Out of the Blue
Chapter 1 – Out of the blue.
DISCLAIMER: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon, and Harry Potter to J.K. Rowling. I don't own anything…
RATING: PG-13 (T) to R (M) - violence, language, angst, horror, mild sexual interactions, etc. If you can watch BTVS/AtS and read HP, I doubt you'll have any problem with this story.
TIMELINE: Takes place after season two in BTVS, and during the marauders last year at Hogwarts.
SUMMARY: BTVS/HP crossover. Life sucked for Buffy Summers. After taking her refuge to LA, she had hoped she would finally have some of that peace the Hellmouth couldn't provide. She should have known she was hoping for the impossible. When she gets propelled into another dimension, her life changes forever - but is it for the better or for worse?
CENTRAL PAIRING: Buffy/Remus
OTHER PAIRINGS: James/Lily, Sirius/OC
Special Thanks to: My Beta - CharmedChick
Buffy Anne Summers was walking through one of Los Angeles's graveyards. She twirled her stake between her fingers, as she let her thoughts consume her.
After the episode with Angelus and Acathla, Buffy had taken her refuge to Helen's kitchen, a small café in LA, where she now worked. She had spent most of her summer thinking and remembering Angel, and hoping he somehow would come back. She had told herself quitting her 'job' as the Slayer was her way to freedom, and she had. But then harsh reality caught up with her. Angel was dead. She had killed him. He was...gone. And she had to accept that.
To stop being a Slayer was not the way to go. It made her feel even more trapped. She told herself Angel wouldn't have wanted her to be miserable (even though her nightmares told her otherwise) - and she was miserable, when she didn't slay. It was her calling. And she had to answer.
So that's why she now was patrolling one of the graveyards in LA, hoping to get to kick some ass so she could absorb some energy on the not-living forces of darkness. She knew she should probably go back to Sunnydale, but she didn't want to. Or she wanted to, but the truth was, she was afraid. Afraid her friends wouldn't understand. That Giles would lash out on her. And she didn't even want to think on her mother's reaction. Hadn't she told Buffy that under no circumstances she was allowed to come back?
'If you walk out of this house, don't even think of coming back.'
The words cut deep in Buffy's heart still. And then the little fact remained that she was expelled from Sunnydale High. So what would she do if she did return? Pretend nothing happened? Yeah, right. The truth was, she didn't belong anywhere anymore. She didn't have anywhere to go.
She also still felt like she brought destruction wherever she went. Her old school, Merrick, Pike, who'd been killed by your average vamp because she was too busy with her own happiness to realise she put him in danger as long as he was with her.
She had split up the gang including Willow, Xander and Jesse - yes, she blamed herself for Jesse's death. If she hadn't showed up - would he really have died? To her, it seemed like all the Hellmouth activities started first after she came to Sunnydale, not before.
Ford - victim for the promises of eternal life as a vampire, and later victim for her own stake.
Theresa - killed by Angelus, simply because she knew Buffy.
Jenny - also she killed by Angelus - who knows what could have happened between her and Giles if Buffy hadn't held a grudge against her for keeping secrets?
And then there was Kendra...Her sister Slayer. For awhile, she had actually thought everything would be okay - she wasn't alone anymore. And Kendra had become a good friend - A weird friend, but a friend nonetheless. And Drusilla had killed her, simply because Buffy was too stupid and upset to realise she was walking into a trap. She was selfish - so selfish. The world would be a better place without her, she was sure.
Buffy sighed, and looked around, feeling more and more depressed with every second. She really wanted something to kill.
Suddenly, she heard a growl from behind her. Buffy turned around, and saw a green, slimy demon with horns coming toward her. Buffy smiled - finally some action!
"Hey! You, over there!" She called. The demon looked at her questioningly, then he got something feral in his look, and he started to stalk towards her, growling.
As he got in reaching distance, Buffy gave him a straight uppercut to his jaw, but the demon didn't even flinch…but Buffy did. His jaw felt like steel.
"Damn," she muttered, but inside she smiled. A real challenge.
Buffy blew some air on her wounded fist, but had to jump out of the way when the demon tried to hit her. The fight went on for minutes, which felt like hours to Buffy. The demon was tough, she had to give him that. On several occasions, he had been close to winning...and on half of those, the thought of giving up crossed Buffy's mind. What was there to live for? But she didn't. Finally, Buffy gained the upper hand, and she brought her dagger down in the demon's back, killing him.
Buffy wiped some sweat of her forehead, and pulled out her dagger. She frowned as blood started flowing out of the open wound. Blue blood. She watched it curiously, and wrinkled her nose. It smelled.
"Wonder what kind of demon it is…I'm sure Giles would be happy to research…" She muttered to herself. Then she remembered. Giles wasn't here. She was on her own. She sighed, and stood up to leave, when she suddenly saw a flash of light. She turned back to the demon, and saw that a portal had started to manifest in the ground, from where the blood had dripped down. It was in a bluish colour, the same as the demon's blood, and it shimmered strangely with a weird light.
Buffy found herself looking at the portal in interest, and her feet seemed to have a will of their own as she went closer. Something about this portal made her enthralled, like hypnosis of some kind. It was like it was whispering to her, motioning for her to come closer and investigate.
A part of her mind told her it was madness to follow the 'will' of a portal - who knows where it could lead? But the other part ignored these thoughts, and pushed them away to the back of her mind. Buffy went closer, and closer, until she stood only an inch from it. She inclined her head a bit to the side, as she watched it shimmer, before she picked up a little stone from the ground, and threw it into the portal.
Nothing happened, except it sparkled a little, and the stone disappeared.
The rational part of her mind told her to run away, but her legs didn't want to, and neither did her adventurous part. The saying 'curiosity killed the cat' was completely gone from her mind at the moment.
She lifted her foot, and let the tip of her shoe touch the blue surface. The portal sparkled again, just like it had done with the stone, but aside from that, nothing happened. She moved her foot a little further...and a little more...and then she suddenly felt something suck her down. Her eyes widened in panic, as the sensible part of her mind finally registered what was about to happen, and she started to wave her arms around in desperation, hoping to find something to grip, so she could drag herself up. But she didn't. Her last thought before the portal consumed her was...
'...Shit.'
In another dimension, the four marauders - James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew -had just settled down at the Gryffindor table, and Albus Dumbledore - the headmaster - was just about to speak. Remus immidiately turned his attention towards the Headmaster, while Peter was staring longingly at the empty plates. The last two of the marauders, James and Sirius, were exchanged looks full of mishief as they thought of all the pranks they planned to play - after all, it was their last year at Hogwarts, and they both wanted to finish it with a bang.
"Welcome! Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!" Dumbledore said."For some of you, it is the first, and for others, it is the last." With this,he seemed to look over to where the marauders were sitting.
Sirius and James grinned, and lifted their empty glasses towards Dumbledore.
"Don't worry, professor. I promise we won't forget you!" Sirius said, this earned some laughter, and professor Dumbledore smiled before he continued:
"As usual, the Forbidden forest is as it sounds - forbidden. Some students should know this by now." Again, Dumbledore's eyes seemed to settle on the marauders - especially James and Sirius, who put on their best innocent smiles.
'The only thing missing is the Gloria', Remus thought and snorted. The day James and Sirius earned a Gloria would be the day hell froze over - with other words - never. He sighed a little. He wondered what would happen to the marauders after their graduation. Would they split up, make their own was through life, silly things as friendship and pranks during their school-years forgotten, or would they forever stay together? Remus hoped this would be the case. James, Sirius and Peter were his first and only true friends, and he would hate to loose them. They were all united in a way only true friends were, and he would hate to loose this to the adult-life.
Dumbledore spoke up again.
"I also have some other bit of news for you - or maybe it is starting to become more of a tradition - I have managed to find another Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher even this year - professor Malzcovitz, who unfortunately couldn't make it to the feast, but will be here before the beginning of classes."
Remus frowned. During all his years at Hogwarts, and apparantly, several years before them as well, no one had managed to hold the DADA post for longer than a year. Rumours had it that the position was cursed, or jinxed, and that Dumbledore found it harder and harder to convince someone to take the post - almost no one asked for it freely anymore.
Remus hoped this years teacher would be good. DADA was his overall favourite - and his best - subject, and he thought it was one of the more important as well. Espescially now when that dark wizard who called himself lord Voldmeort was spreading terror all over the wizarding world in Britain. People were already growing afraid of him, and refused to speak his name, only calling him 'you-know-who' or 'he-who-must-not-be-named' and even these silly titles brought shudders upon some people.
During all his years at Hogwarts, Remus had known he was safe from this wizard, who seemed to be posing a worse threat than anyone had ever done, when he went to Hogwarts. Everyone knew Hogwarts was one of the safest places in Britain - maybe in the entire world - and not only because of the strong wards surrounding the old castle, but also because Dumbledore -the one everyone looked up to, the one everyone considered being the greatest wizard alive, the one who had defeated the terror Grindewald -was the Headmaster.
However, this was his last year, and after that, he would no longer be able to hide behind the walls of this castle, where he had been more happy than he had ever been since he was bitten as a small child by Fenrir Greyback - a viscious, evil werewolf - who by biting him condemned Remus to a life in loneliness, shunned, hatedand feared by everyone except his parents. That is, until he enrolled Hogwarts and met his fellow marauders.
At first, he had tried to hide his lycanthropy by making up excuses - that his mother was ill, and that he needed to visit her every month - but James and Sirius weren't fooled. They found out the truth, and to Remus' surprise, none of them abandoned him, and neither did Peter, his other friend. Instead, they gave him the most wonderful gift ever... Remus sighed at the memory in which he had first encountered Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs.
However, after this year, he would be an adult, no longer a student here, and he would need to face the cruelties of the real world outside, and when he did, Remus wanted to be able to defend himself, and help others. He knew both James and Sirius planned to enroll the Auror Academy, so they could take an active role in the war against Voldemort.
Remus himself wanted to do the same, but knew he would never be allowed to become an Auror, or work for the Ministry at all, due to his lycanthropy. His last friend, Peter, did not yet knew what to become, but Remus knew that if Peter didn't got better grades this year - and great NEWT results, he knew Peter would have little to choose from. Peter wasn't a very bright wizard, and struggled in all of his classes, barely mangaging to scrape an 'Accaptable' in them, even if Remus tried to help him study.
Dumbledore spoke up again, interrupting Remus' thoughts.
"I have also been asked by Mr Filch, our caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact the flying instructor, Madam Smith, or the Quidditch captain for the house you wish to join."
At Dumbledore's last statement, James got up and bowed slightly. Some of the girls giggled, and all the new first year boys stared admirably at James. The marauders, however, just rolled their eyes, including Sirius.
"And finally, Mr Filch also says that any maps, or enchanted parchments found will be confiscated immediately."
At this, the marauders gave each other panic-stricken looks. He couldn't know about the marauders map, could he?
During their sixth year, Remus had got the idea of creating a map of the school, where you could see all the secret passages and rooms, plus everyone inside the school grounds. The other marauders had been very excited about the idea, and decided to go through with it.
It had been finished the same year, and had been a big help for their mayhem creating, mischief planning, and prank playing during the nights (and days). Along with James' invisibilty cloak, the four marauders became an undefeatable group. The map had also been a great help after they had become animagi and started to sneak out to Remus in the Whomping Willow during his transformations.
"Now, I just have two more words for you: tuck in!"
Like on a signal, all the students turned to their plates, and started to shuffle of as much food as they could manage. During the next fifteen minutes, the only thing heard was the sound of chewing and smaller conversations.
"So, Prongs, do you still have that crush on Evans?" Sirius asked.
"It's not a crush!" James protested. "It's more than that! It's…it's deep, serious, love."
Peter and Sirius snickered, and Remus rolled his eyes.
"Well, I'm glad you didn't give up," he said, "but I think you have a bigger shot with professor McGonagall unless you change your attitude against Sniv…Snape," Remus hastily corrected himself.
"Ouch, Moony, that hurt!" James exclaimed and put his hand over the heart before continuing.
"No, I have to stay optimistic - even if I think Moony's right."
"Well, now when you know why Evans won't fall for your charm, why don't you do something about it?" Sirius said, as he chewed on some bacon.
James locked shocked.
"And stop torturing Snivellus? Are you mad?"
Sirius shrugged, and Remus spoke up again.
"I think you need to ask yourself what you like the most; torturing Sni…Snape, or the thought of Lily liking you?"
James seemed to consider it for a moment, before answering.
"You know, Moony, you're right. I have to change my attitude toward Snivellus…at least when Evans is looking," he added, and Sirius laughed.
Remus sighed, and looked up at the ceiling. A frown started to take form on his forehead, when he saw how something appeared over him…a blue...thing.
"Umm…you guys…?" The other marauders turned to look at him, and then up at the ceiling.
They gasped when they saw what Remus did. A portal of some kind had started to take form above their heads. Suddenly, a little stone fell out, and hit Remus on his nose.
"Ouch!"
Now the teachers had noticed the portal too.
"Everyone, move away from that portal!" Dumbledore demanded, and slight chaos broke out, when everyone at the Gryffindor table tried to leave at the same time.
The marauders had just gotten up from their chairs, when something else fell out of the blue portal once again, and crashed down onto the table, right on top of all the food.
Everybody stared in shock, including the teachers, but they also had their wands out, pointed at the thing…no, person.
Buffy found herself laying flat on her back.
"Ouch…" she mumbled, and opened her eyes. It took awhile for her eyes to adjust to the light, but when they did, she found herself staring up into the faces of a mass of people, watching her.
"Ooops?"
A/N: Well, there you go! The first chapter in my story Out of the Blue! How do you like? Please, REVIEW!
/Ida