Author's Note: This is a scene from a story I've been working on for quite a while. Unfortunately, I don't know when that story will be finished. This takes place during an AU Buffy Season 3 and HP: OotP. Thanks to Valeya for Betaing.



“No matter how hard you try, it’s never good enough, is it? It doesn’t matter how much good you do. You make one mistake and everything changes.” With a sigh, Faith threw herself on the couch, tears of desperation shining in her eyes. But they never fell.

That was almost a week ago.


When Dumbledore told me at the beginning of the year that I had a niece, and that she was a Slayer, I was afraid. Afraid of several things. What would Voldemort do when he found out? Would she die young, like her parents? Would she follow her mother’s footsteps, Merlin, help us? Or her father’s, of the good and true?

As time went on and I got to know her, most of my questions became answered. Voldemort wanted her for his cause, but I’ve been able to stall him. Unfortunately, I know now she most likely will die young, younger than her parents even, because she is a Slayer, and a pawn trapped in the midst of a war she knew nothing about a year ago. A war she would have nothing to do with, if not for her mother. But I knew she would follow her father’s path the moment I met her. A Gryffindor through and through, she wants so much to prove herself and play the hero, to show she can do good in this world. But Merlin, forgive me, because I never saw this coming.

It was an honest mistake made in the heat of battle. It’s happened countless times before, to Slayers and non-Slayers alike. And now a man is dead. But as devastating as the guilt had been for Faith, it was the reaction of her “friends” in America that pushed her over the edge. They demanded she turn herself in for murder. But even those imbeciles at the Ministry found her innocent.

But now, she is desperate to prove herself to them, to get back in their “good graces”, as it were. And she has just done something that I believe will destroy her.

“I do not think you have thought this through, Faith. By doing this, all they will see is you proving them right. Even if they were to know, which they never can, they will never trust you. Believe me, I know.”

She looks at me openly, her brown eyes desperate. “I know, Sev. You think I’m blind to that, but I’m not. No matter what I do, things will never be like they were. And now, they’ll probably hat me. But when it’s over, whether I’m dead or he is, they’ll know. And they’ll look back and remember me as a good person.” She takes a deep breath. “I’ve gone most of my life without being loved. But when I die, I’d like to be remembered with something other than disgust. And if it means people will hate me until then, I’ll deal with it.”

I merely nod. I understand. I do. I feel the same way.

“Dumbledore is expecting our report,” I tell her quietly.

She nods and stands, flexing her forearm as she has been since we arrived back in my chambers. As she walks to the door, she slips on her Gryffindor school robes, the long, black sleeves effectively covering the fresh Dark Mark on her left forearm.

‘Her mother would be proud,’ I think with disgust.

The End
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