If I owned anything of any import you'd have heard of me. Since you have no idea who I am, I quite obviously own neither harry potter nor buffy the vampire slayer.
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England really needed to do something about the shortage of good coffee shops. Buffy frowned into the sludge that someone had tried to pass off as a Latte. This was horrifying. She frowned and gave a deep sigh, annoyed that this was the first time she would be seeing Xander in years and it was because both of them were too emotionally laden to pick up the phone and say "I need you." Figured.
None of the scoobies were any good at that sort of thing. They tended to wall themselves off and refuse to believe that anyone could possibly understand that pain that they were going through. Usually they were at least honest enough to themselves not to let the others get away with it. Unfortunately with the end of the Battle for Sunnydale, everyone had lost someone, and everyone ended up walling themselves off from everyone else. The only one who had tried to touch anyone else at all was Dawn. She had fought tooth and nail to make her family realize how much they were hurting each other. The fumbling of emotional zombies was not pretty, but Dawn kept hold, forced them to see, to feel.
They had all run away though; Buffy to Rome, Willow to Argentina, Giles and Andrew to England, Xander to Africa, Faith and Robin to Cleveland, Ohio. So far apart, emotionally and physically. They couldn't quite reach each other on the ethereal level that they all needed. They took jobs that would keep them moving, keep them working and unable to wallow in whatever pit of self-loathing and pity they had found to immerse themselves. Constantly moving further apart, trying not to realize how much they all needed each other.
Then the problems in LA happened. They had all chosen not to help via phone conference. They hadn't even managed to come together for something so important. Dawn had been livid. She had told them all in no uncertain terms what she thought of their piety and their unwillingness to believe in a good that they had no right to question. The New Watchers Council had voted to stay out of LA. Buffy, Faith, Giles, Willow, and Robin against Dawn. 5 to 1, Xander had been unreachable. Not that they had tried very hard to reach him, as Dawn had pointed out. They had voted against helping Angel and Spike because they hadn't wanted to face their personal demons. Yeah, look how that had turned out. They had lost Dawn. She'd left them all, going somewhere that she would be safe, somewhere they wouldn't need to check on her, and making sure they knew she was safe so that she wouldn't have to see any of them.
And she'd joined a war.
Not that Buffy was all that surprised really, that was the sort of person that Dawn was. She joined a war that she didn't need to have anything to do with, and she'd fought viciously on the side of good. Buffy had only been there over night, but everywhere she looked people were talking about the Battle for Hogwarts. Harry Potter had beaten Voldemort, Molly Weasley had beaten Bellatrix Lestrange, those two were the most talked about. More Harry than Molly, but evidently he was famous even without that. Her sister though, her sister won the front page picture of more than 1 newspaper and even more magazines. Her sister, dressed Scooby style for the Apocolypse. No one else would wear leather boots with 3 inch spike heels or a tiny lace top. In fact, no one else in any picture was dressed to impress at all. They were all wearing jeans or robes.
Buffy glanced down at the rag magazine she was holding. It was a wizarding magazine so all the pictures moved. This one was about the loss of a Weasley. The front picture was of Dawn stalking across the Great Hall of Hogwarts, looking dangerous and beautiful, a warrior goddess. A tragic goddess. A smaller picture was of Dawn pointing her sword at one red haired man, while looking at another in disbelief. Every few seconds the picture-Dawn would drop her sword and slowly walk over to kneel beside the dead body of her beloved. Buffy glared at the magazine and shoved it in her over-sized purse, tired of the heartbreaking images that kept replaying.
"Buffy?" Willow was calling and waving her arm. Xander ambled along behind her. Buffy sized them both up as they walked to her. Willow's hair was longer and straight, with razor cut bangs hanging over her eyebrows. She looked tan and beach ready. Kennedy was keeping her in shape. Xander's hair was longer as well, but hadn't been cut or styled at all. He was tossled and windblown. Not just his hair, but his body as well. He was hard and weathered. Life in Africa was not easy on the best of days. Killing demons and staying out of the way of militant governments didn't make it any easier. Especially when towing around beautiful teenage girls who had a power they had been taught from birth could only belong to a man. Xander looked tired.
"I missed you both," Buffy said simply. She gave Willow a Hug, the two of them breathing deeply and realizing how much it had hurt to be away. Buffy then turned to Xander.
"You look like you could use a nap," She told him, reaching up tugging lightly on a lock of hair that dangled just below his shoulder. Xander gave her a weary smile and enfolded the petite blonde into his arms.
"I missed you too Buff," He told her. After a moment he unlooped an arm and raised an eyebrow at Willow. The red head needed no further invitation to join the hug and the three stood there for a little while, bathing in the light of being together. They all backed off at the same time, smiling at each other and missing how easy it had been to strike up conversations when they were younger and freer.
"Did you bring any luggage?" Buffy asked the other two.
"Only carry-on," Xander said, holding up a worn leather bag. Willow held up her newer small tote and they followed Buffy out to the entrance where someone was circling Heathrow for them. An old beat up car whipped in and Buffy held open the back door for her friends, closing it and climbing into the front seat.
"This is Sean," Buffy introduced the young man driving the car, "He's on lone," She passed back the magazine she had been reading earlier. "Basically a picture book of what happened. Dawn's not the only one that's messed up. You guys thought I had it bad with the chosen one thing, wait 'til you hear about this Harry Potter kid," And Buffy proceeded to tell them all about the war against Voldemort.
"On the plus side, he hasn't died as many times as you have," Willow told her said with a wry smile. Buffy giggled.
"I didn't think about that," She admitted.
"Oh come one, Rule Two of Post-Apocolypse Care: Reminisce. You should be encouraging them to tell horrifyingly embarrassing stories by telling your own," Xander reminded her.
"I know. I was helping out with Rule One. We're gonna have to take it slow with these guys. They don't do this as often as we do," Buffy reminded her friends.
"Can I ask a question?" Their driver interrupted. Buffy looked over at him.
"Ask away," She agreed. He nodded and glanced at the two in the backseat quickly.
"How many times did you have to go through this type of thing before you came up with a Post-Apocolypse Care rule list?" The man asked. Buffy shrugged.
"I dunno, a few," Buffy said.
"At least 3," Willow agreed. Xander laughed at the pale cast the mans skin had taken.
"We aren't you're average group. It wasn't so much making the list as realizing what worked best and writing it down. Actually, Dawn wrote it out. It's one of many staples of the New Watchers Council," Xander told the man. Buffy shrugged again.
"Really though, we just had a lot of practice," She told him. The rest of the ride was silent. The three were dropped off in front of a dilapidated little pub called "The Leaky Cauldron." Buffy led them inside and waved at the bar keep, who came around from behind the bar and led them to a tiny back area on the street. Xander and Willow had been warned, but were still suitably impressed by the magical archway leading to Diagon Alley.
"So how bad is she really?" Xander asked quietly as the three walked up the street. Witches and wizards gave the trio wide berth after a first glance. Though the three were lacking the robes, they still gave off the tired and edgy atmosphere of Aurors.
"She wont talk, wont eat, and hasn't cried. Or showered for that matter, the stench isn't pretty. I cleaned most of the dried blood off her face, but I know she doesn't care about that. She's bricked herself up. I think she and George are feeding off each others grief without realizing it," Buffy said quietly.
"George is the twin?" Xander asked. Buffy nodded.
"And how is he doing?" Willow asked. Buffy sighed softly.
"He's locked in his room. He's hurting at least as much as Dawn. You have to realize also that this is a huge extended family. Not only are there 7 kids, 6 now I suppose, there are also the adopted family members, the in-laws and all of their friends, none of whom thought that any of them could die. Fred was the third youngest. He was one of the baby's. The youngest kid, Ginny, is the only girl. All of her brothers seem to be leaning on her for support because they're used to getting it from mom, Molly, who's laid up in the hospital drugged beyond belief cause she had a freak-out. So all of the boys are trying to be strong for each other and Ginny while each of them secretly goes off to cry on Ginny's shoulder without the others knowing. Not only that, but the girl is dating Harry Potter, who needs a lot of loving caring attention himself, though he doesn't know how to give it, though he's trying. On top of that you've got the girlfriends, who are all trying to take care of the men, who don't want the girls to think they're weak, so wont break down in front of them, which is making the girls worry more and none of them need the added stress either. You've got one orphaned toddler, one infant who isn't orphaned but who's uncle just died, one twin who had his ear cut off and his twin killed, one who blames himself for his little brothers death because they were together, one french-woman with a new baby, one savior of the world about to break, his two best friends, who are both trying to hard to pretend to be fine, and countless other people stirred into the mix. The whole thing is fubar," Buffy growled. Xander grinned.
"You said Fubar," He laughed lightly and continued to grin. Buffy smiled. Everything would be all right. They would help make it all right. First things first though. Get George and Dawn over to the Burrow where group healing could be had.
"How do we know who is who?" Willow wanted to know, trying to figure out how to keep them all in order. Buffy smiled, a hint of mischief in her eyes.
"Well, the Weasley's all have red hair," She offered. Willow raised an eyebrow.
"Interesting," Xander said with a smile. Buffy shrugged.
"This is the place," Buffy led the two through the front of the joke shop and up the stairs. Once inside Xander dropped his bag on the floor and stretched. Willow did the same and glanced over as a bedroom door opened and a tall black man with dread locks eyed the three.
"I'm Buffy, Dawn's sister," Buffy held out a hand.
"Lee Jordan, adopted son I suppose. Fred and George are my best mates," Lee said, looking a little lost. Buffy smiled softly.
"These are Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris, we're here to help," Buffy introduced the other two. Willow stepped forward and steered Lee toward one of the couches.
"How about you stick around for a little while, help us out?" She suggested. He glanced at her for a moment.
"What do you mean?" He asked slowly.
"We want to get George and Dawn over to the Burrow, it would be nice if we didn't have to manhandle him," Buffy shrugged. Lee cracked a grin at that.
"Yeah, I suppose I could help, what do you need me to do?" He asked, looking glad to have something definite for him to help with. Willow smiled again.
"Right now we need to take care of Dawn. How's George doing?" She asked. Lee shrugged and dropped his head down.
"Not so good. It's like he doesn't know how to breathe or something, you know? I mean, he can breathe, but, it seems like he can't. He's just ... lost. Like the world's gone mad on 'im. But then, I s'pose it had to of to take away Fred," Lee whispered the last part. Willow sat beside the young man and nodded.
"It seems like that. It might always seem like that," Willow told him, "What's George doing right now?" Lee gave a shuddery sigh, trying to hide the tears Willow knew to be falling down his face.
"He's sleeping," Lee told her. Willow gently laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Does he have a seat in there? Something comfortable?" She asked. He glanced at her in dull surprise, forgetting the tears tracking down his cheeks for a moment.
"Yeah," He told her. She smiled softly.
"Why don't you go in and keep an eye on him then," She suggested. Lee stayed still for a moment and then nodded, walking back to the room he had only just vacated.
"It's always easier to talk to a stranger," Buffy said with a sad smile.
"Why don't you two make something edible, I'm starved. I'll go talk to Dawn," Xander told them. Buffy flopped onto the sofa.
"I'm all about the nap time," She insisted. Willow smiled and shooed Xander toward the other end of the flat. He grinned and slipped through one of the doors.
"You sleep, I'll make food," Willow told Buffy. Buffy smiled and didn't get up.
"Bathroom," Xander told Willow, coming out the door and walking through the other one. Willow shook her head and went into the kitchen. This was as slow as it was likely to get. She hoped they were up to the task at hand. This many people needed care and nurturing and it was the three of them. Willow smiled fondly at the little blonde slayer on the couch. She was already asleep. Buffy must have been awake all last night doing what she could, where she could. Willows glance went to the door hiding George and Lee. Lee was a good kid. If all of their friends were like that, this wouldn't be a problem. She could get them to helping each other and fix it the good old fashioned circle-of-life wicca way. She shook her hair out of her face and smiled grimly at the inside of the fridge. She hoped she knew what she had gotten herself into.