Blood Ties
Part 18
Rating, summary and such are same as before.

Note 1: First, I have to apologize for taking so long to get this update done. Exam and assignments are a bh. Anyway, I'll try to speed up the whole story. Thank you for all your patients!
Note 2: I have received some emails and reviews asking about if I've got the first book's story. Sorry. I didn't write one. I do have some un-used draft, but I've given it up 'cos I don't think the story line will be interesting. Maybe I'll post some scenes of Buffy and Xander in their first year of Hogwarts later (as a short story or dabbles), but even if I did managed to finish it, it probably won't be posted until I finished Blood Ties.
Note 3: Last but not least, thanks Joahn for beta-reading the story:)
Note 4: Job interview tomorrow... cross figures!

...

Harry rode the Shooting Star he had borrowed and flew around the Quidditch pitch trying to locate the Golden Snitch he had released earlier. The more he tried, the more frustrated he felt, and it only filled his anger towards Hermione. Sure, it was still possible to catch the snitch using the old school broom, but how could he catch it before his opponent did in a match when the broom could barely catch up?

He knew Hermione meant well, but that didn't- no, that couldn't stop him from being angry at the young witch. He knew Ron and Xander were also furious at her, and even Buffy, who usually took Hermione's side, had this 'what-were-you-thinking' look on her face whenever she saw Hermione.

"Someone missing a snitch?"

Harry blinked when he heard a familiar voice. He turned, a grin sneaked up onto his face when he saw it was Willow who was behind him riding her Comet 260. "Willow!"

"That's my name." The redhead giggled.

"When did you get back? I thought students going back home for Christmas wouldn't come back until tomorrow."

Willow's eyes darkened for a second but it disappeared immediately. "I didn't take the Hogwarts Express." She shrugged. "Hey, I would have thought you would have gotten a new broom already." She frowned when she saw Harry riding the old school broom. "You're not planning on using it in a match, are you? I mean, it can't even catch up with Cleansweep...?"

"I did get a new broom for Christmas." Harry sighed. "A Firebolt..."

"FIREBOLT!" Harry's ear almost fell off as the young redhead shouted. "Really! It's so cool!"

"But I don't have it anymore. Professor McGonagall has taken it away to strip it down..."

"Strip..." Willow paled. "B-but it's a Firebolt!"

"She wants to check for jinxes."

"Jinxes? JINXES!" If Harry's ear didn't fall off the first time, it sure did now as Willow shouted even louder. "She stripped down a Firebolt for JINXES! I-it's like striping down a DX2 to check for Monkey!"

Willow was so upset that she threw her hands up into the air, causing herself almost lost balance and giving the young Potter a heart attack. He reached out, holding the redhead as her hands reached for the broom once again. Harry sighed in relief as Willow finally regained her balance. "Are you okay?" The redhead nodded dumbly. "Um... what's DX2?"

"You know, i486DX2?" Harry gave Willow a blank look. "Intel 80486DX2 Microprocessor? Clock doubling? Running 25MHz plus at 50?" The black haired boy shook his head. "It's like the coolest CPU ever! Well, at least I think it is... because, hello! Internal clock speed doubling!"

"I still don't understand. And what does a monkey have to do with it?"

"Monkey, computer virus, ya know?" Harry shook his head again. "You wizard guys really don't use computers, do you?"

"Never had one."

"Oh. It just, well, like you strip down the latest DX2 computer because you think your computer caught Monkey, which is just a waste of time because Monkey Virus is a software problem and it won't help even you re-assemble your computer a thousand times unless maybe replacing your hard-drive but it'll be totally over-killed cause it just messes up with your Master Boot Record. See?" Harry nodded... very, very slowly. "I so need a muggle-geeky friend." Willow muttered and shook her head. "What are you going to do?"

Harry sighed. "Wait and hope for the best?"

"Well, I can lend you my Comet. It's not that fast but..."

"Thanks." Harry and Willow exchanged as smile. "So... um..." The redhead cocked her head as the black hair boy suddenly seemed embarrassed. "Did you get the ring..."

"Oh? Oh." Willow's face flashed. "Yeah. I mean, thanks." She pulled off her Quidditch glove, and a huge grin plastered on Harry's face as he saw the ring on her right hand, facing inward. "I-if that's okay..."

"Of course!" Harry quickly pulled off his own Quidditch glove and showed Willow the similar position of his Claddagh ring.

"I don't have anything for you though. I mean, I have, but it's not ready and-"

"It's okay." The boy-who-lived reached out and held Willow's hand. "Really."

The two youngsters just sat there (on their brooms in the air), their hands holding, smiling, staring at each other. Neither of them noticed the figure at the far end of the pitch, watching quietly.

...

"Hagrid?" Hermione pushed open the front door of Hagrid's hut and peeked inside, only to find the half-giant sitting by his fireplace, crying his heart out. "Hagrid? Are you okay?"

"Yeh' heard?" Hagrid turned towards Hermione and asked, wiping his face with his sleeve.

Hermione stepped into the hut and closed the door before taking the seat beside the professor. "What is it?"

Hagrid opened his mouth, but before he could get a word out tears started flowing again. He shook his head, and gave Hermione the ball of paper in his hand. Hermione frowned, opening the paper and started reading. "Dear Mr. Hagrid... yada yada... uphold the official complaint of Mr. Lucius Malfoy... Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures?" She sighed and looked up back at Hagrid as she finished. "Hagrid, they're just going to hold a hearing. I'm sure-"

"Yeh don't know thos' gargoyles! They've got it in fer interestin' creatures!"

Hermione swallowed, her eyes moved towards Buckbeak which had somehow got taken into the small hut of Hagrid's, and now resting at the corner, chomping some unknown creature and spilling the blood all over the floor. "I'm sure you can prove Buckbeak is safe." She told Hagrid. "You just have to put up a good strong defense."

"Won't make no diff'rence!" Hagrid sobbed harder. "They're all in Lucius Malfoy's pocket! Scared o' him! If I lose the case, Buckbeak..."

"You won't." Hermione put her hand on Hagrid's shoulder. "I'll help you."

...

The Christmas and New Year's holiday finally ended, and Hogwarts was now once again filled with students. Harry couldn't help but feel a bit depressed, not only did his professor still refuse to give him back the Firebolt, but that his time with Willow had been cut short greatly... especially for some reason Malfoy had always been hanging around the redhead. They had exchanged letters almost everyday, and the two had tried to at least met up once a week for their secret Quidditch practice, but Draco's near constant presence around Willow only left the boy-who-lived with a pit of unsettlement inside and a big pile of jealousy.. Sometimes he almost wished the Sorting Hat had sorted him into Slytherin three years ago... almost.

"Harry, you came."

Harry looked up at the voice, so deep in thoughts that he found himself stepping into Professor Lupin's classroom without even knowing. The professor of the Defense Against Dark Arts had promised to teach him how to defend himself against Dementors, and today would be his first lesson. "Professor Lupin."

The professor smiled at him, before standing up from his table and moved towards the younger wizard. "Are you sure about this, Harry? You know this is a very advanced magic, well beyond the ordinary wizard would have."

"I'm sure."

The professor nodded. "Now, the spell I am going to try to teach you is called the Patronus Charm. Have you ever heard of it?" Harry shook his head. "No? Well, a Patronus is a kind of positive force, works something like a shield so the Dementor will be feeding on it rather than you. In order for it to work, you will need to think of a memory: a happy memory, a powerful memory. Can you do this?"

Harry nodded firmly. "Yes."

"Very well. Close your eyes and concentrate." Harry closed his eyes. "Explore your past. You have a memory?" The dark haired boy nodded. "Allow it to fill you up, lose yourself into it, and speak the incantation: Expecto Patronum."

"Expecto Patronum." Harry repeated, before opening his eyes.

"Very good." Professor Lupin smiled and moved towards a huge trunk at the side of the room. He gestured Harry to step forward. "Shall we?" Harry nodded. "Wand on ready." He pulled out his wand from his robe and held it tightly. "Now!"

The professor opened his trunk, and a Dementor appeared from the trunk and started moving towards Harry. "Expecto Patronum!" Harry shouted, but to his horror, nothing happened. The Dementor moved closer and closer. "Expecto-" The dark haired boy took a few steps back. "Expecto-" His breath became faster and faster. "Expecto..." Slowly, everything in front of his went black.

...

"Are you sure?"

Willow stopped and turned towards her friend. "You don't have to come with me, Dawnie."

"No way. I'm so not going to stay in the room alone with Parkinson." Dawn made a face. "I mean, Dementors or Parkinson? I choose Dementors any day."

Willow raised an eyebrow. "She's not that bad."

"To you, you mean. No one in Hogwarts except you and may be Draco can be safe from the wrath of Pansy Parkinson."

"You make Pansy sound like some kind of monster."

"But she is!" Dawn protested. Willow shook her head, and started walking towards the front gate of Hogwarts. "Why are we looking for Dementors anyway?"

"This." Willow held out the necklace she held in her palm. "If everything works out, the necklace should be able to protect the wearer from Dementors... but I need something from them... a hair or something."

"Protect? The Dementors didn't attack-" Realization drawn. "Oh. Ohhhh." She smirked. "To certain boy-who-lived, huh?" She hit the redhead on her shoulder lightly.

Willow blushed. "I am going to make you one too."

"As long as I get presents." Dawn shrugged. "But... do Dementors even have hair?"

"Let's hope so. Because I'm not sure it will work without anything from them."

Dawn stopped as they almost reached towards the front gate. "Speaking of Dementors... have you notice that we haven't come across a single one since we stepped out of the castle? Aren't they supposed to be guarding every entrance?"

"I know... I saw them flying passed outside our dorm's window all night, but once we left the ground..." Willow shook her head. "I don't understand."

"It's like they're trying to avoid us..."

"Avoid..." Willow halt, a deep frown appeared on her pale face.

"Do you think they're up to something?"

Willow looked at Dawn for a moment. "Let's go." She finally answered. "I don't think we'll find one tonight." She said, and walked away quietly, leaving her friend confused as ever.

...