Timelines: In the Buffyverse, this takes place in season four, everything up to episode 70 "Goodbye Iowa" goes. This first Ch. is episode 71 "This Year's Girl" done my way. It has very little to do with the real episode.

For our beloved HP characters, who will not be seen for the first couple of chapters, it takes place in Harry's 7th year. I'm trying to make this fic according to canon but I've changed some things. For instance, Sirius did not 'die' in the end of Harry's fifth year and some other stuff I'll mention later on.

In order to try and make both of these worlds merge let's pretend that Buffy had decided to take some summer courses and started college in July and everything that's been going has all happened in that short period of time, kay?

Pairings: Faith/ undecided (major), Buffy/Angel (minor)

Disclaimer: Not mine. Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon and Harry belongs to J.K Rowling.

CH. 1: Escape

How did I get here?

That was the first of many questions that crossed Faith's mind. But where was here?

All around her, for as far as she looked the only thing she could see was darkness. Or more correctly she could feel the darkness, just as she could feel the power that radiated from the place.

But what in the world was she doing here? Faith had a nagging feeling that she'd been to this place before. There was something about it, a sense of belonging.

She started to walk around aimlessly. She had no idea where she was going but something was pulling her along, leading her to someplace. After a couple of minutes of walking around, she felt new sensations wash over her. They were so strong they brought her to her knees. Fear, pain, anguish and there was something else in there too but she couldn't exactly place it. A feeling of nausea swept over her as she realized what she was sensing. It was Death.

The place where she was standing had served as a death place for many people over the years and would continue to do so for a long time.

Just then a door materialized in front of her. She could hear some voices but she couldn't make out what was being said. Faith stepped inside as was momentarily blinded by a bright flash of light. As the room dimmed again, Faith noticed that the room was not filled with people as she had originally thought. There were only two people in the room. One of them was cloaked so she couldn't see his face and the other was a kid. He couldn't have been more than eighteen. The strange thing was that they both were holding thin pieces of wood. Instinctively, she knew it was a wand although she wasn't particularly sure how she knew that. What the hell is going on? Faith speculated, as the cloaked person muttered something and a light shot out of the tip of the stick he was holding and hit the boy straight in the chest. Immediately he doubled over and lay on the floor twitching. He didn't scream, couldn't scream but Faith could tell that he was in immense pain. Almost as if he sensed her presence he turned towards her, his emerald green eyes boring into hers, imploring her to help him.

And for reasons she couldn't fathom, she knew she had to help him. He would die if she didn't and if he died all would be lost. She would be lost.

But that's crazy! She argued with herself, you don't even know him! Why should you want to help him? She ignored the voices of logic and tried to step forward but something was stopping her, an invisible barrier.

As she watched helplessly, the cloaked man took out a sword and raised it. He let out a low chilling laugh and hissed menacingly, "The boy who lived shall live no more."

There was another bright flash and everything went black.

What the hell? Was the first coherent thought that came to Faith's mind as she slowly started to stir. She opened one eye groggily and grimaced when she saw how bright the room was. She looked around, from all the equipment she concluded that she was in a hospital. But why?

A sudden pain in her stomach when she tried to sit up was her answer. The last thing she remembered was her fight with Buffy when Buffy had stabbed her in the stomach with her own dagger.

"Bitch," Faith muttered as another surge of pain went through her body.

She laid back down and immediately started going through her options. One thing was certain; she had to get out Sunnydayle as soon as possible. Something told her that the Mayor's plan had not worked out, and since she had been his right hand man after Trick, she was most likely not gonna be welcomed back with open arms. She felt a twinge of sadness as she thought of the mayor. Even though he had been evil, he was the closest thing to a family she had ever had. That was one of the main reasons she had stuck with him, he had always treated her with a fatherly kindness and had actually cared for her.

She was deep in thought when her door suddenly opened and two men walked in. Quick as a flash, she resumed the position she had been when she'd woke up.

"I don't know, Nigel." one of the two said doubtfully, in a clear British accent.

Nigel? Faith thought frantically, oh no it couldn't be-

But when she heard him speak up she was sure. There was no mistaking his voice.

"Come on Jack," He cajoled, in that nasal Irish accent of his that had always driven her crazy. "What could possibly go wrong?"

Nigel Wilson, she thought in disgust, her first watcher, not that many people knew that. In fact, except for the people in the higher circles of the Council nobody did. She hated him with every fiber of her being and she wished nothing more than to see him dead. When they had first met back in Boston and he had told her that she was a Slayer, she had laughed in his face and told him no way. Even after she had met her first vampire she still refused to work for the Council. That's when he decided to try another approach. He had hired a Chaos Demon to kidnap one of her few true friends, forcing her to go after the demon. Faith had done just that, her friend's life had been in stake. She managed to defeat the demon but it had been too late. She had confronted Nigel but he had pretended to have no idea what she was talking about. So Faith had tried to seek justice from the council, but to no avail. It was one of the council's finest watcher's words against the word of a teenager who was known for her brash behavior and often violent temper and since she didn't have any proof they didn't believe her. The only thing they did was change her watcher 'to avoid further problems' they said.

"Father's counting on us to monitor her." The guy named Jack replied.

"What Travers won't know won't hurt him and besides we've been here for over two weeks and she shows no sign of waking up, so I sincerely doubt she'll wake up now. I know this is your first assignment and you're taking it seriously and that's a good thing but you're taking it a little too seriously. Nobody will mind if we take a couple days off and the hospital will notify us if there's any change in her state." Nigel said.

Faith heard Jack sigh. "I suppose so. But I just don't see why we can't slip something into her IV tube and get rid of her now instead of waiting for her to wake up and kill her then."

Faith almost stopped breathing. Kill her? That's what they were planning to do with her? The thought had never crossed her mind. And what was up with the father business? She had never known that Quentin Travers had a son. A very evil son who wanted her dead, she thought with a mental scowl.

"Because we're looking at the big picture, not just her." Nigel said in an exasperated tone that suggested that they had been down this road many times before. "Remember, who's fault is it that's she's her in the first place?" asked Nigel.

It's all B's fault, Faith thought.

"That other slayer." Jack responded. "What was her name? Bunny?"

It took a lot of strength on Faith's part not to dissolve into laughter. Bunny, she repeated to herself, wait till Buffy hears that one.

"Not Bunny, Buffy. Now I know Faith, she's driven purely by emotion and impulse and she's most likely going to want to get her revenge."

Damn straight, Faith thought angrily.

"So she'll fight Buffy and with a little help from us get rid of her." Nigel continued. "She'll get the whole blame and we have another reason to kill her and when we do, we'll get two new slayers that will hopefully follow the council and once again we'll be in control." Nigel finished.

"You never fail to amaze me, Nigel." Jack said in an awed voice. "This was all your idea?"

"Yes." Nigel said proudly. "Of course your father helped work out the details and he was the first to ok the idea. He was never really a fan of Buffy's, not after she turned her back on the council."

That Bastard. He was planning on killing her and Buffy and he was going to use her to do it. She knew she had to get out of there and as soon as possible but where to go?

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to leave." Jack said.

"That's the spirit." Nigel said encouragingly. "Come on, let's go have dinner. It's on me."

The door squeaked open and seconds later slammed close announcing their exit. Faith opened her eyes. Yeah, they were gone. She sat up ignoring the pain in her stomach. She looked around the room and saw her clothes in the corner. She walked over there and took off the ugly shapeless hospital gown and put on her clothes.

"Oh look, they cleaned the blood off." Faith said smiling to herself.

She was about to sneak out the window when the door opened and an elderly nurse pushing a trolley walked in.

"Oh my goodness!" the nurse gasped. She turned around as if she was going to leave the room.

"Aww, shit." Faith cursed. She ran across the room, yanked the nurse in and shut the door with a bang.

The old woman looked completely terrified and Faith didn't blame her. No telling what kind of stories had been told about her.

"Look lady." Faith began. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I just wanna ask you some questions. You give me the answers I'll go my way, you go yours and we'll never see each other again."

The nurse nodded slowly.

"Let's start with the date." Faith said.

"Today's August third." She answered.

"Holy crap, I've been out for over two months." Faith exclaimed. "What time is it?"

"It's nearly nine in the evening." The nurse said after a quick consultation with her watch.

"Nine?" said Faith as a thought occurred to her. If she was lucky she might catch Buffy on patrol. It would be much easier to talk to her alone than with all the Scoobies around. Faith shook her head. "What am I thinking? I actually just considered going to B for help."

The nurse looked at her with wide eyes. "Can I please go now?"

"Yeah, yeah." Faith said distractedly. "And if anybody asks, you never saw me."

The nurse nodded before hurriedly leaving the room.

With a grimace, Faith went out the window and started climbing down the fire escape. It was a little too windy for August, she thought inanely. She jumped down the last couple of feet and started walking towards the main cemetery thinking how lucky it was that it wasn't far from the hospital.

"What am I saying? Nothing's too far from anywhere in Sunnydayle." she said aloud. Talking to yourself was a always a good sign of insanity but it always made her feel less alone.

And she definitely was alone unless she could think of a way to get Buffy to help her. So far she had zero plans and by the time she got to the cemetery, she still hadn't thought of a plan. Oh well, she could always try the, 'hey B. remember me? Faith? You know the one who backstabbed you, double-crossed you, and tried to kill you more than once? Well, I'm in a really bad position and I need some help, care to offer any' approach. Like hell that would work but it was worth a try.

She walked into the silent cemetery. Silence is never a good sign, she thought as she nearly tripped over a headstone that lay askew. Suddenly she got the feeling that she was being followed. Listening carefully, she heard the sound of branches snapping and rustling leaves as whoever was following her came closer. She whirled around, going to fighting stance, waiting for her enemy to show himself. A minute later she got her wish.

"Fuck." Faith said as she came face to face with a pack of Pergola Demons and she remembered that she was weaponless.

Buffy peered suspiciously at Spike.

"You sure?" she said for what seemed the hundredth time. There was a collective sigh.

"For the last time, Slayer. No, I do not have any bloody tens." He said, "Go Fish."

"All right, all right." Buffy said as she reached towards the deck. "Hey, he might've been lying."

"Buffy, if he had been lying, I seriously doubt you would've known by staring at him for ten minutes straight." Giles said giving her an amused look over the top of the book he was reading.

Buffy pouted. "But he's Spike!" she said as if that explained everything. "I know for a fact that he was going to cheat."

"Excuse me?" said Spike disbelievingly.

"What?" Buffy said innocently. "I didn't say anything wrong."

"You just called me a cheater for no reason." Spike said indignantly.

"Please you two." Said Willow wearily, "Don't even start."

"He started it." Buffy said automatically.

"Sorry Buff," said Xander taking a slice of pizza. "Much as I hate to say it, it was your fault, this time."

Buffy was about to protest when the doorbell rang. They all looked at the door then at Giles.

"I'm not getting it." He said.

"It's your house." Buffy replied, going back to her cards. "Do you have any fives?" she asked Xander.

Giles sighed and stood up to open the door.

"Agent Marc. FBI."

They all froze. Xander who had just been about to give Buffy a five stopped and whispered, "The FBI? What are they doing here?"

Buffy was just as confused as he was, "No idea but past experience –and TV- has taught me that FBI almost and bad news go hand in hand." She replied before standing up and dusting herself off. She walked towards Giles and the FBI man. "Can we help you with something?"

The man regarded her strangely. "Are you Ms. Buffy Summers?" he asked briskly.

"Depends." Buffy retorted. "Who wants to know?"

"We do. We have a couple questions for you." He said.

Buffy exchanged a look with Willow who shrugged.

"Shoot." Said Buffy perching herself on the edge of the table.

"It's about your friend, Faith." He said, watching her closely for any reaction.

"What?" Buffy said. That was definitely not what she had been expecting.

"You knew her." It was a statement not a question.

"Yeah so?" she asked suspiciously.

"And you were friends with her." He went on.

"I wouldn't exactly call us friends." Buffy said uncomfortably.

"Either way, you're probably the person she'd come to for help if she was in trouble."

"Faith? Come to me for help?" Buffy snorted. "It'll be a cold day in hell before that happens."

"With all due respect, sir," Giles cut in. "If I may inquire what all of this is leading up to?"

"Well, as you know she was in a coma till-"

"Was?" Buffy said. "You mean as in she's not in a coma anymore?"

The agent nodded. "She's also not in the hospital either and the nurse that was assigned to her was found in the room, unconscious earlier this evening."

"And you think Faith had something to do with it?" Buffy said emotionlessly.

The agent looked grave. "We're pretty sure she did. She's also wanted for questioning in a couple of local murders that took place before she went into the coma."

"Murders?" Willow whispered.

The agent turned to look towards Willow before turning back to Buffy. "I take it that you haven't heard from her." He stated.

Buffy shook her head numbly.

"Well, if you do please get in touch with us." He said, giving Giles a card.

"We will." Giles said automatically. The agent nodded and left.

"This is unexpected." Giles said after a while.

"You're telling me." Buffy said with a bitter laugh. "As if I already don't have enough to deal with. Now I've got the FBI breathing down my neck."

"Who's Faith?" asked Spiked curiously.

"Spike, shut up." said Buffy rubbing a hand over her eyes.

"Is she that Slayer that went all evil?" asked Spike, ignoring her.

"You know what Spike?" Buffy said threateningly. "I'm giving you two seconds to shut you're trap before I do something that you will regret."

"Touchy, touchy." Spike said delightedly. "Was she stronger than you? Or was she-

Buffy hit him square on the nose. "I warned you. Xander, tie him up again, he's getting annoying."

Giles cleared his throat. "What are you planning to do?"

"About Faith?" she asked.

Giles nodded.

"Not a damned thing." Buffy said.

"This is not good." Faith muttered, as she backed up. There had to be at least twelve demons. Is she had a stake or her dagger with her, the number would have meant nothing to her, but since she had neither and hadn't fought for a good two months, she was starting to think the odds were against her.

Without warning, one of the demons attacked. He aimed a punch at her head. She ducked and countered with a swift sidekick to the chest that sent him flying. The other demons were quickly closing in. She managed to punch two of them and narrowly avoided being stabbed by another.

"Forgot about those skewers," She said as she sent yet another demon flying. Just then she was attacked by two of them from behind. She was busy trying to fight them off so she didn't see the demon sneaking up on her from her left. In fact she didn't notice anything until he used one of his bone skewers to stab her in the stomach.

"Aaaaaaaaah!" she screamed as she fell to her knees and clutched her stomach. It was the same spot that Buffy had stabbed her. At that moment, she knew that she was done for. There was no way she could stand up much less fight them.

All of the demons were starting closing in on her and then they weren't.

"Wha?" Faith gasped. All the demons that had surrounded her were gone. There was nothing left of them but dust. She almost didn't notice the shrouded person standing behind the trees. Almost. But she didn't care. She had other problems to worry about, for example, the hole in her stomach. She tried to stand up but fell down almost immediately. She gritted her teeth and tried again, this time managing to stay upright. The pain was almost unbearable but she knew that she had to get help. Besides, who knows what other big bads she'd meet if she stayed put. Lucky that the watcher's apartment was nearby.

"What?" Giles said.

"What?" Xander and Willow echoed.

"You heard me," Buffy said stubbornly. "I'm not going to do anything until I see some proof."

"What are you talking about?" Giles said.

"The story just doesn't make sense." She said. "Why would Faith attack somebody-"

"Excuse me?" Xander interrupted. "We're talking about Faith here. She attacked me before and she's tried to kill you more than once."

"Xander, please let me finish my sentence. As I was saying I don't think Faith would attack somebody for no good reason. She's attacked us before because she's got something against us but a harmless nurse? Come on, that doesn't sound like her."

"Buffy, we thought we knew Faith before but she turned on us. No telling what she's capable of." Willow said gently. "Besides, we know for a fact that she was involved in the murders that the Agent was taking about. Granted, that some of them were demons masquerading as humans but she still has to pay for her actions."

"But she helped us." Buffy argued feebly.

"Only in your dream," Xander reminded her.

"Giles?" Buffy said desperately. "What do you think?"

"I think you shouldn't get involved at all." He said firmly. "Leave it to the FBI and the Council."

"The Council?" Buffy repeated. "They're involved in this?"

"If they're not yet they will be soon." Giles said.

"So your advice to me is not to do anything till the Council and the FBI gets to her?" Buffy asked.

Giles sighed, "Buffy I know you feel guilty because you're the one who had landed her in that coma in the first place but I really don't think there's anything we can do to help her. She made her bed, now it's time for her to lie in it."

"Giles," Buffy pleaded.

Giles sighed. "Alright, if she comes knocking on our door and asks for our help, we'll try and help her do the right thing but until then I'm telling you it would be better if you didn't get caught up in this mess."

"Deal," Buffy said.

Just then the doorbell rang.

"Not again." Giles groaned as he left to open it. The door bell rang again insistently. "I'm coming, I'm coming." He called.

He pulled the door open.

"Oh dear lord," He said. "Faith!"

Faith tried to smile but that made her stomach hurt even more. "Hey G-man, how's it going?" she said hoarsely.

It was then that Giles noticed her wound and blood-soaked shirt. "You're bleeding! What happened? Are you okay?"

"Five by Five." Faith said and fell to the floor in a dead faint.