Chapter Twelve- A Confrontation of Sorts

Draco sat in the dining hall eating his breakfast, when an owl dropped a letter into his lap. He saw that it was from his father and felt a dread seep into his gut. He looked around the hall only to see that there were too many people around. He put his letter in his robes and decided to read his letter in the Slytherin rooms. He quickly ate the rest of his food and left the table.


Across the dining hall from the Slytherin table, sat three suspicious students at the Gryffindor table.

"Why do you suppose Malfoy received that letter?" Hermione asked her friends. She put a thoughtful expression on her face.

"I dunno. Who would want to send that git anything anyway?" Ron snarked as he shoveled food in his mouth. "It was probably from his dear old daddy."

Harry swallowed the food in his mouth before giving his input. "Yea, he probably wanted Malfoy to spy for Voldemort." Harry stated as Ron and Hermione flinched. He rolled his eyes at their discomfort. It was starting to get old. He took a sip of pumpkin juice.

"Well, I think we should keep an eye on him. You never know when You-Know-Who will attack. If Malfoy is spying, then you're going to have to be extra careful, Harry." Hermione said seriously with a hint of worry. Ron frowned. He had to admit that this time Hermione's worrying wasn't strictly paranoia. She had a very good point.

"I'm not afraid of that prat." Harry muttered. Hermione arched a brow. "Miooonnneee!" Harry whined. She glared at him. He sighed in defeat and pushed away his food. "Fine, but I know I can handle Ferret-Boy." Harry sulked. He had lost his appetite.


When Draco made it back to the Slytherin common rooms, he saw that it was empty. He sat on one of the couches and opened up his letter. It read:

Draco,

The time for you to make up your mind about joining the Dark Lord has come to an end. The decision has been made. You are ready to take the Mark. The Dark Lord requests your presence in two weeks time during your Hogsmede weekend. Meet me at The Three Broomsticks on November 1st at noon. DO NOT DISAPPOINT ME!

Your Father,

Lucius Malfoy

Draco's stomach sank as he finished the letter. His hands were shaking, still holding the note. He needed to speak with Buffy and the professors. It was probably a good thing that they were training later that day.


Buffy was outside flying on her broom. She loved the feeling of being free. She sped up and dove into a series of loops, heading straight down, pulling up just before hitting the ground. The thrill gave Buffy an incredible high. She flew around a bit more before finally landing. When she looked up, she saw a familiar face heading towards her. She smiled to herself.

Ginny had been walking along the school grounds and noticed just in time to see Buffy diving straight down. Her heart stopped and she froze. Her cry died in her throat. At first glance, she had thought that Buffy was in trouble until she saw Buffy pull back up with a huge grin on her face. Ginny let out a huge sigh of relief. 'Why do I even care so much? I barely even know her. I just didn't want to see her get hurt. That's all. Right?' When Ginny finally managed to get her bearings back, she ran towards where Buffy had landed. When she reached Buffy, she noticed the blonde smirking.

"You almost gave me a bloody heart attack!" Ginny exclaimed. She slapped Buffy's shoulder.

"Ow!" Buffy frowned. "Why?" She was confused. All she had done was fly her broom. How did that almost give someone a heart attack?

Ginny blushed at her weird behavior. "Because I saw you diving towards the ground and I thought you were in trouble until I saw you pull back up. That was really amazing, by the way. The only other person who I've seen do that dive here is Harry."

Buffy scowled at the name. "Yea, whatever. I know, I know. Harry's so great! Blah, blah, blah." Ginny looked amused. Buffy was a great girl, but she had the oddest speech sometimes.

"Well until you came along, he was the school's best flier. I mean, I know that I'm pretty good since I'm on the quidditch team, but Harry's much better than any of us." Ginny looked at Buffy's broom and felt a bit of envy. "You are too, and you have the newest broom which is supposed to be better than the Firebolt, which Harry owns. I'm sort of jealous. My family could never afford any of those brooms." Buffy noticed the longing in Ginny's eyes. A thought entered her mind.

"Do you want to take a quick ride with me?" Buffy smiled winningly.

"I don't know. I wouldn't want to put you out or anything." Ginny said hesitantly.

"C'mon. I'll make it quick." Buffy cajoled. Ginny still looked apprehensive. It wasn't that she didn't trust Buffy. It was because she didn't want to think Buffy's offer was made out of pity.

After going over her options, Ginny gave in. She really wanted to know what it felt like to fly on the newest model of broom. "Okay." She agreed.

"Woo hoo! Hop on!" Buffy cheered. She let Ginny get on first and then got on behind her. Buffy felt a warmth spread through her. 'Hmm. This feels nice. Whoa, where did that come from? Okay... Weird, but good weird.' She then tilted the handle upwards and they took off. Buffy flew up and around the school, letting Ginny take in the view. A mischievous thought ran through Buffy's mind. She made sure her arms were wrapped around Ginny's waist, while holding onto the handle, firmly locking Ginny in place. "Hold on!" She yelled. Ginny tightened her grip on the handle just in time for Buffy to speed up and take her through a series of loops and twirls through the air. Ginny let out a squeal of delight.

"That was so much fun!" Ginny burst out. "Where did you learn to fly like that? And why aren't you on the Slytherin's quidditch team?"

"I dunno. I've been told I'm just a natural at flying. Plus slayer reflexes, you know. I don't want to join the team because I'm too busy to go to practices. Anyway, I'm glad you had fun. We should do this again some time. We can bring another broom in case you'd rather fly on your own. Unless this doesn't bother you?" Buffy looked at Ginny questioningly.

"Oh, it doesn't bother me at all. Flying with you is so much fun." Ginny blurted out. Buffy smirked when Ginny's face turned pink. Ginny was slightly embarrassed of her enthusiasm.

"Sounds like a plan then. We should probably head back now." Buffy turned the broom around and headed back. Finally, Buffy slowed down and headed towards the ground for landing. As the neared the ground, they noticed Harry, Ron, and Hermione waiting for them.

"What the hell were you doing with my sister?" Ron shouted angrily.

"Chill out, Ronniekins! We were just flying." Buffy stated flatly. Ron flushed in anger at the name. His whole body was tense.

"That was completely reckless. She could have gotten hurt!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Oh, please. I know what I'm doing and we were having fun." Buffy said exasperated. "I don't see what's the big deal."

"You could have killed her." Harry said in clipped tones. Even though he broke up with her, he still loved Ginny. The reason for breaking up was to protect her since his life is dangerous. Seeing Ginny look so comfortable in Buffy's company, especially since she was a Slytherin, made him mad. More so, he was jealous. 'I should have been the one to take her flying!'

"Are you kidding me? She's in more danger playing quidditch." Buffy stated incredulously.

"Ginny, get your butt off of that thing!" Ron yelled. His overprotectiveness of Ginny combined with his fear for her made him see red.

"Oh I think Ginny seems to just fine where she is." Buffy purred out and tightened her grip around Ginny. She couldn't help it. Baiting the trio gave her a perverse satisfaction. "Comfy?" Ginny flushed at Buffy's flirtatious tone. It gave her a tingly feeling. Harry scowled as he watched Ginny blush at Buffy's teasing.

"Ginny, get away from her right now!" Ron bellowed, snapping Ginny out of her thoughts. Ginny got off of the broom and stomped towards him.

"You're not the boss of me, Ronald Weasley! I can be friends with whomever I want to. I don't see why you're having such a fit over this. Buffy owns the Golden Flame. You know? The newest racing broom? Tell me you wouldn't jump at a chance to ride one too! It's even better than Harry's Firebolt." Harry glowered. "I wanted to see how it felt like to fly on it, so she took me up. We were doing perfectly fine. Buffy is excellent on the broom." Ginny shouted. She hated when he got overprotective and bossy.

"She's a Slytherin! You can't trust her!" Ron cried out. He tried to pull her away. She wouldn't have it.

"She's my friend! She's a great person. Why can't you guys see that?" Ginny pleaded.

"Ginny, we care about you. We're just trying to look out for you." Hermione said calmly.

"I can take care of myself. Besides, Buffy would never hurt me." Ginny glared.

Buffy could see that the argument wasn't going to end as long as she was there. Since she didn't want to cause Ginny more problems, she decided to leave. She had to train with Draco anyway. "Look, how about I just go and you drop it already? It's done and over with. Ginny is still in one piece. No one got hurt." Buffy looked at Ginny and smiled. "Ginny, I had a great time. I hope you did too. It was fun. I'll see you around." Then Buffy walked off and headed back to her room.

Ginny watched as Buffy walked away and felt oddly disappointed. She didn't want Buffy to leave, but she knew her brother wouldn't let it go until Buffy was gone, and even then he wouldn't let it go. She turned towards the Golden Trio and glared. "Thanks a lot guys! When will you guys learn that you're not the authority on who I choose to be friends with? Buffy really is a nice person, but you guys keep instigating her. Why? If she was in any other house, you guys wouldn't even care!"

"Ginny, you know we care about you and don't want to see you get hurt. You can't trust her. She might be the enemy." Hermione said trying to make Ginny understand how dangerous Buffy might be.

"Yea, she's a bloody Slytherin. You can't trust them. Plus her parents were Death Eaters. She could be spying for You-Know-Who." Ron chimed in.

Harry looked at her intensely and said, "Ginny, we need to be careful. You can't just trust her because you think she's nice. She could be acting."

"Yea, it's too much of a coincidence that she's here." Hermione said flatly.

Ginny scowled. "I think you guys are wrong and when it's proven, you're all going to feel foolish and I'm going to say 'I told you so'. Ginny turned and walked off.


Buffy entered the training room to see just Draco and Snape waiting for her. They had just started warming up with a series of stretches.

"Sorry, I'm late. I was tied up. Where is Giles?" Buffy asked. She began a few stretches.

"He told me to tell you that he had too much work to go over. He said that maybe we should work on the more magical aspects for today." Draco explained. He sat on the mat and leaning forward to grab his feet, his head touching his knees. He had increased his flexibility by quite a lot since he had started training with Buffy.

"Okay, we can do that. Maybe we should work on your Occlumency first?" Buffy suggested.

"Oh! That reminds me. I received a letter from my father today. He wants me to join him during our Hogsmede weekend. I'm supposed to take the Mark." Draco confessed. He looked down.

"Why didn't you say something sooner? Does the Headmaster know?" Snape asked concerned. He stopped what he was doing to look at Draco.

Draco sat up stiffly. "Yes, sir. I went to see him just before I came here. I would have said something earlier, but I needed to deal with it on my own first." Draco replied coolly. Snape nodded in understanding.

"Okay, but we're all here if you need us. Now then, let's get started." Buffy said. She knew Draco didn't like to appear weak and that the letter had bothered him more than he was letting on.

They worked on Occlumency for a couple of hours before calling it quits. Then they moved on to magical combat with some physical fighting mixed in. Draco practiced with Snape on his jinxes, hexes, and curses. Buffy showed him and Snape how to mix in a few punches and kicks with their dueling. They practiced for another couple of hours before ending the training session.


Faith and the Scoobies were out walking through a cemetery during patrol. Seemingly out of nowhere, a portal began to appear. They stopped before they got any closer.

"Be careful guys. We don't want to get sucked into that thing." Faith motioned for them to back up. The boys pulled their girlfriends behind them, acting as shields just in case.

"What in the frilly heck is that thing?" Xander cried out.

"I think it's a portal of some kind." Willow mused. "We need to tell Wesley about this." It wasn't as if portals were a daily occurrence.

"Wait! Hold up. It's getting bigger. We can't just leave without seeing what might happen." Faith stated. The slayer in her wanted to access the potential threat of the portal.

The vortex grew bigger, swirling around. Suddenly a hole opened up, and it spit out a body. A very naked body. Then the vortex closed itself up and disappeared. The group moved closer to the body to get a better look. Faith turned the body over wondering who it could be. As their eyes settled upon the face, everyone's jaw dropped.

"Holy crap!" Cordelia bit out.

"Sweet Jesus! I don't believe it!" Xander exclaimed.

"Whoa." Oz said in his unflappable manner.

"What? What's going on?" Faith asked in confusion.

Willow, who had managed to recover her speech, wondered in astonishment, "Angel?"