Chapter 22- Family values

Okay I know! January? Sorry and there is NO excuse… I know… okay well they aren't mine… so yeah on with the story…

The room went deathly still at Ron's announcement. He glanced around at the assembled group. "What?" He asked in a tone that belied his nervousness. "It's not as if I said, "Yeah, William the Bloddy. Mum invites him over for afternoon tea every Saturday." He was blushing a deep red and was looking at the ceiling now. "Mum always uses him as a threat. 'If you want to run out and become like William then go right on ahead. No one is going to stop you.' It gets kind of annoying really."

Hermione eyed him as if he had grown two heads. "Why haven't you ever said anything before?" Ron shrugged. "I dunno. I mean it's not like it had ever come up before has it. I mean what was I going to say, 'Hey guys did I ever tell you a distant cousin of mine from a century ago is a feared vampire that is the grandson of Angelus the Scourge of Europe.' Yeah I'm sure that would have gone over well." He sighed at his best friends looks. "Okay. Look I promise that I will never keep anything from you guys again. Will that work?" Hermione and Harry looked contrite.

"You don't have to tell us everything, mate, it was just a shock. We're sorry." Harry said pushing his round black glasses up his nose. Hermione nodded her bushy brown head in agreement. "Ron, I didn't mean to be rude. It just caught me off guard." Ron smiled at them and nodded. Giles cleared his throat and looked at his watch. "I think it is almost time for curfew. You lot need to get back to the tower." Buffy sighed and cuddled that much closer to Angel. He kissed her cheek and pushed her up.

"I'll be here when you wake up." She smiled down at him and kissed him gently and then walked over to where the trio was standing waiting. "Goodnight you guys." She said smiling at her gang. "Night Buffy." Came the chorus of voices. She walked out of the common room. Leaving her Sunnydale gang and going to the Common room with her new one.

When the got to the common room they separated into pairs at the stairs that led to the dormitories, they said their goodnights and went to bed.

The next day dawned bright and sunny. Buffy stretched luxuriously in bed and moaned as she opened her eyes. She was greeted with a already dressed Hermione who was wearing muggle attire. Her blue jeans and t-shirt looked out of place in the circular, stone walled dormitory but Buffy had to grin. She hopped up and took a fast shower letting her hair dry naturally as she dressed quickly. She chose a tank top and some jeans with tennis shoes. She looked at her self in the bathroom mirror and grinned. Today was going to be perfect, even if she had to kill someone for that to happen. She skidded out into the main room and grinned at Hermione who grinned back.

"C'mon, C'mon, I wanna see Angel!" She said as she dashed down the stairs that led to the Common Room followed by a grinning Hermione. She found the boys sitting on a couch and looking dead to the world, as they did every morning before they had breakfast. "Cheer up boys. Today is a beautiful day. C'mon. We gotta go see Angel…and the rest of the gang." She said as she pulled them both up easily and pulled them toward the portrait entrance.

Hermione followed at a distance watching the over zealous blonde drag the two reluctant wizards. Hermione had never seen Buffy this happy before and was quite happy to see her friend having fun.

Buffy literally bounced at the idea of being this close to her boyfriend and best friends. She rushed out of the entrance to Gryffindor. Tower and to the guest common room further down the corridor. She knocked on the portrait before saying the password and dragging the now awake boys into the common room followed again by Hermione.

The room was darkened and there was a fire burning in the fire place. Buffy grinned and went to the couch facing the fire and plopped down by her boyfriend. Angel leaned in and pecked her lips with his before leaning his head back and sighing. She laid her head on his shoulder and the trio eyed them, suddenly feeling distinctly out of place.

Just then Willow, Cordy and Xander came down the stairs and smiled at the younger ones.

"Hey guys, I'm starved. What about you?" Xander asked. Buffy looked up and smiled. Standing from her spot next to Angel she moved next to her constantly hungry friend. "Yeah so am I." Hermione rolled her eyes. "You're always hungry Ron, what else is new?" Buffy grinned. "I, myself am pretty hungry." She wandered back to Angel. "I'll be back after breakfast." She pressed a kiss to his lips and pulled back. He smiled gently and shook his head. "Don't be ridiculous Buffy. You go and have a fun day with your friends and we can spend some time together tonight." She looked at him. "Are you sure Angel?" He nodded and pushed her away gently. "Yes, now get on with you." She grinned at him and looked at her friends and Watcher (Giles had come in sometime in their conversation). "Ready for breakfast, you guys?"

When they got down to the Great Hall they sat in the same order as the night before and ate in companionable silence. Buffy glanced up at Remus and smiled as she noted he and Giles were immersed in conversation. Willow looked at her and caught where her eyes had traveled and grinned. "I guess Giles has made a new friend." Buffy nodded and the gang all got up and walked out of the castle and on to the sweeping grounds that were green and lush. She led them down to the lake and smiled as they all collapsed in a scattered group. She sat down with them and enjoyed the Scoobies reactions to the giant squid that poked his tentacle up out of the water. They talked amicably until a shadow fell over them.

"Hey Summers." She looked up and grinned. "Hey Drake." His silver eyes scanned the group of teens and then narrowed back in on Buffy. "So you goin to the Quidditch game this afternoon?" Buffy nodded. " Yeah I thought that that would be a pretty cool thing for the gang to see." Draco nodded. " Are you sure that one is a muggle?" He said pointing at Willow. "Save for the accent she could pass for a Weasley." Buffy nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure she's a muggle. Well for the most part." He raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean for the most part?"

Willow interjected, "I can float pencils." She said proudly. He arched one eyebrow and a smile played around his mouth. "I see." He said as if talking to the village idiot. "And how can you do that, Miss…?" Willow was blushing red from the attention the new boy was putting on her but continued. "Willow. My name is Willow and I am studying Wicca." Draco's curiosity was piqued. Although he never showed it he was about as hungry for knowledge as Hermione was. He just didn't spend every hour of everyday with his nose buried in a book.

"So, what is Wicca exactly, Willow?" He asked not unkindly. She smiled and set off into an explanation. "Wicca is a religion of sorts that calls for the use of the elements to honor the Goddess. You can do purely the religious part of it. Where you honor the Goddess as the mother, or you can practice the practical part of it where you do spells by calling on the elements surrounding you, or you could do both. Personally I'm a practical practitioner. I summon the elements or when I get a lot more studied lesser gods, to complete my spells. Right now I've just barely mastered wind, hence the floating pencil." He nodded and smiled. The girl seemed smart. "That sounds pretty interesting. I guess that is a way that muggles can do magic if they aren't actually magical."

Xander asked the next question. "So, have you always known you were magical, or were you like Hermione?" Draco bit back a sneer at being compared to Hermione Granger Queen Muggleborn but answered civilly enough. He sat down next to Buffy and continued talking. "Yes, I've always known I was a wizard. My family has been purebred for centuries, which means that I was almost guaranteed magical powers." He yawned lazily. "I best be getting down to the pitch for the game. See you there, I suppose."

Xander eyed him as he walked away. "I don't like him." He stated simply and Ron and Harry both nodded sagely. "Quite true," Hermione stated, "He is our resident bully. In fact I am actually surprised he was as civil as he was, even with our truce."

Buffy grinned. " It might have something to do with the fact that I threatened him. I told him that what I warned him I would do to him if he picked on you guys would be the same if he picked on the scoobs." She said smirking slightly. She sighed and looked up at the castle. "We should probably go eat lunch before the game starts." They all went up to the castle, Harry and Ron trying their best to explain the game of Quidditch in terms that muggles would understand and Buffy and Hermione did their best to tune them out. All in all it was shaping up to be a pretty good day.

Okay so there we go. Short I know but guess what next chapter is the quidditch game and the scoobs leave and the chappie after that is when dear old Sirius makes an appearance at the Halloween Feast so there we go. Uh…I guess I'll try to get the next chapter typed. Well okay then I hope I didn't loose too many of you guys because of my long absence. Leave me reviews and I'll update again soon. Nat.