.
"Andrew, I'm serious, are you sure you can handle this?" Buffy asked.
"I can do it, Buffy, I've already spent some time with Angels crew, trying to find the girl" Andrew replied.
"I'm trusting you to get that girl, Andrew." Buffy said seriously.
"Don't worry, I'll get the girl, and I'll see you all in a few days." Andrew assured her.
"Ok, call me if you have any problems." Buffy said before hanging up the phone, and turning to face Dawn and Giles, who had been listening quietly.
"Um, Buffy are you sure it's such a good idea to trust Andrew with something this important?" Giles asked.
"He's not completely incompetent Giles, he's grown up a lot since the battle with the first, I think he can handle this." Buffy told him.
"Yes, his maturity has improved in the past few months, I expect he'll reach the level of a 7th grader by the end of the year." Giles commented.
Both Buffy and Dawn cracked up laughing at that, and Giles cracked a smile.
Not a moment later and the phone rang again, this time it was Harry asking if Dawn wanted to hang out, which of course she did.
For the past week Dawn and Harry had been hanging out everyday, he even came over for dinner and a movie one night. Buffy and the others spent that whole day removing anything supernatural from the living room, Dining room, and Kitchen. Those being the only rooms Harry would be seeing. Dawn was surprised how well it had gone, the only problem was that she had forgotten to remind Xander not to scare Harry off with corny jokes.
They had been getting ready to watch a movie, when Dawn left the room to go to the bathroom, while Buffy, and Willow were in the kitchen making popcorn, leaving Xander and Faith alone with Harry. Dawn realized her mistake when she walked back into the room to hear Xander telling one of his pirate jokes, and Faith smirking at the blush on Harry's face.
"So this pirate walks into a bar, and the bartender says, 'Lord! Matey, you've got a steering wheel in your pants!' and the pirate goes 'ARGGG, I know, it's been drivin me nuts all day!'"
"Xander!" Dawn had chastised as she walked into the room, although she had to admit the look on Harry's face just before he cracked up laughing was incredibly cute.
Dawn giggled at the memory, as she walked into the park, and sat down on one of the swings. She was so absorbed in her thoughts she didn't notice Harry looking down at her from the playground tower.
"What are you laughing at?" He asked, grinning down at her, when she looked up in surprise, and smiled.
"Hey, Harry," Dawn grinned, "Actually I was laughing at you."
"Really?" Harry asked, in mock hurt, as he climbed down from his spot on the tower.
"Yeah, I was just remembering when Xander was telling you jokes last week, and your face got so red, you looked like a tomato." Dawn teased him.
"You take pleasure in making me embarrassed, don't you?" Harry asked. He had now walked over to where Dawn sat, and started slowly, pushing her on the swing.
"Yup," Dawn laughed as he pushed her a little higher, "But that's only because it's oh so very easy to do."
"Like it's not easy to embarrass you to," Harry commented.
"It is not," Dawn defended.
"Wanna bet?" Harry asked, and caught Dawn in his arms, stopping the swing. Dawn twisted in the seat to look up at Harry who was still holding on to her.
"Ok," She smiled up at him, "But just because I know I'll win, whoever gets the other to blush first wins."
"Ok," Harry replied softly, as he looked down at her, and smiled. Dawn was still twisted around in her seat, looking up at him, and their faces were only inches apart.
Ever so slowly Harry bent his head down, and kissed her softly on lips. Though the kiss was chaste, the moment seemed to last forever, and Dawn thought it was perfect. After a few moments Harry broke the kiss and looked nervously down at a smiling Dawn, who was blushing furiously.
"I win," Harry whispered, although his face was just as red as hers, and after a few moments Dawn laughed and replied.
"I'd call it tie."
The next week went by fairly quickly, Dawn and Harry spent every day together, either in the park, walking around London, or hanging out at Dawns house, watching movies or what not. They hadn't talked about the kiss, and were both a little confused about it, but neither wanted to bring it up.
It was the day before Dawn was supposed to leave for Hogwarts, and she was feeling rather sad, seeing as she would probably never see Harry again. As she was walking out of the house to meet him, Buffy called to her from the kitchen, where she was on the phone.
"Hold on one sec Dawnie..." Buffy said before returning to her phone conversation. "Ok, we will see you then...alright, bye Xander." She hung up the phone.
"That was Xander, he said he'll be home with Andrew in a day or two, they dealt with the whole rogue slayer thing, I think they stayed around and extra few days to make sure she was alright." Buffy told her.
"Oh," Dawn replied, "So did you want something, cause I was kinda on my way to meet Harry..."
"Oh yeah, about that," Buffy said mischievously, "Why don't you bring Harry around tonight, I have a bit of a surprise for you." Dawn narrowed her eyes.
"What kind of a surprise?" Dawn asked.
"Well if I told you it wouldn't be a surprise," Buffy pointed out.
"Ok fine don't tell me, when do you want us to come by?" Dawn asked.
"Like 6:30 would be good." Buffy said.
"Um...ok," Dawn replied confusedly, "I guess I'll see you later then."
Dawn wondered what was going on with Buffy as she left the house, heading to the park, to meet Harry, for what she thought would probably be the last time.
Meanwhile not to far away Ron Weasley sat on a couch in one of the sitting room's of 12 Grimmauld place, nervously waiting for Headmaster Dumbledore to arrive. On the couch next to him, griping his hand was his girlfriend of one week, Hermione Granger. Almost an hour before, they had been called downstairs by Ron's mother, who told them that Dumbledore wanted to speak to them about something, but she didn't say what. So they had been sitting there nervously awaiting whatever horrible news it was Dumbledore had to tell them.
"What do you think this is about?" Ron asked Hermione.
"I don't know, but it can't be good," Hermione said.
Suddenly there was a loud 'pop' outside the door to the room, and moments later Dumbledore entered.
"Hello!" He said cheerily, "So sorry I kept you waiting, I was meeting with teachers for next years defense class."
"That's ok Professor," Hermione replied. "Was there something you needed to tell us?"
"Ah, yes there was," Dumbledore, said they looked at him expectantly, "oh, yes, Well, I came here today to let you in on a little secret." Ron and Hermione both nodded for him to continue.
"You've both met Ms. Dawn Summers?" They nodded, "Did you know that she lives only a few minutes away from where Harry stays with his Aunt and Uncle in Surrey?" they both shook their heads.
"Well, the whole thing is quite funny, you see I realized it when I first met Ms. Summers two weeks ago, it seems that Ms. Summers and Harry have become friends, but neither realize who the other is." Dumbledore said cheerfully.
"Er, professor if you figured this out two weeks ago, why didn't you tell them then?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, I was going to Ms. Granger, but I thought it would be much more amusing if we had Harry and Dawn find out tonight, as a sort of surprise." Dumbledore went on to tell them of his plan for the night, and before he left he gave them a portkey to where they would be meeting Buffy.
"Well that was weird." Ron pointed out as soon as Dumbledore was gone.
"It was rather odd," Hermione agreed, "But at least we get to see Harry on his birthday!"
"I know! He's going to be so surprised." Ron said.
"Yeah, but Ron you do realize that we're going to have to tell him tonight?" Hermione said.
"Tell him what?" The red head asked confusedly.
"About us, Ron." Hermione was talking like he was a little kid.
"Oh, yeah, so what about it?" Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron's comment.
"Aren't you worried about what he will think?" Hermione asked. "What if he feels like we're trying to exclude him?"
"Calm down, Mione," Ron said reaching out and taking her hand in his, "I'm sure it will be fine, Harry's not like that, besides we can try extra hard to make sure he doesn't feel like a third wheel or anything." Hermione sighed, and looked up into his eyes.
"Ok," She smiled, "I guess you're right, I'm just being paranoid."
"It's ok, now I know what it's like to be you." Ron said. Hermione giggled in confusion.
"How so?" She asked.
"Usually you're the one who's right about everything, and I'm the one being paranoid." Ron said with a grin.
"You are too funny," Hermione laughed at Ron's logic, and leaned foreword to peck him on the lips, before getting up and leaving the room.
"What did she mean by that?" he asked himself as he sat on the couch looking at the door she had just walked through, in confusion.
Later that day Dawn and Harry were sitting in a café a few minutes walk from the park where they had met. They had been there all day just talking, and drinking lemonade. It was around 6:00 when Dawn got up to go to the bathroom, and she saw the time. 'Oh shit,' she thought to herself, as she rushed back to the table where Harry was waiting.
"Hey Harry," She said, nervously, as she got to the table, "I just remembered Buffy said she had a surprise for the both of us, and she asked if we would stop by around 6:30, which would be really soon, and I kinda promised we would, so would you mind if headed to my house? I mean I'd understand if you didn't want to, but I did promise, and she might not be to happy if I don't show, so... um... I'm rambling again aren't I?"
Harry just nodded and grinned at her. Dawn blushed, like she did so often when Harry was around, and hit him playfully on the arm.
"You're supposed to stop me when I do that." Dawn said in classic Willow form, after all that is whom she caught the 'rambling bug' from.
"But your so cute when you do that," Harry replied, with a soft smile, until they both realized what he had said, and both their faces burned bright red.
"Um...anyway, would you mind if we headed to my house now?" Dawn asked, trying to change the subject.
"Sure," Harry replied, quickly, "Not a problem."
Harry got up and paid for their lemonades, and they were off. Not more than a half an hour later they turned a corner onto Dawns block, and headed to her house.
Meanwhile Giles and Buffy were awaiting the arrival of Ron and Hermione, who had planned to portkey to their house around 6:15. Dumbledore had arrived at exactly 6:00 and with a few waves of his wand, the living room was decked out in 'Happy Birthday Harry', and 'Goodbye Dawnie' banners with green and gold letters, and green and gold ribbons and balloons. The green flame emitting gold candles floating around the edges of the room had especially impressed Buffy and Giles. When asked about his color choices Dumbledore replied.
"I did not pick the colors, I just thought of Dawn and Harry when I was doing the spells, and these are the colors that came out." Dumbledore told them. "I assume the green is for Dawn, because it is the exact color of her aura, and the same for Harry, his aura is gold."
"Nifty," Buffy said as she grinned and looked around the room again.
"I suppose it is pretty 'nifty' as you say." Dumbledore smiled at his handy work.
Moments later there was a loud crash from the front hallway, and when Giles, Buffy, and Dumbledore rushed to the front door they saw a sight that made Dumbledore laugh, and Buffy giggle, while Giles just raised his eyebrows.
Lying on the floor in a tangle of arms and legs Hermione and Ron struggled to get up. Buffy sobered up quickly, and helped the two to their feet.
"That may have worked better if your shoe laces weren't tied together," Buffy pointed out gesturing to the two 6th years feet. Indeed their shoes laces were tied together, Ron's right to Hermione's right, and the same with the left. Once they were up Hermione aimed her wand at their shoes, and quickly remedied the problem.
"This is the last straw, I think we're going to have to teach your brothers a lesson, Ron, they are really starting to get annoying." Hermione grumbled.
"Bloody hell, Mione," Ron said lightly "It's not that big of a deal, it's not like they turned your hair pink again, or stole your copy of 'Hogwarts: A History'."
"No that was last week," Hermione replied curtly, with a roll of her eyes. "And don't swear Ronald." Now it was Ron's turn to roll his eyes.
"Alright," Buffy said, "Moving on, why don't you three wait in the living room, Dawn and Harry should be here soon."
Dumbledore lead Ron and Hermione back into the living room, and Giles went into the kitchen to make tea. Buffy had only been waiting a few minutes when she heard Dawn and Harry coming up the walk. She waited for them to get to the door, before she opened the door, and greeted them.
"Hey," Buffy said cheerily, as she stood back to let them inside. "You guys are just on time."
"So what is this surprise you have for us?" Dawn grinned. "I can't wait to see what it is."
"Yes," Harry added, "I'm quite curious myself."
"Oh you'll see." Buffy grinned, "It's in the living room, follow me."
Dawn looked suspiciously at her sister before her and Harry followed Buffy into the living room. It was completely dark in the room until suddenly there was a burst of green and gold light.
"Surprise!" Ron, Hermione, Buffy, Dumbledore, and even Giles yelled, as the candles around the room lit up.
Both Harry and Dawns jaws dropped, as they looked around in confusion, before both exclaiming a the same time:
"Bloody Hell!"
TBC...
Authors Note: There it is, Dawnie and Harry finally kissed. And I know some people don't think that Harry would be that bold, or Dawn would be that embarrassed, but here is my thinking on it: I think they would act this way because of how much they really do like each other… I mean as we all know "love make's you do the wacky", so that's that. Oh and also someone said that Harry must be rubbing off on Dawn because she said Bloody Hell, but I figure after being around Spike, Giles, and even Wes for so long she would pick up a bit of British slang, plus now that she's living in England she is more likely to speak like an English person.
Ok next chapter we see their reactions, etc…
Katherine Elizabeth