Merrick's Slayer

Summary: Buffy's time as the Slayer starts a little differently.

Challenge: for the livejournal 2019 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: Beginning of movie BtVS; post-series HP; shift timelines to match

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling and company. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

Hemery High gym

Merrick watched in bemusement as the Chosen One held up her finger to pause his speech. She said something bizarre, then pulled out a locket from under her uniform. Once it was opened, she called out, "Dad!"

A few seconds later, she continued, "Hey, Dad, there's a guy here rambling on about my destiny and stuff, but he didn't react to either Voldemort or Dumbledore. Can you come check him out?"

Horrified at her breach of secrecy, Merrick protested, "Miss Summers, your parents should not know of this!"

Her perfectly-shaped eyebrow raised at that and she snarked, "Wow, going for the pedophile of the year award? What other gems do you have that will make me want to call the police on your ass?"

From the still open locket, there was a barely audible, "Language!"

Before Merrick could wonder about the technology – and why a normal suburban girl would need it – the gym doors opened, allowing two people to enter. The gentleman was staring at him like he was a bug under a microscope and the woman was…staring over his left shoulder? He fought the urge to check what she was looking at because he felt it was dangerous to take his eyes off these people even for a couple seconds.

"Hey, Radish," the woman said to Buffy. "Caused any scenes today?"

"Not according to your standards, Mom," Buffy answered with a grin. She turned to her Dad with a questioning look.

"He's not magical…exactly. I'd classify him as a squib – meaning he's aware of it, but can't access it himself," he explained, mostly for the man's benefit. "What do you want with our daughter, and who sent you?"

The woman poked her husband in the ear, and he added, "And who are you?"

"That wasn't the question, Cucumber. The question is, 'Is there anyone who will miss you if you disappear?'" she directed the second part of her statement at Merrick, who felt a chill go down his spine, like meeting a strong vampire. The daylight streaming in the room would suggest that wasn't the case, but he still felt extremely uneasy.

"I'd recommend answering them before they get bored and move onto more…persuasive methods of finding out what they want to know," Buffy suggested.

To hell with the secrecy oath! He'd tell them what they wanted…as long as it didn't endanger the world. "Name's Merrick, I'm from the Watcher's Council and I was sent here to train your daughter to be the Slayer."

"You're British," the man remarked, narrowing his eyes in realization.

"So are we," his wife interjected. "You can't hold all British people responsible for the actions of a few."

That tidbit surprised Merrick. He hadn't heard that the Summers family was from England.

"Does this have anything to do with the magical spike surrounding Buffy a couple nights ago?" the woman asked.

"That's when she was Called," Merrick responded carefully.

"How was she called?" the man demanded.

Unhappy that he'd have to divulge this much so soon, Merrick still answered, "The previous Slayer, India Cohen, fell in battle. When one Slayer dies, another is Called," he recited.

The man growled in frustration, "Sounds like a prophecy. I HATE PROPHECIES!" he shouted.

"I doubt it's prophecy," his wife argued. "It's more like an operating procedure. Probably something to do with how the first Slayer was created. If there are any notes about that, I'd love to see them. It would be interesting to see if there was a way to change the process. By the way, what do Slayers fight?" she asked the confused Watcher.

"Vampires, demons, the forces of darkness," he explained.

"Would have been useful against Voldemort and his minions," Buffy's dad said in an irritated voice.

"I don't think the two worlds intermix very often, otherwise we would have heard of Slayers before," his wife conjectured. "This does explain Buffy's low magical rating, though. I bet if she had been able to go to a magical school, she wouldn't have become a Slayer."

The sound of another person coming into the gym reminded the group of how public of a setting they were in. "Maybe we should move this conversation to our house," Buffy suggested. It was always better to have a home field advantage…in case this guy tried anything.

A/N: Can anyone guess the parents? I made at least one of them fairly obvious in my opinion.