Author's Note: I am going to be blunt here. If you don't like something. Don't review saying you don't like whatever it is you don't like, just go read something else. I have long since adopted a policy that if you review saying you hate the pairing or you hate that Buffy's gay or that you hate something else; you will just get blocked from reviewing again. I don't care if you don't like what I'm doing. I don't do this for you. The first person I do this for is myself. The second is for the people who actually like what I'm doing. You are free not to like something and if you don't my recommendation is this, go find something you do like. That is all I am going to say about this.

Chapter 4: Portkey

August 21, 2001

Buffy and Dawn had been at the Burrow now for almost a month and a half. They had written back and forth to Sunnydale multiple times letting their friends know how they were doing. During that time, they had gotten to know Harry pretty well as well as his friends.

Buffy felt as though she had barely lain down too sleep when she was being shaken awake by Dawn.

"Time to get up, Buffy," she whispered.

Buffy sighed, "Couldn't I just have five more minutes, Dawn?"

Dawn smiled and shook her head, "Better get used to it, Buffy. Harry said it will be like this every day at Hogwarts. Well maybe not this early."

Buffy looked up and saw that Ginny was waking Hermione. She sighed as she got out of bed. They dressed in silence, too sleepy to talk, then, yawning and stretching, and then the four of them headed downstairs into the kitchen.

Mrs. Weasley was stirring the contents of a large pot on the stove, while Mr. Weasley was sitting at the table, checking a sheaf of large parchment tickets. The boys were already seated at the table.

"What d'you think?" Mr. Weasley asked anxiously. "We're supposed to go incognito - do I look like a Muggle, Harry?"

"Yeah," said Harry, smiling, "very good."

Buffy laughed.

They turned and looked at Buffy, "What's funny, Elizabeth?" Mr. Weasley asked.

Buffy smiled, "It's Buffy, remember. But you are asking about clothing so you can pass as a normal person is what's funny. It's something I would only expect from wizarding folk such as yourself."

"Where are Bill and Charlie and Per-Per-Percy?" said George, failing to stifle a huge yawn.

"Well, they're Apparating, aren't they?" said Mrs. Weasley, heaving the large pot over to the table and starting to ladle porridge into bowls. "So, they can have a bit of a lie-in."

"Dumbledore mentioned that, what is it?" Buffy asked.

"Apparating is disappearing from one place and reappearing almost instantly in another," Mr. Weasley explained.

Buffy glanced at Dawn as she and her sister remembered when Willow had teleported Glory. It had left the redhead with a nasty headache and a nosebleed.

"You can't get your apparating license till your 17, after you pass your test of course," Mr. Weasley continued. "I expect, Buffy, before the end of the coming term you might be able get it since you're already over the age."

Buffy sighed. "I'm hesitant," she said as she noticed Mr. Weasley looking at her quizzically. "A friend of mine and Dawn's did a teleportation spell once on the hell god that was after Dawn. She had a bad headache and a nosebleed afterwards."

"Was it the first time she tried doing such a spell?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"She said she had been working out the kinks, but I think that might have been the first major application of the spell," Buffy admitted.

"And how long had she been doing magic?"

"Two years," Buffy said.

Mr. Weasley nodded. "That would explain it. If she had more training before attempting the spell the physical side-effects likely would never have happened, she wouldn't have experienced the headache or the nosebleed. Witches and wizards who attempt to apparate without full training could find themselves seriously hurt."

"I'll think about it," Buffy said. "While I'm hesitant because of what happened to Willow. I do have to admit it would be useful. I could then be on call if I'm needed in Sunnydale. And that way I can stay in England so Harry can be close to his friends."

Dawn coughed drawing Buffy's attention to her, "And what about my friends?"

"My friends are your friends," Buffy said.

"I don't mean Willow, Xander, Tara or Anya. I mean like Janice or Lisa."

Buffy sighed, "Well either you or Harry would have to give up something. If we stay in England, we can be close by to Hogwarts that way we don't have to fly over here so you and Harry can go to school."

"Ok. I knew I probably wouldn't see them anymore anyways," Dawn sadly admitted.

"That said, nothing has been decided," Buffy said. "If Mr. Weasley is okay, we might set up one of those portkeys to take us back and forth from say here and home."

"I could arrange it for you," Mr. Weasley said.

"Dad, why do we have to be up so early?" Ginny asked.

"We've got a bit of a walk," said Mr. Weasley.

"Walk?" said Harry. "What, are we walking to the World Cup?"

"No, no, that's miles away," said Mr. Weasley, smiling. "We only need to walk a short way. It's just that it's very difficult for a large number of wizards to congregate without attracting Muggle attention. We have to be very careful about how we travel at the best of times, and on a huge occasion like the Quidditch World Cup…"

"Well, have a lovely time," said Mrs. Weasley, as everyone got up and left out the door. "I'll send Bill, Charlie, and Percy along around midday."

It was chilly and the moon was still out. Only a dull, greenish tinge along the horizon to their right showed that daybreak was drawing closer. Harry, having been thinking about thousands of wizards speeding toward the Quidditch World Cup, sped up to walk with Mr. Weasley.

"So how does everyone get there without all the Muggles noticing?" Harry asked.

"It's been a massive organizational problem," sighed Mr. Weasley. "The trouble is, about a hundred thousand wizards turn up at the World Cup, and of course, we just haven't got a magical site big enough to accommodate them all. There are places Muggles can't penetrate, but imagine trying to pack a hundred thousand wizards into Diagon Alley or platform nine and three-quarters. So we had to find a nice deserted moor, and set up as many anti-Muggle precautions as possible. The whole Ministry's been working on it for months. First, of course, we have to stagger the arrivals. People with cheaper tickets have to arrive two weeks beforehand. A limited number use Muggle transport, but we can't have too many clogging up their buses and trains - remember, wizards are coming from all over the world. Some Apparate, of course, but we have to set up safe points for them to appear, well away from Muggles. I believe there's a handy wood they're using as the Apparition point. For those who don't want to Apparate, or can't, we use Portkeys. They're objects that are used to transport wizards from one spot to another at a prearranged time. You can do large groups at a time if you need to. There have been two hundred Portkeys placed at strategic points around Britain, and the nearest one to us is up at the top of Stoatshead Hill, so that's where we're headed."

Mr. Weasley pointed ahead of them, where a large black mass rose beyond the village of Ottery St. Catchpole.

"What sort of objects are Portkeys?" said Dawn curiously.

"Well, they can be anything," said Mr. Weasley. "Unobtrusive things, obviously, so Muggles don't go picking them up and playing with them…stuff they'll just think is litter…."

They trudged down the dark, dank lane toward the village, the silence broken only by their footsteps. The sky lightened very slowly as they made their way through the village, its inky blackness diluting to deepest blue. Mr. Weasley kept checking his watch.

As they climbed the hill, Buffy noticed most everyone was out of breath. She was glad she was the Slayer as this was easy for her. She looked at Dawn and Harry who seemed to be doing better than the rest. To not only help her relieve some of the Slayer energy they had agreed to learn self-defense from her and had taken to working out with her.

"Whew," panted Mr. Weasley, taking off his glasses and wiping them on his sweater. "Well, we've made good time - we've got ten minutes."

Hermione came over the crest of the hill last, clutching a stitch in her side.

"Now we just need the Portkey," said Mr. Weasley, replacing his glasses and squinting around at the ground. "It won't be big….Come on…"

They spread out, searching. They had only been at it for a couple of minutes, however, when a shout rent the still air.

"Over here, Arthur! Over here, son, we've got it."

Two tall figures were silhouetted against the starry sky on the other side of the hilltop.

"Amos!" said Mr. Weasley, smiling as he strode over to the man who had shouted. The rest of them followed.

Mr. Weasley shook hands with a ruddy-faced wizard with a scrubby brown beard, who was holding a moldy-looking old boot in his other hand.

"This is Amos Diggory, everyone," said Mr. Weasley. "He works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you know his son, Cedric?"

"Hi," said Cedric, looking around at them all.

Everybody said hi back except Fred and George, who merely nodded.

"Long walk, Arthur?" Cedric's father asked.

"Not too bad," said Mr. Weasley. "We live just on the other side of the village there. You?"

"Had to get up at two, didn't we, Ced? I tell you, I'll be glad when he's got his Apparition test. Still…not complaining…Quidditch World Cup, wouldn't miss it for a sack full of Galleons - and the tickets cost about that. Mind you, looks like I got off easy.…"

Amos Diggory peered good-naturedly around at the three Weasley boys, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny. "All these yours, Arthur?"

"Oh no, only the redheads," said Mr. Weasley, pointing out his children. "This is Hermione, friend of Ron's - and Harry, another friend -"

"Merlin's beard," said Amos Diggory, his eyes widening. "Harry? Harry Potter?"

"Er - yeah," said Harry.

Mr. Weasley turned to face Buffy and Dawn, "This is Harry's sisters, Elizabeth though she prefers to go by her adopted name of Buffy and Dawn, though she is only in reality related to Harry through Elizabeth's adoption."

Dawn, Harry and Buffy had all agreed that it would be easier to explain that Dawn was Harry's sister through Buffy's adoption than to continue to explain the Key at least for now. Buffy, Dawn and Harry had even debated that Dawn should continue using the Summers name. Dawn had been adamant she was using the Potter name. So, they decided that when they saw Dumbledore at the start of term in a week that they would come up with a permanent explanation on how Dawn was Harry's sister then.

"Sister?" Amos asked with confusion as he looked at Buffy.

"Our mom and dad were still at Hogwarts," Buffy said. "They gave me up for adoption."

Amos nodded as he looked at Buffy recognizing her from a memo that had come across his desk. "You're the Slayer?" he asked.

"Yes," she said. "How did you know?"

Amos smiled, "Well a memo came across my desk when you arrived in London. But because of what you do I gave orders to leave you alone. No need to control and regulate someone who fights for the forces of good after all."

Buffy smiled, "Thank you, sir."

"Ced's talked about you, of course, Harry" said Amos as he turned to look at Harry. "Told us all about playing against you last year…I said to him, I said - Ced, that'll be something to tell your grandchildren, that will…. You beat Harry Potter!"

Harry couldn't think of any reply to this, so he remained silent.

"Harry fell off his broom, Dad," he muttered. "I told you…it was an accident…."

"Fell off?" Buffy said as she looked at Harry with concern.

Harry sighed. He hadn't wanted to tell her or Dawn about that. "Thanks, Cedric. I hadn't told them about that."

"Sorry, Harry," Cedric said as he glanced at Harry's newfound sisters.

"It was those dementors I told you about, Buffy," Harry said.

Buffy nodded as she looked at her sister and remembered the discussion when Dawn had woken up from the dream. If they could affect her sister via a dream, that meant the reality of what Harry had experienced had to be as bad or worse. She looked back at her brother. "We have something more to discuss, I think."

"I promise, Buffy," Harry said.

"Must be nearly time," said Mr. Weasley quickly, pulling out his watch again. "Do you know whether we're waiting for any more, Amos?"

"No, the Lovegoods have been there for a week already and the Fawcetts couldn't get tickets," said Mr. Diggory. "There aren't any more of us in this area, are there?"

"Not that I know of," said Mr. Weasley. "Yes, it's a minute off…We'd better get ready…." He looked around at Harry, Buffy, Dawn and Hermione. "You just need to touch the Portkey, that's all, a finger will do -"

With difficulty, owing to their bulky backpacks, the nine of them crowded around the old boot held out by Amos Diggory.

"Three…" muttered Mr. Weasley, one eye still on his watch, "two…one…"

It happened immediately: They felt as though a hook just behind their navel had been suddenly jerked irresistibly forward. They were all speeding forward in a howl of wind and swirling color; their fingers stuck to the boot as though it was pulling them magnetically onward and then… Suddenly their feet slammed into the ground.

Ron staggered into him and he fell over; the Portkey hit the ground near his head with a heavy thud.

Dawn looked green, "Oh I think I'm going to be sick."

Buffy smiled and rubbed Dawn's back.

Dawn looked up at Buffy, "Dang your Slayer metabolism. You never get sick or feel nauseous."

"Not true," Buffy reminded her sister. "Remember when I had the flu during our second year in Sunnydale?"

Dawn nodded as she looked at her sister and sighed. "Sorry," she said.

Buffy nodded at why Dawn was apologizing. That incident had been how she had found out how their cousin Celia had actually died. "It's okay."

"Seven past five from Stoatshead Hill," said a voice.

"Morning, Basil," said Mr. Weasley, picking up the boot and handing it to the kilted wizard, who threw it into a large box of used Portkeys beside him.

"Hello there, Arthur," said Basil wearily. "Not on duty, eh? It's all right for some….We've been here all night….You'd better get out of the way, we've got a big party coming in from the Black Forest at five fifteen. Hang on, I'll find your campsite….Weasley…Weasley…." He consulted his parchment list. "About a quarter of a mile's walk over there, first field you come to. Site manager's called Mr. Roberts. Diggory…second field…ask for Mr. Payne."

"Thanks, Basil," said Mr. Weasley, and he beckoned everyone to follow him.

They set off across the deserted moor, unable to make out much through the mist. After about twenty minutes, a small stone cottage next to a gate swam into view. Beyond it, they could just make out the ghostly shapes of hundreds and hundreds of tents, rising up the gentle slope of a large field toward a dark wood on the horizon. They said good-bye to the Diggory's and approached the cottage door.

A man was standing in the doorway, looking out at the tents. When he heard their footsteps, he turned his head to look at them.

"Morning!" said Mr. Weasley brightly.

"Morning," said the Muggle.

"Would you be Mr. Roberts?"

"Aye, I would," said Mr. Roberts. "And who're you?"

"Weasley - two tents, booked a couple of days ago?"

"Aye," said Mr. Roberts, consulting a list tacked to the door. "You've got a space up by the wood there. Just the one night?"

"That's it," said Mr. Weasley.

"You'll be paying now, then?" said Mr. Roberts.

"Ah - right - certainly -" Mr. Weasley said as he pulled out the money.

Buffy could see Mr. Weasley was not associated with how much of what was needed. She took the bills from Mr. Weasley, "How much do we owe you?"

Mr. Roberts told her and Buffy handed it to the man.

"A map of the campsite for you," Mr. Roberts said placidly. "And your change."

"Thanks very much," said Mr. Weasley. As they walked away, he turned to Buffy, "And thank you, for your help. For a minute I was wondering if I was going to have to obliviate his memory. I could see that he was beginning to put two and two together."

Buffy smiled, "No problem. Just be thankful I know what a British Pound is and what's not. I'm an American remember, our currency is different than the British currency."

Mr. Weasley nodded as they reached their tents. "Ok the boys will be in this tent and the girls in that one."

Buffy nodded as she led Dawn, Hermione and Ginny to the other tent to get settled in.