Chapter Eleven- More Training
Buffy, Giles, Professor Snape, and Draco were in Buffy's private training quarters. She had been teaching Draco and Snape hand-to-hand techniques so that they would be able to defend themselves without their wands if it became necessary. Giles was assisting in the training. He also provided a sparring partner for the professor while Buffy worked with Draco. She had taught them how to throw proper punches and kicks, before incorporating different movements with combinations of kicks and punches. She let them improvise their own styles into their fighting so they would be more comfortable with sparring. Occasionally, she would spar with Snape to see how much he had learned and to help give him suggestions if Giles had missed something. On some days, Snape and Draco would spar each other so both Buffy and Giles could see their fighting techniques and give advice on how to improve. Also, it was to let them get more familiar in fighting different opponents. In a certain sense, it was a bit of street fighting and some martial arts that they were learning. Mostly, because it was quicker to learn that way since time wasn't on their side and also because wizards weren't known for fighting without magic. They already had an advantage just by learning to fight.
Dumbledore had charmed her room so that he could add a training area for her to practice. It was hidden to everyone except Buffy, Dumbledore, and Giles. They were the only ones who could see the entry into the room and only they could bring others into it. It was also charmed with a separate outer entry that the others would use so that they wouldn't be going in and out of Buffy's room. Dumbledore had equipped it with mats, weights, bags, and several different combat weapons like swords, staffs, and axes. There was also targets set up to practice throwing stars, knives, or to practice with the crossbow. There was also a balance beam and a pummel horse for Buffy to work with. It was a much better training area than Buffy had used in Sunnydale considering that she was used to the library. Buffy loved it.
Buffy and Draco were sparring as Giles and Snape worked on conditioning. The two sets of partners were alternating because it provided more room for whoever was sparring to work with. Draco did a quick jab combination to Buffy who blocked the first punch but caught the second with her face. She grinned and sent him a punch of her own, which hit his chin. Then she followed up with a roundhouse kick to his side. It sent him back a little. She made sure to pull her attacks so she wouldn't hurt him seriously, but she hit with enough strength to make the fight more realistic. Draco went to punch Buffy, but she saw it coming and easily blocked it and countered by using his momentum to throw him over her shoulders.
"You're telegraphing your moves, Draco. I can easily see what's coming next. Instead of trying to think about what you want to do next, just go with it. Use your instincts and let your moves become more natural to you. It will make you more spontaneous and harder for your opponent to read your moves. This could give you an advantage in a fight." Buffy instructed.
"I'm trying, but I keep worrying if I'm using the right combinations or if I'm doing something wrong." Draco said frustrated and panting for air.
"Don't worry about it so much. Just relax and let the feel of the fight flow through your blood. Enjoy it, but don't let it take hold of you completely." Buffy said effortlessly. She noticed that he was breathing hard and winced in sympathy.
"I'll try." Draco began to get a little more aggressive, not hesitating as much. He threw punches and kicks without a doubt of any kind. His fighting improved slightly from it. Buffy still beat him, but she noticed that he fought a little better than before because he stopped worrying about how to throw down. She finally called an end to the sparring.
"That was good, Drake." Buffy stated. "Now let's cool down a bit and work on meditation techniques." Buffy motioned for Draco to sit crossed-legged opposite her. "Ok, now relax and clear your head of all thoughts." Draco did as he was told. When Buffy was satisfied that Draco was doing it properly, she joined him.
A couple hours later, Buffy and Draco came out of their trance to see that the other two had already left the area. "Wow." Draco said. "I didn't realize that we were there for so long." He noticed he was sweating profusely and was still a bit surprised that the meditation had that effect, even after weeks of training.
"I know. Once I'm in the trance, I can never tell how long I'm in it. All time seems to move slowly when meditating." Buffy agreed. "C'mon. Let's go get some food." She got up first and then grabbed Draco's hand to help him up. They walked out of the room together in a comfortable silence.
That night, Buffy took Draco and Professor Snape out on patrol with Giles. During the last few weeks, Buffy and Giles had brought along Draco and Snape on patrols. This was so they could make use of their new skills and incorporate magic into their fighting. Also, so that they could get used to fighting demons since Voldemort had allied himself with demons. The first night out, they were surprised to see Buffy use magic with her fighting during patrol. It was actually impressive, even to Snape. They had decided to go on patrols with Buffy two days out of the week. Tonight, seemed to be a slow night. As they walked through the school grounds edging towards the Forbidden Forest, they had only come across a couple of vamps. Buffy let Draco and Snape take care of them as she supervised them carefully, extending her senses to make sure that there weren't any other threats near.
As the group headed back, a huge demon jumped out of nowhere and attacked Buffy. It was green, eight feet tall, had sharp teeth and claws, and was really hideous.
"Whoa, ugly!" Buffy managed to jump out of the way and avoid the attack. It was surprisingly fast for its size since it managed to turn around quickly and head towards Buffy. Buffy held off the demon's attacks, but could only manage to stay on the defensive because of the surprise of the attack. Quickly recovering, Giles shot it in the back with the crossbow trying to hurt it to give Buffy an advantage, but the demon's skin seemed impervious to the attempt. Draco and Snape, knowing that they weren't any matches physically, began firing off spells. They couldn't do much because they were afraid to hit Buffy in the process since the fighting duo was moving around too fast. One of Snape's shots hit the demon hard enough to bring it to its knees. This gave Buffy the out that she needed. She kicked the demon in its head and sent it flying into a tree nearby. She then shot a stunning spell as it made a move to get up, causing it to fly back and land on its back. She rushed towards it with a binding spell and transfigured her wand into a sword, prepared to chop its head off. In one vicious swoop, she took its head off.
Buffy kicked the head away from her. "Eeww." Buffy said as she inspected the body of the dead demon."Awww man. Now I've got some demon goo on my robes." She glared at the body. Then she had a thoughtful frown before mentioning, "We should get back to our rooms before anything else surprises us. Thanks for the help. It surprised the hell out of me, almost like it appeared out of thin air. Must have been a portkey of some kind, otherwise I would have felt it coming. Old Voldie probably heard there was the Slayer in these parts and wanted to get rid of me." Draco and Snape winced at the butchering of the most feared wizard's name. "This probably means that we need to be more prepared until I can join ranks. If I get caught or killed before he finds out who I really am, then we would be screwed. Drake, I think we need to work on your Occlumency more until it becomes more natural for you. Your fighting skills are good enough that you can hold your own in a fight and we don't need to focus on it as intensely, but we should still spar and train. However, your Occlumency is still less than great. You still need to learn to control your thoughts and emotions. If Moldy Wart got to you, you would be vulnerable." Again Draco and Snape winced at her butchering. She grinned at their uncomfortableness. 'When will they learn that the more they react, the more fun it is for me?'
"You do realize that you're butchering the name, don't you?" Snape asked dryly. Buffy grinned even wider.
"Of course. Do you really think I'm that much of an idiot? You should know better by now that I'm not just a pretty face. Besides if you plan on winning this war, you can't be afraid of a stupid name. How do you expect to defeat the Big Bad if you can't even bring yourself to mock him? Or to even say his actual name?" Buffy threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. "I swear, you wizards have an odd sense of logic. And you guys dare to mock the muggles? At least they don't think that just saying a name will get you killed. Even Potter has the balls to say his name and he's the one who Voldie is really after. You don't want him to show you guys up, do you?" Buffy smiled at their scowls. "This whole 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' thing is ridiculous. Admit it, you know I'm right." Buffy smirked at the two wizards who stood there dumbfounded.
Finally Snape conceded, "I see your point, Summers. It shouldn't matter that he and his followers have murdered so many as long as we can say his name with mockery. We'll try to be more blasé like you." Buffy grinned at the slight snarkiness in the professor's tone.
"There you go. See, I knew we'd agree on this." Buffy gave him a hearty slap on his back causing him to scowl and her to grin even wider. She started to walk away whistling. Draco looked at his professor in amusement; slightly shocked that Snape hadn't exploded at Buffy's audacity. Giles just hid a smile at the way his young charge had an oversimplified way of putting things. He was still surprised at the cunning mind that had been hidden beneath the bubbly facade.
Buffy walked into the headmaster's office and saw Dumbledore sitting at his desk. "Sir?" She approached his desk.
"Ah, Buffy! How are you doing?" He motioned for her to sit down. She obliged.
Buffy narrowed her eyes at him. She found his tone slightly suspicious and she noticed an even brighter twinkle in his eyes. "I'm of the good. What about you?"
"Fine, thank you. How are things working out with Draco?" His eyes getting brighter by the minute.
"We're doing good. Him and Professor Snape are coming along great. They join me for patrols so they can practice their fighting skills, but I think you already know all this. So why am I really here? I doubt it's to ask me about something that you already knew." Buffy said bluntly, but without any bite in her voice.
"Hmm. What makes you think I have ulterior motives?" Dumbledore asked slyly.
"Cuz the last time you had that twinkle in your eye resulted in a fight on a train. So what's the up?" Buffy said dryly. She knew he was a crafty devil and wondered what he was about to spring on her.
"I want you to train with Harry and his friends. Mostly to teach them self defense, but also to give you a chance to work with them since I have no doubt that in the final battle, it will come down to you and Harry. His friends are loyal enough that they will refuse to leave his side." Dumbledore smiled as he saw Buffy's face fall.
Buffy scowled as she sat back in the chair and crossed her arms. One one hand, she knew he was right, but on the other hand, she really couldn't stand the guy. If it weren't for the fact that he was such an ass, they could have been friends. She and Harry's lives were somewhat similar. They hadn't had the best of lives, given a destiny that they never asked for. They had the weight of the world on their shoulders, Buffy more so, but the thought was the same. Both had loyal, but sometimes overwhelming friends that refused to leave them alone. All in all, they would have become great friends if they didn't already hate each other. 'How ironic!' Buffy thought sardonically. "Fine, but I don't have to like it. I have one condition though." She pouted.
Dumbledore merely smiled at her in amusement. "What is it?"
"That we wait until after Draco has already joined his father. It's not like I have a lot of time in between studies and slaying, so I don't want to have to train them at the same time. It would be better for Draco to be suspected as a Death Eater for it to be more believable. If they train together, Harry and his friends would want to know why. Draco's cover would be blown before it was even started. Plus he doesn't get along with any of them. It's better for everyone that they train separately." Buffy stated.
Dumbledore gave her a pensive look. "I suppose you're right, but what about when you join the ranks? Won't they be suspicious of you?"
"Yea, but they're already wary around me. It's not anything new, even though you gave them your word that I'm a good guy. They can't see past my birth parents and the house I'm in. Besides, I plan on teaching them before I join. Just basics, enough to defend themselves if needed. It's not like wizards rely on physical combat anyway. Any type of physical fight should throw the Death Eaters off. Once I join Voldie," Dumbledore grinned at her nickname. "Giles can continue training Harry and his entourage. They would be less suspicious of him anyway." Buffy answered.
"I see your point. I'm afraid that Harry has fewer reasons to trust me ever since I held back information from him to try and protect him. I also couldn't get over my own fears and for that I'm truly sorry. It resulted in him not learning an important skill, which could have prevented Sirius' death. Harry hasn't gotten over it." Dumbledore said sadly.
"Not that I like him, but I can see where he's coming from. Last year, I had another prophecy that foretold my death to the Master. Giles and another friend of mine tried to hide it from me, but I found out anyway." Buffy thought of Angel with a brief twinge, surprised that it didn't hurt as much as she thought it would. "I wanted to quit, but in the end, I went to face my death. The Master drowned me, I died, but my friend saved me with a muggle technique called CPR. I came back and killed the Master. But he told me something about prophecies: the tricky thing about them is that the outcome isn't always cut and dried." It still bothered her to talk about her own death, but she was slowly coming to terms with it. It wasn't like she could change things anyway. "Yes, I faced him and died, but I was brought back. The thing is, he would have never risen if I hadn't gone down to face him in the first place and I wouldn't have died. Really, it's all about the interpretation of it and how it's reacted to, but it will almost always come true. You can't really avoid them no matter how hard you try." Buffy got up and rounded Dumbledore's desk. She put a gentle hand on his shoulder and gave it a small squeeze in comfort. He looked up at her and covered her hand with his, accepting the small gesture. Then Buffy continued, "So I know you want to protect Harry, but this is something that only he can face. Either he will win or he will die, but it can only come down to him and me in the end. We're the ones the prophecy is about." Buffy gave him a sympathizing look. "Everyone will play a significant role in this war, but none more Harry since he has the connection to Voldie. This kind of thing I am used to so I'm not as pressured as he is, but he will need your support. He needs people willing to fight by his side, not trying to shield him from his destiny. You can't always try to protect him. By doing so, you're hindering his chances of winning. It's like saying you don't trust him to beat Voldie or that you don't think he can handle it. It's not very inspiring especially since he is nearly a man according to wizarding laws. You need to learn to let him make his own decisions." Buffy stated bluntly.
"In my mind, I know you're right, but in my heart, I can't help but feel a grandfatherly love towards him. I want to be able to protect him. He's still so young." Dumbledore sat back in his chair and gave a defeated sigh.
"Don't let his age fool you. His life has already been one big tragedy. It's enough to make anyone grow up faster than they should have to. Believe me, I know." Buffy said softly.
They stayed there for a few minutes in silence, each going over their own fears and worries about the current war.
