Chapter Text
Someone ringing the doorbell was hardly news to Buffy Summers. It wasn't news that the person on the other side of the door was Britsh either. What was a surprise was that the young man standing there knew her name but didn't know who she was or what she represented.
Buffy cocked her head a little to the side, maybe that would cause this to make sense. "Repeat what you just said, please."
The relatively short man, who wasn't much taller than her, gave her a patient smile and obediently repeated his words for the second time. "Hello. My name is Harry Potter. Over the last few years, I have been researching my family tree, and one of the names that came up was yours. Apparently, we share a great-grandfather, making us some kind of cousins."
That's what she had thought he said. Her amazing apartment was warded to kingdom come, so she stepped back and took the door with her as she non-verbally indicated for him to enter her home. He took the hint but looked a little confused at her behavior.
Over the years, she had finally managed to develop that sense that told her if she was in the vicinity of vampires, demons, magic, and so on. Those senses were tingling right now, which meant that Mr. Possible Relative was a wizard, but not the same kind as Willow and the other witches who were a part of their organization. He didn't give off any evil vibes though, so she decided to see what there was to see.
She lead him into her living room and they got comfortable as she studied him. He had a light tan, black hair that was standing straight up at the back, and the greenest eyes she had ever seen behind round wireframe glasses. The ring finger on his left hand had a plain gold wedding ring.
"How did you get into genealogy?"
"I was orphaned as a toddler and grew up with my maternal Aunt and her family. They resented me being dropped on them and kicked me out as soon as they could. It took a few years after that before I began looking into if there was any other family out there as I had been told there wasn't anyone left on either side, except for my Aunt and cousin."
Buffy got the definite suspicion that he was giving her an oversimplified version of whatever had actually gone down, but she kind of wanted to know if they were really related before she began digging more into his past, or told him anything about her own.
"When my wife and I had our first child, I began wondering if I really was the last one in my family, and I began researching my lineage to see if there was someone further out. My father was an only child, the same as both my grandfathers. My mother has a sister, my maternal grandmother had a brother who died without having children. My paternal grandmother had a brother whose family is... Well, not someone I want to associate with. My godfather was from that branch of the family, but he got himself killed by one of his cousins when I was 16."
Her eyes widened a little, "Jeepers! Definitely not someone you'd want to associate with then. Why did you pick me to contact? Have you spoken with anyone else?"
If cousins murdering cousins was something he could mention casually, then what else was in his history? How traumatizing could his life have been if something most people saw as a pivotal part of their past was just a small part of a summary of his closest relatives? Suddenly she began wondering what had happened to his parents, and why he hadn't elaborated on that.
Then a little belatedly, she asked, "Which side are we related on?" Inquiring minds wanted to know.
"For you, it's your father. I tried to find him, but even though I left many messages for him he didn't answer. Actually, I can't seem to find him at all. My research trail began in Los Angeles, then it moved to Rome, Italy before going to New York City, and then I lost him in London, England two years ago. Everything suggests that he's still alive, I just can't track down his whereabouts after he left."
Buffy frowned, the last she had known her father had still been in Rome, but that had been five maybe six years ago. She thought about it, it might have been longer. He had faded out of her life when he stopped taking her calls, and she had decided to return the favor when he wouldn't even call back when her mother died.
"Since I couldn't get a hold of him, I decided to try to get in contact with his oldest daughter. Although apparently, not picking up the phone or answering messages is a family habit." He raised a questioning eyebrow at her and she gave a sheepish shrug.
"I keep losing or breaking my phone, and then I have to replace it. It's a bad habit, sorry."
The truthful answer was that vampires kept snatching it and either throwing it somewhere she couldn't get to it or flexing their strength by crushing it in their bare hand. Both were equally annoying and expensive, but at least the Hantri Council (Sandskrit for One who removes, destroys, counteracts. It also meant slayer) had budgeted that into their expenses since it wasn't just a Buffy problem. Baby Slayers also kept breaking their own phones accidentally before they learned to control their strength.
"It is quite alright. At least I found an address for you, even though you do not seem to spend much time here." Again, he made the statement into a question.
"It's more like a base of operations for me in the U.S. I travel a lot, and I spend a lot of time in Britain, Scotland mainly, although I travel regularly all over the world. It probably would've been easier to just send snail mail and included your phone number there so I could've contacted you."
Green eyes blinked slowly and he gave her a sheepish smile. "Didn't think of that, but you're right. It would've made this a little easier."
"It would also have given me the chance to do a little research of my own before us meeting for the first time, but it's done." Giving it a little more thought, she added, "I don't suppose you came prepared with your family tree and how it connects to me so I can look into it myself?"
"Of course, I gathered you might be curious. It should also save you some time. Finding this took me years, after all." He took his satchel up from the floor and began rummaging in it. A moment later she felt active magic coming from Harry. It was short and neutral, but she didn't appreciate him performing magic in her home without asking first. Not that he knew she knew about magic, but still. It was a conversation for later if it turned out he was telling the truth.
Then she had a lightbulb moment. Dawn had gotten into genealogy years ago after she realized she was literally made out of Buffy and the Mystical Key. One of the things she had done was get one of those kits from an online website where you could sign up for a DNA kit, they sent it to you and you either spit into a tube or swabbed your own cheek, and then sent it back. You then got access to your family tree, including people you were related to that you might not have known about.
Dawn had gotten kits for the entire Sccoby Gang and they had humored her, but most of them had not been interested. Now Buffy explained the concept to her supposed cousin and he promised to get one and send it in.
They agreed to meet up in six months so Buffy could also get a chance to do her own research, but he also gave her his number so she could call to get the result from him in regards to the DNA test.
He gave her a lot of paper and she sighed. Why couldn't he have given her a thumb drive?