Chapter 2

"Hi Mrs. S," Xander said when the door opened for him.

"Hello Xander. It's nice of you to come."

"Did you really believe that I'd say no to your cooking? I can't believe you have so little faith in me. In fact, I'm wounded." Grabbing at his chest, Xander pretended to suffer a mortal wound until Mrs. Summers couldn't hide her giggle anymore.

"Okay Xander. I'm really sorry to have made such an accusation. Could you possibly accept my apologies?" Mrs. Summers managed through her laughter.

Pretending to think about it, Xander hesitated before answering. "Of course. This is the night of joy, happiness, and candy. If we can't forgive each other at a day like this, when can we?"

"Nicely spoken," Mrs. Summers complimented him.

"Thank you. Ehm, now that we're on the subject of forgiveness and all, is there something I can ask?"

Mrs. Summers appeared a bit weary of what he was about to say, but agreed nonetheless. "Of course."

"I'm not fully dressed at the moment, and I won't be during dinner either."

That confused her, just like he'd expected. "I don't understand, you look presentable to me. That's your costume you're wearing, isn't it?"

"It's not complete," Xander answered while doing his best to keep a straight face.

Looking him over, Mrs. Summers only seemed to grow more confused. "What is missing then?"

"The armor of course. I really feel like I shouldn't do this to you, but I can't wear that during dinner."

"Armor," Mrs. Summers sighed while closing her eyes briefly, before opening them again as a smile appeared on her face. "You, you."

"Thank you. It's always good to see that your talents are appreciated."

"Oh you. Step inside, I have a feeling that if I leave you on the doorstep much longer you'll come up with something worse."

"Okay," Xander said while stepping past her. "Where can I put this?"

"The armor is in that bag?"

"The armor, the helmet, and even the rusty old sword. Not a real one though," he hastened to add at her look. You shouldn't overdo the teasing after all.

"Just put it in the hallway. With everybody who's come to dinner I'm not sure if it would be safe anywhere else."

"Everyone? I know Buffy asked Willow, but is there anyone else coming?"

"Buffy wasn't the only one to ask friends over, and Da-" Whatever else Mrs. Summers had been about to ask was cut short as they noticed a tornado coming down the stairs. Well, a short, brunette tornado. One that was closely followed by a slightly taller, blond, screeching, tornado.

"Give that back!"

"You don't need it! You're supposed to be a hairdresser!" Dawn answered Buffy's demand, while skillfully evading her mother's reaching hands.

"It was part of the costume!"

"Must've been a mistake," Dawn taunted once she'd reached the table and could keep that between her and her sister.

"It was no mistake! Everybody knows that hairdressers have knives!"

"Not knives like this! Why don't I keep it so that you can't hurt yourself with it?"

"You give that back now!"

Mrs. Summers heaved a deep sigh, but it was someone else who spoke up. "They're at it again, huh?"

Tearing his eyes away from the scene of what he knew could go on for a long time, Xander looked behind him and noticed two girls standing in the still open doorway. Friends of Dawn if he remembered correctly. Not that he actually remembered their names...

"Jane, Sara. Come in. My, you two look spiffy in your costumes."

"It's cool, isn't it? I mean, at first I was a bit bummed that Jane got the Assassin's suit, but it looks really good on her. The black really brings out her eyes, and with her hair like that it's pretty cool. Of course, I would have looked good in it as well, but she was the lucky one."

Distracted from the childish behavior of her daughters, Mrs. Summers smiled at Sara. "Your costume is really good too though."

"Oh, I know that," the girl answered with a wave of her hand. "And I don't really feel any regret either about not being the Assassin, especially as I realized that I could have a lot more fun like this."

"Really? And why is that?"

"Isn't it obvious? She's going to start robbing everyone and their grandma of candy," Jane said while rolling her eyes.

"Really?" Xander asked. "That is a good cause on Halloween, but you won't forget to leave a note, will you?"

"Cool! I know Dawn said something about Buffy dressing like someone from there as well, but she didn't mention anyone else. What are you going as?" Sara enthusiastically said.

"I am a member of the Ankh-Morpork Watch," Xander said, deciding not to mention that technically speaking his character was no longer a member. Not that he'd actually figured out what that was though. Since he'd gotten the costume, and the accompanying explanation to ensure he dressed the way he should, he had been busy trying to understand it.

Apparently the costume belonged to someone who was once a captain of the Watch, but he no longer was. He wasn't demoted, and there was no higher rank in the Watch either. The only thing that made any sense then was that he'd either been kicked out, or retired. However, in that case there wouldn't be a point in wearing armor.

"So we're like natural enemies?" Jane interrupted his musings. "Does that mean I can't show you the cool crossbow I've got? Because it's supposed to be illegal inside the city."

"Well, technically I should order you to leave it behind then," Xander started, before speaking up louder. "But as both our friends are still acting like a couple of little children!"

"I'll stop acting like that, once I've got my knife back!" Buffy yelled back, but Xander was already going on.

"I don't really see any problem in you showing it to me. We can compare weapons, I've got a sword."

"No comparing of weapons in my house," Mrs. Summers said, obviously deciding that enough was enough. "And you two. Cut that out, now!"

"But mo-o-om she still has my knife," Buffy wailed. Not the kind of behavior Xander expected from his friend, but she probably knew best how to handle her own mother.

"Dawn, give that back to your sister."

"What? Why? She always steals my stuff, and she really doesn't need it for her costume. She's a hairdresser remember? What kind of hairdresser would have a knife? Or an axe for that matter"

"Axe?" Mrs. Summers asked her oldest daughter.

"It came with the costume. In fact it's the only thing that actually makes it a decent one. Otherwise I might as well have gone as little red riding hood again."

"Little red riding hood?" Xander asked incredulously. An incredulousness that quickly made way when he imagined how Buffy would look in such a costume. "Hmm. Sounds nice. I wouldn't mind seeing you in that. Looking all innocent and such, but with a nice short skirt that would show-"

"Xander!"

Oh, oh. "Did I say that out loud? Because in that case you probably didn't know what I was really talking about. Because I would never talk like that about any of my friends." Especially ones who were able to lift a car.

Dawn however had made use of Buffy's distraction, and ran past her sister, past her mother, past Xander, and only slowed down to greet her friends before running out the door. "She's getting away!" Buffy screamed, and once again set out after her sister.

A heavy sigh from Mrs. Summers told Xander that this wasn't what she had planned for today. "They'll probably be right back. I doubt Dawn can keep away from Buffy for long," he tried to console the woman.

"Hah! Dawn can manage that easily," Sara countered, obviously not pleased that he had more faith in Buffy than in her friend. Of course, he couldn't really explain that once out in the open, where nobody would really be paying any attention to her, Buffy could simply apply a bit of her Slayer-speed to the problem.

While coming up with a reply that would hide that fact, Xander noticed Mrs. Summers walking back into the house, probably to check on her cooking. It was from another direction that the next comment came however. "What did Dawn do this time?"

Once again turning to face the door-opening, Xander noticed his other best friend had arrived as well. "Hey Wills. From what I understood she took Buffy's knife, and Buffy didn't like that. Not that I don't agree with Dawn that it's a bit strange for a hairdresser to have a knife, but still."

"I-it could be for shaving and stuff. That's what they used to do before shavers were invented. The men would go to the barber, who'd then use a very sharp knife to shave them. That would explain why Buffy had a knife with her costume, I mean it makes sense, doesn't it?"

"Easy Willow, breathe. Deep calm breaths."

The stressed out Willow followed his advice, and it wasn't long before she was back to a normal talking speed. "I'm good. Thanks Xander."

"Anytime. So, why were you so stressed out? The costume? Because it doesn't look bad you know." In fact, it looked better than he'd expected it to. Especially when you considered the incredible size it had originally been.

"Oh no, I was afraid I was late. But you haven't even started yet so I can-"

"Hey Wills," Buffy spoke up from behind them, while dragging a recalcitrant Dawn behind her. An action that made Dawn's friends blink. Apparently they really weren't used to anyone being able to make Dawn move when she didn't want to.

"Hey Buffy. You look nice."

"You too Wills. The black looks pretty good."

"It looks better on Jane," Dawn interrupted, probably trying to convince her sister that she had cooler friends. Or something like that. Xander hadn't yet managed to get a real understanding of sibling rivalry. Before meeting the Summers sisters he'd always assumed the term was grossly exaggerated. Now he could barely understand why they called it rivalry, instead of war.

One of the reasons Dawn was so willing to go so far in these matters was probably because her friends were more than willing to help her. As demonstrated by Sara. "Of course Jane looks better. I dressed her."

"Don't listen to them Will. They're only doing that because miss I-can't-stay-away-from-other-people's-stuff here had to give up."

"I can SO stay away from other people's stuff, and besides... I'm not the one who constantly reads her sister's diary. That's you. Ugh, as if I'd want to read even more of all that icky stuff you do with that angel guy. What's his real name by the way? You still haven't told me your boyfriend's real name. Instead you always keep calling him angel."

"First," Buffy started, "you can't keep from other people's stuff. Second, I barely ever read your diary unless I need something that you took. Because you keep on writing it in there."

"Of course I do. That way I can prove to mom that you've been reading my diary again."

"Yeah. And that's fair how?"

By now Dawn had enough of her sister's manhandling, and shook her arm loose. "Who says it's fair? Besides you still haven't told me the name of your boyfriend. I mean in the beginning you called him the mysterious guy. Or the sexy mysterious guy, or the sexy handsome guy, or-"

"Enough," Buffy said while putting her hand over Dawn's mouth. Not that the damage hadn't already been done. Because it was too late for any damage control, yuck, Xander was pretty sure he'd be having nightmares during the coming nights.

"Right, and with that over and done with I think it's time we go to see how the beautiful Mrs. Summers is handling the cooking. Maybe we can help. I'm good at testing food." Even setting the table would be a good distraction. Anything to get his mind away from the disturbing thoughts that had been put there.

"You're not going to flirt with my mom, are you? With all those beautiful Mrs. Summers comments?" Buffy asked suspiciously.

"Buffy, you wound me."

"Oh brother," Buffy whispered just loud enough for him to hear. Not that it stopped him.

"How can I not say that she is beautiful when she has brought two such beautiful young ladies on the world?"

Both sisters snorted at that, and spoke the same words before glaring angrily at each other. "Beautiful? Her? You've got to be kidding."

….…

"So, Willow. Can you tell me the name of Buffy's boyfriend?" Dawn asked as the six of them were walking through the still calm streets. It was a bit early for the trick-or-treaters to be out, but it wasn't as if any of them actually had a choice in the matter.

Well, Dawn and her friends had. But apparently they'd decided to start early so they could show of their costumes longer. Not that he could blame them, after all they could actually choose had actually their costumes. With the possible exception of Dawn. A point Xander wasn't entirely certain about, but as she was more than happy with her Death/teacher costume why should he bother?

"I'm not sure..."

"Oh go ahead Wills. Maybe she'll believe you and stop bugging me," Buffy shrugged. "I've tried it so often, but she never believes me."

"Well, duh. You keep on telling me the guy's name is Angel. I mean, who in their right mind would believe something like that? And from what you wrote in your diary, the whole thing about how you met him seemed a bit iffy to me too."

"Ah, Dawnie?" Xander tried.

"It's Dawn," the little girl told him with the glare of the righteously insulted.

"Okay. Dawn it is. Anyway, Buffy really is telling the truth you know. No matter how much I don't like the guy, his name really is Angel," Xander told her. The whole sibling war thing was actually starting to become a bit stale. Not boring--far from it--but he'd had enough of it for now.

"A guy named Angel? Right. You never wrote anything about him being a drag-queen," Dawn pointed out to Buffy.

"He's not!"

"Dawn?" Willow asked. "Weren't you complaining about how Buffy is always reading your diary? If you never do that, how come you know so much about it?"

Jane laughed out loud at that, Buffy grinned openly, and Xander himself felt the urge to cover his smile as he saw the deer-caught-in-headlights look Dawn was wearing. "That doesn't matter."

"Oh come of it, Dawnie. You know that she caught you. How many times do I have to tell you that logic is important?" Jane said.

"Ha ha. Let's go. I've had enough of these. Let them have their fun at their incredibly cool, and mandatory, party. We've got candy to collect."

"Don't forget that mom told you to be home by nine!" Buffy shouted at the departing back of her sister, before turning back to them. "Well, we finally got rid of them. Great job Willow, I'll have to remember using something like that the next time she's annoying me. Which is either tonight or tomorrow."

"Oh, she isn't that bad, is she?" Willow answered.

"Didn't you see what she did tonight? How she stole my knife?"

"Yeah, about that," Xander said, "what's up with that anyway?"

"It improves the costume?" Buffy asked in reply.

"What I don't get is how our costumes suddenly seem so much better. I mean when I brought the costumes inside they all looked kinda moldy and stuff, especially ours, but now they look pretty good. Apart from the rust that is."

"Yeah, I mean even my costume looks pretty decent. It looked so big, but when I put it on it just seemed to fit."

"As if by magic, right? The costume suddenly seemed made for you?" Buffy agreed with Willow.

"Ehm, am I the only one who's worried about that?" Xander asked.

Both his friends shook their heads at that. "No, I'm not entirely happy about it either, but have you tried taking it off?"

"What do you mean?"

"It doesn't come off. I tried earlier tonight, but it didn't work."

Both Xander and Willow stopped as Buffy said this. "You're kidding, right? Please tell me that's a joke."

"Sorry."

"Why didn't you say something earlier?" Xander asked while frantically tugging at the armor he was now wearing. It went off earlier, didn't it? After trying it on he had been able to take it off until shortly before they left. So why didn't it come off now? "It's not coming off."

"I know. That's what I said."

"B-but why?" Willow asked. "A-and why didn't you say anything earlier?"

"I tried to call Giles, but he wasn't home, and I didn't want to worry mom and Dawn. That's also why I wanted her gone. Being annoying is bad enough, but I didn't want her to be involved with this either."

"Her friends are wearing costumes like ours, and isn't Dawn's like that as well?" Xander asked.

"I've seen her put it on and off like thirty times during the last three days. She doesn't have our problem with it."

Xander wasn't entirely sure about that, as he had been able to take of the armor part of his costume earlier as well, but he figured that Buffy knew best in this case. Besides, if there was anything strange about Dawn's costume it surely would have shown itself after thirty times. Thirty times? That simply wasn't healthy. "Thirty times?"

"Oh yeah. This afternoon alone when the three of them were busy with their final preparations they each changed about a dozen times."

"Can I just say that is sick? The usual way to dress is to pick something from a closet, or the floor, put it on, and be happy until the evening when you throw it on the floor again. You don't change until you've got either some sport thing, are covered in demon goo, or when you have to go to some fancy party or something. Not," he was quick to add, "that I've got a lot of experience with the last thing, but I mean. Thirty times?"

"It's a girl thing Xander," Buffy explained.

"You don't do that! Do you?"

"Of course not. I'm experienced. More than half a dozen times is hardly ever necessary. Unless you're someone like Cordelia of course."

"What?"

"You don't think she's easily satisfied while getting dressed, do you?"

Girl things. Okay, this whole conversation was headed completely in the wrong direction. Especially now that it had turned to a decidedly Cordelia type of direction. He had noticed how she'd reacted to his name, and when he'd gone to pick up his costume this morning one of the items that came with it was a silvery cigar-box-type-thingie. What were those things called anyway? The fact that it clearly said from who he'd gotten it didn't make him feel any better.

He couldn't put the thought away now he'd been reminded of it again, but it really didn't make any sense, did it? What would some rich, dragon-breeding, woman want with an old cop? On the other hand, the thought of watching Cordelia changing her clothes a dozen or so times was not a bad image... "And on that note I think we really should change the subject to where it's supposed to be. Why can't we take of our costumes, and how are we being stopped from doing that?"

"Just a wild guess," Buffy answered without even the slightest hint of sarcasm in her voice, "but I'd say it has something to do with magic."

"Okay, okay. That was a bit of a stupid question, but we still don't know why."

"Because somebody wants us to keep wearing them?" Willow proposed.

That was pretty obvious, but what Xander really wanted to know was why. "Right, but why? Is something going to happen tonight? Because Giles promised us that nothing would because demons think it's tacky."

They thought about that for a moment, and it was Willow who came up with the answer that made the most sense. "Maybe it's not a demon?"

"A human? Yeah, but who? It's not Snyder, not even I would believe that, and the only other people who had anything to do with it were..." he trailed off as he saw the same look of realization dawn on the faces of his friends.

"I knew there was something wrong with them. The woman was simply far too normal to be a lawyer, and the guy was nervous all the time."

"Buffy? You've only seen them for like five minutes. When they handed you your costume."

"Hey! Slayer here! I can recognize badness within five minutes."

"Ehm," Xander started while raising his index finger slightly above his head, "is this a good time to point out that you actually didn't?"

Buffy's answer was short and to the point. "No."

"Okay. Anyway, what do we do about it?"

"Giles will have an answer. He's the Watcher guy."

"And if he doesn't? Or doesn't find it in time for whatever it is to happen?"

"He will," Buffy stated, "he will have an answer."

"But-"

Before Xander could even ask the question, Buffy interrupted him. "He will. Because if he doesn't I don't know what we can do."

Looking at his friend, Xander noticed the brief flash of fear that crossed her face. Which wasn't something that made him happy. Buffy was the confident one. She knew how to deal with stuff. Well, maybe not always deal with it, but she did know how to end a problem.

"Oh look. We're here already," Willow broke him from his thoughts of doom and gloom.

"Right, let's go find Giles."

Walking into Sunnydale Highschool had never been Xander's favorite thing, especially not after the troll had taken over, but at least normally he wasn't suffering from a costume that refused to go off. Which was more than a little strange. After all, if he hadn't heard about it from Buffy he probably wouldn't even have tried to take it off. So, why would anyone have done this?

The answer followed the question immediately: to be absolutely certain he would be wearing it. But it still didn't make any sense to him. Why would anyone want to ensure that they would keep on wearing their costumes? Was there something wrong with them? Probably, although he couldn't imagine what. What could anyone possibly do about a bunch of costumes? "Man-eating clothes," he realized.

"What?" Buffy asked him.

"That's what this has to be right? We can't change out of these clothes because they've been magicked up to turn into man-eating clothes. It's probably all an elaborate plan to kill you. The only reason we are here as well is because they--whoever they are--either didn't know who you are, or because they wanted no witnesses. It all makes sense."

"But this is such a sweet witches costume. I mean, it even has a nice pointy hat and everything. I can't believe it would want to eat me. I-I don't even taste good. Right?"

"I doubt very much that we'll be facing the man-eating clothes of 1997, Wills. Besides even if we were I wouldn't let some hairdresser's costume kill me."

"Yeah well, you're a hairdresser. A well-armed hairdresser perhaps, but a hairdresser nonetheless. I on the other hand am a well-trained member of the city Watch."

"Really? What happened to the former-alcoholic, low-life, no-good loser he was before?" Buffy asked him.

Oh, come on. He'd said that before he knew about the man-eating clothes. "You can't use that against me. You were all bad-costume as well at that time."

"Believe me, I'm still all bad-costume. I'm not very fond of clothes that I can't take off."

"Right, but why can't they be man-eating clothes? Is there anything that says it isn't possible?"

"Xander, there is no reason to panic. Whatever is gonna happen will probably still take a while."

"Right," he realized, calming down a bit. "And hey! I'm not panicking. That was just very manly concern for the ladies around me."

"Did I say different?" Buffy smiled at him. The smile that always made him forgive anything she'd done. The smile that he'd seen on Dawn's face once or twice as well. In both cases it was usually when they knew they'd done something bad, but didn't feel any remorse about it. Well, if she thought that would work then-.

Okay. It worked. He simply couldn't stay angry at Buffy. Especially when she looked like that. Why did all the girls around him have some sort of expression that he couldn't resist? It really wasn't fair. "Giles is probably in the library."

Walking off in the direction of said library, Xander refused to look behind him. He knew--KNEW--that Buffy was smiling at Willow. One of those victory smile things she did that looked so good on her. Right, enough fantasizing. It was time to focus on the realities. It was time... time to bring in the G-man.

Heh, that sounded pretty cool. He really had to remember to use that at a time when he wasn't in any danger of being eaten by his costume.

Having reached the library, he swung the door open only to be faced with the sight of both Giles and Jenny. Who were sitting very close together. Way too close in his opinion, but at least they weren't doing anything that would scar him for life. He'd had enough of that kind of thing for today with how Dawn kept on rattling abouts- Ugh. "We have a problem."

The two adults turned around to face him, by which time Buffy and Willow had reached the door as well. "A big problem Giles, and we really need you to solve it."

"Yeah, it's way big. I-I mean big at like, a very big scale," Willow added to that.

"Of course, and is any of you going to tell me what exactly the problem is?" Giles asked from beneath his wizard's hat. Hmm. That didn't even look all that bad. Sure, Giles had to wear a dress, but the color combination of those robes wasn't something that he couldn't find in his closet either. And the hat was pretty cool.

Miss Calendar on the other hand looked quite a bit like Willow, only well... he had to admit that she looked very hot in it. No Xander! No fantasizing about teachers either. "Have you tried taking of your costumes yet?"

"No, there hasn't exactly been any need to do so. Why?"

"Try it, you'll see."

With a shrug Giles took of his hat, and watched Miss Calendar do the same. "Very well, and what is the problem with it?"

"Not the hats!" Buffy said exasperated. "The rest of the costume."

"Excuse me?"

"You know, the robes and such? And the dress for Miss Calendar."

"Buffy! I'm shocked."

"What? Oh! I don't want to see you naked! Ugh, just the thought, that'd be like walking in on my parents. No, it's that the costumes won't come off. Try it."

"Very well," Giles agreed while walking over to his office. "If you don't mind though, I will try inside here."

"You can try here Miss Calendar, we won't mind," Xander couldn't resist saying.

A comment that wasn't very well-received by his friends. "Xander!"

"What? I mean it's true, isn't it? You're both girls, you've seen it all. And I think I could suffer through it."

Willow snorted at that. Very unladylike that kind of behavior, and he debated saying something about it. Not that he could as he'd remained silent when Buffy and Dawn did it, but still. "You just want to see her naked."

"That is so untrue. I wouldn't mind if she's wearing some sexy lingerie either."

Oh. Xander had a feeling that once again he'd said something that should have remained within the confines of his own mind. Of course, it was the truth and it would be an excellent way to prepare himself for being eaten by his costume. Still, staying quiet would have been better. Making up for it would be a good idea by now though. "Ehm, I meant that in the nicest, non-sexist, way possible of course."

"Yeah right," Buffy said while rolling her eyes at his antics.

"It's alright Xander," Miss Calendar smiled, "but if you don't mind I think we'll wait for Rupert."

"Right. Let's wait for G-man to finish. Let's focus on anything but what I might have possibly said. You look really good in that costume though, I mean..."

Luckily Xander was saved from embarrassing himself even more as Giles came from his office with a baffled look on his face. "I'm afraid that I am indeed suffering the same problem. Jenny, would you mind checking?"

"I'll be right back," she answered while making her way to the office, from where she returned within a minute. "No, it won't come off for me either."

"Giles? Any ideas? Because all we've come up so far is Xander's attack of the killer-costumes."

"I must say that I'm surprised by this turn of events. It's strange how the costume feels loose and free, until you actually try to remove it. It's hard to even describe."

"We already knew that part Giles. What we need to know is how to get them off. Before something happens."

"Yes, I understand that Buffy," Giles sighed. "However, I do not know of anything that could have this effect. We'll have to research."

Oh great. Could this night get any better? If that was how it was supposed to be however, Xander Harris would do his best to prevent his clothes from eating him. "So, research huh? Do we know where to start?"

"I think," Giles said as he looked through the bookcases, "that this one might be a good start."

The book he took out was big. Far too big for anyone to actually have to work through in a single night while his life was in danger. "The whole book?" Xander tried to have confirmed, hoping that Giles only meant the introduction.

"Just look through the index first, I'll get the other books." Other books? Why didn't he like the sound of that?

Still, with a sigh he took the book and started going through it. He could do this. In the time since Buffy had arrived he'd learned how to go through a book like this. Not that he liked it, but he could find information pretty quick these days. Okay, it was in English. Always a good start. Even if it wasn't in a modern form of English, it still meant he could do more than look at the pictures. Huh, what would pictures of man-eating clothes look like?

Xander was so immersed in trying to find a solution for their problem that he'd barely noticed that the others had received their own books to check. However, when suddenly the most annoying voice he knew came from the entrance to the library he had no choice but to pay attention to it. "I knew you slackers would try to get out from under this."

"Principal Snyder," Giles started, "we were just-"

"Save your excuses for someone interested in them. You were ordered to be in the auditorium by seven. It's now half past. Any of you who aren't there within five minutes will be expelled. Except for the two of you," the troll said while pointing at Giles and miss Calendar, "you will be fired."

"But-"

"No buts, Summers. You've got four-and-a-half minutes left. I'm looking forward to signing away your future." Before anyone could say anything else, Snyder turned around and walked out of the door.

This wasn't good, Xander thought. "I'm all for not getting expelled and stuff, but is that more important than not being eaten by our costumes?"

"We won't be eaten by our costumes Xander," Buffy sighed. Not that she'd given him any proof that wasn't the case.

"I do not believe we will be able to find a solution right now anyway. And in case the spell affects the other students and teachers as well, it might be a good thing if we were present when whatever happens, happens," Giles grudgingly said, obviously not happy that his books seemed to have failed him this time.

"Yeah, I haven't found anything either," Buffy said.

Xander had to admit his search was without success as well, and even Willow had to concede defeat, although she said she had found a reference to the costume that Giles was wearing. "It was mentioned in regards to Shakespeare. The author wasn't very clear about it, but it seems to have something to do with 'A Midsummer-night's Dream'. But there were several more people wearing something like that, and a Spanish lady as well."

"I doubt that has anything to do with us. I remember hearing about that myself," Giles countered. "Apparently it was seen as an addition to the very first performance, but was taken out for the following ones. Now, I believe we should hurry before Snyder decides to make true on his threat."

Right. Xander still wasn't sure about the decision, but he also realized that there wasn't much choice in the matter. Well, there was choice. It was just that he knew that Giles was right. Without them, or more precisely Buffy, there the rest of the school wouldn't know how to deal with whatever was going to happen.

Running through the halls, they arrived at the same time as Snyder did and the disappointment on the troll's face almost made Xander forget about the disgust he felt when Snyder shook his watch to make sure it hadn't accidentally stopped working. Deciding not to make matters worse, he stepped through the door only to be faced with the ever pleasant attitude of Cordelia.

"Well, I can understand why you weren't impressed that my costume looked bad," Cordelia spoke up before they could even greet her. A Cordelia who was conspicuously without any Cordettes. "Pink really doesn't suit you Buffy."

Xander was preparing a suitable barb in order to defend his friend when he took a good look at Cordy's costume and realized it didn't look anywhere near as bad as she had told them it did. "I thought your costume looked bad?"

"It did when I took a look at it, but when I went to pick it up it had been cleaned. You can barely see that the white at the bottom wasn't meant to be there. I must admit they did a good job on it."

"They cleaned it?" Willow asked incredulously.

"Of course, it's almost as if they'd heard my complaints. Although they might just not have gotten around to it before." Having had her say, the girl then turned around and rejoined her sheep.

"Well, at least they don't look good either," Buffy mumbled as she glared at the laughing Cordettes, a sentiment Xander had to agree with. Why were they laughing anyway? Didn't they see what their costumes looked like? At least Cordelia's had appeared to look pretty good, but Aura looked like she was walking around in rags!

"I think it would be best if we spread out," Giles interrupted his musings. "That way we'll be able to deal with whatever is going to happen better. Jenny, if you'd stay here to cover the exit, Xander can take the left side of the room and Willow the right. I will go through the center while Buffy walks around the room. If you find anything let either myself or Buffy know about it."

Which was the reason why the two of them were where they could reach everybody quickly, especially Willow and him. Oh well, there was nothing wrong with that--except for the part where his costume might starting eating him--and Xander set out to do his part in keeping everyone safe.

x.x.x

They had been gathering candy for nearly an hour now, and so far Jane was more than satisfied by the reactions to her costume. Which made sense of course as she looked good in it. Now the time had come to ask some questions though.

"So, Dawnie."

"Dawn," her friend replied as expected.

"Right, what you said, what's the deal with the whole spilling your sister's diary contents to her friends? I mean, did you see the looks on their faces? That Xander guy looked almost ready to puke when you were describing how Buffy mentioned her boyfriend."

"Yeah, it was fun, wasn't it?"

"Fun?" Sara chimed in. "What was fun about that?"

"Their reaction? Basically it was just getting back at Buffy."

"For what? I thought the two of you were about even again?"

Dawn shrugged at that. "True, but this time around I wanted to have the head start."

"So you went around saying all that stuff? Wasn't that a bit harsh? You're always complaining when you think Buffy has read your diary, but you never really mentioned you look in hers as well."

"I don't," Dawn admitted.

Okay, that didn't make any sense. "What?"

"I think there's all sorts of stuff in it that she doesn't want me to know. Something to do with why she leaves so often during the night."

Sara didn't understand this anymore than she did, but was quicker to actually ask the question. "Whadda ya mean? Leaves during the night?"

Popping a sweet in her mouth, Dawn finished it before answering. "Well, sometimes when I'm awake at night I notice that Buffy isn't in her room."

"Okay, now I don't have any siblings," Jane started her question, "but how would you know if she's in her room or not? Isn't the door usually closed?"

"Well yeah, but why should she be able to sleep when I can't? Except she's not always there. I think she's leading some kind of secret life or something. Maybe she's going to raves or something. She could be taking a bus-"

"Buses don't go at that time," Jane decided to point out.

"Or she's picked up by one of her fellow ravers. In any case, I think she goes to LA then, and spends the night partying. The parties must be pretty rough at times as she sometimes has bruises and stuff."

Sure, except for one thing. "Your sister really doesn't seem like the type to go to parties like that you know."

"Well duh, that's why I mentioned it was a secret life. If it was obvious, everybody would know."

Oh. Yeah. Okay. Not that she agreed with the logic or anything, but she could understand it. Sorta. "So, if you never actually read your sister's diary, how come you were so insulted by what her friend said? Acting all huffy and stuff?"

"I wanted to give Buffy a false feeling of power. She'll try to use it the next time we have an argument, and then I can point out the error of her way. Besides, I was being nice to her tonight as she already has so many problems."

Okay, the first reason sounded like Dawn, but the second? Looking at Sara she noticed the same surprised expression she was probably wearing herself, so she turned to Dawn. Dawn who seemed to have trouble keeping her face straight, and then blew even that when she grinned. "Gotcha."

"You-" Jane started to say, but never finished.

….…

Where was she? Quickly taking in the sights, Jane understood that she was no longer in Ankh-Morpork. Of course, her teachers would have chided her for not immediately noticing that from the smell alone.

The fact that she wasn't in Ankh-Morpork had several consequences. The first was that she didn't really have to worry about the Watch disapproving of her weapon choice. Secondly it meant that she was on a mission. Although she did wonder why exactly she was holding a bag with what appeared to be candy.

Dropping the bag, she checked herself for any weapons she might be carrying. She was rather unarmed: carrying only one of the slimmed down crossbows that had been explicitly forbidden by Vimes. Still, she had no doubt that she'd carefully chosen what weapons to bring on this mission.

Taking hold of the weapon Jane felt a wave of recognition coming over her as she remembered exactly who her target was. It was a bit public perhaps, but she was in a hurry. Not seeing the need to wait any longer, she turned around until she was aiming at the brunette girl and pulled the trigger.