There were only a few dozen watchers left, and suddenly someone who read Sumerian, Turkish, and Astfglic was extremely valuable, especially if said linguist also didn't have to be sat down and explained to that 'oh yes, there were things that go bump in the night and by the way, would you mind terribly sacrificing your normal ho hum existence in order to defend the world from previously mentioned things that go bump in the night? Oh, and some of them go bump in the day, too. So constant vigilance and all.'
Yeah, Giles was finally paying attention to Dawn and considering her in a role beyond that of the little sister/ weekly innocent to save. It was nice, as Dawn had previously been severely lacking in the paternal figure area, but it was unsettling having someone looking over her shoulder making 'ahem' noises as she browsed through a course catalog (well, yes, drama looked like a very 'fun' class, but "survey of ancient boring blahblah" would be so much more suitable, don't you agree?'). In the end, she agreed, as "survey of ancient boring blahblah" was actually pretty damn interesting. I mean, c'mon, she wasn't quite one of those normal girls who wanted to pledge Phi Kappa Perky and take drama because it only meets Tuesday/Thursdays at 1pm and would therefore free up a valuable three (possibly four with some more creative scheduling) day weekend in which to party with the new Phi Kappa Perky sisters.
She was the girl who learned Turkish so she could browse through ancient incantation books just in case there might be something, you know, interesting to pass the time while waiting in the endless bathroom line of cranky potentials. Damn, that time of the month had taken on a whole new meaning with the PMS and sympathetic cycling- if they could have directed that energy at the forces of evil, they might have averted that apocalypse a whole lot sooner.
So, Dawn took surveys of ancient civilizations and Akkadian grammar instead of drama and romantic poetry. She spent her breaks pouring over dusty tomes in European monastery libraries instead of drinking margaritas on the beach in Cabo. And she didn't mind terribly sacrificing her normal ho hum existence because, frankly, she never really had one anyway.