Harry Potter and the Aurora Mirabilis

Summary: Three years after they first met, Harry Potter and friend's journey to the US to attend a wedding, help a friend and fight an unforeseen evil. BTVS/HP sequel. Please Review!

Grand Summary: Harry Potter has now been out of Hogwarts for two years. And while his life has gone on, his friend, Dawn "Harris", has been in a world of pain. In California, the new Slayer Academy is underway, and Tara and Xander have joined Giles on the new American Watcher's Council. Xander is now getting married to one of the Slayers under the Council's new rule -- Cho Chang! Harry journeys to America for the wedding, but discovers that some evil will do anything in their power to stop the wedding and stop all happiness for the Slayers, even if it comes at the expense of one person's memory.

Rating: PG. It might change later. Mainly for violence and adult content. Parental discretion is negligible.

Disclaimer: This is the second story. Refer to the first story. I don't own J.K. Rowling or Joss Whedon. I'm just borrowing their characters. Because this is out of cannon, it's AU. And I have raised the dead.

Slayer's Crusade Summary: Buffy and friends traveled to England as soon as it was known to them a Slayer was living at Hogwarts. Buffy agreed to teach there and as soon as she did, it was known that the vampires had formed a pack with the greatest evil among those with Magic. Vowing to fight the forces of evil, Buffy and her friends united with Hogwarts and the Ministry to bring the evil to its knees, suffering the consequences of the battle.

Author's Note: Thank you to Aly and Grace, my two beta readers. You have both been fantastic. Alpha Aly, you are my muse. Thank you for your endless hours listening to my ideas and thoughts. And many, MANY thanks to Irina for providing the title for this lovely story. You will get your place in it, I promise. Thank you to you readers and fans of my Harry Potter saga. Let us finish this and NOT create a trilogy! I love ALL reviews. I really hope you enjoy this story as much as the previous. Keep asking questions. My beta readers ask most of them, I just pass them along. You have been the reason I'm writing this now. I'm also introducing chapter dedications sometimes, because some people have inspired them.

Just a little warning. There will be some chapters and such with Latin titles. Just a head's up. The title itself is "the astonishing dawn". It refers to the character, as well as the dawn (or breaking) into the future. Just a light metaphor!

And now... the long anticipated...

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Harry Potter and the Aurora Mirabilis

Chapter 1

Reaching Out

- - - - -

The sun was just starting to set across the lower valley plains of California. The scorching heat which had reduced the once beautiful river plains to dust turned crimson and gold as the sun grew lower in the sky.

Nestled in the valley between a plateau and the Interstate, framing the woods toward the mountains, was a large building.

Buffy Summers and two of her friends were sitting on a bench, staring at a concrete fountain. "Just another one of these and I'm not sure I want to go to Cleveland," Buffy sighed.

To her left, her friend Xander started chuckling. "I don't know, Buff. I'm personally getting a little tired of the heat wave."

"This is Southern California," Willow said from Buffy's right. "But then again... I wonder if it's cooler in Cleveland."

"I can't believe that in a few months we'll be moving there," Buffy said wistfully, watching the sun dip below the horizon before standing up. "I'm not ready for that yet."

"Especially since..." Willow began, but her voice shortened when she saw the pained look on Buffy's face. "How is she?"

"No change," Xander said, taking over for Buffy as the three stood up and walked back inside the large structure in the center of the circle of buildings.

"Did you really expect there to be any?" Buffy asked, her voice suddenly sharp.

"We should never have left her over there," Willow said softly as the three walked down a long corridor toward a large room at the end, with floor-to-ceiling windows and a warm comforting fire the new Council Library might have.

Buffy closed the door when they were all inside. The library was empty except for a figure two stories above, lost in the shelves, replacing books that had been arriving in crates daily. "Hey, Giles!"

He jumped slightly and turned, his arms full of books. "Well, hello there."

Xander chuckled slightly as Giles descended the stairs, setting the stack of books down before coming to a stop before the three of them. "What is it?"

"Spike called," Willow told him.

He nodded. "Ah... Buffy, I'm sorry."

"There hasn't been any change in a year... why did I expect anything different?"

"Buffy, you know that Tara and I won't stop until we find out what happened to her."

"I know, Willow. It's just that... why? Why would anyone want to hurt her? She's just a kid. A child," Buffy said, sitting down at the table and glancing up at her former watcher, trying to read his shadowed expression.

"Dawn is no ordinary girl," Giles said, finally speaking out and stepping from his shadow. "We just have to accept the fact that she has changed since she left for England. No matter what happened to her, Buffy, she's in your care now."

Buffy sighed and put her head down onto her arms. "I just wish this were easier. I just wish she could talk to me."

"But she can't," Xander said, his voice echoing in Buffy's mind. "Her memory has been erased."

"We don't know how or why." That was Willow's voice. "All we know is that for over a year now, Dawn has been sitting in a white cell, staring at the same wall, not knowing who she is..."

"Where she came from or what happened to her."

Giles spoke last, removing his glasses to clean them. "Some days, she doesn't even remember her own name..."

- - - - -

Xander returned to his apartment a few hours later, after a late-night run with his group of Slayers. He smiled, recalling that it was the first time Vi had used a certain maneuver.

Things were really starting to come together for them. They had lost nearly thirty girls in the last battle with Voldemort. Hopefully, since there were many children who had been called, their numbers would grow in the next few years.

"Hey, Xan," a soft voice said behind him as he closed the door.

"Hey," he said, turning around. He jumped slightly as a female threw herself into his arms, hugging him.

"I don't want to do this, I don't want to do this!" she was chanting in his ear as she stepped back, pouting slightly. "Please, tell me I don't have to contact my parents and tell them about this."

"You have to, Cho," he said, taking her hand and leading her into his apartment, where a few boxes of her things were still scattered since they'd arrived. "I wouldn't feel right about going into any ceremony with you if your family didn't know."

"I know! I know! It's just that..."

"You don't want to tell them that you're marrying a muggle?" he suggested softly.

She turned to him, her eyes flashing in that way that he knew was a warning sign. "No! Of course not, Xander..."

She reached for him, and he let her hug him again. Even though his arms were wrapped around her, and he knew that he did love her, he had his reservations.

He still hadn't told her about Anya.

Just thinking about Anya in the presence of his new fiancée was hard enough. He blinked and stepped back, giving her a forced smile. "I'm sorry. Why don't we call your parents together?"

"Because they don't exactly have a telephone," Cho said apologetically as she glanced around the large apartment. "I contacted them by owl a few weeks ago... and we agreed to set up a time where once weekly my mother would go to the city square and use the phone in London park. I'm really hoping that she has taken my father with too."

Xander nodded, not really taking in anything she was saying. But before he knew it, Cho had grabbed his hand and lead him to a phone on the desk. She picked it up, with her international calling card, and said in a voice barely above a whisper, "Here we go."

Xander decided it was best if he took the cordless phone from the kitchen and listened in, in case Cho was running into any problems.

She dialed all of the numbers and waited patiently.

Xander chuckled as he imagined a phone in a pleasant park, where families were picnicking or walking their dogs, playing frisbee on the lawn or pushing toddlers in swing sets. It was most amusing to think that just anyone would pick up the phone and realize that someone was calling for someone specific.

Someone picked up.

"Hello?"

"I'm trying to reach the Westminster Gate Park," Cho said slowly, using the code she'd established with her mother. "Could you possibly---"

"Cho Chang!" the woman said crisply.

Cho fell silent.

"You haven't called us in three weeks! We were beginning to think something had happened to you! We were about to send a search party to the states! We were..."

"Honey, let her breathe."

"Daddy?" Cho squeaked, her eyes suddenly wide. She shook her head quickly to clear it. "Look. I'm calling you because I-I wanted to tell you something."

"I knew it!" Cho heard her father say in the background. "I knew she'd get her head on straight and come home."

"Uh... no," Cho said, sitting down on the stool. "I think I'll be here a little longer than a few years, Dad." She took a deep breath. Xander from the sofa gave her a two-thumbs-up.

"Mom... Dad... I have an announcement to make. I'm getting married."

Silence.

- - - - -

To be continued...

Here we are! Sequel underway. I hope you enjoy this with its accompanying chapter.

Chapter 2 -- Flashback: Dawn returns home to Los Angeles. Cho deals with her parent's reaction.

The next four or five chapters will include flashbacks. And I know some of you are trying to figure out, where's Harry? You'll find out soon enough.