CHAPTER 4
"He had to say spiders..." Ron's familiar changing voice squeaked.
Harry and him were following the spiders but this time Harry didn't know why. His sleeping body shifted in agitation. They had already done this back in their second year to eventually learn what they needed to learn to rescue Ginny from the Basilisk and Voldermort in the Chamber of Secrets.
The forest looked different as well. Ron and him continued to follow the spiders however. Harry was beginning to feel a sense of urgency. This confused him, even in dream state he knew Voldermort was no longer a threat, his scar no longer burned. However his stomach was churning with fear and uneasiness.
They followed the spiders through the dense forest until a clearing emerged. Suddenly Harry's heart and stomach plummeted together in terror as his blood began to boil with anger.
Two vampires, pale skinned and their face kind of different looking, were about to attack Ginny and Hermione. Harry raised his wand...
"Harry!" Ginny's scream and calm voice mingled together making the Harry in the dream hesitate. "Harry come on its just a nightmare--" Ginny's calm voice made the terrifying scene of the Vampire's sharp teeth sinking into Ginny's neck disappear. He woke up with a start, sitting up abruptly, automatically reaching for Ginny's hand.
Calm brown eyes were the first things he saw when he fully work up and focused his own eyes. She gave a small warm smile, "Just a dream love," she murmured, weaving her free hand over his disheveled hair.
He hugged her close assuring himself she was still his Ginny. After a few moments he pushed her gently away, lightly kissing her and murmuring, "Thanks, I needed that."
She smiled then rose from the edge of the bed. "Now go and get ready, its our first day of school!"
Harry smiled, the scene from his nightmare disappearing...at least for now. "You sound like your Mum, Gin."
Chuckling Ginny walked towards the door but paused before she opened it. "Be glad it wasn't Mum, she heard you the same time I did," her eyes asked questions she didn't voice.
"It was only a nightmare Gin, nothing to worry about. Voldermort is dead. It wasn't even related to any of that,"...not really, Harry added to himself, hoping to assure her and hoping she wouldn't ask for more.
Ginny nodded in understanding and left without a word.
Dragging himself out of bed, he could hear noises down the hallway of others waking up. Last night, with the talk ending late and knowing college started today, they had headed straight to bed after the scoobies had left. Harry smiled to himself, he liked the name Zander had long before made for Buffy and her "gang".
He headed for the master's bath took a quick shower then grabbed some clothes. He was happy he'd thought to buy some new muggle clothes before he left England. He threw on a quite normal looking tee and jeans.
He packed his shoulder bag with the books he would need for the day, consulting his schedule and all of his syllabi to make sure he had remembered everything. Then Harry made his way downstairs to join everyone else.
Smelling delicious aromas coming from the dining room he hurried down the steps and almost laughed at all the sights before him. Molly must have been having fun with the
American Muggle cookbook Ginny had brought at the college bookstore yesterday. Ginny caught his smirk and winked, hiding her own giggle has she dug into her pancakes. Harry realized he too was very hungry, good thing too, considering the pile of food on the table.
"I made these things called Grits, apparently a U.S. South thing, George and Arthur like them," Molly told Harry after he had sat down and she sat a glass of orange juice in front of him. She was holding up a spoonful of a cream colored porridge-like substance. "I don't like it though so don't feel as if you have to eat everything. I'm going to send leftovers to Bill, Fleur and Charlie." She watched Harry, with a slightly concerned look, waiting till he began to dig in before continuing on her own exploration of the food she had cooked.
"What courses are you taking Ginny?" Molly asked after finishing off her eggs and moving onto her sausage biscuits and gravy.
Ginny looked around the table, trying to remember what all she was taking. "Apparently you have to take English Composition 101, no matter what you're studying otherwise, so we're all taking that, even George. Then Harry and I are taking Introduction to Mythology along with Calculus. All of us, besides George, are taking Chemistry 101, we though it would be fun--"
Ron snorted, Hermione elbowed him under the table and he snorted again, "Hey!" he rubbed his side, then laughed. "Ginny and Hermione thought it would be fun. Harry and I are just going along for the ride--"
"--And," Ginny gave an annoyed looked, perfect form of a younger sister. "Because it would be neat to see how it differs and is similar to Potions." She gave her older brother a last glare then turned back to her mom. "Harry and I are also taking French I, it would be nice to sort of understand Fleur at times when she forgets to speak English." The whole table chuckled at that.
"I'm taking World History I with Ron as well as Spanish 101," Hermione smiled, squeezing Ron's hand under the table. "He's again just along for the ride, but oh well, he has to be able to learn something taking the class." She paused, scooping a mouthful of a very filled omelet in her mouth. After she swallowed it and a sip of orange juice she continued, "I'm also taking Advance Calculus as well."
George nodded, "And we're all taking a supplemental computer course, its only a month long, one day a week, but we figured it would help us, for those of us who weren't around computers that much."
Nodding Molly smiled, "Sounds interesting." She really didn't understand most of the Muggle world but remembered vague pieces of it from her classes in Muggle Studies long ago at Hogwarts. Calculus she knew was math and Chemistry a science. She was really hoping they never would ask for her help, she chuckled to herself at the thought. "You know, its odd not taking any of you to Platform 9 3/4s," she added idly almost to herself. The others smiled sadly but fondly. Ron and Harry glanced at each other each remembering that Ron had missed the train once and Harry had barely rode the train for some reason or another. However the Hogwarts Express was dearly missed.
They finished the rest of their breakfast quietly nobody really discussing yesterday's meeting, not wanting to get into a discussion about it right now. They headed out soon after, Molly and Arthur were going to make a trip back to the Burrow while they were gone, luckily Bill, Fleur, and Charlie were going to get some variety of foods and not just the grits.
The young adults said good bye to the older couple then climbed in their SUV and traveled to the college. Talking about the particular classes they had that day. They all had English Comp. that morning, their individual language classes next, then World History or Intro to Mythology next. George only had classes Tuesdays and Thursdays, even the computer class was on Tuesdays, so he drove today--Harry and Hermione also had gotten their driver's license. Ron and Ginny had decided that would be enough between all of them.
They all glanced at the house across the street, noticing that one of the two cars that had been there yesterday was gone. "They must be starting today too," Ginny murmured, her eyes watching the house as if it would give more answers.
"I trust them love," Harry murmured, squeezing her hand as she sat next to him in the back seat. He knew was she was thinking and he wanted to assure her. "I just hope the Cullens will be trustworthy as well."
Ginny nodded and all the others murmured their agreement.
The rest of the day was non-eventful. The school was small enough that classes were easy to find. No moving staircases or Towers to climb up. All the buildings were two stories, a couple with basements and reflective of the New England old college campuses on the opposite side of the country. Their English class, while they all agreed they thought the professor slightly odd, he reminded them a bit of Professor Quirrell from their first year, they had enjoyed it enough. Their language classes were fun, Ron said the Spanish professor, Professora Cole reminded them of McGonagall in the way she seemed tough but cared about her students, sincerely cared about them it seemed. Ginny said their French Professor, Madame Webb, reminded her of her Mum...a bit exuberant but knows what she's doing. Their World History and Mythology teachers were decent enough. George agreed his business professors were also good, he said Zander were in most of them so they had sat together. Dawn had been in their English Comp class, George had sat next to her though they hadn't had a chance to talk.
They ended up back home the same time Arthur and Molly arrived. Molly began cooking supper, Arthur was reading a Muggle newspaper that had been dropped off during the day, and the others actually did a little studying. Ron and Harry's studying was more of reading the new Quidditch magazine Molly had brought back with her.
Molly cooked a more traditional Wizard dinner but still cooked as if all her family and their friends were eating with them. Luckily it was easier to share the food as a Witch even with them living across a continent and an ocean. They told Molly and Arthur about their day, mentioning their odd English professor.
"He just seemed overly timid, as if it were his first class," Hermione explained. "He's been there for twenty years, but we all said he reminded us of Professor Quirrell."
"If he'd been wearing a turban, I'd have been freaked," Ron added, stuffing a piece of fried chicken in his mouth.
Arthur appeared thoughtful for a moment but then seemed to dismiss whatever he was thinking, "We're all most likely going to feel a little uneasy around strangers, especially after all that has happened. Give him a chance. But if you have anymore uneasy feelings around him let me or a member of the Order know. There is still Death Eaters and other bad wizards and witches out there. Also, with all Buffy and the Scooby Gang told us yesterday he might be something completely different that we've never experienced before. Blimey, he might be an extended member of the Cullen family."
"I agree with Arthur, remember we thought Snape was on the wrong side the whole time, and it shows that Dumbledore was completely right to trust him all along," Harry murmured thinking of the memories that still haunted him. He felt guilty for the way he treated Snape but yet he knew there had been really no other way. Unless Voldermort had never come back in the first place.
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Buffy was having her own memories. Spike was still in her dreams and just as he had been alive, he was annoyingly always there. She really wished that she would stop falling in love with vampires. She had such bad luck with them.
First she falls in love with Angel, formerly Angelus, her brooding vampire that had lived a long and until Spike unique life as a vampire with a soul. Considering that soul had come after years of mass murder, Angel had taken awhile to get past wanting to die and realizing he could use his extra strength, agility and speed as a vampire to help fight the battle. He fought that battle a long time alone until he heard the latest slayer, Buffy, needed help. Then they had fought side by side and she had fallen in love.
However, his soul had come about as the result of a curse by gypsies in retribution for a lost daughter. Angelus would have a soul, could call himself Angel, could try to escape and help the world. However if he ever found true happiness he would lose his soul. He loved Buffy too. They found one night of true happiness and she ended up having to kill the man...vampire she loved. He came back from a hell dimension, more broken then when he had first received his soul long before. Buffy nursed him back to this reality and they continued to fight the battle together, just not quite as together as they were. Soon after he had moved to Los Angeles.
During that time she had met Spike, sired long before by a vampire named Drusilla who was in turned sired by none other than Angelus. Spike and Angel had had "fun" way back in those long ago years before Angelus had become Angel. Together the created even more terror for an already unsettled Europe and Asia. They weren't exactly what could be called friends even long before...vampires of that type don't really become friends and it didn't help that Spike was devoted to his sire Drusilla who was, at that time, Angelus' girlfriend. Drusilla probably hadn't helped much because she had her own uniqueness of not always being there. If Harry had known her, he'd probably say she reminded him of Professor Trelawney turned vampire. Except her power of "sight" seemed to be more reliable though still just as confusing and still given from a far off away look in her dreamy eyes.
Spike had come back fighting for the opposite sides multiple times until the Scoobies graduated high school...well sort of--Buffy laughed at herself thinking of that battle. She couldn't seem to do anything normal. Her thoughts turned back to Spike, thinking of his bleached hair and the strange addiction he had for her...the Vampire Slayer...a vampire's, without a soul, ultimate goal in killings. He had already killed two slayers and had tried killing her multiple times...not always directly but happily joining those who were trying. Then his obsession took over and a chip that prevented him harming humans was put in his brain by a secret government operation...those together created quite an unique vampire. He went from helping Buffy and her group to trying to pretend the battle...evil or good... didn't exist, escaping from them. But coming back yet again and helping, in his weird manner, them.
She would always be thankful he'd kept an eye out for the Scooby Gang, especially Dawn after she'd sacrificed herself.
They had a few rough and good times after she had come back to life that second time. He had been the first one Buffy told that she thought she'd been in heaven. He'd become the one she could talk to, also the one...well she could escape with. They both did things they very much had regretted. She still remembered one night that had caused him to run away to Africa where Spike had sought out a demon Shaman to partake in the Demon Trials...originally to get rid of the chip in his head hoping he could get back to his "normal" self. Instead, he survived the demanding physical challenges to receive back his soul.
Buffy remembered that time especially, when he had made his way back to the Gang. "The First" had caused a trigger to form in Spike's mind, from a song from his human childhood, to cause Spike...with a soul, to start killing again without realizing he's doing so, whenever the song played--
"Buffy?"
Dawn's voice and soft touch on her shoulder stirred Buffy from her thoughts. Buffy looked up at her younger sister's eyes, realizing just how grown up the young woman was becoming. "Hey Dawn, sorry just thinking..."
"Why don't you do some patrol?" Dawn suggested, knowing Buffy wouldn't talk with her about what had caused the sad look in her eyes. "It seems to help you sometimes."
Buffy jumped up from the sofa, suddenly liking the idea. She grabbed her black smooth leather coat, one to replace her past jackets of the same "Secret Agent" type look. She stuffed a simple wooden stake into one of the pockets, hugged her sister, then walked out into the night air, walking down the road towards the woods that she knew wasn't far from an old cemetery.
She thought idly of the Cullen family who, from Giles' information, apparently didn't live far from here. She wondered what she would learn this Sunday. Already she had learned
of a whole big world of witches and wizards that seemingly didn't even have to really think of using some of their magic. Even she had felt the powerful magic of Harry's when he had produced a...Patronus...if she remembered the name correctly. After all these years you would think she wouldn't have been surprised by anything she had seen in this world. She was sure she wasn't surprise as most "Muggles" wouldn't have been. Nevertheless, Harry, the Weasleys and Hermione had really surprised her. She was still kind of leery of them but she was still eager to learn about them. It helped that they seemed like a nice group of people.
She walked off the road and into the woods, her thoughts returning back to Spike.
Spike had almost died because of his killings...she had tried to keep him from hurting others but no one had known the trigger. Then they found out...one of her current Gang, the high school principal, Wood...a slayer's son, had used the knowledge in his retribution for his mother's death against the vampire who had killed her...Spike. The fight with Wood along with the song and Wood telling the tale, trying to make Spike fully realize that he had not only killed a slayer but a mother had started the process of disenabling the trigger. The song, "Early One Morning", was Spike's trigger for his anger to make him kill because his mom had sang it to him long ago...
Buffy shook her head at the memory. Spike had long ago turned his mother into a vampire...when she'd been on the verge of death, then had had to stake her because she'd been angry at him and nothing like the loving mom he'd remembered. Being a mother's boy before turning a vampire he couldn't understand what he had done that was so bad and why she hadn't continued to love him after he had saved her...at least in his eyes. The story of Wood's and his memories coming clearer made him remember that his mom had always loved him, that she'd just been that way after she'd turned because of what the life and death of a vampire had meant. Knowing of this love, the trigger of the song no longer worked and Spike had to again deal with not only all the past deaths but his most recent ones as well.
Buffy remembered that time, her heart's memory causing her to stumble in the woods. Spike had rejoined the fight, still reluctant to be the good ole guy because it had been his personality, but willing to do anything he could for Buffy. Slowly she became closer to Spike and this time their closeness involved three quiet most recent peaceful nights of her life. All they had done was hold each other and in that their bond tightened and became something more. She remembered him saying it had been the best night of her life...her eyes glazed over as she walked into the cemetery.
As such she didn't see right away the figure coming towards her.
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Harry couldn't stop thinking of their last year at Hogwarts, he truly was trying to focus on studying up on his French, recognizing some of the words Fleur had spoken in the past. However his mind wouldn't focus. After last night's telling and worrying about the visit with the Cullens. He wondered if one of the many prophecies broken that night Sirius had died...if another prophecy had said something about all of this. He believed Giles was right that it wasn't just a coincidence that all of them had come here at the same time. He wondered, if ever, he'd be able to just relax.
Knowing tonight wasn't going to be the night, he took his restless mind and body outside, leaving a note for the rest of them. He breathed in the night air, vaguely noticing the full moon lighting his way as he walked towards the woods. He hadn't had a chance to explore the surrounding area since arriving a couple of days ago and wanted to explore the novelty of a forest not full of large spiders, giant brothers and other strange creatures that Harry was sure he really never wanted to meet.
At least he thought this forest wouldn't be as bad as the Forbidden Forest.
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She'd gone on patrol, yet she was surprised to see a vampire. Admittedly her hand went towards the spike in her pocket, then she heard a rustle in the trees and automatically turned towards it surprised to see Harry pulling out his wand. The vampire, able to sense Slayer blood and knowing he was up for a fight immediately started towards her, she swung a kick around and the vampire was slung against a tree, his body landing with a loud clunk. However it didn't seem to affect him for long because he was up and after Buffy again. They went back and forth like that for awhile, Buffy always seeming to land the harder blows. Harry had a feeling that she could have killed him long ago but he felt she was enjoying the fight. As if she was just play fighting with a friend who had at least closer to equal strength as herself.
Another rustle brought all their attention to a man not to far from the fighting duel. Harry, who had slightly lowered his guard, raised his wand again. He could tell this man was a vampire as well but he seemed to be a different type all together.
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Edward took in the scene before him. Alice had warned him that they might have a chance to see this other type of vampire before they heard about it this weekend. She'd sent him out this way, though he had noticed her small sly smile as if she knew what he had been about to witness.
And sure enough it seemed as if there was another type of vampire...For surely he'd never seen his type die quite that way before...
Harry had noticed the other man as well as Buffy, both had been distracted enough for Buffy to get hit hard by the vampire who hadn't noticed the intrusion. Harry acted on instinct...but paused long enough when the vampire seemed to know his intentions and spoke for the first time.
"There's more of us, more of your kind, more of his kind," he nodded his head behind him towards the newcomer though he had never actually seen the man. "They don't know of you...being here...yet, but they will."
Unnerved Harry automatically continued the spell he'd been about to cast, "Immobolus". Buffy and the other man stared as the vampire froze. "Kill him," Harry yelled and watched in shock and awe as she did just that. With a simple stake to the heart the vampire turned to dust before their eyes. "Blimey," Harry murmured, still staring at the spot the dust had settled.
"Um if I was British I'd be saying the same exact thing," Buffy said, obviously not speaking of the same thing Harry was. "You just froze the guy as if it were as easy as pie."
"Its not easy, exactly, but I've done the spell before, there's another one similar to it but you only needed him frozen for a second," Harry said, looking at her with a new respect. "That was some awesome fighting."
She smiled, "Thanks, though I must admit it would have been nice to have known you long before now."
Harry smiled, aware of the compliment, "Thanks."
"I must say," they both turned to the voice, a beautiful voice that was calm, almost too calm. Harry and Buffy both raised their respectful weapons. The man with flawless pale skinned that glowed faintly in the moonlight raised his hands meaning to show no harm. "I was just going to say that if my kind were able to be killed that way it might have been an easier year protecting my girlfriend last year," his eyes glowed golden with the full moon. "I must guess you are the Vampire Slayer, the one my father scheduled a meeting with your Watcher, I believe Mr. Giles is called," his voice held the sound of ages past, yet as he strolled closer he looked no older than Harry himself.
Buffy lowered her stake just slightly. "Why are you out here?"
Edward smiled and even Buffy was taken aback by the beauty in his perfect face. His skin looked flawless, his face sculpted to near perfection. "My sister Alice is what you can vaguely call a person of sight.."
"A vampire? of sight..." Buffy said, knowing yet wondering.
"Yes a vampire of sight. Though I'm sure Alice is unlike many vampires you've ever met. She's a sweetheart and couldn't hurt a fly, she helped my girlfriend last year when she'd been severely injured by another one of our kind. Bella had been bleeding you see, and I don't know how your kind of vampires react to blood but we can smell it, and if its fresh it makes our vampire instincts turn on. Luckily, Alice has been a vegetarian for years and plus she cares for Bella almost as much as I do."
"Um if Bella can bleed does that mean she's..."
"Human," the vampire grimaced. "Yes, she is. I tried not to fall in love with her, it didn't quite work. She's quite determined now to become one of us, I'm still trying to convince her that I'll love her forever no matter how old she becomes." He grimaced again. "Okay well that was too much information. I believe we just heard this other vampire say there were more of him, more of this...wizard," he raised a sculpted eyebrow in question, Harry nodded, his wand still raised. "And more of myself...I'm guessing he didn't mean us Cullens but more of our kind that isn't well...vegetarian. We have no clue what he meant but I have this feeling that we definitely need to discuss this with everybody at the meeting, besides, of course, also when we go home tonight." He turned his gaze to Harry, "I'm going to suppose you're the other group Giles told my father about."
"Yes we are," Harry murmured, lowering his wand, figuring the calm but worried look in the man...vampire's eyes wasn't for show. He too was thinking of what the other vampire had said.
Edward nodded noticing the others' defenses lowering, he was really happy he wasn't like his other vampires. Because now would have been the perfect time to go in for the kill. However, he figured he'd clue them into his own breed's abilities on Sunday. He wasn't quite surprised that he couldn't read either's thoughts...as if being who they were gave them immediate immunity from him. It wasn't the same as Bella's, something about her mind blocking was subconscious but as if some part of her knew to block what was coming. He wasn't sure how he knew this but he was pretty sure that was how it was. "Well I think its been an eventful night, certainly I now understand the reason behind Alice's sly smile. She knew I would meet you and probably knew we all needed this meeting so that way, now, Sunday won't be as awkward as it could have been."
Buffy and Harry agreed, now that they had a clue as to how the Cullens were, they felt better about the meeting Sunday, though still slightly uneasy. It was a family of vampires. Harry had known wizards and witches who had lived with vampires but he had this feeling that the kind he had heard about and even met was a kind of mix between the two he had seen and was looking at tonight. Buffy was uneasy for the fact that she knew what vampires were like and while he seemed different and she wanted to meet the Cullens, she still was bringing her stake.
They were turning to leave when Harry turned back to the vampire who still stood there. "What's your name?"
"Edward Cullen, it was nice to meet you?..."
"Harry...Harry Potter," Harry said, almost smiling because he sounded like so many witches and wizards who said his name when they had realized who he was.
Edward turned his gaze on the slayer.
"Buffy Summers," She replied to his silent question. "Well I guess we'll see you Sunday."
Edward nodded and with that he was gone, a blur of vampire escaping into the woods on the opposite side of the cemetery.
Buffy and Harry turned around walking back towards their houses. "Do all vampires move like that?" Harry asked, his wand tucked safely back in his jacket he'd pulled on. Buffy's stake was back in her leather jacket, nothing indicating she'd just killed a vampire on it.
"Well they move quickly," Buffy said. "And they are very strong. I've seen some jump from some very high places, but I've never seen them move quite like that. I have this feeling that they're also quite stronger than I'm use to," Buffy murmured, really hoping that at least the Cullens were on their side of whatever fight was about to happen and glad that the wizards and witches were. She wasn't quite sure of their full abilities but was pretty sure they had many.
They reached the Potter house, all looked quiet at both homes. "Well I guess we will see this Sunday."
"Yeah," Buffy murmured her agreement. "Thanks Harry for that spell back there, Edward distracted me enough that I wasn't watching the other vampire."
Harry nodded, "Its what friends do for each other." They both kind of laughed at that. How many people, in the wide scheme of things were wizards who helped slayers?