Aug. 2nd - Hiding Places
Title: Hiding Places
Author: 3am_moonlight
Crossover: BtVS / Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Rating: Gen
Word Count: 1,056
Timeline: BtVS: Post-The Gift & HP: the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Disclaimer: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss and the Potterverse belongs to J.K.R.
Summary: Buffy spend a lot of time hiding, but she also get a little background regarding what's going on and why.Author's Note: Written for Day 02 of the 2019 August Fic-A-Day.
A/N 2: Follows ' Narrow Escape'. Also, meh.
The surreal circumstances continued as their little trio moved toward a wooden hut on the grounds, where, according to Harry, the groundskeeper lived. The mythological creature turned out to have the front legs (including claws), wings, and head of a giant eagle and the body, hind legs, and tail of a horse. The voice in Buffy's head that tended to sound like Giles, got very excited. Buffy herself kept an eye on the claws and its sharp-looking beak, just in case.
After a lot of waiting, a group of ancient-looking people came and entered the hut, and she finally got to see the much-talked-about Dumbledore. Her first and immediate thought was that he looked like he was supposed to be in a Pride Parade somewhere but wisely kept the comment to herself. Her second reaction wasn't so much a thought as a feeling, and it wasn't a good one. It pertained not only to the magical school's principal but also the man with the ax and the man with the bowler hat. She would definitely not trust any of them, especially not the Executioner.
After a small bit of drama where Harry managed to get the Hippogriff to move away from the pumpkin patch and behind some threes, they hid closer to a tree that turned out to be semi-sentient and angry with the world. Angry enough that it kept trying to hit the original version of her two companions. Eventually, the tree stopped moving after a cat hit a knot or a button, according to Hermione.
Original Harry, Original Hermione, and a red-headed boy disappeared into a tunnel under the Whomping Willow, and who was naming these things? Shortly after a werewolf used a stick to hit the same button and went down after the three students. The giant man from before went up to the Castle, and how hadn't she noticed it was a castle before now? He seemed to have a low tolerance for alcohol as he was already weaving slightly as he sang loudly in happiness that his creature had somehow gotten free.
Shortly after Hagrid went into the Castle another man stepped out. This one was dressed in all black, with shoulder-length black hair to match. He gave off the same bad vide as the one with the ax had earlier, and Buffy narrowed her eyes. Like the ones before him, he went to the tree and used the stick to poke the knot, but before he went down he picked up some odd-looking fabric from the ground and threw it over his shoulders.
Harry took the latter part badly, and when she asked he replied, "That's my invisibility cloak! He has no right to take it!"
Choosing to ignore what she couldn't she change, she opted for some information instead. "What's going on down there and will we need to move soon?"
Hermione took charge of answering immediately and thankfully began with a little backstory for her benefit. "Harry's parents were killed when he was 15 months old and his godfather, Sirius Black, was thrown in Azkaban, the wizarding prison, without a trial. He's innocent, but we didn't know that until he told us in the Shrieking Shack. That's where the tunnel is going, to the Shrinking Shack down in Hogsmeade.
"Sirius, Harry's dad, and Professor Lupin are childhood friends. They were also friends with Wormtail, the real traitor." Silently and very much in her own head, Buffy sighed at the weird names and the irony of a werewolf being named after the moon of all things. "Wormtail faked his own death and made it look like Sirius had killed him and 12 muggles. It was all very chaotic and unprofessional, but Sirius escaped this summer when he found out the real traitor was here and alive, at Hogwarts, with Harry."
"He wants to kill Pettigrew," Harry interjected. Off her confused look, he added. "Wormail's real name is Peter Pettigrew. Sirius escaped to protect me, but everyone thinks he escaped to finish what he started back in '81 and finally kill me. And no one wants to listen, and Dumbledore claims he can't do anything."
The two teenagers spent a good half hour trying to explain the situation, and the British Magical World before Buffy suddenly asked an unrelated question. "What year is it?" There was just something bugging her about their appearance, and it wasn't because they were wearing cloaks and robes underneath. Well, yes, that was part of it, but there was something else.
Both of the teenagers blinked at her for the non-sequitur. "1994. It's June." Harry gave her a worried look, "Why do you ask?"
Thinking quickly, she gave a brief lie. "Just making sure I didn't time travel in addition to ending up on the other side of the planet. It means I can call my friends back home so I can go home when this is over." She gave a small smile. Please buy it, please buy it. She repeated in her head.
She was seven years in the past, which explained the 90's hair do's, and with any luck, she was still in her own reality and dimension and not somewhere else like Glory's home hell dimension. That meant that if all else failed, she could just take the really long way home. And maybe even bring some extra magical back-up.
She also had her Slayer powers, despite the fact that she wouldn't be Chosen for another three years or so.
After that, the situation became chaotic. Everyone came out of the tunnel, but the black-haired professor, Snape, was unconscious and was being levitated. Lupin turned into a werewolf when the cloud cover moved and Sirius turned into a large dog to protect the group and chase the werewolf away from them. Wormtail turned into a rat and escaped. Some creepy demonic creatures came gliding in and the next thing she knew every single bad memory she had came to the surface. Her beloved grandmother's death, realizing her parents were going to divorce. Finally understanding being the Slayer meant that she would die very young and probably very violently. The Master killing her. Angelus. Her mother getting sick. Finding her mother's body. The memories came flooding through her mind and it was a relief when she finally blacked out and everything just stopped.